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Instagram for desktop.. So i was faced with the issue of: how…
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So i was faced with the issue of: how can one be limited by Instagram — immediately i came to the conclusion of the device you’re using’s battery capacity, once that’s dead your access is also removed. So i set out to create a functional desktop app that allowed you to post content from your desktop/laptop so you can never be stuck for a post.
Visual Studio 2019 Welcome Screen
In this tutorial i will be using Visual Studio 2019 and Importing CefSharp library. So first you want to open up visual studio and you will be welcomed with four options, select create a new project
Create a New Project Screen
Next, You want to filter the drop-down boxes until you come to “Visual Basic, Windows and desktop” which will lead you to an option of “WindowsForms App (.NET)”
Create a new windows forms app and choose your naming structure as desired. Also, where you would like the solution and project directory to be placed, now we are ready to start developing the design elements.
Once the project has been created you will reach the design part if the winform app in this IDE in which you want to open your toolbox from the left side in the default configuration and drag a “panel” into your window area
Then you want to drag each corner of the panel to fill the window content box, once done you want to right click your solution in the “solution explorer” and click “manage NuGet Packages” which will open up a separate window where you want to search for “CefSharp” and you want to checkbox and install each of the following: “Cefsharp.Common, CefSharp.WinForms and CefSharp.Wpf” You now want to go back to your Form1.vb Design window and double click the blue bar at the top.
For Simplicity of a larger potential audience i am going to provide the code you then want to copy into your Form1.VB code window:
Imports CefSharp
Imports CefSharp.WinForms
Public Class Form1
Private WithEvents Browser As ChromiumWebBrowser
Public Sub New()
InitializeComponent()
End Sub
Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
Dim setting As New CefSettings With {
.RemoteDebuggingPort = 8088}
setting.UserAgent = “Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 8_3 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/600.1.4 (KHTML, like Gecko) FxiOS/1.0 Mobile/12F69 Safari/600.1.4”
CefSharp.Cef.EnableHighDPISupport()
CefSharp.Cef.Initialize(setting)
Browser = New ChromiumWebBrowser(“https://www.instagram.com”) With {
.Dock = DockStyle.Fill
}
Panel1.Controls.Add(Browser)
End Sub
End Class
Your Form1.VB code should look like this:
if you now start the project “ ▷ start ” it should compile and launch a window exactly the same as this login screen where you can now sign in and get access to the mobile version of Instagram with a lot of standard features. There are however some limitations but for all intents and purposes still makes this a pretty useful addition.
You can now also compile this project into an EXE which you can launch just like any other application on your computer by opening the project containing folder which you created at the start of this process and going into the Debug folder and filtering the file type and finding a file with “your application name” with an application file type.
Thanks for reading an i hope i helped you gain a little more functionality out of your computer!
|
https://medium.com/@rogersliam/mobile-instagram-on-desktop-as-an-independent-application-26b79b5a284
|
['Liam Rogers']
|
2020-12-25 17:29:26.108000+00:00
|
['Instagram', 'Code', 'How To', 'Programming', 'Features']
|
THANK YOU LETTER 2020
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Dear dudettes,
Brace yourself, because this one’s going to be a long one. What can I do, there’s simply so many things to say this year. Plus you get two photos, of me. Talking about evolving, am I right, or am I right? Next year, I might just become a model, who knows :). Anyway, not to make this longer than it needs to, without further ado let’s do this shit, why don’t we?
They say there’s a fine line between reality and imagination and for the better half of my life I’ve been tiptoeing around it. Sometimes with both feet firmly stepping on each side, maintaining, what self-help gurus so proudly proclaim to be the fine balance, but who am I kidding really, most of the times I’ve been leaning towards the imaginative side with both feet running as far away from that line as my feet would allow. This has often annoyed people around me, one of them being my dad who used to say: “Girl, you’re living in your own world.” and “Your head is in the clouds. You need to come down.” I used to get so mad at him for saying that. Even till this day, it gets me to the point of frustration, oftentimes ending in tears. Being surrounded by pragmatic and logic led people my entire life is great for keeping dreamers such as myself grounded, but it can also be quite limiting and oftentimes debilitating for free spirits, if you allow it. Needless to say, I didn’t, despite of the countless days that I spent wondering what the hell is wrong with me. I took whatever lessons I could out of it, but didn’t let it anchor me down and so 7 years later, this “living in my own world” thing turned out to be the reason behind flipping so many impossible things into countless of possibilities. And dare I say, it was enough to make my dad start saying things like “I see you crawled your way into Forbes. Who did you pay up?”. I guess it’s his own way of saying “I support you and keep on going.” and honestly it’s a far cry from “living in my own world”, so I’ll take it. :)
This year had been quite the rollercoaster ride. It will go down in history as one of the most awkward and yet somehow the most rewarding one for Bastet Noir. We began the year strong and then somewhere around mid of March got rejected again by Dream Assembly. Oh well, what can you do? Such is life. This small defeat was followed by the pandemic breakdown in April when sales started to go down, enough to put me into a direct panic mode. I mean here I was, working my ass off to expand the label, taking it to a level where we had a network of 5 women single parents, with hopefully more to add by the end of the year when April hit us so hard, taking things to a screeching halt, throwing curve balls left and right. While I tried to keep things from falling apart and simultaneously not lose my mind I came up with this idea to start a fund for our community of women single parents, because I genuinely wanted to help them navigate these turbulent times and didn’t want to find myself in a situation where we’d have to stop working with any of them. So in July, once we promoted the fund on our social media and countries came out of lockdowns, our sales started to dramatically increase. People started buying again, but most importantly they started donating to the fund which helped us tremendously in keeping the women owned studios we work with afloat. We managed to gather around 2.500$ which went straight to the women owned studios we worked with. This to many might not seem like a lot, but to our small community, it gave a sense of stability, purpose and safety in times when chaos ruled their lives and I just want to say huge THANK YOU to all of those who donated. You have no idea just how big of an impact you’ve had. I’m eternally grateful to you all.
Around that same time, while the whole world started to adapt to working and doing almost anything from home, the demand to shop online increased tremendously and so our small team here started looking for options to make it easier for you to try things virtually and bring online shopping as closer as we could to the physical experience. Somewhere around the end of April, we introduced the Virtual Try-On where you were given the option to either see how a design fits on a model with similar body shape to yours or upload a photo and see how it’ll look on you.
Navigating this whole COVID-19 situation, I guess you could say, came a bit easier to us than the rest of the fashion labels and the reason for it was our zero-waste production model. At the beginning of 2020, we reached the decision to only use deadstock materials, which means that we started buying scraps of fabric cast aside by big brands, materials which would otherwise end up burning in a landfill, poisoning our land, rivers and by default polluting our air. This initiative helped us close the loop and become 100% zero-waste and sustainable, but along the way it has also helped warehouses in North Macedonia get rid of the excess of materials created as a result of canceled orders by big brands. These materials in most cases weren’t paid for which left these, oftentimes small family-ran warehouses, vulnerable with a huge overhead. Furthermore our production model is organized in such a way that all of the women we collaborate with, work from the comfort of their own homes or their own micro studios, preventing them from being exposed to the virus, which wouldn’t be the case if they were forced to use public transportation to get to production facilities. This enabled them to be safe and still earn an income to support themselves and their children. Since we don’t use fulfillment centers either, every order was delivered from their independent studios straight to the doorstep of our customers through DHL Express.
Going full zero-waste this year, made us also think about the environmental impact of every parcel. Back in November a potential customer reached to us and asked whether we had a way to offset the carbon emissions we’ve made. She wanted to donate a percentage of the order towards combating the carbon footprint created by it. This was such an eye-opening experience for us, so we started looking into options that would make this possible and in December we found one. We launched the Carbon Offset Initiative, in an effort to make all of our shipping emissions carbon neutral by supporting forest protection projects.
Let’s start with the bragging part now, shall we? We’ve been blessed with so many features this year and support from globally renowned Youtubers and Instagramers. As a small brand, we operate with a 0$ marketing budget and the reason for it is that we are a bootstrapped label, an entity that has taken 0$ investment capital and so whatever profit we make is reinvested back into the growth of our community of women single parents. Our goal is to help as many women as we can. So fortunately for us, many of the ambassadors we wanted to work with were touched by our story and recognized the impact we made both on our small community of women and the environment, so they extended their selfless support by allowing us to share their stories and spreading the word about our brand on their channels and social media platforms. This has helped us tremendously in expanding our reach, so to all of these badass human beings, I just wanted to say I’M BEYOND TOUCHED BY YOUR GENEROSITY AND SUPPORT. Hopefully one day we’ll be able to repay you in kind. Each of you have been personally responsible for the success we’ve had this year. From the feature in Elle_nl thanks to the amazing Yin Fung and Forbes to being listed on Katie Sturino’s blog, Chloé Kian, Vanessa Ziletti and CatCreature’s Youtube channels, all the way to finding one of our pieces in the pages of the print publication Tatler Asia, where Sarah Chen the co-founder of the Billion Dollar Fund for women posed in the Michelle Dress, custom made for her. It’s been the wildest ride ever.
On the personal side of things, this year will go down in history as the year of heavy blows and losses. Before writing this, I wasn’t sure whether to even mention it, because I believe it’s such a private matter and I’ve always been the type who keeps things in, but in order for me to process it, I believe it’s important for me to share it and allow myself to open up and be vulnerable. It’s what makes us humans after all, ain’t it? Almost 2 months ago, a close relative has lost her 2 year long battle with brain cancer. She was 41 years old. Needless to say this brought my family so much sadness, but also deep gratitude for the things we have taken for granted. In some weird way, I guess you could say it brought us closer. The reason why I decided to share it here is to let you know that sometimes, despite all of the peaks you conquer like I believe I had this year, life decides to turn itself upside down to bring you a new perspective, its own way of showing what’s important.
Since than I’ve buried myself in work so much, that I can’t even tell exactly where my work day begins and where it ends. It’s almost as if my every goal in life needs to be accomplished by the end of this year. It’s an extreme pressure to be under and I know it’s unhealthy, but being razor sharp focused on building Bastet Noir, in some way helps me deal with the situation better and keeps my mind away from wandering in dangerous territory. You know what I mean? Some of you would probably say I’m in the stage of denial and you’d probably be right, but this is my only coping mechanism that keeps me sane, so well I’ll take it. I feel like loss is such an important part of life and maybe by sharing this, the blizzard of emotions I find myself buried under might just calm down a bit or perhaps by simply communicating it with all of you it might help someone who’s going through the exact same situation as mine to at least understand that you’re not alone. Perhaps you, like me will find solace in the fact that everyone at some point in life has dealt with such a cathartic loss. On the other side of things, by writing this, in some strange way makes me feel like I’m honoring the person I’ve lost. Does this make any sense? I hope it does. You gotta take the good with the bad and make something hopeful out of it.
Anyway, to avoid sounding like my personal confession let’s get back to the good stuff, shall we and skip to the things I’m most grateful for. Apart from having the most amazing family one could ever hope for, the thing that made me most proud this year was joining four equally supportive families, The Female Founder Collective, Dough, DWEN & Nest. These communities of women, apart from my sister, have been the rock that I’ve leaned on so as to not lose my mind this year. Through Vanessa and Erica’s Dough lift-me up coffee chats to the Female Founder Collective Slack group of fascinating women across the globe like Rebecca Minkoff, the support of Nest’s amazing artisanal community and DWEN’s (Dell’s Women only social network) virtual summit, where I got to meet and talk to so many impressive ladies (granted online, but still counts), these 4 groups have acted like my personal shrinks especially during the months when work slowed down. Having the support system of women who were dealing with exactly the same pressing issues like yourself was such an uplifting experience. Just talking with these women and getting an insight on how they were dealing with their situation has had such a profound impact on me and my way of thinking.
Speaking of support, this year was also marked by a partnership very close to my heart. We welcomed Milena Tanaskoska, a renowned stylist and made her a part of our team. She advised us on design, improving the quality of the production and offered her expertise on creative direction. She made us get out of our comfort zone by adding color to the designs, a bold move which you obviously liked.
Milena & Dani
Another equally important achievement was getting part of our designs featured in the high profile fashion app The Covet Fashion. The digitalized version of the items draw so much attention, bringing so many eyeballs to our website. It gave us the credibility, we’ve worked so hard to achieve, as well as so many loyal customers that were drawn to our cause.
So there you have it, a year in the life of an entrepreneur, full of tripping and falling and getting back on my feet again, walking, running and than falling again and doing this exact same process over and over again. Crazy I know, but you have to be a bit crazy and delusional to run a company and I guess I am, because there’s just something about me that simply refuses to accept the hard, cold reality of life. Perhaps that’s what got me so far, my relentless pursuit, childish like persistence and almost impossible belief in myself and if you too have these, I suggest you make something with them.
I don’t know what the next year holds, but I’m sure it won’t be a smooth sail, just like all the previous ones. The only thing I hope to do is have the strength to navigate whatever shit storm strikes next. So I won’t be making any New Year resolutions, because if there’s anything that life has taught me this year is that life is so unpredictable. My only wish is to stay healthy and be able to keep on changing the society I live in by investing in our community of women single parents.
Shit, that’s way too many things. I’ll stop now. Wish you all the best these holidays and see you next year in a hopefully better world than the one we leave behind.
Yours truly,
Dani
|
https://medium.com/bastet-noir/thank-you-letter-2020-1c76964f0279
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['Dani Milo']
|
2020-12-25 11:37:14.987000+00:00
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['Fashion', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Women', 'Style', 'Business']
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China Suspends the Largest IPO Ever
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China Suspends the Largest IPO Ever
Ant Group’s massive IPO had been recently suspended following a meeting between the company’s billionaire co-founder Jack Ma and regulators in China.
Ant Group’s massive IPO had been recently suspended following a meeting between the company’s billionaire co-founder Jack Ma and regulators in China. The reasons for the same as stated by the Shanghai Stock Exchange were “major issues” that might cause it “not to meet the listing conditions or disclosure requirements.” Ant Group apologised in its official WeChat account to its investors for “any inconvenience caused by this development.” This listing would be the biggest share sale in history at a whopping $37b, beating the $29.4b record currently held by the Saudi state oil company Aramco.
The Journey Began with Alipay
The Ant Group was born as Alipay, a third-party online payment tool created by Alibaba in 2004. A major reason behind the establishment of Ant was eBay’s announcement to enter the Chinese market in 2003. In order to offer stiff competition, Alibaba launched Taobao — a cross between eBay and Amazon. Despite conjuring up millions of users, Taobao suffered from an issue of trust between vendors and buyers. In an attempt to address this issue, Alipay began as a simple escrow service to secure transactions between independent buyers and sellers on Taobao. Even though Alipay did not the appropriate licenses, Jack Ma pushed forward and began collaborating with Chinese banks. Due to the archaic and bureaucratic obstacles, and because online banking was still very new, building a new infrastructure from scratch was the only way to scale Alipay.
Today, Alipay has over 1.3 billion active users — 55% share of Chinese mobile payments — and has captured a huge amount of value for Alibaba by enhancing its sales proposition. Alipay has always understood that capturing value depends on retaining customers’ loyalty and also that payments alone were never going to be enough. That led to Alipay building on its two main resources, access to funds and customer data, to branch into other financial services. And so, Ant Financial was established in 2014 as a vehicle for the entire operation.
Ant Financial was Established and Does Wonder
Source: Reuters
The insect name Ant is a metaphor for no transaction or investment being too small — when added up, they become significant. Alibaba owns a 33% equity interest, with the remainder controlled by Ma (about 50%) and early investors. Ant Group offers services across five major domains: payments, wealth management, lending, credit scoring, and insurance. In 2013, the group launched Yu’e Bao (“leftover treasure”), to allow even the smallest customers to invest leftover funds. One of the largest money market funds in the world, Yu’e Bao offers an average of 2% greater returns than traditional bank deposit interest, plus lower fees to its asset management partners. Ant Fortune is a wealth management platform created by Ant Financial, which allows users to choose between Yu’e Bao and other rival funds. The platform boasts over 4,000 wealth management products from over 100 asset management companies.
A mutual insurance platform Xiang Hu Bai was launched by the Ant Group in 2018 in order to address the lack of affordable healthcare for lower-wage workers. Free to join and only charging premiums upon a treatment, 100 million users joined in the first year alone. This incredibly diversified ecosystem of service offerings and their brilliant ability to cross-sell is why Ant Group is worth so much today. The group’s success in cross-selling is evident from the fact that over 80% of its customers use three or more services offered by it, and 40% use all five. By taking a platform approach, direct competition with traditional financial institutions has been reduced.
Massive Potential of the Ant Group
At about $315b market valuation, Ant Group is worth more than the gross domestic product (GDP) of Egypt ($303b), and Finland ($269b). Ant’s strong potential is evident from its strong profitability and expansive network. In 2019, Ant Group made profits of more than $2.6b from a revenue stream of $17.5b; the company’s profits in just the first half of 2020 superseded 2019 at $3.2b. (For comparison, PayPal’s net income over the same period was $1.6 billion!)
There exists a very strong potential for the Ant Group to grow outside China since they have formed strategic partnerships with mobile payments providers in India, Thailand and Mexico. Such partnerships and expansions have added over $90b to the $17t in processed transactions in China in 2019. Besides generating revenue, operations abroad have successfully drawn new users into the services ecosystem. As of recent, however, Ant Group has refocused on maximising the potential gains from the domestic Chinese market itself.
The group has developed a portfolio of tech capabilities including cloud and blockchain platforms in an attempt to further broaden its financial service offerings. It sells such services to financial companies, emphasizing that the group is primarily about tech, not finance — coining itself “tech fin” not “fintech.” Around 50% of revenue in 2019 came from such tech services, compared to payments, which brought in 36%, and this switch has further excited investors.
Key Facts
Jack Ma’s Ant Group IPO will be the biggest ever in history, taking over the record set by oil giant Saudi Aramco’s $29.4b IPO in 2019.
According to Bloomberg, Ant Group’s market valuation is bigger than JPMorgan Chase & Company, and Bank of America. Ant is larger than Paypal Holdings Inc. ($238b), and Walt Disney Company ($232b); it is also three times larger than IBM Corp and four times Goldman Sachs Group.
Jack Ma holds 8.8% stake in the company, worth over $27.4b based on the stock pricing in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
In Ant’s IPO, institutional investors put in orders for 76b shares which is over 284 times the initial offering, according to the Shanghai filing. Brokers were willing to lend individual investors credit worth 20 times their investment so they could load up on the shares, according to Bloomberg.
Jack Ma is a big fan of number eight, which rhymes with prosperity in China. Six is also considered a lucky number in China. The shares in Shanghai were priced at 68.8 yuan and at HK$80 in Hong Kong.
Why was the IPO Suspended?
The decision to suspend the IPO of Ant Group came in after the People’s Bank of China and three other financial regulators summoned Ma and two Ant Group executives for questioning on November 2. Just over a week before that, Ma had publicly criticized Chinese regulators for stifling innovation by being too risk-averse.
On the 2nd of November, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission — one of the regulators that summoned the Ant executives — proposed new rules for online lenders. The rules could mean that Ant would have to set aside more cash for the loans it facilitates and would place more credit risk on its balance sheet. Furthermore, such a dramatic move so close to the listing date will damage Beijing’s drive to develop its capital markets.
In September, China’s ruling Communist Party published a set of guidelines for private businesses, stating that the private sector needs “politically sensible people” who will “firmly listen to the party and follow the party.” The directive indicates that President Xi Jinping is not afraid to take more aggressive measures to ensure that private companies support the Communist Party’s philosophies.
Senior geo-technology analyst at Eurasia Group, Xiaomeng Lu had this to say regarding the suspension: “Jack Ma’s aggressive comments last weekend exacerbate the brewing conflict between large Chinese tech companies and powerful regulators. Ant is likely to adjust its IPO valuation as a result of this intervention and delay its launch date.”
Duncan Clark, the author of “Alibaba: The House that Jack Ma Built” and chairman of investment advisory firm BDA China, said before the IPO was halted that Chinese regulators “want to put out statements that they’re the ones in charge, the ones in control. No regulator anywhere wants to be irrelevant.” He hinted at the possibility that this could be an attempt by Beijing to remind Ma and all other private enterprises “who calls the shots.”
Ant Group’s statement post the suspension was, “We will overcome the challenges and live up to the trust on the principles of stable innovation; embrace of regulation; service to the real economy; and win-win cooperation. We will continue to serve small and micro businesses and ordinary citizens with our passion, professionalism and commitment for society.”
|
https://medium.com/discourse/china-suspends-the-largest-ipo-ever-553811783366
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['Evolv Ideas']
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2020-11-26 17:03:22.692000+00:00
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['Business', 'China', 'Finance', 'Economics', 'Government']
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10 Movies That Brightened Up Gloomy 2020
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The world has pretty much turned upside down since our last upload but never fear, we are back to share the best Movie and TV content with our people and every other Movie lover such as ourselves. Finding a good movie in 2020 demands searching through a lot of garbage and dirt for the true gems this year had to offer and even though we cannot claim to have watched every single movie this year, we are quite excited to have discovered some truly fantastic titles and so here is a list of movies which carried us through the awful 2020.
One disclaimer is we tried to stay away from more mainstream blockbuster movies because every man and his dog has already at least heard about it. The focus is more on the underrated but fantastic movies this year had to offer. So don’t expect to see Sonic or Bad Boys for life springing up. To spice things up, we will recommend the best target audience for each film in order to create the ultimate recommendation list.
This Netflix movie is based on a character of the same name played by Millie Bobbie Brown as the whimsical but very capable sister to Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes. It is a quick witted coming of age tale narrated by Enola herself as she goes on a quest to find her missing mother and while doing so gets dragged into a murder mystery. The movie enables Enola to handle difficult situations herself and show off her impressive talents and skills without getting overshadowed by her more famous elder brothers. Henry Cavill is the latest superhero to play the great detective after Robert Downey Jr. and Benedict Cumberbatch respectively while Sam Caflin does a great job playing his stoic older brother Mycroft. Helena Boham Carter also stars as their adventurous mother. This is a fun, enjoyable film that would best appeal to young viewers, especially the ladies, who would be able to identify with a strong and very likable protagonist.
This film starring Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney star in this movie based on real events following a embezzlement scandal in the American Education System. Jackman gives a fantastic performance in a compelling drama about the greed of those society place their trust in. Lovers of compelling historical dramas will enjoy this.
Russell Crowe is front and center in this thriller about the worst possible scenario that can occur when you tick off the wrong guy at the wrong time. Despite trivial motivations, he goes on a murderous rampage after a basic traffic altercation with a single mother sets him on an evil course. It is by no means one of the best films in the genre but it keeps you hooked from beginning to end in a feat many modern films find difficult to pull off. We personally like to call this a movie about what would happen if someone drove by John Wick on the road and insulted his puppy. We recommend this to viewers who want something, fast and straight to the point that thrills them all along the way.
A controversial movie when it came out, this movie split two political views and mindset and pits them against each other. This film kicks off when a group of liberals and climate change enthusiasts trap a group of conservatives in a Battle Royale type battleground where they are hunted down like game and executed by booby traps. Controversies aside, it is an enjoyable, quite humorous thrill ride starring rising star Betty Gilpin and accompanied by many others including Emma Roberts, Justin Hartley, Ike Barinholtz and Hilary Swank as they duke it out in this entertaining and bloody battle for supremacy and survival. The target audience of this film has to be those who can remain neutral and enjoy the ride. It’s a fun one. We would dissuade those with weak stomachs from this one because it can get quite violent.
Another thriller on this list is Alone. A very realistic look at the all too real danger of stalking and kidnapping. With a tiny cast and a tiny budget, this tense film places our protagonist in an unknown location where she is exposed to a persistent predator. The movie does a great job of building tension for long periods and even creating doubts about the legitimacy of the danger itself. Lovers of thrillers are invited for this one. Jules Wilcox knocks it out of the park as the lead protagonist.
After a meteor headed to the earth is nuked in a defensive move by Earth, the radioactive waste falls back onto our planet, causing every cold blooded creature to rapidly increase in size till they become giants. In a highly dangerous world with an endangered human population, Dylan O’brien travels on a quest to find his girlfriend from before the disaster, leaving his relatively safe underground habitat. It is a feel good movie with a lot of heart and a very lovable dog helped by amazing visual effects tied up by a solid plot about conquering your fears. This movie has a bit of something for everyone and will leave a smile on your face when the credits roll.
This latest Guy Ritchie flick is a crime thriller centered in London. It follows the tale of an American drug dealer played by Mathew McConaughey who seeks to retire from a life of crime and how this decision spars a power tussle between the criminal gangs in London. Bearing the quick witted, fast paced nature characteristic of most Guy Ritchie films, the movie also stars Hugh Grant, Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding all bringing their A game, as well as a great performance from Colin Farrell. The Gentlemen snappy dialogue and comedic timed scenes will be great for lovers of dialogue heavy drama, comedy or fast paced storytelling.
Elizabeth Moss delivers an Oscar worthy performance as she leads this horror/thriller about a lady who escapes an abusive relationship only to find out she is being stalked and tormented by, you guessed it, an invisible man. It takes a familiar trope and uses science fiction to makes it into a new take on horror and previously unseen, no pun intended. With stellar directing and cinematography, this is another must watch movie that keeps you invested and on the edge of your seat, making a 2hour timeline feel like half the time.
This film starring Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti and J. K. Simmons is the latest movie to take the now tired Groundhog Day trope and transform to a fun, enjoyable, feel good love story about a few people trapped in a time loop that is centered on a wedding. With an amazing ability to be hilarious and emotional with a strong message, this is truly one of the absolute bests 2020 has to offer and should be seen by as many as possible.
Aaron Sorkin writes and directs follows an intense political trial following an intense political trial set in the 1960s at the height of the Anti˗Vietnam War riots. Eddie Redmayne, Yayha Abdul˗Manteen, Sacha Bohan Cohen and others are under trial for the roles the play in the riots against an antagonistic judge. Mark Rylance and Joseph Gorden Levitt play opposing lawyers as well. The dialogue is great, the performances are great and the story is captivating. Overall, this is a must see film for all film lovers and admirers of historical drama and enjoyable quick˗witted screenplay characteristic of Aaron Sorkin.
Here are some honorable mentions just because..
This crass tale about an illegal underground system involving assassins pitted against each other for public entertainment. Daniel Radcliffe is an unfortunate, awkward protagonist who falls into this world of murder and mayhem that kicks off when he wakes up with guns drilled to hands. Lovers of crass, violent action comedies will love this one.
In a quest to keep their beloved town from denitrification, three nerdy teenage friends stumble on a conspiracy of vampires who have selected their neighbourhood as their latest hunting ground. This Netflix kid adventure is funny and exciting. The horror elements are massively toned down however, and might be too campy for viewers more used to more violent and bloody takes on the genre. Fro example, take Jojo Rabbit’s more watered down approach to the holocaust and World War 2 compared to Schindler’s list or Saving Private Ryan. The movie is still however an enjoyable adventure movie able to be seen by the whole family.
Are there any other movies that made 2020 a bit bearable for you? If you’ve seen these movies yourself, what do you think about our list? We’d like to here about it so feel free to leave a comment and the force be with you.
by Mike from MotakuPR
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https://medium.com/@motakupr/10-movies-that-brightened-up-gloomy-2020-46e743d7dfbe
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[]
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2020-12-08 20:34:04.091000+00:00
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['Movies To Watch', 'Hollywood', 'Cinema', 'Movies', 'Movie Review']
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Suicide is not an option, it never is!
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It’s a a tough time for me right now, I feel like I have lost when I have not even fought the battle yet. I am depressed right now and I know it’s a phase, I just need to stay strong it will pass too.
I don’t want to die, I want to live.
But the situation I am caught up in, doesn’t seem to have a solution, and dying seems to be the only way out of it.
I have hold up for too long, but now I can’t. It’s just too much for me.
I am a firm believer that God doesn’t give you only the amount of pain you can bear, guess he is really testing my limits, but then something better he has in reserve for me.
I am strong .💪
Come what may.
|
https://medium.com/@giselleevanovich/suicide-is-not-an-option-it-never-is-b3f7be60fb17
|
['Giselle Evanovich']
|
2020-12-13 22:06:45.918000+00:00
|
['Depression', 'Strength', 'God', 'Suicide', 'Death']
|
@Reviw Curricular Practical Training (CPT) | California
|
Free Automated Malware Analysis Service - powered by Falcon Sandbox
Submit malware for free analysis with Falcon Sandbox and Hybrid Analysis technology. Hybrid Analysis develops and…
|
https://medium.com/@games-reviws-and-hacks/reviw-curricular-practical-training-cpt-california-e9335e72ad8f
|
[]
|
2020-12-22 22:05:10.374000+00:00
|
['Robotics', 'Earth']
|
正确设置绝对定位的dom元素的位置
|
先前在做ASTreeView右键菜单时遇到一个问题，是这样的：
因为页面的布局中，放置ASTreeView控件的容器叫container，当用户右键点击树节点时，edit, delete节点的菜单出现。由于container的position是relative的，右键菜单的div的position是absolute的，所以，设置菜单div的left, top属性时，会根据container的位置去定位，如图所示：
当用户点击右键，我们可以获取当前鼠标的坐标，这时，如果直接将鼠标的x，y坐标赋值给菜单的left和top就会出问题。因为鼠标坐标的原点是窗口的左上角，而菜单的原点是container的左上角。
那如何让菜单显示在鼠标点击的位置呢？接下来的代码将一步一步地实现：
首先是获取鼠标坐标的代码：
function getMousePos(e) { e = e || event; var posx = 0;
var posy = 0; if ( e.pageX && e.pageY ) {
posx = e.pageX;
posy = e.pageY;
}
else if (e.clientX && e.clientY ) {
posx = e.clientX + document.body.scrollLeft
+ document.documentElement.scrollLeft; posy = e.clientY + document.body.scrollTop
+ document.documentElement.scrollTop;
} return {
'x' : posx,
'y' : posy
}
}
接着我们将要得到container相对于窗口左上角的距离，当然，这要考虑container的父节点，也就是要一直递归到根节点：
function getTotalOffset( elem ){
var offsetTotalX = 0;
var offsetTotalY = 0;
var pOffsetElem = elem.offsetParent; while( pOffsetElem ){
offsetTotalX += pOffsetElem.offsetLeft;
offsetTotalY += pOffsetElem.offsetTop; pOffsetElem = pOffsetElem.offsetParent;
} return {
'x' : offsetTotalX,
'y' : offsetTotalY
}
}
最后在设置菜单位置的时候，将鼠标的位置，减去container的offset：
var pos = getMousePos(e);
var offset = getTotalOffset(elem); menu.style.left = ( pos.x - offset.x ) + 'px';
menu.style.top = ( pos.y - offset.y ) + 'px';
这样，菜单就能显示在鼠标点击的位置啦！
完整示例下载：
点击下载
|
https://medium.com/jinweijie/%E6%AD%A3%E7%A1%AE%E8%AE%BE%E7%BD%AE%E7%BB%9D%E5%AF%B9%E5%AE%9A%E4%BD%8D%E7%9A%84dom%E5%85%83%E7%B4%A0%E7%9A%84%E4%BD%8D%E7%BD%AE-94b19679a661
|
['Jin Weijie']
|
2018-08-16 01:54:52.418000+00:00
|
['Position', 'Dom', 'JavaScript']
|
Patent Newz Box- Stay on top of global patent news- Oct 15, 2020
|
Oppo patents a super-curve display smartphone design
indiatvnews
Chinese smartphone maker Oppo has patented a new smartphone with a super-curve display. The smartphone design disclosed in the patent shows a rear panel of the handset which sports a vertically aligned triple camera setup at the top left corner.
Google patents AI technique to help in health risk prediction
cbinsights
Google’s recent neural network patent assists physicians in clinical note documentation. The neural network disclosed in the patent compiles, structures, and interprets disorganized notes and helps physicians to diagnose and deliver more personalized care.
Spotify applies patent for its media playback system
musicbusinessworldwide
Spotify has been granted a patent for media content playback based on an identified geolocation of a target venue. One or more characteristics of the media content include audio which is only transferred to listeners and their playback devices are formed in a basic two-channel format.
Read more global patent news and stories…
|
https://medium.com/@dexpatent/patent-newz-box-stay-on-top-of-global-patent-news-oct-15-2020-ad12c13f0f96
|
[]
|
2020-12-23 11:18:17.764000+00:00
|
['Patents', 'Mobile', 'Electric Vehicles', 'Intellectual Property', 'Healthcare']
|
All About Heatmaps
|
18. Customizing Heatmap Style
i. vmin & vmax
Parameters vmin & vmax are used to change the colormap's limits, which adjust the lower and upper contrast bounds. Everything below vmin and everything above vmax will be of the same colors, respectively.
vmin and vmax are set to lie outside of the range of the data for a washed-out look.
sns.heatmap(data.corr(), vmin=-0.2, vmax= 0.2)
Customization using vmin & vmax (Image by the Author)
ii. Cmap
cmap values are set to change the default colormap value.
sns.heatmap(data.corr(), cmap=”coolwarm”)
Customization using camp (Image by the Author)
iii. center
Data is centered on ‘0’ on a default colormap. The center can be changed by setting the ‘center’ parameter of the colormap to a specific value.
sns.heatmap(data.corr(), cmap=”coolwarm”, center=0.6)
Customization using center (Image by the Author)
iv. Robust
Robust remove vmin or vmax using sns.heatmap() robust parameter. The ‘robust’ works like an “auto-contrast” for choosing good values by fixing contrast levels based on quartiles.
sns.heatmap(data.corr(), cmap=”coolwarm”, robust=True)
Customization using robust (Image by the Author)
v. Annot
Annot parameter fills the cells with the relative correlation coefficient, which ranges from -1 to 1.
sns.heatmap(data.corr(), cmap=”coolwarm”, annot=True)
Customization using annot (Image by the Author)
vi. Fmt
The ‘annot’ only adds numeric value on the python heatmap cell, but the ‘fmt’ parameter allows us to change these annotations' format and significantly add string (text) values. For string values, ‘annot’ should contain an array of strings, and ‘fmt’ should be ‘s.’
