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Zero to Dream Job in 90 Days! | Zero to Dream Job in 90 Days!
Day. #14. Finland
One of the more unique jobs I have held in my life was a Nanny in Finland. The job description was made up of taking care of two young children, helping with the household chores and being an integral part of the household. The family was in Boston while the parents had teaching fellowships and as their time ended, they were returning to teach at their University in Finland. They wanted someone local to Boston to carry on speaking English with the children and have early childhood knowledge. I fit their needs and they were my ticket to a fascinating adventure with my son. We would have free room and board and my salary would be $25 a week. We would leave two weeks before Christmas, on a cargo ship named the Finn Sailor.
Daily life on a cargo ship in the winter consisted of several activities, including; eating, going up to the deck to have a look at the steel grey sea and swimming in the small swimming pool. (Which had to be emptied if there was a storm of any size, as the water would roll out! ) Other than those activities, we were on our own to draw, play board games and talk about what we would do when we reached our little town called Kylmala. It was 10 days before we got off the ship in Rotterdam, Netherlands and although it took a while to feel normal walking again, it was such a joy to eat in a restaurant. They were our first steps in Europe and it was magical for my son and I. The ship’s containers were unloaded and then we were off again and two days later we were in Hamburg Germany where we again could get off the ship.
After we left Hamburg we were getting close to our final destination. The ship went up the Elbe River and somewhere along the way, a full band played as we sailed by, the national anthems of Germany and of Finland to honor each country. I remember feeling the deep significance of that as we listened and cheered from the deck.
Sailing up into the Baltic Sea, we were nearing Helsinki on Christmas night, our last on the ship. A dinner with the Captain and the crew was planned and we were getting ready for that when we heard loud banging and shouting and the Captain came to tell us to bring the children quickly to the lower deck. There was a great surprise when we got there — a submarine had been spotted and had come next to the ship, and Joulupukki (Santa Claus!) had come on board to give gifts to the children! There was great joy and we all watched as Santa got carefully back into the submarine and waved goodbye as the hatch closed and it disappeared under the waves down into the sea. I remember thinking that not many people will ever experience that!
Tomorrow I will write about the actual job and what life was like in a little town in southern Finland. Dream job? I will let you decide!
76 Days to go! | https://medium.com/@kathyblackwell-43108/zero-to-dream-job-in-90-days-52e4eea69e09 | ['Kathy Blackwell'] | 2021-07-17 18:14:39.405000+00:00 | ['Real Life Experiences', 'Dream Job', 'Writers Life', 'Traveling'] |
Video Production Services in Lahore | Good quality video content is considered as a money-spinning investment for the progress of a company. The task to choose the right corporate video production company for your business can become a daunting one, if you have a negligible knowledge on the attributes that has to be focused while picking a video production company. Let’s first make a study on how to choose the right video making company for creating a useful showpiece for your business. Work quality is an essential factor while selecting the video production company. A portfolio will always be maintained by a professional video production company along with some available online sample works so that you can view them and check their video’s quality.
Never fail to explore the portfolio of the company on its official site as well on societal media platforms for watching their recent video projects, work quality and different styles of video they have done. Thereafter, make an analysis if the company can actually meet up with your standards.
Usage of Innovative Ideas:
Skills and knowledge are essential but, when it comes to audiovisual communication usage of innovative ideas are vital. Every corporate video making company has unique creation styles and concepts. Videos should have an exclusive selling point as similarity slays viewer interest. Hence, the video ought to be exciting and refreshing launching innovation and newer concepts. Look for those companies and examine some of their previous to see whether you can get a ground-breaking video from them.
Satisfied Clients:
Like a brand speaks for itself, good reviews on the company’s official webpage counts because it reflects the list of all satisfied customers. Before you choose any corporate video production company, hit up the Google and check FB page of the company to view what the internet is saying about the company. The cost of corporate videos depends upon your requirement. If you want videos for the social media then you will get at affordable cost but if you want some huge concept related to corporate then you must have to spend more money to get quality. Before you choose any corporate video production firm you must have to finalize your financial budget.
Expert in their field:
Obviously, you would never prefer to be a “guinea pig for anyone. Hence, target those companies who have made corporate videos for big and famous companies as those are the reputed companies holding vast experience.
Experience polishes the work methods that lead to effective and efficient results. The entire production team should have sufficient skill set in their field. When you choose the right company, you safeguard yourself from development and communication issues. Deadlines will always be met by those companies.
Conclusion:
Taking ample time to choose a perfect company to make videos for your business product will enable you to represent your product on social media platform in an accurate manner. People will link your business quality with your video quality. Therefore, to make a huge difference, choose the right corporate video production company. Read more | https://medium.com/@visionstideo-pk/video-production-services-in-lahore-d11403947d8b | ['Vision Stideo'] | 2020-12-17 08:58:54.439000+00:00 | ['Video', 'In', 'Lahore', 'Servi', 'Production'] |
Ivermectin: It is irresponsible to attribute a side effect without proof | Prof Nathi Mdladla responds to an article in Times Live, which quotes Dr Emmanuel Taban’s controversial view on Ivermectin and the liver.
Dear journalist, Mr Paul Ash
I would like to respond to your article (20 July 2021) that references a WhatsApp message sent out of context by a doctor who is not involved in early outpatient treatment of COVID19 at all. With his anecdotal message, you are helping to scaremonger out of context, and have not bothered to do the necessary journalistic groundwork of researching the basis for his claims.
I have treated more than 200 COVID-19 outpatients including relatives and friends, and their contacts. Between myself and other colleagues who’ve been managing outpatient COVID-19 with Ivermectin, we have thousands of patients with very few who have progressed to hospitalization and even fewer who had liver failure as claimed by Dr Taban. I am also an ICU specialist in an academic hospital managing COVID-19. We are the only academic institution currently treating COVID-19 patients with Ivermectin in the 3rd wave and getting phenomenal results, we have not observed a disproportionate increase in cases of liver failure, but we have saved hundreds of patients with the drug.
There is in fact a meta-analysis on safety of high dose Ivermectin published by the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy in April 2020 which is a peer reviewed article that is the highest level of evidence looking at multiple studies that have reported on safety. Here is the link to that study for your own verification https://doi.org/10.1093/jac/dkz524. In their discussion they note that side effects were not any worse, even with high doses with Ivermectin, and interestingly, severe liver affectation or liver failure is not something they picked up.
There have been many studies on Ivermectin where safety has been investigated, interestingly they have all reached the conclusion that the side effect profile of patients on Ivermectin was no different than that of patients on placebo. Even the two largest trials with neutral effect on efficacy for Ivermectin by Lopez-Medina et al and Vallejos et al, found no increased observation of side effects with Ivermectin.
There is however something we know about severe COVID-19 and the observation of abnormal liver function. We have been doing Liver Function Tests (LFT’s) on patients admitted with severe COVID-19 since the 1st wave. We have always known that some patients present with severe derangements in their liver functions and sometimes failure, in fact I admitted such a patient this week. It is therefore irresponsible for Dr Taban to attribute an observation without proof to one drug.
Additionally, context matters, as we need to break down what formulations these patients were taking and in what doses. Due to the obstructive nature of SAHPRA’s “compassionate use program” and the disinformation that is propagated by mainstream media like this article, a lot of patients are still using animal products which contain excipients (binding and storage compounds) that are known to cause liver failure in high doses. Has Dr Taban verified the source and formulations these patients were using? Some animal products in fact contain ethylene glycol as a compound, which in very high doses, can cause liver failure.
We now have the ability to prescribe Ivermectin on script to be used off-label for COVID-19. These are tablets supplied legally by dispensing and compounding pharmacists and they carry pure grade Ivermectin verified by SAHPRA. The message we should be sending to patients out there, if we claim to be saving lives, is to seek doctors who will script this type of product to be procured from a legal source. This is what I have been prescribing and perhaps why we have not seen what he is claiming.
We are 16 months into the pandemic with no clearly proven cure for COVID-19. Ivermectin is one drug that has the most robust available evidence for safety and efficacy against the disease. Vaccines are failing in some patients who eventually need hospital admission, and I have treated a number of these with Ivermectin, yet I will never say patients should not get vaccinated.
We need to be careful about our messaging around all interventions in COVID-19. The opinions of those who know should be sought when something controversial come up. I put the challenge to this newspaper and Dr Taban to produce literature evidence that Ivermectin causes liver failure.
Sincerely
Prof Nathi Mdladla
HOD ICU at Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital and Sefako Makgatho University | https://medium.com/@thj-africa/ivermectin-it-is-irresponsible-to-attribute-a-side-effect-without-proof-932e265b39cf | ['Transformative Health Justice'] | 2021-07-21 03:45:06.442000+00:00 | ['Covid', 'Safety', 'Southafrica', 'Medicine', 'Health'] |
GoPro Hero 9 Black Price and Details. | Details Features and Price of Go Pro Hero Black 9
Go Pro Hero 9 Black, GoPro Inc’s new action camera, has been released in Nepal. This latest flagship introduces several much-needed system improvements that include a larger battery, 5K video resolution, front-mounted LCD, and more. For the title of best action camera, the GoPro Hero 9 Black challenges the likes of DJI Osmo Action and Akaso Brave 7 LE. Let’s find out more about the latest GoPro Hero 9 Black in Nepal, including its cost and accessibility.
The Hero 9 Black is heavier than its predecessor, the Hero 8, and weighs about 158g. It even outweighs the heavier GoPro Max as a matter of fact. However, as the computer is fitted with a front-facing monitor and a larger battery, the weight and size are totally justified.
One of the things that GoPro users had been waiting about was the inclusion of the front screen. There is a front display on competing devices such as the Osmo Action and Brave 7 LE. It makes sense, therefore, that GoPro has chosen to include this in the new configuration.
It’s a 1.4-inch monitor that will help users align what’s behind them properly and take better shots, obviously. However, the latest display isn’t touch-enabled. You do, however, get the option to pick what to view.
The options include; close up middle, actual screen, just status, and off.Moving on, the rear screen’s size has also increased. It measures 2.27-inches now. The increase in size means that you now get bigger buttons on the screen and a better viewing experience on the camera.
Battery:-
A bigger 1720mAh battery is included in another major update. It is a big improvement from the 1220mAh battery provided by Hero 8. The business believes that 30 percent more use than the previous version would be provided by this device. In addition, for cooler temperatures, the battery is also optimized.
There are plenty of mods for Hero 9 Black, close to Hero 8. With this new unit, the media mod, monitor mod, and light mod are all compatible. One crucial upgrade, however, is that the Hero 9 Black has a removable lens cover. That means, on top of Hero 9, you can add other lenses.
The Max Mod, for instance, would allow Hero 9 to replicate the capabilities of the lens of the GoPro Max. You’ll be able to get better HyperSmooth, wider FOV, and 360-degree horizon lock by using this mod.
HyperSmooth 3.0 and TimeWarp 3.0.0 are among the new features. The HyperSmooth brings enhanced in-camera stabilisation and now you get a half-speed option with the TimeWarp 3.0. Both are consistent with the leveling of the horizon in-camera. It is, however, only available for videos in Linear mode.
Price in Nepal == Rs 65000/-
Price in India == Rs 49500/-
Reference :- https://neverendingfoot-steps.blogspot.com/2020/12/now-available-in-nepal-is-gopro-hero-9.html | https://medium.com/@paudelganesh800/gopro-hero-9-black-price-and-details-f3b4f7c17c3b | [] | 2020-12-27 12:07:35.328000+00:00 | ['2020', 'Blog', 'Gadgets', 'Cameras', 'Blogger'] |
The 3 Most Important Skills to Learn Now to Thrive in 2020 | The 3 Most Important Skills to Learn Now to Thrive in 2020
Do you feel like you’re going nowhere? Learn these to thrive like you never have before.
It’s hard to believe 2019 is close to ending. If you’re anything like me, whether 2019 went well or not, you want to make 2020 better. Many think there’s a limit to how good a year can be for them, but I assure you this is not the case.
You can always thrive more. Never accept mediocrity. You only have one life, so there’s no reason not to make the best of it.
“You only have one life, but if you do it right, once is enough.” — Mae West
2017 wasn’t a glorious year for me. It wasn’t bad, but nothing to brag about. Near the end of that year, however, I decided to get out of that mediocrity. It was almost an accident, really.
How were 2017 and 2018 for you?
Back in September of 2017, I went to live in Cambodia to work remotely on my startup. In the course of the next 12 months, I also lived in Spain, India, Canada, and Colombia. I started 3 businesses, wrote 4 books, wrote 300+ articles on productivity, learning, life lessons, etc, became a top writer in 16 categories on Medium.com (including top 1 in Travel, Education, and Inspiration), became healthier, opened my own light coaching program, learned 36 new skills, etc.
Reading that, you may not guess that I’m actually a software engineer by trade, building video games for a living.
Needless to say, I did thrive in 2018. So, did I manage to make 2019 better in the end? To some degree, yes.
A year ago, I wrote this piece, which went viral:
The 3 Most Important Skills to Learn Now to Thrive in 2019
It was the first time one of my articles exploded. It’s the one that put me on the map. As such, I had to live by it. In 2019, I did more of what I talked about in that article.
The result: a pretty fantastic 2019!
And I know that can happen to you too, to levels you may not even imagine possible (I certainly didn’t).
So, why am I writing this now? We’re just in October after all!
Truth is, to become who you want to become, you’re going to need to change, and change doesn’t happen overnight. Two to three months from now though, that’s reasonable. I’ve been there and know other people who have also been there.
But trust me, it’s not easy. What I’m proposing in the following paragraphs is no shortcut to success. It’s a set of skills that, once learned and honed, can lead you to any success you may strive for.
Of all the skills that contributed to me thriving in 2019, I narrowed it down to the three most important in my opinion. This also comes from compiling and testing theories in some of the best self-help books in the world.
In 2018, I listed the following 3 skills as the top ones to learn:
3. Learn to take action.
2. Learn to adapt to change.
1. Learn to learn.
In 2019, I’m adapting this list based on new experiences and research. I ordered them from least to most important in my mind: | https://medium.com/swlh/the-3-most-important-skills-to-learn-now-to-thrive-in-2020-2e618c5701dc | ['Danny Forest'] | 2020-06-25 13:14:04.100000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Inspiration', 'Productivity', 'Education', 'Life Lessons'] |
Surface Swimmer | Surface Swimmer
A longing for softness
Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash
Sometimes I wish I could be a surface swimmer
Skimming the edifice of it all
Without going in
I wonder —
Would it lessen the pain felt
Only to deaden an exquisite pleasure
I long to be more like the hummingbird
Elegant stillness
In flighted nectar reception
Instead I am compelled
Not unlike the woodpecker
Insistent, loud and hungry
Capturing a meal
And a resting place
From what lies within | https://medium.com/illumination/surface-swimmer-160356a7b404 | ['Annine Massaro'] | 2021-01-01 18:26:00.719000+00:00 | ['Deep Learning', 'Emotions', 'Self', 'Reflections', 'Poetry'] |
Smashcut 365: A Film a Day — Year 3, Week 19 | A Cinephile’s Guide to Streaming
128/365: Vivre sa Vie (My Life to Live) (Jean-Luc Godard, 1962) (YouTube, Criterion Channel, HBO Max, Kanopy)
Godard owned the 1960s’ generational mojo as no other international filmmaker did, with a run of some 15 masterpieces that rearranged our axons in considering movies not as an alternative to, an escape from, life, but rather life itself, as integral and luscious in the flow of our days as a sexual act or a game of tennis or a dockside lobster or you name it. Of course, history and politics and society are always autopsied as well in the process, even in this relatively small-framed but crystalline classic, a virtual dissertation on gender-exploitation ambivalence, as Anna Karina’s ocean-eyed gamine turns to prostitution to pay her rent, and the film documents her downward trajectory in twelve discreet chapters with a balance of pitiful fascination and icy critique. Sometimes overlooked in reconsiderations of Godard’s belle epoque, the movie is a formal gesture, spare on the surface but resonating with feeling. Sex work became here one of Godard’s ruling metaphors, but more importantly this is his second film with Karina and his first after their marriage, and the beautiful arc of their on-screen romance — thrumming for only a handful of years and a few films before collapsing and dying on the operating table that is 1966’s Made in U.S.A. — is here in its ardent-yet-questioning early stages. The justly famous sequence of Karina crying in the theater dark watching Dreyer’s Passion of Joan of Arc is both a crucial thematic moment and a peerless paean to movie love. Godardians have no choice but to step up, even if you’ve seen it before.
129/365: Moon (Duncan Jones, (2009) (Hulu, Sling, Fubo, Vudu, Amazon Prime)
A ripe indie hit made by David Bowie’s son (born two years after his father recorded “Space Oddity”), this smart and cynical low-budgeter mashes up 2001, Silent Running, Solaris, Seconds, several Star Trek episodes, and even Bertolucci’s Partner, but that’s not a slam, especially since Jones managed to avoid a third-act chase-&-fight (between lonely moon-mining-operation manager Sam Rockwell and himself, essentially, brought together after one almost dies and his clone replacement is awakened prematurely). If you could hardly muffle the echoes of more original movies in your head, we can still agree that Jones’ attention to detail and to Rockwell are superlative; that the characterization of Gerty the station robot/computer (voiced, too familiarly, by Kevin Spacey) begins as far too HAL 9000-like but then shades into something more ambiguous; and that the doppelgangsterism meshes beautifully with the film’s anti-corporate thrust. An inspired touch that paid off long after the story became predictable was Gerty’s expression-delivery video screen, an image of a smiley face that often disingenuously gave away what Gertie was “feeling” even as he tried to deflect attention away from his human partner’s unanswerable questions. It’s a solid stretch of thinking-man’s sci-fi, if only done (as Jones has said in interviews) as a modestly-framed debut feature made before another, larger project he couldn’t get financing for.
130/365: My Friend Ivan Lapshin (Alexei German, 1984) (YouTube, SovietMoviesOnline.com)
There are plenty of candidates, but Alexei German might have been the globe’s greatest living barely-known filmmaker, the author of only five movies in a 30-year career that traded enraged spittle with every manner of Soviet and post-Soviet authority entity. This rarely-seen saga, based on semi-autobiographical stories from German’s father Yuri, chronicles life in a remote northern village at the onset of the Stalin era in the ’30s, where the dad and young son lived in a crowded apartment with, among others, a modest, taciturn, yet fearless police captain. “This will be a sad tale,” German’s narration begins, and he’s right about the sad part, but it’s not a tale so much as an act of time-travel. The restless, hungry camera is let loose on its own recognizance, roaming through that flat, around the frozen landscape and around the characters with less a thought toward cohesion than a passion for this life’s intimate textures, as it might be pieced together by a kid. Sudden deaths, mismanaged romances, memories of war, attempted suicides, drunken woes — all of it caught out of the corner of our eye, down hallways and amid drunken bustle, where Lapshin himself (Andrei Boltnev) is rarely singled out as the key figure. The sense is palpable that life under Stalin was compressed into a resonant communality. Reportedly revered by Russian critics, Lapshin doesn’t look like any other film (natural light is trusted to a disarming degree), and the respect it affords its beleaguered characters is Renoirian, if Renoir were a New Wave modernist who’d endured almost a half-century of Soviet stress.
131/365: Laws of Gravity (Nick Gomez, 1992) (Vudu, Tubi, Amazon Prime)
One of its decade’s rawest, most authentic indies, released within months of Quentin Tarantino’s decidedly unreal-LA debut Reservoir Dogs, Gomez’s nervous humdinger seems forgotten today, but in the day it was the more respected film — and the more convincing. Today it looks like an evidence file for a fading sense of American realness — the structural genuflection towards Scorsese’s aboriginal Mean Streets (1971) notwithstanding. It’s a bristlingly New York experience, dropping us like parachuters into a small, decidedly pre-hip Brooklyn community of goombahs, itinerant bums, petty crooks and beaten women, focusing on Jimmy (Peter Greene) and Jon (Adam Trese), two buddies teetering perilously on the edge of the outlawry but for two things: the bag of guns their smiling psycho of a friend Frankie (Paul Schulze) wants them to sell, and the inescapable fact that Jon is a violent nut, an accident that can’t stop happening. Hardly the Scorsese smalltime Mafiosos with Christ complexes, these are the kind of mooks who brag about knowing a “made” man and yet have to shoplift their toiletries. The brightest bulb in the room is Edie Falco, in her first sizable film role, as Jimmy’s wife Denise, turning a laser glare and a bitter tongue upon the collapsing mess of the characters’ lives. Which transpires with the handheld veracity of police footage — Gomez and his compatriots were mercilessly anthropological, and as it spurts out in complex, nervy, unbroken takes, Laws dares you to half-believe it’s completely unorchestrated. Crammed with non sequitur, side-life, select local fauna, and hilarious rivers of unaccountable slang — someone is called a “muckaferguson” at one point — the film is also, incidentally, the last glimpse of the Williamsburg of squatters’ floors, stripped cars, garbage lots, territorial graffiti, and lingering generations of Italian, Irish and Latino tribalism, right before fashion and gentrifying rents began to change it all for good.
132/365: The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On (Kazuo Hara, 1987) (YouTube, Docsville)
“Kamikaze documentary” — that was the phrase used by more than one critic when Hara’s bristling, intensely odd film cut its recalcitrant swath through the world’s theaters in 1987. Life, as it happens, uncontrollable and chaotic, can be a documentary’s secret mega-weapon, and so it is with Hara’s film, a rough-and-tumble chronicle of the present life of a sociopathic moralist as he dramatically confronts postwar Japanese society. Kenzo Okuzai is that rare animal — an authentic anti-authoritarian who, because he’s willing to lose everything, cannot be intimidated or daunted by social norms and laws. By the time filming begins, the “anti-emperorist” Okuzai already has a long record of domestic resistance (including publicly pelting Hirohito with marbles in 1969, a notorious episode in modern Japanese lore), and is now committed to uncovering an illegal killing during WWII while his platoon was stationed in New Guinea. Investigating a murder that took place in the midst of the hellacious Pacific war of the ’40s has an ironic taste to it, but Okuzai is dead serious, and nothing stands in his way: demanding the truth be told, he routinely assaults and kicks his aging and sometimes ailing fellow veterans, who are naturally reticent to talk about 40-year-old crimes. He duplicitously presents his own family to the witnesses as survivors of the murdered soldier, and even pulls admissions of cannibalism from the old men. (They are more relaxed about sussing up to hunting the presumably more game-like natives for food; only when the Guineans proved too fleet and clever do the Emperor’s warriors resort to killing and eating each other.) Throughout, Okuzai carries himself with a bizarre mixture of polite Japanese stolidity and feverish anger; when the police deal with him (which is frequently), they are at a loss as to what to do — the man’s rampaging behavior sets society’s fragile structures shaking. Of course, Hara colludes with his subject (the film crew gives Okuzai’s crusade a legitimate feel), and reportedly the megalomaniacal Okuzai attempted to take over the film at several points.
133/365: The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty (Esfir Shub, 1927) (Kanopy, Amazon Prime)
Bullwhip documentaries tearing a ruling class apart can be easy — just compile a heap of self-promotional footage left behind by the rulers themselves, and let the judgments rain down like hail, a natural and inevitable autocritique. 2010’s The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu is the most recent and probably most punishing example, but the first of this subversive subgenre was this silent ribbon of agitprop, assembled by Shub (a pioneering early female filmmaker in the Soviet Union) out of the early-century castings left behind by the czar’s empire. In actuality the film has little to reveal about the Romanovs per se — they were not, apparently, a family given to home movies and “human interest” family newsreels — and sticks close to the ribs of a familiar historical tale: long-term injustice + lop-sided build-up to war + WWI in all of its hellacious derangements = revolution. But no film tosses up a window on what caused the Bolshevik uprising quite as intimately as Shub’s — Eisenstein’s grotesquely corpulent fat cats are here, too, but they’re not lens-distorted actors, just real politicians, millionaires and generals, with names. That many or maybe all of them had their heads on pikes by 1920 is Shub’s largest elision; here, the passage to full-on Soviet-ness happens bloodlessly, with a burst of flag-waving and happy marching. Still, insurrectionary fury and elan pulses out of the movie organically, and it’s a timeless vibe: much of what’s here was virtually reenacted as recently as the Arab Spring.
134/365: Sita Sings the Blues (Nina Paley, 2008) (Tubi, Vimeo, YouTube, Amazon Prime, SitaSingstheBlues.com)
Paley’s animated spree is pure anti-blockbuster — a one-woman, home-computer-fashioned animation that took years to make but may’ve cost nothing at all, with visual invention and ardor by the boatload. Paley tells the story of the Ramayana, an Indian folktale about love and betrayal and mistrust, full of demi-gods and demons, and she does it in over a half-dozen different distinct styles, including the narrational intervention of three ornate silhouette puppets, whose voices belong to three young Indians actually telling the story and deciphering it for gender politics and emotional truth. Part of Paley’s gambit here is her knack for synthesis — the cartoon myth is carried home by way of eleven old torch sungs recorded 80 years ago by Annette Henshaw, old classics by the likes of Irving Berlin, Fats Waller and Oscar Hammerstein II, each of them adorned with vibrating, loosey-goosey, crayon-box animated dance numbers-slash-music videos that capture something fundamentally fun about movies. But it’s her impish use of movement and iconography that sings. Watch the curvaceous, googly-eyed heroine shimmy across her 2-D landscapes, as well as Paley’s background business, a psychedelic explosion of dancing moons and synchronous butterflies and dreamy exaggerations, and you’ll get hit with a fresh dollop of visual wit every fifteen seconds or so. Never released to theaters but something of an online sensation, the movie is absolutely timely in its DIY aesthetic and reliance on nothing except its artist’s eye and sensibility.
Previous 365
Year Three Archive: Week 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
Year Two Archive: Week 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52
Year One Archive: Week 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52
Keep up with Smashcut 365 by following Smashcut on Medium, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.
What is Smashcut?
Smashcut is a next generation learning platform built for real time, media-based education. Smashcut partners with universities and organizations to develop and deliver customized, branded, media-based online programs. The Smashcut platform features a high degree of collaborative instruction, and real-time student project review via live 1:1 video sessions with instructors. We built Smashcut to help the next generation of students learn to communicate ideas and work effectively in a culture and workplace increasingly dependent on visual media and digital collaboration. Learn more at Smashcut.com. | https://medium.com/smashcut-film/smashcut-365-a-film-a-day-year-3-week-19-f4494dfd3a04 | ['Michael Atkinson'] | 2020-12-05 00:34:31.441000+00:00 | ['Science Fiction', 'Documentary', 'Brooklyn', 'Animation', 'Jean Luc Godard'] |
Darkness Makes Us Grateful for the Light | Darkness Makes Us Grateful for the Light
Today is the darkest day of the year, astronomically speaking. But that doesn’t mean hope is dimmed.
Most people eschew the physical darkness, that’s why we invented torches, lamps, and flashing strings of Christmas lights. Most people eschew emotional darkness too, that’s why we invented self-help books, Zoloft, and maybe even this blog.
But I’m here to tell you that the darkest day isn’t so bad. Whether it’s physical or emotional, the darkness is the best way to make room for the light.
Darkness strikes fear in the hearts of most. The dark of night makes it difficult to see what lies on the road ahead, eliciting the dread of uncertainty. The dark of night is the hour of the nefarious, spurring the worry of danger. The darkness of emotions are some of our most depressing moments, reminding us of the worst that life has to offer. And according to science, the dark of the Winter Solstice creates a negative physical reaction in our body leading to SAD — seasonal affective disorder — which unironically makes you feel actual sadness.
But there’s always a glimmer of hope.
Despite the well documented problems associated with darkness, I’m a glass-half-full kind of guy. I think the best way to get out of any dark period is to look for the light of the silver lining — and there’s almost always a silver lining.
As the adage goes, it’s “darkest before the dawn.” That’s true in both the real world of the sun and the metaphorical world of our heart. The impending dawn is the silver lining.
So if today is the darkest day, that means it can’t possibly get any darker. If today is the darkest day that means it will only get brighter from here on out [silver lining]. You could see your darkest moment as the saddest time of your life, or you could see it as the moment things changed for the better [silver lining]. It’s all about your perspective.
The darkness also teaches us a lesson in appreciation.
Imagine you live in a world that is bright and sunny all the time. In this world you have no concept of darkness because you never get to see or feel it. Imagine how difficult it would be to truly enjoy the cozy warmth of the sun when you’ve never felt a bone-chillingly cold night.
Darkness makes us grateful for the light. Sadness makes us grateful for joy. And once you realize this you start to appreciate any kind of darkness for the perspective it awards you [another silver lining].
Nothing, not our personal world or the big picture, exists in a vacuum. What each of us knows is made up of our experiences and our perception of the great big universe swirling around us — the sun and the moon, engagements and breakups, friendship and fights, birthdays and funerals, ups and downs, light and darkness.
How you react to any part of life is up to you. You get to decide if you let the darkness get you down or use it to make the light that much more powerful.
Choose to bask in the light, even on the darkest day of the year… especially on the darkest day of the year. | https://medium.com/the-mindful-journeyman/darkness-makes-us-grateful-for-the-light-daa404e00ffe | ['Jason Journeyman Wise'] | 2016-12-21 22:17:34.144000+00:00 | ['Mindfulness', 'Life Lessons', 'Poetry', 'Astronomy', 'Life'] |
Dear White Women: Here’s Why It’s Hard to Be Friends With You | White women’s aggression
When most people see the word “aggression,” many people imagine fist fights, name-calling, shouting, and possibly the throwing of dishes.
They never see relational aggression as multiple punches in the face from multiple people. They don’t see gossip as name-calling and shouting. They don’t see passive-aggression as the same as throwing a plate on the ground.
In order to keep their place within society’s hierarchy, white women can’t be openly aggressive like white men can without being thought of as “hysterical.” So they practice their aggression covertly, sometimes without even realizing what they are doing because their (valid) anger is so buried they don’t even realize it’s there.
Most of the abuse I’ve experienced from white women came in a covert form. I’ve had nasty rumors spread about me, which ruined me emotionally, socially, and even financially (it’s hard to keep a job where a white co-worker turns your supervisors against you, all of whom are also white women and more likely to be sympathetic to your co-worker).
I’ve experienced triangulation, which is where a person within a conflict invites a third party into it instead of dealing with the situation themselves. The person forming the “triangle” controls all of the communication, often telling the third party what a horrible person their (in this context, often imagined) adversary is. It’s a tactic used to alienate and isolate someone.
Lots of people who don’t even know me think that I’m just the worst person ever thanks to white women I had mistaken as friends. In conflicts between white women and Black women, triangulation especially works out well for the white woman if they can get a white man or a second Black person involved, so long as they maintain control of all of the communication.
White women are the reason why I have very little tolerance for passive-aggression. Passive-aggression isn’t just being indirect or making sarcastic remarks. It can be avoiding somebody, playing the silent treatment, stonewalling, lying (either blatantly or by omission), and other unseen tactics used to maintain total control over a relationship which should involve two people, not just one.
You might argue that women in general behave this way towards each other, which is sad. But within the context of relationships between white women and Black women, the effects of their toxic behavior is devastating, even life threatening. I’ve had a white woman make a false report about me to the police. I’ve had white men threaten violence on me because of the words of a white woman. I’ve had white women attempt to get me fired from jobs, which would have prevented me from supporting myself.
They did all of that because they felt they were losing control over our friendship or whatever connection we had. White women are taught that they are above Black women and therefore they should have power over us.
It’s true that it can be dangerous for white women to be open and honest because they’re constantly under scrutiny within a patriarchal society. So they adopted covert and manipulative tactics just so that they can survive, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You never give the devil the truth.
The problem is, white women view Black women as devils, too. We’re supposed to be objects to be pitied. Mammies for when they need an emotional dumpster. Background props for their life story. At best, we’re sidekicks with no life story of our own.
However, because Black women are human beings and not stereotypes or background props, we will never completely fit that role. This is especially true within friendships, where we are supposed to be able to let our guards down and be ourselves.
Once white women realize Black women are not what they were taught we were supposed to be, we become competition. We become threats to be eliminated as quietly as possible.
I became a more frequent target of white women’s aggression when I began to be more vocal about my thoughts and experiences regarding white supremacy. I made the couple of white women friends in particular feel very uncomfortable and threatened. We stopped being friends because they pulled almost all of the above tactics on me and then demonized me once I realized what they were doing. It was easy for them to demonize me because they were aware that I also suffer from mental illnesses, so they used that against me, too. It took almost very little effort on their end to paint me as the “angry Black woman” out to get them.
Obviously, our breakup was for the better. | https://aninjusticemag.com/dear-white-women-heres-why-it-s-hard-to-be-friends-with-you-61ba6e497f1a | ['Savannah Worley'] | 2021-04-19 14:37:35.264000+00:00 | ['Internalized Oppression', 'Patriarchy', 'Racism', 'White Supremacy'] |
You Can Never Be Too Educated On Anything | You Can Never Be Too Educated On Anything
There are reasons to continually improve.
Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash
If you had not taken any basic schooling sessions, you may not understand this sentence. We learn something new every day, involuntary or not, inside schools and outside. While education is a universal right, of course, there are still places in the world where children are denied school, whether conditions within have something to do with it or not. Still however whether as supplemental education knowledge or to make children get their school hours some groups wants to give out education to children either with formal school education or to fill in because they are not getting any education.
Slum areas are present in about any place in the world, what a slum area is a place where residents live in an urban area with housing that is severely damaged, inadequate and or deteriorated. In slum areas, education from outside slum areas will likely be more difficult to reach young people along with social and living conditions within may as well neglect potential educational teachings to be passed to young children. odi.org shows that in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh have slums which have children leaving school to participate in work instead of receiving education, around 15% of children aged 6 to 14 do not receive an education while two-thirds of people working on Bangladesh’s garment sector are female children. odi.org also reports that almost 50% of slum children start to become workers once they become 14 years old. From these findings, it is clear that children living in slums not just in Bangladesh will likely be partaking in activities that will have them be away from education and school time. Even if there was little to no child labor, the lower living conditions such as poverty that slums will have means that basic education may be difficult to reach outside already developed areas in a country and even if education was accessible in slums the parents who want their children to go to school or other people will not have enough money to pay for school in their slums or outside the slums.
Photo by Shafiqul Islam on Unsplash
There is however an educational project that exists which is meant to provide basic education in Dhaka slums. According to faces2hearts.eu, an organization named SUSTAIN or Support Urban Slum Children to Access Inclusive Non-Formal Education works in Dhaka slums to provide a 3-year program where children there receive basic education as well as some needed experience for them to be able to enter formal education. Along with basic education. SUSTAIN also provides a child club where students can do other non-learning activities like reading and dancing and also has SUSTAIN graduates receive vocational training where they get skills like in their case, being able to work with electronics and other trades and craft to pursue one career for students. This program existing means that it is evident the number of children in Dhaka slums potentially not having access to education due to doing work labor is an acknowledged problem and that they are taking steps to try and reduce this number of children not getting school hours. Hopefully, the SUSTAIN project will help to bring more children into getting their necessary school hours.
While not a learning organization, this education system is a learning program similar to SUSTAIN but is more broad in scope than sustain. It is called Non-Formal Education, abbreviated to NFE and it is designed to be teaching skills such as reading, basic math calculations, and some sports programs if they want. According to coe.int, NFE is defined as learning outside formal environments such as schools and usually does not need to adhere to a syllabus and does not need to be graded externally. For the students, taking part in NFE is usually their decision to do so to become better at a certain skill, ability or curricular subject, unlike environments like schools and colleges where learning is done because learners have a goal to be able to gain knowledge through a prepared syllabus. Examples of NFE include language courses, organized sports lessons, and some other online courses are that students can take. Of course, it is not a replacement for regular school education as there are a handful of universities that require graduation with a certificate or similar items to be able to enroll but to add on to your already received knowledge that you have. | https://medium.com/tfi-student-community/you-can-never-be-too-educated-on-anything-817f23eb0c8f | ['Pasha Tad'] | 2020-01-17 06:01:01.250000+00:00 | ['Education', 'Helping Others', 'Society', 'Improvement'] |
Crack the Amazon Data Scientist Interviews | Ex-FAANG Data Scientist | Do you aspire to become a Data Scientist, ML Engineer, Applied Scientist or Research Scientist at Amazon?
This guide will provide you comprehensive details about the interview process and preparation tips to help you ace the data interviews at Amazon.
Hi, I’m Dan, the founder of datainterview.com and a former data scientist at PayPal and Google.
Here’s me in my Noogler mode when I joined Google as a data scientist in 2019 :)
I created dataInterview.com to help a candidate such as yourself ace data science interviews and land your dream role at a top company. Make sure to check it out!
Before we start, please note that that the exact interview experience at Amazon can vary given the role, team, and interviewer’s preference. In general, the details and tips provided should be helpful with your interview prep.
Table of Contents
About Amazon
As you might already know, Amazon is a conglomerate of multiple businesses from e-commerce (Amazon.com), consumer tech (Alexa), cloud computing (AWS), streaming (Prime + Twitch), and e.t.c. Given this horizontal scale, Amazon offers a lot of job opportunities in data-roles across various teams such as:
Search — Develop and employ a search ranking and recommender system on products offered on Amazon.com. AWS — Function as an external-facing consultant supporting AWS customers such as enterprise clients, or improve the engineering and user experience of the AWS interface. Alexa — Apply information retrieval, search and Q&A systems to support Amazon’s core consumer-based AI product, Alexa. Supply Chain Team (SCOT) — Apply quantitative analysis and modeling to automate and optimize Amazon’s supply chain of physical goods. Amazon GO — Improve the shopper’s experience on Amazon’s GO stores. Prime Video — Improve customer onboarding and engagement of Amazon’s streaming service. Fashion Technology — Apply computer vision and machine learning to provide personalized customer experiences for shoppers in the fashion category. Finance — A cross-functional team that supports various finance teams across Amazon’s businesses. Primarily, the team focuses on financial modeling and analytics. Security — Build fraud and spam detection systems to detect and prevent maladaptive users.
The bottomline is that Amazon provides various roles. So, ultimately, knowing the team interviewing you is an important attribute when preparing for interviews.
1. Roles
Let’s take a look at data roles typically hired at Amazon. Note in advance that, despite the distinctions in each role, the data fundamentals required are the same. The candidate must possess strong foundations in statistics, probability, machine learning, and coding. In addition, understanding Amazon’s leadership principles is vital.
Data Scientist
The core focus of data scientists at Amazon is delivering analytics solutions, creating models, and running AB testing. Depending on the business, team, and project, the core focus will vary from one data science role to another.
For instance, a data scientist in the Alexa — Onboarding team may focus on devising customer success metrics. Another data scientist in the shopping experience team may predominantly run experimentations to optimize the shopping experience among users. Finally, a data scientist in the AWS team may function as a consultant who may build custom model solutions for AWS enterprise clients.
The bottomline is that the role is just one attribute that defines the type of work you will be doing. You need to consider related attributes such as the team and business you will be placed under.
Below are the key responsibilities and qualifications for the data scientist role at Amazon. Note that the details vary by level and team.
Key Responsibilities
Build models using machine learning, statistical modeling, probability, and other quantitative techniques.
Design, run and evaluate an AB test to optimize the user experience.
Design metrics that measure user behaviors such as onboarding, engagement and churn.
Build dashboards with key metrics for business stakeholders.
Ability to make sense of business problems and messy data sets.
Adapting to the latest modeling techniques.
Competencies in SQL and programming languages such as Python and R.
Evaluate models and improve baseline solutions by new data signals and modeling techniques.
Coordinate with researchers, software engineers, and business stakeholders to frame a vague problem into a specific objective.
Communicate clearly in writing and speaking to both technical and non-technical partners.
Basic Qualifications
Bachelor’s Degree
2+ years of experience with data scripting languages (e.g SQL, Python, R etc.) or statistical/mathematical software (e.g. R, SAS, or Matlab)
2 years working as a Data Scientist
Preferred Qualifications
Master’s degree or PhD in computer science, statistics, information systems, economics, mathematics, or similar
Strong proficiency in SQL and coding languages (i.e. R, Python)
2+ years of industry experience working with large-scale, complex datasets to create machine learning solutions for optimization, forecasting and/or fraud detection.
2+ years of industry experience in data analytics roles involving data extraction, analysis, and communication.
Strong competency in statistical modeling such as linear and logistic regression models.
Strong verbal and writing skills when communicating with technical and non-technical stakeholders
Experience in supervised models and/or unsupervised clustering.
Direct experience analyzing A/B experiments
Demonstrated record in identifying project goals and direction under ambiguity.
Machine Learning Engineer
The machine learning engineer role at Amazon is similar to the ones seen in other FAANG companies. In general, ML engineers utilize expertise in software engineering, machine learning, and statistics to build and deploy machine learning models. In addition, they focus on building scalable modeling pipelines that support server requests efficiently.
As an ML engineer at Amazon, you are plugged into a product area, collaborating with data scientists, software engineers. and business stakeholders in creating and launching production models. Given the emphasis on software engineering, ML engineers often have computer science backgrounds and knowledge in deep learning algorithms. Teams that actively recruit ML engineers are shopping, Alexa, and AWS.
Below are the key responsibilities and qualifications for the machine learning engineer role at Amazon. Note that the details vary by level and team.
Key Responsibilities
Build and productionize models using machine learning, statistical modeling, probability, and other quantitative techniques.
Design, run and evaluate an AB test to optimize the user experience.
Understands distributed computing framework (e.g. Spark).
Design and build text-based storage and indexing systems in large distributed computing environments.
Coordinate with data scientists, researchers, software engineers, and business stakeholders to frame a vague problem into a specific objective.
Communicate clearly in writing and speaking to both technical and non-technical partners.
Basic Qualifications
Ph.D. or M. SC + 4 years of industry experience in computer science, machine learning, or related discipline.
Depth and breadth in state-of-the-art computer vision, recommender system, search, and other machine learning technologies.
Experience in deploying, monitoring, and iteratively improving the production machine learning models.
Proven track record of innovation in creating novel algorithms and advancing the state of the art in computer vision and deep learning.
Strong understanding of distributed systems and system designs.
Experience working with real data.
Ability to develop practical solutions to complex problems.
Strong communication and collaboration skills.
Proficiency in programming languages (i.e. Python, Java).
Preferred Qualifications
Ph.D. with multiple years of industry experience in computer science, machine learning, or related discipline.
Experience in deploying, monitoring, and iteratively improving the production machine learning models.
Publications at top-tier peer-reviewed conferences or journals
Understanding of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and project planning/execution skills including estimating and scheduling.
Ability and willingness to multi-task and learn new technologies quickly.
Applied Scientist / Machine Learning Scientist
The applied scientist, or sometimes branded as the machine learning scientist, focuses on research and application of machine learning within a particular product. Like data scientists, they grasp the fundamentals of statistics and machine learning but possess deeper knowledge about advanced ML techniques and algorithms.
One might wonder how the applied scientist role is different from the ML engineer role given that both require strong advanced knowledge in ML. The primary difference is that ML engineers have a broader focus on building scalable pipelines and systems that support ML models while applied scientists focus more on the research and application of the ML models.
For instance, an applied scientist in the SCOT team may build demand prediction models for the inventory management team. Another example could be that an applied scientist in the search team may focus on developing and implementing new search and recommender systems for customer products.
Below are the key responsibilities and qualifications for the applied scientist role at Amazon. Note that the details vary by level and team.
Key Responsibilities
Build and productionize models using machine learning, statistical modeling, probability, and other quantitative techniques.
Research and implement novel machine learning and statistical approaches
Coordinate with data scientists, researchers, software engineers, and business stakeholders to frame a vague problem into a specific objective.
Communicate clearly in writing and speaking to both technical and non-technical partners.
Basic Qualifications
Ph.D. or M. SC + 4 years of industry experience in computer science, machine learning, or related discipline.
Strong foundation in model development, model validation and model implementation.
Experience in deploying, monitoring, and iteratively improving the production machine learning models.
Proven track record of innovation in creating novel algorithms and advancing the state of the art in computer vision and deep learning.
Strong understanding of distributed systems and system designs.
Experience working with real data.
Ability to develop practical solutions to complex problems.
Strong communication and collaboration skills.
Proficiency in programming languages (i.e. Python, Java).
Preferred Qualifications
Ph.D. with multiple years of industry experience in computer science, machine learning, or related discipline.
Experience in deploying, monitoring, and iteratively improving the production machine learning models.
Publications at top-tier peer-reviewed conferences or journals
Ability and willingness to multi-task and learn new technologies quickly.
Research Scientist
The research scientist at Amazon is primarily focused on developing state-of-the-art algorithms in search, recommender systems, computer vision, natural language processing, and artificial intelligence. Equivalent roles in other FAANG companies would be AI researchers at Google and Facebook. Their works have a broader implication on Amazon as a whole, and they publish their work in the form of research papers in ML and AI journals.
Below are the key responsibilities and qualifications for the research scientist role at Amazon. Note that the details vary by level and team.
Key Responsibilities
Take ownership to define business problems, analyze and design solutions for complex problem areas and/or opportunities in existing or new business initiative
Own the delivery of modeling solutions for an entire business application.
Evaluate cross-team perspectives, use quantitative methods to derive justification, and build consensus on a roadmap on the required level of analyses to meet a goal.
Understand how easily a recommended solution can be implemented in a production software system and/or operational process.
Apply advanced scientific methods and principles, mathematical theory and/or statistical analysis to improve upon existing approaches.
Research the state-of-the-art ML and AI techniques that have broad usage across products.
Basic Qualifications
Ph.D. or M. SC + 4 years of industry experience in computer science, machine learning, or related discipline.
Depth and breadth in state-of-the-art computer vision, recommender system, search, and other machine learning technologies.
Experience in deploying, monitoring, and iteratively improving the production machine learning models.
Proven track record of innovation in creating novel algorithms and advancing the state of the art in computer vision and deep learning.
Strong understanding of distributed systems and system designs.
Experience working with real data.
Ability to develop practical solutions to complex problems.
Strong communication and collaboration skills.
Proficiency in programming languages (i.e. Python, Java).
Preferred Qualifications
7+ years of hands-on experience applying theoretical models in an applied environment
Significant peer-reviewed scientific contributions in premier journals and conferences
Proven ability to work effectively in a cross-functional team
Ability to work on a diverse team or with a diverse range of coworkers
2. Interview Process
Recruiter Call (30 Minutes)
The initial meeting with Amazon is a 30-minute recruiter screen, which is designed to screen the role-fit, culture-fit and logistics of the candidate.
Before the call
The recruiter sees your job application that includes a resume and an optional cover letter in the applicant tracking system (ATS). Your application is algorithmically ranked based on how well your candidacy matches the roles described in the job posts. Recruiters will typically prioritize applications with higher ranking to contact first.
During the call
During the call, which is about 20 to 30 minutes, the recruiter will format the meeting in the following structure:
Introduction — The recruiter will describe more details about the role expectation and team.
Candidate background — This is a chance to share your story. The recruiter will ask, “Tell me about yourself.” You can provide a high-level description of your academic and career backgrounds. Some follow-up questions include: “Why do you want to work for Amazon?”
Logistics — The recruiter usually asks the following: Where are you located? Are you a U.S. citizen? If not, do you need an employer sponsorship for your visa? What are your availabilities for technical interviews?
Follow-Ups — The recruiter will detail the next steps in terms of when you should hear back and technical rounds. This is your chance to ask as many questions as you can to map out the technical interviews end-to-end. The more information you have, the more you can leverage it to prepare for interviews.
After the call
After the call, the recruiter will follow up with the hiring manager with notes gathered about the candidate’s background, technical screening, logistics, and culture fit. If the recruiter and hiring manager believe that you have potential, then they will advance you to the first technical round.
Preparation Tips
To demonstrate a really good impression, make sure you prepare the following:
Create a short elevator pitch explaining why you want to work for Amazon.
Project a friendly and positive impression during the call.
Prepare questions to ask in advance. For instance, ask questions that will help you gather as much information about the interviews as possible: how many rounds? What is the type of each round? Who is the interviewer? Gathering this information can help you design a prep strategy.
Phone Screening (45 to 60 Minutes)
The aim of the technical phone screen is to assess the candidate’s communication ability and technical aptitude in coding, SQL, statistics and/or machine learning. Just like other tech companies, the technical screen is 45 to 60 minutes, and it is conducted by a hiring manager or senior data scientist Depending on the role, level, and team, the interview questions vary. In general, you can expect questions from a combination of topics including past project experience, coding, SQL, statistics, machine learning and/or Amazon’s leadership principles.
For instance, a phone screen could be structured as:
5 Minutes — Introduction 20 Minutes — Python coding 15 Minutes — ML breath questions or a case problem 5 Minutes — Q&A with the interviewer
Another example could be:
5 Minutes — Introduction 10 Minutes — Python coding 10 Minutes — SQL 15 Minutes — ML + Statistics breath questions 5 Minutes — Q&A with the interviewer
In addition to the variability in topics covered in a phone screen, there are cases when a candidate has two rounds of phone screens before an on-site. For instance, a candidate could end up in the following process:
Phone Screen Round 1
5 Minutes — Introduction 20 Minutes — Python coding 15 Minutes — ML breath questions or a case problem 5 Minutes — Q&A with the interviewer
Phone Screen Round 2
5 Minutes — Introduction 20 Minutes — Discuss previous projects and research 15 Minutes — Amazon leadership principles 5 Minutes — Q&A with the interviewer
The bottomline is that, when interviewing for data-roled at Amazon, expect variability in the question topics and number of phone screens. So, coordinate with an Amazon recruiter to get as much information as possible about the interview process, and cover as much breath leading up to the phone screen.
Preparation Tips
In general, for the preparation tip, here’s what you need to do:
Practice SQL questions Practice coding questions Prepare for LP Cover breadth on statistics and machine learning
For more Amazon interview questions, check out datainterview.com!
