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Analytics Get Buy-in from Supermarket Retailer | Analytics Get Buy-in from Supermarket Retailer
MIT graduate students apply data science to help grocery chain boost healthy food sales
By Paula Klein
Can data analytics help spur healthier eating habits? The answer is definitely yes, based on the work of the 2020 MIT Analytics Lab (A-Lab) winning team. The four graduate students worked with Retail Business Services on a project analyzing the correlation between healthy foods and cost savings.
The MIT MBA students — Anjali Krishnamachar, Juliette Chevallier, Philipp Simons, Taylor Facen — guided by their mentor, MIT alumni Heather Fraser, set out to determine what incentives might drive supermarket shoppers to more nutritious food choices. During the fall semester, they created different models to see, for example, if 5% price discounts would nudge shoppers to the healthier groups of foods promoted by RBS’s Ahold Delhaize USA stores, which include Food Lion, Giant Food, and Stop and Shop.
The students analyzed buying patterns of two types of shoppers and tested 1,300 products to see which had the greatest price elasticity. The team crunched the data and concluded that a holistic approach using both discounts and customer targeting would yield the best outcomes. They also offered the retailer an alternative approach — bundling certain products together, to attract customers to more nutritious foods.
Jumpstarting New Ideas
Eric Braun, Executive Innovation Strategist at RBS, fully embraced the internal/external collaboration. The project not only helped RBS program leaders toward their corporate goal, it “completely opened their eyes” to the applications of data science and analytics, he said. It also will help to jumpstart new ideas incorporating data science techniques throughout the business that are already underway, he said. “I give the project an A. The students were phenomenal, pleasant, fun, and dedicated. It was a perfect, iterative, exploratory project.”
A panel of three MIT judges, Yael Avidan, Renée Richardson Gosline, and Tod Loofbourrow, evaluated 23 team proposals from 83 students in this year’s competition held virtually on December 11. Key criteria included: Technology and analytical advances; creativity; effort and overall business impact; problem-solving, and presentation.
Announcing the winning team, IDE leader, Gosline noted that the judges were very impressed that the RBS team not only showed how to help people eat healthier, the students “overcame roadblocks, developed deep insights about the company, and humanized the data points for broader use.” The team’s name will join previous year winners engraved in the A-Lab silver cup award (held by IDE Executive Director, David Verrill, in the above photo.)
This year’s second place team worked with the children’s app, LittleHoots, to develop a dashboard to aid marketing strategies. The third place team provided AB InBev a way to analyze the obsolescence and revenue optimization costs of beer brands.
Business Solutions
During the MIT A-Lab semester, student teams select and deliver a project using analytics, machine learning, or other digital technologies, to solve business problems. The IDE-led course runs each fall and is part of MIT Sloan School of Management’s suite of Action Learning offerings. It is led by IDE Director, Sinan Aral, and Abdullah Almaatouq. Braun said RBS initially proposed five ideas narrowed to three when the semester began.
Leaders of the RBS Guiding Stars program, in charge of the healthy food initiative, will meet in January to determine next steps and how to implement the A-Lab recommendations, Braun said. He is also open to further research collaborations with academia to get “more diverse thinking” into the mix. Guiding Stars has used algorithms to determine nutritional value of foods and to stay current with new scientific findings.
To date, A-Lab has attracted more than 400 students from a dozen MIT departments to work on over 90 projects spanning IoT, digital technology, platforms, finance, e-commerce, retail, manufacturing, medical supply chains, workplace safety, and global health.
Some projects are tightly focused on dilemmas organizations currently face, which requires students to quickly understand particular business circumstances and domains before performing their descriptive, predictive, or causal analysis. Other projects are more open-ended, and students must think entrepreneurially about how to bring new value to existing data and suggest frontiers for future business opportunity. | https://medium.com/mit-initiative-on-the-digital-economy/analytics-gets-buy-in-from-supermarket-retailer-2434500d7d15 | ['Mit Ide'] | 2020-12-17 16:32:05.077000+00:00 | ['Data Analytics', 'Data Science', 'Nutrition', 'Healthy Foods'] |
Tsunami | Tsunami
i am water
soft enough to cleanse you.
deep enough to drown you.
the versions of me in your mind
are misconceptions.
i live for me.
as i shape shift through life
i am free.
i am alone.
survivor of storms
led me to become one.
i am a tide of fire.
rising above the pain. | https://medium.com/@yarose444/tsunami-de9ddae64793 | ['Ya.Rose'] | 2020-12-17 12:14:35.468000+00:00 | ['LGBT', 'Black Women', 'Poetry Writing', 'Poetry'] |
Please Pay Attention. A story about passion and profession | Please Pay Attention
Photo by Hiderm Owen on Unsplash
One Friday evening, a classroom full of eager souls sat waiting for the performance of the week. Some sat straight - the perfect posture, while others leaned forward counting the second till she walked into the room with her bright lavender saree, the silk glistening in the golden hue of the evening sun, the glimmer only matched by the golden bangles that jingled on her wrists. A handbag over her shoulder, not Prada or Gucci, just something she picked out for its form and function. Modesty with a splash of extravagance - the warmest smile you’ll ever see.
Her name was Ms. Geetha, “melody” in her mother tongue, the muse of second-year undergrads at the University of Arts.
They would sing her praises in the crowded hallways and whisper her lessons in the library. History was her subject and her stories were the stuff of legends. She would not so much teach but take them on a journey through ancient kingdoms — Climb the peaks of human achievements and dive down to the depths of the soul. They listened, not a peep, her words echoed through the hall and settled in their minds.
Photo by Topich on Unsplash
True to her name, her words were lyrics nestled in a song, her voice attuned to the highs and lows from the ceiling to the floor. They listened in close, they listened well and she never asked for a fee, she never had to say “Please pay attention” for her students had invested every single penny.
Friday evening, every week… The stage was set for Ms. Geetha to sing…
“Geetha! Geetha! Geetha!” A chant rose in the hall as the clock struck three, not out loud of course. The room was thick with anticipation. You could almost taste it in every breath. “Geetha! Geetha! Geetha!”
Screech… The side door swung open and the whole room was aghast.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… here… he… comes…
WAIT!!!
HE!?!
WHAT ?!?!
He walked in with a bland grey coat over a plain white shirt, one silver fountain pen clip clinging to the crease of the pocket. Black frames hung over his chest, the stage lights reflecting from the lenses. In his left hand a Rolex watch that didn’t tick and in his right a black leather suitcase, a silver lock protecting the contents inside. A scowl burned into his face, crow’s feet scratched onto the sides of his eyes, scars of a long busy week. A repeating routine he played week after week.
He set the suitcase down, click-click…. Swing… Cough… He cleared his throat and began to rustle through his papers.
The students were in shock.
“What is going on?! Where is our muse? Who is this charlatan here to perform?!”
It started with a whisper then rose to a wave of chatter that engulfed the room. Questions and confusion entangled within. They wanted to know. To find the answers their anxiety demanded.
“Where is Ms. Geetha…? What happened to her...? Was she eve…”
BANG!!!
The suitcase slammed, putting a swift end to the wayward whispers. All eyes snapped to see the man in the gray coat glaring over the room with lackluster eyes.
“Ms. Geetha has called in sick today. So I will be taking over. I expect you all to pay attention!” But from his first impression, you could tell that the purse strings would be tight.
He began the lecture “Flip to page 74, chapter 3 the empire was under a new regime”. On and on he droned, drowning the audience in malaise. Time began to slow, the ticking clock seemed only to tok without the tik. Pens began to tap the desk and eyes began to shift…
Some noticed the mold on the far corner of the left side wall… Others saw how one fan was crooked to the right… They noticed how the stage had an odd number of wood panels and how there was one window with four cracks snaking through the side…
“Are you listening?” a voice boomed shattering their vivid ponderings. “Pay attention!!” But most were in line to ask for refunds.
“Please read chapters 4 and 5 and prepare a report on the intricacies of the economic imbalance during the time of the peasant revolution against the…”
The monotone words crawled their way to the students’ ears and jumped over slumped shoulders making their way to the next victim — taking a piece from them with every phrase. The students tried to pay their due but they had lost interest and couldn’t predict any returns. No dividends in sight, no matter how much they invested…
It was a slog! The words on the page were given a voice through his lips. A verbal carbon copy of the text.
YAWN…
Their minds began to wonder to last Friday at the hall. Flashbacks to Ms. Geetha on the stage… How she would sway her hands in rhythm with her words… How she used the stage to move back and forth in time… The way her eyes lit up when Martin Luther King gave his speech or how her chin quivered during World War 2.
They missed her and their mannerisms made it clear, shifting eyes and clattering feet, watching the time tiptoe around the dial…. One second at a time…
“EXCUSE ME!! You! In the back! stop daydreaming and pay attention” the tall teacher told, trying to take the toll.
But they had not a cent to give never mind two.
“Page 126, the empire regained its position at the head of the nation’s administration…”
It felt like forever came, got scared, and left in a hurry. That was how time passed within the hall that Friday evening. Seven more times he asked for payment but their pockets were empty by the fourth request. The room had devolved into drowsy eyes and pregnant sighs. The students tried whatever they could to raise the stocks but in the end, a great depression was inevitable. “When will it end?”
RING!!!!! The old bell in the college courtyard called out marking the end of the academic week.
YAYYYYYYYYY!!!! Would have been the cry but the kids had barely the strength to let out a sigh of relief.
Rustle-Rustle… Slam… Click-Click... Without a word, he walked out like a well-oiled machine leaving devastation in his wake. The children left to count whatever they had left. They had paid what they could and were left poorer for it.
Slowly… one by one they pulled themselves up to their feet and shuffled to the door, their minds empty and hearts filled with holes… hoping next Friday evening would feature their regular artist in the Lavender Saree… | https://medium.com/grab-a-slice/please-pay-attention-19cd1e885c42 | ['Kasun Ranasinghe'] | 2020-12-19 11:50:40.410000+00:00 | ['Nonfiction', 'Passion', 'History', 'Teaching', 'Slice Of Life'] |
Integration and Unit testing in Flutter | Testing BLoC and Repository in Flutter
Integration and Unit testing in Flutter
Hi Folks! This is the last article for my series “Architect your Flutter project using BLoC pattern”. In this article, you will be learning another most important and critical part of software development i.e “Testing”. You will learn both Integration and Unit testing. This will help you deliver software that meets expectations and prevents unexpected results. So without further delay let’s write some test cases. 😄
Content
Creating the test directory Unit testing the Network Layer 💻 Integration testing the BLoC Running the test cases 🏃
Prerequisite
As this article is part of a series. I expect you to go through the previous parts of the series(links below). This will help you understand the whole architecture of MyMovies app and what were changes made in different parts of the series.
Other parts of the series
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Goal
Have you ever launched an app without testing? I hope your answer is “NO”. You don’t want your customers to have unexpected crashes or a buggy app. There is a beautiful quote regarding testing “If you don’t like testing your product, most likely your customers won’t like to test it either”.
Software testing is the most crucial part of any software development lifecycle. This will help you find bugs and errors that were made during the development phase. Ultimately this methodology will help you ship quality products to your customers. Today you will be testing the features of MyMovies app which was built in the previous parts of the series.
Unit and Integration test
A unit test is a test written by the programmer to verify that a relatively small piece of code is doing what it is intended to do. They are narrow in scope, they should be easy to write and execute.
Part of being a unit test is the implication that things outside the code under test are mocked or stubbed out. Unit tests shouldn’t have dependencies on outside systems.
An integration test is done to demonstrate that different pieces of the system work together. Integration tests can cover whole applications, and they require much more effort to put together. They usually require resources like database instances and hardware to be allocated for them. The integration tests do a more convincing job of demonstrating the system works (especially to non-programmers) than a set of unit tests can, at least to the extent the integration test environment resembles production.
Note: source StackOverflow
The above explanation is more than enough to understand the difference between unit and integration tests. This will help you understand which part of the code can be unit tested or you need to write integration tests. | https://medium.com/@sagarsuri56/integration-and-unit-testing-in-flutter-f08e4bd961d5 | ['Sagar Suri'] | 2019-07-24 17:54:25.435000+00:00 | ['iOS', 'Testing', 'Android', 'Flutter', 'Dart'] |
The Power of Habit | The Power of Habit
Why We Do What We Do In Life and Business
The Power of Habit, published in 2014, and just around 300 pages, combines historical examples, scientific discoveries, and common sense approaches to illustrate how anyone can make and break habits.
The Habit Loop
Award winning reporter, Charles Duhigg shares useful case studies of people with extensive brain injuries to explain how and why your brain forms habits. Habits are your brain’s way of conserving energy. The Habit Loop Model of Cue, Routine, Reward is the recipe your brain uses to create a habit out of any routine in order to be more efficient.
The science of habit forming has been applied to marketing products like Febreze and even coaching NFL teams.
Even more interesting, the author retroactively applied The Habit Loop to the twelve-step AA program. It turns out those twelve steps developed over eighty years ago with no basis in science or therapeutic studies provide a powerful method for breaking alcohol addiction. While AA doesn’t work for everyone, it has helped over ten million people achieve sobriety, lending creditably to its processes.
Belief in The System
Once you have already picked up a bad habit and want to change it, according to The Power Habit, you can’t simply eliminate the habit, as perhaps many people looking to quit smoking can attest. You must replace the routine with something else while keeping the cue and reward in place.
One of the more compelling examples in the book involves a woman hoping to stop the common problem of nail biting. Her therapy began by asking her to become more aware of when she felt compelled to chew. When she felt the urge, she was asked to keep count on an index card.
Once she became more aware of the impulse, she was then asked to swap out the habit of biting with something less destructive, like rapping her knuckles on a table or rubbing her arm. Every time she managed it successfully, she gave herself a checkmark on the index card where she was recording her habit. After a week, she had minimized her nail-biting to just a few times in total.
Like anything in life, success is not possible without belief. Charles Duhigg makes his case for the power of believing with a football story about the Indianapolis Colts and Peyton Manning. Even highly disciplined sports superstars can benefit from good habit-forming.
Not to spoil the story, but they go on to win the Super Bowl but not before they began to believe in the powerful forces at work behind forming good habits.
Using the Habit Loop and Understanding Habit Formation
The more a person comes to understand habit formation, the more success they’ll experience at changing bad habits and adopting good ones. Whether you’re looking to lose weight, stop smoking, exercise, or just be better organized, the Habit Loop provides a pathway.
Just because it’s incredibly straightforward doesn’t mean it’s easy, however. The Power of Habit does a fabulous job breaking it down simply for you, but real work is up to you. | https://medium.com/the-innovation/the-power-of-habit-869b0c4aef7a | ['Roxanne Hale'] | 2020-11-17 19:07:24.511000+00:00 | ['Professional Development', 'Psychology', 'Books', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Life'] |
Feature Engineering in Machine Learning | Feature Engineering in Machine Learning
Making data model-ready
To work on a machine learning problem, we can’t just grab data provided and apply the algorithm on it i.e, .fit(). We need to first build a dataset first.
The task for converting raw data into a dataset is called Feature Engineering.
For example, let the business problem be predicting if a customer sticks to the subscription for a particular product. This would be further useful to enhance the product or the user experience, which will help for business growth.
The raw data will contain details of each customer such as location, age, interests, average time spent on the product, the number of times the customer has renewed the subscription. These details are features of the dataset. The task of creating a dataset is to understand the useful features from the raw data and also, create new features from the existing features that have an impact on the results or, manipulating the features such that they are model ready or can enhance the results. This entire process is simply called Feature Engineering.
There are various methods to achieve this. Based on the data and applications, each of these is used.
In this article, we will understand why to use feature engineering and various methods to perform feature engineering. | https://towardsdatascience.com/feature-engineering-in-machine-learning-23b338ea48f4 | ['Ramya Vidiyala'] | 2020-07-27 18:55:42.638000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Technology', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Education', 'Data Science'] |
The Good Egg: Fun Facts For Your Melon | Click here to sign up for the Daily Newsletter!
Good morning fellow Good Eggs! It’s a wonderful Tuesday morning. We’re working on enhancing our relationships with one another. It’s been proven that high quality relationships lead to more happiness. So let’s make those relationships the best they can be!
Yesterday, we learned about Body Awareness and that we need to identify our body reactions and thoughts during conversations. We want to make sure we send the right signals to the ones we love. Another “mindful listening” tool is eye contact.
Today’s Challenge
Recognize your eye contact during conversations. Are you maintaining eye contact? Are you getting distracted? When you lose eye contact in a conversation, the speaker feels that you’re not invested in the conversation. Take moments throughout the conversation to identify your eye contact, and figure out if you need to reconnect.
It’s Tasty Tuesday and today’s juicy food (that’s perfect for summer) is…
Watermelon!
Some Benefits of watermelon:
Vitamin C
Potassium
Copper
Vitamin B5
Vitamin A
Citrulline and Lycopene are plant compounds in watermelon. Citrulline creates nitric oxide which helps lower blood pressure by dilating and relaxing blood vessels. Lycopene (which creates the red color) is a strong antioxidant that can also be found in tomatoes.
Recipes with Watermelon
Watermelon & Arugula Salad
Watermelon Mojito
5 minute Easy Watermelon Sorbet
Watermelon Fun Facts
Farmers in Japan have grown watermelons in different shapes. Square watermelons were created because they are easier to stack and ship. They also were created to fit perfectly inside small Japanese refrigerators.
The heaviest watermelon that ever existed was 350.5 pounds. That’s basically the size of an NFL lineman!
Watermelons are called “watermelon” because they contain 92% water.
Early explorers used watermelons as canteens.
Watermelons were depicted through hieroglyphics in Ancient Egypt on the walls of buildings. Also, watermelons were placed in the tombs of kings to nourish them in the afterlife.
I hope you enjoyed learning another “mindful listening” strategy and discovered something new about watermelon.
Have a great Tuesday!
-The Good Egg 🐣 | https://medium.com/@katherineripple/the-good-egg-fun-facts-for-your-melon-73796be1854e | ['The Good Egg'] | 2020-06-16 02:41:09.529000+00:00 | ['Mindfulness', 'Facts', 'Food', 'Conversations', 'Social'] |
Why Freelancers Are Leaving Upwork And Building Their Own Client Base | I wanted to write about this for a long time, since it’s been a hot topic for over a year and became even more provocative after Upwork went public in October 2018.
I have been hearing stories from clients and friends on how they’ve been struggling to make good money through Upwork. For those of you who don’t know what Upwork is (though I doubt that you don’t, coz then you wouldn’t be reading this piece), it’s a platform to bring freelancers and startup clients together. For clients, it’s a place to hire remote workers until they establish a sustainable stream of income for their business that can make it affordable for them to hire full time in-house employees. For freelancers, it’s considered to be a great place to look for small projects, short-term contracts, part-time work or work-from-home opportunities, by presenting their skills and pitching on the job postings that show up in the newsfeed.
But wait, did I just say it’s “a great place” for freelancers? Well yes, that’s what it is supposed to be, except that the vast majority of Upwork users have been feeling otherwise.
I just want to pause here and mention that I myself am not on Upwork. I did make an attempt to create an account there upon hearing all the buzz about it in early 2018. Sadly, Upwork rejected my profile and didn’t give me access to any functioning account. So that was pretty much the end of my own Upwork story.
But since I am part of the freelancing world, the topic about Upwork comes up very often in many of my discussions with friends and colleagues, and even with clients, I get in touch with for freelance projects. It turns out that many freelancers (or at least many from my country, Malaysia) are getting fed up with Upwork and quitting it. They would rather suffer for few months trying to build their own client base by conducting a random Internet search and cold calling or emailing stuff than stick to this one platform called Upwork to have all their eggs in one basket.
Let’s see what’s been bothering them. Why is it so bad that they are all leaving Upwork one by one?
Quality of Clients
More than 90% of the clients on Upwork are new business owners whose business operations have not started yet. They come to Upwork to build basic things like marketing materials that are required to start running a company, such as a website, social media presence, copywriting material, traffic to their site, etc. Since they have not started getting revenue from their business yet, they are very stingy in payments for the work they take from freelancers. This drops the hope of many freelancers who join Upwork in an attempt to land their ideal clients.
Benek Lisefski, a UX/UI designer from Aukland, wrote about Upwork, saying, “Your ideal clients don’t live there.”
Most of these clients are just looking for anyone who would offer to do the work at the cheapest price. They don’t seem to go through the portfolios and past work history to reasonably decide who can do the job better. This is why many freelancers on Upwork get no or very few responses on the hundreds of proposals they send out on different job postings.
Rachel Munford, a Scottish freelance writer, shared about Upwork, “95% of the time I heard nothing from projects I sent a proposal to.”
This is a real problem, especially for those who create a profile on Upwork after getting years of experience in their field of expertise. As a creative professional, a programmer or any person who works on a project basis, they have to sell themselves short on Upwork to beat the price competition and end up not getting paid what their work is actually worth.
As maria milojković mentioned, “Choose entry or intermediate level for writing, and you will often be paid $0.001 per word or even less.”
Robotic Responses
It is getting more and more common for freelancers on Upwork to receive automated responses when they contact Upwork support with any problem they’re facing on the platform. I’m not sure if Upwork support staff is a group of virtual assistants, their own in-house employees, or merely a bunch of bots. They often tend to send the same response to a variety of queries, which is too frustrating for the person on the other end of the line whose income is at stake.
Gabriel Iosa, a writer and freelancer who used Upwork in the past, wrote, “All of my emails regarding real, unexplainable situations were answered with a copy-pasted response.”
Usability of Contracts
People constantly complain that they did not get paid for the work they delivered to some client on Upwork. Even though the Escrow system is in place, there is really nothing binding the Upwork clients to fund the next milestone after the previous one has been completed.
So if clients are not happy with somebody’s work, they cut off the contract halfway and move on to another freelancer who would give them a similar or cheaper quote. The ‘contract’ set up on Upwork for each ongoing project is non-binding, which makes it pretty useless, especially if the client has not funded the full project payment in Escrow from the start.
Many clients back off or end the contract before all the discussed scope of work has been completed at the negotiated price. This leaves the freelancers in dismay, as they must have allotted their time for working on the project, expecting to earn a certain amount of money from it.
The Dreaded Dead End
This problem started about two years ago, and has now gotten even worse. Upwork users say that they got banned from Upwork for no given reason whatsoever. Their account got closed and they received an email to notify them about it, without any logical explanation of what actually went wrong.
Ryuno, an ex-user of Upwork, wrote in October 2017, “I woke up this morning to an unexpected e-mail subject from the freelancing site: Your Upwork account has been suspended.”
When these people contact Upwork support, they either get no reply, or a delayed response that doesn’t mention any explanation for the ban. What’s worse is that they are not even allowed to open up a new Upwork account. According to Upwork’s policy, one individual can only have one Upwork account in their lifetime, which means if that’s gone, it’s really gone for good!
Mihajlo Milenovic, a featured writer in Noteworthy — The Journal Blog, once wrote, “Seems Upwork can ban you just for not looking your best in the morning.”
There are people who really rely on Upwork for all their income, and suffer from a huge loss when this happens to them. They lose contact with any clients they have worked for through the platform and are left with payments stuck in Escrow that cannot be withdrawn. The confusion as to why Upwork did that to them is another cause of despair.
Concluding Remarks
After all the negative comments, I am actually grateful to Upwork for not approving my profile last year, or else I would’ve been caught up dealing with these issues as well. I do know that there are people who’ve been able to make good amount of money on Upwork, especially those who joined it before 2016 or those who came from Elance. Hence I’m not saying that you can’t make any money on Upwork. It’s completely possible, and there are certainly some people who are making a living on the platform. But for the vast majority of freelancers out there, the experience with Upwork seems very bad. | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/why-freelancers-are-leaving-upwork-and-building-their-own-client-base-d13ffd4112b9 | ['Sana Uqaili'] | 2019-11-12 06:04:49.545000+00:00 | ['Freelance', 'Upwork', 'Freelancers', 'Blogging', 'Freelancing'] |
Know Yourself & Use Your Strengths | We each have a unique combination of preferences, tendencies, and styles that play a critical role in our quest for success. Perhaps, certain ways of expressing one’s self (extroversion), creating routines (being a morning person), and approaching work (systematic and orderly) have been promoted as being better than the others. The reality is that your natural preferences, however different they may be from what’s praised in society, are better utilized as strengths to build on to create a more fulfilling life. A better understanding of your own unique preferences enables you to better express your needs to the people in your life, understand how you might be perceived, develop strategies to enhance your style, build support mechanisms, especially with people who would complement your style, and most importantly enable you to seek (or create) an environment where your unique qualities serve as your superpowers.
Through assessments, we can get insights into how we prefer to think, act, and behave, and why functioning a certain way works better for us. This piece offers tools for you to understand, embrace, and use all your unique qualities, your superpowers, to set yourself up for success.
Habits & Routines
Let’s start by looking at our natural tendencies as it relates to forming and changing habits. I’d like to emphasize the “natural” part because we tend to put so much effort into fitting the definition of “the successful individual” that we may overlook the fact that somethings just don’t work for us. For example, if you actually feel most energized, productive, and motivated late in the evening, then you are “naturally” a night owl and should not put too much effort into becoming a morning person, as it would not only drain your energy but also might lead you to a path of disappointment. Additional questions to consider and to build the right systems around:
• Are you a marathoner, a sprinter, or a procrastinator?
• Are you a moderator or abstainer?
• Are you an opener or a finisher?
• Do you prefer to take small steps or big steps?
Once you understand what works better for you, then you can build the right systems to help you build good habits, break bad ones and create routines that amplify your energy, productivity, and motivation levels. | https://medium.com/@gokcegizer/know-yourself-use-your-strengths-b5f1d0f2bce | ['Gokce Gizer'] | 2020-12-10 12:12:44.603000+00:00 | ['Self-awareness', 'Self Improvement', 'Coaching', 'Team Building', 'Leadership'] |
Desert Hot Cactus | writer and novelist. traveler and adventurer. looking for fun in the sun. chasing the dream. can't stop the feeling that time is going faster. | https://medium.com/@darrinatkins/desert-hot-cactus-77d40a0e4f22 | ['Darrin Atkins'] | 2020-11-23 16:40:06.139000+00:00 | ['Desert', 'Heat', 'Weather'] |
Advancing Diverse Talent | Advancing Diverse Talent
Source: fizkes via iStock (standard)
Innovative associations have a talented staff that harnesses the power of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and skills. These associations also have top management that values employee contributions, rewards high performance, and visibly supports the diversity of talent and thinking.
Advancing diverse talent requires the activation of three descriptors: adopting a strategic vision, recruiting diverse talent, and leading inclusively. These descriptors provide essential guidance for advancing organizational capacity to develop new ventures that serve the mission while generating new revenue. This guidance is part of the Association Ventures Innovation Maturity Model.
Adopt a strategic vision
Make the organizational commitment to move beyond a compliance-oriented, programmatic approach to diversity and perform a culture reset across the organization. Deloitte Research identifies four levels of diversity and inclusion maturity. (see below)
Source: Deloitte Research
In this model, significant change across the whole organization will not occur until the strategic vision transitions across four levels: compliance, programmatic, leader-led, and integrated actions. The goal is a diversity and inclusion culture fully integrated into workforce behavior and a business process of innovative customer experience.
Recruit diverse talent
Leverage social media, collaborate with educational institutions, expand advertising efforts, and seek talent from non-traditional sources such as veterans and retirees. Base your recruitment policies and practices on concrete diversity goals. Set ambitious plans to build and support a high-performance staff from all segments of society. Support the effectiveness of recruitment and inclusion strategies across all organizational functions.
Diagnose risks, find opportunities for improvement, track progress, and measure organizational performance in recruiting diverse talent. Determine if barriers are impeding the employment, opportunity, or inclusion of diverse talent. Conduct internal surveys to measure current levels of diversity and inclusion. Survey Monkey offers free survey templates to diagnose culture.
Assess your organization’s practices by considering these questions at each stage of the talent life cycle.
SHRM points to these examples of policies or practices that need to be eliminated or adjusted.
Employee referral programs: Identify and correct “like me” referrals, where staff refers candidates of the same race, gender, religion, and national origin.
Unconscious biases: Watch for an organizational unit with staffing patterns that underrepresents segments compared to the local labor market. Review the practices of any particular manager if warranted.
Political preferences: Be sure to eliminate political signs or any on-site messages that may discourage individuals with different viewpoints from applying. Take appropriate disciplinary action when staff is intolerant of differences.
Invest time and resources to search for talent outside of your usual networks, and find channels into target communities. Bridgespan recommends three tactical steps to achieve a successful search.
Ensure that the way you communicate about a position — both internally and externally — emphasizes your commitment to diversity.
Make your candidate pool as broad as possible from the beginning by doing sufficient research to break into new target networks.
Expand the search beyond personal circles of senior staff. Access local newspapers circulating in specific neighborhoods, associations, and conferences focused on a particular group or specific issue common to minority staff.
Lead inclusively
Rewire behaviors. Combine diversity training with data analytics to pinpoint leaks in your talent lifecycle, introduce behavioral nudges, and track the impact of change. Juliet Bourke and Bernadette Dillon recommend four steps to system rewiring:
1. Use data to pinpoint leaks in the talent lifecycle. To do this, organizations can look at their employees’ profiles from recruitment to retirement, coupled with data on inclusion experiences.
2. Identify and remodel vulnerable moments along the talent lifecycle. These are points within specific talent processes where decision-makers are more susceptible to bias.
3. Introduce positive behavioral nudges that make agility the starting point for all jobs.
4. Track the impact of changes made. Compare your data with nonprofit diversity survey data. Use resources such as NonprofitHR’s diversity practices data.
Create fellowship, internship, and volunteer programs. Provide meaningful experiences for participants and diversify your organization in ways that boost innovation and creativity. Expand your diversity reach to career fairs at historically black colleges and universities. Develop paid mentorships for minority high school students to encourage them to consider career options in your discipline or industry sector.
Develop inclusive leaders. Promote the full participation and sense of belonging of every employee, customer, and strategic partner. Train and support managers and staff to value diversity and inclusion. Access leadership development resources from ASAE and SHRM.
Target your development programs to achieve the Deloitte Six Signature Traits of an inclusive leader: Cognizance — Curiosity — Cultural Intelligence — Collaboration — Commitment — Courage.
Organizational Diagnosis-Guided Capacity Building
Advancing diverse talent is one of eight capacity domains identified by the Association Ventures Innovation Maturity Model. It includes three descriptors: adopting a strategic vision, recruiting diverse talent, and leading inclusively.
If diverse talent scores low in our Intelligence Tool, make it a strategic priority to activate these three performance descriptors. This essential guidance for advancing your organization’s capacity for impact innovation is just the beginning of your journey. At each step, embrace organizational diagnosis to illuminate your next priority. | https://avplaybook.com/advancing-diverse-talent-b4a1762f11c6 | ['Barry J Barresi Od Phd'] | 2020-12-07 12:19:28.321000+00:00 | ['Talent Acquisition', 'Organizational Culture', 'Impact Innovation', 'Diversity'] |
I’m A Brand! | Once I thought I was a writer
I didn’t understand
Being human’s so old school
I need to be a brand
Brands aren’t just for business now
They’re for people too
Don’t worry if you don’t know how
We’ll sell you what to do
Start with an ocean of self-promotion
Add a trilogy of FOLLOW ME
A battering ram of sign up for spam
And a newsletter that’s FREE
Don’t worry about writing
That’s just a little bait
Use it to get them signed up
Just tell them that it’s great
Everything you do now
Must be to sell yourself
Use social media
If you want to gain some wealth
Be on Twitter, on Facebook
Put selfies on Instagram
Sure, it takes a lot of time
But it’s all part of the scam
Hammer home this message:
You must follow me
If you want the good stuff
Only followers can see
It’s eighty percent marketing
And twenty percent talent
You have to sell, sell, sell, sell, sell
If you want to make your rent
Don’t worry if you don’t like it
Most advice is strange
In another year or two
All the rules will change | https://medium.com/no-crime-in-rhymin/im-a-brand-fbe395c8cebf | ['Mark Starlin'] | 2019-12-19 01:54:48.360000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Satire', 'Poetry', 'Promotion', 'Writing'] |
7 Do’s to Deliver Five-Star Customer Service | top-notch customer service
Customers should always be put at the very heart of every business. Especially nowadays, with the proliferation of digital technology, when a customer without minimal pain and extra cost can switch to another business with nothing more than few clicks. Having so many alternatives, customers are truly in power today and it should be task number one for every organization to deliver exceptional customer service.
The goal as a company is to have a customer service that is not just the best, but legendary. - Sam Walton
Being passionate about support, I’ve been always looking for the most effective how-tos to knock it out of the park and bring the best customer service to the table. Undoubtedly, the list of skills experienced support personnel should comprehend is extensive, and as we all know there is no limit to perfection. Nevertheless, I’ve tried to spotlight the main customer-centric grounds you can ace to ‘WOW’ your customers on a regular basis.
Let’s dive into it!
1. Be patient and hardy
These are the first must-have skills to master if you are interacting with customers on a daily basis. An infinite supply of patience is something that will always keep you calm, collected, and steady as a rock during busy periods.
Working in a customer service department, pretty often you’ll have to serve several customers at a time on top of doing some lengthy investigations, reporting to your manager on a couple of broken features, and so on. And here is when being hardy will become handy. One thing to always remember is that your customers do not really care how busy you are. They should receive a top-notch service even when you feel like the apocalypse is coming.
If you’re capable of putting a smile on your customers’ faces during the darkest hours of your working day — customers loyalty won’t be far behind.
2. Treat your customers how you want to be treated being a customer
Our attitude towards others determines their attitude towards us. — Earl Nightingale
I know, it’s pretty obvious and goes without saying. Still, I put this “do” as a number two as it works just perfectly. All you need to do is to think of what experience you’d like to receive as a customer. Readiness to be as helpful as you can is always rewarded by one more happy customer.
You should realize that not all customers are being on the same wavelength. There will be times, more often, where you would need to explain something multiple times until the problem is solved. Make sure you hit all the points! The best thing to do in such a situation is not to waste your time explaining what to do and just show it using videos, screenshots, sharing your docs, etc. If, after the conversation is closed, you can say “yes, I did my best here” — it’s what will set you apart from the others.
3. Sound personal and friendly
Personalized service is something that your customer will love and tell their friends about. First and foremost, it is vital to know and use your customer’s name. This is a physiological fact that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and the most important sound in any language. So, why not use it? Always address your customer by their name in your emails, chat conversations, or while being on the phone. It’s the easiest thing to do and the impact it makes when it comes to building trust and successful relationships is just colossal.
Another way to make your conversation with a customer more casual, easy, and fun is to simply ask them how they are or have a “small talk” about the climate, their location, etc. Here are some “small talk” topics HubSpot recommends you can use to build rapport with your customer.
4. Attentiveness is a key
The ability to carefully listen to your customer can be recalled with personalization. Still, it is absolutely necessary to mention that you should be very attentive and make sure you do not miss or overlook anything. The worst thing to do is to ask your customer about something they just mentioned few comments above. It’s a bit hard to recover and gain a complete trust of a customer after this little bungle.
One of the greatest gifts you can give to anyone is the gift of attention. — Jim Rohn
5. Be quick and always go the extra mile
An immediate response is one of the KPIs in many companies and five stars in customer service cannot be reached without it. You should always reply to customer requests quickly even if you don’t have a solution right away. Just write a response acknowledging that the issue is being solved. It also buys you some extra time.
What’s even more, make an attempt to predict your customer and deliver something extra. When you’re being asked a question and you know that your answer will lead to another one — answer both at a time. It’s a good practice not to just answer the question customer asked but all the follow-up queries you know a customer might have. It will be very thoughtful of you and a customer will be thrilled with your expertise.
There are no traffic jams along the extra mile. — Roger Staubach
6. Know your product inside out
Don’t ever let your product knowledge become stale. If you want to be the best-in-class support scout you should deepen your knowledge of how your product functions the first thing. Always be prepared to help your customer navigate the most difficult situations. As an extra, the profound understanding of how to use your product will not only ensure you’ve got the best tricks and hacks to offer but also let you tackle more complex questions much easier and faster.
7. Learn non-stop and cultivate new ideas
Knowledge is power and you cannot argue that. If you are in customer service for the long haul, don’t just do the “status quo” when it comes to supporting someone. Embrace every chance to grow and get better!
Nowadays, the internet is chock-full of information accessible from anywhere. And, as customers’ behavior is changing with the population of the digital world so does customer service. Read books, articles, subscribe to blogs, learn new techniques of writing e-mails, using correct words, master positive language, and so on. Be thirsty for knowledge!
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. — Nelson Mandela
Wrap up
To stand out from the crowd you need to learn how to deliver customer service that ticks all the boxes below:
an infinite supply of patience
powerful personalization
extreme helpfulness and attentiveness
high level of speed and responsiveness
knowledge of your product ins and outs
thinking from a new perspective
Wondering if you can do it? I’m sure you can! Delivering five-star service to your customers is no rocket science. :) | https://medium.com/@olhazhovtiak/7-dos-to-deliver-five-star-customer-service-4313dc40f8a4 | ['Olha Zhovtiak'] | 2021-08-20 10:32:23.245000+00:00 | ['Customer Experience', 'Support', 'Customer Service Tips', 'Customer Service'] |
Unsold Batsmen in the Aftermath of the IPL 2020 Auction | Unsold Batsmen in the Aftermath of the IPL 2020 Auction
Shining a candle on the top unsold batsmen at IPL 2020 & their competition from the sold and retained pools
The process of forming teams for IPL 2020 which started in November 2019 with the retention and release of players culminated in late December 2019 with the auction. Some names in the list of unsold batsmen at the end of the auction caught my attention and so I decided to take a look at the margin between these batsmen and the ones that were sold.
Here, we will try to identify some of the top unsold batsmen and try to look for batsmen in the sold/retained pool, who these unsold batsmen pose a competition to. We will generally not account for player value to teams in terms of merchandise and ticket sales and instead focus on the cricket. We will briefly mention inferences related to team strategy if evident from the data, but otherwise refrain from speculations about team strategy or camaraderie on or off the field.
I used this list of retained players, and the IPL auction page to get a list of sold and unsold players listed as Batsmen & Wicket-Keepers. I ignored the behind-the-wicket contribution of the wicket keepers here. For all the players in contention, I looked at their performance in the past 5yrs in T20s.
The Raw Numbers
To start with, let’s look at averages and strike rates. Instead of using the average runs scored by a batsman per dismissal, I used average runs scored and balls faced per outing, thus treating each innings as an opportunity given to the batsman to perform on a given stage that doesn’t carry any weight beyond that game. This takes away the advantage from batsmen coming in later in the innings and not getting out, and gives that advantage to batsmen coming in earlier; but we will deal with that advantage in a bit.
Here are the average runs scored and balls faced by batsmen per inning. The slopes of the lines indicate average strike rate of all batsmen.
Fig 1.
We see that batsmen that were sold, do have a steeper slope and hence a higher strike rate than batsmen who went unsold on average. But, there are some batsmen who were sold, that seem to have similar averages and strike rates to a bunch of unsold batsmen. Here, I use ratio of averages to determine strike rate rather than average of ratios to avoid bias due to extremely short and quick innings e.g. a two ball innings of ten runs. George Munsey from Scotland stands out as the unsold batsman who has done better than most in terms of both average and strike rate.
The Need For A Model — Why Raw Numbers Don’t Cut It
All of the players in the above chart have encountered different playing conditions and match situations in the matches that they have played in. While Carey has primarily opened in the BBL & Munsey has primarily opened in International T20s, Morgan has been a middle order bat in the T20 Blast and in International T20s, and Uthappa who has primarily played in the IPL, has come in, in the first 3. Carey & Uthappa, having played mostly for Adelaide Strikers and KKR respectively, have played most of their games in Adelaide and the Eden Gardens while Munsey has played a lot of his games in the UAE.
To control for these factors, I put together a model that takes into account the following factors to determine the expected performance from a batsman.
Competition (e.g. T20I, IPL, BBL etc.)
Venue
Innings (Chasing vs Setting Target)
Team Score (Wickets, Balls & Runs when batsman faces their first ball)
I will leave the details of the model out of this writeup since I am still iterating on it with feedback from Jarrod Kimber, but it generates an expectation of runs scored and balls faced for a given inning. Essentially, we are normalizing out differences in the above factors to come up with a par performance for each inning and evaluating the effectiveness of batsmen relative to this expectation. We are not explicitly controlling for opposition strength and relying on competition, to capture some of that effect.
Looking at the Data in New Light
Let’s first take another look at performances, but this time, relative to the expectations set by the model.
Fig 2.
We still see the higher strike rate for the batsmen that were sold, and some of the same batsmen that stood out earlier, stand out here, again. But, we also see Evin Lewis & Colin Ingram and to an extent, Mohammed Shahzad stand out distinctly in addition to Munsey (They were peeking into the picture earlier as well, but the separation is more clear in this view). Another interesting outcome, that exemplifies the role of the model in normalizing expectations is the difference in relative positions of Eoin Morgan and Robin Uthappa. This is a direct result of the differences in the competitions that they have played in and their batting positions. Morgan has done better relative to his peers (in match context and situation) than has Uthappa in terms of runs scored, although Uthappa has better raw figures.
Another Model & Perspective
So far, we looked at information on the balls and runs axes that are familiar to most of us, to understand how groups of batsmen are positioned, and how individuals stand out from the group. However, in addition to runs scored, we are also interested in how fast batsmen score normalized to the match context and situation. Let us add in one more model that includes information on the number of balls actually played to get expected runs scored.
So, we have two models for runs scored: One that takes into account match context and situation and the other that additionally takes into account balls faced. Let us use these, and table the model giving us expected balls faced, for now.
Let’s focus on the four top batsmen we have identified so far from the unsold pool, but also add in batsmen & wicket-keepers who were retained.
Fig 3.
While it is just plainly below par to be in the bottom-left quadrant, batsmen can be in the top-left or bottom-right quadrant due to team strategy. However, chronically being here could also indicate problems in team strategy or execution. Batsmen in the top-left get more runs, but bat slower and hence, longer than expected. They may be steadying the ship often after a collapse or be in a team full of hard-hitters playing anchors (or the T20 version of it). Batsmen in the bottom-right quadrant may be making way for even faster scorers better suited for the remainder of the innings or making up for partners in the top-left quadrant.
More runs in fewer balls is generally better, but there could be cases where it is in the team’s interest for a batsman to get out even if he is scoring at a decent clip, because there is a teammate in the dugout who can score faster in the deliveries that remain.
Batsmen in top-left quadrant: Retained: AM Rahane, AT Rayudu, KS Williamson, MK Pandey, MS Dhoni, S Dhawan, S Gill, SPD Smith, SS Iyer.
Batsmen in bottom-right quadrant: Retained: IP Kishan, M Vohra, MA Agarwal, PA Patel, PP Shaw, WP Saha Sold: JJ Roy, RA Tripathi, RV Uthappa, SO Hetmyer
Like-for-Like Swaps
So far, we have been looking at things from a performance standpoint only. But, since we are looking to see whether the four unsold players can replace any of the players that are set to participate in IPL 2020, we should look for players with similar roles. All four of the unsold players we are looking at are oversees players. Moreover, 3 of them have experience as openers, with Ingram being the odd one of the lot who usually comes in at the fall of the first or second wicket.
Let’s filter out the players in the sold and retained pools that don’t match these criteria. I’ve also removed some of the labels to make it less of an eye-chart.
Fig 4.
Here are some things that stand out from this:
Kane Williamson is significantly slower than the average batsman in his position, as well as other contenders. Note, that in the IPL, he has mostly come in at #3 for Sunrisers Hyderabad, while he has switched between opening and the #3 slot for New Zealand. For the Sunrisers, he has been at the crease with Shikhar Dhawan & David Warner at the top of the order and so, maybe, it is a strategic call for him to take fewer risks and stay at the wicket. Note also, that we are completely ignoring the fact that Williamson captains the Sunrisers.
Chris Gayle is vastly better than the average opener in normalized conditions than he is, coming in at #3. Gayle has mostly opened for both Kings XI as well as Royal Challengers in the IPL and he should probably continue to do so. It is noteworthy that Mohammed Shahzad actually performs very similar to Chris Gayle as opener.
Alex Carey, who went for even more than Gayle at 2.4 crore INR performs better than average but hasn’t scored much faster than par. Carey, however, also keeps wickets and can play dual roles of wicket keeper and opener for Delhi Capitals if Pant isn’t in form or otherwise unavailable. Note, that the Capitals have Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane & Jason Roy, all of whom are primarily openers. Roy, is on the other end of the spectrum to Carey. While still performing better than the average batsman, Roy is barely better than par on the total runs axis while being significantly above par in terms of runs scored per ball. This gives the Capitals an oversees opening option that they can use depending on team strategy in a given game. However, the question beckons on whether one of the unsold opening options we are considering would not have given them a good tradeoff between runs scored and the speed at which they are scored, at a good value.
Colin Ingram scores more than Eoin Morgan a lot faster than him coming in at 2-down. He also scores a lot more and a bit faster than Hetmyer coming in at #3. While it isn’t shown here, Morgan, coming in at #4 is a much better relative performer than Morgan coming in at #5 (in the bottom-left quadrant). Another factor that should have been in favor of Ingram is also that he has experience playing in several T20 leagues. He has played more than 20 games in T20 leagues in England, South Africa, Australia & Pakistan and around 10 games each in leagues in India (IPL) and West Indies. Interestingly, while he has mostly played in the top 3, he was used at 3-down in 8 of 12 innings at the Delhi Capitals and never in the top 3.
This is a bit of an aside and is not related to swapping in our unsold batsmen, but it is an observation that came about while exploring related data and so, I am including it here. Chris Lynn has been used by KKR to open, but he has mostly come in at #3 for Australia and the Brisbane Heat. We see that he has done significantly better than average at 1-down than he has as an opener. However, in the four occasions that he has come in at #3 for the KKR, he has done rather poorly, producing scores of -10, -2, -5 & -11 runs compared to average per outing at -9, 10, 2, 1 runs above average per outing for balls played in outing, respectively. Maybe this indicates that KKR were asking him to play a riskier game than would be optimum. Something for the Mumbai Indians & Lynn to keep in mind for 2020.
Opponent Quality
Our model considers groups of competitions but considers all International T20s in the same group. This would be OK for players that play in a number of different leagues and groups, but it could overvalue players like Munsey & Shahzad who play in fewer leagues against weaker oppositions.
Munsey has mostly played international T20s against associate teams, with only 2 games against a non-associate, Pakistan. Shahzad has played in the Bangladesh Premier League in addition to T20Is, but most of his games have been T20Is where he has played 1 game each against West Indies, South Africa, Sri Lanka & England and 3 against Bangladesh. Similarly, Gayle, Carey, Williamson, & Roy haven’t played against the associates.
While we do normalize expectations for competition quality and venue, this normalization is only relative to the conditions they have faced. Munsey innings against associates gets evaluated against the average opener against all international oppositions. Moreover, someone like Munsey & Gayle haven’t played in the same condition as the other, an argument can be made that our approach doesn’t effectively normalize for this comparison.
Let us attempt to find overlapping oppositions between the batsmen being compared and look at performances in the overlapping games. We will have to drop our threshold of 20 games for this comparison, since there aren’t enough games played against a single opposition. This will make our findings slightly less reliable due to higher variance and so the numbers here should be taken with a grain of salt.
Munsey has scored +2.5, -22.4 and -13.8 compared to expectation in his 2 innings against Pakistan & 1 against Zimbabwe. Williamson averages +10 in his 9 innings against Pakistan with a minimum of -22.8, and has a -6.8 in his lone innings against Zimbabwe. Carey averages -4.3 in 5 innings against Pakistan and has an innings of -6.7 against Zimbabwe. Jason Roy averages a -9.3 in 4 innings against Pakistan.
Munsey has scored -16.8 & +19.2 in his innings against Afghanistan. Roy in his lone innings against Afghanistan has a -21.9.
Shahzad averages +15.8 in 7 innings against Zimbabwe, has relative scores of -21.5, +20.6, -18.9, -1.1 against England, South Africa, Sri Lanka & the West Indies, respectively, and has three innings innings of +13.1, -0.9, and +2.7 against Bangladesh. Without even looking at the relative scores of other contending batsmen against the same oppositions, we can tell that these are not bad at all.
For batsmen who have played at least 10 games against both associates and non-associates, we see that the following relationship for average runs scored above model expectations.
Fig 5.
We see here, that most of these batsmen have much higher scores against associates than non-associates. The average batsman against non-associates (scores of 0 on the x-axis), scores up to +4 and an average of +2.5 runs against associates.
Overall, we can expect performances against associate teams to be less challenging and hence expect Munsey & Shahzad to be overvalued using our methods; but, we don’t have any statistically significant evidence to suggest that their performances differ from those of their competitors here, against opponents that both have faced. Especially in the case of Munsey, it would seem that even discounting his scores by ~2.5 runs based on the above keeps him in the competition.
The Universe Boss Can’t Be Discounted So Easily
So far, we have been looking at averages of relative performance across innings. While we were using separate expectations for batting first and chasing, we were aggregating the relative performance across them. Let us look at the two innings separately. This is not unlike what we did for batting position above. | https://medium.com/boundary-line/looking-at-unsold-batsmen-in-the-aftermath-of-the-ipl-2020-auction-64a873e8b8fc | ['Amol Desai'] | 2020-05-30 16:08:36.083000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Data Analysis', 'Analytics', 'Sports An', 'Cricket'] |
Running GUI Apps inside Docker Container | Architecture of this task
IT industry is focusing on Time saving and creating such technologies that can work smartly and fast. One of such technology is Docker that is a containerization tool.
There are two types of Applications or services can be used inside a Docker Container, that are:
Applications that run as a Background Services(like webserver). GUI Applications that runs in Foreground
For a GUI Application to run, we need to have a XServer which is available as part of every Linux Desktop Environment, But within a Container we don’t have any XServer, so we will | https://medium.com/@anshu-anshikasharma114/running-gui-apps-inside-docker-container-19ff004fa65e | ['Anshika Sharma'] | 2020-12-23 12:17:01.372000+00:00 | ['Containers', 'Gui App', 'Docker Container', 'X Server', 'Network Drive'] |
Java Spring Boot — Intro. First of all, Spring Boot consists of… | Creating a Spring Boot Project
There are several approaches we can use to build a Spring Boot Application. The first one I will explain here is by creating a maven project using Eclipse IDE.
When we open the Eclipse IDE look at the Project Explorer tab and choose Create a Maven project. Maven is build and dependency management tool used primary for Java projects.
After that, we need to fill in some details regarding the project we want to build as shown below. Group Id is like a package name of my project, and Artifact Id is my project name. You can fill in the fields with anything suitable for you and just leave the Parent Project section blank.
Right after you click the Finish button, Eclipse will be creating a blank maven project for us. If there is no problem, Eclipse will show us the following layout.
At the Project Explorer tab, now we can see Eclipse already downloaded some dependency we need to create a maven project as well as created the project template for us.
Pay attention to the pom.xml file. This file defines the project structure and the dependency our project needs to make it run. Moreover, this file is the one we have to configure first to make our project become a Spring Boot project.
Until now, we have already made a simple maven project. What we have done so far has nothing to do with Spring Boot. To make it a Spring Boot project, there are a bunch of steps we have to follow and it starts with this pom.xml file.
First, add the following lines in pom.xml.
