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I Gifted Stocks to My Brother on His 18th Birthday — Here’s Why | Pursue and Achieve Goals
By nudging myself to be aware of my preferences and thus remember how much I value long term benefits, investing has made me realize the pleasure from the journey.
It is not only the destination that gives me satisfaction. It is also the feeling of moving in the right direction.
It’s possible to cultivate this mindset by pursuits — at work, doing sports, or practicing different art forms. I find that working toward achieving something gives me a sense of belonging and a deeper meaning in a lot of the small things I do. It keeps me focused on doing the stuff I either enjoy or that will bring me closer to where I want to be in life.
Achieving goals is an awesome feeling. It beats every form of quick-fix dopamine kick I can offer my brain by snacking, binge-watching series, or playing video games.
The rewards are not instant, but they are much more powerful and longer-lasting.
Setting goals need not be overly ambitious, neither do they always have to be very concrete. Concrete goals can be both a motivation booster and a motivation killer. It depends on the situation.
I set concrete goals in cases where I am working in a structured manner towards something that is measurable and realistic — like increasing my bench press from 105 kg to 120 kg before my next birthday.
When it comes to investing, I don’t. Instead, I am true to my values. The lack of a concrete goal means I can adjust how much I add to my savings as my life unfolds. Forcing myself to save a specific amount of money doesn’t provide me any value, since there are months where I set aside way more than others.
Further, predicting where the market moves in the short term is not something I am capable of. Pursuing targets for portfolio value would stress me out.
Since adopting this mindset, my ability to set money aside has skyrocketed. My returns are also going up, but experience has contributed to this — and it may in part be a coincidence.
It is important to note, that what works for me, may not be optimal for others. I will not try to enforce my brother to do exactly as I.
Instead, introducing him to the stock market should help him determine what he values, motivate him to pursue the objectives he desires, and enjoy it along the way. | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/i-gifted-stocks-to-my-brother-on-his-18th-birthday-heres-why-a8029dddfbb4 | ['Asger Bruhn'] | 2020-12-03 15:05:16.140000+00:00 | ['Money', 'Self Improvement', 'Personal Finance', 'Life Lessons', 'Investing'] |
Using word2vec to Analyze News Headlines and Predict Article Success | The distributions look fairly similar, but it’s a little hard to tell how similar when they’re all on different plots. Let’s try overlaying them all on one plot.
# Overlay each density curve on the same plot for closer comparison
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(12, 8))
for source, color in zip(source_names, source_colors):
sns.distplot(main_data.loc[main_data['Source'] == source]['SentimentTitle'],
ax=ax, hist=False, label=source, color=color)
ax.set_xlabel('')
plt.xlim(-0.75, 0.75)
plt.show()
We see that the sources’ Sentiment distributions for article titles are very similar — it doesn’t look like any one source is an outlier in terms of positive or negative titles. Instead, all 12 of the most common sources have distributions centered around 0 with modestly sized tails. But does that tell the full story? Let’s take one more look at the numbers:
# Group by Source, then get descriptive statistics for title sentiment
source_info = main_data.groupby('Source')['SentimentTitle'].describe() # Recall that `source_names` contains the top 12 sources
# We'll also sort by highest standard deviation
source_info.loc[source_names].sort_values('std', ascending=False)[['std', 'min', 'max']]
WSJ has both the highest standard deviation and the largest range.
We can see at a glance that WSJ has both the highest standard deviation and the largest range, with the lowest minimum sentiment compared to any other top source. This suggests that WSJ could be unusually negative in terms of its article titles. To verify this rigorously would require a hypothesis test, which is beyond the scope of this post, but it’s an interesting potential finding and future direction.
Popularity Prediction
Our first task in preparing the data for modeling is to rejoin the document vectors with their respective titles. Thankfully, when we were preprocessing the corpus, we processed the corpus and titles_list simultaneously, so the vectors and the titles they represent will still match up. Meanwhile, in main_df , we have dropped all of the articles that had -1 popularity, so we'll need to drop the vectors that represent those article titles.
Training a model on these enormous vectors as-is will not be possible on this computer, but we’ll see what we can do with a little dimension reduction. I’ll also engineer a new feature from publish date: “DaysSinceEpoch”, which is based on Unix time (read more here).
import datetime
# Convert publish date column to make it compatible with other datetime objects
main_data['PublishDate'] = pd.to_datetime(main_data['PublishDate'])
# Time since Linux Epoch
t = datetime.datetime(1970, 1, 1)
# Subtract this time from each article's publish date
main_data['TimeSinceEpoch'] = main_data['PublishDate'] - t
# Create another column for just the days from the timedelta objects
main_data['DaysSinceEpoch'] = main_data['TimeSinceEpoch'].astype('timedelta64[D]')
main_data['TimeSinceEpoch'].describe()
As we can see, all of these articles were published within about 250 days of each other.
from sklearn.decomposition import PCA
pca = PCA(n_components=15, random_state=10)
# as a reminder, x is the array with our 300-dimensional vectors
reduced_vecs = pca.fit_transform(x) df_w_vectors = pd.DataFrame(reduced_vecs)
df_w_vectors['Title'] = titles_list # Use pd.concat to match original titles with their vectors
main_w_vectors = pd.concat((df_w_vectors, main_data), axis=1)
# Get rid of vectors that couldn't be matched with the main_df
main_w_vectors.dropna(axis=0, inplace=True)
Now we need to drop non-numeric and non-dummy columns so we can feed the data to a model. We’ll also apply scaling to the DaysSinceEpoch feature, since it is wildly larger in magnitude compared to the reduced word vectors, sentiment, etc.
# Drop all non-numeric, non-dummy columns, for feeding into the models
cols_to_drop = ['IDLink', 'Title', 'TimeSinceEpoch', 'Headline', 'PublishDate', 'Source']
data_only_df = pd.get_dummies(main_w_vectors, columns = ['Topic']).drop(columns=cols_to_drop)
# Standardize DaysSinceEpoch since the raw numbers are larger in magnitude
from sklearn.preprocessing import StandardScaler
scaler = StandardScaler()
# Reshape so we can feed the column to the scaler
standardized_days = np.array(data_only_df['DaysSinceEpoch']).reshape(-1, 1)
data_only_df['StandardizedDays'] = scaler.fit_transform(standardized_days)
# Drop the raw column; we don't need it anymore
data_only_df.drop(columns=['DaysSinceEpoch'], inplace=True)
# Look at the new range
data_only_df['StandardizedDays'].describe()
# Get Facebook data only
fb_data_only_df = data_only_df.drop(columns=['GooglePlus', 'LinkedIn']) # Separate the features and the response
X = fb_data_only_df.drop('Facebook', axis=1)
y = fb_data_only_df['Facebook']
# 80% of data goes to training
X_train, X_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split(X, y, test_size = 0.2, random_state = 10)
Let’s run a non-optimized XGBoost on the data and see how it works out-of-the-box.
from sklearn.metrics import mean_squared_error
# Instantiate an XGBRegressor
xgr = xgb.XGBRegressor(random_state=2)
# Fit the classifier to the training set
xgr.fit(X_train, y_train)
y_pred = xgr.predict(X_test)
mean_squared_error(y_test, y_pred)
Underwhelming results, to say the least. Can we improve this performance with hyperparameter tuning? I’ve pulled in and repurposed a hyperparameter tuning grid from this Kaggle article.
from sklearn.model_selection import GridSearchCV
# Various hyper-parameters to tune
xgb1 = xgb.XGBRegressor()
parameters = {'nthread':[4],
'objective':['reg:linear'],
'learning_rate': [.03, 0.05, .07],
'max_depth': [5, 6, 7],
'min_child_weight': [4],
'silent': [1],
'subsample': [0.7],
'colsample_bytree': [0.7],
'n_estimators': [250]}
xgb_grid = GridSearchCV(xgb1,
parameters,
cv = 2,
n_jobs = 5,
verbose=True)
xgb_grid.fit(X_train, y_train)
According to xgb_grid , our best parameters were as follows:
{'colsample_bytree': 0.7, 'learning_rate': 0.03, 'max_depth': 5, 'min_child_weight': 4, 'n_estimators': 250, 'nthread': 4, 'objective': 'reg:linear', 'silent': 1, 'subsample': 0.7}
Try again with the new parameters:
params = {'colsample_bytree': 0.7, 'learning_rate': 0.03, 'max_depth': 5, 'min_child_weight': 4,
'n_estimators': 250, 'nthread': 4, 'objective': 'reg:linear', 'silent': 1, 'subsample': 0.7}
# Try again with new params
xgr = xgb.XGBRegressor(random_state=2, **params)
# Fit the classifier to the training set
xgr.fit(X_train, y_train)
y_pred = xgr.predict(X_test)
mean_squared_error(y_test, y_pred)
It’s better by around 35,000, but I’m not sure that’s saying a whole lot. We might infer, at this point, that the data in its current state seems insufficient for this model to perform. Let’s see if we can improve it with a little more feature engineering: we’ll train some classifiers to separate the two main groups of articles: Duds (0 or 1 share) vs. Not Duds.
The idea is that if we can give the regressor a new feature (the probability that the article will have extremely low shares), it may perform more favorably on predicting highly-shared articles, thus lowering the residual values for those articles and reducing mean squared error.
Detour: Detect Dud Articles
From the log-transformed plots we made earlier, we can note that in general, there are 2 chunks of articles: 1 cluster at 0, and another cluster (the long tail) going from 1 onwards. We can train a few classifiers to identify whether the article will be a “dud” (be in the 0–1 shares bin), and then use the predictions of those models a feature for the final regressor, which will predict probability. This is called model stacking.
# Define a quick function that will return 1 (true) if the article has 0-1 share(s)
def dud_finder(popularity):
if popularity <= 1:
return 1
else:
return 0 # Create target column using the function
fb_data_only_df['is_dud'] = fb_data_only_df['Facebook'].apply(dud_finder)
fb_data_only_df[['Facebook', 'is_dud']].head()
# 28% of articles can be classified as "duds"
fb_data_only_df['is_dud'].sum() / len(fb_data_only_df)
Now that we have our dud feature made, we’ll initialize the classifiers. We’ll use a Random Forest, an optimized XGBClassifier, and a K-Nearest Neighbors classifier. I will leave out the part where I tune the XGB, since it looks essentially the same as the tuning we did earlier.
from sklearn.ensemble import RandomForestClassifier
from sklearn.neighbors import KNeighborsClassifier
from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split X = fb_data_only_df.drop(['is_dud', 'Facebook'], axis=1)
y = fb_data_only_df['is_dud'] # 80% of data goes to training
X_train, X_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split(X, y, test_size = 0.2, random_state = 10) # Best params, produced by HP tuning
params = {'colsample_bytree': 0.7, 'learning_rate': 0.03, 'max_depth': 5, 'min_child_weight': 4,
'n_estimators': 200, 'nthread': 4, 'silent': 1, 'subsample': 0.7} # Try xgc again with new params
xgc = xgb.XGBClassifier(random_state=10, **params)
rfc = RandomForestClassifier(n_estimators=100, random_state=10)
knn = KNeighborsClassifier() preds = {}
for model_name, model in zip(['XGClassifier', 'RandomForestClassifier', 'KNearestNeighbors'], [xgc, rfc, knn]):
model.fit(X_train, y_train)
preds[model_name] = model.predict(X_test)
Test the models, get the classification reports:
from sklearn.metrics import classification_report, roc_curve, roc_auc_score for k in preds:
print("{} performance:".format(k))
print()
print(classification_report(y_test, preds[k]), sep='
')
The top performance in terms of f1-score came from the XGC, followed by the RF and finally the KNN. However, we can also note that the KNN actually did the best job in terms of recall (successfully identifying duds). This is why model stacking is valuable — sometimes even an otherwise excellent model like XGBoost can underperform on tasks like this one, where evidently the function to be identified can be locally approximated. Including the KNN’s predictions should add some much-needed diversity.
# Plot ROC curves
for model in [xgc, rfc, knn]:
fpr, tpr, thresholds = roc_curve(y_test, model.predict_proba(X_test)[:,1])
plt.plot([0, 1], [0, 1], 'k--')
plt.plot(fpr, tpr)
plt.xlabel('False Positive Rate')
plt.ylabel('True Positive Rate')
plt.title('ROC Curves')
plt.show()
Popularity Prediction: Round 2
Now we can average out the probability predictions from the three classifiers, and use it as a feature for the regressor.
averaged_probs = (xgc.predict_proba(X)[:, 1] +
knn.predict_proba(X)[:, 1] +
rfc.predict_proba(X)[:, 1]) / 3 X['prob_dud'] = averaged_probs
y = fb_data_only_df['Facebook']
This is followed by another round of HP tuning with the new feature included, which I’ll leave out. Let’s see how we do on performance:
xgr = xgb.XGBRegressor(random_state=2, **params) # Fit the classifier to the training set
xgr.fit(X_train, y_train) y_pred = xgr.predict(X_test) mean_squared_error(y_test, y_pred)
Uh oh! This performance is essentially the same as it was before we even did any model stacking. That said, we can keep in mind that the MSE as an error measurement tends to overweight outliers. In fact, we can also calculate the mean absolute error (MAE), which is used for assessing performance on data with significant outliers. In mathematical terms, the MAE calculates the l1 norm, essentially the absolute value, of the residuals, rather than the l2 norm used by the MSE. We can compare the MAE with the square root of the MSE, also known as the root mean squared error (RMSE).
mean_absolute_error(y_test, y_pred), np.sqrt(mean_squared_error(y_test, y_pred))
The mean absolute error is only about 1/3 of the RMSE! Perhaps our model is not as bad as we might have initially thought.
As a final step, let’s take a look at each feature’s importance according to the XGRegressor:
for feature, importance in zip(list(X.columns), xgr.feature_importances_):
print('Model weight for feature {}: {}'.format(feature, importance))
Aha! prob_dud was found to be the most important feature.
Neat! Our model found prob_dud to be the most important feature, and our custom StandardizedDays feature was the second most important. (Features 0 through 14 correspond to the reduced title embedding vectors.)
Even though overall performance didn’t improve through this round of model stacking, we can see that we did successfully capture an important source of variability in the data, which the model picked up on.
If I were to continue expanding on this project to make the model more accurate, I’d probably consider augmenting the data with outside data, including Source as a variable via binning or hashing, running the models on the original 300-dimensional vectors, and using the “time-sliced” data (a companion dataset to this data) of each article’s popularity at various time points to predict the final popularity.
If you found this analysis interesting, please feel free to use the code, and to expand on it further! The notebook is here (note that some of the cells may be in a slightly different order than they were presented here), and the original data used for this project is here. | https://towardsdatascience.com/using-word2vec-to-analyze-news-headlines-and-predict-article-success-cdeda5f14751 | ['Charlene Chambliss'] | 2019-03-30 02:27:52.059000+00:00 | ['In Depth Analysis', 'Towards Data Science', 'Data Science', 'Data Visualization', 'Machine Learning'] |
Ad Spend and Campaign RoI Analytics using Segment, Looker, dbt and Google BigQuery | For the first step our usual approach to sourcing data from Facebook Ads and Google Ads would be to use a service such as Stitch or Fivetran to create a fully-managed data extract pipeline into Google BigQuery, but as Segment Connections is already being used to bring in website and mobile app event data we can make use of another Segment feature, Object Cloud App Sources, to replicate the Facebook and Google Ads data into BigQuery instead.
Object Cloud App Sources (as opposed to Cloud Event Sources and regular Event Sources) don’t register ad activity as events in Segment’s event stream but they do the same job as Stitch and Fivetran’s API extract data pipelines, and they’re included in the entry-level Team Plan if you’re a paying Segment customer.
Before we can combine data from the two ad network Segment sources for step 2 in our plan, we first have to standardise table and column naming across the two sources. We can do this using SQL SELECT statements either in SQL views or using a tool such as dbt (“Data Build Tool”) that we use on most client analytics projects.
Google Ads’ API provides spend and click performance data at each of the ad, ad group and campaign levels whereas Facebook’s API provides it at just ad-level, so if you want to base your reports and dashboards at the campaign level you’ll need to roll-up the Facebook data to campaign-level before joining it to Google Ads’ campaign performance data.
To enable comparison of this ad click and cost data from Facebook and Google to the actual clicks and revenue we’re recording via Segment from our website page view data we’ll need a way of connecting these two sets of data together. Facebook Ads provides UTM parameter values for your ads in the API tables it provides, making it easy to look for those values in the session entrance page view data Segment records when people clicking on those adverts arrive at your site.
Google Ads prefers that you use their encrypted gclid (“Google Click Identifier”) tracking codes rather than utm parameters when tracking campaign performance as they enable more campaign metadata to be included in tracking details and then encrypt it, stopping what could potentially be sensitive campaign names or other personally-identifiable data being sent in clear text in the URL querystring.
However only Google Analytics can decrypt the contents of a gclid tracking code rendering them fairly useless when need that metadata to be readable by another process, for displaying the name of the campaign, ad or creative version in a non-GA dashboard report.
As we want our ad spend analytics to be cross-platform and usable outside of GA we instead match on ad_id and store it in the utm_content parameter when setting up tracking codes for new ads, rolling the numbers up to ad group and campaign level from there when needed for reporting.
Put together, the transformations for these first three steps in the process look like the subset shown below of the full transformation graph.
Each step in this graph is a SQL transformation needs to be executed in the right order, waiting for any other transformations the next step depends on to complete before handing-off control to the next stage, and so we use dbt to create a DAG (directed acyclic graph) of transformations to ensure everything gets executed in the correct order, and that we can test everything properly before rolling it out to end-users.
dbt directed acyclic graph to process ad spend data for analysis
You can read more about our use of this tool in Introducing the RA Warehouse dbt Framework : How Rittman Analytics Does Data Centralization using dbt, Google BigQuery, Stitch and Looker and the code we use for ad spend analysis and marketing attribution is contained within the RA Data Warehouse for dbt public git repo on our Github site.
Once we’ve run all of these ad spend and performance transformations and combined it with actual click data from our website through Segment, we end-up with a table that looks like the one below.
Using this data we can put together some useful charts and dashboards in Looker to show how spend on our advertising campaigns has translated into clicks and traffic sent to our website. | https://medium.com/mark-rittman/ad-spend-and-campaign-roi-analytics-using-segment-looker-dbt-and-google-bigquery-14451e22a1b | ['Mark Rittman'] | 2020-09-19 23:24:00.884000+00:00 | ['Bigquery', 'Looker', 'Marketing Attribution', 'Segment', 'Dbt'] |
Narcissus | Narcissus
Once more, with feeling
Photo by Mohammad Asadi on Unsplash
In my praise I heard you speak
I stopped you not, your words were sweet
And, when you paused, praised not your name
But wished to hear my own again | https://medium.com/grab-a-slice/narcissus-5ac828a3ad25 | ['Mark Kelly'] | 2020-01-04 00:57:37.582000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Poetry', 'Narcissism'] |
Humility, Grace, and Peace | Humility, Grace, and Peace
Photo by Tj Holowaychuk on Unsplash
Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. - Philippians 1:1-2
Most of us have found ourselves guilty of rushing through these introductory parts of the epistles, or skipping them altogether. It's like we view it as unnecessary fluff on our way to the real content of the letter. I would like to encourage you to break that habit. Every word in Scripture is necessary and life-giving, even the greetings (2 Timothy 3:16; Matthew 4:4).
In these two verses we have more than just an introduction. We have an example of the countercultural way believers are called to live toward one another. Though we do not receive a direct exhortation to this end, we have an example of Paul’s attitude toward the Philippian believers. And Paul did say,
Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. - 1 Corinthians 11:1
So we can consider this instruction by way of example. There are two main attitudes I see exemplified here. And I can't help but wonder, "What if all of us believers treated one another with these attitudes?" What a sweet fellowship that would be!
1. View yourself with humility and other believers with honor.
The way Paul refers to himself and his companion, Timothy, is radical in the eyes of the world. The idea of being subservient is repulsive to our culture. Yet Paul identifies himself and Timothy as "bond-servants of Christ Jesus." Don't just breeze over those words. Read them slow. Now recognize that Paul was identifying himself in the same way all Christians must. Paul was not referring to himself this way because he was an apostle, but simply because he was a Christian.
The Christian life is a life of servitude. We are not freed from slavery to sin in order to do whatever we want. We are freed from slavery to sin in order to become slaves of Christ:
But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. - ROMANS 6:22 NASB
The wording of this verse shows us that freedom from sin and enslavement to Christ is the same thing! The truth is you and I are always going to be mastered by something. The only question is what. That is a hard pill to swallow because our sinful nature desires to be self-sufficient and self-governing. But unlike the slavery we had in our sins, being slaves to Christ leads to our joy. He is the only master who leads us with our eternal good in mind.
So Paul views himself with humility, as a servant of Jesus. But how does Paul view the Philippian believers he is writing to? As saints. The word "saints" refers to one who is set apart by God for special purpose. Indeed, all Christians are slaves to Christ, but this is an honorable service (1 Peter 2:9-10). So as Christians, we are both slaves to Christ and saints in Christ.
What is interesting to me is Paul chooses to refer to himself in terms of slavery, but address these believers in terms of sainthood. Essentially he is viewing himself with humility and other believers with honor. What a picture of Christian relationships! It should not surprise us to see this from Paul. After all, he is the one who said that the Christian should not "think more highly of himself than he ought to think", but should "give preference to one another in honor." (Romans 12:3,10). Oh, what sweet fellowship we would have if we viewed ourselves as slaves of Christ and each other as saints!
2. Extend grace and desire peace for other believers.
If you get the first point down this one follows pretty easily. When you lower yourself down to the status of a servant and lift your brothers and sisters in Christ up as saints you will tend toward this point automatically. Paul extends grace and peace to the Philippian believers. The kind of grace and peace that can only come from our Lord. We ought to be quick to extend grace and desire peace for fellow believers.
Grace - Extended grace is possible because we have experienced the unimaginable grace of God ourselves. So often we are unwilling to give grace to our brothers and sisters, but we expect grace from them. Let us treat one another with the level of grace we would hope to receive ourselves.
Peace - The way of the world is to fulfill your own desires even if it means causing trouble for others. A good example of this is James 4:1-3. As Christians we are not called to fulfill our own desires at others' expense, but to pursue the peace of others at our expense. Jesus pursued our peace at the cost of His own life.
Conclusion
These three ideas of humility, grace, and peace only take up two introductory verses, but they would make an endless difference in the Church if we would commit to them. | https://medium.com/verse-by-verse/humility-grace-and-peace-c41825aa42c8 | ['Brad Creech'] | 2020-12-18 02:40:01.708000+00:00 | ['Philippians', 'Bible', 'Christianity', 'God', 'Church'] |
“Was That Some Kind of Joke?” | Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese Revisited
Joan Baez/Bob Dylan: Ken Regan/Estate of Ken Regan/Ormond Yard Press
Intrepid Bob Dylan supporters rejoice when any obscure corner of his career is brought into light from the hidden confines of some inaccessible vault. For those of us who hadn’t necessarily kept up with the deluge of bootleg recordings made available through collectors’ markets, 1985’s Biograph boxset was a revelation for a number of reasons. First, it reminded us of what a prolific and varied artist Dylan was. Isolated from their parent albums and recontextualized, songs like “Señor,” “Every Grain of Sand,” and “I Believe in You” took on a new resonance. Biograph also contained numerous unreleased compositions, such as “Caribbean Wind” and “Abandoned Love” that were left off of his commercial releases for one reason or another. Mainly though, there were live versions of songs like “Isis” and “Romance in Durango,” from 1976’s Desire album and performed on Dylan’s 1975 Rolling Thunder tour (before Desire was even released!), that most of us had only been able to read about in Sam Shepard’s Rolling Thunder Logbook.
Sam Shepard was hired to write dialogue for the movie Bob Dylan was filming during the Rolling Thunder Revue. That movie became the little-seen Renaldo and Clara. Wikipedia lists Renaldo and Clara as “Drama/Experimental” and “4h 52m.” It also lists the screenplay as by Bob Dylan and Sam Shepard, although much of the “dramatic” portions of the film (as opposed to the “live performance” sections) appear mostly improvised. Unfortunately, most of us will never get to experience the complete Renaldo and Clara in its full glory because the film has been locked away in a vault somewhere since its initial, financially unsuccessful, run, and inaccessible to curious Dylan devotees. Sources close to the Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese project insist that the negatives to Renaldo and Clara could not be located to work from. And, perhaps Sam Shepard’s screenwriting work was underutilized in the film, but he did publish The Rolling Thunder Logbook in 1977, which gave an insider’s perspective of the tour, demystifying it on one hand while mythologizing it on the other. Besides, who even knows what was written for, and included in, the film and what was improvised? There’s no way to tell and no one’s talking, especially those interviewed for Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese.
Sam Shepard, Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac: Ken Regan/Estate of Ken Regan/Ormond Yard Press
Shepard went on to co-write one of Dylan’s best songs ever, “Brownsville Girl,” which is on an album that received confoundingly negative reviews, 1986’s Knocked Out Loaded. Shepard also provides some of the most cogent commentary in Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese. With a title as ambiguous as this, it is not entirely clear what the focus of the actual film will be: The Rolling Thunder Revue? Bob Dylan? Martin Scorsese? A Story?? Rolling Thunder participant Joan Baez gives the game away at a certain point by asking her interviewer, “Are you being funny? Okay, well, get to the point.” Joan Baez, too, stayed on-topic and focused on the subject at hand, and archival footage of the late Allen Ginsberg allows viewers a global and poetic overview of the Rolling Thunder enterprise from conception to completion. So, the question remains: Why would Martin Scorsese take the original footage that was shot during the 1975 tour, along with recent interviews from Dylan himself, along with Baez, Shepard, and other Rolling Thunder contributors, and mix in a bunch of fictional interviews with people who were not in any way associated with the 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue?
Actress Sharon Stone was certainly not invited along on the tour, as her character “The Beauty Queen” informs us, to take care of the wardrobe; Paramount Pictures CEO Jim Gianopulos (as “The Promoter”) was not a promoter for the tour; Director Stefan van Dorp, supposedly hired to film the original tour, simply does not exist. Although the claim that Dylan got the idea to wear white makeup onstage from seeing a KISS concert is pretty funny, especially when one remembers that he co-wrote a song with Gene Simmons in the early 90s. Unfortunately, Dylan followers know these constructed flights of whimsy are not factual or true, and casual Netflix observers, or curious Dylan first-timers, will probably accept these fictional misrepresentations at face value. For some reason, the film Renaldo and Clara, from which the original Rolling Thunder Revue footage was culled, is not mentioned by anyone. Obviously, this is deliberate, but why?
The Rolling Thunder tour has been revered by Dylan enthusiasts since it first took place, despite most people never coming any nearer to it than a rumor. Sure, articles and books have been written, pictures are published, the four-hour Renaldo and Clara film was released for a limited time to a limited number of theaters, and its abbreviated edited version took its place on select screens shortly thereafter. And then…the Thunder was gone. Just gone. Bootleg recordings kept the dream alive, somewhat, but the average music listener does not normally traffic in bootlegs. For those who bought the Biograph boxset, the inclusion of “Isis” and “Romance in Durango” from the Rolling Thunder Montreal show was a revelation. The performances are as on fire as the first line of “Romance in Durango”: “Hot chili peppers in the blistering sun.”
“We came to the pyramids all embedded in ice”
In 2002, The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue was released on compact disc and, up until then, it was the most commercially available documentation of that tour. It was a sort of “best-of” compilation of the tour on two discs with a comprehensive essay by Larry Sloman and a DVD that included a performance of “Isis” from the Montreal show (“This is for Leonard…if he’s still here”). Bootleg Vol. 5 was an attractive product and a welcome package, but it still felt incomplete somehow. If this incendiary footage of “Isis” was available for commercial release here, how much more of this stuff is there? This performance was too inspired to be locked away in some vault somewhere and there had to be hours more. Where was it? The Rolling Thunder Revue was like some Holy Grail existing in a mythical landscape eternally out of reach. Perhaps there just wasn’t an adequate distribution network that could handle a project of this magnitude until the streamers came along and Netflix opted in.
The original Renaldo and Clara has never been released on DVD and, released now, it would probably be more of a 4-hour curiosity for the uninitiated than a viable commercial prospect. Besides, Dylan had already put so much effort into the filming and editing of Renaldo and Clara initially (along with performing every night on the tour), that there was probably never any chance he would want to go back and re-live the experience again. Besides, he already had a fulltime job: He was either recording or touring or writing, or doing whatever Bob Dylan does in any downtime, and moving backwards to haggle over something he had completed some 40 years before seems highly unlikely and counterproductive. So, it makes sense that if the project ever was going to be revisited, it would have to be with someone who could curate the material with objectivity, sensitivity, and insight. And, who better to take the reins than Martin Scorsese. After expertly compiling Dylan’s mid-60s maelstrom in 2005’s No Direction Home, Scorsese seems like the obvious choice to bring the Rolling Thunder Revue back to life. So, what went wrong?
Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese is almost the film that Dylan fans have been desiring for years. At two hours and 22 minutes, it is a generous offering, with several songs allowed to play out for their full duration. It has more entertaining Allen Ginsberg commentary (as well as hairstyles; bearded, not bearded, clean-shaven, long hair, short hair) than probably any other documentary released this year, clear-eyed observations from Joan Baez and Sam Shepard, brief encounters with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Roger McGuinn, quality archive footage of Joni Mitchell debuting “Coyote” at Gordon Lightfoot’s Toronto house (Lightfoot had performed with the Revue that night) and Joan Baez dancing onstage to “Eight Miles High.” And the uninitiated will finally get to experience the wonder and magic that is Scarlet Rivera performing on violin; simply stunning. There are various snippets of improvisation from Renaldo and Clara, but then almost all of the footage that makes up Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese is compiled by Scorsese and his team from Renaldo and Clara footage. And then, there’s all this other stuff.
Joni Mitchell, Roger McGuinn, Bob Dylan; Ken Regan/Estate of Ken Regan/Ormond Yard Press
What could have been a relatively straightforward documentary on the mystery and myth of the Rolling Thunder tour becomes a bit of a pseudo-comedy with the inclusion of fictional interviews describing fictional scenarios as if they had actually happened. Who thought this was a good idea is never made clear, and we will probably never know whose idea it was to go for the funny instead of sticking to the task at hand. Scorsese’s? Dylan’s? Netflix? Naturally, Dylan didn’t do anything to promote the movie, and Scorsese’s published interviews aren’t especially forthcoming. Dylan is obviously in on the joke, as he refers to “van Dorp” a couple of times during his interview for the film and swears not to remember anything about the original tour. “I wasn’t even born yet!” Dylan jokes, despite his seeming to have total recall of the 1960s for Scorsese in No Direction Home, and the 1960s, for Dylan, seemed more fraught in various ways than his 1970s, but that might just be a misperception. So, maybe the whole “fictional comedy bits” conceit of the film was Dylan’s idea all along. Maybe he just had no inclination to go digging into his past again, maybe he thought this would put a new twist on covering ground that had already been covered since 1975, maybe he just couldn’t be bothered.
But then again, Bob has always been a bit of a joker. In 1961, the year he arrived in New York City from Minnesota, he told interviewer Billy James that he joined a carnival at 13 years of age, he got his first guitar at the age of 10 in the South Side of Chicago, he was once a farmhand in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and that he had lived in Gallup, New Mexico. And, this was in 1961! More recently, his 2004 “autobiography” Chronicles: Volume One has been scrutinized for plagiarism at worst, which is a matter of perspective here, and hijinks and shenanigans at best. Upon release, the memoir received across-the-board accolades from the mainstream media and seemed to offer a glimpse into the protected private inner landscape of Bob Dylan’s work. Chronicles is really a remarkable document and a breezy read recounted in the homespun and carnival barker-ish voice/persona similar to the one Dylan utilizes in his No Direction Home interviews. However, valorous researcher (and musician) Scott Warmuth from New Mexico began discovering anomalies in the text that lead him to probe deeper into the text’s accounts of Dylan’s personal recollections. What he found might be shocking to some but is absolutely hilarious in the context of Dylan’s career.
For example, Warmuth discovered numerous similarities between the Chronicles text and various Jack London texts. “He was gruff, a mass of bristling hair,” Dylan writes in Chronicles; “He was broad-chested, powerfully muscled, of far more than ordinary size, and his neck from head to shoulders was a mass of bristling hair,” London wrote in 1902 short story “Bâtard.” “Ray was maybe ten years older than me-from Virginia he was like an old wolf, gaunt and battle-scarred,” Dylan “recounted” in Chronicles; “Then an old wolf, gaunt and battle-scarred, came forward,” London offered in his 1903 novel Call of the Wild. And on and on and fucking on. But it doesn’t stop there. Warmuth goes on to chronicle (!) Dylan’s use of “American classics and travel guides, fiction and nonfiction about the Civil War, science fiction, crime novels, both Thomas Wolfe and Tom Wolfe, Hemingway, books on photography, songwriting, Irish music, soul music, and a book about the art of the sideshow banner” in his “memoir”. Over the years, Warmuth has compiled hundreds of examples of Dylan’s cut-and-paste techniques woven into his work throughout the years, which may lead one to wonder: Is Bob Dylan pop music’s longest running performance art prank?
William S. Burroughs: Photograph: Paul Natkin/WireImage
After all, there should be no dispute that Dylan is well-read, well-travelled, and knows that of which he speaks. As an associate of Allen Ginsberg since the 1960s, and a fan of Beat literature since encountering Jack Kerouac’s writing in 1959, Dylan would certainly be conversant with author William S. Burroughs and his impenetrable “cut-up” collage technique. Dylan has seemed to apply this technique to his work, whether he called it that or not, from very early in his career. For example, it has been noted how Dylan liberally mixed and matched Jack Kerouac’s 1965 novel Desolation Angels into his 1965 song “Desolation Row.” As Michael Goldberg observes in the anthology Kerouac on Record: A Literary Soundtrack:
Dylan slightly reworked four of Kerouac’s phrases for his song. Kerouac wrote, ‘They sin by lifelessness,’ which Dylan turned into ‘Her sin is her lifelessness.’ ‘Cabinets with memories in them’ became ‘memories in a trunk.’ ‘The perfect image of a priest’ became ‘a perfect image of a priest.’ ‘Get his letter’ became ‘received your letter.’ Historical figures that were in Kerouac’s book appear in Dylan’s song: Romeo, Einstein, Noah, and the Phantom of the Opera. Kerouac writes about a hunchback; Dylan name-drops the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Etcetera.
Although perhaps not the cut-up method that Burroughs had envisioned, Dylan’s collage technique, even at this early stage of his career, reflect an artist more concerned with creating and inhabiting a particular literary landscape than spilling his guts all over the stage. Perhaps this is part of the reason that Bob Dylan has always expressed disdain for those who try to read too much into his lyrics or relate them to his private life. Perhaps this is why, in Chronicles, he writes, “Eventually I would even record an entire album based on Chekhov short stories — critics thought it was autobiographical — that was fine.” One must wonder where all the outcry was amongst Kerouac scholars, academics, journalists, and other Dylanites in 1965 when “Desolation Row” was released on Highway 61 Revisited. Although poet Philip Larkin suggested the song has an “enchanting tune and mysterious, possibly half-baked words,” the Sep 25, 1965 issue of Billboard magazine praised the album by writing, “the leader of the message songs is in top form throughout his story-telling material which includes a long cut called ‘Desolation Row.’ A blockbuster.”
And, despite Dylan’s 2006 album Modern Times being released to universal critical acclaim and being his first US number one since Desire in 1976, it soon engendered accusations of appropriation and plagiarism. Critics accused Dylan of reworking old standards and blues songs, but especially galling to academics was his flagrant utilization of Civil War poet Henry Timrod’s verse. Of course, scholars were appalled, but when Dylan was confronted with the controversy in Rolling Stone by interviewer Mikal Gilmore in 2012, he made it sound like it was just another day at the office:
…as far as Henry Timrod is concerned, have you even heard of him? Who’s been reading him lately? And who’s pushed him to the forefront? Who’s been making you read him? And ask his descendants what they think of the hoopla. And if you think it’s so easy to quote him and it can help your work, do it yourself and see how far you can get. Wussies and pussies complain about that stuff. It’s an old thing — it’s part of the tradition. It goes way back. These are the same people that tried to pin the name Judas on me. Judas, the most hated name in human history! If you think you’ve been called a bad name, try to work your way out from under that. Yeah, and for what? For playing an electric guitar? As if that is in some kind of way equitable to betraying our Lord and delivering him up to be crucified. All those evil motherfuckers can rot in hell.
As if playing electric guitar and alluding to the work of an obscure Civil War poet weren’t enough, Dylan stirred up controversy again with showings of his paintings at the Gagosian Gallery in New York City. “The Asia Series” was criticized for Dylan’s duplicating of famous, and not-so-famous, photographs, some sourced from someone else’s Flickr account lol. And, for Dylan fans, the fun is only just beginning. In 2016, Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, which, in itself, created a media firestorm, with many scholars and literary figures skeptical about Dylan’s qualifications for the Nobel as a songwriter and not as a “poet,” and debating the merits of Dylan’s winning the prize over someone of true literary stature (as if, somehow, the “Mr. Tambourine Man” line “But for the sky there are no fences facing” doesn’t qualify as “literary”). Dylan’s award caused some to go as far as to prophecy this as the death of literature! So, it must have provided a sense of vindication for naysayers when Dylan’s Nobel speech was later discovered to not only include bits and pieces of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, but also, in truly enigmatic Dylan fashion, selections from the SparkNotes version of Moby Dick. Again, hilarious. And postmodern. And art.
Most criticism of Bob Dylan’s work suggests that he does not have an understanding of what he is doing. It also does not take into account that he does what he wants and what satisfies him and, on occasion, what may amuse him; him, and only him. Not you, not me, not people who write about what he should do or who tell him what he should have done. He has operated under this methodology longer than many of us have been alive, as if it has always been a kind of “contract” with his audience. Dylan has been presented a Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Achievement Award by Gregory Peck, has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama, was friends with Johnny Cash and, according to Tom Petty, “George [Harrison] quoted Bob like people quote Scripture.”
By following Dylan’s work, we know what we are getting, even if we don’t know what we are going to get; that’s part of the fun of being a Dylan fan. Never a dull moment. But ultimately, Rolling Thunder Revue isn’t a Bob Dylan composition: It is A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese, and that is where the problem lies with this film. Martin Scorsese is listed as the director, so he would be accountable for what we see, and don’t see, onscreen.
Again, the original 1975 footage culled from the Bob Dylan-directed Renaldo and Clara, shot by Howard Alk, David Meyers, and Paul Goldsmith, and a small team of cinematographers who are never mentioned in Rolling Thunder, is magnificent. The contemporary interviews conducted for Rolling Thunder with tour participants like musician David Mansfield and singer/actress Ronee Blakely give the tour some firsthand perspective, but one must assume that there is more interview material in the vaults that could have been used in place of Scorsese’s comedy pranks. Many real people who were part of Rolling Thunder, whether living or dead, are absent from Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese, people like longtime Dylan friend and tour producer Louis Kemp, musician T-Bone Burnett, co-songwriter and stage manager Jacques Levy…Levy died in 2004, but he co-wrote seven of the nine songs on Desire (the album released during the tour) and managed the stage production. Mick Ronson was there; doesn’t anybody from the tour have something to say about him? Bob Neuwirth, for God’s sake! All of these people, and more, are somewhat unceremoniously airbrushed out of A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese.
IMDb
Of course, everything that occurred during the tour can’t be included or discussed in Rolling Thunder Revue; it would probably be of little interest to the casual Netflix viewer. Plus, there may be gaps in the contemporary interview material that prevented Scorsese from presenting information in a particular way that suited his narrative. As reported, the Dylan team conducted interviews with various Rolling Thunder participants, including Dylan himself, and then passed them on to Scorsese to do as he pleased. Scorsese himself did not correspond with the interviewees, which may suggest the whole “van Dorp” business was Dylan’s idea from the beginning, and Scorsese just ran with it. Again, this would be Dylan throwing a mischievous monkey wrench into the machine to amuse himself and see how Scorsese would respond. But then again, we don’t know and probably never will.
Netflix promoted Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese as “part documentary, part concert film, part fever dream” and IMDb lists it as “an alchemic mix of fact and fantasy.” Well, one must promote something some way, I guess. It’s unfortunate that the unadulterated story of the Rolling Thunder Revue and its participants were not allowed to speak for themselves in what could have been the ultimate final word on the subject. Yes, it is clear that Scorsese did not want to concoct a standard, chronological rock documentary, but also that he needed to put his own stamp on the project by flying in outside sources, whether they were needed or not. The film is still a wonder to behold. You can pause the picture anywhere and there are enough stolen moments onscreen to delight any serious Dylanologist: here is Dylan standing in the back of Folk City with Louie Kemp and David Blue while Larry Sloman scribbles away in a notebook; there is Allen Ginsberg singing “Speed freaks took my statues” while Dylan laughs and Roger McGuinn observes; Peter Orlovsky handing out Rolling Thunder fliers on the streets of Plymouth. You could pause this film almost anywhere and enter a gateway into another world, one that no longer exists.
Except, of course, for the gratuitous fictional footage. | https://themagicthecat.medium.com/was-that-some-kind-of-joke-3b330ac2c43d | ['Magic The Cat'] | 2019-11-30 06:14:00.032000+00:00 | ['Beat Generation', 'Bob Dylan', 'Rolling Thunder Revue', 'Martin Scorsese', 'Renaldo And Clara'] |
Your body is the only one you’ll ever have | We beat ourselves up over a number on the scale.
We avoid looking in the mirror.
We’re never satisfied with our performance in the gym.
We see our health decline slowly over the years.
Our bodies can be major sources of discontent.
Perhaps even disappointment.
We don’t look, feel, or weigh how we think we should.
So we feel shame, guilt, and embarrassment.
Some of us work hard to change our bodies.
Some of us resign out of frustration and hopelessness.
Either way, most of us do so in an effort to “fix” a body we hate.
Failing to recognize that our bodies are our most precious gifts.
Your body may not weigh what you want it to.
You might hate how you think it looks.
It may not be as strong as you’d like.
Perhaps it’s even failing you.
Treat it with love anyway.
Loving thoughts, words, and actions.
Your body is the only one you’ll ever have.
This doesn’t mean you have to accept it “as is”.
It’s okay to want to improve.
To be healthier, stronger, and more capable.
But guide those efforts from a place of self-love.
You are worthy of a body that you love.
You’ve got that body right now.
You’ve always had it.
You always will have it.
You are worthy.
You’ve got this. | https://medium.com/@therobarthur/your-body-is-the-only-one-youll-ever-have-83c1b3e1d5d | ['Rob Arthur'] | 2020-12-23 11:13:32.533000+00:00 | ['Body Image', 'Self Care', 'Self-awareness', 'Self Worth', 'Self Love'] |
Embed your how to videos in conversational interface and enrich chatbot experience | As Jetlink, we are delighted to enrich user experience by adding new features and we keep up working in that direction:
Chatbots can now do various transactions without the need for a customer representative. Of course, first of all, the answers given by the bot should be sufficient for the customer’s question. Fundemental of a good conversations starts with true understanding. Once you manage that the next step is to enrich experience. As Jetlink, we aim to impress the user as well as to give the correct answer to the user’s question.
How embedded videos can contribute to user experience for chatbots?
Video is the king of content and people prefer watching over reading. The same rule applies for chatbots too, people like to consume content with video. For this reason, we’ve started to use videos to respond to the user. Here you can see the images before our development.
A video card with a video link inside and the YouTube page that opens on another page. In this way, user needs to navigate to a different platform to watch the video.
This has some obvious side effects: users might have more questions to ask and they need to return back to the conversation widget, this back and forth type of experience lacks. It brokes the conversation. Furthermore, platforms such as Youtube can cause users to redirect other unrelated videos and users can lose their attention. This will lead to lower engagement levels and decrease the numbers of lead generation.
Thanks to our new feature, our chabots enable us to play these videos in the conversation widget. In this way, the user both receives the answer with richer content, watches the required videos instead of reading, and experience is better, because users don’t need to leave the dialoge. Here is the screenshot after our recent development.
There are two benefits of that:
Firstly, conversations will keep on where it started smoothly. This will enable more engaging conversational experience. Eventually, it will bring better results.
As second, brands will be able to deliver their video content in chatbots. Because some of how to videos are the most convenient ways to help users. They are far better explainers for some of the tasks. Users can easily find out what needs to be done within the help of videos.
We will continue to improve our platform abilities and enrich the user experience in every way. If you would like to learn more how to have meaningful and automated conversations with your customer at scale, shoot us an email via [email protected] | https://blog.jetlink.io/embed-your-how-to-videos-in-conversational-interface-and-enrich-chatbot-experience-732c568b6ad3 | ['Pınar Doğan'] | 2021-01-20 15:43:37.704000+00:00 | ['User Experience', 'Chatbots', 'Chatbot Development', 'Chatbot Design', 'Customer Experience'] |
I went a little crazy trying to choose Charted’s colors. | It was actually one of the hardest parts of building and designing it. Here were the general goals:
Feel bright and colorful, but still professional
Work well in order so that each growing subset of 2, then 3, then 4, etc. still looks good as a complete set
Have each color work decently well with every other color, in case they end up next to each other
Increase color contrast to improve accessibility
Work on both white and black backgrounds, and as both lines and bars
I took inspiration from Airbnb’s recent brand refresh and a couple artists. Then I started throwing things together in Illustrator, trying different combinations and approaches until my eyes fell out.
I completely replaced them a few times. Eventually I settled on these seven, in this order:
I’m still not totally satisfied with them. Internally at Medium, too, I get requests all the time to improve them and add more. We’ll see, I say, maybe eventually. But for now, months later, I’m still letting my eyes rest.
If any color experts out there have better suggestions, there’s a list of hex values in the open source code awaiting your love. | https://medium.com/data-lab/i-went-a-little-crazy-trying-to-choose-charted-s-colors-8d4182c1d324 | ['Mike Sall'] | 2017-05-22 05:04:15.539000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Colors', 'Data Visualization'] |
TOP 5 QUESTIONS WITH ROBOSENSE LiDAR | The autonomous driving industry has always seen some kind of narrative around LiDAR sensors both from the positive and negative perspective. However, there is no doubt that the technology is flourishing and been used by majority of OEMs and Tier 1s as a key 3D perception and sensing for not just autonomous vehicles but also in the mobility infrastructure.
I’m a Consultant at ACES at M14 Intelligence and last week I got a chance to exchange a dialogue with Dr. LeiLei Shinohara, the Vice President and Co-partner at RoboSense Lidar on some of the most crucial questions that exists in the LiDAR’s mass production for autonomous driving application.
Below is a snapshot of the exhaustive discussion.
What hurdles the Covid-19 breakdown has brought in the way of RoboSense? What challenges did you face in achieving your 2020 milestones?
All types of businesses in all major countries have been impacted to a certain extent during the pandemic breakdown. For RoboSense, there are majorly two aspects that received an impact from the COVID outbreak.
The first and the most important aspect is the impact on the global customer base especially from the European region and some of the American countries. Quite a lot of our customers have stopped their operations and autonomous vehicle testing. Though the United States has recently resumed the AV testing, the overall number of the testing fleet has been reduced. Except for Asia, all other regions have slowed down their autonomous driving and RoboTaxi activities. Also, most of the countries have witnessed a significant reduction in vehicle production and sales, which had directly impacted our market as well. However, China and most of the other Asian countries have been less impacted or we can say showed early recovery. Particularly in China, the months of February, March, and April were highly crucial as the market was under lockdown; however, it showed amazingly fast recovery immediately after April.
During this COVID, the Chinese government took quite a lot of efforts to avoid extreme economic losses by deploying unmanned vehicles to deliver food, essential items, and packages. Owing to this, the country has witnessed a speedy development in the autonomous commercial vehicle industry.
The second aspect is the decline of the overall automotive industry. It is not that just this year but from the last year itself, the automotive industry has gone down and seen a continuous fall in sales. COVID has further aggravated the situation. In China, the 3rd quarter of 2020 has witnessed a speedy recovery in the automotive industry; although, the auto sales had fallen significantly in Q1 and Q2.
The OEMs working on autonomous driving technology have also paced up their research and development operations to ensure high-level safety. The recent accident of a Tesla Model X in California which was on Autopilot mode has also made the industry realized the importance of LiDAR sensing for autonomous vehicles. The recent premiere of the new Mercedes Benz S Class revealed the use of LiDAR in the vehicle, so is Volvo, Toyota Lexus, and Lucid’s new electric vehicles are going to use LiDAR in their sensor suite. We have received interests of lots of OEMs and other customers for our LiDAR products to incorporate in their upcoming autonomous cars. Therefore, I could say that COVID has in fact speed up our LiDAR development and created good opportunities for RoboSense.
Considering the geo-political situation like the US-China trade war, how do you see the effects on demand for RoboSense LiDARs from overseas?
Currently, the autonomous driving market is at a very nascent stage and we (RoboSense) provide LiDAR samples for testing AVs which are not in big volumes. However, in the later stage, there might be a certain level of impact on our market due to these geo-political conditions.
We do have a customer base in North America who are still procuring our LiDAR samples for testing. However, the volume is quite less which is also because of the COVID -19. The entire North American market has shrunken quite a lot. This is not only for RoboSense, but even the other suppliers from European and American countries are following similar trend.
Talking about the US-China trade war, right now for the sample phase, we do not see any change in the demand. I strongly believe that even later in the mass production program, RoboSense would receive an incredibly good market demand as we are confident about our price and quality of the product.
Do you think the autonomous driving solution will be successful without LiDAR? Will LiDARs find unique position in the autonomous driving sensor suite?
(Background — If LiDAR sensors both short range and long range are included in the sensor suit of autonomous vehicles, the overall autonomy package cost increases. This is the major reason behind the companies like Tesla and Xpeng to avoid the use of LiDAR sensor and focus on cameras and radars)
Currently, as it is just a beginning of autonomous driving technology, the automotive leaders are slowly getting towards the launch of so-called autonomous vehicles. Level 2 functionality is already existing in few of the car models and OEMs are promoting the advanced generation of level 2 features as level 2.5 and not level 3, except for Tesla and Audi. The major reason behind this is that the OEMs are defining their own autonomy features with certain conditions applied and do not want to name it as level 3. Level 3 according to SAE standards is conditional automation with eye-off the road, which I believe needs quite strong perception models and sensor redundancy.
We already have an example of recent Tesla accident that claimed to be level 3 equipped automation and even Traffic Jam pilot in Audi A8 is not being considered as Level 3 automation in the U.S. and company is no longer adding this feature in the current generation cars. Whichever OEM is launching the Level 3 vehicles without LiDAR is putting lots of limitations on the system. For example, the limitations could be such that the vehicle would not support automation during night, the driver must take control on sharp turns, and so on.
Couple of our customers are working on level 3 automation; however, there are lots of customers who are planning to launch the fully autonomous driving capability vehicles with automatic lane changing feature. Such customers have realized the importance of LiDAR and have considered it as one of the inevitable sensors for vehicle autonomy. As I mentioned in the above point that OEMs such as Audi, BMW, Volvo, and Toyota have positioned LiDAR in their autonomy platform.
Also, to have the ability of level 3 autonomy and make the vehicle features better, the most important thing is to improve safety on detection and safety on perception. For example, the passenger/driver losses trust on the autonomous system and gets frustrated if the system is signalling/alerting him/her every minute to take control of the car, which is not expected from a system that is called as autonomous.
This interruption gives a bad user experience and the driver uses its energy focusing on the road to make sure if the car is heading safely without any strange movements. The user will no longer trust such systems and will prefer the manned driving over the unmanned. However, if LiDAR is used as a part of such systems, it will certainly improve the system perception, performance, and the user experience.
There are many LiDAR technologies in the market like flash, OPA, mechanical scanning, and MEMS solid-state. On which technology RoboSense is focusing and which technology according to you is preferred by OEMs?
Yes, there are different LIDAR technologies as you mentioned. As far as RoboSense is concerned, in automotive-grade, we are focusing on MEMS-based Solid-State LiDAR technology using 905nm laser diode because it is the most manufacturable technology and can achieve mass production.
There are some companies which are using 1550nm wavelength laser, but 905nm is most widely used in MEMS and is a stable LiDAR technology. Although the 905nm cannot match the improved sensor performance of 1550nm, it will take quite a couple of years or more to get 1550nm at an affordable price with a reduced power consumption rate. Hence, from my perspective, in the current market, the MEMS-based 905nm technology is the best fit for long-range detection.
Also, mechanical LiDARs are being used for multiple years already and are the most stable technology. At present, RoboSense has a full range of mechanical products such as 128 lasers, 80 lasers, 32 lasers, 16 lasers. With extremely high performance and stable reliability, we have won a large number of customers in RoboTaxi, RoboTruck, robots, ShuttleBus, and other fields. During the COVID-19 outbreak in China, more than 70% of the robots were equipped with RoboSense LiDAR; however, in terms of passenger cars, it has certain issues especially for automotive grade like low shock resistance and large size and high price.
As you mentioned about the flash LiDAR, they are available from Continental, TI, and other companies who have released these LiDARs for automotive grade. RoboSense is also working on flash LiDAR; however, right now we are focusing to use the flash technology for short-range detection. For example, to detect the vehicles for automated parking and low-speed functionalities.
We are working aggressively on LiDAR technology and we believe that in the short-to-mid-term i.e. 3 to 5 years, for long-range detection MEMEs solid-state LiDARs and for short range detection flash LiDARs have good market potential. Also, the mechanical LiDARs still have a market for Robotaxi and Robotic application.
What is the timeline for RoboSense to start mass production? What is your target pricing for higher volumes of LiDARs?
As LiDAR technology is in the budding stage of the market, most of the customers do not have the requirements for big volumes; however, we have customers who are ready to start their SOP and mass production from next year. Our mass production could predominantly start for customers in next year. Also, for the new energy companies and automotive leaders, it is the first generation of their autonomous systems to be launched in the market. These first-generation systems are majorly focused on collecting enough data and feedback from the users about the system and experiences. We expect that the release of second-generation systems i.e. from 2023 or 2024 could bring a heavy volume demand for our LiDARs.
Regarding the pricing part, at least in the near future like 2022 or 2023, the acceptable pricing for the OEM customers could be much less than 1000 USD. However, we have also received requests from most of our customers for LiDARs in the price range of 500 USD or even lower. We have also seen that the customer losses interest if the price of LiDARs is more than 1000 USD. Hence, we expect that for bigger volume deals, the price could reach somewhere below 500 USD.
About RoboSense
RoboSense since 2014 is a leading provider of Smart LiDAR Sensor System solution autonomous driving passenger cars, RoboTaxi, RoboTruck, automated logistics vehicles, autonomous buses, and intelligent roads. The company’s automotive-grade solution is based on MEMS-based Solid-State LiDARs with AI-based fusion systems. Mechanical, Flash, and fusion hardware are some of the other technologies that the company has in its product portfolio. RoboSense has a created a strong hold in the industry with more than 500 patents and consistent winner of the CES Innovation Award for the past 2 years. It has a large customer base in the automotive sector and has expanded its reach by recently partnering with Alibaba’s Cainiao Network, SAIC, BAIC, and FAW are some of the company’s strategic partners and investors. The company expects robust demand for its LiDARs from all over the globe due to its low cost to performance ratio LiDAR products. | https://medium.com/@eva-3633/top-5-questions-with-robosense-lidar-3e7e340e835a | ['Eva Sharma'] | 2020-10-15 16:14:51.461000+00:00 | ['Vehicles', 'Autonomous Vehicles', 'Lidar', 'Self Driving Cars', 'Adas Market'] |
Demand Prediction with LSTMs using TensorFlow 2 and Keras in Python | TL;DR Learn how to predict demand using Multivariate Time Series Data. Build a Bidirectional LSTM Neural Network in Keras and TensorFlow 2 and use it to make predictions.
