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Machines’ key to understanding humans: how I used natural language processing to analyze human sentiment and draw conclusions. | Machines’ key to understanding humans: how I used natural language processing to analyze human sentiment and draw conclusions. Adam Maj Dec 22, 2019·10 min read
Today, there are an estimated 20 zettabytes of data available online. If you have absolutely no idea what a zettabyte is (just like me when I first read that stat), allow me to explain to you how huge that figure is.
Why don’t we start out by understanding what a byte is? The byte is one of the smallest measures of data. A single byte consists of one character and nothing more. The letter ‘a’ or the number ‘2’ or any other such character is a byte.
If we zoom out by a factor of 1000, we are now at a kilobyte. A kilobyte, or 1000 bytes, is the equivalent of an average page of text (which has around 1000 characters). If we zoom out another 1000x, we are at a megabyte which consists of the amount of data as a book with about 1000 pages.
Zooming out another 1000x brings you to a gigabyte which is approximately the amount of data necessary to store the human genome. Yet another 1000x will bring you to a terabyte, consisting of an amount of data equivalent to what you would get if you filmed and stored every moment of your entire life. Bear with me here cause we still got a few more to go.
If we zoom out another 1000x, we get to a petabyte of data. That’s about how much data you would get if you cut down every single one of the 390 billion trees in the Amazon rain forest (I’m not saying you should try this😬) and turned every tree into paper and then covered both sides of every single paper with text. That’s crazy. But wait, there’s more!
Now if you take 1000 of those amazon rain forests full of text, you would have an exabyte. I can’t even imagine how large that is. Finally, if you took another 1000 of those exabytes, you would have one zettabyte. And remember, there are twenty of those on the internet right now. That’s how much data is online right now — its an unimaginable amount.
Humans could never even hope to make use of this insane amount of data available to us. Luckily, we have machines to do just that. Over the past few decades, we have been developing technologies like machine learning to make use of this data to make predictions and solve problems.
However, traditional machine learning strategies do have their limits. They are predominantly effective and analyzing and crunching very structured data. When our data is in the form of numbers, it's very feasible to structure this data into a format that is easily understandable to machines. There’s just one problem here: so much of the data online is in the form of written text, not numbers (like this article, or anything else you’ve read online, and the millions of things you haven’t read online).
Now you may be wondering: Is there a way to build on traditional machine learning strategies to enable machines to analyze text? You may be happy to learn that the answer to that question is yes.
How can machines make sense of text and why should we want them to?
We can use a body of knowledge called natural language processing (NLP) to process verbal data into a format that machines can make use of. In many cases, we can also use a strategy called sentiment analysis to analyze this verbal data and draw conclusions from it. Sentiment analysis is the process of extracting subjective information from the text to gather data and identify the emotion and attitude behind a piece of writing.
It's important to note that natural language processing is a process that we can apply to any data in the form of text to properly prepare. Once this data is prepared, it is in a format suitable to use for things like machine learning algorithms to derive conclusions from them. With this joint use of NLP and ML, we can enable machines to make sense of human language.
The incredible thing about enabling machines to understand language is that the implications are much larger than just creating another glorified math equation to analyze data. The thing about language and text is that a large portion of all human knowledge is contained in some form of text and is available online. Thus, enabling machines to understand language is analogous to granting them access to the knowledge that humanity has gathered over hundreds of thousands of years. This clearly has immense potential.
Using natural language processing and machine learning to analyze customer sentiment.
Alright, now that we know what natural language processing is and why it's so useful, why don’t we take a look at a specific example where it can be used for good.
One of the most common places where NLP and sentiment analysis can be used most effectively relates to customer reviews. There are countless banks of reviews and ratings online about different places, services, and even people. Reviews can often be viewed as constructive criticism which can be used to make improvements to a product.
Take hotels for example. There are hundreds or even thousands of reviews online for each hotel where customers explain what they liked and didn’t like about the hotels. It would be useful for these hotels if they could gather all of the valuable information from these reviews to improve their amenities and services.
Unfortunately for the hotels, there is no efficient way to do this manually. Sitting and reading through hundreds of reviews is impractical. Now imagine how impractical it would be to read through reviews for more popular spots with thousands or even tens of thousands of reviews.
An example of how natural language processing can be used to help analyze important information in reviews and improve customer experience.
Luckily, we can use the intersection between natural language processing and machine learning to analyze such databases of reviews and draw conclusions in a matter of seconds!
We can use these algorithms to draw useful conclusions from reviews that can help to improve the product being reviewed. For example, we can use the combination of natural language processing and machine learning to figure out what people most commonly like and dislike about something. Picking out useful pieces of information like this is clearly valuable.
Let's look at a case where we use both natural language processing and machine learning to analyze customer sentiment in reviews. We can take a look at the process step by step to fully understand what’s actually going on.
Building the algorithm with NLP and ML
Let’s say we have a database of reviews about a product which consist of a verbal review about the product and a corresponding rating. We can use this data to make a useful algorithm. In our example, we’ll say that each review looks something like this:
Rating: 5/5
Review: I loved this product. I loved how easy it was to use and how convenient it was to bring it around. Had great usability. Would recommend it to anyone!
Currently, this is not in a format that is understandable to machines so we will have to turn it into the desired format. Let’s get dive right into the process!
1. Tokenization
The first step to processing our text is called tokenization. This is the process of splitting up the paragraphs and sentences in our review into individual words. This allows us to look at each word on its own to analyze how each word connects to the meaning of an entire block of text.
In its most basic form, tokenization is actually quite simple. The algorithm can just look for common characters that denote separate words. The most obvious of these is the space, which occurs between almost every word. Tokenization also splits up words that follow punctuation. There are some specific cases which are a bit more complex which tokenization deals with (for example, should the two parts of “Mr. Brown” be split up since there is technically a period between them) but overall, the process is simple.
2. Filtering Stopwords
The next step to our natural language processing involves filtering stopwords out of our reviews. Stopwords are words that add little to nothing to the meaning of statements and thus, are irrelevant from an analysis standpoint.
Here is a list of some of the most common stopwords in English
For example, words like “the” or “a” help sentences to flow better and make things sound nicer to readers. However, they add nothing to the meaning of reviews. A review that has the word “the” in it is no more likely to be a good or bad review than anything else. Stopwords tell are not at all correlated with the sentiment of the phrases that they are in and thus, can be removed.
This can be accomplished quite easily by removing all the words in each review that are found in the list of the most common stopwords in the English language.
3. Stemming & Lemmatization
The process of stemming is optional in many cases, but it often helps to improve the quality of the analysis. Stemming is the process where we reduce every word down to its most simple root or lemma. This helps to associate similar words with each other.
For example, the words “consult,” “consultant,” and “consulting” all have similar meanings. Our algorithm can tell this based on the fact that they all have the same root word. Thus, we can reduce all of these words down to their root “consult” to prevent our algorithm from getting confused into thinking that all of these are different concepts.
With all of this natural language processing complete, we can finally move on to applying machine learning to our data to draw conclusions!
4. Applying Machine Learning
Depending on what kinds of results we are trying to derive from our dataset, there are a variety of different machine learning algorithms that we could use. One common algorithm used in sentiment analysis is the Naive Bayes Algorithm which can help to correlate certain words with good and bad reviews. Like this algorithm, there are numerous others that can be used for these purposes.
How can YOU use NLP and sentiment analysis to your advantage?
Now that you know the basics of how natural language processing and sentiment analysis works, why don’t we talk about how you can actually implement these technologies for your own uses. Armed with these tools, you will be able to make the most of the data online to help you in your own endeavors.
There are currently a number of sentiment analysis tools online available that serve a variety of purposes from analyzing reviews to gathering social media sentiment. If you want to learn more about these tools and which one is the best for you to use, this article is a great place to start.
If you suspect that the technologies and tools that are already on the market are not suitable for you, there are a number of other options available. Most notably, you can create your own sentiment analysis algorithm from scratch and tailor it to your own needs. The most common way to do this is to use the programming language Python as there are already a number of tools for you to use with the language that will help you.
You can use web scraping tools like Scrapy to gather useful text data from different online sources in order to make a database for your sentiment analysis. Then, you can use Python tools like the Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK) and VADER to actually analyze the data. By making use of any of these tools and processes, you can fully utilize the massive amount of data available to you today.
Check out my project!
Recently, I used all of these concepts to create a sentiment analysis algorithm to help out Barclays Center in Brooklyn. I used my algorithm to analyze customer reviews to figure out what people most liked and disliked about Barclays Center. Make sure to check out my project below where I explain exactly how I made everything and how it works! Learn about my sentiment analysis algorithm here!
As you can hopefully see, natural language processing has a lot of potential to help us analyze and make use of verbal data. Furthermore, it has even greater potential to make an impact and solve larger problems in the future!
Key Takeaways | https://medium.com/@adam-maj/machines-key-to-understanding-humans-how-i-used-natural-language-processing-to-analyze-human-9745d04e534b | ['Adam Maj'] | 2019-12-25 16:44:41.415000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Sentiment Analysis', 'Programming', 'Naturallanguageprocessing', 'Artificial Intelligence'] |
Stop overcomplicating nutrition! | Stop overcomplicating nutrition!
Christiano Pinto via Unsplash
The science is clear: diets don’t work¹. If you want to lose weight, perform better, feel great, and live a long, healthy life, don’t diet. Let me say that again: don’t diet! Restricting food groups, precisely measuring macros, obsessing over specific phytochemicals, and engineering meals with the perfect number of calories is not the answer. In fact, there isn’t “an answer.” Whatever the current diet trend is (this week, it seems to be keto) isn’t a free ticket to perfect health. Developing a sustainable, enjoyable, healthful way of eating takes intention and patience — and trial and error.
What’s wrong with diets?
A diet is a prescribed type and/or amount of food. Despite the consistent allure of a one-size-fits-all plan, diets aren’t good for health²! Let’s look at why.
Following complicated plans takes enormous mental energy and isn’t sustainable for most people. Whether it’s calculating nutrient ratios or figuring out what you can eat at the party without being “bad,” all this thought has an opportunity cost — the rest of your life. Have you ever started a diet or a health kick only to abandon it a few days, weeks, or months in? It probably took too much energy to keep it up. Food serves many purposes besides providing nutrients; denying yourself the social and pleasure aspects of food can undermine health and wellness³. Nutrition research is notoriously tricky: short-term studies often lack relevance to real-world conditions, so relying on such studies for decision-making is iffy. Long-term cohort studies lack the ability to isolate key variables, so findings from this kind of research are best taken as general guidance and not a specific prescription. This is compounded by methodological concerns like how food intake and metabolism are measured and what outcomes are reported. Plenty of studies cited by diet evangelists weren’t even conducted with humans. The science is helpful in a general sense, but it isn’t perfect! A diet that’s “evidence-based” isn’t necessarily right for you. Conflicts of interest are rampant in how we are socialized to view food and how food is bought, sold, and advertised. Even nutrition research is riddled with bias⁴. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans come not from a professional organization of dieticians but rather from the Department of Agriculture. Government subsidies keep corn and animal products affordable, while many find fresh vegetables and fruits out of reach. Sporting events are sponsored by beer and soda manufacturers. With all this background noise, it’s very difficult to judge the quality of nutrition information you’re taking in.
Back to basics
Have you ever seen someone writing a $10,000 road bike, but their technique is poor, and their fitness isn’t really there? They’re going for the sexy quick-fix — buying some speed in the form of carbon-fiber — but they’d get a lot more bang for their buck with some extra training. The same principle applies to nutrition. Nail the basics first — then you can play with fancy hacks and tweaks if you want to.
The basics are, as Michael Pollan memorably wrote: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants⁵. Translated into practical guidance, this means to eat whole, unprocessed foods, including a variety of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. If you do this, you don’t have to worry about the lycopene in tomatoes, the non-heme iron in spinach, or the grams of protein in your beans. These compounds occur in healthful combinations in the food you eat, and your body utilizes them, and you are nourished.
If whole plant foods are the basis of your diet, it is difficult to eat too much, and if you eat a variety of foods, you will reap the benefit of a variety of phytonutrients, whether or not you know their names. There are plenty of different ways to eat within this basic framework, and that’s a good thing! You can choose what works best for your body and your life.
This seems too simple.
Simple doesn’t mean easy. If it sounds like this can’t possibly be enough advice, stop and ask yourself if you’re really following it. Did you eat vegetables with every meal today? Are you eating a lot of packaged food or restaurant food? Are you trying new things regularly? Are you eating excess food because you’re bored or tired, or upset? Approach yourself with curiosity, and see if you can move closer to consistently nailing the basics. This is where you might benefit from working with a health coach.
If you’re truly eating mostly whole plant foods already, and you’re eating an amount that nourishes your body, awesome! You have my permission to experiment with different styles of eating. Curious about a trend or protocol you’ve seen? Maybe you seek out higher-protein foods and find this keeps you feeling full longer. Maybe you experiment with different kinds of fats and see if your brain feels sharper. The key to this approach is flexibility: try something, and see how it works for you. Pay attention to your response, and if you need to change something, do! The diet won’t care, I promise. | https://medium.com/beingwell/stop-overcomplicating-nutrition-6e93286873e8 | ['Elizabeth Knight', 'Phd', 'Dnp'] | 2021-09-07 02:13:20.445000+00:00 | ['Plant Based', 'Dieting', 'Diet', 'Nutrition', 'Health'] |
Getting the Shoplifting Under Control | A major problem in the retail world is shoplifting.
The Galleria mall is a central hub for people from all over the world that visit Houston to come gather, spend time with family, eat and ultimately shop.
According to VisitHouston.com, an average of 24 million people visit the mall each year, catering to up to 375 stores. Because of this large of a scale, the mall is a major hotspot for shoplifting.
Spencer’s Gifts, known simply as Spencer’s, is just one of the many vendors that is no stranger to retail theft.
As a novelty store, Spencer’s carries a selection of products that appeal to people of all ages. From pop culture apparel to mature collections of adult interests. The store has it all. Their diverse line is what drives the company’s success, but it’s also the reason behind the interest of a shoplifter.
Nicole Wagner, an assistant manager at the store, has had numerous encounters with customers that come to shop but actually have ulterior motives to steal.
“I have worked in retail for 13 years, and it’s pretty bad how often people come in and try to steal,” she says.
Wagner has been with the company for over 4 years and had recently transferred to The Galleria mall location. She explains that she has never seen such a high-risk location as her store because it’s in one of the busiest malls in the district.
Her store’s shrink percentage is just barely below the company’s cutoff. Shrinkage, or shrink, is a retail term for “loss in profits.”
According to the National Retail Federation (NRF) 2020 survey, the retail world suffered a $61.7 billion shrinkage. This a record all-time high for the retail industry. Store’s that have a high shrink rate undergo the target program. The program pushes for better loss prevention methods in order to avoid any more loss in profits because of theft.
“We’ve been on the target program before, but we’ve learned to be more consistent in implementing our loss prevention procedures daily,” says Wagner. | https://medium.com/uhvalentischool/getting-the-shoplifting-under-control-7bf3b78cb0c1 | ['Aj Dayo'] | 2020-12-19 02:51:38.869000+00:00 | ['Shoplifting', 'Retail'] |
8 INCREDIBLE BENEFITS OF HONEY YOU MUST KNOW | Being famous for its luscious taste and loads of health benefits, Honey is a natural liquid produced by bees, which has been around for some 8000 years.
From being used as a sweetener in cooking to being tried in medicinal practices, Honey has always been a supernatural potion widely revered for its benefits.
Although honey exists in several different forms that differ by flavor and color, all of these pack numerous health expediencies and have been proven highly beneficial for the well-being of humans.
Honey Has a Great Nutritional Value:
The main nutritional components of honey are sugars, including fructose (38%) and glucose (31%).
Honey also contains trace amounts of Proteins, Vitamins, and Minerals, which provide it with anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits.
It contains virtually no cholesterol or fats, which makes it highly suitable for people with heart diseases or diabetes.
On average, 1-tbsp of honey contains 64 calories and 17g of sugars. *
On account of its high nutritional value, honey in any of its forms is highly recommended by experts around the world for maintaining sound health.
Highly Rich in Antioxidants:
One of the most vital defense agents of the body are antioxidants, which protect the human body from heart diseases, certain cancers, and other chronic illnesses.
Honey is rich in many important antioxidants, due to which it is super beneficial for people with heart diseases. Experimental data proves that the substitution of honey in some foods for other sweeteners can enhance the antioxidant defense system in adults. *
Antioxidants enhance blood flow to the heart, and prevent clot formation in arteries, hence reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes. *
Moreover, the antioxidants in honey have been proven to lower blood pressure, which is another risk factor for heart problems. *
Ability to Heal Wounds:
Studies conducted by experts have shown honey to be quite beneficial in Healing Wounds and Burns. Due to its antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties, honey has a cleansing action on wounds, stimulates tissue regeneration, and prevents infection.
Moreover, honey has been proven to heal cuts and bruises, or post-operative wounds more effectively than standard treatment methods.
The Physical Properties of honey, like high acidity, osmotic effect, and anti-oxidant contents, make it highly suitable to be used as an ointment for wounds. Its antiseptic nature prevents inflammation of the wound and speeds up the natural healing process.
With its established benefits, honey may be used in wound dressings as a substitute for other ointments, though this has not yet been confirmed.
Health Benefits of Honey:
In addition to medicinal uses, honey also packs some profound health benefits. Numerous experiments have shown its advantages for physical and mental health in humans.
· Honey can be used as a Natural Remedy for Cough. Studies prove that it reduces nighttime cough in children, inhibits allergic reactions, and also helps in falling asleep. Evidence shows that honey could be effective in reducing acute coughs due to respiratory tract infections. Some experts claim it to be even more effective than cough syrup, though there is no sizeable evidence.
· Several studies suggest that honey Manages Cholesterol Levels in the body notably. Honey effectively reduces “bad” cholesterol and raises “good” cholesterol, which reduces the risk of cardiovascular disorders.
· Experiments have also proved honey for Improving Memory and reducing the cognitive decline associated with aging. Honey improves both short-term and long-term memory, leads to significant improvement in learning, and produces neuroprotective effects.
· Minor studies have also shown honey as being Beneficial for Eyesight. It reduces conditions of short-sight and long-sight and improves vision.
Honey is A Natural Energy Source:
With its blend of carbohydrates, water, minerals, and vitamins, honey acts as a great source of instant and sustained energy.
The carbohydrate components of honey are easily absorbed by the body, and provide a quick energy boost. Moreover, the sugars in honey also help in preventing fatigue during exercise.
Experts even suggest that due to its multiple-carbohydrate composition, honey could offer a viable alternative for traditional forms of carbohydrate provisions, hence making it an effective pre-workout energy source for athletes or anyone looking for a natural energy boost. *
In fact, in ancient times, honey was commonly used by warriors and athletes in their diets as well as before and after training.
Numerous Uses for Skin:
In recent times, Honey has been getting attention among physicians for being beneficial for many skin conditions.
Direct application of Honey on infected areas of the skin, helps to overcome conditions like acne, wrinkles, and oiliness. Combined with other natural ingredients, honey can be highly effective for giving us healthier and fresh-looking skin.
· Moisturizing and Hydrating: Honey is a natural moisturizer and hydrates even the most barren of skin. It naturally opens up pores and gets the skin rid of blackheads, hence acting as a clarifying agent for giving a fair complexion to the skin.
· Exfoliating the Skin: Acting as a gentle exfoliator, Honey also rids the skin of dead cells, leaving a radiant and smooth texture on it.
· Treatment of Acne and Scars: Thanks to its anti-bacterial ability, honey is capable of curing and preventing acne spots on the skin. It also lightens scars and minimizes any inflammation, making it suitable for being used as a natural face cleanser.
Having a little honey with warm water early in the morning can increase the metabolic activity of the body, which provides more energy and helps to reduce weight.
Honey is a Good Alternative for Sugar:
Being potentially a little less harmful than sugar, and having a sweeter taste, honey – especially raw honey — might be a good alternative for those looking to cut down on their sugar intake.
While honey may have a bit more calories than sugar, it has a lower GI value, meaning it does not increase sugar levels in the blood as much.
Some studies have shown honey to be less harmful than sugar for diabetics and heart patients. It is widely accepted that the use of a moderate amount of raw honey may be safe for diabetics.
However, there is no substantial scientific evidence for such claims. At the end of the day, honey is still a form of sugar, hence its intake should be moderated.
How Much Honey a Day?
Although having a long history of being used as a sweetener, a medicine, and an ointment, honey may still be harmful if consumed excessively.
According to experts, children under the age of one should NEVER be given honey, as it can cause a serious condition called infant botulism.
According to the American Heart Institution, the adequate number of calories from added sugars, for men and women are:
· Men: 150 Calories per day
· Women 100 Calories per day
This implies that Men can have a little over 3 tablespoons of honey a day, while women should have 2. | https://medium.com/@rayyansaleem1/8-incredible-benefits-of-honey-you-must-know-c11297d5f4a1 | ['Rayyan Saleem'] | 2020-12-27 13:20:44.829000+00:00 | ['Healthcare', 'Articles', 'Health', 'Content Marketing', 'Writing'] |
Can I learn WordPress on my own, and how? | Wordpress website sign up
Yes, you absolutely can learn WordPress on your own but the method you choose will depend on your current skill level, and what you actually want to do with WordPress.
Option 1: Set up a free site
If you want to set up a simple site and just understand the basics of how WordPress works, you can create a free blog on WordPress.com. Use the on-screen guidance to help you installing themes (which affects how your website looks) and installing plug-ins (which affects how your website behaves).
But a free WordPress.com site has certain limitations, especially if you want to make money from the site. Also, if you’re using WordPress to set up a professional online presence, you may prefer to install WordPress with a single click from your web host. That lets you use WordPress on your own domain, and you’re free to promote and sell your products and services.
Option 2: Create a local WordPress installation
If that’s the route you go, you can still learn by doing, but there is a better option. Set up a local installation of WordPress so you can experiment with everything you want to try without breaking your live site. A good tool for creating a local version of WordPress is Local by Flywheel. It’s much easier to use than some of the other popular options like XAMPP.
Option 3: Learn to code
If you want to code your own WordPress site, then you need to learn PHP, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. These are the code languages that WordPress is built on. HTML is the markup language that powers most of the web. PHP is a website scripting language. JavaScript is another scripting language that lets you create interactive elements or pull in functionality from external sites. And CSS helps to apply a style or format to your website. You can learn about some core web technologies on the Mozilla Developer Network.
Option 4: Join WordPress forums
There are several forums where you can learn more about using WordPress. Because WordPress has been around for quite a while, it’s got a huge community of developers and users worldwide.
For example, there are forums on WordPress.org where people share their technical problems and get answers. For most issues, you will often find that your burning questions have already been asked and answered.
In addition, if you are using a premium WordPress theme, those developers usually have their own forums where they deal with any issues their customers are facing. Simply reading through the forum content can give you a good idea of what’s possible in WordPress.
Option 5: Learn from books and courses
Finally, don’t underestimate the value of books and courses when trying to learn WordPress on your own. But note that with major interface updates to WordPress between 2018 and 2019, you need to ensure that the resources you choose give you information about the latest version of the software.
Use all of these options together, and you will be able to work on your own to get a comprehensive education in WordPress. See below for some additional resources which will help you:
1) Online resources
2) Books
3) Podcasts
4) Conferences | https://medium.com/@nicologrossi/can-i-learn-wordpress-on-my-own-and-how-1240b09715eb | ['Nicolo Grossi'] | 2020-08-07 14:49:50.110000+00:00 | ['Blog', 'Wordpress Web Development', 'Website Development', 'WordPress'] |
How Georgia’s Probation System Squeezes the Poor and Feeds Mass Incarceration | How Georgia’s Probation System Squeezes the Poor and Feeds Mass Incarceration
Poor Georgians are falling victim to probation policies that enrich private companies and contribute to recidivism rates.
By Andrea Young, Executive Director, ACLU of Georgia
NOVEMBER 13, 2018 | 5:30 PM
Charles “Skip” Eckartz, a 63-year-old disabled veteran, and his wife, Virginia “Ginny” Eckartz, were arrested in their Georgia home for manufacturing marijuana. They were incarcerated for five days until Ginny was able to use the small inheritance she’d received after her mother’s death as collateral for their bond.
Although all of the charges were dropped against his wife, Skip accepted a plea agreement that allowed him to avoid a felony conviction and up to 10 years in prison. Skip, who had no criminal history, was sentenced to five years of felony probation under the First Offender Act in Georgia.
Unfortunately, Skip didn’t realize that probation, which is promoted as a way to keep people out of jail and prison, is actually one of Georgia’s main feeder systems of incarceration. In 2016, Georgia had more people on felony probation — close to 206,000 people on felony probation — than any other state in the nation.
In addition to his sentence, Skip was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine plus court costs and fees. The Eckartzes survive on a fixed income of $965.89 a month. They net just under $12,000 a year, and owe the state almost $10,000 in fees and fines that Skip is required to pay as a condition of probation. The result: Skip is forced to decide between paying the lease on his home, or fines and fees. He lives with the constant threat that if he continues to miss payments, he could be thrown into prison and given a criminal record for the first time in his life.
There are thousands of people on probation in Georgia facing similarly grim prospects. It is true that probation is typically preferable to imprisonment. However, people convicted of felonies spend, on average, over six years on probation in Georgia. The lengthy supervision terms contribute to high rates of recidivism, given the risk of a simple mistake during this time, like a failed drug test, new offense, or the inability to pay fees and fines that are a condition of probation. A Pew study found that probation revocations accounted for 55 percent of all prison admissions in Georgia.
The problem isn’t limited to probation in cases of felonies, and in fact can be even worse for people sentenced for low-level offenses. In Georgia, misdemeanors also carry the possibility of probation, in addition to hefty fees and fines. And unlike many other states, people sentenced for these low level offenses in Georgia are often placed on “pay-only” probation — probation imposed just because a person cannot afford to pay fines and fees. Private probation companies, which oversee misdemeanor probation in the state, generate mass profits off the mass incarceration system. Thus, private probation, along with the practice of using cash bail for low level offenses, have turned Georgia’s jails into debtor’s prisons.
For example, in Georgia, a traffic offense, such as a speeding ticket or driving with a suspended license, can result in fees and fines of up to $1,000. While putting a person who cannot afford to pay on probation may prevent them from being immediately incarcerated, it requires the individual to pay additional monthly supervision fees to the private probation company on top of the original fines, causing sums to multiply and making it more likely the person will miss a payment and be jailed. Thus, the entire practice of using probation to collect debts for minor offenses is itself highly questionable.
There is insufficient oversight over how these companies collect fines and fees, and whether they abide by constitutional standards. As a result, Georgians have been forced to pay additional fees to private probation companies for GPS ankle monitors and alcohol and drug testing, even without a judge’s order. Furthermore, when a poor person falls behind on their payments, they are threatened with the prospect of incarceration in violation of basic rights to a hearing and representation by counsel.
Recent years have seen some improvements to this grim reality. After receiving a traffic ticket in 2015, Kevin Thompson, a teenager at the time, was placed on probation with a company called Judicial Correction Services, Inc. (JCS) and required to pay not only his court fines but also the company’s supervision fees in 30 days. Thompson did his best to pay JCS by doing odd jobs despite the fact that he was an unemployed teenager, who did not have a valid driver’s license. But when he couldn’t pay, he was jailed for five days.
The ACLU filed a federal lawsuit against DeKalb County and JCS, charging that Thompson’s constitutional rights were violated when he didn’t receive an ability-to-pay hearing or counsel. The lawsuit was settled with reforms that changed the way court fines and fees are collected in DeKalb County. The court that unlawfully jailed Thompson adopted a “bench card” guiding judges on how to determine an individual’s ability to pay, use alternatives to jail for the poor, and protect the right to counsel. Ultimately, the state of Georgia entirely dissolved the court that has used private probation to squeeze people like Thompson for money, underscoring just how unlawful the practices challenged by this lawsuit had been.
Thompson’s lawsuit was also part of a broader reform of Georgia’s private probation system. In 2015, Georgia implemented laws to cap fees and limit the length of time probation companies can charge supervision fees. Furthermore, Georgia instituted a hearing requirement before private probation companies can throw people in jail. This caused Sentinel, a private probation company, to leave the state after they could no longer reap huge profits from Georgians on probation. However, other companies, like CSRA Probation Services, continue to get rich by preying on vulnerable populations in the state.
While Georgia has made significant progress in criminal justice reform under Gov. Nathan Deal, there is more work to do. Impactful and lasting criminal justice must both eliminate private probation and reform felony probation so that Georgians aren’t penalized for the amount of money in their pockets. | https://medium.com/aclu/how-georgias-probation-system-squeezes-the-poor-and-feeds-mass-incarceration-e77d2d20f3b7 | ['Aclu National'] | 2018-11-14 15:09:03.327000+00:00 | ['Speak Freely', 'Criminal Justice', 'Mass Incarceration', 'Criminal Justice Reform'] |
An Introduction to Natural Language Processing (NLP) Terms — part 2 | Introducing more NLP terms
In an earlier blog I gave an introduction to NLP, how it works, and some beginning terms. In this blog, I’ll add more terms.
Tokenize
This means splitting a document into parts of language. Usually, this means splitting into words, but we can also tokenize sentences, or even individual letters or characters. We tokenize our text to create word embeddings.
“This” “sentence” “is” “tokenized” “by” “words”
Stop Words
Stop words are frequently occurring words that don’t add to the meaning of our text. Words like “the”, “of”, “and”, “a”, “to”. We often want to remove these words to reduce the size of the text document and make sure that meaningful words have more impact. The top 25 words in the English language make up almost a third of all written material.* Removing stop words is an easy way to make a dramatic size reduction in our text document.
* Source: The Reading Teacher’s Book of Lists
Stop Words
However, we don’t always want to remove all stop words. Words that are negations often reverse the meaning of the sentence, so it may not make sense to remove them. The most common negations are: “not”, “no”, “don’t”, “never”, “didn’t”. Even words like “hardly”, “seldom” “a little” can change the meaning of a sentence.
N-grams
N-grams are word combinations that make more sense when they are grouped than when they are separated. For example, the words “Los” and “Angeles” have a much more specific meaning when joined together as “Los Angeles”. Los Angeles is two words — so is known as a bi-gram. In the same way, New York City is a tri-gram.
Stemming
Stemming involves removing the prefix or suffix of words so that only the base of the word remains. (Note: in Python, most common English language stemmers focus on suffixes and not prefixes.) So, playing and play would be treated as the same word. Sometimes you get some weird spelling when the stemmer chops off the end of the word — ponies become poni for example.
A Stemmed Poni … where’s my “y”
Lemmatization
Lemmatization is similar to stemming but more sophisticated. It reduces a word to its root meaning or lemma. This may be a different word. For example the lemma for “am”, “are”, “is”, “being”, “was”, were” is “be”. Also, some libraries like spaCy will convert all pronouns into “PRON”. Lemmatization uses a dictionary like WordNet to retrieve the correct lemma.
Which method should you use? Lemmatization is generally more accurate, but it takes longer to run as it uses a dictionary, rather than an algorithm. Lemmatization doesn’t work with unknown words that are not in the dictionary.
Part of Speech
POS is used to identify the meaning of a word in a sentence. It involves assigning each word its related part of speech. It is useful for determining different meanings of words. For example, in the sentences below, “run” is used twice, but it has different meanings. POS tag can identify that it is a noun in the first sentence and a verb in the second.
The movie had a record-breaking run (noun) at the box office. I had to run (verb) to catch the bus.
Noun Phrase Extraction
This is a way to identify noun phrases in the text and extract them. This can give you some sense of the overall topic of the text. For example, noun phrases for Los Angeles could include: Pacific Ocean, palm trees, entertainment industry, and theme parks
Los Angeles
Keyphrase Extraction
Extracting keywords or phrases from the text that represents the main idea of the content. This provides a concise summary of the text.
Name Entity Recognition
This is a tool to identify important entities in the text. These entities include person, organization, location, time, and date. Here’s an example using the Stanford CoreNLP library, with text from Wikipedia.
Source: Stanford CoreNLP Demo
https://corenlp.run/
TF-IDF
TF-IDF stands for Term Frequency — Inverse Document Frequency. TF-IDF is a method to determine the most important words in each document when compared with a group of documents. The idea is that if a word is common to every document, then it doesn’t add any extra meaning to a specific document, so it can be down-weighted. However, if a word occurs frequently in a specific document, but seldom occurs in other documents, then it does contribute to the meaning of that document.
Sentiment Analysis
Sentiment Analysis is evaluating the feeling or attitude of text, as to whether it is positive, neutral, or negative. This is especially popular in analyzing social media, customer reviews, and brand monitoring. It can even be applied to emojis. There are some drawbacks to sentiment analysis. Context is important — consider “That was a close shave” — great for a razor, terrible for an airport incident. People often use negative words for a positive meaning “That was sick”, and positive words for a negative meaning … especially with irony and sarcasm.
A close shave
Happy NLP’ing.
- Andrew
References
The Reading Teacher’s Book of Lists, 6th Ed, by Jacqueline Kress, Edward Fry
Stanford CoreNLP Library
CoreNLP Demo | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/an-introduction-to-natural-language-processing-nlp-terms-part-2-86e248f16cd3 | ['Andrew Jamieson'] | 2020-10-26 12:18:09.479000+00:00 | ['Naturallanguageprocessing', 'Deep Learning', 'Natural Language Process', 'NLP'] |
8 Different Ways To Model Your Business’s Growth | If you run an existing small business or want to introduce sustainable business growth to your startup, then the subject of growth modeling is especially relevant to you.
In this article, we’ll walk through the following essentials:
Growth modeling for bootstrapped businesses vs. venture capital-funded businesses
businesses vs. businesses Explaining why an organization might use different growth modeling strategies
an organization might use different growth modeling strategies 8 different growth models you can use, including what organizations they target, their pros and cons, and analytics requirements for every model
A growth model is a representation of business metrics that can identify key drivers in your business’s growth and help you project key variables for the future of your company.
When built right, a good growth model can map out the user growth and expenses of a startup or small business. It can also provide the opportunity to test your underlying assumptions and contrast different business choices. It’s handy for people who run small businesses and for entrepreneurs to effectively build a financial plan that can help to answer questions about financial profitability and sustainability.
Bootstrapped vs. VC-Funded Business Growth
Before getting into the importance and usage of available growth models, let’s shed a little light on how growth modeling can be applied to bootstrapped businesses versus venture capital-funded businesses. This is not a debate over which business type is better, but is instead an analysis of three important factors that will have a vital effect on business or startup decisions.
Bootstrapped businesses vs. Venture capital-funded businesses
As you might expect, bootstrapped businesses need to be more conservative and strategic with their expenditures in order to achieve sustainable growth. However, there is increased pressure on VC-funded companies to demonstrate rapid growth on a strong trajectory in order to earn sufficient funding.
Growth Modeling Strategies
Businesses do not grow by accident. Especially in their early stages of growth, they must implement suitable growth strategies to move in the right direction.
Growth can be defined in a number of ways, but it tends to include top-line revenue growth, the movement of the business into bigger premises, taking on more staff, significant increases in turnover, taking on a new product line or lines, buying another business, and similar landmarks.
It becomes necessary to adopt a growth strategy when your company begins to experience obvious indications of rapid growth. If you do not track or plan your growth, then you will miss out on key opportunities and fail to expand in a way that is sustainable.
Using a combination of multiple growth strategies can be fruitful for companies depending upon factors in their checklist, such as company size, financial situation, target market, resources, company’s age, customer structure, scale of operations, market position, current circumstances, ability, and context.
Three types of growth modeling strategies are explained below.
Scaling strategy
The main purpose of the scaling strategy is to increase the product’s adoption within the company’s established area of expertise. This approach targets existing customers and can also attract new customers by using existing production channels.
This strategy requires a lot of investment and a large matrix of people. As a result, VC-funded businesses may be better suited to implement this strategy than bootstrapped businesses. Small businesses can only adopt this method if their existing product is in line with market expectations. This tactic allows businesses to build a relationship with a wider audience and generates useful input for a growth model built on existing infrastructure.
Duplication Strategy
This strategy diversifies your product offering by launching existing models and services into new and different regions. These regions can either be geographical or online. This strategy can be a risky one and should only be adopted if your company is in a strong financial position. Businesses that are still transitioning from survival to growth should not attempt this strategy.
Granulating
This strategy can be handy for early-stage businesses. Granulating focuses on the aggressive growth of small units, also known as subsidiaries, in fresh and new areas of the market by utilizing existing resources and business information. It should be noted that to achieve this goal, a proper set of previous resources and market knowledge must be regularly maintained to use for granulating further.
Founders can combine these growth strategies to ensure long term competitive advantages for their businesses. As with all experimentation, it’s best to attempt new growth strategies in a limited capacity before expanding them across your organization.
8 Different Growth Models
After identifying the appropriate growth model strategy (or combination thereof), your business will be ready to implement growth models, track business output, and achieve targeted milestones.
This model, proposed by Jaakko Piipponen, takes its inputs from data exported from QuickBooks and Baremetrics (or similar business intelligence tools). Each factor in this model is modular, so that expanding certain areas in the future becomes hassle free. It tracks overall business growth for SaaS companies and allows founders to consider the following factors:
Key determinants of business revenue
Progress ratio of the business and factors affecting
Reporting & Analytics:
This model requires you to export monthly profit and loss reports, current cash balance, active customer breakout and graph, and upgrade information. Then you must feed your model with data regarding expenses, income, and cost of sold items. All of this is to be entered in categorized form.
The payroll section requires information about employees, their salaries, and data about contractors if there is any.
The main purpose of this model is to help businesses adapt to the likely challenges that come with rapid growth. Growing pains can be caused by a variety of negative factors, and it’s necessary to tackle them proactively. Greiner’s Growth Model addresses growing pains in the following areas:
Leadership (communication about information starts to fail)
Red Tape (slower decision making)
Control (new hierarchy emerges in place of formal management)
Growth (slow growth due to lack of new ideas)
Reporting & Analytics:
In smaller firms, the staff is small and the founder is busy creating products for market. But as the staff and company grows, more capital is injected and production is expanded, which leads to leadership crises that need to be handled.
As the business grows further, rules and procedures needs to be standardized so that middle managers have more autonomy to avoid crisis.
Pros & Cons:
This model helps both small and large firms to identify growing pains as they emerge.
It is simple to use, but it ignores the fact that not every business faces crisis as they march toward growth.
It is not possible in this model to track the exact growth phase in advance, as it lacks the ability to track rapidity of growth in a dynamic environment.
This model, which is built into the LivePlan platform, enables your business to derive performance insights and grow through secure funding. It has over 850,000 small business customers. The ability to build business plans, create budgets and forecasts, and connect to QuickBooks or manual accounting information lets users track business plans efficiently.
Reporting & Analytics:
Financial statements of five years are taken into account, including balance sheet income and cash flow statements.
Revenue modeling considers monthly or annual plans for recurring fees, pricing, and churn.
Cost modeling lists out the pricing options for contractors, clients, and suppliers.
Pros & Cons:
Dozens of financial metrics to track financial performance and growth are available in this plan for a reasonable cost.
The absence of SaaS metrics is a negative factor for SaaS entrepreneurs, as it does not support tech startups.
Costs and departments cannot be categorized by profit and loss.
Ben Murray, the CFO of Mobile Solutions, has built this Excel sheet model for startups to articulate their financial forecast. The latest 1.60 version possesses the feature to include actual historical data.
Reporting & Analytics:
Monthly and annual plans are tracked separately
You can use recurring revenue to project growth for about five years. This requires input values for customer count and revenue expansion.
The operating expense model takes in the indirect expenses like rent, traveling, and consultant costs for early startups.
Pros & Cons:
It is free and focused exclusively on SaaS determinants. Subscription plan tracking, whether monthly or annually is offered separately.
Client upgrade input needs to be entered manually on a monthly basis, which is hectic.
This SaaS model, which was created by Taylor Davidson, contains three prebuilt statements for five years. It targets headcount, revenue planning, direct and indirect costs, sales pipeline, annual hiring plan, financial sheets, forecasting, and projections.
Reporting & Analytics:
Reports are generated using industry-standard measures, which help to communicate your business’s growth externally.
This model consists of finance graphs and SaaS units that break down by both department and profit-and-loss. Revenue modeling is flexible and permits customization for pricing and pipelines.
Pros & Cons:
This model also works for Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel and supports all currencies with a fully customizable dashboard.
This app is unique when we talk about SaaS solutions for startups. It is more flexible than a traditional Excel sheet and comes with built-in templates for cost and revenue modeling so you don’t need to build it from scratch, especially when you are starting a small business.
Reporting & Analytics:
Ability to create charts, boards, and tables for financial investors.
Business growth can be depicted using one of the templates by feeding in proper business information.
Use cases can be generated for venture capital management and planning.
Pros & Cons:
It is a user-friendly, modern approach that still offers deeper metrics.
A bit more time is required than a traditional template to learn and set up.
This popular business growth plan is offered in the form of a free Excel template. It’s customizable to meet the needs of most businesses.
Reporting & Analytics:
Its financial forecast incorporates your business strategy.
It handles cash flow management and validates hypotheses via an iterative process.
Pros & Cons:
It is used by 250,000 entrepreneurs and offers individual tabs for configuration, orders, investments, financial tables, and personnel, and it has a guide tab with all basic steps required to implement the plan.
It isn’t tailored for SaaS companies.
It is totally in French and built for French users.
This growth model is specifically designed for use by startups. As a paid model, it comes with an abundance of features to enable business growth, including:
Recurring sales models
Reports are produced and calculated autonomously
Definite marketing report with all the client’s lifetime worth measures
Reporting & Analytics:
To prepare financial sheets, you can work online within Excel and it will effortlessly calculate financial ratios and outputs.
161 currency options are available, and by entering information for direct and indirect employees and seed capital, a cap table is automatically generated.
Pros & Cons:
Hardware setups and their cost or revenue can also be managed.
It does not provide options to edit formulas for upgrades or downgrades.
Conclusion
All business growth models have their own built-in assumptions, which you can tailor to your business needs and circumstances. Whether you run an early stage startup or a faster-growing business, these models are useful for tracking a range of key stats.
Multiple factors can influence the appropriateness of a growth model for your business, so choose carefully. Firms should wisely evaluate and select their core growth models, whether their growth strategy is organic — (through internal assets) or inorganic (also referred as acquisition-based growth) — in accordance with the objectives on table.
Regardless of your preferred strategy for monitoring growth, Crowdbotics can help you implement best-in-class business intelligence tools. Get in touch with our expert PMs today to discuss how we can level up your organization’s analytics. | https://medium.com/crowdbotics/8-different-ways-to-model-your-businesss-growth-2cf162c1fd5 | ['Allah-Nawaz Qadir'] | 2020-12-31 20:40:07.888000+00:00 | ['Business Intelligence', 'Crowdbotics', 'Business', 'Analytics', 'Growth Hacking'] |
A Guide To Being A Competitive Coder At DA-IICT | In this blog Nishant Shah, B.Tech 3rd-year student and Convener of the Programming Club at DA-IICT shares his experience in Competitive Programming. It will also be helpful for someone who wants to begin with Competitive Programming and excel at it. Currently, Nishant is ranked Top 17 in Codeforces and Top 30 in CodeChef in India. He also achieved global rank 5 in Google Kickstart Round G 2020.
A Complete Roadmap
What is Competitive Programming?
Competitive Programming (Also referred to as CP) is about problem-solving, a “mind sport” in which the contestants have to solve the problems and write a computer program of the solution. In simple terms, it is about solving logical and mathematical puzzles and then writing a code that simulates the process of solving the puzzle. It is required that the program produces the correct solution of the described puzzle and executes under the given time and memory limits.
A way to practice; from Novice to Expert:
Get Started
The first step into Competitive Programming is to learn a programming language. It is good to learn the C language in the beginning as it is easier. C language is also taught in the first semester’s programming course at DA-IICT. After going through some of the basics of the language, you can start solving problems from the “Problem Solving” section on HackerRank. I recommend for beginners to start with HackerRank. It has a decent number of problems placed in a well-defined manner according to the tags & difficulty.
Programming Club sessions at DA-IICT will also help you to learn the C language and build logic for basic problems. It is of utmost importance that you learn about the syntaxes, built-in functions, and library functions such as STL in C++, Big Integers in Java, etc. C++ is very similar to the C language. It has some useful libraries that make the implementation of Algorithms and Data Structures easy. Also, C++ will be the language that you will be using in Programming contests. You can learn it through any online resources.
Nearly every coding problem will require the use of a specific Data Structure or Algorithm (DSA) for an optimal solution. Knowing basic DSA techniques before you start is a must; DSA make programs more efficient. Know some basic Algorithms like sorting, searching, number theory, etc. You can also learn DSA through CodeMonk Tutorial on HackerEarth.
2. Enter the Competition
Start competing on an online platform such as AtCoder (Atcoder Beginner contests) and Codeforces, (Division 3 contests). After solving a good number of problems (around 100 to 120), you will start understanding the nature of problems and implement your logic into code without much effort. In the beginning you may feel that the problems are tough and that you are not made for it or your thinking ability is not much higher to solve these questions.
The reason is as a novice you just see the syntax of the language and some basic loops or function; consequently, you need to continue taking part in contests. When you get stuck on any problem, you can check out the contest’s editorials and discussion forums and learn how the problems are solved.
3. Programming Contests
Take part in various online coding competitions where you can learn about different coding style and learn about areas where you need more practice. By correcting our mistakes & failures, we ultimately help ourselves make that long leap to success. For example, take part in CodeChef’s monthly long challenges, where you will learn many advanced Algorithms and Data Structures. Programming contests are fun and exciting and it forms the “Competitive” part of CP. Programming contest is a real-time competition among competitive programmers worldwide, who compete to solve the same set of problems in the given time duration (generally, 2 to 3 hours). The participants are ranked according to the number of problems solved and the time taken by them to solve the problem. In many of the contests, there are various rewards for the top contestants. Some of the most popular ones are Codeforces, Atcoder, CodeChef, TopCoder, Facebook HackerCup, Google Hash Code, Google Kickstart etc. The ICPC, formerly known as ACM-ICPC (Association for Computing Machinery — International Collegiate Programming Contest), is considered as the “Olympics of Programming Competitions.”There are many helpful resources available online for free like CP-algorithms, CSES, Codeforces blogs where you can learn about the nitty-gritties of competitive programming.
Why has Competitive Programming gained so much importance?
Problem Solving skill is vital for engineers. Problem-solving and critical thinking are the primary skills that competitive programmers develop through solving problems. By taking part in the contests, you learn to focus, write efficient and compact code, learn good implementation skills, minimize the code’s errors, and quickly debug the mistakes. With a sufficient amount of practice, intelligence and coding improves a lot. Competitive Programming is also helpful in clearing coding and technical rounds in many of the top software companies. Employers highly value skills gained through Competitive Programming because competitive programmers own the raw talents and skills to be one of the best engineers. Competitive Programming develops creativity and patience as we spend countless hours for problem-solving and we have a constant desire for perfection, which is necessary for success.
My Journey of Competitive Programming at DAIICT:
I hardly knew about programming when I joined DA-IICT. After joining the college, we had the Programming Club’s orientation, in which I got to know about Competitive Programming. I also saw many posts on quora mentioning the great coding culture at DA-IICT and its performance at the world level. I found it very interesting, and it was also well appreciated, so I decided to give it a try.
Nishant and his team during ICPC regional round
I started by learning the C language from the textbook, and after having enough of it, I started solving basic problems on HackerRank (the only platform I knew at that time). Since laptops were not allowed in the first semester, I used to go to the Digital Library and practice there along with some of my batchmates. We also had sessions of “Programming Hours” in the computer lab, where the seniors taught us programming concepts. This cycle of learning and competing among the batchmates was really exciting, and I was determined to go deeper into it.
In my first-year winter break, I got to know that solving basic programming problems on HackerRank wasn’t enough, and it is necessary to learn some Data Structures and Algorithms to solve tough problems. I began learning those from the CodeMonks tutorial in HackerEarth. In the meantime, I also realized that C language is not sufficient to implement these algorithms and that competitive programmers use C++ because of its wide range of libraries, which makes it easier to code. In January 2019, some of my batchmates decided to start competing in live contests on CodeForces. It was the first time I took part in a rated contest. During my summer break, two of my seniors, along with me, formed a team for ACM ICPC. We spent around a month in the college in the summer vacation, learning advanced algorithms and practising for ACM ICPC. That was the time when I learnt most of the things of CP. The ACM ICPC online round came in September 2019, and my team got selected in two regionals. Our hard work seemed to pay off, and it boosted me to practise more rigorously, and I kept taking part in various contests, learning newer topics, and of course, practising problems.
Nishant Shah
Your patience, commitment, and uniformity are very important to become a good competitive programmer. Keep practising the coding questions every single day on these platforms. DA-IICT provided me with a community of like-minded people who have different skillsets in coding. Moreover, India is turning into a digital and start-up hub, and coding skills are just starting the in-demand climb. | https://medium.com/@daiictweb/a-guide-to-being-a-competitive-coder-at-da-iict-3a343a55fb7b | ['Da-Iict Blog'] | 2021-01-16 03:30:48.151000+00:00 | ['Codingbootcamp', 'Coding', 'Programming', 'Competitive Programming'] |
Reef Chain Developer Support Program | At Reef Finance we are all-too-familiar with the notion that all founders go through the growing pains of scaling a company. As we get ready to launch Reef Chain, we want to ease the building and ecosystem expansion hurdles by offering ample support to projects looking to enter the Polkadot ecosystem to build on Reef Chain.
In our effort to support the burgeoning Polkadot ecosystem and to support DApp developers looking to access our multichain future, we initiated the Reef Chain Developer Support Program, to provide unparalleled guidance and mentorship to those teams and entrepreneurs currently building on Polkadot Network and EVM-compatible blockchains.
Reef Chain Developer Support Program
Our goal for this program is to provide support to companies through their development cycle as well as what it takes to build a successful company. Reef Finance consists of a team of multi-discipline advisors, mentors, and employees that you can count on to support you in all the various ways you can and can’t think of yet. Many unforeseen challenges lie ahead, and we’d like to highlight a few key areas in which we can support you in your journey.
Partnerships: Our team has engaged with some of the most formative projects in the DeFi space that have helped elevate Reef Finance to the prolific DeFi Polkadot brand it is today. By joining the ecosystem companies building on Reef Chain, you will have access to our network of partners that have helped Reef pave the way to make DeFi easy.
Marketing and PR: Our active participation, engagement, and involvement with our community have helped us become the largest community in the Polkadot ecosystem. With our experience and skills, we will help craft your story and negotiate on your behalf with our network of influencers. Through Reef Finance you will also be able to utilize the relationships we have established to build your project’s credentials and visibility.
Advisory: We advise and support the developers throughout their project journey on the Reef Chain. Reef Finance is a collective of some of the most talented industry veterans on the team who understand the blockchain industry and have the right connection for whatever need arises. We want projects building on Reef Chain to succeed and so will be happy to pitch in in whatever capacity on recommendations for best in class for whatever connections may be needed. We will offer this support to projects who work with us and demonstrate the initiative to help us evolve the Reef Chain and complete our ecosystem.
Grants: Reef Finance aims to make DeFi easy for everyone and encourage the development of solutions for our developer community. With the launch of our grants program, we want to support the necessary components of the Reef ecosystem.
From Hackathons to one-offs, we want developers to feel confident to count on us for support. We will be running focused campaigns but for now, our doors are always open to your ideas.
Investor Access: Reef Finance had the opportunity to raise from and collaborate with some of the most insightful investors in crypto. If you’re a project currently raising or it is in your roadmap, we would love to help you shape your cap table with the right caliber of investment teams that can support you throughout your journey, not only in short-term benefits. We’d be happy to make introductions to our investor network that serve the needs of verticals ranging from Defi to NFT economy.
Tokenomics: Our team will help and advise developers on optimizing various aspects of tokenomics like allocation per tranche, pricing, vesting schedules, and valuation guidance. We will also help projects frame their investment narrative to ensure that it is viewed in the best light by the right investors.
IDOs and Exchanges: Reef Finance was the first project in the Polkadot ecosystem to be on two of the largest global exchanges, Binance and Huobi Global. Reef Finance also has a strong connection with PancakeSwap, a leading DEX. Our team can assist projects in getting the conversation started and help you understand the process of getting listed on top exchanges as well as help with processes in high-intensity situations that require finesse.
We want to help you achieve what you set out to do and to avoid potential landmines, join us and be part of Reef Developer Support Program by filling out this form to begin the conversation: https://bit.ly/3t9FLlb
About Reef Finance
Reef is the first cross-chain DeFi operating system built on Polkadot. With a seamless user interface, Reef offers its users a smart liquidity aggregator and yield engine that enables trading with access to liquidity from both CEXes and DEXes while offering smart lending, borrowing, staking, mining through an AI-driven personalized Reef Yield Engine.
Learn about Reef’s recent official news: Website | Twitter | Telegram | https://medium.com/reef-finance/reef-chain-developer-support-program-674819d6dca6 | [] | 2021-05-03 15:52:03.656000+00:00 | ['Support', 'Program', 'Developer', 'Reefchain'] |
Tagalong with the best Athletes in the World | Interview with Nick Karwoski, CEO of Tagalong
Interview with Nick Karwoski, CEO of Tagalong
Tell us about your business. What do you do?
Tagalong is a platform for fitness enthusiasts to find, hire and train with Professional Athletes. Tagalong athletes can hire Pro’s to speak with them about their training, create custom training plans or meet up in person (or virtually) to workout.
What is your startup’s origin story?
A professional athlete’s life is not as glamorous as it appears. Training full time for the 2016 Rio Olympics, National Team Triathlete Nick Karwoski found it difficult to support himself financially. As a means to supplement his income, he decided to bring his knowledge and expertise to amateur athletes who wanted skilled guidance in swimming, cycling and running. Nick quickly achieved success as a pro trainer and enjoyed the experience of helping people realize their athletic potential. Seeing his teammates and fellow pro athletes in other sports struggling financially as he once had, he realized that if he could do this, he could help others do it too. Nick decided to create a mobile platform that allowed people find, hire and train with Professional Athletes. The Pros would be able to supplement their income while training and the athletes/users would be able to train and get access to some of the best athletes in the world.
Tagalong’s mission is to connect athletes to help them improve together. In an increasingly impersonal world, Tagalong differentiates itself from other fitness websites and apps by providing the ultimate personalized training experience offering one-on-one in person or virtual training sessions, customized training plans and consultation calls. We want Pros to share the love of their sport with others and the knowledge they’ve obtained on how to succeed. We want amateur athletes to be open minded, willing to experience new things and take risks knowing that our Pros will help them every step along the way while having fun and staying safe. For us, it’s not solely about the end result. We want athletes to enjoy the journey in getting there.
Had you been involved in the industry before this startup? What is your background?