These lines tell Maven that the project we are creating is a child project of the spring-boot-starter-parent project since we define it in the parent tag. Parent and child project is one of the Maven features that allow us to make one project, and make another project as it’s child project that inherits all the feature it has. Therefore, when we define spring-boot-starter-parent as our parent project, this project will inherit all of it’s features and behavior. Otherwise, now we already make our project a Spring Boot project.
The next step is adding all the dependency we need. To do this, add the dependencies tag as shown below, then we can add every dependency we need in the dependency tag.
What I have just done is I add the spring-boot-starter-web dependency since I wanna build a web service application and Maven will download all the jar files related to that dependency. We can see it in the Project Explorer tab, Maven already create the Maven Dependencies folder for us.
Sometimes we might encounter an error marked with a red sign on our project name icon like above or on the Markers tab below.
To solve the error we only need to update the project. Right click on our project name, go to Maven then choose Update Project.
The red mark should now be gone.
If we look into the Project Explorer tab, we will find in my case now by default Maven use JRE version 1.5, and it is a little bit ancient now. I will update it to version 1.8 by the following code. Eventually this is the full pom.xml file.
Now in order to make our project runnable, we need to do some other steps. What I am gonna do now is create a simple java class. Right click on our main java package, and create a new Class.
Here I already create a new java class named Application. We will use this class as the main class containing the main function which will be run.
Remember that the spring boot application will give us a runnable stand-alone application that we can just run like any other java program. This is already done by annotating the class containing the main method by using @SpringBootApplication annotation. | https://medium.com/@mnaufalazwar/java-spring-boot-intro-74fe48e9eb91 | [] | 2020-12-17 15:20:00.495000+00:00 | ['Java', 'Spring Boot', 'Java Spring Boot'] |
6 Things Young Adults Shouldn’t Purchase | 6 Things Young Adults Shouldn’t Purchase
1. Car
Don’t buy a car unless you absolutely have to. RIP those who just bought a car right before the pandemic lockdowns. Cars could cost upwards of 10k+ a year for young adults. Car insurance is a big factor to consider especially if you live in the city. As a young adult in my early 20s if I were to drive I would be looking at 6k-8k a year for car insurance in the city. Plus, why would you need to drive a car if you live in the city? There should be a great transit system available. Car repairs can also break your wallet. They said to budget $100 per month or $1200 per year for car maintenance. That’s expensive for us who have just started our careers and aren’t in great financial shape. Another reason to not buy a car is that before the age of 25, your brain hasn’t matured yet. The frontal lobe is responsible for impulsivity control and isn’t fully formed until age 25. Having an immature brain behind a wheel can be dangerous which is why insurance is higher for us. Think about all those people who aren’t driving in the city. In my city, it’s 33% who don’t own a car! Join the group, don’t own a car while you’re still young as cars are liabilities. They will only make you poorer!
2. House
I know some of you are thinking about becoming a house owner. However, it still requires a lot of consideration even if you could afford it. Think about where you want to live five years down the road. The general rule is this, if you aren’t going to live in the same place five years down the road, don’t bother buying. You might think that the property value might go up so you’ll be raking in if you do decide to sell before the 5-year mark. Think again. There’ll be a closing cost when you buy and sell the property. Every year, there’ll be property taxes, mortgage, maintenance costs, utility bills, etc. For the first five years, you would be paying a lot more of the interest rather than the actual mortgage. You might end up losing money if you sell too early. If you’re thinking about maybe renting it out while you get another mortgage for another house? You may be able to afford less mortgage for your second property. Think about the location, sometimes it’s hard to predict but when something major happens it could drop the value of the house drastically. Something major could be, a murder nearby, a shooting, closed-down stores leading to lots of unemployment, etc. We can’t predict many of these major events but it’s something to take into mind when purchasing a home. Young adults tend to have more unpredictable career trajectories so don’t settle down too early as of yet.
3. Expensive furniture
Trust me, furniture gets broken during the moving process. Before you own a house, don’t purchase expensive furniture. Even if you do own it, there really is no need to purchase high-end furniture when you could be investing the money.
4. Expensive or frequent meals at restaurants
Dining out frequently can be expensive in the long run. Instead, learn to cook healthy meals for yourself. It makes you seem like a more attractive romantic partner and you get to save money.
5. Expensive clothes
There’s no need for expensive clothes for most of us young adults. Think about money in terms of the long game. Don’t buy it because it makes you appear wealthier. Use the money to actually make yourself become wealthier.
6. Latest iPhone and other digital gadgets
Look around at those people who are brandishing their newest phones and gadgets, most of them aren’t rich but they bought it as a status symbol. Just how many people are willing to forego their dinner for the month to be able to afford their new toys we don’t know but there are certainly people doing that because they care a lot more about their image than they should be. Don’t fall into the social media trap. It’s easy to fake being rich on social media. It’s smarter to use the money for other purposes rather than following a craze. | https://medium.com/@haappier/6-things-young-adults-shouldnt-purchase-9e7150801706 | [] | 2020-12-26 10:38:02.585000+00:00 | ['University', 'College', 'Self', 'Students', 'Youngadult'] |
Strengthening Of India-US Trade Relationship | 1. Pandemic Collaboration
The first area of focus should be a pandemic collaboration because India has already emerged as the hub for vaccine development in production. This is where the United States can complement India’s resources and help Indian companies through efficient supply chain logistics. India should use India's growing profile as the world's pharmacy and as the world's vaccine hub to build confidence about its IP laws in the United States. Because India’s intellectual property regime has often been a source of controversy in the India US trading relationship, but the growing convergence between India and the US and the emergence of India as the vaccine hub should help India to strengthen its image about its IP laws and both countries could further boost cooperation between their pharmaceutical companies and biotech firms by reviving the India US health dialogue. Therefore, the two countries get mutually recognized their standards concerning drugs and clinical trials and concerning approvals of drugs and vaccines to increase the market access for their pharma and biotech sectors.
2. Macro-Trade Architecture
The need to strengthen the macro trade architecture between the two countries. They could do this by reviving the US India Trade Policy Forum to conduct broad trade negotiations that might lead to the signing of a free trade agreement between India and the US. Such trade negotiations and the eventual FTA would also improve market access to both the countries, and India could even use the platform to seek the United States to restore its GSP tag or the Generalised System of Preferences.
Under the GSP mechanism, the United States provides preferential trade treatment or preferential tariffs to certain developing countries for certain select products to help these developing countries boost their exports into the United States. Earlier, India enjoyed the GSP tab and several Indian products; they enjoyed preferential treatment or preferential tariff under the GSP system. But because of the trade war that the previous Trump administration unleashed, India’s GSP tag was withdrawn by the US. It has significantly affected several Indian exports into the US. By seeking a restoration of the GSP tag, India could boost its exports to the US by obtaining preferential treatment for certain product categories.
3. Mobility of Professionals
India and the U.S. will have to work together to promote the free movement of professionals and labour. Such enhanced mobility for professionals will help India because its core strength lies in the services industry, especially in IT. It could even help other service-based industries such as banking, finance, education, legal services, etc. Currently, the United States' immigration laws are stringent, and the restrictions on the issuance of H-1B visa have directly affected Indian professionals and their mobility to the United States. Along with this, India and the US need to update the 2011 MOU (Memorandum of understanding) the head sign on labour cooperation by keeping in mind India's revised labour laws. India’s outdated labour laws was always a point of contention for the United States. Now that India’s labour laws have been updated and brought in line with the Western standards of labour rights and labour laws, these changes will have to be taken into account to update the labour cooperation between the two sites, which will further improve the mobility and the free movement of professionals and workers. Then India and the US could also consider signing a totalization agreement to guarantee a Social Security net for the professionals and the workers.
4. Defence Ties- Private Firms
There is a need to enhance further the participation of Indian private firms in the two countries' defence relationship. They could even consider holding a defence dialogue involving government representatives, representatives of the armed forces, and private defence manufacturers. Such active defence cooperation will lead to a transfer of technology from the U.S. to India. India’s public sector and India’s private sector can tie-up with American defence firms to develop joint development co-production of critical defence technologies and defence equipment.
5. SME’s- CEO’s Forum
Then even the small and medium enterprises deserve greater attention from the two governments. They could jointly host a forum of CEOs representing small and medium enterprises to boost their mutual exports further.
6. Clean Energy and Climate Change
Then another important area of cooperation would be clean energy and climate change because both in India and the US, there is an enhanced focus on renewable forms of energy, and both the governments would do well to complete the programs in the initiatives that were launched under the India U.S. Strategic Energy Partnership.
7. Digital Economy
Then finally, both the government will have to consider the growing adoption of the digital economy. They will have to collaborate in emerging critical technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, machine learning, etc. In the field of the rollout of 5G technology, the US can assist India, leading to greater digital economy adoption and further integrating their digital economies. This should also provide an opportunity for India to defend its conservative intellectual property laws, which are not in line with Western standards.
See; currently, the US trade representative has placed India on the priority watch list because, according to the US, Indian IP laws are not according to global standards. This is a longstanding debate between the developed countries and developing countries. It would be unfair for developed countries to expect developing countries like India to adopt higher standards concerning their intellectual property regime. | https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/strengthening-of-india-us-trade-relationship-b5d50c334706 | [] | 2021-03-22 10:07:25.150000+00:00 | ['Trade', 'USA', 'Money', 'India', 'Economy'] |
Making Real Money on Upwork | Making Real Money on Upwork
Quarantined Income Workshop #2
Photo by Windows on Unsplash
Welcome to the second workshop in the quarantined income workshop series.
Two days ago, we discussed how to go about making a real income on Fiverr. I talked about my experience and asked for advice from another Fiverr seller named Mandy.
Today we’re focusing on Fiverr’s biggest competitor, a rival online platform that also connects entrepreneurs with clients and businesses that need their services.
The Upwork Model
Upwork has a number of major differences to Fiverr, differences that make the platform feel arguably more professional in tone than that of Fiverr.
While Fiverr has a lot of goofy gigs and markets equally to casual customers as it does to businesses, Upwork focuses on serious work for professional companies.
Sellers on Upwork have more options than those selling on Fiverr, including being paid by the hour, and paying a smaller percentage of their gig income to Upwork when they pass certain earning thresholds.
These conveniences are there to attract more professionals that are proficient in their industry and not just those who are casually interested.
A seller with a new interest in their discipline is probably going to have an easier time getting started on Fiverr, but a seller with experience and training will find Upwork more gratifying.
Photo by christian buehner on Unsplash
Please welcome to the stage, Matt
For today’s workshop, I talked with Matt, a filmmaker who got started in Upwork originally just to pick up a few gigs on the side to supplement his freelance income.
Now he relies on Upwork for the majority of his clients and makes a decent income from the site.
Firstly, I asked Matt about his experience getting started on Upwork. He said that he was interested in the site right out of film school, back when Upwork was called Elance-oDesk, but he didn’t take advantage.
He was intimidated by the site back then because he didn’t consider pitching clients to be his strength.
He was also worried that sending and receiving video files over the version of the internet that existed at the time would be too much of a headache to deal with on a daily basis.
Instead, Matt got started in the industry the regular way. He found representation with an agency that books film crews and worked on commercials and TV shows for the next several years.
As time went by, he started to notice the industry changing. Social media marketing was on the rise, and more and more companies were turning to freelance filmmakers to produce simpler web-based content marketing.
Matt checked Upwork and saw that a lot of these companies were finding their freelancers there, so he finally decided to join up. He only anticipated that he’d be given scraps of work here and there, he never predicted that it would become his largest source of new clients.
Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash
The Advantages of the Platform
What Matt likes most about Upwork is the billing system.
Working as a freelance filmmaker, editor, and camera operator can be really tough. There’s a lot of anxiety around not knowing when a client will pay the invoice, or even if they’ll pay at all.
A freelancer can do a whole week of work for a client while stressing the entire time about whether or not that week will ever pay off.
Upwork took that fear away, giving him the security that he’ll be paid promptly and in full.
Unlike with Fiverr, on Upwork, he can keep a gig open with his best clients after the original project has been completed.
The client can just keep sending work, and he can keep their tab open indefinitely. There’s no need to constantly create and end gigs for clients who need constant work.
For Those Getting Started
For new sellers, Matt’s advice is to keep working at it.
Matt’s first gig was a $20 job to do some light photoshopping. He couldn’t believe that he was being paid to stay home in his pyjamas and photoshop some images.
After that, gigs came in slowly and infrequently. But after each gig he’d complete, he’d add the finished result to his portfolio; building up his library of work slowly over time.
Eventually, his portfolio became so impressive that gigs were coming in constantly.
Up until now, Matt has always charged the hourly rate that seems fair to him. Some sellers prefer to charge a flat rate, which for editors can be really risky. You can charge one flat price, then spend more hours than you ever predicted on the job, lowering the value of each hour.
Charging hourly has always been better for the seller, but it’s a turnoff for clients.
Clients want to know exactly how much money they need to spend on the job up front and can feel worried that hours might pile up.
But recently, Upwork has taken a page out of Fiverr’s book and has introduced a package pricing model. Clients can buy packages that ensure the job gets done within budget, and ensures Matt gets paid enough.
He can predict the hours he thinks the package will take to complete, then work extra fast to potentially make every hour even more valuable.
Packages give clients the ability to see what the gig will cost up-front, and will give the seller the ability to up-sell the client with add-ons and bonus options.
Right now Matt says that he’s not incentivised to work at his fastest pace because he’s paid hourly, but by adding the package system he can challenge himself to see what he can fit into every hour.
Matt still has a lot of trouble pitching new clients and often relies on short and sweet pitches that get right to the point.
Something like “Hey, I’m really familiar with the job you need doing and will do a great job with it. Take a look at my showreel and my portfolio. Have a great day!”
Short pitches appeal to a lot of his clients, but he knows he has to improve his strategy and formulate better pitches. He especially needs to improve his pitches so that he can land an enterprise client.
Enterprise cleints are large and often recognisable companies that rely on a pool of regular freelancers to build their content needs. Landing an enterprise client would mean lots of high value work that could be rely upon into the future.
Making yourself seem more appealing to both regular and enterprise clients is important, and Matt has found that featuring your showreel on your portfolio is critical for catching the client’s eye.
While his showreel thumbnail link featured on his portfolio has had hundreds of clicks, the standard showreel link has seen almost no attention at all.
So it pays to be creative with your portfolio when trying to stand out in a packed crowd.
Photo by Carl Heyerdahl on Unsplash
Top Tips on getting started on Upwork | https://medium.com/money-clip/making-real-money-on-upwork-24e44f05391a | ['Jordan Fraser'] | 2020-05-07 07:19:10.741000+00:00 | ['Money', 'Freelancing', 'Hustle', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Business'] |
Founders’ silent struggle — The biggest needs (Part 7) | “Every time when it’s really difficult you start asking yourself if this lifestyle is really for you. But when you know that you have a chance to make a difference in the world, then you roll up your sleeves and face the problems. What if this thing does not work — it is still the best time of my life” Tommaso Troiani, a founder of swabit.app.
Founders need to have high energy and ability to generate diverse resources for at least 4 to 10 years of constant emotional and financial turbulence, painful pivots and multiple times starting from square one.
It’s ok if a response to turbulence and sudden startup swings is shrieking and puking, however, a founder should have a strong recovery plan and support system to help them to clean up and go on the ride again.
Founders listed their biggest needs:
Fundraising, how to screen investors and prepare for next rounds better
More sales, salespeople, digital marketing
Improving skills of communication, presenting and pitching
Teaching team an entrepreneurial mindset and how to recover from failures healthier
Business models at different business stages
Connections finding the right mentors and coaches
Creating better physiological and psychological health for better stress management, handling negative thoughts and emotions, keeping calm during turbulent times
Becoming mentally stronger, getting better rest, maintaining motivation and energy
Managing better introverted or extroverted capacities
What are your needs? What is your favorite place to find startup related answers?
PS.: Some tools can be found at Disciplined Entrepreneurship and Disciplined Entrepreneurship Toolbox. | https://medium.com/ofounders/founders-silent-struggle-the-biggest-needs-part-7-3ea13df50f6b | ['Inga Stasiulionyte'] | 2020-03-23 18:57:50.811000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Mental Health', 'Interview', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Psychology'] |
For Best Results, Treat Your Life Like One Big Experiment | I hated science as a kid. Experiments and me don’t always get along. In high school, I once had to take a chemistry lesson with the most immense amount of period pain. The teacher said to take care of the fumes escaping the flask but because of the pain, I didn’t hear her. So I stuck my head in. Next thing I knew I was waking up on the floor.
At the time, it was a lesson in three things:
Always listen to your chemistry teacher. Don’t go to school when you can barely stand up. Experiments can go wrong, so be extremely cautious.
That last point, however, is a problem.
Because we should always treat our life like one big, messy experiment.
Most of us don’t want to experiment with our own lives. We’ve learned that failure and making mistakes is too much of a risk to take, with too many perceived consequences. So we toe the line, try to learn from other people’s mistakes, and keep ourselves wrapped up in a proverbial security blanket that shields us from looking like a fool.
I’m tired of being comfortable. It’s boring.
Right now, I have no permanent home, no permanent job. Maybe I’ll make it as a Medium writer. Or a winemaker. Or a web designer. Or maybe even all three.
Or maybe not. Maybe I’ll spectacularly fail at all of them and will have to return to the UK, tail between my legs.
But I want to find out. I’m curious to see if I can do it.
We can watch what other people do with their lives and decide it’s not for us, but there is no substitution for doing it yourself. You are not them, so why would you assume that what works — or doesn’t work — for them would be the same for you?
So I’m taking the high-school science approach and applying it to my life. And I think you should too.
The Charlotte-Brown-Improve-Your-Life Method (Patent Pending)
You need a hypothesis, method, analysis, and conclusion.
Hypothesis: Buying a house will improve my life
Method: Buy a house
Analysis: Buying a house caused this author a great deal of happiness in the short term but became burdensome. The author developed an acute sense of claustrophobia and a sinking sensation that it no longer suited her lifestyle.
Conclusion: Sell the house. Invest the money. Travel instead.
Hypothesis: Writing on Medium is a great place to blog
Method: Write on Medium
Analysis: Writing on Medium caused this author a great deal of contentment and satisfaction
Conclusion: Continue to write on Medium and monitor feelings. If contentment decreases, re-evaluate.
Hypothesis: Getting a steady 9–5 job is a good thing
Method: Get a steady job
Analysis: Getting a steady job caused this author a great deal of stress and anxiety.
Conclusion: Quit steady job for entrepreneurship. Levels of contentment rose.
Did you notice that the method in each of the above examples is the simplest part of the experiment? Most people spend too much effort here and not on the analysis.
So you think you might like to try entrepreneurship? Then try it. Want to write on Medium? Do it. Don’t wait and don’t think too much about it otherwise you might find yourself down the ‘what if’ rabbit hole. What if it doesn’t work, what if I fail, what if people think badly of me?
We should be spending the majority of our time on the analysis. Without it, you could dig your heels into a bad situation, terrified about looking foolish, scared of that disapproving character that seems to live in all of our heads repeating ‘I told you that you couldn’t do it’ over and over until your poor brain believes it.
Instead, think about how this life decision has made you feel. What side effects were there, good or bad? Monitor your feelings, how do they change over time? Is it working the way you hoped or not? Tweak the method, notice the results. Still not working? Perhaps it’s your hypothesis. Back to the drawing board, you go.
Mini Experiments Can Foster Big Consequences
Maybe you don’t want to shape your life into something completely unrecognizable. Maybe you just want to make some small changes. It could be a shift in mindset, taking up meditation, or a new exercise regime.
The same method applies and can have unexpectedly large consequences. Mini experiments can lead to bigger things — you might find out something about yourself that you want to explore further.
Back in 2014, I thought I’d dabble in minimalism, throwing away possession or two. Now, I only own 95 things and my life is all the better for it.
Mini experiments can be a great way to find out how far you’re willing to go when it comes to your life choices. You might find out that you love an easy life bound by societal norms. Or you might find that you want to live on an Antarctic naval base serving food to scientists for half the year.
Wherever you land on the scale doesn’t actually matter. The important thing is that you’re thinking about it, doing it, and evaluating the results.
An Unexpected Side Effect
Treating your life choices like experiments can remove some of the emotion involved in decision making, which can cloud our judgment.
It’s all about re-framing. Instead of ‘if this doesn’t work, my life is screwed,’ it becomes ‘if this doesn’t work, let’s try something else.’
In my younger years, I was scared of everything. Scared of being in a room full of people I didn’t know, of interviewing for jobs, of being alone with my thoughts, of being alone full stop. Everything had so much emotion attached to it, most of which boiled down to ‘what if I embarrass myself, what will everyone think about me?’
I’m still scared about most of these things, but less so, because I’ve taken control and pulled some (although granted, not all) of the emotion out of my decisions.
That’s what life experiments allow you to do — you can own the decisions you make. It’s just an experiment. If it doesn’t work, you re-evaluate, you change the direction. Your experiment, your rules. | https://medium.com/be-unique/for-best-results-treat-your-life-like-one-big-experiment-40c4f31d932b | ['Charlie Brown'] | 2020-12-18 10:28:25.501000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Personal Development', 'Life Hacking', 'Self', 'Life Lessons'] |
My Tears will easily Flow, Life will trigger that prominent Show, Do not feel sad, cry “Oh no!!”, They are my Heart in Go, I’ve come to fully Know, Belief, Strength as I Grow, Oh, how they fall in… | Tears
My Tears will easily Flow,
Life will trigger that prominent Show,
Do not feel sad, cry “Oh no!!”,
They are my Heart in Go,
I’ve come to fully Know,
Belief, Strength as I Grow,
Oh, how they fall in Highest Gratitude,
I’m Strong, come High, come Low,
Faith in Him saves me from Down Below,
Praise to Him for a Life to Bestow,
Thankfulness added hardens me when Toe to Toe,
Tears may stream days in a Row,
But be reassured and always Know,
It’s just Me, living, Feeling Fully Aglow. | https://medium.com/warm-hearts/tears-2abd3065f214 | ['Ken Holsten'] | 2020-12-21 02:53:28.797000+00:00 | ['Emotions', 'Pain', 'Love', 'Sorrow', 'Faith'] |
Build your own deep learning box —Software installation | Build your own deep learning box —Software installation
A trilogy in four parts
Once the brand new deep learning box is assembled and BIOS is verified, we install system and application software.
The most important decision is operating system and version. I settled on Linux Ubuntu because it is free and both Colab and Kaggle run Ubuntu images (as of writing date).
In my build, both GPU and Motherboard officially support only Windows. I am not sure about what level of support I will get if I have to call them. If you are concerned about support and/or you want to use this build for gaming as well, then Windows would a better choice.
Having selected Ubuntu, the choice narrows to Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS (Bionic Beaver) or Ubuntu 19.10 (Eoan Ermine).
I went with 19.10 Eoan Ermine because Wifi, NVIDIA Drivers and CUDA Toolkit are bundled with the package. It also comes with Python 3.7 pre-installed. (Wise choice on hindsight. I was able to train my first deep learning model within 5 minutes of OS installation).
Step 1: Download Ubuntu 19.10 desktop ISO image from https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop
Step 2: Erase and reformat a USB stick in FAT 32 (FAT MS-DOS) format with Master Boot Record partition scheme.(I used Disk Utility on a mac).
Step 3: Transfer ISO image to bootable drive (instructions below for Mac).
// Mac OS
~ $ diskutil list
...
/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: FDisk_partition_scheme *30.8 GB disk2
1: DOS_FAT_32 LINUX BOOT 30.8 GB disk2s1 ~ $ PATH_TO_ISO=/users/shared/ubuntu-19.10.0-desktop-amd64.iso ~ $ diskutil umount /dev/disk2s1 ~ $ sudo dd bs=4M if=${PATH_TO_ISO} of=/dev/disk2
Step 4 : Insert bootable USB stick and restart the deep learning box. Follow the prompts for OS installation. I chose to install GUI as well.
Step 5: Connect to Wi-Fi.
Step 6: Verify NVIDIA driver and toolkit.
// Deep learning box
$ nvidia-smi
Mon Dec 23 11:42:32 2019
...
| NVIDIA-SMI 435.21 Driver Version: 435.21 CUDA Version: 10.1 |
...
Step 7: Verify Python. Eoan Ermine comes installed with Python 2.7 and Python 3.7. However 2.7 is the default.
// Deep learning box
$ python --version $ python3 --version
Step 8: Install Package Installer (PIP) for Python3
$ sudo apt install python3-pip
Step 9: Install Jupyter notebook.
$ sudo pip3 install jupyter jupyterlab
Step 10: Install deep learning libraries of your choice.
$ sudo pip3 install torch torchvision $ sudo pip3 install fastai $ sudo pip3 install wandb
Note: wandb.com is a really cool web app that helps track and visualize your training data such as weights and biases, losses, metrics and system utilization across multiple models and runs.
Step 11 (optional): Benchmark your build with a standard test suite. Phoronix test suite has a wide range of suites that can test different aspects of your build and compare it the others who have published their results on OpenBenchmarking.org. There is even one test suite specifically for machine-learning.
I skipped step 11 and chose to run controlled experiments on pre-selected training notebooks instead.
My deep learning benchmarking exercise and results are documented in Part 4: Benchmarking and ongoing commentary. | https://medium.com/p/aa7af8355e9f | ['Rajaram Gurumurthi'] | 2019-12-29 13:27:27.277000+00:00 | ['Pc Building', 'Deep Learning', 'Ubuntu'] |
Keeping servers healthy | Part II — Running your server
Building the server is only step one (if you missed that blog, we recommend you read that before you start this).
Now it’s up and running, we can revisit the list of packages Puppet installs and look at what that means for our engineers on a day-to-day basis.
Two factor authentication software
We run LinOTP for providing a second factor of authentication; to prove people’s identity in a number of applications, including logging into ‘sensitive’ (usually live production) servers. When you initially join with Code Enigma one of our engineers will set you up with a temporary password so you can register your phone, or a YubiKey if you bought one from us, with LinOTP, so that when you login to a server you will be prompted for your username, password and the code from your 2FA device, enforcing the ‘something you know and something you own’ double-verification of identity.
Directory server connections (for user management)
As part of our server management service we run a user management dashboard for our clients. Via this dashboard our clients can manage users under their account within our user directory, selecting their level of access, notifications and also managing things like their SSH key(s), passwords, additional contact information and so on.
ClamAV and its settings
One of the things we manage is the antivirus software and respond to any threats. We get nightly emails from ClamAV if there are any issues, and we respond accordingly, sometimes quarantining bad files and purging them, sometimes just letting clients know we have what we think is a false-positive. But if ClamAV triggers on one of your servers, you’ll get a ticket from someone on the systems team, even if it’s just to tell you not to worry.
Backup software
No backup is really a backup if it isn’t tested, so while we discussed setting up backup software, we also add the server to a rolling calendar for backup testing. Once a quarter, your Duplicity backups off site will be restored entirely to a temporary AWS EC2 machine in our private account and manually inspected by an engineer, to ensure we’re seeing the data we expect to see.
Firewall software
While most environments have built in physical firewall protection or some equivalent (for example the AWS Security Groups feature is basically a managed firewall for your cloud network) we operate pretty paranoid software firewalls as well. These are centrally controlled by Puppet to a degree — we ensure critical files are in place, the init.d script is not altered, and so on — but we also manage exceptions via the Ansible playbook for ‘iptables’, which is still our kernel firewall management of choice. We have rules as standard for both in and outbound traffic, that way even if a machine gets infected, perhaps by a badly configured website that allows an upload which doesn’t get immediately picked up by virus scanners, it’s hard for that software to ‘call out’ — announce its success to its creator. We also block all traffic inbound that isn’t specifically permitted, and restrict certain activities to certain addresses, for example secure shell is only permitted from our VPN and other IP addresses specified by the customer.
Monitoring software
We do a lot of monitoring! In all cases we install Nagios, the industry standard real-time alerting system, and we run two separate servers on separate sites to help identify false-positives. We use this to monitor pretty much everything, all services, disk space, RAM usage, system load, DNS health, even VMware balloon size (if applicable — it can be a warning of impending RAM starvation for a VMware guest, that’s why we monitor it).
We also set up key web pages with StatusCake, our external monitoring partner, so we get SMS and email alerts if anything goes away (this is also connected to Nagios, we maintain a Nagios integration module which is open source on GitHub). For machines in environments where there is no additional historical recording of performance data, we install Munin, which tracks a machine’s health over time, to help us spot trends in resource usage and act before there’s a capacity problem.
For clients on AWS we configure and manage CloudWatch, including alerts for services such as ElastiCache and RDS, so we are warned in real-time if there are resource problems.
Security software
Our IPS, OSSEC, is running all the time across all machines. It automatically triggers blocking at a kernel firewall level on all our infrastructure if a particular address breaks one of the ‘rules’ in place. It also sends a report of all suspicious activity throughout the day, across the network, every single day. Our engineers check these reports line by line to ensure there are no holes or new attempts we should concern ourselves with, rules we could add or strengthen, and so on.
We also get automated warnings nightly from the rootkit detection software, rkhunter. This is a simple piece of software that monitors the checksum of applications on the system and warns us if that changes. If we’re expecting the change (because of patching or an upgrade) we can just update rkhunter’s database and carry on. If we weren’t, it’s a “heads up” something more sinister may be happening!
That’s an overview of all the software on these servers that we’re continuously maintaining monitoring. But there’s more! Critically, there’s package management. All the software needs updating regularly, so we run a calendar with all our servers in it and we aim to patch many servers a day, every day, so that over a three week cycle every single machine gets refreshed to latest versions of software and rebooted if necessary. We do this manually, because with the best will in the world — and regardless of how robust the process usually is — upgrading software is a risky business. It’s always better to have a human watching a dry-run and applying the updates than leaving the computer to update itself and finding it dead in the morning.
What if it all goes wrong?
That’s when we earn our management fee!
Firstly, there’s emergency patching. Sometimes a ‘zero day’ vulnerability will emerge and there will not yet be a solution available. We use Debian for most things because the Debian security team are really sharp, and usually one of the first — if not the first — to release a security update, but we monitor security forums and feeds and if there are mitigations and patches to critical software we can apply to servers while we’re waiting, we do! This we typically do by testing on a few of our servers first and, if all looks good, applying rapidly across the network with a custom Ansible playbook. We keep some templates handy to make the process faster in an actual emergency.
Then of course there’s incident response. The whole point of all the monitoring is we know almost the instant there’s a problem and we intervene. Sometimes we’ll make adjustments to software configuration, sometimes we’ll need to restart services, sometimes we’ll make infrastructure changes like adding disk, adding a server to an autoscale cluster, and so on. The main point being the monitoring we have in place allows us to do so in a timely fashion, so unless there’s a catastrophic failure we’ll be able to have your website back up in minutes.
And if there is a catastrophic failure, we’ll be pulling your backups. Hopefully your local snapshot backups, as they’re far faster to restore, but worst case your tested off-site backups will be decrypted to temporary AWS machines and brought online. | https://medium.com/code-enigma/keeping-servers-healthy-9e02596f51ee | ['Greg Harvey'] | 2019-06-18 08:45:11.879000+00:00 | ['AWS', 'Hosting Service', 'Servers', 'DevOps', 'Cloud Computing'] |
Coding Avalanche Smart Contracts | Coding a Smart World Series — Avalanche Smart Contracts
What is Avalanche blockchain?
Avalanche is a new blockchain ecosystem. The promoters of Avalanche consider it as a blockchain ecosystem running on 3rd generation consensus protocols. The Avalanche platform will fall into an interoperable blockchain platform like Cosmos, Polkadot, etc.
Avalanche is an open-source platform for launching DApps, Defi DApps, and other interoperable blockchain networks, including enterprise blockchain networks in one highly scalable and interoperable blockchain ecosystem.
A critical difference between Avalanche and other decentralized networks like Ethereum is its consensus protocol. Consensus protocols in Avalanche operate through repeated sub-sampled voting.
A quick peek into Avalanche Consensus protocol.
Avalanche consensus protocol, like the Nakamoto consensus protocol, is probabilistic. Avalanche uses a voting mechanism by its validators to reach consensus. The voting process is what makes Avalanche's consensus different. The core idea of the Avalanche Consensus protocol is metastability. This basically means the consensus protocol will never have an undecided state between two choices and will always encourage to move to one of the choices.
At a high-level, a single validator in the network selects a random set of validators and asks them to vote whether a transaction set is valid or not. The requested validator forms a weighted result of all the votes after every iteration of voting requests. The validator repeats this process with a new set of random validators selected every time. The validator repeats this process until it has enough probabilistic proof of the voting outcome and the chance of the results going wrong is negligible or does not exist.
Avalanche consensus is like an iterative polling process, which will eventually tip to one of the choices.
A quick peek into Avalanche Architecture.
To begin with, everything in the Avalanche platform is a subnet — subnetwork.
A Subnet, or Subnetwork, is a dynamic set of validators working together to achieve consensus on the state of a set of blockchains. Each blockchain is validated by exactly one Subnet. A Subnet can validate arbitrarily many blockchains. A node may be a member of arbitrarily many Subnets. More here…
A Subnet manages its own membership and can have its constituent validators meet certain criteria to fulfill a specific geographic location and industry's regulatory requirements.
There is a default Subnet called Primary Network in the Avalanche platform, which validates Avalanche’s built-in blockchains. All members of all Subnets must also be a member of the Primary Network. To become a member of the Primary Network, one must stake some Avalanche tokens. In essence, all other blockchains' validators must also validate Avalanche’s built-in blockchains and must have staked Avalanche tokens.
Chains refer to blockchains in the Avalanche platform. Each chain is assigned a ChainID and can be part of one and only one subnet. A blockchain will also have a consensus mechanism.
The default Subnet, Primary Network, has three built-in blockchains.
The Platform Chain [P-Chain] is the metadata blockchain on Avalanche and coordinates validators, keeps track of active subnets, and enables new subnets.
The Exchange Chain [X-Chain] is the default asset blockchain on Avalanche and enables new assets, exchanging between assets, and cross-subnet transfers. Applications which does not need smart contract functionality use this chain to create assets and move them.
The Contract Chain [C-Chain] is the default smart contract blockchain on Avalanche and enables the creation of Ethereum-compatible smart contracts.
In a nutshell, the Avalanche platform will have a dynamic set of validators called Subnets which can validate multiple blockchain networks. Each Subnet will have a specific set of properties or requirements catering to the domain or industry or geography of the supported applications. The Subnets can validate any number of blockchains but a specific blockchain will always be validated by a specific Subnet. Also, a specific blockchain can only be part of one Subnet. There can be private Subnets for Enterprise blockchains where data privacy is restricted to authorized validators. Existing blockchain networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum can each have their own Subnet in Avalanche and port their state to the Avalanche platform and use its consensus mechanism for faster performance. The Avalanche platform uses Proof of Stake for consensus implementation. There is a default Subnet called Primary Network with three built-in blockchains and all the member validators in any subnet will be by default part of this default network. A Validator can validate multiple Subnets but it's also mandatory to validate the default Subnet and stake 2000 AVAX — which is the native token of the platform.
Deploy Smart Contract in the Avalanche platform.
The good part of deploying a smart contract to Avalanche blockchain is using your existing smart contracts and tools you have used in the Ethereum platform to use Avalanche blockchain and its consensus mechanism.
So let's go to the Remix tool. For the Solidity Smart Contract, I have used the same one I have been using in this series, Simple Open Auction. I promise I will stop using this from now on :)
The Remix tool is custom-built for Ethereum. But while connecting to MetaMask, there is an option to connect to a custom RPC instead of the standard Ethereum Mainnet & Test Networks available by default. This is the hack we will use to let Remix & MetaMask connect to a Test Network in Avalanche blockchain. The steps are clearly mentioned in the Avalanche docs here. I have connected to the FUJI Test Network available in the Avalanche platform. Once the MetaMask is configured, you will have to use the faucet to fund your C-Chain Address in Avalanche with AVAX tokens. | https://medium.com/block-street/coding-a-smart-world-series-avalanche-smart-contracts-3a5d32eda570 | [] | 2020-12-01 15:28:40.153000+00:00 | ['Solidity', 'Avalanche', 'Blockchain', 'Blockchain Development', 'Ethereum'] |
【心得］ 營業用動力小船執照 | Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more
Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore | https://medium.com/chuchuxxworld/%E5%BF%83%E5%BE%97-%E7%87%9F%E6%A5%AD%E7%94%A8%E5%8B%95%E5%8A%9B%E5%B0%8F%E8%88%B9%E5%9F%B7%E7%85%A7-895e9fbefee8 | [] | 2020-12-22 09:03:31.881000+00:00 | ['營業用動力小船', '船長', '動力小船', 'Challenge', '船執照'] |
Terrestrial | The bones can’t situate in fleeing mind
and in fear, the heart is rearranged
The sky is too dizzying now,
petals and hair out of place
You are from the realm of moss:
the biography of Earth,
the sustenance of thought
Cling the cold ground to know it,
let it shiver and quicken you
Let the green water swell to hand
let the phytoplankton bring you
You can’t stay outside yourself,
nor can you drift from skin
Grow your courage from the dregs,
bathe in soil and sea
Your terrestrial senses
will get you through
Your body will write you here,
your body will root you back | https://medium.com/a-cornered-gurl/terrestrial-be9f21f2e126 | ['Jessica Lee Mcmillan'] | 2020-11-27 11:32:29.100000+00:00 | ['Body', 'Nature', 'Life', 'A Cornered Gurl', 'Poetry'] |
Qiskitters Built Amazing Things At This Two-Month Quantum Hackathon | Qiskitters Built Amazing Things At This Two-Month Quantum Hackathon Qiskit Follow Sep 1 · 7 min read
By Ryan F. Mandelbaum, Global Editorial Lead, IBM Quantum & Qiskit
Hackathons might elicit an image of participants working late into the night, surrounded by pizza boxes and empty cola cans while whipping together quick and ingenious projects. But what if a hackathon lasted two months? Participants in the Qiskit Hackathon Europe demonstrated that the extra time could turn quick projects into important research results.
The Qiskit Hackathon Europe: Research Study Groups brought researchers and developers together from April 20 to June 14 to collaborate and build quantum computing projects using Qiskit. Not only did they produce some outstanding work, but they helped further strengthen the Qiskit community and the link between the worlds of physics researchers and software developers.
“The Hackathon was a great opportunity to motivate more advanced members of the quantum computing community to come together,” said Caroline de Groot, PhD student at the Max-Planck Institute of Quantum Optics who co-organized the event. “This was evident through the high quality of submissions, which benefited from the longer time frame. Especially impressive was the promise of these projects for future development and impact on the field, from applications in quantum physics to educational projects.”
Screenshot from a Discord social event from the hackathon
Participants with very different backgrounds began by forming teams and pitching ideas in a Discord server, then judges picked the top 20 teams and moved them into the next phase of the event. All participants were able to attend seminars, while the top 20 teams then developed their projects in GitHub repositories, wrote reports, and created video presentations to summarize their work. The top three teams as determined by the judges earned a prize of 3000 €.
“It was very exciting to see many great young minds propose excellent ideas, transform them into projects, and work as very well-oiled teams to produce a final report,” said Fabio Scafrimuto, Europe Team Lead for Community, Education and Outreach in Quantum Computing on the Qiskit team. “I believe that the combination of researchers and developers as well as the long format made this Hackathon a unique experience for both the participants and the organizers.”
So, what can a group of researchers produce with a hackathon’s mentality and two months’ time? Here are the results of the top three winning teams.
Luciano Pereira, Francisco Escudero, David Fernández, Gabriel Jaumà, and Guillermo F. Peñas teamed up to develop a “library for Qiskit to implement a Hardware-efficient Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) that uses entangled measurements between connected qubits to estimate the energy.” VQE is among the most important near-term quantum algorithms; it employs an iterative process where a classical optimizer updates the parameters of a wavefunction implemented on a quantum computer to find the ground state energy of a Hamiltonian. However, implementing VQE comes with challenges: the finite coherence times and different sources of noise in near-term quantum processors limit the depth of the quantum circuits that developers can implement. Plus, obtaining the ground state energy can require many measurements.
The team set out to find solutions to these challenges using “Hardware-efficient entangled measurements,” or HEEM, measurements that only incorporate entanglement operators between neighboring qubits. Their work both increases the efficiency from a hardware perspective and decreases the number of required measurements. The team reproduced a previous IBM result and received the same solution — but required only a third of the total number of measurements. “We think that our project can expand the range of problems that can be solved with VQE in current devices,” said Luciano Pereira, team member from the Instituto de Física Fundamental in Spain.
Though two months may seam like a long time, the team tried their best not to waste it given the difficulty of their project. They divided the work into smaller pieces which they tackled as sub-groups, then met weekly to share their results and explain their work. However, the long timeline still allowed them to dive even deeper into their problem and search for more creative solutions.
Qiskit provided an intuitive way to implement the hardware-efficient VQE, and Qiskit’s VQE routine served as the basis of the group’s work. On top of this, the team designed an algorithm to construct the HEEM circuits using Qiskit, and then run their code on real quantum hardware.
Now that the hackathon is over, the team is planning to ensure that their code is compatible with other Qiskit functions, such as error mitigation techniques. They also plan on improving their HEEM-constructing algorithm to further reduce the number of measurements required when implementing VQE. They hope that their further work will allow other members of the Qiskit community to understand and employ the algorithm.
Korbinian Kottmann, Friederike Metz, Joana Fraxanet, and Niccolò Baldelli teamed up to “envision a full-stack self-driving laboratory on a quantum device for the exploration of quantum materials.” Quantum computing researchers hope that one day, quantum processors will be useful for simulating quantum many-body systems — but the field still requires efficient methods to perform these simulations and capture their full complexity. This team created an unsupervised quantum machine learning algorithm that analyzes quantum data in a quantum simulation, and extracts the phase diagram of the system. A phase diagram is essentially a map of the collective behavior of the system based on the environment, sort of like the solid-liquid-gas phase diagram you learn about in chemistry.
The team had to rely on some functions in the Qiskit library in order to implement their algorithm, called Variational Quantum Anomaly Detection (VQAD). VQAD consists of two parts. First comes the Variational Quantum Eigensolver, a function already implemented in Qiskit which the team used and optimized. Second is the anomaly syndrome circuit which the team build from scratch. This circuit is trained to return one value (typically zero) when it receives normal data, and a much larger value when it receives anomalous data. The team also relied on Qiskit’s ability to run noisy simulations on the different models and to experiment with a real device, employing error mitigation techniques and taking the device’s architecture into account.
The event let the team members forge new collaborations within their own research groups and with other institutions. This was especially useful given that the VQAD algorithm combines quantum computing, machine learning, and many-body physics, said team member Joana Fraxanet, Ph.D student from The Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona, Spain. “The combination of people with different backgrounds resulted in a very enriching experience,” she said. “Moreover, I had no experience using Qiskit, and I was interested in this event to experiment a bit with the library, since I believe this is going to be a useful skill for future projects.”
As for the timeline, Fraxanet said the event was intense, but rewarding. “Before starting to work on the project, we tried to set different goals, since it was not clear how ambitious we could be for a two-month project,” she said. “I believe that, in our case, having a very clear idea about what we wanted to do and being organized, setting up regular meetings and deadlines for specific achievements was the key to achieve meaningful and nice results.”
The team believes that the simulation of many-body systems is one of the most promising applications of quantum computing in the near-term, and hopes that their algorithm can inspire similar proposals. They have since put efforts into improving the implementation of their algorithm on real devices, and even wrote a paper containing their results, which you can read on the arXiv here.
Bartu Bisgin, Erfan Abedi, Jiri Guth Jarkovsky, Martin Mauser, and Nagme Oruz explored Quantum Singular Value Transformation (QSVT), a “framework that allows one to re-cast complex circuits as the iteration of a ‘universal’ circuit, which also allows for many non-unitary transformations.” QSVT essentially is a meta-algorithm — a way to re-envision and unify many famous algorithms as being based on a more fundamental mathematical structure. Despite being a useful lens through which to study quantum algorithms, the team noticed that the QSVT framework hadn’t received much attention outside of academic study — and they wanted to change that by implementing it in Qiskit.
Bisgin only started studying quantum computing nine months ago as a personal interest, but didn’t feel like other hackathons were accessible, given that one-day events require more experience with software development tools. This was exactly why he and his team members were excited to join the Qiskit Hackathon Europe — it was the opportunity to choose an idea, work on it as a research project, and make a real impact on the quantum computing community.
The team first devised a method to implement the QSVT framework, then worked on how make it accessible to the wider researcher community. The framework is already a challenging one to understand — but thankfully, Qiskit was perhaps the easiest part of the project. “Without Qiskit’s rather meticulous and clear documentation we could have been lost trying to implement the algorithm in the real-world,” Bisgin said.
During the hackathon, the team was able to implement a quantum search algorithm based on the QSVT framework. This is the simplest QSVT-implementable algorithm, according to the team’s project summary, and therefore a good introduction to the framework more generally. The team also ensured that their documentation provided users a deep look into the framework. “We hope that our project serves as an introduction to the beautiful ideas of Quantum Singular Value Transformation for the wider community and that, with it gaining more traction, a lot more people from different backgrounds will be able to explore the topic and potentially come up with groundbreaking stuff,” Bisgin said. “QSVT really is both extremely interesting and promising for gate-based quantum computation.”
The team hasn’t taken their project further, yet, but they’re in touch almost daily and hope to soon implement other QSVT-based algorithms into their library. Bisgin encourages anyone to reach out to him on Qiskit Slack if they’d like to help push the project further. | https://medium.com/qiskit/qiskitters-built-amazing-things-at-this-two-month-quantum-hackathon-1b450db8f179 | [] | 2021-09-01 14:41:03.333000+00:00 | ['Open Source', 'Physics', 'Hackathons', 'Quantum Computing', 'Qiskit'] |
Learnings from a Junior Designer at Google | Learnings from a Junior Designer at Google
Frameworks and lessons from my second year
I joined the YouTube Ads Video Creation team at Google two years ago as my first gig out of grad school. Getting into Google was a dream come true, but it wasn’t easy. It took a lot of deliberate practice and luck.
Time flies. I’m now passing the peak of “Mount Stupid” where I constantly doubted myself and climbing up the “Slope of Enlightenment” (Dunning–Kruger effect).
My 2-year journey (Dunning–Kruger effect)
Now entering my third year, I’m asking myself: “What are the biggest things I’ve learned?” Here are three insights.
1. Learn what to learn
During my first three months at Google, I was so overwhelmed with the sea of information, teams, and products; I felt like a drop of water. With so many articles, study materials, decks, and recordings, I was eager to gobble up anything I could for fear of missing out, like a Pac-Man character trying to eat every pellet.
I still have that constant urge to learn everything, but now I feel more relaxed and confident that I’m moving towards something really important to me. How? I have a framework on what to learn and why that’s crucial: Hierarchy of Knowledge.
Hierarchy of Knowledge (adapted from Yinuo Li 李一诺)
Information is the broadest tier, what we typically gain from reading news and articles. For example, what are the latest design trends? What are the different design patterns? What are typical research methods we can use on our team?
Knowledge is the foundation of greater insights, and helps us ask questions like: What are the underlying rationales? Why are Chinese apps designed differently from US apps? Why is YouTube different for emerging market users? Why should we use usability testing over surveys for a project?
Capabilities are the professional skills you want to develop. One example of a core capability I’ve been developing is strategic thinking, a skill to help navigate ambiguous problem spaces, tease out hypotheses, and test them deliberately. I recommend reading Cracked it! or Pyramid Principle if you’re interested in learning more.
There are more capabilities, like business acumen, productivity, leadership, flexibility, or team management. The important thing is to know what’s important to you and flesh out an action plan to learn them.
Mindsets are beliefs that propel you forward to achieve your goals, such as having a growth mindset and positive core self-evaluations. There are small exercises to train your brain to become more positive. Practicing them every day will create lasting, positive change.
Values reflect what is important to you; They help you understand what success means to you and how to enjoy meaningful work. For example, my core values are continuous learning, personal growth, and making a difference. When you feel stuck, it may be a signal that you want a new environment to demonstrate your values more fully. Having that knowledge will empower you to make decisions more confidently. I highly recommend doing a Personal Values Assessment to understand how values influence you.
Ultimately, these tiers all link back to self awareness, or seeing ourselves more clearly. I’ve gained deeper self-knowledge over the past two years. Now, I am able to connect some dots, and I am still drawing new ones to connect in the future.
2. Be flexible on frameworks
Frameworks are prepackaged shortcuts to solve a problem. Evidence shows that people who think with frameworks consistently outperform those who don’t. We have different frameworks under our belt, like the iterative UX process, Critical User Journeys, Porter’s Five Forces — to name a few. Those frameworks are great starting points; The issue is that real life is more complicated. Not only may the frameworks not be applicable, but if we use one uncritically, we may also accept all the assumptions a framework takes for granted.
To give you a few examples:
Contrary to the perceived linear UX process, design processes may be more complicated and messy in reality. Back-and-forth discussions at the start of a project may make you feel frustrated, like you’re not moving forward. If your team is using the wrong framework, they may have the wrong expectation about when deliverables will be ready, or even worse, undervalue UX. That’s why I appreciate this linear vs. messy framework my skip-level manager introduced to me. Understanding perceived linearity vs. actual mess helps our team set the right expectations and embrace the time we spend in swirling because it teases out all the underlying considerations.
Linear vs. messy design process. The messy one is truer to reality.
At Google, I spend a lot of time understanding problem spaces and evaluating solutions. A key problem-solving capability I learned recently is top-down critical thinking and bottom-up creative thinking. Both skills make me more fluent in problem solving. For example, if I want to propose a new feature, I can use the critical thinking framework to do the analysis by myself, thinking through the value for different users, the risks, and feasibility. Then I can show my thought process to my team. With the creative thinking framework, people can propose new ideas and collectively decide which way forward is best.
Both top-down critical thinking and bottom-up creative thinking make me more fluent in problem solving.
3. Respect external factors
At one point, I felt stagnant and disillusioned. One project I spent a whole year on was discarded. I learned a lot, but I didn’t have much to show for my performance review. My insecurities grew as I questioned, “Am I growing? Did I really do something I’m proud of?” I considered transferring to another team.
But this change turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The following project had wider scope, bigger impact, and more resources. Now, I feel more energized, hopeful, and excited.
This was an aha moment for me: I realized success is not always under my control. External factors matter. When we fail, we can recognize what’s out of our control and detach ourselves from failure. By respecting external factors, we become more resilient and trusting towards the learning process.
When things don’t go your way—if a project fails or you don’t get the promotion you wanted — try this thought process. First, accept your feelings (“I feel deflated”). Investigate why you’re feeling this way (“I work so hard, but I don’t get recognized.”). De-identify with that experience (“Whether this project launches or not is beyond my control. I did my best to empower my team.”). And revisit your aspirations (“I’m improving every day. Looking back, I grew hugely.”). Check out this talk: 5 Hindrances to Self-Mastery, to learn more.
Two years ago, I attributed getting into Google to hard work; I hadn’t appreciated the numerous external opportunities that helped me grow. Now I’m grateful for what I once took for granted.
I realized the importance of timing and people for success.
I understand more deeply the influence my colleagues have on me. I value the responsibilities they share, and their trust in me regardless of my years of experience. I see how the people I work with have cleared obstacles and empowered me to be the best I can be.