One of the most common applications of Time Series models is to predict future values. How the stock market is going to change? How much will 1 Bitcoin cost tomorrow? How much coffee are you going to sell next month?
Haven’t heard of LSTMs and Time Series? Read the previous part to learn the basics.
This guide will show you how to use Multivariate (many features) Time Series data to predict future demand. You’ll learn how to preprocess and scale the data. And you’re going to build a Bidirectional LSTM Neural Network to make the predictions.
Run the complete notebook in your browser
The complete project on GitHub
Data
Our data London bike sharing dataset is hosted on Kaggle. It is provided by Hristo Mavrodiev. Thanks!
A bicycle-sharing system, public bicycle scheme, or public bike share (PBS) scheme, is a service in which bicycles are made available for shared use to individuals on a short term basis for a price or free. — Wikipedia
Our goal is to predict the number of future bike shares given the historical data of London bike shares. Let’s download the data:
!gdown --id 1nPw071R3tZi4zqVcmXA6kXVTe43Ex6K3 --output london_bike_sharing.csv
and load it into a Pandas data frame:
Pandas is smart enough to parse the timestamp strings as DateTime objects. What do we have? We have 2 years of bike-sharing data, recorded at regular intervals (1 hour). And in terms of the number of rows:
(17414, 9)
That might do. What features do we have?
timestamp — timestamp field for grouping the data
cnt — the count of a new bike shares
t1 — real temperature in C
t2 — temperature in C “feels like”
hum — humidity in percentage
wind_speed — wind speed in km/h
weather_code — category of the weather
is_holiday — boolean field — 1 holiday / 0 non holiday
is_weekend — boolean field — 1 if the day is weekend
season — category field meteorological seasons: 0-spring ; 1-summer; 2-fall; 3-winter.
How well can we predict future demand based on the data?
Feature Engineering
We’ll do a little bit of engineering:
All new features are based on the timestamp. Let’s dive deeper into the data.
Exploration
Let’s start simple. Let’s have a look at the bike shares over time:
That’s a bit too crowded. Let’s have a look at the same data on a monthly basis:
Our data seems to have a strong seasonality component. Summer months are good for business.
How about the bike shares by the hour:
The hours with most bike shares differ significantly based on a weekend or not days. Workdays contain two large spikes during the morning and late afternoon hours (people pretend to work in between). On weekends early to late afternoon hours seem to be the busiest.
Looking at the data by day of the week shows a much higher count on the number of bike shares.
Our little feature engineering efforts seem to be paying off. The new features separate the data very well.
Preprocessing
We’ll use the last 10% of the data for testing:
15672 1742
We’ll scale some of the features we’re using for our modeling:
We’ll also scale the number of bike shares too:
To prepare the sequences, we’re going to reuse the same create_dataset() function:
Each sequence is going to contain 10 data points from the history:
(15662, 10, 13) (15662,)
Our data is not in the correct format for training an LSTM model. How well can we predict the number of bike shares?
Predicting Demand
Let’s start with a simple model and see how it goes. One layer of Bidirectional LSTM with a Dropout layer:
Remember to NOT shuffle the data when training:
Evaluation
Here’s what we have after training our model for 30 epochs:
You can see that the model learns pretty quickly. At about epoch 5, it is already starting to overfit a bit. You can play around — regularize it, change the number of units, etc. But how well can we predict demand with it?
That might be too much for your eyes. Let’s zoom in on the predictions:
Note that our model is predicting only one point in the future. That being said, it is doing very well. Although our model can’t really capture the extreme values it does a good job of predicting (understanding) the general pattern.
Conclusion
You just took a real dataset, preprocessed it, and used it to predict bike-sharing demand. You’ve used a Bidirectional LSTM model to train it on subsequences from the original dataset. You even got some very good results.
Run the complete notebook in your browser
The complete project on GitHub
Are there other applications of LSTMs for Time Series data? | https://towardsdatascience.com/demand-prediction-with-lstms-using-tensorflow-2-and-keras-in-python-1d1076fc89a0 | ['Venelin Valkov'] | 2020-04-23 19:19:32.994000+00:00 | ['Time Series Forecasting', 'Keras', 'Python', 'TensorFlow', 'Machine Learning'] |
Sign up for the Toilet Paper Caper | Sign up for the Toilet Paper Caper
The World Needs a Hero
Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash
These are trying times for sure. We need to band together with our collective, humorous unconsciousness and unleash a new Stark mystery on the world. Want to contribute to the insanity in order to keep ourselves sane? Sign up for a chapter in the comments below and I’ll add you to the line up.
The rules are simple — keep it first person, Stark’s perspective. Around a 3 to 5 minute read is a great length. Tag your story “Toilet Paper Caper” so it lands on the correct page.
New writers comment below if you’d like to take a stab at a chapter and we’ll add you as a writer to the publication before you submit a chapter.
If you’ve got an idea for a longer story please sign up for two chapters. Other than that, go wild. Can Stark time travel? Jump through space? Meet up with characters from past stories? Yes, yes, yes please. Brush up on your 1970s trivia and let’s go to the West Coast with Stark.
Chapter 1: Terrye Turpin
Chapter 2: Dan Leicht
Chapter 3: P.G. Barnett
Chapter 4: Mark Starlin
Chapter 5: John K. Adams
Chapter 6: Glenda Thompson
Chapter 7: Lon Shapiro
Chapter 8: Michael Stang
Chapter 9: Terrye Turpin
Chapter 10: Mark Starlin
Chapter 11: Elle Fredine
Chapter 12: Laura Johnson
Chapter 13: Dan Leicht
Chapter 14: Glenda Thompson
Chapter 15: Lon Shapiro
Chapter 16: Tommy Paley
Chapter 17: Terrye Turpin
Chapter 18: Tommy Paley
Chapter 19: Elle Fredine
Chapter 20: Terrye Turpin (The Ending)
I’m tagging anyone who wrote a chapter for other stories and feel free to tag folks in the comments if you think they’d be interested.
As we cruise through the first chapters, let us know if you’re up to a second round of writing. Thanks to everyone who contributed so far!
Mark Starlin, Lon Shapiro, Dan Leicht, John K Adams, Glenda Thompson, Michael Stang, Tommy Paley, Kirk Nelson, P.G. Barnett, Indira Reddy, A Maguire, Jeff Suwak, Karen Fayeth | https://medium.com/out-of-ideas-out-of-time/sign-up-for-the-toilet-paper-caper-84862fef3b42 | ['Terrye Turpin'] | 2020-04-24 02:14:34.042000+00:00 | ['Mystery', 'Stark Mystery', 'Fiction', 'Toilet Paper Caper', 'Humor'] |
Let’s Get the Facts Right on ROTC | by Warner Sallman
As many of you know, I am gay and have been an active member of the pro-ROTC movement on campus. I am not ashamed to say that I was excited and proud of the Faculty Senate yesterday for its historic decision. Nevertheless, I recognize that there is a significant minority on campus that does not agree with my position.
Policy decisions in a democratic system are by definition an inclusive political process, and for them to function well, they should protect the civil rights of all minority groups so that their voices can be heard. Thus I support today’s protestors exercising their political rights in White Plaza. This is a healthy and necessary part of democracy, and I salute their willingness to continue to fight for their cause.
With that, I cannot condone the highly misleading statements that the so-called “Students for Justice” have recently sent out to Stanford email lists. The ROTC program is and has always been governed by all federal legislation that is applicable to the military, such as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), the highly discriminatory law preventing gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members from serving openly.
Since DADT’s repeal, the military has worked on a strategy to include gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members. While it has not been fully implemented, the legal obstacle has been completely cleared. Students of all sexual orientations will soon be able to join the military legally and reap full benefits from the ROTC program. The Faculty Senate rightly celebrated this accomplishment with their vote yesterday.
Unlike the restrictions that existed under DADT, transgendered individuals are not legally barred from joining the military. However, many times the required medical examination is used to prevent transgendered people from enlisting. This decision is at the discretion of the military and is often used unjustly.
Yet, transgendered recruits are not left entirely without options. There is a waiver system that transgendered people can use to bypass the medical restrictions. I admit that this can be a difficult process that would require legal assistance and often does not produce the result that we all would like to see. Certainly, discrimination within the military exists, just as it exists in practically every human institution. Can the armed forces do better? Is reform necessary? Absolutely. And I hope to soon see these despicable practices removed and new protections for all groups legally enacted.
It is precisely for this reason that paving the way for ROTC’s return to campus is both a smart and forward thinking decision. During yesterday’s Faculty Senate Debate, Former Secretary of Defense William Perry pointed to the leadership of Admiral Mike Mullen, current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other top military officials as a key factor in the repeal of DADT. He credited their educational backgrounds as a fundamental part of the their progressive stances today.
It is now time for Stanford University to educate and train the next generation of great military leaders who will fight injustice and help the process of reform progress within one of our society’s fundamental institutions.
Furthermore, I applaud the statements of Imani Franklin ’13, a student member of the Ad Hoc ROTC committee. She correctly identified a serious problem on our campus — a lack of student-military interaction. This civilian-military divide perpetuates misunderstanding and confusion on both sides. To combat this, bringing ROTC back will greatly facilitate an exchange of ideas and perspectives on campus. We cannot afford to allow our failure to understand the military and its role in society blind us from believing there is a spot for its existence on our campus.
Whatever your opinion, I urge you to seek out the accurate information in this ROTC debate. Do not be persuaded by inflammatory emails cajoling students into political stunts during a time when we should be cheering for the next generation of Stanford students. As the Faculty Senate has overwhelmingly affirmed, Stanford University believes in the principle of an open and welcoming community that can find a home for any student regardless of their identity and beliefs. For that, I commend its members and all students who seek to uphold this ideal. | https://medium.com/stanfordreview/lets-get-the-facts-right-on-rotc-77504f2ace98 | [] | 2016-12-09 08:57:28.259000+00:00 | ['Military', 'LGBTQ'] |
Leetcode MySQL 595. Big Countries | 題目:
給一個world table，用兩個條件，篩選area 跟 population。
There is a table World
+-----------------+------------+------------+--------------+---------------+
| name | continent | area | population | gdp |
+-----------------+------------+------------+--------------+---------------+
| Afghanistan | Asia | 652230 | 25500100 | 20343000 |
| Albania | Europe | 28748 | 2831741 | 12960000 |
| Algeria | Africa | 2381741 | 37100000 | 188681000 |
| Andorra | Europe | 468 | 78115 | 3712000 |
| Angola | Africa | 1246700 | 20609294 | 100990000 |
+-----------------+------------+------------+--------------+---------------+
A country is big if it has an area of bigger than 3 million square km or a population of more than 25 million.
Write a SQL solution to output big countries’ name, population and area.
For example, according to the above table, we should output:
+--------------+-------------+--------------+
| name | population | area |
+--------------+-------------+--------------+
| Afghanistan | 25500100 | 652230 |
| Algeria | 37100000 | 2381741 |
+--------------+-------------+--------------+
Coding: | https://medium.com/data-science-for-kindergarten/leetcode-mysql-595-big-countries-9f10051dae2f | ['Sharko Shen'] | 2020-12-08 10:46:08.973000+00:00 | ['Leetcode'] |
CAPA — More Than What You Think It Is | What is CAPA?
Achieving greater quality in manufacturing, you need the means to implement improvements to an organization’s processes so that they eliminate causes of non-conformities or other undesirable situations. This process is commonly referred to as CAPA or Corrective and Preventive Actions. One cannot achieve compliance with ISO 9001, ISO 13485, GMP and myriad other quality standards without a strong, consistent CAPA process. The consequences of CAPA noncompliance are costly and significant, resulting in damaged brand reputation and, potentially, a company’s long-term profitability. Effective CAPA management software is more than just a regulatory requirement. It’s a good business practice that can reduce company liability and warranty claims and increase customer satisfaction.
CAPA, as the term indicates has 2 parts to the process. Corrective Action and Preventive Action. Corrective actions are implemented in response to customer complaints, unacceptable levels of product non-conformance, issues identified during an internal audit, or adverse or unstable trends in product and process monitoring. Preventive actions are implemented in response to the identification of potential sources of non-conformity to prevent reoccurrence. CAPA implementation and effectiveness verification are leading indicators of the overall quality system effectiveness.
The key phases of the CAPA process :
1. Problem Definition
Intake of the issue and finding all the required information so that the detailed analysis can be conducted. This step also includes identifying and including the relevant personnel from the company or outside of the company who can help address the issue at hand. Not all source inputs to potential non-conformances are always identified. Information is typically is not measured, monitored or shared across different product lines or business units. Trending data are not always visible to the appropriate level in the organization. Companies tend to look at product and material issues and correcting them and neglect to look beyond into the processes and procedures of their quality system.
2. Analysis
A thorough analysis of the issue that has been summarized from step 1. The analysis may include scanning the entire system to determine if issues of similar nature have occurred. Conducting a risk assessment to determine the severity and the potential impact the issue at hand will have on the company’s key stakeholders and principal/values.
3. Investigation
You will need t to identify everything from problems that may occur from partner sites through final manufacturing, labeling/packaging and distribution lifecycle to any possible customer complaints. Key to recording problems is to drive to the root cause and focus on prevention and correction actions. Locate and document the root cause(s) of the identified non-conformity. Use the various investigation tools such as 5 Why’s, Pareto Analysis, Fishbone Diagram, etc. to be sure that the root cause investigation was done using scientific methods. The more knowledge you have, the faster you can react. Without n integrated system, identifying root causes is little more than guesswork. Assumptions are made based on rumor and conjecture, rather than accurate, reliable data. Islands of information created by multiple data streams lead to inconsistencies and waste. Immediate data and real measuring tools enable managers to determine precisely where and when mistakes are occurring and why.
4. Action Plans
Create and document the required action plans that will mitigate the identified root causes. Care should be taken to address the corrective action to address the non-conformity at hand and at the same time take preventive actions to be certain that the issues of a similar kind do not occur in the future. The actions may require initiating change control to address all the required changes to be addressed including procedural or documentation changes. Such changes should be communicated to those directly involved — making sure everyone is aware of the changes, understands the changes, and implements the changes. Once source error information is correctly captured, many companies escalate these immediately to CAPAs to begin the investigation process. Everything becomes a CAPA! This behavior may lead to an overload of data that doesn’t inherently provide the important impacts of what’s failing across the organization. With a volume of CAPAs, companies cannot always assure 100% effectiveness of its corrective/preventive action plans; what the trending really tells you and, if the information provided back to the product design is really going anywhere — there’s just too many.
5. Verification or validation of the effectiveness of the actions
Did the changes have their desired effect and did they have any adverse effects? Effectiveness checks are a critical part of the CAPA process to be sure that effectiveness checks are done in a systematic manner and the information collected through this process is documented for why the information as accepted or not. The CAPA process should be tied to a company’s overall change management strategy to more effective respond to issues as they arise.
6. Review at the management level
Make management aware of and ensure they are on board with all the activities.
7. Document everything
Provide that “audit trail” or “evidence” of everything done.
To accomplish the above processes of what a good CAPA process requires for a company to manage their need the following QMS solutions:
1. Non-conformance Management
Identify and capture any product or process related nonconformities including customer complaints. Capturing events that happen at the source is a critical part of an effective CAPA system
2. CAPA Management
A good CAPA management tool provides an effective problem resolution management platform that allows choreographing the above-identified elements by supporting the processes within it or by working with other parts of the integrated EQMS solution framework.
3. Change Management
Many a time, action plans proposed may need to be spun off as change projects whether they be replacing machines, re-validating a specific process or equipment, changing documents, the creation of new documents or ensuring that knowledge is properly propagated, a change management software tool is essential to carry out the complete CAPA action plan objective.
4. Document Control
We know the information is knowledge and no process change can be complete without the supporting information in documents are revised and thus aligned with the improvement to the processes that are being worked on.
5. Training Management
Knowledge dissemination due to the changes or creation of new content requires that the resources who should be informed and knowledge transferred and assessed are all important part of the effectiveness of how well a CAPA got implemented.
So as you see, for a good CAPA process to work, a company needs to have 5 core solutions, if not more. The purpose of a highly integrated EQMS solution is to support such choreographed processes and thus ensuring the company achieves a high degree of required business process automation resulting in the reduction in cost and improvement in brand loyalty.
At ComplianceQuest, the phrase next-generation is not just marketing speak. It is a key part of our quest to build a truly useful, cutting-edge EQMS workflow for our customers across sectors.
Visit www.compliancequest.com to schedule a demo or speak with an expert. | https://medium.com/@compliancequesteqms/capa-more-than-what-you-think-it-is-bf24e0432671 | [] | 2020-12-16 14:29:08.188000+00:00 | ['Analysis', 'Qms', 'Capa Management Software', 'Document Control', 'Nonconformance Management'] |
Getting a Data Science Role | Getting a Data Science Role
First steps into data science are hard
How to become a Data Scientist, especially if you don’t need it for your current job? Maybe you have some open tasks of data science inside your current company and don’t want to shift from data scientist to user-defined software engineer or vice versa.
This blog post is about how you can actually make your current role into a data science role.
Keep it simple.
Data Science requires Patience
In general, it is more difficult to transition to being a data scientist, as opposed to many other jobs. The first step is to have a clear direction in life. So don’t let yourself be distracted with small, low-level tasks. Make a life plan and define what you will do with your life in the coming years.
What I know for sure is that data science is not a mandatory requirement to do well in any university studies, graduate program or corporate job interview. If you are interested in data science, there is plenty of free, solid content and free courses out there and a well-known, supportive community.
There are many steps to follow to make your data science position. So without any further delay, I’ll jump right into the good stuff:
Data Science Tools:
Statistics and Linear Algebra
Python
Numpy, Scikit-learn, Keras, Tensorflow
Common sense and intuition
Understanding Data
Data is a hugely valuable asset, with countless applications for businesses from individuals to companies of all kinds. But the terminology and jargon has often hidden what makes data science a truly useful practice. Here are five easy steps to getting your feet wet.
1. Understand Data. How do we become data scientists? First, read up on the fundamentals of data — how it can inform business decisions, how to relate it to other fields of science, and how to connect it to creativity, engineering, politics, art, and entrepreneurship.
2. Be Data Mathematician. What does this mean? We’re not a collection of human beings producing wisdom through intuition or emotion; we’re a field producing high-output code for machines. However, this code is often highly human-centric. Data scientists make maps, algorithms, model tweaks, sketch maps, do research, advise on models, and so on. They interact with users, managers, and programmers, and so do you.
4. Get Started Online. A great way to get out of the glare of your office on a Friday night is to sit down with a cup of coffee and tune into the Learnings channel on Code Academy. Or start with Coursera or Udemy — they have plenty of good courses available for free. Check this list for a start.
5. Read Data Science Books and engage in communities on Facebook/LinkedIn or other platforms. You’ll learn a lot — because it’s all about learning.
6. Don’t give up too soon. You’ll need at least a year to make sense of what you’re doing with data.
If you want to read more about becoming a Data Scientist, have a look at this text.
Good Luck! | https://medium.com/data-science-rush/getting-a-data-science-role-b0868f37919d | ['Przemek Chojecki'] | 2019-12-09 18:49:16.135000+00:00 | ['Careers', 'Learning To Code', 'Programming', 'Career Change', 'Data Science'] |
Song | Poetry
Song
Dance to your own drum, sing in your own key
Medium format film self portrait, September 5, 2019 (photograph by the author)
I sing the song of America, my country, sweet land
the clay from which I was made
where my ancestors sailed before there was an island to receive them
and again, later, leaving their names upon the island’s wall
Believers, all of them
in the promise of freedom and rebirth
with passion enough to join a revolution
to stand up for the stricken
with courage enough
to weather the tyrant’s Tower
I sing the song of Texas, the proud state that raised me
for the hometown much maligned
for my grandparents, forging south
Believers, all of them
in our ability to strive and achieve
I sing for the hope that burns like a fire in the heart
stacking hard work and perseverance
layer on layer, year on year
for love, the mortar to hold the life of a family together
that produced a name to stand behind
and the treasure that grows the more it is given away
like a lucky penny in my pocket
I sing for the memory of the individuals who built this place
in their humanity, in all their triumphs and defeats
in their trials and errors, their rights and wrongs
I hear them singing back
how we are all one in our successes and failures
how the tides from this turbulent sea of liberty
rush out from our shores to touch the hands of the world
how the prize we seek hides like a pearl
not in the shell of desire
but in the glowing mantle of compassion and duty
I sing, because I still believe in the dream | https://medium.com/the-pom/song-f195d3fdb84c | ['Amy Jasek'] | 2020-09-07 21:03:52.109000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Pomprompt', 'Thepom', 'Song Of Myself', 'Autobiography'] |
Fiddler & Captum join hands to enhance Explainable AI offerings | Authors: Narine Kokhlikyan, Research Scientist at Facebook AI, Ankur Taly, Head of Data Science at Fiddler Labs, Aalok Shanbhag, Data Scientist at Fiddler Labs
We are excited to announce that Fiddler and Captum are collaborating to push the boundaries of Explainable AI. The goals of this partnership are to help the data science community to improve model understanding and its applications, as well as to promote the usage of Explainable AI in the ML workflow.
Fiddler is an Explainable AI Platform that seamlessly enables business and technical stakeholders to explain, monitor, and analyze AI models in production. Users get access to deep model level actionable insights to understand problem drivers using explanations and efficiently root cause and resolve issues. Captum is a model interpretability suite for PyTorch developed by Facebook AI. It offers a number of attribution algorithms that allow users to understand the importance of inputs features, and hidden neurons and layers.
Need for attributions in ML
ML methods have made remarkable progress over the last decade, achieving super human performance on a variety of tasks. Unfortunately much of the recent progress in machine learning has come at the cost of the models becoming more opaque and “black box” to us humans. With the increasing use of ML models in high stakes domains such as hiring, credit lending, and healthcare, the impact of ML methods on society can be far reaching. Consequently, today, there is a tremendous need for explainability methods from ethical, regulatory, end-user, and model developer perspectives. An overarching question that arises is: why did the model make this prediction? This question is of importance to developers in debugging (mis-)predictions, regulators in assessing the robustness and fairness of the model, and end-users in deciding whether they can trust the model.
One concrete formulation of this why question is the attribution problem. Here, we seek to explain a model’s prediction on an input by attributing the prediction to features of the input. The attributions are meant to be commensurate with each feature’s contribution to the prediction. Attributions are an effective tool for debugging mis-predictions, assessing model bias and unfairness, generating explanations for the end-user, and extracting rules from a model. Over the last few years, several attribution methods have been proposed to explain model predictions. The diagram below shows all attribution algorithms available in the Captum library divided into two groups. The first group, listed on the left side of the diagram, allows us to attribute the output predictions or the internal neurons to the inputs of the model. The second group, listed on the right side, includes several attribution algorithms that allow us to attribute the output predictions to the internal layers of the model. Some of those algorithms in the second group are different variants of the ones in the first group.
A prominent method among them is Integrated Gradients (IG), which has recently become a popular tool for explaining predictions made by deep neural networks. It belongs to the family of gradient-based attribution methods, which compute attributions by examining the gradient of the prediction with respect to the input feature. Gradients essentially capture the sensitivity of the prediction with respect to each feature.
IG operates by considering a straight line path, in feature space, from the input at hand (e.g., an image from a training set) to a certain baseline input (e.g., a black image), and integrating the gradient of the prediction with respect to input features (e.g., image pixels) along this path. The highlight of the method is that it is proven to be unique under a certain set of desirable axioms. As a historical note, the method is derived from the Aumann-Shapley method from cooperative game theory. We refer the interested reader to the paper and this blog post for a thorough analysis of the method. IG is attractive as it is broadly applicable to all differentiable models, is easy to implement in popular ML frameworks, e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow, and is backed by an axiomatic theory. IG is also much faster than combinatorial calculation based Shapley value methods due the use of gradients. For instance, IG is one of the key explainability methods made available by Captum for PyTorch models.
In the rest of the post, we will demonstrate how IG explanations, enabled by the Captum framework, can be leveraged within Fiddler to explain a toxicity model.
Example — The toxicity model
Detecting conversational toxicity is an important yet challenging task that involves understanding many subtleties and nuances of human language.
Over the last years various different classifiers have built that aim to address these problems and increase the prediction accuracy of machine learning models.
Although prediction accuracy is an important metric to measure, understanding the root causes of how those models reason and whether they are capable of capturing the semantics and unintended bias are crucial for those tasks.
In this case study we fine-tuned BERT classification model on conversational toxicity dataset, performed predictions on a subset of sentences and computed each token’s importance for the predicted samples using integrated gradients. Integrated gradients is a gradient-based attribution algorithm that assigns an importance score to each token embedding by integrating the gradients along the path from a sentence that has missing toxic features to the one that is classified as toxic.
For training purposes we used English wikipedia talk dataset (source: https://figshare.com/articles/Wikipedia_Talk_Labels_Toxicity/4563973) that contains 160k labeled discussion comments.
About 60% of that dataset was used for training, 20% for development and another 20% for testing purposes.
We reached overall 97% training and 96% test accuracy by fine-tuning vanilla Bert binary classification model on the dataset described above.
Side Note: This Unintended ML Bias Analysis presentation contains interesting insights on bias in text classification.
We will be sharing the training script and other analysis notebooks shortly.
Importing the model into Fiddler
Here we give a general run down of the steps to import a PyTorch model, using the example of the above model.
As an Explainable AI Platform a core feature in Fiddler’s Platform is to generate explanations and predictions for the models that are loaded in it. With the Fiddler Python package, uploading models into Fiddler is simple. Once you initialize the Fiddler API object, you can programmatically harness the power of the Fiddler Platform to interpret and explain your models.
It can be done in four simple steps:
Step 1: Create a project — models live inside a project. Think of it as a directory for models.
Step 2: Upload the dataset that the model uses — a dataset can be linked to multiple models.
Step 3: Edit our package.py template — package.py is the interface by which the Fiddler Platform figures out how to load your model, run predictions on it and explain model predictions. More detailed instructions for doing and testing this code will be shared along with the demo notebook for this example. Rest assured that it’s quite easy and well laid out.
Step 4: Upload the model and associated files using our custom_model_import function — all the files must be inside a folder, which is provided to the function.
With four simple steps, the model is now part of Fiddler. You can now use Fiddler’s model analysis and debugging tools, in addition to using it to serve explanations at scale. If this is a production model, you can use Fiddler’s Explainable Monitoring tools to monitor live traffic for this model, analyze data drift, outliers, data integrity of your pipeline, and general service health.
Analyzing the model in Fiddler
Here we show a brief example of how we can use Fiddler’s NLP explain tools to debug and test this model. The comment in question (not from the dataset) is “that man is so silly” We can see that this is a toxic comment. And the word silly is the term that should get the most blame for the toxicity.
From the attributions above, we can see that the term ‘silly’ indeed gets the most blame. Now we can see that ‘man’ also gets a positive attribution. Is it because the model believes that ‘man’ is a toxic word, or is it because ‘man’ in this case is the subject of discussion ? We can use the text edit tool to try and change it to boy and see if it also gets a high positive attribution
‘Boy’ in fact gets an even higher positive attribution, telling us that the model likely thinks both terms to be toxic, and ‘boy’ more so. It’s quite possible that it’s because the word ‘boy’ occurs in more toxic comments than does ‘man’. We can use Fiddler’s model analysis feature to check if this is true.
This is indeed the case, as the very rough SQL query shows us. A sentence containing boy is toxic roughly a third of the time, as opposed to almost a seventh for ‘man’. Do note that this does not constitute hard proof for the model’s behavior, and neither is it necessarily a fact that ‘boy’ will always get a higher toxic attribution than ‘man’. That will need much deeper analysis to prove, which we plan to address in a subsequent post, along with a thorough investigation of the biases of the model and dataset in general.
Conclusion
Both teams are very excited about the potential of this collaboration on furthering model explainability research and applications. As a first step we’ve made the two interoperable to make it easy for Fiddler users to upload PyTorch models. We plan to share the results of our work regularly, so stay tuned. | https://medium.com/pytorch/fiddler-captum-join-hands-to-enhance-explainable-ai-offerings-2d92beac2b86 | [] | 2020-07-13 16:01:12.442000+00:00 | ['Explainable Ai', 'Announcements', 'Fiddler', 'Captum', 'Pytorch'] |
France still beats the USA | France still beats the USA
Photo by Sebastien Gabriel on Unsplash
I give France a hard time, and I plan to keep giving it hard time. It’s a deeply flawed country, with an aging culture, where idealism and absurd logic breeds ignorance.
I believe it is something of a duty for me to criticize my country, to help fend off the rot that would make it worthless.
“But the bread! But the cheese! But the wine!”
I know, France has so much to offer, and I am not going to go on record denying all the wonderful things my compatriot have given us.
But there are plenty of glowing travelogues to tell you about all that. Wine guides, cheese pairing advice, Eiffel tower porn. That stuff is great — go find it elsewhere.
I’m here to cut through the fantasy, talk real about my country, and hopefully make it 0.0000001% better for all of us.
That said, I’m also American. Being half yank also has its advantages, its benefits. There are good things to say about America.
But here, on Christmas Eve, I want to offer you this confession as a gift (even if you don’t celebrate this commercial-Christian holiday):
I may give France a hard time, but I will always prefer it here to my other country, the United States.
Why? There are ten thousand reasons why. I could talk about credit cards, gun enthusiasts, racism, bleached white teeth, evangelical Christians, and much much more.
But today — and I say this with a bit of hope that the era in which this is possible or relevant is drawing very soon to a close — I will answer with the single word that ends so many arguments. To explain profoundly with a single syllable, like a rune spoken aloud to magical effect, is all I need. A word pregnant with nearly infinite meanings, and addressing everything now and everything that has been, if hopefully not everything that will be.
Why do I prefer France to the United States? It’s simple. It’s complex. It’s everything.
Trump. | https://medium.com/@frankiefaunet/france-is-still-beats-the-usa-b26e7ba2cc1c | ['Frankie Faunet'] | 2020-12-26 08:27:32.563000+00:00 | ['Christmas', 'USA', 'France', 'Culture', 'Politics'] |
An Unconventional University Co-op | There are certain things that school won’t be able to teach you, these you can only pick up when you are in a real-life situation. The opportunity to join a big company and work towards a massive, expensive project is very intimidating, especially if you’re not “fully trained” (i.e finished your studies and graduated). I mean, sure, I worked on school projects or participated in hackathons but those were low stake opportunities — there were no big repercussions for mistakes. Working for a major video game company and working on products with real-life impact was somehow different. It really put my skills and confidence to the test. I was definitely skilled and capable of completing the work — I just didn’t believe I could. Taking on an “atypical” co-op experience was an opportunity to challenge myself academically, professionally, and personally. My atypical pathway gave my answer to “Why am I in university?” a whole new meaning.
So, what makes a degree, a good degree to pursue?
Is it the clout of the University? The co-op opportunities or future job prospects? Is it that the content that you’re learning aligns with your interests? Is it for the sake of getting a degree and moving on?
For me, it is the ability to learn a wide variety of things and being able to define my own learning experiences.
I am currently pursuing a Joint Honours Management Engineering and Computer Science degree (B.A.Sc/B.C.S) at the University of Waterloo. I started off in Nanotechnology, but quickly found out it wasn’t for me and transferred into Management Engineering. I found myself wanting to try so many different things and there was not one program that could allow me to learn about the wide variety of things I was interested in. I was exposed to a few computer science courses throughout my degree and started to like that work. This led me to “upgrading” my degree to the joint honors that it is today. With my management engineering degree, I am learning the fundamentals of data analysis and process improvement. Our goal is to find inefficiencies in the “system”. We use modern techniques, such as programming and automation to make things work better and faster. With my Computer Science background, I can build on my skills as a Management Engineer to make systems simpler while being able to do more! I can put on multiple hats and have the skills to approach many different problems from almost any industry.
Over the past few years I had the opportunity to work in the public sector, as a project manager, and to undertake a data science research position. I have been a student for the past 3 years, but I haven’t been at Waterloo studying for half of that — especially the past year. (almost 16 months!)
– Why?
Well that’s because I have been defining my own opportunities outside the program structure of my degree.
I found opportunities to continue to learn and work towards my degree requirements but in different ways. Last September, I went on an academic exchange in Switzerland for a semester and took courses while I traveled Europe. I worked with Electronic Arts in Vancouver as a coop student as a Software Engineer for the past year (yes, a yearlong internship — something that is atypical for a UW student)
I joined EA in early January 2020. Only one week after I landed in Toronto from my travels from Switzerland, I had to get on another plane to make my way to Vancouver. I worked on the FIFA 21 development team as a software engineer. In particular, I worked on the FIFA Ultimate Team’s server. This was my first coop as a developer working in a big team of software engineers. It was an overwhelming experience — the number of times that I thought I would get fired or that I would do something wrong and shut down the servers worldwide (which is impossible, by the way, since the work I was doing was not even public) was too numerous to count. I knew that I might have been over-exaggerating how incapable I thought I was versus how incapable I actually am but for some reason, I still second-guessed my abilities. (TLDR; Diagnosis: Imposter Syndrome)
Experiencing and overcoming imposter syndrome, I think, is part of every student’s professional career (throughout coops and post-grad). You end up worrying that the skills that you picked up throughout university might not be relevant or not substantive for you to be successful in whatever role you’re in. You might be thinking that your team is secretly unhappy with your performance and can’t wait until you leave. For me, every time I had a check-in with my manager, I expected a laundry list of mistakes I made throughout the past sprint, and when that wouldn’t happen, I would start to overthink. I would constantly need validation from my team or manager. I would excessively ask for feedback which is arguably just as bad as not being proactive and not asking. When the feedback would come back positive, I would assume they are trying to “protect my feelings” and in reality, behind my back, they really were not happy with my work (which was NOT the case). Initially, I didn’t feel like I earned my place to share ideas on implementation, raise concerns or call out potential bugs. The funny thing is, my team always fostered an open and collaborative environment and always treated me as if I was a full Software Engineer so there was no reason for me to think the way I did. This was all an internal negative feedback loop that was running through my head regardless of what my team did.
Everything I just mentioned is all a mind game that your brain concocts to mess you up. This is a personal dilemma that everyone eventually needs to overcome internally. In the end, you have to learn to be confident in your skills and eventually self-validate your abilities and your value to your team. You should be able to identify when you have the knowledge to speak up and contribute meaningfully to the work. The only way that this can happen is by continuing to do your job, relying on the support and feedback from your team, and constantly reminding yourself of your capabilities. Also, remember the fact that you wouldn’t have been hired if they didn’t think you could do it, so cut yourself some slack. One more thing, when you ask for feedback and the response you get is positive — own it and be proud of the fact that they are praising you! It is not in your employer’s best interest to hide constructive feedback from you. I don’t know if I just had an extreme case of imposter syndrome or there are other people that think like me — but it took me a while to trust in “I only have positive things to say about your work so far”. This is not something you’d be able to learn in university because you very rarely are put in a position where you are working towards an outcome as a team to achieve something other than a high mark. This will come as you do more co-ops or positions and will be something you will learn from — it’s part of the process.
Once I overcame that — working on FIFA has been one of the best experiences ever! My confidence in my development skills improved, I learned new software skills and worked on a massive worldwide game — something that school is not able to offer. I felt that I was learning so much, arguably more useful stuff too, by working and learning on the job — all while being remote! As August came around, I began to wrap up my time at EA. This was also the time when school was transitioning to online delivery.
I was expected to go back to school for the fall term and continue my studies, but I wasn’t ready to go back yet. I knew I was ready for a change, but I wasn’t sure if school was the change that I wanted. I knew there were more things that I wanted to explore before going back and hitting the books again. Also given how uncertain the COVID pandemic has been, I wasn’t ready to leave my internship and risk not being able to find another job for a future co-op. Fortunately, an opportunity came up at EA where I was able to transition to another position that I really wanted to try — product management. This was a position that I have never held before nor was I fully aware of what product managers do — you could say I was unqualified (or so I thought I was). I had some idea of what a PM does, but not enough to know if I would like it or not. All I knew is that it was something I wanted to try doing and I took my shot. Long story short, my new team took a chance on me, and now I am a Product manager co-op on EAX working on some pretty interesting features using my skills that I learned at UW in ways I didn’t expect.
Product Management is at the cross-section of many domains — Design, Data, Software Engineering etc. It is a field that can best be learned by doing, not just by studying. Good product managers come with a lot of industry experience and leverage a variety of skills. Industry experience is not picked up from the textbook in school — it is something that is learned through exposure to the real situation. Sure, theoretical knowledge is important and a foundational understanding of a variety of subjects (Business acumen, technical understanding, data skills) comes from school. However, PMs use the foundations from a variety of fields simultaneously and use their understanding of the industry and their customer base to understand the problem spaces that they face. The ability to effectively use all the skills from all the different subjects at the same time comes with practice and iteration on real-life problems with real-life solutions — not some case study in a course.
TLDR; PMs are experts at being non-experts — which is something that is not easily definable in school but becomes more clear as you continue to work with real-life examples.
In just 2 months, I grew from someone who had a rudimentary knowledge of what product managers do, to managing two multi-million dollar features on the EAX team. It is fascinating to be able to work on a problem and really understand who the user is and what we, as a product team, need to do for the user to help solve their problems. Finding the right problem to solve is arguably the hardest part of the job and to be able to go through the iterations of problem discovery and action on feedback in each round has tremendously improved my abilities. I have a better understanding of what skills I need to continue to refine and now, going forward, I can customize my learnings to target subjects that I am deficient in. This could be taking more CS courses to improve my technical understanding, taking more business courses to gain a better business acumen, or taking statistics courses to familiarize myself with fundamental data management theories.
I could have gone back to school, stuck to the status quo, studied online, and hoped that I got another job when I was expected to go back to coop but I found the opportunity at EA to be more advantageous and worthwhile that I was willing to risk delaying my graduation in favour of working more and experiencing different things. Now I plan on working at EA for another two terms and then next year splitting my time between school and work. I expect to be back to school full-time in Summer 2021, but I am ready for any curveballs that may come my way!
School is not just checking off degree requirements and following the path set out in front of you. Take the opportunity to define your own pathway and customize your studies to meet your needs. I learned so much from my exchange and my extended internship that I would have never been exposed to if I just went back to school. Try new things if you are unsure of what you want to do or find opportunities to refine those skills as you work towards your end goal. Sometimes following an atypical pathway may be more rewarding than following what may seem like the most logical or straightforward thing to do! | https://medium.com/atypical-internships/an-unconventional-university-co-op-88714fe04a6d | ['Nicolas Abou Sawan'] | 2020-11-14 02:48:47.100000+00:00 | ['Exchange', 'Software Development', 'Product Management', 'Internships', 'Video Game Development'] |
I am not a writer. | I am not a writer.
I used to be. I would like to be again. My brain just isn’t there anymore. I can’t form cohesive thoughts and sentences. I have trouble with getting the words out of my head; they get jumbled up and try to stay there.
I get stuck. I feel stuck.
I used to write. I was pretty good at it. I’m not sure if my block is related to neurodivergence, or trauma that needs to get out of my head, or something else altogether, but I just struggle so much now.
The words don’t flow. They are stilted, and in rereading them they seem forced (probably because they are). I don’t have beautiful words that invoke emotion in my head — I have infinite chaos. I have a person who is drowning and is trying to tread water. I have a mother who is constantly stuck between desperately needing time away and feeling guilt for feeling that way. I have a child who just wants to be accepted and cherished. I have so many pieces of myself at war and no focus to try to figure out how to fix it. I mean, I can’t afford to get help.
So instead, I try to distract myself. I make efforts to connect with people online. I get into a show, or a book. I do my makeup — a lot. I change my hair. I do all of these things, as internally I’m picking apart the things that I feel must be wrong with me.
And damn it, I just wish I could write. Or paint. Or draw. But the inspiration isn’t there. I don’t know if it ever will be again. Maybe next year. | https://medium.com/@rubythoughts/i-am-not-a-writer-dea9e2fcb874 | [] | 2019-11-16 05:41:57.482000+00:00 | ['Trauma', 'Writers Block', 'Creative Block', 'Writing'] |
On International Men’s Day, a thank you to the men who got me through | My mum’s boyfriend introduced me to surfing when I was 10. They broke up shortly after but I’m still surfing
Growing into manhood is confusing and a little sketchy, don’t you think?
At 36, living without my children, and in a second career as a psychotherapist, it feels like there has been no shortage of pain in my life, but writing this has reminded me of the abundance of support we have around us at all times, if only we remember to notice.
Despite my frequently unwise and dangerous behaviour as a youth, older men consistently had my back with a guiding hand, a voice of reason and a lot of love. I’d like to say thank you to a few of them because on November 19 it’s International Men’s Day, a day to celebrate men’s contributions to our lives.
Thank you
Thank you to Roger Mansfield, the former British surfing champion, for teaching me to surf when you were going out with my mum. It changed my life. I was 10. You even did a video recording of me surfing to show me my technique.
Thank you to my best friend’s dad, John Conway, RIP — the man credited for bringing the world surfing tour to Newquay and founder of Wavelength surfing magazine — for taking me seriously when I didn’t take myself seriously, giving me advice about drugs — “it’s always a trade-off, what you gain in one way you lose in another” — and being so good-natured about our horrible drunken behaviour in your house.
Thank you to the judge who stood up for me when I was 14. I’d been skateboarding down Falmouth Moor Hill on my Sector 9 skateboard when a traffic warden shouted, ran at me and fell, hurting her knee. She sued for damages in Truro Crown Court and I was petrified, but you told the woman: “You put yourself in Zac’s way. Skateboarding is not a crime.” Your attitude gave me a lifelong faith in our legal system, imperfect as it is.
Thank you to my father for maintaining a loving presence in my life and prioritising good relations with my mother even after having your heart broken when you lost regular contact with me from the age of four. Thank you for being steady and still supporting me in so many ways, especially in understanding business.
But also for your unstinting belief in me as someone innately good and with something to offer the world even when, at times, my confidence and self-worth has been very low.
Thank you to the male school teachers who saw through my cockiness and pressed the deputy head not to expel me after I committed an idiotic act of vandalism in the library.
Thank you to the officer who dealt with me at Falmouth Police Station. I was 17, drunk and stoned, and decided to drive to a beach party. I took my mum’s car without permission or a licence. I got halfway, thought better of it and turned back, then crashed into a hedge. You held just the right tension between a reprimanding authority figure and a compassionate elder. I went to university a week later and started a new life, unplanned.
Thank you to my Uncle Steve and my Grandad for always being there as I grew up, just around the corner. You showed me how to fish (badly), bet on horses and stay up late to watch boxing matches, none of which I found very interesting, but it didn’t matter. You made me feel like I belonged.
For persevering with a teen
Thank you to all the men who patiently endured my incompetence, unreliability and self-absorption in the jobs I had as a teen. I was so self-conscious, anxious and/or stoned that I struggled a lot, but you were always kind to me. I’m remembering the gentle South African handyman at the Falmouth Hotel. You were in your 70s. You took me under your wing and told me stories about your life on the road which inspired me to travel through Latin America for a year.
Thank you to my sisters’ partners for welcoming me into their lives, cooking for me and encouraging me as I broke up with girlfriends, got too drunk, behaved selfishly, and made my way in London in my 20s. There was a place to crash at your houses and I knew that you got me in a way that my sisters couldn’t.
Thank you to the men who trusted me more than I trusted myself by giving me responsibility when I began my career in newspapers. I was so nervous, I’d go between overwhelm and cockiness, but you held me steady so I could provide for my daughter.
Thank you to Ray, RIP. You were kind and supportive even though, aged 24, I got your daughter pregnant and left her. You made a permanent difference to the relationship I have with my daughter.
Thank you to my Grandpa, RIP, who died on October 17, aged 93, for your confidence in me and for making me laugh. Thank you to SN Goenka, RIP, who taught me how to meditate, and to Chad Varah, RIP, who founded the Samaritans, which changed my life. Thank you to the GP who told me I was depressed and what to do about it. Thank you to Kevin, my counselling teacher, who encouraged me to explore masculinity and called me out on my mean behaviour.
Thank you to the man I saw removing the mud and moss out of the crevices between the pavement and the curb on my road. To the men who collect my rubbish every Monday morning in all weather, and the men who keep my water and electricity working. Thank you to the men who built the building I live in, the car I drive, the phone and laptop I use, the wetsuit I wear and the surfboards I ride. | https://medium.com/@zacfine/growing-into-manhood-is-confusing-and-a-little-sketchy-dont-you-think-43552f756dc8 | ['Zac Fine'] | 2020-11-19 17:44:24.565000+00:00 | ['Healthy Masculinity', 'Depression', 'Mental Health', 'Masculinity', 'International Mens Day'] |
Space Loudest Sound Detected By NASA | In , nobody can hear you scream, but with the proper equipment, it’s possible to detect a . That is what scientists discovered back in once they began to seem for distant signals within the universe employing a complex instrument fixed to an enormous balloon that was sent to space. The instrument was ready to devour radio waves from the warmth of distant stars, but what came through that year was nothing in need of .
As the instrument listened from a height of about 23 miles (37 kilometers), it picked up a sign that was six-times louder than expected by . Because it had been too loud to be early stars and much greater than the anticipated combined radio wave from distant galaxies, the powerful signal caused great puzzlement. And scientists still do not know what’s causing it, even today. What’s more, it could hamper efforts to look for signals from the primary stars that formed after the .
The instrument that detected the mysterious was absolutely the Radiometer for Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Diffuse Emission (ARCADE) , which built to increase the study of the background spectrum at lower frequencies.
The mission’s science goals — as ARCADE floated high above Earth’s atmosphere, freed from interference from our planet — were to seek out heat from the primary generation of stars, look for high-energy physics relics from the large Bang and observe the formation of the primary stars and galaxies. It accomplished these goals by scanning 7% of the night sky for radio signals, since distant light becomes radio waves because it loses energy over distance.
NASA Sound From Space
ARCADE was ready to make “absolutely calibrated zero-level” measurements, which suggests it had been measuring the particular brightness of something in real physical terms instead of relative terms. This was different from typical radio telescopes, which observe and contrast two points within the sky. By watching all of the and comparing it to a black body source, ARCADE was ready to see the mixture of the many dim sources. it had been then that the intensity of 1 particular signal became apparent, albeit over many months.
“While it’d make an honest movie to ascertain us surprised once we see the sunshine meter pop over to a worth six-times what was expected, we actually spent years preparing for our balloon flight and a really busy night taking data,” said scientist . “It then took months of knowledge analysis to first separate instrumental effects from the signal then to separate galactic radiation from the signal. therefore the surprise was gradually revealed over months.” That said, the impact was still huge.
Since then, scientists have looked to ascertain where the radiation is coming from while looking to explain the properties of the signal. The latter became apparent rather quickly.
“It’s a diffuse signal coming from all directions, so it’s not caused by anybody single object,” said , who headed the ARCADE team at in . “The signal also features a frequency spectrum, or ‘color,’ that’s almost like radio wave from our own Milky Way galaxy .”
Scientists call the signal “radio synchrotron background” — background being an emission from many individual sources and blending together into a diffuse glow. But because the “space roar” is caused by synchrotron radiation, a kind of emission from high-energy charged particles in magnetic fields, and since every source has an equivalent characteristic spectrum, pinpointing the origin of this intense signal is difficult.
“It has been known since the late 1960s that the combined radio wave from distant galaxies should form a diffuse radio background coming from all directions,” Kogut told All About Space in an email. “The space roar is analogous to the present expected signal, but there doesn’t seem to be six-times more galaxies within the distant universe to form up the difference, which could point to something new and exciting because the source.”
Is The Space Roar Coming From The Milky Way?
Whether or not this source is inside or outside the Milky Way is under debate.
“There are good arguments why it can’t be coming from within the Milky Way, and good arguments for why it can’t be coming from outside the galaxy,” Kogut said.
One reason it probably isn’t coming from within our galaxy is because the roar doesn’t seem to follow the spatial distribution of Milky Way radio wave . But nobody is saying surely that the signal isn’t from a source closer to home — only that the smart money is there on coming from elsewhere.
“I wouldn’t quite say that scientists have largely ruled out the likelihood of the radio synchrotron background originating from our galaxy,” said Jack Singal, an professor of physics at the in Virginia, who recently led a workshop on the matter. “However, i might say that this explanation does seem to be less likely.
“The primary reason is that it might make our galaxy completely unlike any similar , which as far as we will tell don’t exhibit the type of giant, spherical, radio-emitting halo extending far beyond the galactic disk that might be required. There are other issues also , like that it might require an entire rethinking of our models of the galactic magnetic flux .”
Fixsen agrees wholeheartedly. “In other spiral galaxies there’s an in depth relation between the infrared and radio wave , even in small sections of those others, “ he said. “So, if it’s from a halo around our galaxy, it might make the Milky Way a weird galaxy, while in most other respects it looks like a spiral nebula .”
For those reasons, experts think the signal is primarily extragalactic in origin. “It would make it the foremost interesting photon background within the sky at the instant because the source population is totally unknown,” Singal said. But since the universe is so vast this does not exactly narrow things down that much, which is why scientists are working hard to return up with multiple theories for the signal’s source.
Endless repetitions of all possible physical events,” Brown wrote on the Community blog. What this supposes is that the first universe had far more real matter than today, accounting for the powerful radio wave .
The space roar might be “the first great empirical success of M-theory,” a broad mathematical framework encompassing string theory. -
But if that’s too far out, there are other theories to urge your teeth into. “Radio astronomers have checked out the sky and have identified a few of sorts of synchrotron sources,” Fixsen said.
Synchrotron radiation is straightforward to form , he said. “All you would like is energetic particles and a magnetic flux , and there are energetic particles everywhere, produced by , , , even ,” which are hot, massive stars of spectral O or early-type B. “Intergalactic space seems to be crammed with extremely popular gas, so if intergalactic magnetic fields were strong enough [stronger than predicted], they might generate smooth synchrotron radiation,” he said.
It is also known that synchrotron radiation is related to star production. “This also generates infrared , hence the close correlation,” Fixsen said. “But perhaps the primary stars generated synchrotron radiation yet, before metals were produced, they didn’t generate considerably infrared . Or perhaps there’s some process that we’ve not thought of yet.”
So what does this leave us with? “Possible sources include either diffuse large-scale mechanisms like turbulently merging clusters of galaxies, or a completely new class of heretofore unknown incredibly numerous individual sources of radio wave within the universe,” Singal said. “But anything therein regard is very speculative at the instant , and a few suggestions that are raised include annihilating substance , supernovae of the primary generations of stars and lots of others.”
Some scientists have suggested gases in large clusters of galaxies might be the source, although it’s unlikely ARCADE’s instruments would are ready to detect radiation from any of them. Similarly, there’s an opportunity that the signal was detected from the earliest stars or that it’s originating from many otherwise dim radio galaxies, the accumulative effect of which is being picked up. But if this was the case then they’d need to be packed incredibly tightly, to the purpose that there’s no gap between them, which appears unlikely.
How The 13 Year Old Mystery Are Going To Be Solved
“Of course, there’s also the likelihood that there has been a coincidence of errors among ARCADE and therefore the other measurements so far that have mismeasured the extent of the radio synchrotron background,” Singal said. “This does seem unlikely, as long as these are very different instruments measuring in quite different frequency bands.”
Whatever the signal is, it is also causing issues when it involves detecting other space objects. As NASA has acknowledged within the past, the earliest stars are hidden behind the, which is making them harder to detect. It’s as if the universe is giving with one hand and taking with another, but to possess uncovered something so unusual is immensely exciting. When you’re ruling out an origin from and known radio sources like gas within the outermost halo of our galaxy, it is a mystery any scientist would savour with relish.
“Beyond that, i feel we may have some brilliant new origin hypothesis that no-one has thought of yet.” — Astrophysicist Jack Singal
In order for scientists to finally resolve this 13-year conundrum, more research and evidence is sorely needed. because it stands, there’s a debate over sending ARCADE copy given the arrival of latest technology, and given its precise set of instruments, immersed in additional than 500 gallons of ultra-cold liquid helium to form them even more sensitive, there would definitely be no harm in doing so.
But there also are new projects emerging which could help. “One of them will use the at Green Bank, West Virginia , to map the radio sky to higher precision than before,” Kogut said. “Perhaps this may shed some light on the mystery.”
Singal certainly hopes so. he’s performing on the Green Bank Telescope project, making use of the most important clear-aperture radio reflector within the world to live the extent of the background as a primary, instead of ancillary goal. It’ll do that employing a definitive, purpose-built, absolutely calibrated zero-level measurement taken at the megahertz frequencies where the radio sky is brightest. (A megahertz is adequate to 1,000,000 hertz.)
“This measurement is currently being developed by a team which i’m on, utilizing custom instrumentation which can be mounted on the telescope,” Singal explained. There’s also getting to be another measurement attempt, this one looking to live or further limit the so-called or variation of the radio synchrotron background, again at the MHz frequencies where it dominates.
“That isn’t its absolute level, but rather the tiny differences from place to put within the sky,” Singal said. “With some collaborators, i’m trying a primary attempt at that using the within the . Both of those measurements together can help nail down whether the radio synchrotron background is or in origin. Beyond that, i feel we may have some brilliant new origin hypothesis that no-one has thought of yet.”
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THANK YOU | https://medium.com/@raghavrajan483/space-loudest-sound-detected-by-nasa-786acb7ba248 | [] | 2020-08-09 07:20:31.905000+00:00 | ['NASA', 'Astronomy', 'Space', 'Blog', 'Sound'] |
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#cryptoware #mining #invest | https://medium.com/@anto313/makes-auto-passive-earning-even-im-work-in-office-345766442af4 | [] | 2020-12-26 13:04:55.674000+00:00 | ['Eth', 'Bitcoin', 'Investing', 'Cryptoware', 'Stellar'] |
Explaining Ramadhan to non-Muslims | Ramadhan Karem. ~ Sumber Gambar: Instagram Fakartun.
Muslims follow a lunar calender so the birth of a new moon signifies the beginning of a new month. Ramadhan is the name of the 9th month of the lunar calender. Fasting in this month is obligatory on all adult Muslims and is one of the 5 pillars of Islam.
Fasting is not a punishment. The ultimate aim is to attain consciousness of the Almighty, and there are many secondary health & spiritual benefits as well. Muslims fast from dawn until dusk, abstaining from any food and drink during that time frame. We eat a pre-dawn meal called suhoor break our fast with an evening meal at sunset called “iftaar”. After iftaar there is a special prayer called “taraweeh” (night prayer) in which our Holy book (Quran) is recited. The aim is to complete one full recitation of the Quran during this prayer over the course of the month. Ramadhan is the month of the Quran. Muslims are encouraged to spend more time pondering and reflecting over the messages contained within this Holy book.
