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A Year In Review — 2020. The Pandemic Year, Pt. 2
|
DO HARD SHIT: EVERY DAY
Listen, this might not work for everyone and in fact, most shrinks (head doctors — whatever you want to call them) out there would probably advise against this and I’m sure they’re right. This method is risky, but let me be clear: I’m not telling you to bottle it up forever and forget about it. Quite the opposite, I’m telling you to bottle it up and USE IT. Use it to your advantage when you’re good and ready.
This means that it will take time, just like all good things and that this time in between could turn against you. So reader beware: Do this at your own risk.
It took me a decade to figure out how to do this and use these things to my advantage. In part because I had bottled everything up so deep down in my mind, my heart, and soul that it was hard to get to. But when it was hard to get to, so was I. I was numb to literally everything — no feeling, no emotions but anger and rage, no meaning to my life, no direction, rock bottom felt like exactly where I belonged. So this will take time and it is most definitely a risky maneuver in life, but to me I only ever had two options:
“A life so driven, so focused, so on fire that nothing will ever stop me. Or the opposite — the fire engulfs me and the light is drained from my existence.”
I already know which path I’m on and hopefully my actions speak volumes as to which direction I’m headed.
In Pt. 1, I mentioned that the past year has been so much more than just bullet points and checks in boxes, but I also know how much I LOVE a good list and most likely you do too.
So here we go.
2020 goals that I set in 2019:
*Grow Anchor Kids Organization to $250k revenue
*Purchase new vehicle only if I graduate from Iowa State University
*Graduate from Iowa State University with B.S. in Exercise Science
*Train for and complete one mental/physical challenge every quarter
*Read one book every quarter
The only goal above that I did not accomplish was $250k in revenue for Anchor Kids Org. However, I set that goal on purpose because the year was built upon the premise that $250k in revenue is exactly where I’m headed. 2021 this goal will be the same and now that the systems and processes are in place, we’ll get damn close.
Below are the things I accomplished outside of those goals in 2020:
Brought a beautiful, healthy, absolutely perfect baby girl into the world. Zeppelin Trinity-Rose Burns in July
Won $10k plus in business pitch competitions
Selected into the CYstarters funded business accelerator over the summer
First ever awardee of the Ted Bair CYstarter award
Selected to receive an entrepreneurship scholarship from Iowa State University
Selected to attend Okoboji Entrepreneurs Institute to represent Iowa State University
Selected into the Bunker Labs “Veterans In Residence” program beginning Jan 2021
Made it through to the final stage of hiring (six month process) with the Des Moines Fire Department
Build a team and shoot content for a week to build out the Anchor Kids Online Courses (much more to come on this in 2021)
Attended annual entrepreneurship conference in Nashville, TN
Built out the basement in our house (first time ever taking on a giant project like this)
Began to build out Joint Venture Agreement with media agency that Anchor Kids Org is partnering with in 2021 and beyond
Registered and accepted into the Emergency Medical Services program through local community college in 2021
Embarked upon the 75HARD challenge that will take me well into January 2021
December 31st, 2020 into January 1st, 2021 I will be pursuing my final mental/physical challenge of the year: Break the world record of chest-to-ground burpees in 12 hours from Noon to Midnight
Built out the framework for what is now my personal brand: The Dillon Burns Method
Impacted hundreds, if not thousands of lives with the work I’m doing personally with The Dillon Burns Method and with Anchor Kids Organization
With funds from Anchor Kids Org, we partnered up with Children International and have began to use revenue from the business to sponsor two children in impoverished countries around the world (much more to come on this in 2021 — we will sponsor entire communities around the world by 2025)
So you see my friends, it’s not always about the goals. In fact, I’d say that more progress is made — IN THE SPACE BETWEEN — the goals.
This space is what we all know as The Journey.
GET BUSY LIVING.
Stay tuned in right here for part 3 coming later this weekend.
#TheDillonBurnsMethod
|
https://medium.com/@thedillonburnsmethod/a-year-in-review-2020-the-pandemic-year-pt-2-d4c0282fe2d5
|
['Dillon Burns']
|
2020-12-27 19:43:29.684000+00:00
|
['The Dillon Burns Method', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Goals', 'Dreams', 'Pandemic']
|
Hi, Helen.
|
Hi, Helen. I’m 62 and just recently discovered that my pain and stiffness in my right hip is not due to a poor mattress or because I’m lazy — it’s due to a re-aggravation of an old injury that — to my amazement — actually forced my right hip socket to turn outward from its normal position by about 10 degrees. I fell down my basement stairs 14 years ago, and because I turned my right leg outward and shoved it hard against the stair rail to arrest my fall, I actually damaged the hip socket badly (but I prevented a concussion as my head was about to smack into a stair tread…) Given the chance to redo my response to the fall, I’d still do the same thing.
Yeow! If I hadn’t started working as an industrial cleaner after a decade of sitting in a chair writing articles, editing articles and tutoring students privately, I would never have found out about the real damage I did to myself with that fall down the stairs over a decade ago. All my doctor has wanted to talk about is “well, yes, your arthritis in that joint is progressing”. Did you not yet notice that the joint is out of alignment by ten degrees, Doc? My previous doctor did not clue in to the reality of the injury either.
I went back to the physiotherapists who fixed up my dislocated shoulder three years ago, and have asked them to perform another miracle for me. And guess what? They have done it. The joint is now only out of place by about five degrees after three months of targeted physio, and a schedule of exercises that I do faithfully every day. I can sit and stand and walk three miles a day (at my job that’s the minimum of floor space I cover daily to do my cleaning tasks) without constant pain. I still have twinges of discomfort when I make particular movements, but these are few and far between now. I can turn my right foot almost parallel to my very straight left foot when I stand upright, and when I raise my right leg up at 90 degrees, I see less and less of the heel ball of my right foot every time.
Although I am Canadian, and we have “universal healthcare coverage”, physiotherapy is on the list of treatments that are NOT FREE. I pay $65.00 for each session, and to me, I am making the best possible investment of my money. So far I have had six treatments at a cost of $330.00. No idea what these would cost in the USA, but I still consider I am getting great value for my money. I may be able to ice-skate and ride my bicycle again by this summer. Yippee! I may be able to do two of my favourite fitness activities again soon.
So you are right, Helen, it’s not too late to get fit again, and with good physiotherapy, achieve lasting rehabilitation of even serious and chronic injuries.
|
https://medium.com/@caroliss88/hi-helen-c616c83d380b
|
['Carol Shetler']
|
2020-02-09 03:07:09.233000+00:00
|
['Mobility', 'Sports', 'Age And Pain', 'Fitness', 'Physiotherapy']
|
3 Simple Steps to Take Control of Fear When You’re Scared
|
The first step is the hardest, and it doesn’t have to be big
The first time I performed in front of a large audience, I was three years old. I did my poetry recital for a packed auditorium, loud and proud, not scared at all.
For the next twenty years, I was in various performances, from solo singing to choral performances to theater plays. It was clear to me that the older I grew, the more scared I became.
Call it what you want — imposter syndrome, fraud, self-doubt, inner critic, my own exceptionally high expectations led to my inability to lose myself in performances.
You freeze up when you’re scared.
The more time you spend contemplating your own inadequacy, the harder it is for you to take action.
Here are the three simple steps to take control of fear when you’re scared:
1. Focus on your purpose, not on yourself.
Remind yourself why you wanted to do this thing in the first place.
When I first started novel writing, I didn’t have any formal literary training except years of reading and writing for myself. It was simply a way of self-expression and therapy. It took over four years to finish that first novel.
Every time I got stuck, I thought about quitting. I felt vulnerable, letting others read and criticize my work. When my agent gave me feedback to revise the manuscript, I felt inadequate as a writer. With each round of challenges, I became keenly aware of my limitations.
It was at those times I reminded myself why I wrote. I want to bring rich, complex Asian female characters to life in my novels. The desire stems from the disappointment in finding relatable Asian women in stories. In fiction, Asian women don’t make it to the center stage often enough to be considered a trope. Those women who do, tend to be stereotypically submissive, exotic, or manipulative.
Asian women have far more depth and emotions than what this country has seen in words and on screens. A growing community of writers are changing the perspectives on Asian women in contemporary literature. I want to add my voice to the movement.
2. Set a tiny goal as the first step.
Your ultimate goal is intimidating; otherwise, it wouldn’t be worthy of your aspiration.
Most people daydream without doing anything toward their goal because they’re too afraid to take action. Break that ultimate goal into bite-size micro-goals. This will shorten the distance between you and your next goal, thus making it easier to achieve.
Breaking down your ultimate goal also makes it easier for you to shift strategies to accommodate unforeseen changes. For example, if you’re planning to start a home studio for your own YouTube channel. Instead of rushing to buy cameras, screens, microphones, lighting, begin with the tools you already have and see what you can come up with. Find a good topic or hook, film a twenty-second video, post it, and gauge its engagement.
If your original idea didn’t work, you can experiment with another one until you find your niche. As you become more experienced, you can then upgrade to better equipment.
Start small and build up your tolerance and flexibility. Remember, one bite at a time, and one day at a time.
3. Learn from others.
Chances are others have done what you’re scared of. Look for people who have lived through the same situation and learn from their experiences. Put yourself in their shoes and listened to what advice they may have.
Join groups where like-minded people hang out. Pay attention to what kinds of obstacles they encountered on their journeys. How did they overcome fear when things went wrong? What should you prepare for similar situations? As you gather strategies and action plans for various challenges, you’ll feel more in control. You no longer fear the big unknown because you already have the answers to the challenges ahead.
Think about the dream you have and all the reasons you tell yourself you can’t succeed. Make the next 12 months your year of action. Make things happen because you deserve it.
Need more help with challenges in your life? Get my award-winning book for Free here.
Not sure what you want or what you’re good at? Click here.
Need more information on handling failure? Click here.
Want to make wiser decisions? Click here.
|
https://medium.com/@ivyge/3-simple-steps-to-take-control-of-fear-when-youre-scared-b1124b15ff2d
|
['Ivy Ge']
|
2020-12-06 19:47:18.623000+00:00
|
['Fear', 'Goal Setting', 'Lifehacks', 'Take Action', 'Crisis Management']
|
Why mystery is important in designing experiences
|
Look.
People are bored. They were in the past and now they might be more than ever before.
So how can we end this?
With the magic of mystery.
Oh, mystery.
The curiosity you have towards all those infinite possibilities. You don’t know what to expect yet you are so involved in trying to figure the unknown.
It’s just like how happiness works. Everyone seeks it. People just want to have more assets, better functioning products, and so on. Yet when they have it, happiness lasts just a bit, and then it vanishes, resulting in a person that has something else to seek for.
You see, this is true as well as when you want to know something. To acquire a missing piece for an unfinished puzzle.
Mystery is not about the answer itself.
Mystery is about the state of not knowing. It’s about the sense of hope and potential. It’s about the curiosity you have towards the unknown.
Most often you see it in movies with an open ending. Or books. Or theater.
You can see it in people too. A smart good looking woman or man that just have something mysterious. Well? It drives you like crazy! Don’t tell me you’ve never met such a person. I bet you did.
But as Christmas is coming, let’s think about why do we package presents. Isn’t it obvious? It’s not for the looks (or not entirely). It’s for wondering what might be hidden behind it! A book? A game? An album? Jewelry? So many possibilities!
You are a designer of experiences, even though you might not be aware of it.
Every act you do, every word you say, every decision you take…
You have an impact on someone else’s experience.
And if you can include mystery in what you do (be it a product that you sell, a surprise you want to make, or a common conversation) then you already made someone else’s day more interesting.
But how do you create mystery?
Well, for sure we can try and give you some methods and hints…
But till then, you have to figure it out by yourself. Just experiment, test and see what works. There is no actual best recipe, it’s a matter of caring, wanting, being curious about who your creating mystery for and then it will simply unfold.
|
https://medium.com/the-school-of-design/why-mystery-is-important-in-designing-experiences-442887bcf83b
|
['Roxana Talambă']
|
2020-12-19 17:17:16.445000+00:00
|
['Christmas', 'Experience', 'Experience Design', 'Gifts']
|
Learning to Learn
|
1. Finding The Right Resources
Now when it comes to the first step I feel it is important to find the right resources or the right teacher/instructor. Now there are two schools of thought here, I will refer to them as Bootcamp and Self-taught.
The Bootcamp approach says that find the right resources, the right offline/online bootcamp where you have an instructor guiding you each step, building your skills right from the ground up. For the Bootcamp approach, you have a curriculum that will be followed, the next lessons will build upon the previous lessons and you will slowly and steadily reach a certain level. You have an instructor that you can get in touch with when you have some doubts and get your doubts resolved in seconds.
The Self-taught approach says that you make a curriculum for yourself and try to follow that curriculum on your own. There are a lot of resources that you need to segregate from and when you start you don’t understand which one you should start with. You try to spend some time with the thing that you want to learn and eventually you might reach a certain level. You don’t have an instructor here so you yourself need to figure out the answers for all your doubts.
Now the reason why I said, “you will slowly and steadily reach a certain level” for bootcamp route and, “you might reach a certain level” for self-taught route is because the self-taught route is tough. You are just starting to learn this new skill not knowing where to start and the internet does not know your experience, so it gets difficult to learn on your own. No doubt that there are people who have learned and mastered different skills using the self-taught route, but there are only a handful of them. So I recommend the bootcamp route where the instructor knows where you come from and has curated the course for you in such a way that you take incremental steps and eventually master the skill.
|
https://medium.com/@NerdyJoe/learning-to-learn-d9b333e1e528
|
['Joel Joseph']
|
2021-09-05 11:00:45.639000+00:00
|
['Learning To Code', 'Skills Development', 'Learning', 'Skills', 'Learning And Development']
|
Does it Seem Legit? A Crypto Research Guide to Finding Your Favorite Shitcoin
|
Bitcoin is back at it again and the mainstream media has been in a frenzy talking about it. There’s no doubt that this media craze and retail FOMO is contributing to the parabolic rise in bitcoin prices as it charged past $20k last week. Just like in 2017, this has led to a lot of new people joining the crypto space, making their first ever purchases and discovering the hundreds of alt coins out there. As we all experienced, trying to wade through and find legitimate projects among the multitude of shitcoins can be a daunting experience especially when asking for help can result in people shilling whatever their stacks in, and others screeching “DYOR!”. The problem is learning how to do your own research while avoiding the scammers or getting sucked into a rug pull project that’s all hype and no substance.
In light of this, we decided to put together a simple list of topics and some related questions you should be looking into while researching a coin. After all, the point is to grow your money, not watch it disappear.
People
Who are the key people and what is their track record with projects they have they been involved with in the past? Do they have a clear vision? Even though the media still portrays bitcoin as “anonymous” and the mystery of Satoshi lends credence to that, these days many of the top names in the crypto space are well known and plenty of projects have public faces associated with them. Take Vitalik Buterin for example, the founder of Ethereum still extremely active in the development and often makes public comments. His cofounder, Gavin Wood went on to be the leading face of PolkaDot, and even in the DeFi space there’s Andre Cronje, creator of Yearn Finance.
Technology
Does the technology have a clear use? A common critique of crypto and blockchain in general is that it’s a solution in search of a problem. While bitcoin has adopted the “digital gold” narrative and Ethereum is basically a decentralized operating system, many cryptocurrencies seem vague and unconvincing, leaving people often wondering why a new coin or token is even needed.
Does it have competitors and if so, how does it compare to them? Plenty of protocols have been touted as “Ethereum killers” and yet Ethereum remains the leader in the smart contract space.
Is it being actively developed? The fastest tech in the world means nothing if no one is building on it. While Ethereum may be considered “older” tech by those who like Cardano, Polkadot, or Avalanche, the developer ecosystem on Ethereum is far larger, helping it remain the leader in smart contracts.
Market
What the competition and what’s the ease of entry for a crypto solution vs traditional uses? Back to the “solution in search of a problem” criticism, adoption of any particular crypto will only come if it brings significant improvements to a problem. For example it’s clear that cryptocurrency can improve payments tech(xrp, nano), allow people to participate in decentralized finance (eth), or store value outside their countries fiat (btc) in ways that are unique to blockchain. If the current, traditional system isn’t in need of improvement, crypto doesn’t need to budge it’s way in. Even within crypto a lot of projects are vying against each other to be THE solution and we have yet to see whether a single chain will win out, or if several will survive and work together in a network.
Tokenomics
What are the supply and buy side economics? — how do new coins get minted, if at all? Some coins like bitcoin have a fixed supply and are mined in a predetermined, predictable manner while other coins are inflationary and issue new coins on a predictable schedule based on blocks being mined or staked. Neither of these methods are particularly “good” or “bad” but each have their pros and cons and this is something you definitely want to be aware of.
Are many coins centrally controlled? Decentralization is at the heart of the crypto movement, so many in the space see projects that have centralized aspects or a set of prominent whales and the “scam” concerns start to grow. For example, some see XRP as a way for the founders of Ripple to continuously fundraise for their private company by constantly selling XRP, and some chains’ exploration into Delegated Proof of Stake saw cartel-like behavior among the top nodes to centralize power.
Has it demonstrated strong growth recently? Where is the growth coming from? How else does the token provide utility/value? Other than being a speculative vehicle, the token should have some sort of use case that incentivizes people to hold it. Is it key to the network?
Does it have governance uses or just used to pay miners? Many people holding DeFi tokens like COMP, AAVE, and YFI believe in the potential of these projects and think they’ll gain wider adoption so holding the token gives them a say in the direction of the protocol.
Liquidity
Is there sufficient activity? What do the charts look like? If single high value purchases are impacting the price significantly and the spread across exchanges is wide, it’s obvious that no one is really trading the coin.
How volatile is the price of the coin? A lack of sufficient liquidity leads to volatility in the price which will ultimately keep people away if a few big holders can manipulate the price for their own interests.
Hype
Are people talking about the project? While much less important than the above factors, you should take in to account the hype around the project. Marketing works, otherwise corporations wouldn’t spend millions to get their product name blaring from TVs around the world. Take note of how much excitement the project is producing and whether are people talking about it. It shouldn’t be a shocker that a project is much more likely to be successful if people have actually heard of, and are excited about it.
There you have it. Now, we’re not saying you have to answer all of these questions like a checklist when researching or buying new coins, or even that they’re important for every coin. Hell, we’re just as prone to fomo’ing into some shitcoin just like anyone else. Just remember to never invest money you can’t afford to lose and be aware of what you’re buying. While buying into the top cryptocurrencies for the first time is exciting for newcomers, many quickly move on to searching for “the next bitcoin” which could bring them the multi thousand x returns everyone dreams of. Remember to keep your wits about you, follow our research guide, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll strike digital gold and you’ll be driving that lambo soon.
Thanks for reading.
Cheers,
JefeDix @ https://seems-legit.com
|
https://medium.com/@jefedix/does-it-seem-legit-a-crypto-research-guide-to-finding-your-favorite-shitcoin-a8a1c223ea74
|
[]
|
2020-12-20 01:46:26.684000+00:00
|
['Altcoins', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Ethereum', 'Bitcoin']
|
Coding Stories: Combining Coins
|
As a teacher I think a lot about what is worth teaching. Framing questions, allocating time for discussion, structuring projects, and designing assessments all involve value judgements where I weigh one use of time against another. Time is a limited resource in the classroom and as a teacher I want to make good use of it. How do you decide when a tangential discussion is worth pursuing and when it is time to move on? How do you ensure that the projects you assign are the best path of learning for your students. These days with a global pandemic going on I have been thinking even more about what aspects of my teaching are most valuable. Time on task feels more limited than ever by zoom fatigue, distraction, and challenges with motivation.
One great way to learn how to code is to get hooked on a really good problem. When you get hooked, a few hours may pass and you wonder where the time has gone. Getting excited about good problems, I would argue, is more important for my students than most of the facts I can teach them. Today I am going to tell you the story of one problem that I assigned to my students and how I fell in love with it. Hopefully, I also inspired my students along the way. Perhaps you might get inspired to start your own problem solving journey.
The problem that I assigned is a challenge from the project Euler website a great resource for CS teachers. I chose Project Euler #31. Here is the problem statement.
In the United Kingdom the currency is made up of pound (£) and pence (p). There are eight coins in general circulation: 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1 (100p), and £2 (200p). It is possible to make £2 in the following way: 1×£1 + 1×50p + 2×20p + 1×5p + 1×2p + 3×1p. How many different ways can £2 be made using any number of coins?
We started off the class working in small groups, trying to sketch a solution strategy for the problem. Then we met back as a whole group to share what we had found. The first thing my students noticed is that the problem has many solutions. Part of what makes it a good puzzle is that there are numerous ways to arrange the coins. We talked about solving the puzzle with physical coins and decided that we would need the following: 200 1p coins, 100 2p coins, 40 5p coins, 20 10p coins, 10 20p coins, 4 50p coins, 2 100p coins, and a single 200p coin.
Notice how we converted the pounds into pence removing one piece of complexity from the problem. We got the quantities by dividing the target value of 200p by the coin values. Since the target value is evenly divisible by each of the coin values, we have already listed eight valid solutions to the problem. All of the remaining solutions can be assembled from this group of coins. In Computer Science one approach to this sort of problem is to use brute force. This means trying every possible combination of coins and then seeing which ones work. This is useful because computers are adept at making a mind boggling number of calculations in a very short time. On the other hand humans struggle with complexity, so I put on my teacher voice and talked to my students about simplifying.
Simplifying a problem is perhaps the most important problem solving strategy you can employ. Our brains are limited in how many things can be thought about at one time. By reducing the complexity or perhaps the number of items in a problem it is easier to mentally manipulate the problem components and play with them in your head. The trick is to find a simpler form that still contains the essential elements of the original problem. The objective is to find a suitable simplification, get some good ideas from the simplified version, and then scale the problem back to its original form.
So I proposed to the class that we solve the case of 5 pence. For this simplification we would only need five 1p coins, two 2p coins and one 5p coin. Eight coins seems much more manageable. Now, how can we get all the possible combinations of coins?
One group of students came up with a solution using 3 nested loops. For 1p we can have 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 of these. For 2p we can have 0, 1, or 2 of these. For 5p we can have either 0 or 1 of these. This leads to 6x3x2 = 36 possible combinations of coins. Here is the code the students wrote in Python to check all these combinations. They wrote in a conditional statement to count the combinations that added to the goal of 5p. In this case there are four possibilities.
count=0
for i in range(6):
for j in range(3):
for k in range(2):
if i+2*j+5*k == 5: count+=1
print(count)
Later I decided to create a p5.js sketch as I find it easier to create visuals in p5.js. Often visuals play an important role in my problem solving process. Notice the empty set symbol representing the absence of coins.
To organize my code for this graphic I decided to define a Coin class in Javascript. The coin class served as a template for each of the coin objects on the screen.
class Coin {
constructor(val, pos){
this.val = val;
this.pos = pos;
}
show() {
fill('#45a632'); // Later I ended up coloring by coin value
ellipse(this.pos.x,this.pos.y,28);
fill(255);
text(this.val,this.pos.x,this.pos.y);
}
}
Next I wanted to animate this graphic having the coins fly in one at a time. I can easily adjust the Coin class to make the coins fly in from the left.
// lines added to Coin constructor this.toPos = pos; // set up fly in
this.pos = createVector(-100,height/2); // new function for Coin class update() {
if (this.toPos) {
this.pos.add(this.toPos.copy().sub(this.pos).mult(0.25));
if (this.pos.dist(this.toPos) < 0.5) {
this.pos = this.toPos;
delete this.toPos;
}
}
}
The problem is that I don’t want all the coins to fly in at once but rather one at a time. I spent some time thinking about how to organize my code for this.
Meanwhile as the students were working on solving the problem we decided it would be useful to represent a particular collection of coins in the computer’s memory. One group suggested that we create a list of integers. They explained that if the coin values were given by a list, coins = [1,2,5], then the quantity of each coin could be represented by an integer in the same order. For example, quantities = [1,2,0]. This would have one 1p coin as well as two 2p coins. Here is a visual of the coins.
I realized I could take advantage of this idea in my Javascript code. I decided to implement a Combination class that stored the array of integers and could perform some methods as well.
class Combination {
constructor(target, coinVals) {
this.target = target;
this.coinVals = coinVals
this.amts = new Array(coinVals.length).fill(0);
this.coinIndex = 0; }
nextCombo() { // steps through all possible coin combinations
let position = 0;
while(position<this.coinVals.length) {
this.amts[position]+=1;
if (this.amts[position]*this.coinVals[position]>this.target) {
this.amts[position]=0;
position+=1;
} else return;
}
}
}
The nextCombo() method steps through each combination of coins similar to the way adding one to a decimal number steps through all the combinations of place values. For example if you started at the number 0 and kept adding one you would step through all the possible combinations 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 … 996, 997, 998, 999. Using this simple procedure we have visited all 1000 combinations of a three digit base-10 number. Similarly I can add one pence to my coin combination representation and get all the combinations like this 000, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 010, 110 … 321, 421, 521. The maximum value of each of the place values in this representation depends on how many of that coin fit into the target value, in this case 5 pence. I started considering that this works like an odometer and maybe I should create an animation of an odometer for the Combination class. I did not end up finding time to make this animation but I think it would be another fun way to help clarify how my representation works. I am not sure why I put the smallest value coin on the left in opposition to the convention in the decimal system of putting the smallest place value on the right.
Organizing code into classes and developing useful representations helps with problem solving because it is another way of simplifying the problem. By tucking the complexity inside the class definition or the data representation your brain is freed up to tackle other aspects of the problem.
To get the animation to work I also included a nextCoin() method in the Combinations class so that each of the coins for each combination could be returned one at a time and then the nextCombo() method would only be called when all the coins of one combo were returned. To be honest this method is a bit of a mess. If I had time I would clean it up and come up with a more clever way to write it, but for now it at least it works.
nextCoin() {
let i = this.coinIndex
let a = this.amts;
let x = 40 + int(this.combos/12)*300;
let y = 10 + (this.combos%12)*67;
let coin;
if (i < a[0]) {
x+=i*17;
coin = new Coin(1,createVector(x,y),28)
} else if (i - a[0] < a[1]) {
x+=a[0]*17 + (a[0] ? 12 : 0) + (i-a[0])*18
coin = new Coin(2,createVector(x,y),32);
} else if (i - a[0] - a[1] < a[2]) {
x+=a[0]*17+a[1]*18+(a[0] ? 12 : 0) + (a[1] ? 12 : 0)+(i-a[0]-a[1])*22;
coin = new Coin(5,createVector(x,y),36);
} else {
this.nextCombo();
this.coinIndex = 0;
return
}
this.coinIndex++;
return coin;
}
Here is the animation
I ended up showing my students the animation and we talked about the problem solving process. Sometimes developing an animation like this leads to important insights. One of the students pointed out that we don’t need to check all 36 combinations. Once a combination exceeds the target value of 5p then we can cleverly skip that combination and possibly a whole series of combinations. For example take the step from 020 to 120 … The next combination should be 220 but that is valued at 6 pence. So I know that it won’t work. By resetting the 1p dial to zero I save myself from checking 320, 420, and 520. So I skip to 030. But that also adds up to 6p so I should reset the 2p dial skipping 130, 230, 330, 430, and 530. That brings us to 001 which is actually the last combination that is valued less than or equal to 5p. In the end this new approach narrows the number of combinations to 12.
Here is the code that I added.
getValue() { // new method in Combination class
let val = 0;
for (let i=0;i<this.coinVals.length;i++) {
val+=this.coinVals[i]*this.amounts[i];
}
return val;
} // replaced the conditional on the nextCombo method. if (this.getValue() > this.target) {
And here is the new animation:
When we started looking more closely at this new animation a student noticed that only one of the solutions actually added to 5p in each of the four regions where the coins were grouped. In fact maybe we don’t need to loop through the 1p coins at all.
“What if we only arranged the 2p and 5p coins and then just added the right number of 1p coins at the end to make it add to 5p.” said one of my students. This was a truly brilliant idea. So here are all the combinations of 2p and 5p coins
0 x 2p + 0 x 5p = 0p … so add 5 1p coins to this one
1 x 2p + 0 x 5p = 2p … so add 3 1p coins to this one
2 x 2p + 0 x 5p = 4p … so add 1 1p coin to this one
0 x 2p + 1 x 5p = 5p … so add 0 1p coins to this one
Based on this insight I rewrote the nextCombo() method to only generate valid solutions. So now for the 5p simplification we will only visit the four valid solutions.
Similarly we can now generate all the solutions for 200p using the same design. When we did we found an answer of 73682.
Then we talked about how we could make the code as efficient as possible to solve the larger problem. One student wrote a set of nested for loops.
count = 0
for a in range(0,201,2): # 2p
for b in range(a,201,5): # 5p
for c in range(b,201,10): # 10p
for d in range(c,201,20): # 20p
for e in range(d,201,50): # 50p
for f in range(e,201,100): # 100p
for g in range(f,201,200): # 200p
count +=1
This runs quickly. However, it is not very adaptable. You are stuck with the number of for loops written. That inspired me to come up with a different way to write it.
def solutions(coins,goal,start=0):
if coins==[]: return 1
count=0
for val in range(start,goal+1,coins[0]):
count+=solutions(coins[1:],goal,val)
return count solutions([1,2,5,10,20,50,100,200],200)
This solution uses recursion whereby a function calls itself and it is easy to adapt to a new set of coins. Another student found an interesting solution online similar to the code below.
coins = [1,2,5,10,20,50,100,200]
def count_solutions(goal):
solutions = [1] + ([0]*goal)
for coin in coins:
for amt in range(coin, goal+1):
solutions[amt] += solutions[amt-coin]
return solutions[goal]
This was even more efficient and came up with the same solution. The problem was that we had no idea how it worked. I usually steer my students away from Googling solutions because you learn so much figuring it out yourself. But I was drawn to the elegance of this solution and I wanted to understand it.
We ended up talking through the lines of code as a class. The approach is called dynamic programming. Instead of solving the 200p problem off the bat, we first solve the 0p problem. That is easy as there is only one way to make 0p. Then we solve the 1p problem which also has only one solution. Building up to the 2p solution you can add a 1p coin to the 1p solution or a 2p coin to the 0p solution. This give 2 possible solutions. In this way you can build all the way up to 200p. One important consideration is that 1p followed by 2p is the same solution as 2p followed by 1p. To avoid these duplicates the algorithm only builds solutions in coin value order. At the end the value stored in solutions[200] represents the number of solutions to the problem.
Let’s explore the case of 5p again. First we look at the 1p coin and following the loop the solutions array gets filled with 1’s
solutions = [1,1,1,1,1,1]
There is only one way to make each target value with a 1p coins. Then we can look at the 2p coins solutions. I decided I could visualize this with a p5.js sketch. I represented each coins as a rectangle with rounded corners where the horizontal dimension represents the coin value. We can start by placing a single 2p coin.
solutions = [1,1,2,1,1,1]
Now we raise the target to 3 and can add the following solution
solutions = [1,1,2,2,1,1]
If you continue the loop you end up with all the following possibilities.
solutions = [1,1,2,2,3,3]
Some of the solutions listed don’t add to 5p but they will be used in later goals. Notice how I have added new lines each time there is a unique way to lay out the coins in value order. Finally I used the 5p coin to make 5p.
solutions = [1,1,2,2,3,4]
What is special about this approach is that we are not just solving one target value but all the target values and building them up in an elegant way. I turned this process into an animation that I showed the class.
The grey vertical line represents the current target value each row is a distinct sequence of coins in value order. Over time the solutions are built up an the amounts array is shown at the top of the animation. Later in the animation I zoom out to give a greater scope ending on the solution for 19p.
I was quite happy with how this animation turned out. I think it it the most visually pleasing one and it helps me better understand the process of dynamic programming. I am starting to wonder how I can help students think of problems in terms of building up the solutions rather than breaking them down. What I enjoy most about this blog it the interplay of thinking, visualization and working with students. Having the opportunity to do this work on a regular basis makes me a very lucky person. At the start of the post I argued that learning to fall in love with good problems is the most important thing I can teach my students. I would like to amend that. The most important thing I can give them is helping them find their own path to a love of learning. Hopefully sharing my love of Project Euler #31 helped in some small way to make this happen. Below is an expanded visual for 49p
|
https://gbenedis.medium.com/coding-stories-combining-coins-b53ed53767e4
|
['Greg Benedis-Grab']
|
2020-12-11 13:56:00.071000+00:00
|
['JavaScript', 'P5js', 'Mathematics', 'Python', 'Computer Science']
|
Développer la participation citoyenne avec WAP Cycla Conseil
|
News about peer learning and learning innovations. We help people in organizations to connect to their peers and learn from each other.
Follow
|
https://medium.com/wearepeers/wap-utilis%C3%A9-pour-la-d%C3%A9mocratie-participative-entre-citoyens-ae721848bb73
|
['Diane Lenne']
|
2020-01-03 10:40:19.885000+00:00
|
['City Living', 'Citoyen', 'Peer To Peer', 'Democracy']
|
Two Inspirational Tales Win Tito’s Handmade Vodka Best Dog Story Awards
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Two Inspirational Tales Win Tito’s Handmade Vodka Best Dog Story Awards
Patricia Horan, 78, a forty-year veteran of New York and magazine publishing, and Derek Larthey, 38, an actor and substitute teacher in the Pennsylvania public school system, win the top writing scholarships provided by Tito’s Handmade Vodka.
Joining other writers in the Caribbean in February, 2020, Horan and Larthey will take advantage of a writing week focused on art, commerce, craft, and community at the Winter Story Summit.
Each season, Story Summit gathers award-winning professionals from across the globe to provide intimate, meaningful and productive relationships with screenwriters and authors in an inspiring, immersive and naturally beautiful environment.
The vision of Tito’s Vodka for Dog People program is to better the lives of pets and their families far and wide. Tito’s Handmade Vodka sponsored both a male and female scholarship to the Winter Story Summit.
“We could not be more delighted with Patricia Horan and Derek Larthey for their wins” says Beth Bellanti Pander, Program Manager, Vodka For Dog People. “We congratulate them and all the applicants who participated.”
Jeff Arch, a mentor at the summit, and the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of Sleepless in Seattle says, “I am so excited to work with these two gifted and committed writers.” Arch will be mentoring Horan as well as Larthey. “ Both entries are distinguished by their love for America, and the things that are best about us — and yet they come at it from completely different angles,” says Arch. “ Derek’s story, Rescue Me, is about a returning soldier who brings a dog back from Iraq and how they both find salvation through each other. It’s sincere and touching, and, unfortunately, all too real.
“On the other hand, Patricia’s animated story, Bring Me Your Paws, about a flying dachshund who befriends the Statue of Liberty, is a loving tribute to our strength as a melting pot, and how the pure heart and soul of one little dog can remind us, especially in these conflicted times, who we are as a nation of immigrants and refugees.”
Winner, Patricia Horan, for Bring Me Your Paws/ that’s Patricia’s guinea pig, Muttonchops
A forty-year veteran of New York book and magazine publishing, Patricia Horan is the founding editor of a longstanding Crown/Random House division. There. Horan developed, revised and reissued books and series, creating many perennial bestsellers. Among them are Gray’s Anatomy, the Blooper humor series, the Avenel classics and the Arthur Rackham series of distinguished children’s books.
Patricia was a founding member of the pioneering and widely reviewed Westbeth Feminist Playwrights Collective, where Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman first worked together on the New York stage. The plays and lyrics she wrote for Westbeth have been invited to the archives of the New-York Historical Society.
“I have been editing the work of others through mainstream publishing all these years,” says Horan, “and would like to feature my own original work now.
Patricia Horan is the daughter of the late historian, novelist and Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaperman, James D. Horan.
Winner, Derek Larthey, for Rescue Me
Derek Larthey, a public school teacher and an actor who has appeared in House of Cards as well as other series, is looking forward to the opportunity that the story summit provides for him. “I can learn from some of the best in the business,” Larthey says. “I have a mentor in Jeff Arch who will not be shy about pointing out my mistakes, guiding me to expand my knowledge and hone my craft.”
The Story Summit is conducted once every season and attended by an international group of aspiring writers of all ages. The Summit elevates and engages diverse talent in inspiring locations around the world.
The Winter Story Summit will take place in the Caribbean in February, 2020. The Summer Story Summit will take place on a glacier tour in Alaska. Tito’s Handmade Vodka will also be sponsoring two writing scholarships for the summer event as well. Details for the application process will be announced after the holidays.
|
https://medium.com/@thegoodage/two-inspirational-tales-win-titos-handmade-vodka-best-dog-story-awards-7dc02e94139e
|
['David Paul Kirkpatrick']
|
2020-01-02 21:23:32.438000+00:00
|
['Creative Writing', 'Scholarship', 'Dogs', 'Writers Life', 'Inspiration']
|
Due Time
|
I want to write the words I wish were written for me. For those dark moments I kept to myself and insisted on standing alone — even though I never really was.
Follow
|
https://medium.com/halftruths/due-time-c9e08cab0f03
|
[]
|
2017-09-02 03:11:57.158000+00:00
|
['Life Lessons', 'Personal Growth', 'Mental Health', 'This Happened To Me', 'Reflections']
|
Most useful websites for email marketers
|
I embody curiosity and I often search the internet to find interesting and useful things to improve our day to day life
|
https://medium.com/@jovinvarghese/most-useful-websites-for-email-marketers-2b90fc8880b0
|
['Jovin Varghese Manjaly']
|
2020-12-17 09:11:09.672000+00:00
|
['Email Marketing', 'Marketing', 'Marketing Strategies', 'Email Marketing Tips']
|
What does Endurance mean to you?
|
What does Endurance mean to you?
This month, we’re thinking about our Miles for Meaning challenge. We’ll be walking, running, hiking, rolling, or jogging every day throughout March, tracking our miles and earning points for Simbi Foundation!
We’re competing to win $25,000 to install another of our BrightBoxes in Uganda’s Bidibidi refugee camp.
What is a BrightBox, you ask? Great question!
If you like the sound of our BrightBox innovations or just need a little workout motivation, why not join us? Download the Kilter app and follow these simple sign-up steps.
To help us get into the right mindset for the challenge ahead, we asked a few Simbians who are already competing about their previous experiences with endurance:
In the spirit of long-distance running, we’d love to hear about a time in your life that tested your endurance. What happened, and how did you overcome it?
Here’s what they said —
Tara
Tara Serena, Communication & Marketing Coordinator
“When I was still living in Bali, I was constantly overwhelmed. I was busy with a job, running a t-shirt brand, planning my next steps with university, and moving to Canada all by myself. I was mentally burnt out, and with barely any free time I decided to join a boxing club to challenge myself physically, even though this meant more energy and effort to train daily. However, the motivation and excitement of improving my physical health with a supportive team helped me stay positive and productive with my other responsibilities, stress-free! Testing my physical endurance only made me realize how connected our mind and body are, and that I was capable of doing more than I imagined. I had more control over my mood and my work, which has helped me handle many stressful situations to this day!”
Joe
Joe, Blog Coordinator
“When I moved to Canada, I had to work two jobs to pay the bills. I was tired most days and began to dread time off, because all I did was think about the next deadline. But instead of looking for more free time, I decided to take on extra responsibility by volunteering my skills for Simbi Foundation. Even though this meant more effort, the chance to be part of a meaningful project helped me to stay positive and energized. Two years later, my work-week looks completely different—but I’m still hanging around at Simbi Foundation!”
Ran
Ran, Director of Global Operations
“When the Simbi Foundation team initiated operations in the Bidibidi Refugee Settlement it was an exciting venture, with months of planning for a successful TRIP. It required the coordination of many elements to ensure a smooth initiation and installation of the BrightBox, along with kick-starting our Randomized Control Trials, which we’d use to monitor and evaluate activities in the months to come.
But, when you’re in the field, there are always unanticipated realities that months of planning cannot overcome. New issues required sleepless nights and deep integration and coordination with the situation in our hands. When one receives handfuls of problems to solve, there’s often an urge to just drop them and run. But, with the motivation and inspiration of the team around me—and the commitment so tangible in our new partnered-community—I was energized to problem-solve and work with our talented teammates.
We not only overcame every issue, but turned each problem into a solution benefiting our existing partnered-communities. This required more effort than I thought I had in me, but being surrounded by wildly talented and motivated individuals with different perspectives and skill-sets, I was energized knowing that everything was possible. And what a success it was — not only in seeing Twajiji Primary School and the surrounding community thrive and benefit through our joint-solutions, but also kickstarting a successful partnership with the UNHCR which has only proven to support in scaling the organization and our impact!”
BONUS question!
Give us your best workout motivation tip. Whether you’re a gym rat, all-weather athlete, or couch yogi, what’s something that helps you break a sweat?
Tara: “A HIIT workout and a good playlist is my go-to! A HIIT workout doesn’t require much time, increases your heart rate, and will definitely break a sweat. Start with simple workouts, go at your own pace, then progress when you’re ready! During your workout, play your favorite upbeat playlist to keep yourself in the zone and energized. Music is the good kind of distraction!”
Joe: “15 minutes, even 10, is enough time for a legit workout. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is perfect for people with packed schedules because it targets key muscle groups and increases heart rate in the minimum amount of time. There are hundreds of great HIIT videos on YouTube to choose from, which is perfect if (like me) you find repeating exercises boring.”
Ran: “Stretch with intention! Everyone has 5 minutes to stretch — we spend so much time sitting — especially these days. Taking the time to give your body what it needs — to shake out those cracks and feel the power of your limbs with a lunge, backstretch, neck roll, butterfly stretch, or a down dog. Your body will thank you!”
|
https://medium.com/@simbifoundation/what-does-endurance-mean-to-you-b9274ff0515
|
['Simbi Foundation']
|
2021-03-04 16:07:23.093000+00:00
|
['Simbi Foundation', 'Miles For Meaning', 'Competition', 'Running', 'Endurance']
|
How to use PromiseKit for Swift
|
Photo by Daniel von Appen on Unsplash
PromiseKit is a popular third-party library for Swift and Objective-C programming language, and many developers are using this library to simplify the asynchronous tasks they have in their apps. Promises allows us to control the whole asynchronous background process with his powerful closure syntax for chaining multiple async functions.
What is a promise?
Promise is a generic way of structuring code that could take long time to run, and might succeed or fail, or in other words a Promise is a functional abstraction of a fail-able asynchronous operation.
Waiting for a async function
Where it is using?
One of the main reasons for using Promises in our app is when we have multiple callback functions in our code. We all know that async functions will execute simultaneously right away but we don’t know when and who of the functions will finish first. What if we want to change the order and priority of the functions or we want one function to call after another has finished (chaining of async functions)?
Are you familiar with this code?
In the example code we have three nested functions that gets called one after another. First function func fetchJSON(fromURL: , completion:) returns JSON data, then we pass that JSON data into the second function to fetch specific info for a user func fetchUserData(for username:, completion:) and after that we call third function to login the current user func loginUser(user: , completion:)
This is called a callback hell or pyramid of doom 🔥. This is not clean code and if you want to write clean structured code then Promises are the best choice for this type of problems, and in the next section I will explain the common promise patterns, how to create a promise and how to chain multiple promises.
How to create a Promise
Let’s see the first fetch function from the above code:
Assuming that you have already installed the PromiseKit library and included in your project, how can we wrap this function to return a promise?
It’s simple …
We create another function promiseFetchJSON() -> Promise<[String: Any]> that returns a Promise of generic type <T>, in our case because we want to fetch some JSON data the return type will be of type <[String: Any]> . In the body of the function we will call the fetchJSON() with the same functionality:
Now you are wondering what is the seal object? The seal object that the Promise initializer provides to you defines many methods for handling completion handlers.
A promise has to have fulfill and reject methods defined for the promise to be valid. Next we will convert the other functions to return a promise:
We have successfully wrapped all three functions to return a Promise , next we’ll see how we can use this new functions in our code.
Using Promises
Main purpose of Promises are chaining them together in a structural manner.
Here is a typical promise chain:
firstly is just a syntax to make code more readable and in this closure we pass the first promise function promise1() .
then is another way to structure completion handlers that help us to easy understand asynchronous operations. If we return a promise in a then closure, then the next then waits on that promise before continuing. If one of the promises fails to resolve then the whole promise chain fails.
The chain ends in the done closure and that means that all of the promises are fulfilled successfully.
|
https://medium.com/@dimitarstefanovski/how-to-use-promisekit-for-swift-4bbb9e40f7cc
|
['Dimitar Stefanovski']
|
2019-02-07 14:20:52.712000+00:00
|
['iOS', 'Promisekit', 'Callback', 'Swift', 'Asynchronous']
|
Quantum Resistant Cryptography: A Stitch in Time to Save Blockchain?
|
Quantum Resistant Cryptography: A Stitch in Time to Save Blockchain?
Recent developments in the field of quantum computing have been welcomed cheerfully by some while it has sparked concerns in others. Google’s claim to have attained quantum supremacy, whether exaggerated or not, marks a new beginning in the world of science and technology. While surely a move up the ladder, it threatens the other — thriving and essentially useful technology — the blockchain.
Threat Exists
Google’s achievements have indeed been given excess applaud. After all, just achieving quantum supremacy is not synonymous with overpowering the blockchain. If examined technically, what Google has achieved is not precisely a dent in the universe. However, it is an acknowledged fact that quantum computing carries in itself the potential to hurt the blockchain in the future. Therefore, it is only wise that the blockchain community keeps track of the progress made by quantum computing.
Google’s claim is not the zenith of this technology, however, as it has room for giant improvements. As it grows, the blockchain must pace too, so that it is not choked by the progress acquired in the field of quantum computing. There are steps to be taken immediately by the blockchain community to counter the looming threat. And when is the right time to begin?
Now.
Playing it Safe Already
The National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST) has already initiated the process of standardizing quantum-resistant cryptography. It has been universally acknowledged by now that the sole way for blockchain to survive and thrive further in the future is by developing quantum-resistant cryptography.
Organizations like QUUBE Exchange, with far-sightedness, have already begun the development of such projects to save the blockchain from getting smothered. The blockchain community should, without further ado, keep a close watch on the standardization process and use the results for updating the existing blockchain models.
Furthermore, the blockchain community should also pre-decide when to start the process of up-gradation, keeping in mind the time-frame around which quantum computers would start getting built on a bigger scale. This would demand great governance. The community, therefore, should not forestall making plans to safeguard the blockchain from the quantum threat.
Additionally, the blockchain community should keep its focus on cryptographic agility. This means that blockchains should be developed in such a way that there is room for quantum-resistant features to be integrated into it once it is operational.
Change is the Law, Growth is Optional: Choose Wisely
The maxim is not just witty, but very true, and more so now when the blockchain faces the threat of quantum computing. Technology is bound to change and advance: new things would come up, those obsolete would suffer the fate of death. In order to grow, technology must keep up with the change, or die.
Such are the options before blockchain technology which must avoid being overtaken by the onslaught of upcoming technologies. And in order to do so, it must start adapting quantum-resistant cryptography; for another wise maxim says that a stitch in time saves nine. And much more.
To see what we are building at QUUBE, visit us at https://quube.exchange.
Join QUUBE Exchange on networks:
✉️ Telegram Group https://t.me/QuantumWarriors
🗣 Steem https://steemit.com/@quube-exchange
📸 LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/quubesecurityexchange
👤 Facebook https://facebook.com/QuubeQuantum
📷 Instagram https://instagram.com/quube_exchange
🐥 Twitter https://twitter.com/quube_exchange
⭕️ Medium https://medium.com/@quube_exchange_m
⚙️ GitHub https://github.com/Quube-Exchange-2019
🅱️ Bitcointalk https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5180249
|
https://medium.com/the-capital/quantum-resistant-cryptography-a-stitch-in-time-to-save-blockchain-5847817d8eef
|
['Quube Exchange']
|
2019-12-15 04:06:35.392000+00:00
|
['Cryptocurrency', 'Quantum Computing', 'Bitcoin', 'Blockchain', 'Crypto']
|
Did I finally get what cognitive dissonance is?
|
As I always look for the things that I think develop myself, I paused for a little bit when I read about cognitive dissonance. The very first thing I discovered after I happily shared my new curio with friends was that I totally don’t understand it, moreover I probably looked like an idiot trying to explain how it works to them. Thus I decided to deepen my knowledge in this area, and I come up with a very funny example of cognitive dissonance from my own life, and how moronic I was managing it. But first let’s take a look at the dissonance itself.
We experience cognitive dissonance in a situation when we receive information or impulses that are contradicting each other. The best example is a parent who beats his kid, and at some point hears that beating kids is bad. It’s obvious that if he’s been doing it, he did not consider it as a bad thing, that’s how human’s consciousness is build. We do what we think is good — or at least not bad. However, when the parent is being told that beating kids is bad (from a neighbour for example), he experiences a cognitive dissonance, and its consequence — mental discomfort. In this scenario it turns out that he was actually doing a bad thing. There is a bunch of ways to get rid of this feeling and our brain takes them automatically. In this case parent is going to reduce mental discomfort very easy by changing one element. He will say he only slapped his kid, he did not beat it. More examples on Wikipedia. What is more, in situations where we act against our demeanour, or when we think one thing and do the other, to reduce the cognitive dissonance we change our demeanour to adjust it to our deeds. Eventually we’ll just find a silly justification for deeds that already has taken their place. What does it mean? It means that when John doesn’t like his job but is still doing it, being asked if his job is interesting he will describe it much more interesting than he really think it is, to reduce his mental discomfort.
Now something from my life.
When I was on the 4th
semester doing my bachelors, I plagiarised one paper. Well, I don’t think I’m any different to my academic fellows. Maybe apart from the fact that I did it fucking bad and they kicked me out from the University. But here’s funny part. I noticed, that when I finally decided to tell someone about it, there was many other things to study, a part time job, and lots of other academic activities around that plagiarism (that was my own way to reduce a cognitive dissonance). Every next chime in a gesture of understanding from whoever was listening to me was giving me a mental release. I simply couldn’t accept the fact that anyone would think I was a lazy bitch who plagiarised some paper and on top of that was a looser who’s been kicked out from the university (that would be not in line with my demeanour — I’m so hard working). Well, I could not be more mistaken. They kicked out from the university a fucking lazy bitch, and the other things to study, a part time job and other academic activities were just some excuses.
Summing up. After a bloomer with plagiarism that suggests that I’m lazy, what is against what I think of myself — my demeanour, I used a variety of excuses, so that I don’t feel that people think I’m a slacker. Which should maybe be replaced with confessing to myself that I have made a mistake, and accept it.
|
https://medium.com/@marian.janush.pazdzioch/did-i-finally-get-what-cognitive-dissonance-is-e0db98812d1a
|
[]
|
2019-03-09 00:18:57.850000+00:00
|
['Lessons Learned', 'Mistakes', 'First Post', 'Cognitive Dissonance', 'Life']
|
CEZO (BEP-20 token) BurgerSwap listing
|
We are excited to announce that CEZO (Binance Smart Chain) is listed on Burgerswap.org. We will soon announce additional exchange listings on centralized exchanges.
CEZO Token Details:
Name: bCEZO
Ticker: CEZ
Official Contract Address (BEP-20): 0xe03d5573f0c7fe0751ae94d6c65f24b35f7f2e6b
Website: https://cezo.io
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cezo_io
Telegram: https://t.me/cezo_io
|
https://medium.com/@cezo_io/cezo-bep-20-token-burgerswap-listing-d4ce1fb16801
|
[]
|
2020-12-24 14:19:28.741000+00:00
|
['Cezo', 'Uniswap', 'Burgerswap', 'Binance Smart Chain', 'Dapps']
|
Why Avatar: The Last Airbender was ahead of its time
|
Avatar: The Last Airbender has seen a huge resurgence since it has been brought to Netflix. Many people who enjoyed the series as children, like myself, are watching the show as adults. This time, I’m starting to think that the show sparked the awareness my generation has for political and social issues. After watching the show through the eyes of an activist, I’ve realized that creators
Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko pushed the boundaries of typical children’s shows in the 2000’s.
