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Zoom IPO: How Eric Yuan Delivers Happiness | Carl Eschenbach & Pat Grady on behalf of Sequoia
Why does Eric S. Yuan make Sequoia so happy?
You might think Sequoia is happy with Zoom’s founder, Eric Yuan, because we’re Zoom customers — and Eric is maniacally focused on making customers happy. That’s true, but it’s not the reason we have in mind.
You might think it’s because we partnered with Zoom — and with today’s public offering, we’re happy with our investment. That’s also true. But it’s not the only reason we are happy with Eric and Zoom.
What truly makes us happy is that Eric is a role model for entrepreneurs everywhere. And as we celebrate today’s IPO milestone, we’d like to share a little about what makes Eric so special.
You won’t often find Eric in the headlines because he spends no calories on self-promotion. He deflects all credit and eagerly accepts blame. And he and Zoom have eschewed the trappings of success that so often accompany even a modicum of good fortune in the Valley. When Sequoia first reached out to Eric in 2014, he told us he admired our work but wasn’t looking for funding. Then he asked for an intro to our IT department, to see if they’d be interested in using Zoom. He cared more about our business than he did about our money — because he was, as he is today, singularly focused on his mission of making people happy.
That clarity of thought is something the best founders share, and it’s one of the main drivers of the performance that’s getting noticed despite Zoom’s under-the-radar approach.
Eric is also tenacious. An immigrant from China who applied for a visa nine times before finally being allowed into the U.S., he finds a way to accomplish whatever he puts his mind to — and has the courage and vision we hope to find in every founder we meet. He became an entrepreneur not because it was en vogue, but because he saw a world in which incessant emails were replaced by face-to-face conversations, where work became both friendlier and more productive. He wanted to build a better future, so he did.
And the rest of the team has followed his lead, sticking to the basics and thinking clearly about what’s right for customers. Like Eric, everyone at Zoom is obsessed with making people happy — including each other. He’s built a very special company with a very special culture, where you can thrive simply by doing the right thing. And he’s surrounded by a loyal leadership team that constantly surprises us with what it can accomplish. Zoom’s product is effortless. It just works. For everyone who interacts with it, Eric and his team have delivered on their promise of happiness.
And of course, that includes us. Ever since Sequoia met Eric five years ago, we have counted ourselves among Zoom’s very happy customers. So to the entire Zoom team: Thank you for making our lives easier, for making us more productive, for helping us connect with each other at a moment’s notice from anywhere in the world. To Eric: Thank you for your partnership, for being an excellent role model to founders everywhere. And, most of all, thank you for allowing us to be part of your journey.
Written by Carl Eschenbach and Pat Grady on behalf of Sequoia. | https://medium.com/sequoia-capital/zoom-ipo-how-eric-yuan-delivers-happiness-5b3fb649865c | [] | 2019-04-18 18:38:37.619000+00:00 | ['Zoom', 'Sequoia Capital', 'Startup', 'IPO'] |
What Makes EVs The Right Choice For Future Mobility ? | What Makes EVs The Right Choice For Future Mobility ?
Electric vehicles promise zero tailpipe emissions and a reduction in air pollution in cities. The Indian government has created momentum through its Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles schemes that encourage, and in some segments mandates the adoption of electric vehicles (EV), with a goal of reaching 30% EV penetration by 2030. The scheme creates demand incentives for EV and urges the deployment of charging technologies and stations in urban centers. If these aims are realized by 2030, they will generate an estimated saving of up to 474 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) and 846 million tonnes of net CO2 emissions over their lifetime. To scale the deployment of EVs, state government and local transport authorities are critical. To complement this central government thrust, 10 states and union territories have published draft or final policies aligned with the economic and demographic realities of each region.
The central government wants to reduce the import of crude oil significantly and thus help curb increasing levels of pollution. India has 22 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities. NITI Aayog, the government think tank tasked with devising a mass electric energy-based transport system in India, has devised a plan to stop the registration of internal combustion engine (ICE)-driven three-wheelers by 2023 and two-wheelers under 150cc by 2025. The central government has approved an outlay of ₹10,000 crores for three years till 2022 to subsidize electric vehicles and drive the adoption of electric mobility in the country. The central government initially wanted to stop the registration of electric vehicles by 2030, but later decided to put it on the back burner. Similarly, the central government didn’t want to offer subsidies to hybrid vehicles but then changed its stand following intense lobbying by Japanese vehicle manufacturers.
Various fiscal demand incentives have been put in place to spur the production and consumption of EVs and charging infrastructure — such as income tax rebates of up to INR 150,000 for customers on interest paid on loans to buy EVs. To scale the production of lithium-ion cell batteries, there will be an exemption from customs duties to bring down their cost. Assuming the appropriate infrastructure is in place, 90% of car owners in India are willing to switch to EVs, according to a survey by the Economic Times in May 2019. At present, however, EV market penetration is only 1% of total vehicle sales in India, and of that, 95% of sales are electric two-wheelers.
Moving differently but together
Bringing transportation decisions closer to the people is understandable and necessary. Transport challenges such as congestion, affordability, infrastructure, and transit systems availability are localized issues. Consumer preference for more expensive EV would highly depend on citizens’ income levels. Since investment in local research and development is necessary to bring prices down, it makes sense to leverage local universities and existing industrial hubs.
The automotive industry players and charging infrastructure, batteries, and mobility service providers have taken various actions to ramp up industry action. Companies are designing and testing products suitable for the Indian market with a key focus on two-wheelers and three-wheelers. Head over to www.kabiramobility.com to choose the best electric scooter for your daily needs. If you found this article useful, do share it with your friends and family. | https://medium.com/kabira-mobility/what-makes-electric-vehicles-the-right-choice-for-future-mobility-bd08e36d31f2 | ['Alieza Fernandes'] | 2020-06-24 09:19:11.710000+00:00 | ['Mobility', 'Electric Vehicles', 'Electric Scooters', 'Electric Bike', 'Ev'] |
Too many ideas, not enough time. | Too many ideas, not enough time. Sounds familiar to you? This is my Friday notes. As I write these lines today, Friday, December 11th, my head is full of blog post projects. For example, I’ve got a new M1 Mac mini, so I would like to write about my experience setting it up. It comes with macOS Big Sur pre-installed; I want to write up my thumbs up and down about it. But before that, I got a new HomePod mini, and I’m yet to write my impressions of this 99$ smart speaker. Next, I’ve been working on photo storage and backup strategy, and I’d like to write about it too — so many things to write, too little time this week. Here comes the weekend, so watch this space. | https://medium.com/numeric-citizen-tidbits/too-many-ideas-not-enough-time-cc4a3639357e | ['Numeric Citizen'] | 2020-12-11 12:23:47.874000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Blogging', 'Projects', 'Review', 'Ideas'] |
10 Things Every Repro Intern Should Know | Hi Readers! Thank you so much for taking the time to peek at our post for NARAL’s 2020 Intern Day. Aaron, Emma, and Taylor have created a list of 10 things every repro intern should know. Before you get to reading, get to know the writers:
Hey! My name is Aaron and I am the Southwest Organizing Intern at NARAL Pro-Choice America. I’m currently a third-year undergraduate student studying Political Science and Philosophy at the University of Colorado Boulder. I decided to intern with NARAL because of my firm belief that every American should have the freedom to make their own reproductive health decisions. My internship with NARAL has enabled me to advocate for an issue I am passionate about and learn invaluable lessons on community organizing.
Hello! My name is Emma and I am the Midwest Organizing Intern at NARAL. I am based out of Minneapolis, MN where I attend the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities campus. I am an undergraduate studying Political Science and Spanish. I chose to intern with NARAL because repro freedom is something that I am very passionate about. I am also passionate about doing advocacy and organizing work. The internship I have at NARAL combines both of these passions in a beautiful way and makes me excited to come to work every day.
Hi, My name is Taylor and I’m NARAL’s Northeast Organizing Intern. I am a junior at Michigan State University, majoring in Social Relations and Policy as well as Women’s and Gender Studies. In my work as a student and an advocate, I center gender equity and reproductive rights. After organizing around these issues within my community and on my campus, I really wanted to see how the work operated at a macro level — which led me to my position here at NARAL Pro-Choice America.
We all gained tons of experience and education through our positions at NARAL, and we wanted to share it with you. Here are the 10 things that every repro intern should know: | https://medium.com/@naral/10-things-every-repro-intern-should-know-38148203dec5 | [] | 2020-12-17 23:32:16.546000+00:00 | ['Intern', 'Organizing', 'Internships', 'Reproductive Rights', 'Reproductive Freedom'] |
‘WHO IS’ JAKE&PAPA? BEHIND THE BROTHERHOOD AS PREMIERED BY REVOLT.COM | LOS ANGELES, CA — Thursday, May 25th, 2017 — Today, Jake&Papa take their fans on an behind-the-scenes look into the brotherhood so crux to their musical journey. With an assorted arrangement of visuals from their tour days with Tory Lanez, SXSW, critically acclaimed visit to Sway In The Morning, and their telling interview with legendary radio host, Big Boy, this video gives slight insight into what makes this R&B duo so incredible.
In the clip, as seen on REVOLT.com, Big Boy tells Jake&Papa, “It’s got to be good to look to the side and know that you trust this man because this is your blood brother.”
Papa of Jake&Papa replies, “I thank God for that everyday. This grind is hard, it’s tough, and if you don’t have somebody who’s like you’re mirror and doing it for the same reasons that you’re doing it, you’re in trouble.”
Watch behind the brotherhood of Jake&Papa here. Their project Tattoos&Blues EP was released via Priority Records on April 28th, with their single “Phones” (as produced by Bizness Boi). Take a listen to Tattoos&Blues on SoundCloud or via all DSPs worldwide. | https://medium.com/ijeoma/who-is-jake-papa-behind-the-brotherhood-as-premiered-by-revolt-com-6361bdef656b | [] | 2017-05-30 15:07:28.389000+00:00 | ['Revolt Tv', 'Music', 'Brotherhood', 'Press Release', 'Jakepapa'] |
Step by step guide on how port from AWS to Nimbella | In this article, we shall walk you through how Nimbella can fill up the space of AWS Lambda as an alternative and how you can port your functions to Nimbella.
AWS is the largest public cloud provider — but that doesn’t make it easy to use!
It can be challenging to work with because:
AWS is confusing for developers without deep experience in low-level cloud technologies. Businesses have to pay a hefty amount to get technical support from AWS. AWS Pricing is fiendishly complex and difficult to predict. Also, it doesn’t allow you to set a hard spending limit. Need a credit card to sign-up.
Giuseppe Miragliotta, Backend Software Engineer at Xtream
AWS Lambda’s pay-per-use pricing model is ideal for sporadic usages because you’re never paying for over-provisioned infrastructure. On the other end, costs can sum up rapidly on highly intensive workloads since these kinds of resources are expensive. Nimbella can help you save costs by using LaaS or CaaS services that are cheaper than FaaS, providing a proven and actively maintained architecture. Backed by Apache OpenWhisk, an open-source serverless solution, Nimbella comes with a high degree of portability. This means that the cost of moving to another cloud provider is greatly reduced and a multi-cloud strategy is also feasible, letting you choose the best products that suit your needs.
All these urge many users to look for the best AWS alternative which eventually gets them away from AWS Cloud lock-in.
Pros of Nimbella over AWS
The developers using the Nimbella platform only have to code the logic and Nimbella handles the rest including storage management, capacity provisioning, auto-scaling, monitoring, and logging.
Try Nimbella’s platform with a real example
Let’s create a new App and deploy it on Nimbella to get ourselves familiar with porting the functions from AWS-Lambda to Nimbella.
Please consider that we are going to create an invoice processing App with the below features.
Approve/Reject invoices Adding new invoices Exporting invoices
It will use React.js for the front-end and Node.js for the Back-end. For data storage, we can use Amazon’s dynamo DB in AWS-lambda and Nimbella’s Redis in Nimbella Platform.
Basic architecture on Nimbella:
Directory Structure on Nimbella:
Port your AWS Lambda functions to Nimbella
The following step-by-step guide will easily allow you to move your Lambda Functions to Nimbella.
1. Accounts creation and configuration
Nimbella: Create a new Nimbella Account and it gets activated without providing any card details.
2. Install & Set-up CLI
Let’s install CLI to deploy and interact with the cloud platform through the terminal.
Nimbella’s CLI can be installed by referring to this link for the respective Operating System.
To set up the CLI for Deployment and other activities we just need to log in to the CLI using the below command
nim auth login
3. Set-up Data Storage
Please consider that we are going to store our invoices as documents in the data storage.
Nimbella provides dedicated pre-integrated Redis key-value storage. We can directly use it as data storage without any configuration. We can do CRUD operation with our DB via CLI using the traditional Redis command as below.
nim kv set <keyName> <keyvalue>
4. Create Your API for Invoice Processor
Create a directory named “packages” which wraps the back-end code. Create a new directory that represents the app name inside packages. Create a new directory name that represents the API endpoint. Please note that in Nimbella each directory name represents API endpoints. Hence, create the directory how you want to name the API endpoints. Initiate a node js project with nim init -y Install nim-sdk package to access Nimbella’s Redis.
Once done, we can read our invoice data from Nimbella’s Redis with the below code.
Create a project.yml file and specify our directory structure (http end-points) of our function as below.
Our Serverless function can be deployed by running the below-given command in Nim-CLI.
nim project deploy <directory containing our proj>
Once deployed, we can get the API URL for the deployed function using the below command.
nim action get action <functionName>
Now, our API is ready to serve the requests seamlessly.
Deployed API URL (Nimbella):
https://boltnew2-doofwstmxcq-apigcp.nimbella.io/api/invoice/getdata
Front-End
Let’s create a React App by running the below command.
npx create-react-app <appName>
Once React App is created, we can implement the below features in the UI for the Invoice Processor in the usual React way as below.
Consume the API created in the previous step to render the invoices Approve/Reject Invoices Export Approved/Rejected/Pending invoices (using jsPdf) Add new invoices.
Our React App can be hosted on Nimbella by following simple steps:
Create a build.sh file and specify the commands to create a build from React App
2. Create a .include file and specify the file to be included for deployment
3. Configure project.yml for hosting our front-end as below.
Directory of our Invoice Processor having the React App (front-end) & Serverless function (Back-end) looks as below.
We can deploy our Invoice Processor App by running the below command.
nim project deploy <projectDirectory>
Once completed the host URL of Invoice Processor can be found in CLI as below.
https://boltnew2-doofwstmxcq-apigcp.nimbella.io/
GitHub Source: https://github.com/boltathi24/nimbella_redis_react_invoice_processor
In Brief: Porting Aws-lambda to Nimbella:
Wrap the AWS-Lambda’s functions inside the directory named “packages”. Wrap the front-end code inside the directory named “web”. Create a project.yml file and specify the configuration of the serverless function. Deploy it to Nimbella using Nimbella’s deploy command.
Benefits of Nimbella over AWS-lambda limitations
Nimbella provides a better developer experience by letting developers focus and invest time on App logic by removing architectural complexity. Nimbella supports multi-cloud deployment. Serverless Apps built on Nimbella can be deployed into your choice of cloud provider at any time. Nimbella provides integrated monitoring and logging to conveniently access logs and statistics from the terminal. Logging is more centralized and the output of the function won’t be feeling disjointed anymore since Logging can be accessed with Nimbella’s CLI instead of heading to CloudWatch in AWS. Our smart CLI builds the artifacts to be deployed dynamically from the project’s configuration file, unlike AWS Lambda where we zip the dependencies for deployment. Vendor lock-in is avoided with our multi-cloud deployment feature. Most of the popular programming languages are supported by the Nimbella Cloud (e.g., JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Python, Java, Go, or Swift, etc.) Nimbella lets developers feel themselves developing the end-to-end application by providing a way to deploy front-end (UI) and back-end (API) as a single deployment. Nimbella cloud platform is built on an open-source, Apache OpenWhisk. Hence it provides more data security and access control. No card details are required. Start with a generous free tier and grow with us. Nimbella offers dedicated secure domain, certificate management, CDN, and much more with ease. There is no development effort when you switch between cloud providers. The learning curve with Nimbella is very simple. You won’t be amused with the ’n’ number of services like AWS. Native support for state with in-memory high-performance data storage(Redis).
Conclusions
Nimbella is a modern developer-friendly Serverless platform that empowers you to build and run serverless applications in the simplest way. When you look out for alternatives to AWS Lambda, Nimbella suits perfectly and you can port your functions to Nimbella without much effort.
Please feel free to check out the latest Forrester Report on why Nimbella has been named as a Strong Performer among multiple players in the serverless space. Nimbella is a rising new generation serverless platform that could be considered as a great alternative to AWS and other cloud providers.
Author details: Athithan Raj P
Follow him on Twitter: @raj_athithan | https://medium.com/nimbella/step-by-step-guide-on-how-port-from-aws-to-nimbella-676a77ce9b78 | ['Athithan Raj P'] | 2021-06-17 06:54:17.307000+00:00 | ['Lambda', 'AWS', 'Serverless', 'Nimbella', 'Openwhisk'] |
Frisco Football Classic Betting Preview | A made up game between two teams who are vastly different on offense.
Frisco Football Classic
North Texas (6–6) vs Miami OH (6–6)
Thursday, 3:30pm, ESPN
Miami -2.5/Total 54.5
Head to FanDuel Sportsbook to take advantage of your $1,000 risk-free bet
Who knows what to expect when you get two 6–6 teams playing in a game that was made up a couple of weeks ago. We ended up with one more bowl eligible team than there were available bowl slots, so they created an extra bowl game and made 6–7 Hawaii bowl eligible and thus the Frisco Football Classic, not to be confused with Tuesday’s Frisco Bowl, was born. It pits the contrasting styles of pass-happy Miami and run-oriented North Texas. Miami was a missed two-point conversion in overtime away from appearing in the MAC Championship game. North Texas was one of two teams in FBS to start 1–6 and win its last five games to get bowl eligible.
Miami went 1–3 against a tough non-conference slate and then went 5–3 in MAC play with the three losses coming by a combined four points. They’re led on offense by Blaine Gabbert’s younger brother Brett. Gabbert threw for over 2,400 yards with 24 touchdowns in 10 games played. Jack Sorenson has been on a pretty crazy run at receiver. AJ Mayer leaned on Sorenson in the two starts when Gabbert was injured and that continued through the rest of the season. Sorenson went six games in a row over 110 yards receiving before being held to 81 in the season finale against Kent State. Mac Hippenhammer provided a reliable second option for Gabbert, snagging 48 catches for 786 yards this year. Miami isn’t proficient running the football. The Redhawks are 88th in the country in rushing offense and 100th in rush EPA per play.
North Texas has the best non-service academy rushing attack in college football averaging 245.5 yards per game on the ground and the Mean Green leaned on that rushing attack to get bowl eligible. They had over 300 yards on the ground against FIU and Southern Miss. They entered the season finale against UTSA needing a win to get bowl eligible and churned out 340 yards against the Road Runners. DeAndre Toney is their lead back. Toney ran for 1,215 yards and 13 touchdowns this year. North Texas has three capable back-ups and quarterback Austin Aune is a running threat also. Aune isn’t much of a passer completing only 51.7 percent of his passes with nine touchdowns and seven interceptions.
This is a really interesting game because of the contrasting styles and because what each offense does well, the opposing defense doesn’t defend particularly well. Miami is 82nd in rush EPA defense, North Texas is 93rd in pass EPA defense and 98th in pass efficiency defense. This total has ticked up a couple of points from where it opened and even so I still like the over. I’d lean Miami if I had to pick a side. North Texas actually runs the most plays per game in college football, but if they’re in a spot where they have to pass it might be difficult for them to come back. | https://blog.fantasylifeapp.com/frisco-football-classic-betting-preview-66b64f937a55 | [] | 2021-12-23 01:48:14.505000+00:00 | ['Sportsbetting', 'Collegefootball'] |
Mechanical Bulls and Manifesting Success | Mechanical Bulls and Manifesting Success
Photo by iSAW Company on Unsplash
Riding mechanical bulls is a lot like entrepreneurship. I happen to have ridden a lot of mechanical bulls in my youth, so I know a bit about them. Long story short, they’re not predictable. Mechanical bulls are not designed for people to stay on them. Neither is business.
Stick with me here. I have a master’s degree in this and have created two successful companies (one that failed, one that succeeded). Why do I consider both of them to be successful? Because I learned from both experiences.
So, how does the whole bull thing apply to entrepreneurs? I’ll tell you.
Starting a project and expecting to consistently make the right choices until your project becomes the next Uber is . . . well, like chugging the rest of your beer, pressing the start button, and assuming you’ll stay on the dang bull the first time you give it a try.
I have news for you. You WILL fall off the dang mechanical bull. Everyone does. Every company does. Every solo entrepreneur does. Every human does.
Life, in general, is going to eff you and/or your business up from time to time. External factors that are beyond your control will inevitably throw you off the mechanical bull.
You’ve heard this before. We all need to hear it repeatedly. Your ability to adapt and get back on the dang bull is the most important skill you can have. All data suggests that if you hit restart, get into that warzone, and down just one more enemy every time you perish, you’re more likely to succeed than the average Joe.
Having been a personal trainer for many years in my twenties, I saw many people set out to lose weight. (Incidentally, this was the impetus for my most fantastic business failure — Fit 2 U personal training). Do you know what’s interesting about all of those clients that wanted to lose weight? Not a single one of them ever stayed perfectly on their workout and nutrition plan. Every single one of them got off track at some point.
The ones who succeeded were the people who didn’t throw in the towel when they made a mistake. They put in another quarter and climbed back into the saddle. Because, the longer anyone, individual or massive company, lingers in the past or becomes complacent with the status quo, the more of a sitting duck they become. Resilience is everything.
Do you know what else is everything? Adaptability. If the bull swerves to the right when you don’t suspect it, you have to lean right as well or that bull will toss you off onto some dude’s Miller Lite. Whether you like it or not, you will always have to adapt to external forces. If you adapt, you stay on the bull just a little bit longer. That little bit could make all the difference.
No matter how successful you are at adaptation, something will still always happen. A global pandemic will shut down your industry, your mother-in-law comes to stay for a month, a competitor makes your product completely obsolete, you break down and eat an entire pint of ice cream, or you suddenly have to deal with a health issue.
Life. Happens. Big, small, serious, funny, and ridiculous life things happen. You will fall off the bull.
The longer you stay on the dang floor, the longer you stare defeatedly at the blinking screen, the less likely you are to succeed in life and in business. End of story.
Walt Disney, Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs — they all fell off the bull. They all were shot down numerous times. But they all got back up as soon as possible.
More than 50% of startups fail within the first four years. How do you increase your chances if statistically, you’re literally flipping a coin by starting something new? (I know, I know, everyone thinks their idea is a special flower and will be the ONE thing that is guaranteed to succeed. That’s great. So does everyone else).
Well, you work hard, adapt, and give it a try. But guess what? If it doesn’t work, flip the coin again. Hit restart. Get back on the bull.
This week for me was very difficult for many reasons. This week, I was thrown off the bull and thrown hard. I took a day and a half to tend to my injuries (self-care is also important). It’s 6 am on a Saturday and I am officially hitting restart. I am back on the bull.
Everyone fails. That is how life works. The sooner you get back into the saddle, the better off you will be. | https://medium.com/@michelleloucadoux/mechanical-bulls-and-manifesting-success-a2ef62038c1e | ['Michelle Loucadoux'] | 2020-12-20 02:02:42.962000+00:00 | ['Success', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Business', 'Inspiration', 'Resilience'] |
[Documentary] S1E4 𝒮𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑜𝓃 1 Episode 4 Tv Online | THE STORY
After graduating from Harvard, Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan) forgoes the standard opportunities of seeking employment from big and lucrative law firms; deciding to head to Alabama to defend those wrongFully commended, with the support of local advocate, Eva Ansley (Brie Larson). One of his first, and most poignant, case is that of Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx, who, in 62, was sentenced to die for the notorious murder of an 2-year-old girl in the community, despite a preponderance of evidence proving his innocence and one singular testimony against him by an individual that doesn’t quite seem to add up. Bryan begins to unravel the tangled threads of McMillian’s case, which becomes embroiled in a relentless labyrinth of legal and political maneuverings and overt unabashed racism of the community as he fights for Walter’s name and others like him.
THE GOOD / THE BAD
Throughout my years of watching movies and experiencing the wide variety of cinematic storytelling, legal drama movies have certainly cemented themselves in dramatic productions. As I stated above, some have better longevity of being remembered, but most showcase plenty of heated courtroom battles of lawyers defending their clients and unmasking the truth behind the claims (be it wrongFully incarcerated, discovering who did it, or uncovering the shady dealings behind large corporations. Perhaps my first one legal drama was 624’s The Client (I was little young to get all the legality in the movie, but was still managed to get the gist of it all). My second one, which I loved, was probably Primal Fear, with Norton delivering my favorite character role. Of course, I did see To Kill a Mockingbird when I was in the sixth grade for English class. Definitely quite a powerful film. And, of course, let’s not forget Philadelphia and want it meant / stand for. Plus, Hanks and Washington were great in the film. All in all, while not the most popular genre out there, legal drama films still provide a plethora of dramatic storytelling to capture the attention of moviegoers of truth and lies within a dubious justice.
Just Mercy is the latest legal crime drama feature and the whole purpose of this movie review. To be honest, I really didn’t much “buzz” about this movie when it was first announced (circa 206) when Broad Green Productions hired the film’s director (Cretton) and actor Michael B. Jordan in the lead role. It was then eventually bought by Warner Bros (the films rights) when Broad Green Productions went Bankrupt. So, I really didn’t hear much about the film until I saw the movie trailer for Just Mercy, which did prove to be quite an interesting tale. Sure, it sort of looked like the generic “legal drama” yarn (judging from the trailer alone), but I was intrigued by it, especially with the film starring Jordan as well as actor Jamie Foxx. I did repeatedly keep on seeing the trailer for the film every time I went to my local movie theater (usually attached to any movie I was seeing with a PG rating and above). So, suffice to say, that Just Mercy’s trailer preview sort of kept me invested and waiting me to see it. Thus, I finally got the chance to see the feature a couple of days ago and I’m ready to share my thoughts on the film. And what are they? Well, good ones….to say the least. While the movie does struggle within the standard framework of similar projects, Just Mercy is a solid legal drama that has plenty of fine cinematic nuances and great performances from its leads. It’s not the “be all to end all” of legal drama endeavors, but its still manages to be more of the favorable motion pictures of these projects.
Just Mercy is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, whose previous directorial works includes such movies like Short Term 6, I Am Not a Hipster, and Glass Castle. Given his past projects (consisting of shorts, documentaries, and a few theatrical motion pictures), Cretton makes Just Mercy is most ambitious endeavor, with the director getting the chance to flex his directorial muscles on a legal drama film, which (like I said above) can manage to evoke plenty of human emotions within its undertaking. ThankFully, Cretton is up to the task and never feels overwhelmed with the movie; approaching (and shaping) the film with respect and a touch of sincerity by speaking to the humanity within its characters, especially within lead characters of Stevenson and McMillian. Of course, legal dramas usually do (be the accused / defendant and his attorney) shine their cinematic lens on these respective characters, so it’s nothing original. However, Cretton does make for a compelling drama within the feature; speaking to some great character drama within its two main lead characters; staging plenty of moments of these twos individuals that ultimately work, including some of the heated courtroom sequences.
Like other recent movies (i.e. Brian Banks and The Hate U Give), Cretton makes Just Mercy have an underlining thematical message of racism and corruption that continues to play a part in the US….to this day (incredibly sad, but true). So, of course, the correlation and overall relatively between the movie’s narrative and today’s world is quite crystal-clear right from the get-go, but Cretton never gets overzealous / preachy within its context; allowing the feature to present the subject matter in a timely manner and doesn’t feel like unnecessary or intentionally a “sign of the times” motif. Additionally, the movie also highlights the frustration (almost harsh) injustice of the underprivileged face on a regular basis (most notable those looking to overturn their cases on death row due to negligence and wrongFully accused). Naturally, as somewhat expected (yet still palpable), Just Mercy is a movie about seeking the truth and uncovering corruption in the face of a broken system and ignorant prejudice, with Cretton never shying away from some of the ugly truths that Stevenson faced during the film’s story.
Plus, as a side-note, it’s quite admirable for what Bryan Stevenson (the real-life individual) did for his career, with him as well as others that have supported him (and the Equal Justice Initiative) over the years and how he fought for and freed many wrongFully incarcerated individuals that our justice system has failed (again, the poignancy behind the film’s themes / message). It’s great to see humanity being shined and showcased to seek the rights of the wronged and to dispel a flawed system. Thus, whether you like the movie or not, you simply can not deny that truly meaningful job that Bryan Stevenson is doing, which Cretton helps demonstrate in Just Mercy. From the bottom of my heart…. thank you, Mr. Stevenson.
In terms of presentation, Just Mercy is a solidly made feature film. Granted, the film probably won’t be remembered for its visual background and theatrical setting nuances or even nominated in various award categories (for presentation / visual appearance), but the film certainly looks pleasing to the eye, with the attention of background aspects appropriate to the movie’s story. Thus, all the usual areas that I mention in this section (i.e. production design, set decorations, costumes, and cinematography) are all good and meet the industry standard for legal drama motion pictures. That being said, the film’s score, which was done by Joel P. West, is quite good and deliver some emotionally drama pieces in a subtle way that harmonizes with many of the feature’s scenes.
There are a few problems that I noticed with Just Mercy that, while not completely derailing, just seem to hold the feature back from reaching its Full creative cinematic potential. Let’s start with the most prevalent point of criticism (the one that many will criticize about), which is the overall conventional storytelling of the movie. What do I mean? Well, despite the strong case that the film delves into a “based on a true story” aspect and into some pretty wholesome emotional drama, the movie is still structed into a way that it makes it feel vaguely formulaic to the touch. That’s not to say that Just Mercy is a generic tale to be told as the film’s narrative is still quite engaging (with some great acting), but the story being told follows quite a predictable path from start to finish. Granted, I never really read Stevenson’s memoir nor read anything about McMillian’s case, but then I still could easily figure out how the movie was presumably gonna end…. even if the there were narrative problems / setbacks along the way. Basically, if you’ve seeing any legal drama endeavor out there, you’ll get that same formulaic touch with this movie. I kind of wanted see something a little bit different from the film’s structure, but the movie just ends up following the standard narrative beats (and progressions) of the genre. That being said, I still think that this movie is definitely probably one of the better legal dramas out there.
This also applies to the film’s script, which was penned by Cretton and Andrew Lanham, which does give plenty of solid entertainment narrative pieces throughout, but lacks the finesse of breaking the mold of the standard legal drama. There are also a couple parts of the movie’s script handling where you can tell that what was true and what fictional. Of course, this is somewhat a customary point of criticism with cinematic tales taking a certain “poetic license” when adapting a “based on a true story” narrative, so it’s not super heavily critical point with me as I expect this to happen. However, there were a few times I could certainly tell what actually happen and what was a tad bit fabricated for the movie. Plus, they were certain parts of the narrative that could’ve easily fleshed out, including what Morrison’s parents felt (and actually show them) during this whole process. Again, not a big deal-breaker, but it did take me out of the movie a few times. Lastly, the film’s script also focuses its light on a supporting character in the movie and, while this made with well-intention to flesh out the character, the camera spotlight on this character sort of goes off on a slight tangent during the feature’s second act. Basically, this storyline could’ve been removed from Just Mercy and still achieve the same palpability in the emotional department. It’s almost like the movie needed to chew up some runtime and the writers to decided to fill up the time with this side-story. Again, it’s good, but a bit slightly unnecessary.
What does help overlook (and elevate) some of these criticisms is the film’s cast, which are really good and definitely helps bring these various characters to life in a theatrical /dramatic way. Leading the charge in Just Mercy is actor Michael B. Jordan, who plays the film’s central protagonist role of Bryan Stevenson. Known for his roles in Creed, Fruitvale Station, and Black Panther, Jordan has certain prove himself to be quite a capable actor, with the actor rising to stardom over the past few years. This is most apparent in this movie, with Jordan making a strong characteristically portrayal as Bryan; showcasing plenty of underlining determination and compelling humanity in his character as he (as Bryan Stevenson) fights for the injustice of those who’s voices have been silenced or dismissed because of the circumstances. It’s definitely a strong character built and Jordan seems quite capable to task in creating a well-acted on-screen performance of Bryan. Behind Jordan is actor Jamie Foxx, who plays the other main lead in the role, Walter McMillian. Foxx, known for his roles in Baby Driver, Django Unchained, and Ray, has certainly been recognized as a talented actor, with plenty of credible roles under his belt. His participation in Just Mercy is another well-acted performance that deserve much praise as its getting (even receiving an Oscar nod for it), with Foxx portraying Walter with enough remorseful grit and humility that makes the character quite compelling to watch. Plus, seeing him and Jordan together in a scene is quite palpable and a joy to watch.
The last of the three marquee main leads of the movie is the character of Eva Ansley, the director of operations for EJI (i.e. Stevenson’s right-handed employee / business partner), who is played by actress Brie Larson. Up against the characters of Stevenson and McMillian, Ansley is the weaker of the three main lead; presented as supporting player in the movie, which is perfectly fine as the characters gets the job done (sort of speak) throughout the film’s narrative. However, Larson, known for her roles in Room, 6 Jump Street, and Captain Marvel, makes less of an impact in the role. Her acting is fine and everything works in her portrayal of Eva, but nothing really stands in her performance (again, considering Jordan and Foxx’s performances) and really could’ve been played by another actress and achieved the same goal.
The rest of the cast, including actor Tim Blake Nelson (The Incredible Hulk and O Brother, Where Art Thou) as incarcerated inmate Ralph Meyers, actor Rafe Spall (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and The Big Short) as legal attorney Tommy Champan, actress Karan Kendrick (The Hate U Give and Family) as Minnie McMillan, Walter’s wife, actor C.J. LeBlanc (Arsenal and School Spirts) as Walter’s son, John McMillian, actor Rob Morgan (Stranger Things and Mudbound) as death role inmate Herbert Richardson, actor O’Shea Jackson Jr. (Long Shot and Straight Outta Compton) as death role inmate Anthony “Ray” Hinton, actor Michael Harding (Triple 2 and The Young and the Restless) as Sheriff Tate, and actor Hayes Mercure (The Red Road and Mercy Street) as a prison guard named Jeremy, are in the small supporting cast variety. Of course, some have bigger roles than others, but all of these players, which are all acted well, bolster the film’s story within the performances and involvement in Just Mercy’s narrative.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It’s never too late to fight for justice as Bryan Stevenson fights for the injustice of Walter McMillian’s cast against a legal system that is flawed in the movie Just Mercy. Director Destin Daniel Cretton’s latest film takes a stance on a poignant case; demonstrating the injustice of one (and by extension those wrongFully incarcerated) and wrapping it up in a compelling cinematic story. While the movie does struggle within its standard structure framework (a sort of usual problem with “based on a true story” narrations) as well as some formulaic beats, the movie still manages to rise above those challenges (for the most part), especially thanks to Cretton’s direction (shaping and storytelling) and some great performances all around (most notable in Jordan and Foxx). Personally, I liked this movie. Sure, it definitely had its problem, but those didn’t distract me much from thoroughly enjoying this legal drama feature. Thus, my recommendation for the film is a solid “recommended”, especially those who liked the cast and poignant narratives of legality struggles and the injustice of a failed system / racism. In the end, while the movie isn’t the quintessential legal drama motion picture and doesn’t push the envelope in cinematic innovation, Just Mercy still is able to manage to be a compelling drama that’s powerful in its story, meaningful in its journey, and strong within its statement. Just like Bryan Stevenson says in the movie….” If we could look at ourselves closely…. we can change this world for the better”. Amen to that! | https://medium.com/therese-the-girl-who-disappeared-nrk1/1x4-therese-the-girl-who-disappeared-documentary-s1e4-1-episode-4-tv-online-89e0dba8468c | ['Rival Sayah'] | 2020-11-27 15:04:10.400000+00:00 | ['Documentary'] |
Another Tesla Record | The capitalization of Tesla (TSLA), a leading company in the electric car sector, exceeded $500 billion for the first time.
This is a milestone that has long seemed within reach of the company, whose shares have gone — in the space of eight months — from a value of 107 dollars to that recorded yesterday of 555.4 dollars, for a positive percentage change of 419%.
Tesla continues to dominate
Tesla is undoubtedly a young seedling in a sector — such as the automotive one. Still, its nature as a “first mover” in the sector’s electricity branch has allowed it to record growth at a record rate.
From the close of the stock market on Friday to the session on Tuesday, the company’s shares jumped 13.6%, with the share capitalization that has now crossed the threshold of 500 billion euros (526.4, to be exact).
This is a value that allows Tesla to overcome the aggregate market capitalization of some of the world’s leading automotive companies such as Toyota, Volkswagen, General Motors, Ford, FCA, and the PSA Group.
With the debut on the S&P 500 index at the gates — a sort of coronation for the young Californian company — Tesla is preparing to greet a year that has profoundly revolutionized the company’s prospects and, more generally, those of the electricity sector. An ascent that has inevitably also filled the pockets of Elon Musk, now — as certified by Bloomberg — in second place in the ranking of the world’s billionaires. | https://medium.com/@theclaudiajoseph/another-tesla-record-ce1d244d810f | ['Claudia Joseph'] | 2020-11-26 18:40:24.706000+00:00 | ['Trading', 'Tesla', 'Stocks', 'Elon Musk', 'Stock Market'] |
滙控渣打可恢復派息 | A columnist in political development in Greater China region, technology and gadgets, media industry, parenting and other interesting topics. | https://medium.com/@frederickyeung-59743/%E6%BB%99%E6%8E%A7%E6%B8%A3%E6%89%93%E5%8F%AF%E6%81%A2%E5%BE%A9%E6%B4%BE%E6%81%AF-4e5b22e7c43d | ['C Y S'] | 2020-12-11 00:24:15.326000+00:00 | ['Government', 'Hong Kong'] |
Never Give Up! | Here’s a motivational affirmation.
Is it? Or is it not?
When you’re stress-free, you find it the most beautiful slogan and you think it is easy to dedicate yourself to it.
But when you’re gripped by the pressure of doubt for what you’re doing, since the results don’t come out, when you have high hopes and they only come true 5 or 10% or maybe even less, even though you feel that you’ve put in a huge effort, this expression seems very far and very false.
After I published something about myself, in which I wrote the story of progress through perseverance, I received a lot of likes and a lot of congratulations.
Thank you, everyone!
Does that mean I’ve never given up on a project I started?
Unfortunately, I’m afraid I did it.
Because I’ve lacked some knowledge of how to connect to personal resources. However, from each, I learned a lot of things.
Today I’m talking about fighting from within while you persevere.
Fight from within
It’s very easy to tell affirmations like the ones in the title, but the truth is that after you face a lot of no, there’s a bitter battle going on inside you.
Part of you tells you not to give up, to move on to keep doing what you started and you’re going to succeed.
Another part of you, it’s overwhelmed by failure. You feel like your stomach is tightening, your heart is like a lump and tied to what you’re doing. You feel a huge pressure that presses you from the inside out as if it’s ready to explode.
I’ve felt that many times in what I’ve done. After receiving many refusals as an advertiser, without having read anything about perseverance, I managed to achieve some very good results.
But during that activity, it worked not only perseverance but also motivation. I was motivated to move on, to continue to approach companies for advertising contracts, because I had no choice.
If I didn’t make it, I’d soon starve to death.
That reminds me of a story I heard on a course.
Motivation, perseverance and their role
After the Romans crossed the English Sea and landed to conquer the territory of England, their ruler gave an order. When the soldiers looked back, they realized that all the ships they had come with were burning. From that moment on, they had nothing to go back to their country. They had a choice, to die in battle or to defeat and conquer England.
Many fell (gave up their lives), but others continued to fight and put even more effort into it because they had no choice. Either they died or they won.
This is a model of motivation. Something similar motivated me. Even though I remained a teacher, that summer I acted as if I had my ships burned, because I had no other solution.
But it wasn’t always like that.
Should I act less or more?
Since the summer of 2010, I started to show the marketing plan for a network marketing business. I hadn’t burned my ships at that time.
I was no longer motivated by hunger, but the desire to make money to buy an apartment.
In courses and seminars, on CDs, we were told that you can get results if you show at the plan at least 8 times a month.
And it’s true. You get results, but quite poor.
Showing eight plans a month it’s very excruciating. Most responses are negative. Emotional consumption is huge. When you go twice a week to show the business model, you start thinking about the process too much.
You get too much hope that doesn’t come true and you start over-analyzing things. This process of thought and analysis paralyzes you with fear and doubt.
You don’t have the guts to get your hands on the phone, to call. You think this is always a bad time. Maybe the person is eating, maybe he’s asleep, maybe he doesn’t want to answer, maybe he doesn’t like you, maybe…
Your hands shake when you touch your phone. You try to make a plan in your mind about what you want to say, but when you hear your phone being answered, fear has blocked your brain and you don’t know what to say, not even who you are and why you called.
Then, talk to the upline.
I was lucky. I had an upline that had patience with me and explained many things to me. And after I talked to her, I felt better.
Slowly the results, which, however weak, gave me confidence that it could do it and helped me move on.
At a seminar, I found out that you have even better results if you show the plan 15 times.
At first, I thought if it was so hard for me to show the plan eight times, 15 times it would be impossible. But the upline explained to me that it was actually the opposite.
The more you do it, the more you keep your brain busy, the less you think and you stop worrying so much. You no longer focus on the refusal of the man in front of you, but on the fact that you have a target, and you must achieve it.
Even if one turned you down, you know you have one more chance with the next, then the next marketing plan you show, and so on.
And I did so.
Indeed, fear existed, but not as intensely as at 8 plans. Perseverance has yielded better results.
I remember in a month I got almost 12–13 rejections one after the other. I was about to give up, but the upline told me it was nothing, that’s how it is in life, in business and just to move on. I did that and when I got to the next person, she made me a 200-point order. I was super-excited. That order counterbalanced all the refusals I received.
At the seminars, I heard leaders saying they showed 2–3 even 5 marketing plans a day. That means between 60–150 plans a month.
No wonder they got such quick results.
The brain didn’t have time to think, to get scared, to create theories, to precipitous images. He obeyed orders he received from the conscious mind.
It didn’t matter that one or the other said no. All that mattered was that after he left there, he would show another plan and then another one and so on.
At the end of the month, when he looked at things, he noticed the results. And these have accumulated over time.
The fewer plans I made, the more I consumed myself. The more I motivated myself and worked more, the more my fears melted away.
Barrier of terror
What I’m saying is that the difference between giving up and perseverance is the way you manage the inner pressure of rejections.
That reminds me of another story.
A grandfather talked to his nephew and told him that inside of us, each of us had two wolves. One is evil, unjust, creepy, full of prejudice, and the other is kind, gentle, optimistic, confident, and full of love. The two wolves are constantly in battle. “And who wins?” asked the nephew. “The one you feed more”, Grandpa replied.
When you face many rejections, you feel the two wolves inside you struggling and each comes up with arguments, which are stronger.
Some say this moment is the barrier of terror.
The good wolf wants to get through, to succeed in what he set out to do. It’s his mission to get the job done.
The evil wolf creates pain given by numerous refusals, by the fears that dominate it, by concerns.
He’s starting to reproach you for the time you’ve wasted, the money you hoped to earn, and it didn’t happen. It tells you horror stories about people who have lost everything, that’s just a big lie, etc.
He finds objections to everything you want to do. The market is already over-crowded, people don’t want the product you’re showing, they haven’t turned down the product, they’ve turned you down, they didn’t like you, because you’re destined to stay poor, because those who succeed know a secret that they don’t tell you, etc.
Who wins? Depends on who’s stronger for you. Fear or motivation.
When you let fear take over your whole being, you don’t have the courage to talk to someone else. You’re afraid he’ll make laugh of you, of your weaknesses, or judge you and criticize you even worse.
If fear is greater than motivation, it is very easy to give up, to go back to your life before that action.
If you are motivated, then you continue and persevere and eventually get results and overcome fear.
And last but not least, if you’re motivated and the bad wolf gives you trouble, you start talking to your mentor. This one, who has more experience than you, will know how to say a word of encouragement to get you out of that state.
You alone can’t overcome this barrier of terror, but with help from mentors, you certainly succeed.
And sometimes help can be one word, one expression, one look. He can tell you: I know you can, or I trust you or help you with an unlocking technique and after that, you feel relieved.
Other times, after talking to your mentor and he is giving you a solution, things become simple and easy to navigate again and you realize that fear has played tricks on you and was about to fool you.
And then, it’s very easy for you to say, NEVER GIVE UP!
Best regards,
Fănica Rarinca
Blogger at Fanautodidact
Author of Patronel and Soriela, a fantasy and self-improvement for children book, Eliberează-te de rănile trecutului și redescoperă fericirea! — a book in Romanian language for self-help and healing the trauma from the past, Mica Stea Portocalie — a fantasy novel with emotional education for YA and adults. | https://medium.com/@fanica-rarinca/never-give-up-54bcb7291538 | ['Fanica Rarinca'] | 2020-12-23 21:31:06.470000+00:00 | ['Fear', 'Terror', 'Motivation', 'Perseverance', 'Never Give Up'] |
how to fix SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: No such host is… | how to fix SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: No such host is known.
i installed laravel v 8
If you are on production server and the .env file doesn’t work at all, go to /bootstrap/cache/config.php and on the line 230 more or less you will find the database data that is beeing cached from the .env file. | https://medium.com/@agustyapratama001/how-to-fix-sqlstate-hy000-2002-php-network-getaddresses-getaddrinfo-failed-no-such-host-is-3ab01e4cceff | ['Agustya Pratama'] | 2020-12-09 04:07:54.158000+00:00 | ['Artisan Migrate Error', 'Laravel', 'Php Artisan Migrate Error'] |
The Power Of Tracking & Budgeting | Ignorance Of Finances
The vast majority of people are completely unaware of their financial situation. Even if they are, they swipe it under the rug and continue to struggle with this area of their lives.
The majority of people practice unhealthy financial practices such as:
Debt accumulation (Loans, Financing, etc.)
Spending more than they make
Practicing stagnation with the amount of income they make
Lack of saving and investing
Lack of tracking and budgeting
Lack of financial literacy
The list goes on.
The point is that most people are uneducated when it comes to the topic of building wealth. They weren’t taught these things in school or by their parents and so they just go with the flow of their ignorance and get themselves into unhealthy situations financially.
The single biggest change that we can make in our financial situation is to track and budget our spending. If we understand where our money goes and practice self-discipline then we can take control of our ability to gain freedom through the vehicle of financial independence.
Let’s go through the most common financial problems and how we can get around them to move towards a more secure financial future:
Debt Accumulation
In our society, it is unbelievably easy to fall into the trap of accumulating an enormous amount of debt in a short period of time. The system is designed or set up in such a way that people who don’t know what they are doing can get themselves in financial trouble very easily.
The main sources of this debt are student loans, financing vehicles, mortgages, taking out other loans, credit cards, so on and so forth.
Avoid these things until you can actually afford to buy whatever it is that you would like with cash. If you don’t have at least 3 times the amount of the purchase you want to make then don’t even think of buying it.
For example, if you want to buy a $100,000 car and don’t have at least $300,000 then you have no business buying that car. If you can’t comfortably purchase more than one of the item then it’s an absolute no when it comes to making the purchase.
Negative Cash Flow
Having negative cash flow just means that you're spending more money than you are actually earning. This ties intimately with debt accumulation.
Almost everyone, if they tracked correctly, would realize that they are either coming extremely close to having negative cash flow or are already passed the point of spending more than they make. This is a scary habit to develop because no matter how much money you make, you come out short as a result of this addiction to spending.
Set a budget and practice self-discipline with those budgets. Also, track what the biggest categories of spending are for your unique situation. For most people, housing, transportation, and food are the major culprits when it comes to spending more than we make. Let’s go into them a bit deeper below:
Housing
Housing costs can quickly add up, especially if you live in an expensive area. If you can, split rent with other people and keep utilities to a minimum.
This will allow you to free up much needed resources for the future.
Transportation
Transportation can also add up very quickly if we are not careful. Carpool with others if you can, ride a bike, look for cheaper insurance — these are all viable options to reduce the cost of your transportation.
Food
This, in my opinion, is the biggest and most insidious category that goes under people’s radars.
Last month, I spent $600 on food. I was absolutely shocked once I started using the Mint app and tracked every category of where my money was spent. Therefore, I set a budget for $150 a month on food and just by doing that, I have dramatically lowered the cost of my food spending.
Cook your meals, look for deals on healthy food, stop going out so much and if you do go out then meal prep ahead of time to avoid unnecessary food expenditures.
Income Stagnation
Many people are making a certain income and seem to keep themselves stuck at that certain level of income. They don’t look for new ways to increase their income or change their mental approach as to how to make money.
The solution to this consists in a few things. Firstly, look for new ways to make more of an income on the side because once you’re awareness is open to it, you’ll find solutions.
Secondly, surround yourself with people who earn way more than you do. By doing this, you will pick up the beliefs, mindsets, and behaviors and eventually move towards a place of real wealth. We become who we surround ourselves with.
Increasing your income combined with the focus on reducing spending is a powerful combination.
Lack Of Saving & Investing
Saving and investing is like watching grass grow, it is not exciting at all but it is a necessary habit to implement if you want to build real wealth.
The solution to this is to automate systems so that both saving and investing work automatically without your willpower. Set up an account such as a Roth IRA, index fund, so on and so forth and automate your savings. Start with $100 per month.
Lack Of Tracking & Budgeting
This one can be solved by downloading an app such as Mint and checking it every single day. Create a habit of doing this and you will already be ahead of most people in terms of finance.
Lack Of Financial Literacy
The vast majority of people are uneducated financially. The solution to this is to become curious about finances and learn as much as you can from high quality resources.
Read books about money and finance, listen to podcasts, read blogs, go to seminars, as long as you learn about finances then you will end up in a good place in the future.
These are the biggest financial culprits. | https://zaiderrr.medium.com/the-power-of-tracking-budgeting-6dae0493f65f | ['Zaid K. Dahhaj'] | 2018-08-25 13:43:35.830000+00:00 | ['Investing', 'Self Improvement', 'Money', 'Psychology', 'Finance'] |
TRUMP’S LEGAL CAMPAIGN | TRUMP’S LEGAL CAMPAIGN: It’s not actually a legal campaign. Trump wants a big helping of resentment about how the election was stolen from him to warm him through the cold nights of his exile from power and to keep his base, which is founded on the politics of resentment. It’s a good strategy for Trump, especially if he actually believes he was robbed (probably he does.) He’s got good instincts. His handlers may not see this as clearly. This is Trump’s Munich Putsch period.
Our task (we Democrats) is to kill Trump while he is down. Federal charges for sedition are in order, along with the inevitable criminal and civil charges he’ll face. I know there’s some chance of martyrdom, but hefty jail time may take him off the board.
I’m not sure Joe has the stomach to put paid to Trump, and that worries me. He’s already trying to make nice.
I’m not sure Trump is replaceable in the populist right. That’s good news. He may be one of a kind, like Napoleon or Hitler. There wasn’t a Mussolini Junior. We have to put him away. | https://medium.com/@hankvandenburgh/trumps-legal-campaign-dd244774d40e | ['Hank Vandenburgh'] | 2020-11-23 00:49:24.386000+00:00 | ['Politics And Elections', 'Right Wing', 'Legal', 'Fascism', 'Trump'] |
Harvesting prosperity through innovation and technology in agriculture | The history of early human advancement is the history of harvesting prosperity from agricultural innovation. In Harvesting Prosperity: Technology and Productivity Growth in Agriculture, we argue that this focus on raising agricultural productivity remains as urgent today as ever. Some stylized facts:
Nearly 80% percent of the world’s poor live in rural areas, and many depend on farming for their livelihood. Productivity growth in agriculture has the largest impact of any sector on poverty reduction — roughly twice that of manufacturing. (See accompanying chart) Rising productivity in China and other countries of East Asia has contributed to impressive reductions in poverty, but has been too low to have similar impacts in Africa and in South Asia, precisely where the largest remaining pockets of extreme poverty are to be found.
