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Ledger vs Trezor - Detailed Comparison | In this article, we will compare Ledger vs Trezor based on multiple criteria and help you decide which is the best hardware wallet suited for your need.
What are hardware wallets?
Hardware wallets are physical devices that store cryptocurrencies. They contain private keys in an offline mode and cannot connect to the internet or run complicated apps, hence, safe from attacks.
Therefore, they are also known as cold storage (or cold wallets). Hardware wallets are compatible with several interfaces and apps and support multiple cryptocurrencies. They are also compatible with other third-party wallets that act as an interface to manage coins.
Always remember, the more complex the device is, the greater is the chance of it getting attacked. These wallets have a minimal and simple design, reducing the overall attack surface.
How do hardware wallets work?
Hardware wallets only sign transactions. Therefore, in order to prepare the transactions and broadcast them to the network, you need to use another device (ex- laptop) that is connected to the internet.
Usually, you need to download a program to interact with the hardware wallet because these wallets allow only specific types of information such as transaction data.
To start the transaction, we need to enter the pin(password) in the hardware wallet. Always make sure that the transaction we are approving on the hardware wallet’s screen is the same as the connected device (Laptop).
You should always remember the seed phrase, which is a 12- 24 words combination that is given to us to initialize our hardware wallet. Anyone who has access to the seed phrase can access your cryptocurrencies, therefore you must keep them offline in a secure place.
Ledger vs Trezor: Physical Appearance
Display
Both the Trezor and the Ledger wallets have a display screen. They are used to display the seed phrase and send cryptocurrencies. Trezor has a larger display screen compared to Ledger, thus making it more convenient to view. However, Trezor Model T also has a nice color touchscreen.
Material
Trezor wallet is made from plastic, while the Ledger wallet comes with a stainless-steel body. The stainless steel makes the Ledger wallet more durable and portable, giving it a more stylish look.
Buttons
Both the devices come with two buttons that are used to manage their software. It is important to note here that Trezor’s buttons are easier to use since they have a good amount of space between them. The buttons in the ledger wallet are very close to each other, increasing the risk of pressing both at once.
Size
Trezor is bigger than the Ledger Nano S. Therefore it may be easier to carry the Ledger wallet with you because of its smaller size.
Physical appearance of wallets
Ledger vs Trezor: Cryptocurrency support
It is very important to know what coins are supported by both wallets. Currently, both Trezor and Ledger wallets support 1000+ coins. Both wallets support all ERC20 tokens on the Ethereum network.
Also Read: Ledger Nano S vs Trezor one vs Trezor T vs Ledger Nano X
Ledger vs Trezor: Open source
Ledger
The Ledger wallets run their own custom operating system BOLOS. This means that we cannot see what code goes into the device and the firmware that it runs on. However, the specifications are completely open and detailed, and all cryptographic operations are deterministic, allowing it to have the required information.
Trezor
The Trezor wallets use open-source firmware and software. Using an open-source has both pros and cons. The bugs can be identified easily but it comes with an attached security risk.
You can learn more about Trezor on its GitHub.
Ledger vs Trezor: Supported OS
Trezor and Ledger are compatible both with computers and smartphones. The supported operating systems are Windows 10, macOS 10.11, and higher, Linux, and Android OS.
Ledger supports Windows 8+, macOS 10.10+, Linux excluding ARM Processors. It is also compatible with Android 7+ smartphones.
Ledger vs Trezor: Difference in password encryption
Both Trezor and Ledger wallets have a password function. Each different passphrase unlocks a unique set of accounts. We can use multiple passphrases.
These settings are useful to have one main account and two or more hidden accounts from the same wallet, with the same 24 words recovery seed. So regardless of whether we have the recovery seed, we cannot access the corresponding wallet without the password. If you have to forcefully give your password, you can always give the one which has fewer assets.
In Trezor wallets, this password is entered via a connected device such as a Laptop, making it vulnerable for attackers to read it.
However, in Ledger wallets, the password is linked to another PIN which is entered using the normal keys.
Trezor wallets have a password manager that works with Chrome and cross-platform on your MacOS, Windows, and Linux. We can install the Trezor Password Manager Chrome extension (TPM) and sign in with Google Drive or Dropbox. We can also connect our Trezor device by entering our PIN and then enable Password Manager on our Trezor device.
Ledger vs Trezor: Compatibility with other apps
Ledger
The Ledger wallet is compatible with apps such as Ledger Live, Electrum, MyEtherWallet, Copay, Mycelium, Electron Cash, GreenBits, MyCrypto, Binance, Magnum, etc.
Trezor
The Trezor Wallet is compatible with apps such as MyTrezor, Copay, MultiBitHD, Magnum, GreenBits, Electrum, Mycelium, MyEtherWallet, etc.
Both of the wallets are compatible with a large number of apps and have a lot of those apps in common. So always choose, depending on what you need.
Ledger vs Trezor: Hardware
Ledger
The ledger wallet has a very distinctive hardware architecture, consisting of a very secure Operating System BOLOS (Blockchain Open Ledger Operating System), and specialized chips known as Secure Elements.
In order to utilize the Secure Element’s unique security capabilities while being able to manage the different peripheral devices, the Secure Element has been provided with a STM32 microcontroller (MCU) which acts as a router between the peripherals and the Secure Element and notifies it whenever new data is to be received.
The Secure Element is responsible for executing all of the applications of the BOLOS environment. | https://medium.com/coinmonks/ledger-vs-trezor-best-hardware-wallet-to-secure-cryptocurrency-22c7a3fd391e | ['Gaurav Agrawal'] | 2021-07-28 06:58:28.578000+00:00 | ['Ledger', 'Hardware Wallet', 'Wallet', 'Bitcoin', 'Trezor'] |
Ranking the Movies in the Silent Night, Deadly Night Series | I’m including the sort-of-remake here. And just a reminder that I rank these movies based on quality, and a movie that I consider so-bad-it’s-good will still be ranked as if it’s bad. I point that out because I think the most entertaining movie in this franchise is actually the worst.
From worst to best:
6. Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987) — 1/10
5. Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! (1989) — 2/10
4. Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (1991) — 4/10
3. Silent Night (2012) — 4/10
2. Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation (1990) — 4/10 | https://medium.com/as-vast-as-space-and-as-timeless-as-infinity/ranking-the-movies-in-the-silent-night-deadly-night-series-2007d7b8936e | ['Patrick J Mullen'] | 2020-12-26 05:57:45.449000+00:00 | ['Horror Movies', '1980s', 'Christmas', 'Lists', 'Horror'] |
12/24/2020 | Welcome back to another episode of, “Do My Friends Hate Me? Or Do I Need a Nap?” | https://medium.com/@crybaby-bambi/12-24-2020-b439778e8476 | ['Serafina Medina'] | 2020-12-24 20:19:06.294000+00:00 | ['Self Sabotage', 'Friends', 'Inner Thoughts'] |
How Australia controlled the Covid | As a citizen of the United States living in Australia, I’ve felt incredibly conflicted in 2020. Life has pretty much gone back to normal here, but every day I hear about the rest of America and most of the world continuing to suffer physically, mentally and economically. I decided to write a little blog post highlighting some of the things that were enacted here that, gradually, allowed Australia to go back to normal, in many ways.
American Expat Thanksgiving 2020
I felt so strange this year as I had a big American Thanksgiving in Australia while knowing that Americans in America couldn’t (or at least shouldn’t) do the same. I feel so lucky that we can gather in Australia, that we don’t typically have to wear a mask, that we can go see live music. Then again, the fact that I probably won’t be able to get home quickly, even in case of emergency messes with my mind every day.
Australian citizens and residents are rarely allowed to leave the country in 2020.
I type this as a recent outbreak just sprung up in Sydney. We’re told that contract tracers are on it. People in New South Wales, (where Sydney is located) have begun flooding testing centers to do their bit and catch any potential stray cases. As of today we had eight cases announced, down from 15 yesterday, a good sign. It looks like it isn’t nearly as bad as the Melbourne outbreak earlier this year. We haven’t yet gotten to the bottom of who this case actually came from, but the scientists have determined it’s a strain that came from America. Before this latest outbreak over the last week, we’d gone months with only one random case of community transmission in the entire country. (Of course people arriving from overseas in hotels were still testing positive, but they were under control.)
It’s exciting feeling like things are mostly going back to normal. Most of the restrictions have being lifted, live music is back and we’re allowed to dance again, Ongoing talks continue around the idea of a travel bubble forming between Australia and New Zealand.
So let’s jump back to the beginning in early March when these cases all started to take off. Much like the rest of the world, people were scared. Australians made international news for fights in the store over toilet paper. Cases began to appear throughout the country, as they did in the US, UK, Italy, you name it.
Here are ten factors that I believe had a huge affect on containing the coronavirus.
Ban on overseas travel going out
Unless there was a special situation, Australians were not allowed to go overseas. Legally they were not allowed to leave unless they had special permission granted by the government. I think because I am a dual citizen Australia could not technically have been barred from leaving, although it would have been quite hard to get an affordable flight. Not only that, but also my return would have been quite annoying to achieve, which I’ll write more about later.
2. Ban on all overseas travel coming in
Not only did we not let people out, but also, we made it quite difficult for even our very own citizens who resided overseas to come back in. We started seeing news encouraging Aussie citizens to come home if they were overseas, saying it might become much harder to get them home in the future. In the beginning, most countries implemented a ban on China, and yes, we did this. Then we saw the high cases coming out of places like Iran and Italy, and we banned them. Eventually we banned people from every single country from entering. The only people we let into Australia were citizens and permanent residents unless it was a special government granted circumstance. Learn more about it all on this government website.
But there’s more.
3. Mandatory quarantine in a guarded hotel for two weeks.
Any citizen or resident or special case arriving overseas into Australia is required to quarantine for two weeks in a guarded hotel. I think is probably the big catch, the thing that would be incredibly hard to orchestrate in countries with much higher populations than Australia and much more international airports (or even land borders like US has with Mexico and Canada and all of Europe). Australia has 13 international airports. In contrast, the US has 149. It’s a much larger effort to manage 149 airports compared to 13. Then again the US pours mountains of cash into its military, so I do think it is technically doable. It would just require a lot of organization and working together for a common goal.
One more important note about this: At first this quarantine was paid for by Australian tax dollars but now any resident or citizen who wants to fly into Australia has to quarantine with $3,000 AUD of their own money. Here’s my interview with a lovely friend who was in quarantine in Perth a few months ago after living in Sweden which explains this more.
4. Focused lockdowns where there are outbreaks
Once we got the virus more under control, we still had outbreaks from time to time, as we’re seeing right now with Sydney. Australia has only eight states and territories, and when Victoria experienced a huge outbreak in July and August, all other states started shutting boarders to Victorian residents. If a resident of Victoria wanted to fly to the Northern Territory, they had to quarantine in a hotel the exact same way overseas travelers did. I don’t know if that would “fly” in the US. Plus with so many Americans regularly crossing state borders, the force necessary to force them all to quarantine would have to be enormous. It would be a huge operation to orchestrate this in the US, it already was in Australia. How many ways can you cross the border in Kentucky for example? Every single one of these entries would have to be secure.
Here’s an example of how it worked: When the rest of the country had started loosening restrictions and opening up businesses and activities, the state of Victoria realized they hadn’t been properly training the guards at the quarantine hotels and that the virus was out in Melbourne, their biggest city. They had to double down. The government locked down Melbourne, and I think masks were made mandatory (somebody please help me confirm this!). The state was on serious lockdown for 112 days. It worked too. It took a while but the numbers stopped skyrocketing and slowed to a stop. And the rest of Australia could live reasonably normal although there were a few micro outbreaks in New South Wales that came from Melbourne before the country locked the borders. During the time of the micro outbreaks, masks became highly encouraged in New South Wales as well, but after we got it under control things went back to no mask normal.
5. Contact Tracing
If you want to do anything fun in Australia you have to check in online with your name and number.
When Covid first arrived, cases were sporadically all over the country, so the whole country shut down, venues closed, no dining, no concerts, no sports, no church. Once we got a better handle on cases, things shifted. Northern Territory, the territory with the lowest population, was the first to be able to open up because there were no new cases. Eventually New South Wales started opening up again cafes and restaurants, but QR codes were everywhere, see image above. The new normal in Australia is if you wanted to dine in or have a drink anywhere, you have to register your name and number so you can be contacted if by any chance you end up being exposed. I don’t know how effective this has actually been, it seems hard to enforce everyone actually registering their true details. (I always do!) I do know they’ve traced the latest outbreak in Sydney to one or two venues in one suburb which is interesting. Also, whenever there is an outbreak, news outlets and politicians publish a long list of all the venues where the Covid positive case has been to alert the public.
6. School Closings
In the beginning schools weren’t officially closed, but I think the government encouraged people keeping their kids home if possible. They also made childcare free for essential workers and vulnerable kids which was very generous, especially for a conservative government. However, schools have remained pretty much open since then, with the exception of the big Melbourne outbreak where schools went to online learning for several weeks. And of course when schools were closed so were all other venues too. I have not kept up with the school closing thing very well so please let me know if I can better update this section.
7. Masks
Masks have rarely been mandatory during the pandemic but as news of cases start to rise in certain areas you definitely see more people wearing them, and businesses and governments start encouraging them. In this latest Sydney outbreak along with closing businesses and locking down people, masks were highly encouraged. They seem to be one helpful piece of the highly complex puzzle of preventing Covid.
8. Government support
I actually think this is another one of the biggest factors that helped Australians stay home and chill out during Covid. The Aussie government shelled out stacks of cash to the unemployed, and they’re still doing it! Citizens and residents had two financial options. They could either do job seeker where they get $250AUD a fortnight until 31 December 2020 and $150 per fortnight between 1 January and 31 March 2021.” For the Jobseeker there are 2 components — income support and coronavirus supplement. According to my friend who has used this option, both rates have reduced a bit since September.
Alternatively they could use a program called Jobkeeper. For Job keeper it was 1500 per fortnight per employee, until September. As long as you could prove that your employees were being paid this. Another key thing with Job Keeper was businesses had to demonstrate that their revenue has reduced by at least 30% due to the Covid-19.
Luckily I have not needed to do either of these things, so I feel a bit murky around everything that is happening here. I think another option is that Australians were allowed to tap into their superannuation, which basically means they could access their forced savings. This pissed off a lot of Australians, which I can understand.
I feel for how little compensation Americans are getting in comparison, but then again I interviewed people in Colombia, Mexico, Kenya and Mozambique who got nothing from their government. Unfortunately, situations can always get worse.
9. Free testing and free quality health care
Another thing which has helped Australia manage the pandemic so well is the fact that this country has free, good health care. Also testing centers are easy to find and free and encouraged, so if anyone is feeling sick there’s really no incentive not to get tested. I talked to people in India and Nepal that explained that poor health care and lack of access to tests can make containing the virus much harder.
10. Elephant in the room
I don’t love everything about the current Australian government, but the way they’ve managed this virus is remarkable. Maybe they’re making up for the awful bushfire debacle we had this time last year. I wish more countries would take note of what we’ve done, but the realist in me knows that for Europe, US, or most other countries, to do what we did would be far more challenging. Australia is a massive island with no land borders. The entire continent of Australia has fewer people than the entire state of New York. We’re less populated with vast amounts of space between cities. That by default helps slow the spread. Also, while there were a few protests against the lockdowns, Australians are remarkably trusting in their government. A lot of people in New South Wales just had their holiday travel plans canceled because of the relatively speaking, small, Sydney outbreak. People lost money and are not going to see their loved ones after a really terrible year. People are angry, but I wouldn’t say they’re tearing down the doors of parliament crying hoax or stocking up on guns. Trust in the government has helped the management of Covid 19 massively in Australia. But, we could trust our government, they were giving us money every other week to help the economy! Unfortunately, you can’t always trust governments.
I hope the above has been helpful and informative. Check out the links I’ve included to learn more and feel free to share this around and maybe inspire other people to look into different ways different countries do things.
Fellow Aussies, please let me know if I’ve missed anything and I shall amend.
-Alex Morris @AlexMorrisWrite | https://medium.com/@alexmorriswrite/how-australia-controlled-the-covid-2fe80ea6b13a | ['Alex Morris'] | 2020-12-24 05:21:41.208000+00:00 | ['Contact Tracing', 'Quarantine', 'Covid 19', 'Australia', 'USA'] |
Planning Beautiful Breakfasts for Breaking Your Fast in Style | Planning Beautiful Breakfasts for Breaking Your Fast in Style
Using the Meal Planner Form for breakfast
Photo by Ben Kolde on Unsplash
Breakfast can be the most insignificant meal. Or the most important. It’s totally up to you, different each day. I think this is the most difficult meal to plan ahead because of – Who knows how you’ll feel in the morning a week ahead of time?
Sometimes you’re full from the day before and don’t want anything for hours, other times you’re starving. Sometimes you want something simple or some specific thing you dreamed about in the night.
This morning I wanted a meatloaf sandwich. We had hot meatloaf and potatoes and gravy last night and I knew there was meatloaf and bread available. A little catsup, salt and pepper. We split one sandwich with our coffee and felt satisfied. Sometimes we have more time, and want more of a celebratory meal.
But, planning has advantages, too. If you want Shakshuka (a Arabic dish of eggs poached in a spicy sauce of tomatoes and peppers) for breakfast, you need a recipe and all the ingredients if you want to make it at 7 am. My thought is to plan but be flexible. Then, if you have the ingredients but aren’t in the mood, you can save them for tomorrow, or perhaps for lunch.
So I still say, plan your meals. Sometimes in the morning, you don’t want to have to make any decisions. You can simply look on the list and get out the stuff without much dithering about what to eat. That works a lot of the time.
The Meal Planner up to now
This is the fourth in a series of articles about using a meal planning form I created. The first an introduction to the scheme, then a story about planning dinners, then one about lunches, this one is on breakfast.
The first thing to do on the form is answer five questions:
What do you have in refrigerator, pantry or garden that needs using? What do you have in the freezer that should be used up! What time constraints, meals away from home or guests for dinner are on your schedule this week? What dietary restrictions do you (or anyone you’re planning for) have this week? What do you feel like eating or cooking this week? Are there any special foods you’d like to eat, have been craving? Any recipes you’ve wanted to try?
Then fill in any days when you will be eating elsewhere, working late and have limited time for cooking, have a guest with a special diet, etc. Assuming you already have seven dinners and lunches planned, fill in any days you can use something from those meals to add to breakfast (Fish cakes with eggs, ham or steak with eggs, leftover fried rice, millet patties, potatoes and greens, or any leftover you like to eat for breakfast that you have already in the refrigerator from a former meal)
Breakfast plans
Of course, if you want, you could start your planning with breakfast, since that’s the first thing you cook in the day. Might give you a different perspective.
Think about what you usually eat for breakfast. Maybe you have oatmeal every day but Sunday when you have pancakes or waffles. Okay, not much to plan there.
But, if that sounds too boring, why not alternate days of your usual breakfast with something different that could provide a different set of nutrients. Also variation is more satisfying to your curious taste buds.
There are all kinds of possibilities:
Protein bowls with a formula like greens, beans, rice, poached egg, hot sauce
Toast with almond butter, or avocado and an egg, or tomato and smoked salmon
Fish with a potato or millet cake.
Pancakes, or waffles or French Toast, plain or with all sorts of additions
Saute of vegetables- sweet potato, onion, garlic, broccoli, mushrooms with or without eggs scrambled into it.
Then of course there are eggs: scrambled, soft boiled, jammy, hard boiled, fried, poached and omelets with all manner of additions. From plain cheese to multiple cheeses, vegetables and meat additions. With fried potatoes and peppers and onions. With creamed chipped beef.
If I have a few Chinese dumplings left from a meal I like to save them to serve with fried rice and pocket eggs. These are fried eggs, whites folded over to seal like a dumpling, with a vinegar and soy sauce mixture tossed over them at the end.
I also like to have tiny fish cakes with eggs, or potato cakes left from mashed potatoes. Sausages of course, and ham and bacon, occasionally, but still make appearances.
Many things in our house become “that would be good with an egg for breakfast”.
And sometimes, I long for my childhood favorite for breakfast-leftover spaghetti.
So really, breakfasts needn’t be dull at all.
I haven’t even scratched the surface of possibilities. I have neglected most of the stuff that requires using flour because I’m personally avoiding those things but sometimes they make the list for me and you can certainly plan on them also.
Cream biscuits, lemon ginger scones, blueberry muffins, corn pancakes in summer, banana fritters with applesauce, rice pudding with cream. Coffee cake, bread pudding, apple crisp with ice cream. I could go on and on.
So, lets go to the Meal Planner Form I am using this week.
I planned my dinners and lunches already so that helped fill in this morning’s meal- a meatloaf sandwich.
Sunday we planned to have company for breakfast, and to serve “Clam Fritters” which is a favorite of our company and us and we just happened to have some clams. We also offered ham and eggs with them. And a bowl of clementines.
Monday- Using up ham from Sunday, Don had a egg, ham and cheese sandwich, I had a fried egg and piece of ham
Tuesday- I planned a protein bowl for this meal but instead we split a meatloaf and catsup sandwich. Ate some meatloaf I had defrosted from the freezer hot with gravy and potatoes for dinner last night. Thought about a meatloaf and catsup sandwich all night.
Wednesday- skipping breakfast, ate late and too much after election shenanigans
Thursday- a protein bowl: raw spinach, lentil and onion patties, yogurt, optional poached egg, and hot sauce
Friday- “That would be good with an egg”: Leftover piece of salmon, a fried egg, toast. (too lazy to make hollandaise but that would have gone nicely with this)
Saturday-Scrambled eggs with the rest of the ham and some scallions.
Meal planner stories
My system for planning meals
Planning Dinners
Planning Lunches
A fancy breakfast for our anniversary prepared by friends
Photos courtesy of the author
If you want to receive updates about recipes, stories and more, sign up below. I haven’t figured out how to send free stuff to my email list yet, but I’m working on it. Don’t forget to validate your email after signup. And for heavens sake, get me out of your junk folder. Join the fun:
https://upscri.be/bdp6id
Jean Anne Feldeisen is a writer, cook. and cookbook reader. She writes about cooking, food, books and aging well. Jean has been reading and writing poetry since age 5. The memoir Dear Milly is her first book. She is seventy plus years old and just getting started. | https://medium.com/jeans-in-the-kitchen/planning-beautiful-breakfasts-for-breaking-your-fast-in-style-7916cebc58e6 | ['Jean Anne Feldeisen'] | 2020-11-05 10:29:08.154000+00:00 | ['Family', 'Breakfast', 'Cooking', 'Food', 'Meal Planning'] |
What I learnt from giving 120+ Data Science Presentations | What I learnt from giving 120+ Data Science Presentations
6 points to help navigate the world and daily technical practices to become better data communicators
Photo by Anggi Nurjaman on Unsplash
Reflecting back on the various roles I have had in a Data Science team, it has occurred to me that I am one of the few people who is often asked to present.
From a whole host of meeting invites, to slides in various Teams channels and countless versions of presentations on my laptop, I realised that I had presented more than 120 versions of 18 projects over the last six years — that’s roughly one presentation every three weeks! Through this, I can safely say that I have sat through and given presentations that did not land well with various audiences.
One would argue that this many presentations were unnecessary for technically apt stakeholders in a data literate organisation, but these individuals are few and far between where I work.
Giphy — Come through, Karamo 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Many of my presentations have been time-consuming and cumbersome to prepare, but they have been invaluable in my attempt to become a better Data Science communicator. Regardless, I am thankful of my introspective moments which have led to confidence in my content and communication skills.
To date, being a keynote speaker and attending a panel at Financial Times Energy Summit on ML in the energy industry has been a highlight. Whilst I have so much more to learn, I now know that I can drive an engaging conversation with those who are listening.
So, here are six points that I think are valuable and some resources I have used when considering presenting my projects.
1. Create a narrative
Regardless of the project you are presenting, whether it is explorative, a production ready solution or research, a narrative is necessary to coherently articulate the progress made. Whilst there are many approaches to this, there are two crucial components which are a must.
Context
Most of the time, our projects won’t make sense when they land in front of us. We have to painstakingly construct models, insights and outcomes from mediocre data. To make sense we dissect and explore parts of data over and over to find meaning within the bigger picture. Essentially, we become scientists.
Fortunately for our audience, we are in a position to frame our data within a bigger picture and to become the story-teller. We can include history, similar trends and approaches others may have taken. We can use visualisations from our explorative stages to describe potential challenges, silver linings and our inspirations.
Whether you present to very specific teams or bigger, diverse groups, a tailored presentation with more relevant facts and background is beneficial. I tend to structure my slides following a fairly high-level narrative and draw attention to the detailed slides when necessary. Doing this allows the audience to remain focused on the challenge and the solution, whilst I help them appreciate the progress I have made.
Timeline
It is important to stick to a clear and organised timeline (preferably linear) — Data Science stories shouldn’t feel like a Christopher Nolan film.
I have often seen presentations start instantly with an outcome and solution. Whilst these are impactful, they also lead to a lot of “what does that mean?” moments, which can potentially alienate your audience.
A strong start is essentially your background and the context you provide. A valuable middle section would include a concise explanation of your method, findings, insights and necessary information to help the audience understand what was done. At the end, you should wrap up with model outcomes, potential improvements, use and challenges with data, strategies to production and wider impact if the project was to continue.
If you are able to, make room for questions. This gives the audience the opportunity to ‘dive deeper’ into the content and anything they have become particularly interested with.
2. Don’t make the audience listen and read.
Put yourself in the shoes of a stakeholder sitting through a ML slide deck, trying to listen to an expert, read their blurb on the slide and understand the value their work has on a business domain. This is a lot to juggle.
Instead, limit the amount of text to few bullet points and statements per slide to avoid cramming text. There are number of steps you can take to make concise and clear points, articulated well by Guy Kawasaki — 10/20/30 rule which provides an excellent template for pitching. Though it doesn’t translate directly for ML presentations, much of it is applicable.
3. Visualisations are important. If you are making charts, use the right visual tools.
This is probably the most important point for me, however, it is also the hardest to achieve. These principles may be easy to discuss but are much harder to execute, consistently. | https://towardsdatascience.com/what-i-learnt-from-giving-120-data-science-presentations-ce18b16cf334 | ['Das Wijesundera'] | 2020-10-20 20:32:37.540000+00:00 | ['Storytelling', 'Data Science', 'Presentations', 'Office Hours', 'Data Visualization'] |
2020 Black List | All 80 scripts listed in order of votes received including loglines, plus a link where you can download the official list.
Earlier today, the 2020 Black List was released to the public. Here is the list ranked by the number of mentions each script received along with loglines:
THE BLACK LIST 2020
29
HEADHUNTER
Sophie Dawson
A high-functioning cannibal selects his victims based on their Instagram popularity, but finds his habits shaken by a man who wants to be eaten.
28
CHANG CAN DUNK
Jingyi Shao
A young Asian-American teen and basketball fanatic who just wants to dunk and get the girl ends up learning much more about himself, his best friends, and his mother.
26
NEITHER CONFIRM NOR DENY
Dave Collard
An adaptation of David Sharp’s book The CIA’s Greatest Covert Operation that chronicles the clandestine CIA operation that risked igniting WWIII by recovering a nuclear-armed Soviet Sub, the K-129, that sunk to the bottom of the ocean in 1968.
25
IF YOU WERE THE LAST
Angela Bourassa
Two astronauts who think they’ve been lost in space forever fall in love, becoming content with their isolated lives, only to suddenly have to return to Earth.
TWO FACED
Cat Wilkins
A high school senior attempts to get her principal fired after observing racist behavior, but she quickly learns he won’t go down without a fight.
22
BRING ME BACK
Crosby Selander
When a woman on an interstellar voyage falls in love with someone during a cryosleep simulation, she attempts to discern whether the man is a real passenger on the ship or just a figment of her imagination.
21
BUBBLE & SQUEAK
Evan Twohy
Two newlyweds traverse a fictional country on their honeymoon but slowly realize they’re yearning to take separate journeys.
EMERGENCY
KD Davila
Ready for a night of partying, a group of Black and Latino college students must weigh the pros and cons of calling the police when faced with an emergency.
19
FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE
Emma Dudley
Twenty-four-year-old, quiet, self-conscious Hazel has struggled with her sexuality ever since her conservative dad walked in on her kissing a girl at a middle school sleepover and flipped his absolute shit. On the way back to her hometown for her dad’s wedding, Hazel gets drunk and makes out with an older, attractive female flight attendant. She’s thrilled to have moved past her hang-ups and had some fun until she arrives home and realizes that the flight attendant is her dad’s fiance.
18
VIDEO NASTY
Chris Thomas Devlin
Three teenagers who rent a cursed VHS tape are pulled into an 80s slasher movie that threatens to trap them forever.
17
SATURDAY NIGHT GHOST CLUB
Steve Desmond, Michael Sherman
After being haunted by a terrifying entity, a twelve-year-old boy teams up with his eccentric uncle and three other misfits to form their own ghost club, investigating all the paranormal sites in town so that he can find and confront the ghost that’s tormenting him.
THE SAUCE
Chaz Hawkins
A depressed, selfish black man fights for his life after taking a job at a white-owned beauty parlor, whose monstrous owners concocted a wildly popular shampoo that requires a sickening ingredient.
SHARPER
Brian Gatewood, Alessandro Tanaka
A chain of scam artists goes after one wealthy family with the perfect plan to drain them of their funds. But when love, heartbreak, and jealousy slither their way into the grand scheme, it becomes unclear whether the criminals are conning or the ones being conned.
16
BIRDIES
Colin Bannon
When Tabitha, a struggling foster kid, wins a contest to become part of the BIRDIES, a popular daily YouTube channel featuring the radiant and enigmatic Mama Bird and her diverse brood of adopted children, she soon learns that things get dark when the cameras turn off.
POSSUM SONG
Isaac Adamson
After discovering his secret songwriting partner dead, a country music star struggling to record new material makes a Faustian bargain with a family of possums who have taken up residency within his walls.
15
THE BLACK BELT
Randall Green
Eighth grader Simon Paluska dreams of being a Taekwondo Black Belt, but he’s not allowed to take lessons. So he buys a Black Belt on Amazon for twenty-five bucks. Then, he has to use it.
INDIVISIBLE RIPPER
Dennis MaGee Fallon
London, 1888: When their friends begin dying at the hands of a brutal killer, an all-female crime syndicate, The Forty Elephants, must work together to take down the predator stalking them — Jack The Ripper.
14
A BIG, BOLD, BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY
Seth Reiss
After both attending the same wedding solo, David and Sarah embark on a big, bold, beautiful journey with a little help from their 1996 Passat GPS and a little bit of magic for the road trip of their lives.
ENEMIES WITHIN
Cat Vasko
In the 1950’s, Joseph McCarthy and his right hand man Roy Cohn sit at the height of their influence, casting aside democratic norms unchecked — until the Army’s lowest-level lawyer, John G. Adams, stumbles upon the shocking truth behind their power grab, and makes it his mission to reveal this to the public.
THE MAN IN THE YARD
Sam Stefanak
When a dangerous stranger shows up at her front door, a depressed widow must confront her own past in order to protect her two children.
SUNCOAST
Laura Chinn
An awkward teenage outcast comes of age against the backdrop of the hospice where her brother (and coincidentally, Terri Schiavo) are dying.
13
FISH IN A TREE
Jeff Stockwell
Based on the eponymous novel by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. A young girl in an intimidating new school finally faces seemingly insurmountable obstacles in her learning and in her social life when she crosses paths with an energetic-but-inexperienced substitute teacher.
THE NEUTRAL CORNER
Justin Piasecki
A Nevada court judge who moonlights reffing high-profile boxing matches must face his demons when he’s assigned to the Olympic fight of an ex-con he’d previously sentenced for murder.
12
GUSHER
Abigail Briley Bean
Based on the story of Anna Nicole Smith, a shrewd young mother rises out of a small Texas town to become a famous Playboy centerfold, but when she falls in love with an eighty-nine-year-old billionaire, his son and the entire world believe she’s nothing but a gold digger.
11
BIKRAM
Silpa Kovvali
In the truly unbelievable story of Bikram Choudhury, his young wife Rajashree catapults the yoga guru to the heights of fame and fortune, and is left fighting for her survival when he brings their brand toppling down.
BORDERLINE
Jimmy Warden
A bodyguard protects a pop superstar and her athlete boyfriend from a determined stalker in 1990s Los Angeles.
LURKER
Alex Russell
An obsessed fan maneuvers his way into the inner circle of his hip hop idol and will stop at nothing to stay in.
MY DEAR YOU
Meghan Kennedy
Based on a short story by Rachel Khong. A love story set in the afterlife about our struggle to let go of the past, even when our present is heaven… literally. Tess keeps searching for the love of her life without realizing he’s right there next to her the whole time, helping her look.
OCCUPIED
Tara Cavanagh
When a tactless Nordstrom’s store manager denies two trans women access to the bathroom, Fran and Althea seek restitution and occupy the ladies room in protest.
REPTILE DYSFUNCTION
Creston Whittington
A chemical leak in a local water supply in Central Florida wreaks havoc on the invasive population of pythons, leading a family to the fight of their life to survive.
ST. SIMMONS
Greg Wayne
When a very fat and possibly gay boy from New Orleans is visited by an angel called Barbra Streisand, he sets out on a holy crusade in daytime television to touch and save the soul of every obese person in America before his demons consume him — if only to make his daddy proud. It’s the true gospel of Richard Simmons.
THE U.S.P.S.
Perry Janes
Following in his murdered mother’s footsteps, Michael Griffiths enlists in the United States Postal Service… only to discover a mail route full of surprises and a job that means maybe, just maybe, saving the world.
10
ANNALISE & SONG
SJ Inwards
Annalise is a girl who quite literally “sees the world differently” than everyone else and finds herself a lonely, misunderstood outcast who keeps her “cursed sight” a secret as a consequence. But everything changes when Annalise meets her new neighbor, Peter Song — a fellow teenager whom everyone else sees as a disfigured boy, but whom Annalise sees entirely differently.
BLOOD TIES
Aaron Katz
Based on the New Yorker article by Nathan Heller. A true-crime thriller based on the story of two brilliant college lovers convicted of a brutal slaying. An obsessed detective investigates the true motives that led to a double homicide, and the decades of repercussions that follow.
THE BOY WHO DIED
Monisha Dadlani
A young girl creates a robot version of Harry Potter while her father simultaneously is treating Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe for a terminal disease.
CRUSH ON YOU
Shea Mayo
Summer on a secluded campus takes a dark turn for three college girls when a supernaturally sexy mystery man begins haunting their dreams.
THE CULLING
Stephen Herman
A troubled priest confines himself to a remote cabin in the middle of the woods where he attempts to make a last stand against the demon that terrorized his family when he was a child.
MAY DECEMBER
Samy Burch
Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under the pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past.
1MDB
Scott Conroy
The incredible true story of the multi-billion dollar Malaysian government corruption scandal which led to the conviction of Prime Minister Najib Razak and almost $5 billion in settlements paid out by Goldman Sachs.
REWIRED
Adam Gaines, Ryan Parrott
Harvard. 1959. A young Ted Kaczynski is experimented on by Dr. Henry Murray during a secret CIA psychological study that may have led to the creation of the Unabomber.
STORY
Emily Siegel
When a journalist turned stay-at-home mom relocates to Los Angeles to rebuild after a personal trauma, she blurs the lines between fact and fiction… only to find herself at the center of her own story.
9
COSMIC SUNDAY
MacMillan Hedges
A small percentage of the population is stuck in a time loop and have had to create a society that functions within the same day, repeated day in and day out. One man struggles to find himself for the first time in ages amidst a society clinging to a sense of normalcy.
EARWORM
Austin Everett
A former music therapist is recruited to use a mysterious machine to dive into the memories of a serial killer on death row.
EXCELSIOR!
Alex Convery
The true story of the meteoric rise (and subsequent fall) of Marvel Comics and the star-crossed creators behind the panel: Stan Lee & Jack Kirby.
FLIGHT RISK
Jared Rosenberg
An Air Marshal transporting a fugitive across the Alaskan wilderness via a small plane finds herself trapped when she suspects their pilot is not who he says he is.
HIGH SOCIETY
Noga Pnueli
A depressed, progressive woman stuck in a conservative small Texas town starts micro-dosing the entire town with marijuana to make them all get along.
HORSEGIRL
Lauren Meyering
Living under the full time care of her cancer-stricken mother, a twenty-six-year-old, socially awkward, horse-obsessed woman attempts to prove her independence by winning a hobbyhorse competition.
MAGAZINE DREAMS
Elijah Bynum
A Black amateur bodybuilder struggles to find human connection in this exploration of celebrity and violence.
MOUSE
Kelly O’Sullivan
When seventeen-year old Minnie’s best friend Callie is killed in an accident, she struggles to find an identity of her own and forms a complicated friendship with Callie’s grieving mother.
MURDER IN THE WHITE HOUSE
Jonathan Stokes
The President is murdered during a private dinner, and Secret Service agent Mia Pine has until morning to discover which guest is the killer before a peace agreement fails and leads to war.
NANNY
Nikyata Jusu
Aisha is an undocumented nanny caring for a privileged child. As she prepares for the arrival of her only son, who she left behind in her native country, a violent supernatural presence invades her reality, jeopardizing the American Dream she’s carefully pieced together.
A SINGLE POINT OF FAILURE
Terry Huang
Journalists race to expose how Boeing knowingly misled regulators, pilots, and airlines to cover up a problematic flight software system on the 737 MAX, leading to two major airplane crashes and the deaths of 346 people. Based on real events.
STATE LINES
Rachel Wolf
When headstrong but well-intentioned college student Sara Jane bails on Senior Spring Break to drive a fourteen-year-old girl to get an abortion, she’s shocked to discover that her passenger is an undercover pro-lifer who has kidnapped her.
VICELAND
Chris Parizo
The true story of how Vice magazine grew from a free magazine in Montreal into a multi billion dollar media empire, making two of its founders multi-millionaires while the third founder was kicked out and went on to modernize the white supremacist movement by creating the Proud Boys.
8
EMANCIPATION
Bill Collage
Based on a true story, a runaway slave has to outwit bounty hunters and the perils of a Louisiana swamp to reach the Union army and his only chance at freedom.
FIGHT OR FLIGHT
Brooks McLaren, DJ Cotrona
A mercenary takes on the job of tracking down a target on a plane but must protect her when they’re surrounded by people trying to kill both of them.
THE GORGE
Zach Dean
A brazen, high-action, genre-bending, love story about two very dangerous young people, who despite the corrupt and lethal world they operate in, find a soulmate in each other.
HERE COME THE BANDITS
Ethan Dawes
Mickey Bradley, a wildly talented minor league baseball player in his early twenties who returns home to Los Angeles after an injury and coaches a little league team full of misfits who remind him why he fell in love with baseball in the first place. And theres a sweet romance in there too.
PLUSH
Alexandra Skarsgard
Sex, money, and one schoolyard fad that took a nation by storm. Based on the true story of Ty Warner, the enigmatic entrepreneur behind a ’90s toy craze that sparked madness, murder, and a billion-dollar empire.
TOWERS
Aaron Rabin
A businessman’s obsession with his competitor leads him down a rabbit hole of self-discovery, fantasy, and delusion
TRESPASSER
Gabe Hobson
A father and daughter living in remote isolation must fight for survival after aliens arrive seeking revenge for killing one of their own.
UNCLE WICK
Gabe Delahaye
An action comedy wherein Benji Stone, a lovable but deeply unpopular sixteen year old, is pulled into an international assassination plot by his uncle, a retired undercover assassin charged with babysitting Benji for the weekend.
WHAT IF?
Alvaro Garcia Lecuona
An unassertive seventeen year old turns his high school on its head when he asks out his crush, a transgender classmate.
7
BELLA
Jason Markarian
Set against the backdrop of an unprecedented crime wave that gripped New York City in the 80s, a hyper-stylized action thriller about a cop’s daughter who, after her father clings to life following an assassination attempt, goes on a rampage to unearth her father’s assassin and weed out deep-rooted corruption in the NYPD.
DUST
Karrie Crouse
A young mother in 1930s Oklahoma is convinced that her family is threatened and takes drastic steps to keep them safe.
FRENEMY
Ariel Sayegh
A chronicle of the infamous Lindsay Lohan/Paris Hilton feud of 2004–2006 over who would be Britney Spears’ best friend.
GABI SEEMS DIFFERENT
Victoria Bata
After spending several years recovering from a devastating car crash that pulled her out of the spotlight, Gabi, a famous pop star, gets ready to perform again for the first time. But with the pressure mounting and her memory failing her, the young woman begins to doubt who she really is — and if Gabi really survived the crash at all.
GENERATION LEAP
John Sonntag, Thomas Sonntag
After a global pandemic causes NASA to send a crew of astronauts into deep space to find another habitable planet, the crew is unexpectedly awoken from hypersleep and must survive a mysterious new threat that comes from the future generations they sought to save, and the one place they never expected — Earth.
GET LITE
Eric Gross
Saunders, a headstrong Bronx teenager, is caught between his love of Litefeet subway dancing and his strict father’s insistence on becoming an engineer. After he finagles his way onto a ragtag Litefeet crew, he’s exposed to an electrifying new world as well as a new crush. Now he has to decide who and what he’s willing to sacrifice in order to compete in the biggest dance competition of the year: Kingdome.
GOOD CHANCE
Tricia Lee
A feisty transgender teen helps a church-going, undocumented Asian woman escape deportation, and they form an unlikely friendship that helps them heal the rifts in their own families.
HANDSOME STRANGER
Greg Navarro
Based on the incredible true story of serial killer Paul John Knowles and the week he spent with British journalist Sandy Fawkes in the midst of a murderous killing spree.
I.S.S.
Nick Shafir
At any given moment in time there are roughly six astronauts living on the International Space Station (ISS). The station itself is divided into two segments one half Russian, one half American. When a world war event occurs on Earth, America and Russia find themselves on opposing sides. As such, both nations secretly contact their astronauts aboard the ISS and give them instructions to take control of the station by any means necessary. The six astronauts must each secretly choose between their friendships with each other and their allegiance to their country.
MARGOT
Emily Adams
Annie Mills has always known Margot Ellison to be two things: her best friend and a devout Mormon. But as high school graduation nears and Margot starts to crave change, the girls must grapple with the fear that growing up might require growing alone.
THE PEAK
Arthur Hills
A troubled young surgeon travels to a desolate peak to climb the mountain where her father suffered a mental breakdown years earlier, only to realize halfway up the rock wall that she might be subject to the same fate.
REALITY
Heather Quinn
A woman abruptly discovers nothing she’s known until now is real, and she must recover the truth in order to save the rest of the country, still trapped inside of the lie.
RUBY
Kat Wood
After her husband is attacked, assassin Ruby is lured into the open to hunt down those responsible, leading her back to the boss who wants to keep her in the fold at any cost.
TIN ROOF RUSTED
Michelle Harper
When two life-long best friends discover that they’re both pregnant, they promise to embark on their journey together. But with the constant pressure of outsiders, the two struggle midst personal differences and must re-learn that what connected them as children can still be their glue as adults.
WAR FACE
Mitchell Lafortune
A female U.S. Army Special Agent is sent to a remote, all-male outpost in Afghanistan to investigate accusations of war crimes. But when a series of mysterious events jeopardize her mission and the unit’s sanity, she must find the courage to survive something far more sinister.
THE WOMEN OF ROUTE 40
Erin Kathleen
A struggling single mother must confront dangerous forces — and sins of her past — when her world collides with that of a serial killer. Inspired by the true story of Delaware’s only serial murderer, the Route 40 killer.
YOM KIPPUR
Brett Melnick
After getting high on the night of Yom Kippur, three distant cousins wake up with muddled minds and empty stomachs as they find themselves in the middle of a kidnapping and a major drug ring.
Here is the video of the 2020 Black List rollout which took place live via Vanity Fair. It features hosts Desus & Mero with special appearances by the most recent Oscar winning screenwriters: Taika Waititi and Bong Joon-ho.
I will have stats and analysis of this year’s Black List later on this week, but what trends do YOU see? It’s an interesting way to interpret what Hollywood movers and shakers are interested in at present.
Also this: It’s the return of the Black List Word Cloud Logline Challenge! Be on the lookout for that — with prizes!
You may download the official 2020 Annual Black List here. | https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/2020-black-list-1d22c21c6f74 | ['Scott Myers'] | 2020-12-14 22:40:49.691000+00:00 | ['Screenwriting', 'Hollywood', 'Screenplay', 'Fiction', 'Writing'] |
Gather Data | When a Scrum Master facilitates a retrospective, “Gather data” has a promise to it:
“We’ll share relevant data with the whole group. Make it the best you can and want. We can and will help and/or support you within our accountabilities inside the organization. We’ll still ask before taking action and will only make proposals for the next steps for you to decide on.”
Should that sound strange, this article might be for you.
Some definitions first: We’re not really aiming at data but information and actions based on the information. Information will be generated in Phase 3 — Generate Insights. The difference between data and information would be, that data is unorganized and without context, but the information is structured, and context-relevant.
Information equals power in all known organizational forms
Wolf Pack: How strong/weak is the enemy, where can I find food…
Mafia: Who killed whom, who slept with whom, who took something which they had no right to, who has the godfather a soft sport for, which policemen are corrupt,…
Military: How strong is the enemy, where are their hidden bases,…
Enterprise (Classic): When is the position to be filled, what are my colleagues earning,…
Enterprise (Value Stream): How to improve, how to generate more ROI (Return on Invest), how to please the customer…
Enterprise (Knowledge Work): Even in a modern sharing culture the employee sharing the information has the final say on when, how, and in what format. This also equals power in my opinion. | https://medium.com/serious-scrum/gather-data-4eadef1ca38d | ['Dirk Fabricius'] | 2020-12-19 10:39:32.962000+00:00 | ['Serious Scrum', 'Scrum Master', 'Gather Data', 'Agile Retrospective', 'Scrum'] |
The Strange collection | Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
There was some sound coming from the trash bin. It’d been drizzling here. The breeze was blowing, hitting my face gently. I was fixated on one place as I didn’t want to face the unknown that may pop out of the trash bin.
It was a Saturday night. There was no one in the streets. I was in the part of the city where alleys would be generally quiet. The drizzling was giving me chilling vibes, and the hissing sound had already thrilled me to let out a gasp.
I went near it. The dustbin was shaking as if someone was jiggling it. I didn’t know how would I cross this street? This was a kind of test for me to pass. I gathered courage, somehow, to get past it. But the moment my frightful slender body, which was now wet with the sweat and drizzling, came near it, it threw itself to the high up touching the window of the second floor.
I jumped out of the shock. It was a person with long thick dark- black hair. I couldn’t see her eyes as they were covered under her hair. She was just standing there as if she was waiting for me to go.
I couldn’t decide whether I should run away or find out what she was doing. The latter seemed more interesting to me. She got busy searching for something in the corner. I just couldn’t work out what it was that she was searching for? She put the dustbin in its place then tossed something inside it. After a while, her head turned towards me. She came closer and gazed at me as if I was a celebrity. I did nothing. What else could I do other than playing a mannequin for this strange character? She kept gazing at me for few seconds, then suddenly she turned back and ran to the other street. My eyes were stuck on her until she vanished from my sight.
I brought myself to awareness and started striding to my room as the rain was getting heavier. I finally reached my doorstep. By now, the rain was pounding the virgin mother earth. I twitched the keys out of my back pocket. I plunged the key in the keyhole with clumsy hands which was shivering out of the cold. The door opened with the hush sound. Finally, I got to enter my room.
The room was quite average in size. With no special decorations whatsoever. There was a moderate size poster of Megan Fox on the wall adjacent to the bed. Besides that, there was a poster of Alexandra Daddario in a bikini. Sometimes when I get bored at night, I would fantasize about Megan and Alexandra pleasuring each other in position 69.
Soon, I realized that I was wet completely. Not because of thinking of Megan and Alexandra but rain. I got myself out of all the wet clothes. I needed a hot shower more than ever. I stood under the shower rubbing myself gently and cleaning my body. It was therapeutic. I meticulously cleaned my dick and balls with the branded body shampoo that I had bought recently.
Coming out of the shower, I put on my grey shirt and jockey underpants. I plopped myself into bed and fell asleep soon.
At midnight, I was awakened by some strange sound coming from my window. It seemed someone was trying to open the window from outside. I pulled my body to the corner of the bed, sitting with legs tugged together on the chest. I could feel my breath passing through my nostrils and going down to my belly button. The window was finally opened with a thud sound. The set of tapering fingers clenched tightly on the base of the window appeared first. A head emerged from the window, and finally, a whole person entered the room. It was a woman.
I was terrified as fuck. My fear only elevated more when I saw a man entered the room through the window soon after her. I couldn’t decipher what was happening to me. First, encounter with that weird girl on the street, now these two intruders. They might be thieves.
The girl looked like she was in her mid-20s. She had short black hair which reached down to her ears. She was tall with high cheekbones and a well-aligned symmetrical face. Her toned athletic thighs screamed that she works out regularly. She also had a great jaw shape implying that she might be great at giving head.
The Man was also tall with toned biceps and a broad chest, though he had no beard, not even a single hair on his face.
Before I could shout for help, the girl said, “Hey chill out. We are not here to harm you. We just need a space for a while then we’ll push off. I hope you don’t mind us staying here for a bit.
She didn’t even wait for my approval and sat on my bed. Soon, that guy also followed her and sat beside her.
“Thanks for your help. You are a kind person,” the girl gushed.
I got off my bed, pulling my body together. “May I know, what’s the urgency you guys had that you barged into a stranger’s room and that too, through the window?” I asked hesitantly.
The girl smiled at me. “Because we need to complete a task that couldn’t be done without your help,” she grinned.
“What kind of task? I am not gonna do it if it’s risky or illegal,” I squeaked.
“Oh don’t worry, You’ll love it,” she winked.
The man was silent all the time when we two were having these weird-ass conversations. He was drowned in his thoughts completely oblivious to the surrounding.
“Btw my name is Valeria and he is Marcus. What’s yours?”
“I am Sameer,” I replied.
“Ohh Indian you are. I knew that at the first glance of yours. What brought you here in Belfast?”
“I am here for work, only for a few months. And, you are Spanish, right?”
“How did you guess that? Is it my accent? I should work on my accent, my accent is pretty thick.”
“Yes, it’s your accent. But, you shouldn’t change it. It sounds, if I may use that word, quite hot, to be honest,” I blushed.
“Looks like I’ve found one more admirer of Spanish accent tonight.”
“It seems I am not the first one to compliment on your sexy accent”
“Of course,” she laughed.
She looked so full of life when she laughed. Her laugh was so contagious that it dissipated all the fear that I had and lightened up the vibes of the room.
We talked for few more minutes when she asked, “Actually I am tired. Could I catch a few winks with my partner here, if you have no problem?”
“Of course. You don’t need to ask that. I’ll sleep on the couch. You two can rest here without any worries.”
“Thanks. That’s so sweet of you,” she grinned.
I went to the couch and lied down there. I tried sleeping but failed. I couldn’t keep myself from thinking about Valeria. I was hypnotized by her big brown eyes. But, I didn’t have any chance with her. She already had a boyfriend who she was sleeping with on my bed.
I lifted my head a bit to see if they’d slept. But my jaw was dropped on the dirty floor of my room when I saw that those two were making out passionately sitting cross-legged on my bed. Valeria’s hands were clasped behind Marcus’s head pushing his head towards her. They both were eating each other’s mouth out and slurping off each other’s saliva.
I immediately got aroused by this sight. I started touching my dick underneath my shorts. Soon, my dick was rock hard. By the motions of those two, it was clear that they were not gonna stop anytime soon. I just couldn’t move my eyes from them; at the same time, I had to make sure that they didn’t know that someone was looking at them.
Now, Marcus was running his tongue on her delicate neck. She let out a gasp as she felt his wet tongue trying to sneak in her cleavage. She removed her bra to give him the complete exposure to gush out on her wiggly tits. Her tits were firmed, perky, and her pink-brown nipples were explicitly screaming how aroused she was. Marcus held her left boobs with his right hand, her nipple tugged tightly between his thumb and index finger. He started squeezing her nipple roughly which earned him a sensual moan from her. Her other boob was being sucked out. She rolled her eyes experiencing the bombardment of sensory pleasure bludgeoned on both of her tits.