Ramadhan is more than hunger, it’s a spiritual process. We pray more, eat less and give more charity. For most of us it’s is our fav time of the year. We exert our efforts and practice more good deeds than usual to gain the happiness of our Lord. Don’t minimize that by apologizing for us having to fast. It’s also ok for you to eat in front of us, so eat normally and don’t feel bad. Ramadhan is not a diet & the purpose isn’t weight loss. Fasting enables us to emphathize with the less fortunate and naturally become kinder, better human beings. It helps us to practice gratitude over things we take for granted It’s also an opportunity to re-examine our lives and actions over the past year and make intentions for self improvementand personal growth. We’re human beings and thus, are bound to err. We’ve made mistakes and many people wish for a do-over in life
Ramadhan is a chance to start over and repent over the mistakes of our past so we can begin anew. It’s like a spiritual spring cleaning and retreat- a special time for Muslims who focus on doing things sincerely for the pleasure of our Lord, attaining peace & contentment
Ramadhan is a difficult time for people who don’t get to spend it with family and friends. Be a safe space for your Muslim friends and co-workers by learning a little about ramadhan, providing them with prayer space and being understanding if they’re fatigued.
Islam places emphasis on our interactions with others. Its more than a religion bound by rules, its a way of life. All good actions are futile if we hurt the heart of another human being. Apologizing to those whom we have wronged is important | https://medium.com/@harisfauzi8/explaining-ramadhan-to-non-muslims-8dc59a935919 | ['Haris Fauzi'] | 2019-06-17 02:57:48.938000+00:00 | ['Peac', 'Ramadan', 'Muslim', 'Islam', 'Heart'] |
Coconut | For millennia, the coconut, the ‘prince of palms’, was central to the lives of Polynesian and Asian peoples; fruits were portable food and drink, whilst the stems and leaves were shelter, fuel and transport. In the west, coconuts were more exotic. The sixteenth-century English herbalist John Gerard emphasised that polished coconut shells, traced with silver, were novelties for the wealthy. In Edwardian Britain, coconut shies became commonplace fairground entertainment. Today, coconut palm-fringed beaches are advertising clichés.
The coconut palm has a smooth, slender, curved, grey trunk, up to 30 m tall, surmounted with a rosette of leaves, each of which may up to be 6 m long. Coconut flowers are tightly clustered together among the leaves. Coconut palms produce as many as 70 head-sized fruits per year, with fruits weighing more than one kilogramme each.
The wall of the fruit has three layers: a waterproof outer layer, a fibrous middle layer and a hard inner layer. The thick, fibrous middle layer produces coconut fibre (coir), which is used for making rope, matting, bristles and even peat substitutes. The woody innermost layer (shell), the familiar coconut, surrounds the seed. The shell, with its three prominent ‘eyes’, gives coconut its scientific name, Cocos, meaning ‘mask’ or ‘monkey face’.
Inside the shell are the nutrients needed by the developing seed. Initially, the endosperm is a sweetish liquid (coconut water), which is widely drunk; it is also a source of plant growth hormones and can be used in emergency blood transfusions. As the fruit matures, the coconut water solidifies forming brilliant white, fat-rich, edible flesh. Dried coconut flesh (copra) is made into coconut fat and coconut milk, for cooking, cosmetics and soap.
Coconuts are great maritime voyagers and coastal colonizers. The large, energy-rich fruits are buoyant and salt-tolerant, but remain viable only for about 110 days. Literally cast on to desert island shores, with little more than sand to grow in, coconut seeds must germinate and root. The air pocket in the seed, created as the endosperm solidifies, and the fibrous fruit wall that provided buoyancy en voyage, protects the embryo and provides a moisture-retentive rooting medium to help the seedling establish itself quickly.
During the nineteenth century, coconut oil and coir evolved into items of international commerce. Moreover, at much the same time, a derivative of coconut fat, glycerine, acquired strategic importance, as Alfred Nobel introduced the world to his nitroglycerine-based invention — dynamite.
Professor Stephen Harris
Druce Curator of the University of Oxford Herbaria and Associate Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences
Oxford Plants 400
Twitter: Plants400 | https://medium.com/university-of-oxford-botanic-garden-and-arboretum/coconut-91358a0d5a17 | [] | 2020-01-03 11:21:50.798000+00:00 | ['Coconut', 'Plants', 'Botany', 'Plants400', 'Food'] |
Would Donald Trump be president if all Americans actually voted? | Over thousands of iterations, the model gradually learns the relationships between demographics and political behaviour. We can use those relationships to predict the voting habits of each demographic group in each state (per the ACS). The aforementioned female Floridian seniors are predicted to vote for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton by five percentage points, for example. We compute the same for each of the tens of thousands of demographic groups in our data.
Once that has finished, all that’s left is to calculate the estimates for each state. This is done by adding up (or “post-stratifying” — the “P” of “Mr P”) the predicted number of Clinton voters in each group in each state. We obtain her vote share in each state by dividing the number of eligible voters favouring Mrs Clinton by the total number of adult citizens who live there. The same is done for Mr Trump. Since we are only concerned with votes for Mrs Clinton and Mr Trump (third parties have been excluded from this analysis for computational reasons, though in testing this made little difference) electoral votes are allocated to whichever candidate is projected to win more than 50% of votes in a given state. Probabilities of victory are derived by simulating each state’s outcome thousands of times, accounting for the errors from predictions made by a similar model we built to make ex post facto predictions of the actual results of the 2016 presidential election.
The results are presented in this week’s Graphic Detail piece:
The main chart from the print article
First, second and …n principles
From start to finish, our approach was not an easy one. Although the processes resembled that for a typical social-science research article, the time frame was much more compressed: journalistic demands necessitated that the work be completed roughly within a month and a half. Should anyone want to repeat the method I have described above, they might want to keep a few things in mind.
First, familiarisation with concepts like Bayesian statistics was important in our approach (because several of our Data Team members are sticklers for uncertainty, myself included) but this is not strictly necessary. Other R packages exist to accomplish nearly identical tasks — in fact, we ended up using one of them, “lme4” to compute the final data because it generated identical point predictions. But either way, an understanding of subjects like public opinion polling, survey weights and American voting behaviour is crucial. Had we not completed similar projects before, this one would have taken even longer.
Second, MRP is an effective tool to extract reliable estimates of state-level opinion from national polling, but it is not perfect. Even after having a validated record of who voted in 2016, the model still cannot precisely predict the election; the average absolute error in our predictions of Hillary Clinton’s state-level vote share in the contest was just under 2 percentage points. Predictions made before the election, without the knowledge of who actually voted, could have had larger errors. The quality of the national survey is key; you cannot weight your way out of unrepresentative data.
Finally, there is a certain utility in pursuing a complex approach, but a parsimonious one that accomplishes the same task with as few bells and whistles as possible will make things much easier to explain to the reader. As that is our ultimate goal at The Economist, I did not do things like extract probabilities from posterior predictive distributions, include random effects terms with varying slopes or other such fanciness that a reader will only interpret as sociological gobbledygook, if they are communicated at all. That being said, this is not an endeavour for Ockhamites; there is danger in being too simplistic.
What you may be asking yourself after reading all of this text
Story time
In the end, the madness was worth it. Our team produced a phenomenal story. The finished product is a highly detailed answer to the question of how America’s political landscape would change if every adult citizen had been required to vote in its most recent presidential election.
We have quantified for the reader just how left-leaning America’s non-voters are. We have shown how an increase in voter turnout would produce varying political swings in states with different populations of whites and non-whites, holders of college degrees and high-school diplomas, millennials and baby boomers, etc. And although the numbers didn’t make it onto the page — we had fewer than 300 words to work with in this week’s chart-filled Graphic Detail — we were also able to show the persistence of a built-in electoral advantage for working-class whites in America, a frequently-covered topic of this newspaper. Finally, we have provided a data-driven answer to a quintessential Economist “What If?” question — something rarer in the era preceding this newspaper’s data team.
G. Elliott Morris is a data journalist at The Economist. You can follow The Economist’s Data Team on Twitter. | https://medium.economist.com/would-donald-trump-be-president-if-all-americans-actually-voted-95c4f960798 | ['G. Elliott Morris'] | 2019-07-04 15:03:34.611000+00:00 | ['Data', 'America', 'Journalism', 'Politics', 'Data Science'] |
The Ideological Spectrum | Individual Liberty or State Authority
Totaliatarianism
The extreme version of being controlled by the state. This is the idea where the state should have TOTAL control over the lives of their citizens. Based on state knows best.
2. Anarchism
The extreme version of not being controlled by the state. This is the idea where the state should NOT control over the lives of their citizens. Based on individuals know best.
What anarchists look up to during this pandemic as stated on Kennedy Institute of of Ethics Journal:
“People saw a need, worked together through existing networks, offered help where needed, engaged in discussions of best practices, listened to established experts, and acted in concert with one another in the interests of all. In many cases, people volunteered activities that were dangerous delivering materials to potentially sick community members, doctors coming out of retirement to serve and in no case do these fit the logic of self-interest and competition.”
We want to take this moment to uplift the purpose and spirit of the group: mutual aid. This group is about solidarity, NOT charity. Protecting each other, not policing each other. Replacing oppressive systems and practices, not replicating them. | https://medium.com/@melania.aseng/the-ideological-spectrum-35444393643a | ['Melania Sarah Aseng'] | 2020-12-15 07:09:35.371000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'President University', 'Ideology', 'International Relations'] |
Multinomial Logistic Regression In a Nutshell | Now that we understand multinomial logistic regression, let’s apply our knowledge. We’ll be building the MLR by following the MLR in the graph above (Figure 1).
Data
Our data will be the Fashion MNIST dataset from Kaggle. The dataset is stored as a DataFrame with 60,000 rows, where each row represents an image. The DataFrame also has 785 columns, where the first column of the DataFrame represents the label of the image (Figure 3.2). The rest of the 784 columns contain the RGB-values for the pixels of each training image (Figure 3.1). Each image pixel number ranges from 0 to 255 based on its RGB value.
Figure 3.1. Sample image of a shirt from the training set.
Figure 3.2. Labels
Task:
Split the DataFrame into DataFrame X and DataFrame Y
Convert DataFrame X to an array
One-hot encoding Y values and convert DataFrame Y to an array
We are using one-hot encoder to transform the original Y values into one-hot encoded Y values because our predicted values are probabilities. I will explain this later in the next step.
Figure 4. Given X- and Y-values and desired X- and Y-values
Score & Softmax
Task:
Compute the score values
Define an activation function
Run the activation function to compute errors
Looking at Figure 1, the next step would be computing the dot product between the vectors containing features and weights. Our original weight vector will be an array of 0s because we do not have any better values. Don’t worry, our weight will be constantly updating as the loss function is minimized. The dot product is called the score. This score is the deciding factor that predicts whether our image is a T-shirt/top, a dress or a coat.
Figure 5. Softmax function. Photo credit to Wiki Commons
Before we utilize the score to predict the label, we have 2 problems. Remember that we one-hot encode our scores because our predicted values are probabilities? Our current scores are not probability values because they contain negative values and thus do not range from 0 to 1. So, we need to implement the Softmax function in order to normalize the scores. This exponent normalization function would convert our scores into positives and turn them into probabilities (Figure 5).
In an array of probability values for each possible result, the argmax of the probability values is the Y value. For example, in an array of 10 probabilities, if the 5th element has the highest probability, then the image label is a coat, since the 5th element in the Y values is the coat (Figure 3.1).
Figure 6. Score and Softmax functions in Python
Gradient Descent & Loss Function
Task:
Define a gradient function
Define a loss function
Optimize the loss function
After the Softmax function computes the probability values in the initial iteration, it is not guaranteed that the argmax matches the correct Y value. We need to iterate multiple times until we are confident about our argmax. To validate our argmax, we need to set up a loss function. We will use cross-entropy loss.
Figure 7. Cross-entropy loss in Python
The way to maximize the correctness is to minimize the loss in cross entropy function. To do that, we will apply gradient descent. Specifically, we will use stochastic ٖgradient descent. Stochastic gradient descent is no different than regular gradient descent. The term “stochastic” means random, meaning the gradient descent will be done by randomly selecting a sample of features. Then, instead of taking the gradient of all features, we are only calculating the gradient for the sample features. The purpose of stochastic gradient descent is to decrease the number of iterations and save time.
Figure 8. Gradient descent and stochastic gradient descent formulas
In order to achieve randomness, we will disrupt the order inside the X array (permutation). Each time we sample an image from the X array, we’ll compute the stochastic gradient descent and update the weight. Then the updated weight will be used to find the minimum value of the loss function. The number of times the minimum is found in the loss function is known as the number of epochs. Typically, more epochs would lead to better results since there is more training involved. However, too many epochs would lead to overfitting. Choosing a good epoch depends on the loss values, there is an article that talks about how to choose a good number of epochs here.
Train & Test
Task:
Define a training set and a test set
Train our samples
Visualize our loss values
Now that we have optimized the loss function, let’s test our model on our data. Our training sample has 60,000 images, we will split 80% of the images as the train set and the other 20% as the test set based on the Pareto principle. While we fit the model, let’s keep track of the loss values to see if the model is working correctly.
Figure 9. Losses after iterations
We can clearly see that the value of the loss function is decreasing substantially at first, and that’s because the predicted probabilities are nowhere close to the target value. That means our loss values are far from the minimum. As we are getting close to the minimum, the error is getting smaller because the predicted probabilities are getting more and more accurate.
Accuracy
After fitting the model on the training set, let’s see the result for our test set predictions.
Figure 10. Prediction result
It looks like our accuracy is about 85% (Figure 11), which is not so bad.
Figure 11. Accuracy Score
Challenge
Now that we have our initial predictions, see if you can improve the accuracy by adjusting the parameters in the model or adding more features. Tuning parameters like the learning rate and epoch is something to start with. I’ve attached the code and datasets for you to play around with. Enjoy! | https://medium.com/ds3ucsd/multinomial-logistic-regression-in-a-nutshell-53c94b30448f | ['Wilson Xie'] | 2020-12-11 09:30:25.988000+00:00 | ['Neural Networks', 'Python', 'Logistic Regression', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning'] |
Hyaluronic Acid Is Overrated Part 3: Hyaluronic Acid In Depth And Conclusion | One source of the hyaluronic acid found in cosmetics is the rooster comb.
Did you know that the hyaluronic acid in your serum might have come from those red flappy things attached to the face of a rooster? They’re called rooster combs and contain the popular cosmetic ingredient in abundance. In cosmetics it’s used as a humectant and usually marketed as being able to hold a thousand times its weight in water — which while true when the molecule is inside the skin, is debatable when it’s topically applied, but more on that later. It is able to bind water due to the abundance of hydroxyl groups on the molecule, as explained in part 1 of this series, and occurs naturally in the human body where, among other things, it cushions and lubricates the joints.
In the skin hyaluronic acid is the main component of the extracellular matrix — the collagen and elastin fibres, among other things, that hold the cells of a tissue in place and give the tissue its structure. Most of the skin’s hyaluronic acid is concentrated in the dermis and decreases as we move up the layers of the epidermis towards the stratum corneum — the outermost layer of the skin that’s visible to us — and is only abundant on the skin’s surface in the event of wound healing, a process in which hyaluronic acid plays a key role. Hyaluronic acid helps give skin its structure and keeps it plump and hydrated. Just like collagen and elastin, it also decreases in our skin as we age, making ageing skin more susceptible to volume loss, dryness, sagging, and wrinkles.
In addition to extraction from animal tissues like rooster combs, hyaluronic acid can also be biosynthesised using microorganisms — where the microorganism used has an impact on the quality of the end product. Hyaluronic acid produced using Streptococcus bacteria for instance, has the potential to be contaminated with endotoxins — substances bacteria produce that are toxic for humans. However, new, safer methods of production are being developed given the compound’s popularity not just in cosmetics, but also in pharmaceutical and biomedical products.
In cosmetics, hyaluronic tends to be used in one of two ways: topically, or as in injectable — think dermal fillers, but in this post I’ll limit my discussion to its use in the former. Two key myths around its topical use abound: first, that it’s an exfoliant, which people assume because of the presence of the word acid in the name, and second, that it’s an anti-ageing ingredient. Both are not true — hyaluronic acid is a humectant. While essential for skin health when it’s inside the skin, its molecules are too large to be absorbed when it’s applied topically. Topical application can at best, hydrate the skin’s surface so it appears plumper, and fine lines get smoothed over — but the effect is temporary.
Smaller molecules of hyaluronic acid do exist and were developed by scientists for increased skin penetration. They tend to be more expensive and are often highlighted on cosmetics packaging for this reason. However, while they are able to go relatively deeper into the skin, they don’t bind as much water and unlike their high molecular weight counterparts, low molecular weights of hyaluronic acid have also been associated with skin inflammation and irritation, where the smaller the molecule, the greater the irritation.This is because lower molecular weights trigger an immune response and might also be problematic because they cause other ingredients, irritants included, to go deeper into the skin which is especially problematic if your skin barrier is compromised. However, even low molecular weight hyaluronic acid isn’t able to penetrate too deep and only a small fraction tends to make it to the base of the epidermis.
Only a small fraction of low molecular weight hyaluronic acid molecules make it past the stratum corneum — the topmost layer of the epidermis that’s visible to us — down to the base of the epidermis. This illustration also shows components of the skin’s extracellular matrix, mentioned earlier. These include hyaluronic acid, collagen fibers, and elastin fibers.
A number of people who’re using hyaluronic acid and have a “good” skincare routine but still have skin irritation for reasons that they’re unable to grasp, see marked improvement once they cut the hyaluronic acid out. As Harper’s Bazaar nicely summarises:
“Editors and Redditors alike have written about the redness and dryness they believe to be caused by topical HA. Instagrammers and influencers have eliminated it from their routines, with impressive results. The Mixed Makeup Facebook group recently held an “HA-free” challenge, with hundreds of comments detailing individual HA sensitivities and reporting improvements. One-star reviews of popular HA serums point to extreme irritation, beauty brands have issued usage warnings for their HA-laced products, one medical-grade HA ointment advises patients that “prolonged use may give rise to sensitisation phenomena,” and hyaluronic acid injectables are increasingly associated with late-onset inflammation.
Mary Schook, an aesthetician and cosmetic formulator, is among the first industry professionals to take note of all of the above. “A client had an immediate reaction to something [during a treatment] and I was like, ‘What’s going on here?’’ she tells BAZAAR. “The product had three different molecular weights of hyaluronic acid in it.” The incident inspired years of research, trial, and error and today, Schook recommends that her clients remove HA from their routines completely. “I find it to be the one common ingredient that I ask consumers to quit and 98 percent of them have symptoms’’ — redness, dryness, texture issues, breakouts, dermatitis, rosacea, and more — “that subside.””
While high molecular weight hyaluronic acid has been shown to have an anti-inflammatory effect, even with that, it’s easily possible to go wrong with it. It’s strong water binding capabilities mean that if you use too much, it’ll pull more water upwards from the skin’s deeper layers where it’ll be easier for it to evaporate making your skin more, not less, prone to dehydration and the issues that follow. One leave-on product that contains HA is more than enough in your routine and how you use it also matters — it’s best applied on wet or damp skin and then followed up with a heavy moisturiser to help seal the hydration in.
And here’s where things get really interesting. I mentioned in the beginning that hyaluronic acid is known to be a potent humectant that is usually marketed as being able to hold up to a thousand times its weight in water. However, while this may be true of the version of the substance that’s found in our bodies, there’s no evidence to prove that the hyaluronic acid found in cosmetics is able to do that and according to a video by Stanford Chemicals Company, a hyaluronic acid manufacturer, topical hyaluronic acid has limited ability to retain water, and this ability also depends on the size of the molecule in question. A lawsuit was also filed against Peter Thomas Roth’s Water Drench line in this regard. According to The Fashion Law:
The plaintiffs assert that in connection with its “Water Drench” line of products Roth “represents that the active ingredient, hyaluronic acid, will draw moisture from the atmosphere into the user’s skin, and will hold 1,000 times its weight in water for up to 72 hours.” This is impossible, they claim, as “hyaluronic acid is incapable of absorbing anywhere near 1,000 times its weight in water, even when it is in its anhydrous (i.e., waterless; completely dry) form.”
And according to the files of the case, “This outlandish claim [that hyaluronic acid can hold up to a thousand times its weight in water], is entirely unsupported by science. Published data from actual studies by real chemists establishes that hyaluronic acid binds a small amount of water, equivalent to about half the weight of the hyaluronic acid, or between 9 and 19 molecules.” In this regard, the judge ruled in favour of the plaintiff.
In physiological systems however, hyaluronic acid is generally able to hold on to over a 1000 times its weight in water, something that has to do with its high molecular weight, large molecular volume, entangled structure and extensive interaction between hyaluronic acid chains in such systems, properties that likely don’t hold when hyaluronic acid is deployed in a cosmetic product.
What About Sodium Hyaluronate?
Often when you find hyaluronic acid advertised on a product, the ingredients list contains sodium hyaluronate instead. Hyaluronic acid tends to be an umbrella term used for all molecular weights of hyaluronic acid and sodium hyaluronate, its sodium salt. Sodium hyaluronate is also found naturally in the body. In fact, under physiological conditions in the human body, hyaluronic acid tends to exist as sodium hyaluronate, but the structure is sensitive to ion concentration and pH.
Sodium hyaluronate exhibits similar properties as hyaluronic acid. However, it is more bioavailable and therefore, more readily absorbed into the skin. It’s also less prone to oxidation and able to maintain a longer shelf life. Like hyaluronic acid, it’s also available in different molecular weights, where heavier weights deliver surface hydration and lower weights are able to go deeper into the skin.
The Verdict
Hyaluronic acid has become an extremely popular humectant. Interest in the ingredient has quadrupled over the last decade according to Google Trends data, and this is despite its fairly complicated name. Anyone moderately interested in skincare is aware of what it is and companies are racing to fulfil demand by making hyaluronic acid serums and adding the ingredient to just about every product so that they can advertise it on the label. However, hyaluronic acid falls short of the all hype it gets for several reasons.
Evidence doesn’t support the claim that topically applied hyaluronic acid is able to hold up to a thousand times its weight in water.
High molecular weight hyaluronic acid — the good kind — simply sits on top of your skin and there isn’t enough evidence to show that it draws water from the atmosphere — and not your skin’s deeper layers — to help keep your skin hydrated. In fact, a 2018 study funded by Estée Lauder found that in humid environments hyaluronic acid made the skin look temporarily hydrated but actually had to opposite impact and increased transepidermal water loss. And a 2016 study found that low molecular weight hyaluronic acid also increased water loss by over 55%.
Hydrolysed, i.e., lower molecular weight, forms — which tend to be advertised on cosmetic packaging when they’re used, due to their higher costs — can go deeper but are associated with skin irritation and the lower the weight, the higher the potential for irritation.
It’s not all bad news though and there is evidence from multiple studies to suggest that hyaluronic acid aids in wound healing. As a humectant though, I simply don’t believe that it’s the gold standard that it’s made out to be and several other wonderful humectant options, such as glycerin, urea and panthenol, do exist as I discussed in part 2 of this series.
If you still want to try incorporating hyaluronic acid into your routine, or if you’ve been using it already and feel like it works for you, make sure that you use it right — since everyone’s response to an ingredient is not the same, across the board. But don’t use it if you’re young and your skin is already functioning well. But if you’re not, and are looking to try it for skin hydration, here’s how to use it.
Look for products that have a maximum concentration of 1% — in fact, lower concentrations of up to 0.5% might actually be better. Higher percentages can dehydrate the skin by pulling water up from deeper layers and allowing it to evaporate more easily from the surface. Give preference to higher molecular weights and limit the number of products that you’re using that contain the ingredient to just one. Avoid using it at all in dry climates and when you do apply it, apply it on damp skin and follow up with an occlusive moisturiser to seal the hydration in.
And of course, why try applying it topically at all when you can instead focus on trying to boost your skin’s own production of the ingredient. A considerable amount of evidence exists to suggest that oral hyaluronic acid supplementation is able to relieve the symptoms of dry skin. Some ingredients in skincare that increase cellular turnover, which slows down as the skin ages, might also help increase the production of hyaluronic acid since each new cell that’s made adds to the skin’s extracellular matrix — which is where hyaluronic acid is found. Cellular turnover can be increased by adding retinoids and chemical exfoliants like glycolic acid, lactic acid and salicylic acid, to your routine. And it also never hurts to have a good diet rich in good fats and leafy greens.
While this isn’t a comprehensive list of how you can boost your skin’s own hyaluronic acid production, and research in the domain is ongoing it’s a start that’s likely to yield some truly powerful results.
If you liked this blog and would like to see more like it, you can support me by leaving claps and hitting the follow button. Also feel free to drop your questions, remarks and ideas for future posts, in the comments. Feedback will always be appreciated.
In addition to Medium, you can also find articles I’ve written here. | https://medium.com/@yasmeennaseer/hyaluronic-acid-is-overrated-part-3-hyaluronic-acid-in-depth-and-conclusion-edad9844b4f | ['Yasmeen Naseer'] | 2021-09-14 11:26:29.159000+00:00 | ['Hyaluronic Acid', 'Skin Care Products', 'Skin', 'Skincare', 'Beauty'] |
The Age of the Smart Phone is Gone Forever. | That’s right, in just 12 short years the Smartphone has spawned a global industry that has combined payments, music, transportation, and invented the term Unicorn in the stock market, only to become a whisper that is all but forgotten in namesake in 2020. You might be asking yourself if there is a new technology release that you missed? But I’m actually talking about the new age, the age of the Smart Camera.
Without going into a stream of data and surveys that show why people buy phones and what they are using it for, lets just pay a little attention to our surroundings and the company who got us here in the first place, Apple. Over the past couple of phone releases Apple has been putting recognizable efforts into camera sophistication and multiple lens options. This began with the release of portrait mode on the iPhone 8 series, and the release of the iPhone SE verifies the marketing strategy they played all too perfectly. If you recall the iPhone 8 did not have portrait mode available, which is a most noted feature giving any photo an instant professional grade photography finish. This instantly drew a record percentage of buyers to the plus size that did not have the same success selling in the prior 6 and 7 series. After hearing the praises of camera superiority Apple responded in kind adding a telephoto lens and adding front facing portrait mode in their iPhone X series, and night mode with 12mp for the 11 series. These all come at price hovering around $1000. With the launch of the new iPhone SE 2nd gen you can get portrait mode in an iPhone 8 body complete with the new A13 Bionic chip so you are ready for upgrades to come yet still hold strong with touch button unlock for all the people still shy to AI recognizing your face!
I am excited for this release because Apple is again looking for a way to target a broader audience with expanding their line. The only thing that rubs me the wrong way about the whole deal is, I now know they could have fit portrait mode in the iPhone 8 and it would have saved me the extra pocket room and a couple hundred bucks if they just would have stuck it in their in the first place!
Take a look at Case by Case if your looking for a great “phone” case to capture content with. | https://medium.com/@ty.aloe/the-age-of-the-smart-phone-is-gone-forever-82546346351 | ['Tech It Out'] | 2020-04-20 18:02:15.320000+00:00 | ['Mobile Accessories Online', 'Phone Cases', 'Iphone Se', 'Mobile Accessories', 'Smart Camera'] |
Fixing the Conflict Between Math and Machine Learning | The evergreen question when someone into Machine learning is
Do I need to know Math for Machine Learning?
I suck at Math, can I able to pursue ML ( Machine Learning ) still?
The blog is solemn of my takeaways and being practicing ML 6 months for now. So whatever is up to from now take it as a grain of salt, remember if it doesn’t work, you can always shift the boards and try another way.
It all started with an Internship, I asked a guy who works there, Where should I do start to learn Machine Learning?
He smiled and gave me a Big Statistics book I have ever seen ( didn’t give me literally ). I was confused, a guy who doesn’t like math and being flunking in it any Math book will scare his shit off.
‘ He then said you should go through this book to get started with ML, and some more there but this would be a good start. ‘
My idea of pursuing ML kinda died at the moment, I started with Web Development from then.
Then in January 2020, I bought a course named Complete Machine Learning and Data Science: Zero to Mastery, the course instructor later became my friend (Daniel) it was a Win-Win!!
While talking and observing the work of Daniel, I realized Daniel being from a non-technical background can do ML without worrying about Math a lot, Why not me?
Things needed to be understood between Math and Machine Learning listed below are my takeaways.
Code First, Math then
Many academics or research-oriented people personally I encountered lack at being a practical way of doing things. Even ML is all about Math but the libraries and frameworks out there don’t hold a strong recommendation for Machine Learning.
Things like Scikit-learn , TensorFlow , Fastai did not expect you to be good at math, but if you can’t code or adapt with libraries then it’s a problem.
Get comfortable with a programming language either R or Python, hold your anticipation to learn frameworks for a bit. People rush their way towards frameworks and libraries before they could code well in Python. I am one of them.
When you got comfortable using Python, make sure to test your skills on things like :
Writing meaningful and re-usable functions.
List Comprehension and lambda functions.
Regular expressions and string methods
Classes and Inheritance.
Handling Files with Python
These tools can ease up your process when you into using Frameworks and libraries, I personally got stuck in most of the places which led me to learn them one by one. The above tools will help you to get the most out of the libraries and frameworks out there.
Dealing with Math
Machine Learning is Math we all know it, we can’t ignore it. Instead, we can change the way of learning math.
While I was working on a project, I was having a hard time optimizing my model to its best, in ML we call it Hyper-parameter Tuning. To select the parameters and their values for your model you need to know math.
But we can fix this up by the experimental way, my issue was to find the values for max_depth and min_samples_split , and I don't know anything about this. Things I would do are :
Read the documentation, it will be confusing to make sense of at first. But when you waddle around for a bit you will get an idea.
Google, something like ‘ Whats max_depth and how to choose values for them ' .
Read more blogs about the algorithm and what’s exactly are those parameters, trust me I learned more math this way.
Straight up to Kaggle and find Notebooks which are of my same algorithm, observe how they did it, and learn from them. Learning from other codes is the best way of learning!
By this time you will be confident about what you are dealing with, follow these key patterns.
Experiment → Observe → Make a change → Repeat
I love experimenting especially in ML, you get to learn a bunch of things, remember you opt-in for a practical way of doing things. The experiment is key.
In the end, you need Math
To get started with Machine Learning you don’t need Math, but to optimize your model you need them. Even though we can solve things by experimenting, when you are into the new world of Neural Networks you can’t ignore maths.
Deep Learning, works on the principle of Mathematics ignoring them will put you into confusion. Frameworks can help you to build something whether they can be Detecting Masks or anything.
What if you want to build something of your own?
Yes, you can use frameworks but to understand how Neural Networks work you need math. Still, you can do all the things mentioned above, but only them is not enough.
Now you should work on Learn Math when Needed policy. There are a bunch of resources out there that teaches you Math for Deep Learning, learning them at all without a purpose seems boring.
Learn Math when you needed, while working on a project or solving something chances are high you will fall into the discomfort of not knowing the math.
Hit up Khan Academy of Youtube videos like 3Blue1Brown, which I think the best way to learn Math even if you hate them.
Watch videos of courses only when you in need, doing a full course seems overwhelming at times. We learn best when there is a need. Courses for Deep Learning, go through them when in need.
If you like books then Maths for Machine Learning is a great one
For getting started with Machine Learning, don’t worry much about Maths. Have a problem try to solve them, on the journey of solving the problem you will learn heaps.
These are my takeaways, don’t be afraid of Maths learn them when you want to or in need. Remember Experimental learning accelerates your learning and makes you remember most of the things you learned.
You know what to do when you face Math next time 🤖 | https://medium.com/swlh/fixing-the-conflict-between-math-and-machine-learning-80c4f8cc760e | ['Ashik Shaffi'] | 2020-12-16 06:50:21.257000+00:00 | ['Deep Learning', 'Towards Data Science', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Machine Learning', 'Mathematics'] |
Featured AI2er: Luca Weihs | Featured AI2er: Luca Weihs
Luca is a Research Scientist on the PRIOR team.
Luca Weihs is a Research Scientist on the PRIOR team.
What put you on the path to your current role?
My path was a bit circuitous –I entered undergrad convinced I would become a mathematics professor. I then realized I liked machine learning, AI, and programming, so I went to graduate school for statistics; this may sound like a strange decision but I promise that it more or less makes sense. I was fortunate to get an internship at AI2 during the institute’s early days by reaching out to the CEO Oren Etzioni directly, and I’m now able to spend all my time researching interesting problems at the intersection of reinforcement learning, computer vision, and embodied agents.
What’s the most surprising or interesting thing that has happened with your work at AI2 recently?
Over the last 6 months, we’ve been working on a new framework called AllenAct for embodied artificial intelligence research. This project was mainly designed for our own use, but at some point, we realized “hey, this is pretty cool, we should let other people use it!” It was surprising to me how quickly we were able to come together and make it a reality after that. Everyone at AI2 really embodies the mission to create “AI for the Common Good.”
What are you looking forward to with your work in the coming months?
Our team built the open-source AI2-THOR library, which allows researchers to train AI agents in simulated environments. AI2-THOR has always been very rich and interactive, but we have some new improvements in the pipeline that will enable so many interesting new research directions. I’m very excited to see how far we can push embodied AI research towards the goal of having agents who can successfully interact with and understand the real world.
A screenshot of a simulated kitchen with food and wine on the counter in AI2-THOR.
One piece of advice you’d give an aspiring research scientist?
If you aren’t excited about your research, then no one else will be either. Always ask yourself why you value the work you are doing, and don’t be afraid to realize that you should be working on something else.
What do you consider the most underrated activity or place in Seattle?
Likely not underrated for anyone who lives in Seattle, but the International District has some really great restaurants (Seven Stars Pepper, Harbor City, Tamarind Tree) and a fantastic grocery store (Uwajimaya). The pandemic has really given me a greater appreciation for grocery stores: >40k unique items, consistently stocked, and air-conditioned; just amazing. | https://medium.com/ai2-blog/featured-ai2er-luca-weihs-b298c72167f3 | [] | 2020-09-01 18:59:15.862000+00:00 | ['Career Advice', 'Interview', 'Featured Ai2er', 'Research Scientist'] |
The many uses of WD-40 | The many uses of WD-40 include;
Protects silver from tarnishing
Cleans and lubricates guitar strings
Gets oil spots off concrete driveways
Gives floors that ‘just-waxed’ sheen without making it slippery
Keeps flies off cows
Restores and cleans chalkboards
Removes lipstick stains
Loosens stubborn zippers
Untangles jewelry chains
Removes stains from stainless steel sinks
Removes dirt and grime from the barbecue grill
Keeps ceramic & terra cotta garden pots from oxidizing
Removes tomato stains from clothing
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Keeps glass shower doors free of water spots
Camouflages scratches in ceramic and marble floors
Keeps scissors working smoothly
Lubricates noisy door hinges on vehicles and doors in homes
Gives a children’s play gym slide a shine for a super fast slide
Lubricates gear shift and mower-deck lever for ease of handling on riding mowers
Rids rocking chairs and swings of squeaky noises
Lubricates tracks in sticking home windows and makes them easier to open
Spraying an umbrella stem makes it easier to open and close
Restores and cleans padded leather dashboards and vinyl bumpers
Restores and cleans roof racks on vehicles
Lubricates and stops squeaks in electric fans
Lubricates wheel sprockets on tricycles, wagons and bicycles for easy handling
Lubricates fan belts on washers and dryers and keeps them running smoothly
Keeps rust from forming on saws and saw blades, and other tools
Removes splattered grease on stove
Keeps bathroom mirror from fogging
Lubricates prosthetic limbs
Keeps pigeons off the balcony (they hate the smell)
Removes all traces of duct tape
Some folks spray it on their arms, hands, and knees to relieve arthritis pain.
The favorite use in the state of New York: WD-40 protects the Statue of Liberty from the elements.
WD-40 attracts fish. Spray a LITTLE on live bait or lures and you will be catching the big one in no time. It’s a lot cheaper than the chemical attractants that are made for just that purpose. Keep in mind though, using some chemical laced baits or lures for fishing is not allowed in some states.
Keeps away chiggers on the kids
Use it for fire ant bites. It takes the sting away immediately, and stops the itch.
WD-40 is great for removing crayon from walls. Spray on the mark and wipe with a clean rag.
Also, if you’ve discovered that you have washed and dried a tube of lipstick with a load of laundry, saturate the lipstick spots with WD-40 and re-wash. Presto! Lipstick is gone!
If you sprayed WD-40 on the distributor cap, it would displace the moisture and allow the car to start. (If I knew what a distributor cap was, it might help)
WD-40, long known for its ability to remove leftover tape smunges (sticky label tape), is also a lovely perfume and air freshener! Sprayed liberally on every hinge in the house, it leaves that distinctive clean fresh scent for up to two days!
Seriously though, it removes black scuff marks from the kitchen floor! Use WD-40 for those nasty tar and scuff marks on flooring. It doesn’t seem to harm the finish and you won’t have to scrub nearly as hard to get them off. Just remember to open some windows if you have a lot of marks.
Bug guts will eat away the finish on your car if not removed quickly! Use WD-40!
Cyclist here. Do NOT use the WD 40 on bike parts. It’s a very thin lube that will quickly evaporate or be chased out by water, leaving you with no lube. In fact, even if you have good oil on your chain, the WD 40 will chase out that oil, leaving the chain even more susceptible to water and dirt damage. Skateboarder here. Don’t use WD 40 on your bearings for the same reason. If you wanna clean your shit maybe you can use it to clean them, but then you will want to add some decent lube like speed cream to keep em rolling fast. It attacks rubber and plastic, there are far superior lubricants and adhesive removers than WD-40. I use Triflow oil for everything I used to use WD-40 for before I learned better. Is the WD-40 marketing team in full effect on Reddit lately? I don’t get this whole thing where WD-40 has been elevated to the useful status of duct tape. 3-in-1 oil is a vastly superior lubricant and can be had anywhere for cheap.
I also want to gut all the ass holes who use it on fishing lures. Mayonnaise removes adhesives. Want to get rid of a bumper sticker? Smear a generous glop of mayo on it and around the edges. Wait overnight. Peels off clean. This message brought to you by the American Mayonnaise Council, and the letter “K”. WD-40 has it’s uses and can temporarily break things like car door hinges free, but it is NOT a lubricant. If you want to keep car door hinges working properly, use a proper lubricating fluid that you should find at an auto parts store. Only a real lubricant should be used on hinges, pivots, locks, bike parts, or whatever you want to keep moving smoothly.
Uh, no. Don’t do this. There are enough chemicals floating around in our waterways without idiots adding WD-40 to the mix. Keeps flies off cows Keeps away chiggers on the kids I wouldn’t do either of these, either. If you look at the MSDS for WD-40 it really doesn’t sound like the kind of thing I’d want to spray on animals or children.
WD-40 is relatively safe, and you’re correct that the MSDS says so, but just because the MSDS indicates that skin irritation is unlikely doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to spray it on your skin. And if you’re spraying it on a child or an animal it’s a bit difficult to prevent them from inhaling the fumes.
There are far safer alternatives to keep flies off of cows, such as fly sprays designed specifically for that purpose. Same goes for chiggers and kids. I just don’t see the benefit of using a chemical for an unintended purpose that could cause a bad reaction (no matter how remote) versus using a product that’s more specifically designed for that purpose.
From the MSDS: SKIN: Prolonged and/or repeated contact may produce mild irritation and defatting with possible dermatitis
That’s exactly the same thing that will happen if you keep a zippo in your pocket, actually. Lighter fluid does that too. Doesnt seem too bad, honestly.
And as far as chemicals in the water goes, the drop of WD-40 is going to do far far far far far less damage than the splash of gasoline that leaks into the water from the boat engine, or even the exhaust from the engine itself. Many plastic lures are coated in oil before they’re packed anyhow to keep them from sticking to themselves.
But if someone told you to use lighter fluid as a bug repellant (when there are actual bug repellants available) would you do it? I want to re-state I’m not saying that WD-40 is this hugely dangerous product that will make your skin peel off, and lord knows products such as nail polish remover are far more dangerous, but why would you use it on a child or animal if there are other products specifically designed for that purpose?
With respect to your comment about WD-40 versus the other pollutants, I agree that the harm is probably minimal, but again, why would you do that for no reason? Why use WD-40 when there are chemical fish attractants available that are safer for sensitive aquatic ecosystems?
I’m actually not sure they are safer.. I doubt the recreational fishing industry is tightly regulated regarding that kind of thing. Its predominantly regulated by local fish commission laws.
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Also, chemical fish attractants are expensive. Also, real men don’t use fish attractants at all. They’re for people who suck at fishing. :) WD-40 does not loosen stubborn zippers. Last night I took the hot waitress from Chili’s out for the fourth time. I gave her four shots of WD-40 with mint and an orange twist, and I still didn’t get laid. As someone who worked in a quite angsty pub with a coked up clientele, you have enough people threatening to beat the shit out of you working behind a busy bar without Bolivian marching powder thrown into the equation. These properties make the product useful in both home and commercial fields; lubricating and loosening joints and hinges, removing dirt and residue, and extricating stuck screws and bolts are common usages. The product also may be useful in displacing moisture, as this is its original purpose and design intent.
It does lubricate. Water does not need to be present. The original purpose was for water displacement but it is commonly used as a lubracant.
That’s like saying corn isn’t food, it’s a seed. Yes, it was originally designed as a seed but is commonly used as a food source.
Edit: Downvotes? Seriously guys? It is a lubricant. It’s not a good lubricant, but it does lubricate. It contains mineral oil which is a lubricant.
In fact, it doesn’t do a very good job at many of it’s uses, many of which are in the OPs list. | https://medium.com/@mahimahiusa/the-many-uses-of-wd-40-2fa7fa145759 | ['Mahi Mahi'] | 2020-12-13 13:58:04.649000+00:00 | ['Home', 'Home Decor', 'Home Improvement', 'Homeless', 'Homeschooling'] |
Love Is For Manifesting The Life That You Want | Have you ever had the feeling that people pass intermittently in and out of your life when you come into alignment with who you are? You meet certain people at different points in your life. They leave an impression on you. You share a deep connection. But, each time, just when you start to feel that you love being with them, then one of you starts to grasp for the definition of your relationship. Suddenly, somehow, circumstances pull you apart again.
This cycle continues until the next time that you come into alignment with yourself in your life again. You meet the same people again only to leave shortly after.
What if relationships are here to teach you things about yourself? What if instead of looking at love as a lifeboat that you hold on to for dear life, you can look at love as an ephemeral concept that can be inhabited whenever you need it.
It is not meant to be found in just one type of relationship, with one person or inside one relationship unit.
When you find love in your work, your family, your pets, your children, your solitude, what happens to you?
You can fill your soul to the brim with love. Your life moves in the right direction. You start to manifest what you want in every corner of your life.
Often, what you need is not a lover, a life partner, a best friend, or a specific relationship type.
All you need is to feel that you are loved unconditionally.
When you feel loved unconditionally, you can start to think that your life moves into a different stage. You leap and move in the “right” direction to manifest what you want, regardless of who you take with you, who you find along the way, and what your destination looks like.
Love Is About Alignment
Love is about alignment. It’s about the alignment of who you are and what your values are. You live who you are in your life. You don’t just bury yourself under bedcovers and indulge in your partner’s love all day long, 24 hours of the day.
When you are genuinely in love, you go out and live the best version of yourself. You are more aware of others, more productive in your days, more compassionate toward other people. You make an effort to become a better person.
You don’t do it for the other person. Rather, when you feel loved unconditionally, you feel you are worthy to grow. You see brighter goals for yourself. You see grand visions. You want to be that person you’ve always wanted to be, for yourself.
When you get to this point, you often ask yourself, “Why am I this ungrateful for the love, why is this love not enough for me? Why can’t I stay? Why can’t I put my all into this relationship where I want the other person to stay, too? Why do I have to keep moving? Why do I have to drag this person on yet another adventure?”
You are not ungrateful for love. You are inhabiting love for all that it is. That’s why you want to keep moving in alignment with who you are at a higher speed. You want to make the best of love by growing.
You are compelled to spend hours working hard. You are compelled to work on new projects. You are compelled to conquer your fears. You are compelled to improve your mental health.
In real life, when you do that, sometimes, life choices make it difficult for people to stay together. And, love, in that case, seems elusive for you. You keep moving but also keep losing the ones who inspire you to be better versions of yourself.
You Don’t Have to Pay A Higher Price
The truth about life partners and people who stay throughout your life is that they are not perfect beings. Life is not perfect. Decisions and choices often are not precisely aligned. At each point, no one has to pay a higher price for the right kind of love.
No matter the circumstances, love stays and transcends physical spaces because you deserve the kind of love that sets you free.
A specific someone can give this kind of love. It can also be provided by the universe, by other people who are consistently in your life and who love you unconditionally. It can also be provided by you who love you unconditionally.
When you pay a higher price, not only will the relationship not work out, there will be resentment that will forever taint the love.
When someone needs to go for one reason or another, set them free, only in freedom can that love last. When you set someone free, you send them on their way with all of your love so that they can be the best versions of themselves.
In life, if you are lucky, you get to do that with the same people multiple times. You can feel that your love in its pure state is traveling with them. When they appreciate that, they send that love back to you.
When your loved one passes away, you deal with the loss and grief. But if you look at your love as something that can set the person free on their journey, then you can wish them well on their journey to another world, another lifetime.
When your ex-husband brings home a new lover while you are dealing with unruly kids at home, you can look in the mirror and see that empowered you reflecting back at you, the one who has changed and who needs someone different from your ex-husband.
There’s no animosity for things that don’t work out, no matter the complications.
You are no longer clinging to outcomes. The only result you want in your unconditional love is to see the people that you love reveling in their freedom.
Allow The Magic To Happen Naturally
Magically, when you do that, love comes back again and again. Some people are on journeys far more significant than you think are possible in a lifetime. When you are in alignment with them, they come to you. You get to travel with them for a while and learn something from one another. Then, just as suddenly, their path takes a different turn, you will have to set them free again.
That’s not uncommon. As we all become more empowered, this might be the new norm of relationships.
Time is a gift. Magic happens when you are both aligned to travel the long haul together. But, you won’t know the ending to your paths until you’ve traveled together for some time.
Growing old together is an excellent concept. But, in reality, you may not always grow naturally with a partner who you view as a good fit for you. Sometimes, no matter how much you want them to evolve with you, they are on journeys destined to be independent from you.
When you are bending time, space, or will, it’s time to let go.
Love Is About Setting People Free
Love is about setting people free to be who they are, do what they want to do, and live as they wish. You can never control what happens after you love someone. They have their own choices to make. They choose who they want to be.
You can see an example of this in the parent-child love. No matter how much love you put into your children, you can never control who they are when they venture out into the real world. The only thing you can do is trust them to make their own choices.
The best thing you can do is ensure that they can feel your love for them every step of the way. You can unleash them into the world with as much freedom as they need. You set them up for success by giving them counsel and wisdom.
But, after that, your love is freeing. The more you love someone, they may need to go further away from you to find who they are. That is ultimately what love is for, to teach us about ourselves and the world around us.
It is not meant to bond us into the framework of what a relationship should be.
Use The Freedom To Align More With Yourself
No matter what happens after you give your love, you get to decide what to do with your freedom. If your love is genuine, you will get that back from the other person. Remember, even if someone doesn’t return your romantic feelings, if they sense that you love them unconditionally, they will love you back, at least platonically.
We are social animals. We bounce the love right back to where it originates.
When you feel the freedom from the unconditional love you receive, use it create more alignment in your own life.
This does not mean that all of your negativity will stop right away. Sometimes, love breaks you open when you feel all of your negativity comes right out.
That’s a good thing, too. By discarding all of that energy, you are free to be more yourself in your life.
At the end of feeling more free, you will have choices to make.
When you see the path of freedom laid out in front of you, can you push through the fear to pursue it?
Can you pursue it regardless if someone is next to you or not?
That is what love is for. It’s not about leashing someone next to you on your journey but to send you on your way on your journey. You may decide to take a willing partner along your journey. Your partner may decide to walk the path with you because they feel their alignment coincides with yours.
You make all of these choices independently from one another.
You make your life decisions, and your partner makes theirs. If the outcome matches, then you get to travel together.
That’s the beauty of love. It is true consent that you will both live in the freedom that love entails. It transcends the physical spaces, time, and human needs.
It requires that you give your all to your life and your life only.
People in marriages think that there’s a bond, a unit, boundaries that we adhere to. But, in truth, those things are routinely disrupted by circumstances in real life.
So, what you are often left with are simply the choice you make to be on the same path, to grow together, and to see the good in the others, and to set them free every single day to pursue their dreams.
You hope that the complications, kids, house, jobs, etc.. don’t make you obligated to one another. Instead, they unleash more freedom in your life for you.
You hope that your partner chooses to come back to you at the end of the day.
You choose to put freedom of choice, above all else. You choose to come back home at the end of the day because you feel it is the best choice for you.
But, the true reason that you both come back again and again to the same house, kids, jobs, etc.. is because you find the most freedom that allows both of you to be alignment with who you are as a unit.
When the freedom can no longer felt in a relationship, then there will be rough patches, where you both make choices whether to rediscover that love or not. The unit doesn’t set boundaries. It’s the freedom to be who you are that truly creates strong bonds for your relationship. | https://medium.com/jun-wu-blog/love-is-for-manifesting-the-life-that-you-want-37779fd5377c | ['Jun Wu'] | 2020-10-21 16:24:03.095000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Life', 'Love', 'Self', 'Life Lessons'] |
GetBlock Partners with Band Protocol to Provide Access to the BAND Full Node | GetBlock Partners with Band Protocol to Provide Access to the BAND Full Node GetBlock Oct 13, 2020·2 min read
GetBlock, a provider of access to full nodes of the most popular cryptocurrencies, is partnering with Band Protocol, which allows an individual developer or a company to integrate the BAND cryptocurrency to their blockchain-based project without the labor-intensive process of launching and maintaining its node. Access to the BAND node as well as to more than 30 other cryptocurrencies is granted at no cost. In order to start using the BAND node, it is required to get a free API key by submitting the form on GetBlock.io.
Providing an end-to-end SaaS solution, GetBlock is developed for young entrepreneurs and crypto enthusiasts, for those who are using or developing Light Wallets or Crypto Exchanges, or those who don’t have enough resources, time, and capital to run nodes themselves or just prefer to have more time to focus on their business. The ultimate goal of the project is to ensure users with access to full nodes of many blockchain types and allow them to request any blockchain information from a virtual node without setting up their own one.
Users of the GetBlock service can connect the BAND node to their application using a fully compliant JSON RPC API method. Moreover, they receive all the related information on statistics and parameters for the BAND node as it is displayed on the website in real-time. GetBlock guarantees direct and instant synchronization with the blockchain, their servers are located in Germany and work non-stop to provide a connection — fast, at a speed of 1 GB/sec, and secure, under 24/7 surveillance.
The partnership between GetBlock and Band Protocol stands for the additional support to BAND as well as mutual support in expanding both companies’ presence in the market through close collaboration.
About Band Protocol
Band Protocol is a cross-chain data oracle platform that aggregates and connects real-world data and APIs to smart contracts. Blockchains are great at immutable storage and deterministic, verifiable computations — however, they cannot securely access data available outside the blockchain networks. Band Protocol enables smart contract applications such as DeFi, prediction markets, and games to be built on-chain without relying on the single point of failure of a centralized oracle. Band Protocol is backed by a strong network of stakeholders including Sequoia Capital, one of the top venture capital firms in the world, and the leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance.
Website | Whitepaper | Telegram | Medium | Twitter | Reddit | Github | https://medium.com/@getblock/getblock-partners-with-band-protocol-to-provide-access-to-the-band-full-node-b377445c7993 | [] | 2020-10-13 13:24:12.256000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Node', 'Band Protocol', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Partnerships'] |
Learning Big O Notation with Swift | Congratulations! As someone reading this series, you’re probably familiar with the basics of Swift/iOS Development and may be in the process of writing your next app. When building software, a question we often ask ourselves is what should be our definition of done. As an individual contributor working on a large project, features in your application may be determined by business stakeholders or a project lead. However, it takes more than requirements to build software users will love. Great systems combine detailed analysis, stellar features and performance.
As we start our journey understanding algorithms and data structures, an idea that unites each concept is the theme of Asymptotic Analysis. Often viewed as a complex topic, asymptotics is the process of describing the efficiency of algorithms as their input size grows. The notion of tracking algorithmic performance can reveal much about a solution’s effectiveness. Ironically, this area of study was primarily developed before the introduction of modern computing. Today, this provides an advantage when testing new ideas and communicating with other developers. In computer science, asymptotics is expressed in a standard format known as Big O Notation.
LINEAR TIME
Even though we sometimes think of algorithms as complex systems, in essence, they are merely recipes for completing a series of operations. For example, a simple algorithm shared across all programming languages is a loop. In Swift, this can be written using a straightforward technique called fast enumeration. As such, we can write a simple algorithm to find a specific number in a sequence:
let sequence : Array<Int> = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] //linear time - O(n)
func linearSearch(for value: Int, list: Array<Int>) -> Bool {
//check all possible values
for number in list {
if number == value {
return true
}
}
return false
} //execute search
let isFound: Bool = linearSearch(for: 8, list: sequence)
When evaluating this function we say that it works in linear time — O(n) because the effectiveness of its main action (e.g., search) is directly related to the size of its input (e.g., sequence). As a result, we can conclude that it would take longer for the function to find the value of 10 than 2 or 3. To summarize, the algorithm will have to iterate through the complete set of values when searching for a non-present value like 16. In most cases, linear time operations are referred to as being “brute force” because little effort goes into how they could run more efficiently. However, linear-based activities still provide value when prototyping complex systems in a technical interview or real-world setting.
CONSTANT TIME
When evaluating algorithms, it’s often ideal to code a solution where the size of the data input has no direct relationship on performance. Consider successful search algorithms like Google or machine learning solutions used on websites like Netflix and Amazon. These systems run in constant time and are represented with the symbol O(1). A significant difference between a linear and constant operation is logic. In the case of Google, many hardware and software complexities are put in place to ensure things work as quickly as possible. However, not all constant time operations need to be complicated. Consider the following:
//constant time operations - O(1) class Stack<T> {
var store : [T] = [] func peek() -> T? {
return store.last
} func push(_ value: T) {
store.append(value)
} func pop() -> T? {
return store.isEmpty ? nil : store.removeLast()
}
}
Known as a Stack data structure, this implementation is a favorite among hiring managers when conducting technical interviews. The reason? A Stack combines ideas found in native iOS Development (e.g., UINavigationController) along with specific language syntax (e.g., collections and generics) coupled with knowledge of Big O Notation. As shown, what makes a Stack useful is how it performs. For example, all actions can be executed without having to search through or analyze previously added items.
THE INTERVIEW PROCESS
Even though we’ve reviewed two specific examples, we shouldn’t think of algorithms and data structures as something to memorize to get through the technical interview process. As a developer, one can think of concepts like Big O Notation as a tool to evaluate one’s code for completeness as well as effectiveness. For example, much of Apple’s owns technical SDK documentation explains its frameworks with this commonly used terminology.