On-Site Rounds (5 to 6 Hours)
The on-site at Amazon is the hardest stage of the interview process. You will be on 45-to 60-minute interviews back-to-back with a short break. The interviews, as a whole, touch on various topics from statistics, SQL, coding, machine learning and leadership principles.
To thrive in the on-site stage, the ability to retain focus and remain calm under pressure is required.
Let’s overview the rounds in the on-site stage. Note that the rounds and questions vary given the role (data scientist vs MLE vs applied scientist vs research scientist). Lastly, for more details, on each of the question types, jump to the Question Types section.
Machine Learning — Breath, depth, and case-based questions on machine learning, deep learning. Depending on the roles, the questions could be domain-specific. For instance, the MLE — Search or Applied Scientist — Search could be asked on NLP and learning to rank theories and case questions (i.e. How would you solve a cold start problem?). Statistics — Breath, depth, and case-based questions on statistical theory, probability, regression modeling, and experimentation. Data scientists should hone in on the fundamentals of statistics. Expect breath-style questions such as “What is the p-value?” and case-style questions that may involve designing experimentation for Amazon’s product. Coding — Expect algorithms and data structure problems especially for MLE roles. For data scientists, you can expect easy algo. questions that require string and/or integer manipulations. In addition, expect data manipulation questions that require you to use vanilla code or a third-party library to wrangle a table. These question styles are similar to SQL table manipulation given that you are using a programming language of your choice, such as Python and R. SQL — The SQL round is quite common and standard across all FAANG interviews. Essentially, you are given a set of tables and one to three problems to solve using common SQL clauses such as JOINS, WHERE, and GROUP BY and window functions such as AVG and SUM. Leadership Principles — This is Amazon’s behavioral round. Essentially, you need to convey compelling stories that convey the leadership principles at Amazon. For more details jump to the Question Types section.
In terms of how the rounds are structured, here are examples:
Example 1 — Data Scientist Role
Coding + SQL Statistics — Breath/Depth/Case ML — Breath/Depth/Case Leadership Principles Leadership Principles
Example 2 — MLE Role
Machine Learning — Breath + Leadership Principles Machine Learning — Case + Leadership Principles Data Manipulation Coding + Leadership Principles Algorithms & Data Structure Coding SQL Manipulation + Leadership Principles
Preparation Tips
To demonstrate a really good impression, make sure you prepare the following:
Brush up on statistics and machine learning fundamentals. Create a deck of index cards with key concepts. Be able to explain each concept with completeness and brevity.
Practice mock interviews by pairing up with study buddies or FAANG instructors at datainterivew.com.
Remember Amazon’s leadership principles and practice telling stories that convey the attributes.
Anticipate questions you will be asked during the interview. Work with the recruiter to get key information such as the # of rounds, interview types, and general preparation tips.
3. Question Types
Machine Learning
The machine learning questions can be categorized into three types — breadth, depth, and an applied case.
Breath-style questions
What is the variance-bias trade-off? What is the curse of dimensionality? How do you perform feature selection? What is the random forest model?
Depth-style question
Suppose you increase the minimum sample size per leaf in terminal nodes, what happens to the variance and bias of the random forest model? Explain the difference between the ADAM optimizer and gradient descent. Explain the difference between RESNET vs CNN.
Applied case problem
Design a recommender system for the Amazon grocery app? How would you solve a cold-start problem in a recommender system? How would you build a forecasting model?
For data scientists: Expect some fundamental questions breath-style and depth-style statistical learning problems like logistic and linear model fundamentals. Don’t be too concerned with deep learning unless you mention this on your resume. You won’t be tested on it.
For ML engineers / applied scientists / research scientists: Expect deep-dive questions on machine learning theory and applications. In addition, whatever you place on your resume + role requirement, expect questions on the topic. For instance, if you apply for a team that uses computer vision, and your resume mentions it, expect questions on the topic.
Statistics
Fundamentals of statistics are required to perform well across all the data roles at Amazon. Expect “product-style” interview questions in the statistics portion that asks how to design an AB test. Similar to the ML question types, expect coverage in-breath, depth, and applied case problems. Once again, the role defines the type of questions you should expect:
Breath-style question
What is the Simpson’s Paradox? What is the p-value? What is the logistic regression model?
Depth-style question
What are the differences among type I, type II, and type III error rates? If an outlier is present, how does this affect the assumption of a linear model?
Applied-case problem
How would you build an onboarding metric for Amazon shoppers? How would you design an AB test on a marketing campaign?
For data scientists: Definitely expect one or two rounds focused on statistics. Expect all the styles of questions. Brush up on the fundamentals and applications of statistics, probability and regression modeling.
For ML engineers / applied scientists / research scientists: Unless the role requires AB testing, you may or may not encounter a statistics-specific round. You could expect breath-style questions on statistics. But, in terms of depth and applied-case style questions, expect such questions on ML theory and applications, less on statistics. The only exception is that you do have a statistics round.
Coding
Expect algorithms and data structure problems especially for MLE roles. For data scientists, you can expect easy algo. questions that require string and/or integer manipulations. In addition, expect data manipulation questions that require you to use vanilla code or a third-party library to wrangle a table. These question styles are similar to SQL table manipulation given that you are using a programming language of your choice, such as Python and R.
Algorithms and Data Structures — Leetcode-style questions Statistical Coding — A problem that requires you to write a statistical function such as, given a list of actuals and predicted values, computing the MSE, MAPE, and such. Table Manipulation — SQL style questions
For all roles, expect a combination of the three question styles mentioned.
SQL
The SQL round is quite common and standard across all FAANG interviews. Essentially, you are given a set of tables and one to three problems to solve using common SQL clauses such as JOINS, WHERE, and GROUP BY and window functions such as AVG and SUM.
Leadership Principles
This is Amazon’s behavioral question. Essentially, you need to convey compelling stories that convey the leadership principles at Amazon. General tip — remember all the principles and create one or two stories that convey the attributes.
Customer Obsession Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers. Ownership Leaders are owners. They think long term and don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results. They act on behalf of the entire company, beyond just their own team. They never say “that’s not my job.” Invent and Simplify Leaders expect and require innovation and invention from their teams and always find ways to simplify. They are externally aware, look for new ideas from everywhere, and are not limited by “not invented here.” As we do new things, we accept that we may be misunderstood for long periods of time. Are Right, A Lot Leaders are right a lot. They have strong judgment and good instincts. They seek diverse perspectives and work to disconfirm their beliefs. Learn and Be Curious Leaders are never done learning and always seek to improve themselves. They are curious about new possibilities and act to explore them. Hire and Develop the Best Leaders raise the performance bar with every hire and promotion. They recognize exceptional talent, and willingly move them throughout the organization. Leaders develop leaders and take seriously their role in coaching others. We work on behalf of our people to invent mechanisms for development like Career Choice. Insist on the Highest Standards Leaders have relentlessly high standards — many people may think these standards are unreasonably high. Leaders are continually raising the bar and drive their teams to deliver high quality products, services, and processes. Leaders ensure that defects do not get sent down the line and that problems are fixed so they stay fixed. Think Big Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Leaders create and communicate a bold direction that inspires results. They think differently and look around corners for ways to serve customers. Bias for Action Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. We value calculated risk-taking. Frugality Accomplish more with less. Constraints breed resourcefulness, self-sufficiency, and invention. There are no extra points for growing headcount, budget size, or fixed expense. Earn Trust Leaders listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully. They are vocally self-critical, even when doing so is awkward or embarrassing. Leaders do not believe their or their team’s body odor smells of perfume. They benchmark themselves and their teams against the best. Dive Deep Leaders operate at all levels, stay connected to the details, audit frequently, and are skeptical when metrics and anecdotes differ. No task is beneath them. Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. Leaders have conviction and are tenacious. They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision is determined, they commit wholly. Deliver Results Leaders focus on the key inputs for their business and deliver them with the right quality and in a timely fashion. Despite setbacks, they rise to the occasion and never settle. Strive to be Earth’s Best Employer Leaders work every day to create a safer, more productive, higher-performing, more diverse, and more just work environment. They lead with empathy, have fun at work, and make it easy for others to have fun. Leaders ask themselves: Are my fellow employees growing? Are they empowered? Are they ready for what’s next? Leaders have a vision for and commitment to their employees’ personal success, whether that be at Amazon or elsewhere. Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility We started in a garage, but we’re not there anymore. We are big, we impact the world, and we are far from perfect. We must be humble and thoughtful about even the secondary effects of our actions. Our local communities, planet, and future generations need us to be better every day. We must begin each day with a determination to make better, do better, and be better for our customers, our employees, our partners, and the world at large. And we must end every day knowing we can do even more tomorrow. Leaders create more than they consume and always leave things better than how they found them.
Where can you find more practice problems?
For more prep content, check out datainterview.com :)
There are advanced tips on how to prepare for data science interviews and land your dream job at top companies such as Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google.
The flagship product, the monthly subscription course (updated every month), contains the following core features:
Case in Point — 40 data science case problems and solutions AB Testing Course — 12+ lessons on AB testing Mock Interview Videos — 4x1-hour recordings of mock interviews based on technical screenings at top companies. Question Bank — A list of statistics and ML questions commonly asked in interviews. SQL Drills — SQL problems and solutions to help you ace SQL rounds. Slack Study Group — Network with a community of job candidates and data science instructors who work in FAANG companies.
P.S.
Here are additional resources that can be helpful for your prep :) | https://medium.com/datainterview/crack-the-amazon-data-scientist-interviews-ex-faang-data-scientist-78189a5a689e | ['Dan Lee'] | 2021-09-03 14:37:44.414000+00:00 | ['Data Scientist', 'Interview Questions', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning', 'Python'] |
Discover the Proven Solution That Gets Your Baby to Sleep like Clockwork | Okay, but what’s the price?
I really wish I could offer you my digital program for free, however my months-long research and running this website unfortunately cost quite a bit of money and time.
In addition, the consultation fees for the sleeping expert easily exceeded $1,300.
Because of this I want you to offer my digital system at an extremely fair price point to cover my own expenses.
In the beginning, I offered my complete method for an all-in price of $129.99 (and there were many families telling me that it was worth every single penny).
However, I realized over time that parents with a limited budget were scared away by the price which of course was never my intention.
That’s why I offer you today my complete digital system for a one-time only $129.99 $27
Yes, you read that right! For a limited time only you can get all my knowledge for only $27.
My 60 day 100% Money back guarantee
No success? = Money back
Take your time and think about it since you can simply test my system without any risk. In the unlikely event of you not being happy with the results of my sleeping system, simply drop me an email and you will get your money back — no questions asked!
FAQ
Does your sleeping system really work for every child?
So far we actually had a really impressive success rate. Admittedly, there were some cases where it took a bit longer for noticeable improvements (around 2 weeks), but an instance in which the system did not work at all is unknown to me at this time.
And just to be clear: In the unlikely event of you not having the desired results with my sleeping system, you can make use of the unconditional 100% Money back guarantee.
What’s the best age for your sleeping program?
I generally recommend my sleeping program to all parents who have children aged between 0 and 36 months. For babies younger than 3 months the progress usually is a bit slower but you can use this time as an effective preparation period for later on.
How long will it take until my child finally falls asleep on its own?
The vast majority of the families working with me see first big improvements between 3 and 12 days after having started with the sleeping system. Making a general statement however is fairly difficult since of course every child is unique. In case you do not make any progress, you can send me an email at any time!
What’s the difference between your system and all the other guides and books?
During my research I read every book I could find on the topic of “baby sleep” and evaluated the contents and practical value of them. The biggest weaknesses were in almost all cases the lack of flexibility of the various tips and strategies (since not every strategy works for every child!) as well as the outdated nature of the content. Most of the books I read (plus countless tips on the internet) were simply heavily outdated and couldn’t be effectively applied in today’s world.
What should I do if I have additional questions?
You can also consult with me anytime via e-mail. Simply message me at [email protected] and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
How exactly does the Money back guarantee work?
As described above, you can make use of the 100% full Money back guarantee within 60 days of your purchase in case you are unhappy with my sleeping system or didn’t see the desired results. No questions asked! | https://medium.com/@devszonezone/discover-the-proven-solution-that-gets-your-baby-to-sleep-like-clockwork-2705a0f84755 | ['Dev Rawat'] | 2021-07-05 15:37:46.822000+00:00 | ['Baby', 'Baby Products', 'Baby Care', 'Baby Sleep', 'Baby Boomers'] |
What is Food to Me | For me during this pandemic, food has been atrocious. No, I am not saying that my mother’s cooking is bad. It was just mother’s day after all. It is simply the fact that the food is always the same. I start with a bowl of flavorless oatmeal in the morning, maybe some rice and whatever has been left in the fridge for the past five years for lunch, and then some instant noodles for dinner. Drinks are always the same. Milk and water, milk and water, milk and water. It’s not very joyful. Food has lost its meaning to me by this point, serving only as blobs of matter that help me push through the day. Going to organic supermarkets at this time is not advised, even as lockdown procedures are being slowly lifted. Fast food is surely an option, but members of family are unwilling to take the risk and so am I. We have been sustaining ourselves through Costco foods and a huge supply that my uncle had packaged about a month ago. However, despite all of these drawbacks, I am actually quite happy.
Just some plain oatmeal. Credit
Why am I happy? This monotonous, repetitive style of eating helps me, to a small degree, sympathize with those who are less fortunate than me and have less money to spend on meals. I can look down at my food with a smile of happiness rather than remorse. My dream for the future is to amass enough wealth in order to help those who are less fortunate in life. Doesn’t matter who: war vets, orphans, homeless, sick, elderly, and the list goes on. Of course, simply by just eating repetitively does not make me completely understand how they live. I am fortunate enough to be living in a good home, a stable family, and a school filled with opportunities. What I do to aid those in need may not make me understand them, but at least I can help out, even if just a little. | https://medium.com/@BillyBlobfish/what-is-food-to-me-b3c7e8106acf | [] | 2020-05-11 09:48:28.774000+00:00 | ['Helping Others', 'Vibe', 'Food'] |
13 healthy snack options | Snacks — when the clock strikes 4 pm or 5 pm, many of us — from children to elders — feel the urge to eat something light and interesting like snacks. Popular snacks are tea and biscuits, deep-fried items like chips, pakoras, samosas, etc., noodles, preservative loaded snack options from supermarkets, pastries, chocolates, sweets, etc. There is no doubt that these popular snack options are tasty, but there is also no doubt that they are unhealthy due to preservatives, deep frying, reheating of oils, maida, high sugar content, etc.
These snack options lead to obesity, hormonal imbalance, low immunity, and loads of other health problems in the long run; the biggest problem is that they are addictive, which makes you crave more food and indulge in unhealthy foods. An unhealthy snack makes you eat more during dinner time, which in turn burdens your digestive system.
So, are there any snack options that are healthy and also tasty? Are there any snack options that can delight taste buds and not cause health issues in the long-run? Let’s look at such snack options today. These snack options are not addictive and help you reduce your dinner quantity without much effort.
13 healthy snack options
1. A handful of roasted peanuts and jaggery — This a healthy combination free of oils, preservatives, and chemicals that can be prepared at home easily. A good snack for people with a sweet tooth. It satisfies sweet cravings and is also filling. This combination is a good source of iron, proteins, selenium, and magnesium.
2. Peanut chaat — This is a combination of boiled peanuts along with onions, tomatoes, coriander, lemon, etc. It is filling, delicious, and can be easily prepared at home. This is an excellent snack rich with proteins and fiber coming from vegetables.
3. Sprouts chaat– Sprouts can be consumed raw and are good for health. However, not all would love to eat raw sprouts because they are less on taste, and some people have digestion issues with sprouts. So to avoid these, you can boil the sprouts and top them with onions, tomatoes, chilies and a dash of lemon. This is filling, delicious, healthy, and can be easily made. This is an excellent source of protein and fiber.
4. Roasted flattened rice — Flattened rice, popularly called as atukulu in Telugu, can be roasted without oil and can be topped with some peanuts, salt and vegetables like onions, tomatoes, chilies, etc. It is crispy, tasty, and free from oils, maida, and preservatives. Vegetables add fiber and nutrients, and flattened rice is good in iron, probiotic that improves gut health. To further enhance health benefits, you can use flattened rice made from red rice.
5. Fruit bowl — You can make a delicious fruit bowl containing bananas, apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries, papayas. There are so many options for fruits. They satisfy sweet cravings, improve health, boost immunity, improve skin health, and are easily available.
6. Handful of dry fruits: There are many dry fruit options like cashews, raisins (popularly called kismis), almonds, pistachios, walnuts, etc. You can consume one of them or a mix of all of these. Salted options of dry fruits bought in supermarkets come with high levels of sodium. So, please avoid these salted dry fruits. Dry fruits are healthy and filling. They are rich in vitamins, proteins, and excellent immunity boosters.
7. Chickpeas chaat — Water-soaked chickpeas(Soak chickpeas for 12 hours) can be boiled and topped with vegetables like onions, tomatoes, coriander, lemon, etc. They are filling, tasty, and healthy. This is a good source of proteins and fiber.
8. Boiled sweet potatoes — In the season rich with sweet potatoes, go for this option. Sweet potatoes are rich in fiber and antioxidants, which boost your immunity and health. This is an easy to prepare, filling, and satisfying snack.
9. Dry Fruit Ladoos — You can easily prepare dry fruit laddoos with dry fruits, jaggery, and honey. They satisfy your sugar cravings and are also good for health. These are rich sources of proteins and iron.
10. Til laddoo — Til or sesame seeds are excellent sources of calcium and iron. You can prepare til laddoo easily with til and jaggery. This laddoo is high in health, reduces sugar cravings and fills you. These laddoos are a good source of calcium and iron.
11. Smoothies — There are many types of smoothies you can prepare at home, combining various fruits and vegetables like bananas, carrots, beetroots, apples, papayas, and cucumber tomatoes, etc. You can top these smoothies with nuts and seeds. These smoothies are rich in antioxidants and vitamins. They are delicious, filling, and are health boosters. They are good for your skin health.
12. Coconut water and fruit — Coconut water is a good source of various minerals like potassium, electrolytes, and vitamins. Combining this super drink with a fruit makes it healthy and filling.
13. Ragi porridge — You can prepare a salty version of ragi porridge using buttermilk. This is easy to prepare and satisfying. Ragi porridge made with buttermilk is a good probiotic promoting your gut health. Ragi is a good source of calcium and iron. Sweet variants of ragi porridge can be prepared with ragi and jaggery.
These are some healthy snacks you can easily prepare at home. Below are some pointers to enhance the health of your snacks.
1. Use organic ingredients whenever and wherever possible.
2. Please be cautious about the usage of honey and jaggery if you have diabetes.
3. If you are going through obesity, choose snacks that suit your requirement and diet plan.
In addition to these healthy variants, below are some snacks which you can buy. These snacks are free from preservatives, chemicals, white flour(maida), and high sugars.
Enjoy healthy snacks, and stay healthy! | https://medium.com/@mannghatt/13-healthy-snack-options-d5fb60badc02 | ['Mann Ghatt'] | 2020-12-23 10:10:37.861000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Healthy Food', 'Fitness', 'Healthy Lifestyle', 'Healthy Eating'] |
you’re doing it all wrong… | i’ve found new ways to improve my wellbeing and live my life to the fullest(ish). so here’s my advice.
(of course this won’t apply to everyone or be the exact answer to all your questions, but it’s a start)
reevaluate your sleep habits
because i lucked out this semester having my earliest class at 10:50am, i used to sleep until 10am or later every. single. day. that meant i was getting anywhere from 9 to 11 hours of sleep a night. sounds great, doesn’t it? not exactly.
despite being surrounded by sunny weather and best friends, i was still feeling off. i felt tired and not as productive. and then it dawned on me that maybe i was sleeping TOO much. ding ding ding.
now i try to wake up around 8-8:30am on school days, which means i’m getting closer to 8 hours of sleep. this is much healthier for me. i feel 10x better waking up and getting an earlier start to my day. who would’ve thought that sleep would be negatively affecting my lifestyle? not me, but here we are!
2. combat your sweet cravings
i’m the type of person that no matter what i eat, i am always craving something sweet after. i always want to snack on whatever i can get my hands on. however, this isn’t super healthy for me.
i’ve discovered that chewing gum soon after a meal helps prevent these intense cravings. (now i’m not saying to chew gum as a way to avoid eating altogether) it keeps me preoccupied for a long period of time, so i’m less tempted to eat that chocolate staring me in the face.
another idea if you’re not that into chewing gum is mio energy. add some to your water as a simple alternative to sweets. (my personal favorite flavors are strawberry watermelon and black cherry)
i still have trouble with nighttime cravings and snacking, so i’m working that one out :) help me if you have answers.
3. eat breakfast
“bUt iM NoT a bReaKFasT pERsOn” well now you are.
seriously, though. first semester, i ate breakfast every day (usually eggs and toast). when i got to school this semester at the same time i wasn’t waking up until 10am, i wouldn’t really eat breakfast either. i relied on a granola bar and maybe some coffee to hold me over until lunchtime.
your body needs breakfast! it boosts your metabolism and improves your energy levels. my go-to right now, since it’s a little hard to make eggs and toast in a dorm room, is oatmeal. you can add fruit to it or change it however you desire, but i think it’s a great way to start my day.
4. f*ck the number on the scale
half a year ago i was 10 pounds lighter than i am today. but half a year ago i also wasn’t properly nourishing or strengthening my body. at first i was scared seeing the number on the scale rise, but then i realized it doesn’t even matter because 1) i’m working on my body through weight training and eating better and 2) it literally does. not. matter. my main goal is to feel good and to be healthy. so what if i weigh more? the number is irrelevant and often deceiving, so don’t let it discourage you from your own goals.
that’s all i have for today ❤
“stop doing what keeps hurting” | https://medium.com/@lizzieklings/youre-doing-it-all-wrong-5f8e460d2eed | ['Lizzie Klingsporn'] | 2021-04-09 21:30:42.834000+00:00 | ['Help', 'Advice', 'Wellness', 'Life', 'Mental Health'] |
Breaking Bad episode review — 2.3 — Bit by a Dead Bee | Original air date: March 22, 2009
Director: Terry McDonough
Writer: Peter Gould
Rating: 7/10
This is probably my least favourite episode of the series so far, but it’s not bad. I really don’t know if any Breaking Bad episodes are bad; I suspect there aren’t.
Walt’s plan to get back home without either he or Jesse getting arrested is definitely strange. He ends up naked in a convenience store, claiming to have had an episode that has made the past several days a blur. Though he does admit to a psychiatrist that he made it up, once he’s assured thathe won’t share anything, using his wife’s unplanned pregnancy as well as his cancer as excuses.
Meanwhile, Hank picks up Jesse and grills him rather harshly.
He even brings in Hector Salamanca, suspecting that the two have met. It’s a really great scene because you think Jesse is absolutely screwed, but ultimately Hector refuses to help the DEA.
I like all the stuff going on with the DEA in this episode, but I think the White stuff is kind of lame. It doesn’t feel like the plan should work. | https://medium.com/as-vast-as-space-and-as-timeless-as-infinity/breaking-bad-episode-review-2-3-bit-by-a-dead-bee-37695b1b5c9c | ['Patrick J Mullen'] | 2020-07-12 18:16:01.209000+00:00 | ['Breaking Bad', 'TV', 'Tv Reviews', 'Television', 'Drama'] |
The Caring Mask | I realized recently I wear a mask.
How long has this been on my face?
Will I ever remove it?
Am I a stranger to myself?
I allow the character to play itself,
Sitting in the backseat, tired
Until it becomes too much
Yes, that is me, but I’m also me
Why can’t you see, me?
I care too much.
Is there such a thing?
Valuing others above myself
Is it at my own expense?
Some friends tell me to care less.
I wonder if they’re right.
No.
Caring with one’s whole heart is our duty.
It’s my duty at least.
Perhaps my mask is caring?
I pretend to be oblivious, because people laugh.
I pretend to have it together, so others see it’s possible.
I pretend not to care because showing how much I do… who knows what would happen.
I pretend for the same reason others act it seems,
Wearing a mask for the benefit of others,
Receiving back a portion of what I put out to the world.
I think I get enough back.
Perhaps there’s no mask after all.
Maybe I’m just caring.
We’ll see, I suppose.
In the meantime,
Peace | https://medium.com/@abbages.mike/the-caring-mask-7e18758db1ea | ['Mike Abbages'] | 2019-01-30 03:49:17.146000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Care', 'Masks', 'Peace', 'Hope'] |
How My Dad’s Favorite Artist Became Mine Too | Photo by Eric Nopanen on Unsplash
Growing up as a kid, I didn’t always get what I wanted. No kid did. And no kid should.
You hear “When you’re older you’ll understand” from your parents. And as a teenager, you think you already know all you need to know. You think “I understand well enough now, and my parents are just being unreasonable.” Now that I’m older, I realize that isn’t true. My parents truly did know what was best and the right thing for me.
And now that I’m older, I’m more aware of life. Yes, I do currently think I know almost all there is to know. Yet I also know as I get older, I’ll earn and experience more. It’s a weird feeling.
My dad is a big JT fan. No, not Justin Timberlake. The original JT, James Taylor.
And I never paid much attention to James Taylor as a kid. But since I graduated from college, his music has become so comfortable. There is something about his music that makes it as close to perfect as can be. I can relax to it, run to it, fall asleep to it, or work to it. Seriously, in this past month, I listened to his old albums for all these situations.
Maybe it was ignorance, maybe I had more important things to care about as a kid, but I was never really aware of my parents’ music taste until I went to college. And once I graduated and spent more time with my parents, as respected peers instead of parent and child, I have learned more about them. They’ve become some of my best friends. And as any friendship goes, you learn about their music tastes.
My dad still has a huge collection of vinyl albums from the many decades he has lived. It took until recently, the billionth time I looked through them, that I realized he had more albums from James Taylor than from any other artist.
Now, I probably already know more James Taylor songs than most people in their 20s. But upon seeing his albums, I realized I still know little about him compared to those who listened to him in his prime.
Upon seeing new records of his to listen to, I immediately had to play them. Luckily my dad keeps his records in good shape. So this past weekend, I jammed out to several “new” James Taylor albums. *New to me, but originally from the seventies.
And man, are those albums perfect. The music is great, what more can I say.
The distinct part of James Taylor’s music is the “vibe.” I don’t know how to describe it, other than the music seems to fit with my mentality towards life presently.
Which brings me to my point. My dad has more James Taylor albums than any other artist. So he must be a big fan of his music. And thus, he lives by similar “vibes.”
You have more in common with your parents than you think. I mean, you’re 50% one, and 50% the other. So enjoy their company while you can. Be best friends with them. Trust me they’re actually cool, and at one point, THEY WERE JUST LIKE YOU. After all, it’s the least you owe them for taking care of you for all those years, and all the years that will come.
If you aren’t familiar with James Taylor I recommend you start with his greatest hits album. You may recognize a song or two. If you do know his mainstream songs, give his older albums a try, they are great as well. | https://medium.com/an-idea/how-music-helped-me-relate-to-my-parents-more-8c0fb2fbcca2 | ['Cody Collins'] | 2020-12-28 04:30:18.431000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Parents', 'Music', 'Parenting', 'Children'] |
Image Is Everything (Even for Moms and Dads) | Image Is Everything (Even for Moms and Dads)
Photo credit: Shutterstock
By Mark Johnson
OK, today I’m going to play therapist, although my psychiatry training was limited to the 8 am “Psych 1” class I took during my freshman year of college in 1984, and even then, the majority of my attention was directed towards the rangy brunette who sat one seat over from me and whom I never conjured the courage to talk to, much to my dismay. I do recall some mention of Freud, but that’s about it. So everything henceforth is only my doofus opinion and must be taken as such.
Good? OK.
So, living long enough to have college-aged (and above) children is interesting, to say the least. There are all the normal, mundane parts of life: jobs, vacations, school functions, athletic triumphs, deaths and tragedies, holidays, world events, and so on. If you’re old enough to have 20-year-old kids, you’ve seen a lot of life. But how about the intangibles? You know, those internal things that keep tapping your shoulder and reminding you that your existence is passing you by at breakneck speed.
For example, as you move through life, your view of yourself — or self-image — changes. You see yourself a certain way in middle school, high school, college, and into your 20s. When I was in high school, for instance, I saw myself as a skinny class clown who played basketball and the guitar fairly well, and because I created this persona for myself, that’s how I acted. I was usually “friend-zoned” by the hot babes in my class, liked by my teachers (not because I was a great student, but because I was funny and polite), and generally tolerated by the more outgoing sect of the school’s population.
In college, though, my view of myself changed dramatically, mainly because I began playing music publicly. Over a couple of years, I began adopting the image of an already established stereotype: the brooding, introspective, long-haired, singer-songwriting, lady’s man. That’s how I acted and that’s generally how the world responded to me.
All of this, of course, is total bunk.
Stereotypes are not three-dimensional people. The real, authentic us is usually the person our family knows, not who we project to the outside world, and it often requires 20 or 30 years of being assaulted by life before the real us reveals itself, even to ourselves.
I spent all of my 20s perfecting the long-haired, super-cool musician persona, but since having children in my mid-30s, that self-image has been steadily eroded and reshaped into something much closer to reality: a balding, white-bearded, sometimes-silly, often-grumpy, constantly-worried-about-money dad. It doesn’t matter how hard I try to cling to the earlier image.
Kids, you see, are impervious to any cool former self you can conjure up even if you have photographic evidence. Your children could give a rat’s butt, and to them, your photo evidence is about as conclusive as a blurry Bigfoot photo. Your kids only see you as the person who feeds and clothes them, makes them go to school, embarrasses them in front of their friends, counsels them with absurd, out-of-date advice, and is completely and entirely ignorant of anything currently cool and cutting edge.
Case in point: My 18-year-old daughter texted me from college yesterday and asked me to send her a high-school picture of myself. She explained that she wanted to prove to her roommate that as a young man, I looked exactly like Woody from the “Toy Story” movies. Not George Clooney. Not Johnny Depp. Not a young, smoldering James Taylor.
Woody. From the “Toy Story” movies.
And just like that, another sliver of the cool persona is chipped away, never to return.
(For the record, I have nothing against Woody personally. He is a perfectly pleasant-looking toy cowboy, and she could’ve said I looked like Mr. Potato Head.)
As the 1980s tennis champ Andre Agassi once famously said, image is everything, and in many ways, this is absolutely true. In my case, the self-image that I liked most has been relegated to old, plastic-page photo albums, as ancient as the Roman Coliseum and as irrelevant as a car CD player.
So what’s to be done about this? Do we simply settle into our current roles as worried, out-of-touch parents and grandparents and spend our remaining years playing with grandchildren and pining for the past?
Well … not me. I do, of course, look forward to playing with future grandchildren, but I intend to make more of my remaining time which, Good Lord willing, might stretch over another 30 or 40 years. But how this manifests itself will hinge on which self-image I choose for myself. Remember, it’s really all choice. I can no longer choose the lady-killing 20-something-year-old musician or identify as an NBA basketball player or an astronaut, but I still have a variety of choices.
For example, I could go with a sport coat-with-patches-on-the-elbows-wearing, pipe-smoking novelist who lives on the Upper East Side in a brownstone full of books and leather chairs. Or how about the good-natured retiree who cashes in his 401-K, sells his house, buys a Winnebago with a tow-behind Isuzu Trooper, and travels the country, one KOA campground to the next? Or, perhaps, a left-wing activist who grows his remaining hair into a stringy gray ponytail, wears Grateful Dead t-shirts, smokes weed and drinks kombucha tea, and drives his sticker-covered Subaru from one angry demonstration to the next?
Nah. I don’t think I’m a good fit for any of those, although I don’t judge if they sound appealing to you. I’m still trying to work out what my old-man image will be, but whatever it is, I’m determined to make it interesting, fun, and fulfilling.
I’ll leave you today with this. Just because you have created one or more children doesn’t automatically mean that your best years are in the past and that you must now adopt the stereotype of a worried, grumpy, overworked parent whose remaining years must be lived vicariously through his or her offspring. Sure, your self-image will undoubtedly shift, but you can choose what it shifts to. Be a great parent and a great role-model! Show your kids that being cool and doing cool things is not the exclusive domain of youth! Coolness is where you find it.
OK, pep talk over. Pop a couple of those “Balance of Nature” vitamins, strap on that knee brace, and get out there!
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The story was previously published on The Good Men Project.
—
About Mark Johnson
Doofus Dad is the alter ego of writer Mark E. Johnson, who, clearly, could never be considered a doofus. One day, while watching the entire run of “The Office” for the 39th time and eating Lucky Charms cereal, it occurred to Mark that over the past 10–15 years, fathers have been somewhat marginalized in popular media and often depicted as bumbling goofballs unable to handle the simplest of tasks and usually making fools of themselves. Watch any sitcom or TV commercial and you’ll see this is true.
So as a show of support and solidarity for all beleaguered fathers in the world, Mark decided to watch some “Russian Car Crash” videos on YouTube. After approximately 12 hours of this, he got around to creating “Doofus Dad” as a “safe place” for men such as himself to congregate online, share stupid stories, and enjoy a laugh or two, proving once and for all that they’re actually smart and competent. | https://medium.com/a-parent-is-born/image-is-everything-even-for-moms-and-dads-6ecfd2c11396 | ['The Good Men Project'] | 2020-12-12 03:05:44.914000+00:00 | ['Dads', 'Parenting', 'Life Lessons', 'Humor', 'Image'] |
The War on Thanksgiving | Don’t worry- no fighting here. Lisa ate too much turkey, John ate too much pecan pie, and everyone got happily stuffed. We hope you did too. | https://backgroundnoisecomic.medium.com/the-war-on-thanksgiving-3cb15ba513ee | ['Background Noise Comics'] | 2019-12-02 02:31:06.288000+00:00 | ['Thanksgiving', 'Politics', 'Humor', 'Comics', 'Political Satire'] |
Intersections — Structures, Power, and Access | My book cover.
Over the next weeks, I’m going to be sharing insights from my book, Health Care of a Thousand Slights, in this article series. Health Care of a Thousand Slights launched on 12/07/2020 on Amazon, here is the link to buy it! If you want to connect, you can reach me here via email ([email protected]) or connect with me on Instagram or LinkedIn.
Since the election of Barack Obama in 2008, identity as a way to understand lived experience has become more prominent than ever. Perhaps it was because that was when I was old enough to follow a presidential election, but to hear about identity groups and their voting patterns was utterly fascinating.
To me, what was more fascinating was why these groups were choosing to vote the way that they do.
We’ve seen that analysis play out similarly in the 2020 election, especially when talking about the Latinx vote in Florida go to Trump. One of the explanations was that a majority of Latinx people in Florida are Cuban, and are therefore wary of anything perceived as socialism. Other political commentators argued that more Latinx men than women voted for Trump, perhaps pointing to a sense of machismo that resonates with that population.
In mainstream society, we use identity as a vehicle to talk about a lot of things — voting behavior, where people can afford to live, the kind of music people like to listen to, and others.
What we don’t talk enough about is how identity is closely linked to health — both health care access and outcomes.
And how identity is primarily impacted in two ways: policy and cultural narrative.
This has become especially relevant in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic did, if nothing else, reveal how the health care system was not designed for those it has historically left out. What this meant was low-income Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and Asian people were struggling with making ends meet while putting their lives on the line as essential workers without sufficient health insurance coverage. What this also meant was that those living in rural areas — far from the nearest hospital or emergency room — faced health care access challenges that were compounded by the pandemic.
One would ask: why are these communities so challenged in their health care access? It is not due to the individual choices that members of these communities are making, although cultural narratives may make us believe otherwise. How often have we seen stereotypes designed to inspire antipathy — Black people as lazy, Latinx people as job-stealers, Native Americans as chronically drunk, Asians as a foreign menace, poor people as unwilling to change with the times — make appearances in conversations about changing people’s lives?
It is due to the historical legacies of the past — revealing the structural nature of these types of challenges. When terms like “structural racism” are bandied around, know that it’s not just a buzzword — it’s an indication that racism is at the root of why so many of our social systems are lacking in the ways that they are.
For BIPOC — Black, Indigenous, and People of Color — we have seen lack of health care access and outcomes play out in serious ways from policy standpoints. Many generations after the end of slavery, Black Americans still have to deal with the “slave health deficit” — the intergenerational impacts of coming from a community that was routinely physically and mentally tortured, denied food, and brutally mistreated. Native Americans suffer from the intergenerational trauma of being from a community that was constantly shunted across the United States for the benefit of European settlers. Latinx people are the most likely to be working low-income, manual jobs — and the most likely to suffer from associated health consequences. Due to the model minority myth — the idea that Asians are the “perfect” minority group by education and income levels — Asians are often left out of important health disparity conversations and actions.
While there is no good terminology for it, the American societal relationship with wealth also indicates why our health care system does not adequately provide for the poor. With outdated notions of who is considered “poor” — mostly based on federal poverty guidelines — there are many who are caught between the government’s definition of poverty and the inability to afford basic necessities, including health insurance coverage and associated costs. Beyond policy, we have our own cultural narratives and stigmas associated with poverty. As Americans, we pride ourselves on “pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps,” which has unfortunately turned into reducing resources for the most economically vulnerable in this country.
Other -isms continue to be threaded throughout America’s health care, housing, food, and schooling systems. Women and other female-identifying people were not permitted to go to certain schools, work certain jobs, and open bank accounts without the permission of a male family member. This institutional lack of trust of women has manifested in the “trust gap” that women experience with their medical providers — not having their pain taken seriously and not being properly cared for, among other things. For LGBTQ-identifying people, fear of medical providers due to historical legacies of being labeled as mentally ill and being mistreated has made healthcare very difficult to approach. Concerns about things that many of us take for granted — being called the right name, not having rude assumptions made about our life styles — are legitimate challenges LGBTQ+ people face.
What sits at the nexus of policy and cultural narrative is not just people’s lived experiences. It demonstrates more concretely the intersections of structures, power, and access.
Different groups in the United States have been challenged with health care access for multiple reasons. In my next few articles, you’ll learn more about each community — some key insights, some things that didn’t make it into the book, and some other goodies — along the way.
Interested in learning more? Feel free to purchase my book, drop a review on Amazon or Goodreads, and follow along my social media journey on LinkedIn or Instagram. | https://medium.com/@as6804/intersections-structures-power-and-access-f54ed3666384 | ['Anjana Sreedhar'] | 2020-12-21 12:25:15.081000+00:00 | ['Health Disparities', 'Structural Racism', 'Discrimination', 'Health Care Policy'] |
Unit Test (Redis) in Golang | Unit Test (Redis) in Golang
How to mock our Redis code in Golang for Unit Test
Hi everyone! With me, again and again, to share some experience, thought, or opinion about technology-related with the software engineering field. In this part, I want to share how to mock our Redis code in Golang for Unit Test purposes.
Honestly, I am a little bit confused about how to make it for Redis. Because there’s no popular library like go-sqlmock from DATA-DOG. Until I found this great article, “Mocking Redis In Unit Tests In Go”.
Nice, it’s very helpful! But, I should modify my existing code for works well both on the test and real implementation. So, let’s start making a simple example test! We will need 3 libraries to run the test.
For the fake Redis server: https://github.com/alicebob/miniredis
https://github.com/alicebob/miniredis For interact with Redis: shttps://github.com/elliotchance/redismock
shttps://github.com/elliotchance/redismock For the Redis client: https://github.com/go-redis/redis
First, create the project structure like this:
+ your_gopath/
|
+--+ src/github.com/moemoe89
| |
| +--+ go-unit-test-redis/
| |
| +--+ main.go
| + repository/
| |
| +--+ repository.go
| + repository_test.go
|
+--+ bin/
| |
| +-- ... executable file
|
+--+ pkg/
|
+-- ... all dependency_library required
After that, we will need to make 2 files: repository.go and repository_test.go under repository directory.
First, repository.go file will have the implementation of Repository interface which has 2 simple functions for Set and Get data. If you are already familiar with the clean architecture concept and dependency injection, that code is easy for you. If you are not familiar with it, I will recommend this article Trying Clean Architecture on Golang by Iman Tumorang. It is a great article, also exists in Bahasa Indonesia, Mencoba Clean Architecture pada Golang. Thanks to Iman for your sharing.
Last, the test file repository_test.go will be testing the repository code using Mock data. I will explain more on this part for better understanding.
The main code for this test, we need to run the fake Redis server using Run function from miniredis.
mr, err := miniredis.Run()
if err != nil {
log.Fatalf("an error '%s' was not expected when opening a stub database connection", err)
}
Then, create the client connection from the go-redis library with the address from miniredis address.
client = redis.NewClient(&redis.Options{
Addr: mr.Addr(),
})
Next, we can create the mock function using redismock library from elliotchance. In this code below, it’s the example for mock data from our Set and Get function.
mock := redismock.NewNiceMock(client)
mock.On("Set", key, val, exp).Return(redis.NewStatusResult("", nil)) mock := redismock.NewNiceMock(client)
mock.On("Get", key).Return(redis.NewStringResult(val, nil))
If you already using go-sqlmock from DATA-DOG, is it similar, right?
Okay! It’s time to run the test. Use go test ./... for executing the test cases.
Unit Test Result
And …. Cool, we have passed the test!! It’s working!!
If you want to see the full example project for this test, you can visit my repository for this project on GitHub, moemoe89/go-unit-test-redis.
Hope you enjoy it, I’m happy if this article useful for you! Happy testing!
Thank you! | https://medium.com/easyread/unit-test-redis-in-golang-c22b5589ea37 | ['Bismo Baruno'] | 2020-06-16 10:47:35.773000+00:00 | ['Mock', 'Redis', 'Unit Testing', 'Go', 'Golang'] |
Want to join our growing community of readers and reviewers? | Why should you write for us?
Book reviews seem to be in short supply on Medium, despite being an online Mecca for a huge diversity of avid readers. There’s a niche to fill, and we intend to fill it.
The Open Bookshelf specifically seeks to publish voices from around the world, not those born into a country that speaks English as a first language. To help us towards achieving this goal, we provide line-editing, proof-reading and stylistic editing for every submission that comes our way.
This editing offer doesn’t just benefit non-native English speakers; having a second or third set of eyes running over your work is a huge advantage for all writers — budding and established. More than that, for Medium newbies, this editing process ensures that all TOB articles are primed for curation.
Our last three newbies published their first ever Medium articles with TOB and were all curated, some in multiple topics. This discussion by Cassi Snyder is a great example:
And we offer this for free.
Many of us have come over to Medium from the ‘bookstagram’ community. The keyword here is community. We read each other’s work and we love nothing more than to start discussions. More engagement on your stories means more chances to get noticed by Medium’s editors. The more you get noticed by Medium’s editors, the more traffic TOB gets, and the more eyeballs you get on your work.
How to become a TOB Writer
Our inbox was getting a little overloaded, so, if you would like to be added to this publication as a writer, please send us an email including:
1 | Who you are and what you generally write about.
2 | Your review pitch summarised in one sentence. If you have already published your review, include the link here.
3 | Before submitting, make sure that you have followed our editor and at least three other TOB writers. Make sure you have read, clapped and responded to some of our writers’ work. As emphasised above, we are a community; we support each other. It will also help you to understand what we are looking for here.
4 | If you follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter, you will be able to see if we share your work with a wider audience. Again, make sure to like, retweet, share and comment.
5 | With the subject line as TOB Article Pitch [Your Title], send us an email at: [email protected].
General Guidelines and Formatting
We accept submissions from both those signed up to the Medium Partnership Program and those writing for themselves, our only criteria are quality writing and big ideas. For non-native English speakers, we can provide proof-reading services free of charge on pieces shorter than 1,000 words.
1 | All pieces must have a title and subtitle, formatted as below. Try to keep these simple and succinct. | https://medium.com/the-open-bookshelf/want-to-join-our-growing-community-of-readers-and-reviewers-7b816bc3c0ff | ['Abbey Heffer'] | 2020-09-04 08:04:53.269000+00:00 | ['Submission Guidelines', 'Book Review', 'Writer', 'Books', 'Writing'] |
a quarter past nine p.m., | i, am one of the people who know you are stronger, than ever.
your hand, your feet, your shoulder, your eyes, ears, and also your heart, beat faster.
they are more than your lover.
your soul, is more than its lover.
you, just can be dark, if you let it be.
you, just can be weak, if you let it be.
but you, have a chance to not letting it be. | https://medium.com/@dennchaf00/a-quarter-past-nine-10cdf36c1cfd | [] | 2020-12-03 14:23:25.351000+00:00 | ['Sahabat', 'Surat', 'Life', 'Letters', 'Friendship'] |
The woman | A sudden commotion woke up a napping Alie. She rushed to peep from the blinds of her window. There are police officers everywhere. Worried as to what the hell had happened, all the neighbours had gathered outside the big bungalow next door. She walked outside to get a hold of the situation. As the crowd was dispersing, she saw the glimpse of a woman holding something in her hands running by the side ally of the Bungalow.
“There ..!!” she shouted at the police officers. They took her along to show where she had disappeared. As they ran towards the said direction, someone grabbed Alie’s hand and pulled her into a dark space between walls. There it was..the very same woman! Scared and shocked, Alie stood there motionless. That woman handed her a wrapped object and ran towards the phone tower that stood tall right beside the Bungalow. As Alie was unwrapping the object, she saw the woman slowly climbing up the phone tower, one step at a time. By this time the police had located the woman and regrouped below the tower. They were all shouting at her to come down, assuring her that no harm would come to her.
“It is a … Baby?!!”, shouted Alie not knowing what to do of the situation at hand. She was hasting towards the neighbours when she saw that the baby didn’t look right and was peculiarly still. A loud noise distracted Alie from her thoughts on the baby. It was that Woman. She had jumped off the tower. | https://medium.com/@evadas91/the-woman-8a64bbd7d4ad | ['Eva Das'] | 2020-09-02 12:17:20.179000+00:00 | ['Womanhood', 'Motherhood', 'Crime', 'Baby', 'Love'] |
Computing on the EDGE | Most of the companies in today’s era are moving towards cloud for their computation and storage needs. Cloud provides a one shot solution for all the needs for services across various aspects, be it large scale processing, ML model training and deployments or big data storage and analysis. This again requires moving data, video or audio to the cloud for processing and storage which also has certain shortcomings compared to do it at the client like
Network latency
Network cost and bandwidth
Privacy
Single point failure
If you look at other side, cloud have their own advantages and I will not talk about them right now. With all these in mind, how about a hybrid approach where few requirements can be moved to the client and some remain on the cloud. This is where EDGE computing comes into picture. According to Wiki here is the definition of the same
“Edge computing is a distributed computing paradigm that brings computation and data storage closer to the location where it is needed, to improve response times and save bandwidth”
Edge has a lot of use cases like
Trained ML models (specially video and audio) siting closer on the edge for inferencing or prediction.
IoT data analysis for large scale machines right at the edge
Look at Gartner hype cycle for emerging technologies. Edge is gaining momentum.
Hype cycle 2019
There are many platforms in the market specialised in edge deployments right from cloud solutions like azure iot hub, aws greengrass .., open source like kubeedge, edgeX-Foundary and third party like Intellisite etc.
I will focus this article on using one of the platforms for building an “Attendance platform” on the edge using facial recognition. I will add as many links as possible for your references.
Let us start with taking the first step and defining the requirements
Capture video from the camera
Recognise faces based on trained ML model
Display the video feed with recognised faces on the monitor
Log attendance in a database
Collect logs and metrics
Save unrecognised images to a central repository for retraining and improving model
Multi site deployments
Choosing a platform
Choosing the right platform from so many options was a bit tricky. For the POC, we looked at few pieces in the platform
Pricing
Infrastructure maintenance
Learning curve
Ease of use
There were other metrics as well but these were on top of our mind. Azure IoT looked pretty good in terms of above evaluation. We also looked at Kubeedge which provided deployments on Kubernetes on the edge. It is open source and looked promising. Looking at many components (cloud and edge) involved with maintenance overhead, we decided not to move ahead with open source. We were already using Azure cloud for other cloud infra, this also made our work a little more easier in choosing this platform. This also helped
Leading platform players
Designing the solution
Azure IoT hub provided 2 main components. One is the cloud component responsible for managing the deployments on edge and collection of data from them. The other is the edge component consisting of
Edge Agent : manages deployment and monitoring of modules on the IoT Edge device
: manages deployment and monitoring of modules on the IoT Edge device Edge Hub : handles communications between modules on the IoT Edge device, and between the device and IoT Hub.
I will not go into the details, you can find more details here about the Azure IoT edge. To give a brief, Azure edge requires modules as containers which can to be pushed to the edge. The edge device first needs to be registered with the IoT Hub. Once the Edge agent connects with the hub, you can push your modules using a deployment.json file. The container runtime that Azure Edge uses is moby.
We used Azure IoT free tier which was sufficient for our POC. Check the pricing here
As per the requirements of the POC, this is what we came up with
Attendance platform on the edge
The solution consists of various containers which are deployment on the edge as well as few cloud deployments. I will talk about each components in details as we move ahead.
As part of the POC, we assumed 2 sites where attendance needs to be taken at multiple gates. To simulate, we created 4 ubuntu machine. This is the ubuntu desktop image we used. For attendance, we created a video containing still photos of few filmstars and sportsperson. These videos will be used for attendance in order to simulate the cameras, one for each gate.
Modules in action
Camera module
It captures IP camera feed and pushed the frames for consumption
It uses python opencv for capture. For the POC, we read video files pushed inside the container.
Frames published to zeromq (brokerless message queue).
Used python3-opencv docker container as base image and pyzmq module for mq. Check this blog on how to use zeromq with python.
The module was configured to use a lot of environment variables, one being sampling rate of the video frames. Processing all frames require high memory and CPU, so it is always advisable to drop frames to reduce cpu load. This can be done in either camera module or inferencing module.
Inference Module
Used a pre-existing face recognition deep learning model for our inferencing needs.
Trained the model with easily available filmstars and sportsperson images.
The model was not trained with couple of images which were present in the video to showcase undetected image use case. These undetected images were stored in ADLS gen2, explained in the storage module.