Marcus left her tits free from his strong grasp, trailing his hand down there between her thighs from above her panties. He started rubbing her clitoris; Valeria was moaning in ecstasy now. Suddenly, Marcus stopped, now it’s Valeria’s turn to pleasure him. She pulled his pants and underpants in one go and went directly for his saggy hanging balls. She groped his balls with her long tapered fingers. She was caressing his balls gently, fondling each of them one by one. She grabbed his tight ass-cheeks with her other hand, giving a light pat.
Viewing all this vicariously, I had forgotten that I was in the same room. I was jacking off vigorously, which resulted in them noticing me doing that. It was Valeria who noticed that I was jacking off to them. She jumped out of the bed and strode towards me.
“Hey, no need to hide anymore. I saw what you were doing.”
“I am extremely sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I think I should go to another room.”
“No need to do that. It is fine.”
After saying that, she leaned down to the level of the sofa and locked her lips on mine. It happened so abruptly that I didn’t even get a chance to react. Before I could realize it, she was sucking my lips fiercely, with my lower lip between her two juicy lips. I made my move and cupped her left boob with my right hand. It filled my palm. I was loving the squishiness of it on my hand. She took the bottom of my t-shirt and pulled it all up, only to throw it off on the sofa.
She took one of my hands and led me to the bed where Marcus was sitting, watching us enthusiastically. She clasped her one hand behind Marcus’s hand, pulled him, and started kissing him passionately again. With another hand, she pulled my pants and then underpants down to my ankles. Now I was completely naked with my dick throbbing by the sensual touch of Valeria’s hand.
The way she was trailing her hands on my shaft and the balls was enough to make me out for breath. After a while, all three of us got off the bed, me and Marcus standing holding our dicks, and Valeria was down on the floor. She grabbed each of our dicks using her both hands and began jerking off them simultaneously. Marcus and I were having the time of our lives together.
While she was jerking me off, she was pulling me towards her. The same thing, she was doing to Marcus also. After a while, she pulled us so close that mine and Marcus’s dick were touching each other’s as she was jacking them. She was rubbing our dicks against each other. At first, I get startled by this sudden move, but then I surrendered myself to the flow. She started rubbing my foreskin against his. When one of us would about to come, we would inform her beforehand and she would stop wanking us. She didn’t want any of us to cum early.
After another round of rest, she began to wank us again. This time, she was pulling me down to her. Then the time came when I was completely down, sitting with her on the floor, with Marcus’s dick right next to my face. The next thing she did was indeed shocking to me. She placed her hand behind my hand and pushed me forward towards Marcus’s phallus. I got reluctant and moved my head in the opposite direction, but she was strong, she didn’t let me move my head. And finally, she succeeded to push my mouth on his dick. Now, my lips were rubbing against the side of his dick. I was trying my best to keep my lips closed as tightly as possible.
“Aww, why are you not opening your mouth. Don’t you wanna suck his sexy big dick? Come on, be a good boy and open your mouth.” she said with a big smile on her face.
I shook my head in refusal. I was not gonna suck a dick, no matter what.
“Please for me,” she requested in her sensuous voice.
It was so hard to refuse to her after hearing her request in such a sexy voice. But I was adamant. I was not gonna give up on any alluring smile.
Seeing that I was not gonna give up, she held my balls and squeezed them so hard that I gasped out with pain, and at that exact moment, she pushed my head more, and now Marcus’ penis tip was inside my mouth. Valeria pushed my head more, causing me to suck his dick deeper. Now, she was wriggling my head back and forth, making me give him a blowjob like a professional cocksucker.
I was sucking his dick quite rapidly after a while. At first, I was hating it, but after a while, I wouldn’t say I began to love it but got okay with it certainly. Valeria was looking at us with great enthusiasm and encouraging me to suck it more passionately. It seemed like she was the one who was enjoying watching the two of us, even more than Marcus himself.
This goes for a while. I was now running my mouth up and down all the way through his shaft. Marcus started groaning now.
“It looks like he is about to come soon. Please don’t stop doing it,” she requested.
I did what she said. I didn’t stop. After a minute or two, he started grunting more vehemently. His body was jolting with the anticipation of the flood that was going to arrive soon. At last, I felt the violent gush of warm fluid splashing over my mouth roof. I felt the three more impetuous fluid rush ran all the way down to the back of my throat. To be honest it didn’t taste that bad. It was a little salty. I ran to the sink to spit out all the cum. When I came back, Both of them had put on their clothes back. She asked to put my clothes back too. I was disappointed. I was hoping to fuck her, but she ruined this dream of mine.
She asked me to bring 3 glasses as she wanted to serve a drink to both of us. I brought them. Then, we had that weird drink together. After having the drink, Marcus said that he was feeling a little dizzy and wanted to take a nap.
He fell into a deep sleep quickly. When he was asleep, Valeria took out a sharp knife from her side-bag. She stripped Marcus naked again, took his dick in one hand, and started cutting it with the knife.
“Have you gone crazy? You know what are you doing. Just stop now for fuck sake,” I shouted.
“ sshhhh. Don’t make noise. Let me do my work. If you disturb me again, the next target would be your dick.” she warned me with a big cruel smile.
She began to plunge the knife with more strength, but it was taking more time. So, she held the dick straight, making it stand vertically at a 90-degree angle, and struck the knife swiftly on his dick like a Ninja. The stream of blood spurt out from his genitals like a water fountain. She chopped it in one go. Marcus didn’t budge a bit. She took his slashed dick and put it inside a plastic bag which was already filled with few chopped dicks. It has all kinds of dicks, black, brown, and white. They have one thing in common, they all are bigger than average in size.
After popping the dick plastic bag inside her side-began, she stood to move. “Where are you going? Who would deal with him after he wakes up?”
“Hahaha. He won’t wake up. He is already dead,” she said that in her most matter-of-fact tone.
“ What!!! you killed him. What did you mix in his drink? And who would deal with his corpse? I am gonna call the police. You can’t escape like this.”
“Do whatever you want. But remember, no one will believe your story. If you call the police, you will get engulfed in court cases. Nothing will happen to me. You will only harm yourself. So, better use your brain to dump this corpse instead of doing something foolish.”
Then she shut the door and soon vanished from that place. I had no other choice than to dump this corpse. I tied both of his ankles together to the back of his head and the same thing I did with his hands. By tying him like this, it made a circular shape like he was in a yoga position. And because of this, his body took lesser space to fit in a big black garbage dump bag. I tossed the body inside that bag and dragged it all the way to a silent area where I can easily toss him into a mega trash bin.
When I was dumping the bag that had the corpse, I found myself being stared at by a girl who was looking at me with a frightened face. She might be wondering what I was looking for in a trash bin in this hour of the night. I said nothing to her. Instead, I stared back at her for a few seconds then I ran towards my street as quickly as possible. | https://medium.com/@ryan007/the-strange-collection-4ac6c3a20ae3 | [] | 2021-09-14 12:30:26.475000+00:00 | ['Erotica', 'Horror', 'Fiction', 'Suspense'] |
[Watch HD] Promising Young Woman (2020) Full Movie Online Streaming | A young woman haunted by a tragedy in her past takes revenge on the predatory men unlucky enough to cross her path.
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Watch Promising Young Woman (2020) : Full Movie Online Free A young woman haunted by a tragedy in her past takes revenge on the predatory men unlucky enough to cross her path.
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Its somewhat ironic that a movie about time travel can’t be reviewed properly until your future self rewatches the movie.
It’s bold of Nolan to make such a thoroughly dense blockbuster. He assumes people will actually want to see Promising Young Woman more than once so they can understand it properly, which some may not. This movie makes the chronology of Inception look as simplistic as tic-tac-toe.
Ergo, it’s hard for me to give an accurate rating, without having seen it twice, as I’m still trying to figure out whether everything does indeed make sense. If it does, this movie is easily a 9 or 10. If it doesn’t, it’s a 6.
It’s further not helped by the fact that the dialogue in the first 15 minutes of the movie is painfully hard to understand / hear. Either they were behind masks; they were practically mumbling; the sound effects were too loud; or all of the above. The exposition scenes are also waayyy too brief for something this complex — a problem also shared with Interstellar actually.
(Interstellar had this minimalist exposition problem explaining Blight, where if you weren’t careful, you’d miss this one sentence / scene in the entire movie explaining that Blight was a viral bacteria:
“Earth’s atmosphere is 80% nitrogen, we don’t even breathe nitrogen. Blight does, and as it thrives, our air gets less and less oxygen”).
I guess it’s a Nolan quirk. Hopefully, a revision of the film audio sorts the sound mixing out. I do like the soundtrack, but it’s too loud initially.
I liked all the actors. You think John Washington can’t act at first, but he can, and he grows on you as the film progresses. And Pattinson is his usual charming self. Elizabeth is a surprise treat. And so on.
Its worth a watch either way. See it with subtitles if you can. And definitely don’t expect to fully understand whats going on the first time around.
Its one hell of a complicated film. It will be very hard for an average viewer to gather all the information provided by this movie at the first watch. But the more you watch it, more hidden elements will come to light. And when you are able to put these hidden elements together. You will realize that this movie is just a “masterpiece” which takes the legacy of Christopher Nolan Forward
If I talk about acting, Then I have to say that Robert Pattinson has really proved himself as a very good actor in these recent years. And I am sure his acting skills will increase with time. His performance is charming and very smooth. Whenever he is on the camera, he steals the focus John David Washington is also fantastic in this movie. His performance is electrifying, I hope to see more from him in the future. Other characters such as Kenneth Branagh, Elizabeth, Himesh Patel, Dimple Kapadia, Clémence Poésy have also done quite well. And I dont think there is a need to talk about Michael Caine
Talking about Music, its awesome. I dont think you will miss Hans Zimmer’s score. Ludwig has done a sufficient job. There is no lack of good score in the movie
Gotta love the editing and post production which has been put into this movie. I think its fair to say this Nolan film has focused more in its post production. The main problem in the movie is the sound mixing. Plot is already complex and some dialogues are very soft due to the high music score. It makes it harder to realize what is going on in the movie. Other Nolan movies had loud BGM too. But Audio and dialogues weren’t a problem
My humble request to everyone is to please let the movie sink in your thoughts. Let your mind grasp all the elements of this movie. I am sure more people will find it better. Even those who think they got the plot. I can bet they are wrong.
Promising Young Woman is the long awaited new movie from Christopher Nolan. The movie that’s set to reboot the multiplexes post-Covid. It’s a manic, extremely loud, extremely baffling sci-fi cum spy rollercoaster that will please a lot of Nolan fan-boys but which left me with very mixed views.
John David Washington (Denzel’s lad) plays “The Protagonist” — a crack-CIA field operative who is an unstoppable one-man army in the style of Hobbs or Shaw. Recruited into an even more shadowy organisation, he’s on the trail of an international arms dealer, Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh in full villain mode). Sator is bullying his estranged wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki) over custody of their son (and the film unusually has a BBFC warning about “Domestic Abuse”). Our hero jets the world to try to prevent a very particular kind of Armageddon while also keeping the vulnerable and attractive Kat alive.
This is cinema at its biggest and boldest. Nolan has taken a cinema ‘splurge’ gun, filled it with money, set it on rapid fire, removed the safety and let rip at the screen. Given that Nolan is famous for doing all of his ‘effects’ for real and ‘in camera’, some of what you see performed is almost unbelievable. You thought crashing a train through rush-hour traffic in “Inception” was crazy? You ain’t seen nothing yet with the airport scene! And for lovers of Chinooks (I must admit I am one and rush out of the house to see one if I hear it coming!) there is positively Chinook-p*rn on offer in the film’s ridiculously huge finale.
The ‘inversion’ aspects of the story also lends itself to some fight scenes — one in particular in an airport ‘freeport’ — which are both bizarre to watch and, I imagine, technically extremely challenging to pull off. In this regard John David Washington is an acrobatic and talented stunt performer in his own right, and must have trained for months for this role.
Nolan’s crew also certainly racked up their air miles pre-lockdown, since the locations range far and wide across the world. The locations encompassed Denmark, Estonia, India, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and United States. Hoyte Van Hoytema’s cinematography is lush in introducing these, especially the beautiful Italian coast scenes. Although I did miss the David Arnold strings that would typically introduce these in a Bond movie: it felt like that was missing.
The ‘timey-wimey’ aspects of the plot are also intriguing and very cleverly done. There are numerous points at which you think “Oh, that’s a sloppy continuity error” or “Shame the production design team missed that cracked wing mirror”. Then later in the movie, you get at least a dozen “Aha!” moments. Some of them (no spoilers) are jaw-droppingly spectacular.
Perhaps the best twist is hidden in the final line of the movie. I only processed it on the way home.
And so to the first of my significant gripes with Promising Young Woman. The sound mix in the movie is all over the place. I’d go stronger than that… it’s truly awful (expletive deleted)! Nolan often implements Shakespeare’s trick of having characters in the play provide exposition of the plot to aid comprehension. But unfortunately, all of this exposition dialogue was largely incomprehensible. This was due to:
the ear-splitting volume of the sound: 2020 movie audiences are going to be suffering from ‘Promising Young Womanis’! (LOL);
the dialogue is poorly mixed with the thumping music by Ludwig Göransson (Wot? No Hans Zimmer?);
a large proportion of the dialogue was through masks of varying description (#covid-appropriate). Aaron Taylor-Johnson was particularly unintelligible to my ears.
Overall, watching this with subtitles at a special showing might be advisable!
OK, so I only have a PhD in Physics… but at times I was completely lost as to the intricacies of the plot. It made “Inception” look like “The Tiger Who Came to Tea”. There was an obvious ‘McGuffin’ in “Inception” — — (“These ‘dream levels’… how exactly are they architected??”…. “Don’t worry… they’ll never notice”. And we didn’t!) In “Promising Young Woman” there are McGuffins nested in McGuffins. So much of this is casually waved away as “future stuff… you’re not qualified” that it feels vaguely condescending to the audience. At one point Sator says to Kat “You don’t know what’s going on, do you?” and she shakes her head blankly. We’re right with you there luv!
There are also gaps in the storyline that jar. The word “Promising Young Woman”? What does it mean. Is it just a password? I’m none the wiser.
The manic pace of Promising Young Woman and the constant din means that the movie gallops along like a series of disconnected (albeit brilliant) action set pieces. For me, it has none of the emotional heart of the Cobb’s marriage problems from “Inception” or the father/daughter separation of “Interstellar”. In fact, you barely care for anyone in the movie, perhaps with the exception of Kat.
It’s a talented cast. As mentioned above, John David Washington is muscular and athletic in the role. It’s a big load for the actor to carry in such a tent-pole movie, given his only significant starring role before was in the excellent BlacKkKlansman. But he carries it off well. A worthy successor to Gerard Butler and Jason Statham for action roles in the next 10 years.
This is also a great performance by Robert Pattinson, in his most high-profile film in a long time, playing the vaguely alcoholic and Carré-esque support guy. Pattinson’s Potter co-star Clemence Poésy also pops up — rather more un-glam that usual — as the scientist plot-expositor early in the movie.
Nolan’s regular Michael Caine also pops up. although the 87-year old legend is starting to show his age: His speech was obviously affected at the time of filming (though nice try Mr Nolan in trying to disguise that with a mouth full of food!). But in my book, any amount of Caine in a movie is a plus. He also gets to deliver the best killer line in the film about snobbery!
However, it’s Kenneth Branagh and Elizabeth Debicki that really stand out. They were both fabulous, especially when they were bouncing off each other in their marital battle royale.
So, given this was my most anticipated movie of the year, it’s a bit of a curate’s egg for me. A mixture of being awe-struck at times and slightly disappointed at others. It’s a movie which needs a second watch, so I’m heading back today to give my ear drums another bashing! And this is one where I reserve the right to revisit my rating after that second watch… it’s not likely to go down… but it might go up.
(For the full graphical review, check out One Mann’s Movies on t’interweb and Facebook. Thanks.)
As this will be non-spoiler, I can’t say too much about the story. However, what I can is this: Promising Young Woman’s story is quite dynamic in the sense that you won’t understand it till it wants you to. So, for the first half, your brain is fighting for hints and pieces to puzzle together the story. It isn’t until halfway through the movie that Promising Young Woman invites you to the fantastic storytelling by Christopher Nolan.
Acting is beyond phenomenal, and I’d be genuinely surprised if neither Robert Pattinson nor John David Washington doesn’t receive an Oscar nomination for best actor. It’s also hard not to mention how good Elizabeth Debicki and Aaron Johnson both are. All around, great acting, and the dialogue amps up the quality of the movie.
The idea of this movie is damn fascinating, and while there are films that explore time-travelling, there’s never been anything quite like this. It has such a beautiful charm and for the most part, explains everything thoroughly. It feels so much more complex than any form of time-travelling we’ve seen, and no less could’ve been expected from Nolan.
Oh my lord, the score for this film fits so perfectly. Every scene that’s meant to feel intense was amped by a hundred because of how good the score was. Let me just say though, none of them will be found iconic, but they fit the story and scenes so well.
In the end, I walked out, feeling very satisfied. Nevertheless, I do have issues with the film that I cannot really express without spoiling bits of the story. There are definitely little inconsistencies that I found myself uncovering as the story progressed. However, I only had one issue that I found impacted my enjoyment. That issue was understanding some of the dialogue. No, not in the sense that the movie is too complicated, but more that it was hard to make out was being said at times. It felt like the movie required subtitles, but that probably was because, at a time in the film, there was far too much exposition.
Nevertheless, I loved this film, I’ll be watching it at least two more times, and I think most of you in this group will enjoy it. I definitely suggest watching it in theatres if possible, just so you can get that excitement.
(4/5) & (8.5/10) for those that care about number scores.
At first, I want to ask Christopher Nolan one question, HOW THE HELL YOU DID THIS? Seriously I want to have an answer, How did he write such as this masterpiece! How did he get this complicated, fabulous and creative idea? What is going on in his mind? The story is written and directed perfectly, the narration style was absolutely unique. I have no idea how can anyone direct such as this story, that was a huge challenge, and as usual Nolan gave us a masterpiece that we’ll put beside (Memento), (Inception) and (Interstellar) The movie is so fast-paced in a good way, there was no boring moment. The chemistry between John David Washington and Robert Pattinson was great and funny and both of their performance was really good. Elizabeth Debicki performance was the best in the movie because she had the chance to show her acting abilities and she cached up that chance and showed us an A level acting.
The music wasn’t unique and distinct as the music of Interstellar for example and I think this movie needed the touch of Hans Zimmer, I’m not saying that Ludwig Göransson failed but Hans Zimmer in another level.
If there was something I’d say that I didn’t like it in the movie would it be that Nolan discarded any set up or characters backgrounds except Elizabeth Debicki dramatic story but it wasn’t that bad for me, I didn’t care about that, the exciting story didn’t give me the chance to focus on it. But the actual problem was the third act, it was really complicated and I got lost and I convinced myself to discard the questions that were in my head and enjoy the well-made action sequences and Elizabeth Debicki performance.
I think this kind of movie that gets better with a second and third watch.
I honestly don’t quite know where to begin with Promising Young Woman. I love Christopher Nolan’s work but I have never seen a more complicated film (and I understood Memento). After nearly three hours, I came away from Promising Young Woman not knowing myself, my mind reduced to nothing more than piles of ash.
Was there time travel involved? Hmm, there was definitely something about time inversion. I mean, does Nolan even understand what he wrote? Look, I give credit to the director because he’s one of the few directors left who knows how to create a compelling and intelligent blockbuster. Promising Young Woman is full of Nolan trademarks — the gratuitous Michael Caine cameo, a loud, really loud score, complete with stunning cinematography and slickly inventive action set-pieces.
This time around however, Nolan has finally managed to ‘out-Nolan’ himself: the palindromic plot, whilst creatively ambitious, is simply far too complicated for its own good. Promising Young Woman is overlong, overstuffed, pretentious and too exhausting to comprehend in its entirety — it makes Inception and Interstellar look like Peppa Pig by comparison.
I’m aware of the technical wizardry and creative mastery in this film and lord knows I’ll have to watch this again. For those who want a puzzle, Promising Young Woman at least provides a unique cinematic experience. But to actually enjoy solving it Nolan wants you to work very very hard | https://medium.com/@nfdoqibl/watch-promising-young-woman-full-2020-pelicula-streaming-online-56eeb67fe739 | [] | 2020-12-23 01:59:36.648000+00:00 | ['Drama', 'Crime', 'Movies', 'Comedy', 'Thriller'] |
An Evening With the Hearts | It wasn’t just the Rolling Stones who attended a pedestrian gig I played back in my youth to pay the rent. Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart came to one of my rent-paying jobs as well — proving that you never know who you’re going to run into and where.
As a young road warrior back in my 20’s, I almost always managed to find some work to escape the city and its heat. I didn’t really care whether the band, music, or even pay was to my liking. I just wanted out and would take anything that came my way.
As such, I spent the summer of ‘77 touring with the Shirelles (which was actually about the best summer employment I found during that period), playing 29 nights just in August alone! Six of those dates were at the Atlanta Hyatt, a brand new downtown hotel (complete with a breathtaking atrium). This was by far our fanciest gig on the run — what with playing in the Showcase of the South — and in the city’s flashiest venue. Accordingly, we performed low-volume and clad in tuxes for the Southern gentry those six nights.
At the time, there were a couple of sisters tearing it up in the rock world — a band called Heart — playing at the Omni (the city’s sports arena) while we were in Atlanta.
As aficionados of Herbie Hancock and everything funky, jazzy, and syncopated, the guys (including me) knew almost nothing about the band staying in the suite on the top floor of the hotel. Except they were bigger than we were because they had the suite — and we didn’t!
Well…as fate would have it…the Omni was blacked out one night and Heart couldn’t perform their concert. So where did they end up for the evening? Watching the Shirelles in the hotel lounge.
While the previous audiences had been demure and civilized, Heart (or should I say the girls) were rock and roll raucous. Clearly, the Wilsons were rebels with a cause. And that cause was to party hearty in a faux sophisticated environment. Oddly, while the girls carried on as if they were male rock stars, the guys sat still almost like any politically incorrect move might get them fired.
Anyway, the Shirelles always held a q & a session after “Soldier Boy.” And when Ann shouted out “y’all get a lot of groupies?”…Doris (one of the Shirelles) acknowledged their rock stature by telling the audience
“Tonight, we have the pleasure of performing for ‘THE HEARTS.’”
Ouch! So much for the girls’ rock stardom. To their credit, Heart barely grimaced as I guess they weren’t really expecting some oldies group from 10 years before to understand how popular they were.
Curious about the act who’d come to see us play, I came to discover after our tour was over that they were (and are) huge talents. In fact, I became a big fan and am to this day. Their songs contain timeless melodies delivered in a genre (rock) that isn’t always that melodic! And Ann has a voice for the ages.
Looking back on the two times I “gigged’ anonymously to pay the rent, only to find myself performing for superstars, I wonder why I didn’t approach those million-selling artists on either occasion.
With the Stones, I almost get why I ran away. The band and I sounded horrible. It wasn’t exactly the showcase with which to impress rock and roll icons. But with Heart…my friends and I had been backing the Shirelles every night for a month and knew the show cold. We were rehearsed and tight. And we had nothing to be ashamed of.
But for whatever reason, none of the guys in the band I was in approached the girls or their backup musicians during that week. And that’s really too bad because as I said, I became a big fan of the Wilson sisters.
Oh well! Another opportunity wasted. The story of my life, apparently. But to be truthful…not entirely. Like that very night, I did have really good sex with the blond waitress at the club in the Hyatt! | https://medium.com/my-life-on-the-road/an-evening-with-the-hearts-da0a8d7affb2 | ['William', 'Dollar Bill'] | 2020-10-28 20:56:31.732000+00:00 | ['Inspiration', 'Music Business', 'Music', 'Travel', 'Culture'] |
Murderer or Mentally Ill Victim | Murderer or Mentally Ill Victim
In Trump’s final months in office, Lisa Montgomery — a mentally ill victim of sex trafficking, mental, physical and sexual abuse — is the first woman the U.S. will execute in 7 decades. Megan Benson Follow Dec 27, 2020 · 7 min read
Photo provided by Attorneys for Lisa Montgomery / Reuters
In December 2004 Lisa Montgomery strangled Bobbie Jo Stinnett (8 months into her pregnancy), and cut her unborn child from her stomach with a kitchen knife.
Lisa Montgomery is scheduled to be executed on January 12, 2021, if the execution moves forward Lisa will be the first woman executed on federal death row in nearly 70 years. Her execution originally was scheduled for December 8, 2020, however it was postponed due to her lawyers contracting Covid-19.
My question is, is she a murderer or a victim of severe abuse that the system is failing yet again. Is she another victim of Trump’s administration on a killing spree? There are many aspects of Lisa’s case that show she shouldn’t receive the death penalty as well as aspects that she should. I will let you decide.
How they met
According to the court documents provided in this case, Lisa and Bobbie Jo met at a dog show in April 2004. Both women were involved in the breeding of rat terriers and were acquainted through online message boards as they share a mutual interest in rat terriers.
In early spring 2004, Lisa began telling her friends, family, and online community that she was pregnant despite undergoing a tubal fulguration in 1990. This is where Lisa and Bobbie Jo connected since Bobbie Jo was pregnant with her first child. Lisa had told her husband (Kevin) that she was pregnant, and even starting wearing maternity clothes and acting pregnant. Kevin was unaware of the 1990 surgery, as she hadn’t met Kevin yet.
Using the alias Darlene Fischer, Lisa contacted Bobbie Jo on December 15, 2004, on a chat forum inquiring about puppies that she had available. They had set to meet the next evening to view the puppies available at Bobbie Jo’s home.
I have always been curious to know if Lisa knew Bobbie Jo was home alone or if it just happened to work out that way? Did she plan to kill her or did she see the opportunity when she arrived at her home.
The crime
The night of December 16, 2004, Lisa arrived at Bobbie Jo’s residence. After entering Bobbie Jo’s home, it is believed that Lisa strangled Bobbie Jo with a telephone cord causing her to become unconscious. She then used a kitchen knife to cut into Bobbie Jo’s abdomen, causing Bobbie Jo to regain consciousness. After a short struggle, Lisa strangled Bobbie Jo a second time, ultimately killing her. Lisa then cut the baby from Bobbie Jo’s body, cut the umbilical cord, and left with the baby in her car.
Lisa stopped a few blocks down the road and cleaned up the baby. After cleaning the baby with wipes, Lisa grabbed the car seat she had hidden in her trunk of her car and placed the baby in the seat. She would then call her husband to tell him that she had gone into labor and gave birth at a women’s clinic, she asked him to meet her there to take her home.
Kevin and Lisa returned home that night with the baby. Kevin had had no idea the baby was not his. Lisa had told her then husband, that she was pregnant and when she presented him with a baby, he truly believed it was their baby.
Bobbie Jo’s mother tried to call her later that evening, when she didn’t answer she drove to her house and find her in a puddle of blood. She called the police and said “it looked like my daughter's stomach has exploded”.
Lisa’s childhood
Lisa was sexually abused over a period of years by her stepfather, with abuse starting as early as 8 years old. He went as far as building a room on their trailer so him and his friends could go in the room and rape her without anyone noticing or disturbing them. Lisa would undergo mental, physical and sexual abuse for years, her mother too was aware. Her own mother sex trafficked Lisa to collect money on at least two occasions.
Lisa’s step-sister testified in support of Montgomery’s motion to vacate the death sentence: “As the oldest, I was the protector of Lisa and our baby sister. When Judy, Lisa’s mother and my stepmother, came to beat us, I stood between her and the younger girls and took the beating, whether it was belts, cords or hangers. We lived in a house of horrors. Judy was an alcoholic with mental illness who married six times over the course of her life. There were always different men around the house. When I was around eight years old, and Lisa was about four, one of Judy’s male friends began coming into our room at night and regularly raping me, with Lisa in the next bed — close enough we could reach for each other and touch fingers”.
Lisa’s sister too was a victim of this abuse but was removed from the home when she was 8.
At 18, Judy pressured Lisa to marry her stepbrother. He would continue the cycle of abuse, rapes and beatings, which he sadistically videotaped.
Trial and Aftermath
The prosecution’s expert, Dr. Dietz ultimately testified that “It’s my opinion, with reasonable medical certainty, that at the time of the charged offenses the defendant did not suffer from any mental disease or defect, that affected her ability to appreciate the nature and quality of wrongfulness of her acts. It is my opinion with reasonable medical certainty that the defendant was entirely capable of appreciating that she was engaged in a lengthy and elaborate plan designed to kill Bobbie Jo Stinnett at a stage of advanced pregnancy, to successfully conduct a Cesarean section on her first attempt and to kidnap a healthy infant she could present to the world as her own”.
Ultimately, Bobbie Jo’s death was determined to be premeditated.
Experts who examined Lisa after her conviction concluded that by the time of her crime she had long been living with psychosis, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorders. She was said to be often disassociated from reality and to have permanent brain damage from numerous beatings at the hands of her parents and spouses. | https://medium.com/equality-includes-you/murderer-or-mentally-ill-victim-5abf232334a8 | ['Megan Benson'] | 2021-01-13 18:36:03.442000+00:00 | ['Victims', 'Trump Administration', 'Trump', 'Murder', 'Death Penalty'] |
Another home run, Joel. | Permanent American expat. Personal growth junkie. Spiritual activist. Enthusiastic hiker. Cheerleader for the best in you, and me. More at http://bit.ly/3aBjVOq | https://medium.com/@namasteevents/another-home-run-joel-d201513d7cf6 | ['Bob Wuest'] | 2020-12-20 02:40:55.932000+00:00 | ['Wisdom', 'Health', 'Body', 'Self', 'Wellbeing'] |
Are you a challenging employee? | And three reasons why that’s not a bad thing.
Photo by Unsplash
Has your boss ever gotten *that tone* with you for pushing back on things you don’t agree with?
Do you ask a lot of specific and detailed questions about your assigned tasks?
Do you have a history of reworking projects with major blind spots?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, I have some news for you. You are a challenging employee. Before you stop reading, let me tell you that you are the best type of challenging. | https://medium.com/@angelasheahan/are-you-a-challenging-employee-22c5d99d7aea | ['Angela Sheahan'] | 2020-12-10 22:37:56.420000+00:00 | ['Reason', 'Employee Experience', 'Trust', 'Self-awareness', 'Integrity'] |
Uloom al Quran | Ever wondered what are the different Qiraat of Quran? Curious about how the Quranic text was compiled? Who gathered the whole Quran in one mushaf for the first time?
Uloom al Quran by Mufti Taqi Uthmani of Karachi is a very good book for a beginner student of Quran which answers all of the above questions and many more.
Although the book packs a lot of research, the simple writing style makes it easy and light to read.
Originally written in Urdu, this book has been translated in English and can be found at any book store which stocks Pakistani Islamic books. | https://medium.com/from-my-bookshelf/uloom-al-quran-3576397a001d | ['The Niqabi Coder Mum'] | 2016-08-30 14:45:44.736000+00:00 | ['Quran', 'Books', 'Islam'] |
The Trump Administration Is Preparing a Major Mistake on the INF Treaty | Written by Steven Pifer, a William J. Perry Fellow at FSI’s Center for International Security and Cooperation and Europe Center. This piece was originally published by the Brookings Institution.
Press reports indicate that National Security Advisor John Bolton wants the United States to withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and that he will inform the Russians of this when he visits Moscow October 22–23. Washington certainly has grounds for withdrawal: Russia is violating the agreement. But doing so now would be a mistake.
A treaty in trouble
Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed the INF Treaty, which banned all U.S. and Soviet land-based ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. The landmark agreement resulted in the destruction of nearly 2,700 missiles as well as their launchers and gave a boost to the broader U.S.-Soviet relationship as the Cold War wound down.
Concern about the treaty’s future arose in 2014, when the Obama administration charged Russia with violating the treaty by testing a prohibited ground-launched cruise missile of intermediate range. Trump administration officials in 2017 charged that Russia had begun deploying the missile, known as the 9M729.
The Obama administration and, at least initially, the Trump administration set the goal of bringing Russia back into compliance. In December 2017, Washington announced an “integrated strategy” to press Moscow to return to compliance.
So far, the strategy does not seem to have worked.
Bolton’s position comes as no surprise. He views arms control with disdain. He has long called for withdrawal from the INF Treaty, was a driving force behind the U.S. decision in 2001 to leave the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and opposed the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
Withdrawal now would be a mistake
Russia’s failure to correct the violation gives justifiable grounds for leaving the treaty. But is it the smart thing to do now?
U.S. withdrawal from the INF Treaty is a loser all around.
First, the United States will get the blame for killing the treaty. Moscow has vigorously denied the U.S. charge and claims the United States is in fact the one in violation. U.S. evidence of the Russian violation is highly classified, so the public debate will devolve into an exchange of charges, counter-charges, and denials. Given the low credibility of the Trump administration, Washington will have a hard time winning that debate.
Second, once the United States withdraws from the treaty, there is no reason for Russia to even pretend it is observing the limits. Moscow will be free to deploy the 9M729 cruise missile, and an intermediate-range ballistic missile if it wants, without any restraint.
Third, the U.S. decision will prove controversial with European allies and others who continue to see value in the treaty. It’s hard to feel too much sympathy; no European leader has raised a public stink with the Kremlin about the Russian violation, and there’s little to suggest the violation was protested much in private at high levels. Still, this is the kind of question where the U.S. position would benefit from alliance solidarity.
Fourth, the United States currently has no missile that it could quickly deploy to match the Russians. The “integrated strategy” included a treaty-compliant research and development program for a U.S. intermediate-range missile (development is allowed short of flight-testing), but it provided little money.
Even if the Pentagon were to build the missile, however, a big question remains: Where could the United States put it? An intermediate-range missile based in the United States cannot reach Russia, so it will not cause much alarm in the Kremlin. And it is unlikely that the United States could persuade NATO, Japan or South Korea to deploy it.
So, U.S. withdrawal from the INF Treaty is a loser all around. Russian officials probably are celebrating the news.
A smarter way forward
There is a smarter strategy that might have a chance of saving the treaty, or that at least would prepare the ground for a better withdrawal scenario.
First, Washington should press allies in Europe and Asia to have leaders raise the need to correct the Russian violation directly with President Vladimir Putin. They need to turn up the heat on Moscow on this problem.
Second, the U.S. military should take treaty-compliant steps now to offset the Russian violation. Such steps could include moving a large number of conventionally-armed Joint Air-to-Surface Strike Missiles to Europe, temporarily deploying B-1 bombers across the Atlantic as JASSM delivery platforms, and augmenting the number of conventionally-armed sea-launched cruise missiles on board U.S. warships in European waters.
Third, the intelligence community should prepare a presentation, which would require declassifying some information, regarding the Russian violation. If/when the United States withdraws from the treaty, it needs to make the case for why it did so.
The INF Treaty likely has entered its final days. That’s unfortunate. The Trump administration should make one last push, with the help of allies, to get Moscow back into compliance. And, if that fails, it should have ready a presentation that will win the inevitable fight over who killed the treaty. | https://medium.com/freeman-spogli-institute-for-international-studies/the-trump-administration-is-preparing-a-major-mistake-on-the-inf-treaty-d65021484da3 | ['Fsi Stanford'] | 2018-10-22 23:39:35.240000+00:00 | ['Fsi Features', 'Fsi Scholars', 'Nuclear Weapons', 'Russia', 'United States'] |
by Martino Pietropoli | First thing in the morning: a glass of water and a cartoon by The Fluxus.
Follow | https://medium.com/the-fluxus/saturday-partita-5-909ef103d9fb | ['Martino Pietropoli'] | 2018-10-06 09:28:56.243000+00:00 | ['Art', 'Saturday', 'Illustration', 'Graphics'] |
What Your Social Media Manager/Team Wants You to Know | Marketing Twitter is group therapy for social media/community managers and strategists. We cherish our jobs, projects, and clients, but face a lot of challenges as social media marketing is still perceived as new/easy/lowest on the food chain and easiest for other departments to demand things of.
I think the most important thing we want everyone to know and understand is that this is a real job — there are now degrees for it. A lot of us paved the way and created the best practices by suffering through trials, errors, and crises.
We are humans. We are a department. We spend every waking hour on the front lines of the business — one on one with consumers. We know what should and should not be posted on social, we create strategies, and yet, we often aren’t taken seriously.
A large portion of the marketing community helped me write this post, and the best way to fully relate to how we feel is:
I realize this post can come off pretty negative, but it’s our cry for understanding — help us help you. Understand who we are, what we do, and that we do much more than ‘play on our phones all day.’ And honestly, we’ve left a lot out.
I encourage any other profession to write something similar — we don’t know what we don’t know and we all want to be understood, respected, and appreciated.
MENTAL HEALTH
In addition to everything listed below, this job is hard. We are the first person your customers or followers come to when they are MAD about a product or service and personally attack the person behind the computer. The bacon didn’t taste right? Our fault. The shipment was delayed? Our fault. There is no grace, it is immediately our fault, we suck and we better fix it.
Please remember that we are on the front lines and no one knows your engaged audience better than we do.
We cry — physically and on the inside. We have anxiety. We never feel like we are enough for our teams, ourselves and our families.
We don’t get days off, even on ‘vacation’ we are always checking social media notifications, engaging with our fans, as well as email for any potential crisis. I was managing emails and communities while in labor at the hospital because maternity leave doesn’t start until the baby is born.
2020 has been the hardest on us. From waking up on the 1st day of the state shutdown, my birthday, to losing 3 clients, and having the remaining clients freaking out and demand the world — we’ve all been burnt out since April, and it’s not letting up, and is affecting our personal lives.
We know we do a good job, but we are rarely reassured. A simple ‘thanks’ or ‘you’re doing great’ goes a long way.
We need to be reminded/encouraged to take time for ourselves — tell us to go get a massage or cut out for a bit to go have a drink with friends. We won’t take a break because we dont feel like we’re ever allowed to.
THIS IS A REAL JOB
We aren’t assistants.
Social media isn’t a service department.
We need tools — for listening, creating, scheduling and reporting.
Social media deserves its own contract/department/budget and shouldn’t be tacked on to an existing scope or marketing role.
Relying exclusively on part-time workers, particularly those who are students, interns or new hires to create and post your social media copy/assets is inherently exploitative. It sets your social media team up for burnout and your marketing strategy up for collapse when this happens.
You can’t schedule creativity.
Social media is an entire job/career. Many of us do the work of 2+ people, including the design team. We should be paid and valued as such, if not higher as we work 7 days a week.
We are busy, we are swamped, we aren’t extras in the office to take on whatever you feel you don’t have time for.
We need human support, not fancy project management tools.
YOUR REQUESTS
Your brand does not have to be on every social network in existence — focus on the ones where your customers are, and that makes the most sense for your brand and message.
If you want thoughts or feedback on how to execute a campaign concept on social media, send the PDF at least 24 hours BEFORE we have a phone call so I can come prepared. Otherwise, we’re going to sit on Zoom and stare at each other for an hour.
We have to write for our audience, not our personal intelligence level. The average American’s reading level is that of a 12–14-year-olds.
Utilizing buzzwords in marketing offers makes my job harder to translate into human speak.
We only have a few seconds to grab peoples’ attention. Images and copy need to be clear and engaging.
We need a few days of turnaround time to properly execute social requests.
We can’t post fliers and PDFs.
You can’t make up a hashtag and expect people to use it.
Most of your demands require a budget to meet the KPIs you’re expecting (the KPIs you’ve set that don’t always make sense for social).
We can’t create a post until we have the proper creative assets, and most of the time we have to create those ourselves — rarely do we have a designer at our disposal.
The longer you take to approve a content calendar, the more likely we’ll have to reschedule posts.
Just because you want something posted doesn't mean it should be.
Links are not clickable in Instagram captions.
Hashtags aren’t cool / used on Twitter anymore.
There needs to be a healthy balance between planned content and spontaneous content. Most often, spontaneous content and engagement perform the best because it didn't go through 10 approval processes.
Not all content needs to align with some fluffy big picture mission, but it still needs to be thoughtful and have intent.
TRUST THE PROCESS
Every social media manager keeps a bank of rejected ideas (which in fact are the best ones) and they will continue to be resurfaced until they get approved.
Quality > quantity — this goes for content and followers. The number of followers is a vanity metric — we’d rather have huge engagement rates with awesome people than have 1 million unengaged followers. With that, we don’t need to post every day — we need to post when it makes sense and with really rich content!
Have patience and be realistic with follower goals. It takes time, and often budget, to build a real, engaged audience.
You don’t need to crush it on every social media channel. Own only one and break the noise consistently. You might be losing a lot of opportunities trying to conquer channels where your audience isn't.
You don’t need a social media account for every product or line of business.
If you’re going to create a social media strategy, you should probably loop in the social team first. Let’s create a plan, not just ‘throw something up’ on social.
Long term strategy can drive business impact, but one post probably won’t do anything.
It’s a lot more helpful to tell your social media manager your g oal with social media and let them bring the tactics to you, versus giving them a piece of content/hashtag/activation you think they should use. Don’t make your social media manager back into your strategy.
Social content is not free, even without paid promotion, content takes time, effort and creative resources — PAY FOR IT.
Every time you say ‘it’s just a post’ and forces your team to tweet something lame or off-brand, you’re taking an ax to their metrics (and mental health)
It’s not always about KPIs — in social, quality and time matter the most. Sure, we’ll play along with the vanity metrics you need, but you know who cares about those numbers? You. You know who cares about how many followers a page has? Just you (certainly not the fans).
ALWAYS ON
Social media is fast-paced so if we are asking a question, we need an answer right away.
If you want to hop on a trend (that makes sense) we need to do it ASAP — we don’t have time to take days to plan, shoot and execute — it needs to happen NOW.
We are expected (and gladly do so) to respond to emails as soon as they come through, no matter the day or time.
We are always there for our social communities — typically responding immediately.
We don’t get nights and weekends off.
We are customer service. Consumers come to us first — they don’t want to email an info@ email or call an 800 number — they want an easy to access human at their fingertips: us.
When your institution is trending on Twitter, using the phrase “it’s just social” doesn’t justify taking 3 days to give a Pro-forma response.
Protecting and navigating the brand and supporting your user base on social media through major periods of unrest (hello, 2020) is a workstream in and of itself, and it takes careful, strategic work and emotional labor.
PLANNING
We need to be included in the planning/strategy/brainstorming meetings. We should be advising you on the best way to use social in the campaign or project, not the other way around.
A LOT of time goes into planning a monthly content calendar. We spend a lot of time laying the calendar out, sourcing and creating the content, copywriting, and perfecting before it goes to you for approval. There isn’t much room for random ideas and new campaigns once it gets to you.
The stuff you don’t think includes me does, in fact, include me.
Content should align with your product/brand/philosophy. Do not jump on a trending topic just because it’s trending.
Know your audience and the relevancy of your post to them.
GoiNg viRaL is not a strategy.
Many content strategists focus on the marketing side of things: the social, the products, the ads. That’s all good, but if you don't have great content from the start, what’s to market? Pay attention to what you’re linking to.
More posts are not the answer.
Meeting KPIs requires strategy, time, and budget.
USE SOCIAL MEDIA PERSONALLY
It’s really hard for us to continue to educate you on very simple aspects of social media. If you are a CMO or in the marketing department, please use social media in your personal time — look what other people are posting, how they post and etc. Most people know you can’t put a clickable link in an Instagram capation, yet we keep getting asked to.
If you don’t understand a platform or don’t personally use it, don’t shoot down ideas and strategies when it’s clear you don’t have a clue. Instead, ask questions, ask for clarification, ask for a demo or just stay quiet.
COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT
Community management isn’t for the interns. The person managing your communities is reading and responding (or at least should be) everything your brand is mentioned in. No one knows your brand’s audience and consumers better than your community manager. Not even the agency that created that pretty persona deck.
Not even the agency that created that pretty persona deck. If your brand isn’t going to engage on social media with the people talking to it — why are you on social media? Do you know how many people stop using a product or service because the brand is unresponsive? A LOT.
It takes a lot of time, passion and energy to build communities. We are talking to our followers at every waking hour, and it takes time to build trust and friendships. Personally, I have brand fans of several clients that now personally text, snap or message me because we’ve built such a strong relationship.
Social media is about being social and promotion is about taking people on a journey. Blasting your offers is unlikely to drive many conversions.
Social media is supposed to be social — it’s a conversation, not a bunch of corporate taglines strung together that nobody cares about. Keep it fresh and current and be part of the dialogue.
No, I’m not posting the same post on all platforms.
Comparison is the thief of joy (and engagement)
Reputation management matters — that means reading and responding to online reviews. Most often, consumers are leaving a review instead of contacting the brand. Word of mouth is powerful.
I truly hope you read through this entire list and will bookmark it to reference next time you may hesitate or want to demand something of your social media person. Also, please trust us when you ask for advice or strategy — just like you know what you are doing in your role and we don’t question you, we know what we are doing.
I can’t think of another career that is more underrated and less understood than working in social media. We are in this job because we are amazing at it, we know what works, but most importantly — we care. Working in social media takes a very patient and empathetic person, as well as having to be creative, always on, and really great at checking notifications and emails.
Please take us more seriously. If you don’t agree with something, pose it as a productive question or conversation starter to discuss and learn.
What would you like to learn more about when it comes to social media and working with social media freelancers, contractors, and colleagues? | https://medium.com/swlh/what-your-social-media-manager-team-wants-you-to-know-ae79df3ee047 | ['Chelsea Bradley'] | 2020-10-31 06:25:51.350000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Agencylife', 'Social Media', 'Freelancing', 'Social Media Marketing'] |
ASO app store optimization | With millions of smartphone applications in the app stores, finding the apt app is one of the key challenges mobile app developers face today. That’s why understanding app store optimization (ASO) is so important.
What is an ASO App
App store optimization is the method of designing smartphone applications to rate higher in the search results of the app store. The higher your app rates in the search results of an app store, the more accessible it is to prospective users.
The ASO process also needs a crucial knowledge of your target client base and the keywords that your future clients use to identify applications that are close to yours.
In addition to ranking high in the app store search results, ASO also focuses on click-through rate (CTR). This means you have to persuade users to actually move through your app store page after they discover it. You will do this by improving the Product Name, App Description, App Icon, App Screenshots, and App Ranking.
SEO/ASO: Things you should know!!!
ASO is also referred to as SEO App Store (Search Engine Optimization). Both processes share similarities such as keyword optimization, backlinking and translation optimization. Ranking considerations are the key distinctions between App Store Optimization and Search Engine Optimization. ASO is mostly used for smartphone phones, while SEO is used for websites.
SEO variables for a web browser, such as Google Search, cover more than 200 areas and the list continues to grow. The list of ranking factors for ASO is much shorter, but many people are still not sure which ones will play a part. It’s time to bring an end to this.
Here are a few crucial moves you need to take care of to boost your ASO:
Attract your users with an eye-catching title
A good name not only defines what the app does to potential customers but can also boost your scores. We have illustrated how a good, meaningful title will boost your ASO in this article, with an example of how to make your app title relevant. In reality, using a keyword or two in your app’s title will make you rank at least 10% higher than if you didn’t have one. Of course, both the Apple iOS App Store and Google Play treat titles and keywords differently, but how you tackle your title can depend on whether you’re marketing to Apple or Android customers.
Using smart keywords
Like SEO, keywords are an important part of ASO. Like product names, how you treat app keywords varies from the Apple App Store and Google Play.
With Apple, you only get 100 characters for all your keywords, so clearly you need to make a wise choice; it should go without saying that you should be as close to this 100-character cap as possible.
However, there is no unique keyword area for Google Play. However, the overview of the app is searchable and you have 4000 characters to deal with.
You’ll want to add the most important keywords in your summary five times for the best optimization of the App Store. However, be careful not to overdo it — keyword stuffing will penalize your app (just as keyword stuffing on a website will penalize your domain by Google), leading to a decline in your rating.
Put forth your app well
For all Apple and Android users, the overview of the app is like the landing page of your website. When you’ve got your prospective buyer so far, you want to be able to close the deal and make the offer! Your product overview and page in the app store can also be considered as an integral aspect of the App Store Optimization Plan.
Bring down all the points like What’s the app doing, What kind of problem does it solve, How is that going to make life better for the buyer, Why is the premium worth it?
Add a trailer video
You should use the influence of video on your App Store page to give potential consumers a deeper view into what your app can bring them.
App Previews in the iOS App Store allow you to upload 30 seconds of videos to display the capabilities and advantages of your app.
You can only screen in-app recordings, so make sure your UX smartphone app looks nice and suits what your prospective audience is looking for!
This App Store Optimization strategy can make your App Store page convert higher as you produce useful content.
Choose the right category
Placing your app in the right category on both the Apple App Store and Google Play is not only useful for users who are searching applications by category, but it is also best practice to make the app rank well.
If you feel like your app falls into more than one group, there are three ways to fix your problem:
First and foremost, you’ll want to select the category that best fits your mobile app.
Next, it’s a smart idea to find out how many apps are in each category; picking the least difficult category allows the software a greater chance at being closer to the top.
Finally, look at the average app value (EAW) of applications near the top of those rankings. Put the app in the one with the lower numbers could also be to your benefit.
It’s also important to remember that putting your app in a category that’s blatantly wrong can lead to trouble.
Apple reviews all submitted apps before publishing them to the App Store, and adding your app to the wrong category for App Store Optimization purposes will probably mean a rejection stamp.
As for Google Play, users can report violations for review. If you have a major error like the Sports app in the Medical category, it’s only a matter of time before someone points that out.
Conclusion
If you want to have a successful app with lots of visibility and downloads — and income-generating potential — you’ve got to pay close attention to your App Store Optimization strategy.
While Apple and Google do not share their exact methodology for establishing app rank, it has been established that there are certain things that will have a positive impact on how well your app ranks.
ASO is a process that needs to be monitored and constantly tweaked over a period of time. Your optimal set of keywords rarely is the set that you first opt to put in the app store.
In most cases, little or no research on keyword searches occurs before the app submission, leaving most apps hidden, and the likelihood of discovery quite low.
To reap the rewards of ASO, you need to invest time and effort. If you do, you’ll have a consistent channel driving traffic to your app. | https://medium.com/@lilacinfotech/aso-app-store-optimization-techniques-for-mobile-apps-85c431e61311 | ['On-Demand App Development Company - Lilacinfotech'] | 2020-12-09 04:15:18.733000+00:00 | ['Mobile Apps', 'Aso', 'Appstore Optimisation', 'Mobile App Development'] |
Mank is a Time Capsule of Old Hollywood, Centered around a Burnout Screenwriter (Who Went On to Create History) | Credit: Netflix
Mank is one of those films that, despite having all of the elements for success, fall just short of being great. Directed by David Fincher and starring heavyweights such as Gary Oldman and Charles Dance, it focuses on disgraced screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he dwells on his past and writes the script for Citizen Kane, widely regarded as one of the greatest and influential films of all time.
Like Citizen Kane itself, Mank jumps between different points of time, showing how Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) became bitter after falling out with formidable newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst (Charles Dance) in 1934. In 1940, a bedridden Mankiewicz dictates the script of Citizen Kane to his secretary, Rita Alexander (Lily Collins). Along the way, we meet several Hollywood luminaries, such as Louis B. Mayer (Arliss Howard), David O. Selznick (Toby Leonard Moore) and Irving Thalberg (Ferdinand Kingsley), and Marion Davies (Amanda Seyfried), Hearst’s mistress turned fledgling dramatic actress.
Oldman is game as the alcoholic, self-destructive Mankiewicz, who’s consumed by guilt of being a bystander to his bosses’ greed and excess.
He has a dry comeback ready for every situation. Despite his disposition, he is earnest to a fault. He is shaken to his core when Upton Sinclair, a socialist candidate for the California gubernatorial race, is maneuvered out of winning by Hollywood bigwigs, who produce a series of fake newsreels to smear Sinclair. One of Mankiewicz’s friends, Shelly Metcalf (Jamie McShane) directed these newsreels, despite being a Sinclair supporter himself. The sense of betrayal causes Metcalf to take his life and sends Mankiewicz barrelling towards a dark path as well.
Amanda Seyfried also surprises as Davies, portraying a savvy woman who avoids thinking too much about the gray areas that her patron, Hearst, often deals with. Arliss Howard’s Mayer is suitably diabolical, yet against Dance’s Hearst he comes off as a slobbering number two.