The entire plot of the show is a criticism of imperialism and colonialism. The Fire Nation is based off of imperial Japan, but replicates many dictatorships like Nazi Germany, but even shares some similatiries with America. The fire nation began a 100 year war in which they violently expanded their influence across the three other nations- The Water Tribe, the Earth Kingdom, and The Air Nomads. The Fire Nation is led by Firelord Ozai, a ruthless monarch who terrorized the other nations.
The Fire Nation has a sense of superiority disguised as patriotism. They go as far as committing genocide against the Air Nomads, which is a topic many children don’t understand until they’re older. As a result of the war, people from every nation flee to Ba Sing Se as refugees.
In the fire nation, there is strong nationalism, brainwashing, and censorship. In “The Headband,” Aang briefly attends a fire nation school, in which the children are forced to recite an oath swearing loyalty and unconditional loyalty to their country. Sounds familiar, right? In this episode, Aang throws a dance party to show the children that self expression “can never be taken from you by anyone.” This episode highlighted the importance of self-expression, even while under an oppressive government.
But even the Earth Kingdom city of Ba Sing Se, although not a dictatorship, has its flaws, much like America. When the kids arrive, Katara even asks an official, “Why are all of the poor people inside the wall separated from everyone else?” It closely resembles the de facto segregation and classism in America, despite the fact that we call ourselves the land of the free. The government of Ba Sing Se is full of corrupt city officials who hypnotize citizens into believing they are free and there is no war going on at all. The poor citizens and refugees are segregated into the densely populated lower ring, so that the outer rings containing the upper classes can live in bliss. The Dai Lee are described as the cultural authority, but instead keep the poor people and refugees contained within their ring of garbage. The King is reduced to a mere figurehead, and the Dai Li assumes power for themselves, keeping the poor pushed together in the lower ring. Its quite similar to America’s police force who keep communities in poverty. By including this, ATLA helps children to grow up to hold law enforcement accountable.
Many children don’t learn topics such as imperialism, classism and tyranny until they are older, but ATLA portrays the implications of such issues in a way that children can understand. In doing so, ATLA exposes young children to advanced topics that they otherwise would not learn. Such topics are integral to developing efficacy in their later years, and perhaps this part of the show sparked some of my own activist tendencies.
Activism plays a key role in the show. In the episode, The Painted Lady, the gang stumbles upon a poor fishing village, where a village is being polluted by a Fire Nation factory. The villagers are sick and hungry, and Katara feels a strong inclination to help them. Katara initially helps them by healing their sick with her waterbending, but ultimately solves the village’s problem by destroying the factory altogether. This episode disproves the notion that activists must be peaceful in order to make change, and sends the message that sometimes burning down the oppressor is a necessary action. In doing this, Katara rejects complacency and performative activism, and instead embraces real change.
ATLA also teaches children about emotions and how to deal with them. Various characters deal with trauma, loss, and mental illness. Aang, a survivor of the genocide of the air nomads, returns to his temple after 100 years in an iceberg to find that the rest of the air nomads, have been killed by fire nation. When he finds the body of his old friend, Monk Gyatso, Aang is devastated and is consoled by his friend Katara. The creators made sure not to conceal Aang’s grief, but demonstrate healthy ways of coping with loss. Katara’s role in this scene served to highlight the importance of emotional support from friends.
Siblings Katara and Sokka have both dealt with losing their mother to the fire nation, and Katara continues to grieve the loss of her mother through her teenage years. When Katara gets the chance to confront the man who killed her mother, Katara instead chooses to forgive him rather than seek revenge. This scene demonstrated the importance of mercy and forgiveness, something that our society has yet to learn.
Zuko, son of the Fire Lord, was banished from the Fire Nation and burned by his father for speaking out during a war meeting. After this instance, Zuko is left obsessed with capturing the avatar to please his abusive father. His obsessive nature and short temper were direct results of his father’s emotional and physical abuse. The creators depicted his struggles with his temper, but also showed how Zuko learned to let go of his anger, and turn a new leaf. Instead of living to please Fire Lord Ozai, he chose to join the Avatar and fight alongside them to end the Fire Nation’s dictatorship and imperialism. Because of this choice, Zuko had one of the largest redemption arcs in the show.
Towards the end of the show, Azula, daughter of the Fire Lord, is shown to have struggled with perfectionism and has a mental breakdown. Although Azula is an antagonist, she was also a victim of her father’s abuse just as much as Zuko. It was shown that she was put on a pedestal as a child by her sociopathic father, and thus turned away by her mother. Throughout her childhood, her father rewarded Azula when she displayed his very own evil behavior. As a result, Azula was a perfectionist who used fear, like her father, to manipulate people. When things began going wrong for Azula, she gradually lost her sanity, and the creators vividly showed her having a mental breakdown at the end of the show. The creators did not hold back on depicting specific details of a mental breakdown, such as cutting her hair, hallucinations, and paranoia. It’s important that the creator portrayed a mental breakdown in its raw form. Most people will experience a mental breakdown at some point in their life and thus it ought to be normalized among children.
The two characters, Zuko and Azula, show two children who grew up with a poor relationship with a parent. Zuko dealt with anger issues through his father’s lack of validation, and Azula dealt with perfectionism due to being resented by her mother and praised by her father.
Representation is also an area in which Avatar excels in. Every single character is a person of color. Through clothing, appearances, and building style that each nation is based on a specific ethnic group. The Water Tribe is based on Alaskan natives, the Earth Kingdom is based on China, the Fire Nation is based on Japan, and the Air Nomads are based on Tibetan Monks. Additionally, the Sun Warriors take inspiration from Ancient Mesopotamians, Aztecs, and Mayans. The sand benders are based on North African and Arab cultures. Though less obvious, the Swamp Benders are inspired by overseas Vietnamese diaspora who moved to Southern states.
Every single group in Avatar is based on an African, Asian, or Native nation. Likewise, there is not a single white person in the series. Every character has an ethnic name, and appears as a person of color. During a time where children shows were often white washed, Avatar is quite ahead of its time by creating a cast of all POC characters. The show is a great source of representation for children of color.
The storyline also takes inspiration from Hinduism. The avatar reincarnation cycle is based on Hindu reincarnation, as well as the concept of chakras being aligned in order to reach the avatar state.
ATLA also pushes against gender stereotypes for both females and males. In the first episode, Katara literally calls Sokka sexist. In the episode, “The Kyoshi Warriors,” the gang meets the Kyoshi Warriors, a group of skilled female martial artists. In this episode, Sokka overcomes his misogynistic thinking, puts on a dress, and the Kyoshi Warriors teach him how to fight. This episode demonstrates that femininity and strength can go hand and hand. It is common for TV shows to fail to demonstrate that girls can be feminine and strong. Part of Sokka’s character arc is swallowing his pride and rejecting toxic masculinity and misogyny.
In the episode “The Waterbending Master,” the Northern Water tribe forbids women from learning waterbending to fight. Instead of conforming to outdated traditions, Katara challenges Pakku to a dual, and proves to Pakku that she is just as capable as male waterbenders.
The show also uses the two female characters, Toph and Katara to show female strength in different ways. Katara is more feminine and ladylike, while Toph is a tomboy who doesn’t mind getting dirty. Katara is a waterbending master, and Toph is an earthbending master. Femininity is often portrayed as weak in television, but Katara proves that you can be both feminine and strong. On the other hand, Toph demonstrates that girls can be outspoken, loud and aggressive. Both are equally strong and respected fighters, but take on completely different roles. Children can take from this that girls do not need to sacrifice their femininity in order to be strong, nor do they have to conform to femininity.
Toph and Katara are just two examples, but every female character, Azula, Mai, Suki, Ty Lee, has a complex backstory and a distinct personality. The girls of ATLA are not passive side characters, but supplements to the story. It is typical for female characters in TV shows to lack depth and complexity, but ATLA does quite the opposite.
The show even goes as far as normalizing femininity in boys. The main character, Aang, is the least masculine male character in the show. He does not have the buff physique that we typically see with male TV characters, he would rather talk things out than fight, and he upholds the peaceful teachings of the Air Temple monks. Aang is a great example of a male who doesn’t need to be masculine to be powerful and a hero. Take that, toxic masculinity!
Finally, Avatar covers representation for disabled children. One of the main characters, Toph, is born blind, yet is a master at Earth bending. TV shows tend to misrepresent disabilities by portraying disabled children as either helpless and meek, or completely unaffected by their disability. Instead, ATLA does neither. Toph is bold and brash, and one of the most powerful benders in the show. But Toph also needs help at some points during the the show, and the other characters have no problem helping her around or being held onto for support. It’s a great source of representation for children with disabilities as it shows that although they may need help from time, they can be just as successful as anyone else.
Another recurring character with a disability is Teo, an Earth Kingdom boy who is paralyzed from the waist down and is thus bound to a wheelchair. Although he is unable to bend air, his father constructed a glider that can attach to his wheelchair, allowing him to fly. Teo excelled among the other children with gliders and Aang even marked that, although he had no airbending ability, he had “the spirit of an airbender’’ and Teo was able to keep up with Aang. Teo served as a great aid in the gang’s efforts to end the war, and his disability was not at all a prominent characteristic.
As a child, I didn’t realize how many advanced topics were presented in this show. Avatar: The Last Airbender served as a paragon of representation and a source of moral guidance for children of all ages. I’m grateful for this show’s influence on my childhood that may have been a major factor in why I am an activist today.
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https://medium.com/@vanessavicente2021/why-avatar-the-last-airbender-was-ahead-of-its-time-8848f8a777a
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['Vanessa Vicente']
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2020-12-26 11:39:23.091000+00:00
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['Avatar The Last Airbender', 'Activism', 'Avatar', 'Anime', 'Social Justice']
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Christians, Stop Using an Old Method in a New Age
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The hostility toward Christianity continues to rise. Are we surprised?
Jesus warned us that these times were coming.
“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.” (John 15:18, NKJV)
Surprise. Surprise. Surprise. Remember Gomer Pyle? Dated, for sure.
Why are we surprised when the scripture comes true? The scripture reminds us that trials or hostility toward us should not surprise us.
Dear friends, don’t be bewildered or surprised when you go through the fiery trials ahead, for this is no strange, unusual thing that is going to happen to you. (I Peter 4:12, TLB)
Unusual times
We live in unusual times. Civility and tolerance have shifted. Incivility has no boundaries. It is active in politics, on our streets, social media, and religion.
Negative rhetoric is exhausting.
Ramona Grigg said:
I don’t want that anymore. I don’t want to do it anymore. (Because, yes, I’ve done it, too, in those early days when blind, furious rage was all I could manage.) I want to be among people who fight for decency by being civil. I want to go back to being strong without being cruel. There’s enough cruelty out there without it stinking up my own circles. On both Facebook and Twitter, I’m dropping or blocking people who use rage as their only tool. I don’t want to be around them anymore. Rage is contagious, it’s exhausting, it’s meaningless in the long run. Rage is a catalyst. It’s never a solution.
Hatred, rage, and incivility are a part of our culture in the ‘20s.
Should we get used to it? Let’s hope not.
Be a part of the solution
Hello, Christians. God commands us how to live.
“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32, NKJV)
Christians, wake up.
“Therefore, He says: ‘Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.’ See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:14–16, NKJV)
We do not fight people. The scripture says the days are evil. And yes, there are people prone to do wrong things, but there are people who are loving and kind. Lots of them.
We forget that. We also forget that believers are to redeem the time of evil days.
What is a biblical response to hatred and injustice?
Never forget you are not in a battle with people
Our battles are with spiritual enemies and not people. Do not pick a fight with haters. Don’t do it.
Be reminded:
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12, ESV).
Stop defending yourself
Do not defend yourself. Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek.
“But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.” (Matthew 5:39, NKJV)
Some think this is a weakness. Is it?
Would you say it’s easier to fight back or turn your cheek?
Turning away from a fight requires more strength than fighting back.
There are exceptions. If you are persecuted for Christ, you are to turn your cheek when others slap you. Really?
However, if someone breaks into your house to steal your property, you have every right to defend your property.
Standing down for Christ is a witness to others. It makes little sense, but it is a method of God’s eternal strategy.
The greatest way to get God results is to do things God’s way.
The next point will go against the grain of the aggressive Christian. Let’s put it in perspective. The big question is: have Christians provoked their enemies? Maybe we have.
Has the behavior of the church created hostility toward Christians? This is a question believers must consider.
It’s time for Christians to live differently
Living out our Christian faith in practical ways is far more effective than defending our theology.
Have you ever met a Christian who failed to work hard, hates others and judges everyone? Most of us have. This is a part of life. There is none perfect.
But what if we kept our faith semi-silent and worked hard, loved others, and judged no one? Our deeds would speak louder than our words.
In this age of rage, should believers change their style of witness?
Rather than let everyone know about your faith, can we live in such a way that someone would say, “What is different about you?”
Yes, we are to share our faith. How? By witnessing to everyone, or by living in such a way that people see our faith?
“For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: ‘Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth’; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.” (1 Peter 2:20–23, NKJV)
St Francis of Assisi said:
“Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.”
Maybe we should try a new method…only use words when necessary.
Thank you for reading this post. You can find other inspiring articles at thomasmcdaniels.com.
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https://medium.com/koinonia/christians-stop-using-an-old-method-in-a-new-age-23ace156cdfa
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['Thomas E. Mcdaniels']
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2020-03-09 15:57:02.250000+00:00
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['Spirituality', 'Faith', 'Christianity', 'Religion', 'Lifestyle']
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Riggs Gets A Bad Rap, Murtaugh’s The Real Shit Magnet: A Fresh Look At The Christmas Classic ‘Lethal Weapon’
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Martin Riggs is…Buddy Cop Jesus
Every year, as part of our American family tradition, we sit down to binge-watch the great Christmas movies of our time: Home Alone, The Santa Clause, Home Alone 2, The Santa Clause 2. Then the grand finales: Die Hard and the under-appreciated Lethal Weapon.
These movies are all franchises, because the originals are timeless. But what you realize when you’ve memorized the screenplay and watched the movie 36 times is that Lethal Weapon wasn’t meant to be a franchise. The first movie is dark and violent, a movie that is about loss, grief, and PTSD spun into a plot involving heroin, prostitution, torture and suicide.
The rest of the franchise films are pure buddy comedies.
Let me explain.
Martin Riggs is the suicidal-psychopath-Vietnam-vet-Special-Forces-sniper-cop who has as much PTSD from the war as he does his dead wife. He’s crazy, ballsy, and brash. He drinks, smokes, and shoves all the guns in his face (his own and everyone else’s).
When he teams up with Roger Murtaugh, the buttoned-up, by-the-book, old-school cop and family man, the duet is complete. They balance each other perfectly. Murtaugh carries a revolver, Riggs a Beretta 92; pressed slacks versus wrinkled jeans; the suburban house full of kids to a lonely trailer on the beach; bacon and orange juice for breakfast versus Coors in a bottle; a sedan to Riggs’ dually pickup.
Throughout the first film, it’s the independent maverick who’s blamed for all the bad shit that happens. It’s Riggs who empties his 9 mm Beretta to take out a sniper shooting at kids, handcuffs himself to a suicidal man and jumps off a building, and takes out a handful of drug/Christmas tree dealers by himself. He is reckless and dangerous, a literal lethal weapon.
But this all misses the point.
These are side stories that create the mystique of the main character, but the main plot of the movie isn’t based on Riggs at all. In fact, none of the Lethal Weapon movies are based on situations that Riggs creates. It’s Murtaugh who’s the shit magnet.
In the first installment, the trouble comes from Murtaugh’s connection to Vietnam buddy Michael Hunsaker. Hunsaker is a piece of shit. Beyond being a banker, he also traffics in heroin, which results in his own daughter becoming a drug-addict, a prostitute, and a corpse (first scene of the movie; not a spoiler).
Hunsaker isn’t Riggs’ friend. He’s Murtaugh’s, and it’s that friendship that leads Hunsaker’s boss to kidnap Murtaugh’s daughter, setting off a series of brutal punishments for the savior of the movie, old reliable Martin Riggs.
Riggs getting shot in the chest (which he survives).
He gets captured and tortured by electro-shock (which he survives).
He fights to the death with fellow Special Forces soldier Mr. Joshua (Gary Busey). Which he survives, bloodied and battered.
And all he gets in return is an invitation to Christmas dinner with the Murtaughs, whose matriarch is infamous for bad cooking.
Lethal Weapon was only ever supposed to have one sequel, called Play Dirty, and Riggs was supposed to die, sacrificing himself to save the Murtaugh family.
Hollywood greed saved the golden goose, but at the expense of seeing the hero fulfill his moral purpose. In Lethal Weapon 1, Riggs sacrifices his body and mind for his partner. In the sequel, he is supposed to sacrifice his life. It is the logical character arc of the psychologically damaged hero. He is unfit for a civilized world, he has lost everything, and so he applies his mercenary skills to save his only friend, Roger.
The second screenplay, even darker and bloodier than the first, was thrown out for the lighter, neater, funnier version that we have today.
You have a comedic foil (Joe Pesci) filling a prominent third-wheel-type role despite the original screenplay giving his character only one scene and a few lines of dialogue.
You have a plot centered around gold coins instead of heroin. You have constant comedic relief, dad jokes and one-liners that actually distract from the story (and this gets worst as the franchise goes on). Other than a flash of boob and Riggs saying “fuck” every time he has to bail Murtaugh out of another shit storm, the second-through-fourth Lethal Weapons probably could have been rated PG-13 instead of R.
I admit there are some dark themes that earn the R rating. In Lethal Weapon 2 there’s an ambush that kills several cops (an explosion, no gore), and in the third film Murtaugh shoots and kills a teenage boy (a gang banger and friend of Murtaugh’s son Nick). This all very sad, and I don’t mean to downplay it, but these moments of raw emotion are quickly buried beneath the constant slapstick humor.
They aren’t bad movies. I love a good bro-comedy. But they seem to try to do both humor and plot, and at the expense of what would have been a more meaningful role for Mel Gibson’s character.
What we do know is what was intended (the original screen writer told us). Riggs was supposed to serve out his Jesus-like role of sacrificing himself for the only good cause he had left in his life. Like humanity to Jesus, Murtaugh is unworthy of the great Martin Riggs’ self-sacrifice. He is the cause of his own troubles. He is the source of his own anguish. He is imperfect as a father, a husband, a police officer, a man. And that is what makes him worth saving. He is human.
And that is what makes Lethal Weapon a timeless Christmas classic.
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https://medium.com/@thestrive/riggs-gets-a-bad-rap-murtaughs-the-real-shit-magnet-a-fresh-look-at-the-christmas-classic-87a37679dc25
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['Nicholas Wilbur']
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2020-12-18 16:14:45.483000+00:00
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['Movie Review', 'Christmas Movies', 'Film Reviews', 'Movies', 'Christmas']
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What to consider when drawing Pie Charts
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Too many categories
It’s commonly said that pie charts can’t display too many variables/categories. And that’s absolutely true.
Many recommend that a pie chart should have a maximum of 5~6 slices.
But it’s not as simple as that. The maximum amount of categories in a pie chart depends a lot on the values displayed and the visualization's purpose.
Pie chart — Image by the author
Take this chart as an example; it has 6 categories and is quite easy to read.
Blue represents 50% of the whole;
Gray is 25%;
The other colours are something like 25% divided by 4;
We could even go crazy and add another category, and it would still be readable.
Pie chart — Image by the author
Interestingly, they get better when displaying evenly distributed categories and values such as 25%, 50%, or 75% are easy to see.
The following plot has 10 equal parts. It may not be so easy to tell that they are the same size, but we can definitely say they are very similar.
Pie chart — Image by the author
Treemap plot — Image by the author
This pattern is harder to display in a Treemap.
Of course, this can be fixed with adjustments, but most algorithms will try to fit the plot areas regardless of their shape.
Unlike bar charts, the rectangles on this visualization don’t share the same width, so it can be a bit harder to compare them.
Overall every visualization has its disadvantages. Waffle/ Dot Matrix charts are good at representing a simplified result but tend to oversimplify them.
Pie chart — Image by the author
This plot shows that one category has 75% of the chart, while the other four are evenly dividing the other 25%.
Grid chart — Image by the author
But in a Waffle, if we use 100 squares, we can’t really display the four categories evenly, and the numbers need to be rounded.
A percentage with two decimal spaces would require 10,000 squares to be represented accurately.
So we can either have a missing square in the total or an extra square in some category. Depending on the information we’re trying to convey, this can be misleading.
Which takes us to the next point. Precision.
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https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/what-to-consider-when-drawing-pie-charts-9aec93bc540b
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['Thiago Carvalho']
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2020-11-30 15:34:06.446000+00:00
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['Data Visualization', 'Pie Charts', 'Design', 'Data Science', 'Charts']
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10 Fitness Influencers You Need to Know
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For more information about Julius or our blog, please contact Russell Wilde Jr.
From #MotivationMonday to #FitFriday, social media has changed the way we act at the gym. Top Instagram celebrities have gained millions of followers and are garnering the interest of top brands for endorsements. Today, we take a look at some of the most popular fat-tail fitness influencers.
After moving to Aruba early 2010, Rachel started teaching yoga full time on the Caribbean island specializing in Vinyasa Flow. Also known by her handle, @yoga_girl, Rachel uses her social media channels to provide yoga tips while also documenting her travels and life as a soon-to-be mom. With millions of followers from all over the world, Warner Brothers recently partnered with Rachel to promote their movie, Creed.
Also known as the “Gains Comedians”, the Hodge Twins create, produce and publish videos on working out and eating healthy. International Sports Sciences Association Certified Fitness trainers, the Hodge Twins have over 1.7 million subscribers on YouTube and over 80% of their total followers are male. Not only are the twins fitness influencers, they are accomplished comedians and thrive in improv scenarios.
The Hodge Twins after a show in San Antonio
Born in Columbia, and seen as the most influential Hispanic in health and wellness in the U.S. and Latin America, Ingrid Macher is one of the top transformation coaches on social media. After losing 50 pounds in 90 days and achieving the most dramatic change of her personal life, Ingrid became the most reliable benchmark for millions of Latina women around the world. In fact, 47% of Macher’s followers are of hispanic heritage and 85% are female. Providing longform blog content to her followers, Ingrid’s most popular on Facebook with 10.2 million page likes.
CrossFit competitor and Olympic weightlifter, Christmas Abbott encourages her followers to take on a healthy lifestyle through her 30-Day Body Challenge and her best selling novels. As a former member of a NASCAR pit crew, over 55% of Abbott’s followers are male. Looking into her audience’s demographics, the average individual income for her followers is between $10,000 and $19,999 and brands like Jerkfit and StrengthCrate are targeting them through co-sponsored posts.
Calisthenics enthusiat, Brendan Meyers, is a 23-year old fitness leader inspiring his 2.5 million followers around the globe. After playing college football, Meyers transitioned to competing in calisthenics and creating videos to instruct others looking for motivation. Despite being based out of Florida, most of Meyers’ followers are located in New York City and London.
Saving his followers from low calorie diets and meal replacement shakes, Joe Wicks is a personal trainer and online coach looking to share his plan for eating healthy. With a Bachelor’s degree in sports science and 5 years of experience as a trainer, Wicks has provided over 50,000 client transformations with his 90 Day SSS Plan. Currently, Wicks’ has 4 million global followers with over 35% residing in England.
Focusing on dance and choreography fitness, Daniel Saboya is a Portugese fitness influencer inspiring others through movement and music. With instructional videos on the latest dance moves, Saboya is most popular on YouTube with over 3.6 million subscribers on the platform. Accompanied by fellow dance influencers, Izabela Leite Lima and Rosana Maria Marquez, 84% of Saboya’s followers are female and fall between the ages of 17 & 24.
Residing from Quebec, Marc Fitt is a 25-year old fitness model, personal trainer, athlete, and public speaker. In the last four years, Fitt has manged to become one of the world’s top fitness models by providing his 6.7 million followers across the globe with inspirational videos, pictures, podcasts and articles. Because of the video, text and imagery content he publishes, Facebook is Fitt’s most popular social network with close to 5 million followers on the platform. Fitt furthers his brand by providing workout programming, meal prep packages and personal training to his audience and encourages them to share their progress on social.
Sharing workout routines, recipes and behind the scenes access at photoshoots, Michelle Lewin is currently one of the biggest stars in the fitness industry. With over 18 million followers across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, Michelle gives an intimate look at everything from her training regime to her personal travel experiences. Currently, Michelle’s following is primarily male and approximately 45% of her total audience are between the ages of 20 and 24.
Based out of Roslyn Heights, New York, Jen Selter is a fitness and health advocate, most well known for her presence on Instagram. With over 10 million followers on the photo sharing platform, Selter engages her audience with a free 30 day challenge that encourages participants to post workouts and meals to social media. Because of her incredibly faithful following, that is nearly 65% male, brands like Leesa Sleep, Calvin Klein, and That Bikini have tapped into Selter for co-branded posts.
Julius, a Thuzio solution, is a SaaS influencer marketing platform that provides marketers with rich social data, advanced search capabilities, and the campaign management tools required to organize a successful influencer marketing strategy.
For more information about Julius, our influencer marketing software, or our blog please contact Russell Wilde Jr.
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https://medium.com/juliusworks/10-fitness-influencers-you-need-to-know-1eec8e99d12d
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[]
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2016-12-27 15:58:24.480000+00:00
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['Digital Influencers', 'Content Marketing', 'Influencer Marketing', 'Fitness', 'Social Media Marketing']
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A comparison of sklearn and statsmodel’s logistic regression function
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I have to say that I had not generally spent a lot of time in the Python library, statsmodels, because I felt it was a bit scary. Statsmodels is written more in the theme of R, while sklean, a similar library seems to me to be more user friendly. I have conducted a bit of research on the subject and have found that Scikit-learn offers a lot of simple, easy to learn algorithms that pretty much only require the input data to be organized in the right way before classification, regression, or clustering can be performed. The pipelines provided in sklearn even make the process of transforming data easier. Statsmodels, on the other hand, offers superior statistics and econometric tools, so when a variety of linear regression models, mixed linear models, or regression with discrete dependent variables are needed, statsModels has options.
With the basics of these two Python libraries covered, I felt it would be a good idea to compare the difference between sklearn and statsmodels by running functions from both libraries on a dataset. During my research, I have found that other individuals have endeavoured to compare sklearn to statsmodels, but I decided that for the sake of science, I will contribute my comparison too.
I have chosen a very common dataset to use in this experiment, being the Titanic dataset from Kaggle, the link being found here:- Titanic — Machine Learning from Disaster | Kaggle
The problem statement for the Kaggle competition question reads as follows:-
“The sinking of the Titanic is one of the most infamous shipwrecks in history.
On April 15, 1912, during her maiden voyage, the widely considered “unsinkable” RMS Titanic sank after colliding with an iceberg. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough lifeboats for everyone onboard, resulting in the death of 1502 out of 2224 passengers and crew.
While there was some element of luck involved in surviving, it seems some groups of people were more likely to survive than others.
In this challenge, we ask you to build a predictive model that answers the question: “what sorts of people were more likely to survive?” using passenger data (ie name, age, gender, socio-economic class, etc).”
When I am working on the Titanic dataset I generally write the program in Google Colab and then transfer the code to the Jupyter Notebook in Kaggle, but on this occasion I chose not to transfer the program to Kaggle because I have achieved higher accuracies using other models in the past. It is for this reason that I decided not to check the accuracy of the test dataset on Kaggle, but at a later time I may decide to do so.
Without further ado, I will begin the comparison:-
After creating the program in Google Colab, I imported the libraries that are already pre-installed on the online Jupyter Notebook. I initially installed pandas, numpy, matplotlib, and seaborn.
I then loaded and read the train and test dataset, although I will only be predicting on the train dataset in this comparison:-
I checked for any null values and found there are null values in three columns in both the train and test datasets. Two of the columns are numeric and two are categorical in nature:-
I decided to impute the numeric columns by replacing null values with the median value of the associated columns. I then imputed the categorical values by replacing null values with the most commonly used value, being mode()[0].
Because the models want to see numeric data, I ordinal encoded the categorical columns, which is merely converting object data to numeric data for ease of computation. This preprocessing step is generally standard practice in machine learning because most models will not train and fit on categorical data:-
I then defined the X, y and X_test variables. The label, being y, is comprised of the “Survived” column in the train dataset. The independent variable, being X, is comprised of the train dataset with the following columns dropped: “PassengerId”, “Survived”, “Name”, “Cabin”, and “Ticket”. X_test is designed to have the same format as X, except “Survived” is not dropped because there was no such column in the test dataset:-
I then used sklearn’s StandardScaler() to scale the data in the X and X_test datasets to an appropriate level for use in the model.
I put the valuation target on a counter and found that 55 examples were 0, meaning people perished, and 35 examples were 1, meaning people survived.
I then defined the variable, class_weights, which will be used by the model because there is a slight class imbalance in the train dataset:-
At this point I selected sklearn’s model, LogisticRegression() as the first comparator. When I set the model up with the correct parameters, I achieved an accuracy of 79.40%.
When I predicted on the validation set, I achieved an accuracy of 72.22%, which is a lower accuracy than I have achieved using other models, such as, say, Ransom Forest.
I created a confusion matrix and counted the examples, finding 60 examples were 0 and 30 examples were 1.
The second model I chose was statsmodels’ Logit(), which is the equivalent of sklearn’s LogisticRegression(). Statsmodels is coded differently than sklearn, so I was unable to record an accuracy then training and fitting the training set.
I predicted on the validation set and achieved an accuracy of 75.56%, which is 3 percentage points higher than the accuracy I achieved using sklearn’s LogisticRegression().
I created a confusion matrix and put the prediction on a counter, finding that 57 examples were 0 and 33 examples were 1.
In summary, statsmodel’s Logit() performed better than sklkearn’s LogisticRegression() so it is best to train, fit and predict on both models and then select the one that affords the highest level of accuracy.
When I researched the reason why statsmodels’ Logit() performs better than sklearn’s LogisticRegression() I found the reason for this is because sklearn’s parameter’s are tighter than statsmodels. There are ways of getting around this by tuning the parameters, i.e. LogisticRegression(C=100, penalty=’none’). I tried tuning the parameters to make them less tight, but this did not affect the model’s accuracy.
The code for this post can be found in its entirety in my personal GitHub account, the link being found here:- Titanic-Datasets/Kaggle_Titanic_Log_Reg_SKL_vs_SM.ipynb at master · TracyRenee61/Titanic-Datasets (github.com)
|
https://ai.plainenglish.io/a-comparison-of-sklearn-and-statsmodels-logistic-regression-function-4340e9fd29dd
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[]
|
2020-12-17 07:14:15.134000+00:00
|
['Statsmodels', 'Logistic Regression', 'Python', 'Data Science', 'Sklearn']
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CINDX partners with Sum&Substance for KYC/AML-compliant ID checks
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CINDX is an platform that allows managers handle cryptocurrencies funds easily.
The company claims its blockchain technology will help investors copy deals or trades of successful asset managers without sending funds to them. Investors choose several investment products from marketplace and invest in them without actual sending money to any third parties.
Sum&Substance’s KYC and onboarding solution will make a tokensale transparent, satisfy regulators and make the process of KYC checks delightful for the users. The solution will automatically verify user’s government-issued ID documents, match faces on a document and on a selfie, and check the address, helping users to become a contributor in seconds.
The company helps projects to meet financial regulatory compliance including KYC and AML and onboard users fast. For that purpose company leverages huge legal experience in blockchain (since 2015 KYC projects for more than 150 ICOs were conducted), infrastructure and processes which is GDPR compliant, also it meets requirements of US and local Asian data security and protection laws, and provide the fastest performance in the market with a large number of different checks for huge flow of users (2–3 minutes on verification).
Sum&Substance is one of the current market leaders in the online verification and KYC/AML industry in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Asia, was founded in 2015 by an international group of specialists in machine learning, business process automation, and compliance.
All applications are sent through encrypted channels to a Tier 3 data center, ensuring a very high level of protection. The company develops solutions for remote verification of documents and users, such as automatic recognition of the pictures which have been modified with the help of image editors. Their technology helps online services (such as Cryptopay, ICObench, KICKICO, Mail.ru Group, Gett, Blue Whale, ABYSS, Edenchain, The Token Fund) all over the world comply with legal and regulatory requirements, increase conversions, prevent fraud, and increase client trust.
Go to http://sumsub.com for more info
|
https://medium.com/sumsub/cindx-partners-with-sum-substance-for-kyc-aml-compliant-id-checks-58b996c2887f
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['Sum Substance']
|
2018-06-05 11:33:00.723000+00:00
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['Aml', 'Kyc', 'Bitcoin', 'Blockchain']
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All about Gemini, the Winklevoss Bitcoin Exchange
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With cryptocurrencies being hailed by some as the global financial system of the future, several initiatives have been launched by established entrepreneurs aimed to connect the various islands constituted by a variety of digital assets. This article explores Gemini, a digital currency marketplace, its working, the services it offers, its journey, and its potential for the future.
Gemini is a private, licensed digital asset exchange that also offers custodian services for digital holdings. It was launched in 2015 in the United States by the Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, and has now expanded its operations to Europe and Asia. (For more, see Winklevoss Interview: Bitcoin Payment System Worth $400 Billion.)
What Is Gemini?
Competing directly against other leading cryptocurrency exchanges like Kraken and Coinbase, Gemini allows its users to buy, sell, and store primary cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin and ether, and exchange them against one another and for fiat currencies. (See also, What Is Kraken?)
The Latin word “Gemini” stands for twins, and indicates duality. The Gemini platform is conceptualized to marry both forms of money — new-age cryptocurrencies and the old, existing fiat currencies — which are expected to be used interchangeably in the future with the growing adoption of virtual currencies.
Crypto bulls the Winklevoss twins have thus far not received SEC approval for their bitcoin ETF, but they have managed to carve a niche for themselves in the cryptocurrency transactions space. (For more, see SEC Blocks Bitcoin ETFs Again; Rejected Winklevoss Bid In 2017.)
Working on the core principles of security, liquidity, and trust, Gemini offers its retail and institutional customers a platform to buy, sell, and store two of the most popular digital currencies, bitcoin and ether, in a regulated and secure environment.
As of January 2018, the Gemini marketplace offers trading between BTC/USD, ETC/USD, and ETF/BTC. Barring the advanced notified short-term maintenance windows, the exchange operates on a 24/7 basis.
No Margin or Short Trading Allowed
All orders sent on Gemini have to be fully funded, as the exchange currently does not offer margin trading like that offered by competitor like Kraken. It also does not allow short trading.
Along with the standard market order that gets immediately filled at the best available market price at that particular instant, Gemini offers a variety of limit orders where a trader can choose to get his trade executed in a way that’s best matched to his needs. They include the standard limit order, Immediate-or-Cancel (IOC), Maker-or-Cancel (MOC), and Auction-Only (AO) limit orders.
At present, purchases using a credit card, debit card, cash, or check are not available. A customer needs to link a bank account and initiate a wire transfer or an ACH deposit from a local U.S. or an international bank for trading requirements.
One can transfer bitcoin and ether tokens from his respective cryptocurrency wallet to his/her Gemini account, and vice-versa. To deposit the cryptocoins into their Gemini account, a customer needs to generate exclusive deposit addresses on the Gemini platform and then initiate the transfer from their wallet to the generated address.
First-of-a-kind Custodian Service
Along with being a standard virtual currency exchange, Gemini also offers custodian services to its clients.
It was licensed by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) to hold a customer’s digital assets in trust on behalf of the customer. That is, your digital currency holdings are held to specified capital reserve requirements and banking compliance standards. Gemini is also obligated to maintain and fulfill required cybersecurity measures.
Gemini has a banking relationship with a New York State-chartered bank, where all customer funds are retained. Adherence to such requirements acts like a insurance of one’s funds and cryptocurrency holdings, and ensures that they are backed by adequate monetary reserves.
While individual customers are given the default, zero-fee, depository account type, large institutional customers can opt for a segregated custody account type which offers an offline, secure, and auditable storage called Gemini’s proprietary Cold Storage system. The latter service is chargeable, and is ideal for institutional customers like mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and hedge funds.
The Road So Far
Launched in January 2015, the exchange went live for customers in the United States in October 2015.
By June 2016, it started operations in Canada, enabling ETH/BTC trading for Canadian customers. Two weeks later, it opened its doors for U.K. customers, marking its entry in Europe.
In September 2016, Gemini introduced the first-ever daily bitcoin auction, a method popularly followed in all modern stock exchanges but was the first for a cryptocurrency exchange. Daily ether auctions were launched in July 2017.
Between October and November of 2016, Gemini further expanded to Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan to cater to the skyrocketing population of Asian cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
In December 2017, Gemini partnered with the CBOE which launched the first-ever cash-settled bitcoin futures contract whose prices are based on Gemini’s auction price for bitcoin, denominated in U.S. dollars.
Recent Challenges
As with any standard marketplace or security exchange, Gemini has had its fair share of challenges along its two-year journey. Some were due to developments in the cryptocurrency world like hard forks and high price volatility, while others were due to Gemini’s infrastructure and platform performance.
Following the Ethereum hard fork in July 2016, the exchange ran into issues and had to temporarily disable all ether deposits and withdrawals. (See also: An Introduction to Ethereum Classic.)
Preventive measures were taken, but similar issues occurred during the bitcoin hard fork of bitcoin cash in August 2017. During the same month, Gemini’s production environment, which was set on Amazon Web Services (AWS), exceeded the allotted resource quota, and hit trading snags for many hours over a couple of days. The problem was resolved after Gemini opted for more web resources to address such issues.
In November 2017, due to an unprecedented increase in traffic amid surging bitcoin prices, customers lost access to Gemini’s Web and API interfaces for a number of hours.
Another issue erupted in December 2017, when Gemini had to extend its earlier announced maintenance window by several hours amid high volatility in bitcoin prices that shed $1,500 during the downtime, drawing customer ire.
The Bottom Line
With the recent successful settlement of the first-ever Bitcoin Futures (January series) at a price of $10,900.00 as determined by Gemini’s 4 p.m. Eastern Time BTC/USD auction, Gemini continues to surge ahead in the cryptocurrency transaction marketplace.
Gemini’s current offerings allow only among bitcoin, ether and USD pairs, and with limited trading options without any short selling or margin trading. However, customers can look forward to a secure and regulated trading environment as the firm’s operations and holdings adhere to necessary regulatory standards.
Going forward, Gemini may need to expand its product offerings and look for expansion options around the world as it competes against established players like Kraken and Coinbase. (For more, see Tyler Winklevoss: Bitcoin Is Gold, Ether Is Oil, Litecoin Is a Testnet.)
LetKnow.News on Facebook and Twitter
|
https://medium.com/letknownews/all-about-gemini-the-winklevoss-bitcoin-exchange-cd24d5ca8dc8
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[]
|
2018-03-07 06:04:11.390000+00:00
|
['Gemini', 'ICO', 'Blockchain', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency']
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23 Things to Consider When Hiring a Web Design Company
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In continuation of the first part of this blog, we’re sharing the final 13 things to consider before partnering with a web design company. Let’s take a look!
What Important Things Should My Business Consider When Hiring a Web Design Company?
Do they understand the buyer’s journey? By 2020, it is predicted that more than 80 percent of the buying process will happen without any human interaction even taking place. Therefore, it is important to publish content on your website that targets each phase of the buyer’s journey: awareness, consideration, and decision. In our experience, many companies focus their content on the bottom of the sales funnel with the decision phase. However, the majority of your site’s visitors aren’t ready to buy when they first come to your website so companies are missing a huge opportunity to meet the buyers during their first 80 percent of their journey. By partnering with a web design company who understands this, its team can advise on what type of content to publish as well as how the website should be organized to appeal to each phase of the buyer’s journey. Does the web design company encourage face-to-face meetings? With today’s technology, we can do business anywhere thanks to video conferences and screen sharing services. It’s all about speed and convenience. How quickly can we get a meeting on the calendar with the key decision makers? However, this prioritization of speed over face time underestimates the power of human interaction. Face-to-face communications “are still the most effective way to capture the attention of participants, engage them in the conversation, and drive productive collaboration” as reiterated in this Forbes’ interview with Caesars Entertainment’s Senior Vice President of National Meetings and Events, Michael Massari. Having face-to-face interactions with your web design company nurtures the relationship, builds trust and fosters greater synergies. If having frequent face-to-face meetings isn’t realistic due to geography I encourage you to, at minimum, visit the web design company when you are reviewing the proposal so that you can see the space in which they work and meet the team that will be responsible for bringing your site to life. Do they practice what they preach? In your quest to partner with a web design company, it’s important that you scrutinize its website, content, social media profiles, and overall digital presence. Is the team following the latest design practices? Is their website fully functional or are there broken links? Are they publishing new and quality content on a consistent basis? Are they engaging with their followers and visitors? If they aren’t following best practices as it relates to web design, development, and digital marketing, then how can you be sure that they will for your business? How do they handle website hosting? It’s important to know whether the web design company plans to host your site on a dedicated server inhouse or on a virtual hosting platform. Virtualization is hosting perfected and allows large increases in site traffic to be easily handled. Unlike dedicated hosting, there’s no hardware to purchase, rent, or maintain. And unlike shared hosting, the resources for the virtual server are guaranteed. It’s also important to know how often the site will be backed up and how long those backups are retained. How fast is the hosting platform’s processing power? What is the guaranteeed uptime? How much experience do they have in content management systems? A content management system allows your business to manage your website’s content without the need for coding. This is important because you are given the flexibility and control to continue to evolve and grow your site post launch. Ask the web design company what content management systems they use and whether training is provided. Do they provide aftercare or support post launch and to what extent? The nature of the web is ever-evolving, both in terms of advances in technology and the need for a constant flow of new content. It’s rare that once you launch your website, you won’t want to make updates. Maybe your company has added products or services; perhaps a new web technology would enhance your customer’s online experience. Whether you’ve found typos in the content, accidentally deleted a module from the content management system and find yourself in need of a backup restoration, or wish to add more functionality to the site, you’ll want a clear plan in place. Some developers offer aftercare options in the form of monthly retainers, others provide a la carte pricing for their existing clients. No matter what the method, it’s important to know your options. Make sure you have a thorough discussion regarding policies and pricing for your post-project needs. What is their experience with third-party integrations? Always ask yourself, is your web design company fluent in the use of digital marketing and transforming a website into a powerful sales tool? Good indicators of its level of prowess include the handling of e-newsletter signups and marketing through Constant Contact, MailChimp or Campaign Monitor. Can they integrate CRMs or sales platforms like Salesforce, HubSpot or SharpSpring? How do they integrate social media like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn? How accessible is the web design company? How are service issues handled, including errors and bugs? Do you have to submit a ticket through email or online HelpDesk, or can you reach someone directly by phone. The value of reaching an individual over the phone is priceless, especially during a crisis (e.g., website breach or downtime). How are their time management skills? Based on the scope of work and assuming all content is provided on schedule, can a web design company give you an accurate time frame to completion? How do they manage their time? Are they flexible enough to handle your evolving needs during the project? What processes do they have in place to ensure that all milestones are met, and how will they communicate with you to prevent the dreaded “scope creep?” Can you access their scheduling to see when items are due or vice-versa utilizing online software like Wrike? Will you recieve notifications when the allotted time has reached 50 percent, 75 percent or 100 percent of the budgeted hours utilizing online software like Toggl? How long has the web design company been in business and what are their long-term goals? It’s easy to say you’re a web designer and start a business. It’s harder to put together the skills and business acumen required to sustain a company through tough economic times. Ask the owner what his or her long term goals for the web design company are. Who owns the website when it is completed? Some web design companies retain the copyright to their work. Ask who has 100 percent ownership over the site once it is completed. This includes the graphics, content, and code. Also ask whether you will be provided with the original design files. Is the web design company respected in the industry? Does the web design company have reviews on Clutch or Skilled, a reputable site to research leading development, design and marketing firms? Has the web design agency been recognized by its peers through accolades and awards? Are the leaders at the web design company invited to speak at events, conferences or workshops? Do your homework and learn how the web design company ranks among others in the industry to validate its quality of service, work and craftsmanship. How do they continue to hone their craft and stay up to date with the latest trends? Does the web design company invest in its employees and continued education? Do they attend seminars, workshops, classes? Do they read industry-related books and blogs on a regular basis? Do they listen to industry-related podcasts? Web design, development and digital marketing change at a breakneck pace so it’s critical that the web design company stay informed on the latest market research, trends and tactics.
We hope that our guidance and suggestions were helpful, and we wish you the best of luck in your quest for the right web design company!
|
https://medium.com/lform/23-things-to-consider-when-hiring-a-web-design-company-74bde8d0e0c8
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['Lform Design']
|
2017-08-03 14:01:31.252000+00:00
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['SEO', 'Inbound Marketing', 'Digital Marketing', 'Web Development', 'Web Design']
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It’s just an apple mum!
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I woke up today feeling like it is going to be a great day. I made an extra special effort even put some make up on and brushed my hair. I look at myself in the mirror and take in how different I look to the wreck that once stared back at me. I was in an abusive marriage for years, I lost myself completely, gained weight and lost all traces of self-confidence. Now, I have lost the weight (thank you divorce stress) and wear a smile almost every day. “Hello you” I say to myself. I put some music on to suit my mood, its sexy and smooth and makes me want to wind my hips. I escape for a moment; I have to reign it in as I remind myself there is home-schooling to be done and my actual job for a secondary school.
Mum spends way too much time getting ready in the morning, she never used to take this much time when she was with dad. She has music blaring from her room, I have been in twice and all she is doing is smiling at herself and trying to dance like a popstar. She dances a lot now; I sometimes catch her trying to twerk. She cannot by the way, twerk that is. We laugh about it but its totally inappropriate, if I were to do that, I know I would be in trouble. I do not understand why it takes so long to get ready, I really want an apple, but I need mum to cut it up for me.
“You ok?” I ask my daughter who keeps walking in and out of the room flashing me odd looks. Most likely because I am trying to twerk. I just want to be able to move my body like those girls in the video. I see it as a form of exercise, I think back to when I was so sad, I just existed. Dancing was something you did at a wedding to fit in with everyone else, to seem……normal. Now, I like to dance whenever I can, even when there isn’t any music, I move my body because I love my body. She tells me she wants an apple. I don’t understand why she doesn’t pick up an apple from the fruit bowl and eat it. “Just like your dad, bet you want me to cut it up for you and peel it like he used to” I think to myself. That is exactly what she wants me to do. I take the moment to explain that she should eat the skin on the apple as its good for her and that this is her home if she wants to eat an apple its something that is already washed and sitting in the fruit bowl for her to eat whenever she wants. She does not need to wait for me…. she is 10 after all.
Everything is so different when I am at dads. Before I think of eating my fruit my grandma peels a plate of apples and cuts it up for us all including daddy. That is the only way daddy will eat fruit she says. I am not like daddy I like my fruit. At mums if I want fruit mum tells me I should simply eat it. She talks about how we should eat the whole fruit including the skin, she says we are spoilt when we go to dads and that we should eat the skin. It is just apple skin mum chill out.
Here we go, a battle over an apple. I just want my children to think for themselves and not be needy like their dad. He was spoilt by his parents and even as an adult still expects to be waited on by his mum and sisters. I used to always tell his mum not to peel the skin of the apple for the kids as it was the best bit…it was a control battle I would have daily with him and his family. Throughout our married life we spent most of it living with his family, I could not breathe, and they took over everything. I can feel myself getting worked up over this apple and look at my daughter who is over the conversation already. I calm myself down and tell myself it is just an apple. But it’s not though, is it?
|
https://medium.com/@rachellejivraj/i-woke-up-today-feeling-like-it-is-going-to-be-a-great-day-d87ad727a34c
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[]
|
2021-02-02 16:49:38.264000+00:00
|
['Parenthood', 'Positive Attitude', 'Domestic Abuse', 'Single Moms', 'Parenting']
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The imprisoning convictions of the USA
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The imprisoning convictions of the USA
How to make the USA truly great again!
It’s called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it…” Quote from “The American Dream” — George Carlin
Part II “The Robbery of the USA” is here. It’s a shocking list of many scams the corporations pull off to enrich themselves at your cost.
Oh Boy,
If you’re an American, many of you may think you live in a free country. #Sad. The difference with most dictatorships being, that many of you applaud the high jackers of your country for their service, or are distracted to apathy, and don’t even notice. That’s the power of propaganda my friend. You’re kept in the Matrix. If you already disagree or are close to steaming with anger to my ‘lies’, you believe that this Matrix is true. But now you have a choice. Explore or Dream On. The choice is yours.
(2020) And now even the red pill waking up has been highjacked for the far right convictions that.. I don’t even want to go there. Just to note this was all written before that.
Choose the blue pill and dream on: leave this page now……….. Red? Read on.
The Lies You(‘re led to) Believe:
Here’s what the blue pill, read FOX & friends (including CNN, MSNBC), tells you:
Lower taxes means less government and less government means more freedom.
Success comes from hard work. If you don’t succeed, you yourself are to blame.
Wealth is earned. Personal wealth equals success (even when daddy gave you that money).
Socialism is evil. Individualism is good.
Our military power defends our freedom.
Other countries envy our wealth and freedom. The USA is a democracy endangered by terrorists from outside of our borders.
God loves (White) Americans more than other peoples.
The USA is the pinnacle of civilization on planet earth and may do anything to keep it that way.
Wake up to the Monster Corporatocracy,
Let’s reveal the prison crony capitalism has locked you in. Many things you consider normal are actually a travesty.
“When you feed on something that is not real (money), you don’t have a heart.” Laundi Keepseagle
Native American mythology speaks about the Windigo, ravaging cannibal giants, who get bigger and bigger, and more hungry and hungry, the more they eat. These ancient monsters resemble way too much the capitalistic corporate giants. And Windigo’s Insatiable Hunger never stops, for within are frozen humans, whose hearts have frozen. No compassion, no evaluation of disastrous consequences for others can be expected.
While the CEO’s look at balance sheets, measure progress by profit, reality dissappears from sight. People become numbers. Poisons are leaked into the environment, banks steal from you, only limited by restrictions made by the law. And often with lobby groups seeking to take away the restrictions, or through sneaky ways do it even illegally. In many places nature is dying, being replaced by concrete or artificial food industries. Our eco systems are increasingly decaying. We need to act. NOW.
Why don’t the corporations stop their destructions and invest hugely in alternatives? To be honest some do. Yet the monsters among them (and the link only shows the worst of the lot) feed on non natural food. And when you eat without a heart, you don’t have a heart. And since they feed on emptiness their hunger grows even more. They don’t stop eating, as they never get truly nourished. And while humans with hearts might be at work in these corporations, while these humans might worry for their children and grand children, they keep supporting the system they’re part of, because they have been taught, ‘that’s how it works’. And for all reasons given in Homo Ludicrous.
The biggest threat in the world is currently a system driven by the search for financial profit..above everything else. It has become a show run by money and a billionaire elite. Here is a short overview of how things are getting more and more rigged to their advantage. Two major factors make this possible. 1. Ownership of the USA Government (yes, money in politics) and 2. the Corporate Media (the guys paying the salaries deciding what’s shown and what’s not) spreading news that protects interests, not news that tells the truth. This combination is truly powerful and is used to rip off the American people, enslave them in lies, prisons (especially minorities), debt and (fear of) poverty.
Dumbing You Down = More Control?
The dumbing down of US citizens through fuzzy media and bad education really gives the elites better control over the people. What they don’t understand there are side effects.