This, in a larger perspective, is the power of culture. Culture is like the water to a fish. I don’t realize when I’m swimming in it. But in retrospect, I see how I feel comfortable to be authentic to myself in a healthy environment. I feel supported and heard even in this pandemic. I’m given endless opportunities to make a difference.
External factors, like timing, people, and culture, help me grow beyond my own hard work. Respecting those factors means recognizing them, and being more thoughtful towards what’s worked well throughout the seasons to help me reach my full potential. | https://medium.com/google-design/learnings-from-a-junior-designer-at-google-fe271dcf4c3e | ['Lola Jiang'] | 2020-08-12 18:50:45.747000+00:00 | ['Management', 'Design Process', 'Self Improvement', 'Career Advice', 'UX'] |
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However, when Wilson “Kingpin” Fiskuses as a super collider, another Captive State from another dimension, Peter Parker, accidentally ended up in the Miles dimension.
When Peter trained the Miles to get better, Spider-Man: No Way Home, they soon joined four other A Spider-Man: No Way Home from across the “Spider-Verse”. Because all these conflicting dimensions begin to destroy Brooklyn, Miles meet help others stop Fisk and return everyone to their own dimensions.
the industry’s biggest impact is on the DVD industry, which effectively met its destruction by mass popularizing online content. The emergence of streaming media has caused the fall of many DVD rental companies such as Blockbuster. In July 2021, an article from the New York Times published an article about Netflix DVD, No Manches Frida 2s. It was stated that Netflix was continuing their DVD No. No Frida 2s with 5.3 million customers, which was a significant decrease from the previous year. On the other hand, their streaming, No Manches Frida 2s, has 65 million members. In a March 2021 study that assessed “The Impact of movies of Streaming on Traditional DVD Movie Rentals” it was found that respondents did not buy DVD movies nearly as much, if ever, because streaming had taken over the market.
So we get more space adventures, more original story material and more about what will make this 21st MCU movie different from the previous 20 MCU films.
Watch Spider-Man: No Way Home, viewers don’t consider the quality of movies to differ significantly between DVDs and online streaming. Problems that according to respondents need to be improved by streaming movies including fast for us ding or rewinding functions, and search functions. This article highlights that streaming quality movies as an industry will only increase in time, because advertising revenues continue to soar on an annual basis across industries, providing incentives for the production of quality content.
He is someone we don’t see happening. Still, Brie Larson’s resume is impressive. The actress has been playing on TV and film sets since she was 11 years old. One of those confused with Swedish player Alicia Vikander (Tomb Raider) won an Oscar in 2016. She was the first Marvel movie star with a female leader. . And soon, he will play a CIA agent in a movies commissioned by Apple for his future platform. The movies he produced together.
Unknown to the general public in 2016, this “neighbor girl” won an Academy Ausd for best actress for her poignant appearance in the “Room”, the true story of a woman who was exiled with her child by predators. He had overtaken Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Lawrence, both of them hadAus out of statues, but also Charlotte Rampling and Saoirse Ronan.
Watch Spider-Man: No Way Home Movie Online Blu-rayor Bluray rips directly from Blu-ray discs to 1080p or 720p Torrent Full Movie (depending on source), and uses the x264 codec. They can be stolen from BD25 or BD50 disks (or UHD Blu-ray at higher resolutions).
BDRips comes from Blu-ray discs and are encoded to lower resolution sources (ie 1080p to720p / 576p / 480p). BRRip is a video that has been encoded at HD resolution usually 1080p) which is then transcribed to SD resolution. Watch Spider-Man: No Way Home The BD / BRRip Movie in DVDRip resolution looks better, however, because the encoding is from a higher quality source.
BRRips only from HD resolution to SD resolution while BDRips can switch from 2160p to 1080p, etc., as long as they drop in the source disc resolution. Watch Spider-Man: No Way Home Movie Full BDRip is not transcode and can move down for encryption, but BRRip can only go down to SD resolution because they are transcribed.
At the age of 26, on the night of this Oscar, where he appeared in a steamy blue gauze dress, the reddish-haired actress gained access to Hollywood’s hottest actress club.
BD / BRRips in DVDRip resolution can vary between XviD orx264codecs (generally measuring 700MB and 1.5GB and the size of DVD5 or DVD9: 4.5GB or 8.4GB) which is larger, the size fluctuates depending on the length and quality of release, but increasingly the higher the size, the more likely they are to use the x264 codec.
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We begin at the beginning: It’s a lovely, late spring day in Smalltown USA. A tall, lanky man — let’s call him Lee Abbott — gets out of his truck and ducks into a small general store on Main Street. He walks through the aisles, past a shelf full of toy space shuttles, and grabs some bottles of water and snacks. The owner argues with a customer as Lee nods and whizzes out the door. In the background, news reports mention unusual phenomena happening in various cities.
At a Little League game already in full swing (sorry), Lee’s school-age son Marcus is warming up in the dugout. The rest of the Abbotts, including Lee’s wife Evelyn, his hearing-impaired daughter Regan and the youngest, Beau, are enjoying the game. Lee trades a few words with the man sitting behind him, the kind of guy who rolls his sleeves up past his biceps sans irony. His son is playing as well. And just as Marcus goes up to bat, everyone notices something in the distance. Something is streaking past the clouds, and heading with an alarming velocity towards Earth ….
You should soak in the prologue that kicks off Spider-Man: No Way Home: F9, John Krasinski’s follow-up to his out-of-nowhere 2018 hit — it’s a brilliant watch-the-skies movie in miniature, filled with lack-of-sound and fury, and it distills everything that made the original so unique and exhilarating into a single set piece. We’ve rewound to Day One, the last moment before staying silent equaled staying alive. The bewildered crowd has no sooner gathered on Main Street then those aliens, the ones that answer the eternal question “what would it look like if a daddy-long-legs spider mated with Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors,” make their presence known. Havoc ensues.
Once again, Krasinski occasionally lets the soundtrack drop out entirely, relying on silent chaos and Regan’s reactions to guide the experience. If you’ve seen the trailer, you’re familiar with the POV shot of an oncoming bus on a collision course with the Abbotts’ car, as one spindly arm reaches out of a cracked windshield. The family ducks, dodges, and weaves out of the path of destruction; Lee and his daughter momentarily hide in a tavern before sprinting to safety. Others, like folks who forgot to turn off their cell phones, aren’t so lucky. Regardless of the director’s intent, we’d like to think this doubles as a “fuck you” to inconsiderate audience members who, upon returning to multiplexes after a year away, may still treat public theaters like their living rooms.
Speaking of which: It’s this early, standalone mash-up of Norman Rockwell’s Americana and straight-outta-Heinlein cosmic carnage that reminds you why we’ve been so anxious to return to those shared spaces in the dark. Like a countless other films big and small, Spider-Man: No Way Home: F9 was set to be released last year before a real-life nightmare overtook the fictional ones we consider escapism. An opening salvo of everyday life interrupted by an out-of-nowhere threat, which then escalates quickly into emergency measures and confusion, plays slightly differently near the midpoint of 2021. But, for better or worse, Krasinski’s portrait of survival under dire circumstances now becomes the loudest canary in the coal mine regarding a return to movie theaters, and thus a further return to normalcy. Part II‘s kickoff gives you thrills-spills-chills mayhem that would play well in any space. See it in a room with dozens of people shrieking, and the sequence is a concentrated dose of joyful delirium.
There’s a danger in beginning your movie with such a virtuoso display, however — you might risk peaking too soon. (Just ask Zack Snyder.) After the rush of this Spider-Man: No Way Home, we’re whisked back to the present, a.k.a. minutes after the first movie’s climax. Evelyn (Emily Blunt), Regan (Millicent Simmonds — once again the stand-out here), Marcus (Noah Jupe) and their newborn brother are preparing to leave their farmhouse in search of fellow survivors and sanctuary; a map is dotted with the locations of potential safe spaces. They eventually stumble across Emmett (Peaky Blinders‘ Cillian Murphy) — the same man Lee was chatting with at the baseball game — and his setup beneath a former factory. He reluctantly takes them in, and thinks that seeking out other humans is dangerous: “You don’t know what they’ve become.” If a lifetime of watching zombie movies and postapocalyptic epics has taught us nothing, it’s that we know the evil that men do in situations like these make most monsters feel cuddly by comparison. The haggard gent has a point.
Still, Regan persists. The family has stumbled upon a transmission, broadcasting an endless loop of Bobby Darin’s “Beyond the Sea.” She senses a clue in the title: Look for an island, and there’s your Eden. Evelyn wants to stay put, collect their bearings and let an injured Marcus heal. Her daughter takes off in the dead of night, against Mom’s wishes. Emmett goes after her, initially to bring her back. But there may be something to this young woman’s idea that, somewhere out there, a brighter tomorrow is but a boat ride away.
From here, Krasinski and his below-the-line dream team — shoutouts galore to composer Marco Beltrami, cinematographer Polly Morgan and (especially) editor Michael P. Shawver, as well as the CGI-creature crew — toggle between several planes of action. Regan and Emmett on the road. Evelyn on a supply run. Marcus and the baby back home, evading creepy-crawly predators. Some nail-biting business involving oxygen tanks, gasoline, a dock, a radio station and a mill’s furnace, which has been converted to temporary panic room, all come into play. Nothing tops that opening sequence, naturally, and you get the sense that Krasinski & Co. aren’t trying to. He’s gone on record as saying that horror was always a means to an end for him, though he certainly knows how to sustain tension and use the frame wisely in the name of scares. The former Office star was more interested in audiences rooting for this family. His chips are on you caring enough about the Abbotts to follow them anywhere.
And yet, after that go-for-broke preamble, it’s hard not to feel like Spider-Man: No Way Home: F9 is all dressed up and, even with its various inter-game missions and boss-level fights, left with nowhere really to go. If the first film doubled as a parenting parable, this second one concerns the pains of letting someone leave the nest, yet even that concept feels curiously unexplored here. Ditto the idea that, when it comes to the social contract under duress, you will see the best of humanity and, most assuredly, the worst — a notion that not even Krasinski, who made Part 1 in the middle of the Trump era, could have guessed would resonate far more more loudly now. (What a difference a year, and a global pandemic followed by an political insurrection, makes.) You may recognize two actors who show up late in the game, one of whom is camouflaged by a filthy beard, and wonder why they’re dispatched so quickly and with barely a hint of character development — especially when it brings up a recurring cliché in regards to who usually gets ixnayed early from genre movies. Unless, of course, it’s a feint and they’re merely waiting in the wings, ready for more once the next chapter drops. Which brings us to the movie’s biggest crime.
Without giving any specifics away (though if you’re sensitive to even the suggestion of spoilers, bye for now), Spider-Man: No Way Home: F9 ends on a cliffhanger. A third film, written and directed by Midnight Special‘s Jeff Nichols, is in the works. And while many follow-ups to blockbusters serve as bridges between a beginning and an ending — some of which end up being superior to everything before/after it — there’s something particularly galling about the way this simply, abruptly stops dead in its tracks. No amount of clever formalism or sheer glee at being back in a movie theater can enliven a narrative stalled in second gear, and no amount of investment in these family members can keep you from feeling like you’ve just sat through a placeholder, a time-killer.
A Quiet Place was a riff on alien invasion movies with chops and a heart, a lovely self-contained genre piece that struck a chord. Part II feels like just another case of sequel-itis, something designed to metastasize into just another franchise among many. Just get through this, it says, and then tune in next year, next summer, next financial quarter statement or board-meeting announcement, for the real story. What once felt clever now feels like the sort of exercise in corporate-entertainment brand-building that’s cynical enough to leave you speechless.
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REFLECTIONS #1057: “Mary, our Loving Mother” – Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of B.V.M. | REFLECTIONS #1057: “Mary, our Loving Mother” – Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of B.V.M.
Gospel
Lk 1:26-38
Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke
The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”
But Mary said to the angel,
“How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?”
And the angel said to her in reply,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God.”
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her.
At the end of the Gospel, the Deacon, or the Priest, acclaims:
The Gospel of the Lord.
All reply:
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Reflections:
A Happy and Blessed Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary! Today we celebrate the conception of Mary in the womb of Saint Anne. Nine months later, on September 8, the Church will celebrate the birth of Mary.
Why is this feast so important? This is one of the four dogmas of our church about Mary. Dogma means, it cannot be replaced or cannot be erased forever. This is absolute truth and nothing can change it. Even before the suffering, death, and resurrection of his Son Jesus, God had granted Mary the state of sinless. She was born without original sin and never sinned her whole life. Because His Son Jesus is the Holy of holies, He deserves to have a mother of who is also holy and sinless, the fountain of grace, the purest of all and without blemish.
Simply put, the best mother God could have and He could create because He is All-Powerful. That perfect mother is Mary. Mary is saved from any weaknesses and ordinary faults we have as sinners. So we can say that Mary is closer to Jesus than she is to us. She is our bridge to Jesus and the best mediator between us and her Son Jesus - more than all angels and saints.
But like us humans, Mary also experienced emotions. She was confused at first but did not doubt the vocation revealed to her by the Angel Gabriel - her motherhood to God. After that she trusted God’s plan for her. Although it seemed impossible, she believed everything was possible. Mary gave herself completely to the Lord. She knew God’s plan and gave herself for it.
How many of us desire to imitate Mary in our daily lives? She was the first disciple of God. She is the best way to follow Christ. Her trust, courage, and devotion to the Lord is incomparable. Even until the cross and death of our Lord. Yes, like Mary, we can give ourselves to the Lord every day. Every day, even though we are sinners, we could receive the grace we need from God to live a holy life. That we may avoid sin and carry out His plan for us that is the best of all.
Let us ask the Lord, why were we born? What is our purpose here on earth? From this, we can also discover our vocation in life - our mission from God. May we, like Mary, discover our vocation and do everything to fulfill it. Let us give our whole being to God. Because no one who trusts in Him is disappointed. No one who gives to God is wasted.
Everything makes sense and is turned to an even more beautiful and bigger cause. He brings everything back even more. Most of all, He can take us to heaven, to the eternal life for those who choose to bear the Cross, hear the Word of God and do it. May we ask for the help of Mary, our mother. She will guide us to Jesus and we will not go astray or go anywhere. As our loving mother, who watches over us on earth, she will tenderly embrace us in our sorrows and lead us to her Son Jesus until we reunite with them in heaven. Amen. +
May we reflect on this. Amen. +
God bless you!
Reflections by Frances Mary Margaret D.J.
© Gospel Readings: iBreviary App. Download for free. | https://medium.com/@margamary/reflections-1057-mary-our-loving-mother-solemnity-of-the-immaculate-conception-of-b-v-m-d32b1f69f438 | ['Marga Mary'] | 2020-12-09 04:32:24.438000+00:00 | ['Spirituality', 'Catholic Church', 'Reflections', 'Faith', 'Catholic'] |
Reading autobiographies we get to learn about the subjects’ almost entire lifetime, in just a few… | Reading autobiographies we get to learn about the subjects’ almost entire lifetime, in just a few sittings taken to complete the reading.
And your story provided the nectar oozed off, not 1 but 10 Pulitzer Writers’ -sort of a black-hole I discovered on Writers Milky Way, which I would like naming : Linda’sWriteMessier.
Witness my beehive:
Author’s Noting on Story
Thanks and keep oozing.. bees shall keep buzzing for more.. | https://medium.com/@faengvykm/reading-autobiographies-we-get-to-learn-about-the-subjects-almost-entire-lifetime-in-just-a-few-7835bdeaa021 | ['Mahesh Shroff'] | 2020-12-27 21:31:21.495000+00:00 | ['Medium', 'Stories', 'Writing', 'Pulitzer'] |
Redmi 9 Power Mighty Black 4GB RAM 64GB ROM | Top
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Redmi 9 Power- Power Packed
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48MP quad rear camera, ultra-wide, macro mode, portrait, ai scene recognition, night mode, hdr, pro mode | 8MP front camera
16.58 centimeters (6.53 inch) FHD+ multi-touch capacitive touchscreen with 2340 x 1080 pixels resolution, 394 ppi pixel density and 19.5:9 aspect ratio
Memory, Storage & SIM: 4GB RAM | 64GB internal memory expandable up to 512GB | Dual SIM + Dedicated SD card slot
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1 year manufacturer warranty for device and 6 months manufacturer warranty for in-box accessories including batteries from the date of purchase
Box also includes: Power adapter, usb cable, SIM eject tool, warranty card, user guide and clear soft case
Go-In-Product | https://medium.com/@shivamshukla130397/redmi-9-power-mighty-black-4gb-ram-64gb-rom-c555a4f86cfd | ['Shopping Center'] | 2020-12-23 15:43:00.920000+00:00 | ['Shopping Cart Solutions', 'Shopping', 'Shopify', 'Shopping Offers'] |
SpartanDev: 23/11/20–29/11/20 | The ‘Burn’ phase will soon be closed off with the remaining token distribution allocation being shifted to the ‘bond’ program (Roughly ~45M of 100M SPARTA)
Please see the below article for a more in-depth look at Bond+Mint V1 through to the current V3:
It is important to have deep pools to reduce the amount of slippage on larger trades, therefore the team decided to focus on 3 pools that are most desired by the community.
This week the contributors pushed Version3 of Bond+Mint — A community-crafted solution aiming to complete the initial token distribution whilst also bootstrapping TVL (Total Value Locked) into the pools ready for SpartanSwaps, SpartanSynths and other future features.
Dismiss GitHub is home to over 50 million developers working together to host and review code, manage projects, and…
Dismiss GitHub is home to over 50 million developers working together to host and review code, manage projects, and…
On the Swap page, the buttons for 25%, 50%, 75% and All are not functioning as efficiently as possible, with several…
Dismiss GitHub is home to over 50 million developers working together to host and review code, manage projects, and…
Dismiss GitHub is home to over 50 million developers working together to host and review code, manage projects, and…
The BNB gas calc modal currently grabs the input value (before calcs) Let's change it to the value that is handed to…
Dismiss GitHub is home to over 50 million developers working together to host and review code, manage projects, and…
The Spartan community UI contributors had a quieter week this week, closing off 12 GitHub issues/features on the SpartanPools repo.
SpartanSwap — DApp User Interface
There was no activity in the ‘SpartanSwap’ repo this week. Focus will shift here probably following Bond+Mint & DAO activation.
In the meantime, any community members with some interest and spare time feel free to load up the GitHub and get involved with either developing or adding issues/suggestions.
Next Milestone / Sprint
Bond+Mint V3 — new features opened up with a proper allocation to begin completing token distribution. — Now Live, more allocations to follow
BurnForSparta — The remaining allocations for the BurnForSparta program will be CLOSED and moved to the new Bond+Mint program. — Imminent
DAO — Enabling the DAO. With token distribution winding back up and most of the base-level features now coming to mainnet, it seems like a good time to enable the DAO. Bond+Mint V3 now has a feature for the DAO to vote to enable other tokens for the Bond program.
SpartanSwap — The ‘UniSwap’ style interface making use of the ROUTER smart contract features; swap from one non-SPARTA asset to another non-SPARTA asset.
SpartaSynths — Synthetic assets, lending etc. This is the big feature that most are waiting for, however we must be patient and establish a strong base with deep pools and wide token distribution before this can work in a big way.
Road Map
Spartan Events
Community Contribution
SpartanProtocol at is at its core a community driven and led project. In this vein the more contributors the better, there is a great opportunity for community members to contribute by making LP reward analysis tools etc.
If you have an idea share it in the community channels.
Engage with the community and developers
What to find out all the latest updates or suggest improvements — get involved. | https://medium.com/spartanprotocol/spartandev-23-11-20-29-11-20-66da6cbedf49 | [] | 2020-11-30 05:08:13.639000+00:00 | ['Binance', 'Binance Smart Chain', 'Defi', 'Metamask'] |
Are Brands Essential? | Relief
From finances to resources, the following brands are providing much needed relief to healthcare workers, restaurant workers and the like.
Fanatics/MLB and Bauer Hockey
Lauren Pennline, Studio Coordinator
These non-essential businesses found a way to continue employing people through our wildly uncertain times by repurposing their factories, equipment and materials to create some of the most essential equipment needed for those on the pandemic’s front lines — Fanatics making gowns and masks; Bauer making face shields. I think that’s pretty rad.
The Wally Shop
Hua Chen, Freelance Designer
One brand I’m seeing that is standing stall during this crisis is The Wally Shop, which sped up their brand rollout to provide dry goods nationwide, donate to Feeding America, and provide free shipping for seniors and healthcare & emergency workers.
Cristian Siriano
Debra Katz-Velazquez, Controller
Cristian Siriano stands out to me. When Governor Cuomo first discussed the shortage of masks and supplies for our health care workers, he had his team create 1,500 masks with materials they already had. They just finished another 5,000 (in gorgeous colors!) and they’re still at it. Plus they have done this with little fanfare. Siriano isn’t a huge fashion house and I am impressed with what he and his team have done in a short period of time.
Kyo Pang and Moonlynn Tsai of Kopitiam
Wednesday Krus, Design Director
They stepped up, paid their team of 20 in full for all of their hours during closures, changed their operation to a two-person team, and transformed their restaurant’s kitchen into a 300-meal relief hub for low income and elderly neighbors.
Sqirl, now operating as Framily
Sarah, Senior Designer
Sqirl is a local — designer eye candy; look up their plates — cafe located in LA that has turned its restaurant into a relief kitchen. Now operating as Framily Meal, it’s offering free meals to out-of-work hospitality workers in the area. Sqirl is a simple reminder that your community is your f(r)amily!
Restaurant Workers Relief
Whitney, Design Operations Manager
I’ve been impressed by how restaurants and brands in the hospitality industry have come together to form the Restaurant Workers Relief program with outposts throughout the city.
Advocacy
Leading the advocacy charge are individuals thinking bigger than their brands, who have become the voices of their industries and who garner aid for people.
David Chang
Shivani Gorle, Cultural Strategist
From day one, he has spoken up about how coronavirus is battering the restaurant industry and demanded that part of the federal stimulus plan go to help it. As the daughter of an independent restaurant owner, I empathize with the incredibly difficult position he is in — carry on with business as usual and risk employees’ health during the pandemic or shut down his far-flung operations altogether. He chose the latter. Moreover, his Momofuku Group started a crowdfunding campaign for all of his employees who need immediate relief as they navigate this crisis.
DJ D Nice
Dylan Stiga, Integrated Brand Strategist
Watching DJ D Nice bring over 150,000 people from around the world together time after time to share in their love of music and dance through his Club Quarantine sets on Instagram Live has been inspiring to see. It’s an example of a “brand” that’s not doing anything different, but that continues to use its skills and tools to help people in the best way it knows how without expecting anything in return. The fact that he also is using his reach to advocate for initiatives like voter registration and healthcare worker relief speaks volumes about his understanding of what he can bring to the table when it matters the most.
Access
These brands have made accessibility a core offering during the pandemic, from connecting us with family, friends and colleagues, to providing us with tools that inform, educate and help us cope.
LEGO Foundation
Nicole Duval, Freelance Strategist
Good citizen brands have prioritized the critical needs of families with children during the quarantine. According to UNESCO, there are more than 1.5 billion school-aged children currently out of school worldwide. LEGO Foundation has launched two educative initiatives for the benefit of families impacted by COVID-19. The first benefits the most vulnerable in refugee camps and war-torn countries as well as children in urban areas by donating US $50 million to ensure they will continue to have access to learning through play. The second initiative is the creation of a platform called #letsbuildtogether across Lego’s social channels to alleviate the level of stress of families during the period of confinement.
Slack, Zoom and Adobe
Sam Barbagiovanni, Design Director
I feel fortunate to be in an industry where I can continue to work from home and carry on routines that are different but still familiar. Yes, my attire might be Sunday vibes 7 days a week and there might be extra trips to the fridge but designing as I would in the office and the brands that are helping me to do so are keeping me sane. So shout out to Slack, Zoom and Adobe for allowing this creature of habit to still connect with her co-workers and get stuff done. Business per usual in an unusually strange time.
Headspace
Dylan Stiga, Integrated Brand Strategist
I’ve never really explored meditation, but as my wife is a nurse she was given free access to the Headspace platform, which provides meditation and anxiety relieving sessions and tools digitally. I found that even sitting through the short 5-minute sessions before work or after has given me a sense of calm to either get through the day or relax at the end. It’s also great to see that it partnered with the NY State Governor’s office on a free New York-tailored platform to help us all cope with our circumstances.
Nicole Duval, Freelance Strategist
The need for a daily ritual at home has increased during this quarantine time and the brand Headspace app has provided me with an internal feeling of relief through mindful meditation. I also recognize the purposed value of this brand, which is giving away free subscriptions to healthcare workers.
UPS
Martha Kirby, Client Services Director
What can brown do for me? Deliver much-needed goods in a time of uncertainty.
Misfits Market
Benjamin Greengrass, Creative Director
This event is exposing several vulnerabilities in our supply chain. With billions of dollars in fresh produce going to waste, our food producers are being forced to reimagine how they operate. In some ways, COVID-19 will accelerate innovation in sectors of the economy that have tolerated inefficiency. We’re privileged to be working with Misfits Market, a food subscription service with a procurement model designed to curb food waste. While few of us could have imagined what we are currently experiencing, its willingness to challenge an inefficient food system has yielded a massive increase in demand. | https://medium.com/thoughtmatter/are-brands-essential-5e714b2263e0 | [] | 2020-04-28 16:58:25.244000+00:00 | ['Small Business', 'Crisis', 'Coronavirus', 'Branding', 'In The Know'] |
What is it Like to be a Crossdresser? | For a long time it was absolute magic, a beautiful broken taboo blooming with fantasy where, in my imagination, I drew a bit closer to being the person I always wanted to be. When I dressed, I felt feminine and pretty, somehow less angry or at odds with the world, softened and comfortable. I felt something akin to the joy one feels when homesickness dissolves into the excitement of knowing you are nearly home. But as one weight lifted from me, it was replaced by a heaviness of heart that the feeling I got dressing wasn’t my reality 24/7. It was an unbearable lightness but I wanted to bottle it up and keep it.
Very often, I would suppress my dressing for months at a time but pervasive fantasies and dreams of turning into a woman, of becoming right, persisted… Those would always intensify until compelled by an overwhelming need to dress. When I did finally give in and do it again, it was a heart pounding rush not at all dissimilar to the first time kissing a crush. I’d see a girl in the street or a photo in a magazine and be filled with shattering dread that I wasn’t like her, I wasn’t in the right body. I’d be filled with an urgency to dress in women’s things. Often, I had purged them and I would need to buy more items, again. If I didn’t do it though, I’d spiral into deep depression. Those thoughts and feelings had been there as long back as my memory stretched but oh, so had the nagging feeling that they were wrong.
Sourced via Google from Archie Comics. Alterations by me
Another way I talk about the need is arriving home after a run that stretched longer than planned, the sort of exercise where one pushed past her limit. She returns ravenous and thirsty, her body screaming for water, sugar, salt and starch all at once. Everything she consumes is so much more pleasurable and satisfying than usual. To eat and drink in that state satiates a profound physical need in a very heightened way. Although the high from the run lingers, you realize you overindulged and after the binge, one feels ashamed and wishes she had a modicum of self control.
Sourced via Google — no source data available.
That describes three decades of my gender transgressing cycle: An emotional binge and purge. But I think it really had nothing to do with self control, it is rather self-denial, the effects of suppression of one’s innermost person. I don’t know why I’m like this, I just am, it’s always been there. The pain stems from the shame, it is refusing to accept one’s true self because culture says it is wrong, taboo for a male to choose to become feminine and ‘lower his social status’, to throw away the privilege of his birthright. As a result, I spent a lot of time hiding, lying and covering my tracks. What triggers the shame and confusion is that it feels perfectly harmless and somehow right yet you know, in the eyes of the world, you are bad for having the thoughts you do, defective for your innermost feelings. But the real problem isn’t so much the world, it is that you believe those things yourself.
Eventually, I broke that cycle in the most unexpected way. I came out to some people close to me and I stoped caring so much what others thought if I still bore remnants of my time en femme: Traces of eye makeup and orange blossom perfume, nails still painted. When one’s shame is given voice and drawn out into the light, shame cannot survive. Now, a lot of what I hid is just something I do everyday without all that much of a buzz. For example, androgynous items I wear to work, the jeans, shirt or flats from the women’s section have just become my clothes, even the underthings and nail varnish, a rather banal part of my dress. For me, that is the trade off of being out; it’s been worth it.
Oh, I do miss the electricity I used to feel when I’d draw the curtains and lock the door, pull on tights, pull up a skirt and step up into heels, the bittersweet longing I’d experience as I’d finish my makeup with mascara and then lipstick, knowing I’d have to wash it all off in a couple of hours. Then came the day, around 35, I gave in and admitted my face had aged so squarely masculine, my beard shadow so dark, I could no longer look reasonably feminine. I had to shift my approach, give up attempting to look like a woman. I’d always looked at my reflection and felt the person looking back at me wasn’t me but at least I had been able to transform that face and make it up it into a somewhat convincing semblance of congruence.
Often, in that twilight moment in the early morning, between the world of dream and wakefulness, before the tasks of the day enter my consciousness, all seems fleetingly as it should be. It is a warm, comfortable, deep glow of potential and excitement that swiftly dissolves into the background. A white noise phases in as reality settles over me. ‘One day,’ I think, ‘I shall roll out of bed, startled awake and realize it was all a dream and I really am a pale, raven-haired girl named Antonia and like Virginia Wolfe’s Orlando, I will be matter-of-factly underwhelmed by the reality of it: ‘Same person. No difference at all… just a different sex.’ …or is it perhaps more Talking Heads — ‘same as it ever was?’ | https://medium.com/the-shadow/what-is-it-like-to-be-a-crosdresser-56a2300bbc9 | ['Antoni A', 'Deziak Ceballos'] | 2021-08-06 23:31:43.242000+00:00 | ['LGBTQ', 'Equality', 'Crossdressing', 'Gender Identity', 'Transgender'] |
What Do We Really Know About Viking Berserkers? | What Do We Really Know About Viking Berserkers?
Apparently, not a lot.
When we think of the ancient Norse, we typically conjure up visions of Vikings. Those brutal and ruthless raiders who stole, raped, and pillaged with reckless abandon. Yet, not all Norsemen were like that. Many of them were peaceful farmers, just minding their own business and trying to make a living.
And then there were the berserkers.
. . . a demoniacal frenzy suddenly took him; he furiously bit and devoured the edges of his shield; he kept gulping down fiery coals; he snatched live embers in his mouth and let them pass down into his entrails; he rushed through the perils of crackling fires; and at last, when he had raved through every sort of madness, he turned his sword with raging hand against the hearts of six of his champions. It is doubtful whether this madness came from thirst for battle or natural ferocity. . -Saxo Grammaticus
Insane? Maybe. Peace-loving? Probably not.
Grotesque and violent, berserkers were known for their fierce rage. They’d howl like wild animals, foam at the mouth, then charge without fear into the throes of battle. It was said neither fire nor iron could harm them. Some say they were elite menacing warriors that struck fear in friend and foe alike. Others say they were marauders who went around attacking innocent farmers, taking their crops and women.
Yet, beyond their crazy behavior, what do we know about them? How did they become berserkers, and what made them so crazy? Unfortunately, it’s a question that brings a lot of debate.
What’s in a name?
Apparently a lot if the name is berserker. Some say the name translates to bare of shirt, while others say bear shirt.
The “bare of shirt” camp believes the name comes from either their total lack of attire or possibly just lack of protection. Running towards one's enemy entirely in the buff would be a powerful method of psychological attack. It showed the opposition the berserker's complete disregard for personal safety and belief in their own invulnerability.
On top of that, the “bare of shirts” claim trying to fight in a bearskin would be just plain stupid. It would be too cumbersome and too hot. ( Evidently, these people have never heard of medieval armor.)
The “bear” camp believe wearing bearskins endowed the berserker with all the qualities of the animal, especially its ferocious and wild nature. Along with berserkers, there were ulfhedinn or “wolf-coats , and svinfylking, or boar warriors. Associating with animals was, therefore, a common theme. Not only that, but berserkers were also associated with shape-shifters and were said to actually transform into the animal. Hrolf’s Saga tells us about a berserker name Bjarki:
Men saw that a great bear went before King Hrolf’s men, keeping always near the king. He slew more men with his forepaws than any five of the king’s champions. Blades and weapons glanced off him, and he brought down both men and horses in King Hjorvard’s forces, and everything which came in his path he crushed to death with his teeth, so that panic and terror swept through King Hjorvard’s army…”
Answers in art?
Early depictions of berserkers, such as the iron age Golden Horns found near Møgeltønder, show semi-naked men with weapons and, believe it or not, horned helmets.
Similarly, a metal stamp from Sweden features a berserker naked except for his helmet, belt, and sword. However, there are images depicting them in bearskins as well, like this image of a warrior dressed in animal skins and mask from the Torslunda helmet plate.
wikipedia
Crazed Killers Wanted — Apply Within
To become a berserker, a warlord would take into his care young aristocratic boys who would be trained as an elite troop or bodyguard.
Probably the boy would be harassed and humiliated as a means of roughing him up. At some point, he is put under the tutelage of another berserker who teaches him military techniques and battle tactics. To culminate the training, the boy must kill a wild animal. He then receives not only the animal’s skin but inherits all its animalistic qualities.
Membership in the war-band brought certain perks. Of course, there were the “I’m a badass” bragging rights. More then that, however, a berserker became part of the lord’s family. His food, drink, and weapons were at the lord's expense.
He also got to take part in lavish feasts and received a portion of the treasure and war booty. In return, a berserker gave the lord his unwavering loyalty.
lf looks could kill
If your conjuring images of a Chris Hemsworth type Thor, just get it out of your head right now.
Whatever their physical appearance, it was deliberately styled to induce fear. The sagas say these guys were pretty darn ugly and often mistaken for trolls. The Skallagrímsonar saga says one was so ugly he was given a gold ring by an English king just to make him stop looking at him.
A piece from the Lewis chessman. Notice the shield biting (Wikipedia)
Going berserkergang
The crazy animal-like rage these guys worked themselves into was known as berserkergang.
The condition was said to begin with shivering, chattering teeth, body chills, color changes, and swelling in the face. This built into a rage in which they howled like wild animals and did all those other crazy things like eating their shields and swallowing hot coals.
When the fighting was over, berserkers were said to drop to the ground, unable to move until their strength was recovered.
There are many theories as to how this happened. Some say it was drug-induced, mostly naming the psychedelic mushroom Amanita muscaria as the culprit. It’s said to cause hallucinations and psychophysiological effects consistent with those described in Norse sagas.
Others think these guys were drunk, had bad genes, mental illness, or even rabies. Dr. Armando Simon argued for something called Blind Rage Syndrome. The symptoms include a violent reaction to physical, emotional, or visual insult, abnormal strength, target-oriented violence, and a complete lack of memory of what was done during the period of violence.
Then there’s the ritual induced altered state theory. Berserkers were Odin’s men, and Odin was the source for all battle frenzy. It was a gift he shared with his warriors. It’s likely then, that part of the warrior's preparation included shamanic practices such as fasting, weapons dances, exposure to extreme heat, and entering a trance-like state. It wouldn’t be unusual for this to involve drugs or alcohol as well.
The Berserker retirement plan
Death in battle was thought of as a reward. It meant you got a right-hand seat in Valhalla by Odin’s side.
So what happened to those who managed to live? What does one do as a retired berserker? Being old and dying of some sickness was certainly far from the glory of death in battle. Living past your fighting prime was almost a slap in the face from Odin. In fact, the Ynglinga Saga relates how women made fun of the old and now decrepit warrior Egil Skalla-Grimsson.
So what was a guy to do? Take his life, that’s what. Or have someone take it for him. Saxo Grammaticus tells the story of Starkhother, who asks a fellow warrior to decapitate him so he could avoid the horrors of old age.
Another hero went for a public hanging. This was considered self-sacrifice to Odin who, among his other titles, was also Lord of the Gallows and god of the hanged.
No one really knows how common this practice was since most of what we know of it is through literary narration. Odin, however, was said by the Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson to stab himself with a spear to avoid a natural death.
Berserkers gone wild(er)
So what about the sources that say berserkers were just bad guys who went around attacking the innocent and taking people's women? How could these guys be aristocratic elites? After all, just look at what Saxo says about them:
So outrageous and unrestrained were their ways that they ravished other men’s wives and daughters; they seemed to have outlawed chastity and driven it to the brothel. Nor did they stop at married women but also debauched the beds of virgins. No man’s bridal-chamber was safe; scarcely any place in the land was free from the imprints of their lust — Gesta Danorum
This outlaw image probably stems from later traditions. The idea of berserkers as a king's bodyguards goes back to the 8th century. Both Saxo and Snorri wrote in the 13th century which complicates the matter even further.
Once Christianity arrived, guys going nuts under the influence of a pagan god weren’t so well received anymore. Berserkers were outlawed by Jarl Eiríkr Hákonarson of Norway in 1215. It’s possible later so-called berserkers were just bandits who appropriated the name.
Snorri said another thing. He said people make mistakes and others correct them, so everyone has something to do. By the looks of it, people will be busy arguing and correcting information about the Berserkers for a long time to come.
Sources:
Viking Warriors, Ben Hubbard
The psychology of the Berserkers: Going berserk, Owen Rees
Transforming Warriors: The Ritual Organization of Military Force (chapter 4 Nordberg and Wallenstein)
https://mythology.net/norse/norse-creatures/berserker/
https://militaryhistorynow.com/2018/08/23/going-berserk-eight-wild-facts-about-the-viking-ages-most-fearsome-warriors/
https://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/others/berserkers-and-other-shamanic-warriors/
https://blog.oup.com/2008/08/berserk/
http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/berserke.shtml
https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/viking-berserkers-fierce-warriors-or-drug-fuelled-madmen-001472
https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/weapons/berserkers/ | https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/what-do-we-really-know-about-viking-berserkers-af0a4b4d0788 | ['Nicol Valentin'] | 2020-04-05 23:54:05.337000+00:00 | ['War', 'Norse Mythology', 'History Of Culture', 'History', 'Vikings'] |
Can you think of hiring a team instead of hiring an individual resource? | Talent Acquisition is one of the key challenges in modern organizations. Many organizations face increasingly complex business operations, people-intensive business process or high attrition level, which makes the talent acquisition problem especially cumbersome. Not surprisingly, significant research effort has been devoted to analyzing and automating parts of the talent acquisition process. In particular, sourcing of candidates and screening them automatically for interviews has been the focus of multiple recent commercial(1) and research projects(2).
Although sourcing and screening of individual candidates is one of the central topics in talent acquisition, most business operations need a team of employees with different job descriptions (JD). Creating a cohesive team is often necessary for efficient business operations. With this context of the team hiring problem, I got involved in the system design.
The team hiring problem has two main aspects. First, for each job description in the team, the available set of candidates needs to be ranked with respect to the role, to aid in screening by the hiring manager. Second, given a possible team formation, one needs to evaluate how effective the group of candidates will be as a team. However, the most important among all is to ensure the team has a great relationship and professional cohesiveness.
In this project, we designed an interactive decision support system for selecting a team of candidates for a given set of job descriptions such that, not only are the selected candidates suitable for their respective job descriptions, but also the formed team is as cohesive or compatible as possible. | https://medium.com/theactofux/can-you-think-of-hiring-a-team-instead-of-individual-resources-aa48ba2d75dc | ['Jyotirmaya Mahapatra'] | 2019-03-26 14:42:39.754000+00:00 | ['Human Resources', 'Hiring', 'User Experience', 'Decision Support Systems', 'Interaction Design'] |
I Wished I Had Been Born a Boy Part II | I think I need to start at the beginning — literally at the very beginning — with the title from the original post last year.
‘I Wished I Had Been Born a Boy’
Read the title again; I ‘Wished’ I Had Been Born a Boy
I can’t begin to tell you how many people read that title then only skimmed the article — never fully understanding the point I made within the first few lines.
As a child — possibly throughout my entire adolescence I had wished — special emphasis on the word ‘wished’ I had been born a boy.
I don’t still wish this — I wished it back when I also wished I could be a veterinarian, a fireman, a cowboy or the next ‘Tanya Tucker.’ when I grew up.
What I want to be when I grow up!
I was thankful to have grown up then — rather than now. So I had the chance to not only choose between a career as a cowboy or fireman but to grow through the awkwardness of adolescence without being assaulted by the psychopathic motives of gender activism.
Since writing the original Word Press Blog almost a year ago I have heard from countless people across the country.
The original article has been viewed nearly a million times from several different sites and sources and is still being shared and read. (Thank you)
Many are just like me.
They had the same experiences I had and eventually grew to fully embrace their ‘assigned gender.’
They got married, had kids — but stayed a ‘tomboy’ or ‘sissy’ at heart.
Others chose to go it alone — and maybe ‘chose’ is the wrong word.
My beautiful friend Sandi! Still waiting on Mr. Wonderful! Qualified applicants for Mr. W’s job can write me to inquire — If deemed suitable I will forward them to Mariah on the left and Tiko on the right — for closer scrutiny.
They fully expected to one day marry but never found that special someone — they are not gay — regardless of what people think — but they choose to live alone often times because of what people might think.
Some don’t care at all what people ‘might think’ and while they also are not gay they don’t live alone.
Both groups often have close friends and companions they love dearly — much like the love we saw between David and Jonathan in the Old Testament.
Others struggle still with identity but most I corresponded with have worked through the struggle to love themselves.
A few reached out and told me they still have strong gender issues. Most were men that felt society gave allowances for ‘tomboys’ that did not transfer to feminine ( sissy) men.
I heard from many who cautioned me not to confuse gay with gender identity — yet many with gender identity had sexual identity issues as well.
And yes some declared that just as I had supposed in the first post — they at a time of vulnerability and loneliness felt the adolescent flutters when touched by someone of the same sex and they simply assumed from that moment on they were destined to be in a same sex relationship.
I share all of this to say one thing — have we lost our minds?
Do we honestly think transgender laws and restrooms will compensate for the deafening cry to be noticed / cared about / loved / and dare I say it? To know God and gain an understanding of why any of us are here in the first place?
If you are someone struggling with gender issues I will pray for you — I will be your friend — I will help you all I can.
In America you can be anyone you want to be and I applaud that.
Please be free! Be anything you choose as long as it does not break my leg nor pick my pocket and I will love you.
Hear me — I will love you more than you can ever imagine!
I will be the person that does not stare at you because you look, act or seem different.
I will be the person who will sit by you and talk with you — hug you — laugh with you — and if you allow me — pray with you.
It is what Christ made me to be — it is all I know.
I can’t be anything else.
And if you would just stop for a moment and seek out the true followers of Jesus Christ you would see the only enemy you face is the one He defeated over 2000 years ago.
I don’t have an easy answer for you.
But I simply can’t imagine that forcing me to go to the bathroom with a guy that is not comfortable being a guy is going to make things any better for you — and how dare you ask me to try and explain that to a child.
Just as I will love and respect you I ask you to love and respect me.
I want to help you if I can.
More and more we are seeing single family restrooms being made available where anyone can go and be on their own — away from scrutiny.
I hope those options will be made available in schools where kids are the most vulnerable.
But we all know for a teen dealing with the awkwardness of gender identity — forced acceptance only feels like a victory momentarily.
Once the dust settles and the guards have gone — the shallow feeling of victory will be replaced again with the same old awkwardness and resentment that nothing has really changed.
The only true way forward is to not seek acceptance of others for your self-esteem and comfort but to find it within yourself in the perfect creation you were born and I believe God created you to be.
You can check out more of my story in:
‘Jesse’ A True Story of Redemption. Now also available as an ebook.
Contact me at lavernvivio.com
God Bless!
LaVern Vivio
May 1, 2016 | https://medium.com/autonomous/i-wished-i-had-been-born-a-boy-part-ii-34620e9a51b9 | ['Lavern Vivio'] | 2016-05-03 22:30:52.807000+00:00 | ['Culture', 'Transgender', 'Political Correctness'] |
“YOUR BODY HEARS EVERYTHING YOUR MIND SAYS”. | The first thing you need to do is to check what your daily caloric deficit should be.
You can go here and check that Here.
Being at a daily caloric deficit is the most important factor that determines if you will succeed or fail.
You could eat clean, watch your diet and exercise daily… BUT… if you’re at a caloric surplus, you will never see your weight drop.
This is the reason why so many people struggle to lose weight and never see progress. so kindly see this weight lose diet without exercise .
So, what is a caloric deficit?
It simply means a shortage in the amount of calories consumed relative to the amount of calories required for maintenance of current body weight.
In other words, you’re consuming fewer calories than your body uses. Now your body has no choice but to tap into its fat stores for fuel.
This is the only way you will deplete your body’s fat stores and lose weight.
Ideally, you should aim for around a 500-calorie deficit daily.
You don’t need to obsess over the numbers and aim for perfection . As long as you’re within the 400 to 600 range, you’ll be just fine and lose weight steadily.
In order to know your calories, you can visit official website | https://medium.com/@gkacademy6/your-body-hears-everything-your-mind-says-1c890fba6f78 | [] | 2021-11-25 06:14:22.583000+00:00 | ['Lose Weight Naturally', 'Weight Loss', 'Health', 'How To Lose Weight Fast', 'Fat Burning Foods'] |
Day 9 — Retrieve Data with HTTP Query and jSon process data | ,
Hello 💙
Today, we continue where we left off with you. There is data that can be processed on more than one internet. There is no point in creating them from scratch, we can use our resources as given in our applications. There are multiple ways to do them. Sometimes it is not the number of available people that matter. to determine the usage areas of our data.
We will have three (3) basic stages for these.
- Teaching the data bus into the application,
- Creating modeling so that the data can be viewed in the application,
- Displaying the data to the interface within the application,
Even though it sees a lot of logic when it is written and explained, you need to be aware of some processes so let’s do this period comfortably, then let’s start.
Let’s briefly look at the folder structure of our application,
It is valued in the Lib folder in our main file structure.
Now let’s create the contents of our other files with you.
First, let’s create a structure that we call the opening or welcome screen.
This structure will be created to direct the Home page or the desired screen,
For this, let’s create it with a package tirelessly.
This Package
We define our package in pubspec.yaml in our Root (the directory where the project files and folders are).
Then we just call the Terminal pub get. Then we can use the widgets of this
package in our application. Then let’s use it !!!
If you have noticed, there is 1 router in this structure. After we finish this router loading screen forward process, Target will be directed to the specified page. We do this in our class, which we define as HomePage ().
and Let’s View…
And now let’s start the interface design process on HomePage () slowly …
First, let’s create the preliminary draft of our HomePage, while creating them, we use the widgets we learned the day before.
The design for a widget structure that we want to replace today will also help.
We also make use of the Placeholder () widget. My advice to you is to wrap it with a container to get fast imaging.
and let’s have a look at our code …
Let’s take a look at our Widget Tree. And in this way, we can see the structures that do not wrap together more clearly.
and let’s look at a result visually …
The Start button will have a mission in itself.
When the Start button is pressed, the user data will be reflected to us in
HomePage with the trigger it creates.
So how will this data come from?
First, let’s create the data source of our service. For this, let’s define our application with our user data service defined on
https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users, which is the source of sample projects and draft data.
! In addition, we will take advantage of one more package. You can do this in pubspec.yaml in the Root directory.
dependencies :
We add it to the line with other packages.
Yes, in order for our data to be communicated, let’s first teach it where its source is and the format of the captured data.
and then let’s model the data to be captured.
Let’s embed our structure in UserModel.dart in the file directory we specified.
then let’s create a trigger to run our build.
Let’s use this structure in the FAB in Scaffold.
and then let’s view it by running our Application.
If you have noticed
It has defined a UserNumber. This is the user code of the data that will come to us. As long as this change takes place, our data will also change.
and view the result of the captured data.
Summary
In these structures where more than one variables are displayed, the data from external source providers will always make our application look more dynamic and save us from writing unnecessary code. | https://medium.com/@gurkanfikretgunak/day-9-retrieve-data-with-http-query-and-json-process-data-cd72c51da0da | ['Gürkan Fikret Günak'] | 2020-10-27 09:03:41.510000+00:00 | ['Google', 'Json', 'Code', 'Flutter', 'Dart'] |
Who to turn to? | In the previous article, we went through the difference between emotional and academic intelligence. But one question remains; why have we not looked at this before? Surely, our ancestors also faced emotional challenges, so why has the topic remained underdeveloped for so long? Well, in most societies, the influence of religion kept emotional intelligence in a dark, unexplored corner.
This isn’t to say that religion is to blame, far from it. For most of human history, religion has served as an emotional pacifier, a safe haven to run towards when things go bad. Religious leaders speak of ethical behavior, a meaning in life, community spirit, and a purpose to work towards. They show us the way to live, love, and exist in harmony with others. Even after we die, there is a promise of continuity — an afterlife.
“the influence of religion kept emotional intelligence in a dark, unexplored corner.”
It is for this reason that religions have (openly or subliminally) served as points of reference during times of emotional hardship. I still vividly remember my grandparents saying that during times of crisis, their first point of call all would be a priest. It was a belief shared by many, especially in fervently Christian nations.
So why do we not run to a priest anymore? Why is religion no longer our go-to point? For starters, the idea that we should blindly obey a dogma doesn’t seem to fit into a world of rationale and reasoning. Today we focus on understanding how things work, rather than abandoning ourselves to the powers of a greater being. Even this article itself seeks to unravel the concept of emotional intelligence, and not merely accept it. Our individual searches for emotional wellbeing have led to the proverbial ground being pulled from underneath us. We are no longer on a level playing field but on different, separate islands each with its own set of challenges.
“For most of human history, religion has served as an emotional pacifier, a safe haven to run towards when things go bad.”
When things go wrong, where do we run? The answer is automatic; we gravitate towards what we have always known, to what seems familiar — to our cultures. In the absence of religion, culture fills in the gaps. We rely on our cultures, norms, values, and traditions to guide us as to what is ethically correct. How do we understand ourselves emotionally? What is our purpose? To whom do we turn to in despair? These are all questions we subconsciously pose to our cultures.
“We are no longer on a level playing field but on different, separate islands each with its own set of challenges.”
A Shakespearean tragedy can teach us to be wary of those around us. The Mona Lisa instructs us through an enigmatic smile. Musical compositions evoque feelings of sadness or joy. Altogether, they provide a replacement for the guidance our faiths used to offer. This isn’t to say that religion is obsolete, however, it would be a mistake to completely write off the influence of culture on our emotional beings.
Just as Milan’s Duomo holds a certain atmosphere of reverence, so do the world’s prominent museums and libraries. Whether it be a greater being which we believe in or a vast accumulation of knowledge, we can’t help but feel humbled. Seeing the achievements of man or the power of a god has a profound effect.
“This isn’t to say that religion is obsolete, however, it would be a mistake to completely write off the influence of culture on our emotional beings.”
So what does this all mean? Will we be rushing into museums, gazing at portraits, and rationalizing our feelings in a few year's time? I doubt it. As compelling a case as culture makes, it has not replaced scripture, nor does it give us all the answers when we feel troubled.
It does however serve as a reminder that we are not alone; that is some distant past, other people have felt the same way. This in itself is comforting, but not enough.