However, if you are indeed preparing for a technical interview, other regularly seen algorithmic running times include logarithmic time — O(log n), O(n log n) and O(n2). Plotted on a graph, we can see how these compare: | https://medium.com/swift-algorithms-data-structures/learn-big-o-notation-with-swift-4ab83195859e | ['Wayne Bishop'] | 2020-12-07 18:29:33.342000+00:00 | ['Xcode', 'Interview Questions', 'Algorithms', 'Swift', 'iOS App Development'] |
Writing Is the Best Thing That Happened to Me in 2020 | Writing Is the Best Thing That Happened to Me in 2020
Finding my blessing in disguise!
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
2020 has been a big-rollercoaster, we lived through things that no one anticipated(except for Bill Gates of course).
This was a difficult year for everyone, so many people lost their loved ones. Almost 80 million people suffered from the life-threatening virus.
Coping from these tough times is a difficult yet essential task, writing has helped me to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Writing Helped Me Process Grief
This year taught me many things, I suffered the worst loss of my life. I lost my grandma on September 8th. We took all the precautions to keep her protected from this virus, but our efforts were in vain.
She was a tough old bird, nothing ever scared her. She was a fighter and the commander in chief of the house. She was an adorable goofball, with a ton of hilarious stories, her stories taught us about life. Losing her is the worst thing that happened to my family this year.
Writing helped me process this loss and despair. I am an introvert I am not always comfortable sharing my feelings, most of the time I don't even know how to. Writing stories about her gave me peace and sharing them with you all gave me hope that she will live in my heart forever.
Writing Strengthened My Recovery From Covid
Just before my grandma died, my whole family tested positive for covid. It was a terrifying experience as my aunt is diabetic and we were all worried about her health the most. Everyone except her had mild fever and fatigue. We were the lucky ones as the virus didn’t affect us severely.
This virus has taken more than 1 million lives. It was a scary experience to see your loved ones suffering from an illness in mourning. Writing helped me process the pain and the illness. I was sad, depressed, and ill all at the same time.
Writing gave me hope, it encouraged me to help people who were also going through the same thing. Writing whilst I was sick made me forget about my pains and aches. It helped me divert my mind from sadness and illness.
Writing Rebooted my Fitness
I am a big fitness freak, but after getting covid, I lost all my motivation and energy. Post covid recovery kicked my a**. It was difficult to do even a quarter of my regular workout. All my gains disappeared, I was so lethargic and unmotivated that I even stopped trying. All I was doing in the name of fitness was evening walks.
Writing about my fitness journey and yoga motivated me to get back in shape(I had legit abs before this lockdown). I wanted my strength and flexibility back. I wanted to do a handstand again. Writing about all the things that I love in fitness made me miss my active and healthy old self. So I finally decided to get back in the game.
Now I do 1-hour morning yoga routine and 10 minutes jump rope routine in the evening. It will take time to get to my old level, but I am happy that I finally started. Writing made that happened.
Writing Lead Me Back To Books
I am a self-attested nerd, a lover of books. But a few years back I made the mistake of choosing binging over reading. I used to watch series back-to-back with no worry about my future. I procrastinated my studies to watch television. It was a shameful act to cover my low self-esteem.
This year I finally got back in habit of reading regularly, I read more and more articles by the top writers to figure out the best way to write. I studied their work for hours on end to learn something that I can apply to my own writing to get better. Saturday is my reading day, I easily read for 4–5 hours, trying to learn some tricks of this trade. Now, I watch less than 1 hour of television on most days.
On writing well by William Zinsser is a book that helped me improve my writing rapidly in a short amount of time. It is a must-read.
Writing Helped Me In Becoming More Grateful
In these difficult circumstances, it was hard to be grateful for the blessings and joys of life. Grief and sickness made us all miserable and sorrowful.
It is easy to be grateful when everything is in your favor but expressing gratitude in the thought times is a real challenge.
Writing a gratitude journal helped me in being grateful for the little things that helped me cope with these tough times. | https://medium.com/the-innovation/writing-is-the-best-thing-that-happened-to-me-in-2020-abcb108848c4 | ['Khyati Jain'] | 2020-12-26 20:32:11.299000+00:00 | ['Family', 'Self', 'Life', 'Relationships', 'Writing'] |
The GOP Doesn’t Accept The Right Of Anyone Else To Govern | Earlier this year, the GOP and some reporters in the “liberal” mainstream media falsely blamed Democrats for the unrest in America’s cities following several instances of police misconduct. Joe Biden and other leading Democrats acted responsibly and were quick to condemn the rioters and looters.
The reality is that most of the mayhem last summer was committed by white supremacists and Trump followers. Police departments in Portland, Richmond and Minneapolis blamed groups like the Boogaloo Bois for the violence. What’s more, a teenage Trump supporter was charged with a double murder in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Trump and his followers failed to condemn this extreme right wing violence. Instead, Trump praised the teenager who was charged with murder in Kenosha and provided encouragement to the Proud Boys during the first debate with Biden.
The failure of Trump, Republican elected officials and their followers to condemn right wing violence has undoubtedly contributed to the wave of death threats leveled at election workers of both parties in the battleground states. Interestingly enough, there haven’t been any threats in states that Trump carried.
I will now summarize for you a (lengthy) and growing list of violence and threats of violence from Trump’s most unhinged followers from a variety of news sources:
“Election agencies in five states, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania, have received violent threats or “acute security risks” to officials tasked with counting ballots or certifying state election results.
Republican City Commissioner Al Schmidt told “60 Minutes” that Philadelphia election officials received death threats, including calls “reminding us that this is what the Second Amendment is for.”
Gabriel Sterling, a Republican election official in Georgia, called on Trump and Georgia’s GOP senators to stop pushing conspiracy theories about Biden’s win in Georgia and denounce horrific threats made against members of his staff. Sterling said “the straw that broke the camel’s back” for him to give the press conference was a 20-year-old election staffer being told he should be hanged for treason.
Georgia Republican Secretary of State Raffensperger said, that he and his wife, Tricia, have received death threats in recent days, including a text to him that read: “You better not botch this recount. Your life depends on it.”
Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs said she faced escalating threats of violence over the outcome of the presidential election, and blamed Trump for spreading misinformation to undermine trust in the results. Hobbs, called the threats directed toward her family and staff “utterly abhorrent.”
Joseph DiGenova — an attorney for the Trump campaign — issued a call for violence against Chris Krebbs, a former cybersecurity official who was fired by Donald Trump after he rejected Trump’s baseless claims of alleged voter fraud. DiGenova said: “Anybody who thinks the election went well, like that idiot Krebs who used to be the head of cybersecurity. That guy is a class A moron. He should be drawn and quartered. Taken out at dawn and shot.”
The GOP majority leader of Pennsylvania’s State Senate suggested in an interview last week that she would be the victim of a violent attack if she indicated her opposition to efforts by Trump’s supporters to steal the state’s electoral votes from Biden.
State Senator Kim Ward (R) made the remark when asked if she would have signed a letter to the state’s congressional delegation urging them to “object, and vote to sustain such objection, to the Electoral College votes received from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania” during the session of Congress certifying the Electoral College results next month. “If I would say to you, ‘I don’t want to do it,’ ” Ward told the NY Times, “I’d get my house bombed tonight.”
After Trump lost his frivolous lawsuit in the Supreme Court on December 11, the Texas State Republican Party called for secession from the United States. You can’t make this stuff up.
Just this last weekend, thousands of Proud Boys who believed that Trump won turned downtown Washington, D.C. into a war zone, vandalizing two church’s Black Lives Matter banners and then setting fire to it while attacking drivers caught up in the mayhem. The former TV reality star cheered them on with a tweet.
When the Michigan electors voted for Biden on December 14, the Michigan state capitol and state legislative offices were closed due to “credible threats of violence.” Notably, this was a “recommendation of law enforcement.”
Ron Brownstein of The Atlantic responded to these disturbing events in a tweet: “Trump’s America. Events inconceivable four years ago-from racist paramilitary rampaging through streets of DC to threats of violence forcing shutdown of Michigan Capitol-now accepted as routine by virtually all of his party.”
Trump’s angry followers are seeking to steal the election because they simply don’t accept the right of the Democrats to govern if they should win an election. Trump and his followers are rejecting the very idea of an obligation to accept electoral outcomes when they lose. Unfortunately, this is our future.
Former Romney adviser Stuart Stevens tweeted: “The greatest danger to America is the naive belief that there is something unique that guarantees America will remain a democratic civil society. Much of a major party has turned against democracy. It’s foolish to believe that doesn’t have consequences.”
Ben Sasse and Don Bacon have acknowledged Biden’s win but that’s not enough. Deb Fischer has said nothing. They all must speak out in opposition to this Trump inspired violence and threats. Silence is complicity in the lies and the death threats from Trump’s unhinged followers.
Unfortunately, Pete Ricketts, Bob Evnen, Jeff Fortenberry and Adrian Smith have all endorsed Trump’s attempt to steal the election. Like many of their fellow Republicans, they simply don’t believe in democracy anymore. They are dangerous radicals.
Former Obama speech writer Jon Favreau said it best: “But what happens if Republicans win the House in 2022, which they’re currently favored to do? What happens if the pro-democracy forces in the Senate shrink in 2022? Is there any doubt that a Republican Congress will manufacture a reason to reject the 2024 winner if it’s a Democrat?
There are two paths out of this: 1) Win the Senate races in Georgia and pass democratic reforms that will reduce the chances of election theft 2) Focus all of our time, energy, and resources on making sure Democrats win the ’22 midterms, which loom as an existential election.”
Democracy will be on the ballot in every future election. The choice will be free and fair elections versus autocracy. In the event the GOP wins control of all three branches in a future election, they will re-write the rules to insure that they can never lose again. This would lead to a country with extreme gerrymandering, no Voting Rights Act and no restrictions on the ability of the wealthy to contribute to campaigns. These kinds of changes would produce a permanent GOP majority. There would still be elections and free speech but the GOP would always win.
We didn’t get in this predicament over night. It took years for the radicalized Nebraska GOP to win most of the major offices in the state with the assistance of vast amounts of special interest campaign cash and daily lies from the right wing media. All we can do as Democrats is roll up our sleeves and devote our time and money to good candidates. Now let’s get to work! | https://medium.com/@dennispcrawford/the-gop-doesnt-accept-the-right-of-anyone-else-to-govern-3bc3bf687f6f | ['Dennis Crawford'] | 2020-12-15 20:02:27.172000+00:00 | ['Election 2020', 'Donald Trump', 'Donald Trump Lies', 'Republican Party', 'Joe Biden'] |
The Colors of the Man | Photo by Pierre Bamin on Unsplash
What can he do,
And cannot get a crown?
Shape changer,
Face framer,
Chameleon painter,
Murder smiler.
Disproportioned on the inside,
Bearing a mountain of envy on his back,
Conscience shrunk to a withered shrub,
A frail ego corrupted by some bribe,
Forsworn by love, embraced by hate.
We are fickle, blown from
One allegiance to another,
Blind, perhaps complicit
In the deforming effects of ambition.
Feeling the unsaid shame,
We are desperate to change our colors.
3 Henry VI III:i-ii
There’s a five-hundred-year-old tragedy being replayed now, with less gravitas and worse language. So, I started with Shakespeare’s words and turned them round to suit the day. | https://medium.com/politically-speaking/the-colors-of-the-man-2f3e76f3b3e2 | ['Michael Madill'] | 2020-10-26 00:03:40.140000+00:00 | ['Political', 'Poetry', 'Poem', 'Shakespeare', 'Corruption'] |
Announcement: Listing on HitBTC and EXMO | Meet the new exchanges!
We are excited to announce the news you’ve been asking us these days — MNX will begin trading on HitBTC and EXMO. Our team has reached a preliminary agreement about listing on these platforms and, to date, we’re on the stage of the technical realization following the agreements reached.
Unfortunately, due to security rules, we can’t say the exact date of listing on any of these platforms yet. However, it is a significant step towards the development of our project.
According to Minexcoin CEO Boris Shulyaev, admission to HitBTC and Exmo is a part of MNX long-term strategy which aims to popularize and strengthen the coin’s presence in crypto-community. After adding to new trading platforms, Minexcoin will be presented on four exchanges.
As for the exchanges themselves, currently, HitBTC ranked 8th in the TOP-10 world crypto-exchanges according to CoinMarketCap with a daily trade volume of over $250 million. This platform has earned the reputation of a safe, fast and affordable exchange with one of the most convenient and technologically advanced algorithms on the market. HitBTC offers traders a wide range of features such as real-time clearing, cutting-edge order matching algorithms and more than 500 trading instruments. Established in 2013 by the Hong Kong company HIT Solution Ltd, today this exchange provides markets for more than 300 of the world’s most popular cryptocurrencies.
The second exchange — EXMO — is currently a rapidly developing project from TOP-50 largest crypto-exchanges with daily trade volume about $ 36 million and 1,5 mln users. It is noteworthy that Exmo is highly prevalent among traders from Eastern Europe and Russia. Some of them consider this exchange as a starting point where you can train before trading on the world’s largest exchanges. According to statistics, almost every third Russian-speaking trader registered here. Add to this useful API for crossplatform trading robots, the multilingual functional, a cashback and you will receive another convenient trading platform. | https://medium.com/minecoin-blog/minexcoin-announces-listing-on-hitbtc-and-exmo-947b6a1fef16 | ['Minexcoin'] | 2018-10-31 15:52:51.042000+00:00 | ['Announcements', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Exmo', 'Minexcoin', 'Hitbtc'] |
LGBTQ Youth Homelessness Hits Staggering Highs in NYC | Efforts to count LGBTQ homeless teens continue despite the Trump administration
In 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stopped requiring states and contracting agencies to count the homeless LGBTQ youth they serve. HHS scrubbed references to sexual orientation and gender identity from Internet resources. Their main youth homelessness page contains zero references to LGBTQ teens even though such teens make up a hugely disproportionate number of all homeless youth in the U.S.
LGBTQ youth advocates shouted the alarm, telling the Trump administration that agencies can’t effectively help vulnerable teens if they don’t understand the scope of the problem.
But despite the federal government turning a blind eye, some states and cities have continued to collect data. One new survey is so shocking that all Americans should sit up and pay attention.
NYC numbers are staggering
The New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) in cooperation with Columbia University has just released a study that shows over one third (34%) of kids in the NYC foster care program identify as LGBTQ. Most of those youth are Black, and a disproportionate number identify as Latinx or Hispanic.
They’re not usually found sleeping on park benches. They might have a place to sleep for the night, but they don’t have a key, and they don’t know how long they can stay. Or they have to trade sex for a place.
34% may sound like a low number, but remember that only 6 to 10 percent of total youth identify as LGBTQ. Think about a high school class of 30 students. Would you expect 10 of them to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender? That’s what 34% would mean.
What do the numbers mean in NYC?
About 8,300 kids are in the NYC foster care system. So roughly 2,800 LGBTQ kids don’t have a permanent place to live, the bulk of whom have been rejected by their families. And that only counts the kids in the system. The total number is much higher.
LGBTQ youth in foster care are diverse
13 percent of kids in the NYC foster care system identify as transgender, 13.5 percent identify as bisexual or pansexual, 5.6 percent call themselves lesbian or gay, and small percentages use other labels like questioning or queer.
Most kids in the NYC foster care system are Black, and so are most LGBTQ kids in the system. White and Latinx/Hispanic kids in the system are significantly more likely to be in the system because of gender identity or sexual orientation, though their total numbers are smaller.
Family rejection is cited as the main cause and outcomes are poor
The ACS/Columbia researchers found that family rejection of a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity was the primary reason LGBTQ teens land in the system. Of those who do, outcomes are not nearly as good as for cis/straight kids:
LGBTQ kids were more likely to be told they are hard to place
LGBTQ kids were more likely to be placed with a foster family than with a relative, more likely to be placed in a group home than in a foster family, and more likely to be placed in an institutional setting than in a group home.
LGBTQ kids reported receiving frequent criticsm for dressing/acting too feminine/too masculine
LGBTQ kids were more likely to say they experienced little to no control over their lives in foster care
LGBTQ kids were more likely to miss school and more likely to do poorly in school
LGBTQ kids were less likely to see family members and less likely to say their family is supportive
LGBTQ kids were less likely to have supportive adults in their lives
LGBTQ kids were more likely to report negative encounters with the police and entanglements with the justice system
NYC numbers are unexpected and the tip of the iceberg
LGBTQ youth advocates have been surprised by the scale of the NYC foster care problem. The ACS/Columbia study produced higher numbers than experts anticipated. To make matters worse, Pew Trust researchers caution that LGBTQ kids “in the system” typically do not come close to representing the total number of homeless LGBTQ youth. They say the U.S. homeless youth problem is growing fast, is disproportionately LGBTQ, and is largely hidden.
Homeless youth are notoriously difficult to track, says Shahera Hyatt, director of the California Homeless Youth Project. “They’re not usually found sleeping on park benches. They might have a place to sleep for the night, but they don’t have a key, and they don’t know how long they can stay. Or they have to trade sex for a place.”
Chicago researchers raise national alarm
Researchers at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago have looked deeply into LGBTQ youth homelessness and have found the national picture to be a genuine crisis that warrants focused policy intervention at federal, state, and local levels.
Their research shows that the scope of the problem is enormous, that most LGBTQ youth are wary about accepting help, and that contrary to expectations, most homeless LGBTQ youth are not thown out of the family home when they come out, but “in large part as the result of family instability and frayed relationships over time.”
These are some of their most critical findings —
LGBTQ youth had over twice the rate of early death among youth experiencing homelessness.
LGBTQ youth are at more than double the risk of homelessness compared to non-LGBTQ peers.
Youth who identified as both LGBTQ and black or multiracial had some of the highest rates of homelessness.
Among youth experiencing homelessness, LGBTQ young people reported higher rates of trauma and adversity.
Transgender youth often face unique and more severe types of discrimination and trauma
It’s time to direct national resources to fix youth homelessness
After four years in which the Trump administration refused to admit we had had a problem, it’s time to turn things around. We need dedicated leadership and innovative solutions starting at the top.
The Department of Health and Human Services needs to stop being part of the problem and start driving the solution. With Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in in office, LGBTQ advocates can breathe a sigh of relief.
But we must also stay vigilant and advocate for the most vulnerable and marginalized among us. Let’s make sure our elected representatives know we want homeless LGBTQ youth at the front of the policy-reform line. | https://medium.com/james-finn/lgbtq-youth-homelessness-hits-staggering-highs-in-nyc-db60b66bc33e | ['James Finn'] | 2020-11-18 23:08:25.112000+00:00 | ['Equality', 'Youth', 'Politics', 'LGBTQ', 'Homeless'] |
The Pipe and the Whiskey | Photo by Josh Rocklage on Unsplash
John had always smoked to cope with his anxiety. He enjoyed the whole ritual around it which gave him something to do with his hands when he got nervous, cleaning his pipe until it was glossy and smooth.
The pipe cleaners, which his niece used to steal to make dolls from, were reassuring in his pocket, but the smoking ban had hit him hard. Even pulling the pipe out to clean it in pubs was frowned on these days and he found himself drinking too fast to compensate. Getting sloppy with his words, messy, dribbling.
He’d wake up the next day deeply ashamed, crushing down the feelings along with the painkillers as flash-backs of other people’s aghast faces trailed in front of his mind, and would spend the afternoon texting apologies until that became just another part of the hangover.
Gradually he stopped going out as much, too crippled with dread at how his behaviour would shame him this time. His social life fell away, people weren’t so interested in coming to visit him at home. He couldn’t blame them; he was a little isolated. Even tempting them with food and the offer of the spare room for the night so everyone could drink only worked so often.
But alone the television didn’t stop his mind, which raced over the top of the soap operas, the news, and the dramas which just made him weepy with embarrassing self-pity. Why did everyone else get a happy ending, why not him?
He’d thought it would all pass, that he’d just meet someone who’d see through the ticks, the curiosities of him. Get past the stilted conversation and the inability to open up and love him for himself. But they all got bored after a few weeks, walking away complaining that he was cold. That he didn’t make them feel cared for.
How could he explain that when they touched him it reminded him of his nightmares? How could he get them to understand that he wanted to let them get close, but that he was afraid that if he opened up and let them see his soul, they’d realise how dirty he was. How filthy and soiled and ruined.
He took his pipe out of his pocket and set about cleaning it methodically. He couldn’t see a way out any more. He’d never been able to escape it, the lingering horrors which tracked through his dreams. Menacing figures, looming shadows, stalking him down the corridors of the family home.
He tipped the last of the whiskey into his glass, hand far from steady now. He’d tried to tell Sally, but she’d misunderstood. Started talking about how lovely their dad was, how he’d scared her too sometimes, but he always made it OK.
Well he did for Sally didn’t he, but not for anyone else.
It was his own fault, there was something about him which made him impossible to love, he knew that. And it wasn’t going to change was it. Ever. He’d tried and tried, the humiliating dates, the set ups with friends of friends, strangers in pubs looking bored and never calling again.
He picked up his gleaming pipe and wandered into the kitchen, knocking the top off the calor gas bottle which fed the portable heater, he listened to the gas hissing out.
If this was the last moment, would he regret it? It would look like a drunken accident wouldn’t it, Sally would be spared the guilt of wondering if she could have done more.
He thought about how much it would hurt when he sparked up his pipe. Would he feel it? Would it knock him out? It probably wouldn’t hurt for long.
If only someone would phone, would drop by, would prove to him somehow that he could be saved. He’d always wanted children. Maybe he still could? Maybe he’d just not tried hard enough?
The voices which trailed around his head rose up again, he was useless, weak, he couldn’t even do this could he, coward, filthy, disgusting, on and on and on.
Then, somewhere out of the mess, Sally’s voice, that time she phoned him from college, drunk, and had told him that she’d only survived it all because of him. That she’d tried to kill herself and it was only thinking of him which had made her run to the loo and throw the pills back up again.
He started to shake and reaching out he grabbed the enormous canister and tried to carry it towards the door. If he dropped it on the flagstones, one spark, the explosion would rip him and his whole cottage to shreds. Somehow, with aching muscles, teeth cracking with the strain, he managed to hurl it, still hissing, on to the back lawn, before collapsing beside it, howling at the sky, screaming over and over in wordless misery.
He could do it. Maybe next time. Maybe things would change. Maybe next time he’d die, or maybe things would change. Something had to after all.
License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 | https://medium.com/the-crystal-palace/the-pipe-and-the-whiskey-45d2a9022b2 | ['Svetlana Smith'] | 2020-10-11 13:59:48.122000+00:00 | ['Short Story', 'Suicide', 'Abuse'] |
Why Black People Are On Constant Alert, Always | I travel extensively for work and I am always dressed in my Sunday best when I do. My colleagues often wonder why— they sometimes refer to me as a diva who is so full of herself and as such always needs to be styled in the latest fashion.
What they don’t understand is that if I travel in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, I am sure to get stopped at so-called random security checks, at immigration, and at customs. These experiences leave me emotionally depleted and are always so embarrassing and unpleasant.
There is only so much of this that anyone can take in a given lifetime. So, to avoid all these humiliating experiences, I dress well to travel — night flight or day flight. Dressing well gives me peace of mind. | https://medium.com/illumination-curated/why-black-people-are-on-constant-alert-always-9d3aef5ae531 | ['Rebecca Stevens A.'] | 2020-12-16 06:21:21.211000+00:00 | ['Equality', 'Racism', 'BlackLivesMatter', 'Society', 'Black Women'] |
Technical Analysis of Basic Attention Token | With Help of Fibonacci retracement levels we can see the pair has bounced back from 0.786 support level and currently it has even used the next Fibonacci level 0.618 as support.
Looking at current trend it is to good to wait to see if it respects 0.618 again.
Current RSI value is 46 and is expected to go a bit down in order make bullish move again.
At the current position the coin is respecting trend-line support and Fibonacci support levels, it is advised to wait for a green candle to take your entry position. | https://medium.com/fynomics/technical-analysis-of-basic-attention-token-a2ae585df0d0 | ['Akhil Nayak'] | 2018-07-06 11:12:36.868000+00:00 | ['Basic Attention Token', 'Technical Analysis', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin'] |
Should robots be gendered? Comments on Alan Winfield’s opinion | The gendering of robots is something I’ve found fascinating since I first started building robots out of legos with my brother. We all ascribe character to robots, consciously or not, even when we understand exactly how robots work. Until recently we’ve been able to write this off as science fiction stuff, because real robots were boring industrial arms and anything else was fictional. However, since 2010, robots have been rolling out into the real world in a whole range of shapes, characters and notably, stereotypes. My original research on the naming of robots gave some indications as to just how insidious this human tendency to anthropomorphize and gender robots really is. Now we’re starting to face the consequences and it matters.
Firstly, let’s consider that many languages have gendered nouns, so there is a preliminary linguistic layer of labelling, ahead of the naming of robots, which if not defined, then tends to happen informally. The founders of two different robot companies have told me that they know when their robot has been accepted in a workplace by when it’s been named by teammates, and they deliberately leave the robot unnamed. Whereas some other companies focus on a more nuanced brand name such as Pepper or Relay, which can minimize gender stereotypes, but even then the effects persist.
Because with robots the physical appearance can’t be ignored and often aligns with ideas of gender. Next, there is the robot voice. Then, there are other layers of operation which can affect both a robot’s learning and its response. And finally, there is the robot’s task or occupation and its socio-cultural context.
Names are both informative and performative. We can usually ascribe a gender to a named object. Similarly, we can ascribe gender based on a robot’s appearance or voice, although it can differ in socio-cultural contexts.
Pepper from SoftBank Robotics
The robot Pepper was designed to be a childlike humanoid and according to SoftBank Robotics, Pepper is gender neutral. But in general, I’ve found that US people tend to see Pepper as female helper, while Asian people are more likely to see Pepper as a boy robot helper. This probably has something to do with the popularity of Astro Boy (Mighty Atom) from 1952 to 1968.
Astro Boy original comic
One of the significant issues with gendering robots is that once embodied, individuals are unlikely to have the power to change the robot that they interact with. Even if they rename it, recostume it and change the voice, the residual gender markers will be pervasive and ‘neutral’ will still elicit a gender response in everybody.
This will have an impact on how we treat and trust robots. This also has much deeper social implications for all of us, not just those who interact with robots, as robots are recreating all of our existing gender biases. And once the literal die is cast and robots are rolling out of a factory, it will be very hard to subsequently change the robot body.
Interestingly, I’m noticing a transition from a default male style of robot (think of all the small humanoid fighting, dancing and soccer playing robots) to a default female style of robot as the service robotics industry starts to grow. Even when the robot is simply a box shape on wheels, the use of voice can completely change our perception. One of the pioneering service robots from Savioke, Relay, deliberately preselected a neutral name for their robot and avoided using a human voice completely. Relay makes sounds but doesn’t use words. Just like R2D2, Relay expresses character through beeps and boops. This was a conscious, and significant, design choice for Savioke. Their preliminary experimentation on human-robot interaction showed that robots that spoke were expected to answer questions, and perform tasks at a higher level of competency than a robot that beeped.
https://youtu.be/AiZj7LTMjzs
Relay from Savioke delivering at Aloft Hotel
Not only did Savioke remove the cognitive dissonance of having a robot seem more human that it really is, but they removed some of the reiterative stereotyping that is starting to occur with less thoughtful robot deployments. The best practice for designing robots for real world interaction is to minimize human expressivity and remove any gender markers. (more about that next).
The concept of ‘marked’ and ‘unmarked’ arose in linguistics in the 1930s, but we’ve seen it play out in Natural Language Processing, search and deep learning repeatedly since then, perpetuating, reiterating and exaggerating the use of masculine terminology as the default, and feminine terminology used only in explicit (or marked) circumstances. Marked circumstances almost always relate to sexual characteristics or inferiority within power dynamics, rather than anything more interesting.
An example of unmarked or default terminology is the use of ‘man’ to describe people, but ‘woman’ to only describe a subset of ‘man’. This is also commonly seen in the use of a female specifier on a profession, ie. female police officer, female president, or female doctor. Otherwise, in spite of there being many female doctors, the search will return male examples, call female doctors he, or miscategorize them as nurse. We are all familiar with those mistakes in real life but had developed social policies to reduce the frequency of them. Now AI and robotics are bringing the stereotype back.
And so it happens that the ‘neutral’ physical appearance of robots is usually assumed to be male, rather than female, unless the robot has explicit female features. Sadly, female robots mean either a sexualized robot, or a robot performing a stereotypically female role. This is how people actually see and receive robots unless a company, like Savioke, consciously refrains from triggering our stereotypically gendered responses.
Various robots showing gender stereotyping at work
I can vouch for the fact that searching for images using the term “female roboticists”, for example, always presents me with lots of men building female robots instead. It will take a concerted effort to change things. Robot builders have the tendency to give our robots character. And unless you happen to be a very good (and rich) robotics company, there is also no financial incentive to degender robots. Quite the opposite. There is financial pressure to take advantage of our inherent anthropomorphism and gender stereotypes.
In The Media Equation in 1996, Clifford Reeves and Byron Nass demonstrated how we all attributed character, including gender, to our computing machines, and that this then affected our thoughts and actions, even though most people consciously deny conflating a computer with a personality. This unconscious anthropomorphizing can be used to make us respond differently, so of course robot builders will increasingly utilize the effect as more robots enter society and competition increases.
Can human beings relate to computer or television programs in the same way they relate to other human beings? Based on numerous psychological studies, this book concludes that people not only can but do treat computers, televisions, and new media as real people and places. Studies demonstrate that people are “polite” to computers; that they treat computers with female voices differently than “male” ones; that large faces on a screen can invade our personal space; and that on-screen and real-life motion can provoke the same physical responses. The Media Equation
The history of voice assistants shows a sad trend. These days, they are all female, with the exception of IBM Watson, but then Watson occupies a different ecosystem niche. Watson is an expert. Watson is the doctor to the rest of our subservient, map reading, shopping list helpful nurses. By default, unless you’re in Arabia, your voice assistant device will have a female voice. You have to go through quite a few steps to consciously change it and there are very few options. In 2019, Q, a genderless voice assistant was introduced, however I can’t find it offered on any devices yet.
https://youtu.be/jasEIteA3Ag
And while it may be possible to upload a different voice to a robot, there’s nothing we can do if the physical design of the robot evokes gender. Alan Winfield wrote a very good article “Should robots be gendered?” on Robohub.org in 2016, in which he outlines three reasons that gendered robots are a bad idea, all stemming from the 4th of the EPSRC Principles of Robotics, that robots should be transparent in action, rather than capitalizing on the illusion of character, so as not to influence vulnerable people.
Robots are manufactured artefacts: the illusion of emotions and intent should not be used to exploit vulnerable users. EPSRC Principles of Robotics
My biggest quibble with the EPSRC Principles is underestimating the size of the problem. By stating that vulnerable users are the young or the elderly, the principles imply that the rest of us are immune from emotional reaction to robots, whereas Reeves and Nass clearly show the opposite. We are all easily manipulated by our digital voice and robot assistants. And while Winfield recognizes that gender queues are powerful enough to elicit a response in everybody, he only sees the explicit gender markers rather than understanding that unmarked or neutral seeming robots also elicit a gendered response, as ‘not female’.
So Winfield’s first concern is emotional manipulation for vulnerable users (all of us!), his second concern is anthropomorphism inducing cognitive dissonance (over promising and under delivering), and his final concern is that the all the negative stereotypes contributing to sexism will be reproduced and reiterated as normal through the introduction of gendered robots in stereotyped roles (it’s happening!). These are all valid concerns, and yet while we’re just waking up to the problem, the service robot industry is growing by more than 30% per annum.
Where the growth of the industrial robotics segment is comparatively predictable, the world’s most trusted robotics statistics body, the International Federation of Robotics is consistently underestimating the growth of the service robotics industry. In 2016, the IFR predicted 10% growth for professional service robotics over the next few years from $4.6 Billion, but by 2018 they were recording 61% growth to $12.6B and by 2020 the IFR has recorded 85% overall growth expecting revenue from service robotics to hit $37B by 2021.
It’s unlikely that we’ll recall robots, once designed, built and deployed, for anything other than a physical safety issue. And the gendering of robots isn’t something we can roll out a software update to fix. We need to start requesting companies to not deploy robots that reinforce gender stereotyping. They can still be cute and lovable, I’m not opposed to the R2D2 robot stereotype!
Consumers are starting to fight back against the gender stereotyping of toys, which really only started in the 20th century as a way to extract more money from parents, and some brands are realizing that there’s an opportunity for them in developing gender neutral toys. Recent research from the Pew Research Center found that overall 64% of US adults wanted boys to play with toys associated with girls, and 76% of US adults wanted girls to play with toys associated with boys. The difference between girls and boys can be explained because girls’ role playing (caring and nurturing) is still seen as more negative than boys’ roles (fighting and leadership). But the overall range that shows that society has developed a real desire to avoid gender stereotyping completely.
Sadly, it’s like knowing sugar is bad for us, while it still tastes sweet.
In 2016, I debated Ben Goertzel, maker of Sophia the Robot, on the main stage of the Web Summit on whether humanoid robots were good or bad. I believe I made the better case in terms of argument, but ultimately the crowd sided with Goertzel, and by default with Sophia. (there are a couple of descriptions of the debate referenced below).
Robots are still bright shiny new toys to us. When are we going to realize that we’ve already opened the box and played this game, and women, or any underrepresented group, or any stereotype role, is going to be the loser. No, we’re all going to lose! Because we don’t want these stereotypes any more and robots are just going to reinforce the stereotypes that we already know we don’t want.
And did I mention how white all the robots are? Yes, they are racially stereotyped too. (See Ayanna Howard’s new book “Sex, Race and Robots: How to be human in an age of AI”)
References:
@robotopias @robohub @svrobo @robotlaunch @womeninroboticz — making good robots View all posts by andra | https://medium.com/silicon-valley-robotics/should-robots-be-gendered-comments-on-alan-winfields-opinion-8674c249c685 | ['Andra Keay'] | 2020-12-05 02:47:54.535000+00:00 | ['Stereotypes', 'Voices', 'Robots', 'AI', 'Gender'] |
Mini Bike Summer.. | It was 1973..I was 9 years old.
My friends in our (somewhat) upper middle class South, Fl neighborhood all had small boats or mini bikes, but not me, not yet.
One night my father took our family down to the Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show. We loved boats and owned a cabin cruiser we used to take out on the ocean and sleep in occasionally. As we walked through the convention marveling at the yachts I scoured the place for small boats like my friends had. Dad owned a Deli and a Texaco station so I thought we were rich, but truth is we were struggling, and charging hard into the 1973 Oil Embargo which would eventually cripple our gas station..but that’s another story.
Up on a stage I saw a 2 seat metallic purple speedboat for kids. It was absolutely the coolest thing I had ever seen. I pointed and said I’ll be over there and ran over and got in. It was like my own little version of the Bat boat. I sat inside and grabbed the wheel as my sister got in the passenger seat. I ached for this little boat, my 10th birthday was just around the corner so it was a possibility. We sat and talked the night away with dreams of cruising the waterways that snaked through our neighborhood. Eventually like all things do, the boat show ended, so we left..without the boat.
In the weeks to come I complained about not having a boat or at least a mini bike, all my friends had one or the other (some had both). June rolled around and it was my birthday, I was hoping for BIG things. Dad came home that afternoon with the trunk tied shut. “John” I heard from my bedroom, I ran outside and saw a handlebar poking out of the trunk. It wasn’t a boat..but it would do..it would definitely do..MY OWN MINI BIKE..
It was used and not as fancy as the ones my friends had but it was in pretty good shape. I helped my father get it out of the trunk and there it was in the driveway, a no frills baby blue mini bike. He showed me how to start it and I took a careful ride around the house. I was so excited I could barely breathe.
I couldn’t wait to ride with the other kids in the neighborhood.Tom down the road had a mini bike similar to mine but with a new engine pilfered from a neighbor’s lawn edger. Mark had a cool little Bennelli that we all wanted. Pretty much all of the neighborhood kids with mini bikes were in our gang, one had a Honda another a Yamaha, there was a kid on a Rupp, it ran the gamut, one kid had a little Indian and one kid even had a Hodaka.
In the weeks to come it became clear that mini bikes might be cheaper than boats to buy..but not in the long run. The repair bills for mine added up quickly (broken weld/carburetor trouble etc. etc.) and then there were the run ins with the police, I got a bunch of tickets one day for not having a license, registration or insurance. (I thought I was going to jail, I was 10). Dad wasn’t happy either and I was grounded (again).
We had a blast that summer though, riding all over the neighborhood and the sand dunes (pile of dirt for new home construction) but as kids eventually do, we got bored. So we were perpetually on the look out for new things to jump and new places to ride. I remember being grounded after my tickets and told not to ride out of the yard. So once my father left for work I got the hose out and watered down our newly landscaped lawn. I rode around the house for hours until our meticulously groomed grass was nothing but a rutted muddy mess. I was a terror on that thing, it felt like an extension of me. I spent my days working on it, riding it with reckless abandon and then dreaming about it at night. As our little gang grew bored with small jumps and cruising we started to consider more adventurous stunts. We built bigger ramps, we jumped everything you could imagine (including each other) and now Mark was talking about jumping the canal at the end of his street.
Eventually we talked Mark into something a little less reckless and got the neighborhood kids together for a meeting. Our aim was to plan the first annual summer mini bike race. It would happen in the deserted section of the development, half built homes and fresh streets. With kids aged eight to twelve we hashed out the details. I was pumped for this but felt outclassed on my mini bike. That thing was constantly giving me trouble and the other kids had none of these worries. Race night came and everyone was there, No kid would miss this. I have no clue where our parents were? It was the seventies, things were looser then.
We had kids positioned at the start and finish on this giant deserted mile long oval surrounded by half built homes, empty lots and a lake. I remember nervously sitting at the starting line with motors running, the South Florida sun was just setting. I spent the day souping up my machine as did my friends, fingers crossed, the moment of truth was here. A pretty girl from the neighborhood raised her hand and said loudly over the noise of the engines,
Ready, Set, GO and we were off.
Right from the start the the kids with the better mini bikes pulled away while mine hesitated and sputtered. It was becoming clear that not only would I lose the race, I would be embarrassed in front of the whole neighborhood. I had to do something fast so I got off the bike and angrily kicked the motor which revved maniacally and spit blue flames from the exhaust. I grabbed the handlebars and jumped on as the bike just took off. In the hazy night air I could see the pack of mini bikes about 20 yards ahead, I heard the crowd cheer as I quickly gained on them. My bike never ran like this before, the blue flame coming from the exhaust (albeit dangerous) looked and felt like I was driving a missile. I caught the pack in short time and smiled as I passed them, I won handily that night, I was the champ.
My mini bike never ran right after that, later that year my father lost the business, the house, the deli and we limped back to Buffalo..without my mini bike… | https://medium.com/@lightboxtherapy/mini-bike-summer-19ae7ed2b741 | ['John Telaak'] | 2020-06-27 19:24:14.749000+00:00 | ['Short Story', 'Childhood', 'Minibike', 'Summer', 'Redemption'] |
Beberapa hikmah dari film Papa, Mama, dan Tukang Kebun | in In Fitness And In Health | https://medium.com/teknomuslim/beberapa-hikmah-dari-film-papa-mama-dan-tukang-kebun-3a3cd3d5edc2 | ['Didik Tri Susanto'] | 2016-06-21 23:06:21.066000+00:00 | ['Hikmah', 'Islam', 'Film'] |
About Me — Nancy Soto. My Height Tells It All | We are very traditional when it comes to religious things. But, over time our traditions have modernize.
I love drinking soda- coca cola is my favorite. Lately, I been trying to cut it off.
I come from an entrepreneur relatives. My dad’s siblings own a family bakery in Mexico.
That concludes my mini story. Physically in public I am shy to talk about myself but, in writing I can go on and on about me. Writing in general is like my therapy because, I can say what I want without questioning or judgements. | https://medium.com/about-me-stories/about-me-nancy-soto-610ebda1aca8 | [] | 2020-12-17 22:55:37.139000+00:00 | ['Introduction', 'Life', 'About Me', 'Original Content', 'Personal Story'] |
Channels in Kotlin — part one. Communication essentials for Coroutines | Channels in Kotlin — part one
Communication essentials for Coroutines
Photo by Taylor Vick on Unsplash
Using coroutines in Kotlin comes with a few struggles since the way of writing your code, and reasoning about asynchronicity is somewhat different from what we are used to.
The construct that helped me get my head around it all was the Channel. If you’ve worked with Rx or similar before, you should also be able to draw parallels and have a smoother transition to coroutines. Also, if you understand Channels, the Flow construct will be easier to grasp as well.
What is a Channel?
As described in the API reference, a channel is a synchronization primitive, a way of communicating streams of values between coroutines. It implements two interfaces, SendChannel and ReceiveChannel. The names are quite self-explanatory, and in the purest form, you can use a Channel to send values and to receive them.
Both the send and the receive functions are suspending on a Channel. It means that we have to be inside of a Coroutine to be allowed to call them. It also guides us not to use them in the same Coroutine, here’s why.
val channel = Channel<String>()
launch {
channel.send("value")
channel.receive()
}
This code snippet never terminates. Since the send call is suspending and the only way to release it is via a request to the receive function, it will stay suspended forever. So you need to take into consideration the order of execution. What if we switch the order in the example to have received first? Well, it’s the same result. Since the receive call is also suspending, and will only be released from the suspension upon a request to the send function, we have the same problem.
This behavior is the default for a Channel. That the send and the receive call needs to meet and exchange the value sort of speak, almost like a rendezvous. Thus the type of this default behavior is Channel.RENDEZVOUS.
Other types of Channel
There are four types to take into consideration, and they can alter the behavior of the code example above.
Channel.RENDEZVOUS
Channel.BUFFERED
Channel.UNLIMITED
Channel.CONFLATED
Buffered
The buffered type means that you can set a fixed buffer that the Channel can store. When invoking send, if there’s room in the buffer, the call won’t suspend. But if you have a buffer of one and sending twice without any request to receive, it will suspend again.
To specify a buffered channel, you send in the size of the buffer when creating the Channel — seen in the updated example below, where I entered 5 (five) as the capacity of the buffer.
val channel = Channel<String>(5)
launch {
channel.send("value")
channel.receive()
}
And now the code terminates. Since send don’t suspend due to the buffer specified, and the receive call doesn’t suspend since there’s a value in the Channel it can receive. And just to let you know, this example code is rather useless. But it’s an excellent way to show how rendezvous and buffered channels work.
Unlimited
The next type of Channel is the unlimited one, which means that sending on it will never suspend. It just adds to the unlimited buffer. On the receiving end, it’s the same behavior as always. If there is no value in the Channel, the invocation will suspend until there is.
It can come in handy when you have a stream of events that sometimes comes very often and sometimes more or less idles. Like tracking events, when the user is active, we trigger tons of events. When the user is, for example, reading, no events get triggered. And on the receiving end, we want to batch the events instead of reacting to each of them. Here’s a naive PoC of the described scenario.
val channel = Channel<Event>(Channel.UNLIMITED)
launch {
onTrackEvent {
channel.send(it)
}
}
launch {
while(!channel.isClosedForReceive) {
repeat(25) {
batch.add(channel.receive())
}
batch.send()
}
}
In the first Coroutine launched, we listen to tracking events and pass them on to the Channel. And in the second one, we check if the Channel is closed before acting on the next batch of events. In real life, we would have to be less naive with the batching since the Channel can get closed at any time. We’ll get back to why we should close channels later.
Conflated
This channel type is the most interesting to me. What it does is that it only ever keeps the latest value sent to it. So it’s the same for this as the unlimited that sending on it will never suspend, it will instead replace the previous value if any. And on the receiving end, it will as always suspend on an empty channel. If you, like me, are used to Rx, you probably think of BehaviorSubject or similar, and if you do, I need to remind you that once anyone has received the most recent value from a channel, it is removed from the Channel. On a BehaviorSubject, each en every subscriber will get the latest observed value.
One use case for this would be if you have a UI that updates a value every fifth second, let’s make it viewers of a live stream to be concrete. We don’t care about everything that happens all the time. We want to update to the latest count of viewers on each update.
sealed class Event {
object Enter : Event()
object Leave : Event()
} val motion = Channel<Event>(Channel.UNLIMITED)
val viewers = Channel<Int>(Channel.CONFLATED) suspend fun enter() = motion.send(Enter)
suspend fun leave() = motion.send(Leave) launch(Dispatchers.DEFAULT) {
var count = 0
for(msg in motion) {
when(msg) {
is Enter -> count++
is Leave -> count--
}
viewers.send(count)
}
} launch(Dispatchers.MAIN) {
while(!viewers.isClosedForReceive) {
showNumberOfViewers(viewers.receive())
delay(5000)
}
}
The code snippet is quite an extensive one to show the conflated channel type. But I also wanted to show an example with more to it, to give you a sense of how powerful Channels are.
To walk through it real fast, we have one unlimited Channel that receives each time a viewer enters or leaves. By calling either the enter or the leave function, those functions send the corresponding event on the unlimited motion channel.
In our first Coroutine, we iterate over the Channel that receives all events. This is powerful since the for-loop itself will handle the suspending and possible closing of the Channel. The Coroutine also has a local state in the count variable, and since it’s only modified within the Coroutine, it is safe to do that. (No matter how many threads or coroutines are calling the Channel, we only receive within one coroutine).
On each update, our Coroutine that listens to events trigger an update to the conflated viewers channel with the current count of viewers as value. In the second Coroutine, launched on the Main dispatcher (used for UI updates on Android, for example), we receive on that Channel. But after each time we receive, we go into a delay for five seconds. When the delay is over, if the Channel is still open to receive, we try to get the latest value by calling receive once again. And we will always only show the latest known value, ignoring all fluctuation on the value during the delay.
If you are knowledgable around coroutines and suspending, you might see one flaw or quirk in the example above. That is that we are not guaranteed to update every five seconds, do you see why?
Correct, the viewers.receive() function will suspend if the viewers channel is empty, for an unknown amount of time. That’s a good thing, in my opinion, since we don’t update the UI if we don’t have to. Because if the viewers channel is empty, nothing has happened to the count of viewers. So our UI is up to date. And since we are suspending, we will now update as soon as there is a change.
Next up
Now we understand what a Channel is and how the different types of Channels work. In the following story, we’ll go thru more practical examples of how to use it. We’ll discover patterns and extension-functions that help us do it fluently. Then we’ll also see why Channels aren’t a replacement for Rx.
Part two available here: https://medium.com/@dahlberg.bob/channels-in-kotlin-part-two-7d52abbc5b6e | https://medium.com/swlh/channels-in-kotlin-part-one-594ba12dcb5a | ['Bob Dahlberg'] | 2020-04-10 16:46:50.163000+00:00 | ['Kotlin', 'Software Development', 'Channel', 'Coroutine', 'Programming'] |
Wonder Woman 1984 [2020] | “FULL ONLINE 720p! | Wonder Woman comes into conflict with the Soviet Union during the Cold War in the 1980s and finds a formidable foe by the name of the Cheetah.
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Its somewhat ironic that a movie about time travel can’t be reviewed properly until your future self rewatches the movie.
It’s bold of Nolan to make such a thoroughly dense blockbuster. He assumes people will actually want to see Wonder Woman 1984 more than once so they can understand it properly, which some may not. This movie makes the chronology of Inception look as simplistic as tic-tac-toe.
Ergo, it’s hard for me to give an accurate rating, without having seen it twice, as I’m still trying to figure out whether everything does indeed make sense. If it does, this movie is easily a 9 or 10. If it doesn’t, it’s a 6.
It’s further not helped by the fact that the dialogue in the first 15 minutes of the movie is painfully hard to understand / hear. Either they were behind masks; they were practically mumbling; the sound effects were too loud; or all of the above. The exposition scenes are also waayyy too brief for something this complex — a problem also shared with Interstellar actually.
(Interstellar had this minimalist exposition problem explaining Blight, where if you weren’t careful, you’d miss this one sentence / scene in the entire movie explaining that Blight was a viral bacteria:
“Earth’s atmosphere is 80% nitrogen, we don’t even breathe nitrogen. Blight does, and as it thrives, our air gets less and less oxygen”).
I guess it’s a Nolan quirk. Hopefully, a revision of the film audio sorts the sound mixing out. I do like the soundtrack, but it’s too loud initially.
I liked all the actors. You think John Washington can’t act at first, but he can, and he grows on you as the film progresses. And Pattinson is his usual charming self. Elizabeth is a surprise treat. And so on.
Its worth a watch either way. See it with subtitles if you can. And definitely don’t expect to fully understand whats going on the first time around.
Its one hell of a complicated film. It will be very hard for an average viewer to gather all the information provided by this movie at the first watch. But the more you watch it, more hidden elements will come to light. And when you are able to put these hidden elements together. You will realize that this movie is just a “masterpiece” which takes the legacy of Christopher Nolan Forward
If I talk about acting, Then I have to say that Robert Pattinson has really proved himself as a very good actor in these recent years. And I am sure his acting skills will increase with time. His performance is charming and very smooth. Whenever he is on the camera, he steals the focus John David Washington is also fantastic in this movie. His performance is electrifying, I hope to see more from him in the future. Other characters such as Kenneth Branagh, Elizabeth, Himesh Patel, Dimple Kapadia, Clémence Poésy have also done quite well. And I dont think there is a need to talk about Michael Caine
Talking about Music, its awesome. I dont think you will miss Hans Zimmer’s score. Ludwig has done a sufficient job. There is no lack of good score in the movie
Gotta love the editing and post production which has been put into this movie. I think its fair to say this Nolan film has focused more in its post production. The main problem in the movie is the sound mixing. Plot is already complex and some dialogues are very soft due to the high music score. It makes it harder to realize what is going on in the movie. Other Nolan movies had loud BGM too. But Audio and dialogues weren’t a problem
My humble request to everyone is to please let the movie sink in your thoughts. Let your mind grasp all the elements of this movie. I am sure more people will find it better. Even those who think they got the plot. I can bet they are wrong.
Wonder Woman 1984 is the long awaited new movie from Christopher Nolan. The movie that’s set to reboot the multiplexes post-Covid. It’s a manic, extremely loud, extremely baffling sci-fi cum spy rollercoaster that will please a lot of Nolan fan-boys but which left me with very mixed views.
John David Washington (Denzel’s lad) plays “The Protagonist” — a crack-CIA field operative who is an unstoppable one-man army in the style of Hobbs or Shaw. Recruited into an even more shadowy organisation, he’s on the trail of an international arms dealer, Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh in full villain mode). Sator is bullying his estranged wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki) over custody of their son (and the film unusually has a BBFC warning about “Domestic Abuse”). Our hero jets the world to try to prevent a very particular kind of Armageddon while also keeping the vulnerable and attractive Kat alive.
This is cinema at its biggest and boldest. Nolan has taken a cinema ‘splurge’ gun, filled it with money, set it on rapid fire, removed the safety and let rip at the screen. Given that Nolan is famous for doing all of his ‘effects’ for real and ‘in camera’, some of what you see performed is almost unbelievable. You thought crashing a train through rush-hour traffic in “Inception” was crazy? You ain’t seen nothing yet with the airport scene! And for lovers of Chinooks (I must admit I am one and rush out of the house to see one if I hear it coming!) there is positively Chinook-p*rn on offer in the film’s ridiculously huge finale.
The ‘inversion’ aspects of the story also lends itself to some fight scenes — one in particular in an airport ‘freeport’ — which are both bizarre to watch and, I imagine, technically extremely challenging to pull off. In this regard John David Washington is an acrobatic and talented stunt performer in his own right, and must have trained for months for this role.
Nolan’s crew also certainly racked up their air miles pre-lockdown, since the locations range far and wide across the world. The locations encompassed Denmark, Estonia, India, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and United States. Hoyte Van Hoytema’s cinematography is lush in introducing these, especially the beautiful Italian coast scenes. Although I did miss the David Arnold strings that would typically introduce these in a Bond movie: it felt like that was missing.
The ‘timey-wimey’ aspects of the plot are also intriguing and very cleverly done. There are numerous points at which you think “Oh, that’s a sloppy continuity error” or “Shame the production design team missed that cracked wing mirror”. Then later in the movie, you get at least a dozen “Aha!” moments. Some of them (no spoilers) are jaw-droppingly spectacular.
Perhaps the best twist is hidden in the final line of the movie. I only processed it on the way home.
And so to the first of my significant gripes with Wonder Woman 1984. The sound mix in the movie is all over the place. I’d go stronger than that… it’s truly awful (expletive deleted)! Nolan often implements Shakespeare’s trick of having characters in the play provide exposition of the plot to aid comprehension. But unfortunately, all of this exposition dialogue was largely incomprehensible. This was due to:
the ear-splitting volume of the sound: 2020 movie audiences are going to be suffering from ‘Wonder Woman 1984is’! (LOL);
the dialogue is poorly mixed with the thumping music by Ludwig Göransson (Wot? No Hans Zimmer?);
a large proportion of the dialogue was through masks of varying description (#covid-appropriate). Aaron Taylor-Johnson was particularly unintelligible to my ears.
Overall, watching this with subtitles at a special showing might be advisable!
OK, so I only have a PhD in Physics… but at times I was completely lost as to the intricacies of the plot. It made “Inception” look like “The Tiger Who Came to Tea”. There was an obvious ‘McGuffin’ in “Inception” — — (“These ‘dream levels’… how exactly are they architected??”…. “Don’t worry… they’ll never notice”. And we didn’t!) In “Wonder Woman 1984” there are McGuffins nested in McGuffins. So much of this is casually waved away as “future stuff… you’re not qualified” that it feels vaguely condescending to the audience. At one point Sator says to Kat “You don’t know what’s going on, do you?” and she shakes her head blankly. We’re right with you there luv!
There are also gaps in the storyline that jar. The word “Wonder Woman 1984”? What does it mean. Is it just a password? I’m none the wiser.
The manic pace of Wonder Woman 1984 and the constant din means that the movie gallops along like a series of disconnected (albeit brilliant) action set pieces. For me, it has none of the emotional heart of the Cobb’s marriage problems from “Inception” or the father/daughter separation of “Interstellar”. In fact, you barely care for anyone in the movie, perhaps with the exception of Kat.
It’s a talented cast. As mentioned above, John David Washington is muscular and athletic in the role. It’s a big load for the actor to carry in such a tent-pole movie, given his only significant starring role before was in the excellent BlacKkKlansman. But he carries it off well. A worthy successor to Gerard Butler and Jason Statham for action roles in the next 10 years.
This is also a great performance by Robert Pattinson, in his most high-profile film in a long time, playing the vaguely alcoholic and Carré-esque support guy. Pattinson’s Potter co-star Clemence Poésy also pops up — rather more un-glam that usual — as the scientist plot-expositor early in the movie.
Nolan’s regular Michael Caine also pops up. although the 87-year old legend is starting to show his age: His speech was obviously affected at the time of filming (though nice try Mr Nolan in trying to disguise that with a mouth full of food!). But in my book, any amount of Caine in a movie is a plus. He also gets to deliver the best killer line in the film about snobbery!
However, it’s Kenneth Branagh and Elizabeth Debicki that really stand out. They were both fabulous, especially when they were bouncing off each other in their marital battle royale.
So, given this was my most anticipated movie of the year, it’s a bit of a curate’s egg for me. A mixture of being awe-struck at times and slightly disappointed at others. It’s a movie which needs a second watch, so I’m heading back today to give my ear drums another bashing! And this is one where I reserve the right to revisit my rating after that second watch… it’s not likely to go down… but it might go up.