In addition to building Tagalong from the ground up, Nick has proven success in helping grow other startups. At Hydrow, a company that is rapidly gaining a foothold on companies like Peloton and Nordictrack, Nick leads as their top athlete and most requested trainer on the platform as well as a senior production coordinator. He knows how to capture the attention of his audience and deliver quality content. Nick also started a surf-inspired fitness company, Surfset, where they received $300k on ABC’s Shark Tank from Mark Cuban.
What’s unique about your company? What are the key differentiators between you and other players?
Tagalongs Pros are not trainers. They are not coaches. They are Professional Athletes. They are or have competed at the highest level in the world. Creating a safe platform for Pros to make money while not disrupting their training and utilizing their skillset is fun for them and exciting for athletes to work with them. They can relate on some many different levels. Nothing is foreign to them; coming back from injuries, preparing for a race, losing weight, setting a personal best, getting competitive again.
Take us through a day in your life. What does the typical day look like?
Early morning workout. Run, Row or ride. With some core.
Big breakfast while catching up on news and whats going on in the world.
On board any new Pro’s so we can add them to the marketing/promotion timeline.
Interview candidates for new positions on our team (social media, app developer)
Team meeting to go over what we are all working on and how we can ensure we keep momentum moving.
Add new users to our database and send out Welcome Email.
Afternoon Tagalong workout with a client.
Calls with potential partners.
Finish up admin work to keep the business organized.
Touch base with a few Pros.
Facetime with my family.
What has been the most challenging part of growing your company?
Making the best decision on where to invest and spend money. Not having a computer engineering background is challenging when developing an app.
What has been your best marketing channel? What are some channels you are looking to explore next?
US Governing bodies (USAT, USATF, USCycling, etc).
Facebook/Instagram and Linkedin.
What apps do you use that you would recommend to others?
Slack, hootsuite, gsheets.
Do you have a book, podcast, or Youtube channel you would recommend to other Entrepreneurs?
Prof G Show Pivot How I Built This
If you could go back in time to the day you founded your company, what advice would you give yourself?
Focus on generating revenue first and finding a co-founder who could be a CTO.
What’s something you’ve learned from building your business that someone else can learn from?
Finding someone else who believes in your dream and is willing to put their own sweat into it is rare. In order to be successful, no one should ever work harder than the founder. | https://medium.com/startup-thread/tagalong-with-the-best-athletes-in-the-world-f35426ad7dba | ['Dan Stein'] | 2020-12-13 16:47:32.555000+00:00 | ['Founder Interview', 'Startup Life', 'Entrepreneur', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Startup'] |
Top 17 Augmented Reality Statistics, Facts and Trends for 2021 and Beyond | Top 17 Augmented Reality Statistics, Facts and Trends for 2021 and Beyond
Virtual reality may still get bigger headlines and maintain a stronger hold on the imagination but augmented reality is actually proving to be a much more practical and realistic means of presenting the digital world. Most people use AR in their day to day and don’t even know it. Let’s take a look at the top 17 stats, trends, and facts for 2021 regarding augmented reality and its use.
Statistics provided by the “Augmented and Mixed Reality Market by Technology, Infrastructure, Devices, Solutions, Apps and Services in Industry Verticals 2020–2025” report from ResearchAndMarkets.com
Trending AR VR Articles:
Trend: 1.9 Billion people per month will use AR in 2022, and 3 billion devices worldwide are currently AR-enabled.
Stat: 71% of shoppers would prefer to go to stores with a “try-it-before-you-buy” AR experience. Retail is changing and going digital.
Stat: 7 out of 10 media planners want to use AR to boost advertising and customer engagement. The next stat will tell you why.
Stat: 10X marketers that employ AR see a 10x increase in engagement time, increasing retention and effectiveness. No brainer!
Trend: The Augmented Reality Market Forecast is Expected to Hit $90-$95 billion in revenue by 2023. The reason is AR can be applied to almost any industry.
Fact: Pokémon GO Has Been Downloaded Over 1 Billion Times! Let that sink in.
Stat: 70–75% of People Aged 16–44 Are Aware of AR. This is your target audience!
Stat: 88% of Mid-Sized Companies Are Already Using AR in Some Capacity. They get it and see the value of engagement. Big brands are right behind them.
Stat: Well over 2000+ AR Mobile Apps Are Already Available in the Apple app store blowing Android out the water. You probably have one on your phone now.
Fact: Microsoft’s First-Generation AR Glasses, HoloLens, Sold Over 50,000 Units. We are technically 3–5 years away from AR Glasses for the masses.
Fact: Microsoft owns more than 10,000 VR/AR patents. Yikes!
Fact: Over 2,800 AR-focused Startups Are Listed on Angel List!
Stat: Since the beginning of 2020, AR engagement has accelerated by almost 20%, with conversion rates pushing up by 90% among users who engage with AR as opposed to those who do not.
Trend: According to TechCrunch AR gaming has a better future on mobile than VR
Stat: Consumers are highly optimistic about emerging technologies, with 90% saying that AR is “fun.
Fact: You will soon be able to experience AR in Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, Toyota, and Volvo cars.
Trend: Mobile AR ad revenue is expected to exceed $2 billion by 2022
Creating AR Experience for B2B or B2C
To learn more about how you can create and use Augmented Reality for your business contact Elevux. We specialize in creating interactive virtual experiences and content specialized for AR VR and Web that capture and amaze your audiences. See more at www.elevux.com
Don’t forget to give us your 👏 ! | https://arvrjourney.com/top-17-augmented-reality-statistics-facts-and-trends-for-2021-and-beyond-ee94e8bb54b6 | [] | 2021-03-26 00:00:00 | ['Business', 'Virtual Reality', 'Augmented Reality', 'Technology', 'Marketing'] |
Biblia. Premium shelving unit by Store 54 | Biblia. Premium shelving unit by Store 54
As per usual, when the process of choosing a storage unit for small items and decor begins, one very concerning question comes into the spotlight — how is it possible to choose a massive rack that will not reduce the space?
Recently, we have launched our own manufacturing facility for Store 54. Today we are glad to introduce the newest shelving unit “Biblia”. Let’s get into the details!
The “Biblia” shelving unit is the embodiment of the functional modern aesthetics. The game of lines of varying thickness, more graceful on the sides and massive on the glazed shelves, natural wood and accent metal make this rack an ideal object for a modern living room, office or bedroom interior.
Shelving unit with glass doors, integrated lighting and fluted back panel
The rear wood panel is made of lacquered wood with a coloured fluted material. Integrated lighting provides soft light, emphasizes the wall relief and focuses on decorative elements that could be placed on both types of shelves.
The “Biblia” name was given in honour of The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library of the Yale University.
The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. From the open sources
You can always check out the details of any particular design-project in our Portfolio.
How often does the overall impression depend on a few seemingly insignificant details? Very often, indeed.
Working on new premium design-projects, we try to do our best and not only to fully comply with the wishes of our clients or maintain our corporate identity but also to surprise our client with something extraordinary, having predicted in advance what he would definitely like.
All projects by Studia 54 are embodiments of the owner’s lifestyle and they have no analogues. Working in our own unique style, we design and produce unique made-to-order furniture.
Check out all the details of this amazing mirror, as well as other furniture, on our website —
Combining our unique stylistics with the latest design solutions, we make dreams come true.
Stay in touch
⚜️ Instagram @studia_54
⚜️ Pinterest Studia-54
⚜️ Facebook Studia-54
📍Saint-Petersburg, Liteyny prospect 46, off. 9 (by prior arrangement)
📞 +7 (931) 270–54–54 — discuss the project
⏰ Working hours:
Monday–Friday from 10AM to 7PM
📩 [email protected]
Collaboration
📞 +7 (812) 671–00–54 — cooperation
📩 [email protected]
📩 [email protected] — press and advertising | https://medium.com/@studia-54/biblia-premium-shelving-unit-by-store-54-11caf9f76ff5 | [] | 2020-11-17 10:09:47.708000+00:00 | ['Interior Design', 'Design', 'Furniture', 'Luxury', 'Design Thinking'] |
I have a dream! | Decades have passed since Peter F. Drucker coined the term knowledge work in 1959 and pointed out that the organization needs these knowledge workers more than the knowledge workers conversely need the organization. They bear their work equipment always in their heads and are therefore much more flexible and independent than the assembly line workers for whom Taylorism and the modern management based on it were invented. These knowledge workers must be led with equal dignity as associates rather than subordinates. And since almost all work now consists in part of knowledge work, leadership today is really only legitimate if it aims at the self-leadership of the employees entrusted to it, as Götz W. Werner aptly put it.
One does not “manage” people. The task is to lead people. Peter F. Drucker
Decades have also passed since Douglas McGregor in 1960 questioned the destructive conception of human nature in Taylorism and suggested in his book “The Human Side of Enterprise” a much more optimistic one. Those who want to lead knowledge workers can and must no longer assume that those workers are lazy and must be motivated to perform, as the Theory X of Taylorism had previously postulated. The much more helpful assumption to lead this “ army of volunteers “ (John P. Kotter) is that of Theory Y, which regards people as motivated and willing to perform. If people do not show this in the organization, it is therefore a structural problem and not a human one.
The answer to the question managers so often ask of behavioral scientists “How do you motivate people?” is, “You don’t.” Douglas McGregor
So there’s hope. We do not have a problem of understanding, but “only” a problem of implementation. That is why I still have this dream of a new and better workplace.
I have a dream that one day the economy will serve people and life in general and that people will no longer be means but rather the purpose of it.
I have a dream that we treat people as if they were what they should be and thus take them where they could be.
I have a dream that we put the miserably failed attempt to motivate people with incentives into our cabinets together with the other soulless management practices and instead build structures that don’t demotivate people so much that they need these incentives to perform.
I have a dream that humans will no longer be considered resources, but that unleashing individual potential will be seen as a decisive competitive factor in the age of digitalization.
I have this dream every day.
Let’s dream together. Let us create a new and better world of work step by step. And let’s build humane organizations for the age of digitization — in the spirit of the Manifesto for Human Leadership. Persistent in our efforts, modest in our expectation for success, as the wise motto of Götz W. Werner says. | https://medium.com/swlh/i-have-a-dream-eb86f9c39b19 | ['Marcus Raitner'] | 2019-05-25 19:14:05.783000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'Truly Human Leadership'] |
Therese — the girl who disappeared ~ Episode 4 With [ENG — SUB] On NRK1 | THE STORY
After graduating from Harvard, Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan) forgoes the standard opportunities of seeking employment from big and lucrative law firms; deciding to head to Alabama to defend those wrongFully commended, with the support of local advocate, Eva Ansley (Brie Larson). One of his first, and most poignant, case is that of Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx, who, in 62, was sentenced to die for the notorious murder of an 2-year-old girl in the community, despite a preponderance of evidence proving his innocence and one singular testimony against him by an individual that doesn’t quite seem to add up. Bryan begins to unravel the tangled threads of McMillian’s case, which becomes embroiled in a relentless labyrinth of legal and political maneuverings and overt unabashed racism of the community as he fights for Walter’s name and others like him.
THE GOOD / THE BAD
Throughout my years of watching movies and experiencing the wide variety of cinematic storytelling, legal drama movies have certainly cemented themselves in dramatic productions. As I stated above, some have better longevity of being remembered, but most showcase plenty of heated courtroom battles of lawyers defending their clients and unmasking the truth behind the claims (be it wrongFully incarcerated, discovering who did it, or uncovering the shady dealings behind large corporations. Perhaps my first one legal drama was 624’s The Client (I was little young to get all the legality in the movie, but was still managed to get the gist of it all). My second one, which I loved, was probably Primal Fear, with Norton delivering my favorite character role. Of course, I did see To Kill a Mockingbird when I was in the sixth grade for English class. Definitely quite a powerful film. And, of course, let’s not forget Philadelphia and want it meant / stand for. Plus, Hanks and Washington were great in the film. All in all, while not the most popular genre out there, legal drama films still provide a plethora of dramatic storytelling to capture the attention of moviegoers of truth and lies within a dubious justice.
Just Mercy is the latest legal crime drama feature and the whole purpose of this movie review. To be honest, I really didn’t much “buzz” about this movie when it was first announced (circa 206) when Broad Green Productions hired the film’s director (Cretton) and actor Michael B. Jordan in the lead role. It was then eventually bought by Warner Bros (the films rights) when Broad Green Productions went Bankrupt. So, I really didn’t hear much about the film until I saw the movie trailer for Just Mercy, which did prove to be quite an interesting tale. Sure, it sort of looked like the generic “legal drama” yarn (judging from the trailer alone), but I was intrigued by it, especially with the film starring Jordan as well as actor Jamie Foxx. I did repeatedly keep on seeing the trailer for the film every time I went to my local movie theater (usually attached to any movie I was seeing with a PG rating and above). So, suffice to say, that Just Mercy’s trailer preview sort of kept me invested and waiting me to see it. Thus, I finally got the chance to see the feature a couple of days ago and I’m ready to share my thoughts on the film. And what are they? Well, good ones….to say the least. While the movie does struggle within the standard framework of similar projects, Just Mercy is a solid legal drama that has plenty of fine cinematic nuances and great performances from its leads. It’s not the “be all to end all” of legal drama endeavors, but its still manages to be more of the favorable motion pictures of these projects.
Just Mercy is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, whose previous directorial works includes such movies like Short Term 6, I Am Not a Hipster, and Glass Castle. Given his past projects (consisting of shorts, documentaries, and a few theatrical motion pictures), Cretton makes Just Mercy is most ambitious endeavor, with the director getting the chance to flex his directorial muscles on a legal drama film, which (like I said above) can manage to evoke plenty of human emotions within its undertaking. ThankFully, Cretton is up to the task and never feels overwhelmed with the movie; approaching (and shaping) the film with respect and a touch of sincerity by speaking to the humanity within its characters, especially within lead characters of Stevenson and McMillian. Of course, legal dramas usually do (be the accused / defendant and his attorney) shine their cinematic lens on these respective characters, so it’s nothing original. However, Cretton does make for a compelling drama within the feature; speaking to some great character drama within its two main lead characters; staging plenty of moments of these twos individuals that ultimately work, including some of the heated courtroom sequences.
Like other recent movies (i.e. Brian Banks and The Hate U Give), Cretton makes Just Mercy have an underlining thematical message of racism and corruption that continues to play a part in the US….to this day (incredibly sad, but true). So, of course, the correlation and overall relatively between the movie’s narrative and today’s world is quite crystal-clear right from the get-go, but Cretton never gets overzealous / preachy within its context; allowing the feature to present the subject matter in a timely manner and doesn’t feel like unnecessary or intentionally a “sign of the times” motif. Additionally, the movie also highlights the frustration (almost harsh) injustice of the underprivileged face on a regular basis (most notable those looking to overturn their cases on death row due to negligence and wrongFully accused). Naturally, as somewhat expected (yet still palpable), Just Mercy is a movie about seeking the truth and uncovering corruption in the face of a broken system and ignorant prejudice, with Cretton never shying away from some of the ugly truths that Stevenson faced during the film’s story.
Plus, as a side-note, it’s quite admirable for what Bryan Stevenson (the real-life individual) did for his career, with him as well as others that have supported him (and the Equal Justice Initiative) over the years and how he fought for and freed many wrongFully incarcerated individuals that our justice system has failed (again, the poignancy behind the film’s themes / message). It’s great to see humanity being shined and showcased to seek the rights of the wronged and to dispel a flawed system. Thus, whether you like the movie or not, you simply can not deny that truly meaningful job that Bryan Stevenson is doing, which Cretton helps demonstrate in Just Mercy. From the bottom of my heart…. thank you, Mr. Stevenson.
In terms of presentation, Just Mercy is a solidly made feature film. Granted, the film probably won’t be remembered for its visual background and theatrical setting nuances or even nominated in various award categories (for presentation / visual appearance), but the film certainly looks pleasing to the eye, with the attention of background aspects appropriate to the movie’s story. Thus, all the usual areas that I mention in this section (i.e. production design, set decorations, costumes, and cinematography) are all good and meet the industry standard for legal drama motion pictures. That being said, the film’s score, which was done by Joel P. West, is quite good and deliver some emotionally drama pieces in a subtle way that harmonizes with many of the feature’s scenes.
There are a few problems that I noticed with Just Mercy that, while not completely derailing, just seem to hold the feature back from reaching its Full creative cinematic potential. Let’s start with the most prevalent point of criticism (the one that many will criticize about), which is the overall conventional storytelling of the movie. What do I mean? Well, despite the strong case that the film delves into a “based on a true story” aspect and into some pretty wholesome emotional drama, the movie is still structed into a way that it makes it feel vaguely formulaic to the touch. That’s not to say that Just Mercy is a generic tale to be told as the film’s narrative is still quite engaging (with some great acting), but the story being told follows quite a predictable path from start to finish. Granted, I never really read Stevenson’s memoir nor read anything about McMillian’s case, but then I still could easily figure out how the movie was presumably gonna end…. even if the there were narrative problems / setbacks along the way. Basically, if you’ve seeing any legal drama endeavor out there, you’ll get that same formulaic touch with this movie. I kind of wanted see something a little bit different from the film’s structure, but the movie just ends up following the standard narrative beats (and progressions) of the genre. That being said, I still think that this movie is definitely probably one of the better legal dramas out there.
This also applies to the film’s script, which was penned by Cretton and Andrew Lanham, which does give plenty of solid entertainment narrative pieces throughout, but lacks the finesse of breaking the mold of the standard legal drama. There are also a couple parts of the movie’s script handling where you can tell that what was true and what fictional. Of course, this is somewhat a customary point of criticism with cinematic tales taking a certain “poetic license” when adapting a “based on a true story” narrative, so it’s not super heavily critical point with me as I expect this to happen. However, there were a few times I could certainly tell what actually happen and what was a tad bit fabricated for the movie. Plus, they were certain parts of the narrative that could’ve easily fleshed out, including what Morrison’s parents felt (and actually show them) during this whole process. Again, not a big deal-breaker, but it did take me out of the movie a few times. Lastly, the film’s script also focuses its light on a supporting character in the movie and, while this made with well-intention to flesh out the character, the camera spotlight on this character sort of goes off on a slight tangent during the feature’s second act. Basically, this storyline could’ve been removed from Just Mercy and still achieve the same palpability in the emotional department. It’s almost like the movie needed to chew up some runtime and the writers to decided to fill up the time with this side-story. Again, it’s good, but a bit slightly unnecessary.
What does help overlook (and elevate) some of these criticisms is the film’s cast, which are really good and definitely helps bring these various characters to life in a theatrical /dramatic way. Leading the charge in Just Mercy is actor Michael B. Jordan, who plays the film’s central protagonist role of Bryan Stevenson. Known for his roles in Creed, Fruitvale Station, and Black Panther, Jordan has certain prove himself to be quite a capable actor, with the actor rising to stardom over the past few years. This is most apparent in this movie, with Jordan making a strong characteristically portrayal as Bryan; showcasing plenty of underlining determination and compelling humanity in his character as he (as Bryan Stevenson) fights for the injustice of those who’s voices have been silenced or dismissed because of the circumstances. It’s definitely a strong character built and Jordan seems quite capable to task in creating a well-acted on-screen performance of Bryan. Behind Jordan is actor Jamie Foxx, who plays the other main lead in the role, Walter McMillian. Foxx, known for his roles in Baby Driver, Django Unchained, and Ray, has certainly been recognized as a talented actor, with plenty of credible roles under his belt. His participation in Just Mercy is another well-acted performance that deserve much praise as its getting (even receiving an Oscar nod for it), with Foxx portraying Walter with enough remorseful grit and humility that makes the character quite compelling to watch. Plus, seeing him and Jordan together in a scene is quite palpable and a joy to watch.
The last of the three marquee main leads of the movie is the character of Eva Ansley, the director of operations for EJI (i.e. Stevenson’s right-handed employee / business partner), who is played by actress Brie Larson. Up against the characters of Stevenson and McMillian, Ansley is the weaker of the three main lead; presented as supporting player in the movie, which is perfectly fine as the characters gets the job done (sort of speak) throughout the film’s narrative. However, Larson, known for her roles in Room, 6 Jump Street, and Captain Marvel, makes less of an impact in the role. Her acting is fine and everything works in her portrayal of Eva, but nothing really stands in her performance (again, considering Jordan and Foxx’s performances) and really could’ve been played by another actress and achieved the same goal.
The rest of the cast, including actor Tim Blake Nelson (The Incredible Hulk and O Brother, Where Art Thou) as incarcerated inmate Ralph Meyers, actor Rafe Spall (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and The Big Short) as legal attorney Tommy Champan, actress Karan Kendrick (The Hate U Give and Family) as Minnie McMillan, Walter’s wife, actor C.J. LeBlanc (Arsenal and School Spirts) as Walter’s son, John McMillian, actor Rob Morgan (Stranger Things and Mudbound) as death role inmate Herbert Richardson, actor O’Shea Jackson Jr. (Long Shot and Straight Outta Compton) as death role inmate Anthony “Ray” Hinton, actor Michael Harding (Triple 2 and The Young and the Restless) as Sheriff Tate, and actor Hayes Mercure (The Red Road and Mercy Street) as a prison guard named Jeremy, are in the small supporting cast variety. Of course, some have bigger roles than others, but all of these players, which are all acted well, bolster the film’s story within the performances and involvement in Just Mercy’s narrative.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It’s never too late to fight for justice as Bryan Stevenson fights for the injustice of Walter McMillian’s cast against a legal system that is flawed in the movie Just Mercy. Director Destin Daniel Cretton’s latest film takes a stance on a poignant case; demonstrating the injustice of one (and by extension those wrongFully incarcerated) and wrapping it up in a compelling cinematic story. While the movie does struggle within its standard structure framework (a sort of usual problem with “based on a true story” narrations) as well as some formulaic beats, the movie still manages to rise above those challenges (for the most part), especially thanks to Cretton’s direction (shaping and storytelling) and some great performances all around (most notable in Jordan and Foxx). Personally, I liked this movie. Sure, it definitely had its problem, but those didn’t distract me much from thoroughly enjoying this legal drama feature. Thus, my recommendation for the film is a solid “recommended”, especially those who liked the cast and poignant narratives of legality struggles and the injustice of a failed system / racism. In the end, while the movie isn’t the quintessential legal drama motion picture and doesn’t push the envelope in cinematic innovation, Just Mercy still is able to manage to be a compelling drama that’s powerful in its story, meaningful in its journey, and strong within its statement. Just like Bryan Stevenson says in the movie….” If we could look at ourselves closely…. we can change this world for the better”. Amen to that! | https://medium.com/therese-the-girl-who-disappeared-s01e04-nrk1/documentary-therese-the-girl-who-disappeared-episode-4-with-eng-sub-on-nrk1-84dca05f7a8a | ['Siska Malia'] | 2020-11-27 15:04:19.198000+00:00 | ['Documentary'] |
The GameCredits Foundation October 8 2018 Update | Hello everyone and welcome to yet another report from The GameCredits Foundation.
Before we get started, we wanted to share a friendly reminder that the official GameCredits website is https://gamecredits.org
Details for this reporting period
We’ve partnered with Qlear Protocol to decentralize gaming on every platform! Read more about it from our press release here and Qlear’s press release here (psst: this was the not-so-secret-but-kinda-secret surprise)
Xsolla has added GameCredits to their list of supported currencies! Read more about it here
We’ve got a new community manager: everyone welcome R3D in Discord and Telegram! He will be helping us significantly by answering questions and being available to the community as a liaison for the GCF. You can still reach GCF members in Discord — just look for the “GCF Member” role and reach out!
Electrum-GAME is in the works and being tested! With Electrum-GAME, users can store their GameCredits in a light wallet without the need to download the whole blockchain. As an added bonus, Electrum-GAME offers users the ability to store GameCredits on major hardware wallets out there, including TREZOR, KeepKey and Ledger Nano S. Here’s a screenshot of the work in progress:
Screenshot of Development version of Electrum-GAME
Contact us!
We’re always eager to hear back from our community! Make sure to leave any GAME-related questions on our social media/communication platforms;
Discord
Twitter
Telegram
Facebook
Reddit
Steemit
GitHub
Sincerely,
The GameCredits Foundation | https://medium.com/gamecredits/the-gamecredits-foundation-october-8-2018-update-3b4267bbb477 | ['The Gamecredits Foundation'] | 2018-10-08 21:41:26.237000+00:00 | ['Updates', 'Gamecredits', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Best cafes to work from in Tirana, Albania | Hey there fellow cafe worker! I just wanted to post a quick little post on here to give you a break down on some of the best cafe’s I’ve been to in Tirana.
Disclaimer, check to see if they’re around before you go there!
I’ve had a few places on the maps that turn out they’ve been shut down. With so many cafe’s in Tirana it’s really hard to differentiate between them and therefor not all succeed.
</end disclaimer>
So, nobody has time to go to all of them and while there are many out there, I have not been to all of them. If you’re like me I like to watch the day pass by instead of walking-in in the morning, and out at sunset so I’ve labeled for outdoor and indoor situations. So let’s get started.
Mon Cheri cafe’s (indoor and outdoor)
Locations I like:
Great indoor and outdoor (they have a terrace)
Great indoor and dedicated work section
I’m not a fan of chains typically but this place has really nailed it when it comes to working from a cafe. They have plenty of plugs and tables with the perfect height to work from your computer. From the one’s I’ve been to the passwords tend to be the same theme, but if all else, just ask and have a pen and paper handy cause they write them down for you.
Indoor vs outdoor: Okay so there are great ones for indoors and outdoors since they’re a chain but beware they’re not all good outdoor, but most of the time they’re good indoor.
Passwords:
moncheri
moncheri2018
moncheri(year)
Fun fact, I’m typing this from one now!
Nouvelle Vague (Good indoor & outdoor)
Click here for location
This place doesn’t have plugs, but boy is it quiet and comfy. This is an amazingly delicious bar at night but during the day there’s only a few people relaxing outside. The street it’s located on is nice an quiet and it’s shaded so you can sit out on nice days and enjoy the view, decor, and the fresh air. If you’re looking to do some strategy sessions or calls, this is the place to be.
Indoor vs Outdoor: Both are really nice, but if you don’t need a plug I’d strongly suggest chilling outdoors
Password: I don’t recall but just ask
Libraria Tirana Times (Indoor & Outdoor)
Click here for location
This place is really unique because this is actually one of the places where people of Tirana Times write and interview people while also acting like a cafe and bookstore. You can almost always go in and they publish both English and Albanian books.
This place is typically always quiet inside but when you go outside it’s a little bit noisier due to being next to a school where it feels like kids have a never ending recess. Granted, it’s never to the point where it gets to be too much noise where you can’t work.
If I’m not at Mon Cheri Garden, I will be here. Their wifi doesn’t reach outside so it’s best to bring a wifi hotspot. I use my phone with the 12GB package from Vodaphone ($20 as of March 2019).
Password: internet2018
UFO Bar (indoor) [24/7]
Click here for location
Okay, so this place is pretty solid but they are lacking in plugs. This two story place has plenty of seating and if you need plugs, aim for the ones closest to the men’s restroom. (Upstairs on the left side). They don’t have the most comfortable tables to work from but they make up for it in comfortable seats when you have strategy sessions or other things that don’t involve typing.
Outdoor is a no go: It’s noisy since it’s on a main road so if you want focus you’re best off inside
Password: ufo12345
Pro-tip: The crepes and food are amazing here, give them a try (around 250 lek)
Coin Cafe (Indoor & Outdoor*)
Click here for location
Coin cafe it really nice as well near the river. However I warn you that it’s best to go there in the morning because it is on a main road however they have a really nice atmosphere and great for relaxing and strategy sessions.
Indoors is great at all times but it is a small cafe and it may be full by the time you get there.
Password: ??
Trinity Bar & Restaurant (Indoor*)
Click here for location
Trinity cafe barely makes this list. They tend to be a little too noisy but if you find a space on the middle floor then you’ve hit the jackpot. On that floor they have bountiful plugs, comfy seats (like UFO bar) and they’ve got great coffee!
Password: None
Conclusion
If I had a routine here it’d be mornings in Nouvelle Vague for planning out days and having quiet and then Mon Cheri Garden or Libraria Tirana Times to work the day away outside or inside where they have fantastic long tables with plugs. Please feel free to comment and let me know which ones you all like and I’d love to try them out myself! | https://medium.com/@chrisking_94350/best-cafes-to-work-from-in-tirana-9af03d6a1d21 | ['Chris King'] | 2019-03-26 07:09:29.807000+00:00 | ['Remote Working', 'Digital Nomads', 'Tirana', 'Cafe'] |
AI Can Solve Wealth Inequality. A few months ago, I stumbled upon a… | A few months ago, I stumbled upon a research paper teeming with fascinating discoveries. It was a rigorous economic study, but came decorated with a colourful animation reminiscent of an Animal Crossing game. It demonstrated an AI simulation. Little agents would gather resources, build houses and trade with one-another. All the while, a different agent came up with new tax policies that would redistribute the wealth of these virtual citizens.
This experiment taught me a lot. It got me thinking about the dominant opinions people hold about how their wealth should be allocated (or retained). It seems like even prominent public figures, whose thoughts inspire and mould the minds of their many millions of listeners, have a very weak grasp of basic economic principles and arguments. One of these, I believe, is the common opinion that the free market economy is the best of all.
The free market principle is the heart of Capitalism. The concept centers around the power of supply and demand. In order to achieve the optimal price, where both consumers and producers are satisfied, these two forces must eternally perform a balancing act. Another description for this driving force towards optimal prices (also called price equilibrium) is the ‘guiding of the invisible hand’.
Living under the free market definitely sounds better than say, living under the thumb of a monarch, oligarch or fascist ruler. Certainly, in the time of Adam Smith (who founded the theory), this way of living sounded more Utopic than it does in today’s context. But think about what it would be like to have a corporation control all the means of production- doesn’t that sound terrifying (and plausible, given the hegemony of Big Tech over the world today, especially Amazon)?
For a country to be truly said to have a free market, you would need to take out any external forces on the marketplace. For example, government intervention, such as taxes, subsidies, and other forms of legislation. After all, these forces may push against the direction of invisible hand of the free market. If there were no governement intervention, how exactly would a country build infrastructure? How would it build education systems? How does a government even come to exist, if it has no agency to take some of the wealth from individuals who live within its borders? Unless you want to live in a city straight from the Golden Age of Piracy, it’s unlikely you’d ever find yourself living in a free market society. Even Smith made the argument that there are certain functions a government needs to perform, and he explicitly states that the rich should be taxed in “something more than in proportion” to their wealth.
When most people talk about the free market, they implicitly concede a few things like the need for taxation (at least, I assume they do this). So, given some basic concessions like a tax on people’s property and revenue, what other problems does the free market principle run into? The most obvious problem is how do we decide who to tax and how much do we tax them? It’s one of those questions that can turn a conversation turbulent, with sparks of passion flaring on both sides of the debate. This controversy can be distilled to two fundamental elements: productivity and equality. Both are desirable, but it can easily be a zero-sum game.
It turns out that in at least a few economic models, a free market tax policy system maximizes productivity. But having large amounts of production doesn’t mean that a sufficient number of people will reap the rewards of it. This is the essential problem of wealth inequality, which is so rampant in the USA that the three richest men own more wealth than the poorest 50% of the country. Chances are that both you and I are in the top 5% of the world in terms of wealthy living. Our little 5% club, a modicum, when compared to remaining 7 billion people, own 80% of the world’s wealth.
Is wealth inequality always bad? When you look at the staggering salaries of prestigious brain-surgeons, you may finding yourself nodding with approbation. After all, a brain surgeon is far more useful to society than say, a rural farmer or janitor. Unfortunately, this is not the current state of wealth inequality, at least not in the USA. Most Nobel Peace price winners, scientists, and brain surgeons fall sharply outside the top 1% of richest Americans.
The real wealth holders tend to be people who inherited it, and 50% of wealth in the country is inherited or gifted. Of the mostly highly payed workers, financial executives and CEOs, there seems to be a massive disparity between what they actually contribute and how much they get paid. Daniel Kahneman analyzed 25 wealth advisers, and their performance over 8 consecutive years. Looking at whether these advisors improved their clients returns year after year, as well as determining what skills these advisers displayed, Kahneman ultimately found a near 0 correlation between the work of the advisors and the return on their clients investments. CEOs, in a similar vein, have a near 0 correlation with the performance of the companies they work at.
This is just a bit of buttressing to highlight possible problems with valuing productivity over equality. I’m not anti-capitalist any more than I am anti-communist. As Martin Luther King Jr says, “Both represent a partial truth”. If we combine capitalist and socialist ideas, perhaps we can find the best economic model for everybody. And most countries actually do this, including the USA. Generally, it’s called a ‘mixed-market economy’ or just ‘mixed economy’. People are very quick to declare that the USA is a capitalist economy- it’s totally not. It has a taxation system, subsidies, a federal bank, a medicare programme, and many more policies that are strikingly socialist in nature. It’s closer to being a Capitalist country than say, most Scandavian countries, and there are Conservatives and Libertarians trying to crack down on some of these policies. But for the most part, people are in favour of these largely socialist policies. What the US tax policy today is attempting to do, and rightly so, is balance the trade-off between productivity and equality.
Coming up with a good policy to do this is one of the greatest challenges for any country to rise up to. You can tax those who produce the most value and wealth, but then, they may end up demotivated, deflated, and ultimately, you end up losing out on many of the gains they once provided. You can leave them with most of their wealth, but then how will you supply resources and opportunities to the underprivileged classes? It’s a problem that has existed since the neolithic era and inception of agricultural societies. Thankfully, that was a long time ago, and now AI is here to show us how it’s done.
In the experiment I discussed in the beginning of this post, there were two sets of AI agents. One was the citizens, gathering resources and trading, and the other created tax policies that governed how these resources were ultimately redistributed. The researchers created simulations for how the society functioned under three different kinds of philosophies: the free-market policy, the US federal policy and the Saez formula. It also allowed the AI model to come up with its own tax policy, in an attempt to maximize on both productivity and equality. And the result was astounding: it came up with a policy that had relatively high levels of production while retaining high levels of equality, compared to any of the other tax policies tested in the simulation. The agent was able to make a formula that outperformed any of the major approaches that have been dominant in economic theory for many decades.
People are scared and skeptical to let AI make decisions that shape our everyday lives. But at the end of the day, economics is a mathematical and empirical field, which more often than not suffers due to the irrational decision making of human beings. If we know and agree on our objectives (maximizing productivity and equaulity), perhaps it shouldn’t be up to us to figure out the exact method to get there. I for one, think it’s time we take some of the AI’s tax policies to Congress, and test them out on a real-world marketplace. | https://medium.com/@finnjanson/ai-an-antidote-to-wealth-inequality-fcb5ea5a11c7 | ['Finn Janson'] | 2020-12-27 00:15:01.967000+00:00 | ['AI', 'Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Capitalism', 'Economics'] |
3 things I learned as a designer building an app | When Covid lockdown left me without a commute or social life, I found myself with something apparently called “free time.” Though I have been doing digital design for a while, I’ve never brought my designs from prototype to functional product. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to go all the way. So with only some basic web dev knowledge, I started this 6-month app-building journey of learning iOS development, designing, and coding (and much more, but I’ll get to that).
What I ended up building is a simple tool called Timepoc. It helps people track small changes of everyday life, such as fitness progress, a newborn baby, pet, plant, or just the daily view outside the bedroom window (which we can all relate to right now). Those time-lapse changes can then be played back and shared.
Now that the app is live in the app store 🎉, I wanted to share 3 things I have learned during the process:
1. It’s ok not to have the design or even product idea at the beginning.
At first I felt I should start with a fully-formed product idea, so I could be more selective on what to learn. But in reality, with zero iOS development experience, I realized I might end up designing something that would take me forever to complete. My goal was not to be a developer, but to build and publish something within a reasonable time frame. So I decided to start learning first, and let my insights guide product ideation and prioritize functionality.
I found this great course from Angela Yu that covers pretty much everything for building an iOS app from 0 to 1. I spent 3 months (probably 5 hrs per week) going through the whole course, gaining an understanding of what functionality is easier to implement (by myself or through third-party packages) and what features are available in iOS.
2. I got new perspectives on cross-functional roles.
As a designer I constantly work with cross-functional teams such as product, engineering, research, writing, data analysis, marketing, etc. However, knowing how to work with others is different from actually doing their work, just as it’s almost impossible to know what users think until we first become the users.
This process not only gave me first-hand experience of being an engineer. but also other roles I hadn’t even thought about, such as marketing. I initially thought once I completed the app, most of the work would be done. But in reality it feels like only the very first step. I still needed to figure out how to set it up on the App Store, write a privacy policy, create search keywords, and build the website, not to even mention promoting the app, which may take more time than I spent building the app itself.
Moreover, this experience puts myself in the shoes of other cross-functional teams, kind of like a mini “Bungee’’ program (a program that encourages employees to try out a department that is very different from the one they came from). I now have new perspectives and more empathy when working with other teammates, which reminds me of my favorite quote from Hunter S. Thompson, “Every reaction is a learning process; every significant experience alters your perspective.”
3. A side project can help establish healthy boundaries during WFH life.
The project did take most of my time outside regular work hours, but it’s actually pretty fun once I developed the routine. There is no pressure from stakeholders, design reviews, or timeline. I’m the individual contributor, manager, stakeholder, and user, so the only pressure is coming from me.
During lockdown, the line between our regular work and personal life becomes murkier, and sometimes it’s hard to maintain those healthy boundaries we used to have from commuting or environment switching. Having a side project that takes a small amount of time every day helps recreate that line. | https://medium.com/@wei-chen/3-things-i-learned-as-a-designer-building-an-app-7c3303594110 | ['Wei Chen'] | 2020-12-22 04:55:36.229000+00:00 | ['Design Process', 'Side Project', 'Design', 'Work Life Balance', 'Ios Development'] |
What keeps me up | What keeps me up | https://medium.com/@garciavedith/i-get-so-lost-in-my-head-as-everyday-passes-22f695314061 | ['Valeria Garcia'] | 2020-12-23 09:56:26.370000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Creative Writing', 'Tips', 'Beginner', 'New Life'] |
[Recap] WiMLDS x StitchFix: Lightning Talk Night | Earlier this week I had an opportunity to attend the WiMLDS x StitchFix: Lightning Talk Night. The event was organized by Alexandra Johnson and Erin LeDell of Bay Area WiMLDS, and hosted by Stitch Fix at their HQ in San Francisco! The lightning talks were given by 6 brilliant data scientists and Machine Learning engineers. In this blog post, I intend to summarize some of the many thought-provoking ideas discussed during and after those talks.
Hillary Parker
Hillary is a data scientist at Stitch Fix and gave an insightful talk about incorporating design thinking in data science. She began the talk by describing what real-world data science projects are like. She clarified that designing a data science system does not simply involve data modeling. For the most part, actually, it involves collecting and preparing the right data in the right way. She gave the example of Style Shuffle — a functionality that allows Stitch Fix users to look at a piece of inventory and thumbs-up it if it’s their style, or thumbs-down it if it’s not. Recognizing that data collection is just as important as modeling, if not more, allowed them to go much beyond the data they already had, and positively impacted their methods and results. Hillary then described what she means by “design thinking” here. She says it is a discipline more than anything else and it would be useful to practice the design process in everyday life. For her, for example, it helps create a creative bridge between analytical techniques and product space at work. Interestingly, it also helps in cultivating empathy, which is very powerful and important for personal growth and well-being. To learn more about it, she recommends some books including — Designing Your Life, The Sprint Book and Design Thinking. Fun fact — she also hosts the Not So Standard Deviations podcast, and I can’t wait to check it out soon!
Tiferet Gazit
Tiferet develops machine learning algorithms at GitHub with a vision of democratizing software development. In her talk, she described some of the matching and generation problems in NLP that she is working on. Matching, in this case, refers to finding a code/language snippet based on a very similar code/language snippet. Thus, in matching both the code and the language have been written by developers. Generation, on the other hand, refers to when the code/language is being generated by the algorithms. In machine learning, this is often referred to as Generative Models.
Tiferet described how bridging the gap between natural language and code is a major step towards her vision and talked about 4 specific applications and discussed the challenges in each of them:
Semantic search — this would allow for the ability to find solutions for uncommon problems and search for good code quickly. This is a matching problem.
Code to code translation — this could be done in two ways: one, treating this as a matching problem, i.e., querying an existing code, and second, a generation problem of generating code.
Automatic Documentation — would allow for better code readability. This is again, a generation problem, where documentation of a given code snippet can be generated from the code.
Language to Code translation — another generation problem. This would entail expanding high-level instructions into detailed code, i.e., from natural language instruction the program will be able to generate code.
Tiferet explained that in this work, the approach is to embed natural language and code into the same vector space (and hence different from word2vec, because in word2vec only words are embedded in the vector space).
I am excited to follow along with the developments in this research work at GitHub, particularly the problems on generation. Machine Translation (a common generation problem in natural language processing) is a difficult problem in itself. In software engineering even though a lot of code exists, a lot of labeled data from one programming language to another doesn’t exist. So research in this area will be challenging and GitHub is well-positioned to do this.
Anahita Hassanzadeh
Anahita is a data scientist in the Styling Operations team at Stitch Fix. She works on the problem of finding the right stylist for clients, which is essentially an assignment optimization problem with operational constraints. She discussed how the classical methods for the assignment problems are algebra-heavy and computationally tricky (as it entails traversing extreme points of polyhedra). It was interesting to learn how the client-stylist assignment problem can be considered as an auction process, this time relying on economic equilibrium for optimal assignment. Anahita talks about her approach to this problem in great detail and mentioned that in practice they use a combination of heuristics and algorithms to match a client with a stylist in the most personalized manner.
She also gave us insight about other operational problems at Stitch Fix such as replenishing inventory, routing and layout design in warehouses, optimal shipping times and ticket handling by customer service.
Erin Boyle
Erin is a data scientist at Stitch Fix and was also our wonderful emcee for the lightning talks. She talked about building recommendation systems dealing with client style preferences, and in particular, understanding the latent style space. She talks about inspection and interpretation of the latent dimensions that they find to be contributing most to the user’s preference for an item. This step is what takes them forward in terms of truly understanding style. Through a process of matrix factorization on the user-item matrix, one can get user embeddings and item embeddings. Using principal component analysis on these latent dimensions, one can get orthogonal embeddings which can then be explored for unique properties among users and items. Erin explained that visually looking at the inventory items on extreme ends of the principal axes gives them intuition on style preference which can be very useful across different verticals for decision making.
Chloe Mawer
Chloe is a Principal Data Scientist at Lineage Logistics and also an adjunct lecturer at Northwestern University. This talk was extremely interesting and full of practical advice on ensuring reproducibility of machine learning models in production. She emphasized that we acknowledge the component of randomness in building a machine learning system/pipeline (sampling data, splitting into train/test, model initialization to name a few) and ensure that we version it. I particularly liked her recommendation to extensively use YAML files to keep track of various experimental parameters. Chloe emphasized that versioning code is not enough, we also need to version data and workflow, and ultimately test the reproducibility. She has made her slides available here.
Molly Davies
Molly is a data scientist at Virta Health. Molly started her talk by sharing an interesting way to think about how to identify opportunities to improve outcomes of an analysis, motivating further discussion on variable importance given dataset and outcome. She talks about an R-package she really likes for the same purpose — varimpact (developed by Chris Kennedy), which prepares the data, and on different splits, finds “worst” and “best” values for a variable. It also indicates how consistent the “worst” and “best” chunks were across splits. Molly encouraged everyone to check it out and also get involved in helping make it even better and more useful for academics and practitioners in the industry alike. | https://medium.com/wimlds-bay-area-blog/recap-wimlds-x-stitchfix-lightning-talk-night-7a1025c1ecf2 | ['Trishala Neeraj'] | 2019-06-12 17:25:49.460000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Lightning Talks', 'Data Science'] |
The Crypto Masterclass | Don’t invest in crypto… till you take the Crypto Masterclass from Primechain.
In 2008, the 9-page Bitcoin whitepaper disrupted money forever… but most people were skeptical about the future of cryptocurrencies.
Cut to December 2020 and Bitcoin has become the 7th largest currency in the world!
Let that sink in… Bitcoin has become the 7th largest currency in the world! The current order is:
USD $4.9 Trillion
EUR $1.7 Trillion
CNY $1.2 Trillion
JPY $1 Trillion
CHF $0.8 Trillion
INR $0.6 Trillion
BTC $0.36 Trillion
Everybody wants a piece of the action. But crypto investing is not simple. It’s really complex.
🔥 Crypto investments require a lot of technical knowledge.
🔥 Crypto-currencies are extremely volatile.
🔥 Many crypto assets have low liquidity.
🔥 If your crypto account / wallet gets hacked, you have almost no legal options.
🔥 Many crypto exchanges are not regulated and can vanish with your money.
🔥 Cryptocurrencies are outright illegal in some countries.
Schedule
The Crypto Masterclass is spread over 5 days.
- 1 hour live lecture each day
- 30 to 60 min homework each day
The application form is at https://www.primechainmoney.com/join.php
Fee
INR 5,000
US$ 99
Certificate
Certificate of participation will be provided from Primechain, the ‘future of money’ company.
Faculty
Rohas Nagpal, Author of the Future Money Playbook
Shinam Arora, Co-founder of Bankchain
Sanya Nagpal, Host of #CryptoWithSanya
Private group
You will also become a part of a Facebook private group for the latest advice, news, and tips.
Topics
Types of money — Fiat, CBDC, B-Money, E-Money, I-Money, Crypto Essential tech concepts — cryptography, keys, digital signatures, hash, Merkle, proof of work, mining, difficulty, address, wallet, blockchain, forks, smart contracts. DeFi Stablecoins Top Crypto Currencies Top Stablecoins Crypto derivatives Crypto “wrapped” shares Crypto Wallets How to keep your crypto safe Exchanges — Spot, Derivatives, and DEX Resources for crypto investors
The application form is at https://www.primechainmoney.com/join.php
Bonus for everyone
The Future Money Playbook
Download your FREE copy of “The Future Money Playbook” from:
https://www.rohasnagpal.com/docs/The-Future-Money-Playbook.pdf | https://medium.com/blockchain-blog/the-crypto-masterclass-e20771b62c32 | ['Rohas Nagpal'] | 2020-12-13 13:22:36.211000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Crypto', 'Bitcoin', 'Blockchain', 'Masterclass'] |
Affiliate Marketing Strategies to Get Traffic to Your Website | Affiliate marketing is online Strategies tactic performance-based marketing someone buys through your affiliate link.
Photo by Drew Williams from Pexels
1: Content Comes Before Everything Else
Content is actually the alpha and also the omega of your web site. Therefore make web content technique your greatest top priority.
Without useful as well as beneficial material, Google as well as the various other internet search engine like Bing and also Yahoo! cannot rank your website. You cannot consequently get enough visitors. You can therefore not have money coming from your advertisements, be they CPM, CPC, or even referral based.
2: Drive guest traffic to your subsidiary site
You’ve built up a decent looking site. You’ve created marvellous substance alongside offshoot hyperlinks typically installed directly into it. Today you need to need to get more people to the webpage to survey your substance and furthermore click on your offshoot web joins.
Exactly how would you play out that?
A. Utilize paid out the site traffic
Working commercials requests measure of cash which may come from your wallet or even from your incomes. You may spend on site traffic utilizing PPC ads.
Paid for site traffic starts streaming to your web website in a split second you pay for it. When you stop instalment, it stops.
On the off chance that you are entire of a lucrative member program and fit for making the numbers work, at that point use ads. You may ignore it in case you’re spic and span to paid promoting and have no advertising accounts, or even, in the event that you are really showcasing low-paying commission programs like Amazon Associates.
B. Get natural traffic-utilizing Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Website streamlining involves improving site pages to rank higher in web internet searcher like Google.
What is real SEO?
On the best fundamental level, it concerns:
Finding the search queries your objective customers are really using for search.
Making material (blog, thing site pages, etc) around those subject tips.
Doing the “specific” things (counting third party referencing) to drive these site pages a lot higher in the online web indexes results pages.
3: Use content composition to drive web traffic.
Photo by Pixabay from Pexels
At the point when you first beginning, you will be in reality much better zeroing in your endeavours on SEO (content creation). Simply focus on procuring web traffic disregard the different things in the interim.
4: Concentrate on building your site.
In the interim, your web website can manage without profiles on Instagram, Facebook (Page) and furthermore Twitter. Just focus your emphasis on making it out.
5: Traffic is really a drawn-out game.
Site traffic is the thing that you require most however it requires some investment to assemble. As someone asserted, everything takes as much time as is needed to get accomplished. Notwithstanding precisely how emphatically you plan to have a child, in the best of occurrences, it will take you 9 months to have one. In contrast to a kid, there are really factors you can do to acquire site traffic and a greater amount of it.
6: The much more you distribute the significantly more guest traffic you get.
Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels
When a lady gets pregnant, in the event that it is really one child, pair of or even 3 minimal ones she has in her belly, no number of sexual relations over the span of the 9-month pregnancy time period may build that. That is quite not the situation with guest traffic. The underlying blog entry can without much of a stretch convey you 10 visits a period. The accompanying one might be what takes you from those 10 site guests to 100 people a period. And furthermore accordingly on up to 500 or even 1200 site guests when you begin to make deals.
7: Not all blog entries will obtain your web traffic.
Photo by hitesh choudhary from Pexels
All messages are really made for guest traffic anyway surely not all blog entries will convey you precisely the same volume of guest traffic. The 80/20 standard * is pertinent here. A portion of your substance will prompt an ascent of web traffic, others will unquestionably bring a smidgen of guest traffic and much more others will surely convey definitely no site
traffic.
That is really the reality of blog composing. You should adapt to it.
*The Pareto rule expresses that, for some occasions, generally 80% of the impacts come from 20% of the causes. The board specialist Joseph M. Juran recommended the standard and named it after Italian financial analyst Vilfredo Pareto, who noticed the 80/20 association while at the University of Lausanne in 1896. — Wikipedia
8: Traffic is really a numbers game.
Photo by Tatiana Syrikova from Pexels
Do you recollect that we educated you in # 65 above to continue constructing your site? Truly, there is really no alternate way. In the end, you will start discovering what works for you and furthermore what doesn’t due to some indispensable information focuses. (More on this in components # 76 and furthermore # 76 recorded underneath).
9: You need a substance plan.
Benjamin Franklin’s “By neglecting to get ready, you’re getting ready to fizzle” is valid here as well. That is really why you need to make a substance plan. Ideally, you would post once every day, or 5 times each week. The barest least when you start to get great traffic is one post for each week.
10: Success is really a numbers game.
It’s for a valid justification that they state “Quality written substance makes all the difference”. For the more substance you post, the more traffic comes to you. The more traffic you get, the higher the number of transformations that you will make. The more transformations you get, the higher your odds of accomplishment.
# 11: Just continue posting in your absolute first year.
You’ve conceivably discovered that invigorating obsolete blog articles can undoubtedly now and again raise guest traffic fundamentally to your site.
Brian Dean of backlinko.com improved natural traffic to his site by a monstrous 260% only through refreshing and dispatching an old post.
The apparatus Brian utilizes to realize which blog entry to work with is really the (gratis) Animalz Revive instrument.
While you may moreover do that, in your first year you would unquestionably be really much better off distributing content on your site.
The Animalz Revive instrument uses your Google Analytics to find website pages demonstrating the best web traffic decay. The website page should be at any rate a year old. (Do you currently comprehend why we requested that you stand by a whole year preceding putting forth an attempt to streamline your old blog entries?).
12: Create awesome web content.
The viability of your member web webpage relies on delivering top-notch content in which your partner web joins fit normally.
Tim Ferriss met 100+ well-known people and furthermore posed them this inquiry:
“What acquisition of $100 or less has most emphatically affected your life over the most recent a half year (or in ongoing memory)?”
Tim flawlessly fused his offshoot hyperlinks into the items called attention to in the reactions he collected as an article.
When creating web content for your associate site, this is really one thing you need to attempt to do.
13: Evergreen or in any event, suffering substance works total best.
The evergreen substance is really the one that is going to keep going for quite a long time.
While you need to continually post substance, comprehend that surely not all substance works viably. This is really why you ought to reliably pursue evergreen substance, anyway unquestionably not news-type posts. On the off chance that outcomes are really important to you in the beginning, you may stand to do news later on.
Content, reliable or something else, gets reserved under later ones and furthermore, at last, disappears directly into the midsts of your blog webpage assortment. As it is in reality not any more obvious to be easily seen, its own worth may diminish. Yet, do you perceive that obsolete web substance may even now be really useful?
The substance of significant data grows routinely, viably making the old and thus surely not valuable. That is really why when a webpage guest occurs on an obsolete substance of yours (telling by the date), they will hit on their back fasten and move away from your web website expeditiously. You can without much of a stretch make ageless substance through reliably improving it and furthermore including web joins.
Ceaselessly redesigning your more seasoned presents are going on to say the least keep your web index positions and, best case scenario, support it.
A few stages handle this issue fairly through introducing your “freshest” or even “generally famous” or even “related posts” on each site page.
You may in like manner settle it through disposing of the dates from your blog entries. This is regardless of how appropriate your substance is really, a few guests will see it as outdated basically on the grounds that it conveys a lot more established day.
Reliably recollect this overall guideline: for each and every two spic and span just as refreshed substance, make an evergreen one.
Can’t compose?
Try not to freeze.
Gary Vaynerchuk puts it, “archive, don’t compose.” Chronicling your experience or even one thing you’ve scholarly can undoubtedly make for engaging perusing just as allure people that have an interest in after your turn of events.
Work alongside prepared experts in your specific speciality in case you’re rethinking content. They can undoubtedly help you produce high calibre, dependable work. This can without much of a stretch produce considerably more guest traffic, drawn in site guests, and furthermore more associated deals.
14: Get the intensity of SEO.
When searching for applicable data, people go on the web. On-page SEO, watchword research just as third party referencing grant the Google robot to locate this important data just as give it to web searchers. That is really why you should know to do the basics of SEO suitably to benefit from natural guest traffic coming from the web indexes.
15: Use Google Webmaster Tools.
Photo by Caio from Pexels
Google Search Console is a web administration by Google which permits website admins to check ordering status and upgrade perceivability of their sites. Until May 20, 2015, the administration was called Google Webmaster Tools. In January 2018, Google introduction
Check out my success method here | https://medium.com/@opportunitybusiness697/affiliate-marketing-strategies-to-get-traffic-to-your-website-9bc2a0bce76e | ['Chris Ken'] | 2020-12-22 15:10:01.733000+00:00 | ['Make Money', 'Work From Home', 'Work Life Balance', 'Make Money Online', 'WordPress'] |
Are You Thinking or Rationalising? | How Investigating Your Emotions Allows You To Think More Clearly
I recently had a debate with one of my best friends about personal development. He is very sceptical about personal development and thinks that people rarely change fundamentally. I noticed that I was getting agitated during the conversation. Why was it frustrating to hear that “personal development doesn’t work”?
When you notice that you are getting upset, angry or tense when hearing an idea or opinion, pay attention. Ask yourself: “Why is this idea making me so angry?” When an idea is upsetting you it is very likely that you are emotionally invested in something that is touched by the idea. If this wasn’t the case, the mere fact that someone holds an opinion that you believe is false would not trigger any strong negative emotions. The statement “pigs can fly” is obviously false and it is unlikely to trigger any strong negative emotions. So mere falsehood is not sufficient for an emotional charge.