Taking a step back, it seems the answer we seek was never readily available. In the past people looked to religion, today we are expected to deal with our emotions somehow or other. Although it makes no sense, we expect any moderately educated, sensible person to be able to deal with the concepts of life, death, happiness, and grief. It seems absurd that’s some of us may need guidance, however, it is the reality. The moral of the story is that although culture and religion can enable us to experience emotions such as tranquility and empathy, a deeper understanding is needed if we truly want to achieve emotional intelligence. | https://danielcaruanasmith.medium.com/who-to-turn-to-c13067f92a67 | ['Daniel Caruana Smith'] | 2020-12-22 12:58:04.124000+00:00 | ['Emotional Intelligence', 'Life Lessons', 'Mental Health', 'Self Improvement', 'Psychology'] |
Apsara Cloud Network Platform: The Technology of Application Load Balancer (ALB) | At the Computing Conference 2020 last September, Zhu Shunmin, a researcher on Alibaba Cloud intelligent network products, announced the launch of Application Load Balancer (ALB).
In this blog, we will discuss the recent updates of this product and the new designs that have been made to its architecture, including features, disaster tolerance, protocols, and configuration.
ALB Product Overview
Alibaba Cloud ALB is based on the Apsara Cloud Network Platform v2.0. Adopting the open and elastic network functions virtualization (NFV) technology, ALB provides users with flexible, elastic, and ultra-high performance instance specifications. This new product is sold in the form of a domain name. Its main primary disaster tolerance model provides users with a more stable service experience and greater elasticity. In addition to protocols, such as HTTP, HTTPS, and WSS, ALB also supports the QUIC protocol, which brings about an extremely low-latency experience to all short video and livestreaming users. In terms of product characteristics, ALB brings out many advanced forwarding features. Based on multiple forwarding methods, such as Header, Cookie, and Method, it can better meet users’ needs of personalized routing forwarding. The launch of ALB has dramatically improved the core competitiveness of the Alibaba Cloud Server Load Balancer (SLB) product system. Consequently, more excellent experience is delivered to users in key configuration scenarios, such as forwarding rules, server groups, and multi-certification. In terms of configuration, the classic SLB provides asynchronous call interfaces to enhance concurrency access and quota capabilities. ALB supplements the region-level configurations, such as the server groups, access control, transport layer security (TLS), forwarding rule templates, and health check templates. With all these together, it offers easy-to-use and high performance product configuration capabilities.
Application Scenarios of ALB
ALB Elastic Architecture
With the rapid development of the Internet, network traffic consumption is increasing year by year. The user application system is subject to more traffic in a peak-valley effect. On-demand instance scaling and ultra-large specifications have become the key requirements for cost management. Under these circumstances, ALB was developed based on Alibaba Cloud’s massive amount of computing and network resources with integrated software and hardware. It has also drawn support from the Apsara Cloud Network 2.0 NFV platform, which features flexible scheduling and efficient resource management. As a result, ALB addresses these requirements with flexible auto scaling and ultra-large specification capabilities brilliantly.
ALB is sold in the form of a domain name. There are VIP hosting services for each ALB domain name in the available zone selected by the user. VIPs in each available zone serve the main primary disaster tolerance mutually.
ALB can adjust the VIP capacity and the number of VIPs automatically according to the size of user traffic, which provides users with an extremely flexible experience. The costs are saved as much as possible and O&M expenses are reduced. ALB is equipped with powerful 7-layer processing capability. The 7-layer processing capability of a single instance can be up to 1 million QPS.
ALB Features and Enhancements
Since the advent of the Internet, various network optimization solutions have been emerging. The industry has been looking for better solutions to optimize network transmission to achieve more reliable and low-latency transmission. When the TCP optimization encounters a bottleneck, the advantages of UDP-based QUIC are becoming more obvious in establishing latency, controlling congestion, migrating connection, and resolving head-of-line blocking. Currently, ALB supports QUIC protocol versions, including Q46, Q44, Q43, Q39, Q36, and Q35.
As user businesses are getting increasingly complex, various scenarios propose more diverse requirements on a load balancer. Let’s take cloud-native scenarios as examples. The traditional domain name and URL forwarding modes can no longer meet the needs of fine release policies, such as canary release and blue-green release. In this context, the custom forwarding platform launched by ALB not only enhances the traditional domain name and URL regular configuration functionality but also supplements multiple forwarding methods, including Header, Cookie, and Method.
ALB also provides custom TLS policies. Users can select TLS versions and algorithm suites supported by their ALB instances based on the specific security requirements.
ALB Configuration Models
In terms of configuration, ALB supports asynchronous API that enables users to perform larger-scale concurrent configuration. With the quota capabilities improved, ALB can be integrated with business systems for simpler and more efficient use. Compared with SLB, ALB has many optimizations in configuration object models:
Server Group (Region-Level): It contains servers, ports, and health check configurations. A server group can be associated with a listener or forwarding rule and is not limited within a single instance.
It contains servers, ports, and health check configurations. A server group can be associated with a listener or forwarding rule and is not limited within a single instance. Certificate (Region-Level): ALB is connected to the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate Center. Users will be provided with a unified certificate management portal where they can associate certificates as needed in each ALB region.
ALB is connected to the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate Center. Users will be provided with a unified certificate management portal where they can associate certificates as needed in each ALB region. Forwarding Rule (Region-Level): It contains the matching conditions and forwarding actions. Separate health check-related configurations can be associated.
It contains the matching conditions and forwarding actions. Separate health check-related configurations can be associated. Health Check (Region-Level): It contains health check configurations, including health check protocol, health check port, health check method, and health check threshold. You can templatize the abstraction to reduce duplicated configurations.
ALB Open Beta Entry
Alibaba Cloud ALB is now in service in the public beta. You are welcome to visit the following website for more information: SLB Product Introduction
Original Source: | https://medium.com/@alibaba-cloud/apsara-cloud-network-platform-the-technology-of-application-load-balancer-alb-ea128a4ec811 | ['Alibaba Cloud'] | 2021-07-06 02:46:03.227000+00:00 | ['Server Load Balancer', 'Networking', 'Computing', 'Load Balancing', 'Alibabacloud'] |
Prepare the Way of the Lord in the Desert this Advent | Every year on the Second Sunday of Advent, we encounter the strange figure of St. John the Baptist. Who is this man clothed in camel’s hair, feeding on locusts and honey? He is a cousin of Jesus Christ, the son of Elizabeth and Zechariah, miraculously conceived in their old age. He is the one who leapt in his mother’s womb at the approach of his unborn Savior; the first person, after the Blessed Mother, to recognize Jesus as Lord.
He is the Forerunner of the Messiah, the friend of the Bridegroom. He is a prophet. That is, he is someone who speaks on behalf of God. He is the last and the greatest prophet to speak the word of God before God’s Word would be revealed to us in His Son. John is not the Word. He is the voice. He is a messenger. This is why he is sometimes portrayed in iconography with angel’s wings, because angel is the Hebrew word for messenger.
And today we encounter that messenger in the desert. He is a voice crying out, “Prepare the way of the Lord” (Mk 1:3). Advent is a season of preparation, and John meets us today to help us prepare. We prepare for the celebration of our Lord’s first coming in humility, born in a manger in Bethlehem. We prepare also for his second coming in glory at the end of time in the heavenly Jerusalem. And we prepare for his coming into our lives now, spiritually and sacramentally, into our homes and into our hearts. Yes, Christ comes to us even now in his Word, in his sacraments, and in the loving service we give to one another.
Just as John pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb of God,” Father will soon speak those same words to us: Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Just as Isaiah prophesied to Jerusalem, “Here is your God!” I say to you now, Here is your God and here is his reward with him. Jesus comes to us now. Our God comes to us now; here on this altar; here in the Church. How do we prepare to welcome so great a guest? John tells us.
He is the voice that cries out, “prepare the way of the Lord.” Where does this voice cry out from? From the desert. “In the desert prepare the way of the Lord” (Is 40:3). What is the desert? It is a wilderness, a wild place, removed from towns and cities, away from the business of everyday life and all of our routine concerns. It is a place where we can be alone; where we can experience silence. It is a place where our needs are simple and immediate, where the facades we make for ourselves are stripped away and where we must learn to rely on God. It is a place for contemplation and for prayer. Before John climbed to the mountain top to be the herald of good news, he first retreated to the desert to prepare the way of the Lord in his heart.
We must also retreat into the desert this Advent. We should create for ourselves times of silence and space for contemplation. In the midst of our holiday preparations the most important thing we can do is to step away from the concerns of the world for a time to be alone with our God and prepare our hearts to welcome him.
What does this look like? What must we do to make ready? We are to “make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God” (Is 40:3). If we want our Lord to come to us we need to remove any obstacles to his coming. The wasteland of our lives is full of mountains and valleys that block his path. These mountains must be made low. The valleys must be filled in.
“Every mountain and hill shall be made low” (Is 40:4), the prophet proclaims. What are these mountains and hills? They are our sins. They are the things we do and that we desire that are contrary to the life of God. If we want the life of God to dwell in us, we must banish them from our hearts. Some sins are mountains. These are mortal sins; sins so contrary to love that they are incompatible with God’s nature and cut us off from the life of grace. The Church teaches that committing a mortal sin involves three things. The first is grave matter. That is the act we commit itself is a serious evil. The second is sufficient knowledge. Do we know that what we do is wrong? The third is freedom of will. Do we freely choose to do this thing? If we freely choose to do something that we know to be contrary to God’s will, we are essentially evicting God from our lives. We say to God, I prefer this lesser thing over You. I choose my own will over yours. This setting of our will against God’s erects a mountain between us. These mountains, John says, and Isaiah says, must be made low. Tear them down. Turn back to God. This is why John’s call for preparation is also a call to repentance. We must repent (that is, turn away) from anything that stands between us and God.
Not all sins are mountains. Some are only hills. These are our venial sins. These sins are failures in love that result not from our willful choosing but from our human weakness. They do not cut us off from the life of grace, as mortal sins do, but they can weaken it. We want to make the Lord’s path to us as smooth as possible, so these hills, too, must be made low. We do this the same way we do for mortal sins. We repent from them. We can make low the hills of our venial sins with a simple act of contrition, but mountains are another matter. To make low the mountains of our mortal sins requires the sacramental grace of baptism and confession. This is why John proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. We are restored to that baptismal grace by the sacrament of penance, or confession. Every time you enter that confessional and say, “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned,” you make low the mountains and hills and prepare the way for the Lord’s coming.
What else must we do to prepare? The wilderness of our lives contains not only mountains but valleys. These valleys must be filled in. Valleys are low places. They are empty spaces in our lives; places where something is missing that ought to be there. As we spend time in the desert of Advent, we should examine ourselves and ask, what is missing in my life? What is missing that I need to help smooth the way of the Lord into my heart? Is it prayer? Then I should make time for prayer every day. Is it knowledge of the Lord? Then I should read the scriptures and study the Catechism. Is it loving service to my neighbor? Then I should seek out ways to show my love and to care for those in need. Is it fidelity to my vocation? Then I should strive to live more faithfully the life that God has called me to in my state of life as a parent or child, a married or single person, a priest, deacon, or professed religious. Is it virtue? Am I lacking in prudence, or temperance, fortitude or chastity? Then I must foster those virtues in my life by finding ways to put them into practice. Whatever the valleys in our life may be, we must find them and fill them in to make straight the way of the Lord’s coming.
“The glory of the Lord [that] shall be revealed” (Is 40:5) at the end of time will be a final and universal revelation. We do not know when it will come, but when it does, no one will escape it. But if we heed the words of the prophet and enter into the desert this Advent to prepare the way of the Lord; if we make low the mountains and hills of our vices and fill in the valleys of our lacking virtues; if we make the rugged land of our hearts and minds into a broad and even path for God, then we do not need to wait until the end of time for the glory of the Lord to be revealed, because it will be revealed in our lives today, in the way that we love one another and in the peace that will reign in our hearts, right here and now, as we await with hope the final coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. | https://testeverythingblog.com/prepare-the-way-of-the-lord-in-the-desert-this-advent-7c475704ec2d | ['Rev. Mr. Matthew Newsome'] | 2020-12-06 21:18:36.553000+00:00 | ['Homilies', 'Christianity', 'Christmas', 'Advent', 'Catholic'] |
Our Big Picture Role is Slight, but the Damage is Ruinous | Our Big Picture Role is Slight, but the Damage is Ruinous
Going vegan is the key to saving the planet, animals, and ourselves.
Photo credit: iStockPhoto
By Craig Shapiro
On one hand, the stats are surprising. On the other hand, not so much.
A sweeping new study of life on Earth — or as scientists call it, “a comprehensive, holistic estimate of all the different components of biomass” — found that the 7.6 billion humans who call this planet home don’t take up much of the big picture. We represent a paltry 0.01 percent — one one-hundredth — of all living things here.
Bacteria, at 13 percent, are a major life form. How’s that for perspective?
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also found that since the dawn of civilization, humans have wiped out 83 percent of all wild mammals and half the plants. Today, 60 percent of mammals are livestock — their counterparts in the wild make up only 4 percent — and 70 percent of birds are farmed poultry.
Those statistics aren’t so surprising.
“I would hope this gives people a perspective on the very dominant role that humanity now plays on Earth,” said Ron Milo, a professor at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science, who led the study.
“Dominant” is one way of putting it. “Imperious” is another.
Milo added that he’s cut back on consuming animal flesh because of the meat industry’s toll on the environment. Good for him. First steps like that help, but if we’re to be responsible stewards of the planet, we need to leave meat, dairy “products” and eggs off our plates entirely and opt for a sustainable, plant-based diet.
Every minute, bulldozers flatten seven football fields’ worth of land to make more room for farmed animals and the crops that they eat. In the U.S., 80 percent of agricultural land — nearly half the total land mass of the continental 48 states — is used to raise animals for food and to grow grain to feed them. Raising livestock takes up 45 percent of the land worldwide.
One pig drinks 21 gallons of water a day, while a single cow on a dairy farm drinks upwards of 50. Growing feed crops uses 56 percent of the water in the U.S. It takes 2,500 gallons to produce a pound of beef but only 180 to make a pound of whole-wheat flour.
Animal agriculture also pollutes the water. Factory-farmed animals produce a trillion pounds of waste a year, which is typically used to fertilize crops and runs off into lakes and rivers, eventually ending up in our drinking water, along with the drugs and bacteria that it contains.
And animal agriculture fouls the air, too. Livestock and their byproducts account for 51 percent of all greenhouse-gas emissions. Transportation exhaust, including that produced by vehicles that take animal flesh to markets, is responsible for 13 percent. Here’s another thing to consider about our lust for meat: Producing just over 2 pounds of beef causes more greenhouse-gas emissions than driving a car for three hours does.
Eight years ago, the United Nations warned that if the worst effects of climate change are to be negated, a global shift to a vegan diet is crucial. As the world’s appetite for meat increases, the need has become more pressing.
While there are many reasons to go vegan, none is more urgent than reducing the staggering number of lives lost in the meat, egg and dairy industries.
Humans slaughter more than 56 billion farmed animals every year — thinking, feeling individuals who, like us, only want to live in peace. They’re mutilated, torn away from their mothers and forced to spend their lives in cramped fetid sheds, tethered to milking machines or stuck in “gestation” crates that are so small they can’t even turn around. Their misery ends at the slaughterhouse, although many are still conscious when their throats are slit.
Speaking of lives lost, the cholesterol in meat, dairy “products” and eggs has been linked to cardiovascular disease, which is the number one killer in the U.S., accounting for nearly 1 million heart attacks a year and 2,150 deaths every day. Plant-based foods contain no cholesterol but do have loads of fiber that scrub the digestive tract.
Meat consumption is also implicated in increased rates of high blood pressure, stroke, obesity, diabetes and some types of cancer. In 2015, the World Health Organization classified processed meat, including hot dogs, bacon and sausage, as carcinogenic and red meat as a probable carcinogen.
During that same year, this former meat-eater changed his ways, and in doing so, has driven his cholesterol and blood pressure levels below the national recommendations and now shops for smaller pants. He also rests easy knowing that he’s saving animals and helping his family have a “greener” future.
Have I persuaded you to go vegan? Good. Get started by visiting PETA.org and ordering a free vegan starter kit today. | https://medium.com/greener-together/our-big-picture-role-is-slight-but-the-damage-is-ruinous-42eab062341 | ['The Good Men Project'] | 2020-12-30 19:47:00.181000+00:00 | ['Agriculture', 'Humanity', 'Climate Change', 'Vegan', 'Environment'] |
How to write the perfect senior software engineer resume | TL;DR checklist
If you don’t want to bother reading the article, you want to make sure that your resume answers these following questions:
Does your resume demonstrate a track record of designing, implementing, and shipping projects as part of a team?
Does your resume indicate that you worked with external stakeholders? These could be founders, executives, other teams at your company, other disciplines like design or product management, external companies, etc.
Does your resume indicate that you were responsible for projects, perhaps as a project lead or a tech lead?
Does your resume indicate that you mentor or train engineers?
Do you explain the impact of your work? Does your resume demonstrate that the company functioned better after your work?
Why is it so important to have a strong resume?
You’ve been a software engineer for years. Your company has recognized the impact of your work. They promoted you to the rank of “senior software engineer.” Congratulations, you’re a senior software engineer!
Or wait! Maybe your company doesn’t recognize your work. You’ve been having more and more impact, but the promotion (that you deserve!) just never comes!
Either way, let’s say that you want to switch jobs. You’ll be starting from scratch at a new company. How do you signal to prospective companies, “You should hire me as a senior software engineer”? How do you get the level that you deserve?
Above all, you want to avoid being “downleveled.” Downleveling happens when the new company hires you below the position that you deserve. This can be devastating because it could take years before you build the track record to make a promotion case to the correct level, and you are underpaid during that time. In a just world, they would recognize their mistake and correct your level within months. But all it takes is one promotion committee member saying, “I refuse to ever promote someone before they’ve worked here for 2 years,” and boom! Your career and your salary are set back by years. People really say things like this. I’ve personally heard it.
Your senior software engineer resume is one of the best defenses that you have against downleveling. And this is because of systematic cognitive biases that we all have. We need to understand how companies make hiring decisions.
How do companies decide what level you will have?
Largely, you’ll be leveled based on four things:
What level your resume indicates. Do you have the work experience of a senior software engineer?
Do you have the work experience of a senior software engineer? How well you perform in interviews. Did you answer each question to the level of detail and quality that they’d expect from a senior software engineer?
Did you answer each question to the level of detail and quality that they’d expect from a senior software engineer? What you negotiate. Refusing to accept a position below what you deserve.
Refusing to accept a position below what you deserve. Vibes. Do you “seem” like a senior software engineer? The less rubric-based the hiring decision is, the more vibes matter. Nobody will ever admit that this is true.
The first impression the company will have is based on your resume. Because of the anchoring bias, you want your resume to scream, “I AM A SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER!”
Therefore, you want to make the strongest senior software engineer resume that you can. If hiring managers start with the assumption, “This person operates at the level of a senior engineer,” more will have to go wrong for them to decide, “Actually, this person is not senior yet”. On the other hand, if their first impression is, “This person seems like they’re not senior yet,” you’re fighting an uphill battle to get the leveling that you deserve.
How do you make the strongest resume that you can? You want to understand the function of a senior engineer, and use your resume to explain why you are a senior engineer.
What is a senior software engineer?
We can use existing career ladders to understand the role of a senior software engineer. Etsy open-sourced its internal career ladder. You can click that link for more detailed information. To summarize, you want to prove that you have impact in five areas:
Delivery : Getting projects out the door.
: Getting projects out the door. Domain Expertise : Your ability to understand the technologies in a domain.
: Your ability to understand the technologies in a domain. Problem Solving : Your ability to find solutions to problems, make decisions, or prevent them from ever happening.
: Your ability to find solutions to problems, make decisions, or prevent them from ever happening. Communication : How you communicate with internal and external stakeholders.
: How you communicate with internal and external stakeholders. Leadership: Taking responsibility to make decisions, mentoring others, and setting an example.
Most senior software engineers make the same mistake when writing their resume: they only focus on Delivery, Domain Expertise, and Problem Solving, and they do not explain their impact in Communication or Leadership.
Do not make this mistake! To prove that you are a senior software engineer, you want to prove that you can implement and ship any well-scoped problem that is given to you, that you understand the technology, that you make sound technical decisions, that you can properly manage internal and external stakeholders, and that you were responsible for the delivery of projects.
Let’s break it down into two groups: the technical part of being a senior software engineer, as well as the social part.
Proving your technical skills.
First, as a software engineer, you want to prove that you can go through the full software lifecycle: you can collect requirements, collaborate on designing a solution, collaborate on implementing a solution, ship it, and maintain it.
Proving your technical skills has an easy part and a difficult part.
First, the easy part. You just need to explain projects that you worked on! Do you remember that time that you added REST API endpoints that performed CRUD operations on a database, which allowed customers to leave comments on products? Congratulations, that could be a resume line item! You just need to find the projects you did that demonstrated the most impact.
Now, the hard part. You need to explain the impact of them. Which of these two lines sounds better:
Led a team of 3 adding comments to all product pages. Worked with design and product and provided regular updates.
Led a team of 3 adding comments to all product pages. Worked with design and product and provided regular updates. Increased revenue for customers that left comments by 40%.
The latter sounds better! Anyone can write a feature, but “the proof is in the pudding.” If your feature led to positive business impacts, then it adds credibility to your technical work.
Impact can come in any number of ways, but it’ll roughly follow this stack-ranking:
Increase in metrics related to revenue.
Decrease in metrics related to cost.
Ability to implement features that would have previously been difficult or impossible.
Time saved by staff, like time saved automating tasks.
Measurable technical improvements, like performance improvements, reduced errors, etc.
Why do the business impacts sort higher? Because you’re probably going to get hired by a hiring manager or an executive, and not an engineer. These people want to tell their bosses, “Hey, check out how good my team was at improving business metrics!”, because that’s what their bosses want to hear.
I know this can be hard. We often don’t measure the impacts of what we did. Just do your best, and try to include concrete numbers. Was this one of the top-10 customer feature requests? Did it replace a system and save maintenance time? How much time did it save? Did coworkers remark that your project was unexpectedly shipped ahead of schedule? Really think about whether you can identify concrete benefits for each of the projects that you list.
Proving seniority
Technical skills are not enough to prove that you are a senior software engineer. If you only list your technical accomplishments, then you will appear like a pre-senior engineer with strong technical chops.
Why?
As you rise in seniority, your job will focus more on enabling the work of others. Other teams, other people on your team, your managers, partner companies, etc.
The senior software engineer is the first step on this journey. This is the first time that part of your output will include your ability to influence the output of others.
This means that your senior software engineer resume actually needs to prove that you meet this part of the job criteria of a senior engineer.
There’s good news, though: it’s easier to demonstrate impact for these types of items! If you wrote onboarding documentation, and five engineers used it when they joined the team, you can write “Performed onboarding for five engineers, additionally wrote onboarding documentation that saved days of engineer time by consolidating information into one place.”
Focus on demonstrating how you enabled the work of others. The more recent your job experience is, the more important that you include this information.
If you led a project, or were a tech lead for a team, make sure to mention it. This is perhaps the easiest way that you could demonstrate your impact on others, since your “sphere of influence” becomes the whole project.
So there you have it!
It’s important to have a strong senior engineer resume because it helps you avoid downleveling. You want people to get the impression that you should be leveled at senior.
Besides that, you want to focus on making sure that your resume focuses on proving your technical output, by trying to highlight how you work in each part of the software engineering lifecycle.
You want to make sure you don’t just focus on technical output. Explain how your work enables others.
Regardless of what you do, please explain the impact of your work as much as possible. Focus on explaining business impact before technical impact. Impact will emphasize that not only did you perform work, but the work was actually beneficial.
One last tip: If you’re not a senior engineer yet, but believe that you deserve to be, consider writing an objective statement on top explaining that your objective is to be a senior software engineer. I’m normally not a fan of objective statements, but this could help anchor the discussion at “senior software engineer” and help protect against downleveling.
Get a stronger resume
I’m a former staff engineer, and I’ve been a professional software engineer for over a decade. If you believe that you would be more successful with a stronger resume, check out my resume review service. | https://medium.com/@jauntyjake/how-to-write-the-perfect-senior-software-engineer-resume-e838820b6a | ['Jacob Voytko'] | 2021-12-22 19:35:44.614000+00:00 | ['Resume', 'Software Jobs', 'Software Industry'] |
Last-Minute Gift Guide For Everyone On Your List | Last-Minute Gift Guide For Everyone On Your List
Did you forget to buy someone a holiday present? Are you rushing to find the perfect gift for someone who has yet to be crossed off your list? Here are the easiest last-minute gifts to buy for everyone on your list, no matter the season.
For the Homebody:
Pajama Sets: they are sold at every department store and will be worn on repeat by the recipient
Candles: they can be bought in-store or online and found in scents ranging from New York City to Birthday Cake
Slippers: whether you get $10 slippers or $100 slippers, they will be essential for anyone on your list
Coffee Mugs: you can never have enough. Get ones personalized with their initials or with a location they enjoy
A Book: check GoodReads or the New York Times bestseller list to find a book for anyone on your list
Face Masks: make sure they are non-comedogenic so that they do not clog pores! They can be found in your local drugstore or high-end boutiques and are an easy and enjoyable gift
Food Subscription Service: perfect for busy people who like to relax but still want an easy and delicious meal
A Throw Blanket: these are perfect for decorating if someone is in a new space or get the popular Comfy for anyone who wishes they could wear a blanket all day long
Portable/Waterproof Speaker: these are perfect if they love music and if they are waterproof, allow the recipient to listen to their favorite music from their kitchen to their shower
Activewear: leggings, hoodies, etc. So comfortable and make it easy for anyone to go from lounging to exercising
For the Foodie:
A Cooking Class: many chefs are offering cooking classes. It is a unique gift and an enjoyable experience. It is also a great way to support small businesses that are struggling
Cookbook: support your favorite chef by buying their cookbook to gift to friends and family
A Cookware Set: these can be purchased at any price point and from stores like Macy’s and Homegoods
Apron: perfect for any age and makes anyone feel like a professional
For the Traveler:
Luggage: you can get duffle bags, backpacks, or even a suitcase set. These will be used for years and are easy to find online or in-store
A Journal: this is perfect for a traveler who wants to record their trips and keep track of places they went and activities they appreciated
Headphones: whether they have a long commute for work or travel for pleasure, headphones are perfect for anyone who is on the go
Kindle/E-reader: perfect for the busy-on the go readers
Sunglasses: a staple for any trip and is often overlooked
Portable Chargers: these are perfect for anyone and are a must for anyone who likes to travel
For the Workaholic:
A Planner: giving the gift of organization is always appreciated
A Jade Roller: Jade rollers help depuff and prevent wrinkles. They are an enjoyable part of anyone’s morning or night routine
Laptop Case: an easy gift that can be customized for the recipient. Get a laptop case in their favorite color or pattern
Spa Gift Card: they deserve it!
Bluelight Glasses: if they are working all day in front of a computer, these will help protect their eyes against blue light. Find them on department store websites, amazon, or wherever you buy glasses
For the Fashion Lover:
Claw Clips: these comfy and cute hairclips are all the rage and can be found at any price point from drugstores to department stores
Jewelry Organizers/Holders: these can be found at local jewelers (Stoney Clover Lane and Mejuri sell cute ones) or on Etsy
Hair Tools: the Revlon, Drybar, and Dyson hair tools have been very popular this holiday season and are perfect for anyone who loves to change up their hairstyles
iPhone Ring Light: if they love to take pictures of their outfits, this is the perfect gift to make sure their photos are the best quality
Jewelry: you cannot go wrong with a simple necklace or bracelet. Support a local artist by shopping on Etsy or holiday markets
For Anyone:
Disposable Cameras: not only are these so much fun to use, but it is so refreshing to have printed photos in this day and age (they are also perfect for a secret Santa or stocking stuffer)
Plants: as simple as it may sound, most people enjoy the look and of plants in their space. Find them at your local hardware or garden center
Gift Cards: whether to their favorite restaurant, a store, or just cash, this allows your recipient to do all the work for you and pick out their present
Subscriptions: you can buy subscriptions to Spotify, Netflix, or even masterclass depending on your recipient
Calendar: The holiday season coincides with the new year, so a calendar is a perfect gift. You can get cute ones themed with their favorite TV-show or a classic one with artwork for every month
Puzzles: one of my favorite weekend/winter activities. Get ones that the recipient would enjoy hanging up so that it can double as art when they complete the puzzle
A Craft Kit: children and adults will both enjoy this. Find them at your local craft store, Etsy, or online. Perhaps a knitting kit or paint by number would be the perfect gift for someone on your list
Photobooks: this meaningful present, can be designed for anyone on websites like Shutterfly, Chatbooks, and Snapfish
Phone Case: Find cute ones in every design on Casetify
If you have any good last-minute gift ideas, make sure to leave them in the comments to help others out. Happy Holidays! | https://medium.com/@rebeccaldyckman/last-minute-gift-guide-for-everyone-on-your-list-7a27ad5297a1 | ['Rebecca Lindsay'] | 2020-12-20 23:16:19.887000+00:00 | ['What To Buy', 'Holiday Gift Guide', 'Gift Ideas', 'Holidays', 'Shopping'] |
Interview with Gemma Stafford | Bigger Bolder Baking | Intro: Welcome to the number one Cookbook Podcast, Cookery by the Book, with Suzy Chase. She’s just a home cook in New York City, sitting at her dining room table, talking to cookbook authors.
Gemma Stafford: Hi, I’m Gemma Stafford, and my new cookbook is called Bigger Bolder Baking: A Fearless Approach to Baking Anytime, Anywhere.
Suzy Chase: So I have to start off by saying a huge congratulations to you. You have a bun in the oven, so to speak.
Gemma Stafford: Thank you.
Suzy Chase: That’s so exciting. When are you due?
Gemma Stafford: I’m due early February.
Suzy Chase: Oh my God, that’s right around the corner.
Gemma Stafford: I know. I know. Tell me about it. At the time, at the beginning, time stood still, and now it’s going really fast, so I don’t really know where I am.
Suzy Chase: Yay. I’m so excited for you.
Gemma Stafford: Thank you.
Suzy Chase: So, you have a line in the cookbook that goes, “I watched my mom create spectacular desserts from just a few simple ingredients.” I feel like this is your philosophy, too.
Gemma Stafford: Yeah, absolutely. You know, I worked as a professional chef for 10 plus years, and I trained, I studied professional cookery in college. I went to two different cookery schools, and definitely the more, especially as I look at the book, my biggest influence and my first teacher was really my mom.
Suzy Chase: Now what exactly is bold baking?
Gemma Stafford: So being bold is about taking risks, and it’s about trying something different, and it’s about being fearless. And that’s what I do in my recipes. I try and take away the unnecessary steps that people don’t need that might confuse you, that sometimes, in baking, people can have very long winded recipes.
Gemma Stafford: And what I like to do is just get straight to the facts and show you how you can make over the top desserts, but still using very simple techniques and very simple ingredients.
Suzy Chase: Long winded recipes are so much fun to read, but so hard to follow.
Gemma Stafford: Yeah. I can’t. The reason we’ve had such great success with Bigger Bolder Baking is because bold baking is about taking risks and it’s about being fearless. And I really try, and with my millions of fans all around the world, try and give people the confidence to bake anytime, anywhere.
Gemma Stafford: And in the book, it’s a collection of recipes where you can do that using simple ingredients. The majority of recipes are less than 10 steps. They’re really finely edited just to give you the exact information that you need, and anytime, anywhere baking really … We heard this from our audience.
Gemma Stafford: We have 5 million bold bakers all around the world, and we heard from them that they want to bake, but they’re students in a dorm. They want to make a cake for somebody, but they live in, maybe, an older facility, and they don’t have access to a kitchen, or they only have a microwave, and things like that. And we didn’t, I didn’t want that to restrict people from baking.
Gemma Stafford: So in the book, I broke the chapters down into different pieces of kitchen equipment that you would need, and tools. So there’s a whole section in my baking book where you do not need an oven to make frozen desserts, to make mousses, to make chills desserts, to make chocolate Tiffin cake, all of these sorts of things, and trifles you don’t need an oven for, and just really make it as simple for people as possible to make, to be able to bake no matter what their equipment or their circumstance.
Suzy Chase: Your bold baking journey started at Ballymaloe Cookery school. That is incredible. Tell us about that, and what skills did you learn there?
Gemma Stafford: I hold Ballymaloe very close to my heart. I had a really lovely time there. When I was young in the 80s, we used to watch, my mom and I used to watch Darina Allen on a Monday night on TV, and she was … This was a long, long time ago, where she was the only chef, really, on TV, and then she was Irish, and she ran this cooking school, and I was just fascinated by her.
Gemma Stafford: And my mom told me that when I was older, I could go to the cooking school. So after college, I studied professional cookery in college, and I was in my first job, and the opportunity came up to go to Ballymaloe Cooking School, and it’s really special.
Gemma Stafford: I don’t know if I can describe it well enough. It’s a really amazing experience. It’s such a special place. For people who don’t know, it’s a cooking school on kind of like, almost like now, a farm, because I know that they have a lot of their own animals and bees and and things like that. But they have … It’s a little cooking school down in East Cork in a place called Ballymaloe.
Gemma Stafford: I’m sorry, the school is called Ballymaloe, and run by a lady called Darina Allen, and her whole ethos is very, I would say, typical of a lot of Irish people, which is good ingredients in, and amazing out. And so the thing about Darina is that she does recipes from all around the world.
Gemma Stafford: It’s not, as people often say to me, meat and potatoes from Ireland. It’s a little bit of everything. And just to be there, to be at the school, and to be with students who come from all around the world to do her courses, it’s really incredible.
Suzy Chase: Did a Diane Keaton movie really inspire you to move to America?
Gemma Stafford: It did.
Suzy Chase: Which one?
Gemma Stafford: I know, it’s crazy. So, a lot of people have seen, or are big fans of us, baby boom in the late eighties, like ’87 or so. So I was … I would have been … We always get everything later. At that stage, we got everything like a year later than America did. So it was on TV in Ireland in maybe ’88 or something like that. So I was only a child.
Gemma Stafford: And I saw it, and for those of you who haven’t seen it, it is about, long story short, about a kind of high powered exact woman in New York. She has a really busy lifestyle, and she gets landed this baby, and she has to move out of the city.
Gemma Stafford: She buys a farm in Vermont, and she, her lifestyle totally changed, and she starts making applesauce and selling it in local shops in Vermont, and it becomes really big, and I just, I was fascinated by it. I just thought that this was the most amazing thing ever. That this is what I want to do. I wanted to move to Vermont and make applesauce.
Gemma Stafford: And you know, it always, it stuck with me. I must’ve been like six or seven when I saw it, but I made kind of a promise to myself then and there that when I was 25, I was going to move to the United States, and I was going to marry an American man, and I was going to be in America for the rest of my life.
Gemma Stafford: And yeah, it was. I was 25, actually, when I did end up moving here. But yeah, it always stuck in my head, and the thing about it is, I never told anybody, which was so funny. So when I was in my twenties later, and I decided to go to America, I think they were kind of surprised, but I always knew in the back of my head that this was part of the plan. I was going to do this.
Suzy Chase: It was your vision.
Gemma Stafford: Yeah.
Suzy Chase: Wow. So, for busy home cooks, you also have a few mug cake recipes in this cookbook. Describe these.
Gemma Stafford: So the mug cakes are some of my most popular on Bigger Bolder Baking, and they are really, they’re little tiny single serving, I shouldn’t say tiny, but they’re a small single serving cakes that … This is where kind of anytime, anywhere bacon comes in. We heard a lot from people who, like I said, don’t have kitchens, don’t have ovens, but still want to bake.
Gemma Stafford: And there’s a whole world of microwave recipes out there for cakes that I have in the book, and then savories that I have on my website for things like pizza, mac and cheese in a mug, and things like that that can all be made in the microwave.
Gemma Stafford: So in the book Bigger Bolder Baking, I shared three recipes of some of my most popular, and they’re an amazing … They’re really great recipes, because there are only a handful of ingredients. So even if your kitchen is bare, all it is is a little bit of raising agents, some flower, a little bit of oil. You might need an egg, but not even all of them need an egg.
Gemma Stafford: Most of it is just standard cupboard ingredients. And you can have a mug brownie, a funfetti cake in a mug, or even a donut in a mug, which is a really popular one. And they’re just a really amazing way for somebody to make a single serving treat fast with very little wash-up. And then you’re not left with cake or cookies or whatever it is. You got to just have exactly what you wanted, or what you needed.
Suzy Chase: I do love how you’ve included so many microwave recipes in this cookbook, because I feel like the microwave is a little passe right now. But it’s so convenient.
Gemma Stafford: Yeah. You know, the thing I explained, because I get asked this a lot. I’ve been a professional chef for many years now, and a lot of, when I first started doing microwave recipes, I talked to myself, “Should I be doing this? Because I’ve worked in [inaudible 00:09:41] restaurants now. Should I be making recipes in a microwave?”
Gemma Stafford: Because people question you. And the thing about it is, it’s not about the microwave. It’s about, it is, these recipes are another way for some people to feed themselves, to make something from scratch, what I like to call real food fast, not fast food, with just a few ingredients, with very little waste.
Gemma Stafford: And when we started making them, we were doing the cakes, we heard from a very much younger audience. Then when we kind of ventured into savory, and we started doing things like ramen in a mug and pizza, which was one of my favorites, pizza in a mug, and lots of different things like that, we heard from all around the world.
Gemma Stafford: And heard from truckers, we heard from people living in elderly facilities, people who had been widowed. I just got an email from a man in Australia yesterday, 87 years of age, who was asking me about … He just got the same microwave that I did, and he was asking me about the recipes so he’d be able to feed himself.
Gemma Stafford: So it’s much bigger than making food in a microwave. It’s giving the people independence and confidence to be able to create their own meals, and that satisfaction and pride that you take in that.
Suzy Chase: Gosh, that’s so smart. Good for you.
Gemma Stafford: Thanks.
Suzy Chase: You also included mug net. What’s that?
Gemma Stafford: Yes, that’s a donut in a mug. is a little kind of a cinnamony, kind of a cake with a little bit of jam in the middle, and eaten all together, tastes just like a donut sprinkled with some cinnamon sugar. It’s just a fun little take on a donut.
Suzy Chase: If I’m going to teach people to bake, why not online Guess who said that. Your YouTube channel has almost 2 million subscribers. Tell us about your channel, and how was your husband involved?
Gemma Stafford: My husband is the driving force behind us. So, we started Bigger Bolder Baking five, five and a half years ago, as a YouTube channel. Long story short, myself and my husband, I still worked in food. I worked, I had a catering business. My husband worked in tech. Sorry, he did marketing for a tech company, but he also had a lot of experience in the entertainment industry, because he’d worked for Lucasfilm and Pixar.
Gemma Stafford: And we got married, and we joined forces. We decided, how can we come work together to join both of what we’re passionate about, which is food and entertainment? And Kevin said that he wanted to do more of the production side of entertainment, because he always did the marketing side.
Gemma Stafford: So we came up, he said, “Why don’t we create a cooking show?” And you know, five and a half years ago, YouTube was very much a different playing field. There wasn’t a saturated … There wasn’t as many baking channels, and it was just a different ballgame. And you know, we quit our jobs in San Francisco.
Gemma Stafford: We left behind paychecks and healthcare, and we moved to a city that we didn’t know anybody, down to Santa Monica in LA, and we just started creating videos out of our kitchen. We went all in. We financed it. All of our time, all of our effort, we were working around the clock.
Gemma Stafford: And the thing about it is, we didn’t doubt ourselves. We knew that we were kind of crazy for doing it, but we never doubted ourselves. We knew that we were onto something good. And it took some time, and blood, sweat and tears, but it started to pay off really fast, and slowly but surely, we started to garner this audience of what we call, and what they call themselves, bold bakers.
Gemma Stafford: And within a few months, we had some videos go viral. Our subscribers just doubled. And from then on, we’ve just, in the last, sorry, five and a half years or so, we’ve gotten to 2 million subscribers on YouTube. And then with our Facebook and Instagram, and our website included, we’re around 5 million people all around the world.
Suzy Chase: What’s the most popular recipe on your channel?
Gemma Stafford: Most popular recipe, I would … So there’s two that are kind of tied. The mug cakes are some of my most popular, it’s kind of what I’m known for. And then also, what’s actually, I had to include this in the book, is my no machine ice cream. It’s just a few ingredients, cream, condensed milk, and some vanilla extract.
Gemma Stafford: And you can make a base of kind of a vanilla ice cream. But then you can add any flavor you want. And I actually think, Suzy, you tried one of the ice creams.
Suzy Chase: Yes.
Gemma Stafford: And so it’s just a really fun recipe. But that was another one that resonated with our audience, going back to it’s not about the microwave, it’s not about the utensil. It’s the fact that you were able to make something without the traditional methods.
Gemma Stafford: So the ice cream is made whisking together, you can do it by hand, or you can do it with a stand mixer, but you don’t need an ice cream machine to make ice cream. And that video was just huge for us. So we had to include that ice cream and some different flavors in the book.
Suzy Chase: Yeah, I made your raspberry swirl cheesecake ice cream on page 239.
Gemma Stafford: Yeah, that’s one. I love cheesecake ice cream.
Suzy Chase: Ice cream has always been so intimidating for me.
Gemma Stafford: Yeah. And because you have to make a custard base, and you have to, there’s different steps, and it just, it can be laborious. And there’s a chance that you curdle your custard, and then what do you do? But this is, for want of a better word, it’s foolproof. And it’s really, it’s awesome, because also, we don’t, we have a large audience.
Gemma Stafford: It’s kind of funny, but we have a large audience who are, who don’t eat eggs, for dietary reasons, for religious reasons. So this ice cream doesn’t include any eggs. It’s only cream and condensed milk. And so it really ticks a lot of boxes for a lot of our fans. So that and the mug cakes are some of my most popular recipes with tens of millions of views on YouTube.
Suzy Chase: For Christmas, are you going to be doing your 12 full days of cookies again?
Gemma Stafford: I am.
Suzy Chase: Oh, yay.
Gemma Stafford: Yeah, we’re doubling down on cookies this year. I started making them in August.
Suzy Chase: Oh, my gosh.
Gemma Stafford: So we’re planning. We’re getting kind of our team, we have a team now. At the beginning, it was just Kevin and I, my husband. And then, a few years in, we were able to start building out a team, and so our team are working on those campaigns. So 12 days of Christmas, and all the things around holiday baking.
Gemma Stafford: We’re also going to do a holiday baking hotline where I go live. It might be on … One time we did a hotline on the website, on biggerbolderbaking.com, where I was, what do you call it? I popped up and I answered people’s questions live, the day of Thanksgiving.
Gemma Stafford: And then we also use an app called [inaudible 00:16:59], where … It’s like a voice mailing app where people can leave me a voicemail, and then I answer them back straight away. And it’s just a really fun way to do it. And the holidays can be, it can be challenging. And you face, you come across things in the kitchen that you didn’t know were going to happen and you need help fast. So we also do that and that’s a lot of fun.
Suzy Chase: So I also made your recipe for 10 minute vanilla refrigerator cookies on page 44. Can you describe these?
Gemma Stafford: Those cookies are, they’re one of the first cookies I remember making, and they’re really simple, because they’re a plain vanilla cookie. It’s a little bit crisp, it’s also a little bit soft. But it’s a recipe that, since the book has come out, I’m just, I know what recipes mean to me.
Gemma Stafford: They have certain nostalgia to me, but I keep on getting photos on social media of these cookies, and it just, I don’t know what it is about them, but they really resonated with people. But they’re just a plain little cookie. And the best thing about it is, is you keep the dough in the refrigerator, in a log, and then you can just slice it whenever you want to bake some off.
Gemma Stafford: And it also is kind of a good blank canvas. If you wanted to add in chocolate chips, orange rind, different flavors, some knots, it really is versatile, and you can add anything you want to it.
Suzy Chase: Now to my segment called My Favorite Cookbook. Aside from this cookbook, what is your all time favorite cookbook and why?
Gemma Stafford: Oh my gosh, that’s a really good question. I’m going to have to say there’s not a lot. I have a huge collection of cookbooks, as I’m sure you do as well, Suzy, and I treasure them. But there’s very few that I’ve read kind of front to back, and the one that my mom …
Gemma Stafford: My mom used to get me cooking books or cookery books for Christmas, and one year, when I was a student in my teens, I was probably 17 or something, she got me the Ballymaloe Cookery School three months course in a book, because Darina’s course at Ballymaloe, her longest one is three months, and they compiled what you learn in that course into one big, thick book.
Gemma Stafford: And I went through that book like nobody’s business. I tried recipes, everything from salads to dressings, to cookies, to cakes, to breads. I went through it page to page, and I still use it as kind of my go to Bible of today. I still go to it for my Asian pork salad, and she has a Tennessean citrus cake, and it’s just, it has a little bit of everything. And I just absolutely adore it, and it brings me back to that time of Ballymaloe as well.
Suzy Chase: Where can we find you on the web and social media?
Gemma Stafford: So you can find me on my website, biggerbolderbaking.com, and then on Facebook and Instagram, it’s Bigger Bolder Baking.
Suzy Chase: Wonderful. Thanks, Gemma, for coming on Cookery by the Book podcast.
Gemma Stafford: Thank you, Suzy. It was lovely to talk to you.
Outro: Subscribe over on CookerybytheBook.com, and thanks for listening to the number one cookbook podcast, Cookery by the Book. | https://medium.com/@cookerybythebook/interview-with-gemma-stafford-bigger-bolder-baking-bac3f4251037 | ['Suzy Chase'] | 2019-10-28 19:29:23.127000+00:00 | ['Interview', 'Baking', 'Cookbooks', 'Podcast', 'Food'] |
Targeting the Caravan: Debunking an Anti-Migrant Video Spread as U.S. Right Wing Propaganda | Venezuelans took to the streets in 2017, some wearing helmets and holding shields to brace for the severe response from the Maduro regime against their calls for greater democracy. Citizens captured the brutality on their cell phones and posted on social media, enabling the world to watch protestors felled by tear gas, water cannons, and bullets.
A year and a half after the protests in Venezuela, a video (see VID 01) depicting protesters being blasted to the ground by high pressure water cannons was circulated on Twitter by @RightWingLawMan. Disturbingly, this tweet wasn’t lamenting the violence in Venezuela, but rather fueling hatred against Central American migrants: “I like watching them get slammed into the ground,” tweeted @LindyWithAWhy, in response to the video. “START SHOOTING,” added @NMLarry1.
Tweet posted by @RightWingLawMan with misattribution of video of the Venezuela protest.
The gross misrepresentation of events exemplified in this tweet came to my attention during my involvement in a research project between the CITRIS Policy Lab and the Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley which analyzed thousands of tweets from the top 10 most influential bot and non-bot accounts spreading anti-migrant propaganda on Twitter leading up to the 2018 U.S. midterm elections. A team of students spent 6 weeks analyzing and deconstructing examples of harassment and hate speech from these tweets.
In this case, @RightWingLawMan used this video to mislead his audience and stoke hateful sentiments targeting the migrant caravan traveling to the U.S. border through Mexico. His tweet sought to justify the violence against the protesters in the video, citing federal law and the role of the President as “commander-in chief” and characterized the caravan as “massive” and an “invasion” to invoke violent military force against civilians. Upon analyzing this tweet, I provide evidence of a galling contradiction embedded in the American right wing whose members condemn repressive governments such as Maduro’s as well as the people fleeing these hostile environments.
As a Venezuelan native, I have seen countless videos from the 2017 protests. While combing through anti-migrant tweets for this research, I immediately flagged this video as a possible fake. Using online discovery, reverse image search, and satellite imagery, I was able to reveal the misleading nature of this tweet by verifying and geolocating the video embedded in the tweet.
The shield which is almost ripped out of a protestor’s hands as they are blasted to the ground by the water cannon in seconds 0:08–0:10 is painted with the flag of Venezuela. The use of water cannons and the presence of the Venezuelan flag spurred my initial suspicions of this video of the “caravan invasion.” Since VID 01 is embedded in the tweet, I pulled out keyframes which I then ran through the Yandex reverse image search engine. The search tool led me to an earlier use of the video (VID 02), which had been originally posted on YouTube on May 16, 2017.
Comparison of video embedded in the tweet (VID 01) and same video posted to YouTube in 2017 (VID 02).
Once I discovered that this video was from 2017, and therefore not of the 2018 migrant caravan, my next step was to find its exact location. I found a video (VID 03) which compiled scenes of government repression on the Autopista Francisco Fajardo in Caracas. A minute into the video, specifically at 1:19–1:21, I found a scene that appeared to match VID 01 and Vid 02. VID 03 was clear enough to see a road sign that helped to confirm the location. A side-by-side comparison of the two scenes yielded clues for geolocation. | https://medium.com/citrispolicylab/targeting-the-caravan-debunking-an-anti-migrant-video-spread-as-u-s-right-wing-propaganda-40fc52c94339 | ['Citris Policy Lab'] | 2020-01-30 23:48:53.562000+00:00 | ['Computational Propaganda', 'Immigration', 'Social Media', 'Osint', 'Bots'] |
Choosing a Web host -Bluehost | Hi I am Marko Apostolovski and in this article I’m going to review my experience with Bluehost.
There are some simple tips to follow when looking for a good web host. The first rules is to avoid free hosts whenever possible. You probably think that a free service is preferable then paying a monthly fee. However for a couple dollars you get nice designed website with her own name and more professional. Paid hosting has several important advantages over free hosting. Firstly you will receive more useful features with paid hosting. Technical support will be much better with help available when you need it. Generally speaking with Paid hosts you will have much faster connections to the internet so your site will appear quicker. Most importantly with paid hosting you won’t have to display a banner on each page advertising the Hosting Company and advertising to the world that you are on a free host, that doesn’t look professional right?
I have been using Bluehost for the past 3 years with cheap price without problems.
Let me introduce Bluehost:
Bluehost is a web host company with excellent hosting packages starting from $3.95 per month there is no reason why you shouldn’t go with a paid host. Bluehost makes it easy and quick to get a website up and running, has an easy-to-use cPanel interface that’s ideal for beginners. Bluehost hosting has been a popular choice for those starting out and need a provider that offers all the basic necessity for starting a website or a blog. When you are a beginner blogger you want something simple and easy to use, bluehost interface is super simple and extremely easy to navigate.
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Well I hope you enjoyed this write up as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to ask them in the forum here. | https://medium.com/@technexy-web/choosing-a-web-host-bluehost-af3ef486f831 | ['Technexy Web'] | 2021-01-13 15:52:20.730000+00:00 | ['Bluehost', 'Web', 'Bluehost Review', 'Website', 'Web Development'] |
The Problem of Consumerism | The unseen Price tag
– By Prithviraj Lingayat
SALE, OFFER, BUY, 100% CASHBACK, HURRY, REWARDS, PREMIUM, LIMITED, FREE, EXCLUSIVE and ENDS FAST. Do these words look familiar to you? So, do they always appear on your mobile apps, social media accounts, newspapers, TV, billboards, etc.? If yes, then welcome to the club of consumers, a worldwide group with billions of members, all targets of multi-national companies, who are trying to convince you that your ultimate happiness only lies in buying, accumulating things which you don’t need (with money you don’t have).
Source: Book cover- Hyper-Inflation
We are Consumers, we’re the by-products of a lifestyle obsession — Tyler Durden (Fight club)
Modern Consumerism can simply be understood as ‘promoting consumption of products and goods in excess of one’s needs’. Global market tries to innovate and make products which can reduce the efforts of humans and increase the comforts. Such products are branded in a way that we start believing that ‘this product was the only thing missing from my life, buying this will complete me!’.