Dumbing down the masses, is bad for competition in the long run. The USA has to import academics to get things done, they can’t find enough locals for. The people also really believe sillier en sillier things to be true. As if the amount of gay people influences climate change. As if kneeling out of protest over violence towards minorities during an overly nationalistic ritual is the threat to national safety, rather than the injustice itself. And then consider what happens when people, with such convictions come into power. On basis of what lies will they take decisions that should help the country as a whole? Already we see the damage this is doing. Nature really is in danger. “Only when White man discovers you can’t eat money will they change their ways.” Native American prophesy, made in the 19th century, getting more real by the day. Perhaps lock up the 8 billionaires that own almost everything in Fort Knox with a few billions in paper and plastics for a few weeks? After that they might consider saving the planet to safe their own asses. Because when the eco system collapses everyone goes down. One can learn from the Dutch, who know, when the dykes go down they all drown. That insight shapes their collaborative attitude. Those who still believe ‘it’s either you or me’ should get the ‘it’ll be all of us.’ under their skin. Smart people aren’t dumbed down as easy as you think. Consciously manipulating people creates it’s own dissent. Belly feelings tells people they are being had. And while the believe in science may be plummeting, millions of millennials are investigating and considering what’s real. They don’t like this Matrix as it is presented. They do turn to voices as Noam Chomsky, Chris Hedges and Bernie Sanders to focus on what really matters. Others step out of the golden tower of a servitude to the corporate dictatorship career, and start alternative lifestyles. The circle of those, and thus the power base of the corporates is getting smaller and fewer and fewer profit from it. And those that drop out and know the game, begin to speak out. And the arrogance of the super rich, who seem to get away with everything becomes more and more like Louis XVI (read pitchforks).
Change the Paradigms you get daily told!
So, all these scandals add up. And how they’re all connected is not enough in the news. The news deals with daily killings, and scandals, all to distract or misinform you. As I told in the opening, the main convictions FOX & friends massage you daily are a huge hinderance to sensible change. Here are alternatives:
“Less government means more freedom?” Yeah for companies to fraud, cheat, steal, sicken and hypnotize you. For you it means more poverty, worse health care, rotten education, less safety in your cities, or even drinking water (Is the Flint thing solved? It isn’t, isn’t it!) It also means that huge corporations need to bribe way less people, with more effect. So a better government may help those in need better. It’s not the size of a government that limits freedom, it’s their intention.
“Lower taxes means richer people?” No, it means less government to control the richest companies. More and more laws are protecting corporations and give them rights to cross borders on insanity towards environment and or health of people. (And I wrote this before Trump killed the E.P.A.) And if not, the government lacks to funds to control them. No, your government rather loves to manhunt some druglords. These visible crimes make actually way less victims, by now, than the invisible corporate ones. Just for fun, add up murders and drug overdoses (crack and heroine) and weigh it against amount of people dying of obesity, bad medicines (including overdose through prescription drugs with opioids), lack of health care, poverty, bad food, lead in drinking water, broken infrastructure, homelessness, etc. Taxes also pay for hospitals, bridges, roads, schools, busses, and much more. Solidarity arranged by a good government makes all those things way way cheaper, than your private money can buy.
“Success comes from hard work”. Yeah, like Ivanka Trump knows how to become successful from the bottom up, let alone can speak for blacks who grow up without real parent support, due to poverty and racial targeting. Good and influential relations do make a huge difference. Some will have them as relatives, others must build them through integrity, contribution and empathy. Success comes from having relations you can build on.
“If you don’t succeed, you yourself are to blame.” Of course, no one is stopping you, except all those convictions messaged into your brains and attitude in school, by the media, by people caught in the system. Succeeding is a matter of social conditions, you, luck and relations you can build on.
“Socialism is evil, individualism is good.” The whole way all other rich countries made things like healthcare much cheaper is destroyed by this idea. We can’t unite as a people to develop pressure against this, that would be, ooh gruesome idea..socialism. Exactly what your leaders wanted you to believe after over 80 years of propaganda against it. But gathering to put pressure on injustice or scams isn’t socialism, it’s smart. Socialism is soo much different than that and has so many grades and nuances that Americans have never been told about. But most rich (Western European) countries mix some socialist ideas within their capitalism and that works very well. Uniting against falsehoods and scams is the right thing to do. Uniting to get a better deal for medicines for everyone is the reasonable thing to do.
“Wealth is earned.” Yeah, then why can rich people do nothing and get richer doing that, and poor people do nothing and get poorer because of that? True wealth is actually having space for a social life and family. True wealth is having not to fear poverty.
“Personal wealth equals success.” No. Wealth is only possible when the whole society is rich in matter, opportunities and social life, while earth around them is a natural garden. You’re actually quite poor when you have to hide in a few houses and walk around with guards wherever you go. True success is the amount of people whose life you touched in a positive way. Success is playing a meaningful role in helping our planet to flourish for at the least the next seven generations.
“Our military power defends our freedom”. No, they defend corporate interests. Watch this clip from 3.10 to 4.40). Since the war on ‘terrorism’ attacks have gone up with thousands of deaths!! Not even including innocent victims by American drones, and such. And nobody discusses an alternative approach, because people fear changing the strategy is dangerous. But war in the Balkans and Northern Ireland ended. Because of peace processes and a way out of poverty. Just like Germany stopped being a danger for the world, because of the Marschall plan. Freedom is protected by other sides having good enough living conditions. Freedom is protected by sharing the foundations on which it is build.
If the war on terrorism makes a difference for people around the world: this is it.
What’s not daily on American TV, but a daily reality and thus news for many.
“Other countries envy our wealth and freedom.” No, they want to live in peace. Many Pakistani, and I guess most people around the world, are so proud of their own country they’d never move. Many African refugees who try to get to Europe, do so out of desperation.They want to be as wealthy as Americans on tv, not as poor as the American homeless, that are not on tv. Other countries and peoples just want peace, food and ways to develop themselves in safety.
“The USA is a democracy endangered by terrorists from outside of our borders.” No, the USA is not a democracy any longer (say even Harvard and Princeton) and the thieves run the White House. Thieves who create wars to protect their interests.
“God loves Americans more than other peoples.” Hahaha. That’s what the Jews, Muslims, and probably many other groups are saying as well. God either favours no one, or everyone. The core of the issue is that thinking you are special is a hinderance for your own growth and that of others. It makes you lazy and arrogant. God loves those who seek to help and deal with their own and other peoples (inner) pain.
“The USA is the pinnacle of civilization on planet earth and may do anything to keep it that way.” Might doesn’t make right. A small top of people running the show can’t know what’s best for everyone, even when they believe they do. They are opinionated by their interests. Their knowledge, as of the average American, is way too limited. There are things we need to relearn to see. Millions of people, including many Americans, are rediscovering the wisdom of indigenous people, let alone systems science of our ecosphere.
How to make America really great again.
True civilization builds for a healthy distant future. True civilization supports it’s life systems, natural cycles, invests in dance and rituals that keep the presence of spirit alive in everyone. It’s leaders seek to voice the higher truths, that keep the foundation on the whole sound and healthy. They look reality in the face and don’t manipulate to protect their own interests. They can even be challenged when ego or greed seems to take hold of them. And they’ll listen to wise elders and awake children for all corners of their land, where they can more without fear, because everybody naturally respects their position, and knows they can be freely spoken to in times of need. True civilizations understand that the opinions of a few, can never see the needs and situation of the whole, and that all voices and viewpoints (read diversity, inclusion of minorities) must be included in decision making. Because only the whole, can see the whole.
Final Statement.
But whatever you think or like about all this. The USA may well be the most powerful, most dangerous empire in history. It may change shape. It may self destruct. Wherever it goes, we all are tied to its destiny. And what we all need is focus on restoration of the damages done to nature, and work together to make that happen. Because in the end, even when you are an US citizen, it’s not about the USA. We are part of a bigger story, much bigger than that of the USA.
We are all Children of Africa. And there’s no alternative world, where you can walk freely outside, enjoy forests, wildlife or even skinny dip in rivers, for millions and millions of miles around. We are life, shaped in many forms, all connected, interrelated, interdependent, coexisting on this one spaceship called Earth. Making that work together, might be the highest principle of all.
edit november 2017. Part II of “The Robbery of the USA” is published here. It’s a long list of scams the corporations pull off at the cost of the American and Global people.
edit summer 2018: RT America airs a bit with a very similar look at the same topic, more basic, just as revealing.
More on both the urgent need to be prepared against further scams, like removing liberties by putting the blame on disasters on outsiders, and on how to act is also shown in this short video by Naomi Klein or off course in this blog.
Special links for the elite, or intelligence people, considering how dangerous this blog is ;), or people who can speak to the elite and somehow reason with them, are the following: Understanding the danger of arrogance when in power. And What the top 1% can learn from the Dutch. And for elite that is interested to learn (one can hope): lesson from the Tao.
For those that still don’t get it: our leaders are not our leaders anymore. and The Roman Empire still rules. (yes the USA is a Roman Empire+)
|
https://medium.com/the-gentle-revolution/usa-united-states-of-abomination-i-12063e3ea2c6
|
['Floris Koot']
|
2020-07-06 10:37:12.814000+00:00
|
['Capitalism', 'USA', 'Politics', 'Corporate Culture', 'Democracy']
|
For starters Dharmesh you’re an introvert.
|
For starters Dharmesh you’re an introvert. As a fellow introvert I can’t think of something much more uncomfortable than actually 1) being in a rock band outrageously trying to be the center of attention from lots of people, and 2) entering a battle of the bands with the winner judged by the emotional outburst of the largest crowd of people a promoter could glitter and dazzle into attending an event in order for them to use the most expressive and loudest outgoing outburst to aggressively assert their opinion of their favorite performance.
To an introvert, at least to this introvert, that sounds a little contrived from say, “engaging, meaningful artistic expression of beautiful music”. I’m willing to clap, it’s just that I much more interested in an internal question going on which is whether I’m really moved by this music and is it drawing me into a relationship of participation. If that happens I’ll remember that the feedback mechanism is a hand shaped touch counter and absentmindedly acknowledge the writer though I feel a bit like a mouse being trained to hit a lever enough times to get cheese.
What I will do if truly engaged, enthralled with the writing is be inspired to enter in and join the writer in exploring the subject. There are those of us who couldn’t give a damn about the number of claps but are deeply interested if one person was really moved and added, expanded, modified, enhanced, challenged or in someway displayed they were substantively and meaningfully engaged in the subject.
It’s a little like your discoveries about the volume of content vs the value of content. I’ve been in the top 1-3% of sellers in my tech company for 4 decades but don’t fit the profile of a “seller”. AT&T loved the net new millions rolling in — and dutifully paid me the money, sent me to the Bahamas or wherever year after year but never really trusted me because I didn’t act or look like a clap chaser.
Ah, but were all different! Some people are tracking their claps the way I studied my stat sheets in the day when I played basketball for a living. Visceral, metric feedback — numeric hard score coups are validation of moving up and performing better. I’m in a relationship with one of those types and was unceremoniously confronted about my lack of appreciation due to my weak wrested few claps. Ok, so I’ll click the coded area of the touch screen a bunch of times.
I propose this gets to a bigger question which is what does Medium want to be when it grows up? What are the vectors it wants dominating toward what they see as authentic self-actualization. I think it’s a little confusing right now, don’t you?
|
https://medium.com/@shermanmoore/for-starters-dharmesh-youre-an-introvert-c355f3b0466d
|
['Sherman Moore']
|
2021-02-16 07:54:40.380000+00:00
|
['Content', 'Meaning', 'Values', 'Médium', 'Hubspot']
|
Real walking in virtual environment for factory planning and evaluation
|
Andreas Kunz, Markus Zank, Morten Fjeld, Thomas Nescher
A Summary and Evaluation by Riadh Dhaoui
Inventing a new tool for factory planning and assessment based on virtual reality is the main subject of this paper. The aim for such invention is enabling designers, planning professionals, and employees to move natural and free in a virtual factory. Therefore, and as a first step designs have to be checked before anything can be realized.
Nowadays, buildings or manufacturing facilities are designed with specialized design software and Building Information Modeling tools that contribute in evaluating the resulting virtual model. However, with current, mostly desktop-based tools, it still be difficult to evaluate all human factors, taking the example of evaluating physical restrictions for workers. Thus, the main theme of this research is the application of this new system to factory planning and assessment based on VR, which allows designers, planning experts and other workers to walk natural and free in a virtual factory.
Redirected wanking plays an vital role for free walking in virtual design process before anything is built. In fact, costly redesigns at a later stage and failure will be avoided.
At the beginning, this paper introduces the field of Redirected Walking (RDW). Then, and after showing a typical system for unlimited walking in virtual environments, it explains which RDW algorithms can be used for an application in factory planning and evaluation. Besides, it describes the currently available interaction capabilities of the system.
Additionally, the important tools and methods which are used in this research are, firstly, redirection techniques that are not sufficient to be published in large virtual environments. Moreover, a control algorithm or RDW controller is needed to decide which redirection technique can be applied and with which parameters. As example is the RDW controller that determines that curvature gain must be applied to redirect the user clockwise in the right space. In fact, the so-called steering-to-destination RDW Controllers are simple heuristic controllers that constantly redirect a user to a fixed point in real space or in orbit.
On the other side, not using architectural illusions and blindness change would lead to wrong times when walking over a track. As well as, rotation gain is very important in this research as it is responsible for the scaling of the user´s rotational movements like head turns or full body turns. What’s more, reset techniques were also applied in this research because they essentially stop a user and instruct him to perform some activity so that he can be reoriented or repositioned.
Furthermore, translation gain is the Scaling of the translational movement of the user, which determines the speed of the user in the virtual environment either increased or decreased. Not only the redirected techniques are applied in this research but also Mujber et al. determined that fully immersive VR is very useful for planning and designing in industry. Though, such of an immersive VR system were very expensive and they could not be used to real business processes.
The VR system which is presented in this paper, is based on RDW which reduces obviously these costs significantly. As a used hardware in this research are Oculus DK HMD 960x1080 resolution per eye and a backpack to carry a notebook. In order to track the user’s point of view in real space, an Intersense IS-1200 6 degrees of freedom tracking system [29] (180 Hz update rate, 6 ms latency) is attached to the HMD.
Plus, the notebook processes the tracking data from the locator and render the scene as it supplies all hardware components. Hence, the VR system is wireless gives the ability to the user to walk freely in a real room. The size of the used tracking room is about 12 mx 6 m. For this paper, the Unity3D 2 game engine is used as a software which is runs an RDW controller, applies redirection, and forwards this data to a rendering engine.
There are also other alternative metaphors for navigation which are combined with RDW. In the one hand, gradual translation can be done with objects that carry a user in the virtual environment like escalators. In other hand, the mouse, joystick, or keyboard are most known navigation metaphors for desktop systems which are based on flying techniques. In this case, the user uses manual interaction to shift the focus through the virtual environment. For immersive VR strong visual acceleration or movement combined with no real Physical acceleration or movement is a cause of simulator disease.
In order to reduce the effect of simulator, the users get sick should at least be equipped with a movable reference system. For example, to fly through a scene, a user should be forced to use a “flying carpet” or a virtual car. Then, the user can move on the carpet and look around for example, when maneuvering the carpet with a joystick. Moreover, for quickly moving from one discrete location to another are teleporting methods very useful metaphors. For example, a “radiant” metaphor smooth the virtual scene to black, places the user to a new location in the virtual factory and fane towards the virtual scene. Radiating portals can be also appears when the user manually selects his destination in portal mode and as soon as it crosses the portal, it is teleported at the new location. As a result, teleportation can lead to a simulator sickness. Then, teleportation can be combined with redirection by dynamically placing the portal to a smart place.
This paper reveals the results which are obtained by implementing the hardware oculus DK2 HMD together with the visualization software Unity3D game engine, steering algorithms and the RDW controller for suitable redirection technique depending on the current position of the user in the real and virtual environment. Thence, this system gives designers, planning experts, and work-forces the ability to walk naturally and freely within a virtual factory before anything is built. Then, with this system users can walk freely through virtual factories even if they are physically located in a much smaller room. Besides, other methods confirm that users are able to travel over large distances in virtual factory when walking has in this case no sense. Lastly, A few methods have been shown how users can record or comment features in the virtual factory for later discussions or later visits.
This work impacts my research in two directions. Firstly, the use of the Meaningful combination of methods and tools Hardware and software which are selected with Precision and applied in the right situation. Secondly, in this work the searchers don’t solve the problem of the collective walk, when multiple users visit the same virtual factory and walk through it together.
|
https://medium.com/@riadhdhaoui/real-walking-in-virtual-environment-for-factory-planning-and-evaluation-9fa3baccd08f
|
['Riadh Dhaoui']
|
2020-12-21 20:10:39.461000+00:00
|
['Redirected Walking', 'VR', 'Oculus Rift', 'Immersive Vr', 'Factory Planning']
|
Cold coffee and Love at first sight
|
Later my coffee cold in my hand
Staring in the direction
Not really knowing what it was
|
https://medium.com/@janne.achenbach/cold-coffee-and-love-at-first-sight-197b0598a615
|
['Janne Achenbach']
|
2020-12-22 12:17:40.540000+00:00
|
['Fleeting', 'Love At First Sight', 'Coffee', 'Poetry', 'Sadness']
|
Before learning Rest / Soap / GraphQL, You Need to Understand HTTP !
|
HTTP REQUEST / HTTP RESPONSE
The HTTP protocol is a request/response protocol based on the client/server based architecture where web browsers, robots and search engines, etc. act like HTTP clients, and the Web server acts as a server.
1. HTTP REQUEST 💻 ➡ 🌎
Example of an HTTP Request
1–1 Request-Line
An HTTP request must at least have a Request-Line:
$METHOD /$PATH $HTTP_VERSION
E.g:
GET /posts/post-1.html HTTP/1.1
1-1-1 Request-Methods:
Most used HTTP Methods :
GET : this method means retrieve whatever information (in the form of an
entity) is identified by the Request-URI.
: this method means retrieve whatever information (in the form of an entity) is identified by the Request-URI. POST : the actual function performed by the POST method is determined by the server, in most cases it’s used to post a message as a new subordinate of the resource identified by the Request-URI.
: the actual function performed by the POST method is determined by the server, in most cases it’s used to post a message as a new subordinate of the resource identified by the Request-URI. PUT : this method requests that the enclosed entity be stored under the
supplied Request-URI. If the Request-URI refers to an already
existing resource, the enclosed entity SHOULD be considered as a
modified version of the one residing on the origin server. If the
Request-URI does not point to an existing resource, and that URI is
capable of being defined as a new resource.
: this method requests that the enclosed entity be stored under the supplied Request-URI. If the Request-URI refers to an already existing resource, the enclosed entity be considered as a modified version of the one residing on the origin server. If the Request-URI does not point to an existing resource, and that URI is capable of being defined as a new resource. DELETE : this method requests that the origin server delete the resource
identified by the Request-URI.
this method requests that the origin server delete the resource identified by the Request-URI. OPTIONS : this method represents a request for information about the
communication options available on the request/response chain
identified by the Request-URI, such as pre-flight requests for Cross Origin Ressource Sharing (CORS).
Other HTTP Methods exists like : HEAD, CONNECT, PATCH… we will not cover them in this article because they are rarely used in API design.
1–1–2: Request-URI (Path):
The Request-URI is a Uniform Resource Identifier and identifies the resource on the server upon which to apply the request.
1-2 Request-Headers:
The Request-header fields allow the client to pass additional information about the request, and about the client itself, to the server. these information are exploited by the server in different ways such as Authentication, Routing, Analytics and so on.
E.g:
User-Agent: Used to identify the HTTP client.
Authorization: Used for authentication purpose.
Host: Identifies the server being requested.
Content-Type: Identifies the MIME type of the entity-body carried in
HTTP Request or Response.
1–3 Request-Body:
The Request-Body of an HTTP Request is used to carry the entity-body associated with the request, A Request-Body MUST NOT be included in a request if the specification of the request method does not allow sending an entity-body in requests.
|
https://medium.com/@mecheri-akram/before-learning-rest-soap-graphql-you-need-to-understand-http-9eb80de6cfbf
|
['Mecheri Akram']
|
2020-12-17 10:51:11.090000+00:00
|
['GraphQL', 'Http Protocol', 'Soap', 'Rfc2616', 'Rest']
|
12 Things You Can Do to Advance Your Startup While Maintaining Your Day Job
|
Photo by Maria Teneva on Unsplash
12 Things You Can Do to Advance Your Startup While Maintaining Your Day Job
And answering the question “When is the right time to quit”?
The idea for my first business came to me in January of 2014. I was working with my 6th manufacturing client at McKinsey, and realized the fundamental behaviors driving the problem we were there to solve mirrored the previous 5 companies almost to the “t”.
My engineering brain went into overdrive, and I began thinking of what a technology platform would look like that could both address and improve those behaviors.
As the idea took shape in my brain, I pitched it to 2–3 friends at the client and received extremely positive feedback. This feedback was enough that I immediately decided I should pursue the idea full time. I considered those few conversations the full extent of my market research.
I’d never started a business before, but I knew 2 things. First, I knew it was hard, and second, I knew it took all of one's time/attention to pursue. Thus, I began plotting my exit from McKinsey.
Without any declared goals or specific milestones to hit first, I determined at that moment I would leave McKinsey in 12 months. In 1 year, I would quit my job, and go full time — which in my mind, going full time was the only way to legitimately start a business.
I didn’t think there was any way I could keep my day job and make material progress on the business. One year was the minimum amount of time I needed to save enough money to go full time and to develop the idea enough that I knew what I’d be building.
For the next 12 months, I basically focused on filling out a business model canvas. When the declared day of leaving McKinsey finally arrived, I may as well have spent my first day googling “How to start a business”.
One of the many lessons I have learned since was — this is a terrible way to approach starting a business. You don’t have to be a seasoned entrepreneur to see this.
Top 12 ideas you can pursue with a day job
With no coach, no mentor, and nobody really to provide guidance, I had a very myopic view of entrepreneurship.
Now, nearly 7 years later, my hindsight is quite clear. There are literally an endless number of things I easily could have pursued while maintaining a full-time job. This article is for the first time entrepreneur who’s wrestling with this same issue. So that you can learn from my mistakes, here are 12 of my top ideas of things I could have done before leaving my job, but didn’t.
1. Figure out your company name/brand
There is literally no reason I waited to leave my job before figuring this one out, and neither should you. Think of your company narrative, and think of ideas that support it. Share the name with your family, friends and get their thoughts. Google it and see what comes up. Check with the USPTO to see what name competition exists, and how you might want to vary the name you do business under from the name you market. Use Upwork or Fiverr to find a freelancer and design a logo and your color palette.
2. Buy a domain
Real-estate on the web is a crowded place. The most obvious names are all claimed, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still good opportunities. It just takes a lot of time. So start your research now. Use tools like Google domains to check what’s available, or Snapnames, which will be more expensive, but there are great domains available there. Brandbucket can be even more expensive, but you’re also buying a starter kit to jumpstart your brand, which can be helpful if you find something you really like.
3. Create a landing page
Design a landing page to tell your company’s story, and build it using a free/cheap service like Carrd, Mailchimp, or Wix. Create a specific Call to Action (CTA) that will help advance your idea. This could mean having visitors take a short survey and providing feedback or collecting their email addresses. If you’re feeling really ambitious, set up multiple landing pages with slightly different messaging around your value proposition, or perhaps targeting different segments of who you believe your audience to be so you can find which drive the most growth.
4. Test marketing messages/channels
Connect your landing pages to Google Analytics (most of the platforms I mentioned above will have this as a configuration property) so you can start understanding how people are finding your site. Google “free google adwords”, “free facebook ads”, “free linkedin ads” to find options on getting and learning how to use some free ad spend credits. Use it to try and find which terms resonate the most with driving people to your site.
5. Build and curate a mailing list
Use all the emails you’re collecting from your landing page(s) to start a weekly newsletter. Send out relevant information about your product/service. Give updates, progress, or share helpful industry-related information. Use a free service like Mailchimp or Hubspot Marketing to design, send, and track analytics on your emails. Track open rates, see what content people are reading/clicking on. As you’re consistent, people will unsubscribe, and others will keep reading. That’s good, you’re refining your audience and messaging.
6. Interview prospective customers/clients
Use the emails you’re collecting to reach out to contacts and ask if they’d be willing to take a quick phone call. Identify questions you can ask that will test the hypothesis of your business. The goal is to get as clear an understanding of the customer pain as you can — not to get validation on your solution. Once you can understand and articulate the problem, as the saying goes, there’s more than one way to skin that cat.
7. Build our your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
Come up with the profile of the type(s) of individuals/companies that will purchase your product/service. If you’re selling to individuals, figure out their gender, age, interests, where they shop, and how they’re solving your identified problem today. If you’re selling to businesses, figure out what industry they’re in, the size of the company, and who within the company you need to be talking to. Write all these things down. You need to iterate on your definition, and continually refine/hone it. The clearer the definition of your customer, the easier it will be for you to find them.
8. Articulate your problem statement/null hypothesis
Building a business is fundamentally a science experiment. Your null hypothesis is a statement of the problem you think you are solving. Everything you do to launch your business should be in the spirit of trying to disprove your null hypothesis, so you can rewrite it and make it stronger/more accurate. At some point, you’ll no longer be able to disprove your hypothesis, and you’ll know you’ve come into truth that resonates with your target market. The better you can articulate this, the easier it will be for you to explain your company’s value proposition.
9. Build a prototype of the product and get feedback
Regardless if you’re building a physical product, software, or delivering a service, there are ways to create simple prototypes to get feedback. Get creative. As you build your mailing list and define your ICP, you have an audience that can provide feedback on your prototype. If you’re building software, this could look like visual designs. You can use Figma, Invision or even Google Slides to visualize the user experience. If you’re providing a service, contact your list and provide it for free to the first 10 respondents. If you’re building a physical product, find people in your local proximity so you can get the prototype in their hands. Test it yourself to solve your own problem. While the medium of your solution may change, getting customer feedback is a critical step that you can do on the side.
10. Identify and prove teammates
Put the time into finding your “who”. While you can go at it alone, it’s much easier/more powerful to have someone(s) at your side. Find them. This is a great time to prove it out. You’re not reliant on each other yet, so find who you can work with, and who will show up to the fight. Work out the details of roles and timing of when you’ll leave your jobs. Make sure you’re all committed and work well together before formalizing any arrangement. Handshake partnerships are a quick way to get started before making anything permanent, as you have to be able to trust each other.
11. Incorporate the company
When the time comes, move to incorporate your company, but don’t make it the first thing you do. You don’t have to wait until you’re full time to incorporate, but you do want to make sure you have the right teammates and are headed in the right direction with your product/service. If you incorporate too early, you’re going to waste a lot of time and money if things don’t work out. But once you’re confident, there’s no reason to wait until your full time, as this step takes much longer than you think.
12. Figure out funding
Work out the financial model for your business, and figure out how much money you’re going to need to become sustainable. Will you be able to self-fund? How far can you get while maintaining your day job? Will you need to fundraise? And if so, what milestones do you need to hit to best position your fundraise? The best thing about working on all these things while you have a day job is you can often make much more progress on your own before seeking funding if you ever need to at all. The worst thing you can do is quit your job and then figure out how you’re going to fund it later (that’s what I did, and I highly discourage doing this).
How to know when to quit your day job and go full time
You might be wondering “These seem like all the things I’d be doing while working full time, so if I do them while I keep my day job, when should I actually leave to pursue it full time?”
The simple answer to this question is — you will know. It might feel like a cop-out, but here’s what will happen.
You’ll have your business fundamentals in place. You have your partner(s) figured out, the domain, brand, website, incorporation is all complete. The least sexy parts of starting a business are all taken care of, and now you’re primarily focused on two things: product and sales.
This generally takes shape in the form of the feedback you’re receiving from prospective customers. There’s so much of it rolling in that the hours you have available are literally limiting your ability to react to it. If customers are providing feedback, it means they care. If you have so much of it you can’t respond, it means you’re gaining an audience. Translate that feedback into your product. Get it back in your customer's hands. Find more customers. Rinse. Repeat.
At some point, your business will feel imminent. You don’t have answers to all the questions, but if you’ve done the items on this list, you will have a solid foundation to start from. Done right, you should have a very clear path to create value for your customers when you step away from your day job. Until then, keep building!
|
https://medium.com/startup-grind/12-things-you-can-do-to-advance-your-startup-while-maintaining-your-day-job-fa6512e0c9b1
|
['Jonathan Woahn']
|
2020-11-16 18:03:08.069000+00:00
|
['Startup Lessons', 'Life Lessons', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Startup', 'Entrepreneur']
|
Using Docker as a Data Scientist
|
Good day everyone!
The ship with our data science project is just arriving off the port! Get ready to unload the containers and fire up the environment. Wait… what? Wish it was that easy to go? Well, it basically is. Welcome to Docker!
In this article, we are going to learn
How to install Docker Desktop
How to docker — Docker images and Docker Hub
How to Docker — Docker Containers
Run a complete data science project with Docker
Docker is a modern breakthrough. A way in which we can save and share our projects complete with their original environments. No more incompatibility shenanigans and it's quick and easy. Anyone can take a docker image from a docker image registry, download it, run it and begin working in the same environment the project was built in. I explain what Docker is and how it works in my article What the hell is Docker?!
The ability to reproduce project results over different machines is incredibly important in data science. Docker makes this incredibly easy.
Photo by Noah Carter on Unsplash
If you’re ready, let's get going
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https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/using-docker-as-a-data-scientist-8bbb203fb6b7
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['Aleksandar Gakovic']
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2020-06-14 18:25:41.704000+00:00
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['Python', 'Docker', 'Containerization', 'Containers', 'Data Science']
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Nikki Haley Gets Ready: ‘We’re in the Money’
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by Irwin Arieff. This story originally appeared on PassBlue.
Two months after leaving the United Nations, Nikki Haley has assembled a political network that is laying the groundwork for a possible presidential run in 2024, or even in 2020 — should her mentor Donald Trump not run.
Nikki Haley, the former US envoy to the UN, has been nominated to join the Boeing board, among other new ventures that could raise a lot of money for a possible presidential run by her. As governor of South Carolina, she helped Boeing expand its plant there, a move celebrated above, May 10, 2013. CREATIVE COMMONS
The best thing about it from her point of view? The scheme will enable her to raise a lot of money, fast, by cashing in on her time in federal and state government service. At this point, this seems to be coming largely in the form of giant checks from the pro-Israel groups whose interests she so avidly pursued as UN ambassador, and from the Boeing Company, still apparently grateful for the fat incentive package she offered while South Carolina governor in exchange for an assembly plant in her state.
Some diplomats at the UN said that Haley had been offered a job by Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank, when he planned to exit that post and move into investment banking. That deal fell through at the last minute for Haley.
The quick cash from the new sources will help her pay off some of her considerable debt whether or not she ever runs for high office. And if she does run, her backers can view the money as payback for the support she has given them in the past and as a down payment for favors they can hope for if she wins.
The way Haley is setting things up, she is not required to affix the word “campaign” to her activities, and she has yet to formally declare an interest in any office or to set up a political action committee. This means she doesn’t have to disclose the source or amount of donations or how she spends it.
So just what is Haley up to these days?
Let’s start with her new foundation, Stand for America, classified by the IRS as a social welfare organization but set up so that donations to it are not tax-deductible. Though it is barred by its nonprofit 501(c)(4) tax status from financing political campaigns or contributing to candidates, it provides Haley with a policy forum and a base for promoting her brand, which can also pay her to promote her favorite civic causes and even do lobbying, according to IRS rules.
Unveiled Feb. 25, the foundation website asks for donations and promotes international values generally in line with Trump’s America First views and her own. Domestically, it also sounds quite Trumpian, vowing to combat many of his favorite bogeymen, including “socialist schemes of higher taxes, burdensome job-destroying regulations, government-run health care, and unsecure borders.”
Haley, who appeared to fall deeper in debt the longer she stayed in New York and where she still lives, grabbed the biggest headlines after her departure from the UN by signing up for the Washington Speakers Bureau. She has been widely reported as asking $200,000 a pop plus transport by private jet for domestic speaking engagements. While at the UN, Haley was barred by federal ethics rules from accepting honoraria for speeches to groups in any way linked to her government work, but now she is under no such restrictions.
This news was soon followed by the announcement of “An Evening With Nikki Haley” in Manhattan on March 12, to be offered by the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York, held on the Upper East Side at Temple Emanu-El, one of the most prestigious synagogues in the city. Tickets are $125. The charity did not respond to a query about Haley’s fee for the appearance.
Next, we learned that Haley would address the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the country’s most influential pro-Israel lobbying group, on March 25. (In this, she is hardly alone, joining numerous other political leaders in the past, including Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.) Marshall Wittmann, Aipac’s spokesman, had no comment on Haley’s speaking fees.
On Feb. 12, Haley appeared before the Greater Miami Jewish Federation to receive its 2019 Friend of Israel Humanitarian Award. According to media reports, attendees typically contribute more than $1,000 a year to the federation, but there was no word on speaking fees. In accepting the award, Haley said that “fighting for Israel” at the UN was more than just a job for her. It was “one of the easiest things I did in the UN,” she said. “It was about doing what was right; it was about telling the truth.”
Haley was also the guest of honor at a Feb. 27 dinner in New York with some of the city’s top Republican donors, the first of a series of get-togethers organized by the hedge-fund billionaire Paul Singer to highlight prominent Republicans ahead of the 2020 elections, Axios reported.
Because Singer, a frequent contributor to Jewish and pro-Israel causes, was a never-Trumper in 2016, the invitation prompted rumors that Haley was weighing a primary challenge to the president. Haley has insisted she has no intention of going against Trump next year, but is there much doubt that she would love to step in should Trump not run?
Another sign that she may be in a hurry to promote her brand now rather than wait until, say, 2022, is her plan for a new book to be published later this year. Her first book, “Can’t Is Not an Option,” was published in 2012 and is on life support.
Even before leaving her UN job, Haley was on the receiving end of wet kisses from a range of pro-Israel organizations and individuals. On Dec. 1, she won B’nai B’rith International’s Award for Excellence in Diplomacy for her “stalwart defense of Israel at the United Nations.”
Among her UN actions, the organization cited Washington’s withdrawal from the Human Rights Council and Unesco, its suspension of funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, Haley’s strong defense of US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and her veto of a Security Council resolution condemning the recognition.
Boeing, the American aerospace giant, meanwhile announced on Feb. 26 that it had asked Haley to join its board of directors, subject to shareholder approval. According to company filings, Boeing in 2017 paid each board member $135,000 plus $180,000 in restricted stock, plus fees for any board committee work.
In 2013, as South Carolina governor, Haley pushed for a $120 million incentives package to open a 787 Dreamliner assembly plant in North Charleston and fought hard to kill unionization efforts by the International Association of Machinists. “We discourage any companies that have unions from wanting to come to South Carolina because we don’t want to taint the water,” Haley said in 2014.
The machinists’ union, however, succeeded in organizing at Boeing and recently objected to Haley’s board nomination.
Boeing can now benefit from Haley’s ties to the Trump administration: the company is pressing the Pentagon to buy a new advanced version of its F-15 fighter.
So what are the odds that Haley, if elected president, would suddenly turn a harsh eye on Israel or Boeing? She continues in private life to make an extraordinary effort to quash criticism of Israel despite its regular violations of Security Council resolutions on the Middle East conflict and its tacit embrace of the Trump administration’s quiet efforts to bury a two-state solution.
While some critics of Israel back a global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement to pressure Israel to comply with Security Council resolutions and other applicable international agreements, Haley joins many strong supporters of Israel in declaring such efforts to be anti-Semitic, although a similar campaign helped topple South Africa’s all-white apartheid government in 1994.
“If you support BDS, you support hate,” Haley said in Miami on Feb. 12.
Another way she is trying to become more of an influencer? An apparent bid to promote sales of her personal makeup choice, a brand of the French conglomerate LVMH.
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https://passblue-un.medium.com/nikki-haley-gets-ready-were-in-the-money-74bad4f0ade3
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[]
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2019-03-07 02:38:45.304000+00:00
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['US Politics', 'Nikki Haley', 'Boeing', 'Israel', 'Foreign Policy']
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失った/盗まれたスマホのノアトークンを保護する方法。
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スマホは私たちの一部になりました。写真、動画、書類などの個人情報を保持することに慣れました。しかし、スマホを失った場合、どうしますか？個人情報を保護する方法はありますか？私たちの失ったスマホでのノアトークンを保護するアドバイスを使ってください。
Google/iCloudの機能を使用して、スマホを見つける方法。
スマホを見つけるのに、パソコンと同調する必要があるとよく言われています。そうではありません。全てのAndroidおよびiOSのスマホは「Find My Device」という機能があります。Googleの標準機能で、最初から有効です。
それは有効になっているかどうか、スマホの設定でGoogleセクションで確認します。
その後、「セキュリティ」を選びます。
「Find My Device」を選んで、その機能がオンにされているかと確認します。
その後、Find My Deviceウェブサイトをたどって、あなたのスマホを選びます。ここは３つの主要なオプションがあります。
コール。家のどこかに失った場合、使用するオプションです。サウンドをオフにしても、５分以内に音が鳴っています。 スマホをロックして、Googleアカウントからログアウトします。追加電話番号のあるメッセージを入れることが求められます。そのため、あなたのスマホを見つける方は連絡できるようになります。あなたのスマホが盗まれた場合、泥棒はデータにアクセスできません。 スマホを除く。その機能で全てのデータが削除されます。しかし、測位のアクセスも不可能になります。そのオプションのおかげでノアトークンを保護しますが、スマホを戻せません。
iPhoneユーザーはAppleのサービスを使用できます。ICloudウェブサイトに行って、ログインして、あなたのスマホのリモートコントロールページに行きます。そのオプションは「Find My Device」と同じです。
１つの欠点があります。その方法を利用するには、あなたのスマホでインターネット、またはGPSそれ以外の場合は、スマホの位置を追跡することはできません。
たくさんのスマホ製造業者Googleサービスで限られていません。失ったスマホを見つける自分自身のユーティリティがあります。例えば、XiaomiでMi Cloud、SamsungでFind My Mobileです。同じく、Huawei, Sonyなどは自分自身のものがあります。
IMEIを通じて探す。
失った、または盗まれたスマホをIMEIを使用して、戻せます。製造業者が販売の前につける唯一の15数字コードがあります。そのコードを変えるのは難しくて、一般なユーザーはそれをすることができません。*#06#をダイヤルを回して、あなたのスマホのIMEIがわかるようになります。この番号をスマホの箱にも表示されます。
この方法の複雑さは、警察に行って、声明を書かなければならないということです。プロセスは早くではありません。警察はあなたのモバイルオペレータで連絡して、検索が始まります。
特別なアプリ。
インターネットコネクションがなくても、機能するスペシャルアプリがあります。最も人気のあるアプリはWhere’s My Droid とFind my Droidです。検索を行うには、そのアプリをスマホにインストールする必要があります。SIMカードの変更や電話のブロックに関するメッセージの送信を設定したり、場所を通知することができます。
安全なデバイスの時代。
基本的に、GoogleまたはiCloudのアカウントだけ必要です。アクセスできるサービスを使用して、あなたのスマホを見つけることができます。クラウドストレージを使用するのをお勧めします。それはあなたのデータを保護するために最も安全な方法です。最後の提案は、私たちの次のガイドを読んでください。あなたのノアトークンを保護することを欲しいです！
次の教育トピックについてアイデアを教えて、私たちのコミュニティーグループに質問を聞くのはご遠慮なくどうぞ:
● 一般的な議論:
英語、日本語、または韓国語のテレグラムチャット
そして、韓国語のコミュニティーにとって、カカオトーク
● 一般的なノアブロックチェーンの議論:
英語と日本語のテレグラムチャット
● Platinum取引専門家からのアップデート:
英語、日本語、またはロシア語のテレグラムチャット
● ライブストリームおよびビデオポッドキャストはこちら:公式ユーチューブチャンネル
● ブロックチェーンテクノロジーについてフルブロックチェーンコースに：
ブロックチェーンおよび投資UBAI大学。
___________________________________________________________________
How do you Protect NOAH Tokens On Lost/Stolen Smartphone?
Smartphones have filled out our lives. We are used to storing personal data on the devices: photos, videos, documents, correspondence, etc. But what would you do in case your smartphone is lost? Is there a way to secure personal data? Take our practical advice on how to protect NOAH tokens on a lost device.
How to find a smartphone with Google/iCloud standard features
Some people say that a smartphone must be synchronized with a PC in order to be able to find it. Barely true. All modern Android and iOS smartphones have the Find My Device feature. This is a standard feature of Google and it is enabled by default.
Go to your phone’s settings and find the Google section to check if it works or not.
Then go to Security.
Select “Find My Device” and make sure the feature is turned On.
All you have to do next is to follow the Find My Device website and select your mobile. There you have 3 main option:
Call. Use it if you lost a smartphone somewhere at home, it will be ringing for 5 minutes even if the sound was off. Lock the device and log-out from the Google account. You will be asked to add a message with an additional phone number so the person who finds the phone can contact you. The thief will not be able to access the data if your device was stolen. Clean device. The function will delete absolutely all data, but access to geolocation will also be lost. This option will help save your Noah tokens, but the smartphone can no longer be returned.
iPhone owners can choose the native Apple service. Simply go to the iCloud website, log in and go to the remote control of your smartphone. The options are the same as in Find My Device.
The only disadvantage of this method is the need for an Internet connection or GPS on your smartphone. Otherwise, you will not be able to track the location of the phone.
Many smartphone manufacturers are not limited to Google service. They have their own utilities for finding missing devices. For example, Xiaomi allows you to find a smartphone through Mi Cloud, and Samsung using Find My Mobile. The same applies to manufacturers such as Huawei, Sony, etc.
Search by IMEI
You can return a lost or stolen phone using IMEI. This is a unique 15-digit code that the manufacturer assigns to each device before the sale. Changing this code is very difficult, and the average user is unlikely to do so. Dial *#06# to find out the IMEI of your phone. This number can also be found on the box of the phone.
The complexity of this method is that you have to go to the police and write a statement. The process is not fast. The police will contact your mobile operator and only then the search will begin.
Special apps
There are special programs that work without an Internet connection. The most popular right now is Where’s My Droid or Find my Droid. The apps must be already installed on a smartphone for a further search. You can configure the sending of messages about changing the SIM card or blocking the phone in addition to notifying the location.
The era of secure devices
Basically, all you need to have is an account either in Google or iCloud. It allows finding your smartphone from any accessible device. We also suggest using Cloud storage. It’s the most secure way to keep your data from any troubles. And the last suggestion — don’t forget to read our next guide. We’re trying to secure you and your NOAH tokens!
Express your ideas about future educational topics or feel free to ask questions in our community groups:
General discussion:
English, Japanese, or Korean Telegram chats
Additional Kakao Talk for Korean speaking community
General Noah Blockchain discussion:
English and Japanese Telegram chats
Updates from our Platinum Trading Experts:
English, Japanese, or Russian Telegram chats
Livestreams, video podcasts here: the official YouTube channel
More about blockchain technology in a full blockchain course:
The University of Blockchain and Investing UBAI.
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https://medium.com/noahcoin/noah-token-protection-487b2514de92
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['Noah Coin']
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2020-03-16 06:09:00.561000+00:00
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['Cryptocurrency Investment', 'Blockchain Technology', 'Safety', 'Education', 'Noah Project']
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9 tips for standing out as a job candidate
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It’s stressful looking for a job these days. It can feel like your application is one in a million. While the job market is undeniably tough right now, it’s possible to stand out as a candidate.
There are two parts to getting noticed for all the right reasons. The first is through your application. You could be the best interviewee in the world, but you won’t get oppourtunities if your resume is shooting you in the foot.
The second part is your interview. We all know the basic interview etiquette — show up on time, don’t trash your previous employer, and so on. But, there are subtle things hiring managers look for during the interview. These can help you look like a candidate employers need to hire.
Part one — your application
1. Optimize your resume
A good resume is short, scannable, and focuses on hard numbers. 1–2 pages is a good length. Make your resume scannable by using headers to provide structure, and keep your sentences short and clear. Speak in everyday language, avoiding business jargon, cliches, and run-on sentences.
To highlight your accomplishments, talk about past jobs using the STAR method. STAR stands for situation, task, action, and result.
Look at the job description you’re applying for. Incorporate vocabulary from the job description into your resume. This will help your resume get noticed by sorting robots.
Finally, create your resume on a plain document. Fancily designed resume templates might be cute, but unfortunately they look juvenile and chaotic to most talent managers.
2. Create multiple versions of your resume
Hiring managers are looking for any reason to say “no” to a resume, since they have to whittle down a pile of 1000 applications to only four or five. They’re looking for resumes with lots of relevant experience to the position they’re hiring for, and they’re looking for a candidate who’s not overqualified or under-qualified.
Customize the work experience section of your resume to play up tasks and accomplishments that are mentioned in the job description. Be sure to use the trick of incorporating vocab from the job description.
3. Attach a cover letter
Some people love cover letters, and some people hate them. The fact is, if the final choice is between two roughly equal candidates, the hiring manager will look at their cover letters as the deciding factor. This is especially true if they’re hiring for a position where communication matters, such as sales, customer service, or marketing.
Show off a bit of personality when creating your cover letter. A cover letter is only useful if it’s customized to the job you’re applying for. Otherwise, it’ll be obvious you’re using a carbon copied letter for every application.
4. Apply at the right time
The best months to apply for a job are January, February, March, April, and May. During the winter holidays most hiring managers are out-of-office. The same goes for summertime. The beginning of the year is when most companies have the highest intent about meeting their hiring goals.
Part two — your interview
5. Present yourself well
You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Experts suggest dressing a little bit better than your interviewer. Plain, well-fitting, formal business attire will help you look sharp.
If you’re interviewing over Zoom, make sure you have a neat, tidy, and distraction-free background.
6. Know the company’s brand
You should research every company you interview for. Take notes on their advertising campaigns, blogs, press releases, and mission statements. If a company’s mission statement is “We help improve the world by making banking accessible to everyone,” talk about how you’re passionate about financial philanthropy.
Make sure that you don’t mix up a competitor’s brand. If you’re interviewing for Smarties, talking about how “Taste the rainbow” is an ingenious marketing slogan won’t win you any points.
7. Be enthusiastic
With such a tough job market, hiring managers are loath to give positions to apathetic candidates.
Show enthusiasm through your tone of voice and body language. Slouched posture and church mouse whispering don’t give the impression you’re ready to dive into your job duties.
While it’s great to be enthusiastic about the specific job you’re interviewing for, you also need to display that you’re passionate about your career field. Even if you don’t get this java developer position, talk about projects you’re working on, organizations you belong to, and mentoring programs you’re involved in. Hiring managers don’t want applicants who see their jobs strictly as a 9–5. They want passionate people who are willing to take an owner’s mindset.
8. Show that you’ll be easy to work with
Culture fit is a tricky thing. Some companies have very specific cultures, but most companies simply want their people to get along. Hiring managers need to evaluate whether an applicant will be fun to spend 8–10 hours with, Monday to Friday.
You don’t need to fake an extroverted personality if that’s not your true nature, but try and demonstrate you have a good sense of humour, you’re compassionate to other peoples’ needs, and that you can roll with the punches when necessary. If there’s a technical glitch in your Zoom interview, that’s a great oppourtunity to show you’re unfazed by life’s little hurdles.
9. Ask great questions
Asking questions is an oppourtunity to show off your fresh perspective, which is one of the greatest assets you have as a potential new hire. Plus, an interviewee without questions is suspicious. It gives the impression that no research was done beforehand, or the applicant isn’t a deep thinker.
Come up with a few questions about the company through the course of your research. This is essential for your own vetting of the company. If the company wants you to be qualified in all things, but doesn’t yet know what your onboarding, day-to-day tasks, or success metrics will look like, this may reveal they’re disorganized.
Applying for a job, especially in today’s tight market, can be stressful. By using these tips, you can take a more strategic approach to job hunting, and reclaim a feeling of power in the whole process. Job hunting is temporary — you can do this!
Tech needs you, just as you are. Join Girls In Tech Toronto.
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https://medium.com/@gittoronto/9-tips-for-standing-out-as-a-job-candidate-ef156a78ff45
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['Girls In Tech Toronto']
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2020-12-08 21:14:09.752000+00:00
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['Job Interview', 'Women In Business', 'Covid 19', 'Job Hunting', 'Girls In Tech']
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Pros and Cons: Working for a Big Company vs a Small Business
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Pros and Cons: Working for a Big Company vs a Small Business CareerAddict Mar 22·10 min read
When it comes to our professional development, choosing a suitable career path is only one part of the equation. Another factor that is just as important is deciding the type of business we want to work for.
Unless you decide to go down the self-employment route, you will need to consider your future employer in terms of their brand reputation, career opportunities and the benefits you can expect as their employee.
Many of these aspects are directly linked to the size of an organisation; small businesses operate very differently than large companies.
Here, we outline the advantages and disadvantages of working for both a small and a big company so that you can make a truly informed decision.
The pros of working for a large company
Defining what constitutes a large business can be tricky as this can vary from one industry to another. For instance, the US government’s Small Business Administration considers any business in the mining industry with under 500 employees, to be small. On the other hand, a company selling computer programming services is deemed to be large if its annual receipts exceed $21 million.
While there’s some room for discussion here, in most cases, researching the company’s size, annual turnover and brand will give you a good indication of whether they fall into this category or not.
Without further ado, here are the pros of working at a large company.
1. You have financial security
While a small business might depend on investment rounds to keep the payroll going, large companies usually have enough cash flow to weather changes in market conditions or a temporary drop in sales.
Large companies tend to be more profitable and have a well-established reputation and partnerships that sustain their financial future.
Larger businesses also have the means and resources to attract bright talent, which allows them to stay competitive. This means that choosing to work for a large company usually means better pay as well.
2. You get more perks and benefits
More profit also means better perks and benefits for employees. For instance, did you know that Goldman Sachs covers the cost of gender reassignment surgery for its trans employees? Or that Deloitte offers six-month sabbaticals with 40% pay?
These, and many other benefits, make large companies a desirable employer for anyone who expects more than just a good salary.
3. There are well-defined processes
If you thrive when everything is organised and well-defined, then you’re destined to work for a large business. Big companies have been around for a while, so they’ve had plenty of opportunities to test what works for their business.
They’ve been able to define their best practices and everyday processes so that employees know their tasks and responsibilities.
4. You will have a better status
Just like graduating from Oxbridge can be a symbol of academic prestige, working for the likes of Google, Amazon or PwC can serve as proof to future employers that you’re an employee of the highest calibre.
Getting into a large organisation is incredibly competitive, so beating the competition and landing a job can speak volumes about your credentials, skillset and unique talents as an employee.
5. There are more career development opportunities
Similarly to the other perks, most big businesses have a dedicated budget for internal training and the professional development of their employees. Unlike small firms where most of the learning happens on the job, large businesses have whole departments dedicated to creating and delivering formalised, high-quality training.
Also, big employers offer more networking opportunities. You’d have a chance to collaborate with many talented people who would eventually either start their own business or move on to a new one, giving you an invaluable pool of connections that can help you further your career in the long-term.
The cons of working for a large company
Despite all these fantastic perks, not everything is rosy when working for a large firm. There are also serious drawbacks which you need to consider before you make your final decision.
1. There’s more bureaucracy
This is the other side of the coin when we discuss ‘well-defined processes’. Large businesses must be organised and have well-documented operations if they’re to be successful. However, this can sometimes be detrimental to its employees.
Getting anything done in a large organisation can take more time as you might need three or four people to sign off on a decision before it’s approved. Likewise, simple things like changing your work laptop can initiate a lengthy process of paperwork and inter-departmental back-and-forth.