When a statement touches something that you are invested in things can look very differently. The statement “god doesn’t exist” is likely to trigger emotions in those who are religious, the statement “climate change isn’t real” will trigger frustration in environmental activists. It can sometimes be surprising how strong the reactions to statements that are not directly saying anything about anyone who is involved in the conversation can be. Someone else might make a statement about politics, philosophy or science, and in theory the statement could be taken as a proposition about the world that can be true or false and that has nothing to do with us personally. But we are often unlikely to see it that way. We make it personal.
When a statement hits an emotional investment of ours and we don’t realize that this is happening, we can lose the ability to be objective. As an intellectual ideal we may wish that we listen to ideas calmly, look at them from different perspectives, evaluate them on their own merits and then make a judgement about whether they are true or false. But in practice our emotions already get in the way in the first stage. If we feel angry about an idea, and are emotionally not prepared to consider that it could be true, we will be unable to consider perspectives that may show us that we are wrong. We will selectively only pursue those lines of reasoning that bring us back to emotional comfort. This mechanism can close us towards new ideas, prevent us from correcting our wrong beliefs, and hinder our ability to learn.
I use the term emotional investment because often we invest time and energy into life projects that are tied up with particular beliefs that we hold. The beliefs may help us to meet some of our emotional needs, and we want to see the life projects founded on those beliefs as meaningful. Some of these projects and beliefs are so important to us that they have become part of our identity. They have become part of how we see ourselves and how we want others to see us. When these fundamental beliefs are attacked it feels like we are being attacked. This can trigger strong emotions
What can you do when you notice that an idea or discussion is triggering emotions in you?
There are different ways in which an idea can touch an emotional investment that you have. Some questions that can be helpful in identifying where the emotional investment lies are the following:
What would it say about me and my life if this idea was true?
Statement: “personal development doesn’t work”. Impact if I am a coach: “I am a fraud, I am selling snake oil and empty promises, I am wasting my time attending seminars and reading self help books…”
Statement: “god doesn’t exist”. Impact if I am a Christian: “I am wasting my time praying and reading spiritual texts, there’s no hope for salvation, we’re just animals inhabiting a large rock that is spinning through empty space. I feel lost”
Statement: “if you work hard, you can achieve anything” Impact: “I’m not living the life of my dreams, therefore I must be lazy and I am to blame for the state my life is in. All this responsibility feels heavy and I am frustrated with myself”
What would be the consequences if people believed this idea?
Statement: “climate change isn’t real” Impact: “people won’t care about CO2 emissions, and destroy the planet even more quickly. I am angry and scared.”
Statement: “individual votes don’t count” (paradox of voting) Impact: “people won’t vote, democracy won’t work, the world will be dominated by authoritarian regimes, chaos, and oppression. I am scared.”
What would be the consequences if I took this idea as advice and followed it?
Statement: “You can actually talk to attractive strangers on public transport, in cafes and in bars. Lots of people do it.” Impact: “If that’s true, I actually have to ask her out. I am scared. Also: I feel pathetic for being too scared to do it. I felt better about myself when I had an excuse.”
Which social group would I no longer fit into if I accepted this belief as true? What would my family/friends/colleagues say about me if I endorsed this idea?
Statement: “We should immediately deport asylum seekers that commit crimes” Impact: “If I endorsed this view, would my liberal friends still accept me? I am scared of being ostracised”
If you keep noticing what upsets you and ask questions you will notice themes. If you are aware of these themes you are more likely to catch yourself in the moment when you get worked up in a discussion.
Another way of identifying your emotional investments is to stay with the emotions directly and really feel into the anger, sadness, fear or joy you are experiencing. Notice where you feel the emotion in your body. Ask: If my anger had a voice, what would it say? What is my anger telling me?
Emotions are not the problem. We need emotions. They help us decide and they convey information. The problem arises when we think we are thinking, but we are actually just rationalizing emotions that we are not even aware of. When this happens, we can lose touch with reality.
Once you have identified where your emotional investment lies, think about the topic that was making you emotional again. If you were having a discussion about the topic with a friend, give it another go and see whether you can learn something new. Knowing what is triggering the emotions in the discussion gives you some distance towards them that allows you to be more objective than you otherwise would be.
If you have friends that are open towards this idea, you can also do this together. When you notice that an intellectual discussion gets heated take a pause an switch perspectives. Move away from the objective arguments in the discussion. Take a moment to both reflect on what emotional investments you have in this debate. Share those emotional investments with each other. If you know each other well you may even help each other to discover blind spots that you individually wouldn’t have noticed. Now look at the objective arguments again. See what you can learn from each other.
This process of paying attention and questioning the underlying emotions expands your comfort zone. It expands the universe of ideas that you can engage with and opens the door for clear thinking and new insights. | https://medium.com/@sebastian-hahn/are-you-thinking-or-rationalising-54dd6842854e | ['Sebastian Hahn'] | 2020-12-26 17:03:47.474000+00:00 | ['Philosophy', 'Emotional Intelligence', 'Emotions', 'Thinking', 'Personal Development'] |
Stablecoins | With the seemingly endless amount of coins entering the market each year, we are beginning to see various categories of digital assets emerge. One of these classifications of coins is known as stablecoins, and although you may see it as ironic that a cryptocurrency is labeled as being “stable,” that’s actually exactly what they are known for. Stablecoins make up a unique category of coins in the market that are poised to bring stability and trust back into the cryptocurrency market. With that being said, let’s go over what stablecoins are and why they are so important for the development of the cryptocurrency industry as a whole.
This is not financial investment advice.
This article will touch upon key aspects of what stablecoins are and why they can help the growth of the crypto industry.
Terminology
Blockchain: The easiest way to understand blockchain is to think of it as a fully transparent and continuously updated record of the exchange of information through a network of personal computers, a system which nobody fully owns. This makes it decentralized and extremely difficult for anyone to single-handedly hack or corrupt the system, pretty much guaranteeing full validity and trust in each exchange of information.
Volatility: The rate at which the price of a security increases or decreases for a given set of returns. Volatility is measured by calculating the standard deviation of the annualized returns over a given period of time. It shows the range to which the price of a security may increase or decrease.
Fiat: Currency that a government has declared to be legal tender, but it is not backed by a physical commodity. The value of fiat money is derived from the relationship between supply and demand rather than the value of the material from which the money is made.
Decentralization: Essentially, if something is centralized, there’s a single point that does all of the work involved in any given action. On the flip side, if something is decentralized, there are multiple points that do the work.
Familiarize yourself with these key terms in order to better understand what stablecoins are.
What Are Stablecoins?
To put it simply, stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that are pegged or backed by some other asset. Some forms of stablecoins are tied to assets such as the dollar or a commodity like a bar of gold or a barrel of oil. Other forms of stablecoins are backed by cryptocurrencies, or even exist as self-correcting, algorithmically-controlled systems. Essentially, stablecoins hold the promise of a half-step between traditional assets and crypto assets, taking the best from both worlds while resulting in a much more accessible and efficient form of finance.
The concept of having a stablecoin of stable currency isn’t new, as governments have been considering the implementation of this idea for quite some time now. National governments have the same motivation as crypto economies to deal in stable assets, as volatility in any kind of currency scheme can lead to wild speculation and boom and bust values. Historically, there have been a few different ways of implementing currency pegs at the national scale. Some countries just start using another country’s currency in lieu of their own as legal tender. Other governments have decided to set a fixed peg, while others determine an acceptable range and let their currency float within a range in relation to the peg.
Even within the cryptocurrency world, people have been experimenting, with mixed results, with stablecoin design and setup. Tether is one of the most prominent stablecoins, which is a blockchain-based cryptocurrency whose coins in circulation are backed by an equivalent amount of traditional fiat currencies, like the dollar, the euro or the Japanese yen, which are held in a designated bank account. Tether tokens, the native tokens of the Tether network, trade under the USDT symbol.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that are backed by another asset, such as fiat money or another algorithmically-controlled system. This keeps the value of that coins stable and lowers the threat of high volatility.
How Can They Impact The Crypto industry?
By definition, stablecoins are inherently different than the rest of the cryptocurrencies in the industry, as their value is determined and derived differently. With all the criticism and skepticism surrounding the industry today, many people have pointed to stablecoins as being one of the biggest proponents in legitimizing the cryptocurrency market as a viable asset class.
Stablecoins could quickly become the universally accepted, international currency of the future. They have the potential to empower everyone to take part in an evolving crypto-economy, without compromising security and freedom. If implemented at scale, they are poised to become a foundational component of the next-generation economy. One of the biggest attacks against the cryptocurrency market is that the coins are too volatile and that they have no safe backing. Stablecoins solve both of those issues while still serving as a digital asset that can perpetuate excitement for the market as a whole.
Stablecoins solve the issue of volatility and lack of inherent value by having an actual asset which determines its value. At this point, they can serve as mediums of payment and monetary value while maintaining a stable price.
Conclusion
Sure, the cryptocurrency market may be filled with coins that are highly volatile and may not have the backing of inherently valuable assets, but what if there were coins that could satisfy all of these points? Well, with stablecoins, all of these issues are solved and the possibility of using these coins as mediums of payments becomes real. Imagine having the ability to use a cryptocurrency that is essentially valued the same as other widely-used assets like fiat money, oil, or even gold? The digital asset economy is quickly revolutionizing the world, so keep an eye out for this category of cryptocurrencies to one day become the future of the industry. | https://medium.com/coinbundle/stablecoins-486d42548cc2 | ['Coinbundle Team'] | 2018-11-22 06:46:03.824000+00:00 | ['Investing', 'Finance', 'Beginnerscoinbundle', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Go on Living Sprees, Not Spending Sprees | Let’s go with my actual cost of living, putting it on the high side at $3,000 a month. This includes my current $1,342 rent payment. If I’m taking home $10,000 a month, this leaves $7,000 left over at the end of the month.
I could funnel that cash into a savings account for a down payment on the aforementioned house. It would take me just under three years to accumulate the $264,000 down payment I said I wouldn’t include in our discussion. Sorry, but it’s difficult to remove this element from the equation.
Anyhow, let’s say I buy the house. The $264,000 miraculously fell from a tree, but only let me pick it up if I agreed to make it a 20% down payment on a $1.3 million house. From here, I take on the $6,000 monthly mortgage obligation, increasing my $1,342 housing payment by $4,658. This is $4,658 I could spend elsewhere that I’ll be spending on a mortgage.
Am I making a value judgment here? Yeah, I am. It’s sort of tough not to when you do some math and run potential budget scenarios.
Forget anything beyond the $4,658 difference between renting and owning.
If I do nothing with this $4,658 savings on housing other than straight up save it, I will amass $167,688 in just three years. In ten years, I’d have $558,960. Rack the latter number up alongside a mere 4% interest, and we’re looking at:
Calculate our returns at the more often-cited 8%, and we approach $850,000.
I require no further convincing.
For me, it begins and ends with cash security. On a relatively modest salary, there’s no choice to make here. Maybe I’m running with an abnormally high aversion to risk, but I’m not taking any chances sinking nearly five grand into a mortgage when I can put it in the bank and/or stocks. I’d rather ride the gravy train to a relatively quick six figures than pay more for housing than I absolutely need to or consider otherwise reasonable.
However, for the fun of it, let’s think of other ways I could allocate $4,658.
Let’s go on a living spree.
$4,658 — scenario one:
Direct $1,000 a month to your various pots of money.
Invest $1,000 a month.
Spend $1,000 a month.
Give $1,000 a month to your kid.
Give $658 a month to charity.
$4,658 — scenario two:
Direct $500 a month to your various pots of money.
Invest $1,000 a month.
Have a sick, all-out, and I’m going all-in $500 dinner once a month.
Put $2,658 a month into a savings or investment account until you have enough to buy a rental property that yields 8%.
$4,658 — scenario three:
Create your own scenario.
If deciding how to allocate an extra $4,658 every month isn’t financial flexibility in and of itself, you’re definitely on the right freeway to get there. What an incredibly great and encouraging problem to have.
I don’t know what the number is. And it’ll be different for everyone on the basis of personal preference and cost of living in their chosen city/environment. But there’s a number we all have at which we would consider ourselves cash secure and headed toward financial flexibility. An amount of cash we can do whatever we want with every month.
In a situation where you make $10,000 a month, a number like $4,658 matters quite a lot. At least it does to me. You might be like:
I don’t want a cushion. I don’t care about cash security. I’ll save money when I’m dead. I’m buying a Tesla and spending whatever I have left on whatever I want.
If you’re making $50,000 a month, things change. You could literally burn $5,000 a month (in an actual flame), save enough to achieve cash security, and still have loads of money left over to allocate however you’d like.
Or you could increase your cost of living — lifestyle inflation — and be in the same boat as the person making $10,000 a month. There are probably people who make $5,000 a month but live so frugally they’re better off than their $10,000 or even $50,000 a month counterparts. Maybe you’re one of these people.
Clearly, it comes back to personal preference. But only to a certain extent.
I go through exercises like this not to prescribe my beliefs to you (though I do try to gently persuade!), but to get the wheels turning. Because, as much as personal preference plays a key role in how people budget and determine what their “number” is, it doesn’t explain all of the variations. I’m confident we can explain some of the differences between people through what I’ll call going through the motions.
In other words, some people don’t have a preference in the matter. They haven’t thought about it. They haven’t done the intellectual and psycho-emotional work. They stand for nothing from a personal finance perspective.
They take in money every month. Maybe a lot of it. From there, they have no plan. You might be able to relate. Your personal finance plan is literally garbage in, garbage out — every thirty days.
I know so many people like this. For fuck sake, I used to be like this. I’d be like:
Okay, I make $3,878.43 after taxes every month so I can spend $1,800 a rent, $500 a car, let the credit card minimums total another $500 a month, and use the leftover $1,078.43 on whatever my monthly spending spree ends ups looking like.
The spending sprees end up not feeling like actual spending sprees because they span thirty days, and you go through the same patterns every month. Isn’t this the definition of going through the motions? You engage in something so thoughtlessly that it becomes the uncritical, barely productive, and potentially destructive norm.
Not a good way to live. Take it from someone who has been there, done that.
Fitting a lifestyle into an amount of cash as opposed to letting your cash dictate your lifestyle.
When you practice the former style of personal finance, you take what you make and cram a bunch of expenses — some fixed, some discretionary — into your monthly cash flow, to the dollar.
When you practice the latter style of personal finance, you begin with the bare minimum. Relatively low housing payment. Modest monthly transportation costs (i.e., you don’t have a car or you drive one that’s less expensive than you can afford). The flavor of frugality we often talk about together. From there, you see how much money you have left each month and spend/allocate it accordingly.
Maybe you need a getaway. So one month, you decide to go big and drop $2,000 on a nice trip up the coast. In another month, you’re busy but perfectly content, so you literally put every dollar you have left into savings and investments. At some other juncture, you fall somewhere in between. You save and invest a little less and spend a little more, though not quite the $2,000 you dropped for your coastal respite.
You have given yourself the financial flexibility to make these choices every thirty days because you’re not tied to out-sized monthly obligations or running on very little breathing room between income and expenses.
While one size absolutely does not fit all, and we need every possible case to comprise a sample we can all learn and draw conclusions from, I gotta say there’s something to be said about making your budget base case as low as humanly possible. You can always go up from there. It’s easier than coming down when your expenses outpace your income.
Think about it. This strategy allows you to go on a living spree most months, if not every month. It beats the hell out of spending sprees and ultimately stressing over how you’re going to pay for them. The latter often leads to credit card debt and attendant financial impotence, and cash insecurity. | https://medium.com/makingofamillionaire/go-on-living-sprees-not-spending-sprees-b10756bb3c23 | ['Rocco Pendola'] | 2020-12-19 14:53:07.080000+00:00 | ['Personal Finance', 'Saving', 'Self', 'Budget', 'Money'] |
A Messy Guide to Dealing With the Messy Truth | A Messy Guide to Dealing With the Messy Truth
Reflections from the Data Viz Society’s discussion on how to deal with complex truths and stakeholder conflict
On a dedicated channel, #dvs-topics-in-data-viz, in the Data Visualization Society Slack, our members discuss questions and issues pertinent to the field of data visualization. Discussion topics rotate every two weeks, and while subjects vary, each one challenges our members to think deeply and holistically about questions that affect the field of data visualization. At the end of each discussion, the moderator recaps some of the insights and observations in a post on Nightingale. You can find all of the other discussions here.
Inspired by the growth of the Data Visualization Society, I decided to try out my first visualization competition. I am a massive environmentalist, especially on issues like climate change, so I cheerfully set out to compete in the National Geographic Plastic Pollution competition. The competition had the explicit goal of convincing individuals to reduce their plastic consumption for the health of the planet, but the more I looked, the more I ran into a problem.
It turns out plastics are freaking amazing (kind of, not really, but still good)! They are lightweight, durable, opaque or transparent, and come in many different varieties. But they’re also made out of fossil fuels, and if mismanaged they end up in the oceans where they break into pieces, infiltrating and infecting every level of our ecosphere.
Everything was more complex than I expected, each truth made up of multiple parts, trade-offs, and nuances. My goal was to reduce CO2 emissions, but emissions drop only 3 percent with total global recycling. Meanwhile, 99 percent of emissions happen before a product reaches a consumer. And in many cases, plastic is actually great at reducing emissions. All these facts were in direct conflict with the goal of the competition.
A screenshot from an interactive visualization, made by The Ocean Cleanup Project — with added personal notes. It shows the 1000 river nodes that send 80% of mismanaged plastic into the ocean.
Even when you explain this, or remind people of the sheer magnitude of the problem, or even show where and how plastic is mismanaged, you get the opposite reaction to what you want. You get helplessness. Aimlessness. A lack of responsibility.
Distraught, I decided to give up. I had good intentions, National Geographic had good intentions, we both wanted to help the world. It was as if my “client” and I had different perspectives, and this made a mess of the data and fluid truth. I did not know how to balance the intended outcome with my research, or how to make the situation any better.
So, I hosted a discussion for the Data Visualization Society on dealing with complex truths and connected stakeholder conflict instead.
Libbie Weimer uses a legal lens to deconstruct complex truths into three distinct categories. Something that seemed simple often can be shown to be complicated through “uncertainty … contradictory or lack of evidence … [or] contextualisation of the evidence.” She writes that the notion that “99 percent of CO2 emissions happen upstream of the consumer … complicates Natgeo’s narrative about plastic pollution” for the general population, by contextualising the evidence away from their direct choices. She explains that you must be comfortable reacting and working with each category to be legally sound and achieve a bulletproof result. In data visualization, taking the same approach should lead to enhanced durability.
One could argue in return, “why are we focusing on emissions?” or “people can choose more sustainable products,” contextualizing the evidence again. Despite thinking you have an escape hatch, just the conflict of ideas can lead to more problems like contradiction and uncertainty. Those messages might not even reach your audience. Instead, when working with organizations, Weimer first tries to emphasize a shared value and image of credibility. By being brave with the truth and purposefully elaborating on the nuanced situation, you must now trust the audience, and then the messy truth flows freely from a place of respect. In turn, you can achieve effective, credible communication, by being secure on all fronts. Her experience tells her that it is hard to get everyone on board doing this, but “the essential component is the relationship” with the client. When you trust each other, it is easier to trust others. By leveraging any shared values, she concludes that anyone can achieve pluralistic and multi-faceted visualizations.
Credibility is not the only value critical to dealing with messy truths. Ben Olmos shared a collection of his tried and tested values to rationalize decision-making around complex truths. The ones that stuck out to me personally were:
Trust: I value and want to maintain your trust
Accountability: Don’t attach your name to anything that sucks
Integrity: Be open, honest, and real
In explaining his values, Ben emphasized the idea of his own personal brand as well as the company’s, noting that if you “compromise your integrity and reputation … you may find it to be far more difficult earn it back.” Instead, he says that you should not embed yourself or your client into the data, just allow the truth to naturally reveal itself. He writes:
“As data analysts, scientists, and or visualization experts, our job is to tell a story with data. I was hired to help, educate, inform, and ultimately make those who hired me look great. I don’t manufacture the data, the organization or the environment does. All I can do is ensure we are properly collecting it, ethically cleaning it, and accurately illustrating it, so that it is as solid as it can be.”
In the same scope, Bill Shander sees himself as a “data fiduciary” rather than someone who can deliver an outcome from what he gets. Like the “ghost-whisperer” of your information, he takes a relative perspective of the “truth” and tries to build a direct communication link with stakeholders, minimizing any surprise shocks.
Even when given a desired outcome, Elijah Meeks recalls one incident where there was an implied critique of his work, “that he could not ‘pull it off.’” It was seen as his “professional failing” for not being able to produce insights that aligned with the client’s idea of the truth. Others also mentioned that they have interacted with people who disregarded key insights or asked them to spin the data to make the truth more palatable. Meeks explains that the conflict between stakeholders over the truth and the accompanying complex approach, makes the truth singular. He writes:
“Instead of building data products to support impact and decision making, the lowest common denominator is invariably: ‘Can we agree from an engineering perspective that the data is good’ and then the metrics used for decision making are simple counts of that. Then it’s just [a] Move Number.”
When arguing about nuances and complexity, the messy approach comes out of favour. The only thing that can circumvent the war of ideas is the data and its inherent credibility. The situation is often complex, so something like the number of plastic bags wasted, in its tangibility and purity, becomes the key metric that defines success (the Move Number). Everyone reacts to that number now, and that shapes outcomes, insights, and discourse. Even if cotton bags and paper bags are worse in different ways, all that is counted is the fact they contributed in not wasting a plastic bag.
On this subject, I commented that it was “as if the race for optimization and dashboarding stands in the way of slow exploratory thinking, and that the struggle to find the answer is not worth its weight if we assume every other answer will come from the same place.”
Bridget Cogley was on this same boat, saying: “People want to achieve X, so they hyperfocus into Y metric at the expense of so many other data points.” Stating more generally that focusing on specific singular aspects while missing the complex view is part of our human nature, she concludes that we have to define success differently and that ethics-based collaboration is key. Her success comes from walking people through the epiphany, the “aha” moment, and exploring possibilities from there together. You can put the seed of an idea in their head and watch it grow within them, with their own complex rationalisation. During their subsequent dive into the messy truth, you can share the conflict and come up with solutions together. | https://medium.com/nightingale/a-messy-guide-for-dealing-with-the-messy-truth-557d56bcfe2b | ['Oren Bahari'] | 2020-07-06 20:26:50.129000+00:00 | ['Topicsindv', 'Decision Making', 'Problem Solving', 'Data Science', 'Data Visualization'] |
You are my Religion | Mention faith in the same breath as secularism and people get confused.
And yet, I’m an atheist with faith, the unwavering kind. But the difference is that I’m an ardent believer in us, humans, rather than in representations of us often referred to as deities.
Because we have reason and intellect, because we are curious and questioning, because we are real and tangible, I place my faith in us. This means that I believe in the limitless potential of the human spirit and value human prowess above all else, be it science or art.
Human intelligence is the closest thing I have to religion because this asset we all share makes miracles big and small happen every single day. We survive, we rise above adversity, we heal, we rebuild lives, and we change.
Our capacity for evolution and self-actualization only knows self-imposed limits. If we do not set any then our life is wide open, a blank page on which we’re free to weave any thread our imagination can conjure up. | https://asingularstory.medium.com/you-are-my-religion-e66471896138 | ['A Singular Story'] | 2020-12-14 12:45:39.273000+00:00 | ['Self', 'Love', 'Spirituality', 'Culture', 'Religion'] |
When you are so good at projecting that even the Virgin Mary herself is somehow not off-limits: a Nativity story | I called her on the way back from church, which is a bit of a jerk move — most people hate talking on the phone, and I know this, but I was beset with guilt and I could not wait for a lengthy text conversation that wouldn’t even begin until I was home. “Dude, I’m sorry I said you should just ask people for what you need when we were talking this week like that would just solve all your problems. It’s actually so hard.”
“Well, you were kinda right, though,” she said, because she is gracious and a gem, and also because I was kinda right, I just wasn’t completely right. “I guess the hard thing is just knowing what to ask for.”
And isn’t that just the nail on the head — I have no idea what to ask for when what I actually want is the right to wear a sign my entire life that just says “please handle with care, I have some weird unresolved shit that sometimes flares up out of nowhere and now we can apparently add the entire fricking season of Advent to this list, I don’t know, I know it’s weird and a lot but like I said please just be gentle with me, and also I’m working on it”.
Which is not practical, not least because 1) everyone could benefit from such a sign, and 2) I actually sometimes am not working on it, like when I listen to an entire Gospel reading and starve the resulting feelings of any attention at all until hours later. (Two readings, today, actually, because I often play the liturgy music for this church and today was such a day — that’s right, I heard this reading twice and at no point thought that these feelings were worth examining until I got home.)
So, in absence of a blanket-absolution handle-with-care sign, I suppose what I actually want is what anyone wants who’s experienced grief that makes them feel like an unhinged person breaking entirely new ground in the human experience: I want someone to say, no, I’ve been there. I think it’s normal.
I mentioned I have twice lost my shit listening to Christmas carols this week. Once was in the middle of shopping, which was clearly a bit of a valley. So it’s not entirely accurate to say I haven’t known that there’s anything going on — just that I’ve been able to move through it, which has given me the luxury of slamming the lid on these feelings and scribbling FOR UNPACKING SOME OTHER DAY onto the top. “Some other day” seems elusive. I’ve tried to write about this probably four times in the last week and it’s been really hard.
When I’m having a hard time writing my way through a feeling I often initially make that difficulty about me. And maybe I am the only person in the world who feels this way (“listening to Gospels about the birth of Jesus makes me feel shitty and bitter and totally unable to not let my I’m Supposed To Be A Mother narrative drive my entire brain”), but experience has shown me that every time I think that, it isn’t actually so. And this has been the weirdest lousiest feeling, and it’s been following me around like a raincloud since I woke up the Friday after Thanksgiving, but I’ve never heard anyone talk about it. So if you’re following along at home and reading any pieces of this and thinking wow I also thought this was a weird unique way in which I was totally ruining the holidays and also that I was completely alone, I wanted to name and put out into the universe the following:
Turns out that wanting to be a parent and not being one can be really specifically hard for people of Christian faith during Advent. Turns out this might be one of the (many, many) things people mean when they say that for some people the holidays are not completely joyful. I think we’re doing great. You don’t need that from me but it’s true. Someone should be congratulating us for leaving the house in December. (*2020 note: stay home!) I don’t know your life and I don’t believe in falsely lighting up hope, but whatever scary things might be true about your fears, I can at least tell you that you aren’t alone. We’re in it together. It sucks and it’s often lonely but we aren’t alone. Part of what makes pregnancy loss so hard is that it affects us in weird ways at weird times and we can’t predict when we’ll be angry or sad or lonely or tired. There’s so much pressure to show up joy-first during Christmastime (and I imagine during the most festive holidays for other faiths, though I can’t speak to that directly) that showing up mostly just kinda bummed that you’re not a parent feels like an enormous middle finger to everyone in your life and also yourself and a little bit to God. And if you’re like me, that’s not how you mean it — which seems not to matter when parsing out how it feels. “Leave me alone!! But also please never leave me.” You know. Classic grief shit. Another part of what makes complicated grief in general so hard is precisely that it is complicated. I haven’t felt able (willing?) to share this with anyone so far because, for all of the ways that everything I’ve said so far is true, it’s also true that Advent and Christmastime are awesome, and I love this season, a lot, and if the people in my life who love me but are sometimes not certain how to show up for me start approaching me during Christmastime with kid gloves because “oh my God I know this time just reminds you of all the things in your life that make you pissed off and we don’t have to talk about it but we also totally could, you know you can talk to me about all your most depressing shit whenever you want, right” before asking me to pass the ornaments while we’re decorating Christmas trees I will fling myself into the sun. Also, though, thank you so much for saying that, truly and sincerely. I know I can talk to you about all my most depressing shit whenever. And I appreciate that, really deeply. And I love you. But Christmas isn’t always linked to that for me. And if I bring this up now, in this way, I worry that it will be, for you, when you think about me and Christmas.
And that’s the heart of it: it doesn’t feel fair (or realistic) for me to expect the other people in my life to follow these twists and turns and nuances. I can barely keep up myself (clearly). I don’t know what the answer is. I wrote earlier this week about being someone who really doesn’t like when things don’t make sense; I usually write to figure it out.
I have no answers here — this sucks in a way that I haven’t figured out yet — but it does feel worth saying out loud. Today I was shaming the life out of myself for my knee-jerk reactions to Advent Gospels. One of the loveliest things anyone has ever said about anything I’ve written was that reading my words made her feel “the opposite of lonely”. That’s all I’m trying to do, here: if you are having a hard December because hearing about the birth of Christ with a history of pregnancy loss is a bad experience, I hear you, I see you, and I think whatever we’re feeling is fair and valid and normal. I wish it was different. I want the tidings of comfort and joy, too. I want them for both of us — all of us. The best I can do for you is #3 above: for whatever else you might be, you’re not alone. Maybe that’s a road to comfort and joy, and maybe it isn’t (it’s okay if it’s not), but it’s at least true and unshakable and you can hang your hat on it: it’s so hard, but it’s not just you. You are the opposite of alone. I hope, with my entire heart, that some part of this season makes you feel the opposite of lonely, too. | https://medium.com/@carolinehorste/when-you-are-so-good-at-projecting-that-even-the-virgin-mary-herself-is-somehow-not-off-limits-a-5ba41a70a06a | ['Caroline Horste'] | 2020-12-09 22:39:19.835000+00:00 | ['Pregnancy Loss', 'Christmas', 'Advent', 'Infertility', 'Grief'] |
The Epiphany That Gave Me Direction | Hi, my name is Teran Martin and I am so excited to share with you how I came to develop the only heated pumping bra for breastfeeding moms available in today’s market. Not long ago I was a nursing mother like you are today or will be soon.
I struggled in my breastfeeding journey in many ways. I questioned if I was producing enough milk? Too am I producing too much milk? How do I stop my milk? And everything in between. In short, it was an exceedingly difficult journey with both of my children.
As a mother, I so longed to be able to provide for my littles my breastmilk and build that emotional connection with each child through the motherly love of nursing my baby.
Come to find out I had a hormone imbalance that caused my milk to continue to produce by not release out of the breasts. So, I used a rock-hard icepack and a bed sheet to help alleviate my discomfort of ceasing supply.
I knew I couldn’t be the only woman to have experienced that self-torture of ceasing production.
So I started working on a product that would provide that compression and cold therapy but without the jabbing icepacks or falling off.
I soon realized that the materials not only cool down but it heats up too but not only is it warm it is moist heat!! Then I remembered my doctor had said the best way to increase milk supply was through a hot shower…
and that’s when I realized that the Nustle had the potential to offer that moist heat similar to a hot shower and the cold compression therapy that I once longed for.
At this point, I no longer breastfeed either of my children… so I knew I had to get it out to mothers who were currently breastfeeding and get some feedback as soon as possible!! Therefore, I went and found a bunch of mothers in all stages of the breastfeeding journey who volunteered to product test the wrap!
The end results were jaw-dropping! So many women told me that their milk output in a single pumping session was double the milk verse times without the Nustle! To extended feeding times, to dramatically shorted dry up times, and so much more!! All of this fantastic success and without having to eat or drink something but simply through the application of heat or cold therapy!
I sat back and watched in complete amazement as women’s reviews begun pouring in as I never imagined that I would be the founder of such a life-changing product. This epiphany gave me direction and purpose in my life and a drive to help you succeed and cherish your breastfeeding journey!!
Even better through my journey I had my son and was to return to work when my company let me got and 4 months later we found out we were pregnant with our second around that time my husband’s company let got his entire department. So we were those parents who had a baby one on the way with no steady income. I needed lactation support but all I found at the time were professionals who cost $300 or more and to pay that fee would have literally, taken food off our table. It simply was not an option for me at the time. But through all of that hard time and development of Mama’s Milk Wrap, I am now able to offer you a one-time free 30-minute lactation consultation with one of our approved experts with every purchase of a Nustle wrap! We have an amazing team of lactation experts who simply want to support you and your success in your breastfeeding journey!!
www.mamasmilkwrap.com | https://medium.com/@mamasmilkwrap/the-epiphany-that-gave-me-direction-915161691fb2 | ['Teran Martin'] | 2021-01-16 21:38:07.557000+00:00 | ['Pumping', 'Breastfeeding', 'Baby Shower', 'Breastmilk', 'Baby'] |
It’s Your Hour, America | We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…
It was many years ago. Washington DC was covered in snow — a new experience for this young Australian on her first visit to America — and I picked my way along the Mall to the Archives, careful to keep my balance in this strange and slippery world of whiteness. I’d gone from the middle of a baking Australian summer to a city of snowy parks, icy sidewalks, and frozen rivers in a single day of travel, and it was a whole different world.
A cool new experience — image by author.
I entered the “Rotunda of the Charters of Freedom” where a handful of tourists looked at the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and other significant documents.
The hall was arranged to handle thousands of visitors daily, such as school groups shuffling past so each student could look for a precious moment at the birth certificate of a great nation. This was history — vital, iconic, important, lasting — right here, and I had it almost to myself for as long as I wanted. And I could take photographs — flash off — which I did.
I was impressed and uplifted. On my way out, I bought facsimiles of the Declaration and the Constitution. I still have them somewhere, fifteen years later, and I value them highly. As souvenirs of a memorable trip, the first of so many I have made to America that I have lost count, and of an inspiring experience.
The flaw in the ointment
Even then I could be cynical enough to see the mythmaking at work. Something I was happy to go along with, because America holds a special place in the English-speaking world’s cultural makeup. The grand buildings and memorials and exhibits in the national capital tell a story, packaged and presented for millions of visitors, and labeled with keywords. Freedom, Democracy, History, Enterprise, Discovery, and so on.
It was American advertising at its finest, but there were people sleeping on the streets. In the snow. Bundled up in bus shelters or in nooks amongst park buildings. There were beggars living on the capital’s avenues, here in the heart of the richest nation on earth.
They were all Black people. As were the taxidrivers, and the cleaners, and the servers.
Washington DC was a snowy white city in more ways than one.
But the packaging says different
“…all men are created equal…” the words of the founding document declare, in phrasing which is known around the world, two hundred and fifty years on. And yet, the men who put their names to these “charters of freedom” owned slaves.
Thomas Jefferson, who drafted the Declaration of Independence, and served as the Governor of Virginia, Minister to France and later Secretary of State under Washington, Vice-President under Adams, and as President in his own right for two terms, derived considerable advantage from slavery. Slaves worked his fields, laboured in his workshops, and served in his house. Children were whipped for discipline, and his sexual relationship with his slave Sally Hemings was well-known at the time and documented through DNA later.
Sally, the Black half-sister of his own dead wife, was a child of 14 when she entered Jefferson’s household in Paris as a maid to Jefferson’s daughter Polly. Thomas Jefferson was 44. Although under French law Sally could have remained in Paris as a free woman, she chose to return with Jefferson to Virginia two years later, gaining promises of “extraordinary treatment”. She was pregnant at the time, and neither she nor any of the six children born to her in America were ever forced to hard labour, and all gained their freedom as adults.
Jefferson regarded his ownership of slaves as not only providing the labour that ran his plantation and paid for the expenses, but produced a 4% annual profit through their offspring.
That profit kept the enterprise of slavery going across the country. The children of a female slave were also slaves, and the legitimate property of her owner; as well as also being in many cases the illegitimate offspring. The fruits of a woman’s womb were not her own, and kept the whole thing running for generation after generation.
As a woman…
Let me at this point lodge a protest against that “…all men are created equal…” phrasing. What about women?
Sure, it is the wording of the time, but while these American Founding Fathers were creating the first modern republican democracy, rebelling against their king, and proclaiming all manner of unprecedented inspirational innovations, they did not see fit to make any commitment to liberating women. Not even in the language they employed.
Or abolishing slavery. Sally Hemings, as a member of both groups, was very much a fourth-class citizen. In fact, in the eyes of American law, she could not reject the sexual advances of her owner. Imagine that. Thomas Jefferson, a high member of the federal government, could have non-consensual sex with a child and it would not be rape. All that was asked of him was discretion.
Constitution of the United States
The Constitution
While Jefferson was enjoying himself in Paris, the United States replaced its initial unwieldy Articles of Confederation with a constitution. Jefferson would surely have had a hand in drafting it, but he was busy in France, helping Lafayette draw up the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen which was adopted the month after the Bastille was stormed.
The famous Three-Fifths Compromise in the Constitution determined slaves as being not quite the equal of a White person in calculating representation in Congress. All men are created equal, but were not counted as such when it came to the crunch.
Created the month after the French Declaration, the Bill of Rights was a series of amendments to the United States Constitution, based around the same premise; that some of these inalienable rights of men needed to be codified and given the protection of fundamental law. These rights are familiar enough: the right to freedom of expression, protection against unreasonable search, the right to a jury trial and so on.
The founding documents of the United States proclaimed a host of noble ideals, and carried out the promise of many of those lofty statements. Every American schoolchild can list the high points.
But they fell short on the equality promised in the Declaration of Independence, and without equality, the rest held no force.
Sally Hemings, product of two generations of mixed-race pairings, was three-quarters White and fair-skinned. Her children fathered by Jefferson were able to pass for White, but they were legally slaves at birth, and in practice few if any of the protections accorded by the nation’s primary documents applied to them in that state. The inalienable right of liberty proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence was notably lacking.
The Gettysburg Address
Abraham, Martin…
Lincoln, the great Civil War president, gave many inspiring speeches, but he is best remembered for the relatively short Gettysburg Address, which begins,
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
I walked along the Mall in DC, that cold January, for I was anxious to meet Lincoln on his grand throne. I passed Washington’s Monument, and there was the Great Emancipator at the far end of the park.
I have often wondered what inspired Southerners to fight. Certainly, the upper classes of Southern society were slave-owners and depended on the labour and the profitable increase of their human possessions for their wealth and status. These were the politicians, the generals, the officers of the Confederacy.
But the rank and file of their armies would have owned precious few slaves. Why would they risk their lives and endure danger and hardship for a cause which could not benefit them at all? Were they fighting for the notional right to be slaveowners?
It was a puzzle, at least until I learned more about how human beings regard themselves and others.
Some of us like to hammer out a niche of comfortable thought to cement ourselves into the structure of the world. Here are the rules which bind us, there are the old, the wise, the teachers, the leaders. Over there are the children, the infirm, the enemy, the others. And here we are somewhere in between where we have sorted out the structure and nailed ourselves into it.
Some of us like to have people to dominate and abuse because we imagine — through some quirk of birth or geography or culture or appearance — that we are naturally better than they.
India constructed an elaborate caste system, but you will see the same sort of pecking order in any large group. Often it is completely artificial and nonsensical. Say my local sporting team deserves my support because it is local, not because it is better or more capable or worthy. And we hurl abuse and demean the opposing team because they are not our team.
I have never, in all my travels around the world, found that humanity is naturally ordered along any lines of merit or value. Everywhere I travel, I see individuals who are clever, or artistic, or wise, or loving, or honest, or any other human trait you might care to name. The colour of their skin or the language they speak has no bearing.
But there are those among us who want to have somebody to dominate, so that even if we are not successful or happy or wise, we have somebody more wretched and we may contrast our state to theirs and feel that we are superior beings.
Feeling superior. The lynching of Will Brown, Omaha, 1919 (public domain via Wikipedia)
I do not subscribe to such a view myself, but I can see the principle at work.
Read the history of the United States and you will find this sort of stuff all the way through:
The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa, morally, socially & physically. The painful discipline they are undergoing, is necessary for their instruction as a race, & I hope will prepare & lead them to better things. — Robert E Lee “However much it is denied, however many excuses are made, the hard cold fact is that many white Americans oppose open housing because they unconsciously, and often consciously, feel that the Negro is innately inferior, impure, depraved and degenerate. It is a contemporary expression of America’s long dalliance with racism and white supremacy.” — Martin Luther King
The American Civil War was fought on the issue of slavery, whether it was because of the financial and other benefits to their White owners, or the desire of the citizens of the Southern states to have a class that was legally inferior to them.
Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves, although the amendment to the Constitution enshrining this was not ratified until after his assassination. His contemplative statue looks out over the capital city of the nation he preserved, and he is seen as a president who sought unity over division.
His memorial is, understandably, a place where the noblest of American ideals are celebrated, and as I climbed those icy marble stairs, I found words engraved into one of the steps, marking the place where Martin Luther King delivered his “I have a dream” speech to an audience that packed the Mall.
MLK speaks to the world (public domain image via Wikipedia)
There were chills running up my spine that had nothing to do with the temperature.
I still have a dream, a dream deeply rooted in the American dream — one day this nation will rise up and live up to its creed, “We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal.” I have a dream … — Martin Luther King Jr. (1963)
King explicitly referenced the words of the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, and the Gettysburg Address. His speech in 1963 redefined the American dream. It is not a dream of a house in the suburbs with a two-car garage. It is a dream of equality and freedom, at one with the highest ideals of those who made America.
…and John
The next day, I visited Arlington across the frozen Potomac. I had never seen a frozen river before, and this daughter of the Australian summer gazed at it in wonder.
The cemetery at Arlington, surrounding the old home of Robert E Lee, is where America lays to rest those who have given their lives in the military service of the nation. The rows of gravestones stretch out down the hillside, and the buildings and monuments of Washington DC rise beyond.
Eternal flame over the grave of JFK (Wikipedia)
An eternal flame burns here, and a guard stands watch over the grave of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. He was assassinated a few months after King’s famous speech, and Kennedy had some words of his own on that topic.
I hope that every American, regardless of where he lives, will stop and examine his conscience about this and other related incidents. This nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened. — John F Kennedy 1963
America lifted itself up in the Civil Rights movement of the Sixties. There was a national conversation, there was controversy, and there was law to bring the nation towards unity and equality.
John Kennedy and Martin Luther King were leaders on that road, and neither of them were allowed to complete the journey.
The message of fear
From the very earliest days of the American republic, fear defined the subject of race. Fear of a slave uprising. Fear of financial loss if these valuable assets simply walked away. Fear that White women would be soiled by congress with Black men. Fear that property values, living standards, moral values would be diminished if Black families moved into White suburbs.
We see similar fears being whipped up today, used as a political message in an election campaign.
In reality, these fears were never truly justified. The real fear lay on the other side, where rape and violence and death was and is an everyday event for Black Americans. Today, the most deadly five minutes of a Black person’s life are those immediately following a traffic stop.
Lower down the scale of fear, fear of financial loss is an everyday reality for those whose salaries are lower, living conditions more wretched, risk of imprisonment and illness far higher.
Fear defines electoral systems. Across America, Black people find that their legal right to vote is often infringed and its effect diminished. Obstacles to registration and voting are raised through ID requirements, holding elections on a workday, limiting registration and voting places. Votes are diminished through gerrymandering and disproportion. The Electoral College skews voting power away from urban centres.
That unjust Three-Fifths policy may have gone the way of slavery, but census results to determine representation in Congress are being manipulated to the present day.
Democratic equality remains a distant ideal.
Likewise Liberty. America today has far more of its own citizens imprisoned that the Soviet Union did under Stalin and the Gulag system. And — here’s a surprise — Black Americans are over-represented in America’s vicious gulags.
Four Presidents
Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, with its lofty statements about Liberty and Equality. And yet he treated other human beings as subhuman possessions. He lived a long and comfortable retirement in his country mansion.
Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves and restored the Union. He was shot and killed.
John Kennedy supported liberty, equality and democracy. The world watched him and listened to his speeches. He helped to bring Black Americans their civil rights. He was assassinated as well.
Don Trump is running for re-election. Americans may decide for themselves whether he is worth their support. I will, however, note that the whole world is watching with keen interest.
Now is the hour
Americans have a choice. They may choose to heed the declarations of the Founding Fathers and make progress down that long road to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Or they may listen to those preaching fear and vote for that instead.
Photo by Malcolm Lightbody on Unsplash
They should be aware that if they vote for progress and high ideals, they should vote for these at every level. We have seen what happens when a president is opposed by a hostile congress. There is very little progress.
If I were voting in America, I would choose Black candidates, and I would choose female candidates. I am biased, I know, but it seems to me that ordinary Americans, in choosing rich old White men, have seen their own power and fortune diminish while those that have wealth and power already gain more of the same.
Those Americans who are untainted by privilege are well aware of the dimensions of inequality, injustice, discrimination, and humiliation.
If it were in my power, I would take those I saw sleeping in the snow, driving the cabs, cleaning the tables, sweeping the floors, and I would say to them,
Your nation’s founding documents give you the right to be heard, the promise of equality, the dream of freedom. You understand America’s problems in a way that billionaires cannot. You have the power for change.
I would put the ability to drive the national conversation in the control of those who have been marginalised. I think that this conversation would turn to the ideals laid down in America’s fundamental documents in a way that would inspire the world.
As America once did, before becoming a laughingstock and sad humiliation.
This year of 2020 has been a nightmare for America and the world. Look up, America. The dream is there. All you need do is follow it.
For myself, I’d love to return to America once the current unpleasantness is over and look through the museums, the galleries, the monuments of DC once again.
I’d like to visit an America living in hope and happiness. Not a land of fear and hatred.
But I don’t have a vote. It’s up to you, America.
Britni | https://medium.com/illumination-curated/its-your-hour-america-c29ac2de4dba | ['Britni Pepper'] | 2020-10-22 00:30:18.722000+00:00 | ['Travel', 'Politics', 'Election 2020', 'Washington DC', 'America'] |
Easy, Egg-Free Snowmen Meringues | These wintery treats are the perfect way to kick off the festive season, and so much easier than you would ever expect!
When I first set myself the task of creating an eggless alternative to a meringue I thought I’d made a huge mistake. Surely a meringue without egg in is just a bowl of sugar? There can’t possibly be a way you can make something that uses egg as the main component…egg-free. Well prepare for your socks to be knocked right off!
Here is my favourite of all the snowmen! Scarves are optional
To make my super simple, eggless meringues I swapped out the egg whites for aquafaba, added some sugar and vanilla essence, and bam! Meringues!
Aquafaba is a great alternative for egg whites and is used in loads of vegan and egg-free recipes, so it’s a good thing to keep stocked up in the cupboard. Although the name makes it sound rather fancy, I guarantee you will be able to find this is in absolutely any supermarket across the country (and it’ll only cost you buttons).
Essentially, aquafaba is just the water you drain away when you open a can of beans. Chickpeas tend to be the most recommended (this is what I used) as the liquid doesn’t carry as strong a flavour, but you can swap them out for kidney beans, black beans or whatever you have in the cupboard (just maybe not baked beans!). That being said, although the flavour won’t come through once your meringues are baked, the batter can sometimes still have a hint of bean, but I promise you won’t be able to taste it after they’re cooked.
I thought this recipe turned out really well! The meringue is light and sweet, and still has that initial bite and airiness that a traditional meringue should have. You also can’t deny that they look quite cute as little snowmen. They make the perfect festive treat for this time of year, and you’ll still have room for that mince pie. | https://medium.com/@theegglessbaker/easy-egg-free-snowmen-meringues-2fce54edd1a2 | ['The Eggless Baker'] | 2020-11-10 17:39:58.875000+00:00 | ['Egg Free', 'Recipes For Desserts', 'Vegan', 'Christmas Food', 'Baking'] |
A mother. A baby. Two burglars | The Devil’s hour
Ican hear the wood of the floor groans as it disturbs the tranquility in my room. It is three am — known as the devil’s hour to believers. The hour when the veil is thin between the natural and supernatural world. In my country it is known as the hour where burglars snatch your altered consciousness back to reality. I am in South Africa, my country of birth. A country with a high murder rate, ranked fifth most dangerous country out of 144 countries. I am in my apartment, with my one-year daughter. Alone and scared.
Earlier this evening, my boyfriend James and I had our mid-week celebration of food, wine and conversations delectable of humor and laughter. The night was less gracious as the time ticked away after two glasses of wine. James settled my one year old daughter in my bed. She pulls the blanket over her head. An usual hobby to fall asleep. It is the middle of August in our town, Bloemfontein. We experience a semi-arid climate with chilly days and slightly cloudy skies. After we played the game of stay or go, James dragged his feet to the staircase. I am by no means a fan of the staircase that is shaped in the form of a centipede dunked in rust. I love James. He is not the father of my daughter. We’ve been dating for six months.
I raise my head from the pillow and support my body weight with my right elbow. I blink owlishly. An eerie feeling send a shiver down my spine. A visceral reaction travels through my body. A sliver of moonlight spill into the room, not enough to transmit relief to the darkness, but enough to navigate a definite movement in my room. I jolt my body in a point of awareness. My abdominal muscles tighten and a sheer fluttery evolves in my stomach. I stretch my shoulders back and push my chest out. My back touch the wall behind me and I shrunk away. The hair stand up at the back of my neck. I rub my hands vigorously over my arms.
The conversation
A silhouette with greater height than average approach me. He stops at the edge of my bed. I squint my eyes in a curious way. “Who is it?,” I asked in a soft tone of voice. “James is that you?” Why would James be back at this hour? How did he did he enter. He does not have a key to my apartment?” “Are you alone?” The voice is low and gravely. My heart punch violent blows against my rib cage. It beats like an African drum during an ancestral ceremony.
Seconds pass. It gives the feeling of hours. The man move from the edge of my bed to my bedroom window. He peeps through the curtain and walk back to the bed. “Where is your husband? He owe us money. We are here to collect our money.” My eyes adjust to the darkness and I can see his teeth. It is flawless, white and detailed. I smell a mixture of sweat and nicotine. I pull my legs up to my chest to hide my baby. I swing an extra piece of my blanket over her in a theatrical move to blind him from her presence.
“Yes I am alone and my husband is not here now. “Did this men entered the wrong apartment? I don’t have a husband. Is he talking about James? James has a job and have adequate money. He is new in this town and barely know people. “My friend is waiting outside your kitchen window. We are here to collect the money from your husband. He owe us $479,92” “But I don’t have a husband. Should I tell him I lied or should I play along? I have $4.98c in my purse. Is this what happens during the devil’s hour? Perhaps this is dream that I will dislike in the morning.” The man’s words are blurry and less easy to understand.
The Jump
I hear a loud thumb in the kitchen. Footsteps approach my bedroom. A second man enters. He stares at me. He speaks in one of the eleven language of my country. A language I lack to master. They laugh as if this is a prank out of control. “Get out of your bed”, the first man orders. I grapple to interpret the scenes of this occasion. “What about my baby? What if he discovers her? What if she starts crying? I can’t get out of bed. I am half-naked. My T-shirt barely covers my bottom. What if they rape me and my daughter wakes up? What if they take my baby.” I lift my feet with elegance out of the bed. The men smirk while I attempt to stretch my T-shirt that dangles over my hips. My baby remains unnoticed. She does not wake up easily. Her following feed is at five am. “Come. Walk to the balcony.” The man who is in charge pulls his jacket slightly to the side to display his weapon. I open the door. I stand on the balcony.
My facial muscles shake in an attempt to warm up as my teeth chatters freely. “Since your husband is not here and you failed to give us our money, we are giving you two choices. You can jump or we rape you?” “But my….” I think about my daughter. “We are two stories high from the ground. “ It is not that far. I can jump, run and look for help. There is a 24hour garage next to our flat. It is a two minute run.” In a last attempt to escape this devil’s hour I beg them to come back the next day in the hope that they will leave. Their laughter gives tribute to this hour. I am vulnerable. Tears roll down my cheeks in the absence of sound. I pray to God. I pray to the universe. I pray to my ancestors. I pray to whoever can protect my daughter. I jump.
The Aftermath
The cold air fills my lungs. Gravity pulls me faster than estimated. How do I perform a proper leap? An unfortunate situation. I land flat with both feet on concrete. Pain instantly greets my my toes, feet, ankles and right wrist. In an effort to balance myself, I press forward with my right arm. I wrench at the sharp sensation that shoot through my arm. I am flat on my backside. My baby is in the bedroom. This is all a blur.
The squeaky sound of my door is a hint that they are leaving the apartment. I need to move but the unplanned physical sensation is beyond what I can bare at the moment. I collapse in a stupor. I need to get to the petrol station . I can hear the two men dribbling down the staircase. They are coming for me.
I press on my left hand and get on my knees. My image resembles a three-leg dog. I crawl over stones, litter and sharp objects. It stings badly. I am at the end of the alley and see the street lights. I crawl on my knees and one hand. I am half-naked. The cars pass me. Some fast and others slow. I reach the pavement in an attempt for someone to notice me. No one stops. I cry out loud. The sting in my arm complement my swollen wrist. My knees are bleeding. My toes and ankles are swollen. I am at the back of the petrol station. If I can crawl until I reach the corner in the hope that a petrol attendant will see me. Then it happens. I see a shadow approaching the corner. It is them. It is over. I sit flat on my behind. Hopeless.
Angels
Aelderly woman appears. She has a blanket wrapped around her waist. Many South African cultures use blankets to represent their specific ethnic groups. She calls out to me. I call out to her. She screams for help. The woman run to me and wrap the blanket around me. More shadows appears around the corner. It is three men. One of the man rush to assist us. Then I see them. The other two men that came around the corner with the petrol attendant are the burglars. They stroll pass me and smile as if it’s the first time they see me. One of them place his finger over his mouth signing that I keep quiet. Bile violently escape my mouth . The elderly woman try to console me, unaware of the danger that lurks beside me. The men move on. The petrol attendant carries me in the shop. The elderly woman call the emergency police number 911. I recognize the women. She works here at the convenient store. The police arrives. The elderly woman explain the story to them as I have told it to her.
They rush to my flat and return minutes later with my baby. She is asleep and unaware of the commotion. I cling to my baby and ask for atonement in her ears as my tears wet her blanket. “ Did they rape you?” No. “Assault you?” No. A feeling of guilt and sadness pours over my body as the police officer whisper with care in my ears. The ambulance arrives. They lift me in the ambulance. My daughter is safe on my chest. James arrives at the hospital after the police informed him. We cried and comfort each other. James takes my daughter to my parent’s house.
Ghosts
After a week in the hospital, I return to my apartment with James. He moves in temporarily. I detest the apartment, the staircase, my bedroom and even my balcony. The nightmares are cruel and violent. The investigation is slow with no progress. Memories of the police interrogation a day after the accident haunts me. They found fingerprints of the two men inside my kitchen but never made an arrest. James suggests that I move in with him until I fully recover. Both my legs are in plasters and I am in a wheelchair scheduled for six weeks. My daughter stays with my mom and I stay with James in my apartment. Feelings of hopelessness and shame embrace me daily.
James wash me daily since my arm and both legs are in plaster. He carries me to the toilet at night. He arrives home during his lunch break to prepare lunch for me and secure that I have the essentials until he returns after work. The plasters are removed after six weeks. James asked me to be his wife. Despite our love that is so deep and genuine, we end our engagement shortly after. The incident left scars on both of us.