This consumer culture has been a boon for economies, but what happens when these advertisements and promotions start encroaching in your daily life, creating issues of privacy and mental health? It was assumed that a free-market economy puts the consumers in the driver’s seat, but do you feel like you are the driver of your decisions, or are you influenced? Are we supposed to overlook the compelling data and assume this modern consumerism is good for us just because it promises economic growth? Even if we decide to overlook the impact on our minds, we surely cannot overlook one thing- The impact on the Environment…
Nearly every new possession has a carbon footprint. All the products we buy or use, essentially originate from the Earth. Every stage in the product’s life cycle requires earth resources in various forms. For starters, in order to run giant factories, energy is required in the forms of heat, gas, oil or electricity. The flashy digital advertisement billboards, data centres, marketing campaigns all require high amounts of energy too. This energy is obtained from fossil fuels. Fossil fuel emissions are the biggest culprits of climate change.
When we fall prey to the flashy advertisements, we buy things, and the lack of mindfulness in buying decisions makes us partners of this exploitative culture. Such ‘business models’ have a huge price tag on Earth. The impact is so big that the ‘Earth overshoot day’ of 2020 was on 22nd August, which implies for rest of the 4 months we borrowed from our future (even the lockdowns could not help us to keep our resource use within earth’s regenerative capacity).
Source: Unsplash.com
Today, in this global economy we ‘the people’ seem to have shifted from being the citizens of this Earth to becoming just the consumers of this Earth. Our seemingly insignificant actions also contribute to climate change. One might say that ‘using a petrol car for commute every day won’t destroy the earth’, but when billions of people around the globe take the same casual approach, the impact is humungous. To control climate change we must focus on ‘Demand Reduction’ immediately. Making conscious choices, using eco-friendly or recycled products whenever possible and consuming only what you need, not all that you want, can help reduce the problem of extravagant consumerism at the individual level. But it’s not just the job of the individuals.
Shifting business models to using renewable energy, innovating with green technology and making eco-friendly products is in the hands of companies. Consumption is the goal, but production is the means. Addressing consumerism from the production side will help forge a greater impact. Governments will have the role of making policies which focus on demand reduction, promotion of green products and renewable technology roll-outs for the transition in the energy sector.
Our economy today operates in a linear pattern, where we ‘exploit — use — dispose’. A transition to Circular Economy is the need of the hour. It is a responsible economic model in which manufacturers close the material cycles of most of the raw materials by designing products to be reusable/recyclable. A conscious effort is made to keep the materials flowing within the economy and not create wastages. ex: Denim Jeans from PET bottles.
Individual actions coupled with systemic changes in governance and business models can limit excessive consumerism and climate change to an extent where all life forms can thrive in peace. But stopping consumerism is not just for the environment, what more is at stake?
Our current consumerist model has resulted in startling anomalies. Worldwatch report estimates that the worldwide annual expenditure for cosmetics amounts to total $18 billion; the estimate for annual expenditure required to eliminate global hunger and malnutrition is $19 billion. Estimated expenditure on pet food in the United States and Europe totals $17 billion a year; the estimated cost of immunizing every child, providing clean drinking water for all, and achieving universal literacy is $16.3 billion.
Consumerism has reached such a point today, that it is challenging our social foundations. Owing to the consumerist culture, more and more people associate social status to products and brands. This often creates new classes in the society, every individual feels unsatisfied and wants to jump up into the class above him, and this jumping is not subject to an end. So, a materialistic society may give newer dimensions to the disparity in our society and social harmony may become a distant dream. Further, the resource crunch will widen the socio-economic gap even more. Humanistic and distributive policies which encourage the human well-being in general over just economic growth must be focused upon if we wish to avoid such societal disruptions.
It is true that consumerism culture has led to numerous innovations which have rapidly changed the face of our society. Consumption of products by individuals is almost a necessity for economic growth, many developing economies have grown at a rapid pace, thanks to consumerism. When a greater proportion of citizens buy goods and services in excess of their needs, they consume more, they spend more, and that creates a cycle of demand leading to greater production and to greater employment.
Consumption is necessary for economic growth, but not human well-being. If our current economic model promotes unsustainable consumerism, it is time to rethink and restructure. At an individual level, we must understand that Happiness, comfort, luxury is not necessarily synonymous to buying or consuming.
When buying, we must realize that beyond the ‘seen’ price tags, there are many ‘unseen’ price tags in terms of consequences. So, we must consciously address consumerism for our self-interest as well as the greater good of limiting climate change. In the upcoming Holiday Seasons, we have an opportunity to make conscious decisions. The change must start from ourselves. | https://medium.com/@climatecollectivepune/the-problem-of-consumerism-16eacc51062d | ['Climate Collective Pune'] | 2020-12-26 08:55:08.406000+00:00 | ['Shopping', 'Consumerism', 'Choices', 'Lifestyle', 'Economics'] |
7 Facts about Colours | Red and Yellow Stimulate Hunger
2. Red is the First Colour a Baby Sees!
3. White Is The Safest Car Colour
4. Colour Blind People Have Better Night Vision
5. “eigengrau” the Grey You See When You Turn Off the Lights
6. The most popular colour is blue
7. Colours don’t exist! They’re all in your head | https://medium.com/@fionahenderson2008/7-facts-about-colours-51eb2d4539ab | ['Fiona Henderson'] | 2020-11-24 10:18:29.727000+00:00 | ['Did You Know', 'Facts', 'Colour', 'Colors'] |
Everything You Need To Know About Hiring Back End Developers | CodersLink looks at some background information about back end developers, why they matter to your company, and things to look for in the right candidate.
by Maria Gomez | May 20, 2020 | 9 min read
Finding the right developer is not an exact science. There is a lot to consider: the kind of project you’re working on, company needs, the scope of the project, salary expectations, etc. It’s important to note that when it comes to developers there are, essentially, three major types: front-end, back end, and full stack. Each is a different and specific strength that allows web applications to function or operate at optimal capacity.
If you think of a web application or website, there are several components that must work together. Imagine a film or theater production: there is far more that goes into it than just the actors and what we see on screen. There is a whole back end operation that ensures lighting, scenery, sound, etc are set up properly and correctly — not to mention the initial script. Similarly, when it comes to developers, the front-end developers are in charge of the client experience and what they see and interact with. The back end developers will work behind the curtain on the code and language that sustains everything. According to a survey by StackOverflow, about 12.2 percent of developers self-identify as mostly back end developers. This means they are slightly more rare and sometimes a little harder to find.
The back end developers work with the servers and the code and language that runs through. Neither back end or front-end developers work in a vacuum, however. They each work together in order to ensure that there is coherence and proper communication between all of the aspects.
Who are Today’s Back End Developers?
Today’s back end developers are tech savvy developers — many with a computer science degree — that likely have both front-end and back end experience. They understand the inner workings of a web application or website and how the behind the scenes components affect the overall application.
The Challenge of Finding the Right Developer
A good back end developer has spent a considerable amount of time developing their technical expertise. In contrast with front-end development, which uses a lot of automated tools, back end can be considered the most complex of the two. These developers make up an integral part of your company’s daily operation and overall success. It is key then, to understand the daily responsibilities of these developers and the kind of language you need or the kind of website or application you are looking to build or maintain.
The Main Responsibilities of Today’s back end Developers
Depending on the kind of online application you are using, the responsibilities may vary some. The back end of a website consists of three parts: a server, application, and database. So if your company has some kind of login or system that requires clients information to be saved, stored, or easily accessed, the back end developer is in charge of making that go smoothly. Narrowed down the responsibilities could be summarized as follows:
Web development languages
Database and cache
Server
API (REST and SOAP)
Technical Skills of a back end Developer
So what is a back end developer and what technical skills set them apart? As we already discussed, the back end deals with all the server, databases, and behind the scenes work that is required for a successful web application.
Proficient in at least one back end language (preferably the one your company already uses)
Working knowledge of front-end web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
Have the ability to operate and manage a hosting environment
Have the ability of scaling applications to accommodate for load changes
Deep understanding of accessibility and security compliance
Experience with version control including Git
Major back end Languages To Keep An Eye Out For
There are several languages that are primarily used on the back end. Here are some of the main ones and what you should seek in your developer.
Ruby: This is a very smooth and classy language with elegant syntax and quite the must-have when it comes to a back end developers tool bag. It is an open source programming language that emphasizes productivity and simplicity.
Python: This is a general purpose programming language but is quite a ubiquitous, cutting-edge, and utilitarian language. This language is useful when building basic applications like desktop apps, Oss, Business Apps, and web frameworks, as well as AI and ML-based web development.
PHP: As an open-source back end scripting language it is used by developers to build web apps and sites. This is a relatively well-known language due to the fact that it can be quite easy to learn and is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML.
Java: An object-oriented, concurrent, strongly typed language. Because of Java’s strength, power, and convenience, it has gained quite the popularity among developers and has become one of the most preferred languages.
Other Technical Specialties
In addition to proficiency and working knowledge of certain languages, other technical skills needed by a back end developer include:
Extensive knowledge of databases: Stacking and recovering data from databases might be a day-to-day occurrence. Having to store and recover data is a big part of the back end developer’s job.
Connecting to Application Programme Interface (API): When companies have an application for mobile, for example, alongside their principal site; these will normally require the ability to recover information for the display and require an Application Programer Interface, or API to associate with.
Server Handling: A database is what stores site content and product and client data. A database stores site content in a structure that simplifies the recovery or arrangement of said content. Server management is required to keep on track with this information. This means using and having expertise in any one of these: Docker, Kubernetes, Nginix, Node,js, New Relic, etc.
Knowledge of Popular Frameworks: Each language has its accompanying frameworks. Understanding the frameworks that go with your preferred language.
Soft Skills of a back end Developer
In addition to the wide range of technical skills that make a good back end developer, there are some required soft skills to look out for as well. Some of these include:
Organizational skills and versatility. Working with the back end of any web application requires the ability to be organized and versatile. Working with data and different frameworks necessitates the ability to go back and forth and solve problems on the fly.
Analytical skills and problem solving. Any tech role requires the ability to solve problems and analyze a situation. back end developers will deal with some troubleshooting of issues, bugs, etc.
Communication. Many back end developers will work as part of a team. Most companies, especially larger ones, might have a team of 2 or more working the back end and ensuring that the server and data is organized and functioning properly. At the same time, all back end developers must work with the front-end team. This constant communication keeps the operation running smoothly.
Common Interview Questions and Skills Assessments
What you ask a potential candidate can and should range from technical questions to sample skills assessments, as well as general questions that gauge the person’s soft skills and critical thinking. Here are just a few examples:
General back end questions courtesy of Honeypot:
What is your favorite programming language and why?
How would you describe the software lifecycle at your most recent position?
What experience do you have with object-oriented programming?
What is the largest web application you have ever worked on? Can you describe your experience working on it and what coding were you responsible for?
Questions regarding Ruby programming language:
What is Rails?
Describe the environment variables present in Ruby
Describe class libraries in Ruby
Questions regarding Python programming language:
What are the ways to write a function using call by reference?
What is the difference between deep and shallow copy?
Write a program to find out the name of an object in Python?
Job Description for a back end Developer
Take your time with your job description. You want it to reflect and represent your company. It tells prospective applicants something about your company ethos, mission, and company top priorities. Your job description can also include:
Expectations. What you expect from a developer both in terms of technical and soft skills.
Show them there is room for growth. One way to attract top candidates is to make your job description one that shows that your company is a welcoming flourishing place that allows room for creativity and growth.
Job Title: Highly Qualified Tech Support Specialist
Seniority Level:
Junior
Intermediate
Senior
Years of Experience:
0 to 1
1 to 3
4 to 6
7 to 9
10 to 14
Location:
City, Country
Remote
Employment Type:
Part-time
Full time
Salary Expectations:
According to some numbers, a back end developer median salary is around $72,000 annually with a lower range around $34,000 and an upper range around $98,000. They can be as high as $117,000 for more senior and experienced developers. Factors that play a part include location and years on the job.
Different Hiring Approaches:
Companies have this idea that hiring means putting up an ad and just waiting around for the perfect resume. It’s not always that straightforward. To find a good candidate you need to get a sense for the person as a developer, their capabilities, temperament, actual experience and knowledge, and more. When it comes to hiring back end or other important tech roles, companies have found that using third party assistance to find the right candidate is not only effective but time-efficient.
Using a third party for your company hiring does not mean you’re less involved in the hiring. On the contrary, it allows you to be more involved without spending the hours in searching for possible qualified candidates. Companies like CodersLink, have a well-established pool of developers with varying skills. They can help you narrow down your search and take care of the paperwork that drains your company of resources. We do the searching, you make the final decision.
So these are two valuable options for companies to use when getting a third party to help with hiring:
Direct Placement Hiring: Using the staffing agency as a way to bypass the recruitment process and use a third party’s connections and experience in the field to find candidates, while you take care of the hiring. This often transitions to a permanent placement, so the third party only assists on a temporary basis until you have fully taken the employee on permanently.
Using the staffing agency as a way to bypass the recruitment process and use a third party’s connections and experience in the field to find candidates, while you take care of the hiring. This often transitions to a permanent placement, so the third party only assists on a temporary basis until you have fully taken the employee on permanently. Remote Hiring: Staffing services provide direct connections to qualified candidates that have been vetted for quality and experience. This provides your company with access to great candidates that can work remotely.
Protect Your Back End with the Right back end Developer
back end developers are highly skilled and technically trained developers that have a wide breadth of knowledge of various programs and frameworks. They are indispensable to a robust and smooth-running web application. Even though it’s behind the scenes, it’s as important as everything else.
Let us know your questions regarding back end developers and how to find the right candidate. | https://medium.com/coderslink/everything-you-need-to-know-about-hiring-back-end-developers-fbe53c4f1067 | ['Carlos A. Vázquez'] | 2020-06-18 14:16:01.776000+00:00 | ['Software Development', 'Back End Development', 'Outsourcing', 'Back End Developer', 'Staffing And Recruiting'] |
Making best use of the video resumes — from an employer’s perspective | With the advent of technology, traditional hiring methods are fading away swiftly. It’s all about digitalizing and using video resumes have become handy in the recruiting world. Using video in resumes and job interviews has become a common practice for the majority of employers and HR professionals. Even though video resumes are on the rise for many reasons, some may have doubts about using them. Here are some facts that would help to clarify why video resumes would be helpful for you.
Easy to review
Watching a video is always easier than reading something. You cannot do any other work while reviewing a written resume, but videos help you with multitasking. For example, if it’s a busy day stacked with meetings, you can review the applicants while you are having a snack or over lunch. Sitting back and watching a video is comfortable; it’s just that simple.
Difficult to fake
One of the biggest challenges of recruiters is avoiding fake applicants. When you receive a pile of written resumes, it is difficult to understand who is embellishing their skills. Sometimes even people who are not qualified enough can cook up their resumes. When using videos, it can be easier to see if a person is trying to fake their skills. It is highly unlikely for a candidate to pretend in a video, and if they are trying, their presentation and speaking abilities are likely to reflect it. This helps you by increasing the opportunities for hiring the most qualified candidate.
Different personalities
A video is the mirror of the job seeker. It tells a lot about the person. For example, it shows whether their personality and flair would fit the role or not, the creativity of the person and whether the applicant is a great fit for the company culture. Watching a video shows off the applicant’s soft skills. Not only that, it shows whether they are passionate and confident as well. Videos show the enthusiasm of the applicants and help you recognize the qualities which fit well for the role. These simple things help you find the best talents.
Tech friendly
If the candidate is using a video resume, it shows that they are comfortable using the technology that has become commonplace in the office today, especially with COVID’s influence. As almost everything is becoming digitalized, knowing that the applicant is tech-savvy shows that the candidate has the ability to work with technical challenges and adapt to technical changes.
Communication skill
In the world of work, the majority face troubles with communication problems. Sometimes when you hire a person with a well-written resume, he or she may not actually communicate well and will have issues at the workplace. Watching a video helps you identify whether they are good at communicating ideas and concepts properly. It helps you hire people with better communication, and you won’t suffer from communication problems at the office.
Things to look at within the videos
Here are some facts that you should consider how to best make use of the videos.
How confident is the person in their presentation?
Is the person speaking freely and naturally, or are they reading a script?
Does the presentation match the level of professionalism you expect at the office?
Does the person present relevant skills?
Does the person discuss the main points of the job role?
If creative skills are relevant to the job, do you see enough creativity for the position?
In addition, you need to consider the laws such as EEOC rules. You cannot reject an application because of discrimination on the bases of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information. If you want to learn more about this, read our blog here.
Let’s get connected with Unnanu to hire the best talents using videos. Visit us and learn how to hire the best match for your company using video resumes. Try Unnanu Hire. We would love to help you identify the most qualified applicants. There are many features that will make your recruiting process easy and smooth. View complete candidate profiles with personalized videos to find the potential fit right from the start. Onboard with ease and hire the best talent. Unnanu Hire gives you flexible pricing, which brings you great value. Subscribe here and get started today. | https://medium.com/unnanu-blog/making-best-use-of-the-video-resumes-from-an-employers-perspective-e425e7e3e259 | ['Unnanu Blog'] | 2020-11-26 01:49:27.614000+00:00 | ['Tips', 'Videos', 'Recruiting', 'Hiring', 'Video Resume'] |
What is AWS Lambda Container Image? | What is AWS Lambda Container Image?
What is AWS Lambda Container Image along with an example to help understand the workflow Oussema Miled Follow Sep 9 · 4 min read
Prerequisites
Basic understanding of containers
An AWS account
Basic Knowledge of AWS such as the console and roles
What is Lambda Container Image?
Before we dive into Lambda Container Image (Let’s refer to it with LCI from now on), we need to understand Lambda service first. So what is it?
Lambda is a serverless computing service provided by AWS which we can use to run functions, self-contained applications written in one of the supported languages (Node.js, Python, Go, Java, and more). Serverless doesn’t mean that there are no servers but it means that developers can write and execute code without worrying about administrative tasks such as maintaining servers.
It’s also important to understand that each Lambda function runs in its own container. So when we create a function, Lambda will package it in a container and then run that container in a cluster.
Now with LCI, we can package our Lambda function and the needed dependencies in an image using Docker CLI for example. Then we upload that image to AWS ECR (Elastic Container Registry). After that, we can go ahead and deploy the Lambda function based on the image we’ve created.
You can learn more about details such as the requirements from the official documentation. But for now, enough of theories, let’s actually build something!
LCI Example
Let’s build a pretty simple LCI, it takes a name as payload and prints Hi + name . We’re going to use Node.js to write the code and Docker to build the image.
In the same directory let’s create two files, one for our code app.js and Dockerfile for the image.
app.js
The above code is the Lambda handler which will be executed when we invoke the function.
Dockerfile
Here we use the lambda-node base image from AWS, we copy the file containing the Lambda handler app.js in the container and finally run it.
To build the image, run:
docker build -t example .
Now, we need to create an ECR repo or use an existing one to host our image. To do so, we open the AWS console and visit the ECR service, you can follow this link for quick access. Choose the region you want, click on Create repository button, name your repo and leave the rest as it is then click the Create repository button. To finish, we need to push our image to this repo. Just follow the steps provided when you click View push commands button.
Let’s now create the Lambda function, keep in mind that the Lambda function and the ECR repo should be created in the same AWS account.
Visit the Lambda service and click Create function , choose Container image option, give it a name, browse images and select the one we just created, finally hit Create function button.
Now we are ready to go and test our work. In the Test tab, write the event which will be sent to the Lambda and click the Test button.
Creating Test Event
Here we go, The Lambda works as intended. Good job my friend 🙌
Execution Result | https://aws.plainenglish.io/aws-lambda-container-image-a5eab06a445 | ['Oussema Miled'] | 2021-09-10 16:39:30.848000+00:00 | ['AWS', 'Lambda', 'Programming', 'DevOps', 'Cloud Computing'] |
Ma, That is What My Twenties are For | Ma, That is What My Twenties are For
A simple text reminded me of that magical second decade of life.
Photo by Tyler Farmer on Unsplash
It is 9:45 on a Saturday night. I’m nodding off in my recliner like a senior citizen. My iPhone screen lights up. I scroll up and the video message begins to play. A tuxedoed crooner serenades a group of dancers, backlit by the San Francisco skyline. He rattles off a Sinatra classic and then segues into an Italian tune made famous by Dean Martin.
In the far corner, I see a familiar face swaying and dipping in time with the music. Her smile is mostly hidden by her mask, but it reaches all the way to her eyes. They glisten in the neon glow of a silvery moon and a foggy streetlight. Ah, to be young and beautiful again — the magic of your twenties.
We found this park in San Francisco, reads the message. You’d love it, Ma, classic crooners like you enjoy. We toasted our adventure and danced with total strangers! <Insert heart eyes emoji here.>
I start to text my daughter back to be more careful when another dialogue bubble pops up.
Don’t worry, I wore my mask and had hand sanitizer in my purse. Ma, don’t worry — that is what my twenties are for!
My daughter’s early twenties have thus far been about nursing school and work. Within months of her graduation, she was dealing with a global pandemic, unlike anything she’d ever seen. She decided to go where she was needed and ending up in COVID-heavy California. Her entire twenties have been about work and the tragedy unfolding all over the world. Tonight, she’d managed to finally find some adventure, even if it required a mask and extra hand sanitizer.
I’m happy for her, but also sad. I wish her every ounce of magic that she can manage to squeeze out of this confusing world, but I also wish her so much more than what it offers. At her age, the world was my oyster and I was only limited by my imagination. Her world now is so different and I’m not sure I understand it.
In 1995, I stood at the back of the Trammel Crow building in Dallas, Texas. Four jazz musicians played a soft George Gershwin tune, one of my favorites. The handsome carriage driver took a knee, his fare watching from behind Magic, a Belgium draft, and the surrey to which he was attached. The driver proposed right there before the bronze statue of the leaping horse, the neon-lit fountain, and the glitter-eyed spectators. All eyes were on him… and her. She hesitated a moment too long but finally said yes. The crowd, which had gathered and tripled in size, gave a collective sigh. I was sorry the minute I agreed to marry him, but that magical moment was all part of my enchanted twenties.
The carriage driver met me on a blind date, which had not been going so well. My date had offered to walk me to my car but I’d declined and high-tailed it out of the restaurant. A man stepped out from behind a beautiful draft horse and asked if he could drive me home. He had kind eyes and a mischievous smile, so I said yes. He walked to the carriage and offered his hand to help me up. I rode in style back to my 1984 Ford in the far parking lot.
“Only Disney princesses ride in such style,” I said, laughing, thinking the world was such a crazy and wonderful place.
“Aren’t you?” he asked and followed by telling me I was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. He dropped me at my car and wrote his number on a matchbook. I took it, lit a cigarette with it, but never called.
There were a handful of other dates, most just as terrible as the one before. I wanted an older man who was cool enough to introduce to my friends but mature enough to maybe settle down. I thought I was ready. They mostly thought I’d be an easy target. To my defense, I was anything but easy, I was complicated as hell. I’d dance with a stranger easily but only went home with romanticized storybook characters.
I returned a few weeks later to the same spot with my girlfriends. There was a live band in the center of the large West End complex. Though we weren’t old enough to get into the bars, it never stopped us from getting free drinks. At 20 years old, we had the world at our fingertips — too naïve to be afraid of the dangers that lurked in the dark corners, too brazen to wait for a stranger to ask us to dance, too hungry to stay home and watch TV. I danced with a handful of strangers until I saw him again. He bought me a drink, and this time I gave him my number.
He called the next day. I agreed to ride with him on his tours the next weekend. And then the weekend after. I showed up Friday nights, sometimes with my friends, sometimes alone. We had lunch in the city. We went horseback riding. He taught me to shoot my first gun. He was responsible, chivalrous, and adored me, even with all my peccadilloes. Most of our dates started with me accompanying him on his rounds. We’d pick up tourists and carry them through the sparkling city at night. I learned the route and its points of interest so well that I could give the tours myself, and sometimes he let me.
In my best carnival barker voice, naturally sweetened with a soft native Texan drawl, I’d give my spiel.
“Here is the Sixth Floor of Texas School Book Depository, where Lee Harvey Oswald took his shot as President Kennedy made his way down Elm Street in the back of a 1961 Lincoln Continental. Or maybe the shot came from there,” I’d add dramatically, pointing at the rickety wood fence above the grassy knoll. “Rumor is Woody Harrelson’s dad supposedly shot JFK as a mob hitman from behind that small knot-hole right there.”
I loved these nights, the ones that made me feel as if I lived some semi-charmed kind of life.
“As we round the corner, you’ll see the memorial erected by Aristotle Onassis to his wife’s first husband. Here is the Methodist church where Reverend Walker Railey served when he tried to murder his wife in 1987… the Founders’ Cabin… the courthouse we affectionately call Old Red.”
Then, we always ended with the Trammel Crow building.
Fares often stopped there on any given night to dance beneath the summer stars or maybe spring a sudden proposal. Musicians stood, jazz saxophones in hand, ready to serenade that special couple for a few crumpled dollars. One night, a man visiting our city with his mother asked me to dance and held me close, confiding he’d lost his bride of 35 years just the summer before. He told me with wet eyes that she would never forgive him if he didn’t take the opportunity to ask a pretty girl to dance as he had forty years before. By the time they arrived back where we began, they left as friends. My twenties were just magical like that. There would be a lot of dancing with strangers throughout those years.
This was a time before social media or pocket-sized cell phones. People had to meet face-to-face. Strangers quickly became friends, sometimes more. You let go of old relationships more easily without those invisible digital tethers keeping us all connected, which left you open for new and exciting possibilities. Most cameras worked on 35 mm film and they weren’t something we carried around in our pockets. To capture memories, we lived them, then stored them away in our minds for one day in the far future.
There are no pictures of the carriage driver on one knee, my bra-less sundress and long black hair, the tiny diamond in its velvet box. I don’t have photos of my best friends and I dancing barefoot on the city streets with people of all ages and nationalities, from places near and far, of those distant summer nights that keep us warm well into our forties. I barely remembered it at all until I saw the video message from my daughter.
We danced with strangers, I read again and again, smiling to myself.
Long before she left for California or was even a twinkle in my eye, I laughed and let strangers twirl me around a downtown street without a thought about if I was safe or they were sick with something we didn’t yet understand. The street musicians knew my name and we often stopped to perform an impromptu number with them for drunk tourists. The flower vendors knew my face and often handed me a rose for free at the end of a slow night. The bouncers looked the other way because while underage drinking was bad, pretty young girls brought business. And we all looked out for each other because that was just the way the world was back then.
I’m reminded of the stories of my mother’s youth — the scandal she caused in her Midwest town when was the first of her friends to date a black man, the heartbreak she felt for the friends she lost in Vietnam, the new friends she gained in the age of Woodstock and free love. And yet, my world in 1995 was as foreign to her as my daughter’s is to me today.
I remember one night her chastising me for not coming in until 4 a.m. The world isn’t like it was when I young, she told me. My response?
“Ma, that’s what my twenties are for!”
I don’t understand the world where my daughter lives now. Her magic is fleeting and tinged with fatal germs and episodes of Unsolved Mysteries. Pretty young girls can’t walk the city alone and have to hide their faces behind a surgical mask. Dancing with strangers is the exception, not the norm, which I find to be a damn shame. Maybe the world has changed, or maybe I’ve just gotten old.
The earth turns quickly, more quickly with each passing birthday. Looking back, I think we each find the magic of our youth in that fleeting moment where a stranger asks us to dance in a strange city or hold hands on the midway when society frowns, or take a long carriage ride through the sparkling city at night. There is something so sacred about those moments after childhood but before the world teaches us a few things about the unfairness of life.
I watch the video again and see a stranger spin her out and back into his arms. This is her moment of magic and I hope she remembers it forever. Have fun, I finally text back, but be careful. This IS what your twenties are for. | https://medium.com/the-personal-essayist/ma-that-is-what-my-twenties-are-for-a74f38da25e6 | ['Mindi Boston'] | 2020-11-15 14:55:00.278000+00:00 | ['Nostalgia', 'Memories', 'Life', 'Motherhood', 'Youth'] |
5 Facts | What You Should Know About Preemies | Although most women are ready for the long pregnancy to be over in the end, the thought of delivering before 37 weeks is terrifying for many soon to be parents. The March of Dimes says that every year approximately 380, 000 babies in America will be born prematurely and face the related complications. That’s 1 in 10 babies in the US and for some ethnic and socioeconomic groups that rate is much higher. Although each preemie’s journey is unique, we at Stork and Cradle wanted to share some important information about preterm babies.
1. When is a Baby Considered Premature?
A baby who is born before 37 weeks gestation is considered to be premature. This doesn’t mean that the baby will need intensive care or an extended stay in the hospital. There are also Micro Preemies. Micro Preemies are babies born under 1 pound 12 ounces and before 26 weeks.
2. Many Preemies have to spend time in the NICU. What exactly is a NICU?
A NICU is a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and although many preemies go to the NICU so that specially trained nurses and doctors can care for their needs, some preemies never have to go.
There are different levels of care and nurseries available at hospitals and not all hospitals have all levels so make sure you check to know what type of nursery care your hospital has just in case your baby has to be transferred to receive the best care.
Level 1: Well Newborn Nursery- provides care to healthy infants, can care for stabilized infants born at 35–37 weeks.
Level 2: Special Care Nursery- Can care for moderately ill babies born at 32 weeks or older.
Level 3: NICU- Can give sustained life support, provide a full range of pediatrics, surgical repair, and care for all gestational ages.
Level 4: Regional NICU- Provides even more specialized care than all of the other levels.
Floyd.org
3. Preemie Parents Talk About Their Infant’s Corrected Age or Adjusted Age. What is this?
When parents talk about the corrected age or adjusted age of their premature baby, they are talking about their baby’s developmental age. Here’s how corrected age is calculated: Take the actual age of the premature baby in weeks and then subtract that number by the number of weeks your baby was preterm. This will equal your baby’s corrected age. Here’s an example.
Baby born 10 weeks ago- 6 weeks preterm = 4 weeks Corrected Age
4. What are the Complications That Can Arise With Preemies
Many different complications can occur with premature babies. Here are a few:
-long-term health problems
-hearing impairment
-intellectual disabilities
-blindness
-hearing loss
5. Where Can I Find Support
Here are a few Facebook groups where you can ask questions, form a community, and feel supported by other preemie parents.
-Pregnant with Twins or More
-NICU Moms
-Preemie Parents Club
-Premature Parents and NICU
-Families of NICU and Premature Babies
We at Stork and Cradle salute the strong parents of preemies, we salute the preemies who are miraculous fighters, and we salute the doctors, scientists, and nurses who care for them and are making breakthroughs. If you have any questions for us, please leave it in the comments. | https://medium.com/@storkandcradle/5-facts-what-you-should-know-about-preemies-6716a878c446 | ['Stork'] | 2020-01-09 04:48:37.339000+00:00 | ['Labor And Delivery', 'Obgyn', 'Infant', 'Parenting', 'Baby Care'] |
A glance of potatoes in human history | Over the centuries, peasants were planting potatoes to eat even they were considered as unfit food, even for animals. During the era, the artists mostly painted for the rich, but Jean Francois Millet, instead, whole-heartedly dedicated his skills and talents to the poverty, especially farmers and their humble potatoes.
Move to Irland in the 17th centuries, Irish were mostly poor peasants and Catholics accounted for 80 percent of population, on the other hand, the rest of 20 percent were Protestantism landlords from England who owned most of the lands, since Irland was merged with England in 1801.
In 1845, a long-existing potato disease, late blight broke out and resulted in a severe potato crop failure, which is recorded the Great Famine in human history. Without adequate potato yields, the peasants was chased off from the landlords and they hardly gain incomes to buy any food. Hence, they had to buy more cheap potatoes to feed themselves.
Consequentially, the higher the cost of potatoes had been rising, the fewer alternatives those peasants could have afforded. | https://medium.com/@theediblediscourse/a-glance-of-potatoes-in-human-history-3d79f9b8fa9 | ['Foodnote The World'] | 2020-09-19 22:41:11.791000+00:00 | ['Farmers', 'Famine', 'Potato', 'Food History'] |
The Most Popular Car in the World: | The Future Car
There are many car companies which are sold in millions. But, we see especially that which car is the most popular and the most sold in the World. That is………………..
Read more on The Most Popular Car in the World: | https://medium.com/@alimurtaza110/the-most-popular-car-in-the-world-7b29f5e006de | ['Ali Murtaza'] | 2020-12-24 11:03:14.532000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'News', 'Innovation', 'Cars', 'Future'] |
How Can a Corporate Event Caterer Relieve Your Stress? | Arranging a corporate event is a work of lots of responsibility. It is a kind of event where your professional known will be the guests, and you need to present yourself perfectly. If you lack in presenting things perfectly and professionally, it may lead to an impact on your image. When it comes to becoming 100% perfect in organizing an event, you cannot ignore the option of a caterer.
An event caterer in Miami, FL, has experience managing, preparing, serving, and after cleanups in the events. They can deal with all types of activities and requirements to help you get rid of lots of stress. However, if you want to get introduced to all essential factors, you should be focused on the upcoming details.
Reasons For Choosing A Corporate Event Caterer
Venue Selection
In the case of a corporate event, you cannot pick any kind of venue. You need to be a little bit specific by which you can represent the professional values perfectly. If you face lots of confusion in making a final decision, you can take help from a caterer. A caterer may have knowledge about multiple party venues where you can organize yours perfectly. You can ask them for assistance and suggesting some major options.
Menu Planning
Choosing the number and types of food items and dishes for a party is not easy for anyone. It needs lots of brainstorming and additional factors. Menu planning is a kind of tactical thing where you need to keep several factors in mind, such as — food portions, guests’ appetite, combinations, etc. If you add limited food items that cannot be useful in fulfilling the appetite of guests, guests may not have a good experience. Here, you should be focused on multiple elements.
Preparation and Servings
Another major factor is the preparation and servings. A caterer does not work alone. The professional always has a team of skilled and trained employees who can deal with everything quickly. This particular team of professionals will make all preparations and serve food to the guests easily.
These are some major reasons to help you understand why you should hire a caterer for a corporate event. With all these things, you also need to make sure you hire the best catering services.
Choose The Best Caterer
In the market, you can find out multiple options for choosing the best corporate catering Miami services. While choosing a good one, you should try to set up a proper comparison. For comparing all options, you can use different bases or elements, such as — the experience of the service provider, types of services, food preparation techniques, type of food, food deliciousness, previous records, testimonials, etc.
All these things can help you understand the service quality of a caterer. But, with it, you should try to check out service charges or prices as well. You should hire someone who can provide quality services by charging minimal possible prices. | https://medium.com/@msdixiemiami/how-can-a-corporate-event-caterer-relieve-your-stress-1998d7b8a1c4 | [] | 2021-06-22 06:23:48.020000+00:00 | ['Restaurant', 'Corporate Catering Miami'] |
3 words that are holding you back | Avoid these bad words
Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash
Language choices which create a defeatist view of your situation before you even start are damaging; not just to your ability to succeed, but also to your belief system and motivation. This is especially true when times get tough. As a result, be cautious of the language you use in self-talk. Once you choose words that limit your potential, it’s a slippery slope, often ending in unrealized accomplishments and failed dreams. When you remove these three confining words, which are holding you back, from your vocabulary you will discover creative solutions for your problems and open the doors of opportunity to worlds beyond your consciousness.
3 Bad Words
But
But automatically discredits an idea. It indicates something is not true or possible for you. Using but limits your ability and fuels the belief that you are not good enough. Switching from but to and will enhance your creativity in finding solutions. For example if instead of saying, “I would like to play the piano, but I have no musical ability” you were to state, “I would like to play the piano and if I give myself enough time, I will be able to play a few songs I like.” The impact this change will bring to your practice routine and playing of the piano is astounding.
Later
When you say, “later” you assume the opportunity will be there when you take the time to consider it, if you ever do. There are so many factors that need to align for anything to come to fruition that later pushes all those forces away from you. Once momentum is halted, it is difficult to regenerate its energy. Later comes right before tomorrow, which is followed by never. If you need to put something off, fix a time to take action. At least then, you are moving the opportunity into your sites.
Later is the killer of opportunities. When you act on later you are filling a future time with an action that should take place now. As a result, the time in the future is not available. That is a big opportunity cost for procrastination. You will never know what would have been possible because you will be too busy taking care of things tomorrow which you should have done today.
Can’t
Can’t is the killer of all innovation. It speaks to your own perception with little thought of the limitless possibilities just beyond your scope of knowledge. When you catch yourself saying, “it can’t be done”, change your mindset to “How can it be done?” Only by accepting that a solution is possible will you be able to take the steps to achieve it. Thomas Edison said on failing to produce the lightbulb after thousands of tries, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Keep looking for solutions.
Limiting Beliefs
You deny yourself opportunity when you choose to use but, later and can’t. They perpetuate untrue beliefs about yourself, others and the world around you. Limiting language creates constricted thoughts. These bad words surrender control of your situation and opportunities to what others are willing to provide for you.
Thoughts are things, beliefs make them so, and actions solidify the beliefs. JB Glossinger
To understand this idea more clearly, let us examine how results are generated: Results are generated by actions. The quality of your actions is determined by your mindset, which comes from your beliefs. Beliefs are formed by your thoughts, and usually, thoughts are generated by words. Therefore changing the words you use to describe your thoughts will directly impact the results you will achieve.
Missed Opportunities
When you see an opportunity, grab it. Don’t worry if the timing is not right or you’re not ready for it. The perfect time for you to take action is now. That is why you are seeing the steps in front of you. The same thing applies in your daily life. While in motion, keep moving. Get something else done and knock another item off the to-do list. This frees you up for the unexpected. Opportunity favors the bold, so take a chance now. Don’t wait for later. This chance may never come around again.
Change your words, change your thoughts
These four techniques will help you to move in a more positive direction and reduce the impact of limiting beliefs on your life.
Where focus goes energy flows T. Robbins
Reframe — Change the words you use to describe the thoughts. Practice changing your statements from negative to positive. You can start by using and instead of but, replacing can’t with how can and later with now. Then take decisive action on those thoughts until they become ingrained habits you do with little thought.
Take action — Don’t look for excuses for not doing something which could be a turning point in your life. Take action today. Excuses and reasons are forms of procrastination, holding you back from your real potential. You will never know what you are capable of until you try and fail and try again.
Reflect — What is creating your roadblocks? How can you take your skills, abilities and goals to a higher level? Set some time aside to be alone. Reflect on and analyze where you have been, then consider what you need to do to take the next steps towards where you are going.
Positive affirmation — Use positive affirmations to focus on achievement and strength, not weaknesses and problems. Say I can…, I will…, and I am… to increase your confidence and build a belief that you are capable of achieving whatever you set your mind to. As Brian Tracy, motivational speaker and author of more than 80 books, says, “What you think about you bring about.” Create your own short and vivid affirmations to steer you through troubling times.
Avoiding negative self-talk and switching to positive inner-dialogues will help you to remove doubt from your life and welcome possibilities of achievement. We are too often focused on problems, and these limiting words encourage that. Beyond but, later and can’t create your own list of limiting words and find suitable replacements that expand your possibilities to create positive outcomes. Those will open your mind to solutions and discovery of endless possibilities. It all starts with the way you perceive yourself and your situation. Take what you have and do your best with it. | https://medium.com/illumination-curated/3-words-that-are-holding-you-back-554fb4173c77 | ['John Cunningham'] | 2020-10-08 04:55:01.305000+00:00 | ['Awareness', 'Self Improvement', 'Limiting Beliefs', 'Personal Growth', 'Positive Thinking'] |
Hot To Avoid Regrets And Make A Move | Photo by Joshua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash
Pandemic gave everyone opportunity, to learn, grow, and think about what’s next?
Since we have started doing things remotely, I’m sure we are left with plenty of time throughout the day which we usually used to spend commuting, water-cooler conversations, etc.
Not sure what everyone is up-to, but everyday since I have started working remotely, I’m getting hundreds of ideas in my mind, and things which can help extend my horizon. But I was not motivated enough or lazy to start anything, and due to this, everyday I sleep with a regret of lost opportunity.
I don’t want everyone to feel the same so wanted to share few things which I can help everyone achieve what they are thriving for.
There are few thumb rule or principles you should follow and make them as part of life even outside this unprecedented scenario:
Don’t be afraid of criticism Fail fast, learn fast Do what feels right to you Seek help
Let’s discuss these one by one briefly:
Don’t be afraid of criticism
Humans are made in such a way, where they try to think what others will think. I would like to say only one thing, if you will think what others will think then what will other do? So, let’s delegate the job of thinking/giving critics to others and we should focus on our primary job of doing what feels right to us.
At first, this may be daunting but always remember if people are giving opinion then your point is getting heard and people want to start a discussion or want you to improve on it. Always remember, take that feedback positively and do some thinking but always do what feels right to you.
Fail fast, learn fast
Yes, you heard it right, as easy and straightforward it may sound but humans are afraid of failing. Humans treat failing as failure rather than a learning opportunity to make a come back stronger and wiser.
Cannot emphasize more, do not be afraid of criticism and failing. If you are not failing then you are not trying, so keep trying until you find yourself at the spot you want to be.
Do what feels right to you
Don’t get influenced by others, always take opinion but try to think your version of the story. If you are doing something in which you are convinced then no one can stop you from moving forward, you will be able to handle all the things we discussed earlier.
Seek help
People out there are happy to help, you have to collect yourself and make your move. It will help open many doors, get different perspective, and learn early. This is the thing which everyone knows how to do but sometime they don’t find right words or are not confident enough to ask questions. So, go out there, nudge someone, they will be happy to give you advice. | https://medium.com/@chopra0/how-to-avoid-regrets-and-make-a-move-87f54c2187bf | ['Prince Chopra'] | 2020-05-20 02:05:04.067000+00:00 | ['Regret', 'Help', 'Pandemic', 'Time', 'Time Management'] |
Let’s Have Lunch | Let’s Have Lunch
Photo by jwlez on Unsplash
This was so exciting! My best friend slid into the chair across from me. It was the first time we had emerged from isolation to have lunch together since the pandemic.
But don’t judge! We were eating outside and we were Covid-free. We agreed getting together was necessary for our mental health.
“It’s so good to see somebody outside my family…” I began. But she was scrolling through her phone. She held up a hand to shush me. “Just a sec. Check this out! Three people shared my tweet!”
“Great.” I nodded. “So how have you been? It’s been ages since we saw each other.”
“I know, right? I just reached 480 followers on Instagram!”
“That’s nice,” I said. “I wanted to tell you something I couldn’t say on the phone. I found out Chad was seeing somebody else, so we’re calling it quits. After three years. He was cheating on me!”
“Oh wow, my Facebook post has 132 likes,” she said. “Did you see my post?” She looked up for the first time.
“I haven’t been on Facebook lately. It hurts too much when I see so many people happy in their relationships, after what happened to Chad and me.”
“You should get on it more. I’ve shared some hilarious memes. How can you keep up with your friends if you aren’t on Facebook?”
“I was hoping we could catch up now…”
“OMG!”
“What?”
“Some troll just gave me shit about my political post. I’m blocking him. RIGHT. NOW.”
“Chad claimed he wanted to try again. He told me the girl he’s seeing doesn’t mean that much to him, but I finally realized I don’t care. Covid has made me realize a lot of things about relationships. Sometimes it’s better to be alone,” I said.
“Everybody else liked my post. Why do people on social media have to be so hostile? I don’t get it.”
She started scrolling again.
“Actually I murdered Chad and hid his body under a tarp,” I said.
“Then I burned the house down to get rid of the evidence, but with the financial loss of the house I needed some quick cash, so I robbed the convenient store down the street and now there’s a warrant out for my arrest because I forgot to wear a hoodie and my face was visible on the surveillance camera.”
“What did you say about hoodies? The cutest one just popped up on my feed. Check this out. If you’re planning on buying me a Christmas present, this hoodie would be great.”
By the time we finished lunch, she had 10 more followers on Instagram, 56 more likes on Facebook, and 3 more people had shared her tweet.
Impressive! | https://medium.com/the-haven/lets-have-lunch-d86468aafe78 | ['Bebe Nicholson'] | 2020-12-13 18:54:19.062000+00:00 | ['Friends', 'Relationships', 'Social Media', 'Satire', 'Humor'] |
How Blockchain Can Be Effective For eSports | The Gaming Industry has been exponentially growing for the past few years. There are about 2 B gaming enthusiasts across the world. The earnings from the gaming industry is here to increase. In 2020 alone, the global gaming industry was worth $152.1 billion. After recognizing its importance, many organizations and brands have stepped in this hot market. According to Mobile Syrup, the Canadian video game industry has grown 23 percent since 2019 to contribute $5.5 billion to Canada’s GDP, according to a new biennial report from The Entertainment Software Association of Canada (ESA Canada). The industry is said to have provided 40,000 jobs across Canada. That means, the gaming industry has in it to become one of the largest industries across the world.
Lately, the Blockchain has made a booming entry, and the talks have been going around relating to Blockchain and Gaming industry. Well, it is true that both the industries can work together. The reason is vast majority of the online gamers daily buy thousands of virtual goods for their in-game inventory. There has been many cases of fraud reported to the game developing companies. However, the hackers nowadays are smarter. Most of them are gamers themselves, and they know how things work in a particular game; in short, there are loads of financial security issues in the gaming industry. The Blockchain here could play a vital role by improving the safety and efficiency of the in-game items.
There are many gamers who lose interest in games and leave behind thousands of dollars of worth in-game items. Additionally, there is no technology that can estimate the net worth of a particular account and helps potential buyer acquire it via an established platform. There are a significant number of gaps needs to be filled in the industry, and majority of them requires technology supported by Blockchain as it is cryptocurrency that has till date the safest transactional model.
Usage of Cryptocurrency in Gaming
Capitalists Moving To Gaming Industry
The Blockchain is one of the significant means through which capitalists can safely invest their money in gaming. One of the major pros why capitalists are eying on the gaming side is because the Blockchain helps provide the proper valuation report of the industry through ICOs and several crypto tokens.
How Blockchain Can Be Helpful For Team Owners?
The Blockchain technology provides a safer agreement between the players and teams that promises the highest level of security. The system also helps maintain the stats of prior tournaments and leagues.
How Players Can Benefit from The Blockchain Technology?
The players are a significant aspect of any team because at the end of the day they are the ones who have to be on ground battling for a title and prize pool. Subsequently, their financial security is the most important part of their contract with any team. With that being said, the Blockchain technology can help players maintain a record of their earnings — Throughout their journey with any team. This will enable all the team players to focus on their gameplay, rather than thinking about their rewards.
CLG- Crypto League Gaming has recently announced that they will be launching eSports portal focused on competitive gaming. The portal will be completely based on Blockchain and smart contracts, which will provide future investors and sponsors a complete report of the market through specific measures and manageable market values of teams, leagues and players.
With Smart Contracts in place, the portal will be free of fraudulent activities. Once the KPIs set by platform are met, all the rewards will be released automatically without involving any third.
Benefits To Gaming Community
How Gaming Audience Can Benefit From Blockchain Technology?
The audience are the major part of any event as the sponsors look for the audience before putting their money in any event. The audience has been showing great potential and support for gaming. The audience engagement has drawn billions of dollars from the sponsors around the globe. For instance, DotA 2’s Ti21 drew more than $40 Million in the prize money, which is till date the highest prize pool in the gaming industry.
Moreover, the gaming industry revolves around the in-game items which players shop to increase their inventory. Similarly, the audience watching the gameplay is also from the gaming community and hence connected to virtual items. It usually feels annoyed, while paying cash for the event tickets. The Blockchain Technology can help release the pain by offering it a secure crypto system to pay for the event tickets. | https://medium.com/@cryptoleaguegaming/how-blockchain-can-be-effective-for-esports-302a8cb3cbc4 | ['Clg - Crypto League Gaming'] | 2021-11-19 21:57:34.752000+00:00 | ['Smart Contracts', 'Gaming', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain', 'Esports'] |
Cuomo: New [COVID-19] Strain Found in United Kingdom is ‘very Concerning’ | Here’s the latest on the coronavirus pandemic for December 22, 2020:
The Virginia Department of Health reported 314,481 cases of COVID-19–268,472 confirmed and 46,009 probable — Tuesday. The death toll is now at 4,705.
Virginia Hospitals and Healthcare Association reported 28,175 people with the virus have been released from the hospital.
A total of 1,836 outbreaks in the state has contributed to 41,727 COVID-19 cases. The state’s positivity rate remains at 11.4 percent.
With about 80% of its ICU beds filled, Virginia Commonwealth University Health System will implement tighter restrictions on patient visitation Tuesday by limiting visits for adults without COVID-19 from noon to 8 p.m. only.
The current policy at VCU Health’s hospital in Richmond allows for only one person to visit a non-COVID-19 patient between 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The impending change on Tuesday will cut that window by four hours, VCU Health spokeswoman Laura Rossacher told 8News’ Kerri O’Brien.
Dr. David Lanning, the interim chief medical officer for VCU Medical Center, said the system has over 70 COVID-19 patients as of Monday and will have to reschedule some elective surgeries and shift an unknown number of appointments to telemedicine due to growing concerns over the strain on the hospital’s ICU.
TESTING LOCATIONS NEAR YOU
CHESTERFIELD
Monday, Dec. 28–1 to 3 p.m. Second Baptist Church, 5100 West Hundred Road
Tuesdays: Dec. 22 and 29–10 a.m. to noon. Walmsley United Methodist Church, 2950 Walmsley Blvd.
Wednesdays: Dec. 30–10 a.m. to noon. St. Augustine’s Catholic Church, 4400 Beulah Road
Thursday: Dec. 31–10 a.m. to noon. Walmsley United Methodist Church, 2950 Walmsley Blvd.
Flu vaccines are also available everyday Monday-Friday throughout December (closed on the 24th and 25th), 8:00am-4:30pm at Richmond City Health District (400 E Cary St, Richmond, VA 23220).
LOCAL COVID-19 CASES
Charles City County: 169 cases, 8 deaths
Chesterfield County: 11,678 cases, 156 deaths
City of Colonial Heights: 546 cases, 27 deaths
City of Hopewell: 762 cases, 9 deaths
City of Richmond: 8,349 cases, 90 deaths
Dinwiddie County: 828 cases, 14 deaths
Goochland County: 543 cases, 7 deaths
Hanover County: 3,314 cases, 65 deaths
Henrico County: 10,924 cases, 275 deaths
New Kent County: 538 cases, 5 death
Powhatan County: 674 cases, 6 deaths
1. House passes $900 billion COVID relief, catchall measure
The House easily passed a $900 billion pandemic relief package Monday night that would finally deliver long-sought cash to businesses and individuals and resources to vaccinate a nation confronting a frightening surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths.
Lawmakers tacked on a $1.4 trillion catchall spending bill and thousands of pages of other end-of-session business in a massive bundle of bipartisan legislation as Capitol Hill prepared to close the books on the year.
The lopsided 359–53 vote was a bipartisan coda to months of partisanship and politicking as lawmakers wrangled over the relief question, a logjam that broke after President-elect Joe Biden urged his party to accept a compromise with top Republicans that is smaller than many Democrats would have liked.
The relief package, unveiled Monday afternoon, sped through the House in a matter of hours. A Senate vote that would send the bill to President Donald Trump appeared likely to follow soon.