Despite increases in world agricultural productivity over the last few decades, global undernourishment remains significant and is on the rise, reaching 821 million people in 2017 (FAO et al. 2018).
Climate change will hit agriculture hard particularly where large numbers of poor people live. Climate change models suggest warming of 1 to 2 degrees by 2050 from the pre-industrial level (IPCC 2018) and the FAO estimates a 3–10% decline in average global cereal yields for every 1-degree Celsius increase.
Agriculture productivity is lower and is growing more slowly in poor countries, impeding their income convergence to the advanced economies.
Globally, the vast majority of increases in output have been precisely through increases in Total Factor Productivity rather than expanding use of land or inputs. This is increasingly true for developing countries as well. However, this progress has been uneven across the different regions of the world. In particular, productivity growth has been low in some of the poorest regions, i.e. South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Hence, understanding the determinants of productivity growth becomes central. One school of thought views the rural small holder sector as inefficient in resources use, a drag on development, and, hence, prevented from moving to more productive jobs by compromised factor markets. Harvesting Prosperity presents evidence that the gains from reallocating land and labor are probably smaller than often thought, but that there are great gains to be had from investments in the generation and diffusion of knowledge. It shows that a common, although conceptually flawed, measure of labor markets distortion, the gap in average labor productivities between agriculture and industry, when corrected by actual time spent in the field, effectively disappears. Theory suggests that efficiency demands that marginal productivities be equated and, in India, the report finds that the best proxy available, wages, are surprisingly similar across sectors. Similarly, recent work suggests that there are not great gains to be had by either breaking apart large holdings or consolidating small ones. Productivity growth can occur easily in both.
On the other hand, there does appear to be great potential gains for investment in knowledge generation and diffusion. As an example, estimates of rates of return to R&D in agriculture routinely fall between 30–40%, higher than many alternative investments. However, R&D as a share of agricultural GDP is 6 times higher in advanced countries than developing countries; R&D/worker is 50 times higher. Levels of real spending have been rising in China and parts of Asia but are falling in half of African countries. And this, exactly at a time when they face challenges on the poverty, food security and climate adaption fronts.
Hence, the focus is on how countries can close this research gap, as well as facilitate the adoption of new technologies by farmers. On the first count, in addition to better allocating state resources dedicated to the sector, the global emergence of private R&D providers offers potential to strengthen national R&D efforts. However, this demands establishing an enabling environment that is encouraging to such actors.
On the second point, recent research on the role of bias against agriculture, uncertainty, information asymmetries, weak human capital, poor access to product, insurance and financial markets suggests multiple failures that governments may need to tackle more or less simultaneously, in order to facilitate the adoption of these new technologies by farmers.
Another new actor — global value chains (GVCs) — offers both a way to expand markets and an alternative means of remedying market failures in a synchronized way than direct government interventions. Under the right conditions, GVCs offer credit, insurance and product markets for farmers affiliated with them. What is required is, again, an enabling environment that ensures profitability for the lead GVC firm, as well as a legal system that enforces contracts from firm to firm. For instance, if the lead firm provides fertilizer and credit, it wants to be sure that the final product, indeed, is sold to them.
Irrigated wheat fields in Zambia. Photo: © Arne Hoel/World Bank
The agenda to increase agricultural productivity and make the rural poor more resilient to the adverse shocks likely to prevail is as urgent as ever. Fortunately, governments have new private sector actors and tools at their disposal if they embrace the necessary reforms.
Note: Harvesting Prosperity: Technology and Productivity in Agriculture is the fourth volume in the World Bank’s Productivity Project series, which examines the ‘productivity paradox’ of a persistent slowdown in productivity growth despite technological advancements.
Read more World Bank blogs and stories. | https://medium.com/world-of-opportunity/harvesting-prosperity-through-innovation-and-technology-in-agriculture-7dafb7b65bfa | ['World Bank'] | 2019-09-16 16:10:27.034000+00:00 | ['Innovation', 'Poverty', 'Climate Change', 'Technology', 'Agriculture'] |
Delivering Safety: Nuro’s Approach | When we built the first fully self-driving, on-road vehicle designed to transport goods, we had two goals in mind. We wanted to give people more time to spend on the things they love, and to make our roads safer.
From the ground up, our vehicles are designed for safety. They incorporate creative innovations that give them the potential to be the safest vehicles on the road.
To explain to the world how we are prioritizing safety, today we’re releasing Delivering Safety: Nuro’s Approach, our first public safety report. The report outlines both our vision for safer roads with Nuro’s vehicles on them, as well as the specific progress we have made to include safety considerations into every step of the design, manufacturing and operation of this new type of vehicle. This report follows National Highway Traffic Safety Administration guidance, and reflects our significant engagement with community and government stakeholders at the local, state, and federal level.
Our approach to safety started at the company’s inception, with the choice to design a custom goods-only vehicle. This vehicle could be engineered for safety more comprehensively than traditional passenger vehicles. Some of our strategies include:
A passengerless design that enabled engineering innovations in our first custom self-driving vehicle, making it lighter, narrower, nimbler, and operated at lower speeds.
that enabled engineering innovations in our first custom self-driving vehicle, making it lighter, narrower, nimbler, and operated at lower speeds. Custom hardware that is among the industry’s most advanced, coupled with self-driving software capable of continual improvement validated through extensive testing.
that is among the industry’s most advanced, coupled with self-driving software capable of continual improvement validated through extensive testing. A layered fallback strategy , including the continual development of multiple backup trajectories, so that we can always choose the safest option.
, including the continual development of multiple backup trajectories, so that we can always choose the safest option. Hardware redundancy — including in some cases triple redundancy — across all critical components: computer systems, communication, power, steering, braking, and throttle.
— including in some cases triple redundancy — across all critical components: computer systems, communication, power, steering, braking, and throttle. A comprehensive vehicle operator training program featuring extensive screening, on-boarding, on-road training, and continuous improvement.
While Nuro is a young company, we’re proud of the progress we’ve made, our focus on safety, and the real service our manned vehicles are currently providing to people in Arizona. We believe it is important to share our approach to safety now as we prepare for the deployment of our custom vehicles on public roads this fall.
Read the Nuro Safety Report » | https://medium.com/nuro/delivering-safety-6eb859223868 | ['Nuro Team'] | 2018-09-13 19:25:14.655000+00:00 | ['Autonomous Cars', 'Retail', 'Self Driving Cars', 'Mobility', 'Robotics'] |
What Do Postpartum Doulas Do When No One’s Looking? | Postpartum doulas ease the transition from a family of two to a family of three, four or more. They listen and respond to your concerns about feeding, sleeping, rashes, hiccups, umbilical cords, postpartum care and depression, offering you evidence-based information; they assist you with breastfeeding, latch and position; bottle feeding and burping, diaper changes, baby baths and more; they calm your new-parent nerves and help soothe your baby’s cries.
Photo by Filip Mroz on Unsplash
Sometimes just knowing that I’m in the house allows new moms to relax enough to take a shower and crawl into bed for a delicious nap. They know that if their baby stirs, I’ll be there to take care of him or her until the next feeding.
While you and your baby are getting the sleep you so desperately need, I’m making life a little easier for you. I may be…
Starting a load of baby’s laundry Refilling the diaper stations Cleaning the dirty dishes in the sink Prepping a healthy snack for when you wake up Emptying the dishwasher Wiping down the kitchen counters Folding and putting away baby’s clothes Making a list of household items I noticed needs to be replenished Preparing a nutritious lunch or dinner Sterilizing bottles and nipples Organizing or tidying baby’s room (if baby is sleeping in mom’s room) Emptying the diaper pail Gathering resources or referrals for you, specific to your needs or requests
And when I’m not at work in your house, I can be found completing my required Continuing Education Units (CEUs) in order to maintain my doula certification. Some certifying agencies, like DONA, require 18 hours of CEUs every three years. I may be attending a seminar or conference; reviewing the latest research or presenting a talk. I may be refreshing my infant CPR skills to stay sharp and keep my certification current. I may be networking in my community and yours so I can refer my clients to people I know and trust.
Postpartum doulas support new parents when they bring their baby home and need emotional support and hands-on help. Whether a client is awake or asleep, postpartum doulas are working hard to serve the specific needs of a family. What would you like your postpartum doula to do for you?
Bonni Berger is a Postpartum Doula based outside of Washington, DC. To read more of her content, check out her blog at bethesdadoula.com. | https://medium.com/@bonniberger/what-do-postpartum-doulas-do-when-no-ones-looking-e7d92c62497e | ['Bonni Berger'] | 2019-10-19 20:03:43.759000+00:00 | ['Motherhood', 'Newborn', 'Pregnancy', 'Doula', 'Baby'] |
5 Lessons I Learned During Intermittent Fasting | Have you tried intermittent fasting? Or does the mere idea of fasting turn you off? It seems, that lately, a lot of people talk about intermittent fasting, and some of them promise incredible results. Well… Those might be an exaggeration.
Here’s how I got involved, and some of my key learning lessons.
I have diabetes. And one of the most powerful diabetes eating plans (or should I say not-eating plans) is fasting. Not that everyone agrees.
But when I came across it in Dr. Fung’s Diabetes Code, I paid close attention.
Of course, there was another reason I was attracted to intermittent fasting: I wanted to lose weight. Once I realized that fasting didn’t necessarily mean that I would have to fast for days at a time, I decided to give it a try.
Basically, the easiest and most popular version of intermittent fasting means scheduling an eating window and a fasting window every day. So how long would these windows have to be? The most popular plan suggests 8 hours of eating and 16 hours of fasting, but some people start with a shorter fasting window. So I decided to experiment.
For me, the easiest way to get started was skipping breakfast. I’m not much of a breakfast eater to begin with. Unfortunately, the reason for that was that I had a habit to eat late at night, and even in the middle of the night. No wonder I wasn’t hungry first thing in the morning.
To make fasting work, though, those nightly munch fests had to go. So I worked on it, and gradually got used to not eating late at night.
And at first, my weight did go down, for a while. But then, I discovered Crystal Light, along with Diet Snapple, especially the singles-to-go version. They were mighty tasty and had zero calories. After a while, I could go through a pack of them in a day. In fact, I was guzzling those drinks all day and all night long, especially during my fasting window.
And one day I noticed that my weight was creeping up again. That wasn’t good. I was eating less than ever, and yet…
Enter the Fasting Challenge
One day, I came across a message on Facebook about a two-week Fasting Challenge. I knew the organizers from my past involvement in internet marketing, so I sent an email asking about which version of intermittent fasting they were doing. Ellen, one of the organizers, replied that they were doing the 16–8 plan, which means eating for 8 hours a day, and fasting for 16. That’s what I wanted to do, so I signed up.
The Clean Fast
I was immediately in for a shock. They practiced something called a clean fast. This meant that during the fasting window, only water, unflavored green tea, and black coffee were allowed. No coffee with cream. No Crystal Light. Oh no!
But I decided to go with it. My Crystal Light habit had gotten really out of hand, and it was time to break it. In the meantime, I had also learned that all that aspartame really hurts the gut flora.
As for coffee, I only like it with cream. Ellen said I’d learn to love black coffee, but so far I haven’t. No problem. I just skip it during the fasting window. After all, green tea was allowed, and so I have that, along with the water.
The Eating Window
While the rules about fasting were strict, there were few rules about eating. I had been on a low-carb and/or keto diet for years, and planned to maintain it. It has helped me to keep diabetes somewhat in check, along with the medications I was taking. So I was glad there was no pressure to do anything else.
However, the organizers were big into vegan eating, and that caused a few problems. Their recipes were totally unsuitable for my own eating plan. They included cake recipes with lots of sugar and flour, along with luscious photographs. Then there were fruity drinks with lots of fruit and/or sugar, plus pasta, pizza, and other dishes high in starches. I skipped them all.
The actual rules were to eat until I’m satisfied but not stuffed. That was it. There were no rules about what exactly to eat, other than that it should be natural and relatively unprocessed. But what exactly is “satisfied”?
And there was a question I didn’t think of asking: “How often should I eat during my eating window?” Some of the members were experimenting with the OMAD version, which means having one meal a day, but that wasn’t something I wanted to do.
What about weight loss?
The main reason why I was fasting was to lose weight. But nothing happened. I did fit into a slightly smaller pair of pants after a while, but still… The weight stayed steady and then, it even went up a few pounds. From fasting! That wasn’t what I had planned.
And I wasn’t the only one who had that problem. The organizers focused on “non-scale” victories. And yes, there were some of those. I slept better, and felt better during the day. But still…
What was stopping my weight loss? Curiously, suggested problems included eating too many calories OR eating too few. But no specifics were forthcoming.
Learning from Apps
I had started tracking my fasting with the Zero app. That was actually helping quite a lot with keeping track of my eating and fasting windows, and it kept me motivated. It also offered a few interesting articles.
And when the calorie issue came up, I added the Lose It app, where I listed all my food.
I was definitely not eating too little. But I also stayed within the range that should have allowed me to lose at least a little weight. But then I noticed a potential issue…
My Big Mistake
I was taking the phrase “eating window” entirely too literally. I was eating (and adding items to my list) throughout the window: three meals, a snack or three here and there, all within 8 hours. Hmmm.
Doing some research on YouTube, I came across Dr. Ekberg’s videos and discovered that I needed to cut down on the number of times I ate. Sure, I could eat a meal towards the beginning of the 8-hour window, and one at the end. Maybe even a snack.
But I had to remember the effect that eating had on insulin. Every time I caused my insulin to spike, the additional insulin laid down more fat. What’s worse, that fat would go right to my stomach.
And yes, even aspartame and Splenda caused insulin spikes, along with some gut flora damage. Even though I hardly use any artificial sweeteners anymore, even during my eating window, it will take some time for the damage it has already done to reverse.
One good thing about my diet… keto or low-carb meals cause a much lower insulin spike than carb-rich meals, so I know that I have at least one advantage here.
What I’ve learned so far.
Here’s what I’ve learned about fasting so far that might help my weight move in the right direction:
Meal frequency: One meal at the beginning and one meal at the end of my eating window. Maybe a snack. And no drinks that wouldn’t fit in my fasting window in between. The good news is that fasting makes this fairly easy because I’m hardly ever hungry during my fasting window. The main danger is mindless eating or social eating. No more artificial sweeteners: I still have a lot of protein bars that have been sweetened with Splenda. There’s even some stuff with aspartame. But I mostly stopped eating them, and I stopped replenishing that supply altogether. Now, I’m super careful about buying only things that contain no artificial sweeteners at all. Stick with keto: In order to keep my insulin as low as possible, I’ll also stick with keto or at least a low-carb plan. It has definitely helped so far, and my blood sugar is doing well. It even keeps hunger under control. That’s what I’ve been doing so far, and will continue to do. I’m glad that my favorite experts, Dr. Fung and Dr. Ekberg agree. That helps my motivation when I’m tempted to slack off. Add exercise: I haven’t been moving enough, so I’ll add some walking and weights. I just got myself a step counter and will start using it. Decrease stress: Stress also causes insulin spikes, according to numerous experts, including, yes, Dr. Ekberg. So I’m going to try to keep it as low as possible. Among the things I do to lower my stress levels are meditation, breathing exercises, and reading for pleasure. I’m sure the walks will help as well.
As of today, I have reached 50 days on my Zero fasting app. And as of today, I’ll diligently follow the five learning lessons above. I’ll limit my eating to 2 meals a day with the occasional snack, but never more than one. All my meals will be low in carbs as well.
I’ll also avoid artificial sweeteners, and add a walk and some weight or strengthening exercises several times a week. And finally, I’ll do at least two of the three things that I’ve found effective for lowering my stress.
I can hardly wait what the results will be when I hit day 100 in the zero app! I know I’ll feel better and healthier, but I’m pretty sure that my weight will finally start moving in the right direction as well. | https://medium.com/ninja-writers/intermittent-fasting-with-surprises-2c9c988a6728 | ['Elisabeth Kuhn'] | 2020-09-28 16:02:48.317000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Intermittent Fasting', 'Health', 'Weight Loss', 'Fasting'] |
Speed of Light isn’t c. Or is it? | There are numerous things in physics which we are not certain about. But the speed of light? We are so certain about it that we even defined the length of 1 meter using it. It is the distance traveled by light in 1/299792458th of a second in a vacuum.
As discussed in the above video by Veritasium, no one has ever measured the 1-way speed of light. We have always calculated the two-way speed. Therefore, if light travels at different speeds in different directions, it would imply that our value of c is incorrect.
Due to the restraints provided by general relativity, it is impossible to calculate the one-way speed of lights, the problem being syncing clocks.
The problem being interesting, I have thought about it. I am sure that we have the correct value of c. I have 2 arguments for it:
1. Stopped clocks:
One of the problems discussed in the video is the problem of syncing clocks. Before going forward with my argument, we need to grasp the meaning of time.
Time is the measure of the rate of change in a single inertial frame of reference.
According to the theory of relativity, moving frames have a different measure of time from stationary frames. That makes syncing the clocks a problem(Video for details).
But if we stop both the clocks, frozen at 00:00, moving them won't affect the sync of the clocks because nothing is changing. When we have them in position, the clocks would still be synced.
We could have a button in the middle, pressing which would start both the clocks at the same time, syncing the clocks.
I am not an expert in General Relativity, so I am not sure it works. However, I am sure of the next one.
2. Size of the Universe:
Our Universe is the distance from which light has traveled to us since The Big Bang, roughly 13.7 billion years ago, or, in other words, everything we can see from the earth belongs to our universe.
If the speed of light is c, then our universe is a perfect circle centered on us with a radius of 13.7 billion years around us. If it is not, then we are not the center, but towards the edge:
We can measure the distance between us and heavenly bodies accurately using redshift and parallax. If we can find the furthest objects we can look at from different directions, we can compare the distances. If they are roughly the same, light has traveled at the same speed towards us.
If there was such a phenomenon, I think it would have amazed physicists and we would come to know of it, and since I don't have such information, I assume we are in the center of our universe, and the speed of light is c.
Conclusion:
Since we have NASA Deep field images (images of celestial bodies more than 13 billion light-years away) from various directions, I, using my second argument, can prove c at a precision of ±3349345 m/s, as light has been found in almost every direction from a distance of 13.3 lightyears. It is not possible for me to prove this at a higher precision, as I don't have the equipment to take Deep field images.
-Rak Laptudirm | https://medium.com/@raklaptudirm/speed-of-light-isnt-c-or-is-it-ffa6e0696c5a | ['Rak Laptudirm'] | 2020-12-23 16:00:13.691000+00:00 | ['Physics', 'General Relativity', 'Proof', 'Speed Of Light'] |
Article Validates the Luxury Group Home Opportunity | I was fascinated by an article that published earlier this summer in the Seattle Times, “Aegis Living ramps up projects for a new generation of retires,” that truly validated what we are doing here at Burn$ Funding, especially with regard to our new division, Luxury Group Home
The journalist noted that a Bellevue (WA)-based company, Aegis Living, has “launched a string of new projects” in the northwest. Already with $3 billion in assets, it plans on doubling in size within the next 10 years. I can totally understand why the company’s leadership is so optimistic. I am, too, for the same reasons.
“I don’t think many people understand the kind of tectonic shifts that are happening,” said Aegis Living’s president, Kris Engskov, told the paper. “In 2035, one in 5 people will be in the retirement age. The expectation of how people are going to be taken care of will change dramatically…their expectation is very different. We’ve been designing for really a World War II generation. Now the Boomers have arrived.”
Engskov elaborated on this, adding that the industry is gearing up for a generation of clients that’s more technologically advanced and will expect hyper-personalized care.
The paper went Robert Kramer, founder of the National Investment Center for Housing and Care, who added that the industry is “recession-resistant because it (is) a need-driven product. When it’s a question of Mom needs long term care, that’s not something you could postpone for very long.”
In a 2018 study by the American Association of Retired Persons found that 77% of Americans over the age of 49 would prefer to live in their community for as long as possible, according to the paper. “Clark said the intention of Aegis Living’s complexes is to allow residents to age in a familiar sort of place, if not actually at home.”
While the market for those who can afford to live in a luxury group home are growing, another segment is growing as well — an “underserved, forgotten middle people who have too much in resources to qualify for government support but not enough resources to afford most of the private pay options out there today.”
That’s why we not only have Luxury Group Homes division, where the first mansion in Phoenix is being retrofitted as we speak, but also our more traditional Group Homes division, which is more for that latter segment of the population. Both are in great demand.
And both present tremendous opportunities for investors, who can take advantage of the kind of passive income opportunity that may, ironically, ensure their own in a luxurious setting. | https://medium.com/@peterjburnsiii/article-validates-the-luxury-group-home-opportunity-20b4596c7b49 | ['Peter Burns'] | 2019-11-14 21:39:21.074000+00:00 | ['Assisted Living', 'Financial Services', 'Investing', 'Baby Boomers', 'Group Home'] |
Why meditate? How it can drastically improve your life? | Meditation is very essential in one’s life. With exponentially growing world, obviously there exponentially growing stress rate to deal with.
This read won’t take up much of your time. I know you are well aware of why you should meditate and how it can improve your life. Sorry for the clickbait-y title :).
The only two methods of meditation that are effective to me as I have a fast paced life are Transcendental Meditation and the Do nothing meditation.
Keep in mind this is just to relax and not for spiritual awareness and become a guru. You might have to read someone else’s Medium posts for that. | https://medium.com/@aahladkethineedi/why-meditate-how-it-can-drastically-improve-your-life-3113fce4fc10 | ['Aahlad Kethineedi'] | 2020-12-18 03:57:57.690000+00:00 | ['Lifehacks', 'Stress', 'Meditation'] |
Product Thinking | If you’re in confusion how far is Product approach or UX important, let’s first get to the ‘WHY’ of it, and yes this is the first step to product thinking ie. to know the ‘WHY’ of everything.
To know the Requirement | Market
To go for a product from a project, there are processes defined, but there is a different flow for every product, based on the target users. Understanding their perspective is vital to go with the correct direction.
UX Flow
Why UX flow? > To save time and money
Understanding the priority.
Eliminating non-required processes.
Following timeline.
Product thinking enables to understand the requirement and the priority in the given timeline. For example, chat functionality would be preferred over publishing stories and posts when it’s a gaming website.
Sprint planning [Reference]
And about sprint, a short race at full speed, for PMs a short, time-boxed period when a team works to complete a set amount of work. Sprints make you complete your work in steps, which eventually develops one cycle being a scrum, a agile framework. Product thinking gives us a prototype approach wherein approval of prototype before final build and launch gives the process an angle to grow exponentially.
For a sprint to work, the prioritization is based on some parameters, so the product is altogether a result of the three factors,
User, ie. need which raises the problem
Business, ie. market study and growth perspective
& the Technology, that connects both of these
Product thinking is basically the process initiated with the user’s need followed by the planning with respect to the growth perspective and the appropriate technological aspect.
“The only thing that matters for a startup is getting to a product-market fit” from “The only thing that matters” by Marc Andreessen explains us the importance of user’s experience study ie. understanding the user’s requirement and perspective.
Product thinking implies three questions -
WHY - Need of the product
HOW - Process to be followed
WHAT - The product
It’s vital that your process delivers a solution that solves a problem, a problem that the target customer has. Even if this seems very theoretical, the process implies correct for a bottom to top approach.
“In theory there’s no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.” — Yogi Berra.
Product thinking with respect to an idea > brand
Innovation is easy, however, product approach needs a focus on users using your product. We have seen a lot of similar ideas being launched in the market, but the one sustainable is the one with a study of the market at the first place. An idea to proceed from a concept to a brand has many stages of course and it’s not a one day stuff but has certain parameters to consider.
Three pillars of an idea
Desirability - is this what they want?
Feasibility - can we do it?
Viable - is it worth doing?
Your idea must fit into all of these to be the one. Feasibility or viability won’t even come into picture if we don’t create desirability at the first point. We achieve happy convergence of successful design, the sweet spot, by starting with desirability and then translating it through these other two dimensions.
There are many tools to depict the concept to planning stage. We’ll be going through the tools in the upcoming articles. | https://uxplanet.org/product-thinking-31c47dbf5743 | ['Namrata More'] | 2020-12-28 12:57:36.537000+00:00 | ['Product Design', 'Product Thinking', 'UX', 'Product Management', 'User Research'] |
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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 Fatale 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.
Fatale 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 Fatale. 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 ‘Fataleis’! (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 “Fatale” 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 “Fatale”? What does it mean. Is it just a password? I’m none the wiser.
The manic pace of Fatale 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: Fatale’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 Fatale 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 Fatale. 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 Fatale 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. Fatale 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. Fatale 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, Fatale at least provides a unique cinematic experience. But to actually enjoy solving it Nolan wants you to work very very hard | https://medium.com/@mrgdtn4/watch-fatale-full-2020-m-o-v-i-e-s-streaming-online-f2c740a799ad | [] | 2020-12-15 07:45:59.515000+00:00 | ['Movies', 'Thriller'] |
4 Uncommon Python Tricks You Should Learn | 1. Multiple Assignment
When you want to give several variables the same values, you will often see code that repeats the assignment statement for each variable.
It may look something like the following code, which uses one separate assignment per variable:
a = 1
b = 1
c = 1
In Python, we can simplify this, and assign to every variable at once.
a = b = c = 1
# a == 1
# b == 1
# c == 1
After doing this, every variable was assigned to the right-most value in the chain. Since it just takes the right-most value, we can also replace 1 with a variable. | https://medium.com/better-programming/4-uncommon-python-tricks-you-should-learn-2d3a156c10f2 | ['Devin Soni'] | 2020-02-12 17:24:54.423000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Coding', 'Software Engineering', 'Python', 'Technology'] |
This 85-Year-Old Chef Saves My Bacon Every Day | This 85-Year-Old Chef Saves My Bacon Every Day
Help for your pandemic cooking
Photo by Katherine Lou on Unsplash
I am aware Jacques Pépin is a famous chef and has written many cookbooks — 30 to be exact. But I never paid much attention to him. I had no idea how old he was (85 and going strong) or the multitude of accolades bestowed upon him, including five honorary degrees. He wasn’t even on my radar until recently.
At the beginning of the pandemic, he started posting a short video on Facebook almost every day sharing how to make an easy but delicious dish.
“Here’s something simple I love to make for my family,” he intones at the start of the video in his charming French accent.
I got hooked and looked forward to seeing what yummy meal he would prepare next. I join up to half a million viewers; not bad for an octogenarian.
These days we are cooking at home
Most will relate: the most significant change in my life these last few pandemic months is being homebound — our busy lives surrounded by friends, family events, social obligations, and activities, ground to a halt. The second change was my husband and I began having dinner together every night for the first time in our 30-year marriage. Who’s counting, but we have had 244 dinners in a row. We catch up on our day and know what each other is doing and thinking more than ever before — a silver lining in an otherwise bleak situation.
I am an excellent cook, and in my pre-pandemic life, I prepared meals for my family and friends with pleasure and ease. I can’t wait to have friends and family around the table again — the more, the merrier.
But I have my limits. I can’t make a cake to save my life. I am never tempted to bake bread, even if I could grow a sourdough starter like everyone was enthusiastically documenting on their Instagram at the beginning of the pandemic. And 244 dinners later, my repertoire for something tasty, without spending hours planning or looking at recipes, is stretched thin.
Jacques Pépin is my kind of chef
I am happy to have found Chef Pépin’s short videos — between 2 to 4 minutes long. He prepares easy and accessible recipes in his Connecticut kitchen, standing in front of counters packed with cookbooks and mixing bowls. His steps are simple — toss in a handful of chopped parsley or add approximately a 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese. He is an intuitive chef — he throws together ingredients most have in their kitchen — and in addition to encouraging approximations, he often suggests substitutions.
There is nothing formal about his offerings: this week he showed me how to make a souffle with leftover mashed potatoes (does anybody have that leftover from Thanksgiving?). Last week, he gave me an excellent idea for using frozen vegetables. I love his recipe for Chicken with Cream.
Jacques Pépin started his career training at the Plaza Athénée in Paris sixty years ago, served as the personal chef to three French heads of state, including Charles De Gaulle, and enjoyed a career equivalent to a rock star. Today he is in my kitchen via social media, saving my pandemic bacon. I am sure he can save yours as well.
Bon appétit!
Alice Goldbloom is a recovering serial entrepreneur (aka she is retired). She finds that writing is therapeutic, and it smooths the edges of her day, just like a couple of glasses of chardonnay used to. | https://medium.com/inspired-writer/this-85-year-old-chef-saves-my-bacon-every-day-abd01f95dae5 | ['Alice Goldbloom'] | 2020-11-30 17:06:52.402000+00:00 | ['Food', 'Inspiration', 'Cooking', 'Facebook', 'Pandemic'] |
Statement on Passing of Syed Ali Shah Geelani (1929–2021) | It is with immense sadness and a profound sense of loss that we mourn the passing of Syed Ali Shah Geelani (1929–2021), a beloved resistance leader of Kashmir, who for decades stood like a firm rock in the face of India’s illegitimate and repressive occupation of Jammu & Kashmir.
Geelani Sahab, or Bab (father), as he was fondly known in Kashmir, served as the chairperson of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), an alliance of Kashmiri political, social and religious organizations that stood for the right to self-determination. He was also the founding chairperson of Tehreek-i-Hurriyat. His loss leaves an unfulfillable void in the struggle for Kashmiri self-determination and freedom from Indian occupation.
Image: KashmirDigits
Geelani Sahab was a firm believer of the Pakistan movement as a homeland for the Indian subcontinent’s Muslims, and advocated Kashmir’s merger with Pakistan. He never wavered in his principles and relentlessly stood for Kashmiri peoples’ right to self-determination. His life was an example of unfettered resolve and passionate resistance. He always spoke truth to power, for which he spent years under detention in Indian prisons.
He was a deep and careful thinker, a voracious reader and an eclectic writer, a passionate orator and a fearless leader. Most of all he refused to succumb in the face of tyranny. His spoken and written words articulated a humane vision of inclusiveness, brotherhood, religious harmony, peace, and justice — on Kashmiri terms.
He lived the final decade of his life under imprisonment in his own home even as he suffered from multiple serious ailments. While his death has come from natural causes, we must remember the immense physical and psychological toll that his continuous detention and torture took on his health.
Geelani Sahab’s legacy will never leave us. He tirelessly exhorted us to continue to fight for our right to self-determination and for an end to the Indian occupation of our motherland. We, as a valiant nation, resolve to carry forward his mission until our freedom from the Indian occupation. While they continue to isolate us, we will remain steadfastly united. While they plan to tire us out, we will remain uncompromisingly firm. And while they hope to make us forget, we will continue to unfailingly remember. This would be the greatest tribute to his legacy as a tall and fearless champion of our just and legitimate cause.
In this difficult moment, we offer our deepest condolences to the people of Kashmir at home and across the globe. Bab will be deeply missed by everyone!
As we write this, reports of heavy deployment of the Indian armed forces aimed to stop peoples’ mourning and protest are emerging from Kashmir. Given the history of the Indian State’s actions in Kashmir, this could not be any different. But we demand that the occupying state allow the people of Kashmir to mourn this loss in peace, and allow the people to give him a dignified burial in a place of their choosing.
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un
To Allah we belong and to Allah we shall return. | https://medium.com/@standwithkashmir/statement-on-passing-of-syed-ali-shah-geelani-1929-2021-9dc0790acf44 | ['Stand With Kashmir'] | 2021-09-01 19:00:37.117000+00:00 | ['Syed Ali Geelani', 'Occupation', 'Resistance', 'Kashmir'] |
Why You Should Wait Your Upgrade to Mac OS Big Sur | Reason why you should wait for your upgrade to Mac OS Big Sur
Big Sur is the latest OS released by Apple. With a fresh, new design, enhancements to Safari, message, etc, many Mac users are eager to try out a new OS. However, my recommendation is to wait for a while till most of the known problems are addressed.
There have been many news and people talking about some serious issues with Mac OS’s Big Sur, particularly for the older version of Mac laptops.
My recommendation is to wait till January 2021 to install.
Here are some problems discovered with the apps:
Problems with Adobe applications: https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/macos-big-sur.html
Google Backup and Sync issues
Google Chrome issue: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1148102
Here is a link where you can track what applications work or not. Note that this is not an officially supported list by Apple, so reference with a caution. | https://medium.com/@bryantson/why-you-should-wait-your-upgrade-to-mac-os-big-sur-c721ab4c1569 | ['Bryant Jimin Son'] | 2020-12-08 04:14:52.864000+00:00 | ['Apple', 'Mac', 'Macos', 'Upgrad', 'Big Sur'] |
Compassion and Kindness | Compassion and Kindness
Photo by Evie S. on Unsplash
I’ve been thinking about compassion and kindness towards myself today.
I tie compassion with kindness because when I’m being compassionate towards myself, I’m being kind. Compassion is self-love in action.
Maybe you struggle with being compassionate and kind to yourself. If so, read on. I pray that you find something here that will lift your spirits.
There was a time in my life when I was anything but compassionate and kind. I was angry, I was vindictive, and I thought I had to have my way. I created emotional wreckage along the path during my younger life. I did things that were emotionally damaging, and I caused much pain.
That was my former life.
Today things are different. I’m not the same person I used to be.
Indifference has been replaced by engagement. Anger has been replaced by peace. And, bitterness has been replaced by the sweet taste of forgiveness.
My life has been transformed from the inside out and by the outside in. I changed my attitudes and found myself surrounded by people who loved me to good health.
Why am I sharing this?
Because you might have a past like mine. You may have regrets and memories that you wish you could forget. You may feel pain because you can’t go back and fix those wrongs you committed.
You’re right. You can’t go back and change the past. But there is something you can do today. Have compassion and be kind to your current self. That you can do.
When you are compassionate and kind to your present beautiful self, you open the door to forgiveness. When you are willing to open this door, you will discover that you really are the loveable person that you have always been.
My healing involves reviewing my mistakes and asking myself whether I was doing the best I could at the time. The answer is yes. Much of my hurt was due to simple misunderstandings. I didn’t have the conscious awareness of how magnificent I was in the eyes of God. I was unconscious. In my unconscious state I would act in ways that were not reflective of my true nature. Words came out of my mouth, and I performed deeds that were reflective of a darker side of me that I was embarrassed to reveal.
My life today is about shining a light on my soul and attempting to shine a light on your soul. It’s easier for me to see how beautiful you are than it is to see how beautiful I am. My work is about becoming in touch with my own inner beauty. I know I’m having a good day when I can see that I’m as valuable as you are.
My wish for you is that you can be compassionate towards your former or younger self. You were doing the best you could at the time. Maybe you’re not happy with your actions. Maybe you feel sad about things you have done. I understand. But I believe in my heart of hearts that you are lovable exactly the way you are. I believe that you have always been precious and worthy of love. In fact, not only are you worthy but you are magnificent!
My hope is you can love every part of you. My prayer is that you will have peace in your soul, knowing how precious you are.
When you are compassionate and kind to yourself, your wounds will begin to heal. You will celebrate your beautiful and amazing life.
Essay by John C. Davis © 2020 All Rights Reserved | https://medium.com/spiritual-tree/compassion-and-kindness-553cf93dd132 | ['John C. Davis'] | 2020-12-22 13:20:39.185000+00:00 | ['Compassion', 'Kindness', 'Spritual', 'Gratitude', 'Spiritual Tree'] |
How To Train Your Dragon in 2020: Looking Back At The Cartoon Network Show | How To Train Your Dragon in 2020: Looking Back At The Cartoon Network Show Priya Sridhar Follow Feb 28 · 4 min read
Sometimes 2012 and 2013 feel like a bygone era. I was still in college then. We also had a TV show on Cartoon Network that showed us dragons, adapting to life.
Riders of Berk was season one, and season two was called Defenders of Berk. It was meant to show the change in the status quo from peacetime to full-on war. Hiccup can tame dragons, and that makes him the most valuable Viking in the archipelago. It makes enemies interested, and potential allies suspicious.
Riders and Defenders of Berk
Cartoon Network greenlit a show that would follow Hiccup and his friends after he had lost his leg, saved his village from the Green Death, and shows how Vikings can work with dragons. It should be easy-going since he and Toothless fell into a fireball and almost died. Hiccup assumes so until he has to handle dozens at once to keep them from harassing the villagers.
I appreciate the show doesn’t make it easy for Hiccup to tame all the wild dragons that are running loose. Some are babies that love the idea of being away from home. Others, like the Scauldron, don’t appreciate being tied down to get its fangs milked for venom. Stoick decides the solution is for Hiccup to start a Dragon Academy, where the riders can lead Berk in learning about dragons and how best to use them.
This was a great setup, if a dubious one. The Vikings had all seen the benefits of dragons and how the beasts saved their lives. Even so, I could believe it; sometimes people don’t want progress even when it stares them in the face.
The Good And The Okay
The first thing to note is that the show had a low budget for 3D animation, compared to the movie. Hiccup never wore his movie armor for riding and instead would have leather vests, as opposed to the furry ones from the film. The twins’ braids became stiffer, and models were reused for side characters.
I think this added to the show’s charm; at the time it did seem stiff to me. That’s only natural, however; of course, we aren’t going to get fluid water scenes or fluttering hair. That depended on how much of a budget the animation department would get for Hiccup’s bangs. He also never changed his outfit, even while sleeping.
Characterization could also be spotty. One episode you have Snotlout and Astrid having a serious heart-to-heart about what it means to feel sad, the next they would be tearing at each other’s throats over their dragons fighting. Or Hiccup being arrogant over winning makes him seem petty, even though give the guy a break after his butt-monkey status at the beginning of the movie. Sometimes you wondered what was going on there.
When characterization was nailed, however, it made for a spectacular episode. I love a pair of Stoick episodes from season one: “How To Pick Your Dragon” and “Portrait of A Hiccup As A Buff Young Man”.
In the former, Stoick tentatively agrees to dragon training, though he overworks Toothless once getting the hang of flying. Hiccup decides that he needs a beast that can handle his dad’s expectations, but Stoick won’t listen to him about how to win a dragon’s trust. Eventually, Stoick puts the lessons to use and gets a Thunderdrum mount. He implicitly thanks Hiccup by echoing the lessons about trust. Hiccup and Toothless are relieved, especially the Night Fury
“Portrait” features Hiccup getting a portrait with his dad, and feeling disappointed that Stoick portrayed his son as a buff warrior. It doesn’t help that Ruffnut and Astrid ogle the painting. He decides to seek a treasure that Stoick and Gobber failed to find, as a means to prove himself. By the time Stoick catches up, he’s apologetic towards Hiccup and says he didn’t want his son to do something so dangerous to impress him. They share several sweet hugs, and Stoick insists on putting a new painting up. It shows Hiccup as gangly, tiny, and smiling.
Both of these episodes consistently focus on Stoick’s love for his son. They’ve had a rocky relationship and yet they’re both working on being a better family. That doesn’t change throughout any season, though Stoick gradually gets less protective of Hiccup. He just needs a while.
Riders of Berk to its credit never bit off more than it could chew. They knew they couldn’t show that much violence, so we got Dagur the Deranged as a younger foe that could fight Hiccup as opposed to the larger Alvin the Treacherous. Fanfic would fill in the gaps that the show wouldn’t tackle. There were very few moments where you would rage-quit. You could skip the iffier episodes without missing continuity.
In short, this was a great addition to the franchise despite a low budget and inconsistent writing. I will always treasure that Dreamworks gave to this to us, with a lot of heart. | https://medium.com/permanent-nerd-network/httyd-in-2020-looking-back-at-the-cartoon-network-show-a4257a4d21d9 | ['Priya Sridhar'] | 2020-02-28 06:31:36.630000+00:00 | ['Dreamworks', 'Animation', 'Culture', 'How To Train Your Dragon', 'Television'] |
7 Tips for political staffers on the job market | 7 Tips for political staffers on the job market
Job hunting sucks. Period. But there are some things that you can be doing right now to make the whole experience much, much easier. After braving the D.C. job market in grad school and working in four back to back campaigns over four years, these are the lessons I’ve learned and the lessons I continue to share with folks who make the mistake of asking me for advice.
Happy hunting!
1. File for unemployment as soon as you can
This is always the first piece of advice I give to anyone working in campaigns. Because of the seasonal nature of politics, many staffers rely on unemployment to pay their bills between gigs. The thing to remember is that it can take weeks from the first day you file for unemployment to the day you receive your first check. So, make sure you file for unemployment as soon as possible to give yourself the financial flexibility to hold out for the right job for you.
2. Update your resume, cover letter, and portfolios
When you’re burned out after a long year of campaigning, the last thing you want to do is write a cover letter — but do it now while the work you accomplished this year is still fresh in your mind! Future you will thank you. Here are some quick tips on each of these three important documents:
Resume
Build and maintain a multi-page, master resume that has everything you did for each of your jobs. This way, you can use your long master list to source just the key items you want to highlight in a more tailored resume for the roles you’re applying for.
Lean on your team and supervisors to help strengthen your master description of your job. They were in the trenches with you day in and day out, and they might have recognized something in your work that meant a lot to them that you might have overlooked. Their perspective will be helpful.
When you’re customizing a resume for a particular job, make sure the job description they’ve posted is reflected in the work you’ve done. Typically if a hiring manager is looking for someone to do a job, they want the candidate that looks like they’ve already done it.
Cover Letter
Like your resume, keep a master cover letter with a couple of variations of how you would describe your most recent role. I like to identify themes in my work and then write 2–3 paragraphs each highlighting a different theme. This will give you strong copy options to choose from when building a more tailored cover letter.
The theme drafting method above makes it much easier to use a plug-and-play cover letter using your traditional five-paragraph writing model. Outline the themes you want to highlight in your introduction, drop in a graph for each theme from your master cover letter doc, and finish off strong by explaining how those descriptions of your previous work make you the perfect candidate for the job.
Portfolio
Everyone should have a portfolio of their previous work saved somewhere that is easily accessible. For some folks, it might include creative pieces like artwork, videos, and photography. For others, it might just be writing samples. Sit down and identify the deliverables you created this cycle and find a way to save and archive the ones you’re most proud of. This way, if you’re asked about them in an interview, the pride in your work will come through and really demonstrate the energy behind your work.
Ask your colleagues which pieces of your work were their favorite. You may have your own favorites, but remember that the hiring manager interviewing you may come from a completely different background with a different perspective on what qualifies as notable works. Asking your colleagues will give you more perspective as you try to build a multi-dimensional portfolio.
When building a portfolio, the keys are diversity and direction. Like a 13 Going on 30 mood board, make sure your portfolio shows the full breadth of your work while still telling the story of who you are as a worker and strategist. That includes packaging your portfolio in a way that reflects you — hopefully, that means in an organized fashion. Whether you use a linked PDF or build a whole website, make sure it looks tidy and well maintained.
3. Assess your financial needs
You may wonder why building a personal budget is part of the hiring process, but it’s actually one of the most important steps in my book. Working in politics, it’s really easy to get carried away looking for the job where we can do the most good and, in the process, forget that this job also has to set up our financial success and future. By setting up a personal budget and identifying your annual expenses, you can calculate the minimum salary you should be taking when looking for your next venture. This is critical when considering jobs in cities with significantly higher costs of living.
*cough* *cough* D.C. *cough*
4. Pick up a new skill during your unemployment
I want to start by saying: burnout is real and that if you need downtime, you need to take it. You’ll be better off for it. But, if you’re ready to get back to work and are still on the job market, don’t be afraid to take some time to pick up a new skill to add to your newly polished resume.
For folks in the digital political space, I typically recommend taking free coding classes or jumping on YouTube to learn to create graphics and videos in the Adobe Suite. We all know that digital job descriptions ask for staffers to have the skills of four people, but until we’re in positions of power and can fix that, our goal needs to be getting you there.
Where to start: Identify the weakest part of your resume and ask yourself if there’s a skill you can teach yourself to help fill that gap.
5. Do your homework on the job market
Whether you think you want to work at a firm, a special interest organization, or a campaign — do your homework. Here are some great first questions to start asking:
Who is in leadership, and where did they come from?
How diverse is their leadership/organization at large?
What do they pay for their different positions? If they don’t disclose that information, is that important to me?
Are they unionized?
Do they offer benefits?
What is their work culture like?
Is remote work available?
Which candidates/values do they represent?
My best advice: Get together with some friends also looking for jobs in the field and build a master tracker where you log this information. As opportunities arise, you can compare them against some predetermined metrics for a positive work-life.
6. Use your network to set up informational meetings
In addition to doing your homework in advance of potential employers, tap your personal network to set up as many informational meetings as you can. The more candid of a conversation you can have about work culture and job responsibilities, the better off you’ll be when you finally get to decide on where you’re going next.
These informationals also are a great way to test your elevator pitch and practice some of your interviewing skills before you get too far into the process.
7. Don’t take the first job you are offered
When I first started my career, I got this advice a lot. I always thought folks were telling me not to take the first job I was offered because a better one would come around eventually. What I’ve learned is that following this advice is actually a huge investment in your mental health.
Campaigns are tough. Working in politics is hard. The last thing you want to do is take the first job you’re offered, it ends up being harder than you imagined, and you feeling regretful that you didn't wait. If you’ve followed suggestions 1 and 3 above, and you’re in a position where you can afford to wait to make a decision, wait until you have a second offer on the table. Even if you don’t love your next job right away, at least you’ll find solace in knowing you made the best decision you could with all the information you had while you’re up at midnight writing “per my last email” emails. | https://medium.com/@just-jenkins/7-tips-for-political-staffers-on-the-job-market-17e2552d6d00 | ['Justin Jenkins'] | 2020-12-07 21:28:21.105000+00:00 | ['Job Search', 'Job Hunting', 'Politics', 'Campaign', 'Jobs'] |
TitBits: the Nuances of my Body… Reflecting on my Relationship with My Body | Content warning: negative body image.
Growing up I was very thin; I was always described as small or petite. That was, until I was diagnosed with a hip condition called Perthes disease and was advised to use a wheelchair for mobility reasons. This condition, the pain that came with it, and the confinement to my chair meant that I was unable to run around like normal children my age. I couldn’t do any sports or couldn’t attend dance classes; my only exercise was possible through physio and hydrotherapy. When I moved onto crutches rather than a wheelchair, I was still unable to take part in all the physical activities that my friends would be able to do. This meant that I began to put on weight, and I couldn’t lose it in the same way that others could. That’s when my body image insecurities began.
It seems almost normal in today’s society that we grow up with body image issues and that we feel insecure about how we look before we have even fully developed. I remember being in school and being well aware that I looked different to my friends, and that I was the “chubby” one. I’ve never felt like I blended in with the societal norm of the female body image. This followed me throughout my life, from primary to secondary to sixth form and now university.
When the film The DUFF came out in 2015, I couldn’t help but relate to the term, which means ‘Designated Ugly Fat Friend’. I have always affiliated with this idea that my friends are better than me, prettier than me, smarter than me. As a result, I felt, and still feel, the need to overcompensate with a sense of fake confidence and mask my insecurities with humour. I’ll make little jokes about my weight here, or my belly rolls there. In the end, what may look like me fishing for compliments, is actually just me trying to make myself feel better about the things I hate.
I’ve never been able to share clothes with friends like most others can do. I listen to my friends complaining that they are fat, and I worry that if they think they are fat, what kind of whale do they think I am? I spend most of my time asking friends to retake pictures of me, I’ll say, “Delete it” or “Can you take another?” until they are eventually sick of taking pictures. They think I’m just being fussy, when in reality I look at myself and I feel awful, I feel a sense of dread, where I no longer want to go out; my image issues then hold me back from enjoying myself, when in reality I shouldn’t care.
I thought moving university would help; I would join the gym, cut back on my portions, maybe I’d start running. But that was far from the truth. Don’t get me wrong — I did join the gym, but then that didn’t last long! My portions were smaller, that part was true, but my inability to say no to a takeaway or a meal out was far from helpful. I have never weighed myself by choice (i.e. only when I’m asked on a trip to the GP), and so I haven’t really measured my university weight gain. I have on the other hand noticed my need to go up a dress size or two, or when I try clothes on from a couple of years ago, they no longer fit. The funny thing with me is that I’ll feel insecure and self-conscious about my weight and body but have absolutely no motivation or drive to do anything about it. I’ve joined different gyms, started different diets, but I can’t seem to stick to them.
One thing that doesn’t help my personal insecurities is looking back on old pictures. I love looking back at old memories but seeing how much thinner my face is or how much slimmer I look in these images doesn’t help my body image issues. I reflect and think to myself, “wow, I wish I looked like I did then”, but I remember thinking at the time that I wished I was thinner, I wished I looked like the old me. This is a running theme for me and will continue to be a running theme probably for the rest of my life. This idea that I’ll constantly be envious of how I previously looked, and never be happy with my current self until a year later when I wish I looked the same. I’ll look at my Snapchat memories from four years ago and feel down about how I wish I looked like my 17-year-old self, where I was still a teenager and not finished growing into myself.
This constant reflection isn’t healthy, and I’m perfectly aware I need to stop. As I go through different changes in life, so does my body, and I should appreciate all my scars, spots, and stretch marks. I need to work on being happy with myself now rather than my past self, because frankly, I can’t reflect when I’m in my grave! | https://medium.com/@indigoemelia/titbits-the-nuances-of-my-body-reflecting-on-my-relationship-with-my-body-ce454eb40893 | ['Indigo Jones'] | 2021-01-12 15:17:57.498000+00:00 | ['Body Positive', 'Plus Size', 'Growing Up', 'Body Image', 'Insecurity'] |
A Q&A With One Of The Voices Of Custom Sneakers: gatovalue | Why don’t you walk me through how you got into making custom sneakers.
I started my brand in 2010 offering more than just customizing sneakers.
I wanted to have a diverse skill set where I can offer my clients paintings, graphic arts, murals, apparel, accessories, custom painted products and anything else I could use to brand myself.
In 2020, I have never looked back.
Now, I have more of an audience supporting my brand, connecting with people on a personal level through my art.
I truly believe it’s only a matter of time for my brand to explode.
Walk me through your design process and how you find inspiration.
For any design job I start on, I have to create a mood board of references or color themes. This will create a path I can use to mock up concepts.
The process is necessary for me to create original artwork.
I find inspiration through my wife, family and close friends — surrounding myself with positive people, so we can uplift one another.
Which custom sneaker artists do you follow?
Dillon DeJesus custom footwear is my g. I’ve been following him on Instagram since 2016.
I love how he gives back to the custom sneaker culture with his YouTube channel. He’s sort of like an ambassador in this industry.
How would you describe what makes gatovalue customs special to a desired customer?
I feel like the gatovalue fan can relate to the art.
It’s like a hidden gem.
You’re relatively unknown until you are wearing a fresh pair of custom gatovalues.
People will notice, the compliments will make you feel like an underground king. I’ve had a few customers tell me this — “I want to start collecting your work because one day I won’t be able to afford your work anymore”.
I really do appreciate my customers. They keep me going.
What are trends in the custom shoe and custom sneaker space that you’re most excited about?
I like what Virgil Abloh is doing with his Off-White Jordan collaboration.
It inspired me to detach the Nike “swoosh”, which added more depth for me when customizing sneakers.
What has been one or the most worthwhile lessons you’ve learned running a custom shoe business?
Don’t start on the job won’t a deposit.
It’s not worth your time.
What advice would you give to a first time customizer? What advice should they ignore?
Start designing for you friends and practice on your own sneakers.
Rock your own customs, build your confidence.
When people notice, then you can start charging fairly.
Before you know it, you’ll gain momentum to build your business.
Surround yourself with positive people, they will give you the best advice.
How can I learn more about gatovalue customs?
Get to know my brand, get to know me at gatovalue.com.
What are big announcements that you want anyone interested in gatovalue customs to know?
I have some heat coming soon!