The nightmares never left for remaining months of our relationship. It entered my next relationship that led to marriage and later to divorce.
Lost , Found and survival
I lost a part of me the night I jumped. I lost a part of my sanity. I lost my faith. I lost my James. I found guilt. I found doubt. I found loneliness. I greeted an illness that negatively affects how I feel, the way I act.
I survived. | https://medium.com/@mullertessa7/a-mother-a-baby-two-burglars-20710f2dff5a | [] | 2021-07-20 10:31:25.675000+00:00 | ['Baby', 'Burglary', 'Mothers', 'Survived', 'Grace'] |
Time to Get Out the Vote for People Behind Bars | Dianna Houenou, New Leaders Council New Jersey
Part eighteen of The New Leader series The Arc of Justice: Examining the Failures of the Criminal Justice System and the Hope of Progressive Reforms.
No matter who you are, what you look like, or your faith, we all share certain values. We all want to be treated humanely, with dignity and respect. We all want to be counted and valued. And we all want to be able to have a say in the decisions that affect our daily lives.
The right to vote is a powerful embodiment of those values. By voting, we demand to be counted and to be a part of the decisions our government makes. Voting is a tenet enshrined in the United States Constitution and engrained in the American spirit.
But this nation denies those things to nearly 5 million people based on criminal convictions, primarily felony convictions. It’s time to end felony disenfranchisement.
Felony disenfranchisement, the practice of taking away someone’s right to vote because of a felony conviction, exists in almost every state in some form. Many states require people to have completely finished incarceration, parole, and probation before allowing them to re-register to vote. Some states only allow those on probation and/or parole to vote. Kentucky, Iowa, and, until recently, Florida permanentlydisenfranchise people for a single felony. Only two states never take away the right to vote: Maine and Vermont.
Felony disenfranchisement impacts a significant portion of the voting-age population. According to a 2016 national study, 16 states disenfranchised at least 2% of their total voting-age population. More than 3 out of 4 people criminally disenfranchised are living in their communities, either having completed their sentence or under probation or parole supervision.
When elections are sometimes decided by razor-thin margins (who could forget the 2000 presidential election that was decided by 537 Florida votes?), every vote is critical. Particularly in local elections, winners are sometimes decided by a few dozen votes.
While felony disenfranchisement touches people of all races and ethnicities, racial bias in the criminal justice system combines with disenfranchisement to disproportionately strip voting rights away from communities of color. There are disparities in who gets stopped and arrested by police, who gets charged by prosecutors, who gets convicted, and who gets incarcerated. For example, a 2013 report by the American Civil Liberties Union showed that black people nationwide are arrested for marijuana possession at a rate nearly four times higher than white people, despite similar usage rates. In 2016 The Sentencing Project released a report highlighting that black and Latinx people across the country are disproportionately incarcerated compared to white people.
The effect these disparities have on voting rights is palpable. Between 1980 and 2016, the number of states that disenfranchised at least 5% of their black voting-age population more than doubled from 9 to 23 states. As of 2016, more than 7% of black people of voting age in the U.S. were disenfranchised, a total of approximately 2.2 million people. That’s four times higher than the rate for non-blacks. Four states — Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia — disenfranchised at least 20% of their black voting-age population.
But ending criminal disenfranchisement doesn’t just affect voting numbers and, potentially, election outcomes. Allowing people with convictions to vote can have significant impacts on reentry and civic engagement. Directly-impacted people have publicly expressed how the criminal justice system does a thorough job of making them feel worthless and unwanted. They describe the pain of being denied having a say in the decisions that impact their lives and the lives of their loved ones. For them, being able to vote amounts to feeling valued and offers a sense of belonging in their communities.
Disenfranchisement serves no direct crime prevention purpose, and excluding people from participating in civic discourse and the political process runs counter to rehabilitative goals of the criminal justice system.
People with convictions have varied political views, just like everyone else, and preventing people from voting based on assumptions about how they might vote is flatly unconstitutional.
The chance to promote generational voting participation is at also stake. Evidence shows that lifelong voting habits are shaped in childhood. Watching your parents vote and having political discussions at home significantly influence how young people view voting participation.
I’m often asked, “Why should we let incarcerated people vote? I can understand letting people on probation and parole vote, but why people in prison?” The answer is simple: People in prison are not significantly different from people on probation and parole; they are impacted by decisions made outside prison walls just as much as — if not more than — people who aren’t incarcerated. Their access to education, healthcare, and visitation is at the mercy of legislators and corrections officials. Their children are subject to the decisions of the local school board. Their family members have to be able to get jobs. When an incarcerated person is released, he or she must live with decisions surrounding economics, housing, and healthcare, that were made during their time in prison.
Politicians and activists across the country have been pushing for voting rights restoration for many years. More recently, the movement has increasingly gained national bi-partisan momentum.
In 2016, the Maryland legislature, through a veto override, enacted a law to restore voting rights to people upon release from prison. That same year, California allowed people serving felony sentences in county jails to vote (but not those in state or federal prison). In 2017, Alabama reduced the number of offenses used to disqualify people from voting, thereby increasing the number of people allowed to vote. During the November 2018 midterm elections, Florida — notorious for its harsh lifetime disenfranchisement laws — voted to amend its state constitution to restore voting rights to more than 1.4 million people on probation and parole.
Currently, advocates in California, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and elsewhere are each working to support state legislation that would end criminal disenfranchisement entirely.
Notwithstanding the tremendous recent victories (and those still to come), voter restoration campaigns are only one piece of the larger, ongoing GOTV (get out the vote) effort. Additional reforms are still needed to ensure a true participatory democracy. We must end gerrymandering, including prison-based gerrymandering, under which incarcerated people are counted as residents of the district where they’re incarcerated rather than the district they call home. We must implement early in-person voting and absentee voting in every state. And we must simplify voter registration processes and make them accessible to all who are eligible to vote.
Governments should be implementing policies that expandthe number of people eligible to vote, not reduce it. It’s time that the right to vote be treated like the fundamental right that it is. That means it must never be taken away.
Dianna Houenou, Esq, is policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey. Her work primarily focuses on advancing racial and social justice through police reform, marijuana legalization, and voting rights restoration. | https://medium.com/the-new-leader/time-to-get-out-the-vote-for-people-behind-bars-8f110017cb2b | ['New Leaders Council'] | 2019-02-07 17:00:07.233000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Voting Rights', 'Civil Rights', 'Tnlcjreform', 'Prison Reform'] |
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Of Shogun and Daimyo | Feudalism in Japan is a somewhat anachronistic term since its usage was only applied to a certain era in Japanese history by Western scholars studying the country. The term feudalism itself, according to Marc Bloch, is anachronistic even when applied to Europe since the term was only employed after the period was over. Despite this anachronism, this term is applied to both histories to denote a system of organization wherein the political, social, and economic aspects of a given geographic place is entirely dependent on land and the loyalties secured by amassing land and power. Further, rigid hierarchies are imposed on the population who live off and on the land which landowners essentially rule over. Common to both forms of feudalism is the vertical hierarchy between the common folk, the nobilities, and the king which is held together by personal ties as well as what Le Goff calls a ‘feudal contract’.
In the context of Japan, feudalism centered around the power and influence of local warlords called shoguns. These shoguns often competed with each other to gain control over large swaths of the Japanese archipelago. Shoguns that were successful in seizing power over regions were sworn to by the lesser shoguns and local lords, or daimyos, which they conquered. When a ruling shogun or dynasty of shoguns loses hold over the lesser shoguns, these loyalties and personal connections are severed and wars erupt in the region for control.
Following the description of feudalism given by Le Goff, these ties were often personalistic and the shoguns took the place of nobles. The rigid social hierarchy of the Japanese feudal age placed shoguns at the top, daimyos down one step in the social order, samurai — or warriors — who swore fealty to their respective daimyos, and the common folk at the bottom. In the class of the common folk, rigidity still followed. Soldiers were given precedence to the farmer, the farmer to the artisan, and the artisan to the trader. This hierarchy was hereditary and did not allow for social mobility in Japanese culture and society.
This social order arose at around the 12th century C.E. wherein the warrior class took precedence over the other social classes in Japan. These samurai eventually created the Bushido code where the social order was justified through its overarching concept of loyalty to one's daimyo. This order showed signs of collapse at around the 19th century C.E. when Japan was forced to open its ports to the West. The Tokugawa Shogunate simply did not have the resources or military power to continually fend off Western attempts to open the ports of Japan and by 1868, the Shogunate was rattled by its inability to enforce order, enact economic reforms, and quell peasant rebellions which were becoming more frequent.
As can be inferred from this description of Japanese feudalism, it can be said that the social order is heavily centered on the military. It is through the military by which the social hierarchy is established and vertically arranged. These loyalties are not permanent, however, as a weakening shogunate may be supplanted by a rising, more capable shogun. The concept of a feudal contract is still applicable to feudal Japanese society since common folk depended on the military might of shoguns, daimyos, and samurai to keep them safe.
It is in these instances where Japanese feudalism can be likened to that of European feudalism. However, in European feudalism, the center of the social order was that of the noble. The feudal system in Europe focused on the economic aspect of the social order as when compared to Japanese feudalism where the focus was on militaristic competition over land and power.
Although wars did happen between feudal states in Europe, it was never to the extent as what was seen in Japan. Further, while both systems relied on a network of loyalties to the overarching power, feudal Europe never attempted national consolidation until the modern period — well after the feudal and medieval ages were over — while in Japan, consolidation into one political entity was always a goal for shoguns. As such, the chief difference between European and Japanese feudalism would be their focus. European feudalism was more a mode of production where there was no great political power in the region to foster trade between states and kingdoms. Japanese feudalism, on the other hand, had its focus on the military and the constant preponderance of one shogunate to another. | https://medium.com/history-of-yesterday/of-shogun-and-daimyo-221785cd045f | ['N. Mozart Diaz'] | 2020-05-01 01:14:13.642000+00:00 | ['History Of Yesterday', 'History', 'Nonfiction', 'Past', 'Japan'] |
What is Bitcoin Mining? | Bitcoin-mining
Bitcoin mining is a form of computation. The Bitcoin network is designed to support transactions, and transaction fees have to be supported. Miners are rewarded in bitcoin for doing the heavy lifting of processing and verifying transactions and the like. There is a limited number of bitcoins available, and miners are the ones who provide the computing power needed to verify these transactions.
So, it is a form of competition with the purpose of mining the next block (a new set of transactions that can be used to confirm a transaction) to determine who gets the next bitcoin reward. The currency is distributed amongst all the miners, and the results of the mining process are secured by the consensus of the whole network.
This is why it is called a peer-to-peer network; the miners are essentially the users and they are all represented by the same software. The results of the mining process are the “blocks” which Bitcoin software communicates with the rest of the network to verify and verify and approve the new blocks.
The process is non-linear; it is computationally intense and also really hard to compete and beat other miners. There are lots of different “mining pools”, and these pools typically compete with each other to get the next block.
The exchange rate for bitcoin depends on the total amount of bitcoin available and also on the difficulty and on the exchange rate of the US dollar relative to bitcoin. It is worth pointing out that only 21 million bitcoins will ever be in existence, and therefore the exchange rate for bitcoin is really important. Bitcoin mining seems to be getting more competitive and more challenging in terms of computing power.
Where does the mining process occur?
The whole process of mining and verifying transactions requires a lot of computing power. Generally speaking, mining pools (and then individual miners) are run in remote regions in which the power is cheap and the bandwidth is high. In some cases, mining pools are decentralized, and each pool is simply owned by one single person. We will see more about these kinds of arrangements later.
What is more important for this article is that the mining is generally done in remote locations; one remote mining machine requires hundreds of kilometers of data connections. In our case, this can only be done with high-speed fiber-optic cable connections.
Bitcoin mining is complex, but the Bitcoin network uses a lot of computers. The mining process is not totally independent from the software development and was not implemented just for the purpose of mining. It was implemented because it was needed.
Can I mine Bitcoin?
Anyone who can download and run the latest software can get involved in the Bitcoin mining process. The process of mining bitcoin requires a lot of computing power, and it is currently the easiest way for users to acquire bitcoins. Anyone who wants to mine can install a special program called “Bitcoin Core” in order to create a “Bitcoin mining computer”.
But the process itself can be very complex, and if you are using a “very old computer” or a very slow one, the chances are slim that you will be successful. For a beginner, it is easier to learn how to buy bitcoin and spend it. There are a number of exchanges for Bitcoin in more than 130 countries around the world. There is also a fast and secure way of buying bitcoins online from merchants around the world using credit cards or bank accounts. If you want to learn more about Bitcoin, then see our article about online Bitcoin purchasing.
Why is Bitcoin mining important?
Bitcoin mining is important because it is a very efficient way to spend bitcoin. Mining gives you control over the distribution of bitcoins. By mining, you control the distribution of bitcoin for a period of time; but during that period, the total number of bitcoins that you have is the same. Since the whole bitcoin network is protected against counterfeit, the bitcoins that you mine are considered “the real bitcoin” and it is impossible to change the actual bitcoin supply. There are only 21 million bitcoins that can ever be created, and only 21 million of them are currently in circulation. The current supply is around 13.75 million bitcoins.
The mining process is an effective way to make your own bitcoins. You have to use special software to combine the computers’ hash functions (which can be quickly and easily calculated), and then you receive bitcoin as a reward for doing the computations. But this process also generates electricity. In order to recover the energy used by mining, a special software which is called a “supercomputer” is required. The Super Computers that make up the Bitcoin network are large and powerful, but they are also very expensive. For example, in order to make a supercomputer that could mine bitcoins, you would have to spend $50,000.
When you mine bitcoins with your supercomputer, the bitcoin that you will get is called an “unspent transaction output” or UTO (UTXO). It is like a random piece of paper that you collect every time you pay for something using bitcoins. If you start mining bitcoin, you will collect UTOs from all the transactions that you do.
Another great benefit of Bitcoin is the increase in efficiency and speed that a Bitcoin miner can provide. For example, the best miners in the world can produce blocks about 160 times faster than the fastest non-ASIC miner. Since mining bitcoins is a very expensive process, this increased speed makes mining a great way to use bitcoin for your daily life. For example, it is now possible for you to order food from your computer and have it delivered right to your door. When you first make the payment to your pizza place using bitcoins, the pizza place will charge the bitcoin transaction fee to the bitcoin network. The bitcoin transaction fee is the same per bitcoin transaction that you do today, but it is usually very small. It is one of the reasons that buying anything using bitcoin is still very expensive.
The higher the fee, the faster you will get your pizza, but you will not get your pizza any earlier than the non-ASIC miner could.
One last advantage of Bitcoin is the increased security of the Bitcoin network. If the entire Bitcoin network were destroyed, all the bitcoins would be lost forever. This will not happen to the Bitcoin network for a long time, because new bitcoins are continuously being added to the Bitcoin network. You can use bitcoins to buy things today, and you can use them to make donations to many great charities all over the world. However, you can not currently use bitcoins to withdraw money from your bank account. The only way to obtain dollars from a bank account using Bitcoin is if you first have a friend go out and buy the coins for you, or if you start your own bitcoin ATM company. One day, it will be possible to buy bitcoins directly from your bank account, and it will be possible to transfer your bitcoins to any number of online wallets on your computer. This will not happen for a long time because it would be very expensive to make a Bitcoin ATM company very large and profitable.
Bitcoin has many other great benefits, such as low transaction fees, widespread acceptance, the anonymity of Bitcoin transactions, and faster payments, which are discussed later.
Bitcoin mining is one of the most advanced technologies in the world. Every computer connected to the Internet can mine bitcoins, and therefore every computer connected to the Internet can mine bitcoins. In order to increase the total number of bitcoins in circulation, mining must continue for the foreseeable future. It is only a matter of time before computers designed to mine bitcoins become commonplace in homes and offices all over the world. It will then be possible for people to get started with mining bitcoins on their computers at home.
There are three different types of mining that people can do. The first and most important is “Proof-of-Work.” This is the fastest type of mining because it can quickly discover new bitcoins. There are two different types of Proof-of-Work. “Proof-of-Stake” and “Proof-of-Travel.” Proof-of-Stake is the type of mining that people can do today, and it is the most widely used. The reason that people are most familiar with Proof-of-Stake is that it is the most common type of mining. Proof-of-Travel, or PoW, is the type of mining that is most advanced. It is currently very difficult to do Proof-of-Work. However, this is changing very fast.
Proof-of-Work is not the only type of mining that people can do, though. It is possible to mine a different type of bitcoins that are called “P2SH coins.” These coins are called P2SH because they are “Proof-of-Sharing,” or “Proof-of-Sending.” A P2SH coin is very easy to mine and very easy to mine bitcoins with. However, it is extremely difficult to earn profit from these coins. In order to do so, the owner of the P2SH coin must spend the coin in a Bitcoin transaction. Currently, there are very few P2SH coins that are worth anything. Once it is possible to mine many more P2SH coins, it will be possible to make a profit from them. However, it will be very expensive for the P2SH coin to be spent in a Bitcoin transaction. People in the Bitcoin community are very excited about this because it means that more P2SH coins will be mined in the future, and more people will be able to mine profitably. There are a lot of P2SH coins in circulation, but most of them are worthless.
The mining process for a P2SH coin is not actually a lot different than it is for a Proof-of-Work coin, except that the result is far more valuable. The P2SH coin is used to redeem a limited number of “MoPay” Bitcoin. This means that instead of using a P2SH coin to buy a bitcoin, you can use the limited amount of the limited number of P2SH coins you bought to buy a limited number of bitcoin. When you exchange your P2SH coins for bitcoin, the P2SH coin is actually sent to a different address than the one you used to buy it. This way, you can use a lot of P2SH coins in the same transaction. This also means that you will not be able to redeem a lot of P2SH coins at once. It will be like doing a lot of Bitcoin transactions with a limited number of bitcoins. This is called “transacting with small bitcoin.” If you use a lot of P2SH coins in a single transaction, then you will receive a very high-interest rate.
The best way to think of Bitcoin mining is that it is like spinning a roulette wheel. If you want to cash out money, you spin the wheel, and you have to hope that the wheel lands on a number that you want. If you roll it the right way, you will get a lot of bitcoins. If you roll it the wrong way, you will lose money. For this reason, Bitcoin mining is a risky business, and it is possible to lose a lot of money by being unsuccessful. Even if you are successful in the end, it is not easy to make a profit. In fact, if you do not play with the right amount of money, you can lose money very quickly.
How Do P2SH Coins Actually Get to Exchanges?
One of the biggest problems with P2SH coins is that they are not easily exchanged. P2SH coins can only be used to buy bitcoin. P2SH coins can never be exchanged for cash. This is a big deal for the bitcoin economy because a lot of people don’t like to cash out their bitcoin. They are holding the coins as a way of demonstrating to other people that they believe in the Bitcoin currency. If you want to cash out your P2SH coins, you will have to have a solution.
When you do a Bitcoin exchange, you have a transaction fee that the exchange takes out of your account, and you can only exchange Bitcoin. With P2SH coins, you cannot actually exchange your coins for cash. You can’t go to an exchange and convert your P2SH coin into cash, so you can’t cash out your coins. If you are holding P2SH coins for trading purposes, you have to find a way to cash out your coins and get cash.
The current solution that P2SH coin holders use is to sell their P2SH coins to someone else. This can be done at almost any exchange, and it will cost you very little. However, for this to work, you need to make sure that the person you sell your coins to has an account at your exchange. You also need to make sure that you have a good relationship with that person. Because of this, selling P2SH coins to someone else can be a very risky operation. You can’t trust someone you have never met, and you can’t rely on their word. If you use this method, you should make sure that you use cash.
A company called CyberSafeCoin is trying to solve the problems that P2SH coin holders are having. CyberSafeCoin is a company that is promoting P2SH coins and is trying to introduce the P2SH coin to the world. They call their coins “SPYK” (Proof of Smart Kaching). SPYK is different from other P2SH coins because you can convert your coins to cash, which is not the case with most other P2SH coins. If you trade for SPYK coins, then you will receive cash. If you cash out your coins at a company like CyberSafeCoin, then you will get money in exchange for your coins.
SPYK coins can be traded almost anywhere, and it doesn’t cost you anything to do it. However, for many people, the biggest problem with SPYK coins is the fact that they can only be used to trade for Bitcoin. They can never be used for cash or to exchange for other products and services. This is the biggest problem that SPYK coins have to overcome before the value of these coins goes up. With SPYK, people can buy a lot of Bitcoin with little hassle, and this is very different than the other P2SH coins.
Cointelegraph has reached out to CyberSafeCoin to see if they have any information about SPYK and how P2SH coins can be traded for other products and services. If you have any information about SPYK or the P2SH coin economy | https://medium.com/@contact-techinfoblogs/what-is-bitcoin-mining-256abb5c967a | ['Arvind Kumar'] | 2021-03-04 05:35:49.510000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Bitcoin Wallet', 'Bitcoin Mining', 'Bitcoincash', 'Bitcoin News'] |
02/05/2018: Biggest Stories in the Cryptosphere | by BlockEx
1. Self-regulatory Trade Association CryptoUK Asks MPs To Implement Regulations
CryptoUK, the first self-regulatory trade association for the UK crypto industry, is calling for MPs to apply Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulations and guidelines to cryptocurrencies by putting them under the body’s jurisdiction. The proposal was created in response to the Treasury Committee’s announcement it would launch an inquiry into cryptocurrencies. Along with BlockEx, other members of CryptoUK include Coinbase and eToro. Among the proposals, there is a Crypto-License which would be granted to AML- and KYC-compliant crypto exchanges. It was also added that, ideally, the focus should be on the intermediaries, rather than cryptocurrencies themselves, as peer-to-peer policies already exist. The group believes that regulation is fundamental for the industry to flourish.
2. Crypto And Blockchain Will Lead To Cashless Society, Says S Korea Central Bank
The Bank of Korea (BOK), South Korea’s central bank, has been attempting to create a ‘cashless society’ for some time now. It has now announced that crypto and blockchain are being considered as possible tools to achieve the goal. The cashfree society pilot was officially announced yesterday, along with the involvement of blockchain and cryptocurrency for aspects such as payments. An organisation investigating digital currencies and the impact they can have on the financial system has also been established. The ambition is to save on currency producing costs ($47 million was spent in 2016) and improve customers’ experience. The move would also help fight the black market, which is mostly based on cash transactions.
3. Biggest Names In Automotive Industry Launch Blockchain Research Coalition
A blockchain research coalition has been launched by some of the biggest names in the automotive industry. BMW, GM, Ford and Renault have partnered to form the Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative (MOBI). Among the 30 members involved in the project are Bosch, Berkeley (Blockchain), Hyperledger, Fetch.ai, IBM and IOTA. The aim of the project, which was launched today, is to cut costs, as well as improving safety and increasing accessibility for transportation. The aspects they hope to improve with blockchain technology are ‘payments, data tracking, and supply management, to consumer finance and pricing, and more futuristic areas like autonomous vehicles and ride-sharing systems’. Although this is not the first time automakers have joined this type of group, this is the first coalition focused on the industry.
4. Korean Peace Treaty Recorded On Ethereum Blockchain
South Korean developer Ryu
Gi-hyeok has recorded the details of the peace treaty between North Korea and South Korea on Ethereum blockchain. By doing so he made history. At the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit, leaders Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un signed the Panmunjom Declaration, which was then recorded through two transactions, in English and Korean.
This news roundup was brought to you by BlockEx. | https://medium.com/hackernoon/02-05-2018-biggest-stories-in-the-cryptosphere-698775eefd63 | [] | 2018-05-02 16:27:43.848000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'Ethereum Blockchain', 'Regulation', 'Blockchain'] |
What does it mean to be an influencer? | Spanish business magazine Emprendedores published (in Spanish) a ranking of influencers in entrepreneurship and leadership (pdf) which it generously included myself in. The ranking was first posted on the web in November, but has just been published in the print edition.
Some years I make it onto these kinds of rankings, and others, not; so I’m not sure how reliable they really are as an indicator of my influence, but the way they’re created is interesting. Emprendedores combines the opinion of dozens of entrepreneurs with a series of metrics from various social networks. I don’t know if all the social metrics used are correct or significant: to be honest, I pay little attention to them these days.
That said, I am concerned about the (mis)use of the term influencer: frankly, if all it has come to mean is an update of “celebrity” or “mercenary”, somebody who sells influence or posts garbage on YouTube to generate advertising, then include me out, as Sam Goldwyn said. I get emails and calls every day offering to pay me to write sponsored articles, for including certain links in my stories, for mentioning this or that, or for publishing press releases, and my answer is always the same: I am not a means of communication, my page is purely personal and my readers are not looking for advertorials. I am fortunate in that most of what I do online I don’t do it for the money.
Fortunately, Emprendedores seems to be using the term to refer to people who aim to inspire through their work, people undertake initiatives of all kinds, in which case, I am very grateful to everybody who mentioned me. As for those people who, despite all the evidence to the contrary over the last three decades, still accuse me of working on behalf of this or that company or of belonging to this or that political party, I can only tell repeat that I do what I do based on my own criteria and that maybe they should turn their attention elsewhere and leave me to get on with doing what I do. I’m too old for mind games.
Once again, many thanks to Emprendedores and to those who remembered an old teacher who still enjoys what he does every day. | https://medium.com/enrique-dans/what-does-it-mean-to-be-an-influencer-c6eecd2e27fe | ['Enrique Dans'] | 2019-03-15 14:58:28.856000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneurship', 'Influencers', 'Leadership', 'Personal', 'Rankings'] |
What Ant’s IPO Flop Means for China’s Consumer Finance Industry | Image via: Adobe Stock
Summary
In the run-up to Ant Financial’s behemoth IPO, the fintech giant’s suspiciously light balance sheet triggered the release of draft rules by Chinese regulators that would significantly impact the firm’s operating model. Consequently, Ant’s IPO was delayed, and investors went home disappointed. While regulators’ concerns were not unfounded, the consequences of these new regulations resurface big questions about the future of China’s consumer finance industry.
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………
In October, at the annual Bund Summit in Shanghai, Jack Ma, the former chief executive of Alibaba, delivered a bold rebuke of China’s nascent financial system. In his speech, the 56-year-old billionaire sharply criticized the current system’s track record of underserving households and denounced President Xi Jinping’s quest to drastically reduce systemic financial risks. Regulators, he complained, are trapped by an antiquated “pawnshop mentality,” which requires borrowers to post collateral to access credit. What China needs, he declared, is a new way of thinking. In place of the global standard of asset-based lending, Ma painted a futuristic picture of a wholly credit-based system that would use intelligent algorithms and big data to accurately judge an individual’s creditworthiness. With such a system in place, “even the beggar,” he promised, “would be, and can be, creditworthy.”
Ma’s broadside on the direction of China’s financial system under Xi, a system typically characterized by convergence with international standards, came days before Ant Group’s IPO. The company, a financial conglomerate founded by Ma to address the inadequacies raised during his speech in Shanghai, was on track to raise a record US$34.5 billion. Had the IPO taken place, its listing on the Shanghai exchange would have signaled a watershed moment in the development of China’s capital markets.
Instead, regulators abruptly put Ant’s IPO on hold, citing new draft regulations with the potential to significantly disrupt Ant’s business model as the rationale for the unexpected move. While not unfounded, the new rules and Ant’s frozen IPO raise questions about the direction of China’s increasingly influential consumer lending space. While Beijing touts consumer credit’s pivotal role in the nation’s shift towards consumer-driven growth, regulators’ apparent aversion to the business model of internet-based lending platforms, as evidenced by the interference in Ant’s IPO, points to the challenges of simultaneously establishing the financial system’s credibility and increasing consumer spending.
Ant’s Rise in Online Consumer Finance
It is difficult to overstate the dizzying pace at which the Chinese fintech space has revolutionized how consumers save, invest, spend, and borrow. A range of financial services now allow Chinese consumers to manage their financial lives from anywhere in the world. The widespread adoption of smartphones, the advent of big data analytics, and the rise of blockchain technology led to the proliferation of fintech companies with access to the vast Chinese market and a better understanding of their customers’ behavior. The consumer lending arms of fintech companies went through several boom and bust cycles, ultimately producing a consolidated market with one company in particular, Ant Group, as its undisputed leader.
Before taking on its current form, Ant was rebranded several times. Initially spun-off from Alibaba as “Alipay,” the company was best known for its payment platform of the same name. With over 711 million monthly active users, Alipay has become by far the world’s largest mobile payment platform. To reflect the growing range of services that the company wanted to offer, Alipay was rebranded as Ant Financial in 2014. Soon afterward, the company began cross-selling other financial services to its existing user base via its Alipay super app. Of these services, its “CreditTech” segment, which handles consumer loans, now contributes close to 40% of Ant’s overall revenue and has enabled 20% of China’s total consumer credit balance.
Unlike traditional banks, which require borrowers to post collateral, Ant’s CreditTech services, Huabei (which extends consumer credit for small, daily expenditures) and Jiebei (which extends consumer credit for larger, one-time purchases), rely exclusively on their customers’ credit history to process loan applications. If a consumer wants to make a large purchase using credit, the company’s algorithms analyze data collected through Alipay and Huabei to decide whether a loan applicant is creditworthy enough to receive a loan from Jiebei. Application processing takes seconds, which allows consumers with enough credit history to access credit on demand and on the go. Predictably, the widespread adoption of such applications would turbocharge consumer spending in China.
Government Support for Consumer Finance
A key piece of the online consumer finance puzzle is government policy. Given Beijing’s central role in managing the economy, this should come as no surprise since few industries can truly thrive without the backing of the state.
2011 marked a pivotal year for economists because that is the year that public investment, largely driven by public policy, peaked as a share of China’s GDP. Since then, the return on public investment, represented by the rapid rise in the ICOR (incremental capital-output ratio), has fallen. With investment-driven growth becoming more expensive, in its 2016 five-year plan, the CCP promised to shore up consumer spending and buying power and transition away from the investment-led growth model.
Several concrete measures were adopted in 2013 to jumpstart this process. Operating area restrictions were relaxed, caps on consumer credit were revised upward, and the main shareholder of a consumer financial company no longer had to be an established financial institution. 2016 measures encouraged the growth of internet finance in more explicit terms by pointing out the industry as important to promoting China’s economic transformation.
In recent years, however, the pendulum has swung in the other direction as Beijing has pushed aggressively for consolidation and regulation to build confidence in the country’s financial system. The swift decimation of the country’s peer-to-peer (P2P) lending industry at the hands of regulators and Ant’s frozen IPO are sobering reminders of Beijing’s preeminent role in managing the economy.
Why Did Beijing Come Down on Ant Financial?
The unexpected hold on what would have been an IPO of historic proportions has left investors scrambling for explanation. Francis Lun, CEO of GEO Securities, offered a cynical explanation, claiming that Beijing came down on Jack Ma for his harsh rebuke of regulators. This sentiment has been repeated in mainstream Western media outlets with a CNN headline claiming that “Beijing just yanked Ant Group’s IPO to show Jack Ma who’s really in charge.”
While such explanations reflect a focus on Beijing’s preoccupation with ideology, they gloss over legitimate concerns regarding the sustainability of Ant’s business model and do not factor in central leadership’s strategic goals for the country’s financial sector — reducing leverage and attracting foreign capital.
The Basis for Limiting Leverage
For years, the rapid growth in Chinese corporate leverage led to speculation about the possibility of a giant debt bubble fueled by Beijing’s investment-driven economics. Even before the pandemic raised global indebtedness, corporate debt in China stood at an atmospheric 150% of GDP (US corporate debt, by comparison, stood at 70% of GDP). However, much of this debt is concentrated in SOEs that are unlikely to default thanks to virtually unlimited government support.
However, as consumption grows as a share of GDP, China’s debt structure will change over time to reflect higher levels of household debt. Unlike SOEs, households do not have access to cheap funding and can default if their incomes do not keep pace with their debt burden. Given the potential risk that consumer leverage poses to the stability of the domestic financial system, China’s regulatory bodies are determined to tightly monitor the consumer finance sector.
Attracting foreign companies
Another incentive Beijing has for eliminating systemic risk from the financial sector is the ability to attract foreign capital. The most recent addition to President Xi’s panoply of national strategies, dual-circulation, aims to substitute high-tech imports and export markets with domestic alternatives while taking advantage of foreign capital to finance the transition. To attract foreign capital, Beijing has removed the minimum asset requirements to enter the Chinese market, lifted limits on foreign ownership, and cut through red tape so that permits are issued to foreign financial institutions (FIs) on an accelerated timeline.
In addition to lowering barriers to entry FIs, Beijing needs to reform its financial markets to assure foreign entrants of a stable business environment by eliminating systemic risks. Attacking domestic sources of excessive leverage and reigning in financial institutions that become too big to fail are core to Beijing’s mission. These objectives also place Ant squarely in the sights of China’s regulators.
Ant’s Business Model: Light on Risk
Ant’s CreditTech services have a total consumer credit balance of CN￥1,732 billion. However, its IPO prospectus only lists CN￥36,242 million in its loans receivable. This means that only 2% of the loans that it originates actually appear on its balance sheet. Where do the other 98% of the loans go? According to the prospectus, they are either “underwritten by our [Ant’s] partner financial institutions or securitized.”
Of particular interest to regulators are the loans which are securitized and sold to other institutions. By packaging consumer loans into securities and selling them, Ant can obtain instantaneous liquidity on its assets which it can then use to issue more loans — a model that Chinese regulators find reminiscent of the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis in the US. By maintaining a light balance sheet, Ant’s revenue is exponentially proportional to the number of loans that it originates.
Because Ant bears none of the risk of the loans, it has every incentive to focus on loan volume rather than quality. Just as US banks began committing outright fraud once they had issued loans to every creditworthy household, Ant, regulators believe, would have a strong incentive to misrepresent the creditworthiness of their customers later down the road to continue issuing more loans and therefore grow revenue.
Too Big to Fail
Furthermore, Ant’s estimated valuation of US$313 billion is 20% of China’s current outstanding consumer debt of US$1.4 trillion. This raises another concern for regulators — that Ant may well become too big to fail in the vein of US banks after the housing bubble burst. Cognizant that the government would likely step in to prevent a string of insolvencies creates yet another inspiration for risky behavior. While Ant points to its customers’ low loan delinquency rate — roughly 1% in 2019 — regulators prefer to look at the set incentives likely to influence the company’s future behavior. And the dual-risk of being both too big to fail and a major catalyst for unsustainable leverage casts Ant as a major systemic risk in the eyes of the regulator.
Meanwhile, President Xi’s vision for the party puts it at the center of economic life, and the financial sector, which is largely the domain of state owned banks, is no different. However, party leadership becomes a hollow slogan when a private company is so big that the government would be forced to bail it out if it were to fail. Ant committed two unforgivable fouls in the run up to its IPO that were exacerbated by Jack Ma’s reckless showing in Shanghai. It ran afoul of regulators by bearing almost none of the risk associated with the loans it originates, and it earned the lasting suspicion of the CCP politburo with its apparent disregard for ideology in a political environment that increasingly values purity.
Fallout, New Rules, and Next Steps
Ahead of the IPO’s termination, Chinese regulators released a draft for new regulations that ultimately knocked Ant off the waiting list for the Shanghai and Hong Kong exchanges. Several of the new rules would have forced a change to Ant’s business model, but one in particular caught the eye of investors. According to the proposed rules, “In a single joint loan, the proportion of capital contribution of a micro-credit company operating a network micro-credit business shall not be less than 30%.” In other words, Ant, which currently passes on most of the risk for the loans it originates, would have to bear at least 30% of loan value. This would severely reduce the volume of loans that it can securitize to raise cash that is subsequently used to issue more loans, which is the primary driver of its revenues. Under the new model, Ant would still be profitable albeit not at levels to justify anywhere near a US$313 billion valuation. The new rules, in other words, treat Ant less like a technology company, which it claims to be, and more like a run-of-the-mill bank.
Ant became the behemoth of consumer finance it is today because it took advantage of the opportunities afforded by the confluence of policy, household economics, and technology innovation. Without an unfettered Ant, and with a much tougher regulatory regime in the pipeline, Beijing may have to devise alternatives to achieving its long-term strategic goal of becoming a consumer-driven economy. To bolster consumer spending, it can either extend credit to consumers or implement policies that raise household incomes. With regulations eliminating smaller players and forcing larger fintech companies to behave more like conventional banks, responsibility for tapping the consumer loan market would have to originate from the country’s established banks. This in turn would require explicit direction from Beijing to begin serving consumers. It would also require Beijing to make the politically difficult decision to reduce state backing for SOEs that make them virtually riskless investments in the first place.
At the Bund Summit, Jack Ma passionately persuaded his audience that “A new financial system is the way of the future.” China’s regulators, and leaders, appear to have a different vision. While both parties agree that China’s system requires reform to meet the needs of a new, consumer-driven economy, their roadmaps differ considerably. Regulators have made clear that they want a financial market that converges with international standards, and President Xi’s personal involvement with the IPO serves as a reminder of the central role of Beijing in the Chinese economy. For now, Jack Ma’s dream of using big data and intelligent algorithms to create a truly inclusive financial system will have to wait. | https://medium.com/swlh/what-ants-ipo-flop-means-for-china-s-consumer-finance-industry-e59c1a0ab5fd | ['The China Guys'] | 2020-12-07 14:28:12.081000+00:00 | ['Regulation', 'IPO', 'Politics', 'Finance', 'China'] |
Why we invested: Phasecraft | By Carina Namih
We are delighted to be backing Phasecraft in the largest seed funding round for a UK quantum computing company as they announce a new quantum algorithm breakthrough.
Phasecraft founding team: Toby Cubbit, John Morton, Ashley Montanaro
I’ve spent long enough working with emerging technologies to know just how rare it is for internationally renowned scientists at the very top of their field to step back from their academic career and instead focus decisively on real-world application of their research.
It is a bold move. And one that we at Episode1 are excited to back. Here’s why:
We are bumping up against the ceiling of Moore’s law. As classical computing chips reach physical limits, the exponential increases in computational power that we have been enjoying for decades will soon be a thing of the past.
If we want to tackle the complex challenges of our time — like better battery storage, more efficient solar cells, even new drug discovery — we could really do with the help of more powerful machines. Today, we could fill hundreds of football fields with classical computers, running for hundreds of years, and still not accurately predict exactly how a new drug molecule will behave.
Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash
Quantum computing could be the answer. This technology is perfectly suited to complex simulation and modelling.
Deep pocketed tech companies have poured resources into building the hardware: quantum computers. And they have made great strides in the last few years. Quantum machines are emerging with ever more power and stability. The critics who claimed that quantum would never move out of the theoretical realm have largely been silenced. And while there are still major challenges ahead, we can now see a way forward.
This quantum hardware, however, will be practically useless unless and until a quantum algorithm layer is developed.
Phasecraft is developing algorithms and software that push today’s quantum hardware beyond experimental demonstrations and towards useful applications. Their work could accelerate the application of quantum computers by years, if not decades.
The UK has long been home to the very best scientists and continues to sit at the top of global rankings for high impact research. The Phasecraft founders, Toby, Ashley and John, are among the best of them and have spent decades leading quantum research teams at UCL and University of Bristol.
Having founded a deep tech company and invested in many, I see in this team the unique combination of grit, vision, technical brilliance and practical good sense needed to build a pioneering company.
We are proud to be backing Phasecraft, alongside LocalGlobe, UCL Technology Fund and Parkwalk Advisors, as they break new ground in quantum software.
More information on their recent breakthrough here: https://physics.aps.org/articles/v13/s159
Further coverage: https://fortune.com/2020/12/10/u-k-tech-startup-quantum-computers-exotic-materials/ | https://medium.com/episode-1-ventures/why-we-invested-phasecraft-dccd2cfeea56 | [] | 2020-12-11 12:43:16.751000+00:00 | ['Quantum Computing', 'Starups', 'Venture Capital', 'Funding', 'Quantum'] |
Let Your Kids Know How Stressed You Are | Let Your Kids Know How Stressed You Are
Whether you’re anxious about Covid-19 or something else, it’s best to fess up
Photo: Tom Werner/Getty Images
Stressed-out parents may think it’s perfectly logical to hide their stress from the kids, but a new study published in the Journal of Family Psychology suggests children see right through the deception, and it just stresses them out, too. The advice: Let it out, within reason.
“It is important that we are honest with our children about our feelings, including negative emotions like stress or upset,” says study leader Sara Waters, PhD, an assistant professor in Washington State University’s Department of Human Development. “This does not mean that we should share all the details of our upset with our children or that we should take our stress out on them.” But pretending everything is fine when it’s not can backfire, the research suggests.
Waters and her colleagues brought 107 volunteering parents into a lab setting, along with their children ages seven to 11, and split them apart. Parents were forced to do something stressful — giving a speech about themselves to a small audience of arm-crossed, head-shaking critics — and then each had a conversation with their child about a topic both had ranked as high in potential for conflict. Half the parents were asked to suppress their emotions, the other half not.
The advice: Let it out, within reason.
All the parents and children were wired with stress monitors to measure signs of stress, such as elevated heart rates.
When a parent suppressed emotions, both they and child were less engaged and less warm with each other, according to scores given by volunteers who watched videos of the interactions and who didn’t know what instructions had been given to each parent.
“That makes sense for a parent distracted by trying to keep their stress hidden, but the kids very quickly changed their behavior to match the parent,” Waters explains. “So if you’re stressed and just say, ‘Oh, I’m fine,’ that only makes you less available to your child. We found that the kids picked up on that and reciprocated, which becomes a self-fulfilling dynamic.”
Emotional authenticity pays off
When moms suppressed their emotions, their children showed more signs of stress, too, as measured by the sensors and also as rated by objective viewers. That didn’t happen with dads, however.
Perhaps fathers didn’t transmit suppressed stress because often they “tend to suppress their emotions around their children more than mothers do,” and the kids are used to it, Waters says. “But it was more abnormal for kids to see their mom suppressing their emotions, and they reacted to that.”
The study was well designed, and importantly included fathers, who are often omitted in this type of research, says Mary Alvord, PhD, a psychologist practicing in Maryland and co-author of the book Resilience Builder Program for Children and Adolescents.
Alvord says that because the research involved relatively mild stressors, it can’t necessarily be generalized to more serious stress. But she says the study adds to evidence suggesting parents should be “emotionally authentic” with their children and talk to them about stressful or difficult news or events “in as calm a state as possible.”
This increases the chance their child will also stay calmer and therefore better absorb and handle the information. (Separately, Alvord recently provided several suggestions on how to talk to kids about the coronavirus.)
“This does not mean that we should share all the details of our upset with our children or that we should take our stress out on them.”
Keep calm and…
Waters agrees the study looked at relatively mild and short-lived stress, much different from pandemic stress. “But the ways we support our children through it are not that different,” she tells Elemental.
Her advice, for both mothers and fathers, aims to make the parent a role model of emotional resilience:
Ask what your child has heard about the pandemic and what they’re worried about.
Really listen, and make it safe for them to express themselves.
Be honest about your stress, without sharing more information than is needed.
Show them what you do to feel calmer and discuss tactics for them.
“It is important that we as parents find ways to manage our stress effectively (which starts with acknowledging it) and include our children in these efforts,” Waters says. “It is okay to not be okay right now.” And then, she says, try not to worry about your children too much. “Kids will work their way through it as long as they have a supportive caregiver. They’re good at it.” | https://elemental.medium.com/let-your-kids-know-how-stressed-you-are-9b7bdec45e3 | ['Robert Roy Britt'] | 2020-04-27 05:31:01.393000+00:00 | ['Stress', 'Psychology', 'Mental Health', 'Parenting', 'Coronavirus'] |
The Human Need is One, and That is Relevance | As I write this blog, I am also updating my company profile, typing out a women’s network event plan, responding to WhatsApp messages and editing a video of my upcoming workshop directly through my smart phone, while of course, creating different versions of it to go on different social media platforms.
Thanks to this blog, I stopped for a minute and wondered: “Why am I doing all this?”
Growing your own business involves many hours of thinking, doing, marketing and testing so that you are more agile and ready for the next leap. It is a time-consuming and erratic process based on a feedback loop with inconclusive insights collected in uncertain times by confused people.
Self-reinvention never stops because relevance never stays in one place.
Self-reinvention is an important skill to muster and master in this ever-changing day and age of needs. By constantly reinventing ourselves: our image, offerings, business model and marketing campaigns, we are keeping ourselves relevant.
Relevance is defined as “the state of being closely connected or appropriate to the matter at hand” according to the Oxford English Dictionary. To be relevant is to be a significant link or an important component of a bigger entity or scheme such as an organization, an economy or the future.
Working professionals across all generations look for relevance in the business world and so do marketing campaigns to be effective. Relevance builds our sense of identity and belonging and gives us a reason to exist.
Social media helps us stay relevant, but marketing can’t keep up.
Looking at how social media fulfills Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs in the image below, we see different social media platforms placed on different levels of the pyramid, but that may not apply if our current situation is dictated by whether we are surviving, living, thriving, self-actualizing, or doing a bit of all at the same time (like I am). If you’re looking for a job, you go on LinkedIn to secure yourself financially (Physiological/Safety) and you also publish an article there to reach out to business prospects and share your knowledge with others (Belonging/Self-Esteem/Self-actualization).
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and How Social Media Fulfills Them
In Zhu’s and Chen’s Social Media Matrix, the satisfaction we get for connecting (Relationships), cooperating (Collaboration), communicating (Self-Media) and creating (Creative Outlets) comes from the root need to be relevant with the people, processes and platforms we associate ourselves with for different purposes, whether we are posters in one group/page or followers in another within the same platform.
Zhu’s and Chen’s Social Media Matrix 2015 reference to the white paper “Social Media and human need satisfaction: Implications for social media marketing”
Humans are multifaceted, complex beings who have strived to give meaning to their existence through different avenues since the beginning of humanity. As humans, we face a constant battle between figuring out what we really need, what the world needs from us and what marketing campaigns think we need. In the spaces in between, we are continuously filtering out or funneling in what makes sense or what feels good to us, and this is unique to everyone. | https://medium.com/@carine24b/the-human-need-is-one-and-that-is-relevance-3a25338eeca6 | ['Carine Bouery'] | 2019-11-21 22:51:34.614000+00:00 | ['Human Need', 'Marketing', 'Meaning', 'Social Media', 'Relevance'] |
The digital nomad lie | by Yann Girard
I’ve now been traveling and working remotely for the past three and a half months. Or at least I’ve tried to.
I don’t call myself digital nomad. And I’m not a true digital nomad. Whatever a true digital nomad really is. I just wanted to see what it’s like.
Over the past few months I’ve been to Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia.
And while trying to visit all of these amazing places I was trying to keep all my other stuff going, as well as some new ideas I wanted to work on for quite some time.
And what I’ve learned is that it’s almost impossible to build anything from scratch while trying to travel and enjoy life at the same time.
It’s already super tough to build anything while you’re at home. In an environment you know. Where you know your obstacles. But trying to build something while traveling is so much harder.
When you travel everything is amplified. The distractions. The things to do. The things to see. New people. New places. The barriers. The unknown. The obstacles. Everything. All the time.
And all of this stuff you’re reading online on how awesome it is to be a digital nomad is basically a lie. It’s a lie to sell you a product. Or a lifestyle. Or a service. Or a coaching session. Or whatever.
People are trying to sell you the dream. Or the lifestyle package. Or the freedom package. Or the whatever package. For just $99 a month.
I ask myself over and over again since when we were able to buy freedom online. Since when we could buy freedom with just a few clicks.
And even more importantly why should we even pay for freedom? I always thought freedom was a basic human right. And basically for free..
It’s indeed a strange world we’re living in.
Don’t get me wrong though. I’m really, really grateful for this time and all of the incredible things I’ve learned and experienced. It was an amazing time. It really was.
I just want to share the things I’ve learned over the past few months to paint a more realistic and more honest picture of what it might really look like to be a digital nomad.
# working on the beach
All of these pictures you see online where people work on a beach are just BS. If you’ve ever tried to just check your emails while you’re in the sun, without an aircon, you’d know that you’d die after just a few minutes.
Working on a beach without an aircon is just not possible. As a matter of fact working anywhere in these dream locations without an aircon is absolutely impossible.
Don’t believe it? You don’t have to. Just try to work outside in your home country during summer time for an hour or two. And you’d instantly understand..
# work & travel
Every time you change your location you’ll lose a few days. Well, it’s not actually losing time but it’s time you can’t use to work. Because you’ll want to explore the city.
Even if you don’t want to, you’d have to figure out a few basic things like where to buy stuff, where to go to eat and so on. After all you don’t want to eat Mc Donald’s all the time, right?
Changing location more than every two weeks makes it almost impossible to get a work routine going. It usually took me about two days until I was able to get back into the flow when I moved from one place to another. Sometimes even more, if I didn’t really like the city. Or ended up in a shitty hostel.
Just think about how hard it is to get your work done anywhere else than the office. Sometimes you might be able to work from home.
But only when you have the perfect setting. It gets soooo much harder to get anything done when just a few things just don’t feel right..
# housing
Finding a good place to stay where you can live and work at the same time will also take a hell lot of time. And searching online just doesn’t work for most of the places.
Sure, you can go on AirBnB. But they just don’t have many real flats on it. At leat not at the places I’ve been to. It’s usually hostels trying to sell their dorm beds.
And even if there were some apartments on AirBnB, the good ones were usually always fully booked.
And staying in hostels and going to work at a coworking space or local coffee shops is also not a real option. I tried it. More than half of the time I stayed in hostels.
And the sleep you get there just isn’t real sleep. You’ll be too tired the next day to get some real work done. Even with earplugs..
And you don’t want to buy 5 coffees at Starbucks every single day. Unless you have an unlimited budget. Just like staying in a hotel all the time will get too expensive for most of us.
# isolation
The only way I was able to get some stuff done was when I completely isolated myself from everything that was going on around me.
When I finally found an apartment I could rent short term or a nice place to stay where I could focus 100% on my work.
Or just like right now.
I’ve spent the past two days sitting in the lounge of a hostel where others come to socialize.While everybody was having fun, drinking and going for parties, I was working.
During these past 3.5 months I went out partying maybe twice.
The thing is this:
When you want to get stuff done, when you want to build (and not just manage) something, you just can’t do what everybody else is doing.
You have to focus on your own shit. Otherwise you could have stayed at home..
# loneliness
I call bullshit on everyone who says that being a digital nomad is like living the dream. It’s one of the hardest things out there.
And it can be very lonely. I just don’t think that most people are ready for this. Most people don’t know how to spend quality time with themselves anymore.
And if there’s one thing I think that disqualifies almost everyone for being a digital nomad it’s this.
If you’re not able to be alone a lot, then being a digital nomad is definitely not for you.
# routine
One of the most important things to get stuff done is to have a routine. And it’s sooo hard to get a routine up and running when you’re constantly changing places.
I found this to be THE most important thing for me to get going. To have something I do EVERY day. What helped me sooo much to keep on going was to write and publish one blog post every day.
No matter how many hours I spent traveling in a bus, no matter what obstacles I encountered during the day, I always pushed myself to do this one thing.
And once I did it, I was usually able to do some more thing. I think if you don’t have a routine, you won’t be able to make it work.
# successful digital nomads
Here’s the thing.
The digital nomad hype is filled by people making money selling you the dream. The dream of how amazing it is to be a digital nomad.
I think it’s safe to say that there’s a digital nomad bubble.
Just show me one successful digital nomad who is making a living without trying to sell you his lifestyle. Or her freedom package. Or whatever online course to change the world. Or whatever tickets to whatever digital nomad conference.
The really successful digital nomads, the ones you’ve probably never heard of, the ones who don’t brag about being a digital nomad, are usually the ones who just do it and don’t talk about it. The ones who just do their thing.
# freelancing
The only thing I see how being a digital nomad might work out is to freelance. But this doesn’t work over night. It needs years and years to make a name for yourself.
You can’t just quit your job and start freelancing from an island tomorrow.
You need to build your network first. And your portfolio of clients. And this will take a lot more than just buying an online course on how to build a freedom business..
# managing vs. building
What might also work is to just manage an already well running business. A business you’ve already built BEFORE you became a digital nomad.
Starting an online business from scratch, starting anything from scratch while traveling and enjoying life at the same time is just not possible.
Unless you’re trying to sell people your lifestyle (or the digital nomad lifestyle). Then it’s another story. Because it works. It’s probably the only thing that really works.
That’s why most of these so called digital nomads choose that path. And I’m not blaming them. I do the same. And I’m a strong believer in doing the things that work.
I just feel that it’s good to know a few things before you buy into the digital nomad hype. Before you become a believer. Before you believe in the digital nomad hype..
More about Yann | Yann’s Books | Yann on Facebook | Yann’s Podcast | | https://medium.com/thought-pills/the-digital-nomad-lie-f685cfa8d618 | ['Yann Girard'] | 2015-12-22 14:43:49.042000+00:00 | ['Travel', 'Digital Marketing', 'Startup'] |
Gold Needles: Korean Embroidery Arts from the Women’s Inner Quarters and Beyond | Embroidery arts flourished in the Korean Peninsula long before the Joseon period. Ancient texts such as the History of the Three Kingdoms (삼국사기), informs us that embroidery was a luxury deployed to display wealth, taste, high social status for royalty, and around the 800s, embroidered silk robes were also worn and enjoyed by commoners. However, many such earlier materials did not survive the devastating foreign invasions of Korea and the Korean War (1950–53). The earliest known embroidery work in the collection of a Korean museum is a late fourteenth-century Buddhist hanging scroll now in the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art that depicts the image of Amitabha Buddha.
Amitabha Buddha, late 1300s. Korea, Goryeo period (918–1392). Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art. Image courtesy of Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art
Most surviving embroidered objects are from the late Joseon dynasty (1392−1910) and were mostly created by both amateur and professional women artists confined to the innermost space of a house, called gyubang (규방), or inner quarters. Confining women and their public activities, however, ironically encouraged them to build a strong sense of a supportive community, to develop creativity, and eventually to fashion their own artistic and cultural identities. Many of the works on view include wrapping cloths called bojagi (보자기) that demonstrate women’s bold and exuberant aesthetics. Featuring stunning colors and striking arboreal and geometric patterns, wrapping cloths were used to pack and store items as small as little pouches and as large as clothing.
Gift-Wrapping Cloth (Bojagi), early 1900s. Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392−1910). Plain weave ramie; cotton and metal thread embroidery. Seoul Museum of Craft Art. Photo: Howard Agriesti, The Cleveland Museum of Art
An exquisitely embroidered bridal gown (hwarot 활옷) is a central anchor piece in this exhibition, accentuating women’s distinctive aesthetic sensibilities. In contrast to monochrome ink painting done by male elites — the most prominent male-centered art form — the red silk surface of the gown is lavishly embellished with various decorative images in colorful silk threads: peonies, butterflies, lotus flowers, a pair of white cranes, and phoenixes. Yet the bridal gown does not attest to material extravagance. On the contrary, many traces of repairs, trimmings, and patchwork reflect women’s commitment to valuing a frugal and modest lifestyle. This gown is the one acquired in Korea in 1915 by Langdon Warner (1881−1955), who served as the field agent for research in Asia on behalf of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Given its current condition, it must have served for up to thirty years as an important resource for a working-class community.