The bill combines coronavirus-fighting funds with financial relief for individuals and businesses. It would establish a temporary $300 per week supplemental jobless benefit and a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans, along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses, restaurants, and theaters and money for schools, health care providers and renters facing eviction.
The 5,593-page legislation — by far the longest bill ever — came together Sunday after months of battling, posturing and postelection negotiating that reined in a number of Democratic demands as the end of the congressional session approached. President-elect Joe Biden was eager for a deal to deliver long-awaited help to suffering people and a boost to the economy, even though it was less than half the size that Democrats wanted in the fall.
“This deal is not everything I want — not by a long shot,” said Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern, R-Mass., a longstanding voice in the party’s old-school liberal wing. “The choice before us is simple. It’s about whether we help families or not. It’s about whether we help small businesses and restaurants or not. It’s about whether we boost (food stamp) benefits and strengthen anti-hunger programs or not. And whether we help those dealing with a job loss or not. To me, this is not a tough call.”
The Senate was also on track to pass a one-week stopgap spending bill to avert a partial government shutdown at midnight and give Trump time to sign the sweeping legislation.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a key negotiator, said on CNBC Monday morning that the direct payments would begin arriving in bank accounts next week.
Democrats promised more aid to come once Biden takes office, but Republicans were signaling a wait-and-see approach.
The measure would fund the government through September, wrapping a year’s worth of action on annual spending bills into a single package that never saw Senate committee or floor debate.
The legislation followed a tortured path. Democrats played hardball up until Election Day, amid accusations that they wanted to deny Trump a victory that might help him prevail. Democrats denied that, but their demands indeed became more realistic after Trump’s loss and as Biden made it clear that half a loaf was better than none.
The final bill bore ample resemblance to a $1 trillion package put together by Senate Republican leaders in July, a proposal that at the time was scoffed at by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as way too little.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., took a victory lap after blocking far more ambitious legislation from reaching the Senate floor. He said the pragmatic approach of Biden was key.
“A few days ago, with a new president-elect of their own party, everything changed. Democrats suddenly came around to our position that we should find consensus, make law where we agree, and get urgent help out the door,” McConnell said.
On direct payments, the bill provides $600 to individuals making up to $75,000 per year and $1,200 to couples making up to $150,000, with payments phased out for higher incomes. An additional $600 payment will be made per dependent child, similar to the last round of relief payments in the spring.
The $300 per week bonus jobless benefit was half the supplemental federal unemployment benefit provided under the $1.8 billion CARES Act in March. That more generous benefit and would be limited to 11 weeks instead of 16 weeks. The direct $600 stimulus payment was also half the March payment.
The CARES Act was credited with keeping the economy from falling off a cliff during widespread lockdowns in the spring, but Republicans controlling the Senate cited debt concerns in pushing against Democratic demands.
“Anyone who thinks this bill is enough hasn’t heard the desperation in the voices of their constituents, has not looked into the eyes of the small-business owner on the brink of ruin,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, a lifelong New Yorker who pushed hard for money helping his city’s transit systems, renters, theaters and restaurants.
Progress came after a bipartisan group of pragmatists and moderates devised a $908 billion plan that built a middle-ground position that the top four leaders of Congress — the GOP and Democratic leaders of both the House and Senate — used as the basis for their talks. The lawmakers urged leaders on both sides to back off of hardline positions.
“At times we felt like we were in the wilderness because people on all sides of the aisle didn’t want to give, in order to give the other side a win,” said freshman Rep. Elssa Slotkin, D-Mich. “And it was gross to watch, frankly.”
Republicans were most intent on reviving the Paycheck Protection Program with $284 billion, which would cover a second round of PPP grants to especially hard-hit businesses. Democrats won set-asides for low-income and minority communities.
The sweeping bill also contains $25 billion in rental assistance, $15 billion for theaters and other live venues, $82 billion for local schools, colleges and universities, and $10 billion for child care.
The governmentwide appropriations bill was likely to provide a last $1.4 billion installment for Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall as a condition of winning his signature. The Pentagon would receive $696 billion. Democrats and Senate Republicans prevailed in a bid to use bookkeeping maneuvers to squeeze $12.5 billion more for domestic programs into the legislation.
The bill was an engine to carry much of Capitol Hill’s unfinished business, including an almost 400-page water resources bill that targets $10 billion for 46 Army Corps of Engineers flood control, environmental and coastal protection projects. Another addition would extend a batch of soon-to-expire tax breaks, such as one for craft brewers, wineries and distillers.
It also would carry numerous clean-energy provisions sought by Democrats with fossil fuel incentives favored by Republicans, $7 billion to increase access to broadband, $4 billion to help other nations vaccinate their people, $14 billion for cash-starved transit systems, $1 billion for Amtrak and $2 billion for airports and concessionaires. Food stamp benefits would temporarily be increased by 15%.
The Senate Historical Office said the previous record for the length of legislation was the 2,847-page tax reform bill of 1986 — about one-half the size of Monday’s behemoth.
2. Family of ICE detainee who died of COVID-19 sues for wrongful death
Carlos Escobar Mejia died in a hospital after contracting COVID-19 while being held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in south San Diego County. He is considered the first person to die while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
The Otay Mesa Detention Center is run by a private company called CoreCivic under the direction of ICE.
In the suit, Escobar’s family claims “negligence, deliberate indifference to serious health and safety needs and wrongful death.”
Furthermore, they claim Escobar was held in conditions that would “expose him to a deadly disease.”
And that CoreCivic “deprived him of protective equipment, proper social distance, appropriate treatment, and all with the knowledge and participation of ICE and its officials.”
The family maintains Escobar’s death “did not have to happen.”
Otay Mesa Detention Center houses mostly migrants awaiting trial. It is operated by a private company based in Tennessee. (Salvador Rivera/Border Report)
ICE has said it does not comment on pending litigation.
As for CoreCivic, it directed the media to a previous statement made after Escobar died:
“We extend our heartfelt sympathy to this individual’s loved ones.”
Records show Escobar was first detained in January after being arrested by the Border Patrol while riding in a friend’s car in San Diego’s East County. He has previously held for an immigration violation eight years earlier in Los Angeles.
He was denied bail and ordered held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center.
On April 24, Escobar was taken to a hospital and put on a ventilator.
“By the time defendant transported him to the hospital, Mr. Escobar was gasping for air and dying,” the lawsuit says. “He received a blood transfusion but he had already been too weakened by the virus.”
No monetary claim was made. The legal action calls for a jury to determine the amount of money to which the family might be entitled.
Including Escobar, eight migrant detainees nationwide have died from the virus since the pandemic began.
Visit the BorderReport.com homepage for the latest exclusive stories and breaking news about issues along the United States-Mexico border.
3. Warp Speed officials expect to distribute 8 million vaccine doses Christmas week
The second FDA-approved coronavirus vaccine started arriving at medical facilities Monday.
Officials with the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed (OWS) plan to distribute 7.9 million Moderna and Pfizer shots this week, even during the holiday.
“If needed and if required and if asked for by the states, industry is ready to go with delivery on Christmas Day,” said Gen. Gustave Perna, the OWS chief operating officer.
Perna is in charge of vaccine distribution and reiterated his apology during a briefing Monday after states complained about receiving fewer vaccines than they were promised. He called it a miscommunication.
“Everybody is receiving fair and equitable distribution of the vaccine,” Perna said.
OWS officials said that will continue as a third vaccine hits the market early next year. Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna shots, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine will take just one dose. However, Dr. Moncef Slaoui, the chief advisor for OWS, said that doesn’t mean Johnson and Johnson’s is preferable to the others.
“All of these vaccines are important, and the doses are cumulative,” Slaoui said.
As more vaccine trials continue, Slaoui said so do studies of the shots in children. The FDA authorized the Pfizer vaccine for use in people 16 years of age and older, and Moderna’s shot for those 18 and up.
Slaoui stressed these 80 million children may be key to slowing the spread of the virus since they are usually asymptomatic.
“That’s why it’s really important that a large percentage of the population as a whole be vaccinated,” he said.
Slaoui said the shots are still on track to be widely available to all Americans by summer.
Following reports of a new mutation of the virus in the U.K., Slaoui said he expects the Pfizer and Moderna shots to be effective against the strain.
CVS also launched its partnership with the federal government Monday to vaccinate up to four million residents and staff at long-term care facilities across the country. The rollout begins with 12 states this week.
4. US health and defense officials give update 1 week into COVID-19 vaccine rollout
Senior officials with the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed provided an update Monday on the country’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution.
The briefing with Department of Defense and Health and Human Services Department leaders comes exactly one week after the U.S. began administering the first coronavirus vaccines to health care workers.
Monday also marks the kickoff of a nationwide campaign to vaccinate nursing home residents against COVID-19.
US COVID-19 vaccination drive heads to nursing homes
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc and CVS Health Corp are leading the program, in partnership with the federal government. It aims to vaccinate some 7 million people in more than 70,000 long-term care facilities.
The companies already started dosing some residents with Pfizer’s vaccine last week, but their full rollout begins Monday.
About 7.9 million doses of the two shots are being distributed nationwide this week, including on Christmas Day if necessary, according to U.S. Army General Gustave Perna, who oversees vaccine distribution through Operation Warp Speed.
About 50 million people in the United States will have had the first of two shots needed for immunization by the end of January, HHS Secretary Alex Azar said.
US health workers start receiving COVID-19 vaccines
The head of Operation Warp Speed said on Sunday that people who have been infected with the coronavirus — a group that includes President Donald Trump — should receive the vaccine.
White House officials have said that President Donald Trump will get the vaccine as soon as his team determines its best to do so. It remains unclear when that might be.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said last week that Trump was holding off, in part, “to show Americans that our priority are the most vulnerable.”
“The President wants to send a parallel message, which is, you know, our long-term care facility residents and our frontline workers are paramount in importance, and he wants to set an example in that regard,” she said.
Biden publicly receives COVID-19 vaccine
President-elect Joe Biden publicly received his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine Monday. The vaccination was streamed live television as part of an effort to show that the inoculations are safe.
5. Gov. Cuomo: New COVID-19 strain found in United Kingdom is ‘very concerning’
Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave an update regarding the state’s ongoing coronavirus response efforts, discussing new travel restrictions for incoming flights from the United Kingdom, vaccination rollout phases, and more during a Monday briefing.
On day 296 of the pandemic in New York state, the governor announced the following data:
156,510 COVID-19 tests statewide Sunday
5.75% positivity rate overall statewide
7.16% positivity rate inside micro-cluster hotspots
5.28% positivity rate outside micro-cluster hotspots
109 New Yorkers died Sunday from COVID-19
6,331 hospitalized
1,095 in ICU
613 intubated
The governor said the Rochester and Finger Lakes region remains the most problematic area in the state in terms of hospitalization rate per population, and positivity rate.
“They [Finger Lakes] have done a reversal with Western New York,” Gov. Cuomo said. “Finger Lakes is a problem because they are part of Western New York. There is a lot of travel between Buffalo, Erie County, Rochester, Monroe County, etc. The Finger Lakes are a problem in and of themselves, they’re also a problem for Western New York.”
The governor expressed caution about a new strain of COVID-19 found in the United Kingdom.
“This is very concerning, this new strain that they have found in the UK,” Gov. Cuomo said. “The strain, according to Boris Johnson, is 70% more transmissible than the old strain. They don’t know if there is any higher rate of death, they don’t know if the vaccine is effective with the new strain.
“The strain is so serious that the UK has closed down again,” Gov. Cuomo said. “We are on notice about it. Why don’t we act intelligently for a change? Why don’t we mandate testing before people get on the flight, or hold the flights from the UK now? Many other countries have done this, this is not a case of first impression. You have many countries that have just restricted flight from the UK, many European countries have done it. Why haven’t we done anything?”
The governor said that that he believes the new strain is in the United States already, although there’s been no documented cases of which at this time.
“When you do not require UK flights to be tested, you are allowing thousands of UK passengers to arrive here every day,” Gov. Cuomo said. “I believe, intuitively, it’s already here, because if it is flying around the world, it’s already here. I lived this and you lived this. This was the spring.”
The governor said British Airways has agreed to not send flights to New York state without the testing requirement. He said he asked Delta and Virgin Airlines to do the same.
“I am asking those airlines to add New York state to the list of the 120 countries that require tests before the flights leave the UK for New York,” Gov. Cuomo said. “If they [Delta and Virgin], and I’ve requested for them to voluntarily agree, if they do not agree, then New York state will pursue other options, but I would not be doing my job as the governor of New York if I sat here and let the federal incompetence create another disaster.”
The governor said some 38,000 New Yorkers have received the first dose of the vaccine so far.
“This is entirely done by medical professionals,” Gov. Cuomo said. “We get the vaccine, we distribute the vaccine to a regional hub hospital. That hospital does the vaccinations for that region. We define the categories of people who are eligible; phase 1a, phase 1b, etc. and we follow federal advice on that.”
The governor announced that vaccination started in nursing homes Monday morning and 101-year-old Freda Bernhardt of Rochester was among the first nursing home residents in the state to receive the vaccine.
101 year old Freda Bernhardt of Rochester among the first nursing home residents to receive COVID-19 vaccine in New York state. pic.twitter.com/awDNywv8yG
— News 8 WROC (@News_8) December 21, 2020
The governor said vaccination will expand to priority populations this week, including federally-qualified health center workers, EMTs, coroners, medical examiners, funeral home workers, and other congregate care workers and residents.
The governor also announced the formation of a new COVID-19 Vaccine Equality Taskforce, and four co-chairs.
“They’re job is to come up with an operational logistic plan,” Gov. Cuomo said. “How do we get it into black churches? Housing authorities? How do we get an education campaign to the black community, Latino community, poor communities, saying ‘this is safe.’”
The governor said that the vaccine means the end of the pandemic is in sight, but that New Yorkers must remain diligent throughout the holiday season to avoid a more severe COVID-19 surge.
“If we stay under control in the holiday season and, we don’t have a big spike, then it’s just a foot race: Us vs. the vaccine,” Gov. Cuomo said. “And we’re going to get the vaccine out, we’re going to get that vaccine out if I have to drive it.”
The governor said the $900 billion federal relief package included no funding for state and local governments, and he said that “would hurt people.”
“What they did provided no funding for New York state, New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, the counties,” Gov. Cuomo said. “We have a $15 billion deficit caused by COVID, cause by federal government, caused by their negligence, and the COVID spring ambush. I can’t make up a $15 billion deficit and that means we will lay off people.
“We should be fair to everyone,” Gov. Cuomo said. “When you don’t fund states and cities that means cities layoff police officers, firefighters, teachers: You hurt people when you don’t help the state. That means we can’t fund rent relief, mortgage relief. You hurt people, you hurt the schools. It was an impossible choice. An unfair, un-American choice.”
While other public officials, like Vice President Mike Pence and President-elect Joe Biden, have received the COVID-19 vaccine, the governor says he is in the general population portion and doesn’t want to take supply from essential workers.
“I’m in no special group,” Gov. Cuomo said. “I don’t have any underlying illnesses, so I am in no special group. I would be the general population group. We were thinking about getting people to take the vaccination as a way to build confidence in the vaccination and I think that’s why the vice president took it and Joe Biden took it.
“I have a lot of people who just say to me when I walk around ‘well if its so safe why didn’t you take it?’ which is such a good New York attitude,” Gov. Cuomo said. “I had said I would take it as soon as the panel authorizes it and I’m willing to take it. On the flip side it I don’t want to take it and make anybody say, ‘you took it when it could have gone to an essential worker.’ You can’t make anybody happy these days.”
In closing, the governor announced that the New York State Department of Health authorized a request for Santa Claus to be exempt from the 14-day quarantine requirement, adding that Santa would wear a mask, and that it’s not practical to require quarantine for Mr. Claus.
In his briefings last week, the governor said the new mantra of the state will be “slow the spread, stop the shutdown,” as we head into the holiday season.
The governor said he believes the hospitals are equipped to handle the predicted holiday surge and the state can avoid a shutdown.
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,# | https://medium.com/@depoitra/cuomo-new-covid-19-strain-found-in-united-kingdom-is-very-concerning-a412f60a67f2 | [] | 2020-12-22 15:41:20.576000+00:00 | ['Vaccines', 'Coronavirus', 'Covid 19', 'Health', 'Vacation'] |
Everyday Leadership | Leadership without having any Authority or Power
Fixing stuff around myself
You manage things; you lead people. — Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper
The word “Leadership” doesn’t mean only to lead people , it also means to lead the internal abilities and the things in which you are the best. As Rear Admiral Grace Says that you manage things ; you lead people.
Leadership doesn’t required any authority or power. You can become leader of yourself. To justify the above sentence , here i would like to share something about Leadership from my today’s experience , which requires no power.
Today I did a small activity to experience Leadership without having any authority or power. That was about fixing stuff around me. I was sitting in my bedroom doing my routine work. I just clicked pics of my surroundings. I have added some of them here.
Then I look around carefully and try to find something which need to fixed. I noticed that the bed on which i was lying is in that condition which really needed to fix. In the following pic you can see it.
In above picture you can see a lot off stuff which was need to be fixed. My blanket, my chador, my laptop and a notebook with a pencil were lying on my bed roughly. And an empty tin-pack , an empty cup of tea and charger without connecting a device were lying on side table. Which are needed to be fixed. This is known as fixable state.
In the above pic you can see all the things are well managed. This is an Ideal state. I just folded the blanket and lifted all the unnecessary things. I unplugged the charger , put the tin-pack in dustbin and lifted laptop , notebook and chador from bed.
I felt very comfortable and calm after doing this activity. This encouraged me to fix all the things around me which are not well managed. By doing this activity i realize that there are a lot of things around us which are needed to be fixed in our daily life and we just ignored them and says this is not my responsibility.
I do this some time when I feel something is need to be fixed. I fix that but often I do not do it at the same time because I was going to sleep at that time and I fix that in the morning.
As you can see in the above activity I didn’t need any power or authority. But I felt that this is also a type of leadership. To help someone in doing his stuff and to make easy for someone. I am the Leader of my own acts. I took responsibility of doing something and I did that in a good way, which feel me like to be a Leader of myself. | https://medium.com/@ali-haider172/everyday-leadership-66ec6a6f1d27 | ['Ali Haider'] | 2020-12-18 15:08:36.253000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'Leadership Development', 'Fixingstuff', 'Leadership Skills', 'Everyday Life'] |
Crypto Market Intel: Exchanges receive 3.5 billion XRP | RIPPLE (XRP)
Crypto Market Intel: Exchanges receive 3.5 billion XRP
Almost 10% of the free float supply of XRP headed to exchanges to take advantage of a massive 114% price increase
One thing is for sure — there’s never a dull moment in Cryptoverse. At the same time, the volatility that digital assets exhibit is not for the faint of heart either. The volatility that I am talking about was completely on showcase today. The most striking pullback was seen in the premier digital asset of Bitcoin, which had been on a relentless bull run for the past many weeks.
Acting much like a mainstream financial asset, BTC reversed hard from the all-time high — technically getting rejected at the long-term resistance charted back in 2017. So far, it has moved down from $19,500 to $16,200 (or an almost 17%) correction. Similar moves were seen in almost all Alt. coins. Ethereum dropped almost 23% whereas Ripple’s token XRP, saw an even bigger drop of almost 42%.
Although most of the coins have bounced from their earlier lows, significant corrections seem to be taking shape. The confirmation will come in the days ahead. Knowing how financial markets behave, this shouldn’t be a surprise for traders and investors. Coming back to XRP, it has been a trade to watch in the last week or so — with the third-largest crypto gaining 114% over the week.
According to Chainalysis Market Intel, The 114% price increase was accompanied by huge XRP inflows to exchanges. Exchanges have received 3.5 billion XRP since Saturday 15 November. This is 10% of the free float supply — not locked up in escrow. Tuesday alone saw 1.14 billion XRP rushed into exchanges (left chart above), a larger one day inflow to exchanges than during the mid-March price fall across cryptocurrencies.
This selling pressure meant that on Tuesday the price closed 20% lower than the intra-day high and it fell further on Wednesday before rebounding a little Thursday. Talking about XRP moving to exchanges, just six exchanges received 80% of the 3.5 billion XRP received by exchanges since last Saturday. The right chart above shows the amount of XRP received by each of these six exchanges, shown by their rank in terms of the amount they received.
Analyzing the breakup of the XRP that flowed into exchanges — 57% came directly from services such as exchanges, while 43% came from self-hosted wallets. While a large amount of XRP has flowed between a small number of exchanges and a few large self-hosted wallets, Only a limited amount of XRP to exchanges appears to have come directly from the parent company Ripple.
Whatever the case may be, the massive inflow indicated that traders were looking to book come hefty profits after the vertical ascent that we have seen in XRP recently. Today certainly felt like a day in the late 2017 bull run, when we saw large prices increased outside of Bitcoin & Ethereum. Will history repeat itself? We will find out soon…
Stay informed with the content that matters — Join my mailing list | https://medium.com/technicity/crypto-market-intel-exchanges-receive-3-5-billion-xrp-bc80d02838b7 | ['Faisal Khan'] | 2020-11-27 00:20:17.466000+00:00 | ['Economics', 'Finance', 'Bitcoin', 'Investing', 'Business'] |
'Mens’conception | Illustration credit: freepik.com
75% of depression reported cases are from men.
5/6 suicides committed are by men.
Tags/assumptions of carrying the family forward financially.
Let’s talk about something we seldom shed light on.
Generations have passed by, and yet men are suppressed under the limiting norms of society on the basis of which they define masculinity.
Image credit: unsplash.com
The term ‘man up’ wildly circulated and preached about holds the dictionary meaning ‘to act tough’. Isn’t that what the society expects men to be molded into? Being ‘tough’, thereby restraining them from being their true selves. They are detained from the liberties of emotion and expression. Their vulnerability is a joke which carries heavy labels of ‘unmanly’ and ‘weak’. The slogans “Men don’t cry!”, going about have exacerbated their mental health as a result of which, they’ve been held back from being vocal about the concerns they undergo.
In today’s age where we see a commendable outrage on issues pertaining to women’s safety and health, there is still light yet to be shed on the problems faced by men. The harassments men go through are yet to be highlighted. The abuses they encounter has not yet been brought to surface due to the fact that men still hesitate to open up about their experiences. It is shaken off as a laughable topic of discussion. Men facing harassment and rape is still an untouched region which one refrains from talking about cause otherwise they would be condemned and critiqued with jokes like ‘people would kill to be in your shoes’. Hence, such cases are seldom reported.
Image credit: unsplash.com
Currently, their comfort isn’t a questionable choice.
The evolution has gone haywire to a direction where men have to prove their innocence or else, they are proclaimed guilty. Incidents such as “boys locker room” taken place in the recent past acknowledges the same. Their reputation has become so fragile that it can be easily tarnished with certain false accusations and claims. There are still plenty clips circulating round the media which has uprooted the image and shamed many innocent men even with a prevailing lack of evidence. Claims of rape and acts of extortion and intimidation such as “I’ll cry rape” can destroy men’s image to damage beyond repair.
Image credit: unsplash.com
Men who have voiced out earlier have faced backlash on social media for promoting content on the same. People show loathe and hate on the comment section showering them with negativity for sharing their intrigues or following a certain direction. (For eg. Siddharth Batra)
Masculinity is a flawed definition, being expressive and emotional doesn’t make you weak or any less of a man. Men’s mental health isn’t a joke, it's something we should come together and spread light upon. Let's expand and remould the definition of masculinity. Let us be empathetic and show acceptance towards the well being of men. Let us encourage their freedom of thought and expression. Let us come together and support the cause of the same. | https://medium.com/tedxvitvellore/mensconception-ae2c559a6ded | ['Abhyudya Rathour'] | 2020-12-19 11:12:53.939000+00:00 | ['Gender Equality', 'Men', 'Masculinity', 'Freedom', 'Equality'] |
I’m Your Fever | 50 WORDS
I’m Your Fever
Photo by Christopher Campbell on Unsplash
Fill up on every ounce you’ve quietly stolen,
Each look slung my way returned to you without second thought.
Vicious eye fucks offered less sizzle than the smallest sparks I’ve created,
Every attempt at sensuality fell into the quicksand your lips had found.
Retribution is the bullet barrelling towards you. | https://medium.com/the-bad-influence/im-your-fever-8a7977c377b1 | ['Rob Janicke'] | 2020-12-02 09:12:47.920000+00:00 | ['50 Words', 'The Bad Influence', 'Microfiction', 'Lust', 'Fever'] |
Uniris Weekly Update N°50 — EN. News of the week of December 7, 2020. | “Development is so simple and easy that no technical skills are required to fully deploy and use Uniris smarts-contracts! Everyone will be able to create and deploy smart-contracts, while promoting the security and reliability in the Uniris ecosystem”.
Akshay — Chief Product Officer (CPO) Uniris
Innovation at the heart of our smart-contracts
Programmable triggers: simplicity accessible to everyone
No notion of time is available in the current Blockchains. Uniris smarts-contracts allow time-controlled actions to be carried out as easily as automatic bank transfers.
Different types of triggers are possible: time, transactions…
For example, whether it is a vote or an ICO: opening and closing can now be automated. It is the network itself that takes care of the recurrence and no longer an external network. You will be able to define the specific conditions of your smart-contracts and the script will be automatically triggered according to the programming.
A new concept: the inheritance constraint
Until now, smart-contracts were triggered by users via transactions. The status of the contract changes with each direct interaction. Uniris innovates by using the UTXO model. Users will still perform transactions to contracts, but they will ask the nodes to perform this transaction in the chain. The node will then need the private key to generate the new transaction. The purpose of inheritance constraints is to avoid any malicious behavior of the nodes (code modification, sending money…).
You can now automate your digital world in a few minutes on the Uniris network and simplify your daily life. | https://medium.com/@unirislife/uniris-weekly-update-n-50-en-1f6f60b39281 | [] | 2020-12-13 13:38:06.530000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Smart Contracts', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Technology'] |
The primary goal should and must be readability and maintainability! | The primary goal should and must be readability and maintainability! Shorthands should not be used all the time, it’s should be used when it makes sense and improves readability. This comes with experience. The decision should not be made based on saving time or code lines!
My favourite quote Martin Fowler: «Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.» | https://medium.com/@moosetraveller/the-primary-goal-should-and-must-be-readability-and-maintainability-1416735e1e10 | ['Thomas Zuberbühler'] | 2020-12-24 15:36:47.912000+00:00 | ['Clean Code'] |
Retro Review: Blair Witch (2016) | Lionsgate
Blair Witch released in 2016 is a film with mixed results sprung from an effort to revive a dormant franchise that had shocked the world and set the standard for found footage horror movies 17 years prior. Over that time, Paranormal Activity and Cloverfield both found great success with the same technique.
As all great horror movie monsters, the Blair Witch could not stay dead and this effort attempts to drop another group of wannabe filmmakers in the Burkittsville woods once again in order to follow a lead on one of the friend’s missing sister who disappeared in the woods years earlier.
These efforts are decent but never reach for anything beyond repeating the paces of the original updated with modern effects and sensibilities and a larger budget. While it may entertain new audiences, fans of the original will find it lackluster as a follow up.
Returning to its found footage source, a card informs viewers that what follows was found in the woods, much the same as in the original. We are then introduced to the characters: James, whose sister, Heather, went missing in the woods (see The Blair Witch Project); Lisa, his friend who is shooting a video for class documenting the search; Peter, James’ best friend; and Ashley, Peter’s girlfriend. The crew feels like fodder, excluding James. The performances are standard with nothing good or bad, but the characters do come across as fodder for later on. Each serves their roles but don’t seem to have that much of a life outside of it.
The film continues to mimic the formula of the first film down to reviewing the equipment the friends have. This crew is much better prepared than in the original, mostly due to the passage of time and the advancement of technology that is put to excellent use, including a drone.
Once they are off and reach the woods, the film does pick up, adding two strangers to extend the body count, and offers a pointless party scene with crazy jump cuts that doesn’t seem to serve a purpose. The pacing of the film is much quicker from that point out. But offers less explanations than the original had other than to move the body count. The rest is what you would expect with weird noises, people going missing, and explicit deaths. These deaths differentiate the films, the new and old, bringing in something of the unexplainable absurd which serves little more than to illicit surprise.
The cinematography of the film, as well as the special effects do well here. With the budget clearly on screen. Everyone has cameras, allowing for more angles at all times, as well as a drone to give aerial points of view. These changes work well in keeping the pace going as the filmmakers explained that they wanted this to feel like a chase in the woods.
That primal feeling is captured but it comes at the expense of story. With the large cast, the changes in dynamics as characters are offed isn’t explored as much as it could be and the force and events with the Witch just aren’t logical by any reasonable stretch. Returning to the characters as well, they make decisions that aren’t smart, i.e. wandering off on their own. For a film in the twenty-first century, characters need to be smarter than that. And while they make note of all the technology that they have at their disposal, having it placed around their camp at one point could have offered an opportunity for them to learn something about the evil force, but this was missed, which is a shame as it served nearly the entire basis for the better left forgotten flop sequel Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. While the original was based on a looming sense of dread, this replaces those built up moments with jump scares, including even one scene halfway through that was nothing but them scaring each other. With extensive lore from the first film as well as the entirety of that film and parts of it left unexplained, the film never chooses to use it and instead tries to show using its larger budget what the original teased.
Blair Witch is an effort worth taking in revitalizing a franchise that barely launched, but fails by trying to put the original on steroids and failing to jumpstart the heart that made the original work so well. New audiences can enjoy it and will be more likely to now find the original film. Old fans will enjoy it as a more worthy sequel than the previous effort but one that still won’t escape the original’s shadow. | https://medium.com/@jeremywcday/retro-review-blair-witch-2016-99e61c1f8fd4 | ['Jeremy Day'] | 2020-12-18 02:29:34.671000+00:00 | ['Film', 'Horror', 'Retro Movies', 'Film Reviews', 'Movie Review'] |
Swachhcoin is now officially accepting BNB tokens as part of its Reserve Token Sale! | Swachhcoin is now officially accepting BNB tokens as part of its Reserve Token Sale! Swachhcoin Feb 5, 2019·3 min read
Hello Community!
Evidently enough, the past week has been quite busy for us. Post the completion of our formal Token Sale and organization restructuring that we consequently underwent, we have a lot of updates to share with you. While most of the work that has been done by our core team is focused on streamlining some overlooked aspect and fixing bottlenecks of our operations, there has also been core project related development. We are ecstatic to announce that the protocol development of Adverting on Swachh Bins is in the final stages.
The public reveal is scheduled to happen somewhere at the end of April. The exact launch date will be announced by the end of March, after getting a formal go-ahead from our developers.
Keeping in mind the drastic developments in the crypto market, we have revised the list of our accepted currency. We are now accepting BTC, ETH, XRP, LTC, TRX, ADA and nonetheless Binance’s BNB, which has demonstrated great strength throughout the bear market. Based on a simple but a practical Tokenomics, and a result of clear vision and leadership, Binance is now the most preferred accepted currency of our Reserve Token Sale.
Additionally, in compliance with our risk management policies, we shall also be converting a small portion of our assets to be stored in form of BNB for a period of 2 years. (The token growth model remains to be determined by the Binance team after a period of 2 years when the total supply starts reaching 100 Million, and utility in the form of discounted trading fee disappears.)
A word for the KYC
Moving to another announcement made earlier this week, we are aware that the inconvenience of going under the KYC process did not go down well with some users of our community. As much we understand your genuine concerns regarding the inconvenience and privacy concerns pertaining to the KYC process, we assure you that it is the best pathway for us to follow under the given circumstances and our team shall use the best of their abilities to make sure the entire process is done as intended.
Also, we would like to assure our community that the induction of the KYC process before the listing process does not affect the timeline of our listing plans.
We would also like to inform all our bear market anxiety driven community members that we already have a number of offers from some of the top exchanges in the world along with the number of ongoing negotiation accompanied by a daily listing request from a different small exchange.
We can commence the trading of Swachh Tokens when we want, there is nothing stopping us from doing it. However, we wish to time everything right.
The listing event, just for any other project is a highly prioritized event and our team wants to execute it perfectly in sync with external influencing factors.
We are officially in the longest crypto bear market. Unprecedented situations call for unprecedented actions. We request all community member to have faith in our team’s execution ability and be patient.
Some of the best brains are working to serve you the best.
Looking forward.
Best Wishes
Team Swachhcoin | https://medium.com/@swachhcoin/swachhcoin-is-now-officially-accepting-bnb-tokens-as-part-of-its-reserve-token-sale-ac40b4e851a6 | [] | 2019-02-05 16:44:42.618000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin News', 'Blockchain', 'Binance', 'Token Sale', 'Cryptocurrency News'] |
How to hire a software developer | The three main ways to hire a software developer
Hire an in-house developer through job boards or recruitment agencies Hire a freelance developer Hire a dedicated developer for the project (onshore, nearshore, or offshore)
Hiring an in-house developer
An in-house software developer is a developer who is hired directly into your company. In this case, you are taking responsibility for the hiring process and paying employee wages and salaries and some employee benefits according to your country’s regulations. In-house employees most often live in the location of your company office and are physically present.
To hire an in-house employee you should post an open position on your website and/ or on one or more platforms for reaching the wider audience and attract applicants. Let’s mention a few popular job boards.
Linkedin
Linkedin is the world’s largest professional network with 690+ million users in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. LinkedIn began in co-founder Reid Hoffman’s living room in 2002 and was officially launched on May 5, 2003.
Today, LinkedIn leads a diversified business with revenues from membership subscriptions, advertising sales, and recruitment solutions under the leadership of Ryan Roslansky. In December 2016, Microsoft completed its acquisition of LinkedIn, bringing together the world’s leading professional cloud and the world’s leading professional network.
When posting a developer job on LinkedIn, you can pay by setting a daily average budget. The actual amount you’re charged depends on your daily budget and the number of job posting views from candidates.
Indeed
Indeed is the #1 job site in the world with over 250 million unique visitors every month worldwide. Indeed strives to put job seekers first, giving them free access to search for jobs, post resumes, and research companies. Every day, we connect millions of people to new opportunities.
Indeed helps you connect with talent, on desktop and mobile, so you can make more quality hires faster. Anyone can post jobs for free. You can post developer jobs directly on Indeed or through your company career site or ATS. To attract more candidates, pay to promote your jobs as Sponsored listings. Sponsored Jobs have higher visibility in search results and are 3.5x more likely to result in a hire.
Glassdoor
Glassdoor is one of the world’s largest jobs and recruiting sites.
Built on the foundation of increasing workplace transparency, Glassdoor offers millions of the latest job listings, combined with a growing database of company reviews, CEO approval ratings, salary reports, interview reviews and questions, benefits reviews, office photos, and more. Unlike other job sites, all of this information is shared by those who know a company best — the employees. In turn, job seekers on Glassdoor are well-researched and more informed about the jobs and companies they apply to and consider joining. This is why thousands of employers across all industries and sizes turn to Glassdoor to help them recruit and hire quality candidates at scale who stay longer.
Glassdoor offers a do-it-yourself job posting for small businesses with smaller hiring needs. For medium, large and enterprise businesses, they recommend their complete recruiting solution.
Monster
Monster is a global online employment solution for people seeking jobs and the employers who need great people. They’ve been doing this for more than 20 years, and have expanded from their roots as a “job board” to a global provider of a full array of job seeking, career management, recruitment and talent management products, and services.
In the Netherlands, Monsterboard is part of Monster Worldwide. Monster offers three primary plans: a Starter subscription, which costs $249 per month for one job; a Standard subscription, which costs $449 per month for two jobs; and a Premium subscription, which costs $999 per month for five jobs.
Use recruitment tech
There is another way to reach your potential candidates in the internet space. Thanks to the recruitment marketing companies as “MrWork” and “Onrecruit”. Using their products, you can reach your target group, harnessing the power of Social Media and Google, and reach both active and latent job seekers. At the same time, you can get insight into how you are performing, what outcomes you can expect, and what you need to do to achieve your recruitment/business goals.
Recruitment agencies
One more popular option for hiring in-house developers is using the services of recruitment agencies. A recruitment agency acts as an intermediary between a company that’s looking to hire someone and a job seeker who is looking for employment. At the end of the day, a recruitment agency’s main function is to find the most suitable candidate for a job opening. As a company, you will (high) pay fees for the recruitment agency service of finding you a suitable software developer.
Naturally, several factors will affect the cost of using a recruiter:
Type of role you’re trying to fill
The seniority of the role (e.g. junior vs. senior),
The urgency with which the role has to be filled and
Ability to find suitable candidates
Each of these things will have a bearing on the fee you will be charged when asking a recruiter to fill your vacancy. However, in addition to those, the 3 main factors that will affect your bill will be whether the job on offer is permanent or temporary and the annual salary that comes with the role.
Hire a freelance developer
If you don’t mind your developer working remotely or if you are looking for a developer for a short period hiring a freelance developer is probably a perfect option for you.
Freelance developers and programmers are self-employed, which means that they work for themselves on a contractual basis.
Today the process of finding and hiring freelancers has become more quick and painless. With the rise of platforms that assist in finding and hiring workers online, business owners can simplify the entire hiring lifecycle, from posting job offers to selecting and working with the best-fit developers. Companies are also able to track their freelancer’s performance and choose a convenient payment model (hourly rate or fixed price) depending on the scope of work they need.
The cooperation with a freelance developer provides a high level of flexibility — you can end it at any time convenient for you and find a new freelancer without dealing with paperwork.
One more benefit of hiring freelancers is the price of services. Often freelancers are located in the countries where the cost of labor is much cheaper. You might be able to get the same work done for a quarter of the cost or less than the hiring developer in your location. What’s more, when working with freelancers, you are free from extra charges like infrastructure setup, health insurance, sick leave, and other expenses related to hiring in-house employees.
There are a few examples of popular platforms to hire freelance developers
Toptal
Toptal is an exclusive network of top freelance software developers, designers, finance experts, product managers, and project managers in the world. Remote workers are those who work for companies globally whether it’s in the same city or different, they work and get paid.
Upwork
Upwork, formerly Elance-oDesk, is a global freelancing platform where businesses or individuals connect to conduct business. Upwork quickly generates a shortlist of qualified experts in multiple disciplines from around the globe with their proprietary AI matching technology. With each shortlisted software engineer candidate, you’ll be able to review detailed profiles, portfolios, and client reviews and ratings so you can find the perfect match for your project.
Fiverr
Fiverr joins the list of platforms that makes freelancing a whole lot easier for both the freelancer and the client. Through their portal, over 50 million transactions between businesses and contracted freelancers occur monthly. There, you can find thousands of IT specialists who have the credentials to complete your job. Whether you’re looking to hire a short term developer or an expert to grow within your team, Fiverr is a good place to look.
Some platforms specialize just in Freelance IT, such as Stackoverflow and GitHub Jobs.
Hire a dedicated developer
This third option is the in-between solution and can be the best choice for many companies.
A dedicated developer is a software developer or engineer that is committed to working exclusively for your company or on your project.
It’s possible to collaborate with dedicated software developers by using one of the following models:
Onshoring: Remote dedicated specialists are located in the same country as the hiring company.
Nearshoring: The hiring company office and remote specialists are located in a nearby location within the same time zone.
Offshoring: Offshoring involves hiring IT specialists in a distant country.
One of the most popular models of attracting dedicated developers is by hiring a dedicated developer or (extended) team managed by a nearshore software development company.
The hiring of dedicated nearshore developers has all the benefits of working with freelancers as an easy hiring process, the desired level of flexibility, and the lower price of services.
Dedicated Developers vs. Freelancers
- Dedicated developers offer a higher level of expertise
- Dedicated developers are fully focused op your project, whereas freelancers may work on more projects simultaneously
- The software development company providing dedicated developers is more likely to provide a better development environment, resources as well as communication support that might lack quality in case of freelancers
- Security is one concern associated with remote developers, and it can be better addressed if you hire a dedicated team from a trusted software development partner.
Tips for hiring a software developer
Here are some useful tips that can help you in selecting the right software developer for your project.
- Technical Ability: Does the developer understand your project’s requirements, business logic, and can provide appropriate solutions? The developer should have similar knowledge and experience related to the challenges you face and the technologies you use.
- Work Experience: How much experience the developer has when it comes to software development in business environments. Compare it and the depth of knowledge of technologies you are planning to work with to other candidates and see which one matches your requirement the best.
- Commutation: How a developer manages relations with clients and other team members; both in real life and via various communication channels like Slack, Google Hangouts, Zoom, etc.
- Methodology: Which approach to software development does the developer or company use? Waterfall or Agile? Who is taking care of the development process and budget perspective? So speak to them about this before starting the project.
- The lowest TCO (total cost of ownership): Of course, the pricing of IT services is important in your search for the perfect partner. You have to ask yourself how you are going to determine that pricing over a certain desired lifespan or TCO (total cost of ownership).
To sum up
Hiring a software developer is a big responsibility and not an easy task. Get your requirements and expectations in place and check all the above-described options. There is no “one best for all” solution regarding hiring IT professionals. You will need to find the one which suits the best for your project or company at the moment. Our clients are thriving with a dedicated nearshore team. They got a skilled development team in the short term and for a fair price. Since in partnership with us they can concentrate on their business goals and grow again. To see how it works for them, check our “Cases”. If you have any questions, we are happy to hear from you. | https://medium.com/amsterdam-standard/how-to-hire-a-software-developer-3636ac089916 | ['Amsterdam Standard'] | 2020-07-27 06:46:11.531000+00:00 | ['Recruiting', 'Software Development', 'Hiring', 'Nearshore', 'Dedicated Team Model'] |
My Twitter Crush | It was late spring in Manhattan. An old, minor Tinder fling replied to one of my tweets while I was sitting on the C train, drinking vodka from a seltzer bottle, heading to a birthday party I didn’t feel like attending.
I hit the tiny heart under the reply and thought, “I’m gonna make him show up later, just to prove that I can.” (I was honestly kind of a dick that year!) And so we kissed for like, 11 seconds in the street after the birthday girl had gone home and after the friend who was crashing at my apartment turned her back to us, saying first, “I’m going to turn my back to you.” The “romance” started with a hangover and a box of cupcakes and proceeded through tens of thousands of iMessages and absolutely zero kisses that didn’t taste like tequila. It was nothing at all and it was everything I thought about: my first big crush as an adult.
I was being paid to keep my eyes on the internet for 10 hours a day, so between every humdrum task or boring Slack conversation, I would pull up his Twitter profile, click on the Likes tab, see what he had been agreeing with or laughing along to. It didn’t feel unhealthy. It was like a sip of seltzer or the crisp reward of deleting an email. It was usually nice, and sometimes it wasn’t — if one of my texts had gone unanswered for several long hours, a string of new liked tweets from him was like a tiny taunt. Most of the time, it just felt like something to do.
I called it a compulsion and thought that I was joking.
Months later, I downloaded, with mild interest, a study run by Helen Fisher of the Kinsey Institute in 2005. It’s the rare type of scientific paper that reads like an episode of Grey’s Anatomy — juicy, dreamy, and full of hard science to justify my bizarre behavior. Fisher’s team analyzed 2,500 brain scans of college students who were first shown photos of various acquaintances and then of their romantic interests. The scientists watched the students’ dopamine-rich “reward system” regions light up like a pinball machine. Looking closer, they identified the affected dopamine pathways as those related to “energy, focus, motivation, ecstasy, and craving, including primary regions associated with addiction.” In a self-reported questionnaire given to participants in Fisher’s first study of these sorts of brain activities, every participant admitted to spending at least 85 percent of their time thinking about their romantic interest.
When I saw Fisher speak at a debate about dating apps at Hunter College on a freezing night this February, she argued that technology “cannot change the basic brain structure of romance.” When you’re romantically obsessed with a person, everything they touch takes on “special meaning”— their street, their favorite song, their laundry detergent, maybe their, uh, Twitter likes — and this is a hardwired fact of the human brain, confirmed by fMRI studies. In 2014, Fisher termed this an addiction, yes, but a “natural” one.
Almost everyone I know will admit to looking up a date’s LinkedIn profile or tabbing over to their tagged photos on Instagram out of simple curiosity. Almost everyone I know will watch a crush’s Instagram Story before they watch anyone else’s, and almost everyone I know will say they’ve “Facebook stalked” at some point or another — probably in 2012. “But where’s the line?” I always want to ask. Where, in this collection of available social media behaviors, do we switch over from a fact of modern life to a modern pathological condition? | https://medium.com/s/story/my-twitter-crush-bf28f614bfa7 | ['Kaitlyn Tiffany'] | 2018-05-16 14:40:56.436000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Social Media', 'Dating'] |
Why Tottenham Fans Must Sing Whatever They Want | Office-dwellers with far too much time on their hands wish to stifle the songs of the Yid Army, but we won’t be silenced
Back in August, my football club, Tottenham Hotspur, sent all members a rather ominous email explaining that they were conducting a “consultation” regarding the use of the ‘Y-word’. This isn’t the first time the club has questioned supporters’ use of potentially provocative language at football matches, yet this time it felt like they were poking the members to get something out of us. Why? Because in a world in which it seems anti- Semitism is on the rise the club hierarchy doesn’t want to be seen as if it is condoning such seemingly awful behaviour. Only, of course, this proves even those in charge of our club don’t understand the origin, meaning and impact of their fans using the Y-word at matches.
So, a survey was sent out to Tottenham’s members, of which 23,000 were completed [1]. It was a mixture of closed and open questions as the club sought to find out what its members really think. For example, probing into whether us fans “chant the Y-word in a footballing context”, or not. Members could answer “Yes — regularly”, “Yes — occasionally” or “No”. In other instances the club would pose scenarios in which the word is used, or would hint at the impact the use of the word has on society. We had to answer whether we “Strongly Disagree” through to “Strongly Agree” with the statements.
It did feel the club cherry-picked the data when writing up the findings on the club website highlighting “18% of respondents who don’t use the word in a footballing context consider it ‘offensive’”. Much further down we are informed that roughly three-quarters of members sing it “regularly” or “occasionally” at football games. Hold on a minute. Assuming the fans don’t sing songs that make themselves upset that can only mean that less than one in twenty people who bothered to do the survey are ‘offended’ by these actions.
The club seemed to take some kind of solace that 94% of respondents believe the word ‘Yid’ could be used as “a racist term against Jewish people”. Well thank God for that — at least our fan base isn’t brain dead. Of course the word can be used in an offensive manner. This demonstrates Spurs fans aren’t ignorant of its origin or meaning and shows why fans feel the need to sing the word in a positive light. And trust me, there very much is still the need.
In the earlier years of the past decade I didn’t get to go and watch Tottenham as much as I do now. Sixteen-year-old me hadn’t seen everything English football has to offer. One of these things, unfortunately, is anti-Semitism. I had never witnessed it before, not just in a footballing context but ever in my entire life. It was a rather shocking scene as the West Ham fans started making a hissing noise. I thought it was peculiar they were making a ‘shushing’ noise reserved for when the home end is quiet and not supporting their team, which wasn’t the case. Confusion followed as fans started standing up around me and hurling abuse back at the away end. It turns out they were mimicking the noise of the gas chambers used to help murder around six million Jews during the Second World War. The response was breath-taking as the stadium roared into song: “Yid Army, Yid Army!”
The reaction was perfect. It was one of solidarity and a recognition of the foul actions committed by a few hundred ignorant West Ham supporters. Even the players seemed to have some degree of understanding of what was going on and it galvanised the team. We went on to win the match and sent the away end packing back to East London — humiliated with their tail between their legs. We had stood up for ourselves. Many of us are Jewish or have Jewish family members so when instances like this happen it evokes a passionate response. But it is a protestation which does not resort to violence to get our point across to the minorities of fans who think this behaviour is acceptable. We own our history and the prejudice the community of Tottenham faces.
One of the arguments made for banning the word and all of its variances is that the use of such language generates an atmosphere ripe for anti-Semitism. If one set of fans are proudly chanting their affiliation with Judaism then other fans will attack us for that. This argument is poorly formed and reminds me of the controversial opinion that young women who wear short dresses are basically asking to be sexually assaulted. As I believe with that argument, people have agency and control over themselves and acting in such a vile manner is on their head, especially given that the vast majority of people could never even comprehend the idea of assaulting someone. It is merely excusing the act.
Another crucial argument for letting us fans be lies within the free speech debate. It is often becoming the case in liberal democracies that free speech is curtailed with good intentions. For example, it is becoming increasingly common for comedy clubs to make acts sign behavioural agreement contracts before they go up on stage demanding the comedians don’t overstep boundaries by even discussing topics that relate to potentially offensive themes. It’s the same scenario here. The club are terrified of causing offence, and this is blinding much-needed impartiality on the situation. It is being done for the sake of not upsetting marginalised individuals. Except, by the report’s own admission, most Jewish Tottenham fans are fine with this language in this particular context.
There seems to be a theme in Tottenham’s report which suggests anti-Semitism is on the rise and we, as fans, are complicit through coarse language. They may well be correct about the former. Just look at the vulgarity of some of Labour’s grass roots supporters [2] and the confusion over whether some of their MPs are genuine anti-Semites. This is from a political party with the largest membership in Britain and seldom has the issue been adequately addressed. However, the club is making the brash assumption that the chants add fuel to the furnace of anti-Jewish sentiment in this country; a fatal misreading and misunderstanding of the situation. It is our defence mechanism.
My club seems to view us fans with a degree of disdain. We are caricatured as angry middle-aged men ignorantly singing insensitive songs for reasons which elude us. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The fans have always been sensitive to the plight of Jews, and to be connected to them, directly or otherwise, brings great pride to the fan base. We must ask ourselves what is wrong with that and what the consequences may be if action is taken against us. Moreover, how such a virtue signalling stunt could possibly be policed must seem quite fantastical to anyone who has ever attended a football match.
In the months following the release of Tottenham’s report we are expecting further consultations once the Coronavirus pandemic subsides. Despite amassing concrete evidence that no harm is being caused, it now seems inevitable the club will carry on contradicting its own data until it can substantiate claims that the chants are in fact problematic. It seems the club hierarchy is suffering from ‘Saint George in retirement syndrome’. The dragon of prejudice, which may have once existed, is slain yet the management class of Tottenham will keep on looking for issues which blatantly do not exist, or to the extent to which they claim. They too shall keep on aimlessly swinging their sword. All who care for freedom of speech and expression should be wary of where the blow shall land.
It is conceivable that anti-Semitism will have been totally squashed out of football someday, and perhaps even wider society. Until that day comes the next generation of Spurs fans should be taught the significance of the Y-word, when its use is appropriate and when it perhaps isn’t and, most crucially, why that is the case; and it appears this is happening. A graph from Spurs’ report showed a whopping 94% of 18–24 year olds sing songs involving the Y-word at matches. Tottenham youngsters are being brought up using their vocal chords as a way of showing they care for their club, not their fists — as may well have been the case 30 years ago. This is unquestionably healthier.
But let us be clear about why this survey and report was commissioned. The club board is embarrassed by their own fan base as if they were an elderly relative who doesn’t quite understand the correct etiquette of the times. Indeed, it is possible the day will come when Tottenham fans can no longer say ‘Yid’, or variations of the word, in a footballing context. This is another facet of woke elitism; an ability to severely misinterpret a situation through painfully literal mindedness, lack of historical nous and living a distanced life from those who wish to defy their commandments. When the club board can hear us fans roaring our ‘offensive’ chants and attempt to shut us down, they will do well to remember that it is us, including our friends and family, who face the brunt of anti-Jewish discrimination out on the terraces of English football, not them. We will not take the impending revisions of language lightly.