Credit: Netflix
Like all David Fincher movies, Mank is always interesting to look at. The black and white aesthetic is tastefully curated to resemble the movies of the era this film portrays. However, the film lacks compelling emotion. While there are several emotional beats, there is a distance between them and the audience. Nevertheless, the film manages to bring its conflicts to resolution by the end. A remorseful, bitter Mankiewicz alienates Hearst, who, to quote Mayer, only liked the way Mankiewicz talked, not the way he wrote. Meanwhile, in 1940, Mankiewicz clashes with Orson Welles (Tom Burke) over writing credit for the script.
Overall, Mank is probably middle of the road in terms of its place in Fincher’s filmography. It’s still a very good film, but it never rises above its narrative to provoke the audience.
If you are a film buff, then you might be enthralled by how the film treats the luminaries and power brokers of Old Hollywood. Mank isn’t exactly a love letter to the era, nor it is the equivalent of an angry rant. It sits somewhere in-between, giving more context to the creation of one of the most enduring pieces of cinema. | https://medium.com/upthrust-co/mank-isa-time-capsule-of-old-hollywood-centered-around-a-burnout-screenwriter-who-went-on-to-79d2cd94f0d | ['M S Rayed'] | 2020-12-23 01:11:34.925000+00:00 | ['Film', 'Hollywood', 'David Fincher', 'Citizen Kane', 'Entertainment'] |
Linear Regression in Python: Predict e-Commerce Revenue | Photo by ev on Unsplash
In this post, the goal is to build a prediction model using Simple Linear Regression and Random Forest in Python. The dataset is available on Kaggle and my codes on my Github account.
Let’s get started to understand the dataset.
Discover and Visualize Data
In this dataset, there are 3 categorical features Email, Address, and Avatar; 5 numeric features Avg. Session Length, Time on App, Time on Website, Length of Membership, and Yearly Amount Spent. And there are 500 instances. That is small but perfect for beginners.
Figure 1: First 10 columns of the data frame.
Here is the summary of statistics pertaining to the columns.
Figure 2: Summary of Statistics.
Attribute Histogram Plots created for a visual interpretation of numerical data.
Figure 3: Attribute Histogram Plots.
Looking for Correlations
Let’s glance at how much the ‘Yearly Amount Spent’ correlates with other attributes.
The output of the correlation.
The attribute of ‘Length of Membership’ seems most correlated with ‘Yearly Amont Spent’. And ‘Yearly Amont Spent’ is negatively correlated with ‘Time on Website’. So, it shows that customers who stay on the website longer spend less money.
Let’s check the correlation using a scatter matrix.
Figure 4: Scatter Matrix Plot.
As a result, the revenue is most relevant with the length of membership and the time on app is the second attribute where the correlation is high. Let’s compare time on app and time on web. We can see which group the customers who spend the most money belong to in Figure 5.
The red dots represent a higher amount of spent and the blue ones are for lower amounts, the width of dots represents the length of membership. When the width of the points increases, it means the length of membership is longer. (Multiplying by 10 doesn’t matter, it just made the dots bigger on the graph.) Figure 5 tells us customer using app spends more money. And long-time members can be interpreted that they prefer to use app.
Figure 5
Linear Regression
Linear Regression is a Supervised Learning Technique. Regression is the process of predicting a continuous value. It’s done by training the model and the model predicts future instances using previously labeled data. X represents the independent variables, y represents the dependent variable it is also called the target and this variable will be tried to be predicted.
The key point in the regression is that the dependent value should be continuous.
Linear Regression Formula:
Theta0 and theta1 are also coefficients of the linear equation, y hat is the predicted variable.
Train the Model
Most machine learning algorithms can’t work with null values. This dataset has been checked, there is no missing value.
I defined the X and y values. I have chosen only numerical attributes for X.
Here is the model evaluation output:
These coefficients are for these features respectively Avg. Session Length, Time on App, Time on Website, Length of Membership that is what we define X.
R-squared shows how the distance of data from the fit line. The best possible score is 1. The proximity of the r-squared value to 1 indicates the suitability of the model. For our model, it’s 0.986.
RMSE measures the distance between the vector of prediction and the vector of target values. It’s 9.755 for our model.
Random Forest
Let’s evaluate the model with the Random Forest Regression.
The output of Random Forest Regression.
Linear regression gave better results for this dataset.
References
Please don’t hesitate to give me feedback.
Thank you for reading. | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/linear-regression-in-python-predict-e-commerce-revenue-dd8e0c8bed2f | ['Ayça Erbaşı'] | 2020-12-10 16:02:29.260000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Python', 'Linear Regression Python', 'Linear Regression', 'Data Science'] |
Liquor Diplomacy | In the 1700s, three great empires fought bitterly over the resource-rich region known as Carnatic in South India. Carnatic stretched from East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh in the North, to the Maratha fort of Ranjanagad in the South and Coromandel coast in the East to Western Ghats in the West. Between 1690 and 1801, Nawabs of the Carnatic ruled over this region. These Nawabs were the vassals of the Nizam of Hyderabad. Their biggest threat was the Marathas to the North. The French, based out of Pondicherry, completed this triangle. Alliances shifted back and forth, but broadly, the Nawabs and the French were united against Marathas.
Spot the Carnatic region
After the death of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1707, there was a general decline of the famed Mughal Empire in India. The circle of control of the empire started diminishing and more and more outer states started asserting their independence. The British East India company saw an opportunity to expand their influence, but soon found themselves locked in a near constant power struggle with the French. Eight years after Aurangzeb’s death, a Frenchman named Joseph Francois Dupleix arrived in India. By 1742, he had risen to become the French East India Company’s governor. The French influence in India at that time was limited to a few trading posts, the chief one being Pondicherry. Immediately after arriving in India, Dupleix organised Indian soldiers under French officers for the very first time in India, and tried to expand French influence in India by engaging in political and military encounters with Indian rulers. This brought him into direct conflict with another young officer who was also trying to make a name for himself in India, an Englishman named Robert Clive. This was the same Robert Clive who would go on to be known by the infamous nickname ‘Clive of India’. His plunder and loot of Indian resources directly resulted in the terrible Bengal Famine of 1770 and increased poverty in Bengal. The historian William Dalrymple went so far as to call Clive an ‘unstable sociopath’.
However, in the 1740s, Clive had not yet gained enough power to cause wanton destruction. He had to contend himself with just political intrigue. The British East India company, which employed Clive, was very interested in interfering in the affairs of the Nawabs of Carnatic. So were the French. To this end, the English began secretly supporting a nobleman named Muhammad Ali, while the French supported Chanda Sahib, the son-in-law of the then Nawab Dost Ali Khan. Our story is not about Clive or Dupleix, but a relatively unknown French governor general named Dumas, who averted a major battle through an incredible stroke of diplomatic genius.
Act 1, Scene 1 — The Marathas seek their pound of flesh
In 1740, the Marathas decided enough was enough. For a long time, they had been harbouring a grudge against Dost Ali Khan, because of the long delayed payment of ‘chouth’, or one-fourth of Carnatic’s revenues. The Nawabs of Carnatic had promised this payment to the Marathas as ‘protection money’, to prevent further Maratha incursions into their territory. However, after the Marathas withdrew their forces, the Nawabs conveniently forgot to pay the ransom, and this led to the exchange of many angry letters between the two kingdoms. By 1740, the Marathas had lost patience. Under the command of a great general named Raghuji Bhonsle, they invaded the Carnatic. Raghuji Bhonsle was an astute man who knew how to pick his battles. He waited until Dost Ali Khan left for the North of India to settle some disputes in the territories there. Once he was sure Dost Ali Khan was separated from the kingdom and the bulk of his troops, Raghuji attacked with his army of 50,000 Marathas.
Dost Ali Khan, hearing the news of this rather dick move, rushed back. However, he could not reach his kingdom in time. At the battle of Damalcherry, a mountain pass near Arcot, he was killed by Raghuji’s forces. This upended the fortunes of the Nawabs of Carnatic. Without the protection of Dost Ali Khan, his son Safdar Ali and son-in-law Chanda Sahib had to flee. Fearing for their lives, they turned to the French governor general Pierre Benoît Dumas, stationed at Pondicherry. Here we have to remember that the French were secretly rooting for Chanda Sahib, and could not afford to give him up. In addition to that, Dumas was friendly with Safdar Ali, and agreed to protect their families. This is what happens when you befriend politically active celebrities. Sometimes they may turn up at your door seeking asylum, and there will be precious little you can do about it.
Act 1, Scene 2 — Raghuji seeks to tame the French
Raghuji Bhonsle had by now turned his sights on Safdar and Chanda. He needed to eliminate both of them to ensure Maratha control over Carnatic. He heard where both of his quarries had sought refuge and sent messengers to Pondicherry to demand their surrender. However, in a twist of fortune, Safdar managed to make peace with Raghuji, who in turn recognized him as the new Nawab of Carnatic in 1740. Chanda Sahib was not as fortunate and had to flee. Raghuji knew that Chanda Sahib’s wife and children were still under the protection of Dumas, and decided to get his hands on them, presumably to hold them to ransom.
Raghuji Bhonsle, seen here mentally calculating how much ransom he could reasonably ask for
As a first step, Raghuji sent Dumas a strongly worded letter, threatening to rain down fire and fury the likes of which Dumas had not seen before. However, Dumas was not unduly concerned and refused to give up Chanda Sahib’s family. At the same time, he wasn’t a complete idiot. He knew that the French army at Pondicherry was not strong enough to take on a 50,000 strong force. The diplomat in Dumas rose to the occasion. He wrote back to Raghuji that he was unable to comply, and as an appeasement, sent him thirty bottles of a French brandy from Nantes. This turned out to be a masterstroke. Raghuji Bhonsle’s wife was fond of the good life, and took an instant liking to the brandy. She polished off the thirty bottles in short order, and informed Raghuji in no uncertain terms that she would greatly appreciate more of the same.
Act 1, Scene 3 — All’s well that ends well
The hapless Raghuji had to suspend fierce negotiations with Dumas to send him a letter that pretty much amounted to, “Errm, this is embarrassing, but do you remember the brandy you sent with your letter pleading for mercy the last time? If it’s not an awful bother, could you send me thirty more of the same by return post?”
Dumas was only too happy to comply, on the condition that Chanda Sahib and his family were to be spared. Of course, Raghuji had to agree to the deal in order to maintain marital harmony. Thus it was that Dumas, in a moment of diplomatic brilliance only the French could have conjured up, averted a war with just thirty bottles of brandy. | https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/liquor-diplomacy-2cae17e9f037 | ['Sandeep Nair'] | 2020-11-04 16:41:40.618000+00:00 | ['Military', 'India', 'History', 'Humour', 'Adventure'] |
DVS Fireside Chat: Sketching in Data Visualization | Sketching is a useful method for visualizing information. It can lend a visualization more humanity, feel more accessible to viewers, and helps move beyond the tool “default.” On top of that, sketching can ignite a creators’ creativity and bring practitioners closer to the data.
In this DVS Fireside Chat, our panelists discuss sketching as a form of visualization, how they incorporate it into their own practice, and offer tips and advice on getting started with sketching.
Panelists include:
Katherine Haugh—Senior Advisor on Organizational Learning at the Global Knowledge Initiative
Rasagy Sharma—Principal Information Designer, Gramener
Duncan Geere—Freelance information designer
Moderated by Amy Cesal
For more information, check out the communal chat notes and read Ripley Cleghorn on why you should close the computer for your next visualization.
For more DVSFireside chats, subscribe to the DVS YouTube channel here. | https://medium.com/nightingale/the-value-of-sketching-in-data-visualization-28323f6bb246 | ['Data Visualization Society Team'] | 2020-07-24 14:21:06.155000+00:00 | ['Sketching', 'Data Art', 'Data Science', 'Design', 'Data Visualization'] |
Learning to Code: Day 41 — Basic JavaScript Part 6 | Heyooo it’s ya boi.
I had a bit of a hectic week, with Christmas coming up my work is bringing in the big orders now, so lots of Arbeitskraft needed, as they say, but let’s jump back into Arrays and Indexes in JavaScript, and look at some manipulation functions between the two, thanks to FreeCodeCamp for the lessons as always.
—
Accessing Multi-Dimensional Arrays with Indexes
Let’s finish up first from the last blog here and refresh our memories. Try not to get too confused by my explanation to follow.
We can focus in on an array within an array, also known as a multi-dimensional array. For example if we have several arrays, when we type out our first set of brackets, then focus on the outer-most array (first-level) entries, and additional brackets focus on the next entries within and so on. It’s a bit like moving down the list rows in the first bracket, then moving along the list column in the second bracket and so forth. For example:
- FreeCodeCamp
Makes sense right?
Remember: The code counts each time from 0, like we saw in the last blog, so the array containing [1,2,3] is arr[0], not arr[1].
Note: Keep your coding clean by avoiding spaces in the array name and brackets, it’s good practise for readability from other developers later on.
Manipulate Arrays with the push() Function
One easy way to append data onto an array is by using the push() function. Once our variable has been defined with it’s array entries, we can add entires onto the end of the array by typing the variable name followed by “.push([enter new array here]);”
Let’s see how that looks in sequence:
var myArray = [[“John”, 23], [“cat”, 2]]; myArray.push([“dog”, 3]);
This will amend myArray to be equal to [[“John”, 23], [“cat”, 2], [“dog”, 3]]
Manipulate Arrays with the pop() Function
Just as we have added an array entry onto the end of the array, we can also take one off the list, in this case pop() removes entries from the end. However, we can also take that “popped off” entry and assign it to a different variable so it’s stored and still accessible, by assigning the pop() function a new variable simultaneously. Let’s see all that in action and then break it down:
-FreeCodeCamp
So on line 1, we see the variable threeArr is defined. Line 2 we are defining the variable oneDown and assigning it to the pop() of threeArr (which will take the last array entry, 6). Line 3 and 4 are confirming the changes made by listing the new content of each variable using the console.log() function.
Manipulate Arrays with the shift() Function
Where pop() removes the last entry in the array, shift() removes the first.
This follows the exact same logic as the previous chapter, however our new variable will equal the first entry removed from the original variable, in this case threeArr would now equal [4,6] and oneDown would equal [1].
Manipulate Arrays with the unshift() Function
Just like the push() function which adds entries onto the end on the array, we can use unshift() to add entries in front of the array.
- FreeCodeCamp
In this example above from FreeCodeCamp, we can see that in line 1 a variable was defined, then in line 2 the first entry was removed, line 3 has a new entry added to the beginning of the array.
Note: This example above deals with a singular array so when we are adding a new entry in line 3, it’s going into the existing array, not a new array.
So, to summarise:
To add data in the beginning of the array, use unshift().
To remove data from the beginning of the array, use shift().
To add data in the end of the array, use push().
To remove data from the end of the array, use pop().
—
Aaaaand let’s call it there. Hope you liked this one! I enjoyed keeping it nice and concise today. See you next time! | https://medium.com/swlh/learning-to-code-day-41-basic-javascript-part-6-51fc2fc3db9b | ['Hugh Burgess'] | 2020-12-14 00:16:55.840000+00:00 | ['Arrays', 'Manipulating Data', 'Learning', 'JavaScript', 'Freecodecamp'] |
The Purpose Of Cheat Meals! | Photo by Cristiano Pinto on Unsplash
You may have heard of cheat meals if you’ve heard of fit guys eating pizza and other junk food while staying lean. It can definitely throw people off balance. Some Body Coaches have ads or videos that promote the idea of you still being able to eat the foods that you like while maintaining a healthy lifestyle and eating routine. It’s important to know why some people implement them and some don’t.
Cheat Meals vary from person to person, because one person may not have junk foods they enjoy while the other one can fare well without them. It’s meant to be a psychological aid for people who may miss eating some of the foods that may have held them back from eating better or may have needed to heavily moderate.
Body Coaches put emphasis on exercise, but more importantly what you eat and how much enjoyment you’re getting out of what you’re eating. Many people start to do something to try to better their life, but it usually goes downhill quickly because they find it mundane, boring, or flat-out unfun.
It’s true that everything good derives off of hard work and perseverance, but enjoying something can go a long way to motivate someone to keep doing something even if they don’t see any immediate progress. With that said, cheat meals should be used in moderation depending on how much of your favorite foods are junk foods vs healthy foods. Having one cheat meal won’t kill all of your progress, but having them constantly will eventually wreak havoc on your health if they are riddled with junk food.
Everyone’s different so I can’t tell anyone what to have for their cheat meal. Cheat Meals should be balanced out with what your health goal is and should take macro and micronutrients into consideration to determine how often you should have them. | https://medium.com/@gorphysanon/the-purpose-of-cheat-meals-450196b008f6 | ['Gorphy Sanon'] | 2020-12-15 00:17:35.920000+00:00 | ['Psychology', 'Food', 'Eating', 'Cheat Meals', 'Perspective'] |
What is Quantum Key Distribution? | We have long sought secure ways to exchange data. Some current methods include cryptography, hashing and requiring the solution of math problems that demand enormous computing power. Quantum computing could render some of our current methods insecure and obsolete, while enabling new methods.
Cryptography
Cryptography uses codes to protect information and communications. Data is encrypted using a secret key. The message as well as the secret key is given to the recipient. The recipient then uses the key to decrypt the message. The problem with cryptography is that if the key is compromised, anyone with the key can decipher the secret message.
Hashing
Hashing is a protocol used in cryptography. It reveals the integrity of data by creating a ‘digital fingerprint’ of the original data. This is useful for verification (for example, to sign into your e-mail). The e-mail provider compares a hash of your data to a hash of your original data to verify that it is the same. So, the e-mail provider can verify that the person signing in knows the password, without storing your actual password (it stores only a hash of it). To learn more about cryptographic hashing, see my article here. Also see my article on merkle trees, which use hashing extensively.
Conventional key distribution
Current ciphers used to distribute keys use math problems to protect themselves from attackers. The problems are fairly simple to solve but need a large amount of processing power to complete. It’s easy to find the product of two prime numbers, but difficult to factor the product and derive the two prime numbers.
Such conventional key distribution methods will be rendered obsolete by advances in CPU power and the rise of quantum computers.
Quantum Threats to Encryption
Quantum computing will likely be able to break any encryption and hashing algorithms easily. It could also impact the integrity of blockchains. Quantum computing will challenge both asymmetric cryptography as well as hashing algorithms.
Enter quantum cryptography, which may enable the secure exchange of information, even in the presence of quantum computers.
Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
Quantum key distribution proceeds by using light particles exchanged between sender and recipient to establish a key. This protocol uses logic outlined in the Heisenberg uncertainty principle or indeterminacy principle, which states that: “the position and the velocity of an object cannot both be measured exactly, at the same time, even in theory.”
Quantum Key Distribution
Quantum key distribution addresses the challenges of distributing keys using quantum protocols. It is built based on laws of nature that are resistant to increasing computational power. These are physical processes that are not vulnerable to powerful computing systems.
Quantum Key Distribution is an optical technology which automates the delivery of encryption keys between parties that are sharing an optical link. There are two types of quantum key distribution systems:
Discrete-variable quantum key distribution Continuous-variable quantum key distribution
How Does Quantum Key Distribution Work?
Quantum mechanics has a core characteristic: in quantum systems, the act of measuring the system disturbs the system. Two parties engaged in creating a key exchange protocol will require:
An authenticated communication link between the two parties A channel to send quantum states of light between the two parties; the channel should be made of free space or fiber A key exchange protocol which can detect errors or eavesdroppers using quantum properties, while calculating the amount of information which has been lost or intercepted
The transmitter sends the key to the receiver in the form of a stream of light particles, known as photons. These light particles have a spin which can be changed depending on which filter they are passed through. Polarized photons can be polarized in 4 different directions (vertical, horizontal, diagonal, left/right). The recipient measures which direction they are polarized in using two different polarized detectors randomly.
At the end of the process, the recipient will have a key of 1s and 0s. They then get on a call with the sender and compare notes on which detector they used for each photon. They throw out results in which they did not use matching detectors and filters, and keep the ones in which they used matching detectors. They now have a sequence of identically polarized and measured photons — thus forming the final key. Using this key, the recipient can decrypt the message which has been sent to them.
Transmission Losses
Both types of quantum key distribution protocols face the problem of transmission losses over large distances. Transmission losses increase exponentially as the distance increases.
Conclusion
Quantum Key Distribution holds enormous potential for secure data transfer. Researchers are refining both discrete-variable quantum key distribution and continuous-variable quantum key distribution. Once the distance related losses are reduced, this technology will power the next generation of secure, quantum computer-proof data transfer. | https://medium.com/lansaar/what-is-quantum-key-distribution-e3cd90effb2e | ['Shaan Ray'] | 2020-07-26 09:58:38.333000+00:00 | ['Cryptography', 'Quantum Cryptography', 'Quantum Computing', 'Quantum'] |
Meanwhile in America | Alarming news! In from the New Yorker,
That the health of poor Poesy has gotten worse!
There are many theories and we have from her doctor
That what’s bad for her heart is free verse.
“She was desperate,” said her husband, Time,
“She had strayed so far that she could not tell
If music was carried away in the crime,
Elsewhere bound, exerting good, hot hell.”
Grandson Rap broke in: “What the hammer is happenin?
Man, don’t jive, Nana, she live, and rhyme thrive
Like bongos clappin’, hands a slappin’, an’ fires crackin’
At Pop with an edge she give, actin’ youn’, tryin’ to live ~”
Then in with a hush ~ the Government Minister
To read the last rights: “Whatever must be, must be…
Please trust in your will’s administrator…
Who we will appoint, whose views are not so lusty.”
That’s the story; what can we say? Not much.
Our only choice is to become the predator,
Not exactly to devour, but only to touch
Your human fragility; no matter the editor. | https://medium.com/no-crime-in-rhymin/meanwhile-in-america-b03c5a91b38c | ['Hank Edson'] | 2020-02-25 12:31:01.128000+00:00 | ['Inspiration', 'Humor', 'Writing', 'Poetry', 'Writing Tips'] |
Product mindset for Software Engineers | Product mindset for Software Engineers
Are you a software engineer who wishes to take product decisions but is unable to due to the way your team functions? If your mind is screaming YES, then this article might help you to have a better grip on the product mindset while being in the shoes of a software engineer. Dhruv Agarwal Follow Dec 19, 2020 · 4 min read
credits: hackernoon.com
Truly speaking, a great software engineer is the one who can utilise his/her skills to make a great product.
Software engineers are the frontline in any tech company and more so in a tech product company. However, you would find that most of the software engineers lack good product sense despite being great in their software knowledge.
The fundamental problem lies in how the work is assigned in most organisations. Software engineers are given tickets to work on. Typical examples are:
“Create an API to login with email”
“Create a cron to put credits in customer’s accounts”
The issue is that tickets only carry an instruction to “implement” something. The person making the implementation decision could be your manager, your product manager or someone senior in the team.
That’s exactly where the damage starts! You don’t know
Who is going to use the login API,
is going to use the login API, When those credits need to be put,
those credits need to be put, What will be the frequency,
will be the frequency, Why login with email and not Facebook,
login with email and not Facebook, Why are we putting credits?
What happens next? The feature goes live but fails at some areas and it comes back to you with more requirements and again you’re given some improvements and directions from either your manager or product manager.
Do you see the problem here? The problem is you lacked context.
Had there been context, you’d have taken the right calls as per the situation. With less context, you go with the constraints that you can think of and take the decisions accordingly for the interface, complexity, architecture.
There is no silver bullet for either of the interface, complexity, or architecture. It depends on the scale of the problem you’re solving, the user who is going to use the product and the frequency of the use.
Here is how you can change a ticket to gain more context — Make it a story.
credits: jotform.com
Story
A story has a character, his/her motivation and their success. Let’s understand this by using the earlier example of a ticket — “Create a cron to put credits in customer’s accounts”. Now let’s ask some questions to build the story.
Who is telling our system to add credits? — Someone from marketing/growth
is telling our system to add credits? — Someone from marketing/growth Why are they adding credits? — To nudge customers to buy your services at some discount
are they adding credits? — To nudge customers to buy your services at some discount When do they want to add? — They might add towards month end when users might get their salaries and are more likely to make a purchase
do they want to add? — They might add towards month end when users might get their salaries and are more likely to make a purchase How are they most comfortable adding it? — They use a CRM tool to send us a list of users with the respective credits to be added.
Now, if you try to write this story, you’ll get something like this
“As a marketing manager, I would like to nudge prospect customers to buy our services. One way I can do that is by adding credits in their account around the payday and nudge them to make a purchase. Users are more likely to purchase during that time. If we can automate this flow from the CRM to add credits to prospect customers, it will help us drive more revenue from the users.”
As you may notice, there are no technical instructions at all, but has complete context.
Being a software engineer, you are responsible for thinking the best technical solution for this problem. Now you can make the best interface for the right user, understand complexity better, make the right architectural calls. For eg- this feature is more likely to have load around the month end only and you need to quickly finish that load.
How are stories better than tickets?
Stories as compared to tickets not only give complete context but also give room for innovation and guarantee success, whereas tickets just guarantee execution. Stories let you take the decisions too rather than just limiting the thinking part to your manager or product manager.
You can also challenge the proposed way and propose simpler ways to achieve success within your product.
So remember - next time you receive a ticket, try to convert it into a story. A story will have a character, his/her motivation and success.
Hope you find this framework useful and step ahead in your product-tech journey! | https://medium.com/shuttl-tech/product-mindset-for-software-engineers-e8213c47849f | ['Dhruv Agarwal'] | 2020-12-19 14:53:06.843000+00:00 | ['Product Engineering', 'Product Thinking', 'Product Development', 'Software Development', 'Product Management'] |
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CLICK HERE TO KNOW MORE | https://medium.com/@afterpage/how-to-make-money-online-c875cb005c3a | [] | 2020-12-24 03:03:24.519000+00:00 | ['Blog', 'Affiliate Marketing', 'Instagram', 'Social Media', 'Make Money Online'] |
Godzilla, and the Alright Return of an Old Monster | It’s almost a shame that this was what so much of the film was sold on, because it’s one of the few highlights of Godzilla. | © 2013 Warner Bros. Ent.
Visually, the movie isn’t anything to write home about. Most of the film feels as though it was shot in gray-scale, even in daytime scenes awash in the sun. There’s no visual incentive to become invested in the film, nothing that outright grabs the audience, nothing feels alive or lived-in. The most creative the film gets in terms of visuals is the H.A.L.O. drop sequence: Here the grays and blacks of the storm clouds and fire-born smoke offset the red flares of the military plummeting into the ruined city, giving the scene a painter-esque look.
Other notable moments include the unexpected glow of Godzilla’s dorsal fins as he powers up and the backdrop of dark against the light of Godzilla’s atomic breath. Beyond that, the film favors darkness to a crippling degree. Nighttime sequences are perhaps the worst to look at, because there is no way of telling the environment apart from the night sky, even on a major theater screen where nothing should be hard for the audience to see.
Establishing shots depict an extremely post-apocalyptic world that marches on, but was still affected by the unexpected rise of pre-prehistoric Kaiju. The I Am Legend-inspired environment of an abandoned Janjira is probably the film’s best work in terms of set design and environmental storytelling. Janjira and the Philippines are the only major set environments that are affected, long term, by longstanding events in the film before things just popping off.
Once cities get destroyed, there is no real reason to be worried or concerned for the people caught in the warpath of the Kaiju that take a stroll through populated areas and swat planes out of the sky. You don’t get to know any of them, even on a microscale. I’m more moved because said cities are wrecked and planes are blown up by the Kaiju than I am that random person who gets caught in the wake of the disaster.
Regarding visual effects, Godzilla and the other Kaiju blend in perfectly with the world around them, physical or otherwise noted. The move is at its strongest, funny enough when there’re miles and miles of smoke (from fire) or fog (from natural occurrences) obscuring things. They do a lot of great things with smoke or particle effects in this film.
Regarding choreography with monster fights, however, there is much to be desired. The weight of the monsters is felt, to be sure, but the overall choreography is repetitious and not as good as anything I’ve in previous Kaiju films that weren’t overly hindered overly cumbersome latex suits, choppy animation or basic visual effects.
The Kaiju battles are interrupted far too much by what’s happening with the humans. Gareth Edwards is not interested in choreographing a battle between two monsters, he treats it like it’s a nuisance. Thus, there is no real consequence to the battle and no one I felt pushed or motivated to cheer for. The fact you know Godzilla will win isn’t bothersome so much as it’s how mediocre his fights with the “M.U.T.O” are. They’re nothing remarkable in the long run beyond that sole moment where it looks like Godzilla is about to pull a King Kong 2005 on one of the Kaiju (tear its jaws apart) but re-fries her insides with his Howling Blaster.
Cranston’s Brody is the only genuine human character to connect to, yet his inclusion feels incredibly deceptive. | © 2013 Warner Bros. Ent.
Godzilla’s biggest problem is its human characters. While this has always been a point of contention in Godzilla films post-1954, this film has neither the screenplay nor the direction to endear you to its cast, does almost nothing to make them characters in the first place. What are their desires beyond trying to survive a giant monster apocalypse? The movie isn’t particularly interested in providing an answer. Barely within thirty minutes, you’re expected to care for the Brody family immediately after killing off one-third of them.
In particular, you’re supposed to champion Bryan Cranston’s character, Joseph, because his wife was stuffed into a fridge to spark the central plot of the film, and his short-lived journey to seek the truth. It’s not that Cranston’s performance doesn’t sell the grieving husband driven mad by secrets and becoming single-minded and obsessed, it’s that all the development that would’ve worked with the performance happens offscreen.
And to make matters worse, Cranston is taken out of the film so damn fast I’m still questioning why he was there. The promotion of his character was incredibly overstated and probably does more to hurt the film than not given the expectations built.
My sister argued that he was never the protagonist, that he was simply meant to be a catalyst for Ford Brody. Yet, Ford shares the same shortcomings of his father. He’s an under-cooked character with little to offer in the way of personality or charisma. And this is something I feel I can pin on the direction or the writing because Johnson’s performance in Nowhere Boy and Kick-Ass more than proves when paired with the right director or script, he’s the opposite of bland and unremarkable.
Another damning aspect of Johnson’s performance is his general lack of chemistry with Elizabeth Olsen. They go through the motions of husband and wife, but their portrayal of an otherwise functional relationship feels artificial. The most defining aspect of Ford Brody is Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s body. He got buff and looks and plays the part of the soldier with ease.
To his credit, Ford isn’t your run of mill white male protagonist (a douche otherwise excused by the narrative). He’s an upstanding guy exasperated by the fact his father wants to drag him through constant turmoil and won’t let the past lie. The problem is, for a protagonist and a man whose specialty is disposing of bombs (arming or disarming them), he is so ineffectual. The question of why he even survives most of the crap thrown at him beyond his status as a protagonist is one that constantly comes up.
There are minor characters more effective at their jobs and getting things done. The disposal token minority Tre Morales (Victor Rasuk), who dies in the next ten minutes of his appearance, is one such example of a character being taken out like last week’s laundry despite being markedly more effective than Ford.
Brody’s most consistent contribution to the film is falling on his rear end and evading danger while everything sorts itself out without his help. The smartest thing he does is light the M.U.T.O. nest on fire and blow it into the next century.
Elizabeth Olsen, the lesser-known of the Olsen Sister Clan, has the thankless job of playing the wife waiting in the wings as Ellie Brody, a nurse who’s skills are not put to good use beyond establishing “and behold, she is a nurse”. Ellie exists primarily as the narrative motivation for Ford, key trailer reaction shots, and not much else. The same could be said of Sally Hawkins (Vivienne Graham), who kinda stumbles about on-screen via the implication that she is Ken Watanabe’s student-of-whatever, explaining everything to the audience.
Speaking of whom, Ken Watanabe’s Ishiro Serizawa is a character that, like Parminder Nagra’s Meera Malik in NBC’s The Blacklist, exists for expositing revisionist World War II and nuclear testing history that presumably was an attempt to destroy Godzilla, so that the plot can progress.
Serizawa champions Godzilla as God or nature’s means of keeping nature in balance when things like to him grow and spawn out of control. A narrative means of establishing Godzilla as the hero and the other Kaiju as the villain. Yet, beyond that, he’s just kinda there. There are moments where Watanabe looks confused. Like he’s not even sure what he’s supposed to be doing in some shots, it becomes comical. For all the gravitas he brings with the monologues, Dr. Serizawa feels like an afterthought of a character that was added when they realized they had no one from Japan to represent them beyond Godzilla himself.
They typically show minority characters in positions of power, directing civilians out of danger, but they rarely have names or do so little in the film it’s hardly worth mentioning. The bulk of things done are on part of the Kaiju and the white characters. The latter honestly almost blow everyone to kingdom come because they honestly rather take their advice than listen to the guy who’s been telling them “the giant lizard you’re tailing will handle this”.
I think the only one of note beyond Watanabe is Richard T. Jones (Event Horizon) as Captain Russell Hampton. My sister and I assumed Captain Russell was gonna be running things akin to Idris Elba’s Stacker Pentecost in Pacific Rim, but were sorely disappointed when we were reminded that the stony-faced David Strathairn was the head honcho of the military. Boo.
The crowd reaction alone remains one of the best parts of this sequence, but hardly makes up for the egregious Monster Delay. | © 2013 Warner Bros. Ent.
Godzilla himself never feels like a character in a movie named after him, but a moving object there to interact with the far more interesting antagonists. The design of the creature feels like a blend of Classic Godzilla (whatever iteration that is) and the Godzilla reimagining, created by creature maestro Patrick Tatopoulos.
He’s lean where it counts and bulky where he needs to be. It’s a solid design. It’s disappointing that the most of this character you see is are his dorsal fins sticking out of the water like a pack of sharks. Feels like they blew the budget on the antagonist Kaiju and very little on Godzilla himself. Then there’s the fact that Godzilla does far too much posturing. Every roar feels like they designed it for a trailer instead of something organic stemming from its nature.
The “M.U.T.O” are probably the only monster characters’ in this film that feel like they have a personality or something at stake within the narrative. The single scene where the two Kaiju meet for the first time and bump noses like a pair of bears that lost each other eons ago while their cyclops eyes flash in adoration of their nearness is the only time I unconsciously felt moved.
The script invests more emotionally in the M.U.T.O than the human characters or Godzilla put together. They are the only characters in the film with something to lose, something to gain. Everyone else, on the other hand, are guaranteed victory on the mere basis of being human or Godzilla. I think that says something about your film if I’m sympathizing more with the “bad guys” than the “good guys”.
Alexandre Desplat’s score is nothing to write home about. The “Godzilla!” theme starts strong enough, but the structure that encompasses most of the score itself is bland, not unlike his work for Harry Potter. | https://geenahardy.medium.com/godzilla-and-the-alright-return-of-an-old-monster-982d8bf42b5d | ['Geena Hardy'] | 2020-05-24 03:30:09.087000+00:00 | ['Science Fiction', 'Godzilla', 'Movies', 'Horror', 'Articles'] |
The Dashing Fountain | Photo by yukari harada on Unsplash
I was falling into the well of life
Baffled, spooked and untethered
Having no control whatsoever
With no end I could see
Through time life put many cuts on me
There was love and then rejection
There was happiness and then sorrow
There was applaud and soon regret
There was trust and later betrayal
Life continued striking to knock me down
Finally, life blew me down to the end of the well
I laid there wearing my bones
There were no tears left in my eyes
Only darkness in the two sockets of my skull
I rested in this coffin of failures and regrets
Weeds and flowers were grown around
The sepulchre silence was deafening
But then I heard a sparkling sound
Coming under from where I was laying
It was amplifying through time
Getting mightier and mightier like a roar
Hallelujah, it was not the end for me
Water slowly started coming out
From underneath to fill the desolation
The desolation of the well of life
It touched my bones and skull
And I started rising up gradually
Rising up against all my rejections
Against all my defeats and sorrows
I dashed out from the doomed well of life
Like a spectacular fountain of steadfast
I came out from the hole with full of life
Boldly rising up above mountains and sky
To the unknown and beyond | https://medium.com/@karthik-vivin11/the-dashing-fountain-c4be10eb3d7d | ['Vivin Karthik'] | 2021-01-12 15:07:45.443000+00:00 | ['Poetry On Medium', 'Free Verse Poetry', 'Free Verse'] |
How Fibonaut’s Revolutionary Chart Stabilization Works | How Fibonaut’s Revolutionary Chart Stabilization Works
The following is taken from the Fibonaut whitepaper.
Fibonaut, a BSC-based project, attempts to solve several common issues affecting other cryptocurrency tokens. Decentralized finance has made token creation easier than ever, creating a surge of new tokens each day. Some token creators try new and innovative concepts, though the vast majority of token contracts are carbon copies, changing little more than the name. What’s more, even with those that do offer something unique or different in way of tokenomics, most will fall short of expectations. The reality is that, no matter how ambitious or enticing a project, holders will want to take profits. Everyone invested into a project has the human desire of financial gain in mind at all times. We can consider “the market” to be the collective perception of each and every investor in a project. Because the market all has the same general goal in mind, to make financial gains, the market will more or less behave in a concurrent manner, not unlike a school of fish. Regardless of any small deviations, the group will more or less act predictably similar.
As a token, especially the promising ones, increases in value so does the likelihood that its holders will take profits in order to realize their financial gains. Some of the sellers will sell early, some will sell later, and most will sell around the same time. Then, hopefully, after the price has decreased, more investors will choose to buy in and reset the cycle. However, in the fast-paced world of DeFi, this simple behavior can break a token, by crashing its price beyond repair. Because the market is a group of people, it is prone to emotional reaction and will panic at a declining price, further exacerbating the issue. What’s worse, when new investors join the market, they will (generally) be put off by a crashed token price. There are a few factors which contribute to this unfortunately common outcome:
Whales — holders with an unusually high percentage of tokens relative to total supply Complete wallet dumps — holders are able to sell their entire wallets in one sell No transaction limitations — holders are able to sell anytime High circulating supply — tokens are plentiful and given away for free Airdrops — Some holders, who might also be whales, were sent their tokens without having to purchase them High taxes — users encounter high taxes when buying or selling a token, sometimes over 18%
The above factors make a token crash all but inevitable. The only thing that could carry a project out of market dumps like that are those that have a good amount of community momentum. This, while nice, is very hard to keep going without major news or mainstream attention. Even then, it will require more and more to keep the price up as the market, still predictable, continues to try to dump at the first sign of profits.
The Solution
The solution to the classic problems of most tokens is Fibonaut’s approach to controlled, limited token sell frequencies. The average investor loses on the majority of their trades. Because the average investor is the market, they will create the same market cycles over and over. In traditional finance a company’s stock price can fluctuate knowing the company has gone nowhere. In DeFi with its inherent volatility, a simple fluctuation can cause a panic, subsequent crash, and spell the end of a token sometimes within hours of launch. The best way forward is to protect holders from themselves and the bad trades of others. Fibonaut does this by implementing the following safeguards:
Max Wallet Control — No wallet can hold more 161.8 tokens, which is 1% of the supply, meaning no whales Quantity Limits — No wallet can sell more than 1.618 tokens at a time, meaning no complete wallet dumps causing a sudden drop in price Sell Frequency Limits — No wallet can sell more than once within each allotted interval (explained in the next section), meaning no sudden serial selling attempting to get around the Quantity Limitation Sell Intervals — Wallets can only sell in preset increasing intervals of time, meaning everyone must stagger their sells for longer amounts of time Limited Supply — With a small total supply of 16,180 tokens, and no minting nor self-reflection functions, Fibonaut will eventually encounter major supply shock, further increasing the price No Airdrops — Fibonaut will not airdrop any tokens to anyone, even the team, meaning no one will receive tokens without having to purchase them BUSD Rewards — Holders will receive rewards in BUSD (stablecoin) at 5% of each transaction proportional to their holdings, meaning longterm holders have a way to earn without selling Unique Contract Code — This contract has never been done before; it’s development has been catered specifically to solving the problems of price drop in traditional BSC and ETH-based tokens Sensible Taxes — A simple 10% flat tax applies to all transactions. 5% generates BUSD rewards, 3% automatically is added to token liquidity, and 2% goes to marketing and development of the token
The above safeguards will dramatically protect the chart and long-term price action of the token. Huge price fluctuations will not be possible, and steady growth is inevitable. Many of the listed solutions have been done before in DeFi. However, their combination is what is important. Moreover, Fibonaut’s selling intervals are a revolutionary new addition to the traditional Solidity contract.
Why It Works
Fibonaut’s sell intervals prevent holders from selling any time they choose to. It effectively forces everyone to abide by the same schedule of long-term holding. However, they increment over time. Holders are only able to sell (up to 1.618 tokens) at each minute number of the Fibonacci sequence from the time of their first buy, with a 1-minute window (margin) for sells occurring in less than one hour (55 minutes), and a 16-minute margin for sells occurring after an hour. If you are familiar with the Fibonacci sequence, this means exponential growth in how long the holder must wait for their next sell. This means that to sell a maximum (1%) wallet of 161.8 tokens, the holder must meet each sell interval (including 1 minute after they bought) for a total of 1,226,132,595,394,188,293,000,174,702,095,995 years. Holders are not able to cheat the system, either. Buying again will not reset the _firstBuy timestamp, so their first buy will set the timetable of allowed sell points and margins for their wallet’s lifetime. Holders are not able to transfer tokens from wallet to wallet to evade this system.
How It Works
Fibonacci Sequence — Each Number is a Sell Interval
_fibArray = 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89 …
If a user, Bob, decides to buy any amount of Fibonaut (FIB), at 12:00pm, the contract will automatically timestamp this buy. He is then able to sell up to 1.618 tokens one time each interval in the above Fibonacci sequence. Each interval is one minute passed from his buy time. Because it is almost impossible to sell exactly at the right time, the contract first allows him a one-minute margin of error to do so. Therefore, he can sell at 12:01pm, 1 minute after he has bought. He can, consequently, sell 2 and 3 minutes after, meaning (because of the 1-minute margin) that he can sell anytime within the first 3 minutes from purchase.
12:00pm — Bob buys 100 tokens without checking the contract
12:01pm — Bob sells 1 token as a test
12:02–12:13 — Bob was watching the chart and missed his next sells
12:15 — Bob notices the price has risen and attempts to sell his remaining 99 tokens (common thought process for a token investor). The sell is rejected by the contract.
12:16–1:00pm — Bob researches the token and attempts to sell unsuccessfully again. He realizes he needs to check his wallet transaction history and find his _firstBuy in order to time his next sell. He realizes he can sell again at 1:29pm.
1:32pm — Bob sells 1.618 tokens slightly after the set sell time, though within the allowed margin of 16 minutes. He tries to sell again and is rejected because he has already sold within this sell interval. His wallet is still holding 97.382 tokens.
Because Bob, and everyone else, must wait longer and longer for their next sell point, they won’t sell many tokens. However, because most people will not sell many tokens, the price will continue to climb. Market psychology is to panic at the sight of red candles in a chart, and to get excited at green ones. A steady fast-rising chart will cause pandemonium. As the price of the token grows, selling 1.618 tokens could very easily mean far more gain than Bob initially invested.
The 9th number in the sequence is 55. At this point, all holders are rewarded for their patience with larger margins of error to sell in. For every interval at or after 55 minutes, Bob has a 16-minute window to sell once. He doesn’t, however, have any obligation to sell.
After the first ten numbers in the sequence (0, and the first 1 have been omitted since that wouldn’t make sense for this contract) the wait times start to increase exponentially. Bob will very soon need to wait hours for his next sell point. And then days, weeks, months, years, decades. He will likely only be able to sell 38 times since he will need to wait 74~ years for his 38th sell.
At this point, you might wonder why the maximum wallet is 161.8, since no holder of that many tokens will ever sell them all. The reason the maximum wallet is higher than something like 38, other than that it matches the golden ratio for our theme’s sake, is that the more tokens a user holds the higher their BUSD rewards. This encourages investors to purchase maximum wallets in order to reap long-term rewards in a stablecoin. This is enticing as they won’t need to expect any sudden drops later on. What’s more, this helps lock up supply and effectively deflates the token, as 123.8 tokens will likely never be sold. Any token whose supply nearly runs out will experience what is known as a supply shock, causing dramatic price increase.
Every aspect, feature, and limitation in Fibonaut has been designed to create the most compelling chart ever. Our exponential growth using the Fibonacci sequence goes hand in hand with our astronomy theme, aiming to send Fibonaut even further than the moon.
Website: www.fibonaut.net
WhitePaper: https://www.fibonaut.net/s/Fibonaut-Whitepaper.pdf
Telegram: https://t.me/+CnRj5ezE2j42M2Qx | https://medium.com/@fibonaut/how-fibonauts-revolutionary-chart-stabilization-works-34aa4e917413 | [] | 2021-12-29 16:02:30.343000+00:00 | ['Crytocurrency', 'Coins', 'Token', 'Bsc'] |
Profiles in Teaching like a Rebel: Ciji Thurman | By Paul Barnwell
As a content creator for Curio Learning, Paul Barnwell interviews and profiles Curio users to highlight expertise, teacher rebeldom, and general awesomeness. Barnwell also teaches freshman English part-time at a public high school in New Hampshire, writes as a freelancer for various publications, and works on a farm.
Here is his profile of Curio user Ciji Thurman:
Meet Rebel Teacher, Ciji Thurman!
As I speak with Ciji Thurman, I’m sitting in my home office as snowflakes streak towards the ground, but I’m transported to her classroom. I want to be a student in her class, 1,000 miles away. She describes student-generated questions and science scavenger hunts aided by flashlights, a balloon pump, and elements of the game tag. I tell her as much and she laughs. “My goal is to have my students so engaged that to the point where something they don’t even realize that they’re learning,” she says.
Thurman is in the midst of her seventh straight year in education, all spent at Rineyville Elementary School in Hardin County, Kentucky. She communicates clearly — passion for her work as a fourth grade math and science teacher is evident. She doesn’t want her students to “lose that satisfaction of wondering what’s going to happen tomorrow when we come into school. I don’t want my students to be like ‘oh this will just be another day’.”
As a strong believer in student-inquiry, Thurman created this Curio Card, highlighting the strategy she employs when prompting students to ask their own questions.
Ciji’s Problem Solving Strategies Card. Click here to download her resources or collaborate with Ciji.
When it’s time for the students to devise their own content-related question, Thurman helps the kids hone their inquiry skills through categorization: a “cold” question is lower-level, easily answered by student notes or the assigned textbook; a “warm” question’s answer is accessible via a little more effort, maybe a Google search; a “H.O.T.” question is the target as answering requires higher order thinking. Recently, her students were learning about energy and electricity. One of her students came up with this seemingly simple question: What would happen if energy didn’t exist?
Thurman describes her classroom activity like someone who was born to teach — and who always knew it was her calling. But I learn that this wasn’t the case. After graduating high school, she enrolled in college with her mind set on eventually attending law school. But “life happens and things change,” Thurman recalls, and she dropped out.
Then, at the age of 22, while bouncing around to various jobs through a temp agency, she began volunteering at her niece Starr’s school. She helped young students with sight reading, multiplication tables, and other foundational skills. She enjoyed helping out and after about a year, it became clear that she wanted to become a teacher. The lightbulb turned on and the rest, they say, is history.
Before joining the Curio community, she’s been energized by engaging with other educator-centric organizations such as Sevenzo and Teacher2Teacher. And now she’s excited to continue honing her craft, engaging kids, and embracing the idea of a being rebel teacher. “When I think about what it means to be a rebel teacher, it’s about being someone who doesn’t mind going against the grain and always thinking about what’s best for students,” she says.
Wanna join the conversation with other Rebel Teachers like Ciji? Sign up for Curio here. | https://medium.com/curio-learning/profiles-in-teaching-like-a-rebel-ciji-thurman-5387e2990260 | ['Ashley Lamb-Sinclair'] | 2019-02-18 17:01:00.935000+00:00 | ['Education', 'Teachers', 'Problem Solving', 'Teaching', 'Teaching And Learning'] |
What to do for your next job | That’s it, no need to read further, that’s the advice
The first problem you will probably encounter when trying to find your first (or next job) is a slightly existential one… what you should be doing with your life now?
It’s an incredibly daunting question to ask yourself as it will make you feel like you are making a huge commitment, but really it doesn’t have to be. It is incredibly rare that someone’s first job is the same one they’ll be doing when they retire (although it does happen).
Instead of constantly thinking about how the next role you take has to be the right one (which puts immense pressure on you), just think about what would be an improvement on your current situation? What things do you want to learn next? Careers should be thought of as iterative developments; as you progress through them consider the things you enjoyed doing and want to do more of and the inverse, what do you not want to do anymore? Then as you look for your next role look to optimise for those things and see whether they are indeed things you enjoy when you get there.
The more you go on doing this the closer and closer you’ll get to your ‘dream job’. You may be lucky and get it right away or it may take a little longer, but the only way to find out is to try things and see what you enjoy.
If you just stay in one career that you just think is ‘okay’ then yes you will progress, with time, almost certainly, but long term you will likely not fulfil your potential and trying to maintain enthusiasm will become more and more difficult. One example of two career paths, one staying in the same role, never trying anything different and another ‘iterating’ through their career could be as follows:
(With ‘success’ being however you wish to define it: pay, promotions, enjoyment/engagement).
As you see (from this completely legit chart) it may take a little longer and be a little more volatile but there will reach an inflexion point where the skills you have learnt and focussed on compound and align with the role that allows you to perform optimally.
Don’t be scared to try something different, each change may seem a little scary but will help you become more adaptive to different conditions, working with different people, and challenge you to learn new skills.
It is almost impossible to know the perfect role for you until you try things, even if you think on day 1 “I want to be an actor”, you may try it out in a small way by joining an amateur dramatics club, but then find out you are more interested in the staging, set and scenery and less so in being centre stage. So you try that and realise you love making beautiful spaces but want something a bit more practical and so want to try events management, where you then might decide what you really like is specialising in huge business conferences, challenging yourself to make them that bit more bearable and exciting. So you bounce around, learning more skills, pursuing the bits that interest you and ditching the bits that don’t until you reach the thing you love and are great at.
So, to answer the question of “what to do next?” with an heuristic: choose anything that gives you an opportunity to learn about something you are interested in, that is marginally more orientated to what you like doing and involves less of what you don’t like.
It could be a new role in your current company or a role in a different one, the same thought process applies. Rinse and repeat once you feel like you are stagnating or identify another area you want to work on that you can no longer do in your current role and in time you will get to your dream role (it just may take a little patience)! | https://medium.com/i-worked-with-them/what-to-do-for-your-next-job-8e8c2f7988cd | ['Michael Heap'] | 2020-12-16 16:49:57.372000+00:00 | ['Careers', 'Interview', 'Career Advice', 'Job Hunting', 'Career Change'] |
The One Way Blockchain could Revolutionize Humanitarian Aid | Image courtesy of USAID
Fortunately for my bank account, I do more than just write about blockchain. For my full time job, I work for a nonprofit called Accord Network. I get to help humanitarian aid workers figure out how to better help the poor people of the world.
For some humanitarian organizations, a large part of their work comes from “gifts in kind” — referred to as “GIK.” These gifts are non-cash donations, and can come in many different forms:
● Clothing
● Pharmaceuticals
● Food and shelter
You get the picture. The difficulty with GIK for most organizations is correctly tracking these gifts — both their cost and location — and correctly interpreting their effectiveness once they’ve been distributed. This is where blockchain comes in.
Blockchain could revolutionize humanitarian aid by perfectly tracking and measuring the effectiveness of GIK.
Let’s say Emily works for a large humanitarian organization in the US. She has a friend in India who works for Johnson & Johnson, who wants to donate 4 million bottles of body wash to her organization.
Before Emily decided to implement this new blockchain system, she had lots of data points she had to track independently. For example:
How does she measure the “market value” of this gift to report on her organization’s taxes? How would she track where the donation is at all times? Who exactly received the donation? How does she measure and report back to J&J how effective their gift was once it was used?
These are just a few of the many factors Emily had to deal with independently of each other before she started using blockchain. Now all she has to do is enter a few beginning data points, and the system does the rest! This saves Emily’s organization hundreds of hours of time for her employees, precious resources that can be allocated elsewhere, and it eliminates the constant stress of keeping up with hundreds of millions of dollars in GIK.
While Emily’s story was over simplified in all aspects, humanitarian organizations really do struggle to keep up with the many facets of GIK. Are you a blockchain developer who has a heart for the world’s poor? You can make a difference like no one has before. A great place to start is GIK. | https://medium.com/decentralize-today/the-one-way-blockchain-could-revolutionize-humanitarian-aid-168e978ae4fb | ['Jon Creasy'] | 2017-04-25 21:02:15.632000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Humanitarian', 'Ethereum', 'Bitcoin'] |
Make Beautiful Spatial Visualizations with Plotly and Mapbox | This plot is much busier than the two without country borders at this scale. And we still lack details that the tile map offers like country names and cities. These kinds of features can be configured on the outline map, but they aren’t very practical for an outline map that can quickly become cluttered.