Wedding Gown (Hwarot), late 1800s. Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910). Satin weave silk; silk embroidery; paper edging on neck and sleeves. The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Worcester R. Warner Collection, 1918.552. Photo: Howard Agriesti, The Cleveland Museum of Art
Among a group of folding screens on display, Ten Longevity Symbols (Detroit Institute of Arts) highlights the technical sophistication of women master embroiders in the Joseon royal court. According to a royal archive that details the king’s wedding in 1847, the theme of “ten longevity symbols” was featured on one of the many painted and embroidered screens commissioned for the royal wedding to evoke a heavenly blessing on the newly married royal couple. | https://medium.com/cma-thinker/gold-needles-korean-embroidery-arts-from-the-womens-inner-quarters-and-beyond-20b4bd97b12a | ['Cleveland Museum Of Art'] | 2020-03-06 15:01:01.664000+00:00 | ['Culture', 'Embroidery', 'Women', 'Korean Art', 'Art'] |
Ensō: see through the stories which hold you back. | 8 months ago, when we decided to leave Toronto for a monastery, it felt like a renunciation of sorts. We were trying to slow down. By backing away from the lifestyle and opportunities of the city, it would seem that we wanted less. The exact opposite was true: we wanted more. More than money, a house, a job, a reputation. More than Netflix, social media, craft beers, and fancy brunch. Something deeper, something more meaningful, something else.
This week, we moved back to Toronto. If you’ve been following along, you might be surprised to hear that. After detaching completely from our urban lives, we spent a little while practicing intensive mindfulness with modern monks, enjoyed some long-overdue quality time with family, and even road-tripped to the Atlantic ocean through Montreal, Halifax, and many stops in the Maritime countryside. All the while we were considering alternative ways of life, yet in the end, we’ve decided to come back to Toronto. Why?
Zen calligraphers draw this shape, called an Ensō. It’s an exercise in natural expression. It captures our situation quite well. On the surface, we’ve come full circle. After abandoning our lives in Toronto and heading off on a search, here we are, back in Toronto. Looks like we didn’t find anything at all, doesn’t it? But looks can be deceiving — there’s a much subtler story here. Things feel very different on the inside.
This city was never the problem. It was just a scapegoat for our desire to explore deeper questions about our lives. Toronto is such a huge concept anyway. How could we — living in one particular apartment, in one neighborhood, working a certain job, with one narrow perspective — judge the entire city? Something felt off last year, and my wife and I were sure that the city was causing of all our problems. Here’s what I wrote then:
But that was just a story. We all tell stories to distract ourselves from uncomfortable truths. This pattern pervades every area of life. Don’t get me wrong, there’s no need to antagonize these stories; thinking is who we are. Yet at the same time, there’s no use in letting them run our lives either. If anything was sabotaging our personal interests, it was our own broken perspectives.
The middle ground is in awareness. It’s a subtle truth I’ve experienced this year. By working to be fully aware of the stories I tell myself, those which don’t actually serve anyone start to somehow dissolve.
The stories want to be seen as truth.
At the beginning of 2018, we left Toronto because we felt disconnected, unsatisfied, and we were desperately searching for some kind of answer. Almost a year later, here I am — back in the same living situation — yet I feel connected, satisfied, and comfortable knowing there is no answer to be found. What has changed? It’s hard to say for sure, but the incessant thoughts seem to be losing their hold on me. There’s a sense of freedom in letting my stories go. They aren’t shaping my decisions nearly as much as they used to. Last week, my wife and I were chatting about this, and we came up with a list:
Stories we once held as true, but now seem to be dissolving:
Toronto doesn’t align with our values
Living in the country will improve our quality of life
Happiness is out there
Mindfulness will make me happy all the time
We need stable full-time jobs to survive
We could never raise a kid in an apartment
Everything needs to make sense
We are in full control of our lives
I’m sure your stories are very different than ours, but the pattern might be familiar. These thoughts can be so deep and repetitive. Even if you know a thought is false in one moment, it will show up again and again. It won’t stop until it relentlessly wears you down and you submit. The stories don’t want to be seen as stories, they want to be seen as truth.
Only through constant vigilance have these stories begun to loosen their hold on my mind and life. As I watch these stories come and go without getting stuck on them, I’m surprising myself by what’s possible. I find myself fearlessly stepping into situations which would have been unimaginable to me less than a year ago. Moving back to Toronto, for one. But there’s more.
Instead of the stability of a full-time job, I am starting my own consulting business aimed at impacting a wider range of people through meaningful projects. Instead of renting (as we have for the past decade), my wife and I chose to buy this apartment — we’re committing to Toronto this time. Oh, and the biggest one of all, we’re pregnant with our first child! All this dramatic change would have sent me reeling a year ago, for no reason other than nonsense stories I was telling myself in a desperate bid to be in control of, well, everything.
The stories we tell ourselves are like mosquito bites. To ruminate on them is to scratch an itch. Mm… the sweet kiss of temporary relief. The mosquito is long gone, but here I am, scratching away. I almost can’t help it, and by scratching and scratching and scratching, all I’m really doing is digging deeper into my own skin and eventually drawing blood. I taste a similar relief when I regurgitate these stories over and over in my mind. It’s a dangerous game. Loop through the same old story for long enough, and it calcifies as truth. As a result, I end up with very flawed and unhealthy perspectives. If I try to actively resist the story, it only gets stronger.
This is where intensive mindfulness training has helped immensely. Meditation directly explores happiness from first principles. We practice maintaining a balanced internal state while making skillful choices on when to adjust external conditions. A practice as useful for every breath as it is for making major life decisions. Eventually, we see through the clever strategies our mind has developed to avoid discomfort and seek pleasure. The stories appear flimsy and biased. They arise from nothing only to dissolve back into nothing. It becomes a lot easier to take them less seriously. | https://medium.com/mindfulness-and-meditation/ens%C5%8D-see-through-the-stories-which-hold-you-back-432371a52c6d | ['Jay Vidyarthi'] | 2019-04-18 14:13:33.701000+00:00 | ['Mindfulness', 'Psychology', 'Toronto', 'Meditation', 'Life'] |
Carbon Recycling: Turning CO₂ into Climate-Neutral Fuel | eFuels are synthetic fuels produced from water and carbon dioxide
What are eFuels and why Porsche will use them?
eFuels are synthetic fuels (i.e. complex hydrocarbons) made from water (or, more precisely, hydrogen) and carbon dioxide (CO₂). They are a promising climate-friendly alternative to conventional fossil fuels such as oil-derived petrol and diesel. While the energy required for their production comes from renewables such as wind and solar, eFuel production itself involves direct air capture of CO₂. Instead of drilling for oil and moving huge amounts of carbon from the geosphere to the atmosphere, the greenhouse gas is sucked out of the air and ultimately recycled into a liquid energy carrier.
Moreover, eFuels are compatible with internal combustion engines (ICE) and can be used in vehicles on the road today, either as an admixture to petrol and diesel or as a complete substitute. In fact, gas-burning cars running on pure eFuels can potentially be powered in a nearly climate-neutral way, as they emit only as much CO₂ as was previously sucked up from the atmosphere in the production process — a closed cycle with no net increase in carbon dioxide levels. Another advantage of eFuels is that they can be easily stored, transported and distributed in the existing infrastructure.
Synthetic fuels are a climate-friendly alternative to fossil fuels
Producing climate-neutral eFuel on an industrial scale
While the technology underlying synthetic fuels is well understood, carbon-neutral eFuels have not been produced on a large scale yet. To be commercially viable and competitive with conventional gasoline, eFuels need to be produced at a low cost. Porsche is currently conducting extensive research into the industrial production and use of eFuels and has recently launched a pilot project with Siemens Energy and other partners in Chile: The “Haru Oni” project is the world’s first integrated, commercial plant for the production of carbon-neutral eFuels on an industrial scale. Its annual production capacity will increase from around 130,000 liters in 2022 to 550 million liters in 2026 — the equivalent of enough fuel to power one million cars for one year.
Fuel from wind, hydrogen, and CO₂
It is important to note that synthetic fuels are not inherently green. Their respective carbon footprint depends greatly on their production process and source of electricity. On this note, it makes sense to produce synthetic fuels in wind- and sun-rich regions where renewable energy potential is high. For example, The “Haru Oni” project takes advantage of the excellent wind conditions in Chile, using zero-carbon electricity from wind.
How is eFuel made? Its production process starts with electrolysis, where H₂O splits into hydrogen and oxygen. By passing a direct electric current through the water in an electric cell, hydrogen splits off and captures at the negative pole (cathode). The energy efficiency of this process is about 70 percent.
Moreover, using a process known as direct air capture, carbon dioxide is extracted directly from the air. Large fans blow ambient air through filters that chemically bind with CO₂. Next, hydrogen and captured CO₂ are combined to produce so-called eMethanol, used for various purposes as a “green substitute” for fossil-based methanol. However, for our purposes, it is further processed into what we call “eFuel”. Through further refinement, our fuel achieves an octane rating comparable to that of premium gasoline, of course still useable for conventional gasoline engines. We will use eFuels in our motorsport fleet, at the Porsche Experience Centers and, at a later stage, in series-production sports cars.
eFuels can complement e-mobilty (Taycan Turbo S: Electricity consumption combined: 28,5 kWh/100 km; CO2 emissions 0 g/km)
Sustainability at Porsche
At Porsche, we are firmly committed to sustainability and the Paris Agreement. As such, a top priority for us is to advance electromobility. As a complement to this endeavour, we advance the large-scale production of a clean and climate-neutral version of gasoline: eFuels will help us to reduce the carbon footprint of combustion engine and plug-in hybrid vehicles continually. They offer a promising possibility to move away from fossil fuels fully, while holding on to existing fleets. The potential benefits of carbon removal and carbon recycling cannot be overstated, of course. Therefore, it is essential to further industrialize these technologies and make them economically viable. | https://medium.com/next-level-german-engineering/efuel-climate-neutral-fuel-a5a43a7b2158 | ['Porsche Ag'] | 2021-02-17 11:41:29.560000+00:00 | ['Innovation', 'Mobility', 'Automotive', 'Hybrid', 'Efuel'] |
How do you hold a climate-friendly conference? Log in. | How do you hold a climate-friendly conference? Log in.
Air travel is a huge source of carbon emissions — and part of the job in academia. Does it have to be?
Illustration by Francesco Zorzi
By Schuyler Velasco
Air travel is a huge source of carbon emissions — and part of the job in academia. Does it have to be?
Stephen Allen hasn’t taken a flight for work since 2006.
The management lecturer at the University of Sheffield studies ways that large organizations can operate more sustainably. And he decided early in his career that he needed to embody what his research recommends.
“I’ve taken a fairly draconian approach,” Allen says. Last year, he refused to fly from his home in the United Kingdom to a conference in Croatia. “Once you start looking at the carbon footprint calculators, you think, my God, me cycling and walking to work or whatever, it’s wiped out the moment I get on an airplane.”
Frequent flying, like eating meat and driving a gas-guzzling SUV, is a choice facing ramped-up scrutiny in an era of climate change. In January, the annual World Economic Forum drew some side-eye when a record number of private jets landed in Davos for the event — even as organizers touted global warming as a key topic of conversation. Climate activist Greta Thunberg refuses to fly; her activism has helped kick-start a “flight-shaming” movement worldwide and especially in her home country, Sweden.
Many professionals are grappling with how to adapt their work habits to a warming planet, and the stakes feel even higher in higher education. Flying to research sites and academic conferences has long been an essential part of a professor’s job. But many climate and sustainability researchers, who spend their careers thinking about ways to lessen humanity’s environmental impact, feel uncomfortable with the trappings of a typical conference: a round-trip flight, a days-long stay in an energy-guzzling chain hotel, wasting paper with all those programs and name badges.
Still, the pressure can be high to take part in industry confabs, says Jennie Stephens, a professor of sustainability science and policy at Northeastern University. “Particularly within some disciplines,” Stephens says, there’s a feeling that “you really need to show up.”
Or do you? Stephens and Allen are among the academics trying to give the traditional conference model a climate-friendly makeover — and convince their colleagues to find other ways to gather the world’s experts in a given field.
“There’s not getting to know people over a coffee or a beer, but there are other upsides.” — Stephen Allen, a management lecturer at the University of Sheffield
The Tyndall Centre, a collaboration of climate change researchers from the UK and China, has created a decision tree to help its members make more climate-efficient travel choices. A case study of air travel at the University of British Columbia recommends a host of adjustments, from encouraging employees to travel economy-class to incorporating an emissions tracker into the university’s financial management system.
And this past November, when Allen and colleagues at the University of Sheffield held a symposium on reducing academic travel, they did it virtually, tapping speakers on three continents and hosting 100 participants from 19 countries. In June, Northeastern is teaming up with the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden to hold a conference on sustainable consumption that has two hubs — one in Boston, one in Stockholm. The goal is to allow both European and North American participants to attend, with little or no flying involved.
“Culturally, a lot of what we think we need [is] not very sustainable,” says Stephens, a co-chair of the Northeastern event. “So we are trying to be innovative and the travel component is a part of that.”
Air travel makes up roughly 2 percent of global carbon emissions — a small but rapidly growing share — and flying is one of the most consequential choices a single person can make about their carbon footprint. But most air travel is done by a small group of frequent flyers, many of whom are traveling for business. In the UK, 15 percent of the population took 70 percent of the nation’s flights in 2013, according to a government survey.
Academia’s contribution to that is hard to quantify, but some figures offer clues. The University of British Columbia estimates that the carbon impact of university-related air travel is equivalent to about two-thirds of the annual impact from operating its main campus. Allen says that around 20 percent of a typical research-intensive university’s carbon footprint comes from flying.
“Some people’s academic identities are totally bound up in traveling,” Allen says. “That’s how they understand their jobs. That’s how they understand being successful.”
Still, when Northeastern began planning to host this summer’s Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative (SCORAI) conference, the transatlantic flights it would’ve required of many Europe-based researchers seemed discordant. After all, the theme of this year’s gathering is Sustainable Consumption & Social Justice in an Urbanizing World, and it will include round-table discussions on “Lifestyles, morality, and the climate crisis” and “Flight-free vacation practices,” to name a few.
“We reached out a hand to the Boston team and said, ‘We think it would be nice if we could gather in Northern Europe and skip flying,” says Daniel Vare, a researcher at KTH and the project leader for the Stockholm hub, which will host about 100 people.
The two teams created a compromise between a classic conference and a virtual event. Keynote speakers will be split between Boston and Stockholm, and talks will be live-streamed. The schedule will run during the workday in Boston and into the evening in Stockholm, to bridge the six-hour time difference. Each site will hold parallel breakout sessions. Organizers are keen to avoid a situation where one hub or another feels like the “main” location. Networking events, which Stephens still believes are a crucial reason to hold conferences, will take place at both locations. “We hope that this could be the recipe for a more in-between version, where you get the social interaction, but still lower emissions and flight miles,” Vare says.
SCORAI’s menus will be plant-based and locally-sourced. The 150 or so Boston participants will have the option to stay in campus dorms (which generally operate more efficiently than hotels) and will be encouraged to take public transit. The agenda in Stockholm includes a train trip to ReTuna, a Swedish mall where everything on sale is recycled.
Putting on more sustainable events like SCORAI and encouraging remote interaction has plenty of practical upside beyond the climate, Stephens points out. “It’s cheaper for the organization, and it’s more time-efficient not to have to travel as much,” she says.
Plus, it can make for easier logistics. The virtual nature of the University of Sheffield’s November symposium allowed Allen and his team to book speakers who might not have made it otherwise. One gave a keynote from Sweden, then spoke at another virtual conference based in Spain the same day. Participants took advantage of other opportunities to connect, chatting on an online platform and in virtual breakout sessions.
“There’s not getting to know people over a coffee or a beer, but there are other upsides,” Allen says.
Still, the traditional conference model has endured for a reason. At the Sheffield symposium, one presentation raised the possibility that anti-flying measures could disproportionately impact early-career academics, who might feel pressure to turn down can’t-miss career opportunities. Even among climate researchers, there isn’t total agreement on ramping down air travel. Individual flights are still a drop in the ocean of global carbon emissions, and some see getting the message out and fundraising as more crucial than giving up flying.
“It’s quite a controversial topic,” Allen says. “It’s still a marginal community of people keenly trying to even think about these questions.”
But Vare, in Stockholm, thinks that even if conferences remain mostly the same, new models for remote events could force people to reconsider their regular work travel. He says he’s already seen smaller meetings and research collaborations become virtual more often in just the past few years. He hopes a climate-friendly academic conference could offer inspiration for conference organizers in other industries, leading to more semi-virtual events.
“We’re modeling for our students, for our partners, for other nonacademic community members,” Stephens says. “So we should be leaders.” | https://medium.com/swlh/how-do-you-hold-a-climate-friendly-conference-log-in-d36576bc0f30 | ['Experience Magazine'] | 2020-03-01 11:03:33.972000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Climate Action', 'Higher Education', 'Telecommunication', 'Academia'] |
Calendars changed my results. | Calendars changed my results. I now actually have successful results regarding my schedule, time and responsibilities. Thanks for sharing this. | https://medium.com/@digizinetobseen/calendars-changed-my-results-9120607ca297 | ['Stephanie Kelly'] | 2020-12-08 10:59:43.250000+00:00 | ['Success', 'Family', 'Travel', 'Organization', 'Business'] |
Creating a smart contract on the HPB Blockchain | I recently decided to give away some abstract art in digital form to members of the HPB Telegram community, and all they needed to do was make a simple HPB transaction on the HPB main-net and then post the transaction hash.
One lucky winner asked me how we actually “prove” the ownership of the asset had been transferred, so I decided to create a very quick, very basic smart contract in solidity, which would do the following:
Store the SHA256 checksum of the digital image in a smart contract Transfer the ownership of the smart contract to the new owner share the digital artwork image, so that the new owner can also generate the SHA256 checksum for the same image, and when the resulting checksum is shown, it can be compared to the SHA256 checksum stored in the smart contract, effectively proving ownership.
So here was the digital artwork image I gave away (Artwork now officially owned by Telegram user Omega (Telegram Omega_001)
Now if you were to right-click on this image and save it to your computer as “Omega.png” (remember the capital “O”) and then you were to visit http://onlinemd5.com/ and click the “choose file” button an point to the Omega.png file you just saved, (remember to switch the conversion type to SHA256), you will see the following checksum generated:
9da12f7a3cb707e11ef8980cfbf50e39121d1cce118c644c098e866e2b16b733
This checksum is what I want to store in a smart contract that my HPB wallet has generated, so I can then I transfer ownership of the smart contract to Omega.
Ok, hope you’re still with me! :-)
So let’s create a smart contract!
The beauty of HPB is that it runs the Ethereum Virtual Machine, so we can easily compile smart contracts written in Solidity, which makes life a lot easier!
The first thing we want to do is switch across to the HPB IDE to write the smart contract: This can be found at https://remix.hpb.io
It will look something like this when you first arrive:
If you’ve never coded before, don’t worry! It might look a little frightening for a new person, but it’s actually quite straightforward.
The first column on the left of the page will show browser and config — These are both drop-down menus
The browser drop-down will show you your solidity program files — basically the smart contracts that you plan to compile for the HPB blockchain. When Remix first loads, it populates the main central browser window with a basic mock-up smart contract called ballot.sol
There’s also another hidden smart contract called ballot_test.sol which you can see if you click on the browser drop down menu in the left column.
Now we don’t need any of these example smart contracts, so we’ll delete them both by right-clicking on both smart contracts in the browser drop-down menu on the left, and selecting delete. You should then be left with an empty browser window.
Lets create a new contract. To do this, click on the teeny tiny “+” icon in the top-left corner of the page, where you will be prompted to give your new contract a name. For this example, I will call this contract.sol
(NOTE: All solidity smart contracts should end with the .sol extension)
Ok so the first thing we want to do is prepare the new smart contract.
We start with typing in the following lines of code in bold in the contract window:
pragma solidity ^0.5.7;
(all solidity smart contracts begin with “pragma solidity, and then you specify the compiler version you wish to use)
contract Transfer_Asset_Ownership { }
(we specify the smart contract with a name, which cannot include spaces, and then provide some opening and closing curly braces.
Everything the smart contract actually does will now be written as code inside these two curly braces, so we’ll make some space between them. At this stage, the smart contract window should look like this….
As you can see, we have a nice gap between the curly braces to type in our code :-)
To begin with, we want to declare three variables:
address public owner;
address public contractAddress;
bytes public sha256hash;
The first variable will be the smart contract “owner”, stored as a HPB wallet address.
The second variable will be the actual address of the smart contract itself, also stored as an address. Smart contract addresses look exactly the same as wallet addresses, and begin with 0x
The third variable will be the actual sha256 hash checksum of the digital art stored in bytes.
Each variable uses the “public” keyword which means that anyone can view the values stored in these variables.
(NOTE: All variables need to end with a semi-colon)
We now want to add something important known as a “constructor” function. This is a special solidity function for when smart contracts are actually written to the blockchain for the first time. They are used to assign values to variables and perform tasks.
This will be our constructor function:
constructor() public payable {
owner = msg.sender;
contractAddress = address(this);
}
In this case, the function is basically saying that when the smart contract is first written to the blockchain, it should assign the value of the message sender (msg.sender) which in this case will be me, and assign this value to the “owner” address variable. Basically, once the smart contract is made, I will be the owner. Secondly, I want to assign the address of the newly-created smart contract to the “contractAddress” variable.
You should also notice the constructor includes the “payable” keyword. Just like any transaction on the blockchain requires “gas” to make a transaction, you also need to pay to write to a smart contract, so you declare the constructor payable to write to it.
Next we want to add a function allow me to transfer ownership of the smart contract to someone else, once it exists on the blockchain. With smart contracts, you can read information from the contract, or write information to it. This will be a “write” function, as I will want to overwrite the “owner” variable, with the address of the new owner, who will be Omega.
function changeOwner(address payable _owner) public{
require(msg.sender == owner);
owner = _owner;
}
So to break this function down a bit, we’ve given the function a name (changeOwner)
We are stating that we will be eventually writing a new value when we call this function (_owner will be the new value)
For security reasons, we are stating that only the current owner has the rights to call this function to change the ownership to a new owner — require(msg.sender == owner)
And finally, we are saying that whatever new value we offer as _owner, it will overwrite the value currently stored as owner, which in this instance was msg.sender (me!)
Ok, after adding in the constructor and the first function, the smart contract should look like this:
The final function will be to write the sha256 checksum to the file. Now we could actually just write this value to the sha256hah variable in the smart contract when we first generate it as part of the constructor, but I’ll show you how we can write to the smart contract once it’s already deployed on the blockchain instead.
We add in the following function:
function setsha256hash(bytes memory _sha256hash) public
{
sha256hash = _sha256hash;
}
so once again, we’ve given the function a name (setsha256hash) and we are saying that we’re going to add in a new value (_sha256hash) and then assign this new value to the variable sha256hash
That’s it, the smart contract is complete and ready to be deployed on the HPB blockchain! :-)
you can also add comments anywhere in your code which is good to act as a reminder of what you are doing. Any comments should begin with // which tells the remix compiler to ignore the text after the // as it’s just a comment.
Your final complete smart contract code should now look something like this:
pragma solidity ^0.5.7;
contract Transfer_Asset_Ownership {
address public owner;
address public contractAddress;
bytes public sha256hash;
constructor() public payable {
owner = msg.sender;
contractAddress = address(this);
}
function changeOwner(address payable _owner) public{
require(msg.sender == owner);
owner = _owner;
}
function setsha256hash(bytes memory _sha256hash) public{
sha256hash = _sha256hash;
}
}
you should tick the “Auto Compile” tick-box on the right side if it isn’t already ticked, and if everything works correctly, you’ll see a green box on the right column, stating that the code is valid, and will compile without any errors. If there are yellow boxes here, they will be warnings, and red boxes mean that you have a code error. The blue box above the green box is there just to offer some suggestions on potentially improving your code, but can usually be ignored.
Ok so we have a valid smart contract, and no compile errors, so we’re ready to write this contract to the HPB blockchain!
You’ll need some HPB coin to issue a smart contract, and you’ll need Metamask installed. If you don’t already have Metamask, you can install it for Chrome or Edge browsers as an extension.
Once you have Metamask installed, you’ll need to setup Metamask for the HPB network. Fill in the steps below.
Once you have Metamask setup to the correct network, and you have some HPB in the wallet, you are ready to switch to the “Run” tab of Remix to actually deploy your smart contract.
Check that the Environment tab is set to Web3 and that your account (i.e. you HPB wallet address is showing), to indicate that Metamask is connected to Remix, ready for you to deploy the smart contract.
You can now click on the red “Deploy” button, and Metamask will pop-open asking you to confirm that you wish to write the smart contract to the HPB blockchain for the amount shown…
As you can see, Metamask is telling me that it’s going to cost me 0.005877 HBP to create this smart contract…..that’s barely a fraction of $0.01 :-)
(compare that to writing to Ethereum, and you’ll see why HPB is a far superior environment to deploy your smart contracts and DApps on!)
So if we confirm that, and wait a few seconds, you’ll see in the transaction was approved, and the smart contract now officially exists on the HPB blockchain :-)
Now lets actually interact with our smart contract….
On the right column, you’ll see you’re newly created smart contract….click on the little drop down arrow to open up so see the variables and functions we added to it…
Red buttons are opportunities to “write” to the smart contract, and requre a fee. Blue buttons are “read” variables that we simply read information from the smart contract. If I click on the blue buttons, you can see what is stored in them….
We have a smart contract address and we also have an owner address, both written the smart contract as it was deployed, using the special constructor function.
But the sha256 hash value is empty….we haven’t written the value to this variable yet.
To do this, we use the red buttons, which are the “write” functions.
I need to type in the value I want to store in the field, and then click the red button, so in this case I want to store the checksum that we retrieved earlier.
9da12f7a3cb707e11ef8980cfbf50e39121d1cce118c644c098e866e2b16b733
Important NOTE: we need to prepend this with 0x , just as all HPB smart contracts, addresses and transactions have, or else the write function will error.
Once we click on the button, Metamask will once again pop up, informing us that the function is payable to write to the smart contract. Once we confirm, and the transaction completes after a few seconds, we can now go and re-try the blue button to see if the sha256 hash has been stored to the smart contract.
We can easily do the same thing for transferring ownership of the smart contract, by adding in the HPB wallet address of the new owner in the field next to the red “changeOwnership” button. Again, this is a “write” function, so is payable, and once completed you can click the blue “owner” button to see the updated address.
Hope that makes sense guys. Feel free to join the HPB Global telegram group for lots more information on HPB and writing smart contracts and DApps for the HPB blockchain! | https://medium.com/@waxlyrical/creating-a-smart-contract-on-the-hpb-blockchain-e676546136c1 | ['Jeff P'] | 2021-03-30 19:26:38.443000+00:00 | ['Solidity', 'Smart Contracts', 'Ethereum', 'Hpb', 'Remix'] |
Progressive Strategy — Why you need to up your strategy game | Some claim that strategy has „become a dirty word“. While this statement was obviously phrased with its attention-grabbing power in mind, there is truth to the notion that traditional strategy approaches haven fallen out of favour in the digital world. And — to a degree — rightly so.
The speed of digital disruption forces companies to deliver against rapidly rising customer expectations. Business models and digital service offerings need to be re-invented in ever shorter cycles pressuring almost all organisations to bring their digital innovation capabilities to the next level.
A traditional inside-out approach to strategy that extrapolates a company’s future from its current situation and abilities seems increasingly out of touch with this new reality. This (old) school of strategic thinking is best summarised by the Boston Consulting Group’s founder, Bruce Henderson: “Strategy depends on the ability to foresee future consequences of current actions.”
But future consequences are ever harder to foresee. That is why ‘agile’ and ‘lean’ approaches have taken the digital world by storm. The ability to understand the current status of any digital product or service as just an iteration to be re-shaped according to customer feedback has become the recipe for success. Relentless testing and the willingness to ‘pivot’ when needed are seen as the hallmarks of fruitful business strategies for the digital era.
Against this backdrop, strategy — both in content and process — needs to evolve. It has to balance the need for agility with the ability to provide direction beyond the next few development sprints.
Instead of looking from here to the future, strategy has to start with the future and work its way backwards. It has to become visionary and work outside-in. It needs to foresee the present consequences of a viable future. This in effect upends Henderson’s assumption and many approaches to strategy traditionally offered by consultancies.
A new take on strategy is needed. We believe that the approach we call Progressive Strategy yields the best results in terms of conciliating flexibility with foresight.
Progressive Strategy as we practice it is characterised by the following five traits:
Flexible: Defines guiding principles and manageable (digital) initiatives instead of devising grand plans for the long haul. Exhibits a pronounced readiness to question and re-visit any plan or roadmap.
Creative: Combines analytical rigour with creative problem-solving approaches. Builds on a mind set and toolkit that can handle ambiguity.
Empathetic: Understands that most business will continue to be done and run by people. Makes customer insights the centre point of analysis.
Data-Obsessed: Understands data not only as the starting point of analysis but as its continuously harvested fuel. Is driven by a desire to quickly test hypotheses that arise along the way.
Executive: Understands that it is useless without execution. Aims to prove its worth by having a direct and measurable impact along all stages of the digital innovation process. Prefers the trenches to the ivory tower.
It becomes obvious that Progressive Strategy not only requires a new set of methods that tightly interlocks with agile development and business design frameworks but also a new breed of T-shaped practitioners. While analytical prowess is still the prerequisite for such a forward-looking strategy role, it also demands the ability to synthesise seemingly disparate and ambiguous insights. The desire to get one’s hands dirty in close combat with developers, designers and data scientist is a strong plus.
This is Progressive Strategy. This is the kind of strategy (and strategist) that is truly ready for the digital realm. And it is a vision for strategy as a discipline to escape the fate of becoming obsolete in a digital world. | https://medium.com/aperto-an-ibm-company/progressive-strategy-why-you-need-to-up-your-strategy-game-3767977935c0 | ['Jan Pilhar'] | 2017-07-25 09:01:02.578000+00:00 | ['Strategy', 'Digital Transformation', 'Digital Marketing', 'Digital Strategy'] |
Integrate YouTube’s IFrame Player API in Angular | Integrate YouTube’s IFrame Player API in Angular
A simple guide to add a YouTube IFrame Player in an Angular application
Photo by Szabo Victor on Unsplash
When it comes to integrating the YouTube IFrame Player API with component-based frameworks like Angular, it’s a bit difficult and tricky. Here, we’re going to see how we can implement this. I’ll try to discuss all of the problems and challenges I faced while integrating the YouTube IFrame Player API into my Angular application.
First, let’s just create a dummy Angular app using the following command. If you already have a running application, just skip this step.
ng new YTIFrameAPI-with-Angular
Once the app is ready, create a div with id="player" (or whatever you want) in your template file, like this:
Note: Of course, you can change the template as per your requirements. Just make sure the div has an id because the iframe (and video player) will replace this div.
Now, declare some useful variables and create an init function to initialize the YouTube IFrame API, like this :
The code in init() is used to load the API’s JavaScript code. As shown above, when the API is ready, we’re calling startVideo() . This method will define a global variable, "player" , which refers to the video player you’re embedding and the function then constructs the video player object.
Now, once the player is ready, onPlayerReady() will be called. In this example, we’re just playing the video once the player is ready, like this:
Using the API, we can track when the player changes its state. The API will call onPlayerStateChange() when the player’s state changes, which may indicate the player is playing, paused, finished, and so forth. It can be useful for you if you want to perform some actions when the player changes its state.
Note: In the following code snippet, we have two extra methods, cleanTime() and onPlayerError(event) . These methods are used to read and calculate the player’s current timestamp and record an error, respectively.
Now, simply use the component’s ngOnInit() method to initialize a video ID, and call the init() method.
Now if you run ng serve and go to the localhost URL, you’ll see the player is created, and a YouTube video is embedded in this.
In my case, it looks something like this:
Note: For the sake of this demo, I’m using a YouTube video from the Avenger’s Movie Clips YouTube channel. | https://medium.com/better-programming/integrate-youtubes-iframe-player-api-in-angular-4e87f0ec98f4 | ['Gourav Kajal'] | 2020-12-23 17:22:09.433000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Angular', 'JavaScript', 'Nodejs', 'Web Development'] |
Poppies- Chapter 33- | Seated comfortably inside, Joanna took tiny sips from her glass. Careful not to get intoxicated. The wine tasted good and seemed to give her the courage she needed.
He watched her, admiring her long, slender face and graceful neck. Her skin had a healthy color to it, as though she had been in the sun. It was golden with a warmth to it.
“How is it that you and Mara-Joy look so different?” he asked, still staring at her. Joanna glanced at him beside her and relaxed into the couch, closing her eyes.
“Are you saying you don’t like the way I look?” She smiled, very well aware of his eyes on her. “I definitely like your looks.”
Joanna felt him move closer to her.
“It’s just that you two are so different both inside and out. It’s like you didn’t come from the same factory or something.”
Joanna’s eyes fluttered open. Her heart started to race and she felt panicky.
Why was she feeling trepidation?
She sat up and gulped down the remainder of her wine.
“Many siblings don’t resemble each other. My grandparents are all dead so I don’t know what they looked like. I am sure there is some deceased relative that my sister resembles.” She reached for the bottle. Chad got to it first and refilled her glass.
She sipped back a healthy amount.
“That’s true, she does look a lot like your Uncle,” Chad said as he refilled his glass. He hadn’t thought Joanna would be so sensitive about the subject.
“I really don’t feel like talking about my family right now.” The mood had changed and she was beginning to feel uneasy as if she wanted to run away. “Let’s talk of more pleasant things, shall we?”
“Like what?” he asked, closing in on her. “What would you like to talk about, Joanna?” He slid his hand onto her knee, gently caressing her leg.
Joanna eyed him cautiously.
“What are you doing, brother-in-law?” she asked, eyeing him over her glass. Heat rushed to her face. This was too easy.
“I don’t really know,” Chad pulled back. “All I know is I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind since you were here last.” He stood up and walked around the spacious living room, wine glass in hand. “I am very attracted to you and that is dangerous.” He looked at her still face. “You are very beautiful.” Chad turned away and looked at a picture of him and Mara-Joy on their wedding day.
“I made the biggest mistake of my life that day,” he said, more to himself than to her. “Remember how you told me off?” He chuckled and took a drink “The sad part is you were right, partly. I was a slave to her beauty. It really was that simple, but it was more.”
“The pregnancy?”
Chad turned around, surprised.
“Yes. The pregnancy. The child who never was. The beginning of my nightmare.” He drained his glass and poured himself another. “You never think of the repercussions of adolescent lust. All I thought was that I was sleeping with the most popular girl in our group. She was mine when everyone else wanted her. She was like a trophy. I was a fool.”
“How is that?” Joanna speaking low asked. She was not enjoying what she heard. She clasped her glass tight, anchoring her in place.
“Mara-Joy is no one’s trophy. You are her trophy. Her toy. Her puppet to do her bidding.”
Chad’s face had turned a deep red. His glass was empty again. He reached for the bottle but it was empty. Joanna stood up and reached out her hand to him.
“I feel so trapped with her and I don’t know how I can escape.” Chad’s voice broke full of emotion, his face becoming purplish red. “I can’t even stand to look at her.”
Joanna remained quiet standing before Chad’s turned back. She had no idea how tortured Chad’s life had become. Feeling pity for him, she embraced his defeated frame.
He easily fell into her arms and began to sob. He was larger than her. Her slim arms grasped him tight as he began to shake with emotion.
They remained like that for a while: neither talking, just holding each other.
Reluctant Chad finally pulled away from Joanna’s embrace.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, embarrassed, wiping his eyes. His brown hair had fallen boyishly onto his forehead. Joanna smoothed the hair back out of the way.
Chad took her hand from his hair and kissed the underside of her palm.
Electricity skyrocketed through her body.
“You should stay away from me, Joanna,” Chad breathed into her hand.
“Why is that?” she whispered, her legs turning to liquid.
“I’m your sister’s husband,” he said as he raised his lips to her wrist,” and I have been known to be unfaithful to her.”
“What are you suggesting?” Warmth flooded her veins.
“I have no love for my wife, but I feel a great need to be near you.” He lifted his head and looked into Joanna’s fevered face. “If you stay, I can’t promise you anything.”
“Do I need promises?” She ached to be in his arms.
“You deserve promises.”
“Do you want me to go?
“You’re just a kid. I can’t do this to you.” He grabbed her shoulder roughly.
He wanted her, but how could he?
Joanna flung herself into his arms embracing him with a passionate kiss. Chad’s arms encircled her waist, holding her in place. They melted into each other, starved for one another.
Joanna unlocked her lips from his, panting.
“I am not a kid.”
“No, you are not,” he said, embracing her once again.
Chad drove Joanna home, but this time he dropped her off a block from her house. They lingered, kissing one another for a few moments until Joanna had to pull away.
“Will I see you next Friday?” Chad asked, feeling desperate. They had spent the evening kissing, talking, and touching. Never had he felt such desire. But it was not because he was so attracted to Joanna physically, though he was. He enjoyed her company. They had laughed a lot talking about the many things they had in common.
“Yes,” Joanna smiled through the open window at him. “But I have to go before my parents kill me.”
“I will be counting the days.”
Joanna blew him a kiss and ran off. | https://medium.com/illumination/poppies-chapter-33-b0095af6ecb7 | ['Deena Thomson'] | 2020-12-21 04:37:10.267000+00:00 | ['Fiction Series', 'Fiction', 'Novel', 'Writing', 'Fiction Writing'] |
Deriving the Backpropagation Equations from Scratch (Part 2) | Deriving the Backpropagation Equations from Scratch (Part 2)
In this short series of two posts, we will derive from scratch the three famous backpropagation equations for fully-connected (dense) layers:
In the last post we have developed an intuition about backpropagation and have introduced the extended chain rule. In this post we will apply the chain rule to derive the equations above.
Backpropagating the Error
Backpropagation starts in the last layer 𝐿 and successively moves back one layer at a time. For each visited layer it computes the so called error:
Now assume we have arrived at layer 𝑙. In the last post we have illustrated, how the loss function 𝓛 depends on the weighted inputs 𝑧 of layer 𝑙:
We can consider the above expression as our “outer function”. We get our corresponding “inner functions” by using the fact that the weighted inputs 𝑧 depend on the outputs 𝑎 of the previous layer:
which is obvious from the forward propagation equation:
Inserting the “inner functions” into the “outer function” gives us the following nested function:
Please note, that the nested function now depends on the outputs 𝑎 of the previous layer 𝑙 -1. Next, we take the partial derivative using the chain rule discussed in the last post:
Resulting in:
The first term in the sum is the error of layer 𝑙, a quantity which was already computed in the last step of backpropagation. The second term is also easily evaluated:
We arrive at the following intermediate formula:
where we dropped all arguments of 𝓛 and 𝑧 for the sake of clarity. Expressing the formula in matrix form for all values of 𝑖 gives us:
which can compactly be expressed in matrix form:
with
Up to now, we have backpropagated the error of layer 𝑙 through the bias-vector and the weights-matrix and have arrived at the output of layer 𝑙 -1. To obtain the error of layer 𝑙 -1, next we have to backpropagate through the activation function of layer 𝑙 -1, as depicted in the figure below:
(Image by author)
In the last step we have seen, how the loss function depends on the outputs 𝑎 of layer 𝑙 -1. Our new “outer function” hence is:
Our new “inner functions” are defined by the following relationship:
where 𝑔 is the activation function. Plugging the “inner functions” into the “outer function” yields:
Applying the chain rule we get:
The first term in the above sum is exactly the expression we’ve calculated in the previous step, see equation (𝑰). Since the activation function 𝑔 takes as input only a single 𝑧 , we get:
Thus we arrive at the final formula:
where again we dropped all arguments of 𝓛 for the sake of clarity. Expressing the formula in matrix form for all values of 𝑖 gives us:
In vector notation we can write:
where * denotes the elementwise multiplication and
And finally by plugging equation (𝑰) into (𝑰𝑰), we arrive at our first formula:
Gradient of the Weights
To define our “outer function”, we start again in layer 𝑙 and consider the loss function to be a function of the weighted inputs 𝑧:
To define our “inner functions”, we take again a look at the forward propagation equation:
and notice, that 𝑧 is a function of the elements of weight matrix 𝑾:
The resulting nested function depends on the elements of 𝑾:
We apply the chain rule:
As before the first term in the above expression is the error of layer 𝑙 and the second term can be evaluated to be:
as we will quickly show. To this end, we first notice that each weighted input 𝑧 depends only on a single row of the weight matrix 𝑾:
Hence, taking the derivative with respect to coefficients from other rows, must yield zero:
In contrast, when we take the derivative with respect to elements of the same row, we get:
Thus we arrive at the final formula:
Expressing the formula in matrix form for all values of 𝑖 and 𝑗 gives us:
and can compactly be expressed as the following familiar outer product:
with
Gradient of the Biases
All steps to derive the gradient of the biases are identical to these in the last section, except that 𝑧 is considered a function of the elements of the bias vector 𝒃:
This leads us to the following nested function, whose derivative is obtained using the chain rule:
Exploiting the fact that each weighted input 𝑧 depends only on a single entry of the bias vector:
gives us:
which finally leads to:
In vector notation we can write:
with
This concludes the derivation of all three backpropagation equations. | https://towardsdatascience.com/deriving-the-backpropagation-equations-from-scratch-part-2-693d4162e779 | ['Thomas Kurbiel'] | 2020-12-20 07:34:49.963000+00:00 | ['Gradient', 'Gradient Descent', 'Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Optimization'] |
Multiple Environments for AWS Lambda Function with API Gateway | Lambda function comes pretty handy for small micro-services when you want to go server-less. Creating a Lambda is pretty easy, you just need to package your code, upload the code one AWS, configure the lambda function and you are done. If you want to use the lambda function as a web service, you also need to create an API gateway for your lambda. As long as you don’t need multiple versions of that lambda, life is simple, but that is not always the case. Most of today’s micro-service architectures need multiple environments for the lambda. Using multiple environment for a Lambda Function with API Gateway is not straightforward and will require some work if you doing it for the first time. In this post I’ll try to make it simple for a first time user.
Mainly there are two steps involved :
Configuring multiple alias for Lambda function.
Configuring multiple stages for API Gateway.
Configuring multiple alias for Lambda function
I am taking a very simple example where our lambda function is python 3.7 code. The function when invoked does not take any input parameters and return the name of the environment it is running on.
Our Sample Lambda Function
import json
import os environment_name = os.environ[“ENV”] def lambda_handler(event, context):
# TODO implement
return {
‘statusCode’: 200,
‘body’: json.dumps(‘You have reached the ‘ + environment_name + ‘ environment’)
}
An Alias represents an environment in a Lambda function. You need to create as many aliases as the number of environments you need.
Creating an Alias
Go to Actions tab and click on create alias option. You will see a form like the one shown on the left. Name your function, add the description and for now select version as $LATEST only. I’ll get back to this later. Repeat this step two times and create two aliases DEV and PROD.
Once you have created aliases, you should see two aliases DEV & PROD, both of them pointing to $LATEST version in your Alias tab.
Publish a version of Lambda
You can publish a lambda by clicking on Publish a Version in Actions tab.
Each version of published lambda is a combination of code and configuration. So, in our case code will remain the same for both environments but our configuration will change for two environments. I’ll use the environment variable ENV to differentiate dev and prod environments.
For DEV environment, I’ll set environment variable ENV in the Lambda environment variable tab as Development. Save the lambda and click on Publish a Version tab in Actions tab. All you need to do is add version description. Your version 1 is published now.
Publish a Version Dialog
If you go to the versions tab now, you’ll see two version $LATEST and 1. Now go to the Aliases tab under Version, and change the version from $LATEST to 1.
Once you’ve published a version the configuration will not be editable. If you want to publish another version you can select the $LATEST version, edit code and configuration and publish again. Repeat the same steps for PROD, by editing $LATEST and changing environment variable ENV to Production.
Once you are done, the Alias tab of Lambda should look like the image on the left. You can see that DEV is linked to version 1 and PROD is linked to version 2.
Configuring Multiple Stages for API Gateway
In this step, you can go to the API gateway and create a new API gateway with name like mutli-env-api. Go to Resources tab and create a new GET resource.
In the Integration resource section ( where you have to link to to a Lambda), select Integration type as Lambda, check the Use Lambda Proxy Integration option and enter following value in Lambda Function field: multiEnvLambda:${stageVariables.ALIAS}
Here we are specifying that use the lambda multiEnvLambda should be invoked and ALIAS should be supplied from stage variables.
API Gateway Integration Request Page
Once you’ll confirm, you will see a pop-up shown as below :
Popup for Integration Request page
You can copy the command and execute it using AWS CLI for the account you are using. This command will ensure that you have sufficient policies to access the Lambda Alias. Please make sure to replace the ${stageVariables.ALIAS} with the appropriate values. In our case we’ll need to run this command two times by replacing the this variable value with DEV and then PROD. DEV and PROD here are the names of our aliases.
Now, go to the Actions tab and click on Deploy API option. Create two new deployment stages dev and prod.
Modify each deployment stage by going to Stages option and add a stage variable with name ALIAS and value as DEV or PROD (this should be the exact name of Alias of Lambda to which you want the deployment state to be mapped).
In our case, dev deployment stage should point to DEV Lambda alias and prod deployment stage should forward the request to PROD Alias of our lambda.
How it Works
Everything seems to be ready now. Every Stage of API gateway will generate a unique URL with stage name as one of the path parameter so that you can invoke each stage independently.
When you invoke the dev stage API Gateway with its unique url ( in my case it is https://mgiawrkal9.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/dev), the dev stage passes the ALIAS to the Lambda Function name in API Gateway and that Lambda Alias will be invoked.
So, now when I invoke the same lambda function with different urls, it will invoke a particular combination of Code + Configuration for each environment. | https://medium.com/@ashish.dhiman/multiple-environments-for-aws-lambda-function-with-api-gateway-b7ff0e99e2d3 | ['Ashish Dhiman'] | 2019-06-17 16:51:00.655000+00:00 | ['AWS Lambda', 'Lambda', 'AWS', 'Api Gateway', 'Python'] |
RMV and ioki start on-demand project that is unique in Europe | Shuttle solution for the “first and last mile” to the public transport stop • Around 150 emission-free vehicles in use
The Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) has given the go-ahead for one of the largest on-demand transport projects in Europe: From the beginning of 2021, in cooperation with initially nine local partners, it will be possible to book electric or hydrogen-powered vehicles that will allow passengers to stay flexible and Get to your destination without a fixed timetable. Up to 1.8 million people in the Frankfurt / Rhine-Main metropolitan area will benefit from this in the long term. The new offer is based on the needs of the passengers — it is simple, comfortable and environmentally friendly. The intelligent on-demand platform behind the project comes from the DB subsidiary ioki, which was able to prevail as a technology partner in a Europe-wide tender.
Andreas Scheuer, Federal Minister for Transport and Digital Infrastructure: “Order digitally, drive comfortably, arrive relaxed: On-demand offers strengthen local public transport and make mobility even more flexible — in the city and in the country. In the Frankfurt / Rhein-Main region, people will be able to switch to emission-free on-demand shuttles next year. That is active climate protection. We are funding this innovative project with 27 million euros. “
“Our goal in Hessen is to make public transport more and more attractive — because buses and trains are climate-friendly means of transport. That is why the state is doing everything it can to strengthen local public transport, with rail expansion and flat rate tickets, ”says Hesse’s Minister of Economic Affairs and Transport, Tarek Al-Wazir. “On-demand shuttles can contribute to an intelligently networked transport system that brings everyone to their destination comfortably and in an environmentally friendly manner. I would like to thank the federal government for the financial support. As a state, we are also committed to the financing agreement with the RMV. “
“The RMV is the first transport association to coordinate an on-demand project across several districts and municipalities across Germany, thus launching one of the largest on-demand projects in Europe,” says RMV managing director Prof. Knut Ringat. “The around 150 emission-free vehicles complement the public transport offer perfectly and offer new travel options for the first and last mile. So we offer a real, environmentally friendly alternative to private cars. “
Sophisticated on-demand platform from ioki
“The intelligent software and thus the heart of the on-demand transport offer is provided by our DB subsidiary ioki. We want to replace single trips in private cars with ride pooling in environmentally friendly vehicles — in line with the climate and traffic transition. Our on-demand offer connects the backbone of sustainable mobility, the classic public transport, with offers of the digitally driven, new mobility and thus creates real added value for the passenger, ”says Berthold Huber, DB Board Member Passenger Transport.
With the on-demand software from ioki, the interests and needs of passengers, drivers and operators alike can be served: The passenger app allows the shuttle to be booked in a user-friendly manner, the driver app provides the driver with all relevant travel information and administration -Tool enables the operator to monitor and manage ongoing operations. Thanks to the ridepooling approach, in which car pools are formed between passengers with a similar start and finish, the intelligent algorithm ensures efficient utilization of the vehicles.
As early as January 1st, 2021, the kvgOF in the Offenbach district will be the first partner to convert its existing on-demand service “kvgOFHopper” to the ioki platform. The other partners will follow in the course of 2021, so that all nine projects will be available locally by the end of 2021. With the uniform app, passengers can then book an emission-free shuttle service seven days a week, which takes them to their respective destination on individual routes. Since the offer is integrated into the existing public transport, the individual journeys only cost a small surcharge on the RMV ticket: For example, those who no longer want to search for a parking space in the Offenbach am Königsee district can travel around 3.5 kilometers to the train station in Seligenstadt for book the shuttle for around three euros.
Close cooperation with local partners
The RMV is responsible for the central coordination of the project. It bundles information, booking and payment and provides customer service. He is also developing a tariff framework for the offers. The local partners are the transport companies and local transport organizations in the cities and districts. These include Frankfurt aM (traffiQ), Offenbach District (kvgOF), Hofheim (MTV), Kelsterbach (LNVG GG), Limburg an der Lahn (City of Limburg), Darmstadt-Dieburg District (DADINA), Taunusstein (RTV), Hanau (HSB ) and Darmstadt (HEAG mobilo). Other partners may be added in the course of the project. The partners control and design the specific offer on site, such as the operating times or the orientation towards certain target groups. | https://medium.com/frankfurtvalley/rmv-and-ioki-start-on-demand-project-that-is-unique-in-europe-87054bff1003 | ['Pedro Gonçalo Ferreira'] | 2020-12-07 08:50:16.861000+00:00 | ['Germany', 'Rmv', 'Ioki', 'Mobility', 'Frankfurt'] |
Recommender Systems Based On Social Networks | Recommender Systems Based On Social Networks
The incorporation of social networks into a recommender system might make a major difference. Eduard Melu Follow Jun 17 · 10 min read
Recommender systems received a lot of attention in the scientific community but for a good reason …
They are incredibly practical and can make a significant contribution to the industry because they can help a user save a lot of time by searching through countless subjects just to pick one.
The traditional recommender systems are ignoring the interactions between users and, from my point of view, that is a huge waste of potential.
There’s a saying — “birds of a feather flock together” and it is incredibly true when we are looking for something. A lot of times we ask our friends for recommendations — it does not matter if we are talking about books or movies, the concept stays.
Source: Author
The incorporation of social networks into a recommender system might make a major difference. There are some trust-based recommender systems, but their limitations are quite noticeable.
For example, they have weak generalization ability and impractical hypotheses, therefore they were outdated.
The integration of social networks would solve a lot of the problems that were present in their predecessors. Friendship among users will help us understand their ratings and by doing so, the interpretation of their preferences will be more accurate.
This is done by relying on a network graph and user-item matrix.
At the core, there will be users labeled — tags and the relationship between users. The matrix will be composed of user-item-tag and by clustering multiple users we can find out the similarity between them.
One important thing that must be taken into consideration is the difference in taste between friends because even though some people are sharing a connection, their tastes in certain areas might be different.
The Predecessors
Traditional Recommender Systems
These types of recommender systems can be divided into three major categories:
Content-based filtering — this kind of filtering is based on tags, and it will recommend something to the user based on his previous choices therefore this system is incredibly limited. The recommendation accuracy will be horrible for a new user that has no history on the system, two items with the same tags, for the system would be indistinguishable and overall limited to tags that were in the past. Collaborative filtering — this system might be the most popular, so the variations are present. The first approach would be memory-based will search for unique items based on the opinion of similar users by finding the nearest neighbor from a rating matrix. The prediction is made based on the user’s history — different items that were rated for him. The other approach is model-based that uses a set of ratings to learn a model that is used to make predictions. The problem with this approach is again the cold-start and the fact that he will use ratings to make suggestions, meaning that a new product will require a lot of ratings from users for him to be suggested. Hybrid filtering — as the name suggests, this approach will mix content-based filtering and collaborative filtering in diverse ways, depending on the situation and requirements.
Trust-based Recommender Systems
This type of system has reached its maturation and revolves around the fact that users are independent.
Again, there are a lot of variations — from one that uses a web of trust to generate the recommendations, to one that relies on a trust-aware approach using distrust metrics to improve the accuracy of models.
Since these types of systems were created by improving the traditional ones, they come in packages with the same disadvantages and weaknesses that need to be solved.
Social-based Recommender Systems
These are the systems we are most interested in because they promise to address and solve the weaknesses of their predecessors.
The model proposed is a probabilistic one that tries to integrate social information into the recommendation process, especially social connections.
The most recent approach is the one that treats friends who have different favors in diverse ways.
Firstly, the accuracy of the recommendation is improved by calculating the similarity between users based on the favors of each friend.
Secondly, they use a biclustering algorithm to search for “true” friends with similar favors to generate the final recommendation.
The integration of tags and “true” friends is used to analyze the social recommendation problem based on the matrix factorization framework.
Social Recommendation Framework
The idea of integrating social networks into recommendation systems is incredible on its own so in the following sections, we are going to dive into the algorithm and workflow itself.
Fig.1 The flowchart [1]
As we can see from Fig. 1, the two main steps are clustering the users to calculate similarities and obtain friendships and the other step is to model the framework by utilizing regulations.
In Fig. 2 we can see how a typical friends network graph looks. They represent 5 users — the nodes and 7 relationships (edges) between them. The rating from the users is either on a 5-point scale (5- best) or on tags expressing the level of favour of that item.
Fig 2. Friendship Graph [1]
Fig. 3 Shows us the friendship matrix, 1 representing that there is a connection between users. The goal is to predict the missing value or tags from the user-item matrix.
Fig 3. User friendship Matrix [1]
Fig 4. User-Item Matrix.[1]
Based on the case described by the matrix from above we can see that the user U1 and U3 are sharing a connection also U1 and U2.
In the user-item matrix, we can see that U1 pays attention to I1, I3, I7, and U3 to I1, I3, and I4 but because he is friends with U1, the system will watch also I7 and U2 is watching I2, I5, and I6.
Because U1 and U3 share different interests, the system will recognize this similarity between tastes and recommend user1 I4 instead of recommending an item that is in U2’s sphere of interest.