[1] https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/2019/december/y-word-consultation-update/
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=178&v=ITCX2mDiFzE&feature=emb_logo | https://medium.com/@jackcousins/why-tottenham-fans-must-sing-what-we-want-7b5824018b5f | ['Jack Cousins'] | 2020-04-23 13:07:57.745000+00:00 | ['Football', 'Anti Semitism', 'Politics', 'Free Speech', 'Tottenham Hotspur'] |
What Covid-19 taught us about Climate Change | What Covid-19 taught us about Climate Change
Photo by David von Diemar on Unsplash
For three years in a row, the World Economic Forum’s risks report has ranked climate change as the biggest global threat of our time. This is particularly relevant because in previous years economic problems were deemed the biggest threats to mankind. Many actions have been taken to tackle the issue. In 2015,the Paris Agreement set out a global framework to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. The pact provided a pathway for developed nations to assist developing nations in their climate mitigation and adaptation efforts. Despite its many flaws, the Paris Agreement represented a necessary first step. And then came 2020; an unexpectedly difficult year which offered a unique opportunity to collect valuable data assessing our efforts to realistically meet the Paris targets.
Up to this point, you’re probably wondering what exactly this article has to do with Elon Musk. We get it; climate change is a big deal! Nearly every nation agreed to cut their climate-altering pollution and to strengthen those commitments over time. However we’ve seen on many occasions that the commitments are very fragile and vulnerable to special interests and different ideologies. This is exaclty where the genius of Elon Musk comes into play. He anticipated all the possible scenarios and addressed the vital few. Every venture he embarks on, with maybe the exception of Neuralink , ultimately is a potential best solution to our climate challenge.
Tesla
Before covid-19, carbon dioxide emission has been on the rise by about 1% per year over the past decade. During that time, renewable energy production expanded worldwide with solar power taking the lead. Fossil energy , however, continued to be deployed and emissions from surface transport continued to rise.This is due to the increasing demand both in electricity and surface transport worldwide as people and countries gradually come out of poverty. In a recent article published by Le Quere in Nature analyzing activity data up to april 2020 which coincides with the peak confinement period worldwide, some surprising results were revealed in relation to the changes in daily activities due to the pandemic and global CO2 emission.
During confinement, the aviation sector saw a decrease in daily activities of -75% while surface transport experienced a reduction of -50% . Other sectors such as industry and public sectors (-35%), Power (-15%)and residential sector (+5%) were also studied. The overall effect of the confinement up to april was to decrease daily global CO2 emission by -17% relative to mean level of emissions in 2019. With the extreme measures and circumstances, this represented by far the most impactful and positive human contribution to climate change ever. For this to happen, global emissions from surface transport fell by –36% and made the largest contribution to the total emissions change. Despite a decline of -60 % in the aviation sector, which underwent the highest anomaly of any sector, this decrease only accounted for 10% of the global decrease in CO2 observed during that period. (Find full article here).
All of this means that surface transport is the bottleneck to our climate change problem and Tesla has figured out half of the answer.Two decades ago, very few perceived electric vehicles as cool. In fact, the first electric vehicle to have crossed the 100 km/h mark (in 1899) was named “Jamais Contente” which means never happy in french. This further illustrates how depressing and boring the sector has been for years. Today, it feels cool to own a Tesla. Although I can’t afford a Tesla at the moment, I fancy the idea of owning a model 3, a cybertruck or a roadster as much as I do for any other luxurious car. This shift in perception constitutes a major part of the transition towards mass production of electric vehicles. Looks and performance are now a new normal. Tesla made most of that possible. We should not expect 50 % of the global population to drive a Tesla by 2050 (as it could be the case in Norway). Also, Tesla’s plan to make more affordable cars in the future is quite hazy. Not every one can afford Jordan’s but there sure is a Nikey gear or shoe in most closets around the world. Will Elon mould Tesla into something similar? In any case, Tesla has gifted something major to any potential EV manufacturer: this product is cool and increasingly normal.
So far we’ve explored only one half of the surface transport equation. Energy production for EV manufacturing and storage make up that other half. There again, Tesla has half of their approach right. Their battery technology is top-notch and can eventually be applied in other fields outside of EVs. A complete life cycle analysis of a Tesla car could quickly become a strenuous feat due to the complexity or secrecy of certain manufacturing processes and raw materials formulations. However, from what’s been made publicly available, the company has embraced new technology and efficient production technology for production of its parts. The effort for production efficiency is justified in part by the use of robots to eliminate wastes and the company building its own battery manufacturing facility. As it is often the case in renewable energy technologies, there exists no absolute solution to our global warming challenge. For each sector, the best solution is the one that triggers a fundamental shift in our approach and perception of the problem. Tesla has succeeded in that.
Solar City/Tesla Solar
Since the annoucement of Powerwall 2 and Solar roof, there has been very little news from Tesla about new technology for sustainable energy generation. For a man who loves wearing different hats, it’s fair to say that Elon Musk in recent years has been less prolific in large scale power generation technologies. Maybe this is simply a calculated choice. Maybe he has something up his sleeve that we have yet to know about.
Space X
To some extent, we’ve all experienced the complexity of the climate change challenge. Even if the most fervent advocates of climate change were to consciously dedicate their daily activities towards a reduction of CO2 emission and governments around the world met their NDC targets, there would still be a high probability of failure.It is a possibility that our best measures and policies fall short of the expectations to stop global warming. What is the next best solution other than an escape plan?
Elon Musk created Space X in the hopes of revolutionizing the aerospace industry and making affordable spaceflight a reality. In 2020, Space X became the first private company to send astronauts to orbit and to the International Space Station. That hope has now evolved to a believable desire to colinize Mars. Before writing this article, I have watched as many Elon interviews as i possibly could and I have yet to find out why he thinks we would need to leave earth at some point. Yes, exploring a new planet, pushing human boundaries are obvious answers. But we’re talking about a man who went broke to save his companies. Sending a few rich folks to space can’t be the real goal here, can it? My gut feeling tells me it’s climate change.
Conclusion
Covid-19 has taught us many valuable lessons. It has showed us the importance of recognizing the true purpose of all our businesses and economies, our political parties and governments, our local civic associations and our international organizations, our conventions and ideologies, and all our other systems. It revealed to us the magnitude of global warming challenge. Even with our best efforts, we could still fall short of the targets and deny future generations the right to call this planet home. Climate change requires bold ideas. Elon has made billions capitalizing on bold ideas to tackle the world biggest challenge. It’s okay to follow suit. | https://medium.com/@marcovenst/covid-19-and-global-warming-586be88485f2 | [] | 2020-12-26 10:06:23.729000+00:00 | ['Coronavirus', 'Covid 19', 'Pandemic', 'Tesla', 'Climate Change'] |
#CharitySoWhite follow up meeting with NCVO | On Monday 2nd of December the #CharitySoWhite team met with Karl Wilding, CEO of NCVO and two BAME members of NCVO’s EDI working group (1) to discuss institutional racism in the charity sector and NCVO’s role as an infrastructure body in tackling these issues. This meeting was a follow up to a previous meeting in October.
Too often discussions on power, privilege, diversity, and inclusion are held behind closed doors, without public accountability. To begin to change this trend NCVO agreed to share the date, time and details of the meeting.
The Sector’s response to NCVO meeting with #CharitySoWhite
The meetings started off by discussing the responses NCVO had received from others within the sector when notes from the last meeting were published in this blog. Responses had been varied. Some had been surprised that NCVO had met with us but most had been ultimately pleased that they had. NCVO also shared that there was a chunk in the sector unsure about how to respond #CharitySoWhite, and by extension did not feel confident wading into discussions on tackling racism in the sector.
NCVO staff shared that much of their feedback reflected that for many in the sector ‘institutional racism’ is seen and associated with Macphearson report, one of the few instances where institutional racism was acknowledged as existing in the UK, and largely in the past. As a result, the framing around institutional racism can lead to immediate resistance from some in the sector. People don’t understand what institutional racism really means, and so conversations can quickly turn to misguided assumptions that “we’re not as bad as that”.
We reflected on how white fragility in the sector is still strong, and about how important it is that in our work and in our communications we take people on a journey from racism existing in the world to racism existing in the sector. We need to be able to show people that if racism is a thing which exists in the wider world and is at play in other sectors, then it must also be at play in the charity sector and should be tackled in a similar way.
We also talked about how conversations at NCVO on racism had so far mostly been internal, and that they had an opportunity to be more public in their exploration and discussion.
NCVO’s work to tackle racism in the sector
Karl and the team at NCVO updated us on a range of initiatives that had been explored on how to tackle racism within the organisation and across the sector as a whole. We have been asked not to share these in detail publicly as they were still being finalised at the time of our meeting. We agreed to this with a caveat around the purpose of future meetings, and while strongly urging them to be more public, even in their exploration of the issue.
These included:
Bringing in an external expert to lead this work internally, fulfilling both a strategy function but also coaching senior leadership on Diversity, Equality & Inclusion.
Karl setting personal goals to speak on racism and broader diversity challenges in the sector, and to also use his power and influence to ensure the panels he participates on are as diverse as possible
Exploring tangible short-term initiatives including publishing internal NCVO data, resources and learnings, and prioritising racial diversity in any open roles
How #CharitySoWhite will engage with NCVO in the future
Whilst it is important to see large organisations like NCVO taking steps to talk about and tackle racism in their organisation, we at #CharitySoWhite want these meetings to form part of a partnership where we work together to further our cause of tackling racism in the charity sector. Our role is to hold NCVO to account, as a sector watchdog.
We want these meetings to be a space where we can explore ways in which we can partner together to further disrupt the sector and push for more conversations and actions to be taken on institutional racism in the sector.
To this end, we agreed that at our next meeting we will need to discuss tangible progress that NCVO is making towards really tackling racism in its organisation and discuss ways in which we can collaborate to take a sector wide approach on this. | https://medium.com/@charitysowhite/charitysowhite-follow-up-meeting-with-ncvo-5e40ef4ce80b | ['Charity Sowhite'] | 2020-02-19 11:27:05.480000+00:00 | ['Third Sector', 'Anti Racism', 'Charity', 'Institutional Racism', 'Civil Society'] |
Video: What It’s Like to Live in Northern California’s First Tiny-Home Community | [Editor’s note: The Bold Italic and ABC7 have partnered up to get a glimpse of what life is really like in Northern California’s only (legal) tiny-home community and to explore the potential for more of these homes to pop up in the future. Watch the video below.]
Minimalism — the conscious downsizing of one’s life by reducing material possessions—is a hot-button topic as of late. These minimalists present a newfound way of looking at wealth—a viewpoint defined not by the sheer amount of things you obtain in your 80-ish years on this planet but by the quality of the relationships and experiences you amass.
This way of life, void of nauseatingly expensive SOMA mortgages and full-size beds that double as couches, is on full display at Northern California’s only (legal) tiny-house community—Delta Bay. At the 12-acre RV park and tiny-house resort, nestled on the banks of the San Joaquin River about 40 minutes outside Stockton, the first homes on wheels started rolling in just four years ago.
Over half of Americans who were canvassed said that they’d consider living in a space less than or equal to 600 square feet.
I experienced this frugal, quasi-barebones oasis myself firsthand at the community’s biannual Camp Tiny House event earlier this April, where tiny-house owners quite literally open their doors and allow curious minds to tour their properties and ask any and all questions. And I was, by no means, alone.
Julie Rockwell, a beguiling Berkeley-based artist and “tiny-house hopeful” who, like myself, is keen on simplifying her living situation, was among the 150-plus people in attendance that day, having made the journey out for the mid-afternoon weekend soiree.
“The last one they held wasn’t nearly this crowded,” she added, chewing on a chocolate croissant. “People, including myself, are so fed up with paying so much to rent so little in the Bay Area, which is why getting out of Dodge and setting up shop in an airy, organized small space is now quickly becoming a tangible pipe dream.”
Tiny-home living is on the rise. In a 2018 study conducted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), over half of Americans who were canvassed said that they’d consider living in a space less than or equal to 600 square feet. This, by itself, is eye-opening, especially when you consider that the “American Dream,” historically speaking, always included a multi-bedroom house, a 15-plus-year financial commitment, and maybe an HOA.
But this 180-degree lifestyle pivot from that former pipe dream shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Nearly 60% of Americans don’t currently boast more than $1,000 to their name, let alone the means to put down the recommended 20% on a stationary house. That, plus overwhelming student-loan payments, a lack of savings for retirement, and general money woes, makes “tiny living” offer some semblance of financial freedom.
Just ask Laurie Erceg.
Photo: Delta Bay
After becoming “suddenly single” in 2014, Erceg decided to take an RV trip across the country by herself. Not unlike other tiny-house dwellers and newfound owners, her Oprah ah-ha moment happened in front of a television screen.
“When I got back, I saw some HGTV show about people building and living in tiny homes. And something inside me lit up, and I was like, ‘Oh, I want that,’” she said to me during a conversation inside her 175-square-foot domicile, complete with a purple door. “It was such a simpler and, honestly, more affordable way to live the life I wanted. I could breathe easy knowing I could cover my bills and the cost of living every month without a second thought.”
“That, and I wanted to start traveling more too,” the quasi-retired career consultant added.
And when your wheel-able house stretches no more than two car lengths long, you can bring a slice of home with you wherever you choose to go. In fact, the largest and longest home currently sitting at Delta Bay comes in at roughly 28 feet long and somewhere around 300-plus square feet. Or, to put that figure into a more digestible nugget, the size of a small studio apartment.
A space like that in San Francisco would rent for a soul-crushing $2,500 a month on average, not including utilities. To the contrary, you could park your tiny house — which you’d likely own — for $650 a month at Delta Bay instead, with your water included. Electric bills here rarely top $30. It’s a penny pincher’s paradise located off Brannan Island Road in Isleton. Tiny homes, which typically price out at $30,000 to $45,000, can also easily be fitted with off-grid solar paneling, wood-only heating, and more, helping further ease your monthly budget.
However, there’s a fine line between frugal savings and nightmarish scenarios when it comes to the construction of your tiny house, so I learned. Your pipes could freeze and properly burst in the dead of an East Coast winter should you forego insulation. Thankfully, Delta Bay never sees the mercury drop below freezing.
The compost toilet may or may not reek due to how it was installed. Electrical wiring could fray inside the wooden walls and properly cause a massive fire. Mildew and mold could form throughout the home because the shower steam condenses on untreated wood panelings. The list goes on.
The problems, too, aren’t just related to DIY builds. I heard firsthand just how fickle and shoddy some tiny-house builders can be.
Photo: Delta Bay
At just 23 years old, Sara Jade has lived a more peripatetic life than most fifty-somethings, having lived for months in national parks, in her car in Austin, and with her parents in various dwellings along the East Coast while growing up. But after her stint in the Lone Star state, Jade had enough with the sweltering in-car conditions that come with vehicular living. That’s when she decided to go all in on having her 28-foot essentials-only haven.
It’s a portable wood-cladded haven I very much gawked over, all while she waxed on about her hellacious builder. Sage-scented incense smoldered and smoked in the background, the cooled ashes falling on the butcher-board kitchen countertop.
“I hired a builder to make me my dream tiny house, something I could grow with and move wherever I ended up,” she added while leaning on the entryway to her storage area. “It was a disaster.”
“Instead of taking three months to build it, it took them nine. And when it was time for me to pick it up, there was still work that needed to be done. I couldn’t wait any longer, though, so I cut my losses. I still love my tiny house—don’t get me wrong—but I’ve got some work to do still.”
Photo: Delta Bay
Lackluster contractors are something to be wary of, even if their rates are less than those of others. But without a shadow of a doubt, the worst, most egregious event that could happen due to skimping on the initial build is ending up with a portable abode that’s not Recreation Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA) certified—an accreditation that costs no more than a $100 that’s mandated by all legal tiny-house communities in California.
At the event, where gentle air and blue skies filled the atmosphere over the Sacramento Delta, Nick Mosley of California Tiny Homes helmed a panel populated by a sizable slice of the park’s tiny-house inhabitants. Aside from cliched nods to Instagram and echoes of closet-space practicality, the conversation’s focus was on the legalities of tiny-house living, especially about where you can put them — RVIA licensed or not.
Photo: Delta Bay
“A lot of RV parks don’t allow them because they lack proper licensing or, either, they don’t want tiny homes…or they don’t have spots for them,” added Jeremy Spencer and his husband, Ryan Kelley. Their quaint tiny house, filled with quirky knickknacks and enough charisma to furnish a Bel Air mansion, is positioned between two like-built homesteads on the property.
The couple relocated with their home from Rochester, New York, after Kelly snagged a job on the West Coast. Alas, they made the 2,000-odd-mile trek with their RVIA-certified home to the Bay Area not too long ago. Like countless other tiny-home owners, living a bit under the radar on private property is usually option A, but it’s far from ideal. Delta Bay’s erected tiny-house community is a welcome option B.
Photo: Delta Bay
Even though the park’s 132 slots are mostly taken by conventional travel trailers and fixed cottages, about a dozen swaths of land are dedicated to tiny homes, with that number expected to grow in the coming months. The tiny-house plots sit on level, lush ground that gives lodgers patios, barbeque pits, potted gardens, and even the odd above-ground koi pond.
Delta Bay Park is, at its core, an RV park, complete with a bustling community center, a chlorinated pool, playgrounds, and access to a sense of community that exudes from every reserved plot. People here make eye contact with one another, say hello, and wave goodbye. They ask questions about what type of coffee bean you brewed in the morning if you made it with that AeroPress you previously hawked online last week, or whether or not you intend to down a beer at Mei Wah later.
Corinne Corley, a retired Kansas City lawyer and laudable wordsmith in her own right, who was the third tiny-house resident in Delta Bay, is, for me, the matriarch of this frugal fellowship. (She’s also the park’s own go-to journalist-blogger extraordinaire.)
For Corley, tiny-house living offered approachable means to many needs. Downsizing allowed her to embrace her creative career, focus on her health, and—above all else—reacquaint herself with what truly matters in life: family, friends, and the priceless intangibles of everyday life.
“You see, living isn’t about the things you see or the things you want; it’s the time spent with those you like and love,” she harped, eating a tea cookie. “When you strip down your life to what’s important and what’s not, your days become clearer. You smile more. You feel better. People notice you because you’re content, not bogged down with content-filling acres of space in a four-bedroom home you live alone in. When you walk away from materials and simplify things, time opens up, and you make connections with people who may follow you for a lifetime. Isn’t that what being alive is about?”
Heading home, due southwest, to my rented room inside a shared house I knew I no longer wanted, I wrote a goal in my journal later that night: “Build a tiny house by the time you’re 35.” | https://thebolditalic.com/whats-it-like-to-live-in-northern-california-s-first-tiny-home-community-3765cadc9a6a | ['Matt Charnock'] | 2019-08-08 20:35:57.303000+00:00 | ['Rv', 'Tiny House', 'Home', 'Bay Area', 'This Just In'] |
3 Costly Public Speaking Myths That Hurt Leader’s Influence | Myths vs Realities of Influential Speaking
Most business leaders know public speaking is a valuable skill. And many of them work hard at it.
They write their presentations, rehearse, and build slide decks.
They give their speeches.
But, they don’t get the results they expect.
Prospective customers don’t buy their product or service.
Their team doesn’t buy into their message.
Potential investors don’t buy into their company.
This leads to frustration, disappointment, and disillusionment. They may question their abilities as speakers and communicators.
The problem isn’t their capabilities. They don’t understand the fundamentals of effective speaking.
Therefore, to help with this skill, here are three common myths. And insights to overcome them to become a more influential and persuasive presenter:
Public Speaking Myth #1
“Great speakers are born that way.”
It’s October 1994. I’m a Certified Financial Planner. I’m seated in my boss’s office. We’ve just reviewed evaluations from the last retirement planning workshop I had facilitated.
And they aren’t positive. They’re so bad, in fact, that my boss says, “You’re not a very good speaker. You need to fix this, or else.”
That day I started calling around to ask for help. One of my friends suggested I attend a meeting of Toastmasters International. If you’re not familiar with them, they help people manage their fear of speaking to become more effective presenters.
One of the first lessons I learned is:
Public speaking is like riding a bike, driving a car, or any other skill… it’s learnable.
I was always under the impression you were either born with the gift of speaking, or you weren’t.
Toastmasters, and later the National Speakers Association, taught me the fundamentals of speaking.
The Reality of public speaking is:
Great speakers are made, not born. You just have to discover the fundamentals and use them.
Are you willing to take the time to learn and hone these valuable skills?
Public Speaking Myth #2
“Audiences want you to share new information”
Think about a speaker you’ve heard who was recognized as an expert in his or her field. This person gave useful information in an entertaining fashion, but at some point in the talk, you realized, “Enough already! This is too much.” You felt stuffed, like someone who had too much food at a holiday meal.
This is not uncommon. Many leaders believe audiences want as much information as possible about their topic.
They don’t. Your audience has more information available through their mobile phones than you’ll ever be able to present.
The Reality is:
People don’t want more information. They want your perspective and experience about your topic.
What’s your interpretation of the latest research?
What experiences have you had, both positive and negative?
What success stories can you share?
Are you willing to do the work to share your perspective and cut out the information they can get elsewhere?
Public Speaking Myth #3
Only 7% of effective communication is based on the words you use.
This myth has been perpetuated for over five decades. It’s based on the misinterpretation of a study done in 1967 by Dr. Albert Mehrabian.
In his research, Dr. Mehrabian made this observation:
When a person communicates with another and her words aren’t congruent with tone of voice, feelings, or energy, the listener will only believe words 7% of the time.
Many people in the communication field, including highly paid professional speakers, have promoted this idea:
“Words account for only 7% of the impact in your communication.”
This is not what Dr. Mehrabian claimed. In the years following his research, he has repeatedly attempted to contradict this myth.
If words only account for 7% of communication, what does that say about email or text? Do the words only account for 7% of those types of communication?
If you watched a movie or TV show in a foreign language you were not familiar with, would you understand the plot and the emotions at a 93% level?
And my favorite example of this myth is:
“We’ve been waiting for previously agreed upon changes and modifications to be enacted, but they have failed to materialize.
“The end users of these promised changes have been let down, many times at a tragic cost to them and their individual teams. This has had a massive impact on the bottom line at all levels of our great organization.
“Therefore, we’ve assembled a committee and we’re crafting a new vision and mission statement for immediate implementation to modify the current status and improve the user experience for all shareholders involved.
In case you haven’t figured it out, that’s Dr. King’s most memorable speech boiled down to a few lines of corporate speak.
If words don’t matter, why didn’t Dr. King provide a shortened version of his speech like this one at the March on Washington in 1963?
Is it possible his eloquent message resonates six decades later because of the power of his words?
Do you remember how he used his hands and body language?
There are many myths that derail the impact of speeches. If the reality of these three myths resonates with you, you’re on your way to improved speaking. Focus on the reality of these myths, and you’ll increase your influence and impact.
If you’d like more insights into public speaking skills, feel free to schedule a no-cost, no-obligation call with me. I’m happy to answer your questions. Feel free to schedule a 20 to 30-minute call with Michael Davis: https://bit.ly/CPR30Call | https://medium.com/@speakingcpr/3-costly-public-speaking-myths-that-hurt-leaders-influence-28ea99579a26 | ['Michael Davis'] | 2021-11-26 18:49:46.009000+00:00 | ['Public Speaking', 'Storytelling', 'Management And Leadership', 'Leadership Development', 'Presentation Tips'] |
An Open Letter to Feminists: Know Your History | Hashtag Culture | The Me Too Movement
There’s a lot I have to say about hashtag culture, but I’ll keep it to a few quick bullet points. The first being that hashtag culture often creates a huge, followable, deal about some issue, somewhere. This gains major attention to said issue, however, that attention is extremely short lived because of the constant subdivision created by this culture. Everybody is trying to “outdo” the current hashtag, and within a few weeks you forget about what you were advocating for, and you move to the next, most popular, social justice issue. For example, #TakeAKnee, #SayHerName, and #FlintWaterCrisis; all three of these issues still exist (police brutality, the senseless killing of Sandra Bland, and the fact that Flint still does not have clean water), and we’ve moved past these issues and onto the currently trending hashtag-able social justice issues. Which brings me directly to the Me Too Movement, which, surprise, was founded by a woman of color in 1998. Even the founder, Tarana Burke, says that the movement has “lost its way”.
When was the first time you heard about the Me Too Movement?
Was it when Ashley Judd and over one hundred other women accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment? The #MeToo hashtag was then born on Twitter on October 16th, 2017, some 19 years after Tarana Burke founded the movement. Again, don’t get me wrong, I am glad that the usage of those words sparked outrage and that there were many repercussions in many different industries. But, let us not forget, the Me Too movement was not born out of the abuse caused by Weinstein, it was born out of Tarana Burke’s goal to help victims of sexual violence — she ran community lead healing circles where she shared her own experience as a survivor of sexual violence and encouraged others to do the same. The movement has erupted into a “cyclical circle of accusations, culpability, and indiscretions” according to Liz Rowley of The Cut. The problem with the #MeToo movement is that it strays away from Burke’s original idea; community healing, sharing our stories, and moving forward. Instead the movement has become toxic and argumentative and it follows a narrative that it was never meant to follow. Burke’s movement has been overshadowed by white, cisgender, heterosexual, celebrity women, most of whom do not know where the movement even began.
Even Alyssa Milano, who started the Twitter hashtag for Me Too had no idea that the previous movement existed. She then apologized, and linked to Tarana Burke’s work:
Alyssa Milano on Twitter
There needs to be a different way to help share stories of sexual abuse and violence.
In order for that to happen, and in order for this next decade of feminism to work, we need to understand where all of these movements and buzzwords came from — we need to stop erasing the women of color and the trans-women of color (Marsha P. Johnson, thank you) who started the movements that we follow, that we march for, and that we use to define ourselves with. Let’s be better feminists, by doing a little bit of research you can honor the women who came before you, and you can honor the meaning(s) behind their legacies. There is so much power in words, do not waste that power.
“We are working diligently so that the popular narrative about #MeToo shifts from what it is, we have to shift the narrative that it’s a gender war, that it’s anti-male, that it’s men against women, that it’s only for a certain type of person — that it’s for white, cisgender, heterosexual, famous women. That has to shift. And I think that it is shifting, I really do. But that’s a part of our work, too.” — Tarana Burke, Founder of the Me Too Movement and Just Be Inc. | https://medium.com/fearless-she-wrote/an-open-letter-to-feminists-know-your-history-84193cdf9bf0 | ['Alexandra Tsuneta'] | 2019-07-04 13:01:01.082000+00:00 | ['History', 'Metoo', 'Feminism', 'Women', 'Intersectionality'] |
UI Tests on iOS | UI Tests on iOS
Testing automation done right
Many of today’s mobile applications display customized content to user, base on dynamic parameters. The Azimo application is no different.
With our mobile platform, our customers can transfer money to almost every country all over the world. There are literally thousands of combinations of sending and receiving countries, payments, and delivery methods.
Combinations of these parameters can be a big challenge for the QA engineering team. Ideally, every possible case should be covered. That’s why It’s not the best idea to test this type of functionality manually. We need to write test automation not to do this tedious work over and over again.
Read more about why “Automated testing will set your engineering team free.”
In this article, I will show how we approach writing automation tests for functionalities with dynamic content while trying to create the most flexible and readable code.
1. What are we going to test?
The Azimo app helps our customers to transfer money around the world. To ensure that the user experience is at the highest possible level, we introduced a functionality called “How it works.” It explains what to do to send money to the customer’s recipient, with the selected delivery method. Let’s prepare the testing automation for it together.
Here are the structure of the functionality and the expected test result. From a technical point of view, this feature is a bottom sheet containing a four-step explanation of how to create a transfer and additional information about the selected destination country.
It looks like this:
Navigation bar:
name of the country to which we want to send money,
short description
Content:
header,
four steps to send a transfer, each including:
- title,
- description
Now, I want to implement tests that are comparing data of two objects. It’s a standard assertion, where the first object contains expected data, and the second is fetched from the application (so this is what users see on the screen).
This is how the assertion looks like:
AssertEqual(ObjectWIthExpectedData, ObjectWithFetchedData)
First thing — we have to consider whether each of the above elements will be present for every single test case. In our case, the answer is “yes”. It means that for each country + delivery method combination, we display the name of the country, short description, header, and four steps.
If this isn’t true (e.g., some configurations have fewer or more steps), we would need to set some parameters as optional. In that situation, we would need to find the boundary conditions (a minimum and a maximum number of steps) and set everything except the minimum/maximum number of steps as optional.
2. Navigate to the bottom sheet
Let’s start by navigating to the How it works bottom sheet in the app. In the verifyHowItWorksBottomSheet() function, wait until the How it works button appears and click on it to start verifying the correctness of the displayed data (the description of the entire function is presented later in this article).
3. Create an object that collects data visible on the screen
As I mentioned in the previous point, each step in the instruction contains a title and a short description. So we create a new HowItWorksBottomSheetCell — the class responsible for getting this data from the screen. To simplify and unambiguous searching for elements in the DOM tree, I added appropriate identifiers for them. The title is marked with the HowItWorksSheet_title identifier, while the description is HowItWorksSheet_subtitle.
4. Create an object containing the expected data
Now let’s move on to creating an object with data that we expect to be displayed in the application for a specific country + delivery method combination.
We create two structures HowItWorksBottomSheetData and Cell with parameters:
title
navbar Title
navBarSubtitle
position1, position2, position3, position4, which will be of the Cell type and contain parameters:
- title
- subtitle
Because the title, the description in the navigation bar, and the title in the content section will be the same for each step, we provide them only once for the entire object. However, the content (title, description) of individual steps will be different.
As for different combinations, we expect different output, using the parameters passed in the function for(country, deliveryMethod) and the conditional statement switch, I will be able to choose the option we are interested in and extract the necessary data from it.
The for function takes two parameters, which are enums:
country type: CountryLabel
type: deliveryMethod type: DeliveryMethod
For example, for country Philippines and delivery methods Cash pick-up we will select accordingly:
case(.philippines, .cashPickUp).
Remember to cover all the most critical test cases. If some of them overlap, i.e., we expect the same data, we can group them.
5. Create a function comparing the data of both objects
Now, when we have an object with expected data and the one with data taken from the app, we need to compare them. For this purpose, we will write the function verifyHowItWorksBottomSheet(), which takes two parameters: country and deliveryMethod.
As you can see in the above screenshot, we also use the howItWorksBottomSheetGetCellAtIndex() function, which returns a HowItWorksSheetCell (step) object in the appropriate position (index). The implementation is:
We retrieved all expected data for a specific country + delivery method to the data variable.
In case you cannot download data to the data object, the test will fail with appropriate information about the error in the logs.
The closeButton, navBarTitle, navBarSubtitle, and header variables only appear once on the screen, so there is no need to create a separate class for them as they will not be reused. We can declare them as variables in the base class and compare the contents like the rest to the data object’s parameters.
This is how we call the comparison function in the test:
To make the logs in the console and test logs in Xcode more transparent, I use XCTActivity, making it clear and legible for me to see when the bottom sheet was verified:
6. Summary
Here are the advantages of the presented solution:
In the case of changes to the application code or translations, we have to change only one place in the tests, not in each test case separately.
We have clear and transparent code even for non-technical people.
We cover all expected test scenarios.
The solution is easy to maintain and extend.
We have great control over data from the test level.
I hope the solution I have presented will allow you to look at writing automated tests from a different perspective. I highly encourage you to implement it in your project and let me know how it goes. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment or contact us directly. | https://medium.com/azimolabs/ui-tests-on-ios-a7883ca72358 | ['Paweł Zemsta'] | 2020-09-01 09:18:12.999000+00:00 | ['Mobile App Development', 'Testing', 'QA', 'Test Automation', 'iOS App Development'] |
The Shunning | Image Source: Pixabay
They shook their heads.
They laughed.
They turned their backs.
They thought she’d change…
She danced barefoot in the moonlight.
She streaked her halls with joy.
She breathed for the first time in ages.
She sang herself into the very being they feared most.
They forgot one thing —
She who stands alone learns no other is needed.
She seeks only Him.
He’s already singing and dancing and leaping over her.
Why exactly does she need them again?!? | https://medium.com/kittie-phoenix-the-next-edition/the-shunning-550e62cd694b | ['Kittie Phoenix'] | 2020-04-27 23:44:05.971000+00:00 | ['Christianity', 'Poetry', 'Independence', 'Women'] |
Google Would Like To Change The Way Website Identity Is Presented | Google recently announced its intention to rework how Chrome conveys what website you’re looking at, so that you don’t have to contend with increasingly “long and unintelligible URLs” — and the fraud that has sprung up around them.
Chrome usable security lead Emily Stark that Google isn’t trying to induce chaos by eliminating URLs. Rather, it wants to make it harder for hackers to capitalize on user confusion about the identity of a website. According to a Wired article, “the endless haze of complicated URLs gives attackers cover for effective scams”. They can create a malicious link that seems to lead to a legitimate site, but actually automatically redirects victims to a phishing page. Or they can design malicious pages with URLs that look similar to real ones, hoping victims won’t notice that they’re on G00gle rather than Google.
According to Stark
What we’re really talking about is changing the way site identity is presented. “People should know easily what site they’re on, and they shouldn’t be confused into thinking they’re on another site. It shouldn’t take advanced knowledge of how the internet works to figure that out.
Google is working on a new way to create warnings for Chrome users when a URL seems potentially phishy. I just can’t see how they can get this right without a massive number of false positives — which will upset a lot of website owners who are wrongly accused of being a scam.
Chrome does have some built-in anti-phishing security. But unfortunately, it’s impossible for them to stay ahead of every new phishing scam.
And there’s no mention of URLs that are opened and shared inside mobile apps. Most Web browsing on mobile is done inside an app WebView.
Is Google taking a leaf out of MetaCert’s handbook?
MetaCert has already built the solution that Google is researching. And it’s not restricted to Chrome users either. This is a problem / solution that I’ve been working on for many many years — before I founded MetaCert in fact.
Google is right. Change is needed. | https://medium.com/metacert/google-would-like-to-change-the-way-website-identity-is-presented-6b5850886e55 | ['Paul Walsh'] | 2019-01-30 21:09:29.713000+00:00 | ['Google', 'Chrome', 'Cybersecurity', 'Crypto', 'Phishing'] |
First Christmas Gifts for the Newborn Boy on Your List | Mama Kate | First Christmas Gifts for the Newborn Boy on Your List | Mama Kate Kate Nov 27, 2019·11 min read
Whether you’re a parent to a new little munchkin or you know someone who is, shopping for a newborn’s very first Christmas gifts is a tough task. It’s difficult to know whether a gift is expected, first of all, because the child is so young he can’t appreciate it. But what you fail to realize, my dear, is that newborns are people just the same and they deserve to get a gift too! In fact, I have a list of reasons for which the newborns should get Christmas gifts.
Most important: newborns are people who deserve a Christmas gift as much as the next guy! Whatever you get for the baby will also benefit mom and dad. There are plenty of things the baby needs but mom and dad haven’t had the time or money to go get it. Or perhaps they haven’t though of it yet! Here’s where your generosity can come in handy. It’s their first Christmas!!! It needs to be special and memorable in every way possible, even if they won’t have any firsthand memories themselves. It’s also totally okay if you decide to skip out on getting the newborn any type of gift, especially an extravagant one. He won’t be opening it anyway.
Take a look at my gift suggestions below! Hopefully it’ll spark some inspiration in your noggins. A lot of these gift ideas are more beneficial for new parents than they are for newborns
Read more: Postpartum Confessions
17 Hacks Pregnant Women Need To Know
This post may include affiliate links. For more information, please refer to my disclaimer.
First Christmas Memorabilia
One of the most fun things about Christmas with a newborn is how many different ways it can be memorialized. Baby “firsts” are one of the most exciting things parents have to look forward to about parenthood. The options to commemorate these firsts are endless. Take a look at some of my personal favorites below.
1- Make a personalized book!
It sounds more difficult than it is. It turns out Amazon has a really fun personalized “Baby’s First Christmas” book where you can insert the child’s name everywhere it says “baby” to make it an extra-special Christmas book that will, without a doubt, bring them joy for years to come.
2- Baby’s First Christmas Ornament!
These can be found in a million different places. You can buy just a generic “baby’s first Christmas” ornament from most shops, like Walmart or HomeSense. Probably the dollar store, too. But I found this super cute customizable one offered by Banberry Designs where you can put baby’s face in the center! Look how precious!
When delivered, it comes in a beautiful little gift box so it’s super easy to wrap and give to a friend or relative as a present. Banberry Designs also offers a bunch of other customizable Christmas ornaments (among other things) that you can purchase for a wedding anniversary, a birthday, to memorialize a loved one after their passing (including pets), among other things.
* Speaking of ornaments, I found this really beautiful hand-sculpted ornament of an angel holding a baby. It was so precious I had to share it. It’s a beautiful gift idea for new mothers, especially religious ones.
3- Baby Memory Journal
This is a fun idea for a baby with creative parents. In fact, even if they aren’t creative, it’s a fun gift! It has a whole bunch of stickers and templates to create the ultimate memory journal for the newest family member so you can commemorate not only this first, but all the ones to come, as well!
Read more: 17 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Breastfeeding
4- Handprint/Footprint Mold
Here’s another Christmas tree ornament option, if you want to try something a little more creative and personalized.
If you don’t like the idea of using a photo or a commonly used design for your ornament, you can opt for something a little more personal by capturing the little munchkin’s foot or hand-print in clay forever.
It doesn’t necessarily need to be placed on a tree, either. If you prefer to stand it up on a shelf, perhaps in the baby’s nursery, you can do that, too; it comes with a stand for each mold.
Books
This is a must for any family with young children. Making reading a part of the daily routine is so important for baby’s cognitive development and emotional attachment to his parents. It’s a wonderful bonding opportunity and a great addition to the bedtime routine. If you want to stick with the customizable Christmas book I mentioned earlier, you can find it here. Otherwise, keep reading for some more great ideas!
1- Try a personalized story from Amazing Fables
Below, I offered one example of a book you can personalize, but there are tons of other options to pick from, too. It can Christmas-themed (there’s also a Muslim version), or it can be one of many other everyday-themed adventure books.
You can choose a custom avatar who most resembles the child (girl or boy with various skin tones and hair colors), insert their name, and voila! You’ve got a beautiful little keepsake the child can enjoy for years and years.
Read more: 17 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Breastfeeding
2- The Wonderful Things You Will Be by Emily Winfield Martin
Start baby’s life off to a good foot, with wishful prayers and happy thoughts. To read baby a book about the amazing things he will accomplish in his lifetime is a sure-fire way to improve his perception of self, as time goes on. It’s never too early to start encouraging greatness! This book is beautifully designed, relatively inexpensive (even cheaper if you opt for the Kindle version) and, best of all, rhymes. Rhymes are a great way to capture and maintain a baby’s attention.
3- Soft plastic or cloth books
This is especially great for the grabby babies! In my experience of reading to infants and toddlers, I’ve come to realize that they are immensely curious little creatures who like to grab and touch and help turn the pages. Having a softer book, either made of non-toxic plastic or some type of cloth material is perfect because he can’t rip the pages and you don’t risk him swallowing pieces of paper or cardboard. It can also double as a teething apparatus and a learning tool; most pages usually just include a photo or two with a descriptive word to teach children language.
4- Dr Seuss gift box!
Everyone everywhere (except, apparently, my husband, who didn’t even know who Dr. Seuss was when I mentioned him) grew up with and loved Dr. Seuss books. They’re legendary. A great gift which, again, will benefit the baby and his parents for years to come, would be a boxed set of these amazing books. They’re chock-full of valuable lessons, have full colors and illustrations, and — most fun of all — they rhyme impeccably. If the hardcover set is too expensive for you, there is also the option of a softcover set but keep in mind that curious little flimsy fingers may damage the soft ones.
Read more: 17 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Breastfeeding
Newborn baby gift box
Don’t have time to shop?
Don’t know what to buy?
Well, if you’re really unsure of what to get, you can’t go wrong with a pre-packaged newborn gift box. I found a super cute one from Janie and Jack that you can order for relatively cheap. You have the option to either customize your box or purchase a pre-made one.
Depending on the price range you opt for, you can have a bib, hat, stuffed toy, pajama sets, sweatshirts, socks, etc. The options are diverse and it’s super cute. If your box costs more than $100, you also get free shipping (bonus!).
Honestly, you can’t go wrong with a gift box. All you have to do is wrap and label it. The shopping and shipping are all taken care of for you.
Read more: 17 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Breastfeeding
Baby & breastfeeding care products
The options here are quite literally endless. They can range from diapers to blankets to cloths and towels to skin care and shampoos.
They also can include products for mom, if she’s breastfeeding. In fact, you can make a little care package in a basket (like the one pictured here) with a bunch of great newborn and breastfeeding products from the list of stuff below.
1- Baby hygiene and skin care products
For this one, I linked to this really great organic skin care company called Made Of. Organic products are by far the best option for sensitive newborn skin. They offer a ton of subscription services for diapers and other products which, in the long-term, will save mom and dad lots of money. Otherwise you can make one-time purchases, too.
For the purpose of this article, I think the best product for a newborn gift would be their Newborn Organic Essential Birth Kit Bundle. There are plenty of other bundle options (or individual items) if you aren’t interested in this one.
The box comes with a travel pack of baby wipes, diaper rash cream, baby powder, baby lotion, baby shampoo/body wash, and a box of newborn diapers. All of the products are made with entirely organic ingredients.
If you don’t want to get the organic gift box, you can always pass by your local pharmacy and pick up a few of those very same essentials and pop ’em into a basket.
2- Bamboobies Breastfeeding Starter Kit
Becoming a mother is really tough. There’s a huge transition period involved. I remember when I gave birth to my first son, I had absolutely no idea what breastfeeding was really about. I didn’t realize that every time I was bra-less, I’d have milk dripping onto my shirt or the floor (if I was also shirtless). I didn’t realize that if I slept without a bra or nipple covers of some sort, I would wake up in a puddle of milk on my sheets. I was also unaware of the fact that newborns don’t know how to latch immediately after their births and they need mom to guide the nipple into their mouth. A guide would have been useful.
That’s why I’m proposing the Bamboobies Breastfeeding Starter Kit.
While this is primarily a gift for mom, it’s a super useful one and will ultimately also benefit baby. It comes with organic nipple balm (great because adjusting to a tiny human sucking on those things for long periods at a time is tough on the skin), a breastfeeding tips & tricks guide, washable nipple pads, and disposable nipple pads. It also comes with a little carry bag, in which mom can easily add all of those supplies and then slide it into the diaper bag.
3- Milkies Milk Saver
This is a great way for mom to save her milk to be consumed in a bottle. I genuinely wish I had this product when my first son was born.
Now that I’m pregnant with my second, I made it a point to buy one. While breastfeeding, especially when the baby is exclusively breastfeeding (as most breastfed babies do for the first 5–6 months of life), both of mom’s breasts are pumping milk simultaneously. That’s one of the many reasons why it’s important to alternate breasts during each session. The great thing about this product is that it goes on the unused breast while baby is drinking to capture and preserve the milk that would otherwise be leaking onto her shirt or bra.
4- When all else fails, Safety 1st Healthcare & Grooming Kit is the way to go
It has all the stuff mom and dad will need to monitor baby’s health, including a thermometer, a cradle cap comb, a toothbrush, a regular comb, a nasal aspirator, and more. Altogether, there are 25 different pieces, including a carry-bag for easy transport and to prevent losing any pieces.
Read more: 17 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Breastfeeding
Stocking stuffers
1- Teethers
While they may not be super useful for newborns, they’re great once babies hit
about five months old. That’s when my son started to put anything and everything in his mouth to chew on. His first tooth didn’t officially emerge until about 3 months later, though.
My personal favorite is the Mitten Teether. Most newborns wear mittens for a while to prevent themselves from scratching their faces, especially their eyes. This particular pair is great because it has a rubber teether on the end of it so baby never misplaces or drops it.
Another favorite of mine (and very famous teether) is Sophie the Giraffe. She’s a classic and comes in various different styles now.
2- Pacifiers
My son never used them. Don’t ask why — he just never seemed to enjoy them. He much preferred the “real thing” if you know what I mean. But every other baby I’ve ever seen has had a serious obsession with these little guys and even I, whose kid never liked them, know how often they’re lost. Having a vast supply at hand is very important.
If you want to go for something funny and silly, you can try this pack of assorted goofy face pacifiers (as seen in the photo above).
Or, if you’d rather go for something holiday-themed, try this super cute and fun Santa plush pacifier. There are a ton of different options when it comes to plush pacifiers; my son had one with a little giraffe attached. It was the perfect way to keep his hands busy while he sucked at his pacifier, and another great way to always know where the pacifier was!
3- Pyjamas
Especially in the winter, pyjamas are a baby’s best friend. This is yet another item that you can never have too much of. My tip: don’t buy pyjamas with snaps until baby is over one year old. My son hated getting dressed after his bath at bedtime. Fighting with him to stay still so I could snap up his pyjama was a nightmare. Even worse: buttons. Those are a choking hazard. I advise going for the zip-up kind for a while.
4- Warm winter clothes
The especially important ones are mittens, neck warmers, and comfy socks. Stocking up on those are a great idea. As well, it’s good to keep a nice supply of thick sweaters and sweatpants. Mom and dad would surely appreciate those!
Another super cute option is the Cuddle Club Fleece Bodysuit. Look how cozy that little baby looks in it! My son lived in those in the late spring and autumn.
Toys
As newborns, babies don’t really play much yet. Their coordination isn’t quite good, they probably can’t lift their head, and they can barely move anywhere. But that doesn’t mean they won’t!
1- Stuffed animals
Duh! What kid doesn’t love a soft, squishy toy?
2- Car seat/stroller toys
This is an excellent way to keep fussy babies calm whilst in their car seat or stroller. It’s also a great learning tool; infants can begin to refine their coordination skills and explore different textures and/or sounds.
3- Jolly Jumper
This is not an ideal toy for a newborn, I agree. My son started to use his around 5 or 6 months old. But man, did he love it. We tried a whole bunch of different types of jumpers and this was the only one he really enjoyed. He could jump on it for hours. Eventually, doing so began to work his thigh and butt muscles to the point where his legs were truly envy-inducing. He continued to use it until he grew out of it, somewhere shy of a year later.
4- Baby Einstein Gym Play Mat
This is another way for infants to start refining many of their senses. Plus it’s a great way to keep them busy, get them moving (hopefully to start crawling or rolling on their backs/bellies), and practice lifting their heads.
Happy holidays guys!! If you have any suggestions of items that I could add to this list, be sure to leave them in the comments! Or if you’ve tried any of these products, let me know what you think of them.
Read more: 17 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Breastfeeding | https://medium.com/@kaitlenpriestley/first-christmas-gifts-for-the-newborn-boy-on-your-list-mama-kate-df084454d708 | [] | 2019-12-07 14:56:31.985000+00:00 | ['Newborn', 'Gift Guide', 'Christmas Gifts', 'New Mom', 'Parenting'] |
Nervos Quarterly Letter: A Look Back at Q3 2020 | Following the success of our first Quarterly Letter, we are excited to update you on what has been going on across the Nervos Network in Q3 of this year.
It has been a busy few months since we ticked off some major milestones in Q2 and we have made big strides in important areas for blockchain, namely DeFi and interoperability.
In general, the Nervos Network and its vibrant community have been expanding greatly with Town Halls, Grants and community competitions all hitting the right buttons with Nervos followers.
Driving DeFi
It has been near impossible, through Q3, to not take an interest in the DeFi space. We didn’t want to be left behind and managed to make some great strides in this arena. We made good progress in building out a DeFi playground for current and future blockchain developers and We also brought out our DeFi hub.
Not to mention, the collaborations with oracle providers, such as Chainlink and Band Protocol, drew major interest while we spelled out the rest of the road ahead for 2020 in our successful Town Hall.
Interest in Interoperability
We know Interoperability is going to be a deciding factor in the next generation of the blockchain and in Q3 our cross chain work really started taking off. This was highlighted in the integration of Portal Wallet which was developed using the pw-sdk that enables dApps on CKB to run in any cryptocurrency wallet.
We continue to build on creating the next generation of interoperability with some key announcements still to come before the end of the year.
Community boom
We count ourselves lucky to have such a keen and active community that has more than doubled since we last counted in Q2. Now, there are around 82,000+ community members as compared with the 40,000 from three months before.
It can’t really be contributed to one thing, but our community competition (#Memecraft) was a hit, while we also announced more grants, CKLabs updates, and started rolling out Town Hall events. Overall, the excitement is up about where Nervos is headed and that’s reflected in the numbers we see in the report.
Download the Q3 report for all of the latest updates. | https://medium.com/nervosnetwork/nervos-quarterly-letter-a-look-back-at-q3-2020-a7c3284f4050 | ['Nervos Network'] | 2020-12-04 16:22:59.630000+00:00 | ['Nervos Network', 'Community Update', 'Defi', 'Blockchain', 'Interoperability'] |
Static vs Bonded Liquidity Pools for CICs | As communities create their Community Inclusion Currencies as a credit against their future production, projects and excess capacity, Grassroots Economics is looking at various ways to connect these tokens together and as well to other networks. Below I’ll describe and contrast two approaches, namely a Fixed vs Algorithmic Rate liquidity pools. But before that I just want to give a simple overview of what a liquidity pool is.
For the blockchain and folks they are probably familiar with the Bonded Pool like you can find with Uniswap or in the Bancor Network, but lets start with its sibling the Static Pool — which simply is a contract holding 2 tokens that are exchangeable to each other.
In the fixed exchange rate or static pool above. A community creating a CIC can decide to add some of their CIC A token supply to a common pool along with some tokens from another community B. The pool contains A and B tokens.
Someone holding A tokens pays some A tokens to someone holding B tokens, the pool accepts A tokens from A and gives B tokens to B. Now anyone can push in A tokens to that pool and get out B tokens with a 1:1 fixed exchange rate — that is, until there are no more Bs in the pool. At which point someone from community B would need to add some Bs to re-balance the pool before any more exchange is possible.
This create a simple way for community A and B to trade with each other with a limited amount of tokens in the pool.
Next let’s talk about a Bonded pool — the kind you will find in Uniswap or the Bancor Network.
In the algorithmic exchange rate or bonded pool above. A community creating a CIC can similarly decide to add some of their CIC A token supply to a common pool along with some tokens from another community B.
Now if anyone wants to push in A tokens to that pool they can get out B tokens with an initial 1:1 exchange rate — but every time you dd more As you get less and less Bs out. This can virtually go on forever until for each A added you only get 0.0000001 Bs and so on.
This create another way for community A and B to trade with each other with continuous liquidity but changing exchange rates. There can be a lot more added to the liquidity contracts, such as oracles that can adjust prices and investment shares that can grow based on exchange fees which are also options. Communities could also create DAOs and vote on which pools are allowed into the network. But let’s stick with the simple versions mentioned above and compare them a bit further:
The table above gives a few ways to compare the types of liquidity pools. While the Bonded Pool allows for continuous liquidity and a market price stabilization effect, it also creates a variable exchange rate that is often hard to deal with for regular commerce. In the extreme case, where many A’s have been converted to B (changing the rate) and one CIC A users sends 10 tokens to buy tomatoes and they turn into only one B token — the tomato seller could demand more tokens — but this is quite cumbersome.