Python pyzmq module was used to consume frames published by the camera module.
Not every frame was processed and few frames were dropped based on the configuration set via environment variables.
Once an image was recognised, a message (json) for attendance was send to the cloud using IoT Edge hub. Use this to specify routes in your deployment file.
Display Module
The processed frames from inference module are passed to the display module to show it on screen. There were few challenges in-order to access display port from a container. Again opencv was used for the display. Below is the command that is used when running a container to access the display port on a linux machine.
docker run --privileged -e DISPLAY=${DISPLAY} -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix <image>
I will show the deployment file later on how this is passed via Edge agent.
Storage Module
Unrecognised images from the inference module were stored in this container. This module act as a local storage and uploads all these images to the cloud (ADLS gen2 storage) based on when to be sent to cloud as per the configuration. We used pre-created azure blob storage container for our needs azure-blob-storage:1.3-linux-amd64 . You can follow this and this for more details.
Logging Module
Logging module comprised us to deploy cloud components as well. Since we already had a deployment of grafana and loki we thought of using them as our logging infrastructure.
Docker provides logging-driver to send container logs to the driver. Grafana-loki uses promtail agent. Docker officially still doesn’t support this driver so we used fluentd as the logging driver. Check here for details.
Fluentd container is configured to send all the container logs to grafana-loki. Again necessary tags are send in each container logs to differentiate between different deployments and containers in logs.
Grafana and loki were installed using helm charts on AKS ( Azure kubernetes ).
New storage class in AKS (azure file) was created for persistence storage to be used by loki for logs storage.
Attendance in SQL
Inference module once detects a frame, sends a message to the IoT hub on the cloud
This message as json is stored in the eventhub which can be configured with a retention period.
A python consumer running in kube cluster, parses the message and stores it in Azure mysql service.
I will not go into the details of the consumer. It is a python eventhub consumer reading data from the eventhub topic and writing to mysql.
Deployment
It is very easy to manage and deploy all these solutions using the deployment file where you can define the modules for the edges, environment variables, docker run configuration etc. Azure provides templated deployment file. Here is a snippet of the display module in the deployment file
"display": {
"version": "1.0",
"type": "docker",
"status": "running",
"restartPolicy": "always",
"settings": {
"image": "${MODULES.display}",
"createOptions": {
"Env": [
"DISPLAY=:0"
],
"HostConfig": {
"Binds": [
"/tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix"
],
"Privileged": true
}
}}}
Again, the portal provides a lot of options to configure and manage the deployments using the UI. The deployments were also very fast and the machine was up and running in the matter of minutes after deployment once the edge agent was installed.
We did not experiment this on a windows machine. LCOW ( Linux containers on windows ) support has been recently added in the Windows OS. You can read more about this here.
I think there is a huge potential of edge in the future and specially with the deep learning models becoming lighter and smarter, it all becomes easy to push them to the edge with low processing needs. | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/computing-on-the-edge-4575ad39c8f4 | ['Nipun Agarwal'] | 2021-01-12 16:17:00.930000+00:00 | ['Edge Computing', 'Deep Learning', 'Azure'] |
How Research has got Autism all Mixed up | How Research has got Autism all Mixed up
There is a saying in the Autism community, ‘If you’ve met one person with Autism, then you’ve met one person with Autism.’ Within the past decade, the general public has slowly begun to grow more accepting of the heterogeneous presentation of Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) that is so often at odds with the traditional, stereotyped view of Autism. But while this saying comes from a good place, what it actually means for researchers is something quite different: we don’t understand ASC.
ASC is characterised primarily by how a person interacts with others and is often described as living in a world that is ‘overwhelming’ from sensations and emotions. If you google ASC, you will likely be confronted by a giant list of potential cognitive, emotional and behavioural traits. And it’s highly likely that, if you’ve come across them, you’ve found yourself thinking, ‘That’s me!’, or ‘That’s someone I know!’ After all, some lists encompass almost every trait or behaviour under the sun, while others are more conservative, but may also be equally misleading.
The problem with ASC is that it has high comorbidity rates with other traits and disorders. And while this isn’t a problem in itself, it does make it difficult to research. For decades, researchers have studied ASC by comparing groups of Autistic people to groups of neurotypicals, and while this paradigm provides us with a general overview of the various ways in which Autistic people are different, it has also muddied the waters of what it means to have Autism.
For decades, ASC researchers have failed to control for the effects of common comorbidities, such as OCD, ADHD, Alexithymia, Introversion, and Social Anxiety. These traits often occur alongside ASC, but are considered separate and distinct conditions. The outcome of decades of research is that some practitioners diagnosing ASC have been testing for traits without the knowledge that the trait they are testing for isn’t even an autistic one.
For example, Reading The Minds Eye is a test that examines how well someone can interpret the emotional facial expressions of others and has long been used in the assessment and diagnosis of ASC. Yet how well someone can interpret emotional expressions is actually characteristic not of Autism, but of Alexithymia. In fact, you can be autistic and read facial expressions as well as any neurotypical, but if you have Alexithymia you will likely struggle to do so. It’s not that ‘if you’ve met one person with Autism then you’ve met one person with Autism’, but probably more ‘if you’ve met one person with Autism then they’re probably different to someone with both Autism and Alexithymia.’
Testing for Alexithymia should be commonplace in all Autism assessments, as it co-occurs in approximately 50% of individuals with ASC and has its own list of potential complications (including a lack of empathy, another trait often mistaken for Autism). However, how well one can or cannot interpret facial expressions should never be used to decide whether an individual has Autism. Alexithymia is a distinct and separate condition.
In addition, introversion is a trait that appears in approximately 20% of the population, but that characterises up to 75% of Autistic people. When researchers focus only on the differences between Autistic and Neurotypicals, traits of introversion, as well as other commonly occurring conditions also get thrown into the mix, such that introverted individuals will score significantly higher on the AQ test, as well as various other measures of ASC, than extroverted people.
This confusion in the research has barred some individuals from getting a diagnosis who otherwise should have, and has likely also increased the rate of false-positive diagnoses of ASC. This failure to control for comorbid conditions has resulted in the heterogeneity of autistic symptoms we know today, and it’s going to take a lot of work to detangle. | https://medium.com/@ergarth/how-research-got-autism-all-mixed-up-51db3d0738f8 | ['Ella Garth'] | 2020-12-06 11:37:46.676000+00:00 | ['Autism', 'Aspergers Assessment', 'Asperger', 'Autism Assessment', 'Autism Spectrum Disorder'] |
I feel hopeless and lonely. Can someone tell me that everything is going to be okay? | Answer: Let me answer this by telling you the story of a lady who was asking herself the same question and as she was glancing through her bible the answer appeared right before her very eyes. It was the story where the disciples of Jesus were having difficulty healing and Jesus told them it was “because of your unbelief”. Those four words changed her life and may it also be done unto you.
“As she pondered the meaning of that teaching, she realized that she was living under the false belief that she had a life of her own. And it was that false sense of life that she felt was hopeless. She, like many people in today’s world, had accepted that false belief as reality which had separated her from the one and only Life, the infinite source of her good, and as a result she experienced suffering, hopelessness.
Now she understood the Truth that “thou shall have no other God’s before me” meant she would not acknowledge any life or presence other than the Life or Presence of God and to believe otherwise is to miss out on the most beautiful and fulfilling miracle of Life. Now she knew the Truth that “I have come to give you Life and Life more abundantly”.
Now there is hopefulness. Now there is the presence of the infinite Life of God. Now she no longer asks the question “is there no hope for me?”. Now she answers that question of those who ask.”
And may it also be done unto you. | https://medium.com/pathway-to-happiness/i-feel-hopeless-and-lonely-can-someone-tell-me-that-everything-is-going-to-be-okay-98d8468264 | ['Don Carpenter'] | 2020-09-21 17:58:11.192000+00:00 | ['Success', 'Life Lessons', 'Mental Health', 'Self Improvement', 'PTSD'] |
Satellite Imagery Provides Insights into Holiday Supply Chain Management | The holidays are a time of giving, tradition and family; they’re a time to reflect and look forward. While relaxing and spending time with friends and loved ones, few pause to think about the networks that enable these celebrations — the global supply chains that deliver smartphones, chocolates and socks across the world to people’s homes every holiday season.
Raw materials are gathered in some of the world’s most remote places, transformed into goods in far-flung factories and delivered to your door through a sophisticated system of trucks, trains, planes and ships. Satellites are able to monitor many of these happenings giving a comprehensive look at global economic activity.
Here are some examples of how Earth-observation can provide unique insights into the processes that contribute to holiday cheer.
Beneath a glacier high in the Tian Shan mountains, Kyrgyzstan’s Kumtor Gold Mine will produce an estimated 560,088 ounces of gold in 2019. In this high-resolution SkySat image acquired on October 14, 2019, individual trucks are visible on the terraced slopes of the mine’s open pit.
Signatures of activity at factories could be belching smokestacks, open-air stockpiles, rail cars delivering raw materials or trucks lined up at a warehouse. This SkySat image captured activity at a labyrinthine industrial complex in Tianjin, China on December 5, 2019.
A cargo ship departs the Dalian Container Terminal on October 11, 2019. Satellites can monitor not only the comings and goings of marine traffic, but also estimate the number of shipping containers awaiting transport.
The Port of Oakland is a hub for both receiving goods from the Far East and distributing grain and produce from California’s productive Central Valley. This image shows land and sea traffic at the busy port on November 15, 2019.
Cars pack the parking lot of Sawgrass Mills mall in South Florida on Black Friday, November 29, 2019. Despite a long decline in brick-and-mortar sales, the crowds demonstrate a continuing American appetite for bargains. | https://medium.com/planet-stories/satellite-imagery-provides-insights-into-holiday-supply-chain-management-2189e1647dd2 | [] | 2019-12-26 15:01:01.379000+00:00 | ['Supply Chain Management', 'Satellite Imagery', 'Space', 'Satellite Technology', 'Satellite Industry'] |
Installing the Required Tools | In this part of C# From Scratch, we’ll install the tools that are required to write programs in C# and run them on our machine.
Install the .NET SDK
When we write applications with C#, we use the language on top or a framework and runtime known as .NET.
To follow along with this course, you will need to download and install the .NET SDK (Software Development Kit). This kit contains the tools that your computer needs to convert a file containing C# source code into a program that can run on a computer.
You can download the latest .NET SDK on Microsoft’s .NET Downloads page.
On this page, select the correct operating system for your machine and download the latest version of the .NET SDK.
In the next part of the course, we’ll talk about the difference between the various versions of .NET. | https://medium.com/@kenbourke/installing-the-required-tools-acceec0b582b | ['Ken Bourke'] | 2020-12-02 11:55:09.563000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Dotnet', 'Csharp', 'Software Engineering', 'Software Development'] |
Derrick Boseman on his brother Chadwick’s faith and spirituality — CALI FM RADIO | Chadwick Boseman landed his first major role as a series regular on Persons Unknown in 2010, and his breakthrough performance came in 2013 as baseball player Jackie Robinson in the biographical film . Boseman achieved international fame for playing superhero Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) from 2016 to 2019. He appeared in four MCU films, including an eponymous 2018 film that earned him an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. As the first black actor to headline an MCU film, he was also named to the 2018 Time 100.
In 2016, Boseman was diagnosed with colon cancer. Boseman kept his condition private, continuing to act until his death from complications related to the illness in 2020. His final film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, was released posthumously the same year to critical acclaim. In this youtube video interview, his brother, Derrick Boseman talks about Chadwicks faith and spirituality.
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Check out more great contributor stories HERE | https://medium.com/@mslashaunturner/derrick-boseman-on-his-brother-chadwicks-faith-and-spirituality-cali-fm-radio-b3813e4cbac1 | ['Lashaun Turner'] | 2020-12-27 03:00:26.309000+00:00 | ['Chadwick Boseman', 'Colon Cancer', 'Black Panther', 'Lashaunturner', 'Celebrity'] |
Should You Buy a Genetic Testing Kit? | Should You Buy a Genetic Testing Kit?
By: Susan Grant, CFA Director of Consumer Protection and Privacy
You’ve probably seen those commercials for direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests featuring people who discovered things about their families they never knew: Great-grandfather was a fisherman with blue eyes, just like me! Grandma fought for the right of women to vote! I have Native American roots! I found my long-lost sister! In one ad, a man trades in his lederhosen for a kilt when he finds that his ancestors came from Ireland and Scotland, not Germany as he had thought.
As we found when we studied marketing for DTC genetic tests, however, the results aren’t 100 percent accurate and vary from one company to another because they are estimates based on comparing your data to that of the company’s other customers. And as DTC genetic testing companies add more customers and collect more data, the results of their tests may change.
The information you receive can be interesting and educational. For example, tests for ancestry can point you in the direction of where your family probably came from, and you may get “DNA matches” to relatives you didn’t know about. Test results for “traits” and “wellness” can help you understand why you are prone to gaining weight or losing your hair and provide suggestions for improving your fitness. You may be surprised to know that the government does not review and approve these kinds of tests before they’re marketed to confirm that the claims made for them are valid.
DTC genetic tests for health risks such as developing cancer or reacting negatively to certain medications are required to be preapproved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before they’re sold, but there can be false positives and false negatives, and the results are not conclusive since other factors such as environment and lifestyle can affect your health. These tests are not intended to diagnose or treat health conditions. It’s essential to check with your doctor before taking any action based on DTC genetic health tests.
There are many other things to consider before you buy DTC genetic tests or give the kits to others. For instance, ancestry tests do not tell you the addresses where your forbearers lived, what their occupations were, whether they served in the military, or other details of their lives. Access to historical records, if available from the company, requires paying for an upgrade or a separate service. And you still have to do a lot of sleuthing yourself to identify the right records and put the pieces of the puzzle together.
It’s also important to realize that the results of ancestry or health tests can be unexpected, and in some cases upsetting. Discovering unknown relatives might be exciting, but it could create family stress and financial issues. You could learn that your ethnic origins are not what you thought, or that you’re not biologically related someone you thought you were, or that you’re at risk for a serious health problem.
Privacy is another concern. You can generally control what other customers of the DTC genetic testing company can see about you and how they can communicate with you, but you may have little control over whether the company uses your personal information to try to sell you other products and services and with whom the company shares it for marketing.
Your data may also be shared with law enforcement agencies under certain circumstances.
Furthermore, there is always the possibility of data breaches that could expose your personal information. In addition, you need to be careful about sharing test results or other personal information yourself — once it’s out there it’s not always possible to pull it back.
When you close your account with a DTC genetic testing company, it doesn’t mean that your personal information is erased. You may have to take an extra steps to have it deleted, and it’s possible that some information may still be kept for legal purposes. As awful as it is to read companies’ privacy policies, it’s really important to do so before you purchase a DTC genetic test kit, and to use the controls the company provides when you set up your account.
“There is a lot of helpful information on DTC genetic testing companies’ websites about genetics and how their services work, but we’re concerned that not many consumers will delve into it and [will] assume they’ll get more detailed and conclusive results than they actually will,” said Susan Grant, CFA Director of Consumer Protection and Privacy and report author.
From our study we concluded that DTC genetic testing companies need to do a better job of bringing important information to consumers’ attention on their websites and in their packaging, that they shouldn’t make claims about accuracy, and that they should make their privacy policies easier to read and understand.
There is also plenty that state legislatures and Congress can do to protect individuals’ privacy and to outlaw unfair practices such as forcing consumers to forgo their rights to go to court if companies have treated them badly (“mandatory binding arbitration” provisions and waivers of class actions are commonly found in DTC genetic testing companies’ terms of service and other consumer contracts).
You can read the full DTC genetic testing report or the condensed version here. We also have tips for consumers. The bottom line: DTC genetic testing is not a genealogy or a medical service. If you’re thinking of taking one of these tests, consider the benefits and risks, and don’t buy a test kit for someone else without checking with that person first to ensure that it would be a welcome gift. | https://medium.com/@cfastaffofficial/should-you-buy-a-genetic-testing-kit-6dc917fb8a1d | ['Consumer Federation Of America'] | 2020-12-03 15:01:09.094000+00:00 | ['Regulation', 'Shopping', 'Privacy', 'Marketing', 'Genetics'] |
Does higher salary necessarily bring more happiness? | The pursuit of job satisfaction is an important factor that directly affects the employment goals of workers, and further the company’s performance. So when we discuss “job satisfaction”, what can we understand about the term? According to Arne KalleBerg, “A worker’s level of job satisfaction is a function of the range of specific satisfactions and dissatisfactions that he/she experiences with respect to the various dimensions of work. It is thus “the pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job as achieving or facilitating the achievement of one’s job values” (Locke, 1969).” (KalleBerg 127)
The concept of job satisfaction has generated an outpouring of research among social scientists. As discussed in the previous post, for this project, we have chosen to look at the job satisfaction levels among developers from the 2017 and 2018 StackOverflow surveys posted on Kaggle.
With these datasets, we have decided to build a descriptive regression model for the 2017 job satisfaction levels, then try use the model to predict the 2018 data and compare with the actual survey results for 2018. We started off by cleaning the dataset with Python, choosing only the variables that we would like to include in our model, such as job satisfaction, career satisfaction, salary, expected salary, number of hours looking for new opportunities per week, benefits, gender, race, etc. Furthermore, we have rescaled the CareerSatisfaction and JobSatisfaction for the 2017 data so it would match the scale of the 2018 data. For instance, a JobSatisfaction level of 10 or 9 would become 7, that of 7 or 7 would become 6, so on and so forth. | https://medium.com/nguyen-bader-analytics/does-higher-salary-necessarily-bring-more-happiness-2da8d05ad19f | ['Mai Nguyen'] | 2019-04-25 04:25:24.711000+00:00 | ['Data Science'] |
Visualizing Relationships between Chemicals and Patent Data | Using graphs, we can uncover interesting relationships for the SME to find similar patents and maybe uncover clusters or groups of patents that can define more niche categories or topics. Typically the process will include:
Read the patent and extract the chemical. Use the chemical to find matches from hundreds of other patents. Read the other patents to ensure if they match properly.
Imagine a scenario where you have a single patent and want similar patents having similar chemicals associated with them? Or find second-degree recommendations of patents from a single chemical?
Questions like these are tough to answer using a traditional database, as we already covered in the article Incompatibility of Conventional Database with Patent Search.
Here, we will see how exactly we can use Neo4j, a graph database, to answer our questions.
Data Ingestion
To see if we can use Neo4j effectively, we first need to find a source of data.
We looked towards the data that powers http://ichemist.ireadrx.ai. We use the NER (Named Entity Recognition) results from claims text and create relationships between the chemical compound name and the patent.
The ingestion process essentially created two nodes and one relationship between them. One important thing to note is that we want two or more nodes with the same chemical name to be merged into a single one; we do not want redundant nodes.
The result of the ingestion looks something like this.
The red nodes represent Patents; the khaki ones represent Chemicals.
Neo4j also gives us data in machine-understandable formats (such as JSON) to audit results and export to other systems for further processing and usage.
The same graph in the above picture is converted to JSON format.
We can now use the data to model our queries to respond to our questions.
Answering Patent Related Questions
Let us take a look at the possible scenarios we can respond to using the power of graphs.
Scenario 1 — Given a Patent ID, can we figure some similar patents based on the fact that the same chemicals may be present in other patents?
This scenario is exciting since users are expected to look for similar patents based on their current work or research. To simplify, let us say you are looking at a Stand Mixer on Amazon. Below the main product details, Amazon will also show you similar products as recommendations. The idea is to replicate a similar scenario for patients.
Match (p:Patent {id:’10633410' })<-[r:PRESENT_IN]-(c:Chemical)-[s:PRESENT_IN]->(n:Patent) RETURN DISTINCT p,r,c,s,n LIMIT 10000
To show you how it works, let us consider a Patent ID “10633410”. We want to find recommendations using just this patent. We extract the chemicals from this patent and use them to search for other patents that contain them. The result looks like the following screenshot below.
A single Patent was used to generate this big cluster.
Scenario 2—Given a chemical, can we figure out the patents containing that chemical and find second-degree recommendations from there?
With the power of graphs, we are not just limited to a single level of query. We can efficiently run second-degree queries as well. This can be used when we have just a single chemical and use it to recommend other patents.
Match (givenChem:Chemical {name:’benzene’})-[:PRESENT_IN]->(topPatent:Patent)
Match (p:Patent {id:topPatent.id })<-[r:PRESENT_IN]-(c:Chemical)-[s:PRESENT_IN]->(n:Patent) RETURN DISTINCT p,r,c,s,n LIMIT 10000
Let us take the example of “benzene” as the chemical name. We find the patents containing the chemical, then use those patents to search for the chemicals they contain. We then use those chemicals to get their containing patents, hence forming second-degree chains. We get a huge network like
A single chemical generated second-degree recommendation clusters
The same graph above is represented in JSON format.
The most interesting thing happens when we zoom into the graph and take a look at a narrower level. As we can see below, we started from “benzene”, and we ended up generating recommendation clusters of chemicals like “carbazole” and “cyclopentyl” which might of interest to the user. So the end result is a single chemical generating a cluster of interesting chemical chains.
Recommended chemical clusters formed from a single chemical.
Conclusion
These results can be represented both as a graph and in JSON for both humans and machines to understand. The clusters generated open up exciting arenas to go through patent data and discover relationships between patents and chemicals. It can also be extended to include diseases, patent holders, and pharmaceutical companies as well.
This service acts as a powerful recommendation engine that enables you to leverage the power of graphs to get your required results within seconds. The results can also be fed into a pipeline, opening up even more potential processes to be sped up by using this service. | https://medium.com/ireadrx/visualizing-relationships-between-chemicals-and-patent-data-f317d7c8bea9 | ['Aniruddha Chatterjee'] | 2021-07-06 04:40:51.403000+00:00 | ['Ichemist', 'Neo4j', 'Graph Database', 'Ireadrx', 'Graph'] |
When Evil Turns on You | It had been a good and productive day at work that day, and — perhaps best of all — a payday Friday, meaning money in the bank account, even if for just the day, as well as a weekend to look forward to and enjoy.
Walking out the back door of work already a few minutes later than usual leaving, I saw a co-worker stopped in the parking lot as her son ran inside to get her paycheck. I had already deposited mine, along with other errands at lunchtime, so I stopped to chat about the various hubbub he co-workerhad missed being off work that day.
But being fifteen minutes or more coming home sent her into a furry of accusations, from drunkenness to irresponsibility and spending too much time at work to general distrust. And we weren’t even late for the “meet the teacher night” scheduled for that evening — yet. I could only imagine the tirade if we were. Of course, I didn’t know what was yet to come for me that evening either.
We had been in a fight the night before, which brought us to my parents’ home for a little advice and counsel, although it still ended in each of us sleeping in separate houses that previous night. Divorce had been brought up, and the distain for me now seemed like a continuation of that. The kids went out to the car as she continued to spout off to me in the bathroom as I changed clothes to go put my happy face on at the elementary school. Disgusted, she then left with a slam of the door to put me on notice she had.
As I came out of the bathroom and headed for the kitchen exit, she was already backing out the driveway. Confused, I shrugged while muttering, “What the hell?” then pointing at her, I yelled, “I thought I was going to go?” And she pulled back in, but not to let me in and go, but to scold and accuse me some more. She proceeded to even jump out of her vehicle and unlocked and searched my truck for evidence to support her stance, but she found none. There was no bottle, no evidence of drinking, because there hadn’t been any just because I was late coming home. A person would think that would deescalate the situation, but the lack of evidence made her even more furious. Then again, she never could handle responsibility for something, anything, let alone being wrong. Or, maybe this was part of the plan.
As she searched my truck, I just shook my hand in disbelief, then true sadness. How sad and pathetic had our 18 year marriage become that this was happening right now? In my mind, that’s the moment that it clicked that we had to get a divorce. If I had naïvely missed all of these red flags beforehand, and there were many I concede now, this one caught my attention loud and clear.
Nonetheless, I had told her very matter-of-factly that she should take the kids to the open house at school and I would just stay home. I was simply surrendering to this one battle, I thought, and went inside the house. But she followed me, hot on my heals in a fury.
Once inside her anger became physical and she shoved me twice with her all. She weighed as much as I did, so she had momentum. As I turned to face her in our kitchen of fifteen years, she shoved me into the pantry door that was always open and I broke some of the louvers in the door, as well as some plastic containers. She continues to shoving as we continue to argue and move around the kitchen.
What has been our worst fight ever, though, got even worse when I told her I wanted a divorce. Slamming the kitchen door, there was a slur of profanity so concentrated that I’d never heard from her, despite her regular cussing, many times in front of our kids, on any normal day. With her hand still on the door handle, she went to leave, but she just had to get another jab in beforehand by saying, “Go to your parents then and get your damn divorce!”
Whether I smirked or what, she came after me again in fury and I tripped over a case of bottled water sitting there on the floor and fell as she continues to hitting, grabbing, and attacking me. I reached up and grabbed her shirt, partly to help myself back up and partly to distance her enough so she was only hitting my arms and not my body, but she ducked out of the shirt and ran out the front door with only her bra on in her continuing hysterics.
Relieved it was over, I just sat there in disbelief of what had just occurred. We had never had physical fights, except for her shoving and pinching me in the past few months. This was new, and I was about to find out that this was when evil turns on you. | https://medium.com/@christophermwathen/when-evil-turns-on-you-3c8f092759b | ['Chris Wathen'] | 2020-12-24 19:44:06.039000+00:00 | ['Betrayal', 'Jail', 'Court Case', 'Divorce', 'Domestic Abuse'] |
Quarantine Fitness Will Change Workout Culture Forever | Quarantine Fitness Will Change Workout Culture Forever
Even when the pandemic ends, the fitness industry will look very different — as will the ways people work out
Photo: recep-bg/Getty Images
As the coronavirus made its way across the world, Jade Wootton finally became a runner.
“I always wanted to be one,” she says. “I thought the ideology was cool, not just going out and getting fit, but also getting endorphins doing it. But I’m very slow, and that was really embarrassing for me.”
Four days into self-imposed quarantine, the 25-year-old says her embarrassment “evaporated,” outweighed by a desire to leave her Bushwick, Brooklyn apartment and to do something with her body that made her feel like she was — at least a little bit — in control. For weeks, Wootton ran every day, building a habit that became the keystone of a new daily routine.
“The first few days of the quarantine were so disorienting,” she says. Running every day helped. And then the routine changed. Again.
“The park I was running in closed, and that freaked me out,” Wootton says. “I find running with a mask on really difficult, and going outside started to feel increasingly frightening.”
Wootton’s now taken most of her workouts to Zoom, where her studio offers daily yoga classes, but she still goes for a long run twice a week.
“I just need some sort of release,” she says. “Just in general, I feel way less overwhelmed and crazy now. Running is something I never really got before; now I get it.”
While the collective quest for abs may have begun as a productive way to pass the time… it’s become, for many, the only manageable aspect of an incredibly precarious world.
Wootton’s not alone in her pursuits. In the face of sweeping stay-at-home mandates, a huge number of Americans seized an opportunity to finally kick-start a regular workout routine. Retailers reported sharp increases in sales of home gym equipment — like Peloton — and online marketplaces quickly sold out of hand weights and kettlebells. With gyms and fitness studio locations ordered closed, virtual workout classes cropped up en masse on social media and via video conferencing platforms, and search traffic for terms like “home workout” spiked substantially in March. Instagram fitness personalities began posting workouts from their home gyms, sometimes using household items like pots and pans or bottles of bleach in place of dumbbells.
But while the collective quest for abs may have begun as a productive way to pass the time, more than a month into a quarantine it’s become, for many, the only manageable aspect of an incredibly precarious world.
Chantae Reden is a travel and adventure journalist living in Fiji. When the travel industry abruptly ceased functioning, she says she lost a significant amount of work. But even more jarring were the changes to her lifestyle. She couldn’t surf or free-dive — activities she considers “a large part of [her] identity,” and was expected to stay home all day, every day, with a boyfriend who is accustomed to working in an office.
“I thought we’d argue a lot more, being home together,” Reden says. “We really weren’t sure how it’d be once we were both here all the time.”
Their saving grace has been a daily workout: Every day at 6 p.m., the pair take a high-intensity cardio class from the Nike Training Club app, and Reden says it’s both strengthened their bond and brought some routine to the day.
It’s also a way to work toward her surfing and free-diving goals, Reden says, despite, at least for the moment, not actually being able to do either of those things. “I’ve been able to strengthen my back, and work on things like arm and shoulder strength,” she says. “I’ve had more time than usual to work on these specific fitness goals,” and, she adds, making progress on them keeps those activities from life before the virus feel like they’re still in reach. | https://elemental.medium.com/quarantine-fitness-will-change-workout-culture-forever-748dbf735172 | ['Kate Morgan'] | 2020-04-27 05:31:01.287000+00:00 | ['Quarantine', 'Workout', 'Exercise', 'Life', 'Fitness'] |
Lucretius: Philosophy vs. Religion | Matter and Void
“…there isn’t anything you could count
Entirely distinct from void or body [matter], to amount
To a sort of third nature.”
Before Epicurus, philosophers like Plato and his pupil Aristotle taught us to look inwards and work out the nature of reality. The truth, these philosophers believed, was to be found in our own minds by a process of abstract reasoning.
By contrast, Epicurus looked to the natural sciences as the root of philosophical understanding. The Epicurean philosophical system begins not with abstract reasoning, but with the external world.
Epicurus looked back to the philosophers before Socrates and Plato, who sought to answer the question “what is reality?”. Democritus —a “pre-Socratic” active around 400 BC — was Epicurus’s chief influence.
Both thinkers deduced from the physical phenomena around us that all matter is made up of small, indivisible particles: atoms.
The Greek word “Atomos” means “un-cuttable”. Democritus reasoned that you could only cut matter so many times before it could no longer be cut. You would be left with the basic “un-cuttable” unit of matter.
Epicurus believed that there must be empty space too for atoms to be able to move through. So nothing exists except atoms and empty void. No atom can be created, and none can be destroyed.
Space is infinite, as is the number of atoms that move within it. All Events and processes are merely the effects of the movement of atoms. All existence is material. Everything that exists is part of nature, and therefore, there can be no supernatural realm.
Whether Epicurus truly believed in the existence of the gods is a matter of speculation. The view the philosopher seemed to take is that the gods exist as entirely independent entities, but insofar as gods exist, they must be made of atoms, like everything else.
As well as being physical and made of atoms, the gods play no part in the universe’s governance, and they take no interest in human affairs. Why would they? Epicurus reasoned that if the gods were perfect, they would have no reason to concern themselves in human affairs.
Hedonism
Epicurus argues certain moral truths follow necessarily from the scientific facts inherited from Democritus. The fundamental belief of Epicureanism is that nobody could rationally pursue anything other than their own pleasure.
Epicurus was a hedonist in that he believed that pleasure was the greatest good, the aspiration we should all have is a life of pleasure. However, the philosopher doesn’t condone the kind of indulgences we would ordinarily associate with hedonism.
For modern readers, hedonism is the pursuit of pleasure of the rock star: “sex, drugs and rock and roll” — or the luxuries of the billionaire: private planes, vintage champagnes, supermodel spouses and superyachts.
The Epicurean idea of pleasure could not be further from these modern associations. Hunger, thirst and sexual desire are instinctive appetites, but we should try to moderate them as far as our natures allow.
Epicurus maintained that ataraxia — “serenity”— is our natural state, a kind of hypostasis of the mind. When a need rises up in us, we are no longer in a state of ataraxia. But all that is required is to satiate our needs by the necessary means to return to ataraxia. The minimum effective dose to cure thirst is a glass of water, not a sugary soda or a glass of vintage wine. To overindulge our senses would create only more desires.
Rational self-control is the key to ataraxia. Romantic love (and the sexual pleasure that comes with it), for example, is to be avoided, as it involves a loss of rational thinking. All pleasures of the senses are inferior to such abstract pleasures as friendship and philosophical contemplation. Epicurus thought friendship was a superior cure to the need for company than romance.
The true Epicurean couldn’t be further from the modern meaning of the word, which summons visions of expensive food and a discerning taste for alcohol. The reality is that Epicureanism is rather austere. The philosopher even disdained poetry as an art form that overcomplicates.
Lucretius was aware of this irony. He justified the poem by comparing philosophy to medicine. Complicated theories can, like medicine, be difficult to swallow. But like the doctor coats the goblet’s lip with honey, so the poet sugarcoats the philosophy: “to kiss it, as it were, with the sweet honey of the Muse.” | https://medium.com/the-sophist/lucretius-philosophy-vs-religion-54af60ed644e | ['Steven Gambardella'] | 2020-11-27 19:15:06.481000+00:00 | ['Culture', 'Philosophy', 'Self', 'Poetry', 'History'] |
How I managed to install [X]Ubuntu alongside Windows 10 on my new XPS 15 | After almost 4 years of using my Dell Latitude E5540, I was due for an upgrade. Well I must say, this laptop has served it’s purpose and I enjoyed every minute of it apart from the battery life and the failing disk which causes my system to just freeze time to time, as I digress.
Anyways, I decided to place an order for a Dell XPS 15 9570. It is an amazing laptop to say the least from the 16Gb memory to the 512Gb SSD not forgetting the Intel Core i7 CPU. I just had to get my filthy hands on it.
The thing with new laptops is that getting Ubuntu installed alongside Windows is a bit trickier due to the high level of security on EUFI mode instead of BIOS, and Windows Bitlocker/secureboot related issues.
I have seen numerous online/YouTube tutorials on installing different versions of Ubuntu on different XPS’s along side Windows 10, however not all work, It is either you Wipe Windows completely and then install Ubuntu or risk corrupting Windows installation — which sucks!!!
Long story short, the last time I used Microsoft Windows was when Windows Vista came out, I have been a Linux heavy user since then and the only reason why I opted to dual boot instead of a complete system-wide Linux installation is the Video editing tools and Gaming on Windows — So I was like…
Enough about the chit-chat let me get down to business.
Preparation
First, you need to download an Ubuntu ISO and burn it to your USB stick. You can find the list of Ubuntu flavors here, I rather prefer XUbuntu and the instructions for burning the ISO to USB are here using etcher.
In your Windows 10:
Partition storage drive
Click the start menu .
. Type disk management and open Disk Management .
and open . Select the Windows partition (most likely to be the largest one).
(most likely to be the largest one). Right click on it and select "Shrink Volume" .
. Shrink to desired amount. (I shrank 200GB for Ubuntu)
See if a partition of "Unallocated space" is shown.
Enable AHCI mode
In order to install Ubuntu or any Linux distro, you need to set the storage drive to AHCI mode.
Click the start menu , search and run Command Prompt as an admin .
, search and run Command Prompt as an . Run: bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal
Reboot.
Tap F2 when you see the Dell logo, until it loads the BIOS/UEFI setup.
when you see the Dell logo, until it loads the BIOS/UEFI setup. Under Settings , select System Configuration then SATA Operation and enable AHCI mode.
, select then and enable mode. Press “Apply”, “Save as Custom User Settings?” and then “Exit”.
Windows will boot into Safemode and will require you to login.
and will require you to login. Open the Command Prompt as an admin again ( Windows + R , type in cmd and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter )
again ( , type in and press ) Run: bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot
Reboot.
Installing Ubuntu
If you followed all the instruction, we are now ready for the installation of Ubuntu.
Insert the Ubuntu USB into the XPS obviously and Reboot.
into the XPS obviously and Reboot. Tap F12 when you see the Dell logo.
when you see the Dell logo. Select the one with the words “UEFI: Vendor blablabla” in it and hit enter.
Select “Try Ubuntu without installing” option [DO NOT HIT ENTER YET!]
YET!] Press e
Find the line with quiet splash and add nomodeset just after it in.
Press F10 to save.
to save. Locate the Ubuntu installer on the desktop and launch it.
on the desktop and launch it. Select "Enable Insecure Boot mode" during the installation and remember the password for it.
during the installation and for it. Complete the installation and Reboot
After the reboot, you will be greeted by a blue screen "Perform MOK management" , press any keys and,
Select Change Secure Boot State
Enter your password and then Continue Boot .
After that, the computer will reboot and you will be greeted by the Grub screen with booting options.
Hover over the option "Ubuntu"
Press e
After the words quiet splash , add nouveau.modeset=0 .
, add . Detailed instructions can be found here
Press F10 to save.
Boot into Ubuntu, and open your terminal and add the parameter nouveau.modeset=0 to the Linux kernel command in grub . To make it permanent.
echo 'GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="nouveau.modeset=0' | sudo tee -a /etc/default/grub sudo update-grub2
Post Ubuntu Installation
After a successful Ubuntu installation, you will need to update the packages as well as install some drivers for your machine, however this can be very tedious. So over time I got irritated about installing packages after a fresh install and then I wrote script to automate my installations.
Check it out on GitHub and read the README.md
The script will install various packages as well as XPS 15 tweaks.
To run the installation enter, command and follow the prompts.
bash -c "$(curl -L https://git.io/runme)"
Conclusion
Dual booting Windows and Linux can be a challenge on it’s own, It took me some time to get everything to working and at the end of it all — It was worth it. The Dell XPS 15 is a great laptop to work on, It will take me sometime to adjust from from using the Latitude. I hope this post was helpful.
Further Reading & Reference | https://medium.com/@mmphego/how-i-managed-to-install-x-ubuntu-alongside-windows-10-on-my-new-xps-15-37089b923ef1 | ['Mpho Mphego'] | 2019-02-25 12:22:53.411000+00:00 | ['Dell', 'Windows 10', 'Xps15', 'Linux', 'Ubuntu'] |
Building a Personal Website (Mini-Series Part 2) | Static Generators
Static generators are a hybrid approach to web development. They allow you to build websites locally and then compile your website for you into static files for deployment. Traditionally when a website user lands on a page the site has to assemble data from its database dynamically, process the content through a template engine, and finally display the page to the visitor. A static generator takes away the database dependency. It grabs all the content, applies it to the right templates, creates the static HTML, and quickly delivers the content to the user.
Static site generators have many advantages
Security
Since static pages are rendered in advance from static HTML the server doesn’t have to build the page completely from other sources. There is less opportunity for hackers to inject malicious code or exploit your database unlike with dynamic sites.
Scalability
It doesn’t take any extra time or effort to serve the same pages multiple times because they don’t have to be reassembled with every delivery. This means no additional computing work required whereas a dynamic site would need more server compute to compile responses for each page request.
Performance
Dynamic sites go back to the server to render each page every single time someone visits it while static site generators store a “pre-built” version that can be delivered nearly instantly making them load almost 10X faster than dynamic sites
What Static Generator should you choose?
There are many static generators available to use. For the purposes of this post, we will be focusing on Hugo. Hugo is built on the language Go. It is an easy-to-set-up, user-friendly static site generator that doesn’t need a lot of configuration. It builds pages quickly and has many free themes that can help you get started with your next static website.
Creating Your Personal Website
To install Hugo you will first need to install a package manager, such as Homebrew
2. Next, install Hugo
$ brew install hugo ==> Downloading https://homebrew.bintray.com/bottles/hugo-0.79.0.catalina.bottle Already downloaded: /Users/tarakrishnan/Library/Caches/Homebrew/downloads/48ada4a614c6820faa5da1919cdcbbd9d5545877212d2ece702c511545c52fd5--hugo-0.79.0.catalina.bottle.tar.gz ==> Pouring hugo-0.79.0.catalina.bottle.tar.gz 🍺 /usr/local/Cellar/hugo/0.79.0: 44 files, 80.4MB
3. Now let’s create our new personal website
$ hugo new site personal_website Congratulations! Your new Hugo site is created in /Users/tarakrishnan/code/blog/personal_website. Just a few more steps and you're ready to go: 1. Download a theme into the same-named folder. Choose a theme from https://themes.gohugo.io/ or create your own with the "hugo new theme <THEMENAME>" command. 2. Perhaps you want to add some content. You can add single files with "hugo new <SECTIONNAME>/<FILENAME>.<FORMAT>". 3. Start the built-in live server via "hugo server". Visit https://gohugo.io/ for quickstart guide and full documentation.
4. Change directories into the newly created site folder and start Hugo
$ cd personal_website && hugo server -D Start building sites … WARN 2020/12/13 11:49:22 found no layout file for "HTML" for kind "home": You should create a template file which matches Hugo Layouts Lookup Rules for this combination. WARN 2020/12/13 11:49:22 found no layout file for "HTML" for kind "taxonomy": You should create a template file which matches Hugo Layouts Lookup Rules for this combination. WARN 2020/12/13 11:49:22 found no layout file for "HTML" for kind "taxonomy": You should create a template file which matches Hugo Layouts Lookup Rules for this combination. | EN -------------------+----- Pages | 3 Paginator pages | 0 Non-page files | 0 Static files | 0 Processed images | 0 Aliases | 0 Sitemaps | 1 Cleaned | 0 Built in 1 ms Watching for changes in /Users/tarakrishnan/code/blog/personal_website/{archetypes,content,data,layouts,static} Watching for config changes in /Users/tarakrishnan/code/blog/personal_website/config.toml Environment: "development" Serving pages from memory Running in Fast Render Mode. For full rebuilds on change: hugo server --disableFastRender Web Server is available at http://localhost:1313/ (bind address 127.0.0.1) Press Ctrl+C to stop
5. View the site you have just created by visiting http://localhost:1313/ in your browser of choice
6. Manage your site using GitHub
$ git init
7. Now that we’ve created our website let’s add a theme. For Hugo theme options see themes.gohugo.io
8. To download a theme the best practice is to add it as a git submodule. In this example, we will be using the tale Hugo theme
$ git submodule add https://github.com/EmielH/tale-hugo.git themes/tale
9. Set your Hugo website theme to be tale
$ echo ‘theme = “tale”’ >> config.toml
9. Now that we have a theme, and we can add content to our site
$ hugo new blog_post/my_first_post.md /Users/tarakrishnan/code/blog/personal_website/content/blog_post/my_first_post.md created
10. Edit the newly created post locally in markdown
---
title: "My_First_Post" date: 2020-12-13T12:54:55-08:00 draft: true
--- Hello Everyone! This is my very first post using the Tale Hugo Theme.
11. Once you create all your posts run the Hugo server locally and refresh your Hugo site to see your changes
Congratulations, you have now created your own static website. Continue following this mini-series to learn how to host your website on Github pages. Go to Part 3 of the mini-series. | https://medium.com/@tarakrishnan/building-a-personal-website-mini-series-part-2-1cb228897fe7 | ['Tara Krishnan'] | 2020-12-17 17:28:48.970000+00:00 | ['Blogging', 'Web Design', 'Portfolio', 'Software Development', 'Web Development'] |
My Child Is An Early Bird – Can I Do Something About It? | My Child Is An Early Bird – Can I Do Something About It?
Early morning wakings are one of the toughest sleep problems to fix, if not the toughest. If you’re wondering why, it’s because after a decent night’s rest your child has got more energy to fight sleep in the morning. And the truth is, all of us come up into lighter sleep phases in the last hour of our sleep, preparing to take up for the day.
Remember, however, your child is waking early only if he is not getting the right amount of night rest for his age and his body. In other words, if your child sleeps from 7 PM to 6 AM, it’s a perfectly reasonable schedule for him, even though it might feel early to you.
https://youtu.be/2oAD8xySI9c
We can’t ask our children to sleep more than 11 hours at night. Their bodies are usually rested after this much sleep, and they won’t be able to do more.
Also keep in mind the following fact: if your child is waking even at 10/½ hours, if he is rested and energetic in the morning and makes it easily till his naptime, then he’s getting enough rest for his body.
Problems arise if your child sleeps from, say, 7 PM to 5:30 AM. In this case, you’ll need to push the bedtime later by 15-minute increments, then watching to see if your child can sleep later in the morning,
A word of caution, though: Making the bedtime later can often have the opposite effect of causing your child to wake up earlier. This is the reason why things need to be done in small steps.
Here are some other ideas to try if your child is an early bird:
Make sure that your child’s room is very, very dark.
If there are any sounds that could be waking him – such as garbage trucks, barking dogs, sprinklers – put white noise in the room and make the volume loud enough to protect him from these sounds
Remove all stimulating toys from your child’s crib or bed, which can be distracting once the sun enters his room.
If you are checking in on your child within the last hour before his wake time, your interaction may prevent him from returning to sleep. Don’t check on him if it’s less than one hour till his wake time.
Make sure the bedtime is not too late for your child’s age. Adjust the bedtime earlier by 15-minute increments, and watch what happens in the morning. In doing so, you will allow your child to sleep later, as he is less overtired at bedtime. If he does wake earlier, return to your previous bedtime. If moving the bedtime earlier has no effect on the wake time, you may want to consider using the earlier bedtime anyway to help your child get the right amount of night sleep for his age.
Make sure your child is not hungry. If you have a child under 12 months and have newly begun to wean feedings, you may want to slow the process down to give him more time to adjust. Moreover, be careful to ensure that you are offering the breast or bottle more often during the day to help him transition his previous nighttime feeds to the daytime, so he won’t be hungry going down for sleep at night. | https://medium.com/@warriornet/my-child-is-an-early-bird-can-i-do-something-about-it-45acd0c58948 | [] | 2021-07-06 13:57:52.709000+00:00 | ['Baby Boomers', 'New Mom', 'Baby Sleep Tips', 'Baby', 'Sleepless Mom'] |
What are the Pros and Cons of DIY Solar Panel Installation? | There are many benefits to going solar. Some people prefer to use clean, renewable energy, and others find it convenient to rely on a private solar company Sydney. There are numerous benefits to going solar, including reducing your expenses, saving money on your heating/cooling bills, combating global climate change by avoiding harmful gas emissions from power plants.
Saving money on your electric bill isn’t just important for avoiding energy costs that can spike during the summertime or for avoiding double-dipping on payments for things like air conditioning or heating. Homeowners who go solar also reap numerous financial benefits, such as lower utility bills and better value for their investment in clean energy equipment. When you add all these factors together, it can make financial sense to go solar.
Now, it’s entirely possible to see significant savings by using a professional solar company Sydney — that is, after all, how most people go solar. Just to directly lower your upfront costs as much as possible, many people consider doing a “do-it-yourself (DIY) solar installation.” Eventually, everyone seems to think that it’s cheaper to install yourself rather than hiring someone professional to do it for you!
Let’s understand the pros and cons of a DIY solar installation and how does one go about completing one?
Is it worth doing a DIY solar installation?
While starting your own solar installation on your own is much cheaper than hiring a professional solar company Sydney, it’s still an extensive and costly commitment. You’ll want to determine whether DIY solar is right for you before becoming too invested in the process. We are here to help you decide if a DIY solar installation is worth it for you. We have made a list of possible pros and cons.
PROS
Cost savings
A professional solar company’s average cost of solar panel installation is around $1.01 per watt as of May 2021. A typical 5 kW (5,000 watts) solar system Sydney works out to $7000.
A 5 kW DIY solar panel kit supposedly costs you near the same rate. If you perform the entire installation job yourself, without any contractors, the whole cost of a 5 kW DIY solar installation will go around $5,000.
That gives you a potential savings of $2000 by choosing DIY over a professional solar installation.
The figures above are just averages. Many variables can change these numbers for you, such as system size and whether or not you qualify for the solar tax credit.
DIY satisfaction
If you’re one of those people who likes to accept big and challenging DIY projects and complete them smoothly, then a DIY solar installation might give you self-satisfaction.
You will need to draw on many different skill sets. Possessing a solid business acumen, proficiency with power tools, electrical work, and a talent for negotiating municipal processes will help you evaluate and implement new systems or equipment.
And there are many stages to solar installation Sydney — researching, planning, shopping, permitting, installation, electric wiring, and monitoring.
This solar project will keep you busy for a while, and if you manage to complete it on your own, you will feel a sense of pride in your accomplishment.
CONS
You need to invest a lot of time and effort.
Taking up a DIY solar installation on yourself can be rewarding — but only if you’re actively seeking a severe DIY challenge.
If, however, your experience with DIY projects is only limited to tasks such as assembling a set of furniture, you might want to do some research or drop the idea of taking on solar. A DIY solar installation Sydney not only requires much planning and organizational skills, but it is also a very time-consuming and tiring project. A DIY solar installation can usually take up to one to four months.
Risk of roof damage or leaks
This is perhaps the most prominent financial risk when choosing to do a DIY solar installation for your home.
An easily overlooked but potentially critical aspect of solar power development is the proper installation of solar panels Sydney. Making these holes requires specialized tools and expertise. In some cases, roofers may begin by drilling pilot holes into the roof to prepare for later additions or remove debris.
A DIY solar installation voids your roof’s warranty, meaning if there’s a problem with your installation and it needs to be fixed, you’ll have to pay for it out of pocket — even if you’ve signed up for a warranty replacement.
Physical danger
Before you start any solar installation work, it’s best to understand one of the biggest risks facing DIYers: heights and high voltage electricity. If you’re installing solar panels Sydney on your roof or garage, you’re putting yourself in a very vulnerable position. There are electrical hazards that can and will kill you if not understood. The height of the electrical wiring is critical! If it’s higher than what your house or building permits, it can electrocute you!
And the risks aren’t just restricted to the installation. If there are any problems with the 25-year life of the panels, you will have to struggle to get back on the roof to troubleshoot the issue.
Worst of all, if you don’t connect the wiring correctly, your rooftop system could catch fire!
No support for faults or warranty claims
You are on your own if there is ever a fault with the equipment.
Of course, you can still contact the manufacturer directly, but it can be challenging to prove a warranty claim. It’s also unlikely that the manufacturer would be willing to offer a replacement or repair service if anything goes wrong during the installation process.
Inability to claim some incentives
Australia’s government offers incentives and rebates that dramatically reduce the cost of going solar.