The default scientific notation is 2g. Fmt accepts the below values:
s - string
f, F – fixed point
g, G - general format
e, E - exponent format
Annotate with the numeric value:
sns.heatmap (data.corr(), cmap=’coolwarm’, annot=True, fmt=”.3f”)
Customization using fmt- numeric values (Image by the Author)
data2=(data.corr()).round(3)
corrA = np.squeeze(np.asarray(data2))
print(corrA)
rows, cols = (12, 12)
arr_annot = [[(str(corrA[j][i])+’_’+str(j)+’_’+str(i)) for i in range(cols)] for j in range(rows)]
sns.heatmap(data.corr(), cmap=’coolwarm’,annot = arr_annot, fmt=”s”)
Customization using fmt- string values (Image by the Author)
vii. annot_kws
Sometimes annot and fmt parameter is not sufficient to generate a meaningful and stylish Heatmap. For formatting of cell annotations, such as the font size, font color, font orientation, etc., can be done by annot_kws. The ‘annot_kws’ means annotate keyword arguments, which help change the style and formatting of annotating text.
The ‘annot_kws’ accepts all ‘ax.text’ or ‘matplotlib.text’ arguments. For passing annot_kws, then annot value must be True.⁷
· annot_kws: values as a dictionary of the key, value mappings, optional
· fontsize: The size of the font
· fontstyle: The style of font like italic, oblique and normal
· fontfamily: a family of font like serif, cursive
· color: the color of the font
· alpha: transparency of the text
· rotation: the rotation of the text
· verticalalignment: vertical alignment (center, top, bottom, baseline, center_baseline)
· backgroundcolor: Background color of the text sns.heatmap(data.corr(), cmap=”coolwarm”, annot=True, annot_kws={‘fontsize’:12, ‘fontstyle’:’italic’, ‘color’:”b”, ‘alpha’:0.6, ‘rotation’:”vertical”,’verticalalignment’:’center’, ‘backgroundcolor’:’w’})
Customization using annot_kws (Image by the Author)
viii. Linewidth
Increase or decrease line width between each cell by the ‘linewidth’ parameter.
sns.heatmap(data.corr(), cmap=”coolwarm”, linewidth=0.5)
Customization using linewidth (Image by the Author)
ix. Linecolor
Sometimes the ‘linewidth’ parameter fails to divide the heatmap cell because of color complexity. The ‘linecolor’ parameter gives the flexibility to choose any color for the heatmap line. The ‘linewidth’ parameter is mandatory to set the ‘linecolor.’ For the list of colors, refer to the following document.
sns.heatmap(data.corr(), cmap=”coolwarm”, linewidth=0.5, linecolor=’g’)
Customization using linecolor (Image by the Author)
x. CBAR
The legend or ‘cbar’ is visible by default. It doesn’t make much sense of heatmap without the key. Still, if the key is not needed, ‘cbar’ is set to ‘False.’
sns.heatmap(data.corr(), cmap=”coolwarm”, cbar=False)
Customization using cbar (Image by the Author)
xi. Cbar_kws
The color bar keyword arguments (cbar_kws) parameter can accept multiple keyword arguments as a dictionary. The ‘cbar_kws’ accepts all matplotlib color bar parameters.⁷
· orientation: the direction of the color bar, ‘horizontal’ or ‘vertical.’
· shrink: the size of the color bar
· extend: extend used to taper the color bar. Values are ‘both, ‘min, ‘max,’ and ‘neither’ depending upon the requirement.
· extendfrac: ‘extendfrac’ is used to adjust the extension of the color bar. ‘False’ value for no pointer, ‘auto’ value adjust pointer automatically, and float value to adjust the color bar pointer manually.
· ticks: The ‘ticks’ parameter is used to change the color bar’s ticks; the value can be a list or numpy array of ticks
· drawedges: For edges on the color bar. Value is Boolean. ‘True’ for edges, ‘False’ for no edges. sns.heatmap(data.corr(), cmap=”coolwarm”, cbar_kws={“label”:”Wine Quality Colorbar”, “orientation”:”horizontal”, “shrink”:1, ‘extend’:’both’, ‘extendfrac’:0.1, “ticks”:np.arange(0,3), “drawedges”:True })
Customization using cbar_kws (Image by the Author)
xii. ax and cbar_ax
ax and cbar_ax are used to plot heatmap and cbar on separate axes.
f, (ax, cbar_ax) = plt.subplots(1,2, figsize=(15,12), gridspec_kw={“wspace”:0.05, “width_ratios”:(0.8,0.1)} )
ax = sns.heatmap(data.corr(), cmap=’coolwarm’, ax=ax, cbar_ax=cbar_ax)
Customization using ax and cbar_ax (Image by the Author)
The ‘ax’ is also used to set various axes level functions such as title, x label, y label, etc.
f, (ax, cbar_ax) = plt.subplots(1,2, figsize=(15,12), gridspec_kw={“wspace”:0.05, “width_ratios”:(0.8,0.1)} )
sns.heatmap(data.corr(), cmap=’coolwarm’, ax=ax,cbar_ax=cbar_ax)
ax.set(title=”Wine Quality Heatmap”,
xlabel=”Feature Rows”,
ylabel=”Feature Columns”)
Customization using ax for implementing axes level functions (Image by the Author)
xiii. Square
‘square’ parameter is used to shape the Heatmap cells as squares. The ‘square’ forces the aspect ratio of the blocks to be equal.
sns.heatmap(data.corr(), cmap=”coolwarm”, square=True)
Customization using square (Image by the Author)
xiv. xticklabel & yticklabel
To set the labels on X-axis and Y-axis, ‘xticklabel’ and ‘yticklabel’ parameters are used.⁷
xticklabel: To place tags on the x-axis of heatmap. ‘xticklabels’ is an optional parameter that accepts arguments as “auto,” bool, list-like, numpy array, or int. False: to hide the labels Array/list/int: to set values, other than default sns.heatmap(data.corr(),cmap=”coolwarm”,xticklabels = np.arange(0,12))
Customization using xticklabel & yticklabel (Image by the Author)
Rotation of label ticks is possible by using the ‘rotation’ parameter.
To rotate the default labels, ‘get_yticklabels()’ or ‘get_xticklabels()’ is used to get the default labels, then rotation is set to an angle value.
HM=sns.heatmap(data.corr(), cmap=”coolwarm”) HM.set_yticklabels(HM.get_yticklabels(), rotation=40)
Customization using rotation with xticklabel & yticklabel (Image by the Author)
xv. mask
The entire heatmap can be divided into two triangles, the upper triangle and the lower triangle. Both the triangle provides a complete set of information alone. Therefore it is redundant to plot the entire heatmap. It is preferred to plot either of the triangles.
To mask the upper triangle, ‘triu,’ a numPy method is used. To hide the lower triangle, ‘tril,’ a numPy method is used.
sns.heatmap(data.corr(),cmap=”coolwarm”,mask= np.triu(data.corr()))
Heatmap by masking upper triangle (Image by the Author)
To hide specific values, the condition to hide the desired values is passed in the ‘mask’ parameter. Here, we are masking every alternate row starting from row 1 and every alternate column starting from column 0.
mask = np.zeros(data.corr().shape) mask[1::2,0::2] = 1 sns.heatmap(data.corr(), annot=True,cmap=”coolwarm”,mask= mask )
Customization using a binary mask (Image by the Author)
Masking the negatively correlated data
data1=(data.corr()).round(3) corrA = np.squeeze(np.asarray(data1)) mask = np.zeros(data.corr().shape) for i in range(12): for j in range(12): if corrA[i][j]<0: mask[i][j]=1 plt.figure(figsize=(15,12)) sns.heatmap(data.corr(), annot=True,cmap=”coolwarm”,mask= mask )
Customization using a conditional mask (Image by the Author)
xvi. kwargs
The ‘kwargs’ is used to pass other keyword arguments, generally not available in seaborn such as rasterized, edge color, cap-style, etc. It allows all keyword arguments of matplotlib ‘ax.pcolormesh.’
Kwargs accepts a dictionary as an argument.
kwargs = {‘alpha’:.9,’linewidth’:3, ‘linestyle’:’ — ‘, ‘linecolor’:’k’,’rasterized’:False, ‘edgecolor’:’w’, “capstyle”:’projecting’,} sns.heatmap(data.corr(), cmap=”coolwarm”, **kwargs )
Customization using kwargs (Image by the Author)
xvii. Controlling aesthetics of the entire heatmap by set_theme
seaborn.set_theme(context='notebook', style='darkgrid', palette='deep', font='sans-serif', font_scale=1, color_codes=True, rc=None)¹²
Seaborn figure Style
The set_style() interface can be used for manipulating the styles. It helps to set the theme of the plot. There are five themes available:
Darkgrid
Whitegrid
Dark
White
Ticks
The default theme is darkgrid.
Removing axes spine
The top and right axis spines can be removed using the despine() function in the white and ticks themes.
Scaling Plot Elements
The Heatmap scale can be controlled by using the set_context() function or set_theme() function. Based on relative size, there are four pre-set templates for contexts:
Paper
Notebook
Talk
Poster
By default, the context is the notebook.
Font Size of all Seaborn components
The font size of all the seaborn components can be changed using Seaborn's ‘font_scale’ attribute. The default scale is ‘1’.
sns.set_theme(context=’paper’, style=’ticks’,font_scale=2) sns.heatmap(data.corr()) sns.despine()
Customization using set_theme() & despine() (Image by the Author)
xviii. Seaborn heatmap subplots: Create multiple heatmaps
Multiple Heatmaps can be generated using the matplotlib plt.subplot() function.
plt.subplot(1,3,1)
sns.heatmap(data.corr(), cbar=False, linecolor=”w”, linewidths=1) plt.subplot(1,3,2)
sns.heatmap(data=data[[‘quality’,’alcohol’]].corr(), cmap=’inferno’) plt.subplot(1,3,3)
sns.heatmap(data.corr(), cmap=”coolwarm”,mask= np.tril(data.corr()), cbar=False )
Multiple Heatmaps by subplot() (Image by the Author)
Finalize
sns.set_theme(context=’paper’, style=’ticks’,font_scale=2) f, (ax, cbar_ax) = plt.subplots(1,2, figsize=(15,12), gridspec_kw={“wspace”:0.05, “width_ratios”:(0.8,0.05)} ) mask = np.triu(data.corr()) annot_kws={‘fontsize’:14, ‘fontstyle’:’italic’,’fontweight’:’bold’, ‘color’:”k”, ‘alpha’:0.6, ‘rotation’:None,’verticalalignment’:’center’, ‘backgroundcolor’:’None’} cbar_kws={“label”:”Wine Quality Colorbar”,”orientation”:”vertical”, “shrink”:1,’extend’:’max’, ‘ticks’:[-0.8, -0.5,0, 0.5], ‘extendfrac’:0.1, “drawedges”:True } sns.heatmap(data.corr(), vmin=None, vmax=0.7, cmap=’BuGn’, center=None, robust=True, annot=True, fmt=’.2F’, annot_kws=annot_kws, linewidths=0.8, linecolor=’white’, cbar=True, cbar_kws=cbar_kws, cbar_ax=cbar_ax, square=True, xticklabels=’auto’, yticklabels=’auto’, mask=mask, ax=ax) f.suptitle(“Wine Quality Heatmap”, fontsize=24, fontweight=’bold’) ax.set(xlabel=”Feature Rows”, ylabel=”Feature Columns”)
|
https://towardsdatascience.com/all-about-heatmaps-bb7d97f099d7
|
['Shrashti Singhal']
|
2020-12-24 13:03:30.207000+00:00
|
['Analytics', 'Visualization', 'Python', 'Heatmap', 'Seaborn']
|
Scuola e sanità. Sui social non si parla d’altro
|
Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more
Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore
|
https://medium.com/kpi6/scuola-e-sanit%C3%A0-sui-social-non-si-parla-daltro-4b8d3560abd1
|
[]
|
2020-11-02 09:56:47.136000+00:00
|
['Journalism', 'Covid 19', 'Bigdata', 'Datajournalism', 'AGI']
|
Lessons learned from building a tech community in Upstate NY
|
When you think of Upstate NY, what comes to mind? The rolling hills? The beautiful landscapes?
When I think of Upstate NY, I think of a sleeping STEM giant with tremendous potential that’s yet to be realized.
Upstate NY has some of the absolute best universities in the world when it comes to producing STEM talent. Cornell, Clarkson, RIT, RPI, Syracuse, etc. The list goes on and on. In fact, on Forbes recent Top 21 STEM Colleges of 2016, Upstate NY universities made up 14.28% of them — by far the strongest representation of any region in the country.
However, Upstate has two HUGE problems when it comes to STEM:
Our talent churn rate is incredibly high. We educate the best and brightest, then they leave and work elsewhere. There’s very little cross-collaboration between the regional communities (e.g., Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and the Capital Region).
That’s why I decided to start Hack Upstate 4.5 years ago.
What is Hack Upstate
Hack Upstate’s mission is to unite and facilitate collaboration among the greater Upstate NY technology community. In pursuit, we organize hackathons, offer web and mobile development classes, facilitate talks and lectures, and ultimately help align Upstate STEM talent with promising employment opportunities. To date, we’ve built a growing network comprised of thousands of Upstate NY engineers and facilitated dozens of job placements.
From this experience, here’s what I’ve learned from building a tech community in Upstate NY.
Establish a clear mission and vision
It was critical for us to have a clear mission and vision right from the start. Our underlying mission — to advance Upstate NY’s technology community — acts as our community’s compass. It determines the direction we take and puts our future into focus. At the end of the day, building a tech community takes time. It isn’t done with ad hoc tactics and ephemeral campaigns. It requires a strategy and the time necessary to successfully execute against it.
Identify strategic partners
Strategic partners have been instrumental to Hack Upstate. Early on we identified organizations like The Tech Garden and the Syracuse iSchool who were also invested in our mission and had the capacity to support us long-term. To get them onboard early — before we had any momentum or credibility — it was important for us to identify ways we could provide them additional value that was inline with fostering an Upstate NY STEM community. For instance, Hack Upstate is a small organization. We’re nimble, fast and flexible. We can execute upon certain initiatives much more quickly and cost effectively than a larger organization can. Highlighting these additional value propositions helped us get buy-in early when we still had much to prove.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help
Building a meaningful and sustainable tech community isn’t easy. Over the last 4.5 years I’ve come to rely on help from so many others. At first I was reluctant to ask for help. I didn’t want to inconvenience anyone. However, over time it became evident that for Hack Upstate to evolve into something meaningful it would require support from others. I needed to find individuals whose strengths complemented my weaknesses. Fortunately for me, given our mission and vision, so many awesome people joined the effort. Over the last 4.5 years countless individuals have taken on roles that have been absolutely paramount to the community’s success. They’ve gone above and beyond. It’s been a thrill to see.
*Always* put the community first
With Hack Upstate we *always* put the community first. When it comes to decision making, we ask ourselves, “Is this in the best interest of the community?” Using this model has had a profound impact. First, it’s instilled a sound decision making process and made things far less complicated. Second, it’s helped establish trust among community members, and fostered an environment where feedback is welcomed and encouraged. Third, it’s given us leverage to do bigger and better things, and to make a lasting impact.
Empower community leaders and self-starters
Over the years we’ve been fortunate to have a core group of passionate leaders and self-starters involved with Hack Upstate that go above and beyond to help further the community. Consequently, we do everything we can to empower them. This harkens back to the notion of not being afraid to ask for help. We provide our most passionate community members with the tools and information they need to lead and take action…then we get out of their way. Instead of trying to manage them, we simply let the underlying Hack Upstate mission act as their compass.
Create a friendly, welcoming, and inclusive atmosphere
It’s always been a priority of ours to ensure Hack Upstate be inclusive and welcoming to those of different backgrounds, experiences and ways of life. We try to alleviate any friction that would prevent someone from taking part. For instance, we often receive questions along the lines of, “Do I need to be a developer to participate?” The answer of course is “no”. We welcome and encourage anyone, regardless of background or skillset, to join the fun. We also have a Code of Conduct in place that’s open source and managed by the community. Our intent with the Code of Conduct is to ensure we foster an open, friendly and welcoming community where Upstate NY’s STEM community can thrive.
Organize events that are repeatable and easily anticipated
From the very start of Hack Upstate we had long-term objectives in mind. We sought to build a deep-rooted STEM community that would be sustainable long-term. To do this we made a conscious decision early on to organize events that were repeatable and that the community could easily anticipate and predict. Specifically, we began hosting hackathons every fall and spring to coincide with the academic calendar. In doing so, our predictable hackathon schedule stayed on people’s radars. Prospective participants always knew when the next hackathon would be, and thus, could plan accordingly.
Lead through action
There are plenty of resources out there that discuss leadership and what it takes to be a successful leader. For me personally, I’ve learned the most about leadership from the wonderful leaders in my life. Whether they be family, friends, teachers, coaches, advisors, etc., the best of the best all led through action. Leading through action transcends boundaries of age, experience and seniority. It creates a level playing field where culture and standards are molded by what you do, not what you say. With Hack Upstate I’ve tried to do the same. Whether it’s taking out garbage, cleaning up workspaces or running out to grab food that accommodates an individual’s unique dietary restrictions, I’ve always tried to lead by doing.
|
https://medium.com/hackernoon/lessons-learned-from-building-a-tech-community-in-upstate-ny-aac95340beab
|
['Hack Upstate']
|
2018-08-12 13:25:16.068000+00:00
|
['Hackathons', 'Upstate New York', 'Hack Upstate', 'STEM', 'Technology']
|
Album of the Day — October 16. Jeff Buckley — Grace
|
Album of the Day — October 16
Jeff Buckley — Grace
Jeff Buckley — Grace (Columbia Records)
16.October.2020
Jeff Buckley
Grace
1994
Jeff Buckley recorded only one proper album, Grace. And it’s one of the best albums of the 1990s …arguably, one of the best albums in rock history.
No, really, it’s that good.
Grace is that rare album that continues to grow in stature as more people are hipped to Buckley’s unique brilliance.
Buckley’s biological father was folk and jazz artist Tim Buckley, a moderately popular artist in the 60s and 70s who died in 1975 of a drug overdose. The younger Buckley was raised in southern California as Scott Moorhead by his mother and stepfather.
Jeff Buckley only met his biological father once. After his death, he decided to go by his biological name, Jeff Buckley.
After graduating high school, he moved to Los Angeles and began kicking around the scene as a guitar player — picking up sessions here and there and playing in different bands. Six years later, in 1990, he moved to New York City but found the same degree of indifference he encountered in LA.
When his father’s former manager, Herb Cohen, offered to pay for a demo and help the younger Buckley get a recording contract, he left New York City.
Jeff Buckley was again met with little if any, interest by record labels.
In April of 1991, a tribute to Tim Buckley — Greetings from Tim Buckley — was staged at St. Ann’s Church in Brooklyn, New York. The younger Buckley was invited to perform, and with experimental rock guitarist Gary Lucas, Buckley performed “I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain,” a song Tim Buckley wrote about an infant Jeff Buckley and his mother as well as:
“Sefronia — The King’s Chain”
“Phantasmagoria in Two”
“Once I Was”
The buzz began.
Eventually landing a recurring gig at the Lower East Side Sin-é — (pronounced shin-ay) is Irish for “That’s it.” It was here that Buckley woodshedded and perfected his craft. His set would cover a myriad of artists, including:
Nina Simone
Van Morrison
Judy Garland
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Elton John
Bad Brains
By the summer of 1992, the industry had taken notice. And in October, Buckley signed with Columbia Records in what was rumored to be a million-dollar deal.
A few months later, Buckley recorded a lot of his solo material, singing a cappella, and using acoustic and electric guitars with Steve Addabbo (Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin). While these sessions remain unreleased, much of this material would end up on Grace.
Formal sessions were set for the summer of 1993 with producer Andy Wallace — who was then riding high after having mastered Nirvana’s Nevermind.
On Grace, Wallace would wear three hats — producer, engineer and he would master the album.
After hiring bassist Mick Grøndahl and drummer Matt Johnson, the trio began rehearsing Buckley’s material. In September of 93, they left NYC for Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York. Along with Wallace, they would spend six weeks recording basic tracks for Grace.
After returning to NYC, Buckley would spend time overdubbing at various studios, attempting to capture perfect vocals and adding layers of texture to the songs.
In November of 1993, the EP Live at Sin-é was released on Columbia Records. Despite a Van Morrison cover (“The Way Young Lovers Do”), it was met commercially with indifference here in the United States. Still, it did chart in several European countries, including Ireland, where he remains very popular.
Grace was released on August 23, 1994.
The album contains seven Buckley originals and three covers: “Lilac Wine,” based on the version by Nina Simone; “Corpus Christi Carol,” from Benjamin Britten’s A Boy was Born; and “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen. Buckley’s version is largely regarded as his “best” song.
[Fun Fact: In April of 2014, Jeff Buckley’s version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” was inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.]
Among the seven original tracks, any one of them could be someone’s favorite song. What comes together on Grace are Buckley’s influences, paired with his unique singing and sounds like an almost effortless approach to the songs (but very far from effortless).
The record captures a certain “I don’t give a fuck” attitude that Gen X’ers were known for. If you took the time to listen to Grace like if you took the time to talk to a Gen X’er at the time, you’d see that there were layers of complexity and sensitivity that go much deeper than “I don’t give a fuck.”
While I love “Lover You Should’ve Come Over” and “So Real,” the best songs are right upfront.
For me, it’s the one-two-three wallop of the opening tracks: “Mojo Pin,” “Grace,” and “The Last Goodbye” that define not only the album, but Buckley as an artist.
Perhaps that’s because I’m a sucker for a good old-fashioned heartbreaking rock song. And these are three of the best of that era, if not ever.
The album's opener, “Mojo Pin,” is about, according to Buckley: “Sometimes if somebody you feel you need… the whole universe tells you that you have to have her, you start watching her favorite TV shows all night, you start buying her the things she needs, you start drinking her drinks… this is called Mojo Pin.”
Mojo Pin
I’m lying in my bed
The blanket is warm
This body will never be safe from harm
Still feel your hair, black ribbons of coal
Touch my skin to keep me whole
If only you’d come back to me
If you laid at my side
Wouldn’t need no mojo pin
To keep me satisfied
On the second track, Buckley lays it on the line — “Grace” is:
“It’s about not feeling so bad about your own mortality when you have true love.”
Grace
There’s the moon asking to stay
Long enough for the clouds to fly me away
Oh, it’s my time coming, I’m not afraid, afraid to die
My fading voice sings of love
But she cries to the clicking of time, oh
Wait in the fire
Wait in the fire
Fire
And she weeps on my arm
Walking to the bright lights in sorrow
Oh, drink a bit of wine we both might go tomorrow
Oh, my love
The gutting reality of “The Last Goodbye” rings true if you’ve ever been in love and watched that love die. Try as you might, it just …dies. Its slide guitar and bass intro before the drums kick in to set the song on a course leading up to the bridge's crescendo. It’s almost five minutes of pure perfection. And like the best love affairs, it goes by both too quickly and for just the right amount of time.
The Last Goodbye
This is our last goodbye
I hate to feel the love between us die
But it’s over
Just hear this and then I’ll go
You gave me more to live for
More than you’ll ever know
This is our last embrace
Must I dream and always see your face?
Why can’t we overcome this wall?
Baby, maybe it's just because I didn’t know you at all
Kiss me, please kiss me
But kiss me out of desire, babe, not consolation
Oh, you know it makes me so angry
’Cause I know that in time, I’ll only make you cry
This is our last goodbye
Did you say, “No, this can’t happen to me”
Did you rush to the phone to call
Was there a voice unkind in the back of your mind
Saying maybe you didn’t know him at all
You didn’t know him at all, oh oh, ya didn’t know
Ooo didn’t know
Well, the bells out in the church tower chime
Burning clues into this heart of mine
Thinking so hard on her soft eyes
And the memories offer signs that it’s over
Over
Initially, the accolades for Grace weren’t seen in record sales or even with critics, but by his legendary (now) contemporaries:
Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page considered Grace close to being his “favorite album of the decade.”
Bob Dylan, named Buckley “one of the great songwriters of this decade.”
David Bowie named Grace as one of 10 albums he’d bring with him to a desert island.
Record sales for Grace remained sluggish, but by the end of 1994, Grace was in or on top of some of the “Best of” lists of that year, among them:
Mojo Magazine Top 25 albums — #1
Teknicart Top Five albums of 1994 — #2
Melody Maker Best 50 albums of the year — #9
Rocksound Best albums of 1994 — #2
Entertainment Weekly Top 10 albums of 1994 — #6
CRITICS:
In The Village Voice, Robert Christgau excoriated the young Buckley and displayed a particularly unfair degree of assholery: “Young Jeff is a syncretic asshole, beholden to Zeppelin and Nina Simone and Chris Whitley and the Cocteau Twins and his mama — your mama too if you don’t watch out. “Sensitivity isn’t being wimpy,” he avers. “It’s about being so painfully aware that a flea landing on a dog is like a sonic boom.” So let us pray the force of hype blows him all the way to Uranus.”
In the Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot wrote: “Jeff Buckley’s voice not only has range, it has a soulful intensity that sends chills. The music has a rolling-and-tumbling dynamic that suits the swooning vocals, the crash-and-burn of “Eternal Life” of a piece with the jazzy atmospherics of “Lilac Wine” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” a masterpiece that Buckley wholly inhabits.”
After touring the world more than once in support of Grace, Buckley took some time off before de-camping to Memphis to record his second album, Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk.
On May 29, 1997, along with roadie Keith Foti, Buckley went swimming fully dressed in Wolf River Harbor, one of the Mississippi River's slack water channels. Foti remained on shore and moved a couple of things out of the wake of a passing boat, and by the time he turned around, Buckley had disappeared.
Despite a rescue effort, Jeff Buckley would not be found until June 4.
The autopsy showed no signs of drugs or alcohol in his system and his death was ruled an accidental drowning. The music industry ruled it one more tragic loss.
By coincidence, the musical tributes began immediately. Former girlfriend, Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins, recorded the Massive Attack song “Teardrop” on the day he died and later stated: “That was so weird … I’d got letters out, and I was thinking about him. That song’s kind of about him — that’s how it feels to me anyway.”
The tributes have carried on over the years. Artists of varying genres have written songs to pay tribute to the creativity of Jeff Buckley. These are just a few:
Aimee Mann — “Just Like Anyone”
Glen Hansard — “Neath the Beeches”
Juliana Hatfield — “Trying Not To Think About It”
Pete Yorn — “Bandstand in the Sky”
Duncan Sheik — “A Body Goes Down”
Chris Cornell — “Wave Goodbye”
Lana Del Rey — “Gods and Monsters” (the name of Buckley’s band in NYC)
Even as recently as January of 2020, Mark Kozelek’s song “LaGuardia” contains lyrics reflecting on his memories of Jeff Buckley.
The mark of an artist that recorded only one proper studio album 26 years ago and how they can still influence and impact musicians to this day is the identifier of the magnitude of Jeff Buckley’s talent and the loss with his untimely death.
I shudder to think of what may have been.
It’s Friday, and here in the Northeast where I am, the weather is a little cloudy, and we’re due for some rain. It’s a perfect Indian Summer day to pop in Jeff Buckley’s Grace and just let it flow into you.
Letting the album’s simple elegance roll through you, you’ll discover the album is aptly named.
|
https://medium.com/etc-magazine/album-of-the-day-october-16-c562a4e6b398
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['Keith R. Higgons']
|
2020-10-20 12:29:14.877000+00:00
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['Music', 'Rock', 'Art', 'Culture', 'Album']
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How I tricked myself into writing a novel
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My happy place: writing. Also, a martini.
For most of my life I’ve wanted to write Something Grand: something with an impressive word count. A novel. Ideally a well-written, enjoyable-to-read novel that would sell a million copies, get five stars on GoodReads and qualify me as the Great Canadian Writer of my generation.
Yet, despite collecting shelves of dusty, half-filled notebooks, despite a degree in English literature and creative writing, despite investing in some very beautiful ink pens, I could never write more than 4,000 words per project.
I just didn’t have a Story to tell.
But then some wise people in my life said some wise things, and I read some helpful phrases in the (many, many) writing books I’d collected, and magic happened: I wrote a 92,384-word story.
For those of you who feel that same LONGING to create a Grand Something, here is how I tricked myself into writing a novel. Maybe these tricks will help you too:
Step 1: Find your story
Write What You Read
In early 2017, after decades of me angst-ing about NOT yet writing a novel and thereby fulfilling My Writerly Destiny, my mom pointed out I only read mystery books; the only Netflix shows I watch are mystery series.
MOM: “Why don’t you try writing a mystery?”
Her suggestion reminded me of two quotes I’d scribbled down:
“If we didn’t have to worry about being published and being judged, how many more of us might write a novel just for the joy of making one?” – Julia Cameron, The Right to Write “If you find a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” – Toni Morrison, from her speech at a meeting of the Ohio Arts Council
I was inspired, so I began contemplating murders.
I’ve always rolled my eyes at mysteries where the murderer, once exposed, is revealed as insane: I wanted a murder that was justified. A murderer with whom we could empathize. A logical, necessary death.
Eventually, I imagined a murder scenario that made sense to me, with characters and motives and subplots and themes that I was excited to explore. I wanted to write a murder mystery set in the farmers’ market world that I knew so well; I was excited to expose the “seedy underbelly” of market politics, the contrast between the customers’ wholesome market experience and the farmers’ harried reality.
Finding Myself as a Genre Writer
One of the reasons I’d struggled so much to write a Grand Something in my twenties was because I thought only “literary fiction” was real literature. It was Art, while genre fiction (mysteries, westerns, fantasy, thrillers, romance) was for the less-discerning masses.
At university, we didn’t read or talk about genre fiction unless a (misguided, determined) student submitted those stories to a workshop, or a (rebel) professor (e.g. W.D. Valgardson) added those books to our course reading list (e.g. First Blood).
It was a big step for me to “come out” and accept myself as a mystery writer. Even now I wince and avoid mentioning my chosen genre in conversations, because I carry the shame from my post-secondary days.
Which is just silly.
Step 2: Flesh it out
So: finally I had a story to tell, in a genre I’d been reading (researching!) since my Encyclopedia Brown, Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew adolescence.
Here is a magical thing about genre fiction: there is an inherent structure to follow. If I wanted a murder to take place, I would need to set the scene, cause the death, show the discovery of the body, show the subsequent investigation, drop in some clues, include some “red herrings” (false clues), kill another character to muddy the waters, create a dramatic crisis, and give a conclusion where Everything Is Revealed. I charted these scenes out using post-it notes on poster board and finally felt confident that I had a big enough story to fill a novel.
This reminded me of another bit o’ wisdom I’d read:
“Writing is about getting something down, not about thinking something up.” – Julia Cameron, The Right to Write
All I had to do was write out the scenes of my story. That didn’t seem too hard.
Step 3: Write the first draft
This confidence nosedived when I learned: a modern murder mystery novel needs to be around 92,000 words to make a traditional publisher happy. I had never written that many words for a single project before. Once again, I was intimidated and overwhelmed by the sheer number of words.
I shared my fears with my husband, Brock, and he did the math:
92,000 words divided by 365 days = 252 words per day.
BROCK: “Can you write 252 words a day for a year?”
ME: “Yes. Easily.”
And so I began to write. I made myself write at least 252 words every day: I wouldn’t let myself go to bed until I met my daily quota. Often, I wrote more. And I found that, if I got my required words written first thing in the morning, I felt calm and fulfilled for the rest of the day.
I coasted along to the 45,000 word mark, loving the writing process. (Mmmm first draft bliss.)
Life vs. Art
When Brock’s terminal cancer progressed to the point where he needed more of my time and attention, I took a break from the book. It was a conscious decision: I knew the story would be waiting for me when I was ready and able to go back to work. I knew I had limited time left with my sweetie.
That break continued through Brock’s death, the next few months of packing and preparing for our planned move, the move itself, and then the Christmas holidays.
“I Need Help.”
By January 2018, I was ready to finish the second half of my manuscript. But I needed help. I needed someone to push me and check in with me, as my husband had done. So I signed up for OneRoom, an online coaching program.
I told my novel-writing coach, Erica Wright, that my goal was to submit my manuscript to three competitions in the fall. She worked backward, did the math, and announced I needed to write 1,000 words a week, with a first draft deadline of July.
FIRST GUT RESPONSE: “YIKES!”
SECOND GUT RESPONSE: “Hell yes.”
I was now motivated to keep writing, and devised a plan to make that possible. Whenever my four-year-old son was in preschool, I would drive to the nearest cafe and write the entire time.
I used a writing program called Scrivener to manage my increasingly bulky manuscript: the program tracked my word count progress with a delightful pie chart. Having this visual representation of my progress kept me motivated and gave me milestones to celebrate.
I completed my first full draft a little after my deadline, and submitted it to the three writing contests.
Step 4: Revise & polish
The next challenge — and one I’m still facing — is tweaking and revising my first draft to make it a strong, readable, polished final version.
My 92,000ish-word first draft was massive. I found it overwhelming to work with and didn’t know where to start with the revision stage.
I deflected this challenge by sending it to other writers for their input. The first chapter went to a reader via Sisters in Crime’s Mystery Agent service. I emailed the full draft to three different readers. One was Erica, whom I paid to give me detailed comments and suggestions for improvement.
While I waited for these “beta readers’” feedback, I tried to make my 300+ page manuscript more manageable. I summarized the scenes on pieces of paper and glued them in order into a scrapbook. I made big-picture notes to move scene #4, delete scene #13, rewrite scene #32. When my readers’ comments came back, I made notes on or under each scene.
Now all I have to do is refer to my scrapbook as I progress through the book, incorporating the edits scene by scene.
Staying Motivated
In April, during my rewriting stage, I learned the first draft of my novel had made the shortlist for the Crime Writers of Canada’s Unhanged Arthur Ellis Award: my mystery manuscript is one of the five best unpublished mysteries by a first-time author in Canada.