Checkout my latest work and best practices on my Instagram
Follow SNEAKGOD on Medium and Instagram for more stories, learnings, tips, and custom sneaker battles. | https://medium.com/@sneakgod/a-q-a-with-one-of-the-voices-of-custom-sneakers-gatovalue-e10ece9430ce | [] | 2020-12-24 14:40:35.409000+00:00 | ['Fashion', 'Custom', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Sneakers', 'Footwear'] |
The Cost of Living | It is getting expensive to carve out and create a good life for ourselves in New Zealand.
Take Auckland, the biggest city in New Zealand, where living costs have been rising markedly within the last ten years. A household in Auckland will have $233 a week less spare money compared to Wellington, and $220 less than in Christchurch, as conducted by a PWC study.
Clearly, housing and mortgage costs are a big issue in Auckland too. If you were to move there today, you’d have to pay nearly twice the amount for a median-price house and have to work through 15 percent more in mortgage repayments, compared with ten years ago.
PWC consultants, in their study on which Australiasian city were the most attractive to skilled talent, also noted those kiwi cities were also worse off than Australia’s best economically performing cities — Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.
The study compared the income rise rates in each city with the rising costs of living, focusing on factors such as housing, food, transport and taxes. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) noted transport costs rose by 5.6% over 2018 and housing and utility costs increased by 3.1 percent.
The problem is the escalating living costs exceeding the growth of our incomes. We are not earning enough to pay all the bills. Although, wages have been increasing, for example over 2018, wages were up by 2.4 percent as indicated by the CPI, they are not adjusting efficiently to the cost of living.
Since 2012, Auckland’s discretionary income has only been decreasing. The Council of Trade Union’s 2019 survey on cost of living and income found just over 70 percent of respondents were unhappy with their incomes, feeling they weren’t keeping up with the increasing cost of living.
Each year, The Economist creates a list of the world’s most livable cities, an intelligence unit ranking 30 factors arranged within five broad categories — stability, culture, education, environment, healthcare and infrastructure. Each year Auckland has been moving down the list — at number 12 last year compared to eight the year before. Although Auckland’s economy is growing, the per-capita growth productivity remains extremely low at one percent. This is a nationwide issue as well.
So what are the solutions?
PWC’s chief economist, Geoff Cooper, said a holistic view needs to be taken of urbanism, with living costs looked at more comprehensively. He recommended an “all-of-government Economic Competitiveness Agenda,” which can address all the challenges confronting Auckland, from sustainability to quality of life. The key being lower living costs paired with increasing wages, and proactively dealing with labour shortages.
In generating sustained and increased income growth, Cooper said a “toolkit’ is needed. This comprised of policies which encourage greater city centre intensification, flexible zoning, building for scale and investing in a skilled and creative workforce.
Alongside this, a human capital approach is needed. He suggested national collective agreements based on pay, such as for police, nurses and teachers, need to be re-designed to adapt to the differing regional living costs, otherwise shortages will begin to emerge.
Other solutions are emerging too, such as the coliving movement growing on New Zealand shores. Space10, Ikea’s future-living lab, began their ‘One Shared House 2030 Survey’ last year with 7000 participants so far from 147 countries. Of this survey, every single respondent has been willing to take part in shared living. Not only is life made more affordable by coliving but it provides a platform for companionship.
How are you balancing the cost of living? | https://medium.com/@comunitalife/the-cost-of-living-b5b5af62735b | [] | 2019-06-17 21:59:27.345000+00:00 | ['Cost Of Living', 'Income', 'New Zealand', 'Coliving'] |
Well-to-Wheel | How much “green” electric cars really are?
Word has it that electric vehicles (EV) are zero-emissions vehicles (ZEV) as they do not use carbon-based fuels (petrol or diesel) like ordinary automobiles do. Well, does the ZEV tag represent a true scenario or a somewhat misleading accolade?
In effect, EVs do not emit carbon dioxide from their tailpipes simply because there is no internal combustion engine and no exhaust. As a result, as power is being transferred from the energy source (battery) all the way to the wheels, yes, EVs are zero-emissions vehicles.
What it takes to charge EVs though? Is it a clean process?
Before answering the above questions let’s examine the carbon footprint of a conventional vehicle. First, it is important to note that as fuel is being supplied from oil wells to fuel tanks and then burned by internal combustion engines, one has to add all indirect and direct emissions being emitted by producing, storing, transporting, and burning fuels.
The most obvious observation is that in conventional cars the transfer of energy from the reservoir to wheels (aka Tank-to-Wheel) is not a clean process. As the engine runs, fuel burns and the car directly produces emissions.
Equally obvious is that petrol and diesel automobiles need to refill at gas stations. What is less clear to see though is that bringing fuel from oil wells to oil refineries and then to gas stations (a process aka Well-to-Tank) involves additional indirect emissions and energy losses during oil extraction, storage and transportation.
Well-to-Tank emissions are also known as upstream or indirect emissions. They are being recorded throughout the energy path of production, processing and delivery of fossil fuels.
To illustrate how these direct and indirect emissions add to the equation, the following table summarises all the stages involved when measuring a conventional vehicle’s emissions:
Tank-to Wheel average: 118 g CO2/km
Well-to-Tank average: 29 g CO2/km
Well-to-Wheel average: 147 g CO2/km
Thus, Well-to-Wheel emissions is the ultimate pollution criterion for conventional vehicles since it is the aggregate sum of all the intermediate steps that bring fuel from oil wells to motor wheels -not only what the car emits at the time of travel.
What is the case with EVs and upstream emissions?
In the case of electromobility, electric vehicles need a charger in order to bring energy from the source (the power grid) all the way to the battery (the fuel tank equivalent). This is why EVs are also referred to as plug-in cars -that is, you need to use a power cord and plug the car in order to connect it with the electricity network. How clean is that stage though?
If you live in France and drive an EV you are far “greener” than a Greek electric car driver. In the land of Asterix, nuclear power is the largest electricity source whereas in the land of Greek Gods coal is king… In other words, as Greece largely depends on carbon for electricity production, upstream emissions in Greece are higher relative to France -where energy production is clean thanks to the nuclear plants. At the same time, the very same electric car is credited with more emissions in Greece and thus becomes dirtier -clearly debunking the zero-emissions reputation of EV’s.
As a natural conclusion, the end result of your decision to “go green” and drive an EV very much depends on the political and economic decisions of each country about its energy mix. You might be ready to make a statement that you care about the environment, you might be a fashion victim or be an early adopter just willing to innovate.
In terms of emissions, -no matter who you are and what you want, the outcome of your choice to go electric reflects your country’s power infrastructure and energy sources -definitely not your motives or desires…
Beyond politics, the Well-to-Wheel criterion not only exposes electric cars to a scrutiny about the political correctness of EV’s vis-a-vis their zero-emissions halo, it also creates a framework in order to assess the variably cleaner role of electromobility relative to traditional propulsion technologies.
To illustrate, a recent study showed that in some EU countries electric cars account for more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions relative to diesel or petrol vehicles (Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Malta, Poland). Some other countries (Bulgaria, Chech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Nederlands, UK) come near to the diesel emissions EU average of 145g CO2/km. The only notable exceptions are Finland, France, and Sweden -where nuclear energy accounts for 30%, 75% and 40% of the energy mix, respectively.
The table below presents the study’s authors and the levels of GHG emissions from the use of EVs in each EU member state.
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from electric vehicles in the EU - SOURCE: Moro Alberto, Lonza Laura. Electricity carbon intensity in European Member States: Impacts on GHG emissions of electric vehicles (2018). PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD, ISSN: 1361–9209
Despite that the study’s findings might create some scepticism about the green characteristics of electric cars, the analysis clearly shows that, on average, electromobility can produce between 40% and 50% GHG emission savings relative to gasoline and diesel powered vehicles, respectively.
The advantages of electromobility are further confirmed in the below table. As Well-to-Tank (WTT) data reveal, although indirect CO2 emissions from Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) are twice as high as those from cars burning carbon fuels (petrol, diesel and compressed natural gas), the Well-to-Wheel (WTW) performance of BEVs keeps overall emissions significantly lower than conventional vehicles. This is a clear advantage which stems from the Tank-to-Wheel point of view -in that EVs produce zero emissions while they move.
Source: gmobility.eu
Conclusion
Thanks to the Well-to-Wheel methodology we can definitely praise the technological superiority of electric vehicles and highlight their important role in the global effort to curb GHG emissions. Although each country’s electricity carbon intensity dramatically increases or decreases the carbon footprint of EVs, this article clearly showed that -on average- electromobility is a cleaner solution that conventional technologies.
In addition, the Well-to-Wheel efficiency measure gives us valuable insights when comparing the greenhouse gas performance between conventional and electric vehicles. Most importantly, WTW is a safe standard in order to compare emissions of all available motoring technologies. In today’s crucial transition of the auto industry’s carbon-based solutions to efficient and clean propulsion methods, WTW can help policymakers, manufacturers and consumers realise the significance of building a sophisticated infrastructure network that will accelerate the adoption of electromobility and transform the current role of the motor car as a major polluter -responsible for 60.7% of total CO2 emissions from road transport in Europe. | https://medium.com/auto-business-review/well-to-wheel-5d9fd076a893 | ['Savas Kalfas'] | 2020-11-21 17:37:03.483000+00:00 | ['Automotive', 'Electric Car', 'Green Energy', 'Electromobility', 'Emissions'] |
See You Where The Rainbow Ends | It was raining outside.
Just like every other day in this small town, up on the hill. And yet, just like every other day, my wife was sitting next to the window. Staring at the gloomy sky, waiting for it to end.
This habit of hers has been happening since the first day we met. It was a rainy day at a tea party. I remember clearly, a young lady with a yellow flowery dress sitting next to the window. Same wondering eyes, waiting for what comes after the rain.
“Rainbow,” I remember she said.
“Rainbow?” young me answered.
“Yes,” she replied with such confidence. “Someday, I’ll go there. A place where the rainbow ends.”
“Must be somewhere far far away.”
“It’s interesting, isn’t it?”
“It’s scary,” young me responded. “Going somewhere you know nothing about.”
“It’s like waking up to a new day, I guess. Just yesterday, we knew nothing about what would happen today. And yet, we wake up anyway.”
“Well, I know I’ll go to this party.”
She smiled and brought her face closer to mine. Her pretty brown eyes looked straight at me.
“Well, you didn’t know you’d meet me, did you?”
And she was right.
Just like she knew that I was right; in our own way of thinking.
Her mind was a mystery, I often found myself lost in it.
What’s so special about the rainbow? I couldn’t understand why she wanted to go there. It’s always there. Right outside our window.
As we grew older and weaker, I could feel her desire grow stronger. There’s something in her eyes every time she looks at the rainbow. A longing, like the feeling of missing something that you never met.
“If I could bring the rainbow, would you stay?”
She turned to me and chuckled, “Darling, I’m not going anywhere.”
I reached something from my back and presented it to her. An imperfect red, yellow, and green semi-circle. Small rainbow on a piece of paper.
She laughed and looked at me with disbelief.
“Oh, I love it!” She took it and put it on the wall next to the window. “Our own kind of rainbow.”
That evening we danced and we laughed. We drew more rainbows and stuck them on the wall. There was a big beautiful rainbow right outside our window, but we were too busy creating our own.
Since that day, I have been waking up every morning and drawing a new rainbow for her. Soon, without realizing, we found our home covered by so many rainbows. It covers the wall, the cupboard, the table and the window.
“Would you tell me what’s happening in that pretty head of yours?” she whispered while looking at all the rainbows on the wall. She took one rainbow that covered the window. Light came inside the house. “It’s such a mystery.”
“I thought you love mystery.”
Her eyes were staring outside the window.
“I thought you’re scared.”
There was silence filling the house. Later that night, I woke up to the sound of hers. “I’m leaving,” she said. Wearing her yellow flowery dress. Her bags were ready.
“Is this not enough?” I replied, desperately. “You, me. In a world that we made.”
She held my hands and brought her face closer to mine. “In a world that you made.” Her pretty brown eyes were looking straight at me. “You did everything you could. It was beautiful, I couldn’t ask for more. And I’ll always love you for that,” she paused.
“But?” I whispered.
“But,” her voice was firm and clear, “I couldn’t lose myself in it.”
I looked at her hands, feeling the warmth. Always knew this day would come.
“You always love it.”
“And you’re always scared.”
She kissed me goodbye and walked to the door as I stood still where she left me.
“I’ll see you where the rainbow ends.” I heard the sound of the door closed.
I looked around. At the rainbows. At the world that I made. Screaming for her to stay. We both are a mystery to each other, that eventually, we found ourselves lost in each other’s mind.
Sometimes, I still hear news about her. Walking with the storm, dancing in the rain.
There were days that I missed her so much, I almost walked through the door. I could imagine myself chasing her. Running in the rain as she ran to greet me from where the rainbow ends.
As I thought of this, I drew more rainbows.
Soon, without realizing, I found our home covered by so many rainbows. It covers the wall, the door, the fence, and the roof.
Maybe someday, somewhere, she will open her window and see a house up on the hill. A house that is full of rainbows.
I’ll see you where the rainbow ends, she said. And here I am.
Stay still.
Waiting.
See you … where the rainbow ends. | https://medium.com/@OntieK/see-you-where-the-rainbow-ends-6b34d2028b0d | ['Ontie K'] | 2021-09-05 13:27:02.652000+00:00 | ['Fiction', 'Drama', 'Random Thoughts', 'Short Story', 'Random'] |
9 flirty text message ideas for valentine’s day | Photo by Oziel Gómez on Unsplash
If you’ve been too shy throughout the year to let your crush know what you’re thinking, then that time of year is fast approaching, when it gets a whole lot easier. Valentine’s Day is the perfect time for a little flirty text; No pressure, no awkward conversation, just a great opportunity to test the waters with a line of text and, if it all goes horribly wrong, then you can just say you’re joking! If you’re sitting fumbling with your keys trying to work out a funny line, then we give you our top nine flirty texts for Valentine’s Day:
1. Just leave it blank
You are guaranteed a response, if you send him a text saying nothing! When he responds, no doubt wondering what on earth your text is all about; You have the beginnings of a conversation to take you wherever you want it to go.
2. ‘I’m calling the cops!’
That’ll get him in a sweat and when he answers, you can respond with ‘Because you stole my heart’ …
3. ‘I had a dream about you last night …’
It’s a good one for any time of the year and she’s got to ask you about the dream. Just be prepared with an answer and don’t make the dreams of a steamy one, if you don’t know him well, that could be a bit too much too soon.
4. ‘Wish you were here …’
One of the cutest flirty text message ideas for Valentine’s Day would be: ‘I wish you were here’ … Let her know that you’d rather be with her tonight and she might even come and join in yours for dinner!
5. ‘Will you be my Valentine?’
The old is the best and you can’t get much more to the point than this. Don’t waste time, beat around the bush, just ask the question!
6. ‘Thinking about you this morning. Happy Valentine’s Day!’
One of the most neutral flirty text message ideas for Valentine’s Day would be: ‘Thinking about you this morning … Happy Valentine’s Day!’ The early bird catches the prey! Get in first with this Hearts wake up text for her; it could stay in his mind all day long.
7. ‘I lost my teddy bear and I need a hug … How about you?’
You can only get one new teddy bear, but, hey, you can’t win it all.
8. ‘how was the day that became valentine?’
This one is a no pressure, door opener for later in the day. Give him a chance, if he’ll be feeling sad and want some company.
9. ‘You forgot my card, where are we going tonight?’
One of the straight forward flirty ideas in the text message for Valentine’s Day would be: ‘You forgot my card, where are we going tonight?’ Give him a guilt ride he wasn’t hoping for and he might just want to make it up to you. A strong strategy may be the best.
Feel free I share 12 WORD TEXT That Makes Him Need You In His Life | https://medium.com/@brainnachanel/9-flirty-text-message-ideas-for-valentines-day-7d9a13254780 | ['Brainna Chanel'] | 2021-12-16 12:03:08.862000+00:00 | ['Dating Advice', 'Relationships Love Dating', 'Love Text', 'Romance', 'Valentines Day'] |
Afghanistan: Cycle of Violence Comes Full Circle | Words by Stasi Kapetanos and Konstantinos Zekyrias
By now most of us have surely heard about the Taliban’s recapture of Afghanistan the second foreign troops were pulled out. Going back to the previous time foreign troops were marched into the country in 1979, we can see many parallels with today.
The Soviet Union deployed their army into Afghanistan that very year to topple a former ally and fellow communist government they deemed to be unfavourable to their interests. Afghanistan was then bogged down in a state of constant war against a civilian population who did not want the foreign invaders there. By doing this, the Soviet Union discredited whatever supporters they had in the country. In the end, the Soviet forces pulled out of Afghanistan after having failed in their strategic objectives. This led to the empowerment of their fanatical and theocratic enemies in the Mujahideen who were backed by the U.S and had popular support from the Afghan people. This war killed, wounded and displaced millions of Afghan people and led to the destruction of the nation’s infrastructure.
Image sourced from Naya Daur Media: Afghan women celebrating establishment of a communist government in the year before the Soviet Invasion. Say what you will about the Soviet Union, Afghanistan under communism and similar regimes comparisons between them and their philosophy to groups like the Taliban, Al Qaeda and the like is foolish and grossly wrong. Remember this next time someone talks about the fall of Kabul like it is morally equivalent to the fall of Saigon.
Despite being fierce opponents of the Soviets, particularly in their invasion of Afghanistan, the American government can now clearly relate to their defunct rival’s failed escapade through their own invasion, occupation and withdrawal. Perhaps, some humble pie is due to be eaten but it really is September 11th this meal should have been ordered, it was then that America’s support of theocratic extremism in the Greater Middle East turned back to bite it. Not that this tragic event stopped them from continuing this long tradition. Anyone remember the 2016 revelation about Pentagon backed left-wing Syrian Kurdish forces fighting against CIA backed rebels? The fact that the latter groups openly collaborated with Al Qaeda affiliates raised plenty of eyebrows at the time, but conveniently seems to be forgotten by the supporters of American military interventionism and pro-war media figures, along with certain politicians on both sides of the aisle.
Image sourced from the Business Insider: pictured above is Osama Bin Laden, infamous leader of Al Qaeda, being given a glowing puff piece by a run of the mill British establishment newspaper for his help in the eternal struggle against communism in Afghanistan and infrastructure projects in Sudan.
Turning back more strictly to Afghanistan now, the American government’s involvement in the region began not with its 2001 invasion, but with its support of the religious reactionary led resistance to the Soviet invasion. Of course they were not alone in this: Britain, China and Israel were among the unlikely alliance of self-saboteurs whose financial, logistical and military aid to these groups was key in preventing the tragedy of a communist Afghanistan under Soviet influence and later causing terrorist attacks back within their own borders.
Once again known war crime apologist; instigator of the Iraq War; Trump and Bush cabinet member and later ‘brave’ Trump critic, John Bolton speaks on behalf of sociopaths, freaks and chauvinists everywhere by stressing the importance of how the fall of Kabul to the Taliban led to America’s embarrassment and an opportunity for its rivals as if that is what is most important here. Perhaps instead of vetting refugees and asylum seekers more thoroughly a better solution to stopping terrorism would be to vet the kind of people that are allowed to study and involve themselves with politics and international relations.
Now to be precise, the Taliban was not one of the groups known as the Mujahideen which received this support, as the Taliban had not yet come into existence. However, the organisation’s founder, Mullah Omar fought for multiple Mujahideen groups, as did current Supreme Commander of the Taliban and Supreme Leader of Afghanistan Hibatullah Akhundzada. Afghanistan’s ‘Islamic Party’, a future ally of the Taliban against both the occupying forces and the Afghan government, was also a key component of the Mujahideen. Another key Mujahideen component, the ‘Islamic Revolution Movement’, practically merged into the Taliban in 1994.
Image Source: quotefancy. A cute inspirational quote from the late Zbigniew Brezinski, Polish-American National Security Advisor to America’s President Jimmy Carter, trying to justify America’s support for the Mujahideen and by default, the Taliban and how this fits with America’s ‘moral’ foreign policy vision, from a 1998 interview with French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur. Of course this looks quite ridiculous now given the fall of the twin towers and the recent rise of petty dictatorships and dysfunctional states throughout Eastern Europe.
Of course there were more moderate or at least compromising elements within the Mujahideen who have gone on to resist the Taliban every step of the way. These groups went on to become the Northern Alliance, along with ex-communists and other opponents of the Taliban. The Northern Alliance, despite not having the upper hand, held its own against the Taliban until the U.S military invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Fast forward to the year 2021 and they, for the most part, are not even in the way, just like Afghanistan’s pro-Soviet communist forces before them.
Images Sourced from the Times of India and British Broadcasting Corporation: Political/military control of Afghanistan before the invasion of 2001 compared to 2017 the year President Trump dropped the ‘Mother of all Bombs’ on the country and after the withdrawal of 2021 mapped.
On the 11th September, 2001, Airlines Flight 11 was hijacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists and crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Centre, a few minutes later United Airlines Flight 175 was brought into collision with the South Tower. This was the largest terrorist attack in the history of the United States, causing the deaths of 2,966 people. Anti-Soviet warrior Osama Bin Laden, who was located in Afghanistan, was held responsible for orchestrating this. The American government set out an ultimatum to Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader of Afghanistan at the time, to either deliver Bin Laden directly to them and dismantle all militant training camps or face an attack.
Mullah Omar, however, refused to hand over Bin Laden to the American President demanding further evidence and offered to do so via a third country for Bin Laden to stand trial in. U.S President George Bush rejected the offer and on October 5th 2001, the United States-led coalition launched an invasion of Afghanistan with the purposes of finding Bin Laden and toppling the Taliban. On the 14th September, Australia became one of the first countries to pledge support, invoking Article IV of the Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty on the basis that it would ‘demonstrate our steadfast commitment to work with the United States in combating international terrorism’.
Approximately one month later, the United States-led coalition and the Northern Alliance forced the Taliban to flee Kabul for Kandahar. Al-Qaeda militants were situated in the mountainous region of Tora Bora when the U.S.-led coalition engaged them with aerial bombardments. This had created a window of opportunity where Osama Bin Laden could have been captured. However, pleas for the reinforcements to launch an assault and to block the mountain paths leading to Pakistan were rejected. Instead, relatively untrained Afghan militias, especially in comparison with the more mobile American divisions, allocated the task of retrieving Bin Laden.
Image sourced from the Conversation: Afghan militia and warlords have filled in the gaps left behind by a weak central government, especially since the Soviet invasion.
Al-Qaeda was able to negotiate a truce with a local Afghan militia commander, and because of that it is thought that this allowed for Bin Laden’s escape to Pakistan. The failure to capture Bin Laden was criticised in a congressional report as it was a broader symptom of relying on warlords, allies of convenience, who with American financial and weaponry aid, were able to destroy their personal rivals and expand their power. Those same warlords were profiting through the trafficking of heroin and many such warlords were even sexually abusing Afghan ‘dancing boys’, a practice that carried the death penalty under the Taliban but ignored by American forces who considered it merely the local government’s responsibility.
Image Sourced from the Business Insider: Since the American-led invasion Afghanistan has become the largest heroin producing nation in the world, accounting for 90% of it today.
There were two justifications presented for the Afghanistan invasion. Firstly, to destroy Al-Qaeda. Secondly, to make Afghanistan an unsuitable base of operations for the execution of terrorist plots in the future. Soon after the invasion a third justification was added, to destroy the Taliban. This justification was included even though the Taliban were not involved in the 9/11 attacks and that none of the hijackers were Afghans. The Taliban had only refused to deliver Bin Laden as the US government saw fit. This additional justification was one of the many examples of goalpost shifting throughout the war, resulting in the mission creep that led to the two decade long occupation.
Despite the failure to actually capture Bin Laden at the time, the United States seemed largely successful in materialising their aims. The leaders of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban were either dead, captured, or in hiding. Bush decided to keep a light force of American troops to hunt suspected terrorists. Even after this achievement, Bush made the decision to keep a ‘light’ force of American troops on the ground to keep hunting suspected terrorists. However, the fetishization of extinguishing potential terrorist threats, eventually led to the controversial, invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Image sourced from The New Republic: Many of the same political masterminds, mainly from the Republican Party though now prominent in both, behind the invasion of Iraq, are also now condemning Biden’s withdrawal. Neoconservatives are what these people are usually called, their ideological obsession with using American military power to violently intervene in other countries is increasingly discredited and reviled yet they can still be found giving unwanted foreign policy advice today.
The United States struggled to identify whether Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, the warlords on the CIA’s payroll and Pakistan’s government were adversaries or allies. Further enigmas regarding the Islamic State and foreign fighters meant that ultimately there was no strategy. For all of the United States’ talk regarding the advancement of human rights, the human cost of the direct result of war in the Afghan and Pakistani region is 241,000 deaths with 71,000 of those being civilians. By the end of the war, the rules of engagement regarding airstrikes had been relaxed multiple times, and as a result, it contributed to the killing and maiming of on average five Afghan children daily since 2005.
The United States proved determined to spend money in an effort to build the Afghan State. The goal was to establish a ‘flourishing market economy’. Money invested into infrastructure was invested extravagantly, in ways that would turn out to be unsustainable for Afghanistan. Ultimately, the amount of money invested surpassed the amount in the post-Second World War Marshall Plan. One contractor was bestowed an allowance of $3 million, per district, per day that they themselves believed to be excessive. Despite this, Afghan tribal elders lamented that the money did not materialise into actual infrastructure. Nothing has been built in Kandahar since the Taliban were ousted in 2001 and the only large-scale hospital in the region was built by China in the 1970s. The influx of US Dollars into Afghanistan fostered an environment of kleptocracy. This delegitimised the US-propped government as being an institution full corruption and bribery and unable to function properly. As a consequence, more people turned to the Taliban in order to enforce some semblance of order. Through this, the United States had effectively strengthened the position and legitimacy of the groups it sought to defeat.
Therefore, was the human rights abuses propagated by the United States and its agents in Afghanistan in conjunction with the hollowing out of Afghan institutions and the diversion of America’s focus into Iraq led to the revitalisation of the Taliban in Afghanistan. In 2009, the re-emergence of the Taliban prompted Obama to authorise another troop surge. This move was emblematic of America’s overreliance on the military.
In short, a historical narrative of the fight against infidel invaders; the human rights abuses perpetrated by the United States and its allies like Australia; the dispersion of America’s attention towards its other regional interests; the dissatisfaction with Afghanistan’s tottering government; the lack of basic services; and the general alienation of the Afghan people from the central government allowed the Taliban to garner support and power in some provincial areas. As a consequence, many people in the United States realised that they were losing the war as early as 2006. Meanwhile in Afghanistan, discontent against the Afghan government was growing, and with the aid of successive Pakistani governments, the Taliban became stronger. In spite of this, America’s public position was to propagate that the war effort was making steady progress. The United States attempted to identify metrics which showed that the war in Afghanistan was successful. However, the circumstances were so dire that the real metrics had to be manipulated, inflated and distorted to such an extent that they painted an inaccurate picture.
An anonymous senior American National Security Council Official interviewed in the Washington Post’s Afghanistan Papers described it like this, “For example, attacks are getting worse? ‘That’s because there are more targets for them to fire at, so more attacks are a false indicator of instability.’ Then, three months later, attacks are still getting worse? ‘It’s because the Taliban are getting desperate, so it’s actually an indicator that we’re winning.’”
Talking points like those above are just one part of how the government and mass media manufacture consent for war and imperialism no matter the facts on the ground and in plain sight.
Since 2001 more than 775,000 U.S. troops and 39,000 Australian troops have been deployed, many of them having been deployed more than once in Afghanistan. From a financial perspective, the Afghanistan war was financed by debt, as opposed to more traditional ways such as taxation, bonds, and other revenues. The overall spending that took place is more than USD$2 Trillion. By 2050, interest is going to increase this figure up to USD$6.5 Trillion.
The financial cost of the war alludes to yet another tragedy of the Afghanistan War. Namely, the loss opportunities to spend those funds into more productive activities. Those finances could be utilised to directly improve the lives of people in Afghanistan and the United States. Instead, the expenses all went towards violent military operations. At this point, I cannot neglect mentioning Eisenhower’s ‘Cross of Iron Speech’. The speech was delivered in 1953 in reference to escalating tensions with the Soviet Union linking the expansion of the imperialist state with human suffering. Here is an excerpt:
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, as theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. …
This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.
Dwight Eisenhower, the last Republican president of the USA one should be able to recall without instantly feeling the need to gag, warned the world of the dangers of the military industrial complex which his own policies helped fuel. President Eisenhower in fact personally coined the term to refer to the perverse profit and power relationships between government, the defence industry and warfare.
In light of these burgeoning costs and the realisation that the United States was making no breakthrough in the war, one may wonder why the war lasted this long. Perhaps it could be a mixture of the desire to maintain the survival of the US-backed government and avoid a backslide of human rights, especially women’s rights. Recent comments made by the White House Communications Director, Kate Bedingfield cast aspersions on both claims. She acknowledged that the White House was aware that the Afghan government would collapse immediately after the United States withdrew its troops from Afghanistan. Yet she also further stated that a mass evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies would have signalled the imminent collapse of the Afghan government.
If the United States was genuinely concerned about the backslide of human rights, it would have developed a strategy to help evacuate those most at risk among the innocent Afghan population. This claim also whitewashes the human right atrocities committed by the United States. For instance, it ignores the CIA death squads which entered madrassas and killed young boys to dissuade others from going to these religious schools, because one day they may become members of the Taliban. This approach also ignores the fact that the United States contributed to the hollowing out of Afghan institutions and that human rights concerns were never a justification for the invasion. Thus, it is also dubious that the preservation of the Afghan government, a paper tiger, as a force of good in the region would also sustain human rights.
This article is not to be read in a way that deprives the Taliban of its agency, nor is to be read in a way that suggests that the Taliban has (acceptable) moral justifications in either their raison d’etre or in their actions. This article’s focus is to explore the reasons behind the invasion of Afghanistan and thus, highlighting the actions of the United States and its coalition. Therefore, the western government’s actions are featured only to the extent that they are able to unearth why the ‘War on Terror’ went down the way it did and not because mass atrocities are less potent just because other actors are committing them.
With this in mind, it is impossible to ignore the financial gains and interests that benefited from the invasion of Afghanistan. Money was seemingly poured to the military to build infrastructure projects such as power plants, industrial parks, and other things which benefited few people in Afghanistan. Afghanistan, also happens to be a strategically important juncture of south Asia, central Asia, and the Middle East because Afghanistan’s location lends it to become a transit for the energy resources coming from Iran and Turkmenistan to Pakistan, India and even China.
For these reasons it seems that American interests in Afghanistan are unlikely to have ended with the recent troop withdrawal. The United States attempted to negotiate with the Taliban in the 1990s, despite their appalling human rights record, regarding the construction of an oil pipeline in Afghanistan. In fact, Taliban groups were flown to Texas, to the house of the vice president of petroleum company Unocal, which was acquired by Chevron in 2005. Ultimately, the pipeline was never built because the Taliban just so happened to not be good business partners. Incidentally, Afghanistan is also ripe with minerals which are valued at at least $1 Trillion. This prompted a disturbingly apt characterisation of Afghanistan as ‘the Saudi Arabia of lithium’ by an internal US Department of Defence memo. This depiction is revealing as the advancement of human rights by the U.S is not the prime mover, but rather it is the advancement of capital’s interests.
Just like Biden, Trump copped some flack for negotiating with the Taliban on American soil as if he was breaking some sort of long held tradition set by President George W Bush of not ‘negotiating with terrorists’ but in fact this was not at all the case. As for President Bush, perhaps his stance here is sincere, this may have led him to be unable to adequately discuss and plan out his foreign policy mission with both his administration and himself internally.
It is now imperative that countries, especially countries who have participated in this war, provide refuge to fleeing Afghans. In that regard, Australia has a lot of room for improvement as it will offer only 3,000 places in its humanitarian visa program specifically designated for Afghan refugees. This figure is a part of the 13,750 humanitarian visas Australia is planning to offer this year, down from the 18,750 humanitarian visas offered last year. One can only wonder if America, Australia and the West at large continue to fail the Afghan people and how much longer our societies can continue to find new cruel and inventive ways of doing so. At least they have ended this particular imperialist war, now let’s hope they do not start another one. | https://medium.com/@onditmagazine/afghanistan-cycle-of-violence-comes-full-circle-7d80217c8cd9 | ['On Dit Magazine'] | 2021-09-10 23:33:38.568000+00:00 | ['American', 'War', 'Afghanistan', 'Taliban', 'Soviet'] |
What are the best programming languages to learn in 2021? | If students of Computer Science Engineering at B Tech College in Jaipur are new to the field of software development; the most difficult part of learning programming is to decide where to begin. Hundreds of programming languages all over the world have complexities. As soon as you start developing your own software, you need to discover the best suitable programming language along with your interest and career goals. Different programming languages use for different purposes.
JavaScript
JavaScript is the most important element for software developer of top engineering colleges in Jaipur. It has been seen that about 70% of people last year use JavaScript in their tasks. Along with CSS and HTML, JavaScript is necessary to front-end web development. A majority of the most popular sites on the web including Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail are relying on JavaScript languages in order to create interactive web pages and dynamically display content to users.
Additionally, there are various numbers of frameworks and libraries that intend to make JavaScript development easier. Some of the renowned frameworks include React, Vue, Jquery, Angular, etc. However, professional JavaScript developers require experience with one or more of these frameworks.
Swift
If students of private engineering colleges in Jaipur are interested in Apple products and mobile app development, Swift is the best language to start with. However, the new programming language originally designed to develop iOS and macOS applications. With the advent of time, the application is growing rapidly and ranks the 13th most popular language among all.
Most of the developers from top 5 engineering colleges in Jaipur use Swift in order to build high-performance, powerful, native iOS, macOS and Linux applications. However, it intends to be faster, streamlines and easier to debug when compared to Objective-C. Swift optimizes for performance and built from the ground up to match the realities of modem iOS development.
Java
Java is known as the general purpose language that has the mainstay in the world of computer programming from many years. It is the basis for the Android operating systems and the most common language for developing android applications. However, the language favors by the enterprise for building applications and back end systems and the students of Engineering Colleges in Jaipur. Data processing system is written in Java and is run by Amazon Web Services and Windows Azure.
Java is a common language for the beginners to learn and it uses mainly in many introductory programming courses available in top engineering colleges in Rajasthan.
C/C++
C is an old-school programming language that is quite popular even in today’s time. It had a powerful influence on the computer programming landscape of Best B Tech College in Jaipur. C family consists of various other programming languages that heavily influences by its constructs, syntax, and paradigms. These include several languages including Objective, Java, C, and C#. However, the language allows you to get close to the inner workings of the computer. Cremains a popular choice for building specialized high-performance applications.
Python
Python is known to be the most user-friendly programming language for the students of Arya Engineering College. Arya is the best B Tech College in Jaipur. It is very clear, intuitive and makes it a popular choice for beginners. Python offers various applications that make it a powerful and versatile option while choosing the best programming language for your use case. If you have an interest in back-end web development, then the open-source Django framework considers popular, easy to learn and feature-rich. It uses for the development of some popular sites like Instagram, Mozilla, and Spotify.
Thanks for Read our blog, you can check out full blog on official Page Arya College, Arya College is one of the Best Engineering College In Jaipur Rajasthan. In This College Many Branches for Engineering you can make great future with us. Arya College Provides Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering & Electronics Engineering’s Branch for our Engineering students with top companies placements in campus. | https://medium.com/@aryacollegejaipur/what-are-the-best-programming-languages-to-learn-in-2021-68cb01e40685 | ['Arya College'] | 2020-12-16 06:07:27.870000+00:00 | ['Engineering', 'Learning', 'Technology', 'Programming Languages', 'Programming'] |
You’re nobody until somebody calls you an enby | There is no such thing as non-binary. Until there is, at which point there can be no such thing as anything else.
If non-binary exists as a category, then no other categories really can.
I don’t mean, “exists” in the objective sense: this is a category defined by what it isn’t much more so than by what it is, a state of non-being. Or of actively not being something, rather than actively being it.
You can’t be it, because its purpose is to contain the undefined, or the undefinable; it is an umbrella term meant for many variations upon queer, transgender/transsexual, genderfluid. And the list goes on. Ultimately it had become clear that such a category was needed, because for some reason genderfluid and genderqueer, in the cultural landscape of the late twenty-teens, just wasn’t going to work anymore.This is because popularly, the language has become increasingly defined and influenced by postmodernism and its pursuit of reordering, recoding and generally undoing the language. Why is this? Because language is power. Language is category. Language is inclusion or exclusion in a society which also conveys, carries, and necessitates category, and postmodernism must work to undo this system as well in order to be carrying out its aims of undoing. Why does it aim to undo? That is another question for another topic. But as the language is, necessarily or not, undone, so too are categories of gender and sexuality, along with many other categories: in this case, non-binary exists because it has become popular, has been adopted, has become a word that is now in use widely. And one that more importantly is taking hold of the modern imagination, is creating a space where there wasn’t one. And there wasn’t one, because there didn’t need to be.
Non-binary isn’t real, there’s nothing there –- or there is, at least, the supposition that that something it is used as a euphemism for is optional, as there may be any number of things under the umbrella, but as easily there may be a blank space for you to consider while you know, at least, that you reject the default category, or the supposition that these categories must exist. And you by definition can’t define an identity based solely on what something isn’t, at least as far as humans are concerned…black holes are another matter. But the non-binary black hole is expanding. It is a protest against the idea of gender existing, of sex existing. People that previously would have sought inclusive social identities in the form of gay, lesbian, transgender, transsexual, and queer, and two-spirit identities are now turning to their rejection of the supposedly dominant binary model to define who they are. Is this queer erasure? This is what we have to ask ourselves, now before it’s too late. Is it more queer erasure, or is it more an erasure of socially definable intimacy itself — in that you, don’t, increasingly, have to consider your relationship to sexuality, yours or other people’s, in order to adopt this label. Thus, it is something you can do without considering any of your relationships, potential or existing, to others — it is an individual act and will remain so as a lived identity, as an acted-out identity. In an age of individualism and chronic loneliness, this makes sense to emerge as a modern pathology. Also, in an age when sex itself is being rejected — in favor of a kind of identity politics that creates more division than community, it also makes sense that the fear of embracing the visceral, the personal, the sexual, is guiding us more than the ouroboros-like deep natural darkness of the sex drive itself, the only place where we can count on being sure we no longer, in any sense we can define, know who we “are “anymore, as this ultimate, vulnerable intimacy always threatens as much as beckons with the potential to undo us.
Why is it becoming more attractive to define one’s identity principally as not a sexual identity, as has been the way, in one way or another, for hundreds of years, but as one that rejects the overt sexualization of identity, that rejects the personal locus of, to over-simplify, marriage and relationships as the foundational element of one’s social identity? As we enter an era in which there exists a ferocious debate over whether or not it is morally acceptable for, for example, lesbians to romantically reject transsexuals in a romantic sense on that basis, perhaps it simply seems safer if one’s preferences are more obscured by a thicker, shadier umbrella. But it is also interesting to note that not since the publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species, when it became much less possible to ignore the concept of sexual reproduction as a driver of biological success, and thus uncomfortable human questions took on a new and more public shape, has the conversation begun to shift so noticeably. As gender theory takes on more and more of the cultural territory, much of the surrounding themes of both biology and reproduction returns once again to the mystical, only this time this process is not so much a question of religion, as was pre-1859, but, still, is centered around a conversation that attempts to obscure biology behind a system —gender theory, — of abstract theory that is indeed increasingly enshrouded in mystery, and interested in using quasi-spiritual terminology to explain why, once again, acknowledgment of reproductive realities, and thus symbolically, thematically, that of all variant sexuality realities as a driving force in the world, must aggressively once again be returned to the realm of the forbidden.
As the term rises in popular usage it becomes increasingly evident that, from at least an abstract point of view, it must by its very nature replace the former default, and not just the default of heterosexuality, but that of all those terms, such as bisexual, that grew in relation to it out of the necessity to define one’s position relative to this default. The logical conclusion is that non-binary in time, must serve to replace the default itself, to become the void that holds the center. This is because it is the only emergent term that rejects not just every term that previously made up the colors of the rainbow umbrella while also questing to offer an alternative to the entire system. Unlike genderqueer, its closest predecessor, which emerged among activists in the 1990s, it does not suggest its relationship to sexuality, the queer being absent, and as well its relationship to gender. Not gendered or differently gendered, but almost mathematically absenting, it is more extreme and noticeably, most captures the zeitgeist. As so, the likelihood exists that it can continue its ascent until it has become the socially dominant default reference for anyone as yet “undecided,” — at such point in use in a leading way for the fear of being impolite, — and so will continue until this status has been reached, as label fatigue and the fear of misgendering others gathers more and more momentum, as is likely. This prediction sounds alarmist, but is meant as an exercise, a semantic observation: if a non-category both exists and is gaining in popularity, its existence unseats the space available for the others as our language expands. This would be the same process as a number of people growing tired of identity politics relating to race and so undertaking to define themselves principally and socially as “non-racial”, a social practice that if it existed I imagine would first make the most sense among mixed race individuals who were tired of feeling like they had to discuss their race with an increasingly politically demanding and categorizing word, but would eventually come to seem polite or fashionable with more and people, until not to do so would seem not only passé but potentially dangerous.
We need to talk about what this is, and more importantly, what this isn’t. It is not the act of someone who is trying to center themselves on an identity which is defined by their relationships, or projected relationships, with others. Non-binary, though it may be considered a part of the queer community, is not a community in itself. Perhaps in a world where options for everything multiply constantly, it no longer seems palatable to have options that were, in fact, options: just as one grows fatigued of an oversaturated marketplace and considers rejecting consumerism or creating a niche market that is truly that, and just as entrepreneurship soars, there is something remarkably beckoning about a banner that isn’t a banner. Heterosexual is, and probably rightly so, no longer the default, but so now are alternatives to heterosexuality at least semantically passé… non-binary is considered, of course, the least controversial of the new words. As an umbrella term there is no way to “be” non-binary, and as an emergent category of non-ness there are perhaps refreshingly no potentially toxic stereotypes attached to it. As importantly to note, there is no way to become it either, no rites of passage, no aesthetic or social rituals to partake of in order to strengthen it. You cannot display it for the first time at a drag cabaret or have an experience of walking down the street holding hands with a member of the same sex for the first time, showing all the world your love. You don’t have to know what you are to know that you are weary of sexual-identity stereotypes on offer, as you understand them…and so for the over-savvy or naive consumer, option No is perhaps the only enlightened way out that appears, especially if the process of choosing, refining, re-evaluating feelings and identity position looks to be a long process for you, one that may never, honestly, be escaped from. In which case, a label which appears to present this process of questioning and redefining as the foremost quality of the designation, living within this invisible box and not needing to symbolize any of it outwardly or tribally, aesthetically or colloquially in order to gain membership in any society of likewise designated, or un-designated, peers, may seem both inevitable and enviable. And as the opportunity broadens for individuals to live within a socially isolated but very online bubble of community and opportunity, both heightening and distancing their relationships, it makes sense that a category that reflects this isolation, a box in which many constant options of identity and its attendant politics are constantly seen to be part of the modern conversation in which one finds relevancy, and reaffirms the ability of the individual to demarcate themselves within a questioning, rather than a confirmed and socially visible or accountable space, would appear, and feel to many more and more appropriate. Rituals such as changing twitter bio to reflect non-binary status, pronouns included, may feel momentarily enough for someone who lives primarily in this landscape, wishing to find and assert their place in a sea of choices and an echo chamber of voices. | https://medium.com/@elizabethkyrzyk/youre-nobody-until-somebody-calls-you-an-enby-339906afbff7 | ['Elizabeth Kyrzyk'] | 2020-12-03 03:30:51.331000+00:00 | ['Language', 'Gender Identity', 'Gender Roles', 'Nonbinary', 'Linguistics'] |
10 new features for Figma that would solve lots of headaches | 1. Round-trip component editing.
There’s a “Go To Master Component” option when you need to edit a component from the frame you’re on. What about a way to return to the design you were initially working on? I spend 10% of my time zooming around my pages to find the right frame I was working on. “Return to design” would be a phenomenal button and/or keyboard shortcut. Also a solid metaphor for these 9 other feature requests.
2. Show me where my components live.
If you’re making a design system, sometimes you use components, other times you make things that you never end up using. Show us where components are used in a project file (or even across files). Either list the layers or reveal a clickable overlay where these components are. Designers who have systems can then remove components they’re not using. I could see someone spending hours trying to figure out if Icon XYZ is actually being used somewhere.
3. Remove all prototype links.
Currently, users have to click on each link and remove them one by one. It’s frustrating. How about a “Remove All” button for that frame? Easy enough.
4. Drag & drop image uploading into a mask.
This would save a lot of headaches clicking to edit image layers and searching for files over and over. You can option + command + drag components onto existing ones to replace them. Images would be great too, because profile photos don’t come in one flavor!
5. A new background layer type.
Fixed and Scrolls are already game-changers for building working prototypes. What about a Background type? Too often there are things like search bars that scroll on top of images or map backgrounds. Yes, Overflow Behaviors solve this, but always seem to be slow/buggy when previewing a prototype on mobile or desktop. Backgrounds need some love too.
6. Mobile app.
I have the app running next to my desktop app all the time. What about some updates to make it more robust, faster, and work on tablets? Ooh—one more thing: Saving Prototypes to the device would be killer for user testing.
7. Unsplash photo integration.
They have an API, and it would help a ton of designers insert great photography into their designs. Search + Insert/Drag photos would be simple enough to add via the toolbar.
8. Current users’ ring colors.
Red, yellow, green, purple and orange? They all indicate the same status? Really? How about green or better yet, a little green dot if someone is actively viewing the file. That’s universally understood. Also, orange is not a good default background color for users. Black & white is a solid choice. AAA accessibility contrast ratio for little things like these go a long way.
9. Share button.
I’m nitpicking, but light blue? I understand you need to call it out, but a white background would be just fine. When you look at the toolbar, blue makes more sense as a “you’ve selected this option” highlight color. Most share buttons on desktop UI tend to be in the upper right anyways—no need for any more baby blue when we’re looking at designs for over 8 hours/day.
10. Prototype linking between pages.
Designers tend to keep things organized across pages. Linking our prototype screens across pages would be phenomenal. This would be awesome for teams who have delegated design work for a single product into segmented tasks like homepage versus settings. The Power Rangers could combine their powers, Figma, be our Megazord. | https://uxdesign.cc/10-new-features-for-figma-that-would-solve-lots-of-headaches-58f9c5f5f049 | ['Julian Jensen'] | 2019-01-03 00:38:57.913000+00:00 | ['Figma', 'UI', 'Product Design', 'Prototyping', 'UX'] |
10 Women-Run Startup Founders You Should Know | Over the past few years, both the total number and overall percentage of female founders at GAN Startups have increased drastically. One data point that proves it: In 2014, only 17% of GAN Startups had a female member of the founding team. In 2017, that number increased to 46%. Meaning, 46% out of all the 1,700 founders who were in a GAN Accelerator in 2017 identified as female.
There are a handfull of reasons I think this is happening:
We’ve made an intentional effort to invite more accelerators into the GAN Community who are focused specifically on female- and minority-run startups (Rowad, Hillman, and VVM, for instance).
Accelerators already in GAN for years are increasingly focused on female- and minority-run startups. We’ve seen a lot of strategic partnerships that are providing more opportunities, like the ones between Tampa Bay Wave and Nielsen or Start Co. and The Jump Fund.
Though still a disproportionately small chunk of the pie, more women and minority founders are getting access and opportunity to run companies overall, thanks to funding from groups like Backstage and Kapor. And, more women and minorities are at the table to make funding decisions, like the inaugural class of VCs in the First Round Angel Track.
The stories of women entrepreneurs are being shared, not only centering the voices of women running companies but building greater community between them. Like in this new magazine, Good Company, from the well-known blogger and entrepreneur who started Design*Sponge, Grace Bonney. It features stories of women and non-binary entrepreneurs at every stage of life.
And, back in 2016, GAN made a five-year commitment, along with Obama’s White House Startup America Initiative, to see parity reached among women holding executive roles at accelerators and startups in the GAN Community. Based on the numbers we’re seeing, we’re getting close to hitting that goal. And we expect continued improvements in the years to come. For now, it’s encouraging to know that so many female founders are not only finding more of the support they need, but they’re thriving because of it (often requiring less funding to make even more revenue).
Just to Name a Few
So I wanted to hear some stories of GAN Startups who are building amazing companies, have a unique product, or have accomplished something that’s worth sharing — who all happen to be run by women. To do so, I reached out to a bunch of Managing Directors at GAN Accelerators and our startup engagement contacts at GAN Partners to hear some of their favorites. And I didn’t want to keep those stories to myself. Here’s what they said:
Melanie Igwe
Founder and COO of Ilerasoft
Accelerator: Hillman Accelerator
llerasoft is the brainchild of two passionate co-founders who both saw waste and inefficiency in one of the most cost-intensive areas of healthcare, capital planning, and budgeting. The founders of Ilerasoft agreed that — for true financial discipline to be actualized — there needed to be a standard. The Efficiency Score is that standard. The Efficiency Score, which is like a credit score for medical equipment, harnesses IoT/RTLS, along with 15 other unique data points, to provide financial metrics and recommendations for enhanced operations and to improve future purchasing decisions.
Shuchi Yvas
Founder of GuestBox
Accelerator: Tampa Bay WaVE
GuestBox is a tool to help hotels, vacation rental managers, and Airbnb hosts boost guest loyalty. They provide immense value to a host’s listing with curated amenities for them to welcome their guests. Each box comes with luxury items, a combination of toiletries, skincare items, and snacks. Products are natural, organic, healthy and welcoming. Many are by female-founded and female-led companies. Going forward, they plan to showcase more products from up-and-coming female and minority entrepreneurs from across the US.
Lindsey Tropf
Founder and CEO of Immersed Games
Accelerator: Tampa Bay WaVE
Immersed Games is an EdTech company with an audacious vision for how games can be used to empower student learning. They’re building an inspiration platform where students can spark their love of learning and be empowered to reach their full potential. One day, while playing World of Warcraft, Lindsey turned to her husband Ryan and asked where to find something. When he rattled off the right character, in the right city, on the right continent in the game, she realized how much we all learn, simply through the act of play. But, while she knew so much, that information didn’t really matter outside of the game world. So, enamored with the concept, she Lindsey went through a doctoral program to study learning theory, where she increasingly realized that online game could prove to be an incredible platform for learning and eventually created Immersed Games.
Yasmine Mustafa
Founder at ROAR for Good
Program: Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs
Every day, women face the threat of harassment, assault, and violence. So Yasmine and her team set off to do something about it. What started off as a solo journey of a lifetime turned into a global mission to impact generations. After a trip to South America, Yasmine returned to Philadelphia and developed a wearable product that pairs with users’ phones, allowing them to share their location with trusted networks via mobile text alerts.
Kristian Kimbro Rickard
CEO of doyenne360
Accelerator: Start Co.
Kristian’s company, doyenne360, is working to increase access and understanding of STEM by deploying IoT, analysts, and workforce training solutions. Beginning in the education space, doyenne360 is striving to close the technology gap in Tennessee (USA).
Stephanie Cummings
CEO of Please Assist Me
Accelerator: Start Co.
Stephanie started Please Assist Me with the vision to create a work-life balance for the working professional. Her vision is that personal assistants are not something just for the power brokers of the world, but a resource for working single parents, injured veterans, the elderly, and anyone else who you might not traditionally associate with having a personal assistant.
Felicity Conrad
CEO and Founder of Paladin
Programs: Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs & Techstars Chicago
Paladin takes the busy work out of pro bono so that your team can focus on making an impact in your community. Their platform eliminates the need for hand-crafted emails to track down individuals who want to get involved.
Najma Ghuloom
Co-Founder of Majra
Accelerator: SeedFuel Rowad
Majra is a recruitment platform with a focus on matching based on culture and personality fit. What separates Majra from various other employment channels is its emphasis on the personal aspect of recruitment processes — often overlooked by other services. Be it enabling job seekers to highlight their personalities beyond their professional work or encouraging companies to share their culture and environment, their objective is to connect young people with purposeful careers.