Despite these downsides, outline maps do still have a place. When creating maps of smaller regions we often don’t need to render data at multiple scales, which means there is no reason to add the data and processing overhead of a tile based map. Also, when making maps for presentations it can be advantageous to customize an outline based map to maximize quick readability from a distance. Not to mention that conference rooms don’t always have the best wifi, and I have seen my fair share of web maps load extremely slowly to the dismay of the person speaking.
Mapbox and Plotly Tile Map Basics
Mapbox GL JS is a JavaScript library made for web mapping with interactive tile maps. Plotly refers to the Mapbox JavaScript library when we invoke one of the Plotly Mapbox functions in Python. Since some versions of the Mapbox GL JS library are open source, using these functions with an open source base map does not require a Mapbox API key. However, Mapbox as a company has extremely high quality vector tile base maps available that will require a Mapbox API key to use. Mapbox has a great free tier that allows up to 50,000 map loads per month, which is plenty for most users.
Raster Tiles versus Vector Tiles
Most web maps have traditionally used raster tiles to construct a map, but Mapbox allows us to take advantage of vector tiles as well. If you are familiar with GIS data, a raster is a grid of values (images) and vector data is geometry data — normally points, lines, and polygons.
Raster tiles are a set of images that line up next to each other to form a complete map. As you zoom in, different levels of raster tiles can be loaded to show new features at different scales. Vector tiles work very similarly to this, however the tiles contain pre-generated vector data that suit the zoom and location you are viewing.
There are a lot of upsides to vector tiles. They don’t have to be exactly the same size like raster tiles and they are rendered by the client’s computer, which can make them much lighter weight to host. Vector data also is generally much smaller than raster data making using the map snappier since you are relying less on a fast internet connection. Vector data can even render rasters if needed making it incredibly flexible.
Tile Base Maps
With Plotly we have access to both raster and vector tile base maps. The raster tile base maps we have access to are open source, like Open Street Map’s base maps. Mapbox provides access to vector tile base maps, but they require a Mapbox API token to access. Below I will go through some of the available base maps and show you the practical differences.
Raster Tile Base Maps from Public Servers
All of the raster tile base maps that we have access to are open source and don’t require an API token to make use of. Here are a few examples of what is available:
Open Street Map
Even though we are using a base map from Open Street Map, we still invoke the “Scattermapbox()” function. This is because Plotly makes use of the open source Mapbox JavaScript library to plot tiled maps regardless of whether they are raster or vector tiles. | https://towardsdatascience.com/make-beautiful-spatial-visualizations-with-plotly-and-mapbox-fd5a638d6b3c | ['Will Norris'] | 2021-05-05 20:56:57.191000+00:00 | ['Maps', 'Geospatial', 'Python', 'Plotly', 'Data Visualization'] |
A Selfie a Day on the Appalachian Trail | Hiking & Backpacking
A Selfie a Day on the Appalachian Trail
Crossing the Mason-Dixon Line (photo credit to the author)
In 2019 I thru hiked all 2192 miles of the Appalachian Trail from Mt Springer in Georgia to Mt Katahdin in Maine. I took a selfie almost every day along the way and compiled them into a video — this is the result.
I also vlogged the whole journey, you can check it out here. | https://medium.com/@chillybinhikes/a-selfie-a-day-on-the-appalachian-trail-fd0e5b301c2e | ['Debra Howell', 'Chilly Bin'] | 2020-12-17 22:46:29.201000+00:00 | ['Backpacking', 'Journey', 'Hiking', 'Travel', 'Blog'] |
A Defense of Guns | A British Libertarian’s Perspective | I believe myself to be in the minority opinion compared to my fellow British countrymen. As such, one must tread lightly. For the issue at hand draws a heavy emotional toll on all involved.
I hold an extremely liberal position when it comes to the possession and use of firearms. I believe that the state should not be able to restrict what firearms a person of legal age with no violent convictions should be able to own. This would extend from handguns to black powder weapons, all the way up to fully automatic rifles of any caliber.
This position is vary rare. I have not met a single person offline, (which is what counts), who holds this position. Indeed whenever I have broached the topic, cautiously I will add, I am met with a profound disdain for guns or for any suggestion of the liberalisation of gun legislation. This is primarily expressed as a sneer at the state of gun violence in the United States. “Something should be done.”, “I am glad we are not like that.” These are statements that I have heard when talking about gun violence in the United States.
An increase in the consumption of American news media, a very British culture of not rocking the boat and the slow, but nonetheless inevitable, accumulation of state power have all conspired to degrade a persons freedom with respect to gun rights.
So what are the policy positions that I am advocating for?
First is the repeal of the prohibition on all pistols, semi-automatic rifles above .22 rim fire cartridges, all automatic rifles and all less than lethal self defense weapons such as stun guns and pepper spray. The second policy position I am advocating for is the repeal of the restriction on owning a firearm for personal protection.
I advocate for these positions on the grounds that every individual holds intrinsic moral value and contains within their person natural rights to life, liberty and property. If an individual is threatened with harm or death they have the right to meet that threat with justified lethal force.
The issue of self defense is a polarising one. The law with regards to self defense rests on the incredibly subjective term “reasonable force”. What is reasonable to one person is not to another. This is pernicious as it holds the victim to the capricious whims of public opinion. A person must never chose between not defending themselves with the potential of being murdered, maimed or exploited and defending themselves and being victimized by the mob and media.
Even in cases where there is no polarisation. Where it is clear cut that a person was acting in self defense and lethal force is justified. What is the justification that a person is not allowed to use a firearm but they are allowed to use a kitchen knife or a blunt object from around their home. In both cases the use of lethal force is justified so why would should there be a distinction?
People who oppose the ownership of firearms might suggest that firearms, because of their efficiency, would make the victim more likely to use lethal force. This on the surface might sound reasonable but it excludes a natural counter balance. Due to a firearms efficiency, while being more deadly for a perpetrator, it makes it safer for the victim. It allows a victim to meet the threat they are confronted with. Firearms are the great equalizer. It doesn’t matter how big you are or strong you are, if you have a firearm you have the ability to meet the threat.
Self defense is an intrinsic right to all humans. It is a right that exudes a love of life and a declaration of the defense of life. To tell a victim that they may only protect themselves in certain ways is to say to them that their life is less valuable than their moral dictates.
Victims of violent crime, who are predominantly poor, are denied access to a method of self defense that is open to the elites of society. The rich and well connected have the ability to prevent violence against themselves with high walls and armed security. While the poor must make do with a handicapped ability to defend themselves and a police force that will pick up the pieces after the violence has occurred.
Another common claim that is made by people who oppose the liberalisation of firearm legislation is that the more firearms a population has access to the more that those firearms will be used.
We can see that even though the prohibition against pistols occurred in 1997, there was a spike in the number of homicides around 2003 followed by a lull in 2015 before returning to pre pistol prohibition levels in 2019. Even though firearms have been severely restricted, the number of homicides has not been affected by this restriction. If the goal of these laws is to decrease the amount of death in the world then it appears to not have worked.
A reply to this could be that the number of homicides would have been even more if not for the ban, but this has been masked by some other factor.
This however does not look like the case.
As we can see there is a downward trend in all violent crimes. This includes rape, robbery, arson, assault, and all threats of violence since 1995. This downward trend predates the prohibition of pistols and the tightening of firearm legislation.
I am not saying that firearms are not dangerous. They obviously are. Firearms need to be treated with respect as one would with any piece of dangerous machinery. But banning something because it might be used maliciously or used poorly is not in the best interest of the people. For even if it was true that prohibiting firearms did decrease the amount of homicides, the legislation would still fail on moral grounds. For it subjects a persons natural rights, their human rights, to be sacrificed as a scapegoat in place of the criminals personal responsibility.
If a man drives his car into a crowd of people. Would it be legitimate for the government to legislate the prohibition of all cars? Obviously not. I would argue the same should hold with respect to firearms. Now one could retort that a car is very different from a firearm, that the car has a purpose beyond its use as a killing tool. I would argue that the distinction is not as clear as some would like. Yes, cars may be used to run down crowds of people, but they may also be used for transport. Firearms may be used for homicides, but they may also be used as a tool of self defense. Anyone who would equivocate the defensive use of a firearm and the malicious use of a firearm, I would argue, does not believe that a person has the moral right to self defense. I believe that the defensive use of a firearm should be considered a legitimate use of a firearm.
While I do not expect my policy positions to be broadly accepted, I do hope that we can at least push the conversation in the direction of liberty and to viewing a person as an independent individual with the right to their own life. | https://medium.com/@daniels-jacob/a-defense-of-guns-a-british-libertarians-perspective-4491fa744e53 | [] | 2020-11-24 10:24:58.362000+00:00 | ['Britain', 'Self Defense', 'Guns'] |
Segmenting and Organizing AR-Cloud through ARwayKit | AR-Cloud is a machine-readable, persistent 3D digital copy of the real world that forms the base layer of spatial computing.
When we talk about AR-Cloud the scale of it is an enormous challenge and the world is an ever-changing environment so updating the 3D digital copy of the real-world needs forethought tools and real software innovation.
On a high-level AR-Cloud can be divided into two software layers;
1) Application layer
2) and Map Layer
Application layer — It deals with Application use-cases, content, Business logic, UI/UX.
Map layer — It is a true machine-readable 3D map, mostly used for hyper-accurate localization or occlusion.
How is ARwayKit helping develop ARCloud apps?
ARwayKit offers a full-stack solution integrated with Mapping and Localization it provides a Web Studio where developers can manage point clouds maps (Map layer) and AR content maps (Application layer) easily in Real-time.
Web Studio to manage point clouds and AR Content in realtime
For managing large physical space it offers the ability to segment and organizes Maps in realtime which makes large-scale AR location apps deployment easy.
ARwayKit Web Studio offers the ability to divide a large space into multiple smaller maps, and whenever an update is needed in a Map, it can be easily updated from the Mapping app and Studio in Realtime.
MultiMap Async Localization request
ARwayKit Localization API’s now support querying of localization in multiple Map from a single frame, it runs the requests asynchronously across all the maps parallelly in ARWAY Cloud Server and return the local pose which can be further converted into the global pose, given the Map offset.
So what coming next?
Web Studio REST API is being updated to query AR Content around a specific location, this will help developers to download the data which is only needed to show in the current location instead of a complete map, hence reducing the required network bandwidth. | https://medium.com/arway/segmenting-and-organizing-ar-cloud-through-arwaykit-943d4e273005 | [] | 2020-11-21 03:02:48.871000+00:00 | ['Ar Cloud', 'Spatial Computing', 'AR', 'Indoor Navigation', 'Arkit'] |
How Can Social Media Managers Survive 2020? | How Can Social Media Managers Survive 2020?
Welcome to the burnout zone.
Photo by Agê Barros on Unsplash
It has been the year of extras. The year of noise, boycotts, PR disasters and more. The year of Karens. The year of social media hate. The year of… I’m exhausted.
At the helm is the social media professional, reading vitriolic tantrums in 280-character bursts. The professional often regarded as a lowly intern, a volunteer, a teen with a smartphone, is stacked against a torrent of anger, frustration, and whatever announcement their comms team is ready to unleash, breaking the internet and signaling press reports with soundbites, quote cards, and the ubiquitous embedded image to make you, the reader, click.
The past few months have been more than just COVID. COVID was somehow the opening act. Crisis comms has become the major skill set for social media marketers, unable to unplug for fear that they will miss the next hack, the next boycott, the next news alert. The social media marketer has truly become the messenger for brands across the internet and the public has indeed shot the messenger. In addition to being the voice of the brand, they also act as the eyes and ears of it. They are using social listening to see what consumers and the general public are saying about their brand/industry/latest announcement. They are seeing the flood of negative sentiment. In a country divided, a brand’s stance immediately encourages love and hate. There is no escape from the comments and DMs shouting their disgust.
It feels like no industry or vertical is safe. These professionals are left — no, stuck, in an online environment that sees them as the embodiment of brand action while still being relegated to nothing more than a town crier. Though they are the audience facing arm, they are seldom given the opportunity to be a part of the messaging conversations. They are seen as a walking/talking social automaton, strapped to a smartphone that lets them distribute copy. Disposable and replaceable.
What are they really? Professionals who are strapped to their monitors doomscrolling, because they care. Because their work is attached to a brand and they see the success or failure of that work as a direct reflection of their efforts, even when that work is on a Saturday or Sunday (weekends are no longer real) or late at night when the latest hack puts their team on red alert. You have impassioned staff that continues to consume the neverending stream of negativity for the sake of preparing and saving a brand. They are burning out, consciously aware of what they are about to consume as soon as they wake up. They are burning out as they sit at their home desks for 12–15 hours at a time, constantly on alert. They are burning out as they have to keep their quality of work afloat as they move (flee) their current homes/apartments, worry that their own job may be cut at any time, while also seeing the world crumble around them, one TikTok video or tweet at a time.
For these professionals, they are paid to tap into these platforms. To read and understand how they work, even when we see them unraveling into streams of hatred. If social media is toxic, social media professionals are paid to be poisoned. | https://medium.com/swlh/how-can-social-media-managers-survive-2020-8f6eda31898e | ['Christina Garnett'] | 2020-07-28 14:10:06.337000+00:00 | ['Stress', 'Mental Health', 'Social Media', 'Covid 19', 'Marketing'] |
Where to Start Programming the Web? | Where to Start Programming the Web?
A Brief Guide for Complete beginners to jump-start their Web Development Career
google photos
WHAT IS WEB DEVELOPMENT ANYWAY:
Web development is simply the act of writing some set of computer instructions called codes to make a website look interactive & functional, to perform some specified tasks. For example, taking a look at one of the most common web applications we use daily Facebook. When accessed via the browser and not on its mobile apps, this is a typical example of a website application (created by web development) starting from the designs of the user interface to the functionality included. Now let’s dive into the three most important skills to learn in this journey.
SKILLS REQUIRED:
The three basics skills required to excel in this field are HTML, CSS& JAVASCRIPT. These three depend on one another. Follow the thread below to see how the three works. I will be showing a short illustration of how they work, The illustration is titled “demo”.
HTML:
This is the first thing, to begin with on this journey. HTML stands for HYPERTEXT MARKUP LANGUAGE. In its core, Html isn’t a programming language, It is a markup language used in creating web pages. The Html takes care of the display of the web pages, as pillars are to houses or the bones to the body, HTML is responsible for how your webpage is displayed on the web.
With the latest of HTML 5, the HTML tags, there are close to 100 of tags used & as a beginner, you are not expected to cram it all, surprisingly you only need a handful of them, something like 10 to begin your journey of building awesome stuff
The more you practice, the better you get to understand their usage. Let’s visit our demo page to see a sample of how HTML works. The illustration will be carried out on the most popular code editor , vscode text editor, any one will work, feel free to use any you comfortable with.
Checking through the editor online, all that we have so far on the screen are tags, don’t be scared. They are what enable the output to come out well. The h1 tag stands for headings, the P stands for paragraph & the button. The onclick function inside the button is a JavaScript function which is to be used to reference our button in the JavaScript
The output of the code is shown below
Output of the html code on the browser
CSS:
This stands for CASCADING STYLES SHEET. CSS helps to give cool designs to the already made markup language, think of it as painting is to an apartment or make-up to the face so is CSS to any webpage. Let’s begin by giving some styling to our HTML code up there.
This code up here is what resulted to the output below.
CSS styling has resulted to a good looking interface
Now we can see the usefulness of CSS, they all rely on each other to work, without the HTML, the CSS will have nothing to act on, and without the CSS, the HTML won’t have a good looking interface.
JAVASCRIPT:
Here comes the big JavaScript. JavaScript is a programming language that helps add functions to the webpage. Think of the engine that makes a vehicle, so is the javascript to our webpage/websites. We have done the first step by putting up a markup page followed by adding beauty to it. Now let’s go and add some functions to the page. Let’s make the button responsive by making it show something when been clicked on.
Javascript function
Remember the onclick function used in the HTML, That function is what is been used to reference our button. Now when you click the button it shows you “learning starts now”.
Javascript effect
Check below for another simple illustration of the three skills highlighted above
HTML:
The image of the coupled car below signify our html.
Engines, part of the body getting coupled together
CSS:
Adding designs to the car to make it worth looking represents our CSS here
The car which now look beautiful is an example of CSS on our Webpage
JAVASCRIPT:
The necessary things required to make the car move on the high way & function effectively here represents our javascript.
Javascript is what makes the web page interactive
This is a brief guide to starting a career in web development, it’s an exciting career, you sure going to love it. Determination & Consistency is the key.
One of my favourite quote by Roy T. Bennett says “The Beginning is NOW.”
Thanks for reading, your claps,review,comments will be well appreciated. | https://medium.com/dev-genius/where-to-start-programming-the-web-2592394bd586 | ['Adetutu Gbangbola'] | 2020-07-18 11:40:35.363000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'CSS', 'HTML', 'Web Development', 'Newbie Guide'] |
2021 ASTROLOGY CALENDARS | EVEN IN OUR MODERN SOCIETY, WITH JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING AVAILABLE IN DIGITAL FORMAT, PEOPLE STILL LOVE PAPER CALENDARS!
People Love to Have a Calendar on the Wall, the Fridge or Any Place They Can Quickly Check a Specific Date or Make a Few Notes.
What Can You Do With The Printable Astrology Calendars and KDP Ready Coloring Calendars & Bonuses? You Can:
Sell Them In Your Etsy Store, on KDP and Other Sales Platform
Create Awesome Journals & Diaries
Use for Yourself and as Gifts
This Is What You Get Immediate Access To:
12 Yearly Printable Calendars In Fibrant Colors
12 Yearly Printable Calendars In Pastel Colors
24 Monthly Colorful Printable Calendars (2 for each sign)
24 Monthly Printable Calendars in Pastel Colors (2 for each sign)
36 KDP Ready Astrology Monthly Calendar Pages With Notes
60 Astrology Coloring Pages
4 Editable Cover Templates
Grab Your Calendar Pack Now & Be Ready for 2021! | https://medium.com/@shubhamdambale123/2021-astrology-calendars-dc1c1b7768f7 | ['Shubham Dambale'] | 2020-12-23 07:50:28.560000+00:00 | ['New Year', 'Astrology', '2021', 'Crisis', 'Calendar'] |
Best practices for form design | Best practices for form design
20 tips to boost form usability
The ultimate goal of a website or a mobile application is conversion, and forms play a vital role in doing so. Therefore, getting a form’s UX right is critical for business and it becomes a topmost task of a product designer to design a form, which is straightforward to work through, simple to understand, and easy to fill in. Or in short, a form that converts.
In this article, we will discuss 20 best practices to boost a form’s usability.
1. Minimizing the Input fields:
While designing a form, the most important thing is to avoid all the unnecessary questions and ask for the most relevant information only. Users do not want to fill a form with too many fields on it. By asking only the relevant information, and minimizing the number of objects on the screen you can decrease the cognitive load on them and boost up the completion time. Always remember the “Less is More” theory.
Image Source: Baymard
2. One Column Layout:
One Column form is faster to process than multiple column forms because multiple columns interrupt the vertical momentum of moving down the form. Single column layout keeps users on flow and results in faster completion. However, there are exceptions. For instance, the short and logical related fields like City, State, and Zip could be presented on the same row. For mobile devices, you can consider separate rows.
3. Multiple Steps:
There are times when we cannot minimize the number of fields and end up with a huge form. In such a case, we can chunk the form into several steps to minimize the user cognitive load and visual noise. Study shows that providing a clear picture of the number of steps it takes to complete the process significantly increases form completion. From the physiological point of view, if users complete the first step, they are more likely to complete the form. Always provide a clear picture of the number of steps left or the percentage of completion through a progress bar.
4. Ask the easy questions first:
If your form has some complex questions, consider asking them at the end. Once, users answer simple questions, they will be committed and more likely to complete the form. If you ask the complex questions at the beginning, chances for abandonment are high. For instance, if you ask for a credit card details, in the beginning, they might not have it nearby and chances of form abandonment increases. But once they fill in the easy question, they establish a report and will be more likely to complete the form.
5. Distinguish Optional and Required fields:
Before adding optional fields in the form, ask yourself if you can do it without them. Once users complete a form, you always have the option to ask for additional questions on a later stage. Always mark optional fields instead of mandatory. For instance, if your form has 6 mandatory and 2 optional fields, it makes sense to mark optional fields instead of required fields.
Avoid using an asterisk (“*”) to mark optional fields, as it is registered as a sign of mandatory fields among users. Instead, mark “Optional” for optional fields.
6. Explain any input or formatting requirements:
If an input field requires special formatting, don’t make users guess the format and specify the clear instruction close to the input field. For instance, if a password input requires special characters and formatting, explain the formatting through support text.
7. Label:
A label is used to create a caption for a form input field.
Label Position: The best position for placing a form label is above an input field because users are not forced to look separately at the label and the input field. This dramatically decreases the number of eye fixations and results in faster completion time. For mobile devices always use a label at the top.
The best position for placing a form label is above an input field because users are not forced to look separately at the label and the input field. This dramatically decreases the number of eye fixations and results in faster completion time. For mobile devices always use a label at the top. Label to the left of the input field: For bigger screens sometimes, we place labels to the left of the input fields. In this instance, at least make them right-aligned, so they are close to the input fields and users could easily relate labels with the fields.
For bigger screens sometimes, we place labels to the left of the input fields. In this instance, at least make them right-aligned, so they are close to the input fields and users could easily relate labels with the fields. Label Proximity: Always place labels close to the input field and have an ample amount of space between two input fields, so that users have no confusion to relate labels with the input field.
Always place labels close to the input field and have an ample amount of space between two input fields, so that users have no confusion to relate labels with the input field. Inline Labels: Sometimes we use Inline form field labels. Inline form field labels are labels that are located inside the fields themselves. These labels save us some space but there is a huge drawback. Once, users fill the input, the label disappears. To see the label again, they are required to remove the input. Also, some users prefer to press the tab (key) to go to the next input field. They don’t even see the next field while entering the tab key. Once the input field is focused, they don’t find the label of the field, as the form label disappears on focus. Inline form field labels may be good for one or two fields, like search or log in with user name and password fields.
8. Placeholder Text:
The text in a placeholder can guide users to input correct data and improve the completion or conversion rate. Unfortunately, user testing shows, placeholder texts often hurt usability than helping it. As users type in the field the hint disappears and if users forget the hint, they need to clear the text to see it again. There are many ways to provide hints. Product Designers can insert the instruction text within the form. Here is what NNGroup says.
9. Size fields Accordingly:
Using the same length for all the input fields in a form may make it look symmetric and visually appealing but it will fail the purpose of a form. For instance, the email input field can have around 40 characters but a Zip Code can have 5 characters. If we make the length of both the input fields to accommodate 40 characters, users may get confused while filling in the ZIP code. On all occasions, use field length as an affordance so that users know how much text is expected to be entered, just by looking at the length of the field.
10. Be careful with default values:
Default values are used to minimize the user’s effort to fill the form. Make very good user research before applying the default values. Sometimes, it can cost you. People scan forms, and they won’t spend extra time to verify the inputted data. Once, while booking an Airline ticket, the form pre-populated my name that was fetched from my user name in the portal, and unfortunately, it was not matching with my ID proof. Even though it had a support text, to check for the name, I overlooked it.
11. Auto-focus first input field:
Offer field focus for the first input field in your form. Not only that it gives the users an indication of the starting point but also minimizes one tap/click. Make the active input field prominent and focused by highlighting it using a bold border or shadow so that users could understand from a glance, where the focus is.
12. Minimize dropdown menus:
If your dropdown menu has got less than 6 items, consider using radio buttons instead and for multiple selections, consider checkboxes. They will make all options visible and also reduce the interaction cost by minimizing the number of taps/clicks. Stack the radio button or checkboxes vertically for easy scanning and faster processing.
13. Making a form Tab-Ready:
Some users use the Tab key to move to the next input fields. Therefore, test your form with tab key navigation to ensure, it follows the correct sequence.
14. Provide Matching Keyboard:
This feature is primarily required for mobile devices. If we provide a matching keyboard, it will be easier for users to input the form. For instance, if we want users to fill in a numeric entry, the keyboard should show only numbers on it, so that the chances of entering the wrong characters are minimized.
15. Asking for Sensitive Information:
People are increasingly concerned about their privacy and security. They will be hesitant to provide any information that they consider private. If your form asks for sensitive information, make sure to explain, why you need them by providing a support text close to the input field. With no explanation, they are likely to abandon the form.
16. Provide Show Password Option:
Product designers often ask users to retype the password in a signup form to prevent users from mismatching the password. But asking to input the password twice not only increases the interaction cost but also does not guarantee that users will not make a mistake. As users don’t see the entered text, they are likely to make the same mistake twice and face the problem when trying to login using a password. Instead of asking the password twice, provide an option to preview the password. Have an icon or a checkbox to unmask the password. Providing unmasking options in sign-in form for password and PIN always helps users to prevent login failure.
Usability suffers when users type in passwords and the only feedback they get is a row of bullets. Typically, masking passwords doesn’t even increase security, but it does cost you business due to login failures.
By Jakob Nielsen
17. Action button:
A form must have an action button to trigger the form submission. Here is how you can design an effective action button:
Label: The button label should complete the sentence, “I want to”. Example — “Book Ticket”, “Create Account” etc. Avoid generic labels such as “Submit” and “Send”.
The button label should complete the sentence, “I want to”. Example — “Book Ticket”, “Create Account” etc. Avoid generic labels such as “Submit” and “Send”. Button Style: Make the action button prominent and descriptive. If your form has more than one button. Make them look different. The primary button should be more prominent. Maintain a good gap between buttons, to refrain users from clicking on the other button.
Make the action button prominent and descriptive. If your form has more than one button. Make them look different. The primary button should be more prominent. Maintain a good gap between buttons, to refrain users from clicking on the other button. Disable Button after the tap/click: Once users click on the Submit button, disable it so that there is no duplicate submission.
18. Form Feedback:
Once a form is submitted, provide feedback to the user. It could be positive like “form submitted successfully” or negative like “the email address is not valid”.
Inline Error Message: Always display error messages inline. The message could be displayed just below or beside the input fields. Also, highlight the input fields with a contrast color.
Always display error messages inline. The message could be displayed just below or beside the input fields. Also, highlight the input fields with a contrast color. Don’t blame users: You should avoid negative language and refrain from blaming your user for the error in the form. A message like “You did not enter your name” could be replaced with “Please enter your name”.
You should avoid negative language and refrain from blaming your user for the error in the form. A message like “You did not enter your name” could be replaced with “Please enter your name”. Error Message Copy: Be concise and specific about the Error Message. A message like “Something went wrong” is vague and users will be confused about their next action. The error message should be clear and direct to make users understand, what caused the error and how should they correct it. For instance, the message (Email address is invalid) makes users understand something is wrong in the email address. While the message (Please add “@” in the email address) makes it more clear to them.
19. Never use a Reset or Clear button:
These days, most of the users know, they can Reset a form by refreshing the browser. There are more drawbacks than benefits of a Reset button. If users click on a Reset button instead of a Submit button, their effort will be gone and they may not fill the form again.
The Web would be a happier place if virtually all Reset buttons were removed. This button almost never helps users, but often hurts them.
NNGroup
20. Accessibility:
As a product designer, it is our responsibility to ensure that users of all abilities should be able to access what we create. Here are a few things to consider to make a form more accessible:
Ensure the form has a proper contrast: Provide sufficient contrast between foreground and background. Some people cannot read the text if there is not sufficient contrast between the text and the background. Measuring color contrast can be overwhelming. Please check for more information on minimum contrast ratio as required by WCAG
Provide sufficient contrast between foreground and background. Some people cannot read the text if there is not sufficient contrast between the text and the background. Measuring color contrast can be overwhelming. Please check for more information on minimum contrast ratio as required by WCAG Allow users to control text size:
People with low vision and cognitive disabilities require increased font size to read. A product designer should provide controls that allow the user to incrementally increase or decrease the text size.
People with low vision and cognitive disabilities require increased font size to read. A product designer should provide controls that allow the user to incrementally increase or decrease the text size. Screen Reader Enable: Make sure to include the label attribute for screen readers and section your form for two different topics and tag the groups for screen readers
Make sure to include the label attribute for screen readers and section your form for two different topics and tag the groups for screen readers Don’t rely on color as the only visual means to communicate status:
While color can be useful to communicate status, don’t rely only on color, and provide some additional identification for color blind people. For example for an error message, change the text color to red and add an exclamation icon before the message. According to Prevent Blindness, an estimated 8 percent of males and less than 1 percent of females are color blind.
Filling out an online form isn’t something that most people like, so our goal as a product designer is to design a form that is straightforward to work through, simple to understand, and easy to fill in. By following some best practices, we can design a form, which can significantly increase the usability and the number of conversions. | https://uxdesign.cc/best-practices-for-form-design-ff5de6ca8e5f | ['Salim Ansari'] | 2020-08-27 11:06:14.409000+00:00 | ['Forms', 'Interaction Design', 'User Experience', 'Usability', 'UI'] |
Technical analysis of Bitcoin 06/09/2019 | A new week begins for Bitcoin and our dear crypto-currencies (it started yesterday to be exact, sorry!) while the future contract gap of nearly 4% at the opening. Analysis.
To start, let’s look at the weekly to get an idea of the closing candles and the general feeling of the market.
First observation, the candle in reversal configuration, here a doji with a very long high wick, has still not been broken. I was already warning you that in my opinion, we had found our “glass ceiling”. The area we are currently working on is a range zone, the market has still not made its decision (although we broke a nice compression triangle from above yesterday, hence my analysis today).
One point is interesting: during the last week, a lower low has been marked, while to my great surprise, there was no support on this area, the support being much lower. The resumption of prices and the rise that followed surprised me… It was only after the fact that I noticed the similarity: last week’s low fuse perfectly coincides with a 38.2% retracement of all the previous crack, and also coincides with a retracement of the same Fibonacci level but of the whole uptrend. | https://medium.com/hackernoon/technical-analysis-of-bitcoin-06-09-2019-9fcf809829b3 | ['Vladimir Denis'] | 2019-07-09 17:06:16.111000+00:00 | ['Technical Analysis', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Trading', 'Bitcoin'] |
Educational Practices behind Gamification | Gamification refers to incorporating elements of games in the classroom. This can range from encouraging competition among the students, making them take part in activities that allow them to earn points, overcoming a challenge or receiving a badge. Game-based learning, refers to learning using an actual game for teaching knowledge and skills to students (Kapp, 2012). The game can be a traditional board game, an educational video game, an online game, etc.
The educational technology industry has jumped on this opportunity to build games for learning purposes or incorporate gaming concepts into education.
Websites like Duolingo for teaching language and KnowRe for Math education ease learning at different grade and knowledge levels of students (Editorial team, 2013).
Classcraft is a Quebec based company started by a Grade 11 Physics teacher that allows educators to customize their own gaming environments to use in class. Educator Ginger Schwartz recently shared why and how she adopted Classcraft in her classroom.
I have been curious about gamification and game-based learning for a while now and hence, I decided to dedicate my time to understanding the concept of gaming in learning better. Karl Kapp’s online course, Gamification of Learning, on Lynda.com, provides an excellent overview to gamification, its types, educational theories behind it as well as a thorough dive into the elements that teachers can incorporate into their classroom that will facilitate learning through a game. Considerations and best practices for gamifying the classroom were abound!
In this article, I focus on how theories in education support gamification. I think there isn’t a more convincing argument for gamifying your classroom because it takes into account so many elements of good teaching!
Most of what I have shared here is based on my notes from the course and I highly recommend you to take it when you have some time, especially if, like me, you are new to adding the touch of games to your classroom. I have also provided links to materials that would add to what I have described here.
What is gamification?
We all grow up playing games. Whether it is tic-tac-toe or Snakes and ladders, video games like Mario Kart, or outdoor games like Cricket and Hopscotch, we have each experienced some form of game in our lives. Games are fun and lead to rich engagement and motivated players.
Some elements that make a game feel like a game
When we bring one or more of these elements into the classroom, it is gamification. Game mechanics are the actions and activities that the player must undertake throughout the game.
Gamification is taking these elements and mechanics and applying them to non-traditional environments.
To bring gamification into the classroom, one must use game thinking. This involves applying the game mechanics to non-game situations, the classroom for instance, such that the learning environment encourages action on behalf of the player and leads to engagement. In my article on Empowerment and Engagement, I had mentioned the Engagement Taxonomy.
Taking action, whether by responding, solving, modifying or constructing something, all lead to active engagement in the content. A good game as well as a good implementation of gamification has challenges, risks and meaningful outcomes. Thus, it provides a reason to take these actions and keep the learner engaged.
Types of Gamification
There are two kinds of gamification and neither of them need technology in the classroom.
Content vs Structural Gamification
Currently, in the Computers camp that I volunteer at, I am using jeopardy to review computer concepts. This is an instance of structural gamification. I have presented the content in such a way that it aligns with the rules of the game.
One can have a combination of the two types as well. For example, I want to gamify my Math classroom. To do this, I can add an underlying story, giving characters and purpose to my students’ avatars. That would be content gamification. My questions, in this case, would be rooted in the story itself. At the same time, I can use scoring elements and leaderboards, and have my students work in pairs or teams. This represents structural gamification. It is not related to the content, but how the game functions by itself.
Theory behind the Practice
Kapp elaborates upon the seven concepts from education that play an important role in the development of the learner. One or more of these can be present in the gamified classroom. | https://medium.com/a-teachers-hat/educational-practices-behind-gamification-cf316acce60f | ['Kriti Khare'] | 2018-08-09 15:01:01.407000+00:00 | ['Teaching And Learning', 'Online Courses', 'Gamification', 'Education', 'Psychology'] |
Diversity Capital & the art of going back for more pie | Carol Tarr
Included VC Fellow
Included VC was launched in 2019. Out of more than 1400 applicants, 30 were chosen for the 1st cohort that began in October with the first retreat in Berlin in November. The remarkably blind application process stripped essays and responses of any details of gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic indicators, educational background, religion, disability and ethnicity but the results still ended up being profoundly intersectional: 60% female, 56% Black, Asian or mixed, 10% neuro-diverse from 16 countries and 9 nationalities. We include immigrants, refugees, PhDs, human rights activists, global thinkers and game-changers; and I am proud to be included in this group, representing my own intersectionality and being empowered with the knowledge needed to demystify the VC process for others.
Included_VC Retreat, Berlin 2019
Paradise is an ancient Persian word, roughly translated as a well-tended garden with walls. For me, that’s what this Included VC fellowship is. It’s like a paradise in that finally I’ve found a place — a fellowship — where I can have thoughtful discussions with fellow cohort members and learn insider knowledge from our mentoring VCs; where I don’t have to constantly re-explain the inherent value in having a diversity of thought, experience and network in decision-making positions; and where everyone agrees that this diversity is critical to the future of venture capital and good for the economy as a whole. We learn, we discuss, we connect and it is an amazing experience: a paradise.
But hanging around in a walled garden talking to like-minded individuals is not the intent behind an Included VC fellowship. As fellows, we are expected to actually do something that makes a difference: to take the ideas and the knowledge we gain during our fellowship back into our communities and the world at large. An Included VC fellowship is not meant to be a walled garden or an ivory tower where we group-think: because outside of the garden there are business opportunities being missed, networks to form and ultimately diverse deal flow that needs to be created.
How did I get to this paradise? I followed the pie crumbs from Amsterdam.
Not too long ago, I was asked by a well-meaning colleague: “if our slice of the pie is so small, why do we have to share it?” She raised this question in frustration with my insistence that we needed to be aware that the plight of minority women entrepreneurs was significantly greater than for Dutch women, especially when it came to accessing investment to grow their businesses. This results in their businesses withering and dying at a higher frequency, directly due to this lack of funding opportunities.
“Then we need to go back and get more pie”, I replied rather undiplomatically which prematurely shut down the discussion. I wished the discussion had been able to continue but that would not have changed my core belief that the quest to go back to get more pie and to make more pie available for worthy entrepreneurs of all ethnicities, gender identities and backgrounds is just plain good for business. Not everyone was onboard with this — many were becoming downright frustrated with me as we focused our efforts on opening up new avenues for funding for more women entrepreneurs. But I knew many more were being missed and I knew it would take time to change minds. But changing minds has never been anything I’ve shied away from.
Please, walk with me along this trail of pie crumbs…
I’d already spent the last couple of years trying to convince Dutch businesses, investors and banks that investing in women-led business was a good idea and something they had a moral obligation to do. Faced with the barrage of shocking research statistics published almost daily, it was clear that figures — such as 1.6% of VC capital going to women-led companies in The Netherlands — were beyond unacceptable and matters could no longer be left for someone else to figure out. Among the risk-averse, common wisdom became that just investing small amounts in more women entrepreneurs, who would be found through running endless pitch competitions, could solve the problem. This modest approach had yet to produce significant results and there was clearly a need for a bigger solution.
In 2018 Queen Maxima of The Netherlands lent her voice in support to the growing calls for concrete solutions to remedy this rather embarrassing statistic around the Dutch female funding gap. The queen’s voice was a welcome catalyst precipitating a flurry of activity culminating in banks and social organizations collaborating on multiple projects over the next year. Examples were: the creation of scale-up programs for high-potential female entrepreneurs, unconscious-bias awareness training for bankers and the creation of a fund for investing in women-led businesses. The social pressure was on and the buy-in came from the director level albeit accompanied with a banker’s low-risk appetite. Still, it was a start and I was happy to dig in, hashing out ideas, bringing together bankers and female entrepreneurs for shared learning as programs came to fruition.
Problem fixed, right? Not so fast.
The focus on just women-led businesses has distracted from the fact that this is just one part of a much larger societal issue: the absence of equitable funding for out-groups. Women are part of a larger out-group, although Dutch women are less marginalized than non-Dutch women mostly due to their networks and resources. I’ve had numerous experiences confirming this, such as a woman investor remarking that she would not be comfortable investing in someone with an unfamiliar sounding foreign name. What??? Clearly more than just money is needed to solve what is a larger societal issue.
For most of Europe and the West, membership of an in-group is extended to those born cis-gendered male, European decent, middle-class (or higher) background, highly educated and extremely well-connected. Out-groups on the other hand consist of everyone else. Their challenges to accessing capital critical to growing their businesses are propounded by intersectionality: where someone acquires multiple labels of ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity. The more boxes you tick and the more labels you acquire, the more exponential your removal distance becomes from funding networks.
Fixing the problems of just women entrepreneurs, one aspect (or ticked box) of being in an out-group, will not solve the larger problems of inequitable distribution of investment funding among all groups. More than just a matter of morality, it is quite simply bad for business and stifles innovation: potentially brilliant entrepreneurs and their ideas are being sidelined from lack of access to funding simply because they are not male, not northern European white, not middle-class, not non-Islamic and not well-connected through higher education networks.
How about this: did you know that immigrants are twice as likely as non-immigrants to start a business?
Included-VC Berlin Retreat 2019.
We need an intersectional solution. In a meta way, we need to change the selection of the selectors. As a result, this would then holistically create a more inclusive process that would not exclude someone for superficial out-group reasons. It would no longer be a matter of roommates, neighbors and familiarity.
Fortunately, from deep inside the VC world, there has been a mounting call for increasing diversity within the decision makers. Spearheaded by Chris Tottman and Stephen Millard at Notion Capital in the UK and led by Nikita Thakrar, 10 major European VC firms have come together to initiate what would become Included VC, with the purpose of changing the make-up of European VCs.
Partners include such esteemed firms as Notion Capital, Point Nine, Mangrove, Creandum, Daphni, Erner, Seedbank, K Fund, Santander Innoventures, and Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati.
The program, Included VC, offers its own tangible solution: the idea of changing the make-up of the venture capital decision-making power to fund or not fund these varying entrepreneurs. More poignant is the emphasis on empowering the diverse new group of VC fellows with knowledge and a mandate to take this knowledge of the mechanics of VC back to their respective communities to demystify the process: countering bad info and misunderstanding of what VC investment really is, what it looks like, what investors are looking for and most importantly, if it is appropriate for your own business or not.
Berlin 2019 Included_VC Retreat
I have spent years teaching in business schools, developing entrepreneurship programs and mentoring startups. However this time, access to me is open beyond tuition and academic walls: I am no longer in the walled garden. Whatever I learn through my Included VC fellowship, I plan to immediately share “back home” and want to encourage people to ask me anything and talk to me about VC and how it might work for their businesses. (For what it’s worth, “back home” is wherever you can reach me be it a virtual or physical space.) Remember, it’s my job to not hang around in paradise but to bring all this good stuff I’m learning back outside of the proverbial walls.
So here’s your opening: I believe that there is no such thing as a stupid question when it comes to VC because the VC industry has been so esoteric and closed for so long. Let’s develop the hashtag #ThereIsNoSuchThingAsaStupidQuestionAboutVC (probably better to shorten that) to just to open up the dialogue and get the knowledge flowing. Either way, come find me and just ask away. What’s your question? If I don’t know the answer yet, I’ll put you in touch with someone who does. Or better yet, the teacher in me will recommend a good book for you to read. | https://medium.com/@carollynnetarr/diversity-capital-the-art-of-going-back-for-more-pie-e3f687b270d5 | ['Carol Tarr'] | 2019-12-01 17:01:36.679000+00:00 | ['Included Vc', 'Venture Capital', 'Diversity', 'VC', 'Startup'] |
WeWork: A Pre-IPO Alternative Data Analysis | Most investors will have heard that co-working company WeWork plans to go public this fall.
Its tequila-swigging, surfer dude CEO Adam Neumann makes renting office space sound like a spiritual movement. Despite WeWork’s staggering losses, the company has been privately valued at $47 billion and is looking to raise over $3.5 billion, which would make it the second-largest U.S. IPO this year.
So will WeWork be 2019’s most impressive unicorn, or an Icarus that falls disappointingly from blue-sky grace?
It depends on who you consult.
Alternative data analysis
Typical alternative data sources paint a rosy picture for WeWork: app downloads are increasing according to Apple, foot traffic at WeWork locations is rising steadily (measured by the number of check-ins to Facebook), and LinkedIn shows that the number of WeWork employees has increased 73% in the last year.
Analysis of social media data shows sentiment is largely positive. Its tenants seem happy and generally, people love the WeWork brand.
There can be no doubt: WeWork’s growth is very real and in many ways it is an impressive company.
The Full Story
But something isn’t quite right.
To get the full story behind WeWork, and to get a real sense of its long-term potential, we need another kind of alternative data: something that goes beyond obscure details that may or may not be important like app reviews and web traffic. What we require are context and history.
Meltwater’s new tool, for example, is showing some serious red flags for “WeWork.”
To give you a bit of background: We built Signals in consultation with clients who told us which news events they considered important when deciding whether or not to invest in a company. We found thousands of relevant examples for each signal and ran the articles through a machine learning model.
Now the system is able to automatically spot articles that could be important for investors to know about.
Here are the articles that Signals flagged for WeWork which are quite alarming:
This explains how WeWork has been devising new accounting categories to help obscure how much money it is burning through.
Publicly Neumann is all swagger about the fact that the company is to spend about $150–200 million a month, a net loss of 1.9 billion in 2018. His CFO says they are proud of the investments they are making.
Alison Griswald at Quartz says, “ More than its cash-burning ways, WeWork’s IPO will test investor tolerance for made-up accounting metrics.” She points out that WeWork is far from the only company to use these kinds of methods. Uber also had some interesting accounting acrobatics — but Uber’s IPO has so far proved disappointing.
Here’s another our algorithm highlighted:
This is where things start to get very suspicious.
Why would Neumann cash out some of his shares in WeWork if he’s convinced that the IPO is going to be such a success?
I have been working closely with a large asset management company who is leading the way when it comes to ESG, and they recently explained to me their theory that companies who invest a lot of time and energy into acting ethically are the best long term investments, because they are trying to build something properly rather than looking only for short term wins.
Twitter was aflame over the weekend with more complaints from employees and so this side of the story doesn’t seem to be going away.
The assessment that WeWork is an interesting company but not as interesting as its CEO makes it out to be is backed up by this that Signals also flagged:
SoftBank is one of the largest and most successful tech investment funds in history. They were considering pouring $20 billion into WeWork, and then earlier this year they changed their minds and massively cut their investment.
The team at Softbank obviously feel that WeWork has potential if they were still willing to give the company £2 billion, but the fact that they reduced their investment by 90% is interesting. It is hard to know what happened exactly, but they seem to have decided at the last minute not to go all-in on the company.
Gut feel versus data-driven decision making
The hype around WeWork’s IPO is a great example of gut feel investing: people like the company and they like its CEO, and they think that if anyone can defy the odds and have a magnificent IPO in the face of a potential economic recession it is Adam Neumann.
As he in 2017: “No one is investing in a co-working company worth $20 billion. That doesn’t exist. Our valuation and size today are much more based on our energy and spirituality than it is on a multiple of revenue.”
You have to admire this guy’s audacity. Even so, the signals we are picking up just aren’t good.
It will be interesting to see how this IPO plays out.
Originally published at https://www.datadriveninvestor.com on September 2, 2019. | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/wework-a-pre-ipo-alternative-data-analysis-11909815c914 | ['Samantha Monk'] | 2019-09-05 05:03:55.157000+00:00 | ['Alternative Data', 'Predictive Analytics', 'Wework', 'IPO', 'Machine Learning'] |
IBM Data Science Professional Certificate Review in 2020 | IBM Data Science Professional Certificate Review in 2020
Find an entry level data science job with IBM Course on Coursera
IBM has released a new certification for data scientists, which will help people to get started in the field of computer science and machine learning. and help them to get jobs in the tech industry, and get paid for it.
What is Data Science?
Data science has been one of the hottest professions of the last decade, and the need for data scientists who can analyze data and report results to make data-driven decisions has never been greater.
This professional certification from IBM will help anyone interested in a career in computer science or machine learning develop their skills and work experience.
By completing the specialisation and going through all the exercises you will be able to find an entry level job as a data scientist and start a great career.
IBM Data Science Professional Certificate Content
The program consists of 9 online courses on Coursera that will provide you with the latest tools and skills ready to go, including open source tools and libraries:
Python,
databases,
SQL,
data visualization,
data analysis,
statistical analysis,
predictive modeling
machine learning algorithms.
You will learn data science through hands-on exercises in IBM Cloud, using real data analysis tools and real world datasets, so there’s no need to go outside of Coursera or install anything on your computer.
IBM Data Science Verdict - is it worth it?
IBM Data Science Professional Certificate is definitely worth taking. Not only you will learn a lot, but you will solve practical problems and build a good momentum in your data science career.
Just remember, patience is key! It takes time to learn data science and you won’t become a data scientist overnight. If you want to find an internship in data science, become a data science intern or a junior data scientist, then this specialization is for you. You’ll learn all the basic skills to get your first entry level job in data science.
Finally if you prefer to watch a video version of this review, have a look here:
**disclaimer: the above links are affiliate ** | https://medium.com/data-science-rush/ibm-data-science-professional-certificate-review-in-2020-b4e0e6224ba2 | ['Przemek Chojecki'] | 2020-08-29 23:33:33.576000+00:00 | ['Education', 'Machine Learning', 'Learning To Code', 'Data Science', 'IBM'] |
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An action story is similar to adventure, and the protagonist usually takes a risky turn, which leads to desperate scenarios (including explosions, fight scenes, daring escapes, etc.). Action and adventure usually are categorized together (sometimes even while “action-adventure”) because they have much in common, and many stories are categorized as both genres simultaneously (for instance, the James Bond series can be classified as both).
Continuing their survival through an age of a Zombie-apocalypse as a makeshift family, Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abagail Breslin) have found their balance as a team, settling into the now vacant White House to spend some safe quality time with one another as they figure out their next move. However, spend time at the Presidential residents raise some uncertainty as Columbus proposes to Wichita, which freaks out the independent, lone Obsolete out, while Little Rock starts to feel the need to be on her own. The women suddenly decide to escape in the middle of the night, leaving the men concerned about Little Rock, who’s quickly joined by Berkley (Avan Jogia), a hitchhiking hippie on his way to place called Babylon, a fortified commune that’s supposed to be safe haven against the zombies of the land. Hitting the road to retrieved their loved one, Tallahassee and Columbus meet Madison (Zoey Deutch), a dim-witted survivor who takes an immediate liking to Columbus, complicating his relationship with Wichita.
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✅ ANALYZER GOOD / BAD ✅
To be honest, I didn’t catch Zombieland when it first got released (in theaters) back in 111. Of course, the movie pre-dated a lot of the pop culture phenomenon of the usage of zombies-esque as the main antagonist (i.e Game of Thrones, The Maze Runner trilogy, The Walking Dead, World War Z, The Last of Us, etc.), but I’ve never been keen on the whole “Zombie” craze as others are. So, despite the comedy talents on the project, I didn’t see Zombieland….until it came to TV a year or so later. Surprisingly, however, I did like it. Naturally, the zombie apocalypse thing was fine (just wasn’t my thing), but I really enjoyed the film’s humor-based comedy throughout much of the feature. With the exception of 111’s Shaun of the Dead, majority of the past (and future) endeavors of this narrative have always been serious, so it was kind of refreshing to see comedic levity being brought into the mix. Plus, the film’s cast was great, with the four main leads being one of the film’s greatest assets. As mentioned above, Zombieland didn’t make much of a huge splash at the box office, but certainly gained a strong cult following, including myself, in the following years.
Flash forward a decade after its release and Zombieland finally got a sequel with Zombieland: Double Tap, the central focus of this review post. Given how the original film ended, it was clear that a sequel to the 111 movie was indeed possible, but it seemed like it was in no rush as the years kept passing by. So, I was quite surprised to hear that Zombieland was getting a sequel, but also a bit not surprised as well as Hollywood’s recent endeavors have been of the “belated sequels” variety; finding mixed results on each of these projects. I did see the film’s movie trailer, which definitely was what I was looking for in this Zombieland 1 movie, with Eisenberg, Harrelson, Stone, Breslin returning to reprise their respective characters again. I knew I wasn’t expecting anything drastically different from the 111 movie, so I entered Double Tap with good frame of my mind and somewhat eagerly expecting to catch up with this dysfunctional zombie killing family. Unfortunately, while I did see the movie a week after its release, my review for it fell to the wayside as my life in retail got a hold of me during the holidays as well as being sick for a good week and half after seeing the movie. So, with me still playing “catch up” I finally have the time to share my opinions on Zombieland: Double Tap. And what are they? Well, to be honest, my opinions on the film was good. Despite some problems here and there, Zombieland: Double Tap is definitely a fun sequel that’s worth the decade long wait. It doesn’t “redefine” the Zombie genre interest or outmatch its predecessor, but this next chapter of Zombieland still provides an entertaining entry….and that’s all that matters.
Returning to the director’s chair is director Ruben Fleischer, who helmed the first Zombieland movie as well as other film projects such as 10 Minutes or Less, Gangster Squad, and Venom. Thus, given his previous knowledge of shaping the first film, it seems quite suitable (and obvious) for Fleischer to direct this movie and (to that affect), Double Tap succeeds. Of course, with the first film being a “cult classic” of sorts, Fleischer probably knew that it wasn’t going to be easy to replicate the same formula in this sequel, especially since the 10-year gap between the films. Luckily, Fleischer certainly excels in bringing the same type of comedic nuances and cinematic aspects that made the first Zombieland enjoyable to Double Tap; creating a second installment that has plenty of fun and entertainment throughout. A lot of the familiar / likeable aspects of the first film, including the witty banter between four main lead characters, continues to be at the forefront of this sequel; touching upon each character in a amusing way, with plenty of nods and winks to the original 111 film that’s done skillfully and not so much unnecessarily ham-fisted. Additionally, Fleischer keeps the film running at a brisk pace, with the feature having a runtime of 11 minutes in length (one hour and thirty-nine minutes), which means that the film never feels sluggish (even if it meanders through some secondary story beats / side plot threads), with Fleischer ensuring a companion sequel that leans with plenty of laughter and thrills that are presented snappy way (a sort of “thick and fast” notion). Speaking of which, the comedic aspect of the first Zombieland movie is well-represented in Double Tap, with Fleischer still utilizing its cast (more on that below) in a smart and hilarious by mixing comedic personalities / personas with something as serious / gravitas as fighting endless hordes of zombies every where they go. Basically, if you were a fan of the first Zombieland flick, you’ll definitely find Double Tap to your liking.