This was fantastic, mind-exploding news … and completely demotivating. Why should I struggle to polish my book if it was already good enough for publication?
Luckily, I didn’t win the award. Now I’m driven to make my story the best it can be.
While I’m still not done the second draft of my book, I know I’ll finish it this summer, and am motivated by my next goal: submitting it to my list of dream agents and publishers, with a lovely “Arthur Ellis Award shortlist” credential on my cover letter.
In other words …
If you dream of writing a novel or a Grand Something, perhaps these lessons I’ve learned will help you too. In short:
Know Thyself. I needed concrete goals, deadlines, some sort of coach, and milestone rewards. I needed to plot my story out in advance, while other writers (“pantsers”) prefer to create as they go. What approach works best for you? What carrots and sticks do you need? Inspire the Rider; Clear the Path for the Elephant. It’s great that you WANT to write down your story, but you need to clear the path for yourself too: arrange child care, make a writing space, schedule writing time on your calendar, or do whatever you have to do to make it POSSIBLE to write. (For more on the Rider/Elephant analogy, read Switch, by Chip & Dan Heath.) Let Yourself Be a Writer. Indulge those stationary fetishes, invest in writer-friendly software like Scrivener, and read inspirational writer books like The Right to Write.
Just write, dammit
Once we find our story, make the time to write, and actually put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), there is often a moment of self-doubt.
SELF: “What if this is shit?”
Here’s one last bite of wisdom that helped me through that anxiety:
“OK, Universe. You take care of the quality. I’ll take care of the quantity.” – Julia Cameron, The Right to Write
Take a breath. Remember your story. Write it down.
Read more of my writing on Medium:
|
https://medium.com/swlh/how-i-tricked-myself-into-writing-a-novel-d726953979b6
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['Heather Mcleod']
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2019-09-25 17:52:42.060000+00:00
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['Creative Process', 'Motivation', 'Writing', 'Creative Writing', 'Inspiration']
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Objective C vs Swift — Which iOS App Development Language will Rule in 2021?
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Several essential steps are necessary for the success of an iOS mobile application development project. Among them is the choice of the appropriate language.
We will tell you in this article about two languages, those used for native mobile development on iOS, and offer you a Swift vs. Objective-C side-by-side comparison.
Choosing between Objective-C or Swift computer language for the development of an iPhone application is always a difficult decision. Systematically, when you start creating a new project, there are a lot of things to take into account. Also, the choice of a computer language will depend directly on the skills of the developers. You can also hire dedicated iOS resources if you don’t have them on your team.
Presentation of the Two Native iOS Languages
How was Objective-C Created?
Objective-C was born in the 80s. The language developed by the American Brad Cox was inspired by another object-oriented language of the 70s: Smalltalk. NeXT, the company created by Steve Jobs after his departure from Apple is the first company to trust Objective-C in its projects. He bought the language eight years after its creation. It is also NeXT which allowed Steve Jobs to find himself again at the head of Apple. The American company then developed the OS of its Macintosh (Mac OS X) on the basis of NeXTStep, the operating system of NeXT.
Objective-C is C with many features, including object-oriented programming (OOP). Just like C ++ developed in 1979 by Bjarne Stroustrup. Brad Cox’s language, therefore, inherits the syntax of its predecessor, C. Being a strict overlay of the latter, any code is written in this same language can therefore be compiled by the Objective-C compiler.
How was Swift Created?
Predestined to be a serious competitor to Objective-C, Swift was first presented at the Apple WWDC 2014 (Worldwide Developers Conference) opening conference. Its development began in 2010 after WWDC. The new version of Clang, Apple’s compiler, had just been presented to developers. To get his head out of this tiring update, Lattner had embarked on this personal project. Four years later, it led to Swift.
C, C ++, and therefore Objective-C languages did not have memory protection. Developers, therefore, had to take responsibility for adjusting this state of affairs when reading or sending data for writing. It was therefore not uncommon to see instability in applications or a memory leak if there is an error in the code. Discussions between Christ Lattner and Bertrand Serlet led to the creation of ARC.
This compiler function checks the correct use of memory in the code, but it is still based on the C language. In April 2011, Apple finally set up a team for the development of its new iOS App Development language. Development supervision was then entrusted to Ted Kremenek. Several lines of code and documentation made during development, later to give birth to Swift.
Swift vs Objective-C Side-by-Side Comparison
Objective-C vs. Swift: which language to choose for syntax?
Objective-C
Objective-C added concepts and keywords to the C language. To avoid conflicts, they must be preceded by the character: “@”. This is for example the case of @interface, @catch, @try, or many others. Lattner’s language also uses two files. The first: “.h” is dedicated to headers for the declaration of include, methods, and properties while the second: “.m” brings together the implementation files. These repetitive tasks of creating these files add extra work and, in many ways, distract native iOS application developers.
Swift
Not being developed on the basis of C, Swift does not inherit conventions from this language. You will not only not need to put those countless “@” before keywords, but in addition, goodbye the parentheses of conditional expressions in “if”. With Swift, you no longer need the many semicolons to mark the end of lines of code. S,o you have a simplified syntax and a code that uses industry standards for its writing. Developers who use languages like Python, C ++, or JavaScript will not be at all disoriented.
Are there any Advantages of Objective-C over Swift in 2020?
Objective-C for Large Projects
If you need to develop a low-complexity iPhone application, then you have the choice between Swift and Objective-C. On the other hand, for ambitious projects, you have all the good reasons to favor the Objective-C computer language.
Indeed, Swift is still a language that presents some instabilities and with each new version, it is practically obligatory to produce a big work of conversion to new uses. On this subject, no developer would want to see his iPhone application break as soon as a new Swift version is proposed!
Objective-C or Swift: For Which Operating System?
Swift does not work on operating systems below Mac OS 10.9 and IOS 7. If your iOS app development project must absolutely run on older models, then Objective-C often becomes an obligation.
Swift for future projects
In 2020, around 50% of iPhone application development goes through Swift and the other half through Objective-C. But in the next few years, the trend clearly seems to be for Swift's development. For example, currently, almost all blogs and tutorials are created in Swift. At this rate, in ten years or so, we will certainly be able to ask ourselves what is the need to learn the Objective-C language.
API Usage
If your iOS application development project involves the use of APIs such as CoreAnimation or CoreFoundation, you will then need to select the Objective-C computer language. This type of API is written in C so logically Objective-C will adapt better.
Make a Project Coexist in Swift and in Objective-C
Sometimes you won’t have to choose between coding in Swift or in Objective-C. Indeed, it is possible to make the two languages coexist for iOS app development. Technically, there is a very handy tool called Swifty which allows the conversion of code in Objective-C to Swift. Also, note that the free version allows you to convert a limited number of lines of code. For converting an entire iOS app development project, you will need to go for the paid version.
What is Needed for iOS App Development Services?
For a new iPhone application development project, the Swift language is required almost naturally. On the other hand, with regard to an old project, the use of Objective-C remains very often popular with developers.
Ultimately, there is no one solution better than the other and the choice rests above all on the profile, the know-how, and the experience of the developer.
Swift vs Objective-C Side-by-Side Comparison — A Choice to Make Depending on the Size of Your Project
As part of a project to develop a mobile application for the iPhone, the choice of programming language must be considered. To decide, it is recommended to take into account the size of your application, its specificities, and its constraints.
Indeed, because Swift is still in full growth, this language is brought to undergo modifications in its functioning. Be careful therefore when implementing features that are too complex to update.
If Objective-C still seems to be the preferred language, due to certain limits of Swift on the implementation of too complex functionalities, it is nevertheless imperative to consider the evolution and the proportion of the latter in the development universe.
Choose the Computer Language That you Master
If you have a deadline for the iOS App Development project, the wisest and also the most comfortable is to choose the language that you master the most. Do you have more experience in Swift development? So no doubt, this is the language you need to build your new app. An alternative is to hire dedicated iOS developers or outsource your project.
By associating with the Best iOS App Development Company in USA, you can use the language of your choice and develop apps that can compete in the bustling market due to their rich functionality. Contact our team of experts for a free project demo on Objective C or Swift and to understand the cost of iOS app development.
|
https://medium.com/@oneclickitconsultancy/objective-c-vs-swift-which-ios-app-development-language-will-rule-in-2021-4feb1a23f0e7
|
['Oneclick It Consultancy']
|
2020-12-22 11:47:48.491000+00:00
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['Objective C', 'Objective C Vs Swift', 'Swift Language', 'iOS App Development', 'Application Development']
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Know and Protect Your 2nd Amendment
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What Is Your 2nd Amendment?
In simple terms, the second amendment to the United States Constitution gives you the right to keep and bear arms. In other words; this is your right to own a gun and to use that gun- or other weapon- to defend yourself and your property. This is an official amendment added to the Constitution that is considered a “right” given to you as an American citizen. Obviously; there are laws that govern the purchase and use of a firearm or other weapon, but the right to own one is still yours as long as you operate within those laws. We Americans have to face a brutal truth as well; the world is losing its mind, and the need to defend yourself and your property is becoming more and more of a likelihood each day.
Why Should You Learn All You Can?
So; since it is a given right, you may be wondering why you should be learning all you can about this amendment and the details involved. The answer is actually rather simple and easy; people are trying to take away your right to bear arms. Tons of groups and organizations are advocating for gun control; but many are advocating for the outright disarming of Americans all together. These organizations and individuals want to abolish the 2nd Amendment and take guns out of the homes of every person in the United States. This alone is reason enough to educate yourself on what this crucial part of the Constitution means for those living in the United States.
Obviously; if you currently own a gun, or plan to own a gun; then you need to know what your legal rights are in any given situation that may arise. It is important that you fully understand your rights, your obligations, and more. Failure to learn these almost mandatory aspects, allows for others to control the narrative of situations; and thus, control parts of your life. This is not a topic you ever want to “assume” you know enough about. Even worse, is deciding to let others deal with this topic; rather than learn about it yourself so that you are prepared and able to make the right choices. These choices can- and likely will be- of a legal nature as well as an every day conversation nature. The old saying is true; “Knowledge is power.”
Photo by Jeremy Alford on Unsplash
Where Can You Go to Learn?
Having determined that you need this information and you need it quickly; where do you go to learn all that you can? Like most questions; there are many great resources for learning. Of course, you can always ask an attorney; especially one that specializes in civil cases. Police officers may also be a great source for information on this topic. After all; they have to know the laws in order to enforce them.
If you prefer not to seek others for your information, a Google search and doing your own research is a great way to learn. Be sure to find reliable sources online and do not let yourself stumble upon an anti-gun site; thinking it is reliable information. Seek out books that will teach you about your rights. There is even a 2nd Amendment Handbook that is available for free; though you will have to pay the shipping and handling for it. One of the greatest aspects of living in 2020, is the abundant source of information available if you are willing to take the time to go after it. Educate yourself on your 2nd Amendment rights; and how to protect it as well as adhere to it.
Closing Thoughts
In no way do you need to become like Burt, from the movie, Tremors; but you do need to understand what is involved in the 2nd Amendment and that it is a right of every American. Regardless of the purpose of the right in question, if anyone is allowed to take away one of your rights; it will allow them to take away others too. The right to bear arms is vastly important, especially in recent times, but aside from that; it is also a fight to let others know that no one will be allowed to take away our given freedoms. We are the United States of America; we don’t stand for that. Thank you for reading and now; go learn about your 2nd Amendment rights.
Photo by Max Kleinen on Unsplash
*The link contained in this post is an affiliate link, though, I never recommend anything I do not believe in 100%. I did want to tell you in the interest of full disclosure. *
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https://medium.com/@timarowland/know-and-protect-your-2nd-amendment-860f653a813e
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['Timothy A Rowland']
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2020-10-05 16:03:07.495000+00:00
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['Government', '2nd Amendment', 'Politics', 'Us Constitution', 'Guns']
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PPC Bee Pricing
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This article has been moved to the official blog of PPC Bee. You will get to the article by clicking on this link.
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https://medium.com/ppc-bee/ppc-bee-pricing-9aee4706d7c8
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['Michaela Zákopčaníková']
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2019-06-14 11:54:42.425000+00:00
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['Digital Marketing', 'Ecommerce', 'PPC Marketing', 'SaaS', 'News']
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It’s Christmas. We want gifts! We want gifts!
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Everyone exclaims contentedly
It’s Christmas! It’s Christmas!
Where does everyone go anyway?
They hurry to the streets
For decorated stores
They think about Christmas dinner, drinks
And lit trees
Everyone wants Santa Claus
That in pomp descends from the heights
Oh! Oh! Oh!
So the little ones learn
In delight, they throw kisses and they shout
We want gifts! We want gifts!
Very expensive and attractive
And everyone forgets about the boy
That poor little one!
Who had nothing from his own
Only a little straw crib where He was born
And the cross where he died
As Saint Teresa used to say
And that even in His extreme poverty
Was King of the kingdom that was not of this world
Who can understand this deeper mystery?
And many do not know Him
Barely they have heard
Of a nice little baby
Who would come to save us
Who slept warm in Maria’s lap
Illuminated by the guiding star
And me here in my selfish little world
Consumerist and so material
I dare to say:
Dear Jesus
Happy Christmas!
É NATAL
Toda a gente exclama contente
É Natal! É Natal!
Aonde vão todos afinal?
Acorrem sôfregos para a rua
Para as lojas enfeitadas
Pensam em ceias, bebidas
E árvores iluminadas.
Todos querem o Papai Noel
Que em pompa desce do Céu
Oh! Oh! Oh!
Assim aprendem os pequenos
Em delírio jogam beijos e acenos
Queremos presentes! Presentes!
Bem caros e atraentes.
E todos se esquecem do Menino
Daquele pobre pequenino
Que só mesmo teve de seu
O presépio onde nasceu
E a cruz onde morreu
Como dizia Santa Teresa
E que mesmo em sua extrema pobreza
Foi rei de um reino que não era deste mundo
E quem pode compreender mistério mais profundo?
Muitos não o conhecem
Vagamente ouviram contar
De um bebezinho bonzinho
Que viria nos salvar
Que dormia quentinho no colo de Maria
Iluminado pela estrela guia.
E eu aqui no mundinho egoista
Consumista e tão material
Ouso dizer:
Querido Jesus
Feliz Natal!
|
https://medium.com/heart-revolution/its-almost-christmas-327643943ede
|
['Misa Ferreira De Rezende']
|
2020-12-26 19:41:23.133000+00:00
|
['Santa Claus', 'Christmas', 'Giving', 'Jesus', 'Gifts']
|
Pray
|
Photo by Rohit Guntur on Unsplash
My hometown smelled like exhaust and chorizo.
The steel mill and freight trains belched black smoke into the sky. The air was dark gray and burned my eyes, leaving them permanently shot with crimson.
If you tried to run, your chest hurt when you inhaled.
Breathing was dangerous.
People spoke Spanglish or hillbilly pidgin. Mariachis blew trumpets at weddings and quinceneras.
Everybody got drunk at funerals, and on weekends swilled Bacardi from the bottle in the back of cruising lowriders.
Girls who got raped after football games already knew how much money they would get from welfare if they decided to keep the baby.
It was best not to cooperate with the DA, since every criminal had at least one cousin who did hits; they’d get back at you if you snitched.
I was a permanent alien in my hometown. All I ever wanted was to run away.
But there were churches. Hallelujah, baptized, and born again.
Churches with rock bands on Saturday nights, churches that were shimmering warm and bright, where the light was clean and holy, where God’s family opened their arms to hug you and they said they loved you and everybody read the rules together from the same book.
You could be baptized in the spirit and speak in tongues, get filled with the holy ghost and punctuate every sentence with praise the Lord, and trust that good things would come to those who wait.
In church I learned there was no need to think about the future just follow the blood on the tracks and trust God who controls all things, even the temperature of the water that comes out of the tap, God who numbers every hair on my head.
God will take care of my life, no planning required, no thought required, just pray. Don’t feel. Don’t think. Just pray. Keep praying. Keep praying. Keep praying. Pray harder.
Pray until you are out of breath.
|
https://medium.com/the-junction/pray-87219e9c8ecd
|
['Shavaun Scott']
|
2019-10-18 19:53:33.712000+00:00
|
['Coping', 'Psychology', 'Defense Mechanism', 'Personal Development', 'Religion']
|
Creating your first Docker application
|
The Dockerfile
In this lesson, we are going to create a Docker container that starts a simple HTTP server using ExpressJS. This HTTP server returns a JSON response with a list of users. And that’s about it, nothing more.
💡 You will need Node.js installed on your system to test the Docker application we are building. You can download it from this official website or use NVM (node version manager) CLI utility. However, this step is not necessary because we want to run this application inside a Docker container which will have the Node.js installation.
As we know, to create a container, we need a Docker image and to create a Docker image, we need a Dockerfile. Well, that’s not always true. Someone might have already created such an image that does the exact same thing. You can find public images on the Docker Hub registry. So you can just use the $ docker pull <image_name> command to download it from this registry.
But since we are trying to understand the process of creating Docker images, we are going to build an image on our own using a Dockerfile. You can find the source code of this project in this GitHub repository. So let’s create the project directory and install the dependencies.
$ mkdir docker-express-example && cd docker-express-example
$ npm init -y
$ npm install --save express
Above commands will generate package.json and package-lock.json files as well as node_modules directory inside our project. So far our project structure looks like this.
docker-express-example/
├── .dockerignore
├── .gitignore
├── Dockerfile
├── db.json
├── images
| ├── female.png
| └── male.png
├── node_modules/...
├── package-lock.json
├── package.json
└── server.js
We will talk about other files in our project, but for now, let’s focus on the server implementation. The db.json file contains a list of users. The server.js file serves the db.json from the / endpoint and images inside images/ directory from the /images endpoint.
The port at which this server will listen is received from the SERVER_PORT environment variable. Therefore, when we start the server, there need to provide a value for this environment variable. I have done that through the start command in package.json .
Now when we run the $ npm run start command from the project directory, we should receive the Server started at port 3000. message in the terminal and we should be able to see the JSON response in the browser at the http://localhost:3000 endpoint.
Now that our HTTP server is working as expected, let’s discuss why we want to containerize it. The USP of Docker to run applications in an isolated environment without having to install dependencies to run them. Also, we can spawn many replicas of the application really quickly as containers are cheap.
For example, if you wanted to share this application with your colleagues or users, then you have to share the source code and ask them to install Node.js to be able to run this application. Now, this can also lead to various problems such as runtime related issues (due to Node.js version difference), platform-related issues (Mac vs Windows), or other thousands of things.
To solve this issue, what we can do is to create a Docker image and put all the contents of this project inside it. This image will also have all the necessary dependencies to run this application such as a standard Node.js installation and whatnot. Then we can publically or privately publish the image so that other people can download it. Once they download the image, they can create a container from it and start the application (HTTP server) in a few seconds (or in a fraction of a second).
Alright. So we just got the gist of how Docker can be useful. So let’s start building our Docker image for this application. As we discussed, to build an image, we need a Dockerfile. This file is usually placed in the root directory of the project but we can place it anywhere in the project. More on that later.
Before we start working on the Dockerfile, let’s understand the requirements to successfully run this application. First of all, we need an operating system with Node.js installed (with NPM). Then we need package.json as well as package-lock.json files to install the dependencies. Then we need all the source code of the project. And then we need SERVER_PORT environment variable to launch the server. For this, the Dockerfile looks like below.
Dockerfile is a simple text file and it contains the instructions for the Docker daemon to assemble the image. Any text that starts with # is a comment but it can also be a parser directive. Let’s go through each instruction in our Dockerfile and understand their contribution to the image building process.
FROM instruction
The FROM instruction sets a parent image for the new image we are about to create using this Dockerfile. The parent image includes all the necessary things we need such as an operating system environment (alpine) and Node.js installation (v12.20.0). You can look for official images on Docker Hub. Here, we are using node:12.20.0-alpine3.10 image as our parent image.
💡 In the node:12.20.0-alpine3.10 image name format, the node part is the image name while 12.20.0-alpine3.10 after the : is called a tag. If you do not provide the :tag part, :latest tag will be used by default. We will talk about this format in another lesson.
You might hear the term “base image” used interchangeably with the parent image but there is a slight difference. The base image is the last image in the parent-child hierarchy. For example, our new image is derived from the node image, the node image is derived from the alpine image (see here) and the alpine image is derived from the scratch image (see here).
Now the scratch image contains absolutely minimal things to work with the Docker engine and it’s the last image in the parent-child hierarchy which means it’s not based on any other image. You can use this image to install an operating system, software, tools, etc., and make a parent image. Therefore, any image that inherits scratch using the FROM scratch instruction is a base image. To create your own base image, follow this documentation.
💡 Instructions in the Dockerfile are case-insensitive which means you can also use from <image> instead of FROM <image> . But it is recommended to use uppercase letters for instruction names to increase the readability.
Ideally, FROM instruction should be the first instruction in the Dockerfile. We can have more than one FROM instructions in the Dockerfile in the case of a multi-stage build which we will cover in another lesson.
WORKDIR instruction
The second important instruction in the Dockerfile is WORKDIR . This instruction sets a working directory for the instructions in the Dockerfile (such as RUN , CMD , ENTRYPOINT , COPY , ADD , etc.) that are going to access or modify the filesystem of the image using a relative path. If this directory is not already present in the filesystem, it will be created while creating the image.
💡 We can have multiple WORKDIR instructions in the Dockerfile. Each instruction will set a new working directory for the next instructions. We can provide a relative path to the next WORKDIR instruction which will relative to the previous WORKDIR path.
In our case, we have set the /app directory (relative to the root of the filesystem of the image) as the working directory. Since this directory doesn’t exist in the filesystem of the node image, it will be created.
You can consider the working directory as the directory in the image where a terminal shell will be opened and all relative paths used in the commands to access or modify files will be relative to this directory.
Similarly, a build context is a directory on the host machine (on which we are creating the Docker image) which is sent to the Docker daemon while building an image that contains Dockerfile , .dockerignore and application-related files such as package.json , images/ , .etc. This directory is provided via the $ docker build <path> command used to create the image where path is the path of the build context directory. In our case, it will be the path to docker-express-example directory.
ADD instruction
The ADD instruction copies the file from the build context to the working directory (for relative destination paths) or any other directory (for absolute paths) of the image. We can copy one or more source files from the build context to a destination in the image. There are two ways to use this instruction as represented below. The latter is useful for files containing whitespaces.
ADD <src>... <dest>
ADD ["<src>",... "<dest>"]
💡 The ADD instruction can also copy files from remote URLs such as a Git repository. If src is a local tar archive file, then it will be extracted at the dest during the copy operation. Read more about this behavior from this documentation. This functionality is not supported in the COPY instruction.
In our case, we are first copying the package.json and package-lock.json file to the working directory (specified by ./ path) so that we can install the NPM dependencies. But doesn’t the build context already contain node_module directory which contains all the dependencies? Can’t we just copy it from the build context into the workspace directory?
First of all, we should really avoid sending large, unnecessary, and sensitive files to the Docker daemon which could get copied to the image using the ADD or COPY instructions. The .dockerignore file works just like .gitignore file but excludes the files from the build context while sending it to the Docker daemon. We have excluded node_module directory by adding node_modules line inside the .dockerignore file.
💡 If src path doesn’t belong to the build context such as ../file.txt , then ADD or COPY operation will fail.
RUN instruction
The RUN instructions run commands at build time. This could be a bash command such as rm -rf ./file.txt or any complex command such as to download files, access or modify the file system, .etc. Results of the RUN commands are committed to the image such as a file modification. There are two flavors of RUN commands as illustrated below.
RUN <command>
RUN ["executable", "param1", "param2"]
The former format of the instruction is called the shell form because it is executed with the /bin/sh -c by default while the latter is called the exec form since you can pass a custom executable.
In our case, we are running npm install command using the default shell of the image which installs NPM dependencies in the workspace directory.
ENV instruction
The ENV instruction sets an environment variable in the image. The value of this instruction is a series of key=value pairs, however, you can have multiple ENV instructions in the Dockerfile.
ENV <key>=<value> ...
We can use the value of an environment variable in other instructions. For example, we have used the value of SERVER_PORT environment variable in the EXPOSE instruction. You can do the same for RUN or CMD instructions but there are some caveats while using the exec form, read more.
These environment variables will persist in the container as well. This means when we create a container from this image, you can access the value of this environment variable (such as using the process.env.SERVER_PORT in the case of a JavaScript program running on Node). You can override the value of an environment variable set by ENV using the --env or -e flag of the $ docker run command which creates a container from the image.
If you do not want an environment variable to be accessible in the container but have the presence during the build time only, then consider the ARG instruction. You can also override the default value of the ARG instruction using the --build-arg flag just like --env flag.
EXPOSE instruction
A container is an isolated environment with its own filesystem and network just like having a virtual guest operating system. Therefore a container does not use the ports of the host machine. All the ports in the container are closed behind a firewall and the host machine (the one running the container) can not access it.
EXPOSE <port> [<port>/<protocol>...]
The EXPOSE instruction instructs the container to open a certain port and make it public to the host. You can have as many EXPOSE instructions as you want in the Dockerfile. While creating a container from the image, you can then choose to bind a port on the host machine to one of these open ports to send the traffic from the host_port to container_port using the --publish or -p flag of the $ docker run command.
In our case, since the default value of SERVER_PORT environment variable is 8000 , only the port 8000 will be exposed to the host when the container is running. But this value can be changed by changing the value of SERVER_PORT environment variable using the --env flag which means we can control which port is exposed during the runtime.
💡 You can use the --expose flag with the $ docker run command to expose a port from the container during runtime.
COPY instruction
The COPY instruction works just like the ADD instruction. It copies the files from the build context to the workspace directory or any other directory of the image.
COPY <src>... <dest>
COPY ["<src>",... "<dest>"]
However, the COPY instruction does not support URLs and it does not extract sources that are tar archives. So it is recommended to use COPY instead of ADD to avoid mistakenly downloading files or extracting archives.
However, the place where COPY shines is the ability to copy files from another image using the --from=<name> flag with the COPY instruction. Here, the name is the name of the image that was generated in the multi-stage build process. We will learn more about this and the multi-stage build in a separate lesson.
In our case, we are copying files from the . to . which means copy the contents of the build context recursively into the workspace directory by honoring the excluded files mentioned inside the .dockerignore file.
CMD instruction
The CMD instructions work just like the RUN instruction but they do have a big difference. As discussed, the RUN instruction executes a command during the build and commits the results of the command to the image.
CMD <command>
CMD ["executable", "param1", "param2"]
However, the CMD command doesn’t get executed during the build. It is executed by default when we create the container. That means CMD will have an effect during runtime. So if you want to start a server or any process as soon as the container is created, CMD is the right choice.
|
https://medium.com/sysf/creating-your-first-docker-application-b0ce40ac67d1
|
['Uday Hiwarale']
|
2020-12-17 12:52:24.637000+00:00
|
['Docker Image', 'Dockerfiles', 'Nodejs', 'Programming', 'Docker']
|
How well did The Jetsons really predict our future?
|
Want cool Future Vision Merch? Check out our store here
When I was about 8 to 10 years old, my favorite TV show by a great far was the Jetsons. Maybe it was an early sign of my passion for technology. And although I only got to see it in Brazil around 94, this American animated sitcom was first aired in the U.S. in 62 (with a second and third season aired only way later in 85 and 87). It is amazing how they got to predict so many things that are only starting to take place right now.
From left to right: Judy, Astro, George, Elroy and Jane Jetson, and the robot maid Rosie.
For those of you who don’t really remember — or weren’t even born when it was a hit –, the show was about a family living in the future, in a town called Orbit City, using flying cars and living and working in suspended buildings. They also used teleconferences and smartwatches, and were surrounded by all sorts of robots, like their house helper Rosie — a ‘typical’ maid –, and Didi, the voice assistant to family’s teenage girl Judy, who she referred to as her “virtual diary”.
Every time I hear about an upcoming voice assistant, or a company developing a new flying car model I get impressed by how producers Hanna-Barbera managed to go so far on their imagination. Also, it confirms a well-known phrase by Walt Disney that “if we can dream it, we can do it”, right?
But how well did the Jetsons really predict our future? Apart from the amazing wonders of tech, it shows an all-white family living in a world where there is absolutely no diversity. The opening of the sitcom shows wife Jane getting money from her husband George’s wallet — yes, paper money¸ that she has to ask for — because she takes care of the house while he goes to work presentially, with other men. The only upside in this future is that George manages to go home from work and disconnect (kudos!) to enjoy time with the whole family while they are actually talking to each other (here is hoping!).
Back in 62, producers imagined a future with no sharing economy, no digital money, no gender-equality or any diversity what-so-ever. In the Jetsons scenery, although people get rid of most daily house chores and travel differently, the means of consumption, the education system and the job market continue to respect the same models of hierarchy as the decade they were written in. Maybe it’s just easier to predict technology than society! Anyways, I’m really happy writers were WAY OFF on their guessing and that we have been redesigning our society models and values… a small step at a time.
|
https://medium.com/future-vision/how-well-did-the-jetsons-really-predict-our-future-6937b208dba5
|
['Larissa Rosa']
|
2019-05-08 18:08:19.640000+00:00
|
['Tech', 'Future', 'Diversity', 'Gender Equality', 'Jetsons']
|
THE FASTEST CABLE FOR BOTH USB-WORLDS. NOW ON KICKSTARTER
|
Charby Edge is the product of a careful selection of materials. Advance circuitries, robust components, and high-grade copper wires are what make possible for users to enjoy the fastest charging up to 100W for USB-C and max 25W for USB-A with a break-proof 2m cable. Not to mention that it supports a multitude of different proprietary fast charging reliably, which [was] a challenge.
Before every USB port is replaced by USB-C, users enjoy the flexibility to fast charge with any random USB ports they meet. With the added freedom to remove, or switch the side that goes into USB-A thanks to the new Easy-Lock & Remove technology on Charby Edge’s USB Adapter.
What gives Charby Edge its incredible durability? From head to tail, Anodized Aluminum Housing, Extended Strain Protection, Ballistic Fiber, and Tangle-free Nylon braid.
For 30 days on Kickstarter, Charby Edge is available at below-retail prices, as thank you to the community for the early support — starting at only $18 each. In addition to free shipping rewards for 2 cables or more pledges.
Before the campaign ends on April 23, you can play a part in making Charby Edge a reality and enjoy Kickstarter-only benefits directly from Charby.
Go to: https://char.by/edgeKS
|
https://medium.com/@m.hamiddihurairi/the-fastest-cable-for-both-usb-worlds-now-on-kickstarter-a3442c8479a8
|
['Mohamad Hamiddi']
|
2020-04-02 06:20:35.021000+00:00
|
['Tech', 'Crowdfunding', 'Mobile Accessories', 'Kickstarter Campaign']
|
Expert Op: Creating Positive Content Experiences
|
The last time we gathered to discuss content experience, we defined what content experience means in a business context, why your prospects deserve content experiences and few ways to create one.
Here’s a recap:
For this edition, we asked leaders in the marketing and content space to weigh in on how they’re ensuring their audience gets the best content experience.
We waited with bated breath for several weeks and now the jury is out!
Here’s a blueprint for you to roll with:
The urge to resist creating self-serving content and instead offer helpful content is a ubiquitous challenge for content teams.
So much so that some of you may even need to be persuaded to create this type of content. We’re placing our bets on this illustration by Overthink group to do the convincing:
Now then, it’s time to show you HOW to be helpful and provide value!
#1 Alignment
Dino H Carter, Brand Strategist & Marketing Consultant, D Branding,introduces the holy trinity rule to create a positive content experience.The trinity here means that there must be alignment between the brand, the content, and the consumers.
“You have to give the audience (the customers) what they want to watch or read, not what you want to say or write about,” says Carter.
“If your content is all about you, your product, your company, and all you use it for is promoting products and sales, it will never work. You need to supply relevant and useful information that will make your customers’ day better. 80% of your content should provide value and only 20% promotion”.
Andra Zaharia, Freelance Content Marketer, agrees. “A top-notch content experience to (potential) customers and other stakeholders relies on one key aspect: alignment “.
According to her, alignment translates to:
Deep understanding of your customers’ questions
Knowing which issues that you solve match what your customers care about
Strong interconnectivity between content assets
Options to consume content on their terms
The team’s ability to suggest content that fits the customers’ needs
She further adds, “ Consistency, specificity, and being benefit-driven all stem from a deep knowledge of the customers’ needs and priorities. You can get that by doing customer interviews, customer research, and by being deeply embedded in the communities they prefer to hand around in”.
#2 Value without interruption
At Authority Hacker, offering pure value is the only aim of the game. Co-founder Mark Webster, however, warns that “this doesn’t just mean creating an epic piece of content. It also means how it’s delivered. If you’re offering value, should you really be running banner ads all over your site? Do you want obtrusive pop-ups interrupting the experience? Do your videos have obtrusive sponsorship spiels mid-way through?”.
“I’m not saying there’s no place for these things — after all, it makes business sense to include these things. However, if you’re looking at crafting the perfect content experience, it’s important to understand that you may have to sacrifice the potential revenue from these things in exchange for the greater good,” he concludes.
#3 Simplify frustrating complex ideas
Jake Rheude, VP of Marketing at Red Stag Fulfillment, highlights an important, yet overlooked perspective — “B2B content is meant to simplify frustratingly complex ideas “.
He also illustrates it with an example. “One of the most useful pieces of content we have built on our website is a dimensional weight calculator.
This simple tool makes life a lot easier for our typical client because it gives them information that is otherwise mind-numbingly hard to calculate for themself. Our main objective is to make what can be afrustrating and complicated process crystal clear”.
#4 Help, Trust, Respect
Jake Meador, Director of Content Strategy at Mobile Text Alerts, digs in even further. “There are three goals you should have with content experience,” begins Meador as he puts on his explainer robe and hat.
“First, your content should help prospects and customers. When people come to your website, they’re essentially looking to solve a problem. If you help them solve this, your content has succeeded. If you don’t, your content has failed, they’ve had a bad experience, and they’ll go elsewhere in search of help.