Akshaya Shanmugam
Founder of Lumme
Accelerator: Valley Venture Mentors
Akshaya developed a platform combining wearable technology, machine learning, and behavioral psychology for smokers who want to quit with broader applications for addiction treatment. Wearable devices sense the smoker’s movements and predict a likely relapse. A notification tells them not to light up and suggests helpful interventions and alternatives to smoking — about six minutes before cravings hit with 90%+ accuracy in recent trials. Akshaya and Lumme have raised $1.7 million in non-dilutive SBIR funding and she was recently named a Forbes 30 under 30.
Laurel Wider
Founder of Wonder Crew
Accelerator: Valley Venture Mentors
Laurel shared her outlook on the VVM process: “I pitched a crazy idea, dolls for boys, and this community met me with sheer support. VVM helped me actualize my concept into a successful business. The grant that I won was instrumental in bridging a funding gap until I found the right partner. Prior to Wonder Crew, I didn’t know a thing about business. One of the coolest things about VVM is that no experience is required.” Now, her dolls are on the shelves of every Walmart and Target store in the country. She recently won Doll of the Year at the TOTY Awards. And is now a sought-after thought leader on gender, toys, and early education. Check out this recent NYTimes article for more on Laurel and Wonder Crew.
Photo Credit: CreateHER Stock | https://patrickriley.medium.com/10-women-run-startup-founders-you-should-know-358b1eb97455 | ['Patrick Riley'] | 2018-06-28 20:26:32.279000+00:00 | ['Community', 'Startup', 'Founders', 'The Future Is Female'] |
How To Find The Best Images Online | How To Find The Best Images Online
To Use On Your Website
Websites provide limitless opportunities to you, from selling goods or services to showcasing a creative portfolio or managing a blog. But regardless of the purpose, it’s vital that you include good, attractive visual content. And so, a big question, how to Find the best images online.
Just like an appealing window display can lure customers into a store, so too can engaging imagery keep viewers locked into your website. But you don’t need to have a bottomless budget and a slick design agency on hand to get great results. Read on for the lowdown on how to source the best visuals for your website…
How To Find The Best Images Online To Use On Your Website
Why use images in your content?
So why is visual content so important on your website?
Unfortunately, no matter how interesting or useful your written content is, if it hasn’t got a an attractive, relevant image, then it won’t engage your readers. A study by QuickSprout showed that content with relevant images gets up to 94% more views than those without.
It could be a simple change that makes a huge difference.
Including images in your website content is also a great way of increasing your search engine ranking. Once you’ve selected a relevant photo, be sure to label it with suitable alt tags and captions. This will be read by the search engine algorithms, and it all goes towards improving your website’s ranking potential.
How do I choose the right image?
Quality over quantity
Fireball Whisky is a brand we all know and (depending on your personal taste!) love. But check out this photo on their Instagram feed:
Grainy, poorly-lit, blurred — not the quality you’d expect from a global brand, is it?
It’s crucial that the photos you choose for your website are good quality and high definition. In 2018 there’s no excuse for poor photography. It cheapens your website and can make it seem unprofessional, which will almost certainly negatively impact your brand.
There are a number of free stock photo sites, such as Pexels, Pixabay or Unsplash, with good quality photos for you to choose from.
If you’re using your own photos, consider teaching yourself some photo-editing skills to fine-tune your images. You want imagery that’s striking, clean, and likely to attract comments and shares.
Go for originality
Audiences today are increasingly becoming more aware of stock photos. You need look no further than the Woman Laughing Alone Eating Salad meme, a stock photo that became so recognizable, it became an Internet joke.
Today, customers are tired of seeing the same people in the same poses, and demand originality. When choosing an image, try to stray from the beaten path a little, for example by looking through Flickr (ensuring you ask permission before you choose). Or create some truly original images by taking some photos yourself.
Choose images that reinforce your brand
Just as your written content is created in line with your own brand, so too should your visual content be selected with it in mind. If you’re building a portfolio of your work, you’ll want your photos to be clean and professional. Or, if you’re creating an online store for a streetwear brand, you might go for a more edgy, urban vibe.
Think about your website’s purpose, what your viewers will expect from that, and then consider how you can convey that visually.
Evoke an emotional response
In a similar vein to the above, your visual content should speak to your audience. Depending on your website’s function, you’re going to want your photos to draw an emotional response from the viewer. Do you want them to feel inspired? Excited? Intrigued?
Again, consider what it is you want your website to achieve, then set out to find the imagery that best reflects that. A good place for this is Burst photos, whose Collections feature lets you browse images online based on a specific theme or category.
Common mistakes to avoid
Not feeling so confident? Here are some of the most common mistakes people make when choosing photos for their website — and how to avoid them:
Using photos without permission . Unless it’s your own photography or from a free stock photo site, you’re going to need to ask permission from the copyright holder. Even if it’s a free stock photo, some sites request that you cite them or the photographer when you use it, so be sure to check beforehand. Get to know your rights and responsibilities.
. Unless it’s your own photography or from a free stock photo site, you’re going to need to ask permission from the copyright holder. Even if it’s a free stock photo, some sites request that you cite them or the photographer when you use it, so be sure to check beforehand. Get to know your rights and responsibilities. Including irrelevant images . That might be an amazing photo of the earth viewed from space you’ve found, but if your website is a cookery blog, then you might need to reconsider. Keep it relevant to the content in question.
. That might be an amazing photo of the earth viewed from space you’ve found, but if your website is a cookery blog, then you might need to reconsider. Keep it relevant to the content in question. Choosing dull or forgettable photos . It’s free, it’s relevant, you’ve got permission — but if it doesn’t grab a viewer, they’ll take one look and move on. Don’t just settle for the first photo you find, keep looking till you find one that strikes you. If it appeals to you, it’ll appeal to your audience.
. It’s free, it’s relevant, you’ve got permission — but if it doesn’t grab a viewer, they’ll take one look and move on. Don’t just settle for the first photo you find, keep looking till you find one that strikes you. If it appeals to you, it’ll appeal to your audience. Neglecting to optimize for all devices. With an increasing number of people using their mobile or tablet to surf the web, it’s important that your site works on all screen sizes. Check to ensure everything works across all types of devices before your site goes live.
When it comes to building a website, there’s a range of factors you need to think about. Purpose, functionality, and written content all need to be considered. But the key component that is weaved throughout all of these is imagery. Visual content provides a backdrop for the rest of your site, so it is worth doing right. Choose appealing and relevant images optimized for all devices, making sure to ask permission and give credit where necessary. It’s a simple thing, but one that will benefit you and your website immensely in the long run.
Victoria Greene
Freelance writer, branding consultant and coffee expert, Victoria Greene can be found on her blog for all the hottest news in the world of marketing, design, and ecommerce. Vicky is passionate about getting people to achieve the best they can from their ecommerce stores. | https://medium.com/visualmodo/how-to-find-the-best-images-online-977f2e75e030 | [] | 2018-03-24 01:05:39.496000+00:00 | ['Stock Photos', 'Photography', 'Online Images', 'Illustration', 'Search'] |
Predictions for 7 post-covid in-demand areas for artists to make money from | Redefining meditation
Creating is a form of meditation. The growth of sales in puzzles, paint-by-numbers and other such activities has allowed people to experiment with the way they spend downtime. There’s a huge market out there for artists to spread the word that meditation doesn’t have to be sitting cross-legged on the floor, it’s simply the activity of emptying your mind, however you might choose to do that. Alternative meditation workshops, classes and other such things are on the up — helping other people learn how to be creative is a great way to extend your practice. Credit to Tom Fairey for this one (he told me about alternative meditation!).
Audio experimentation
People have podcast fatigue, but they’re used to podcasts now (we all know listening figures have gone sky-high since lockdown started) — the problem is that all the formats are the same… interviews. Listening to a conversation is super informative, but it isn’t necessarily the most interesting of formats anymore and there is so much you can do with audio. The market is just waiting for more variety. Audio / art fusion will become more of a thing, introducing inspiration rather than simply conversation. I actually did another article on the best experimental / non-interview podcasts out there so that’s worth a read for some of your own inspiration.
Coffee table products
People have become so intertwined with their own environments over lockdown and are paying more attention to their living spaces than ever before. Investing in little luxuries that make your space more inviting is a trend we’ve seen happen because of covid-19. Plus, zoom calls have meant more background dressing — zoom is kind of like a shop window into someone’s life. Coffee table books, trinkets, coasters, candles, photos… there’s plenty of creative space here for you to repurpose your content for the enjoyment of someone at home. For example, due to Covid magazines are going out of business — this makes space for a new collaborative, collective generation of magazine (or zine) makers. Perfect for the at-home worker who is house proud.
Second-hand
Repurposing, repairing, reusing. On the whole, we’ve have had to get more used to the three R’s over covid. It’s been very difficult to replace things over lockdown, purely because of shop closure (with the exception of Amazon, of course). The nation has become more creative as a result and are seeing the benefits, both financially and emotionally — when you fix something, it’s a far more rewarding feeling than just getting a new version. Artists have a natural flair for creativity and can maximise on this service — finding a niche repurposing/repairing area and injecting an extra layer of aesthetic. Take the age old Japanese broken vase, for example. Rather than gluing it back together, the artist makes it even more beautiful by replacing the glue with gold.
Shop windows
Shops have to entice people in — more and more shops have been commissioning artists to create art on their shop windows as opposed to the usual posters or bland window-dressing. Murals and window art is a growing area. And something only artists can do!
Adult storybooks
Because of Covid-19, adult colouring books have sold out, we’ve seen a spike in adult bedtime stories on the Calm app, it’s just a matter of time before adult storybooks become a thing. These could be catering to the naughty-crowd (slightly ruder, more explicit, witty) or they could be more parable-esque in an effort to let our inner child out but addressing more adult themes… the floor is yours, art world!
Gloves
Masks have been jazzed up — what happened to gloves?? Someone needs to get on this stat. | https://medium.com/@sam-63024/predictions-for-7-post-covid-in-demand-areas-for-artists-to-make-money-from-38d14a5dc426 | ['Samantha Hornsby'] | 2020-08-06 08:59:21.928000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Side Hustle', 'Make Money', 'Trends', 'Artist'] |
Get Ready for Tableau Catalog | photo by @erol from unsplash
If you’re a Tableau administrator or author, your life is going to get a lot easier. For Tableau Server deployments, particularly large ones, managing your data can be complicated. Under the hood, large Tableau deployments integrate data from many sources with varying attributes and quality. Have you ever wondered where your workbooks and worksheets are drawing data from? What is the quality of that data? Or what would happen if you needed to migrate data?
Version 2019.3 will include Tableau Catalog, a new capability of the Data Management Add-on to help you easily see the lineage of your data — which data sources, field attributes and much more. Data owners can automatically track information about the data (i.e., metadata), including data connections, tables and even table columns.
Tableau Catalog also helps build trust in the data across your organization. With data quality warnings, users can quickly see when there’s an issue with data being used in a dashboard — like a missing field or a maintenance interruption. Definitions and additional metadata can be added so users have a better understanding of the data itself. These data details are included alongside your dashboard, making it easy for everyone to feel confident about the data behind their analysis.
On the improved Tableau Server UI, users can see data issue related warnings directly in their dashboards and in the portal.
As part of the VizConnect video series, Tamas Foldi, Starschema CTO and Tableau Zen Master, explains the new features of Tableau Catalog and demonstrates data discovery, lineage and impact analysis, communication about data quality, and developer APIs. Even though this new capability is in beta version, Tamas provides several demos and walks you through these significant improvements to data management in Tableau. Check out the presentation video below. | https://medium.com/starschema-blog/get-ready-for-tableau-catalog-41cd2cedf119 | ['James Luby'] | 2019-09-13 16:28:37.554000+00:00 | ['Data Catalog', 'Tableau', 'Dataviz', 'Tableau Server', 'Metadata'] |
Alternatives to physical vintage shopping because of the global pandemic and lockdown | Online vintage clothing and window shopping
Window shopping
First of all, I recommend you to try out window shopping; go outside, take a walk in the city, passing vintage stores.
Online vintage shopping
We all know that vintage shopping is not easy, you can easily spend hours and hours in the store and walk out with nothing. This combined with the lockdown we are facing in the Netherlands at the moment, results in my recommendation to try out this selection I made for you about online vintage shopping;
Vinted (& United Wardrobe)
2. Top Vintage
3. ThredUP
4. ASOS Marketplace
5. SecondhandNew Vintage Kleding
6. BLACKFISH Store
7. eBay
8. Mint Threads Vintage Clothing
I hope this blog post mentioning 8 online alternatives to buying vintage has been useful for you!
Do you want to see more actual outfit inspiration on my Instagram?
Then, follow @ut_vintageclothing on Instagram! Talk to you on Friday again, stay stuned for more! | https://medium.com/@utvintageclothing/alternatives-to-physical-vintage-shopping-because-of-the-global-pandemic-and-lockdown-406ad84864b5 | ['Vintage Fashion'] | 2020-12-22 20:47:02.272000+00:00 | ['Vintage', 'Lockdown', 'Online Shopping', 'Vintage Clothing'] |
Five Ways to Survive Christmas | When Just the Idea of the Holiday Season is Weighing You Down…
Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash
I stopped into the local mall the other day to pick up my daughters’ medication and was hit by the massive consumer assault that is the Christmas season. Tinsel and trees are everywhere alongside Christmas editions of everything from makeup to chocolates.
When your bank balance is lean, Christmas can create a lot of anxiety.
When you have had a really rough year, perhaps dealing with the loss of someone you loved or your health is suffering, Christmas can be very stressful.
When you are expected to return to the fold and participate in family time with family who you no longer share similar values and principles, Christmas can be painful.
When you are estranged from your family for whatever reason, Christmas can feel very lonely.
Many commentators talk about the physical consequences of mindless consumerism and the landfill that Christmas produces.
Equally important are conversations about the emotional and psychological consequences of holding people to an unreasonable expectation of happiness around a tree exchanging gifts. It just isn’t that for so many people. Willingly stepping into toxic environments for the sake of appearances can be unhealthy and dangerous.
You can say no to other peoples’ Christmas expectations. It is just one day. They will survive the disappointment.
Below I am going to outline various ways that you can navigate the Holiday Season without too much emotional distress.
One — Establish Meaning
Firstly, define what Christmas means to you personally. Is it different this year to what has it meant to you in the past? Just because everyone else makes a big deal out of it doesn’t mean that you have to. Maybe you are a Christian and you are celebrating the birth of Jesus. It doesn’t need to involve tinsel and turkey.
It can be confronting to celebrate Christmas with other family members that like to spend a lot of money. It can be humiliating if Christmas is being used as some kind of economic scoreboard. I experienced a Christmas when I was told that we were not buying presents for each other, and we were just giving small gifts to the children only to turn up on the day and find that everyone else had disregarded the agreement. The ‘givers’ couldn’t see how their actions had created an awkward and uncomfortable situation for me. If there is a rule in place about gifts, stick to it. The giving might make you feel better. The receiving might make someone else feel worse. I didn’t accept the gifts that were being handed to me. I stuck to the agreement that also included not receiving gifts. It wasn’t popular but I stuck to my principles.
Two — Be Realistic About Your Spending
Make a decision about how you feel about spending money at Christmas time. Stick to it.
You do not have to buy gifts for everyone you know. You do not have to buy gifts for anybody. If you are under financial stress, park Christmas. All the tinsel in the world isn’t going to turn into a credit card payment in January. If you still want to give, consider a heartfelt handwritten letter to friends and family letting them know how much they mean to you and why. It will have a greater impact than hand cream or a gift card I promise.
Three — If You Need to Retreat Do So
The timing of Christmas may not align will a feeling of celebration and joy in your life. Maybe you have suffered a major loss. Your partner may have died, or your relationship may have fallen apart. You may be coming to terms with personal health issues or losing your job. How do you navigate your way through the holidays? (Merry is not the word I would use to describe Christmas after my husband’s death).
I lost my husband in June 2011 and that Christmas I was just coming out of what I would now describe as a trauma coma. The holiday season was a brutal reminder that time marches forward despite your need to stop and regroup. There was a family expectation that I turn up and celebrate Christmas with the people around me that wanted to minimise my profound sorrow. They wanted to sweep me up in festivities and see me laugh and smile. I just didn’t have it in me. In hindsight, I would not have tried the ‘back to normal’ approach. I would have stayed home and not suffered through the day of trying to make everyone else feel ok by insisting I was ok. I was not ok at all. And a Christmas lunch with a running dialogue on the vintage of wine, the size of the turkey and pudding appraisals did not make me feel any better. It made me feel worse.
Having been there, my advice would be to do what you need to do.
It is okay to say no. You don’t have to participate to make everyone else feel better. And you don’t have to explain. The people who love you don’t need it and the people who don’t love you won’t believe your explanation.
Four — Don’t Let Sentimentality Override Reality
If all you have in common with most of the members of your family are memories of the last holidays, it might be time to reassess how you are spending your time. There are families that spend a lot of time together and really enjoy each other’s company. They are functional families with appropriate boundaries and realistic perceptions of each other.
There are also fractured families held together only by the Velcro of Thanksgiving and the safety pins of Christmas. Just one pull and the whole thing can fall apart. Add alcohol and year-long grudges and it often does.
According to systems theory, it is very difficult to be healthy in a toxic environment. And if you spend your Christmas day having to validate everything from your current partner or your lack of relationship; if your lifestyle choices or your career is not approved of, the day can feel more like a field littered with landmines ripe for explosion.
As a therapist, I have people checking in with me as early as July with their anxieties about Christmas. They are already terrified of what feels like an impending psychic onslaught. A day filled with expectations of togetherness and joy registers as a day of potential psychological and emotional assault.
It is ok to say no. You are allowed to spend your time how you would like to.
If you are still close to your parents but are estranged from your siblings, find time to see them independently. And that works the other way too. Forcing togetherness because ‘that is what you do at Christmas’ in a family system that is toxic can have disastrous results. If you are already working on and healing from any kind of trauma, the wrong environment can delay your recovery as your healing trajectory is put on hold to deal with the wounds of Christmas day.
Five — Create New Rituals
If you have suffered through any of the above scenarios and decided that you are no longer willing to be a participant in an unhealthy charade, you are well within your sovereign rights to decline the invitation.
Start your own Christmas rituals. For my daughter and I, we have our Christmas meal on Christmas Eve then exchange small gifts. We don’t do stocking fillers and mindless crap. Anything with Christmas packaging is not purchased. The gifts are meaningful, useful and appreciated.
On Christmas day, we go for an early morning swim at the beach. I’m in Australia so it is Summer and perhaps this is not a possibility for those in the Northern Hemisphere. We eat chocolate for breakfast and spend the day relaxing. Sometimes we go for a bush walk or a bike ride. Often other friends who have quit family Christmas drop by for chocolate cake or cheesecake. (But never for Christmas cake).
If you are alone but still want to be a part of something, there are many community initiatives that need volunteers to help. You could also book to participate to a Christmas lunch celebration at a local restaurant or hotel.
When I was alone in my younger years, I had the luxury of geography that enabled my solitude. I was living in Manhattan and there were many diners still open on Christmas day. The movie cinemas were also open. There were options. I would love to curl up in my apartment free of the imposed tyranny of togetherness. I made new rituals and you can too.
It’s ok. You don’t have to do Christmas the way your family does it.
Resist the urge to please everyone but yourself. You have my permission.
Putting your needs first could be the best Christmas present you ever received.
Wishing you all a very peaceful holiday season.
If you need further support, you can find me at goodgriefcoach.net | https://medium.com/swlh/five-ways-to-survive-christmas-d051cc8116fb | ['Emily Rowe'] | 2019-11-21 00:22:26.878000+00:00 | ['Grief', 'Family', 'Loss', 'Christmas', 'Self Improvement'] |
Whats New on Statuspal 2.15 | It’s been some months since we last wrote about Statuspal new features, but that’s not because we haven’t been hard at work, quite the opposite, we have delivered plenty of new features that our customers are already loving, here is a summary of the most important ones:
Localization & Multi-language Support
You are now able to configure in which language to display your status page easily, you can pick from one of our supported languages or configure a translation for a language we don’t yet support in a few minutes.
Supported languages panel in Admin site
You can configure your status page to support multiple languages, and publish your incidents with their respective translations.
To learn more about localization & multi-language support check out or help article.
Slack Subscriptions
Let your customers subscribe to receive Slack notifications from your status updates, it only takes marking a checkbox in your settings page to activate it.
Preview of a Slack notification from our bot
Learn more about Slack subscriptions in or help portal.
Annual Plans
You can now have your Statuspal subscription on an annual cycle, saving 10% compared to the monthly subscriptions, if you are on a monthly plan you can easily switch to an annual one on your status page’s plan page in your admin panel.
Annual plans now available!
Automatic Recurring Maintenances
It’s common to have scheduled maintenances that are performed on a recurring basis, like on Mondays every two weeks, or every 1st of the month, Statuspal lets you configure a scheduled maintenance to be automatically duplicated on a customizable schedule.
Recurring maintenance task configuration
Find out more about how to configure a recurring scheduled maintenance in this article.
Monitored Service Alerts Recipients
It is now possible to configure who in your team will receive the uptime alerts on your monitored services, in case the default email of your account is not the best one for it.
Monitored service configuration with configurable recipients
Added Support for <head> Code
It is now possible to configure custom HTML code to be inserted right inside the <head>…</head> code if your status page, this means you can highly customize your status page with custom styles and/or custom javascript, like for example adding your custom Google Analytics code, or an Intercom widget code. | https://medium.com/statuspal/whats-new-on-statuspal-2-15-4e243bb1ffa8 | ['Eduardo Messuti'] | 2019-06-06 16:20:49.174000+00:00 | ['Web Development', 'Startup', 'Monitoring', 'SaaS', 'Slack'] |
Coming Back From the Darkness, Year One | I was just another college kid. Studying marathons all night, volunteering for a few hours a week, and then working every day. I was lonely, exhausted, and had secretly been struggling with severe depression and suicidal ideation for years. I self-harmed in the traditional and nontraditional sense. Working yourself to the breaking point is considered self-harm, which I found out years later. I was trying my best to be the best version of a pre-med student, clicking all the boxes on the application I could at once. I threw myself into my job, and it was my one source of companionship aside from a friend that lived 3,000 miles away and another great friend who was just as overworked and stressed as I was. I met some coworkers and finally, for a few months, felt like I belonged. Turns out I put my trust in the wrong people. I trusted this coworker and even considered him a great friend. I was so wrong. After he raped me twice and was fired for unrelated reasons, I was at my downfall. That was the last straw. I stopped going to class, started binge-drinking, and watched the false front I had put up for years crumble. It was time I came clean with myself and with those I loved. I finally stopped the shame of saying “I am not unwell.” to keep me from getting help. I came clean to my doctors, went to a psychiatrist, and started my steps of getting better.
A year and a half later, I still feel like I’m starting. I wish it was as quick and clean as others pretend it to be, but it is not. I am writing this to hopefully reach someone who is going through something similar and feels just as alone as I still do. We aren’t alone even though it still really feels that we are. To this day, I am nowhere where I once was, and I still suffer every single day. I am not fully better, and I don’t expect to be any time soon. If you feel the shame I still sometimes feel about not being better still, don’t be. No matter what you lived through, you lived through trauma. The trauma won’t just leave because one day you decide you're done being in pain. I wish it was that easy.
I am writing this to share that it is okay to not be okay, as cheesy as it sounds. I am not okay, and chances are if you’ve read this far, you aren’t either. I have gotten better I will admit. It is not as much of a death sentence as it feels. I found someone I really love, I moved away from the area that caused me so much pain, and I am now getting the opportunity to start over. I still can’t talk to my partner or my family about how much pain I’m in.
If you are still in the beginning stages like I am, here are some of the things I did to get the healing process started:
Admitted something was wrong. No one can help you if you don’t admit you need help in the first place.
No one can help you if you don’t admit you need help in the first place. Got professional help. Chances are, your loved ones will want to help you as much as they can, They can only do so much. There is no shame in admitting you need help from someone trained. It feels shameful depending on how you were raised or your environment, but I promise you, there is no shame. Helping yourself get to lead your best life is never shameful.
I wish all of us the best. Everyone has trauma, but their trauma does not downplay your own. We will suffer together, grow together, and eventually thrive together. | https://medium.com/@shannonwasson-79648/coming-back-from-the-darkness-year-one-7ffe1451979f | ['Shannon Wasson'] | 2020-12-27 17:43:14.640000+00:00 | ['Mental Health Awareness', 'Trauma', 'Mental Health', 'College', 'Mental Illness'] |
Fearless Listening | Truly listening well is one of the hardest things we will ever attempt.
When we listen, we must occasionally let go of control, let go of certainty, open ourselves up to the possibility that something — someone — else might be right, and we might be wrong.
It’s not always a comfortable place to be, as I well know.
But truly learning how to listen has been one of the most powerful experiences of my life. Beyond the fear and uncertainty there are riches to be gained beyond all worth or imagining.
Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”
Now it is impossible to ask or seek if we are not first willing to listen.
There is a surface-level kind of listening — the kind of listening that enables one to replay ideas to reveal superior comprehension or a great deal of routine labor, like one might prepare for a timed essay or exam. You understand the concept at a surface level, you can pull it apart and put it back together to get the job done, but the why behind it doesn’t penetrate deeply. Or again, as Jesus phrased it: “They hear but never understand.”
But then there’s the deeper kind of listening — the kind that means actually opening yourself up to the possibility that an idea might be true. Might be real. Might be valid.
Sometimes it requires looking beyond the delivery (either charismatic and effectively persuasive or poorly communicated and disjointed) to the actual meaning. Anything worth saying will have more behind it than we might expect, and anyone worth saying anything will definitely have a good reason for saying it. And sometimes we won’t even realize something is worth listening to until we actually give it a chance.
Obviously, we can’t listen like this all the time. Sometimes we are in a better position to listen in this way, and other times we are not. Sometimes we’re tired. Sometimes the person or idea we are being asked to listen to is just downright obnoxious or offensive. And sometimes, for the sake of our own health or peace, we must push everything away and have quiet. But that only works when the voices we’re listening to are telling us something that’s not helpful for us to hear.
There are times when listening to what someone else is saying is exactly what we need.
Now I heartily hope that I desire to seek what is true. And if I care about the truth, and someone is saying something I need to hear, what is to be done? How do I listen without losing myself, without falling apart?
This is a question I have asked so many times, over and over again.
I don’t know that I can tell you the answer to this question, in so many words. I’m still working on it and wrestling with it, too. But here are some of the things I’ve found to be helpful.
I do want to be very clear that I don’t think listening well immediately translates into changing one’s belief’s or values. It simply means evaluating them honestly and openly, whatever the results may be.
And it’s one thing to say, “Let’s listen well!” but what does this actually look like? Where do we start?
1. Recognize fear for what it is (and it’s okay to be afraid)
If you find yourself getting inexplicably angry, irritated, loud or irrational because of what someone has just said or done or tried to persuade you of — chances are there’s something about what you’ve just heard that makes you afraid. Uncertain. Uneasy.
But why do we feel this way? How do someone’s words have such an effect on us?
Sometimes a statement is made and it has certain implications, implications you just can’t stomach. What is to be done? Or maybe someone is hinting at a reality that means you might have to change the way you’ve always responded or acted in a certain situation.
It’s okay to be afraid! Really, it is. Usually it’s our natural first stop. And in fact, it’s a good sign, because it means you’ve at least listened closely enough to recognize possible danger. But it’s helpful to not deny that you’re afraid, but rather own up to it as quickly as you are able.
2. Be honest
I often think back to a moment in a class discussion during my freshman year of college.
It was our first semester. We were discussing Plato’s Republic in a dreary windowless basement with white walls, and we were doing it terribly. Our professor had asked the opening question and was now letting us flounder around by ourselves in a swamp of ideas and philosophy not only new, but utterly strange and very disturbing to us. We weren’t listening well — to the book or to each other.
Then one of my classmates spoke up. She looked angry.
“This is stupid. What are we even doing? What does any of this stuff have to do with anything in real life anyway? Why even bother with any of this? I don’t get it.”
We all sat there, stunned. Shocked that she’d been so brutally honest out loud, in class.
But our professor smiled.
“A great question. I’m glad you asked. Because that’s exactly what we’re all here trying to figure out.”
A change in atmosphere, a sudden shift in perspective became almost palpable. The question needed to be asked, in fact was begging to be asked, by all of us. We were all feeling lost and confused, but what if my classmate hadn’t spoken up? We very likely would have continued on the trajectory of poor listening and become more and more frustrated with each other and what we were reading. We would have missed out completely on anything remotely beneficial Plato might have had to say (and if you’re wondering, he has quite a bit).
But we didn’t. Because Anna listened, and responded with honesty, and with courage.
Her openness and raw gut reaction voiced out loud ultimately became a turning point. No more purposeless spiraling. Finally, our feelings — our frustration, fear, complacency — were out in the open, and we knew what we had to do.
It’s funny. Students often think that speaking their mind — what they’re actually feeling and thinking, not just what they think the teacher or their classmates want to hear or parroting the cultural conversations in vogue at the moment — will make them sound stupid or weak. But I have rarely found this to be the case, in my own educational and personal experiences or in my teaching experiences.
Rather, honesty is unbelievably helpful. It gives you (and others) power, provides clarity. If you don’t believe me, try it sometime; the results may astound you.
3. Find a friend
This one is step-in-step with “be honest.”
And honestly, I’ve learned to do lot of praying whenever I encounter a new idea or situation that I’m not sure what to do with. God is my helper and my constant friend when I don’t know where to turn. When I give my honest uncertainty to him right away (even if my questions are ones that might seem to exclude him like, “Does God even exist?”) and ask for guidance, I watch him take that simple request and do wonderful and sometimes unexpected things with it, even if it takes years for me to see the results. But they’re always worth it.
Trustworthy and wise people are a part of this process, too. There’s nothing more terrifying than a scary idea left to itself in our head, free to roam at will and wreak havoc and mayhem up and down and throughout our often-fragile psyches. Some of us are perhaps more self-controlled than others, and can quell these crazy mind ramblings, but the rest of us are left rather tangled and confused and alone like Dante in that dark forest where “the straightforward pathway had been lost.”
There is a freedom and a peace that comes with communicating our thoughts out loud. It can very difficult to do, and often we will not like what comes out, and it may not even sufficiently capture what we mean or want to say. But that doesn’t mean we still shouldn’t try.
When you’ve read or heard something that overwhelms you or if you want to learn more about something that intimidates you, find someone you trust, someone you know who will not freak out if you need to ask some honest questions or process the strange or foreign ideas you’ve just encountered and your maybe less-than-admirable response to them (someone who will not let you get away with simply overlooking something that bothers you), and let fly. Ask them if they’ll take the journey with you. See if you can get to the bottom of what disturbs you so much. Discuss what is good and what is bad, what you agree with and don’t agree with. Again, do your best to be honest about your experience.
4. Give it time
A new or foreign idea can really play tricks on us when we first discover it. There’s the shock factor, the horrified “how have I never noticed, seen or understood this before?”, the sudden enormity and weight and terror of a new idea or concept, especially if that idea or concept is communicated in a particularly persuasive or effective way. Or if that person (or book, or film, etc) has a great deal of authority, experience, or charisma attached to it. I find that it is often people’s actions (and the harmony of their actions with consistent words) that have the strongest influence over me.
Something’s very newness or unfamiliarity seems to lend it weight. So I’ve learned to have a hearty suspicion about anything that’s remotely new or foreign to me. After a little time has gone by, and I’ve examined my own feelings and response a bit more, I can return to that new or foreign idea, concept, etc, without so much panic. Sometimes it just takes time to more fully understand what it is we’re dealing with, to see it from more than one angle or persuasion, to give ourselves time to wrestle and probe and test.
This is the reason why we have clinical trials for new medicines and drugs, why we don’t hire someone for an important job or position without placing them on probation for a while. It’s also the reason why C.S. Lewis said to read old books. They’ve been around for a long time — plenty of time for countless generations of readers to find their holes and flaws.
With new ideas, however, we don’t always have this luxury. Caution is a good idea, but don’t let it turn into irrational fear. There’s a difference between these two. Time heals many wounds; it also helps us listen with less frightened ears.
5. If it’s true, let it change you
This is the hardest, but also potentially the best, part of truly listening.
Sometimes we can do all of the above, and still be terrified, or intrigued, or confused…and in the end that might be a good thing.
Allow the journey of honest and careful listening take you on an adventure. Don’t shut it down, don’t push it away. There might be a reason why a question, idea or person’s life sticks with you and won’t let you go, seems to hold you prisoner until you find the answer.
Plato wrote famously about the allegory of the cave in The Republic (yes, that same pesky, confusing old dialogue that so frustrated my classmates and me all those years ago). He said that it’s painful to leave a dark cave and emerge into the sunlight, especially if we’ve lived there all our lives and it’s all we know. But it’s also worth that pain and darkness and struggle — worth it to leave what is false and untrue and pale behind us if it means we’ll get to find more abundant life, enter a more perfect reality.
So my last thought is, I hope you won’t be afraid to find the truth. You might find it in unlikely places, and in unlikely ways. It can be terrifying at first, possibly painful for a long time — but if you do finally recognize it for what it is, please don’t turn away. Embrace it.
Just think — isn’t it incredible what a little listening can do?
Once I wondered what wisdom Plato could possibly have to offer me! | https://medium.com/@explorationtutorials/fearless-listening-1af247b1296e | ['Alyssa Carr'] | 2020-12-17 17:44:46.684000+00:00 | ['Plato', 'Dont Be Afraid', 'Questions', 'Read Old Books', 'Seek And You Shall Find'] |
Beyond Bitcoin | And it goes deeper than that. The average person is still unlikely to promote or understand the benefits of decentralization, but they are at least waking up to the problems of centralization, even if they can’t articulate the cause. In just a few years, there has been a huge surge in public discontent at how governments and businesses reap the benefits from centralized economies of scale, all while collecting, exploiting and ultimately failing to secure our personal data.
Combined with the phenomenal rise of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, decentralization is now in the mainstream like never before. Admittedly, it’s still treated with confusion, suspicion and often even derision, but when every major news site is running almost weekly articles about cryptocurrencies, it’s clear the genie is out of the bottle.
But for all its new-found momentum, the decentralization movement feels like it might be in danger of stumbling at the final hurdle.
Yes, recent advances in computing and communications infrastructure have helped decentralized technologies become a reality, but centralized platforms seem to be benefiting even more.
Yes, discontent at centralized platforms among regular people is growing, but this doesn’t seem to be translating to any kind of migration. People are complaining, but they’re staying put.
Yes, cryptocurrencies are receiving daily mainstream attention, but the stories are all the same: price talk, more price talk, and endless “So what is cryptocurrency?” guides that are more confusing than helpful. The news is there, but it’s already stale and shows little sign of growing more nuanced.
Ironically, if the decentralization movement does falter, the culprit may be the movement’s biggest success story:
Bitcoin.
A Victim of its Own Success
Bitcoin, and the blockchain in general, is nothing short of incredible. A system that ensures that even unscrupulous users are compelled to play by the rules, it revolutionizes transacting and accounting, promising a global, transparent payment system with no bottlenecks or middlemen.
But as anyone who has actually used bitcoin will know, the reality falls far short of the promise. The wallet and key system is mathematically elegant, but practically off-putting. You pay enormous transaction fees in exchange for transactions taking hours or days to resolve. And far from freeing us from the whims of powerful individuals or groups, the battle between the mining pools and wealthiest token holders is proving just as destructive as any bricks and mortar banking scandal, just without the safety net of government oversight or regulation.
In fact, the only regard in which bitcoin can be considered an unqualified success is that it’s made a lot of people a lot of money.
But it’s that very particular success that’s the heart of the current problem. With the scent of money in the air, the vultures have descended. They don’t care about decentralization, they don’t care about blockchain. They don’t even understand it. They don’t want to understand it. Their motivation is the same as everyone who is already rich: they want to get richer. And there’s no shortage of people happy to oblige. Even the few people who started off with strong principles have found themselves swayed by the siren song of vast riches.
In the frenzy around the massive increase in the value of bitcoin, people are rushing to hitch their wagon to blockchain in whatever way they can, no matter how flimsy, whether or not a project actually needs to be decentralized, tokenized or have its data publicly recorded in a blockchain.
People who compare bitcoin to the Dutch tulips don’t understand bitcoin OR bubbles, but there is a very real sense in which this current gold rush is unsustainable. People are greedy, but they’re also suspicious, and they know when something is too good to be true. Look how quickly people bolted from the recent Bitcoin Cash price surge, a move which now seems to undeniably have been an orchestrated manipulation by a few very powerful crypto owners.
Exactly the kind of abuse of power and resources that decentralized technology and philosophy is trying to stamp out.
Even if it wasn’t deliberate, and the price jump really was a reflection of a shift in the ongoing debate in whether bitcoin’s true utility is as digital cash, digital gold or something else entirely, the huge swings in value meant that investors were spooked and the money poured out of Bitcoin Cash almost as quickly as it poured in.
At the moment it doesn’t matter which side of the bitcoin vs Bitcoin Cash debate is right: Those are not graphs of anything useful.
Ethereum
So what would a useful token look like? Well for one thing, its value would be relatively stable. To be useful, tokens need to provide utility commensurate with not just their current value, but also their potential future value. Whatever a token is used for, whether it’s transacting or voting or running programs on the big decentralized world computer one line at a time, the act of using it means you can no longer sell it, because using the token means it leaves your wallet.
People don’t mind there being a cost to use things. But they really hate missing out on increases in value. No-one is going spend tokens to vote in a decentralized governance system or notarize official documents in an offline storage system if they could do nothing with them instead and watch them increase in value by 10 or 20% overnight. If tokens are ever going to be truly useful, people have to not feel like they’re missing out on huge windfalls by using them. For that, the price needs to be stable.
Is there anything that fits the bill here? There are certainly lots of coins with relatively stable prices, but they usually have limited value and very low market caps. It’s important to distinguish between stability and flatlining. In fact, the only token which really seems to buck the trend here is cryptocurrency’s other, slightly more modest success story: Ethereum.
In previous articles, I’ve been less than complimentary about Ethereum, especially the proliferation of ERC20 tokens. The idea of all these apparently different tokens actually sitting on the same chain always seems like a textbook definition of a centralized bottleneck. But it can’t be denied that, unlike any other token, people are mainly using ether for something other than speculating on its value. That’s a huge improvement over bitcoin.
It’s important not to overstate the success of this. Ethereum was pitched as a world-changing decentralized computer, but what it’s become is a repository for tokens to power ICOs. So once again a decentralized technology has been corrupted and diminished purely for the pursuit of wealth, and it’s very possible that the only reason Ethereum seems to be immune from the whales’ market manipulation is because they have too much locked up in ERC20 based ICOs to risk screwing with the platform that supports them all.
But even though ICOs, at least in their current form, are a far cry from the promise of decentralization, the case of Ethereum is still notable. The question is how to take this kernel of success and transfer it to another project, one whose tokens have real utility beyond supporting the current investment boom.
In fact, some would argue that this has already started.
(F)Utility Tokens
On July 25th 2017, the US Securities and Exchange Commission issued an excruciatingly unclear and unhelpful report and investor bulletin on ICOs.
In the aftermath of this, many projects have begun to insist that their tokens are “utility tokens”, tokens which are primarily designed to be used within a system and which are not intended as investment vehicles.
This could be seen as evidence that the shift to more varied and useful tokens has already begun, and my complaints in this article are just impatience. Yes, the crypto space moves incredibly fast, but it’s unreasonable to expect new useful tokens to spring up overnight. Despite raising millions of dollars upfront, crypto projects are still beholden to the usual cycle of development, testing, release, adoption, etc. Maybe in six months as these project mature, we’ll see a whole new generation of truly useful cryptotokens that puts all my concerns to rest.
But I wouldn’t bet on it.
You only have to read the latest round of white papers or talk to people at any of the many ICO conferences that have sprung up overnight to understand that the shift to utility tokens is just preemptive semantics to avoid legal repercussions down the road. 90% of people are in the ICO game for the money, and they don’t care if their greed brings down the whole of crypto, as long as they get their piece before everything collapses.
(And the utility token gambit probably won’t even work. The harsh truth about going toe to toe in a legal battle with government institutions is that it’s not enough to be right. You have to be so obviously, staggeringly right that they don’t even bother you in the first place. If the case makes it to court, it will cost you so much to defend that you’ll be bankrupt before it even reaches a verdict. Sticking a couple of lines of disclaimer at the end of a white paper isn’t going to cut it.)
Which is not to say that every new crypto project or ICO is pointless. There are many good ideas out there, and the rushed nature of ICOs mean there will be many projects that turn out to be good despite currently seeming half-baked. But even if we’re genuinely seeing a new wave of useful crypto tokens, the overwhelming influence of bitcoin makes it very hard for these projects to thrive.
It’s difficult to convert bitcoin back into fiat, especially if you want to avoid having your private data harvested by centralized authorities, but it’s trivial to convert bitcoin into other cryptocurrencies. So when bitcoin plunges, the whales retreat into other coins, increasing their market cap by several orders of magnitude overnight. The whales don’t care what those projects are: they’re just a temporary safe harbor during the storm. But for the people genuinely invested in the utility of those projects the effects are devastating. Remember, people only use tokens if they’re confident they’re not missing out on huge increases in value. If bitcoin money floods in, even if it’s only for a few hours, any utility those tokens once had is obliterated as they become nothing more than a temporary store of bitcoin value.
And even when bitcoin is relatively stable, other tokens aren’t safe. “Pump and dump” groups, presumably unhappy with their mere 5% daily gains in bitcoin, make their money by artificially inflating the value of coins and then quickly leaving again.
And that’s just what’s happening when crypto is thriving. If (whisper it) bitcoin really does see a proper crash, the repercussions for every other project will be seismic. If bitcoin goes, is the rest of the crypto market really stable enough to survive, or will everything collapse like a house of cards?
A Solution?
So what should we do? What can be done to inject some essential stability into the whole crypto ecosystem?
Given the politics of many in the field, I suspect a common answer would be: “Absolutely nothing”. Decentralization is about dismantling centralized control and regulation, and many would claim it’s important to let market forces do their work as a matter of principle. Yes, there will be blips and corrections, they’ll say, but eventually everything will settle in its proper place and find its proper value.
It’s hard to understate the naivety of this position.
First, crypto markets aren’t operating in a vacuum. There are powerful outside forces at work, and this means that regulation is inevitable in some form or another. What isn’t inevitable is the kind of regulation we end up with. If crypto can get its act together quickly and present to the world a variety of different tokens with different values and uses, then the regulation, when it comes, will be much kinder than if crypto is still a free-for-all Wild West dominated by flimsy ICOs and an ideological price battle between bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.
Second, the huge chasm between bitcoin and everything else may mean it’s too late for market forces. Market forces are a good way to nudge back towards an equilibrium, but there’s less evidence that they can correct for potentially market breaking disequilibria.
Finally, the “leave well alone” argument would be a lot more compelling if people weren’t manipulating prices and markets on a daily basis, at which point “leave it to market forces” starts to sound at lot like “leave us to rig things in peace or else”.
This all sounds pretty dire. If the markets are in the hands of the miners and the major token holders, what hope is there of making a useful correction before the regulators step in and hamstring everyone?
Ultimately, the only solution is to try and change regular people’s attitudes to crypto in general. Once people see a blockchain-based tech that has changed people’s lives in a way they understand other than just suddenly getting rich, they will be more willing to accept the promise that this is a useful technology with world-changing potential.
At Libertaria, we’re creating decentralized technologies to help communities of real people all around the world. Over the coming months, in addition to showcasing use cases for this technology, we’ll be highlighting the stories of real people whose lives have been changed by blockchain and other decentralized tools. We’ll also be showing you how crypto and decentralized technology might help you and people you know, in ways that having nothing to do with the price of bitcoin. In doing this, we hope to raise awareness of one of the greatest technological advances of our lifetimes, one which is in real danger of being dismissed before it’s had the chance to show its true potential.
If you’re interested in learning more about Libertaria technologies or the practicalities or theory of decentralized living, there are lots of ways to get involved. Sign up to the Libertaria newsletter, follow this blog or the Decentralized Society Blog, or come and join us in our Discord. We hope you’ll join us on our decentralization journey! | https://medium.com/libertaria/beyond-bitcoin-e4a024169f65 | ['Markus Maiwald'] | 2017-12-01 15:11:08.717000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Libertaria', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Decentralization'] |
Designing a New Cannabis Culture | In the past few years, modern cannabis culture has blossomed. Minimalist dispensaries with steel and glass cases present the plants like rare jewels-sleek vapes and handcrafted pipes look like standalone works of pocketable sculpture. New magazines and podcasts map and chart newfangled conversations and ways of thinking. Like a field of quickly-growing weeds, this creative efflorescence nods to the vast potential of the cannabis plant itself. Designers, artists, and all kinds of creative professionals have been given a challenging gift: to pollinate the planet with ideas about what the plant means today.
The world of weed through a rose-colored lens: Ladies of Paradise cultivate female-centric cannabis content, putting peace, love, equality, and eco-friendliness first. (Photo: Harlee Case, High on Design)
They are tasked with developing a new expression of cannabis culture that is both forward-thinking and historically informed, as well as responsive because it is a culture-shifting in real-time. When lawmakers around the world began legalizing cannabis in the 2010s, it’s unlikely that they intended to spawn a creative revolution. The shift was subtle at first, but the art-driven transformation of cannabis continues to gain momentum. High on Design: The New Cannabis Culture captures a snapshot of this exciting shift in cannabis culture through interviews, case studies, and examinations of the cultural relevance of cannabis throughout history.
These creative expressions are rooted both in place-each region infuses their legal weed scene with its own local flair-and in personalities. It was Oregon that acted as a creative catalyst for the cannabis industry in the 2010s, connecting to the state’s community of local makers and designers. Portland is home to the first dispensaries and brands that achieved global renown for their elevated style. The creatives behind these efforts envisioned a weed culture that reflected their values-care, craftsmanship, and a friendly mood, the same way one might approach coffee, wine, or other handcrafted goods in an accessible way.
Flower by Edie Parker was created by Brett Heyman, whose love of mid-century style led her to develop a line of classy, colorful accessories for women. Products include everything from glamorous tabletop lighters and coasters to earrings and key fobs. The flower now sells a range of cannabis-related accessories and pre-rolls that exemplify the brand’s chic styling. (Photo: Heami Lee, Styling by Rebecca Bartoshesky, High on Design)
They created objects and spaces meant to be seen and enjoyed, not hidden away. And by doing that, they sent a signal: it was finally time to rethink the way we perceive cannabis. The design here served a deeper purpose than mere aesthetic pleasure-it began to change preconceived ideas. The cultural identity assigned to cannabis users in popular culture-”stoners” who are lazy, no-good criminals, or hippie dropouts destined to live in their parents’ basements-is intensely negative. These comical, imagined characters highlight how much our minds rely on images to understand the world around us.
The artistry of the new cannabis culture offered a radical rewrite of these ideas, reflecting the truth instead of a trope. Because the truth is, once legalization began, it didn’t take long before pot-smoking stereotypes started to shatter. Legal dispensaries and brands quickly saw the spectrum of adults interested in cannabis defied so-called conventional wisdom. (One notable example: women have been at the forefront of the new cannabis movement as both consumers and industry leaders). If legal cannabis could look and feel friendly and appealing, it invited everyone in-longtime cannabis lovers, first-timers, the cannabis curious, and everyone in between.
Describing her wares as “design-forward,” Victoria Ashley, founder of Laundry Day, has developed a sleek, sophisticated line of smokeware that elevates smoking pieces to the same level as other highly designed accessories of modern living. (Photo: Lisette Markiewicz, High on Design)
The opportunity to reinterpret an entire subculture doesn’t come around often, and for design-minded people, there’s a tremendous amount of excitement associated with exploring such endless, untapped potential. It’s easy to get caught up in the positivity and fun of the new era of weed, especially if you live in a place where it’s legal. But it’s important to remember that the stigma surrounding cannabis is still very much alive. Depending on the laws and culture of where you live, consuming cannabis can mean losing your job, having your children taken away, or being put in jail.
Rebranding cannabis comes with a lot of responsibility: you have to look deeper than the surface level of a nicely packaged product or a stylish retail shop. Perhaps the most important thing we can learn from the history of cannabis and its ongoing legalization is that we must rely on community efforts, activism, and education to meaningfully normalize the plant. If you’re a person who is interested in cannabis and have the privilege of being open about it, please do so even if it’s something as simple as keeping this book on your coffee table as a subtle, simple nod to your leafy-green friend.
From dark alleyways to Californian boulevards, cannabis culture has flourished into a billion-dollar business in a matter of years since legalization. Discover the individuals and brands creating a new aesthetic for modern times through High on Design. | https://medium.com/gestalten/designing-a-new-cannabis-culture-c6364c0b6169 | [] | 2020-09-25 14:27:21.067000+00:00 | ['Cannabis Industry', 'Cannabis', 'Weed', 'Cannabis Medical', 'Smoke'] |
We need a roadmap to housing instead of cruelty — opposing Oakland’s homeless encampment management policy. | Just Cities has served as the City of Oakland’s thought and action partners on many public service priorities from passing the nation’s best Fair Chance Housing policy, creating a recent Re-entry Housing Fund, developing the Oakland Police Commission, to creating the City’s Anti-Displacement safety net. This policy gives us grave concern for the following reasons.
The policy proposal violates the human rights of unhoused residents and Oakland’s standards of racial and social justice and common human decency, as well as public health COVID standards.
In 2018 the United Nation’s report on global homelessness cited Oakland’s policy and practices of removing unhoused people from encampments as “cruel and inhumane” and in violation of international human rights. The proposed encampment policy would also violate these international human rights standards.
The policy would also result in placing people living in 98% of Oakland’s homeless encampments under the constant threat of having their homes, belongings, and community they have formed destroyed. We know from both lived experience and public health research that living under such precarity and aggravated stress can result in mental illness, physical illness, child abuse, domestic violence, hopelessness, and suicide.
In a time when City leaders have stood up for Black Lives, the policy would also result in a disparate impact on Black people given that they represent 70% of Oakland’s unhoused population while only constituting 24% of Oakland’s overall population.
In a time of COVID, the policy would result in dispersing people who are at extreme risk of contacting COVID — increasing COVID risks for both unhoused residents and the general Oakland population. This would be in violation of both the City Council COVID policy on homelessness, on which we had partnered with the City and the CDC COVID guidelines.
2. The City has not followed its own internal racial equity standard of authentic community engagement of unhoused residents.
As a member of the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE), the City of Oakland seeks to adhere to GARE’s standards on racial equity including community engagement. However, as shared with us by Oakland’s leading unhoused organizations including The Village, East Oakland Collective, and Love and Justice in the Streets, the City has not conducted adequate community engagement with unhoused residents to listen, hear, and dialogue with them.
We strongly recommend that the City Council directs the Administration to engage in respectful and robust community engagement prior to Council taking a vote on the policy proposal.
3. The City has not followed its own internal racial equity standard of conducting a racial equity impact analysis by the Department of Race and Equity.
The Oakland Department of Race and Equity was formed to end the vicious and historic cycle of racially unjust planning and public policy. However, in order for the Council to be informed about potential racial equity impacts, the Department must conduct a racial equity impact analysis BEFORE the policy is enacted. It defies the principles of racial equity and commonsense for the Department to wait until the policy has been implemented and then merely study the harmful effects of the policy, as the City is currently proposing.
We strongly recommend that the City Council directs the Department of Race & Equity to conduct a racial equity impact analysis of the proposed policy prior to Council taking a vote.
4. Instead, the City should provide meaningful alternative housing options including using the available 50 acres+ of public land and millions of new public funds for homelessness to provide immediate, safe, and dignified housing.
Oakland residents and businesses are all united in wanting to see unhoused residents provided with stable and secure housing. However, the government’s inability to provide stable housing for the growing numbers of unhoused people is creating unnecessary land-use conflicts between unhoused residents who are trying to survive and members of the public who are trying to use public spaces.