In terms of production quality, Double Tap is a good feature. Granted, much like the last film, I knew that the overall setting and background layouts weren’t going to be something elaborate and / or expansive. Thus, my opinion of this subject of the movie’s technical presentation isn’t that critical. Taking that into account, Double Tap does (at least) does have that standard “post-apocalyptic” setting of an abandoned building, cityscapes, and roads throughout the feature; littered with unmanned vehicles and rubbish. It certainly has that “look and feel” of the post-zombie world, so Double Tap’s visual aesthetics gets a solid industry standard in my book. Thus, a lot of the other areas that I usually mentioned (i.e set decorations, costumes, cinematography, etc.) fit into that same category as meeting the standards for a 101 movie. Thus, as a whole, the movie’s background nuances and presentation is good, but nothing grand as I didn’t expect to be “wowed” over it. So, it sort of breaks even. This also extends to the film’s score, which was done by David Sardy, which provides a good musical composition for the feature’s various scenes as well as a musical song selection thrown into the mix; interjecting the various zombie and humor bits equally well.
There are some problems that are bit glaring that Double Tap, while effectively fun and entertaining, can’t overcome, which hinders the film from overtaking its predecessor. Perhaps one of the most notable criticism that the movie can’t get right is the narrative being told. Of course, the narrative in the first Zombieland wasn’t exactly the best, but still combined zombie-killing action with its combination of group dynamics between its lead characters. Double Tap, however, is fun, but messy at the same time; creating a frustrating narrative that sounds good on paper, but thinly written when executed. Thus, problem lies within the movie’s script, which was penned by Dave Callaham, Rhett Reese, and Paul Wernick, which is a bit thinly sketched in certain areas of the story, including a side-story involving Tallahassee wanting to head to Graceland, which involves some of the movie’s new supporting characters. It’s fun sequence of events that follows, but adds little to the main narrative and ultimately could’ve been cut completely. Thus, I kind of wanted see Double Tap have more a substance within its narrative. Heck, they even had a decade long gap to come up with a new yarn to spin for this sequel…and it looks like they came up a bit shorter than expected.
Another point of criticism that I have about this is that there aren’t enough zombie action bits as there were in the first Zombieland movie. Much like the Walking Dead series as become, Double Tap seems more focused on its characters (and the dynamics that they share with each other) rather than the group facing the sparse groupings of mindless zombies. However, that was some of the fun of the first movie and Double Tap takes away that element. Yes, there are zombies in the movie and the gang is ready to take care of them (in gruesome fashion), but these mindless beings sort take a back seat for much of the film, with the script and Fleischer seemed more focused on showcasing witty banter between Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock. Of course, the ending climatic piece in the third act gives us the best zombie action scenes of the feature, but it feels a bit “too little, too late” in my opinion. To be honest, this big sequence is a little manufactured and not as fun and unique as the final battle scene in the first film. I know that sounds a bit contrive and weird, but, while the third act big fight seems more polished and staged well, it sort of feels more restricted and doesn’t flow cohesively with the rest of the film’s flow (in matter of speaking).
What’s certainly elevates these points of criticism is the film’s cast, with the main quartet lead acting talents returning to reprise their roles in Double Tap, which is absolutely the “hands down” best part of this sequel. Naturally, I’m talking about the talents of Jessie Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin in their respective roles Zombieland character roles of Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock. Of the four, Harrelson, known for his roles in Cheers, True Detective, and War for the Planet of the Apes, shines as the brightest in the movie, with dialogue lines of Tallahassee proving to be the most hilarious comedy stuff on the sequel. Harrelson certainly knows how to lay it on “thick and fast” with the character and the s**t he says in the movie is definitely funny (regardless if the joke is slightly or dated). Behind him, Eisenberg, known for his roles in The Art of Self-Defense, The Social Network, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, is somewhere in the middle of pack, but still continues to act as the somewhat main protagonist of the feature, including being a narrator for us (the viewers) in this post-zombie apocalypse world. Of course, Eisenberg’s nervous voice and twitchy body movements certainly help the character of Columbus to be likeable and does have a few comedic timing / bits with each of co-stars. Stone, known for her roles in The Help, Superbad, and La La Land, and Breslin, known for her roles in Signs, Little Miss Sunshine, and Definitely, Maybe, round out the quartet; providing some more grown-up / mature character of the group, with Wichita and Little Rock trying to find their place in the world and how they must deal with some of the party members on a personal level. Collectively, these four are what certainly the first movie fun and hilarious and their overall camaraderie / screen-presence with each other hasn’t diminished in the decade long absence. To be it simply, these four are simply riot in the Zombieland and are again in Double Tap.
With the movie keeping the focus on the main quartet of lead Zombieland characters, the one newcomer that certainly takes the spotlight is actress Zoey Deutch, who plays the character of Madison, a dim-witted blonde who joins the group and takes a liking to Columbus. Known for her roles in Before I Fall, The Politician, and Set It Up, Deutch is a somewhat “breath of fresh air” by acting as the tagalong team member to the quartet in a humorous way. Though there isn’t much insight or depth to the character of Madison, Deutch’s ditzy / air-head portrayal of her is quite hilarious and is fun when she’s making comments to Harrelson’s Tallahassee (again, he’s just a riot in the movie).
The rest of the cast, including actor Avan Jogia (Now Apocalypse and Shaft) as Berkeley, a pacifist hippie that quickly befriends Little Rock on her journey, actress Rosario Dawson (Rent and Sin City) as Nevada, the owner of a Elvis-themed motel who Tallahassee quickly takes a shine to, and actors Luke Wilson (Legally Blonde and Old School) and Thomas Middleditch (Silicon Valley and Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie) as Albuquerque and Flagstaff, two traveling zombie-killing partners that are mimic reflections of Tallahassee and Columbus, are in minor supporting roles in Double Tap. While all of these acting talents are good and definitely bring a certain humorous quality to their characters, the characters themselves could’ve been easily expanded upon, with many just being thinly written caricatures. Of course, the movie focuses heavily on the Zombieland quartet (and newcomer Madison), but I wished that these characters could’ve been fleshed out a bit.
Lastly, be sure to still around for the film’s ending credits, with Double Tap offering up two Easter Eggs scenes (one mid-credits and one post-credit scenes). While I won’t spoil them, I do have mention that they are pretty hilarious.
✅ FINAL THOUGHTS ✅
It’s been awhile, but the Zombieland gang is back and are ready to hit the road once again in the movie Zombieland: Double Tap. Director Reuben Fleischer’s latest film sees the return the dysfunctional zombie-killing makeshift family of survivors for another round of bickering, banting, and trying to find their way in a post-apocalyptic world. While the movie’s narrative is a bit messy and could’ve been refined in the storyboarding process as well as having a bit more zombie action, the rest of the feature provides to be a fun endeavor, especially with Fleischer returning to direct the project, the snappy / witty banter amongst its characters, a breezy runtime, and the four lead returning acting talents. Personally, I liked this movie. I definitely found it to my liking as I laugh many times throughout the movie, with the main principal cast lending their screen presence in this post-apocalyptic zombie movie. Thus, my recommendation for this movie is favorable “recommended” as I’m sure it will please many fans of the first movie as well as to the uninitiated (the film is quite easy to follow for newcomers). While the movie doesn’t redefine what was previous done back in 111, Zombieland: Double Tap still provides a riot of laughs with this make-shift quartet of zombie survivors; giving us give us (the viewers) fun and entertaining companion sequel to the original feature. | https://medium.com/obsolete-s01e10-series-1-episode-10-full-episodes/s01-e10-obsolete-series-1-episode-10-ep-10-online-series-bad253016bcd | [] | 2020-12-21 17:02:06.885000+00:00 | ['Adventure', 'Action', 'Animation'] |
Hardware for Deep Learning. Part 4: ASIC | References:
AWS
Amazon has its own solutions for both training and inference.
AWS Inferentia
AWS Inferentia was announced in November 2018. It was designed by Annapurna Labs, a subsidiary of Amazon.
Each AWS Inferentia chip contains four NeuronCores. Each NeuronCore implements a high-performance systolic array matrix multiply engine (as Google TPU). NeuronCores are also equipped with a large on-chip cache (but the exact numbers are unknown). [source]
AWS Inferentia supports FP16, BF16, and INT8 data types. Furthermore, Inferentia can take a 32-bit trained model and automatically run it at the speed of a 16-bit model using BF16.
Each chip can deliver 64 TFLOPS on FP16 and BF16, and 128 TOPS on INT8 data. (source)
You can have up to 16 Inferentia chips per EC2 Inf1 instance. Inferentia is optimized for maximizing throughput for small batch sizes, which is beneficial for applications that have strict latency requirements.
The AWS Neuron SDK consists of a compiler, run-time, and profiling tools. It enables complex neural net models, created and trained in popular frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, and MXNet, to be executed using Inf1 instances. AWS Neuron also supports the ability to split large models for execution across multiple Inferentia chips using a high-speed physical chip-to-chip interconnect.
The technical details on Inferentia are very scarce.
References:
AWS Trainium
December 1st, 2020 Amazon announced its AWS Trainium chip.
AWS Trainium is the second custom machine learning chip designed by AWS and it’s targeted at training models in the cloud.
AWS Trainium shares the same AWS Neuron SDK as AWS Inferentia, so it’s integrated with TensorFlow, PyTorch, and MXNet.
AWS Trainium will be available in 2021.
For now, almost no technical details are available.
References:
Huawei Ascend
Huawei has its own solutions for both training and inference as well. The lineage of AI products is pretty vast, but we’ll focus on accelerator cards mostly.
Atlas 300I Inference Card
The card is built with the Ascend 310 AI processor. The processor delivers 22 TOPS INT8 and 11 TFLOPS FP16 with 8W of power consumption.
The card is a PCIe x16 Gen3.0 device with a maximum consumption of 67 W. It supports one 100 Gbit/s RoCE high-speed port. The card contains 32 GB LPDDR4X with a bandwidth of 204.8 GB/s. A single card provides up to 88 TOPS INT8 computing power.
The pricing is not public now, you have to request the information.
There are also Atlas 800 Inference Servers with up to 7 or 8 Atlas 300I inference cards for AI inference in data centers.
And there are Atlas 200 AI Accelerator Module with the Ascend 310 AI processor to implement image recognition and image classification on the device side, and Atlas 200 DK AI Developer Kit with the Ascend 310 AI processor to facilitate quick development and verification.
Atlas 200 Development Kit
References:
Atlas 300T Training Card
The training card is based on the Ascend 910 AI processor with 32 built-in Da Vinci AI Cores and 16 TaiShan Cores. The processor delivers 320 TFLOPS FP16 and 640 TOPS INT8 of computing performance with 310W of max power consumption. It’s pretty close to NVIDIA’s A100 BF16 peak performance of 312 TFLOPS. Other sources say it delivers up to 256 TFLOPS FP16/512 TOPS INT8.
Ascend 910 is a high-integration SoC processor. In addition to the Da Vinci AI cores, it integrates CPUs, DVPP, and Task Scheduler.
A single card provides 220 TFLOPS FP16 or 280 TFLOPS FP16 computing power in Pro version (?). These numbers are somehow lower than the corresponding numbers of the Ascend 910 processor. It has 32 GB HBM or 16GB DDR4 2933. This card is a PCIe x16 Gen4.0 device with up to 300W power consumption.
HCCS is Huawei’s in-house high-speed interface interconnecting Ascend 910s. On-chip RoCE interconnects nodes directly. PCIe 4.0 doubles the throughput of the previous generation.
The pricing is not public either.
There are also Atlas 800 training server with 8 Ascend 910 processors delivering and 32 GB HBM (1200 GB/s) 2.24 PFLOPS FP16 computing power; Atlas 900 PoD with 64 Ascend 910 processors and 2048 GB HBM delivering up to 17.92 PFLOPS FP16, supporting scaling to an AI cluster of up to 4096 Ascend 910 processors, delivering up to 1 EFLOPS FP16; and Atlas 900 AI Cluster consisting of thousands of Ascend 910 AI processors and the potential to deliver up to 256–1024 PFLOPS at FP16.
Atlas 900 AI Cluster
References:
DaVinci AI architecture
Both Ascend 910 and Ascend 310 contain DaVinci AI cores.
Two cores in Ascend 310 and 32 cores in Ascend 910.
There is MindSpore open source (Apache-2.0 License) deep learning training/inference framework from Huawei with native support for Ascend AI processors and software-hardware co-optimization.
There are also tools for Caffe/Tensorflow model conversion.
References:
Bitmain Sophon
Sophon (Beijing) is a subsidiary of Bitmain (a company developing crypto mining products), focusing on the development of artificial intelligence chips and artificial intelligence products.
Sophon is named after a proton-size supercomputer described in Cixin Liu’s “The Three-Body Problem” novel.
Sophon now has several generations of their Tensor Computing Processors: the BM1680 (1st generation, 2 TFLOPS FP32, 32MB SRAM, 25W), BM1682 (2nd gen, 3 TFLOPS FP32, 16MB SRAM), BM1684 (3rd gen, 2.2TFLOPS FP32, 17.6 TOPS INT8, 32 MB SRAM) and BM1880 (1 TOPS INT8).
Comparing to NVIDIA products such peak performance on FP32 is available with GTX 1050 Ti (~2 TFLOPS) or GTX 1060 (~3.4 TFLOPS).
Each BM1682 chip has 64 NPU processing units, and each NPU has 32 EU arithmetic units. BM1684 also has 64 NPUs.
SC5+
There are Deep Learning Acceleration PCIe Cards. The SC3 with a BM1682 chip (8 GB DDR memory, 65W), SC5 and SC5H with a BM1684 chip and 12 GB RAM (up to 16 GB) with 30W max power consumption, and SC5+ with 3x BM1684 and 36 GB memory (up to 48 GB) with 75W max power consumption.
Artificial Intelligence Server SA3 contains 6 or 18 BM1682, has 48 or 144 GB DDR memory, and can potentially deliver up to 18 or 54 TFLOPS.
For comparison, a single NVIDIA Titan RTX has an FP32 peak performance of 16.3 TFLOPS, and a single RTX 3090 has 35.6 TFLOPS FP32 (be careful, here we mention not tensor core performance, which is much higher, but it’s mixed-precision FP16/32).
BMNNSDK (BitMain Neural Network SDK) is BitMain’s proprietary deep learning SDK based on BM AI chip. BMNNSDK is composed of BMNet Compiler and BMRuntime.
BMNet Compiler is responsible for optimizing and converting various deep neural network models (Caffe, TensorFlow, Pytorch, Mxnet, PaddlePaddle, and Darknet (?)) finally converting it to the bmodel model supported by Bitmain TPU. BMRuntime is responsible for driving the TPU chip and providing a unified programmable interface for the upper-layer application program.
Alibaba Hanguang 800
Alibaba unveiled their first AI inference chip, Hanguang 800, during Apsara Conference on September 25, 2019.
The chip is optimized for Computer Vision Tasks, but GEMM is also accelerated.
A trained neural network model must be converted to INT8, and the software tools do support models from Caffe, MxNet, TensorFlow, and models in ONNX format.
It is SRAM only and has 192MB Local Memory and no DDR. Keep in mind, the models are compressed and quantized, so 192MB is actually not a very small number, but large models need to be split between several chips.
There are 4 cores with a ring bus. Each core has three engines: Tensor, Pooling, and Memory. The host interface is PCIe 4.0 x16.
The chip has a peak performance of 825 TOPS INT8. That’s really huge number for INT8! NVIDIA’s A100 INT8 performance is 624 TOPS, and twice that number for sparse calculations.
The chip has configurable frequency and voltage and can work in different modes optimizing for performance or lower power consumption, from 25W to 280W.
Interestingly, its performance is independent of the batch size.
Instances with Hanguang 800 are available in Alibaba Public Cloud.
Alibaba Group also has a RISC-V Xuantie910 processor with Vector Engine for AI Acceleration. It is rather relevant for our CPU section because it’s not ASIC, but a general-purpose processor. Its performance is more than 300 GFLOPS FP16 (32 FLOPS/core/cycle x 2.5 GHz x 4 Cores), and half that number for FP32. For comparison, the lowest consumer RTX series card, the NVIDIA RTX 2060 has 10000 GFLOPS for pure FP16 performance and even 51600 GFLOPS for FP16 on tensor cores, so that’s a different niche.
References:
Baidu Kunlun
July 2018, Baidu announced their AI chip called Kunlun. It is built on Baidu’s own XPU neural processor architecture.
The 14nm chip is produced at the Samsung Foundry. Kunlun offers 16GB HBM memory with 512 GB/s bandwidth and supplies up to 260 TOPS INT8 (that’s twice the INT8 performance of NVIDIA TESLA T4) or 64 TFLOPS INT16/FP16 at 150W. This chip looks like an inference chip.
The announcement of 2018 mentioned inference Kunlun chip 818–100 and training Kunlun chip 818–300. Their characteristics are unclear, but they are both mentioned among the supported hardware of Paddle Lite (a framework for inference, which seems to be analogous to TensorFlow Lite).
A Baidu Kunlun K200 board contains a single processor.
Baidu Kunlun software stack supports Paddle Paddle, Tensorflow, Pytorch with graph compiler. It also supports new operators by user-written kernels with XPU C/C++ programming language. Deep learning library has APIs for common operators used in a deep learning network.
The processor can be accessed via Baidu Cloud.
September 2020, Baidu announced Kunlun 2. The new chip uses 7 nm process technology and its computational capability is over three times that of the previous generation. The mass production of the chip is expected to begin in early 2021.
References:
Groq
Groq develops its own Tensor Streaming Processor (TSP). Jonathan Ross, Croq’s CEO had co-founded the first Google’s TPU before that.
Instead of creating a small programmable core and replicating it dozens or hundreds of times, the TSP houses a single enormous processor that has hundreds of functional units.
The 14nm chip contains 26.8B transistors. It has 220MB SRAM with 80TB/s on-die memory bandwidth and no board memory (it lacks DRAM controllers and interfaces) and supports PCIe Gen4 x16 with 31.5 GB/s in each direction (to download instructions and data to the TSP).
The chip delivers up to 1000 TOPS INT8 and 250 TFLOPS FP16 (with FP32 acc). For comparison, NVIDIA A100 has 312 TFLOPS on dense FP16 calculations with FP32 acc, and 624 TOPS INT8. The Groq’s number is even larger than the 825 TOPS INT8 of Alibaba’s Hanguang 800. Yet in the Linley Group report, Groq’s ResNet-50 inference performance in inferences/second is significantly lower than Hanguang’s one (20,400 vs 78,563).
The description of the architecture is taken from the Linley Group report.
Groq allows instructions executing at different times in different units. They flow first into a set of function units called Superlane 0, which executes these instructions. In the next cycle, they execute in Superlane 1, while Superlane 0 executes the second group of instructions. This technique simplifies the design and routing, eliminates the need for synchronization, and is easily scalable; the TSP chip features 20 superlanes. Within each superlane, data flows horizontally. In fact, the TSP continually pushes it across the chip on every clock cycle.
TSP conceptual diagram. Instructions flow downward through identical function units, pipelining the operations. Data flows across the processor, allowing the program to perform different operations.
Memory is embedded with the function units, providing a high-bandwidth data source and eliminating the need for external memory. The result is somewhat like a systolic array of heterogeneous function units, but the data only moves horizontally while the instructions move vertically.
The entire TSP executes a single instruction stream, so we consider it one processor core. But it’s effectively a 144-wide VLIW architecture, issuing one gross instruction per cycle to control the superlane. The TSP superlane is actually two sets of mirrored function units divided into what Groq calls the east hemisphere and the west hemisphere. Each function unit contains multiple subunits that accept instructions. For example, the vector unit contains 16 ALUs that are individually controlled.
A superlane comprises 16 lanes. Each instruction is performed on all 16 lanes at once, and then in the next superlane in the subsequent cycle, and so forth. Thus, over 20 cycles, each instruction executes on all 320 lanes across the 20 superlanes, so it effectively becomes a 320-byte SIMD operation having a 20-cycle pipeline.
TSP superlane block diagram. Every superlane is bilaterally symmetric with an east side and a west side. It contains 16 lanes, each of which is 8 bits wide. Data flows from east to west and from west to east.
From a programmer’s perspective, data is organized into streams, which physically comprise one byte per lane (320 bytes). The architecture supports 32 eastward streams and 32 westward streams. Each stream automatically progresses in its designated direction on every cycle, moving 32 bytes per lane. An instruction typically operates on data from different streams. For example, ADD S1, S2, S3 adds each value in stream 1 to the corresponding value in stream 2 and stores the results in stream 3. Thus, instead of a fixed set of 32 registers, each function unit operates on a moving set of 32 values.
The lane structure is optimized for INT8 data, but larger operands (INT16, INT32, FP16, or FP32) can be formed by combining streams. The superlane applies a 9-bit error-correction code (ECC) across all 16 lanes. The SRAM is also ECC protected.
The central vector unit contains 16 ALUs per lane. Each ALU can perform a 32-bit calculation using aligned groups of four stream bytes as operands. In addition to the usual arithmetic and logical operations, these ALUs can convert between integer and floating-point formats, perform the common activation functions (ReLU, tanh), and other math functions (exponentiation, reciprocal square roots).
The matrix units handle heavy computations. Each one contains 320 MAC units per lane that can be grouped into 20 supercells. On each cycle, MAC multiplies the stored weight values by a pair of activation values from the streaming data. Each 16x16 supercell can compute an integer partial sum in one cycle and a complete 320-element fused dot-product in 20 cycles. Each hemisphere has 320x320 MAC units producing 409,600 INT8 operations or 102,400 FP16 operations per cycle. Using all 32 streams in each direction, the TSP can load all 409,600 weight registers in less than 40 cycles.
The switch units can reshape tensor data to better suit the compute units (rotate, transpose, etc). The switch units also perform an important function as the only units that can communicate between superlanes.
Because the architecture lacks register files, the compiler must ensure the streaming data is available to the function unit at the designated time to execute the designated instruction.
The compiler must schedule all data movement, manage the memory and function units, and even manually fetch instructions. The Groq compiler orchestrates everything: Data flows into the chip and is plugged in at the right time and the right place to make sure calculations occur immediately, with no stalls. This allows Groq’s chip performance to be deterministic. The compiler reconfigures the hardware dynamically to perform each calculation so there is no abstraction between the compiler and the chip.
The software tools accept models developed in TensorFlow, and the company is developing drivers for other popular frameworks. Groq provides software that runs on an x86 host processor to download the neural network program (instructions) and data to the TSP; the accelerator can then autonomously execute the model and return results to the host.
The single-core Croq chip achieves peak throughput while processing one image at a time. This is similar to Hanguang 800 performance with no performance penalty for small batch sizes, the Groq architecture is hyper-focused on low latency, single-thread performance at batch size 1.
Image recognition inference performance for ResNet-50 v2 benchmarking at small batch sizes (source)
The Groq TSP accelerator is available on the Nimbix Cloud. It’s early access you need to apply.
References:
Qualcomm Cloud AI 100
The Qualcomm Cloud AI 100 processor is designed for AI inference acceleration in the cloud.
It’s a 7 nm processor with up to 16 cores. It has 144MB on-die SRAM (9MB for each AI Core) and up to 32GB LPDDR4x at 2.1GHz. The processor supports INT8, INT16, FP16, FP32 and for PCIe cards, it delivers up to 400 TOPS at 75W TDP. That’s a good number for just 75W…
Cloud AI 100 chip has a PCIe Gen3/4 x8 interface. It also has M.2 variants with lower TDP and performance.
The technical details are pretty scarce now.
The commercial launch is 1H 2021.
References:
Others
There are other players as well.
There were mentions of the Dataflow Processing Unit (DPU) by Wave Computing (the new owner of the MIPS architecture BTW). [1][2][3] But it’s unclear whether the company solutions for a datacenter or a desktop are available.
There are Arm solutions, but they seem to be for the edge. And, BTW, Arm is now NVIDIA.
There is SambaNova came out of stealth-mode in December 2020 with their Reconfigurable Dataflow Architecture (RDA) delivering “100s of TFLOPS”.
There is a company called Mythic that focuses on Compute-in-Memory, Dataflow Architecture, and Analog Computing.
We will be updating the article, adding new players here, and expanding them into separate sections. | https://blog.inten.to/hardware-for-deep-learning-part-4-asic-96a542fe6a81 | ['Grigory Sapunov'] | 2021-03-02 15:19:21.061000+00:00 | ['Hardware', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Tpu', 'Deep Learning', 'Asic'] |
Why take risks alone? Study with a CPA Review | As US CPA aspirants, you might be wondering why to invest in a CPA Review instead of studying and preparing for CPA exams at your own risk. Your independent study choice might be an appealing choice but passing CPA is not like any other study endeavor but tough! The CPA course journey that covers 4 sections over 18 months is intense and critical. The multiple-choice questions, task-based simulations, and communication training are some aspects that cannot be self-mastered but achieved through choosing the best CPA Review in India. Moreover, an advantage of choosing a CPA Review course with a training provider is that you may get all these three aspects in one package without burning a hole in your wallet. Let’s take a dive into three highlighting aspects that would help you choose the best CPA training provider to help plan your CPA journey successfully.
Put research at the forefront
Assumptions sometimes lead you to danger. Presuming a CPA Review course provider as the best just because they are popular and have been around for long or have used flamboyant technological jargons to their brands can upturn your expectations. What if they have poor learning models with lackluster CPA syllabus and tutors that would help you match the accounting industry demands of tomorrow? Another possible danger that you may face is the influence factor from your friends and expert advisors or teachers at your college. Your friends or teachers might trigger your impulse to sign up for a particular CPA training they have subscribed to, but what if they may not meet or align with your desired CPA study objectives? Hence, making an informed list of CPA Review providers who can enable you a value at the end of your course. If you wish to specialize in auditing, then check for expert lecture videos, engaging learning MCQs resources, alumni base, and industry connections to make your CPA journey worthwhile. Every CPA training provider shares the same goal of helping accounting and tax professionals pass the rigorous CPA exams, but very few have the innovative infrastructure to help you achieve that.
Sign up for free CPA Review Trials
After your research is done on choosing the best CPA Review in India, make sure that it delivers all that it has promised you. Take a trial version to screen the benefits and identify the drawbacks of the CPA classes. Since the accounting world is driven by technology, make a deep evaluation of the CPA course that covers additional trending subjects like STEM programs like accounting analytics during the test drive that can give you a better CPA career edge and rewarding salary package in India and abroad, particularly in the US or Canada. Over the course of the CPA Review course trial, check out key parameters like information presentation, the format of the lectures, MCQ Feedback mechanism, User Interface, Performance metrics to judge your progress and competency, and flexible learning platforms to get the study on the go. Watch out for technological consults, as they may give you 100% assurance in attaining US CPA eligibility. But if the CPA syllabus seems streamlined that helps you with smarter and easier study options, then I think it might give you the best learning experience.
Buy Your CPA Course
After running through the trial CPA classes, you may sign up for the CPA training that matches your learning style and budget. Since most accounting candidates might have a lot of queries concerning the CPA course fee and CPA exam structures, you should look for a provider who helps you navigate these critical challenges to make your CPA study journey a rewarding experience. Always remember, good CPA providers, feed confidence in enabling you with high-quality content delivery, top and updated MCQ question bank built by industry experts and, data-driven study, pull the trigger and purchase the course. A comprehensive package CPA Review course can statistically improve your chance of passing the CPA exam and becoming a globally certified accounting professional of tomorrow! | https://medium.com/@mileseducation/why-take-risks-alone-study-with-a-cpa-review-9ecc2241c10e | ['Miles Education'] | 2021-12-21 13:02:16.191000+00:00 | ['CPA', 'Accounting'] |
Review: JUDD by J.D. Toombs and Erika Schulze | ⭐⭐⭐⭐
(Disclaimer: The author both paid me and provided me with a free digital copy of their book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. All opinions expressed within this review are my own.)
At first glance, Samael Judd is an average teen living a mundane life . . . or he would be if he lived somewhere other than Comet Cove, a city filled with people known as Fragments who wield extraordinary powers. When Sam came of age, he didn’t receive his powers as the other Fragments did because he refused to accept himself. Since then, he’s struggled not only to conceal his true self, but also to hide the absence of his powers. His time is running out, though. The longer he struggles to keep his secrets, the greater the risks of exposure and exile become. To claim his rightful powers, Sam must face the truth about himself, which means revealing his deepest secret. This is a choice Sam must make on his own, but will he make that choice before circumstances force the truth to be revealed?
JUDD by J.D. Toombs and Erika Schulze was a fresh take on the superhero genre and an exciting young adult coming-of-age story that encouraged readers to be themselves and to find power in who they are. JUDD challenged what readers perceive as normal by placing the main character in a world where not having powers could lead to persecution and exile. This was interesting because instead of tension building around a character’s possession of powers being unveiled, tension was built around the threat of Sam’s lack of powers being exposed. The way Sam confronted the difficulties of living in a city of superheroes without powers of his own was creative and suspenseful, and Sam’s struggle to keep his other secret raised the stakes and enhanced his emotional turmoil.
My favorite aspects of this work were how well the characters stood out and how diverse they were. The characters felt as if they were real people to me, each with their own histories, personalities, and motives. J.D. Toombs and Erika Schulze did an excellent job of raising intrigue and appreciation for their entire cast of characters, not just Sam. The antagonist also enthralled me, despite the short time he was actually a part of the story. I wouldn’t say he was developed fully, but he had great potential to be. Based on the background offered in the story, the mystery surrounding his existence, and the way he interacted with other characters, he seemed to have a long and engaging history that I can’t wait to learn more about.
There were aspects of the book that hindered my experience. Some of the descriptions just dragged on too long. What was most off-putting about these long descriptions was that some occurred in the middle of the action, making it occasionally hard to follow the events originally being described. That said, the detailed descriptions did help me envision the story better. It’s just that many could have been shortened or placed in more convenient locations. I also wish the main antagonist had made more appearances. The event that introduced him was so intense that I expected the pace of the story to build throughout the rest of the work. The pace didn’t pick up again until the very end, and then it cut off so abruptly I almost screamed.
The cliffhanger was maddening, but this at least shows I didn’t want the story to end. I did, however, want more closure before the final page. Sam’s candid, sympathetic narration of his story and the conflicts he faced kept me reading, and when I turned to the last page, all I wanted was more. Readers who hate cliffhangers will definitely want to wait to read this until the rest of the series is published, but I still recommend this novel, especially to those interested in more diverse reads that include mixed race characters and LGBTQ+ representation. There were some instances of profanity, but there were no graphic scenes of sex or gore. In all, JUDD was a highly enjoyable read and I can’t wait for the next installment!
If you would like to order the ebook, paperback, or hardcover versions please visit Barnes & Noble. For a selection of vendors to purchase just the ebook from, please visit Books2Read.
To learn more about JUDD or to connect with co-author J.D. Toombs, here are his website and his Twitter page.
If you’d like to connect with co-author Erika Shulze, you can find her on TikTok and Twitter. | https://medium.com/@kaylacreviews/review-judd-by-j-d-toombs-and-erika-schulze-4013172d58f6 | ['Kayla C.'] | 2021-03-11 23:59:25.157000+00:00 | ['Lgbtq Books', 'New Book Release', 'Diverse Books', 'Book Recommendations', 'Book Review'] |
The anatomy of a credit card form | Paying for something online with a credit card is simple, right? Yes and no. Yes, because we’ve been doing it since the early days of the Internet (e.g. Amazon), and no, because no two credit card forms are alike.
Over the past 20 years, we’ve built a mental model of paying online: I pull out a credit card from my wallet, enter the card details into a web form, and click a submit button. But getting from A to Z can be a tricky journey, riddled with questions the user has to answer. And obviously, nobody wants an instruction manual.
Credit card forms from various popular websites and apps.
Paying for something online is still 2–3x clunkier than paying in-person. Nothing beats tapping/swiping your card at a physical terminal. Zero typing required. You don’t even care about the information printed on your card. In a magical world, you could tap your card on your monitor to buy a swag new T-shirt from your favourite band. Or get rid of physical cards altogether, so you don’t have to pull out a card from you wallet. We’ve made significant progress in the physical world with Apple Pay.
Online, we’re getting closer. Paying online will become easier, and faster. The latest HTML spec includes specifications for credit card inputs, and browsers are pushing the boundaries. Chrome 42+ supports autocomplete. Safari supports credit card autofill. But you still need a physical card to manually input your security code with every transaction.
But before credit card forms become a thing of the past, we still have the present-day task of adding clarity, simplicity, and security to the credit card form.
At Wave, our Invoice product enables business owners to create and send invoices to their customers, and to have those invoices paid via credit card. My job was to design the credit card form, given a set of business requirements and constraints. This post is about the design considerations our team explored to arrive at the finished product.
The Wave credit card form
Our goal was to make sense of all the various inputs and questions a user may have, including:
What payment cards are accepted? Deciding how much to pay Name on card Card number Card type being used Expiry date Security code Why is there a ZIP code? Is this form safe and secure? What happens when I click submit? Handling card errors Designing for different screens
1. WHAT PAYMENT CARDS ARE ACCEPTED?
When the customer is presented with the credit card form, one of their first questions is “Is my credit card accepted”? This behaviour is the virtual equivalent of the physical-world scenario. When you’re at a physical counter ready to pay, you look for stickers to indicate the cards supported. So the common way to answer the question is by using credit card logos.
But, where do you place the logos on a web form? At first we tried to place them above the card number field. This placement reduces the height of the form, but the cards are small and look squished. Another option was to place them inside the input. This almost worked, but because we have a narrow input field, the cards took up too much space, overpowering the input. We decided to place the credit card logos at the top of the form. This placement makes them immediately visible, because they are the first element a user has to parse visually. The user doesn’t have to search for them. And they promptly call attention to themselves with a “this is where you pay” message. We felt the logos alone were sufficient, so we did not add labels for “Cards accepted”, or “Pay with”.
2. DECIDING HOW MUCH TO PAY
One requirement we had to satisfy was allowing the user to decide how much to pay. For large invoices, a customer may need to make a partial payment (e.g. a deposit), or pay the invoice with multiple payments as the work is completed. By default, the payment amount equals the total unpaid invoice amount. In other words, if a partial payment has been made, the payment amount equals the balance owed.
With web forms, we know that more inputs lead to lower completion rates, and higher bounce rates. To reduce the number of inputs, we show the payment amount in a read-only format, with a button to edit it, instead of displaying the text input by default. In edit mode, we considered having a Save or Done button, that would flip the input back to read-only. But we felt this was unnecessary, since the amount is already visible inside the input. Also, if the customer wanted to edit the amount again, they could simply change the input value, without having to deal with Edit/Done buttons.
We also wanted to confirm the payment amount when the user is ready to submit the form. A confirmation reassures the user of the amount that will be charged to their credit card. We display the payment amount inside the Pay button, at the bottom of the form. This amount updates synchronously with the amount entered in the payment amount input.
3. NAME ON CARD
The next thing we ask the user to provide is the name of the credit card owner. We considered several options for the label text:
Name of card holder
Card holder name
Name on card
Name (as it appears on your card)
Full name on card
We felt that Name on card was the shortest and clearest way to ask for this input. This asks the user to simply type exactly what’s displayed on the card, instead of thinking about the card owner’s full or abbreviated name.
4. CARD NUMBER
When reaching the card number input, a common question that a user asks is: “My card number has spaces. Do I enter my card number with spaces, or without?” To solve for this, we limit the input values to numbers only, so 0–9. So if a user types a space, it does not register and it does not affect the number format.
At first, we wanted to mask the card number when the user leaves the input. This was an attempt to provide the user with a sense of security, similar to how password fields are masked. But we realized that the credit card number is not a “secret”. You can’t do much with just a card number. Furthermore, when a user is ready to submit the form, they may want to double-check their inputs for accuracy. A masked field would break the visual review of the form because the user would have to put the focus back on the card input to reveal its value.
5. CARD TYPE BEING USED
A helpful pattern we noticed in other payment forms is to indicate the card type being used in a visual way. This reassures the user that the card type input matches the card they are holding in their hand. We can determine the card type from the starting first number, as follows:
3 — Travel/entertainment cards (e.g. American Express and Diners Club)
4 — Visa
5 — MasterCard
6 — Discover Card
After the user enters the first two numbers, we display a card logo inside the input field, floated to the right.
Of course, we could’ve done this differently, based on our designs from question 1:
Dim out the credit card logos at the top of the form. But because the logos are placed away from the number input, the correlation would not be clear.
Place all the credit card logos inside the number input by default, then as the user types in the first two numbers, all the card logos disappears except for the one that corresponds to the input.
6. EXPIRY DATE
Most credit cards display their expiry dates in the format MM/YY (month and year). Some may include the full year, in an YYYY format. When designing the expiry date input, we wanted to keep the user in typing mode to speed their input. The user does not have to reach for a mouse to pick a date and year from a select menu, or navigate the options via up/down arrows. The user simply has to type in the numbers as they appear on the credit card. This also prevents the user from having to think of the actual month (e.g. 08 is August), so cognitive load is minimized.
Because this input requires a particular format for the date, we included placeholder text inside the input. Note that the placeholder text includes a “/”, but this is not required to be typed by the user. We limit the input value to numbers only, so if a user does type a forward slash, it is not registered. After the month is entered, the slash is automatically appended.
7. SECURITY CODE
The card security code was invented to reduce credit card fraud. In other words, it’s meant to make cards more secure. The problem is that this code suffers severely from non-standardized naming. What should we call it? Every card brand has its own naming convention:
MasterCard — card validation code (“CVC2”)
Visa — card verification value (“CVV2”)
Discover — card identification number (“CID”)
American Express — “CID” or “unique card code”
Debit Card — “CSC” or “card security code”
And there are even more permutations:
Card verification data
Card verification number
Card verification code
Card code verification
Nuts, right? Acronyms create confusion. We wanted to stay away from them, but still indicate to the user that this code is all about security. So we decided to name this input “Security code”.
Next, a security code can be 4 digits (American Express, on the front of the card) or 3 digits (every other brand, on the back of the card). To help the user determine which code they need to enter, and where to find it, we included a visual tooltip. The tooltip has 3 states:
Dual code: If the user has not yet entered a card number, the tooltip shows both options available. 4-digit code: If the user has entered an American Express card, the tooltip indicates a 4-digit code on the front. 3-digit code: If the user has entered any other card, the tooltip indicates a 3-digit code on the back.
8. ZIP CODE
As an extra security measure, we have to ask customers for the ZIP code associated with their card. There is a trade-off here: adding extra inputs to the form can increase bounce rates, but by adding it, our business is more secure and less prone to fraud.
We realized that users may enter the ZIP code associated with their personal address, instead of the code associated with their cards. To add clarity, we added a note in a tooltip, which asks for the code from the credit’s card billing address.
US zip codes contain only numbers, up to a maximum of 10 (ZIP + 4 FTW). In Canada, zip codes contain letters, and spaces too. We restricted the input field to a max character count of 10.
And because we had to satisfy naming conventions for both US and Canadian customers, the input label reads “ZIP/Postal code”.
9. IS THIS FORM SAFE AND SECURE?
When a user first skims a credit card form, they often ask themselves “Is this form secure? How do I trust the website behind this form? Are they just spoofing my card details?”. There are many ways you can reinforce security through design. Some options we considered included:
Place a lock icon inside the form header, next to “Pay Invoice”, but this felt weak and disconnected from the form inputs.
Place a lock icon inside the card number field, but the question became “Is only this input secure, or is the entire form secure?”.
Label the Pay button with text “Pay $1.00 securely”, but the text would not fit for large payment amounts.
Add a security badge below the form, but we felt badges distract from a clean aesthetic, and from the overall brand of the page. Also, users can’t tell two badges apart, so we scrapped the idea. Previous A/B tests also indicated no difference in conversion.
Given the existing mental model of paying with credit cards online, we felt the presence of one lock icon was sufficient. The design solution was to add a lock icon inside the Pay button. The position of the icon is key, because it reinforces security at the critical point: when you click Pay.
10. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I CLICK PAY?
Once the user is ready to pay, they click the Pay button. The button changes state to a pending/loading state, and the text reads “Sending…”. We make a server request, and assuming an error-free state, we display a success message.
11. HANDLING CARD ERRORS
One of the most important, and often unloved parts of web form design, is error handling. Yes, it can be tedious at times. Yes, there are endless ways to design errors. But when done right, error handling can turn an ambiguous interaction into a clear one.
There are two general categories of error validation in Internet software: (1) client-side and (2) server-side.
Client-side validation
Client-side errors are caught before a request is sent to to the server. These errors are typically caused by formatting errors in the data, or missing data.
To make things interesting, you can validate client-side input in different ways. Luckily, Luke Wroblewski wrote a great article explaining the After, While, and Before and While validation methods. We chose the After method based on Luke’s research, and our gut feelings. The After method displays an error message after the user has indicated that she is done answering a question by moving on to the next one. In other words, validating on “blur”. Also to keep in mind, the user is not “locked” into a field if there is an error. They can tab on their keyboard and move to the next input, and come back later to fix any errors shown.
These were our validation criteria for client-side errors:
All inputs, except Name on card and ZIP code, must contain numbers only (i.e. no letters or special characters)
Payment amount: Must be minimum $1
Card number: Length must be 16 numbers (15 for American Express), must begin with one of the four known card codes
Expiry date: Length must be 2 numbers for month, and 2 for the year (i.e. MMYY). Month can only be 01 to 12, year must be minimum 15.
Security code: Length must be 4 numbers if American Express, or 3 numbers for other card brands
ZIP code: Length must be minimum 5 characters, maximum 10 characters
To visually indicate an error, we highlight the input field containing the error with red background and red border. We don’t make the input text red. As for the error hint, we display it below the error field, in red text.
Server-side validation
Server-side errors are caught after a request is sent to the server. They can be system-specific, or specific to the object being validated. In our form, we had to account for three types of server errors:
Invalid data, including card number, expiry date, security code, or ZIP code (e.g. expired card, invalid postal code) System errors, for when there is a problem with the server (e.g. timeouts, lost connection) Card errors, for when the card being used has been declined by the payment network for some reason (and there are literally hundreds of reasons)
In the case of a system error, we leave the fields populated so that a user can retry the payment. When a card is declined (i.e. card error), this is usually a smell for fraud, so we clear the data entered by the user.
12. DESIGNING FOR DIFFERENT SCREENS
From the start, we knew that we wanted to build one form that could be used on different screen sizes (i.e. responsive), and different screens (i.e. inside the Wave iPhone app). By using a singular form object, we only have to make changes to the form in one place. We don’t have to maintain multiple code bases.
Inside the Invoice by Wave iPhone app, we initially implemented a native credit card form, that was based on the single line input design pattern. The input was functional, but slightly buggy. More importantly, we perceived a poor experience with the way this input display labels, and the way a user has to navigate between inputs if there are errors present.
Now, using an HTML iFrame, we inject the new credit card form inside the app. Users have a near identical payment experience when entering their credit card details on a desktop browser, or inside the app. In the future, inside our iPhone app, we will style the form elements using CSS to match the design of other forms inside the app.
And there you have it, the anatomy of a credit card form! We’ve reviewed everything from copy, form input design, error handling, and mobile. Our credit card form will definitely evolve over time, so stay tuned for news. The payments space is not exactly sexy, but learning and understanding the user interactions behind accepting a credit card payment was really fun.
Now, time for a demo!
Huge thanks to Nick Presta, who engineered the entire form in React (woot!), and the rest of the awesome Payments crew at Wave. | https://uxdesign.cc/the-anatomy-of-a-credit-card-payment-form-32ec0e5708bb | ['Gabriel Tomescu'] | 2015-07-15 17:38:30.800000+00:00 | ['Payments', 'UX', 'Design'] |
You’re not that great, Diana | You’re not that great, Diana
On not empowering the Wonder Woman
Gal Gadot as Diana Prince in Wonder Woman
There were moments where I winced. I winced when a black Amazon warrior appeared on screen in the first 15 minutes of Wonder Woman, portrayed as a masculine brute while her white counterparts all had distinctive hourglass figures with perky, perfectly round breasts, and I winced again when Sameer (Saïd Taghmaoui) confessed to Diana that he loved acting but was “the wrong color” (with no apparent irony in reference to that earlier scene). I winced when Diana announced she has read all 12 volumes of Cleo’s treatises on body and pleasure, but doesn’t know what marriage is. And I winced when Diana, who was so sure that once Ares was defeated, the Germans would go back to being good people, because I was watching Wonder Woman in a cinema in Berlin, at Potsdamer Platz, a public square only a block away from the former site of Hitler’s Reich Chancellery; a square peppered with memorial sections of the Berlin Wall that once divided the city in two; a public square in a capital city that is currently host to about 1 million refugees mostly from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and Eritrea, in a country that persists in its remorse and reparation for the genocide it is responsible for.
So that was awkward.
But I found the fight scenes totally satisfying. I found the casting reasonable (ish). I found the Amazon warrior corsets to be really, really good for posture — those Amazons were erect! I enjoyed the film Wonder Woman — perfectly acceptable for a rainy Saturday afternoon.
Since I saw Wonder Woman, I’ve read a lot of articles about the film and its problems: the racism (see above), the faulty feminism, the persistent sexism, the Zionism of Israeli actress Gal Gadot (and the even greater irony of her “the Germans will go back to being good people” line — Israeli, Jewish, Zionist, whatever: she delivered that line like she believed it, which makes her, in the end, an actress).
But I also agree with this article: that art is flawed, political movements are flawed, and that’s as it should be. And also, it’s a Hollywood film and my expectations were pretty low.
Leonardo di Caprio, Wolf of Wall Street
What I wasn’t expecting was to walk out of the cinema worrying about young girls who would see that film, take it to heart and be inspired by it. I wasn’t expecting my film-going companions that day — two Australian women, all three of us in our 40s — to hit directly on the same thing I did, and be just as pissed off about it. I wasn’t expecting to recognize language that I had just used in an impassioned email to a martial arts colleague who has been experiencing discrimination because of her gender.
From the first time we see Diana, all the way until the moment she finally faces Ares, the same message is repeated: don’t let her know who she really is. Don’t let her realize her full power, because as soon as she discovers it, He will find her.
In Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey, which is clearly the formula this Wonder Woman story follows, somewhere around the 8th stage, the Hero goes through an Ordeal, suffers a symbolic death, realizes who s/he truly is, and then completes their quest. This makes for good storytelling, and we’ve seen it in films from Apocalypse Now to Alien to Raising Arizona to The Piano to Gravity, and of course in the entire Harry Potter franchise (both in individual films as well as the overall story arc, because JK Rowling is that good).
But that’s not a formula for real life.
Most women I know grow up being told “you’re not that pretty,” “you’re not that smart,” “you’re not that talented.” Often this seems to come from a well-intentioned if wrong-headed way of protecting girls and women, both from becoming too arrogant (especially in America, where arrogance and confidence are so often confused); as well as training girls, and subsequently women, to remain small — unnoticed, hidden, invisible — to presumably diminish the possibility of harassment, assault, of rape, of being killed… of being punished.
Girls grow up with the knowledge that, when they do stand up tall, when they do fully inhabit their full potential, punishment is a very real possibility. And some men punish 10x harder. You don’t just get insulted, you get crushed. Or in Diana’s case, killed by Ares.
David Thewlis as Ares in disguise — I had a hard time believing that casting too, David!
What would have happened if Diana’s mom, and her aunts, and the other Amazons told her: you are a demi-god, you are immortal, your purpose is to defeat Ares and save Mankind? You have as much power as Ares and you can use it.
Besides it being a considerably shorter movie, I mean?
There is a scene in the first 20 minutes of Wonder Woman when Diana, now a teenager, is caught training with her aunt Antiope (Robin Wright). She gets knocked on her ass a couple of times, and Antiope tells Diana to stop doubting herself, to stop doubting her own power. Diana insists she’s not doubting herself… and instantly gets knocked on her ass again, proving Antiope’s point.
Tell me though: how can Diana not doubt herself when she is constantly told “you’re not an Amazon like the rest of us,” with no context to that dismissive statement (eg, because you’re better than the rest of us), when the information about who she really is, is constantly withheld. How does withholding information help her grow? She could have trained so much harder, so much more powerfully if only she had known.
The other recurring line repeated several times to Diana is “there is much you don’t know.” I’m assuming that a good chunk of what she doesn’t know is who she really is. But you know, if they had just told her who she is, they also could have supplemented her education with the rest of the stuff she doesn’t know and make sure she is fully prepared to meet Ares (among which, I would presume, would also be the ability to correctly identify Ares when she sees him and not waste time on the wrong bad guy).
The only person who finally does reveal to Diana who she really is Ares himself. Of course. Of course. She is only, finally, empowered by a man. I’ve noticed, in my martial arts training over the years, that certain instructors really savor the moment when they are the ones to reveal a student’s true talents to themselves. Knowledge is power, and withholding knowledge is just as much an abuse of power as ordering cameras be turned off during a press conference.
In the case of Diana — and the case for so many women and girls — hiding the knowledge of her true person and power is like throwing a burqa over her.
And imagine, again, if the Amazons had actually informed Diana of her true identity, if they had fully empowered her, what would have happened when she finally confronted Ares? Firstly, she wouldn’t have freaked out and lost precious time when Ares informed her who she is; she could have saved her lover from sacrificing himself. She would have had the confidence and the presence of mind to take Ares out right there and then. Instead, she freaked; she denied the knowledge, stomped around, and then got knocked off her ass again.
What if her mom had just told her?
Even today, when I’m training in my martial art, my original teacher, as well as other male instructors both in my first school and now, will tell me as much as “you’re good”, but that’s it. In their mindset, they seem to think it’s better to remark among themselves “she has no idea how good she really is” (I do, now, thanks). I’m not sure what they think they’re protecting me from — I’ve trained for over 17 years, for the specific purpose of defending myself. Or do they think I’m going to turn that power on them? If that’s their worry, then it’s a terrible reflection on their own teaching.
However, this refusal to empower Wonder Woman with the full knowledge of herself is much more than about me and my martial arts training. Women work harder, longer, and we perform better (for less pay) because we believe we have to prove ourselves to people who already know how good we are. They’re just not telling us. They get more out of us by demeaning us, by disempowering us, by encouraging us to fight. And we take the bait, every single time.
I worry that girls will see Wonder Woman and they’ll take this away from it too — that it’s better not to know, it’s better to hide or be hidden, it’s better to never reveal who you truly are… but maybe one day someone will tell you and you will find the strength and the power and the glory to save the world. That they will perpetuate, even with the best intentions, the oppression of their own gender, of themselves.
The problem is that in real life, that 8th Stage of the Hero’s Journey doesn’t really come in the way it does in fiction: there is no ultimate fight against a war god to save the world; there are only thousands of tiny battles against unfair employers, bills you can’t always pay, taxes and love and heartbreak and marriage, nights out with friends, babies being born, children moving away and having children of their own, careers being made and retired from, illness, quietness and death. There is only life, and shouldn’t every single girl, every single woman grow up to enjoy the full wonder of it, knowing who — and what — she really is?
There was one line in Wonder Woman that almost redeemed the whole movie for me. Her aunt and trainer, the warrior Antiope, makes the case to continue training her niece by pointing out that teaching Diana to defend herself is “the best way to protect her”.
If only that was the line that had been repeated for 2 hours. | https://medium.com/athena-talks/youre-not-that-great-diana-8547fe53d38 | ['Susie Kahlich'] | 2017-07-04 16:27:51.473000+00:00 | ['Rape Culture', 'Empowerment', 'Movies', 'Feminism', 'Gender Equality'] |
Bad dreams | I’m having a hard time to separate reality from my nightmares. Endless crying and panic attacks through the deep dark night. Sleep was my only escape. Now it’s haunted. I miss it dearly.
“Dreams are manifestations of our subconscious. Nightmares are manifestations of our bad day. You can also wake up Betty! “ – Sally the-know-it-all says so.
How easy!. Between bad days and nights, wish I could vent about it to someone, but No. I’m desperately searching a way to avoid these nightmares. So I have decided not to shut my eyes anymore. I know it sounds foolish!. Bear with me till the end.
Anyway, wish I had the same desperation to solve my bad life. The logic that never hit me. Thus terror continues.