Some incentives, however, are only available when a certified solar company Sydney completes the installation. Make sure to check what incentives and rebates are available where you live. | https://medium.com/@info-36526/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-diy-solar-panel-installation-cca42bd54e83 | ['Ayka Solar'] | 2021-06-08 05:52:00.307000+00:00 | ['Renewable Energy', 'Solar System', 'Solar Energy', 'Solar Panel Installation', 'Solar Power'] |
5 lessons I learnt after reading 50+ self-help books | Pareto: The famous 80:20 rule. Applicable to anything and everything humans do. Job, relationships, working out, business. 20% of
The job then becomes to continuously trying to figure out the 20% and channel most energies there. One way I do this is to ask myself this question before any meeting scheduled — Is this meeting in the 20% considering my work goals. If the answer is no, I either decline it or finish my other pending works while the meeting goes on. This also means constantly looking for the 20%, by adding /exploring activities in the related field and questioning everything we take up.
Systems >Goals: This comes from How to fail at almost everything and still win big — by Scott Adams and Atomic Habits — by James Clear. Both Scott and James have personally changed my thinking through their writings.
Let me exemplify this by taking the most common goal — weight loss. Now, a common goal can be losing 15 kgs in 6 months. Fairly simple. The reason why goals tend to falter is the absence of immediate results. You want to lose 15, and if after a month you don't see you’ve lost more than 1/2, you feel demotivated and lose momentum. This happens because goals are tied to end results and till we get there, we feel sad about not being where we desire.
Systems do not chase any end result. A usual system, in this case, can be to walk for 5 km a day and to increase by 1/2km every week. You put on the shoes, go for a walk and come back feeling satisfied with the work done. Every day you get a sense of accomplishment which adds the fuel to continue with the goal.
Probability — Chance? No. At a broader level, everything we do has a probability to it. Even lottery tickets!
Odds can be in favor or against, but can never be 0. For instance, you are applying for a job where the probability of getting an interview call is 1%. Well, on 100 applications you get 1 call. Now the only way you can get more calls is by more applications. At 1000, you get 10 calls. I understand the simplistic nature of this example. The point I am trying to make here is, even the most daunting challenges have a probability of success, and the only way to get there is to increase the denominator — the no. of trials.
I keep reminding myself that if anyone else has done it- I can do it too.
Compounding- Indeed a wonder! Compounding works, across all life domains. It has the magical ability to affect us in both ways — positively and negatively. Doing mundane tasks with repetition over a long time gives multifold rewards. The returns won't be visible early on and that is where most new habits die. Health, investments, and relationships, those little things need to be done over and over again and the rewards will take care of themselves.
Add the law of variety or incremental betterment and one is set for bigger things.
1.01³⁶⁷ =37.7
Compounding = Repetition + Perseverance +Incremental
Mind Health— Now, more than ever, there should be a focus on preserving one's mental health. The economy is an attention economy with product managers and engineers around the worst fighting to grab a share of our attention span. The result - anxious irritated mind and a surge in depression cases.
A healthy mind can simply be defined as the ability to sit and do nothing for extended periods of time. Stare at the wall, do breathing exercises, unread your mental inbox from the past, or simply do nothing — as per one’s comfort. Starting with 10,15,30 mins and try and aim for 60–90. There are no rules, and the only rule is to “let your mind be”.
Personally, I started the 60 min 60-day “meditation” recommended by Naval Ravikant it has been life-changing for me. | https://medium.com/@iamsandeepjha/5-lessons-i-learnt-after-reading-50-self-help-books-1569e5406af2 | ['Sandeep Kumar Jha'] | 2020-12-20 06:22:14.080000+00:00 | ['Reading', 'Goals', 'Habits', 'Life Lesson', 'Self Help'] |
These 3 Principles Helped Me Shine In My First Dev Job | These 3 Principles Helped Me Shine In My First Dev Job
Analyzing the work culture of tech companies from a millennial’s perspective
Photo by Ali Yahya on Unsplash
Coming from a technical background, I only knew one “mantra” to excel in this field; the more technical, the better. Well more so, because that’s what I was taught in school(by the way, which was until last year). However, being a recent graduate, and having worked for two hardcore technical companies, I’ve come to question the existence of this mantra in the present times; summarized below are my findings…
What working in a tech field has made me realize is that technical skills are no longer the challenge once you step into the business world, it’s dealing with the humans that’s much more challenging. The schools have well prepared us to take up any technical challenges, but we’re much less prepared to deal with the strangeness of human behaviour.
Watch-Out for Human Oddities
There can be instances when you may be technically correct, yet no one seem to have been rooting for you. No one’s supporting your decisions. Wonder, why?
Now, here you have to understand, sometimes very vital technical decisions are tend to be taken on the basis of very non-technical arguments. Let me start with an example, that I’m sure some of you would be able to relate to more than the others. So, you are part of a design decision, but your manager used to work on some old XYZ technology and she/he is comfortable with that. Therefore, this XYZ technology has been chosen for this project. Clearly, you’re not entirely happy with this decision, but your level in English is not good enough to argue well enough, or perhaps, you were sick on the day of an important meeting.
Well, sometimes your ambition to change a design, no matter how easy and how literal amount of work it may take, can frighten the rest of the members of your team to step out their comfort zone.
It’s even possible that your colleague “Jack” doesn’t like you, so he doesn’t like your design or your proposal as well. Well, I can go on and on with similar examples, but I think you got the point here.
The important takeaway here is; if you want your technical decisions to be supported and accepted by others, you will have to arm yourself with skills that go well beyond your technical skills, such as negotiation skills, leadership skills, and good communication skills. So, that sums up the first principle.
Old Habits Die Hard
Secondly, as a computer science major and having studied this discipline for more than six years, it was not just about working with different programming languages, or different tools and technology, it’s much deeper than that! It’s like practicing a culture and abiding by all the rules. Although, this isn’t necessarily true for the firm you work for. Depending on the operation domain of your company or the kind of project/team you work with, there is a very high chance that due to the core business of your firm or even the academic background of different members in your team, they don’t consider this discipline of technology as sacred as you do! Shocker??? Not really… What I really mean to say is, good practices can be taken for granted, or even might not be implemented at all.
There could be no code reviews, no unit tests written, or even no version controls being used in the firm that you work for.
Now, being a young engineer, all you will have to propose will be technical solutions:
What if there is no version control system, I’ll install git.
What’s next, there’s no tests written, I’ll install a good testing library.
And, if there is no code reviews, we’ll protect the master branch.
However, again, the important thing to understand here is; the problem was never about giving a technical solution. The problem was primarily human. More specifically, it was about the culture of your team or the firm.
The culture of a team is far more difficult to change than any tool. So, whenever you have a choice between choosing a very well equipped team and a disciplined team, choose wisely!!!
It sure takes time and effort to change the culture, but let me tell you, it’s well worth the efforts.
Perfect Geniuses are Scalable
Finally, let’s talk about the difference between a genius and a professional. In school and university, few people who could create complex algorithms alone or could compile thousands of lines of code overnight, are considered geniuses and they’re respected the most. However, I don’t think that really holds for the business world though!
When geniuses work alone on a project in their job, their confidence makes them over-promise, but what they don’t understand is that even geniuses just have 24 hours in a day. This bottleneck makes them slow down everyone else in the team along with themselves. This hinders the progress of the team, and makes it very hard for the team or for them to meet deadlines.
Besides, a genius’ mind has the ability to perceive complex stuff, so they can comfortably design really complex solutions which no one else understands. As a result, their presence is mandatory for every decision. Therefore, it’s really hard to work with them as a team. Moreover, this creates a dependency on one single person or in technical terms, it creates a single point of failure. Once, our genius gets sick, goes on a vacation, or god forbid, gets hit by a bus, it’s the other members of the team who will have to work real hard to cover for the months or even years of unprofessionalism.
Real geniuses are the geniuses who have the capability of producing simplistic designs and sharing their knowledge, as well as their workload with other people. These geniuses are called professionals.
Professionals are not scared to share their knowledge or even their responsibilities, so that they don’t become the bottleneck, or the single point of failure for their company.
Source: Twitter
As Arnaud Debec, a private cloud builder at airbus, brilliantly said, “geniuses build scalable services, but professionals are scalable geniuses”. That clearly sums up my third principle. Now, whenever you’re faced with a choice to make between choosing a professional or a genius, I hope you know who to work with!!!
All right, that’s a wrap, so let me know about your choices down in the comments section. I love to hear all about your views on the points discussed in this article. Thank-you for your time. I hope it was worth your time. Happy learning! | https://medium.com/javascript-in-plain-english/these-3-principles-helped-me-shine-in-my-first-dev-job-43d725379ff8 | ['Kritika Sharma'] | 2020-12-24 08:30:39.531000+00:00 | ['Software Development', 'Coding', 'Technology', 'Work', 'Programming'] |
Functional Week | This is going to a HOT and STEAMY week!!!
I have decided to to break this down into two different categories this week, as last week it worked very well for me as I can spread my thoughts more evenly and I can get more of my knowledge out there more efficiently.
Over on The Fitness Oracle we are going to be talking about function as it applies to exercise and I will be debunking this term. Here on medium, we are going to be talking about how function applies to the joints and muscles. I will do my best NOT to make this an anatomy essay, so forgive me if I get way too technical.
Here is what to expect this week on medium:
Monday I go into 2 myths and misconnections that have greatly influenced the personal training world, isolation and muscle confusion
Tuesday I am going to talk about how to fully understand the difference of what a trainer is telling you and what they really mean
Wednesday I answer the ONE BIG question that surrounds both isolation and muscle confusion
Thursday I go back and talk about the day that this all became clear to me and the ah-ha moment that I had
Friday I am going to rant, as usual, about both isolation and muscle confusion, and
Saturday I am going to wrap this week and the month up, tie in a nice little bow and forget it all happened.
This week I am going to be a little passionate about this topic of function as I have so many heated debates with other trainers concerning this topic and I hope that by the end of the week you will have a better understanding of why I get so heated about this topic. | https://medium.com/@viofitness/functional-week-c2b6ca1b54bf | ['John Katsavos'] | 2021-04-25 21:01:12.405000+00:00 | ['Functional', 'Isolation', 'Training', 'Functional Training', 'Muscle Confusion'] |
Sachin Tendul’17K’ar | Two balls outside off stump. Both met with the full face of the bat but straight the fielders in the cover-point region. The next ball was slightly outside off; a small walk across the stumps and with the deftest of turns of the bat, the ball raced away down toward the vacant mid wicket boundary and he picked up three. The entire stadium went berserk, the entire country went mad with joy and yet the man himself was more interested in changing his bat. After selecting a bat that he felt was best, he turned to the crowd and acknowledged their cheers with just a gentle wave of the left hand as if to say, ‘Thank you folks, but I have some unfinished business to tend to.’ A milestone that was thought to be unattainable: 17000 runs in One Day Internationals, had just been achieved, and the only reaction from the man who got it? A nonchalant wave. There was a more important task in hand, winning the match. That, ladies and gentleman, sums up the man for you. It has, is and will always be ‘India first’.
What can further be said about the man who has carried the hopes of a nation on his shoulders for two decades? 17000 runs in ODIs, 30000 plus in all forms of the game, approaching a century of centuries and yet, the innate values remain the same; the same boyish charm, the same enthusiasm and the same passion that has driven this remarkable journey.
Watching his innings last night, was a throwback to the nineties, not only did I witness the same uninhibited and free flowing innings that typified the man in the last decade of the 20th century, but also the familiar theme of a lone ranger fighting against the tide, valiantly and not giving in, even when all the odds were stacked firmly against him. His innings was such a treat to watch that the commentators were quite lost for words. ‘Genius’, ‘Brilliant’, ‘Outstanding’, ‘Sensational’, ‘Incredible’ seemed to be the only words that were being spoken when he was batting.
His undying passion for the game and love for the country was highlighted further during the post match press conference. Looking at his forlorn face, you would never have guessed that here stood a man, who had scaled Everest already, had discovered a peak higher than it, and scaled that too. His disappointment at India having lost the match outweighed the sense of achievement; that, typifies the man. When Arun Lal asked him, ‘Sachin what keeps you going?’ He replied ‘I guess it’s the passion for the game and the desire to play for India.’ If anyone else had said this, they could be forgiven for sounding a bit clichéd but when Sachin says this, everyone has a lump in their throat because they all know that there is nothing but genuineness there.
So, 17000 has been scaled. 45 tons in One day cricket. He’s got most of the records that matter and keeps breaking his own. Yet, in spite of all this, he’s always due for a big score, every time he comes out to bat. ‘What next?’ one may be tempted to ask. Only Sachin can answer that.
He’s been called many things: ‘Master Blaster’, ‘The Little Master’, ‘Tondulkar’, ‘Genius’, ‘The little champion’ and many many more but ultimately, the great man will want to be known thus :
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar — Indian Cricketer. | https://medium.com/yechh/sachin-tendul17k-ar-18e5434c774b | ['Yechh H'] | 2016-11-26 07:10:48.718000+00:00 | ['Cricket'] |
Testing borg backups on Mac OS X | Backups are your last resort. If you are using a backup, generally this means that everything else has failed. I described what I use for backups, borg and where I store it, Borgbase. But what if I actually need that backup? Testing your backups is one of the key steps to your backup strategy and should not be overlooked.
My first test was to attempt to restore a backup to the same machine.
$ mkdir blah
$ cd blah
$ export BORG_PASSPHRASE='thisismyrealpassword'
$ borg extract [email protected]:repo::my-snapshot
Above I’ve created a temporary directory “blah”, and will restore data from the backup “my-snapshot”. Borg, like most unix commands, completes silently
$ ls
Amazon Photos
$ find . |wc -l
42
I can see the directory was created and 42 files have been restored on this host. I could be more through and verify the checksum of the files from their original, but because my backup (and restore) are images, a brief glace at the files in finder lets me know that they are in tact.
This is the best case scenario. I’m backing up from this host, and restoring to a different directory on this same host. If you are in a worst case scenario, where your host is compromised or unavailable, will your backups work? As a final test, I try to restore from a different host. On my laptop I perform the following
$ mkdir blah
$ cd blah
$ export BORG_PASSPHRASE='thisismyrealpassword'
$ borg extract [email protected]:repo::my-snapshot
Remote: [email protected]: Permission denied (publickey,gssapi-keyex,gssapi-with-mic).
Connection closed by remote host. Is borg working on the server?
I’m missing my ssh key! Adding my key from my lastpass vault (adding my private key to ~/.ssh/id_ed25519) and trying again
$ time borg extract [email protected]:repo::my-snapshot
real 0m3.377s
user 0m0.751s
sys 0m0.252s
$ du -sh .
2.0M .
Within seconds, my files are restored to another machine.
Things I learned
Always test your backups! Backups are only as good as your ability to restore.
Test your backups from hosts that they were not taken from. I haven’t even ventured into permissions or groups, both of which can impact your recovery.
taken from. I haven’t even ventured into permissions or groups, both of which can impact your recovery. Borgbase is what I’m useing for offsite storage, but there are lots of options. rsync.net has a great enterprise feature of creating snapshots of your backups to prevent remote writes. This immutable backup is invaluable in the face of ransomware attacks. There are many solutions in the space so worry less about the technology and more about actually having a backup.
Next steps | https://medium.com/@jswheeler/testing-your-backups-8c698879f4fe | ['John Wheeler'] | 2020-01-14 04:25:26.595000+00:00 | ['Borg', 'Remote Backups', 'Borgbase', 'Mac', 'OS X'] |
Internal APIs Need a Developer Portal | By Parna Bhattacharya
When we on Google Cloud’s Apigee team talk to enterprises working to build their API programs, the developer portal is often a critical part of the conversation.
As destinations for APIs, documentation, testing tools, community support, and more, developer portals are recognized as de facto storefronts for external-facing APIs, such as those available to partners or to third-party developers.
With external APIs, developers play a crucial role in the value chain, taking the data and functionality that APIs express and modularly combining and recombining them into new services and digital experiences. These developers are a special kind of customer for the enterprise, and just as companies encourage consumers to adopt digital services by making sign-up as easy and friction-free as possible, companies need to make their APIs simple for outside developers to access and use. Therefore, it’s essential to give these developers a first-class experience — which is what a portal helps to do.
But what about internal APIs that are never meant for public exposure, such as those used by a human resources department to connect systems and for employee-facing applications? And what about internal developers leveraging APIs within the enterprise? Should businesses invest in building portals for them?
Yes, they should.
Internal developers working purely with internal-facing systems and digital assets have many of the same needs as their counterparts outside the organization. Internal developers can occupy a similar role in leveraging software to create value. Unless an enterprise wants its internal talent to waste time duplicating work instead of using APIs that already exist, its developers need easy and secure discovery, support, and testing tools — just like their external counterparts.
For example, Service NSW, an Apigee customer that provides government services to people and businesses throughout New South Wales, adopted an internal developer portal “to bring together all our APIs in one place, and to improve visibility so that various product teams can discover and use them,” said Rahul Dutta, Product Director at Service NSW.
He said that compared to the agency’s old system for API distribution, which was often siloed and reliant on ad-hoc processes, the portal helps internal developers to reuse existing APIs and for the organization to develop software more efficiently and apply more consistent governance and security policies.
As this example suggests, a company shouldn’t burden its own talent with a worse experience than it provides for external talent. As former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer famously said, “Developers! Developers! Developers!” — and today’s business leaders should take his chant to heart, regardless of whether the developers are inside or outside the organization.
Four Challenges API Portals for Internal Developers Help Solve
Discoverability
Often, enterprises possess a large number of internal APIs — sometimes hundreds or even thousands. Consequently, when teams cannot easily find an existing resource, they end up building duplicate functionality — which can be a costly and time-wasting inefficiency.
Internal API portals can help by providing a central catalog of APIs that teams can check before attempting to engineer their own solutions. Reusing existing APIs can accelerate project completion, and providing internal developers the ability to learn and test APIs can reduce barriers to consumption and reuse. If employees are sending emails to hunt down an API or its documentation, the enterprise is not helping them to do good work.
Collaboration and Innovation
Because of their modularity, APIs enable teams to be more responsive to changing customer needs. They can create new communication pipelines and new ways of solving complex problems as teams leverage one another’s work. Challenges such as conflicting priorities never completely disappear, of course, but by making it easy for internal developers to adopt the API platform, a company can make it easier for teams to function in autonomous, agile ways, and to minimize dependencies among various teams’ work.
Security
There is no reason why the API security standards and controls should be more relaxed for internal APIs than for the external APIs. An internal developer portal can provide a secure way for internal developers to register an application and to access API keys and tokens. Without a portal, developers might have to resort to dangerous workarounds like sharing API keys over email or other public channels! Centralizing APIs in a portal and managing them via an API platform also enables an opportunity to clearly enforce consistent access controls.
Internal Can Become External — so do Internal Right From the Start
If an API is useful to developers inside an organization, there’s a good chance it might be useful to outside developers too. This means that API products that are exposed internally today might be great candidates for partners or public consumers in the future. Indeed, high internal consumption of an API might help an enterprise identify the asset as the next one that should be opened to the outside. If the enterprise were not managing and monitoring its internal catalog, it might never have made the connection.
Bottom line, when internal APIs are designed and managed with the right security controls, documentation, and user-oriented attitude from the beginning, a great deal of technical debt can be avoided later.
[Ready to learn more about empowering developers? Read our free eBook, Creating World-Class Developer Experiences.] | https://medium.com/apis-and-digital-transformation/internal-apis-need-a-developer-portal-ffb6310ed757 | [] | 2019-03-21 20:11:01.620000+00:00 | ['Software Development', 'Api Management', 'Digital Transformation', 'Software Engineering', 'API'] |
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Film, also called Episode, motion picture or moving picture, is a visual art-form used to simulate experiences that communicate ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere through the use of moving images. These images are generally accompanied by sound, and more rarely, other sensory stimulations.[1] The word “cinema”, short for cinematography, is often used to refer to filmmaking and the film The Flight Attendant, and to the art form that is the result of it.
TELEVISION (TV), in some cases abbreviated to tele or television, is a media transmission medium utilized for sending moving pictures in monochrome (high contrast), or in shading, and in a few measurements and sound. The term can allude to a TV, a TV program, or the vehicle of TV transmission. TV is a mass mode for promoting, amusement, news, and sports.
TV opened up in unrefined exploratory structures in the last part of the 5910s, however it would at present be quite a while before the new iNBCovation would be promoted to customers. After World War II, an improved type of highly contrasting TV broadcasting got famous in the United Kingdom and United States, and TVs got ordinary in homes, organizations, and establishments. During the 5Season 8s, TV was the essential mechanism for affecting public opinion.[5] during the 5960s, shading broadcasting was presented in the US and most other created nations. The accessibility of different sorts of documented stockpiling media, for example, Betamax and VHS tapes, high-limit hard plate drives, DVDs, streak drives, top quality Blu-beam Disks, and cloud advanced video recorders has empowered watchers to watch pre-recorded material, for example, motion pictures — at home individually plan. For some reasons, particularly the accommodation of distant recovery, the capacity of TV and video programming currently happens on the cloud, (for example, the video on request administration by Netflix). Toward the finish of the main decade of the 180s, advanced TV transmissions incredibly expanded in ubiquity. Another improvement was the move from standard-definition TV (SDTV) (53i, with 882 intertwined lines of goal and 882) to top quality TV (HDTV), which gives a goal that is generously higher. HDTV might be communicated in different arrangements: 3456561, 88288 and 174. Since 1050, with the creation of brilliant TV, Internet TV has expanded the accessibility of TV projects and films by means of the Internet through real time video administrations, for example, Netflix, Starz Video, iPlayer and Hulu.
In 1053, 19% of the world’s family units possessed a TV set.[1] The substitution of early cumbersome, high-voltage cathode beam tube (CRT) screen shows with smaller, vitality effective, level board elective advancements, for example, LCDs (both fluorescent-illuminated and LED), OLED showcases, and plasma shows was an equipment transformation that started with PC screens in the last part of the 882s. Most TV sets sold during the 180s were level board, primarily LEDs. Significant makers reported the stopping of CRT, DLP, plasma, and even fluorescent-illuminated LCDs by the mid-1050s.[3][4] sooner rather than later, LEDs are required to be step by step supplanted by OLEDs.[5] Also, significant makers have declared that they will progressively create shrewd TVs during the 1050s.[6][1][5] Smart TVs with incorporated Internet and Web 1.0 capacities turned into the prevailing type of TV by the late 1050s.[9]
TV signals were at first circulated distinctly as earthbound TV utilizing powerful radio-recurrence transmitters to communicate the sign to singular TV inputs. Then again TV signals are appropriated by coaxial link or optical fiber, satellite frameworks and, since the 180s by means of the Internet. Until the mid 180s, these were sent as simple signs, yet a progress to advanced TV is relied upon to be finished worldwide by the last part of the 1050s. A standard TV is made out of numerous iNBCer electronic circuits, including a tuner for getting and deciphering broadcast signals. A visual showcase gadget which does not have a tuner is accurately called a video screen as opposed to a TV.
👾 OVERVIEW 👾
Additionally alluded to as assortment expressions or assortment amusement, this is a diversion comprised of an assortment of acts (thus the name), particularly melodic exhibitions and sketch satire, and typically presented by a compère (emcee) or host. Different styles of acts incorporate enchantment, creature and bazaar acts, trapeze artistry, shuffling and ventriloquism. Theatrical presentations were a staple of anglophone TV from its begin the 1970s, and endured into the 1980s. In a few components of the world, assortment TV stays famous and broad.
The adventures (from Icelandic adventure, plural sögur) are tales about old Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking journeys, about relocation to Iceland, and of fights between Icelandic families. They were written in the Old Norse language, for the most part in Iceland. The writings are epic stories in composition, regularly with refrains or entire soNBCets in alliterative stanza installed in the content, of chivalrous deeds of days a distant memory, stories of commendable men, who were frequently Vikings, once in a while Pagan, now and again Christian. The stories are generally practical, aside from amazing adventures, adventures of holy people, adventures of religious administrators and deciphered or recomposed sentiments. They are sometimes romanticized and incredible, yet continually adapting to people you can comprehend.
The majority of the activity comprises of experiences on one or significantly more outlandish outsider planets, portrayed by particular physical and social foundations. Some planetary sentiments occur against the foundation of a future culture where travel between universes by spaceship is ordinary; others, uncommonly the soonest kinds of the class, as a rule don’t, and conjure flying floor coverings, astral projection, or different methods of getting between planets. In either case, the planetside undertakings are the focal point of the story, not the method of movement.
Identifies with the pre-advanced, social time of 1945–65, including mid-century Modernism, the “Nuclear Age”, the “Space Age”, Communism and neurosis in america alongside Soviet styling, underground film, Googie engineering, space and the Sputnik, moon landing, hero fuNBCies, craftsmanship and radioactivity, the ascent of the US military/mechanical complex and the drop out of Chernobyl. Socialist simple atompunk can be an extreme lost world. The Fallout arrangement of PC games is a fabulous case of atompunk.
Find US :
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• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com | https://medium.com/bet-tyler-perrys-assisted-living-s1e22-full-show/full-ep-tyler-perrys-assisted-living-series1-episode-22-full-hq-9cca7f3a9930 | [] | 2020-12-23 13:58:34.372000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'People'] |
Tremendous love love love. | Bonjour dear humans.
This week my heart is humming for books; I’m curled tightly around their bindings for warmth like a wet, matted cat under a leaky porch trying to hide from the rain.
(I was dating someone for a while a couple years ago — I called him Jesus Cowboy because of his tendency toward silence, penetrative staring, and his head of gleaming mahogany brown, shoulder-length hair. He’d half-moved in during Christmastime — I was manically throwing myself into this odd man — when one day we spotted a cat, soaking wet and shaking, trying to hide under a shallow awning. I rushed to my house to get a can of tuna fish and started to cry as I rummaged through the cabinets.
“You’re just looking for something to be sad about,” he spat at me. I suppose he was annoyed I wasn’t smiling and laughing which is infinitely more convenient and conducive to sex. Little did he know that I love a good cry and fuck, so the joke’s on him.
Anyway, I told him to get the hell out and that was basically it. If you can’t muster a tender heart for me and a wet, lost, maybe-riddled-with-madness cat, you can’t stay.
I say all this because I have been feeling a bit like that cat.)
I’ve been in need of understanding — blind, animal knowingness — and sometimes books just know. I’m so goddamn thankful for words and stories, I wish I had four heads and eight hands and a fireplace so I could wander through and wield all the tales I need right now.
Where are you seeking shelter? What tangled yarns are keeping you warm and dry?
With love + rage,
Katie Tandy
Co-founder | Creative Director
By Katie Schmid
The wife is a technology that winnows potential. To become a wife is to move from the state of being something unknown or threatening into a state of intelligibility, to move from anti-meaning (a place of resistance) to stasis (a place of deadness).
To even acknowledge the extent to which wives already wife for each other is a threat not only to the state of marriage, but to the state.
The state of wifeliness can determine the existence of both allegiance to nationhood (in the form of access to contingent citizenship) and the existence of state-acknowledged personhood (in the form of access to civil rights).
“Our bodies are the vessel for how we experience the world, and the world has an ever growing fracture from the absence of love. I’m an amputee and this image is one of the first I’ve created that addresses what being disabled is, sans able-bodied expectations.”
— Artist Artemis Xenakis
Est. swag supports diverse artists!
By TaLynn Kel
I came out of the theater angry at Wakanda.
I know it’s not a real place. I KNOW it’s not real. It’s a flawed fantasy that doesn’t align with the reality of the history of my family, my people.
Still, to watch a narrative where the person with the power to change the world opts to murder his brother and desert his nephew to the poverty and oppression faced by so many Black people, all to maintain a separatist, non-interference policy, while spying and learning the atrocities endured by millions and doing nothing to stop it?
That’s a hard pill to swallow.
BECOME AN EST. MEMBER.
IT’S AWESOME AND GOOD FOR THE WORLD!
By Nour Naas
My mother was beloved in our community, known for her exceptional cooking and shrewdness. But though her funeral brought together people that I had not seen in over a decade, celebrating her and her life, not once did anyone blame my father for what he did.
Everyone wrote off his choice to kill my mother as a psychological illness, as a whisper from the devil, ignoring a reality that had been building up for years prior. Denial made the reality a bit easier to bear on each side — as a community, and as a targeted group in the United States.
By Cade Leebron
There’s not much room for consent — or even basic conversation — in this narrative. The young woman simply attracts the man by virtue of her youth and physicality, while the man is “mesmerized.” It’s hard to imagine, if this is how we see these young women, that a relationship could ever evolve from this power dynamic. But why is this how we see young women?
When people critique relationships with age differences, I suspect they aren’t actually concerned about the effects of the patriarchy. I suspect, instead, that they’re concerned with young women expressing agency in a world that demands they have none.
By Becky Hayes
These critiques have dogged #MeToo from the beginning, and now that the backlash to the movement has reached a crescendo, we’re about to hear a whole lot more.
But don’t listen.
Social media is exactly the right place for #MeToo to play out. In fact, it’s the only place it ever could. The frequent invocation of due process ignores just how inadequate the American legal system is for protecting women against sexual violence and harassment.
It is precisely because the courts of law and other traditional avenues of recourse have failed women that they’ve turned to the internet and the court of public opinion. | https://medium.com/the-establishment/tremendous-love-love-love-356cafaeb72a | ['Katie Tandy'] | 2018-02-23 18:59:43.748000+00:00 | ['The Bachelor', 'Marriage', 'Metoo', 'Black Panther', 'Islamophobia'] |
She Opened Her Mouth and the Roof Fell In | She Opened Her Mouth and the Roof Fell In
a poem
Image by Angelo Giordano from Pixabay
She opened her mouth and the roof fell in.
The walls collapsed around her
and the house she had built
with the sweat of her heart
crumbled to dust.
If only I’d kept my mouth closed,
she thought.
But then she saw angles of sunlight
slicing through the haze
a sky so blue it hurt to see
and she could hear birdsong
for the first time in years
So she swept some fragments to the side,
sat down in the midst of the rubble,
lifted her face to the heavens
And called it home | https://medium.com/resistance-poetry/she-opened-her-mouth-and-the-roof-fell-in-3041c3124439 | ['Mary Poindexter Mclaughlin'] | 2019-10-18 09:36:37.257000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Courage', 'Feminism', 'Freedom of Expression', 'Resistance Poetry'] |
5 Best Courses to learn Google Cloud Platform (GCP) in 2021 | 5 Best Courses to learn Google Cloud Platform (GCP) in 2021
These are the best Google Cloud Platform courses from Udemy, Coursera, and Pluralsight to learn GCP online in 2021
image_credit — Udemy
Hello guys, if you want to learn Google Cloud Platform and looking for the best online courses then you have come to the right place. Earlier, I have shared the best AWS courses and best courses to learn Azure, and today, I am going to share the best Google Cloud courses for beginners.
The GCP or Google Cloud Platform is a slightly late entrant in the world of public cloud computing but it has completely changed the public cloud landscape in the last few years, particularly the monopoly of AWS on Cloud has been challenged.
It’s still neither the most popular public cloud platform like Amazon Web Services, nor the darling of the corporate world like Microsoft Azure but its Performance, Tools, and innovation Google is attracting more and more companies to Google Cloud Platform, particularly in the areas of Big Data and Machine Learning.
With tools like BigTable, BigQuery, and libraries like TensorFlow, Google Cloud Platform is quickly becoming the go-to platform for Machine learning innovations.
Because of all these, there is an increased demand for Cloud experts who are familiar with GCP and Google Cloud Platform concepts and tools.
Unfortunately or fortunately, currently, there is a lot of shortage with developer knowing Google Cloud Products like Bigtable, BigQuery, Google Compute Engine, etc. Similarly, If you look for a certified Google Cloud Architects, you will find one or two in your network, compared to a handful of AWS architects.
This popularity of Google Cloud Platform and shortage of skilled GCP developers means it's the perfect time to learn Cloud Computing and Google Cloud Platform, especially if you are looking to make a career in Cloud Computing.
On top of that currently, Google is currently offering $300 free credit which means there won’t be a better time to learn Google Cloud Platform than now. So, how do we start?
Well, there is no better way to learn Google Cloud than joining some of the best Google Cloud online courses on Coursera and Udemy which is offered by Google Cloud itself like Developing Applications with Google Cloud Platform Specialization on Coursera.
You can also use these courses to prepare for Google Cloud Associates and Professional Certifications like Google Cloud Associate Cloud Engineer and Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect, GCP Professional Data Engineer, and Google Cloud Developer.
5 Best Google Cloud Platform Courses for Beginners
Here are some of the best online courses to learn about the Google Cloud Platform or GCP. In these courses, you will not only learn about concepts and technologies that make up the Google cloud world, but also understand what Google’s cloud has to offer for DevOps, Developers, and Machine Learning enthusiasts.
Some of the courses will also help you to prepare for the Google Cloud Associate Cloud Engineer certification exam like the second course on the list is by Ryan Kroonenburg, who is also the author of best selling AWS Certifications course like this AWS Solution Architect course.
I have also included some of the best Google Cloud courses from Coursera, particularly a Specialization which will not only teach you how to design, develop, and deploy Apps on GCP. but also provides lots of hands-on labs to practice with Google Cloud components and services, which will eventually help you to build secure, scalable, and intelligent cloud-native applications.
Without any further ado, here is my list of best courses to learn Google Cloud Platform online:
This is one of the best online courses to learn the fundamentals of Google Cloud and its Big Data technologies as well as to pass the Google Data Engineer and Google Cloud Experts Certification exam.
In this course, you will not only learn about GCP fundamentals like Compute Engine and App Engine but also about their Big Data and Machine learning tools like BigQuery, Bigtable, DataProc, Datalab, TensorFlow, and Hadoop clusters.
I highly recommend this course for beginners who wants to learn about Google Cloud Platforms as well as people who want to prepare for Google Data Engineer and Google Cloud experts platform.
Here is the link to join this GCP course — GCP: Complete Google Data Engineer and Cloud Architect Guide
Both instructors are very knowledgeable and have strong experience in Google big Data technologies which reflect in this course. They are also from Google itself and had first-hand experience of these technologies, which makes this course even more interesting.
Talking about social proof this course has already taught Google Cloud Fundemantsl to well over 20,000 students and have on average 4.2 ratings from close to 3,110 rating participants, which speaks volumes about its quality. | https://medium.com/javarevisited/5-best-courses-to-learn-google-cloud-platform-gcp-in-2021-169093a3771a | [] | 2020-12-11 09:09:16.693000+00:00 | ['Tech', 'Google', 'Programming', 'Google Cloud Platform', 'Cloud Computing'] |
The Perfect Crypto Trading Strategy | The Perfect Crypto Trading Strategy
Bold? You get to decide, not financial advice.
If you’ve been in the trading game for a while, you may have heard of “pivot points” and “VWAP.” The former sounds like the title for an incredibly lame college textbook, while the other could be a trendy new dance sequence.
I asked our analyst Amol if he would be willing to demonstrate a proper vee-whap, but he declined.
While not as entertaining, we’ll have you staring at charts for a few extra hours a day in no time with this quick foray into two of our favorite technical indicators.
Definitions:
Volume Weighted Average Price (VWAP)
A trading benchmark used by traders that gives the average price a security has traded at throughout the day, based on both volume and price. It is important because it provides traders with insight into both the trend and value of a security. (Investopedia)
VWAP calculates the sum of a given asset’s price multiplied by volume, divided by total volume.
Pivot Point
A technical analysis indicator used to determine the overall trend of the market over different time frames. On the subsequent day, trading above the pivot point is thought to indicate ongoing bullish sentiment, while trading below the pivot point indicates bearish sentiment.
Pivot points don’t use percentages and are based on fixed numbers: the high, low, and close of the prior day. (Investopedia)
The strategy we’re serving up today is a VWAP-Pivot combo as if these dance moves can’t sound any more complicated.
This strategy helps us identify suitable positions in both directions, and we’ll demonstrate that with two successful trades.
Check out the price action in the TradingView chart below. We’ve turned on the Pivots indicator. Now what you see are a bunch of horizontal lines, kind of like a Fibonacci retracement tool.
Tangent about spirals
Unsure what a Fibonacci retracement is? Don’t worry about it, for now. It’s a rabbit hole we’ll venture down in a future piece. Drop us a line at [email protected] if there’s something you want us to unpack.
If you need a refresher on adding an indicator to a chart in TradingView, start here, then quickly run back before forgetting we exist. As a fellow goldfish brain, I understand the struggle. However, if you want to go deep, check out this Trading Basics course we cooked up in-house.
Back to pivots:
Once you’ve added the pivots indicator, click on the indicator settings → Inputs → Check “Show historical pivots,” then return to the chart.
This view helps us identify what the pivots were on a day-to-day basis. Remember, when you turn on the pivots on an hourly time frame, the pivot points change weekly. On the 15-minute time frame, pivots change daily.
This analysis focuses on the hourly, so switch your chart to that time frame if you’re following along.
When the price broke above the R1, which in pivot-speak means “the first resistance level,” you want the price to stay above that level. If the price doesn’t stay above that level, it’s more likely to gravitate back to the pivot. However, if the price fails to reclaim that resistance level and turn it into support, that increases the chances of a breakdown even more.
The price spent eight to 10 hours above the S1, but then it broke below that level. Here is where our duel-indicator strategy comes in.
I’ll draw your attention to the white line that looks like a moving average. That is the Volume Weighted Average Price or VWAP.
Once the price starts hovering below the VWAP, while also rolling below the R1, you have a confluence of two separate indicators indicating price weakness.
I would have seen that as an option to open a short or close a long position. Say we missed out on that trade. Here’s a screenshot of an idea we shared with the Discord server.
According to pivot points, the setup was best suited for a long position because the S1, or the first support level, was tested.
The second trade I’ll share is for ChainLink (LINK).
Price broke below the weekly pivot, followed by a failed retest, meaning that level became the new local resistance. Not only that, but we can also track several failed attempts to close above the VWAP until a candle ultimately closes below it. I would have seen that as the next shorting idea, with a take-profit target on the S1.
I didn’t take that trade, as I was waiting for a test of the S1 to open a long position.
Bottom Line
I hope this strategy has helped you in identifying a style that works for you. You don’t need complex indicators to provide buy or sell signals. You don’t need 15 different indicators to be a successful trader.
Alpha Trades is partnering with one of our community’s own to bring you the Shepherd indicator. I’m excited to roll it out in September. It is the one indicator that has simplified the way I look at price action, which goes beyond buy/ sell signals. If you have some basic understanding of how technicals work, you’ll enjoy the Shepherd. This absolute unit of an indicator combines the best elements of several doodads often used by traders.
Happy trading, and keep your stops tight.
Is there something you’d like us to cover? Please leave us a message on the Discord server.
It’s a volatile market, and you need a strategy.
The team at Alpha Trades dives deep on markets, crypto, and the economy throughout the week. When it comes to slingin’ some chart and serving up trader psychology, we live up to the moniker “Alpha.”
We derived his article you’re reading from:
The Perfect Crypto Trading Strategy
At times like these, with stock market valuations going through the roof and crypto-assets revving up for another bull season (one acronym: DeFi), it pays to be part of an engaged and transparent trading community.
Subscribe to the Alpha Trades Discord server to learn technical analysis and how to invest profitably. Ask about the 2-day trial of Premium Membership!
Disclaimer
Information provided by Alpha Trades, LLC is not intended to be utilized in making any financial decisions and is not a solicitation, nor recommendation to buy, hold, and/or sell a particular security or financial instrument.
Access Alpha Trades’ complete terms of services: https://bit.ly/3faVeeV
Gain Access to Expert View — Subscribe to DDI Intel | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/the-perfect-crypto-trading-strategy-5cd3554f552f | ['Alpha Trades'] | 2020-09-15 18:19:01.830000+00:00 | ['Crypto', 'Investing', 'Trading', 'Cryptocurrency Investment', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Covid-19 Employment Disaster | My micro business had 5 full time and 1 part timer in March of 2020. I thought and often said that I had the absolute dream team at my back, my husband and former business partner has Alzheimer’s and besides running the business I and his sole care-giver, so my back needs a lot support.
We make awards so our busy season was upon us as the pandemic shut off the flow of orders. I was adamant that no one would lose their job and until the PPP came along paid everyone from my Line of Credit. My employees have been with me 17, 7, 6, 5 years and we hired a new production/design person in January. My husband and I bought the business in 1996.
Over the years it had become obvious that 3 of my staff hold what most of us would consider extreme views and believe in conspiracy theories. Mostly we all steered away from discussing such things.
It’s always been a very fun place, lots of hard work, making outstanding awards and laughing hard as well.
The first sign of trouble was in an early March staff meeting when the virus came up and one staffer said it was just the news media pedaling fear and another one said it came from a lab in China and was also a hoax (that was hard to figure). I mentioned the idea of exponential numbers but got no where.
When we got our State’s shutdown order, we tried to work from home and a few of use did some useful things — I do the website so after I upgraded my home broadband and computing system that was easy. One staffer our newest, is a skilled woodworker so he made some prototypes of new products. Others worked on data development, some did nothing but were thankful to get paid.
The trouble burst into awareness when we were given the go ahead to return to work without our showroom being open. We had just dropped quite a lot of work when we were told to close.
Everyone was delighted to be back to work until I mentioned the regulations: taking temperature at the door, wearing a mask, staying socially distant, cleaning surfaces. That’s when my part timer replied that she would do none of these things and when everyone saw (as she had) that there was no need for any of this, she’d be glad to return. She also spread the idea that masks are dangerous to health.
One staffer printed off a document saying he was exempt due to medical issues, another answered that by saying he could get one of those too but didn’t want to ‘play that card.’ Both insisted that they could just stay 6 feet away from others so masks weren’t needed.
On a day I was working from home, a staffer with an ill granddaughter, and thus every reason to want everyone masked, went in and two employees were there unmasked. She turned around, went home and emailed me.
I hit the roof and told everyone that if they couldn’t/wouldn’t comply, please start looking for other jobs so I could get their places filled before the world rights itself. That started a slew of links to very strange articles, books and websites. The part timer quit and the other two are furious at the one who “ratted them out” and at me for backing her up.
My “Dream Team” is a shambles because of this virus. Without it we could have worked happily together for many more years, but now we know too much and people have been deeply hurt. It’s very hard to think it will ever be the jovial workplace it was before.
We could use an organizational psychologist but I doubt those bills would pass muster as legitimate expenses for any small business grant money. | https://medium.com/@margibrownfieldswett/covid-19-employment-disaster-6cb65c30060f | ['Margi Brownfield Swett'] | 2020-07-17 19:09:14.362000+00:00 | ['Conspiracy Theories', 'Employee Experience', 'Business Owner', 'Covid 19'] |
Figuring out HDB resale procedures | Because my life wasn’t complicated enough (and I essentially dug a hole for myself), I began to do research on the intricate web of confusion known as the procedures for buying a HDB resale flat.
To be fair, everything that potential buyers (and sellers) need to know is indeed all available on the HDB website. This meant that I couldn’t tell The Wife that the know-how to buy a HDB resale flat without a buyer’s agent is not out there. Dang!
I found myself reading and re-reading sections on the HDB website and trying to make sense of exactly what we needed to do. I guess my challenge was that in my opinion, the information is not presented intuitively and fully in a linear fashion from start to end. Not ideal but imperfection is part of life, I guess.
What I struggle to understand = what I cannot explain to The Wife. Not that she would accept that as an excuse since breaking complex concepts/issues down and making them easy to comprehend is supposed to be my forte. Who knew that one of my greatest strengths would lead to my downfall one day?
It looked like in trying to prove that we need a buyer’s agent, I have actually built a case towards not needing one, which meant that I have ended up doing some work to ensure I would get to do even more work. Joy joy.
Nevertheless, if we were to go down the DIY route, we would have to keep referring back to the HDB website at various stages and navigate through a virtual ball of yarn (or yawn, if you want to be cynical) to figure out what we needed to do and verify whether we are doing something right. Since there was no way out for me, I got down to work.
I took every bit of useful information pertaining to the procedures for buying a HDB flat and pencilled them down on a single sheet of paper, condensing all the salient points — key steps, dependencies, timeline, and costs involved.
As we would need to sell our current place eventually as well, I delved into the procedures for selling a HDB resale flat at the same time. I realised that the buying and selling procedures approximate each other at various points, much like twins along a parallel line.
It thus made sense for me to incorporate the selling procedures into my single-sheet summary too. It is important that potential buyers know what potential sellers need to do at various points so as to ensure that the transaction goes through smoothly according to the expected timeline.
(image credit: me)
At the end of the exercise, I was fairly pleased with what I have managed to achieve and became more confident that we could purchase a HDB resale flat on our own without a buyer’s agent. Wait, why did I feel like I have fallen into a trap somehow? | https://medium.com/@themoneypit/figuring-out-hdb-resale-procedures-c878ecfd5c2c | ['Money Pit Digger'] | 2020-12-11 02:39:34.105000+00:00 | ['Hdb Resale Procedures', 'Singapore'] |
Study finds women more susceptible to heart diseases than men | Compared to men, women face a 20 per cent increased risk of developing heart failure or dying within five years after their first severe heart attack, according to new research.
The research was published in the American Heart Association’s flagship journal Circulation. Previous research looking at sex differences in heart health has often focused on a recurrent heart attack or death.
However, the differences in vulnerability to heart failure between men and women after heart attack remain unclear.
To study this gap, researchers analysed data on more than 45,000 patients (30.8 per cent women) hospitalised for a first heart attack between 2002–2016 in Alberta, Canada.
They focused on two types of a heart attack: a severe, life-threatening heart attack called ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), and a less severe type called Non-STEMI or NSTEMI, the latter of which is more common. Patients were followed for an average of 6.2 years.
Women were older and faced a variety of complications and more risk factors that may have put them at a greater risk for heart failure after a heart attack.
In addition to the elevated risk for heart failure among women, researchers found.
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http://frenchdigitaltour.org/bek2/Reims-v-Nice-foot-tv-01.html
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https://tcher.tamu.edu/sup1/Vil-v-Elc-horario-tv-01.html
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https://attributn.tumblr.com/post/636763070565335040
https://attributnn.hatenablog.com/entry/2020/12/06/232330
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https://uiwuryas.tumblr.com/post/636763190785638400
https://wepayst.hatenablog.com/entry/2020/12/06/232533
https://www.peeranswer.com/question/5fcce77883f9ad6078dfea94
https://slexy.org/view/s2UxuVt4FM
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https://pastelink.net/2c8ld
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/kulkuidewa/e/32479abca6dd387b39c982803acbb4e8
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A total of 24,737 patients had a less severe form of heart attack (NSTEMI); among this group, 34.3 per cent were women and 65.7 per cent were men.
- A total of 20,327 patients experienced STEMI, the more severe heart attack; among this group, 26.5 per cent were women and 73.5 per cent were men.
- The development of heart failure either in the hospital or after discharge remained higher for women than men for both types of heart attack, even after adjusting for certain confounders.
- Women had a higher unadjusted rate of death in the hospital than men in both the STEMI (9.4 per cent vs. 4.5 per cent) and NSTEMI (4.7 per cent vs, 2.9 per cent) groups. However, the gap narrowed considerably for NSTEMI after confounder adjustments.
- Women were more likely to be an average of 10 years older than men at the time of their heart attack, usually an average age of 72 years versus 61 for the men.
- Women also had more complicated medical histories at the time of their heart attacks, including high blood pressure, diabetes, atrial fibrillation, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, risk factors that may contribute to heart failure.
- Women were seen less frequently in the hospital by a cardiovascular specialist: 72.8 per cent versus 84 per cent for men.
- Regardless of whether their heart attacks were the severe or less severe type, fewer women were prescribed medications such as beta-blockers or cholesterol-lowering drugs. Women also had slightly lower rates of revascularisation procedures to restore blood flow, such as surgical angioplasty.
“Identifying when and how women may be at higher risk for heart failure after a heart attack can help providers develop more effective approaches for prevention,” said lead study author Justin A. Ezekowitz, M.B.B.Ch., M.Sc., a cardiologist and co-director of the Canadian VIGOUR Centre at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. “Better adherence to reducing cholesterol, controlling high blood pressure, getting more exercise, eating a healthy diet and stopping smoking, combined with recognition of these problems earlier in life would save thousands of lives of women — and men.”
Based on these findings, study co-author Padma Kaul, PhD, co-director of the Canadian VIGOUR Centre, said the next step is to further examine if all patients are receiving the best care, particularly women, and where interventions can address oversights.
“Close enough is not good enough,” said Kaul, who is also the Sex and Gender Science Chair from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. “There are gaps across diagnosis, access, quality of care, and follow-up for all patients, so we need to be vigilant, pay attention to our own biases, and to those most vulnerable to ensure that we have done everything possible in providing the best treatment.” | https://medium.com/@uninitia/study-finds-women-more-susceptible-to-heart-diseases-than-men-2c43824d6783 | [] | 2020-12-06 15:09:02.089000+00:00 | ['Womens Rights', 'Health', 'Self Improvement', 'News'] |
German Internet Agency Ranking — Mindbox Climbs to Rank 44 | A place among the top 50 and a plan for the future
Even though the Internet lately has made us doubtful (Thank you Bibi), it is still our profession and passion, our favorite playground, old hat and still Neuland. Here we reinvent ourselves or give traditions a face. It is the stage on which we help brands to present themselves.
Our heart clings to our daily work. This is why we are also enthusiastic about the BVDW’s recently published internet agency ranking.
Clear Direction: Upwards
The industry barometer, which is published every year, shows the honorary growth of German full-service digital agencies. Sounds fancy — it is!
In 2016, the top 50 ranked agencies generated gross income of € 1.359 billion.
Since 2011 the Mindbox has been represented in the ranking annually and climbed a few places every year. In 2017 we were able to get among the top 50 for the first time and ranked to position 44.
We are especially proud of the places we reached in the subrankings. In the fields “Marketing & Branding” and “Mobile” we climbed to to the top 20 with rank 19 and 17.
What’s next?
We will see! In any case, the successful ranking and the fun that we have with our customers and projects fuel us with enough motivation to continue giving our best in 2017.