Oakland is fortunate because unlike some other cities, we are blessed by the ingredients needed to provide safe, dignified, and stable housing for all of the city’s unhoused — over 50 acres of vacant public land and millions of new public funds for homelessness. Two years ago, Just Cities conducted research and issued a roadmap for Oakland on how it could provide immediate housing for over 2,000 residents. This roadmap is still applicable today. We stand ready to assist the City and to mobilize our many partners to do the same.
We need your voice to stand with Oakland’s unhoused residents who include a growing number of children. Please take action by Tuesday 10 am HERE!
In community,
Margaretta Wan-Ling Lin
Executive Director, Just Cities | https://medium.com/just-cities/we-need-a-roadmap-to-housing-instead-of-cruelty-opposing-oaklands-homeless-encampment-966c4b203aff | ['Margaretta Wan-Ling Lin'] | 2020-10-19 23:29:33.550000+00:00 | ['Oakland Public Policy', 'Housing For All', 'Homelessness', 'Racial Justice', 'Stopemp'] |
Tech: Cool TypeScript Operators You Might Not Know | Tech: Cool TypeScript Operators You Might Not Know
These shorthand operators are truly amazing!!!
In recent years, TypeScript (TS) has become one of the most popular programming languages among web community. It is basically a strictly typed version of JavaScript and so much more. Thanks to its strong type checking, inline documentation and great community support; TS has been adopted heavily by major JavaScript frameworks like Angular, React and Vue. In this article, we will go through several handy TS operators that can help you reduce boilerplate and make your codes look cleaner and easy to read.
Note that different operators demonstrated below might only be available at specific TS version.
Template Strings — TS v1.4
When building web pages you often need to construct a string from string literals (string constants) along with one or many arbitrary expressions (variable strings). Since version 1.4, TS has supported ES6 template strings to help decompose string objects easily. | https://medium.com/swlh/tech-cool-typescript-operators-you-might-not-know-312c0d0abc9c | ['Khoi Bui'] | 2020-09-04 22:10:47.636000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Typescript', 'Programming', 'UI', 'Web Development'] |
Atom Update: 7/12/18 | Nucleus Update
The team has spent a lot of time doing the legwork on a fairly large project to implement more robust data access controls within the Nucleus API. We have designed a new framework that will control access to data on two levels:
Endpoints that a user can call and data that users are authorized to view Actions that a user can take on specific underlying accounts to which they are associated
This framework leverages “roles” or “authorities” that control access to every service on the Nucleus platform. Roles will also limit what data is returned when retrieving data, based on the role or authority of the caller. Users representing other underlying parties— such as financial advisors, registered agents, or enterprises building consumer-facing application with Nucleus — will have the ability to gain access to specific accounts. This access is granted with varying levels of control based on the corresponding client-account association type.
The Nucleus team aims to put this new framework in place over the next few development sprints. We’ll keep you all updated on our progress! | https://medium.com/hydrogen-api/atom-update-7-12-18-28a2a5a81bfa | ['Shane Hampton'] | 2018-07-13 20:35:57.514000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Dev Update', 'Atom', 'Fintech', 'API'] |
What haters on YouTube don’t understand | So my last video on YouTube got a lot more views than I expected.
I was expecting my typical, 10–20 views, and nothing more.
Well, I got over 1,500 views for my most recent video, and that was in just one week. And with all those views came comments. And with all those comments, came some hate.
To give more context, my video was about why people should not read the 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene.
My point was that most people reading this book do not have their shit together. A bunch of young kids and adults read this book thinking it will give them some edge, but these very same readers are scared to take risks, scared to ask girls out, and scared to stand up for themselves.
So I just said that it would be better to get your shit together, as that will get you a lot farther in life than just reading the 48 Laws of Power.
Now, some people were just straight hating.
Not even constructive criticism, but just pure hate.
These viewers were hurt by my criticism of the book. It was as if I desecrated some holy book and I am feeling the wrath of its believers.
Photo by Szabo Viktor on Unsplash
Seeing all these people hating on my video got me wondering why where they so butt hurt.
And I think the reason why is because people do not want their world views to be tarnished. These loyal readers of 48 Laws of Power have built up a world where they need to use the 48 laws of power to navigate through life.
Otherwise, they are toast.
And if anybody challenges that viewpoint, they will attack that person.
The problem with these guys is that if they see their world strictly in one sense, they are going to lose out on so much more of what life has to offer.
If all they think is how to use or defend themselves from the laws of power. Well, they are going to live a very exhausting life.
When it comes to friends, they are going to refer back to the 48 laws.
When it comes to dating, they are going to refer back to the 48 laws.
When it comes to business, they are going to refer back to the 48 laws.
And oddly enough, these guys are not going to get the super-duper success they were looking for.
Life is all about embracing different ideas.
Life is about challenging your status quo.
I remember an Islamic saying that said that if you truly want to believe in something, question it.
However, when you refuse to question your sacred beliefs, then you are just a shallow follower. Nobody has ever reached a true understanding without questioning.
For example, in therapy, you have to question yourself in order to get a better understanding of your values, problems, and perception of the world. Without the questioning aspect, therapy is useless.
Once I questioned my low self-esteem, my poor beliefs, and my problems. Is when I was able to better understand the trauma and difficulties in my life.
Through questioning myself I was able to overcome my deeply personal problems. Even today, when my insecurities come in, I question them and ask myself why I am so focused on this small aspect of myself?
And as a result, I am able to get over it.
I will admit, questioning your belief and yourself is not easy.
But nothing great in life ever is.
So don’t be like the losers on my YouTube video who are too afraid to ponder on another point of view.
Life is too short to be narrowminded.
(If you enjoyed this short article, then click here to join my email list where you get a daily boost of confidence every morning plus the free Self-Improvement Cheat Sheet for Nerds.) | https://medium.com/@bulcha-17804/what-haters-on-youtube-dont-understand-d47c0acd0dc8 | ['Bulcha', 'The Charismatic Nerd'] | 2020-12-22 21:36:20.181000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Life Lessons', 'Self Development', 'Inspiration', 'Confidence'] |
Handwritten Digits Prediction Analysis | A Brief Analysis of the Handwritten digits prediction results.
Photo by Antoine Dautry on Unsplash
Introduction
In this notebook I have performed the analysis of Digits recognition accuracy, the dataset used in this notebook comes inbuilt with the scikit-learn library so it needs not to be downloaded.
Problem Statement
The Digits data set of the scikit-learn library provides numerous data-sets that are useful for testing many problems of data analysis and prediction of the results. Some Scientist claims that it predicts the digit accurately 95% of the times. Perform data Analysis to accept or reject this Hypothesis
Importing Libraries
import numpy as np
import matplotlib
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import seaborn as sns
%matplotlib inline
sns.set_style('darkgrid')
matplotlib.rcParams['font.size'] = 14
matplotlib.rcParams['figure.figsize'] = (9, 5)
matplotlib.rcParams['figure.facecolor'] = '#00000000'
Loading Data
from sklearn import datasets
digits = datasets.load_digits()
digits.data array([[ 0., 0., 5., ..., 0., 0., 0.],
[ 0., 0., 0., ..., 10., 0., 0.],
[ 0., 0., 0., ..., 16., 9., 0.],
...,
[ 0., 0., 1., ..., 6., 0., 0.],
[ 0., 0., 2., ..., 12., 0., 0.],
[ 0., 0., 10., ..., 12., 1., 0.]])
Understanding the data
digits.data.shape (1797, 64)
We can see that our dataset has 1797 images and all the images are 8x8 in dimension.
digits.target.shape (1797,)
We have 1797 labels for our target that contains values from 0 to 9.
Let's see some Images and labels
plt.figure(figsize=(15,9))
for index, (image, label) in enumerate(zip(digits.data[0:6], digits.target[0:6])):
plt.subplot(1, 6, index + 1)
plt.imshow(np.reshape(image, (8,8)), cmap='gray')
plt.title(f'Training: {label}')
Splitting Data into Training and Test Sets
Lets split our data so it can be used for training our model and later for testing purpose.
from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split
X_train, X_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split(digits.data, digits.target, test_size=0.2, random_state=42)
Let’s see our train data a bit.
X_train array([[ 0., 0., 3., ..., 13., 4., 0.],
[ 0., 0., 9., ..., 3., 0., 0.],
[ 0., 0., 0., ..., 6., 0., 0.],
...,
[ 0., 0., 9., ..., 16., 2., 0.],
[ 0., 0., 1., ..., 0., 0., 0.],
[ 0., 0., 1., ..., 1., 0., 0.]]) y_train array([6, 0, 0, ..., 2, 7, 1])
Modelling our dataset
from sklearn.linear_model import LogisticRegression # Loading the regressor model = LogisticRegression() # creating instance of regression class model.fit(X_train, y_train) # fitting the model LogisticRegression()
Making individual predictions.
model.predict(X_test[0].reshape(1,-1)) array([6])
Making random digits predictions.
model.predict(X_test[0:6]) array([6, 9, 3, 7, 2, 1]) model.predict(X_test[15:21]) array([2, 3, 7, 8, 8, 4]) model.predict(X_test[45:51]) array([1, 3, 0, 6, 5, 5])
Let’s visualize some of the results of the dataset.
plt.figure(figsize=(15,9))
for index, (image, label) in enumerate(zip(X_test[0:6], y_test[0:6])):
plt.subplot(1, 6, index + 1)
plt.imshow(np.reshape(image, (8,8)), cmap='gray')
plt.title(f'Training: {label}')
plt.figure(figsize=(15,9))
for index, (image, label) in enumerate(zip(X_test[15:20], y_test[15:20])):
plt.subplot(1, 5, index + 1)
plt.imshow(np.reshape(image, (8,8)), cmap='gray')
plt.title(f'Training: {label}')
Making predictions on the entire dataset
predictions = model.predict(X_test)
predictions array([6, 9, 3, 7, 2, 1, 5, 2, 5, 2, 1, 9, 4, 0, 4, 2, 3, 7, 8, 8, 4, 3,
9, 7, 5, 6, 3, 5, 6, 3, 4, 9, 1, 4, 4, 6, 9, 4, 7, 6, 6, 9, 1, 3,
6, 1, 3, 0, 6, 5, 5, 1, 3, 5, 6, 0, 9, 0, 0, 1, 0, 4, 5, 2, 4, 5,
7, 0, 7, 5, 9, 5, 5, 4, 7, 0, 4, 5, 5, 9, 9, 0, 2, 3, 8, 0, 6, 4,
4, 9, 1, 2, 8, 3, 5, 2, 9, 0, 4, 4, 4, 3, 5, 3, 1, 3, 5, 9, 4, 2,
7, 7, 4, 4, 1, 9, 2, 7, 8, 7, 2, 6, 9, 4, 0, 7, 2, 7, 5, 8, 7, 5,
7, 5, 0, 6, 6, 4, 2, 8, 0, 9, 4, 6, 9, 9, 6, 9, 0, 5, 5, 6, 6, 0,
6, 4, 3, 9, 3, 8, 7, 2, 9, 0, 6, 5, 3, 6, 5, 9, 9, 8, 4, 2, 1, 3,
7, 7, 2, 2, 3, 9, 8, 0, 3, 2, 2, 5, 6, 9, 9, 4, 1, 2, 4, 2, 3, 6,
4, 8, 5, 9, 5, 7, 8, 9, 4, 8, 1, 5, 4, 4, 9, 6, 1, 8, 6, 0, 4, 5,
2, 7, 1, 6, 4, 5, 6, 0, 3, 2, 3, 6, 7, 1, 9, 1, 4, 7, 6, 5, 8, 5,
5, 1, 5, 2, 8, 8, 9, 9, 7, 6, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 8, 8, 3, 6, 0, 9, 7,
7, 0, 1, 0, 4, 5, 1, 5, 3, 6, 0, 4, 1, 0, 0, 3, 6, 5, 9, 7, 3, 5,
5, 9, 9, 8, 5, 3, 3, 2, 0, 5, 8, 3, 4, 0, 2, 4, 6, 4, 3, 4, 5, 0,
5, 2, 1, 3, 1, 4, 1, 1, 7, 0, 1, 5, 2, 1, 2, 8, 7, 0, 6, 4, 8, 8,
5, 1, 8, 4, 5, 8, 7, 9, 8, 6, 0, 6, 2, 0, 7, 9, 8, 9, 5, 2, 7, 7,
1, 8, 7, 4, 3, 8, 3, 5])
Measuring Model Performance
score = model.score(X_test, y_test)
score 0.9694444444444444
Our model has an accuracy of around 97% which is quite good.
Conclusion | https://medium.com/@ajetely/digits-recognition-accuracy-analysis-6efc3668da57 | ['Aditya Jetely'] | 2020-10-13 09:21:43.540000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Numpy', 'Data Analysis', 'Matplotlib', 'Scikit Learn'] |
The Best HDMI 2.1 Cables | The Best HDMI 2.1 Cables
These are the best “8K” HDMI cables from companies with an HDMI certification history.
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I might earn a referral fee (at no expense to you) when you click a link.
“Ultra High Speed HDMI” is the official name for cables that meet the HDMI 2.1 standard. These 48Gbps HDMI 2.1 cables are designed to support future technologies and advanced video resolutions (like 10K), but Ultra High Speed HDMI cables already have practical uses:
If your Apple TV 4K flickers or flashes — Several Apple TV 4K users complain of intermittent screen flickering or a flashing white light, especially while using Dolby Vision or other HDR10 formats. Apple recommends using a 48Gbps cable for Apple TV 4K.
— Several Apple TV 4K users complain of intermittent screen flickering or a flashing white light, especially while using Dolby Vision or other HDR10 formats. Apple recommends using a 48Gbps cable for Apple TV 4K. If you play video games in 4K — Next-gen consoles like the PlayStation 5 (PS5) and Xbox Series X use the HDMI 2.1 Specification and so do ultra-high end graphics cards like Nvidia’s RTX 3080 and RTX 3090. HDMI 2.1 cables support 4K refresh rates of up to 120Hz, which is a standard that is now supported by high-end gaming monitors.
— Next-gen consoles like the PlayStation 5 (PS5) and Xbox Series X use the HDMI 2.1 Specification and so do ultra-high end graphics cards like Nvidia’s RTX 3080 and RTX 3090. HDMI 2.1 cables support 4K refresh rates of up to 120Hz, which is a standard that is now supported by high-end gaming monitors. If you edit 8K video — Video-editing workstations that support 8K resolution require a DisplayPort 1.4 or HDMI 2.1 connection to display full resolution imagery on an 8K monitor.
— Video-editing workstations that support 8K resolution require a DisplayPort 1.4 or HDMI 2.1 connection to display full resolution imagery on an 8K monitor. If you listen to Dolby Atmos or DTS:X audio — The best surround sound formats (like DTS Master, DTS:X, Dolby TrueHD, and Dolby Atmos) use HDMI-eARC, a standard that is best supported by 48Gbps HDMI cables.
— The best surround sound formats (like DTS Master, DTS:X, Dolby TrueHD, and Dolby Atmos) use HDMI-eARC, a standard that is best supported by 48Gbps HDMI cables. If you’re semi-permanently wiring a home theater — Using a next-generation HDMI cable today can save some frustration tomorrow: Nobody wants to re-snake cables through a wall or ceiling.
— Using a next-generation HDMI cable today can save some frustration tomorrow: Nobody wants to re-snake cables through a wall or ceiling. If your Dolby Vision TV supports 4:4:4 chroma subsampling — A 4K 60Hz signal using uncompressed Dolby Vision HDR requires 24.06Gbps of bandwidth: That’s more than HDMI 1.4 or HDMI 2.0 can handle. HDMI 2.1 can also support 8K video at up to 60Hz, which some 8K TVs are capable of handling.
How to Verify a Certified HDMI Cable
HDMI.org publishes an incomplete list of premium HDMI cable certification program participants. (You won’t find Cable Matters on the list, but I’ve manually verified the company’s certification status.)
To verify that a cable is certified, a person must download the “HDMI Premium Cable” smartphone app and scan a holographic QR code on the cable (or its packaging). But, what about online shoppers?
Many of the “certified” HDMI cables that are available online misappropriate HDMI.org’s dummy QR code: BCDFG123456. Unfortunately, you’ll have to buy a cable before you can verify that it is legitimately certified.
Don’t Trust Any HDMI 2.1 Cable Longer Than 10 Feet
All passive HDMI cables (i.e. copper wire cables) lose signal strength and handshake capabilities over long runs; this problem only worsens with high resolution audio and video content. (Owners of 4K projectors know this pain.)
That’s why the HDMI Forum predicts that the maximum HDMI 2.1 passive cable length “will be approximately 2 to 3 meters.” For longer cable runs, an optical HDMI is required. But, these speciality cables can cost hundreds of dollars, and considering that there are no certified HDMI 2.1 optical cables on the market, this is a risky proposition.
Certified HDMI 2.1 Cables Are Still Vaporware
As of November 2020, the only “certified” HDMI 2.1 cables are from AudioQuest and Club 3D. However, the HDMI Licensing Administrator could not confirm (via an e-mail conversation that I initiated) that these brands are actual HDMI adopters. This is a frustrating state of affairs considering that the HDMI 2.1 specification was announced in early 2017 and the HDMI Forum declared in early 2020 that certification was mandatory.
The 48Gbps cables listed below are not certified, however, they are from brands with a certification history.
Cable Matters 3-Pack 48Gbps Ultra 8K HDMI Cable (9.8 Feet)
3-Pack 48Gbps Ultra 8K HDMI Cable (9.8 Feet) 300029–3mx3-N — Image Credit: Cable Matters
Good Value: $35 | Great Deal: $30
Check Current Price on Amazon
Cable Matters’ color-coded HDMI 2.1 cables are slim, flexible and inexpensive, according to several online customers. Some reviewers say that the cables in this three-pack aren’t as durable as one-off cables.
Cable Matters 48Gbps Ultra 8K HDMI Cable (6.6 Feet)
48Gbps Ultra 8K HDMI Cable (6.6 Feet) 300026-BLK-6 — Image Credit: Cable Matters
Good Value: $16 | Great Deal: $12
Check Current Price on Amazon
This affordable HDMI 2.1 cable produces beautiful color without any jitter, flickering or lag, according to several online customers. Reviewers have successfully used this cable with their gaming consoles, 4K Blu-ray players, Apple TVs and HDMI 2.1 TVs. Some reviewers complained of bent or loose plugs.
Monoprice DynamicView HDMI 2.1 Cable (3 Feet)
HDMI 2.1 48Gbps Cable for 8K Support (131230) — Image Credit: Monoprice
Good Value: $11 | Great Deal: $9
Check Current Price on Amazon | Check Current Price on Monoprice | Check Current Price on Overstock
This cable pairs well with Apple 4K TV and prevents the picture from blacking out, according to several online customers. Some reviewers wish these cables came in longer lengths.
Belkin Ultra HD High Speed HDMI Cable (6.6 Feet)
Ultra HD High Speed HDMI Cable (2M) AV10175bt2M-BLK — Image Credit: Belkin
Good Value: $30 | Great Deal: $24
Check Current Price on Amazon | Check Current Price on Apple | Check Current Price on Belkin
Belkin’s Ultra High-Speed HDMI cable is regarded by many online customers as the best HDMI cable for Apple TV 4K. Most reviewers say this cable eliminates flickering on a Dolby Vision 4K HDR 4.2.2 setup.
About the Author: John DeFeo is an avid home theater enthusiast, an amateur filmmaker and a former A/V salesman at one of premiere Hi-Fi shops in NJ. More recently, he was the head of editorial insights at Tom’s Hardware. | https://medium.com/@johnwdefeo/best-hdmi-2-1-cables-9966110780fd | ['John W. Defeo'] | 2021-01-23 12:28:49.896000+00:00 | ['Ps5', 'Hdmi Cables', '8k Video', 'Xboxseriesx', 'Home Theater'] |
Adapting to Adversity: 4 ways lawyers can be proactive in times of crisis | Adapting to Adversity: 4 ways lawyers can be proactive in times of crisis Thoughtriver Apr 23, 2020·4 min read
The current coronavirus pandemic, the implementation of GDPR back in 2018, and the upcoming phase out of IBOR and LIBOR in the banking world, are all examples of where businesses have had to quickly review their contracts in a short space of time. We would all like to be proactive at times like this, but that is often easier said than done.
At the moment, the City regulator and the Bank of England are urging banks and insurers to fast forward their transition plans for IBOR/ LIBOR to push this up the agenda for all. By looking at business’ responses to regulatory change, and how they have adapted in times of crisis, we can begin to think of best practices to implementing new and es proactive approaches. Understanding the work law firms must put in to be successful during times of economic challenge, along with highlighting companies that have responded the best in the past and diving deeper into preparations will all prove fruitful for the future.
Although controversial, Google became a winner of the GDPR scene, by actioning a strict- consent based approach. To avoid any potential fines, it swiftly implemented change, which despite affecting publishers, ensured they complied with the law.
Below are tips on how best to deal with, and prepare for any potential changes in regulation or future crisis:
1. Analyse the regulatory landscape
The first step to being proactive for regulatory change, is to understand what has happened in the past, and how these situations were managed.
It is essential to understand how past changes in regulation and different types of crisis have impacted your business, before you can brainstorm for other eventualities. Understanding where weak spots hide in your company, with a team dedicated to tackling these potential risks, will go a long way when the time comes to act. You will have a better grasp of your priorities and what needs to happen first.
Engaging with experts during this time who know the regulatory landscape will help anticipate potential risks. But companies should also be looking at their current contracts and extracting information where possible to gain further insight.
2. Educate your team
While having a core group of people prepared to quickly deal with changes is key, your wider team will also benefit for education. Refreshers on legal requirements old and new, along with training on specialist software will bring the business a step closer to preparedness. A team with improved or new skillsets will become an asset to the company during times of change as they will be instrumental in ensuring a smooth transition should it become necessary.
In stressful times of change, this will also help team morale, and enable a more cohesive approach to tackling the problem in hand. Companies that are successful during change, plan accordingly and ensure that key decision makers, and their wider teams are informed and notified on business priorities. Inclusion and clear communication mean that teams understand the reason for the change and what their role is in the success of the project.
3. Inform your clients
As with educating your team, making sure your clients know about the changes in regulation, and how this is a legal obligation from the outset, will help mediate any confusion or tension in the months where the planning and change will involve them.
Highlighting how changes in legal requirements need to be observed by all is beneficial to both parties, so the sooner this can happen the better. Estimating the impact on them, and how the business aims to combat this will be appreciated by your clients. Giving them forewarning and time to plan themselves. What’s more these insights need not be expensive, as specialist software is capable to pre-emptively check contracts to highlight areas that need remedied, ensuring that clients are not only kept on the front foot, but do not waste time and money on legal costs.
4. Update your technology
Expensive in the short term, but a sound investment for the future. As many of the best companies did when handling the change in GDPR, making sure the software you are using to handle contracts is up to date and equipped to serve the business during such busy times is of paramount importance.
Regulatory and compliance changes undoubtedly mean a change to contracts and investing in software that makes these processes straightforward and efficient will mean that time usually wasted here, can be actioned into more meaningful business operations. Updating tools used to keep contracts in digital formats and indexed in contractual positions offers the visibility required to be quick off the mark in times of regulatory change. | https://medium.com/@thoughtriver/adapting-to-adversity-4-ways-lawyers-can-be-proactive-in-times-of-crisis-933fe85cac20 | [] | 2020-12-15 12:21:35.158000+00:00 | ['AI', 'Legaltech', 'Crismanagement', 'Lawyers', 'Legal'] |
Rhykker is offering a big NordVPN discount — check out his special deal | Rhykker is a prominent YouTuber that mostly focuses on Blizzard Entertainment releases. Blizzard is one of the most popular video game development company, that created such legends as Starcraft, Diablo series, World of Warcraft and several more. Almost all of their releases gained worldwide popularity and are played by millions of players all over the globe. Personally, Diablo 1 got me hooked on video games years ago, and I can still remember the grim atmosphere and astonishing narrative. Rhykker provides all the latest insights in this genre of games, but he also cares about his viewers’ privacy and recommends NordVPN — a cybersecurity software.
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Who exactly is Rhykker?
Rhykker created his YouTube channel in April of 2007. Over the years it gathered 558k subscribers and has over 145 million views, big numbers for any gaming-oriented channel. His videos are informative, and frequently he travels to gaming conventions to meet game developers, play new games, and get the latest news, which later is presented in his videos. Mostly he is interested in Diablo universe, which is dark and spectacular and can be experienced in three Diablo games (the fourth is on its way).
But maybe you’re not that much into Blizzard products, or just don’t play video games? Then you might’ve missed the exclusive NordVPN discount. Luckily, there are many more entertaining YouTube channels to choose from, and I can recommend at least two. If you’re interested in nature and our planet check Minute Earth channel, there are loads of interesting facts there. Or visit Variant Comics for some quality comics entertainment. Both of them are also recommending NordVPN for privacy protection!
Start protecting your online valuables right now with NordVPN | https://medium.com/@jinglerenostin/rhykker-is-offering-a-big-nordvpn-discount-1e4f3eff71a | ['James Mosby'] | 2020-05-27 12:48:18.541000+00:00 | ['Discount', 'Cybersecurity', 'Privacy', 'VPN', 'Deal'] |
Software Engineer. What to learn or practice after graduation? | Hello everyone. I hope you are doing great and have wonderful time these days. I know some of you have just graduated or just want to find some more good information what to do next or just a new idea… Anyway, you will find something for yourself. After graduation you can feel different emotions(good and bad), you can be lost in your tech path and you can still feel sad that you don’t know something. I would like to tell you that’s alright. Everyday you have challenges, we have to move forward to our goals and dreams and they always are bittersweet. One day you can feel you know everything, on the another day you understand that it was just small part of a huge universe of knowledge. It’s alright. Unfortunately, we can’t have all knowledge just in one day. Just small steps will bring you to success. I have collected all good experiences from different people who are working right now in different companies and also included my own. So, what the next step?
1. Learn new technology(coding language) or keep coding on what you know?
I guess this is one of the most important questions that you might have. Certainly, it depends how do you feel about knowing the language. Okay, just ask truly yourself if you ready to right full app by yourself on this on technology? If yes, I would recommend you just still practicing and develop a new skills in this technology, to make it an ideal. Don’t rush yourself to learn everything(If you know React you can also learn how deploy your project, learn something new about graphs, how to do better styling in your projects). If the answer is no, I would honestly suggest you to go through one more course online and build very small projects by your own again. For example, you studied at bootcamp or college JavaScript, React and Ruby on Rails and you still want to become as a Software Engineer, to my point of you, if you don’t understand JavaScript and React or Ruby. It’s not because you are bad student that you don’t understand. Maybe for you, teacher didn’t explain in that way that you would understand. Everything was super fast that you couldn’t understand in the first time. Just go to Udemy.com they have a tons of information and nice courses. You can buy with discount for 10$-15$ a good course from that will explain you everything from the beginning and to the end. Remember, if you want to have a good teacher and good courses you have to pay. Of course, you can find some information on Youtube or just read tutorials from official websites of technologies. To my opinion, it’s also good practice when you follow someone’s instructions and step by step in monkey way you write code with a person who knows. After all, you will understand more things then you can write by your own sometimes. There are a lot of more sources like Coursera, Codeacademy, …
2. Learn algorithms and data structures.
I know a lot of people hate them, but we have to know the logic how everything works in coding and of course the second or third interview when you are applying for a job, definitely will start with some logical tasks. So for my recommendation, just one algorithm per day will help you with a future interview and also you improve your skills in your language. IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT. There are some good resources: Geeksforgeeks, Udemy. Also to practice more HackerRank.
3. Write your whole project by yourself?
Exactly, people want to see your knowledge after you learned something. People want to see the results. And the result will be your project. Even a small one. It’s hard and it is a lot for beginner software engineer. We are demanded to do more things day by day. The world is growing fast so that we have do the same. Create a new project, write in your new or favorite language, push to your Github every time you did something new. People who are interested in you will check your Github and they will see what you have done and what you didn’t. If you never worked on Github, I insist on learning that, if you are still not good in it. Learn how to deploy your own projects with Github Pages, Firebase or Heroku. Write your own portfolio and show to everybody what you did.
4.How to get work experience or how to feel work in team?
Well there are a lot of good ideas. First of all, find some people who can be with you during your first experience. Find someone who will be happy to work with you on the same project. You can have your own idea and implement this idea in real world. After that you can participate in hackathons and find someone who will be happy to give money for growing your idea. You never know. But other side is to participate in different open source projects(volunteering jobs). I understand that it’s for free, but you will understand what to be a part of the team. Also from the tech side, you will understand others programmers code and add your own one.
To sum up everything, you are boss of your future. Nobody knows what is better for you, but I am happy to share with you some experience that I have. Meet more people, read more information everywhere and try everything that you are passion about. | https://medium.com/dev-genius/software-engineer-what-to-learn-or-practice-after-graduation-d675a5feed68 | ['Yuriy Berezskyy'] | 2020-06-16 08:02:04.746000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Software Development', 'Coding', 'Software Engineering', 'Programming'] |
The Business Investment Platform by EIT InnoEnergy | In particular, it is paving the way for Europe to generate €70 billion of front-loaded investment in batteries which is required to meet peak demand by 2023.
It will help to meet the goal of €40 billion in front-loaded investment in photovoltaic production capacity, which is required to reach Europe’s targets for renewable energy supply. And, it is helping EGHAC accelerate the green hydrogen economy, which has a target of 1200TWh of final energy use based on green hydrogen by 2025 — representing investments north of €100 billion across the affected value chains.
Co-designed with public and private financial institutions and several core industrial partners, the BIP shortens the time to invest, reduces the investee's business risk, and reduces investment risk for the investor.
The BIP is a “fit for purpose” business investment platform attracting best-in-class projects
Investor Benefits:
One-stop-shop to get access to the rapidly expanding European Battery industry,
Safer and more predictable investments in the robust screening process for business cases,
Early introduction to the industrial initiatives,
Ability to coach and intervene early in industrial initiatives.
Investee Benefits:
Coaching and help to make business cases solid and robust,
Access to all kinds of financial institutions both private and public,
Access to EBA 250 network for partners, suppliers, off-takers, etc.
How does the BIP work? | https://medium.com/eit-innoenergy-hub-turkey/the-business-investment-platform-by-eit-innoenergy-4e04c2598ff1 | ['Eit Innoenergy Hub Turkey'] | 2021-06-01 11:57:08.087000+00:00 | ['Energy', 'Investment', 'Battery', 'Investment Opportunities', 'Eit Innoenergy'] |
That Time I Had To #WalkAway | The year was 2016, the season was spring and the presidential race was heating up. I remember sitting in my friend’s car driving down the main thoroughfare in Palm Springs, talking about our mutual disdain for Hillary Clinton.
At the time Bernie Sanders was campaigning and my friend seemed to like Bernie. I was open to learning more him; all I knew was that a few of my friends were rabid Bernie fans and proclaimed their love for him like teenage girls crushing on a movie star.
That summer, I visited a friend on the east coast and noted her Trump stickers and signs. She was an early Trump supporter and never wavered.
“Hmmm,” I thought, still on the fence. Trump was someone I watched on The Apprentice and I usually skipped over the parts when he was talking. I thought he was pompous and over the top.
That fall, we moved from our house into an apartment while our new home was being built. I had sunk into a depression and spent a lot of time at home, reading about the upcoming election, anticipating Wikileaks drops and watching the debates.
It was eye-opening to learn how Donna Brazile slipped the debate questions to Hillary ahead of time. My mind was on the sad and strange death of Seth Rich. Reading Wikileaks offered so much “insider” information. There it was all in black and white, from their “pied piper” strategy to working with the media who sided with the Clinton campaign:
In April 2015, the Clinton campaign held a private dinner party with at least 65 journalists and pundits in attendance. Individuals from CNN, CBS, The New York Times, NBC, MSNBC and more came together under the campaign’s stated goal of “framing the race” to help Clinton win. Many of the above media outlets were indeed the Clinton campaign’s biggest surrogates throughout the 2016 presidential election.
I was pretty ‘red-pilled’ already but I began learning more and slowly I started seeing Trump as someone who was not a political insider, not bought and paid for by lobbyists. There was a lot about his “outsider” status and blunt demeanor that I responded to. Though at this time, I can’t say I liked him or was fully on board — yet.
When Trump responded to Hillary with the line, “…because you’d be in jail!” I jumped off the couch. I was well familiar with the many crimes of the Clintons going back to the late 80s, early 90s and wanted to see justice served. I will refer you to Charles Ortel for an in-depth look into the Clinton Foundation’s corruption.
I started watching Trump’s speeches and couldn’t believe how the news media edited them. In one speech, watching it in its entirety, he cleared said one thing, later watching a clip from CNN, it had been stealthily edited to show another. This happened numerous times.
I saw friends who were appalled by what Trump said. I tried to point out how his words had been edited, how they weren’t seeing the truth. I wanted people to know the video clips were completely edited to push a narrative. “Watch the real video!” I said. “You’re a racist!” was their collective response.
One acquaintance, I knew from my time as a beauty blogger, posted her disgust on Instagram, at how Trump made fun of a disabled reporter.
“That’s not what happened,” I commented, “Watch the video and see for yourself.”
“You can have him grab you by your pussy!” She wrote, then proceeded to block me across all social media. I was taken aback by her words and actions.
That seemed so…harsh.
I was trying to point out the truth, to share what I learned but she didn’t want to hear it. I felt terrible about the interaction so I wrote, asking if we could have a conversation about it, could she forgive me if she felt I was out of line? I am a sensitive person and hate arguing. I was crying, my heart raced as I typed out an email, apologizing again.
Her silence was deafening as the saying goes. Two years later, she still has me blocked everywhere.
Fast forward to election night. I was glued to the TV, watching the results. At one point, when it was looking like Trump was going to win, I texted my friend, the one who shared the opinion that Hillary was corrupt. “I’m sorry things aren’t going your way,” I typed. This was not sarcasm, he had made his hatred of Trump known and I genuinely felt bad that he was angry.
He had slowly come around to being pro-Hillary, buying into the lies and media narrative, somehow he forgot about her many crimes, but he had a right to his opinion.
“I don’t care!” My friend texted. “California is liberal!”
After the election, this friend who I adored, ended what I thought was a close friendship. Over time, I’d see his anti-Trump posts on Facebook and the clear disdain for anyone who supported the new president.
JUST ASK ME, I wanted to scream. Ask me if you want to know how I feel about certain topics, I’m still the same person as before. Don’t let this election come between our friendship! But he’d rather disown me than talk. Really, we all we want peace, safety, prosperity. Can’t we push the other stuff aside? I guess not.
On social media, I saw the same sentiment again and again. Trump supporters were racist, hateful, homophobic, and the list went on and on. I and my conservative friends were none of those things but broad assumptions were made.
When I spoke out, I was called names, bullied, friendships were lost. My mind went back to the blogger who blocked me and refused to answer my emails or accept my apology.
Why?
Can’t we have a difference of opinion? How boring would it be if we all thought the same way and didn’t have a variety of ideas?
From my own experiences, some people do not want to interact with others who have a different way of looking at things.
I had been reading about Operation Mockingbird (look into this and you will be shocked) and the propaganda in the news. Instead of mainstream media, who were clearly biased and pushing a narrative about Trump that didn’t accurately relay the facts, I started following independent media sources. I also learned that mainstream media broadcasts in a frequency which confuses the brain. Politicians use neurolinguistic programming as a sort of brainwashing technique.
NLP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming is one of the world’s most prevalent methods of mind control, used by everyone from sales callers to politicians to media pundits, and it’s nasty to the core.
source
I didn’t want to share anything political on Facebook for fear of insulting my liberal friends. I’m not interested in hurting feelings, I worried if I posted anything political, it might upset them.
For two years I scrolled past hateful comments and memes from my liberal friends and acquaintances. I was concerned with people getting offended by something I might share yet not one of them showed the least bit of concern for other people who might not subscribe to their way of thinking.
I saw the hatred of the left and each time I tried to share facts, I was met with more name calling. At one point, in a single post on Facebook, I had six people accusing me of things that were untrue. “You’re racist! Homophobic!” And my favorite, “You watch Fox news!”
I wasn’t cut out for speaking my mind and getting insults slung at me.
To this day, each time I attempt to have a dialogue or exchange thoughts with people on the left, I am treated in either a very condescending manner or have insults hurled at me.
Every single time.
Its baffling to me.
In reading people’s experiences in the #WalkAway movement, mine is not an isolated occurrence. Many have gone through exactly what I have and are disheartened by the intolerance, the “fake news” and the collective attitude that somehow Trump supporters are hateful monsters.
I wish I knew how to stop the division and bring everyone together. In my own little universe, I try to keep an open mind and respond with respect and kindness to the best of my ability.
And if I encounter hate, I am just going to #WalkAway. | https://medium.com/mundane-alley/that-time-i-had-to-walkaway-1202c670477 | [] | 2018-11-01 18:12:27.793000+00:00 | ['Hillary Clinton', 'Elections', 'Donald Trump', 'Politics', 'Republican Party'] |
Apple iPhone 12 mini: The Best iPhone on the Lowest Rate: | The iPhone 12 mini is the smallest and most affordable phone in Apple’s late-2020 iPhone quartet. It’s sure to appeal most to owners of older iPhones (particularly the iPhone 5 through 8) as well as anyone fed up with a handset that doesn’t fit into their pocket. The 12 mini is also the best value in the iPhone 12 family, packing premium power and the latest features (including 5G and a very capable Night photo mode) into a smaller build for less money than its siblings. It’s our top-pick iPhone this year and easily earns our Editors’ Choice award.
PROS: Perfect hand-friendly form factor. Excellent performance. Better battery life than other small iPhones.
CONS: Shorter battery life than larger iPhones.
BOTTOM LINE: The Apple iPhone 12 mini delivers the best price-to-power ratio of any 2020 iPhone, bringing top-of-the-line features to a phone that easily fits into smaller hands.
WHERE THE 12 MINI FITS IN THE IPHONE 12 LINEUP
Apple has on offered a rich crop of phones this year. In addition to the iPhone 12 mini are the iPhone SE ($399), the iPhone 12 ($799), the iPhone 12 Pro ($999), and the iPhone 12 Pro Max ($1,099). Last year’s iPhone 11 is also still available, for $599.
The 12 mini looks and feels like an iPhone 12 — just smaller. Like the iPhone 12, it comes in glossy black, blue, green, red, or white, with a new “ceramic shield” glass front that Apple claims are less prone to smashing than previous iPhone fronts. The backs of our iPhone 12 review units haven’t yet shown scratches after being knocked around, which is a good sign. You’re probably less likely to drop a small phone, but in case you do, it’s IP68-rated and should survive a voyage to the bottom of the bathtub.
At 5.18 by 2.53 by 0.29 inches (HWD) and 4.76 ounces, the 12 mini is the smallest, lightest premium phone I’ve seen in a while. That 2.53-inch width measurement is the key since width affects how easily you can reach across a phone. In my experience, when you get over 2.7 inches, you have to stretch, and many people’s comfort limit is at just about 2.8 inches. The main iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro are 2.83 inches wide; the Pro Max is over 3 inches wide.
The 12 mini’s luxury experience starts with the screen. The highly saturated OLED display makes the iPhone SE’s LCD looks washed out. At 5.4 inches and 2,340 by 1,080 pixels, it’s even denser than the iPhone 12’s display, with 476 pixels per inch. Yet it’s the same brightness, averaging 625 nits, brighter than previous-generation iPhone screens. Removing the big top and bottom bezels gives the phone significantly more screen real estate than the iPhone SE, 6, 7, and 8. With a Microsoft Word document open in portrait mode, with very small type, I saw nine more lines of text on the 12 minis than on the iPhone SE. On NYTimes.com, which has a more readable text size and freer line spacing, I got three more lines of text. Of course, bigger phones with larger screens will give you more, but it’s impressive that the 12 mini delivers more information than the SE despite being smaller.
LITTLE BUT FIERCE
All the new iPhone 12s are powered by an Apple A14 processor running at 3GHz with 4GB of RAM. Like the iPhone 12, the 12 mini comes in 64GB ($699), 128GB ($749), and 256GB ($849) storage sizes. Those prices are for carrier models; the unlocked model costs $30 more.
“It’s pleasantly surprising to me that the 12 mini even benchmarks the same as the iPhone 12 Pro Max.”
Our benchmark results were the same as those of the iPhone 12, as you’d expect. Its Geekbench scores of 1,602 single-core, 4,029 multi-core, Basemark Web score of 593, and GFXBench graphics benchmark scores were all very similar to both the iPhone 12 and the 12 Pro. They’re also all the better than the iPhone SE, to the tune of 20% higher on Geekbench Multicore and 10% on the Web browsing benchmark. It’s pleasantly surprising to me that the 12 mini even benchmarks the same as the iPhone 12 Pro Max, which costs $400 more and feels twice as large.
Like the other 2020 iPhones, the 12 mini runs Apple’s iOS 14.
TOP-NOTCH NIGHT VISION
No expense was spared for the cameras on the iPhone 12 mini; they’re the same as on the iPhone 12. On the back are 12-megapixel regular and ultrawide cameras. On the front is a 12-megapixel selfie camera. Both the front and back cameras feature Apple’s excellent Night mode, and they can record 4K video at up to 60fps.
I took care to compare the 12 mini directly with the iPhone SE. The biggest difference is the Night mode. The SE doesn’t have it, and Night mode makes a huge difference in the quality of low-light pictures. That alone is a reason to upgrade to the 12 mini. The SE also lacks the wide-angle camera, has slightly less light gathering in the main camera, and has a 7-megapixel — not 12-megapixel — selfie camera.
The 12 mini also has better HDR than the SE. That means you get richer colors in shots with bright backgrounds and darker foregrounds, for instance.
If you want a better iPhone camera, you have to step up to the 12 Pro, which starts at $300 more than the 12 mini. With the Pro, you get a 2x zoom lens and LiDAR, which improves focusing and gives you a gorgeous Night bokeh mode. I found that when I tried to focus on very close-up berries and branches with the iPhone 12 mini or the regular iPhone 12, the phones had trouble figuring out what the foreground object was, but the LiDAR on the iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max really locked that in.
In test shots of complex, non-human objects, the iPhone 12 Pro performed better than either the iPhone 12 mini or the iPhone 12. On a portrait-mode shot of an apple, the 12 mini and the 12 had some trouble keeping the whole fruit in focus while also blurring the background; the 12 Pro handled it well. When I photographed a cup, the bokeh blur went a bit wonky around the handle with the 12 mini and the 12, but the Pro’s LiDAR focusing clearly helped it judge focus there. I didn’t see any difference between the models in my portrait-mode photos of myself, a human.
CLEAN AND CLEAR AUDIO
The iPhone 12 mini has the same 4G and 5G capabilities as the bigger iPhone 12 models. That means much better cellular connections than the iPhone SE, the iPhone 11, or any previous iPhone. It supports all US carriers, including Verizon’s millimeter-wave 5G network, and is the first line of phones to be certified for the “C-Band” networks that will be coming in late 2021.
Voice call quality is very good. It’s worth noting that the dual (top and bottom) stereo speakers on this phone are much louder, clearer, and richer than the single speaker on the bottom of the iPhone SE and older iPhones. Of course, they don’t have bass, but they’re surprisingly non-tinny considering the size of the phone, with treble that’s rich, not squeaky.
I tested the 12 mini against the iPhone 12 and SE on the Bell and Rogers networks in Canada. Speeds and reception were very similar between the 12 mini and the iPhone 12. On Bell’s 5G network, the 12 mini averaged 366Mbps down while the iPhone 12 averaged 393Mbps; on Bell’s 4G network, the 12 mini averaged 296Mbps down while the 12 averaged 261Mbps. Given the relatively small number of samples I took, both of those differences are within the margin of error.
But wow, the 12 mini and the 12 deliver much better performance than the SE does. The SE doesn’t have 5G, so I compared 4G results with 4G results. On Bell’s 4G network, the 12 mini got 296Mbps down, while the SE got 147Mbps. On Rogers’ 4G network, the 12 mini got 111Mbps down, while the SE got 77.8Mbps. That is a significant, real performance improvement, probably down to the 12 mini’s improved carrier aggregation and 4x4 MIMO antennas. I’d expect to see the same gains over the iPhone 11 or XR as well (they don’t have 4x4 MIMO antennas), though the iPhone 11 Pro should perform closer to the 12 mini and 12 (it does have 4x4 MIMO).
For those wondering whether these are Canada-specific results, never fear; the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro were tested in the US and showed good results, so I’d expect the same from the 12 mini.
Dual-band Wi-Fi performance is similar to the iPhone SE’s. Range on 5GHz Wi-Fi was a few feet short of the iPhone 12, meaning the 12 could get past one more wall where the 12 mini and SE couldn’t.
BATTERY LIFE: NOT BAD FOR THE SIZE
Battery life is the biggest concern with the iPhone 12 mini. It’s a smaller phone, and it has a smaller battery than the bigger phones do. Comparing it to the iPhone 12, Apple says it gets 10 rather than 11 hours of streaming, and 50 rather than 65 hours of audio playback on a charge.
Our video streaming test didn’t reveal much here: I got 10 hours and 37 minutes of streaming video over Wi-Fi, similar to the iPhone 12. But when left alone all night, the 12 mini’s battery dropped 9%, while the iPhone 12’s battery dropped 6%; I saw a similar difference on the second night. If you often forget to charge your phone, you might find that difference frustrating.
The 12 mini’s stats look better when it’s compared with other small iPhones. Apple says the 12 mini has better battery life than the iPhone 6, 7, 8, or SE. Overnight, the SE dropped 14% and the 12 mini dropped 12%. Running some speed tests for two hours killed 13% of the 12 mini’s battery but 18% of the SE’s. So yes, the 12 mini does have more battery capacity than the 2020 iPhone SE.
The speed test suggests that the iPhone 12 mini’s battery can handle 7 to 8 hours of heavy use; my video rundown test and Apple’s estimate put its use time around 10 hours on a charge. So the 12 mini will last you a day if you aren’t looking at it the whole time.
There’s no charger in the box, but lots of options exist for charging your iPhone. The 12 mini works with up to 20-watt wired charging and with Apple’s own MagSafe wireless charger. I also have a Qi wireless charging stand, and the 12 mini worked on it once it had been propped up with a folded piece of paper — unassisted, the phone is just a little too short to properly link up with the coil on the stand. It’ll work better on flat pad-style chargers.
MINI PRICE, MINI SIZE, MAXI POWER
I really like the iPhone 12 mini. Now, I am biased. For years, I’ve wanted phones to be much more manageable in one hand. When there isn’t a pandemic happening, I spend a lot of time out and about, holding on to a subway pole or a shopping bag or a child’s hand. I gave into the large phone trend a while ago, but I definitely felt like I was giving up a bit of facility in the world in exchange for the big screen.
This year, we’ve spent a lot of time sucked into our phones. But just for today, I’m going to dream of the future when we’ll go outside to shop and hold hands again. The iPhone 12 mini isn’t the phone for the life I’ve had in 2020, but it’s the phone for the life I want.
The 12 mini has the best price-to-power ratio of any iPhone right now, with a beautiful screen, a lovely design, a terrific camera, and 5G for $100 less than the iPhone 12. It will serve you well for up to four years; it’s a good investment. If I had to choose one iPhone right now, this one is it.
“The 12 mini has the best price-to-power ratio of any iPhone, with a beautiful screen, a lovely design, a terrific camera, and 5G.”
I won’t fault you for choosing a different one, though. Bigger screens may appeal to you more than they do to me. Larger phones have bigger batteries; that’s just physics. The Pro models also have better features for serious photographers, such as their LiDAR focusing system, 2x or 2.5x zoom lenses, and improved Dolby Vision color video capture.
Should you upgrade from an earlier iPhone? If you want 5G (especially on T-Mobile, Bell, or Telus, where it makes a real difference) or photo Night mode (which makes a big difference for everyone), then yes! Many potential iPhone 12 mini buyers are likely currently using the iPhone 6, 7, or first-gen SE models, which probably feel sluggish at this point. The 12 mini will zip right along. All of this makes the 12 mini our Editors’ Choice winner for iPhones — and one of the best phones of the year. ■ | https://medium.com/@usama007/apple-iphone-12-mini-the-best-iphone-on-the-lowest-rate-3f6209047726 | ['M Usama'] | 2020-12-23 05:48:53.336000+00:00 | ['iPhone', 'Review', 'Mobile', 'Apple', 'Productivity'] |
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD is Nostalgic, Tragic and Disappointing | Courtesy of: Sony Pictures Entertainment
It’s impossible to view Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as anything other than a filmmaker in the twilight of his career looking back upon what the industry means to him. After all, having repeatedly claimed he’ll retire after his tenth film, this may be his penultimate effort.
Hollywood follows TV lead Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stuntman and best friend Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) as they struggle with their professional egos. Tarantino would balk at the idea, but Hollywood feels like the film of a man afraid he’s losing his touch. Dalton spends the film sweetly wracked with fears he’s not good enough and never will be; meanwhile Booth’s past personal indiscretions hobble any hopes of a major film career. Read into that as you will.
There were justifiable fears that Tarantino may treat the Manson murders with little sensitivity, and if that isn’t exactly untrue (in a way it’s better you don’t know and can’t guess), let’s just say it’s a pleasant surprise to find the controversial director in a more mellow mood. If there’s any of Tarantino’s usual historical revisionism on display it’s mostly a lament that Sharon Tate wasn’t able to live her life through film the way he has.
It may have inspired some of his most infamous shots, but Tarantino’s love of filmmaking also gives Hollywood a stuttering rhythm and little depth. A huge amount plays out in films-within-films or on-set sequences, which are fun, but reveal little.
Sadly, Tarantino’s nostalgic mood comes with some script misfires. Usually so slick and engrossing as a writer, here scenes and sentences clatter into each other with little bite or punch. Hollywood feels like the work of a man reaching for the novelistic dialogue of The Hateful Eight, the intimate characterisation of Jackie Brown, and the triumphant violence of Inglourious Basterds, but nailing none.
RATING: 3/5
By Tom Bond
INFORMATION
CAST: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Margaret Qualley, Timothy Olyphant, Al Pacino
DIRECTOR: Quentin Tarantino
WRITER: Quentin Tarantino
SYNOPSIS: A faded television actor and his stunt double strive to achieve fame and success in the film industry during the final years of Hollywood’s Golden Age in 1969 Los Angeles. | https://medium.com/one-room-with-a-view/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-is-nostalgic-tragic-and-disappointing-cb0aa1db8e8b | ['One Room With A View'] | 2019-08-24 11:13:41.937000+00:00 | ['Quentin Tarantino', 'Review', 'Hollywood', 'Movies', 'Leonardo Dicaprio'] |
Hey Soul,… | Hey soul, can you stay in this body until I completely erase
the fear of losing it?
As you may notice, I’ve done a lot of progress in that.
What am I saying? You noticed.
You know everything, having mingled with all kinds of souls,
within a kind of souls-socializing through eternity.
Exchanging, interacting, giving-receiving.
Co-flowing…
Oh, you experienced invisible …something!
How does it feel to have seen everything?
How does it feel to exist “since” (for)ever without the weight of aging,
just containing the wisdom of having been everything there is?
It must be really …whole.
I have “tasted” it many times during the last three earthly years.
A moment here, a moment (t)here.
Minutes here, minutes (t)here.
Hours here, hours (t)here…
— Yeah, yeah… that co-swirling of past, present, and future
made me put that “t” within parenthesis.
T, t, oh time, you are not a line, just a spiral reprise…
OK, enough with the (non-)sense.
And the parenthesis — .
So, when we coordinate, it’s like my body doesn’t exist at all.
I am just weight-less conscience within the space between
the ground and the sky.
I am nothing and everything at the same time.
I’m the emptiness and the fullness simultaneously.
I am me, and not-me in parallel.
I am, and I am not.
Back to the body then,…
Hmm, I’ve changed my mind. There’s nothing to ask anymore.
I remembered that you do your part of the job, by being present,
transmitting signals all the time.