On the contrary with a Static Pool, one side of the pool could simply run out causing trade to stop until there is trade in the opposite direction. This could be equally frustrating for commerce and require the two communities come up with a regular method of trade balance or to allow for multiple non-exchangeable tokens co-existing in their wallets.
If communities connect their CICs to a basic income or network token like Sarafu in a 1:1 Static Pool — all such CICs would automatically be exchangeable 1:1 with each other. This is appealing because it creates a well defined common pool of tokens connected through a network token. This method combines the concept of a UBI with a credit system — described briefly .
Also note that both types of pools could be used to connect a CIC with some other non-CIC token (like Eth or DAI) who’s value might be fluctuating or unknown relative to the CICs — in this case having market supply and demand to establish that price over time might be preferable using a Bonded Pool. Note that many such pools can co-exist in the same network, connecting the same tokens. So connecting UBI and CICs on static pools while also connecting to non-CICs via bonded pools could allow for in-network 1:1 exchanges and variable/market rate exchanges against foreign tokens (e.g. Eth or stable coins).
We’re excited to be building infrastructure — using the open source Bancor DEX contracts — that can accommodate an extremely diverse set of pools — creating really decentralized typologies for common pooling of Community Inclusion Currencies. | https://medium.com/@williamruddick/static-vs-bonded-liquidity-pools-for-cics-e2b7485ed8dd | ['Will Ruddick'] | 2021-01-19 11:12:24.970000+00:00 | ['Community Currency', 'Crypto', 'Humanitarian', 'Liquidity'] |
Apocalypsing: The Dating Trend That Could Happen To Anyone | PHOTOGRAPHED BY SAVANA OGBURN.
By: MOLLY LONGMAN
Over the last 11 months, a few of my more conservative friends have confessed to me that they think we’re in the “End Times.” I don’t buy it. But I have noticed this mentality creeping into my dating life amid the COVID-19 pandemic. I feel an unexpected new pressure to lock down “the one.” Like, ASAP.
Because of that, I’ve ignored red flags, made up excuses when someone consistently forgets to text me back, and chalked up any weird communication issues to coronavirus-related stress. I want any budding relationship to last forever — even if it’s hanging on by a string — because, hell, who knows what the future holds? And just think of all the work it takes to meet someone new and slowly add them to your COVID pod.
Turns out, this pattern is surprisingly common amid the pandemic. Case in point: A new trend called “apocalypsing” is on the rise, according to dating service Plenty of Fish, which polled more than 2,000 singles. Apocalypsing, according to POF, consists of treating every relationship like it’s your last. You meet someone you’re infatuated with and then — bada bing, bada boom — suddenly you’re super serious, firmly established in each others’ COVID bubbles, and ready to plan your life together. One-third of singles POF polled said they know someone who’s done this. Gen Z is particularly prone to it, with nearly a third admitting to the trend.
It’s an easy trap to fall into. One minute you’re meeting for socially distanced drinks and then the next you’re imagining all the cute activities you could do in quarantine together. The jigsaw puzzles! The sourdough starters! From there, would they be a good parent? What will we name our kids? Some call it daydreaming, others have dubbed it emotionally masturbating — however you refer to it, we have more time for it thanks to our new 2020 schedules. And it can lead some to catching feelings sooner than might be healthy.
But even though we have trendy new names for it, getting attached to a partner prematurely was common even pre-COVID, says Danielle Forshee, Psy.D, LCSW, a psychologist and marriage therapist. Only now, the propensity to quickly latch onto a potential partner as though they’re your last chance for happiness can be even stronger, thanks to the lack of human contact we’re all experiencing right now.
“Because of COVID, we’re in a scenario where we’re being told to not have human contact and physical touch, and that takes away our ability to have the emotional and physical connections that we as humans require,” Dr. Forshee says. When it’s been months since our last juicy make out or snuggle sesh, many of us begin to crave it — sometimes on an unconscious level. This can cause us to feel an affinity for someone more quickly than we typically would, or even to settle for someone we might have otherwise written off. It can also make us rush the semi-serious act of letting someone into our COVID-19 bubble, just for the company.
“You find someone you could be okay with, and it feels nice to have that connection” Dr. Forshee says. “When we touch each other for 15 seconds or more, whether we’re hugging each other, kissing, putting our hand on someone’s shoulder or leg, it releases oxytocin, the hormone our body releases that makes us feel attached and gives us connected, loving feelings.”
Known as the “love hormone,” oxytocin is a hell of a drug, and if you’re suddenly getting it after months of isolation and solo banana bread making, it can feel euphoric. “It may increase that attachment at the onset,” says Dr. Forshee. “That may be what’s leading people to think: Oh this feels really good, I don’t want to let this go. Let me just stay here.”
Of course, not all apocalypsing is settling — especially if you believe in love at first sight. There’s a chance you’re really into someone right away because they’re truly a wonderful match for you. Maybe they really are the Sue Bird to your Megan Rapinoe or the Harry Burns to your Sally Albright. But even if that’s the case, a gut check is warranted to make sure you’re not hitching your wagon to someone just because you’re lonely, experiencing skin hunger, or freaked out because COVID-19 has pushed your dating timeline back a year.
Although it’s certainly a good thing to be open and to treat every date as though it has the potential for long-term happiness, it’s also a good idea to have a discerning eye and to get to know someone before you start picking out curtains for your future child’s nursery. But that’s easier said than done, especially now.
If you tend towards apocalypsing, Forshee has a few suggestions. One way to avoid it is to make sure you’re bolstering your support system. “The more socially isolated we are, the more likely we are to get attached to somebody,” Dr. Forshee says. “If we’re feeling lonely and we want emotional connection, we should lean on our social supports in our quarantine pod, rather than someone who’s new or just for now.” If you don’t have a physical bubble, build out your virtual one. Schedule extra Zooms, Netflix Parties, or phone calls with your loved ones.
When you lean on friends and family, you don’t need to get emotional support from someone you’ve only been on a few dates with, so you’re less likely to apocalypse in a relationship that isn’t right. You can also get advice from your bubble on whether your new potential partner is worth your time and attention. Plus, your friends can help you decide whether your potential lover seems to be reciprocating your initially strong feelings.
Another way to avoid apocalypsing: Set your standards, especially regarding how you want to be treated and what core values you’d like to share with your future S.O. If it helps, make a list of things you’re looking for in a mate. Write down your deal breakers. Then, if you’re starting to feel the butterflies stirring after a date or so with someone new, come back to the list and see how they rank up. Of course, they don’t have to check all the boxes, but this will keep you on track and slow down any proclivity to give your love to someone you’re not aligned with before getting to know them.
Dr Forshee’s last tip? Sharpen your eye for bullshit. Amid the pandemic, our first few dates with someone are often over text or Facetime. “When we talk to people on FaceTime and text a lot, that creates a very false sense of knowing who this person is,” Dr. Forshee says. “We can show the parts we want to show at a distance. And you might feel really attached quickly if you’re having long, deep conversations with someone you don’t know.”
This can be exacerbated by the fact that there are a lot of natural commonalities among us all right now. “When we know we have things in common with someone, we as humans think: ‘Oh they’re similar to us, we can trust them,’” Dr. Forshee says. But that’s not always the case.
So just because someone also watches The Bachelorette (a show where apocalypsing is the name of the game) doesn’t mean that your values are the same. Falling fast can be fun, but be sure you have a foundation built on communication, trust, and true connection — and not the fact that you’re both rooting for Zac C. to win Tayshia’s heart.
***
Originally published at http://www.refinery29.com | https://medium.com/refinery29/apocalypsing-the-dating-trend-that-could-happen-to-anyone-34e775c23918 | [] | 2020-12-16 23:26:13.020000+00:00 | ['Dating', 'Covid 19', 'Culture', 'Lifestyle', 'Dating Advice'] |
Amal growth Totkay | For me, the word growth also means the same, to expand my horizon and leave a small for a large one. When for the first time I heard the word growth, I didn’t know its literal meaning or its significance. It was used for a seedling that went to several stages to become a tree. Just like that seedling we become a seed, a shoot, and root, a plant, we grow flowers and leaves, we become a tree yet we keep on growing leaves and giving fruits. That’s what growth is to me-to become your true self and to help others.
For the past few weeks, the word Growth was used many times in our fellowship course. We learned a good MVTP helps people grow and a good leader grows out of traditional ideas. Growth is a process of learning and experiencing, it is observing your surroundings and expanding your wings accordingly. In this blog, I will talk about my personal growth and how I learned to spread my wings.
To change my mindset into a growth mindset I used basic tools, as:
Self-talk: I decided to talk to myself more positively and with kindness. Instead of saying “How will I do it?” or “I can’t do it” I have started saying “I can do it”. And honestly, it has brought a positive change in my attitude as well. I have started being patient with myself, the burden has reduced and I realized how much pressure I was putting on myself. I hope all of us learn to work on this habit because we are the ones we should treat with the most kindness.
2. Get out of your comfort zone: As a procrastinator, I have struggled with this the most, my comfort zone has restrained me from many activities and speaking up for myself. So to bring a change I have started taking challenges, I started doing activities that I fear and run away from. I have started speaking up and defining boundaries. I even completed a few tasks that were pending including an assignment from one of my university professors. The assignment wasn’t due soon but I feel less burdened as I have done it now.
3. Create new habits: I don’t usually start something new because I have a hard time developing a fondness for something new. But as I had made a pact with myself to grow I also had to do this. The first thing I did for this is making a list of what I can work on. I realized I am not very good at artworks or DIYs. So I started with basic coloring. It might sound lame but it was a big step for me as I have struggled with starting new things. In the picture below is a page from my coloring journal:
4. Ask people for help: This was the biggest change I had to experience due to this activity. I usually don’t ask people for help or discuss my problems with anyone. When I started this growth journey I tried to change my attitude in this regard. Upon asking for feedback one of my friends told me that she is very happy to see this new side for me. The side who takes challenges headfirst and who stands for herself. One of my sisters also told me that she was very glad to see me learning a new habit and changing myself for the better. I didn’t know simple words of encouragement could make such a difference but they did.
5. Fake it till you make it: This is something which I have been doing for quite some time now. I have always believed in a dialogue from one of my favorite show “Bojack horsemen”:
Even after writing this blog, I feel so contented with the changes I have made. I have changed my perspective to grow out of my mindset and I will keep growing because it is a never-ending process.
From these basic tips, I have learned a lot as I have started to change myself and my attitude. I have experienced new things and saw a new side of me. This perspective is very fresh and I hope I keep growing until I become the tree that gives shelter and fruits. | https://medium.com/@abeeha-saleem163/amal-growth-totkay-7442cd13e29b | ['Abeeha Saleem'] | 2020-12-25 16:50:19.139000+00:00 | ['Amal Fellowship', 'Growth', 'Learning'] |
Do you love your job? | Picture from Pexels
Do you love your job? Where do you see yourself five years from now — this is what every boss asks her juniors. What do you say? Remember, bosses expect you to sound optimistic and ambitious.
Executives say they wish to be managers, managers express they should be VPs, and the VPs say they would like to see themselves as CXOs. It is not important whether you get there five years later or not. What matters is, do you feel fulfilled? Is the job exciting? The answer is no, in most cases.
What a waste? Had you foreseen it, you may have made a different choice.
Masha argues you can. By revisiting “peak experiences” — experiences that left you exhilarated. These can help you figure out the kind of job you would find exciting and fulfilling. So in the future, you don’t make the mistake of picking an assignment that leaves you fatigued. | https://medium.com/illumination/do-you-love-your-job-997be52e87c | ['Raj Bhatia'] | 2020-12-11 13:43:15.206000+00:00 | ['Employee Engagement', 'Employment', 'Careers', 'Performance Reviews', 'Job Satisfaction'] |
The Color Spectrum | Red is a burning ember
In the middle of the night
Orange is the morning sun
That drapes the world in light
Yellow is like summer
Butterflies and lemonade
Green is a garden of wonder
But turns sunshine back to shade
Blue is an ocean cave
A place to think things through
In preparation for an evening fire
An ember, bright and new
The darkness falls to indigo
It’s not always clear which way to go
But the hazy glow of a purple dawn
Carries the story on and on
You see, you can’t choose
A single favorite color
Each hue has it’s role
No greater or less than another | https://medium.com/@jessejet/the-color-spectrum-34bb4a6a273b | ['Jesse Jet'] | 2020-11-19 15:08:55.224000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Storytelling', 'Rhymes', 'Poem', 'Colors'] |
5 Features That You Will Love for Dot Net version 5 | The same day .NET 5 was released I shared a single screenshot showing how much faster .NET 5 is relatively to .NET Core 3.1. I promised to share more data later — and here it is.
1. Fusion’s Caching Test — running on Ubuntu + Intel and AMD CPUs
Code: https://github.com/servicetitan/Stl.Fusion.Samples , see “Caching Sample” section there.
Overall, these tests stress an API endpoint fetching a small object from SQL database, the only difference is how it is exposed (locally or via HTTP) and if Fusion is used there to provide transparent caching.
https://nhcc.edu/gaa/gal-v-tip1.html
https://nhcc.edu/gaa/gal-v-tip2.html
https://nhcc.edu/gaa/gal-v-tip3.html
https://nhcc.edu/gaa/gal-v-tip4.html
https://nhcc.edu/gaa/gal-v-tip5.html
https://nhcc.edu/gaa/gal-v-tip6.html
https://nhcc.edu/gaa/gal-v-tip7.html
https://nhcc.edu/gaa/gal-v-tip8.html
https://nhcc.edu/gaa/gal-v-tip9.html
https://nhcc.edu/hur/gal-v-tipg1.html
https://nhcc.edu/hur/gal-v-tipg2.html
https://nhcc.edu/hur/gal-v-tipg3.html
https://nhcc.edu/hur/gal-v-tipg4.html
https://nhcc.edu/hur/gal-v-tipg5.html
https://nhcc.edu/hur/gal-v-tipg6.html
https://nhcc.edu/hur/gal-v-tipg7.html
https://nhcc.edu/hur/gal-v-tipg8.html
https://nhcc.edu/hur/gal-v-tipg9.htm
My initial test was performed on Window & AMD CPU, but almost every production service runs on Linux nowadays, so I decided to fix this and add Intel-based system to the test.
Speedup = (geometric mean of NET5/NET31 relative speed for every CPU) — 1
Raw data
You might notice web service speedup is actually lower than in my initial post — most likely, that’s because .NET Core 3.1 version of code used this time was built with the newest (5.0.0) versions NuGet packages. In other words, it compares just the runtimes, but factors out the libraries.
2. YetAnotherStupidBenchmark — SIMD intrinsics, tight loops, IO
Code: https://github.com/alexyakunin/YetAnotherStupidBenchmark
Originally written as an attempt to prove or disprove a thesis that C# could be nearly as efficient as C++ on “data crunching” problems, this simple benchmark compares C# and C++ efficiency on ~ “scan, decode, and aggregate” task.
The results were produced as follows:
Run each test 6 times — for each framework and CPU
Take the best result among all 6 runs
Compute the speedup as a geometric mean of (NET31_Time / NET5_Time) across all tested systems.
Surprisingly, .NET 5 manages to speed up even a heavily optimized code by up to 7% in comparison to .NET Core 3.1.
You could also notice that:
~1.5-years old results on the same Core-i7 8700K were 95ms for C++ and 101ms, i.e. they are now ~ 5% worse for both CPUs. An impact of Spectre and Meltdown mitigation?
.NET 5 gets extremely close to C++ on Core i7: it produces the same 99ms on SIMD version of the test, but relying on async pipeline reader rather than memory mapped file.
on SIMD version of the test, but relying on async pipeline reader rather than memory mapped file. But there is a significant leap between C++ (74ms) and .NET (93ms) on the same test on Ryzen Threadripper. And since it’s almost identical SIMD code, I’m unsure what to blame here. If you know — please share this in comments.
3. GCBurn
Code: https://github.com/alexyakunin/GCBurn
Originally written to compare .NET and Go garbage collection and peak allocation performance. I’ll focus only on allocations here, because all other metrics are pretty similar (though you’re welcome to compare the raw output).
Notes on this test:
Interestingly, .NET 5 is faster on burst allocations and smaller heaps, but slower on larger heaps — though not dramatically.
I had to exclude 75% RAM static set result from the chart — the 110M ops/s for .NET Core 3.1 there is way off from everything else, and I didn’t have enough time to find out why, though my guess is: somehow one extra full GCs were triggered during this test (it takes ~ 5s on ~ 50GB heap).
It worth saying that GCBurn is definitely the least useful one among these tests: it runs the code you’ll hardly ever see in production. Its goal is to turn memory allocator and GC into a bottleneck to measure their efficiency, but in reality this never happens, and moreover, even if you hit e.g. memory allocator performance limit, you have a number of workarounds to address this.
Besides that, GCBurn doesn’t use pinned objects, so it completely disregards one of key improvements in .NET 5 GC.
So is .NET 5 GC better or worse? One more chart illustrates how big could be the difference between the stress test and the reality:
This is how RAM usage changed for the only service (a tiny one) we migrated to .NET 5 so far. As you see, it’s dropped by more than 2x. This is certainly quite motivating, so I hope to write another post with more of production data soon.
You can find the raw data produced by these tests in this Google Sheet; the raw output of GCBurn and YetAnotherStupidBenchmark could be found in their repositories — see “/results” folder there.
P.S. If you love reading about .NET and performance, check out Fusion — my bold attempt to revolutionize the way we implement caching and real-time UI updates. | https://medium.com/@tifkulwt68675/5-features-that-you-will-love-for-dot-net-version-5-ac9346b690f5 | [] | 2020-11-21 11:56:19.677000+00:00 | ['Features', 'Dotnet', 'Improvement'] |
How do we make wine fun again? | How do we make wine fun again?
In our discussions to bring on a new COO we waxed lyrical about the state of the wine industry and the beverage industry as a whole. He mentioned that the drinks industry was like a big party, beer and spirits are the life of the party. They get everybody dancing, talking, having fun, or chilling out. Wine was in the corner, dressed all nice, talking to each other about tasting notes. They did not seem to know what was going on in the rest of the room.
He’s not wrong.
Wine, for better or worse, went from this drink that brought us together, to a drink of the luxury life. When most wine that gets drunk sits around the $20 marker, its not really a premium thing in 2016 is it? Wine got unnecessarily pretentious as well. No we are not talking about stuff like Petrus (the best wine in Bordeaux) or your $50+ wines that clearly are finer than the rest, but the stuff that we kind of want to drink day to day. The stuff we want to drink at regular occasions, like BBQs, tailgating, picnics, house parties, or watching Netflix with your bae.
Wine is starting to get a little bit better at that, with companies like Wine Riot, or VinoMofo pairing wines off with occasions like “Netflix and Chill” and thats awesome! It just scratches the surface though. Like anything in the world, when you get told what to do, or get told what to drink, get told when to drink it, people feel uncomfortable. They don’t enjoy it as much, because they aren’t really sure if they are, or how they are supposed to enjoy that wine. The problem for the wine industry is much, much deeper.
People enjoy things more when they discover things for themselves. This has been an under appreciated success key to marketing to millennials by the way, who are the largest consumer segments of wine in the United States. Why? It makes them feel special, it makes them feel unique, and it makes them feel like they have something that they can share with their friends. It makes it fun, and it makes it social again! Why has wine not gotten there yet? Well, we have to shift the perception of wine from that of telling you that this bottle is for this occasion, to “hey have you ever tried this wine? what do you think about it?”
Easy right? Not really. It takes a concerted effort, which is what we are building out at Vynl. Not from a single winery, but from a place that wants to see a great wineries who care about wine, but also care about people really enjoying their wine. What we will do, is help them connect with their consumers, engage them, create and strengthen their relationships. in doing so, we make wine fun again! Because thats what drinking should be all about. | https://medium.com/@VynlRocks/how-do-we-make-wine-fun-again-1d19680a74e1 | ['Vynl', 'The Scratch'] | 2016-12-16 18:12:41.475000+00:00 | ['Wine', 'Marketing', 'Entrepreneurship'] |
Self-Care while Sheltering In Place | “We live in strange times. We also live in strange places: each in a universe of our own.” — Douglas Adams
Can you remember another time in your life when this quote has rung so true? Just a few months ago it would have been virtually unthinkable to imagine we’d be practicing social distancing, staying inside, and essentially quarantining ourselves for weeks on end.
The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly upturned our lives in new and previously unimaginable ways. Unfortunately, the strangeness (and often isolation) of sheltering in place adds another level of stress to worry over the virus itself. As schools and parks close, as restaurants and shops shut their doors, as people worry about their employment status and their livelihoods, self-care becomes more important than ever.
As women, it’s all too easy to respond by exclusively focusing outward. We’re socialized to place others — including our families and our work — first while ignoring our own needs.
But during times of uncertainty, treating yourself with kindness and compassion is key. It’s a lot like when you board a plane; during the pre-liftoff presentation, flight attendants stress the need to put your own oxygen mask on first… because only then will you be able to assist others who may need help with their masks.
That’s why taking the time to protect your own health and well-being is a must-do, not a should-do. Read on to explore these simple ways to practice self-care while sheltering in place.
Get Moving
Being stuck at home doesn’t sound so bad, right? You’re surrounded by creature comforts, you don’t have to dress up or do your hair, and you can skip the daily commute to the office… but sheltering in place can leave you feeling absolutely exhausted.
Why? Because you’re spending your days working remotely, trying to keep the kids busy or focused on schoolwork, attempting to maintain an at-least-somewhat tidy house, trying to keep everyone in that house fed and happy, all while not allowing yourself to feel overwhelmed by the news… whew! That’s a lot.
It’s no wonder you’re feeling a bit meh. The good news is that there’s a simple way to boost both your energy levels and your mood: Exercise.
According to the experts at the Mayo Clinic (and countless research studies), exercise improves mood, increases energy, combats disease, helps you sleep better, and more. Carve at least 20 minutes out of each day to get up and get moving.
It’s OK to start slow; even a walk around the neighborhood offers benefits. Free and low-cost exercise videos and apps abound, so find a routine that works for you.
Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness (a.k.a. practicing present moment awareness) helps you reset and rejuvenate, reduces stress, and increases inner clarity. Even when the outside world seems to be in chaos, you can use mindfulness and meditation to create a calm inner space for yourself.
Meditating for just five minutes a day has been shown to produce health benefits, from your immune system to your mental health. If you’re a beginner at this increasingly popular practice, The New York Times offers an accessible guide that’s a great place to start.
But mindfulness isn’t just about meditating, or sitting on a mat saying “ohm.” You can practice anytime, anywhere, simply by focusing on your breath and allowing yourself to be in the present. Ideas include:
Breathing exercises
Taking a warm bath
Reading a book
Savoring a healthy meal
Taking a walk outdoors
Focus on a Hobby
Love to bake? Wish you spoke another language? Always wanted to learn to throw pottery? Regretting not picking up your violin since high school?
Wherever your interests lie, now is the perfect time to delve deeper into an existing hobby or jump into a new one. It’s so easy to push fun and creative activities to the bottom of our schedules, but putting effort into something you love does wonders for your mental state. Working with your hands — potting, gardening, sewing, cooking, woodworking — and creating art boosts your positivity.
Not sure how to get started? Just hop onto YouTube or one of the many DIY websites out there and find a project that intrigues you. Online tutorials and classes abound these days, so learning a new hobby or improving on an existing interest is easier than ever.
Take a Beauty Break
Now may not be the ideal time to head to the salon or spa. But you can still treat yourself at home.
After all, your hands may be feeling a bit dry and neglected given the extra hand washing and sanitizing you’ve been doing lately! Spending half an hour taking care of your nails with an at-home manicure will help you feel polished and put together.
Soaking in a warm bubble bath — complete with scented candles and calming music — can replace stress with relaxation. For extra pampering, add a face mask into the mix. If you’ve run out of your favorite brand, you can even make your own from common household ingredients.
Most of all, remember that you don’t need to feel obligated to do anything. If what you really need is to simply sit down with a bag of chips and watch some bad TV, then that’s what you should do without guilt.
Self-care means different things for everyone. Use this time to explore which types of self-care offer relaxation, stress reduction, and a mood boost… and can do wonders for your state of mind. | https://medium.com/@debbiebiery/self-care-while-sheltering-in-place-48a25f7d8dcf | ['Debbie Biery'] | 2020-04-23 17:55:28.911000+00:00 | ['Self Care', 'Self Care Tips', 'Working From Home', 'Mindset', 'Womens Health'] |
The Distant Eye | The Distant Eye
When you lose focus, what do your eyes focus on?
Sometimes, our thoughts drift during conversations, or we mentally ‘switch-off’ during a particularly boring lecture. I’ve especially noticed this with my friends. I’ll be on a talking spree, and all of a sudden notice that they’re lost and aren’t paying attention. So I’ll sort of wave my hands in front of their eyes and say the customary “Hello?”. They then blink back to the present and apologise and ask me to repeat myself…
If you’re ever in the position of said friend, you’ll notice that your vision becomes unfocused, making you look “lost”.
Have you ever wondered why this happens? It’s actually very simple — the eye just relaxes. Since you aren’t paying attention to what’s in front of you, there is no need for you to look at it. Your eyes can take a break.
Your vision becomes unfocused to your immediate surroundings and focuses instead as far as possible: towards infinity! This seems a bit counter-intuitive. Focusing at infinity seems like a big deal — but yet your eye is, well, relaxed. So, how does that work out?
The eye has two major components: a “lens”, which does all the focusing, and the “ciliary muscles”, which control the shape of the lens.
Schematic Diagram of the Human Eye
The lens becomes stretched and elongated when the ciliary muscles relax. That seemed a bit strange to me, because won’t the muscles be un-relaxed if they’re stretching the lens?
After a bit of research, I realised it works the same way as part of your hand.
Let’s suppose that your hand is lying flat and outstretched on a table, palms facing up.Your hand is relaxed. However, the muscles underneath your biceps and behind your elbow( the triceps), are stretched! They become relaxed when you bend your elbow.
Similarly, the suspensory ligaments (part of the ciliary muscles), which hold the lenses in place, get stretched when the eye relaxes. Those in turn stretch the lens, making it flat and thin.
Light is slower in a material like the eye-lens, and gets bent by it. But since the lens is flat and thin, there is lesser amount of lens for the light to go through, so the light isn’t bent as much. This allows your eye to focus at infinity!
When the ciliary muscles contract, the lens becomes rounded and focuses nearby objects. In this case, the tension on the stretched ligaments is reduced and the lens become rounded, much like a rubber band.
Here, the lens is thicker and rounder and light gets bent much more, because there’s more material that the light has to travel through. This allows the eye to focus on nearby objects.
The closest distance up to which an average eye can see things comfortably is around 25cm. This minimum distance is called the Least Distance of Distinct Vision, or LDDV. The eye can focus on anything from 25cm, all the way to infinity.
Eyes get strained when looking at close objects. But microscopes don’t cause any strain, even though they help us look closely at things. Why? That’s because microscopes focus at infinity, or at the very least, the minimum distance.
It’s actually impossible to look clearly at things a few centimetres from our eyes — forget micrometres, which is the average size of microscopic objects! That is to say, our eye cannot even see such small objects. Given this, there is no question about studying the details of a tiny cell. That’s why the microscopes magnify the image of the object, and this image is made to form at infinity. Now, parts of the cell — like the cell wall and the nucleus — can be observed clearly.
Even telescopes focus images of planets and distant stars at infinity. You might ask why this is required, since they are already very far away — practically at infinity in themselves. Well, the telescopes also magnify the image, which is necessary to observe the structure and behaviour of celestial bodies.
So, in conclusion, whenever we zone out — during class, conversations, or otherwise — our eyes become focused at infinity. Nearby things become blurred. And when the teacher calls our name, we come out of our little trance-like state and focus normally again.
Maybe that’s why it’s so nice to kick back and look at the horizon at the beach: because it’s the epitome of relaxation.
Have something to say? At Snipette, we encourage questions, comments, corrections and clarifications — even if they are something that can be easily Googled! Or you can simply click on the ‘clap’ button, to tell us how much you liked reading this. | https://medium.com/snipette/the-distant-eye-5728c700f6de | ['Siddharth Murali'] | 2018-04-22 03:11:59.398000+00:00 | ['Infinity', 'Biology', 'Eyes', 'Physics', 'Vision'] |
Running a Dash Masternode | Running a Dash Masternode
Why, and how to run a Dash masternode, an integral and pioneering part of the Dash infrastructure Ralph Taylor Follow Jun 22 · 6 min read
Dash is best known as the leading cryptocurrency with a focus on user-friendly payments and transaction speed. What many people do not know is that these features are implemented on top of a network of dedicated servers known as masternodes, which gives rise to many exciting features not available on conventional blockchains. These features include instant and private transactions, as well as governance of the development of the Dash network through a monthly budget and voting. This in itself is a first in the crypto world, and the masternodes are necessary to achieve the privacy and speed that Dash offers.
What are Dash Masternodes?
Masternodes are specialized nodes in the cryptocurrency network that are responsible for verifying and approving transactions. Also, the list of responsibilities, as well as enabling increased speed and safety special features.
Simply put, a masternode is a server with a full copy of the Dash blockchain, which guarantees a certain minimum level of performance and functionality to perform certain tasks related to block validation, as well as InstantSend and CoinJoin, as the instant transaction and privacy features in Dash are called. The masternodes are paid for this service, using a concept known as Proof of Service. This is in addition to the Proof of Work done by miners to secure the blockchain. Masternodes are also allowed to vote on governance and funding proposals, with each masternode receiving one vote (yes/no/abstain) on each proposal submitted to the system. Proposals are typically requests for funding, however they can also simply ask a question of the network, allowing Dash to remain decentralized yet come together to solve critical issues as one.
Masternodes vs mining
Dash, like Bitcoin and many early cryptocurrencies, is based on a decentralized ledger of all transactions, known as a blockchain. This blockchain is secured through a consensus mechanism; in the case of both Dash and Bitcoin, the consensus mechanism is Proof of Work (PoW). Miners attempt to solve difficult problems with specialized computers, and when they solve the problem, they receive the right to add a new block to the blockchain. If all the other people running the software agree that the problem was solved correctly, the block is added to the blockchain and the miner is rewarded.
Dash works a little differently from Bitcoin, however, because it has a two-tier network. The second tier is powered by masternodes (Full Nodes), which enable financial privacy (CoinJoin), instant transactions (InstantSend), and the decentralized governance and budget system. Because this second tier is so important, masternodes are also rewarded when miners discover new blocks. The breakdown is as follows: up to 10% of the block reward is reserved for the budget system (created by superblocks every month), while 60% of the remainder goes to masternodes and 40% goes to miners.
In short, miners power the first tier, which is the basic sending and receiving of funds and prevention of doublespending. Masternodes power the second tier, which provide the added features that make Dash different from other cryptocurrencies. Masternodes do not mine, and mining computers cannot serve as masternodes.
Masternode creation fee
The increased responsibilities given to masternodes requires increased incentives. The Dash developers introduced an additional financial restriction to protect the network from attacks: only a user with 1,000 coins on his balance can create a masternode. This mechanism protects the network against Sybil attacks, where an attacker spins up countless nodes to overwhelm the network.
At the Dash cryptocurrency’s current rate, to launch a masternode, you need to own more than $170,000 worth of Dash. The amount may seem excessively large, but do not forget that the contribution was created precisely to prevent a hostile actor from being able to easily take over the network by providing a high financial barrier of entry to running a single node.
Also, you can often find information about shared masternodes, launched by the joint efforts of several users. In this case, multiple users pool their funds together, either on their own or by using a third-party service, to reach the 1,000 Dash amount and create a masternode. This can either be done by trusting a single party with custody of the funds, or by a more involved multisignature setup whereby any user can withdraw the funds and dissolve the node at any time, reducing risk for fraud or theft.
What you need to run a Dash masternode?
There are two ways to run the masternode:
1. Configure the server yourself;
2. Buy a place on a specialized hosting.
Let’s analyze each option separately.
Running masternode on your own server
The server to run the masternode must appropriate the system requirements presented below. As the network evolves, the requirements for disk space and traffic will increase.
System requirements
Operating system: Linux (Ubuntu LTS edition recommended)
CPU: 1 Ghz
RAM: 2 GB
Free disk space: 40 GB and more
IP address: dedicated, permanent
Basically, most owners host masternodes on VPS — virtual servers that provide a small amount of resources. Let’s list the most famous hosting providers offering VPS rental: DigitalOcean, Amazon, Hetzner, LeaseWeb.
In most cases, even the minimum monthly cost of $ 5–10 is fully suitable for the indicated system requirements. In addition, to securely store funds, you need to install the Dash wallet on your computer running Windows, Linux or Mac OS.
Using dedicated hosting for masternodes
Setting up a masternode on a VPS or your own server is a rather complicated task that requires the user to be skilled in working with the command line and the Linux operating system. Not wanting to bother with setting up a server, many users prefer to simply buy space on specialized hosting for masternodes.
Dash masternode hosting is provided by several, including of the following companies: CrowdNode, Allnodes, SID Hosting Service, Node40, NodeHub.io, Masternodehosting, etc.
All these services offer similar fees, the cost of which is about 2 times higher than the price of VPS rental. In this case, the user will be relieved of the need to configure the server on his own: to launch the masternode, it is enough to download the ready-made masternode.conf settings file and connect it to the wallet on the PC.
How to set up a masternode
In general, the process of setting up a masternode is as follows:
Purchase of VPS or specialized hosting or initial setup of your own computer. Installing a wallet on a home computer and synchronizing with the blockchain. Generating a key for creating a masternode using the masternode genkey and getaccountaddress 0 commands in the Tools menu. Wallet encryption with a password. Сreating multiple backups with recording on offline media (flash drives or other portable devices). Sending 1000 DASH to your address. Installing and configuring the dashcore package on a VPS (in the case of purchasing a specialized hosting, this step is not necessary). Copying the masternode.conf file from the VPS to the wallet folder on your home computer. Running a masternode
After completing all the steps, the wallet on the local computer can be closed: it is only needed to store coins, while the server with the masternode works completely independently.
Conclusion
The main problem in assessing the investment attractiveness of masternodes is the unpredictable Dash price. The last few years have shown that the price of cryptocurrencies can change by hundreds of percent over the course of several months or days. Changing the price will inevitably affect the payback period and profitability of the masternode.
In fact, launching a masternode is a major cryptocurrency purchase that brings additional income, and, more importantly, provides integral services crucial to the functioning of the Dash network, including having a direct say in its governance and direction. If an investor has sufficient resources to purchase 1000 Dash, he should take a closer look at this interesting opportunity. | https://medium.com/dash-community/running-a-dash-masternode-a1e2266e90b1 | ['Ralph Taylor'] | 2021-06-22 00:48:35.401000+00:00 | ['Digital Cash', 'Masternodes', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Dash', 'Blockchain'] |
How to Find the Best Amazon Deals | Finding the Best Amazon Deals
The best Amazon deals aren’t always on Black Friday, Cyber Monday or even Amazon Prime Day: Most products record an all-time low price on one of the other 364 days of the year.
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 below.
I monitor the prices of top-rated Amazon products that are untainted by fake reviews. When one of those products falls to within 5% of its all-time low price, I post it to my Black Friday Today sub-Reddit via Amazon Smile.
(Amazon Smile allows shoppers to support a charity of his or her choosing.)
Nevertheless, there are more products for sale on Amazon than I could ever hope to monitor. To that end, here are tips for spotting daily Amazon deals.
Amazon’s Gold Box section is a roundup of daily deals sortable by category (e.g. electronics, kitchen appliances, etc.). Gold Box also highlights upcoming deals, lightning deals and discounts on outlet, warehouse and renewed (i.e. used) items. It’s an intimidating list that many websites attempt to filter:
Deal blogs and websites like Buzzfeed highlight interesting deals and unique finds. However, many editorial websites don’t do a good job of excluding products with suspicious reviews.
Social media websites and forums are a good place to find deals in theory. Unfortunately, crowdsourcing often leads to self-serving spam (this is why the Amazon Deals Reddit was banned).
Price-tracking websites like CamelCamelCamel use data to spot deals, not human editors. On the downside, some coupons and promotions may not be taken into account.
Woot! has a clearance section that sells some Amazon products more cheaply than Amazon.com, but some of these products are “gray market goods” that do not have a U.S. warranty.
How to Get the Best Amazon Deals
Amazon’s best deals are often “Prime-only deals,” i.e. exclusive deals for Amazon Prime members. For this reason, some shoppers sign up for a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime in mid-November, giving themselves access to deals on Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the entire holiday shopping season.
How to Search Amazon Deals
One of the best Amazon shopping hacks is to search directly within the “Deals” department. Unfortunately, this Amazon department is only active from November to early January (when year-end sales finish).
However, Amazon Prime members can search for active deals within the “Just for Prime” section. Additionally, tools like Fakespot and ReviewMeta are useful for filtering out product reviews that are too good to be true.
About the Author: John DeFeo is a data scientist who specializes in analyzing online customer reviews. He was formerly the head of editorial insights for brands such as Tom’s Guide, Laptop Mag and Tom’s Hardware. | https://medium.com/@johnwdefeo/best-amazon-deals-21a862af432d | ['John W. Defeo'] | 2021-01-22 21:48:43.286000+00:00 | ['Online Shopping', 'Saving Money', 'Amazon', 'Deals And Discounts', 'Black Friday'] |
Create an influential and persuasive message… | Create an influential and persuasive message…
How to Uncover the Heart of Your Story in 4 Easy Steps
Uncover the Heart of Your Story
THE Key to a Memorable and Impactful Message
One of the most vital skills in storytelling is to deliver a crystal clear main point. Without clarity, you lose your audience and your influence.
If you want to get to the heart of your story and connect with your listeners, this simple exercise will help…
The Power of the MESS
A common misconception is that great speeches and stories flow out of you.
Here’s a super-secret insider tip:
That almost NEVER happens!
On rare occasions, a message flows out of you. It happened to me — once — in 2008. Most times, it’s a struggle to uncover your meaningful and memorable message.
Vikas Jhingran is the Toastmasters 2007 World Champion of Public Speaking. He describes the problem like this:
“Many times, writing your story is like chiseling away at a block of marble. You start chipping away, then step back to see your progress.
Then chisel some more. Step back again to evaluate.
And repeat the process until you have a finished statue.
“It’s a grind. And sometimes, you have to throw out the marble and start over.”
One of my speech coaches has a terrific saying that applies here: “Your message is a MESS, with AGE. Get your ideas on paper (or computer). That’s the ‘mess.’
Then, chip away at your material over and over. That’s the ‘aging’ process that leads to your memorable message.
A Simple Solution to a Challenging Problem
My friend Kevin Burke is a long-time veteran of the Las Vegas Strip. He is a 40-year veteran actor and stage performer.
He recently shared an exercise to help you uncover your core message. It’s simple, but not easy.
It’s called 250–150–75–240. Here’s how it works:
Write the first version of your story, in 250 words. Set it aside.
When you return to it, cut out more material until it is 150 words in length. Set it aside again.
Return, and then remove half the remaining material to reach a 75-word version.
The final step is to cut your 75-word story to 240 characters.
A Message For Any Occasion
Why would you put yourself through this experience?
It’s not to create a ‘tweetable’ version of your talk and discard the rest of your material.
You’re multi-purposing your message.
Other reasons to go through this exercise include:
Uncovering your CORE message -– one or two sentences that summarize your main point.
Creating a 75-word version that becomes your ’30-second talk.’ Use this at a networking or social event. Or when you have a short time to explain the benefit you provide.
In your 150-word version, you can give more detail about yourself.
The 240 character version forces you to get to the point. Most people spend too much time on backstory or extraneous details.
Audiences today want you to get to the point. If you don’t, you’ll lose their attention. Gain their interest with your brief introduction. Once they show interest, you can go deeper into the details.
An Example of the 250–150–75–240
250-word Version
I was recently at a two-day retreat. A woman named Margie stood up. She told us that she’s mentally exhausted. She feels like she’s being pulled in 100 different directions. She’s a business owner, spouse, mother, and daughter. She said, “My tank is empty.”
When asked ‘why,’ she said, “I can’t say no.”
The facilitator asked, “Why?”
She paused and said, “Because if I say ‘no’ people will get mad at me.”
The facilitator said, “What will happen if they get mad?”
She thought about this, then said, “They might not want me around?”
“They won’t want you around?” the facilitator said.
“Yeah, I won’t matter,” she said.
A chill ran down my spine. For all of my adult life, I have felt like there is something wrong with me. I’ve felt like I’ve often fallen short of my goals. Many times I’ve felt I didn’t measure up or wasn’t good enough.
And now I knew why. Because deep down, I’ve felt like I don’t matter.
When I was two years old, my father walked out on my Mom and me. I’ve buried emotions from that experience and I didn’t know how it impacted me.
Now I do. What else can a two-year-old child feel but that he doesn’t matter if one of his parents leaves?
This was one of the most liberating moments of my life. I finally could fill in that missing ‘puzzle piece’ that has confounded me on why I’ve often gotten poor results.
150-word Version
I recently heard Margie, say she’s feeling pulled in 100 different directions. She said, “My tank is empty.”
When asked why, she said, “I can’t say no. Because if I say ‘no’ people will get mad at me. They might not want me around. And I’ll feel like I won’t matter.”
Those words sent a chill down my spine. For all of my adult life, I have felt I’ve always fallen short. That I didn’t measure up or wasn’t good enough.
It’s because I’ve felt I don’t matter. When I was two years old, my father walked out on my Mom and me. What else can a two-year-old child feel but that he doesn’t matter if one of his parents leaves?
This moment was liberating because I finally could fill in that missing ‘puzzle piece’ about why I’ve often gotten poor results.
75-word Version
I recently heard a woman say, “My tank is empty. I can’t say ‘no.’ If I do, people will get mad at me. And I’ll feel like I don’t matter.”
For much of my life, I’ve felt like I’m not good enough and afraid that I’ll let people down. Her words helped me realize I’ve had that same feeling — “I don’t matter.”
With this insight, the events of my life now make total sense to me.
240-Character Version
A woman said, “I feel like I don’t matter.”
I realized that I’ve been carrying that same message since I was 2-years old.
My life struggles now completely make sense to me. This insight enables me to overcome self-limiting behaviors.
Do you see how each successive version gets closer to my premise?
Each is clearer until the final version quickly introduces the insightful moment, the problem, and my insight -– wisdom that can help others.
Want to uncover your core message?
Use this exercise. It takes time and thought.
But, in the end, it will pay off with a crystal-clear premise that leaves a lasting imprint on your audience.
Are These Seven Storytelling Mistakes Costing You Money or Opportunities?
Are You Committing the 7 Deadly Storytelling Sins?
Want to be a more effective storyteller?
Avoid seven common mistakes that kill the impact of your stories. Out FREE report gives you insight into these errors and how to avoid them.
To download the report (no-cost & no-obligation) visit: http://bit.ly/7StorySinsReport | https://medium.com/@speakingcpr/create-an-influential-and-persuasive-message-7c324b31695 | ['Michael Davis'] | 2021-12-30 22:51:30.976000+00:00 | ['Public Speaking', 'Storytelling', 'Storytelling For Business', 'Business Communication', 'Speaking'] |
Chasing Money, Fame, or Luxuries? Chase This Instead | Chasing Money, Fame, or Luxuries? Chase This Instead
If it is a waste of time to chase pleasure, what should we chase?
Photo by Photo by Dainis Graveris on SexualAlpha
Some schools of philosophy, such as Epicureanism, would argue that pleasure and avoidance of pain are the highest good.
While I am willing to concede that these things do provide temporary happiness — they fade and soon that becomes replaced by a desire for a newer pleasure.
Likewise, those who spend their time looking for money for the sake of money will inevitably find themselves feeling unsatisfied.
Maybe some have convinced themselves that this desire will fade once a target amount is reached. But in reality, most of us don't have that sort of willpower.
Once we reach our goal of 1,000, we will need 10,000 to be secure. Once we reach 100,000 we will need 1 million and so on.
The Stoics call money, fame, and pride indifferents. This is because they are indifferent to living a happy life. Someone can be poor, unknown, and modest and be happier than someone with all the indifferents.
Stoicism is directly in opposition to Epicureanism. So if pleasure and avoidance of pain are the highest good for Epicureanism than what would Stoicism ask you to adhere to?
Well, first we should discuss why Stoics believe Epicureanism is flawed.
Seeking pleasure and avoiding pain makes us no different than an animal. This is a purely instinctual behavior.
But we have something that separates us from animals: a rational mind.
This allows us to make a choice. This choice is between acting animalistic to acting rationally.
For instance, if someone cuts us off in traffic, our normal response may be to curse at them or stick out our middle fingers. This release and temporary showing of anger feel good at first. But what it really is is us having a lack of control over our world and unable to accept this, we lash out in instinct.
The other choice we have is thinking about the situation rationally. We use the rational mind that we were granted by nature over the other creatures on our planet. We rationalize that we must accept that not everything is in our control. We come to terms with the fact that although the driver has done something to us, it is our perception of the event that causes our grievance and not the action of the driver.
This other choice also involves recognizing that at the end of the day, lashing out is the opposite of expression of control. It means we have no control and are slaves to our environment and to whatever fortune throws at us.
In addition, this negativity and violence will eventually cause us to doubt our morality. It will cause us to question ourselves as to if we are truly good people. This leads to the concept that crime is its own punishment.
Stoics believe that only they can affect their mind. No one else has power over you. Someone may stab or injure you, but they cannot touch your mind. This idea is what makes physical slaves, kings, and what makes physical kings, slaves.
It follows that if you commit an act of violence or revenge over the driver that cut you off, you are not hurting them, you are only hurting yourself. To stray away from your rationality brings you at odds with the greater universe and a God if there was one that intended to give you rationality.
We have the choice of being instinctual and rash, or rational and good. | https://medium.com/the-apeiron-blog/chasing-money-fame-or-luxuries-chase-this-instead-9da0b6077894 | ['Alex Lago'] | 2020-10-19 18:36:25.522000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Money', 'Philosophy', 'Stoicism', 'Happiness'] |
Tisha B’Av & Eid al-Adha | Palestinian worshipers protest Jewish visitors on The Temple Mount
Jewish and Muslim holidays often overlap, but this year we have a particularly uncomfortable conjunction.
Today is the 9th of the Hebrew month of Av, the darkest and most potent day in Jewish history, when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed twice (the first in 586 BCE by Nebuchadnezzar II the second in 70 CE by Titus). It’s also the date identified with the destruction of the Judean city of Beitar in 135 CE by the Emperor Hadrian during the Bar Kokhba revolt, when hundreds of thousands of Jews were massacred or starved, thousands were enslaved and large parts of Judea were laid to waste.
Many Jews across the world are fasting today from sunset to nightfall — just over 24 hours of mourning and searching deep within ourselves to touch the traumatic loss that we’re all carrying in some way.
The loss is truly profound. For Jews, the Temple was the umbilical cord of the world; it housed the Divine Presence and served as the vessel of connection between all the worlds of creation. There is no substitute for its foundational importance in Jewish thought and spirituality: not ethnicity, not language, and not culture, but the desire to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple united every Jewish community — from China to Portugal, from Ethiopia to Lithuania — for the past 1900 years.
When the instructions for the Mishkan (or Tabernacle), the desert prototype of the Temple in Jerusalem, were first given, the Divine voice says:
וְעָ֥שׂוּ לִ֖י מִקְדָּ֑שׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּתוֹכָֽם׃ And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.
בְּתוֹכָֽם is both “among” and “within them” — not “within it”. The purpose of the Mishkan wasn’t for the Divine Presence to rest in it, i.e. the physical structure, but rather among them, the people of Israel, among and within the community itself — within each and every individual. The physical structure of the Tabernacle itself and the Divine Presence within the individual are intimately connected; one can’t exist without the other.
In other words, when the Divine can’t rest within the deepest chambers of the human psyche, it certainly can’t dwell among them in a physical structure.
The root of the destruction of the Temple, then, has always been within ourselves, in the ruins of our internal temples that are too polluted and wounded to house the Divine. When our hearts are “impure” — full of hatred, division, anger and pain — the Divine Presence can’t reside.
Women pray at the Western Wall on Tisha B’Av, early morning July 16, 2013. (Miriam Alster / Flash90/File)
This is a heavy burden for us all to bear, because it means that the possibility of repair depends on us and us alone, on our willingness and ability to transform our hatred, violence, ignorance and arrogance, and rebuild our internal temples. When we finally do it, however, our sages said that this day will be transformed from mourning to great joy, from sorrow to feasting — we’ll merit a new and final meeting-point: a new Temple.
For Muslims and Druze, today is the first day of Eid Al-Adha, or “the Festival of the Sacrifice”. The joyous holiday marks both the end of the annual Hajj to Mecca and the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son (there’s a debate within Islamic sources about which son it was, Ismail or Ishaq, but the traditional consensus decided on Ismail) as an act of obedience to God’s command. But, before Ibrahim could sacrifice his son, Allah stops him and provides a lamb to sacrifice instead. It was only a test, and Ibrahim passed with flying colors.
Palestinian people carrying sheep, camels, cows and goats to a local livestock market in the West Bank city of Hebron on August 9, 2019. /VCG Photo
In commemoration of Ibrahim’s friendship with Allah and the miraculous Divine intervention to save Ismail, a sheep is sacrificed and usually divided into three parts: one for the poor, another for the immediate family, and the third for extended family.
A Palestinian man throws his child in the air following Eid al-Adha prayers on al-Haram al-Sharif, August 21, 2018. Ammar Awad/Reuters
While we’re mourning the antithesis of the Abrahamic Divine-human relationship today, our Muslim and Druze neighbors are celebrating it at its zenith. While we weep on the floor, they rejoice, play music, light fireworks and feast with family and friends. A starker contrast couldn’t be found. But maybe, there’s an important message in this uncomfortable juxtaposition.
Most Religious Jews usually begrudge the Muslim presence on the Temple Mount. It’s a temporary obstacle at best. They envision the Temple being rebuilt as if the Muslims will just disappear like a bad dream, as if they have no stake in the future here.
This always baffles me.
The entire prophetic vision of the Temple in Jerusalem is a house of prayer for all nations:
כִּ֣י בֵיתִ֔י בֵּית־תְּפִלָּ֥ה יִקָּרֵ֖א לְכָל־הָעַמִּֽים׃
For My House shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
Hasn’t Islam made this prophesy closer to reality? The same 1.8 billion Muslims in the world who pray to the same God of Abraham, yearn for the same Divine Presence that the Temple is meant to house, and see Jerusalem as a holy city — our same Palestinian neighbors who clashed with IDF forces and Jewish visitors on Al Haram Al Sharif today — are the exact same people who will rejoice, pray, connect and feast with us on the Temple Mount if we do the work to bring that reality.
With this perspective, maybe Tisha B’av and Eid Al Adha coinciding can serve as an unexpected opportunity to envision celebrating the Abrahamic Divine-human relationship at its best with our Muslim neighbors — and give us a rare glimpse into the destined festival of joy that awaits all of us on this day.
May we merit to see that day quickly and transform the bitter pain of our current reality into the sweetness of much better days. | https://medium.com/@benjaminbirely/tisha-bav-eid-al-adha-8062d4a2d7b6 | ['Benjamin Birely'] | 2021-07-19 15:44:26.870000+00:00 | ['Middle East', 'Israel', 'Jewish', 'Palestine', 'Muslim'] |
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