The traditional recommender systems make recommendations based on user-item matrix without considering the relationship between users and the systems that consider the relationship between users usually start from the assumption that users that have a connection will have similar tastes, but I am sure that everyone can agree that as friends we can have different tastes. Based on this, the algorithm proposes a matrix factorization framework with social recognition.
In the model described and as Fig. 1 shows, we must cluster users to obtain suitable groups of friends. The user-item is translated into a double dimensional matrix to keep the simplicity, but it can also be seen as a three-dimensional matrix, tags representing the third dimension.
Based on the items, we must classify the users into some stable groups and vice versa.
These new sets will create a stable matrix to prepare for clustering. The procedure runs until there are no new stable biclusters. The cluster-based algorithm used is the K-means algorithm.
After the algorithm finishes, we can calculate the similarity between users who share a friendship.
The similarity between users is based not only on “realistic” friendships but also on “personal” favours.
Let us say that user U1 is interested in I4 exactly like U4, but their tastes are completely different. The system will recommend that item only if U4 is an expert in that field.
The method of weight calculus in this model is by the formula
Fig.5 The weight [1]
Where the weight of the tag t that was created by user U is equal to the sum of 1/(number of tags).
The “Mui” represents the list the user U gave to item I, meaning that a user may use multiple tags for the same item => the more tags user gave to the item the smaller that tag’s weight will be.
This takes care of the scenario in which users add the same tag to multiple items.
The similarity between users is calculated by the fusion of biclusters with the corresponding tag. The case in which the friends are not in the same group is calculated differently.
One example is U1 is curious about I2 and even though U4 and U1 have different tastes the item I2 will be recommended only if U4 is an expert in that field. In order for that to happen there must be a similarity between the items that are in the U4’s sphere of interest.
The cold-start problem refers to the scenario in which a new user joins the network, and the recommender system will not know what recommendation to make or how to calculate the similarity between users.
But in this model when a user joins the network, he will pay attention to the existing users and those interactions will be seen as an initial friendship.
In this model, they map the user and item to the tag space and calculate the similarity based on the formula:
Fig.6 The similarity [1]
Where “Ru” is the tag vector of user u and “Vj” is the vector of item j. And the similarity is calculated using the same formula as the similarity between users.
Social Regularization
The social regulation process consists of a matrix regulation framework where we define for each different recommendation task the most suitable group of friends and the approach chosen was individual-based.
But the integration is not only with the friendships among users but also with the item-user correlation.
In short, when we obtain the user and item biclusters and calculate the similarities between items and users in order to improve the prediction accuracy we also add the friend and item regularization.
Experimental Results
For the experimental part, we compare our results with the Pop approach the traditional, collaborative filtering, and social regularization.
Fig.7 Results [1]
“P@i” symbolize the precision value when a user recommends, I item, and “R@5” the recall value for a user that recommends 5 items
Fig.8 Results[1]
Different Approach
The center of the collaborative sifting calculation is to calculate the likeness.
The SNE strategy can superiorly assess the calculation on the off chance that beneath a certain edge esteem there are less separated hubs but more little communities in its similitude systems. It incorporates the taking after necessities.
A Certain Edge Esteem. Relative to the complete asset, these suggested assets are very few. Subsequently, when we assess a calculation, the PCN arrange () as it were ought to be considered. Nevertheless, to have a comprehensive investigation, the VSN organize () and the SCN arrange () ought to be considered together. Less Separated Hubs. Recommendation algorithm is based on the likeness. The disconnected hub is not like several other hubs. In this case, the calculation cannot deliver a proposal for these confined hubs. Subsequently, a great calculation may deliver a similitude arrange with less disconnected hubs and more Non-disconnected ones. More Communities. Each community () speaks to a diverse intrigued of clients. The more the communities, the nittier gritty highlights can they reflect, which makes the prescribed comes about more in line with the user’s taste. Fewer Hubs within the Biggest Community. Within the biggest community, there are as well numerous hubs to reflect the user’s taste in detail. The hubs within the biggest community should be as few as conceivable. Taking under consideration the past focuses, conjointly considering these diverse systems with a distinctive number of hubs, the score of the closeness arrange assessment (SNE) is depicted by Fig. 9 where SS is the score work of likeness organize, is the edge, is the number of all hubs within the arrange, is the number of Non-confined hubs within the organize, is the number of communities, and is the number of hubs within the biggest community.
Fig 9. Formula or likeness [2]
Conclusion
The social network sites are exploding and will evolve even more so it is only logical to start using the relationship between users and the friendship between them to make the recommendation process easier.
As we saw from the results, the incorporation of social network information was incredibly beneficial.
The model described employed both rating records and user friendships to predict the missing values in the user-item matrix.
Social network information comes in handy when we cluster the dataset to obtain a group of friends with similar favors and to calculate the similarity between them.
Bibliography
[1] Adomavicius G, Tuzhilin A. Toward the next generation of recommender systems: A survey of the state-of-the-art and possible extensions. IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, 2005, 17(6): 734–749.
[2] Brusilovsky, Peter, and David N. Chin. Preface to the special issue on personalization in social web systems. User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction, 2013, 23(2–3): 83–87.
[3] Jamali M and Ester M. A Matrix Factorization Technique with Trust Propagation for Recommendation in Social Networks. In Proceedings of the 4th ACM Conference on Recommender Systems, Barcelona, Spain, September 26–30, 2010: 135–142.
[4] Massa P and Avesani P. Trust-aware collaborative filtering for recommender systems. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2004(3290): 492–508. [5] Ozsoy M G, Polat F. Trust based recommendation systems. In Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining, ASONAM’13, Niagara, ON, Canada, August 25–29, 2013: 1267–1274.
[5] Recommender Systems Based On Social Network Zhoubao Sun Lixin Han Wenliang Huang Xueting Wang Xiaoqin Zeng Min Wang Hong Yan S0164–1212(14)00206–4
[6] Multiangle Social Network Recommendation Algorithms and Similarity Network Evaluation Jinyu Hu, Zhiwei Gao, and Weisen Pan https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/248084 | https://medium.com/fabrit-global/recommender-systems-based-on-social-networks-417bac4b20c1 | ['Eduard Melu'] | 2021-06-17 06:19:48.926000+00:00 | ['Knowledge Sharing', 'Big Data', 'Data Science', 'Social Network', 'Recommendation System'] |
Databike Pilot Project | Databike Pilot Project
Have you ever wondered if you could sell the data you generate on an e-bike? Well, you’ll find out in our Data Governance & Token Economic System Proof-of-Concept
Databike is a micro-mobility data governance and token economic system project that we are developing in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The project is spear-headed by Charles Adjovu, Director & Researcher at Ledgerback Commons Research Cooperative (LCRC).
We started working on the project in Summer 2019 and we feel that we have made enough progress on the research to warrant an individual post.
Research Motivation & Questions
Our research motivations for starting the Databike Pilot Project were:
the rapid growth of shared micro-mobility services in the United States during 2019 [2],
the lack of discussion on data stewardship and governance around user-generated micro-mobility data and how this applies generally to the platform & data economy,
the lack of blockchain and micro-mobility discussion and literature as a means of transportation innovation, and
general curiosity around how token economic systems could be applied to the micro-mobility industry.
Our current list of research questions include:
Can we use blockchain as part of a micro-mobility solution? Can we create a token economic system to incentivize cyclists to generate micro-mobility data by riding e-bikes? Can we develop a new business model for micro-mobility data stewardship? Can we develop a new type of cooperative that combines a transportation network with data stewardship? If we can share micro-mobility data, then will a public-commons partnership (PCP) become a viable route of sustaining the Databike business model? Can we develop a marketplace for micro-mobility data exchange? Can we build a micro-mobility pilot (creating an e-bike with data storage and sharing capabilities) that can serve as a basis for implementing our token economic system? Can we generate large amounts of micro-mobility data with our token economic system such that machine learning and artificial intelligence methods would be usable for data analysis and prediction?
Methodology
Our methods for the Databike Pilot Project is two-fold.
First, we are developing a prototype e-bike by converting a mountain bicycle into an e-bike by adding the basic e-bike parts (motor, battery, brakes, etc.) to the mountain bicycle.
Second, we are developing a token economic system (and business model if need be) that is intended to incentivize the following behaviors:
the generation of micro-mobility data
the purchase of e-bikes
the healthy usage of e-bikes
the greater usage of e-bikes
Specifically, we will be working on a token generation algorithm for e-bike usage, and a business model to incentivize e-bike purchases and conversions.
Third, we will be developing a data exchange marketplace so that users and buyers have a place to sell and buy micro-mobility data (and avoiding many of the ethical concerns with obtaining this data).
Issues Addressed
Databike intends to address three primary issues in the micro-mobility ( sharing mobility, etc.) industry and the platform & data economy in general:
Users of Micro-mobility platforms do not have any control over how mobility providers use, share, analyze, and store their data [1]; Users of Micro-mobility platforms cannot store their micro-mobility data on their own private devices; and Users of Micro-mobility platforms cannot individually share their mobility data with third parties and receive remuneration for data exchange.
Databike intends to resolve the three (3) above issues by:
Allowing users to store their mobility data on-premise and export to their own private device Allowing users to sell their mobility data to interested third parties in a safe and secure marketplace Allowing users to decide who, when, where, and why there data gets shared.
Desired Outcomes
The current desired outcomes of this pilot project are as follows:
Add to the minimal literature on blockchain and micro-mobility as a means of innovating transportation;
Add to the minimal literature on token economic systems;
Develop a data governance model, token economic system model and business model (“Models”) for securing and exchanging user-generated micro-mobility data;
Raise the alarms on data governance in our token and data economies, and why we need to have an ongoing discussion on data governance before users lose any chance of having their voices heard; and
Offer the Models to existing bikesharing systems (with special benefits for cooperatives) and local governments.
Eventually, with all of the data produced, it should be possible for third parties to develop artificial intelligence and machine learning tools and models to understand mobility data regarding electric-assisted bicycles.
Current Stage
Currently, we are developing a prototype e-bike that can store micro-mobility data on-premise and share such data with a data exchange marketplace.
After the prototype is developed, we will move onto developing the token economic system and data exchange marketplace.
Future Steps
After the prototype is developed, we will move onto developing the token economic system and data exchange marketplace.
Get Involved
Send a message to [email protected] about your interest in joining our Databike team and how you would like to contribute to the pilot project.
You should hear back from us within 3 -4 business days.
Current team members
Charles Adjovu
Gavin Hansen
Manny Williams
References
[1] Booz Allen Hamilton, Mobility on Demand: Operational Concept Report 136, US Department of Transportation (USDOT): Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office, https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/34258
[2] Article 4. The Electric Scooter Uprising, Amalgam Staff, https://medium.com/amalgam-ledgerback/article-5-the-electric-scooter-uprising-736e3c2ba065?source=friends_link&sk=c3bb54972b8e1665c4babba28961b6c4 | https://medium.com/cryptolinks/databike-pilot-project-ec13e973479b | [] | 2020-04-30 01:08:47.427000+00:00 | ['Cycling', 'Blockchain', 'Electric Vehicles', 'Mobility', 'Data'] |
Tom Brady says he’s “motivated to win my first Super Bowl without cheati- … shit” | FOXBOROUGH, MA — New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady spoke with reporters this morning about his seventh trip to the Super Bowl and his quest to win a record fifth ring for a quarterback, but seemed to have briefly slipped into a moment of accidental candor — nearly admitting that all of his previous Super Bowl appearances were owed to New England’s proud tradition of cheating.
Asked a question about whether he was motivated to win this year and force Roger Goodell to hand him the Lombardi Trophy after the commissioner suspended him for four games at the outset of the 2016 season, Brady said he was not and then went into a long monologue on his true motivations.
“I’ve never felt this good about being in the Super Bowl,” he said. “There’s always been a nagging thought inside of me during our previous six times in this game, that maybe we didn’t really deserve to be here. But I feel good and just clean and innocent this time and I’m really motivated to win my first Super Bowl without cheati- … shit.”
The quarterback then laughed awkwardly, while turning bright red and stumbled to continue his train of thought.
“I mean, I’m … you know … motivated to win my first Super Bowl … against the, you know, Falcons,” he said. “Never met them in a Super Bowl before and they’re a real good team.”
Brady then excused himself from the press conference and walked off the stage as Bill Belichick glared at him from the side of the room. The Patriots have long stonewalled the media and the league office on the details of their operation, outside of terse denials in regards to their cheating, but Brady’s slip up was a rare crack in that facade and a shocking mistake by the 39-year old veteran.
But while reporters scurried to send out the news of Brady seemingly admitting to cheating, others question whether the “slip up” was planned misinformation.
“If the Patriots put it out there that they’re not cheating this year, the hope could be that everyone will think they’re finally being honest and not cheating,” read a New York Times editorial. “Meanwhile, they’ll continue and expand their cheating right in front of us. It’s a brilliant sleight of hand.” | https://medium.com/sportspickle/tom-brady-says-hes-motivated-to-win-my-first-super-bowl-without-cheati-shit-e5f235d06758 | [] | 2017-01-24 14:51:05.782000+00:00 | ['NFL', 'New England Patriots', 'Tom Brady', 'Sports', 'Football'] |
Build a TODO app in less than 5 minutes in Node/Express | Getting Started
Okay, so let’s dive into the delicious cloud of development ;)
Step 1: Project bootstrap
Create a new directory hello-todo in your working machine.
in your working machine. Open this directory in Visual Studio Code (VSCode) and bring its integrated terminal.
Next, copy and run the following command
npx express-generator
This will generate an express-starter app for you with all the directories and start-up code set up for you in seconds.
Now run npm install to install all the dependencies mentioned in the file. After all the dependencies have been installed, you can run npm start and visit the newly created Express App at localhost:3000 .
Step 2: Set up the CRUD Generator
Create a new directory db in the root of your project.
in the root of your project. Create another directory schemas inside db .
inside . Now create a todos.json and a users.json file inside db/schemas the directory, and paste the below codes into respective files.
The interesting part starts here. Run dricup-crud-express command in the terminal and see the magic. It will create Migration, Model, Controller, and Routes for the todo’s along with some configuration files.
Step 3: Configure Database
The command dricup-crud-express above has created an knexfile.js in the root of the project.
Open it up and add your database details for development environment/key.
environment/key. Run knex migrate:up to run migrations.
Step 4: Update `app.js` file and restart server
Open the app.js file and add the following two lines to it
var todosRouter = require("./routes/todos"); app.use("/todos", todosRouter);
Now close the server (if it is already running) and run the command npm start .
Step 5: Enjoy the App using Postman
Open postman, and you can create/read/update/delete the todos :) | https://medium.com/@farazahmad759/build-a-todo-app-in-less-than-5-minutes-in-node-express-ada63d7c54b9 | ['Faraz Ahmad'] | 2020-11-24 05:49:02.919000+00:00 | ['Nodejs', 'Express', 'Knexjs', 'Expressjs', 'Objection Js'] |
How to Overthink Anything | As a combination computer geek and guitar geek, it is sort of in my nature to examine all aspects of a problem before making a decision. Once I start down this path, I feel like I must truly understand the entirety of the problem space. For instance, if I use different pin materials, will it cause a difference in how tone is passed from the plucked string to the bridge plate? (The answer, for those interested is “yes”.) What would those differences be? And so the search begins.
Pursuing each line of questions is time-consuming. My lovely artist-ex-rocket-scientist girlfriend refers to it as “going down the rabbit hole”. Once I think I understand the characteristics of bridge pin materials, then the next question that pops up is, what about the material the bridge plate is made of? Do harder woods have different qualities than softer woods? Or metal or ivory? (Again, the answer is “yes”.)
So now that I understand the pins and the plate, what about how the combinations of materials work together? Do different combinations of pin/plate give different tonal qualities when you’re playing? Again yes.
Here’s where the overthinking part comes in. Every time you dig into the characteristics, and find a “yes” answer, it almost fractally generates more questions. “Why do some pins have slots? Why do some bridge plates get glued on and others float? Which is better, mahogany or ebony?” At some point you start asking such deep questions that you lose sight of what you were originally trying to accomplish. You can spend a tremendous amount of time accumulating facts that might be fascinating, but ultimately are unrelated to the goal.
Fortunately there’s a solution to this. It’s so simple it’s almost painful.
Every time you ask a question that opens up new questions, stop yourself and pose this question:
Does pursuing this topic get me closer to what I was originally trying to accomplish?
So, in my case I wanted to play my guitar. What stopped me? The strings were old and worn. What should I do to accomplish my goal and play? Change the strings. What do I need to do to change the strings? I need some new replacement strings (let’s not go down THAT rabbit hole!). Once I have the strings, then I go to the next step, and the next, and the next. When I get to the point of assessing tonal qualities, is that even germane to my goal? Actually it is. I prefer my acoustics to be warm rather than twangy. By understanding the construction of my guitar (ebony bridge plate) I was able to figure out that bone bridge pins would be the best material to get the sound I preferred. Mission accomplished!
And, since I found ones with mother-of-pearl inlays to match the inlays around the sound-hole and binding, it was a no-brainer…I didn’t have to think at all. Sort of like a car that’s just been washed runs better (wink, wink), a pretty guitar just sounds better.
Right? | https://medium.com/@rglowrey/how-to-overthink-anything-f8097270060b | ['Rick Lowrey'] | 2020-12-23 08:15:12.477000+00:00 | ['Goals', 'Guitar', 'Overthinking', 'Analysis'] |
These Contact Lenses Could Be The Future Of Augmented Reality | Written by
Keeping brands ahead of the digital curve. An @IPGMediabrands company. | https://medium.com/ipg-media-lab/these-contact-lenses-could-be-the-future-of-augmented-reality-512924a612fa | ['Ipg Media Lab'] | 2017-07-06 22:20:28.957000+00:00 | ['Augmented Reality', 'Virtual Reality'] |
Introducing Bounty Ninja | Today we’re excited to launch our free service Bounty Ninja at bounty.ninja
You can read the full introduction of Bounty Ninja at http://bit.ly/2yxGJyf
If you’re a big fan of some tokens, please feel free to share Bounty Ninja to your group admin and ask them to try it out. This service is 100% free.
Join Bounty Ninja’s community and keep updated with it!
Facebook: facebook.com/ninjabounty
Twitter: twitter.com/ninjabounty
Telegram: https://t.me/bountyninja | https://medium.com/bounty-global/introducing-bounty-ninja-87bc3ca2381 | [] | 2018-10-19 13:05:08.487000+00:00 | ['Airdrop', 'Bounty Program', 'Token', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain'] |
It’s Time For a Change | Change is never easy, but in some cases it is necessary
Water pollution has become an environmental crisis! At its base level is the contamination of our Earth’s bodies of water. It is when manmade or unnatural pollutants come in contact with our lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, and even groundwater. It affects not only us as a human race, but the environment and wildlife as well. Creatures are becoming ill, swallowing plastics, and animal populations are starting to decrease at an alarming rate. Not to mention we are consuming these microplastics and chemicals even from water that we think is pure! Water pollution comes in several forms, but if there is one that we contribute to everyday it is plastic pollution. The use of single used plastics is a growing issue. The number of plastics being produced and used by plastic companies and big franchises is growing to increase their revenue. All they are concerned about is cash. We as people are also doing the bare minimum to address the issue. For example, there are not enough people recycling or trying to rid their usage of single used plastics. Not to mention, when disposing these plastics none of us take into consideration where they actually end up! We are more worried about what’s easier or more convenient for use. Bottom line, our earth is running out of clean water! Clean water is essential for life, and the problem I am discovering in most of my research is that us humans are over using the clean water we have left and abusing our earth’s natural waters. Many are unaware of just how much this global issue affects them and how significant it is. We are the only ones who can fix this environmental crisis. We must stop worrying about big franchises, money, and convenience, but rather about sustainability and health. If plastic companies, major franchises, and we as a society do not start to take note of our actions, plastics could quite frankly control our entire lives and determine our earth’s future.
So why is this environmental crisis so important? What is the need for change? Because it affects all of us, including our planet! What made me realize that plastic pollution was really an issue was the use of single-use plastics. After I conducted some place interviews I realized just how much they are used and how people dispose of them. It made me become aware and make sense of the fact that we as humans value the idea of convenience. I think this is something that we could possibly all try. If you were to just take about 15 minutes to sit exactly where you’re at, maybe it is a local coffee shop or a grocery store. How many plastics would you see being used, purchased, or thrown away? It is crazy to think that pollution isn’t something we take notice of easily, but rather something we must be reminded of.
What are Some Solutions?
The solutions that are available to begin working towards fixing this issue are simple and feasible. First and foremost plastic production companies could start producing water bottles with less plastic, such as the brand Aquafina did with their new product Eco-fina. Eco-fina is made of 50% less plastic than an average water bottle!
Next we could encourage franchises to lower the amount of plastics they use or make conscious eco-friendly alterations. For example, many Starbucks have rid their usage of straws and now provide cups with a drinking lid, as well as many local coffee shops have started to use reusable glassware cups. Lastly, us humans could make minor adjustments in our everyday lives that could make a world of a difference. Some examples include: using reusable utensils or containers, recycling as often as possible, and supporting brands that have been making eco-friendly decisions.
Despite how many proposed solutions I could provide there will still be people who may disagree with my perspective because they may feel it isn’t convenient enough. Many people who are busy probably don’t see the value in a refillable water bottle as much as the convenience of single-use plastics. They also may feel it is unrealistic to expect everyone to remember to recycle. Plastic production companies might feel that the proposed ideas will risk business and possibly put people out of work if we aim to rid the use of plastics. Then franchises might even suggest that they would be losing money by paying for expensive eco-friendly products. Each one may have a different excuse on why these solutions could cause potential problems. Nevertheless, no one said the journey to restoring our earth’s waters was going to be easy. It is going to take hard work, sacrifice, and everyone taking action to make a difference because the scary truth is that time is running out.
The 5-R Rule
During my research I found something that I feel could be very beneficial to all of us who may be at stake by reducing the use of plastics. It is a rule called the “5-R” rule. These fives R’s stand for:
High Five, Eco-friendly reminders are cool!
Reduce
Refuse
Reuse
Repair
Recycle
The rule basically provides us with reminders and tips on how to make eco-friendly decisions. First we must reduce our usage of plastics by finding alternatives. Then we must refuse to fall into the habit of using single-used plastic such as water bottles. If we do have to end up using single-use plastics we must then make the conscious effort to reuse that product as many times as possible. Next, we need to attempt to repair broken products before we decide to toss them out and buy a new one. Finally if all else fails and the item can no longer be reused we recycle it properly. This rule is easy and achievable for all us, but it starts with how much effort companies, franchises, and us chose to put into it. You can read more about this rule on this website!
Time to Take Action
A Clean Earth is A Happy Earth
It is about time that we all swallow our pride and take responsibility for our actions. We must throw the excuses out the door and start asking what we can do for our planet. We must start making things sensible again. Our actions are learned behaviors that we have become accustomed to. So why not rewire our brain? Why not change the way we think? We have the power to change our minds and even to influence others! If we just first take the time to pause and reflect on what it is we are choosing to do. Once we start to make sense of our actions, we will be able to make ethical decisions and conduct a plan for the lifestyle we are wanting to live. The journey to a sustainable planet isn’t a one way street, but instead a chain reaction. If we choose to start others will notice and want to follow. It’s that simple. Humans naturally want to fit in, so why not make becoming environmental a norm? So before you buy that case of plastic water bottles ask yourself, do you want to be a part of the problem or the solution?
December 3, 2020
By: Jaci Sims
Rhetoric of Environmental Action | https://medium.com/environmental-action/its-time-for-a-change-f369682eecc1 | ['Jaci Sims'] | 2020-12-07 16:48:41.106000+00:00 | ['Plastics Market', 'Water Pollution', 'Eco Friendly', 'Sealife', 'Environmental Issues'] |
The Worst forms of Content on YouTube. | 4. Unboxing videos
People earning money to open boxes which otherwise is too complicated a task for commoners to do.
The success of the unboxing trend makes me laugh a lot. People are earning a lot of money just opening boxes. The reason might be that opening boxes are continuously become more of a complicated task by the day. For example, you got a new computer, but to your horror, it came in a box! Now you get tensed because you don't know how to open the box. So, you go to youtube see its unboxing and take a sigh of relief since they have taught you how to perform the near-impossible task of opening the box.
How much worse can it get? People are opening boxes and showing the product to the camera, which millions of people are watching.
For example, look at this channel below called ‘Unbox therapy.’ This channel has 17.6 Million subscribers as of this day! | https://medium.com/illumination/the-worst-forms-of-content-on-youtube-e2dd54cb030a | ['Robin Roy'] | 2020-12-18 10:55:11.954000+00:00 | ['Easy Money', 'Videos', 'YouTube', 'Technology', 'Sadness'] |
The Big Disadvantage of Small Phones Like the iPhone Mini | The Big Disadvantage of Small Phones Like the iPhone Mini
Image: Apple
The iPhone 12 Mini, launching this week for $729 and up, is Apple’s smallest phone in years. The company hasn’t released a phone as small as the 5.18-inch iPhone Mini since 2013, when it debuted the iPhone 5 line, which ranged in size from 4.87 to 4.9 inches.
It’s cute, and as Corey Jones, chair of the Industrial Design Department at California College of the Arts, says, “The 12 Mini is probably the purest expression of the iPhone in recent memory.”
But I really don’t recommend it if you, like me, are a heavy phone user. Research indicates that the smaller the screen, the harder it is to read and process the information presented on it. That isn’t to say it’s a bad option for every single person, but for most smartphone users, I’d caution against choosing the Mini over other, bigger options. Screen size is critical to how easily people absorb and understand information, and when we’re getting more of it than ever via our smartphones — and when so much of it is actually misinformation — it is maybe not the best idea to put obstacles in the way of our reading comprehension.
Content on a bigger screen demands less cognitive effort than the same information on a smaller screen.
Years of research show just how significantly screen size affects consumers. “A large corpus of work in the fields of psychology and communication has consistently found that an increase in screen size positively influences various cognitive and affective domains of user perceptions,” wrote the authors of a 2014 study published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. The study looked at how 130 participants fared on tasks using 5.3- and 3.7-inch smartphone screens. Participants had a much easier time completing a given task on the larger screens; they also found larger screens more aesthetically pleasing and pleasurable to use.
In a 2019 study, researchers from University of Michigan and Texas A&M University investigated how well participants comprehended video news stories on different screen sizes. They found that the smaller the screen, the lower the attentiveness and engagement with the content. Viewers would come away with a lesser understanding of the material if they viewed it on a small smartphone rather than a tablet or laptop. Larger screens, according to the researchers, facilitate a greater feeling of immersion, which allows viewers to digest content more easily. In other words, content on a bigger screen demands less cognitive effort than the same information on a smaller screen.
There’s another factor affecting your ability to readily grasp information on your screen: scrolling. Reading and literacy researchers argue that the act of scrolling compromises our ability to absorb text, and the smaller the screen, the more you have to scroll to finish it. People are already less willing to read long texts on a screen than a physical document of the same length; while I appreciate my Kindle, I much prefer to read paper books (though storage in my apartment is rapidly becoming an issue), and some aspects of reading comprehension, such as temporality (knowing when something occurred in a story), are more difficult when you’re reading from a screen instead of a paper book.
Physical books are a little better than e-books when it comes to reading comprehension, but there’s not much of a contest when comparing e-books to smartphones. The smaller screen on the smartphone, the scrolling versus tapping/turning mechanism for turning the book’s pages, and the countless distractions posed by having the world at your fingertips make trying to read anything much longer than a blog post pretty damn hard on a tiny smartphone screen.
But a larger iPhone screen mitigates some of these issues. When your eyes can see more text at once, you’re able to put words in greater context, allowing for better reading comprehension. You’re also, of course, scrolling less. Anyone who’s doing a lot of reading on their smartphone should seriously consider getting a bigger smartphone for this reason alone.
Reading and literacy researchers argue that the act of scrolling compromises your ability to absorb text, and the smaller the screen, the more you have to scroll to finish it.
There’s an elephant in the room, however, and that’s portability. A 2013 study found that while participants performed significantly better on information-seeking tasks using larger smartphone screens, this effect was somewhat tempered if the user found the screen ungainly and difficult to hold. For best results, the screen needs to be as big as is comfortable for you to use with one hand.
This means my iPhone XR, which is 5.94 inches long and has a 6.1-inch screen, is likely the ideal screen size for my small hands. (Seriously: I wear childrens’ gloves.) I can navigate my phone pretty well with one hand, and my extensive use—including way too much emailing, photography (mostly of my dog), social media, online window shopping, Google Maps, and the occasional Kindle app reading—means I need the phone to be as big as possible. I’m not sure I could use a larger iPhone as well as I use my current one, but I certainly don’t want to size down.
Jones, the industrial design professor, says the introduction of the iPhone Mini indicates that Apple continues to move away from the one-size-fits-all mentality it’s been associated with. Still, he says, the iPhone Mini is likely best for casual, mostly recreational use, such as riding public transportation and keeping one hand free. “These folks probably sit down to another device to get real work done,” he says, though he notes that young people and people with small hands would clearly benefit from the small phone option.
“Being limited to the lesser device was a real frustration for many users in previous generations of the iPhone. Many people who optioned up for better specs have probably been conditioned to using the larger sizes, and it might be hard to go back to a smaller-size screen, but a few will welcome the option, I am sure,” he says.
I’ve criticized Apple plenty of times for its fixation on keeping options limited, and I don’t think it’s a bad thing that the company is introducing a smaller phone. Kids and other people with small hands, casual users, or people who use their phones in active contexts — I imagine a restaurant manager, for example, navigating a busy environment with a small iPhone tucked into their pants pocket — will clearly benefit from the smaller device. But anyone who does a lot of work and reading on their phone may as well give in to what their brain really wants (or needs) and stick with a bigger phone. If you really want a cute little tether that will let you further disconnect while making you look Luddite-cool, might I suggest a Baby Phone instead? | https://debugger.medium.com/the-big-disadvantage-of-small-phones-like-the-iphone-mini-703864a34501 | ['Angela Lashbrook'] | 2020-11-12 06:32:23.153000+00:00 | ['Consumer Technology', 'iPhone', 'Smartphones', 'Digital Life', 'Technology'] |
5 Tips to Boost Productivity While Working from Home | As mobile technology continues to evolve and as cloud computing becoming more and more common, a steadily growing number of people are contemplating to start their home-based businesses, and/or online operations, and more and more companies as starting to open remote options either for regular employees or freelancers.
Now, with the COVID19 outbreak, remote work has become the norm in most businesses where it’s feasible, helping to keep employees healthy, safe, and also, helping to flatten the curve and get back things to normal.
And even though some studies generally stated that remote work makes employees healthier, overall more productive, and happier, leaving the office and entering the “home office” definitely has its own challenges and potential pitfalls as well.
For starters, “company time” can become a much looser definition, and you might be tempted to spend said company time on the couch, napping or enjoying a well-deserved small break that turns into binge-watching on of your favorite shows until late at night. You can also struggle to get up in time — if you can even get up at an appropriate time for that matter.
So, working from home definitely has its own set of ups and downs. How can you remain productive in such a setting? How can you keep in touch effectively with your coworkers to ensure that business operations are going smoothly? To help you in these rough pandemic times, we’ve taken the liberty of compiling 5 effective ways to boost your productivity in your “home office”.
Get prepared for work the same way you did before
Without a single doubt, one of the best things about working from home is to get your daily tasks done and still wear your pajamas or nothing else but your underwear the whole day.
As tempting as it sounds, dropping out of your usual morning routine can have a direct impact on the amount of work you can do. As you know, people are creatures of habit, and the habits that we develop can turn into actual triggers over time.
Do you have a regular workout regimen that you stick to no matter what? You know, even at the end of a long day, once you put on your workout clothes, you feel that you’re ready to rock and conquer that workout.
The same analogy applies to work as well. Getting up in time and dressing up in the clothes you usually wear to work can help you shift your mindset and can even help to pump you up for a workday.
That being said, don’t close your work wardrobe just because you don’t have to show up in the office. No matter how casual or formal it is, dress up, move to your designated workspace and get at it. Wearing the right clothes can help you get mentally prepared for conducting business, or for that important online company meeting.
Have your own workspace
Just a sentence above, we’ve mentioned a term called “designated workspace”, see? Well, that wasn’t a coincidence.
Photo by Ken Tomita from Pexels
You see, we understand if you don’t have the space to create an entirely separate home office, but you can designate a room that should be only yours or at least a corner of the room while you work.
Something simple can do the trick, like a floating desk that you can set up in the morning and put away once you’ve called it quits for the day. If you have a transforming closet, it can double as a fold-away office for the time being. It’s not about the design but about the fact that you manage to create a sense of boundary between your work life and personal things.
Why? Having your own designated workplace can help you to focus more on work. When you do your job remotely, from home, it’s easy to get sidetracked by dirty dishes, laundry piles, and other chores that are there waiting for you.
In order to keep yourself focused on your job, you need a bit more isolation (no pandemic pun intended) from these issues, and it will help you with staying more productive during your actual office hours.
Set firm boundaries
If you’ve ever experienced how annoying it can be when you desperately want to focus on your work but you constantly got interrupted by your coworkers because they had questions or plainly because they were too loud, you know the office fan be a truly frustrating place.
In this respect, working from home can be a true blessing, however, only if you manage to set up your own rules and boundaries that ensure you don’t get interrupted.
Because you’re at home, your friends might drop by uninvited, or your neighbor might drop by to ask you for your help or something else, just because they know you’re not at the office, even though you’re working.
This is as though one, as it can be difficult to tell your friends and family that you still don’t like to be bothered constantly even though you are at home. Because, the truth is, you’re at you but you’re still working. The sooner you set these boundaries up the better your overall remote performance will be.
The same rules apply to coworkers as well. Just because a colleague has less to do from home than you doesn’t mean that they should be bothering you. On the other hand, if you need to deliver a team project, every team member should set these clear rules about boundaries.
Personalize your workspace
This can also prove to be a rather difficult tip, however, it doesn’t have to be. The main idea behind this is purpose . When you walk into an office, most of the time, you can ultimately tell that it’s a workspace that was made for that sole purpose. On the other hand, when you walk into a home, you will immediately know that it’s a personal space. That being said, an office can also be as warm and inviting as a home, and the latter can be as cold as some offices look like right off the bat.
Without going into philosophical depths on this topic, the reason behind an office’s design is to promote productivity. If you are going to work from home for a longer period, it might be a good idea to redesign your home office space. Incorporate the most common office designs that you can. Make sure you’re sitting in a comfortable chair that enables you to work properly without experiencing any pains and aches. Make sure that your desktop/laptop is up to the task and can handle the requirements of your office work needs. Also, make sure that you’re using a proper desk or table.
Making sure that you have all these and that you have enough space to accommodate your work gear is a great start.
Photo by Theo from Pexels
If you are in for the long haul and plan on working from home indefinitely, you should also consider looking into more advanced home office designs to ensure that your productivity won’t ever suffer from inadequate surroundings or work gear.
Create your own schedule and make sure you stick to it.
You often hear that people who go to bed and wake up at the same time every day don’t really have to rely on alarm clocks and overall get more rest than those people who don’t have an established sleep schedule.
When you stick to such a sleep regimen, your body prepares itself to go to bed by releasing hormones that promote better rest and that can help you wake up in the morning feeling rested and ready to tackle every challenge.
Well, these same hormones can help you to become more productive during the day. Hormones also love having routines, because they work in cycles, they need to know when to commence and seize production to work optimally.
Apart from making your body work for you, you should also need to create your own work schedule. Start each day by answering emails, then move on to checking yesterday’s work, and so on.
Create a regular work schedule and know when to hang up your cowl and cape. If you don’t have to finish a project in a hurry, don’t stay up late just to deliver it because “you can do it, you’re working from home”. This mentality might be fruitful in the short-term but it can potentially lead to burnout in the long run.
On the other hand, if you can choose your working hours freely, let your coworkers know when it’s okay to reach out to you and when you won’t be replying to letters at all. Some of us like to work during the afternoon or even at night, while others like to tackle work first thing in the morning. Try checking with your colleagues and coordinate work-related email timings as such. It doesn’t seem like much but it will definitely go a long way in improving your remote work experience.
Lastly, after setting your work schedule, try your best to stick to it continuously. The point here is to develop a routine that you can get used to and look forward to. This way, there will be no last-minute, late-night changes, phone calls, and other disturbances. Having a set work schedule can help you divide work and off time which is important since most remote workers experience difficulties when it comes to shifting out of “work” mode and start living their private lives for the rest of the day because they constantly get bombarded by work emails.
The Takeaway
Working from home can be a productive venture, but can also pose the same difficulties (if not even more) as a classic, traditional working environment. Productivity first and foremost stems from discipline and a well-thought-out regimen that you can stick to. The main difference between working from home and the office is that the first option is way more comfortable since you don’t have to deal with the daily commute. On the other hand, it might be easier to limit distractions in a home office setting, however, that can only work if you set up a strict set of rules that ensure nobody will bother you while you’re doing your job. Oh, and you must also adhere to all the rules you’ve made to pull it off. | https://medium.com/@popart-studio/5-tips-to-boost-productivity-while-working-from-home-9f7fe69dc9c2 | ['Popart Studio'] | 2020-12-24 08:18:47.093000+00:00 | ['Work From Home', 'Productivity Tips', 'Work Life Balance', 'Home Office', 'Productivity'] |
P95G BTC Market Weekly Report — Week of 11/23/2020 | BTC/USD hourly chart
The Bitcoin price extended its gain for another week to reach $18,945 and then settled at $18,170. Given the strong upward momentum in the past weeks, it is possible for the price to approach $20,000 in the next 2 weeks.
The current support is at $18,000. In order to keep the current upward trend, the BTC price needs to stay above $18,000 and break the previous peak at $18,634. If the volatility remains high, the price would potentially break above $18,945 and extend its gain further. However, if the trading slows down, the price may settle in a range between $18,000 and $18,500 before the market determines the next trending direction.
Disclaimer: The above market commentary is based on technical analysis using historical pricing data, and is for reference only. It does not serve as investment or trading advice.
P95G：The management team consists of seasoned professionals who worked in the brokerage service industry, with a background ranging from equity and derivative trading to operations, asset management, and information technology. P95G provides services to financial institutions and individual investors in buying and selling cryptocurrencies, fiat currency (US dollar) and cryptocurrency transfers, and OTC (over-the-counter) trading in large amounts. | https://medium.com/@point95-global/p95g-btc-market-weekly-report-week-of-11-23-2020-4d7b4fc34dd7 | [] | 2020-11-23 05:32:49.259000+00:00 | ['Btc', 'Bitcoin News', 'Bitcoin', 'Point95 Global', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
How to: Install Xbox Game Pass on Chromecast with Google TV | How to: Install Xbox Game Pass on Chromecast with Google TV
A great option for playing Xbox games while traveling, or just while in another room at home. Patrick Aug 25·2 min read
The latest iteration of Chromecast, the Chromecast with Google TV, is powered by Android. Microsoft already offers Xbox Game Pass as an app for cloud gaming on Android devices, however this app is not yet available on the Play Store for Google TV devices.
With a few tweaks, you can get around these restrictions and install Xbox Game Pass on your Chromecast with Google TV. With this option you can stream stream Xbox Series X|S games to your TV — no console required.
Steps
Install the Downloader app Enable Unknown Sources Install the Xbox Game Pass app Connect a controller Play
Install the Downloader app
First, you’ll need to get the Xbox Game Pass app onto your Chromecast with Google TV. Because it is not available on the App list on your Chromecast, you’ll need to install it manually. The Downloader app will help you do this.
On your Chromecast, go to the Apps screen Search for and install “Downloader”
Enable Unknown Sources
Because you’ll be installing from a source other than the official Google Play store, you need to tell your Chromecast to allow installations from other sources.
On your Chromecast, go to Settings > System > About Highlight the “Android TV OS build” menu item, and click the OK button on your Chromecast remote 5 times in a row. You should receive a message that says you are now a Developer. Go to Settings > Apps > Security & Restrictions Enable “Install unknown apps” for the Downloader app
Install the Xbox Game Pass app
You’ll need to get a copy of the Xbox Game Pass app by downloading and installing it to your Chromecast with the Downloader app. APK Mirror is a useful resource that hosts apps available for download outside of the official app stores.
From the home screen, open the Downloader app Within the Downloader app, search for Xbox Game Pass (beta) APK Mirror, or go directly to this URL: https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/microsoft-corporation/xbox-game-pass-beta/ Download the latest version of the app with the armeabi-v7a architecture. Here is the one I used.
Connect a controller
A bluetooth controller is required to play Xbox games on the Chromecast with Google TV.
On your Chromecast, go to Settings > Remotes & Accessories > Pair remote or accessory Enable pairing mode on your bluetooth controller. Any bluetooth controllers should work. The Xbox controllers work well. Initiate the pairing on Chromecast when your controller is discovered.
Play
With the Xbox Game Pass app installed and your controller connected, you have everything you need to get gaming.
From the Chromecast home screen, open Game Pass Beta and login to your Microsoft account. Play!
Questions
How well does it work?
Pretty well. The game menu system is a little bit clunky (it’s optimized for touch interfaces), though game streaming is just as smooth as on any other Android device. | https://medium.com/@pcash/how-to-install-xbox-game-pass-on-chromecast-with-google-tv-9804a6a19c8a | [] | 2021-08-25 22:01:49.522000+00:00 | ['Cloud', 'Chromecast', 'Xbox', 'Apps', 'Gaming'] |
Let’s design more-inclusive street signs | As I walk and bike around my neighborhood, I’m continually disappointed by street signs that are designed only for cars. If you’re among the many who aren’t seeing the world through a windshield, a street sign likely means the opposite of what it says. I’d like to give three examples of what I mean, and to offer some ideas for more inclusive signs.
“Road Closed” and “Do Not Enter”
Here is an Emeryville “quick build slow street”, closed entirely to cars and trucks, but open for everybody else to use. When I see a “Road Closed” sign from my bike, my brain says guess I better find another route before I realize that this road is actually intended for me! Emeryville is about to install a permanent version in this location which will hopefully be better-marked.
Another example is this “Do Not Enter” sign, with an image of a person below. Are people on foot not supposed to enter, or are we referring to cars?
Since the purpose of both signs is to safely open the street to people, we need to clarify who it is closed to, and who it is open to. Perhaps we can use something like this:
This approach focuses on what is allowed before saying what isn’t allowed. As a pedestrian or bike rider, I would feel explicitly welcomed by this street, and as a car driver I would feel encouraged to return on my bike.
“No Outlet”
At an entrance to a Berkeley “Bicycle Boulevard” is this sign, that says, “No Outlet”. If you’re in a car, you’ll have to either turn around or drive illegally around some bollards in order to get out from here. But if you’re walking or on a bike, you are in the right place!
Another example is at the entrance to Willard Park — the sign says “No Outlet”, but if you’re walking or in a wheelchair this is a perfect outlet! A better sign might say “Come on in.”
Maybe we can update these sign to say for whom there is no outlet. Something like this:
The sign clarifies which modes have “no outlet”, and shows which modes are welcome. And note that everybody is welcome here — they may just need to leave the car at home.
“Road Closed to Thru Traffic”
Finally we have“Road Closed to Thru Traffic”, used lately for marking Slow Streets in Oakland. The idea is that the only cars and trucks allowed on the street are people who live there, and people make necessary stops on that street (deliveries, services). All other car and truck drivers should find another route.
Part of the purpose of these streets is to create a safer bike route across town…bring on the thru traffic! How about we get more specific:
Let’s start expecting more inclusive signage from our cities. What street signs would you like to see changed? | https://medium.com/@scottowades/lets-design-more-inclusive-street-signs-2e7be733c370 | ['Scott Owades'] | 2020-11-16 20:12:57.710000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Transportation', 'Cycling', 'Urban Planning'] |
Conversations with God During COVID-19 | I have never been so terrified in my life. COVID-19 has smacked us as a nation on our collective behinds. Earlier in the year, the rumors about the disease were flying so fast on social media that I suspended my actions on Facebook. Frightening theories . . . everything from a secret government experiment, to the disease causing the lungs to atrophy . . . were flying fast and furious. I haven’t used Facebook since April, and I really don’t miss it.
Instead, I began journaling. I’ve tried to journal for years, but the advent of a global pandemic and working from home was the perfect cocktail to start a prayer journal. I’ve kept a prayer log since May.
Here is an excerpt from day one May 13, 2020 . . .
Dear Lord, thank you for waking me up to see another day in the 65th year of my birth. I am so grateful for all of the blessings you have provided. But, Lord I am so scared. I want to live because I feel I have so much more to do in this life. I also feel that I am not ready to see Your Face. Although this world is in such turmoil, I want to be here to help solve problems and help people.
Lord, my prayer is that you forgive me; forgive us. Pardon our sins; pardon my sins. Give us another chance to do and be what you created us to be. You created us to Love you and to love each other, to take care of the world you gave us, and to care for each other. I don’t know how to make these changes, Lord but you do. Change our hearts. Create in me and in all of us a heart more like your son, Jesus. I know that you are the architect of this life and our faith. Lead us into a deeper connection with You. Guide us in creating strategies to end homelessness, hunger, poverty, sickness, and all of the maladies of humans.
We give you all the praise, Father God. Thank you for this day. For health. Food. Shelter. Clothing. Companionship. Family.
Amen | https://medium.com/@srhoggard/conversations-with-god-during-covid-19-420f6fdc11f0 | ['Sharon Riddick Hoggard'] | 2020-12-21 19:06:36.033000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Prayer', 'Conversations With God'] |
Official Map of the Highway System of Texas | Produced primarily as a tourist map for Texans and visitors and to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Texas’ independence from Mexico, the Official Map of the Highway System of Texas represented a boom in construction over less than thirty years and features every major population center in the state during the early 1930s. A far cry from the faint trails of the 1830s and dirt paths of the 1900s, both intra- and inter-state routes indicate increasing amounts of commercial and recreational traffic in 1936.
The legend describes the various types of highways and markings on the map, while also making a point to travelers regarding the Texas Highway System’s lack of toll bridges. This map was issued for free by the State Highway Commission.
Red and black lines depict U.S. and state highways respectively. While many of the roads shown are paved, there are still several “earth” roads, most notably to the west of the 100th meridian. When the Texas Highway Department was established, there were an estimated 148,000 miles of roads in Texas, but few of them were paved. By 1930, just six years before the map was issued, Texas boasted 18,000 miles of highways, and about one-third of them were paved.[4] Highway 81, which was used as a guideline for Interstate 35 within the next decade, connected Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, and Laredo. In a testament to the links between modern and pioneer-era transportation, Highway 81 was built over the route of an old military road. A special reference is made to the enticing fact that “There are no toll bridges on the Texas Highway System.”
A photograph of the Alamo is one of several images found in the margins of the highway map, which was intended both to decorate the map and entice tourists to visit.
The map also features photos of several state landmarks. The Texas Capitol is distinguished by its signature pink granite. The Alamo appears labeled as the “Shrine of Texas Liberty.” Newly constructed buildings on the Dallas Fair Park grounds herald the Centennial Exposition. On the map’s verso, a collage of notable sites within the state is pictured, including the other San Antonio missions, Sam Houston’s campground at San Jacinto, several military bases, and scenes of agriculture and industry. | https://medium.com/save-texas-history/official-map-of-the-highway-system-of-texas-4293ee71bd95 | ['Texas General Land Office'] | 2020-04-30 20:05:46.624000+00:00 | ['History', 'Texas', 'Highway', 'Maps'] |
Browser events: Parrots and Space Candies | This section is for dummies. I mean no disrespect. If you’ve already are comfortable with the basics of interfaces, classes, objects, and functions, I suggest you head over to the MDN version: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Building_blocks/Events
If you are not, this section might just give an insight into how things work in the browser, especially what happens when an event is fired.
Here is a hello-world:
We are going to add a button and listen for click events on it. So what we need is basically a console.log which prints something whenever we click the button. This will help you get an idea about what the browser is doing with your interactions.
The HTML
Now,
Create a new folder,
Put these two files (h.js and the HTML file, you can name the HTML file whatever you want, just end the name with .html, thanks…) in that folder,
open the HTML file in a browser (double click on it, dum dum).
You will have this in the browser.
Do not click the button, if you have already, refresh the page and press F12. You will be treated with something like this:
I am using google chrome.
This is where you can print logs and stuff…
Now I want you to click, the button.
Notice anything different in this image?
If you focus on the console tab at the bottom, you can see that it’s showing the log message as expected. If you click on the arrow pointing towards “MouseEvent”, you’d see all the data that is contained in the event. This is all the information that the browser collected when you clicked the button.
After doing that the browser just clubbed everything into an object which your handler received as an argument.
That’s how we teach the parrot to dance when you throw a strawberry flavored candy at it. | https://medium.com/sdiot-technologies/browser-events-parrots-and-space-candies-854d6cc9f096 | ['Akshay Kumar'] | 2020-11-05 18:07:44.327000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Getting Started', 'Must Read', 'Sdiot Technologies', 'Parrots And Space Candies'] |
How did 5G impact mobile app development? | What is it you look for in an app before installing it on your mobile device? Apart from the features and the benefits it provides to you, one should ensure to have good connectivity and a robust system to keep your device going. Mobile applications have changed the world and offered a new perspective to our mobile phones, which were earlier used to make only calls and send messages. With the introduction of applications, purchasing goods, and availing of services remotely has become quite popular.
With the evolution of a better network, it has become considerably easy to download and upload files, as it does not take as much time as it used to before. Mobile devices have become even handier and there is a minimum requirement of going to your PCs and connecting them to the WIFI as everything can be done from the mobile phones in today’s time.
Before we start to understand the aspects of 5G and its advantages, we have to first understand the predecessors of this connection. Take a look:
1G (Analog): It was in the mid-’80s when the first wireless connection made its way to our cellular phones. With the help of this wireless communications technology, one could easily place a call from one device to the other, without having them connected with a wire. The voice calls were immediately transferred and people could easily speak to the person on the other end of the phone without sticking around the phone base. The transport rate of the information in this was somewhere around 1.9 kbit/second.
It was in the mid-’80s when the first wireless connection made its way to our cellular phones. With the help of this wireless communications technology, one could easily place a call from one device to the other, without having them connected with a wire. The voice calls were immediately transferred and people could easily speak to the person on the other end of the phone without sticking around the phone base. The transport rate of the information in this was somewhere around 1.9 kbit/second. 2G GPRS: 1991 was a revolutionary year in terms of wireless connectivity as 2G was launched. This did not only allow the users to connect with each other through voice calls but also allows them to send SMS messages across by using a high rate to transfer data which was 10 kbit/second.
1991 was a revolutionary year in terms of wireless connectivity as 2G was launched. This did not only allow the users to connect with each other through voice calls but also allows them to send SMS messages across by using a high rate to transfer data which was 10 kbit/second. 3G (UMTS): With a transfer rate between 200 kbit/second to 14.7 Mbit/second, this wireless technology became a game-changer after it was introduced to the world in 1998. While the world had gotten used to making voice calls and send messages across, this technology helped in the introduction of smartphones which also allowed the users to exchange images and make video calls.
With a transfer rate between 200 kbit/second to 14.7 Mbit/second, this wireless technology became a game-changer after it was introduced to the world in 1998. While the world had gotten used to making voice calls and send messages across, this technology helped in the introduction of smartphones which also allowed the users to exchange images and make video calls. 4G LTE: Offering a data transport speed of 60 Mbit/second, this wireless technology was introduced to the world in 2008. Apart from allowing people to make video calls at a very high speed, it also offered them much more to do. Things like hosting virtual conferences, video conferencing, and social networking became easy with this. This technology allows the users to do more data-intensive things which took the usage of phones a notch higher.
After all, this, came the era of 5G, with the help of which the data could be transferred at a speed of 1Gbit/second. This kind of speed is something that all smartphone users had been looking forward to as it simplifies a lot of things. It will allow the users to transfer bulky data within seconds and microseconds even in real-time.
Areas that will see a significant improvement with the help of 5G
Although the introduction of this wireless technology is going to enhance the overall look and feel of the electronic devices, iOS, and Android mobile applications, etc. there are certain areas that will witness a spike with this coming of age technology. Here are the three significant enhancements you are most likely to witness with 5G:
Since devices are now these days becoming connected to each other with sensors, the smart devices will in the future have more adaptability and the ability to get connected to each other at a single time.
The movement of data from one device to another has been gaining a lot of prominence as people are always on their toes when it comes to sharing information, videos, and photos through phones. 5G is going to offer the users more speed which will eventually help in transferring more data in less time.
The latency will considerably go down and the response will be quick and better.
How did 5G impact mobile app development?
Another aspect of IoT is that it requires minimum human resources in conducting any function as it is all done with either the devices, the internet, or both of the collaboratively. We are living in a fast paced world where we want the devices to understand each other’s language and perform various functions without the intervention of humans, and that is why IoT has been developed.
Quick transfer of files: With the evolution of mobile applications and a whole lot of iOS and Android apps that are made with the idea of allowing users to transfer files, 5G is going to infuse speed into the same. It will not only make it easier for these applications to allow users to transfer heavy and bulky files, but the apps that deal with other sorts of transfers such as the money transfer apps, data transfer, and video transfer apps will most likely witness a boost in the coming years. The functions will automatically improve and they might also introduce a whole new level of features that might increase the productivity of the application. This wireless technology is going to pave way for newer apps that allow more storage of files and the transfer of larger files. The app development agencies will get to be more precise with this inclusion.
With the evolution of mobile applications and a whole lot of iOS and Android apps that are made with the idea of allowing users to transfer files, 5G is going to infuse speed into the same. It will not only make it easier for these applications to allow users to transfer heavy and bulky files, but the apps that deal with other sorts of transfers such as the money transfer apps, data transfer, and video transfer apps will most likely witness a boost in the coming years. The functions will automatically improve and they might also introduce a whole new level of features that might increase the productivity of the application. This wireless technology is going to pave way for newer apps that allow more storage of files and the transfer of larger files. The app development agencies will get to be more precise with this inclusion. Streaming and video apps: Hasn’t everyone already downloaded a number of video streaming apps on their mobile devices already? In the time of technological advancement, we have witnessed several new video streaming apps make it to the play store and the app store. However, one common issue faced by all the users by using 4G networks in watching or downloading these videos is the buffering time. The videos get stuck anywhere in the middle, it might take time to buffer and play on the device’s screen. In case any app faces the issue of speed, one would not wait but switch from one app to the other. However, 5G is going to resolve this issue as well. It is going to take a major leap and the video streaming will be seamless, there will be no disturbance, neither would one have to wait for minutes or seconds for their videos to start.