(For the full graphical review, check out One Mann’s Movies on t’interweb and Facebook. Thanks.)
As this will be non-spoiler, I can’t say too much about the story. However, what I can is this: Wonder Woman 1984’s story is quite dynamic in the sense that you won’t understand it till it wants you to. So, for the first half, your brain is fighting for hints and pieces to puzzle together the story. It isn’t until halfway through the movie that Wonder Woman 1984 invites you to the fantastic storytelling by Christopher Nolan.
Acting is beyond phenomenal, and I’d be genuinely surprised if neither Robert Pattinson nor John David Washington doesn’t receive an Oscar nomination for best actor. It’s also hard not to mention how good Elizabeth Debicki and Aaron Johnson both are. All around, great acting, and the dialogue amps up the quality of the movie.
The idea of this movie is damn fascinating, and while there are films that explore time-travelling, there’s never been anything quite like this. It has such a beautiful charm and for the most part, explains everything thoroughly. It feels so much more complex than any form of time-travelling we’ve seen, and no less could’ve been expected from Nolan.
Oh my lord, the score for this film fits so perfectly. Every scene that’s meant to feel intense was amped by a hundred because of how good the score was. Let me just say though, none of them will be found iconic, but they fit the story and scenes so well.
In the end, I walked out, feeling very satisfied. Nevertheless, I do have issues with the film that I cannot really express without spoiling bits of the story. There are definitely little inconsistencies that I found myself uncovering as the story progressed. However, I only had one issue that I found impacted my enjoyment. That issue was understanding some of the dialogue. No, not in the sense that the movie is too complicated, but more that it was hard to make out was being said at times. It felt like the movie required subtitles, but that probably was because, at a time in the film, there was far too much exposition.
Nevertheless, I loved this film, I’ll be watching it at least two more times, and I think most of you in this group will enjoy it. I definitely suggest watching it in theatres if possible, just so you can get that excitement.
(4/5) & (8.5/10) for those that care about number scores.
At first, I want to ask Christopher Nolan one question, HOW THE HELL YOU DID THIS? Seriously I want to have an answer, How did he write such as this masterpiece! How did he get this complicated, fabulous and creative idea? What is going on in his mind? The story is written and directed perfectly, the narration style was absolutely unique. I have no idea how can anyone direct such as this story, that was a huge challenge, and as usual Nolan gave us a masterpiece that we’ll put beside (Memento), (Inception) and (Interstellar) The movie is so fast-paced in a good way, there was no boring moment. The chemistry between John David Washington and Robert Pattinson was great and funny and both of their performance was really good. Elizabeth Debicki performance was the best in the movie because she had the chance to show her acting abilities and she cached up that chance and showed us an A level acting.
The music wasn’t unique and distinct as the music of Interstellar for example and I think this movie needed the touch of Hans Zimmer, I’m not saying that Ludwig Göransson failed but Hans Zimmer in another level.
If there was something I’d say that I didn’t like it in the movie would it be that Nolan discarded any set up or characters backgrounds except Elizabeth Debicki dramatic story but it wasn’t that bad for me, I didn’t care about that, the exciting story didn’t give me the chance to focus on it. But the actual problem was the third act, it was really complicated and I got lost and I convinced myself to discard the questions that were in my head and enjoy the well-made action sequences and Elizabeth Debicki performance.
I think this kind of movie that gets better with a second and third watch.
I honestly don’t quite know where to begin with Wonder Woman 1984. I love Christopher Nolan’s work but I have never seen a more complicated film (and I understood Memento). After nearly three hours, I came away from Wonder Woman 1984 not knowing myself, my mind reduced to nothing more than piles of ash.
Was there time travel involved? Hmm, there was definitely something about time inversion. I mean, does Nolan even understand what he wrote? Look, I give credit to the director because he’s one of the few directors left who knows how to create a compelling and intelligent blockbuster. Wonder Woman 1984 is full of Nolan trademarks — the gratuitous Michael Caine cameo, a loud, really loud score, complete with stunning cinematography and slickly inventive action set-pieces.
This time around however, Nolan has finally managed to ‘out-Nolan’ himself: the palindromic plot, whilst creatively ambitious, is simply far too complicated for its own good. Wonder Woman 1984 is overlong, overstuffed, pretentious and too exhausting to comprehend in its entirety — it makes Inception and Interstellar look like Peppa Pig by comparison.
I’m aware of the technical wizardry and creative mastery in this film and lord knows I’ll have to watch this again. For those who want a puzzle, Wonder Woman 1984 at least provides a unique cinematic experience. But to actually enjoy solving it Nolan wants you to work very very hard | https://medium.com/@watch-ww84-2020-online-hd/wonder-woman-1984-2020-full-online-720p-8cde8575f4cb | ['Watch Online Hd'] | 2020-12-26 01:32:26.241000+00:00 | ['Adventure', 'Fantasy', 'Action', 'Movies'] |
Hungary is a Bit Shit | SHIT HISTORY
Hungary is a Bit Shit
The complete history of Hungary
Hungary. Why does it even exist?
In the 5th century, a few tribes of wanderlust Hungarians went for a wander across Europe. Several hundred years later they settled, stopped sacrificing children and spoke a language that nobody else on the planet could understand.
A bit later, the Hungarians produced a great footballer, invented the Rubik’s Cube, the Airfix Kit and were the brains behind the mass movement of making people go cross-eyed attempting to see reality (the Magic Eye).
https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/the-brains-behind-the-90s-magic-eye-1cc8e08fb494
And that’s Hungarian history.
You’re welcome.
Next week, TBI will be looking into the shit history of Belgium and Wales. We’ll be asking the age-old question of why bother speaking a dying language that sounds like your gonads have been dragged through a grater at speed; and their liberal use of fornicating with sheep as a marketing ploy. | https://medium.com/the-bad-influence/hungary-is-a-bit-shit-5f4af4ec078a | ['Reuben Salsa'] | 2020-10-29 17:37:36.194000+00:00 | ['Salsa', 'Satire', 'Ideas', 'Humor', 'The Bad Influence'] |
Democratizing data insights on BigQuery with Data QnA | Democratizing data insights on BigQuery with Data QnA
How can we make useful insights accessible across an organization, even for those with no technical backgrounds? Let’s find out Anirudh Murali Follow Aug 27 · 4 min read
Data-driven decision making is all the rage today. Using insights on usage, performance and various other attributes, decisions can be made based on real-world statistics rather than intuition or guesswork.
Traditionally, data insights used for decision making are extracted from large volumes of data, stored in a data warehouse, by a dedicated data analysis team. These teams use software tools and scripting to extract the relevant data and present it suitably in order to understand the data.
While this is an important part of a data-driven organization, sometimes it may be necessary to get a quick overview of your data. Data QnA provides a way to do this, with no technological barrier.
Data QnA on BigQuery
Data QnA is a relatively new feature of BigQuery, which allows you to ‘ask questions’ about your data, in plain English. Under the hood, Data QnA converts your natural language queries into suitable BigQuery SQL statements, which can be executed to retrieve data from tables.
Data QnA allows users with little to no experience in scripting, analytics tools and SQL to quickly extract useful data from BigQuery. There is no technical barrier — if you know what you’re looking for, you can find it using Data QnA.
Setting up Data QnA
Data QnA needs to be enabled and set up on each BigQuery table that you intend to use with it. It is a simple, 3-step process -
In the Google Cloud console, go to the BigQuery page. Under the pull-out menu on the left, select Data QnA In the menu on the left, select Manage Click on Enable new table. Select the table you want to use
Data QnA will now index the table and prepare it for natural language queries.
Each column is referred to by one or more aliases, which are identified in your natural language queries. By default, Data QnA creates aliases for each column based on the table schema. To customize these aliases,
Under the Data QnA page, select Manage Click on the three dots to the right of your table, and select Edit setup Modify the aliases for each column, and click on Save
Data QnA will now recognize columns with any new aliases that you added.
Asking questions
You can ask questions of your data right from the BigQuery console. To get started,
Go to the BigQuery page and select a table with Data QnA enabled Click on Ask question Type out your query in plain English, and click on Generate Equivalent SQL
You can now see the SQL generated by Data QnA. To run the query, click on Open in Query Editor and select Run to execute the query and retrieve results.
While this is one way to query your data, this is mostly used to test your setup and ensure that Data QnA is generating queries as expected. The real strength of Data QnA lies in its API.
Integrating with Dialogflow
Virtual assistants have become extremely powerful in recent years. In addition to having superior natural language understanding capabilities, these assistants also allow us to perform a wide variety of actions, right from getting an update on the weather, to booking flight tickets and hotel rooms for you. Imagine a virtual assistant that could pull insights for you from your data warehouse as well!
Dialogflow is Google’s platform for building conversational agents. Using Dialogflow, we can build a natural extension to Data QnA, to create the basis for a chatbot that can be used to get data insights from BigQuery.
Supercharge your virtual assistant! [Photo by author]
Once a Dialogflow agent has been built, it can be integrated into a variety of applications to provide a natural conversation-like way to retrieve data insights, such as Google Assistant or Slack. Decision makers can get a quick pulse of their business, just by asking a question on their phones. Need to take a quick decision and looking for some data to back it up? It’s just one question away!
In order to demonstrate this, a sample application has been developed to integrate the Data QnA API with Dialogflow, to provide a chat interface for getting data insights. The project source code and setup instructions can be found here.
Don’t query your database, just ask for your data [Photo by author]
What’s Next?
Check out the Data QnA product launch blog for more information on how Data QnA is revolutionizing data insights for organizations. For more information on the technology behind it, you can read the research paper.
Since the Data QnA API is still in Alpha, it is not publicly accessible yet. If you really want to try it out right away, you can apply for access here. Otherwise, keep an eye on the BigQuery release notes to find out when the API goes public. Stay tuned! | https://medium.com/google-cloud/democratizing-data-insights-on-bigquery-with-data-qna-a8523aaacbf3 | ['Anirudh Murali'] | 2021-08-27 07:58:27.963000+00:00 | ['NLP', 'Chatbots', 'Google Cloud Platform', 'Dialogflow', 'Bigquery'] |
Crown Platform activates “Emerald” NFT’s | Crown Platform activates “Emerald” NFT’s
In-house NFT Framework to tokenise assets on the Crown blockchain
The decentralised NFT registry functionality has activated at 10:00 UTC on March 24.
Crown Core v0.14 “Emerald” brings the NFT Framework to mainnet.
The NFT Framework enables decentralised, non-fungible token issuance for tokenisation of assets on the Crown blockchain.
Artem Brazhnikov, Crown Platform technology lead, author of the in-house NFT innovation.
The decentralised registry functionality activates on March 24.
Crown Platform, a community driven cryptocurrency (CRW) and application platform, has released the Crown Core v0.14 “Emerald” NFT Framework, its latest technological in-house innovation. The Crown Platform NFT Framework enables the tokenisation of assets on the Crown blockchain by the issuance of protocols and tokens. With this release, authored by technology lead Artem Brazhnikov, Crown Platform extends its functionality to serve as a decentralised and immutable registry: an asset-chain.
Issue protocols and tokens on the Crown Platform starting March 24.
“The NFT Framework is a way to tokenise assets without writing any asset-specific code.”
Starting March 24, individuals, businesses and institutions can become issuers of unique protocols and tokens, specifying their rules and participating in the creation of a decentralised on-chain registry linked to the CRW public-key cryptography and powered by a highly secure Masternode Proof of Stake consensus mechanism. The Crown Platform development has been focused on the usability of the framework. That is why no additional coding language is needed to program the tokens, unlike Ethereum’s ‘Solidity’ approach. As Artem Brazhnikov puts it, “the NFT Framework is a way to tokenise assets without writing any asset-specific code”.
NFT structure: Create a protocol and define its rules. Now you can issues tokens within that protocol!
The NFT Framework represents a central part of the always evolving Crown Platform ecosystem. NFT applications range from registry of digital and physical assets to the extension of Crown’s governance and consensus structures through additional possibilities of registry, authentication and documenting. This development milestone is a big step forward for the Crown Platform and it’s enthusiastic community, and there are more to follow. Implementing instant NFT transactions for non-fungible asset exchange and trading are among the top development priorities, together with the soon to be released Bitcoin v0.17 codebase update.
Crown stakeholders have been working on this pioneering cryptocurrency project for years, allowing Crown Platform to evolve through its Decentralized Governance and Proposal System, an algorithmic voting and funding mechanism that allows the Crown Platform project to self-sustain its path towards further technological and social innovation. By doing so, Crown Platform is creating an alternative, decentralised economy based on it’s native fair-launch coin, CRW.
The Crown Platform community is committed to enabling an open, decentralised, and community governed infrastructure, supporting functionalities that leverage the potentials of blockchain technology while remaining truthful to decentralisation and permission-less interaction in a cryptographically secure and incentivised peer-to-peer network. New users are joining Crown Platform everyday, adding new ideas to build on it’s technology. If you want to get started with the Crown Platform or have any questions, you can get in touch with the community following the links below.
This press release has gone into distribution using the Cointraffic PR amplifier service starting March 24. These are some of the websites the PR will be published on:
https://cryptopotato.com/
https://walletinvestor.com
https://dailyhodl.com
https://zycrypto.com/
https://blockonomi.com
https://captainaltcoin.com
https://newslogical.com/
https://www.thecryptoupdates.com/
https://www.btcnn.com
Additionally, a Native Ads campaign will be running during the time of the distribution with the following banner:
A detailed reach report will be published after the campaign is completed.
Thank you for supporting the Crown Platform project. | https://medium.com/crownplatform/crown-emerald-press-release-d79436340a2e | ['J. Herranz'] | 2020-03-24 11:41:48.601000+00:00 | ['Altcoins', 'Blockchain', 'Crownplatform', 'Blockchain Technology', 'Nft'] |
Building AI talent to accelerate your business | (All the credit for these insights goes to Peter Grabowski, Google Austin Site Lead, Enterprise AI)
We’ve spent the past few years at Google building a horizontal AI team, focused on machine learning (ML) for enterprise applications. It wasn’t easy, but it had a huge impact. Through that process, we’ve identified multiple benefits of having a centralized ML team, including better access to talent and improved engineer retention, more reusable, organization-wide solutions and an enhanced capacity to balance bursty ML projects.
But first — what is a horizontal AI team, and how do you build one?
Why a centralized team?
Data piling up can overwhelm analysts and product teams easily, yet presents an opportunity: what if we could solve some tricky, large scale problems (like patent classification or flagging inappropriate content) with all that data, using machine learning? A central team focused on applying AI/ML techniques to company-wide problems lets us take experience from one use case (helping Legal with their mass of patents) and bring it to another (finding the right learning course for career advancement).
What is a horizontal AI team?
A horizontal AI team is a centralized group dedicated to helping the organization responsibly and productively make use of machine learning. We help ensure that business groups across Google adhere to best practices for enterprise machine learning by considering things like fairness, privacy and interpretability. We partner with Google Research to apply the latest advances in machine learning to Google’s most important business challenges. Finally, we advise business leaders across the company on where machine learning might best fit into their roadmaps, helping to prioritize the most impactful applications.
How do you build the team?
Our team was formed by combining two vertically aligned functional ML groups. After demonstrated success in those areas, our remit was expanded to include all of Google’s internal enterprise functions. Our team is part of a larger Enterprise Infrastructure horizontal supporting those in Facilities, Marketing, Finance and other functions.
Hiring for the team is challenging — this group is unlike any other team I’ve built. Traditional ML teams usually have one core competency. For instance, you might have a team focused specifically on natural language or primarily on computer vision. Given our broad remit, our team is exposed to all areas of machine learning, also including areas like optimization, time series analysis and anomaly detection.
As a result, we had to change the way we hire. No one candidate is an expert in all of the areas we cover. We look first and foremost for candidates with strong applied mathematics backgrounds and demonstrated histories of learning new techniques. From there, we select for candidates with experience in certain domains, especially those in which we currently don’t have expertise. After hiring, we place heavy emphasis on technical design reviews that effectively facilitate knowledge sharing across the team. We also frequently bring in external speakers from across and outside of Google, making sure the team stays up to date on the latest and greatest techniques.
Three things to keep in mind
We’ve learned a lot while building Google’s first Enterprise AI team — here are three key takeaways from our experience
1: Impact is key
When you first start the team, you’ll likely have a ton of interested clients. Some of the ideas they pitch to you will be great, while others will be less practical. To help sort through the inevitably long list, it’s important to focus on prioritization. On our team, we prioritize projects based on the impact they’re likely to have — whether it’s dollars or hours saved, risk mitigated, or increase in user satisfaction (of course weighing these factors against each other could be a post in itself!)
2: Education, education, education
We’ve run an extensive series of courses focused on employee education, with courses designed for recruiters, product managers, engineers, and leadership. The value of these courses can’t be overstated. Helping people learn the fundamentals of machine learning allows them to more effectively generate ideas for new projects. We’ve found the quality of proposals we’ve received is noticeably higher when it comes from groups that have received some level of ML education.
This makes sense — the teams we partner with are the experts in their respective fields, so they’ll be best equipped to highlight appropriate problems in their space. As an added bonus, machine learning has become a lot more approachable in recent years, so many tech-savvy teams will likely be able to solve their own problems with a little guidance on problem framing and tools like AutoML, allowing you and your team to focus on the more complicated issues.
3: Be careful with people data
One of the most interesting challenges comes from working with people data. This data is especially important, but also especially sensitive, and requires extra care. We’ve identified three key areas with all sorts of machine learning: privacy, fairness, and interpretability. These are especially important when dealing with data generated by people. Techniques like integrated gradients, differential privacy, federated learning, and mindiff can help to address some of these concerns
How to start
Embarking on this path can be tricky, and many teams struggle with how to get started. We’ve worked to make our Cloud AI products accessible to all kinds of developers and engineers, so you can test out AI tools without too much prep time. One of the trickiest things about getting started with ML is that hyperparameter tuning and model training can be really hard.
At least, hard for humans.
So we set our AI to fix that, and now you can use those products in language, images, videos or structured data sets yourself. Try AutoML and train your own private models that build off of Google’s work in structured data and self-tuning models. | https://medium.com/google-cloud/building-ai-talent-to-accelerate-your-business-d66fced7a355 | ['Max Saltonstall'] | 2020-10-22 20:54:34.495000+00:00 | ['Artificial Intelligence', 'Machine Learning', 'Cloud Computing', 'Automl', 'Enterprise Technology'] |
Cloud Native Geospatial Outreach Day Recap | I wanted to give a recap of the event and share some of my favorite parts.
Welcome & Overview
Thanks again to our sponsors!
We opened with a welcome from Bruno Sánchez-Andrade Nuño and me, representing the Microsoft and Planet, the convening sponsors. Then Hamed, the new Executive Director of Radiant Earth, introduced the Data Labeling Contest (which was a great success). I then attempted to give an overview of ‘Cloud Native Geospatial’, to help explain it to new people and to chart our progress. It’s always fun to pull these together, as each time I get to survey all the new things happening, and there seems to always be great new stuff. This time I also tried to explain more of the ‘why’. I don’t think I made the strongest argument, but I hope to try again and go deeper in a blog post.
Lightning Talks
The two sessions of lightning talks truly demonstrated how the Cloud Native Geospatial movement is crystalizing in a big way. When I put out the call for lightning talks I knew there was some cool content out there, but I was blown away by the diversity and sheer awesomeness that came in. If you are to watch any of the recorded videos from outreach day then Lightning Talks Round 1 and Round 2 are definitely the place to start.
We heard how a number of different organization and datasets are embracing STAC & COG, from commercial satellite providers like Maxar and Planet to startups like Arturo, SparkGeo, and Astraea, to the huge public data catalogs of ESA in their FedEO Portal, NASA in their Common Metadata Repository and particular open data sets like CBERS and Sentinel 5P (those links all go direct to the lightning talks). And all three major public cloud providers are moving towards the formats — AWS shared all about their Registery of Open Data, Google showed how Earth Engine can read and write COG’s, their STAC interface to their Earth Engine Data Catalog, and their plans to embrace STAC more. And though Microsoft hasn’t embraced it quite as quickly they have the potential to be a real emerging force in providing Cloud Native Geospatial datasets, as part of their AI for Earth and Planetary Computer initiatives. Their Azure Open Datasets are already quite interesting, and they are building a team that looks set to really embrace COG and STAC as a differentiator. And I always love those who differentiate by being the best at open standards.
I was also really excited to see two international development organizations, the World Bank and Digital Earth Africa, join the movement. Both sponsored the event, but more importantly, both are seeing the potential of this new approach. Years ago I did a fellowship in Zambia, so it is now always in the back of my mind how the technology I build can work in less mature technological environments. Storing data as COG and STAC on the cloud takes much less ‘capacity building’ than previous geospatial approaches, cloud storage regions in Africa let the data live close to its users and moving the compute to the cloud obviates the need to download massive datasets on slow connections to do analysis. So it was awesome to learn about all the Digital Earth Africa from Fang Yuan — they’ve actually put up the first fully Cloud Native Geospatial Sentinel 2 dataset, converting the level 2 surface reflectance products from JPEG2000 to Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF and putting a STAC interface on top of it, stored in the Africa AWS region. | https://medium.com/radiant-earth-insights/cloud-native-geospatial-outreach-day-recap-9b873ce3788e | ['Chris Holmes'] | 2020-10-02 13:09:15.522000+00:00 | ['Cloud Native', 'Geospatial', 'Remote Sensing', 'Cog', 'Stac Spec'] |
How to Write a Good Essay | So you need to learn how to write a good essay. This may seem like a pretty intimidating task, but it’s really not that bad when you take the time to know and understand what you’re doing.
A standard essay has a lot of working parts. There’s the formatting, thesis statement, writing structure, grammar and punctuation, and much more. It can seem overwhelming when you think about how many elements you need to remember. But it doesn’t have to be that hard. With the right advice, you can get ahead and make sure that you turn in a paper that will blow your professor’s mind and get you the grade you need to ace your class.
Ready to learn how to write a good essay? We’ll walk you through it, from beginning to end. With our help, you can learn and understand exactly what goes into an A+ essay. Let’s start at the beginning.
Types of Essays and Papers
First, it’s good to take a look at the different types of essays that you could be writing. Each type of essay will have different requirements or formats that you should follow in order to complete the best work possible.
Here are some of the more common essay assignments you may need to write during your time at school:
● Argumentative Essay: This type of essay will present an argument to the reader and provide solid evidence as to why they should agree with your stance.
● Research Essay: A research essay takes an in-depth look at a specific topic using lots of reliable and academic sources, facts, and other data. It’s similar to the expository essay below.
● Expository Essay: This type of essay is used to explain something without taking a particular stance. When writing this paper, assume that you are writing for an audience that knows nothing about the topic and provide them with facts and data.
● Compare/Contrast Essay: With a compare/contrast essay, you are taking two things and analyzing them to showcase their similarities and differences.
● Personal or Reflective Essay: Generally, this type of essay doesn’t always follow typical format and can make use of first-person voice to reflect on your thoughts and experiences about something specific.
● Literature Review: A literature review essentially provides an overview of the literature and research that has already been done about a particular topic.
● Book Review: A book review essay is done to provide a critical analysis about a book or other piece of literature. It generally includes a summary and assessment.
How to Start an Essay
If you’re not overly familiar with how to write a good essay, it can be tricky to know where to start. This is the point where most people sit down, stare at a blank document, and start to get stressed. Don’t let yourself get stressed out before you’ve even done anything.
Every good essay starts with a topic and a plan. Begin by determining which type of essay you’re going to write. This helps you pick the right topic. For example, if you’re writing an argumentative essay, you want to make sure that you choose a topic you have an opinion about and can argue one way or another. If you’re writing a research paper, you want to make sure you choose a topic that you can find a lot of academic research about.
So, with that being said, it’s time to choose your topic.
Choosing the Right Topic For Your Paper
Choose your topic wisely. A good topic makes a big difference when it comes to your paper. It’s what drives all of your research, defines your writing, and keeps people interested — including yourself. Do you really want to spend the next few weeks writing about some topic you couldn’t care less about? Probably not. Don’t make things harder on yourself. Put some thought into this portion of your paper, or you’ll really regret it when you sit down to write.
It Should Be Interesting to You
You’re going to be doing a lot of reading and writing about this topic, so you should always choose something you’re interested in wherever possible. Sometimes you’re given your topic and don’t have a choice, but you can still spin it so that it’s something that interests you. This is incredibly important. You’re going to be sifting through academic journals and dedicating a lot of your time becoming an expert in this topic. Make sure you’re not going to get bored.
Being interested in the topic also helps you write content that really engages your reader and hooks them right away. When you’re excited about something, you want to show all of the facts and present the best argument about that topic. If you aren’t interested in what you’re writing about, how can you sell that topic to your reader?
Do the Research First
Start with some research. Don’t make a decision until you’ve been able to take a look at what’s out there and how much research you’re actually going to find about it. Often, doing initial research helps you notice and identify any trends in this topic and if there are certain research questions that come up more than others. For example, you may find that there’s a certain question or issue that keeps popping up when you’re doing the initial research. If you keep seeing those patterns, this can guide you because it may be something you want to look into.
Start Broad, Then Narrow It Down
Your topic should be something that you can narrow down to one statement or argument. Start with a broad topic that you know you want to write about (or that you have to write about as per your teacher’s request). Then, think about smaller topics within that broad argument, and figure out how you want to get specific. Find your niche and go with it.
You can’t simply take a broad topic and write about it. This is not the best way to learn how to write a good essay. You’ll find way too much research to actually make a point about something, and your essay will just be filled with generic information. This makes it really hard to find the focus of your paper, which will score you a lower grade.
For example, a topic about World War II would be really broad for one essay. Instead, you could narrow that topic down to one specific topic about World War II. So, if you’re writing an argumentative essay, you could choose the topic “why aerial warfare during World War II changed modern warfare” or “contributions by women during World War II.”
However, be cautious about being too narrow with your topic. Make sure you can still find enough relevant information before you start writing. And don’t worry — you can always adjust your thesis statement after you start writing. In fact, this happens to the best of the best more often than you can imagine. It’s all part of the writing process.
Crafting the Perfect Thesis Statement
Your thesis statement is the most important part of your essay. It’s the argument or statement that will guide the rest of your paper. You will be using your thesis statement to structure your entire paper, guide your research and determine what points you should include, and to formulate your overall argument that indicates your knowledge and opinions on the subject.
A thesis statement is basically your answer to a research question. Think about what you want to answer within your paper. This question could be something basic, such as “why were William Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets important to the English language?” Once you have your question, think about your answer, and put it into a sentence. So, for this particular question, your thesis statement could look something like this:
William Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets were important to the English language because they developed many words and terms still used today, he was the first writer to use modern prose, and he set a precedent that today’s playwrights still follow.
Now, this is still a broad thesis statement because you could fill up pages and pages about each of those arguments. But you can see the idea of how we are trying to narrow down your thesis and formulate arguments that answer the research question you’ve selected. Don’t be afraid to continue narrowing down your thesis and refining it until you’ve hit something perfectly narrow.
A thesis statement should also act as an outline for your paper, which tells your readers what you’re going to present to them and how you will be organizing that argument. It is not uncommon to see thesis statements that state outright what the paper is aiming to do. For example, you could use a thesis statement that looks like this:
This research paper will examine the contributions William Shakespeare made to the English language by analyzing his use of modern prose in three of his plays: Richard III, Hamlet, and Titus Andronicus.
Generally, your thesis should be a maximum of one to two sentences. If you can’t explain your argument or the purpose of your paper within two sentences, you need to narrow it down further or find another way to describe what you’re thinking.
Decide On the Right Essay Format to Use, Then Make an Outline
Once you’ve decided on your perfect thesis statement, you can start to plan out how your essay will be structured in a nice outline. Some professors will ask you to provide your outline before you start the research paper as an initial assignment. However, even if your professor doesn’t ask for this, you should still make sure you always use an outline to help yourself as you write.
This is one of the biggest secrets when learning how to write a good essay. A good outline always gives you something to follow and helps you stay on track without getting sidetracked. Once you do a couple papers using an outline, you won’t want to write one without an outline again.
The Importance of an Essay Outline
Making an outline to follow for your essay can be a major help when it comes to your research and writing. It will help you stay on track, and guide you as you begin to write your paper, ensuring that you stay organized and follow your thesis statement. A structured essay outline also helps you understand what you need to write about and where you should look for sources and information. Then, you can stay on track and make sure you are only looking for information that helps your paper without getting distracted by unnecessary details that don’t matter to your paper.
Your outline should, of course, follow the specific format for your essay. The professor of your course will have likely provided you with essay assignment instructions, which sometimes include the format you should be using. Determining which essay format to follow comes down to two main factors: the type of essay you’re writing, and the referencing style you’re using. Sometimes your professor will tell you which style guide to follow, while others will give you the choice.
Standard Essay Format: Building a Tasty Burger
Most essays follow the standard format of an introduction, body paragraphs for each argument or statement, and a conclusion. You will often see this type of essay format being described as the Hamburger Outline. That’s because the meat, cheese, and toppings (your body paragraphs and the bulk of your argument) are in the middle, while the buns hold it together and round it out (your introduction and conclusion). This also goes for each individual paragraph: each point needs a topic sentence and a conclusion sentence to round it out, just like burger buns.
Here’s a basic outline you should follow according to the standard burger outline:
1. Introduction Paragraph
a. The first sentence should be catchy and attention-grabbing.
b. Then, introduce the topic and provide some basic background about what you’re going to be covering.
c. The last line should be your thesis statement.
2. Body Paragraph 1: First Argument or Point
a. Start with a topic sentence introducing the point you’ll be making in that paragraph.
b. Use evidence and sources to make your points.
c. Write a transition sentence that concludes your argument and leads into the next paragraph.
3. Body Paragraph 2: Second Argument or Point
a. Start with the topic sentence introducing your point and arguments.
b. Use evidence and sources to make your points.
c. Add the transition sentence to lead into the next paragraph.
4. Body Paragraph 3: Third Argument or Point
a. Start with your topic sentence.
b. Add your evidence.
c. Conclude with your transition sentence.
5. Conclusion Paragraph
a. Restate your thesis statement (not word for word, though).
b. Summarize your arguments and provide further questions/thoughts, or relate your arguments to a greater context.
Specific Essay Formats For Different Types of Papers
If you’re writing a specific type of essay, your paper structure might look slightly different than the standard burger format. However, they’re all going to follow the basic concept of the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.
For example, argumentative essays look a little different. Argumentative essay format generally contains a section where objections or opposing viewpoints are expressed and rebutted. You want to make sure this comes after your main arguments and before your conclusion. Some argumentative essays also include a section for rebuttal after each main argument, showcasing that you have acknowledged both sides of the story.
How to Write a Good Essay Using the Proper Referencing Styles
It’s important that you properly use the specified referencing style in your paper. You could lose marks simply for not following these guidelines. These are lost marks that could easily be avoided if you check the online referencing guides and take the time to follow the right instructions set out by each style manual.
There are usually three main types of referencing styles used to write most academic papers. They are MLA, APA, and Chicago/Turabian. If your program is more specialized, you may find that you are required to use other types of citation, such as ASA or Harvard. However, these three are the most common styles you will encounter and you will likely use at least one of them throughout your time in school.
MLA Citation
Modern Language Association (MLA) citation is a general format typically used in the humanities. A typical in-text citation using MLA contains the author’s last name and the page number. Here is an example (with a completely fabricated fact):
Shakespeare’s Macbeth is commonly associated with the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 and the subsequent execution of Henry Garnet for crimes of treason (Hudson 22).
When using MLA, your sources will be listed at the end of the paper in a separate Works Cited page. For a full guide on MLA citations and references, visit our handy MLA citation guide. However, to give you some idea, a typical MLA Works Cited entry for a book looks like this:
Hudson, Mila. A Global Guide to Shakespeare. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008.
Papers using MLA citation style do not require a title page and usually just have the student’s name, the professor’s name, class title, and date in the upper left corner, with the title centered on the next line. Page numbers are in the top right corner with the student’s last name and the page number.
APA Citation
American Psychological Association (APA) is commonly used for papers within the social science and behavioral science fields. It’s a little more tricky than MLA because there are some specifics you need to follow. In-text citations include the author’s last name, date of publication, and page number. They look like this:
One study found that one in four Americans are diagnosed with ADHD (Ingers, 2004, p. 324).
Sources are listed at the end of the paper on a separate References page. Generally, titles are written in sentence form (with capitals only for proper nouns and at the beginning). A typical reference for an academic journal would look like this:
Ingers, E. (2004). ADHD clinical trial studies in small town America: Finding solutions for young children.
The Journal of Social Science Research, 14(3), pp. 296–340.
Your paper should include a title page with the name of the paper centered on the page, then the institution name and the student’s name on their own lines approximately two to three lines below the title. Page numbers are in the top right corner, with the title of the paper in all capitals on the top left of the page. The title page is structured slightly different — in front of the title, it should state “running head:” and continue with the title.
Here is an in-depth guide on how to cite specific sources in APA, including some examples if you’re not sure about what you’re doing.
Chicago/Turabian Citation
Chicago/Turabian citation is a very common citation style for history papers, but is also used for fine arts and business related subjects. It uses the footnotes-bibliography format. This consists of footnotes at the bottom of each page with a short form reference, with a full bibliography at the end of the paper. Your first footnote from a specific source will be a full version, slightly modified from the bibliography, and then any footnotes following would be shortened.
Here is an example using a completely made up source from a peer-reviewed journal. The in-text citation would include the sentence followed by the footnote number.
First Footnote: John Hughes, “Kamikaze Fighters in World War II,” The Journal of War History 22, no. 1 (March 2002): 68.
Subsequent Footnotes: Hughes, “Kamikaze Fighters,” 68.
Bibliography Entry:
Hughes, John. “Kamikaze Fighters in World War II.” The Journal of War History 22, no. 1 (March 2002):
50–80.
Papers using the Chicago style citation generally include a title page, with the title of the paper centered in the middle, and then the student’s name, the professor’s name, class title, and date on their own lines a few spaces down from the title.
Don’t Overlook the Introduction
The introduction of your paper is extremely important. When learning how to write a good essay, think about it from the perspective of the reader. One of the first things you’ll notice is the introduction. This is where you’re going to hook your reader and write something catchy that makes them want to keep reading. You have to give your reader enough information to understand what you’re getting at, without spilling the arguments and evidence you’re going to use in the body of the paper. Essentially, you’re explaining to your reader why it’s worth it for them to read the rest of your paper.
Start with your first sentence. Think of something that will make someone become unable to resist reading to find out more. You should avoid using cliches when you’re trying to think of something catchy. This can be hard because we’re so used to seeing those cliches in other areas of our lives, but they really have no place in a paper and often professors will dock you for being unoriginal.
When writing the rest of the introduction, start broad and then narrow down until you come to your thesis statement. It’s best to write with the assumption that your audience doesn’t know much about the topic. Give your audience a bit of context as to what you’re going to talk about so that they have enough background information to understand the points you’re making. For example, if you’re writing a paper about one of the characters in a book, give the audience a small summary about the book and the author.
If you need to, leave your introduction and write it after you’ve written the rest of the paper, or at least some of the main body paragraphs. Sometimes you need a little bit of context from the rest of the paper to understand what you need to be telling your reader, so it can be helpful to do this afterward.
Body Paragraphs
All essays, regardless of format, should be separated into different body paragraphs for each main point you’re making. Each body paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that introduces the specific point you’ll be making in that paragraph. This is almost like a mini thesis statement introducing that specific detail. At the end of each body paragraph, you should have a concluding sentence that acts as a transition to the next paragraph, whether that’s a new topic point or your conclusion.
Basically, you want to follow the same structure you would use for your introduction. Start broad, and then narrow it down until you’ve included the details and evidence to argue your point. Use as many citations from sources as you need to prove your point, but always make sure that you explain yourself and justify why that information is relevant. You need to be able to contextualize your sources and show that you have a broader understanding of the subject at hand.
There are two main styles when incorporating research and sources into your body paragraphs: induction and deduction. When using induction, you are taking specific details and information and forming a general conclusion. With deduction, you’re doing the opposite. You take general information and details, and narrow down a specific conclusion about those details. Induction is based on facts and logistics, while deduction is based on reasoning.
So, for example, if you are using induction to show that Macbeth is not a qualified leader in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, you’d prove this by showcasing how many people died under his watch and how many enemies he created. On the other hand, if you are using deduction to prove that Macbeth is not a worthy leader, you could argue that good leaders don’t kill kings and show remorse for others. Therefore, since Macbeth does not show qualities of a good leader, he is not one himself.
Nailing Your Conclusion
The conclusion is where you’re going to sum up everything. This is where you take your paper, package all the information, and put a nice bow on top to present it.
All conclusions should begin with a sentence re-stating your thesis statement from the introduction. This should be the same points, but paraphrased in a new way. After that, restate some of the general information that takes you back to your original points. Don’t start introducing new ideas and concepts. If you haven’t already talked about it in the paper, don’t mention it now. This is a summary.
A good conclusion provides the reader with something to think about. Think of this like the “so what?” portion of the essay. Why should your reader even care about what you have to say? Why are you talking about this? This is where it’s a good idea to relate your information to the current day or explain why it’s a significant subject to talk about now. For example, if you’re writing that paper about aerial fighting in World War II, talk about why this is relevant for us to talk about today. You could do so by mentioning the way our modern wars are fought from the skies and that aerial warfare paved the way for nuclear weapons, which changed the game for everyone.
Lastly, your final sentence should leave an impression on your reader while concluding everything in your paper. Be sure to go out with a bang!
Reliable Research is Key
With most good essays, research will be key. Sometimes you’ll have a specific number of sources you need to use to hit minimum requirements for your paper. Other times, it’ll be up to you and what you find in your research.
You will have already done a little bit of initial research when deciding on your topic and thesis statement, so now you can expand on that. Don’t be afraid to broaden your horizons. Check books, browse academic journals, and even ask your local librarian if you need to.
If you really want to know how to write a good essay, pay attention to your sources. The strongest essays are backed up with a good variety of primary and secondary sources, with only reliable and credible information. Here is a breakdown of the main types of sources you may use when writing essays.
Use Academic, Peer Reviewed Sources
Preferably, unless your teacher has specified otherwise, you want to use reliable sources from your school’s library or online academic database. These should always be peer reviewed. You can find this in the journal’s guidelines, the specific article details, or by filtering for peer reviewed articles when searching your online library.
Stay away from Wikipedia and other online encyclopedias. Professors hate these because they aren’t factual or peer reviewed and often can be edited by just about anyone.
Books are great too, but sometimes they can be risky because many people write them with bias about a certain subject or topic. When using books, you need to be sure that you are using something that is published by a historian, a professor, or another expert in the field. However, this depends on the subject of your paper. If you’re writing about a certain event in history and you’d like to use a book written by a firsthand witness, use quotes from their book sparingly to emphasize your point.
Primary Sources
There are two main types of academic sources that could be included in your paper: primary and secondary sources. Secondary sources are those mentioned above — anything that is peer reviewed or written from the perspective of someone providing an analysis of an event or other subject.
Primary sources are generally firsthand accounts or documents from a specific event or time. They are commonly used in history and the humanities, but could apply to many other types of essays.
Some common types of primary sources include:
● Letters
● Diary entries
● Reports
● Interviews
● Government documents (such as the U.S. Constitution)
● Newspaper articles or advertisements from the time period
● Manuscripts or plays
● Other correspondence, such as ship’s logs
● Journal articles that provide new research conclusions or results
Finding primary sources can be difficult, but many of these documents are available online. For history papers, try the Internet History Sourcebooks Project. If you’re looking for old government documents from a particular time period, you can try your country’s National Archives. Your school’s library should also have its own collection available for you to use.
How to Write a Good Essay Title For Your Paper
Of course, your paper will need a catchy and awesome title. It’s best to save this step for last, when you’re done writing your essay. If you have a working title at the beginning, that’s great. But go back to this at the end, when all of the details are fresh in your mind and you know exactly what the content of the essay includes.
A good title should be interesting, unique, original, and relate directly to your thesis. Yes, that seems like a lot for one title. But it’s an important part of getting your reader’s attention and telling them what you’re going to be talking about. It will establish the tone, the context, and the premise of the paper.
So, how do we decide this title? Don’t be afraid to get creative. Write out a bunch of options and see which one catches your eye. The more you draft, the easier it is to find something that works. You can even ask a friend or classmate to take a look at giving you feedback on which title they like best. When in doubt, use a how or why question.
More Essay Writing Tips to Follow as You Go
As with many other things in life, writing an essay has its fair share of tips and tricks that many writers develop over the years. Some of these seem basic, but they’re easy to overlook when you’re worried about getting everything done right. Here are some additional essay writing tips to improve your writing that could help you learn how to write a good essay.
● Don’t use a first person voice, EVER, unless your teacher has specifically requested it or you are writing a personal/reflective essay.
● Avoid contractions or casual language.
● Always proofread and edit your work. Re-read the paper and check for clarity issues, smoothness, and flow.
● Be open to feedback from peers. This is how you learn and grow.
● Read all of the instructions carefully. Your professors are expecting you to follow directions and are grading you based on these expectations.
● Slow down, don’t rush, and give yourself time. It’s easy to miss details when you’re pushing yourself to go faster.
● Avoid run on sentences.
● Keep it consistent. Make sure you’re using the same tense throughout the paper, and that you’re sticking to one style of spelling. For example, don’t start an essay in American spelling and then finish it in British spelling.
● Don’t stress yourself out! Take breaks and reward yourself for a job well done.
Still Can’t Figure Out How to Write an Essay? Get Essay Writing Help From Homework Help Global When You Need It
All of this seems like a whole lot of information to take in. When it comes to writing essays and getting ahead in school, it never hurts to ask for help. Sometimes you just don’t have time to balance a social life or a part time job and the amount of schoolwork that keeps piling up. If you’re fading under stress and piles of work, don’t hesitate to reach out to a professional who can help.
For starters, take a look at Episode 57 of The Homework Help Show, where we go over how to write a good essay. Our host, Cath Anne, goes over some awesome tips and tricks that can help you feel more comfortable with your assignments. If you still feel a little lost, consider looking into a professional custom essay writing service.
Homework Help Global provides reliable essay writing services that can help you get your paper done to the highest possible standard. Our team of highly educated professional and academic writers are here to take a load off your shoulders and complete your assignments with utmost care and consideration to every detail. We take care of the hard work, so you don’t have to worry about trying to check all of the boxes and meet all of the requirements.
If this sounds like something that you could benefit from, get in touch with us for a quote today. Our team is on hand and ready to take on your assignments. | https://medium.com/the-homework-help-global-blog/how-to-write-a-good-essay-d9447d9aa5ee | ['Homework Help Global'] | 2019-07-31 20:53:54.425000+00:00 | ['Media', 'Writing', 'Essay', 'Education', 'Essay Writing'] |
First contact with Figma | Trainer asked us to choose one Spanish autonomous communities (since I study in Barcelona, it makes sense no? haha), I chose La Rioja. My flatmate is a wine amateur, also an architect, he always told me how great these wineries are. Also, we have lots of Catalans in our class, of course, Catalonia is for sure my favorite autonomous community, I rather not to be a snob in front of the experts.
The first thing I´ve done is go to their recent website, I have to be honest, I see it pretty well-done. However, my style is always more basic and clean, and that´s why I only used two fonts (Georgia and Abril Fat) with some masks all in greyscale color plus a white background. I found some nice winery photos on Unpslash, and some icons from icons 8.
At first, I put ¨La rioja, more than a winery¨ a bit more transparency to integrate with the image (image above), trainer pointed out it is not clear enough. She preferred it a bit darker, I told her I wish those letters won´t conceal the images since I am a more visual person. I always try to let the images itself tells the story, to be the most outstanding one in my all kind of project. Nevertheless, I do believe what she has changed about my work is pretty rational, because it is not a ¨beautiful photo website¨but a ¨La Rioja tourist website¨giving the right information and clear key points are important.
To sum up the first contact with UX UI practice, it was pleasant, but don´t know that if it´s only me or people without MOUSE also encounter this issue, after 2 hours practicing, my fingers pained a bit haha. | https://medium.com/@yunshengho/first-contact-with-figma-74e73f042b0a | [] | 2020-04-15 07:23:25.998000+00:00 | ['UI', 'UX', 'Sketch', 'Ui Ux Design', 'Figma'] |
How much does the Indian Farmers Earn ? | Are we moving in the right direction to enhance Indian Farmers Income?
I was watching the media channels and almost every one unequivocally agree that the Farmer’s income needs to be doubled and the Farm Laws introduced by the Govt of India is a step towards it.
If Farmer’s Income is going to double.. Then why are the Farmer’s Opposing.. and why are the Farmer’s from richer states like Punjab feel that they would be left behind…
In order to understand this, we need to under stand what is Farmer’s Income and see whether there are some studies carried out to document Farmer’s Income. Luckily, I got hold of one comprehensive report under the Chairmanship of Shri Ashok Dalwai, which discusses this issue in detail.
Farmer’s all over India cannot be clubbed into one basket. Few States are doing well, while the rest are badly hit.
The table clearly show that per capita income of Farmers across states varies widely with better off states like Haryana, Kerala, Punjab doing way ahead then other farmers.
In States, like Jharkhand more than 45% of the Farmer’s are below poverty line. Even in bigger states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka more than 25% of the Farmer’s are below poverty line. Compare this with richer states like Punjab, Haryana where the incidence of poverty among Farmer’s is very less. This clearly shows that some states like Punjab, Haryana have done extremely well in enhancing incomes for their Farmer’s, while the rest have lagged behind and the gap is only increasing over time.
We see Bihar, UP Rural Population Migrating to all over India, since the Farm Income has plummeted like never before. The Lockdown clearly showed the magnitude of the problems and enhancing Farmer’s Income is a key strategy for India in its overall fight against poverty. These are Youths who don't want to continue Farming since it is not sustainable….
Let me show Farmer’s Sources of Income -
(1) Income derived out of Cultivation = Revenues from Cultivation — Cost of Cultivation
(2) Income derived out of Non Farm Business= Revenue from Non Farm Business — Cost of conducting Non Farm Business
(3) Income derived out of Wages and Salaries = Salary received for working with others
(4) Income derived out of Live Stock = Revenue from selling Live Stock Products — Variable Cost in maintaining the Live Stock
Table shows estimates of income from two different sources. The major difference between both the survey’s is only in terms of wages and salaries. It is very clear that the average annual income is less than Rs 1 lakh and only 40% of the income is from Cultivation and bulk of the income is from working for others. That is more than 47% of the income for Farmers is from Wages and Salaries. So the question is whether Agriculture is really lucrative and this is one reason why an exodus of population is moving away from Rural Areas
The above table clearly shows that there is wide variation in states in enhancing Farmer’s Income, Except for Punjab, Haryana and Kerala, most of the Farmer’s in India are below Poverty line. One can see that Average income from Cultivation is around Rs 1,30,163/- while in Bihar it is less than Rs 20,000/-. Can you imagine how a person can survive with just Rs 20000/- ? This is a pathetic state of condition of Indian Farmers, where the owner of the land is now forced to work for others just because he is not getting sufficient profits for the work he is doing.
Agriculture is no more Lucrative and the Gap between Agricultural and Non Agricultural Income is increasing day by day. This gap is more visible in Marginal Farmer’s where the incidence of poverty is very high mainly because of lower margins from Farm Income
The above graph clearly shows that Large Farmers derive maximum share of income from Cultivation, while Marginal and Small Farmers need to work for others since only 36.5% of that is only from Cultivation. Even in the case of Medium and Semi Medium Farmers, the proportion of their income from Cultivation is almost 70.8% showing that the Margins are better for Medium + Semi Medium Farmers.
Marginal and Small Farmers income sources are mainly from Wages and Salaries, that is working for others and it is sad that average income derived out of Cultivation is less than Rs 40000 to Rs 50000/- even after working for full year, taking all the risks and above all being the owner of the land. This is pathetic state of condition of Indian Marginal and Small Farmer’s . In States like Punjab and Haryana, the average land holding size is also higher and these states dont have the problem of marginal and small farmers which is visible in other states like Bihar, UP, Karnataka etc.
All India Income of Agricultural Households at current prices rose from Rs 25,622 in 2002–03 to Rs 77,977 in 2012–13, amount to an annual growth rate of 11.8 % at current prices and merely 3.6% at constant prices ( accounting for inflation). It is evident that the agricultural GDP growth rate is significantly lower and the marginal farmers are the worst hit with many going below the poverty line because of stagnation in Farmer’s Income. Government of India has made an estimate of income for FY 2015–16 which throws light on the above agrarian distress
Estimates for 2015–16 for various classes of Farmers
The Small and Marginal Farmers just earned Rs 29,132 in Cultivation and he earned more than Rs 31,490 by working for others. Average Monthly Income from Farming= Rs 29,132/12 = Rs 2427 per month. I think the maids in Cities get more salary than this. This is the single most reasons for migration from Rural Areas since it is humanely impossible to survive on this meagre amounts. Now with this Rs 2427/-, the Farmer needs to be provide education, medical facility and what not….This is disgusting …I feel bad to say that the Farmer is not able to earn even Rs 2500/- per month. Now the government is telling Doubling Farmer’s Income…Now that would be only Rs 5000/- per month….Is this also sufficient?
Now in this article, I will just focus on the Marginal Farmers, since policy interventions are really needed to pull majority of this population out of Poverty. Now let us assume that we need to double the Farmer’s income especially at Marginal Farmers by 2022–23, so what is needed is tabulated below
For Making Farmers Earn Rs 13250/- per month by 2022–23, the above doubling is required in their income. The above analysis is only for Marginal Farmers.
Some key observations from this
(1) Is it possible to double the Income from Cultivation and also whether the Market Economy will have any impact on the cultivation income. From the trends which are visible, doubling income from cultivation depends on variety of factors, including changes in Farm Laws, logistics, better storage, better MSP’s, better prices for the farmers and a plethora of other factors which cannot be controlled by government per se nor there are historical data to prove that these factors will help in doubling of income. Instead there is a equal probability that the real rise in Income from Cultivation may be marginal. The enhancement in Income from Cultivation is dependent on huge investment of Rs 300000 crore as per government records which is enclosed below. In times of corona and slowing down of revenue base of the government, such massive coordinated investment to achieve a doubling income effect is very unlikely.
Huge Coordinated investment is required across various states to the tune of Rs 308000 crores by 2022–23. I beileve that these investments will have a positive impact on medium and large farmers whose income will further rise because of greater profits from cultivation and also overall Agricultural GDP may go up. However this investments will not have substantial rise in the income of marginal farmers whose holding is very low and cannot easily diversify to other crops which has higher profit margins. So what may be required is a more targeted approach for the Marginal farmers to pull them out of the clutches of poverty.
Now let us assume that the government’s Farm Law, storages facilities, infrastructure all are created. Whether it is still sufficient enough for the farmers to Survive. His average income would have just doubled to Rs 5000/- per month by just focusing on enhancement in Income from Cultivation. So although it is a welcome step to increase Farm Income, but reliance on only this may be detrimental in the future.
(2) Now if we have to pull a large number of people out of poverty line, many people may advocate non farm business. The Marginal Farmers has no education, no skill set that he can earn a living out of Non Farm Business. This is also evident from the fact that just Rs 7431 is the average income for a Farmer from Non Farm Business. With no Capital Support, Training or Experience, can we expect the Farmers to be successful in Business Activities. So the idea that we can enhance Farmer’s income through Non Farm Business appears to be bleak and skill enhancement is a distant dream here since the necessary infrastructure for the same is not there.
However traditional village and cottage industries in various areas like handicrafts, toys, cracker making, agarbathi manufacturing which have now become capital intensive should be made labour intensive. Encouraging Labor Intensive Industries can help in enhancing the Farmer’s Income Substantially.
(3) One Promising area is Livestock. On an average, it is estimated that roughly Rs 5000/- per month can be earned from selling cow’s milk. There are variety of areas where additional income can be made.
Fixed Rural Capital Expenditure is second highest in Live Stock after Farm Machinery and transport. So it is clear that the Rural Households are finding substantial benefit in Live Stock Investment and this trend is expected to be a positive one. However the Fixed Capital Expenditure made by Marginal Farmers is less than 10% where as 90% of the Fixed Capital Expenditure is made by Large and Medium Farmers. So to expect Private investment to work for Marginal Farmers is a distant dream and a separate strategy exclusively for Marginal Farmers is the need of the hour.
The success of Dairy Development in India has created increments in rural income for millions of people in India. In this background, this is promising area, however again the increase in this needed to offset the stagnation in other income is too high. Although this can be one of the primary strategy, but again this cannot be the sole strategy.
(4) The More promising area to me is the Wages and Salaries. It is very evident that most of the Marginal Farmers are earning out of this. This is were Government can step in and regulate in both public and private space. Some key ideas include
(a) Preferential treatment for Farmers in low end jobs of Government where farmers can be given jobs of office boys, drivers, cleaners and variety of unskilled jobs. Most of the rural youth would be happy if they are paid Rs 12000/- to Rs 15000/- per month. There can be no permanent employment, instead a short term contract employment which will enhance the rural income. For example government should start regulating contract employees in government offices and labors employed by government contractors. Mandatory filings should be made by every government department and government contractors on how many farmers families have benefitted from the above exercise. A initial push should be given to the rural youth so that they can kick start their career. After some time, they will realize that Rs 12000/- to Rs 15000/- is not sufficient enough and they will jump to new avenues. It is easy to talk about entrepreneurship at village level, but for the rural youth to embrace this, they need to really settle down first. Government can also come up with a scheme like a Three years contract employment + Rs 1 lakh exit incentive which can be used to set up new enterprises.
(b) Special Incentives for Corporates, Private Sector , SME’s to hire rural youth. At present they are paid marginally by all contractors. There should be regulation that a minimum wages should be paid to the labors. During Corona, many labors are paid half the salary and many of them have been fired. So special incentives should be made to hire and retain rural population. Again this can be done in unskilled jobs where preference should be given to rural population.
( c ) At present there is no data base of who is a Marginal Farmer and who is not. Aadhar based database of Marginal Farmers should be made through out India, so that the subsidies if many should be targeted towards this group rather than Medium and Large Farmers. The Subsidies in Fertilizers, Power and many other incentives should be only for Marginal Farmers. For example, there is no need for MSP for Large Farmers, since he can sell directly to private players or consumers. But MSP may be important for small farmers. These small farmers cannot diversify so easily, so the government should first get the database of all Marginal Farmers and ensure that the benefits are targeted. This will also result in substantial savings to the exchequer.
(d) Government should use the success story of Amul and other cooperatives and start building massive cooperatives to help Rural Youth Get jobs. Why can’t state government start Driver’s cooperatives, where the cooperative can get exclusive tenders of all state/central government. The cooperative can take the risk of the car purchase, while the drivers can receive a salary or a percentage of the tender. The same thing can be taught off in the man power deployed in various offices. This would at least reduce the menance of the middle men making more profits. In this cooperatives, the marginal farmer should be given preference and this would almost create a constant sustainable revenue source for the farmer to educate his family and the poverty trap is broken.