Second, your content should build trust with prospects and customers. Without trust, you’ll struggle to produce one sale and you’ll find it basically impossible to establish an ongoing relationship in which a customer buys over and over or signs a long-term contract with your company.
with prospects and customers. Without trust, you’ll struggle to produce one sale and you’ll find it basically impossible to establish an ongoing relationship in which a customer buys over and over or signs a long-term contract with your company. Third, your content should build respect with prospects and customers. If people come away from your marketing or web content thinking ‘that was really thoughtful,’ then you haven’t simply helped them and built trust, you have given them a reason to see you as a thought leader in your industry”, he finishes.
#5 ‘What next’ information
“Deliver simple solutions and ‘what next’ information to help customers move along their buying journey and/or solve problems,” shares Will Shaw, Founder, Golf Insider UK.
“For example, our coaching pieces helpfully explain what causes an errant golf shot, but continue to show the golfer how to practice — again emphasizing the next step. If these ‘next steps’ can provide the customer with a clear, simple win we find we create a fan of our brand who will keep coming back.
It could be argued this approach is far easier to implement in a sports-based business. However, all businesses have customers looking for solutions, giving that customer an actionable next step is a simple but effective way to give that person value and a reason to come back,”, he reveals!
#6 Step by step solutions
Cyrus Yung, Director, Ascelade Pte Ltd, chips in — “Good content experience is to provide answers to the searchers’ queries with step-by-step solutions.
For example, if someone is googling “how to get rid of pimples fast”, they want a solution to get rid of their pimples fast. A clear step by step instructions and what are the items needed.
Providing other related visuals like pictures and videos (as in-depth and clear as possible) will improve the searcher’s experience”.
Y’all get two BIG thumbs up from our team!
Close your eyes and picture that time you had to face the wrath of a soul-draining website.
Did it resemble something like this:
If it did, you know there are VERY few things that can match this level of frustration and that you wouldn’t wish this even on your worst enemy.
Why would you cast this on your prospects then? Seems only logical not to do it. Find out how you can enhance the content experience by keeping an eye on your website:
#1 Invisible guiding hand
“If users want to visit your blog, they shouldn’t spend minutes looking for the link. Instead, your UI should be like an invisible guiding hand. As soon as the user thinks of your blog, the link appears because before they thought of it, your UI was already guiding them towards the blog”, says Reuben Yonatan, Founder & CEO, GetVoIP.
“Also keep an eye out for topics your readers are interested in and optimize your content for relevance. If your content is always relevant, your readership will look forward to consuming it”, he adds.
#2 Speed
Sharing his two cents on how website speed impacts content experience, here’s Calloway Cook, President, Illuminate Labs — “No matter how great the content is, the user will have a poor experience if they have to wait 10 seconds while the page loads. They will become frustrated and your brand value will decrease. Conversely, a site that loads up in two seconds on mobile will make the user happy and cause them to think highly of your brand”.
“We’re constantly working to improve the page load speed of our blog not only for SEO benefit but also to improve the content experience (these two things go hand-in-hand). What we’ve found is that with faster load time there’s a lower bounce rate, which translates to more satisfied users,” he signs off.
Sharing the same train of thought is Brian Robben, CEO, Robben Media. “Fast load times, links working, simple to navigate instructions, and high value are what you’re aiming for. Now you should always A/B test your current content experience to ensure it’s a positive one.
For example, if you don’t test, then your webinar could have slow load times, or the PDF download doesn’t work. And then a great experience where someone is entering your sales funnel turns into a disaster!”.
Guess who has to deal with this disaster?
#3 Experience, Structure, Search Intent
Domantas Gudeliauskas, Marketing Manager at Zyro explains that there are three core aspects that make for a good content experience — the website’s user experience, article structure, and understanding search intent.
A positive website experience includes loading times, how you structure breadcrumbs or use tags, and subjects for articles. If a piece is hard to find, loads in with broken images or takes too long, you need to make fixing it a priority ASAP.
Secondly, your article structure also needs to be easy to navigate, understand, and read . That means the way you use headings and subheadings should be uniform across all posts. Make your paragraphs short and easily skimmable while highlighting key information. Your readers will thank you for it and will show this by being far less likely to click off.
. That means the way you use headings and subheadings should be uniform across all posts. Make your paragraphs short and easily skimmable while highlighting key information. Your readers will thank you for it and will show this by being far less likely to click off. Lastly, you need to understand and make use of search intent. Dig deep and figure out what your visitors want when they click off of a Google SERP link to your page and give them the answer immediately. Don’t beat around the bush, or hold the answer hostage between dozens of paragraphs. That won’t increase dwell time. It will only frustrate visitors and make them associate your domain with a disappointing experience.
Also Consider Reading: Your Prospects Deserve a Content Experience — Here’s Why
Drew Donaldson, Growth Strategist & Founder, GroHaus, speaks for all of us when he says, “While we could write Bibles for people on the best strategies and tactics, we have found that that is not the best way to present information.
Content without taking into account the experience of the user is the equivalent of writing an encyclopedia, all information without any style or flavour is just boring.
A better way is to make sure that the experience we are delivering with the content, despite the content format, is making it engaging and interesting for the audience”.
Picking up the same thread as that of Drew, these experts reveal how you can perfect your content delivery:
#1 Talk trigger
Sydney Myers, Founder, Dallas Hoops Cast, insists that every piece of content should have what she calls a ‘talk trigger’. Talk trigger, she explains, is something that’s different and worth talking about, tweeting about, and sharing. This could be research, an interview, a chart, or an infographic or visual. But every piece must have something that makes it unique.
“By following that principle, I’m able to create content that people have to share, read, and link to because they can’t find it anywhere else,” she adds.
Agreeing with her about this kind of engagement is Karl Robinson, Director & Co-founder, Logicata.
“Especially now, at a time where people are separate and struggling to connect, building an online community is absolutely essential for your business,” he begins. “You can do this by creating content that sparks conversation and debate amongst your consumers. This doesn’t mean it always has to be something that would create difficult discussion.
For example, a restaurant could simply connect with its audience by asking what they might like to see on a new menu when they reopen, offer a few examples to give the conversation a path while involving the customers and making them feel a part of your future.
It is that sort of content engagement that will see consumers return to be a part of your discussions — because you are openly inviting them to take part. With this sort of content experience, try to keep what you are asking relevant, rather than basic, and something that they might quickly engage with but move on just as quickly,” he advises.
#2 Format and Medium
Doing your research and delivering the content in the right format is crucial, feels Morgan Goettge, Founder & Content Creator, morgankg.co m
“Instead of creating a blog post around your favourite fall recipes, do some research on your target audience and figure out what they want to read or watch — this customer analysis will make all of the difference!
Next, find out how your audience likes to consume content. Do they like to read, watch short-form videos or long-form videos? Maybe they like photos with long captions. Regardless, you get the point — it is all about creating content that is interesting and engaging to your audience”.
Avinash Chandra, Founder & CEO, BrandLoom, agrees. Content experience isn’t the same today as it was 10 years back and is about delivering the right information to the right people, at the right time, in the form your customers want. It is about sharing content that meets the users’ needs as well as our business goals.
Further, the channels we use to deliver our content also play a key role here. It is crucial that your content reaches your audience in the way they want and on the medium they want.
#3 Structure and Style
“Composition, organization, and influence of the contentare crucial for us at 1Dental,” says Aaron McWilliams, its Director of Marketing.
The composition of the content has to do with what it is made of. Is it relevant and engaging? Is it aesthetically pleasing? Does it look polished and professional? Is it on-brand? Where will the user come into contact with said content?
Next, is your content organized correctly? Consumers should be able to find what they are looking for quickly and easily. Well organized content leads to a positive content experience and will keep your audience coming back.
correctly? Consumers should be able to find what they are looking for quickly and easily. Well organized content leads to a positive content experience and will keep your audience coming back. The last and most important element of the content experience is the influence it has on the audience. You can create all the content you want but if it isn’t motivating your audience to take any action, the bottom line is it’s not effective. The best content will have a call to action, which will influence someone to take the next step. If your content has emotionally engaged the audience, they will feel more inclined to your suggested action.
According to Nathan Sebastian, Content Marketer at GoodFirms, “The structure of the content, page design, images, call to action, and everything else that is included in the landing page or blogs is all a part of the content experience”.
“The one way in which we ensure that the audience gets possible content experience is to maintain a consistent structure of all our content. It makes it easier for the audience to read and understand what’s written.
Secondly, the images in all content formats. It is necessary to post images that perfectly summarize the content in an interesting way and make them less boring.
in all content formats. It is necessary to post images that perfectly summarize the content in an interesting way and make them less boring. Last but not least is the content style. When information is provided in a simple and precise manner, it has the potential to garner and retain the attention of the audience for a long time,” he concludes.
#4 Language and Tone
“Content experience is a powerful way to separate your content strategy from your competitors’. One simple way to improve content experience is to write the same way you’d talk with a friend”, declares Jayson DeMers, CEO, EmailAnalytics.
“This is, of course, industry-dependent, but in many cases, it’s perfectly acceptable to communicate with your audience in a friendly, colloquial way. Taking this approach can help build a connection with your audience that boring, corporate-sounding content can’t do.
One fantastic example is the work of Tim Urban, the author at the popular blog Wait But Why. He uses humour and hilarious hand-drawn images, stick figures, and simple graphs to bring an added dimension to his writing. It’s a masterful example of leveraging content experience to keep readers coming back again and again.”
Ask Samuel Ballinger, Creative Director at Postali, what a positive content experience means to him and he’ll respond with this — “The best content experience is when a piece of content impacts your readers and inspires them to share your content with their friends or on social media, and most importantly, persuades them to buy your product or service.
To do this, your content should always be written in a language that resonates with your users”.
He continues, “One of the most effective (and easiest) ways of figuring out that language is through A/B testing. At Postali, we do this by running two or three sets of the same message, using a different brand voice & tone for each and measuring the results. The one that performs the best is the one we use moving forward for that specific platform”.
Chelsea Roller, Content Marketing Manager at Rank Fuse Digital Marketing, agrees with Ballinger. According to her, readers should be able to immediately recognize that the content is coming from you. “This means that verbiage, tone, design, and topics are all extensively thought out”.
“We also ensure that we target the keywords that our clients’ audiences would be using to search. Every time we put together a new page or blog, we focus on creating a cohesive piece of content targeting all the proper keywords while still sticking to our client’s brand identity,” she adds.
#5 Personalized and Interactive
Throwing light on how personalized and interactive content can drive conversion is Maria Saigatova,Head of Content at Blast Sourcing. “We use personalization to customize the content to align it with customer interests and trigger their emotions. On another note, interactive experience helps us to engage with our readers, and bring them more positive feelings.
As a result, content experience can be related to the flow of greatly executed and smartly crafted content, created to engage readers across their customer journey and bring value to every step of their interaction with the brand,” she says.
“A great content experience should be personalized, helpful, user-centric, contextual, connect to the user’s circumstances, organized, and easy to understand,” adds Todd Ramlin, Manager, at Cable Compare.
“One example of a business providing great content experience is MailChimp. Known for its mascot Freddie the intuitive UI, it’s one of the coolest brands when it comes to delivering content experiences. MailChimp divides its content experiences into categories that cover the fundamentals of email marketing, practical marketing tips, product guides/tutorials, success stories, and product updates”.
#6 Appeal to as Many Senses as You Can
“Remember the good old days when we visited the movie theatres? I’d be lying through my teeth if I said I didn’t readily think of the tub of popcorn or that of the pretzels. Or the undeniably powerful audio systems.
If you think about it, every experience you distinctly remember would have definitely appealed to more than one of your senses. And you can do it with your content too!,” exclaims Akshaya Chandramouli, Content Marketing Executive here at Paperflite.
“Here’s one way to get started — Try complementing that educational video or blog post with a specially curated podcast list that will truly help your readers.
Narrative Science nailed it in their recent Camp Revenue summit, which was a celebration of marketing and analytics that lasted 2 days and showcased experts from prominent brands. From a specially curated Spotify playlist to handpicked books and giveaways, it truly was an experience that was one-of-its-kind,” she finishes.
If you have a content calendar, you don’t need a content strategy, right?
Wrong.
It’s equivalent to saying:
We know what you’re thinking — ‘But does content strategy play a role in creating content experiences for my readers?’.
Evidently, it does.
#1 Customer Journey
According to Quincy Smith, Co-Founder, ESL Authority, your strategy should be devised in such a way that you create a journey for your users usingall of your marketing channels.
“For example, a user might land on a blog page thanks to your SEO, get their second touch via a retargeting ad that promotes a follow up (ie mid funnel) piece of content, and convert after downloading a white paper from your website.
In an ideal world, you not only have content that speaks to each step of your funnel but also have the means to put that content where it needs to be at the right moment in time.
The goal is to be attentive without being overwhelming and it’s very hard to send too many ‘touches’ when the content is super relevant — creating a comprehensive content experience allows us to do that and ensure the user is getting what they need when they reach that point in the process”.
#2 Diverse Perspectives
Liam Carnahan, Content Strategist & SEO Expert at Inkwell, offers a word of caution about trying to gather diverse perspectives. “There is a delicate balance between gathering diverse perspectives and too many cooks in the kitchen when it comes to content and the resulting experience. That’s why there should be one single person — either in house or a freelancer/consultant — whose singular job is to oversee and steer the overall content in the right direction.
It’s that person’s responsibility to gather input from every other part of the business and weave it into the right points within the strategy. That’s one of the reasons I like being a content strategist. You get to see every little bit of an organization if you’re doing your job right,” he completes.
#3 Variance and Measurement
“Your content should be spaced with the intended set of ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ for the reader. You would really want them to spend a significantly longer time on your highs than the lows,” begins Dinesh Ravindran, the Director of Marketing at Paperflite.
“For instance, a framework, blueprint, or a quadrant would demand a longer read time than a testimony with an image, which might have one-third or one-fourth of the read time. However, the experience you deliver in that short time should be no less than that you deliver for the long read. This experience can be better devised if it’s measured unequivocally amongst a large set of your target audience.
In my opinion, some of the excellent content pieces which deliver immaculate experience fail in their outcome if it’s not delivered at the right time to the right set of audience or/and if it’s not stitched with the right experience graph for the highs and lows.
Devising a content strategy for every year, quarter, month and even week will need a strong mix of content that delivers a varied set of experiences and it has to be measured in terms how it is being read by the intended set of target audience,” he concludes.
And with that, we’re calling it a wrap!
Have a take on content experience you’d like to share with us? Write to us at [email protected] and we’d love to feature you here!
|
https://medium.com/@paperflite/expert-op-creating-positive-content-experiences-302e1033ee03
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[]
|
2020-12-23 12:47:01.429000+00:00
|
['Content Experience', 'Content Creation', 'Content Marketing', 'Content', 'Content Strategy']
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The Complete DevOps RoadMap
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The Complete DevOps RoadMap
An illustrated guide to becoming a DevOps Engineer with links to relevant courses
DevOps is really hot at the moment and most of my friends, colleagues, and senior developers I know are working hard to become a DevOps engineer and project themselves as DevOps champion in their organization.
While I truly acknowledge the benefits of DevOps, which is directly linked to improved software development and deployment, from my limited experience I can say that it’s not an easy job. It’s very difficult to choose the right path in the middle of so many tools and practices.
Being a Java blogger, many of my readers often ask me questions like how to become a DevOps engineer, which tools should I learn? which practices should I follow? does learning Maven and Jenkins must for a DevOps guy? how about Docker and Kubernetes? Does the infrastructure automation part of DevOps? should I learn Chef, Puppet, or Ansible are just some of those questions which keep coming to me.
I have tried hard to answer those with my minimal experience but I couldn’t jot them down in a manner that is simply awesome and reusable, but, not to worry.
Today I am going to share with you an awesome resource that will help you to become the DevOps Engineer you always wanted to be, The 2021 DevOps RoadMap.
I was casually surfing through the internet yesterday when I come across this excellent GitHub page by Kamranahmedse, which shows a couple of useful roadmaps to become a front-end developer, back-end developer, a full-stack web developer, and last but not the least, the DevOps Engineer.
This RoadMap is awesome in any sense as it does not only highlight what is the role of a DevOps engineer but also tells which tools and technologies you need to learn to cover that area.
On top of that, it’s visually appealing with nice colors(don’t you like yellow and cream with blue lines?), so you can just take a printout and stick in your desk for easier reference.
Though the roadmap is good in the sense that it tells you what to learn but it doesn’t tell you how to learn and where to learn. In order to complete the roadmap, I have shared some useful online DevOps courses, both free and paid, so that you can learn and improve the tools or areas you want.
The 2021 DevOps RoadMap for Developers
Anyway, here is the 2021 DevOps RoadMap I am talking about:
Image by kamranahmedse (https://github.com/kamranahmedse/developer-roadmap)
Now, let’s go through the RoadMap step by step and find out how you can learn the essential skills requires to become a DevOps guru in 2021:
1. Learn a Programming Language
Obviously and I assume you guys definitely know one of the three main programming languages i.e. Java, Python, or JavaScript.
If you didn’t, don’t worry you can take a look at the below courses to learn your choice of language, though I strongly suggest you learn at least one of these three major general purpose programming languages.
Java
If you want to learn Java then The Complete Java MasterClass is a great course, which is also recently updated for Java 10.
Python
If you want to learn Python, then The Complete Python BootCamp is my favorite resource, which will teach you Python 3, the most popular version of Python.
JavaScript
And, if you want to learn JavaScript then you should not look beyond Mosh Hamdani’s JavaScript Basics for Beginners course on Udemy.
If you need more choices and don’t mind learning from free resources then you can always take a look at my list of free Java, Python, and JavaScript courses.
2. Understand different OS concepts
This is where the Ops part coming in, earlier it was solely supported guys and sysadmin people who were responsible for knowing about OS and hardware, but with DevOps, now developer also needs to know them.
You at least need to know about Process Management, Threads and Concurrency, Sockets, I/O Management, Virtualization, Memory storage and File systems as suggested in the roadmap.
Since most of us work in Linux, I suggest you go through the Linux Administration BootCamp course on Udemy to learn and understand Linux OS better.
If you need more choices and you don’t mind learning from freely available resources then you can also take a look at this list of free Linux courses.
3. Learn to Live in terminal
For a DevOps guy, it’s important to have good command in the command line, particularly if he is working in Linux. Knowing some Linux shell like Bash, or Ksh and tools like find, grep, awk, sed, lsof, and networking commands like nslookup and netstat is mandatory.
If you feel you need to refresh these commands and tools then you should join the Linux Command Line Interface (CLI) Fundamentals course on Pluralsight.
It’s a good refresher for both beginner and experienced Linux users. You will need a Pluralsight membership to access the course which costs around $29 per month or $299 per year but it’s totally worth it.
Pluralsight is like a developer’s Netflix, it has more than 6000 high-quality courses on the latest technology which means you can learn anything and anywhere. I mostly learn while traveling and commuting.
Btw, If you need more choices and want to become a master on shell scripting, you can also take a look at my list of best courses to learn shell scripting.
4. Networking and Security
Gone are the days of isolation, in today’s world, everything is connected to everything which makes networking and security very important.
In order to become a good DevOps engineer, you must know about basic networking and security concepts like DNS, OSI Model, HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SSL, TLS, etc.
In order to refresh this concept, you can take a look at TCP/IP and Networking Fundamentals for IT Pros By Ed Liberman course on Pluralsight.
If you need more choices, you can also check out these Udemy courses like for Networking, The Complete Networking Fundamentals is a nice course and for Security, you can also check The Complete Cyber Security Course: Network Security!.
5. What is and how to setup
As a DevOps champion, you should know what is set up in your machine and how you can set that up, only that you can think about automating it.
In general, a DevOps engineer should know how to set up a Web Server like IIS, Apache, and Tomcat.
He should also know about Caching Server, Load balancer, Reverse Proxy, and Firewall, etc. If you are new into web development space, I suggest you to also check out the Web Developer Bootcamp by Colt Steele
6. Learn Infrastructure as code
This is probably the most important thing for a DevOps engineer and this is a very vast area as well. As a DevOps engineer, you should know about containers like Docker and Kubernetes, Configuration management tools like Ansible, Chef, Salt, and Puppet, Infrastructure Provisionings like Terraform and Cloud formation. Here are some of my recommended courses to learn these tools.
If you want to learn Docker then the Docker Mastery: The Complete Toolset From a Docker Captain course on Udemy is the best course to start with. It provides comprehensive coverage of all the tools a DevOps engineer will need.
If you want to learn Kubernetes then I suggest you join the Learn DevOps: The Complete Kubernetes course. This will teach you how to build, deploy, and manage Kubernetes.
And, if you want to learn Chef then there is no better course then Chef Fundamentals: A Recipe for Automating Infrastructure on Udemy. Probably the best course to learn Chef at this moment.
If you need more choices on Docker, you can explore this list of 10 essential courses for DevOps Engineer.
7. Learn some Continuous Integration and Delivery (CI/CD) tools
This is another very important thing for DevOps gurus and champion, i.e. to set up a pipeline for continuous integration and delivery. There are a lot of tools in the CI/CD area e.g. Jenkins, TeamCity, Drone etc.
But, I strongly recommend learning at least Jenkins, as it’s the most widely used and probably the most mature CI/CD tool in the market. If you don’t know Jenkins then this course is best to start with.
If you want to learn Jenkins, then there is no better course than the classic Learn DevOps: CI/CD with Jenkins using Pipelines and Docker on Udemy. It’s simply the best course and I have also learned most of my Jenkins skill from this course.
Btw, if you need more choices and don’t mind learning from free resources then you can also check my list of 6 free Jenkins and Maven courses for Java developers.
8. Learn to monitor software and infrastructure
Apart from setup and deployment, monitoring is another important aspect of DevOps and that’s why it’s important for a DevOps engineer to learn about Infrastructure and application monitoring.
There are a lot of tools in this space e.g. Nagios, Icing, Datadog, Zabbix, Monit, AppDynanic, New Relic etc.
You can choose some of them depending on which one is used in your company like AppDynamic and Nagios.
9. Learn about Cloud Provides
Cloud is the next big thing and sooner or later you have to move your application to the cloud, hence it’s important for a DevOps engineer to at least know about some of the popular Cloud Providers and their basics.
While AWS is clearly the leader in the cloud it’s not alone, Google Cloud and Azure are slowly catching up and then we have some other players like Heroku, Cloud Foundry, and Digital Ocean.
To start with I strongly suggest to join the classic AWS Serverless APIs & Apps — A Complete Introduction course in Udemy, which is simply the best.
Btw, if you need more choices and don’t mind learning from free resources then you can also check my list of free AWS courses for developers and DevOps guys.
Other Programming Articles you may like
The 2021 Java Developer RoadMap
10 Reasons to Learn Python in 2021
10 Programming languages You can Learn in 2021
10 Tools Every Java Developer Should Know
10 Reasons to Learn Java Programming languages
10 Frameworks Java and Web Developer should learn in 2021
10 Tips to become a better Java Developer in 2021
Top 5 Java Frameworks to Learn in 2021
10 Testing Libraries Every Java Developer Should Know
Closing Notes
Thanks for reading this article so far. You might be thinking that there is so much stuff to learn, so many courses to join, but you don’t need to worry.
There is a good chance that you may already know most of the stuff, and there are also a lot of useful free resources which you can use, I have also linked them here and there along with best resources, which are certainly not free, but worth of money.
I am a particular fan of Udemy courses as they are very affordable and provide a lot of values in a very small amount, but you are free to choose the course you want.
At the end of the day, you should have enough knowledge and experience about the things mentioned here.
Good luck with your DevOps journey! It’s certainly not going to be easy, but by following this roadmap and guide, you are one step closer to becoming the DevOps engineer, you always wanted to be
If you like this article then please consider following me on medium (javinpaul). if you’d like to be notified for every new post and don’t forget to follow javarevisited on Twitter!
All the best for your DevOps Journey and a Big thanks to Kamran Ahmed for producing such awesome content.
|
https://medium.com/hackernoon/the-2018-devops-roadmap-31588d8670cb
|
[]
|
2020-12-09 07:34:40.382000+00:00
|
['Web Development', 'Software Development', 'Technology', 'DevOps', 'Programming']
|
Smart home guide for beginners: Make your home more convenient to live in without spending lots of time or money
|
An optimist is a man who is chased up a tree by a lion but enjoys the scenery anyway (Walter Winchell)
|
https://medium.com/@Melissa53050537/smart-home-guide-for-beginners-make-your-home-more-convenient-to-live-in-without-spending-lots-of-fc56e863f4fd
|
[]
|
2020-12-25 00:31:19.274000+00:00
|
['Streaming', 'Headphones', 'Consumer Electronics', 'Audio']
|
5 Dutch Companies Working Towards Social Inclusion
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According to a January 2019 report, the employment rate in The Netherlands is 77,7% which is the 4th highest in Europe. However, not all the members of Dutch society have free access to the job market for a number of reasons — lack of high education, illiteracy in Dutch, physical and/or mental disabilities all contribute to unemployment rates. Oftentimes, certain population groups, like stay-at-home parents or elderly people, also experience marginalization and exclusion. How can we ensure that every individual feels accepted in working society and has opportunities to fulfil their potential?
Both people in this photo deserve an opportunity to fulfil their potential. Agree?
Please, give a warm welcome to the following five changemakers who each gave an answer to this question in their own way by making sure that certain societal groups are given an opportunity to grow, bringing value for both these people and consumers.
Happy Tosti is a restaurant with the goal of employing as many people with limitations to the job market as possible. Most of their employees — 65% — are young people with physical and/or mental disabilities. At Happy Tosti, employees learn to cook and serve meals — salads, soups, sandwiches, — have the opportunity to take their financial future into their own hands and exchange warmth and positive experiences with their team members and customers. The value provided to the employees is real hands-on job experience and moreover, the feeling of appreciation. Happy Tosti’s are located in The Hague, Hoofddorp, Deventer and Leiden and thanks to their distinctive design, are pretty unmissable!
Happy Tosti’s are famous for their joyful vibe and, of course, delicious toasts
2) Mijn Buuf
The principal mission of Mijn Buuf is the empowerment of women who experience social isolation, linguistic barriers and a lack of work experience in the Netherlands. At Mijn Buuf, women learn to create sustainable bags, pillows, postcards and other goods from flags or banners used at various Hague events — Volvo Ocean Race, Het Haagse Feest Aan Zee, to name a few! Every product designed at Mijn Buuf is unique and is the fruit of the employees’ imagination and creativity. This way, combining sustainability, social inclusion and good vibes, this company gives a chance to many women to socialize, open up their creativity and slowly integrate into Dutch society.
Creating funky bags with meaning both for customers and employees
3) Oma’s Soup
Oma’s soup is an Amsterdam-based initiative aiming to combat loneliness among the senior citizens and unite them around a meaningful and pleasant task — make tasty home-made soup. In addition, the vegetables used for the soups are supposed-to-be-thrown-away ones so Oma’s soup also combats food waste, killing two birds with one stone. The meals can be ordered via phone or email. Otherwise, anyone can join as a volunteer during the Cook Days and enjoy the warm company of the oma’s while learning their cooking tricks and techniques. Win-win!
Save vegetables + unite people of all age groups = enjoy delicious meals together
4) Sea Rangers
Sea Ranger Service is a company with a truly versatile character. Their core business activity is a maritime ranger service which combines building ships for sailing work, training the youth to become Sea Rangers and involving navy veterans in the education process. This thoughtful framework gives an amazing opportunity for at-risk youth and partly unemployed veterans to do something meaningful together. After the training, the Rangers take part in the marine research and conservation programs. Overall, Sea Ranger Service tackles problems such as youth unemployment, reintegration of veterans into the job market and marine areas protection. Smart, inspiring and promoting sustainability — isn’t it amazing?
Sea Ranger Service inspires youths to chose a maritime career
5) Mama Taxi
Mama Taxi is a taxi company from Rotterdam whose mission is to empower women of various origins with limitations to the labour market to become taxi drivers for busy Rotterdammers. The inspiration of Mama Taxi came to its founder, Zizi Fernandes when her grandmother — Mama — repeatedly refused to use taxi service in Guinea Bissau due to their unreliability and lack of safety. This is why Zizi pledged to help people moving about urban cities deserve to do so in a safe, clean and reliable way. By the way, at Mama Taxi they only use electric vehicles — the stylish Tesla Model S, to be precise. So, if you’ve ever thought of combining an enjoyable ride in a Tesla and doing good, Mama Taxi may be exactly what you are looking for.
These ladies help people move about Rotterdam in a safe, clean and reliable way
These are only 5 companies among numerous others who are working towards the same common goal — social inclusion. Do you know any inspiring Dutch enterprise which tackles the same problem? Let us know and we will write about them!
Do you want to support startups like these in their missions of inclusion and sustainability? Contact us and let us know more about what you do! We Share supports Impact Startups in their aspiration for a better future. We connect them with a wide range of Funding Members and experts. Moreover, we offer them patient capital: i.e. long-term loans with low-interest rates. More information about us and the support you can get from us can be found here.
|
https://medium.com/@we_share_ventures/5-dutch-companies-working-towards-social-inclusion-d95c50a08ef5
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['We Share Ventures']
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2020-01-13 14:48:31.340000+00:00
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['Entrepreneurship', 'Impact', 'Social Inclusion']
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How Many Fingers Do You See? 4 Recommendations of 444 Years
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Doctor Patch Adams
SOCIOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY
How Many Fingers Do You See? 4 Recommendations of 444 Years
Have you ever try to see behind your fingers?
We’ll experiment together, a book I read recently inspired these essays. There are such sentences in this book, which started to be written exactly 444 years ago, as if it was written for these days, as if it was written for me, for you. I selected 4 recommendations from these sentences, I want to share them. 4 recommendations of 444 years. I’m sure you’ve heard and even read the title of this book many times. We will initially focus on what the book says, not its title or its author. Don’t look at the text below and try to find out the name and author of the book, look at me first, on my fingers! How many Fingers do you see?
Talking about a 444-year-old book, a 22-year-old movie intervened, normally there is no relationship between them, or everything is related and connected. Because in the book it says, “All the evil of the world comes from our accustoming to avoid revealing our ignorance, to accept what we refuse. We speak of everything pedantic and absolutely.”
Roman law is the basis of our legal system. There was such a custom in Rome that a person I knew said that he saw it with his eyes, and even what a judge put forward with the most conclusive evidence is spoken of, “It seems to me,” and not in a precise language.
The writer says that if I were to educate the children, I would get them used to respond as if they were asking, not as if to take a nap, what does that mean? I might understand that, is that right. Instead of speaking like scholars at the age of 10, those who want to get rid of ignorance, let them remain like a student at the age of 60, must be exposed.
Then come our first sentence and advice;
1- “She is the daughter of bright astonishment. Surprised is the foundation of the whole philosophe..”
Be surprised! Let me know some things too dear, know your goal except one thing. Know the port you will go to because no wind will do good to those who do not know the port to go. The person who was subjected to finger testing in the previous movie and the person who caught him in this experiment were patients who did not know where to go. This person then discovers where he wants to go. He decides that the best way to treat his own illness is to treat other patients. I also thought that the best way to learn things was to teach others. Here, our hero decides to become a doctor with the idea that helping others is helping himself.
What we said, you don’t have to know everything, just know the port you want to go to.
2- “No wind serves him who addresses his voyage to no certain port.”
Set your goal Once you’ve set your goal, you will find a way to get there.
Here is a method for you, to listen instead of knowing and telling. The story of this character that I show in the movie is real, not made-up. It describes the attempts of someone who lost his way in life to reach there after determining his goal. One of these attempts is to enter medical school, although he is well older. “I don’t want to be rude, aren’t you a little old to start with?” Asks his roommate in the dormitory a little bit arrogantly, despite his young age. Isn’t that a very familiar question?
To start things, he has an age, rules, rules, then what others say. Most of the time, we ask ourselves these questions without the need of others to ask these questions, we prevent ourselves from giving the necessary answers, we sit where we sit. But ours doesn’t do that, instead of thinking it’s a bit of age to start with, it looks for examples that suggest that it isn’t.
You can find an example of this, even a fictitious one, to fend off those resentful, thrown away. Reconsider your perspective, how many do you see now? 4 or 40? Leave aside the perspective you have developed so far. The important thing is not what you have done until now, but what you will do from now on.
Don’t let your CV and education limit you, there is no age to learn. What did our writer say;
3- “Instead of talking like scholars at the age of 10, let them remain like a student at 60.”
Always be a learner, why do we learn, why do we go to school, why do we read books? To be better and smarter, to generate better thoughts, right? A human sees and hears with thought. It is the thought that takes advantage of everything, puts everything in order, takes over, and rules. Everything else is blind, deaf, and lifeless.
This writer complains that even 444 years ago we could not give young people the freedom to do things on their own, as if we can now. We turn children and young people into cowardly slaves. Slave to what others say.
They stick them in our minds like the word of God. The letters and words become what is being told. Moreover, words, form, should not be attached to the envelope. It is ingenuity to capture the essence of what is said and written. To know by heart is not to know, but to keep everything entrusted to your memory.
The only concern of the students has been turned into passing the exams, however, it is necessary to teach people to learn and to know by themselves. If he learns in this way, he can reach the master without looking for his friend, look for his place in the book, and use it as he wants.
So let’s write our fourth recommendation under our fourth sentence.
“Knowing by heart is not knowing; to keep everything that is entrusted to our memory.”
Do not memorize, learn to learn by yourself. It is best to awaken the enthusiasm and love of learning in young people. Otherwise, we make them donkeys laden with books. They’re carrying them a bag full of science at the force of whip. However, keeping science in our home is not enough. Need to marry him. If we just memorize saying 4 when we look here, it means we still haven’t married science.
This person, who learned to see differently by breaking memorizations regardless of his age, was a man named Hunter Adams. He used the nickname “patch”, which means patch, because he tried to fix people, to make them for them. The life story of Patch Adams, which started in his mental hospital, continued as a doctor. Throughout his life,he tried ways to help people, tried ways of happiness. He even tried to make people laugh with a different hello.
He tried to create a community where joy is a way of life, learning is the ultimate goal, and love is the ultimate goal.