Hasn’t everyone already downloaded a number of video streaming apps on their mobile devices already? In the time of technological advancement, we have witnessed several new video streaming apps make it to the play store and the app store. However, one common issue faced by all the users by using 4G networks in watching or downloading these videos is the buffering time. The videos get stuck anywhere in the middle, it might take time to buffer and play on the device’s screen. In case any app faces the issue of speed, one would not wait but switch from one app to the other. However, 5G is going to resolve this issue as well. It is going to take a major leap and the video streaming will be seamless, there will be no disturbance, neither would one have to wait for minutes or seconds for their videos to start. User experience to go a notch higher: The clarity of user interfaces will give a boost to the 5G technology. While the users can play any songs without having them to load on the app first, the videos will also play at an unmatched speed. Just enter the command and you will get everything seamlessly on your screen. This will also give scope to the application developers to introduce UI in their apps. This wireless technology is faster and better than any of its predecessors which is here to resolve the issue of loading applications and making them look more appealing than ever.
The clarity of user interfaces will give a boost to the 5G technology. While the users can play any songs without having them to load on the app first, the videos will also play at an unmatched speed. Just enter the command and you will get everything seamlessly on your screen. This will also give scope to the application developers to introduce UI in their apps. This wireless technology is faster and better than any of its predecessors which is here to resolve the issue of loading applications and making them look more appealing than ever. IoT (Internet of Things): We see a lot of people nowadays walking and talking without even having to put the mobile phones to their ears. This is all because of technology that has allowed them to connect their devices with each other and get notifications on their wearable devices, etc. With the induction of 5G into our lives, everything seems to be getting digitalized. We will get more devices that can all be controlled from one place and only a verbal command will help us do all the work. This will decrease the usage of manual labor while everything can be internally controlled by technology. Smart homes have come into being, where everything is interconnected with each other and users have the ability to voice control everything in their houses. 5G will only increase the quality of this entire system offering an experience like no other.
We see a lot of people nowadays walking and talking without even having to put the mobile phones to their ears. This is all because of technology that has allowed them to connect their devices with each other and get notifications on their wearable devices, etc. With the induction of 5G into our lives, everything seems to be getting digitalized. We will get more devices that can all be controlled from one place and only a verbal command will help us do all the work. This will decrease the usage of manual labor while everything can be internally controlled by technology. Smart homes have come into being, where everything is interconnected with each other and users have the ability to voice control everything in their houses. 5G will only increase the quality of this entire system offering an experience like no other. Introduction of enhanced features: All mobile applications for Android and iOS are developed with the thought of earning a good amount of ROI (Return on Investment) on the same. This is one good reason for the app developers to think out of the box and make the most out of 5G and introduce things like Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence. With speed like that of a bullet, the wireless network has offered greater competencies and a wider scope for adding features that will enhance the user experience helping you get more downloads. This will all add up to the revenue generation of the application, helping the mobile app developers in getting more than they even think of.
All mobile applications for Android and iOS are developed with the thought of earning a good amount of ROI (Return on Investment) on the same. This is one good reason for the app developers to think out of the box and make the most out of 5G and introduce things like Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence. With speed like that of a bullet, the wireless network has offered greater competencies and a wider scope for adding features that will enhance the user experience helping you get more downloads. This will all add up to the revenue generation of the application, helping the mobile app developers in getting more than they even think of. Give a boost to navigational mobile applications: With the introduction of 5G, there will also be a paradigm shift of the navigation apps. This will give a rise to a whole new world of applications offering much more than the apps are delivering as of now. For the old apps that are already doing good among the users, they will have to update their features according to the latest technology to compete with the best and the newer applications. While we already have a couple of navigation apps that have been solving our purpose of showing us directions, there still is a lot of scopes to improve and become efficient in the same, which can only happen with a technology that is fast-paced and that can accommodate changes and latest trends.
With the introduction of 5G, there will also be a paradigm shift of the navigation apps. This will give a rise to a whole new world of applications offering much more than the apps are delivering as of now. For the old apps that are already doing good among the users, they will have to update their features according to the latest technology to compete with the best and the newer applications. While we already have a couple of navigation apps that have been solving our purpose of showing us directions, there still is a lot of scopes to improve and become efficient in the same, which can only happen with a technology that is fast-paced and that can accommodate changes and latest trends. 3D models are more likely to be used: 5G is more likely to offer a wider space to Augmented Reality when it comes to creating 3D models for almost everything and then getting it printed that same way. This will enhance the printing technology also as they would have to come up with newer ways of getting prints of the 3D images secured through the Android and iOS apps. In the meanwhile, it will also help the users carry these apps with them on their devices to any place, which reduces the effort of carrying bigger devices such as laptops and tablets.
5G is more likely to offer a wider space to Augmented Reality when it comes to creating 3D models for almost everything and then getting it printed that same way. This will enhance the printing technology also as they would have to come up with newer ways of getting prints of the 3D images secured through the Android and iOS apps. In the meanwhile, it will also help the users carry these apps with them on their devices to any place, which reduces the effort of carrying bigger devices such as laptops and tablets. Personalized chatbots: It is known to everyone that the personalized messages by the support staff cannot be replaced by the chatbots in any case. However, there is one thing that we can still expect to become better with the help of the 5G network and that is the promptness in the replies by the new age chatbots which are also likely to be more personalized in the coming times. This feature is very essential in retaining the users and in solving all their queries, as they might as well not want to stay loyal to the application if they don’t get the support they seek.
It is known to everyone that the personalized messages by the support staff cannot be replaced by the chatbots in any case. However, there is one thing that we can still expect to become better with the help of the 5G network and that is the promptness in the replies by the new age chatbots which are also likely to be more personalized in the coming times. This feature is very essential in retaining the users and in solving all their queries, as they might as well not want to stay loyal to the application if they don’t get the support they seek. It will be more about the apps than the hardware: Until now we have been facing issues by using high-end applications on 4G network on not so competitive devices. Certain mobile devices have hardware that is slow in processing the requests and therefore, tends to make the users lose out a lot of time on loading the app and using it. On the contrary, the new age 5G network will reduce the dependency of the users on the hardware as the network will play a major role in enhancing the experience of the users. It will not be the device, but the high-speed internet and the applications that will allow the users in performing limitless functions in minimum time. It will no longer be mobile phones, but the wireless network that will be the data centers.
Until now we have been facing issues by using high-end applications on 4G network on not so competitive devices. Certain mobile devices have hardware that is slow in processing the requests and therefore, tends to make the users lose out a lot of time on loading the app and using it. On the contrary, the new age 5G network will reduce the dependency of the users on the hardware as the network will play a major role in enhancing the experience of the users. It will not be the device, but the high-speed internet and the applications that will allow the users in performing limitless functions in minimum time. It will no longer be mobile phones, but the wireless network that will be the data centers. Better battery health: A device needs to be connected to the internet all the time to receive all updates and notifications on the apps installed on their mobile phones. 5G is one network that uses minimum battery life and helps you stay connected to the internet for as long as you want. With this one can ensure to stay connected to the internet at all times without losing out on any information at any point in time.
A device needs to be connected to the internet all the time to receive all updates and notifications on the apps installed on their mobile phones. 5G is one network that uses minimum battery life and helps you stay connected to the internet for as long as you want. With this one can ensure to stay connected to the internet at all times without losing out on any information at any point in time. Better streaming of VR technology: VR technology is not new to most of us, as many of you might already be using the same on the 4G network. However, time and again there have been connectivity issues where the video stops working or the users have to spend time looking at the connectivity icon to buffer the video before playing it on a user’s screen. 5G has in all means waved a bye to this issue as well, and it is highly likely to embrace the streaming of VR technology efficiently.
VR technology is not new to most of us, as many of you might already be using the same on the 4G network. However, time and again there have been connectivity issues where the video stops working or the users have to spend time looking at the connectivity icon to buffer the video before playing it on a user’s screen. 5G has in all means waved a bye to this issue as well, and it is highly likely to embrace the streaming of VR technology efficiently. Cloud technology support: SAAS (Software as a Service) is being used by several mobile application development agencies these days. Although it has become essential for all Android and iOS apps to manage their work on cloud-based computing, they also have to deal with patchy internet and connectivity. 5G will come as a solution to this issue as well and we will see more applications using the SAAS technology, which will increase the speed of the apps.
Conclusion
The speed of Android and iOS mobile applications is something that one looks forward to, hence, it is important for the mobile app developers to embrace this change with open arms. It is also essential for app development agencies to introduce this wireless technology in both the Android and iOS developers. Giving a boost to the speed of the applications, this technology will also give the already existing Android and iOS apps to install newer features.
The network will give a boost to the world of mobile applications and the way Android and iOS applications are developed will also see a paramount change in terms of features, accessibility among others. One needs to be sure about the kind of app development agency they hire as it will make a significant change in the kind of app they develop on a fast working network.
Frequently asked questions about 5G in Android and iOS apps
What is 5G?
It is the latest wireless technology that uses minimum time and bandwidth in transferring data from one device to the other. It requires minimum use of the hardware and can function independently. the connectivity speed of the network is very high, therefore, one can expect to transmit large files as well through this network with little effort. This network connectivity is changing how we look at mobile applications, as there is a lot more than the regular 4G applications that one can expect with this change. It also offers a more convenient approach to mobile app development as the time spent in the development process considerably reduces.
How will 5G improve mobile applications?
The connectivity speed of 5G is considerably very high than its predecessors. From ads to gaming apps and navigational applications, 5G is going to allow the mobile app developers to include more efficient features in the app. The resolution of videos and images has gone up and the download speed has also seen an increase.
Does 5G affect the already existing mobile apps?
This new network is here to bring about certain changes in all the existing applications. However, the app developers have to update these Android and iOS applications according to the latest trends and make them suitable to be used on the 5G network. Users will only witness the high speed and the enhancement of the application as they go about using the same on their devices. | https://medium.com/@xpertystofficial/how-did-5g-impact-mobile-app-development-be3fd2f0a8ec | ['Anuj Atrey'] | 2020-12-24 07:16:31.428000+00:00 | ['Mobile App Developers', 'Reactjs', 'React Native', 'Web Development', 'Mobile App Development'] |
Daniel Karsberg promoted to Partner, Irene Ardenstedt to CFO and Linda Höglund to join as… | Daniel Karsberg promoted to Partner, Irene Ardenstedt to CFO and Linda Höglund to join as non-executive member and partner in the Investment Committee
Daniel Karsberg, Partner, and Irene Ardenstedt, CFO at Luminar Ventures
The first three years of our journey have been fun and eventful. With a small team we have managed to become Sweden’s most active VC-firm, met thousands of inspiring entrepreneurs and backed almost 30 teams.
During these years we also had the chance to develop as a team and I believe our experience has made us strong and well-positioned to make Luminar an even stronger force in the Nordic ecosystem. That said, Magnus and I have the pleasure of promoting a few team members, who have truly contributed to our vision to enable Nordic entrepreneurs to build new, high growth companies ready to enter the global scene.
We are delighted to promote Daniel Karsberg to Partner at Luminar. He joined us in 2017, when the team consisted of a few people huddled together at SUP46 in Stockholm, ironing out the details of Luminar as we approached our first closing. Daniel has the ability to quickly build rapport with founders by rapidly grasping concepts and articulating strategic ideas and challenges that immediately adds value, regardless if we choose to invest or not. He has become an appreciated advisor to our portfolio companies and has led several investments in e.g. Mindler, Turbotic, Albacross and Petbuddy Group.
Next up, we are thrilled to promote Irene Ardenstedt to CFO. She joined Luminar earlier in 2020 as Fund Controller, and has since very rapidly learned the ins and outs of running a venture capital fund. Irene has prior to Luminar worked for several years at Deloitte and has proven in only a few months that she has what it takes to lead Luminar’s fund management backed by the rest of the team.
Congrats to both Daniel and Irene, well deserved!
At the same time Linda Höglund will join our investment committee as a non-executive member where she will keep bringing her valuable experience to us and in particular act as a sounding board prior to our investment decisions. Going forward, Linda will move on to an operational role at Klarna as COO starting in March 2021. Linda is a great friend, colleague and a very strong operator, and although we are saddened by not having her aboard our operational team moving forward, we look forward to continuing our work together in the investment committee.
It’s busy days at Luminar and we are looking to expand the team even further, since we are seeing so many fantastic teams across the Nordic ecosystem. So stay tuned!
Best, Jacob Key General Partner Luminar Ventures | https://medium.com/luminar-venture-stories/daniel-karsberg-promoted-to-partner-irene-ardenstedt-to-cfo-and-linda-h%C3%B6glund-to-join-as-d238b8b9a02f | ['Jacob Key'] | 2020-12-11 13:42:03.295000+00:00 | ['Partners', 'Team', 'VC', 'Promotion'] |
For veterans like Graham, civilian life is not an easy road. Here’s how he found his way home. | For veterans like Graham, civilian life is not an easy road. Here’s how he found his way home. HOPE Atlanta Apr 7·3 min read
Photo credit: Bennett Calvin
A veteran with more than ten years of service never deserves to live in a bus station. Yet, that is where U.S. Army veteran Graham found himself just over a year ago, right before the start of COVID.
After he completed his service in 2012, Graham had looked forward to building a good life for his family. He enrolled in college and held down jobs, including helping other veterans at the VA hospital. But, like many veterans, he faced unique setbacks.
Under the surface, Graham was struggling with PTSD and chronic pain that took a toll and eventually made it impossible to continue working. He and his wife eventually separated. Soon after, he found himself homeless.
Graham faced an uphill battle but was not ready to give up. He was determined to get his life back on track for the sake of his two children: “They never knew my struggles,” he said. “I sheltered them from that. To them, dad was handling stuff.”
He turned to the VA for help after realizing his medication was an opioid and highly addictive. The VA enrolled him in a treatment program. There, he was referred to HOPE Atlanta for help finding a place to live so he could reunite with his children and avoid life on the streets.
“Alison was my caseworker. She said, ‘Look, just tell me what you need, and we will make it happen,’” he said. Alison Poole, HOPE Atlanta’s Director of Veteran Services, secured a hotel room for Graham, and he began to search for more permanent housing.
Then came another curveball: COVID-19. “I had apartment complexes say, ‘No, we aren’t taking any more applications right now.’ Once they realized they couldn’t evict anyone, they stopped taking anyone. So, I lived in a hotel for about a year,” he said.
Meanwhile, Graham and Alison worked on securing disability assistance while looking for a permanent place for him to live. While HOPE Atlanta clients are expected to do some of the “leg work” — like house hunting, filling out applications, and keeping up with medications and appointments — caseworkers help them navigate complexities within housing and government systems, advocating on their behalf and securing resources like MARTA passes and food.
“I had to get on the MARTA and had to go around all of Dekalb county looking for a place,” he said.
All of the persistence eventually paid off. He got into a house and back on his feet, with a bit of help from HOPE Atlanta to cover the bills while he worked to rebuild his life. The biggest reward of all? He is reconnected with his children and focused on helping them succeed academically. “I’m old school about it all,” he said. “Grades come first.”
He added: “As soon as I found this place, I just figured the way I looked at it was a new beginning, time to start over.”
HOPE Atlanta offers special services for veterans and their families, who face unique challenges and are more at risk of experiencing homelessness and hunger. For more information about this program, visit our website.
Want to support Georgia veterans like Graham who have fallen on tough times? Consider volunteering to pack meals, create supply kits, shopping our Amazon wish list or making a donation. | https://medium.com/@hopeatlanta/for-veterans-like-graham-civilian-life-is-not-an-easy-road-heres-how-he-found-his-way-home-30f0a8ced357 | ['Hope Atlanta'] | 2021-04-13 17:28:35.897000+00:00 | ['Give Hope', 'Veterans', 'Housing'] |
Jenkins Tutorial — Part 5 — When Conditions | In this article of the Jenkins tutorial series, I intend to explain When Conditions in Jenkins pipelines. Imagine you want to execute pipeline stages when a condition or some conditions are met. How can you do that? The answer is When Conditions. So, let’s get started.
If you are interested in this tutorial series, STARize the following GitHub repo. This repo is a special repo that I created for this tutorial.
Jenkins “when” Directive:
Execution of the pipeline stages can be controlled with conditions. These conditions must be defined in the when block within each stage. Jenkins supports a set of significant conditions that can be defined to limit stage execution. Each when block must contain at least one condition. If more than one condition is declared in the when block, all conditions should return true for that stage being executed. Moreover, more complex conditions that will explain below can be defined using the nested ones.
Stage Test in the above example is run only and only one time at the first run of the pipeline job. This stage is not run from build two onwards.
Built-in Conditions:
Conditions that Jenkins supports natively are called Built-in conditions. In addition to these conditions, some plugins may add more conditions. For such conditions see Jenkins plugins documents.
branch checks the source code branch name with the given pattern. If the branch name is matched to the pattern, the stage is executed. You should note that this condition only works on Multibranch pipelines.
The Test stage in the below example executes when the branch name is started with “release-” All ANT-style patterns are accepted.
buildingTag runs the following stage if the current git commit has a tag. This condition has been affected by an unfixed bug, if you see it didn’t work, you should set TAG_NAME environment variable manually.
changelog gets a regular expression and matches it with the message of the last git commit. If the log message is matched to the given pattern, the following stage gets executed. You should note that this condition works only in Multibranch pipelines and those Pipelines that the script is from the SCM repo. In the below example, the stage is run when the git commit message contains “Test” string.
changeset watches files/directories changes with the given pattern. It sees the last git commit, and if any files/directories had changed which matches the given pattern, the stage is executed.
environment checks the environment variable value.
equals runs the stage if the actual value equals the expected one. For example, the following condition runs the stage if the current build number is one. So to speak, it runs only once.
expression gets a Groovy language expression and runs the following stage if that expression evaluates true. In the case of Strings, all values include “0” and “false” are returned true. If you intend to use strings as a part of the expression, you must set the value to null to evaluate it as false.
tag runs the stage if the TAG_NAME variable is matched the given pattern. If the pattern is empty, it runs the stage if the TAG_NAME variable exists.
triggeredBy executes the stage when the current build has been triggered by the given param. This condition is useful for notification purposes.
Jenkins Complex Conditions:
Complex conditions are usually is a set of conditions explained above. Jenkins supports three complex/nested conditions. not , allOf and anyOf are complex conditions that are used in conjunction with conditions.
not executes the stage if the nested condition is false.
allOf executes the stage if all nested conditions are true.
anyOf executes the stage if at least one nested condition is true.
When is the “when” directive evaluated?
By default, the when directive is evaluated after agent , input and options directives. You can change those ones with beforeAgent , beforeInput and beforeOptions within the when block.
when {
beforeAgent true
beforeInput true
beforeOptions true
// Write your conditions here...
}
The Jenkins CI is a great and rich tool to implement CI/CD pipelines. Sometimes, you may find it very complex, but it doesn’t. You should own day-to-day practices to make your knowledge solid. If you have any questions, comment below or open an issue on the tutorial’s GitHub repo. | https://itnext.io/jenkins-tutorial-part-5-when-conditions-76e61fc8ac0e | ['Saeid Bostandoust'] | 2021-09-05 16:25:35.493000+00:00 | ['Jenkins', 'Cicd', 'Ci Cd Pipeline', 'DevOps', 'Jenkins Pipeline'] |
An interview with a Google Street View driver | An interview with a Google Street View driver
“As long as the data gets collected, that’s all that matters.”
In 2007, Google Street View began mirroring our landscapes starting with several cities in the United States. It has since photographed most of Europe, North America, Latin America, and Australia and continues to add new territories to the map.
Checking out Google’s promotional material about this project, you might think the Street View cars were self-driving already, but there is always a worker steering every wheel and witnessing the image capture. Recently, I had the chance to interview a Street View driver over email, on the condition of his anonymity.
How did you get into working as a Street View Driver?
It was through a temp job agency. I was looking for a job after I moved to NYC and went through Craigslist. Found the offer for a driving position, nothing related to the actual job or Google or anything. Once I was approved by the agency, I was contacted by the Streetview team explaining what the job actually entailed. This way they didn’t have a ton of people applying knowing what the job was.
You mentioned you went to the New York International Auto Show with the Street View team. Do you hang out with the other drivers a lot? What’s the community like?
Yes and no. Most of the drivers treated it as an actual temp job and stayed for only a few months. My contract was renewed as I worked hard and knew the streets. I recently moved to NYC but I grew up there, so technically moved back I should say.
The auto show was more just for me to have fun, I love cars. Getting back to the drivers question, I found that most of them were there just to do a job or earn money and didn’t really associate themselves with others. Plus don’t forget, we are usually on our own most of the day driving, so we don’t really see each other too much. On occasion there will be meetings or events when we all meet up. But I haven’t really made any lasting friendships through the job.
How long have you been working for Google? Have there been significant changes in equipment since you started?
Lost track of the time, two years now about? And slight improvements, nothing major. Software updates are a regular thing, and sometime there might be a new medium of travel/photography. For example, when I first started, they were moving on to Streetview teams inside businesses, as well as non-road areas like hiking trails and underwater.
What do you think of Google’s fleet of driverless cars?
Don’t really have an opinion on them. I won’t see them being utilized in my lifetime or probably my kid’s lifetime (if I ever have kids). It’ll be a long time before they are fully legal and have laws set about them/insurance. I wouldn’t want one, I like driving.
How often are you followed by pedestrians?
The car is a moving billboard. Everyone wants to have themselves on an Internet-wide camera. They’re attention-whores. People flip the bird, they’ll moon the camera, sometimes if they know we are in town they’ll make a sign or something. They want to show friends they’ve become a lesser-known internet celebrity than a 10-year-old with a YouTube account primarily watched by their peers and family. It’s insignificant, but to them it’s the world. And it makes my job harder.
I was reading some of your Reddit comments and at one point you mentioned you shot the after pictures in a side-by-side comparison of Hurricane Sandy damage. How do you feel about your role archiving and representing cities this way?
It is fun capturing the city in what I believe will be represented for a long time. It’s a really interesting venture and with all of the emerging technology, it’ll be interesting to see how it progresses and will be utilized. It is really just a novelty, but can be helpful to see what the front of a house or business looks like before you get there.
Does it get boring? How much freedom do you have to take breaks or rest stops?
Anything you do every day eventually gets boring. Traffic sucks of course. And breaks and rest stops are whenever. As long as the data gets collected, that’s all that matters.
What kind of music are you listening to while you work?
Music every so often, it’s actually more audio-books and podcasts. If I’m stuck in one place and can only listen to things, it might as well be informative and interesting. I listen to a ton of NPR podcasts they record, Car Talk is great for example. Stuff You Should Know is really cool as well, love those guys. Rooster Teeth’s Podcast is great as I love video games.
As for music, it’s super random. I love creole jazz, modern rock, 80–90s rock, mushy acoustic songs. It’s basically whatever mood I’m in.
What are the company’s policies around recording activity in violent, illegal, or crisis situations? Are you allowed to intervene?
No different than if it was you driving a regular car. I don’t get involved in anything. I’m not a cop. If I record something that isn’t to the requirements, I go back and record it again. I’ve had some harassing people trying REALLY hard to get into shots and even followed me. I’ve called the cops on them after several warnings.
Could you tell me about the camera in use? It’s video, right? Do you see the footage that is captured? Is it higher-res than what we view on the web?
Erm, hard to explain in that sense. It does take single photos, but it’s doing so at a rapid and continuous pace. So it could technically be considered both. To better explain this, here’s this link: http://www.google.com/maps/about/behind-the-scenes/streetview/ I do see what is being captured but don’t usually look at the screen while driving. I usually review it every hour or so. And it is usually higher-res, but it looks different that what the final product looks like. Once it is stitched together, (again the technicality may be different), the actual resolution is higher but the quality is reduced so it doesn’t eat up bandwidth and can load faster.
Are there any images you could share from the car or of the car?
I don’t have any myself. They usually don’t allow you to keep your phone on you and provide their own, so you’re not distracted. I use my iPod for podcasts and music usually, so I don’t have a camera on me most of the time.
Any other unusual obstacles about the job?
Ever heard of what London cab drivers have to go through? They need to learn the streets and plan accordingly without any maps or GPS. I have the luxury of technology, but it’s still very easy to mess up and find yourself at the butt-end of a one-way and you have to go all the way around to get onto that street. It helps knowing the area even with a GPS. Plus in NYC and other big cities, skyscrapers can hurt the GPS reception and also affect its latency.
It’s just like driving a delivery van or pizza car, with the added difficulty of making sure the ball of cameras on top is getting what it needs. Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful with this. Although it’s not an easy job, more than people think, when it comes down to it, it isn’t too rough. When talking about the underwater view or Business View, well that changes everything. Unfortunately I’m not a part of those projects. | https://medium.com/message/an-interview-with-a-google-street-view-driver-240d067a7545 | ['Joanne Mcneil'] | 2015-05-28 17:58:17.657000+00:00 | ['Cars', 'Google', 'Maps'] |
Pressing my MASTER’s feet! | And his soles.
As he sleeps there, cock resting on his BALLS after its exertions, that shiny HOSE still glistening, and as she sleeps in his arms, and HE (back to Master!) sleeps happy and SATED!
After laughing that “silly laugh” which men get after their MIND BLOWING orgasms from hell — — or, us sissies KEEP getting as we get sissygasm after sissygasm!
Which is better?
Well, cucks and sissies prefer sissgasms, hence the books!
But real men and WOMEN prefer their men to have real man orgasms, boy, much like Madam Candice does — and did — and hence the discussion with her once (or more than once) about “how to make Madam’s man cum”.
The part I’ve revealed, of course, is the part about her squirting and that turning him on, but I have NOT revealed my part in it as yet.
Stay tuned!
But anyway, since I write about pressing Madam’s feet, so much ,here’s an ode to HIS masculine feet which deserved to be pressed and worshipped too, boy!
Down, sissy boy! 😂Look at you down there, pressing my lovers SOLES! Down, BOY! 😂😂😂😂😂
“Madam, thank you so much for laughing at me!!!”
(especially the Goddess int he middle, but they’re all QUEENS!)
In July 2014 I believe (those were the days!! ?) during one of my “lust fueled” writing binges, I pounded out the “Garima Madam” series.
And while the prequel was actually written after the first book (as so often happens, hehe) the first book was very well received, and that in part probably prompted the prequel (well that, and the LOOK in Garima Madam’s eye).
She’s right there, right up there towards the very pinnacle of an extremely long and worthy list of NATURALLY dominant women that I’ve been fortunate enough to worship!
And the beginning of that book starts with a peek into her bedroom at night.
Her lover’s long soles, in contrast to her well manicured soles staring at me as he slept, his floppy dick resting on his balls , those lovely hairy balls! ? after all it’s exertions.
And my wife (Garima!) was in his ARMS!!
And sleeping, and as I saw that powerful chest rise and fall, and as I looked at his balls, already starting to fill or so I thought, and as the soles TALKED to me (Madam Susan was to come later on, not at that point ?), I bent with renewed vigor to my task.
That Garima Madam had assigned me of course.
To press her lover’s feet, and as he snored, after a lot of sex and more than a few DRINKS, I pressed his feet like the true bitch I am.
And wayyy back in the day, I Wrote about my friend;s beautiful white cock with that LUSCIOUS PINK head, didn’t I?
Yes, I did!
That motel room experience …
(BTW, I’m a huge SOLE LOVER — not so much a “foot” lover. That make sense to ya’ll? Probably so, as the SOLE is the dirtiest part, not necessarily the FOOT Itself! ?).
And my friend and me were drinking one night. I don’t know and can’t recall if it was before or after the motel room experience.
We drank quite a lot!
And the next morning, we woke up too early as often happens.
My friend went to the nearby K Mart to “get breakfast” as he put it … and of course a few more beers (it was past 6 AM!!).
And when he returned, we ate and drank some more before we staggered off to bed again.
Me on the floor in a very comfortable sleeping bag indeed, and him on his bed…
And I saw him throwing off his clothes.
And his white underwear, and the BULGE in it as he collapsed into bed!
My SOLE (yes! ;)) thoughts, and I remember this even now, were to take it off for him, revealing the pure treasure beneath.
I often went swimming with him, and the same thoughts came to mind when I looked at him in swim trunks.
He wasn’t particularly big, but his cock was just so NICE! The perfect size and shape actually, and it snaked around in his underwear SO well indeed …
And while I got to slobber all over it and then some later (or was it earlier ?) … a night before that, pretty much the same thing happened.
He was drunker than I.
I was drunk, but not that drunk, and as he collapsed into bed, “auto pilot” took over.
I knelt by his soles.
I started to press them, hoping he wouldn’t wake up, and he didn’t!
And as I pressed, the louder he snored, and it didn’t take long at all.
While this was BEFORE my cuck and nipple play days, and the only orgams I got them were real ones, it didn’t take long at all.
My dick hardened, and how, and involuntarily, despite all the beer I had drank before, I made a mess.
My dick literally spat out gobs of cum as I pressed my friends feet, who was still sleeping!
And I quietly cleaned up, and left …
But perhaps that’s where all the pressing Master’s feet posts come from.
I love soles. I love to be dominated, cucked, and sissified!
And so do you if you’re here, hehe.
There is MORE where this comes from. Stay tuned for a post on how this same friend of mine once was so drunk that he pulled out his lovely cock and pissed right in front of and all over …
… but that will have to wait! ?
For now, ifyou love cock, and related stories, be sure to pick up “Cuckold Compilations with a “M onM” twist”. There is a very good reason I put the “M on M” part there!
Best ,
Mike Watson
PS — Be sure to pick up Cuck Central right HERE: https://spicyanderoticfetish.com/manuals/cuck-central/ and the book on Princess Joanie (immensely popular!) right HERE: https://spicyanderoticfetish.com/books/chinese-femdom/princess-joanie/ | https://medium.com/@spicyanderoticfetish/pressing-my-masters-feet-34532817a1a3 | ['Mike Watson'] | 2020-12-18 09:34:57.862000+00:00 | ['Femdom', 'Gay', 'Foot Worship', 'Footboy', 'Cuckold Erotica'] |
How Did I Save Myself From a Potential Remote-Job SCAM | “Hi, Jai We need full time writers who can work with us long term You should be able to write articles and web blogs. You should prepare fresh aws/azure environment to work with us https://aws/azure.amazon.com You should know about wordpress blogging and how to add articles.”
I got this personalized note from a profile on LinkedIn on September 5th i.e., two weeks ago. And this incident taught me a big lesson this Teachers’ day.
Since I am a content writer, constantly looking for opportunities from all over the world, I got excited to get such a note from a person who claimed to belong to the US in his LinkedIn profile. But my happiness didn’t last long when suspect and doubts hovered my mind (And I couldn’t be more thankful for that.)
Now, let me tell you the whole story.
So, I got this note from a LinkedIn profile around 1:06 PM IST. I am telling you the exact timing because it also helped me generating doubts about them. (More on this later)
This person’s profile’s key identity included-
Name- Anintish Yakov. And now I found out that his profile is not available on LinkedIn.
Profile of Antinish Yakov on LinkedIn
2. Profession- Recruiter at a big and reputed company for 7 years. (I am not mentioning the name of the company for obvious reasons)
3. Profile activity- Nothing. No likes, no comments on others' posts, no updated posts. Absolutely blank history.
Anyway, I replied with a thank you and showed interest. He then asked me for my Outlook mail ID and patiently waited for me to join a group on Microsoft Teams he sent the link to via email. I joined the group.
There were 3 people in the group but they didn’t include the person who contacted me on LinkedIn. One person (Ulises Monroe) called himself the CEO, the second one denoted himself as the CTO (Thatcher Fallon) of the company, and the other one (Ian Brown) was being called the Product Manager.
The “CEO” asked me a few generic questions in the name of the interview in the chat itself and asked me to create a Microsoft Azure account.
When I asked if they are considering me to hire, they said yes. To be honest, I was on cloud nine.
But they seemed to be in some kind of hurry. I asked them about their company website and job description before joining any group. They did send me a genuine website link of a genuine company called executiveessentials.org.
Till now, everything seemed mostly normal.
The loopholes in that conversation that raised doubts in my mind-
The company website (THE BIGGEST LOOPHOLE)- The company website was absolutely real. I even checked on its LinkedIn page. But because of my concerns, I went to their “Meet Our Team” page. And saw “Michelle Tillis Lederman” being mentioned as the CEO and NOT any Ulises Monroe. English errors- After those prepared interview questions, when I started cross-questioning about their company and everything, I found so many errors in their grammar and that seemed quite unprofessional. Impatience- They looked desperate for me to join that group in Azure they were talking about. They kept telling me to join that group even before telling me the job description, salary, and information about their company. An offer that seemed “Too good to be true”- When I enquired about the payment and working hours, they asked me my hourly rate. I told $15 per hour. Now, $15*40h*4weeks becomes $2400. They said they will pay me $2500 for the first month and after that, the salary will be reconsidered. Now think, instead of negotiating they offered me an extra $100. The “interview”- I couldn’t believe that an interview could be this easy. No questions on skills, no face-to-face video chat, no cross-questioning on my replies, no question about my working experience and the industries. The time difference between the US and India- I checked the time difference on Google and found out that the conversation went on at an odd timing and not during office hours in the US. Why me?! Usually, companies say that they will get back to the candidate after interviewing other candidates. But they confirmed my job just after those 5 questions. That seemed odd.
WHAT DID I DO NEXT
Long live Google- I Googled about the remote-job scams and how to identify them. And found out the exact signs I acknowledged during this incident.
2. Confrontation- I asked them regarding the CEO confusion. They didn’t reply for hours.
3. Enquiring the source- I then texted Yakov who had approached me on LinkedIn and showed my concerns towards the issue. He too didn’t reply. And mind you, before I joined that group on Microsoft teams, he was so quick to reply every time I texted.
4. I insisted to hop on a video chat. But they kept ignoring that and eventually denied saying that they are too busy to have a video call right now.
After I informed Yakov, I got a reply in that group (still no reply from Yakov directly)
The group scene- The proclaimed CEO in that group said that he is the CEO of one department of that company, while Michelle Tillis being the main CEO.
AND HERE I CONFIRMED MY DOUBT
I was not feeling good about all this. Thus I sent a message directly from the company website asking-
“Does your company have two CEOs?” I also explained everything in brief and asked to reply soon.
Thankfully, Michelle Tillis replied herself and even appreciated my move.
The real CEO of Executive Essentials replied to my inquiry
Another insight from Michelle Tillis
I sighed out of the big relief. And learned one of the most memorable lessons in my life.
But it didn’t end here
After a couple of days, one more person from LinkedIn approached me with the exact personalized note again.
This time instead of accepting the request I started cross-questioning right away. You can judge their intention or stupidity with his reply.
After this, he didn’t reply to me ever. Yes, I am going to report this profile now.
If you ever come across such an incident, kindly stay alert and do every possible research before accepting the offer or giving out any detail. | https://medium.com/@kumarijaishree27/how-i-saved-myself-from-a-potential-remote-job-scam-96aaeab20ae0 | ['Jai Shree'] | 2021-09-16 11:59:04.334000+00:00 | ['Remote Working', 'Jobs', 'Scam', 'Fraud Prevention', 'Fraud'] |
I Just Found 61 Bugs in Three Hours. | Product Craftsmanship
Everything I know, I try, and I Fail About Making A Product… | https://medium.com/product-craftsmanship/i-just-found-61-bugs-in-three-hours-d41de8efb350 | [] | 2016-03-09 12:06:01.004000+00:00 | ['Product Development', 'Software Development', 'Testing'] |
When I was coming into the workforce, early 90s, every employer just assumed all black women were angry, that was the pervasive stereotype, and it justified locking us in lower-level positions… | …e navigating predominately White and male IT workplaces, I was acutely aware of my race and gender. As I looked for ways to advance my IT career, I was mindful to use my “White voice” when I talked with my colleagues, to always smile, and to remain vigilant of my arm and body movements so that my colleagues never perceived me as angry (the angry Black woman stereotype). I also made sure that my hair aligned with the company’s perceptions of professionalism. I hoped th… | https://medium.com/@chiralois/when-i-was-coming-into-the-workforce-early-90s-every-employer-just-assumed-all-black-women-were-9203be7009c7 | ['Chira Lois'] | 2020-12-11 08:07:40.562000+00:00 | ['Gender', 'Employement', 'Sexism', 'Racism', 'Workplace'] |
Money Management | 8 Golden Rules on Money to Live By | Money is not everything in this world, yet it is a great means to help one achieve certain goals in life. True enough, it may be used to attain evil deeds, but just because money can be used negatively does not make money, in itself, evil. It is the person using the money for wicked purposes or the intention of exploiting the benefits that one may get from it that makes something evil, not the money per see.
Since money is an important element to survive or thrive in this world, it is, therefore, necessary that a person knows certain approaches in handling money. Here are the 8 golden rules on money to live by.
1. Pay yourself first.
Paying yourself first means you prioritize savings or investments without sacrificing your spending on necessary expenses. By paying yourself first, you’re basically allotting cash for yourself, whether that’s into a savings or a retirement account.
2. Live below your means.
Living below your means is a personal financial approach of not spending beyond what you’re earning. While evaluating your spending habits, take the time to separate out your essential needs versus your secondary wants.
3. Avoid debt.
Avoiding debt means keeping away from monetary obligations. The best way to avoid endless pressure from creditors in repaying overdue bills is to not let the bills become overdue in the first place, or better yet, to avoid getting into debt at all (to the extent possible).
4. Build an emergency fund.
An emergency fund is an amount of money set aside for unforeseen expenses. The rule of thumb is to save 3 to 6 months of expenses as an emergency fund.
5. Invest in your health.
Investing in your health means making health a financial priority. Health is one of the most critical components of a person’s well-being, and so it makes sense for people to invest in their health to allow them to live their lives to the fullest for a longer period of time.
6. Save for the future.
Saving for the future is setting aside the money that you earn today so that you can use it in the future. Saving money is crucial to building wealth as well as eventually living a long and financially stable retirement.
7. Make more money.
Making more money simply means having more than one source of income, whether active income, passive income, or a combination of both. This can help you attain your financial goals, live a better life, and help pay off debts on time.
8. Let your money work for you.
Letting your money work for you is having passive streams of income. It pertains to the concept of investing your money in productive assets, and it often takes minimal effort on your part (the investor) once the money is actually invested. Undeniably, money is a component of people’s lives. Thus, being smart in managing one’s finances is vital in keeping track of one’s financial goals and also in having peace of mind. | https://medium.com/@thedreamermark1/money-management-8-golden-rules-on-money-to-live-by-7d040c02945c | ['The Dreamer'] | 2020-12-13 10:52:41.791000+00:00 | ['Money Management', 'Money Rules', 'Budget Rule', 'The Rules Of Money', 'Money Management Tips'] |
Winter Sports: What to Expect | With an increasing number of cases due to the possible second wave of COVID-19, ice skating rinks and ski and snowboard slopes already have plans in place to ensure both the safety of their patrons and staff and that fun can still be had this winter.
“There is going to be social distancing,” said Randi Gass, Program Specialist at Victor Constant Ski Area in West Point. “We’re trying to eliminate touch points.”
Face coverings will be required upon arrival to Victor Constant at all times, especially when inside all buildings and locker rooms.
Kids taking snowboarding lessons at Victor Constant Ski Area last winter. — Photo courtesy of Christine Retcho.
A notable change that goes into effect this winter will be their rental system. Victor Constant is recommending that patrons arrive in their full gear, but if they choose to rent, they recommend purchasing a seasonal rental so that the equipment will be ready for them upon arrival.
At Kiwanis Ice Arena in Saugerties, equipment rental, mainly skates, is prohibited for the time being. According to their COVID-19 operating procedures listed on their website, “ALL players MUST enter the Kiwanis Ice Arena completely dressed (minus: helmets, skates and gloves).”
Kiwanis is also encouraging patrons to wear face coverings at all times while inside and are only requiring them when six-foot social distancing cannot be maintained. The facility will limit capacity to 50 percent of its maximum capacity.
Kiwanis Ice Arena in Saugerties, N.Y. — Photo courtesy of Kiwanis Ice Arena.
In regards to sanitization, Kiwanis said that “frequently touched surfaces will be sanitized using an approved cleaning product registered in New York State and identified by the EPA as effective against COVID-19.” This will be done before each day starts and before each scheduled group arrives.
Bear Mountain Ice Rink is also limiting capacity to 50 percent, and they are an outdoor venue. Located in Tompkins Cove in Rockland County, they are requiring that face coverings are worn at all times, even while social distancing.
According to their website, they are also prohibiting indoor seating and locker use. “Please bring a bag for your belongings,” they said.
Nicole Ranaldi takes a spill on the ice at Bear Mountain Ice Rink in 2019. — Photo courtesy of Nicole Ranaldi.
Even larger mountains have plans to ensure their patrons have a fun, yet safe, winter season. Hunter Mountain in Hunter put a reservation system in place for the season.
“To allow for physical distancing, we are managing access to our mountains through a reservation system that prioritizes pass holders and by limiting lift ticket sales,” their official website said. “We’ve designed an approach that can remain in place all winter so that you know what to expect and you’re not caught off guard.”
Hunter Mountain is also requiring face coverings along with pre-arrival health screenings, implementing cashless transactions, and limiting class sizes in regards to lessons. They are providing hand sanitizing stations throughout the resort.
They have a similar protocol to Victor Constant when it comes to chair lifts. People can ride the lifts solo or with the people they arrive with, only. On larger lifts, they will separate two singles on opposite ends.
Even the winter hunting season could be affected. The season can range from late-September through late-January. With cases continuing to increase, a second shutdown is looming.
“If a second shutdown happens, it will affect hunting,” said Montgomery native Michaela Gironda. “Hunting has become a huge part of people’s lives in regards to being a source of food. If a second shutdown happens, it will cause more people to hunt and there will be a lesser supply of animals.”
Jaden Breyette of Washingtonville out on a hunt. Photo courtesy of Michaela Gironda.
Gironda also went on to say that the pandemic affected how she hunts. She went on to say that she can no longer hunt with larger groups of people like she used to and that the regulations on hunting may have changed.
“I’m not sure on that, though,” said Gironda. | https://medium.com/thegroundhog/winter-sports-expectations-during-a-pandemic-19653f9aa44e | ['Ryan Loeffler'] | 2020-11-30 17:19:12.072000+00:00 | ['Sports', 'Outdoors', 'Covid 19', 'Featured', 'Recreation'] |
3 Mistakes Men Make When Picking a Holiday Gift for a Woman | 3 Mistakes Men Make When Picking a Holiday Gift for a Woman
And how to nail it this time
Photo by cottonbro from Pexels
It’s the time of the year when many men get overwhelmed by gift shopping for the special women in their lives. Retail salespersons have pre-selected options for the undecided, who will certainly walk in and be grateful to receive any help. I worked in retail — we want them in and out quickly, so we sell them what seems like a no-brainer, useful gift that gives them peace of mind.
In reality, those presents are lame. We would not want our boyfriends to buy them for us (except when I worked at Tiffany - I would have taken any of the gifts I sold there). If you are a man who has a panic attack every year when the Holidays are around the corner, and you can’t decide what to give her:
Learn what you have been doing wrong and avoid making the same mistakes. Use the tips I will provide. Keep this list for future years.
Mistake #1: Looking for something useful
The “useful gift” is a lazy concept. It is, I inform you, how the dreadful boxed soap was invented. In case you haven’t noticed, those items pack discount stores, for one reason: no one wants them. The people who buy them just want to avoid showing up empty-handed.
Let me be blunt: no man should buy us soap. Are you implying we don’t shower enough? Or do you think pink roses printed on paper are like real flowers, but longer-lasting? Whatever your answer is, we don’t want that box, period.
The only excusable “useful” gift you can give is a $500 cash card. Less, and you will be insulting. More, and we will feel like we owe you something. If you can afford that, we will take it. It is enough for us to get something we decide for ourselves that we need.
Mistake #2: Buying us cosmetic products
Unfortunately, men don’t stop at the boxed soap. You buy us beauty bags, lotion sets, and lip gloss, assuming we will be thrilled. Nope. Let me repeat the first tip’s message: you don’t decide what we rub on our pretty faces. You may think you know what you are picking, but you have no idea. I will probably be the first woman to let the secret out: every year, along with the soap, we discard several unused bottles of that department store’s “set of toner and lotion” you gave us. The worst offenders are men who once gifted us a set, and every year, they give us the same exact one because we pretended to love it the first time. We were just being polite.
Mistake #3: Personalized items
Just because it has my name (or picture) doesn’t mean I want to keep it. This is another boundary men cross, frequently the ones closest to us. Personalized gifts only work for pets, kids, and school teachers. My first grader’s teacher likes the practicality of an insulated bottle with her name — she stays hydrated all day. And if she misplaces it, someone returns it to her.
What to get her instead.
Suggestion #1: Something she wants
“Want” is better than “need,” at least on Christmas. If you are going to guess, go for something she might have on a wish list. Think of what she answered when you asked the first non-essential item she would get if she won the lottery. After “a trip and a car,” she probably said something like, “an accessory from [a specific luxury brand],” or “a spa treatment.” You must pay attention to her style and preferences, of course. But the good thing about a luxury item is that it can be easily exchanged if you picked the wrong pattern or color. And a spa treatment can also be customized to accommodate her preferences (a hot stone massage is easy to replace with a deep tissue one).
Suggestion #2: Books
If the first option is out of your budget, this is certainly not. You can never go wrong with books. Find the new best-selling title that she mentioned — stay away from self-help and fake gurus. I am talking about Michelle Obama’s “Becoming” (when it first came out). It was sold out, therefore hard to find, and everybody wanted to read it. Also memorable are first editions of her favorite books or those autographed by one of her favorite writers. A couple of similar suggestions: A movie you watched together might have a title it was based on. If she is a fan of “Hamilton,” there are books and books about it. If you know her well, picking a new addition to her library every year will never get old.
Suggestion #3: Gifts with a truly personal touch
A genuine surprise may be an upgrade of something she already owns and loves. That coffee brewer she uses twice a day for five years now? Buy her the new model. Is she an iPhone user? Give her Air Pods or the latest Apple Watch. Are her favorite pair of leather gloves getting worn out? Find one that looks almost exactly the same, but of even better quality, and gift it with a personal card or picture.
Equally lovely are original choices like a small piece of art you painted inspired by her personality. Or a pair of crystal flutes engraved with one of her favorite quotes — it is personalization, but not something you can order in ten minutes out of a phone app.
In conclusion…
Finding the perfect gift doesn’t have to be your goal — just “really nice” is more achievable, and it works. As long as you are open to spending your dollars on something meaningful and put a little time into your research, you will know what to get her.
I hope this helps, men. Happy Holidays! | https://medium.com/the-innovation/3-mistakes-men-make-when-picking-a-holiday-gift-for-a-woman-89eae121b69c | ['Luciana Lambert'] | 2020-12-13 15:02:32.433000+00:00 | ['Lifestyle', 'Culture', 'Humor', 'Holidays', 'Christmas'] |
Crypto’s Last Week | This edition of “Crypto’s Last Week” accounts for some of the most notable, and crypto-related — institutional, investment, or regulatory — news published between Saturday, December 05, 2020, and Friday, December 11, 2020
The first half of December 2020 has brought an inspiring surge in crypto prices, pushing market leaders to near all-time highs, while in the background the attention has been brewing from institutional investors and corporate giants on how to enter the market, acquire digital assets and, not negatively impact what is still considered a volatile market.
Besides, what has now become usual news reports, bringing to light how certain banks are planning or have begun to implement blockchain within their operations to improve efficiency, reduce costs or simply offer investment vehicles to retail and professional customers based on blockchain or digital assets. We have found recent reports that have brought the end of a baseless mentality which is “blockchain not
Bitcoin” which failed to grasp the benefits of this digital asset and how the world will most probably have a major shift in paradigms thanks to these comparative advantages.
The most recent reports have brought renowned names in the financial, insurance, and tech space to either enter or double down on their positive Bitcoin sentiment. To begin, MicroStrategy has announced the completion of a $650 million senior convertible note offering bringing the final amount raised to $250 million over the initial announcement of the offering. Which has made it some kind of torchbearer in the bitcoin advocacy realms for publicly traded companies that have diversified their reserves — $475 million and counting — as a way to hedge inflation, but are not directly related to the cryptocurrency space through their scope of work. In this case, a business intelligence service provider.
In addition, the British multinational banking and financial services company Standard Chartered with over $720 billion in assets under management, has been making noise due to its unofficial digital assets trading platform that will allegedly be a combination of leading digital asset trading companies and exchanges reaching 10 organizations including the British banking giant. The platform will apparently be powered by Ethereum native ERC-20 tokens as a way to attract crypto native institutions.
This information has come to light days after Standard Chartered CEO Bill Withers, referred to digital currencies at the Singapore FinTech Festival as an absolute inevitability when it comes to mass adoption in addition to his recent remarks referring to central bank digital currencies and how there is “absolutely a role for central bank digital currencies as well as non-central bank-sponsored digital currencies.”
On a similar announcement, Singapore’s largest bank, DBS Bank has announced the launch of a regulatory compliant crypto trading platform for late December, called DBS Digital Exchange, with exclusive services for institutional and accredited investors with four fiat currencies paired to four cryptocurrencies.
Finally, US 169-year-old insurance giant MassMutual with over 5 million clients and insurance accounts around $235 billion, has acquired through NYDIG — a cryptocurrency custody and exchange service provider — $100 million worth of Bitcoin and a $5 million stake in NYDIG, exposing this insurance behemoth to direct and indirect profits from the digital assets space and making it a first-mover within its industry to take a similar step.
All aforementioned announcements have come at a time when the digital assets space has seen a large influx of capital enter from institutional investors, with a recent report estimating $429 million entering the market during the first 7 days of December, boosting the total amount of institutional crypto assets under management to $15 billion, an all-time high for the industry.
This clearly distinguishes the intent from past years and months when legacy organizations declared a curious interest, with no clear plans to actively invest in the digital assets sector, versus a decisive set of plays made by important actors in heterogeneous sectors of the global economy. We believe this change in stance will fill the remaining gaps for millions of retail investors and thousands of institutional investors to allocate portions of their portfolios to digital assets, in turn, lifting the average market capitalization for leading assets to never seen before highs.
Thank you for joining us and reading “Crypto’s Last Week.”
Don’t forget to follow us for a daily review of cryptocurrency and blockchain news on Twitter and LinkedIn. | https://medium.com/@dfgroupofficial/cryptos-last-week-6ad86820fef2 | ['Dfg Official'] | 2020-12-14 15:51:05.070000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Regulation', 'Investment', 'Institutional', 'Newsletter'] |
Dance baby, dance (Day 43) | Photo by Nainoa Shizuru on Unsplash
Today our baby and I traveled to Ljubljana for another craniosacral therapy and I was just to write an account about how our day went, how we met with my husband at his workplace and went to lunch, how we went for a coffee with my best friend but then the most amazing thing happened.
My heart grew this evening a little bigger.
As I’ve written before, Otto has been really clingy and crying a lot because he is going through a sensory developmental leap. And each night, when my husband comes from work late (he has a managerial position, so he stays extra late at the office to see all is done), he takes our baby and gives him a bath and consoles him.
He has special ways of communicating with Otto and he is so good with our son. They have already created a special bond and I’m so proud of my husband for going all-in into fatherhood as he did.
Tonight, we planned on watching a film, but our little boy was inconsolable in any other way but at my breast since four-thirty p.m. So my husband took him as he does and they ended up dancing to rock in the nursery. It has now been over an hour and Otto is snug as a bug on his changing table, listening to music, watching my husband dance to it and moving his little arms to mimic his father. And he smiles and sighs of contentment.
I went in and observed the dance they did to ‘Where the streets have no name’ by U2 and they both were so adorable that I cried. And I could just feel the love I have for my favorite two humans on this planet. It warmed up the evening immediately and I still can’t stop smiling from sheer happiness.
Motherhood in numbers: | https://medium.com/a-year-in-a-life/when-were-together-day-43-987abd3cd18e | ['Sara Tomsic'] | 2019-11-06 18:49:32.488000+00:00 | ['Newborn', 'Baby', 'Motherhood', 'Family', 'Parenting'] |
SkyDB Debut Hackathon Winners | Two months ago today we released a landmark feature for Skynet called SkyDB. The goal of this hackathon was to explore SkyDB and the results have been astonishing. Every day, Skynet feels more and more like the Internet that I fell in love with growing up, full of freedom and exploration, and people thrusting their own personalities into the applications that they build and use. With every month that passes, the feeling gets stronger. We’re doing it. We’re rebuilding the Internet, and we’re building it for a healthier, brighter future.
The judges of this hackathon were David Vorick from the Skynet team, Danny Zuckerman from the Ceramic team, and guest judges Brayton Williams from BoostVC, and Dan Robinson from Paradigm. Each guest judge was given the opportunity to select a single project for a Judge’s Choice award. We had three categories total. The first is a general SkyDB category, for apps built using SkyDB. The second is a design category, focused not on programming but rather on user experience and design. And our third category was for apps that integrated IDX.
Without further ado, here are the winners!
Prizes
SkyDB Bounty
Grand Prize: SkyFeed (2,000,000 siacoins)
Runners Up: SkyID, ZenBase, SkyDocs (500,000 siacoins each)
Honorable Mentions: Skybrain, Cloudloop, MARStorage, SkyFora (200,000 siacoins each)
Design Bounty
Winners: SkyDrop, Skapp Store (500,000 siacoins each)
Ceramic Bounty
Grand Prize: GeoLocker (1,000,000 siacoins)
Runners Up: VAULT, shroom (300,000 siacoins each)
Judge’s Choice
Brayton Williams Choice: SkyID (200,000 siacoins)
“Decentralized identity is a big idea with a great go to market today seen with the presentations of other projects at demo day. The user flow seemed simple enough and during live demos it worked!”
Dan Robinson Choice: SkySpaces (200,000 siacoins)
“Very slick file-sharing app with a clever and intuitive interface. I loved the integration with SkyID and the easy creation of Skylinks.”
The Projects
SkyFeed
https://skyfeed-beta.hns.siasky.net/
https://github.com/redsolver/skyfeed
SkyFeed is a Twitter-like app made by Redsolver and Julian. You can log in using SkyID and post small snippets of text, or single bits of media (images, videos, and audio) which will then appear in the feeds of those following you. SkyFeed is a fully decentralized application, using Skynet and SkyDB exclusively to store and retrieve data. SkyFeed is both an incredible demonstration of the capabilities of SkyDB, and also just all-around a well designed app with many features and a smooth overall user experience. Built in just 3 weeks, we felt like there was almost no choice but to award the grand prize to SkyFeed.
SkyID
https://sky-id.hns.siasky.net/
https://github.com/dawe35/skyid
SkyID is a user identity and authentication based app made by DaWe. The core purpose of SkyID is to give users a single identity that they can use across all apps, while also creating a secure mechanism for users to control which applications can view which data. This is a massive quality of life improvement for users and developers alike within the Skynet ecosystem. Not only is SkyID the first runner-up, it is also the winner of the Brayton Williams Judge’s Choice award.
Zenbase
https://siasky.net/fAWZL-2W13NFyB_nF67v-eC4nFPCGN7WKqtL9SSD43rXag/
https://github.com/Fluffy9/Zenbase
Zenbase is a decentralized graph database created by Fluffy9. Zenbase GunDB and combines it with the decentralized persistence provided by SkyDB. The result is a library that gives developers the best of both worlds. As an impressive tool which serves as a stepping stone to more sophisticated applications in the ecosystem, we are honored to award Zenbase a runner-up prize.