2. You will have less agency as an employee
If you want to showcase all your talents, a large company might not be the best fit. Big businesses have well-defined roles for almost every aspect of the business, and they hire people specifically to fulfil these roles.
This often means that you don’t have the agency to challenge or try out new things. Likewise, you will rarely be able to single-handedly make a decision and act on it. Whether you want to give a client a discount or try out a new process, you’d probably need the approval of several managers before you can proceed.
3. There’s less room to experiment
As mentioned, in big companies, employees are assigned specific tasks and responsibilities, and it would be tough for you to move outside of that scope.
Most large businesses pride themselves on their policies and procedures as they’ve worked hard in defining them. However, this can stifle creativity, spontaneity and opportunities to innovate.
4. There’s stiff competition
Remember all the talented people we discussed that work in these large organisations? Well, while they can be great colleagues, they can also make your internal career progression almost impossible.
Large businesses can be notoriously political, with dozens of people aiming for the same job promotion at any given time. It’s not uncommon for people working at a large company to stay in the same job role for five to ten years before they either move up the ladder or to a different company.
5. There’s less transparency
If you’re the thousandth employee joining the business, it’s very likely that you will be far removed from any strategic talks about the direction of the company. All decisions about market positioning happen behind closed doors, where the C-suite executives and heads of departments discuss more prominent issues. All other employees are given information on a need-to-know basis.
If you’re the type of person who wants to have their say and wants to feel involved in the direction of the business, this could be a significant shortcoming for you.
The pros of working for a small company
You might be convinced that a large business is the way to go. Still, don’t rush into a decision before you hear out all the perks that come with working for a small business. Not only do you have a 192% higher chance of landing an interview with a smaller company, but you can expect many other career-defining benefits as well.
1. It’s easier to stand out
When you work for a small business, there’s nowhere to hide. Everyone needs to pull their weight if the business is to be successful. This is an excellent opportunity to stand out and showcase to the senior team all your skills and talents.
If you want to go beyond your core responsibilities, there would be plenty of opportunities to take on more or different types of work and become an invaluable member of the team.
2. You can see the impact of your work
When working for a large company, you’d often work on very specific, segmented tasks. This can make it difficult to see the impact a small task has on the bigger picture.
However, this is not the case when you work for a small business. There, the impact of the work you do is visible. Pulling through a sale this month instead of the following month can mean the difference between salary or no salary for employees. Likewise, defining and running that Facebook ad can make the difference between leads and no leads for your sales team.
3. There’re more opportunities for growth
Many small businesses lack key departments like account management or learning and development. This means that there will be plenty of opportunities to take on a new role without too much competition.
As you start wearing more hats and work on various projects, you also have the chance to experiment and decide what direction you want to take your career towards.
And at the end of the day, it’s easier to become the Head of Operations for a company with twenty employees than one that has 10,000.
4. You work closely with the core team
The senior management team of a small business could consist of two or three people who will expect each employee to bring their A-game and help the business succeed. The need to have all hands on deck could mean that the company has more transparent processes and that the senior team shares the business strategy across the whole company.
When employees know the strategy and what’s at stake, they have more ownership over their work, and you will likely be more willing to go the extra mile for the company.
Having direct access to the core team will not only help you learn more about running a business, but it will also allow you to work closely with them and make a lasting impression.
5. You get valuable practical experience
We talked about the formalised training you can expect to receive at a large company, but nothing beats hands-on experience.
When you work for a small business, you’ll face real-life challenges that large companies either don’t have or, if they do, they’d never land on your desk. Things like broken demos two hours before a client visit with no people to help can really push you to think creatively and find innovative solutions.
The cons of working for a small company
Despite its many benefits, working for a small company might not be for everyone. There are inherent risks, unpredictable working hours and instability that can make working for a small business a less attractive option for people who are more risk-averse.
1. There’s a lack of financial security
It’s very likely that if you work for a startup or a relatively small company, they’d be strapped for cash. They might depend on their next investment round to be able to hire and pay their employees or might rely on steady sales to keep a healthy cash flow. That makes them vulnerable to any changes in market conditions, which can sometimes literally make or break a business. If you’re the sole or the main breadwinner in your family, this might be too big of a risk to take.
2. You’d wear many hats
This might be an attractive option for someone who wants to try out different things or have their hands in several pots. However, if you’re the type of person who wants to focus on one thing only, working for a small business might not be the best environment.
Small employers often have escalations and emergencies with very little staff to take ownership of them. That means that employees from other departments often have to step in and help where necessary. For instance, it’s not uncommon for employees in startups to work in sales and handle customer complaints.
3. There’s constant change
Small businesses don’t have the experience and infrastructure that make large businesses so successful. They must continuously pivot, iterate on existing processes and update their workflows to adjust to changing client and market needs.
You might have nailed the process for handling customer complaints only to come back from holiday and discover that everything has changed, yet again. Change is often a positive and natural part of business growth, yet this can be draining and stressful for the employees.
Not only that, but a lot of the times, you might be the first employee to face a specific challenge or gap in the business, and you’d have to find a solution and write up the process for business continuity.
4. You’ll have unpredictable working hours
In line with the previous two points, the lack of predictability and the fact that you’d need to wear many hats also means that you’d need to work longer or unpredictable hours. The business won’t have too many people to rely on, so if there are escalations or imminent trips to a client site, you’d probably have to bite the bullet and do the extra work.
This can be very rewarding as you can see the direct impact of your work, but it can be tiring and unsustainable for people who prefer steady, steady working hours.
5. There are fewer employee benefits
Small businesses try to be competitive and offer benefits like gym memberships or health insurance. However, this pales in comparison to other expensive perks that big employers offer.
Small businesses won’t have an allocated training budget either, so you’d have to rely on your on-the-job training to upgrade your skills and keep your personal development plan (PDP) on track.
Of course, job perks aren’t everything, and sometimes the mission and vision of a small business can be enough to keep you going. However, if these added benefits are important to you, then a small employer might not be a good option for you.
When it comes to working for a small or big business, there isn’t one right answer as there are pros and cons for both types of employers.
While a large business can splurge on a luxurious getaway for its employees and offer great salaries and stability, small businesses can awe you with their innovative thinking, flexibility and freedom to be truly creative. Both can be a great option as long as you know what to expect!
So, if you are currently looking for a job, head to CareerAddict Jobs to find a new position.
Would you rather work for a small or big company? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
This article is an updated version of an earlier article originally published on 1 June 2015.
|
https://medium.com/@CareerAddict./pros-and-cons-working-for-a-big-company-vs-a-small-business-8b9ca9f01d0f
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[]
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2021-05-18 09:28:37.777000+00:00
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['Workplace', 'Job Hunting', 'Work', 'Job Search', 'Workplace Culture']
|
What you should avoid if you are coming to Perú
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This article is part of a collection that is focused on a main target: Give you the best experience if you are visiting this cultural, folklorical and with really…really a lot of biodiversity (this last i mean it, but is not everywhere)
That said, here is what you should avoid to do if you want to have a really nice, fun and safe experience (and for you extreme sport lovers, i am one myself, so do not worry, that is not what i mean with safe). Here we go!
1. Don’t try to explore places spontaneusly
Ok, when traveling, i like to identify two people: The ones that like to have itineraries and tourist guides and the ones who don’t. If you are part of the first group, you can jump ahead to the next step!
For the adventurers, i’ll explain why you should avoid this: we are a country on path of development and criminality is part of the daily life in Perú, like any other country in South America.
So…. this really would be a big problem? Not at all, every country has its safe districts (E.g. in Lima, we have Miraflores, Barranco, San Isidro, etc.). The way should handle it once in Peru is, no matter the city, ask for the safe districts! Anyone can tell you which districts are cool and that’s were you should put boundaries in exploration… believe me, thats the way to go to avoid a bad time with criminals the 95% of the time.
By the way, a short question you could do to people here is: “Qué distritos son seguros?”, practice your spanish accent a little bit!
2. You don’t know any spanish? Avoid purchasing services or products directly with people
The thing here is, latino-americans like to overprice their stuff if they know you are foreigner, specially if you aren’t latinoamerican! So…. need a taxy? call and Uber, Beat, Didi…. Need an electrodomestic? buy it online or in a mall…. Need some fine souvenir? Buy it on a store.
I mean, you can buy cheap things, like groceries, that’s fine because it is unlikely they will try to add price to that.. ok, let’s say in the worst case scenario they add 0.5$ dollar? Come on, we cannot be so tight.
A ditionally, by cheap i mean the price will vary from 1$ to 5$ american dollars, higher than that, try be cautious with your purchases. Finally, we like to bargain the price sometimes but you need to know spanish or have an interpreter to do that.. i’m just giving options!
3. Avoid walking on streets with more than 200 US$ with you.
Ok, first thing to say here… don’t worry, is not like in Perú you are in constant danger of robbery, but let’s just don’t put an spotlight on us for the bad people to see! And why 200$? because with that amount of money you can buy literally anything that is not luxury or something really extrainly expensive!
Then, let’s put a limit of 200$, in any case, if you are part of that 5% that is really unlucky as hell, you will only lose 200$, it isn’t a really big deal right? Come on, you can other precautions to reduce your chances to have a bad experience obviously! The odds indicate that you will have a really great experience.
Another thing to say is that we have coverage with Visa and Mastercard all over the country…faster and easier right? Anyhow, unless you staying in international hotels all the time, have peruvian soles with you so you don’t lose a chance to buy something you like along your trip!
4. Avoid eating something if you don’t know what it is
Well, maybe some readers are warriors in that matter, but for those who have alergies or a sensible digestive system i recommend you to be very cautious!
Peruvian food is world-wide known and considered by some one of the best gastronomic destinys. However, the cuisine haves lots of spicies and the dishes use all kinds of meats and vegetables (some very exotic and pretty unique). For this reason, some people don’t tolerate all the food. As long as you know what you are eating, and you can always ask, you will be fine. There is nothing worst than being sick on a trip!
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https://medium.com/@patricio-alarcon/what-you-should-avoid-if-you-are-coming-to-per%C3%BA-a333aca45a32
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['Patricio Sebastian Alarcón Delgado']
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2020-12-21 02:56:13.321000+00:00
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['Nature', 'Peru', 'Experience', 'Travel', 'Adventure']
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Capitalism Abandons Local Community
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Capitalism Abandons Local Community
Disclaimer — -The following is not a news report. These are personal views developed from many sources, some of which are included for clarity, transparency, and rebuttal, and is the Free Speech that shares ideas.
Capitalism Abandons Local Community…
One wishes to spotlight the reason democratic (small d) socialism as compared to capitalism will better promote principles as expressed in the Preamble to the US Constitution — — We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
— -end of Preamble — -
The best approach to expressing the need for We The People to reconsider the so-called system under which we are governed is to speak to the principles rather than the individual players. When use of the name of an individual who is acting in a manner that has become normal due to incorrect application of principles of a democratic (small d) Constitutional republic, immediately the individual feels attacked without considering his/her actions. This also sets up another person to continue in actions contrary to principles as stated in the Preamble, by presuming she/he can do better than the previous character who has been called out.
An example is the impeachment hearings that display actions that don’t seem to comply with the Oath of Office, but are surely actions that have become normal under our capitalistic hierarchical system and globalism, that encourages profits over principles, and facilitates these actions by ensuring they are done outside the borders of the US, and so without American justice system jurisdiction. To avoid innuendo one speaks to the characters Biden and Trump who have taken advantage of this anomaly to self-promote. The list of characters surely doesn’t stop there but includes but is not limited to 2 Bush Administrations, the Obama Administration, and the Clinton Administration. Shell companies are the joke of permission to bring ill-gotten gains back for use in buying ever more elections. One has no idea which players have used these tools, but one would be under-informed to be believe these tools are not in play.
While capitalistic hierarchical Establishment players are globe-trotting-for-profit, We The People within the borders of the US are subjected to growing surveillance and militarization by our local law enforcement. This has nothing to do with any one bad player, but rather with a corrupt system that has been encouraged by the illegitimate Supreme Court decision called Citizens United that promotes the buying of politicians for use by big-money interests.
So locally, why are community members feeling disrespected? The system of capitalism promotes the Trickle Down Theory of the Reagan era that has long been debunked. Debunked though it is, the habit of the system hasn’t stopped. Local politicians placed in office by cronyism, networking and corruption via Citizens United continue to pretend that throwing money and privilege at commercial interests will so-called attract the phenomenal business opportunities into a region that surely may employ people during the business cycle Bubble, but then lays off when the Bubble bursts, too often leaving environmental devastation, a work force indoctrinated into compliance and relinquishing autonomy, and enhancing the Climate Change Crisis that causes deadly and dangerous weather patterns as Mr. Carlucci brings up in the link below, pollution, and local-community ignorance about self-governance.
And so, having expressed this disclaimer about generality, a few examples — —
https://www.cbs.com/shows/cbs_this_morning/video/FTT1l_syl7Ysa_6Qf7QwIV64hgVE1VTt/lasik-eye-surgery-should-be-taken-off-market-former-fda-adviser-says/---The health care industry is more about industry than health, it seems. The cost for these miracle cures has raised health care costs to a level that is impossible for the average American to access. Meanwhile, recollection of good health via clean environment and nutritious diet are far in the rear-view mirror of too many people.
https://wbng.com/news/top-stories/2019/11/12/town-of-owego-residents-officials-battle-over-best-way-to-handle-future-of-flooding/---“We’ve always built in these flood plains, and it’s never been a problem but now it’s a problem,” Castellucci said at his office Tuesday. “The weather patterns have changed and now you’re getting rain at two or three inches at a time.” — — end of wbng info — -
The story about the Owego, NY resident is not the only such story found in the Southern Tier of NYS in recent years, where flooding is anecdotally-speaking far worse than one recalls decades ago. This raises the question of politicians who mechanically continue to promote the industrialization that has to a large part been responsible for this attack on local community members. Local law enforcement is becoming increasingly militarized in order to, one supposes, so-called control local community members who become irritated by imposition of impossible conditions on people simply attempting a fulfilling private life.
By what presumption do politicians use resources, both human, natural, and economic, to attract big-money interests to the area when the resources could better be used to self-heal within the community. One speaks directly to the draw for politicians of campaign contributions.
Turpitude of Establishment seems to have increased in some of its members acting in decidedly anti-social ways in a privilege that is harmful to others. One can speak out, if one wishes — -
*PETITION — -
https://secure.wcs.org/campaign/tell-congress-support-rawr-act-and-fight-illegal-wildlife-trade?ms=M_EML_ADV_01_F02_1911-RAWR-Act-NovWM&utm_content=2019-11-14_wildlife-matters-nov&utm_medium=email&utm_source=WCS-EmailCampaign&utm_campaign=owned
As characters within the Capitalist Party D&R struggle for control of US politics, due to presumption of a 2-Party system that is not indicative of principles of a democratic (small d) Constitutional republic, the issues confronting humanity, wildlife, and nature go unaddressed. The only reason this is possible is when good people say nothing. Now would be a good time to speak out, if anyone is interested.
https://www.wcs.org/future-of-bison?utm_content=2019-11-14_wildlife-matters-nov&utm_medium=email&utm_source=WCS-EmailCampaign&utm_campaign=owned
For those who see animals and the environment as resources for humanity, one wonders how children are explained away — --https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13112019/health-children-infants-climate-change-impact-pollution-heat-lancet-countdown-study----A child born today faces two possible futures. In one, the world continues to burn fossil fuels, making the child more likely to develop asthma from air pollution, at greater risk of vector-borne diseases, and more vulnerable to anxiety as extreme weather events threaten his community.
In the other, those risks are diminished because the world has responded quickly and adequately to climate change, with a large-scale shift away from fossil fuels. — — end of insideclimatenews info — -
One believes the fact that the same devastation awaits human children as do both of animals and nature, is a stern reminder from The Creator of our symbiotic relationship.
One is interested that in the political world, this fact continues to be ignored in order to gather campaign contributions. One would love to hear political debates on that topic.
The work of politicians should relate to the Preamble and responsibility toward local communities — --https://www.laprogressive.com/criminalization-of-poverty/?utm_source=LA+Progressive+NEW&utm_campaign=d5cebef1fc-LAP_News_4_15_April_17_PC4_15_2017_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_61288e16ef-d5cebef1fc-286972237&mc_cid=d5cebef1fc&mc_eid=e213faa886-----Our region’s prosecutors have acknowledged that low-level offense enforcement has little or no countervailing benefit — either from a policy perspective or a fundraising tool for the courts. Moreover, citation, arrest, incarceration, or fees and fines cannot deter life-sustaining behavior performed outdoors when people have no access to indoor places to live. — end of laprogressives info — -
Compare use of local law enforcement in the above example, with oligarchical freedom to cruise the globe inflicting criminal behavior with impunity, due to economic globalism devoid of regulation or law enforcement. Our priorities need to be changed.
One compares the relentless self-defense of local community and environment from DAPL public-safety advocates as was the case from NYS grassroots anti-fracking advocates pre-fracking-ban, so far — --https://www.ecowatch.com/standing-rock-sioux-dapl-expansion-2641338512.html?rebelltitem=4#rebelltitem4
*#NODAPL #StandwithStandingRock #MniWiconi — — —
https://twitter.com/IENearth/status/1194636343869001728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1194636343869001728&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ecowatch.com%2Fres%2Fcommunity%2Ftwitter_embed%2F%3Fiframe_id%3Dtwitter-embed-1194636343869001728%26created_ts%3D1573658474.0%26screen_name%3DIENearth%26text%3DLIVE%2BNOW%253A%250AClick%2Bbelow%2Bto%2Bwatch%2Bthe%2BNorth%2BDakota%2BState%2BPublic%2BService%2BCommission%2Bhearing%2Bregarding%2Bthe%2Bexpansion%2Bof%25E2%2580%25A6%2Bhttps%253A%252F%252Ft.co%252FICMaKf6lBt%26id%3D1194636343869001728%26name%3DIndigenous%2BEnvironmental%2BNetwork
Local community protection of human, environmental, and civil rights is practice of democratic (small d) Constitutional republic. Promotion of economic globalism is about capitalistic hierarchical Establishment profit. The Capitalist Party R&D display self-interest as each political Party Democratic and Republican work to promote their Party over protection of We The People — — From POGO — — http://getinvolved.pogo.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=21295.0&dlv_id=29475
Riverkeeper has been an excellent local-community watchdog — -http://secure.riverkeeper.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=25969.0&dlv_id=31252---Two bills that passed the New York State Legislature earlier this year to protect New Yorkers and the environment from toxic chemicals await Governor Cuomo’s signature. One bill would begin to phase out toxic PFAS fire-fighting foam in New York, which contaminated the City of Newburgh’s primary water supply. The other will ban the likely carcinogenic chemical 1,4 dioxane from household and personal care products such as detergents, shampoos and makeup. Both chemicals pose risks to public health and clean water.
— — — -end of riverkeeper info —
But when all of local community members demand protection from poisoning, we will witness a functioning democratic (small d) Constitutional republicanism (small r) in action — --https://twitter.com/CELDF/status/1194807174272299010?cn=ZmxleGlibGVfcmVjc18y&refsrc=email
— -end of celdf info — —
PGE says it has a “right” to inject toxic fracking waste into their community without consent? Really? This should be a topic for local politicians to handle, or is this their answer to We The People?
It was bound to happen, millennial protesters confront capitalistic hierarchical Establishment — --https://www.blackagendareport.com/obama-condemns-call-out-culture-despite-being-its-biggest-beneficiary----Obama specifically targeted “call out culture” in his conversation with summit attendees. He reprimanded young activists for being so judgmental of others and told them to get over their “wokeness.” Obama denied that correcting a person for using the wrong pronoun is activism at all because it produces no real change. The tendency to “call out” others — -end of bar info — -
Another version of “haters gonna hate” may be “moneymakers gonna make money”. Principle isn’t the point.
Capitalist Party D&R politicians are about promoting big-money interests; control is maintained via the erroneous “2-Party system”, and in self defense, local community members are rallying together to act in democracy, self-reliance, and freedom — --https://mailchi.mp/transitionus/good-news-from-transition-november-2019?e=0d02132bed--- In addition to a handful of stories of transition, in this issue you’ll learn about new techniques for sustainable year-round food production, the encouraging progress of local and global food collectives, the triumphs and trials of small farmers and urban gardeners, the practice of conscious eating, and even a few really delicious planet-friendly recipes to try. — -end of transitionus info — -
These are reasons many voters support Bernie Sanders for President in 2020 — --https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMwN9s_Q77o
Bernie dominates new Latino poll
Trump voters crossing over to vote D — -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vlkw-WiW6o---
Panel EXPLODES over Russian accusation about Tulsi
State-run/corporate-owned mainstream media won’t tell you that this Nurses Union has endorsed Bernie Sanders — — You know him by his friends — —
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCJvASlbcw8---
Sanders Senior Advisor: Why polls might underestimate Sanders’ support
If voters for Bernie Sanders are again denied their right to free, fair, and clean elections in 2020 as was the case in 2016, one will vote for Green Party Presidential candidate Howie Hawkins — --https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABW-_2lnn00&list=PLW7TK9lzeXuCHip4IHFHVZOHkMK7jtEta----
PRIMO NUTMEG #175: Howie Hawkins
**************************************************************************************************************************************************
Some voters in the US were disenfranchised due to Capitalist Party D&R election rigging that is controlled by political Parties. The Capitalist Party R&D, have as their objective, putting in place rules that ensure the candidate choice of a particular Establishment Party is put into office, even against the wishes of the voters.
Please remember political Parties have no standing under the US Constitution, but voters do have standing under the US Constitution. Due to disenfranchisement of 3rd-Party candidates, Bernie Sanders who is an Independent, chooses to run as a Democrat for President. If a voter is a member of a 3rd-Party, and wishes to vote for 3rd-Party politician Bernie Sanders, in the Democratic Primary, that voter may be disenfranchised of his/her Constitutional right of a free and fair election, as happened to a large number of voters in NYS in 2016.
One suspects these disenfranchised voters who may have felt defrauded of their right to vote in the 2016 Democratic Primary, voted for Trump in the 2016 general election. One believes this will happen again, because needless to say, the Capitalist Party R&D prefer chaos in the election system, which is a control mechanism for political Parties with no standing under the US Constitution, while the voters do have standing under the US Constitution. This is an interesting red-herring to wield a control that is not Constitutional.
*****Each state is different as to their voter registration guidelines. Anyone wishing to vote for Bernie Sanders for President in the Democratic Primary, should check to be sure they will not be disenfranchised at the polls, once again in 2020, as in 2016. A voter can easily switch between political Parties, rather than functioning as a captive Party loyalist, to a political Party that is not loyal to the voter. *****
Or one can be registered to vote, without being affiliated to a particular political Party. Please remember, the US Constitution supports free and fair elections for voters, but is blissfully unconcerned about political Parties. That some Americans believe “we are a 2-Party system”, is nothing but propaganda.
*****Be sure to check with your state to register to vote in the Primary according to your wish and by exercising your US Constitutional right to vote.*****
*****One may also advocate for ranked-choice voting, that will expand choices for voters, and provide a greater possibility of free and fair elections.*****
*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
We can do better — — -Credit for this phrase belongs to a fellow financial planner, name to remain private, who expressed this opinion about 30 years ago, and which phrase was so non-threatening, sensible and meaningful, that it has echoed through one’s thoughts ever since. Any similarity of words used currently by public characters is coincidence. The English language has a limited number of words, which generally aren’t patented.
https://www.haudenosauneeconfederacy.com/influence-on-democracy/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pIDtvTydkU&t=638s
In Solidarity With People And Nature —
www.mothersoutfront.org
www.facebook.com/gpnjbc ;; — Green Black Caucus
www.greenpeaceusa.org
www.economichumanrights.org
www.draftbernie.org
www.psr.org
www.blackyouthproject.com
www.riverkeeper.org
www.catskillmountainkeeper.org
www.celdf.org
www.wearesenecalake.com
www.democracynow.org
www.gp.org
https://www.greenparty.org/Platform.php
www.freepress.net
www.codepink.org
www.m4bl.net
www.starhawk.org
www.openthebooks.org
www.nyipl.org
www.pogo.org
www.opensecrets.org
A Resource — www.7song.com
|
https://medium.com/@jeanhhricik/capitalism-abandons-local-community-c8a65334f9f2
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['Jean Hhricik']
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2019-11-14 17:57:57.462000+00:00
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['Climate Change', 'Howie Hawkins', 'Health', 'Bernie Sanders', 'Justice']
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The basics of looking for a job: Be seen
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Over the past few days, we have been vetting candidates who have applied to herjobs.co.
If you are a candidate with years of experience, you might not even have to look for a job. Good companies will find you.
But often that is not the case, the first one or two jobs, the first few years — you have to make some efforts to be seen.
A surprisingly large percentage of candidates don’t have enough information on their Linkedin or socials to help the companies make an educated guess.
Following is a quick write-up on how to improve your web presence, and do it optimally. These are the absolute basics.
Linkedin
Love it or hate it — most companies still use Linkedin as a place to understand who you are. The goal of skimming through Linkedin is to identify what you have been doing in your past job.
Give them enough information to make that judgment.
Title
A lot of people have just one word or sentence about what they do. Most of the time, this is not helpful for the company to make an educated guess.
Take some time to write a good intro about yourself in the title section.
Use the Pyramid principle to write this effectively.
Start with what you do and who you are. Follow it up with your story.
Explain stuff like your background, what you are passionate about, what you like about your career.
Share everything interesting about you. Use the storytelling technique to make yourself sound more interesting.
Work experience
A large percentage of the Linkedin profile has an incomplete work experience section. Not everyone would have heard of the companies that you have previously worked. Take time to explain your role in the company.
Explain what you did daily there. If you are a developer, share links to some exciting features you helped ship. You can do this if you are a designer or product manager too.
Again, keep in mind — the goal here is to give companies enough data about yourself to make an educated guess so that you get an interview call.
Personal website
In 2020, creating a personal website is easier than ever. You don’t need to code. You can create beautiful personal websites or portfolios using tools like Webflow, WordPress, or even Notion.
While it is not a must-have, a personal website gives you a chance to express yourself. Again, another point to give a lot of data about yourself.
If you are a designer or product manager, you can include case studies of some work you did in the past.
If you are a web developer, you can include the products you have built — extra points for hosting it somewhere and providing a link to it.
If you are a marketer, share some exciting campaigns you have run in the past. How did it go? What did you learn?
Blogs
Optional, but nice to have our blogs. You do not have to write about advanced topics. Trying to write about what you learned in simple terms itself is a huge plus.
There are two advantages to writing.
You have a better understanding of what you learned You let others know what you learned
While this is not a necessity, well-written blogs can help you get an interview call.
Writing too is easier than ever. You can use Medium for your blogs.
Resume
You can get creative with resumes. But one thing you do not want to do with resumes is to include unnecessary information — this might contradict the idea of giving enough information to help the companies make that guess.
But keep in mind that there is a difference between useful information and a lot of information.
For example, knowing your blood group from your resume would not help me in any way. I love a one or two-page resume. Anything more than that is oftentimes a turn-off.
You can also get creative with your resumes — For example, you can create a resume using Notion.
Other sources
For developers — Github is an absolute must-have. Showcase your projects, show some code that you have written in the past.
If you are a designer, you can show off your skills with a Dribbble or Behance profile.
Even Twitter helps to reflect your personality to an extend.
|
https://medium.com/herjobs/the-basics-of-looking-for-a-job-be-seen-5e96c7bb64bb
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['Sooraj Chandran']
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2020-10-30 08:09:20.917000+00:00
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['Diversity', 'Resume', 'Career Advice', 'Job Hunting', 'Diversity In Tech']
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Bad VC
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Originally published by Mikaal Abdulla
I am writing this on behalf of every entrepreneur that has had the guts to start a business and raise venture capital. Anyone who says that raising money is easy simply has not endured it. There is a notion that Asia is awash with venture capital. We see the headlines that billions is being poured into startups from Beijing to Singapore and everywhere in between. The reality is that most of that venture capital is going into very few late-stage companies that are on a clear path to success. At any given moment, there are hundreds of thousands of startups that need venture capital. However, only 2% will get it. Let me begin by saying that I don’t think every idea or founder deserves to be funded by venture capital. Raising money is a rite of passage and a very important filter in the startup game. That said, why does the process of raising venture capital so miserable?
I estimate that I have had at least 150 investor meetings over the life of my startup. That is under 20 per year so I am being conservative. Although my company has raised $60 million to date, more than 95% of the investor meetings did not result in an investment. Those are generally the odds most startups face. At this stage, my co-founder and I can usually determine whether an investor is serious within a few minutes. Nonetheless, we have a policy that we take 100% of meetings because you never know where it may lead. I have seen a lot of bad behavior from investors over the years. This includes disappearing after signing a term sheet (you know who you are), sharing confidential documents from our data room with a competitor (you definitely know who you are) and colluding with other investors on price (yeah, I am talking to you). I could list ten more examples of bad VC behavior. However, it’s a seemingly benign characteristic that seems to run deep in so many VCs in Asia. That characteristic is a lack of empathy. Empathy deficiency is what really makes Asia’s venture capitalists special…and not in a good way.
If you ask founders what quality they most value in a shareholder it’s empathy. Why empathy? Because startups are hard. More days than not are difficult and come with a unique set of challenges. Entrepreneurs need investors that understand that first hand and will have their back during tough times. Waking up to find out your best engineer has resigned, your product broke overnight and you can’t pay your rent next month is the norm. Anyone who runs a company knows exactly what I mean. To be truly empathetic, an ideal investor needs to have experienced these trials first hand. In Asia, we simply have not gone through enough cycles of entrepreneurs having successful exits and then moving to the other side of the table. While we see more entrepreneurs in the US become venture capitalists, it’s uncommon in Asia. When I am in a venture capital meeting, I am usually sitting across the table from a financial investor who has never been in my shoes. Venture capital firms in Asia are teeming with excel jockeys who ask the same set of unimaginative questions. What sets the good VCs apart from the bad is empathy. Empathy, empathy, empathy.
Here are three tips to those VCs that care to improve the reputation of their industry in the minds of entrepreneurs. While the majority of you believe you are the exception, the majority of entrepreneurs would beg to differ.
Your time is not more valuable than ours
We are busy trying to build a business, don’t waste our time. Sending a WhatsApp to cancel a meeting twenty minutes after the said appointment should have started is not cool. Asking for a meeting then spending it buried in your phone is infuriating. Taking a meeting to say at the end that you do not invest in my industry is mind-numbing. That would have been so good to know an hour ago. While the investment may be 1% of your portfolio always remember that its 100% of the entrepreneur’s. Time is an entrepreneur’s biggest asset. Be respectful of it. It is no less important than yours.
Get out of the spreadsheet
Let me let you in on a little secret. The startup is not going to execute the five-year forecast you are looking at. Both the startup and the market will go through five iterations by lunchtime. Spend your time on the bigger picture and not row 39 in the spreadsheet. It is incredible how little time is spent in VC meetings actually talking about strategy and opportunity and instead of why the LTV discount rate is only 10%. Open your minds and leave the forensics for at least the second meeting.
Make a decision
The vast majority of VC interactions are one way. You ask for information, you take the information and then there is a deafening silence. Say yes, no or maybe. It’s not that complicated. You need to understand the interaction is always on the entrepreneur’s mind even though it may no longer be on yours. Sending information to a venture capitalist and later wishing you hadn’t is something every entrepreneur can relate too. The regret feels like eating McDonald’s. If you could do it over you wouldn’t. If I had a dollar for every VC who thinks zero feedback is acceptable, I would have the biggest liquidity event in Asia. Take the 1 minute it takes to let the entrepreneur know where you stand. If you don’t, they will never forget it.
In conclusion, the startup you treat like a donkey today could be tomorrow’s unicorn. If you don’t want to be on the sideline watching then up your empathy game. You can’t fake it. Empathy is everything so ignore it at your peril. Your industry needs you to to better.
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https://medium.com/whub/bad-vc-9a04fc4c1a57
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[]
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2020-04-06 02:18:28.057000+00:00
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['Venture Capital', 'Whubcommunitycuration', 'VC', 'Startup', 'Entrepreneurship']
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How to Prevent Neck and Back Pain When Carrying a Bucket Seat
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Do you have a baby? Bucket seats get heavy to carry quickly and you want to prevent neck and back pain don’t you? If you’re carrying a bucket car seat like most people have been for decades, it won’t be long before you start having some form of neck and back pain. And most people don’t think of the consequences of carrying the bucket seat the way it has been carried forever.
When your baby is only 6, 7, or 8 pounds, it’s not really a big deal to lift, pull, slide, and swing that bucket around. But when your baby becomes more than twice that weight, you’re going to start to wonder why your carrying shoulder hurts, why your elbow is always sore, and why your wrist and hand cramp all the time. And how have you carried a weight like this in an awkward position? Almost never, and now you’re doing it ALL DAY LONG, EVERY DAY!
In this video, Dr. Bajor shows you the proper and ‘cool’ way to carry that bucket seat that minimizes stress on your spine and makes even the heaviest baby a breeze to carry around!
Watch, learn, and share! 95% of people do not know this carrying technique but this is the way to go!
Please feel free to visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/accesswellness! Dr. Jacqueline Boyd and Paul Bajor are the only husband and wife chiropractic team in Airdrie, Alberta. Their practice, Access Chiropractic and Wellness, is located at #120, 52 Gateway Drive NE in the north of Airdrie. They have been in practice in Airdrie since 2004 and in practice since 2001. They have two kids named Liam and Julia and have a large family based practice. They have a vested interest in keeping Airdrie and surrounding communities healthy because Airdrie is also their home.
Drs. Jacqueline Boyd and Paul Bajor are also both registered and active members of the ICPA (International Chiropractic Pediatric Association).
www.accesschiropractic.net
#airdriechiropractor #airdriechiropractors #accesschiropractic #airdriemoms #airdriedads #airdriealberta #backpain
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https://medium.com/@pbajor2001/how-to-prevent-neck-and-back-pain-when-carrying-a-bucket-seat-c32f7fd9b03b
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['Paul Bajor']
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2020-03-17 22:42:17.623000+00:00
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['Baby', 'Chiropractic Calgary', 'Car Seat', 'Back Pain Treatment', 'Back Pain']
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Sharing Windows Folders for Containers
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Docker users know, when you delete or come off from a container, you made all the changes on the container are also removed. This made all the changes must be protecting and saving before deleting or coming off. You should transfer your changes to a safe place to your cloud or your local.
Docker containers are completely isolated from Windows or MacOS systems. If you want to have configuration files or other assets remain persistent, or all the changes must be protected, for this try mounting Windows folders on containers.
Let’s get started then. You must follow these steps to make setting:
Setting General Resource
Setting
Docker Desktop menu allows you to configure your Docker settings such as installation, updates, version channels, Docker Hub login, and more. We have to go Setting too.
Open the Docker Desktop menu by clicking the Docker icon in the Notifications area and select Settings to open the Settings dialog:
General
On the General tab of the Settings dialog, you can configure when to start or update Docker. (I will not talk about them as they are not the subject of this post.) We have to do the first settıng here.
Attention:
The File sharing tab is only available in Hyper-V mode, because in WSL 2 mode and Windows container mode all files are automatically shared by Windows.
Resources
The Resources tab allows you to configure CPU, memory, disk, proxies, network, and other resources. Different settings are available for configuration depending on whether you are using Linux containers in WSL 2 mode, Linux containers in Hyper-V mode, or Windows containers.
You should use ‘File sharing’ to allow local directories on Windows to be shared with Linux containers. This is especially useful for editing source code in an IDE on the host while running and testing the code in a container. ?Note that configuring file sharing is not necessary for Windows containers, only Linux containers. If a directory is not shared with a Linux container you may get a file not found or cannot start service errors at runtime.
File share settings are:
Click + and navigate to the directory you want to add for adding your directory.
Apply & Restart makes the directory available to containers using Docker’s bind mount (-v) feature.
That’s it.
If you want additional information for sharing or advanced settings please visit Docker documentary. Click it.
|
https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/sharing-windows-folders-for-containers-4539f7ed2acf
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['Huseyin Elci']
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2020-12-22 16:32:44.856000+00:00
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['Folder Sharing', 'Container', 'Docker', 'Windows 10', 'File Sharing']
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Invictus Capital: Weekly Wrap 17.09
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The weekly wrap can be delivered to your inbox at the end of each week by subscribing to the Invictus Capital newsletter at the bottom of the homepage Market News
Despite this week’s release of the much-anticipated August US inflation numbers, traditional markets were relatively quiet. While inflation is running high at over 4%, this is still in line with market expectations for this stage of the recovery. Despite being in line with expectations, bond yields climbed this week, with the markets increasingly convinced that the Fed will begin tapering the pace of QE this year. Chinese markets are also being dragged down by signs of slowing manufacturing growth and the ongoing Evergrande solvency crisis (incidentally, Tether came out this week to deny claims that they were exposed to Evergrande bonds, but importantly did not deny holding other Chinese corporate debt — which would be at risk in a contagion scenario).
The combined effects saw stock markets continue to slide, with China faring poorly, and with EU indices managing to remain essentially flat. Gold also fell under the weight of a firming dollar and rising real yields, which hamper the attractiveness of holding assets without cash flows — like gold.
In contrast, the past week has witnessed improving crypto market sentiment, with traders eying positive technical indicators; futures markets are reasonably bullish with positive funding rates on perpetual contracts having returned. While sentiment is improving, many are still cautious as Bitcoin nears the $50,000 resistance level. Some are calling for further price consolidation as we near the expiration of quarterly options next Friday. At the time of publication, Bitcoin and Ethereum were up around 3% for the week. The past week also saw sector rotation from Ethereum alternatives as frothy sentiment in the sector was curbed by outages experienced by both Solana and Arbitrum (a top contender in the Ethereum scaling wars).
Touted by many to be a potential Ethereum killer, Solana is down over 20% for the week after downtime that lasted a full day — sowing doubts as to the feasibility of a blockchain model that sacrifices some level of decentralization in exchange for scalability. This brought the crypto’s stellar run (up over 5x since July, with an over $60 billion market cap at the peak) to a grinding halt. Solana has garnered significant attention due to its scalability and low transaction costs — making it an obvious rival to Ethereum. Solana appears to have become a victim of its success as the surge in users driven in part by a booming NFT space has resulted in scaling problems emerging — though it is important to keep in mind that the project is still in beta phase. The outage is somewhat reminiscent of the teething issues experienced by Ethereum during 2017’s ICO era that saw the blockchain go through short periods of unusability.
$AVAX, the native token behind Ethereum layer-2 Avalanche, bucked the week’s trend and surged with a Thursday announcement of a $230 million funding round led by Three Arrows Capital and Polychain.
This week also saw the announcement of our foray into the DeFi space, with the announcement of our DeFi fund planned to launch early 2022, see the link to our Medium post below.
Indicators (10 September — 17 September)
The Invictus Podcast: Episode 3
Welcome to the Invictus Podcast. As builders of the new financial system, we speak to our peers and industry leaders in the blockchain space.
This week our hosts Haydn Hammond and Jason Welz speak to Zachary Cefaratti, the CEO of Dalma Capital.
Check it out here.
Invictus DeFi Fund Announcement
Invictus recently announced news of an exciting fund planned to launch early next year:
Register your interest here!
Invictus Yield Vault
The Invictus Yield Vault allows qualifying lenders the opportunity to lend a minimum amount of $50,000 BTC, ETH and/or Stablecoins for highly competitive interest rates to Invictus Alpha, Invictus Capital’s trading division.
To view our rates and contact our Vault team, please visit our landing page.
The rates recently increased!
Borrow Against Your Crypto With Peace of Mind
Crypto users can now borrow against their crypto secure in the knowledge that their investment will not get liquidated.
Invictus Alpha (the trading company of Invictus Capital) has engineered a new product that is offering users the opportunity to borrow USD-based stablecoins (or BTC and ETH) against BTC and ETH with no risk of liquidation.
Check out the articles here and here. To inquire, please complete this form.
Other News & Links
|
https://medium.com/@deaninvictuscapital/invictus-capital-weekly-wrap-17-09-61d577e4d0da
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['Dean Adair']
|
2021-09-17 16:31:44.313000+00:00
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['Financial Services', 'Fintech', 'Blockchain', 'Crypto', 'Market News']
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How does Panorama work?. Panorama effect! Yes, that’s what we…
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Image Stitching
Panorama effect! Yes, that’s what we will uncover in this post.
Image mosaicing/stitching is the task of sticking one/more input images. We have information spread across these images which we would like to see at once. In a single image!
We all have used Panorama mode on mobile camera. In this mode, the image-mosaicing algorithm runs to capture and combine images. But we can use the same algo offline also. See the image below, where we have pre-captured images and we want to combine them. Observe the hill is partially visible in both inputs.
When you have multiple images to combine, the general approach followed is to pairwise add 2 images each time. The output of last addition is used as an input for the next image.
Assumption is that each pair of images under consideration do have certain features common.
Left and Right images stitched together using local features of interest points
Let’s see the step by step procedure for creating a panorama image:
Step 1] Read Input Images
Take images with some overlapping structure/object. If you are using own camera then make sure you do not change camera properties while taking pictures. Moreover, do not take many similar structures in the frame. We do not want to confuse our tiny little algorithm.
Now read both first two images in OpenCV.
def createPanorama(input_img_list):
images = []
dims = []
for index, path in enumerate(input_img_list):
print (path)
images.append(cv2.imread(path))
dims.append(images[index].shape)
return images, dims
Step 2] Compute SIFT features
Detect features/interest points for both images. These points are unique identifiers which are used as markers. We will use SIFT features. It is a popular local features detection and description algorithm. It is used in many computer vision object matching tasks. Some other examples of feature descriptors are SURF, HOG.
SIFT uses a pyramidal approach using DOG (difference of gaussian). Features thus obtained will be invariant to scale. It is good for panorama kind of applications wherein images might have features variations in rotations, scale, lighting, etc.
## Define feature type
feature_typye = cv2.xfeatures2d.SIFT_create()
points1, des1 = features.detectAndCompute(image1, None)
points2, des2 = features.detectAndCompute(image2, None)
Here points1 is a list of key points whereas des1 is a list of descriptors expressed in the feature space of SIFT. Each descriptor will be a 1x128 vector
Step 3] Match strong interest points
Now we will be matching points based on vector representation. We will assume a certain threshold for deciding whether two points are near or not
OpenCV has inbuilt FLANN based Matcher for this purpose. It is a histogram based matching technique which computes the distance for 2 points described in SIFT feature space.
## Define flann based matcher
matcher = cv2.FlannBasedMatcher()
matches = matcher.knnMatch(des1,des2,k=2) # important features
imp = []
for i, (one, two) in enumerate(matches):
if one.distance < dist_threshold*two.distance:
imp.append((one.trainIdx, one.queryIdx))
Step 4] Calculate the homography
Now that we have matching points identified in both images, we will use them to get the generic relationship between images. This relationship is defined in the literature as homography. It is a relationship between image1 and image2 described as a matrix.
We need to transform one image into other image’s space using the homography matrix. We can do either way from image 1 to 2 or image 2 to 1 since the homography matrix (3x3 in this case) will be square and non-singular. Only thing is that we need to be consistent while passing points to homography.
I have used my own RANSAC based approach to get a Homography matrix. But you can also use inbuilt OpenCV function cv2.findHomography()
### RANSAC
def ransac_calibrate(real_points , image_points, total_points, image_path, iterations): index_list = list(range(total_points))
iterations = min(total_points - 1, iterations)
errors = list(np.zeros(iterations))
combinations = []
p_estimations=[] for i in range(iterations):
selected = random.sample(index_list,4)
combinations.append(selected)
real_selected =[]
image_selected =[] for x in selected:
real_selected.append(real_points[x])
image_selected.append(image_points[x]) p_estimated = dlt_calibrate(real_selected, image_selected, 4) not_selected = list(set(index_list) - set(selected))
error = 0
for num in tqdm(not_selected): # get points from the estimation
test_point = list(real_points[num])
test_point = [int(x) for x in test_point]
test_point = test_point + [1] try:
xest, yest = calculate_image_point(p_estimated, np.array(test_point), image_path)
except ValueError:
continue error = error + np.square(abs(np.array(image_points[num])-np.asarray([xest,yest])))
# print("estimated :",np.array([xest, yest]) )
# print("actual :",image_points[0])
# print("error :",error)
errors.append(np.mean(error))
p_estimations.append(p_estimated) p_final = p_estimations[errors.index(min(errors))]
return p_final ,errors, p_estimations
Step 5] Transform images into the same space
Compute the second image transformed coordinates using the homography matrix output of step 4.
image2_transformed = H*image2
Step 6] Let’s do the stitching...
After computing transformed images we get two images each having some information separate and some common w.r.t. other. When it is separate the other image will have 0 intensity value at the corresponding location
We need to fuse with the help of this info at every location while keeping overlapping info intact.
It is a pixel level operation which technically can be optimized by doing image level add, subtract, bitwise_and, etc, but I found the output was getting compromised in doing this manipulation. Output generated with old-school for-loop based approach to choose the maximum pixel from the corresponding input pixels worked better.
## get maximum of 2 images
for ch in tqdm(range(3)):
for x in range(0, h):
for y in range(0, w):
final_out[x, y, ch] = max(out[x,y, ch], i1_mask[x,y, ch])
See the output below:
Although the post was just a small guide, you can refer to the entire code available here.
|
https://medium.com/tech-that-works/how-does-panorama-work-image-stitching-bf1a9f0e4fa5
|
['Samrudha Kelkar']
|
2019-06-03 06:58:26.190000+00:00
|
['Machine Learning', 'Computer Vision', 'Image Processing', 'Panoramic Image Stitching', 'Panorama']
|
Overview of the Various Types of Hardware Prototypes
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There are many types of prototypes that you will hear about when developing a new hardware product. Each stage of bringing your product to market has different prototype requirements.
Unfortunately, a single prototype is never sufficient for bringing a commercial product to market. No matter how advanced computer-aided-design has become any new product will require multiple prototype iterations.
You always want to start off with the simplest, lowest cost type of prototype. Then, gain as much information as you can from that prototype before transitioning to a more expensive category of prototype.
In this article I’m going to review all of the different types of prototypes you may need along the path to market.
Keep in mind that as an entrepreneur you will rarely fund all of these prototypes yourself. At some point you will likely need outside funding to help finance some of the later stage prototypes. The ideal stage to begin seeking outside funding is something I will discuss as well.
NOTE: This is a long, very detailed article so here’s a free PDF version of it for easy reading and future reference.
Proof-of-Concept (POC)
A proof-of-concept (POC) prototype is, as it’s name implies, an early stage prototype for proving the basic concept of the product. Rarely will a POC prototype function identically to the final product, and it will never look like the final product.
A POC has only one goal — to prove the fundamental concept of the product at the lowest cost possible.
For the majority of electronic hardware products, a POC prototype will be built on an electronics development kit such as an Arduino or Raspberry Pi.
A proof-of-concept prototype is usually only used to determine the practicality of a new product idea. It will rarely be seen by customers. In most cases, a prototype much closer to a production version will be necessary for presenting to customers and investors.
Creating a proof-of-concept prototype makes the most sense if you have fundamental questions about whether your product can actually solve the intended problem.
Figure 1 — A proof-of-concept (POC) prototype is built from off-the-shelf components and is commonly based on an Arduino or Raspberry Pi.
If there are multiple ways to solve a target problem, but you are unsure of which solution is best, then a proof-of-concept prototype can provide a lot of insight. Fundamental questions, such as the basic solution option, are much better determined by a POC prototype than with a custom Printed Circuit Board (PCB).
If you are technical enough to create your own POC prototype then it makes even more sense. You may not have the engineering skills to develop your own custom PCB design for the production version of your product, but many of you can learn the skills necessary to build your own POC prototype with an Arduino or Raspberry Pi.
If you don’t have the skills to create your own POC prototype, and/or you have no major questions about the feasibility of your solution, it is probably better to skip the POC prototype altogether. Instead, focus on outsourcing the development of the production version of your product.
Most large tech companies bypass the POC stage primarily because they know it’s a quicker path to market if they instead focus all their efforts on developing the production version. They also have a lot more money than you do allowing them to take expensive shortcuts that you likely shouldn’t take.
Some design engineers also scoff at the concept of a POC prototype because they know they are rarely similar to the final production version.
Regardless, if you have fundamental questions or concerns about your solution, and you have a limited budget, then creating a POC prototype will be time well spent. The downside is it may increase the time it takes to get your product to market.
Looks-Like Prototype
When first prototyping a new product it’s usually necessary to split the task into two parts each with its own purpose. For most products you will initially want to separate the appearance of the product from the function of the product.
These are commonly referred to as looks-like prototypes and works-like prototypes.
A looks-like prototype is for the exterior of a product which will be made of plastic or metal, whereas a works-like prototype is usually focused on the internal electronics.
Optimizing the look, form, feel, and aesthetics of a product is the purpose of a looks-like prototype.
Most looks-like prototypes are created with 3D printing technology which is an additive process. This means material is added in layers to form the final shape.
Figure 2- 3D printing is the most common method of producing looks-like prototypes. But CNC machining and even simple options like clay and foam should be not be neglected.
However, for some products CNC machining is a better solution. CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machining is a subtractive process.
CNC machining starts with a solid block of the chosen material (usually plastic or metal) and then the final shape is carved out from that block by removing material.
One key advantage of CNC machining compared to 3D printing is that you can use the desired production plastic instead of 3D printer resins that only simulate the production plastic.
Different plastics have different characteristics so for many products the plastic type is critical to appearance and/or function of the final product.
Also, don’t neglect old techniques like foam and clay which can be very helpful in the beginning stages. Both of these “technologies” allow you to quickly and cheaply transform a concept into something you can hold in your hand.
For my own hardware product my earliest prototypes where made of clay which provided me critical feedback on how the product felt in a user’s hands.
Always start out with the simplest, cheapest methods of prototyping. Learn as much as you can from these low cost prototypes before migrating up to more advanced prototyping technologies.
It is much easier (and cheaper) to iterate a foam or clay prototype than a 3D printed prototype. Starting with clay prototypes may even reduce the number of prototype iterations required once you upgrade to 3D printing.
As you work your way up the prototyping technology hierarchy you will find that design changes become more and more complicated.
Clay prototypes are trivial to change, 3D printed prototypes are moderately complex/expensive to modify, and injection molded prototypes are the most complex to upgrade.
Works-Like Prototype
Now it’s time to focus on the functionality of the product, which for most hardware products means the internal electronics.
For a Proof-of-Concept prototype you will usually build the electronics entirely from off-the-shelf components and development kits such as an Arduino or Raspberry Pi.
In fact, a POC prototype can be considered an early version of a works-like prototype.
But for your production works-like prototype you will need to develop a custom Printed Circuit Board (PCB) to hold and connect all of the discrete electronic components.
Because of this, there is typically a big jump in technical skills required to go from a POC to a production-level, works-like prototype.
Figure 3 — There is a drastic jump in the technical skill to develop a custom PCB compared to the skill needed to make a POC using off-the-shelf components.
Many founders have the skills (or can learn them) to develop a Proof-of-Concept prototype, but to develop a custom PCB for your works-like prototype requires significant engineering design experience.
If you are fortunate enough to have these skills then you will save thousands of dollars on development fees. Engineers are expensive and the development of this custom PCB is commonly the most expensive development cost you will face.
Engineering Prototype
An engineering prototype (also sometimes called a works-like-looks-like prototype) is the first time that appearance and functionality come together in a single prototype.
Once you have an engineering prototype you finally will have something of sufficient quality to show customers and investors.
Figure 4 — An engineering prototype merges the works-like and looks-like designs together into a single prototype.
This is the point where seeking outside investors becomes a bit more practical. By getting to this stage you’ve essentially removed most of the engineering and manufacturing risk. Investors obviously love this reduction in risk.