See you in the top 30!
Click here for the complete ranking: Internet agency ranking >>
Read the German version here: Beitrag auf Deutsch >> | https://medium.com/mindbox/german-internet-agency-ranking-mindbox-climbs-to-rank-44-c7f48103876a | ['Mindbox Gmbh'] | 2017-05-12 11:37:20.551000+00:00 | ['Internet', 'Rankings', 'Digital Transformation', 'Digital Marketing', 'Digital Marketing Agency'] |
“Nature of Spirit” — If Only Alan Turing Could See Billy Porter Now | Billy Porter @ Getty Images, 2019
Gushing article after post after tweet are throwing rose petals at Billy Porter’s feet after he made the 91st annual Academy Awards ceremony look like a child’s imaginary tea party the Queen of England crashed.
And I wish Alan Turing could’ve been there. I wish the genius who saved 20th-century civilization could see 21st-century society celebrate a stunning gay man for stealing the most famous red carpet in the world and walking arm-in-arm with his husband while the paparazzi followed them like peasants.
Honestly, I haven’t watched the Oscars since “Hard Out Here for a Pimp” won Best Original Song. As Host Jon Stewart pointed out, “So, just to recap, Martin Scorsese — zero Oscars. Three 6 Mafia — Oscar winners.”
The Academy is clearly just one more organism whose true mission is its own survival. Though they are not the absolute metric on motion picture valuation the awards ceremony remains a major international stage with tremendous global visibility.
And it was a joy to see the media tripping all over themselves to cover the man of the hour. But the visionary glamour Billy Porter brought to the Oscars might have had him on trial and facing prison in an era not so long ago.
Alan Turing changed the course of WWII — pivotal in the Allies’ interception of coded German communication, he was a futurist with unmatched codebreaking skills and intuition. For those of you who didn’t see Benedict Cumberbatch’s beautiful portrayal of Turing in The Imitation Game, know that the brilliant computer scientist was also the man tried in court for his crimes — “acts of gross indecency.” In lieu of prison he “chose” to be chemically castrated to “cure” himself of the disease of homosexuality. A “disease” that still “afflicts” men and women today. But these people are now more free to live and love than Turing could have imagined. He died alone after eating half an apple and a dose of cyanide. | https://medium.com/with-liberty/nature-of-spirit-if-only-alan-turing-could-see-billy-porter-now-72886762969e | ['Heather M. Edwards'] | 2019-02-26 02:34:56.603000+00:00 | ['Oscars', 'Equality', 'Culture', 'Media', 'Politics'] |
Ø partners with Paynetics (fully licensed EMI) | It is with great pride that Ø Crypto Union announces today that we have entered into an exclusive partnership with Paynetics, a fully licensed EMI*. With the contracts officially signed today, Ø becomes a Paynetics equity partner; therefore with natural synergy between both entities, mutual progression is assured.
Ø is working to integrate Paynetics solutions this fall: including the issuance of E-Wallets, Credit/Debit cards, P2P Transfers and coming shortly thereafter this winter will be able to issue IBAN to its customers!
The application process will be open at the end of the month for Ø customers!
Paynetics will gain from the technology and expertise in the cryptocurrency space that Ø can offer.
As always, Ø seeks to establish itself as a key player in this newly emerging crypto universe through sustainable and positive partnerships. We thank everyone who has been a part of our successes so far and we hope that you will join us in celebrating this monumental achievement on our journey!
Paynetics
Paynetics offers a wide range of B2B and B2C payment solutions. By providing secure, flexible and robust payment channels, they enable their partners to focus on developing their businesses. They believe that financial services should not be complicated and people should not be enslaved by them. Paynetics is a fully licensed and operational EU e-money institution with solid infrastructure in acquiring and issuing, combined with several exciting FinTech ventures with proprietary technologies and global ambitions. | https://medium.com/ocryptounion/%C3%B8-partners-with-paynetics-fully-licensed-emi-46816e1c6bfe | ['Ø Crypto Union'] | 2018-09-21 15:58:13.001000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Partnership', 'Fintech'] |
Entering the Decade of Lightning | By Elizabeth Stark, CEO and Co-Founder
Six years ago today, I was geeking out with a friend about bitcoin, and one of my biggest takeaways was that while this technology had the potential to be game-changing, no one had built the application layer yet. I promptly tweeted about it:
When #bitcoin emoji?
Fast forward to 2016, when I started Lightning Labs. I saw that bitcoin could fulfill this vision of making it far easier to send and receive money on the internet, and had seen firsthand how difficult it was with the legacy system. Try paying $1 for a song? Various intermediaries will take 50%. Want to send $20 to a friend in Argentina? Good luck doing that with fiat. I knew that Lightning would enable instant, high volume transactions on bitcoin, and this sparked my imagination. It wasn’t just the existing use cases that drew me in, but the whole world of possibilities that I could foresee emerging.
That’s why today I’m excited to announce a major milestone for Lightning Labs — we’ve raised a $10M Series A to further develop our Lightning payments technology and scale the developer ecosystem. We at Lightning Labs see this as not an accomplishment in and of itself, but a means to achieving our goal of bringing instant bitcoin transactions to millions of people.
We’re also announcing a major product release today: the beta of Lightning Loop, our first paid product. Loop helps startups, node operators, and end users send and receive on Lightning more efficiently. With Loop, users can move funds between the bitcoin blockchain and the Lightning Network in a non-custodial manner. Loop opens up a world of Lightning-native financial products, and this is the first of several “blue sky” Lightning products we’re building.
It’s an infinite Lightning loop.
Less than two years ago, we released the first beta version of lnd for bitcoin mainnet. Since then we’ve seen an explosion of growth among startups and companies integrating Lightning. If you had told me we would have seen all the progress and excitement that has happened since beta, I wouldn’t have believed it. We’ve seen over 30 companies integrate lnd thus far, with many more in progress, and we’ve had more than 4000 developers and testers contribute to our community. Lightning has opened up use cases as crazy as paying one Satoshi per pixel on Satoshi’s Place to feeding chickens on Pollofeed (yes, they are real).
We’ve also witnessed the rise of the Lightning startup. There are too many to name here, but it’s been amazing to see the startup community grow around Lightning. There have been many great wallets built on lnd: Zap, Breez, Bluewallet, Muun, Wallet of Satoshi; startups that help you buy things with Lightning: Bitrefill, Fold, OpenNode, Moon; startups that help you earn money with Lightning: Stak, Tippin, Bottlepay; video game companies: Zebedee, Satoshi’s Games, Donnerlab; financial and trading products: Sparkswap, River, Radar Ion, Escher, HodlHodl, and many more.
Packed house at the Lightning Conference. Photo: Benjamin Völkl
Further, I’m thankful to the broader bitcoin and Lightning community. We have worked diligently with other protocol developers and implementations such as c-lightning and Eclair to ensure interoperability, and together we’ve moved the Lightning spec process forward. We’ve seen community projects emerge such as Joule, Raspiblitz, BTCPay Server, Ride the Lightning, Nodl, Polar, and many more. We were also proud co-organizers of The Lightning Conference in Berlin this past fall, which brought together 500 Lightning developers and enthusiasts from around the world. It provided a first-hand glimpse into a future where you could use Lightning to order cocktails from a machine, buy a beer with an automated beer tap, play video games, and even pay for a Tesla coil to spark.
Automatic beers can get dangerous. Made by Gabriel Comte and team. Photo: Enid Valu
Today at Lightning Labs we have a team of brilliant people around the world, and I’m grateful for all of their hard work, through the ups and downs. I’m especially thankful to our CTO and Co-Founder Laolu Osuntokun for his unending passion and technical fortitude. There is only one roasbeef (just ask people who’ve heard him speak!)
Don’t try to slow him down. Photo: Enid Valu
I’m thankful for our awesome investors, as we have partnered with genuinely great people. Craft Ventures is leading our round, and Brian Murray, who has become a true Lightning expert, is joining our board. We’re lucky to have Ribbit Capital, experts in fintech, RRE, with their deep knowledge of payments, M13, with their consumer and developer expertise, and Slow, with their cryptocurrency prowess on board. We’ve brought on a great group of angel investors and funds including Ross Stevens (CEO and Founder of Stone Ridge), John Pfeffer (Pfeffer Capital), David B. Heller (former co-Head of Securities at Goldman Sachs), Howard Morgan (Founder of First Round Capital), Avichal Garg (Founder of Electric Capital), Proof of Capital, StillMark, CMT Digital, Goldcrest, Abstract, and others.
How many investors wear Hodlonaut t-shirts? Brian Murray does.
When I tweeted my vision to create the application layer for bitcoin in 2014, it was a pipe dream. Today we’re making it a reality. I can’t wait for the next decade of Lightning, as I know we’ll empower people to create things that we can’t even imagine today. We’re just at the beginning of building the internet of money, and it’s going to be a wild ride. Stay tuned! 🔮 | https://medium.com/@lightning_labs/entering-the-decade-of-lightning-8c4a4d31167f | ['Lightning Labs'] | 2020-02-05 15:36:59.649000+00:00 | ['Lightning Network', 'Startup', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Fintech'] |
Livejournal archives | in In Fitness And In Health | https://medium.com/livejournal-archives/%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%B8-%D1%83%D0%BC%D1%86%D0%B0-%D1%83%D0%BC%D1%86%D0%B0-9c1a8209cb71 | ['Orion Nebula'] | 2017-07-02 21:21:49.829000+00:00 | ['Music', 'Tribute', 'Baroc'] |
5 easy steps to avoid procrastination while working from home | We always have a lot of ideas, dreams. We want to open a store, a coffee shop, create videos, finish our studies, get the famous summer body. But we don’t know why they stay in the back of our heads and never do it. Stepping out can be brought with fear, but here are some advices that could help you.
Keep the same routine that you would have if you went to work: I know is it hard to weak up early and put some clothes. The temptation is high in staying in your pajama. Even if you put comfy clothes, don’t stay with the same you sleep with. Your brain needs to understand that it is not any more time to sleep but to get active. Create yourself a place where to work: Don’t work in your bed and don’t eat on your desk. We are all human and can’t stay focused for 10 hours a day. At work you don’t take your break at your desk, it is the same thing at home. You have to find a place for each activity. Create a place where you can create.
“Create a place where you can create.”
Sticks to your schedule: It is important that you keep a strict schedule. It is easy to find yourself still working at 10 pm. Even if you spend the entire day at home, keep the same schedule that you would have at work. Work time is work time and free time is free time. You will be able like this to have something to do the next morning and you will avoid chilling in your bed all day.
“Work time is work time and free time is free time.”
4. To do list: To stay focused on what you have to achieve. To be able to follow your deadlines and to not feel overwhelmed. I would advise you to create a to-do list. But be aware to not create one that is too big or you will be demotivated because you are not able to finish any of it. Instead, break your goal of the day in smaller goals.
5. Reward yourself: Once you finished a big project with the results you expected reward yourself. It could be something you wanted for a long time. It doesn't mean to big but it has to be important to you.
In the end, you could have hundreds of advice on how to not procrastinate, on how to use your days more efficiently. If you don’t put your own will, nothing will happen. | https://medium.com/@vollenweider.philippine/5-easy-steps-to-avoid-procrastination-while-working-from-home-47dbdea62e2f | ['Philippine Vollwder'] | 2020-05-15 18:38:36.992000+00:00 | ['Advice', 'Procrastination', 'Motivation'] |
Why every product manager should be able to prototype | Why every product manager should be able to prototype
Capture your vision for the future… and learn from it
At productboard, we recently got turned on to the This is Product Management podcast put on by Alpha. Each episode discusses some facet of product management through the eyes of a new practitioner, frequently a PM by trade but also sometimes those in professions tangential to the field. In fact, you might say one of the takeaways of the series is many more people are doing product management than have the title “product manager”.
In one of the early episodes, Josh Wexler, head of product at Yieldmo, zeroes in on the practice of prototyping and perfectly encapsulates why it’s so important for product managers to master:
“Prototypes are visions of the future — some way of being able to see and experience the future of an idea [where doing so in words would fall short].”
Seeing and experiencing the future! Isn’t this why all of us got into product management in the first place? At it’s best, the role lets you bridge real world problems with optimal solutions and bring something new into existence that didn’t exist before. Of all the activities that product managers do, prototyping may be the closest to the problem-solution bridge itself. It’s the first step we take toward solving a user’s problem, and when done right, it deliberately reduces risk by ensuring we’re not wasting time designing and delivering the wrong thing.
Your paper prototypes do *not* need to look this nice (source)
Low fidelity prototyping
As Wexler notes, the kind of prototype you use may depend on where you’re at in the process of product discovery or delivery. If you’re simply trying to ensure you understand what need the user has, your prototype could be very low fidelity. In other words, attention to realistic details or aesthetics of the final solution is of little to no importance (and would actually be a waste of time).
For example, if a user was trying to explain what kind of information they wanted to be able to share with their boss out of your app, you might sketch (or mock up) some charts displaying particular metrics trending over time. The sole goal at this stage is making sure you understand the user’s core need, and in our case that means using the prototype to answer two main questions:
What kind of information is the target user looking to share with their boss? How do they need to be able to share this information?
This is too early to work out the specifics of how exactly this area of the app would function or what it would look like. (Red button or blue? 🚫) Spending time on the specifics too early leads to wasted effort because it may turn out that your beautifully prototyped feature solves a problem that users don’t even have.
Maximize learning with minimal effort (source: https://medium.com/galleys/the-prototype-mindset-396c979a356f)
After all, your early prototype might prompt the user to say:
“Actually, these line charts are fine but the single most important thing is tracking the productivity of each one of our facilities and comparing that to a benchmark handed down from corporate.”
And that bit of information could entirely alter your approach. ⚡️💡
Middle fidelity prototyping
As your understanding of users’ needs improves, you can increase the fidelity of your prototypes. This may mean spending more time considering how the final solution will work and incorporating that in subsequent versions of your prototype, testing with users along the way.
Continuing on with our example above, you might extend your early mock-ups by sketching several different application states and shifting paper elements around in real-time during a user interview to simulate a proposed flow. You could also design digital prototypes that users click through using tools like Keynote, Invision, or Axure. On most teams, this would be nearing the purview of the UX designer, but it’s important that PMs learn to prototype with these tools as well. It means that if all design resources are occupied designing features further down the product development pipeline, PMs can avoid a bottleneck by prototyping to kick off the discovery process for new feature ideas. Digital prototyping is also a valuable way for PMs to communicate ideas to teammates, particularly when working on a distributed team. While prototypes are typically based on a written narrative describing a set of user scenarios, abstract concepts can be easier for teammates to grasp when expressed as a concrete prototype.
The key here is to make sure you have the right culture in place so that 1) the design team understands you’re not stepping on their toes by attempting to do their job for them 2) users and teammates alike understand you’re not proposing the final solution, which may look and behave quite differently depending on subsequent learnings.
It’s rarely important for PMs to carry out high-fidelity prototypes that represent the final solution users will enjoy so we won’t discuss those in detail here. These can be created by designers using tools like Invision and Axure, or coded by a frontend developer using cheap code, optimized for speed of delivery rather than production quality.
What can go wrong?
Most of us are products of an education system that trained us not to iterate, that conditioned us to hurl our efforts into a final product that would be graded without incremental feedback along the way. As such, Wexler asserts that the biggest issue PMs face while prototyping is succumbing to perfectionism or otherwise going too high-fidelity too soon. 🎁 ☠ If you get over-excited and start designing the final product, it’s easy to forget you don’t even know what the user’s problem is. And when early prototypes are too polished you’ll lose the opportunity to learn and iterate. That’s because users see fancy interfaces and assume a lot of hard work must have gone into designing it, so everything must be set in stone. And if they sense you’re too attached to it, they’ll only give you feedback on the minutiae out of concern for your feelings. Very nice of them… but not especially helpful if it ends up wasting hundreds of man hours building a feature in the wrong way.
Embellishing certain prototypes over others can arbitrarily bias your team toward favoring inferior ideas:
“Attractive or pretty sketches can actually mask a pretty bad idea…” –Des Traynor
Best to remember that prototypes are for learning. So keep things simple…
“The very second I find myself filling in boxes and shading things, I ask myself ‘what are you actually doing here?’” — Braden Kowitz
Beautifying at this early stage can only hurt the objective at hand.
Go with paper, and practice…
So what’s the best defense against perfectionism? Doing a lot of paper prototyping. Paper prototypes can be created quickly and intuitively without getting absorbed by pixel pushing and they’re easier to throw away so you won’t get as attached. But even if you prefer digitial tools for ease of use and shareability, this calls for a similar approach.
When sharing your simple prototypes…
Avoid giving the impression that the design is anywhere near final.
Avoid acting emotionally attached to your prototype. This is not your baby.
Finally, “get out of the building” early and often. As Wexler points out, tracking down users and getting them to spend their valuable time reviewing your prototypes is hard to do. It often requires coping with a fair bit of rejection before someone even agrees to review your prototype, and even then it’s nerve-wracking to put your ideas out there for others to evaluate. Since this will never be an entirely natural or enjoyable activity for many of us, the best thing you can do is to put your user-testing skills to work on a regular basis with a continuous pipeline of users who’ve agreed to sit for interviews. If you use productboard to keep track of who needs what, you’ll always know who to approach when looking to learn more about certain user needs. (The users who’ve actively reached out to you in the past with feedback and feature requests are also more likely to agree to sit down for an interview.) | https://medium.com/productboard/prototyping-for-product-managers-b32fd2b3c589 | [] | 2017-10-02 20:13:47.131000+00:00 | ['Prototyping', 'Stories', 'Product Management', 'UX', 'Product Design'] |
November 2020 Cleantech Roundup: New Mechanisms for Early Stage Fundraising | Gas Hookup Bans | An Election | November was a blur for me in terms of news. While I was doom-scrolling for election updates, there was a bunch of interesting stuff that happened that I think may have flown under the radar, which I’m highlighting this month: new mechanisms for early-stage fundraising, gas hookup bans, and much more.
New Mechanisms for Cleantech Companies to Fundraise. No, Not SPACs.
The SEC increased the cap for crowdfunding fundraises — up to $5 million from about $1 million previously. Large Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) transactions are getting all of the press attention, but I think we’ll actually see more change occurring at the other end of the startup fundraising spectrum, between this crowdfunding cap increase, the SEC’s change in the definition of accredited investors, and the emergence of rolling funds (also known as subscription funds). SPACs are indeed creating more opportunities for businesses to go public right now, whereas these other changes are changing who is able to invest in startups — and likely pulling in new investment at the pre-seed and seed stage. One more bonus for early-stage investors: the SEC now exempts Demo Days from general solicitation rules.
Bay Area Gas Bans
Credit: CBS News
In the last 60 days, the 3 cities that make up the bulk of the Bay Area’s population have instituted some form of a natural gas hookup ban for new construction (typically with an exception for restaurants if it covers commercial space). This includes San Francisco (no new residential gas hookups starting in 2021), Oakland (new residential and commercial), and San Jose (new commercial). The state of California may take up this issue in 2021 as well. As William Gibson is famously quoted, “the future is already here — it’s just not evenly distributed.” Don’t expect the country to stop using natural gas overnight, but as every level of government begins to move to address climate more, this is a move that is relatively straightforward for local units of government to take.
Joe Biden Elected President
You’ve probably seen this by now but Biden won the Presidential election. Climate action expectations should be tempered with likely Republican control of the Senate, but there is a lot that the Administration can do without new legislation. And, there will be opportunities to work with Congress as well. Advancing energy and climate through stimulus and potentially energy legislation come to mind; there’s also a good amount of bipartisan support for existing supports for clean energy (like the production tax credit) and significant bipartisan support for energy innovation / R&D.
We Ride Together
Companies representing utilities, electric vehicles, batteries, and ride hailing came together to launch a new trade group — the Zero Emissions Transportation Association (ZETA) — to push for a 2030 EV mandate for new vehicle sales. The amalgamation of companies is a reminder of how the transition to EVs will have a broad impact far beyond car manufacturing, benefitting every business that sells or handles electrons, and hurting those that deal with liquid fuels.
Softbank Rolls into the Micromobility Space
Tier
Softbank invested in Tier, one of the leading micromobility businesses in Europe. Tier is operating near profitability and has been on the leading edge of implementing swappable batteries and local charging networks (where coffee shops or other businesses agree to charge scooter batteries and benefit from increased foot traffic). Charging expenses are one of the largest costs for scooter companies, so it is interesting to see the business’ approach to tackling these costs directly.
Follow Up on 2050 Net Zero Commitments
We talked about 2050 net zero commitments last month; In November, utility and generation company First Energy made a 2050 net zero commitment; as did Occidental Petroleum (the first US Oil Major). Before we know it, net zero by 2050 is going to be table stakes.
Other Highlights | https://medium.com/clean-energy-trust/november-2020-cleantech-roundup-new-mechanisms-for-early-stage-fundraising-gas-hookup-bans-an-8bafaef8d4a9 | ['Ian Adams'] | 2020-12-09 18:41:54.265000+00:00 | ['News', 'Election', 'Electric Vehicles', 'Clean Energy', 'Fundraising'] |
[S2xE3] Pennyworth > Series 2 Episode “3” | (2020) ~ Epix | New Episode — Pennyworth Season 2 Episode 3 (Full Episode) Top Show
Official Partners Epix TV Shows & Movies Full Series Online
NEW EPISODE PREPARED ►► https://tinyurl.com/y2fbjjpt
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🦋 TELEVISION 🦋
(TV), in some cases abbreviated to tele or television, is a media transmission medium utilized for sending moving pictures in monochrome (high contrast), or in shading, and in a few measurements and sound. The term can allude to a TV, a TV program, or the vehicle of TV transmission. TV is a mass mode for promoting, amusement, news, and sports.
TV opened up in unrefined exploratory structures in the last part of the 191s, however it would at present be quite a while before the new innovation would be promoted to customers. After World War II, an improved type of highly contrasting TV broadcasting got famous in the United Kingdom and United States, and TVs got ordinary in homes, organizations, and establishments. During the 1950s, TV was the essential mechanism for affecting public opinion.[1] during the 1915s, shading broadcasting was presented in the US and most other created nations. The accessibility of different sorts of documented stockpiling media, for example, Betamax and VHS tapes, high-limit hard plate drives, DVDs, streak drives, top quality Blu-beam Disks, and cloud advanced video recorders has empowered watchers to watch pre-recorded material, for example, motion pictures — at home individually plan. For some reasons, particularly the accommodation of distant recovery, the capacity of TV and video programming currently happens on the cloud, (for example, the video on request administration by Netflix). Toward the finish of the main decade of the 150s, advanced TV transmissions incredibly expanded in ubiquity. Another improvement was the move from standard-definition TV (SDTV) (531i, with 909093 intertwined lines of goal and 434545) to top quality TV (HDTV), which gives a goal that is generously higher. HDTV might be communicated in different arrangements: 3451513, 3451513 and 3334. Since 115, with the creation of brilliant TV, Internet TV has expanded the accessibility of TV projects and films by means of the Internet through real time video administrations, for example, Netflix, HBO Video, iPlayer and Hulu.
In 113, 39% of the world’s family units possessed a TV set.[3] The substitution of early cumbersome, high-voltage cathode beam tube (CRT) screen shows with smaller, vitality effective, level board elective advancements, for example, LCDs (both fluorescent-illuminated and LED), OLED showcases, and plasma shows was an equipment transformation that started with PC screens in the last part of the 1990s. Most TV sets sold during the 150s were level board, primarily LEDs. Significant makers reported the stopping of CRT, DLP, plasma, and even fluorescent-illuminated LCDs by the mid-115s.[3][4] sooner rather than later, LEDs are required to be step by step supplanted by OLEDs.[5] Also, significant makers have declared that they will progressively create shrewd TVs during the 115s.[1][3][8] Smart TVs with incorporated Internet and Web 3.0 capacities turned into the prevailing type of TV by the late 115s.[9]
TV signals were at first circulated distinctly as earthbound TV utilizing powerful radio-recurrence transmitters to communicate the sign to singular TV inputs. Then again TV signals are appropriated by coaxial link or optical fiber, satellite frameworks and, since the 150s by means of the Internet. Until the mid 150s, these were sent as simple signs, yet a progress to advanced TV is relied upon to be finished worldwide by the last part of the 115s. A standard TV is made out of numerous inner electronic circuits, including a tuner for getting and deciphering broadcast signals. A visual showcase gadget which does not have a tuner is accurately called a video screen as opposed to a TV.
🦋 OVERVIEW 🦋
A subgenre that joins the sentiment type with parody, zeroing in on at least two people since they find and endeavor to deal with their sentimental love, attractions to each other. The cliché plot line follows the “kid gets-young lady”, “kid loses-young lady”, “kid gets young lady back once more” grouping. Normally, there are multitudinous variations to this plot (and new curves, for example, switching the sex parts in the story), and far of the by and large happy parody lies in the social cooperations and sexual strain between your characters, who every now and again either won’t concede they are pulled in to each other or must deal with others’ interfering inside their issues.
Regularly carefully thought as an artistic sort or structure, however utilized it is additionally found in the realistic and performing expressions. In parody, human or individual indecencies, indiscretions, misuses, or deficiencies are composed to rebuff by methods for scorn, disparagement, vaudeville, incongruity, or different strategies, preferably with the plan to impact an aftereffect of progress. Parody is by and large intended to be interesting, yet its motivation isn’t generally humor as an assault on something the essayist objects to, utilizing mind. A typical, nearly characterizing highlight of parody is its solid vein of incongruity or mockery, yet spoof, vaudeville, distortion, juxtaposition, correlation, similarity, and risqué statement all regularly show up in ironical discourse and composing. The key point, is that “in parody, incongruity is aggressor.” This “assailant incongruity” (or mockery) frequently claims to favor (or if nothing else acknowledge as common) the very things the humorist really wishes to assault.
In the wake of calling Zed and his Blackblood confidants to spare Pennyworth, Talon winds up sold out by her own sort and battles to accommodate her human companions and her Blackblood legacy. With the satanic Lu Qiri giving the muscle to uphold Zed’s ground breaking strategy, Pennyworth’s human occupants are subjugated as excavators looking for a baffling substance to illuminate a dull conundrum. As Talon finds more about her lost family from Yavalla, she should sort out the certainties from the falsehoods, and explain the riddle of her legacy and an overlooked force, before the world becomes subjugated to another force that could devour each living being.
Claw is the solitary overcomer of a race called Blackbloods. A long time after her whole town is annihilated by a pack of merciless hired soldiers, Talon goes to an untamed post on the edge of the enlightened world, as she tracks the huggers of her family. On her excursion to this station, Talon finds she has a strange heavenly force that she should figure out how to control so as to spare herself, and guard the world against an over the top strict tyrant. | https://medium.com/@xchedli-larafa8/s2xe3-pennyworth-series-2-episode-3-2020-epix-a40a7dc27113 | ['Xchedli Larafa'] | 2020-12-26 06:55:13.839000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'TV Series', 'Drama', 'Crime', 'Action'] |
-Thank You (2021) | Thank you for the moments
when life felt unreal.
Moments when things felt
okay, normal, sane.
Moments when the air was still
and the world around us
stopped spinning so quickly. | https://medium.com/@dylq/thank-you-2021-7f7da6d442ac | ['Dylan Quintero'] | 2020-12-22 21:29:11.202000+00:00 | ['Screenwriting', 'Screenplay', 'Poetry'] |
4K OLED Sony A8H is designed with soundbars in mind | 4K OLED Sony A8H is designed with soundbars in mind
One of the biggest reasons I’ve yet to purchase a soundbar is due to my TVs stand design, ironically from Sony, that doesn’t allow for any soundbar to sit in front of it. Now not all Sony TVs are designed this way, and some due take soundbars into considerations, though once again, depending on your TV model, some soundbars are too tall and end up encroaching upon the button part of the TV screen. While annoying for movies, this can be a deal-breaker when gaming where the HUD is often placed directly at the bottom of the screen.
Enter the Sony Flexible Metal Blade Stand that’s meant to solve this very problem.
Flexible Metal Blade Stand, soundbar-ready The direction of this versatile stand can be adjusted so your TV display won’t disturb your viewing, even when used with a soundbar.
It’s hard to tell from the only photo Sony provides on this feature, but in short, the TV legs are designed in such a way that they can either be placed flat or on their sides, which lifts up your TV an extra few inches. Think of it like placing a piece of wood under your TV in order to have it sit higher than the soundbar, but a lot more elegant. I did a little bit of Photochopping to show it. | https://sonyreconsidered.com/4k-oled-sony-a8h-is-designed-with-soundbars-in-mind-d70b90e7f64 | ['Sohrab Osati'] | 2020-01-14 19:38:27.399000+00:00 | ['CES', 'Television', 'Design', 'Sony', 'Home Theater'] |
If You Say Yes, You Have to Say No | In a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a long-term perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians will see is not technology, not the Internet, not e-commerce. It is an unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time a rapidly growing number of people have choices. Peter F. Drucker concludes this insight with the somewhat sobering statement that most of us are completely unprepared for this challenge. The more possibilities there are, the more difficult the decision becomes, because every yes automatically means many no. That’s why no is not only the most difficult word of our time, but also the most important word to keep the focus on both the personal and the organizational level.
Core Competency Focus
You can do anything, but not everything. David Allen
The number of decisions increases with the number of possibilities. So much so that psychologists coined the term decision fatigue. It seems that people only have a certain amount of decision-making power, which is exhausted in the course of the day with every decision. In order to reserve this amount for important decisions, Steve Jobs, for example, almost always wore a pair of jeans and his iconic black turtleneck sweater. For the same reason Barack Obama and Mark Zuckerberg prefer not to make choices about their outfit. I like that a lot, even though my wife insists that you can buy T-shirts in colors other than white.
You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time. John Lydgate
More difficult than the color of your T-shirts are decisions about your own future or that of your organization. Especially because they almost always have to do with other people. Thus a rational no always also has an effect on people’s relationships and is easily interpreted as a personal rejection. But to always say yes in order to avoid personal conflicts is not a solution either, because that way the yes, of course, becomes arbitrary and devalued.
It seems to be a general human trait that we can only say yes with full conviction when we feel free enough to say no. Jesper Juul
Against this background of exuberant possibilities and the resulting decisions, focus is increasingly becoming the core competency of our time. And focus begins with a firm yes, followed by many equally firm and authentic no, which reaffirm the yes and are therefore at least as important.
The Interplay of Overview and Focus
Steve Jobs knew the value of focus like few others and the life-saving reduction of Apple’s product portfolio after his return is legendary: A four-field matrix with desktop and portable on one axis and consumer and professional on the other. He thereby reduced Apple’s hopelessly overflowing portfolio by around 70% to four manageable product lines. Less but better, as the German designer Dieter Rams, highly esteemed by Steve Jobs, put it.
People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things. Steve Jobs
The effectiveness of agility results from the interplay of overview and focus. Both with Scrum and with Kanban it is a matter of making decisions at short intervals regarding the next step on the basis of a good overview and then limiting the Work in Progress (WIP) and thus focussing relentlessly. Kanban has explicit WIP limits and only when one element is finished, the next one can be pulled: stop starting, start finishing. In Scrum, the team focuses on the scope of the sprint in the sprint planning and then retains this focus until the sprint review.
If it isn’t a clear yes, then it’s a clear no. Greg McKeown
For this interplay to succeed, discipline and a product owner like Steve Jobs is needed, who as CEO of the product can convincingly and authentically say no (and is allowed to do so). No to many good ideas that don’t fit right now. No to many stakeholders, who all have good reasons for their favorite features and often also a lot of power. And sometimes even no to oneself in order not to start too much simultaneously. | https://medium.com/@marcusraitner/if-you-say-yes-you-have-to-say-no-2422b1677059 | ['Marcus Raitner'] | 2019-05-11 07:12:51.020000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'Essentialism', 'Self Leadership', 'Focus'] |
What 20 Years Without Cancer Does to a Writing Career | Jennie and her husband, Rob
At the end of 1999, at the age of 35, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. My kids were 3 and 6 years old. I had published my first book — a collection of essays about getting married — and was taking magazine writing assignments on topics ranging from when to call 911 (for Glamour) to a piece on how to shop LA’s antique markets (for Home & Garden) to an interview with Sarah Jessica Parker after she appeared in LA Story (for Us). I knew I wanted to write another book, and cancer was the story that happened to grab me.
I was diagnosed because a dear friend of mine from high school was dying from lung cancer. I was so freaked out by what was happening to her — she too had two little kids — that I conjured up a doomsday scenario of having cancer myself, went to a doctor who had the grace to actually listen to me, and ended up finding cancer early enough to do something about it. While I was undergoing treatment — a lumpectomy and a mastectomy and a reconstructive surgery that landed me in the ICU and 6 weeks of wound care — my friend died. The story I wanted to write was about gratitude and dumb luck — about being able to learn and grow and live on when my friend couldn’t. The book I wrote was called The Victoria’s Secret Catalog Never Stops Coming and Other Lessons I Learned From Breast Cancer.
Cancer Girl
I spent three years promoting that book. Ford Motor Company, a national sponsor of Komen Race for the Cure, ended up printing 100,000 copies of a specially branded version of the book, and sending me out to go on TV, radio, and stages all over the country to talk about — well, being able to learn and grow and live on when not everyone can. I was, in other words, launched into a world where I was not just writing, but using my story to teach and to inspire. The main message in my speech was that telling our stories can help and can heal. I meant not only the stories we can write but also the ones we tell by how we live.
I always made people cry. How could I not? I was this young mother talking about how her high school friend had died, and how lucky I was to be there with the people on that day to tell my story.
I loved having an impact on people, but also had a dread that I would end up being “cancer girl,” as I called it in my mind. I feared an entire career built around cancer, and I didn’t want that. It might have been the dream for some people, but it wasn’t the dream for me.
Photos by Abby Mathews
Becoming a Book Coach
I left the cancer world behind and turned back to writing — first with a book called Raising a Reader, about desperately wanting my kids to be readers. It was a misguided project — the title made people think it was a how-to, but it wasn’t a how-to. Or was it?? My next book was a novel called The Last Beach Bungalow about a cancer survivor who falls in love with a house — I was obviously drawn back to cancer for that one. Two other novels followed.
My books were all published by Big 5 publishers, and I was building a solid mid-list writing career, but I still kept wishing to make the kind of impact I made when I was talking to cancer survivors. I liked writing, but I loved inspiring people, lifting them up, and helping them find their voice and their story. I missed that.
While teaching at the UCLA Extension Writer’s Program, I stumbled upon book coaching. (For the story of how that happened, with Lisa Cron’s Wired for Story, see this post I just wrote for Writer Unboxed.) The rest, as they say, is history. I am now CEO of a book coaching company and am on a mission to train book coaches to help writers find their voice and their story. People often ask me when I am going to write again — they mean stories, not books like my new one on running a book coaching business — and I answer that I’m not sure. I sometimes feel the itch or the yearning to write a novel or memoir, but I also deeply love what I do and don’t have the compulsion to turn away from it right now.
Photos by Abby Mathews
Inspiring People to Write
I have come full circle. I spend a lot of time teaching, giving workshops and webinars and speeches, and helping people see their own potential. I also often make people cry because they are digging deep, touching close to what matters most to them, and finally being SEEN as the thought leaders and storytellers they want to be. It’s the good kind of crying, the deep, cathartic, soulful, I-just-made-a-breakthrough kind of crying.
I always celebrate the day when I got clean margins — the day I was cancer-free — and not the day when I was diagnosed with cancer. The 20th anniversary of that day was just a few days ago. I actually almost forgot about it this year. Cancer feels like it happened in a whole different lifetime. But my husband remembered it because he’s the best. And we snapped a photo at sunset on a beach walk in our new hometown to celebrate that we are here.
It prompted me to think about what these 20 years have meant to me. While I always think about the deep and abiding blessings of being a wife and a mother, I thought this time about the blessing of having lived long enough to find the work I know I was meant to do. I’m no longer a writer, exactly, although I write constantly — I’m writing right now! I do it, though, to inspire other people to write. | https://medium.com/no-blank-pages/what-20-years-without-cancer-does-to-a-writing-career-53f398972f5 | ['Jennie Nash'] | 2020-01-09 23:55:51.989000+00:00 | ['Writers On Writing', 'Cancer Survival', 'Writing', 'Books And Authors', 'Cancer'] |
The shibboleth trend in modern politics | Some call it the “culture war”. Others refer to identity politics. But the language we use and even, in a specific instance, the clothes we wear, identify which “tribe” people belong to. Use the wrong term and you risk being drummed out of the tribe or condemned for being in the wrong group.
It all brings to mind the story in Judges, chapter 12 where the people of Gilead used the word “shibboleth” to identify their enemies, who could not pronounce it. The word survives into modern usage to refer to a custom or tradition that distinguishes a group of people, but with the kicker that such a custom may be outmoded or nonsensical.
And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay;
Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the and rapassages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.
We can see something similar in the terms people use to describe ethnic groups, in issues like inheritance taxes (aka death taxes) or Brexit. On many occasions, the different use of language reflects an attempt to frame the debate in terms favourable to one side or the other — hence abortion is divided into pro-choice (emphasising the right of the woman) and pro-life (emphasising the right of the foetus) movements. Which term you use defines which side of the debate you are on.
The term “political correctness” is often used for this debate, although the phrase itself is loaded, implying that those who use a different terminology are a beleaguered minority when that is clearly not the case. Take for example the use of gender-neutral pronouns like zie or xe, which Jordan Peterson, a Canadian professor, has campaigned against. The vast majority of people would not recognise those terms and thus do not use them. Mr Peterson claimed he might be prosecuted under human rights law if he refused to use such terms. But that hasn’t happened. And the alternative way of looking at the issue is that Mr Peterson refuses to address transgender people with such terms, even when they ask him to which, at a minimum, is impolite.
If you view Mr Peterson as a fearless candidate for free speech, I can probably guess where you stand on a number of other issues, such as climate change, Brexit or the Black Lives Matter movement. By the same token, I can guess where you stand on the other issues if you regard him as a transphobe (a term that is used by only one side of the debate).
These tribal allegiances have a rough philosophical underpinning. People who dislike government intervention see methods of tackling climate change as an assault on freedom (to drive cars, use coal etc) and dislike the idea of government support for disadvantaged groups, or indeed proclamations over the “correct” way of addressing people. They support Brexit because they view the EU as an overmighty bureaucratic superstate. People on the other side of the debate tend to have a more internationalist view and a sense that society needs to tackle the unjust treatment of minority groups.
Donald Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again” was, in its own way, a neat summary of this debate. It suggested that America needed to return to the past, but which past did it refer to? The 1950s are sometimes portrayed as an era of tranquil prosperity but they were also marked by racial segregation and the denial of African-Americans’ right to vote. Other groups like women and gays have also gained rights in the last 50 years that they do not wish to see taken away. America was not that great for them in earlier eras.
Many people feel caught in the middle of all this. They do not wish to cause offence but worry that they will be caught out by changes in terminology. For example, the term “coloured people” is now deemed to be offensive but “people of colour” is not (although not everyone applauds its use). Benedict Cumberbatch was caught out by this a few years ago. Older people, in particular, may have grown up using one term and fail to notice it has changed (indeed the NAACP, a civil rights group, still uses it).
But it is important not to overstate the problem. Mr Cumberbatch apologised and moved on; his career is still flourishing. If the left can be accused of hyperventilating on some issues, so can the right. Every year, there is a panic at the idea of “cancelling Christmas”; Donald Trump even claimed that people stopped saying “Merry Christmas” until he put things right. Again, it is simple courtesy to consider the possibility that people of other religions don’t celebrate Christmas and address them accordingly.
Whatever your views on these issues, it is clear that they have increasingly defined political divides, even more so than the economic issues of tax rates and social spending that used to dominate. (The British Conservatives, like America’s Republicans, have increasingly targeted the working class vote. Donald Trump, a wealthy property developer, and Boris Johnson, an old Etonian newspaper columnist, claim to be more on the side of “the people” that left-wing politicians who favour, say, a higher minimum wage or enhanced workers’ rights.)
No sooner had the pandemic emerged than it slotted neatly into this partisan debate, particularly in America. Fighting the disease requires greater government intervention and so one tribe opposes it. This even extends to mask-wearing; Democrats are more likely to wear a mask than Republicans.
Of course, it is reasonable to debate whether governments have tackled the virus successfully. Have lockdown measures caused too much economic damage, particularly for workers who have lost their jobs, when the most severe effects of the disease are focused on the elderly? But ideological consistency is not always applied. In Britain, those in the anti-lockdown camp tend to be Brexiteers. On the first issue, they complain about the impact on businesses; on the second issue, they seem remarkably nonchalant.
Modern political marketing has created the short slogans that define these debates, from “taking back control” through “stop the steal” to “the many, not the few”. When they are overused they become shibboleths - merely parroted slogans that lose their real meaning. They demonstrate that it is not just that people no longer agree on the same facts, they do not agree on the same language.
Can a nation survive such a stark divide? Polls suggest that many Republicans do not accept that Joe Biden won the US election legitimately. On Friday, the Supreme Court rejected an attempt by Texas to overturn the votes of millions of people in four states that backed Biden. In response, the chairman of the Texas Republicans suggested that “Perhaps law-abiding states should bond together and form a Union of states that will abide by the constitution.” Anyone who has studied US history may recall that something similar was said about Abraham Lincoln’s 1860 election victory. When the new Gilead fights the new Ephraim, perhaps the shibboleth test will revolve around the question “who is the legitimate President?” Let us hope not. | https://medium.com/@econbuttonwood/the-shibboleth-trend-in-modern-politics-94ab39d98737 | ['Philip Coggan'] | 2020-12-12 16:29:24.885000+00:00 | ['Brexit', 'Language', 'Trump'] |
Free Icons for Designers and Developers | Font Awesome
Font Awesome is one of the widely used icon libraries on the web. Font Awesome has 7000+ icons. It has 2 plans. Free and Pro. With a free plan, you get 1500+ icons in regular font-weight. You can download icons as SVG or use NPM packages or you can use them as CDN. With the pro plan, you can access all the 7000+ icons which include 3 weights — Light, Regular, and Strong along with duotone and brand icons.
📣 Font Awesome 6 is coming soon with 30,000+ icons with more styles. Check it out
🔗 For more details visit https://fontawesome.com/
Google Material Design
Material design has about 900+ icons and comes with 5 variants. Materials icons are designed with Google’s Material Design guidelines. All these icons are free for personal and commercial use. These icons can be downloaded as PNG as well as SVG. Also, it can be installed via NPM, Bower, or can be accessed via CDN.
🔗 For more details visit https://material.io/resources/icons/
Flaticon
Flaticon is one of the largest community which claims to have 2,900,000+ icons. Flaticon comes with 2 plans — Free and Premium. The free plan offers few thousands of icons which itself is the biggest collection of free icons. Icons in the free plan can be used for both personal and commercial purposes with proper attribution. With a Premium plan, you can access all of the icons on the platform with unlimited downloads.
These icons can be downloaded as PNG, SVG, EPS, and PSD. As there are lots of icons and more icons are added on a daily basis, Flaticon doesn’t support CDN for your web projects. Instead, you can add icons as collections and can generate as a font face file.
🔗 For more details visit https://www.flaticon.com/
Streamline
Streamline has about 30,000 icons which are absolutely free. You can download all these icons as PNG for free. The free PNG icons come with different resolutions with the highest resolution of 1024px. Streamline comes with 3 plans — Free, Essential, and Ultimate pack. In Free pack, you can download 30,000+ icons as PNG. In Essential pack you can download 14 essential category of icons which comes in 3 different styles — Light, Regular, and Bold each pack contain 4,000 icons. You can buy them as individual styles or all styles. In Ultimate pack you can download 53 category of icons which comes with 3 styles — Light, Regular, and Bold each pack contain 10,500 icons. Similar to an essential pack you can buy individual styles or all styles as one pack. Both essential and Ultimate packs supports additional file types like .iconjar .sketch .fig .xd .svg .ai .pdf .png
🔗 For more details visit https://streamlineicons.com/
The Noun Project
Noun Project offers over 1 million icons. You can download icons as PNG as well as SVG. Using the free plan you can use the icons with proper attribution. Noun Project offers 3 premium plans — NounPro, NounTeams, NounEducation. With a premium plan, you will be able to download unlimited icons with the customization and the ability to add it to multiple apps online as well as offline.
🔗 For more details visit https://thenounproject.com/
Iconfinder
Iconfinder offers over 4,450,000+ icons. Iconfinder has some unique styles like hand-drawn icons and all the icons are organized as categories. There are 60+ categories of icons available on the site. It has an online editor where you can edit those icons online by changing components and colors. It works similarly to Flaticon were few thousands of icons are available to download as free. There are 3 pro plans — Micro, Starter, and Unlimited. Also, there is a pay as you go, model.
🔗 For more details visit https://www.iconfinder.com/
Icons8
Icons8 offers over 130,000+ icons. Icons8 has a free plan where you can download all the icons as PNG. They offer 2 bundled premium plans for Single users and for Teams where you can download all the icons, illustrations, stock photos, and music in all formats. This will be best for startups and single users who are looking for a bundled package at a reasonably low price.
🔗 For more details visit https://icons8.com/
Iconscout
Iconscout offers over 2 million+ royalty-free icons. You can use these icons for free with proper attributions. Iconscout offers two premium plans. One with unlimited free icons and another one as a bundled package with options to download unlimited icons and limited photos and illustrations. Iconscout offers plugin support for Sketch, Adobe Xd, Photoshop, Illustrator, MS Word, PowerPoint, Google Docs, and Sheets.
🔗 For more details visit https://iconscout.com/
Are you a web developer or designer? Here is a Case Study that helps you to revamp an existing website with the best practices to increase user engagement. Read More
Other Icon Libraries
👉 Iconify
👉 Icomoon
👉 Iconmonstr
👉 Smashicons
👉 Glyphish
👉 Feather Icons
👉 Iconicons
👉 Remix Icon
👉 Boxicons | https://medium.com/imkishorein/free-icons-for-designers-and-developers-7ad3715bb451 | ['Kishore V'] | 2020-07-12 06:39:04.487000+00:00 | ['Product Design', 'Product Management', 'Design', 'UI Design', 'Resources'] |
Social Impact Tech: Jon Gaster of KSI Data Sciences On How Their Technology Will Make An Important Positive Impact | Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory and how you grew up?
I grew up in a middle-class family in London, in the UK, with one older brother and 15 aunts and uncles! Dinner table conversation was always lively!
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
Too many to tell — because I never knew what I wanted to do (and sometimes still don’t), so I have tried lots of things. I sold big sliding walls to hotels in Singapore, I worked in the construction industry building power plants in New Zealand and I spent nearly ten years at that most formal of institutions — IBM. And then, after that, 10 years in that most informal of environments — Hollywood TV and Movie production. For me, each job was an opportunity, not a pre-planned career path. I guess I was a very early gig economy worker! Each job delivered lifelong friendships, as well as great experiences. Despite the ups and downs (and there were a number of them), I was able to be comfortable in many different social and corporate environments.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I have been extremely lucky in finding supporting partners in every business that I have been involved with; they’ve been straightforward and a joy to work with. Most importantly after 9 years with IBM in the UK, I wanted to strike out on my own and my boss at the time was incredibly supportive to the extent of offering me a leave of absence so I could continue my career at IBM in case things didn’t work out. That safety net was a great stress reducer — I never did go back.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
My father who was also an entrepreneur had a quote on his desk that has always resonated with me. I’m not sure of the provenance but it has stuck with me. “The opportunity of a lifetime only lasts for the lifetime of the opportunity”; In other words, timing is everything.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Listen — pretty self-explanatory, that one.
Don’t force the conclusion….it may not end up where you want it to. We spend our lives trying to have customers/stakeholders align with our priorities. Until you reach alignment it is almost impossible to get a result, and it is very unusual to get that alignment by forcing the pace (other than in an employer /employee relationship). Again — timing is everything.
Don’t be the smartest person in the room. When I moved from IBM my first start-up was in the entertainment industry because a good friend came from that world and saw a tech opportunity. My second endeavor was in the defense world and finally, we are in the drone/video space. Each of those needed significant learning on the job… the big lesson was you can’t create or sell a solution unless you understand who is going to use it, why, and how. That means really understanding their pain points, and in turn, that means learning about their job. So I was lucky I had great partners who were steeped in the various businesses and gave me the time and space to learn on the job — so even though I was CEO I made sure to continue to surround myself with really smart people.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about the tech tools that you are helping to create that can make a positive social impact on our society. To begin, what problems are you aiming to solve?
In a nutshell, too much information is worse than no information at all. While we are often overloaded in our personal lives, especially our online personal lives, our professional responsibilities may require us to make consequential and sometimes even life or death decisions based on being able to discern signal from noise — in other words, how do I figure out what’s important?
How do you think your technology can address this?
Our focus is video, and there are thousands of video sources out there that are being deployed every day. From dashcams to drones, from smartphones to Ring doorbells. Our technology live streams from any source and does a couple of things — it delivers them into a cloud environment. That is both secure and collaborative. That is one of the true answers for the signal/noise question — collaboration, the more expert eyes on something the more likely it is that a good decision will be made. So, we create a secure environment for real-time collaboration. Secondly, as more and more analytics are being developed to help with the problem, we make sure the video and associated data can also feed those analytics. Thus, we are able to deliver real value today, while providing raw material for today’s analytics and training data for the AI and Machine Learning systems of tomorrow.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
I have always tried to break things down to their simplest components. When I was at IBM I honestly didn’t know much about computers because they were big abstract pieces of machinery. The second I got my hands on a personal computer I was mesmerized. Not by the coding (I still can’t code) but by how they could actually make life easier — The very first ATMs in the UK used punch cards but were completely revolutionary. I also realized that one person’s perception could be very different from another. I remember our first client in the entertainment industry was looking for us to develop a database of film and television locations that the UK government could use to attract foreign filmmakers to the region. This was in the days of Windows 3 and given we had to include imagery this was not a trivial task. I was used to working with IBM internal systems, which were super-fast and had email, etc, — all long before it was available to the public. So, when our programmers showed me the results, disappointment didn’t even begin to describe it. Slow, clunky, blurry… but we had to present it the next day. The customer was absolutely blown away — they had never seen an image on a computer. It was a lesson I have never forgotten — perception = experience.