SkyDocs
https://siasky.net/RAB-QAQ9Ws8849yZiyhirgqsFycYAkj1MLOs0lc8nLJQfw/
https://github.com/michielpost/SkyDocs
SkyDocs is a word processor created by michielpost. Users can log into their notebook with a username and password, and then enjoy an editor similar to Google Docs or Microsoft Word to create documents. The user can create multiple documents, which appear together in the user’s homescreen, including previews of the data contained inside. From the perspecitve of user experience, SkyDocs feels remarkably complete. This feat impressed the judges enough to merit the app a runner up prize.
SkyBrain
https://skybrain.hns.siasky.net/
https://github.com/kamy22/skybrain
SkyBrain is a social media platform by kamy22 and pixide that is reminiscient of Instagram. Unlike Instagram however, SkyBrain has been designed with the decentralized web in mind. Users can form connections between eachother, and the resulting data graph is built in a way that allows for easier integration between SkyBrain and other applications. We were overall very impressed by SkyBrain and believe that it has significant potential as the open data aspects of the decentralized web continue to evolve. Because of this, we have awarded SkyBrain an honorable mention prize.
Cloudloop
https://maari.hns.siasky.net/
https://github.com/themailman05/cloudloop-browser
Cloudloop is a music collaboration app built by datamancer. Cloudloop is aimed at revolutionizing the way composers and music creators work together when building music, allowing people from across the world to easily sample and mix sounds created by the community. To us, Cloudloop feels like an application that has much more power in the decentralized world than it would in a centralized world. We felt that this app was a must for the honorable mention prize.
MARStorage
https://marstorage.hns.siasky.net/
https://github.com/DaWe35/marstorage
MARStorage is a DropBox like application built by DaWe. With MARStorage, you can upload encrypted files to a fully decentralized cloud that is accessible from any machine with a web browser. Built in just 3 weeks during the hackathon, MARStorage accomplishes what previously took the Sia team several years to build. We feel that MARStorage fills a niche that is otherwise unmet in the decentralized web ecosystem, and for that reason we are excited to award it an honorable mention prize.
SkyFora
https://fg16f5absa16arg0hj3dj3k1lom1rrgohdrmnailrj7v8vsq4spe1go.siasky.net/
https://github.com/dkojima/SkyFora
SkyFora is a news style app built by dkojima. Reminiscient of websites like Reddit and 4chan, SkyFora creates a feed for longer form content and discussion. SkyFora is an impressive use of SkyDB that demonstrates a firm grasp of Skynet’s social networking capabilities. With the potential to replace several of the Interent’s most popular centralized websites, we are excited to award SkyFora an honorable mention prize.
SkyDrop
https://0007m5o3q3glehie2tatjj5uelubp13un3b2npcah837o6f06kc87bg.siasky.net/
https://github.com/nicholasglazer/skydrop
SkyDrop is a DropBox like application built by nicholasglazer. We were inspired by the crisp design of Skydrop, and the intuitive layout and UX. SkyDrop is an accessible way to store your files on the decentralized web, and one that we are excited to award the design prize.
Skapp Store
https://siasky.net/_ARSiDT8EtdmD7PxQmBpFdV4RGzVqeazlEVDZQ7y0pfzTA
https://github.com/skynethubio/skapp-ux
Skapp Store is a design concept for the Skynet app store created by skynethubio. Specifically submitted to the design category, we really liked the layout, the color scheme, and the user flow that was presented in the example video which walked through the basic user experience. We felt that this submission was more than deserving of the design prize.
SkySpaces
https://skyspace.hns.siasky.net
https://github.com/skynethubio/SkySpaces/tree/feature/v2.0
SkySpaces is a novel file and data management system built by skynethubio. SkySpaces was singled out by judge Dan Robinson for his Judge’s Chioce award. We like the initiative and innovation demonstrated by SkySpaces, and look forward to the community that gets built around it.
GeoLocker
https://geolocker.vaultlabs.org/
https://github.com/VaultLabs/SkyDB_Project
GeoLocker is an app for managing map data built by VaultLabs. GeoLocker combined authentication with IDX and storage with SkyDB to create a decentralized app for working with STACs. Maps are a critical part of modern life, and we are excited to see work that builds decentralized infrastructure for mapping. GeoLocker has been deservingly awarded the grand prize in the IDX category.
VAULT
https://siasky.net/_AVBGXqfMigWqHUBT3BLttnGYDUjLpXcpyvjJy7H9f8dmw/
https://github.com/sergejmueller/vault-ceramic
Vault is a Skynet based password manager written by sergejmueller that supports login via IDX. Decentralized password management is particularly exciting because it brings all of the great aspects of the cloud to managing your passwords without introducing any of the risk associated with untrusted infrastructure. We are excited to award Vault the runner-up prize for the IDX category.
Shroom
https://siasky.net/_BkkdrbkM1Y0CLrI27zZF_xT_FH8R1kNcXqJrRq-bQVpQA/
https://github.com/rezahsnz/shroom
Shroom is a Skynet based IDE written by rezahsnz to help you develop webpages using html, javascript, and CSS. Shroom supports multiple login options within the IDX ecosystem, and has been awarded the runner-up prize for the IDX category.
Wrap up
SkyDB is huge. It brought accounts and mutable files to Skynet, allowing for the brand new incredible applications that you see in the post. We want to thank all of our hackathon participants for their hard work and submissions, and invite you to keep an eye out for our latest developments and future competitions.
Links
Try Skynet now || Skynet Overview || Introduction to Skynet SDKs
Skynet SDK Docs || Sia/Skynet Workshops
Socials
Skynet is on Twitter, Discord, Reddit, and (just recently) TikTok! | https://blog.sia.tech/skydb-debut-hackathon-winners-d7929970cdea | ['Sia Tech'] | 2020-12-16 16:12:31.656000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Hackathons', 'Bitcoin', 'Updates', 'Decentralization'] |
Record-Setting Bitcoin Price Sparks Another Global Phishing Attack | Researchers at Cisco’s Country Digitization Acceleration team and Cisco Umbrella this week discovered two active global phishing campaigns targeting bitcoin users or those interested in bitcoin through malicious Google ads. First noticed on February 24, the phishing campaigns launched just in time for the price of bitcoin hit yet another all-time high. Bitcoin is currently experiencing the longest stretch above a $1,000 price point in its history.
The researchers say the target of these massive phishing efforts seem to be Internet users from developing nations who searching for information about blockchain the technology or looking to find the popular tech startup of the same name.
The culprits also appear to be the same individuals behind previous phishing attacks that targeted bitcoin users during previous spikes.
What Is blockchain and Blockchain
Blockchain the technology is commonly described as a digital ledger. It is a database built on digital transactions called blocks — typically financial in nature, like the exchange of bitcoin — both chronologically and publicly. For more information on that, see this article. Blockchain the company is a tech startup based in Luxembourg, and owns the site blockchain[.]info. In fact, that is what shows up first if you Google “blockchain.”
A comparison of the traffic spike from one of the dozens of domains used in the phishing attack (top), and the normal traffic levels for Blockchain.net (above). The price of bitcoin peaked on Febraury 23.
It is not a bitcoin exchange, if you are familiar with those. But Blockchain does provide similar services, most notably digital wallets for currencies like bitcoin. The company, according to its website, it is “noncustodial,” meaning it does not control or access its customers’ currency at any point. Instead of thinking of it like a bank, think of it instead as a backup service, a backup for your digital money.
However, with stolen credentials to a Blockchain wallet, a crook like the ones running malicious Google ads and fraudulent phishing sites, could potentially steal your digital money, personally identifiable information and login credentials.
When You See Blokchien, but Read Blockchain
Jeremiah O’Connor, a senior security researcher with Cisco said attackers are opting to use malicious Google ads to act as a gateway to redirect users who click them to fraudulent sites that spoof the official Blockchain[.]info. The ads prove to be an effective technique in that they appear as the first search result to anyone searching for the word “blockchain.” They are also capitalizing on the timing of bitcoin surging to an all-time high twice in the same week. The attacks also surfaced right around the time of bitcoin’s peak price.
One of the bitcoin phishing campaigns uses compromised Google Adwords accounts to post malicious ads when unsuspecting users search for bitcoin information.
Users searching for “blockchain” in Google would find a results page with an ad at the top that may, at quick glance, look like a legitimate bitcoin site. When clicked, it directs the user to a URL spoofing the legitimate blockchain[.]info site. Those not careful would easily miss that the site’s URL was actually “blockchian[.]com.”
O’Connor and other researchers at Cisco Umbrella have been tracking these types of phishing campaigns since last year, and there is evidence the attackers have taken their time to stage operations in wait for a spike in bitcoin price.
Targeting Developing Nations
According to research from O’Connor and colleague security researcher Artsiom Holub at Cisco Umbrella (formerly OpenDNS), there are dozens of domains dedicated to bitcoin phishing in these two campaigns, most targeting Blockchain users likely because of its popularity and Google ranking. Most domains associated with these campaigns experienced short traffic spikes right at the time of the spike in bitcoin price or in the two days following. The more trafficked domains saw more than 200,000 requests in a single day, totaling somewhere near half a million, though it’s difficult to calculate an exact total. After a few days, the domains are taken down and traffic falls off completely.
For reference, the Blockchain[.]info website analyzed with the same dataset, peaks around 50,000 requests daily.
The origins of users visiting blockchalna[.]info, a bitcoin phishing site hosted in Ukraine. Nigeria, Ghana and Estonia are the top three country origins.
The domains behind these phishing scams are mostly hosted in Ukraine, Russia and a couple other Eastern European countries. But victims visiting the fraudulent sites are distributed widely across the globe, though not in a way that mimics regular Internet traffic, in which the U.S. typically accounts for the largest share, followed by countries like China, the U.K., Germany and so on. Instead, the targets seem to be from predominantly developing countries and those that have unstable economies, are experiencing hyper-inflation, have rocky political standing or are underdeveloped economically.
This forum was created only a few days ago and is operating on the openweb, hosted on the same IP space as the phishing campaign.
“One thing that’s also interesting, which came up late in the investigation,” O’Connor said. “is the way the actors are moving the attack around between hosts. Each malicious Google ad acts as a gateway, which will be hosted on Russian IP space. The Google ad then redirects the user to a landing page with a different IP and URL, which is hosted on Ukrainian IP space.” Further, O’Connor and contributing researchers found that the same Russian IP space also hosts at least one newly created darkweb forum that offers various fraudulent services like money laundering, fake passports, fraudulent work visas and other services.
The Bank in Your Pocket
Visualization for just one of the phishing campaigns. Researchers at Cisco have been tracking this actor for nearly a year. — The orange dots are the host IP addresses, white dots are the registrant e-mail addresses, and blue dots are the registered phishing domains. Source: Cisco Umbrella Data Visualization Designer Austin McBride.
Two of the most interesting facets to these campaigns are the scale and the countries targeted. Bitcoin is a global, distributed currency. It’s common to see inordinate spikes in adoption from countries that have limited access to banking or volatile currency and political conditions. Citizens in those countries often seek an alternative methods to pay for goods and store their money.
The top country domains observed visiting the phishing pages in this campaign targeted include countries in Africa, Eastern Europe, South America and other continents where banking can be more difficult for the average citizen.
Bulletproof Hosts
Through their investigation of the hosting companies involved in prior bitcoin phishing campaigns, the research teams at Cisco discovered that so-called bulletproof hosts provide an essential service to the campaign’s success. “Were it not for the support of the same bulletproof or anonymous hosts in offshore jurisdictions who’ve historically provided infrastructure for bad actors, this current spate of Bitcoin wallet phishing would be without a launchpad,” they wrote in a blog post.
Users tricked by a malicious Google ad would end up at a fairly convincing phishing site like this one.
Bulletproof hosts are those that provide anonymous offshore website hosting and turn a blind eye to domain abuse. Some will even provide help with Google Adwords placement, and help avoiding law enforcement. As such, they are often host to sites that serve malware, phishing, ransomware, botnets or that run DDoS services.
In the current bitcoin phishing campaigns, O’Connor said the primary hosts for the phishing sites are Belcloud in Bulgaria, Highload Systems in Ukraine, Unitednet in Russia.
While Cisco Umbrella is actively blocking the domains found through its automated security engine, this is very much an active campaign. O’Connor said there is clear evidence that the attackers are currently working to stage new domains, currently lying dormant, that will target Blockchain users in the future. New domains were being discovered even at time of publishing.
How to Protect Your Wallet
Blockchain has a good track record of warning its customers about current phishing campaigns through support forums and social channels. But as this is an ongoing campaign, it’s best to proactively secure your bitcoin wallets and transactions.
Blockchain specifically — as many cryptocurrency companies do — provides a number of security measures to help users guard their accounts. Heavy encryption for both transactions and messages are standard. Blockchain also offers e-mail verification for logins, plus two-factor authentication via SMS, a login app like Google Authenticator or a Yubikey device. It also provides a recovery phrase measure, which can help restore a wallet and the funds in it if a password or account access are lost.
Users of Blockchain can visit the company’s security center to learn more about the security features offered.
No measure is completely perfect of course, but at least with these protocols in place it would take more than a stolen password to pilfer your bitcoin.
Editor’s note: Special thanks to Jeremiah O’Connor, Artsiom Holub and Data Visualization Designer Austin McBride, who contributed to this article. | https://medium.com/cisco-shifted/record-setting-bitcoin-price-sparks-another-global-phishing-attack-73e4ab891063 | ['Owen Lystrup'] | 2018-02-06 21:58:47.865000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Phishing', 'Featured', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain'] |
Why do we love the word impact? | To impact is to press closely into something. To push into, to drive. To strike against. To strike forcefully against something. To make a forceful impression.
Do we want to make a forceful impression? Do we seek to drive, to push to enable change?
Sometimes this might be an appropriate response. Yet we live in a world where domination, push, drive and force is the world we are seeking to shift from. Are we unconsciously using a word that is resonant with and reinforces the world we seek to change?
Perhaps you might say I am being pedantic. That this overly used word towards change is irrelevant to the larger context of change for a world with a future.
Integrity, to be whole, to hold shape, says not so. To go to the source of the source the root of the root, matters.
It is time we started thinking more deeply about the consequences of our choices and actions. Beginning with the minutia of word choices. To not simply rush into applying a culturally accepted word as the way forward.
To understand its patterns, its origins and the signal it carries within its origins.
Perhaps we might seek Syntropic Investing rather than impact investing. We might seek to influence, or to support, to enable or inspire others rather than make an impact.
Words are powerful. They carry an energetic. They signal intention. Choose with care.
Photo taken March 5th 2021
#worldwithafuture #businessreimagined #syntropicworld #syntropicenterprise #syntropy | https://medium.com/@christine-mcd/why-do-we-love-the-word-impact-b9d2aa48df50 | ['Christine Mcdougall'] | 2021-03-04 22:58:09.639000+00:00 | ['Impact Investing', 'Syntropy', 'Impact', 'Syntropic Enterprise', 'Syntropic World'] |
RaspberryPi Home Surveillance with only ~150 lines of Python Code. | I owned a Raspberry Pi long ago and it was just sitting in my tech wash box. After watching a Youtube session of creative Raspberry applications, with envy , I decided to try something by myself. The first obvious idea to me was a home security system to inspect your house while you are away.
The final thingy is able to detect and roughly localize any motion through a camera. It takes photos and mails them to your email account. Plus, we are able to interact with it in our local network using a simple web interface so we are able to activate or deactivate it in front of home door. I assume that if someone is able to reach the local wifi network, most probably s/he is one of us (fair enough ?).
This is the final look of my raspi.
For the rest of this text, I try to summarize the important implementation details. Hopefully, you will find it interesting. You can also directly go to Github and check the implementation.
Starting with the hardware. What you need for this project:
We need to install the related Python libraries. They are all eligible by “pip install”
PiCamera : For taking frames from Raspi camera
: For taking frames from Raspi camera cv2 : All smart computer vision algorithms
: All smart computer vision algorithms smtplib : Sending mails
: Sending mails email: Formatting mail data
Formatting mail data Flask: Simple website for on/off security
Motion Detection
Let’s start coding! The first thing we need to do is importing our libraries like a boss! and then initializing raspi camera to make it ready to stream frames.
We like to detect motion for each frame but we also like to ignore false alerts. Therefore; we count number of consecutive detections and if it is larger then a given value, we really alert; otherwise we just ignore. Also, we give some time to our system to gather itself before starting to run.
As the next step, we start to loop through the frames and run background subtraction algorithm. In details, we apply following operations for detecting the motion;
Convert frame to gray scale
Blur the frame to reduce frame details.
Compute difference of the frame and the average background frame.
Update the average background frame with weighted running average.
This is a overall scheme of background subtraction. We only use average frame for background model but there are many smarter algorithms for more robust modelling. However, in Raspi faster is better
Above steps give us a mask of pixel changes. This is not really enough. Before going further, we need some more tuning to reduce noise, fill holes and gather contours indicating moving segments. To go further;
Threshold the difference frame for noise reduction.
Dilate threshold frame for filling holes.
Find contours
Find bounding boxes around contours to localize the motion.
Effect of dilation
After all these old-school algorithmic stages, we detect motion. Now time to implement logic of alert system. We start by checking the number of consecutive motion detections. If the count is above the threshold, we send a mail including snapshots taken within a certain time interval. Here, we like to capture variety of views with reasonable number of frame snapshots.
Sending Email
When it is Python, doing things are always easy so is sending an email. Initially, we need to hire a email address (I hired a gmail address). Then, we just use the below code to send an email with all the content we need. The tricky part is converting frames into right data format before attaching to the email.
Website
The last part of the project is to create a website, reachable from the local network, used for enabling and disabling security system. For this purpose, we use Flask framework which happens to be the world’s easiest web server framework.
Now, we need to create a nice landing page with a basic html code supported by jQuery in order to send on/off ajax requests to our server and to update the system status. We code this and place into a folder called ‘templates’ in the root folder of the project. This is the default location for Flask html contents.
Screenshot of system interface
Possible improvements
Someone might have more robust detection results by better algorithmic care. Maybe a more robust background modelling, couple of more image processing steps or better parameters for algorithms.
You can also mobilize the same system with a powerbank. I tried my 10000 mAh Anker powerbank and it keeps the system ~15 hours up. It is enough for a day, if you like to use this on a plug free spot.
One simple enhancement would be using an infrared camera for dark places. The device I shared above has a simple darkness blind camera but I started to use a infrared version recently. It really works well.
Final words
We are done here and good to go! Here I also share my Github repo. Feel free to comment and contribute.
Hope you never need a surveillance system for your house. But if you still need a cheap one, here I give you one. If you are lazy to implement all these contact me ([email protected]) and let me arrange you something. Best of luck!
Before leaving checkout Flash Gordon (Dropbox solution) of my Star Wars. | https://medium.com/hackernoon/raspberrypi-home-surveillance-with-only-150-lines-of-python-code-2701bd0373c9 | ['Eren Golge'] | 2017-07-19 16:38:57.096000+00:00 | ['Security Camera', 'Raspberry Pi', 'Computer Vision', 'Surveillance'] |
The Far White | It is an unfortunate fact that, despite living in the 21st century, prejudice is all around us. Whether it’s the colour of someone’s skin, their sex, or the person they love, many people around the world are experiencing discrimination for no good reason. There are even reports of increasing reports of Homerphobia, which is characterised by a general hostility to ancient Greek poetry. Indeed, prejudice is so wide ranging that discrimination is more or less indiscriminate.
Perhaps we should have more sympathy for racists. Improved scientific understanding now makes clear that there is precisely zero evidence for any meaningful differences between races, making the task of racists more and more challenging. Even Adolf Hitler, who won gold for all round racism at the 1936 Olympics, was helped by the performance enhancing environment of high levels of scientific ignorance on matters of genetics and race. Racism can no longer be fueled by ignorance, and therefore has to rest purely on hatred. It’s exhausting for the poor racists, who are starting to feel like a persecuted minority.
Thankfully supporters of racism have found hope in Donald Trump, a man who doesn’t so much dog whistle to racists, as offer them open and explicit encouragement. The Far Right were sceptical at first, on account of Trump’s insistence on caking his beautiful white skin with fake tan. However, he was able to win their trust with an important speech in 2016, in which he said “I have a dream that you will judge my racist credentials not by the dubious colour of my skin, but by the content of my twitters characters.” At a subsequent press conference Trump became visibly emotional, saying that he was sick and tired of being judged unfairly, and that he just wanted to be accepted as the petty minded bigot that he is.
The Trump presidency has been a high point for the racist cause, and there have been a number of violent incidents involving Neo Nazis and Civil Rights protesters. However, whilst the Neo Nazis have shown great enthusiasm, they have been wary of conflicts in places that might compromise their pasty skin tone. One prominent Neo Nazi stated in 2018 that we are “not willing to fight them on the beaches”, but did demonstrate a willingness to compromise when he went on to “unless there are considerable shady areas, and someone is willing to help me apply sun cream to my back.” Antifa have shown their radical side by teasing them about this mercilessly, and even threatening to subject members of the Far Right to tanning salons.
Should the police be defunded? Should statues of individuals associated with slavery be toppled? Most importantly, should we have a black James Bond? Progressives argue that a black James Bond is absolutely fitting for the 21st century, resulting more conservative thinkers to feel both shaken and stirred.
To be fair, these defenders of the status quo may have a point. On this matter, it is best to see James Bond as the 21st century Jesus. Whilst Jesus was a Middle Eastern Jew with a dark complexion, he is now often portrayed as having very pale skin. Is this a miracle, perhaps similar to the turning of water into wine? Sadly not. Instead this is a classic case of political correctness gone mad. During the Middle Ages progressive Europeans starting to say things like: “Why does it matter what colour Jesus is?” and “Jesus can change with the times”. Society caved into to these demands, and the world is now rife with highly implausible white statues of Jesus.
No wonder have lived in such turbulent times ever since: God’s beautiful coloured son has been whitewashed, and he’s fucking livid! Perhaps the racists are correct are all: ‘White lies matter’. | https://medium.com/@roryfaulkner80/the-far-white-3652fa400f50 | [] | 2020-12-08 15:55:36.730000+00:00 | ['Humour'] |
Fake Phone Chargers — Yay or Nay? | We all forget stuff. I forgot how old my Mom was a few days ago, so I just put “Happy 35 thbirthday” in a card and called it quits.
Everyone laughed, and now I’m out of the will.
Maybe you’re forgetful, too. Are you reading this with only 9% battery because you forgot to charge your device last night? Are you hoping one of your co-workers has a cable you can borrow?
Let’s say you have a Samsung A10. Adam over there has a cable he picked up at the gas station for $2 that he’s using to charge is iPhone 7. Marcus has the original cable that came with his Huawei Mate 30 Pro.
So who’s it going to be? Which phone charger should you borrow?
First, let’s explore what’s actually inside a phone charger cable.
What’s in a phone charger cable?
A lot of engineering goes into cables — they’re not just strings of metal wrapped in rubber with an end that fits in your phone.
Inside the little plastic “heads” of OEM cables are small circuit boards and resistors. These not only protect your data, but also protect your device from surges. They’re there to make sure the cable is operating at peak efficiency.
Adam’s gas station cable is so cheap because it likely doesn’t have any of those circuit boards, whereas Marcus’ cable does.
Since neither cable is designed specifically for your Samsung A10, why does any of this matter?
Yesterday’s phone charging cables
On Google’s Pixel, Pixel XL, Nexus 6P and 5X devices, released in 2016/17, the cables were built with a 56k ohm resistor. Without it, unregulated electrical current coming from an uncertified third-party charger, or from the USB ports on a Mac or Windows machine, could spike. This would cause the battery to begin rapidly combusting!
Yes, older devices paired with cheap charging cables could begin smoking and melting. They could even spark a small fire!
Worst of all, because you were using an uncertified charger, you voided your warranty, leaving you on the hook to cover the loss.
Apple & Android chargers
With most Android and Apple devices, charging is a little less dangerous.
Apple devices can detect non-certified cables and refuse to charge or sync data.
With Android devices, all cables will accept a charge, and most will allow data to sync. However, Android limits the charge to the lowest possible setting — typically 5W.
This is known as “trickle charging.” It works, but it’s slow.
Wireless Chargers
So what about wireless chargers? Since there’s no cable plugging into your phone, it shouldn’t make a difference which charger your use, right?
Technically, that’s true, there’s no cable plugging into your phone. But there is a cable connecting the charger to a USB port, or into a wall adapter.
Old wireless chargers topped out at 5W, but today they’re up to as much as 15W. Still, the speed at which your device charges may be limited to the lowest electrical current available.
For example, if you use a 5W adapter with a 15W charging pad, you may only get the 5W charge.
Similarly, if you use a 10W charging pad with a Samsung Galaxy S20, which is capable of charging at up to 15W, your phone may still charge at the 10W electrical current.
Am I using the right charger?
How do you know if what you’re buying and using is a high-quality, certified phone charger?
Simple.
Apple clearly prints “Made For iPhone” or “MFi” on the outside of the cable. All USB-C cables, designed for newer Android devices, read “Compliant C cable — 56k” or something similar.
All Micro and Mini USB cables for older Android devices won’t have identifiable characteristics. But they don’t require a strong electrical current to charge, so most any will be fine.
Which cables will over-charge my battery?
None. It’s a myth. There’s no such thing as over charging a battery. Once it’s charged, it’s charged.
Which chargers will ruin my battery?
Damaged chargers and cheap, counterfeit chargers might kill your battery. But generally speaking, mixing and matching cables won’t harm your battery. At least not when it comes to new phones.
You may just be reduced to the trickle charge we mentioned earlier.
Phones like Huawei and OnePlus use proprietary circuitry to deliver a fast charge. That means you have to use the charger that comes with your phone if you want to take full advantage of their quick-charge capabilities.
Note: OnePlus Nord is set to release July 21, 2020, and is available for pre-order.
If you’re not sure which chargers are safe for your device, or if you have any other questions about your mobile device, batteries or chargers, give us a call at 705–739–2281. We can help. | https://medium.com/@ACT360WebIT/fake-phone-chargers-yay-or-nay-67d2d3a3d72 | ['Web'] | 2020-07-22 17:24:58.675000+00:00 | ['Smartphone Accessory', 'Phone Chargers', 'Mobile Device Accessories', 'Mobile Accessories', 'Mobile Charger'] |
Social Media + Engaged Employees = Big brand wins | A happy employee is a great online and offline brand ambassador and enthusiast. Unhappy employees are also brand ambassadors but not necessarily the kind you want representing your brand. Especially with today’s wide access to twitter, facebook, blogs and other social media platforms, be it on smartphones or other environments, you want him or her engaged positively with you.
So how does employee engagement affect your social media presence and how does social media affect employee engagement?
The first part is fairly straightforward: If your employees aren’t happy at work, they won’t be likely to have good things to say which will reflect badly on your brand. This doesn’t have to come from official channels as anyone can use search functions to see what is being said. Another major issue is that employees who aren’t engaged won’t necessarily be quick to respond to issues raised by the brand’s communities whether they interact with them directly or not. And they might not be all that helpful or friendly either.
The solution?
Whilst your first instinct may be to put a restrictive social media policy in place and to sack all employees who don’t conform, this probably isn’t the best way to deal with it. For one thing, it’ll just make things tense around the office. More importantly, this isn’t really addressing the issue.
As a business, you need to be able to respond quickly and effectively to the feedback you get from your communities, be it through social media or otherwise. You also need to provide a positive brand experience for your communities.
The pressure with social media is twofold:
1) The expectation of responsiveness:
According to a recent RedWriteWeb article, 74% of social media users expect cries for help to be answered within an hour!
In order for this to happen, you need employees who care about your success to participate in effective processes, which are best designed or modified in consultation with those who are employed to run them. It’s not enough to have a great communications strategy. If you cannot respond effectively on the whole, all you’ve got is a talking head doing nothing behind the scenes. Eventually, even the biggest brand enthusiast gets discouraged if they can’t get anything done.
2) The word spreads quicker
Because of the emphasis on sharing in social media, the word spreads much quicker, especially when it is bad. Not only that, it is much easier to find what people are saying about your brand. All you need to do is search, be it on Google or inside the individual platforms to see what people are saying about a brand and if your employees aren’t enthusiastic about your brand why would anyone buy it? Nearly half of the respondents to a razorfish survey in 2008 said they made a purchase based on a recommendation through a social media site. Who better to advocate for your product than every single one of your employees?
Having good relationships with your employees and empowering them to use social media to talk about your company is only going to help you! And the prouder they are the more engaged they’ll be and the more likely they will be to talk about you online AND offline. | https://medium.com/at-the-speed-of-social/social-media-engaged-employees-big-brand-wins-712e377a0357 | ['Arié Moyal'] | 2018-02-19 21:21:38.755000+00:00 | ['Justmigrate'] |
What Is Personal Growth & Professional Development and Why You Need It | Have you ever wondered about the benefits of personal and professional development or what exactly it means? Well, Personal and Professional Development are all about developing new experiences and skills in both fields.
Development is the pathway between your present self and the self that you want to see yourself become. Personal Growth is needed to develop in your career. It helps you to handle your tears, fears and take more responsibility for greater challenges.
What about Professional Development? Well, it’s not only about earning more money but also about making a prosperous future and proving your self-worth. Boosting skills against your current situation means you are preparing yourself to gain more values and respect.
Some Examples of Personal Growth & Professional Development
Build and Boost Professional Relationships
Enhances Time Management Skills
Welcomes New Challenges
Develop A Well-Set Mindset
Grow Your Network
What is The Need for Personal Growth & Professional Development?
There are several benefits that you can gain from a personal and professional development plan. A Social Market Foundation Survey report says that “Happy employees are 20% happier than sad ones.”
About 50% of the employees are not happily engaged with their work. That indicates that companies need a change. The best way to boost happiness is by implementing both for leaders and their teams in personal development.
Benefits of Personal and Professional Development
Let’s have a look at such benefits that these development programs offer.
More Opportunities and Luck
On the path, when you are seeking development in your life, personal development opens the door for various options. It further helps you in creating your luck! You are presented with several opportunities.
It is observed that people who consider themselves lucky work better and complete a task much faster than those who think themselves to be unlucky. The reason is simple! These people are more open to opportunities than those who considered themselves unlucky and let go of the given opportunity.
Self faith is the most important aspect of personal and professional growth. As the saying goes, “Fortune favors the brave!”
You Will Live Better
The quality of your life improves with your personal growth & professional development. You become richer and healthier both physically and mentally, allowing you to enjoy your life to the fullest. Personal development is no magic or some quick pill.
It needs time. It will be wiser to opt for a development program that will move forward in the right direction.
Learn New Things
The main component of personal and professional development is education while learning new skills and gaining knowledge. You will get to learn a lot about yourself. Learn about various points of view and values. You may also learn how to keep relationships healthier and set proper goals in your career.
Grooms The Personality of An Individual
This development also grooms the personality of an individual. Instead of copying others, wouldn’t it be better to develop your own personality and make yourself presentable?
Personal growth and professional development reflect on your character and make you much more confident about yourself. You will be able to face the world with a smile.
Adopt Good Habits
If you are struggling with saving your time or being unorganized, then you need to reschedule your daily routine and adopt good habits. A proper development program will help you to organize things properly. You’ll be more conscious and develop good habits that will reflect a good personality of yourself altogether.
Develops Your Motivation
Motivation is something that everyone needs in their life. Personal and Professional development will help to enhance your self-motivation and make you more productive. You will understand what your strengths and weaknesses are.
Sooner you will understand the positive and negative aspects, you will act productively. Your team members will also see the change sooner or later.
Provides A Clear Picture Of Your Skills and Knowledge
You may not be aware of your true capabilities and skills. Several personal and professional development programs work towards bringing out the best in a person. This development begins with your understanding of yourself and what you’re capable of. Once you’re aware, it’s time for application in professional and personal spaces.
Grows Positive Attitude Towards Work
Jobs that do not contribute much to our growth often lead to frustration or depress us. It is important to have a positive appeal even outside the office premises. Work will develop all the positive sides of your personality. So it is crucial to get inspired and motivated, that can be achieved through Personal Growth & Professional Development.
Improves Efficacy In Business
Personal and Professional growth increases your effectiveness. It enables you to create better results and meet targets. For better results, an employee or business owner should have an energetic individual. It is noted that human resources mainly aim “lack of personal development in plans” at the workplace.
According to them, the members’ personal development plan can enhance the productivity and motivations of at least 10 teams. These plans are developed to improve people’s efficacy within the organization so that both employees and business owners achieve personal and corporate objectives.
The Key Ingredient For Happiness
Your character development will always result in happiness for everyone. As an employer or employee, the development plans point out the right direction for the whole team.
The rest will always notice a better performing team. When the management is happy, that means you yourself are also happy. As a human being, your personal growth will help you accomplish a good relationship with other people as you’ll start to value things the way they should be valued.
The Bottom Line!
Personal Growth & Professional Development is a vital aspect of far-reaching benefits. If you spend proper time, efforts, and resources in the development process, it surely will not upset you.
Change the attitude of your work and welcome new opportunities for your future. Not only this, personal and professional development help in emotional and mental development by making you a loving and positive person. | https://medium.com/@ohyatalks/personal-and-professional-development-de24cb1775e1 | ['Ohya Talks'] | 2020-12-12 19:34:55.240000+00:00 | ['Professional Development', 'Personal Growth'] |
The Importance of Humanity to the MCU | I have often felt that humanity’s influence on the events of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is greater than their (our?) capabilities should allow. This might be a confusing statement so I’ll try to explain. Films in the MCU that focus their attention beyond Earth, such as Thor and Guardians of the Galaxy, reveal that the life around the universe is much more powerful and advanced (technologically and/or magically) than that of Earth. This being said, the films, a majority of the time, focus on the Earth. For example, the war that wiped out half of the universe was fought on Earth and by Earth’s heroes.
It is this that troubles me. As viewers, we witness the great power of what is inhuman, easily far beyond humanity, but are simultaneously overwhelmed with storylines that emphasize the power and importance of Earth and center around humanity. I think everyone would admit that the MCU focuses heavily on what occurs on Earth while there also exists an entire universe that only gets acknowledged, for the most part, in Guardians movies. (I know this is an over generalization, don’t attack me.)
A good example of this tension exists in The Avengers. The Tesseract has been on Earth for some time, at least since the 1940s, but it has been kept safe and seemingly hidden in a Norse temple as seen in Captain America: The First Avenger. In The Avengers, it is revealed that. S.H.I.E.L.D. is attempting to harness the power of the Tesseract because of Thor’s arrival, and thus alien presence, on Earth. It is the use of this power that seemingly alerts the rest of the universe that the Earth possesses the power and capability to deserve attention, which brings the Chitauri and Loki to New York City.
In summation, Earth previously did not have the power to warrant the universe’s concern, but once we began experimenting with the Tesseract, which seemingly took seventy years, it appeared we were prepared for a different kind of war. (I know that Captain Marvel brings aliens and experimentation with the Tesseract to the timeline earlier than 2011/2012, but at the time of The Avengers that was not yet planned/known.) This supposes that humanity was too weak and inconsequential for other planets to acknowledge.
Thor mentions that Asgardians believe themselves to be above humans, like gods, which is a comparison made repeatedly. Despite this, Thor reflects on the backward nature of their fighting tactics and way of life. They act evolved and superior but in reality they are not any better than the people of Earth. I think this presents the idea of societal evolution and growth as opposed to magical superiority. It seems “magic” if you will causes a people/place to remain stagnant because they believe so greatly in their power and current capabilities that they do not attempt to progress or better themselves. Evidently, it appears humanity is more evolved and advanced in terms of societal structure and certain kinds of technologies.
This presents the possibility that maybe humanity and Earth has its own kind of power and advancement as opposed to the sheer power, magic, and cosmic capabilities of the rest of the universe. Humanity then could be its own kind of threat. The Avengers ends with Thanos being told to fight the humans would be to court Death. Though we have established that perhaps humanity is powerful in its own right, it seems to be a bit of hyperbole to imagine Earth could stand up against these various powers. Honestly, it was luck that the Chitauri all died with their mothership because I believe the Avengers were severely outnumbered and unprepared if that had not happened.
Additionally, it seems only once Earth starts tampering with various alien powers do these global conflicts in need of superhero response occur. Is it then really humanity that is a challenge or call to Death? Or is it the power that never existed for us that gives the appearance of capability? Perhaps humanity is just dumb enough to fight back and attempt to preserve what we created and, coupled with power that does not belong to us, creates a greater threat than imagined.
Regardless, it seems the MCU focuses heavily on humanity and Earth, which juxtaposes the appearance of power we see throughout the universe. Realistically, it seems the great power of Asgard or the Frost Giants or the Kree or the Infinity Stones in general would destroy Earth in an instant. It just does not make sense why Earth is seen as such a great threat to Thanos or anyone else in the universe for that matter. The fact that we were ignored until we received alien powers is further evidence of Earth’s insignificance.
Perhaps I am harping on something that does not matter, but I am interested to know if anyone else feels that the importance of Earth is inflated compared to the power of other planets and peoples. Comparatively, humans do not have anything to use to stand up against an alien army or various superpowers and advanced technology. Especially in recent films, it seems the powers of the greater universe dwarf what the Earth is capable of and many of the conflicts in films are the result of humans trying to better protect themselves against this impossible, unknowable threat. For example, experimenting with the Tesseract and Ultron.
I think humanity might be given too much credit as most of our power comes from access to various alien elements. Certainly, we have created our own superheroes and our own kinds of power like Iron Man, Ant-Man, Captain America, and Spider-Man. There are technologies and science that allow us to stand apart from the rest of the universe and perhaps it is these skills that make us different. Our power is not given but made and there is a certain pride in that and a certain desire to protect it. Perhaps this is what makes humanity something to be feared. It is not necessarily raw power but the desire to attain it. | https://medium.com/@elizabethtrupiano/the-importance-of-humanity-to-the-mcu-afc6b711e9c0 | ['Elizabeth Trupiano'] | 2021-06-08 00:55:08.395000+00:00 | ['Marvel Cinematic Universe', 'Aliens', 'Marvel', 'Humanity', 'Science Fiction'] |
How to earn money online: Top 10 ways to earn money online | Many of you didn’t know about the ways to earn money online. There are many ways to generate a huge amount of money per month through online income. You don’t need to work for hours or need any special qualifications for making money. All you need is a computer or phone with internet access. So, in this article, I’m going to tell you about 10 websites where you can start making some side cash or if you do some hard work you can also generate a good amount of money. Some of these websites can help you to make 100$ a day or even more, and the best thing is, you don’t have to quit your 8–5 job, you can make this money in your free time.
On the Internet, there are two distinct ways of making money.
With active income, it’s like your normal 8–5 job. Where you only get paid for the work you do. If you don’t work or go to your workplace, you don’t make money, also you invest a lot of time and hard work to generate a good amount of money.
But passive income is rather more interesting and also my favorite because, with active income, all you do is put in work once, and the money should keep rolling in, without you having to do any more work other than maybe promoting or data entry what you have made, or in some cases what other people or websites have made. So, let’s start the ways of making money online:
Upwork is a freelancing website. With Upwork, you will be making active income. Business organizations, small businesses, and individuals post services on Upwork that they would like to outsource such as article writing, data entry, video editing, app or web development, software development, coding, there are tons of jobs and services being outsourced on Upwork. The benefit of all this is its low barrier of entry, you just have to be good at something or have skills at writings. If there is something that you are good at maybe photo editing, graphic design, video editing or coding, or just about any skill like writing, etc., head over to Upwork and start making some money. Let me give a tip if you are considering working on Upwork, make an informative and introductive profile with skills that look good. This will increase your likelihood of ever receiving job offers, from potential clients. Displaying your best, skills, or highlighting your specific experience will help you stand out.
Yes, I know almost all people know that by YouTube they can actually make a good amount of money but they don’t know the right way or tips for doing that. If you are considering getting into the YouTube platform and making money, make sure you understand one thing properly. Thanks to the new rules made by Youtube, if you are planning to start a brand-new channel from scratch, you first have to reach the YouTube minimum threshold to get monetized through Google AdSense. You will need 4000 watch hours, and 1000 subscribers in the last 12 months. Once you reach that, you can activate monetization in your channel. How much can you earn on YouTube? Honestly, as much as you want! As long as you keep uploading good and trending content that people love to watch, and the longer the video the more money you can generate through it. You can make anywhere from 1$ to thousands even more, as long as more and more views your video gets, and also you get more subscribers. With YouTube, the money you are earning is passive income, make a few videos and they should keep making you money consistently. You can also generate money with YouTube through paid sponsorships, but you will need a large audience, usually a minimum of 10k subs to do that. You can also link your affiliates if you create a tech channel. Here is a tip, make short and interesting videos on the starting to attract an audience and also share your content in social media groups like Facebook, twitter. Once the targeted audience links with your channel the chances of growth on your channel increase.
Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular and my favorite ways of making money. Now I have already made a separate blog about how to start amazon affiliate marketing or beginner course for Amazon affiliate marketing. So, you can go check that out if you want to earn a huge amount of money through the amazon associates’ program. But Amazon is not an affiliate marketing source. There are many more like Flipkart.com, eBay.com, etc. So, basically, all you need to do is sign up for their associates’ program which is free, then you can pick from thousands of stuff from their website and start promoting. They will give you a special link, and every time someone buys through your link, you will get a commission anywhere from 5–10% of the sale. The percentage may vary for different websites like Amazon and Flipkart. You can withdraw your income via bank transfer after 60 days of all the promotions and sales you made for them. It’s a passive income where all you need to promote the products from different websites. Here’s a tip, you can make a website or a YouTube channel for promoting the products, and also you can learn more from my Amazon affiliate marketing blog.
Clickbank is a marketplace for the product creators and affiliates to earn money online by selling their courses or service of their products to the world. Clickbank only sells out digital products, but the benefit of Clickbank is that the commission payout is much higher than Amazon’s affiliates. Some affiliates will pay you 75%, for selling their services, while some others will pay as low as 5%, so keep that in mind. But also you can make some really good amount of money on Clickbank, $100 or even thousands of dollars. Simply head over to Clickbank, choose something to sell, and start earning money.
Blogging is also one of the best ways to earn money online. All you need to do is create a website with Blogger or WordPress post interesting blogs on different topics like food, technology, education, lifestyle, business, etc., And after you post 25–30 blogs just apply for Google AdSense and you’re your website to it. If your website has the quality and unique content it will be verified by the AdSense team and you can start earning. Now how much can you earn from a blogging website? See it depends upon your traffic the more visitors visit your website the more you can earn from it. From $100 it goes $500 and also more than that per month if your website gets popular. If you are good at writing, articles, blogs, news then I will definitely suggest, by this platform you can earn a huge amount of money. Here’s a tip you can also link your affiliate links, and also promote your website through social media.
Flippa is one of the best marketplaces for buying and selling an online business. It attracts a large number of audiences, and it offers great tools to increase visibility, it’s an auction site more like eBay, for those selling and buying digital assets, such as websites, apps for both android and IOS platforms, domains, Shopify stores, and amazon FBA accounts. If you are good at making apps and websites you can actually sell it online and make a good amount of money. Also, if you have some money lying around and you are interested in buying either websites, apps, or e-commerce stores, which are already making money, you can do so with flippa. Actually, what happens is you place a bid, like eBay, and if your bid is the highest, then congratulations because you just bought yourself an online business. Also, you can make money by selling online businesses. So that’s for you.
So, basically shutter stock is a platform where you can buy or sell digital media like pictures, music, and video clips. It is mainly created by freelancers and third parties, so if you are good at photography, taking amazing pictures and shooting videos you can earn a good amount of money from shutter stock, you can monetize your talent and skills on shutter stock. Now you can make money with shutter stock. Every time someone purchases your pictures, you get paid a commission, usually a couple of cents to a few dollars, if you are lucky. The trick to making a good amount of money with shutter stock is to consistently keep uploading high-quality images that will attract more customers for purchasing your pictures.
Take lessons is a website where you can teach any skills you like. Everyone has a skill that he/she is special at, that they can teach, whether that might be teaching someone a language, how to cook good food, how to play musical instruments, how to solve complex math problems, how to develop apps, and much more. Anything that you are good at and you think someone else might not know, you can teach people to Take lessons, and start earning money.
Most of you probably heard of Fiverr somewhere before, because it’s a simple and easy site to start earning money. But if you haven’t then, basically it’s a freelance website where you can outsource anything as long as it is legal, or sell you services for as little as $5. There are many ways to make money on Fiverr, just to name a few. You can create animations, Logo design, Article writer, Packaging Design, Web & amp, Mobile Design, Social Media Design, T-Shirts & Merchandising, Web development & SEO and so much more to do. If there is anything that you can be outsourced, you will most likely find it on Fiverr. Head over and check out Fiverr guys, it’s a legit and a passive way of earning money.
With drop shipping, what you are basically doing is selling someone else stuff for a small or large profit much like Olx without having to deal with the shipping. So, basically, you are acting as a middle man. You can do this simply by opening up a Shopify store and then linking it up with oberlo.com. Oberlo is basically a website and app that integrates with Shopify, and it is what a lot of people use to source for stuff that they would like to sell on their stores. The basic principle of dropshipping is, you can create a store, website, or any channel where people can buy stuff from you. Once they buy something from you, you pay the manufacturer or producer, usually for a lot less than what you got it for, and then the manufacturer will ship it to the customer. All without you seeing or touching the product. The best part of it was that you set your own price of the product that you want to sell, then take the profits and pay rest to the manufacturer. If you are interested in dropshipping and want to know more about it, there are a ton of tutorial on YouTube or on a different website, that will show you the step by step guide of creating your store, finding products, advertising it, including influencers and finally how to ship that product and get paid for it. Yes, I know it’s a little bit complicated to start, especially in the beginning, but you can make a ton of money with drop shipping.
So, these are the 10 ways which will help you to earn money online. I hope you guys like it. If you find this article interesting don’t forget to share and comment down below which method you like the most and I will see you in the next blog. | https://medium.com/@gadgetgamer360/how-to-earn-money-online-top-10-ways-to-earn-money-online-5addd8717a60 | [] | 2020-08-07 19:24:44.598000+00:00 | ['Earn Money Online', 'Marketing', 'Blog', 'Make Money Online', 'Income'] |
More editorial suggestions for your consideration: | More editorial suggestions for your consideration:
Create a glossary and list of abbreviations for prison lingo and legal jargon (e.g. pretrial, celly, BOP, MCC, etc). Some are less obvious than others, and I imagine many readers aren’t keen to google it every time they come across a new word or phrase. I wouldn’t suggest reducing jargon because it’s meaningful for the culture and story, but being able to consult a an Appendix would be helpful. (Not common in memoirs, I know, but this isn’t what I’d call s common memoir! It’s more like a prison ethnography being published as a memoir, so some formal elements will be acceptable). You could publish the glossary as a story here on Medium with links to relevant parts of the story. This will translate nicely into an interactive ebook when you’re ready to publish. Create entire chapters that focus on in-depth description and analysis of policies and practices that you believe are problematic. This serves 2 purposes: A) provides convenient background info for readers unfamiliar with legal frameworks and judicial precedents associated with criminal justice in this country, and B) creates an opening for educational markets. Your goal is not only to tell your personal story but to give voice to the entire prison population and to shine a light on human rights, social justice, and rehabilitation concerns. The outcome is that people who picked up your book (or read your stories online) for entertainment purposes will also become informed U.S. voters and visitors who can demand actual justice and reform. You’re not just telling a story — you’re increasing awareness for a worthy cause (which also creates opportunities for charitable partnerships and donations — some of which could go to you as a staff member or consultant for the cause). Hyphenate pre-trial. I know “pretrial” is correct but the purpose of the hyphen is to increase readability and accessibility. (Also, it’s driving me crazy! I got all the way to end of “Hangin' Up" (the first chapter I read) before asking someone wtf is “preetreeull.” I felt silly at first but (even as a former editor with a background in linguistics, communications, and law) I’m still having to double or triple process “preetreeull” everytime I come back after a break. Considering your primary target audience is probably not cops, lawyers and felons (although they can certainly buy the book too), I’d lean towards the assumption that your most enthusiastic readers will be bored housewives, single women, academics in social sciences (and their students), and underemployed college grads “doing time" in low wage labor. Don’t make your sheltered and naive “white collar" readers translate “pretrial” into “pre-trial” themselves.
Homework:
Research “prison to print” author,authors, memoir, memoirs, book, books, and variations thereof. Document: Who are the publishers? Which news outlets covered press releases and features? What were the crimes? What were the lessons? What are the authors doing now? (The purpose is to collect models of success along with potential publishers and PR opps. Create a spreadsheet (e.g. Google Sheets) with at least 10 book titles with links to press, publisher, author bio, and/or wikipedia entry. Include a note on why the example warrants inclusion as a case study and indicate your favorite 3 success stories. If possible, include at least 1 example that became wildly successful for reasons that are not readily apparent to you (e.g. wild card). Bonus points if you can find the sales figures. Set the sharing feature to “anyone with a link" and copy/paste the link in a comment reply here on Medium. I’m not doing email these days, and maybe some other folks will get interested and offer suggestions too). Look up Nathan McCall and his first book “Makes Me Wanna Holla.” He went from “prison to print,” graduated college (after prison, unlike you), earned an honorary doctorate (possible for you), and became a university lecturer (also possible for you) at Emory (which is how I know about him). Read the book or don’t read it. Mainly I’m suggesting you look for marketing and monetization ideas. You may also want to learn more about guest lecturing and honorary doctorates. Let me know if you get any ideas you’d like to pursue. (You can use this case as an example in your spreadsheet. If you need help, I can create a starter template for you
Just let me know).
Hope you find something useful here. | https://medium.com/@aprilhamm/more-editorial-suggestions-for-your-consideration-1305a97a6576 | ['April M. Hamm', 'She They'] | 2020-12-05 16:00:32.264000+00:00 | ['Writing Tips', 'Publishing', 'Memoir', 'Ethnography', 'Criminal Justice'] |
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How you can optimize your Tesla experience by analyzing your historic driving & charging data | How you can optimize your Tesla experience by analyzing your historic driving & charging data Paul Strobel Jan 12, 2020·5 min read
https://youtu.be/LUWQ_7s3eDE. A shorter video can be found at the end of this article.
With this article I want to show you how you can understand the data of your Tesla, how you can access it yourself and what you can make out of it to improve your Tesla experience.
Here are some questions you might want to answer with data:
How does the battery degrade over time?
How much power did your Tesla loose overnight while it was parking in the garage not charging?
How much energy do you gain through regenerative braking?
What was the energy consumption of your last rides?
The official Tesla app can give you insights into your momentary state of your car. However, at this point of time it offers only limited information regarding your driving and charging history. You can answer these questions by either using a data tracking service or by fetching the data yourself. The video at the bottom gives an overview of both approaches and answers these questions.
Analyzing the energy flows of a Tesla Model S 75D with a data tracker, Januray 1st, 2020.
I reached out to Teslametric, one of the data tracking services out there, to learn more about this matter. They provided detailed insights of how they do it which I find very helpful. I will share them here — however, there is no sponsorship. There are also other trackers but I don’t have any experience with them. If you do, please comment below.
The following dashboard shows energy flows of a Tesla Model S 75D — with a view of historic data from 2019 in Teslametric. For more explanations on it, check out the video at the bottom of this article.
Energy flows of a Tesla Model S 75D viewing historic data from 2019 in Teslametric.
How to get the raw data yourself
If you want to play around with raw data yourself instead of using a service, the rest of this article will help you to get started. There are four questions I want to address:
What information can you access? How can you get access to the data? What security aspects should you be aware of? Will frequently accessing your car’s data affect battery drain?
Every Tesla is connected to the internet and continuously sends data to Tesla’s own servers — as long as network coverage is available or the car is connected through WiFi. The standard connectivity package, which is included with every Tesla, is sufficient to record and access your data through the Tesla API. In fact, the official Tesla app uses the same API as well to display information to you.
1. What information can you access?
You can receive realtime information about your car’s current state. There are a lot of attributes you can access, here are only a few that might be relevant to understand your energy consumption better:
GPS location
Speed
Battery level
Estimated Range
Odometer
Current state of charge
Outside temperature
Battery heater
..
Have a look at the full attribute list here.
2. How can you get access to the data?
A lot of the data that a Tesla produces can be accessed through an API. There is no official API documentation but there is unofficial API documentation:
You can access the API with token-based authentication. When you generate a token, you will receive an access token and a refresh token. The access token can be used to authorise access to the data. It expires automatically after 45 days. The refresh token can be used to request a new access token after the old one expired. After you generated a token, you won’t need your Tesla username and password from this point on to access data. If you need help getting started with the API and you get stuck with the documentation, here is a technical tutorial from Jimmy Huang which might help. After you have created a token, you can start to poll data from a Tesla remotely.
3. What security aspects should you be aware of?
The most important thing you have to know is that whoever has access to your car through the API can not only read information but also perform actions on your car. This is not trivial because your car can be unlocked through the API. So what can you do?
Activate “PIN to Drive”
The first thing you can do is to activate the feature “PIN to Drive” in your Tesla. This way nobody can drive away with your Tesla. To activate it go to your Tesla’s touchscreen and select -> Controls -> Safety and Security -> “PIN to Drive” and follow the setup instructions.
Evaluate the service you plan to use
You can add an additional security layer by only using services that while offering reading functionalities (GET requests) do not offer to perform actions on your car (POST requests). If a service offers to perform actions, it should at the very least offer Two-Factor Authentication in my opinion.
Revoke access
If you gave a token to someone to do some data analysis for you and you want to revoke the access, simply change your Tesla.com password, this will invalidate all tokens immediately.
Dear Tesla Motors, if you read this, please consider to add tokens which only grant read access. This way, users, who only want to access their data but don’t want any actions to be performed, have an easier way to eliminate security concerns.
4. Will accessing your car’s data frequently affect battery drain?
Be aware of energy efficiency when making API calls during parking. If you keep polling data while it parks (and is not charging) that can prevent it from falling into a so called deep sleep mode. In this mode the car shuts down the internal busses which limits the battery drain significantly (it does not stop it completely though). To let the car fall asleep you have to “leave it alone“ for some time, i.e. stop polling. However, if the car starts a new trip during this time span, you will loose the data for the beginning of that trip — some 45 seconds. So trying to put the car asleep every time it stops is not an option as well. You have to keep a reasonable balance between data loss and energy loss. Teslametric solves this issue by predicting the probability of your next trip shortly after your previous trip. This prediction is made on the basis of your trip history and your weekly usage patterns.
I hope this guide has been helpful. I summarized it in a shorter video here:
What would you do with the data? And what experiences do you have with this matter and other trackers? Comment below and let me know!
Paul | https://medium.com/@paul_strobel/how-you-can-optimize-your-tesla-experience-by-analyzing-your-historic-driving-charging-data-809565a098e | ['Paul Strobel'] | 2020-01-13 12:30:04.916000+00:00 | ['Tesla', 'API', 'Energy Efficiency', 'Battery', 'Data'] |
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