For my own hardware product I funded the development myself up to this stage. I was then able to use my prototype to get a large, national retailer interested in my product.
From there, I leveraged that success to find a manufacturer willing to fund the remaining prototype stages.
With an engineering prototype you are finally getting close to the production prototype, but it still hasn’t been tested or prepared for mass production.
Pre-Production Prototype
This is a works-like-looks-like prototype that has been optimized for manufacturing. This is very close to the final product your customers will see. In most cases, it should also include the retail package if the product will be sold via retail outlets.
Although the pre-production prototype may look and function very similar to the works-like-looks-like prototype, the key difference is manufacturability.
During product development many entrepreneurs underestimate the work needed to migrate from a prototype to a product which can be efficiently manufactured.
Making a few prototypes is completely different than manufacturing millions of units. In most cases, considerable additional design effort is required to prepare the design for mass manufacturing.
For example, 3D printing or CNC machining are typically used when prototyping the product’s enclosure. For mass manufacturing, high-pressure injection molding will be the technology used to produce the enclosure.
3D printing and CNC machining are very forgiving technologies and you can prototype just about any shape of plastic you can imagine. This is not the case with injection molding.
Injection molding has very strict production requirements. After you finalize your 3D printed prototypes it will be necessary to further upgrade the design for injection molding.
Engineering Validation Test (EVT)
Once you have a finished engineering prototype it’s time to begin testing it to validate that it works exactly as specified.
Figure 5 — The goal of the EVT stage is to prove that your product design meets the functional, performance, and reliability requirements.
The first stage of this testing is called Engineering Validation Testing (EVT). This stage of testing focuses on the electronics. Typically between 10–50 units will be tested during EVT.
EVT will include testing the basic functionality but also doing various stress tests to ensure there are no hidden problems. This includes power, thermal and EMI testing.
The goal of EVT is to validate that your prototype meets the functional, performance, and reliability specifications.
Design Validation Test (DVT)
The Design Validation Test (DVT) is one of the most complex stages. It’s goal is to ensure the product meets any necessary cosmetic and environmental specifications.
A significantly larger number of units will be needed than for the EVT stage, typically 50–200 units.
These units will be very aggressively tested including drop, fire, and waterproof testing. Validating that the product is durable enough to withstand day to day use is one of the primary goals of design validation testing.
This is also commonly the stage at which electrical certifications are obtained. This includes certifications such as FCC, CE, UL, and RoHS to name a few.
Because of the cost and time required to obtain the necessary electrical certifications, the process is usually delayed until the DVT stage. This is to ensure that no other design changes are required after certification testing begins.
Of course, if any problems are found during the certification testing process then design modifications may be necessary to correct them.
Production Validation and Testing (PVT)
The PVT stage will be your first official production run. You will establish a pilot production line with the priority of optimizing your production process.
The focus here will be on improving your scrap rate, assembly time, and quality control process by optimizing your production line, but not by making any further product design changes (unless a serious design issue is discovered).
A small pilot production run of several hundred units is typical. And if no problems are found these can be your first units that can be sold!
Conclusion
Don’t be in a rush to move up to more advanced prototyping technologies until you have gained all of the information you can from less complex, lower cost technologies.
The idea that you simply create a single prototype (or two) and then just jump into full production should now be clearly seen as a myth.
Are you frustrated and overwhelmed trying to develop and bring your own hardware product to market? If so, now you can finally get the help you need to succeed in the Hardware Academy.
|
https://medium.com/hacksters-blog/overview-of-the-various-types-of-hardware-prototypes-60d33d92e3a3
|
['John Teel']
|
2019-09-23 14:06:34.996000+00:00
|
['Entrepreneurship', 'Startup', 'Electronics', 'Engineering', 'Product Design']
|
SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK!
|
SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK!
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
I know what you’re thinking the answer is “WHEN SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK!!” and while I do agree to a certain extent, I think that sleep is very important.
The problem is that when you are running a startup, if you have employees, if you are working on your own or even if you have a family and/or a full-time job then it can be hard to make time for yourself and get the right amount of sleep.
I used to be able to get by on very little sleep but now as an entrepreneur with an international team of people working for me, I find that my sleeping habits have suffered greatly.
I’ve had many discussions with other entrepreneurs about how much sleep they get and each one has said different things. Some say they get by on anywhere from 3–5 hours of sleep per night, some say they need 8–10 hours, some say more than 10.
My recommendation is this:
First off take a good look at your lifestyle and make sure your diet is in check and that you are getting the right amount of exercise (which for me personally has been difficult to do).
If that doesn’t help then try reducing your time spent on social media (because even though we love it it can really suck away valuable hours from our day).
Finally if all else fails then go ahead and take a look at trying to get more sleep but just make sure you are doing everything possible before trying this because people tend to slack off on this after the first week or so because they think “hey I’m not getting enough sleep anyways so might as well stay up later.”
It can be easy for startups especially if everyone else around you is doing it too but just remember we all know how important putting our best foot forward is when trying to raise money or acquire new customers/clients so don’t let yourself go overboard on this one either because as we all know too much isn’t good!
What are the best tips for getting more sleep as a startup founder?
First off make sure you are taking care of your body. This means eating healthy, trying to get enough exercise and if you have any medical conditions then make sure you take care of those too.
Next, make sure you aren’t spending too much time on social media (again I know I know but it can really suck) and finally just remember that it is okay to say “no” to things and that you shouldn’t feel bad about taking time for yourself either.
A lot of people don’t take this seriously but I can tell you from personal experience that when I was in Junior College I got less than 6 hours of sleep per night consistently for years. As a result I had trouble focusing in class and most importantly suffered from extreme brain fog throughout the day.
It wasn’t until I started taking more time off and sleeping longer that I noticed how much more focused and productive I was. This is why if you are an entrepreneur then you need to value your time and just be aware that it is okay to take some downtime to allow yourself to recharge.
I hope this post has helped you out in some way and as always if you have any questions or comments feel free to drop them below in the comment section.
About the Author
I am the Founder of Cudy Technologies (www.cudy.co), a full-stack EdTech startup helping teachers and students teach and learn better. I am also a mentor and angel investor in other Startups of my other interests (Proptech, Fintech, HRtech, Ride-hailing, C2C marketplaces and SaaS). You can also find me on Cudy for early-stage Startup Founder mentorship and advice.
You can connect with me on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderlhk) and let me know that you are a reader of my Medium posts in your invitation message.
|
https://medium.com/@alexanderlhk/sleep-is-for-the-weak-87941ce7009b
|
['Alexander Lim']
|
2020-12-24 14:01:13.647000+00:00
|
['Sleep', 'Startup', 'Founders', 'Founder Stories', 'Productivity']
|
The State Department Requests Input… Sex Workers Respond
|
Every year, the Department of State puts out an annual call for input on the Trafficking in Persons Report. The report assesses the anti-trafficking efforts of each country, including the United States. Each country is ranked, and unsurprisingly, the US annually labels itself Tier 1, the highest echelon possible.
This year, sex workers and groups led by sex workers contributed to a letter which firmly announced — the worst actor for increasing exploitation and vulnerability to trafficking for people who trade sex was the United States government.
The response focused mainly on the impact of passing FOSTA/SESTA, as well as the seizure of Backpage.com, two actions undertaken by the Federal government in 2018, and the way that has directly harmed the health, safety and well-being of people who trade sex, including those experiencing trafficking and exploitation. These two acts, which resulted in worse labor conditions in venues, increases in vulnerability to exploitation, and increases in targeting by law enforcement.
Other concerns included a consistent conflation of trafficking and all commercial sexual exchange, lack of resources, inadequate service provision options, and requirements to cooperate with law enforcement.
While backers of FOSTA/SESTA and proponents of criminalization, including “End Demand” legislation, continue to celebrate these as wins, it is important to keep the focus not on their campaign value but the violence, victimization and exploitation they cause. This submission is only one piece of what is becoming a louder cry to listen to the only people who were correct in the impact these actions carry: sex workers.
To read the full submission, please click here.
|
https://medium.com/@reframehealthandjustice/the-state-department-requests-input-sex-workers-respond-395075d1ea02
|
['Reframe Health']
|
2019-01-16 16:22:38.802000+00:00
|
['Human Trafficking', 'Sex Work', 'Sex Work Is Real Work']
|
Best ways to consolidate credit card debts- Bright Money
|
Consolidate credit card debts
Consolidate credit card debts
Consolidating card debts can feel daunting. It’s a new kind of debt you may not have accessed before, so let’s look at where to begin and how to measure the benefits.
What are the best ways to consolidate debt?
There are several debtconsolidation options. Not all of them are for everybody, but none of them require excellent credit. Balance transfers and debt consolidation loans are the most common, but let’s look at several, one by one.
Balance transfer credit card- If you have good credit, there’s a good chance that you can transfer the balances of several credit cards to a new balance transfer credit card at a lower interest rate, often with a 0% APR for an introductory period. If you qualify, a credit card balance transfer can be a quick solution offering immediate relief. Credit card debt consolidation loans/ personal loans- A debt consolidation loan is a type of personal loan available from banks, credit unions and online lenders. With this solution, you’ll take the loan’s lump sum and use it pay off your cards. Then, instead of managing always-shifting credit card payments on every month, you’ll only have the loan’s monthly payment — at an annual percentage rate (or APR) lower than you’re paying on your cards. The loan’s lower APR is the real cost-saver here. If you can’t find a consolidation loan with a lower APR than your credit cards, then think twice about this approach. Home equity loan- If you own a home and have enough equity to qualify, you can use a home equity loan or a home equity line of credit (also known as a HELOC) to pay off your credit cards or other debts. Talk to your mortgage provider and compare their terms with other financial institutions. Like personal or consolidation loans, simplified payments under a lower APR are big bonus here. Debt management plan- If transfers and loans aren’t available, or if you’re just don’t want a new loan, consider working with a credit counseling agency, who can set up a debt management plan. Credit counselors often negotiate a debt settlement on your behalf, then take payments from you to pay your creditors. However, unscrupulous organizations abound in this field, aiming to profit off a deal with your creditors. Look for nonprofit credit counseling agencies and survey reviews from previous users.
What are the benefits of consolidating credit card debt?
If you have a lot of debt you’re trying to get rid of, debt consolidation can offer a clear way forward, with more agreeable repayment terms. No matter which method you choose, here are five benefits that apply across the board:
1. Streamlined payments
Instead of tracking multiple due dates each month, consolidate your debts into a single monthly payment, with one monthly due date. This saves you time, and it simplifies budgeting. With the same monthly payment every month, it’s easier to set aside enough funds.
2. Lower interest rates
Personal loans and debt consolidation loans are frequently available at lower APRs than most credit cards. By paying off your high-interest cards and shifting the debt to a loan with a lower fixed interest rate, your savings could be substantial, especially in the long term.
3. Improved credit score
A debt consolidation loan may lower your credit score. It’s behavior that credit reporting agencies view as positive and responsible, often rewarding you with a score boost. If you make regular on-time payments over the loan term, you’ll build a positive credit history, which can improve your score too.
4. Fixed payments
A debt consolidation loan are easier to track and easier to stay on schedule, with regular fixed payments every month. Usually a debt consolidation loan offers a schedule that gives you a clear end to your debt pay offs, which can help focus your efforts and plot a clear path ahead.
5. Lower payments
By consolidating debt, your monthly payment will lower, because you’ll have more time to pay it off, over the loan’s extended term. However, even with a low interest rate, you could end up paying more interest over the total life of the loan.
Is consolidating credit cards bad?
Does consolidating debt ruin your credit? Getting a debt consolidation loan can help lower your monthly payments, but it can also trigger a temporary dip in your score. Always look for loans or balance transfer cards with low or zero origination fees and balance transfer fees. And before diving, make sure you can afford the loan’s proposed repayments.
Here are three ways consolidating debt can affect your credit. Some are good, some are bad.
Hard inquiries on your credit: When you apply for a debt consolidation loan, the lender will perform a hard inquiry on your credit history. This usually takes down your credit score by around 10 points, and it usually stands for about a year after their credit check.
When you apply for a debt consolidation loan, the lender will perform a hard inquiry on your credit history. This usually takes down your credit score by around 10 points, and it usually stands for about a year after their credit check. Change in credit utilization: Lowering your credit utilization ratio can be a good thing for your credit score. Credit utilization measures how much of your total credit limit you’re actively using. If you pay off your cards with through consolidation, you’ll make more card credit available, your credit utilization ratio will go down, and your credit score is likely to go up.
Lowering your credit utilization ratio can be a good thing for your credit score. Credit utilization measures how much of your total credit limit you’re actively using. If you pay off your cards with through consolidation, you’ll make more card credit available, your credit utilization ratio will go down, and your credit score is likely to go up. Average age of accounts may drop: Your credit score fluctuates depending on how long your credit cards and loans have been open. If you consolidate and pay off your cards, consider keeping them open with a zero balance. If might feel good to close old credit card accounts, but the average age of your accounts will go down, taking a toll on your FICO score.
When is it a good idea to consolidate credit card debt?
Consolidation can be a wise financial decision, depending on your financial situation. Here are four financial scenarios where consolidation makes sense:
Your monthly debt payments exceed 50% of your gross income.
Your credit is still good enough to get a low-interest debt consolidation loan or a 0% balance transfer credit card.
You have a stable cash flow to regularly pay off a new consolidation loan.
You’ll be able to pay off a consolidation loan within 5 years.
How Bright can help
Bright can pay off your cards fast, using our new patented MoneyScience™, a system of 34 algorithms that finds the fastest, smartest way to get you debt-free. Bright’s MoneyScience™ studies your finances, moves funds when it makes sense and makes card payments for you, always on time and always optimized to save you money on interest charges, automatically.
Bright does not offer debt consolidation loans. But we offer two other solutions, Bright Credit Builder and Bright Balance Transfers. They’re smart alternatives, with competitive rates and built-in automation.
Bright Credit Builder is an easy way to boost your credit score. Once you’re signed up, we’ll set up an interest-free, secured line of credit and use it to make automatic payments on your cards, building a positive payment history and lowering your credit utilization. Bright Credit Builder focuses on utilization and payment history because as they improve, your credit score goes up!
Bright Balance Transfer offers a low-interest line of credit designed to pay off card debt fast while saving you from high interest charges. Once approved, Bright uses the funds from your Bright Balance Transfer to pay off your high-interest cards, moving those debts to our balance transfer program with its lower APR. Over the months ahead, Bright automates your new repayments, too, so you pay less in interest and it’s hassle-free. Bright Balance Transfers offers credit lines of up to $10,000 at APRs starting from 9.95%, depending on your eligibility.
If you don’t have it yet, download the Bright app from the App Store or GooglePlay. Connect your bank and your cards in a snap, set a few goals and let Bright get to work.
Recommended Readings:
How Much Income You Should Save Each Month
How many credit cards should I have?
Originally published at https://www.brightmoney.co.
|
https://medium.com/help-with-credit-card-debt/best-ways-to-consolidate-credit-card-debts-bright-money-97917b6e29c1
|
['Bright Money']
|
2021-12-24 06:42:20.335000+00:00
|
['Debt', 'Bright Money', 'Financial Planning', 'Personal Finance', 'Fintech']
|
can the honey badger guy inspire us to love nature?
|
What’s got my thinking about the honey badger, the Jesus Lizard, the American Bull Frog and the Nasty Disgusting World of Vampire Bats is Randall’s World of WIld Wild Animals.
Admittedly I’m a little late to this party. The honey badger video was posted in January of this year and has racked up 12 million views. Randall’s latest animal video was posted in June and has garnered close to 100,000 views, down from the over 200,000 (and in some cases 300,000 to 600,0000) views his preview videos received, so this meme may have run its course. Still, Randall’s Wild Wild World of Animals is a monster YouTube hit.
With it’s off-color, femme-voiced narration and pirated animal videos, Randall’s Wild Wild World of Animals is both hilarious and nostalgic. The clips bring viewers back to a childhood of watching nature documentaries while at the same time reminding them of the crazy friend of a friend they met last weekend (or last month, or that time before they had kids and used to go out to bars — remember how crazy he was!?!).
What’s most surprising about the shows is that they actually have a lot of interesting information about the animals they profile and you get the sense that Randall is really fascinated by these creatures and cares about them. Without this secret sauce, I don’t think the videos would be as popular as they are.
The question I’ve been mulling, and haven’t really come up with an answer to yet, is how can an organization like mine (The Nature Conservancy) — an organization trying to get GenX and GenY to care about environmental conservation — capture some of the magic that Randall’s Wild Wild World of Animals has tapped into. To be clear, that magic is a potent combination of humor, familiarity and honest concern.
Certainly the easiest (and most assuredly least successful) thing to do would be to simply ape the shows and create a knock off. That’s a bad idea.
The second easiest thing to do would be to hire Randall to do a series of spots with a deeper environmental/conservation message, fewer swear words and some light branding. That’s a better idea and would probably get tens of thousands of views if marketed properly — I don’t think it would become as popular as his home-grown videos however because branded doesn’t work as well as user-generated on YouTube. As evidence just look at the hit counts Randall’s Wild WIld World of Animals is getting compared to National Geographic’s YouTube presence.
The most difficult and most successful long-term play would be to study Randall’s secret sauce, learn from it and infuse it into some targeted marketing campaigns. To do this, we need to be brave. We need to not be afraid of the inevitable (and I would guess, swift) backlash from old-gaurd donors and supporters. This means really not being afraid to fail. it also means taking on an underground marketing campaign that you run on Tumblr, YouTube, Twitter (probably not Facebook) and other spots where your target audience hangs out, but the old-gaurd ignores. If it’s successful, maybe it means approaching someone like the Cheezburger Network about a long-term content partnership.
Environmental groups need to do more of this kind of messaging if they want to reach younger audiences. They need to not take themselves so seriously and they need to not be afraid to offend. Otherwise they’re just going to be left behind and ultimately Randall’s Wild Wild World of Animals will have fewer subjects like this awesome guy:
|
https://medium.com/david-connell/can-the-honey-badger-guy-inspire-us-to-love-nature-83068fe50e01
|
['David Connell']
|
2016-08-20 13:06:53.463000+00:00
|
['Humor', 'Nonprofit', 'Honey Badger', 'Environment Films', 'Environment']
|
13 Interesting Facts About Our Brain That You Won’t Believe
|
Brain Facts
The brain is the one with the very complex organ in the human body, made up of 100 billion nerves communicate in trillions of connections synapses in a very complex way which scientist just started understanding it. The brain is a centralized control system over the other organ in the body. The brain activity on the rest of the body by generating the pattern for muscle activity and driving secretion of Hormones.
The typical brain uses 20% of the body’s energy and oxygen through it comprises 2% of the body’s total weight.
The weight of our brain is about 3 pounds. One of the most fatty organs is our brain since 60% of the dry weight is fat.
Roughly there are 86 billion brain cells in our brain.
Ever thought that why babies have big heads? It is to hold rapidly growing brains. A 2-year-old’s brain can be compared to 80% of adult size.
Our brain can light a 12–25-watt bulb, that much electricity is generated in our brain.
Our brain is faster than Formula 1 race cars which top out at 240 mph since brain information travels up to an impressive 268 miles per hour.
Read More
|
https://medium.com/@episirus/13-interesting-facts-about-our-brain-that-you-wont-believe-3ede22c86055
|
['Episirus Scientifica']
|
2019-04-27 08:24:56.246000+00:00
|
['Neuroscience', 'Brain', 'Facts', 'Interesting', 'Health']
|
Furnished office space on rent/sale in Hinjewadi Pune
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Midas Tower Introduction
Rent your dream IT Office Space in Pune !
One of its kinds, Midas tower is highly recognized vertical in IT office space on rent in pune . This certified green building is one of the tallest in Hinjewadi, offering 14000 to 240000 sqft comfortable, Luxurious & affordable commercial office spaces on lease/rent at Hinjewadi IT Park, Phase1, and Pune with fully furnished, plug and play & ready to move in commercial offices.
This building has great ambiance loaded with positivity and greenery all around makes it more beautiful. Centrally located in Pune’s prestigious IT Park where all multinational software companies have their head offices. All amenities like public transport, banks, markets, and major food venture & 5-star hotels are just a minute away from the vertical.
Safety and Security
The maintenance team is available for gardening and cleaning purposes of the premises. More, the building is secured with CCTV cameras installed in every corner also security guards are available 24/7.o reduce maintenance costs and increase efficiency.
Well-serviced Office Spaces On Rent In Pune
This building is a Google-style office provided with amenities like 2 floors of parking space lifts canteen space, an open area also maintenance team is available 24/7 and a lot more it is perfect for IT offices. The place is 5 stars rated, Luxurious, Fully equipped, and furnished. Work with pleasure, and elevate to success.
#officespaceinhinjewadi#officespaceforrentinhinjewadipune#officespaceinhinjewadipune#commercialofficespaceforrentinpune#officespaceforrentinpune#commercialspaceonrentinpune#commercialplaceonrentinpune#commercialofficespace#forrentofficespace#rentforcommercialspace#officeforrent
|
https://medium.com/@xonac68804/furnished-office-space-on-rent-sale-in-hinjewadi-pune-e024143ff610
|
[]
|
2020-12-24 06:56:10.381000+00:00
|
['Industrial Design', 'Real Estate', 'Office']
|
Declarative Smart Contracts
|
Permissioned Shared State
A blockchain brings nodes to consensus on a shared state (more or less). Each block contains a list of state change instructions (“transactions”), which all nodes validate. Blocks establish a canonical order of transactions; proof of work establishes a canonical order of blocks. Each node validates each block and plays each state change to reach a local view of the current state. As long as nodes are using the same validation rules, these disparate views converge over time into a shared state. Honest nodes will agree on all but the most recent state.
Transactions are created by humans or machines. Which is to say, every state change originates off-chain for some unknown purpose. The consensus rules don’t care why a transaction was made, or how, only that it doesn’t break the rules. There are many rules for transaction verification in any deployed blockchain: Is it formatted correctly? Is it trying to create money? But the most important one is simple: Is the user allowed to update this state?
In Bitcoin, we check that the scriptSig satisfies the UTXO’s scriptPubKey. Providing a valid scriptSig proves that we are allowed to consume that UTXO. In Ethereum we check that the transaction signature is valid, and that the account’s balance is sufficient, and leave all other checks to the specific contracts involved. Until ECDSA is broken, these things can’t be forged.
Essentially, Bitcoin addresses, Bitcoin scripts, Ethereum accounts, Ethereum contracts, and all the related plumbing form permissions systems. They define conditions that restrict state changes. A state change that meets those The blockchain then enforces these permissions. You can’t move Bitcoin or Ether or write contract state unless you’re allowed to. And when you do, you specify new permissions. A Bitcoin transaction doesn’t move coins. It updates their permissions. An Ethereum transaction doesn’t transfer tokens, it writes new state for the token contract.
This is the only goal of a blockchain. These networks exist to create consensus around a permissioned shared state. They build the UTXO set, or state tree, and control updates.
Smart Contracts Dilute Permissions
Most Bitcoin and Ethereum transactions are completely explicit. They specify the exact state changes to be made, and prove that the signer has permission to update that state. When you send Bitcoin, you make a transaction describing exactly which coins to move and where to send them. Then you must prove that you are the owner of those coins. Because your directions are perfectly explicit, you know what will happen. You have given your permission for a specific, precisely defined change of state. Either that exact state change will occur, or no update will be made.
Smart contracts, however, complicate things. The outcome of a call to a smart contract may depend on many things. It can depend on the internal state of the contract, or the states of other contracts. It can depend on the time of day, or the whim of a miner, or other transactions the signer hasn’t seen.
As such, smart contracts prevent us from knowing the outcome of a transaction before it is confirmed. Its state changes are unknown before the transaction is included in a block. By signing the transaction, the user has consented to whatever state changes the contract defines, without knowledge of the outcome. When users call a contract they entrust their funds to it with no guarantee of good behavior.
Given that the entire point of a blockchain is to create and update a state securely, smart contracts are intuitively problematic. Users deserve to know exactly what the transaction will do before they sign it. Anything else cedes partial control of user funds to miners or other users. It dilutes the permissions set on the shared state, which diminishes the usefulness of the chain.
Declarative Smart Contracts
The core issue is that smart contracts describe the state changes that happen, based on the current state. Instead contracts should describe the state changes that are allowed, based on the current state. Users would then submit proposed state updates, which would be validated by the contract. If the state updates are approved, the exact state update the user wants would be made. This is a declarative smart contract. It declares what allowed state changes, and leaves all control logic and implementation to the users.
Writing contracts this way is somewhat non-intuitive. Developers are used to imperative programming. We give instructions to the computer, and it follows them. It feels strange to do anything else. However, this doesn’t reflect the reality of a blockchain. The chain is not adding anything. It doesn’t perform operations. Transactions don’t contain or trigger a calculation. The chain is only a permissioned state. Transactions signed by users modify the state.
Declarative contracts align the structure of the contract implementation with the reality of the chain by defining exactly what state modifications are permissible, and letting the user modify state directly. Declarative contracts prevent unintended state changes. They protect the user from miner interference. The final effect of a transaction can be clearly communicated to the user before signing. And transactions that violate the user’s intent are simply not valid.
Ideally, we should create a new declarative language to write these contracts. This language would define constraints that state updates must meet. Constraints on who can make changes, what the changes may be, and under what circumstances the changes may be made. I imagine this language would look something like Ivy.
Writing A Declarative Contract
Ideal world aside, we can write declarative contracts in Solidity today. In fact, Solidity has been adding features that make it more declarative. And the best practices for Solidity (like Checks-Effects-Interactions) are declarative. The community already recognizes this need, even if they haven’t named it yet.
To write declarative contracts in Solidity, we move the logic of the contract into a set of require function calls. These statements have access to the current state of the contract. Then, instead of providing arguments to a function, the user calls the function with the end state they want. The new state is verified by the require calls. They compare it to the current state, and check that any changes made are allowed. If all requirements are satisfied, the new state is written over the old state.
Below is a simple declarative game. Users adjust a byte towards a goal, using a few approved moves. The state consists of two bytes. The first byte is the current position, and the second byte is the goal. The constructor sets both the starting position, and the goal. Users call update to make a move. If the move is valid, the new state is written. If the move is a valid winning move, the caller is paid.
pragma solidity ^0.4.22; contract DeclarativeGame { bytes2 state; modifier notHalted() {
require(state[0] != state[1]);
_;
} modifier approvedStateChange(bytes2 _newState) {
require(_newState[1] == state[1]);
require(
_newState[0] == ~(state[0] & 0xAA) ||
_newState[0] == state[0] ^ 0x01 ||
_newState[0] == state[0] & ~state[1]);
_;
} function DeclarativeGame(bytes2 _startState)
public
payable
{
state = _startState;
} function update(bytes2 _newState)
public
notHalted
approvedStateChange(_newState)
{
state = _newState;
if (state[0] == state[1]) {
msg.sender.transfer(this.balance);
}
}
}
You can also build more complex things like tokens:
|
https://medium.com/summa-technology/declarative-smart-contracts-4edaf7ec2e30
|
['James Prestwich']
|
2018-08-31 19:51:52.078000+00:00
|
['Ethereum', 'Solidity', 'Smart Contracts', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency']
|
Solitude
|
Photo by Jordan Steranka on Unsplash
This solitary night
This crimson sunset
This sky ablaze
These thoughts of you
One alone cannot witness
The magic of seeing as two
The sacred world-communing
Of you through me
Of me through you
|
https://perezwords.medium.com/solitude-b149023bba5
|
['Ana Pérez']
|
2020-06-02 12:37:13.018000+00:00
|
['Solitude', 'Poetry']
|
Ethereum API Services. BlockSDK APIs supports Ethereum API.
|
BlockSDK API supports Ethereum API.
Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, after Bitcoin. And Ethereum is the most actively used blockchain in the world.
Ethereum has shown that it continues to grow with the launch of Eth2.
Currently, Ethereum 2.0 has emerged as the fourth-largest proof-of-stake network due to its total value locked to staking within approximately six weeks after the Eth2 deposit contract was activated.
If you want to use such a huge blockchain, you need some knowledge of it. But BlockSDK doesn’t.
If you use BlockSDK, you don’t need to know the details of blockchain technology.
BlockSDK provides an easy-to-use REST API that allows you to easily access blockchain technology.
You just need to look at the BlockSDK library and use only the functions you need.
Ethereum API —Get BlockChain
Through Ethereum API, Ethereum Blockchain information can be loaded.
The GET request expects a response such as:
{
“height” : 9098547,
“bestblockhash” => “0x235145654e2034d0852a9e8cd9bc6e3eea8a7179aec0723cd12db7d18e5f06b4”,
“prev_hash” =>
“0xb4cbec945d9dcf8a870d4ae5b156758f6b7824ed6da9a69130431cad7200a92e”,
“unconfirmed_count” : 1234,
“low_gwei” : 1,
“medium_gwei” : 2,
“high_gwei” : 3
}
Ethereum API — CraeteAddress
createaddress is a way to create an ethereum wallet. BlockSDK helps you create an ethereum wallet very simply.
Ethereum API — SendToAddress
Funds received via SendToAddress can be moved to another wallet. BlockSDK can monitor the wallet using webhook service. When funds are received, BlockSDK will move the funds to the target wallet/address and then notify you by sending a call to the URL you specify.
BLOCKSDK supports many Ethereum API
Blockchain information inquiry api Block information inquiry api Transaction information inquiry api Address generation api Wallet creation api Transaction creation api Webhook transaction, block chain event receiving api ERC-20 Token api Providing customer-specific custom API development 1:1 real-time chat development support Cryptocurrency service development consulting
You can start all these benefits for free
The API you want isn’t in the BLOCKSDK?
Feel free to contact us and we will immediately add a custom API.
e-mail : [email protected] , [email protected]
Go to Website
BLOCKSDK Github
Ethereum Rest API Docs
|
https://medium.com/@blocksdk/growing-ethereum-and-api-services-a734ad6e2959
|
[]
|
2021-01-06 03:46:21.472000+00:00
|
['Ethereum Blockchain', 'Ethereum Api', 'Ethereum', 'Eth']
|
Tips On How To Avoid Scam When Ordering Free Smartphones
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Many people want to get a free smartphone, but not everyone succeeds. In reality, only cheese in a mousetrap is free, and you have to pay for the rest or spend a huge amount of time. There are official sites where draws for mobile phones or other equipment are held, there are also promotions in which a huge number of people who want to get a free smartphone are accepted. And yet, on the Internet, you can run into the sites of scammers who lure with beautiful headlines about free phones.
You may be asked to take part in a draw or promotion where you can win a mobile phone for free. At first glance, it may seem that the site is quite reliable, but when you go to the site from your phone, you can connect a paid subscription to your number. Be vigilant, there are scammers like psychologists, they can beautifully breed for money. For example, they may ask to send a message to the specified number to participate in the promotion, as a result of which money may be debited from the account, they may be asked to transfer some money to the account to send the phone by mail to your address.
There are also other types of fraudulent use of free phones, you will not guess that not only does your phone not shine for free, but you will also lose time, nerves and money.
How to get a free smartphone and what are the benefits of this for those who hold promotions and sweepstakes? In fact, this is possible and there are sites where you can actually pick up a phone, smartphone, tablet or other gadgets for free by fulfilling certain conditions. There are many options that allow you to win a phone, but the freebie does not always live up to expectations and not everyone can succeed. For example, manufacturers of mobile devices for good reviews can please even with an expensive smartphone, but this requires their own promoted blog or website, these are rare successful cases and require a lot of work.
There are promotions on the website or YouTube channel, in which a huge number of visitors take part, among which they can play for a free smartphone. In fact, the owner of such a site or YouTube channel can earn much more from displaying ads due to a large number of views, that is, he gives the phone for free and at the same time earns more on the visitors who took part. Promotions in large stores can sometimes raffle free smartphones, buying one you can get the second as a gift.
Aliexpress offers to bring a friend to the site and register, after which you can pay for two purchases as for one, that is, by buying two phones, the second is free, but this does not apply to all products. Also, mobile operators offer free phones if certain conditions are met, for example, you must use the tariff for the time specified in the contract. Usually the tariff is not cheap and, in principle, you buy the phone for mobile services at a discount, you can even get expensive smartphones Samsung, Meizu, Huawei, Honor, Xiaomi, etc. for free.
What to pay attention to so as not to get caught on deception on sites that offer free smartphones? Do not send messages to incomprehensible numbers, especially short numbers, you can lose money not only from your mobile, but also from a bank card tied to the number from which you are sending SMS. Do not make an advance payment if you are told that you have won a phone and that a certain amount of money is needed to send it by mail to your address.
Sites, YouTube channels, stores should be mega-visited and large, read reviews on the Internet for what they write good and bad about them. And even if your browser warns that the site to which you want to go is not reliable and can threaten the security of a computer or mobile device, then it is better not to risk and not open this site, otherwise you can grab a virus that can steal money from accounts, learn passwords from personal accounts on different sites or extort money by blocking the screen with a banner.
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https://medium.com/@milliejokes/tips-on-how-to-avoid-scam-when-ordering-free-smartphone-d79831909680
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['Millie Jokes']
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2020-12-16 21:18:38.937000+00:00
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['Cybersecurity', 'Tips', 'Free Samples', 'Tips And Tricks', 'Free Smartphones']
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WATCH STREAMING — Fatale [2020] :: FULL MOVIE (HD 720p)
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A married man is tricked into a murder scheme by a female police detective.
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Its somewhat ironic that a movie about time travel can’t be reviewed properly until your future self rewatches the movie.
It’s bold of Nolan to make such a thoroughly dense blockbuster. He assumes people will actually want to see Fatale more than once so they can understand it properly, which some may not. This movie makes the chronology of Inception look as simplistic as tic-tac-toe.
Ergo, it’s hard for me to give an accurate rating, without having seen it twice, as I’m still trying to figure out whether everything does indeed make sense. If it does, this movie is easily a 9 or 10. If it doesn’t, it’s a 6.
It’s further not helped by the fact that the dialogue in the first 15 minutes of the movie is painfully hard to understand / hear. Either they were behind masks; they were practically mumbling; the sound effects were too loud; or all of the above. The exposition scenes are also waayyy too brief for something this complex — a problem also shared with Interstellar actually.
(Interstellar had this minimalist exposition problem explaining Blight, where if you weren’t careful, you’d miss this one sentence / scene in the entire movie explaining that Blight was a viral bacteria:
“Earth’s atmosphere is 80% nitrogen, we don’t even breathe nitrogen. Blight does, and as it thrives, our air gets less and less oxygen”).
I guess it’s a Nolan quirk. Hopefully, a revision of the film audio sorts the sound mixing out. I do like the soundtrack, but it’s too loud initially.
I liked all the actors. You think John Washington can’t act at first, but he can, and he grows on you as the film progresses. And Pattinson is his usual charming self. Elizabeth is a surprise treat. And so on.
Its worth a watch either way. See it with subtitles if you can. And definitely don’t expect to fully understand whats going on the first time around.
Its one hell of a complicated film. It will be very hard for an average viewer to gather all the information provided by this movie at the first watch. But the more you watch it, more hidden elements will come to light. And when you are able to put these hidden elements together. You will realize that this movie is just a “masterpiece” which takes the legacy of Christopher Nolan Forward
If I talk about acting, Then I have to say that Robert Pattinson has really proved himself as a very good actor in these recent years. And I am sure his acting skills will increase with time. His performance is charming and very smooth. Whenever he is on the camera, he steals the focus John David Washington is also fantastic in this movie. His performance is electrifying, I hope to see more from him in the future. Other characters such as Kenneth Branagh, Elizabeth, Himesh Patel, Dimple Kapadia, Clémence Poésy have also done quite well. And I dont think there is a need to talk about Michael Caine
Talking about Music, its awesome. I dont think you will miss Hans Zimmer’s score. Ludwig has done a sufficient job. There is no lack of good score in the movie
Gotta love the editing and post production which has been put into this movie. I think its fair to say this Nolan film has focused more in its post production. The main problem in the movie is the sound mixing. Plot is already complex and some dialogues are very soft due to the high music score. It makes it harder to realize what is going on in the movie. Other Nolan movies had loud BGM too. But Audio and dialogues weren’t a problem
My humble request to everyone is to please let the movie sink in your thoughts. Let your mind grasp all the elements of this movie. I am sure more people will find it better. Even those who think they got the plot. I can bet they are wrong.
Fatale is the long awaited new movie from Christopher Nolan. The movie that’s set to reboot the multiplexes post-Covid. It’s a manic, extremely loud, extremely baffling sci-fi cum spy rollercoaster that will please a lot of Nolan fan-boys but which left me with very mixed views.
John David Washington (Denzel’s lad) plays “The Protagonist” — a crack-CIA field operative who is an unstoppable one-man army in the style of Hobbs or Shaw. Recruited into an even more shadowy organisation, he’s on the trail of an international arms dealer, Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh in full villain mode). Sator is bullying his estranged wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki) over custody of their son (and the film unusually has a BBFC warning about “Domestic Abuse”). Our hero jets the world to try to prevent a very particular kind of Armageddon while also keeping the vulnerable and attractive Kat alive.
This is cinema at its biggest and boldest. Nolan has taken a cinema ‘splurge’ gun, filled it with money, set it on rapid fire, removed the safety and let rip at the screen. Given that Nolan is famous for doing all of his ‘effects’ for real and ‘in camera’, some of what you see performed is almost unbelievable. You thought crashing a train through rush-hour traffic in “Inception” was crazy? You ain’t seen nothing yet with the airport scene! And for lovers of Chinooks (I must admit I am one and rush out of the house to see one if I hear it coming!) there is positively Chinook-p*rn on offer in the film’s ridiculously huge finale.
The ‘inversion’ aspects of the story also lends itself to some fight scenes — one in particular in an airport ‘freeport’ — which are both bizarre to watch and, I imagine, technically extremely challenging to pull off. In this regard John David Washington is an acrobatic and talented stunt performer in his own right, and must have trained for months for this role.
Nolan’s crew also certainly racked up their air miles pre-lockdown, since the locations range far and wide across the world. The locations encompassed Denmark, Estonia, India, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and United States. Hoyte Van Hoytema’s cinematography is lush in introducing these, especially the beautiful Italian coast scenes. Although I did miss the David Arnold strings that would typically introduce these in a Bond movie: it felt like that was missing.
The ‘timey-wimey’ aspects of the plot are also intriguing and very cleverly done. There are numerous points at which you think “Oh, that’s a sloppy continuity error” or “Shame the production design team missed that cracked wing mirror”. Then later in the movie, you get at least a dozen “Aha!” moments. Some of them (no spoilers) are jaw-droppingly spectacular.
Perhaps the best twist is hidden in the final line of the movie. I only processed it on the way home.
And so to the first of my significant gripes with Fatale. The sound mix in the movie is all over the place. I’d go stronger than that… it’s truly awful (expletive deleted)! Nolan often implements Shakespeare’s trick of having characters in the play provide exposition of the plot to aid comprehension. But unfortunately, all of this exposition dialogue was largely incomprehensible. This was due to:
the ear-splitting volume of the sound: 2020 movie audiences are going to be suffering from ‘Fataleis’! (LOL);
the dialogue is poorly mixed with the thumping music by Ludwig Göransson (Wot? No Hans Zimmer?);
a large proportion of the dialogue was through masks of varying description (#covid-appropriate). Aaron Taylor-Johnson was particularly unintelligible to my ears.
Overall, watching this with subtitles at a special showing might be advisable!
OK, so I only have a PhD in Physics… but at times I was completely lost as to the intricacies of the plot. It made “Inception” look like “The Tiger Who Came to Tea”. There was an obvious ‘McGuffin’ in “Inception” — — (“These ‘dream levels’… how exactly are they architected??”…. “Don’t worry… they’ll never notice”. And we didn’t!) In “Fatale” there are McGuffins nested in McGuffins. So much of this is casually waved away as “future stuff… you’re not qualified” that it feels vaguely condescending to the audience. At one point Sator says to Kat “You don’t know what’s going on, do you?” and she shakes her head blankly. We’re right with you there luv!
There are also gaps in the storyline that jar. The word “Fatale”? What does it mean. Is it just a password? I’m none the wiser.
The manic pace of Fatale and the constant din means that the movie gallops along like a series of disconnected (albeit brilliant) action set pieces. For me, it has none of the emotional heart of the Cobb’s marriage problems from “Inception” or the father/daughter separation of “Interstellar”. In fact, you barely care for anyone in the movie, perhaps with the exception of Kat.
It’s a talented cast. As mentioned above, John David Washington is muscular and athletic in the role. It’s a big load for the actor to carry in such a tent-pole movie, given his only significant starring role before was in the excellent BlacKkKlansman. But he carries it off well. A worthy successor to Gerard Butler and Jason Statham for action roles in the next 10 years.
This is also a great performance by Robert Pattinson, in his most high-profile film in a long time, playing the vaguely alcoholic and Carré-esque support guy. Pattinson’s Potter co-star Clemence Poésy also pops up — rather more un-glam that usual — as the scientist plot-expositor early in the movie.
Nolan’s regular Michael Caine also pops up. although the 87-year old legend is starting to show his age: His speech was obviously affected at the time of filming (though nice try Mr Nolan in trying to disguise that with a mouth full of food!). But in my book, any amount of Caine in a movie is a plus. He also gets to deliver the best killer line in the film about snobbery!
However, it’s Kenneth Branagh and Elizabeth Debicki that really stand out. They were both fabulous, especially when they were bouncing off each other in their marital battle royale.
So, given this was my most anticipated movie of the year, it’s a bit of a curate’s egg for me. A mixture of being awe-struck at times and slightly disappointed at others. It’s a movie which needs a second watch, so I’m heading back today to give my ear drums another bashing! And this is one where I reserve the right to revisit my rating after that second watch… it’s not likely to go down… but it might go up.
(For the full graphical review, check out One Mann’s Movies on t’interweb and Facebook. Thanks.)
As this will be non-spoiler, I can’t say too much about the story. However, what I can is this: Fatale’s story is quite dynamic in the sense that you won’t understand it till it wants you to. So, for the first half, your brain is fighting for hints and pieces to puzzle together the story. It isn’t until halfway through the movie that Fatale invites you to the fantastic storytelling by Christopher Nolan.
Acting is beyond phenomenal, and I’d be genuinely surprised if neither Robert Pattinson nor John David Washington doesn’t receive an Oscar nomination for best actor. It’s also hard not to mention how good Elizabeth Debicki and Aaron Johnson both are. All around, great acting, and the dialogue amps up the quality of the movie.
The idea of this movie is damn fascinating, and while there are films that explore time-travelling, there’s never been anything quite like this. It has such a beautiful charm and for the most part, explains everything thoroughly. It feels so much more complex than any form of time-travelling we’ve seen, and no less could’ve been expected from Nolan.
Oh my lord, the score for this film fits so perfectly. Every scene that’s meant to feel intense was amped by a hundred because of how good the score was. Let me just say though, none of them will be found iconic, but they fit the story and scenes so well.
In the end, I walked out, feeling very satisfied. Nevertheless, I do have issues with the film that I cannot really express without spoiling bits of the story. There are definitely little inconsistencies that I found myself uncovering as the story progressed. However, I only had one issue that I found impacted my enjoyment. That issue was understanding some of the dialogue. No, not in the sense that the movie is too complicated, but more that it was hard to make out was being said at times. It felt like the movie required subtitles, but that probably was because, at a time in the film, there was far too much exposition.
Nevertheless, I loved this film, I’ll be watching it at least two more times, and I think most of you in this group will enjoy it. I definitely suggest watching it in theatres if possible, just so you can get that excitement.
(4/5) & (8.5/10) for those that care about number scores.
At first, I want to ask Christopher Nolan one question, HOW THE HELL YOU DID THIS? Seriously I want to have an answer, How did he write such as this masterpiece! How did he get this complicated, fabulous and creative idea? What is going on in his mind? The story is written and directed perfectly, the narration style was absolutely unique. I have no idea how can anyone direct such as this story, that was a huge challenge, and as usual Nolan gave us a masterpiece that we’ll put beside (Memento), (Inception) and (Interstellar) The movie is so fast-paced in a good way, there was no boring moment. The chemistry between John David Washington and Robert Pattinson was great and funny and both of their performance was really good. Elizabeth Debicki performance was the best in the movie because she had the chance to show her acting abilities and she cached up that chance and showed us an A level acting.
The music wasn’t unique and distinct as the music of Interstellar for example and I think this movie needed the touch of Hans Zimmer, I’m not saying that Ludwig Göransson failed but Hans Zimmer in another level.
If there was something I’d say that I didn’t like it in the movie would it be that Nolan discarded any set up or characters backgrounds except Elizabeth Debicki dramatic story but it wasn’t that bad for me, I didn’t care about that, the exciting story didn’t give me the chance to focus on it. But the actual problem was the third act, it was really complicated and I got lost and I convinced myself to discard the questions that were in my head and enjoy the well-made action sequences and Elizabeth Debicki performance.
I think this kind of movie that gets better with a second and third watch.
I honestly don’t quite know where to begin with Fatale. I love Christopher Nolan’s work but I have never seen a more complicated film (and I understood Memento). After nearly three hours, I came away from Fatale not knowing myself, my mind reduced to nothing more than piles of ash.
Was there time travel involved? Hmm, there was definitely something about time inversion. I mean, does Nolan even understand what he wrote? Look, I give credit to the director because he’s one of the few directors left who knows how to create a compelling and intelligent blockbuster. Fatale is full of Nolan trademarks — the gratuitous Michael Caine cameo, a loud, really loud score, complete with stunning cinematography and slickly inventive action set-pieces.
This time around however, Nolan has finally managed to ‘out-Nolan’ himself: the palindromic plot, whilst creatively ambitious, is simply far too complicated for its own good. Fatale is overlong, overstuffed, pretentious and too exhausting to comprehend in its entirety — it makes Inception and Interstellar look like Peppa Pig by comparison.
I’m aware of the technical wizardry and creative mastery in this film and lord knows I’ll have to watch this again. For those who want a puzzle, Fatale at least provides a unique cinematic experience. But to actually enjoy solving it Nolan wants you to work very very hard
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https://medium.com/@mrgdtn4/watch-fatale-full-2020-m-o-v-i-e-s-online-78ec0c603eec
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[]
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2020-12-15 07:45:10.876000+00:00
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['Movies', 'Thriller']
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Email: embrace asynchronous communication
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Photo by pineapple L on Unsplash
I sent you an email an hour ago, why haven’t you responded yet?
Well, because emails are an asynchronous communication medium. Asynchronous? Yes, asynchronous. Like paper mail, text message on your smartphone or carrier pigeon.
Asynchronous means you have no guarantee about response time. It has nothing to do with technical purpose, even less than with text mail (or carrier pigeon). Email are asynchronous because it will wait for a active decision of the receiver side to be treated.
Maybe your receiver is staring at his/her inbox, waiting for an email to pop, to treat it immediately. But she/he is more probably doing something else, and will visit his/her inbox somewhat later.
And this is a great thing. Oh, well, you won’t have your answer immediately. But think about it: you’ll have an answer when the receiver has the time to handle your request serenely. It won’t be read and responded in the middle of something else, with an half-ass response in the hurry.
The email is part of the asynchronous media. The great advantage is that their are performed when the receiver wants, not when the sender wants. As a consequence, the request is handled at a time dedicated to it. the receiver is in the mood of actively working on a good quality response. He/She won’t have to interrupt him/herself in the middle of something else, so the request will be less stressful for his/her mind. There is no mental charge due to a context switching between tasks. That’s more relax.
Even better, the email can be postponed in a tasklist/todolist/getting things done queue/whatever. It will be far less tiring to handle than a synchronous request.
After all, almost all IT systems are based on asynchronicity to be more efficient. Why can’t humans follow the same way?
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https://medium.com/work-in-peace/email-embrace-asynchronous-communication-19770570437e
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['Rémi Doolaeghe']
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2019-04-12 06:26:38.795000+00:00
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['Getting Things Done', 'Email', 'Productivity', 'Serenity', 'Asynchronous']
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How to Learn Programming Online: Best Websites to Start With
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Photo by AltumCode on Unsplash
In a constantly changing world, more and more new professions appear and gain popularity. But there is one of a few industries that remains popular decades later. It is programming.
Let’s face it: self education is hard and takes years — a good programmer should learn programming the whole life as the sphere is always developing. However, I believe that a good guide makes it a little bit easier to master a new coding language. Modern online courses are more efficient and easy to follow, compared to coding books or YouTube tutorials, they are considered to be the best way to learn programming.
In this article, I will explain what criteria you should consider when picking the right course and give my recommendations about platforms to start with.
Criteria to Consider When Picking the Programming Course
So, how to choose a programming course and why is it so important to pick the right one? Let’s figure it out.
Criteria 1. Focus on Practice
You definitely need theoretical knowledge to learn programming, but this is not enough. Theory is ineffective if you don’t put the skills you’ve learned into practice immediately, because writing code is programming itself! This is why it makes sense to consider practice-oriented online learning that will allow you to ultimately transform your knowledge into a true real-world project. So, the ideal ratio for learning to code should be 20/80, allowing you to read lectures or watch videos 20% of the time and write code the remaining 80%.
Therefore, first of all, try to find a course with a lot of practical tasks.
Criteria 2. Code Validation
The next important point is code verification. Very often, when novice programmers solve a problem, they do not know if they have solved it correctly. Even if you receive the correct answer, it is quite possible that it will not work with other data. What to do? Of course, if you have a mentor, you can count on help. However, we are talking about self-paced learning here, in this case validation is one of its biggest problems. In the last 10 years, platforms with automatic code validation have begun to appear, and this is what I consider to be a turning point. Before they appeared, I almost always advised learning with a live teacher for future programmers, at least at the first stage.
So, the second point when choosing online courses is the availability of code verification, automatic or human.
Criteria 3. Community
Community is something that deserves a separate post. But, to cut a long story short, the community is vital on the long road of learning to program.
There is nothing better than when you have someone you can turn to in moments of frustration or when experiencing difficulties during the learning process. That is why it is important to make sure the course you get involved in boasts a supportive community, where you can always seek help. The feel of support keeps you motivated and doesn’t even leave you a chance to quit. So, consider checking if the course has active forums before stepping in.
Criteria 4. Reference Points
The power of marketing is legendary — it can prompt you to the thought that you’ll easily learn a new programming language in a month and land a high paying job right away. Yet, the truth often is that training to code requires a bit more time and effort. The novice developers have their own pace and set their own career, short- and long-term goals depending on the purposes that differ from one student to another.
The courses created with students in mind contain guidelines needed to keep you motivated. They provide a training map, so you can keep track of your progress. Apart from that, in most cases, they are well structured, which means the educational program is consistent and logically moves from one topic to another allowing you to move ahead.
Best Programming Courses That will Get You From Zero to Hero
Now that you know what criteria to put on the list when selecting the right learning platform, let’s jump to my hot pick of courses ideal for beginners. And before considering them in detail, stick to the table to get familiar with some fundamental info, such as:
Platform they are accessible at.
Programming languages they support.
Pricing.
CodeGym
CodeGym is an online programming course that takes a hands-on approach to learn the Java language and provides more than 1200 coding tasks. Right after registering to CodeGym, you will start writing your first lines of code from the earliest lessons.
This online platform is also known for its vast community, where students share their experience, answer each other’s questions, and talk about the challenges they face when learning to program.
Other than that, CodeGym has a mobile version that allows everyone who is constantly on the move to code using their smartphones. Whereas, the smart validator will check your tasks in a blink of an eye, analyze the errors, and get back to you with tips to eliminate them.
Codecademy
Meet another educational resource devoted to learning programming languages, Codecademy. It provides a qualitatively different approach to education making it the first truly net native. At Codecademy, you will get access to a vast number of certified courses, most of which are available for free. The programs are so well structured that you can learn to program by following a set schedule.