(e) In unorganized sector, there is no agreement entered between employer and employee and are exploited to the core. A mandatory clause should be introduced in the Farm laws to state that in case of wages and salaries paid to a Farmer, a mandatory legal agreement should be entered into by each and every one and a separate online filing to be done on the same to secure that the Farmers are not exploited. For example, even if there a house maid, there should be a legal agreement and should be uploaded in a website indicating the amounts paid. This will ensure social security. Many may think that this is a utopian idea, but the present mobile technology enables people upload details of their employees in simple button clicks. This is a step towards Social Justice and will reduce exploitation by employers and middle men in all the sectors. This will also ensure that rural populations are paid well and not exploited.
(5) Increasing Liquidity in Farmers Income — Many a times, we see Farmers getting into debt trap, harassed by money lenders committing suicide with no respite. My idea is simple, Govt of India should start issuing all these marginal farmers a Aadhar Based Credit Card which can be enabled in times of distress so that they don't have to go to the money lenders and get trapped by pledging their land. This is a major source of Farmer’s distress. They just require temporary liquidity of small amounts. For example, initially Rs 2000/- can be activated, in case they repay back, activate Rs 5000/- and so on so that the risk management is built with in the credit card itself. The current technology allow such configuration where availability of credit at a click of a button can be made. EMI scheme for purchase of agri equipments, agri seeds etc are the need of the hour to avoid unnecessary borrowings by the Farmers.
Small EMI schemes for Marriages etc should be made available so that they dont go to the local money lenders. Most of these money lenders charge 24% to 36% interest squeezing all the moneys that are earned. Strict regulations of money lenders should be done and legislation should make it clear that the title deed of the farmer land can never be pledge and would not be entertained in any court of law.
In this case, substantial credit is being made available to the farmers for purchase of Farm Machinery/Livestock etc. But the table below clarifies the same..
It is correct to say that the Borrowing from Formal sources has increased. But the above table clearly shows that landless, marginal and small farmers still depend a lot on informal sources exposing themselves to the exploitations of the Money Lenders. While Medium and Large Farmers borrow from Formal Sources, so a separate mechanism for protection of Small and Marginal Farmers is the need of the hour.
(6) Providing Cushion for Expenses — If the Farmer’s income rise, but the expenses dont come down, then there is no free cash flow available to the Farmer to invest or save. A cushion should be placed so as to minimize the expenses. For example, the major expenses like Food, Medicine, Education should be controlled. For example, special incentives for Farmer’s Kid to get educated in top English Schools, Kendriya Vidyalaya should be made under RTI. It is these kids who require high quality education. Enabling high quality education for Farmer’s kids would open up new arena of household income…Cluster Education where large Kendriya Vidyalaya type of schools are set up at Taluk level and education given at a cost of Rs 10000/- per child so that new avenues open for these child. These Children should be given education and we should not assume that they will again continue in Agriculture. India has a large population engaged in Agriculture which should move away to better paying jobs. | https://medium.com/@nethrapal/how-much-does-the-indian-farmers-earn-de1676656894 | [] | 2020-12-08 13:35:22.596000+00:00 | ['Farming', 'India'] |
Little Girl | Little Girl
The little girl you had,
the one you birthed
and brought into this world.
She knew you never wanted her,
she wasn’t that oblivious,
but it wasn’t her fault
you chose to keep her.
I never felt close to my parents growing up. I was the youngest of three and my parents were teen parents. They had a lot going on. We always moved around when I was little and they were always working. It was hard to feel loved when you can sense the stress between them. As time went on, they eventually divorced. It was just as hard to feel loved when they were ultra focused on their different relationships after that. It was like I was forgotten. | https://medium.com/@isabellaforino/little-girl-3d1ca9dd0d2b | [] | 2020-12-19 03:30:24.099000+00:00 | ['Poem', 'Sad', 'Teens', 'Poetry'] |
Out of Egypt (Third Sunday of Advent) | Flight into Egypt, circa 1320 by Giotto (Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, Assisi, Italy).
And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” -Isaiah 49:3 “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. -Hosea 11:1
It has, for a while now, been of popular mind to utilize the Old Testament as a prophecy machine. Plug in an Old Testament prophecy to a New Testament passage and see if something matches up. If they do, it’s like winning a game of slots in Vegas or, God forbid, Reno. But like any gamble, matching prophecies up is mostly a losing game. Nevertheless we work this way: find a verse in the Old Testament, plug it into a verse in the New Testament, and — ding-ding-ding — we have a winner! After that, you’re done. Prophecy was fulfilled and that settles it.
We probably do this because we think it is what the New Testament is doing when it quotes the Old Testament. After all, they seem to be playing the game and winning. But the prophets, when you read them, seem to be so much larger, so filled with what Abraham Heschel called, “divine pathos,” or, the sharing of “the divine reaction to human conduct” (Heschel, The Prophets, pg. 290). What they shared through their words was a Word — through their sentences came a pathos, a sense of who God was and what it was like to be in fellowship with him. They shared his anger towards injustice, his preference for the poor, his fierceness for covenant-keeping. “To the prophet, knowledge of God was fellowship with Him, not attained by syllogism, analysis, or induction, but by living together” (Heschel, 288). The prophets were never meant to be taken as verses or sentences, but as a Word, a sense, an emphasis.
Slot machines and hyperlinks
This is how the scholar Richard Hays developed his brilliant theory of “echoes” in Scripture. Instead of a simple slot machine, the relationship between Old and New Testament works more like a set of “hyperlinks” (a phrase from Tim Mackie). The phrase or quotation sitting in the New Testament links the reader back to the fullness of the Word from the Old Testament. In other words, the quotation is not meant to be read in isolation so the reader can keep reading forward, but instead, as Hays argues, we are to see that quotation and read backwards to the Old Testament’s context and meaning before reading forward. The hyperlink sends us to another page, another world that informs the one we’re reading about in Romans or Matthew or James.
“Jesus and his first followers were Jews whose symbolic world was shaped by Israel’s Scripture,” writes Hays, “their ways of interpreting the world and their hopes for God’s saving action were fundamentally conditioned by biblical stories of God’s dealings with the people of Israel” (Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, pg. 5). The Gospel writers did not understand the Old Testament to be a prediction machine that now became easier to “match” with Jesus. They instead saw his life as the “reorganization” (Hays) and reinterpretation of Israel’s story, law, and wisdom. Therefore, by quoting the Old Testament, the Gospel writers are not “proving” anything; they are reinterpreting everything. They are not primarily interested in predictions coming true, but in showing God’s complete faithfulness to Israel, which has culminated and been made complete in Jesus, the Messiah. Especially Matthew.
The first Gospel, full of hyperlinks
Matthew is certainly the most Jewish Gospel. He was interested in showing Jesus’ connection to Israel, as seen in his preamble genealogy in Matthew 1 (a grand reversal of Genesis 5 and 10–11). By connecting Jesus to Abraham, Matthew works to hyperlink us back to Genesis 12 and to the corresponding genealogies of the Old Testament. Matthew 1 is an “echo” of all the genealogies and stories mentioned in the verses. But instead of a genealogy that leads to more corruption, it is one that leads towards redemption.
As the birth story gets moving in Matthew 1 and 2, Scripture quotations are thrown out left and right. We are, in just a few short verses, hearing “echoes” of Deuteronomy 24, Isaiah 7, Isaiah 8, Genesis 25, Zechariah 9, Micah 5, Isaiah 60, Hosea 11, and Jeremiah 31. And that’s just in a pack 25 verses between Matthew 1 and 2. Most of them are ambiguous and more of a nod and a wink than a straightforward explanation. Remember: hyperlinks, not slot machines.
One particular echo is in Matthew’s description of the family fleeing to Egypt. The family of the newborn king, after a seemingly peaceful birth with wise men visiting from Persia, goes on the run to escape a psychotic king who pledges to kill all newborn boys in hopes to kill this “king of Jews.” An angel appears to Joseph in a dream telling him to take his family: “flee to Egypt,” the angel commands, “and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” The family goes as refugees to Egypt, escaping the political threats of violence, and Matthew quotes the Old Testament prophet Hosea: “This was to fulfill what the Lord has spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son’” (Matthew 2:15).
A hyperlink to a whole new page
When you follow this hyperlink back to Hosea 11:1, what you find is at first confusing: this Old Testament verse is very much about Israel, not Jesus. God is fond of calling his nation “my son” to connect their collective heritage to the man Jacob (renamed “Israel” after his encounter with God). Why is Matthew quoting this line from Hosea? Is he misinterpreting or misquoting this Old Testament passage, thinking it’s about a Messiah when it’s actually about Israel?
No. Matthew is showing us the Old Testament not as a slot machine, but a hyperlink to a whole new landing page. In doing so, we can see what Hosea sees and what Matthew sees as well. Hosea was recapping how God brought Israel out of captivity in Egypt, but “Matthew sees in these words [of Hosea’s] a deeper allusion,” writes the scholar Michael Wilkins, “The history of God’s children is recapitulated in the history of God’s Son. As Israel long ago was led down to Egypt [and called out through the salvific action of God], so was Jesus. As Israel came out, so did Jesus. He embodies and fulfill the history of the people of God in his own person” (Wilkins, NIV Application Commentary: Matthew).
In Jesus Christ, Matthew realizes that the salvation of Israel from Egypt both saved a nation and also prefigured the salvation of the entire world. This verse in Hosea (“Out of Egypt I have called my son”), then, “takes a meaning Hosea never imagined but that evangelists would find” (Fredrick Dale Bruner, The Christbook: Matthew 1–12, pg. 75). Humanity fell from God in Genesis 3, 6, and 11, but God used Israel to work out his salvation plan for the world (Genesis 12:1–4). Now, Matthew realizes that things are working similarly: Israel has fallen from God (read your Old Testament) and God uses Jesus to work out his salvation plan for Israel and the whole world. Jesus is who Israel failed to be. Matthew realizes that Hosea is not about Israel or the Messiah — it’s about how the Messiah is Israel, standing in their place. Jesus takes Israel’s place by becoming a substitute for them — and not just them, but the world, the Gentiles, us.
A bigger salvation
This little hyperlink gives us a connection to the whole story of Israel. Now, as Fredrick Bruner points out, the story of Christmas gets all the larger: we see this Joseph as not the first Joseph we’ve read about that took refuge in Egypt when he was in danger in his homeland (Genesis 37:36). Joseph is not the first Jewish man to hear news of a wicked king out for blood of little Hebrew boys (Exodus 1:16). And Joseph is certainly not the first man to experience a miraculous conception (Sarah, Rachael, Hannah, etc.). All of these moments (and their corresponding references to passages in the Old Testament) are hyperlinks to the larger story showing us that Jesus will be the true and better Israel, the obedient Son, the light of the nations.
What is not seen yet, but will be communicated most clearly as his ministry develops, is that this Son, the figure of New Israel, will lead to a surprise ending. He will not “rule the nations” by taking control of the government, but by the government taking control of him. He will not subject his enemies to violence, but his enemies will subject him to violence. He will not take lives; he will give his own.
Why?
Once again, to give us a hyperlink and a reinterpretation of Israel’s story. In the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ we see the true nature and character of God, the God who has always been there, substituting himself for his people. He is the ram slain instead of Isaac (Genesis 22), the blood on the doorposts (Exodus 12–14), the fourth man in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3). He is the exiled one, subjecting himself to the Babylon of his time for the freedom of his people. He is the New Israel, which is all to say this: he is the salvation of the world. | https://chrisnye.medium.com/out-of-egypt-third-sunday-of-advent-71e2222c6797 | ['Chris Nye'] | 2019-12-14 14:51:01.495000+00:00 | ['Christianity', 'Jesus', 'Christmas', 'Spirituality', 'God'] |
Having a Sick Child Can Mend Your Heart | Having a Sick Child Can Mend Your Heart
Photo credit: iStock
By Bill Gray
It’s easy to take for granted living in Massachusetts. We have here, quite literally, the greatest concentration of medical knowledge in the world. I wish I were exaggerating. But in more than fourteen years being Jacob’s dad, I have met people from across the globe who have sacrificed everything to come to meet with doctors and specialists in the many hospitals and clinics in and around the Boston area. I am reminded of this every time we visit Boston Children’s Hospital. Sit in the lobby for more than a few minutes and you will be amazed by the world of cultures that pass by speaking a myriad of languages.
When we arrived for our first visit at BCH, I learned quickly why Boston is considered among the best, if not the best, in cardiac care. The doctors were able to determine the possibility that Jacob would be born with Down syndrome by spotting ‘markers’, or medical conditions, common in children diagnosed with Trisomy 21: Congenital Heart Defect. They told us Jacob has CHD, including ASD/VSD, Cleft A/V Canal and Tetralogy of Fallot due to having three chromosomes on his twenty-first pair. In layman’s terms, it meant that Jacob’s heart had a humongous hole in the center and was malfunctioning. What that meant for him was the possibility of multiple open-heart surgeries before the age of six months to mend his little heart. The amazing part of all of this was that the cardiac team at BCH could diagnose this at just nineteen weeks gestation. His heart was only the size of one’s pinky fingernail with a hole less than a millimeter wide.
This was plenty of news for new parents to receive of a child who had yet to finish growing in his mother’s womb. The diagnosis, and the extensive surgeries that would result, were enough to drain the blood from our faces. No parent, even the most prepared to bring a new life into this world, is ever ready for this type of experience. I remember holding Charlotte’s hand tightly as we walked through the main doors of Boston Children’s Hospital. I remember thinking, “My son’s heart is broken,” and my heart was breaking as I contemplated an unknown future.
But as we walked through that lobby that morning, we were met with smiles. Yes, the exceptional staff at BCH greeted us warmly as they directed us to the Cardiology department. What caught my attention were the many families with smiles on their faces as they cared for their loved ones. Mothers and fathers smiling. Brothers and sisters laughing and kidding. And children in wheelchairs, or without hair, or with tubes and wires sticking out from under loose-fitting clothes, smiling.
And I realized something at that moment.
I realized the feelings about my son’s health issues were rather selfish. Yes, my wife Charlotte and I had a difficult road ahead with Jacob. But it was how we were going to face that road that would define it. We had a choice. And what I learned from those other parents that day is that the right choice is one of hope.
Hope is not just wishing all will be better. Yes, that is an aspect of hope. But on that day, I recognized quickly many of these parents were not clinging to that type of hope. There was a better chance than not that their child might not survive the illness or affliction they were enduring. There was a truthfulness in their eyes as they cared for their children. No, their hope was to have possibly one more year, one more month, one more day, one more moment with their loved one, and it was to make it the best possible moment it could be.
There is no controlling the circumstances that brought us here. There is no guarantee of a cure that will alleviate the pain, end the suffering, or save the life. But we can choose how we feel now. And the families at BCH that day chose to smile. They chose to make that moment the best it could be for their loved one, because that’s all they could do. I witnessed a hope stronger than any circumstance or outcome. What I saw was a room filled with the strongest, most courageous people I had ever seen.
Who was I to think of my own circumstance with self-pity? That day it wasn’t Jacob’s heart that was mended. It was mine.
So, from that day to today, I will smile. I will smile not for me, but for all those families I saw that day. I will smile for all those families who will see me with Charlotte and Jacob in the lobby of Boston Children’s Hospital. I will make right now the most important moment in life. Because no matter what the circumstance and no matter what is to come, today I will have hope.
—
The story was previously published on The Good Men Project.
—
About Bill Gray
Bill Gray is a teacher and musician working throughout Massachusetts. He is currently an instrumental music director in the Masconomet Regional School District in Boxford, MA. Bill continues to perform in and around the Boston area with various music groups, including The Ipswich River Brass Ensemble. He lives in Haverhill, MA wife his wife Charlotte and their son Jacob. | https://medium.com/a-parent-is-born/having-a-sick-child-can-mend-your-heart-873695b32c0f | ['The Good Men Project'] | 2020-12-16 02:47:22.590000+00:00 | ['Parenting', 'Love', 'Empathy', 'Childhood', 'Fatherhood'] |
The Marketplace Monetization Map: Complexity and Asymmetry | The Marketplace Monetization Map: Complexity and Asymmetry
Image credit: Shutterstock
Like other types of startups built on network effects, marketplaces create value by connecting participants. Specifically, they connect demand with supply to enable transactions. This gives them an obvious way to monetize — take a cut of every transaction. However, this cannot be blindly applied to all marketplaces as there are constraints involved. Depending on these constraints, marketplaces can choose between five out of the six possible monetization models.
In my last post, I explained that monetization on interaction networks was a function of network structure, i.e. the nature of relationships between network participants. This is true for marketplaces as well. However, these relationships are governed by different factors on marketplaces. Specifically, they are influenced by the following:
Transaction complexity: This is a measure of how complex it is for the demand and supply sides to find a “match” on the marketplace and then complete a transaction. This can depend on a range of factors including the nature of supply and the density of supply by region or category. For example, both Upwork and Preply are labor marketplaces with differentiated supply. However, Preply is focused on language tutoring while Upwork is “vertical agnostic”. This means that the demand side on Upwork has more filters to consider — the type of job, required skillsets, project experience, etc. This makes matching on Upwork more complex than on Preply. In addition to this, offline, procedural, or regulatory requirements can increase the complexity of a transaction even after finding a match. For example, completing a transaction after discovering a supplier on a B2B marketplace like Anvyl is much more complex than on Amazon. Asymmetry in value between demand and supply: Typically, the value created by a marketplace is asymmetrically distributed across participants. In other words, marketplaces are often more valuable for one type of participant— either the supply or demand side. However, the level of asymmetry is not consistent across marketplaces. For example, supply is more valuable than demand for both Uber and Airbnb. But the degree of this asymmetry is much higher for Airbnb — each additional Airbnb host is more difficult to acquire and brings more value to the marketplace than each additional Uber driver.
Let’s take a look at how these factors influence each potential monetization model.
1. Commissions (or Interaction Taxes)
Commissions (or interaction taxes) are viewed as the “obvious” way to monetize a marketplace. The mechanics of marketplace commissions are simple. The marketplace enables transactions between demand and supply. In exchange for enabling this, the marketplace keeps a percentage of the transaction (often dubbed a “take rate”) as revenue. The commission is applied at transaction completion, which aligns the incentives of all participants — demand, supply, and the marketplace. However, as I mentioned earlier, commissions do not work for all marketplaces.
The effectiveness of this model depends on the combination of complexity and asymmetry. Transactions need to be fairly straightforward (not overly complex) or participants should have limited options to circumvent the marketplace (not overly asymmetric). Complex transactions can be addressed by direct support from the marketplace, i.e. a “managed” marketplace model. And the disintermediation risk caused by high asymmetry can be addressed with SaaS tools for the more valuable side. However, marketplaces with both high complexity and high asymmetry are a bridge too far. In this case, the value that the marketplace brings to “enable” the transaction is not clear enough to validate a commission — this can increase the incentive for participants to go around the marketplace. These marketplaces should ideally avoid commissions.
Uber is the quintessential example of a marketplace with low transaction complexity and asymmetry. Matching demand and supply is simply a function of availability and pickup time — commissions are the obvious fit here. On the other hand, marketplaces like Classpass and Scoutbee avoid commissions entirely.
2. Paywalled Marketplace
Paywalls are the primary alternative for startups that cannot monetize with a commission. A paywall charges one side — either supply or demand — for access to the marketplace. Charging for marketplace access is different from charging for a single-player SaaS tool that complements the marketplace (e.g OpenTable’s reservation software). I’ll come to that later in this post.
For paywalls to be effective, marketplaces need to onboard the more valuable side for free and charge the other to “enable” interactions. As a result, it is most effective when one side is exceptionally more valuable than the other, i.e. it requires high asymmetry. In addition, a paywall creates barriers to entry (and liquidity) on the marketplace. As a result, it is best used when having sufficient demand and supply (liquidity) does not automatically unlock transactions, i.e. marketplaces with very high transaction complexity. In other words, paywalls need both high complexity and high asymmetry. This makes them a very good alternative for marketplaces who cannot monetize with commissions.
Classpass is a good example of a paywalled marketplace. Classpass attempts to match consumers with open spots in fitness classes. The scarcest resource in this marketplace is the availability of open spots, not the availability of demand. Since supply is much more valuable than demand, it becomes easy to charge demand for access. Next, matching is deceptively complex. There are many different types of fitness classes — from yoga to pilates, spin, weight training, etc. So Classpass needs to take consumer interest in a specific type of fitness class (category density) into account. In addition, the distance between consumers and classes (regional density) is also a key factor. To top it all off, it needs to fill these open spots before the scheduled time of the class — especially problematic when bookings are unlikely to be made well in advance. This combination of factors makes it exceptionally complex to match supply and demand in time. To deal with this complexity, Classpass gets consumers (the less valuable side) to commit to a monthly subscription which gives them a specific number of credits. This reduces uncertainty as Classpass knows the distribution of credits by region, and their proximity to classes. This allows it to match credits with classes, based on interest and available time.
B2B supplier discovery marketplaces like Scoutbee also fall into this bucket. For OEMs, the considerations involved in picking a supplier are complex and varied, with long lead times. The availability of high-quality suppliers is by far the most important factor here, making supply far more valuable than demand. As a result, Scoutbee is able to charge customers (OEMs) to access their supplier discovery tool. However, it allows suppliers to create a profile and access OEM tenders for free. On the other hand, Anvyl charges suppliers to list on their marketplace before they can receive inquiries from D2C brands.
3. Premium Network Tier
Unlike a paywall, a premium network tier does not charge participants at the point of entry. Instead, all participants are onboarded for free (with some limitations). This allows the marketplace to connect demand and supply, enable transactions, and collect a commission. On top of this, one side is offered an optional, premium variant of this marketplace with enhanced matching opportunities (not just premium tools). As a result, this is only suited for marketplaces that have high transaction complexity. If matching is easy, there is no pain to drive upgrades. And if matching is complex, it needs to have lower asymmetry in order to maintain a commission-based, “free to access” variant of the marketplace.
Upwork is a great example here. Upwork runs a marketplace that matches freelancers with companies. Companies can post projects or jobs, set pricing, search for freelancers, invite them to apply, hire, manage the project, and make payments. Upwork monetizes this free marketplace with a 10% service fee and a 3% payment processing fee. However, companies are limited to 3 freelancer invites per job post in this free tier. Given the diversity of skillsets and project specifications, this cap can have a meaningful impact on the quality of potential matches. Companies can pay for the premium tier (a monthly subscription) to raise or remove this cap and increase their odds of finding a high-quality freelancer. TheRealReal is another example — its First Look service gives customers early access to listings for a monthly fee.
Note that subscription offerings like Deliveroo Plus and Uber Ride Pass are not premium network tiers. This is because they do not offer enhanced or unique matching opportunities — all users still have access to the same drivers or restaurants without any limitations. Instead, they simply offer discounted prices in exchange for guaranteed monthly spend. As a result, they are better viewed as loyalty programs for high-frequency users, and not a unique way to monetize.
4. Advertising
Paid advertising can be a tricky monetization model for marketplaces. On one hand, it holds promise as a high margin revenue stream. However, it can also interfere with supply curation. Commission-based marketplaces aim to highlight the best suppliers to maximize the odds of a match. Allowing suppliers to promote themselves with paid advertising conflicts with this goal. As a result, advertising is most effective when transaction complexity and asymmetry are high enough to make it challenging to use commissions exclusively, but not high enough to move to a true paywall (at least until the marketplace has reached steady-state).
Paywalls have some conflicts with advertising as well. The more valuable side (onboarded for free) has no incentive to advertise and the less valuable side is already paying a fee to reach the more valuable side. At best, advertising can only be a minor revenue stream here. One way to get around this problem is to use paywalled advertising packages — standardized advertising packages that require a recurring subscription to access the marketplace.
Take AutoTrader as an example. It is a used car marketplace that connects both car dealerships and private sellers to prospective buyers. Matching is quite complex here — each car is different and buyer preferences can vary widely. Most importantly, buyers often want to inspect cars in person (and take a test drive) before making a purchase decision. Asymmetry is also reasonably high as dealerships compete with each other for buyers. Because of these factors, AutoTrader primarily makes money in two ways — 1) ad hoc advertisements from private sellers and 2) paywalled advertising packages for dealers.
Shpock is another example. It primarily made money from advertising before introducing a commission-based model. Later, it also added paywalled advertising packages like Shpock+ Shops and Shpock+ Motors for specific types of retailers. This added complexity to the marketplace (and layered new network effects) but also opened up new revenue streams.
5. Complementary Products
Unlike the other monetization models I have explained so far, a complementary product does not generate revenue from access to or interactions on the marketplace. Instead, it involves selling a standalone product to enhance the marketplace’s value proposition. This is typically implemented in the form of a “single-player” SaaS product or optional financial services for one side of the marketplace.
Monetization is not the only benefit of single-player SaaS. It also allows marketplaces to bootstrap one side of the marketplace before opening up the other. This is called the “come for the tool, stay for the network” approach. It can also be monetized when asymmetry is high and the more valuable side of the marketplace faces unsolved, high-value problems. The standalone product is then sold to one side — typically, the more valuable side — to build critical mass and generate revenue at the same time. Note that this is the only form of monetization that can charge the more valuable side of a marketplace directly. The SaaS product locks in the more valuable side and makes it easy to attract the less valuable side which can then be monetized with commissions or a paywall (depending on complexity).
High asymmetry can also cause various forms of financial disadvantages for the weaker side of the marketplace. This creates an opening for the marketplace to offer financial services that ease the imbalance.
Docplanner is a good example of leveraging complementary products to both build liquidity and monetize at the same time. Docplanner sells a SaaS product to doctors to help them digitize patient records and scheduling. This approach helped it attract a critical mass of doctors (the more valuable side) and allow patients to book appointments on its healthcare marketplace. OpenTable, Treatwell, and Lantum also monetize similar complementary products.
On the other hand, Faire and Leaflink monetize by providing complementary financial services. Their suppliers typically have to wait for long periods to receive payments from buyers who have strong bargaining power. This allows them to monetize via accelerated payments and trade finance.
6. Derived Products
In my post on monetizing interaction networks, I described derived products as follows:
Derived products leverage network engagement and interactions to generate an asset that can be productized and monetized directly. These usually take the form of market intelligence or aggregated data products.
Derived products are rarely seen in marketplaces because this data is better used internally to improve matching on commission-based marketplaces or lead generation in paywalled marketplaces. In rare cases, marketplaces targeting complex and opaque markets, like Leaflink, can provide aggregated and anonymized market data as a part of a paid tier. More often, this is used as a public relations or branding tool (e.g. Zillow and Uber).
Marketplace Monetization Map
The relationship between potential marketplace monetization models and the constraints we discussed is summarized below:
Marketplaces with low complexity and asymmetry have just one option to monetize — commissions. This includes marketplaces like Uber and Convoy that rely on automated matching. Marketplaces that do not exhibit both of these traits typically have more flexibility to combine monetization models.
When both asymmetry and complexity are high, commissions are swapped out for paywalls. Marketplaces with just high asymmetry can monetize complementary SaaS or financial products — in combination with commissions at lower complexity (Faire, Docplanner) or with paywalls at higher complexity (Anvyl, Leaflink). Of course, some marketplaces like Choco may fall in a “dead zone” between commissions and paywalls — leaving complementary products as their only option.
Advertising comes into play at more moderate levels of complexity and asymmetry — this can be used by itself (classifieds) or in combination with a form of paywall (Autotrader) or simple commissions (Shpock). And finally, marketplaces with low asymmetry and high complexity (Upwork, TheRealReal) combine an optional, premium tier with commissions.
Keep in mind that the constraints mentioned here aren’t set in stone. Marketplaces can always layer new forms of network effects to change the nature of their product (e.g. Shpock+ Motors). This allows them to inherit the properties of the new network type and change the constraints that shape monetization. | https://breadcrumb.vc/the-marketplace-monetization-map-complexity-and-asymmetry-529b70a830d7 | ['Sameer Singh'] | 2021-03-01 10:09:08.611000+00:00 | ['Business', 'Technology', 'Startup', 'Venture Capital', 'Marketplaces'] |
Jesy Nelson Quits Little Mix: The Consequences of Celebrity Journalism | Jesy Nelson Quits Little Mix: The Consequences of Celebrity Journalism
Targeted by journalists relentlessly, it is no surprise that Jesy Nelson has finally quit the UK’s biggest girl group of all time, Little Mix. As a result of the nine years that Nelson has been part of the girl band, she has developed severe mental health conditions: anxiety and depression. The urgency of her struggles was emphasised in her attempt to take her own life in 2013, only two years after winning The X Factor. The question is, to what extent did journalism’s role affect Nelson so greatly, that she felt the only answer would be to abandon her passion altogether?
When Nelson publicly declared that she was leaving the UK’s largest girl band last week, it was no shock. Nelson has been mentally and physically absent for a while, her disappearances becoming more frequent and disconcerting. The tipping point was when Nelson did not appear in the final of the girls’ own talent show Little Mix: The Search, despite her presence in the majority of the episodes before. The show’s explanation of Nelson’s absence was that she was feeling ‘unwell’, leading to a circulation of numerous articles demanding ‘Where is Jesy?’. Soon after, the press announced that Nelson was taking an ‘extended break for private medical concerns’, before she released the shocking statement on Instagram that she was leaving the group altogether.
How is journalism to blame?
Articles are written by journalists who research the material that is being written online, so the vile comments that trolls wrote about Nelson’s body image have consequently turned into articles about her size. For example, one disgraceful troll wrote to her “you are the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen in my life, how on earth were you ever put in this girl band? You deserve to die”, leading to articles revolving around her body dysmorphia; her hate for her appearance. Some could argue that the trolls are the catalyst, but if the media didn’t encourage them, would Nelson still have felt the same sense of shame about herself?
Bad Journalism
Nelson is a victim of bad journalism. This is the lack of information, misinformation, disinformation and a disregard for the truth or the reality of people’s lives. According to the professor and author Stuart Allan, news coverage is “distorted by celebrity and the worship of the celebrity, by the reduction of news to gossip, which is the lowest form of news.” Rather than factual information that informs and educates society, Allan argues how even news concerning celebrities has fallen down the gutter, failing to provide any beneficial use in the world today. The impact of bad journalism is detrimental, as Nelson elucidated that her mental health is horrifying. She stated:
“The constant pressure of being in a girl group and living up to expectations is very hard”.
It is inevitable that with fame, comes pressure. But pressure at such a price has stemmed from some journalists and the media who have projected unreasonable standards onto society. They have placed Nelson under the microscope copiously, judging her outfits, actions or even words. Since Little Mix entered the spotlight in 2011, newspaper articles and tabloids have constantly surrounded Nelson’s body image. The breadth of this issue begun when Nelson was still a contestant on X Factor. She had a mental breakdown, as a result of internet trolls writing cruel comments all over Twitter about her biggest insecurity, her weight. Nelson’s weight was perfectly average, the only difference to her other bandmates being that she had a curvier frame, giving the illusion of wider hips. Nevertheless, journalists and the media were aware of Nelson’s body anxieties and decided to fixate on this, for the duration of her time as a Little Mix member. They commented on minor details in her day to day life, and made them out to be monstrous acts. Please tell me how the headline below deserves to be news.
The Sun composed a whole article detailing how Nelson has (wait for it!)… only gone and enjoyed a meal from McDonalds! Shocking, I know. Food and drink is simply an act of keeping alive, so what difference does McDonalds make to any other meal? The connotations of the fast-food chain McDonalds are unhealthy and fattening, if not consumed as a healthy, balanced diet. This subconsciously presents the reader with an article of the body conscious Nelson eating high-fat content food. Pocklington has framed Nelson, as the pun ‘she’s lovin’ it’ is mocking, suggesting that her enjoyment for the fatty food is no surprise. The whole article surrounds Nelson’s dietary intake, which is written with a judged and criticising attitude, in a humorous tone of course (so it’s not taken seriously!). The fact that her dinner is a ‘feast’ portrays a banquet enough to feed twenty people. I sense judgement. Also, does anyone actually care what she is eating for dinner? This supports Allan’s point, highlighting that not all news articles are necessarily news, but just irrelevant gossip that should have no place in society.
It goes without saying that journalists have to find news to write about. But, at the extent of someone else's happiness? This is too far. The line needs to be drawn. I don’t see any articles about any other band members enjoying a McDonalds ‘feast’, do you?
The media’s obsession with Nelson’s body image continues. At the Brit Awards 2016, Nelson wore a nude-toned floral dress. Though it would not be to everyone’s taste, the journalist stated ‘Jesy Nelson’s high-necked dress left her with a frumpy finish’. The word ‘frumpy’ suggests old-fashioned and moreover, has connotations of ‘fat’. Nelson’s biggest insecurity is her body, thus, what does this article gain out of labelling an insecure celebrity about something they are told they should be insecure about? Is this gossip or news? It’s definitely not the latter…
Consequences of Bad Journalism
It is not unjust to say that the media writing articles, such as the above, has directly affected Nelson. There are consequences. The headline below shows that Nelson then attempted to lose weight, not only so she gains self confidence, but to subtract her label as the ‘fat, ugly one’.
Breaking news!
Two girls from the biggest girl band are seen buying weight loss drinks, after the media has constantly brandished Nelson, in particular, as overweight. Though the two girls should not have to conform to the media’s standards by wanting to lose weight (there’s nothing wrong with them anyway!?) what else do the media expect after insinuating that Nelson should be slimmer?
Moreover, are two girls buying weight loss drinks actually news? Or just futile chatter. Idiot culture, it appears.
Coined by the American investigative journalist Carl Bernstein, idiot culture is the media which is “illusionary and delusionary — disfigured, unreal, disconnected from the true context of our lives”. The three articles I have included above all show elements of idiot culture, writing about issues that give no relevance to society, in regards to the news sphere. Rather than notifying the public with relevant information, (the prime purpose of news) the public are being ambushed with tonnes of insignificant information, such as Nelson’s food intake or outfit choice, resulting in the production of meaningless articles. Bernstein continues to point out that “the press, the media, the politicians, and the people are turning into a sewer.” This metaphor comparing present celebrity journalism to a underground drain suggests that bad journalism is the utter garbage that passes through. Vivid, I know. It could also relate to how celebrity journalism is sometimes initially pleasurable for a quick, trashy read if needed. However, the more that is produced and the longer that it carries on for, the lower the quality of journalism sinks, and thus, the lower it sinks the mentality of the celebrities themselves.
Lastly, I conducted the poll below, asking if the public thought that journalism and the media had influenced Nelson’s decision to leave Little Mix.
My own poll, conducted on Twitter.
Out of the 22 votes that I received, over 90% agreed that journalism and the media had affected Nelson’s overarching decision to leave the group. This exemplifies how society can see journalism’s major role in society and the profound effects, mentally and physically, that bad journalism has had on Nelson as a whole. Obviously, is it not just bad journalism that has contributed to her poor mental health, but it would be wrong to say that it hasn’t played a substantial part.
Overall, Jesy Nelson has been the pinnacle of bad celebrity journalism, and has had to pay the price. We must change celebrity journalism for the better, where less judgement is given, and more authenticity is created. (Less gossip please!) Nelson’s sanity must come first, and I commend her for it. What’s more expensive than your own peace of mind?
“There comes a time in life when we need to reinvest in taking care of ourselves, rather than focusing on making other people happy.” Jesy Nelson.
If you want to find out more about Jesy Nelson’s struggles, watch her ‘Odd One Out’ documentary on BBC iPlayer. | https://medium.com/@elliedolan/jesy-nelson-silenced-the-consequences-of-bad-celebrity-journalism-a7901346d173 | [] | 2021-01-19 11:01:16.089000+00:00 | ['Journalism', 'Media Criticism', 'Mental Health', 'Celebrity', 'Women'] |
How to create a product your customer loves 1/3: Jobs-to-be-Done | Do you want to impress the world with a brand-new innovation? Then you have to make sure you provide a solution to a task that your customer is trying to get done.
Jobs-to-be-Done is a method to set out the path your customer is trying to do. Outcome Driven Innovation uses that path to get quantitative data. This data allows you to understand your customers. These two frameworks make sure that people want your product.
Quite a few people have already written about the theory behind those two. Reading about it is easy. Doing it is quite a bit harder. My colleague Wouter Lachat has already written about our main learnings from doing it ourselves.
In three separate blogposts, I will present a practical guide for Jobs-to-be-Done. We have templates to guide you through this methodology. These templates are available on our site: www.0smosis.com/templates
My first blogpost will focus on the Jobs-to-be-Done framework.
THE JOBS-TO-BE-DONE FRAMEWORK
The first step is to define your Jobs-to-be-Done. Using our template, it becomes quite easy to see the whole picture. If you fill in the complete template, you will have everything you need to go to the next step. I have filled in the template with the example of Helder Lenen to guide you through. Helder Lenen is a digital mortgage loan aggregator for the Belgian market. So the template focuses on “Financing my house when buying a new one”. To make sure the text remains readable, I filled in only a couple jobs per step. Excuse my awful handwriting.
Filled in Jobs-to-be-Done template of 0smosis
Some important points for each of the topics.
The Main Job needs to be well defined, not too broad and not too narrow. It is the basis for the rest of the framework so getting this wrong will lead to some trouble.
“Live in my home” is a bad Job because it is too broad and doesn’t include an action. We narrow it down to “Finance my house when buying a new one”.
needs to be well defined, not too broad and not too narrow. It is the basis for the rest of the framework so getting this wrong will lead to some trouble. “Live in my home” is a bad Job because it is too broad and doesn’t include an action. We narrow it down to “Finance my house when buying a new one”. The Job Map gives a goal-oriented view on the customer journey. Don’t describe what the customer is doing but what she is trying to do.
Don’t say “Check the balance on my bank account” but go for “Assess my financial situation”.
gives a goal-oriented view on the customer journey. Don’t describe what the customer is doing but what she is trying to do. Don’t say “Check the balance on my bank account” but go for “Assess my financial situation”. Emotional Jobs are very important in sectors that rely on trust such as Financial Services. Don’t forget them while building your framework.
“Feel in control of the situation” was mentioned often in the interviews. (The interviewees weren’t very happy about that job).
are very important in sectors that rely on trust such as Financial Services. Don’t forget them while building your framework. “Feel in control of the situation” was mentioned often in the interviews. (The interviewees weren’t very happy about that job). Social Jobs are very important for any product that people show to others. Obvious examples are cars and clothes but other are phones and travel bags.
“Show that I received a good deal” came up quite a few times during interviews. Even for boring products as mortgages, people like to show off.
are very important for any product that people show to others. Obvious examples are cars and clothes but other are phones and travel bags. “Show that I received a good deal” came up quite a few times during interviews. Even for boring products as mortgages, people like to show off. Related Jobs provide you with options to expand your product. Especially for mature products, they can help you define new features.
For Helder, some related jobs to consider later are: finding the house, renovating it etc.
provide you with options to expand your product. Especially for mature products, they can help you define new features. For Helder, some related jobs to consider later are: finding the house, renovating it etc. Financial Jobs go further than the initial price. Think of subscription price, repair price, price to change etc.
The intrest rate is not the only relevant metric. There are also additional fees such as notary costs.
go further than the initial price. Think of subscription price, repair price, price to change etc. The intrest rate is not the only relevant metric. There are also additional fees such as notary costs. Consumption Chain Jobs are jobs around User Experience. Not all steps apply to every product, but these help you stand out from the crowd.
We make sure that Helder is an easy-to-learn, easy-to-use application.
That’s it for the first part on our practical guide to Jobs-to-be-Done, on the framework. To really learn Jobs-to-be-Done, I advise you to just do it. Reading about it only gets you that far.
What do you think are the hardest parts of the Jobs-to-be-Done framework? | https://medium.com/0smosis/how-to-create-a-product-your-customer-loves-1-3-jobs-to-be-done-1644adf8491 | ['Anton De Meester'] | 2018-02-26 12:29:12.559000+00:00 | ['Jobs To Be Done'] |
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle Walk Into a Bar… An amazing first experience in Athens, Greece | I don’t think I know of anyone who does not have Greece on their bucket list of places to visit. I’ve long wanted to see it in person.
Part of my “excuse” for visiting Greece was that there is a class tie-in as one of the classes I was taking was Style and Rhetoric and Professional Writing. Of course, the study of rhetoric necessarily involves some discussion of ancient Greece. As it turns out, there was also a link to the history class I am currently taking in that one of the required readings involves torture in Greece following a coup in 1967. Not that I needed an excuse to visit Greece, but hey, it made the decision every so slightly easier.
View of the Acropolis from my hotel
Nighttime view from the hotel. Not bad at all. Like most tourists, I knew that the Acropolis would need to be on the short list of things to see, but I honestly had no idea it would be this easy to enjoy from the hotel. This was not planned, just a lucky choice when the room was selected online.
Looking up at the Acropolis from the Odeon of Herodes Atticus
Among the surprises on this visit was just how much there is to see without ever leaving the proximity of the Acropolis. Of course, you want to venture out and see more of the city and even get out of Athens and see the rest of Greece. But you could have a rich travel experience without ever going more than a few hundred meters from the Acropolis. In addition to the Parthenon atop the Acropolis itself, there are many other historically-relevant sites that sit alongside the base of the hill. For example, while walking to the Acropolis from my hotel, I passed the Odeon of Pericles, the Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus, the Stoa of Eumenes, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the Sanctuary of Asclepius, and I am sure other significant sites I was not even aware of.
Full disclosure, this was a total vacation, and while I used school as an “excuse” to go to Greece, there was very little by way of study, but still, to see the birthplace of so much of Western Civilization was a fantastic growth experience.
– One of the Greatest Runs of My Life –
One of my favorite ways to learn my way around a new place is to start running. I sometimes have to be careful to pick a significant terrain feature, tall building, or another landmark to use in finding my way back home. Fortunately, for this one, there was the Acropolis. I only had to remember which side was facing my hotel.
An amazing early morning run through Athens
I didn’t plan this run out very well, and it was only sheer dumb luck that I happened to be on the western side of the Acropolis just as the sun was rising behind it. This is shown in the featured image that opens this blog post. This view alone made this trip worth the time it took to get here. Most of Athens was soundly sleeping at this time, and I felt as if I had these scenes all to myself.
Agoraphobia — The fear of public spaces. The agora (/ˈæɡərə/; Ancient Greek: ἀγορά agorá) was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. The literal meaning of the word is “gathering place” or “assembly”.
The ancient agora in Athens, with its amazing view of the Acropolis, is not only beautiful, but it is also one of the richest historical sites in Western Civilization. Here is, among other sites, the Temple oh Hephaestus (5th century BCE).
– Amazing things can be built with enough time and dedication –
Most of us have some understanding of the ancient nature of Athens. It is sometimes easy to forget; however, just how old it really is. Ancient Greek civilization starting with the Greek Dark Ages, through antiquity, runs roughly from 1200 BCE up to around 600 CE. So, when we think of ancient Greece, we are not only talking about something long ago, but also something that lasted a long time.
The Temple of Olympian Zeus (largest temple in Ancient Greece) with the Acropolis in the background
The deep time inherent in Greek civilization allowed for some pretty amazing feats of architecture. Consider the Temple of Olympian Zeus, for example. While visiting this, the largest temple in the ancient world, I couldn’t help but marvel at how people so long ago, without the aid of modern technology, could build something so amazing. It was only later that I learned that construction on this temple began under the Athenian tyrants in the 6th century BCE and was not completed until the 2nd century CE — 638 years after construction began!
Orange trees line many streets in Athens
Things that I already knew about Greece so not surprising but still interesting: We owe democracy, philosophy, theater, the art of rhetoric, the Olympic games, and some of the world’s most amazing food to Greece. What I didn’t expect to see in Greece? Streets lined with orange trees, marble streets, and the word music, which comes from the Muses, or mythological goddesses of the arts.
Marble street in Athens
As a self-described travel junkie and collector of stamps in my passport, I often avoid going to the same place multiple times, though there are exceptions to this rule. Greece is one of these exceptions and I definitely plan to see it again and more extensively. | https://medium.com/@tony-ob-davis/socrates-plato-and-aristotle-walk-into-a-bar-an-amazing-first-experience-in-athens-greece-243e26a2a8be | ['Tony Davis'] | 2020-02-10 21:32:49.724000+00:00 | ['Europe', 'Mediterranean', 'Greece', 'Athens', 'Travel'] |
Parsing post data 3 different ways in Node.js without third-party libraries | 3. multipart/form-data
This one was the trickiest one of all, this is not close to being a one liner; if it’s so complicated why bother? The simple answer is transferring files with form data in a single request.
There are different approached how to parse this data, but for the purpose of this example I’m loading all data to memory, then storing the given file to the server and then of course as the previous examples also returning the request data as response data, I remove the binaries from the response because I’m showing the data on the website and loading binary takes a long time. The HTML form is simpler than application/json , it’s basically the same as application/x-www-form-urlencoded but with different encoding (enctype)
<form method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
<input id="username3" type="text" name="username">
<input id="password3" type="password" name="password">
<input id="picture3" type="file" name="picture">
<input type="submit">
</form>
What’s different from x-www-form-urlencoded is that we not explicitly assign enctype to multipart/form-data and add a file input type named picture to the mix.
I use the same data and end emit event callbacks as the previous methods, but this time, before we register the callbacks we change the request encoding to latin1 so that it reads the binary data correctly.
if (request.headers['content-type'] === 'multipart/form-data') {
// Use latin1 encoding to parse binary files correctly
request.setEncoding('latin1')
}
The data sent by multipart/form-data is separated in parts divided by a boundary specified in the content-type header sent by the browser, an example below:
------WebKitFormBoundaryxJi9AgGdxx83BunR
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="username" sal
------WebKitFormBoundaryxJi9AgGdxx83BunR
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="password" pass
------WebKitFormBoundaryxJi9AgGdxx83BunR
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="picture"; filename="Chromium_11_Logo.svg"
Content-Type: image/svg+xml
<!-- Created with Inkscape ( <svg>
...
</svg> ------WebKitFormBoundaryxJi9AgGdxx83BunR--
The boundary in the above example is ------WebKitFormBoundaryxJi9AgGdxx83BunR , I created a helper function to extract the boundary from the request header as follows:
function getBoundary(request) {
let contentType = request.headers['content-type']
const contentTypeArray = contentType.split(';').map(item => item.trim())
const boundaryPrefix = 'boundary='
let boundary = contentTypeArray.find(item => item.startsWith(boundaryPrefix))
if (!boundary) return null
boundary = boundary.slice(boundaryPrefix.length)
if (boundary) boundary = boundary.trim()
return boundary
}
In the above method, I read the information from the content-type header, then I split it by ; , then I trim whitespaces from each entry in the content-type, then I get the boundary by running the find() method on the array by checking the boundary= as prefix, I then return the string after this prefix.
Now that we know how to get the boundary, we’re going to use it to split the request post body as follows:
const boundary = getBoundary(request)
let result = {}
const rawDataArray = rawData.split(boundary)
for (let item of rawDataArray) {
...
}
Within the for loop the first thing I check is for the name:
// Use non-matching groups to exclude part of the result
let name = getMatching(item, /(?:name=")(.+?)(?:")/)
if (!name || !(name = name.trim())) continue
I use non-matching groups regex search to exclude part of the matching string so that it returns just the data I’m looking to get, which is just the name matched with (.+?) , if no name was found continue to the next item.
Next up I get the value for the given named input with a kinda complicated regex search, also using non-matching groups:
let value = getMatching(item, /(?:\r
\r
)([\S\s]*)(?:\r
--$)/)
if (!value) continue
The above matches all characters including spaces, newlines and tabs, the value is matched with ([\S\s]*) , and if no value was found we continue to the next item in the array.
Next up is to check if this entry is a file, and we find that out if we find a filename as follows:
let filename = getMatching(item, /(?:filename=")(.*?)(?:")/)
if (filename && (filename = filename.trim())) {
...
}
Filename can be empty, If the user didn’t select any file and presses the submit button, that’s why I match the filename using (.*?) to match 0 or more characters.
If the filename if valid I also search for content-type as follows:
let contentType = getMatching(item, /(?:Content-Type:)(.*?)(?:\r
)/)
the above regex string matches the content type with (.*?) .
Because there can be several files in a post request in the example I store all the files in a resulting array and to store the files in the server I do the following:
for (let file of data.files) {
const stream = fs.createWriteStream(file.filename)
stream.write(file.picture, 'binary')
stream.close()
file.picture = 'bin'
} | https://javascript.plainenglish.io/parsing-post-data-3-different-ways-in-node-js-e39d9d11ba8 | ['Salvador Guerrero'] | 2020-05-20 08:16:21.636000+00:00 | ['Coding', 'Nodejs', 'JavaScript', 'Programming', 'Json'] |
Color correction for streaming | Tutorial
Color correction for streaming
This post is quite a bit different from my usual topics of programming. But proper color correction is a cheap and easy way to make a stream or video look more professional. Unfortunately, I keep having to re-figure out how to do it, so I figured I would write it down, and perhaps it can help somebody else too if I make it public.
The tools I use are:
Open Boardcaster Software (OBS)— https://obsproject.com/
DaVinci Resolve — https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/
A color chart
Part 1: Getting the reference color map and image
Color correction in OBS is done through something called a LUT filter that uses a color map. Therefore, the first step is to get the reference color map. We also need to take a reference photo with the color board.
Launch OBS Create a scene with no filters and add the webcam with no filters. While holding up the color board, take a screenshot and save it to the desktop. Note: if the light is skewed towards one color, that may mess up the result.
4. Right-click the scene, then “Filters.”
5. Right-click in the left panel, then “Apply LUT.” Give it a name if you’d like.
6. Hit the “Browse” button and copy the “original.png” file. Paste it to the desktop.
Part 2: Correcting the colors
Having gathered the raw materials, it is time to do the color correction. We will be using DaVinci Resolve to do the actual color correction, so:
Launch DaVinci Resolve and create a new project. Go to the “Cut” mode at the bottom:
2. Drag and drop the two images from part 1 into the media pool.
3. Drag and drop the two files from the media pool into the timeline.
4. Switch over to the “Color” mode at the bottom.
5. Making sure you have your image selected, add the “Color Chart” overlay.
6. Adjust it, so it fits with the color board.
7. Go into the color matcher. Make sure the preview has the same colors as your color chart; otherwise, you can change it. Finally, hit “Match.”
8. (Optional) This can make the colors a little flat, so to make it pop a bit, you can go into the “Color Wheels,” goto the second tab, and turn up the “Col Boost.”
9. Now, we need to transfer those settings to the color map. To do this, select the color map, and then middle-click on the selfie. The colors on the screen should change slightly.
10. We now have to export this corrected color map, so we first need to change the settings to match that image's size. Hit the settings-cog in the bottom right corner, then set the resolution to 512x512 and hit “save.”
11. Right-click inside the player and hit “Grab Still.”
12. Change over to the “Gallary,” right-click the still, and hit “Export.”
13. Give it some name, and make sure to save it as “PNG Files (*.png).”
Part 3: Adding the LUT filter in OBS
Now that we have the corrected color map, we are finished with Resolve and can put it into OBS.
Open up the “Apply LUT” filter we added to the scene in part 1. Hit browse again and locate the file we made in part 2.
Voilà. That’s it. I now have some more color in my cheeks instead of looking extremely pale.
Before color correction (left) and after
I hope this was helpful. If you have questions or want to watch some programming, then come by my stream Tuesdays or Thursdays at 7:30 pm CEST: https://www.twitch.tv/thedrlambda | https://medium.com/@thedrlambda/color-correction-for-streaming-67b1557e6625 | ['Christian Clausen'] | 2020-11-16 11:17:18.650000+00:00 | ['Colors', 'Open Broadcaster Software', 'Lut', 'Color Correction'] |
Ilm | Illuminating
Learning
Manifested through the acquisition of knowledge.
Ilm: Arabic roots and used in the Urdu language, as well: acquiring knowledge about the universe with logical reasoning and critical thinking. Thus, Ilm is not restricted to one subject, profession, or expertise: rather an encompassing term including absorption of facts, information, skills, theoretical frameworks, and education. The path from ignorance to truth is only paved through knowledge. *
© Fatima Imam
___
So thankful to R. Rangan PhD for tagging me for this prompt. Happy Holidays and sincere thanks for all the inspiration. 😊😊
—
Reference: John L Esposito, ed. The Oxford History of Islam, chapter 2 & 4. | https://medium.com/science-soul/ilm-85257939e27b | ['Dr. Fatima Imam'] | 2020-12-21 03:15:55.917000+00:00 | ['Knowledge', 'Professional Development', 'Self Improvement', 'Life', 'Poetry On Medium'] |
VJ Loop | Blue Waterfall Zooming Grid | This blog takes the broadest conception of sound design possible including visual effects because audio likes video. Over 90,000 views annually.
Follow | https://medium.com/sound-and-design/vj-loop-waterfallgrid-16b6efdbdab5 | ["Michael 'Myk Eff' Filimowicz"] | 2020-12-29 02:29:28.390000+00:00 | ['EDM', 'Creativity', 'Design', 'Flair', 'Art'] |
why no caps y sin mayúsculas | walter isaacson recounts in steve jobs’s biography the tech legend’s pet peeve with capitalization. he had a strong ideological stance against capital letters. back then, i found the rationale clever and creative. i idealized following jobs’s lead on this one. five plus years after reading that remarkable biography, i can’t even remember his rationale. and i won’t look it up.
because although i originally adopted jobs cosmovision regarding capitalization, now it only serves as diffuse inspiration for my own in the catacombs of my unconscious, right next to the freudian complexes and other sickening neuropathologies of mine. my current ideological stance for ‘no caps’ is myself growing tired of everyone wearing a mask, putting on a show, pretending we’re less vulnerable, less human, and more perfect than we actually are. starting with myself. after a five year stint in the one and only san francisco bay area and silicon valley, a main takeaway is that the most successful people around me were the most authentic. after growing up in a whitexican society that values showmanship & pretentiousness, and ducking in and out of it over the past ten years as i visited and re-visited my hometown, i decided we were long due for a change.
don’t let me get away with it. i said ‘starting with myself’. that warrants an explanation: when i landed in the bay area, after having finished an engineering degree and a business & finance degree in four years, preceded by years and years of back-patting for always being a top performer at inconsequential activities — school and amateur sports — i was confident i was going to knock it out of the park in the next chapter of my life.
pretty early during my sentence at silicon valley prison for the heart and mind, i realized that i had chosen the largest freakin’ pond imaginable and that being a big fish was going to be as tough as being that alzheimer-ridden dory in charge of finding nemo. if i could x, some folks i encountered in the bay area could easily 10x and 100x. with respect to the yardsticks i cared about (e.g. meaningful work, entrepreneurship, brilliance, creativity, sports), the bay area was among the largest, if not the largest pond in the world. i was up for a treat.
my five year stint was lovely, grueling, epic, devastating, and a dozen other beautiful, ugly, and ineffable adjectives. after a ten year stint in the u.s. of a., i come back to my hometown and my beautiful mejico with the strong conviction that vulnerability and authenticity will be key ingredients to unleash my full potential and that of those around me. i’ve started surveying public opinion on this one. you’d be surprised (or not), but many people — some very close to me — would disagree. game’s on. only time will tell.
which brings me back to ‘no caps’: authenticity and vulnerability mean that A’s, B’s, C’s, and D’s need to get off the pedestal. they need to take off their masks and tell their authentic stories, those of a, b, c, and d. in humans and in letters, coming first is no good reason to capitalize. a proper, unique, special name ain’t one either. that just provides an excuse to see the differences in others instead of the commonalities. if we all agree to stay in the world of the lower case, of the imperfect humans, we can all open up, take off our masks, be authentic, and move this giant ball called humanity forward. cherish how flawed we are. celebrate failure for its teachings and for getting us one step closer to success. that’s the silicon valley way in its purest form.
and ‘sin mayúsculas’? that’s just ‘no caps’ in spanish. i will publish in both english and spanish. and i still haven’t figured out a good policy on when to do which. i deliberate about it at the end of this other post. my current policy is: whatever language you feel inspired to write in, write. i’m thinking my future policy will be a combination of that plus topic-based language choice (e.g. my writing on entrepreneurship and productivity in english; my life lessons and funny stories in spanish; etc.)
last but not least, my ass-covering disclaimer: the ‘no caps’ rule is flexible, just like i strive to be. you’ll see caps in my writing from time to time.