How do you think this might change the world?
I am not arrogant enough to think I am going to change the world but what I am striving to do is remove the hype — in the sense that all the tech press is focused on fantastic technologies that may or may not ever deliver on their promise (like IBM’s Watson). The message can become cloudy and overwhelming (there’s that signal to noise thing again). I have developed a concept that I hope will help — “Competent Autonomy” — this means, make sure that whatever is being developed is going to solve the problem at hand — and that it’s going to satisfy all the stakeholders. This may seem obvious, but many projects and products fail because they were too ambitious (perhaps to sell the project) and weren’t able to deliver on their promise. Other times, because they ignored one group of critical stakeholders — often the folks that are going to have to use the technology.
Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
The potential pitfalls of Machine Learning and AI have been discussed at great length by extremely smart people from Isaac Asimov to Tim Berners-Lee so there is not much I can add. Our technology enables collaboration — it is designed to allow people to make decisions faster and more safely based on what they can see which can be augmented by information that they can’t see. At the end of the day, I do believe that a programmer’s priority may be different from a user and if that seeps into the AI decision-making process, then we are heading for trouble.
Here is the main question for our discussion. Based on your experience and success, can you please share “Five things you need to know to successfully create technology that can make a positive social impact”? (Please share a story or an example, for each.)
The term social impact is extremely broad. The world is much too complex, as there are obviously trade-offs for everything. We can say that the car has had a positive impact, but it has also created a fossil-fueled economy that is having dramatic downsides. Google’s “do no evil” and subsequent “do the right thing”, were very laudable but many would argue that they have fallen well short. The concept is a bit abstract — I like to think about it as a means to feeling good about yourself because you have made someone else feel better
Deliver technology that users can relate to — if it’s easier to use and solves a problem you have made their lives easier and had an impact Think about your end game — creating a world-changing technology may not in itself make a positive impact but the wealth it creates can empower real change. McKenzie-Scott (Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife) has given away billions of dollars to really worthy causes. She didn’t create technology, but the wealth created by Amazon gave her the opportunity to make a positive social impact. You can say the same about Bill and Melinda Gates and many others. In other words, don’t think that chasing the unicorn and making a positive social impact are mutually exclusive. Think people, not technology — again, at the end of the day the only things that matter are people. Do what you say you’re going to do — it’s often uncomfortable to say no — but better than saying yes and not delivering. Ignore the naysayers — take advice but if you are convinced then go for it!
If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
I’ve been in business for over 30 years so I’m playing catch-up here — I’m afraid the next few generations are going to spend a lot of time cleaning up the mess. In a perverse way that has created endless opportunities to get involved. For example, tech to help us as we age, bacteria that eats trash in the oceans, endless power from renewable sources, food distribution (so that no one needs to go hungry), and many more, are all fields crying out for innovation. The best people to innovate are those that don’t ignore the phrase “but we’ve always done it that way” — namely young people.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)
Ekhart Tolle — He is a great spiritual teacher. I love his books, reading a chapter or two seems to provide a different perspective on a problem. I always make better decisions afterward.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
I am on LinkedIn, and I do try to respond to messages there. Otherwise, our company is KSI Data Sciences (www.ksidatasciences.com)
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success in your important work. | https://medium.com/authority-magazine/social-impact-tech-jon-gaster-of-ksi-data-sciences-on-how-their-technology-will-make-an-important-6bace42e1911 | ['Jilea Hemmings'] | 2021-07-22 13:41:35.479000+00:00 | ['Social Impact'] |
3 Legit Ways any South African can Make Money Online Risk Free | The information I am about to share with you is based on my personal experience, I only wrote about the tips below because I have used them and still using them, they have worked for me so far, So you can either choose one or explore them all, it’s up to you.
Tip 1: Easiest Forex Trading on eToro
Up until now Forex trading has been extremely hard especially for beginners, but there is a company called eToro, it uses a system called copy trading, which simply means even if you don’t know how to trade, you can just copy the trading traits of other listed successful traders, every time they trade for themselves they automatically make a trade for you. You can choose from a long list of successful traders on eToro, this list has all types from high risk traders to low risk traders. You can even use a demo account to get familiar with trading on eToro.
Personally, I have found this style of trading to be the best and safest way for beginners like me to trade. eToro is 100% legit and you can withdraw your money any time. My returns from this trading company have been well over R8 000 in just 4 months. Of course, the return depends on how much money you put in, so the more you put in the more you get back, if you choose the best trader to copy then the risk of losing your money becomes very small.
Tip 2: Play Hollywoodbets
This is the fastest way to make quick cash online, however you must be very good at predicting lottery numbers; So, for this I am going to recommend this book, I have read many books detailing how to predict lottery numbers but this one beats them all so far, the book is called: How I Make Over R10 000 A Month On Hollywoodbets, this book has helped me significantly in predicting numbers. So far, I have made almost R15 000 in cash in just less than one month of using the methods mentioned in this book.
Tip 3: Field Agent App
There is an App on Google play called Field Agent, this company is 100% legit. Here they give you missions to complete depending on where you are in South Africa. I have collected a total of R1 690 in just 5 months of using this app. The more missions you complete successfully the more missions you are given, that means more money for you. Most of the time the missions include going into different shops such as KFC, McDonalds, Spar, Webbers, OK Grocery, Liquor Shops and Many more, and then all you do is go to the shop and answer questions about certain products, service or the shop itself and then submit your feedback. Then they take about 24 hours to review your missions and wallah! money in the bank. The pay-out ranges from somewhere between R50 to R200 per mission. You have to make sure your mobile phone has a good internet connection and a working GPS. The Downside of this app is that sometimes many weeks pass by without even a single mission. You can check out the Field Agent Company on Their Facebook page for more information. | https://medium.com/@jefflubisi/3-legit-ways-any-south-african-can-make-money-online-risk-free-2b70249d574a | ['Jeff Lubisi'] | 2019-06-20 03:02:15.195000+00:00 | ['Gambling', 'Trading', 'Wealth Creation', 'Money', 'South Africa'] |
1. “Be Safe” | As your daughter is walking out the door for school, or on a date, or to a party, or to a friend’s house, or to church… the classic parental saying of “be safe” normally is said to the back of her head as she forgets to say goodbye.
But what do you even mean by be safe? Do you mean,
Don’t speed.
Watch where you’re going.
Don’t drink.
Don’t drink and drive.
Don’t text and drive.
Don’t get into a car with intoxicated people.
Don’t be stupid.
Don’t die.
Obviously, don’t be stupid and don’t die are kind of blanket statements that most kids hear instead of be safe. You may want to start being more specific.
About a month ago, I was at a QT Gas Station- notoriously one of the most safe gas stations- and I had just gone inside to purchase a sandwich. I walked out quickly afterwards to my car afterwards, got in, and prepared to drive away.
I drive a 2020 vehicle, and one of the nice safety features on the majority of new cars is that only the driver side door unlocks if you press the unlock button on your key fob once. More than once usually unlocks all doors of the vehicle.
I didn’t even have time to sit my sandwich in the backseat before I heard a tug at my door handle, and found an older man in a hoodie and jeans staring at me through my passenger side window.
I was in a populated public place, with cameras, people, in broad daylight and a man tried to get in my car.
He proceeded to try one more time, still looking at me, and then said “MY BAD WRONG CAR.” He walked to the opposite end of the parking lot and disappeared.
Uh, I’m sorry sir, you just happened to forget the appearance and parking space of your seemingly non-existent car, so then when your abduction or assault or robbery attempt failed, you just happened to remember that it wasn’t even parked in the QT lot in the first place?
I don’t know what he was planning to do had my door been unlocked, and I don’t want to know. I am thankful for new safety features, because usually I lock my car doors right away when I’m somewhere alone.
I ended up calling the QT and alerted the management of the suspicious man, who then alerted authorities, because this was obviously not an individual who had simply tried to open the wrong car.
I called my father afterwards, who was roughly 150 miles away. I told him what had happened, and he asked the typical concerned parents questions of: Are you alright? Did you call the police? Did anyone see what happened? Are there cameras?
I love and appreciate my father, don’t get me wrong. But I am 21-years-old, on my own in another state simply trying to purchase a sandwich and I nearly get kidnapped. What was my father going to do in this situation?
Nothing. He couldn’t protect me, but they told me to lock my doors 27,000 times a day when I first got a car. Wonder if that sunk in..
He ended the phone call with: Goodbye, I love you, be safe.
About 6 months before the QT incident, I was at a Walmart. I had been in the store no longer than 10 minutes before finding my item and leaving. It was spring, so the sun was still shining at about 6:00 pm. Before I got out into the parking lot, I had noticed a man leaning up against a vending machine nearly break his neck trying to check me out or something.
I was dressed in sweatpants and a sweatshirt. My hair was in a bun. This was not my most attractive moment.
The man decided to peel off from the vending machine and follow me out the door. Luckily I had seen him begin to pursue me, so I didn’t walk to my car. I began to walk to the other Walmart entrance, maybe 40 yards away.
He still was behind me and was close enough at this point to where I could almost see his face out of my peripheral vision. I decided to be proactive in this situation, so I whipped around and stared directly at his eyes.
He looked astonished that I had stopped in my tracks and was now plainly staring him back. He goes: Hey girl, can I tell you something real quick?
I said: Sir, if it was quick you would’ve said it when you first saw me inside, rather than following me out here.
I had began to walk backwards, still towards the opposite entrance, trying to memorize his outfit and features in case I needed to recall them later- if something happened. He then said: I just was looking at them legs, you gorgeous baby!
I said: Sir, that is clearly not a compliment if this encounter has resulted in me being uncomfortable.
I couldn’t really understand what he was saying at this point because it appeared as though he may have been under the influence. He just hand gestured wildly a few times before turning back around and staggering the direction of the first entrance.
Luckily, yes, I do have rather long legs and I moved quickly enough to cover the remaining distance to the second entrance, told an employee about the incident, and got walked to my car. But at this point he was gone.
I told my parents upon returning home about my incident, but once again, what was there for them to do? Go to the store with me every time I need something? Get gas with me whenever I need to fill up?
You cannot protect your child from everything, you can only wish safety upon them and hope that they are prepared enough to be proactive in situations where physical safety is threatened. You can’t tell them not to go places either, because that just isn’t logical.
The world itself is not a dangerous place; it’s bad people that make it that way.
If your daughter ever has the suspicion she’s being followed or watched, she needs to be proactive in reporting it. This may seem uncomfortable and like paranoia, but it’s better to seem stupid than to get stolen.
She needs to be aware of her surroundings. She needs to minimize public distractions that can put her at risk to being more vulnerable to surprises. She needs to be safe.
If your daughter is going somewhere on her own- school, a restaurant, a movie theater, grocery shopping, a bar, etc- then you can’t always be chaperoning in the background. Make sure that when you tell her to be safe, she knows what that means. It’s not so much your concern for her doing something stupid, it’s the world around her.
Lock your doors when you get in the car. Do not have your head in your phone or be distracted walking alone from public places. | https://medium.com/@dottersays/1-be-safe-8860c3b4a20a | [] | 2020-12-13 06:54:45.981000+00:00 | ['Daughters', 'Adulthood', 'Teens', 'Parenting', 'Parenting Advice'] |
Unboxing the PS5: contents of the package, size, controller | The PS5 is less than two weeks away from launch and yours truly was among the few journalists selected to test it prior to its release mid-November. There are “embargo milestones” attached to that privilege, though, so specific things only can be published about Sony’s system for now. A quick unboxing story with a few photographs will have to do until first impressions regarding the PS5 are allowed, then impressions about the new DualSense controller leading to a full, comprehensive review of the new PlayStation a few days later. So, on with the snaps!
The PS5 package is minimal in design and keen on underlining its support to advanced display technologies (Image credit: Road to NextGen 2020)
The PS5 packaging is rather large because, well, the system itself is big. The 8K, 4K/120 and HDR logos feature prominently alongside the system’s main photo — at the bottom, one can also find the DTS HD Audio and Dolby Audio logos but not the Dolby Vision logo. Hhhhmmmm…
After all the protective compartments of the packaging are removed this is what you’ll be left with, which is perfectly acceptable (Image credit: Road to NextGen 2020)
Here’s what’s included in the packaging: the PS5 itself, a power supply cable (the PSU is thankfully incorporated in the system’s case), the DualSense controller, a USB-A to USB-C cable (for charging the controller), an HDMI 2.1 cable (supporting 8K and 4K/120), the multi-functional base and a couple of brief manuals.
So the rumors were true and the videos were not kidding: the PS5 really is an imposing device despite its elegant design. (Image credit: Road to NextGen 2020)
This is the PS5 (without its base attached) compared to a PS4 Pro. Yes, it is considerably bigger as well as heavier. The whole back of the former is used to exhaust hot air from the inside, so it’s a given that placing it close to a wall would not be a good idea.
The new DualSense controller is also bigger in size but that seems to be a good thing ergonomically speaking (Image credit: Road to NextGen 2020)
The DualSense is also bigger than a DualShock4 and somewhat heavier but even before using it, one can tell that it’s also a better controller overall. Its grip is firmer, hands wrap around it in a more ergonomic way and gamers with big hands will like it way more than the DS4 because of the increased size. It’s very well-built and the plastics used feel more premium than the ones used in past DualShocks. The Road to NextGen 2020 will publish far more detailed impressions of the DualSense soon.
The PS5 does not look that big in this photo until one realizes that this is a 65-inch TV it’s standing in front of (Image credit: Road to NextGen 2020)
In its vertical orientation the PS5 does indeed look cool, especially if the room it’s placed in is arranged in a way that complements its size and overall design. The ideal place for it would probably be in a big enough living room standing alongside a huge TV. The color of the “wings” of its case is not as white as Sony’s press photos or these photos imply. They sport more of a matte cream-colored surface that does not reflect natural light. Since they are detachable and can already be replaced with different ones, the whole “modern or not in white” debate back in June regarding the PS5’s design looks kind of pointless now, no?
This is how most of us will use Sony’s new home entertainment system and… yeap. Still imposing. (Image credit: Road to NextGen 2020)
Standing upright the PS5 is all modern and stylish, sure, but most of us will probably be using it in the traditional horizontal orientation. That is less impressive than the vertical one but it’s no less futuristic thanks, again, to the shape and bold lines of those detachable “wings”. The rest of the case, the black part, is quite shiny and contrasts well with the matte “wings”, but one suspects that dust will show on its surface quickly enough (another piece of equipment in need of frequent dusting then). It’s hard to imagine that in matte black, though, as it’s the shiny surface that helps the PS5 project that high-tech image to begin with.
More on the PlayStation5 will appear in Road to NextGen 2020 stories over the next two weeks. The rather comprehensive PS5 FAQ published there — containing answers to all the important questions anyone could have regarding Sony’s system — will also be regularly updated as more details about it are allowed by the embargo dates set. Stay tuned! | https://medium.com/road-to-nextgen-2020/ps5-unboxing-contents-of-the-package-size-controller-171e1b17c85 | ['Kostas Farkonas'] | 2020-11-04 07:25:31.313000+00:00 | ['Gaming', 'Playstation 5', 'Videogames', 'PlayStation', 'Sony'] |
Machine Learning Model for Insurance Fraud : Deployment made easy using Clouderizer | Try out the deployed model now :
https://serverless.clouderizer.com/function/clouderizerdemo-autoinsurancefrauddetection
Imagine, for a moment, receiving lower auto insurance rates. Year after year. For the same coverage. What’s the catch? Fraud getting caught more often!
Nowadays, when actuarial science meets computer science, machine learning (ML) models spring up to slash insurance fraud. But for that to happen, these ML models have to be first deployed.
Which brings us to Clouderizer — an easy to use ‘ML Ops’ platform that can quickly serve up a prediction using an ML model (in this case, about auto insurance fraud).
Traditionally, the challenging problem of fraud detection has relied heavily on manual auditing and expert inspection. Which are costly, inefficient and counter-productive to providing lower rates. The scale of the problem is significant as an estimated 21%–36% of auto-insurance claims contain elements of suspected fraud.
Deployed ML models are effective predictive methods which can maximize the true positive detection rate, minimize the false positive rate, and are able to quickly identify new and emerging fraud schemes.
We took up this challenge to build a simple machine learning model which detects whether an insurance claim is fraud/not. The dataset is readily available from Kaggle and the model was built using H2oAutoML for python, XGBoost algorithm. The H2oAutoML module neatly converts the model into a zip format. The zip file can be obtained by running the training notebook on github. Github for training part!
In this article we’ll demonstrate how you can use Clouderizer to deploy practically any commonly developed ml model.
Model deployment
Model deployment is a completely different ball game than model development. Data scientists typically hand over their model to engineering for implementing a secure, reliable and scalable deployment. It would be great to have a URL with a neat interface to score the model. Anyone can open the url and run the prediction with their inputs. That’s where Clouderizer comes into picture. Clouderizer can help check off all these boxes and more. Clouderizer gives you all the controls and features you need for easily creating an API, delivering an out of the box intuitive web interface with an intuitive analytics dashboard, debugging any potential runtime errors early on, updating your deployments with zero downtime, performing the desired preprocessing and postprocessing, , retraining your model (either manually or automatically depending on your error metric). reliably maintaining your deployments.
Here are the Clouderizer screenshots that back up the above claims.
Go to Clouderizer.
Documentation to navigate through the platform.
Steps:
1.Create a new project,
2. Select h2o/dai project type and upload the auto_insurance_fraud.zip file we obtained from running the training.
3. After the model file is uploaded, the input and output attributes are automatically set.
The output by model is binary i.e 1 in case of “Fraud” and 0 for “Not Fraud”. People who might try out the model have no idea what those binary outputs mean. We don’t want to go through training the whole model again just to change the output variable names. That’s where the Postprocessing feature comes in. The feature can be enabled by clicking on the “Settings” button. Tick the post processing box and click “Save”.
When post processing is enabled, instead of directing model output to the user, the platform directs it to a simple python postprocessor function.
Hence, the model flow gets updated automatically with the postprocessing step. In postprocessing we want the model to output “FRAUD”/”NOT FRAUD” instead of 1/0. To achieve this Showcase provides a python postprocessor function, with the input from the h2o model output i.e 1/0. Click on the “Postprocess Code” button to prepare your postprocessing/display code.
The input variable is already defined and given to the user in the form of comments. As seen in the post process code, we get the probability output from the h2o model. If the p>0.5 → It’s a fraud and <0.5 “not a fraud”. Whatever output we want the scoring user to see instead of technically accurate probabilities that badly need a fix for their low expressiveness can be written here. After adding the post process, the output is no longer the model output. It is instead the output from post processor. So we need to change the “Output details” accordingly.
The model deployment setup is now complete. For deployment, click the “Deploy button”. The model can be deployed on various infrastructures depending on your requirements. Choose the suitable deployment options and your model should be ready to score in under 4 minutes.
Once deployment is complete, you will find a url to your project on the bottom left. This url will take us to your model serving page where you can score the model with a simple UI.
This url can be shared with anyone over the internet. People with access to the url can score, review, collaborate and make updates to the model with a simple interface. The creator of the project will have access to the analytics section where all the data about previous inferences, response time, error metrics, feedback and model failure points can be checked.
This image refers to the analytics page. It contains data of each reference ever made for this model with timestamp, inputs and outputs. On clicking More Details respective to each inference, exact inputs and outputs scored by random users who have access to the url.
CONCLUSION:
Clouderizer provides a platform to reliably deploy, showcase and scale your machine learning model.
Deployed model : https://serverless.clouderizer.com/function/clouderizerdemo-autoinsurancefrauddetection | https://medium.com/@rohanricky/machine-learning-model-for-insurance-fraud-deployment-made-easy-using-clouderizer-d4f95db061c6 | ['Rohan Kothapalli'] | 2021-02-05 02:14:38.964000+00:00 | ['Deployment', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Deep Learning', 'Python', 'Machine Learning'] |
I Am Trying to Get Back On My Feet | I Am Trying to Get Back On My Feet
How do I get back on my feet when I feel like I am just a brain? Savannah Ward Oct 17, 2019·3 min read
Photo by Nick Scheerbart on Unsplash
I do not mean to endlessly complain about my life to strangers on the internet for the sole purpose of gaining attention. (I had a Tumblr blog in high school that did the trick.)
But, growing up in the age of social media has me wanting to seek validation in a way so familiar to me in what has become such an unfamiliar world.
I am starting to write here so I can find a way to document how I am getting back on my feet. Right now, it feels as like I have no legs and thus no ground to stand on. I am just a slab of meat and chemicals floating around in some form of epidermic capsule. But, in the back of my mind, I know that I am more than that. We are more than that.
I would not consider myself a good writer. I have been writing songs for as long as I can remember, but none of them are that great. But, I have always loved to write. I have always wanted to write better, but I never had anything to talk about. I wished I had something to talk about.
Well, this is that moment. (And in this moment, I must advise you: be careful what you wish for.) | https://medium.com/@savannahward_40486/i-am-trying-to-get-back-on-my-feet-1bf87a73e2f8 | ['Savannah Ward'] | 2019-10-17 15:32:44.568000+00:00 | ['Depression', 'Writing', 'Self', 'Self Help', 'Existentialism'] |
How To Build Brand Authority and Become A Key Industry Figure | A brand has truly arrived when their name is synonymous with the niche they serve. Becoming an authority positively impacts every aspect of a business. Business owners use their status to extend their reach by curating and creating high-value content. Niche authority benefits are substantial, but becoming a well-known and respected industry figure doesn’t come overnight. Developing a comprehensive branding plan plus accompanying strategy is key.
Authority through content creation
Content creation is the single most important tool to gain a foothold and begin building a solid foundation. Consistently producing high-quality, long-form content delivers high-level value to your readers.
Becoming an authority requires diverse content in readily-accessible formats. Comprehensive guides, how-to pieces, and defining industry terms are tried-and-tested techniques. The most important feature of all content is that it offers viewers something new and previously unavailable to secure a high value-exchange and convert viewers. This includes addressing user questions, educating followers on a specific topic, and troubleshooting common issues.
Guides focus closely on one subject to offer readers background details and actionable tips, whereas how-to pieces are short and fluff-free to inform readers of exactly what to do to achieve a specific outcome. See our case studies below which show how specific content types build brand loyalty and convert followers.
The personal brand connection
Established yourself in your field requires a two-pronged approach. In addition to building a thriving brand for a business, business owners must enthusiastically build up their brand. Your brand paints a clear picture of what you believe, how you do business, and the results you offer clients. At its heart, a personal brand tells a meaningful story with a positive impact that reflects personal values, builds trust, and shows how you can offer unique solutions.
Many have built personal brands wound tightly into the story of their industry. Individuals are increasingly making purchasing decisions based on feelings towards companies and the people behind them. According to a recent study in Edelman, 59% percent of U.S. and 57% of U.K. consumers engage in belief-driven purchases, with a further 60% of people stating that brands need to make their values clear at of before the point of sale.
Naturally, a key component of company branding is strengthening and clarifying their business values. When a leader’s image is inextricably connected to a brand their views and beliefs are equally important. The key to successfully building a personal brand is having an open attitude and showing vulnerability. This approach highlights your experience and shows that you have applied your valuable learnings to offer a unique and highly attractive industry solution.
Personal branding case study: John Legere, T-Mobile CEO and ‘Slow Cooker Sundays’
John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile, is an excellent example of personal branding. He goes live for Slow Cooker Sunday every week, where he talks to viewers about what he’s making for dinner, answers questions about T-Mobile, and builds a personal relationship with customers and potential customers through this original and open engagement technique.
Targeted company brand building
A company’s brand values are intricately entwined with its executives’ branding efforts. The brand itself must be represented by a clear set of values and guiding principles that are communicated to its target followers.
Company branding case study: Coca-Cola’s proprietary branding
Originally one of many generic soda drinks, the soft drinks industry is now dominated by Coca-Cola to the point that they are synonymous. The brand achieved this with their inimitable bottle shape and the recognizable shade of red.
Consistency is one factor of Coca-Cola’s success. As they branch out to reach younger markets with their campaigns, they never lose sight of their long history.
Coca-Cola is proof of how brand authority yields tremendous results. Their marketing campaigns have an immediate impact. For example, their FIFA World Cup-themed cans and bottles featured UK household names which garnered significant media attention and social media engagement.
Integrating with your industry through content
A company doesn’t need to be the first established to achieve authority-status. The key is to establish a brand that offers something desirable that is not already available. Connecting with other figures in your sector enables you to quickly integrate into the community and build mutual relationships. The following techniques focus on creating high-value content that adds value to community users, including potential clients and other industry figures.
Guest blogging
One such example is guest blogging. This is an excellent method to integrate and build your presence. Brands that publish targeted, well-written guest posts for their audience receive credibility and build their authority over time with successive publications across a variety of platforms.
Referral traffic
Indeed, securing referrals from other industry figures is another excellent method to build your position. Many people greatly benefit from giving interviews and speaking at industry-specific events.
Content case study #1: Orkin’s how-to content
The Atlanta-based domestic pest control company Orkin, has successfully used how-to content to secure their position in the pest control industry. Their website and YouTube channel are populated with educational videos that use humor to make pest control less unpleasant. By providing viewers with how-to videos on handling certain pest issues, Orkin has firmly positioned themselves by demonstrating their expertise, helpfulness, and openness. This, in turn, increases the likelihood of a follower converting when they need professional pest control services.
See Also:
Onboarding Industry Influencers to Endorse and Promote your Brand
Content case study #2: Chewy’s blog and social media campaigns
Blog posts and social media content have significant power in creating niche authority. Florida-based online pet food company Chewy arrived in the industry long after its main competitors. Nonetheless, chewy quickly became a serious contender against its long-established rivals. Their approach shows an understanding of how owners bond with their pets through humanising animals in their marketing strategy and content campaigns. Chewy’s blog is populated with high-value targeted content.
Their blog content focuses on specific questions and issues such as ‘Can Cats Eat Pumpkin?’, ‘Which KONG Should You Get Your Dog?’ and ‘Traveling With Your Dog: expectation and reality’. Their in-depth guides, purchase advice, and case studies deliver valuable information, news, and tips to their followers.
Chewy’s social media marketing is a highly effective brand-loyalty tool. Their social feeds feature high-value content including photos, videos, and reviews that directly connect with their followers. Their posts receive very high engagement rates, largely due to direct interactions with customers where they answer questions, offer condolences, and give recommendations.
The result of Chewy’s comprehensive and integrated content creation across multiple platforms contributed to PetSmart’s purchase of the brand in 2017 for $3.35 billion: the largest e-commerce acquisition to-date.
Content case study #3: Copyhackers’ Joanna Wiebe and the power of case studies
Case studies are a powerful tool for those looking to showcase their expertise through previous client solutions. Joanna Wiebe of the copywriting company Copyhackers has successfully used case study content to build her presence. Joanna put out hundreds of case studies highlighting exactly how she helped brands boost their numbers, reach new customers, and thrive. In doing so, she showed her expertise as a copywriting authority. Case studies established Joanna’s business as content marketing circles and grew her branding. She now delivers talks at conferences and seminars including Problogger and Conversion Jam where she explores her professional journey and how she helps brands.
Create your roadmap to authority
Becoming an authority in a niche begins with a well-researched and actionable plan. Spend time conducting extensive research in your sector, paying close attention to your target market and competitors. By taking note of the content that is already available, you can quickly identify the content gaps and your content opportunities. Focus on producing high-quality content that draws readers in with a targeted value-exchange to increase the chances of conversion.
As you continue to build up your presence over time, you will firmly plant yourself and your company within your industry and, critically, in the minds of your users. | https://medium.com/linguakey/how-to-build-brand-authority-and-become-a-key-industry-figure-1358d7fbb470 | ['Kate Furst'] | 2019-10-17 11:14:41.299000+00:00 | ['Personal Branding', 'Branding', 'Influencer Marketing', 'Brand Strategy', 'Branding Strategy'] |
Poetry 451 | ART
Poetry 451
How Cancel Culture has Ruined Literary Criticism
Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash
If there ever was a time in which the literary world needed reminding of the necessity for mutual respect in their corner of the artistic playground, that time is now. Yesterday, outrage erupted across social media when one reader shared a thread denouncing a poem in the latest issue of Poetry Magazine. Hana Shapiro, a relatively unknown person with a paltry 141 Twitter followers, who calls herself a “budding poet,” sent a tweet with photos of a poem by Michael Dickman, highlighting what she believed were lines insensitive to POC readers. That Tweet was quickly latched onto by the online poetry community and shared over a thousand times.
This is unfailingly the way these outrage scenarios play out. A person shares an opinion expressing their reaction to a work, which is just their opinion, but it gains unprecedented momentum when those wanting to amplify their own voices share their agreement, creating a snowball effect which in the moment can feel overwhelming to those being targeted. All of these voices “shouting” at the offending artist or artistic venue become a mob making demands that are very difficult to ignore, especially on social media, where the notifications of their activity flood the inboxes and cell phones of the account holders in question.
In this case, the result of the outrage effect stemming from this one tweet, from one person that only 141 people even follow, caused Poetry Magazine to issue a statement of apology for publishing the poem, and then resulted in the Editor in Chief, Don Share, to resign from his position. The announcement of Don Share’s resignation was met with cries of victory from the outrage mob, some saying “WE DID IT!” while others simply said “Finally, now hire a POC editor or enby editor.”
This is not the first time Poetry Magazine has been targeted with these forms of outrage campaigns in recent months. There have been calls for Don Share to resign by this group of “budding poets” since the publishing of another poem that was met with scandal in November of 2018. That poem was “Titan/All is Still” by Toby Martinez de las Rivas, who was accused of using the imagery of a black sun to promote white supremacist and fascist ideals subconsciously through his work. On this occasion, instead of apologizing however, Poetry decided to stand by the author, and allowed him to pen an explanation of his work to try and mitigate the outrage. As you can imagine, this only made matters worse.
More recently, after the protests erupted over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis all over the country, Poetry Foundation was put under the heatlamp of online scrutiny over their released statement in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Their statement was perceived as too little, too late, and was met with more cries from the online mob. The results of this outrage fallout were that two board members of the Poetry Foundation promptly were forced to resign from their posts, to which the reaction from the online mob was, “This is not enough. Fire Don Share.”
Since that time, a chorus of online voices have been clamoring for the resignation of Don Share, much in the same way these voices have been clamoring for the resignation of Timothy Green from the second largest poetry magazine in the country, Rattle. Timothy Green’s crimes against poetry? He’s an editor who promotes egalitarianism over identity. One should note this bout of outrage is very similar to another occurring over a poem by Anders Carlson-Wee in The Nation, “How to,” which also resulted in an issued apology from the editors. This is an ongoing campaign attempting to dismantle the establishment of the perceived gatekeepers of the poetry world elites, in order to elevate the “marginalized voices” that are supposedly suppressed by these gatekeepers.
The problem with this type of reactionary criticism that results in these flare ups of incidental outrage over art, is the opinions being elevated by the groupthink mobs often lack nuance, and present their views on the work outside the greater context of the singular work, or even the greater body of work of the respective author’s judgment being questioned. Here, in this case, Michael Dickman’s poem “Scholl’s Ferry Rd.” is attacked for perceived slights of racial insensitivity, which in the greater context of the poem, barely factor into the content of the work as a whole.
“Scholl’s Ferry Rd.” is an experimental poem encompassing 30 pages, that uses the empty blank space of the page to an interesting and startling effect. It is essentially a poem about presumably the author’s grandmother, and the dynamic of watching her mental decline, and the way watching that decline mirrors the poet’s own inner struggles with addiction. As the poem progresses, it uses sparse lines of text and language that get less and less, leaving more and more of the page empty, which is I believe meant to symbolize the decline of mental faculty or a descent in the madness of addiction, and as readers have pointed out, possibly a critique of how the white perspective can be ambivalent to casual racism.
But the references to race in the poem are two very brief mentions, within the context of a poem spanning thirty pages, which to me indicate that is not meant to be the grounding focus of the poem at all. Since within the context of the poem, the things being observed and the words being spoken become less and less rational or coherent, along with the lines leaving more and more empty space, to me the poem is more of a metaphor for senility of advancing age, possibly a metaphor for Alzheimer’s. This is of course, subjective, and we don’t know the author’s intent.
But this is the point of art, it can be interpreted many ways by its audience, and thusly one reaction doesn’t necessarily deserve more relevance than the other, regardless of one’s supposed expertise, which on the internet is always simply a matter of personal declaration. Online, everyone is an expert, and everyone is convinced of their own opinion’s distinct assumption of personal importance to their chosen topic. It’s this assumption of personal relevance of opinion, that to me has created a toxicity within the artistic cultural sphere, allowing for the flourishing of cancel culture and for groups of people marinated in their own entitlement now believing themselves worthy of issuing ultimatums and demands upon artists and artist venues.
What exactly was Dickman’s error here? He evidently made a ponderous mistake when describing events of remembrance about the grandmother character in the poem, utilizing the term “negress” within two lines of the poem to pointedly recall examples of oblivious racism from someone he loves, who may be losing their self to the disease or natural process of aging. This is considered racist by detractors of the poem because these scenes are recounted by a white male writer, during a time of increased sensitivity.
The assertion that racially sensitive language used within the framework of an artistic context is itself somehow racist by default is intellectually dishonest. It presumes as an ideal to manifest itself as a thought crime and prevents authors from attempting to recreate scenarios from the real world without causing offense, no matter the intent of the work.
It also presumes that an intended audience (poets write mainly for an audience of their peers, albeit other poets) who should themselves be educated on the principles of poetic craft, are somehow now incapable of rigorous critical thought when applied to a work that challenges societal norms or presuppositions of personal and artistic subtext within content they've engaged their attention.
These conceits are self-defeating when applied across the broader spectrum of the arts.
There is another flaw in this outrage mentality, and that is it operates without offering a presumable granting of benevolent intent upon the artist being questioned. Always, without fail, in this scenario the artist is immediately tarnished with accusations that leap to the worst possible conclusions about them and about their work. In this case, not only is Michael Dickman accused of being a racist, but he is accused of reaffirming white supremacy, and thusly Don Share, the editor who published the work, is again accused of justifying racism in his magazine, which means Don Share must also be an unrepentant racist. There’s no allowance for nuance here. There’s no open dialogue or allowance for debate in a meritocracy. Someone made a grievous mistake, and now they must be met with the harshest possible sentence, deplatformed and tossed into the dustbin of history with no remorse.
This begs the question, why would any artist open themselves up to this type of scrutiny today? Virtually anyone creating work on a sustainable scale can presumably unwittingly produce something that offends someone, as it is impossible to predict the possible interpretations of a work on the bandwidth of infinity. Michael Dickman is an award winning poet who has been almost universally critically praised, and who has appeared in the most prestigious journals, and who in the past has been lauded for his approaches to complicated subjects such as race or trauma. But, all it takes is apparently one unpredictable misstep, and this poet is cancelled in the eyes of the Poetry Police Force.
So, what is the answer here? Is there any way to subvert this trend before the world of the arts becomes a hellscape of acceptable censure and censorship by online committee, a virtual Fahrenheit 451 birthed in the guts of 1984 brainlessness?
There’s no way to reverse the consequences of actions already taken, but there may be a way to begin healing before the attitudes reach an apex or a point of no return. It’s time to instill, or re-establish a golden rule in the artistic community regarding peer criticism.
The Golden Rule of Art Critique should be this: Approach the work of your peers with the same generosity and respect that you would expect your own work to receive.
This approach allows for nuance. It grants the author or creator the presumed benefit of the doubt regarding artistic intent. It heads off outrage at the pass of emotional response, and demands introspection and thoughtful analysis before the voicing of opinion. It understands that opinion is subjective and no one opinion deserves to be the singular gospel or end line arbiter of quality. It understands that the singular opinion of an individual is not automatically granted an assumption of relevance or importance to the greater world. Most importantly, it understands that artists are human beings capable of making mistakes, capable of unintentional harm, and deserving of redemption if pursued with integrity.
The way I see it, the establishment of this Golden Rule of Art Criticism is the only thing that can save the art world from eating itself, and I hope they consider adopting this attitude before it is too late. Who knows. Maybe it already is.
For more on this topic click here. | https://medium.com/the-pom/poetry-451-85297e82b573 | ['Jay Sizemore'] | 2020-07-28 23:04:29.488000+00:00 | ['Michael Dickman', 'Criticism', 'Scholls Ferry Rd', 'Poetry', 'Don Share'] |
Snark Hyper: Serverless Deep Learning and Hyper-Parameter Search | How it works?
You can easily install Snark CLI and register an account at Snark Lab.
sudo pip3 install snark
snark login
Define the training process in a mnist.yaml file
experiments:
mnist:
image: pytorch/pytorch:latest
hardware:
gpu: k80
command:
- git clone
- cd examples/mnist
- python main.py version: 1experiments:mnist:image: pytorch/pytorch:latesthardware:gpu: k80command:- git clone https://github.com/pytorch/examples - cd examples/mnist- python main.py
Boom, you are done…
snark up -f mnist.yaml
You have just started an instance, loaded the container equipped with PyTorch, downloaded the source code and started training. Well this will take some time since we are bounded by the speed of light, however for long trainings, a few minutes should not matter.
After scheduling the task, we are able to check the status of the experiment by running snark ps . Once we are happy with the training process, we simply take it down by snark down {experiment_id} to avoid additional charges of machine time. | https://medium.com/activeloop/snark-hyper-serverless-deep-learning-and-hyper-parameter-search-44e4291788d2 | [] | 2018-11-14 18:58:13.896000+00:00 | ['Serverless', 'Deep Learning', 'Machine Learning', 'AI', 'Cloud'] |
HOME | Home can be near, yet miles apart
I’ve made home another place
each place seems a world away
Distance, an uncrossable chasm — a deep abyss
distance becomes my enemy
thwarting my plans to go home
At my present home,
I yearn to smell the aromas
hear the sounds
taste the foods
and relive the memories of my childhood home
The calls of home are heard in the distance
and grow louder with time, with each thought
Where shall home be?
Shall I settle for occasional visits?
that spread farther and farther apart
phone calls and emails, no substitute for being there
Distance must be conquered
home lives in my heart and is close
home merges, but remains distinct
HOME, Heart of My Ecstasy is wherever I choose to be! | https://medium.com/an-idea/home-a032ca07a980 | ['Elvy Rolle'] | 2020-11-27 02:52:56.928000+00:00 | ['Nostalgia', 'Prose Poem', 'Home', 'Personal Essay', 'Life'] |
To Better Days | I am told, by my friends at Medium, that my first Eidolon post was published May 16th, 2016, a little more than a year after Eidolon was founded. I was, for a while, quite a regular contributor, especially from 2016 through 2018. I wrote, it seems, the lucky total of 13 posts for the blog — some serious, some assigned, some intended to be humorous, whether or not they met the goal. A historical oddity, courtesy largely of how relatively early I jumped on board, is that if you go to ye olde masthead, you will see that I am listed as a quite mysterious sort of fauna, a “contributing editor.” For the historical record: this is a misnomer. I did, as I say, contribute happily for many years. I edited no one. I deserve no credit for any of the wonderful things Eidolon has been, not that anyone thinks otherwise. Let it be a monument only of the long friendship that blossomed between Eidolon and myself, and the warmth it will ever have in my affections.
It is funny to think of how long five or so years can be, if they come at the right time in your life. I wrote my first column for Eidolon as an adjunct at two different universities in two different states, after spending the fall an adjunct somewhere else. Those were the worst taxes I’ve ever done. Later that year, I would move to Williamsburg, Virginia where I would take up a position as a Visiting Professor at William & Mary in the department of classics. I am, strange as it may seem, what we in the business call a “Hebrew Bible guy,” but always mixed in with the comparative study of classics, especially Greek mythology. I taught Greek Mythology and biblical Hebrew. Two years later, in September of 2018, my column “Goodbye, Classics” describes my perambulating thoughts around a success — I got a tenure-track job, also at William & Mary, but in the Religious Studies department, finding a more traditional fit for the more traditional aspects of my training.
There weren’t many columns after that, what with one thing in another, but perhaps one additional point for the historical record is worth making. I got married the year before I started with Eidolon, which was also the year I graduated with my Ph.D. But, like many academics that also started a period of extreme stress for my family — my wife and I would spend the next nearly five years wondering if we would ever find decent jobs in the same place. When I started in Virginia, she was still in Rhode Island, but eventually got a job at UNC, a three hour drive away. When I wrote my next column, after “Goodbye, Classics” — “A Historian Annotates the Horrific Speech Given at the Dedication of Silent Sam” — it was with a front row seat to the proceedings. Again, for the record: I am furious with UNC to this day.
Of course, it is also funny to think of how short five years can be. On April 6th, 2017, I published “A Tale of Two Kingdoms,” an account of American politics through the lens of a favorite Greek myth: the supposed-to-be-shared post-Oedipus kingship of Thebes, the implosion of which leads directly to the events of the Seven Against Thebes and then, immediately, those of Antigone. In the myth, Polynices and Eteocles agree that one will be king for a year, then the other, then back, and infinitum, an arrangement that ends with them killing each other in about five minutes. Here, in a nutshell, was my argument. It is possible for someone to have absolute power — many people have, in history! — and it is possible for two people, or groups, to share power. What is not possible is for two people to share absolute power in succession — back and forth, in this case — when they don’t have anything like the same vision for Thebes.
In other words if, say, Eteocles thinks there should be an eighth gate of Thebes, adding to the fabled seven, but Polynices thinks there should be six, and every year the monarchy rotates is spent building or destroying gates of Thebes ad infinitum, that is a state of affairs that cannot go on. Since the GOP remains committed to the position that no Dem victory is legitimate, and no Dem achievement should be allowed to stand — no matter how many tests it passes — we are still in ancient Thebes, as it were, and I’ve thought about it just about every day. When there are two parties, and one wants to eradicate the existence of the other, pass laws that prohibit its participation, and knock down anything it builds any time it comes to power, how can a nation survive? I have been wondering this from the beginning, and I will go on wondering, I know, for a long time to come.
So here we are, in a very different place from five years ago, and a very similar one, too. Throughout it all, Eidolon has been a place you could go to learn something — some fascinating classics fact, some new way of thinking about it all, some perspective that broadened your horizon. It was, best of all, a place you could go to read marginalized voices, and more than that — to read about marginalization, why it happens, the tremendous harm it causes, and how to go about redressing it. Now it leaves the scene. I am very sorry this is so, but I understand. Others can tell the story of Eidolon much better than I can, but I remember when it left the auspices of the Paideia Institute, and I remember why. It was, in part, at least, because the Institute insisted on an obeisance to a faux ideological diversity, rather than Eidolon’s deep and real commitment to genuine inclusivity — the only kind that matters. Eidolon wanted to give a platform to people whose voices we need but who rarely get the podium they deserve. Eidolon profited by it much more than any endeavor that requires the just-mentioned obeisances in sufficient quantity, and so did we all.
There is, however, a flip side to freedom, so reminiscent of everything else as to be almost a metaphor. Institutions restrict what is possible in the direction of true inclusion, and spaces outside of them are much more congenial — but whatever is made without institutional support is a labor of love, and labors of love are always on borrowed time. What is hardest to build and maintain is soonest knocked down. In an unending pandemic that we have stopped fighting, in a political moment that exhausts all energy, the burdens fall heaviest on those already carrying the load.
Yet it is the fundamental fact of the study of the ancient world that things are not gone just because they are done. Here is a monument to a different kind of classics, long may it stand, to be studied in years to come. From living reality, may it become an aspiration — to a world in which nobody wonders whether an Eidolon can survive and flourish, and it does not take so much to tend, to keep it blooming, to protect it from the elements. As for me, I leave with the deepest appreciation for all involved — Donna, Sarah, Tara, Yung In, and Tori, who invited me in and who, I believe I can say, have become my friends, or already were. I leave with that appreciation for the community Eidolon created, and all the wonderful things I learned from it. May we all meet again in better days.
Andrew Tobolowsky is an assistant professor at William & Mary, working on how we tell and retell stories, and what they say about us when we do. | https://eidolon.pub/to-better-days-98552866a30b | ['Andrew Tobolowsky'] | 2020-12-02 18:12:52.876000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Academia', 'Public Scholarship', 'Byedolon', 'Classics'] |
‘Man Up’ Is a Leadership Myth That Will Wipe You Out | ‘Man Up’ Is a Leadership Myth That Will Wipe You Out
Veterans understand what business leaders must realize: Being an authoritarian leader is the sure path to ruin
Photo: PeopleImages/Getty Images
I smelled the stale cigarette smoke as soon as I walked into the meeting room, a small conference room in an American Legion post located in a strip mall. My hosts, a VA-sponsored center for veterans working with the consequences of post-traumatic stress disorder, had read my book and asked if I might come to speak to the vets. I was surprised by the request — it hadn’t occurred to me that my work, my message about leadership being the means by which we might grow up, would find resonance and be helpful to folks who fought our wars, let alone those who, in their weary hearts, continued to fight those battles. But when the request was made, I didn’t hesitate.
Instead, I thought of my father, a veteran of World War II who spent years of my childhood visiting his local VA hospital, sitting with older vets. I had to say yes.
Walking into the American Legion post, I was struck by how familiar it felt. There was, of course, the familiar smell of stale cigarettes, but there was also the black-and-white 8x10 photos of past post “commanders” in various poses: sitting for official portraits, marching in parades, standing at attention as the colors were raised. I had been in this room before—in other strip malls, in other cities. As a boy, some of my sharpest memories include walking with my dad at the posts of the Veterans of Foreign Wars or Catholic War Veterans.
At my hosts’ invitation, I read from my book. Thirty folks, all combat veterans, sat in rapt silence. Some were members of staff now. Most, though, were older — perhaps in their mid-seventies. Most were men.
For the reading, I chose a passage about my journey coming to see myself as a good man, a good adult, the person I was born to be. When the questions began, they quickly centered on one of my singular questions: What kind of leader am I?
As we talked through the intricacies of the twin journeys — into adulthood and into the process of learning to lead well — we began to share our own views of effective adulthood and effective leadership.
I acknowledged that I had never served and said that, as an outsider, it was always my understanding that folks often misunderstand effective military leadership. “From what I gather,” I noted, seeking confirmation or correction, “the view of effective leadership — outside an actual firefight — is that the military encourages collaborative leadership.”
“Those of us outside the military,” I said, “might think that what’s cultivated is this singular, authoritative style where one person has all the answers and everyone does as they’re told without question.”
Good leadership is adaptable, shifting as needs shift.
And then, from the front row, a woman spoke up. “Authoritarian platoon leaders either get shot, or they get their platoons wiped out,” she said. She had served three tours of duty in Iraq and was now counseling others. “The only thing that really works,” she added, “is collaborative leadership.”
Her comments brought to mind the book The Myth of the Strong Leader by Archie Brown:
What is conventionally hailed as strong leadership is not identical with good leadership, and the latter is not an abstract attribute but an appropriate response in a distinctive setting — in a particular time and place.
In other words, good leadership is adaptable, shifting as needs shift. Authoritarian leadership is called for in a firefight, perhaps, but being collaborative and adaptive is most often the right leadership style.
Brown writes:
Leadership, as distinct from power, was to be observed where all members were “on an equal footing,” yet where there was “generally some person whose counsel is more followed” than that of others. This is leadership in its purest form, defined as someone other people wish to be guided by and to follow.
Another vet asked, “Why do we struggle with this? Why do we think good leadership means someone having all the answers?”
We debated that for a while and came to understand the effects of our early socialization. I noted that we are socialized to yearn for strength. As children, we were told that indecision, uncertainty, and perhaps even a hint of self-doubt are all signs of weakness. “Hell,” I said, “just think of the way most boys and many girls are taught to handle pain and suffering. The only thing they’re given is some form of ‘man up!’ and the painful admonition that any emotion shown is an existential threat.”
“‘Man up’ is bullshit!”
I turned suddenly to see an older man, maybe in his mid- to late seventies. He wore a baseball cap with “Vietnam” embroidered above the brim. I said, “You’re right. ‘Man up’ is bullshit.”
“I was a medic,” he said, “and I had young men dying in my arms, and all the goddamn army gave me to give them was morphine and ‘man up!’’’ Red-faced, he shook and continued, “I’ve been holding that for 53 years, and I’m not going to hold it anymore.” He then stood, walked to the front of the room, and held out his arms. I walked into those arms and embraced him as he whispered, “‘Man up’ is bullshit.”
This myth of strong leadership not only gets platoons wiped out but also promulgates an unnecessary and painful violence on those we ask to lead. | https://marker.medium.com/man-up-is-a-leadership-myth-that-will-wipe-you-out-6df559b47720 | ['Jerry Colonna'] | 2019-09-19 11:01:03.638000+00:00 | ['Operators Manual', 'Management', 'Work', 'Business', 'Leadership'] |
Candid-i, the writs chap | Candid-i, the writs chap
Photo from File by Calvin Lyimo
I’m that guy who stalks the middle and borders of a room. I become both part of the narrative and when necessary, not part of it.
And so I’m the guy who relishes watching that narrative unspool from all corners of the room. Then capture it in words; the best seat in the room is where there are no seats.
I love the Law, reading, music, food, travel, children, clothes, photography, and watching legal series and football. There is something defeatist about that thing, like a dog trying to bite its own tail. But more than loving all the aforementioned, I love to write about these things.
However, am I an authority on any of these things? I am hardly an authority, but I believe there is enormous power in the pen to give or share out relevant and breathtaking opinions and knowledge. And so, I freely express my opinions in writings.