Another thing that makes Codecademy so special is that the platform offers students, who are not sure where to start, to take a quiz and get pointed in the right direction. So, once you choose the language to learn, you’ll write real, working code, get feedback, test your knowledge by completing quizzes, and, finally, land a job.
Codewars
Codewars is one of a few educational websites that does everything to prove that programming may be fun and keep you motivated. The platform enables you to enhance your skills while training with your peers on real code challenges called kata. Quite a competitive environment and highly addictive tasks let the students stay involved in the learning process.
Not only does the resource allow you to train on kata, but it also encourages you to create your own challenges, earn ranks and honor, compare your solutions, and discuss the kata with other specialists. In short, this quite innovative approach to education helps the students acquire the needed knowledge and progress faster.
GeeksforGeeks
I often refer to this resource in my projects and heartily recommend it to my students. GeeksforGeeks is a portal created to provide solutions to your queries in the form of well-written and well-explained computer science and programming articles, quizzes, and tutorials. The contributors have a distinctive approach to what they do — they offer more than one way to deal with the problem. The choice is yours.
Today, GeeksforGeeks is a community of more than 1 million enrolled specialists from the whole world. The platform can boast many successful stories of students who have benefitted in their placement and landed jobs at many tech companies.
Treehouse
Treehouse platform is rather focused on teaching you the tech skills needed to manage a certain digital project from mobile apps to CMS blogs. Additionally, it put together educational materials devoted to almost all sought-after programming languages, like Java, C++, Ruby, Python, in one place. So, you don’t have to wander the web searching for the next language you want to learn.
Apart from that, most tutorials and assignments are short and practice-oriented. So, it won’t take you an eternity to get a clear idea of how the site works but will let you gain confidence in programming shortly.
Code Avengers
Code Avengers is another online digital technology education service best suited for novice developers who are looking for hands-on tutorials and coding challenges. There is an extensive collection of quizzes on different languages, including JS, Python, and CSS, that will let the students apply the acquired knowledge and skills the right way. After completing the courses, they can create digital media apps, websites, and games to deliver exceptional UX.
Sitepoint
SitePoint is a so-called library of over 400 books and courses delivered by the best tech publishers who are professionals in their field. The materials contain articles and tutorials related to programming languages, frameworks, tools, libraries, and other projects. The platform has been established for developers, designers, programmers, product creators, and entrepreneurs who strive to level up in coding.
Another thing that makes SitePoint website stand out is its simple navigation. There is a search tab right on the homepage — it won’t just leave you a chance to not notice it — that will provide a whole heap of articles matching your request.
Closing Words
Programming requires a store of knowledge and vast tech skills. However, it doesn’t mean you can’t acquire the latter online independently. For this, all you need to do is just find the right learning platform and apply for the appropriate program. Fortunately, there are a lot of options on the web for newbies starting to master coding. Hope you’ll find the best one from those I’ve listed in this post.
And, finally, remember one thing — the best way to learn programming is to make coding a regular thing and work hard.
|
https://medium.com/quick-code/how-to-learn-programming-online-best-websites-to-start-with-2329ba90cfc6
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['John Selawsky']
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2020-11-02 18:14:15.758000+00:00
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['Coding', 'Learn To Code', 'Learning To Code', 'Programming', 'Programming Languages']
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Hidden Gems: Event-Driven Change Notifications in Relational Databases
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Hidden Gems: Event-Driven Change Notifications in Relational Databases
A powerful non-standard feature that developers should know about
Look! A 500ct diamond just laying on the beach! (Image compliments of Chris Coe).
Introduction
Wouldn’t it be great if we could receive event-driven change notifications (EDCN) when data changes directly from the database without having to poll for updates?
This feature is, in fact, available in some relational databases, but not all, as it’s non-standard functionality and not part of any SQL specification.
In the three examples covered in this article, this functionality is expressed via the implementation of an interface that is then registered with the JDBC driver directly. This opens the door to a myriad of potential use cases that can be expressed without the need to poll and which do not require the developer to write infrastructure code to deal with changes in data and notifying interested parties. Instead, we can interface with the driver directly and listen for changes and, when they occur, execute whatever workflow we have in an event-driven fashion. A few examples where this could be helpful include:
Caching (more on this when we cover PostgreSQL, see also Good Candidates for CQN)
Honeypots for database tables — also see poison records
Debugging problems
Logging changes
Analytics and reporting
There are, of course, some consequences when relying on this functionality. The most obvious implication is that it’s a non-standard feature that ties the application directly to the database.
I was speaking with Michael Dürgner on LinkedIn about an example implementation as it pertains to PostgreSQL, and he commented that:
“[W]hile it’s definitely a great way to do this, one of the big drawbacks is that you move application logic into the RDBMS. Not saying you shouldn’t do it but make sure that you have people with deep understanding of the RDBMS you use on board since it’ll be rather unlikely your average software will be able to trouble shoot. Another huge challenge with this approach is continuous delivery since your RDBMS needs to be deeply integrated with your delivery pipeline.”
I agree with Michael’s position, and keeping business logic out of the database tends to be a good practice.
Projects that rely on object-relational mapping (ORM) tools such as the Java Persistence API (JPA) to generate the database schema directly from one or more object models immediately lose portability and simplicity when developers are required to add logic in the database tier which probably belongs in the application itself. If developers are not careful, they’ll end up having to use the same database for testing as used in production and this could easily lead to pain and regret.
I proffer the following question to any engineer considering using EDCNs via the JDBC driver: can the application still function as intended without the inclusion of whatever it is that you’re building that relies on this functionality? If the answer is “yes” then what you’re doing is likely fine; on the contrary, if the answer is “no”, then this is a strike against using EDCNs and alternatives may need to be considered.
Finally, this feature on its own is not a substitute for well-engineered message-oriented middleware (MOM), which typically provides out-of-the-box solutions for guaranteed delivery, message persistence, at-least-once/exactly-once delivery, delivery via queues and topics, strategies for flow control (see also: backpressure), and addresses fault tolerance and scalability concerns. The presence of these requirements could be a strong indicator that an approach relying on EDCNs needs to be reconsidered.
Below we explore this functionality as it exists in the PostgreSQL, Oracle, and H2 databases; we also include some general comments on MySQL and its fork, MariaDB.
Throughout this article, we rely on Java 13.0.2 and Groovy. 3.0.4 and include links to the various scripts on GitHub which contain extra notes pertaining to how to set up the required dependencies and any other preconditions necessary to run the examples.
|
https://medium.com/better-programming/hidden-gems-event-driven-change-notifications-in-relational-databases-a87a7bdb02ad
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['Thomas P. Fuller']
|
2020-08-05 19:25:04.401000+00:00
|
['Database', 'Software Architecture', 'Software Development', 'Software Engineering', 'Programming']
|
Benford’s Law Does Not Prove Fraud in the 2020 US Presidential Election
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You may have seen something going around in the wake of the 2020 US Presidential Election where people are claiming they can prove there was fraud in the votes using math.
They are wrong. This is a post you can share to explain why.
ETA: RadioLab did a really excellent episode on this which includes a lot of what’s below including interviews with me and Dr. Mebane who did the election analysis at umich. If you don’t want to read all this, go check that episode here: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/breaking-benford
I am an expert with published research on Benford’s Law, the statistical pattern they are talking about. I’m going to tell you why they are doing it wrong and why, even if they did it right, it wouldn’t indicate fraud.
Benford’s law basically says that the first digit of numbers in some naturally occurring systems follows a pattern. You may intuitively think that numbers that start with 1 are just as common as numbers that start with 9, but in lots of systems, around 30% of numbers start with 1 and the frequency declines to where only like 5% of numbers start with 9. This is seen ALL OVER! I showed that it applied in social networks to friend counts and that it could be used to detect bots. It’s used in financial and accounting investigations and can even be used in court as evidence of fraud. The length of all the rivers on earth follow this pattern. Atomic weights. JPEG coefficients. It’s mindblowing!
If you want to know more about it, Netflix has a series out called Connected and episode 4 (Digits) is all about it. I’m in that documentary, so say hi when I come across your screen.
Probably because of that documentary, lots of people are saying “I can take the election counts from precincts and look at their distribution of first digits and see if there is fraud!”
THIS DOES NOT WORK.
Whether Benford can be used to detect election fraud has been studied for decades. What everyone who studies this knows is that analyzing first digits absolutely DOES NOT WORK! Why?
First, there’s not a big spread of orders of magnitude in precinct sizes. Most places Benford is applied, you have numbers in the 10s, the 100s, the 1,000s, the 10,000s, etc. Precincts don’t have that much variation in them because we don’t want them to be so giant that we can’t count all the votes. That’s one strike against Benford working.
Next, and this is really important, votes in a precinct are (basically) split between 2 candidates in this election. (3rd party candidates make up such a small percentage that they don’t matter for this point). If Trump gets X votes, Biden gets (basically) TOTAL- X.
Say every precinct has 1,000 people. If Trump follows Benford, Biden COULD NOT follow it. If ~30% of Trump’s vote counts start with a 1, and Biden gets the rest, his numbers would start with 8s or 9s (e.g. Trump gets 175 votes, Biden gets 1000–175=825). Even though precincts aren’t all the same size, the fact that one number is dependent on the other violates the basis of Benford (it requires independence). Intuitively, I think we can see that splitting totals means it would be tricky to have both candidates follow the pattern.
Third, we’ve studied this. We know it doesn’t work. People may share some data from past elections, but there are decades of research looking at elections around the world and it’s extremely well-established the first significant digit Benford analysis does not work here. Full stop.
All the people who read a Wikipedia article and put some numbers in Excel are doing the thing I outlined above. We know this doesn’t work. They are lying — not just misinformed. Many of us have been tirelessly correcting their methods over the past 5 days, but they keep coming. They know it doesn’t work. The papers are all public and available. They do not care. It looks good for their argument and they are trying to trick you.
Ok, so if Benford doesn’t work, why is there decades of research about it? That research looks at the distribution of second digits which also happen to follow an expected pattern in a lot of cases. Does that work well for detecting election fraud?
Eh, no. It’s not great. It can do it in some cases, but it also fails a lot. Here’s a quote from a paper on the topic:
“Benford’s Law is problematical at best as a forensic tool when applied to elections…Its ‘success rate’ either way is essentially equivalent to a toss of a coin, thereby rendering it problematical at best as a forensic tool and wholly misleading at worst.”
source: Deckert, Joseph, Mikhail Myagkov, Peter C. Ordeshook. “Benford’s Law and the detection of election fraud.” Political Analysis 19.3 (2011)
The research on it is always full of exceptions. There are places where we know there wasn’t any systematic fraud, but the numbers don’t look like a second digit Benford analysis would expect. We know about this and then look into the reasons it fails. That’s not really interesting for this discussion, but I bring it up just to say that you can’t just do a second digit analysis and then have a totally reliable technique.
But say you don’t care about these exceptions. You’re going to charge ahead with a second-digit Benford-based analysis! Great! You don’t have to! Walter Mebane, one of the foremost experts on using Benford to analyze elections, already did!
His paper is at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~wmebane/inapB.pdf
The title? “Inappropriate Applications of Benford’s Law Regularities to Some Data from the 2020 Presidential Election in the United States”
He does a proper second significant digit Benford analysis of the data and shows there is no evidence of fraud. You can go read it for yourself. (it’s a nice paper and pretty accessible if you skim over the more advanced stats)
So in conclusion: what people are doing analyzing first digits is known not to work. Second digit analysis may have some promise, but it is not reliable. And even if you’re convinced it will get it right, it shows nothing suspicious in this election.
Do not be fooled by people who read an article online and made a chart in excel. Statistics are complex and you need to be informed to use them correctly. The people pushing this Benford’s Law conspiracy are not only ignorant of the correct way to use it, they are intentionally dishonest. Listen to scientists and statisticians. Our method does not provide any evidence of fraud in this election.
|
https://jengolbeck.medium.com/benfords-law-does-not-prove-fraud-in-the-2020-us-presidential-election-cc81715bfbda
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['Jen Golbeck']
|
2020-11-14 19:37:07.591000+00:00
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['Fraud', 'Election 2020', 'Benfords Law']
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Business Model. Energy.
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The energy sector is pursuing home automation and energy management efficiency by integrating with ICT such as IoT.
In particular, the home network environment has been rapidly changing in the past few years. As the number of devices such as computers and various sensors has surged, issues regarding security, real-time data processing and device authentication are increasing.
The energy management system utilizing ReapChain BaaS will improve the above-mentioned problems and establish an efficient system.
Step 1. Collect various data generated from smart home devices to which Reap SDK is applied through smart meters.
Step 2. Continuously transmit and verify power consumption data and device status through smart home device controllers.
Step 3. Check quantity of electricity needed for each household by power providers, and check data for device status to improve service quality by service providers through Reap Platform.
Step 4. Receive reliable data and verify information regarding each smart home devices by consumers.
★ ReapChain Official Community
Follow the ReapChain official community and have more news!
Homepage: https://reapchain.com/
Telegram (ENG): https://t.me/ReapchainOfficialEnglish
Telegram (KR): https://t.me/joinchat/MbaQ7RaZchMzjAam9yMS0Q
Blog: https://blog.naver.com/reapchain
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReapChain/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReapChain
Bitcointalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5260297.0
Partnership and Affiliation Inquiries: [email protected]
Investment and Sale Inquiries: [email protected]
Project Inquiries: [email protected]
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https://medium.com/reapchain/business-model-energy-c9e90eb5ac65
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[]
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2020-12-25 09:28:08.459000+00:00
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['Internet of Things', 'Energy', 'Business Models', 'Reapchain', 'IoT']
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Electron vs. The Native Windows Frameworks
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Electron vs. The Native Windows Frameworks
Electron is starting to be used in many different popular applications, such as VSCode and WhatsApp, simply because of its cross-platform feature. But is that the only advantage that Electron provides?
As we will see by the end of this article, it is not the only benefit. We will look at how simpler it is to write a Windows app in Electron vs. native frameworks such as C++/C# WindowsForms and WPF. Why just Windows? Because the vast majority of programs are written for it, so for many categories of programs (e.g. games) there is a standardized library stack that’s used.
Background (tray) apps that display modal dialogs
Electron is probably overkill for this category. Modal dialogs are simple to create using WindowsForms, and C# also makes minimizing windows and displaying their notification (tray) icon very simple. This can also be done in Electron, but with a little more work.
Apps with a custom theme
Because WindowsForms does not support making custom window themes, developers use the WPF framework when they want to create a custom theme for their C# app. This process could take a lot of time, depending on the complexity of the theme.
Of course, theme-designing in Electron also takes time, but it’s helped by the abundance of HTML UI components that can be installed and inserted directly from npm , the NodeJS package manager. Only some WPF UI controls are free to use, while the vast majority remain closed-source, internal, and private, away from the public eye. While most HTML UI components are open-source and easy to obtain from Github.
Apps with heavy API/web service integration
Messaging clients such as Discord, Telegram, and Slack fall into this category. On C#, networking is done using the System.Net namespace, or more usually, with the ASP.NET framework. In C++, more low-level socket functions are used, hence why complex networking is traditionally done in C#.
System.Net has classes to manage cookies, network credentials, requests and responses, and HTTP listeners, among others. When used correctly, formidable network-enabled C# programs can be developed.
A positive trait of C# networking classes is that the compiler will detect most of the incorrect usages of these classes, which can save you hours of runtime debugging. This is not the case for Node.js and Electron apps, where all code is evaluated at runtime, and could silently fail then.
Worse (for Electron), as the bundled code is usually minified, it is difficult to get a stack trace that corresponds to your source code.
That is not to say that Electron is not good for building network apps. On the contrary, libraries such as Axios and node-fetch take care of networking very well. Asynchronous requests are also (slightly) easier to perform on NodeJS due to the language architecture. Additionally, NestJS is often used to make entire back-end APIs.
Video games and other GPU-intense apps
While HTML5 games built using WebGL-emitting game engines such as Unity are starting to emerge, C#/C++ and WPF still dominate the video game industry, due to the heavy use of graphics frameworks such as DirectX and OpenGL. In particular, there is no easy way to integrate Electron and DirectX, because the latter is a Windows-specific technology.
CAD & designer programs, and other kinds of graphics-accelerated programs, make use of OpenGL instead of DirectX, and since Electron apps can use WebGL, the level of difficulty of developing these kinds of applications in both platforms is about the same.
Microsoft Store apps
Here is a surprise: You can publish Microsoft Store apps that are built with Electron. They will need at least Windows 10 1607 to run, and they will compile to AppX packages that you can publish on the Store after Microsoft manually verifies the application.
So in this area, it doesn’t look like there are advantages or drawbacks to using either language, because the end-product is the same — with the exception that C# can make UWP apps, but Electron can’t, but to be fair, most people are not running UWP apps on the alternate platforms such as Xbox anyway.
|
https://medium.com/codex/electron-vs-the-native-windows-frameworks-4a7e529af0e5
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['Ali Sherief']
|
2021-09-13 11:15:21.623000+00:00
|
['Cpp', 'Electron', 'Nodejs', 'Windows', 'Csharp']
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Why people outside Asia are so against wearing masks?
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From their perspectives, wearing masks mean that YOU ARE SICK. A couple days ago a friend from Holland wrote to me and told me that people in their country along with other European are educated to only wear masks when you’re severely sick or when a doctor told you to wear one. Only wearing masks when you’re sick is a rooted concept for these people. Therefore even if they are under weather, most of them will only rest enough, wash their hands and cover themselves with clothes when they cough and sneeze.
Secondly, let’s discuss about function of masks. Surgical doctor wear mask is to protect patients from getting infected by their splits rather than protect themselves from patients. Only N95 masks can effectively protect one from getting infected and those are for medical personnel. Nevertheless, COVID-19 is devastating for being spread by Infected with no symptoms. Even if you feel healthy but you might carry virus and pass it on to people around you. Therefore, to play safe logically we should all wear masks. Yet the fact of virus is spreading by Infected with no symptoms is not well known among many Americans. And what CDC told everyone as below:
What do you mean by this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads????????????? After the lesson we learnt from Wuhan, we all know that this way of spread is most horrendous. The reason of we block down cities and stop people from going to work and school is to prevent this way of spread. To summarize, not having enough perception about this virus leads to the unpopularity of masks.
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https://medium.com/@angellauds/why-people-outside-asia-are-so-against-wearing-masks-7834e5ded7f7
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['Angel Lau']
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2020-03-09 20:21:53.087000+00:00
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['Co Vid 19', 'Plurality', 'Coronavirus']
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Who I am and Where I’m going
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My name is Rivka Suleymanov. I am a 22-year-old mother married to my wonderful husband Ilan. We have been married for almost three years now and have a beautiful 14-month-old daughter. She brings so much light into our lives and my husband and I learn from each other every single day as parents. I am currently an Occupational Therapy student who is one year away from receiving a BS/MS degree in Occupational Therapy.
To say that I always knew where I would be five years ago would be an understatement. Graduating high school at the age of 17, I was not ready to take on the world but there were moments in my life that encouraged me to take a step in the right direction. At the age of 22 to accomplish what I have now is very inspiring to me but I know it is just the beginning and their is much more to come.
I am no writer, editor, or journalist. I want to start writing posts and articles on experiences that I have gone through that can benefit someone out there. My joy in life is to provide for others especially my family. I truly believe that this is the reason I had an inner calling to become a wife and mother at a young age. However, I could have just become a stay-at-home-mom (which is amazing and I applaud all the moms out there) but I knew I wanted to pursue a career in Occupational Therapy as this profession has had an impact on me since I was a child. This year during the 2020 pandemic, my school changed things to online schooling in March, and let me tell you, it was NOT easy with a 5-month-old at home with you. I would have a babysitter watch her for a few hours a week whenever necessary but for the most part, I had to manage it all; mom life, school life, housework, time for my spouse, time for myself.
This is my current situation, with tears of joy and stress along the way. My goal in this platform is to provide tips I learned along my journey as a continuing student, mother, wife. Sharing my passions as well as how I manage to balance it all. My life may not be as interesting as the CEO of the next leading business or even a Harvard graduate pursuing areas of technology. However, I do know that if I can help or provide any sort of insight, I would be happy with just that.
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https://medium.com/@inayevrivka/who-i-am-and-where-im-going-854036349172
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['Rivka Suleymanov']
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2020-12-27 22:14:23.711000+00:00
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['Occupational Therapy', 'Motherhood', 'Wife', 'Graduate School', 'Youngadult']
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India — Sri Lanka Relations : Economic and Cultural Interdependency
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The relationship between India and Sri Lanka is more than 2,500 years old. Both countries have a legacy of intellectual, cultural, religious and linguistic interaction. In recent years, the relationship has been marked by close contacts at all levels. Trade and investment have grown and there is cooperation in the fields of development, education, culture and defence. Both countries share a broad understanding of major issues of international interest. In recent years, significant progress in the implementation of developmental assistance projects for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and disadvantaged sections of the population in Sri Lanka has helped further cement the bonds of friendship between the two countries. India and Sri Lanka share a maritime border. India is the only neighbour of Sri Lanka, separated by the Palk Strait; both nations occupy a strategic position in South Asia and have sought to build a common security umbrella in the Indian Ocean. Both India and Sri Lanka are republics within the Commonwealth of Nations.
Political relations between the two countries have been marked by high-level exchanges of visits at regular intervals. Sri Lanka has long been a priority destination for direct investment from India. Sri Lanka is one of India’s largest trading partners in SAARC. Trade between the two countries grew particularly rapidly after the entry into force of the India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement in March 2000. According to Sri Lankan Customs, bilateral trade in 2018 amounted to US $ 4.93 billion. Exports from India to Sri Lanka in 2018 were US$ 4.16billion, while exports from Sri Lanka to India are US$ 767 million. The main items of exports from Sri Lanka to India are Base Oil, Poultry feeds, Areca nuts, (waste and scrap) paper or paperboard, Pepper, Ignition Wiring Sets, Copper wire, Marble, travertine and alabaster. The main items of Imports from India to Sri Lanka are Gas oil/ Diesel, Motorcycles, Pharmaceutical Products, Portland cement, Semi-finished products of Iron, Military weapon, Fuel oil, Rice, Cement clinkers, Kerosene Type jet Fuel.
India is one of the largest investors in Sri Lanka and the Last few years have also witnessed an increasing trend of Sri Lankan investments into India. India and Sri Lanka are member nations of several regional and multilateral organizations such as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme, South Asian Economic Union and BIMSTEC, working to enhance cultural and commercial ties.
Given the proximity of the territorial waters of both countries, especially in the Palk Straits and the Gulf of Mannar, incidents of straying of fishermen are common. Both countries have agreed on certain practical arrangements to deal with the issue of bona fide fishermen of either side crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line. Through these arrangements, it has been possible to deal with the issue of the detention of fishermen in a humane manner. India and Sri Lanka have agreed to set up a Joint Working Group (JWG) on Fisheries between the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare of India and Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development of Sri Lanka as the mechanism to help find a permanent solution to the fishermen issue.
India is active in a number of areas of development activity in Sri Lanka. About one-sixth of the total development credit granted by India is made available to Sri Lanka. In the recent past, three lines of credit were extended to Sri Lanka: US$100 million for capital goods, consumer durables, consultancy services and food items, US$31 million for the supply of 300,000 MT of wheat and US$150 million for purchase of petroleum products. All of the lines of credit have been fully used. Another line of credit of US$100 million is now being made available for rehabilitation of the Colombo-Matara railway.
As both countries have a democratic set up there is scope for broadening and deepening the ties. A comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) must be signed to improve the economic cooperation between both countries. India needs to focus more on its traditional and cultural ties to improve relations with Sri Lanka. Starting ferry services between India and Sri Lanka can improve people to people linkages. Mutual recognition of each other’s concerns and interests can improve the relationship between both countries.
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https://medium.com/the-bridgespace/india-sri-lanka-relations-economic-and-cultural-interdependency-65fac38f4038
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['Ananya Kalra']
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2021-04-07 18:49:19.066000+00:00
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['Trade', 'International Relations', 'Sri Lanka', 'India', 'Economy']
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How Uber Clone App Is A Best-Fit For All Scale Transportation Business?
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Launching a new startup in the on-demand service industry is now getting easier after the arrival of ready-made clone scripts available. One such familiar script is the Uber clone script where it holds the number of features and the customizable one to transform the business operations into digital as well as convenient.
Due to the drastic changes in customer behaviors like they do not even wait for the buses or taxis for their commutation for minutes, the demand for the taxi-booking application is high. In parallel, the number of professionals shows their interest to launch the ride-hailing business to meet this demand and get the revenue consistently.
A better interface for the among scenarios is to develop the taxi-booking application and use its features as per the business needs only. Focusing on this aspect, uber for taxi-booking is getting familiar in the market. After the grand success of the uber clone business model, this can be extended into various sectors say transportation, logistics, tow truck, etc.
With the inclusion of advanced features, SpotnRides uber clone app is the best one among the various clone app solution providers in various ways. This blog presents how the uber clone app provides solutions to the common issues in the transportation business and the points to prove its effectiveness in the on-demand market clearly via the following topics.
Top 3 Areas of Uber Clone App to Aid Startup Owners to Ensure Visibility
By providing the taxi-services to a wide range of customers with the use of the interfaces, uber clone registered pace with the best-in-class feature set, The startup owners have the wish to launch the ride-hailing business actively looking for uber-like apps to redeem their business structure into the new say in an advanced manner.
The uber like taxi booking application acts as the best technical mediator between the riders and drivers to make the ride-hailing services as smooth. Choosing the industry and the technological integration platform is the preliminary stage for the one who wishes to launch the business. By looking at the top insight of the Uber clone business model, the following observations are made.
The overall growth value of the uber like business models is around 75.4 bn USD and it holds the market share value of 37.2%.
For the year 2021, the number of uber clone app users has considerably increased to 78 million users and the percentage of growth will be 42% in the second quarter.
From there, the major inferences are constructing the perfect uber clone business model with the unique and most demanding features surely make the ride-hailing services as most-accessible platforms in the market.
In the forthcoming years, the need for app-based platforms is high not only for ride-hailing, it is also needed in various transportation sectors. The major areas of Uber clone to ensure the visibility of startup owners are listed as follows.
Universal Taxi Booking Business
With the built perfect uber clone business model and the customizable nature, booking of taxis, convenient schedules, favorite place trips, business trips, and luxury travels can be made easily. The dedicated dashboards for the riders as well as the drivers comprised the advanced features to manage the ride-hailing services as the universal one in the market.
Automate Fleet Management
By including the predictive analytics and the accurate report management in the uber clone business models, the fleet management can be made accurate and the fleet managers involved in this process will surely get the visibility in real-time.
The perfect uber clone business model with driver-centric features like smart scheduling, repetitive trip booking assures driver retention, tracking of fleets in real-time also ensures visibility quickly.
Fulfill the Commutation Needs
As the relaxations are getting on in the world, people start to move around and have the wish to make outstation trips, family trips, and corporate trips. Immense queues in public transportation may divert them to look for feasible options in private transportation sectors.
Hence, the number of service requests that arrived at the private transportation sectors are huge and the synchronized app model called uber clone app allows the travelers to book travel in comfortable schedules and make the trips as smooth with the use of automated app platforms.
The impact of the uber clone app is not only restricted to the transportation of peoples, it also holds good for the perfect transportation of goods from one place to another in a feasible way. SpotnRides is one of the familiar uber clone app solution providers in the market and it provides the user-centric app platforms to upgrade their workflow.
Strategic Plans to Make Startup Owners to Stay Ahead in Market
To make the workflow smooth and efficient, the pre-plan and the necessary updates as per the participant’s needs are necessary things in the on-demand service industry. Some of the strategic plans to make the startup owner’s stay ahead in the ride-hailing market and are listed as follows.
Overcome the Real-time Struggles
Prior to booking the vehicles, the identification of top-rated ride-hailing service providers, driver’s rating, and their experience in the travel is necessary as per the rider’s point of view. Uber clones make those activities in a smooth way and make the startup owners overcome the struggles easily with the features of the driver’s validation, ratings, and the schedule options in the app interface itself.
Focus on Secure Trip Strategy
Nowadays, late-night travel is now common. Working in multiple shifts may cause late-night travels especially for the women. Hence, the inclusion of emergency-based options in the uber clone app is an efficient strategy to make the trips safe.
Also, focus on the secure terminologies where the details of the riders and drivers are stored securely and this provides accessibility after the authorization gets over.
Flexible Payment Modules
The major focus to implement the flexible payment modules where the riders can easily pay the amount via multiple forms like wallets, card-based, and cash options. With this payment module inclusion, the drivers also get the traveling fee instantly.
Ride-Sharing Concepts
With the aim of protecting the environment by reducing vehicle usage, the world looks for suitable solutions for fuel consumption or the size of vehicles. Hence, the focussed on the ride-sharing concepts that make the riders to share their ride with the others who travel on the same route.
The effective implementation of this concept reduces the number of taxis usage in real-time. Also, the inclusion of the smart location finding options like GPS predicted the small distance that makes the trip-time and the fuel consumption as a minimum.
These strategic plans take ride-hailing services to the next level in the forthcoming years. Since the travel industry is a competitive one with a huge number of players, handling competitiveness requires special ways.
Five Ways of SpotnRides Uber Clone App to Remain Competitive
Ride-hailing industries accumulated a huge number of startup owners yearly. On the other side, the riders also demand various things in real-time to make the trips convenient for them. To assure this, the following ways in order to deal with customer expectations and be competitive in the Taxi-industry.
Tracking and Alerts on Route Disruptions
One of the top-most ways focussed by SpotnRides is to track the trip between the taxi-drivers location and the customer’s preferred location. Due to the fast-moving world, the consistent communication regarding the status of the trip and the alerts raising if there is any service handling if the disruptions are observed are necessary things. Followed in-app chat and notifications to make those activities happen in a smooth way.
Handling Multi-Service Requests
Since the SpotRides uber clone app model is the customizable solution, the handling of more number of service requests is an easy one for both the service provider as well as the drivers. According to the instant of service request, one by one priority-based service request handling is achievable.
Smart Onboarding of Players
The inclusion of a smart way of sign-in like social media-based sign-in allows the riders to show their experience via reviews or ratings in the public form. This smart way of sharing can bring new riders or travelers to the ride-hailing business.
Pre-Booking of Trips
The special way followed to attract corporate travels are scheduled trips with the favorite drivers. Yes. The inclusion of both the vehicle selection as well as the driver selection allows the corporate peoples to make corporate trips as smooth.
Accuracy via Digitized Operations
Uber clone app acts as the better replacement of manual operations where the automation in each stage allows the business owners to provide the taxi services in a convenient way as well as a timely one. The data maintenance via the digital platform ensures the accuracy that highly attracts new customers.
How SpotnRides is One of the Best Uber Clone Scripts providers in the Market?
The effectiveness of the business model not only lies at the operational level, it also depends on how the business model helps to earn more money than the competitors. On the basis of this aspect the best uber clone script providers with the following strategies.
Keep top quality players for a long-time by the inclusion of impressive options like subscription as well as promo-code-based offers, etc.
Fee collection ways like waiting time, granting the position of one of the top-searches and the wallet-based payment modules, etc.
The customizable and the pre-built nature of the uber clone app support for quick launch.
Since the entire uber clone model is structured via the latest technologies as well as the customer’s attention, the uber clone app definitely makes the ride-hailing startup owners provide the taxi-services in an advanced manner.
Closing Words
Being updated on customer’s perceptions is the major theme for businesses in the on-demand industry. Taxi-services are full of updates and numerous participations. Wide-range of transportation business sectors highly demand the advanced tech-partner for their effective operation.
SpotnRides uber clone model will be the perfect one with the advanced metrics and features. If you have a plan to mobilize the transportation industry on all scales, send your opinions and get started now.
|
https://medium.com/spotnrides/how-uber-clone-app-is-a-best-fit-for-all-scale-transportation-business-4203e7de5f96
|
['Jammy Shan']
|
2020-12-24 13:12:43.754000+00:00
|
['Taxi App Development', 'Uber Clone Script', 'Uber', 'App Development', 'Transportation']
|
A Beginner’s Guide to Flutter (Part 2)
|
This is Part 2 of a Three-Part Guide.
Part 1 : Building the User Interface Part 2 : Adding Functionality Part 3 : External Packages and What Next?
Aim of this article
We’ll be making the default flutter app (sort of like a hello world app for flutter). Every time we press the ‘+’ button the value of the counter will increase and it will display the current Value.
Part 2: Adding Functionality
What we’ll be covering in this part
Adding Functionality to our App Stateful Widgets
Our Code up to this point looks like this
import 'package:flutter/material.dart'; void main() {
runApp(const MyApp());
} class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
const MyApp({Key? key}) : super(key: key);
@override Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return MaterialApp(
home: HomePage()
);
}
} class HomePage extends StatelessWidget {
const HomePage({
Key? key,
}) : super(key: key); @override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Scaffold(
appBar: AppBar(
title: Text("My First App"),
),
body: Center(
child: Container(
child: Text("Hello World"),
),
),
floatingActionButton: FloatingActionButton(
child: Icon(Icons.add),
onPressed: ()=>{},
),
);
}
}
Our aim is to make a counter app so let us declare a variable that stores the number of times the button has been pressed called counter.
class HomePage extends StatelessWidget {
const HomePage({
Key? key,
}) : super(key: key); @override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
int counter = 0;
return Scaffold(
appBar: AppBar(
title: Text("My First App"),
),
body: Center(
child: Container(
child: Text("Hello World"),
),
),
floatingActionButton: FloatingActionButton(
child: Icon(Icons.add),
onPressed: ()=>{},
),
);
}
}
Now we want to change the “Hello World” text to “The Button was pressed x time”. Notice how we used the ‘$’ sign to reference the variable in the text.
class HomePage extends StatelessWidget {
const HomePage({
Key? key,
}) : super(key: key); @override
Widget build(BuildContext context) { int counter = 0; return Scaffold(
appBar: AppBar(
title: Text("My First App"),
),
body: Center(
child: Container(
child: Text("The button was pressed $counter times"),
),
),
floatingActionButton: FloatingActionButton(
child: Icon(Icons.add),
onPressed: ()=>{},
),
);
}
}
Now let’s try a hot reload.
Now our app looks how we want it to look now we should make it update the counter when the ‘+’ button is pressed.
1. Adding Functionality to our App
So we want the counter variable to increase every time we press the ‘+’ button. We can do this by using the onPressed parameter for the FloatingActionButton widget. We had left this as an empty function before but let us give a function that updates the variable counter.
class HomePage extends StatelessWidget {
const HomePage({
Key? key,
}) : super(key: key); @override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
int counter = 0; void incrementCounter(){
counter++;
print("The button was pressed $counter times");
} return Scaffold(
appBar: AppBar(
title: Text("My First App"),
),
body: Center(
child: Container(
child: Text("The button was pressed $counter times"),
),
),
floatingActionButton: FloatingActionButton(
child: Icon(Icons.add),
onPressed: incrementCounter,
),
);
}
}
Okay let’s run a hot reload (or hot restart)
Now let’s try pressing the ‘+’ button.
As we can see from the output below the variable get’s incremented.
But the counter doesn’t change its number in the device even if you hot reload or hot restart.
Okay, something is definitely wrong here, let’s see why our app won't increment the number.
The Entire Code up to this point looks something like this
class HomePage extends StatelessWidget {
const HomePage({
Key? key,
}) : super(key: key); @override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
int counter = 0; void incrementCounter(){
counter++;
print("The button was pressed $counter times");
} return Scaffold(
appBar: AppBar(
title: Text("My First App"),
),
body: Center(
child: Container(
child: Text("The button was pressed $counter times"),
),
),
floatingActionButton: FloatingActionButton(
child: Icon(Icons.add),
onPressed: incrementCounter,
),
);
}
}
As we can see the HomePage widget inherits from a stateless widget, so HomePage is a stateless widget. This means that once it has been rendered it won’t change its state. That is why our counter won’t change.
What we need is a Stateful Widget.
2. Stateful Widgets
The widgets whose state can be altered once they are built are called stateful Widgets.
A stateful Widget declaration has the general form
class WidgetName extends StatefulWidget {
const WidgetName({Key? key}) : super(key: key);
@override
_WidgetNameState createState() => _WidgetNameState();
}
class _WidgetNameState extends State<WidgetName> {
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Container();
}
}
This can be obtained with the keyword “stful” the same way we used “stless” to create a stateless widget(try this right now).
But in this case, we don’t need to create another stateful widget, flutter allows us to convert a stateless widget into a stateful widget. All we have to do is right-click on the stateless widget.
Click on show context Actions and choose convert to StatefulWidget
Now our stateless widget is converted into a stateful widget.
class HomePage extends StatefulWidget {
const HomePage({
Key? key,
}) : super(key: key);
@override
State<HomePage> createState() => _HomePageState();
}
class _HomePageState extends State<HomePage> {
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
int counter = 0;
void incrementCounter(){
counter++;
print("The button was pressed $counter times");
}
return Scaffold(
appBar: AppBar(
title: Text("My First App"),
),
body: Center(
child: Container(
child: Text("The button was pressed $counter times"),
),
),
floatingActionButton: FloatingActionButton(
child: Icon(Icons.add),
onPressed: incrementCounter,
),
);
}
}
Now we can change the state of our app.
Do a hot restart(not a reload), Even now if we click on the ‘+’ button our counter doesn’t increase in the app.(try it)
This is because we haven’t set the state of our stateful widget. We can set the state by using the setState() function. We have to set the state of the function and increment the number every time the button is clicked so we have to change our increment function to the following.
class HomePage extends StatefulWidget {
const HomePage({
Key? key,
}) : super(key: key);
@override
State<HomePage> createState() => _HomePageState();
}
class _HomePageState extends State<HomePage> {
int counter = 0;
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
void incrementCounter(){
setState(() {
counter++;
});
print("The button was pressed $counter times");
}
return Scaffold(
appBar: AppBar(
title: Text("My First App"),
),
body: Center(
child: Container(
child: Text("The button was pressed $counter times"),
),
),
floatingActionButton: FloatingActionButton(
child: Icon(Icons.add),
onPressed: incrementCounter,
),
);
}
}
I have also moved the declaration of the integer counter to outside the build function (written in bold) because everything inside the build function gets rebuilt every time the state is set. So our counter gets initialized to 0 every time we set state and our counter won’t increase.
Now do a hot restart and now when we click the ‘+’ button the number should increment.
So naturally, a question arises why do we need stateless widgets if stateful widgets do everything that stateless widgets do and can change as well?
The Answer is Stateless widgets consume less processing power and is more lightweight.
So that’s it we have successfully cloned the default app and hopefully learned something as well. Here is the entire code.
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
void main() {
runApp(const MyApp());
}
class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
const MyApp({Key? key}) : super(key: key);
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return MaterialApp(
home: HomePage()
);
}
}
class HomePage extends StatefulWidget {
const HomePage({
Key? key,
}) : super(key: key);
@override
State<HomePage> createState() => _HomePageState();
}
class _HomePageState extends State<HomePage> {
int counter = 0;
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
void incrementCounter(){
setState(() {
counter++;
});
print("The button was pressed $counter times");
}
return Scaffold(
appBar: AppBar(
title: Text("My First App"),
),
body: Center(
child: Container(
child: Text("The button was pressed $counter times"),
),
),
floatingActionButton: FloatingActionButton(
child: Icon(Icons.add),
onPressed: incrementCounter,
),
);
}
}
Try playing around with it, find out how to change colors, and so on.
In the next part, we will see the use of the pubspec.yaml file and what you should do after this.
|
https://medium.com/@deepakjogi/a-beginners-guide-to-flutter-part-2-76e3024917
|
['Deepak Jogi']
|
2021-08-27 13:05:16.583000+00:00
|
['Flutter Beginner', 'Flutter', 'Android App Development', 'Android', 'Flutter App Development']
|
#Cmconnect: How important is creativity to a community manager?
|
For my third article on the #cmconnect series, I had a chat with Medet Can Gündüz, the Community Manager for Sketch, as he spoke about the importance of being creative as a community manager, his role at Sketch, and a little insight on how he gets his “creative juice” flowing when he hits a mental block.
Enjoy!
(1) Howdy Medet, Thank you for taking your time to do this. Before we start, could you give a summary of what you do at Sketch?
Hey Jeph, absolutely! Thank you for the invitation and for setting this up.
At Sketch, I look after all things community-related. Partnerships, sponsorships, establishing relationships with new communities, looking after our lovely Sketch Advocates, Sketch Ambassadors and constantly nurturing them. This gives me a lot of opportunities to work closely with other teams and be on the lookout for our community champions.
I think it’s important to note that Sketch separates social media management and community management. I oversee our entire community, apart from actually running our socials.
(2) So why sketch? Was this your dream job?
Ha! Is this a trap question? Jokes aside, to be honest, I was involved with Sketch in my previous job already. I was a Sketch Ambassador and I put together many community events for designers in Istanbul.
Part of my career goals was to be able to manage a community on a global scale and being in a company that understands working remotely and favours quality over quantity. So when the opportunity showed itself, I took a shot and here we are!
(3) How important is creativity as a characteristic for a CM (community manager)?
I believe it’s very much essential. Firstly, we are in an ever-changing, ever-growing industry. This means we wake up to a new approach pretty much every day. As a result, the methods you use can quickly become outdated. Community Managers need to stay on top of things and be constantly aware.
Secondly, you need to keep coming up with fresh ideas and initiatives to maintain engagement. In addition, you need to be able to handle conflicts and know how to be positive all the time. And that sometimes requires creativity, surely!
(4) How do you get your “creative juice” pumping when you hit a mental block?
Ooh, tough one. For me, creating that isolated space for myself is important. This doesn’t mean I need to be away from others. It means I put my headphones on, get the good tunes going and really zone out to focus on what I am dealing with. Doing a breakdown of things and approaching them from the very bottom all the to the top step by step helps make things digestible.
I feel lucky I work in a very closely-knit team and have the opportunity to raise a flag when something is not right or I need an extra pair of hands. We are not superheroes and it’s okay to make mistakes or ask for help. This then gives you a chance to look at challenges from different perspectives.
(5) Creativity or Adaptability, which is more important to a CM(community manager)?
Adaptability, hands down! You can be super creative but not every idea fits into any situation. Sometimes a simple solution might work better than reinventing the wheel and end up saving you time and effort.
As a community manager who works for a globally known company, I am constantly in touch with so many people from different backgrounds. And it’s up to me to fine-tune everything and create a sincere environment. This requires being able to adapt and adjust. Along those lines, empathy plays a big role, too and that’s a form of adaptation on an emotional level if you ask me.
(6) How do you decide which is the best type of content to put out when you have numerous ideas?
An overview of potential impact could do wonders in this case. Not every idea is perfect so they are bound to have pros and cons.
Just put yourself in the shoes of your community members and think about which would be more beneficial to you. Is it nice to have, is it something that requires going through a lot of information, or is it something simple and sweet to brighten up someone’s day!
Another note is that being part of your community may not be the main gig for the members so it’s also important to factor in how much effort is on the table and if that’s achievable by members.
(7) What advice would you give to someone who thinks he/she is not “creative” enough to be a CM(Community Manager)
Don’t put extra weight on your shoulders. We all go through more than enough on a given day and any additional stress could easily snowball. Look for inspirations, similar applications, read articles and empower yourself!
You are where you are because you got the skills. Underestimating is always the easier choice but at times where you feel you are not creative, go over your accomplishments for some self-motivation. It’s okay to fall into these pitfalls and we all do. The goal is to come back stronger.
(8) What is one trick you use when coming up with ideas for community engagement?
Ahh, good one! I think this changes from person to person. For me, being a great observer serves as the key. Not just limited to your community, but across the industry. Seek out new ideas, explore other communities, ask for feedback from your own members, attend webinars, conferences and keep your eyes open.
On the other hand, I think that the sustainability of the ideas you put forward is equally important. If you are introducing a new scheme, make sure that you have the resources to support it. Have backups and buffer zones. Announcing a series of events and then having to stop after the second one is not a good image. Instead, you can soft confirm at least 3–4 events and work on the others from the get-go.
Thank you for this Medet!
Thank you, Jeph for all the insightful questions. I hope these answers will have some key takeaways to existing and future community managers. Been a pleasure!
|
https://medium.com/@jephtahabu/cmconnect-how-important-is-creativity-to-a-community-manager-be8e45c9b33c
|
['Jephtah Abu']
|
2021-08-20 21:04:42.732000+00:00
|
['Community', 'Community Management', 'Sketch', 'Creativity']
|
Stop Putting Every Programming Language On Your Developer Resume
|
Of course, this doesn’t apply to everyone. Credits where credit’s due, some people have mastered several programming languages or are experienced in all of them. Listing all of them would be a proper reflection of their skillset, but still, there’s not much reason to list all of them.
There are several reasons for this.
The first is that technical skills, especially programming languages, are more often than not non-negotiable for any job opportunity. If a job description states that it’s looking for a Java developer, then the minimum requirement is that you know Java.
If you’re not confident in your Java skills, then it’s very unlikely that you will land the job unless they’re specifically looking for an entry-level developer. In that case, putting Java as a skill on your resume will help you get the interview, but nothing beyond that. Is it really worth it then?
Another reason is the fact that there’s really no need to list more than the necessary set of programming languages. Let’s take the job opportunity looking for a Java developer again.
When I apply, does it sound impressive to include experience with Python? Perhaps. Is it relevant for the job? Not really, they’re looking for a Java developer. Whether I know Python is very unlikely to affect my odds of getting the job as the only requirement is familiarity with Java. So what’s the point of including it then?
Lastly, there is so much more interesting information to put on your resume compared to all the programming languages that you know. Related to the previous points, the benefits of a long list of programming languages are limited, but the drawbacks are still present.
Instead of filling your resume with irrelevant information, you could’ve used that precious space to tell the recruiter more about yourself. Information that could’ve really differentiated you from the competition or highlighted some of the interesting things that you did.
All of that would have significantly higher odds of impressing the recruiter and making you land the job. In the end, that’s what we’re trying to achieve with our resume right?
|
https://medium.com/the-junior-developer-handbook/stop-putting-every-programming-language-on-your-developer-resume-7910ae862199
|
['Chak Shun Yu']
|
2021-12-15 18:02:45.384000+00:00
|
['Programming', 'Career Advice', 'Software Development', 'Job Hunting', 'Resume']
|
Why I Stayed on Parler
|
Why I Stayed on Parler
I realize I’m in the minority, on many different levels
Image collaboration with @mockup.store and the author
When most of my friends and colleagues hear I’m on Parler, I get that look. No matter their political beliefs, they wonder why I’d label myself as part of a “far-right platform,” especially during a heated election cycle. The reasons are simple: less noise, no data mining, and no powers-that-be force-feeding me updates I don’t want.
As a precursor, I’d like to say that while Parler is home to a slew of Republicans, it’s also home to many creators, business owners, and other folks who don’t claim a political party, or at least don’t shout it from the rooftops. While plenty have made Parler a right-wing spot, the entire purpose of the network was to provide a place where you can talk about anything that’s covered by the First Amendment.
I don’t talk politics online, period. So the idea I can’t use a social media platform for something other than politics is ridiculous. That’s like saying everyone on Facebook and Twitter are party-affiliated, and it’s simply not the case. Just as people communicate with friends and loved ones on top networks, they can on smaller platforms like Parler and MeWe as well.
Judging me for my presence on a network that hosts millions of Trump supporters is like calling anyone who visits a bar an alcoholic. It also shows an utter lack of acceptance and tolerance.
While I’m still active on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, my personal use of these networks has decreased lately because of the amount of manipulation they perform on members and the number of innocent posts being politicized by other users. As a marketer, I regularly study the psychological aspects of keeping people tuned in; Facebook and Twitter know this practice all too well. The Social Dilemma, for the most part, is quite accurate.
Here are all the reasons I maintain a Parler account without compromising my beliefs and morals:
Freedom of speech is paramount to Americans’ way of life
As I’ve always explained, free speech is a moral issue, not a political one. And while privately operated networks aren’t covered under the First Amendment, their actions speak volumes. A friend joking about killing her brother was recently put in Facebook jail. Another friend was temporarily banned for calling someone an asshole. Neither of these was a threat in any way, yet Facebook took swift action.
Offending someone does not automatically translate to threatening behavior. Yet, every day good people are getting slapped with timeouts. This most often is due to individuals who don’t directly work for Facebook, making the call based on their own beliefs.
Don’t get me wrong. If a private forum wants to institute rules to keep discussions on topic, that’s not a free speech issue. It’s actually quite acceptable. For example, I’m a moderator for the Van Halen News Desk, which disallows political talk. However, there’s no special treatment — no matter the candidate or sub-topic, political comments are filtered out. Members can report comments, but the action taken is based solely on the content posted.
The difference between Facebook and Twitter, and other forums, though, is their claim to be a place to talk about anything. I’ve seen outrageous levels of censorship that actually violate their terms of service. Hence, the banning of one’s sister when she’s taking stabs at her brother. One can only wonder who reported the offense.
Mining personal data is how networks own your time and make money off your thoughts
I’m fully aware of how websites and platforms collect information on me. I don’t have anything to hide, really. While it may seem hypocritical for me to use networks that mine my data, the fact is this information has already been up for grabs long before any of these sites existed. However, I do believe that every user should know upfront exactly what is collected and why, and it shouldn’t be buried deep in the fine print. I also think continually refreshing databases with one’s every move for no other purpose than money is pretty creepy.
Facebook’s practices go beyond its own channel. With millions of websites integrating various elements of big blue’s SDK, way more is collected and utilized to force-feed content and monetize. That means navigating an online store can prompt specific content to appear in your Facebook feed, and Facebook makes money off your mere thinking about a purchase. It’s what Google started practicing many years prior, but on a much larger scale. Facebook owns Instagram, too.
I want to use social media to escape tribulations
I go to my local bar to get my mind off the day’s work. I want to mingle with friends, throw darts, and sing karaoke. I’m not there for drama and hassles. The same goes for social media. I want to see all the milestones being met by my loved ones. I want to congratulate friends on successes and convey sympathy and empathy when necessary. On a personal level, I’m not on social media to witness fights, get sucked into egotistical debates, and spew hate. Yes, I’ve failed at times by doing just that. And I immediately am disappointed in myself. Today, even witnessing such attacks makes me feel worse.
While my family and close friends aren’t on Parler, I am meeting some fantastic people who are there for the same reason. They want less noise and less drama. On Parler, I market, talk about music, review various mediums of art, and chat about anything but politics. I still have to kick a few trolls off my posts, but for the most part, it’s relatively quiet on the news front.
|
https://medium.com/digital-diplomacy/why-i-stayed-on-parler-ccf7ca34381d
|
['Pamela Hazelton']
|
2020-11-09 13:34:06.113000+00:00
|
['Free Speech', 'Social Media', 'Facebook', 'Twitter', 'Politics']
|
OneScreen.AI — Real-Time Performance Ad Marketplace
|
OneScreen.AI — Real-Time Performance Ad Marketplace
Connecting marketers with ideal customers through a real-time, highly targeted, performance marketing ad marketplace.
The Problem
Small business owners need additional revenue streams and low-cost customer acquisition channels in order to survive in the post-COVID-19 reality. Tens of millions of screens inside businesses could be used to connect advertisers with ideal customers, but they’re disconnected and the “out-of-home advertising” (OHH) industry lacks the technology to be useful to performance marketers. According to OneScreen, that lack of basic technology is why more than 50% of OOH screens go unsold every month and why marketers spend $167B per year online and less than $10B per year OOH. Meanwhile, performance marketers need new channels of growth as over-optimized internet advertising channels have led to a 50% increase in CAC over the past 5 years.