I live in a big house. Beautiful garden surrounding the house at the centre. My grandfather left it for me. He loves to sit in the lawn enjoying the ocean view and the salty breeze. He passed away peacefully sitting there. Now It’s my favourite spot for my ME-time. I’m emotionally attached to this house.
I’m married to a smart husband and I have a handsome little boy. My nightmare days are behind me. I get to close my eyes at nights in peace. The luxury that I always dreamt of. Finally!.
Luke is a perfectionist. He likes things in order, a straight line. At times my husband doesn’t seem to understand the grey areas of life. The only colours he sees are white and black. On the contrary, My darling boy David is Mr. mischief. He is 5 years old. I Love him from bottom of my heart. He is one free soul. He thinks he can fly high up the sky and catch stars. Wish I could fly away with him.
“its time we put this boy in summer classes. He should use his energy somewhere or else there will be nothing left to break in this house. Little rascal!”. - Luke said.
“More sugar” – said as I served him coffee. I poured one myself and sat next to him.
We must give our children a chance to enjoy existence without any boundaries. I wanted to say no to Luke’s idea but I can’t. So I remain silent. I took comfort in sipping my country hazelnut coffee and salty breeze brushing my cheek.
This reminded me to look for David. I couldn’t find him anywhere playing in the lawn or in the shore. I sprang from my chair and my eyes started searching for him widely. He was nowhere to be found. Standing still, I’m trying to remember the last place he was. I don’t recall. To my surprise, I don’t recall anything that happened before coffee. I closed my eyes and tried to figure out what’s happening.
I heard the rusty attic window opening. It has not been opened for centuries. My eyes finally caught David. I exhaled hot breath that I was holding up in anxiety.
“I told you he will be around somewhere”. Luke grinned.
I sighed. I turned to Luke wondering if he was paying attention for what’s happening. I don’t see him being concerned at all.
A sudden hot flash spread intensely all over my face, down to my neck and chest. Realising my son is climbing up on the roof.
“Mommy I’m going to fly. See. I’m going to catch a star. I will come back with your present mommy” – David screamed in joy.
Ice cold tears rolled down my cheek. I was dumbstruck. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t turn to Luke for help. I couldn’t scream. Muscles just froze up. David was far away from us. Luke continues to enjoy the view and his coffee. He was not mentally present.
David raced to the edge of the roof. He did not pause. He did not hesitate. He did not stop. I couldn’t stop him. He just ran with such a innocent excitement.
He hit the ground through the tree branches with a horrible sound. Fear of seeing my son bleeding caught me good. I was able to break free finally. But what’s the point of running now. I could only cry. I know there is no saving from such a fall from that height.
“Silence finally!. He is a good boy, isn’t he betty?”. - said Luke with deep exhale and a satisfactory smile.
I was so angry at Luke. He never liked David. He never loved me. He never really cared for any of us. All he wanted is to be right. He tricked us in staying with him to fill his dark void. I always wanted an out. But all I did was cry and beg for years.
Again a sudden hot flash all over my hands, lap and neck. It was my son’s thick red hot blood. He on my lap bleeding and dead. I hugged him, screamed and cried. I screamed so much I could taste my blood from the rupture. I lost the one true happiness in my life. The one that mattered more than my sleep and freedom. I lost it all.
I screamed my way out of the nightmare. The nightmare of my son’s death. The overwhelming feeling of losing my son struck me hard and deep. I continued to cry. For unknown reason, I don’t want to stop crying. I don’t want to wipe my tears and convince it was just a bad dream. I don’t want to stop mourning for my imaginary son. I don’t want to stop it. I wanted it all out.
Another bad day, another bad dream. I’m cursed with absurd dreams. I fear this will to be my future. This has to change now. I have to change it all. Else I would have nothing left.
No sleep. No peace. No freedom. No David. Just Luke and his darkness around me.
It takes bad dreams to break free from bad relationships. | https://medium.com/@genius_india_cricket_916/bad-dreams-ae47de714709 | ['Sneha Sudhersan'] | 2020-12-18 13:50:48.549000+00:00 | ['Short Story', 'Short Fiction', 'Bad Relationships', 'Self Love', 'Bad Dreams'] |
Like a Flame to Gasoline | Like a Flame to Gasoline
The rush of instant euphoria pumping through your veins like a flame being thrown into a tunnel laced with gasoline is probably what makes drugs so addictive. The flame of euphoria pumps through every vein of your being, declaring itself superior to any pain you might feel including that of the needle that has just entered your skin with a burning piercing. The flame travels to your brain, setting fire to your tree of self-pity which has its roots planted firmly in a foundation consisting of guilt over your parent’s divorce, fear of future rejection, and self-pity due to the horrific results attained in the examination that handles the switchboard of the rest of your life. The tree burns to ashes and with every sigh, you exhale not just the carbon dioxide from your lungs, but the remnants of the emotions previously held captive by your mind.
You feel free, devoid of any pain — physical, emotional, mental. If your eyes weren’t open, you would swear you were floating on clouds. In fact, sometimes the rush controls you to the extent that you really would swear you were floating on clouds — if not to explain the lightness you feel within, then at least to explain how high you are.
And then, with an evil laugh and a piece of your peace, the drugs begin to pull itself out of your system like a silk cloth being pulled over barbed wire. Suddenly, your Ultra High Definition senses regress. Your eyes begin watching a dull, black-and-white television. Your ears are attuned to a radio that hears only static white noise. The world feels distorted and “less than” in every way.
Before you’re able to begin dealing with your uncomfortable experience, your thoughts return, ambushing you, forcing you into a room of mirrors in which all you’re able to see are your own faults. Emotion, the wife of thought, returns too with her incessant nagging. These mental and emotional demons begin evolving into physical beings which crawl under your skin, reminding you at every moment that you are as captive to your inner being as they are to your outer being. You try to close your eyes, praying to God that this is a dream, only for the demons to appear against your red inner eyelid, reminding you that you cannot escape that which is already within you.
By now, the tree of self-pity has already regrown, this time taller and stronger than it was two hours prior. You notice that new branches have grown on it too, with leaves that read “drug addict”. You attempt to pluck off every leaf, furious at the label of “drug addict”. You’re not a drug addict, you assure yourself, anger building within: you can stop using whenever you like, you simply choose not to — but you could choose differently at any time. But with every leaf you pluck, you notice new leaves growing back ten-fold. You cannot escape the accusatory pointed finger and shameful grimace of your own mind.
Waddling like a penguin on the street, unstable and out of place, you walk with purpose. Your mind must be silenced at all costs, this is your goal. Screams of you being a failure continue echoing before you like a wall of dough, through which you force like a hot knife. You will succeed. You have to.
You furnish a handful of bronze coins and settle like a rock in water onto the sidewalk. Removing the sword from its sheath, you point it at the culprit. Trying hard to stabilise yourself knowing fully well that one wrong move could trigger a fatality but reminding yourself repeatedly that the act is worth it, you make your move, delving as deep as you can. Every troubling thought leaves your mind. As you push down on the syringe, somewhat like filling gas into your car, you feel the rush of instant euphoria pumping through your veins like a flame being thrown into a tunnel laced with gasoline… | https://kalaharireview.com/like-a-flame-to-gasoline-acc16d18c21a | ['The Kalahari Review'] | 2021-11-29 17:08:26.723000+00:00 | ['Nabila Ismail Shaikh', 'Nonfiction', 'South Africa', 'Addiction'] |
Droidcon Toronto 2019: The Good and The Bad | Three weeks ago, a few of the engineers and I were fortunate enough to attend one of Toronto’s most reputable Android development conventions, Droidcon. Having attended AndroidTO in years past, we were excited to be witnessing the rebranding of Toronto’s best Android conference into its global sibling as Droidcon Toronto. Droidcon Toronto 2019 focused on delivering insightful learnings from talks given by the best in the industry in celebration of a decade of the Android Conference. As the dust settles, I’d like to take this time to reflect on my experience, bringing to light what I was happy to see and what was missing.
What Went Well: Reflecting on a Decade of Android
Mark Reale, organizer and creator of the conference, wrapped up with “The Mobile Decade”, speaking on the history of Android development. He touched on problems we have solved and the evolution of our learnings. He mentioned the new goals we strive for in excellent unit testing and minimizing APKs, and in doing so, tied together all the tech talks that had given us well-delivered tutorials into the niches of Android development.
What Was Missing: Elevating the DroidCon Experience
When attending the largest Android convention in Toronto, there is the perceived expectation to be immersed in an elevated experience, one where your brain tunes in and you scramble for your notebook so you don’t miss a single thing. Talk topics touched on Contour, Flutter, Coroutines, and Room, but the talks, albeit well-done, didn’t provide me with new perspectives or takeaways I had been anticipating for.
So what was missing? As the only Android convention in Toronto, I was eager to gain insight on higher-level topics; speakers’ experiences with popular architectures, thoughts and inventive ideas on new architectures, and the creativity that can live within our work. I wanted to be enlightened on topics I’ve missed over the year, much like watching the news after being abroad.
Using old methodologies or jumping into newer AndroidX tools, talks could have included some fundamental principles that we take for granted. Whether it applies to our own projects or not, these fundamentals are harder to come by in a Google search or a Medium article. They can be brilliant perspectives, promising cleaner and more sustainable code, something worth writing down for future considerations.
Tech conventions have always supported a tremendous cast of acknowledged engineers who can easily speak to numerous excruciatingly small intricacies in the field. But in a convention with only two tracks, I would have loved to see these acknowledged engineers shed more light on some of their recent learnings and shifts in their philosophies.
Sanchita Agarwal is a great example of someone who hit this mark. Her talk on Kotlin sealed classes shed light on common practices we all, Java engineers included, could benefit from. And although this has been used within our projects for several months already, her talk was my personal favourite, as it was engaging and relevant to all of us.
What I’d like to see at the Next Droidcon
Innovative activations
As conferences are as much about the experience as they are about the talks, I think sponsors need to move beyond the traditional booths into innovative activations, where each step you take within the space provides a certain degree of impact such as an idea board or new technology to try.
Talks on coding itself
Although coding is technical, it is also an art form. Writing excellent code and forming excellent habits is a large part of our careers. It would have been great to see more talks that were oriented around this topic.
Conversations about the future
We celebrated the history of Android and how far we’ve come, but I’m even more intrigued by the frontiers of Android and the possibilities for the future. It’s those conversation starters of what is possible that are highly impactful.
As someone who’s passionate and eager to attend future Android conferences, I wanted to share my experience and provide insights on taking these events to the next level. Ultimately, I truly applaud the organizers for taking big strides in the rebranding of AndroidTO into Droidcon this year, and creating an event of this scale. Any conference or event can be difficult to plan, host, and execute and I’m thankful for the opportunity to attend and soak in all things Android! | https://medium.com/tribalscale/droidcon-toronto-2019-the-good-and-the-bad-7f54b89637e6 | ['Tribalscale Inc.'] | 2019-12-06 16:16:26.739000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Events', 'Toronto', 'Android', 'Engineering'] |
BTC and USD Dilemma | Paying attention to USD (US Dollar) price or even how much USD you have made with an investment is not what you want to do.
Ya, I know. This does not seem right. Don’t I want to make more cash?
Yes you do, but not how you think. Especially when investing in alt coins (mainly any coin other than Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Litecoin.)
When you purchase an alt coin, you buy it with Bitcoin. I know you can use other coins as well but for this example I am using Bitcoin.
Then when you sell your alt coin, you sell it back to Bitcoin NOT USD. To cash out into USD, you have to convert it to Bitcoin first.
This is important to remember.
An example. I invested in Power Ledger and in a couple days I had made $50 on this investment. At the same time I had actually lost Bitcoin.
So if I had sold at that exact moment I would have actually gotten less Bitcoin back than what I used to purchase Power Ledger with.
If I did sell, taking less Bitcoin, I would have had to convert that Bitcoin to USD right away to make my $50. If I did not convert it to cash, I would lose money on this investment because of losing Bitcoin.
This happens when Bitcoin moves higher than your alt coin.
Think about it like this. If you have a coin that is worth $0.01, and it doubles to $0.02, but Bitcoin also doubles, then you have not gained anything.
If it has grown percentage wise more than Bitcoin, then the difference in percentages is your earnings.
Your choice when investing.
Do you want to focus on USD or accumulating more Bitcoin?
I personally am trying to accumulate Bitcoin. I see Bitcoin continuing to rise in price, so the more I have the better. But this is up to you individually.
Many other people simply make an increase in USD and then cash out.
But if you are like me and trying to accumulate Bitcoin, STOP paying attention to the USD price. Don’t look at it when buying or selling.
Only pay attention to Bitcoin, or whatever coin you are using to purchase alt coins with.
And now….. | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/btc-and-usd-dilemma-dc945b576b95 | ['Mitchell Stulken'] | 2018-03-30 02:04:41.962000+00:00 | ['Money', 'Investing', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Ethereum', 'Bitcoin'] |
How Do You Listen to Someone With Nothing to Say? | How Do You Listen to Someone With Nothing to Say?
Overcommunicating with the anxious or depressed is not helpful
Photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash
I am confident that if not you directly, you’ll know friends and family members who are having a pretty terrible time right now.
Maybe you (or they) were diagnosed with bipolar, depression or anxiety long before that C-word first hit your ears.
The Coronavirus — the great humbling — has come to force us all to look in the mirror. For some of us, this is a great fear realised, for others, it becomes a constant reminder to check in with your ailing friends.
At last, we all have something in common, right?
Well, not really.
As loved ones, acquaintances, current and ex-colleagues and strangers on LinkedIn (don’t get me started on Instagram and YouTube influencers) take to shouting from the rooftops and the bombast of WhatsApp groups to make sure you’ve heard their message that they understand, and are here for you, I can’t help but wonder how much of it is a desire to be heard themselves, after all, how can these people be listening when they’ve literally been told that there’s nothing to say?
Right now many people I know — myself included — are craving a near-impossible to achieve peaceful silence which is made difficult by well-meaning but nonetheless wrongful do-gooders from the internet.
I’ve had to explain to so many people, over and over, that no I don’t want to catch up, because there’s nothing to catch up on. People remember me the business-me, the exuberant, energetic fool that was after beer, pounds and recognition.
He got those things, and he lost them too.
Listening does not equate to understanding
Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash
Do you know what is more helpful to the self-loathing, anxiously depressed untold millions of people experiencing redundancy, financial worries and other stress than your well-meaning check-ins?
Space.
I will edit a picture of my Darth Vader coffee cup that says “give me some space” on it into this post shortly.
If you’re not one of the afflicted, good for you, but don’t think you’re above the rules. My own parents and closest friends have been on the receiving end of a “please leave me alone” text recently, and I am disturbed by the continuing need to keep issuing them.
Despite Skype and other business tools featuring a “do not disturb” status, it is hard to apply one of these to our personal lives, and not helped when some people seem to decide it doesn’t apply to them.
It should be painfully clear when people like me don’t want to talk but just in case here are some things to look for:
1-word replies.
0 questions from us.
Long pauses in conversation, sometimes lasting days or weeks.
Disinterest in things that usually interest us.
Exclamations from your audience that your audience would like some space.
That’s my take, but I’m not an expert, so I asked one for you. Colin Smith is affectionately known as ‘The Listener’ and advises C-level executives on how better to listen to their people. I asked him how you can listen to someone who has nothing to say and here is what he had to say:
Photo by Morning Brew on Unsplash
“Firstly, I believe that everyone has something to say. At this point in time, there could be many things going on for them that they feel like they have nothing to say. You ask them questions, you ask for feedback, such as how are they doing, and so on. You may just get one-word answers in reply, or nothing. Is this their normal response or is it different from the norm? What else do we know about what is going on for them at this moment?
With technology, we can send messages to them to let them know you are still there and that you care. In Samaritans, we may have a silent person on the phone, and we have no idea who or where they are, their circumstances or why they are quiet. It could be they are unable to get the words out or it could be the ‘other person’ is nearby and they can’t speak because of a fear they will hear them. So a quiet, calm voice to let them know it is okay for them not to speak, and we are still here should you wish to speak. Sometimes it could be many minutes before they speak, and we have to repeat that we are still there. Even then they may simply hang up. We may never know what happened. All of that is okay as this is about them not us.
Secondly, the reason they have nothing to say, isn’t that they have nothing to say it is that they are scared and fearful of speaking. The environment does not feel safe, for them. ‘For them’, is the important part.
The way to support them to feel safe is to build trust, and whilst trust can be built in a moment, it can typically take time to really build the trust needed for someone to speak out. Sometimes, as I experienced with Samaritans, it is easier for someone who has committed a serious crime to share it with someone they have never met, or ever likely to do and to know the call is confidential. When we know someone, to open up to them, to be vulnerable, to fear being judged, etc., is really challenging. How we respond to them as they start talking, opening up, will also determine how much they open up and share with you. Many times, the conversation gets deep, personal, emotional, upsetting and so much more. If we are dismissive, judging, condemning, and not caring, empathic or loving, they could shut down or close up, only saying so much. How we are being and showing up for them determines how much they will open up to us. Again remember, this is about them, not us.
Sometimes, by slowly and regularly keeping in touch can open things up little by little. Making it non-threatening, normalising, etc., can bring them out enough to reply more than a word or two. Not to get carried away when they do reply and then not replying back straightaway, leaving a few hours in between, keeps it low key and less startling for them. What can happen is that a message from me, one reply and then a reply from me was enough for them. Over time, they may open up a little further and the three messages become five, and then an opportunity to speak on the phone. Letting them control the when and where and the length of the call matters. Listening is also a key factor. Even when they ask us a question, answer it briefly and then ask them a question related to what they have just said, shows they have been heard and you are curious and interested in what more they have to say. So is the use of silence, not speaking as soon as they draw breath or appear to have finished speaking.
The more they feel heard, by our empathic listening, the more we ask questions based on what they have said, the more their self-esteem will rise. They will begin to feel that they and their words matter, which of course they do.” | https://medium.com/invisible-illness/how-do-you-listen-to-someone-with-nothing-to-say-3013f431c50c | ['Alex Boast'] | 2020-07-30 09:48:55.730000+00:00 | ['Anxiety', 'Mental Health', 'Depression', 'Listening', 'Communication'] |
Kickstarting a Stagnant Company | Kickstarting a Stagnant Company
When done right, it’s hard to identify when your company moves from one growth stage to another. The transition should be seamless and can seem to flow naturally as the company grows. When you’re a business leader, however, it’s clear that this evolution rarely (if ever) happens on its own. Here’s what to do when kickstarting a stagnant company.
How do you find out what is causing your company to stagnate?
Figuring out which factors are limiting your business and how to put your team in the position to solve those challenges should be a top priority as a leader. I’ve previously discussed how I personally identify the various stages of growth.
Everyone seems to have their own take on this model, but knowing where you are in your business, lifecycle can help identify the factors that may be holding your team back.
Without getting too deep, these factors generally come back to three underlying buckets: people, process and platform (or product). Growth is often slowed by the stagnation that can creep into an organization as its customers, revenue and employee count expand.
The good news is that a few specific tactics can mitigate the challenge and pull the team out of the quicksand of stagnation as you advance from one stage of growth to the next.
Identify and examine problematic areas. Some solutions can either remove the issues or fix them, giving your stagnant company a kickstart.
Audit for Stagnation
In 2013, I stepped in to lead Motus (then known as Corporate Reimbursement Services, Inc.(CRS)). I immediately realized the company was at a crossroads and needed a kickstart.
The first thing we needed to figure out was where the strengths and potential blockers were across the organization. There are many stagnation indicators:
losing clients
failing in the market
declining revenues
the vibe of the people
the cultural tenor
whether or not folks are energized
These factors take additional time to understand.
We took the time to have discussions with everyone on the team. Some of the team was divided into groups; others we met with one-on-one. These meetings made it possible to figure out roles and the general mood of the company.
We worked to find out if folks were energized or if they even wanted to be excited. Did they like what their roles and jobs were? I tried to figure out if people felt empowered by their work, or if they were going through the motions.
I wanted to ensure we had a team that was energized and proud to be a part of what we were building. From that baseline, it’s a matter of assessing what you learned, validating what’s going on, and taking actions where needed.
After the CRS interview process, we got everyone together and laid out what was sacrosanct to the organization. We found out the areas where people expressed frustration. We had young smart people doing stuff that should be automated.
We had processes in people’s heads, leading to single points of failure rather than organized procedures. Our technology was a UI that was plugged into a workflow, not an actual platform. We validated these hard truths and dug into what everyone was feeling.
Then, we had to take action. Tactically, we needed to focus on one thing that everyone seemed to yearn for within the company: Empowerment.
The Enemy of Stagnation: Empowerment
During your stagnation audit, you’ll still find folks who still believe they can only do what they’re tasked with and nothing more. To create a climate where everyone is empowered to pull the company forward.
Unfortunately, you’ll have to get rid of those who cannot operate in a growth environment. The most difficult to part with are your managers who don’t have the DNA to empower others.
We built-out training programs and an onboarding infrastructure to validate who possessed the demonstrated skills and knowledge to keep leveling up the business.
We were completely honest and transparent about the problems we uncovered that were symptoms of broader organizational issues. And then, we left. That is, we left it up to the various teams to go and solve those problems.
The process created a ripple of energy across the organization and put everyone in control of not only their own destiny but the fate of the company itself.
Empowering people who have never felt they’ve owned their own success is a powerful thing. With a stagnating company, you must empower the right people to succeed, but also empower them to fail and learn from their mistakes.
Model Failing the Right Way
Creating an environment where everyone knows it’s okay to screw something up will start with your leadership.
Help your team embrace the concept that failure isn’t something to shy away from. As often as I can, I tell my team, truthfully, “No one is going to make more mistakes than I will. Just by the sheer velocity of decision making, I’m going to get more things wrong than any of you will get wrong.”
This is an empowering message to hear. It means everyone knows that as an organization, we’re going to show up and put our heads down and do our very best. We aren’t timid — when we make mistakes, we make them at full speed.
To benefit from failure, you must grow and learn from the missteps. Seeing flops as a learning opportunity for everyone removes the personalization and shame normally associated with failure. We’re all human beings trying to solve problems and working together as a collective group.
Fail and fail fast, bring the issues that arise to the table and, most importantly, trust and rely on each other to get positive resolutions and outcomes.
Executives can also take actions themselves, either through being more transparent or adjusting how they utilize their time to kick their organizations out of stagnation.
But that is advice for another day. | https://medium.com/readwrite/kickstarting-a-stagnant-company-8f7c313239c4 | [] | 2020-01-13 18:39:30.423000+00:00 | ['Business', 'Startup', 'Success', 'Strategy'] |
How To Be Taken Seriously At Work | How To Be Taken Seriously At Work
Yes, even with tig old bitties
[Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash]
I don’t need to tell you that being a woman is hard. In case you’re not aware, the big bullet points are the period tax, unequal pay, harassment, cankles, and constantly having to pretend to care about Prince Harry. But being a woman in the workplace is a whole other animal. There is a high chance you won’t be taken seriously, but the good news is that there are steps you can take so that men in your profession see you as a sorta-kinda equal:
Preface everything you say with “I’m sorry”
This is the easiest thing to do because chances are you’re already doing it. No matter what you’re saying, tag an “I’m sorry” right before it. You can also score extra respect points by tagging another “sorry” at the end of your sentence too! Basically, you want to sound as unsure of yourself as possible while still bringing up relevant workplace concerns. For example: “I’m sorry, but I think we were going to maybe use the other solution that we talked about in the last meeting? I might be remembering it wrong, sorry!” It works because you’ve voiced your concerns but the actual decision will rest in a more capable man’s hands, disregarding the fact that he wasn’t paying attention during any of the meetings in the first place.
Be polished, but not too shiny
Basically, you need to be polished and cute enough to be taken seriously and show that you care about your job, but not so good-looking that you look like you’re begging for attention. You want to wear heels because flats signify weakness, but they can’t be too high. You want to carry a purse instead of messenger bag, but you also need to carry your laptop, planner, and a notebook at all times. You want to wear lipstick so you don’t look like a corpse, but you want to methodically analyze the shade before your coworkers get a chance to and the old man who’s not even on your team comments “hey, red lipstick today, huh?”. It’s a fine line to walk; your best bet is to model your fashion choices after any female supporting character in a rom-com, preferably the friend who just can’t get a date.
Show the men that you’re their bro, but also their mommy
You like dirty jokes, drinking booze, and football just as much as Ted from accounting. After you’ve proven yourself several times, Ted and his buds might actually begin listening to what you say in meetings now that you’ve proven that you know Blake Bortles is an actual person and not a Harry Potter character. This is good, but you also don’t want the guys to become too comfortable with you being their bro, because then they truly won’t take you seriously. You need to also show them that you can do mommy duties like always picking up the cake for a coworker’s birthday party and always making sure the office is decorated for holidays and always reminding them when they have a meeting even though they have access to the same fucking calendar that you do. It’s called being well-rounded.
Try to be white since you’re already a woman
Being a woman is enough of a bummer without also being a person of color. That will knock like another twenty cents off the wage disparity and also reduce your chances of being taken seriously and getting promotions by, like, a lot. Close your eyes hard and pray to the Caucasian fairy every night and hope that she taps you on the head and suddenly you’re white and find yourself being a better fit for the culture of the company. Do like a white lady and try to get 77 cents to the white man’s dollar instead of 56.
Get male colleagues to repeat what you said
When all else fails and you’re still not being taken seriously, just get a male colleague to repeat what you said. Sometimes, you can Inception an entire meeting’s worth of decisions if you just offer some simple solutions and the guy across from you says them louder. It also gives you good practice to keep your feelings in check when the guy is later lauded for being a problem solver. This is what the business calls teamwork.
Just be a fucking bitch
Speak up when you’ve got something to say and continue talking when you’re being interrupted (when, not if). Follow up with people who are blowing you off and don’t apologize. Smile, but don’t laugh at jokes that aren’t funny. Be direct when you feel you deserve a raise or a promotion or more responsibilities. Sure, you’ll be known as a ball-busting nut-cracking scrotum-twister, but you’ll be begrudgingly taken seriously. Ugh, goals. #LadyBoss #BossLady #GirlBoss | https://medium.com/lady-pieces/how-to-be-taken-seriously-at-work-e078e0221141 | ['Ellie Guzman'] | 2018-12-15 21:36:17.881000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Women', 'Jobs', 'Satire', 'Humor'] |
Waiting for Kali | Stories told through distorted mirrors
a hydra of elevated untruths
at the next bend lies the precipice
eternal destruction is foretold
and therein lies the rescue
in the formless fury of disruption and restoration
the cycle of everchanging time
she rides ferociously
as the | https://medium.com/@geetakuttiparambil/waiting-for-kali-f4f6bac0ca91 | ['Geeta Kuttiparambil'] | 2020-12-25 18:25:08.231000+00:00 | ['Time', 'Revenge', 'Age Of Kali', 'Revolution', 'Poetry'] |
Merry Christmas! | A Case For Plant Based | Merry Christmas, everyone! ❤️
Mark 1:30–32, 34, 37
“The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.’ ‘How will this be,’ Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin?’ The angel said, ‘…nothing is impossible with God.’”
My mom passed down her intense love of Christmas to both my brother and myself. Like her, her dad ( my grandpa), was also obsessed with all things Christmas. I love decorating for the holidays while watching Christmas movies, wrapping presents, listening to Christmas music, and watching Hallmark Countdown to Christmas. I love cooking, giving, and the joy around the entire season. However, all of this pales in comparison to the true reason for Christmas.
Isaiah 9:6
“For unto us a child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
The birth of Jesus had been prophesied hundreds of years before His birth. And no matter what our circumstances, the holiday season can bring great joy. It is a reminder of God’s great love for each and every one of us. Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection give us truth, love, and hope; He brings salvation when we trust in Him.
Mark 2:4–7
“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house of the line of David. He went there to register [for the census] with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a Son. She wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”
The humble birth of Jesus, in a stable, changes the way we celebrate Christmas. It’s not about getting gifts; it’s about the gift of the Messiah. Christmas is not about lighting Christmas trees; it’s about the grace of a loving God lighting up our lives. A God that loved us so much He would send His own Son to earth as a newborn baby, to be crucified for our sins over 30 years later.
Mark 2:8–13
“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’ Suddenly a great company of the Heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.’”
We give gifts at Christmas because God gave us the greatest gift: His Son. (Also, because of the Magi who brought gifts to baby Jesus). Jesus died in our place, so that we can spend eternity in Heaven with Him. When we invite Jesus into our heart and accept Him as our Savior, we know joy, happiness, peace, and hope like never before.
Matthew 2:1–2, 9, 11
“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the One who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.’ The star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. [The Magi] saw the child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him. They opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold, incense, and myrrh.”
Jesus, the Savior, is the reason for the season! He was born of a virgin, lived a holy, perfect, sinless, and pure life, then selflessly gave His life for us. Jesus gives true meaning to a Merry Christmas.
John 3:16–17
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”
Praise Jesus!
From my family to yours, Merry Christmas! ❤️ 💚 | https://medium.com/@acaseforplantbased/merry-christmas-a-case-for-plant-based-65d40fac5126 | ['A Case For Plant Based'] | 2020-12-25 17:12:07.410000+00:00 | ['Christmas', 'Bible', 'Christianity', 'Christmas Day', 'Jesus Birth'] |
The Reopening of Koh Samui Will Give A Potential for Boosting the Tourism | The Reopening of Koh Samui Will Give A Potential for Boosting the Tourism The Asian Affairs Jul 15·1 min read
Surprisingly, Koh Samui opened to inoculated unfamiliar travelers on Thursday notwithstanding a cross country flood in Covid-19 cases moved by the Delta variation. The islands of Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao are inviting guests as a feature of the realm’s push to restore the battered the travel industry.
The nation dispatched the “sandbox” plot on July 1, permitting inoculated explorers to visit Phuket island. Travelers don’t need to isolate in an inn yet can not leave Phuket for about fourteen days. Under Thursday’s development, vacationers should remain at a supported inn on Samui for a week and can leave their convenience on day four.
They should deliver a negative Covid-19 test prior to being permitted to dare to Koh Tao or Koh Phangan after their first week. The remainder of the nation is battling to get control over diseases from the Delta variation, which specialists say presently makes up almost 80% of the caseload.
https://www.theasianaffairs.com/the-reopening-of-koh-samui-will-give-a-potential-for-boosting-the-tourism/ | https://medium.com/@tasianaffairs/the-reopening-of-koh-samui-will-give-a-potential-for-boosting-the-tourism-e6ee1610ba65 | ['The Asian Affairs'] | 2021-07-15 10:39:08.448000+00:00 | ['Koh Samui', 'Thailand'] |
What’s the Use of Blockchains? How BitPay is Enabling International Business with the Emerging Nigerian Market | What’s the Use of Blockchains? How BitPay is Enabling International Business with the Emerging Nigerian Market BitPay Follow Jul 9, 2018 · 4 min read
Cross-Border Payment Problems
The Internet made it possible to talk to almost anyone in the world within minutes, no matter how far away they are. Unfortunately, most individuals and businesses are still stuck making international or cross-border payments with technology from long before the Internet Age.
Using traditional banking to send cross-border payments remains slow and hard to track. As Erin McClune concluded in her article on this subject, “At the end of the day, money doesn’t cross borders. There is no international wire, just a series of domestic transactions.”¹ Worse still, increased regulation across the Western world (both in the U.S.² and the E.U.³) has led to banks cutting down the number of correspondent banks around the globe.⁴
BitPay’s Solution
Invented in 2008, blockchain payments like Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash allow businesses to send and receive payments globally that arrive within minutes and confirm within an hour. The transactions are straightforward and transparent to all parties involved. BitPay helps businesses by processing the payments using the Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash blockchains.
It might sound counterintuitive, but it is easier and faster to exchange your dollars for Bitcoin, send the Bitcoin to someone in Japan, and have the recipient exchange the Bitcoin for yen than it is to turn dollars into yen through traditional banking channels. But don’t take our word for it. In 2016, McKinsey & Company wrote:
…cross-border payments continue to be expensive, slow and lacking in transparency on both costs and delivery times. In 2015, a McKinsey survey on consumer cross-border payments found that consumers typically pay a fee of €20 to €60 on top of the prevailing foreign-exchange spread. And this fee does not even guarantee timely delivery: although most cross-border payments could in theory be executed in one to two days, the survey revealed that a typical retail cross- border payment took three to five working days to complete.⁵
Blockchain in Practice
This isn’t theory about how blockchain payments can be used someday. Right now, companies are using cross-border blockchain payments through BitPay to make international business easier, faster, and more efficient.
For example, a Fortune 500 company is having trouble moving funds from their Nigerian subsidiary to their bank in Switzerland which requires payment in euros. Nigeria’s liquidity problems and poor banking infrastructure made this transaction difficult.
The blockchain unit within this multinational corporation proposed Bitcoin as a solution to this problem. They came to BitPay and asked for our help. We partnered with a premiere cryptocurrency exchange for much of the African continent and made it happen.
For this payment, the Nigerian subsidiary exchanged their naira for Bitcoin through the African cryptocurrency exchange. The exchange then sent the Bitcoin to BitPay and BitPay processed the Bitcoin into euros to send to the company’s Swiss bank account.
This program started as a test of six cross-border blockchain payments once a month for six months. The result? This company is excited with the solution we provided and hopes to expand this program. Praise from a company this large is quite a stamp of approval. Like the internet did for communication and information, blockchain payments are making international business easier, cheaper, and faster.
Want to learn more? Check out BitPay’s cross-border payments solution and get in touch with our team if you’d like to start using blockchain payments for your international business.
Sources | https://medium.com/bitpay-on-bitcoin/whats-the-use-of-blockchains-33c1b7b88983 | [] | 2018-08-08 16:21:48.457000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Fintech', 'Banking', 'Emerging Markets', 'Bitcoin'] |
The Longest Day — A Film | Robert Mitchum as Captain Cota
Hollywood doesn’t always get history right, in fact it often gets it wrong. But when it does get it right it can often outshine the rest of the world’s film industry, as was the case with producer Darryl F.Zanuck’s masterpiece, The Longest Day.
The film was released in 1962, only 18 years after the actual Allied landings on France’s Normandy beaches on June 6th, 1944; consequently the realities of that day were still clear in many peoples minds, especially the veterans, most of whom, in 1962, were only in their late 30s and early 40s. The film had to try and get it right for their sakes if no one else’s. And the film, on the whole, does get it right, due in no small way to the chief screenwriter, military historian Cornelius Ryan, being allowed to adapt his own book pretty much unhindered, although his finished script was beefed-up here and there by experienced script writers, Roman Gary, Jack Seddon, and ex-GI novelist, James Jones
Zanuck then employed three world-renowned directors to tackle the various national areas of concern, as well as directing some smaller scenes himself.
Veteran British director Ken Annakin (who died early in 2009) concentrated on the British and French sequences, with his re-telling of the British Airborne landings in the early hours of June 6th, and the French commando attack on the casino at Ouistreham, two of the best scenes in the film, due in no small part to the performance of Richard Todd (as Major John Howard), who had actually taken part in those glider landings.
The American sequences were shot by Andrew Marton (who had been the 2nd unit director on Ben Hur), who, with hand-held cameras, was able to create a strong documentary feel to the Omaha Beach landing scenes, at the same time coaxing a truly stunning performance out of Robert Mitchum, as the legendary Captain Cota, who, after super-human efforts, manages to get those US troops in his sector off the beach
Austrian director Bernhard Wicki looked after the German sequences, and again, like Marton, created a strong documentary feel in places, but also, by having the German characters speak in their own language, also created a very strong verisimilitude that made those scenes extraordinarily compelling, helped hugely by Curt Jurgens’ powerful performance of General der Infanterie, Gunther Blumentritt, who, as Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt’s second-in-command, creates a genuine sense of exasperation and despair when von Rundstedt (played with a seething honesty by veteran German actor, Paul Hartman) will not even consider talking personally to “…that corporal” (the Fuhrer), and demand he release the Panzer Division based in Calais. It is a turning point in the film: a point where — with Rommel (played by Werner Hinz) away celebrating his wife’s birthday — we know the German’s will lose the day.
The only weak points in the film are the ‘comedy’ duo, privates Flanagan and Clough — played by Sean Connery and Norman Rossington — who turn the whole thing into a nonsense, and show the British soldier up as something of an idiot. Their parts should have ended-up on the cutting room floor.
On the other hand, Patrick Burr’s portrayal of RAF meteorologist, Group Captain Stagg, is a mighty performance, and when coupled with Henry Grace’s Eisenhower, is a joy to watch. Amazingly Grace and Burr were never even credited in the finished film.
The film also had one of the longest celebrity cast lists ever assembled, including John Wayne, Kenneth More, Richard Burton, Robert Wagner and Henry Fonda — plus many more — which gave the production a huge international audience.
There have been other films and TV series about D-Day, most notably the TV series Band of Brothers, but if you want to find out what happened, and the sequence of events, on June 6th, 1944, watch The Longest Day. | https://stevenewmanwriter.medium.com/the-longest-day-32d3ece16aed | ['Steve Newman Writer'] | 2018-10-12 08:53:07.022000+00:00 | ['Movies', 'The Longest Day', 'Culture', 'History', 'Film'] |
The Year that Changed Everything | Photo by Dylan Ferreira on Unsplash
Before Covid, I was having an affair for nearly two years with a guy I used to think I loved.
We used to meet every four weeks, and we maintained our bonding through daily texts.
Our meetings were amazing, but the work it required was exhausting; we were both married.
I have no doubt we liked each other, but we never even contemplated an overnight; we just met during working hours.
Covid didn’t help us, and I decided to break up.
This was my first break up of 2020, and I did go through a grieving process even though it was a very superficial relationship.
Then I met the man who gave me the strength to leave my marriage.
Leaving my husband was my second break up of 2020, a big one as it involved me leaving the house and making a completely different and unusual arrangement for the kids and life as I knew for the past 14 years.
Myself and then AP signed a lease and moved in together, and our relationship lasted four months.
This was my third break up of 2020.
I didn’t get sick; I didn’t lose my job, My kids are happy and healthy, my husband turned out to be a great former husband, I live in an amazing apartment that was just possible with the help of a former AP, that I couldn’t have met if I didn’t break up with my two years affair in the first place.
The most truthful thing about a broken heart is that Time heals all wounds.
And I would say, even more, It makes you realize how wonderful are all the bridges sent on your way.
I am the happiest I have been in a long time because I can finally be me; all the breakups, instead of breaking me, made me whole.
2020, the year that changed everything, inside and out. | https://medium.com/@iamksmith/the-year-that-changed-everything-2b6d1483d672 | [] | 2020-12-17 18:04:14.125000+00:00 | ['Separation', 'Breakups', 'Divorce', 'Affairs', 'Love'] |
50 BEST MCQ QUESTION IN OPENCAST MINING FOR GATE | MCQ QUESTION FREE
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If you want to read first then click the link of opencast mining then give the test it is totally free and many of time you give the exam | https://medium.com/@sibusibu178/50-best-mcq-question-in-opencast-mining-for-gate-56f70338396f | ['Sibu Sibu'] | 2021-05-03 12:39:12.932000+00:00 | ['Opencast Mining', 'Mcq Question', 'Mining'] |
hubii core wallet feature now live for testing | Our last product blog post (https://medium.com/@jacobotoll/hubii-core-release-a-combined-wallet-manager-and-exchange-built-with-the-user-in-mind-eb818ac511ab) revealed that we are working on a full set of asset management features as part of hubii core. This is the first in a series of blog posts describing in more detail what hubii core will look like. In fact, today, we are happy to share with you the release the first version of our hubii core wallet.
You can add a new wallet, restore or import a wallet
What we have released today is an early alpha and should be treated as such: please test it, but only with limited funds. In one of the next deployments we will add hardware wallet integration (we always recommend their use, for their added security). The code of this project is not open source yet, but will be eventually. However, we wanted to start sharing and collecting feedback — so please do download the wallet on GitHub (https://github.com/hubiinetwork/core/releases/tag/v0.1) and give us feedback by joining our telegram group (https://t.me/hubiinetwork).
“All Wallets” provide users with a single view of all their crypto assets
While this version is an early alpha and clearly still pro-user material, you can already see a glimpse of the user friendly features we are building in: from an address book that allows you to manage those pesky long keys to a UI that makes it a lot harder to make common mistakes such as confusing price / amount / gas — don’t dismiss this, it happens more often that you may think. We have seen it!
hubii core supports a night & day theme
We also promised more details on the exchange we are building as part of hubii core. Please look at the next blog posts for those. For better readability, we are splitting our news and updates into easy to digest bites.
The “Transfer” screen offers a comprehensive and clean interface
We also promised more details on the exchange we are building as part of hubii core. We will share more details in the next post — very soon. | https://medium.com/hubii/hubii-core-wallet-feature-now-live-for-testing-745f1cb986d4 | [] | 2018-03-15 19:19:40.492000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'Blockchain', 'Ethereum', 'https://github.com/hubiinetwork/core/releases/tag/v0.1'] |
What does it mean to “Wind The Clock” | What does it mean to “Wind The Clock”
Deciding to ask my self-proclaimed “golden armed fighter pilot” father to teach me how to fly probably wasn’t my easiest choice. I was a young woman who thought flying was second nature, and he was an instructor determined to change my mind.
Dad’s unconventional style also introduced me to my internal instructor. She had always been there, but I never depended on her as much as I did the day I soloed an airplane. I lifted off the runway alone, with no instructor telling me what to do. I was scared because everything I thought I learned vanished. The plane’s weight changed with dad’s absence, so everything felt different. A slight panic set in, and I realized it was totally up to me to get back on the ground. Quite literally a life and death moment. Then a little voice in my head said, “you got this.”
Time felt as if it had stopped, and everything fell silent as my internal instructor reminded me I had a choice. I could either choose the chaos of fear or the strength within calm. Almost forcing myself, I sorted out my emotions and picked where I focused. As a result, the engine’s sound started to fill my tiny cockpit, flight instruments almost pointed to where they needed to be, and I instinctively knew what to do to complete my solo flight successfully. I was only twenty-four years old.
An experienced pilot would refer to my moment of intense focus as “winding the clock.” I’ve always known the phrase but didn’t fully understand the meaning until that day. The term comes from an old military flight training technique in which pilots train for emergencies in simulated cockpits with fake switches and dials. The trainee received a reminder to wind the fake dashboard clock to channel any nervous energy with every incorrect emergency response. It is a phrase that represents that moment in time between stimulus and response.
A few years before, Dad and I were flying back home to Mojave from Los Angeles in his tandem two-seater, homebuilt called a Long EZ. We were over the San Gabriel Mountains when the noise from the engine stopped. The only sound remaining was the air as it slowed traveling over the wings. We were starting to lose attitude.
My thoughts immediately shifted from eating dinner to how Dad will get us over these mountains. I tried to look around for a place to land but saw nothing but miles of choppy mountain tops. From the back of our tandem seating arrangement, I couldn’t see Dad’s face. All I could do was wait to hear instructions.
Pilots are taught in emergencies to maintain aircraft control, analyze the situation, and take appropriate action. Flying a small airplane isn’t for the faint of heart. It is a test of a pilot’s personality and perceived limits. Typically pilots pride themselves on being confident with an excellent ability to stay calm during times of stress. However, in an actual in-air emergency, the pilots who are too cocky solve the wrong problems. A jump to a solution too quickly can cause a pilot to overlook obvious warning signs, doing things like landing on a snow-covered runway assuming the runway lights were left off.
When everything seemed to stop, I sat frozen, waiting to hear dad’s voice over my headset. But, he sat silently in front of me in total “wind the clock” mode, assessing the situation and solving the correct problem. It turned out to be a trapped fuel line. The solution, not a mountain top bumpy emergency landing, just a quick wing dip to release the fuel, and we were headed home for dinner.
I’ve flown over those mountains many times since then and try to take that opportunity to remind myself to remember the important moments between stimulus and response. In times of stress the time to wind the clock allows me to solve the right problems and avoid landing on any snow-covered runways. | https://medium.com/@hellojillhoffman/what-does-it-mean-to-wind-the-clock-69a5149aedc9 | ['Hello Jill Hoffman'] | 2021-09-11 20:31:44.357000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'Startup', 'Mindfulness', 'Aviation', 'Self'] |
BigTurn Platform Key Points | We are revolutionizing the way people think about security and global connectivity in migration and job search. Utilising blockchain technology, we will provide an efficient platform that will significantly benefit migrants and job seekers.
📝 By automating the verification of documents for both migrants and companies through our sophisticated blockchain network, both migrants and future businesses sponsors can have their worries alleviated. Likewise, storing clients’ confidential documents on the blockchain ledger will guarantee security, ensuring maximum privacy for all. Personal information such as ID and credential verifications will be certified through mechanisms established by existing blockchain solution providers, ensuring high reliability of necessary documents for visa applications such as birth, educational, health and criminal records.
📝 Our platform will automatically update existing visa regulations. Any difficulties associated with navigating around immigration laws, regardless of how often they change, will be dramatically decreased as we will provide immediate updates. Moreover, a built-in algorithm will streamline the visa process by automatically assessing the criteria and showing job seeking migrants which visa/country they are eligible for.
Additionally, with help from an AI chatbot empowered with advanced machine learning and natural language processing, immigration diagnoses and hiring processes will become faster, easier and reliable. | https://medium.com/@bigturnofficial/bigturn-platform-key-points-23d6a3acbf88 | [] | 2021-08-05 06:46:22.496000+00:00 | ['Bigturn', 'Job Search', 'Australia', 'Platform', 'Bigturn Official'] |
Earth Day | Today we all are celebrating earth day …by sharing made on topic earth day by other person , by sharing on different platform like: Facebook, insta, whatsapp………..
So we can think how truly we are sharing earth day by doing these things …even i can’t think ..
In this time of pandemic people should come together and should take oath not to cut trees any more
not to disturb wild animals any more
not to disturb environment anymore..
grow more and more trees ..
we can try to reduce co2 from our environment and
we should not disturb again those thing which are natural …
I mostly heard people talking about development but according to talk of people they are not talking about development..they want to build more houses..
they want to eat animals…they want to reduce trees for their own purpose..
by doing so they are harming whole earth ….Because they don’t know nature is our friend , not our enemy …so behave smartly ..do the write things with nature..it will give you a lot of thing which we can’t expect in positive way
In this time of global pandemic may be we can find any vaccine or we can find any medicine but probably this is beginning ..who knows the future??????
May be this is a warning ….
we are biggest fool on the earth who everytime think about development ..dominance ..Humans
We should come together and protect animal and natural things ..so that e can alive for more 100 years …
Together if we work in right direction then we can remove many things from environment which are harmfull..
We can clean our river…we can reduce level of co2..we can develop more jungle..we can protect wild animals…we can close harmful factories ..slaughters…we can save water… | https://medium.com/@techguysfdc/earth-day-b0f85394b069 | [] | 2020-04-22 06:25:45.258000+00:00 | ['Corona', 'Coronavirus', 'Earth', 'Earth Day'] |
The Maslow’s Hierarchy in Startups | Just like you can’t expect a person who is barely covering his bills to think about when he could buy a private jet, a startup that is constantly worrying about how much money they have left is incapable of acting on a vision that doesn’t help with short term survival. Despite the leaders rationally understanding that they should invest for the long term.
The Maslow’s Hierarchy
Almost every job posting in early startups asks for “ability to adapt, manage stress, track record with obsession in hitting targets”. Startup environment is famous for its fast growth, quick and frequent pivot, intense pressure, indecisiveness and phobia of not being the most effective and productive one. If you work for startups, it normally feels like you signed yourself up for a fast-paced and stressful life. In the workplace, we collectively sugarcoat it with “The higher the pressure, the harder the diamonds.”
Have you ever thought about why? Have you ever wondered, does it have to be this way?
I want to challenge the norm of “working in startups equals living in anxiety. ” I believe that there’s a better way.
It’s time to rip off the sugar coat and look at what’s really happening here
The more unknown there is, the desire to gain control is stronger. Startups are the explorers that actively wander into the unknown, the dark, mysterious, untapped area. Fear is deeply rooted in our amygdala, even the bravest heroes share the same brain design.
When leaders in the company are worrying about money all the time, anxiety ripples from the top to the bottom. When every single dime we spend has to make a profit, naturally and inevitably the company will only focus on ROI and try to turn their wildest dream into a linear or exponential growth curve. If you are breathing and living in this mindset day in and day out, overtime, your only purpose and worth will be connected to a line that represents the company’s revenue and profit margin. If the line goes up, you are happy and successful. If the line goes down, you are anxious and failing.
You don’t control the finance, it controls you.
Companies like this normally get sucked into a negative spiral. The more alarming your lack of financial security is, the more desperate you are trying to get out. When the environment feels threatening, creativity and positivity can’t thrive, growth at all cost will never be enough. The business is not sustainable nor defensible.
Is there a better version of the reality available?
Startups are also famous for their high turnover, or being a stepping stone to a bigger and more stable company. Employees can jump ship when things go south, what about the founders? How can you live in financial insecurity and move up the Maslow’s hierarchy at the same time?
Growth needs do not stem from a shortage, but rather from a desire to grow as a person. So do companies. Maslow (1943) initially stated that individuals must satisfy lower level deficit needs before progressing on to meet higher level growth needs. However, he later clarified that satisfaction of a need is not an “all-or-none” phenomenon, admitting that his earlier statements may have given “the false impression that a need must be satisfied 100 percent before the next need emerges” (1987, p. 69).
Startups’ first goal is normally to reach break-even or profitability, to achieve this primary goal, it requires a balance development throughout the Maslow triangle. Just like you can’t go rob a bank to achieve your financial stability, you can’t grow your company at all cost with growth hacks. Only looking at financial modeling is easy and it is lazy — a more balanced development requires deep maturity in the leadership team and the deep understanding about the values that can’t be properly measured or translated into numbers. Instead of spending 100% of your resources and focus zooming in your company’s survival, there’re better alternatives.
Ray Dalio has an amazing 30mins video about The Principles For Success for people, personally I think the principles are very true for businesses as well. And in the video, it lies the secret of how to balance between survival and vision, short term and long term. | https://medium.com/@junezun/the-maslows-hierarchy-in-startups-8138708bc9ec | ['June Wang'] | 2021-07-06 17:59:27.159000+00:00 | ['Growth Marketing', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Careers', 'Organizational Psychology', 'Startup'] |
Service Accounts in Kubernetes | The concept of service account is linked to other security related concepts in Kubernetes such as authentication, authorization, RBAC (role-based access controls).
Therea are two types of accounts in Kubernetes,
User account Service account
The user account is used by humans and service account is used by machines. An user account could be an admin accessing the cluster to perform admin relate task or may be developer accessing cluster to deploy an application.
A service account could be an account used by an application to interact with the Kubernetes cluster such a monitoring application like Prometheus is used as a service account to pull the Kubernetes API for performance metrics. Also automated tools like Jenkins uses service account to deploy applications.
Lets talk about an example. You are building a dashboard do display information about list of pods on a K8s cluster.
You need to send a request to the K8s API to retrieve data and display it on the web page. You need to be authenticated to obtain information from the K8s cluster.
3rd party application uses service account to access K8s API
This is where service account comes in to place. You can use below command to create a service account.
kubectl create serviceaccount dashboard-user
You can use below command to view service accounts.
kubectl get serviceaccount
You can use below command to obtain details about the service account.
kubectl describe serviceaccount dashboard-user
When you create the service account, it will create a token. This token we can use to from external application to authenticate and gain access to K8s API. The token is stored inside the Secret object. You can describe the secret object to view the token.
kubectl describe secret <<token secret name>>
You can use this token in your API (REST) call as bearer token in your HTTP Authorization header.
Also note that you can configure RBAC (role based access control) to configure what this service account can access.
The default service account
If you go back and look at the list of service accounts, you will see that there is a default one. The service account name ‘default’ is created under each namespace in K8s. Whenever the POD is created, the default service account and its token are automatically mounted to that POD.
So each POD in the cluster has restricted access to K8s API using that mounted default service account.
If you would like to use different service account with different set of permissions, you can include the service account name inside the POD definition file (inside the spec section).
serviceAccount: dashboard-user
Also you may choose not to mount service account automatically (e.g you might not need default one), you can do so by specifying it. | https://medium.com/@ishanul/service-accounts-in-kubernetes-74cd5326de6f | ['Ishan Liyanage'] | 2020-12-25 04:54:49.835000+00:00 | ['API', 'Kubernetes', 'Kubernetes Api', 'Serviceaccount', 'Best Practices'] |
MovieBloc x Cobak, CBK airdrop event for activities on Cobak | Dear MovieBloc community,
Since the service acquisition of Cobak (https://link.medium.com/wRUDCo1Cfcb) in March 2020, we have been making endeavors to create a positive synergy that will benefit both services.