“how could you!? i feel betrayed!” — you say.
some publications won’t accept my writing without capital letters. and there, i bite the bullet in the name of a larger audience that hopefully benefits from reading me. other times, the topic being covered warrants suit & tie, which in my writing translates to reverting to capitalization. topics like economics or the inequality gap, for example. and just like i’m psyched for a future where business attire in my hometown evolves to the casual attire of some brilliant minds in silicon valley, i got to pick my battles. econ & the inequality gap are bigger fish to fry. and if i have to wear a suit & tie, i’ll bite the bullet…for now.
lastly, at times an attempt at all lower cases may turn out aesthetically unpleasing or just plain confusing (usa vs USA). my priorities are straight: clear writing > beautiful writing > vulnerable writing. that list is not exhaustive and subject to change without prior notice.
bonne lecture.
fernando from no caps y sin mayúsculas
instagram.com/fernandofuentes.escritos
medium.com/no-caps | https://medium.com/no-caps/why-no-caps-ebe691829fd1 | [] | 2020-09-16 20:36:35.452000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Life Lessons', 'Español', 'Life', 'Blog'] |
How to discuss the Corona impact on your company with VCs? | In light of the current crisis, there are already numerous tips moving around on how to manage startups — as well as mature firms — to pull through the economic downturn. Yet another crucial aspect for startups has gathered little attention — investor communication. What to communicate to existing investors, and what to focus on when the crisis hit just in the middle of raising a new round?
Before moving to some common risk factors that can often go unnoticed, we start with some simple guidelines and aspects to cover when preparing for an investor call:
Create a plan on how to extend your runway , preferably to at least 12 months. It can include activities like asking your landlord to cut the rent, reducing marketing or referral program costs, refocusing product development only on activities that generate revenues in short term, putting new hirings on hold, or cutting salaries or personnel. Also, you might be able to make use of some of the government support for extending your runway. Learn about the opportunities offered in the form of loans, grants and subsidies. We have provided some links on this topic at the end of this post.
, preferably to at least 12 months. It can include activities like asking your landlord to cut the rent, reducing marketing or referral program costs, refocusing product development only on activities that generate revenues in short term, putting new hirings on hold, or cutting salaries or personnel. Also, you might be able to make use of some of the government support for extending your runway. Learn about the opportunities offered in the form of loans, grants and subsidies. We have provided some links on this topic at the end of this post. Know your way to breakeven . A mere figure of an extended runway won’t help — investors value breakeven forecasts that are backed up by a sufficient scenario analysis. This could mean putting together plans A, B and C in case the crisis becomes longer than expected, or the prospects for additional funding worsen.
. A mere figure of an extended runway won’t help — investors value breakeven forecasts that are backed up by a sufficient scenario analysis. This could mean putting together plans A, B and C in case the crisis becomes longer than expected, or the prospects for additional funding worsen. Ask your peers and investors. Many of our suggestions are based on experience from our portfolio companies, which illustrates the benefits of knowledge-sharing. The tips are even more useful when exchanged among peer companies that follow the same business model (SaaS, marketplace etc.) Sharing is caring.
Many of our suggestions are based on experience from our portfolio companies, which illustrates the benefits of knowledge-sharing. The tips are even more useful when exchanged among peer companies that follow the same business model (SaaS, marketplace etc.) Sharing is caring. Tough times don’t last, tough teams do. That said, a good crisis strategy also considers an action plan for recovery once the crisis is over. An important note here is that companies who have recently capitalised or have otherwise retained some financial buffer by the end of the crisis have a head start in restarting the operations, since many of the competitors might have disappeared or severely weakened by the crisis. Also, extra cash buffers enable companies to pivot, if feasible.
However, establishing such a crisis plan is easier said than done. Here are 4 factors for supporting the underlying assumptions, as well as answering the questions both the existing and new investors might have:
Demand — what is the dynamics of demand for your product or service — how much does it decrease or could the sales instead increase? Highlight the changes in the demand you have seen already, but it also makes sense to forecast the demand dynamics in the future. As an example, there’s no value in hiring more salespeople when customers simply don’t have the resources to purchase.
— what is the dynamics of demand for your product or service — how much does it decrease or could the sales instead increase? Highlight the changes in the demand you have seen already, but it also makes sense to forecast the demand dynamics in the future. As an example, there’s no value in hiring more salespeople when customers simply don’t have the resources to purchase. Price — more importantly, what is the relationship between demand and price — is price an important component of demand? Does it make sense to introduce special pricing for the period of the crisis? Considering delayed monetisation could make the customer acquisition more successful. Some of the companies are still reaching out to potential customers, onboard them, but start monetisation later.
— more importantly, what is the relationship between demand and price — is price an important component of demand? Does it make sense to introduce special pricing for the period of the crisis? Considering delayed monetisation could make the customer acquisition more successful. Some of the companies are still reaching out to potential customers, onboard them, but start monetisation later. Execution — Can your company function with all team members working remote? Are the purchase and delivery channels working? Quite intuitively, the delivery of physical goods, as well as offline sales gets a hit. But turning to online sales has its long-lasting benefits. Many B2B SaaS companies have relatively cheap digital products, so online sales can significantly improve the unit economics. Moreover, it is very likely that the proportion of online sales remains high as the customer behaviour changes.
— Can your company function with all team members working remote? Are the purchase and delivery channels working? Quite intuitively, the delivery of physical goods, as well as offline sales gets a hit. But turning to online sales has its long-lasting benefits. Many B2B SaaS companies have relatively cheap digital products, so online sales can significantly improve the unit economics. Moreover, it is very likely that the proportion of online sales remains high as the customer behaviour changes. Credit — One should not be blinded by successful sales — it is also crucial to reassess credit risk. Simply put, what proportion of the clients is not likely to pay? The issue is more apparent with physical goods (i.e. gadgets) where the channel owners (such as retailers) might experience financial difficulties and delay or fail with payments. When the financial buffer is already thin, the subscription renewals of digital services might also be delayed or cancelled. Various churn management techniques (such as fee free periods or flexible pricing) might help to keep the clients that might otherwise churn and subscribe at the competitors once the times get better.
Last but not least, it would be useful to review whether there is any financial support offered by the governments. Some grants are also announced by the European Commission. Below are some links that you might find useful for finding government support measures and local grants available:
Finnish support measures: https://www.businessfinland.fi/en/for-finnish-customers/services/funding/disruptive_situations_funding/
Estonian support measures: https://raha.geenius.ee/rubriik/uudis/ulevaade-mis-ettevotetele-riik-kriisilaenu-annab-ja-kuidas-seda-taotleda/
Funding opportunities by the European Commission (by Civitta) and local grant schemes for companies in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania: https://civitta.com/financing | https://medium.com/@unitedangels-vc/how-to-discuss-the-corona-impact-on-your-company-with-vcs-12e4639bc5d1 | ['United Angels Vc'] | 2020-04-06 13:59:53.994000+00:00 | ['Venture Capital', 'Startup', 'Corona'] |
Measuring Sustainability from Space | Technology and risk-based modeling may soon put the world on a path to eliminate the concept of “negative externalities” as data begins to transform physical industries in the same way it powered the engines of the internet economy. Negative externalities are the unaccounted environmental and societal side effects of commercial and industrial activities. They are often opaque to the general public and manifest themselves in long-term costs missing from business decisions during the moment of investment. A well-known example is the cost of producing plastic. Production costs don’t account for proper recycling or disposal, so plastic waste often ends up in rivers that empty into the ocean, and the world suffers from the negative externality of microplastic contamination. This cost eventually needs to be absorbed by the global population at large (e.g., taxpayers).
As environmental disasters encroach on global communities and ecosystems on a near-daily basis, the hidden costs from industrial processes and consumer behavior are increasingly visible as large swaths of people escape poverty and adopt a carbon-intensive Western lifestyle. Whether it’s the implicit costs from catastrophes like California’s Camp Fire that nearly brought down PG&E or the explicit rules and regulations of the cap and trade policies of the EU Emissions Trading System, it’s clear that the unaccounted side effects of commodity supply chains can no longer remain externalized. Instead, companies need to model these costs in long-term strategic planning in the form of internal carbon prices as governments, shareholders, and communities reward good stewards and punish careless actors.
Vegetation encroachment on PG&E power lines caused California’s Camp Fire. Descartes Labs generated this image using LiDAR data and our proprietary tree detector to assess tree locations relative to power infrastructure.
ESG Investing — Rewarding Companies that Limit Risk Exposure
Major corporations are finding that it’s in their best interest to adapt to the implicit and explicit costs of carbon or pollutant-intensive supply chains. A direct result of this trend is the emergence of Environmental, Safety, and Governance investing (ESG), which aims to generate long-term investment returns by channeling financing to companies that carefully limit their exposure to dangerous and costly environmental accidents. Examples include wildfires, oil spills, illegal deforestation, dam breaches, or societal impacts like workplace health & safety, labor disputes, privacy & security, and more.
The table below lists 37 key ESG issues as outlined by MSCI, a leading index and analytics provider for institutional investors.
Major ESG issues as defined by MSCI’s ratings methodology. (source)
ESG is among the most critical “alternative” factors driving investment decisions today. According to the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance (GSIA), $30.7 trillion of the nearly $90 trillion in total global assets under management (AUM) in 2018 were defined as “sustainable investing assets.” This statistic illustrates the financial weight behind ESG, which has increased in parallel with sustainability reporting by the world’s largest public companies. In a report released by The Governance and Accountability Institute, Fortune 500 corporations publishing sustainability reports have increased from 20% in 2011 to 85% in 2017. Almost every leading capital allocator now believes ESG and sustainability are economically prudent and not merely social issues.
For the purpose of this document, Climate-Related Sustainability can be defined as follows:
Comprehensive actions by large organizations to reduce large scale environmental and social impacts resulting from business and trade. Environmental and social impacts are summarized by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Sustainability reporting increasing over time. (source)
Fiduciary Duty to Sustainability — Measurement in Practice
The link between integrated sustainability practices and share price outperformance is a theme echoed by industry experts:
“Robert Eccles, a visiting professor of management practice at Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, says that the global investment community’s interest in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues has finally reached a tipping point. Large asset management firms and pensions funds are now pressuring corporate leaders to improve sustainability practices in material ways that both benefit their firms’ bottom line and create broader impact. They’re also advocating for more uniform metrics and industry standards.” — Harvard Business Review, March 2019
Many of these experts see a parallel to the way GAAP accounting standards were developed and adopted in the early 1970s. Definition, self-regulation, and standardization were delegated by the government to a private entity, and public companies have had a common set of standards to measure and report against ever since. Public company investors now make decisions about the quality and future earnings potential of businesses based mainly on this information. The necessary conditions are clear rules, clear metrics, clear means of measurement, and a consistent and predictable playing field for companies to operate within.
While there is still work to do in terms of establishing generally accepted ESG standards, more companies are taking a closer look at their commodity supply chains and identifying ways to model and address impacts, including setting internal carbon prices. Many see managing carbon risk in a similar light as managing other financial risks, such as interest rates, foreign exchange, and debt servicing. As a result, companies are working to determine the geographic locations and volumes of their CO2 emissions, as well as those from suppliers and customers that fall upstream and downstream of their core operations and production. | https://medium.com/descarteslabs-team/measuring-sustainability-from-space-cb5e68e4c7d7 | ['Alex Diamond'] | 2019-08-21 03:34:35.164000+00:00 | ['Sustainability', 'Environment', 'Geospatial', 'Data Science', 'Climate Change'] |
An in-depth look at the AppBar widget | In this article, we’re going to review the AppBar widget’s parameters one by one using a little app I whipped up for this exercise. It’s available to you for download on Github called, appbar_example. You can then ‘look under the hood’ at the code and see how to use AppBar widget’s many parameters.
I Like Screenshots. Click For Gists.
As always, I prefer using screenshots in my articles over gists to show concepts rather than just show code. I find them easier to work with frankly. However, you can click or tap on these screenshots to see the code in a gist or in Github. Further, it’s better to read this article about mobile development on your computer than on your phone. Besides, we program mostly on our computers — not on our phones. Not yet anyway.
No Moving Pictures, No Social Media
There will be gif files in this article demonstrating aspects of the topic at hand. However, it’s said viewing such gif files is not possible when reading this article on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, etc. They may come out as static pictures or simply blank placeholder boxes. Please, be aware of this and maybe read this article on medium.com
Let’s begin.
We’ll work our way down the AppBar’s named parameters and illustrate how each affects the appearance of the app bar and the general ‘look and feel’ of the app overall. This widget is, in fact, a StatefulWidget. That means it has a corresponding State object (_AppBarState) that retains some values for the duration of the app. Below is a screenshot of the AppBar widget.
Implements A Preferred Size
Further note, the widget implements another class called, PreferredSizeWidget. Unlike Java with its explicit Interface types, Dart has implicit Interfaces. In Dart, as you see in the screenshot above, you can assign any class as ‘an interface’ to any other class by simply specifying it with the keyword, implements. That means, however, you’ve now some further work to do. All the functions from that class will need to be re-implemented in your own class (unless yours is an abstract class). Further, any instance fields from that class will need to be re-assigned values — otherwise, they’re null.
In the case of the AppBar class implementing the class, PreferredSizeWidget, it is the instance field, preferredSize, that now has to be assigned a value. You see, it’s seen as the height in which the AppBar widget would prefer to be if it were unconstrained. In most cases, that height is the sum of [toolbarHeight] and the [bottom] widget’s preferred height forming a band (a bar) along the top of the screen.
Play With Your AppBar
Again, the sample app on Github, will allow you to try out to some degree each and every parameter offered by the AppBar widget. Note, its parent widget, in this case, is the Scaffold widget and is also using a Drawer widget in this app. It this drawer that you’ll use to adjust the AppBar’s parameter values: | https://andrious.medium.com/decode-appbar-4e810020f744 | ['Greg Perry'] | 2020-12-22 17:22:12.997000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Flutter', 'Android App Development', 'Mobile App Development', 'iOS App Development'] |
A Different Way to Think About Security Tokens: Programmable Regulation | Security tokens are one of the most exciting developments in the crypto-asset space that is forcing us to rethink different aspects of the ecosystem from the technological, socio-political and economical standpoints. Recently, I was confronted with a scenario that made me look at security tokens through the regulatory lens and came out with a few unorthodox ideas that I thought I share with you guys.
If you read the recent wave of blog posts and articles (mine included 😉) about the key benefits of security tokens, you are likely to hear elements such as liquidity and fractional ownership often cited as the main advantages of the new crypto paradigm. In his famous article “The Security Token Thesis” Professor Stephen McKeon from the University of Oregon listed 8 main benefits of security tokens:
1) 24/7 markets
2) Fractional ownership
3) Rapid settlement
4) Reduction in direct costs
5) Increased liquidity and market depth
6) Automated compliance
7) Asset interoperability
8) Expansion of the design space for security contracts
Point #7[Automated Compliance] in Professor’s McKeon list is often ignored in favor of more sexier benefits such as fractional ownership and liquidity. However, in its current nascent state, point #7 might be the most important contribution of security tokens to the crypto asset space. In my recent work, I took the liberty of rename point #7 using another term that take us closer to its practical applicability: programmable regulation. Before we deep dive into the ideas of programmable regulation, let’s demystify some of the key beliefs behind the benefits of security tokens.
Things You Love About Security Tokens that Might Not be True (Just Yet)
With the excitement around security tokens comes a lot of uninformed opinions that paint a distorted picture of the realities of the space. If we want security tokens to succeed, we need to establish the right technological and economical rigor and ignore some of the hype. Liquidity and fractional ownership are two of those overhyped benefits of security tokens that they don’t quite correlate with the current state of the space.
Offering a liquidity channel to investors in alternative illiquid assets might become the greatest benefits of security tokens but is far from being trivial. For starters, liquidity in the security token space is limited at best and I feel many platforms are taking it for granted. One of the things I like about the Securitize platform, is that they seem to be one of the few that have presented a thoughtful and pragmatic approach when comes to liquidity models. Most of the security token offering(STOs) in the space have been undersubscribed and growing up that investor community is not an easy endeavor. Additionally, we need to factor in the company angle. As a private company, do you really want to have thousands of investors that are actively trading your tokens/shares? In the best case scenario, I can tell you that model doesn’t work for all companies as it opens the door to all sorts of gamified governance issues and can become a distraction from the real goals of the business.
Now let’s take fractional ownership. How many people do you think get excited about owning 1% of a Cezanne? Fractional ownership is a super interesting concept but, in my opinion, is more practical when comes to dividend-generating assets such as real estate leases and it might become unpractical in many other cases.
If liquidity and fractional ownership are not slam dunk benefits of security tokens then what is it? Let’s take a look at programmable regulation or as Professor McKeon calls it automated compliance.
Security Tokens as a Regulation Amplifier
Here is main takeaway of this essay and a very simple idea that made me change my perspectives about security tokens:
“Security tokens amplify existing regulatory frameworks into the crypto space and makes them programmable.”
Hopefully the idea didn’t sound completely stupid and you are still here 😉. Let me try to explain. For years, regulators have struggled trying to adapt compliance models from different types of financial products to crypto-assets. Most of those attempts have been futile as crypto-assets don’t behave like traditional financial asset classes; they are programmable, traded simultaneously on multiple exchanges, globally available, they don’t strictly behave like securities nor as commodities and dozens of other unique characteristics. As a result, most financial regulatory models simply don’t apply in the crypto space. We need a bridge that adapts existing regulatory frameworks to the crypto-assets. SECURITY TOKENS IS THAT BRIDGE!
Security tokens are the first type of regulated crypto-asset but its much more than that. Security tokens amplifies existing regulatory frameworks into the crypto space. Using security tokens as a vehicle, many regulatory models across different geographies can be adapted to the crypto world. Even more importantly, security tokens open the door to programmable regulation model.
Programmable Regulation
The notion of programmable regulation is an adaptation of the famous “the code is law” Ethereum mantra for the security token space. Programmable regulation is simply the idea of building regulatory, compliance and governance rules as smart contracts that can run across different blockchains. We are already seeing the first versions of this in basic forms of know-your-customer(KYC) and anti-money-laundering(AML) rules built into the first generation of security token platforms. Although universally adopted, KYC and AML are some of the most basic forms of regulations and definitely insufficient for the mainstream adoption of security tokens. However, programmable regulation allow us to use security tokens as a vehicle to program almost any regulatory model into enforceable smart contracts that can be used by different crypto-products.
Programmable regulation is a very abstract term and it doesn’t translate into a single technological approach. From an initial analysis, we can identify different types of programmable regulation that are relevant in the current generation of security token platforms:
· Token-Based Regulation: A crypto token is the atomic representation of any financial transaction in the crypto-asset space and, consequently, the smallest unit that can be regulated. Embedding regulatory and compliance rules into crypto tokens is certainly the most efficient form of programmable regulation. Harbor pioneered this approach with the introduction of the R-Token standard that has been adopted by other security token platforms.
· Composable-Token Regulation: I struggle to find a better name for this concept ☹ but here is the idea: As concepts such as the Harbor R-Token become more mainstream, we are likely to see variation of R-Tokens that serve as shell tokens to enforce specific types of regulation. For instance, suppose that we have a group of security tokens that represent commercial real estate leases in Manhattan and we would like to trade them in exchanges hosted in the European Union but that requires to be compliant with different regulatory models. In that scenario, we can imagine a Real Estate EU R-Token that aggregates the individual R-Tokens and enforces the EU regulations. This is a great example of programmable regulation.
· Exchange-Based Regulation: Many regulatory rules in security tokens can’t be expressed at the token level as they express more complex rules such as custody models, liquidity terms, etc. Security token exchanges like OpenFinance have the opportunity of creating programmable models that represent these regulatory constructs.
· Party-Based Regulation: A security token platform involves different parties such as issuers, auditors, escrow providers, legal delegates and many others. These parties are also subjected to regulatory models that can be programmed as smart contract. For instance, imagine a smart contract that abstracts the regulatory rules that need to be followed by any law firm within the European Union that is involved in the due diligence of security tokens. The Securitize platform includes the notion of a Compliance Service that sorts of serves that role.
Just as utility tokens and cryptocurrencies have become forms of programmable money, security tokens have the opportunity of becoming vehicles for programmable regulation. In this early days, the idea of programmable regulation can be, arguably, considered the greatest contribution of the security token space. | https://medium.com/coinmonks/a-different-way-to-think-about-security-tokens-programmable-regulation-78f785fbd21a | ['Jesus Rodriguez'] | 2018-07-24 13:54:33.036000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Token Sale', 'Regulation', 'Security Token', 'Blockchain'] |
Psych episode review — 1.6 — Weekend Warriors | Original air date: August 11, 2006
Director: John Fortenberry
Writer: Douglas Steinberg
Rating: 9/10
A Civil War re-enactment is a great setting to have a Psych episode in, especially when Carlton Lassiter (Timothy Omundson) is the organizer of the battle.
The episode starts with Shawn and Gus coming to watch the annual Lassiter freakout at the rehearsal, and of course one of the soldiers is actually killed.
Shawn and Gus eventually go undercover as Union soldiers, including Gus being fitted with an awful costume.
Shawn humorously plays video games while everyone lives in tents trying to get into character. Seeing Shawn clash with these much more serious people is always great.
There’s also some great stuff between Shawn and his dad. Henry gets Shawn a birthday gift, though he apparently recognizes Shawn’s birthday as the first day baby Shawn smiled at him. There’s a fun scene where Shawn claims he’s lost it, and needs to borrow Henry’s metal detector, but he instead uses it to find the musket ball used to kill the soldier.
It’s one of the more enjoyable episodes of the season. It doesn’t have any hilarious bits, but it’s consistently funny. And it’s a good episode for both Lassiter and Juliet O’Hara. | https://medium.com/as-vast-as-space-and-as-timeless-as-infinity/psych-episode-review-1-6-weekend-warriors-a63839f116c9 | ['Patrick J Mullen'] | 2019-05-13 16:21:00.811000+00:00 | ['Mystery', 'Psych', 'Civil War', 'Comedy', 'TV'] |
MiCA: A Guide to the EU’s Proposed Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation | Summary
A detailed new digital finance package (DFP) was introduced by the European Commission (EC) on 24 September 2020 which, if it is implemented in its current form, would change the European economy over the coming decades. It is known as Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).
MiCA was “leaked” in the middle of September to encourage the crypto industry to prepare itself for official implementation in EU legislation for up to four years.
Despite this long timeframe, it is possible that MiCA would permanently transform Europe’s digital asset environment and its stringent business regulatory criteria, which would result in changes impacting many of those in the digital world, including more niche markets such as Decentralized Finance (DeFi).
MiCA focuses extensively on the guidelines for governing, out-of-scope crypto-asset types and the providers of services for these assets, known as Crypto-asset Service Providers (CASPs). It seeks to increase the competitiveness of Fintech and technology in the continent while reducing uncertainties and maintaining the European economy’s financial stability.
Most notably, the current regulatory structure also provides a detailed new statutory initiative on crypto assets, intended to help standardize Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and European Union (EU) virtual assets rules, while defending investors and consumers.
In this publication, we will discuss what MiCA is, its specifications, and its anticipated influence on the cryptography sector in the coming years.
What is the thinking and history behind the publication of MiCA?
The EU has long wanted to create an environment that would give EU customers access to advanced and secure crypto-asset without undermining market stability. The safety of crypto consumers is undoubtedly its key priority, with this weighed against the need for more sophisticated investment offerings and the regulatory and financial uncertainties involved with the broader use of potentially risky assets, such as stable coins.
MiCA is the result of a phase that began in early 2018 after the Bitcoin Bull Run in 2017. This surge of public investment and interest in cryptocurrencies prompted European regulators to notice the threats of uncontrolled virtual assets to consumers and economies, like terrorism funding and money laundering threats.
The FinTech Action Plan of the EC, released in March 2018, required a review of the relevant and applicable regulatory system for EU financial services and for crypto assets by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) as well as the European Banking Authority (EBA).
Many crypto-assets are independent of EU regulation on financial services and are thus not subject to investor and customer protection and business integrity clauses. As a result, European authorities began collaborating under the DFP on a new regulatory crypto-asset structure that became MiCA. They aim for it to allay a number of fears, including the potential damage that may be caused to investors by the potential creation of a shadow financial system.
What is MiCA?
MiCA is a regulatory mechanism established to govern currently off-scale crypto-assets and their EU providers and to provide all Member States with a common licensing system by 2024.
MiCA seeks to “unify the European framework for the trading and issuance, as part of Europe ‘s digital finance policy, of different forms of crypto-token”
Its full, official title is a proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on Markets in amending Directive (EU) and Crypto-assets 2019/1937.
Where will MiCA apply?
Once accepted, MiCA will apply as a directive throughout the European Union (EU) to all member countries and will provide a legal structure for markets, assets, and service providers to enable licensed services in the EU to be offered.
It would also impact third countries trying to do business in the EU; consumer prospecting from outside the EU is regulated, say, for instance, from Singapore and, post-Brexit, potentially the UK.
What are MiCA’s regulatory objectives?
The strategy for crypto-assets markets has four broad objectives:
To provide legal clarity for non-existent EU financial services regulation crypto assets To create unified rules on issuers and providers of crypto assets services at the EU level To substitute the current national crypto-asset systems not covered by existing EU regulations on Financial Services; and To specify clear guidelines for so-called ‘stable coins,’ even when it is e-money.
The MiCA proposal incorporates 28 definitions. They define crypto-assets as “a digital representation of rights or values that can be electronically exchanged and processed using distributed ledger technology or related technology.”
Also important is the definition of a crypto-asset service, which is defined as the following programmers and operations related to any crypto-asset:
The execution on behalf of third parties of crypto-asset orders Crypto-asset interchange for other crypto-assets Administration and custody on behalf of third parties of crypto-assets Recommendations on crypto assets The trading of crypto-assets for the lawfully bidding fiat currency The operation of a crypto-asset exchange platform Crypto-asset placement Transmission and reception on behalf of third parties of crypto-asset orders
Importantly and in relation to these definitions, MiCA provides a definition for a “crypto-asset service provider” (CASP) as “anyone whose business or occupation is to provide one or more crypto-asset services professionally for third parties.” This concept is broader than the definition of a Virtual Asset Provider (VASP) as defined by the Financial Action Task Force which means that MiCA is accessible to most cryptographic companies and potentially industry niches that do not currently exist.
Which crypto-assets does MiCA regulate?
MiCA seeks to control any rights representation or digital value that can be stored or shared electronically using distributed ledger technology (DLT) or related schemes.
MiCA does not regulate Crypto-assets that have already been established as e-money or financial instruments under the Second Financial Instrument Directive on Markets (MiFID II) or the Electronic Money Directive (EMD) but will cover crypto-asset systems which are not regulated by current EU regulations on financial services, looking at the material of an instrument and not the technology used to issue it (so substance over form).
Consequently, MICA will regulate the following three crypto-asset sub-categories:
E-Money token, being a form of crypto-asset, which have a stable value based on only one electronic money currency. The intention of E-money tokens it to work similarly to electronic money in the sense that they can be used as payment in the place of a fiat currency. Asset-Referenced tokens, which are tokens that have the aim of maintaining a value that is stable by referencing multiple assets, i.e., currencies that represent legal tender, one or more commodities, one or more crypto assets, or a basket of these kinds of assets. The tokens will then be used as a payment mechanism for the purchasing of services and goods, as a value store; and Utility tokens are issued for non-financial reasons to provide digital connectivity on DLT networks to resources, applications, or services available.
Which activities does MiCA regulate?
MiCA will regulate the activities of crypto-asset selling and promotion
Just as conventional financial partners must issue a prospectus for public shares, issuers of all MiCA crypto-assets must publish a white paper (official language in English or the official EU State), which must contain key material on features, obligations and rights, and the underlying project and technologies.
The whitepaper must be circulated with authorities at least 20 days before publication.
However, as with prospectuses for other types of assets, there are certain exemptions. With respect to the public offer of crypto-assets, other than asset-referenced tokens or e-money tokens, the MiCA requirements will not apply if:
The crypto-assets are offered for free
The crypto-assets are automatically created through mining as a reward for the maintenance of or validation of transactions on a or similar technology
The crypto-asset is unique and not fungible with other crypto-assets
The offering of crypto-assets is addressed to fewer than 150 natural or legal persons per Member State acting on their own account
The total consideration of such an offering in the Union does not exceed €1,000,000, or the corresponding equivalent in another currency or in crypto-assets, over a period of 12 months
The offering of crypto-assets is solely addressed to qualified investors and the crypto-assets can only be held by such qualified investors.
With respect to the public offer of asset-referenced tokens or e-money tokens, the MiCA requirements will not apply if:
The asset-referenced tokens/e-money tokens are marketed and distributed exclusively to qualified investors and can only be held by qualified investors.
The average outstanding amount of asset-referenced tokens/e-money tokens does not exceed €5,000,000, or the corresponding equivalent in another currency, over a period of 12 months, calculated at the end of each calendar day.
It should be noted that when issuers of asset-referenced tokens or e-money tokens rely on these exemptions, they must still produce a white paper conforming to the prescribed form and content requirements, and submit that white paper to their home member state regulator at least 20 working days before the publication of the white paper to the public.
The Member States must ensure that issuers of crypto-assets are responsible for whitepaper information under their national regulations
Finally, because of the complexities of DLT safety and threats, issuers need to maintain good cybersecurity to safeguard the funds of investors. The national authorities can suspend their offer if they do not.
CASP authorization
Providers of crypto-asset services (CASPs) will require prior authorization from the competent governments of the Member States.
If the EU country has already set up a specialized CASP licensing system, regulators can refer to the transfer of firms from a national license into a MiCA CASP license that is applicable in the European Union by applying a simpler authorization procedure.
As with MiFID II, CASPs will be subject to additional requirements relating to their capital needs, staff training, governance model, insurance coverage, and more (based on their size and relevant risk).
The EU is at pains to note that investor security is at the core of its philosophy and that additional commitments relating to appropriate asset differentiation, business structure, fund protections, and management skills must also be fulfilled.
CASPs delivering cross-border facilities will not have to be physically present in all the Member States, other than in their home Member States, where they would like to offer services.
Those planning to offer crypto-asset services must apply to the competent authority of the Member States in which they have a registered office for authorization as a service provider.
What does MiCA say about the FATF Standards and Crypto Crime?
MiCA doesn’t directly address the challenge of terrorist financing and money laundering as the matter is already covered by EU anti-money laundering legislation since the 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD 5) became applicable on 10 January 2020. However, the proposal succinctly phrases the overarching objective of the law with regards to money laundering and terrorist financing in Consideration 8 of the draft:
“This Regulation should include definitions of ‘crypto-asset’ and of ‘distributed ledger technology’ which are as wide as possible to capture all types of crypto-assets which currently fall outside the scope of EU financial services legislation. This should ensure that the Regulation is future-proof and keep pace with innovation and technology developments in the sector. While the purpose of this Regulation is not to address antimoney laundering and combatting issues raised by crypto-assets, this Regulation should contribute to this objective. Therefore, the definition of ‘crypto-assets’ set out in this Regulation should correspond to the definition of ‘virtual assets’, set out in the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force. The list of crypto-asset services in the scope of this Regulation should also encompass the virtual asset services likely to raise money laundering concerns and identified by the Financial Action Task Force.” [Source: Politico. eu]
With Consideration 8, MiCA further attempts to harmonize EU legislation with the FATF’s recommendations on dealing with crypto crime by aligning its terminology and scope of service to that of FATF’s.
Further in Consideration 64 of the draft, MiCA has further talked about other types of cryptocurrency crimes, such as insider dealings, unlawful disclosure of inside information, and market manipulation related to crypto-assets (also know as Wash Trading). For example, crypto-asset service providers would be required to put in place surveillance and enforcement mechanisms to deter potential market abuse.
“To ensure users’ confidence in the crypto-asset market and market integrity, cryptoassets that are admitted to trading on a trading platform for crypto-assets should be subject to provisions to deter market abuse. However, as the issuers of crypto-assets and crypto-asset service providers are very often small and medium-sized enterprises, it could be disproportionate to apply all the provisions of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (Market Abuse Regulation) to them. Therefore, this Regulation should include some bespoke provisions on market abuse that would prohibit some behaviors, such as insider dealings, unlawful disclosure of inside information and market manipulation related to crypto-assets, as these behaviors are likely to undermine users’ confidence in the integrity of crypto-asset markets. These bespoke rules on market abuse committed in relation to crypto-assets should be applied, where crypto-assets are admitted to trading on a trading platform for crypto-assets. The provisions on market abuse should be applied taking into account the specificities of the DLT market structure on which crypto-assets are traded as well as the role of different actors in the cryptoasset market which may enable them to commit market abuse.”
When will MiCA come into force?
Although there is a proper timeframe for getting any new legislation into the complicated EU mechanism until it becomes law, the adoption of MiCA is not precisely timed, although the EC anticipates it will be in the next four years.
By 2024, a detailed mechanism should be in place by the EU to allow the uptake in the financial sector of crypto assets and distributed ledger technology (DLT). It should also discuss the risks correlated with any of these technologies.
It should however be noted that not all EU legislative proposals have run to timetable
What are the proposed benefits to the crypto-asset industry?
The EC draws attention to fact that crypto-asset firms are not able to benefit from Europe’s internal financial services industry because of “a lack of both legal clarities about regulatory processing of crypto-asset as well as the absence of a committed and consistent supervisory and regulatory system at EU level”. It says that this is demonstrated by the recent reluctance of crypto corporations to ‘passport’ their licenses in the EU.
It also notes that CASPs are outside the regulatory frameworks of most Member States, which prompts those governments to control these businesses by establishing customized national frameworks.
The EU believes that the growth of these businesses is hindered by being subject to different regulations, definitions, and frameworks of both crypto-currency assets and their service providers, adding that this has impeded their ability to expand operations at the EU level, citing legal complexity, high costs, and regulatory ambiguity.
All this leads to an ‘uneven playing field’ for CASPs and affects the internal sector’s efficiency. As both CASPs and their customers do not have a standard EU system, the EU believes they both are in danger when working with crypto assets. The EC hopes that MiCA will fix this situation.
Next steps
While the EU Commission has not yet published the legislative roadmap for MiCA, under the EU legislative process the proposal will be transferred to the European Parliament (EP) and then the European Council (the Council) for review at first reading under the Ordinary Legislative Procedure. There is no time limit at the first reading stage.
Conclusion
It is, therefore, possible for MiCA’s official enforcement to put an end to all the national crypto-policies of all EU Member States by 2024, in favor of a single, oriented regulatory system, which could allow EU crypto-asset service providers to function more efficiently across all EU markets, but under stronger restrictions.
Then who knows how the crypto-asset market will look like in 2024?
Speedy development in both DLT as well as crypto-asset technologies, which contributed in 2020 to the introduction of new areas such as decentralized exchanges and decentralized finance (DeFI), has led to a greater global discourse.
With extensive regulatory crypto changes set to take place among all Financial Action Task Force members in reaction to their revised requirements, MiCA could be very mild when it eventually joins the European Union in a few years. | https://medium.com/merkle-science/mica-a-guide-to-the-eus-proposed-markets-in-crypto-assets-regulation-c9098be039cf | ['Merkle Science Marketing'] | 2020-11-23 17:30:31.283000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Regulation', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Mica', 'Compliance'] |
Trust in Online Medicine | Be Cautious, Not Straying Online
Here are listed the most popular adversary of valid information sources:
One of the most available sources is online forums, discussions on social media . To this category sources that are opened for editing (e.g., “Wikipedia”) also can be related.
. To this category sources that are opened for editing (e.g., “Wikipedia”) also can be related. Another source is advertising materials advice from which sometimes can be addressed to the mass audience invisibly, though they have to be moderated before publishing.
advice from which sometimes can be addressed to the mass audience invisibly, though they have to be moderated before publishing. In addition, publications without references are unfounded and are more likely to provide fake and unverified recommendations.
The named above sources can be truly obvious in terms of a lack of reliability. According to doctors’ opinions, clinicians are prone to expect worst-case scenarios as the published advice tend to delay actual treatment even in urgent situations, worse the current state and well-being, as well as violate privacy and jeopardize expertise in general (Benigeri & Pluye, 2003). Speaking precisely and taking forums as an example, it should be mentioned that more frequently they are organized by a group of users; some time is passing, and a community of people with common interests and alike stories is formed. Life experience, which can sometimes be embellished or completely falsified, becomes the basis a key to start or continue a virtual conversation. In the case of health, it can be fraught with the fact that people, especially in case of comparing themselves with others who have similar experiences or symptoms (Widyanto et al., 2011) and being motivated to find out answers to personal questions (Das & Faxvaag, 2014), will tend to use the same methods of treatment to cure, without taking into account the peculiarities of the body, its structure, and biological nature. In addition, expert or at the worst common-sense advice are rather rare met than tips and recommendations given by a word of mouth or rumor. Although people trust experts and their closed circle more (Fig. 1), there is no guarantee not to meet the discussed above web-services in online space and unconsciously become its active and trustful reader.
Fig. 1 Consumers’ trust in information sources-EU wide (source: Etienne et al., 2018)
The upgrowing trend of social media usage and their development divert people from traditional sources and approaches to health and cure. Although tracing linkages in online networks allows to find out the initial source, hardly every user will do that. Moreover, the absence of traditional hallmarks challenges network and social media scientists that is why a user is responsible for its personal information consumption (Westerman et al., 2014). Also, it should be remembered that the original source is also referred to something, and there is still a risk of a verification scarcity. | https://medium.com/@healthy-spacer/trust-in-online-medicine-b018ee34f774 | ['Healthy Spacer'] | 2020-12-16 19:00:16.615000+00:00 | ['Medicine', 'Information Technology', 'Healthy Living', 'Health'] |
Clean Energy Financing & Colorado’s Cannabis Industry | By Ian Ferrell
Cannabis grow operations utilize 0.6% of Colorado’s total electricity consumption annually, creating interest in alternative options like clean energy solutions and financing.
Cannabis cultivation in Colorado is energy-intensive. Colorado’s cannabis grow operations consume a total of ~300 gigawatt-hours of electricity per year, which is about 0.6% of Colorado’s total electricity consumption.1 In fact, grow operations accounted for around 4% of Denver’s total electricity usage in 2016.2
The total energy costs for indoor cannabis grow operations typically vary between 20–50% of total operating costs.3 Indoor grows annually consume up to ~150 kilowatt-hours of electricity per square foot, which is about 10 times as much as a typical office building in the Southwest.4 Of this annual consumption, approximately 51% percent of a typical indoor cannabis grow’s electricity bill is spent on ventilation, cooling, and dehumidification costs while around 38% is spent on lighting.5
Cannabis production in Colorado continues to expand while market prices continue to steadily fall. From May 2016 to April 2017, cannabis production increased by an average of 3% per month.6 And, from January 1, 2015 to October 1, 2018, the retail price of cannabis decreased by approximately 62% from $2,007/lb to $759/lb.7 As market prices for cannabis continue to decrease, falling profit margins and increasing market competitiveness will result in market consolidation. Cost-effective cannabis grow operations will be more likely to succeed.
As these forces continue to sway Colorado’s cannabis market, several mechanisms for financing energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements may provide circumstances to implement more cost-effective cannabis grow operations. Clean energy financing may present such an occasion.
Clean energy financing allows a property owner to finance the up-front cost of energy and other eligible improvements on a property (e.g. solar power, LED lighting, and energy-efficient HVAC systems) and pay the costs back over time through a voluntary assessment. These assessments attach to the property tax rather than to an individual. It is generally based on an existing structure known as a “land-secured financing district,” often referred to as an assessment district or a local improvement district. In a conventional assessment district, the local government issues bonds to fund projects with a public purpose such as streetlights, sewer systems, or underground utility lines.
The recent extension of this financing model to energy efficiency and renewable energy allows a property owner to implement improvements without a large up-front cash payment. Property owners participating in such a program repay their improvement costs over a set time period — typically 10 to 20 years — through property assessments, which are secured by the property itself and paid as an addition to an owner’s property tax bills.
In such situations, the assessment agreement is tied to the property as opposed to a loan guarantee by the property owner. In turn, the repayment obligation may transfer with property ownership if the new buyer and its lender agree to assume the assessment obligation. This type of arrangement generally does not include a pre-payment penalty.
Clean energy financing allows for secure financing of projects over a longer-term with the intent of making projects more cash flow positive due to the lower periodic payments associated with a long amortization schedule. Such programs seldom require any upfront, out-of-pocket payment, and they remove the requirement that debt be paid at the sale or refinance. This form of financing is meant to encourage energy efficiency and renewable energy without putting a municipality’s general funds at risk while also delivering the opportunity to utilize large sources of private capital. Additionally, a Federal tax credit may be able to offset upfront energy improvement costs.
Clean energy financing may furnish a unique opportunity for Colorado’s cannabis industry. Market players who properly utilize this financing method may be positively rewarded as Colorado’s cannabis cultivation market continues to become more and more competitive. However, in line with the persistent theme of regulatory uncertainty endemic to Colorado’s cannabis industry, questions remain regarding whether cannabis businesses would be allowed to participate in these funding opportunities and whether a finance company would be comfortable implementing such financing. Nonetheless, since clean energy financing does not use federal funds, its associated legislation does contain any prohibition on any particular industry’s qualification, and no comments to the contrary have presented themselves, clean energy financing may in fact provide a distinctive opportunity for market participants within Colorado’s cannabis industry.
1. Kolwey, Neil, “A Budding Opportunity: Energy efficiency best practices for cannabis grow operations”, Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, (Dec. 2017) Available at https://www.swenergy.org/data/sites/1/media/documents/publications/documents/A%20Budding%20Opportunity%20%20Energy%20efficiency%20best%20practices%20for%20cannabis%20grow%20operations.pdf
2. Hood, Grace, “Nearly 4 Percent Of Denver’s Electricity Is Now Devoted To Cannabis”, Colorado Public Radio, (Feb. 19, 2018). Available at https://www.cpr.org/news/story/nearly-4-percent-of-denver-s-electricity-is-now-devoted-to-cannabis
3. “Trends and Observations of Energy Use in the Cannabis Industry,” Jesse Remillard and Nick Collins, ERS, ACEEE Summer Study of Energy Efficiency in Industry, 2017.
4. “A Chronic Problem: Taming Energy Costs and Impacts of Cannabis Cultivation,” KellyCrandall, EQ Research LLC, September 2016, http://eq-research.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/A-Chronic-Problem.pdf, p. 5; EIA Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey, Table C20 Electricity consumption and conditional energy intensity by climate region, 2012, https://www.eia.gov/consumption/commercial/data/2012/c&e/cfm/c20.php.
5. Cannabis Environmental Best Management Practices Guide, Denver Public Health & Environment (Oct. 2018). Available at https://www.denvergov.org/content/dam/denvergov/Portals/771/documents/EQ/MJ%20Sustainability/Cannabis_BestManagementPracticesGuide_FINAL.pdf
6. Supra, note 1
7. Current & Prior Average Market Rates (AMR) for Retail Cannabis Excise Tax, Colorado Department of Revenue, (Apr. 2019). Available at https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/AMR_PriorRates_Apr2019.pdf
Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication at the time it was written. The information herein does not, and shall never, constitute legal advice and therefore cannot be relied upon as a legal opinion. Nothing in this publication constitutes attorney communication and is not privileged information. Nothing in the Post or on this website creates any kind of attorney-client relationship or privilege of any kind. Readers considering legal action should consult with an experienced lawyer to understand current laws and how they may affect a case. For specific technical or legal advice on the information provided and related topics, please contact the author. | https://medium.com/@ianwferrell/clean-energy-financing-colorados-cannabis-industry-465867957e58 | ['Ian Ferrell'] | 2020-12-10 00:19:05.959000+00:00 | ['Cannabis', 'Alternative Energy', 'Colorado', 'Solar Power', 'Solar Energy'] |
What I’ve Learned From My Mother | What I’ve Learned From My Mother
Take a step back and realize how much mother has already done in the family. My lovely mother is 40 years older than me and I am very positive she has learned her fair share of lessons and she knows me very well. Though I‘ve never really said this out loud, she had sacrificed a lot for my well-being.
Laugh hard because it is the best medicine. — Mother
Appreciation
Life can feel unfair, trust me. The worst thing I can do is to blame anyone, but no one is to blame. I’ve grown up in a broken home family since I was 4 but I had the best childhood memory. Have I ever missed a father figure in life? I don’t think so. It was not because I had an issue with my father but simply just because I had good people around me.
It feels easy to take out all that pent-up anger on my parents to whatever things turned out. But before I do that, I ask myself constantly whether I should take my parents for granted. After all, they are normal-human-beings who are putting big effort to take care of me, and instead of taking them for granted, don’t you think they deserve to be treated better or the same just like how you treat everybody else? Seriously. Be. Thankful. | https://medium.com/fellowship-writers/what-ive-learned-from-my-mother-e2d602c57212 | ['Cindy Christella'] | 2021-02-02 19:29:23.342000+00:00 | ['Single Moms', 'Parenting', 'Self Love', 'Self Development', 'Mothers And Daughters'] |
Allie Beth Stuckey uses Virtual Private Network — get yourself one | Allie Beth Stuckey is a YouTube influencer, political satirist, a speaker, commentator and the host of the Blaze TV podcast Relatable. She’s a generally entertaining person to listen to. On her channel, she analyzes culture, news, theology and politics from a Christian and conservative perspective. You can watch her satirizing politicians, for example, the president of the United States Donald Trump, also medial and other popular culture trends. She will analyze public events and speeches, so if you find this interesting, be sure to drop by. She’s also smart to give security advice like using a Virtual Private Network, read on to know how to get the best VPN deal.
How to get an affordable, high-quality VPN?
Allie Beth Stuckey is suggesting a premium VPN service, but you can get a cheaper one if you look a bit more for good deals.
That’s because NordVPN, a well-known and high-quality VPN service, is currently having a sale. You can get it on 70% OFF which lowers the cost to just $3.49/month for a three-year plan.
Follow this link to apply the 70% discount immediately
Why pick NordVPN?
NordVPN is very comfortable to use. Those of you who have used a lot of VPNs, especially the early ones, will remember that some of them were a bit tricky to use. Not the case with NordVPN. It was developed with ease-of-use in mind, the minimalistic UX/UI design will not leave you wanting more, so you can enjoy all features just a click away.
Furthermore, NordVPN has one of the highest ratings of servers available, currently offering 5800+ high-speed servers in 59 countries. It comes in handy when you want to switch your location to bypass geographical restrictions, or you’re hunting for good deals online and want to check the prices of some products country by country.
What is a VPN?
VPN is a privacy protection software that was developed to secure users Internet connection. Because it applies additional encryption, it becomes much harder to see ones online activities, and, frankly, nobody should because it’s nobodies business. It’s highly advisable on public Wi-Fi networks that are getting targeted by cybercriminals quite frequently. | https://medium.com/@shelldonpriphton/allie-beth-stuckey-uses-virtual-private-network-a68a2a07c9d6 | ['Shelldon Priphton'] | 2020-04-10 12:50:03.028000+00:00 | ['Cybersecurity', 'Discount', 'Deal', 'Privacy', 'VPN'] |
Ireland and its Toxic Nostalgia. | By Seán Birch.
It’s 2020, yet we’ve never been so blind. As the General Election looms, contentious debates which could be mistaken for shouting matches are taking place around the country. I, for one, lost my voice for two days yelling at my father, and I know for certain that others are in the same boat. The only thing that we can agree on is that Fine Gael’s turn in the limelight has come to a close. The available options are where World War Three (or debatably, Four) is declared. My father, being a staunch Fianna Fáiler, believes Michéal Martin and his band of merry men are the ones to restore calm to the chaos that was Fine Gael’s doing. He, however, neglects to remember who was in fact in power when things went ‘belly-up’.
For those of you who may have been living under a rock for almost two decades, or indeed those who are too young to remember, here’s a rundown of Ireland’s economic history. Starting from the mid-90s, Ireland enjoyed a prosperous period known as the Celtic Tiger. A time where people went through houses like they were Kleenex and when savings accounts were barren. This era of Irish affluence was remarked upon around the world, as not long before, we were considered a nation of the third world. Fianna Fáil was at the helm of our Titanic economy and were eager to encourage people’s spending. The economy, though, would have the same fate as the legendary ship, but with the obvious omission of a door which clearly could have held two people, but that’s a topic for another time. Suffice it to say our financial paradise came crashing down in 2008.
Unemployment rates soared, with the CSO calculating it stood at 12% in 2009, reaching a peak of 14% in 2014. The property bubble which had been swelling since the 90s had well and truly burst, and people were left with dwellings that they neither wanted nor afford. All eyes turned to Fianna Fáil. The country laid blame on the government and its reckless mission of keeping the boom going.
The country took to the polls in 2011, and the torch of confidence passed to Fine Gael. Through harsh and largely unpopular measures, they gave some sense of stability back to the economy. Some rejoiced that ‘The Boom is Back’, and for a time, the country thought they could see the light at the end of the tunnel. However, the state of the health system was rapidly deteriorating, while the property sphere and its climbing rent prices were approaching a crisis, and the very wrath felt by Fianna Fáil would soon face Fine Gael.
Brexit threw another spanner in the works, and all these issues supplied increasing pressure on Leo Varadkar’s government.
This brings us to 2020, where Varadkar called a snap election, to maximise stability in the uncertain times created by Brexit. As I said, many people (my dad and I included) are happy to see the back of Fine Gael. The question arises of its replacement, and here is where it gets complicated. Just judging from conversations I’ve had with different people from all age groups, and depending on the person, the answer to this question tends to manifest in 3 different ways: 1) People like my dad who are confident in Fianna Fáil’s ability to make Ireland great again (yes, I hate myself too for doing that); 2) People like my mam who believes that neither of the terrible two is the way to go, but isn’t quite sure what to make of the other parties; 3) People like me, who can see Ireland needs a radical change of system, and the two dominant parties aren’t prepared to do the work.
What’s most intriguing about this campaign season is the notion that somehow my generation and I seem to remember the recession years more clearly and poignantly than that of our parents.
As a passing comment one day, I said to my friend that “I’m 21 years old, and I cannot remember a time where I haven’t been stressed about money”, and for some reason, I was shocked when she said she felt the same.
And every student I’ve said it to since has had the same reaction. We know it’s because Fianna Fáil bolstered the unstable economy, followed by Fine Gael’s policies of fleecing the poorest to save the economy after it crashed. We know this toxic political cycle is the root of the financial anxiety of our generation. But why are these facts, which seem permanently etched in our minds, so easily forgotten by the adults that endured the financial hardship only a mere decade ago?
The only thing that I can put it to is nostalgia, and its ability to make you look back on hard times with a distorted view. For example, I hated school with a passion, but I sometimes catch myself thinking longing thoughts of my time there. Your brain shuts out school itself and replaces it with memories of rent-free living, mammy making your food and a somewhat easier financial state. Your brain doesn’t want you to think of why you hated it, so it puts a nostalgically infused version of that time.
As a society, we tend to ignore problems if we can. ‘Out of sight, out of mind’ seems to be our mantra. Why would we focus on the bust that broke us, when the preceding boom is rich with memories of our financial triumphs. These memories are what our nostalgia-craving minds yearn for. It just so happens the party which bears the closest association with the tiger era, is the very one that many of our parent’s generation are edging towards on the coming ballot. I can’t speak for my dad, never mind his entire generation, but in my need for answers, this is the only logical explanation I can find.
This nostalgia is the bane of Irish society. We’ve always been a proud nation, especially regarding our history. We seem, however, unable to acknowledge the recent history of our economic failures. This historical neglect may well be the sole cause of the political cycle of economic corruption which we are trapped in. | https://medium.com/the-galway-eye/ireland-and-its-toxic-nostalgia-3b0d29305e4a | ['Journalism', 'Media Society'] | 2020-01-30 11:23:52.517000+00:00 | ['Irish Politics', 'Politics', 'Election 2020', 'Fianna Fáil', 'Fine Gael'] |
How To Work From Home — Make A List Of Your Top 5 Subjects And Research The Business Opportunities | How To Work From Home — Make A List Of Your Top 5 Subjects And Research The Business Opportunities Crystal Santos Follow May 16 · 2 min read
Most people are motivated by the potential money remunerations or by the passion they have for a particular choice made on the home business scene. Though having these elements to keep the business choice alive is important, there are also other contributing facts that should be considered when deciding on a suitable home business endeavor.
Research
Here are some ideas and the possible research style or material that
links the two:
• Choosing at have an online business can be quite rewarding and
interesting. Besides the more obvious reasons of having minimal
overheads, there is also the fact that there is virtually no limit to the
type on online businesses available. Being internet savvy is
advantageous but not necessarily a prerequisite. There are so many
options available and all it takes is a little time and effort to find one
that is suitable and profitable.
• Choosing to start a home business that provides the services of
supplying food is also a rewarding endeavor. Individuals who are
passionate about food may choose to go into this field. Having the
necessary culinary skills is also an added advantage as it can cut out
the cost incurred of having to hire someone to do the actual cooking.
• An online writing home business is another popular choice to
make. A lot of companies are willing to pay good money to have
articles written in the various media tools available. It is also a good
way to keep abreast with the latest information
•Starting an eBay style website is also another income earning
option. Doing some research to understand the market requirements
would help to unsure the product chosen are salable.
•Another easy and rewarding money earner is venturing into the
teaching line. Giving tutorial allows the individual to put to work all
the information learnt in his or her own academic life. If imparting
knowledge is one’s forte then this is an exciting area to explore.
I hope this article helps you out! For more information about Online Marketing and Search Engine Optimisation, visit: Clients Booster | https://medium.com/clientbooster/how-to-work-from-home-make-a-list-of-your-top-5-subjects-and-research-the-business-opportunities-5d1542bfe479 | ['Crystal Santos'] | 2021-05-16 19:52:14.636000+00:00 | ['Freelancers', 'Online Business', 'Work From Home', 'Online Marketing', 'Website Traffic'] |
How To Circumvent Decision Fatigue As A Leader | What Is Decision Fatigue?
Photo by Diggity Marketing on Unsplash
“As a senior executive, you get paid to make a small number of high-quality decisions.” — Jeff Bezos
Coined by social psychologist Roy F. Baumeister, decision fatigue is a psychological phenomenon that describes the persons capacity, or lack thereof, to make decisions.
Each decision consumes a certain amount of energy. With each decision you make, you have less energy to make future decisions.
The psychological effects of decision making vary. Each decision comes with a different energetic load.