What The Company Does
OneScreen mails it’s small, free IoT device to any brick-and-mortar business that requests one. The business simply plug the device into the HDMI port of any digital display, such as a TV screen, and they’re instantly connected to OneScreen’s content platform. The device sends back real-time information about the number of people in the room and enables marketers to target based on demographic and behavioral parameters previously available only online. The device facilitates a real-time auction to maximize the revenues for screen owners while easily enabling marketers to deploy campaigns. The machine learning algorithm powering the auction automatically optimizes what ads get shown when and where — empowering marketers with ad campaigns that optimize themselves.
Business Model
OneScreen takes a share of revenues through the platform and also offers analytics as a recurring-revenue SaaS platform for incumbent businesses. They also plug into incumbent-owned screens and can sell their unsold or under-sold inventory for them.
The Market
Even counting the decline in traditional ad mediums caused by COVID-19, hundreds of billions of dollars are spent on advertising in the U.S. every year. Like the team did at HubSpot, they say they are following a “blue ocean strategy” that turns competitors into ecosystem partners by focusing on creating a new supply-side (connecting screens inside businesses) and creating a new demand-side (mid-market local advertisers and performance marketers).
Traction
They’ve launched their pilot program with approximately 100 businesses in the greater Boston area and have approximately $50k in ad budgets committed. Their goal is to validate the unit economics of the network first so that they can develop an intelligent cost to acquire a customer (CAC) target and determine which go-to-market (GTM) model will fit best. According to the team, their supply-side GTM model will likely be similar to Square, and their demand-side GTM model will be similar to HubSpot’s based on the current LTV:CAC models.
Founding Team Background
Sam Mallikarjunan was the head of growth at HubSpot Labs, chief revenue officer at Flock.com, and taught innovation management and advanced digital marketing at Harvard University. Greg Wise was the principal consultant leading HubSpot’s e-commerce sales initiatives. After HubSpot, Greg worked at Simon Property Group where he experienced first hand the difficulties of monetizing foot traffic for retail. Andrei Oprisan was the product entrepreneur working with Sam at HubSpot Labs. He’s the former director of engineering at Wayfair. He built and led the more than 300 person Boston engineering team for Liberty Mutual, where he was the youngest vice president in the more than 100-year history of the company.
What They Need Help With
The team would love intros to potential customers. If you know any small business owners who could use additional revenue ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per month, OneScreen would love to get them set up for free. The team is also in growth mode. Connect with the OneScreen team.
Subscribe To The Buzz To Get More Startups In Your Inbox
|
https://medium.com/the-startup-buzz/onescreen-ai-a-real-time-performance-marketing-ad-marketplace-74d5aa4ea5a7
|
['Jeff Piltch']
|
2020-08-18 19:01:01.101000+00:00
|
['Startup', 'Marketing', 'Angel Investors', 'Marketplaces', 'Venture Capital']
|
Building Restful APIs With Flask and SQLAlchemy (Part 1)
|
Getting Started
Microframework
Flask is a microframework for web development (back end) in Python. Even though it’s a microframework, we can build a complex application that scales well with Flask.
So what does microframework mean? It means it doesn’t force anything on us — we can decide to use one tool instead of another. This article will walk you through how to build restful APIs with Flask. If you’re new to Flask and would like to get an overview on how to set up a Flask application, you can read my article on that.
API
Before we start building our API in Flask, let’s start by defining what an API is and determining how our API will be. API stands for application programming interface and is like a connection/intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other — say, server and a client.
The server is the back end (in this case, Flask), but the client might not necessarily be a web browser — it can be a mobile app or a single-page application (SPA). This is one reason why an API is important. This article goes deeper into what an API is.
Now that we have an understanding of what APIs are, let’s go deeper by talking about Restful APIs. RESTful APIs allow us to use HTTP requests ( GET , POST , PUT , DELETE , PATCH , etc.). There are rules to be followed when building Restful APIs — I’ll list them below.
Client — Server: The client and server are independent of each other. Stateless: The request sent by the client must contain all necessary information; the server must not store any state about the client. Cache: The server can label the response as either cacheable or not. Uniform resource: Clients must use a uniform, well-defined, and standardized protocol to access the server. The commonly used protocol in most RESTful APIs is the HTTP and HTTPS protocols. Layered system: Proxy servers can be inserted between clients and servers to increase performance. Clients can optionally download code from the server. Most APIs respond with JSON, but some uses XML (not common). Allow the filtering of data.
HTTP verbs
I mentioned HTTP verbs above, but what are they?
HTTP verbs are just methods that we use to tell the endpoint what we want to do. Although some of the HTTP verbs can be used in place of others, this isn’t a good practice. Use the most appropriate verb to make or process a request. There are a lot of HTTP verbs — some of them are GET , POST , PUT , PATCH , DELETE , HEAD , etc. I’ll be explaining the four most common ones.
GET : The GET method is used to get a resource from the server. It fetches data from the server based on the resource path, which may include query parameters used to filter what we want to return. The status code to be returned from a resource path that uses this method should be 200 meaning OK. POST : The POST method is used to create a new resource to the server. The status code to be returned from a resource path that uses this method should be 201 meaning CREATED. This resource should not return any value. PUT : The PUT method is used to update a resource in the server. The status code to be returned from a resource path that uses this method should be 200 meaning OK or 204 meaning No Content. DELETE : The DELETE method is used to delete a resource on the server. The status code to be returned from a resource path that uses this method should be 200 meaning OK or 204 meaning No Content.
Structuring our API
Now that we’ve spent some time understanding what APIs are, let’s think about what and how our API will be structured. I can decide to get an array of all of the users from the server or an individual user. I can also create a user or update user details. All of this has its respective HTTP request.
GET users/ : Retrieve all of the users
: Retrieve all of the users GET users/id/ : Retrieve a single user
: Retrieve a single user POST users/ : Create a new user
: Create a new user PUT users/id/ : Update an existing user
: Update an existing user DELETE users/id/ : Delete an existing user
: Delete an existing user GET todos/ : Retrieve all to-dos
: Retrieve all to-dos Get todos/id/ : Retrieve a single to-do
: Retrieve a single to-do POST todos/ : Create a new to-do
: Create a new to-do PUT todos/id/ : Update an existing to-do
: Update an existing to-do DELETE todos/id/ : Delete an existing to-do
SQLAlchemy
Now let’s talk about SQLAlchemy.
What really is SQLAlchemy? SQLAlchemy is an object-relational mapper (ORM). What this means is that with SQLAlchemy we don’t have to write raw SQL commands. All we need to do is create models in the form of classes (objects), and SQLAlchemy will do the work of converting them to SQL (relational database) — hence the name object-relational mapper.
We can do a lot of things with an ORM — from doing our normal queries to inserting, updating, and deleting to doing advance things like joins, merges, etc. SQLAlchemy’s official website has more information here. But in this article, we’ll be using the Flask wrapper for SQLAlchemy, which is Flask-SQLAlchemy.
Creating our API
Let’s start creating our API. We’ll start by installing dependencies. We need just two: Flask and Flask-SQLAlchemy.
Let’s set up our Flask app, I’ll be using Postman to test my API — if you don’t know what that is, you can check it out here.
Let me briefly say a few things about Postman and how easy it is to use. Postman is an interactive and automatic tool for verifying the APIs of your project. Postman is a Google Chrome desktop app (it used to be a Chrome extension) for interacting with HTTP APIs. It also supports GraphQL. It presents you with a friendly GUI for constructing requests and reading responses.
You can always use any HTTP library to test the API if you prefer that.
Let’s test the application. Run the server with flask run , and send a request to localhost:5000/ .
We can see that when we sent a request to the endpoint / , we got what we want, which means everything is working fine.
It’s time we build our user and to-do model so we can define endpoints for the user model. These two models will have a one-to-many relationship — i.e., one user can have many to-dos, and one to-do needs to have a user.
A lot is going on here! Let’s go through it in detail.
Firstly, we imported SQLAlchemy from Flask-SQLAlchemy, and we connected it to our app.
Next, we added two config variables to our app. The first is the secret key, which is a secret variable used to secure our app. It’s used by some middleware (extensions) that have to do with security (for now we have none — when we get to the authentication part, we’ll be using it). Second is the SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI , which is the database curl for our app. Here I’m using SQLite, but you can use any SQL database of your choice (e.g., MySQL). Then the value will be mysql://username:password@server/db . You can check their official docs for more details and a list of other config variables.
We then defined our user model, which extends from the db.Model class.
Lastly, we defined the columns. The db.Column is used to create a column. The first column we defined is the id , which will be automatically created by SQL. The second column is the name and email field, which have to be a string. Additionally, the email field is unique.
I also added a public_id field, which is what I want to use as route parameters since SQL gives id as an integer, and I’d like to have something like a UUID value similar to what we get from a Mongo ID.
I also added an is_admin field/column, which we’ll be using for authorization.
And lastly, we added a todos field, which is what we use to connect to the to-do model, as the name implies (relationship). This part takes three values: The first is similar to others, which is the type of field it is. The second is backref , which is the field (variable) we use to reference the user model in the to-do model. And the last argument is lazy , which is how the data is loaded.
The to-do model is similar to the user model. It has the id , name , is_completed , and user_id fields, the last of which is a foreign key — i.e., a key that’s used to reference another model. With this user_id field, I can get the user ID of a to-do app, and with the owner field (from the backref ), I can get the user that created the to-do.
Now, even though the database exists, the models themselves haven’t been created. To create these, you can open your database driver. But if you’re using SQLite and you don’t have a database driver, you can open your terminal and run db.create_all() after importing the db variable. This creates the database and all of the models defined with it. Another useful method is db.drop_all() , which does the exact opposite.
Open a Flask shell, and let’s test our models.
As you can see, trying to query from the user model gave an error because I haven’t created the database.
There’s a Flask extension that works as a middleman between us and SQLAlchemy (and Flask SQLAlchemy): flask-migrate. It gives us a command that helps us to create and manage our models. It uses Alembic to achieve this. The advantage of doing this is if we’ll be updating our model in the future, all we need to do is run some commands, and the database will be updated. If we don’t use this extension, we’ll have to handle this ourselves.
After running db.create_all() , these models have been created, and we can query them.
The db.Model object exposes our models to a query method that we use to query them. There are a lot of queries we can do — we’ve seen all , which returns an array of all of the rows; first , which returns the first row in the query; filter and filter_by for filtering our query; get takes in an ID and returns the row with that ID; and first_or_404 and get_or_404 returns a 404 if the query itself ( get or first ) returns None .
Let’s insert some rows into the database.
From the image, I used the uuid module for the public ID so as to make it unique. I created an instance of the object and stored it in a variable but actually haven’t created the row. I confirmed that by getting the value of babs.id , which gave None.
The function db.session.add adds a variable to the database temporarily. The second function, db.session.commit , saves it permanently. Other functions include db.session.add_all , which takes an array of objects to be added to the database, and db.session.delete , which deletes an object.
The way the database objects are represented in the terminal is done using the __repr__ method in the class definition. The todo method is also similar. but the moment we add a new todo to the database, the object will have a new attribute owner, which we used as the backref to the user model. The todo object gets stored in the user.todos object also.
Endpoints
Now let’s start creating endpoints.
Let’s create the endpoint for getting all users and for getting a single user.
The endpoints for these two functions are given in the app.route decorator. If we’re returning a dictionary, Flask automatically converts it to JSON, which is why we aren’t using the jsonify function in the second function.
In the get_users function, we return an array of users. Instead of returning the id , we returned the public_id , which is what is used as the route parameter. The default status code is 200, so we don’t need to pass it here. Let’s test these endpoints now.
Next is for us to create endpoints for creating, updating, and deleting users.
The decorator for this function takes another parameter, method , which by default is [‘GET’] . We specify it to be a POST method here.
The create_user function POST receives a bit of JSON data. It first verifies the name and email was given and that the length is at least four characters (there will be some validation in the front end also). We could also use a regex to do some more advanced validation, but it isn’t in the scope of this article.
We finally created the row and saved it to the database. We return JSON data of the user and a status code of 201 for CREATED.
The update_user function has a PUT HTTP verb registered to it. It also has JSON data for what we want to update — in this case, it has to be the name .
We did some validation before updating the database. We first got the user with the public ID in the route parameter. Then, we updated the field and called db.session.commit() . We finally returned the updated user data with a status code of 200 (default). Similarly, the delete_user function uses the ID in the route parameter to get the user and finally deletes it.
These two functions use the first_or_404 function in filtering the data — that way a 404 error will be returned if no user has that public ID in the URL. Let’s head over to Postman to test these endpoints.
Yaay! we’re done with the user endpoints. Let’s now start with the todo endpoints. Firstly, a todo needs to have a user attached to it. We can use the public_id or email to get the user object since these two fields are unique. I think I’d go for email since that’s easy to remember. So when creating a new todo , we need to pass the email of the creator also.
The endpoints are similar to what we’ve seen before. Let’s head over to Postman to test these endpoints.
|
https://betterprogramming.pub/building-restful-apis-with-flask-and-sqlalchemy-part-1-b192c5846ddd
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['Babatunde Koiki']
|
2020-12-14 20:14:52.392000+00:00
|
['Programming', 'Sql', 'API', 'Flask', 'Python']
|
Intriguing observation!
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Intriguing observation! I thought about that before too. You made me want to do some more research on it. Thank you for reading and thank you for your insight! ❤
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https://medium.com/@divinasrelease/intriguing-observation-38f2a2390ed0
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['Divina Grey']
|
2020-12-27 21:41:48.570000+00:00
|
['Parenting', 'Mental Health', 'Relationships', 'Ocd', 'Safety']
|
How to use three types of lists for life
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From daily to-do lists to lifelong bucket lists, you have probably been using lists to help organize your life. With a little more time and planning, you can unlock so much more value from your lists in any area of life. Lists can become a powerful tool when designed and used effectively, and there are three types of lists that you should make regular use of to power up your productivity:
Tracking lists
Organizing lists
Planning lists
By understanding and implementing each type of list in your life, you’ll be more organized and less stressed in no time.
Tracking Lists
Let’s imagine that you’re trying to save up for something, and so you’re looking to stick to a budget. You have run the math and calculated how much you can spend in each area: groceries, rent or housing, utilities, child and health care, and little extra discretionary to have a bit of fun. Now in order to know how you’re doing with your spending, you could sit down every week or every month and add up all of the expenses on your bank statement. After adding everything up, you would compare the current spend with the budgeted amounts to know if you’re on track.
But this approach only gives you insight as a snapshot in time, and it’s hard to know how you’re tracking at any given moment to know if you can spend a little extra on that frozen yogurt, or go out for drinks with a friend. Instead, you could use a tracking list to log all of your expenses, which would give you real-time insight into how much you’ve spent for the month in each area, and whether or not you have extra room for something else. This is the practical power of a tracking list.
Tracking lists are lists that track information in order to provide you insights. The purpose of a tracking list is to inform your decision making by tracking items, behaviors, and other information. Whenever you feel like you need more information or a more realistic picture of your behavior to make changes or new decisions, you can consider using a tracking list to gather information to unlock those insights.
It’s also important to note, that tracking lists may appeal to different people for different reasons. Some people like tracking for tracking’s sake. You may be a Fitbit-wearing, food tracking maven who loves to see all the data about what you’re doing, eating, and spending. I know that joy- that used to be me! However, if that doesn’t sound like any fun to you, you can still make use of tracking lists. It’s just more important to be clear about what insights you need, and then use the tracking list until you have those insights and then move on. Just like any list, it’s meant to work for you. So if you feel like the list is no longer providing meaningful insights, feel free to stop using it once you have the information you need to make your decisions or change you habits.
Examples of tracking lists to try:
Time tracking list
Budget tracking list
Water consumption list
Food tracking list
Mood tracking list
Activity tracking list
Habit tracker
Inventory tracking list
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Organizing lists
Let’s imagine that you love to read books (or watch movies or play games) and that you are always asking friends, peers, and colleagues about their favorite books. Every time someone tells you about one of their favorites that sounds interesting, you take a mental note, or write it on a scratch piece of paper or send yourself an email with the book name. Then, a week later, after finishing the page turner you just devoured, you’re ready to find your next book. You head to the library or book store, and you just can’t remember the name of that great book Juan recommended and that piece of paper you wrote it down on got lost on your desk somewhere. So you spend 30 minutes browsing through the aisles trying to remember while reading cover after cover to find something you’ll like.
This approach can bring about some hidden discoveries, but it can also waste a lot of time, and prevents you from connecting with others through their recommendations. Instead, you could use an organizing list to capture all of the book recommendations you get and those you hear about in any context. The list can organize the books by genre and topic so that you can easily sort through the list to find your next book based on what you’re in the mood for- and all in a matter of minutes. You can go from one page turner to the next, and always have a place to put those great recommendations from friends. That’s the practical power of organizing lists.
An organizing list is a list of items grouped by a relevant topic and organized into categories. The purpose of an organizing list is to organize large and ongoing amounts of information to make if more digestible and referenceable in the future. Whenever you find yourself with related information in multiple places or feeling like you can never find XYZ information when you need it, an organizing list may be the answer for you.
Organizing lists can take many shapes and forms, and they will vary in activity. Some organizing lists may take a “set it and forget it approach”, where you capture lots of information that you or someone else may need to access at some point in the future, but you won’t plan to access it regularly. While other organizing lists may be ones you reference every day, like a list of medications to take, or a list of items to remember before you leave for work.
Examples of organizing lists to try:
Listicles (List articles)
Pros / Cons list
Budget list
Outline list
Summary lists
Reading list
Wish list
Bucket list
Life Reference list
Birthday and celebration reference list
Photo by Jess Bailey on Unsplash
Planning Lists
Imagine you’re planning a surprise birthday party for your sister, mom, or significant other. You have lots to do, and you have a mental list of everything that needs to get done between now and then. You ask some of your friends and family to chip in and everyone has a job they’re responsible for. You’re a bit frantic, but everything is coming together and your sister/mom/partner is none the wiser. The party day comes and you’ve spent all day on last minute preparations getting the food ready, putting up last minute decorations, and running to the store five times for things you forgot to pick up. Everyone arrives and the night goes off without a hitch, but it isn’t until your mom/sister/partner calls you late into the evening that you realize no one was responsible for getting them to the party! They don’t arrive until most of the guests have gone home and they missed most of their own party.
This approach can be chaotic, and can often lead to things falling through the cracks and a lot of extra stress. Instead you could have used a planning list to map out everything that needed to be done, when it needed to be done by, who was going to do it, and any relevant information about it. You could also keep track of what had been done and what hadn’t, so you always have an idea of what’s still left to do and you can easily recall who said they were getting the cake and who’s putting up decorations so you can check in if needed. And if additional needs arise, you can easily capture and keep them organized with everything else. This allows you to have peace of mind on what needs to be done and the plan for it, so you can enjoy the planning process and have fun at the party- you can bake the cake, and eat it too! That is the practical power of planning lists.
A planning list is a list of action items to be done and the tracking of when they’re completed. The purpose of a planning list is to plan and organize items that need to be actioned or completed toward a specific end. Planning lists can be used for one-off projects such as surprise birthday planning, or they can span multiple areas such as a house renovation or a new product launch.
Examples of planning lists to try:
Goals list
Grocery list
To-do list
Project plan
Packing list
Create your lists
Now that you understand the basics of each type of list, try creating one of each type and implementing it within your life. We’ll share more examples and tips on how to power up your lists in other articles, and comment here if there is another type of list you want us to explore.
|
https://medium.com/lists-life/how-to-use-three-types-of-lists-for-life-fa547b8851d0
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['Kaitie Chambers']
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2020-12-13 15:42:45.854000+00:00
|
['Organization', 'Planning', 'Productivity', 'Tracking', 'Lists']
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Editing entities without breaking the network tab (part 1/5)
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Photo by Patrick Brinksma on Unsplash
This is the first step of our example for implementing batch editing with the Ignite UI for Angular Grid control and Web API. We will use the Transaction service that we at Infragistics have developed to allow accumulation of changes without immediately affecting the underlying data.
In the following blog series, we are going to provide detailed guidance on how to implement batch updating in an Angular application with an Ignite UI for Angular Grid component, using Web API with Entity Framework as our back end. This article not only walks through the steps required but also provides information on the possible trouble points you may face while integrating the different parts of the solution to work with each other.
The application I am building is intended to provide users with UI to perform a number of CRUD operations on the data. The front end is an Angular application, with an IgxGrid component displaying the data and providing the editing interface for the end-users. The updates are then sent to the server for each change, in order to update the server state of the entities. However, this creates a large number of requests to the server, and I am going to show how this can be optimized by sending a batch of updates all at once, instead of processing each individual update separately.
We will execute those steps in our scenario:
Create a Web API with Entity Framework Update the controller that would get the transactions from the client-side and would update the database Create an Angular application with IgxGrid using the Ignite UI CLI Update the Ignite UI CLI project in order to work with the Web API Send the request to the server and update the database
We will note the prerequisites at the beginning of every step. So, let us get excited and jump into creating our first Angular application with IgxGrid and batch updating!
Step 1: Create a Web API with Entity Framework
In this section, we use:
Visual Studio 2017
Web API 2.1
Entity Framework 6
.NET 4.6.1
Open Visual Studio and create a new project. Select File > New > Project.
When in the “New project” view, select “Web” from the “Visual C#” templates and choose “ASP.NET Web Application (.NET Framework)” project. Name your new project CityService and click OK.
In the following view, choose “Web API”. Leave all the checkboxes as they are and click OK.
At this point, we have our new project created. You may look at the project structure in the Solution Explorer and investigate how the skeleton of our Web API looks like.
The first thing we should add to the solution is our model class. In this project, we will create our database using the “Code First” approach to Entity Framework. We will code our class and the properties that correspond to tables and columns in the database. The mapping between the store schema and the conceptual model represented by our code is handled by convention and by a special mapping API.
You may find more information on the different EF Development approaches in this section of the Microsoft documentation. We will not spend time here to explain the specifics of the other two approaches. We should only note that they are called “Database First” and “Model First” and that it is strongly recommended to go with the “Code First” approach if you are a newcomer to Entity Framework. Good thing that we are demonstrating this approach in our post!
Now let us get to creating the City class. Right-click the Models folder and select Add > Class.
Name the created class City .
Delete the content of the newly created file and replace it with the following code:
If we look into our model, we would see that we would show the end users the name of the city, its population, if there is a train station in the city when is the city holiday and we would provide a brief description — may be interesting tourist attractions, restaurants, etc.
Now when we have our model, let us create the Web API controller that would receive the updates coming from the client-side and would communicate with the database layer using Entity Framework.
Expand the Controllers folder and you would see there are already two controllers created. HomeController.cs and ValuesController.cs . The ValuesController is just an example Web API controller and you may delete it to make our project easier to navigate.
After the example controller is deleted, build your project as the Web API scaffolding uses reflection to find the model classes, so it needs the compiled assembly. Next, right-click the Controllers folder and choose Add > Controller.
When in the “Add Scaffold” view, select “Web API 2 Controller with actions, using Entity Framework”. Click Add.
An “Add Controller” view is opened. Open the “Model Class” dropdown list and select the City class. If the City class is missing from the list, make sure that you have built the project prior to creating the controller.
Check the “Use async controller actions” checkbox below and leave the controller name as CitiesController .
Next click the plus (+) button next to “Data Context Class”.
Inside the “New Data Context” view leave the value as it is: CityService.Models.CityServiceContext . At this point, the “Add Controller” dialog looks like this:
Now click “Add”.
Visual Studio needs a bit of time to install some required NuGet packages and to scaffold the structure that we have setup. Once the build succeeds, you would see that two classes were added to your project.
Now, let us see what those files stand for.
The CitiesController , of course, defines a Web API controller. Currently, the controller implements the REST API that clients use to perform CRUD operations on a list of authors. And here is a tricky note! We do not actually need the controller in its current state as we want to execute batch updating and not to perform operation by operation. For the moment, we may leave it like this. We will get back to it in a minute. Let us first see what is the second class that was added to our project.
The CityServiceContext.cs was added under the Models folder. It manages entity objects during run time, which includes populating objects with data from a database, changes tracking, and persisting data to the database. It inherits from DbContext . If you want to understand more about the DbContext class, its properties and methods (some of them we will use in the following sections), you may read this topic.
Now build your project again as we are going to use Code First Migrations to seed our database!
What exactly is Code First Migrations? Migrations allow us to create an initial database that works with our Entity Framework model, to generate migrations to keep track of changes that we make to the model and to keep our database up to date with those changes. In case you are interested in learning more about Migrations, you may read the following article.
Let us continue by navigating to the “Tools” menu and select NuGet Package Manager > Package Manager Console. Inside the console that is opened, provide the following command:
Enable-Migrations
The first thing this command would do is to check if the context targets an existing database, which is not the case in our project. Then the Code First Migration would be enabled for the project. After you see that the command is executed as expected, you would also notice that it has added a new folder named “Migrations” to our project. Inside this new folder is created a code file named Configuration.cs .
Open the Configuration.cs file and add this using statement:
Then you would delete the commented block of code and would provide the initial data for our application to the Seed method. Paste the following code inside the Seed method:
Now, after we have provided the data we want to show in our IgxGrid , let us go back to the Package Manager Console and execute the following command:
Add-Migration Initial
After this is executed, run this command:
Update-Database
After executing both commands, your console would look like this:
Well done! At this point, we do have a working Web API! Let us see what it looks like. Build the project and run it using Ctrl + F5 .
Our project opens in our default browser and you may navigate to the API tab in the navigation menu where you would find the available API methods! Exciting, isn’t it?
Wait a minute! Our Web API is up and running but in its current state, it is only able to process separate requests for each update made on the client-side. In the following step, we will update the controller to achieve batch updating functionality.
Thank you for following up with me through this exciting example.
You may continue our journey in the second part of this series on implementing the batch editing feature of the Ignite UI for Angular Grid.
|
https://medium.com/ignite-ui/editing-entities-without-breaking-the-network-tab-part-1-5-934b5a1dab38
|
['Alex Marinov']
|
2020-10-26 03:38:27.040000+00:00
|
['Transactions', 'Angular', 'JavaScript', 'Crud', 'Ignite Ui']
|
The Secret to Improving Productivity So You Can Get Ahead
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The Secret to Improving Productivity So You Can Get Ahead
You have a list of 100 items you didn’t finish last week…but you’re scrolling through Instagram.
You should be preparing for your big interview tomorrow, but your thoughts keep circling back to that weird conversation you had with your friend yesterday.
Your editor is pushing you to meet your next deadline, but you find yourself gazing into the distance and pondering the meaning of life.
When did productivity become so elusive? Why is it so difficult to discover how to improve focus?
You might blame the fact that you’re newly working from home, but studies show those who work from home have a 13% higher productivity rate than those in the office.
Here’s the truth: the average person is distracted at least 56 times per day and requires a total of about two hours a day to recover from those distractions.
Our society is collectively suffering from a productivity problem. Stress, social media, and anxiety have teamed up to make it almost impossible for us to stay focused on what we need to accomplish.
Trust me, I’m right there with you. I get so frustrated when I can’t focus on work.
I’ve tried using coffee, energy drinks, and just plain willpower–but none of those things worked for me. I just couldn’t seem to figure out how to focus better at work…until I found these tricks.
Try them for yourself and see which ones make a difference for you.
7 tips for how to improve focus
1. Get the deep sleep you need
We’ve all had those days when we can’t seem to focus no matter how hard we try…and those days often correspond to the nights we don’t sleep well. There’s simply no way to concentrate if you are not regularly getting a good night’s sleep.
Although it may seem like staying up late is necessary to make sure your projects get done on time, a lack of sleep will likely affect the quality of your work since it will prevent you from being able to focus. Prioritize sleep and you’ll see how a whole host of problems get erased.
The most important type of sleep is deep sleep. If you’re not getting enough deep sleep, your ability to focus is probably suffering. Find out how to increase deep sleep here.
2. Exercise daily
When you have a lot to do, it can seem impossible to find time to exercise every day. Once you make it a part of your routine, however, you’ll see how it improves your focus in an irreplaceable way. If you can swing it, go outside for your daily workout. Studies show that spending just two hours a week in nature improves overall health and well-being.
You don’t have to go out and run 15 miles every day…unless that’s your thing. Sometimes all you need is a short walk. In fact, I was having trouble focusing on writing this article (go figure) so I went out for a brief walk. Now I’m perfectly concentrated (and writing a kick-ass article, if I do say so myself).
3. Manage your time effectively
There’s nothing that will kill your ability to focus faster than an unprioritized, overwhelming to-do list. That only invites procrastination. Trust me, it’s way easier to boost your productivity if you have a clear plan for the workday.
Before you sit down to work (or stand up to work if you have one of those cool standing desks), spend a few minutes determining which tasks absolutely must get finished that day. Then finish those tasks first, or schedule them for the time of day when you typically have the most energy.
Discover other useful time management tips here.
4. Stop multitasking
Are you someone who prides yourself on your ability to multitask? Well, it might not actually be the skill that was primarily responsible for your rise to greatness. In fact, studies show that people have a slower response time to specific tasks when they are switching between multiple tasks instead of focusing on one task at a time.
Instead of trying to multitask, give yourself the mental gift of working on one task at a time. Not only will your productivity increase, but you’ll feel less anxious as well. Sometimes this means designating specific times of day to check email and then turning off your email notifications for the rest of the day. That constant pinging is sure to distract you and throw off your focus.
5. Practice mindfulness
Meditation and other mindfulness practices are all the rage right now…and for good reason. Mindfulness, otherwise known as focusing on what you’re doing in the present moment, expands your attention span so you can focus better even when you’re not conscientiously being mindful.
Incorporate mindfulness into each day in whatever way works best for you. Maybe this means savoring each bite of your breakfast or feeling the texture of the leaves you pass on your morning walk. It can be as simple as taking a few minutes to sit down and feel the ground beneath your feet.
For tips on how to meditate when you’re feeling stressed, go here.
6. Play games that keep you mentally sharp
In order to improve your ability to focus, it’s important to sharpen your mind. Rather than spending all of your off-time watching Netflix, consider spending some time doing one or more of the following mind-building activities:
Sudoku
Crossword puzzles
Word searches
Memory games
Chess
Jigsaw puzzles
This may come as a surprise to you, but video games also have the potential to increase your focus and attention. Some studies suggest that playing video games for one hour per day can improve visual selective attention, which is your ability to concentrate on a specific task and ignore the distractions around you.
7. Listen to the sounds of nature
What do you listen to while you work? You might listen to classical music…or nothing at all. While both of these options are considered good for boosting productivity, research shows that listening to nature sounds can also optimize your ability to concentrate.
It’s incredibly convenient to find nature sounds to listen to. Right now, I’m listening to a YouTube video called “Relaxing River Sounds.” Besides having a soothing effect, listening to the sounds of nature can also help you focus when you’re struggling to concentrate.
The secret that showed me how to focus better at work
While the above tips certainly helped me improve my focus, there’s one tool that surpassed them all. It’s called Hapbee.
Hapbee is a wellness wearable that allows you to choose how you feel. It uses groundbreaking ulRFE technology to send safe signals to your brain that affect your mood–no substances required.
The two Hapbee signals that are most helpful for boosting productivity are Alert and Focus. Turning on one of these signals clears my brain fog and enhances my ability to concentrate on work or whatever I’m doing.
Hapbee is a shortcut to focusing better at work and a great way to avoid relying too much on caffeine or energy drinks. I can’t imagine what my work life would look like without Hapbee.
Originally published at https://hapbee.com on March 22, 2021.
|
https://medium.com/cornertechandmarketing/the-secret-to-improving-productivity-so-you-can-get-ahead-2d26fc09caf4
|
['Heather Bakire']
|
2021-03-22 12:21:49.068000+00:00
|
['Wearables', 'Focus', 'Gaming', 'Productivity', 'Work']
|
Rage
|
And yet another helpless situation
Triggers intense rage from a reflection
I want to rage on you so you wake-up
Even if you tell me your day was tough
You left me hanging with broken promises
Another dysfunctional relationship this is
I chose to express with music in the shower
With mother nature’s water, I feel cleaner
I remind myself how well I have done
I dealt with my emotions, a proud son
I did not put it on the other
Somehow I know this isn’t over
|
https://medium.com/blueinsight/rage-b9ae58295504
|
['Dave Larocque']
|
2020-12-05 16:40:14.197000+00:00
|
['Healing', 'Health', 'Emotional Intelligence', 'Blue Insights', 'Mental Health']
|
Uber — saviour or exploiter?. A perspective on the interplay of…
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Uber — saviour or exploiter?
A perspective on the interplay of business and law from the lens of business design Sajid Khetani Dec 16, 2021·4 min read
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
Uber — the saviour
Let’s revisit the time when hailing a cab or a rickshaw was an inconvenient experience and I am sure everyone has their share of experiences. Uber picked up this problem and built an entire business around it. Its proposition was simple, through its mobile app one could hail a cab at the click of a button. It also provided the estimated fare and time of arrival, which provided a great deal of convenience to the customers.
Who are the drivers? The market was earlier dominated by city-wide taxi services and the supply was dictated by the issuance of permits/medallions. Very often than not, the permits were in huge demand and it commanded a hefty premium.
Uber addressed this problem by opening its platform to individuals who had a car and a driver’s license. This led to an explosion of service and the way the taxi industry used to operate was disrupted forever. But this also led Uber to be swamped by a flurry of lawsuits. Out of all the legal troubles which Uber has been facing, the key one has been around its classification of the drivers.
Uber — the exploiter?
The contention has been around whether the drivers on the Uber platform be classified as employees? If yes, then Uber is mandated to provide employee benefits such as insurance, paid sick time, etc. to the drivers.
Drivers are not contractors
Uber has been contesting this claim by a simple argument that it’s a technology platform and the drivers are freelancers/independent contractors who are not bound by a stipulated number of work hours. It has settled the cases in a few instances and in some cases they have taken a turn for the worse, as recently witnessed in California.
In one of the cases filed in the UK Supreme Court, Uber has lost a long-running employment tribunal challenge. The court dismissed their appeal and reaffirmed earlier rulings that drivers who brought the case are workers, not independent contractors.
In a press summary, the court said: “Drivers are in a position of subordination and dependency in relation to Uber such that they have little or no ability to improve their economic position through professional or entrepreneurial skill. In practice, the only way in which they can increase their earnings is by working longer hours while constantly meeting Uber’s measures of performance.”
Uber, the Principal
An ongoing bone of contention for Uber has been the contractual obligation between them and the customer. Uber has argued that the acceptance of a booking constituted a contract between the passenger and the driver — to which it claimed it was not a party. It has consistently sought to maintain that its only role was to act as a booking agent providing technology services and collecting payment as an agent for the drivers.
This argument suffered a blow in the High Court at London. U.K. judges ruled that the firm should enter into a direct contract with passengers when providing car journeys and therefore assume more responsibility for each trip booked on their app.
In concluding the judgement, the High Court makes it clear platforms cannot avoid a contractual obligation — writing that “in order to operate lawfully under the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998 a licensed operator who accepts a booking from a passenger is required to enter as principal into a contractual obligation with the passenger to provide the journey which is the subject of the booking”.
The interplay of business and law
I am not getting into the legalese of this issue but highlighting Uber’s strategy of solving a problem for the masses, thereby disrupting the entire industry — albeit creating a lot of ambiguity on the applicability of the existing laws.
This is where the interplay of business and law turns interesting. Legality depends on a multitude of variables, which is also open to interpretation. Especially, when we are looking at ambiguous cases such as Uber, where the law in many cases is catching up with the emergent realities.
To sum up, being on the right side of the law is detrimental to the success of the business. Having said that, testing the interpretation with a sound legal understanding in a disruptive market is a good strategy in distributed markets — Irrespective of the win or loss.
What do you think? Would love to hear your thoughts?
Until next time!
~ Sajid
Disclaimer: The views expressed are for informational purposes only. It should not be considered as advice or opinion.
(Sajid is a Strategy Consultant and founder at Le Monturé Strategy who works at the intersection of human behaviour, business design and innovation strategy. He blogs at sknotes and tweets @sajidkhetani)
|
https://medium.com/@sajidkhetani/uber-saviour-or-exploiter-8f11d247af91
|
['Sajid Khetani']
|
2021-12-16 04:34:11.465000+00:00
|
['Innovation', 'Business Design', 'Strategy', 'Legal', 'Uber']
|
Cups of Tea
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I am not everyone’s cup of tea. (Heck, some people don’t even drink tea.)
Image by Skitterphoto from Pixabay
This may come as a surprise. (I mean, after all, tea is just so good for you, what with all those antioxidants and such. But, sadly, it’s true.)
But seriously, I have been known to come off as offensive now and then. I can be a bitch sometimes…I know this (even if I don’t mean to be). I tease too hard. I often talk too much (oh, the verbal diarrhea). At times it seems like I’m trying to hog all the attention (I was born under a Leo moon after all). And I definitely drop more F-bombs than the average Jane.
On the other hand, some might see me as dismissive. Maybe I don’t take things seriously enough for you. Maybe I seem arrogant or snobby. I do have a lot of opinions (but I also try to be a good listener and have a pretty open mind).
Perhaps I’m too loud… or too quiet. Maybe I embarrass you with my frankness or questionable behavior. Maybe I push you in ways you’re not ready to be pushed. Maybe I ask you to go too deep when you just want to float on the surface. Maybe you don’t want to dispense with the pleasantries.
For whatever reason, there are those who are put off by me. And, more often, those who back away quietly. They fade into the distance with unreturned phone calls or stacks of excuses. Apparently, not everyone wants to be my friend. I used to be bothered by this a lot. I felt that people ought to like me, dammit! If I was rejected, it must be because I wasn’t doing something right, and therefore I should amend some aspect of myself.
But no, not anymore.
It’s not me, I’ve learned. It’s you.
Not because I’m perfect or always in the right. Not because I’m any more likeable or friendly or interesting or fun than anyone else.
No, on the contrary… I’m sure I can be just as irritating and basic as the next gal. But I have learned that some people aren’t going to want a slice of Vixen Lea in their life, and that’s ok. Other people’s acceptance or rejection of me no longer validates my self-worth. Everyone is not required to make space for me. My unique way of being does not have to meet everyone’s needs.
There was a period in my life that I was obsessed by popularity (or more accurately, my lack thereof). I thought was checking all the boxes: new perm, towering bangs, MC Hammer pants, toothy smile (no more braces!), pretending not to be smart, managing a seat at the “cool” table at lunch (even if it was on the far end), and making eager small talk with the local Heathers while they flipped their hair and looked bored… You know, all the keys to making friends and influencing people.
But it just wasn’t working for me. All those formative years dedicated to the quest for popularity and I never did “make it” with the in-crowd (whatever that means). I was teased for my eccentric handmade jewelry, my love of horses, my knowledge of algebra, my freckles and rosy cheeks. I was too childish for some groups and too mature for others.
But come on! I pleaded with the universe, I just want people to like me! I morphed and pretended. I followed the crowd and muted my identity. As I got older, I took risks that bent my morals, and I betrayed people who genuinely cared about me. I lied about what was important to me. I drank copious amount of alcohol to become wild and loose and ridiculous enough to attract the attention I so vehemently craved.
All of that left me so far away from my true essence, that I barely even liked myself.
Now I am in a different place.
I am learning to embrace who I am without the burden of care about whether other people approve or not. While my feelings can still get wounded from a rejection or rebuke, I am able to rebound without letting it erode my own self-worth.
I can be loud or opinionated or crude, as long as I remain true to my own inner compass. I can tease and joke and curse, as long as I lead with love and compassion. I don’t intend to be rude or abrasive, but I refuse to apologize or adjust myself in order to make other people feel more comfortable.
If you don’t like the cup of (strong and piping hot) tea that I’m serving up, no hard feelings. Go drink a La Croix.
|
https://medium.com/this-aint-yo-mama-s-tea-party-y-all/cups-of-tea-eb47542f1c59
|
['Vixen Lea']
|
2020-10-18 17:42:28.963000+00:00
|
['Empowering Women', 'Self Love', 'Women', 'Empowerment', 'Self-awareness']
|
Reasons Why College students Must Have Research Groups
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A report group of people is really a conference of a small number of people that discuss a common interest in a frequent industry of examine. Pupil examine teams have already been known to have an impact on the students who form them. To get a competent review team, the goal ought to be to locate a time that suits every person’s routine.
Some college students would rather study alone free paper writer as their productiveness surpasses during a team. This could be as a result of them possessing their time preference and duration. Being in a group is more effective for quite some reasons.
Attain Better Levels
Students review team helps you to clarify issues taught previously in school. Some college students understand ideas far better when taught by their other cohorts. This positive aspects the group and supplies the chance for people who comprehend the subject to sharpen their grasp of this further. This arranges a earn-win circumstance.
Private Obligations Are Taken care of
By expressing concepts within a review group, an individual can recall the issues for some time. Some individuals bear in mind issues they described with their peers instead of when taught with a instructor. When conveying a product or service to the team, it would want the pupil to carefully provide you with the right information to make certain they wear’ t mislead the rest of the class. This may market team building and self-finding.
Teamwork Expertise
Being associated with research group provides the pupil the ability to communicate with other folks. It is important to engage with other people smoothly and freely in this particular period. This will likely come as being an added advantage down the road whilst work browsing as many businesses like people who work well with other people. A firm set up seriously relies on effective teamwork.
Helps prevent Procrastination
The drive to put off distinct duties is fairly appealing whenever a student is by yourself. It’ s a severe burden to others, though some students have better time management when studying alone. Review teams ensure a person is in the company of serious and encouraged pupils who give you a powerful pillar for success. This will likely supply those that don’t know the way to control their time with skills to complete tasks they have got set up rapidly.
Motivating College students from the Team
Understanding alone may be tiresome sometimes, as opposed to in the firm of others, which results in incompetence and minimum understanding. Via pupil research groupings, college students can develop strong ties that will be of support. In the group of people placing, individuals get determined to operate jointly to finish tasks. If one student performs exemplary well in a group, it tends to rub on the other members ensuring everyone is successful.
College students needs to be asked to kind examine organizations simply because they reward them a great deal. These organizations promote active participation and instill abilities that happen to be helpful in the long term towards the pupils. To finest gain from an individual team study, focus and determination and organization are important. When these conditions are met, accomplishment is practically assured.
|
https://medium.com/@annettetaylor006/reasons-why-college-students-must-have-research-groups-47ab6121beef
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[]
|
2020-11-23 13:29:35.323000+00:00
|
['Education', 'Study', 'Students']
|
Yelp is calling out racist businesses
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Now that you’ve wiped the sarcasm dripping onto your keyboard, let’s continue. On Oct. 8, Yelp tweeted, “Today, we’re announcing a new consumer alert to stand against racism. In the last few months, we’ve seen that there is a clear need to warn consumers about businesses associated with egregious, racially-charged actions to help people make more informed spending decisions.”
Merriam Webster defines “racism” as “a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.” While there are a distinct group of people (usually people of color) who have very strong opinions that minority groups “cannot be racist,” I’m not one of those people. (I understand the argument though.) My bigger issue is if Yelp’s goal is to point out discrimination based on race in any store or business, and a member immediately wants to wipe the program off his/her phone, that pretty much tells you what their state of mind is. At no point did the platform state, “egregious, racially-charged actions to [insert minority group here].” This is a free-for-all where everyone can weigh in.
It’s also a peculiar reason to be outraged, considering Elite Yelp members like me have been calling out racism, racial profiling and horrendous store experiences for years. If anything, Yelp is late to my review party because I’ve been warning people of everything from property managers to banks to retail stores to contractors.
If customers and businesses are more outraged about being called out for racism than handling actual racism in their stores, that saves me a lot of time to know where not to go. But somewhere in these outraged people’s heads, they truly believe that minority groups salivate at the opportunity to be racially profiled. They really think that we’re just happy as hell to point out how racism ruined our day.
I have a bone to pick with people who start sentences off with “Most people” because you don’t know most of the population. But this time I’m fairly confident I’m right. Most people of color — scratch that, no people of color — are smiling ear-to-ear and happy to call out people for disrespecting them based on melanin. No minority group that is often targeted — LGBQTI+ or African-American or Asian or Hispanic or Jewish, et cetera — is just waiting for the moment to be disrespected for something that they absolutely cannot control. So if we’re complaining about a business-to-consumer experience in your facility, trust me on this. We’re more outraged, disappointed, sad, frustrated, near tears and/or overwhelmed than you will ever be while reading a Yelp review. We had to live that experience over and over again.
|
https://medium.com/i-do-see-color/yelp-is-calling-out-racist-businesses-847f63ff4a24
|
['Shamontiel L. Vaughn']
|
2020-10-25 02:44:50.730000+00:00
|
['Yelp', 'Race', 'Business', 'Racism', 'Constructive Criticism']
|
Accurate weather forecasting and how it helps tourism
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Tourism as an industry is increasing in both volume and economic importance. Resorts, in many cases, are facilitating this tremendous growth.
Photo by Alexander Kaunas on Unsplash
Destination resorts are a massive hit in the holiday season, where vacationers can enjoy luxury and comfort along with quality
amenities such as food, drink, lodging, sports, gaming, entertainment, outdoor activities, adventure games, and shopping throughout their stay.
Many resorts are spread across large acres of land and thus have the facility to host many outdoor events and activities to keep their guests entertained and busy. Most of these activities are heavily dependent upon the prevailing weather conditions at that time. Let’s be honest; no one wants it to rain when there’s a fun campfire planned!
In fact, sudden showers did play spoilsport to one of our customers holiday plans once!
My family and I were so excited about a bonfire activity offered by the resort that we canceled our city tour because we thought it would be better to spend time together as a family by the beach. We were also pretty exhausted that day, and a night trek through the city wasn’t really appealing compared to a relaxed bonfire evening. As we got ready for a fun evening, it started to drizzle. The resort organizers still decided to go ahead as the drizzle would likely fade, and all the preparations for the bonfire were already done. As we settled into our armchairs circled around the fire, it started raining cats and dogs! Don’t you just hate it when it literally rains on your parade?. The torrential rains showed no signs of stopping, and the bonfire night had to be canceled. Everyone was agitated, especially me, because I was really looking forward to this. We checked the resort schedule, there was no other bonfire activity happening for the rest of the week, and we were leaving Goa by the end of the week. We started regretting canceling the city tour. My family and I were devastated and had to settle for BINGO which the resort authorities had graciously organized as a replacement activity.
Photo by Mahad Aamir on Unsplash
Still, sadly, BINGO was no match for a bonfire. It’s not every day that you get to enjoy a bonfire by the beach! If the resort had Frizzle, all of these situations could have been avoided.
With the help of Frizzle’s hyperlocal weather forecasting, the resort management could rearrange their schedule to accommodate outdoor activities at a time when it wasn’t going to rain. Not only will this allow the resorts to plan and prepare for activities better, but it would also boost the resort’s ratings from happy and satisfied customers being able to enjoy all the activities that they were eagerly waiting for throughout their stay at the resort.
|
https://medium.com/@frizzleweather/accurate-weather-and-how-it-helps-tourism-ead0f9a5ae5f
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['Frizzle Weather']
|
2021-12-28 04:15:31.649000+00:00
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['Hotel', 'Machine Learning', 'Code', 'Vacation', 'Weather']
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But Only If We’re Brave Enough
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There’s comfort in the crowd. There is safety and familiarity. That’s why most people stick to what they know and are afraid to take a chance. To break the mould is dangerous and foolish.
What will I do for money? How will I support myself and my family? What if I fail? All of these are conditioned responses typical of people built to be pawns for someone else’s machine.
Better to remain on the inside, work your ass off for someone else and play it safe. Or you might decide that working hard is not worth it and instead become a slacker without motivation enough to scratch your own arse.
Either way, the end result is the same; a world filled with people who need to be shown the right way to live and work. People who cannot think for themselves, who are manipulated by men in red ties and the lure of bright shiny things. People who have forgotten, and need to be taught how to access their creativity.
The thin script that runs beneath all human activity, and most especially with regard to daily work, is born of fear — fear of being alone and isolated.
But that’s exactly what needs to be done if we are to be free.
We must be willing to walk the road alone. We must disobey the hidden authority that Freud called the Super-ego, that Lacan called Big Other, the one that dictates through society and its agents how we should live and work.
Erich Fromm, philosopher and psychologist said in 1960;
Obedience to the “authoritarian conscience,” like all obedience to outside thoughts and power, tends to debilitate “humanistic conscience,” the ability to be and judge oneself. In order to disobey, one must have the courage to be alone, to err, and to sin. Eirch Fromm | Psychologist
Authority is the enemy of the creative spirit and of the integrity of the individual self. As such, one of our primary role in life, not only as creative people but as human beings, is to go it alone, break the mould and follow the inner voice.
But only if we are brave enough to show disobedience to that authority.
|
https://medium.com/the-reflectionist/but-only-if-were-brave-enough-1ea4f208b758
|
['Larry G. Maguire']
|
2019-09-08 14:11:32.358000+00:00
|
['Creativity', 'Society', 'Self', 'Work', 'Art']
|
A 101 Guide On The Least Squares Regression Method
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Least Square Regression Method — Edureka
With Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence booming the IT market it has become essential to learn the fundamentals of these trending technologies. This blog on Least Squares Regression Method will help you understand the math behind Regression Analysis and how it can be implemented using Python.
Here’s a list of topics that will be covered in this article:
What Is the Least Squares Method? Line Of Best Fit Steps to Compute the Line Of Best Fit The least-squares regression method with an example A short python script to implement Linear Regression
What is the Least Squares Regression Method?
The least-squares regression method is a technique commonly used in Regression Analysis. It is a mathematical method used to find the best fit line that represents the relationship between an independent and dependent variable.
To understand the least-squares regression method lets get familiar with the concepts involved in formulating the line of best fit.
What is the Line Of Best Fit?
Line of best fit is drawn to represent the relationship between 2 or more variables. To be more specific, the best fit line is drawn across a scatter plot of data points in order to represent a relationship between those data points.
Regression analysis makes use of mathematical methods such as least squares to obtain a definite relationship between the predictor variable (s) and the target variable. The least-squares method is one of the most effective ways used to draw the line of best fit. It is based on the idea that the square of the errors obtained must be minimized to the most possible extent and hence the name least squares method.
If we were to plot the best fit line that shows the depicts the sales of a company over a period of time, it would look something like this:
Notice that the line is as close as possible to all the scattered data points. This is what an ideal best fit line looks like.
To better understand the whole process let’s see how to calculate the line using the Least Squares Regression.
Steps to calculate the Line of Best Fit
To start constructing the line that best depicts the relationship between variables in the data, we first need to get our basics right. Take a look at the equation below:
Surely, you’ve come across this equation before. It is a simple equation that represents a straight line along 2 Dimensional data, i.e. x-axis and y-axis. To better understand this, let’s break down the equation:
y: dependent variable
m: the slope of the line
x: independent variable
c: y-intercept
So the aim is to calculate the values of slope, y-intercept and substitute the corresponding ‘x’ values in the equation in order to derive the value of the dependent variable.
Let’s see how this can be done.
As an assumption, let’s consider that there are ’n’ data points.
Step 1: Calculate the slope ‘m’ by using the following formula:
Step 2: Compute the y-intercept (the value of y at the point where the line crosses the y-axis):
Step 3: Substitute the values in the final equation:
Simple, isn’t it?
Now let’s look at an example and see how you can use the least-squares regression method to compute the line of best fit.
Least Squares Regression Example
Consider an example. Tom who is the owner of a retail shop, found the price of different T-shirts vs the number of T-shirts sold at his shop over a period of one week.
He tabulated this like shown below:
Let us use the concept of least squares regression to find the line of best fit for the above data.