I just have to keep showing up for my part of the job.
And, I’ll do that.
Thanks for “listening” and “responding”.
PS. Don’t take my initial question seriously, because I know that you’ll stay in this body as long as needed for its purpose to be fulfilled. If it is the last “fleshy embracement” of yours, it is. If it’s not the means of transportation that will take “me” to the final destination, it’s not. I let wisdom be manifested, as it does every day, even when I — temporarily — see something as unpleasant. | https://medium.com/know-thyself-heal-thyself/hey-soul-4791c3c80d41 | ['Anthi Psomiadou'] | 2020-12-28 23:13:53.041000+00:00 | ['Soul', 'Self', 'Body', 'Life'] |
Godot Game Engine Conceptually. Godot is a game engine, with an advance… | Godot is a game engine, with an advance integrated development environment for making complex games.
When getting into a new big piece of technology it is useful to find ways of latching onto other known technologies to more quickly get a handle on how it works.
Godot itself has great documentation, which actually talks about its principles.
There are also tons of Godot tutorials. My attempt here is to help a beginner get a birds eye view of how it all works. Otherwise you can get lost in the details.
Scene Graphs All the Way Down
For people who have done 3D programming before you are probably familiar with Scene Graphs. Open Inventor, Coin3D and many other 3D rendering frameworks are based on this idea. Basically it is a tree structure of objects which describe how something should be rendered.
In the last years component based design as in Unity3D and data-oriented design has been all the rage.
Let us make it clear, Godot is not like that. It has more in common with older scene graph based systems. You got scene made up objects which must all be some subclass of the Node type.
But the big idea in Godot is that scene graphs are reusable. You can store scene graphs as templates, and then create instances of these scene graphs which can be assembled into new scene graphs.
And everything is literally a scene graph in Godot. You can create sophisticated GUIs not just some 3D character or 2D sprite game. The GUIs will be scene graphs as well. Not only that but an individual button or slider can be a scene graph which was made separately, stored and instantiated.
So in Godot the workflow is really centered around this idea. You can build a scene graph and realize “hey that subgraph of my scene graph would be neat to have over here as well!” Then all you need to do is to save that subgraph as a scene graph file. Then you instantiate this scene graph file twice for each place you use it.
So in Godot you will typically organize your game around folders for each sub-scene graph. The folder will contain a description of scene graph along with assets it uses.
This is really useful to grasp right away as it can seem confusing at first that a button or a sprite can be a scene. But yes in Godot they can. It isn’t all that different from the Win32 API where every GUI component is in fact a window. A window is the concept reused all over the place.
Project, Scene and Script Files
The files specific to Godot that you deal most with are the following files:
.tscn which contains descriptions of a scene . This could be a single game object like a player. The whole game, just the GUI, an enemy, a button or just about anything.
which contains descriptions of a . This could be a single game object like a player. The whole game, just the GUI, an enemy, a button or just about anything. .godot your project file. Typically named project.godot . This ties everything together.
your project file. Typically named . This ties everything together. .gd script files. These contain GDScript code which is basically the files containing all the code in your project.
Because there are no fundamental difference between a scene for a button or a whole game level, you typically have to specify in your project what scene you want to run. In fact you can switch between running different scenes separately.
Scripts Are Attached to Nodes to Perform Subclassing
In Godot you can customize nodes by attach a script to them. Conceptually this causes a subclass of that Node to be made. So E.g. if you insert an Area2D node called foobar in your graph and attach a script to it called say Player , then any function trying to do something with foobar will see its type as Player .
So adding a script to a node is a way of adding properties and functions to an existing node type. You can also override member functions defined in the node you are “subclassing”.
Basically this is a way of modifying and adding behavior to a node. This explain also why unlike Unity3D you can only attach one script. Your node can obviously not be multiple different types at the same time, so having multiple scripts would not work.
The workaround would be to simply add some dummy child nodes with scripts on them if you need more script files.
Relation to C++ Subclassing
Keep in mind that a lot of the stuff in Godot exists as C++ classes, so don’t confuse these two things. Conceptually attaching scripts work like subclassing seen from the point of view of your GDScript code.
The classes seen from GDScript are not C++ classes in that they are highly dynamic with properties which can be added, removed and looked up at runtime. For those familiar with Objective-C it is more like that. Alternatively it is like classes in Smalltalk, Python or Ruby. Stuff that is highly dynamic.
Overall Coding Workflow
Godot is very object-oriented in its behavior. Interestingly I am not a big fan of object-oriented programming but I think the paradigm works really well in Godot.
The subject-observer pattern is used a lot. If you have used the Qt C++ GUI toolkit or GTK+ used in Gnome you should be familiar with this concept. There we have the idea of signals and slots.
An object can emit a signal which will trigger a call on a method in some other object. This triggered method is called the slot in Qt and GTK+ terminology.
The benefit of this approach is that object sending a signal does not need to have any idea of who is receiving the signal. In GUIs this is very practical. A button cannot know who wants to react to a click. It cannot point to a concrete class which should get a particular method called.
One could point to an abstract class, but then we would still have the problem that multiple buttons cannot call functionality on the same target class without causing the same method to be called. Signals and slots solve this problem.
The way you use this in Godot, is basically that child scenes define some signals they emit different things happen. E.g. a scene representing a player space ship could emit a signal when it hits an asteroid or runs out of fuel.
That can inform the main game of what is going on, and let it take an action. Perhaps e.g. show a game over screen. We don’t want the space shit to know about game over screens. By sending signals it doesn’t have to. It leaves it to others to handle that it hit an asteroid.
Overall Scene Workflow
Godot is all about combining nodes to create scenes or add scenes to scenes to create scenes.
Comparison with Unity3D
How does this compare to other game engines? In Unity3D a game is made up of game objects and components. You create e.g. a bullet or space ship as a game object. And then you attach components to it depending on the behavior you want. If you want the bullet to be able to collide with things you add a collider component. If you want it animated while it moves you add an animator object.
In this model a game object is simply a container for components that give the actual behavior and abilities.
In Godot scene nodes serve the purpose of both game objects and components in unity. Abilities like collision, animation and rendering are just subtypes of Node .
However the nodes will be organized slightly different. If you want your game object to move due to physics forces, such as an angry bird or bad piggy then your root node needs to be a physics object. It cannot be a sub-node because parents nodes move their children around, while children move relative to their parent. A child node which is moved does not cause a parent node to move. This is kind of the whole idea of a scene graph.
Consider a scene graph representing a car. The car wheels are sub-nodes, thus when the root node is move, all the wheels move with the rest of the car. However the front wheels can still twist and turn relative to the car body.
Comparison with GameMaker
In game maker the world is made up of sprites, game objects and rooms. The sprites give appearance to a game object. The rooms typically represent the game level or environment your characters are in.
In Godot all of these things are just scenes made up of one or more nodes. Godot has a Sprite node which can render an image onto the screen. But much like GameMaker it is quite dumb. It cannot deal with collision detection, being clicked or simulating physics behavior such as falling or bouncing.
Rooms are just scenes. The closest approximation in Godot would be the TileMap node which allows you to compose something that looks like a room or level by combining multiple tiles from a tile set.
The benefit of Godot is that something like a user interface can be composed of nodes specifically designed for that purpose, while at least Game Maker when I used it years ago had to fake that with combining tiles in a room. | https://erik-engheim.medium.com/godot-concepts-dda36c3fff91 | ['Erik Engheim'] | 2020-05-25 15:03:08.745000+00:00 | ['Unity3d', 'Godot', 'Game Development', 'Game Engine', 'Programming'] |
My book can now be accessed free on the web | To support the launch of the SlideMagic presentation design app I have started to remove the paywall for my book Pitch It!, you can read it here.
I am making slow progress because it requires a rewriting and reformatting of the content. First there was the iBooks version written in iBooks Author, then the PDF version written in InDesign, and now I am converting the content to HTML using squarespace.
Web templates have moved a long way over the past 2 years. The squarespace version looks as good, if not better, than the iBook version. I have all the freedom to design interactive content, and the adjustments between wide screen, iPad, and mobile phone are phenomenal. No app stores, no pass words, just click the link and you are in on any device.
This says something about the blurring of visual communication formats beyond the slides used in a stand up presentation. Scrolling down on a tablet is much more intuitive than clicking through slides (part of the reason why in SlideMagic things are fluid). Like reading a magazine or a newspaper, there is value for big picture, wow visuals, and a 12 point story here and there. A big bold chart and a detailed diagram. Maybe a nice magazine-style website behind a password is a better to present your idea than a PowerPoint attachment?
I can now also take the opportunity to update the content of the book, some of which has become a bit stale since December 2012 (and the biggest missing piece of information is SlideMagic as a credible alternative to PowerPoint and Keynote of course!). | https://medium.com/slidemagic/my-book-can-now-be-accessed-free-on-the-web-c024c420d4ec | ['Jan Schultink'] | 2017-01-03 07:48:03.493000+00:00 | ['Powerpoint Alternatives', 'Design', 'Presentations', 'PowerPoint'] |
BANTS: SOLAR OPPOSITES REVIEW | SPOILER!
SPOILER!
THIS REVIEW IS FILTHY WITH SPOILERS PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!
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I just binged solar opposites and it was.....ok. If you liked Rick and Morty solely for its whole philosophical undertones behind a seemly nonsensical show, then you won't like solar opposites.
I want to say right off the bat that I liked this and I am looking forward to season 2.
The basic plot of the show is an alien "family" escaped their home planet before an asteroid destroyed it, carrying with them, their "children" , yummylack and Jesse and a Pupa who they are in charge of nurturing until it grows up and presumably consumes the planet- you know, the usual sturvs😊.
Solar Opposites has more sitcom-esque roots than its predecessor, while the relationship between the characters in Rick and Morty is often abusive, the family unit is at the center of Solar Opposites. The show flips the dynamic from "humans exploring space" to "aliens settling in on earth" .
It still feels remarkably similar to “Rick and Morty,” albeit from the perspective of aliens trying to understand humans rather than humans who keep messing with aliens. Solar Opposites is more slapstick comedy, it doesn't add anything new to the conversation except 'humans are pretty weird and annoying', which is fair enough not every show has to have a deeper layer of meaning to unpack 🤷🏽♀️.
The storylines are mostly confined to a single episode, usually ending in a visceral and gory manner, that quickly lose its shock value( for me at least). Solar Opposites is very gory and explicit with the violence, even more so than Rick and Morty (I think 🤔), do not watch if you have a weak stomach.
Those 'children' also facilitate what is easily the best subplot on the show. Yumyulack begins systematically removing people from Earth by shrinking them down to an inch tall and storing them in containers embedded in his room wall. Their range of offenses varies wildly — one may be a bully, the other may have worn the wrong color shirt on a given day 🤷🏽♀️ . This evolves into a second world within Solar Opposites. It is reminiscent of a violent wasteland a la Mad Max, driven by an economy of Skittles, Legos and miniature reading material. I hope they continue focusing there or find some other just as Interesting subplots to develop in season two.
Even though I enjoyed it, it's kinda hard to pick a fav becauseno one really stands out....yet. Gun to my head, I'd choose Jesse, she's fun, willing to experiment and a voice of reason.
I'd recommend this to people who like wacky adult animation and are willing to pass through season 1 hoping it can only go up from here. | https://medium.com/@adaoraasika/bants-solar-opposites-review-e12d803e6e65 | ['Adaora Asika'] | 2020-12-18 08:27:04.302000+00:00 | ['Animation', 'Film Reviews', 'Movies', 'Solaropposites', 'Movie Review'] |
New Era Pinstripe Bowl Prediction: Iowa Hawkeyes vs Boston College Eagles, 12–27–2017 | New Era Pinstripe Bowl Prediction: Iowa Hawkeyes vs Boston College Eagles, 12–27–2017
Iowa Hawkeyes (7–5) vs Boston College Eagles (7–5)
Time: December, 27th 5:15 PM EST
Current Odds: Boston College +2.5, 45.5
The New Era Pinstripe Bowl features two physical football teams as the Iowa Hawkeyes take on the Boston College Eagles. While you may see spread offenses permeate the rest of the country, these two don’t have any problems lining up with multiple tight ends or a fullback and grinding down opponents.
Iowa has had its ups and downs out of the Big Ten this season. The Hawkeyes lost three close games to Penn State, Michigan State andNorthwestern. Iowa did pull off a signature win over Ohio State, 55–24 in November. QB Nate Stanley is not asked to be a playmaker in a run-first offense, but the sophomore has thrown for 24 touchdowns to just five interceptions on the season. Stanley will keep the Eagles defense honest as they can’t just focus on the run, if they do, Stanley could make them pay with play action.
Iowa features some stand out defensive players including LB Josey Jewel, one of the top linebackers in the nation who averages 11.4 tackles per game. Another impact player is CB Josh Jackson who is projected to go in the 1st round of the NFL Draft if he foregoes his senior season.
Boston College plays a similar run-first style offense as they usher out ACC Rookie of the Year, running back AJ Dillon. Dillon rushed for over 1,400 and 13 touchdowns as a freshman this season and you can expect him to receive some Heisman hype in 2018. The Eagles found themselves in a difficult spot when starting quarterback Anthony Brown suffered a knee injury that kept him out of the last three games of the season. Darius Wade has been solid in Brown’s absence, as he has completed 46-of-75 passes for 528 yards, two touchdowns and an interception this season.
Boston College played a tough schedule this season and managed to go 8–3 ATS on the year and 5–1 SU on the road. Iowa also played a tough Big 10 schedule but they went just 5–6–1 ATS on the season and 2–3 SU on the road.
This should be a hard-hitting game that is won in the trenches. Both offenses will be chewing up the clock running the football which is a reason why this game should play to Under the total. This game could come down to a FG but expect this game to go Under 45.5.
Iowa vs Boston College FREE Pick: Under 45.5 | https://medium.com/verifiedcappers/new-era-pinstripe-bowl-prediction-iowa-hawkeyes-vs-boston-college-eagles-12-27-2017-3b0e29edbfc | ['Sports Investor Central'] | 2017-12-27 12:41:02.040000+00:00 | ['Sports', 'College Football', 'NCAAF', 'Sports Betting', 'Gambling'] |
Currying and Partial Application. An introduction to higher order… | Higher Order Functions
Before jumping right into explaining currying and partial application, first we need to understand what higher order functions are.
"A higher order function is a function that takes a function as an argument, or returns a function." — Eric Elliot
Let's take a look at some examples of higher order functions from Javascript's built-in Array type. Array instances have the methods map, filter and reduce. Each is a higher order function that receives another function as an argument.
const numberArray = [1, 2, 3] const double = val => val * 2 const doubled = numberArray.map(double)
// > [2, 4, 6] const isOdd = val => val % 2 !== 0 const odds = numberArray.filter(isOdd)
// > [1, 3] const add = (x, y) => x + y const sum = numberArray.reduce(add, 0)
// > 6
As you can see, the functions take a function as a parameter. But why? Why not just loop over arrays? As it turns out, transforming each element (mapping), filtering/removing elements (filter) and accumulating the elements (reduce) of an array are common operations. These are higher order functions, abstract iterations where something happens to each element (transformation, predicate evaluation, and accumulation respectively).
What do we mean by that? Imagine now you want to only get even numbers from the array. All you have to do is write a predicate function that identifies even numbers and use .filter. In an imperative "for-loop" implementation we would have to rewrite the whole loop just to change the "if" condition in it.
Curry
"A curried function is a function that takes multiple arguments one at a time." — Eric Elliot
Let's say we have a two parameter function that adds two numbers:
const add = (x, y) => x + y
We would say add is curried when it is in the form
const add = x => y => x + y
Note that it is a function that (takes a single parameter) returns another function that (takes a single and the last parameter) finally returns the result i.e. add is a higher order function since it returns a function.
Why do that? To achieve something called partial application.
Consider the curried add function above. We could do something like this:
const increment = add(1)
The increment function is the add function but with x = 1! Which means that when we call:
increment(2) // 3
increment(5) // 6
Partial Application
Now imagine that extended to function of N arguments where any number of them can be partially applied. This is partial application.
"A partial application is a function which has been applied to some, but not yet all of its arguments. In other words, it’s a function which has some arguments fixed inside its closure scope. A function with some of its parameters fixed is said to be partially applied." — Eric Elliot
Notice the difference? Curried functions take one argument at a time whereas partially applied functions can take many arguments at a time.
Some functional programming libraries give you the power to turn a function of many arguments, making it possible to have it partially applied.
Something that can cause confusion: these libraries usually give this function the name curry (instead of partial, for example). One such example is ramda and its curry function:
const { curry } = require('ramda') const add = curry((x, y) => x + y) add(1)(2) === add(1, 2) // true
Note: we can call it with one argument at a time or both at the same time whereas in the previous curried case we have to call it one at a time exclusively.
Now let's think about having a function with three arguments:
const a = curry((x, y, z) =>
x + y + z
) // because `curry` allows for partial application:
a(1)(2)(3) === a(1, 2)(3) === a(1)(2, 3) === a(1, 2, 3) // true
Side note — you could implement your own version of curry like this:
const curry = (fn, n) => {
const arity = n || fn.length
return (...params) =>
params.length >= arity
? fn(...params)
: curry(
(...rest) => fn(...params, ...rest),
arity - params.length
)
}
Now going back to the subject of partial application. Why would we do something like that? | https://medium.com/nexa-digital/currying-and-partial-application-composition-made-easier-30aedaa54b5f | ['Rodrigo Botti'] | 2020-06-06 21:54:25.538000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Curry', 'Partial Application', 'Functional Programming', 'Higher Order Function'] |
How to find outliers and anomalies using Isolation Forest | How to find outliers and anomalies using Isolation Forest Tracyrenee Follow Dec 11 · 4 min read
I made a previous video about finding outliers in the candidate votes of the US presidential elections from 1976 to 2020, the link being found here:- A Data-Driven Analysis Of Trump’s ‘Voter Fraud’ Claims In The 2020 Presidential Election | by Tracyrenee | AI In Plain English | Dec, 2020 | Medium
The presidential elections only come around once every four years, so I felt it would be a good idea to search for outliers in more practical, day to day activities, such as the housing market. I chose the train dataset from Kaggle’s Ames House Price competition to carry out this test, with the web address for this dataset being found here:- House Prices: Advanced Regression Techniques | Kaggle
Once I downloaded the dataset and saved it to my personal GitHub account, i created a program using Google Colab because it is free and has many libraries already installed on it. The link for Google Colab can be found here:- Welcome to Colaboratory — Colaboratory (google.com)
Once my program was initiated, I imported the libraries I would need:-
I then loaded the dataset onto the program and read it:-
I carried out a graphical analysis and found that most of the house prices were between $100,000 and $300,000, but there were a few outliers of over $700,000:-
I also created a box plot and found that the better the overall quality of the home, the higher in price it was likely to be:-
I then checked for any null values and found there were quite a few columns that had missing data:-
I imputed the missing values by replacing the null values in categorical columns with the most used values and the null values in numerical columns with the median values:-
I then ordinal encoded all of the categorical columns because most models want this type of data to be converted to numeric data before fitting it:-
I defined the X and y variables that were used to train, fit and make predictions. The y variable, being the target, was composed of train.SalePrice. I employed feature selection to define the X variable, so dropped a number of columns in an attempt to improve accuracy.
I then used sklearn’s train_test_split function to break the X dataset into four smaller datasets for training, fitting and predicting:-
I then created a pipeline where the data would be scaled and then trained and fit into sklearn’s GradientBoostingRegressor. I achieved 99.96% accuracy when I employed this technique.
I predicted on the validation set and attained 95.21% accuracy:-
I created a dataframe where the actual values in the validation set can be compared to the predicted values:-
After making predictions on the Ames House Prices train dataset, I wanted to obtain information of outliers. I created another model, which was sklearn’s IsolationForest in this instance. I set contamination to 1%, which means that 1% of the examplies would be considered outliers.
I created two new columns called “scores” and “anomaly” in the train dataset. Each row is given a score based on the “SalePrice” and values of either 1 or -1 are placed in the “anomaly” column. If the value of -1 is present in the “anomaly” column then this indicates the price is an outlier:-
I then printed out a list of anomalies. Fifteen anomalies came up, which is 1% of the number of rows in the dataset:-
I then decided I wanted to see all of the sale prices greater than $500,000 and there were 9 properties that met this criteria:-
I checked the accuracy and it was 166.67%, the reason being I was dividing 15 anomalies by 9 outliers.
I also made a visual representation of the scores of each property as compared to its sale price:-
The code for this program can be found in its entirety in my personal GitHub account, found here:- House-Prices/Kaggle_Ames_Housing_Prices_Isolation_Forest.ipynb at master · TracyRenee61/House-Prices (github.com) | https://medium.com/ai-in-plain-english/how-to-find-outliers-and-anomalies-using-isolation-forest-388e5fec2762 | [] | 2020-12-12 09:17:13.654000+00:00 | ['Unsupervised Learning', 'Kaggle', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Python', 'Isolation Forests'] |
Nearest Neighbour Noise (NNN) as Regularization Method for Neural Networks | During my research about Noise Injection (NI) as a regularization method, an idea came into my mind. The usual NI works as follows:
The most common approach is to take a Gaussian Normal Distribution and simply add it to the Input of your data set during each epoch. Other variants have been proposed, e.g. multiplicating instead of adding noise and injecting noise at the second or third hidden layer of a neural network given the fact that the network is deep (some more layers follow after the injection).
Your data set probably lies on a so-called manifold as Ian Goodfellow and colleagues have described it in their book “Deep Learning”. You can think of a line in a k-dimensional space where all your data sit on. k is hereby smaller than n, which is the dimension of your data set. Since the NI is applied on all dimensions, you can think of a circle around a data point. The radius of the circle is determined by the variance of your distribution. The higher the variance, the bigger the circle. So, you have to choose an appropriate amount of noise. Your model learns to map the corrupted data (noisy points) back to the manifold. This is illustrated below. The orange point got some noise and will be mapped back to the manifold.
Manifold Representation
The corrupted point is mapped towards the closest point of the manifold because the model doesn’t know where the original point came from. Points of one class are assumed to lie closely together. A problem can now rise up. Imagine the points of different classes are close to each other (the borders of the classes). Applying noise to these points shift them towards the area of other classes. This makes it difficult to classify them correctly.
Another possible fact to mention is that, imagine you have two points of one class, and they are already close together. One point is now shifted even closer to its neighbour. You model sees two nearly identical points coming from the same class. This is not a bad thing, but your model won’t learn much from it since it even decreases the variance of your data set. The variance of your data set can be interpreted as how different your samples are. I’ll now describe my idea.
Nearest Neighbour Noise (NNN), adds the same amount of noise to a point, but slightly shifted. A point gets shifted away from its nearest neighbour. This means the points get shifted to an area where fewer points are. I’ll define the direction of the shift as ‘r’.
Example Data
We can see that the data distributions have changed and they look somehow distorted. Let’s investigate how this approach affects the accuracy of a CNN trained on the Fashion MNIST data set.
I’ll use one type of CNN architecture and will run the following experiments.
No noise
Standard Gaussian noise
NNN with r=r*0.1
NNN with r=r*0.2
NNN with r=r*0.35
NNN with r=r*0.5
To speed up training, I’ll use a fourth of the training set. This has also a technical reason. A distance matrix has to be calculated containing lots of entries. The matrix has n rows and n columns. Distances on the diagonal represent the distance from a sample with itself, which is of course 0. Further, the matrix is symmetric, meaning the distance from sample 1 to sample 2 is equivalent to the distance from sample 2 to 1. I’ve found some code snippets where the calculations can be done on the GPU:
Because the entire training set doesn’t fit into 8GB of VRAM, I had to shrink the training set.
Results
I’ve always taken the results of the best test accuracy.
No noise:
train Loss: 0.3182 Acc: 0.8813
test Loss: 0.3968 Acc: 0.8581
Gaussian noise:
train Loss: 0.3364 Acc: 0.8709
test Loss: 0.3921 Acc: 0.8603
NNN with r=0.1
train2 Loss: 0.3360 Acc: 0.8711
test Loss: 0.3909 Acc: 0.8604
NNN with r=0.2
train2 Loss: 0.3365 Acc: 0.8713
test Loss: 0.3859 Acc: 0.8645
NNN with r=0.35
train2 Loss: 0.3401 Acc: 0.8708
test Loss: 0.3862 Acc: 0.8628
NNN with r=0.5
train2 Loss: 0.3452 Acc: 0.8680
test Loss: 0.3868 Acc: 0.8607
Two things can be noticed. Once, all achieved accuracies are already quite high. Second, NNN delivered in all experiments the best results!
Another more advanced approach is to take the nearest neighbour of a different class. This separates points at borders less than points which are far away. The shift, therefore, has to be scaled.
I’ve used r=r/norm(sample)*0.4. | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/nearest-neighbour-noise-nnn-as-regularization-method-for-neural-networks-d9a4b3b7c727 | ['Denis Baskan'] | 2020-06-07 15:32:07.391000+00:00 | ['Convolutional Network', 'Neural Networks', 'Regularization', 'Manifold', 'Noise'] |
Single, Female, and Accomplished: What That’s Like in China | Single, Female, and Accomplished: What That’s Like in China
They are educated and remarkably successful, but they get called “leftover women”
Photo by Askar Ulzhabayev on Unsplash
One out of four of all the women in the world live in China. The current generation includes young women who live radically different lives than their mothers did when they were young. As Roseann Lake, a reporter for The Economist, notes in her book, Leftover in China: The Women Shaping the World’s Next Superpower, “A well-educated, professional woman in Beijing or Shanghai now has more in common with a well-educated, professional woman in New York or Los Angeles than she does with a female Chinese factory worker from a town just an hour’s train ride away.”
Unlike their mothers, today’s young women in China have greater opportunities to stay single longer, or even for life, and pursue educational and career opportunities. Lake believes that this is an unintended consequence of China’s one-child policy, which was in effect from 1979 through 2015. Chinese parents greatly favored boys, resulting in a lopsided sex ratio, but when their one child was a girl, they showered her with the necessary resources to pursue an education and a career, and encouraged her to do so.
Chinese parents want their daughters to succeed, but they also want them to marry. “Modern day career women — no matter how impressive their educational and professional accomplishments — are still devalued if they haven’t married by a certain age,” Lake tells us.
I’ve spent many years documenting and protesting the stereotyping and stigmatizing of people in the U.S. who are single, and the pressure they feel to marry, but Chinese parents and grandparents take that to a whole different level. Many Chinese mothers sign up their adult children for dating sites. Sometimes they procure the services of matchmakers, who then set up dates that include five people — the young woman and man who are getting to know each other, each of their mothers, and the matchmaker. Sunday mornings are for marriage markets; in a park in Beijing, for example, hundreds of parents and grandparents get together and swap “marriage resumes” of the children and grandchildren they are trying to marry off.
Parents are invested in the marriage of their children for social and psychological reasons, such as avoiding the shame of having a grown child who is not married. There are pressing practical reasons as well. Without a government-provided social safety net, parents count on their children for support as they age. That means they not only want their children to marry, they also want them to marry well.
Chinese women who are not married by a certain age are stigmatized as “leftover women.” That age could be as young as 25 in rural areas. In cities, it is closer to 30.
Single men do not get to scoot away scorn-free. If they stay single too long they are called “bare branches.” As more and more of their female peers were moving to cities to pursue jobs or their studies, many of the men were left behind in rural areas; they were expected to help with the family farm or business and care for their aging parents.
The single women who became highly educated and very successful professionally were no longer all that eager to take on the traditional domestic roles that would be expected of them if they married. They wanted to enjoy their autonomy. Urban, educated Chinese men held greater appeal for them as potential spouses than the men who stayed back on the family farms, but even the most sophisticated Chinese men still tend to prefer traditional women. None of this bodes well for the single people in China who do want to marry.
How all this plays out is illustrated with the stories of successful single Chinese women Lake got to know — for instance, as colleagues at the Beijing television station where she worked or as her Chinese-language tutor. The latter, Zhang Mei, told Lake about her friends from high school who never left home: “I see my former classmates — the girls — and they are like spinning tops. Their lives are spent in perpetual service to their husbands, their mothers-in-law, and their child. I don’t want that life.”
At the end of the book, Lake catches up on how life has unfolded for the women she profiled in depth. By then, all of them were either married, about to be married, or actively trying to get there. I was disappointed in that. After learning that the young women of China now have the option to stay single, I wanted to hear about at least one woman who aspired to that. How did Zhang Mei go from declaring, “I don’t want that life” to pursuing that life? We are not told.
Lake is very fond of the single women she has gotten to know and is mostly respectful of their single lives. She sees this generation of young, educated women and the ones to come as power players in determining China’s future. If the nation is to advance economically, she believes, it will need to facilitate “their full economic engagement –which includes allowing them to reach their educational and professional potential, without fear that either of these things will jeopardize their chances at marriage or doom them to a sorry life of singlehood.” What a compelling statement of the significance of these women — if only Lake had not undermined it by describing single life as a sorry life. After hundreds of pages criticizing the singleism these women face, Lake ends up tossing in a barb or her own.
In every other way, though, Leftover in China is an impressive book. It is deeply researched, offering insights into the history and economy of China. A particularly compelling chapter compares the social context of marriage and single life in China to the situations in Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. The book is well-written, filled with eye-opening anecdotes and telling details, and persuasively argued.
Far too much of the research and writings about single life have focused on the U.S. and other Western nations. Leftover in China is a welcome and invigorating corrective. | https://medium.com/fourth-wave/single-female-and-accomplished-what-thats-like-in-china-19f29ca2f5dd | ['Bella Depaulo'] | 2020-11-09 03:23:43.235000+00:00 | ['China', 'Books', 'Singles', 'Psychology', 'Feminism'] |
Coinbase Strikes Back Against Regulators. Irony Not Lost on the SEC. | Mike Lempres, Chief Legal and Risk Officer at Coinbase wallet and cryptocurrency exchange, is complaining to the capital markets congressional subcommittee that regulation is going to stifle innovation because of uncertainty. Last time I checked, Coinbase owns the GDAX so-called “exchange,” which is trading cryptocurrencies without any regulation.
It seems the strategy here is to scare lawmakers who will call the SEC and plead with them to ignore GDAX, which is not a broker-dealer and is trading securities without being registered with the SEC. Great plan if it works. But what if it fails?
A couple weeks ago, Circle, which is a startup lead by superstar Jeremy Allaire, purchased Poloniex for a whopping $400M. This sent shockwaves through the industry, allowing other “exchanges” to start licking their chops at sky high valuations. As I wrote in my post How to Get a Free Pass From the SEC, the merger documents were leaked, which explained that Circle got absolution from the SEC. This is shocking if true, but I have my doubts about this made-up statement.
But let’s go back to Mike and his Coinbase megacorporation. He, along with most CEOs in the blockchain marketplace, claims that the rules are not clear. The SEC should not enforce against violators because then our U.S. brain trust will evaporate and escape into foreign lands. This is just not true.
Our country is successful because of our culture of innovation and our democracy. Using this threat to conveniently escape the consequences of violating rules is just not part of our culture. We can only achieve progress when everybody plays by the same rules.
If there was ever any doubt about the rules, then call the great people at the SEC and ask questions. If those who violate the rules win, then it will discourage everyone else from trying to do things the right way, which creates an uneven playing field. Again, not part of our culture of entrepreneurship.
The SEC should make it clear, and I believe they are, that those who violate securities rules should face consequences, and those who invest in a culture of compliance should benefit from the elimination of the cheaters. | https://medium.com/hackernoon/coinbase-strikes-back-against-regulators-irony-not-lost-on-the-sec-d447d1b97f62 | ['Howard Marks'] | 2018-04-23 21:40:31.864000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin'] |
Their Shoes | Mountains of shoes taken from those forced by the Nazis into Auschwitz- Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
I stared in horror at the mountain of shoes, smelling of sweat, dirt and pain. Each shoe a part of an identity, ripped away from thousands unwillingly. Uniformed officers streamed into the concrete building, carrying containers and containers of shoes, jewelry, and clothes. I thought of the memories behind each leather shoe, each diamond ring, each patterned dress. Memories that were stripped from its owners and deemed just another item.
I saw a tiny red shoe, big enough to fit a baby, and felt a pang of sorrow and helplessness. Another happy member of a family, joyful and worriless, oblivious of the pain to follow. Another life gone in the hands of its fellow humans. I thought of the baby, someone with a life to live and thoughts to think, wasted and forgotten. The pile grew in number and the stench of death grew stronger as I thought of all the lives taken that day.
Next to the red shoe I saw a blue and ribboned shoe, and it introduced to me the mother of the family. With her selfless care, she spent all her energy into her precious baby. Until the end, she stayed with her child, protecting him with all the motherly love she had. She longed to give her child a life with hope, a life that was long and prosperous, but she never could. She was another powerless prisoner, who lost everything she cared for.
I saw a large black shoe, now worn and without shine, and pictured the owner that used to wear it. He was the head of a prosperous family, a manager of a bank, working hard and doing no wrong. But in an instant his privileges were taken without mercy, until all he was left with was his body. Money, prominence, identity, life, hope, future; all taken. I saw the pile and tried to remember the forgotten lives in each of the hundreds of shoes.
I saw a worn-out slipper, caked with dust, torn, and ripped. Telling me the stories it kept, and I listened and wondered how another man could use one’s power to render those stories forgotten. The owner had greying hair, sitting on a rocking chair, and calmly listening to her family at the dinner table. She had lived a long and tumultuous life, now with great wisdom, wishing to spend her last years with her family. But the worst event of her life was also her last, spending her last moments helpless, and without hope.
A soldier approached my group, and we knew what was to happen. I spotted my own brown sandal in the pile. I realized that I was an addition to a number once again, just like each of the owners of the shoes I thought about. My hope, thoughts and future were nothing to be anymore. As I lingered on that thought for a moment, I marched along the dusty road, cries of sorrow drowned by the shouts of soldiers.
Luca Shin, 2020
Dedicated to all victims of the Holocaust, both living and deceased. | https://medium.com/@lucasrshin/their-shoes-f288f62aa67b | ['Luca Shin'] | 2020-12-07 04:33:24.833000+00:00 | ['Short Story', 'Auschwitz', 'Holocaust', 'World War II', 'Written Tales'] |
[[ Week 13 ]] The Bachelorette (16x13) Season 16 Episode 13 [HD 720p] Full Eps — on ABC | New Episode — The Bachelorette Season 16 Episode 13 (Full Episode) Top Show
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NEW EPISODE PREPARED ►► https://tinyurl.com/yantgslp
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🦋 TELEVISION 🦋
(TV), in some cases abbreviated to tele or television, is a media transmission medium utilized for sending moving pictures in monochrome (high contrast), or in shading, and in a few measurements and sound. The term can allude to a TV, a TV program, or the vehicle of TV transmission. TV is a mass mode for promoting, amusement, news, and sports.
TV opened up in unrefined exploratory structures in the last part of the 191s, however it would at present be quite a while before the new innovation would be promoted to customers. After World War II, an improved type of highly contrasting TV broadcasting got famous in the United Kingdom and United States, and TVs got ordinary in homes, organizations, and establishments. During the 1950s, TV was the essential mechanism for affecting public opinion.[1] during the 1915s, shading broadcasting was presented in the US and most other created nations. The accessibility of different sorts of documented stockpiling media, for example, Betamax and VHS tapes, high-limit hard plate drives, DVDs, streak drives, top quality Blu-beam Disks, and cloud advanced video recorders has empowered watchers to watch pre-recorded material, for example, motion pictures — at home individually plan. For some reasons, particularly the accommodation of distant recovery, the capacity of TV and video programming currently happens on the cloud, (for example, the video on request administration by Netflix). Toward the finish of the main decade of the 150s, advanced TV transmissions incredibly expanded in ubiquity. Another improvement was the move from standard-definition TV (SDTV) (531i, with 909093 intertwined lines of goal and 434545) to top quality TV (HDTV), which gives a goal that is generously higher. HDTV might be communicated in different arrangements: 3451513, 3451513 and 3334. Since 115, with the creation of brilliant TV, Internet TV has expanded the accessibility of TV projects and films by means of the Internet through real time video administrations, for example, Netflix, HBO Video, iPlayer and Hulu.
In 113, 39% of the world’s family units possessed a TV set.[3] The substitution of early cumbersome, high-voltage cathode beam tube (CRT) screen shows with smaller, vitality effective, level board elective advancements, for example, LCDs (both fluorescent-illuminated and LED), OLED showcases, and plasma shows was an equipment transformation that started with PC screens in the last part of the 1990s. Most TV sets sold during the 150s were level board, primarily LEDs. Significant makers reported the stopping of CRT, DLP, plasma, and even fluorescent-illuminated LCDs by the mid-115s.[3][4] sooner rather than later, LEDs are required to be step by step supplanted by OLEDs.[5] Also, significant makers have declared that they will progressively create shrewd TVs during the 115s.[1][3][8] Smart TVs with incorporated Internet and Web 3.0 capacities turned into the prevailing type of TV by the late 115s.[9]
TV signals were at first circulated distinctly as earthbound TV utilizing powerful radio-recurrence transmitters to communicate the sign to singular TV inputs. Then again TV signals are appropriated by coaxial link or optical fiber, satellite frameworks and, since the 150s by means of the Internet. Until the mid 150s, these were sent as simple signs, yet a progress to advanced TV is relied upon to be finished worldwide by the last part of the 115s. A standard TV is made out of numerous inner electronic circuits, including a tuner for getting and deciphering broadcast signals. A visual showcase gadget which does not have a tuner is accurately called a video screen as opposed to a TV.
🦋 OVERVIEW 🦋
A subgenre that joins the sentiment type with parody, zeroing in on at least two people since they find and endeavor to deal with their sentimental love, attractions to each other. The cliché plot line follows the “kid gets-young lady”, “kid loses-young lady”, “kid gets young lady back once more” grouping. Normally, there are multitudinous variations to this plot (and new curves, for example, switching the sex parts in the story), and far of the by and large happy parody lies in the social cooperations and sexual strain between your characters, who every now and again either won’t concede they are pulled in to each other or must deal with others’ interfering inside their issues.
Regularly carefully thought as an artistic sort or structure, however utilized it is additionally found in the realistic and performing expressions. In parody, human or individual indecencies, indiscretions, misuses, or deficiencies are composed to rebuff by methods for scorn, disparagement, vaudeville, incongruity, or different strategies, preferably with the plan to impact an aftereffect of progress. Parody is by and large intended to be interesting, yet its motivation isn’t generally humor as an assault on something the essayist objects to, utilizing mind. A typical, nearly characterizing highlight of parody is its solid vein of incongruity or mockery, yet spoof, vaudeville, distortion, juxtaposition, correlation, similarity, and risqué statement all regularly show up in ironical discourse and composing. The key point, is that “in parody, incongruity is aggressor.” This “assailant incongruity” (or mockery) frequently claims to favor (or if nothing else acknowledge as common) the very things the humorist really wishes to assault.
In the wake of calling Zed and his Blackblood confidants to spare The Bachelorette, Talon winds up sold out by her own sort and battles to accommodate her human companions and her Blackblood legacy. With the satanic Lu Qiri giving the muscle to uphold Zed’s ground breaking strategy, The Bachelorette’s human occupants are subjugated as excavators looking for a baffling substance to illuminate a dull conundrum. As Talon finds more about her lost family from Yavalla, she should sort out the certainties from the falsehoods, and explain the riddle of her legacy and an overlooked force, before the world becomes subjugated to another force that could devour each living being.
Claw is the solitary overcomer of a race called Blackbloods. A long time after her whole town is annihilated by a pack of merciless hired soldiers, Talon goes to an untamed post on the edge of the enlightened world, as she tracks the huggers of her family. On her excursion to this station, Talon finds she has a strange heavenly force that she should figure out how to control so as to spare herself, and guard the world against an over the top strict tyrant. | https://medium.com/the-bachelorette-016x013-week-13/the-bachelorette-season-16-16x13-full-abc-official-f0b075642e97 | ['Theresa Thomson'] | 2020-12-22 02:03:31.677000+00:00 | ['TV Series', 'Startup', 'TV Shows', 'Reality'] |
What You Think About in the Shower Leads to Your Best Work | What You Think About in the Shower Leads to Your Best Work
According to Paul Graham, Y Combinator Founder and infamous blogger.
Drawing by Mary Evans Picture Library
Paul Graham is a badass in the startup world… with a 1999 personal website.
Simple and extremely out of date is the best way to describe his blog where he shares viral thoughts every year, by accident. He’s startup royalty because of his Y Combinator program that has funded tech revelations such as Stripe, Airbnb, and Dropbox.
Following people like Paul can cause you to discover hidden gems of life. Here’s the one I love from Paul:
“It’s hard to do a really good job on anything you don’t think about in the shower.”
*Mind blown*
I bet you haven’t thought about the power of showers with any real thought. Me neither, until recently. A shower can progressively impact your mind, one shower at a time. Showers lead to your best work. Here’s why.
A Shower is a Hidden Flow State
Flow states are powerful for doing your best work. You reach them when you’re hyper-focused on your work and the output happens effortlessly.
A shower is also a flow state. When you’re in the shower the barrier between you and your free-flowing thoughts is removed. You can think clearly in the shower. The noise of your mind dissipates in the shower. The water trickling down your back creates a sound like a light drum beat. The steam coming off your skin enters your body and soothes the aches and pains of your life. The steam opens up the pores in your skin and opens up your thinking, too.
The reason showers help you get into flow is because they relax you. When your mind is relaxed you can do anything.
Practical step:
Take a problem with you to your next shower. Deliberately bait your mind with a problem you’re going to discuss with yourself in the shower. Watch how the solutions find you easier than they did outside of the four walls of the shower world.
Your Problems Look Smaller in the Shower
You’re sitting in your car one Sunday afternoon. You’re relaxing and listening to music. Your phone rings. It’s the love of your life. You can’t wait to speak with them.
You answer the call and ask how their weekend away with friends was. The tone of voice changes. “We need to talk…” is the only sign you needed to hear before the inevitable worst-case scenario happens.
Your body starts to go into shutdown mode. They’re breaking up with you forever. This moment can never be repaired.
You will never be the same again. Your heart sinks lower and lower into the earth. You’re already below rock-bottom. You’re stuck in a dark hole with no exit plan and the conversation is still going.
You want the breakup call to end. But you don’t want to let them go. You still love them. You haven’t even finished loving them yet. You had less than twelve months to fall for them and think you’d marry them and live happily ever after in a gated community with a white picket fence and a dog that smiles at you even when you’re covered in baby vomit.
It’s that part of the call where you say goodbye. Forever. How do you even say goodbye in that situation? You don’t. You fumble through it like a nervous teenager on a first date. The call ends. You feel like a failure. You can’t eat. You can’t sleep. But you can, strangely, still shower.
You take the breakup to the shower with you. You ruminate on it while the water hits your back. You’re so angry at yourself that you crank up the heat. “This shower’s gonna burn,” you say to yourself.
The shower temperature leads to a mild dose of self-harm. You turn the temperature down midstream and think of the one you lost. You miss them already and it has only been two hours. You wonder in the shower what it’s like to live without them for the rest of your life.
You step out of the shower and dry off. You wipe the resulting tears from your face. Your eyes look Ferrari red in the fogged-up mirror.
Despite the pain, your problem looks a little smaller. You decide you can carry on without her even though it’s going to hurt.
A Shower Is Another Dimension (I Leave My Body and Go Somewhere Else)
If there was a hidden portal to escape life, it’s showers for me. Getting in the shower is like a portal to another dimension. If you’ve ever seen that Simpsons episode where Homer enters another dimension by walking through a wall, that’s what it feels like when I have a warm shower.
Image Credit: Simpsons/Matt Groening/Fox
I feel like I’m outside myself in the shower. Like I am the observer viewing the observed. It’s a strange feeling that has come from practice. The practice of walking into the shower with an open mind and being surprised to see what can happen. The shower is a place to think when every other place you have to think doesn’t seem to be helpful.
I think of showers like a cheat code you enter into Grand Theft Auto to unlock many treasures of a world you have barely explored.
Shower at Different Times of the Day to Change Your Thoughts
The time you choose to shower produces different thinking. Morning showers wake up your thinking. Evening showers close your thinking down for bed. Mid-afternoon showers act as a reset for an exhausted mind.
Try a mid-afternoon shower and see if the rest of your day looks different, so you can produce better work.
Take Two Showers a Day to Be More Satisfied in Life
Research suggests those who take morning showers are the most satisfied with their overall life (78%), health (77%), and career (67%).
The study also says those who shower twice daily are most likely to feel well-rested upon waking up (75%).
A Shower Is a Glimpse of the Work You Love
I think about writing in the shower a lot. Whenever I have a story idea and I take it to the shower with me, somehow, the story comes out better right afterwards.
Your thoughts in the shower give you hints as to your interests. These interests could be future ways to make money, or side hustles to experiment with, or subtle signs of work you could try.
Think of it this way: the shower is where you daydream.
You don’t daydream about stuff you hate in the shower. | https://medium.com/the-ascent/what-you-think-about-in-the-shower-leads-to-your-best-work-150a824c9d3f | ['Tim Denning'] | 2020-11-09 17:12:37.131000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Mindfulness', 'Lifestyle', 'Productivity', 'Self Improvement'] |
How capitalism stole our lives. | We grew up learning that capitalism is the only system that offers freedom, opportunity, and democracy. Rather, our lives are stolen by the very system we are told is supposed to better it.
Capitalism, in reality, lacks the pillars that we are taught to love about it. Freedom is a political term used to justify imperialism, the only opportunities you get under capitalism are work or starve, and democracy is only democratic in name. Capitalism promises a lot but delivers very little.
Capitalism has worked its way into every aspect of our lives making us think that working a 9–5 for scraps will set us free.
In regards to Gen.Z especially, we’ve grown up not knowing about any other option than neoliberal late capitalism. We know other options through history but not through practice.
The loss of the major opponent to capitalism in the 20th century, the Soviet Union, has turned capitalism rogue. We are in a sort of hyper normal state. We know what’s wrong with the system but we have to play along with the façade.
We have to play into this rogue state to survive. In order to stay afloat we have to be as sinister as those on top. In doing so, we’re stuck chasing a dream of fortune that we’ll never achieve.
Instead of the authoritarianism of the 20th century, modern day late capitalism has a slippery totalitarian nature to it. We’re stuck under the boot of image in late capitalism, we falsely present ourselves in a better light for social capital.
The commodification of our lives has left us with things like “sleep streams,” where people stream themselves sleeping on platforms like Twitch in front of an audience for views.
We allowed capital to infect our necessities in life. The viewers of sleep streams dictate how the person’s night goes, whether they allow them to sleep peacefully or if their night is going to be hell through the donation system on Twitch.
People are forced to choose whether they can sleep or earn money. Sacrifice your self for money or sacrifice your wallet.
Sleep streams are an example of the dehumanizing nature of late capitalism. We’ve become an avatar in our own lives.
Leisure has become the same as work. Sleep, a necessity, has become commodified into ways where we can get paid to set up a camera by our bed.
This commodification of our lives has devoid us of life, we don’t live life we live to seek profit. We turn our everyday into an image to be observed and consumed.
We’re taught that systems like that of the USSR makes everyone into a grey blob. Where there’s no individual freedom. But when this individuality turns into a means to make a dollar then you as well are a grey blob.
We can’t see a way to get out of the ideology that’s grown around us. Capitalism twists itself to make sure that all is under its grip, it finds ways to ensure that everything is about the almighty dollar.
Capitalism has stripped life from life, we’re stuck acting like everything is fine when the whole structure is collapsing. It’s stripped us of unique thought. It’s easier to imagine the end of all life itself than it is to imagine the end of capitalism.
Hustle culture.
We are told that we have a meritocracy, anyone can create an empire and become rich and wealthy at their own liberty. The American dream, it’s but a carrot on a stick, we’re stuck chasing it.
Hustle culture is a phenomena that has been accepted and normalized by our society because we’re told that the more we work the more free we’ll become.
This mindset is boasted on instagram pages with entrepreneurial motivational quotes over a picture of a lion. We’re told that self sacrifice is a good thing as long as you’re making money.
In an increasingly work focused society, relaxation is seen as lazy.
At times, people are forced to adopt this lifestyle. Pay isn’t enough at some jobs to support a family and they’re forced into the gig economy.
Life equals work and work equals success in this hustle culture. People like Gary Vaynerchuk and other enforcers of hustle culture promote this way of life that idolizes constant work over living life.
It’s a desire for excess with no real reward other than bragging rights. You can make all the money in the world but you’ll be losing your life in the process.
Hustle culture gives you the false impression that capitalism is beneficial to your individuality. But are you really individual if you’re just a number within a system that seeks to profit off of your time?
What capitalism has done through this frame of hustling, has made us thirst for excess. An excess of work that we think is pleasurable.
We’ve been lied into working more for the idea of freedom. We’ve been berated by stories of so-called “self made” billionaires. What these stories leave out are the fact that these billionaires were always in a position in society that’s far higher than those who believe the myth of hustling to make it.
Jeff Bezos’ parents gave him $300,000 to start Amazon, Elon Musk had an emerald mine behind him, Kylie Jenner grew up in a wealthy family on a reality TV-show, plus her sister’s sex tape.
You’re either born with the opportunity to rise up the pillars of society or you’re born as a part of the 99 per cent. The higher ups present themselves as humble and lie about how they made it. A way to inspire the impressionable, a way to add more cogs to the machine.
Instead of feeling inspired by these tall tales of unlikely riches, we should take a wider look at what the goal of a society of hustlers is. Is it truly freeing? Or is it another way to capitalize off of one’s free time?
What we do know when looking at hustle culture and late capitalism is that the American Dream is only real when you’re sleeping. | https://medium.com/@plainspectacle/how-capitalism-stole-our-lives-751fe9146bef | ['Plain Spectacle'] | 2021-07-08 06:55:54.356000+00:00 | ['Hustle', 'Society', 'Work', 'Critical Thinking', 'Capitalism'] |
Response to the obvious and provable falsehoods and untruths published in Basil Coronakis’ magazine New Europe: https://www.neweurope.eu/article/north-macedonia-must-join-the-bloc-but-still/ | Note: there is no hate speech or any kind of discrimination in the story below. All the facts that are a response to the untruths discussed in Basil Coronakis’ article in his own magazine “New Europe” are easily verifiable on the Internet. This story’s main purpose is to expound on the blatant untruths that are commonly used against N. Macedonia and the Macedonians, without any regard to the provable and verifiable historical facts and evidence.
Response to the untruths in https://www.neweurope.eu/article/north-macedonia-must-join-the-bloc-but-still/ New Europe article by Basil Coronakis.
Mr. Coronakis wrote:
“If the hope is lost, the country will be split among Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia and Greece, creating new geostrategic equilibria in the Balkan peninsula.”
How in heavens would this ever happen to a NATO member country? And Mr. Coronakis has mentioned this impossible thesis in previous articles about N. Macedonia as well. Why? How is this anything else but some kind of unrequited fantasy? Do you know, Mr. Coronakis, of any NATO member country, ever, that was attacked and split amongst its neighbors? Has that happened, ever, in the entire history of NATO existence? I am pretty sure Mr. Coronakis is well familiar with NATO “Article 5” — an attack on one is an attack on all. Why does Mr. Coronakis keep repeating this rubbish that can never happen realistically, bar another World War and a total collapse of the World Order? There is a much greater possibility that Turkey will attack Greece and annex it back to reestablish its former colony of Yunanistan, than N. Macedonia being attacked and divided by anyone in any way. EU does not guarantee the territorial integrity of N. Macedonia or any other member. NATO does, and does it well.
Mr. Coronakis wrote:
“the late Michalis Papakonstantinou, in a rather animated discussion, told me, “can you understand Vassili that if this country did not exist, we should have invented it?””
What does this mean? Does it mean that N. Macedonia is a buffer state between the Hellenic Republic and its “barbarian” neighbors, just like Ancient Macedonia was “The Shield of Greece” from the barbarians to the north? Half-mouthed insinuations are neither welcome nor helpful.