One decision might consume much of your energy for the day. Beyond that decision you might not have sufficient energy for other important decisions. This can cause you to make bad decisions which lead to detrimental outcomes.
One of the most important things you can do as a leader to manage your energy levels, and to stay productive, is to monitor your decision-making output. Failure to manage your decision-making output can lead to decision fatigue.
A few months ago I came across a video clip where Jeff Bezos was explaining productive habits he practices as CEO of Amazon.
The video started off by highlighting the fact that Jeff Bezos doesn’t take meetings before 10am and he likes to get 8 hours of sleep every night.
He says he likes to have his “high IQ” meetings at 10am in the morning when he has the highest amount of energy.
The Amazon CEO also highlighted that:
“As a senior executive, you get paid to make a small number of high-quality decisions.”
He also goes on to say: | https://medium.com/bad-buddhism/how-to-circumvent-decision-fatigue-as-a-leader-367da7ba88be | ['Anthony Boyd'] | 2020-07-14 04:17:20.888000+00:00 | ['Productivity', 'Advice', 'Mental Health', 'Business', 'Leadership'] |
How to read the SAFU V1 Scanner? | In this article, we will deal with the different sections of the scanner point by point in an attempt to better understand its overall functioning.
I. Rug Pull Safety
The Rug Pull Safety section is used to determine the likelihood of a token getting rugged, i.e. owners withdrawing liquidity, or dumping a massive amount of tokens.
A. Liquidity
The liquidity analysis is the analysis of the holders of the LP tokens: the scanner recognizes two cases for liquidity:
- locked : less than 10% of the LP tokens are held by non-contract addresses
- unlocked : more than 10% of the LP tokens are held by non-contract addresses
Note that even if liquidity is locked, it’s still possible to scam : minting, disabling trading, rug pull.. however, if the liquidity is unlocked at more than 30%, worry seriously!
B. Holders
The analysis of holders is essentially to determine if some hold too many tokens, or if they have had transactions with the dev wallet (which may mean that the dev hides his tokens in many wallets). The scanner identifies two distinct cases:
- clean: less than 10% of the supply (normalised with liquidity supply) is considered suspicious
- suspicious: more than 10% of the supply (normalised with liquidity supply) is considered suspicious
C. Top 5 holders
Analysis of the top 5 holders returns the proportion of tokens held by the largest whale — if this number is too large, beware!
D. Mint
Our scanner is calibrated to detect minting functions — these functions, which allow owners to generate an infinite number of tokens, are very dangerous if put in the wrong hands. However, perfectly safe projects can have a minting function. In summary, only enter projects with minting functions if you trust the dev team.
II. Delayed Honeypot Safety
The Delayed Honepot section is extremely important as it determines the possibility of a token becoming a honeypot.
A. Ownership
The ownership of a token is determined by the owner property of a smart-contract: the token recognizes 3 different cases:
- renounced : the owner is the dead address
- owned : the owner is any other address than the dead address
- none : there is no owner property in the smart-contract
Warning : in all cases, there can be hidden functions that another ‘owner’ could activate (mint, disable trading)
B. Blacklist
The scanner can detect blacklist functions: these allow owners to exclude an address from transactions (this address will not be able to sell or receive tokens). They can be very dangerous: be careful.
C. Modify Max TX
If the owners can change the value of the max transaction of a token, it can turn into a delayed honeypot (if the max transaction is 0, it is impossible to sell tokens)
D. Modify Fees
The same logic applies here: if it is possible to set fees at 100%, then it is impossible to sell tokens.
E. Disable Trading
Functions to disable token trading are often used by scammers: this is the easiest way to build a delayed honeypot. They just have to click a button, and you can’t sell your tokens anymore: only invest if you have full confidence in the dev team.
III. Informations
The last section gathers several useful information about the tokens such as the buying and selling fees and the gas used for buying and selling.
A. Honeypot-Like
Honeypot-Like is considered true if the smart-contract is in our honeypot database; however, the fact that it is not does not guarantee that the token is not a honeypot
B. Honeypot
Honeypot is considered true if our token sale simulation fails: this means that it is strictly impossible to sell the tokens you buy (at least at the time of scanning)
Summary
You should always be careful of tokens not listed : there isn’t enough data to correctly estimate the risk of scam ! | https://medium.com/@StaySAFU/how-to-read-the-safu-v1-scanner-63ca372fd473 | [] | 2021-09-06 20:26:22.053000+00:00 | ['Cybersecurity', 'Crypto Tokens', 'Scanner App', 'Documentation', 'Crypto'] |
My First Post — About Me. I am going to keep this short and to… | I am going to keep this short and to the point so hopefully it wont require much of a read.
My name is Jordan Kasper I am currently a Senior Support Engineer at ForgeRock and am looking to move into the Data Science/Engineering space.
I currently live in Vancouver, WA right on the other side of the river from Portland, OR. I have been in the North West now for a little over 6 years now and have loved every minute of it. I am married to the love of my life now for 6 years and we have two beautiful children, Bentley and Brooklyn.
I went to college at Eastern Oregon University where I got my Bachelors degree in Computer Science and started to really enjoy the development and software side of computing.
The first job I got straight out of college was working for Symantec in their SSL and code signing certificates division. This was my real first task in Corporate America. I didn’t stay to long here as I wasn’t a fan of working for such a large organization and I wanted to do something a little more challenging. This is when I got the job offer from New Relic in Portland.
My wife and I moved to Portland and we haven’t looked back since. It has been an amazing journey into the tech scene and I have had the privilege of working for some great companies and with some amazing people.
I enjoy the work I do now but I have always felt like there was something missing. When I came across an article talking about careers in Data Science. I wasn’t quite sure what it all entailed but I had heard the buzz word thrown around a lot so I figured it was worth a read.
Well one article turned into about 15 and by the end I was pretty sure I knew what I wanted to do for the foreseeable future, I was hooked. What it came down to for me was the data. I love being able to see a bunch of information and try to make some sense of it and even better yet I get to develop and build systems to help with it!
I have a huge interest in how the data is stored and managed and what the systems look like that do this. I feel drawn to the engineering side as I still love to program and this hopefully will give a good balance of both worlds.
I know there is a long road ahead and at some point I may realize its not even for me but I feel like that is part of the fun. Learning about how to handle the enormous amount of data we are collecting these days and how to make it manageable and useful for us. My goal for this blog is to help document my journey of what I learn on the way and other interesting things I might find. I hope whoever reads this enjoys it as much as I do. | https://medium.com/understanding-the-data/my-first-post-about-me-391c9206cf03 | ['Jordan Kasper'] | 2019-03-27 19:08:25.791000+00:00 | ['About Me', 'First Post'] |
>+𝐿𝐼𝒱𝐸’’• “Buccaneers vs Lions”(Livestream) — NFL FREE, TV channel 2020 | Live Now:: https://tinyurl.com/y9u6rltu
Live Now:: https://tinyurl.com/y9u6rltu
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in a position to lock up a playoff spot on Saturday, should they pull off a road win against the Detroit Lions. You’d think it will come easy — for the first time this season, we’re going to see an NFL team without its head coach due to COVID-19 concerns. And not only will Detroit be without its interim HC in Darrell Bevell, but plenty of other assistant coaches as well.
But who knows? What if the Lions pull off something spectacular with wide receivers coach Robert Prince acting as the interim-to-the-interim head coach?
Vegas doesn’t think so: The Buccaneers are 9.5-point road favorites. The over/under is set at 54.
Below, you’ll find our staff picks and predictions for the game.
Zach Goodall: Buccaneers 35, Lions 24
Even without Bevell calling plays as he is also the offensive coordinator, the Lions should be able to score points behind the arm of Matthew Stafford and the brains of Sean Ryan, who will handle playcalling duties. Ryan is considered an up-and-coming bright mind in the league with ample experience developing quarterbacks, and this chance to put together a sound gameplan could help with future offensive coordinator interviews for the 48 year old.
The Lions have scored under 20 points in just one game this season, I should add. This game could have a bit of a shootout feel.
But, in the end, the Bucs are the more complete team and are certainly more comfortable with their on-field coaching staff at this point. The Lions own the NFL’s №30 team defense, №29 rushing defense, and №27 passing defense.
That should be enough for a double-digit dub in the Bucs’ favor.
Jason Beede: Buccaneers 38, Lions 21
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a lot to play for on Saturday while the Detroit Lions have nothing to lose.
The Lions are hoping to rain on the parade of the Bucs, who are in search of their first playoffs since 2007. While I am expecting the Bucs to still come out to a slow start, as usual, quarterback Tom Brady knows how to win when it’s needed most and has already won four games this season when trailing by at least ten points.
Last week, I predicted that tight end Rob Gronkowski would catch another touchdown, and while he didn’t, I have a feeling Santa Claus, or in this case Brady, will wrap up and gift him his sixth touchdown of the season against the Lions.
Despite a predictable slow start to the game on Saturday, the Bucs will lead at halftime by a touchdown, and when it’s all said and done, finish on top by multiple scores. Besides, the Lions will be down multiple coaches against the Bucs due to COVID-19 contact tracing.
The Detroit Lions need to shore up a defense that is allowing 31.07 points per game before their contest on Saturday. They will be home for the holidays to greet the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 1 p.m. ET at Ford Field. Detroit is out to stop a six-game streak of losses at home.
This past Sunday, the Lions got maybe a little too into the holiday spirit, gifting the Tennessee Titans an easy 46–25 victory. Detroit’s loss shouldn’t obscure the performances of WR Marvin Jones, who caught ten passes for one TD and 112 yards, and RB D’Andre Swift, who punched in two rushing touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Tampa Bay didn’t have too much breathing room in their matchup with the Atlanta Falcons this past Sunday, but they still walked away with a 31–27 win. The win came about thanks to a strong surge after the half to overcome a 17 to nothing deficit. Tampa Bay can attribute much of their success to QB Tom Brady, who passed for two TDs and 390 yards on 45 attempts, and RB Leonard Fournette, who punched in two rushing touchdowns. Brady ended up with a passer rating of 156.40.
Detroit is expected to lose this next one by 9.5. Those betting on them against the spread shouldn’t have high expectations for them since the team is 3–6 ATS when expected to lose.
The Lions are now 5–9 while the Buccaneers sit at a mirror-image 9–5. Tampa Bay is 5–3 after wins this year, and Detroit is 4–4 after losses.
How To Watch
When: Saturday at 1 p.m. ET
Where: Ford Field — Detroit, Michigan
TV: NFL Network
Online streaming: fuboTV (Try for free. Regional restrictions may apply.)
Follow: CBS Sports App
Odds
The Buccaneers are a big 9.5-point favorite against the Lions, according to the latest NFL odds.
Over/Under: -111
See NFL picks for every single game, including this one, from SportsLine’s advanced computer model. Get picks now.
Series History
Detroit and Tampa Bay both have one win in their last two gam
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Detroit Lions are set to kick off a Saturday triple-header in the NFL to further kickstart Week 16. Tom Brady and his club will travel up to Detroit to take on the Lions and hope to pick up a spot in the playoffs before they fly back to Florida. With a win or tie, the Buccaneers will clinch a playoff berth for the first time since 2007. As for Detroit, they’re simply trying to play spoiler at this point, sitting in last place in the NFC North.
In this space, we’re going to dive into all the different betting angles that this game has to offer, including the spread and total. We’ll also dive into a few of our favorite player props and detail how the lines moved throughout the week. All NFL odds via William Hill Sportsbook.
How to watch
Date: Saturday, Dec. 26 | Time: 1 p.m. ET
Location: Ford Field (Detroit, MI)
TV: NFLN | Stream: fuboTV (try for free)
Follow: CBS Sports App
The last time the Tampa Bay Buccaneers made the playoffs, Tom Brady was leading the New England Patriots to an undefeated regular season and a third Super Bowl appearance in five seasons. Fast forward 13 years, and TB12 can lock up the first step to getting back to the big game for a 10th time, by helping the Bucs clinch a postseason berth.
To do so, all Tampa Bay needs to do is beat a lifeless Detroit Lions team in Week 16, that was just pounded in Tennessee. The Lions have lost four of their last five, and oddsmakers aren’t expecting this matchup to be particularly close.
A Pristine Matchup For Tampa Bay
No team has allowed more quarterback production than the Lions over the last four weeks. They’ve surrendered point totals of 41, 30, 31, and 46, generating pressure on opposing QB’s on just 20% of drop backs. That’s good news for Brady, who has shredded defenses this season when kept clean.
Brady leads the NFL in passing yards and ranks second in touchdown passes from a clean pocket. Keeping pressure away from him was key in the Bucs Week 15 victory over the Falcons, as Atlanta put the heat on Brady on just 6.7% of his second half pass attempt. The extra time and room in the pocket, allowed TB12 to generate five scoring drives and 31 second half points, erasing a 17–0 deficit along the way.
Not only will Brady have plenty of time to throw on Boxing Day, but his receivers should have no issue getting open. The Lions are down multiple players in their secondary, including starters Jeff Okudah and Desmond Trufant.
The Detroit Lions (5–9) are +10 underdogs heading into their matchup on Saturday, December 26, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9–5). The game’s over/under is set at 54.
The betting insights in this article reflect betting data from DraftKings as of December 22, 2020, 1:41 PM ET. See table below for current betting odds and CLICK HERE to bet at DraftKings Sportsbook.
Weather
This game will be played indoors at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, so weather will not impact play. Be sure to monitor the gametime conditions for other games with our NFL weather info.
Key Injuries
Buccaneers: Carlton Davis CB (Doubtful), Donovan Smith T (Probable), Ronald Jones II (Out), Jason Pierre-Paul LB (Questionable), Antoine Winfield Jr. S (Questionable), Carlton Davis CB (Doubtful).
Lions: Mike Ford CB (Questionable), Halapoulivaati Vaitai T (Questionable), Tyrell Crosby OL (Out), Frank Ragnow OL (Questionable), Jeff Okudah CB (Out), Da’Shawn Hand DL (Out), Kenny Golladay WR (Out), Desmond Trufant CB (Out), Trey Flowers DE (Out), Jamie Collins Sr. LB (Questionable), Jayron Kearse S (Questionable), Matt Prater K (Questionable), Matthew Stafford QB (Questionable).
Find our latest NFL injury reports.
Another year, another disappointing season for the Detroit Lions, who are coming off a 21-point loss to the Titans and have lost four of their last five games. While Matthew Stafford continues to give Detroit solid quarterback play, he hasn’t had much help around him. And reinforcements aren’t coming as Detroit will continue to be without its best receiver in Kenny Golladay and top blocker in Frank Ragnow.
Not only have the Lions been taking more Ls than Trump’s legal team, but they’re also getting crushed, losing by at least 14 points in five of their last six defeats.
While the Bucs may not be living up to the insanely high expectations of Tom Brady fanboys, they’ve still been very good in sporting a 9–5 record — with five of those wins coming by 14 or more points.
Tampa Bay has been strong on both sides of the ball, ranking fifth in the league in both offensive and defensive DVOA, per Football Outsiders. They’ve also played well on the road, posting an average scoring margin of plus-8.6 points per game.
With the Lions just 6–13 ATS in their last 19 games as an underdog — and once again wistfully looking to the future — take the chalk with the Bucs.
Over trends are abound for both teams, with the Lions 11–2 to the Over in their last 13 home games and the Bucs 5–0 O/U in their previous five contests on FieldTurf.
Former All-Pro Wide receiver Antonio Brown had a breakthrough game against Atlanta on Sunday, giving Brady another dangerous weapon in addition to Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Rob Gronkowski.
Tampa Bay is seventh in the league in scoring at 28.6 points per game and while they’ve been limited by the best stop-units in the league, like the Saints and the Rams, they’ve absolutely shredded bad defenses. And boy, is this Lions defense bad, surrendering a league-high 31.1 ppg, with that number ticking up to 33.7 ppg at home.
Although we think Tampa Bay’s defense will be able to beat up Stafford and contain the Lions attack, we still see this game going Over the total.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will make their second straight road trip — and last of the regular season — in Week 16, and in many respects the opponent waiting on the other end is similar to the one they just faced in Atlanta.
Like the Falcons, the Detroit Lions are playing for an interim head coach, with Darrell Bevell in charge since the November 28 dismissal of Matt Patricia. Like Atlanta, the Lions immediately won their first game for their new coach, though a rash of injuries have made it difficult to sustain that success since.
Perhaps the greatest similarity is under center. Matthew Stafford, like Matt Ryan, is a proven veteran who has put up big numbers his entire career and continues to do so in 2020. Both the Lions and Falcons rely on their seasoned passer because their rushing attacks have been among the league’s worst this year despite each team having a big name in the backfield (Todd Gurley last week, Adrian Peterson this week). Both teams have also been in a lot of high-scoring games as their defenses have struggled; that’s a bit more of a prominent issue in Detroit, though, as the Lions have allowed the most points in the NFL this season.
One more similarity between the Falcons and the Lions: Despite being officially eliminated from playoff contention, both clubs are clearly still fighting as we near the end of December. This was most obvious for Detroit in last week’s performance by Stafford, who played through a ribs injury that, early in the week seemed sure to keep him out against the Titans. He lasted into the fourth quarter and threw for 252 yards in a loss to the Titans. Why did he play, with little on the line for his team?
“Because I’m the quarterback of the Detroit Lions, and it was Sunday, and I got a bunch of teammates that work their ass off,” Stafford said. “They fight to be available and fight to get out there and play and try to help us win. If there’s any way I can play, I’m never gonna not (play). I feel like I owe it to those guys, I owe it to the game, I owe it to this organization, everybody. If I’m good enough to play, healthy enough to play, my ass is gonna be out there.”
Stafford also said he felt better after that game than he did at the beginning of the previous week, so the Buccaneers should expect to see the Lions’ ultra-tough quarterback on the field this coming Saturday. Now in his 12th season, Stafford is putting up numbers right in line with his career averages; in fact, his completion rate (64.2%), touchdown rate (4.7), interception rate (1.8%) and yards per attempt average (7.6) are all better than his career norms. Unfortunately, Stafford has been sacked 37 times, tied for the fourth most in the NFL this season, although he was not sacked in Detroit’s most recent contest. The Lions played that game without their Pro Bowl center, Frank Ragnow.
He has done all of this without much from his 2019 breakout star receiver, Kenny Golladay, who has only played in five games due to a hip injury. Veteran Marvin Jones has stepped in as the leading receiver, and his 10 catches last week against the Titans gives him 65 on the year, including seven touchdowns. Second-year tight end T.J. Hockenson, just named to the Pro Bowl, has been Stafford’s other main target, with 60 catches and six TDs, and Danny Amendola (40 catches, 559 yards) remains an effective weapon out of the slot.
Rookie running back D’Andre Swift, who has replaced Peterson as the starter when healthy, has also proved to be a good pass-catcher out of the backfield, with 39 receptions. He didn’t play much early and missed a few games due to injury in the second half but still has 422 rushing yards, averaging 4.6 per carry and scoring seven times. The Lions made Swift, the former Georgia star, the third pick of the second round and the second running back off the board after Clyde Edwards-Helaire, and it is looking like a good decision.
Detroit’s defense is quite simply short-handed right now. Cornerbacks Jeff Okudah and Desmond Trufant, the former the third-overall pick in the 2020 draft, are out for the season, and cornerback Darryl Roberts is on injured reserve. Linemen Trey Flowers, Danny Shelton, Da’Shawn Hand and Julian Okwara are all on injured reserve as well. Untested defenders like cornerback Alex Myres and defensive linemen Frank Herron and Kevin Strong, all recently of the practice squad, stepped into significant roles with varying results. The front line was the biggest issue and it understandably struggled against Tennessee’s Derrick Henry, who ran for 147 yards. Detroit’s defense cycled in a lot of players last Sunday, with 19 different defenders seeing action, all getting at least 19% of the snaps and 15 getting at least 40%.
Linebacker Jamie Collins, one of many former Patriots on the Lions’ current roster, leads the team with 101 tackles and also has a sack, an interception, six passes defensed and three forced fumbles. The Lions defense has only generated seven interceptions, ranking 29th in interception percentage, with safety Duron Harmon on top of the list with two picks. Romeo Okwara, a former undrafted free agent, busted out with a 7.5-sack season in 2018 and, after a less productive 2019, is proving that wasn’t a fluke with 8.0 more sacks this year despite only starting seven games.
Overall, Detroit is allowing 401.4 yards per game and 6.08 yards per play, third and second-most in the league, respectively. The Lions have struggled around the end zone in particular, ranking 31st in touchdown percentage allowed in the red zone touchdown (73.2%) and last in goal-to-go situations (90.6%).
The Lions fired Special Teams Coordinator Brayden Coombs on Monday, apparently due at least in part to a “rogue” fake punt order by Coombs. That said, Detroit has gotten pretty good results out of most of its kick and return units, particularly from punter Jack Fox, who earned a Pro Bowl invite in his first NFL regular season. Fox has a gross punting average of 49.3 yards per kick and a net of 45.3, both of which rank second in the league. Elsewhere, the Lions have blocked three punts and are in the top 10 in coverage on both punt and kickoff returns.
Stafford’s display of toughness and devotion to the team last weekend is sure to have a motivational effect on his teammates for the last two games of the season. The Buccaneers head to Detroit with much more at stake than the Lions but expect to find an opponent just as primed to play on Saturday. Here are some specific challenges and opportunities the Buccaneers will face when they take on the Lions at Ford Field:
LIONS DIFFERENCE-MAKERS
Stafford stirs the drink for the Lions, as he has since he was drafted first overall in 2009. His toughness and his numbers are noted above. Jones provide steady production year after year but would be a better complement to a healthy Golladay. Many of what could be Detroit’s most impactful players are on injured reserve or dealing with ailments that will or could keep them out this weekend, including Okudah, Trufant, Ragnow, Flowers, Hand, Shelton and Everson Griffen. So, rather than any of those players, here are four healthy Lions who could make things difficult for the Buccaneers on Sunday:
1. RB D’Andre Swift. The rookie running back missed Weeks 11–13 due to a concussion but since his return has scored three times in two games. Swift had just been promoted to the starting spot over Peterson before his injury — a move that even Peterson said was overdue given Swift’s talents — and he was back in that spot against Tennessee last week, rushing 15 for 67 yards and two scores. His one blemish was a goal-line fumble but that won’t be enough to limit his playing time against the Buccaneers. Swift has also caught eight passes in the last two games and 39 on the season, and that was highlighted as one of his strengths on scouting reports prior to the 2020 draft. The 5–9, 215-pound Swift is compact but shifty and has the ability to power through a pile, as evidenced by his seven touchdowns. He is averaging 4.6 yards per carry and already has breakaways of 54 and 26 yards in relatively limited action this season. Swift has good vision and can play on all three downs because of his good route running and soft hands. Detroit’s offense has been unbalanced this season, ranking seventh in passing yards and 30th in rushing yards and throwing on 62.8% of their snaps, but Swift is capable of putting up a big game, which would only make Stafford and company tougher to defend. The Buccaneers have the NFL’s top-ranked run defense and will surely be focused on slowing down the dynamic rookie early on Saturday. | https://medium.com/@akdinsobhobeabar/buccaneers-vs-lions-livestream-nfl-free-tv-channel-2020-e332d8a2d304 | [] | 2020-12-26 04:07:53.548000+00:00 | ['Lions Club', 'Live', 'Tampa Buccaneers', 'NFL'] |
Shadab Khan Signs Sydney Sixers for Remaining BBL 2021–22 | Shadab Khan signed with Sydney Sixers for the remaining BBL 2021–22, has signed the Pakistan legspinner.
The Suffered Multiple Injuries :-
Khan’s signing would provide a substantial boost to the defending champions. Who was suffering from multiple injuries in addition to finishing second in the standings?
Also read:- Happy B’Day Pakistan Bowler Junaid Khan
In the spin department, the Sixers have lost off-spinner Ben Manetti for the season in addition to a neck injury. While left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe has been sidelined due to a calf strain.
The Sixers also lost Tom Curran to a back injury, while Chris Jordan’s five-match stint has come to an end.
The Excellent Form in T20 WC :-
Shadab Khan, who was taking 197 wickets in 175 T20Is at an economy of 7.18, was in fine form in the recent T20 World Cup. taking nine wickets in six matches in Pakistan’s impressive run till the semi-finals.
The 23-year-old is also a capabling batsman and has been used in pinch-hitting roles in the Pakistan Super League.
“We welcome Shadab Khan’s mastery in all three aspects of the game and can’t wait to get opportunities for him in the coming matches.” Sixers coach Greg Sheppard said.
Shadab is the fifth Pakistani to play in the BBL this season apart from Haris Rauf, Syed Faridaun, Ahmed Daniyal, and Muhammad Hussain.
https://twitter.com/SixersBBL/status/1474213555759038464
The Lower-Order Batsman :-
A simple lower-order batsman, Shadab averages 18.33 with a strike rate of 136.81 from 64 T20Is and Khan also scored three half-centuries in his six Test careers.
The team now has a trio of exciting young spinners, with Lloyd Pope and Todd Murphy also forming part of the ranks.
Read more:- Happy B’Day New Zealand Bowler Geoff Allott
“All three young men are still learning their craft, but have shown at various associations that they can be world-class,” he said. “We welcome Shadab Khan’s proficiency in all three aspects of the game.”
Even though he has suffered serious injuries, the Sixers are second on the BBL ladder. Their next match against crosstown adversaries the Thunder — known as the ‘Sydney Smash’ — at the Sydney Showgrounds on 26 December. | https://medium.com/@babacric/shadab-khan-signs-sydney-sixers-for-remaining-bbl-2021-22-6a4bae8d612c | ['Baba Cric'] | 2021-12-24 09:26:33.361000+00:00 | ['Bbl2021 22', 'Pakistan', 'Shadabkhan', 'Sydneysixers', 'Cricket'] |
Hustle | I’ve tried hustle.
I’ve worked until my arms ached, and my eyesight failed into the dim light of dusk.
My bones have coughed out marrow.
I hunched and toiled past the hands of time.
I ate words and listened to night fall like thunder.
I devoured, plodded, straightened my back and swallowed the dawn.
I watched the stars drift past my desk and the old owl swoop close to the moon, and I heard his soulful call among the wolves.
I’ve tried hustle:
Paper piled high against the darkness.
My limbs grew tired of the weight. | https://bridgetwebber.medium.com/hustle-3ef297222f1f | ['Bridget Webber'] | 2020-10-06 16:50:51.344000+00:00 | ['Productivity', 'Creativity', 'Culture', 'Lifestyle', 'Writing'] |
How to get Slazo NordVPN discount code — one step to get the discount! | Slazo is an Australian YouTuber, who’s channel is all about social media commentary, roast and comedic meme videos. He created his channel on 2013 and since then has been entertaining his audience. This successful YouTuber has more than 700K subscribers and also cares about his cyber security by investing in NordVPN.
How to get Slazo discount code?
You can click on the link and get the discount immediately:
The Slazo NordVPN coupon code gives a 70% discount for the special 3-year deal. The code is applied to the link, so you don’t have to enter it manually. A VPN not only encrypts your traffic online and makes you anonymous but also allows you to bypass all the invisible borders and surf any content you want without any geo-blocking.
What is Slazo channel about?
Michael Kucharski is a creative mind behind the Slazo channel. This YouTuber makes entertaining videos about all sorts of things happening on social media. In most of his videos he comments and roasts various YouTubers/ Influencers or discusses trending things on social platforms like Instagram, Facebook or Reddit.
Slazo channel recommends NordVPN as an important privacy tool along with other YouTubers like, Phil DeFranco, Nerdwriter, Nerd Soup.
Why NordVPN? | https://medium.com/@lokilin33/how-to-get-slazo-nordvpn-discount-code-one-step-to-get-the-discount-3231514daddb | ['Luka Lin'] | 2020-01-31 11:48:14.205000+00:00 | ['VPN'] |
Machinima & The Sims 2: A Love Story | Machinima & The Sims 2: A Love Story
Do your fondest preteen memories involve sitting at a computer?
From 2005 to 2007, I used The Sims 2 and Youtube to sustain a brief career as a creator of “machinima”. Machinima is the use of computer and video games to create computer animated films. I just called it ‘making Sims movies.’ I thought to myself, ‘some day I’m going to be a director,’ and using The Sims 2 to create movies seemed like an obvious way to explore that. Everyone around me — figuratively, of course, because it was the internet — was doing it. All of my favourite songs had music videos made with The Sims 2. Machinima stems from a long tradition, originating in the mid 90s. Most scholarship on the phenomenon of machinima can be attributed to Henry Lowood, a collections curator at Stanford University. He describes machinima as “community-developed content”. Lowood’s research in machinima production emphasizes the “bottom up” growth of machinima, “driven by enthusiasts and accidental filmmakers [who learn] how to deploy technologies from computer games to develop new practices for expressing themselves”.
I was introduced to The Sims by a friend who had it on his family computer. In 2003, I had The Sims: Bustin’ Out for the Nintendo Gamecube, which would lay the groundwork for The Sims 2 in later years. While the original The Sims relied on isometric projection that gave the illusion of a 3D environment — a holdover from the Sim Cities games of the 90’s — Bustin’ Out took place in a totally 3D world. It was addictive. EA recognized that children have creative urges and gave them an almost limitless virtual toolkit to express them. The AI of both playable and non-playable the characters let them be independent. It looked and felt more real than the previous Sims. Following the release of Bustin’ Out, EA began development on The Sims 2. Released in 2004, it innovated gameplay further by including the possibility of creating buildings with multiple stories, the ability to create toddlers and teenagers, and genetic information coded into families. The immersion was more complete. You could build your dream home and breed a family into eternity. EA exuded to players the promise God made to Abraham in Genesis: I will make you exceedingly fertile, and make nations of you. The players looked upon the neighbourhoods they had created and said: This is good. Across the world, Barbies lay dormant in dusty plastic houses — infertile, possibly carcinogenic — while children tended to generations of Sim families.
Helena by Jaydee
To native creators of machinima, The Sims 2 was promising. The gameplay could be manipulated easily for filming. Lowood writes, “Making machinima with The Sims 2 offers control of the camera, navigable anywhere in the 3D environment” but conceded that “controlling the characters is limited to prompting them into certain moods so that the AI induces a desired reaction”. Youtube became the primary method of distributing Sims 2 machinima, whereas previously most machinima was distributed on websites like machinima.com, which later became a Youtube Network under the ownership of Time Warner.
In 2006, a Youtube user named Jaydee227 uploaded Helena — Sims 2 Version — My Chemical Romance, a music video created using The Sims 2. The cinematic quality was unparalleled. The narrative involves a woman in an abusive relationship who is comforted by the ghost of an ex-lover. The ghost torments the woman’s husband, who is revealed to have beaten him into a coma. There is an elaborate wedding scene in a gothic church and believable depictions of violence. The imagery is infused with the emo look that permeated the mid-2000s. This was a departure from previous incarnations of machinima, like The Strangerhood, a series commissioned to Rooster Teeth by EA in 2004 which largely followed a sitcom format. The Strangerhood seemed amateur by comparison — at least visually. As an 11-year-old with the requisite tools at my disposal, I wanted to do the same thing as Jaydee227. I experimented with the in-game image capture tool, built sets, and used characters to act out scenarios. I created my first music video in the winter of 2006, uploading it to Youtube a year later.
The protagonists of Must Have Done Something Right as teenagers in a shadowless low-res world
Must Have Done Something Right is the story of a couple who grows old together set to the song of the same name by Reliant K. There is no polish to the finished product. I had not yet learned how to manipulate Sims’ behaviour with cheat codes or game modifications. Filming involved a more hands-off fly-on-the-wall method than anything I would create later, but I was very proud of it. The characters begin as children, playing in a low-resolution 3D world with no shadows and little texture. Their mothers, who do not feature in the plot at all, can be seen sitting in the background of the set. It was not possible to use children Sims without having an adult present on the lot. In regular gameplay, the absence of a parent would result in the removal of the child by an in-game social worker. I filmed clips of the couple growing old. In post-production, I didn’t have enough clips to lay over the entire song, so I reused clips to create a flashback sequence. Having discovered it was possible to age characters backwards with a cheat code, I reversed their ages until the elderly couple were children once again. By the time the couple reached adulthood, their mothers had died. The newly minted children, now in the house without parents, were promptly removed by a social worker. The last clip shows the car taking them away.
A sim dressed as a French maid is pulled into the floor in Horror Movie
Horror Movie, made in 2007, was my first attempt at creating something scary. The premise was that a ghost was killing the occupants of a derelict mansion. The ghost would appear and characters would die. By this point I had discovered it was possible to kill Sims at will. Deaths included in the film show people burning to death without fire, drowning without water — which created the effect of being pulled into the floor — and being struck by a meteor. There were still many mistakes. I had not yet conquered their AI, so Sims would cry at the off-camera tombstones of dead characters. Even the ghost wails uncontrollably, surrounded by dead Sims. There is also no sound. Horror Movie was inspired by my burgeoning interest in horror movies, prompted by films like Darkness Falls and The Grudge, neither of which I was allowed to watch but was fascinated by nonetheless. Entire movies were now available online, albeit illegally, and 12-year-old me could watch all of them. I had a story to tell, and I wanted it to be disturbing. In subsequent films, I remade
From “The Curse” (2007)
sequences from The Grudge. I made a total of seven videos inspired by The Grudge, called The Curse. To recreate a scene in which a woman walks around after having her jaw torn off, I edited a character so that their chin and mouth were shrunken and pushed back into their neck. I painted over the skin texture in Photoshop to make blood. The result was unconvincing but I thought it was really cool. As The Curse progressed, so did my ability to create more interesting scenes. While nothing I created would parallel Helena, The Curse part 3 and Horror Movie stand on opposing ends of an uncanny valley.
Windows Movie Maker
The filming process generally followed as such: I would plan the project in a notebook. If the game did not provide the appropriate costumes for characters, I would download them from creator sites like ModTheSims2.com. I constructed sets on “soundstages” in order to spare myself the effort from constructing entire buildings I wouldn’t use. To film, I would use a cheat-code to suspend the Sims’ AI . I would use different codes to remove extraneous features like speech bubbles or progress bars that indicated whether or not Sims were happy. They would stand in place until I needed them. I would prompt them to perform a series of actions while using the in-game camera to record. The camera was integrated into standard gameplay, which Henry Lowood describes as a “virtual image capturing tool that mimics the optical function of a standard motion picture camera”. Once filming was done, I would upload the clips to Windows Movie Maker to edit. Using a mix of illegally downloaded music and royalty-free sound effects, I would overlay the sound onto the clips. I wrote subtitles because I never wanted to record myself for dialogue. I was too embarrassed by the sincerity of speaking into a microphone alone in my room. | https://jwrmartin.medium.com/machinima-the-sims-2-a-love-story-2da62f845a9a | ['Jesse Martin-Miller'] | 2018-06-15 20:11:41.979000+00:00 | ['The Sims', 'Machinima', 'Film', 'Personal Essay', 'Ea Games'] |
Protect your gear with these smart surge protectors at all-time lows | Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment, until it becomes a memory | https://medium.com/@ramiro04485323/protect-your-gear-with-these-smart-surge-protectors-at-all-time-lows-97a42503ff3e | [] | 2020-12-23 19:50:03.153000+00:00 | ['Connected Home', 'Surveillance', 'Home Tech', 'Tvs'] |
Russiagate 2.0: Chinagate: Coming soon to a propaganda outlet near you. | Russiagate 2.0: Chinagate: Coming soon to a propaganda outlet near you.
The "super soldiers" that the CIA cleaning guy (Dilanian) is fearmongering about is just projection (archive: https://archive.is/ArpFa). | https://medium.com/@quesadaswan/russiagate-2-0-chinagate-coming-soon-to-a-propaganda-outlet-near-you-bfeae94c0f28 | ['Nico Poblete'] | 2020-12-05 18:56:03.972000+00:00 | ['News', 'Media Criticism', 'Propaganda', 'China', 'War'] |
Where is your orderBy pipe Angular? | This might be a question for many of you angularjs developers who have moved to the Angular recently and trying to find your way around the new framework.
If you remember in angularjs we have $filter which is equivalent to Pipe in Angular. There are filters for formatting data in the template (eg: date, number, money) and filters for sorting. All provided by angularjs.
Moving to Angular we use pipes for similar reasons. Formatting date, number and there are pipes provided by framework for many of these use cases but no pipes for sorting(ordering) and filtering.
If you Google for Angular orderBy pipe you will find many implementations that you can happily copy and use in your project. That will show those forgetful developers in the Angular team.
Just let’s ask the question again before copying from stackoverflow.
Did guys at Angular forget about creating orderBy pipe?
You may think so but that’s not the case.
If you try a little further and search for it in Angular documentation, you will come across this page.
https://angular.io/guide/pipes#appendix-no-filterpipe-or-orderbypipe
It’s an interesting read. The gist of it is that it’s not a good idea to do sorting or filtering using a pipe in the template. It has performance overhead when used across the application. Making your app slow and you won’t get the best out of build optimization magic that Angular does.
The solution is obvious and easy to achieve. Do sorting, filtering and any sort of data manipulation in your component code and let your template just show the ready to display values or lists.
Putting too much logic in the template is a bad idea. Not only with orderBy pipes but calling functions in the template is also bad for your application performance.
This is mainly because of the way Angular rendering engine interprets your template.
<div>{{myElegantMethod(item)}}</div>
You should avoid the above code because the method will be called every time change detection runs.
It’s better to call the method in component’s code. For example in the constructor(), ngOnInit(), or an event handler then assign the result to a variable and from the template bind to that variable.
Calling event handlers is fine of course
<button (click)="myElegantMethod(item)">click me</button>
The event handler will only trigger when the event is emitted. So we are good. | https://medium.com/lapis/where-is-your-orderby-pipe-angular-11e617ce2a3d | [] | 2020-09-19 02:06:00.710000+00:00 | ['Pipe', 'Orderby', 'Software Engineering', 'JavaScript', 'Angular'] |
Dare to change the world — small steps by JOI team | Hi everyone!
My name is Alex and I’m the creator of JOI — a mood tracker for smartphones. I’ve always believed that all changes in the external world always begin with some shifts within a person. At least, it was exactly my story: the desire to solve my own problems and help others in this challenging task led me to the creation of a compact digital “psychologist” which will not only analyze your mental state but also give some recommendations. But first things first.
People, their relationship with each other and with the outside world — that’s exactly what I’ve always been interested in. And they felt it: friends and family had been constantly seeking my help. They did not hesitate to share with me some experiences that they would never have told others. I knew a lot about their problems in relationships, with family, at work, and always tried to help with advice. But the fact that I was a sensitive person didn’t work in my favor. I felt that I couldn’t cope with all the burden of my own problems, and, unlike my friends, I had no one to share my pains with.
At some point, I realized that the state of my mental health was close to depression. I didn’t even have the strength to get out of bed. Every day I had to force myself to do basic things: brush my teeth, cook breakfast, go to university, or work. I tried to contact psychologists, but this experience was extremely negative — I can share it another time if you are interested. Therefore, I thought that it would be nice to create a pocket psychologist — a digital assistant which would always be in touch, friendly, and helpful. At first, my ideas were somewhere in the field of website development, but then I realized that a smartphone would be a perfect platform for this as it was always at hand.
I interviewed my acquaintances and found out that some of them used the bullet journal. But this method had a significant drawback — you had to fill in all trackers for the next week/month/year by hand. And if you lost your diary, it was a disaster! Using a mobile application is much easier: you just spend a couple of minutes — and that’s it.
My friends had already used similar apps, but there you had just to choose the mark of mood and activities you were involved in that day, and nothing else. We decided to supplement and improve our application: we added questions, the ability to reflect and analyze the state of mental health. Our team decided to name the application JOI, which is consonant with the word “joy”. Joy and a great mood are definitely the things we strive for.
By the way, there was a funny incident with the name — it turned out that there was a category of videos for adults of the same title. Some Producthunt.com users expected our application to be different :-) Besides, there is a namesake video chat, and sometimes you come up with it instead of our app. But we still decided to leave the name JOI! Our users are used to it and many still associate it exclusively with our application. We can say that this name already has its own soul.
What is special about JOI?
To stand out among the apps already on the market, we decided to base JOI’s work on the famous ABC method. It’s a part of cognitive-behavioral therapy, that assumes the fact that a person’s thoughts and attitudes affect their emotions and behavior. With the help of awareness and development of “problem” thoughts, you can change the behavior and emotional state of a person.
The ABC model assumes that events are recorded in the following order:
A — Activating Event, also called “Trigger”,
B — Beliefs/Thoughts and attitudes (thoughts that occur in response to an activating event),
C — Consequences (how people feel and behave when they have these thoughts Consequences are divided into two parts: reactions and emotions.
JOI allows to indicate what mood you are in today, and, according to the state you noted, asks leading questions:
By keeping a diary of your emotions regularly, you can trace patterns and understand what causes anxiety, irritation, or stress. Sometimes the results are unexpected — after I started using the app myself, I stopped meeting an old friend of mine, realizing that I was emotionally drained after this communication. Moreover, until that moment I hadn’t ever thought about it!
Personally, I really like the Stories feature — these are photo memories that appear depending on your mood at a specific period. They cheer me up a lot — it’s so nice to remember sweet moments with friends and family.
And as for practices — the new feature of JOI — I tried them all on myself and, it seems, that I became more tolerant of others. I care more about my mental health and understand this world a little better.
By the way, now we are working on a global update — the creation of an AI chatbot that predicts mood and analyzes things you should avoid or pay attention to. Its tips are based on your notes and mood/trigger marks, and the bot is constantly learning.
It seems to me that diaries and mood trackers have always been relevant, especially now, in pandemic 2020. Keeping notes is really helpful: your diary can be a creative laboratory, a caring psychotherapist, a source of memories, a tool for self-development, and most importantly, a reliable hideaway at the same time.
Our journal is more suitable for modern realities — it inspires you when you feel unable to write, draws conclusions, and shows statistics. JOI regularly sends you reminders so that you don’t forget to use it daily.
You can try JOI for Apple here — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/joi-mindful-mood-tracker/id1496345448
It’s completely free!
We continue creating products for health and creativity, and we will definitely tell you about them in the following publications. You can ask me any questions about mental health, application development, or just about life :) I am not a professional psychologist, but I am very interested in this area and am open to new information and suggestions. | https://medium.com/@aleksandr-lanin/dare-to-change-the-world-small-steps-by-joi-team-d82c92e8ca32 | ['Aleksandr Lanin'] | 2020-12-01 09:28:22.987000+00:00 | ['Apps', 'Diary', 'Mental Health', 'Anxiety', 'Depression'] |
Executioner Turned Death Penalty Abolitionist: Jerry Givens | This week the New York Times is featuring short videos about 5 of the 326,000+ Americans whose deaths are attributed to COVID-19. One of them is Jerry Givens, a founding Advisory Board Member of Death Penalty Action, a colleague, and a friend. It’s 6 minutes of beautifully created storytelling. Please click here to watch.
Jerry’s family knew how important this work was to him, and they wanted his voice to carry on. You can help. Please share the video. Click here to learn more about Jerry Givens, read the various obituaries and news items from when he died, and if you like, make a tribute gift in Jerry’s memory. We’ll pass any message you leave on to Jerry’s family.
*********
We’d like to wish you and yours a very merry Christmas, and… Yesterday, we hosted a interfaith prayer vigil/press conference (watch) decrying [did you know???] the federal regulations changes taking effect TODAY — ON CHRISTMAS EVE.
The changes allow the FIRING SQUAD and other alternative methods of execution; allowing the Bureau of Prisons to designate any other prison facility for the purpose of executions; and SPEEDING up the execution warrant notice period from four months to 20 days! Rev. Leah Schade of the Clergy Emergency League participated and wrote about it, here.
We’ve Been Busy:
There is so much more that can be done.
Plainly put, executions are wrong and we need to do everything we can to stop them. Which is why I have to ask, can you chip in $18, $36, $72, or any amount you can so that we have the resources to prevent the next federal execution?
$18 » $36 » $72 » Other »
Without your help we won’t have the resources we need to pressure AG Rosen to do the right thing and stop federal executions. Chip in any amount here.
Yours in the Struggle,
— Abe
Abraham J. Bonowitz, Director
Donate » | https://medium.com/@deathpenaltyaction/executioner-turned-death-penalty-abolitionist-jerry-givens-4a703995528 | ['Death Penalty Action'] | 2020-12-24 14:14:53.827000+00:00 | ['Death Penalty', 'Covid 19', 'Charity', 'Protest', 'Covid Diaries'] |
G Suite E-mail as SMTP for Firebase Auth | Hey everyone,
You are developing an authentication system with Firebase but hey ! verification mails go to spam folder.
Ooops ! That doesnt give a good impression for your customers.
We can overcome this trouble by adding SMTP service to Firebase Authentication Settings.
Yes I am talking about this page fellows!
I hope you are using G Suite in your company or organization.
G Suite account’s price is 6$ per user/month. (It’s extremely cheap compared to smtp services). It gives us 2000 e-mail per day which is fair enough for a startup.
Let’s start by enabling 2-step verification and app passwords for g suite account first. This g suite account should be the one you wanna use for firebase authentication’s e-mails.
Go to this link and make sure that 2 step verification is enabled under “Signig to Google” section. Then go to “App Passwords” which located just below to the 2-step verification option under same section.
Select “Other (Cutom name)” for app then it will ask for which device you want to use this password, you can write whatever you would like, I prefer to label it as “firebase”.
Then we get our app password, we should note it in safe place. We will use it in next step!
Then, we should allow less secure apps to sign in with out app password. Otherwise Google will not allow Firebase to signin this account.
Just go to this link and check the radio button “Allow users to manage their access to less secure apps”
One more step remaining to switch back to firebase page which is unlocking the captcha.
Just navigate to this link and proceed by tapping on “Continue”.
All ready !
We can configure firebase authentication smtp settings with g-suite mail address.
In password section, you should use the app password we have created before.
Congrats, you should have registration mails inbox instead of spam folder after this.
Best Regards,
omert
patron-labs | https://medium.com/patron-ai/g-suite-mail-as-smtp-service-for-firebase-auth-ec0483d21bb1 | ['Ömer Taban'] | 2020-05-08 22:47:55.028000+00:00 | ['Authentication', 'Firebase', 'Gmail', 'Smtp', 'G Suite For Business'] |
Top 10 LinkedIn pages to follow for software testing | Top 10 LinkedIn pages/groups you should follow for software testing insights.
Quality has always been the priority of all enterprises and will always remain so. Companies are making huge investments to improve the quality of their software to sustain in the highly competitive world. As the emphasize on quality is increasing, this current scenario has pushed software testers to acquire new skills to stay relevant. In addition to upskilling and reskilling, it is important to improve social networking to widen the learning spectrum and keep up with the trend. LinkedIn is one of the best social platforms for software testers to explore new trends in the industries and leverage the best out of it. There are a number of LinkedIn groups/pages for software testing disciplines, which offer access to join and discuss anything related to software testing.
Here is a list of top 10 LinkedIn pages you should not miss if you are a software tester. By following these pages, you get access to online resources, participate in the discussion by liking/commenting, connecting and communicating with authors, speakers and fellow testers.
Top 10 software testing groups on LinkedIn
TechBeacon: TechBeacon is worth following page on LinkedIn for software testers. It has a wealth of information on DevOps, agile methodologies, and other advanced areas of testing. By following this page, you get access to their regular posts on Agile, DevOps, Application Development, Mobile, Software Quality, Software Performance, Security, and Enterprise IT. You will, further, get to connect and interact with testing professionals and seek process/business guidance.
Ministry of Testing: Ministry of Testing is one of the popular testing communities in the US and Europe. Their LinkedIn page is worth following for the excellent networking opportunity you get. In addition to regular article posts, they also conduct fun competitions, events, and webinars to help you hone your skills. The open forum helps you interact with other members, share your views, and ask questions. If you are a software testing enthusiast, this page will definitely please you.
Yethi: Don’t miss on following Yethi’s LinkedIn page for some great insights on banking/financial software testing. Being a niche QA service providers for banks and financial industries and having served 80+ clients in over 18+ countries, Yethi offers them with unique testing methodologies, access to subject matter expertise, and provide innovative, effective, and practical solutions. Their test automation platform, Tenjin, is a popularly used QA platform for banking/financial software. It is a codeless test automation platform built on a path-breaking algorithm that efficiently ‘learns’ and ‘relearns’ without any manual interference, thereby, saving time, money, and resource.
BlazeMeter: BlazeMeter is one of the LinkedIn pages you should follow as a tester. The fun, interactive, and informative posts are something you cannot afford to miss. It focuses on insights on testing of mobile apps, websites, and APIs; enabling DevOps teams to interact and align with new trends. This community is rapidly growing, new information is posted regularly on their LinkedIn page.
TEST Magazine: TEST Magazine is a great LinkedIn page to read interesting articles related to software testing trends and catch up with the latest insights on testing solutions. This is one of the most followed testing journals in Europe. Follow TEST Magazine LinkedIn page to explore your career horizon.
New Relic: New Relic is a Cloud-based software solution provider, offering testing solution for improved performance, scalability, efficiency, uptime, and accelerated time-to-market. New Relic LinkedIn page is an interesting page to follow for the unique and informative videos posted regularly; in addition, they also have thought-provoking articles on latest technological trends.
SmartBear Software: SmartBear is yet another interesting LinkedIn page to follow for testers. SmartBear is one of the leading companies in testing industry that offers high-impact, easy-to-use test automation tools. Their LinkedIn page is worth following for the regular updates on the latest testing trends.
Experitest: Experitest is known for offering automation solutions to web and mobile application testing; having successfully tested on various web browsers, iOS, Android, and blackberry. They also expertise in cross browser testing, mobile DevOps, visual testing, Appium, Selenium, and continuous testing, Perl and Python code export, performance testing, load testing, and a lot more. The Experitest LinkedIn page is fun and inspiring, allowing the testers to learn, share, and grow.
Abstracta QA: Abstracta is a one of the leading software companies offering test automation solution across various industries like retail, healthcare, technology, etc. Abstracta’s LinkedIn page is worth following to get the company updates, interesting reads, and connect with the fellow testers to have a discussion.
Software Testing and Quality Assurance group: Software Testing and Quality Assurance group is a great page on LinkedIn to meet expert testers and discuss on the concerned topics. This is an excellent page to share your views and learn & understand the current market scenario.
If you are a tester and looking to expand your social networking for better prospects, these are some LinkedIn pages you should consider following. Today’s digital world offers an excellent opportunity to expand your network beyond your workplace, make the best use of it. | https://medium.com/@kavitha6988/top-10-linkedin-pages-to-follow-for-software-testing-8eadc75bc4d5 | ['Kavitha R'] | 2021-07-15 05:27:53.847000+00:00 | ['Linkedin Groups', 'Codeless Testing', 'Software Testing', 'Software Tester', 'Test Automation'] |
Watch Live Stream: Trinity vs Allen | Texas High School Football LIVE 12/26/2020 | Watch Live Stream: Trinity vs Allen | Texas High School Football LIVE 12/26/2020 Dadangdudunh ·Dec 20, 2020
Trojans v Eagles
Watch Link Here: http://advertisement.sportfb.com/hsfootball.php
Watch Live Stream: Trinity vs Allen | Texas High School Football LIVE 12/26/2020
Watch Live Here
Trojans
10–1
Eagles
10–0
The Allen (TX) varsity football team has a neutral playoff game vs. Trinity (Euless, TX) on Saturday, December 26 @ 7:30p.
Game Details: at Globe Life Park
This game is a part of the “2020 Football State Championships — 2020 Football Conference 6A D1 “ tournament. | https://medium.com/@dadangdudunh56/watch-live-stream-trinity-vs-allen-texas-high-school-football-live-12-26-2020-25591fdbbe70 | [] | 2020-12-20 15:58:44.544000+00:00 | ['Texas', 'Americanfootball', 'Highschoolfootball'] |
Outlier Detection with K-means Clustering in Python | Outlier Detection with K-means Clustering in Python
Data with outliers detected by Author
K-means clustering is used when you want to cluster your data into k groups. I will tell you how to catch the outliers that stay far away from these groups. We will do it by deciding a threshold ratio. For each cluster, the data stay out the threshold ratio will be counted as an outlier.
Data to be used by Author
When you look at the plot, it is easier to see which points we aim to catch. In the yellow cluster, there is no outlier and there is one and two in the green and purple clusters respectively. So, we aim to catch three outliers in this data set.
We first import the necessary libraries and compose the data. Then, the k-means clusters predicted by setting k = 3. Lastly, we get the plot above by running this code.
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from sklearn.cluster import KMeans
from scipy.spatial.distance import cdist # composing data set
data = np.array([[1, 2], [2, 2], [2, 3], [8, 7], [8, 9], [7, 9], [7, 7], [12,10], [25, 24], [24, 24], [24, 25], [25, 25], [25,20], [20,25]]) # kmeans model, setting k = 3
km = KMeans(n_clusters = 3)
clusters=km.fit_predict(data) # plotting data set
plt.scatter(*zip(*data),c=clusters,marker = “x”)
Now, we will find the centers of clusters and then calculate the distances between each point to the centers of its cluster.
# obtaining the centers of the clusters
centroids = km.cluster_centers_ # points array will be used to reach the index easy
points = np.empty((0,len(data[0])), float) # distances will be used to calculate outliers
distances = np.empty((0,len(data[0])), float) # getting points and distances
for i, center_elem in enumerate(centroids):
# cdist is used to calculate the distance between center and other points
distances = np.append(distances, cdist([center_elem],data[clusters == i], 'euclidean'))
points = np.append(points, data[clusters == i], axis=0)
You may ask which algorithm do we use to calculate the distances and can we choose any other one. As you may recognize, in the cdist function, we give distance type as a parameter which is ‘euclidean’. You can replace it with any other one that cdist accepts.
After obtaining the distances of points, now, we will decide a threshold ratio as a percentile and find the outliers.
When you decide on a threshold ratio th, you are sorting all distances of all points (to their own centers) and then saying that I want the points to be outliers that are above percentile th. I set it to 80 but you can play around with it.
percentile = 80
# getting outliers whose distances are greater than some percentile
outliers = points[np.where(distances > np.percentile(distances, percentile))]
So, we are done! The only thing we left is to visualize our data with outliers detected.
fig = plt.figure() # plotting initial data
plt.scatter(*zip(*data),c=clusters,marker = “x”) # plotting red ovals around outlier points
plt.scatter(*zip(*outliers),marker=”o”,facecolor=”None”,edgecolor=”r”,s=70); # plotting centers as blue dots
plt.scatter(*zip(*centroids),marker=”o”,facecolor=”b”,edgecolor=”b”,s=10);
Data with outliers detected by Author
The blue points in the plot represent the center of clusters. The cluster colors have changed but it isn’t important. The outliers are signed with red ovals.
If you want to use this algorithm to detect outliers that are staying out of all data but not clusters, you need to choose k = 1.
# setting k = 1
km = KMeans(n_clusters = 1)
Outliers caught after setting k = 1 by Author
In that case, it is not that meaningful to choose k = 1 for this data set, but when we do, we see that one blue dot is on the center of all data and the furthest points are circled with red ovals. | https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/outlier-detection-with-k-means-clustering-in-python-ee3ac1826fb0 | ['A. Kübra Kuyucu'] | 2021-02-01 13:56:26.459000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Outliers', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Clustering', 'Python'] |
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