Step 1: Calculate the slope ‘m’ by using the following formula:
After you substitute the respective values, m = 1.518 approximately.
Step 2: Compute the y-intercept value
After you substitute the respective values, c = 0.305 approximately.
Step 3: Substitute the values in the final equation
Once you substitute the values, it should look something like this:
Let’s construct a graph that represents the y=mx + c line of best fit:
Now Tom can use the above equation to estimate how many T-shirts of price $8 can he sell at the retail shop.
y = 1.518 x 8 + 0.305 = 12.45 T-shirts
This comes down to 13 T-shirts! That’s how simple it is to make predictions using Linear Regression.
Now let’s try to understand based on what factors can we confirm that the above line is the line of best fit.
The least-squares regression method works by minimizing the sum of the square of the errors as small as possible, hence the name least squares. Basically the distance between the line of best fit and the error must be minimized as much as possible. This is the basic idea behind the least-squares regression method.
A few things to keep in mind before implementing the least squares regression method is:
The data must be free of outliers because they might lead to a biased and wrongful line of best fit.
The line of best fit can be drawn iteratively until you get a line with the minimum possible squares of errors.
This method works well even with non-linear data.
Technically, the difference between the actual value of ‘y’ and the predicted value of ‘y’ is called the Residual (denotes the error).
Now let’s wrap up by looking at a practical implementation of linear regression using Python.
Least Squares Regression In Python
In this section, we will be running a simple demo to understand the working of Regression Analysis using the least-squares regression method. A short disclaimer, I’ll be using Python for this demo.
Problem Statement: To apply Linear Regression and build a model that studies the relationship between the head size and the brain weight of an individual.
Data Set Description: The data set contains the following variables:
Gender: Male or female represented as binary variables
Male or female represented as binary variables Age: Age of an individual
Age of an individual Head size in cm³: An individuals head size in cm³
An individuals head size in cm³ Brain weight in grams: The weight of an individual’s brain measured in grams
These variables need to be analyzed in order to build a model that studies the relationship between the head size and brain weight of an individual.
Logic: To implement Linear Regression in order to build a model that studies the relationship between an independent and dependent variable. The model will be evaluated by using least square regression method where RMSE and R-squared will be the model evaluation parameters.
Let’s get started!
Step 1: Import the required libraries
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
Step 2: Import the data set
# Reading Data
data = pd.read_csv('C:UsersNeelTempDesktopheadbrain.csv')
print(data.shape)
(237, 4)
print(data.head())
Gender Age Range Head Size(cm^3) Brain Weight(grams)
0 1 1 4512 1530
1 1 1 3738 1297
2 1 1 4261 1335
3 1 1 3777 1282
4 1 1 4177 1590
Step 3: Assigning ‘X’ as the independent variable and ‘Y’ as the dependent variable
import numpy as np import pandas as pd import matplotlib.pyplot as # Coomputing X and Y
X = data['Head Size(cm^3)'].values
Y = data['Brain Weight(grams)'].values
Next, in order to calculate the slope and y-intercept, we first need to compute the means of ‘x’ and ‘y’. This can be done as shown below:
# Mean X and Y
mean_x = np.mean(X)
mean_y = np.mean(Y)
# Total number of values
n = len(X)
Step 4: Calculate the values of the slope and y-intercept
# Using the formula to calculate 'm' and 'c'
numer = 0
denom = 0
for i in range(n):
numer += (X[i] - mean_x) * (Y[i] - mean_y)
denom += (X[i] - mean_x) ** 2
m = numer / denom
c = mean_y - (m * mean_x)
# Printing coefficients
print("Coefficients")
print(m, c)
Coefficients
0.26342933948939945 325.57342104944223
The above coefficients are our slope and intercept values respectively. On substituting the values in the final equation, we get:
Brain Weight = 325.573421049 + 0.263429339489 * Head Size
As simple as that, the above equation represents our linear model.
Now let’s plot this graphically.
Step 5: Plotting the line of best fit
# Plotting Values and Regression Line
max_x = np.max(X) + 100
min_x = np.min(X) - 100
# Calculating line values x and y
x = np.linspace(min_x, max_x, 1000)
y = c + m * x
# Ploting Line
plt.plot(x, y, color='#58b970', label='Regression Line')
# Ploting Scatter Points
plt.scatter(X, Y, c='#ef5423', label='Scatter Plot')
plt.xlabel('Head Size in cm3')
plt.ylabel('Brain Weight in grams')
plt.legend()
plt.show()
Step 6: Model Evaluation
The model built is quite good given the fact that our data set is of a small size. It’s time to evaluate the model and see how good it is for the final stage i.e., prediction. To do that we will use the Root Mean Squared Error method that basically calculates the least-squares error and takes a root of the summed values.
Mathematically speaking, Root Mean Squared Error is nothing but the square root of the sum of all errors divided by the total number of values. This is the formula to calculate RMSE:
In the above equation, yi^ is the ith predicted output value. Let’s see how this can be done using Python.
# Calculating Root Mean Squares Error
rmse = 0
for i in range(n):
y_pred = c + m * X[i]
rmse += (Y[i] - y_pred) ** 2
rmse = np.sqrt(rmse/n)
print("RMSE")
print(rmse)
RMSE
72.1206213783709
Another model evaluation parameter is the statistical method called, R-squared value that measures how close the data are to the fitted line of best
fit.
Mathematically, it can be calculated as:
Where,
SSt is the total sum of squares
SSr is the total sum of squares of residuals
The value of R-squared ranges between 0 and 1. A negative value denoted that the model is weak and the prediction thus made are wrong and biased. In such situations, it’s essential that you analyze all the predictor variables and look for a variable that has a high correlation with the output. This step usually falls under EDA or Exploratory Data Analysis.
Let’s not get carried away. Here’s how you implement the computation of R-squared in Python:
# Calculating R2 Score
ss_tot = 0
ss_res = 0
for i in range(n):
y_pred = c + m * X[i]
ss_tot += (Y[i] - mean_y) ** 2
ss_res += (Y[i] - y_pred) ** 2
r2 = 1 - (ss_res/ss_tot)
print("R2 Score")
print(r2)
R2 Score
0.6393117199570003
As you can see our R-squared value is quite close to 1, this denotes that our model is doing good and can be used for further predictions. So that was the entire implementation of the Least Squares Regression method using Python.
With this, we come to the end of this article. If you have any queries regarding this topic, please leave a comment below and we’ll get back to you.
If you wish to check out more articles on the market’s most trending technologies like Artificial Intelligence, DevOps, Ethical Hacking, then you can refer to Edureka’s official site.
Do look out for other articles in this series which will explain the various other aspects of Python and Data Science.
|
https://medium.com/edureka/least-square-regression-40b59cca8ea7
|
['Aayushi Johari']
|
2020-05-13 11:56:06.551000+00:00
|
['Regression', 'Machine Learning', 'Python', 'Least Square Method', 'Least Square Regression']
|
Connectivity between hearts- fragrance of Love
|
Personification of flowers
Flowers are the indication of love for the people. It personifies the love, affection, emotion and infatuation of people among each other. The flowers are the preeminent birthday gift idea for the girlfriend as it denotes the emotion and love of the giver. The flowers can be sent or delivered online to the girlfriend in Jaipur. Online romantic flowers arrangement delivery in Jaipur is best option for surprising the loved one. This also makes the long distance relationships strong by delivering the flowers on time to the people in Jaipur. Numerous types of flower arrangement are available in Jaipur that can be delivered to the loved ones at the time when they need. The flower arrangement can be made as per the requirement or specification provided by the customer as per their choice. The focus is on the feelings that are accrued with flower not on the price or cost of the product.
Spreading cologne of love
The online romantic flower arrangement delivery in Jaipur is developed to make the people reach out to each other through the fragrance of love. We focus on the demands of the customers and value their feelings, this makes us to deliver the product of their choice to them. The price of the product is not our priority as we give priority to the smiles of the people that can be given by us to them. The delivery of online romantic flower arrangement can be delivered at all the place to Jaipur from any place in India. This is made to generate the connectivity of the girlfriend with the giver by our support. We deliver all types of flower arrangement to the people at trifling rates as per the convenience of the customers. Our main motive is spread happiness and love for the people by online delivering of flower arrangement to the people.
Read more about Best Online Cake Delivery in Jaipur
|
https://medium.com/@giftzbag/connectivity-between-hearts-fragrance-of-love-4dc03b92faa7
|
['Giftz Bag']
|
2019-04-12 07:17:51.015000+00:00
|
['Online Flower Delivery', 'Online Flower Shop', 'Flowers']
|
Connected Max Smart LED review: Cree Lighting ups its game with a new line of color tunable bulbs
|
Connected Max Smart LED review: Cree Lighting ups its game with a new line of color tunable bulbs Crystal Dec 24, 2020·2 min read
The lighting mavens at Cree Lighting are pushing further into the smart home with the launch of the Connected Max line, a series of bulbs available in both dimmable (but not tunable) white and color-changing options. Color bulbs are available in BR30, PAR38, A19, and (unusually) A21 form factors. The tunable white is only available as an A19 bulb.
Today we look at the color A19 bulb, which serves as both a full color-changing bulb and a tunable white bulb. The bulb offers a now familiar, traditional design, with a large heat sink and an Edison style globe on top, roughly the same size as a typical incandescent. The bulb draws 9 watts and offers 800 lumens of brightness, making for a 60-watt incandescent equivalent.
This review is part of TechHive’s coverage of the best smart bulbs, where you’ll find reviews of competing products, plus a buyer’s guide to the features you should consider when shopping for this type of product.The bulb sets up initially via Bluetooth, but operates only on the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi band. Initial configuration went quickly via the Cree Lighting mobile app, and I encountered no issues with installation. I especially appreciated its detailed setup process, which walks you through its various configuration modes instead of leaving it all for you to discover later.
[ Further reading: The best bias lighting kits for TVs and monitors ] Christopher Null / IDG Cree’s “follow the sun” mode can be infinitely fine-tuned.
Those modes include “light to sleep” and “light to wake” modes, which slowly fade out or in at bedtime and the waking hour respectively. There’s also a “follow the sun” mode which adjusts the color temperature throughout the day to keep you energized in the morning and relaxed after hours.
Naturally, there’s a full range of tuning options to play with, including a white color temperature range of 2200K to 6500K and a capable dimmer. As well, an intuitive color wheel makes it easy to light the room for a holiday—and the bulb’s colors are impressive in brightness and vibrancy.
A full range of scheduling and timer options are available, and the app connects with both Alexa and Google Assistant to let you control the bulb via voice.
For the most part, the bulb is responsive, though I did encounter more than a few brief disconnects, stutters, and delays during my testing, but rarely did I have to wait more than a few seconds for things to right themselves. That’s all perhaps to be expected given the pricing of this bulb at all of $10, which is definitely on the budget side (though not the least expensive model on the market, even among name brands). Despite some minor bugginess, it’s definitely worth the outlay.
Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details.
|
https://medium.com/@crystal91080233/connected-max-smart-led-review-cree-lighting-ups-its-game-with-a-new-line-of-color-tunable-bulbs-932a58c6cb6a
|
[]
|
2020-12-24 23:35:11.716000+00:00
|
['Streaming', 'Services', 'Lighting', 'Mobile Accessories']
|
Revitalizing, city, life, gentrification
|
Revitalizing Our Inner-City Neighborhood — Without Gentrification
I didn’t want to simply have a nice house in a bad neighborhood
I bought a little house a couple of years ago. It sits on a mostly quiet street in a mostly Black subdivision, with a good amount of Latinos. The larger area of Houston, of which my subdivision is a part, is called Sunnyside, and it has a reputation for being a tough neighborhood.
I was born and raised not far away, in an area called South Park. Like most people from such neighborhoods, I grew up dreaming of one day being able to buy a big house in the suburbs, and park a European sedan next to a big SUV in the garage.
I’d had an adult life full of speed bumps and false starts. So by the time I was finally able to clean up my credit enough and save a little money to buy a house, I had long since woken up from dreams of suburbia, and escaping the kind of neighborhoods that were responsible for my very existence.
Predictably, most of my friends (including those who were from the same kind of neighborhood) thought I was crazy for buying a house in Sunnyside. I was convinced of my own genius. I had a plan to have a plan.
I wanted a house in the kind of neighborhood where I’d grown up because looking back on my own childhood, I didn’t remember some dangerous war zone where you couldn’t even walk down the street without being shot or robbed. There had been tough times and tough people for sure, but most were hard-working people hoping to make a better life and laugh a little along the way.
I didn’t think these were lesser people. These were people who never quit. They were people who managed, generation after generation, to raise good kids and make a life for themselves in spite of playing with a deck of cards that was often stacked against them. I believed in these people, and I believed in the communities they called home.
I remember the laughter of children who had not yet realized that they were poor. I remember what it was like to watch a father take his wife into his tired arms and dance with her in a cracked driveway as they played something slow on the car radio.
Beautiful young girls would put on shorts and lotion their legs down, and take walks through the neighborhood streets in groups, and drive schoolboys crazy with the discovery of themselves. This was what I wanted the world to see.
To us, the hood wasn’t some generic area with a new name painted over the old one, with newly constructed lofts, a trendy coffee shop, and a yoga studio around the corner. To us, it was home. It was a part of us. It was the garden from which we had all grown.
|
https://medium.com/better-humans/revitalizing-our-inner-city-neighborhood-without-gentrification-c2b40e822df8
|
['Carl L Lane']
|
2020-10-09 18:07:10.548000+00:00
|
['City Living', 'Housing', 'Gentrification', 'Revitalization', 'Activism']
|
What is CBCV?
|
Everyone knows about CBD and THC, but what about lesser known cannabinoids, such as CBCV? Cannabichromevarin, or CBCV for short, is a relation to CBC. And just like CBC, current cannabis laws have restricted research on minor cannabinoids. However, changing laws have begun to open up avenues for more detailed research on cannabinoids such as CBCV.
So what exactly do we know about CBCV? According to Marijuana Doctors, “ Because CBCV and CBC have similar molecular structures, they may also have similar effects.” In a previous article, we discussed how CBC has been linked to inflammation reduction. Because of the similar structures, CBCV may share those properties. However, more research will need to be done in order to properly understand the association between the two cannabinoids.
According to Ionization Labs, “ CBCV is not psychoactive, so you will have no high from using this cannabinoid as you would with THC.” They also went on to state that CBCV does not need to be heated, unlike other cannabinoids.
While the information we have about CBCV is limited, changing cannabis laws are opening up the floor for more detailed research. With more education about cannabinoids being made accessible, the more we can understand about cannabis and how it can help our world.
|
https://medium.com/@thehempbitch/what-is-cbcv-913040611af5
|
[]
|
2020-12-17 17:42:37.186000+00:00
|
['Cbc', 'Cbcv', 'Cannabis', 'Cannabinoids', 'Hemp']
|
Race and the Justice System: Media and Resource Guides
|
For there is another kind of violence, slower but just as deadly, destructive as the shot or the bomb in the night. This is the violence of institutions; indifference and inaction and slow decay. This is the violence that afflicts the poor, that poisons relations between men because their skin has different colors. — Robert F. Kennedy, in remarks to the Cleveland City Club, April 5, 1968
The Washington State Minority and Justice Commission recently hosted a Race and the Community Listening Session with Black leaders to discuss restoring confidence in the judicial process. The panel explored questions such as what it looks like to be anti-racist in the legal profession, how the courts may be contributing to structural racism, what judges are doing right, and the role of the court system in the work of the panelists. A major take-away from the discussion was the importance of self-education. The panelists recommended two books to learn more about systemic racism, How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi and So You Want to Talk about Race? by Ijeoma Oluo. In addition to these books, we have compiled audio and video resources that expand our knowledge about the history of racism in the United States and how it impacts our legal system.
Learning about systemic racism and implicit bias
∙What Is Systemic Racism? (2015) This 8 part video series from Race Forward discusses economic, health, and justice impacts of systemic racism. View here.
∙Let’s Get to the Root of Racial Injustice (2016) University of Washington professor Megan Ming Francis, author of Civil Rights and the Making of the Modern American State, speaks about the causes of racial injustice. View on the YouTube TEDx Talks channel.
∙Understanding and Addressing Implicit Bias (2018) This JustLead Washington CLE program discusses implicit bias in the law and justice systems. View at the Washington Race Equity & Justice Initiative website with the password rejiwebinars.
∙Let’s Talk About Abolition curriculum (2021) This course taught by Nikkita Oliver, Seattle University School of Law adjunct faculty, explores the history of abolition and the modern idea of police and prison abolition. Week 2 of the course explores the roots of these racist systems. Course materials are available here.
Films on the legal impacts of systemic racism
∙13TH (2016) The film 13th provides context surrounding the issues people of color face in the legal system including mass incarceration, the war on drugs, and police brutality. View on the YouTube Netflix channel.
∙Guilty Until Proven Guilty (2018) $ This documentary tells the story of a young Black man who was arrested for armed robbery and had to choose between pleading guilty or risking a possible 198 year prison sentence if convicted at trial. According to Harry Belafonte, “the documentary exposes the inequities faced every day by poor black citizens charged with crimes. The film should be seen by everyone…it deserves the widest possible audience.” View the trailer and stream here. Also available for rent or purchase at iTunes.
∙Just Mercy (2019) $ Just Mercy tells how Equal Justice Initiative client Walter McMillian spent six years on death row for a murder conviction before an appeal, led by attorney Bryan Stevenson, won his release for wrongful conviction. Just Mercy won the 2020 Silver Gavel Award for Drama & Literature from the American Bar Association. View the trailer and purchase on YouTube.
Racism and the school to prison pipeline
∙Pushout: the Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools (2019) $ This documentary looks at disparities facing Black girls in schools, society, and the judicial system. A recent episode of the Shades of Freedom podcast features a discussion of adultification and criminalization of Black girls with Dr. Monique Morris, the author of the book (available in our collection) that the film is based on. View the trailer and buy a DVD license with limited public performance rights here. Also available on Kanopy, a free streaming service available through many universities and public libraries.
∙The Mis-Education and Criminalization of Black and Latino Boys — the Role of Race, Culture and Resistance in the School-to-Prison Pipeline (2018) Sociology Professor Victor Rios, author of Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys and Human Targets: Schools, Police, and the Criminalization of Latino Youth discusses increased school policing and the militarization of urban neighborhoods, and emphasizes a need to value and humanize Black and Latino students. View here.
∙The Link Between Racist, Anti-Black Policing and Racist, Anti-Black Education (2020) In this Scholar Strike for Racial Justice video Osamudia James, professor of law at the University of Miami, discusses anti-Blackness in education and in policing. View on the YouTube Scholar Strike channel.
Improving equal access to justice
∙Perpetuated Trauma (2017) Dominique Davis is the co-founder of Community Passageways, which collaborates with families, schools, courts, correction centers, and more to support youth of color. He describes this community-centered alternative to the current system. View on the YouTube TEDx Talks channel.
∙What Prosecutors and Incarcerated People Can Learn from Each Other (2019) Speaker Jarrell Daniels tells how his life was changed by taking a college course while in prison and discusses the power of collaborative education to transform the justice system. Daniels went on to found the Justice Ambassadors Youth Council Program at Columbia University’s Center for Justice. View here.
∙Implicit Bias: How Should Psychological Science Inform the Law? Part II — The Arc of Intent: How Psychological Science Should Inform the Law (2015) UCLA law Professor Jerry Kang discusses integrating scientific findings on implicit bias into legal policies. View on YouTube’s UW Video channel.
∙What Justice Could Look Like (2019) In this episode of the Justice in America podcast, Professor Sonya Shah, California Institute of Integral Studies, discusses restorative justice. Listen here or subscribe to Justice in America at Apple Podcasts or SoundCloud.
∙Reimagining our Legal, Political, and Economic Systems (2017) Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (also available in our collection), speaks in Mass Freedom’s FRED Talks series on transforming the experience of communities of color in the justice system. View here.
Additional Resources on Racial Justice
Anti-Racism Resources: Educate Yourself — Project Home’s resource list
Black Lives Matter: Eliminating Racial Inequity in the Criminal Justice System — Report of The Sentencing Project
Girls of Color in Juvenile Detention in Washington State — Report of the Washington State Minority and Justice Commission
Criminal Justice — Resources for planning and implementing reform by Racial Equity Tools
Racial Disparity Resources — National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers resource list
Racial Equity in the Justice System — American Bar Association clearinghouse of information and resources
Race and Equity Tools & Resources — Local and Regional Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE)
Racial Justice — Equal Justice Initiative’s historical resources
Racial Justice — Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy publications and videos
Racial Justice in America: Resources for Educating Prosecutors — Institute for Innovation in Prosecution’s resources list
Racial Justice in the U.S. — Drake Law Library’s research guide
Racial Justice Resources: Keeping Current — University of Washington Libraries’ research guide
Race in the Criminal Justice System — University of Washington Gallagher Law Library’s research guide
Racial Justice: Race and Diversity in America — Gonzaga University Chastek Law Library’s research guide (WB)
|
https://medium.com/walawlibrary/race-and-the-justice-system-media-and-resource-guides-b57680c0af7c
|
['Reference Staff']
|
2021-03-06 00:32:44.635000+00:00
|
['BlackLivesMatter', 'Racism', 'Law', 'Criminal Justice', 'Washington State']
|
It is important to realize that over 70 million people voted for Trump in the last election.
|
It is important to realize that over 70 million people voted for Trump in the last election. How many of those voters are in poverty, don’t have enough to eat, but have money to contribute to an alleged billionaire.
It is time as a nation that we take responsibility for our destination. We are not a failed state, but a fractured one. New York City and Los Angeles are demographically and politically distinct as compared to the Rural South and Great Plains. The challenge is to unite this once great country. Only knowledge and education can do so as a first step.
We need to wake up and unite as a nation.
|
https://medium.com/@throtol/it-is-important-to-realize-that-over-70-million-people-voted-for-trump-in-the-last-election-ff5e7482fbc5
|
['Marc Gordon']
|
2020-12-25 17:38:36.932000+00:00
|
['Trump', '2020 Presidential Race', '2020']
|
How Would Your Market Your GSA Schedule Contract To the Mass
|
How Would Your Market Your GSA Schedule Contract To the Mass GSA Magazine Jan 21·4 min read
GSA Schedule is a long-term governmentwide contracts with commercial companies that provide access to millions of commercial products and services at fair and reasonable prices to the government. GSA Schedule makes buying easy and efficient with the use of modern technology to connect government buyers and industry.
Schedule policy and procedures are guided by two major governing regulatory documents:
Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) — Pursuant to 41 U.S.C. 152(3), FAR Part 38 prescribes policies and procedures that GSA must follow in managing the Schedules program. FAR Subpart 8.4 prescribes ordering procedures for federal agencies when placing orders for supplies and services under Schedules. (SOURCE: https://www.gsa.gov/)
Get more government customers
New contractors often ask how to market their new contract.
Two of the specific tools you’ll want to are; USASpending.gov and the Schedule Sales Query Plus. Using these tools, you can research potential customers’ spending habits and identify customers that have bought products/services similar to those you offer on your Schedule contract.
There’s a lot of information to help you but you must decide where to focus your efforts and resources.
Ask yourself the following questions:
· Where are the government customers?
· What is a successful marketing strategy?
· How can companies partner with GSA in order to be a better provider to federal customers?
· What resources are available to help me become a successful marketer?
How can GSA Schedule help me?
We provide four primary sites to help market:
GSA Advantage!® — This is where agencies come to find potential sources. This is your greatest marketing tool, available to you at no cost. You’ll need to keep your information current; having information listed here is a contractual obligation.
eBuy — This is an online Request for Information (RFI) and Request for Quote (RFQ) tool that agencies use to post opportunities. It is only available once your catalog is approved and uploaded to GSA Advantage!®. Review eBuy regularly for opportunities.
Vendor Support Center (VSC) — The marketing section provides various resources and information regarding market research, exposure, and bidding on opportunities.
Interact — Join the Interact group Schedules Contractor Success-Marketing Matters! for tips on how to market your Schedule.
GSA hosts or participates in industry supply and service expositions or other marketing activities that may interest you. We share these events and training details on Interact.
Use the GSA Logo
You may use the GSA Logo GSA Starmark logo to identify your Schedule contract to the government community. The design is flexible, allowing you space to insert your Schedule contract number.
Find the guidelines for the proper use of the GSA logo and GSA Schedule Contract Star Mark at gsa.gov/logo.
Using these designs does not eliminate the requirement that a contractor comply with GSAR 552.203–71, Restriction on Advertising. Use these designs in advertisements directed toward government contract users, provided that the advertisements do not state or imply that the supplies (products) or services are endorsed or preferred by the government.
How Government Customers will Find You
As a GSA Schedule contractor, your firm will be listed in GSA eLibrary, our online source for the latest contract award information.
You may search GSA eLibrary by
Contractor/Manufacturer Name,
Schedule Number/Name,
Special Item Number (SIN), or
Keywords.
You can also find out the name and contract information for your GSA Procurement Contracting Officer (PCO) under your company’s listing on GSA eLibrary, if you need to contact GSA.
Keep Your Information Current
Your Schedule prices, labor categories, worldwide, or CONUS status are all listed in the “Contractor T&Cs/Pricelist,” which is uploaded to both eLibrary and GSA Advantage!®
Buyers use your published price list on eLibrary for budgeting and market research.
The online version of your T&Cs/Pricelist is created or updated when a company submits a Schedule Input Program (SIP) submission and it is approved by GSA Schedule.
A SIP submission is required every time anything is changed related to labor categories, products, or prices. It may also be required when background information like past experience and descriptions of services or products provided.
Agencies rely on the accuracy of this information to identify companies that may be a good fit for the upcoming RFQ. An agency is unlikely to engage a company that does not keep this file up-to-date.
|
https://medium.com/@gsamagazine2019/how-would-your-market-your-gsa-schedule-contract-to-the-mass-bad9229a0358
|
['Gsa Magazine']
|
2021-01-21 07:22:40.956000+00:00
|
['Small Business', 'Gsa Schedule Contract', 'Certification', 'Consulting', 'Gsa Schedules']
|
Planet OS Data Challenge at ExpeditionHack NYC
|
We’re thrilled to be part of the Expedition Hackathon NYC happening on November 12–13! This is your chance to map the future of sustainability with NGA, Mapbox, IBM Bluemix, Planet OS and others. The hackathon’s focus areas are Oceans, Forests, Conservation and Indigenous People.
To add some motivation to the hours of intense coding and hustling, we decided to put out tons of high-quality environmental data, data integration and computational infrastructure, and reward the best teams with some cool prizes.
All hackathon participants will get free, unlimited access to:
The prizes:
All teams that use our data tools will secure an unlimited free access to Planet OS data tools
data tools The team with the best solution will get special swag and surprises from Planet OS
The general Grand Prize of the hackathon is $3000 and a round trip to DC from NGA to meet NGA Executives.
We have already validated a few business ideas that the teams could work on. Stay tuned for updates! All the updates will be shared on this page so it would be wise to bookmark it. Contact us at [email protected] for further questions.
#PlanetOS #DataChallenge
About Planet OS:
Planet OS is the world’s leading provider of weather, environmental and geospatial data access and operational intelligence, based in Palo Alto, California. The company works with real-world industries — from energy, weather forecasting, agriculture, logistics to insurance — helping them become data-driven, mitigate risks and grow faster. The world’s second largest offshore wind farm runs on Planet OS Powerboard; and the company’s open data service, Datahub, provides access to thousands parameters of high-quality data collected by premier institutions around the world.
|
https://medium.com/planet-os/planet-os-data-challenge-at-expeditionhack-nyc-5e6a9f192956
|
['Planet Os']
|
2016-12-07 11:47:31.134000+00:00
|
['Hackathon', 'NYC', 'Sustainability', 'Big Data', 'Nga']
|
COVID-19 Vaccination Progress Analysis through Data Storytelling
|
Exploratory Data Analysis and Visualization
We will initialize the Python packages, that we are going to use for data ingestion and visualization. We will configure the environment by setting the font size, figure size, face color, etc. Also, we would mostly use seaborn for our visualization.
Now we can begin working with our data by working on the objectives.
1. Which country is vaccinating its citizens the fastest?
For plotting, we need a set of values from the data to be arranged in a particular manner. It can be achieved by using methods like groupby(), max(), sort_values(), etc. Also, we will compare the first 10 countries for neat visualization. After arranging them we can plot them using seaborn built-in functions as shown below.
From the visualization below it is clear that Israel leads the world in terms of the number of doses per head of population, with more than 80 doses given for every 100 people.
2. Which country has the highest number of vaccinated people?
Let us find out the country having the most vaccinated people. For easy visualization, we will consider the top 10 countries from all. Here we have used matplotlib to plot the data, along with using the total vaccinations' series.
It is clear from the visualization below that the United States has the most vaccinated people around 60M.
3. What are the different categories of vaccines offered?
For finding different categories and understanding which vaccine is used widely, I curated the code as follows:
Pfizer tops the list of most-used COVID-19 vaccines in the world, followed by Mordema, and Oxford–AstraZeneca.
4. What are the different vaccines used by different countries?
In this particular objective, we are going to use the Plotly library to plot a 2-D map of the world. Here we have used iso_code for getting the location of a particular region/country. Also, the hover_name attribute is used for the creation of a dynamic chart so that when we hover over a particular country it shows the details of vaccines.
To have a look at the dynamic plot, please click here.
|
https://towardsdatascience.com/covid-19-vaccination-progress-analysis-around-the-world-736d7e57f198
|
['Nevil Sutaria']
|
2021-03-07 16:46:33.240000+00:00
|
['Storytelling With Data', 'Python', 'Data Analysis', 'Exploratory Data Analysis', 'Data Visualization']
|
Validating a Startup Idea - Part 1: It Starts With a Question
|
How much did I spend on X last Y?
Lots of amazing ideas begin with a question, and that’s what this story started with.
One day while I was traveling in Colombia, I got curious about how much money I had spent on Ubers over the past month. And for that matter, the past year. I had been traveling for three years with virtually no income, so it wasn’t the first time I had wondered about my expenses. I figured that with all the apps and tools we have at our disposal, I should’ve easily been able to satisfy my curiosity within thirty seconds. And yet, I’ve tried all manner of financial tools over the years, and I couldn’t remember a single one of them being able to do this.
So… I had my initial itch.
Idea #1: A smart search engine for my transaction data.
Here’s what I wanted:
I put in a search term. Let’s say “Uber.” I’m shown all my transaction data for that term. Crunch my data and give me some insights.
Insights didn’t have to be complicated. Just some simple number crunching. I wanted to answer questions like:
How many Uber transactions did I have this week/month/year?
How much did I spend on them each week/month/year?
How am I trending?
And of course we could get even fancier with some graphs, more statistics, maybe some tracking functionality… but I’m getting ahead of myself.
I just wanted to answer: “How much did I spend on X last Y?”
At this point the idea was just something in the back of my mind. At the time I was focused on building a crypto trading bot and it wasn’t until a couple of years later that I revisited the idea. I was back in Colombia in the middle of a full COVID lockdown, and I had basically thrown in the towel on TripleChili. TripleChili had been more of a fun project than a business idea, but I had decided that going forward, I was going to sell first before building. That’s when I dusted the mental cobwebs off the idea and decided to look into it.
The first step was to make sure that I wasn’t going to work on something that already existed. While I had tried every tool out there over the years, I figured there might be some new ones I hadn’t seen yet.
Here’s a short list of the best and most well-known ones I found:
Trying out the search functionality of all these tools yielded the same results: A list of all my transactions matching my query string. No crunching. No insights. So… maybe there’s something there.
One more thing to verify was whether it was possible for me to even access any transaction data. I knew about Plaid but had never played with it. As it turns out, it’s super easy to use their APIs to access financial data.
Alright, let’s go!
So now I figured I had enough data to try to validate my idea. But I needed to sell first, then build.
Having read The Lean Startup several years ago and being tapped in to the startup community, I was confident I knew the formula:
Build a pre-launch landing page and take pre-orders.
I just needed enough pre-orders to prove that this was something other people wanted, and then I could start on the fun part of building a product.
I just had two problems:
I had no idea how to sell a “smart search engine for transaction data.” I had never sold anything before, so actually… I just had no idea how to sell period.
Addressing problem #2 was straightforward: learn and practice. I had had some exposure to marketing over the years but now I needed to get serious. So I purchased a bunch of courses on Udemy and read The Adweek Copywriting Handbook. It was enough to take a stab.
Addressing problem #1 took a bit more creative thinking. I didn’t think a “smart search engine” alone was going to be sellable. I needed another angle.
At the time, I had just read The Psychology of Money, and I became convinced that I needed to rethink the approach to finances. Instead of a purely analytical approach that most tools have, I needed to take a behavioral one. One quote that really stuck with me was:
“Money has a little to do with how smart you are and a lot to do with how you behave… financial success is not a hard science. It’s a soft skill, where how you behave is more important than what you know.”
Plenty of smart people make terrible choices with their money, despite knowing what choices they SHOULD be making. And one of the reasons for this is social comparison.
We naturally compare ourselves to others and when we compare ourselves to those that seem rich, we’re making the comparison based on what we see. Money spent. But wealth is the exact opposite. It’s money NOT spent. This also makes it NOT visible, which in turn makes the same comparison much harder.
But what if we COULD see wealth? What sort of comparisons would we make if we knew that our neighbor with the Tesla was in serious debt? Conversely, what if we knew that our other neighbor that still drives a fifteen-year-old Toyota also had a boatload of Tesla stock in his portfolio? How might this influence our behavior then?
This led to idea #2.
Idea #2: Use social comparison to bring awareness around our own financial habits.
This got me excited. If I had a bunch of transaction data from enough people, I’d be able to extrapolate some really interesting data. Stuff like:
How much do people spend on Uber?
What about Starbucks or Amazon?
How much debt to people really have?
What’s the average savings rate or debt-to-income ratio?
Even MORE interesting would be the answers with respect yourself. So then the questions become more like:
Do I spend as much at Starbucks as other people in my neighborhood?
Does everyone else shop on Amazon as much as me?
Are other Software Engineers paying as much for rent?
Am I saving more than other people in their 30s?
There could be all sorts of ways to group the data, and there even seemed to be a strong case for individuals to create their own groups. Think about an accountability group, or even a friendly competitive group around portfolio management.
Having a way to concretely compare our financial habits against others could be a powerful way to bring awareness to the way we handle our money. Personal finance was always… personal. But once you started throwing other people into the mix, there were all sorts of new possibilities.
I also thought that the perfect delivery mechanism for this would be email. A big reason why I had abandoned so many tools in the past was because there was too much friction to use them. I didn’t need a budget and I didn’t need to categorize every transaction.
A weekly email to track financial habits and see how they compared to others seemed like a good starting place. But I had a classic chicken or the egg: In order to build the product, I needed the data, but to get the data I needed people using the product. This didn’t seem like a problem I could really solve at this stage, so I decided to refine the idea a bit.
Idea #3: A personalized financial newsletter.
While I couldn’t build a tool that relied on data that I would get after people started using the tool, a compilation of just MY data delivered to me in a weekly email could still be extremely useful. Not only would an email be frictionless, a regular weekly email would make it easy to gauge progress and reference history, which doesn’t quite work so well in other tools or spreadsheets. On top of that, I figured it would be relatively easy to build out an MVP and once I had some users and data, I could start adding features from there.
So that’s what I decided to start with: A personalized financial newsletter.
I brainstormed a few names based on which domain names were available and settled on Cabbage Stack.
Now I just had to validate the idea.
Episode #2 is about my first attempt. Spoiler alert: It didn’t go quite as swimmingly as I had hoped.
|
https://medium.com/@skeebuzz/trying-to-launch-a-startup-episode-1-it-starts-with-a-question-de040ec883b0
|
['Simon Pettibone']
|
2020-12-30 21:22:57.330000+00:00
|
['Startup', 'Ideas', 'Startup Lessons', 'Startup Marketing']
|
A Quicker Way to Download Kaggle Datasets in Google Colab
|
Step 3: Run the script
!pip install -q kaggle
!pip install -q kaggle-cli
!mkdir -p ~/.kaggle
!cp "your/path/to/kag gle.json" ~/.kaggle/
!cat ~/.kaggle/kaggle.json
!chmod 600 ~/.kaggle/kaggle.json # For competition datasets
!kaggle competitions download -c dataset_name -p download_to_folder # For other datasets
!kaggle datasets download -d user/dataset_name -p download_to_folder
Replace:
your/path/to/kag gle.json with your path to kaggle.json on drive. You can explore your drive on the left and copy the path. I have double quotes around it to avoid issues with blank spaces in folder names.
with your path to kaggle.json on drive. You can explore your drive on the left and copy the path. I have double quotes around it to avoid issues with blank spaces in folder names. download_to_folder with the folder where you’d like to store the downloaded dataset
with the folder where you’d like to store the downloaded dataset dataset_name and/or user/dataset_name as follow:
To download a competition Dataset: You can easily get hold of the dataset_name to use in the URL. For example, if you want to download Fake News dataset, select just fake-news from the URL :
Also, make sure to have agreed to the competition rules:
Then, your final script would look like -
!pip install -q kaggle
!pip install -q kaggle-cli
!mkdir -p ~/.kaggle
!cp "/content/drive/My Drive/your_path_to_kaggle.json" ~/.kaggle/
!cat ~/.kaggle/kaggle.json
!chmod 600 ~/.kaggle/kaggle.json # For competition datasets
!kaggle competitions download -c fake-news -p Dataset
If you do not accept the competition rules then you’d encounter the 403 Forbidden Error.
To download any other Dataset: Replace user_name/dataset_name with the Kaggle username and the dataset name. This can be easily extracted from the URL. For example, if you want to download US Election 2020 Tweets, you could simply copy the part after kaggle.com -
… and plug it into the script.
Therefore your final script would look like -
!pip install -q kaggle
!pip install -q kaggle-cli
!mkdir -p ~/.kaggle
!cp "/content/drive/My Drive/your_path_to_kaggle.json" ~/.kaggle/
!cat ~/.kaggle/kaggle.json
!chmod 600 ~/.kaggle/kaggle.json # For other datasets
!kaggle datasets download -d manchunhui/us-election-2020-tweets -p Dataset
Finally, to re-run notebooks without having the necessity to scroll up, you could comment out the entire script including codes for unzipping datasets. If you are logged into your Google account, have access to your drive, you can run your code on any machine by directly downloading data without worrying about kaggle.json configs.
|
https://towardsdatascience.com/a-quicker-way-to-download-kaggle-datasets-in-google-collab-abe90bf8c866
|
['Nabanita Roy']
|
2020-11-21 17:38:30.326000+00:00
|
['Dataset', 'Kaggle', 'Data Science', 'Kaggle Api', 'Google Colab']
|
You’re too Sweet| Part 3
|
Image via Zodiac Reads
The sauce boils over as I sat at the kitchen table staring at the one wedding photo on the wall. About two in the morning, I take the frame off the wall, bring it outside, and run over it with the lawnmower.
A week later, I’m on the couch, recovering from food poisoning. I throw up multiple times before calling Becky. She comes over to try to soothe me, bringing me saltines and sparkling water. Becky calls the restaurants I had been to in the past week to ask about other food poisonings but comes up empty-handed.
Lying on the couch with a cool washcloth on my forehead, Becky rubs my feet. We discuss movies, one of my favorite subjects, when she asked, “When was your last period?”
“Um. Well, I think should have got it four days ago.”
“Four days ago.”
“Yeah, it’s the seventh right? I should have got it about the third. I must be late.”
“Four days ago.”
I laugh, “Are you broken? Why do you keep-“ I gasp.
“We have to go to the drug store!” Becky barks as she throws my feet off the couch.
She runs to get my shoes and twenty minutes later we sit on the floor of the drug store bathroom, both staring relentlessly at the pregnancy test. As the lines began to form, I throw up again. I flash into a stall and let go of my saltines.
Becky screams, “Pregnant!”
I broke into a cold sweat. “I, but I…”
Becky holds my hands and jumps up and down. I think I’m going to hurl on her. She talks a million miles an hour. About cribs and colors and names. She wants to be the godparent.
I start to cry.
Then Becky stops talking and she wraps her arms around me, gently putting my head on her shoulder. She starts to hum. I cry into her shoulder for a long time.
“Marne, you have to tell him.”
“I don’t know if I can.” I manage.
“But you have to tell him.”
I sniff. “I sent him divorce papers.”
And I start crying all over again. Becky holds me more fiercely now as if to protect me. This time she begins to sing, Great is Thy Faithfulness, an old hymn. When she is done, I hurl in the toilet one more time and the manager knocks on the door, saying the store is closing in fifteen minutes.
Two weeks later, I sit in a doctor’s office and the doctor tells me that I am pregnant.
Two more weeks later, I sit in a law office and the lawyer tells me he has the papers ready.
Two more weeks later, I sit in the same law office and sign those divorce papers. Jace sits on the other side of the huge conference table, with no emotion as he also signs.
Seven months later, I give birth to a healthy little boy, whom I named after my grandfather, Marvin. His last name is my maiden name and no one argues with me.
Image via Author
Part 4 Coming December 23!
|
https://medium.com/@renaenicole1/youre-too-sweet-part-3-1868cee8647d
|
['Renae Nicole']
|
2020-12-16 20:42:57.847000+00:00
|
['Flash Fiction', 'Fiction', 'Storytelling', 'Series', 'Romance']
|
Bioinformatics 1: K-mer Counting
|
Bioinformatics 1: K-mer Counting
A challenging yet intriguing interdisciplinary problem
Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
K-mer counting is an interesting yet challenging problem in bioinformatics. In this article, we’ll talk about what k-mers are, the problem of k-mer counting, its applications, and some interesting insights from the computer science perspective.
What are k-mers?
In simple terms, k-mers are substrings of length k in a given string (can be DNA, RNA, protein, or any string sequence). Since our interest is towards bioinformatics, we will converge our attention to k-mers in a DNA sequence.
Consider the DNA sequence “ACGAGGTACGA” which consists of 11 nucleotides. Let’s try to obtain all the 4-mers (substrings of length 4) in this DNA sequence.
4-mers in the sequence ACGAGGTACGA
The idea is simple. We create a window of length 4 and slide it from left to right, shifting one character at a time. If the length of the given DNA sequence is N, we would end up with N - k+1 k-mers.
Total no. of k-mers = N - k + 1
In the above example, the given DNA sequence is 11 characters long (N=11) and k = 4, thus we get eight 4-mers (11 - 4 +1).
The Problem of k-mer Counting
K-mer counting is not one of those labyrinthine problems which are complicated and confusing. It is a very simple problem where you count the frequency of each k-mer in the given sequence. We usually look for three different types of frequencies: total count, distinct count, and unique count.
Let’s consider the aforementioned DNA sequence again.
The Total Count is simply how many times each k-mer has appeared in the given sequence. Except for ACGA, which has appeared twice, the rest of the 4-mers have appeared only once.
The distinct k-mers are counted only once regardless of how many times they appear. For example, even though ACGA has appeared twice, we count it only once. The Distinct Count provides us the information of whether a k-mer has appeared or not (not how many times it has appeared).
The unique k-mers are those which appear only once. In the above example, since ACGA has appeared twice, its unique count is zero. The Unique Count reveals which k-mers have appeared only once.
The output of k-mer counting would usually be in tabular form as in the figure above or a histogram.
Applications of k-mer Counting
This section is worthy enough to write a separate article. At this point, I’ll list some of the applications where k-mer counting is used.
|
https://medium.com/swlh/bioinformatics-1-k-mer-counting-8c1283a07e29
|
['Gunavaran Brihadiswaran']
|
2020-07-02 22:08:41.927000+00:00
|
['Bioinformatics', 'Computational Biology', 'Genomics', 'Programming', 'Computer Science']
|
No Sausage Fest Here—Intriguing Science Fiction & Fantasy Series By, And/Or Starring Women
|
It’s no big revelation to report the majority of science fiction and fantasy (SFF) television series and films have narratives centering on men.
Despite encouraging exceptions in television with series like Jessica Jones, Wynonna Earp, The Expanse, Dark Matter, and Killjoys, men overwhelmingly remain the default setting as lead protagonists.
Unfortunately, women’s representation on television was dealt setbacks this season by network decisions including ABC canceling its superb Agent Carter series and the female-driven drama Nashville.
While we are getting a woman-led version of the supernatural comedy classic Ghostbusters this summer, as well as a live action film starring the iconic DC Comics superhero Wonder Woman in 2017, these representations are still a teeny tiny drop in the bucket compared to films focusing on the male heroic journey.
Hollywood is constantly proving it’s still a big ol’ sausage fest.
However, in the web series medium, there is far more diversity of narratives to chose from.
Many filmmakers are ingeniously taking advantage of the relative creative freedoms the medium affords to tell stories where women drive the narrative.
I’ve been fortunate enough in my work to be exposed to many of these exceptional projects.
The following are a few women-centric gems any fan of interesting and compelling SFF stories will enjoy:
The True Heroines
What if three, close-knit housewives living in the early 1950s were hiding from the world the startling secret that they had superpowers?
Okay, now imagine if those same housewives had used their special abilities as U.S. spies during World War II — and now their former employer wants to kill them?
That is the exact premise of the extraordinary web series The True Heroines.
Think of a female version of Mad Men, but with the tone and comic book sensibility of Heroes.
Released in 2013 by stars Fiona Vroom, Jovanna Huguet, and Paula Giroday, the web series is a remarkable period piece inspired by their successful cabaret show in Canada.
With its three engaging female leads, unique premise, and gorgeous period production design, The True Heroines is a singular viewing experience
Watch the official series trailer for a sneak peek inside its coolly retro world …
The complete series is available for viewing on YouTube.
If you are looking for an SFF story with a unique premise and cool visuals, The True Heroines is just the ticket.
MisSpelled
Created by and starring actress-singer-writer Lindsey McDowell, MisSpelled is a modern fantasy about a coven of five young witches — who are also young women of color.
McDowell has succeeded in weaving a charming (pun intended) narrative that provides vital onscreen representation to a much underserved audience in SFF.
This engaging series focuses on the friendship and rivalries between the young witches of this small coven as they cope with their coming of age in high school.
Watch the official series trailer …
The entire series is available for viewing on YouTube.
MisSpelled enchants with its engaging story, solid performances, and depiction of diverse, complex young women.
Project: S.E.R.A.
Commissioned by gaming and entertainment company IGN, Project: S.E.R.A. is a six-part, sci-fi web series featuring a woman protagonist cut from the same cloth as Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor.
Julia Voth stars as Gillian Eames, a woman determined to stop the black market sale of an extremely dangerous experimental drug after it kills her father — a high ranking U.S. military officer.
The drug was originally designed to hasten the healing of severe wounds suffered by U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, the compound has a horrific side effect — it turns people into ravenous, mindless killers.
Created and directed by Benjamin Howdeshell, Project S.E.R.A. is high-octane action from start to finish.
Everything about this production is exemplary, including the frenetic cinematography, superb visual effects, and explosive fight sequences.
But the true series standout is its star Julia Voth.
Though Voth’s Gillian Eames kicks serious ass, the character isn’t a one-note, action movie hero caricature.
Voth also imbues Gillian with keen intelligence, vulnerability, and emotional depth.
The result is a non-stop panorama of action, drama and intrigue that puts this web series on par with the best of its cable and network counterparts.
Watch the complete, electrifying seven-minute debut episode …
All six episodes of Project: S.E.R.A. are available on YouTube.
These three very different web series all have one important trait in common — each feature captivating stories centering on fascinating, compelling women.
Again, these are SFF narratives any fan can appreciate.
Projects like these also illustrate how much more rich and interesting storytelling can be when diverse and marginalized voices are given space to shine.
If you enjoyed any of these SFF series, please click the tiny heart button to help others discover them too.
|
https://medium.com/bacon-eggs-geek/no-sausage-fest-here-intriguing-science-fiction-fantasy-series-by-and-or-starring-women-838e0c41738b
|
['Rod T. Faulkner']
|
2016-08-03 02:19:15.230000+00:00
|
['Science Fiction', 'Television', 'Movies']
|
Dependency Injection the android way
|
Before jumping into DI in android, let's recall some concepts like what is Dependency, Injection, and DI in simple programming terminology.
What is Dependency? In Android Studio, dependencies allows us to include external library or local jar files or other library modules in our Android project. For example: Suppose I want to show some images in ImageView. But I’m using Glide Library to enhance the smoothness of application
What is Injection?
The injection is a technique that passes the dependency to dependent i.e Object to a class that wants to use them.
DI?
Dependency injection (DI) is a technique widely used in programming and well suited to Android development. By following the principles of DI, you lay the groundwork for good app architecture. Implementing dependency injection provides you with the following advantages: Reusability of code. Ease of refactoring Instead of creating dependencies, dependent uses some third-party framework to do.
Example :
public class A{
//Dependency
B obj=new B(“DI”);
}
Here A depends on B to function properly as A depends upon the instance of B class.
In other words, DI is the Decoupling of classes from the dependent Or Inject dependencies i.e making your design to be Loosely Coupled and follow Dependency Inversion and Single Responsibilities Principles.
So we can say asking a framework or third party to create the object of dependency instead of dependent creating the object of dependency is referred to as DI.
How to accomplish DI in Android?
In Android, we use third-party libraries like
Dagger Android Annotations Roboguice ButterKnife
to achieve Dependency injection depending upon our requirements.
Now let's get started with Dagger2…
What is Dagger2?
It is a dependency framework based on annotations. It uses code generation to access fields, methods.
Note: No private fields are allowed for injection by Dagger.
To implement include below dependency:
// App build.gradle
dependencies {
compile 'com.google.dagger:dagger:+'
annotationProcessor "com.google.dagger:dagger-compiler:2.4"
}
Major terms and various questions In Dagger to understand :
What is a component? What are the module and its purpose? What provides annotation does? Scope Annotations? what does Inject do?
Component Typically, Dagger2 uses this to generate code which uses Modules.
Or
In Simple words, Component is an interface class which contains all the places i.e Activities, fragment where you want to inject/use a particular object.
Code Snippet :
@Component(modules = { MyDemoModule.class})
public interface MyDemoComponent { void inject(MyActivity myActivity);
}
@Module Annotation
Classes with @Module annotations are used to provide objects which are to be Injected or to be used by Dependent classes. These classes contain methods defined with @Provides annotation which are used for dependency injection
In simple words, @Provides and .@Modules contains methods and classes which provide dependencies.
@Module
public class MyDemoModule { @Provides
@Singleton
User getUserObj() {
return new User();
}
}
Below is the User class to handle various user-specific values :
public class User { private String firstName;
private String lastName; public User(String firstName, String lastName) {
this.firstName = firstName;
this.lastName = lastName;
}}
Provides Annotation
These Annotations are used on methods that are defined in classes annotated with @Module.
Methods with @Provides annotation are used for dependency injection.
Example :
@Provides
@Singleton
User getUserObj() {
return new User();
}
Scope Annotations?
To define a scope of a method or class, we use these Scope Annotations. These annotations come under java. inject package.
By default there is no scope annotation, a new instance is created whenever there is an injection.
Commonly used scope annotation is :
Singleton Scope Annotation A Dependency using Singleton scope annotation gets instantiated just once throughout the app session.
Consider the below example to understand more about scope annotations in Dagger.
@Provides
@Singleton
User getUserObj() {
return new User();
}
Here, we have used @Singleton annotation to make sure that only a single object is created by getUserObj() for the User class.
Inject Annotation
Using these annotations we inject dependency independent classes or request dependencies.
We can use this annotation on Method, Constructor, or field.
Next will try to grow on the same concept using hilt and then learn the difference of both.
|
https://medium.com/@glitchyhitchy/dependency-injection-the-android-way-94fb722cbc47
|
[]
|
2021-06-08 16:29:39.270000+00:00
|
['Android App Development', 'Dependency Injection']
|
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