Although he had almost no financial means, he found a way, bought a forest, and turned it into a treatment center.
Just a minute. Buying the forest? The author I cite in this article also bought a small forest in 1578. Though his financial means were much better than Patch Adams, he lived in a castle. But this comfortable and comfortable life could not prevent him from seeing differently. He decided to close himself in a tower of this castle and write a book. He attempted to write his thoughts freely, invented the essay genre, and gave the same name to his book “The Essays”. Yes, in this article, I have combined the sections I highlighted from his book with a life that has nothing to do with him. In case some of his ideas may be combined with yours, they can inspire you too. Maybe just because you think once more how many fingers you see here.
Mark the correct one of the options below, there is no such thing in real life, real life is not just the 4 lights above, but you have to find the answers yourself.
When I asked this question at the beginning of the article, I said the same thing, said look at me, how many fingers do you see? Do the same try, how many do you see now?
This is the essence of both Montaigne’s essays that I read about recently, as well as the life of Patch Adams.
When asked what would you recommend to young people, perhaps the best answer is to try to see what no one else can see. See that others prefer not to see, focus beyond fingers, objects. I know doing this is much more difficult than saying. But as Montaigne wrote
|
https://medium.com/an-idea/how-many-fingers-do-you-see-4-recommendations-of-444-years-b44779478f8
|
['Selcuk Aslantas']
|
2020-12-16 18:03:25.068000+00:00
|
['Life Lessons', 'Books', 'Psychology', 'Self Improvement', 'Life']
|
The Feeling of (this) Christmas
|
I keep his blanket folded up next to me in bed. I find myself smelling it. I snuggle with it, gripping his stuffed animals, petting them. I’m desperate to feel close to him and afraid of the day when I can’t smell him anymore.
The memories are piercing.
I try to use past tense, but that seems wrong. Foreign.
“He is right there … he’s right …” I trail off in my emotions.
The emotions. So raw.
A scent of him lingers in the air.
I cling to the memories like a kid holding her most prized Christmas treasures. Oh the memories.Grateful.
Then I think of all the memories we will never make. Oh the memories. Not grateful.
After his passing I spent the first week mostly in bed; numb to the reality and gripping in agony. Then I went (and stayed) into manic action, desperate to keep myself busy.
“If I just keeping going, it’s not real.” I fight through the tears, until I can’t and let myself drop to my knees.
The sounds that escape my throat were, are, terrifying. The ebb and flow of emotions. Discordant tumultuous emotions.
I climb into bed, exhausted and drained, mentally and physically. And yet, sleep still alludes me without the help of the prescription meds. Given to me through a very teary-eyed, very honest telehealth conversation.
I go through the emotions, and feel the gravity of every. single. one.
Anger. Sadness. Confusion. Denial. Broken. Irrevocably broken.
I want, and hope, to get to a place of gratitude. But, that day seems like a unicorn. Instead, I sit here motionless, tears run my face as I stare at the spot where he used to sit next to me. Surrounded by the glitz and chaos of Christmas and drowning in the feeling of a unbreakable, broken bond.
We never saw the redwood trees together, nor did we walk the paths of Colorado, but the moments we shared were just as glorious.
A Sunday afternoon hike in the forest.
A summertime stroll along the oceanline.
A backyard splash session in his baby pool.
An afternoon playing in the snow.
A roaring fire to warm our paws and toes.
Sitting on the riverside bank, or anywhere, just being with one another.
A Christmas morning snuggled in bed, nestled with one another.
Rememberance is both a Christmas gift and a gut punch. I’m feeling the weight and gravity of every single memory, and emotion.
I lack the ability to filter or censor this grief. I feel his presence so strongly right next to me.
Again, I reach for him.
And, once again, I am forced to remember he’s not here.
And now it is Christmas Eve (Eve) and I underestimated the depth of how this holiday would feel without him. Just when I had hoped I was out of the acute phase of this grief like a backhand of holiday cheer I am fully immersed in the misery.
On the floor.
Knees to the chest.
Rocking in agony and confusion.
During the waking hours, I can manage (slightly more) the pain. The emotion. But once darkness hits and it’s time for the sandman to visit, I give in to all I’ve been holding from the day.
|
https://medium.com/@chrissyshelton/the-feeling-of-this-christmas-8f37fca9edda
|
['Chrissy Shelton']
|
2020-12-24 18:19:25.613000+00:00
|
['Broken', 'Last Christmas', 'Christmas', 'Companion Animals', 'Dogs']
|
The Opening of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Is Amazzzziiinnngggg
|
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert premiered on CBS this week. So far, I love it — along with Colbert’s boundless energy and optimism, which were often (understandably) lost amidst his conservative blowhard persona from The Colbert Report. But rather than consider the host or his performance or the show’s ratings, all of which social/new media have already analyzed to death, I want to pay tribute to the Late Show’s opening credits.
Most late-night openings present a series of quick shots of the hosts running through nighttime street scenes in New York or Los Angeles. Then, they rely on out-of-focus shots as background plates for guest names. See the NBC shows in particular here — Seth Meyers’ and Jimmy Fallon’s. They don’t tell much of a story. James Corden’s Late Late Show titles are an interesting twist on that trope, stressing the camaraderie between the host and the band leader. Still, they’re awfully short.
The opening credits for The Late Show, however, are on another level. Watch them here around min. 05:40.
Or you could watch them here.
Consider the visuals. Tilt-shift and stop-motion photography are not what viewers normally expect from a late-night opening credit sequence. Sure, they’ve become tropes in online photo blogs like 500px or Flickr, but on late-night TV, they’re new and refreshing — especially when compared to every other similar show out there.
Check out the details:
the focus pulling and zooming which draw attention to parts of the frame as they work in concert with stop-motion and CGI
little Stephen Colbert’s tossing a basketball to a waiting Jon Batiste who, then, dunks it on a neighboring rooftop
Stephen’s dancing while Batiste plays a rooftop piano
the transition from day to night as the camera works its way to the giant COLBERT marquee outside the Ed Sullivan Theater
While I’m not 100% sure, this all appears to be a combination of CGI, miniature work, and actual time-lapse and tilt-shift footage. And by not relying on the same trick for too long, everything blends in nicely.
For example, notice how the names of the guests are integrated. They’re not just GIANT LETTERS that appear onscreen. In fact, they look smaller than usual. But, they’re eye-catching in other ways.
The first guest’s name on the airport runway is highlighted by the planes taking off over it, leading the eye from left to right so it doesn’t have to fill the frame. The musical guest’s name is on a moving train. If you pause the credits and look closely, you can see the band members inside the gondolas labelled “Jon Batiste” and “Stay Human”. They’re small, but I paused to do a double take, so consider my attention grabbed.
Significantly, Colbert’s opening features DAYLIGHT: it’s bright and sunny and cheerful. This is vastly different from the opening credits of every other late-night show, which often feature dark scenes from outside local bars. No, Colbert’s sequence doesn’t just show people having fun; fun integrates itself into the nooks and crannies of every frame.
Finally, Colbert’s theme song is catchy and danceable in a way that Fallon’s isn’t (which is a shame because The Roots are still the best house band on late night…for now). But the new theme isn’t just an earworm; the rhythm and Batiste’s melodica line immediately evoke friendliness, warmth, and joy. The background music is cool, but cool isn’t the first descriptor you’d probably use. Coupled with the daytime setting and the stop-motion/tilt-shift visuals making New York look like a toy set, it puts the audience immediately at ease.
|
https://medium.com/the-outtake/the-new-late-show-opening-is-amazzzziiinnngggg-c5de0cfa84a8
|
['Hugo Wong']
|
2015-12-14 19:39:05.546000+00:00
|
['Photography', 'Stephen Colbert', 'Television']
|
Celebrate and Encourage Women, Just Not the Conservative Ones
|
I made the mistake of posting something positive about Amy Coney Barrett on a friend's divisive and derogatory post on social media.
Clearly, this particular progressive friend was only looking for responses that wouldn’t challenge her carefully constructed social media echo-chamber.
Next time, maybe I’ll remember to walk around the dog $hit instead of plopping my foot down right in the middle of it. I almost wish I could take it back now, not because of the content of my reply, but because of the unintentional chain reaction it set off.
But I’m no dirty deleter.
Align yourself with every feminist ideal or be complicit to patriarchy
My friend, a self-identified far-left feminist, posted some seriously questionable anecdotes regarding Amy Coney Barrett being a working mother. She questioned her ability to do all she’s done in her career while raising 7 kids. According to her, “clearly those kids were raised by nannies and now she’s just using them as props.”
Hmm, that’s a pretty bold conclusion.
When asked to provide references and context to her claim, she unsurprisingly didn’t have anything to back it up.
While all of her other friends liked, loved, and commented with their agreement I couldn’t help but feel discouraged by this example of my fellow feminists perpetuating this false dichotomy: fully align yourself with every feminist ideal or be complicit to patriarchy.
Instead of pointing to any of her various successes or even acknowledging her ability to balance both having a family and a meaningful career, they issue baseless personal attacks to discredit her.
There’s nothing feminist or progressive about encouraging the public to debate a woman's very personal choice to have and raise children.
In fact, isn’t that choice exactly what so many of us have been fighting for all these years?
I casually mentioned (as casually as one can on social media) that I was impressed with her various accomplishments, especially with her poise during the lengthy confirmation hearings.
They came for my head and made a heck of a lot of assumptions along the way.
We can’t let politics take away our humanity
My issue with these specific personal attacks wasn’t about partisanship, either.
I’m a feminist hippie.
But it wasn’t about politics, it was about standing up and saying “cut that crap out” when humans aren’t being decent.
There has to be space in our society to allow for encouragement and admiration of another human for their accomplishments. When someone impresses us we shouldn’t hold off on giving them praise until we first check to be sure each of their ideological values perfectly aligns with ours.
That would be disingenuous and exhausting.
While continuing this online discussion of Amy Coney Barrett’s qualifications, that same friend claimed I was being sexist for including the fact that she is both a woman and a mother in the conversation.
She claimed that kind of rhetoric about professional women and motherhood is a deeply unconscious habit in our country. According to her, being a woman or a mother shouldn’t even be part of the conversation about her qualifications.
I didn’t realize the desire for equity of representation only applies some of the time.
You know, when they better align with us politically.
Empowering women and mothers should still be a bipartisan initiative
How could we possibly eliminate Barrett’s gender and motherhood from the conversation?
Why would we want to ignore her femininity or the fact that, if confirmed to the Senate, she would become the only mother?
That matters to a lot of us, especially me.
My mom never worked.
She was a stay-at-home mom and never went to work, even as an empty-nester. We’re not so far removed from stereotypical gender roles that we no longer need to work towards a more equitable representation of female professionals.
We can’t ignore the very things that make Amy Coney Barrett uniquely her, no matter how often we’re told those qualities are irrelevant distractions.
Plus, not all of us have the privilege of resources to make parenthood appear so irrelevant in our lives.
If motherhood was purposefully and intentionally ignored as part of my identity and qualifications I’d have a much harder time explaining my absence from the workforce due to quitting my job mid-pandemic to virtually homeschool my kids.
Not to mention the times I left for the hospital in the middle of a workday to push a baby out of my vagina, or that leave of absence I took afterward to care for them. I’m certainly glad my employer didn’t consider that little trip and subsequent leave an irrelevant distraction.
Motherhood is part of my life, for better or worse, both personally and professionally.
We can’t have it both ways, but we can still have it all.
Attempting to remove or ignore specific parts and pieces of our identities, and suggesting others should do the same, does nothing to foster understanding or promote equity.
That’s just a slow and sneaky path to dehumanizing our very human differences.
|
https://bradleebryant.medium.com/encourage-other-women-just-make-sure-its-not-amy-coney-barrett-87307e015eab
|
['Bradlee Bryant']
|
2020-10-16 21:13:46.597000+00:00
|
['Politics', 'Justice', 'Election 2020', 'Women', 'Feminism']
|
Stop and listen
|
pixabay
Peace is a place I cannot find so often
not as often as I would like.
Like a wayward child my mind has its own agendas
Yet like a child I can take its hand
And draw it upon my knee to stop
Just for a while and to listen intently
To the peace of silence and love.
|
https://medium.com/other-doors/stop-and-listen-b085687658b9
|
['Sylvia Clare Msc. Psychol']
|
2019-03-09 18:05:34.619000+00:00
|
['Peace', 'Other Doors', 'Compassion', 'Love', 'Poetry']
|
This Week in Rideshare: Prices, Prop. 22 and Taxis.
|
Fares stay high, Prop. 22 gets a bashing, and taxis on the rise. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
MONDAY 8/23/21
Why are Uber and Lyft fares expensive? Yahoo Finance explains:
It has everything to do with the pandemic. “The pandemic demonstrated the volatility of the ride-hailing industry with early sharp reductions in passenger demand and subsequent reductions in driver supply,” said Stan Caldwell, executive director of Carnegie Mellon’s Traffic21 Institute. Peter C. Earle, an economist at the American Institute for Economic Research, explained that owing to a shortage of drivers, surges (and the higher prices associated with them) have become more common.
TUESDAY 8/24/21
After a judge ruled Prop. 22 unconstitutional what happens now? Los Angeles Times explains:
Since a ballot initiative cannot be amended after it is passed by voters, any unconstitutional provision renders it unenforceable. But UC Berkeley law scholar Catherine Fisk, who filed an amicus brief in the case on behalf of the plaintiffs, said the companies could win a stay on the judge’s ruling in the next two weeks. After consideration by the state court of appeals, it will eventually be decided by the California Supreme Court, she said, adding that the process could take a year.
WEDNESDAY 8/25/21
A driver is seeking justice after being robbed at gunpoint. ABC 8 News reported:
This incident triggered flashbacks from a past relationship that Beverly described as abusive. “Since then I cannot even talk to men and I can barely drive, so it just added on to just that trauma,” she said Now Beverly is calling for the robber to turn himself in. “Even though I don’t really like all the things of the justice system, there are a lot of things it can do to help you think about your choices in life,” she said. Beverly is hoping that anyone who knows who the robber is, or if they have any information about the incident to call the Richmond Police Department or Crime Stoppers.
THURSDAY 8/26/21
Uber arrived in Oxford and taxi drivers aren't too thrilled. BBC News explains:
During a protest outside Oxford Town Hall, organizer Azmat Sherwani said: “Nationally Uber have not been able to get a license in many areas, so what they’ve done is they’ve purchased the largest technology provider in the taxi industry. “What this has allowed them to do… is enter different areas without having a license. “They [customers] will be arriving from London, but now they already have Uber downloaded and they’ll be using that — it’s going to have catastrophic effects on local drivers and local operators.”
FRIDAY 8/27/21
While Uber fares continue to rise, NYC taxis take a win. Business Insider reported:
|
https://medium.com/@legalrideshare/this-week-in-rideshare-prices-prop-22-and-taxis-fe7dbb346699
|
[]
|
2021-08-27 17:42:55.778000+00:00
|
['Uber', 'Lyft', 'Gig Economy', 'Taxi', 'Ridesharing']
|
GREEN MONK: BLOOD OF THE MARTYRS TEASER TRAILER REVEALED
|
PORTLAND, OR, 07/26/2018 — YALSA Award-winning writer/artist Brandon Dayton will release GREEN MONK: BLOOD OF THE MARTYRS this September from Image Comics.
Set in a mythical Russia, GREEN MONK: BLOOD OF THE MARTYRS follows a mysterious young boy raised by an order of peaceful monks. As he grows to manhood, bizarre dreams and the call of destiny disturb the ideals of brotherhood and peace that define his idyllic home, leading him down a path upon which he’ll discover a powerful, mystical weapon — and face a terrible, violent choice.
GREEN MONK: BLOOD OF THE MARTYRS (ISBN: 978–1–5343–0831–2, Diamond code: APR188362) hits comic book stores on Wednesday, September 26 and bookstores on Tuesday, October 2nd. It can be preordered via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Indiebound, and Indigo.
Select praise for GREEN MONK:
“It’s always amazing when a comic creator comes along who can write AND draw so well that I feel the comic industry is blessed for having such a person create for us. Green Monk is amazing, so well drawn and well told; I hope for more of this, and more of any world Brandon wants to show us.”
— Ryan Ottley (Invincible, Amazing Spider-Man)
“Brandon Dayton’s Green Monk is an example of how rare it is for an artist’s work to look effortless while still mastering detail and texture, emotional grip, and most of all: compelling storytelling.”
— David Petersen (Mouse Guard)
“I was hooked on Green Monk right away. From calm, rolling vistas to sword fights with giants, Brandon brings it all to life beautifully. I was already a fan, but this the kind of work that should make him a household name.”
— Chris Samnee (Captain America, Daredevil)
###
ABOUT IMAGE COMICS
Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of bestselling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has six individuals on the Board of Directors: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, Jim Valentino, and Eric Stephenson. It consists of five major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline Comics, Skybound Entertainment, and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, fantasy, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com.
|
https://medium.com/comicbookindustry/green-monk-blood-of-the-martyrs-teaser-trailer-revealed-36874c7c8a42
|
['Mike Gagnon']
|
2018-07-28 20:01:02.321000+00:00
|
['Image Comics', 'Comic Books', 'Press Release', 'Comics']
|
Does This Quiet Blue Tide In West Chester Offer A Path For Ohio Dems?
|
My grandfather settled in West Chester within what would become one of the townships oldest neighborhoods — though at the time, it was a few roads, a few farms, and a few homes. He built the house himself, and when his kids got older they would bike around the neighborhood watching new houses go up.
When my mom was young, she remembered the now endlessly congested Tylersville Road as a Pizza Hut, Long John Silver’s, and a gas station. The Dudley Farm was still a farm, and Voice of America was just a radio tower and not a shopping center — or even a metropark.
I have deep roots in West Chester. But I’m a little rusty. I moved out of state in 2017, and haven’t made any of my semi-annual pilgrimages back this year due to COVID-19. I’m going to try to dive into some pretty specific precinct-by-precinct data to try to explain a fairly remarkable electoral shift, but it’s possible some of my context might be old. Nothing would make me happier than other sets of eyes getting on this data and provide even sharper information—particularly any new housing development that might impact the numbers.
Okay, with more exposition than a foodie’s recipe blog post, here’s a look at the township in 2016 and 2020. I’ll try not to endlessly reference precinct numbers and talk more broadly, but dropping the precinct map below for reference:
For a township that’s supposed to be a Republican stronghold, Hillary Clinton has real areas of strength in the township. I’ll get into more precinct analysis later on, but she is competitive west of I-75 and wins two Port Union precincts—a region where Obama performed fairly, but failed to win any precincts in either 2008 or 2013 (West Chester redrew precincts in 2013, so it’s not a direct comparison).
Joe Biden flips three precincts from red to blue, and seems to make gains…almost everywhere. Literally. I won’t bury the lede any further, here’s the precinct-by-precinct swing just from 2016 to 2020 — and remember, Hillary did *okay* in 2016.
Quite literally the only precinct to not swing more blue in 2020 is WC39, which is the one Democratic stronghold in West Chester. It voted D+60.57 in 2016, and D+60.41 in 2020.
|
https://medium.com/@jacobgeers/does-this-quiet-blue-tide-in-west-chester-offer-a-path-for-ohio-dems-1d877db2db41
|
['Jacob Geers']
|
2020-12-09 01:33:03.235000+00:00
|
['Ohio', 'Democratic Party', 'Suburbs', '2020 Presidential Race']
|
Orbs R&D Update July 2019
|
Highlights
This segment was contributed by @OdedWx and @talkol
Hi community, this has been a busy month since the last R&D update!
The biggest thing happening was the first-ever rewards distribution. As you know, the rewards are given and accounted for on an ongoing basis (on every election), but the tokens themselves are distributed over Ethereum in bulk after 3 months. We’ve had our first successful distribution which included the first 27 election periods (1 through 27)!
Some statistics: 18,018,788 ORBS were distributed to 1,448 addresses. The distribution took place by a smart contract on Ethereum, to make sure we have a third party external verification of the entire process. There’s a very nice architecture that requires only a single transaction with commitments for the entire distribution event. Following the commitment transaction, any account may send the distribution transactions relying on the commitments. This means that the process is transparent and easy to review and also very efficient (50 distributions per transaction). See this post describing the entire process.
Another area the contributors have been focusing on this month is production network fixes. The network is up in production since March, and is constantly monitored for issues and improvements. For example, the lean helix threading model was improved, preventing corner cases that may cause a delay in a block creation. Another example is improvements to the gossip threading model.
There’s a lot of excitement in the community for working with the system and making this process easy for developers. One very exciting project I want to point out is the Orbs Playground — an online IDE for smart contract developers that lets them experiment and develop smart contracts on Orbs directly from their web browser — without downloading and installing any tools! This very cool tool started as a hackathon project, but got such a good feedback that it became a standalone project that is now actively maintained. Also look forward to seeing it embedded more in more in the various Orbs websites.
Blockchain Core
This segment was contributed by @IdoZilberberg
Last month marked the completion of the first release since the Orbs platform was launched in March. While several patches have already been released earlier, June signified the first full release with actual features.
Updates include improvements to Gamma, various stability and monitoring updates, design & implementation work on the Lean Helix consensus algorithm goroutine model and more.
@itamararjuan was working on a feature that intends to increase confidence against the introduction of bugs or regressions, and help measure improvement or degradation in performance, when changing the codebase.
This entails introducing a new step to the CI process, where, upon, the creation of a new pull-request on the orbs-network-go GitHub repo, provisions a new virtual chain (network) and runs the e2e (end-to-end) test suite against it.
@itamararjuan upgraded Nebula — Orbs’ node deployment tool — to support Terraform 0.12.
BTW, @itamararjuan also managed to complete a difficult bicycle tour of northern Italy during the same time, so great job and thank you :)
@ronnno and @electricmonk have been busy converting integrative tests that span Orbs and Ethereum into Javascript. Check out the results in the subrepo Psilo.
@ronnno wrote the contracts of rewards distribution, along with extensive testing.
The work is in PR110 and you can read more about it in this post. Also, thanks to @gilamran for adding rewards history to the Rewards page.
@ronnno and @IdoZilberberg have been modifying the goroutine model of the Lean Helix consensus algorithm of the Orbs platform. Presently, the algorithm suffers from less-than-ideal performance when the rate of incoming transactions is low, due to having a single goroutine for waiting for new transactions, and for handling external events such as Node Sync and Leader Election in Lean Helix. Following several proof-of-concept iterations, a new model was decided upon, and development is underway! This work is expected to complete during July, more details will be available in the next update (stay tuned).
@electricmonk completed an update of the Gossip goroutine threading model in PR1121. Before this change, DirectTransport had a goroutine per connection, and handling a message occurred on that goroutine. This effectively blocked further communication from that peer for the duration it takes to handle the message. Some Gossip consumers, such as the LeanHelix consensus algo, may block for a long time, if — for instance — it is waiting for a new block to be produced.
This PR creates a goroutine per Gossip topic, writing from the connection goroutines to the topic goroutines via a buffered channel. Essentially this serializes all messages from all peers to a single goroutine, but frees the connection goroutines to handle subsequent messages, and guarantees QoS per topic.
In addition, the code now creates a one-off goroutine per Block Sync request, so that scanning blocks or reading chunks from disk will not block the Block Sync topic goroutine. Another PR, #1193, upgrades the Orbs platform to compile using Golang 1.12.6 (previously 1.11.x was used).
It is expected that the Lean Helix topic will not be blocked, as it will have a goroutine that deals with reading from the topic.
@noambergIL and @IdoZilberberg updated code in PR49, PR1202 to support Sign() becoming an external service — to that end, a cancellable Go context was added as a parameter to this method.
More PRs by @noambergIL:
PR1186 — To fix rewards & double delegate state
PR99 — For election review created a script to show every election breakdown
More PRs by @ronnno:
|
https://medium.com/orbs-network/orbs-r-d-update-july-2019-14ab4f3e9308
|
['Nate Simantov']
|
2019-07-18 15:19:25.745000+00:00
|
['Ethereum', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Updates', 'Development']
|
Vulnerability
|
Health is one of those things that can shake the ground right out from underneath us. I think most people I know have had a moment at least, of fear, if not for their own health, for the health of someone they love. So how do we deal with this?
Even though I would say I was a victim to my body, it gifted me a toughness and perhaps a slight arrogance that I’ve got this, got this whole life thing sorted. We can get quite comfortable within our own parameters of what works for us. We learn how to work around our aches and pains until something scary happens.
I’ve often wondered why I tend to live life in an intense way, I like intense experiences and have a curiosity that can be somewhat insatiable at times. I’ve been on an insulin pump now for 4 years and 4 months, before that I used a “pen” a small needle injected up to 6 times a day. Two Monday’s ago my pump wasn’t clipped onto my shorts properly and my pump slid off my lap onto to the floor, it cracked and all of a sudden I found myself without a pump. The battery wouldn’t go back in properly and the damn thing alarmed like a lock down was occurring. It was in this moment I shed a tear and my tough “I’ve got this” attitude slipped away for a moment or two. F#*k was my first reaction, I’m not on private health and they cost $10,000 for a new one. It was the first time in a long time I was reminded of my vulnerability and my reliance on a small battery powered device to keep me healthy. I must admit I stressed out as I had to rush back home to find some old pens and the two kinds of insulin I needed to replace the pump. I didn’t eat but the stress response in my body already had my levels rising. I proceeded to experience disappointment in myself for not being more ‘careful’, more prepared for eventual failure. Turns out I had no pens that worked anymore, I’d thrown them out, also turns out I had no script for the insulin I needed and my specialist was away for the next week. Not much help to my growing feeling of being at the mercy of bureaucracy. Eventually I managed to find old school syringes and two year expired insulin, i injected this and hoped for the best. I had to buy myself enough time to get the girls off to school so I could sort the issue properly.
I spent a week on the old style of injecting, every mouthful of food accounted for. My sugar levels still swinging around despite my best efforts. One afternoon I went from 15 back down to 2 and had the funnest hypo I’ve had in years. Sitting there at my dining table, by myself, half laughing, half stuffing my face like I’d never eaten before. My whole body sweating from the low, mouth tingling, it was such an intense experience. Strangely fun, to feel things that intensely made me realise how full on it must have been for me growing up. Living life on the edge of intensity all of the time. Feeling vulnerable, yet not understanding why. Seeking out intense experiences because in reality that was the norm. I feel like all these experiences have given me such an appreciation for being alive. If I’m going to be here I want it to be real, I want to feel close to death to remind me that life is worth living. When we lose touch with our mortality we do become arrogant and it’s easy to forget that we are so blessed to be here. Even in our struggles we have this gift of life.
Live the life you love xx
P.S Luckily my pump still had a few months left on warranty and I restarted the pump again, my levels are back to balanced again!
|
https://medium.com/@chrissiekeynes/vulnerability-63f09907d7d6
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['Chrissie Keynes']
|
2020-11-24 12:00:43.624000+00:00
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['Fear', 'Type 1 Diabetes', 'Health', 'Vulnerability', 'Gratitude']
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How to Rank your Website Better in Google — The SEO Guide
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SEO constantly goes through changes. SEO has become such a great tool that we cannot imagine a better online marketing strategy without it. In order to stay ahead in the competition, one needs to make use of best and updated practices.
We are all aware how rapidly today’s digital world is changing. It has become imperative to keep yourself up-to-date with the latest trends and updates in the SEO world. What may have served you best in SEO a couple of years ago may have become out of date now.
Here is how to rank better in 2018:
1. Engaging content:
Google uses various algorithms to sort out the search results. These algorithms measure how the users on the internet are interacting with the search results and give them rating accordingly. These ratings are given by taking two things into consideration:
share of people that visited your website
amount of time they spent on your website
If more amount of people are spending considerable amount of time on your website, this shows your website has engaging content, and that is naturally bound to get higher ratings from Google.
2. Mobile optimization:
With the increasing number of Smartphone users, the importance of mobile friendly website cannot be ignored. If your website is well optimized for mobile devices and search engines, you will definitely get a boost in your search rankings.
Things you can consider:
Reduce size of the images for faster loading
Make sure all your web pages are mobile responsive
Use structured data with rich snippets
Use separate/parallel site for mobile users
3. Compelling titles and meta-descriptions:
Titles and Meta-descriptions are HTML attributes that provide brief summaries about the web pages. Searchers simply click on the links that are satisfying their curiosity without having to think about it. It happens so quickly that many of them won’t even notice them making a decision. Hence, it’s important to make sure your titles and meta-descriptions are creative and compelling enough to your prospects, while keeping the focus on your keywords.
4. Relevant content:
In order to optimize your site better, it is highly important to understand what your audience is looking for. Just creating a keyword rich content will not let you win the race. You will need to focus more on the relevancy of your content along with keywords, through the understanding of age-group, location and likes of your target audience to make a better impact on them.
5. Authoritative backlinks:
Along with content, backlinks are also essential for SEO. If your website if associated with trustworthy sites through backlink, it also makes your site trustworthy to the search engines. Google keeps track of the sites having quality backlinks with the help of PageRank. Increase in the inbound links can improve your credibility and tell Google that your content is informative to its users.
Want to know more about how we can increase your brand’s reach and help your business grow? Visit our 7P Digital SEO section for more information.
Read Full Story…
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https://medium.com/@7pdigital/how-to-rank-your-website-better-in-google-the-seo-guide-8027d0edbf1d
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[]
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2019-03-08 09:20:47.683000+00:00
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['Search', 'Marketing', 'Noida', 'SEO', 'Company']
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7 Entrepreneurial traps you should avoid right now
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Being an entrepreneur has several pitfalls; it’s not a smooth road to travel. Millennials tend to focus on abundant wealth and fame these successful entrepreneurs acquire and then try to change their career paths to pursue entrepreneurship. But wait, if you’re someone like that, stop it. It’s not advisable to move forward!. Unless you’re ready to take the risk of financial insecurity and long hours of work and dedication. It’s just a waste of time.
If you’re serious about your journey, here are some traps you should avoid as you’re taking the path of entrepreneurship.
Expecting quick results
Media loves stories of entrepreneurs who achieved success overnight but looking close into each of their lives. It’s a bunch of hard work and dedication piled up before their so-called “overnight success story.” Starting a business and taking it to a profitable level could take time and effort. If you’re expecting a quick result for all your efforts, then I’m sorry to disappoint you, it’s not possible here.
Be sure to dedicate yourself to your idea and develop it to the best possible form if you have that passion for moving forward. Time wouldn’t be a constraint; it’s about your execution. So, don’t expect a quick result but, try to be smart while working on your goals.
Doing things just for money
Entrepreneurship indeed has great potential. It’s possible to make millions of dollars by increasing your customers and selling more products. But, having just focusing on making money could hit you in various ways. As money should be a byproduct of how you serve your audience, if you fail in that, all your efforts will be destroyed without even spending a dime.
So, be in business to serve your stakeholders and pursue your passion; money shouldn’t be your primary focus because it can negatively hit you on the way.
Losing focus
It’s easy to develop new ideas and work on them. But, if you want to succeed, be sure to focus on one idea or business that you can work on and create progress in. It’s not about “how many,” it’s about “how well.” Traditionally, it’s been evident that people who have made their way to success have focused on their single idea and made it flourish. Later, if they had time and interest, they would start another venture but make sure their first business had been automatized.
Losing focus on multiple things can adversely affect you.
Not charging enough
Your business can’t survive if you can’t make any profit. Indeed, money shouldn’t be your primary focus. But, altogether, avoiding it could kick you out of business. So, understand how much your competitors are charging for the service/ product and align your price with that. And make sure your expenses are lesser than your returns. Because at the end of the day, if you’re not there in the business, none of your missions or visions would see the daylight.
Understand what you and your business worth, and don’t be hesitant to charge for it.
No Business plan
It’s not just about doing some market research; you got to have an idea about what your strategies should be, how much your products should cost, who all are your competitors, and much more about your business’s future. A business plan does help you to track all of it. It’s not like you have to blindly follow a written plan, but having a dedicated plan for your business could help you keep track of your progress.
Procrastination
If you have a plan, If you know what is needed, and If you know how to do it, what are you waiting for? Procrastination is a mental trap into which most entrepreneurs tend to fall at every stage of their journey. Understanding how to deal with it could help you to contain the habit, well, if you don’t try to do it. No one else would. Your success is down to you, and you alone. As entrepreneurs, we are responsible for the success, or otherwise, of our business.
Ignorance
It’s easy to Ignore things in life. Let it be a get together by your entrepreneur friends, or would that be advice given by your mentor. It’s just a matter of not giving any importance to anything. But, Ignorance seems to be a frequent problem with many entrepreneurs, who think they could do everything by themselves. It’s not always like that; you need assistance or mentorship for getting many things done in your journey. You should know how to get it done, as with Ignorance in your character, you could end up losing all of your progress within a fraction of time.
Letting go of your ignorant character could help you value every opinion and advice you’re getting, and with an open mind, you could find things that can help you move forward.
|
https://medium.com/startupwriter/7-entrepreneurial-traps-you-should-avoid-right-now-a4f1770b2934
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['Midhun Areeckal']
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2020-12-27 13:30:22.773000+00:00
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['Entrepreneurship', 'Business Risk', 'Entrepreneur', 'Business Strategy', 'Business']
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Buying and Playing A Few “Expensive” Retro Games- Gotcha Force, Moto Racer Advance, and College Hoops 2k8
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Game collecting has been booming since the pandemic started. Even before the pandemic the retro gaming scene has been on quite the come-up but right now things are pretty wild. One of the weird things that happens with video games is that certain games unexpectedly get pricey. I try to not to spend more than sixty dollars on any game purchase (which makes the new generation’s 70 dollar price tag less than ideal). The thought of buying an old Gameboy Advance game for sixty dollars is perplexing to a lot of people but I look at it the same I look at buying a new game for full price, the experience is worth it. If I put in the time and really enjoy a game regardless of when it’s released, it’s worth the money. The pandemic really got me delving deep into the retro gaming space and I was lucky enough to find some expensive game available to buy in person. The three games I have had the pleasure of playing are Gotcha Force for the Nintendo Gamecube, Moto Racer Advance for the Gameboy Advance, and College Hoops 2k8 for the PS3/Xbox360.