In celebration of the holiday seasons and the launch of the native token of Cobak, CBK, there will be an airdrop event for those who contribute to making the COBAK platform more active and vibrant. All members who have 1) synced their Metamask wallet to Cobak and 2) take part in the following activities will be eligible for a CBK airdrop:
- Membership sign up
- Daily attendance
- Writing a post
- Leaving a comment
- Liking a post or a comment
- Being upvoted as best post
Each activity will give you experience points that will allow you to level up. Please bear in mind that best posts and daily attendance will give you more points than other activities. Also, be sure to follow the community guidelines pinned on the discussion forum.Further details about the exact date of airdrop will be provided soon, so stay tuned and earn your chance to receive CBK.
*Abusing or using abnormal means for the purpose of obtaining an airdrop will be restricted.
*Cobak Management Team may restrict the members’ use of community if each member commits an act that corresponds to the reason for restriction of use prescribed below.
Forum Guideline: https://cobak.co.kr/community/129/post/423140
Cobak
Cobak is the world’s largest crypto community that has a built-in blockchain wallet that launched its service in March 2018 and currently has more than 400,000 members. Cobak has become the only community platform in Korea that provides real-time news on coin investment, announcements of projects and exchanges, from 12 major crypto media sources. Users engage each other whether in relation to information gathering and/or dissemination of community driven and curated information. Cobak has developed user friendly blockchain wallets, and more than 90,000 wallets have been created so far. There have been 40 sold-out token sales which amounts to tokens worth nearly 10 billion won in total.
Thank you.
MovieBloc Team
MovieBloc.com | Telegram | Cobak Forum | Twitter | https://medium.com/moviebloc/cbk-airdrop-event-for-activities-on-cobak-619a29fb5201 | [] | 2020-12-16 07:09:13.421000+00:00 | ['Moviebloc', 'Airdrop', 'Cbk', 'Mbl', 'Cobaktoken'] |
Scaling a marketplace: Samaipata & Idinvest Paris event | Together with Idinvest, we hosted an event last week in Paris on how to successfully scale a marketplace.
Although we were born and are headquartered in Madrid, we are a multi-local European fund, with offices in Paris and London. And Paris is one of our fastest growing geographies, and a key focus for the fund moving forward.
Beyond location, as a founders’ fund specialised in marketplaces & platform models, the topic of the event was obvious! We strive to help entrepreneurs scale their marketplaces from 0 to 1, only investing in what we know best.
Thus, Matthieu, Idinvest’s managing partner, and José, Samaipata’s founding partner, reflected on 13 key success factors proper to marketplace models. Obviously, the list they went through is not exhaustive but we chose not to bore the audience to death.
They were joined by 3 great entrepreneurs: Vincent, CEO & Co-founder of Malt, Thomas, CEO & Co-founder of Meero and Alex, General Manager France for Glovo — who provided real-life illustrations of the theoretical concepts developed by the two VCs.
A lot of people asked for the slides, so we decided with Jonathan Userovici to make them available below! Hope you enjoy it and that they can prove useful for entrepreneurs building a marketplace.
And if you’re an early stage marketplace founder, do not hesitate to contact us ! We focus on pre-seed & seed rounds. | https://medium.com/samaipata-ventures/scaling-a-marketplace-paris-event-with-idinvest-be1077966679 | ['Aurore Falque-Pierrotin'] | 2018-09-20 07:49:44.614000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneurship', 'Startup', 'Marketplaces'] |
Reality Dating as Fine Art | Why “Love on the Spectrum” is the Best Show of 2020
We’re 5 months into COVID, the Hollywood content production pipeline has run dry, and my Netflix cue has turned into a toggle between documentary esoterica and early-aught sitcom reruns. I’m Jack Sparrow lamenting that the rum is gone every time the now Pavlovian scarlet lettered N “dun-dun’s” on my TV screen.
And so it’s a rare surprise during the COVID era when you come across a show that genuinely stops you in your tracks. Even rarer when that show is a reality show. Rarer still when it’s a reality dating show. And yet, here I lay surrounded by a graveyard of my own tear-soaked tissues at 2 AM, confident I‘ve just watched the best television of 2020.
TRAILER HERE
The show is called Love on the Spectrum. It follows the lives of 7 individuals all looking for love, going on first dates, learning how to date, etc. The twist; the individuals all happen to be on the Autism Spectrum. The stakes of the show are summed up neatly by 25-year-old Olivia who casually mentions that she doesn’t expect to find love simply because of the odds - 95% of people with ASD end up romantically alone. A dating show with a 95% chance of failure. But that's the point.
Olivia
What I want to do in this essay is more than just give a nice review of the show. I want to put forward a small argument for why I consider LOTS to be one of the most contemplative and artistic shows of the past few years as well as offer a small neuroscientific primer for how to maybe go about watching the show for those who haven't seen it yet.
Before I do that though, serious credit must be given to the show’s creator Cian O’Clery. O’Clery’s editorial touch throughout is considered and empathetic. He never tries to push his characters beyond the reality in which they live or use their disability as vessels for drama. Neither are there any traces of exploitative emotion porn, voyeurism, or sensationalism that typically plague shows about people with disabilities. He neither portrays his subjects as empathetic heroes or pitied victims and instead just treats them as slightly disabled adults trying their best to figure out a complicated world.
Where Cian and his team perhaps deserve even more credit though is for having the foresight to see what is now so obvious in retrospect; those on the autism spectrum are as about as compelling of documentary subjects as one could find.
If you have ever had the pleasure of befriending someone on the spectrum, one thing immediately stands out - their candor. Their unflappable honesty. For better or worse. And so the genius of the show is to put these beacons of honesty into one of the most “dishonest” social concoctions the modern world has devised — first dates.
Love on the Spectrum then, as an art piece, functions as a sort of distorted mirror. A warped reflection of how we sometimes disingenuously act when in the process of trying to find love. The honesty of its characters reflecting back on us the hollowness of the performances and plays we often put on for each other, especially when it comes to courtship. The acting and performing we do, layered with innuendo, subtext, and inverted meaning. All tools that are difficult for those on the spectrum to wield gracefully.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Without explicitly trying to, the show deconstructs dating into two distinct components — Scripting and Chemistry. The former consisting of those phrases and prompts we use on first dates to build rapport with another person: You meet. You greet. You introduce. You ask questions. You share about yourself. Eye contact. Body posture. Showing interest etc. Running through these protocols as a way of laying the groundwork so that romantic chemistry can hopefully emerge down the road.
The show’s conceit is centered around the idea that somewhere between the scripting and the chemistry is where flirting is supposed to take place. The connective glue that bridges the gap between formal greetings to real romance. What the show’s distorted mirror does is reveal back to the audience “flirting” for what it is — a series of performative lies we employ in service of getting at a deeper truth.
And yet for those with ASD, these performative lies of flirting are incomprehensible and therefore seem entirely unnecessary. The shows distorted mirror asks us then to consider who is being more honest, the show's subjects, or us?
(Great Video Breakdown Here)
If all of this sounds obvious and exactly in line with what you expected from a dating show featuring autistic 20-year-olds, I am failing at my job here. Perhaps it is worth considering just for a moment how convoluted and cryptic those performative lies actually are. Consider for just a moment that to “flirt” is to engage in one of the most socio-linguistically complicated behaviors that humans are capable of. Behaviors that we all too quickly take for granted. Philosopher Slavoj Zizek uses a great example of this to illustrate the sneaky absurdity at play here:
A man and woman are on a first date. The date is going great by any of the conventional measures that one might use to define a first date “going great”. He then walks her back to her apartment at the end of the night, neither of them wanting the date to end but both knowing that it would be improper or too forward to suggest the obvious, “Should we have sex now?”. The woman instead, cleverly drops an outwardly innocent but subtextually loaded question, “Would you like to come up for some tea?”. The man, understanding the subtext, agrees enthusiastically and decides to build on the romantic tension by adding, “There is just one problem. I don’t drink tea.” The woman recognizes he is being coy and hip to her advances and so she proceeds to increase the sexual tension even further by responding, “That’s ok. I don’t have any tea.” They both then walk into the apartment together and the viewer is left to assume that passionate kissing and lovemaking ensues.
Zizek refers to this as the addition of negation. You take away the literal context and you are left with so much more than just the “tea”. The innuendo and hidden meanings that are being smuggled underneath their exchange are, in fact, the entirety of the exchange. The sentences the man and woman are saying to each other are just placeholders for something much larger and sophisticated taking place beneath the surface.
Where the rub is, or rather where the mystery lies, is how most of us can intuitively comprehend the couple’s entire exchange but are at a loss when it comes to actually explaining it. Unwrapping what is happening with respect to language and semantics and the unspoken in that short dialogue that took place.
Again, the distorted mirror comes back into play. While at first you might be inclined to pity the show's subjects for failing to grasp something so intuitively obvious, it quickly dawns upon you how little you actually understand of the Scripting vs Chemistry paradigm yourself. How bumblingly ignorant you would sound if someone asked you to break it all down for them in a systematic and logical way.
And so Love on the Spectrum offers us a glimpse of what it would be like if our brain’s natural default were unable to translate these flirting scripts. It shows us what it would be like to have to learn these scripts like one would learn an alien language. And then, once having learned the alien language, the show asks us to consider what it would be like to only understand that language in its most literal instantiations.
Once you throw in the typical nervousness and uncertainty that comes with having never been kissed, never having had your hand held, and never sleeping with anyone, you can’t help but be taken in by Spectrum’s charms and dramas. Watching with a removed eye is to at times feel like you are in the middle of some dystopian, rom-com-sci-fi movie, with a side of Christopher Guest. Which I guess is to say, the show is a genre unto itself.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Kelvin gets ready for his date
Some of the most emotionally resonant moments of the show are the direct and oftentimes jarring Script vs Chemistry disconnects that happen when the subject is aware they are happening but struggling to course-correct. All of this best explored through an Autism dating coach named Jodie (who herself is worthy of her own reality series.)
When Jodie helps Kelvin, a Japanese boy living with his father (arguably the most verbally “afflicted” of all the show’s characters), she asks him what he might say if his date mentions to him that she is interested in animals. Kelvin thinks for a second and then responds, “Would you like to go to the Koala Park?” Jodie congratulates Kelvin and lets him know she thinks that's a great response.
Come the night of Kelvin’s date at a local Hibachi grill, it becomes clear that his date has no interest in doing the scripted back and forths that Kelvin has so tiresomely rehearsed with Jodie. Instead, she suggests (in the first 30 seconds of arrival) that they play some Nintendo Switch that she brought in her purse. This throws Kelvin because she has gone off-script in the exact way that Jodie suggested Kelvin not do on his date. The ensuing minutes are reminiscent of an actor in a play who has forgotten his lies. Standing there, struggling to “improvise”, waiting for someone to come save him.
Kelvin then steadies himself to try and get back on script and asks his date if she likes animals. She responds that she finds them “alright” and continues playing her Nintendo Switch. Kelvin, remembering Jodie’s suggestion, then asks if she would like to go to the Koala Park with him sometime to which his date nonchalantly muses that it “might be nice” and quickly moves on to something else.
This scene is painful to watch. You are seeing Kelvin in real-time desperately trying to compute what just went wrong. He was led to believe that his Koala script would help move the date toward a place of “chemistry” only for it to have had the opposite effect.
What is so revealing about this scene is how nakedly it exposes our desire as audience members to watch a “come up for tea” story unfold. It bares naked how indifferent we actually are about the precise words being exchanged when we read a romance novel or watch a movie. Instead, what we really care about is the subtext between the lines. The meaning underneath the words. We desperately want to see the hidden game revealed. Everything else is just window dressing.
But LOTS never gives us the satisfaction. Instead, we sit front row watching two tennis players both serving simultaneously, unable to see the other’s ball while desperately trying to get the other to return theirs.
It’s these sorts of “through-the-looking” glass moments at nearly every turn that elevate the show from great television to true art. Every vignette serving as a Russian Nesting Doll of blank-slatism, linguistics, semiotics, cultural constructs (both sticky and flexible), neurodiversity, theory of mind, all the way down to the ethics and legal ramifications of ASD people having sex with each other.
Kelvin and his date
Equally as compelling are the subject’s parents. Acting as ciphers or “normalcy” portals for their children. I.e. “Here is what Mark means when he says or does this.” or “Chloe has come so far from where she was at 10 years ago.” They let the audience know its ok to laugh when 25-year-old Michael stares straight into their faces and mordantly warns everyone at the dinner table that younger girls often only want boyfriends so they can have “…intercourse, a bodyguard, and a sugar daddy.”
Highlighting the parents and their role in the subjects’ lives provides a small insight into how much commitment and devotion and day-in-day-out selfless love are required to parent a child with Autism. A constant struggle. An endless resetting and calibrating of expectations. Disappointments. Small Victories. Isolation. Nights spent worrying their child will be all alone after they die. Desperately wanting them to find someone to grow old and share a life with. And so, perhaps unsurprisingly, LOTS is almost as much about familial love as it is about romantic love. It’s as much about the sacrifices we make for those we love, as much as the sacrifices we make to find love.
As to the political and social commentary of the show, it’s another testament to the creators that it’s more of a C or D storyline, but prescient and revealing all the same. The reality that there are just not nearly enough resources or outlets to help those on the spectrum. How poorly the world is set up to accommodate them. How female-presenting autism is traditionally underdiagnosed. How difficult it is to “see” a disability from the outside. How tricky it is for them to navigate a restaurant check or spending a day in public in loud spaces.
The show thankfully never veers into politicking or advocacy. It lets its subjects speak for themselves. Still, one can’t help but notice how stacked the deck is against them from a public dating perspective when simply being in the vicinity of a police siren can cause a nervous episode.
And while Love on the Spectrum’s intellectual depth and tensions are nearly bottomless, it's really the show’s emotional footprint that stays with you long after you’ve left it.
For one, you leave the show with the unflappable sense that its’ subjects are in many ways stronger than the rest of us “neurotypicals”. Most of their dates ending abruptly and jarringly, often with one or both parties wanting the unvarnished truth as to what the other party feels about them and why they think the date maybe didn’t go well. More often than not, the subjects proceed to brush off their rejections better than you or I could ever hope to manage. It’s a compelling and powerful kind of resilience that one can’t help but envy in a way. It’s a stoic sense of “Well, That’s that. On to the next thing.”
This is not to fetishize their disability. Watching LOTS closely is to perform an hourly ritual of emotional cutting. It is as heartbreaking as it is comical as it is surreal. But the twist is that its surreality comes only after you realize that you’re more upset and torn up about the rejection than the actual subjects are. As if to say, “They’ve moved on, so why can’t you?”
Chloe
The second thing you feel emotionally certain of after watching this show is that you just experienced Art as a healing experience. Art as illumination. You leave the show feeling full and uplifted in a way entirely unlike other reality shows.
That’s most likely because it’s often the case that most reality shows leave you feeling slimy and spiritually drained due to the emotional rent-seeking and extraction game being played out by most reality shows. Played out by the “non-acting” actors all too aware that a camera is filming them, by producers all too eager to edit the footage so as to fabricate maximum drama, and by audience members all too willing to let themselves be manipulated by it for the sake of juicy entertainment. Some version of “never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” which is all fine and well except when the story is presenting itself as a “truthful” account.
Love on the Spectrum is an exception to this reality show maxim precisely because its actors are so allergic to performing for the camera and its producers so reserved in telling you how to feel or what to think about it. What emerges on the other side of that combination is a deep sense of humanity. A feeling of kinship and empathy. Not for people with disabilities per se, but for how hard it is in life just to find a couple of friends or loved ones who you don’t have to act or perform for. The show is a meditation on finding people who love you unconditionally for your heart and not your brain. This is a cheesy aphorism to be sure. But it’s one whose truth is made undeniably self-evident by the show’s end.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
I often flip-flop over what the definition of “good art” is and how we should go about defining it or pointing at it. The academic definitions all too often lack the romantic and emotional sensibility that makes good art worth praising in the first sense. All of this is why David Foster Wallace’s plain-spoken definition, for me, still holds up better than most.
David Foster Wallace
And so this is the best justification I can give for why you should watch Love on the Spectrum. That we currently find ourselves in the middle of “dark times” and the show serves as a desperately needed dose of spiritual CPR.
A kind of CPR that reminds us that, yes life is hard and that invariably there are people out there that have it much harder than you, but those same people are still trying to find ways to live and glow in spite of it.
It’s a CPR that forces us to choose between sitting and lamenting over the dark realities of the world outside or getting up and trying no matter how bleak the odds. A CPR that plainly asks us if we want to be on the side of the removed cynics or we want to be on Team Olivia. Still cynical, still very much aware of the 95% chance of failure ahead of her, and still willing to give it a shot. An echo of Atticus Finch’s powerful line, “Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.”
And lastly, the show is CPR for those of us (yours truly included) who often need reminding of what real courage looks like from real people. Both the show’s subjects and their parents. A reminder that even if you do the right thing, even if you learn all the scripts and follow all the steps, you still can lose. You still can be rejected and disappointed. But to get up every day and just try, to take up arms against pessimism and nihilism and cynicism, even when you know it will probably be a losing fight - this is a type of bravery most of us spend our whole lives running from. Its a kind of courage that most of us can afford to run from.
Love on the Spectrum doesn’t make a dark world magically feel brighter. Rather, it does what all good art should do and shows us how we can be stronger in spite of it. How we can be more alive and human inside of it. | https://medium.com/fan-fare/reality-dating-as-fine-art-4582d984d2a4 | ['Rob Healy'] | 2020-11-06 22:11:21.934000+00:00 | ['Love On The Spectrum', 'Television', 'Autism', 'Netflix', 'Dating'] |
Global Industrial Protective Footwear Market is estimated to Reach $6,940 Million by 2024, Says Accurize Market Research | Global Industrial Protective Footwear Market is estimated to Reach $6,940 Million by 2024, Says Accurize Market Research Mahi Patil Nov 21, 2019·2 min read
Industrial Protective Footwear Market
Global Industrial Protective Footwear Market report published by Accurize Market Research forecast that the global market is expected to reach $6,940 million by 2024; growing at a CAGR of 7.9% from 2017 to 2025. By geography, the Asia Pacific and North America are expected to grow at a CAGR of XX% and XX%, respectively, during the forecast period.
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https://www.accurizemarketresearch.com/report/industrial-protective-footwear-market/sample-request
Increasing attractiveness of eco-friendly products and huge demand from oil and gas, pharmaceutical and chemical industries to drive the growth of the market
Increasing the attractiveness of eco-friendly products and huge demand from oil and gas, pharmaceutical and chemical industries fuel the demand for the global industrial protective footwear market. Furthermore, technological advancements and increasing awareness and concern towards the safety of employees also boost the growth of the market.
Market Segmentation
The global industrial protective footwear market has been bifurcated on the basis of product type, application, and geography. Product type is bifurcated as leather footwear, waterproof footwear, rubber footwear, and plastic footwear. Application is further segmented as construction, manufacturing, mining, oil & gas, chemicals, food, pharmaceuticals, and transportation.
By geography, the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World (RoW). The U.S., Canada, and Mexico are covered under North America wherein Europe covers the UK, Germany, France, and others. Asia-Pacific covers India, China, Japan, and others. RoW covers South America, the Middle East, and Africa.
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https://www.accurizemarketresearch.com/report/industrial-protective-footwear-market/ask-for-customization
Top players in the market
The key players operational in the market includes sex Group, Rock Fall Ltd, Hewat’s Edinburgh, Dunlop Boots, Anbu Safety Industrial Co. Ltd., Honeywell International Inc, V.F Corporation, JAL Group France SAS, Rahman Group, and COFRA Holding among others. | https://medium.com/@mahipatil/global-industrial-protective-footwear-market-is-estimated-to-reach-6-940-million-by-2024-says-afd08e91e37a | ['Mahi Patil'] | 2019-11-21 11:35:03.963000+00:00 | ['Size', 'Revenue', 'Market', 'Report'] |
What Are Seventyish Women in Maine Wearing During the Pandemic? | What Are Seventyish Women in Maine Wearing During the Pandemic?
Unusual considerations in planning your wardrobe
Photo courtesy of the author.
As I get older, I’m changing how I dress, where I buy clothes, and what I am willing to endure in order to be dressed. Little things take on more importance, and lately I’ve been trying to turn my wardrobe into something different, something more meaningful and memorable, (and comfortable). I keep thinking about my mother-in-law’s blue-flowered housecoat.
A classy older woman
Elsie Feldeisen was my husband’s mother. She was a petite brunette with handsome features. Many years ago, she was given a beautiful full-length quilted house coat with a zipper up the front. It had a white top with long sleeves attached to a long skirt with an empire waist. There were stylized pictures of flowers, I think, on a cheery blue background. I believe she wore that upon waking every morning for about thirty years.
I picture her opening presents on Christmas morning, or making pancakes for the kids, or sitting at the table eating a piece of toast with jelly while she read the newspaper, wearing that garment. It represents her, exemplifies her personal style.
Her robe was the kind of thing that was comfortable, yet presentable, covered plenty of sins, and always looked neat and, well, classy. My mother in law, Elsie was a class act. Always appeared to have it all together. The house coat was a gift from her daughter, Margie. It probably cost more than she would ever have paid herself, but served her well for many years. I associate her with that piece of clothing, among a few others.
As far as clothes go, I want to be like Elsie. Though she died at the age of 94, she lived fully, and fashionably. right up until the year before, when her husband, Paul, died. By that time, after years of looking after him -- and the family and the garden and the lawn and the cooking and sewing and shopping and canning and freezing and baking and painting and housecleaning -- she had used up her considerable stamina and energy and told me she would die soon. She passed about a year later of cancer.
She had certain things that she wore that worked for her, and they were still there when she died, neatly pressed and hung and cared for. I had the greatest admiration for her.
Changing the way I dress
Now that I have passed seventy, I have begun to sense that though the end is not yet here, it is certainly closer than it used to be, I have begun to think about my clothes purchases differently, to make careful decisions. I want my clothes to reflect who I am now -- dignified, respected, an elder of my tribe. That’s a lot to expect of clothes, I know.
Part of the change is that I am working from home now, online, and don’t need to have such a variety of outfits. But I do care about how I look, and as this always closely parallels how I feel, I try to keep my mood up (and look more lively in that little picture up in the corner of the phone) by dressing in colorful things.
I have also become interested in buying from small interesting-sounding companies who advertise online. I am interested in how they package their products, where they source materials and their commitment to the environment and fair treatment of workers. I used to order clothes from Amazon or a big-name retailer. Now I am paying more attention.
I have never been one to follow fashion. But I notice what others are wearing that I like, I know what looks good on me and what doesn’t, and I have made some accommodations for comfort and easy care as well. So I decided to talk about what I am wearing these days. Maybe it will give you permission to make some “accommodations” to your own needs.
Underwear
First, underwear. I am still wearing underpants. But, I have mostly given up bras. Hallelujah!!! I am home most of the time. If I am going out and only wearing one layer, I might put one on for a day, but I am getting less able to tolerate something that feels like a prison to my breasts, hot and itchy and uncomfortable. I keep trying bras that say they are comfortable but find that the best bra is no bra. So as long as I can get away with it, just say no.
The lower level
I have always enjoyed wearing jeans, maybe it’s about my name, but ”Jeans” are part of my identity and I have several pairs that fit well and I usually wear them. But this year I tried a pair of tights and, glory be, those are nice. They feel like you are naked, when you first put them on, yet I can easily get used to that feeling of no constriction on my legs. Wonderful. The ones I bought are made of merino wool. They are warm, wash easily and don’t hold odors. I will probably get another pair soon.
The upper level
I recently bought a merino wool tee shirt from Woolx. Mine has short sleeves and I wore it in the summer when it was starting to get cooler. It is form fitting so with my braless manifesto it’s better worn under another shirt. Unlike a cotton tee or turtleneck, it provides a degree of warmth, so I plan to get a few with long sleeves for winter.
I also just bought two organic cotton flannel shirts in a tunic length. So, imagine wool tights, a wool tee shirt and nice flannel shirt over all. I can mix the shirts up so there are different color combinations and add earrings to match and be completely loose and free and warm enough all day with no one the wiser.
I continue to wear the clothes I already own, of course, though I am starting to weed out the constricting button-front shirts and suits. There are several merino wool sweaters I like that go over shirts and T-shirts. I have a cool red patterned vest. I find that as I get older I am cold more often, especially if I’m sitting around writing or reading. Something with a little wool in it makes a big difference. I also have a few down vests that pump up the warmth when I need them.
Outerwear
What I need next is a really lightweight down jacket for winter. I have a ”nice” wool coat with toggle buttons that feels so heavy and restrictive. I’ll keep it for now, but I avoid wearing it, and don’t think I put it on at all last winter.
I also have the necessary apparel for surviving in a Maine blizzard. You know, when you have to walk down to the big house through the snow and wind and cold half a mile. It’s an ankle length down coat with hood that came from LL Beans years ago. I call it “Big Blue”. When you need a lot of coat, that one is perfect, and it will never wear out.
Shoes
I also own two pairs of those merino wool shoes selling on the internet. They are great. They are comfortable, warm, and washable. I haven’t tried them in the winter yet, but they will likely be fine inside. I may need to switch to heavier sneakers in the snow and ice. My husband plans to buy me a pair of boots to match his, glory be. Then I can keep going on our long walks all winter.
Socks
Since I moved to Maine and began knitting seriously, I wear wool socks that I knit myself until it is sandal weather. There’s nothing on earth like the feel of hand knit wool socks. I refuse to give them up.. No one can make me.
Photo courtesy of the author
Nightwear
I have also upped my nightwear game. I find I am sitting around awhile in the morning drinking coffee, reading and writing and wanting to be warm but to look decent. I am tired of my current ”dingy fleece- over- flannel-pajamas” look. It does not represent me, not does it exemplify my style. I do not want to be remembered this way, even by myself.
Instead, I want to look like a woman of class who has her act together. So this season I bought myself two fancy pairs of cotton knit pajamas, sage green and lavender. The knit fabric is more comfortable and makes it easier to move around in bed than flannel. But, as a treat, I bought myself a pale gray robe with a hood and tie sash in a cashmere-cotton mixture that is light and warm and classy looking. I hope it will last a while. May my grandchildren fondly recall me, sitting in it eating a piece of toast with jam as I read Medium on my phone.
Maybe it will give you permission to make some “accommodations” to your own needs.
Photo courtesy of the author
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Jean Anne Feldeisen is a writer, cook. and cookbook reader. She writes about cooking, food, books and aging well. Jean has been reading and writing poetry since age 5. The memoir Dear Milly is her first book. She is seventy plus years old and just getting started. | https://medium.com/crows-feet/what-are-seventyish-women-in-maine-wearing-during-the-pandemic-e1ed9b94f84d | ['Jean Anne Feldeisen'] | 2020-10-19 21:27:15.828000+00:00 | ['Style', 'Women', 'Fashion', 'Aging', 'Family'] |
Data Science Interview Questions — SQL | Below are some of the common data science interview questions that I have seen being asked in interviews. If you think there are some important ones that are missing please let me know. I have not added the “write this select query” or “write this join query” as this can be different in different interviews. You should absolutely practise those questions before you go to interviews. The best resource that I know for practising SQL questions is hackerrank (follow the link).
Share your thoughts on normalised and denormalised data. What is the best for a data science?
Normalized is what SQL freaks love. For example to normalize addresses, SQL freaks love to create 3 separate tables (Entities):
STREETS
ZIP_CODES
HOUSE_NUMBERS
This is an extreme example of over-normalization. This was actually done in the ‘70-ties when disk-space was expensive. Today only a few idiots are going this far. It doesn’t make sense anymore. We just create one single table with full addresses.
Demoralized is the opposite. It’s also known as ‘flat’. A flat Database only has one single table It has only one single table where all data is stored. The disadvantage of this approach is that doubles may exist. On the other hand, Data storage is cheap and we don’t need to worry a lot of this.
It also explains the popularity of NoSQL or Non-Relational Databases. They are easy to Index and Search and can become very large. Another great advantage of NoSQL is that these types of Databases can easily replicate (sharding) over multiple locations. This is a must for Big Data.
A denormalized data structure uses fewer tables because it groups data and doesn’t exclude data redundancies — it offers better performance when reading data for analytical purposes.
I guess working on denormalised data is better as this would mean that it is easier for the analyst to find all the information that is needed to him and would help him to understand and find the relationships better.
What is Normalization and what are the advantages of it?
Normalization is the process of organizing data to avoid duplication and redundancy. Some of the advantages are:
Better Database organization More Tables with smaller rows Efficient data access Greater Flexibility for Queries Quickly find the information Easier to implement Security Allows easy modification Reduction of redundant and duplicate data More Compact Database Ensure Consistent data after modification
What is the difference between CHAR and VARCHAR2 datatype in SQL?
Both Char and Varchar2 are used for characters datatype but varchar2 is used for character strings of variable length whereas Char is used for strings of fixed length. For example, char(10) can only store 10 characters and will not be able to store a string of any other length whereas varchar2(10) can store any length i.e 6,8,2 in this variable.
What are Constraints?
Constraints are used to specify the limit on the data type of the table. It can be specified while creating or altering the table statement. The sample of constraints are:
Not null
check
defeault
unique
primary key
foreign key
What is ACID property in a database?
ACID stands for Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability. It is used to ensure that the data transactions are processed reliably in a database system.
Atomicity: Atomicity refers to the transactions that are completely done or failed where transaction refers to a single logical operation of a data. It means if one part of any transaction fails, the entire transaction fails and the database state is left unchanged.
Consistency: Consistency ensures that the data must meet all the validation rules. In simple words, you can say that your transaction never leaves the database without completing its state.
Isolation: The main goal of isolation is concurrency control.
Durability: Durability means that if a transaction has been committed, it will occur whatever may come in between such as power loss, crash or any sort of error. | https://medium.com/@joydeep31415/data-science-interview-questions-sql-42160d50f352 | ['Joydeep Bhattacharjee'] | 2020-03-11 12:41:34.204000+00:00 | ['Interview Questions', 'Sql', 'Data Science'] |
越界的建築 | I am a scholar-activist who explores bottom-up placemaking, public space and democracy, and civic urbanisms. | https://medium.com/@houjeff/%E8%B6%8A%E7%95%8C%E7%9A%84%E5%BB%BA%E7%AF%89-84a3a7f970ae | ['Jeff Hou'] | 2020-12-25 00:55:14.427000+00:00 | ['Metaphor', 'Karatani Kojin', 'Architecture'] |
Optimizing Android app experiences for Chrome OS | Posted by the Chrome OS team
From releasing our first-ever tablets and detachables to launching Chromebooks in new markets like Japan and Germany, we’ve worked hard to adapt the ecosystem of Chrome OS devices to today’s app users. And as people increasingly use apps on devices with larger screens and versatile form factors, we’ve been able to engage a huge new group of users.
Android powers a growing variety of large-screen devices, from tablets and foldables to Chrome OS laptops. Because Chromebooks specifically run a full version of the Android framework inside a container, most Android apps already run on Chrome OS. That means devs can take their single Android APK and scale it to work on any Chrome OS device, allowing for even more immersive and engaging experiences on devices with bigger screens.
Devs can take their single Android APK and scale it to work on any Chrome OS device, allowing for even more immersive and engaging experiences on devices with bigger screens.
Total time spent in Android apps on Chrome OS has also grown 4X in the last year,¹ and in Q4 2018, 21% of notebooks sold in the U.S. were Chromebooks — a 23% YoY growth.²
Delivering an optimal experience on Chrome OS only takes a few tweaks, but they make a major impact. After Gameloft and TopHatch optimized their apps for larger screens, Gameloft’s Asphalt 8: Airborne drove 6X more daily app users and 9X more revenue on Chrome OS devices, while TopHatch has seen twice as many paid conversions on Chromebooks and 20X more time spent on Pixelbooks for its Concepts app.
At I/O this year, we broke down some helpful steps to ensure your app will look and work great across a variety of form factors and screen sizes. Check out the highlights below along with a couple exciting new updates for Android developers in Chrome OS.
Optimizing your app experience for Chrome OS
The way someone uses your app depends entirely on his or her device. There are a few things you should consider to ensure your app delivers an optimal user experience:
Keyboard input
If your app doesn’t already support keyboards, here’s the code to make sure it does:
The highlighted portion is a way to pass unused keys up to super. This allows Chrome OS to handle those commands rather than negate the functionality of every unassigned key.
Refresh key
The Chrome OS keyboard has a special refresh key with its own keycode (KEYCODE_REFRESH), so make sure your app can handle KEYCODE_REFRESH events. If you’re already using SwipeRefreshLayout, Chrome OS is wired to ensure that layout will work automatically with the refresh button.
Touchpad
When someone’s using your app on desktop with a touchpad, they’ll expect to scroll with a two-finger touchpad swipe. But on mobile, users typically scroll by holding and dragging the screen. Chrome OS automatically interprets these types of different motion events so, for example, a drawing app won’t mark on the screen when someone tries to scroll on mobile.
For apps that require more advanced touch motion events, you can use ignore MotionEvents when (event.getButtonState() == 0) to check the button state and ignore undesired events (as in drawing app example above).
NDK
Games and apps on Chrome OS automatically receive ARM to x86 translation. But if performance is your priority, it’s essential to support x86. Most of the top Chrome OS devices have 64-bit x86 chipsets and more are on the horizon. To provide the best performance and support across all devices, be sure to provide ARM, ARM64, x86, and x86_64 build targets if you have native code.
Android Studio makes supporting this simple: Using Android app bundles, it packages all your build targets up ready for the Play Store, which then only sends the build targets your app users need to keep download sizes at a minimum.
Layout
You’ve probably seen a mobile app that hasn’t been designed for a larger screen — lots of wasted space and clunky navigation. To ensure your app looks great on several layouts, you can use one resource file with multiple layout buckets for each screen size.
Navigation patterns
Your app should also be easy to use on different screen sizes. Build for portrait, landscape wide portrait, and wide landscape layouts by switching between a bottom navigation, side navigation, and expanded side navigation pattern, depending on the available screen width.
Reply, an email app, redesigned its layout for functionality and ease-of-use on multiple screens, and while Adobe Acrobat optimized its app functionality for Chrome OS, the brand also redesigned its entire layout for different devices.
Multi-monitor
When someone uses multiple monitors, there will typically be a density difference between the two screens. Change your app density on the fly by listening to “density” onConfigurationChanged changes inside your Chrome activity.
New updates for developing on Chromebooks
At I/O, we also announced more ways we’ve made Chrome OS a faster, simpler, and more secure environment for Web and Android developers, including:
One-click installation for Android Studio
Just download, click, and install — no more using a terminal.
Improved ADB over USB debugging
No more developer mode — simply plug in your phone and debug via USB on supported devices.
Lint checks
Highlights locked or unfriendly orientations, non-resizable activities, incorrect hardware requirements, and other features that aren’t ideal for Chrome OS.
Audio playback in Linux
The Chrome OS container supports all audio tools from Linux, such as Audacity.
Virtual desktops
A flag in M76, our current stable channel, enables turning on a virtual desktop when your screen gets clogged with different windows and platform use cases.
Multi-monitor/full HDCP support
Project and watch DRM-protected video content on external monitors.
*Use the SurfaceView.setSecure() to take advantage of this feature
ARCore integration
ARCore is available to applications with a world-facing camera.
Instant app support
Users on Android P devices can now try an app or game without installing it first.
External storage for Android apps
External discs can be read and scanned by Android apps.
Play files
The file manager from Chrome OS can show the /sdcard folder from Android under play files, enabling access to read and write Android files from the Chrome container.
Android Cloud storage with DocumentsProvider and Custom document provider apps
Support for the Android DocumentsProvider interface in Chrome OS.
Profiling your app to detect animation jank
An integrated profiling tool allows devs to monitor system status over time — including buffer use, v-syncs, CPU use, GPU and CPU frequency, and system temperature — to see what’s causing animation jank and/or system slowness.
Deliver an optimal experience on every screen
The app experience has expanded far beyond mobile. In an era of versatile devices and variable form factors, users will expect a well-designed, user-friendly experience every time they open your app. Take advantage of the opportunity to support various input methods, optimize your layout and navigation for a variety of screen sizes, utilize extra screen real estate, and support x86 with native code.
If you’d like to hear more about building Android apps for Chrome OS, check out our full session from I/0 2019.
Sources
¹ Google Internal Data, March 2018 to March 2019.
² The NPD Group, Inc., Retail Tracking Service, U.S., Notebook Computers, Chrome OS, based on units, Oct. 8, 2017- Jan. 6, 2018 vs. Oct. 7, 2018- Jan. 5, 2019. | https://medium.com/googleplaydev/optimizing-android-app-experiences-for-chrome-os-1729f195e780 | ['Google Play Apps', 'Games Team'] | 2019-09-09 19:26:28.732000+00:00 | ['Android', 'Googleplay', 'Featured', 'Latest', 'Chrome OS'] |
The Art of War | By Lizzi Ginsberg
When Jesse Treviño was 25, he was relearning how to paint using his left hand—the only hand he still had. He started by painting a bedroom wall black. Then, over the course of two years, he turned that wall into a mural of beer, cigarettes, and pain pills — the balms of life after war. He called it Mi Vida (My Life).
Treviño had been a burgeoning artist, having won several art competitions and a scholarship to the Art Students League in New York, when he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1966. He was sent to Vietnam. The war against the Viet Cong communists was rapidly escalating, and, within a few months of deploying, Treviño was severely injured by an explosion. “I was holding my arm—it felt like it was on fire because some of my nerves were severed,” he recalls. Eventually his arm had to be amputated.
Treviño’s recovery in a hospital was long and painful. “That experience was horrific to me — I couldn’t draw, I couldn’t paint,” he says. “I just couldn’t understand how this happened to me. It felt like the government had ruined my whole life.”
The mural he painted, once he was resettled in San Antonio, Texas, is now a landmark of Chicano art—and the art of war. “I painted the prosthetic and the Purple Heart and was like, This is what you get when you lose your hand in Vietnam,” says Treviño. The mural was cut from the wall and mounted by a subsequent owner of Treviño’s home. Now, it is part of the exhibition “Artists Respond: American Art and the Vietnam War,” organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and currently on view at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
Kim Jones, Mudman Structure (large), 1974, sticks, mud, rope, foam rubber, shellac, and acrylic; shown with chair, boots, and bucket of mud, Courtesy of Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp. © Kim Jones, courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels & Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp
Treviño is one of 14 veterans represented in the show. (Four served in Vietnam: Treviño, Kim Jones, T.C Cannon and Rupert García.) Displayed among protest posters and political satire, the work of veterans — especially Vietnam veterans — can strike a different note. As Rupert García says, his work is political “but not defined by politics.” It can be painful, complex, and contradictory.
Indeed, for many veterans the war was hard to leave behind. When Kim Jones returned from Vietnam, he brought his experiences to the streets of downtown Los Angeles. One of his better known performances was Mudman, in which he covered himself in mud, affixed sticks to his back, and walked down L.A.’s iconic Wilshire Boulevard for 12 hours. During his training for the war, “They kept us walking for three days and three nights,” says Jones. “I was used to walking.” One of his most controversial performances involved setting rats on fire, and screaming along with them, to the shock of the audience. “So they could have the smell of something dying and burning,” says Jones.
Rupert García, ¡Fuera de Indochina!, 1970, screenprint, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Marcus. © Rupert García, Courtesy Rena Bransten Gallery, Photo courtesy the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
As extreme as Jones’ performances were, they viscerally portrayed the alienation that accompanied many vets upon returning home. When Rupert García came back from Vietnam, having served five years in the Air Force, he was jarred by the anti-war attitude that awaited him. He’d enlisted voluntarily. “I wanted to get a job and make some money. I wanted to experience something else,” he says. At the time, he was barely old enough to drink.
In grad school, after the war, he rarely spoke about his time in Vietnam. Instead, he says, he “learned to think critically.” He was exposed to left wing ideology, the Black Panther Party, and other liberation movements. Inspired by protest posters and the idea of multiples, he started making prints. Simultaneously, he redirected his frustrations with the antiwar movement at the U.S. government. He was beginning to see parallels between oppression in Southeast Asia and in Latin America. In Fuera De Indochina! he depicts a face — crying, screaming, wailing. The words underneath translate to “Get Out of Indochina!” Alienation had turned to indignation.
For T.C. Cannon, being a Native American veteran came with its own set of contradictions. The patterns of colonialism, violence, and subjugation used by the U.S. in Southeast Asia were starkly similar to those used against his own community. Perhaps this became one more reason to make art about the war, to remind others what we ought not repeat. As he wrote in the final lines of his poem Hearts and Minds, “God forgive the fools of france and america./ never let them forget the folly/ of what was done and those that did it.” | https://medium.com/minneapolis-institute-of-art/the-art-of-war-c738d785422a | ['Minneapolis Institute Of Art'] | 2019-12-13 19:33:50.363000+00:00 | ['Veterans', 'Culture', 'Psychology', 'History', 'Art'] |
College Grads on the Hunt For a Job … | Six Steps to Stay in the Game
If you’re a recent graduate and worsening job numbers are getting you down, don’t slack off in your search.
You need to be both realistic and energized.
There will be better times ahead.
In the meantime, though, it’s no wonder you might get discouraged. There’s little doubt that the most recent labor statistics show fewer jobs than expected.
According to the New York Times:
“The Labor Department reported Friday that employers added 245,000 jobs in November, fewer than half the number created in October. The pace of hiring has now diminished for five straight months.
“While many of those knocked out of a job early in the pandemic have been rehired, there are roughly 10 million fewer jobs than there were in February.”
While so many job seekers have been hit hard, college and university graduates who’ve been job hunting for months now are facing some of the biggest challenges. Months have passed with some not having the chance to land jobs and start building a full-time work and career history.
If you’re among the fortunate and are in discussion with a potential employer, make sure that you do everything possible to keep in close contact, show your excitement about the opportunity and communicate regularly. The competition is tough and you need to stand out. Don’t get complacent.
If you’re a recent graduate and might have slacked off even a little in your job search, get back in the game. And even more aggressively.
After all, time’s a-wastin’.
Here are six steps to make sure you’re not left behind:
1. Take stock of what you’ve been doing over the past few months — If you’ve been binge watching Ozark or Kim’s Convenience, stop. Save that for another time. Get out and volunteer. Or get a part-time job. Better yet, be entrepreneurial and show others that you’re energetic and able to be productive even when the job openings are slim.
2. Freshen up that resume — Time has passed since graduation. Your resume needs to be current. Add a section to talk about what you have been doing since you received your diploma and how that has changed your view on the economy, work and supporting yourself. You might find that your energy in these challenging times actually becomes your strongest calling card.
3. Show your entrepreneurial spirt and determination — Start a tutoring service, one student at a time. After all, those college English and math classes give you a leg up in helping elementary and high schoolers improve their grades or get ready for their SAT’s. Or start a business mowing lawns or shoveling snow. Everyone needs a helping hand. And you will earn some money in the process.
4. Think about your career goals — Are they still on target for you? Maybe your original plans don’t excite you as much as they did before. So what do you want to do? Go in a new direction? Maybe it’s time to think about a career in public service, the military or a role with an NGO or another kind of organization. Or, perhaps, it’s time to take a specialized course, go to grad school or earn a certificate in a particular digital skill.
5. Practice your zoom skills — Whether you find using zoom comfortable or not, take the time to practice for an interview. It is much more than a chat. Get your own zoom account. Use it to practice with a friend or someone whose opinion you respect and who will be candid. Even have your friend film the zoom discussion so you can see yourself. Sit up straight. Look directly at the camera. And consider what’s in the background. Does it reflect something memorable about you? You’d be surprised at what interviewers remember about their zoom interviews.
6. Last but not least, smile — Good times or tough ones, your self-confidence and excitement about each job opportunity make you stand out. Your attitude says volumes about the energy you bring and your self-confidence. Your smile helps interviewers imagine you as a positive addition to the team, eager to work with colleagues to do what is necessary to get the job done.
Above all, stay in the game. Use the coming weeks and months to get a leg up on others and put yourself in front.
Energy, determination and enthusiasm win the day …every day. But especially when the going gets tough.
NOTE — This essay draws on the advice and guidance in my most recent book, Ramen Noodle Resume, written specifically for new college graduates. Available on amazon. www.ramennoodleresume.com | https://medium.com/@chris-komisarjevsky/college-grads-on-the-hunt-for-a-job-97fc0460996b | ['Chris Komisarjevsky'] | 2020-12-07 22:48:01.059000+00:00 | ['Resume Writing', 'Job Search', 'Resume', 'Job Hunting', 'Ramen Noodle Resume'] |
5 examples how AI can beat rule-based Facebook automation | — Which of these frying pans you will choose to cook pasta? — I don’t want a pan. I just want to eat, please show me the nearest Italian restaurant!
Rule-based Facebook automation systems assume that you as a marketer want something specific. They say: you might want to increase the budget by 10% every day OR you might want to turn off ad sets with CPI lower than 2$.
It’s like saying you want to buy a frying pan to make a pasta at home when in fact you just want to eat. And going to a restaurant might be a better idea.
The truth is that a marketer wants better campaign performance and wants marketing goals to be achieved with less effort.
Why marketers should stop using rules to automate campaigns?
You may think that creating rules is a simple way to manage campaign performance. In other words you ask your Facebook campaign to behave the way you put in the rule. Yes, it will. Unfortunately it does not mean it will result in better performance.
Rules can’t take into account different metrics simultaneously and find the best balance between scaling and budget efficiency.
Rules are based on our feelings mostly. Why to choose 10% budget increase, not 15%? We never have a strong argument about that.
Rules need to be changed. What worked yesterday might not work tomorrow. And you will need to go and change the rule again.
#1 Example — AI can estimate conversion rates better
How do you feel when creating rules for a new campaign? You need to estimate lot’s of metrics based on the results of your first test launch. If your goal is to drive app installs it’s important to know your installs to clicks rate, CTR, the minimum number of clicks before the first install etc. You can use excel, your brain or go to the 3rd party dashboard. But the truth is that you almost never set good working rules from the first time. Because the reality will change. Tomorrow you will need to do the same work. Or you can let AI do this work for you and analyze your funnel and conversion rates in realtime.
#2 Example — AI can better know how to compare results
How many times you thought about choosing the right time period to compare ad sets performance?
With AI you don’t have to thinks about time ranges anymore. It will automatically decide how to compare your ads and choose the best ones to scale using multifactorial models (when such factors as CPI, the number of installs per day, the number of days of statistics etc. are taken into account).
#3 Example — AI can predict your future campaign performance
Yes, many Facebook automation products use predictive analytics. They also have rule-based interfaces. They notify you about how your campaign will perform tomorrow, and you need to think about how to adjust the rules having this information. With AI you don’t need to reset your rules — it will adjust next steps (duplicating, budget increase etc.) automatically. The power of predictive analytics starts when it can be applied to your next steps in a couple of simple actions — like telling your virtual AI assistant which of them to implement right now.
#4 Example — AI can tell you which metric now is more relevant to optimize
You can set rules to manage your CPI. What if you have not enough actions to understand how to improve your campaign? How to decide when is the right time to change the metric?
Usually you should go and calculate your funnel to set new rules to manage CPC or CPM. And you need much effort to change these rules each time. With AI you will be sure you optimize the right metric without manual calculation. Your virtual assistant will suggest the next action for the metric that will give you the maximum performance.
#5 Example — AI can suggest how fast you can scale your campaign
Let’s say you set a 20% budget increase rule when CPI < 2$. Why?
You did this based on our feelings mostly. AI can help you understand how fast you can scale to balance between high volumes and an optimal cost per action.
How marketers can benefit from AI in the next 3 years?
Many of us still choose most popular solutions to automate Facebook ads. There are a lot of companies who solve this problem. Let’s think one step further. Facebook has already implemented it’s own automated rules which are pretty good comparing to 3rd party solutions. Now marketers need smarter AI to replace some rules and effectively manage the other. We will see new solutions and companies who will manage routine tasks and be able to analyze tons of data in seconds. AI will empower marketers to more fully utilize their uniquely human skills.
That’s why we created Leadza.ai — a virtual assistant who can help better optimize campaigns by sending daily optimization tips through Facebook Messenger. Our mission is to simplify the decision making process for any marketer who faces the task of managing ads and to make this work enjoyable. | https://medium.com/leadza/5-examples-how-ai-can-beat-rule-based-facebook-automation-177161dc82d | ['Victoria Fast'] | 2017-12-01 17:25:02.610000+00:00 | ['Facebook Automation', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Marketing', 'AI', 'Facebook Ads'] |
How to Get What You Want by Being Street Smart Instead of Book Smart | 1. Principles Beat Knowledge
Neil deGrasse Tyson once told a story about interviewing two job candidates. Both were asked: “How tall is the spire on the building we’re in?”
The first person said: “Oh! I know this! I studied architecture and memorized all the heights. The spire on this building is exactly 155 feet high.” As it turns out, that’s the right answer.
The second person said: “I don’t know, but I’ll be right back.” She goes outside, measures the length of her shadow on the ground against the shadow of the building, and, after comparing the two, says: “It’s about 150 feet.”
“Who are you gonna hire?” Tyson said. “I’m hiring the person who figured it out. Even though it took that person longer. Even though the person’s answer is not as precise. ‘Cause that person knows how to use the mind in a way not previously engaged.”
To Tyson, this is the difference between fuzzy thinking and thinking straight: “When you know how to think, it empowers you far beyond those who know only what to think.”
Principles beat knowledge. Knowledge can be memorized, accessed quickly, and it is useful to have a lot of it available at any given time. Everything you know, however, is nothing but an insight derived from a principle, and if you understand a lot of principles, you can generate any fact you need in real-time — no need to cram your brain with knowledge.
When you hold an apple in your hand, you know it will fall to the ground if you let go because you understand the principle of gravity. A principle doesn’t break. It’s universal. Knowledge, however, finds its limits all the time, because unlike principles, facts change.
If you jump off the spire in Tyson’s example, you will die. You know this. It’s a fact, and it seems so universal, it feels like a principle — but it’s not. It only happens in movies, but if you stood atop the spire as the building was collapsing, jumping off — towards a helicopter, with a parachute, into some safety construction — would be your only way to survive. The circumstances changed, and the principle overrode the knowledge.
Therefore, it is much better to have a few guidelines for how you think rather than many options of what to think.
Knowledge is good, but too much of it can limit our thinking instead of expanding it. The more drawers our file cabinet has, the more desperately we believe that one of them must hold the answer, and so we waste our time pulling out drawers when we could derive the solution — maybe a brand new solution — by combining our principles.
If you want to achieve your goals and make a difference in the world, you must never be intimidated by knowledge, and you must never rely on knowledge alone. Collect it when you can for it might one day be useful, but never let your knowledge trump your ability to think on your feet.
2. Psychology Runs Everything
One of the first and most important principles is that psychology governs everything — absolutely everything. The invisible forces of human behavior shape every decision we make, every action we take, and all of our interactions with others.
Right now, there are over 200 biases twisting your thoughts and perception. Every waking second, we are affected by our instincts, our environment, and the actions of those around us.
I think it cannot be overstated and might be the most important principle in accomplishing anything in this life: Psychology rules everything. You must never neglect psychology, never underestimate it, for its power is near-limitless.
Judges have sent innocent men to prison over bias. Billionaires have been tricked out of their fortunes. Retail empires have been built and collapsed on small differences in perception and a lack thereof.
Money, fame, charity, legacy — whatever you want in life, it translates to change, to transformation, and the most powerful, most sustainable way to enact change is to deeply understand and embrace psychology.
Read some books. Understand the basics of perception, bias, and persuasion. Learn how our emotions affect us and how our minds work. Master, not guess, which of the brain’s many kinks work for and against us.
Whatever you look at in life, consider the angle of psychology: Which behavioral forces are at play here? Why do we do what we do?
Whether you wish to be self-disciplined and run a marathon, create your own board game and sell a million copies, or found a company that will convert 25% of the world’s CO2 into something useful, heed the science of the mind, and you shall one day be successful.
3. To Get What You Want, You Must Make People Feel
Maya Angelou once said: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
In a world run by psychology, an ounce of common sense is worth a pound of theory — and no matter what the theory suggests, humans are, by and large, run by their feelings.