Mr. Coronakis wrote:
“Premeditated or not, this grotesque error will provide any Greek government, present or future, in times of domestic political difficulties to turn the Prespes Agreement into a piece of paper, good only to wrap fish./”
Why such hostility and evil-wishing, Mr. Coronakis? The actual reality on the ground shows that such ill predictions are simply not true in reality. Kiryakos Mitsotakis, the arch-enemy of Syriza, had plenty of opportunity to try to annul the Prespa Agreement, and yet, not only he has not done so, but he even welcomed the Macedonian PM in Greece multiple times on very friendly terms. To imagine that some “future” Greek government would annul the Prespa Agreement because of some narrow, daily-pollical purposes is simply a misplaced fantasy. Short of the Nazis and convicted criminals from Chrissy Avgy/Golden Dawn, no other government would even consider it, the main reason being that the agreement simply recognizes the situation on the ground: that Ethnic Macedonians have been referring to themselves as such, and to their language as Macedonian since at least the late 1700s. There are nations out there like Australia, New Zealand, Canada, etc. with much shorter history, and yet nobody denies them their validity. Calling this fact, a “grotesque error” harkens back to the policies of the fascist dictator Metaxas and his “name changes to sound Greek” at a gunpoint, or, more recently, the propaganda of the convicted criminals from Chrissy Avgy/Golden Dawn.
Here we can gloss over Mr. Coronakis’ emphasis on the lack of loyalty of the Macedonian Albanian minority and their wish for “Greater Albania”, as such thing is next to non-existent in 2020. The Albanians from Albania Proper, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, and yes, from Greece (where they go by the moniker “Arvanites”, but they are still Ethnic Albanians by DNA) — increasingly see each other as distinct, and Edi Rama has a better relationship with Serbian Prime Minister Vucic than with former Kosovo Prime Minister Thaci.
Mr. Coronakis wrote:
“When North Macedonia was part of Yugoslavia, the language spoken was Serbo-Croatian. After the split, a local dialect was adopted as the official language which was named “Macedonian””
I am not sure why would Mr. Coronakis write such obvious and verifiable falsehoods. Even a cursory look at Wikipedia or Encyclopedia Britannica (or Americana) would prove that the Macedonian Literary Language was first linguistically and scientifically described in 1903 (Krste Misirkov’s book “On Macedonian Matters”) and then formally codified in 1943/1944 (during ASNOM and before the Greek Civil War) and has ever since been the official language of SR/R/N/Macedonia until this day. There are modern official languages that were codified later than that. Serbo-Croatian was the language of communication across the entire Yugoslav Federation (including Slovenia, Bosnia, Montenegro, etc.) on a federal level, while on a state level, each republic had its own national language as its spoken, written and official language. For SR Slovenia that was the Slovenian language, for SR Macedonia that was the Macedonian language. This is easily verifiable in all the official documents and laws from that period. The anecdote that Mr. Coronakis’ describes with his Bulgarian friend speaking “fluently” Macedonian falls flat in front of the fact that all South Slavic languages are mutually intelligible. Mr. Coronakis could have had with him a Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian or a Montenegrin friend and they would be able to understand Macedonian and speak “fluently” just as well as his Bulgarian friend, and probably even better, since the Bulgarian language has many Russian and Turkish words that never existed in any of the South Slavic languages of Federal Yugoslavia.
Finally, Mr. Coronakis wrote:
“To this effect, Zaev has only one move left. Go first to Sofia and then to Athens and beg Boyko Borisov and Kyriakos Mitsotakis for “unconditional” help. He may never get into the bloc but at least he will deliver the country to his successor one piece, as he got it.”
I am really at a loss as to how did Mr. Coronakis arrive at the preposterous conclusion in this paragraph? Why would Zaev “beg” Mitsotakis for anything at all? The Prespa agreement has already been ratified by both parliaments and is a legally binding document for all future governments of both countries, Greece and N. Macedonia. The Macedonian Nation and the Macedonian Language are fully recognized by the Hellenic Republic’s former and current government and all future governments. What is there to “beg” for? The United Nations has recognized the Macedonian Language as spoken in N. Macedonia since the 1977 UN Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names.
Even more puzzling is Mr. Coronakis’ conclusion that Zaev needs to beg Borisov, a former mobster (allegedly), who is on his last legs in Bulgarian politics, with the protests against him and his government having been ongoing for over 150 days now, with no signs of abating. Borisov will be out by the time of the Bulgarian Spring Election, together with his hodge-podge coalition of criminals (allegedly) and assorted extremists, and all Zaev has to do is wait 4 months and start fresh with the new Bulgarian government.
No need for artificial drama or pathos or any kind of rush.
-Bruce Gorjanski | https://medium.com/@capricornis/response-to-the-obvious-and-provable-falsehoods-and-untruths-published-in-basil-coronakis-1dd9e7468b32 | ['Bruce Gorjanski'] | 2020-12-07 05:50:56.478000+00:00 | ['European Union', 'Greece', 'Macedonia', 'Bulgaria', 'Macedonian'] |
Clean Architecture: Standing on the shoulders of giants | This post is part of The Software Architecture Chronicles, a series of posts about Software Architecture. In them, I write about what I’ve learned on Software Architecture, how I think of it, and how I use that knowledge. The contents of this post might make more sense if you read the previous posts in this series.
Robert C. Martin (AKA Uncle Bob) published his ideas about Clean Architecture back in 2012, in a post on his blog, and lectured about it at a few conferences.
The Clean Architecture leverages well-known and not so well-known concepts, rules, and patterns, explaining how to fit them together, to propose a standardised way of building applications.
Standing on the shoulders of EBI, Hexagonal and Onion Architectures
The core objectives behind Clean Architecture are the same as for Ports & Adapters (Hexagonal) and Onion Architectures:
Independence of tools;
Independence of delivery mechanisms;
Testability in isolation.
In the post about Clean Architecture was published, this was the diagram used to explain the global idea:
Robert C. Martin 2012, The Clean Architecture
As Uncle Bob himself says in his post, the diagram above is an attempt at integrating the most recent architecture ideas into a single actionable idea.
Let’s compare the Clean Architecture diagram with the diagrams used to explain Hexagonal Architecture and Onion Architecture, and see where they coincide:
Externalisation of tools and delivery mechanisms
Hexagonal Architecture focuses on externalising the tools and the delivery mechanisms from the application, using interfaces (ports) and adapters. This is also one of the core fundaments of Onion Architecture, as we can see by its diagram, the UI, the infrastructure and the tests are all in the outermost layer of the diagram. The Clean Architecture has exactly the same characteristic, having the UI, the web, the DB, etc, in the outermost layer. In the end, all application core code is framework/library independent.
Hexagonal Architecture focuses on externalising the tools and the delivery mechanisms from the application, using interfaces (ports) and adapters. This is also one of the core fundaments of Onion Architecture, as we can see by its diagram, the UI, the infrastructure and the tests are all in the outermost layer of the diagram. The Clean Architecture has exactly the same characteristic, having the UI, the web, the DB, etc, in the outermost layer. In the end, all application core code is framework/library independent. Dependencies direction
In the Hexagonal Architecture, we don’t have anything explicitly telling us the direction of the dependencies. Nevertheless, we can easily infer it: The Application has a port (an interface) which must be implemented or used by an adapter. So the Adapter depends on the interface, it depends on the application which is in the centre. What is outside depends on what is inside, the direction of the dependencies is towards the centre. In the Onion Architecture diagram, we also don’t have anything explicitly telling us the dependencies direction, however, in his second post, Jeffrey Palermo states very clearly that all dependencies are toward the centre. The Clean Architecture diagram, in turn, it’s quite explicit in pointing out that the dependencies direction is towards the centre. They all introduce the Dependency Inversion Principle at the architectural level. Nothing in an inner circle can know anything at all about something in an outer circle. Furthermore, when we pass data across a boundary, it is always in the form that is most convenient for the inner circle.
In the Hexagonal Architecture, we don’t have anything explicitly telling us the direction of the dependencies. Nevertheless, we can easily infer it: The Application has a port (an interface) which must be implemented or used by an adapter. So the Adapter depends on the interface, it depends on the application which is in the centre. What is outside depends on what is inside, the direction of the dependencies is towards the centre. In the Onion Architecture diagram, we also don’t have anything explicitly telling us the dependencies direction, however, in his second post, Jeffrey Palermo states very clearly that all dependencies are toward the centre. The Clean Architecture diagram, in turn, it’s quite explicit in pointing out that the dependencies direction is towards the centre. They all introduce the Dependency Inversion Principle at the architectural level. Nothing in an inner circle can know anything at all about something in an outer circle. Furthermore, when we pass data across a boundary, it is always in the form that is most convenient for the inner circle. Layers
The Hexagonal Architecture diagram only shows us two layers: Inside of the application and outside of the application. The Onion Architecture, on the other hand, brings to the mix the application layers identified by DDD: Application Services holding the use case logic; Domain Services encapsulating domain logic that does not belong in Entities nor Value Objects; and the Entities, Value Objects, etc.. When compared to the Onion Architecture, the Clean Architecture maintains the Application Services layer (Use Cases) and the Entities layer but it seems to forget about the Domain Services layer. However, reading Uncle Bob post we realise that he considers an Entity not only as and Entity in the DDD sense but as any Domain object: “An entity can be an object with methods, or it can be a set of data structures and functions.“. In reality, he merged those 2 innermost layers to simplify the diagram.
The Hexagonal Architecture diagram only shows us two layers: Inside of the application and outside of the application. The Onion Architecture, on the other hand, brings to the mix the application layers identified by DDD: Application Services holding the use case logic; Domain Services encapsulating domain logic that does not belong in Entities nor Value Objects; and the Entities, Value Objects, etc.. When compared to the Onion Architecture, the Clean Architecture maintains the Application Services layer (Use Cases) and the Entities layer but it seems to forget about the Domain Services layer. However, reading Uncle Bob post we realise that he considers an Entity not only as and Entity in the DDD sense but as any Domain object: “An entity can be an object with methods, or it can be a set of data structures and functions.“. In reality, he merged those 2 innermost layers to simplify the diagram. Testability in isolation
In all three Architecture styles the rules they abide by provide them with insulation of the application and domain logic. This means that in all cases we can simply mock the external tools and delivery mechanisms and test the application code in insulation, without using any DB nor HTTP requests.
As we can see, Clean Architecture incorporates the rules of Hexagonal Architecture and Onion Architecture. So far, the Clean Architecture does not add anything new to the equation. However, in the bottom right corner of the Clean Architecture diagram, we can see a small extra diagram…
Standing on the shoulders of MVC and EBI
The small extra diagram in the bottom right corner of the Clean Architecture diagram explains how the flow of control works. That small diagram does not give us much information, but the blog post explanations and the conference lectures given by Robert C. Martin expand on the subject.
Robert C. Martin
In the diagram above, on the left side, we have the View and the Controller of MVC. Everything inside/between the black double lines represents the Model in MVC. That Model also represents the EBI Architecture (we can clearly see the Boundaries, the Interactor and the Entities), the “Application” in Hexagonal Architecture, the “Application Core” in the Onion Architecture, and the “Entities” and “Use Cases” layers in the Clean Architecture diagram above.
Following the control flow, we have an HTTP Request that reaches the Controller. The controller will then:
Dismantle the Request; Create a Request Model with the relevant data; Execute a method in the Interactor (which was injected into the Controller using the Interactor’s interface, the Boundary), passing it the Request Model and the Presenter; The Interactor:
1. Uses the Entity Gateway Implementation (which was injected into the Interactor using the Entity Gateway Interface) to find the relevant Entities;
2. Orchestrates interactions between Entities;
3. Creates a Response Model with the data result of the Operation;
4. Populates the Presenter giving it the Response Model;
5. Returns the Presenter to the Controller; Uses the Presenter to generate a ViewModel; Binds the ViewModel to the View; Returns the View to the client.
The only thing here where I feel some friction and do differently in my projects is the usage of the “Presenter“. I rather have the Interactor return the data in some kind of DTO, as opposed to injecting an object that gets populated with data.
What I usually do is the actual MVP implementation, where the Controller has the responsibility of receiving and responding to the client.
Conclusion
I would not say that the Clean Architecture is revolutionary because it does not actually bring a new groundbreaking concept or pattern to the table.
However, I would say that it is a work of the utmost importance:
It recovers somewhat forgotten concepts, rules, and patterns;
It clarifies useful and important concepts, rules and patterns;
It tells us how all these concepts, rules and patterns fit together to provide us with a standardised way to build complex applications with maintainability in mind.
When I think about Uncle Bob work with the Clean Architecture, It makes me think of Isaac Newton. Gravity had always been there, everybody knew that if we release an apple one meter above the ground, it will move towards the ground. The “only” thing Newton did was to publish a paper making that fact explicit*. It was a “simple” thing to do, but it allowed people to reason about it and use that concrete idea as a foundation to other ideas.
In other words, I see Robert C. Martin is the Isaac Newton of software development! :D
Resources
2012 — Robert C. Martin — Clean Architecture (NDC 2012)
2012 — Robert C. Martin — The Clean Architecture
2012 — Benjamin Eberlei — OOP Business Applications: Entity, Boundary, Interactor
2017 — Lieven Doclo — A couple of thoughts on Clean Architecture
2017 — Grzegorz Ziemoński — Clean Architecture Is Screaming
* I know Sir Isaac Newton did more than that, but I just want to emphasize how important I consider the views of Robert C. Martin.
Published September 28, 2017September 28, 2017 | https://medium.com/the-software-architecture-chronicles/clean-architecture-standing-on-the-shoulders-of-giants-168e6b7b00b9 | ['Herberto Graça'] | 2017-12-18 08:01:01.967000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Software Architecture', 'Software Engineering', 'Software Development'] |
Why signature-based threat detection isn’t enough for rail cyber security | Why signature-based threat detection isn’t enough for rail cyber security
Today’s cyber threats can target all types of systems, networks and devices, especially those that make up critical infrastructure. Every industry and organisation is unique, and has its own challenges and parameters for security. The modern network architecture on rolling-stock is no different, as it consists of many connected subsystems which have created a large attack surface. This now presents train operators a challenge which requires a flexible approach to cyber security to protect its operations and passengers.
Organisations are increasingly adopting measures to protect themselves against the constantly-shifting threats, but many available cyber security solutions in the market share the same weakness in their approach to threat detection: a continued reliance on systems that will simply monitor or control traffic into and out of the network, and detects any threats by recognising the ‘signature’ of a previously catalogued attack.
This traditional security technique has been in use since the earliest days of cyber security, most popular with combating malware. In previous years this approach was able to provide adequate protection, until attackers became more advanced and discovered new methods of avoiding detection.
Signature based approaches fail because they are reactive
Cyber attacks leave a unique signature that can be used to recognise what type of threat it is, based on a catalogued ‘footprint’ or pattern associated with a previously identified attack. A signature-based threat detection solution would monitor data flowing through the network and scan the contents to compare it to code it has categorised in its signature database and, based on this, decides whether to act against the threat.
This approach was easy to implement, but its accuracy relied heavily on the vendors awareness of new threats, and their capability to then push out updates of new signatures to the software out in the field. This means it was able to provide protection from threats that were known to the industry, but this approach has limitations.
One of the biggest limiting factors behind signature-based detection is that these are always reactive in nature. They cannot detect newly discovered threats like zero-day attacks, which are not known to the industry before they are seen in action. New versions of attacks regularly appear that are not recognised or identified by signature-based technology. This is especially true within rail, where there is not an extensive catalogue of previous attacks or a lab of security specialists compiling signatures.
Attackers know what signatures have been collected, and how signature detection works. They know they must find more sophisticated ways to circumvent detection. Unfortunately, the ability to obscure their attacks by working around the known signatures is something that even the less ‘advanced’ hackers can do now. They can mutate their malicious code by making slight modifications in such a way that their attacks keep generating new signatures, while retaining their malicious functionality.
In a recent blog discussing cyber security risks of IP-enabled cameras on rolling stock, we highlighted how the attack WannaCry was released and quickly caused havoc in the industry. The WannaCry attack was a zero-day attack that was able to inflict a lot of damage because of basic flaws in signature-based detection tools. It was a new threat that the out-dated approach was not equipped or prepared for.
With the decline of signature-based threat detection, organisations have begun to turn to more innovative methods of securing their operations. The rail industry would benefit by following suit with this development when it comes to building their cyber security programme. Rather than relying on identifying threats on the network from their signature, moving forward a better suited approach within rail will be the monitoring and detection of threats based on their behaviour.
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The threat landscape is constantly changing. Rail needs more than prevention to stay safe
After a growing spotlight in the news covering successful cyber attacks against high profile targets, including those within critical infrastructure, it would seem that the hackers are continually gaining the upper hand. Attacks, such as WannaCry, have shown that it is not enough to rely solely on perimeter defences with signature-based detection. Organisations that were affected by WannaCry had firewalls and other prevention mechanisms in place, but it still found a way to attack their networks. The perimeter of the network is no longer as clear as it once was.
Instead we should be focusing on an attacker’s one key vulnerability — their inability to hide their malicious behaviour once they gain access to the network.
Cyber security is a constant battle of escalation and innovation from both sides, the defenders must win every time but the attackers only need to be successful once. A perimeter security approach with signature-based detection technology can never guarantee to keep the attackers at bay forever. Your goal should be to stop insider threats before they become incidents.
With new technologies and techniques such as artificial intelligence, automation and machine learning, organisations now have access to solutions utilising behaviour-based threat detection. This is a proactive approach to security in which all relevant activity is monitored, so that deviations from normal behaviour can be identified, and action taken to mitigate the threats immediately.
Whereas a signature-based detection approach requires consistent updates and patching to stay relevant, a behaviour-based detection solution will remain effective for the life of the asset. It will create a baseline for normal traffic patterns on your network, enabling accurate alerting of threats when it discovers anomalies caused by live attacks, regardless of if the system recognises a signature or attack or not. This new detection approach is allowing organisations to stay in control and deepen their view of what’s happening inside their networks for a much longer period of time compared to signature-based approaches.
Security effectiveness of the RazorSecure behaviour-based solution over the life of an asset
Security effectiveness of the RazorSecure behaviour-based solution over the life of an asset, compared to a traditional signature-based approach.
Signature-based detection can be effective at combating a large range of threats. But it is not enough on its own. The threat landscape isn’t static and it is evolving rapidly. The threats are becoming more sophisticated, and every day, new attack techniques are coming to light. Organisations need an intelligent solution that has full visibility and understanding of the network, can continuously learn new attack behaviours and will adapt to network changes. | https://medium.com/@mackgibson5987/why-signature-based-threat-detection-isnt-enough-for-rail-cyber-security-c8eec3dfffae | ['Mack Gibson'] | 2020-11-18 08:56:25.147000+00:00 | ['Rails', 'Rail Cyber Securit', 'Railways', 'Cybersecurity'] |
Practice Groups at Maestral: A Unique and Highly-Responsive Knowledge Sharing Centers of Excellence | Recoding the Matrix: How Maestral Leveraged a Traditional Structure to Develop a New Approach to Learning”, authored by Maestral’s COO, Frank Torres, drew a sensible analogy between Maestral’s Practice Groups (PGs) and Chapters and Guilds of Spotify. In this article, PGs were defined as follows:
Practice Groups are communities of employees who share the same role-defining competencies and wish to develop them further through knowledge sharing and research.
Since the publish date, the post has inspired curiosity and raised questions about how the PGs generally compare to classical departments as organizational units.
This article, apart from organizational aspects, aims to address PGs' technical perspectives too, so that readers can get clearer insights into what PGs stand for and how they fit into how Maestral build and share knowledge.
Practice Groups Overview
Staying close to the Spotify comparison, Maestral Practice Groups represent a unique intersection between Chapters and Guilds. Like Chapters, PGs are formed around shared competencies, and like Guilds, they are fully open to all employees.
What really separates PGs from classical departments in organizational and technical terms?
Google Dictionary (Oxford Languages) defines a department as
A division of a large organization such as a government, university, or business, dealing with a specific area of activity.
Although Practice Groups resemble classical departments in some respects, a high degree of flexibility and ad-hoc ephemeral nature are the key differentiators that make us agile and competitive as an organization in every aspect.
Whatever their form, size, function, or established processes, departments still represent traditional, conservative organizational structures.
As such, departments suit well any administration, they recall and refer to the traditional leadership styles, rigid protocols of communication and decision making, i.e., the traditional leadership styles dating back to the “industrial era“. Overall, they are characterized by inflexible communication channels, the sluggish pace of delivery, and often unnecessarily sizeable hierarchies too.
It is little to say that exactly those characteristics bring avail and frustration to many IT organizations that want to stay competitive in the ever-changing tech markets. They cry for organizational changes and re-structuring. Maestral sympathized from the early days and wanted to build a faster-moving, and continuous flow of relevant pool of knowledge potential available in a lickety-split, right here and now- PGs were established.
Maestral Practice Groups Characteristics and Activities
Maestral continuously explores specific tech-related topics and areas, and with PGs, it is possible to generate and share the knowledge within the company. Depending on the specific topic/area, PGs may be either short/long term groups, small, medium, or large multi-functional teams.
On that account, the organizational style dubbed Practice Groups was established, serving us as mini hubs of excellence — not as a substitute for classical departments, but rather as an innovative form of teams’ organization.
PGs are flexible, independent, cross-functional, and specific technology (or non-technology) interest groups.
What makes PGs unique is their capacity to be assembled on an ad-hoc basis, do the work, and disband them, once the goals and objectives are reached.
Research, certification (part of the Technology Partnerships initiative), Learning Path design, (part of the Professional Development Plan initiative), progress monitoring meetups, reporting, and monthly newsletters cover the range of main activities aiming at continuous education of people and overall standardization of business processes.
Each PG is led by a Lead, has one or multiple Advisors, with as many members, goals, and objectives as needed. PG Leads are responsible for planning, organizing, and steering various annual and quarterly activities.
PG Advisors assist Leads, support PG members, and the overall organization of groups and activities.
Employees take part (membership) in at least one Practice Group, but depending on their interests and preferences, they can join other Practice Groups too. (Employees can leave groups as well, in case they show no more interest.)
Continuous education is a cornerstone of Maestral’s growth, and only through PGs, it is available to everyone in the organization. Be it days or week-long workshops, weekly Lunch & Learn sessions (some sessions being open to the public, too), or events with external guests and lecturers, the schedule is available through the public PG calendar. In addition to the calendar, timely announcements precede each session, so everyone is informed about the events.
Maestral’s primary PGs are:
Product & Project Management
Design (UI/UX)
Backend
Frontend
Mobile
Data Science & Analytics
Quality Assurance
DevOps
Security
There are also certain subgroups dubbed “secondary” on account of being organized around more specific topics and areas. For example, Backend PG has several subgroups organized around programming languages such as C#, Java, Rust, and GoLang, while Ruby disbanded because of the low market demand. On the other hand, subgroups such as SQL and Python represent the intersection of interests of both Backend and Data Science & Analytics PGs. Some of the disbanded PGs are also Blockchain and IoT (Internet of Things) — but only temporarily. | https://medium.com/maestral-solutions/practice-groups-at-maestral-a-unique-and-highly-responsive-knowledge-sharing-centers-of-excellence-72efdd275340 | ['Namik Nuhanović'] | 2020-12-01 15:57:54.622000+00:00 | ['Learning And Development', 'Pdaas', 'Internal Learning', 'Organizational Culture', 'Product Development'] |
Does Twitter Really Work For Businesses | With more than 200 plus million active users, Twitter is an excellent platform for businesses to reach & get connected with the new audience.
Does Twitter really work for Small Businesses?
With more than 200 plus million active users, Twitter is an excellent platform for businesses to reach & get connected with the new audience. Small businesses have realized the power of this platform. It is an excellent platform for small business to communicate with their customers effectively.
Small businesses have been using Twitter to grow their business. Another reason that encourages small businesses to promote their product or service on Twitter is that it is cost effective. Therefore, small businesses should definitely explore twitter to promote their products.
This is how you can get most out of Twitter for your business
Goals of Twitter marketing?
Decide what are the goals that you want to achieve from promoting your business on Twitter.
-Generating leads & sales
-Increasing Brand Awareness
-Building better Customer Support channel
-Creating a positive opinion
-Building community
It is immensely essential to set your goals to decide how and why to use Twitter for your business.
How can Twitter help small businesses?
Connect to Customers
Twitter is growing rapidly. Every day, the size of the Twitter audience is growing. It provides an excellent opportunity for small businesses to look for potential customers. Not just, it offers them the chance to find new customers but also connect with the existing customers and interact with them.
Twitter Increase Brand Awareness
Being a small business owner, it becomes essential for you to build brand awareness. Twitter allows you to connect with new users with its promotional ads. You can select demographic and run ads to reach out to the new audience.
Build a Customer Support Channel
You can use Twitter to monitor what people are talking about your brand online and in case if you come across negative reactions or comments from customers, you can resolve it quickly by responding to them or getting in touch with them directly.
Why use Twitter for marketing your business? | https://medium.com/@cielenter/does-twitter-really-work-for-businesses-ddba2773110a | [] | 2020-12-16 07:35:51.187000+00:00 | ['Twitter For Business', 'Twitter Marketing', 'Online Marketing', 'Business Development'] |
Thoughts On Holiday Self-Quarantine From Your Unbothered Christian Grandmother | Thoughts On Holiday Self-Quarantine From Your Unbothered Christian Grandmother
Image by Gabriel Thibodeau
I have leftover ambrosia coleslaw from Pilgrim Pinochle last week, so I’m all set. They closed the community center again, but we just moved everything to Nora’s. It’s just her and that dumb husband in a big ol’ house, so there was plenty of room for all the card tables. She had some from the high school. Did you hear it’s shut down through the end of the year? Nora’s still teaching flute in the auditorium, though.
Stop cleaning, love. I already sprayed down the doorknobs. Ralphs still didn’t have my Clorox wipes. Can you believe that? I went to the shelf where they always are and it was empty as an atheist again. It was kinda spooky, like that show you watch with the lesbian who cries at clowns, but Bill O’Reilly said on his website to keep cleaning the knobs and the telephones, so I bought some Pine-Sol even though it gives me asthma. They had three big jugs left. Can you imagine, I survive the bug but die from an asthma attack cleaning the Bible cabinet? Bill was wearing the sharpest blue tie, though, and he made it very clear. You want some cinnamon bread? It makes the best toast.
Carol called, said they changed the hours at Macy’s and wouldn’t let her in. It’s about time! Apparently, the apocalypse is the only thing that can stop that woman from buying leopard print. She’s been out running around every single day, can you believe it? I told her yesterday at Chili’s she should be more careful.
Anyway, I put Brenda’s birthday card in the mail, but I didn’t lick the envelope. Used that sponge I like. The one from Big Lots? Looks like a ladybug? It’s so cute, I’ve had it for years. I should probably throw it out now, but how would I seal envelopes? Poor Brenda’s cruise was re-canceled. I told her it was for the best. I can’t imagine being stuck on a boat with Hershel, bug or no bug. I’d only last a few days before I’d have to walk on water all the way home. Are you sure you don’t want some cinnamon toast? It tastes like cake, but it’s regular bread, so it doesn’t count.
Carol said you’re more likely to be struck by lightning four times than get the bug, but no one’s been struck by lightning four times! Beth’s dog walker has it and she never even goes out in the rain. You remember Beth’s dog, Weiner? He’s such a disgusting, sweet little thing. Was over here the other day and drooled all over my new Christmas display. You seen it yet? Blake Shelton’s a holiday ham and he sings about the atonement to a bunch of little elves. You want some ham? I have leftovers from Quilting for Christ. I quilted a grandchild who calls me more. The ham would be good with the toast.
Don’t you worry! I promise I won’t go out again. I just have the Winter Resurrection Festival down at the church playground in a bit, but that’s it, I swear. Alberta’s been planning it for months and with the Lord’s Lady Lounge closed it might be my only chance to have some cabernet. Fake Jesus turns water into wine after he rises from the jungle gym. Those church kids are always sneezing and coughing, but I’m dressing as a jolly yuletide leper, so my face will be covered. I’ll just make a little hole in the robes and sip my wine through a straw. It’ll be fine, I promise. If Mary could god-birth our Lord and Savior in a pile of straw and sheep snot, I can bring my Jell-O nativity to the church cafetorium.
No, I’m all set on food, dear. There are lots of boxed potatoes in the pantry, and Carol’s dropping by with a half turkey and some vodka fruit cake from WinCo after she gets her toes done. The salon’s closed again, but if you hang your feet out your car window, they can reach your nails just fine. I got bloody crowns of thorns on my big toes, with an extra cross on the crooked pinky.
You want butter or jam on your toast? | https://medium.com/slackjaw/thoughts-on-holiday-self-quarantine-from-your-unbothered-christian-grandmother-dc118f7391d3 | ['Gabriel Thibodeau'] | 2020-12-16 17:13:42.719000+00:00 | ['Quarantine', 'Humor', 'Holidays 2020', 'Religion', 'Family'] |
7 Things to Do Before You Rewrite Your Script | Admitting you need to rewrite your script should be obvious, but our admission at the deepest level that our story has problems is not a foregone conclusion to writers. I have often known I needed to do a rewrite, but inside my heart, I want to believe it is closer than it is. Is that truly embracing the rewrite? No.
Open yourself up to everything new, think of a blank white page, and focus on change. And before you move forward, here are seven things to do before you’re back at it.
Don’t Fix Everything
You got all your notes and your plans and every change you wanna make. It’s a lot. Well, don’t try and make all your problems disappear in one draft. You can rewrite again! There are too many beautifully mysterious things that happen in the creative act of writing. Focus on a few things you need to address and let the others wait. Your story will have a new list of needs after you’re done. Think of a few things to work on for now and go from there.
Be a Reader
Make sure you read your script a couple times before you get started again. I tend to forget what’s in there and every time I take the whole thing in I find new ways to build my story into something truly special. We often ask other people to read it and give notes. That’s a good thing. But we need to be intimate with what we have to improve our relationship with our next draft. And if you think you’ve read it, read it again. Today’s a new day.
The Perfect Scene
Some scenes have been worked out to the point where we don’t even look at them any more. They are so special. People have raved about them and we know they are the cornerstones of our future amazing script. Precious elements of our scripts should be reviewed. We might not change a thing, but it instills a professional and productive attitude of humility towards what’s on the page. I’m often shocked when I discover something is not as fantastic as I remember.
Question the Open
Opening your script demands an original, visual and clear introduction to your story which instantly engages the audience. This is a tall order, and you might believe you have met the challenge. In my experience, looking at the page one of my script can often alter and, most importantly, solve the issues that follow. Be nimble and honest with yourself by keeping everything on the table, always keeping in mind you don’t have to change a word, if you choose. You’re in charge.
The People in Your Story
Audiences emotionally connect to your story through the characters. The relationship between audience and character is richer and deeper if they have the time to develop the bond. Too many characters compromises this crucial dynamic. Can you combine a couple characters? Can you cut a character, even one that you love the most? As an exercise, determine who you would lose if you had to. Once you open that door, you might find again that less is truly more.
Take the Old Note
Remember the dumbest feedback you ever got on your script? What was the worst note you ever got in your life? Lose your pride and consider if the person was right. What’s the reason you received that comment? It might not matter at all, but the practice of staying open to all feedback keeps me most vulnerable to unfiltered inspiration. Keeping score on who gave me bad notes makes me write worse.
Remember Why
Always come back home with your story. Where did this begin for you? Where did you first think of the idea? The wonderful instant where that lightning strikes can keep the fire burning until you’re done. Keep it green. Remember why you loved this idea. Cherish why starting the script in the first place was cool. Maintaining the joy and opportunity for what you are making with your own hands will keep the road lit through the unknown times of revealing what the story was always meant to be, for in the end, it’s beautiful work, isn’t it? | https://medium.com/@gordyhoffman/7-things-to-do-before-you-rewrite-your-script-2248a519b162 | ['Gordy Hoffman'] | 2020-12-16 20:06:49.944000+00:00 | ['Creative Writing', 'Writing', 'Writing Tips', 'Screenwriting', 'Script'] |
What’s Your favorite luxury Hotel? | hotels washington dc
Travelling in India is fun but challenging. And determing the best hotel on your loved ones are a lot more so. We’ve for ages been interested in learning the ‘right fit’ that many traveller seeks for their hotel stays. Is it the positioning, the luxurious quotient and great food? Or perhaps is it a captivating atmosphere, efficient service, outdoor activities and places to discover? My conclusion is, just like a great many other things in India, probably the seek out an ideal family hotel also defies a logical decision-making process.
Travelling as adults is relatively simple. We’re more flexible. Put in a few kids into the equation in fact it is a very different story, particularly when it’s really a long, arduous journey.
As with a lot of things with today’s India, the tourism sector has seen rapid expansion over the past decade and you will find now far more hotel options than ever before. Will no longer would be the only choices seriously high-end chain hotels (think the Oberois) grotty, over-priced mid-range hotels, or scruffy back-packer haunts. Put into they’re ‘heritage hotels’, decent independent luxury hotels, and homestays.
But is it possible to define which of these makes a perfect hotel for families with children?
hotels washington dc
Obviously, the positioning is fairly critical. This is the easy getting there, along with its location with regards to planned activities. A well-located hotel could help you save a long time on India’s sometimes dreadful roads where pit stops are rare, thus causing less, “Are we there yet?” questions in the children. | https://medium.com/@hotelswashingtondc1q/whats-your-favorite-luxury-hotel-bee16bf661a1 | [] | 2016-12-26 15:49:22.919000+00:00 | ['Travel', 'Hotel'] |
How to survive the upcoming space invasion? Here’s your guide! | First of all, calm down! Try taking deep breaths. We have survived pandemics before and even though this invasion will be a test on our humanity, let us join hands and win the bigger picture. NASA is as baffled as you and me as this is the first time in history we have a communication from the nearest galaxy! But worry not, here is the ultimate guide for you to survive this universal war.
image credit : syfywire.com
Intergalactic movies to rescue
We have no other references to look into. But worry not, there are so many movies about space battles that give us a better picture in what to expect.
It is believed that UNO has a clear strategy adopted from one of the famous sci-fi. The news about an invasion was originally released on facebook by a NASA scientist by mistake, and before he could do the necessary recoup, the post went viral and by then, thousands of people had the recordings from the space, downloaded into their mobile phone. — the National Security
Many International organisations like Commonwealth, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), WHO, WTO, UNESCO and many such world organisations are having a meeting today to discuss the viability of the plan that is in action right now. Meanwhile, let us keep our bags ready and heart steady!
The Essentials
Pack only the items that are absolutely necessary. Please don’t bulk up your rescue mission backpack with a toaster and air purifier! Don’t forget to take your wallets, Government issued ID cards, your Work ID cards, credit cards, medicines and passports. Have a pocket charger with you in case your mobile runs out of battery.
2. Food and Supplies
It is advised to pack the ready to eat stuff that requires a minimal to no cooking. Many popular brands have started distributing the packets free of cost. Please contact the nearest police station for more details on that. Also, don’t get into a panic mode and stock up the food items. Always remember, there are other people in need of your excess inventory.
3. Stay Home, Unless advised against
The audio file confirmed that the date for the invasion will be in three days. That gives us plenty of time to spend undistracted quality time with your family. Try staying home, to avoid any public outrage and panic walks that are likely to happen in the streets. Have hope guys, with faith in our hearts, let us over come this.
Always lend a helping hand for others in need. This is what makes us human. Image credit : givingcompass.com
Apocalypse?
We have no information on the plan and how the invasion is likely to start. It is a threat to our galaxy and not just to our world. There are chances that these forces will be satisfied with Jupiter and Mars, and would probably never set their foot on our precious Earth. But things are absolutely vague and the best we could do is to join hands and have trust.
This may be an apocalypse, but we as humans, are stronger in heart with a will to survive. We will survive this world domination and see the Sun rise once again!
Let us all hope for a global and intergalactic peace. Image credit: Atmayoga.com
Want to know more about the rescue spaceships that are in line to launch, in case things go wrong? What are the conditions and preconditions? Will the Government stand by us or will this be a commercial plan? Are there lives in other planets? What is the mission and the plan?
The UNO will announce these shortly and as your fellow mate who makes things simplified for you, I request you to stay tuned, to the next blog post that will cover all these questions. Be strong guys, it’s our world, and there is no force in this Universe, powerful enough to destroy what we have! | https://medium.com/@my3e/how-to-survive-the-upcoming-space-invasion-heres-your-guide-f3aae78429f6 | [] | 2021-04-06 14:47:50.909000+00:00 | ['First Post', 'Blogging', 'Space Invaders', 'Imaginary Stories', 'Content Vidhya'] |
Woke up in a Very Bad Mood? 5 Antidotes to Save Your Day | Woke up in a Very Bad Mood? 5 Antidotes to Save Your Day
I applied these this very morning.
Photo by Gemma Chua-Tran on Unsplash
There was no valid reason. There are hardly ever any. Sometimes you just wake up in a bad mood and you know it right away. That’s what happened to me this morning.
It took me 2.5 hours to start feeling better, thanks to these 5 antidotes.
It could have started well. I woke up with my girlfriend at 7:30 and got out of bed for breakfast and coffee, but something was already wrong. I was a bit stressed. I did everything as if I was in a hurry. But I wasn’t. I work from home, I’m my own boss. So I’m not expected anywhere.
To begin with, I had no inspiration to write. It was annoying since my daily story is my most important task of the day. I decided to put it aside for later and do another task instead. I had some work to do for a client, but I realized that they hadn’t sent me the information I needed. The project is falling behind schedule, and this is stressing me because it means that sooner or later I’m going to have to finish it in a hurry.
It’s all futile. But that’s the way things are. You don’t always need good reasons to be in a bad mood.
I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one in this situation. We are human beings, after all. We can’t be at our best every day, every time. There would be no ups without some downs.
Here are my 5 antidotes to save your day. | https://medium.com/live-your-life-on-purpose/woke-up-in-a-very-bad-mood-5-antidotes-to-save-your-day-f2e36e517cde | ['Auriane Alix'] | 2020-10-09 19:02:46.937000+00:00 | ['Mood', 'Life', 'Self', 'Wellbeing', 'Happiness'] |
Ad Metrics Quality and Testing on Mobile | Maya Reddy | Software Engineer, Ad Formats
Every day at Pinterest, we help our advertising partners reach Pinners through different ad formats, and we provide them with metrics and analytics on how their ads are performing. Maintaining our partners’ trust and delivering value is critical, so the metrics we expose, which are ultimately based on logs containing client events, must be correct.
In early 2017, we had mobile releases every two weeks, and we would do manual QA to verify logging behavior before each release. Soon, client teams began investing in integration test frameworks; integration tests in this context are automated tests that go through the UI flow, beginning from logging in to the app and performing behaviors such as tapping on Pins, saving Pins, etc. At the end of the automated actions, the tests verify the logs match the UI actions.
Why we created the ads logging integration test suite
Catch and fix bugs earlier in the release cycle — Previously, our reliance on manual QA meant the team might not catch bugs until late in the release cycle, and we were often fixing P1 bugs shortly before ship deadlines.
— Previously, our reliance on manual QA meant the team might not catch bugs until late in the release cycle, and we were often fixing P1 bugs shortly before ship deadlines. Ship code with confidence — Automated tests allow us to run more test cases and be even more confident that new code has not introduced bugs or issues.
— Automated tests allow us to run more test cases and be even more confident that new code has not introduced bugs or issues. Re-allocate manual testing — Shifting repeated QA tasks to integration tests means manual QA can do more exploratory testing and testing of new features.
Challenges
How to make sure we test the correct format
We needed a way to guarantee that a certain ad would show up in a user’s feed so that we could run tests on the desired ad format. In the example below, we need an app-install ad to show up.
Example test case:
Scroll feed and fully view an app install Pin Confirm that an impression fires. Verify: Id is populated and looks like a valid composite id
We use a handy tool that inserts promoted Pins at the API level based on JSON data. We have many different test accounts, each with a specific Pin inserted into that account. Our automated tests can then log into whichever account is needed for that format-specific test!
How we structure the tests
Our ads appear in many places in the Pinterest app. They can appear in the home feed, when a user performs a search, etc. Sometimes, a bug can affect just one surface, so we need to have tests on all the different surfaces. This increases the number of tests, but it makes it easy to split them up logically. We have one base method that performs all the UI actions and logging checks, and we have a test method for each surface that navigates to the surface before calling into the base method.
Below is a test being run on the home feed, search, and related Pins feed. The test is checking that impressions end properly when the contextual menu shows up.
Test replication
As ads are launched on new surfaces, we need to certify the ad behavior and logging works as expected. For example, in a user’s board, there’s a new section called “More ideas” where ads can now appear, and we want to be able to easily replicate existing tests to run on this new surface. Ideally, teams that own surfaces should be able to own their subset of tests as well, from test creation through maintenance. Since most of the tests are written in a consistent structure, we created a Python script that generates tests for new surfaces by copying and modifying existing tests.
Continuous integration
As we added more formats and their associated test coverage, the test suite became larger and larger. Our available on-premise capacity restricted how frequently we could run the full test suite. After some iteration, our current process is to run the test suite on a nightly basis when there’s more capacity available. However, we also picked a small subset of tests to run per commit in order to get an early signal on bugs. We always make sure that the full test suite passes on the release candidate before submitting the build to the App Store/Play Store. We use the following set up for our integration environment:
Buildkite — We set up Buildkite pipelines for the integration tests to run on remote machines.
Tests finish faster since they run in parallel.
Developers can work on other features while tests run.
We can schedule builds so that tests run nightly or set up integrations so that tests run per commit.
Metro — An in-house tool used to analyze test results and trends. We’re able to see the success rate over time for a specific pipeline as well as for individual tests.
How we maintain the tests
Once a test is written, it’s added to the staging Buildkite pipeline. The new test then runs over a few days, and we fix any issues that arise. After it’s stable, we add it to the production Buildkite pipeline. On top of the upfront cost of writing tests, there’s some effort required to maintain them.
Sometimes a feature change will break integration tests. For example, a back button might be changed into a close button. Since we rely on accessibility labels, our tests would then break. In this case, we’d file a bug to the appropriate team so that they can fix the issue.
Other times, there are issues with how we’ve written tests that become apparent over time. In those cases, we update the test framework/setup itself.
Conclusion
Automated integration tests allow us to have confidence in the metrics we report to our advertisers. We are continuously evolving the process to make our tests easier to run and maintain.
Acknowledgments: Thanks to Wendy Lu, Matt Mo, Joseph Smalls-Mantey, Jordan Maler, Tony Lu, Jerry Marino, Freddy Montano, the Ad Formats iOS team, Metrics Quality & Test Tools team, the iOS Core Platform team, and everyone else who helped out with this effort! | https://medium.com/pinterest-engineering/ad-metrics-quality-and-testing-on-mobile-fae9e70e7761 | ['Pinterest Engineering'] | 2019-08-14 17:49:05.549000+00:00 | ['Mobile', 'Android', 'Software Testing', 'Metrics', 'iOS'] |
7 Things To Never Say To A Full Time Writer | Don’t. Just don’t do this.
I get it, having someone say they’re a writer isn’t something you hear everyday. But give some thought before you say some things.
I’ve been a writer for, I don’t know how long, probably as long as I could write. I remember the first book I put together was a concept I copied from Sesame Street called “Whitney’s Looking At Numbers.” It’s funny to think of now, but I was probably six at the time. I colored the pages, stapled it like a book…everything. That is the moment my writing career began.
I’ve taken it seriously. I went to a specialized arts high school where I was able hone my writing skills. I graduated with an English degree concentrating in creative writing. When I tell people that I’m a writer, I get this impressed reaction, something I’ve never really understood. It seems that people really do have a high respect for writers. Sometimes, though, I get some strange comments.
I’m not saying that if you say these things, I’m automatically offended. It’s a matter of how it’s said. When I was younger, it seems that most of these things bothered me more than they do now. Probably because I’m older and I know what to expect. I just had someone tell me the other day that my being a writer actually inspired them to write, so yeah, it’s a complement.
So, without further ado, here are the five things you should never say to a full time writer.
I should try to write a story one day.
While I know a lot of people do think about writing novels and screenplays, it’s not as simple as waking up and saying “I think I’ll write a book today.”
To write a story of publishing quality, one needs to plan, have it make sense, and go through rejection after rejection. Many writers were rejected for years before getting published, including your favorite writer. Just google it. It’s common knowledge.
2) Yeah, but how do you make money?
This demeans the writing career. We’re not all “starving artists”. There are many writing fields that are lucrative such as technical writing, copywriting, and forms of business writing such as white papers and case studies.
Alternative: How much money do you make?
How much money do you make? Seriously though, I don’t ask people that question. It’s just rude. Call me old-fashioned…
3) You must be a hermit, really lonely, depressed etc.
Okay, so we’ve heard the stories of writers such as Sylvia Plath who committed suicide, or Emily Dickinson who was so shy she hardly left her house. But come on. There are depressed, shy, and lonely people in any profession, even Hollywood.
Being a writer does involve a lot of independent work, but nowadays we have to communicate with editors, collaborate with those in other fields such as design, interview people for articles and case studies. Don’t forget, we’re constantly marketing our services. Communication skills are a big part of being a successful writer.
4) You need something to fall back on.
That is not entirely untrue, but not in the way the speaker thinks. Yes, your odds of making a decent living as a fiction writer are slim. The majority of us will never be the next Stephen King or J.K. Rowling. A hard pill to swallow, but it’s true. However, you can make a decent living as a writer. You just need the skills in different areas.
I mentioned before that writers collaborate a lot. If she knows how to do some of these things herself, for instance, I’m taking classes in graphic design and web development, you expand your employment opportunities. Plus you have more topics to share your expertise on.
5) Let me read it.
Whenever I say I’m working on a story or whatever, I get something like this. Writing is an art, like painting. We all work differently. I know that whatever I’m working on, I don’t like people to see it before it’s perfected, which can take months. Even years. Let me invite you to read it. In the meantime, stay out of my creative process.
6) I want you to read my story and tell me what you think.
I can’t believe I’ve actually been asked this. I’m absolutely flattered you think I’m an expert, but my opinion means nothing. I’d actually rather not be placed in the position of reading something I might hate and then having to lie about it because I don’t want to hurt your feelings.
If you really want someone to critique your writing, join a writers group. They’re everywhere. You’ll get honest opinions from neutral people who have no relationship to lose.
7) So, what do you do?
Didn’t I just say I’m a writer? Why do you want to dissect my day? I do a lot of things. I write (duh), I edit, I pitch, I nap…the list goes on. (Hey, there are some perks to freelancing.) It’s really hard to sum up exactly what I do in a day because each day is different. Lots of us are jack-of-all-trades.
Each day I write something different. Sometimes I work on blog posts, or poetry if I’m feeling mellow, or a novel if I’m feeling creative. Sometimes I have deadlines and I’ll prioritize one assignment over the other. It depends on the day. I can’t describe a typical day because there is no typical day. | https://medium.com/@foster.whitney.a/7-things-to-never-say-to-a-full-time-writer-5f3219e9a3d5 | ['Whitney Foster'] | 2019-09-15 14:12:16.087000+00:00 | ['Freelancing', 'Tech', 'Writing', 'Business', 'Freelance Writing'] |
Ubuntu upgrade from 18.04 to 20.04 LTS: Installation Requirements for an Existing Rails Application | Ubuntu upgrade from 18.04 to 20.04 LTS: Installation Requirements for an Existing Rails Application BoTreeTechnologies Feb 4·2 min read
Upgrading Ubuntu from 18.04–20.04 is easy and takes a few moments. When it comes to Ruby on Rails app development, you need the latest version of Ubuntu to achieve smooth performance.
The command for upgrade is shown below:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
After upgrading Ubuntu, some sets of binary libraries were found missing while bundling the dependencies and serving the rails application.
You will also notice the following enlisted set of errors arising while serving the bundling the dependencies or serving the Rails application or if there are missing SSL certificates for a specific ruby version in the local machine:
Gem::Ext::BuildError: ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.
GYou must add /C=BE/O=GlobalSign nv-sa/OU=Root CA/CN=GlobalSign Root
CA to your local trusted store
OR
An error occurred while installing nokogiri (Nokogiri Version),
and Bundler cannot continue.
OR
-bash: cd: /usr/share/rvm/usr/ssl: No such file or directory
OR
SSL_connect returned=1 errno=0 state=error: certificate verify failed
If you are facing any issues related to the specific nokogiri version used for existing Ruby on Rails rapid application development or SSL/CA certificates.
Then, install the following packages to successfully bundle the dependencies and serve Ruby on Rails application development:
pkg-config:
sudo apt install pkg-config
2. ffi:
sudo apt install libffi-dev
3. clang GCC compiler:
sudo apt-get install clang && rvm install ruby_version --with-gcc=clang
4. Libreadline 7 rather than libreadline 8
sudo apt --fix-broken install
sudo apt-get install -y libreadline-dev
Read more: Improve your Ruby on Rails application development performance using these 5 simple ways and take your RoR app development lifecycle to the next level.
Note:
You need to install the specific ruby version with the clang compiler as shown in the 3rd step above. It will throw errors if not installed with the help of the Clang compiler.
If your existing applications with the required gemsets are served in Ubuntu 18 and not in Ubuntu 20, after installing the above-required libraries then delete the gemset, bundle the dependencies again.
Contrarily, you can create a new gemset, bundle the dependencies, and serve the Rails application.
If you want assistance with more such upgrades & installations, connect with developers at our Ruby on Rails development company. Stay tuned for more articles.
Originally published at: https://www.botreetechnologies.com/blog/ubuntu-upgrade-existing-rails-application | https://medium.com/@botreetechnologies/ubuntu-upgrade-from-18-04-to-20-04-lts-installation-requirements-for-an-existing-rails-application-ac5d29738eb9 | [] | 2021-02-04 13:12:52.239000+00:00 | ['Rails Application', 'Ruby On Rails Development', 'Ubuntu 18', 'Ubuntu', 'Ruby on Rails'] |
Build Your Blockchain with Starport and Connect to a $75B+ Ecosystem of Digital Assets | Global spending on blockchain technology is expected to grow from $1.5 billion in 2018 to approximately $15.9 billion by 2023. Unsurprisingly, this expansion brings about a need for more blockchain developers to enter the space. In fact, “blockchain” was the most in-demand hard skill of 2020, according to a survey by LinkedIn.
As the natural law of supply and demand dictates, we find ourselves in a seller’s market with blockchain developers being able to command attractive above-average salaries around the globe. For developers of all stripes, then, now, more than ever, is an excellent time to explore the world of blockchain and grow your career in this fascinating industry.
Yet, many developers are stopped in their tracks when it comes to the concept of “blockchain.” They believe that blockchains are difficult to build, that they must learn entirely new programming languages, or that the barriers to entry are simply too high. While that may have been the case a few years ago, developer-friendly tools such as Starport are quickly changing the game.
The Advantages of Starport for Developers
Tendermint launched the first version of Starport in July 2020, marking a turning point for developers looking to build their own blockchains. Since then, Starport has undergone multiple iterations to improve the developer experience and make creating a production-ready blockchain as simple as possible.
But, if you’re considering building an application using blockchain technology, what are the main advantages of using Starport and connecting to the Cosmos ecosystem rather than building an application on Ethereum or using Polkadot? Let’s take a closer look.
You Are the Layer One Protocol
The key difference between building a blockchain with Starport and creating a smart contract on Ethereum is that, with Starport, you are building an entirely autonomous application-specific blockchain that lets you be the layer one protocol. Those words alone may not mean that much at first, so let’s dig into why this is so important.
If you build a decentralized application (dApp) on a blockchain like Ethereum, you are subject to the same limitations and restrictions affecting the layer one protocol. So, for example, the Ethereum network is currently at 98.63% capacity. Surges in the price of ether and traffic flowing to DeFi applications cause a large spike in both fees and network congestion.
With the average transaction fee on Ethereum reaching a dizzying height of around $65 in May of this year, many blockchain developers and everyday users are being priced out of transactions. A hefty fee for accessing a high yield through liquidity mining on a DeFi app or a large trade on a decentralized exchange may not hinder all users. But if you’re a blockchain game developer trying to sell $5 in-game items or $20 NFTs, choosing Ethereum as your home is simply not viable.