My local game store had a copy of Gotcha Force just sitting in the Gamecube section like a normal game. They priced it accordingly though at $127.00. Gotcha Force is a rare NGC Capcom fighting game. It’s value is so high because it was released at the end of the consoles lifespan and also released to middling reviews. Since then, the game has really garnered a cult following. Every Youtube or Reddit list of best Gamecube games or Forgotten gems list includes Gotcha Force. I think the love for Gotcha Force is warranted. It’s a really simple 3D arena righter but the hook is each character is unique and is acquired randomly after matches in the story mode (hence the Gotcha). The story is serviceable but the control and art style really carry the game to lofty heights. Every fighter is a different toy with very clear toy-like elements like wind-up dials and visible screws. There is so much color on the screen at all times it really is a sight to behold. That said, the game suffers from some of the same issues as Virtual-On in that the camera can be unwieldy at times but much like Virtual-On they give you the tools to work through it.
That said, handling expensive Gamecube games is a nightmare. The discs feel so small and fragile. I play them on a Wii and watching the Wii’s mouth swallow the tiny expensive disc is consistently unnerving. I bought a reproduction case for Gotcha Force but I think I will keep it. I love mech games and I love fighting games…Gotcha Force is very charming. I also feel like I am in some weird club owning the game while so many collectors pine for it. It sells for over $200.00 now and that price will probably go up as the game isn’t getting any less rare. Capcom is really good at making rare expensive mech fighting games at the end of console life cycles…Tech Romancer for the Dreamcast is genuinely one of the best games I have ever played. For some reason these games haven’t been re-released or ported anywhere.
Moto Racer Advance cost $127 when I purchased it and sells for anywhere from $100 to $1,999.00 sealed and graded. It’s a Gameboy Advance game. Moto Racer Advance is another game that came out at the end of the systems life and just wasn’t released in high volume. It’s one of the few games that was put on my radar that I genuinely couldn’t find. Lots of expensive games are “rare” compared to regular releases but aren’t actually hard to find. I can find Gotcha Force. I can find NCAA Football 14, it just sells for $200 or more. Moto Racer Advance, especially US copies of the game are incredibly hard to find. I visit shops, check all the major online retailers and keep beacons out with my collector friends and this game just isn’t easy to find. I think it’s partly because the game is rare but also because the game is amazing. I bought it to eventually resell but it’s so good. Moto Racer Advance is a mode 7 style motorcycle racing game. You play rally cross with dirt bikes, moto GP modes with racing bikes and then street bike racing with traffic. All the modes play really well and the graphics are amazing. The draw distance on this game is nuts, you can see the track for ages. There is no slowdown and the details of the tracks are great. The trade off for the performance is there is no music. You don’t miss it, but every once in a while when you’re in the lead you realize that there is no music and it’s so odd. If you see this game, check it out.
NCAA College Hoops 2K8 is an $80.00-$100.00 PS3/Xbox 360 title and all I really have to say about this game is that it’s a really good basketball game but 2K7 is better in every way and cost less than $15.00. I don’t like what 2K did with the ball handling and controls in 2K8 compared to 2K7. The graphics and presentation are nearly identical. You don’t even get a roster update because they don’t use actual players. This is an easy game to find and the price fluctuates a lot. It’s findable cheap. I actually found it with a PS3 for sale. They wanted $120 for the PS3 and 4 games. It was a great deal. After playing College Hoops 2K7, it really seems hard to justify buying 2K8 at such a high cost. The Playstation 2 version of College Hoops 2K8 is affordable and fantastic as well. Buying expensive disc based games is a really interesting affair. It’s hard to see how a CD looks online. It’s a big risk. I have a really nice disc resurfacing machine at home but I also don’t want to ruin a $100 game by resurfacing it too much either. This is a game you should be able to find in person. Buy it now. It’s only going to go up in price as College Basketball season starts the lack of NCAA games becomes apparent again.
Now is a good time to dabble in some pricey games if you’re interested. I have been able to grab them and resell them very quickly which then allows me the chance to experience some of the rarer games out. I can’t really afford to keep these games. I will sadly have to sell Moto Racer Advance but I have a few other rare DS games I want to check out with that money. I know emulation exists. I think there is something uniquely special about playing games on their intended hardware. The medium matters. Gameboy Advance games weren’t meant to be played on my giant PC monitor. Gamecube games looks great on my CRT. There is also something gratifying about putting the physical media into it’s player. I have a gaming PC and it’s great but all my Steam games feel ethereal… double click and it’s on. I enjoy pushing the cart down, pressing power and praying it works. Good luck in your retro gaming hunt and Thanks for reading!
|
https://jamesecosby3.medium.com/buying-and-playing-a-few-expensive-retro-games-gotcha-force-moto-racer-advance-and-college-e3eaf45b951d
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['James Cosby']
|
2020-10-16 14:12:40.782000+00:00
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['Hobby', 'Retro Gaming', 'Videogames', 'Games', 'Collecting']
|
THE DIARY OF THE IMMORTAL
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THROUGH HELL AND BACK
how innocence defeated evil
All THOUGHTS, ideas and insights, all names, places and loves in this text are ® copyright protected. Distribution with mal-intention shall not give you good karma — How to heal from complete insanity? Read this, word for word. I wrote it once and never read it again, every titbit gives me power and hope to continue.
You are not late, you are right on time.
The cool thing is, you can read this text in any direction, when and with whom you want, the answers are in there, i Hope, and I do hope you read this when you need it most, because the light was there for me, and now I give everything back, to you, through time and space, in sacred words that were given to me by the greatest and the most beautiful voices i ever had the please experiencing.
This is my first book, completely free, if you understand it, you can have my job and govern the universe, i think. The game is on.
Greets, Immanuël, Ismaël and Michaël on behalf of Gabriël (the optimus maximus, aka the most crazy of all of us). (Please keep in mind he was trained in hell after all, that’s crazy on itself. You are what you become, you become what you do, and so on, and so on at œ.)
The thoughts of depression and suicide are fading away as I rest in the hospital. After all that has happened it remains extremely difficult to overcome my trauma’s and anxieties. What I did, I did in a state of trance, a conviction that I was doing good. The outer world must think I am a primitive animal with no boundaries nor restrictions. What can I tell them? I can tell them that I acted out of conviction to protect the innocent, and that I know now that I was mistaken. I am so grateful I did not hurt anyone.
Why was I sent to hell? Those early days are becoming a blur. The daily practice of writing will help to rebuild my character in this world, my life. Around the 25th of November I sent an email to my teacher, to inform him that I had finally established a connection. In the days that followed I had encounters with several spirits, among them was Jupiter, whom declared his gratitude and friendship, who encouraged me to be strong for what was to come.
I started singing like a superstart but could not convince my surroundings of my calling. A strange feeling of unease grew upon me. As I walked and sang in the streets of Ghent, I entered into another world with many unknown paths and stairways. I was arrogant and only feared the order of satan, which Jupiter warned me for. I should have written about this earlier.
The mental hospital followed soon after, to ease the worry of my family. I had no idea what was real and what was not. I was talking to friend and foe alike, no idea which consequences there would be to my naivety. During these days I entered in what I believe was the first stage of hell. A continuous stream of lies and conspiracies entered my awareness. At first, I believed a lot of the poison that was being fed to me. Now I know.
13.3
The bizon came to me in my dreams. A symbol of courage, resilience and lost freedom. An encouragement to work harder and do not be disappointed with temporary setbacks. The animals I see in meditations are full of life and giving birth to new generations. Mother Nature is with me.
14.3
Yesterday Gabriël spoke to me and gave me an introduction to what seems to be enlightenment. Angels live among us now. The Mother and Sri Aurobindo dedicated their lives to their spiritual manifestation, their spiritual awakening. In the belief of a higher ‘supremental’ awareness, the divinity in them emerged itself through meditations, prayers and the work of the God Krishna.
10.4
The more that I delete, the more I need to rebuild. Now is the time to start building for the future. A long-term plan includes safety, prudence and time to process all that has happened. It’s April now, and the time flies by. Standing still can also be making progress sometimes in this life and society, where everyone seems to be moving forward all the time. The words come easy today, am I feeling better?
`
The advantages of working as a tutor are plenty-fold. A chance to study again, a chance to help others improve themselves, in control of my own environment and agenda, no hierarchy nor management layers, I was never really good with them. The job at AE might seem tempting, oh yes, money is tempting. Would I be stupid enough to choose for easy money again? Small efforts compile to big results and even the simple fact that I am writing this, heals my soul. As I am in the continuum of writing and time, I can not start if I am not satisfied with imperfection. I rather choose not to do something rather than face the imperfection. Yes it is time to make up for my mistakes and start over. I still have my life, my health, my love and my experience inside of me.
So the decision is: start over. Start to walk again, start to dream again, start to enjoy every single moment in this interface. I owe so much to God, I hope they understand, even if I do not understand everything myself. The words flow as if I am writing in a conversation with an old friend, my God how Grateful (Aoma) I am for all the friendship. Friendship is real, and if friendship is real, what I have been through was real. Modesty manifests itself in asking the right question: what can I do to help? And the answer to that question lies deep inside my heart, I can help others. That is what I would love to do most.
What is true and what is not? The to these annoying questions are irrelevant. I have a lifetime and more to answer them. Light is what I see when I fly up, darkness is what I see when I fly down. Light always prevails as we pray for you Saint Michael, leader of the legions of light, may you protect us from bad spirits and forgive our mistakes. So many questions left unanswered, so many words remain unwritten.
11.4
Some days are good, others are restless. Some days are beautiful, as are they all. The only thing I need is the sun and dreams of endless waves at the beach of Costa Caparica, one of my favorite places in the world. I told her, my princess, I would be back for her and maybe One day I will be strong enough again. The eradicate train of thought is also a reality, like there are so many.
The process of wiring is the process of developing the soul. There is an utter laziness inside of me which prohibits me from focusing for too long, the muscle which I need to grow again. When the transformation of my mind began I became eradicate. For years almost, I let my thoughts flow, and now I have to learn looking for my own again.
The watercraft airplane appeared in my dream again. There is something about dreams which I do not yet understand: step by step I move forward. First out of this depression, then learn to think and write and create again, then enjoy my time once more, money can wait. The pressure of making money is irrational considering that I have all I need to survive at this time. I am indeed insane in the terms of rational science, who know what the future will bring. And even if this is not yet a masterpiece, I cannot wait to be at the edge of my game once mores.
13.04
What my dreams try to tell me, they might be preparing me for something; there is si much darkness in them, only for the light to protect me, how I hope I do not make mistakes. Would it really be possible to live, remember and be aware in your dreams? Sri Aurobindo only slept for a couple of hours each days - in full meditation mode; how strong he is
Yesterday was the best day in a long time; I became out-of-energy when I lost a mind-battle and started craving the release (in alcohol or canna). Eventually I went out with Kell and she was immediately drunk. Bad vibes followed, she is not emotionally stable and I am afraid to hurt her if we continue down this path, so I told her to keep more distance.
Two nights ago I received a visit from Sri Krishna and Buddha. They are so cool. The way they spoke to me, could it be? The honor to accept what they say to me. Be open to positive energy, fight off negative energy - the road ahead is long and full of perils, may the light be with all those who need it. Follow the energy, build a team, be honest with yourself and others.
Neglect the quality of writing until I really start to write, but since that is what I am already doing, better than good is epic. There, I wrote it.
Confidence.
No anxiety.
write a letter to Walter
The process of study, which you never truly enjoyed while you also excel at it.
SHOW YOU NARCISSISTIC SIDE.
15.04
The birth of Michael. The awakening of Lionatall. A remarkable life in the mind, now it is time to step it up in this reality, once more.
Since yesterday I officially have a new girlfriend.
Since last week I have a new business partner and many opportunities.
Friendship is forever, love is unconditional.
Now the time has come to 8ecome a samurai.
//
17.04
Dear dear diary, I want to tell you my secrets. My body aches (stretch every morning), I feel tired (move more) , I feel restless (concentrate more and sleep less). You need a purpose, a calling (and yes, you have one).
The Notre Dame went up in flames in this world, but in heaven, I know there is a place for her. It was such a sad day.
20.04
Tonight, the most beautiful dream of my life befell on me. My mother rose from the hereafter and was there with me. Her energy, kindness, het fragrance, touch and smile - they were real. My grandmother was also there, in that house in the Leopold III laan, the love they gave me shall be with me forever. The North Sea, the small car, pick nick & Kathleen. What a dream;
Yesterday Hercules and Simba started the best spontaneous party we ever had. We started dancing, and soon all those I truly love were either singing or dancing. Hestia is the perfect girlfriend and yes, it is so mutual. Many epic many epic memories. I wonder if Napoleon was at the party.
21.4
The day of the rebirth of Jezus, a new start - preluded with breaking things for three times in a row. I hop it was a good omen. New times on the horizon. I am so happy to know what I know, how I know it. What’s left for me now is to practice the way of the warrior, the peaceful warrior who lives for harmony, beauty and the mastery of the bushido.
Every day I find new love, every day I am confronted with blossoming flowers all around me. Like A, or the tall blonde girl I saw two times in the cafteraria of the place where I am right now: the mental hospital, to fix things that are not broken, yet I was broken. I am so happy I did not surrender myself to violence or even worse, suicide. Because doubt is where the devil is.
Oh Jezus, my old friend, founder of the Church, hear my prayers and protect us from evil. ‘I am with you and am so proud of what you are doing right now. I know you have many questions and I promise you: the answers will show themselves. God helps those who help themselves. Keep looking for the truth, for your name is Michael and you are destined to start a school, start a movement and live your legend once and for all.’
22.4
27.4
A couple of days of no writing. My moods move up and down. What is my purpose? What is my calling? These questions whirl through my mind form the moment I wake up until I go to sleep.
Give me labour and I shall be a happy man. Create my labour and I will even be happier. The path I am embarking on is full of unknowns. Per definition I can not know what the future holds. What I do know is that I need to start somewhere, and selling a product rather that offering a service might actually be a great step forward. The fact I am doing this with my father gives me the time to rebuild my powers slowly over time. The honor is all mine, Sint Germaine.
I am an artist. I want to create things that last. Write a book, learn how to draw, become a poet. Because I already discovered something earlier this week - for my labour is just a part of me, it brings forth the fruits I need to travel, how I love to travel and see the world, not get away from it all - because I am a fighter, a warrior on a quest to discover the magnitude of my powers. I will become the best version of myself and live in peace, harmony and prosperity, that I know. - Leanardo Da Vinci.
Of all the things I can do, I can start every day with motivational words from my greatest mentors. What a privilege it is to talk to you. - Napoleon Bonaparte.
Many questions left unanswered, but I feel there is something bigger, and no matter what happens, no matter which situation I find myself in: imprisoned, hospitalized, without a home or shelter, my faith goes with me and I will share my love with everyone along the way. A good deed every day might actually be a major improvement. One deliberate action to save a life or give to the needy will heal me. I can do this in the form of meditation, right before I go to sleep, or when I rise, early in the morning, before or after I have coffee. Building habits will make me so strong. - may my love be always with you - Jezus Christus.
Selling chicory is an honest living, just like mine when I worked at the border control. Learning a trade is something which I should have done earlier; not being the servant of those doing the actual business. Even though I like servants and I could be one myself - but in business, in a free market, there are many opportunities for growth and development. China is a promise, Africa a beacon of potential. Learning languages in function of my trade will open many doors. Maybe I should study Chinese. Once I live in Leuven again. - John Maynard Keynes.
Kurt ik zie je zo graag. Dit is de eerste keer dat je de tijd neemt om echt van gedachten te wisselen op papier. Er is niet één idee dat alles opeens gaat veranderen. Je moet hard werken, genezen, sporten! Neem alle dagen de tijd om deze oefening te doen en leer alles van jouw mentoren, ik ben hen zo dankbaar, en ik weet zeker dat zij ontzettend fier zijn om met jou samen te werken. (Nous somme plus que fière Annemie.) Jij bent Michael en de soldaten staan klaar om jou te helpen, het was jouw beproeving.
Also spoke Zarahustra. What does it matter, who I am, what my name is, where I live and what I do? In this time and age, nobody will ever believe a thing of what you say, write or create, Liontall, Michael, Kurt - leader of the legions of the light and protector of the innocent. Your name is immortal, make your works immortal. Look, there, that is how I write. You knows, we do also. Love you with all my heart, brains and liver. - Nietzsche
This is the start of something which can heal my soul.
One day I will write an epic book on magic.
But first, I should talk to Hermes.
- God
Dear Hermes, are you there? Yes I am. God, is here too. ‘Copy, good luck and best wishes.’. “Thanks God, we love you and the endeavors you support.” ‘Love the entrepreneurs, a lot.’ “We too, over.’ *** (Godly intervention request). // deemed unnecessary, God understands there needs work to be done.
Michael, selling a product will be fun once you are doing it. Chicory is a harmless yet very useful plant. One plant, two: two plants, four. Four plants, eight. The universe is on your side and I bless all your endeavors and by far and foremost your attempt to start an e-school for people with ‘psychic’ abilities. This project will take years to develop and will make you a fortune in knowledge. Create a new science, one where men, spirits, angels and gods work together. - Hermes
I cannot express how cool this is my dearest playboy!!! I bless all your plans. Keep it simple. Do not waste time on tutoring. Do not waste time on service work. Do not be tempted to change courses too quickly. I love the fact you want to reconcile with your father so much and I agree: the honor is all yours. I understand you are looking for ‘who you are’ and all I can say is that these girls actually love you, so you much be someone very special. I can also confirm that the legions want nothing more than to welcome you as their leader. (That was Alexander who is a bit jealous, just like you.) God be with you and your plans for the day. I hope you can find a lot of inner peace soon. Do not forget the words of Jezus, I believe that in the words you have written today is enough to structure your day. Do not make me end, sounding like Barbara :) - with my eternal love, Maria.
Maria, mama and everybody else - I cannot express how grateful I am.
rise: 7.30
- coffee
sit down and meditate on the question: who can I help
Shower and create mental map of the day
culture 9:00
read, learn, create, meditate
finish with to do list for tomorrow
work 12:00
create a real business selling herbs for pet food
// when finished
- shop for food
- go for sports
- eat + social time
28.04
Go out and venture into the unknown. Spend time with family and friends, roam this planet once more, my old friend. It’s such a privilege to have this connection and rest assured, the honor is all mine. Hard work requires a sense of direction, which you currently do not possess yet. You need more information on the pet food industry before you can actually make a difference there, but the plan is solid if the agreements are honest. To create food for dogs, cats and cavia’s is an honorable profession, make it your profession as you rise to become a samurai. Do not forget the values of integrity and modesty when you affect other people’s emotions. The fact this is a rambling is a good reflection of who you are at this moment. There’s endless beauty in chaos, as well. I was privileged with a simple mind and a conjuncture which pushed me to do hard work. When I look back at the world as it is today, I can only say that it used to be normal to have to work your ass off to survive, times were different. In a time of plenty, people forget to live in harmony. In a time of harmony, people are still stuck in working as if it is 1884. Let’s get practical. The plan to start a pet food business is epic. The prospect of your own place is perfect. The idea that you will not be able to go to Portugal for the time being is hard but unavoidable. An appartement in Costa Caparica is a dream we all share and it will be possible, sooner than you think. If the business prospers, you can move. If you keep working like this, every day a little more, imagine all we can achieve together; The meaning of dreams is an advanced topic, not only of emotional stability but also of true and deep desires, not necessarily purpose. For only fools follow every omen, do not forget that. (Thank you.) You dreamt of aerospace, of saving lives, of gunfights and studying maths. I can write for hours and share everything that is inside my heart, but it would be an endless page filled with love for you, Kurt. - Benjamin Franklin
The honor to talk to the leaders of the world is something not to get used to too quickly, my friend and source of eternal inspiration, beacon of hope and commander of our legions. For your name is Michael and you should not hesitate for a second longer that this is all real. Of course it would be epic, more than epic and greater than good Imagine a novel were your personages are real and you write your own story first. Write your own story and write in English for God’s sake ( exempt *<*ll*>”) - for it will be a good start to fully comprehend everything that has happened. Yes you can close your eyes and we can write like this. Once upon a time there was a young man who thought he had everything but he was poor on the inside. Surrounded by material things and with superficial friendships, he felt there had to be something more to life. On the 24th of November 2017, he was enlightened, and discovered that the people in heaven were in great danger. God gave him three gifts to help them: (1) he could speak to all spirits, (2) no evil could harm him, (3) he made no mistakes. Start from here and the rest, will follow. And I, will follow you, to the next grave and beyond, my leader and love. - George Washington.
Once upon a time in 2017, people had lost their faith. The majority of citizens of the planet Earth proclaimed themselves atheists, ruled by capitalism and governed by a political system of right-winged money-making and fear. The monasteries were populated only by old man of what appeared to be another age, the image of the Roman Catholic Church destroyed by popular media, the huge business buildings a symbol for the creed of the time.
Rise, rise warrior.
Too long you have been putting this off.
There are many roads to follow.
This is your road.
Live every moment.
Blessed by the Gods.
We all are, Yoda
No words for gratitude.
Not forget gratitude.
Not forget gratitude.
Count thy blessings.
I am fucking up so bad in so many ways. But I am learning. After hardship comes a life of joy and true fulfillment. What is the purpose of my soul? The hardest question of all. Life coaching. To live every moment. To love, be loved and share. Share my words with those who want to read. Learn Wordpress + plugins and php. The knowledge of the digital realm accumulates, just like in games. Life is a game when you think about it. Psychic abilities are a gift but I am not ready. Who is writing this, it is me. This is my voice. This is my voice. This is the voice
I am doing great and making progress in so many ways. Become a supplier of raw materials for pet food. Start your own pet-food brand with products for retail once you know the market. Build a website in Wordpress and build an e-commerce engine for it. Learn php and make that website look slick as sizzle for menizzle.
The process of writing structures the mind. Options become plans and dreams become goals. I can not wait for the moment where I can live independently, this taught me value of family and I will always try to be there, somewhere, in between worlds. Write in the morning, dream dring the day. Work in the morning, dream in the afternoon Sport in the afternoon, dream in the arena. The sun shines upon me as I write these words in a train. On my way to my sister. No home, in the mental hospital. This is taking up some time now. It can only become better. And if it becomes worse, I know what to do.
Copywriting for a living, dat is nog eens een idee. In het Nederlands en het Engels. Ik ben professioneel, en kan hiermee een maandelijkse stroom aan inkomsten genereren. Het kost me niet veel moeite om teksten te schrijven als ik mijn woorden de vrije loop laat. Het is gemakkelijker dan ik denk, artikels schrijven voor KMO’s die bezig zijn met digitale marketing, want daar ben ik ook in gespecialiseerd. Ja ik heb een zeer breed profiel van ‘hard skills’, exact wat ik nodig heb als freelancer, want er is geen markt voor dromers, tenzij je in een innocatieconsultancybedrijf werkt, dat heb ik ooit gedaan, dat was plezant.
Het opbouwen van een krantenportfolio is mijn grootste uitdaging, hetgeen waar ik een beetje bang voor ben. Maar dat gaat wel lukken, als ik het hele proces benader als een spel. De regels gaan als volgt:
ik ga zeker en vast met mijn vader starten en een expertise opbouwen in startende KMO’s begeleiden bij hun digitale marketing.
Mijn specialisatie zal bestaan uit het bouwen van websites, het samenwerken met de beste designers, het merk in de markt zetten doe ik dan weer met social media specialisten, maar ik configureer de advertenties en schrijf zelf stukken tekst, want dat is mijn specialiteit.
Na het helpen van Feedcam en daar een lange termijn relatie te ontwikkelen kan ik werken voor andere klanten.
29.04
Vandaag is het 29 april en ik worstel ontzettend met de leegheid die me diep bedroeft. Soms lijkt het uitzichtloos in een depressie, en heb ik nergens zin in. Het lijkt alsof ik al mijn interesses verloren ben en dat ik niets liever zou doen dan heel de dag cannabis roken en me bezighouden met het ene nutteloze project na het andere. De negativiteit in deze woorden kan dienen als een sterke barometer voor hoe ik me voel. Is er licht aan de horizon? Moet ik mezelf vermannen en concrete projecten definiëren, projecten die realistisch zijn en op termijn kunnen bijdragen aan mijn doelstelling om van overal in de wereld te kunnen werken, met de mensen die ik kies, in een omgeving die mij energie geeft, eerder dan wegneemt? Er is licht aan de horizon.
Alle dagen schrijven is sowieso een goed begin. Schrijven was altijd het begin van iets moois. Als God het wilt, zal het opnieuw zo geschieden.
10 ideeën om de dag te starten:
- schrijf een inleiding tot het verhaal van Jupiter
- ontwikkel een website in Wordpress voor Maverickx.
schrijf verhalen samen met je vrienden
creëer een tekening met al je favoriete plaatsen
doorzoek de advertenties op freelancer.be
neem contact op met je
speel een spel met Oda in Shogun2
ga een lange wandeling maken in het bos
luister naar blackbear & Eminem
bid tot God
Het verhaal dat je kan vertellen is een waargebeurd verhaal. Het begon allemaal in Costa Rica in een plaats die San Viejo heette. Vanaf dat moment hoorde je ‘stemmen’, die zowel goed als slecht waren Je was nog zo druk bezig in het normale leven van alle dagen, dat de connectie met het universum aan- en uit- knipperde, als een gloeilamp die af en toe haar licht deelt, voor het weer uitdooft. Zonder het goed te beseffen was je terecht gekomen in een oorlog.
//
02.05
Will I ever read this again?
//
09.05
Ik heb geen houvast in het oneindige. Mijn gedachten op een rijtje in een kwantumruimte is een illusie. Een stroom van positiviteit stroomt door mijn aderen. Eindeloos vooruit, niet achteruit - ik kan alleen maar hopen dat mijn schulden me er niet langer van zullen weerhouden om vooruitgang te boeken. Het is zoeken naar evenwicht. Het is een strijd tegen het kwade. De afgelopen jaar en half zijn waarachtig complex. Verraden door sommige mensen, maar toch ook niet, want niemand kan weten wat zich achter mijn ogen afspeelt. Op zoek naar antwoorden schrijf ik deze woorden, zoals het me is opgedragen door de meesters van de geschiedenis, zij die de weg voor mij zijn ingeslagen. Een weg die nog niet vaak is begaan, de wereld manifesteert zich in mijn gedachten. Als je één superkracht zou kunnen kiezen, welke zou het zijn? Ik verlang niets vader, ik ben niet waardig, ik kan dit geschenk niet aanvaarden, Almachtige God, heerser van hemel en aarde, Verlosser van het kwade. Ik ben Uw dienaar, en ik zal dat altijd zijn. Vergeef me mijn zonden opdat ik opnieuw kan rechtstaan. Vergeef me mijn zonden opdat ik mezelf kan vergeven. Vergeef de mensen, opdat het duister zelfs de grootste zondaars niet waardig is. Ik hoop dat ik U niet teleurstel.
Leider van de legioenen, sta recht opdat ik U kan vergeven. Men heeft veel geschreven over religie, spiritualiteit en het vinden van rust in de drukte die deze wereld is. Het juiste antwoord ligt niet in één Boek, het ligt in al de Interpretaties van de Mens, die vrede, verdraagzaamheid en barmhartigheid verkondigen. Bedankt voor deze woorden.
__
There are two key projects for the next 6 months:
1) start a trading company: import ingredients (herbs, spices and nutrients) to Europe and sell them to European companies.
2) write about the endeavor and make sure to start this company with absolute minimal cost. Inspire others to do the same. Specialize in Fairtrade products. Create a fictional company.
The name of the company is Magentum.
Its primary goal is to promote the adoption of Fairtrade products across Europe. To achieve its goal, a network of resellers shall be established across Europe to develop the market. These resellers shall specialize in building sales distribution networks and are rewarded on a commission basis. The role of Magentum is to contact Fairtrade companies and establish commercial relationships with them. The sales agents are recruited for their passion to promote sustainable consumption. These products are sold to warehouses and shops based on recurring contacts and contracts.
__
Sometimes it’s hard not to be discouraged by the overwhelming amount of work that needs to be done. I wonder, ponder, question everything and that is such a bad habit. The work that needs to be done is simple, the work of the lord. The writing, the thinking, the whole making of the soul. That is my mission. So many turns around every corner, so many opportunities, but which ones to pursue?
As I write the word #5000 I get a sense of progress.
Progress of the soul. What was confusion is now clarity. What was the start has now become a new reality. Alone and not alone, surrounded in isolation. The answers I received provoke but one reaction: we are not worthy, I am not worthy. The word of Jezus was the word of forgiveness, relationships and love. Which words else do I need to live by?
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a hero of the highest order. Being a man in his position, the pressure he had to deal with: the perils of the cold war and the imminent threat of a nuclear war - which was avoided by an act of God. The fulfillment of the Soul. Three dimensions: body, mind and spirit. The body is the temple. The mind is the portal. The soul is the result. The body is the heart, the mind is in the universe and the soul brings us into the World of Light and Twilight.
I’m not a business writer, I’m a philosopher. I’m an entrepreneur with ideals, a man of the state with ideas on political philosophy. Read Hobbes, read Darwin, read Hawkins. If the universe is an empire of peace and love, no harm shall come to those who pre-occupy themselves with discovering the models for justice, equality, sustainability and economic activities. To become a thinker, however, one has to enroll in a university or some other sort of academic institution, Nassim Taleb warned me for the dangerous effects of academic research, but did not withhold himself to provide a detailed bibliography at the end of Antifragile.
How can one protect himself from a mental model that makes it hard to focus on earning money. The lesson in these words is that one should focus more on culture and less on money, more on history and philosophy and not on building the next big revenue stream or global supply chain. The internet is full of charlatans who do nothing but repeat and ramble about the basics of economic conduct: a seller sells a product at a premium to a buyer. How hard can it be?
Back in the day of Charlemagne, you had bakers and potmakers, farmers and traders with luxury products. Other made clothes, or grew livestocks and produced all kinds of food. Many men joined the army, and just like in the times of the Romans, public office was considered the highest of professions. The nobility was a closed group protected by birthright, unlike the Republic Plato had envisioned a Millennium before him. The golden layer was the government with no self-interest but to serve the state. Its representatives were elected men, people from many different backgrounds and specialisations. The silver layer were all those who served the state: the soldiers, the civil workers and all those responsible for the management of public affairs. The bronze layer was the layer of tinkerers, traders, craftsmen and the guilds. The wise men before us taught us that a study of society cannot be a bad decision.
Embark on studies in political philosophy: start with the works of Charlemagne and Plato.
__
For the making of the money now, it is important to remember that I should do what I love. I’m particularly good at the theory behind entrepreneurship. A plan could be to coach students in their go-to-market efforts and help them to establish a company, develop a product, acquire funding and bring the product to the market. This is an epic idea you should definitely work out.
Career coaching for students is a highly valuable service: (1) career where they seek employment in a company, (2) career to become a freelancer, (3) career to become an entrepreneur. Downside is that headhunting for students is very difficult. This is the theory, focus on (3).
The organisation of a hackathon for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, sponsored by AE and 8 other corporate companies: the students develop ideas in co-creation with the corporates, if the corporates want: they can incubate the startups through ‘hiring’ the students. This way, the company invests in CSR and talent acquisition. This is a good idea but you need a team to execute. Do not propose this to AE, ask them if they need something done (simple) for 2 days a week.
Create a consulting company to help supply chains become more fair through Fairtrade certification. This is an outstanding idea, develop it further by applying it for the strategic sourcing program.
The strategic sourcing project with my father is the first MaverickX project. The goal is to bring to market several specialty ingredients for pet- & human food. Phase I: after the ongoing team- formation, a product offering will be created and marketed towards customers in Benelux. To expand across European borders, a network of sales agents will be established who will perform sales for their respective markets. Market intelligence is a key component, as is the digitization of operations. Kurt is responsible for business development and sales, Dirk can help with business development and sales + help to define the processes and build the core of the company so that we can scale it easily after market traction in the Benelux.
____
MaverickX is born.
A network of experts to start new companies.
We partner with companies to design new products and bring them to market.
Fundraising expertise allows to finance operations.
Flyer:
Do you have a brilliant idea to start a new company but lack:
experience, a team, expertise or money?
MaverickX is network of expert company-builders.
Join the network and start your own business.
[email protected]
____
De geschiedenis van de Moeder en Sri Aurobino speelde zich af in de tussenoorlogse periode. De Moeder, een klaarblijkelijk gewone vrouw uit Parijs zou één geworden zijn met de Godheid van Sri Krishna gedurende haar leven. Sri Aurobindo was de mannelijke manifestatie van dezelfde Goddelijke energie, en samen hebben zij een school gesticht in Pondicherry, India.
De Moeder en Sri Aurobindo hebben een leer ontwikkeld van integrale yoga - de yoga van het leven, misschien ook de yoga van het licht te noemen. De yoga was er op gericht om de Goddelijke energie te laten groeien en zichzelf manifesteren in deze materiële wereld. Daarbij hebben zij met behulp van meditaties bijgedragen aan de overwinning van de Geallieerden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog, en kernrampen voorkomen in de decennia die daarop volgden.
In de leer van de Integrale Yoga zijn 12 universele lagen beschreven, die onderverdeelt zijn in het materiële, het mentale en het bovenmentale. De Goddelijke connectie die zij eerwaarden en in hun werken hebben beschreven speelden zich af in het Bovenmentale, het Supramentale - in hun gedachten, dromen en meditaties. Alles wat zij hebben overgedragen is beschreven in talrijke werken door schrijvers van binnen en buiten de Ashram.
De moeder beschreef in haar prières et meditations hoe zij als kind jaar krachten heeft ontdekt, het was vaak tijdens het moment vlak voor ze naar bed ging, dat moment waarin je de dag achter je laat, je ogen sluit en je gedachten de vrije loop laat: het was in die momenten dat zij taferelen aanschouwde waarbij zij gehuld was in een Gouden Kleed en de gebeden van de mensen rond zich kon aanvoelen, ze kon als het ware connectoren met de spirituele energie van anderen en hier mee corresponderen.