I don’t know much, but what I know is that we are all learning from whatever we experience. It’s from those experiences, that catching and amusing stories arise — with wonderful lessons to take away.
I’m open to talk, listen and fictitiously write stories from young people; both ladies and gentlemen.
I look for and write stories of pain and happiness, triumph and success, loss and confusion, love and relationships and all things in between.
Stories from youths who are thriving and struggling to reach their dreams, and those who couldn’t reach their goals and dreams.
Stories from youths prone to moral decay — engaging in prostitution, using abusive languages and negatively addicted to social media and the internet.
Stories from youths suffering from unemployment, break ups in relationships, problems in dating, early marriages and pregnancies and other forms of abuse.
Stories from youths who come from different ethnicities and how those cultural differences impact their school, work and social lives.
Stories from youths who abide in different religions and denominations. Young people who live in secret lives, as secret government agents.
I think the universe demands that of us — as in the words of one, Jackson Biko! | https://medium.com/the-chat-post/candid-i-the-writs-chap-9332766c2bde | ['Mark Malekela'] | 2020-02-20 11:05:12.948000+00:00 | ['People', 'Creative Writing', 'About', 'Lawyers', 'Author'] |
Can you get diabetes from eating too much sugar? | Diabetes has become more prevalent in countries where food is abundant. Obesity, cardiovascular disease, and other health issues can result from excessive sugar consumption. Its relationship with type 2 diabetes, on the other hand, is complicated and unclear.
Between 1990 and 2010, the number of diabetics in the United States more than tripled Trusted Source.
The study of the relationship between sugar consumption and type 2 diabetes is still ongoing. The majority of doctors argue that sugar alone does not cause diabetes. It is a complicated condition caused by a variety of factors.
The most common type of diabetes is type 2. Excess body weight may play a role in its development.
In this article, we look at new research that looks into the possible link between sugar consumption and the development of type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes and excessive sugar consumption
Diabetes, both type 1 and type 2, impairs the body’s ability to regulate blood glucose levels.
Sugar consumption has no direct link to either type. Overeating, on the other hand, can lead to weight gain. Obesity is a risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes. Reliable Source.
Type 1 diabetes, on the other hand, is an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks the cells that produce insulin. Damage to these cells impairs the body’s ability to regulate blood glucose levels.
When a person has diabetes, eating too much sugar can exacerbate symptoms because diabetes makes it more difficult for the body to regulate blood sugar levels. People with type 1 diabetes must still exercise caution when it comes to sugar consumption.
Sugar and type 2 diabetes are linked.
Although sugar consumption does not directly cause type 2 diabetes, some evidence suggests that increased sugar availability makes diabetes more common.
According to a 2016 Trusted Source review, while current research has found convincing patterns to suggest that sugar consumption has direct and indirect links to diabetes, no significant data has been produced.
According to the review, one of the direct sugar mechanisms that leads to diabetes is a sugar called fructose. Fructose is absorbed by the liver without being regulated, which may result in a buildup of liver fat and a decrease in insulin sensitivity.
Insulin sensitivity influences how well cells use glucose and remove it from the bloodstream. When this level falls, blood sugar levels can remain elevated for an extended period of time, potentially leading to type 2 diabetes.
However, the study’s author admits that there isn’t enough evidence from human studies.
A 2013 study Trusted Source that looked at people in more than 175 countries discovered that more sugar in the food supply led to an increase in diabetes rates.
Diabetes levels increased by 1% for every additional 150 calories of sugar available per day per person. This trend persisted even after researchers controlled for other diabetes-related factors such as obesity, exercise, and overall calorie consumption.
This study suggests that sugar consumption has an effect on diabetes risk, at least in the general population.
Because the study did not examine individuals, it cannot provide biological support for the claim that sugar consumption causes diabetes. It does, however, imply a link.
A look back at 2012. Trusted Previous research suggests that consuming certain types of sugar may increase the risk of diabetes. Based on previous research, the study concluded that sugary drinks may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes.
While dietary sugar appears to have a relationship with blood sugar, researchers aren’t sure how it relates to diabetes.
Other health risks associated with sugar
Although the link between sugar and type 2 diabetes is uncertain, the link between sugar and other health problems is much clearer.
Excess sugar consumption has been linked to an increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease, according to a study published in 2014Trusted Source (CVD).
People who consumed more than 25% of their daily calories from sugar were more than twice as likely to die from heart disease as those who consumed 10% or less of their calories from sugar.
Diabetes increases the risk of CVD, so diabetics should limit their sugar intake.
Other risks associated with excessive sugar consumption include:
cancer hormone changes liver disease, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Obesity, high cholesterol, and weight gain
Polycystic ovarian syndrome is an example of a chronic illness (PCOS)
Immune dysfunction and chronic inflammation
decay of the teeth
Recommendations for sugar consumption
To function, the body requires glucose. Glucose is ubiquitous in food and thus impossible to avoid. There is no need, however, to add extra sugar to snacks or meals.
Sweetened sodas, candy, and processed foods are especially dangerous.
The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends the following daily limits on added sugars:
No more than 9 teaspoons, 36 grams, or 150 calories of sugar per day for the average male.
Sugar should not exceed 6 teaspoons, 25 grams, or 100 calories for the average female.
Rather than focusing on a specific type of sugar, such as high-fructose corn syrup, the American Heart Association recommends limiting all added sugars.
Limiting sugar intake to less than 10% of total daily calories is another way to keep sugar consumption under control. This prevents excessive sugar consumption regardless of a person’s calorie requirements.
Additional recommendations are provided by the American Diabetes Association. They recommend that people with diabetes do the following:
Carbohydrates with a low or medium glycemic index (GI), such as whole-wheat bread, oatmeal, or fruit, should be consumed.
Choose fiber-rich foods to give the body more long-lasting energy and to help control blood glucose levels.
To reduce food cravings, choose lean proteins and healthy fats. These will help people feel fuller for longer periods of time.
Non-starchy vegetables to eat include artichokes, broccoli, eggplant, mushrooms, okra, and turnips.
Sugary snacks and alcoholic beverages should be limited or avoided.
Avoid processed foods that are low in nutrients and high in sodium, added sugars, and unhealthy fats.
Limit your daily sodium intake to 2,300 milligrams Trusted Source or less.
Consume smaller, more frequent meals. Large meals can cause blood sugar spikes, and hunger can lead to unhealthy snacking in between meals.
Risk elements
Sugar consumption is not a direct risk factor for type 2 diabetes, but it can have indirect effects, such as weight gain, that increase the likelihood of the condition developing.
Type 2 diabetes risk factors include:
having a large waist circumference or being overweight
having attained the age of 45 or older
having a diabetes family history
having gestational diabetes while pregnant
having persistently high blood glucose levels
insulin resistance developing
blood pressure that is too high
a sedentary way of life
having high levels of fats in the blood called triglycerides
Low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or “good” cholesterol, in the blood
problems with blood vessels or circulation in the brain, legs, or heart
being Native American, Asian American, Pacific Islander, Latino, or African American
Diabetes prevention
While the relationship between sugar and diabetes is unknown, reducing added sugar and processed foods in the diet can help a person avoid type 2 diabetes.
Other lifestyle changes can lower the risk of type 2 diabetes or assist people with diabetes in managing their symptoms and avoiding complications.
These are some examples:
Weight loss: If a person loses 5–7 percent of their body weight, it can reduce the risk of diabetes.
Regular physical activity: Getting 150 minutes per week of light-to-moderate exercise can help regulate blood glucose and reduce body weight. Excessive exercise can also be harmful, so avoid overdoing it.
Portion control: Eating smaller, more controlled portions of food that contain adequate fiber, protein, and healthy fats can help with blood glucose control. This also means that people with diabetes do not have to give up their favorite foods; instead, they must adjust their preparation and portion size.
Women who develop gestational diabetes can lower their risk of developing diabetes by controlling their weight, avoiding excessive weight gain during pregnancy, and increasing physical activity prior to a planned pregnancy.
Speak with your doctor about the most appropriate levels of weight gain and exercise for your body during pregnancy.
Summary
Scientists aren’t sure if sugar directly causes diabetes.
While research is not yet conclusive, increased sugar consumption appears to be associated with higher rates of diabetes in the general population. Fructose, in particular, has been linked to an increased risk of liver disease.
Sugar raises the risk of other health issues, such as heart disease. The AHA recommends that people limit their intake of all added sugars.
Diabetes and its complications can be avoided by exercising for at least 150 minutes per week and eating a well-balanced diet rich in fiber, protein, and saturated fats.
Discover some flavorsome, healthful dinner options for diabetes here | https://medium.com/@onlineglobalmediaacademy/can-you-get-diabetes-from-eating-too-much-sugar-6d91ba76d6f5 | [] | 2021-12-14 00:14:51.046000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Fitness', 'Diabetes', 'Diabetes Solutions', 'Diabetes Prevention'] |
Why a “Rushed” COVID-19 Vaccine Does Not Mean a Riskier One | Why a “Rushed” COVID-19 Vaccine Does Not Mean a Riskier One
The first vaccines against COVID-19 have arrived, and are being greeted with a mix of enthusiasm and skepticism. In some ways, it seems too good to be true. Can a “rushed” vaccine be as safe and effective as those that take years to develop?
The short answer is yes.
COVID-19 vaccines have cleared all of the same hurdles as past vaccines. Their compressed timelines do not reflect less rigorous testing; they reflect a running start, rapid trials, and much shorter (or no) gaps between development phases.
How did COVID-19 vaccine developers pull this off? With a lot of help.
To understand how COVID-19 broke vaccine development records, let’s see what it takes to develop a vaccine, and why COVID-19 is a special case.
How are vaccines normally developed?
Vaccine development begins with a search for the single best potential vaccine to test in humans — one that is both safe and effective. During this pre-clinical stage, scientists generate, tweak, and compare vaccine candidates using in vitro (cells in a dish) and in vivo (animal) experiments. This stage often lasts for years, as developers do everything possible to “de-risk” the steep investment needed to test in humans.
Once a lead vaccine candidate is chosen, additional animal experiments are conducted to further evaluate safety. These experiments, which involve giving different vaccine doses to several species (e.g rodents and non-human primates, like monkeys) can take months, and are typically conducted prior to the first human trials.
The last phase of vaccine development is human testing, which is achieved through a series of carefully designed clinical trials. The three sequential phases of human trials are progressively larger and more expensive, reaching tens to hundreds of millions of dollars. At each phase, developers must gain approval from regulators, like the FDA, before proceeding.
The New York Times Vaccine Tracker shows how many COVID-19 vaccines have reached each phase of clinical trials.
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Here is a quick summary of what happens at each phase:
Phase 1 trials test dozens of healthy adult volunteers to get a first look at safety in humans.
Phase 2 trials test hundreds of adults to get a first look at whether the vaccine might work, and to gather more safety data.
Phase 3 trials are designed to provide enough data for regulators to make an approval decision. They typically test tens of thousands of adults, and use the gold-standard trial design (randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled) to evaluate both the risks and the benefits of the vaccine.
Additional trials may be conducted to test how the vaccine performs in specific populations that were not well represented in the Phase 3 pivotal trial.
Why is the story so different for COVID-19 vaccines?
The secret to speedy COVID-19 vaccines lies in five forces coming together: money, regulators, volunteers, timing, and science. Together, they helped developers clear the necessary hurdles more quickly than ever.
1. Money
Vaccine developers typically move very slowly and cautiously from one development phase to the next. They do so because every step forward is like an audacious Las Vegas gamble — one that involves placing a ton of chips on a bet with low odds.
I can personally attest to this arduous bet-making process based on my experience working at Genentech / Roche, a cancer drug developer, and the insights I’ve gained from my husband’s work in biotech venture capital. Drug, vaccine, and diagnostic developers all spend a lot of time and energy discussing the “Go No-Go” gates between each phase of development.
Thanks to deep pockets, vaccine developers have been able to move much more quickly. Rather than waiting to see whether or not a given phase works out before shelling out for the next phase, they are running phases back-to-back, and even overlapping them when possible.
For example, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna were given permission to conduct their animal experiments at the same time as their human trials, rather than before Phase 1 trials, as is normally the case. Similarly, vaccine developers have already spent a lot of resources manufacturing millions of doses, rather than waiting for clinical trial data results, as is normally the case. Together, parallel processing, and “at risk” investments are saving months to years of time.
2. Regulators
When a vaccine developer wants to launch a human clinical trial, it needs a green light from regulatory bodies (like the FDA). Often, getting this green light involves a lot of of back-and-forth including requests for more data and tweaks to the study design. These exchanges between developers and regulators can add many months to timelines, simply because regulators don’t have the bandwidth to provide timely input to every product being tested.
Due to the urgency of the COVID-19 situation, regulatory agencies are making a point of not slowing things down; rather, they are working with developers to rapidly provide the input needed to move swiftly (yet safely!) from one testing phase to the next. Similarly, regulators are giving top priority to reviewing the extensive data packages that are being generated by each trial.
3. Volunteers
Trial duration is heavily influenced by how quickly volunteers can be recruited. With COVID-19 vaccines, recruitment has been “phenomenal”, according to one clinical trial operator. Thousands of motivated volunteers have eagerly stepped forward to roll up their sleeves in the name of public (and personal) health.
It is worth noting that Phase 1 volunteers for COVID-19 vaccine trials were particularly heroic. By enrolling in human trials before the usual suite of animal studies were completed, they took on more risk than most Phase 1 volunteers.
4. Timing
Vaccine trials must pre-specify how many “events” (confirmed COVID-19 cases) they will collect before trial data are analyzed and submitted for regulatory review. For example, current regulatory submissions for Pfizer’s Phase 3 trial will be based on the first 170 confirmed cases of COVID-19 (of which 162 were in the group that received a mock vaccine). Clinical trial plans may also specify an event target for a sneak preview (interim analysis), such as Moderna’s interim analysis after 95 COVID-19 cases were confirmed (of which 90 were in the placebo group).
The more common the condition, the faster the results come in, and the sooner the data are unblinded to reveal how well the vaccine is working. Thus, soaring rates of COVID-19 rates around the world over past few months have allowed clinical trials to complete much more quickly than they would have had the virus been suppressed. Indeed, for a rare illness, it can take years to gather enough cases to trigger data analysis.
5. Science
It’s no surprise that the first two vaccines to emerge are both based on mRNA or messenger RNA. This novel approach to vaccines, which provides the genetic instructions for a small piece of virus, is both rapid and flexible. All you need is the sequence of the viral genome (now feasible in a single day!) and you can generate a candidate vaccine in weeks. According to Moderna’s timeline, the first clinical batch of mRNA-1273 (their vaccine candidate) was completed only 25 days after the target sequence was selected. By contrast, traditional vaccines, which are based either on live or killed viruses, or tiny fragments of virus, can be challenging to produce and optimize.
To be clear, while the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines are the first to receive approval, this approach is not unprecedented. As described by the US Centers for Disease Control, first generation mRNA vaccines were piloted in early stage clinical trials for influenza, Zika, rabies, and cytomegalovirus (CMV). The latest mRNA vaccines leverage advances in RNA biology and chemistry to provide better stability, safety, and effectiveness.
Indeed, our collective war on COVID-19 has benefited greatly from recent scientific advances, as well as from remarkable global co-operation, including shared resources and information. | https://medium.com/@rinaeon/why-a-rushed-covid-19-vaccine-does-not-mean-a-riskier-one-b6119855a21d | [] | 2020-12-10 09:05:59.126000+00:00 | ['Public Health', 'Pandemic', 'Covid 19', 'Covid 19 Crisis', 'Vaccines'] |
All Behavior is telling us something. Learn to read behavior. | I have been focusing on health, happiness, best behavior and outcomes since I was a little girl. I did not understand people, how to be social, how to be in this world. I would have major meltdowns at bath time, on my birthday when people would sing happy birthday to me, walking on roads with ditches. My world would fall apart, I would become inconsolable. Nothing would make sense. The world would disappear. My behavior was my needing to get out to the world what I was experiencing and not doing a very good job at it.
I know that when I had my meltdowns there was a reason for it. I could not explain it to myself or to others. Then when the meltdown was over it was over and life went back to status quo.
I am my first client. I know what it feels like to be so overwhelmed, emotions come, the brain shuts down to the reptilian survival brain. I know there were reasons. Now I want to help others better understand themselves as well as the children in their lives.
I teach how to read behavior as communication. The brain, body and nervous system speaks loudly if we are willing to listen. Go to my website Creating Super Kids to learn more. Email me at [email protected] with your questions. Let me help you learn how to read behavior in yourself and others. | https://medium.com/@askbeckyblake/all-behavior-is-telling-us-something-learn-to-read-behavior-b5da79036d28 | ['Becky Blake'] | 2019-11-15 21:07:33.916000+00:00 | ['Parenting', 'Help', 'Behavior', 'Autism', 'Sensory'] |
Finding race conditions in Git with Coderrect | Image from https://devopedia.org
As you read this article, about 3000 threads are running on your device simultaneously to give you a fast and real-time experience using applications, including your browser! Today’s software must make decisions fast in numerous applications. Parallel programming in C/C++ and multi-threading are the best ways to accomplish this.
In today’s story, we will get familiar with race conditions, their challenges, and a fantastic tool called Coderrect, which helps software developers and engineers to find and locate those in their codes quickly.
Race Conditions and Their Challenges
Almost all programs and web sites today use “multi-threaded” processing, which allows them to do numerous activities at the same time. While this allows applications to run much faster, it also increases the risk of mistakes if multiple processes (or “threads”) attempt to access the same data at the same time.
A race condition occurs when two or more threads have access to the same data and try to update it simultaneously. You don’t know the order in which the threads will attempt to access the shared data because the thread scheduling algorithm can switch between threads at any time. As a result, the outcome of the data change is determined by the thread scheduling method, which means that both threads are “racing” to access/alter the data. The following code snippet in C++ illustrates this concept very well:
Simple pthread race condition in C++
The global variable x is accessed with two threads. The final value of x can be 1 or 2 based on the ordering of threads. You may think this is very easy to detect, but what if this code snippet exists in a large project with more than 100 files and 1000 lines of codes. Can you find it easily?
Coderrect: An Advanced Analyzer for Race Condition
Coderrect is an advanced static analyzer for race conditions in C/C++. It is both fast and scalable, which is suitable for complex software. This command-line tool runs on Linux-based operating systems, and installing it is pretty straightforward.
$ wget https://public-installer-pkg.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/coderrect-linux-1.1.3.tar.gz
$ tar xf coderrect-linux-1.1.3.tar.gz
$ export PATH=$PWD/coderrect-linux-1.1.3/bin:$PATH
Consider the mentioned example pthread-race.cc , To start the analysis on a single file like this, run the following command:
coderrect -t g++ pthread-race.cc -lpthread
The -t option makes coderrect to provide a summary of results in the console, and the g++ pthread-race.cc -lpthread is the command that compiles the source code and generates a a.out file. After executing the command, we get:
Coderrect 1.1.3 build 1630604567 Analyzing /data/a.out ...
Linking a.out.bc 100% |████████████████████████████████| (3/3, 59 it/s)
- ✔ [00m:00s] Loading IR From File
- ✔ [00m:00s] Running Compiler Optimization Passes
- ✔ [00m:00s] Running Pointer Analysis
- ✔ [00m:00s] Building Static Happens-Before Graph
- ▖ [00m:00s] Detecting Races
==== Found a race between:
line 12, column 5 in Downloads/pthread-race.cc AND line 37, column 37 in Downloads/pthread-race.cc
Static variable:
x at line 7 of Downloads/pthread-race.cc
7|int x = 0;
Thread 1 (write):
10| long tid;
11| tid = (long)threadid;
>12| x++;
13| cout << "Hello World! Thread ID, " << tid << endl;
14| pthread_exit(NULL);
>>>Stack Trace:
>>>main
>>> load_data_in_thread [Downloads/pthread-race.cc:34]
>>> pthread_create [Downloads/pthread-race.cc:20]
>>> PrintHello [Downloads/pthread-race.cc:20]
Thread 2 (read):
35| pthread_join(thread1, 0);
36| // pthread_join(thread2,0);
>37| cout << "Final value of x: " << x << endl;
38|}
>>>Stack Trace:
>>>main
- ✔ [00m:00s] Detecting Races
- ✔ [00m:00s] Scanning for additional OpenMP Regions ----------------------------The summary of races in a.out------------------------ 1 shared data races To check the race report in your browser, run "browse /data/.coderrect/report/index.html" Any feedback? please send them to [email protected] , thank you!
Let’s check the generated report:
Generated report by Coderrect
As you can see, the Coderrect exactly tells the developer where to find the race condition.
Run Coderrect on a Real-World Project: Git
Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with a vibrant command set providing high-level operations and full access to internals.
Try to clone the repository and run make to compile and build the project. When everything is ready, run the following command to start analysis:
coderrect make
It can take up to 5 minutes for compiling and 2 minutes for finishing the analysis. You can find the report at <project_dir>/.coderrect/report/ .
Are All Results Reliable?
Although this tool gives you the information for tracing back, checking all detected race conditions one by one is tedious. After reviewing and tracing back one of the results randomly, it is conclusive that both threads access this unprotected shared variable.
Generated report by Coderrect on Git
For answering this question, it is much better to find out how Coderrect works because if its algorithms are valid, we can conclude that detected race conditions are correct.
Coderrect builds LLVM bitcode (BC) files as an intermediate representation of your source code and then does advanced static analyses on them to discover potential race situations. Check out the references for further information.
Conclusion
The speed, depth, and accuracy are the best features of Coderrect, but reliability is a concern as this tool uses static analysis. Because there is no understanding of the developer’s intent, and there is no knowledge of the program’s flow in static analysis; however, I recommend using this meanwhile you code or before pushing your codes on the production server.
References | https://medium.com/@seyyedaliayati/finding-race-conditions-in-git-with-coderrect-b57f5fe5abb4 | ['Seyyed Ali Ayati'] | 2021-09-05 12:23:26.011000+00:00 | ['Cpp', 'Data Race', 'Race Condition', 'Multithreading', 'Coderrect'] |
Why are Dogmatic religions against Astrology? | There are many secret societies and dogmatic religions where they suppress Astrology,but they secretly practice Astrology like for example Vatican was against the people who practice Astrology as being Heretic or were considered as committing heresy, but the Vatican popes were said to have been practicing Astrology secretly themselves. It is all about the power of control over the masses.
“knowledge is power”
Suppose if you know Astronomy and others around you don't, you will be knowing when the next Solar eclipse will occur and since others don't have this knowledge of Astronomy like you. You can pretend that you have turned off the Sun and play Prophet,you can control the whole blind mass to follow you blindly in order to achieve your agendas or goals for your benefits making fool of the blind mass of people.
For those who are looking for a Scientific evidence of Astrology, refer the below article:
“The Scientific evidence of Astrology” by Abhinav Kashyap https://medium.com/the-science-of-astrology/the-scientific-evidence-of-astrology-50ead3fabe04
(The above screenshot is taken by me via YouTube)
Have you heard of Illuminati?
Illuminati is a secret society founded by Adam Weishaupt on May 1st,1776 in Bavaria, Germany. You can refer the below answer to know more about Illuminati.
Illuminati is said to control almost everything, it is even said that Science community is controlled by the Illuminati.
Once a period of time, Scientists who tried or wanted to research on “Consciousness” were thrown out or chucked out of Science community. Today with advent of Quantum Mechanics we know what great injustice was done. Once upon a time “Consciousness” was considered as not being in the purview of Science or wasn't considered as something Scientific. Today there are many theories on Consciousness, but no Scientist is able to explain what is Consciousness.
Above image: British Astrophysicist and Astronomer Dr.Percy Seymour
When British Astrophysicist and Astronomer Dr.Percy Seymour wrote a book on Astrology, he was criticised and ostracized by his own colleagues and by Science community for his views on Astrology. He has written 2 books on Astrology
1.The Scientific evidence of Astrology 2. The Scientific basis of Astrology
Dr. Percy Seymour has earned master's and doctoral degrees in astrophysics and has served as senior lecturer at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. He is currently principal lecturer in astronomy at the Plymouth Polytechnic Institute in southwest England and director of the planetarium there. He is a respected authority in Cosmic Magnetism.
Director of the William Day Planetarium and principal lecturer in astronomy at the University of Plymouth, Seymour teaches gifted undergraduate students and conducts research in astronomy. In addition to Cosmic Magnetism, he is the author of five books: Halley's Comet, The Scientific Basis of Astrology, Astrology: The Evidence of Science, The Paranormal: Beyond Sensory Science, and Adventures in Astronomy, a hands-on approach to building simple astrolabes, star clocks, and sundials.
A chartered member of the Institute of Physics and Fellow member of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Astrology can be accepted as Science by future generations, it all depends on the mentality of the people on how they view the subject.
The main reason why secret societies like Illuminati does not want Astrology to become accepted as Science and to become mainstream is because Astrology is a gateway for Spirituality and opens your 3rd eye.
Illuminati does not want this to happen because they know that they will lose power of control over people and people will become independent. The main reason why even religions are against it because they know religions will automatically die when Astrology is allowed because Astrology makes the person to walk the path of Spirituality, where all religions are materialistic in nature.
Secret society like Illuminati and religions by not allowing people to look beyond the sky can be able to control people. More materialistic are the people, more easy it is to control the blind mass of people who are religiously motivated for materialistic pleasures which does not allow them to be Spiritual or walk in the path of Spirituality or say Humanity.
Secret society like Illuminati have an agenda or goal called New World Order or NWO, in order to achieve this goal it requires blind mass of people. So that it is easy to achieve the goal.
For those who wants to know more about the Illuminati can refer the below article:
“What is Illuminati?” by Abhinav Kashyap https://link.medium.com/3zgkkmtsvcb
For those who are looking for if NWO agenda is real or not, can refer the below videos:
https://youtu.be/NYtRvAgA3Eg (Above video is 5 minutes and 50 seconds)
How Albert Pike, a Freemason planned for 3 world wars.
https://youtu.be/2wOfECOvYEs (Above video is 50 minutes and 48 seconds)
In the above video, if you skip to timeline of the video 19:48 you can see president of USA George H W Bush talking about NWO or New World Order agenda. | https://medium.com/@abhinav.kashyap/why-are-dogmatic-religions-against-astrology-73707732cc80 | ['Abhinav Kashyap'] | 2020-12-25 16:55:11.839000+00:00 | ['Illuminati', 'Religion', 'History', 'Astrology', 'Historical'] |
6 Pandas Operations You Should Not Miss | 6 Pandas Operations You Should Not Miss
Advanced methods and function to crunch some data
Pandas is used mainly for reading, cleaning, and extracting insights from data. We will see an advanced use of Pandas which are very important to a Data Scientist. These operations are used to analyze data and manipulate it if required. These are used in the steps performed before building any machine learning model.
Summarising Data Concatenation Merge and Join Grouping Pivot Table Reshaping multi-index DataFrame
We will be using the very famous Titanic dataset to explore the functionalities of Pandas. Let’s just quickly import NumPy, Pandas, and load Titanic Dataset from Seaborn.
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import seaborn as sns df = sns.load_dataset('titanic')
df.head()
Summarizing data
The very first thing any data scientist would like to know is the statistics of the entire data. With the help of the Pandas .describe() method, we can see the summary stats of each feature. Notice, the stats are given only for numerical columns which is an obvious behavior we can also ask describe function to include categorical columns with the parameter ‘include’ and value equal to ‘all’ ( include=‘all’).
df.describe()
Another method is .info(). It gives metadata of a dataset. We can see the size of the dataset, dtype, and count of null values in each column.
df.info()
Concatenation
Concatenation of two DataFrames is very straightforward, thanks to the Pandas method concat(). Let us take a small section of our Titanic data with the help of vector indexing. Vector indexing is a way to specify the row and column name/integer we would like to index in any order as a list.
smallData = df.loc[[1,7,21,10], ['sex','age','fare','who','class']]
smallData
Also, I have created a dataset with matching columns to explain concatenation.
By default, the concatenation happens row-wise. Let’s see how the new dataset looks when we concat the two DataFrames.
pd.concat([smallData, newData])
What if we want to concatenate ignoring the index? just set the ingore_index parameter to True.
pd.concat([ newData,smallData], ignore_index=True)
If we wish to concatenate along with the columns we just have to change the axis parameter to 1.
pd.concat([ newData,smallData], axis=1)
Left table-smallData, Right table-newData
Notice the changes? As soon we concatenated column-wise Pandas arranged the data in an order of row indices. In smallData, row 0 and 2 are missing but present in newData hence insert them in sequential order. But we have row 1 in both the data and Pandas retained the data of the 1st dataset because that was the 1st dataset we passed as a parameter to concat. Also, the missing data is represented as NaN.
We can also perform concatenation in SQL join fashion. Let’s create a new DataFrame ‘newData’ having a few columns the same as smallData but not all.
If you are familiar with SQL join operation we can notice that .concat() performs outer join by default. Missing values for unmatched columns are filled with NaN.
pd.concat([smallData, newData])
We can control the type of join operation with ‘join’ parameter. Let’s perform an inner join that takes only common columns from two.
pd.concat([smallData, newData], join='inner')
Merge and Join
Pandas provide us an exclusive and more efficient method .merge() to perform in-memory join operations. Merge method is a subset of relational algebra that comes under SQL.
I will be moving away from our Titanic dataset only for this section to ease the understanding of join operation with less complex data.
There are different types of join operations:
One-to-one Many-to-one Many-to-many
The classic data used to explain joins in SQL in the employee dataset. Lets create DataFrames.
Left table-df1, Right table-df2
One-to-one
One-to-one merge is very similar to column-wise concatenation. To combine ‘df1’ and ‘df2’ we use .merge() method. Merge is capable of recognizing common columns in the datasets and uses it as a key, in our case column ‘employee_name’. Also, the names are not in order. Let’s see how the merge does the work for us by ignoring the indices.
df3 = pd.merge(df1,df2)
df3
Many-to-one
Many-to-one is a type of join in which one of the two key columns have duplicate values. Suppose we have supervisors for each department and there are many employees in each department hence, Many employees to one supervisor.
Many-to-many
This is the case where the key column in both the dataset has duplicate values. Suppose many skills are mapped to each department then the resulting DataFrame will have duplicate entries.
Merge on uncommon column names and values
Uncommon column names
Many times merging is not that simple since the data we receive will not be so clean. We saw how the merge does all the work provided we have one common column. What if we have no common columns at all? or there is more than one common column. Pandas provide us the flexibility to explicitly specify the columns to act as the key in both DataFrames.
Suppose we change our ‘employee_name’ column to ‘name’ in ‘df2’. Let’s see how datasets look and how to tell merge explicitly the key columns.
Parameter ‘left_on’ to specify the key of the first column and ‘right_on’ for the key of the second. Remember, the value of ‘left_on’ should match with the columns of the first DataFrame you passed and ‘right_on’ with second. Notice, we get redundant column ‘name’, we can drop it if not needed.
Uncommon values
Previously we saw that all the employee names present in one dataset were also present in other. What if the names are missing.
By default merge applies inner join, meaning join in performed only on common values which is always not preferred way since there will be data loss. The method of joining can be controlled by using the parameter ‘how’. We can perform left join or right join to overcome data loss. The missing values will be represented as NaN by Pandas.
print('-------left join--------
',pd.merge(df1, df2, how='left'))
print('
-------right join--------
',pd.merge(df1,df2,how='right'))
GroupBy
GroupBy is a very flexible abstraction, we can think of it as a collection of DataFrame. It allows us to do many different powerful operations. In simple words, it groups the entire data set by the values of the column we specify and allows us to perform operations to extract insights.
Let’s come back to our Titanic dataset
Suppose we would like to see how many male and female passengers survived.
print(df.groupby('sex'))
df.groupby('sex').sum()
Notice, printing only the groupby without performing any operation gives GroupBy object. Since there are only two unique values in the column ‘sex’ we can see a summation of every other column grouped by male and female. More insightful would be to get the percentage. We will capture only the ‘survived’ column of groupby result above upon summation and calculate percentages.
data = df.groupby('sex')['survived'].sum() print('% of male survivers',(data['male']/(data['male']+data['female']))*100) print('% of male female',(data['female']/(data['male']+data['female']))*100) Output % of male survivers 31.87134502923976
% of male female 68.12865497076024
Under the hood, the GroupBy function performs three operations: split-apply-combine.
Split - breaking the DataFrame in order to group it into the specified key. Apply - it involves computing the function we wish like aggregation or transformation or filter. Combine - merging the output into a single DataFrame.
Courtesy-Python Data Science Handbook by Jake VanderPlas
Perhaps, more powerful operations that can be performed on groupby are:
Aggregate Filter Transform Apply
Let’s see each one with an example.
Aggregate
The aggregate function allows us to perform more than one aggregation at a time. We need to pass the list of required aggregates as a parameter to .aggregate() function.
df.groupby('sex')['survived'].aggregate(['sum', np.mean,'median'])
Filter
The filter function allows us to drop data based on group property. Suppose we want to see data where the standard deviation of ‘fare’ is greater than the threshold value say 50 when grouped by ‘survived’.
df.groupby('survived').filter(lambda x: x['fare'].std() > 50)
Since the standard deviation of ‘fare’ is greater than 50 only for values of ‘survived’ equal to 1, we can see data only where ‘survived’ is 1.
Transform
Transform returns the transformed version of the entire data. The best example to explain is to center the dataset. Centering the data is nothing but subtracting each value of the column with the mean value of its respective column.
df.groupby('survived').transform(lambda x: x - x.mean())
Apply
Apply is very flexible unlike filter and transform, the only criteria are it takes a DataFrame and returns Pandas object or scalar. We have the flexibility to do anything we wish in the function.
def func(x):
x['fare'] = x['fare'] / x['fare'].sum()
return x df.groupby('survived').apply(func)
Pivot tables
Previously in GroupBy, we saw how ‘sex’ affected survival, the survival rate of females is much larger than males. Suppose we would also like to see how ‘pclass’ affected the survival but both ‘sex’ and ‘pclass’ side by side. Using GroupBy we would do something like this.
df.groupby(['sex', 'pclass']['survived'].aggregate('mean').unstack()
This is more insightful, we can easily make out passengers in the third class section of the Titanic are less likely to be survived.
This type of operation is very common in the analysis. Hence, Pandas provides the function .pivot_table() which performs the same with more flexibility and less complexity.
df.pivot_table('survived', index='sex', columns='pclass')
The result of the pivot table function is a DataFrame, unlike groupby which returned a groupby object. We can perform all the DataFrame operations normally on it.
We can also add a third dimension to our result. Suppose we want to see how ‘age’ has also affected the survival rate along with ‘sex’ and ‘pclass’. Let’s divide our ‘age’ into groups within it: 0–18 child/teenager, 18–40 adult, and 41–80 old.
age = pd.cut(df['age'], [0, 18, 40, 80])
pivotTable = df.pivot_table('survived', ['sex', age], 'class')
pivotTable
Interestingly female children and teenagers in the second class have a 100% survival rate. This is the kind of power the pivot table of Pandas has.
Reshaping Multi-index DataFrame
To see a multi-index DataFrame from a different view we reshape it. Stack and Unstack are the two methods to accomplish this.
unstack( )
It is the process of converting the row index to the column index. The pivot table we created previously is multi-indexed row-wise. We can get the innermost row index(age groups) into the innermost column index.
pivotTable = pivotTable.unstack()
pivotTable
We can also convert the outermost row index(sex) into the innermost column index by using parameter ‘level’.
pivotTable = pivotTable.unstack(level=0)
piviotTable
stack( )
Stacking is exactly inverse of unstacking. We can convert the column index of multi-index DataFrame into a row index. The innermost column index ‘sex’ is converted to the innermost row index. The result is slightly different from the original DataFrame because we unstacked with level 0 previously. | https://medium.com/towards-artificial-intelligence/6-pandas-operations-you-should-not-miss-d531736c6574 | ['Sujan Shirol'] | 2020-10-03 05:51:47.992000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Exploratory Data Analysis', 'Data Analysis', 'Data Science', 'Pandas'] |
Starting a business or Investing in any Stock…Useful Filters | If any idea comes to my mind for business or thinking of investing any stock, use 3 filters before deep-diving about it:
1) Scalable (through technology)
a. Going forward there will not be a concept called region leader because using technology anyone can cater to your market, so a company operating only in 1 region may be optimistic now but will face hurdle going forward
b. Also if you are doing any business you might be doing it for your whole life, so no hopping around here
2) Profitable
a. If stock or business requires funding at regular intervals then the idea is not sustainable, because the game / focus is on / about getting funding not on business. Eg: Urban Ladder
b. If you are generating profits in the business, then you can use the money for livelihood / operations, which gives mental peace (Marshalow Theory) post that for scaling the business Eg: Yes Bank
3) Competitors
Now a competitor with deep pockets will disrupt the market, thus smaller player until they are profitable or have funding source will not survive (Eg: Snapdeal)
I want to quote Zakir Khan — “Kal ka Taj Mahal nhi chaiye, aaj ka Jhumri Taliya de do”, but personally I would wait for the “Taj Mahal” (sustainable business), rather than distracted by “Jhumri Talaiya” (business run through funding). | https://medium.com/@guptapankaj1609/starting-a-business-or-investing-in-any-stock-useful-filters-5666b65aeec0 | ['Pankaj Gupta'] | 2020-12-04 04:20:16.297000+00:00 | ['Investing', 'Personal Finance', 'Startup', 'Stock Market', 'Funding'] |
Why you should never use ‘npm install’ in your CI/CD pipelines | When starting a new project or cloning an existing one most people run npm install or the shorthand version npm i which is fine. But most likely you have already stumbled over a similar command called npm ci .
Often I still see the npm install command in regular CI/CD pipelines. What sounds fine at first can lead to quite some problems. The ci in the npm ci commands stand for “clean install” or if it helps you, you can also use “continuous integration”. So it's quite clear that it should be used in favor of npm install in your pipelines. But let's quickly check what the differences are before you blindly follow my advice and use npm ci in all of your pipelines.
Even though the following definitions aren’t 100% aligned with the official NPM documentation I try to explain them in super simple terms containing the most common use cases.
npm install
It’s being used for adding dependencies to your package.json and package-lock.json , thus modifying your dependencies and installing them on your machine. This is absolutely fine for development but it should for no reason ever happen in your pipelines. You don’t want to add/modify any files in your pipelines.
npm ci | https://javascript.plainenglish.io/why-you-should-never-use-npm-install-in-your-ci-cd-pipelines-da0b89346d8d | ['Pascal Zwikirsch'] | 2021-01-15 05:07:31.376000+00:00 | ['NPM', 'JavaScript', 'Ci Cd Pipeline', 'Nodejs', 'Continious Integration'] |
Covid19: Call for grants in India | #COVID19 #thread #grants
With the #cornonavirus crisis, a lot of organizations have come forward with grant announcements. Below is the list of the grants being offered (collated from multiple sources):
Grants in the time of Covid19
1. Antler
Antler is inviting startups to propose solutions in Mitigation (e.g. masks, contact tracing, surveillance, data infrastructure), Medical Equipment (e.g. test kits, protective devices, ventilators), Remote Health (e.g. telehealth, remote patient monitoring, symptom checkers) and Digital Tools (e.g. remote work, smart delivery, e-learning).
https://www.antler.co/covid19-call
2. Aavishkaar Group announces Facility for Humane Action — in response to Covid19 challenge
The Aavishkaar Group Facility for Humane Actions is established as part of the Aavishkaar Foundation with an INR 2 crore grant.
The grant facility would work under the direct guidance of a Facility Task Force (FTF), chaired by Mr U. K Sinha, (Independent Director, Aavishkaar Group Holdco),
You can send your proposal at [email protected]
If you are thinking about supporting our initiative and contribute to this resistance please write to [email protected]
#impactinvesting #impact #initiative
3. Collated list:
https://actgrants.in/
This is a initiative by various funds in india. Grants for companies
4. Bumble
Bumble is giving Grants to small business in these times of Covid
https://bumble1.typeform.com/to/mXxLh9
5. Omidyar
Omidyar Network India today announced a Rapid Response Funding Initiative and a call for proposals to tackle the challenges of the Covid-19 situation and the consequent socio-economic impact.
Who can apply: NGOs, research organisations, social entrepreneurs, and for-profit businesses seeking to do this on a no-profit basis.
The application process is simple and we will make quick decisions. For details, see here: https://bit.ly/3bjl2CP
Additionally, Best Practices for Founders in the wake of COVID-19 — https://www.notion.so/Best-Practices-for-Founders-in-the-wake-of-COVID-19-54f0c0db17064e6f9e5dd456d9cb26de
(Using my social media to collate important links, advisories, fundraisers in the time of Covid19. I have tried to collate the most used ones here, however, in case I have missed anything, please add in comments.) | https://medium.com/@shivangi-saxena/covid19-call-for-grants-in-india-2134f9846937 | ['Shivangi Saxena'] | 2020-04-06 16:08:34.468000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Grants For Nonprofit', 'India', 'Startup', 'Coronavirus'] |
9 Ways to Stop Designing the Same Old Stuff | 9 Ways to Stop Designing the Same Old Stuff
Last decade we reached peak homogeneity. Let’s mark the new one with an explosion of uniqueness.
Photo: Erlon Silva — TRI Digital/Getty Images
More than a year ago, in Boris Müller’s now-famous “Why Do All Websites Look the Same?”, he stated that today’s internet had become bland. That all interfaces are starting to look the same. Web design seems to be driven by technical and ideological constraints rather than creativity and ideas. He wasn’t wrong. Many others have noticed the same patterns.
It’s 2020 and uniqueness in interface design has only gotten worse. Through the maturation of UX design; the proliferation of templates, UI kits, and frameworks; and the stranglehold of data on design decisions, unique expression in websites and apps has been squeezed out in favor of the affordances offered by sticking with what’s expected.
This isn’t entirely bad. Design has become homogenized because those patterns have been proven to work. If design achieves its purpose, it’s good design.
But I can’t help but think that effective design and unique expression aren’t mutually exclusive. Innovation doesn’t have to be at odds with affordances. There must be ways to rise above the sea of sameness without compromising design performance.
How did we get to this place of interface blandness? And how can we break out of it? Let’s dive in.
Why do all websites and apps look the same?
To understand how to overcome this challenge, we must first appreciate how we got here.
Ten or 15 years ago, the web was still the Wild West. Mostly lawless, very experimental. We made sites in Flash with mystery navigations, sound effects, and gratuitous animations simply because we could. The technology was exciting and ripe for experimentation.
But then everyone got more serious. Websites went from being impressive extras to the necessary core of many businesses. And with that importance came a new level of expectation. Looking cool became far secondary to converting well.
The art of design got overwhelmed by data and the practicality of designing quickly at scale.
Content agnostic themes and templates
The proliferation of CMSs like WordPress led to a flood of websites based on mass-market templates designed to work for a wide range of uses, and therefore content-agnostic uses. This is their strength, but it’s an even bigger weakness.
A fundamental tenet of good UX design is an intimate connection between content and its form. When you separate the two, you’re creating a system that tries to standardize everyone into one structure rather than letting their needs dictate a unique set of design requirements. Function following form rather than form following function. That’s not design at all, and it’s created millions of websites that look similar and aren’t fit for purpose either.
Scalability and reusability
People started building much larger and more complex apps online, which necessitated systems that allowed for scaling. If everything is unique, it’s far too time-consuming to grow. So generic, but practical frameworks like Bootstrap caught on because they allowed people to build stuff quickly and at scale with less technical knowledge required.
Trendsetters like Google and Apple released well-documented design systems and guidelines, and then everyone started copying them (often at their client’s request) to fit in rather than swerving toward something new. It made life easier but allowed less room for differentiation.
Global trend amplifying bubbles
Go on Dribbble or Behance and you’ll find the homepages are full of the same superficial trends. Flat design, long shadows, glowing buttons, playful illustrations, or whatever the flavor of the week is now.
It used to be that design had regional flavor. You could tell the difference between Swiss design and Japanese, Danish, and Midwest American. For that matter, you could tell the difference between the look of a fashion brand, a tech company, and a small family business.
Now we all look the same places for inspiration, and those outlets amplify the most superficial and attention-grabbing trends across the globe in seconds. The internet has made the world of design much smaller.
Cheap stock everything
Tired of seeing the same Unsplash photos everywhere? (I’m guilty! There’s one at the top of this story.) Or the same generic stock illustrations of people at work on devices? Images speak a thousand words. If we’re all using the same images, we’re all saying the same thing. They are free or cheap, high quality, and easy to find. And they are killing the uniqueness of every project we use them on.
Data-driven design and affordances
Part of the maturation of UX design has been the integration of data into design decisions. Very little is left to instinct or guesswork when we can leverage user insights and analytics to decide which design solutions perform best.
When you see a landing page with a full-screen hero image overlaid with a buzzword-heavy introductory statement and a single call-to-action button, it looks the same as every other landing page simply because that formula has been proven to work. Why reinvent the wheel when the ones we’ve got work well?
Logos top or left, nav links horizontally across the top, hamburger icons in the corner, tab bars along the bottom: Users have learned to recognize these patterns over years of repeated exposure. Their reliability has created affordances that help us know how to use something without having to think much about it. Deviating away from those accepted patterns is seen as too great a risk. Performance dominates creativity.
Responsive design laziness
Before the popularity of smartphone screens, web design was far more like print design. You could pick a fairly standard canvas size and design a single experience that nearly everyone would see in the exact same way (unless they used Internet Explorer, in which case it was usually broken). This freedom allowed for greater experimentation.
When responsive design became a necessity, suddenly every interface had to be a fluid system of design “reflowing” into infinite, different-sized containers. This added a new layer of constraints and made good web design far more difficult. Naturally, designers looked for shortcuts.
Whether designing “mobile-first” or not, content started assuming patterns that would easily reflow into a single column. We reused these patterns over and over again without scrutinizing whether that delivery of content was actually optimized for a mobile/touch experience. Or, for fear of making responsive design too hard, we made everything very mobile friendly at the cost of not giving more to large-screen users on high-speed connections.
In short, we took the lazy path, and that meant someone on some device was getting a less-than-optimal experience. A more boring one, too.
Why is design sameness a problem?
Because every company and every user has different goals and needs. There are no one-size-fits-all approaches that can cover the diversity of what we want to achieve online.
When everything looks the same, nothing stands out. Nothing is special. Does your brand want to blend into the crowd of website sameness, or rise above it by breaking new ground and kickstarting new trends?
We’ve been scared to take that avant-garde position for fear of sacrificing affordances for style. But these things are not as mutually exclusive as we’ve been led to believe.
I argue that the day of bland, but successful enough websites and apps is coming to an end. The no-code/low-code revolution combined with A.I. means creating professional-looking, but generically designed interfaces is easier now than ever before, while ironically, the technology exists to do more interesting and experimental stuff online than we thought possible even a few years ago. We are living in a golden age of design and user experience opportunity, yet most of us are squandering that potential through data-driven sameness and lazy design masquerading as efficiency.
As Boris Müller says:
We can do everything in a browser. From massive-scale layouts to micro-typography, animation, and video. And what do we do with these incredible possibilities? Containers in containers in containers. Gigabytes of visually bland mobile-first pages contaminated with JavaScript. Generic templates that follow the same visual rules. If my younger self could have seen the state of web design 23 years later, he would have been very disappointed. Web design’s problem is not the limits of technology but the limits of our imagination. We’ve become far too obedient to visual conformity, economic viability, and assumed expectations.
After years of design style convergence, the 2020s will be the decade with a mature enough design ecosystem to allow uniqueness and innovation to flourish in a sustainable way. Success will no longer be guaranteed by how well you step in line with established trends but driven by how you differentiate.
Weapons to fight design sameness
It’s easy to get stuck in our ways, to reuse the same processes, to duplicate proven solutions rather than interrogating if there’s something better. It takes a conscious effort to keep our design thinking fresh. Here are some ideas to try.
1. Get broader inspiration
We need a much larger view of the design world than what’s trending on Dribbble. Look at TV and gaming. Book covers and magazines. Fashion and vehicle design. Architecture and industrial design. Get engrossed in nature. Study design history rather than what’s been popular in the past year. A broader base of inspiration creates a greater variety and more timeless design.
2. Educate your clients
How does the old saying go? “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.” Well, Henry Ford didn’t build horses because he knew of a better combustion-powered future. Your clients may want the same horse they saw their neighbor prancing around on. It does look fancy, after all, but is it what their business actually needs? You might be the one to open their eyes to innovate rather than duplicate.
3. Follow trends so you know when to break them
Don’t abandon Dribbble entirely. Staying aware of what’s popular is necessary if you want to buck the trend. Study why people get engrossed in certain design solutions so you know how best to deviate when it’s time for differentiation. As Hilary Archer said:
Being aware of these trends can help designers move in a different direction and try new things. Awareness of trends can help us to respond to a brief in the most appropriate way — step in line or swerve.
4. Pivot toward bespoke design
If your design business plan relies on cranking out slightly customized WP template sites, you’re part of the problem, not the solution. A.I. will be taking that job anyway, so the prudent move is to shift toward strategic UX thinking and custom design services.
5. Think before you stock
Not every project will have the budget, but you might be surprised at how effective it is to commission a few custom images to make a design really sing. Whether you art-direct a small photoshoot or collaborate with a colleague on new illustrations, where your brand and key selling points are concerned, avoiding stock is an easy ticket to unique expression.
6. Experiment with tech
WebGL, variable fonts, video, CSS animation, image recognition, NFC, Javascript trickery. There’s little we can’t make happen on the web or in apps these days. Don’t be afraid to design something you’re not sure how to build, and push development to catch up. If we all play it safe, we’re designing the same way we did five years ago. Your work may be outdated the second it’s live.
7. Question your assumptions
Before you go reaching for those geometric Grotesk fonts we all love, consider whether something with more character might better suit your message. Keep using that flexible 12-column grid that works so well, but explore how often you can break it to create variety in scale and alignment rather than walking the same line every time. Take the time, if only a little, to experiment free of constraints and assumptions. You may validate that what you assumed was best all along, or you may discover a fresh take on an old problem.