In fact, many applications that don’t offer high yield are being forced to migrate to other networks or simply close up shop. Even before the $65 record-high average TX fee, the effects of 2020’s “DeFi summer” caused many applications, such as Unilogin, to shutter operations. The team’s poignant blog post simply led with “Unilogin is out of gas.”
We know that existing on top of Ethereum offers considerable benefits. You get access to a considerable user base, interaction with hundreds of other dApps, and the security associated with the network. But none of these advantages matters if you have to wait for Ethereum to fix its scaling problems, lose potential users because of high fees, or face being priced out of the network.
You Are Entirely Sovereign
Building a blockchain with Starport allows you to be entirely sovereign and make your own rules over development. Head of developer experience at Tendermint and Starport lead Denis Fadeev explains, “When you build something in this industry, there are essentially two paths. It’s either a smart contract or a blockchain. Those are two very different things. And when you talk about building chains, there again, there are two different approaches. You can build sovereign chains or you can build chains that depend on a parent chain.”
He continues, “So, with Polkadot, you don’t build sovereign chains, as it’s not the intended use of their toolkit. You build chains that literally revolve around the central Polkadot relay chain. Whereas with Cosmos, the goal is to give people tools to build sovereign chains. Empowering people to create sovereign independent chains is where Cosmos truly shines.”
Josh Lee, aka Dogemos, a long-term Cosmos contributor and CEO of Chainapsis (the team behind Keplr wallet) explained in an earlier article, “Being sovereign and having your own blockchain means you get to set your own system and your own boundaries over how you interact with others. If you exist as a smart contract, you are just a tenant living in a rented house.”
Sovereign applications can make their own decisions over all matters that affect the network, such as governance, validators, when to push network upgrades, or incorporate new proposals. They enjoy the high throughput and scalability of Cosmos blockchain technology and can connect to a vast and growing ecosystem of leading blockchains (that already comprises the likes of Binance Coin, Terra, OKB, Cosmos Hub, and Crypto.com) through the Cosmos Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol.
Connect to a Growing Ecosystem
Being sovereign sounds empowering. But it may also sound a little intimidating, especially for the uninitiated. After all, sovereignty also comes with its own implications. How do you find validators to secure your chain, how do you reach new users, or interact with other decentralized applications in the way that the burgeoning DeFi sector on Ethereum allows?
With scalability and interoperability at the heart of the Cosmos vision, all chains built with Starport come with IBC by default. IBC readiness means that you can easily connect to any IBC-enabled chain in the ecosystem and let users transfer data and other assets, and benefit from a network of application-specific blockchains.
The most advanced cross-chain DeFi protocol, Gravity DEX, is also launching this summer and will encourage new chains to trade and create liquidity, more traders to start arbitraging, and more developers to discover a new path to start listing their tokens permissionlessly and getting people to invest.
Thanks to the Gravity DEX protocol, blockchain developers can now build a blockchain with Starport in minutes, create and list their tokens, and get instant price discovery on their digital assets. Building blockchains with Starport is especially beneficial for emerging projects that don’t have the funding to pay for a costly listing on a centralized exchange.
Beyond the 244+ apps and services in the Cosmos ecosystem today that will benefit from an advanced cross-chain DeFi protocol, work is being carried out by the Althea team to connect the Cosmos Hub to Ethereum via the Gravity Bridge. This is a secure decentralized bridge that will allow Ethereum liquidity to flow into Cosmos while benefiting Ethereum users with lower transaction fees and faster times, unlocking the vast potential of DeFi.
As Althea CEO Deborah Simpiertold Cryptoslate, “DeFi is increasingly difficult for retail traders to access… Gravity Bridge is democratizing DeFi for everyone.”
Starport Is Easy for Any Developer to Use
Many developers still hold the belief that building a blockchain is hard. And that’s probably because it used to be. But with Starport, building an application-specific blockchain is as easy as writing a smart contract — and you don’t have to learn Ethereum’s programming language Solidity.
“I haven’t seen any tools that surpass Starport in functionality or ease of use,” Denis enthuses. “It’s the easiest way to build a blockchain and, coming from a web developer background, it very much reminds me of developing with traditional frameworks like Rails or Django.”
Starport is very accessible for non-blockchains developers, as the source code of your chain and all the modules are written in the universally popular language Go. Denis explains, “I don’t consider myself to be a blockchain developer. So since I come from a web development background, I try to make it as close as possible to the tools that web developers have.”
Starport features hot-reloading, simple to use CLI commands to scaffold components, and very intuitive configuration syntax. Starport also scaffolds a Vue 3 web application that lets you, as a web developer, understand how a web app talks to your chain and serves as a solid foundation for your front end.
Starport can be downloaded with a single click so that developers can start building immediately after installing Starport. With just a single command you can scaffold a module, add CRUD functionality, connect your chain to any IBC-enabled chain with a built-in relayer, and much more.
The Starport interface makes it easy for developers to start building a UI for their chain. With automatic client TypeScript code generation, component library, and out-of-the-box integration with Keplr wallet, developing a client-side app for a blockchain has never been easier.
Keplr is the most popular wallet extension in the Cosmos ecosystem and is easy to use, IBC-compatible, and allows end-users to see their token balances and sign transactions directly from the extension. For additional Starport features, check out our recent Starport v0.16 Brings Keplr, Better IBC support, and a Whole Lot More blog post.
Cosmos Technology Is Environmentally Friendly
Blockchain energy consumption is a contentious issue. However, it’s one that pertains to energy-hungry blockchains using the Proof of Work consensus mechanism, like Bitcoin or Ethereum. Cosmos chains use Proof of Stake instead, which has a much higher throughput and a much lower carbon footprint.
The current estimated annual energy consumption (measured in TWh) of running the Bitcoin network for a year is 121.86 TWh, while Ethereum consumes around 52.27 TWh per year. By comparison, the estimated yearly consumption of a Cosmos-based blockchain is less than the energy consumed by Bitcoin and Ethereum in a single day (0.00046647 TWh).
Even running 100,000 Cosmos blockchains would still use less energy than Ethereum per year (46.647 TWh). That’s a difference of orders of magnitude that will allow for a sustainable multichain future of independent interconnected blockchains that retain their own sovereignty while interacting and enriching the ecosystem for all.
Final Thoughts
As more and more corporations, governments, and individuals begin to realize the benefits of blockchain technology, its use cases are rapidly evolving. From decentralized finance to NFTs, blockchain gaming to healthcare, the supply chain, energy and utilities, or decentralized autonomous organizations; we’re on the cusp of unimaginable innovation that can be enabled by an interconnected multichain blockchain ecosystem. And it all starts with Starport. What will you build?
Get Started with Starport
Are you ready to get started with Starport v0.16?
Discover Starport https://github.com/tendermint/starport
Install Starport CLI with a single command:
curl https://get.starport.network/starport! | bash
Learn more about building blockchains: https://tutorials.cosmos.network
Read Starport documentation: https://docs.starport.network
Got questions? Join our channel on Discord: https://discord.gg/vcExX9T where you’ll find an active community of Starport users and developers. They can help you with any doubts and make building your own Cosmos blockchain and connecting to our ecosystem even easier. | https://blog.cosmos.network/build-your-blockchain-with-starport-and-connect-to-a-75b-ecosystem-of-digital-assets-3a6916042a46 | ['Christina Cosmos'] | 2021-06-18 07:53:03.150000+00:00 | ['Cosmos Sdk', 'Starport', 'Proof Of Stake', 'Cosmos', 'Blockchain'] |
Design agency vs in-house design team | Throughout my design career, I’ve had the pleasure of working on several different design teams — all in varying sizes, working styles, and team dynamics. Some of these teams have included in-house design teams at larger companies, some at start-ups, and most recently a small design agency. In my experience on these various teams, I’ve begun to notice and identify first hand the biggest differences between what some would call “agency life” vs. “in-house.”
For the seasoned product designer that’s worked in both of these work environments, the differences are quite obvious and you may already prefer one over the other. However, for a junior designer who has just begun their career, the differences might not be as clear. This makes it difficult to know which one is the right fit for them. In this article, I’ve compiled a list of some of the major distinctions between working as a product designer at a design agency and on an in-house design team.
Breadth vs. Depth
This may come as no surprise but the first topic up for discussion is the age-old debate of breadth vs. depth. I feel like this is the single biggest difference between these two types of workplaces:
At an agency, the type of work you will be doing is often project-based and can vary depending on the client. One week it could be fleshing out the UI for a fintech mobile app and the next could be a technical user migration flow. The projects, the teams, and the clients are always changing. That being said, a designer can gain a lot of experience very quickly, from the sheer number of projects they get pulled into. Often the knowledge of the actual product or industry is only surface level because next week you may be working on a new project in a completely different industry or sector. Things move quickly at an agency so your portfolio will gain breadth.
Unlike an agency, things move a little slower when you’re part of an in-house design team. An in-house designer working at a product company typically works on only one or two products. So you can take the time to learn and understand the product or solution from a more holistic perspective. Typically within an in-house environment, product designers work with the same team of product managers, business analysts, engineers, etc. The team is all working towards the same goal and gains a strong knowledge of the product as well as the industry you all work in. There is a deeper level of understanding of the market and the solution your product provides, thus the emphasis on depth.
Work process — Ihor Hedz
Product vs. Process
The second key differentiator I’ve identified between working at an agency vs an in-house team is the actual style of work. With a product, you work continuously to improve and refine it, compared to an agency where you can work to improve or create multiple products through a repeated process.
If you work on an in-house design team, you’re most likely working on the particular product or service offered by the company. You have the opportunity to own and become an advocate for improving that single product. This can be truly rewarding as you have a direct hand in the success of your product. To a degree, you drink the Kool-Aid and really feel a responsibility for the potential growth that your product can achieve. While working on a product, you establish a long-term relationship with the product or service that lasts the duration of your time at that particular company. This can result in you becoming an expert within the industry.
To work at a product company you have to love the product. To work at an agency you have to love the process.
To work at an agency, your work is more geared towards helping and assisting your client with their product. Your role becomes less about the long-term success of the product and more focused on how you can help to improve or accomplish what you have been assigned to do for your client. Those who work at agencies have a passion for the process of their work and less of a connection to the actual product.
Steve Jobs gives a brief explanation of the differences between product and consulting (agencies) in this video, as he uses the example of a simple banana. Within the agency or consulting world, he explains that you collect these two-dimensional photos of a bunch of different fruits but you never actually get to taste them. At a product company, you enjoy the fruits of your labor and actually get to taste the banana. Jobs provides an enlightening perspective on the juxtaposition between these two work environments.
Team Dynamics
The people and the teams you work alongside have a huge impact on both the quality and success of the work you do as a product designer. Like every other topic we’ve discussed, there’s also a difference between the teams you would work with on an in-house design team and at a design agency.
Though the core team you work with at an agency (that is those employed by the agency) will stay the same, the clients are a different story. Your clients and anyone you interface with outside the actual agency are always changing. You might find yourself working with a client anywhere from two weeks to several years. It all depends on what the engagement looks like — cost, timeline, etc.
In a contract role like this, a lot of the time you will be working directly with individuals from your client’s internal teams. Examples include working with product owners outlining product requirements, engineers building your designs, or in some cases collaborating with other designers. Other times you could be simply reviewing or pitching to a client after doing the work with your own internal team. Whatever the scenario, the teams and the individuals you work with while at an agency are always changing.
This type of team dynamic has its advantages and disadvantages. One benefit is that you get the chance to work closely with new people all the time which is a great way to learn and grow your network. But a drawback is that you are always forming new relationships and this can be difficult for the less social or introverted designers.
As I previously mentioned, the core product group you typically work with at a product company or in-house team will be the same people you work with daily. In my experience, I had a design team I was a part of but each designer worked on separate products or verticals. These teams included cross-functional roles such as product owners, product managers, business analysts, engineers, and even copywriters. Depending on the project, you’d occasionally work with a representative from sales, marketing, or ops, but the core team remained the same.
An added benefit of working with the same people is that you form strong bonds and relationships with your co-workers. You have the opportunity to learn how they work best. This is a useful advantage and I go into more depth on this topic in another article.
Zoom tips for improved remote communication — Theoni Michael
Meetings
Meetings, meetings, meetings; our workdays are full of them but depending on your workplace environment, they could look very different. Meetings can also vary greatly depending on the size of your company or agency.
While I worked on in-house teams, I rarely interfaced with our clients. This could have been due to my role or position at the company, but for an in-house designer, chances are slim that you will be having regular 1:1s with your clients or customers. But in the context of an agency, designers are always pitching their work directly to the client. Meetings at an agency consist of project kickoffs and regular check-ins with the client. Agency designers have far more opportunities to present and share their work than an in-house designer. Don’t get me wrong, in-house designers still have chances to present their work, but the opportunity is far less.
For in-house designers, meetings consist of design critiques, product team meetings, design team meetings, feature sizing meetings, quarterly planning meetings, engineering demos, etc. The types of meetings at a product company look much different compared to those at an agency. Sometimes it feels like you spend more time in meetings talking about the work than actually getting the work done. That being said, it comes with the territory. Product companies are product companies because they know their product inside and out.
Timelines, Deadlines, & Priorities
After coming to my first agency from a product company, I was so surprised by how quickly things got done! I came from a place where our Q1 OKRs (Objectives and key results) were to define our Q2’s OKRs. Okay, not really but sometimes it felt like that. You know how I said clients are always changing at agencies, well deadlines are always changing at product companies (in-house).
Many factors lead to the changing of priorities at a product company but, almost all of them affect what work a product designer has on their plate. Maybe there are changes in the market that your company must adjust to. Or simply a ton of built-up tech debt that must be consolidated. Whatever the case may be, this can lead to lulls in a product designer's workload.
Some might say, “there is always design work to be done”, and while this may be true, it also depends on how much your company values Design with a capital D. And if the answer is “not really”, well you could be twiddling your thumbs for a little while until that product roadmap says “design” on it again.
If there is one constant at an agency it's that your deadline is always on the horizon. Whether or not the client takes a year to actually implement your work, you still have a date to hand something over. I’ve been lucky in my agency experience but I’ve heard horror stories from fellow designers working late and long hours to meet a client’s deadline. Often this is nothing but an internal mentality forced on by leadership to help produce better work. This is an extremely unhealthy behavior and though sometimes may prosper good results, it almost all of the time will lead to burnout and poor employee retention. Work-life balance is important plain and, simple.
In the end
These two styles of workplaces have their differences, but no one is better than the other. It's all about work preference and where you want to be in your career. These thoughts and observations are purely from my own work experiences so I encourage you to explore both of these environments to form your own opinions. More experience is never a bad thing in the world of design. And if it doesn’t work out, well in the words of Almitra Inocencio, “you can always quit your job” and “you can always get fired.” Nothing is permanent. | https://uxdesign.cc/design-agency-vs-in-house-design-team-ebc81dac8f9c | ['Michael Kuhn'] | 2021-01-15 00:03:41.955000+00:00 | ['Product Design', 'Design', 'Agency', 'UX', 'Career Advice'] |
The Fear of Losing the Middle Finger | Doctor: Sam, we are sorry, but we have to amputate your middle finger.
Sam: (astonished) Why? It’s just a small inflammation.
Doctor: If we don’t chop it off, the infection will spread to the rest of the arm. You will eventually lose the whole arm. You can also die of septicemia.
Sam: Holy shit! This is my favorite finger, how will I live without it.
Doctor: Sir, your hand will function quite normally. You should even thank God, last week, there is a client whose arm was amputated, you are better off.
Sam: You know what, I use this finger to signal ‘fuck you’, to people like you, who don’t understand the pain of losing this finger! This is my busiest finger.
Doctor: I am sorry for offending you, sir.
Sam: (sobbing) I even doubt if my wife will still love me.
Doctor: Sam, the finger has nothing to do with your beauty, I assure you, you’ll still be attractive.
Sam: I am not worried about beauty, this is my wife’s favorite finger as well.
Doctor: Ooh my God, your wife doesn’t have the middle finger too?
Sam: She has, but we always use this one.
Doctor: I am so sorry sir, I can see how important this finger is.
Sam: Very important, please, do something to save it.
Doctor: Nothing much can be done, not unless we leave it.
Sam: Nope! I want to live, I still have a lot to do, I just got married last weekend.
Doctor: (thinking out loud) What about a plastic finger?
Sam: Yes! That’s better and please make it longer, my woman will love it.
Doctor: Unfortunately, that service isn’t available in this country. Furthermore, it is very expensive and unnecessary, but if you can afford it, you’ll have to go overseas for a plastic finger. The decision is solely yours.
Sam: You know my financial status, I can’t even afford to pay you the consultancy fee.
Do you buy human organs?
Doctor: We don’t exactly buy or sell organs, but you can donate, right now we have a patient who needs a kidney.
Sam: (surprised) Free?
Doctor: Yes, we are not allowed to trade human organs, you will only be given a token for appreciation.
Sam: How much, is the appreciation.
Doctor: 1.5 million dollars.
Sam: Jeez! And how much does it cost to install my plastic finger?
Doctor: All expenses sum up to around $10,000.
Sam: Prep me for surgery, amputate the finger, and remove my left kidney. | https://medium.com/the-haven/the-fear-of-losing-the-middle-finger-49a0854f119d | ['Nosh Komen'] | 2020-12-24 05:01:37.611000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Comics', 'Life', 'Fiction', 'Culture'] |
Gather Your Firewood | Hi everyone!
Time goes by… not at all slowly these days. It swooshes as briskly as a meteor does, catching us in the swirl of the events that we couldn’t even conjure up at the start of the leap year 2020.
I recall how the news about “a virus in China” first trickled its way into the mainstream some time in late January, shortly before the Chinese New Year. A month later, we’re witnessing how the whole globe — or those parts of the globe that possess the privilege of expressing themselves via the shared online/offline info channels — is engulfed in the latest developments of what by now is matter-of-factly dubbed as “COVID-19”.
In fact, I’m so sorry for us, humans, and for the ways of how helpless and fragile we are in the face of information that we let ourselves be exposed to. Picture this. There’s a kid, a toddler, or a baby, wearing a red, or blue, or whatever color outfit. This toddler is friendly, and curious, and loving, and it believes that whatever the world brings to them, serves them for their good. And, out of their naivete, they open themselves and listen to some insidious creature, disguised as their grandma.
I’ve watched my own reaction to those developments in the news. We’re all in this together, and while some might have resorted to the ostrich first-aid safety strategy, I’ve chosen to observe what happens and where the information streams are headed. And — since we’re here for the takeaways as related to our work in tech — let me share some of the trends and patterns I’ve identified by now. Most importantly, what can we actually do about the challenges that might come our way as a consequence of COVID-19? By now, asking this question might have proven an excellent survival strategy in itself, because if we’re not doing and thinking positively with the goal of addressing a challenge, all that’s left is succumb to fear. And, as a renowned politician of a bygone era has famously said: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”.
Astronaut Susan Helms gathers firewood during winter survival training.
… and we are free to go forage for our survival firewood, figuratively speaking. What would our tech “survival firewood” would be, one might ask? Take a closer look at the info nuggets re: tech companies and start-ups in the context of coronavirus. We can group those nuggets as follows:
Conferences and public events are cancelled, with some companies choosing to run those events online (I bet you’ve seen those news for yourselves, so I’m not citing the minutiae). Company A in the city X or company B in the city Y tells their employees to work from home wherever possible citing coronavirus concerns. A company C’s employee tests positive for coronavirus so they notify their staff of what is being done to contain the hazards, e.g. sanitization of the office, etc. etc. And, as much as I’d want to keep these bullet items in the abstract — because there’s been enough fear or even panic spread by now — after some wagering I thought I’d provide an actual reference because, to me, the way this company handles the challenge by keeping their employees informed in an async way is worth making a note of. And, as of the time of this writing, they have issued another update for the employees. Let me re-iterate that I’m linking to those references with one goal in mind: to showcase how some people in tech gather their “survival firewood”. Companies A, B, C, D are moving their job interviews online, citing the virus concerns. Tech and non-tech businesses and countries which rely on tourism and logistics are most likely to be affected economically because the media keep saying that for the next 3 — 3+ months, the world will hold off on travel due to the virus concerns. This is just one of many examples. More businesses will be affected, of course. Citing all the possible cases would require a thorough analysis of the global business/economical/cultural/political ties, and doing that wouldn’t be my goal, for now :) *ironic*
… and on it goes.
The epidemics/pandemics are as old as our civilization is. Go no further as to my previous post, where I cited an historical anecdote about cholera in the 19th century. Heh, in fact, as I was working on the post the “coronavirus” snowball hadn’t yet gained as much momentum as it did by now. Here’s another historical brief, if you will, about the plague and Paracelsus, the physician. While everyone was stricken with fear and panic, with lots of people dying, Paracelsus was the one who chose to focus on bringing help to people, rather than spreading fear. And he didn’t contract the plague.
We are no physicians, but here’s what we can do:
— re-group and re-orient our focus from the effects of exposure to the news a la “conferences cancelled, such and such country has registered its first coronavirus case”, etc. etc. to preparedness. What would preparedness mean for tech? Of course, any org or business that hinges on tourism, directly or indirectly, will need to course-correct, depending on the impact (see some articles in Further reading below). Plus, as a think pad, you might want to check the results of this Google search.
Next. What can we do to make sure that our org/company is properly equipped for working remotely, should such a need arise? Some clues can be found in my earlier posts e.g. The Dietitians of Info-Sharing, Cut Yourself Some Slack from Slack, How Communication Factors In To Production, Getting Closer With Remote as well as in the others listed below in Related). The world of those who work in the office is very different from the world of those who work remotely. Some things — such as a friendly watercooler chat, or a quick exchange, or personal one-on-ones, or even the posters citing company values — are readily available to us in our offices. And we take them for granted. However, should a need be, are we well-equipped to maintain an async online space of shared culture and shared values? The space where we are driven to, like a thirsty person who craves for a water well? The space that fills us with the sense of belonging and being in all of this together?
Apart from culture and communication, there’s a purely technical side, of course. What can or should we do, if need be, to adapt our infrastructure for remote work? How fast can we do that? Are we ready for that?
Here’s one more takeaway. We can project all we want, but some things in life are just… tectonic. Uncontrollable neither by our will, nor effort. Earthquakes and pandemics — or pandemic threats — care little of what our plans have been before they strike. The question is: are we earthquake-proof by design, the way some temples in Asia are, personally and collectively? Those temples, the pagodas, they’ve got the gigantic rods which go all the way through the construction, from bottom to top, as they hold the building together and safeguard it from collapsing. Japan is particularly famous for those pagodas because this part of the globe is much prone to earthquakes. Yet, the pagodas withstand. And, from what I know, this nation
pays much attention to earthquake preparedness, in a thoughtful way. They do the earthquake drills, and everyone knows what to do exactly when an earthquake strikes. Preparedness is the key. As well as adaptability and wise thinking… and, of course, communication!
Related:
Till AI Do Us Part
How Communication Factors In To Production
Getting Closer With Remote
Cut Yourself Some Slack from Slack
The Dietitians of Info-Sharing
What’s Wrong With Your Questions?
The Awkward Elephants
The Human-Speak Wizardry
Quantify Or Wordify?
Value vs. Productivity In Software Development Teams
The Vocal Villains and The Silent Fears
References/further reading:
Little Red Riding Hood (Wikipedia)
Ostriches Don’t Hide Theirs Heads In The Sand
First inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt (Wikipedia)
Survivalism (Wikipedia)
The coronavirus outbreak could mean no summer vacations this year
Coronavirus outbreak forces China’s start-ups to rethink their priorities
Paracelsus (Wikipedia)
Shinbashira (Wikipedia)
New Videos Capture Asteroid’s Daytime Mid-Air Explosion After Hitting Earth
8 Mental Habits to Defeat Fear, Worry, and Anxiety | https://medium.com/quandoo/gather-your-firewood-c129d11f34f6 | ['Olga Kouzina'] | 2020-03-05 12:34:08.505000+00:00 | ['Communication', 'Startup', 'Strategy', 'Tech', 'Leadership'] |
Instacart Market Basket Analysis: What is in your basket apart from Bananas? | Orders pick up beginning at 8 am people start to wake up
More orders are placed on weekends (day 0 and 1) compared to the rest given customers usually do their grocery shopping on weekends
Orders continue to pick up rapidly in the morning starting at 10 am
Orders continue to be made during the morning, experiencing a small dip at noon and begin to drop commencing at 4 pm
10 am to 4 pm are the busiest hours of the day in terms of number of orders received
What are the most frequently brought products?
We want to know what the two products most frequently brought together for which we will use Association rule mining.
Association Rules Mining:
Given that we are only looking at item sets of size 2, the association rules we will generate will be of the form {A} -> {B}. One common application of these rules is in the domain of recommender systems, where customers who purchased item A are recommended item B.
Here are 3 key metrics to consider when evaluating association rules:
support
This is the percentage of orders that contains the item set. In the example above, there are 5 orders in total and {apple,egg} occurs in 3 of them, so:
support{apple,egg} = 3/5 or 60%
The minimum support threshold required by apriori can be set based on knowledge of your domain. In this grocery dataset for example, since there could be thousands of distinct items and an order can contain only a small fraction of these items, setting the support threshold to 0.01% may be reasonable.
confidence
Given two items, A and B, confidence measures the percentage of times that item B is purchased, given that item A was purchased. This is expressed as:
confidence{A->B} = support{A,B} / support{A}
Confidence values range from 0 to 1, where 0 indicates that B is never purchased when A is purchased, and 1 indicates that B is always purchased whenever A is purchased. Note that the confidence measure is directional. This means that we can also compute the percentage of times that item A is purchased, given that item B was purchased:
confidence{B->A} = support{A,B} / support{B}
In our example, the percentage of times that egg is purchased, given that apple was purchased is:
confidence{apple->egg} = support{apple,egg} / support{apple}
= (3/5) / (4/5)
= 0.75 or 75%
lift
Given two items, A and B, lift indicates whether there is a relationship between A and B, or whether the two items are occuring together in the same orders simply by chance (ie: at random). Unlike the confidence metric whose value may vary depending on direction (eg: confidence{A->B} may be different from confidence{B->A}), lift has no direction. This means that the lift{A,B} is always equal to the lift{B,A}:
lift{A,B} = lift{B,A} = support{A,B} / (support{A} * support{B})
In our example, we compute lift as follows:
lift{apple,egg} = lift{egg,apple} = support{apple,egg} / (support{apple} * support{egg}) = (3/5) / (4/5 * 3/5) = 1.25
In summary, lift can take on the following values:
lift = 1 implies no relationship between A and B. (ie: A and B occur together only by chance)
lift > 1 implies that there is a positive relationship between A and B. (ie: A and B occur together more often than random)
lift < 1 implies that there is a negative relationship between A and B. (ie: A and B occur together less often than random)
In our example, apple and egg occur together 1.25 times more than random, so we conclude that there exists a positive relationship between them.
What are the most frequently brought in pairs i.e. which two products are bought most often in customer purchases?
Most frequently bought items
The top item pairs bought together contains Bananas meaning customers would always buy another fruit with bananas
A purchase of Avocado is also accompanied with a purchase of vegetable/fruit like banana or spinach
Item Pairs with lift>3
Organic Strawberry Cottage cheese and Organic cottage cheese blueberry have the highest lift as people tend to buy different flavors of the same product
This trend is shown in item pairs with Unsweetened Whole Milk products
Conclusion
We see that the top associations are not surprising, with one flavor of an item being purchased with another flavor from the same item family (eg: Strawberry Chia Cottage Cheese with Blueberry Acai Cottage Cheese, Chicken Cat Food with Turkey Cat Food, etc).
As mentioned, one common application of association rules mining is in the domain of recommender systems. Once item pairs have been identified as having positive relationship, recommendations can be made to customers in order to increase sales. And hopefully, along the way, also introduce customers to items they never would have tried before or even imagined existed! | https://medium.com/instacart-market-basket-analysis-what-do-people/instacart-market-basket-analysis-what-is-in-your-basket-apart-from-bananas-aae710da40af | ['Mohit Raut'] | 2019-10-08 12:41:46.941000+00:00 | ['Exploratory Data Analysis', 'Data Science', 'Association Rule', 'Treemap'] |
Capacity Factor: Why solar and wind are impossible fantasy. | The red line below is a real demand curve. The blue line is a real solar supply curve. . Figures, Germany.
I am not the only one to criticize the solar and wind fantasy. So did Clack, et al. Unfortunately, in scientific papers plain language is rarely found, so laymen are left with the fantasies of propagandists for big oil, gas and coal. Make no mistake about this — those anti-nuclear and pro-solar activists are promoted by big oil. David Brower was funded by big oil — $200,000 in 1970, which is the equivalent of $1.3 million today — to take over the Sierra Club and make it anti-nuclear. Mark Z Jacobson at Stanford has received 100% of his grant money from oil company cutouts. The same is true of Energiewende, which was started by former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who is the chairman of the board or Rosneft, in charge of selling oil and gas to Germany. You see, they know solar and wind cannot work. But let’s get to the technical problems with solar and wind, starting here with solar.
Keep in mind that the grid must exactly balance demand to supply 24 hours a day, without fail. If there is not enough supply, it must switch off sections of the grid. If there is too much, it must reject, dump, or store the excess.
“Not sure I understand the argument about renewable intermittency causing us to burn more fossil fuels. We’re technically burning less if we only have to burn in the off hours.”
https://pveducation.com/solar-concepts/solar-system-output/ The area under the curve also is your fraction of full capacity you can get from the solar panel.
Problem is that if you look at that graph above, there are huge deviations during the day — not just between day and night, between what the solar panels are providing, and what the grid needs. The red line is demand, and the blue is solar supply. To the left is a graph of what real supply looks like.
Another thing renewable detractors always fail to take into account is the massive leaps on energy storage we’re seeing every year. The 2022 Ford F150 Lightning will be able to power your house if the grid goes down.
Brand new, the F-150 Lightning fully charged is 115–150 kWH. Household use averages 29 kWH per day. But during heat events, for instance the 2021 summer heat wave, use can double or more, and those EVs are not supposed to be grid connected. You would need a special circuit installed in your home to switch off the grid and use your truck’s battery. The driving range of a new truck, full-charge, is 230–300 miles, without load. That drops with loads, but let’s assume normal driving of 100 miles per day, which is 43.4–33% of capacity. When you arrive home is when you will need that power, and it will happen on the worst possible day when temperatures are in the 115 to 120 F.
For maximum battery life, an EV battery should not be discharged below 20%, and should not be charged above 80% of capacity.
Energy storage is more complicated than it looks, and the requirements are beyond huge. 96 gigawatt hours would be roughly half the needs of a medium large (6 million people or so) city for 1 or 2 days, and that is 240 times the size of the largest installation yet, which is 400 megawatt hours and will take 5 years to complete building. Let’s figure 75% of global population (6 billion people) will have electricity in the future, population will not grow, per capita use will not grow, and in emergencies, only half of that population will get electricity for half a day or so. Batteries (which would need replacing every 10 years) would need to store 96 trillion watt hours. This translates to 6 billion EV batteries or more, when we are wondering how to meet the requirements for just 30 million EVs. This is very expensive electricity already.
So, let’s get into capacity factor which is the amount of energy you can expect from your solar panels. We will use a simple, one house “off the grid” example in order to see how this really works, because “off the grid” just means you run your own little grid locally, just for yourself. I will develop this step by step for novices.
Typical home solar panels are rated at around 7.5 kW. People say, “Great, you get over seven thousand watts of power from them!” Well, not really…
Let’s take a 100 watt panel. Let’s slow and synchronize the Earth’s rotation so the the Sun is always overhead at the perfect angle for my panel.
Let’s look at the power produced over the course of 100 hours. It would be 100 watts X 100 hours, that’s 10,000 watt-hours, or as it is more commonly expressed, 10 kWH, or 10 kilowatt hours.
But we can’t park the sun overhead. That 100 hours is a little over 4 days, so let’s pretend the sun rose and set instantly each day and each day was 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night… and let’s DEFINITELY ignore the impossibility of making that happen. Well, now my 100 watt solar panel actually makes 50 kWH.
If we make a fraction of the actual power divided by the power rating on the label of the device, we would have capacity factor and it would be .5 or 50%. Great, you say. Still sounds good.
We’re not done.
The sunlight peaks in the middle of the day and falls off dramatically in morning and late afternoon. Clouds. Rain. Smoke including smoke mud left on panels courtesy of morning dew. Dust, including dust on the panels. Snow.
Days aren’t divided 50/50 between day and night. Length of day and night varies by latitude and season and weather.
All of those are factors that make solar capacity factor just a little over .3 in the very best case (much of the globe is considerably less)… on average… taken over a long time.
But, if you haven’t noticed, there is still a problem. Your electric heat pump doesn’t care about averages. If it needs power at 3 AM and your solar panels are sitting in darkness, then power has to come from something else.
Batteries? Critical factors are energy storage capacity, discharge power capacity, and battery life at the rated charge/discharge capacities.
An example: you have an early plane to catch… It is SUPER hot outside… you wake up at 3 AM. You need to take a shower, turn up the AC a bit, make breakfast, watch the news… oh, and throw some clothes in the dryer from last night’s wash.
Your house is all electric according to the new environmental rules.
Heat pump 15 kW; Water heater 4 kW; Toaster 1 kW; AV equipment .3 kW; Dryer 2 kW. Other things are running, too. Lights, refrigeration, device chargers, hair dryers 1.2 kW. Ignoring those other bits, like lights, we are looking at a burst of:
Around 22 kW on this morning dash when you just need things to work for you on your way out the door.
Let’s throw that load onto your Tesla Powerwall, so we can do all this while saving the planet. The second generation power wall can deliver 5 kW (7, if you push if for less than a minute… so we will use 4 powerwalls for this exercise. (But really it should be 5, because pushing your batteries to deliver peak power will age them faster, which is very expensive in the long run.)
Installed cost of one Powerwall is about $13,000.
Five Powerwalls ganged together to feed this scenario: $13,000 x 4 = $52,000.
You have to be in the class that owns a Tesla car to consider this affordable. Don’t forget replacing them every 10–12 years, if you treat them nicely, and never drain them all the way — which happens pretty frequently with EVs, and should happen easily with Powerwalls as well.
Maybe 1% to 2% of the USA’s population can afford this. (Remember that when you think about expanding this to cover the world with electrical power — who is going to pay for that capacity —unlikely that you who are reading this can afford your fair share.) Replacing every 10–12 years or so, over 20–25 years, you will pay $52,000 x 3 = $156,000 for batteries, and that doesn’t include installation costs. (First you must buy the initial system, and then replace batteries twice.)
But we are not done — We didn’t factor in the solar panel oversupply requirement if you use batteries, and the seasonal cycle. The solar panels must be able to store enough power in a time period, timeX, to be able to replenish them to carry the home through some time period timeY. For this exercise when we were just looking at your house, that creates a little mini-grid that illustrates the problem.
The usual proposed numbers are that the batteries should be able to hold the home for 3 days (timeX). And the batteries should fully charge in 2 days (timeY). But batteries are supposed to kick in mostly at night. For simplification, we will assume night use only for batteries. That means that the house must run off the solar panels during the day, and they must also have enough left over to charge the batteries for 3 days in 2 days. Do the math on that, and you need 1.5 days + 1 day of daily power production capacity in the solar panels, or 2.5 times what the house will actually use in one day!
However, this worst-case need scenario doesn’t kick in except for a few times, generally in winter months. The rest of the time the panels will be dealing with full batteries. So that means that most of the year, the solar panels will throw away 60% of their power generating capacity (or a lot more — we are getting to that). It takes 2 years for modern panels to pay for themselves in electricity. Dumping 60% of power means 40% is used, so it now takes 5 years for panels to pay back the energy used to make them. “Ok,” you say. But we are not done.
You may be thinking, “But the grid makes this work by taking up all or most of that power in the real world.” Yes, sometimes that is true as long as total grid power is not overbuilt (it is in Germany for summer peak), but this is only when you are connected to the grid. (And remember that our one house scenario is a small model of the whole grid.) And if you don’t overbuild, then you must supplement with — fossil fuel, nuclear or hydro.
Hydro is the one everyone talks about — pump water uphill and solve everything. It is central to Mark Z Jacobson’s renewable fantasy that plentiful water will always be available. Looked at lake Oroville lately? The assumption that plenty of water is available for pumping to use for energy storage is nonsense. (We are doing this for one house, off the grid so that you can see what the problem is for a big grid. It’s the same problem — just much bigger.)
Lake Oroville, July 22, 2021 https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/08/05/lake-oroville-reaches-all-time-low-level-hydroelectric-plant-will-shut-down-for-first-time-ever/
I have had people tell me things like: We can just pump seawater into the Sierras! But I worked in civil engineering, and even the standard method of lining with bentonite is fiscally unfeasible for any significant size valley. And if it could be done it would not keep brine from penetrating into the underlying soil and rock, which would flow down hill and come out as springs and penetration of groundwater aquifers in the Central Valley. This would poison anything it reached. The brine that penetrated would not be salt water like the ocean. It would be concentrated brine, because such a reservoir would have to be open to the air. Replenishing endlessly with more salt water would slowly produce more and more concentrated brine. That brine would run back downhill to generate power and be much warmer than normal temperature. Let’s remember that the supposed reasoning for shutting down Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant is the effect of slight warming the Pacific near the plant. (No meaningful effect on sea life is documented, so the discharge would be ok.)
But there is a problem, sun energy varies during the year. We did this calculation presuming that the solar generating capacity was the same all year round. This might work reasonably well near the equator, and it’s bad enough. Most of the industrialized world is not like this. And none of the future inhabitable world of global warming is like this. That future inhabitable world has been predicted to be above the 40th parallel due to climate change extreme temperatures. (Or so we thought, until the recent heat domes in the north that hit 120 F for several days. We are probably in much more serious trouble than we thought.)
Black line is the red demand curve shifted down (because shifting the blue line up is not practical here) until solar can fill the batteries for winter. All the energy above the black line would be thrown away — excess capacity that would not get used. Here, that is over 90% of all the PV energy possible to generate. Wind has a similar, but different problem with overcapacity needs.
So, now let’s add in the seasonal cycle.
What we have to do here is to add solar capacity until the blue line can intersect the red line to the point that we can charge our batteries at the bottom of that cycle. In the image to the left, that is shown in black. If we were to do that, we would not be throwing away 60% of the power. We would be throwing away all the power between the red line and the blue line. Shift that red line way down to the bottom. Essentially, what this does is force us to throw away around 92%-97% or so of all the potential solar generating power for our system. Now it takes 25–66 years to pay back the energy used to make them from our panels. Modern panels have a projected life of 25 years. We have not included energy required to make the batteries.
We will never receive from the system the amount of energy required to make it, let alone install it. This is a net electricity consumer. That means it is impossible.
In this exercise, your single home has its own “grid” that it uses to distribute power to the house. Scale it up to a state or national level and you haven’t changed anything but the size and cost. The problem remains mostly the same.
Well, in fact, you have changed something when you scale it up. You will run into the limits of minerals we have to make things like batteries. You will also run into limits of rare earths for solar panels.
What this really means is that the idea of a solar powered world is an impossible fantasy, literally less feasible than providing a real live unicorn to every child that wants one, complete with rainbow colors of mane and tail. Not joking.
The solar power fantasy needs to be buried where it belongs. It can practically supplement a grid with 10%-15% of total power. But it isn’t necessary, it is costly, and causes difficulties operating the grid. | https://medium.com/@brianhanley/capacity-factor-why-solar-and-wind-are-impossible-fantasy-a2d15059011 | ['Brian Hanley'] | 2021-09-10 21:22:09.647000+00:00 | ['Solar Fantasy', 'Renewables', 'Unicorns', 'Mark Z Jacobson', 'Solar Power'] |
Destruction By Ignorance | Vaccine Injury
Destruction By Ignorance
CDC Comes Clean
canva.com
December 19, 2020: a report leaks under the cover of night from the CDC. It states those injected with the mRNA vaccine suffered severe adverse reactions. From the 272k doses administered, 2.8% suffered from vaccine injury.
Next to the notation on page six [1] of the presentation, it states health impact events refer to individuals “not able to perform normal daily activities, unable to work, and required care from a doctor or health care professional.” If we carry the trend-forward, the projected numbered of injured from this vaccine will reach into the hundreds of millions worldwide.
And who’s to blame? Experts around the world warned us daily not to partake in the human experiment of mRNA. They told us if we suffered from allergic reactions to food, medication, or if pregnant, do not allow yourself injected. Yet, the CDC results show pregnant women participated in this rollout.
These warnings came as Big Pharma put profit over people as the headlines read. Pfizer and BioNTech Begin Human Clinical Trials of COVID-19 [2]
“Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, which have never been licensed for use in humans, inject cells with mRNA, usually within lipid nanoparticles, to stimulate cells in the body to become manufacturers of viral proteins. … mRNA vaccines have potential safety issues, including local and systemic inflammation and stimulation of auto-reactive antibodies and autoimmunity, as well as development of edema (swelling) and blood clots.” May 05, 2020 NIH ‘Very Concerned’ about Serious Side Effect in Coronavirus Vaccine Trial [3] “The test was halted when a participant suffered spinal cord damage…” Sept. 15, 2020 Pregnant women told not to get Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine because risks unknown [4] “There are no data as yet on the safety of Covid-19 vaccines in pregnancy, either from human or animal studies…Women should be advised not to come forward for vaccination if they may be pregnant or are planning a pregnancy within three months of the first dose.” Dec. 02, 2020 FDA Says 2 Participants In Pfizer COVID Vaccine Trial Have Died [5] Dec. 08, 2020 UK Warns People With “Severe Allergies” Shouldn’t Take COVID Vaccine [6] “any person with a history of significant allergic reactions to vaccines, medicine or food should not receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.” Dec. 09, 2020 University Of Pittsburgh Medical Center Won’t Require Staff To Take COVID-19 Vaccine Due To ‘General Uncertainty’ [7] “The reason are several-fold, … For starters, general uncertainty over the vaccine. — Dr. Graham Snyder” Dec. 09, 2020
Today, we see the same injuries happen, which experts warned us about months prior. We look and watch the devastation unfold in the headline news.
Alaskan has allergic reaction after getting Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine [8] Dec. 16, 2020 Suburban Hospital Temporarily Pauses Vaccinations ‘Out of Abundance of Caution’ Following Adverse Reactions [9] Dec. 18, 2020 Australia Cancels COVID Vaccine Trial Over ‘Unexpected’ False Positives For HIV [10] Dec. 11, 2020 Fairbanks clinician is third Alaskan with adverse reaction to COVID-19 vaccine [11] Dec. 18, 2020 CDC confirms COVID-19 vaccine allergic reactions, issues new guidance [12] Dec. 19, 2020 Over 3,000 “Health Impact Events” After COVID-19 mRNA Vaccinations [13] Dec. 22, 2020
The Australian story brings great concern with the HIV positive test results in those injected. In 2011, patents filed for a SARS-COV-2 added four sequences of HIV. [14].
Two thousand eleven saw the Institut Pasteur filing a further patent application for “SARS-COV-2,” which was identical to the previous one, … because commercial exploitation of the first patent started in 2003 and would expire 20 years later, in 2023. According to Fourtillan, four sequences of the HIV virus — responsible for AIDS — were added to the virus, in view of creating further vaccines.
We’re witnessing a replay of Hitler’s reign of terror. But today, it’s genocide by medical practitioners who have not disclosed the danger behind the Pfizer and Moderna technology. According to the Nuremberg code, anyone who takes part in the experimentation of humans without their voluntary consent, if convicted, is sentenced to prison or receive the death penalty.
It’s time to take a stand and stop the madness before it’s too late. | https://medium.com/common-sense-now/destruction-by-ignorance-fab44ef3f022 | [] | 2020-12-26 17:42:46.035000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Vaccines', 'News', 'Medical', 'Pandemic'] |
5 Fast Facts About the HEROES Act of 2020 | 5 Fast Facts About the HEROES Act of 2020
The HEROES Act delivers the goods, but at what cost?
Introduction
You’ve been hearing a lot about stimulus bills for the past few weeks. The first one was the CARES Act signed into law in March. That was the law that gave many Americans a $1200 stimulus check. That bill helped many people, but the overwhelming consensus was that it didn’t go far enough.
Since then we’ve heard a lot about other stimulus plans. There was the Emergency Money for the People Act, the Automatic Boost for Communities Act, and the Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act. We’ve discussed the first two at length on this channel.
The issue with the other proposed bills is that they may have been too liberal to get through a conservative senate and signed into law by a conservative president. However, a new bill has emerged that may have the ability to succeed where the other bills failed.
It would take a real hero to come up with something that a very divided nation can agree on. But it seems that the House of Representatives has delivered just that. The Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions, or HEROES Act, is the latest in a wave of stimulus packages being debated in congress.
1. Housing Benefits
The HEROES Act will offer many forms of assistance that our nation currently needs. One of the first things the HEROES Act would do is protect the nation’s over 40 million renters by banning eviction for nonpayment for a year after the date the bill passes into law. The bill also supports homeowners by allotting $75 billion of homeowners’ assistance to present default and foreclosures.
Most notably, the HEROES Act bolsters renters by providing $100 billion in rental assistance. These funds would be administered by an existing nationwide grant rental assistance program that will verify the need of all applicants and distribute vouchers to cover the cost of rent and utilities.
2. Unemployment Benefits
There are currently 36.5 million Americans unemployed at the time of this writing. The HEROES Act aims to extend unemployment benefits provided by the CARES Act. Most importantly, it would extend the $600 per week federal unemployment benefit until January 2021. The unemployment benefit will continue to be extended to gig workers, independent contractors, part-time workers, and the self-employed through March 2021.
3. Student Loan Forgiveness
Originally, the CARES Act deferred student loan payments for people with select federal student loans until September 30, 2020. The HEROES Act would continue to defer payment up to September 2021 for all federal student loans including HEAL loans not owned by the Department of Education, some FFEL Program loans, and Federal Perkins Loans.
Most notably, the HEROES Act seeks to cancel up to $10,000 of student loan debt for some federal and private student loan debt holders. The $10,000 of debt cancellation would be applied to the loans with the highest interest rates, and then to the loans with the highest principal balance if the debt holder does not specify otherwise.
4. Stimulus Payment
What most readers might find exciting is that the HEROES Act has a provision to include a second round of stimulus payments of up to $6000 per household. Much like with the first round of payments, people with an Adjusted Gross Income of up to $75,000 per year would receive a one time check for $1200.
Basically, if you were eligible to receive the first round of stimulus checks, you’ll be eligible to receive the second round. However, if you have an AGI of $99,000 or more, or are married and have an AGI of over $198,000, you will not receive a stimulus check.
Things are a little different this time around though. The first round of stimulus checks excluded adult dependents, many of whom are college students. The HEROES Act allows up to three dependents, regardless of age, to also receive $1200. This allows for up to five people in one household to receive $1200, maxing out at a total of $6000 per household. So this time, college students would receive benefits. Also, the first round of stimulus payments left out immigrants with Taxpayer Identification Numbers or TINs. The HEROES Act, if passed into law, would include them.
5. Hazard Payment
Arguably the most noteworthy portion of the HEROES Act is the “Heroes Fund”. This $200 billion fund gives hazard pay to some essential workers. This hazard pay comes in the form of an additional $13/hour pay premium on top of the worker’s regular pay rate. This pay is for all hours worked in essential industries through the end of 2020,” valuing up to $25,000 for essential workers earning less than $200,000 per year, and up to $5,000 for essential workers earning more than $200,000 per year.
Challenges Ahead
The HEROES Act sounds like an answer to the prayers of many Americans. However, it’s important to remember that the act hasn’t been signed into law yet. The HEROES Act only narrowly passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 208 to 199 on May 15. One has to also consider that the bill contains another $3 trillion of economic aid.
This is in addition to the $6 trillion MSN.com says the United States has spent on stopping the country’s economic downturn.
COVID-19 is among the most significant events in the past 100 years. However, it’s not the only economic event taking place in the United States. Bloomberg.com says that the nonpartisan Committee for Responsible Federal Budget predicts that the national deficit, the shortfall between how much money the country makes and spends, will be $3.8 trillion this year if Congress doesn’t engage in anymore stimulus spending. That might not sound like a lot of money to some people. But it’s 18.7% of our country’s Gross Domestic Product. The United States hasn’t spent this much as a percent of its GDP since World War 2.
The Committee goes on to predict that the national debt could increase to over 100% of the country’s $21 trillion economy by October 2021. They also estimate with nearly 37 million Americans out of work, the GDP is likely to shrink by 3.9% when compared to fiscal year 2019. Regardless of anyone’s personal feelings towards our politicians, this is among the considerations the Senate and the President have to take into account before signing the HEROES Act into law.
My Recommendation
With the HEROES Act, increasing national debt and deficit, as well as a shrinking GDP, there are a lot of moving parts to make any kind of recommendation as to the best way forward for the country. Please also remember that I’m not an economist or a politician. With that said, I’m going to take my best shot at recommending a solution for moving forward.
I’d recommend that the Senate and the President sign the HEROES Act into law, on the condition that everyone understands that there will have to be difficult decisions made in the country’s future regarding its economy. It is important that the United States win the war against COVID-19. If we’re going to spend like we’re at war, we might as well treat the problem like we’re at war in other regards.
Bloomberg.com noted that the United States hasn’t spent this much as a percentage of its GDP since World War 2, and I feel like that’s an important comparison.
When World War 2 ended in 1945, the country had just come out of the Great Depression and the most expensive conflict the world had ever seen.
The United States took some noteworthy steps in revitalizing its economy. Most notably, the US sold Victory Bonds and expanded the middle class by making college and housing affordable.
Bond Programs
The United States needs to fight COVID-19 with every weapon available to it. But it can’t do that if it’s concerned about the fiscal impact of those actions. I would support a program similar to a Victory Bond program where the US sells a portion of its debt in the form of bonds to Americans. The bonds would mature over time. The longer the bonds are held, the more interest they’d accrue and perhaps they’d fully mature sometime in around 2040.
Making College Affordable
I would also like to see the middle class expanded. This was done through the introduction of the Montgomery GI Bill after World War 2. The GI Bill allowed veterans to be able to afford to go to college and seek high skilled, high paying jobs. The 21st century equivalent to this would be to make higher education affordable or even free to Americans going into college today.
This was the case in the United States up until fairly recently. Community colleges were free up until 1984 in the US. In-state public schools were charging $4563 on average for the 1984–1985 school year. That amount would be $11,365.47 in 2020, which is still roughly half the average $20,770 price of public college in the US for the 2017–2018 semester.
Helping Americans to Buy Homes
In another parallel to World War 2, the VA Home Loan made buying a house affordable for veterans returning home from the war. This could be duplicated today by forgiving the $1.6 trillion student loan debt in the US. Many Americans make student loan payments that are roughly equivalent to mortgage payments. Essentially, they are paying for a house they will never own, keeping them from buying a home and paying the taxes and fees that come with home-ownership. Forgiving this debt would cause the majority of the 44 million Americans who owe student loans to purchase homes once the crisis ends.
Conclusion
The House of Representatives narrowly passed the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions, or HEROES Act on May 15. The act still needs to be voted on in the Senate and signed into law by the President before it becomes law. It offers many features that the CARES Act did, like giving Americans another $1200 stimulus check. But this time, it aims to help more people by enhancing eligibility for payments, giving hazard pay to essential workers, and keeping people in their homes.
The HEROES Act is nice, but it’s not free. It comes with a $3 trillion price tag. This in addition to the country’s other obligations could put the US at having a debt higher than its GDP. This hasn’t occurred since World War 2. I believe World War 2 solutions, with a modern spin, would help solve our country’s 21st-century debt problems. | https://medium.com/makingofamillionaire/5-fast-facts-about-the-heroes-act-of-2020-2eac45f12055 | ['Keith Mcbride'] | 2020-05-23 13:26:00.820000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Finance', 'Money', 'Economics', 'Uncategorized'] |
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