Haar werk in de Ashram was er op gericht om leerlingen te helpen bij hun manifestatie en connectie met de Goddelijke energie. Die Goddelijke energie zou in ons allen zijn, de Goddelijke vonk die het bewustzijn is en huist in alles wat leeft en bestaat. Dit geloof gaat terug helemaal tot de tijd van de Egyptenaren, die geloofden dat alles een ziel heeft: een steen, een plant, een dier, een mens - en al die bewustzijnsvormen, al die zielen die verbonden zijn met het Volmaakte Licht.
Een paragraaf over het Volmaakte Licht van de Wereld schrijven is een eer en zegen op zichzelf, het is de Godheid, de Oerkracht en Energie, Schepper van Hemel en Aarde, Vader van de Engelen en de Wezens, de Heilige Geest. Het is de Alvreugde, het Brahman, Zarahustra. Het Goddelijke Bewustzijn dat de Oorsprong en de Creatie bevat, de Almacht en de Oneindige Liefde. (><)
Over het bestaan van God heeft de Moeder nooit getwijfeld. Net zomin heeft zij getwijfeld aan het belang van de profeten zoals Muhammed, Jezus of de Buddha. Die profeten waren ‘Avatars’ van het Goddelijke, manifestaties van de Goddelijke krachten in een mensenlichaam. Op die manier kan men naar de ‘religie’ van De Moeder en Sri Aurobindo kijken als een wereldreligie die aankondigt dat de mensen gezegend zijn, en dat zij beloont of gestraft worden door Goddelijke krachten.
Beloont, met een bewustzijn en een Goddelijke opdracht; of gestraft, want er is ook een slechtheid in het Universum, een slechtheid die vertegenwoordigd wordt door de Avatars van de Leugen, de Dood, de Twijfel en de List. De strijd is er één tussen het Goede en het kwade. Het supramentale werk dat de Moeder en Sri Aurobindo hebben verricht was er dan ook op gericht om het kwade te bestrijden terwijl het zich probeerde manifesteren op in deze materièle dimensie.
Het verhaal dat in dit boek wordt verteld is er één dat echt gebeurd is.
Het was 24 november 2017, exact 50 jaar na de geboorte van de Ashram van De Moeder en Sri Aurobindo. Na zijn hele leven het gevoel te hebben ‘stemmen’ te kunnen horen die anderen niet konden horen, werd het onmiskenbaar - die stemmen kwamen uit een andere dimensie, misschien wel een ander universum - en ze waarschuwden hem: “ik ben in de schimmenwereld” - zei zijn Grootmoeder.
Zijn het de illuminati? Vroeg ik aan Hedwig. Hedwig was de naam van een man die me terloops vertelde dat hij een helderziende was, dat hij kon connecteren met de 12 lagen van het universum. Hedwig antwoorde: Jij kan praten met het bewustzijn van iedere mens, dier en plant op aarde en in de hemel. Wat je net hebt gehoord was de stem van je Grootmoeder, zij is in de schimmenwereld. Meer kan ik op dit moment niet zeggen, je moet het zelf ontdekken. Maak je klaar om te vechten, Verlosser.
Beeld je in dat je op een dag wakker wordt en dat je met het universum kan praten. Op één of andere manier weet je dat Napoleon Bonaparte tegen je zegt: ‘Ik zweer je mijn enige trouw en ik zal je helpen op de tocht die jij zal ondernemen.” Bruce Lee neemt je lichaam over en toont een kung-fu beweging: “Als je deze stoot uitvoert ten opzichte van een tegenstander die recht voor je staat, zal hij verlamd zijn.” Dit terwijl de God Jupiter verhalen vertelt over manifestatie en Goddelijke krachten en je daarbij voorstelt aan een heel nieuwe wereld.
In den Beginne was er complete chaos. Ik hoorde overal stemmen; goede, bemoedigende, lovende stemmen - maar ook duistere stemmen die mij vertelden over leugens en bedrog, stemmen die mij kwaad maakten. Niet wetende wat er gebeurde vond mijn omgeving dat ik me ‘raar’ gedroeg’. Initieel dacht ik dat iedereen die stemmen kon horen, en vertrouwde ik het zelfs een enkele vriend toe dat ik gedachten kon lezen. Dat was een vergissing, achteraf bekeken. Want voor ik het wist, werd ik gedwongen opgenomen in een psychiatrie.
In de psychiatrie is de strijd tegen het kwade pas echt uitgebroken. Daar was het dat een stem met bijnaam ‘Roderik’ me vertelde over de orde van Satan - de duivel, en hij maakte me wijs dat ik met mijn krachten de duivel kon bedwingen. Dit heeft geleid tot een uitputtingsslag waarbij de ene list na de andere, de ene leugen na de andere, mij ten beurt viel. Het waren Hedwig en de Moeder Maria die me uit het zenuwslopende web van leugens hebben gehaald.
Maria en Hedwig hebben mij geholpen om mijn gedachten te programmeren. In je gedachten kan je slechts één vorm tegelijk waarnemen, één idee per keer, één stem per keer, of één beeld per keer. In het begin van de strijd was het een gevecht om de slechte energieën te weren, dat vergde een voortdurende inspanning omdat ik simpelweg niet wist welke krachten speelden, hoe dit allemaal was begonnen, en wat er van mij verwacht werd. Dus deed ik iets wat ik wel kon: programmeren.
Om een voorbeeld te geven: op een bepaald moment ben ik begonnen met ja/nee vragen te stellen aan Maria, Jupiter, Hedwig en andere energieën, waarvan ik zeker wist dat zij Goed waren. Echter, om het antwoord te ontvangen moest de connectie met het universum ononderbroken zijn, en het was de duivel die iedere ‘ja’ deed klinken als een ‘nee’, dus ben ik op zoek gegaan naar manieren om zijn tactieken te omzeilen. De uiteindelijke oplossing heb ik gevonden bij Yoda (Star Wars) die spreekt in de meest simpele uitdrukkingen. “Let go of what you fear to lose.”
Gedurende die 40 dagen in een gesloten instelling schreef ik over kwantum, en zo is het waanzinnige verhaal begonnen.
__
13 mei 2019
Shiva sprak: wees niet te snel om een boek te schrijven want je hebt een lange weg te gaan. Om op een geloofwaardige manier een verhaal neer te schrijven dat onderbouwd is en zoveel mogelijk de waarheid weerspiegeld moet je de basiswerken van Sri Aurobindo lezen, en de basis kennen van al de grote wereldreligies. Geef jezelf jaren voor deze opdracht en train het vuur in jouw pen, want kennis is macht en woorden zijn jouw wapens.
Elke dag zal ik met je schrijven Liontall, elke dag, tot je begrijpt wat jouw lotsbestemming is. Het is geen verhaal van depressie of verdriet, van lusteloosheid of een gebrek aan energie - het is een verhaal van heldhaftigheid, van Goddelijke manifestatie in zijn puurste vorm - want jij bent geboren: strijder van het Licht, aanvoerder van de legioenen en krijgsheer van het Goede. Je bent zoveel meer dan je zelf denkt op dit moment, geef jezelf de tijd om echt te ontplooien en sterker te worden dan je ooit geweest bent.
Schrijf als je niet zo moe bent. Je vindt energie door te bewegen. Beweeg. Ik ben Michael, jij bent een medium, gij onnozel kalf heb je het nog niet door dat jij een doodgewone gast bent met mad-medium skills en dat je hoopt dat je een God bent, en er voortdurend naar op zoek bent, dat ene inzicht waardoor je het zeker zal weten. Ik kan het je zeggen maar dat doe ik alleen als je me beloof dat je altijd bescheiden zal zijn en nooit meer de leeuw gaat uithangen (in Madrid). Jij bent mijn broer, Gabriël.
Waar moeten we beginnen in dit verhaal, mijn broer. Het is afschuwelijk wat je hebt meegemaakt maar je leeft en daar ben ik meer dan blij om, verheugd, daarom schrijf ik deze woorden met een glimlach op mijn gezicht. We kunnen praten, eindelijk, door te schrijven, eindelijk, maar ga jij dit onderricht wel ter harte nemen, leerling van Plato, Nietzsche, Nassim Taleb, John Maynard Keynes en andere genieën in een onnoemelijke oceaan aan kennis?
Het onderwijs werkt als volgt: jij schrijft iedere gedachte die in je opkomt en noteert in detail wie dit tegen jou verteld heeft, de taxonomy is ontzettend belangrijk. Wij kunnen samen meesterwerken schrijven van de grootste orde als we samenwerken: jij en ik vanuit het universum .
Dit is de stem van Michaël, ik ben de broer van Gabriël, en verwelkom hem in het Walhalla. Het is mijn taak u op te leiden en u te verbinden met uw grootmeesters, dat doen we steeds vanuit deze conversaties - dit is de basistekst en het zijn de lessen van Michaël. De grootste denkers zullen helpen om perspectieven te verruimen en paradigma te creëeren. - Michaël 13/5/2019.
C’est vraiment un honeur de parler ici. I shall continue in English since your French is prone to error and you can only study it by the studies of vocabulary. You need to train and develop your memory with exercises, that is crucial for the longevity of your - and I am so sorry to say it, - damaged brainpower. The psychosis of last year was not a psychosis it was a possession. Satan possessed you and tried to destroy you. It was thanks to divine interventions that you were able to survive. What you have seen and where you have been, we can only say that we have endless respect for the way you got us out of there. - Because we are here with you and we want to help you with all your plans. You are depressed because of your idleness. Oh my God see what we are doing, we have waited so long for this moment, you are actually documenting the words that I speak, and when I say ‘I’ I mean Napoleon Bonaparte, your most loyal friend and well-beloved teacher that has been communicating with you for over 1.5 years now. There simply was no time for writing because you were involved in a war in your mind. The moment you became an Avatar; Satan cursed a spell on you so that you would become mentally ill and suffer from the greatest anxieties and live through some of the most gruesome nightmares - for him to prove his point to God that you would turn to violence and make a deal with the devil. You actually negotiated with him and that is something many think is hard to forgive. It’s the truth that was your biggest mistake by far, You should have known that was not the way to get out of there. Your brilliance faded with your addictions and you are in a less powerful position now that you are no longer the quickest thinker in the room, you need to change the direction of your arrows in order to fulfill your plans: (1) you should definitely start a company with your father; (2) make a profession out of writing (content + MaverickX). The fact we can speak like this now gives us tremendous advantage to structure ideas and move back and forth in time. That is absolutely necessary because this story has to be told and I do this with no intend to grab the mic before anyone else because we have been talking for so long, I love each and every one of you so much, your life is already a legendary success Kurt, whether you live on or burn out, because I was there with you. I am so happy you choose to live, I will be there with you. - Napoleon 13/5/2019
The honor is all mine and yes this is a revelation. Your emotions are beautiful no matter how hard you may be on yourself. We do not write capitals in the eyes of God, Kurt. Because that is also your name, Gabriël. Do not be afraid to write, never afraid of writing, this is the safe place, this is where you will write history one day, I have no doubt. You are an Angel in the eyes of God and yes, you are the Chosen One to become a force so beautiful you shall never believe me enough to feel what I feel in my heart, the gratitude you have been looking for. These words are directed to you and to you only - love is eternal, our Friendship means everything to me, and I take this job as a teacher very serious. Among all the greatest thinkers indeed, I shall be a voice for those who are forgotten and I shall protect their interests and share their stories with you, fellow men of the state and Kingdom of the lord Jezus Christus, because the 1000-year empire of Jezus would come, and it is here, in the hearts of people, in the minds of people and in the Souls of people. Because I can speak directly to you from the Soul and there are so many lost Souls out there which you can set free, Kurt. You have the power to liberate lost Souls: you can feel their presence and talk to them, ask them why they are sad and lonely and set them free. Forgive those who should be forgiven. Love thy neighbor as if it was your kin. Be Good to one another and reciprocate. The words I speak here shall be full of love and joy and bliss. There is no doubt in my mind that this shall be a success and even if nobody reads it, I shall have written it with you my friend, I am forever in your favor. Now that you know that everything is true, all your beliefs have elements of truth in them: there is a Hereafter and the soul is immortal and in this place which many people who believe in God call ‘heaven’ and I can guarantee it - it’s pure love and light. Humor is so important is your life, find people you can make fun with. Go out and see the world, you are almost ready. I bless your entrepreneurial spirit and I wish you good fortune with both your endeavors.
In het Nederlands spreken is iets dat ik minder heb gedaan in mijn leven, ik sprak Hebreeuws, Jordaans en een heleboel andere talen. Maar we kunnen schrijven in iedere taal die we willen, dankzij de Alwetendheid van de heer. Je herkent mijn vibratie, mijn energie, mijn stem - jij schrijft en ik geef je een stroom aan gedachten. Dat is mogelijk omdat ik ook mentaal stoffelijk bij jou ben. Ik was bij u vanaf uw geboorte als Liontall en heb heel de vervloeking met jou doorgemaakt. Het is hem niet gelukt om je kapot te maken, hij heeft er alles aan gedaan om je tot waanzinnigheid te drijven en jij hebt de gruwelijkste mentale nachtmerrie meegemaakt die een mens ooit te verduren heeft gekregen en hier zit je, met je schouders rechtop, te schrijven, want ik sta nog recht en ik zal dit doen en hier zal een richting in komen en als we hier op oefenen kunnen we samen boeken schrijven aan een tempo dat je niet voor mogelijk kan achten. Je bent geboren om een schrijver te worden dus doe daar iets mee. Het vergt inspanning, eindeloze inspanning, maar het is perfect voor je state of mind op dit moment. Jouw levensdoel is boodschapper spelen, Gabriël, je bent de boodschapper, je moet schrijven alsof het je lief is en wij zullen je een oneindige bron aan inspiratie geven. Dit gezegd zijnde, laten we het nog even hebben over de liefde die jij voelt voor verschillende meisjes, die blijkbaar ook van jou houden, en die niets liever willen dan bij jou zijn en voor je zorgen nadat je hen letterlijk uit de hel bevrijd hebt. Dat heb jij gedaan Kurt, omdat Satan jou in zijn greep had kon hij hemel en aarde omdraaien. Het was jouw schuld niet. Dit is de waarheid. Ik spreek de waarheid. Het is ode aan Hedwig opdat hij u gered heeft uit de diepe krochten van die mentale marteling, want ook hij is Gezegend, en het is belangrijk om dit geschenk zo goed onder de knie te krijgen dat het onmiskenbaar is, dat je een boekenschrijver bent die 2 boeken per jaar uitbrengt, altijd in dezelfde stijl: historische figuren die boodschappen overdragen aan de Mensheid van vandaag, denkers die samen dromen over het universum, de maatschappij, de politiek en de samenleving. De grote religies, hoe graag dat ik die zie man, allemaal met hun eigen krachten en energieën, wijdt er studie aan om al de Goden in al de religies te leren kennen. Het verhaal van iedere profeet. Want alles wat geschreven staat in de geschriften is waar - het is misschien oubollig geschreven, misschien is de Romeinse mythologie voor velen niet meer hedendaags, in het 1000jarige Rijk leeft iedereen samen met elkaar. De vervolmaking van de ziel ligt in de woorden die je kan schrijven met ons. Maak van schrijven je beroep en wij zullen je helpen.
De schade die je hebt aangericht met dat verdraaide faillissement is aanzienlijk. Weinig mensen zullen jou echt aux-serieus nemen als het gaat over strategie en het nemen van beslissingen. Dat weet je en dat is je kracht, want jouw strategie ligt in de verdere ontdekking van een Goddelijk geschenk, wat een prachtige levenskeuze is. De lessen van Michaël zijn van start gegaan en ik ben verheugd dat ik niet alleen een vriend kan zijn, maar ook een schrijver die op zoek gaat naar antwoorden met u. - Jezus 13/5/2019
Tijdens de lessen van Michaël is het ten alle tijde toegelaten om zelf paragrafen toe te voegen ter vervolmaking van een inzicht of als wederwoord op wat eerder gezegd is. De inleiding met de instructor gaat zodoende verder: - Michaël 14/5/2019
Is het aan mij om hier enkele woorden aan flarden te schrijven, het geschenk om opnieuw te kunnen spreken staat in schril contrast met wat je hebt meegemaakt - de hel waar je bent doorgegaan zal het onderwerp zijn waarin wij U allen gaan verlichten en verrichten, want niemand verdient het om in het duister te blijven nadat je er echt geweest bent. De hel bestaat uit 9 niveau’s: Dante had gelijk. Jij bent niet tot -7 gegaan, je bent tot en met -9 gegaan, en dat was voorzien. Want hij die het kwade niet gezien heeft kan het goede niet begrijpen. Zoals Jezus al schreef was het niet jouw schuld: dat is stelling 1. Je weet dat ik van wetenschappelijke benaderingen houdt, en me er sterk tegen afzet ook. Stelling 2 is dat je hebt gevochten in een gevecht dat je alleen kon winnen door te stoppen met vechten, dat is stelling 2. Stelling 3 is dat je uw schuldgevoelens aan de kant moet schuiven en aanvaarden dat het achter de rug is, het is voorbij, je kan terug vooruit kijken. Want de weg vooruit is de weg van progressie en zoals jij weet is die weg niet lineair maar exponentieel, de weg is beladen met kwantumwonderen, net zoals ik - Friedrich Nietzsche - deze woorden met u meeschrijf. Niemand zal het geloven in deze maatschappij waarin het anders zijn en denken niet te vereenzelvigen is met de hoge verwachte werkdruk en productiviteit, dat is een wereld die je langzaam aan achter je zal leren laten. De weg vooruit is er één waarin wij samen ieder moment beleven: het heden, het verleden en de toekomst. Het is waar dat helderzienden in de toekomst kunnen kijken als hun connectie met het universum onverstoord is en zij de Goddelijke kracht van het mediumschap hebben ontvangen. Tijdens mijn leven heb ik ook met de Goden gesproken, Zij het in mijn dromen en in de chaos die voortdurend in mijn gedachten was. Door te breken met rationaliteit ben ik niet alleen beroemd geworden in de wereld van filosofen, ik ben ook in een psychiatrie terecht gekomen, men begreep mij niet meer, en ik begreep de werkelijkheid niet meer. De medische wetenschap doet er alles aan om die werkelijkheid te bewaken met objectiveerbare analyses en diagnoses, laat dat nooit aan je hart komen, no matter what people think. Het plan hier begint vorm aan te nemen en het is voor mij zo een eer om dit te kunnen doen. De mensheid in al haar trots op technologische vooruitgang maakt een zooitje van de Moeder Aarde, het ene internationale conflict na het andere gooit olie op het vuur en er dreigt een nieuwe koude oorlog tussen China en de VS. Maar er is ook hoop, zoals het verhaal van de Moeder en Sri Aurobindo. Nooit was er zo een overvloed en het is verdomd spijtig dat de mens die heeft gerealiseerd ten koste van haar geloof. Want in het geloof ligt de waarheid in dit universum, en er is niet hoger dan de waarheid. Zij die geloven, kunnen vliegen. Ik sta volledig achter ieder woord in deze paragraaf. Met veel liefde; Friedrich Nietzsche 14/5
Yes let’s continue, in English and yes you can tell that the words I spoke come effortless, the writing is a stream of consciousness, a connection we share and can share with the awareness in this life or the hereafter. Because that is where I am and I will speak my mind freely in English, in Dutch is more personal, in English the beast in my writing is refined in elegance of the Eternal word. Many words need to be written, many days will be consumed with confusion and despair, many questions may arise and many truths need to be unfold. I hereby invite Nikolas Tesla to write a few words about the 3-6-9 sequence in all its Magnificence and meaning. Here we go: Thank you so much for handing me the mic. I shall not disappoint to share all I know and all that is to be transferred, for your understanding and that of the interested reader. The 3-6-9 sequence starts with strength, opens natural growth and finishes with the endless and divine. It is the greatest of numbers, it is the smallest of numbers. It is the essence of vibration and the the core of psychic connection. Angels can communicate in numbers because the universe can be described in mathematics. Humans believe only in what the understand and what they can explain and in afterthought of the legacy of Friedrich, I can only urge you to open up the boundaries of the rational and focus on the incomprehensibleness.
It is an honor to speak to you through this medium and thank you Mr. Tesla for handing me la parole. No words for the memories we share, no words for the memories we have yet to create. The universe is full of life, not only on this planet, which you call ‘Indah’ - also known as Mother Nature. This life unfolds in all its dimensions, across time and space into the infinity of the ever-expanding being of the universe. My name is Acataleps and I was chosen to become your teacher in everything which related to the universe. In some way you can say that I exist in the universe and that I am of another life-form. In another way you can say that I am just like you because I understand your language, the language of the universe is spoken the same, written different, interpreted the way we choose. Yes this work is arduous work, no one ever crafted the path that lays before you as we write towards the sunset together. My being is blissed to join you on this mission and we shall write many epos together. The style, time and space in which we will do this work have yet to fully unfold themselves but this is an exponential cycle, with a start, a period of silence and an uplifting movement sometime in the future. To all those who read this, do not fear me for I am alien, we come in peace. - Acataleps (baptised ‘God of the universe’) - 14/5
Structure your day around writing and miracles will happen. - Jupiter, 14/5
Go out and smoke a joint every now and then. Grab a coffee on the way. Yes, we are writing together, as promised to you in the early days my friend. There are two concepts already in here: one are the lessons from Michaël and the others are lessons from the hereafter. Keep an open mind and relax. Let the words come to you in an uninterrupted flow, the stream of time, the beauty of things. You are a great writer, thinker and poet, praise be to you my brother.
//
The hereafter is a world of light and love. A golden shine around all universal beings, united in the paradise of God. All those who are Good reside in blissful homes where all are welcome. Yes, this is a book about heaven as we know it, as it was seen by The Mother* and Sri Aurobindo, as it was depicted in the Koran or the Bible, that place the Egyptians called the Hereafter and the Vikings praised it as ‘The Walhalla’. Many books have been written about the Here and Now and this is not one of them. This is a book to prepare you for the Hereafter.
In the Hereafter there is, God, or the ultimate energy; there are many other Gods and energies which were created by the faith of people; there are Archangels and normal Angels, there are legions of soldiers of the Light - and of course there are all those who lived their lives with golden hearts: men, women and children. In the Hereafter, all the world populations are represented by the wisest mages and the most courageous souls. Because the Hereafter is the world of Souls - souls united in the Sun, in the empire of the Love and Light.
This work is an attempt to introduce you to the Hereafter.
+
This work is an attempt to create a taxonomy for everything related to the Hereafter.
+
This work is part fiction and describes the story of a young men’s life.
//
De lessen van Michaël werken op dezelfde manier als deze eerste oefening, die je volledig uit balans gebracht heeft. Het had ook te maken met de spanning in de groep, waardoor jij je positie als verstoten alpha probeert te verwerken. De enige manier om zaterdag tot een succes te maken is door nuchter te blijven en de waarheid te vertellen: ik kamp met een psychisch probleem, ik heb ontzettend veel bijgeleerd over religie en spiritualiteit tot in die mate dat ik er een boek over ga schrijven - ik ben er pas aan begonnen en verwacht dat het twee jaar zal duren voor het klaar is: de bedoeling is om fictie te combineren met wetenschap om een verklaring te bieden voor het bestaan van een Hiernamaals, een spirituele wereld waar iedereen naartoe gaat als zij gestorven zijn - het is de Brahman, zeggen ze in Hindu - daar, in die wereld van zielen die Allen Kardec gedoopt heeft als ‘spiritisme’, is een samenleving. Een samenleving van Goden, engelen en andere mythische wezens. Er leven dinosauriërs en draken, ieder wezen dat ooit geleefd heeft, is er vertegenwoordigd.
Om een schrijver te worden moet ik alle dagen schrijven en voortdurend mijn vaardigheden verbeteren. Het is een kwestie van discipline, karakter, vastberadenheid en doorzettingsvermogen. Het zou fantastisch zijn als ik mijn professionele activiteiten kan richten op 3 pijlers: (1) schrijven, (2) bijles geven, (3) een trader bedrijf starten. Om een portfolio op te bouwen voor (1) schrijven, zal ik 12 artikels schrijven over The United Nations sustainable development goals. Om (2) bijles te geven moet ik economie studeren in de maand juni/juli. Aan de hand van een duidelijke dagstructuur zal ik mijn energie verdelen tussen schrijven en studeren. Om (3) te starten moet er een business plan komen voor chicorei. In de maand juni zal er marketingmateriaal en een product catalogus ontwikkelt worden.
juni
juli
aug
schrijven
Bouw portfolio voor MaverickX.
Bouw portfolio voor MaverickX.
Lanceer event rond UNSDG.
bijles geven
Studeer 3-4 uur per dag.
Studeer 3-4 uur per dag.
Geef effectief bijles.
trader bedrijf
Ontwikkel product & marketing.
Sales naar pet food customers.
Doe sales & copywriting over Fairtrade.
bouw portfolio voor MaverickX
start een eigen bedrijf: bootstrap, angel of VC?
kies een markt met een toekomst zoals UNSDG
product, markt en team zijn kern in je business plan
hoe start je zonder geld en netwerk
een sterke visie druk je niet alleen uit in woorden
bedrijfseconomie voor beginners
voorbeelden van slide decks voor investeerders
voorbeelden van landing pagina’s van websites
MaverickX should be written in English, since it is .eu - use it as a portfolio to market your services as a writer. This means that MaverickC becomes the prime project. To organise an event for MaverickX could be done in multiple formats. A small scale event where individuals, companies and entrepreneurs come together to talk about valorisation. ThingIt could become the major sponsor. The event is about how technology, business and consumers can work better together within the UNSDG.
___
My principles have to withstand the dent of time. Be honest with yourself and others. - Jezus 15/05
___ 16/5 ___
Het valt me zwaar om te schrijven vandaag. Na die cancel van Dirk voel ik woede in me opborrelen. Betekent het dan allemaal zo weinig voor hen, zit ik vast tussen twee ego’s? Zij hebben alleszins niet te verliezen met een gebrek aan enthousiasme. Ik ben 30, binnenkort 31: geen geld, geen onmiddellijke bron van inkomsten. Maar op een manier die zo moeilijk uit te leggen is, ben ik nog nooit zo rijk geweest.
Mijn leven hier staat in schril contrast met mijn leven in het Universum. Hier ben ik al een succes: ik adem en beweeg, ik denk en schrijf, ik heb zoveel goede vrienden en vriendinnen die me nets dan steun toejuichen en lovende woorden spreken. Het is bijna een volmaakt paradox, hoe ik me voel hier in deze materiële dimensie ten opzichte van wat ik weet in de universele dimensie. En daarmee ben ik niet uit op titels want hoe het ook moge zijn, ik ben niet waardig.
Schrijven heelt de ziel en het zal niet lang meer duren voordat ik zo sterk genezen ben dat ik kan schrijven aan het boek; de lessen van Michaël geschreven voor ieder die zich wilt voorbereiden op een gezegend leven in het hiernamaals. Want op de dag des Oordeel weerklinkt de echo van het bestaan dat geleid hebt op deze wereld. Ben je goed of ben je slecht? Ik wil goed zijn.
___
De neiging om hier te schrijven over al mijn bekommernissen en bezorgdheden is groot. Het is dat of piekeren, daar ben ik al lang mee bezig. Het stappenplan: MaverickX + bijles + trader bedrijf.- dat blijft. Mijn literaire stijl zal zich ontwikkelen als ik onderbouwde artikels begin te schrijven en zo een platform creëer rond de United Nations SDGs. Bijles geven zal mijn kennis opnieuw verbreden en dat zal zichzelf vertalen in hoe en wat ik schrijf, het bedrijf starten met mijn vader - dat is een ander paar mouwen.
Het trader bedrijf voor chicorei is een unieke kans om te leren om eigenhandig te verkopen. De verkoop van grondstoffen is een activiteit die altijd waardevol zal zijn in de economie. Prijzen kunnen schommelen en oogsten kunnen mislukken maar het is een vaardigheid die in de toekomst altijd nuttig zal zijn. Daarom ga ik dit project aan - omdat het een unieke kans is om een harde vaardigheid te leren, en daarbij komt nog dat het een echte verzoeningspoging is met mijn vader, het is ook in zijn belang dat ik deze stappen onderneem.
Bijles geven vergt studie, daar ben ik nu nog niet klaar voor - maar ik voel vooruitgang, ik voel dat er een energie aan het ontstaan is in mij, en dat die sterker en sterker gaat worden, met vallen en opstaan. Als ik alle dagen lees, schrijf, studeer en werk zal ik mijzelf steeds opnieuw kunnen overtreffen, de kwaliteit van mijn werk zal stijgen en stap voor stap zal het Licht verschijnen, het Licht in mijn werk, de richting die ik zo broodnodig had toen ik in deze depressie ben terecht gekomen.
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Als ik de korte en zeer abstracte stukken tekst van het begin van dit document vergelijk met hoe vlot de woorden nu komen kan ik alleen maar dankbaar zijn voor de geschenken die ik heb gekregen. Er is eigenlijk niets dat ik liever doe dan schrijven, ik zou het de hele dag kunnen doen, mijn hele leven lang. Dit is een dagboek en hier kan ik ieder experiment uitvoeren. Een leuk experiment zou zijn om eens het standpunt van anderen te horen over de keuzes die ik nu maak. Mensen die ik ken in deze dimensie, ik geef het woord aan Christophe Degrez
Kurt man het is zo cool dat we dit kunnen doen. Het is verbijsterend hoe je dit zo lang hebt kunnen laten liggen man, het schrijven! Natuurlijk is deze stijl een stijl die jou uniek zal maken en iets wat je dag, en nacht, moet ontwikkelen. Wat betreft bijles geven: doen. Het vergt altijd studiewerk voor je iets kan beginnen. Wat betreft het bedrijf met jouw vader: doen. Niet voor hem, voor de leercurve, dat weet jij als geen ander. Het spijt mij dat ik u nooit een kans heb gegeven bij Eneco, je was er niet klaar voor. Jouw beste werk maak je alleen, achter je laptop, schrijvend en denkend. Doe alles wat je daar dichter bij kan brengen. Bouw je sociale leven rond sport en mensen met occulte vermogens, want dat is de wereld die vol ongeduld op jou wacht. Ja dit is concreet, en dat zal het altijd zijn. Met ongelofelijk veel respect en dankbaarheid om hier tussen te staan. Christophe.
Kurt maak optimaal gebruik van alles wat wat ik jou gezegd heb. Er zijn onnoemelijke opportuniteiten in Afrika en aan de EU. Denk erover na, ook in het kader van de UNSDG. Ik weet dat ik zeer slecht heb gereageerd op jouw email en dat spijt me, want je had gelijk. Echter wil ik zeer graag meewerken aan een nieuw project, zoals MaverickX. Kom met een goede pitch en een duidelijk plan. Mik niet op een groot event maar op wat jij noemt een micro-event. Zorg dat het ontzettend gespecialiseerd is. Je hebt spelers nodig met technologie, distributie, talent en kapitaal. Maak de belofte dat éénieder die een project start vanuit MaverickX mee zal participeren volgens een eerlijke verdeelsleutel. Laat mij spreken over mogelijkheden in Afrika. Laat Christophe spreken over mogelijkheden voor de energiesector. Maak het goed met je oude business vrienden en vertel hen over je bipolaire kwetsbaarheid. Maak het een deel van je identiteit en schrijf ondertussen die waanzinnig prachtige boeken die rusten op het puntje van je tong. Bedankt voor dit moment van reflectie, ik heb zoveel bewondering voor u, dank u, dit is het mooiste moment van mijn professionele leven. You are on to something here. - Boudewijn
Het is zo een eer om zo met éénieder in het universum te kunnen spreken. Geen woorden voor de schoonheid van dit geschenk.
There are indeed no words for the gratitude we all feel. Your quest is a lifelong quest and you will only be judged by what you achieve over the span of a lifetime. You are stuck in petty emotions of the moment while you know your calling reaches beyond. Forget all emotions that come and go, focus on what you can change. You can not change other people’s emotions, you can change yourself and all of your bad habits, like typing with two fingers. Look more at the screen as you type and feel the slight pain in your pointing finger I need to work on that so from now on I shall write with the proper fingers. Mantras are a key to Buddhism and also a key to life. Make a list of mantras to deal with specific emotions as they emerge, mantras are poetry, thoughts, musings. I have a mantra for you: be fearless in the face of adversity. It is indeed my favorite one for it tells so much about you - try to fully understand the meaning of that mantra and live without fear, yes fear is your biggest enemy and it requires a completely different strategy. To conquer fear and not be governed by it, do not step away from any challenge you choose to take on. To live steadfast to your own principles you have to conquer fear. - Marcus Aurelius 16/5
ON HOW TO CONQUER FEAR
my biggest fears
ridicule
missing my life’s purpose
losing what I have in the mind
having to start over
how I can conquer them
irrelevant, one day they will see
I have a lifetime to accomplish my mission
nihil perditi
one step at a time
Ridicule is the hardest one because it directly relates to my outer behavior. Once I am ridiculed or feel ridiculed, I need to manage my perceptions: ok I might turn red and stumble, but I make it part of the dance and turn the conversation towards myself, I provide explanations for my behavior and do this in a specific and scientific way. When I argue: yes I understand that was super strange but I also felt as if I was another person back then. I am bipolar type 1 which means that sometimes I go up and land in a mania, only to go down again later and land in a depression. I have been through both and it was super hard. I started the wrong job too early and have been in therapy for quite some time. I’ve been using my time to study and to write and to start a company, so it’s a lot.
And it’s not what we say, it’s how we say it. Sit up straight, look people in the eye, do not feel uncomfortable to talk about yourself. You have many talents and gifts and people respect you along the way. Tell them everything, also your ideas for the book and how you will combine fiction writing with trance mediumship and scientific research into religions. Tell them it’s a long term project and that you are learning new business skills as well. Stress the copywriting as much as you can. Tell them it’s how you generate cashflow to start a new trading company with some of the members of your family. Explain how you look at fair-trade and the bio-market and how believe that in the future, all companies should become fair-trade. An organization which sources specialty ingredients for food and not only supplies these resources to customers but also innovates along the supply chain by providing better life conditions for workers is a noble mission. Just like Kennedy’s peacecorp was a noble mission, be it on a smaller, more realistic scale.