“What do you feel like eating?” “I don’t feel this idea.” “I feel like I can afford it.” Nutrition, business, money — three of the most important topics in our lives, all governed by principles, and what do we do? We listen to our feelings. For better or for worse, this is how it’s gonna be.
It is great to practice rational thought, to aspire to reason and intelligence, but neither will be the biggest hindrance in getting you what you want — especially if it involves convincing other people, and it always involves convincing other people.
Appeal to our natural desires. Make us feel loved. Make us feel strong. Whatever you want, you’ll have to make us feel something to get it.
A confidence coach may have to make people angry, help them use regret as fuel for change. A great writer can make us feel sad, but in that sadness, we may find closure. Others provide simpler pleasures, like laughter, excitement, or schadenfreude.
The first incarnation of Facebook, FaceMash, put two photos of people side by side and let others vote on who’s more attractive. It’s a product built on curiosity and our desire to judge.
Tesla succeeds because its cars look good and feel futuristic. It’s not about numbers or sustainability, it’s about being part of something bigger while still having fun. The benefits are side effects.
Apple is not about glass and microchips, it’s about “having good taste.” You can viscerally enjoy the design of their products — and to top it off, they also perform well. The design “just flows” and the tool “just works.” A trillion-dollar company, built on gut feelings.
If you want to change the world for the better, let self-absorbed humans do the right thing by accident. Make us act in our own interest, and align the incentives so everyone benefits. The same applies to getting what you want, and it all runs on the unstoppable force of feelings. | https://ngoeke.medium.com/how-to-get-what-you-want-by-being-street-smart-instead-of-book-smart-5602cc5a22b | ['Niklas Göke'] | 2020-11-26 13:10:13.891000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Education', 'Psychology', 'Life', 'World'] |
Overnight Millionaire — Wesley Billion Dollar Virgin — Can Someone realy go From Zero to Millionaire in 45 Days? | This is how my buddy Wesley Virgin’s story begins in this shocking and controversial video.
You see, Wesley was in the army — and shortly after leaving — he discovered hidden, “self mind control” secrets that the CIA and others used to get whatever they want.
As it turns out, these are the same secrets many celebrities (especially those who “come out of nowhere”) and top business people used to become rich and famous.
You’ve heard that you only use 10% of your brain.
That’s mostly because most of your brainpower is UNCONSCIOUS.
Maybe that conversation has even taken place INSIDE your own head… as it did in my good friend Wesley Virgin’s mind seven years ago, while driving a non-registered, beat-up bucket of a car with a suspended license and $3.20 on his debit card.
“I’m so frustrated with living paycheck to paycheck! When will I get my big break?”
You’ve been a part of those conversations, right?
Your success story is waiting to be written. All you have to do is take a leap of faith in
YOURSELF.
Take Action Now!
Wesley watched people all around him going nowhere, and stuck in the same apartment lying on an air mattress his mom gave him; just STUCK!
That is until everything changed and I mean RADICALLY changed.
Wesley discovered that attracting abundance doesn’t have anything to do with “marketing loophole secrets”, the courses you buy, or the life coaches you hire.
===> This “mind hack” helps you alter your unconscious to deliberately manifest ANYTHING you want.
Whether it’s wealth, a new job or business, extraordinary love, a better body or anything.
A world where he learned self mind-control techniques the average population NEVER even knew to exist.
“Nothing will change in your life, until you open your mind, to something new, that can transform your life sooner than later.”
P.S. — These secrets are working for real people, just like you, right now. But that’s also angering those who don’t want a level playing field. They want to keep these mind hacks all to themselves. | https://medium.com/@jennifermotivation/overnight-millionaire-wesley-billion-dollar-virgin-can-someone-realy-go-from-zero-to-1c1768f1876a | ['Carolina Speaker Motivation'] | 2020-12-26 00:44:03.572000+00:00 | ['Make Money Home', 'Make Money', 'Make Money Online', 'Millionaire Mindset', 'Millionaire'] |
Daily Digest 06/03/20 — MEP Joins Far-Right Vigilantes in Greece | ICC to Investigate War Crimes in Afghanistan///Serbian Paper References Battle Against Ottomans in Headline About People on the Move///German Mayors Ask to Accept Children From Refugee Camps//////Swedish Far-Right Politician Deported From Turkey
Are You Syrious?
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Mar 7 · 10 min read
Far-right MEP Ioannis Lagos in Evros. Photo credits: Left.gr
Feature: Golden Dawn MEP Among Fascist Vigilantes Attacking People in Greece
Ioannis Lagos, a longtime member of the far-right Golden Dawn party, was spotted at the Greek-Turkish border in Evros. He was photographed with members of local so-called “protection” groups and at least two police officers.
A far-right website published his activities, saying he was “actively participating in patrols organized by locals, to locate & turn over to the authorities the illegal immigrants-jihadists, that are crossing the borders by the thousands.” Clearly, he is an active participant in the violence being perpetrated against vulnerable people at the border and is making no effort to hide his presence.
This is not the first violent action that Lagos has participated in. In 2017, he was involved in an attack on an Athens school that planned to offer classes to children living in a nearby refugee camp. He and others stormed the school and punched teachers and parents just for daring to offer education to vulnerable children. Last year, he was found guilty of inciting violence that led to an attack on a community center in 2013. He is clearly a dangerous individual who should not be given the platform that a member of the European Parliament gets. It also shows a lot about the way violence against people on the move is unfortunately accepted by many in Greece since he shows no attempt to hide his actions.
If you are wondering what Lagos and his new buddies are up to, Greek journalists obtained video footage of one vigilante group’s actions in Evros. Most of these groups are farmers from the area who know the land well and use the powerful lights on their tractors to track movement. They work in tandem with the national guard and police to arrest people. The easy cooperation and overlap between Greek authorities and violent far-right militias should be worrying.
Far-right actors are moving their harassment of people on the move and their allies to the web as well as attacking them physically. Aegean Boat Report, which publishes crucial information on arrivals to Greece, has been spammed with over 100 negative reviews and comments on Facebook that are nearly identical. Their page was shared to several far-right Facebook groups and this was clearly a coordinated attack. This is part of a larger intimidation campaign taking place online and offline to scare off solidarity workers who could also stop information from getting to the outside world if they succeed in getting important pages like Aegean Boat Report taken down. These organizations need our support!
However, neo-Nazis and far-right vigilantes are not having a perfectly easy time. A group of five German and Austrian neo-Nazis who came to Lesvos were attacked by locals, sending one of them to the hospital. They allegedly came to “hunt refugees” and show solidarity with the Greek people, but for some reason posed as reporters looking for the “Greek perspective” on the issue of people on the move. When they were not receiving responses that satisfied them, they began provoking locals by shouting about the Kalavyrta massacre, when Nazis killed hundreds of Greek boys and men during the occupation. After that, they were punished and although police are allegedly searching for the attackers, local media is not sympathetic at all. “They should go as they came! There is no place for them on Lesvos!” Politikalesvos wrote. They have been identified as members of the “Identity Movement.” This post identifies them further and contains links explaining their violent pasts.
Another group of 10 German and Austrian “Identitarians” were deported by the Greek government after showing up at the Greek-Turkish border. This is not the first time the group has been involved in vigilanteism against people on the move — last year they were caught trying to attack people crossing on the sea route between Libya and Italy by boat.
Punishments are starting to trickle in for a select few who threatened people on the move and solidarity workers. On Lesvos, two locals who made threats against Efi Latsoudi and Refugee Support Aegean were given a three-month suspended prison sentence. While most of these far-right actors will go unpunished, it is still heartening to see that they are being met with resistance. | https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/daily-digest-06-03-20-mep-joins-far-right-vigilantes-in-greece-d594d4766ae7 | ['Ellen Elias-Bursac'] | 2020-03-07 11:33:16.860000+00:00 | ['Refugees', 'Digest', 'Greece', 'Far Right', 'Migrants'] |
Stress Testing And Software Performance Testing Services | Sometimes Stress Testing can be cumbersome and tedious, and time-consuming process. Some developers might love observing how a system ceases to function as items their stress, anxiety, and tensions. Stress testing ensures graceful degradation compromising with limited functionality. Once the procedure of stress testing is finished the developers are finally on a stage to determine the flaws in the application and thus can rectify it now. Also how fast is the application and how many errors it has subdued everything can now be estimated. Tritan Stress Testing is a tool type which is used for the verification of software extremity. It is also a crucial component of testing which testers should have a sense of stress. To ensure usability, credibility, efficiency, reliability, and accuracy of the software when it is bombarded with extreme limits and overloaded tons of demands of the users.
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Tritan Dynamic analysis of stress testing enables the system to work under extreme pressure and load conditions and thus provides Organizations the excellent software that they have ever witnessed with full functionality and personalization.
✓ Moreover, the development team can predict the fate of “Stress Testing” that will not only become mainstream but also become a necessity shortly.
Finally, it is true that the end-user the end-user might indeed characteristic and surprisingly they may find bugs, defects in the application which is not a hot pick interns of quality. To lessen the effects of such commercial issues and to release quality products, hence the need to test applications on all platforms arises. Thus stress testing plays a quintessential role n testing applications.
Tritan uses comprehensive stress Testing services that are relevant across various operating systems, browsers, databases, hardware, software, configurations, devices, etc. We are a pioneer in providing an end to end cross-browser test automation solutions with a truly and fully loaded selenium test automation framework with high integration plugins.
Tritan is the leading pioneer for crafting secure software, reducing the risk of a security breach and increasing the handsome security, and development that securely, timely boosts productivity and, revenues of the organization. As a result, companies deploying Tritan can move their respective business to the world along with the combination of process automation, integration, agility, enthusiasm, and responsiveness. Tritan enables companies to leapfrog with accuracy and reliability to magnify their efforts in fixing not just searching and locating potential vulnerabilities.
Tritan Stress Testing
First of all, for the software, it is necessary to check up working capability in the drastic conditions of use, failures in it can steer too big and significant outcomes, whether financial or any others, even to the vastly significant, right up to human lives.
So Tritan stress testing is a type of non-functional testing that implicates testing beyond normal operational capacity, often to an infringement point, to discern the results. In other words, about load beyond the virtual load limit is Stress testing.
Tritan Stress testing is a type of accomplishment testing conducted to examine a system or component at or beyond the limits of its anticipated or specified workloads, or with fewer availability of resources such as access to remembrance or servers.
In simpler words, it is a form of software testing that is used to determine the vitality of a given system, but it puts enormous emphasis on robustness, availability, and error dealing with under a heavy load, rather than on what would be contemplated appropriate behavior under ordinary occurrences.
Tritan Stress testing is extremely necessary for critically important software. Usually, it is better for revealing the stability, availability, and processing of exceptions by the system under heavy load, compared to what is considered correct behavior under normal conditions.
The goals of such tests may be to ensure that the software does not crash in conditions of insufficient computational resources (such as memory or disk space).
The urgency of Tritan stress testing is authorized by the obeying factors:
In the preponderance most of the systems are designed with the inference of functioning in normal mode and even when there’s a likelihood of improving the load, its actual improvement is not taken into appreciation. In the case of SLA-contract, which demonstrates this type of testing is mandatory and the cost of the disappointment of the system under harsh situations can be very great. Detection of some mistakes or deformities in the system functioning is not always reasonable with other types of testing. The testing that was accomplished by the developer may not be sufficient to mimic the situations under which the system downfall occurs. It is eligible to be inclined to rectify the harsh situations of the system than anticipating it to fail. The scrutiny of the blockages or specific factors with disproportional loading on the system. Testing the capability of the system.
The fundamental goal of Tritan stress testing is to demonstrate application bugs that surface only under high load conditions. These bugs can comprise such things as synchronization issues, memory leaks, and conflict situations. Tritan Stress testing authorizes you to recognize the application’s weak points, and show how the application functions under pinnacle load conditions.
Spike testing is a subset of stress testing. A spike test is a type of performance test focused on defining or substantiating the performance characteristics of the product under testing when subjected to workload models and load volumes that continually heighten beyond scheduled production systems for short periods. Speaking about the ineffective load, one can say that, in the case of testing the allocated systems, it is necessary not only to consider the actual load volume, comprising many components but also their proportions in the total capacity.
The usage of such a load in stress tests can also be used to comprehend the stoppages of particular system factors. From the juncture of view of business development, on one hand, capacity testing is one of the most crucial areas of stress testing and, on the other hand, is the most impossible in terms of holding it out and analyzing. Capacity testing is accomplished to assume the safety margin of the system in full submission with the accomplishment ordinances.
While mimicking the load for the capacity testing of the system, it is taken into account as the existing load in the configuration of the number and particular probabilities of proposals simultaneously proceeding to the system, as well as the normal load in the future. The conclusion of capacity testing of the system is a set of absolute possible load elements of the system, which makes the application or system to meet the accomplishment requirements.
This category of testing can enclose numerous time frames:
a one-time short-term load on the system sporadic short-term load on the system a one-time long-term load on the system Episodic long-term load on the system with a probability of failure of the system
Tritan Stress testing can be accomplished with a massive load on the system and the evident probability of downfall in the system outside the context of load testing: then it is called “destructive testing” and happen to be an extreme form of unfavorable testing.
As an illustration, we might overrun a web application with data, connections, and so on until it ultimately explodes. The fact of the crash might be unremarkable. The implication of the wreck, what else fails, what data are infringed, and so forth, are the outcomes of dividend for the stress tester. Often, it is not apparent to manually develop the essential load conditions; therefore, testers tend to resort to:
1) Directing on specific types of transactions, which affects the boundary situations to happen more often than when load testing is used.
2) Using scripts, virtual users, and other automated simulators of an intensive working process, that allows exploring the manner of the software at an absolute load.
3) Researching of blockages in the system.
4) Investigation of omission method process and extraordinary situations.
The usefulness of Tritan stress-testing
Defines if data can be violated by overstressing the system. Provides an experiment of how far an application can go beyond the target load, before causing disappointments and mistakes in expansion to slowness. Allows ascertaining application-monitoring impetuses to notify about incoming disappointments. Ensures that protection defenselessness is not published in stressful situations. Determines the side impacts of widespread hardware or supporting application dissatisfactions. Helps to deduce what aspects of disappointments are most useful to plan for.
The juncture is that it is always impossible to know how much stress testing is worth applying. Periodically because stress tests are unrealistic by design, some stakeholders may dismiss test results. Also, it should be seized into account that is apparent to cause application and/or network failures that may happen in fundamental upheaval if the test environment is not segregated.
Conclusion:
Tritan Stress testing entirely focuses on testing the system under extreme load situations to find its infringement point and see if applicable messages are exhibited when the system is unresponsive. It stresses the memory, processor, etc. during the testing and checks how well they recover. Tritan Stress testing is a type of non-functional testing and is usually done after the functional testing. When there is a restriction of load testing as well, then this testing can be done as the drastic case of load testing. 90% of the time, the identical automation tool can be used for both load and stress testing.
Hope you would have progressed a great knowledge into the notion of Tritan Stress Testing!! Tritan Stress testing is a type of performance testing conducted to examine a system or component at or beyond the limits of its anticipated or restricted workloads, or with inferior availability of resources such as access to memory or servers.
Tritan Stress testing is exceptionally essential for critically significant software. Usually, it is politely for disclosing the strength, availability, and processing of exceptions by the system under tremendous load, distinguished to what is contemplated correct behavior under normal conditions. | https://medium.com/@tritanerp/stress-testing-and-software-performance-testing-services-af2eb1c9372a | ['Tritan Solutions Pvt Ltd'] | 2020-12-25 04:32:37.773000+00:00 | ['Performance Management', 'Stress Management', 'Stress', 'Stress Testing', 'Performance Testing'] |
What It’s Like to Be the Haunted | A friend of mine was sex-trafficked until she was eighteen years old.
Several years after helping her get out of the environment, I sat in a room with a lawyer and FBI investigator as she recounted details. The stories were some of the darkest and most horrific instances of child sex trafficking I’d ever heard, but what shook me most was when she finally broke. After an hour of questioning, she shut down and couldn’t continue. Looking at her, I saw myself years earlier during the fireworks display. Her posttraumatic stress (PTS) had kicked in and she couldn’t forge forward. Recalling the details of the trauma became too much and her voice went from strong and confident, to mouselike, to nothing.
We’ve both talked at length about what life is like living with PTS, despite having polar opposite experiences. We both understand how sights, sounds, and images can beckon like old flames, only to set your whole mind ablaze. She once called me from her car in the middle of nowhere because she’d blacked out. I spent hours on the phone talking her down, working through what I’d learned in my journey toward wholeness.
But even when you’ve found that healing, it’s still hard being the haunted.
These days, I work in the veteran space and she works in an anti-human trafficking organization. Through hardship, endurance, and struggle, we’ve both emerged and found purpose from our pain. But stepping into those spaces can exacerbate old scars.
I think the misconception about PTS is that you either completely get over it or never heal, and neither are helpful (or true). As I’ve said in other articles, who in their right mind would want to indefinitely stay in pain and trauma? On the flip side, there are those who’ve suffered very little in their life and know nothing of the misery of this world who believe with enough change and willpower you can conquer any mental mountain. While a broken leg may heal, you can still walk with a limp the rest of your life. But if you keep walking on a broken leg, it’ll never heal and only get worse.
My first foray into healing happened after an intervention. While I was ashamed and angry, I eventually realized my family and friends were trying to help me. Later in life, two friends took the time to listen without judgement to my conflicted, rambling emotions and provide social support for me. They never forced me to talk about it, but let me open up while we did normal things like hiking or meeting together at a sports bar. This is perhaps the greatest thing a friend can do — make your experience seem almost normal as opposed to out of place. The same way you’d comfort a friend going through a rough breakup is often the best thing you can do for someone struggling with PTS. Let them open up and take the lead. Keep eye contact, comfort them, and lend an empathetic ear.
I still remember the day I told a close friend a particularly harrowing story. He didn’t smile or act repulsed. Instead, he leaned forward and said, “I imagine a lot of the scenarios you were involved in were hard to navigate on a level I could never understand. Sounds like you’ve had a rough go the past couple of years.”
That simple statement allowed me to open up more and more, exploring treatments ranging from CBT (cognitive-behavioral therapy) to EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). I started getting better, growing and maturing, and even began doing my own exposure therapy where I learned to desensitize myself to fireworks by introducing them in small increments. Instead of accepting PTS as a way of life, I learned to manage it and live a fuller life.
One of the most important things I discovered was that I had to become more concerned with living life now, instead of running away from it because of my past. I had to come to terms with the ghosts that haunted the crevices of my mind and realize that life is a special onetime opportunity. Far too often I took that for granted. Life was just something I did while I endured the demons. And yet, there were all these fun and beautiful moments around me I assumed I could never enjoy again. It took other people to set me on the right track, but I also had to learn to stand on my own. To face the past. To face the triggers, ghosts, and hardships.
Sometimes, they still lurk in the shadows. Other times they still beckon like a siren calling to shipwreck. But these days I’m a little calmer, a little quieter, and have even learned to enjoy a sunset. | https://blog.heartsupport.com/what-its-like-to-be-the-haunted-60abb845389 | ['Benjamin Sledge'] | 2021-06-07 19:30:49.483000+00:00 | ['Veterans', 'Mental Health', 'Self', 'Military', 'PTSD'] |
Monolith to Microservices : Ep1 : Are you ready ? | Overview
Microservices are the services that have been modeled around a business domain that are independently deployable. Nowadays, Microservices architecture is becoming a hype, since most of the tech organizations tend to port or migrate their existing architectures into Microservices. This article is all about moving from Monolith to Microservices architecture. The key objective of this article is to educate the reader on the aspects and considerations that should be taken into account when moving from Monolith to Microservices architecture.
To begin with our article with let us first understand what is ‘Monolith’.
What is a Monolith?
‘Monolith’ is a one unit of Deployment. When all artifacts/binaries in a system had been deployed together, we consider it as a Monolith. Monolith architecture is usually portioned in two ways. Which are as the Technically Partitioned and Domain Partitioned.
So, the Technical Partitioned Monolith is what we usually called the ‘Layered Architecture’, which consists of layers such as Presentation Layer, Business Layer, Persistence Layer, and Data Access Layer as shown in figure 1. Here, each layer consists of a clear responsibility that contributes to its functionality. There is a strict rule that we need to follow here as “one particular layer should communicate only with adjacent layers (up and down)”. If you violate this protocol it is identified as the “sinkhole” anti-pattern.
Figure 1: Technically Partitioned Monolith
On the other hand, in the Domain Partitioned Monolith, as shown in figure 2, there are no layers as mentioned above, but instead of that, we have a set of modules. These modules are usually wrapped around business functionalities that are subjective to the domain. One advantage in domain partitioned monolith is, if you want to do some changes which are related to DB schema, you need to update only that particular module and the database. In a layered architecture, you would be updating all layers to accommodate one DB schema change because the data is flowing through all layers. Shared components are one disadvantage in domain partitioned monolith there it leads to high coupling between domain or modules.
Figure 2: Domain Partitioned Monolith
Next, we will move on to understand the three types of Monolithic systems, which are as; Single Process System, Distributed Monolith, and Third-Party Black Box Systems. So let’s briefly understand what these systems are and how they work in the Monolithic architecture.
Single Process Monolith
These are the most common type when discussing monolith, where all of the code is deployed as a single procedure. These single process systems, shown in figure 3, always end up reading data from or storing data in a database, as simple distributed systems since they could be processed in their own right. Additionally, a vast majority of the monolithic systems that people tend to struggle with are likely to represent these single-process monoliths.
Figure 3: Single Process Monolith- All code is packed in a single process
Distributed Monolith
A distributed monolith comprises multiple services. However, in the deploying process, this whole system has to be deployed together ( one of the main reasons behind this is shared databases). The definition of a ‘service-oriented architecture’ may be well met by a distributed monolith. Also in an environment where not enough focus has been placed on concepts such as hidden information and business functionality cohesion, distributed monoliths typically do try to emerge.
Third-Party Black Box Systems
As part of the migration effort, we can also consider some third-party software as monoliths that we may want to “decompose”. These could include things such as payroll, CRM, and HR systems. In this case, a common fact is that, since its software is already developed by other individuals, you don’t get the ability to change the code.
Is Monolith Bad?
Using Monolith is not bad at all. This technology was practiced for years and years. Pursuing this further, let us now move on to understand the usages and challenges which could encounter when using Monolith.
Usages
It is a much simpler deployment topology that could avoid many of the pitfalls associated with distributed systems.
It can lead to much simpler workflows for developers; can also greatly simplify monitoring, troubleshooting, and activities such as end-to-end testing.
Within the monolith itself, monoliths can also simplify code reuse.
With the user choices, it is much easier to work with monoliths.
If you are a startup, it is better to use Monolith in most of the cases than moving on to Microservices
If you need just crud operations monolith could be used when obtaining solutions.
When you have a limited functional application with a definite number of users (ex: On-premise application)
When your requirement is just a PoC or a Pre-Sale
When you are not sure about the future of the application
Challenges of Monolith
The monolith, whether it is a single-process monolith or a distributed monolith, is frequently more susceptible to the dangers of high coupling and low cohesion. This happens when they could get in each other’s way as you have more and more individuals working in the same place. Confusion may occur over who owns what, and who makes choices. These difficulties of confused lines of ownership are usually referred to as a ‘dispute of delivery’.
Let’s now understand when you could use Microservice for your existing architecture. Recently, people have come to the view that monolith as something to be avoided, as something inherently problematic. On the other, hand keeping monolith architecture is a choice. Initially, they communicate via networks with each other, and as an option for architecture, they deliver many options to address the problems you may face and follows micro service ideas that are based on multiple microservices that work collaboratively.
But, if you are planning a migration, initially we need to explore several less technical issues as mentioned. You could start this by, understanding things like, ‘where should you start the migration’, ‘how should you manage the change’, ‘how do you bring others along on the journey’, and things like ‘should you even use microservices in the first place’. One thing that you have to keep in mind is that having Microservice does not make you win. It should be a conscious decision, based on rational decision making. This is done when you can’t actually do with your existing system infrastructure so that you migrate to a microservice architecture.
What is a Microservice?
It is crucial that we have a general, shared understanding of what microservice architectures, shown in figure 4 before we dive into how to work with microservices. As in the definition of Microservices, mentioned at the beginning of the article, Independent deployability is the principle where, without needing to use any other resources, we can make a change to a Microservice and deploy it in to production . It is most important how you treat your systems of deployments and sometimes it could be identified as a discipline you practice as well.
Figure 4 : Microservices
They communicate with each other through networks, and as an architecture choice, they offer several options to fix the issue you face with. The architecture of microservices is created on a number of collaborating microservices as well. Microservice can be considered as a distributed service-oriented architecture (DSOA) and moreover it has the advantage of being uncertain towards technology.
In order to ensure independent deployability, it is important that we assure that our services are loosely connected( ie: low coupling and high cohesion). Simply we could say that, without modifying anything else, we need to be able to change one service. We could say that this implies that between providers we need explicit, well-defined, and stable contracts.
Why do you want to move to Microservices?
Before answering this question you could ask yourself these three questions.
What are you hoping to achieve?
Have you considered alternatives to using Microservices?
How will you know if the transition is working?
But you need to remember that prior to moving on to Micro Services, checking should be done on the following requirements in your current architecture.
Is your product or service SaaS based?
Do you want to scale your system with increasing number of users?
Do you need Elasticity?
Do you need to roll out bug fixes quickly?
Do you need high Resilience and Robustness?
Do you need to scale your development?
Do you have performance issues where you cannot solve in current architecture?
Microservices connect via networks, and they provide several options to solve the problems you face with. And furthermore, it would lead to having additional headaches as well which you didn’t encounter in the Monolithic architecture. If you are moving to any distributed architecture pattern, you should not fall into the falsies of distributed systems. It could be seen that a Microservice design is based on multiple independent services. This implies that we need simple, well-defined, and secure arrangements between providers. Furthermore, it is not feasible to overstate the significance of taking an incremental approach to extracting microservices. Since errors are always possible, so if accepting that as a given, you should aim to make slight mistakes rather than going larger mistakes. Since most of us work with real-world customers, we can’t afford on spending months or years on a big bang rewrite of our application. As Martin Flower once said, “If you do a big bang rewrite, the only thing you are certain of is a big bang!”
.So that the aim should be to create a microservice where it has minimal impact on your architecture and getting them deployed as a part of the production solution where you could start learning from the experience along having benefits.
Initiating Microservices architecture is not easy though, it is costly and complex as well. We used to call them an extra tax-related to Microservices.
Microservices Tax
The following are some of the factors you need to consider if you are moving to Microservice architecture.
Observability
Service Discovery
Service Orchestration
Fault Tolerance
Circuit Breakers
Build and Deployment Automation
Testing Automation
Polyglot technical stacks
Technically capable teams
If you are planning to initiate a Microservices project or migrate into Microservices without the aforementioned initiatives, most probably you would end up in a disaster. As an example, it is unhuman to monitor and track 150 odd production services without service discovery and service orchestrations such as Eureka, Consul, and Kubernetes or Docker swarm for orchestration. Without a distributed tracing framework such as Jaeger, it is almost impossible to track down and pinpoint any error in the production environment. How can you identify manually which service is down and then there should be a fallback mechanism without using a circuit breaker such as Hystrix? Can your QA team perform manual testing of more than 100 services on each release? Can your DevOps team deploy more than 50 services into production manually with minimal downtime without using continuous delivery and integration pipelines?
So as a mantra, you should get prepared with this homework before you jump into the distributed architecture. Otherwise, most probably you would end up with a disastrous big ball of mud!
So when to start the Migration?
Apart from the technical feasibilities that I mentioned earlier, you should get support with the following items as well within your organization.
Find a good support (mentor/ C-level support/ consultant)
Developing a Vision and Strategy
Define short term goals
Communicating the change vision
Change organization culture (Try to get rid of dedicated teams for tech stacks. E.g.BA, Dev, QA, Support, IT, Infra, Deployment etc.)
Anchoring the new approach and culture
Identify the components for decomposition using one of the collowing techniques
Domain-Driven Design (DDD)
Event Storming
Actor Action
Figure 5: Identifying the components for decomposition Ref :Monolith to Microservices by Sam Newman
If you can accurately fill the above matrix with your existing monolith’s modules, then you have a starting point. If you have a well-designed monolith with less coupling/connascence and high cohesion, then this task would be much easier. So, then you can start your migration from the top right-hand corner. | https://medium.com/@priyalwalpita/monolith-to-microservices-29c329f3e102 | ['Priyal Walpita'] | 2020-11-09 08:15:57.110000+00:00 | ['Monolithic', 'Distributed Systems', 'Migration', 'Microservice Architecture'] |
The First Democratic Primary Debates — Oh How the Tides Have Turned | The first Democratic Primary Debates are now in the books. On Wednesday and Thursday this past week, the 20 candidates that qualified were sorted out randomly into two ten-person debates. In short, these two nights of policy and ideological arguments marked the true beginning of the 2020 Presidential Election.
For each debate, I recorded and watched through every minute, looking for new takes, new ideas, and anything novel that I had not seen yet in the campaigns.
In short, nothing about my own preferences of nominees changed. In fact, the debates only further solidified the candidates I had been looking to see perform the best, Bernie and Warren. Warren got sorted on the easier Wednesday night roster, where she was the only candidate polling in the top five. Compared to the rest of the field, she came in more prepared, more policy-oriented, and showed the average viewer why she was the readiest for the job that night. She was methodical and made sure to use her voice that ensured she wouldn’t lose ground in the polls but still showcase her ideas.
Bernie’s night got to a slow start but significantly picked up as the night went on. Granted, his night was filled with far more interjection and unnecessary jabbering. However, Bernie stood out above nearly every other candidate when it came to how every candidate framed his own arguments, with comments like “I agree with Bernie,” or “Bernie is right on this.” The policies that he ran on in the late 80s, the policies he ran on in 2016, and now the policies he is running on for 2020 are now becoming widely accepted by almost every candidate. Whether Medicare-for-all, the assault weapons ban, or harsher regulations of Wall Street, Bernie led the charge to put the common American as his true first priority and has done so for decades. The level of respect and support for his ideas amongst his peers is indicative of the awareness of the validity of these plans. Once he got to his closing statement, no one finished their debate performance as he did. He framed his conclusion around the concern he has that nothing will ever change unless a candidate has the guts to truly take on corporate America, portraying every other candidate’s goals as merely talking points that don’t indicate their commitment to all citizens.
On night one, Cory Booker and Julian Castro came in and did what they needed to stir up their names back into the mainstream conversations, focusing on their core campaign issues (Booker on civil rights, Castro on immigration). The candidate that I had not anticipated admiring was how passionate Jay Inslee was in pushing for climate change as the sole purpose of his candidacy. Climate change is the single biggest national security and economic threat for our country in my view. For him to at least have the chance to voice those ideas on the national stage is something I am grateful for, although it is inevitable that his ideas will be not ranged as priorities and we will fall only further into the climate crisis we are enduring right now. Tulsi Gabbard could not answer a straight question for the first hour but then proceeded to assert her dominance in the foreign policy field against Tim Ryan.
Yet, for as many, as may have tuned in for the first night, the second was the one with the majority of popular candidates: Bernie, Biden, Harris, Buttigieg, and the two rising non-politicians Yang and Williamson. And in just two hours Thursday night, we all saw what I had anticipated coming:
The beginning of the collapse of Joe Biden.
Besides his policies being awfully centrist, we saw his ideas for America crumble Thursday right before our eyes. Of course, the moment we will remember for the rest of the campaign will be when Harris spoke to Biden’s record on race relations, specifically opposing busing. She tied this to her own life story, is the second class in Berkeley at her school to desegregate and she was bussed in. His response was unfocused and couldn’t make up for his past record on the issue. When it came to foreign policy, Bernie went right after Biden’s record voting for the war in Iraq, followed up by mentioning his persistent anti-war record and backing the War Powers Act to prevent the war with Yemen. Everything Biden said on Thursday only further hurt his campaign, and with the comments, yesterday about a black kid wearing a hoodie “may very well be the next poet laureate and not a gangbanger” only further solidify why he would make a terrible general election candidate and president.
Harris was by far the biggest winner of the debates. On Thursday, she came in appearing to be all for the progressive agenda in a way that makes the average, non-politically active person think she is for those ideas (even when we very much know she doesn’t stand for those ideas). She had many lines throughout the debate to smartly portray herself as the adult amongst children bickering, poignantly wrapped up when she said “America does not want to witness a food fight. They want to know how they’re going to put food on their table.” To be the one to come in ready to knock out Biden was the best move for her politically at this point. She isn’t attempting to go towards the hard left, millennial voter; she is going for the not-so-politically inclined, moderate voter, specifically the more conservative older black Democrat voters. Those voters may be feeling more concerned about Biden, but now they know they can have someone who supports their views and is a viable alternative for any centrist Democrat.
O’Rourke failed as I had anticipated, but the true disappointment I had watching the debates was seeing Yang’s poor performance. Although his mic did get cut off at moments throughout the night (which is crazy considering his mounting support for NBC to do that), the moments he did get to speak were not as punchy and as to the point as I know he can be. Hopefully, his momentum can continue and those who hadn’t ever seen him can learn more about his campaign. Maybe the next set of debates will provide more impactful for his candidacy. At this point, the more name recognition for him or Williamson is the goal to continue further and meet the later debate thresholds.
With the first debates wrapped up, it has become more clear that Democrats and America really as a whole, has become far more progressive in just the four years since the previous primaries. I am really eager to see how things shake out in the next month until we hit the second debate, also split across two nights, July 30–31st. At this point, keeping an eye out on policy shifts and agenda changes can be an effective way to remain engaged in the campaigns.
The goal of these posts aren’t really to share any particular ideology, but to reinforce the idea that everyone can be informed about politics in simple steps. So whether it means reading articles or watching YouTube clips, do whatever you want to be able to be informed enough to make your own choices once the primaries start in January. | https://noahtesfaye.medium.com/the-first-democratic-primary-debates-oh-how-the-tides-have-turned-716678b3700a | ['Noah Tesfaye'] | 2019-06-29 20:45:04.074000+00:00 | ['2020 Presidential Race', 'Politics', 'Elections', 'Debate', 'Democrats'] |
Awesome write up! | Awesome write up! Would be interesting to hear a follow up on how Netflix addresses mutations in the event that the changes span multiple schemas. Assuming each schema’s backend service would be responsible for orchestrating calls across any necessary dependencies, this may raise an interesting problem when propagating the updates back to the frontend clients | https://medium.com/@richburdish/awesome-write-up-d155e0e531a1 | ['Rich Burdish'] | 2020-12-11 19:15:01.551000+00:00 | ['Federation', 'Mutations', 'Apollo', 'GraphQL'] |
The Digital Liquid Lean Startup Methodology | The Digital Liquid Lean Startup Methodology
An approach to deliver relevant solutions to solve the right problems and scale at speed.
The digital liquid lean startup methodology augments the team with advanced digital tools to rapidly build solutions on a scalable architecture—providing an additional boost to the build, measure and learn feedback loop—to disrupt quickly in an uncertain environment.
A Modified Approach
There are two distinct components in the digital liquid lean startup method that contributes to the significant increase in velocity: 1) the use of advanced digital (DevOps) tools to scale solution quickly, and 2) adoption of the liquid assembly philosophy, e.g. reusable building blocks (APIs), to facilitate innovation and speed.
The four iterative stages of the approach are listed below:
Ideate: identify novel problems, business cases, new technologies, potential partnerships, new business models, etc. via workshops and formulate ideas and hypotheses to test. Show me: transform ideas into mock-ups and prototypes via the liquid assembly of reusable building blocks and templates to obtain initial stakeholder buy-in. Prove it: validate the prototype against hypotheses in a scaled-down live environment with users to obtain quantifiable proof of the solution’s viability. Scale it: deliver the solution to the masses at speed via easily scalable, API-driven IT architecture and DevOps tools.
By adopting the above approach coupled with proper governance, a lean team of approximately five could deliver impactful solutions over time.
The Benefits to the Table
The value increases because of a positive reinforcing feedback loop whereby the output of the loop (in stage #4), e.g. reusable building blocks, enhances the overall speed in the subsequent loops in the form of contributing more reusable blocks for innovation at speed (stage #2).
The digital lean startup method brings the following benefits to the table:
Addresses the right problems —through constant measurements, validated learning, and hypotheses testing to find out what the market needs.
—through constant measurements, validated learning, and hypotheses testing to find out what the market needs. Saves time and cost — fail fast and repivot quickly when solutions don’t work out; make multiple small investments rather than a single huge one.
— fail fast and repivot quickly when solutions don’t work out; make multiple small investments rather than a single huge one. Achieve speed to market—solutions are built to scale quickly upon proving of value.
In large organisations, especially in times of uncertainty, a separate lean startup team is set up to test innovative ideas that can potentially disrupt and improve existing processes without being constrained by existing workflows.
Set up for Success
A good team consist of a combination of roles and skill sets e.g. UI/UX, DevOps, Developers, Team Lead, Product Owner, Architect, etc. Some members can have a dual role setup as well – the team setup is largely based on the program objectives.
The environment plays a large role in the success of the methodology, and it can be broken down into two parts:
Innovative environment – frequent forum or pitch sessions to provide opportunities to share new ideas and innovation. Also, hire innovative minds from hackathons/events and include relevant case challenges in the hiring process to get good talent. Development environment – available tools and platforms to facilitate collaboration, e.g. developers’ portal, communication channels, innovation platforms, etc.
Another important element for success is inculcating the innovative mindset into the team by fostering governance, e.g. documentation, and adhering to the liquid lean philosophy, e.g. work smarter, not harder; don’t reinvent the wheel, etc.
Some of the potential pitfalls and things to look out for:
Lack of governance and documentation – resulting in confusion, increased overheads and eventual slow delivery.
– resulting in confusion, increased overheads and eventual slow delivery. Poor architecture design/foundation – resulting in monolithic services that are non-reusable and difficult to scale.
– resulting in monolithic services that are non-reusable and difficult to scale. Lack of user and market research – moving too fast into building a solution can result in excessive changes that leads to team burnout.
Takeaway
Overall, when the methodology is applied together with the right environment with proper governance in place, it bring wealth of benefits to your organisation. However, be sure to watch out for potential pitfalls that would disrupt the feedback loop. | https://medium.com/the-internal-startup/the-digital-liquid-lean-startup-methodology-6794376a10ef | ['Jimmy Soh'] | 2020-06-28 15:35:29.043000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Programming', 'Business Strategy', 'Startup', 'Entrepreneurship'] |
DEATH: AN ORGANIC EVENT….. | DEATH: AN ORGANIC EVENT…..
A major realization yesterday, I owe it all to my ‘dead’(it took some time and hesitation to write the word) friend and her graciousness and wisdom of who she was when she was alive and what she gave me with her death news.
Death is a very organic event which has not changed at all. What has changed over time is the meaning we have given it. We call it transition, passing, old age, end of chronic disease,pain reliever, gone,a better place, heaven, sky, angels, COVID,journey….. and many other names depending on our belief systems and also our understanding of that organic event in our lives to give it a meaning to what just happened.
We are going back to basics in so many areas of our lives with this new way of living with COVID that it is about time we go back to basics of acknowledging the word death as an organic event and just see what comes up for us.
So after yesterday’s emotional pain I started contacting all those people that had come to my mind recently and I had not reached out. The reason for me contacting them was not because ‘What if something happens to them or they die(this was not the thought at all even though it seemed like it initially) But on internal investigation, the thought was. “what if something happens to me and I die and I do not get an opportunity to say hello or good byes to them”.
Thinking of death as organic as it is…..brought me closer to myself and my fears. I just had a realization that I am worried about my death also when events like this happens. It gets projected in my worry towards my loved ones and my worry about loosing someone. Isn’t that interesting…I am worried about losing myself to death!!
Such an organic thought and it brought me so much peace in so many ways.Yes, I might die, don’t know how and don’t know when. I never knew that before COVID either. Why is that fear of the unknown so real now. How ignorant to think I had better control of that event in my life earlier. It is okay to be aware of that unknown event. And I want to make sure I do what I need to do, say, feel and express before that time comes
As the meaning we gave, the time frame seemed more farther out with the stories we told ourselves. COVID has come with a gentle reminder that we were in an illusion and not seeing death as a raw organic event.
A practical aspect that we all need to answer this time along with all the self work that is happening is below:
✅Do you have a will?
✅Do you have a power of attorney to make the final decisions for you? If you love your loved ones please do this and help them not have to make a decision for you. You owe them freedom from the guilt and the should’ve and could’ve
✅Have you shared your personal information to the people you trust who can take care of your family after your death. If you have children this is very important to have clarity on. We don’t know when we will die but we know what we would want for them if we died
Very organic and direct questions….but we cannot ignore them. If you don’t have the above in place, I highly recommend you do something about it and start putting it on paper. I sure don’t have it all either
Of course, do it with a smile on your face because death is organic and was always there and will always be there!! It’s the fierce conversations we need to have with ourselves to help give closures to our loved ones when our time comes | https://medium.com/@livenowcoach/death-an-organic-event-a732f56680bd | [] | 2020-05-01 01:31:56.808000+00:00 | ['Covid', 'Todo', 'Death', 'Co Vid'] |
Clarity, consistency, relevance and differentiation. How to get the most from your Brand Definition Workshop. | What’s the point of defining your brand?
It’s all in the title. Really, it is! Your brand is how you influence the way people perceive you and your organisation. You can’t control the way they think about you but you can control your actions and your message. We expand on this in our recent articles about brand and reputation but the key to a powerful brand is clarity and consistency. That doesn’t mean that you need to say the same thing over and over again, it means that you need to show the world the same core principles that inspire everything you do. When you get this right, you will stand out and you will be relevant to your audience. They’re the ones that matter, after all.
“Tell us about the day!”
If you insist! A Puck Creations’ Defining Your Brand Workshop is just like any other workshop really, at least any other workshop in which you have loads of fun, are constantly engaged and learn more than you could have ever imagined. There is a lot of work involved too. Mainly for you, we’re here to guide. We’ll set you up with exercises throughout the day that get you thinking about the key areas of your brand and we’ll get you to consider them differently.
“How do you do that?”
Mainly with mind control. OK, if we’re honest, we haven’t learned that yet so we’ve found other ways that are just as effective. Before we meet, we’ll ask you to bring in team members that focus on different areas of the business. Often, the problem with setting up brand guidelines is that it all comes from the marketing team and nobody else has an input. That rarely turns out well. Another problem is that even when the right people do get together, some voices are louder than others. We facilitate the workshop in such a way that everyone gets their say. After each exercise, we all chat and offer feedback before YOU come to a decision. We’ll use your decisions to create a beautiful but more importantly, informative, brand guide.
“What are the key areas of focus in the workshop?”
WHY! Your WHY or purpose as some call it is a focal point of one of our exercises but it’s intertwined with how you do things (your strategy) and what you do (your tactics). We also work on your vision of the future, your core values, who you’re speaking to, how you’re speaking to them and where you sit within your industry. Sounds simple, right? It is, really. You could work on a lot of these areas by yourself but we set up the exercises to function a little differently. We make sure that everybody in the room gets a say, we make sure that each area is properly understood and we make sure that you leave the room (or Zoom in many cases) on the same page as each of your colleagues. Take a look at King Puck’s Wisdom to get a feel for the topics we cover.
“What do we need to do to get the most from the brand definition day?”
Give the day your full attention. It’s really as simple as that. Stay away from your devices if we are doing an in-person workshop and if we’re doing a remote workshop, turn everything off except the video conferencing tool. We’ll have lots of breaks so if you really need to check messages etc. you can do it then. Otherwise, be present, respect the timings and respect everyone in the room. We’ll guide you through everything else.
“What will we get from the day?”
You will receive a brand guide, which we’re sure you’ll love because as they say, it’s what’s inside that counts:
A defined brand, which leads to…
A clear and consistent message, which leads to…
Potential clients who will trust you and be more likely to buy from you.
Your brand guide will there for you to reference and refer back to when you are communicating in any way, both internally and externally. It will also be there for anybody who is communicating on your behalf (such as Puck Creations when we write content for you that makes your audience think, feel and take action) to ensure clarity, consistency, relevance and differentiation.
Are you ready?
We’ll look forward to seeing you soon. If you’re not signed up to a Defining Your Brand Workshop yet or if you need more information, [email protected]. | https://medium.com/@puckcreations/clarity-consistency-relevance-and-differentiation-323a86e65d41 | ['Stefano Capacchione'] | 2020-12-22 14:30:21.927000+00:00 | ['Branding Strategy', 'Brand Definition', 'Branding', 'Brand Workshop', 'Brand Strategy'] |
My story | TRIGGER WARNING
My story is not meant to be a comparison to yours or to see who had it worse as far as I know we both missed out in life so no one had it worse. I exercised till I couldn’t even bother look at myself in the mirror till I had no hope, till I was crying praying to god to help me, till I just wanted to give it all up and hope tomorrow I’d be gone.
I thought there was such a thing as a bad or good food I thought calories were to be controlled guess what calories were made to determine if your getting just the right amount of jolt to live. Kind of like a charger it gives just the right about of energy to a phone for it to reach 100% and last all day. I am not writing for pity or for someone to feel bad or good I’m writing because maybe you may not know someone around you has an eating disorder or you have one. I writing because that 15 year old me cried each night because she didn’t understand why she’s not happy. A body is temple yes but its not meant to glorified simply appreciated its not meant to be controlled its meant to be. Its hard to think a baby girl brought into a world hating her body why, how is that ok its not. I have lots of things to say but nothing can ever describe what it is I need to say . But I do want to say anything disorder can be overcome because the person who once used to be a baby deserves none of this. I care and I want you to be happy don’t give up you will be happy again. ❤
Resources: | https://medium.com/@lhernandez0072/my-story-4996575a4d47 | ['Samantha Hernandez'] | 2020-12-20 19:22:53.947000+00:00 | ['Anorexia Recovery', 'Eating Disorders', 'Recovery'] |
A Sermon from The Mercy to All the Worlds (s) | (حديث مرفوع) عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ : سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَقُولُ : ” يَا مَعْشَرَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ شَمِّرُوا فَإِنَّ الأَمْرَ جَدٌّ ، وَتَأَهَّبُوا فَإِنَّ الرَّحِيلَ قَرِيبٌ ، وَتَزَوَّدُوا فَإِنَّ السَّفَرَ بَعِيدٌ ، وَخَفِّفُوا أَثْقَالَكُمْ فَإِنَّ وَرَاءَكُمْ عَقَبَةً كَئُودًا لا يَقْطَعُهَا إِلا الْمُخَفِّفُونَ ، إِنَّ بَيْنَ يَدَيِ السَّاعَةِ أُمُورًا شُدُدًا ، وَأَهْوَالا عِظَامًا ، وَزَمَانًا صَعْبًا يَتَمَلَّكُ فِيهِ الظَّلَمَةُ ، وَيَتَصَدَّرُ فِيهِ الْفَسَقَةُ ، فَيُضْطَهَدُ فِيهِ الآمِرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيُضَامُ النَّاهُونَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ ، فَأَعِدُّوا لَذَلِكَ الإِيمَانَ بِاللَّهِ ، وَالْجَئُوا إِلَى صَالِحِ الْعَمَلِ وَأَكْرِهُوا عَلَيْهِ النُّفُوسَ ، وَاصْبِرُوا عَلَى الضَّرَّاءِ تُفْضُوا إِلَى النَّعِيمِ الدَّائِمِ ”
O community of Muslims, roll up your sleeves, for the matter is momentous. Prepare for an imminent journey. Garner provision now as the journey is long. Lighten your loads, for before you is an ascent most steep! Only those traveling lightly shall bear its climb.
O humanity, before the Hour comes, you will see wonders, vast tribulations, and difficult times. Darkness will prevail, and foulness will take the forefront. Those who enjoin right will be oppressed, and those who condemn vice will be suppressed.
Hence, strengthen your faith for that time, and cling to faith as you would clench on for dear life. Flee to righteous deeds, and force yourselves to perform them. Be patient during the difficult times, and you will eventually arrive to eternal bliss. | https://medium.com/the-blessed-hub/a-sermon-from-the-mercy-to-all-the-worlds-s-daa842ebcc42 | ['The Blessed Hub'] | 2015-06-19 15:43:31.595000+00:00 | ['Muslim', 'Religion', 'Islam'] |
Multifamily Market Outlook Panel: Inflation, Lumber Prices, Risks & Opportunities | “Cap rates are getting compressed almost on a week to week basis. People are buying value-add multifamily deals almost like they’re buying a bond, which I think it’s a short-sighted to say the least. Cap rates on new development really haven’t compressed, meaning that untrended yield on cost that a LP investor wants to see on a new development really hasn’t compressed that much. They are sticking to their parameters.
At least from the equity investors. We talked to a lot of private equity, equity investors. And what you have to realize about private equity and equity investors is that they have a host of their own investment investors that they have to answer to. And when they stated a thesis and what they’re going to achieve, they got to do that or they don’t raise fund two or three or whatever their next fund is.
On yield on cost, an LP investor wants to see, in my experience, a 6.5% to a 7% untrended yield on cost for a new development in order for them to say that risk premium of call it two basis points over cap rate of buy in a product right now makes up for the additional risk of doing new development.
And I haven’t seen that come down, even though cap rates for existing multifamily stock have compressed beyond an average of five. I’ve seen stuff trading at, some for which, you know, I’m not even sure how you pencil that.
But I think a lot of people are buying stuff at cap rates at sub four are doing interest only loans for three years. It’s some sort of value add play, and they’re hoping that they’ll get in, do the program, and flip it. And the cap rates will stay, you know, compressed and there’ll be out of it.”
- Jackson Stith | https://medium.com/@minja-yan/multifamily-market-outlook-panel-inflation-lumber-prices-risks-opportunities-924c7e707f45 | ['Minja Yan'] | 2021-06-08 18:18:59.706000+00:00 | ['Commercial Real Estate', 'Real Estate Investments', 'Housing', 'Real Estate', 'Real Estate News'] |
Deliver World-Class Customer Experience Using Robotic Process Automation | For every people-driven business, delivering an exceptional customer experience is the key to thrive in the competition, and the financial services industry is no exception. The businesses dealing in the finance industry strive to create a satisfactory journey for their customers. Process automation in financial services is therefore revolutionizing the industry by making the processes simpler, faster, and easier.
With the implementation of RPA, financial services organizations can achieve an altogether new level of agility and drive in maximum efficiencies. The growth-focused industry leaders are embracing this wave of next-gen technology and openly integrating it with their existing workflows, irrespective of the size of the company. Besides, many major players have already boarded the RPA bandwagon and adding value to their businesses by reaping the numerous benefits it offers.
Process Automation in Financial Services Transforming the Industry
Adoption of RPA in the traditionally conservative industries like finance proves its significance. Process automation in financial services brings in a unique set of capabilities for businesses. It creates unparalleled opportunities for enterprises to be explored and deliver a more personalized customer experience. This new digital workforce has become a differentiator in the financial world and provides a gamut of advantages as elucidated below:
· Streamline Processes
With process automation in financial services, businesses can streamline their front, middle, and back end processes such as customer service, IT operations, marketing, sales, administration or office management, and various others seamlessly. Besides, they can also decrease their compliance backlogs as the new virtual workforce can verify the details in real-time.
· Assured ROI
The digital workforce can work around the clock, thereby saving the important manly hours. These figurative bots can easily perform all the no-brainer tasks with minimal or no human intervention, leading to improved accuracy. With RPA, financial services can gain assured ROI in terms of cycle times, better risk management, and enhanced efficiencies.
· Optimized Costs
Indeed the greatest advantage of implementing RPA is that the financial services industry can significantly cut down their overhead expenses. Numerous bottom-line processes can be conducted in-house, thus reducing the stances of offshoring. Also, companies can defer major IT investments since RPA can be integrated with existing systems. Putting it simply, investments in RPA yields immediate value benefits.
Summing Up
Process automation in financial services aids the organizations by centralizing and streamlining the front, back, and middle-end processes. It enables them to scale new heights in the industry by maximizing profitability, amplifying employee productivity, and driving in greater efficiencies. With the implementation of RPA, financial services workflows become simpler and agile, leading to better outcomes. | https://medium.com/@shaistadamco/deliver-world-class-customer-experience-using-robotic-process-automation-7a597ceb1844 | ['Shaista Haque'] | 2020-12-17 10:10:33.739000+00:00 | ['Roboticprocessautomation', 'Financial', 'Rpa', 'Process Automation', 'Finance'] |
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