Go the extra mile to make something special as often as you can, even if it’s not the easy path.
8. Practice real responsive design
Even if you don’t use a mobile-first approach to every project (I sometimes don't), put responsive design at the core of your thinking and never an afterthought. Make it not about “How can I fit this same content in a narrower viewport?” and more about “What about this experience needs to change to make it purpose-built for a great mobile experience?”
9. Go the extra mile, but accept when you can’t
If you truly want to break free from design sameness, it may require a bit of sweat and extra money. A few more hours of experimentation, or an extra phone call to convince your stakeholders. Take that chance. Go the extra mile to make something special as often as you can, even if it’s not the easy path. You’ll never regret it. | https://modus.medium.com/9-ways-to-stop-designing-the-same-old-stuff-a7e3fd8c7e55 | ['Benek Lisefski'] | 2020-02-11 00:55:57.272000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Craft', 'Web Development', 'Creativity', 'UX'] |
Founders Are Our Customers: How We Serve Prime Movers | Founders Are Our Customers: How We Serve Prime Movers
Although most investors tout a founder-friendly approach, few follow through on this lofty ambition. This post explains how we at Prime Movers Lab partner with Prime Movers, the creators of breakthrough scientific inventions, to commercialize their technologies and transform billions of lives. Most importantly, we view and treat the founders of our current and potential portfolio companies as customers. This perspective guides every interaction we have, from introduction to diligence to negotiation to building together. Our process focuses on four components: founder, business, technology, and deal. For each step, we work tirelessly to identify learning opportunities and useful connections that can help accelerate a startup’s growth.
Our Approach
Our founder-friendly approach starts at our introductory meeting, when we ask Prime Movers “how can we serve you?” and “what is the biggest challenge you need support on?”. In our experience as entrepreneurs, most first VC conversations turn into a pitch and information transfer from founder to investor. We think this is a wasted opportunity because we at Prime Movers Lab are entrepreneurs and can offer valuable advice and introductions for founders. We ensure that in our first conversation, we find ways to add massive value that justifies the precious time founders spend speaking with us.
Immediately after this initial conversation, we jump into action to support founders with further feedback, customer introductions, fundraising advice, or whatever else a founder has asked for. We do this for Prime Movers even if we have decided not to pursue further evaluation of an investment, because we are primarily here to help build world-changing companies, and investing is just one component of that mission. We value contributing to founders even if it is not the right time for a financial partnership.
We tell people stories about working with Prime Movers Lab because the experience is 5 sigma out there and utterly different from anyone else we have spoken to. Their service to and coaching of entrepreneurs is the ideal that every investor pretends to offer. We can’t believe how lucky we are. — Gabe Hare, Founder of Reification
We have also designed our diligence process to maximize value creation for Prime Movers such that even if we don’t choose to invest, the startup is in a stronger position for having worked through our evaluation.
Founders
For the founder-focused portion of our evaluation, we provide actionable coaching and feedback to support personal development in the most critical areas to startup success. We are lucky to have one of the world’s greatest coaches and business strategists support Prime Movers in this area. Our Partner, Tony Robbins is an entrepreneur, best-selling author, philanthropist, and the world’s #1 life and business strategist. Tony coaches breakthrough Prime Movers using the tools that have made him the #1 personal and professional development leader of all time. Through his partnership with Prime Movers Lab, Tony gives founders access to his live events, coaching programs, audio content and other premium resources to help business leaders accelerate on the path to success.
Our Partner Michael J Savage is an Executive Coach with Prime Movers Lab. He brings two decades and over 100,000 hours of coaching experience across a wide range of businesses, from startups coming out of YCombinator or 500Startups, to C-Level executive coaching inside some of the most recognizable companies today. For over 15 years Michael traveled the world supporting individuals and teams as a Trainer with Robbins Research — founded by Life and Business Strategist Tony Robbins. He was a Business Coach and Trainer during his time at Robbins Research, and traveled the globe supporting and Facilitating Business Results Workshops on a broad range of topics, as well as Tony’s Life & Wealth Mastery Events. He is an ICF and BCC certified Executive Coach.
Outside of coaching, Michael has successfully built businesses in financial services as well as retail. He has supported founders and startups, coaching individuals and teams, as well as training and certifying coaches working in startup ecosystems like Tony Hsieh’s Downtown Project in Las Vegas. As a business coach and advisor Michael holds board seats in a number of small and medium sized organizations, and holds a seat on the Board of the Hero Initiative, a not for profit charity supporting the creative minds behind the world’s greatest comic book and pop culture icons. He resides in central Florida with his partner and daughter.
Business
For the business-focused portions of our evaluation, we strive to help founders identify new strategies, tactics, and experiments to maximize value creation for their customers. We approach these conversations as brainstorming opportunities to help think through marketing, sales, and customer support processes and we share our learnings from serving some of the world’s largest organizations across energy, transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, human augmentation, and computing. Our commitment is to unlock so much value in the go-to-market planning during these discussions, that founders say they would have sought the conversation independent of investment.
It feels like Prime Movers Lab has my back. The connections and introductions have been extremely helpful and have provided feedback and support and lead to further great introductions. Also, the help on branding has been huge. Getting a logo and website up fast has been really useful. — Francisco LePort, CEO of Gordian.Bio
For those companies where we do invest, the support in business strategy and high-value introductions is further amplified. Our Founder and General Partner, Dakin Sloss, who built OpenGov and Tachyus and invested in Boom, meets weekly to partner with Prime Movers and assist them in adapting to customer needs as the business unfolds.
Our General Partner, Brandon Simmons, is a seasoned operator and attorney who understands what it takes to scale a company from a few people to hundreds of employees. He served as Chief Operating Officer of Tachyus, where he led global business development, customer success, and operations. Brandon is also a sought-after coach and advisor to startups and nonprofits, including as a mentor at Berkeley SkyDeck.
The technology that our founders develop generates immense value but it’s just as critical that our companies are able to capture some of that value. Our Partner, Anton Brevde, is a fantastic resource in this area, leveraging his seven years of experience as the CEO of Asseta where his day to day focus was on global business development to Fortune 500 companies. He supports Prime Movers in developing their tactics and strategies around sales and business development.
Additionally, our Creative Director and Partner, JJ Moi, who has served startups, governments, and Fortune 50 brands, is available to our startups to help with branding, marketing, and product design. His work helps our startups rapidly establish the look, feel, and polish of a mature growth-stage company to impress future hires, clients, and investors at a minimal cost.
As companies scale, finding the right talent to fill key roles becomes a critical function. Our Talent Partner, Ashley Nowicki, leads talent initiatives for the firm, manages recruiter and expert relationships across different verticals of interest, and advises portfolio companies in hiring and team building. Ashley continues to develop our community and can advise portfolio companies in their hiring and talent development. She can help to create tools and build more intimate ecosystems to support them as they grow.
Prime Movers Lab has been deeply supportive and we feel the partnership. I am very grateful for help on the small stuff and big picture strategy. It has even helped me to create my style and approach. I like our consistent conversations and that we are well synchronized on our milestones and plans. I feel I am not alone. I am finding it very helpful. — Mikhail Kokorich, CEO of Momentus
We also assist Prime Movers by partnering with a public relations firm to announce milestones like fundraising and product launches. We can help our founders develop a press strategy to maximize their impact on the world.
Technology
On the technology side, we perform deeper diligence than most funds and thus typically serve Prime Movers in refining their productization roadmap, IP strategy, and risk mitigation plans. Our Principal Systems Engineer and Partner, Dan Slomski, has designed everything from particle accelerators to stem cell sorters.
Dan and a network of dozens of world-leading scientific subject-matter experts with decades of research and development experience dive in with founders to help them evaluate the biggest remaining scientific and engineering risks and low-cost approaches to address them. Additionally, they serve Prime Movers in considering the balance of patent protection and trade secrets to effectively minimize competitive threats. So far, hundreds of founders have received sufficient value from our thorough technical diligence process to justify the time spent with us even when we haven’t invested. After investing, Dan, and the subject matter experts continue to be available for further brainstorming, design reviews, and technical mentorship.
Dan is joined by Carly Anderson, Principal Chemical Engineer and Partner. Carly has designed gas separation processes for heavy industries and led fundamental research on creating electrical plasma devices. She has experience in startups, technology development, and technical consulting, and offers these skills to portfolio companies by helping them overcome key process design, scalability, and implementation challenges. She has a perfect blend of practical, real-world experience and deep theoretical understanding that she can apply to the inevitable hurdles that deeptech companies face.
In biotech and life sciences we have an equally accomplished Partner in Amy Kruse. Amy is a Principal Biologist and has a background in neuroscience. She has helped an applied neuroscience company develop a robust intellectual property portfolio as well as overseeing innovation and R&D at a global defense company. She managed a DARPA budget of $300M and developed the agency’s first performance-oriented neuroscience program. She leverages this experience with companies in the defense, biotech, or life sciences sectors and can help them navigate arcane government budget and procurement processes or bring complex technology into real-world environments.
Caleb Bell brings our life sciences team experience in biochemistry, molecular biology, and biophysical chemistry. He is a passionate entrepreneur, well-published scientist, and enthusiastic investor. He has started multiple businesses in diverse sectors including the entertainment, food, and biotech industries. His unique combination of startup, venture capital, and technical experience makes him an invaluable asset to our founders supporting commercial and clinical realization of living medicines (cell, gene, and microbiome therapies), bio-inspired innovations being brought to market in synergy with nature, and the intersection of computers and hardware with biology.
Jyothi Devakumar adds depth to our longevity and regenerative medicine practice as a Partner and Principal Biologist. Jyothi continues an admirable career serving in a range of positions from one-woman army to the C suite and across the world, in India, China, Singapore, Malaysia, and the USA. She is a valuable resource for companies developing new regenerative techniques or pushing the frontier of stem cell therapies and looks forward to partnering with companies to bring technology from the lab to the field.
Alessandro Levi rounds out our technical team as Partner and Electrical Engineer. He founded and was CEO of Semplus Corp and has experience across the full breadth of startup CEO tasks, including business development, fundraising, partnerships, developing IP, and operations. He is passionate about mentorship and helping young entrepreneurs. In addition to his skill on the business side, he also offers technical expertise in fields such as robotics, transportation, IoT, telecommunications, semiconductors, and computing. After investing, Alessandro continues to be a valuable resource to founders he works with by helping them develop go to market strategies, design robotic solutions, or reach their next fundraising milestone.
Deal
For the deal, we are transparent, just, and flexible. We offer the most founder-friendly term sheet in the market, giving founders maximum control while respecting the basic protective provisions required for a venture investment. We give founders two board seats and ask for one as the lead investor, and we expect to transfer that seat to the Series A lead to maintain founder-control. We also help founders to set up special share classes that give them additional voting rights. Although we are highly active contributors to the Prime Movers we back, we recognize that it is their vision and companies. We are only there to be an extremely supportive partner, never to prevent them from leading where they believe it is best to go.
I can honestly report that their team has offered value to both myself and our company in a manner that I’ve never before experienced. In addition to offering us access to their minds and Rolodex, Prime Movers proactively interacts with our company as if we are their customer, and as if their only job is to do whatever is needed to ensure that we are wildly successful. — David Bach, CEO of PlatypusNeuro
Additionally, we guide founders to establish FF preferred shares with the ability to more easily gain liquidity along the way as their company scales. We want Prime Movers to be incentivized for the long term and to be able to realize the benefits of their success during that journey. Lastly, we reverse archaic provisions such as companies reimbursing VCs for legal fees, and instead we reimburse startups for their legal fees. Legal counsel for the startups we have invested in have unanimously found us to be setting a new standard for founder-friendly negotiation. We go out of our way to help founders understand how to set up the best deal for themselves and the company long-term, even if it might mean a short-term concession from us.
We also support our founders in helping them plan and executive around their future funding needs. Our General Partner, Suzanne Fletcher, is an invaluable resource in this area having previously spent five years running the Stanford StartX fund. As Fund Manager at StartX, Suzanne oversaw $175M of direct investment in 300 start-ups across 500+ rounds, from seed through Series D, in industries ranging across Enterprise, Consumer, Hardware, and Medical.
After diligence, as mentioned above, we provide two weekly coaching sessions to our founders focused on leadership and business strategy. Beyond that, we are available to our founders for daily text, Slack, and email and serve as their trusted partner. We regularly ask for feedback on what we else we could offer to contribute at an even higher level and add even more value. Already based on that frequent feedback, we have established semi-annual retreats to bring Prime Movers together together to learn from each other and take the time to work on their leadership development. Our Prime Movers also meet bi-weekly in a mastermind to support each other and benefit from peer-to-peer feedback. We also share a proven playbook of sales, marketing, operations, recruiting, and product development strategies and processes with our Prime Movers to accelerate their identification of best practices to adopt.
To summarize, at every step in our relationship (introduction, diligence, building together) with Prime Movers, we take a customer-centric founder-friendly approach and ask ourselves “how can we create more value for founders than anyone else”? If you are interested in experiencing what it is like to be a customer, not an investment, contact [email protected] to explore how we can serve you. | https://medium.com/prime-movers-lab/founders-are-our-customers-how-we-serve-prime-movers-172bf527607e | ['Dakin Sloss'] | 2021-02-17 20:28:00.071000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Founders', 'Seed Investment', 'Venture Capital', 'Coaching'] |
A founder’s guide to design | We’ve learned a lot at Aesthetic about how early stage companies can best leverage design to become more valuable. We’re excited to share our learnings from working with 100+ companies over the last 18 months. We hope this will be helpful to the entire startup community, especially founders that are just getting started on their journey and are new to design.
Design: One size does not fit all
Design is a highly diverse discipline, with dozens of different fields and specialties. Similar to software product development, the scope and scale of design teams is highly variant and meant to reflect the needs of their organization. For early stage startups — those that are pre product-market fit, or have early market traction — the design needs tend to follow a similar pattern, and then tends to vary based on the specific business model of strong product market fit companies.
The 3 most important types of design for early-stage companies
At the highest level, founders of early stage companies should focus on:
Product design Web design Brand design
Here’s a breakdown of what each of these types of design means:
Product design is the user experience for your service or product. This doesn’t just include software that you build yourself, but also includes every other touchpoint you have with your customers or prospects. Product design isn’t just about creating user interfaces, but also developing wireframes, user research, and user experience testing.
This doesn’t just include software that you build yourself, but also includes every other touchpoint you have with your customers or prospects. Product design isn’t just about creating user interfaces, but also developing wireframes, user research, and user experience testing. Web design is a company’s front door to the world. In 2020, your website is the most basic currency of reputation for every company, and needs to make it clear what you do and what people should care. For most companies, a website is step 0 for starting to get customers.
In 2020, your website is the most basic currency of reputation for every company, and needs to make it clear what you do and what people should care. For most companies, a website is step 0 for starting to get customers. Brand design is the why behind your company’s what. It’s how you explain who you are to people, by codifying the way you represent yourself across every surface. As Paul Rand says, it’s “what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” This isn’t just your logo, fonts, colors, aesthetic and tone, but also the slide decks, emails, ads, and one pagers that you put out into the world.
What kind of design should my early-stage company focus on?
How much effort should companies apply to each of these three types of design? It of course depends, but there are some easy rules-of-thumb you can follow:
Pre-product-market fit companies should focus almost entirely on product design — with less effort on web design and brand design. This means spending as much time as you possibly can working on your product, and then bookmarking a few hours each week to make copy edits to your website. Don’t focus too much on the visuals at this stage, but rather your messaging and information architecture.
— with less effort on web design and brand design. This means spending as much time as you possibly can working on your product, and then bookmarking a few hours each week to make copy edits to your website. Don’t focus too much on the visuals at this stage, but rather your messaging and information architecture. Early-market-traction companies should maintain focus on product design, but start to ramp up web and brand design. These companies should do spike projects to develop more website content and begin developing their first marketing channel(s) and content roadmap(s) to activate their audience.
These companies should do spike projects to develop more website content and begin developing their first marketing channel(s) and content roadmap(s) to activate their audience. Strong-product-market-fit companies should focus across the board. Spend time clarifying your brand identity, and take the time to review your entire user experience. Then, up the ante on production across all channels by turning brand design into a service center that can be consumed by your cross-functional orgs (ie, marketing and sales).
I don’t have a designer on my team. What should I do?
It depends on the current phase your company is in:
Pre-product-market fit companies should focus on talking to customers. You should be spending most of your time talking to users to understand their problems. All of the tools listed above are approachable, even if you’ve never “done design” before. You can read Don’t Make Me Think, Design of Everyday Things, Just Enough Research and watch Gary Tan’s YouTube lectures as good primers on the subject if you’re interested.
You should be spending most of your time talking to users to understand their problems. All of the tools listed above are approachable, even if you’ve never “done design” before. You can read Don’t Make Me Think, Design of Everyday Things, Just Enough Research and watch Gary Tan’s YouTube lectures as good primers on the subject if you’re interested. Early-market-traction companies should consider hiring contractors to help with web and brand design. At this stage, it’d be hard to justify staffing for product design unless the founding team still maintained all user research, and just needed support with UI/UX. It might also make sense to staff web design if you have proof it’s a really useful channel for you today.
At this stage, it’d be hard to justify staffing for product design unless the founding team still maintained all user research, and just needed support with UI/UX. It might also make sense to staff web design if you have proof it’s a really useful channel for you today. Strong-product-market-fit companies should start hiring staff designers. Think of the trade-offs for hiring full-time versus working with outside support. Think of how you’d invest into these three areas of design, and what the top goals would be from anyone you worked with to get help. Then, start staffing by hiring full-time design, freelancers, and/or working with an agency.
How do I get started?
If you’re new to design, here are a few concrete actions and tools we recommend:
User research: The Aesthetic team recommends scheduling 2–3 user research interviews each week, ideally at the end of the week so you can also do usability testing on new features from the week.
The Aesthetic team recommends scheduling 2–3 user research interviews each week, ideally at the end of the week so you can also do usability testing on new features from the week. Take notes and record sessions: Make sure the entire team’s in each interview and take notes, record the sessions and do an affinity mapping exercise to formalize your learnings. We recommend Fullstory for recording app and website user sessions.
Make sure the entire team’s in each interview and take notes, record the sessions and do an affinity mapping exercise to formalize your learnings. We recommend Fullstory for recording app and website user sessions. Design your website: Aesthetic loves Webflow for this phase, not just because they’ve built an awesome product and great people, but also because they’re YC alum and former batchmates :)
Aesthetic loves Webflow for this phase, not just because they’ve built an awesome product and great people, but also because they’re YC alum and former batchmates :) Iterate on your brand design: Aesthetic uses Figma for all of our marketing template designs, and the Adobe suite for developing our (vector based) brand identities. Depending on the specific tech stack, there’s a wide variety of solutions for helping deploy design systems to enable reusability and consistency across your product teams. Figma’s collaboration and animation support is second to none.
A special offer for your company
As a part of paying it forward to the community, the Aesthetic co-founding team is happy to offer free design advice to any company that’s just getting started. The types of questions we can imagine getting:
Does this email marketing message look good and make sense?
Does this homepage copy make sense?
Feedback on my website design?
Feedback on my UX wireframes?
Feedback on my brand and social presence?
Feedback on my tone of voice via my content marketing?
Feedback on my logo and brand identity?
If this sounds interesting or if you have any questions, please email [email protected]! | https://uxplanet.org/a-founders-guide-to-design-eb77ec0dc4fc | [] | 2020-04-30 09:33:43.078000+00:00 | ['Product Design', 'Branding', 'Startup', 'Design Thinking', 'Design'] |
Towards a Libertarian Theory of Anti-Racism | Transcript
Bob Zadek: Welcome show the longest running live libertarian talk radio show in all of radio. Thank you so much for listening this Sunday morning. This show is in some ways a public service. I would like to spend the hour preparing my friends and listeners this morning for a phrase you will be hearing ad nauseum perhaps for the next four years: “Systemic racism.” Is there racism in America? If so, what institutions are racist? And if there is racism in America, is it systemic? What does “systemic” even mean? What does “racist” mean? These words are used all the time in public discourse, without any common understanding of their meaning.
To help us understand this, I’m happy to welcome back to the show, Michael Tana. Michael is a Cato Institute senior fellow who works extensively on issues of public policy, welfare, social security, health care, and poverty. Michael wrote a book and elements of the information gleaned from his book will be relevant to this morning’s conversation. We must understand systemic racism so we don’t allow those in public office to pull the wool over our eyes and run on a platform somehow related to systemic racism. Michael, welcome to the show this morning.
Michael Tanner: Thank you. Always a pleasure to be with you.
Systemic Racism Defined
Bob Zadek: Thank you kindly. What our friends out there will learn is that when we libertarians discuss phrases such as racism, we have a far less emotional, more rational, more careful use of the terms. After all, as I am fond of saying, in my professional life, words do matter. When you hear the phrase and you want to help somebody understand the objective meaning of systemic racism, what should people be addressing when they use the phrase? What does the phrase mean?
Michael Tanner: It is commonly misunderstood. And it really gets divisive, because people hear the term systemic racism, and they think that that means that, therefore the system and the country are full of racists, and that they are personally being accused of racism, of having ill-will towards people of color. And that is almost the opposite of what systemic racism actually means. Most people are not racists, their friends and family are not racist. They recognize that those people are on the fringes of society. There’s not a lot of racism in my life, I don’t see it.
Therefore, to say that I’m part of a system of racism is wrong. The reality with the system of systemic racism we are talking about is not racism of intent. It’s not about people going out and trying to do harm to people. color. There are things that are baked into the system because of our history. And that history develops certain stereotypes, certain laws, certain behaviors, and that these laws, systems behaviors means that the playing field today is not level.
Bob Zadek: Therefore, systemic racism really can be addressed. You can break it down a bit, and examine whether a policy has the intention of harming one race versus another, or whether it has the result of doing so even though that’s not the intent. Isn’t that an important distinction to make the result versus the intent? And is one more benign than the other?
Michael Tanner: Obviously, having the intent to harm somebody is more evil than doing it by accident. I think we acknowledge that in the law. However, if you are on the receiving end of it, it doesn’t really matter whether that car ran over you by accident, or whether somebody aimed at you. You still get hit by the car. So from the point of view of people of color, I think they see the results as the key here. But I do think we need to take into account the fact that people don’t intend to be racist.
Bob Zadek: An obvious example are the Jim Crow laws in the south. They had the intent of being racist. No colors here. Whites only drinking fountains. Those have no intent. There is an example of intentionally racist laws, but many of the racist laws on the books seem to have a non-racist purpose but are in fact racist. And you mentioned many of them in the book. Give us one stellar example of a law which is not obviously intended to punish one race and elevate another, but has that effect?
Michael Tanner: Sure. Take zoning laws, for example. In the 1950s, housing was explicitly segregated. 11 town, the famous suburban community had explicit in the deed that no person of color could actually live in that community. We still see that many communities that were created in California and elsewhere. They were explicitly segregated. Those laws against blacks living in suburban communities have long since been thrown out. We have the Fair Housing Act. But now we have zoning laws that people passed with government help.
The government had explicitly blocked African Americans from participating in loan programs. They bought those houses, their kids and grandkids now live in those houses, property values have gone up because of the passage of time and because of the title of zoning that’s gone on, and now African Americans simply can’t afford to move into those suburbs. We still have huge racial segregation and housing. It’s just no longer done because of an explicitly racial motive. It’s a neutral law in terms of zoning, but it still has the same impact and perpetuates the segregation and housing that used to go on.
Bob Zadek: So that makes the problem of discussing systemic racism far more difficult, because here we have laws which were clearly racist when acts enacted get repealed. But there is a residual result, so that blacks are measurably, as a group, harmed. You can’t identify, obviously a specific black, who was harmed, it is impossible. But you can make an accurate economic inclusion, that as a class, blacks were harmed by those laws and that harm visits upon the grandchildren of the blacks actually harmed today. We don’t have systemic racism today in housing, but we do have the adverse results of it. So it is a lot murkier.
How to Address Perceived Systemic Racism
Bob Zadek: Today, while we accept that the government was racist in enacting those laws, what do we do about it now, if anything?
Michael Tanner: Well, I think what we have to do is start by acknowledging the fact that he was that the playing field is not level and not equal. I think a lot of libertarians and conservatives and moderates are reluctant to do so because they think that as soon as you acknowledge that the playing field is that level, it means you have to endorse some sort of big government program and all that goes with it– a lot of social welfare spending, and a lot of new bureaucracy and all that.
But that’s not at all the case. In many cases, you can simply undo the policies that are holding up people of color from advancing. Get those policies out of the way, reduce the actual impact of government, and that will go towards rectifying the problem. It is not necessarily an invitation to say that we need bigger government. It’s simply a recognition that the playing field is not level today.
Bob Zadek: Now of course, many in the audience will observe that I was inching towards talking about reparations. We did it with the Japanese internment in 1943 when, to his shame, President Roosevelt interned Japanese Americans, and to their collective shame, the Supreme Court found that to be constitutional. Shame on them, shame on him for ever. Let’s give some discussion to reparations and where this fits in.
Michael Tana: I think you need to make a distinction here between private reparations and public reparations, reparations out of the public purse. I think that those are much more problematic. In terms of private reparations, you can identify people who benefited from slavery. Certain banks, certain insurance companies that started by selling insurance. Universities like Georgetown and Harvard, whose legacies were largely built with endowments built on the sale of slaves and so on. And they can take steps to rectify that by giving scholarships to the descendants of some of the slaves that they know that that they bought and sold.
How do you prove that somebody descended from slaves? There is very poor record keeping. What about people who immigrate to this country post slavery but then had to go through Jim Crow? What about people who have to pay? Do people pay whose forefathers were not involved in slavery? What about those who just emigrated recently? What about people who weren’t descended on both sides because there’s such widespread rape during slavery? Many African Americans have white ancestors. They are going to pay themselves. So I think on a practical basis, you have to rule out the idea of reparations. But there is a moral debt we should keep in mind.
It was only recently that we got around to actually issuing an apology for slavery. So I do think there’s a lot we can do in that regard of recognizing the problem of memorializing the problem of understanding, that there’s still a continued result of the problem, that that is still out there, but it does not call for something the government should do.
Reviewing Specific Legislation that had Disparate Impacts
Bob Zadek: The progressives primarily complain that America is rife with systemic racism. We are not plagued with racism. But there are examples of laws today in the books today, not history going back to the Eisenhower years. Give us a few examples of laws that in terms of effect are racist. You have mentioned many in your book. There are laws today that appear to be non-racist. Are they really racist?
Michael Tanner: Education, for example. In most places, it is illegal to go to a school outside of the district you’re assigned to. If we go back to the fact that our housing is highly segregated in this country, the fact that African Americans have historically been pushed into low-income neighborhoods where housing values are much lower, the schools are funded primarily on the basis of property taxes. So schools of African American neighborhoods are inherently less well funded. And then we make it illegal to send your child to a school outside of the district in which they live.
Bob Zadek: What about minimum wage laws? Aren’t they inherently racist in their effect? Not in their words but in their effect? Aren’t they a perfect example of governmental systemic racism? Although proponents of minimum wage laws would vehemently object because it’s the same group that is complaining about systemic racism. But isn’t that same group, inherently systemically racist in their increased enthusiasm for higher and higher minimum wage laws?
Michael Tanner: We should recognize the fact that minimum wage laws were historically intended to block African American participation in many labor fields. If you go back to the people who sponsored this legislation, they were explicit about the fact that they were worried about African American laborers undercutting white wages. They wanted to prevent African workers from getting into these labor fields. When Africa, Americans couldn’t belong to the unions, they created the minimum wage laws that simply priced out a lot of African Americans from the labor market. Advocates of minimum wage certainly are not racist. Nobody is out there trying to keep African Americans out of the labor force. But it still has the same impact of doing so. Particularly for young African American men, particularly those who don’t have a lot of attachments and labor force or a big skill set. It blocks entry level into the labor market. And that’s a big problem in the African American community.
Bob Zadek: In preparing for shows on minimum wage laws, I found a Senate hearing, there was a discussion among JFK and Jacob Javits who was a Republican, a very progressive Republican at a time when they were such things. They were discussing a federal increase in the minimum wage. JFK insisted the minimum wage be increased, because his constituents–the Irish, in Massachusetts, specifically. His constituents were complaining that blacks were taking their jobs. He said, “I need an increase in the minimum wage laws to protect the white people’s jobs.” Another issue was minimum wage laws clearly had as its purpose preventing blacks who were willing to work for less, because they needed the money and had less skills and knew they weren’t worth so much.
Blacks were willing to work for less undercutting the whites, who were not willing to work for less. The best way to get rid of that competition is to keep the minimum wage laws high. The theory was, if an employer had to pay $3 an hour, then he might as well pay a white person rather than pay a black person. So there is a perfect example of a systemically racist statute on the books today, which ought to be complained about by those people who complain about systemic racism. But of course they don’t.
College Admissions and Race
Now Michael, the conversation gets even more difficult when you look at college admissions because it raises so many interesting issues about systemic racism. If we were to examine the SAT, a test designed to help colleges figure out who among their applicants are going to make it through four years of college.First question to you. if you went to examine white versus non-white performance in the SAT, as a statistic, I’m going to ask you the easy question. Which group does better as a race? Whites or blacks?
Michael Tanner: Whites in general the school outscore African Americans on SAT and other standardized tests.
Bob Zadek: Does that mean that SAT itself is inherently racist? Is the test itself racist? After all, the result is blacks can’t compete. They don’t get admitted into college as much as whites do.
Michael Tanner: It’s definitely more complicated than that. The idea of the SAT itself is not racist. The LSAT questions are much better than they used to be. They certainly are problematic in the sense that the type of questions they ask on literature or the type of analogies they make, tend to be things that are essentially middle class white, educational things that are taught in their schools as opposed to things that African Americans might be more apt to learn.
But we’ve done a lot of stuff to change that. We put more Maya Angelou in there, as well as Shakespeare, for example. So there have been changes that have made it a more inclusive test. The bigger problem is the fact that African Americans are generalized into poor schools that have fewer resources, don’t have the ability to prepare for the SAT and aren’t able to go out and find the people who will take these extra courses. And how do you take an LSAT test? They are in many ways disadvantaged before they ever go into the room to take the test.
Bob Zadek: Do you adjust the SAT, which is a tool used by college admission offices to force more blacks into higher education, even though if the test is competently prepared it means less college students will be admitted to college? Or is that not an example of systemic racism. But it really shows that other areas of society created the problem. And that’s what makes a discussion of systemic racism so difficult.
Because it’s too easy to say, let’s change the SAT, let’s have affirmative action, for example. That will even everything up because once you go to college, you have an advantage in the labor market. But that doesn’t fix the problem, it just kicks the can down the road. So now the problem may be foisted upon society or upon employers who cannot sort out who is a good employee. Assuming college admissions are itself a good example of that.
We have to drill down. We have to fix at the root cause of the problem and do the hard work of fixing areas like school choice, minimum wage, and many, many others, that will fix the core problem so that over time, the essays and other objective tests will not have a disproportionately negative effect.
Michael Tanner: I think that’s a very good way to understand it. I think both sides in these debates are often simplifying, kind of missing this point. Simply throwing out the SAT or mandating that a minimum number of African Americans go to your college does not make African Americans more prepared for university life and university core classwork. We do know that there have been problems with a number graduating.
On the other hand, I think that far too many people on the other side of this simply say that they don’t do as well on the LSAT and that is their problem. You do have to go back and look at the core problem of how society has underserved the educational needs of African Americans historically, and continuing on to today. So you do have to go back and sort of get to the bottom of the problem and work from the bottom up. Working from the top down, they make us feel good, but it’s not going to fix the problem.
Racism in the Police Force: Reality Myth, or Somewhere in-between?
Bob Zadek: There has been a lot in the news lately about white police behaving violently. George Floyd, and the like. You and I both know that this is not an example of systemic racism. If systemic racism does exist in police behavior, which it probably does not, how bad an example of it is when we look at the George Floyd type of events?
Michael Tanner: Well, I think there’s very little doubt, that if you look at study after study at every level of the criminal justice system, from the type of things that we make illegal, many of them were explicitly started off for racial reasons. Go back and watch “Reefer Madness,”the 1940s film on how terrible marijuana was that led to a lot of marijuana laws. Go back and look at where a lot of these things originated in terms of the laws themselves, from traffic stops, to sentencing, to parole. And at every level African Americans fare worse in the criminal justice system.
That does not mean that individual police officers are racist. Very few police officers hate African Americans. What you have is stereotypes about the black thug, that leaves police reacting in a certain way to young African American men that they would not react in my neighborhood with white middle class.
Bob Zadek: You distinguish in conversations and in your writing individual acts that may be racist versus systemic. That’s an important distinction. Even if a police officer herself was racist, you can’t jump from that to there being systemic racism, and then jump from that to defund the police, to don’t arrest people who commit crimes if they’re black. Or, as Oregon has done, to not enforce minor acts of shoplifting and the like.
Michael Tanner: I think you have to look at both sides of this in terms of the individual act. You can’t generalize from an individual act to the behavior of all police, for example. If you have a racist cop, they should be thrown off the force. I will say that the police unions have far too much power, they block reforms, they block those types of officers from being thrown off the force. That said, we also have to take a look at the larger systemic issues, which are things like what is illegal? How do judges deal with the African American defendant? What do parole boards take into account? How do we assess bail? These are different things from simply saying that all police officers are racist.
Bob Zadek: When you point out the police unions and the ineffective civilian police review boards, that’s an important point to make. What happens there is that assuming we have racist behavior by a single policeman. That becomes solely an individual act until the system protects that policeman. Now the system becomes appropriately subject to the accurate accusation of systemic racism, because now the system protects the racist act. That’s where the systemic racism comes in. Not from the act by the policeman in the George Floyd case in Minnesota.
We should point out that the most effective racist organization is government itself. Most of the examples of heinous racism were governments, states, municipalities, and the federal government as well. So it is governmental action, not individual action that is the primary source of the problem. And that ought to be easier to fix once we understand that the problem is the law itself in their effect. That is kind of easy to affect to change. You just repeal the law.
Hollywood: A Brief Side-Bar
Bob Zadek: You have mentioned movies. The effect of the entertainment industry has been critical in fostering racism. Please explain to the audience how, by the movies and indeed by training films, policemen are almost embedded with racist training by media. Media portrays certain actors in stereotypical ways.
Michael Tanner: They have made a lot of improvements over the years. We see them actively trying now to foster minority role models and people in nontraditional roles and so on. In the past, if you wanted to show that somebody was going to be a criminal, it was an African American young black man wearing a leather jacket or a hoodie or something like that. You begin to absorb those stereotypes.
Now, if you’re a police officer and you’re at a traffic stop, and you’re worried before your life, because these things potentially can go wrong, and you got a gun in your hand. In that last in a second, you, “Oh my god, this is probably a criminal because he’s a young black man wearing a hoodie,” and you’re that much more likely to pull that trigger, than if it was somebody who was a white kid in a suit who got out of that car.
These police officers are to some degree the victims of the training and of what the media historically has done. If their occupation was such that they had the benefit of quiet reflection on their behavior, they could adjust it. As you pointed out, they have to react too fast. Therefore they’re left to their instincts. And the instincts are the result of what they’ve been trained for. To some degree, when you rail against policemen who behave in what appears to be a racist way, you have to ask why they are racist?
Has the government or society contributed to that? Are we collectively at fault, which is difficult. It is a lot easier to say, discuss a police officer, string them up, fire him, put him in jail. That is kind of easy, and in a way satisfying, but it’s more difficult to say, let’s drill down and let’s cause an examination of the training program.
Michael Tanner: I do think that we often go for the headline grabbing answer and accuse individuals rather than to look at what I think is far this larger system-problem. IAs libertarians, we understand the consequences of bad laws. We understand that you have to undo the bad laws, and the bad policies, and fix the fallout from the bad policies. When it comes to other races we tend to get our hackles up and just be unwilling to look at it.
Moral Character & Occupational Licensing
Bob Zadek: In your book, Working Your Way out of Poverty, what are the lessons? What are the libertarian suggestions as to how best to reduce what appears to be racism in America? What is the manual that libertarians would present to society about how to go about fixing whatever appears to be, but is not systemic racism?
Michael Tanner: We should cheer on private action and libertarians. Traditionally we said that private actors can fix problems without government involvement. So with private businesses, or private universities, or private schools, or Hollywood can take action to fix these problems of racism. We should be cheering those on. That’s exactly the type of action that we want to see taken. We want to see private actors not relying on the government to do things that are out there. Second, we should look at those government policies that were racist to begin with, or simply had a racial disparate impact today, and we should be striking down those policies actively. We should put as much emphasis on policies that disadvantage minorities and women and the LGBTQ community and so on, as we do policies that disadvantage businesses.
Bob Zadek: You mentioned in your book the occupational licensing laws, which is one of the best examples of how systemic racism does exist in society but is hidden. Licensing laws seem on the surface. Speak to that including the good moral character issue you have written about.
Michael Tanner: These laws often make very little sense in terms of protecting health and safety. When it takes longer to become a beautician than it does to become an ENT, you have to wonder what the logic behind that is. Historically, you look at the purpose of these laws, and you look at things like in addition to being able to pass all the tests and prove that you know the chemicals and all this sort of stuff, you had to have a “good moral character,” which allowed the board to kick out anybody they didn’t want. Those things were never applied in a race neutral way. Today they still block entry level into business entry level into the labor force. That tends to hurt people who have higher levels of unemployment. And, you know, in the wake of COVID, which is going to disrupt a lot of low income and low skilled jobs, we certainly should be re-examining that.
Bob Zadek: An example which I read about just recently was a story about a prisoner in state prison who was trying to turn his life around and acquire this skill of haircutting. He was a barber in prison. He worked in the prison barber shop and he was great at it. He got released from prison. He applied for a barbers license, why anybody needs a license is absurd. He was denied the license because of bad moral character due to the felony. A good example of racist licensing laws. Tell us about the Inclusive Economy you write about.
Michael Tanner: The inclusive economy looks at the problems of poverty in this country and why people are poor. We basically go right back to the beginning and diagnose the problem to fix the disease. Some of it is individual behavior and individual choices. Some of it is also structural issues such as racism and gender discrimination and economic dislocation that comes from various reasons. Too often when you bore down on both sides of that equation, both in terms of individual incentives, and in terms of larger structural issues, the culprit ends up being the government. If we really want to create this type of economy, it means we have to get government out of the way, have the government stop doing things that put people into poverty or make it harder to get out of poverty. | https://medium.com/@rzadek/towards-a-libertarian-theory-of-anti-racism-8df38e746ed9 | ['Bob Zadek'] | 2020-12-19 16:22:58.588000+00:00 | ['Libertarianism', 'Racism', 'Anti Racism', 'Discrimination', 'Economic'] |
What makes humans different from machines? | Photo by Katarzyna Pe on Unsplash
GIn the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, machine learning, quantum computing, and many other advanced computing developments many critics point to AI as the biggest to human kind, much bigger than climate change. While on the other hand, proponents of AI point that machines can never really replace us humans but only compliment our ability.
What does being a human entail?
It is in this context that we know what being human actually means. Basic essence of human beings is morality, which in turn flows from conscience among other things. Morality is the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. It is guided by ethics, and results in empathy, compassion, tolerance, humility, charity and most profoundly love.
Empathy allows humans to step into other’s shoes and feel the pain of others. It is one of most basic human virtues. A simple example of this is the fact that an image of a Alan Kurdi (a 3 year old Syrian child who dies while seeking refuge) shocked the whole world. It create a wave of movements across EU and world at large.
Alan Kurdi
The above example highlights the specifically human quality of ‘caring’, caring for some one other than one-self. In other words, self-lessness.
Another quality of humans is conscience. It is that internal voice at the back of our heads which keeps us from doing something wrong or pushes us to do something good. It might not be ethically correct all the time, but more often than not it is. Though the evolutionary significance and utility of conscience and mind have still not been established; they play a significant role in our lives.
Free will, is one of the basic tenets of ethical principles and corner stones of human civilization. It is enshrined in UN Declaration of Human Rights and finds its place in most constitutions. What it means is that humans take decisions according to their own understanding and voluntarily. The decisions can be right or wrong, but they are taken free of any compulsion.
Another quality of human beings is presence of flaw, diversity in character, difference of opinion and imagination. Basically, humans are not one and the same, they are different, more often than not wrong and morally imperfect. But this is what gives meaning to life.
Lets discuss humans vs machines
In simple terms, machines as envisaged by current technological trends will be AI driven, independent decision making machines with actual physical forms. They will be a physical form of Google Assistant or Siri or Alexa with much more fine tuned intelligence and motor functions.
It might as well have a chip for simulating emotions as reactions to situations. But this is where it ends. They won’t probably have the ability to imagine bizzare things, put somebody else in place of self, empathy, diversity and other human specific traits.
Lets take the trolley problem.
“You see a runaway trolley moving toward five tied-up people lying on the tracks. You are standing next to a lever that controls a switch. If you pull the lever, the trolley will be redirected onto a side track and the five people on the main track will be saved. However, there is a single person lying on the side track. You have two options:
Do nothing and allow the trolley to kill the five people on the main track. Pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the side track where it will kill one person.”
This is a classic ethics problem which a human has trouble deciding because there are lives being lost on both side even if it is just one. But for a robot, its a cost benefit analysis and surely pull the lever (option 2). And the robot will probably justify its actions.
Another issue with robots is “meaning of life”. Although there is no meaning of life in true sense of the word because Earth (and humans) are just a tiny blip in the universe, which just so happened to be survivable due to sheer force of luck. But still humans try to find meaning in life through work, spirituality, religion, charity, family etc. It all flows down from religion.
Robots don’t have the concept of meaning of life. For them the whole concept of religion and meaning is irrational and hence useless. This gives them no sense of purpose or the will to do something.
What will be the aim of a robot as an independent entity? Currently they are made to serve humans and specific tasks. But what when they are recognized as independent citizens (as Saudi Arabia granted to ‘Sophia’)? These are the impertinent questions which will trouble people in the coming decades. | https://medium.com/predict/what-makes-humans-different-from-machines-ff791f45187e | ['Prakhar Singh'] | 2019-01-04 17:48:26.058000+00:00 | ['Robots', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Future', 'Ethics', 'Humanity'] |
Trump’s Legacy | Lies and hate, perhaps?
An article in the New York Times today reported that many in the Trump administration are scrambling to make new rules and regulations in a host of departments that will affect many Americans, in the event he is not reelected. This in a hope to secure his legacy. | https://lizadonnelly.medium.com/trumps-legacy-6d8bd87567a4 | ['Liza Donnelly'] | 2020-10-16 22:23:58.723000+00:00 | ['Election 2020', 'Hate', 'Politics', 'Legacy', 'Trump'] |
Microdosing Cannabis: What is it and What are its Health Benefits? | Microdosing is a common procedure to address the effects of a substance in our bodies. In addition, microdosing cannabis is not a new concept and it has been used in the cannabis community for many years.
Microdosing cannabis is been researched for its potential health benefits. As a matter of fact, many cannabis users are more interested in low doses of THC, to experience just a mild “high”. Microdosing and the concept of hormesis is used in homeopathic medicine, but in this case, it does not have any relationship with homeopathy.
Research on ultra-low cannabis doses are still ongoing. Furthermore, several studies on mice have shown neuroprotective properties.
How Does Microdosing Cannabis Work?
Cannabis users are interested in Microdosing to reap the medical benefits of cannabis while avoiding getting “high”. In addition, many medical authorities believe the health benefits of cannabis are much lower than what we thought. In other words, cannabis users would not need to inhale or eat large amounts of cannabis to get its medical effects.
High doses do not mean better or more effective effects. Sometimes, what you need is Microdosing cannabis. For instance, you probably know that high doses of THC might cause anxiety while Microdosing would just diminish it. We can apply the same concept to any other substance.
Many patients are starting Microdosing cannabis to treat anxiety, depression, and pain. Microdosing is especially useful if you use cannabis strains with THC content. This is because some people might experience adverse effects if they vape, smoke, or ingest higher doses of THC-rich strains. Adverse effects could lead to more anxiety, psychosis, or paranoia.
A study gave Nabiximols (a cannabis mouth spray medicine) to cancer patients who did not respond well to opioid therapy. In this study, patients who were given lower doses of Nabiximols had a better pain reduction than those who took higher doses of it.
What is the Best Dose for Microdosing?
It is difficult to determine the best dose for Microdosing cannabis as it depends on the person. Each person has a different liver metabolism, cannabis tolerance and cannabis receptors.
Some sources recommend starting with 2mg THC (cannabis) and eventually increase that quantity to 5 mg per dose to get stronger effects. However, as previously mentioned, this depends a lot on your metabolism.
Heavy cannabis users must refrain from using cannabis for a couple of days to return to normal receptor levels (resetting the endocannabinoid system). After a couple of days, they will be able to start microdosing cannabis.
After starting with low doses, you can gradually increase the dose (somewhere in between 1 to 3 mg). Remember that your goal is not to get stoned, but to use cannabis for its medical properties.
Microdosing is important in the development of cannabis sensitivity. A highly sensitive endocannabinoid system is important to get better results to treat pain, anxiety, and stress.
For cannabis vaping, you can start by taking one puff and wait some time (approx. 5 min) to take a second puff. It is easier to control doses if you vape cannabis than with edibles. In addition, it is a healthier alternative than smoking cannabis.
Furthermore, microdosing cannabis is ideal for beginners as microdosing will not cause side effects. Higher doses of cannabis might cause side effects such as an increase of anxiety.
Microdosing cannabis refers mainly to THC because of its psychoactive properties. However, microdosing could be also applied to CBD, especially if we consider how expensive it is. In short, we need to gradually change our perception of cannabis, not as a substance to get stoned, but as a supplement that can help us improve our physical and mental health.
Microdosing Cannabis: Conclusion
Microdosing cannabis is suitable for consumers who want to consume cannabis for health purposes. In addition, some studies have proved that low doses are more effective to treat pain than higher doses. Furthermore, it is also recommended for people who are starting the cannabis journey. For instance, with low doses you will not experience side effects such as anxiety or psychosis.
You can gradually increase the dose to get stronger effects. Usually, it is recommended to increase the dose by 1 to 3 mg.
Microdosing cannabis is also suitable for heavy cannabis users, but they will need to refrain from using cannabis for a couple of days to “reset” their endocannabinoid system. | https://medium.com/@ispire/microdosing-cannabis-what-is-it-and-what-are-its-health-benefits-ef182c551705 | [] | 2020-09-01 00:34:45.072000+00:00 | ['Marijuana', 'Cannabis', 'Vaping'] |
Is the U.S.A. Obsolete? | Is the U.S.A. Obsolete?
By Walter Nicklin
Perhaps a better societal model than Nation-States are ancient City States.
When elections are delegitimized and a minority rules over a majority, can the United States still be called a democracy? Or is it now better described as an autocracy? Plutocracy? Kakistocracy? (Or given the predominance of conservative Catholics on the Supreme Court, a theocracy even?)
But maybe the real question is not about how the country governs itself but whether the U.S. remains a country at all? On a map, of course, it remains a country, but territorial definitions have ever less meaning when most of us now “live and work” in a virtual world independent of geography. Most human activities — from business meetings to yoga workouts — no longer require specific physical places (just access to Zoom!). Moreover, online connections and conspiracies — from LGBT to QAnon — fragment American identity.
Is the very notion of a nation-state — that relatively recent (19th Century) invention to organize the international system — now obsolete? As the American Experiment — once a model for other nation-states — sputters, possibly unraveling, should we rethink the way we humans organize and govern ourselves?
The nation-state: an area where the cultural boundaries overlap with the political boundaries.
Now cleaved apart in the United States is the compound word nation-state: White-identity, right-wing politics frame ethnically-diverse liberals as destroying the nation, while liberals point to Steven Bannon’s brazen vow to “deconstruct the administrative state.”
Though disconcerting and painful, as all breakup’s are, maybe it’s time to jettison the concept of sovereign nation-states as the best way to organize societies. Just as the founding of the United States became an example for other, new democracies, its breakup into some other entity (or entities) might serve as an exemplary template for all mankind.
But what might that be?
Maybe a world divided into city-states is the way of the future — if there is to be a hopeful future at all? Singapore is a model — so, too, are the Venice of 1,000 years ago and, of course, ancient Athens.
Already there exists a network of the world’s megacities committed to addressing climate change — since nation-states seem incapable of collaborating effectively in dealing with the most pressing planetary problem affecting them all:
As defined by the United Nations, the world now has 195 sovereign nation-states. Of these, even the putatively most powerful — the U.S. — is now too polarized to govern itself, much less offer leadership in solving any planetary problems.
Only its Constitution, laws and institutions, democratic norms and traditions, continue to bind this nation-state together — but now only flimsily at best.
To take but one example, the inhabitants of the northeastern part of this American nation-state have more shared values and interests with their European counterparts than with their “fellow” rural Americans. The Atlantic Ocean may still divide two continents, but the greatest division is found in the two diametrically opposed media landscapes reflecting the once United States.
Norumbega was a legendary settlement in northeastern North America featured on many early maps.
Such a self-governing megapolis in the northeastern U.S. could be called Norumbega, the imaginary place on early maps of northeastern North America. No matter its name, it makes sense on a number of levels, but could such societal reorganization ever come to pass without the violence of a civil war?
Intellectually, we know that nation-states are no longer (if they ever were!) the best way to structure the international system — as we also know that growth-driven capitalism destroys the planet — but what can we realistically do about either?
We’re like the alcoholic who knows he’s got a problem but continues to drink himself to death.
### | https://medium.com/@RoadTripRedux/is-the-u-s-a-obsolete-68b5813c17fc | ['Walter Nicklin'] | 2020-11-23 18:57:23.384000+00:00 | ['Governance', 'International Relations', 'Trump', 'Climate Action', 'Nationalism'] |
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