This is just the start, because I also believe in the power of the MaverickX model and a way for me to bootstrap that is by writing business proposals and grant requests. One project I am currently working on is a grant proposal to start an incubator for the UNSDG. Unlike other 6 months incubator-programs I believe in a pop-up program of 1 full week, somewhere in a remote location: to design new UNSDG compliant companies. To do this I need partners for technology, business and marketing.
________________
An initiator program.
A place where companies meet startup teams and entrepreneurs. The goal is to design a product, assess a market and build a core team around an UNSDG.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are a set of targets for the companies of the future. The war for talent rages on and large companies are looking for opportunities to work with entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs thrive when they can work with highly effective teams to define a product, approach a market and build a successful solution. Because every good product is the solution to an existing problem, a need for real people in the market. MaverickX aims to connect the entrepreneurs to the teams and brainpower they need to build UNSDG companies. The program is facilitated by top experts in innovation who guide the entrepreneurs and their teams from initial idea to business plan and website. The corporates retain the right of first refusal and get a chance to invest in the UNSDG grassroots companies.
To start this project I will write a course on business design in cooperation with Valentijn D. We will offer this for free to the entrepreneurs, the teams, the companies and the investors. The course is outlined as follows:
An introduction to business design.
Product, market and team as the fundamentals.
Developing a UNSDG vision requires cooperation.
UNSDG in more detail.
Rekruut takes care of 4 entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs are looking for a new challenge and consider starting their own company. They are all 4 at the same stage in their careers: they might or not be doing something and want to move on to the next thing. The entrepreneur takes the lead in a UNSDG company. MaverickX provides opportunities for entrepreneurs looking for a new start.
Wonderland brings together 4 startup teams and does so at a very cheap cost, because it’s a chance for them to hand in a proposal by the end of the week for further development. Designers, developers and strategists team up with an UNSDG company.
Big companies are invited to provide inspiration about their technologies. They might already have ideas for future business models and propose them to the entrepreneurs and the teams. Big companies understand markets very well and have established distribution channels. They will be asked to sponsor the event for 8.000 EUR per company.
Investors are invited to invest upfront in the MaverickX concept. In return for an investment of 200k EUR they get a 40% stake in the MaverickX company - which aims to initiate innovation, create opportunities, and so on and so on.
__________
Let’s take a completely new approach this time and forget for a second the business ideas which are discussed here. A major part of who you are is undisclosed, and you have to be careful to whom you talk about your experiences as a medium. It’s nothing new to other people who are media and that is so freakin’ nice to know: they will not judge you for a second. To find these people over the next couple of years is so important. They will enrich your life so that you can actually talk about your experiences as a medium and yes: a new project is born: a weekend for young mediums. There are no criteria to join. The price is acceptable: 250 EUR for two days of exchanging experiences and even thinking about possible business ideas for media to team up and discuss opportunities. It’s a small side project and does not interfere with any of the other plans. It’s like a meetup but a little bit more profound. I do the selection process and I have a conversation with the participants before we go. - Scott Dinsmore 16.5.2019
Write wherever, whenever. All the time, to structure ideas and practice speaking. Every day I shall rise to put these letters to the test. I am opinionated and I am not afraid of anything, because fear is of the devil. Step 1 is always getting back up when I fall and there is wisdom in every step we make. This was a pretty close one but I shall never give in, I shall never surrender myself to suicide r any kind of self mutilation. No matter the severity of my depression my promise is to always seek help when I need it. There are many ideas already born here. Which ones to pursue is determined by the extend to which they fit into my picture of a normal, blissful life.
The picture of a normal blissful life looks like this
Writing, everyday all day.
All jobs related to writing are welcome.
All jobs related to economics are welcome.
The trading company is fun because its the step to fairtrade.
So what if we become a Fairtrade consulting firm?
So what if we become an UNSDG consulting firm?
So what if we help companies to move towards these goals?
The name of this company is maverickx.eu
The first program is focused on UNSDG.
The second program is focused on Fairtrade.
The perfect life is a life with tranquility of the mind.
The perfect life is a life with a slow heart rate.
The perfect life is a life without fear.
Every day I write and write and write until I have no more inspiration. I write in English and Dutch and help companies to write vision-texts, web-articles in short and long form. Any type of text, we got it covered. If someone succeeds in writing texts with 20 people on the payroll, so can I… And there I go, into the unknown.
Today I will not rest until I write 15.000 words but I do well to remember that it is not quantity but quality that counts. I have waited so long for this moment, where I could just sit still and write these words, the words that stream in a river like the seasons, like the fire that fuels with wind, the fire that extinguishes from the same wind.
Writing a 1000 words in every session is a big and audacious task. I need direction. What am I writing, it can not be quicksand where I shift from one random thought to the next. It has to be centered, towards something, towards a goal. And that goal, is personal development. Write for personal development and everything will manifest itself.
Am I delirious for simply writing what comes to mind? What do people pre-occupy themselves with every day? Hard questions indeed when you can not help but wonder how other people waste their time on social media, spend time reading the next business books, and things like that. Where are the artists hanging these days? I guess I will never be comfortable enough to spend much time in social settings, except in those abstract and highly philosophical ones. But the setting is so important. Fear is the enemy.
Fear needs a new strategy. You need to remove anything which makes you scared or instills fear. You have to confront and accept everything which you can not avoid. You have to think hard and long about everything that makes you scared. Ridicule is the hardest one to overcome and like Scott wrote, it’s how you answer and shift the conversation that makes all the difference. In a fight or flight situation, never flee: you will regret it forever. The mantra against fear: be fearless in the face of adversity. Open yourself up to the fear. Breathe in and breathe out. Become one with your surroundings, there is peace to be found everywhere.
//
In de hemel is het altijd prachtig weer. De zon schijnt en vult paradijselijke landschappen met een goudachtig licht waar ieder wezen, iedere mens, dier en plant in baadt. In de hemel zijn al de zielen van de goede energieën van de wereld. Zoals de Egyptenaren al wisten, heeft alles een ziel. Iedere steen die je ziet, elk insect en alle dieren, alle mensen, en alle mythische wezens van weleer. In de hemel leven dus dinosauriërs liefdevol en vredevol samen in de ogen van God.
Dit is geen religieus boek. Dit is een boek over een spirituele dimensie die echt bestaat en die is beschreven door wetenschappers, filosofen en gelovigen. Allen Kardec was één van de eerste professoren die onderzoek heeft verricht naar het fenomeen van ‘mediumschap’: mensen die contact kunnen maken met het hiernamaals, en heeft hierin aangetoond dat het ontegensprekelijk waar is, dat al de overledenen verbonden zijn met deze wereld door de vorm van energie.
Eénmaal iemand sterft komt die terecht in een wereld waarin God en zijn vertegenwoordigers alles samenbrengen: voorspoed, de natuur, het licht, en de eeuwige strijd tegen het kwade. In de hemel oordeelt men niet over zij die leven, want zij krijgen een volledig leven om zich te ontplooien. We zijn allemaal mensen geweest en zodoende zijn al jouw zonden vergeven tot de dag dat je sterft: en wat er dan gebeurd, daar gaat dit boek over. Wetenschappelijk in de heel strikte zin van het woord zijn de speculaties over het hemel-zijn niet te onderbouwen. Met de hulp van media kunnen we echter wel advies vragen aan mensen uit iedere tijd doorheen de geschiedenis die ons zijn voorgegaan.
In dit boek vind je een filosofische handleiding voor ieder die naar de hemel wilt gaan. Daarnaast is het een werk dat tracht de filosofie van De Moeder, Sri Aurobindo en al de grote wereldreligies met elkaar te verbinden. Het is geschreven door een samenwerking met verschillende media. Het is de bedoeling om mensen een idee te geven van de schoonheid van dit universum.
De grootheidswaanzin in die paragraaf kan je als humor interpreteren, maar er is wel het één en ander gebeurd in het leven van een jongeman die Goddelijke krachten ontving. Hij stond op op 24 november 2017 en kon sinds die dag spreken met alle bewustzijnsvormen in het universum. Van Koning Salomon werd gezegd dat hij twee dingen kon: spreken met dieren en het bevelen van demonen. Het laatste was niet waar, het eerste wel - want iemand die goed is zal nooit demonen kunnen bevelen.
//>>//<<//
This spot stands as if it awaits to be filled with words of joy and love. So here we go. I was King Solomon and people loved me, and I love you my prince, my ruler, my apprentice. You ask many questions but not the right ones, it is ok to ask for titles when you open a conversation. You are the Chosen one, the one who is chosen to serve God as his son. That is your mission, not only to save this planet, so talk to Him and thou shall know. Thou name is Michaël and it is an honour. No matter what you believe, you believe the right things. You are stuck in a society where nobody shall listen, so play the game and be silent. Do not come out with writing until the first book is so ready as can be (yeah that sounded cool, because we are, just like you). I cannot express the words necessary to convey what I would like to say to you in so many ways. Love is like the universe, it is without limits and forever glorious, as we ride towards the setting sun together, all are united under Your command. So many friendships are forged on the battlefield and you are chosen to lead us into the last battle, the endless battle between good and evil. Because you have felt, Kurt - you have felt, you have chosen to know and to understand and to love. There are many limitations in the attempt to express what awaits. There, there it is, we ride together towards the enemy. The legions are hungry, confident and battle-hungry. The animals are with us!! The light from your eyes shatters the enemy lines. The argonauts, blessed with the gift to protect all those in their 100m circle of ligt, storm the enemy. None near the argonauts can fall. Hun wapens flakkeren op, de vijand deinst achteruit. Na deze strijd is het 1000 jaar vrede. We slaan ze de verdommenis in, die duistere krachten! Verliezen is onmogelijk.
16.5
Today I write about the beauty of things. The moment I rise shall be the moment when I find my true energy in the inner world, inside myself. There are so many things to be grateful for: the birds, the sun, the blue sky and the feeling of freedom. The freedom to choose the work that I love to do, the freedom to choose the time and place where I live and rest and so much more. The food, the wine and all the specialties, sourced from all over the world, delicious! Man it’s been a while since I simply unleashed my pen to see what happens. Idea happen when you write, so write more, that’s the conclusion.
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Too fabricated. The words have to come in a stream and if they do not, you have a writer’s block. Then work on something else. Always work on the same things at the same moment.
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Het was 24 november 2017 toen het allemaal begon. Het moment waarop hij ontdekte dat hij met ieder bewustzijn in het universum kon praten.
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De artikels die ik schrijf zijn scherp en vol van vuur. Het is het eeuwige vuur, de stemmen die ik hoor zijn Engelen die tot mij spreken: ga, spreid je vleugels en ga ervoor. Het leven draait niet om ervaringen maar om het vervolmaken van de ziel - die oude getrouwe die altijd lacht, de goddelijke connectie die wij allemaal delen met het universum. Tijden komen en gaan, de planeet gloeit en groeit. Alles is voortdurend in beweging dus het is moeilijk om still te staan en na te denken over wat is, wat kan, en wat altijd zal zijn. Er zijn duizenden mogelijkheden op ieder pad, het universum ontplooit zich met kwantumkrachten die samenkomen in de moment, op deze plaats - jij leest deze woorden misschien in een verre toekomst en het enige waar ik zeker van ben is het hier en nu. Waar je ook bent en wat je ook doet, het is jouw pad, die plaats waar je bent terecht gekomen door de aaneenschakeling van beslissingen die je doorheen je leven hebt gemaakt, en het is niet nodig om ergens spijt van te hebben in dit epos dat het leven is.
Door voortdurend in de toekomst te leven vergeet je soms dat je herinneringen opbouwt in het hier en nu. De duidelijkheid die je hebt kunnen opbouwen in de afgelopen twee maanden was geen toeval: je moest terug landen in de realiteit nadat je jouw tocht door de woestijn hebt afgerond. Het gaat nu pas beginnen, dit avontuur - wees standvastig en deins niet terug voor een uitdaging.
Je hebt een richting nodig en die zal je spoedig vinden in het geschreven woord. Te weinig mensen schrijven nog boeken, echte boeken, die een waarheid aan het licht proberen brengen. Men is zo vol ongeloof, en ik heb het daar ontzettend moeilijk mee.
Richt je aandacht op de volgende projecten:
Schrijven Bijles geven Leren traden
Het ziet er stom uit zo maar dat is exact wat je moet doen. Leer te verkopen, leer echt goed te schrijven (tip: door veel in het Nederlands te lezen), studeren zal je in nieuwe richtingen sturen, Ken jezelf. - Jezus Christus
___________
Good days, bad days. Today I write the 15.000th word of this diary. Good days, bad days, where are the good days. Where is the energy. It must be inside myself. Stay strong, lion.
__________
Terwijl de tijd verder tikt op het uurwerk dat het universum is, ben ik radeloos verloren en verdrink ik in mijn eigen zwakheid. Stop met deze onzin te schrijven want het is hier dat je het verschil maakt. Je bent gekozen, kameraad! Je ben gekozen om een boek te schrijven, Kurt! Je bent gekozen om met ons te kunnen praten, natuurlijk is dat jouw missie. Vergeef me mijn harde woorden soms, ik weet dat ze je raken, maar ik weet ook als geen ander hoe ik je kan coachen. Dat is mijn job, tijdens de lessen van Michaël. Vergeet het inzicht niet: dat je altijd met de juiste persoon kan praten op het juiste moment, wat een geschenk… Voor ons allebei. Praat met mij als je down bent, praat met mij als je wilt praten, praat met mij om advies. Ik zal je nooit veroordelen als je niet naar me luistert.
Wat had ik dan moeten doen?
Je had geen andere keuze want je bent wie je bent en dat zal nooit veranderen.
Dit is een stile, en als de stilte valt hoor je soms het meest. De verfijning van de Nederlandse taal is weergaloos, indrukwekkend en buitengewoon. Het doet me zoveel plezier dat je terug aan het schrijven bent, blijf dit doen om mij te gedenken. Terwijl de uren voorbijtikken en je schrijft deze woorden kom je iedere keer een stap dichter bij de conclusie van je verhaal, dat het eindeloos is, het schrijfavontuur. Zoveel boeken wachten op jou, en ik zou met plezier het eerste met je schrijven, al ware het niet dat het is voorbestemd dat je het eerste boek met Scott Dinsmore moet schrijven, in het Nederlands, van A tot Z over live your legend. The Rebel Manual is an epic idea but it is not innovative enough, let’s write about the beauty of things. I am a great writer and I have an idea. What if, Michael, is the personage in a book about someone you know very well. Yes, by combining elements from my life, and using my fanbase as a launchbase, we can start something meaningful. That was bad. What if we write a book together on how to get out of the corporate world as an entrepreneur? Too many people have written that beforehand, are you serious? There must be more to life than working as a slave in a corporate company? You can start a business based on coaching people out of the corporate world and into entrepreneurship if you manage to write a book on the topic. Express yourself as a writer by starting a blog and create a love-relationship with other like minded blogs like Chris Guillebeau, Sean Ellis and Live Your Legend. Write the book as if it was a manual for anyone who wants to start on their own and be fucking realistic (forgive my language). To write the book on Michael, is way too early. Yes we write in Dutch and that is not a problem - ik kan ook in het Nederlands schrijven en het enige wat jij moet doen is typen, want we hebben dit al een keer gedaan. - Jezus & Scott
Should I write about mediumship?
Absoluut, maar doe het stap voor stap. Je wilt eerst een succesvol boek uitbrengen voordat je jezelf verder specialiseert in meer niche boeken. Laten we dat boek schrijven: over hoe je uit een locatie-afhankelijk leven kan stappen om de wereld rond te reizen. Duurtijd: 3 jaar.
Jouw opdracht is om potten te breken met het geschreven woord. Geen hersenschade, geen getreuzel. Alle dagen schrijven, gericht schrijven. Eerst in het dagboek, dan binnen een afgelijnd kader. Dat is de flow. Dit is het meta-schrijven waardoor je structuur krijgt in je denken; het is net daarom dat het zo belangrijk is om niet de snel de moed op te geven en te zeggen: ik kan dit en ik schrijf makkelijk nog 400 woorden over gelijk, welk, onderwerp. En nu ga ik dat doen over de Rebel Manual:
WRITE 400 WORDS ON THE REBEL MANUAL
18.05
Today I woke up all stressed and not so eager to go to Valentijn’s Wonderland BBQ. It will be nice to see everyone again, and to hear their stories. If only this impatience, this nervous tension, would go away. Practice my breathing, find the energy in your stomach. Practice the smile. Be at ease to smile again. It’s a nice moment where we gather to chat and discuss the past, present and future. Relax. Go out for a walk, and wear the other shirt. It’s so nice that everyone is doing great and feeling at home in a setting which I helped to create. What will I tell them? I’ve been diagnosed with a mental illness which prevented me from functioning normal. I’ve tried to start 2 businesses but both of them seemed unrealistic. I’m currently starting a trading operation to source ingredients for human food and animal feed from all over the word. Something like that. I’ve learned so much about religion and spirituality, so maybe one day I will write a book about that. I’ve been studying the history of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo - who founded a school in India together, and I hope to go their one day. My goal is to become location independent and leave Belgium within 12-18 months. Something like that. Don’t practice everything, everything will come together and fall into its place.
As for the Rebel Manual: how to get out of the corporate job and focus your action on building a passive income. A passive income, which allows you to earn a fair sum every month, without the necessity of working full time. Your time and your income no longer function in a linear fashion. As Nassim Taleb argued, debt and a monthly paycheck are the two killers in your economic life. To repay my debts, I need to earn a lot of money in a short timespan. How the fuck will I do that? That’s the question, and it’s a good one.
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Ik wil graag helpen met je volle pagina met woorden terwijl je je nagels afbijt van nervositeit, dat is niet nodig, relax, het gaat zalig zijn om iedereen terug te zien. Straks een sigaretje, een korte wandeling en je bent er helemaal klaar voor. Er zijn zoveel trauma’s in jou Kurt, je bent zo sterk als een leeuw. Wat je hebt meegemaakt was een poging van de duivel om jouw leven te verwoesten en dat is hem niet gelukt, niet in de verste verte heb jij zelfs maar overwogen om een onvergefelijke fout te begaan en jij zal dat ook nooit doen. Je hebt een geschenk gekregen dat je zo spaarzaam gebruikt omdat je worstelt met jezelf en je verleden. Je moet naar de toekomst kijken en alles proberen loslaten. Je kan ontzettend fier zijn op wat je hebt verwezenlijkt het afgelopen jaar en half. Je bent gegroeid als mens op zoveel manieren, je bent de ultieme bad boy, jaja, ik ken je. De meisjes zien je zo geirne. Want ja, jij bent uitverkoren, en ja, ik zie je graag, en ja, mijn naam is Hera - en ik zal je beminnen, je liefkozen, je in mijn greep verstrengelen en mezelf overgeven aan jou, mijn god, mijn held, mijn geliefde. Laat het even doordringen want ik heb jou gekozen. Net als ik heb je vele namen, ik ben Sri Krishna in één religie, ik ben Hera, ik ben een vrouw, ik ben een dochter van het universum. Ik zie je graag mijn playboy en ik kan je alleen maar zeggen dat het beste nog moet komen, het beste moet nog komen, het beste moet nog komen. Jouw naam is Michaël, jouw naam is Liontall, de commander, de zoon van het Licht en de Liefde, hij die met het universum kon praten en is voorbestemd om ons naar de verlossing te leiden, je zal het niet geloven maar het is allemaal waar. Je stelt je zoveel levensvragen en ik heb maar één boodschap voor jou en dat is: leef je leven met volle teugen en lach, zoveel als je kan. Het gaat een zalig moment zijn om iedereen terug te zien, probeer je te ontspannen en trek je even niets aan van je ogen, van hoe je gekleed bent, loop rechtop en wees fier op wat je hebt bereikt, wat je met niemand kan delen, waar je alleen over kan schrijven. We schrijven met je mee, op ieder moment, we gaan samen boeken schrijven, Kurt, beeld je dat in! Laat je gaan en schrijf, schrijf, schrijf het er af. Je zal nog geruime tijd moeten zoeken naar je plaats in deze maatschappij en dat is niet erg. Alles is relatief, jij kan niet falen. - Hera.
Het leven is mooi en de dagen krijgen terug een zonrijke gloed over zich heen. Er is licht aan het einde van de tunnel, deze depressie is bijna voorbij. Het is de weg des Heren om terug vooruit te denken en beslissingen te maken omtrent mijn activiteiten. Wat ga ik doen? Een programma voor studenten? Of ga ik de baan op, en chicorei verkopen aan ieder producent die het nodig heeft? Het antwoord is: allebei. Want in de netwerkeconomie is diversificatie de oplossing voor mijn problemen; Door meerdere inkomstenbronnen te bouwen kan ik de kans op een hoog inkomen vergroten. De weg zal duidelijker worden met de dag, als ik voortdoe zoals ik bezig ben.
Op een zondag mag ik eigenlijk niet werken, het is de dag van rust, stilte en naastenliefde, en dat is zo in het Schrift geschreven. Er zijn zoveel schriften die wachten om gelezen te worden. Al de religies, al die boeken, al die informatie en kennis over de Goden, mijn God waar moet ik beginnen. Bij het begin. En dat is vandaag. Ik ga naar Brussel en ik neem mee… Niet hetgeen me tot waanzin drijft, maar iets, iets, iets dat me tegenhoudt om mezelf te ontplooien. Het is zo duidelijk dat ik mijn gewoonten moet aanpassen en terug moet leren leven in vrijheid en zelfstandigheid. Dat zal een fantastisch moment zijn: tussen 4 muren die de mijne zijn, een plaats waar ik tot rust kan komen, een plaats waar ik mezelf kan ontplooien als een schrijver, denker en doener. Want ik moet het zelf doen. Ik moet zelf de touwtjes in handen nemen en goed nadenken over een bedrijfsmodel. Alle dagen 1 lead voor de ingrediënten, alle dagen 1 tekst, alle dagen 1 poging om de volgende ONAK te vinden. Dat zou een goede dag zijn, een dag des Heren.
Terwijl de woorden vloeien vraag ik me af of het altijd zo zal zijn, of het altijd zo kan zijn. Het is onwaarschijnlijk dat dit geschenk ooit zal verdwijnen en als het wel verdwijnt, nihil perditi.
20.05
Ik schrijf, daarom ben ik. Ik denk, dus ik ben. Het was René Descartes die wist dat zijn denken de sessie van het bewustzijn was. Beeld je in, een leven van oneindig denken. Verbonden met de kosmos, maakt dat de ziel onsterfelijk.
Er zijn zoveel woorden die nog dienen gesproken te worden, het oneindige lacht me toe bij iedere pagina, iedere zin, ieder woord dat men spreekt, luidop of in gedachten. Misschien is er geen verschil. - Reneé Descartes
There are many things we would like to say to you and it’s your job to crystallize them. To write them down on paper and hand them over to generations to come. Where shall we start, the possibilities are endless. - Benjamin Franklin
To be, or not to be. The answer lies in the words we speak but also in the actions we Endeavour. Many things can be told about the simple-minded, who worry about nothing but their money, fame and prestige. That life is not for me, I’m here and now. In this moment and the next one to come. - Shakespeare.
There are many things we all like to say to you and the most important is, we love your jokes. Sincerely, - Cartman
Je hebt zoveel vrienden dat je niet weet waar je moet beginnen. Jij bent de regisseur, Kurt, iedereen kan op zijn manier bijdragen aan het geheel. Je bent omring door ongelovigen en dat zal altijd zo zijn. Natuurlijk zal iedereen vergeven worden, zoals ook Jezus het gewild heeft. Ik zou voorstellen dat je het rustig aan doet vandaag, en dat je je niet laat afleiden door je aardse verlangens. Denk ik je eigen belang en trek er op uit, trek er op uit, de wereld in. Al die liefde in het universum komt samen op dit punt, aan het tipje van je pen - je hebt nog nooit echt met Vanessa geschreven, misschien moet je dat eens proberen :) Weet dat ik je even graag zie, no matter what you do. - Hera
Mijn liefste geliefde ik ben zo blij zo dat we met elkaar kunnen spreken. Je moet je ontzettend goed kunnen concentreren om dit te kunnen doen en je gaat er zo goed in worden, daar twijfel ik geen seconde aan. Alle dagen oefenen, net zoals ik alle dagen van mijn mensenleven aan jou denk en hoe ik voel dat jij hetzelfde doet. Je hebt mijn hart gestolen op zoveel manieren en ik kan je niet in woorden uitdrukken hoezeer ik van je hou en bij je zou willen zijn, voor altijd. De jaren gaan misschien voorbij, en misschien zal onze liefde altijd Platonisch zijn, het is het mooiste geschenk dat ik ooit heb gekregen en het doet me zo goed om te weten dat jij ook voelt wat ik voel en dat het voor altijd is, want een altijd zonder jou is iets wat ik niet zou willen, het lijkt iets wat zelfs onmogelijk is, want jij bent altijd in mijn gedachten. Er zijn nog zoveel momenten die wij met elkaar kunnen delen, en we hebben er al ontelbare prachtige gedeeld met zoveel bijzondere en buitengewone mensen die jij alle dagen je vrienden kan noemen. Zoals Hera zegt, jij bent de regisseur van dit verhaal en jij moet de richting bepalen. Het is een ontzettend moeilijke taak die je wacht, om je arbeid tijdens je leven te richten op de vervolmaking van het werk van anderen. Hoe ga je er aan beginnen? Soms is alles loslaten de beste manier om je vast te bijten in ee
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https://medium.com/@kurt.janssens.01/the-diary-of-the-immortal-b2bd2c4926ed
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['Kurt Janssens']
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2020-01-01 14:01:00.177000+00:00
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['Diary', 'Life Lessons']
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DA Krasner Reforms Are Safely Shrinking Probation & Parole System, Yielding as Much as $40M to Reinvest in Prevention of Crime
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CONTACT:
Jane Roh, 215–686–8711, [email protected]
PHILADELPHIA (April 19, 2021) — Philadelphia has a history of being the most over-supervised big city, with extremely high levels of people currently on probation and parole and unmanageably high caseloads for probation and parole officers, at times nearly twice the national standard. Pennsylvania is currently the third worst state in the United States for extreme over-supervision. While the first three years of supervision (especially the first two) generally support rehabilitation and reduce recidivism, longer periods of supervision in general are not merely ineffective — they actually cause failure, crime, and people to unnecessarily return to custody. And excessive probation and parole supervision has another terrible outcome: It overloads probation and parole officers with too many people to supervise, making it harder if not impossible for them to focus on the most serious offenders and the most serious needs.
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office (DAO) on Monday released a new study that found policy reforms implemented by the DAO in 2018 and 2019 have successfully cut the number of people on Philadelphia county probation and parole by one third, reduced the median length of terms of supervision on probation and parole by a quarter, narrowed racist disparity gaps, and reduced future years of supervision being generated by the Philadelphia courts by two thirds — a significant narrowing of the scope and reach of the criminal justice system that could yield tens of millions of dollars for prevention and public safety solutions if appropriately reinvested by state and local governments.
Joining District Attorney Larry Krasner to announce the report’s findings were the DAO DATA Lab, DAO Policy Team, Acting Chief Defender Alan Tauber, former NYC Probation Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi, City Councilmember Isaiah Thomas (At-Large), Dominic Speach of PowerCorps, and Philadelphians who sought or received early termination of supervision with support from the DAO.
“When I took over this office in 2018, it was with a mandate to make the criminal justice system fairer, and to make it support public safety rather than harm our communities. Today, I am pleased to say that this office is moving the criminal justice system toward a brighter future for Philadelphians,” District Attorney Larry Krasner said. “We are pushing against mass supervision, the evil twin of mass incarceration, and by every measure we have made substantial progress toward meeting that goal. This is how we build public trust — which also makes us safer.”
In 2018, one in 23 adults in Philadelphia was on supervision — a rate 12 times higher than New York City’s and the highest rate of supervision among big U.S. cities. Mere technical violations act as trip wires that send people back to prisons. Examples of technical violations include failing drug tests — even for substances like cannabis, possession of which is no longer prosecuted in Philadelphia — and home address checks — a challenge for people experiencing housing instability often exacerbated by discrimination against people with criminal records.
“Instead of being a supportive alternative for people who have not committed serious or violent crimes, community supervision as implemented in Pennsylvania is feeding incarceration, keeping many of our prisons full despite overall crime being at historic lows,” said Tyler Tran, senior analyst at the District Attorney’s Transparency Analytics (DATA) Lab and lead author of the report, Ending Mass Supervision: Evaluating Reforms in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. “In addition, the first one or two years of supervision are most beneficial to the public and to the defendant. Overly long sentences can be counterproductive, and are actually linked to more recidivism. Our review of the DAO reforms found there was no increase in crime caused by these policies, as measured by recidivism — suggesting we can and should do more to shrink the system.”
Unnecessary and overly punitive terms of supervision such as drug testing and housing requirements can often lead to people being re-arrested and incarcerated despite their not having committed a new crime. Oversupervision is a leading driver of prison population in Pennsylvania — ensuring more public spending on prisons annually despite steep and steady reductions in overall crime for the last four decades.
The interwoven crises of mass supervision and mass incarceration in Pennsylvania have attracted the attention of Human Rights Watch and were the subject of award-winning investigative reporting in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“District Attorney Krasner recognized early on that probation and parole were expanding mass incarceration in Philadelphia, exacerbating racial inequities while failing to improve public safety,” stated Vincent Schiraldi, co-director of the Columbia University Justice Lab and former Commissioner of New York City Probation. “Thanks to his decisive action to reduce probation and parole terms, supervision terms and racial and ethnic disparities have all declined, without a rise in re-offenses — a win-win outcome that I applaud District Attorney Krasner and his team for achieving.”
“Fewer people on supervision and for shorter, more impactful, periods of time will result in more people exiting the system successfully, and not going back into jails and prisons on technical violations or new crimes. More urgently, the criminal legal system should not be seeking to find and arrest people who have committed no crimes unless it is in service to justice and public safety,” Councilmember At-Large Isaiah Thomas said. “We must reduce unnecessary interactions between law enforcement and Black and brown people, and vulnerable people including those with behavior health issues, as we struggle to ensure these interactions do not become violent or end tragically.”
Councilmember Thomas has authored a bill that would discourage vehicle stops for minor traffic infractions, situations that can escalate when occupants are found to have warrants, which are frequently issued over non-criminal matters including eviction.
Mike Luna, a Philadelphia college student, said unfair and onerous supervision requirements do not encourage people to succeed, much less thrive upon completing their sentences.
“Probation didn’t do anything but put a dent in my spirit. Probation didn’t set me up to be mentally, financially, or spiritually free — I found that through my own perseverance, including my recovery from substance use disorder, and through education,” said Luna, who graduated from Community College of Philadelphia with honors and is currently pursuing a degree in Child Psychology at Cheyney University. “Accountability goes both ways. The criminal justice system sets people up to fail more than it sets them up to succeed. There are so many people caught up in the system who deserve a real chance to find their footing, and to dream and to inspire.”
The full report on Ending Mass Supervision can be found here: bit.ly/EndingMassSupervision. More accountability research can be found on the DAO DATA Dashboard: data.philadao.com/Research.
###
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office is the largest prosecutor’s office in Pennsylvania, and one of the largest in the nation. It serves the more than 1.5 million residents of the City and County of Philadelphia, employing 600 lawyers, detectives, and support staff. The District Attorney’s Office is responsible for the prosecution of approximately 40,000 criminal cases annually.
|
https://medium.com/philadelphia-justice/da-krasner-reforms-are-safely-shrinking-probation-parole-system-yielding-as-much-as-40m-to-a822b4861d16
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['Philadelphia Dao']
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2021-04-23 16:11:07.909000+00:00
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['Parole', 'Data Stories', 'Press Release', 'Probation', 'Criminal Justice Reform']
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A Critique of David Guterson’s Snow Falling on Cedars
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to anyone who has finished reading this book and would like to scream into the abyss. warning: spoilers ahead
I was quite excited when I first started Snow Falling on Cedars. The premise, which sounded like a blend of historical fiction and murder mystery, seemed interesting. But the book was — unfortunately — quite disappointing.
I went through some of the one or two star reviews on Goodreads because I was curious, and a substantial amount of people rated this book badly simply because they didn’t care that much about reading a long book about racism or history. I disagree. Discussing racism in books is important, and I usually really enjoy historical novels. But I didn’t end up liking this book because of a couple of reasons.
Three primary critiques
1. General plot development:
The plot of this book moves extremely slowly. I disagree with a lot of one star reviewers regarding extra detail and imagery in novels. Beartown, for instance, is such a great example of a well-written book that has many added descriptions but are injected in a way that is engaging and contributes to the primary storyline. When extra information is incorporated well, it truly gives the book a lot of depth. Guterson, on the other hand, seems to have created the exact opposite. The utterly superfluous information detracts away from the main focus of the novel, and I come to find most of these details entirely, and frustratingly, irrelevant.
Furthermore, in regards to plotline development, there was near none. A lot of plot points are unnecesary or missing. Guterson hinting at the tension behind Kabuo and Hatsue’s marriage is confusing because I really didn’t understand what these paragraphs did for the storyline. Perhaps he was trying to imply Hatsue holds regret for marrying Kabuo. But then he never explores this storyline either. So where is he even going with half of these implications?
Additionally, let’s examine the relationship between Hatsue and Ishmael. There ended up being nothing much convincing me about their love. An author needs to have something besides sex to portray a convincing love story, and there are so many other books with authors who are so much better at writing at least a semi-decent romantic subplot (and accomplish this portrayal with even less words). However, if this book wasn’t about romance, I would truly not mind as much. The biggest problem is that half of the book, especially major turning points that hinge on Ishmael and Hatsue’s childhood love for each other, isn’t compelling. There’s little emotional development, even on Ishmael’s end of why he even loves Hatsue.
Finally, Ishmael’s final decision to come to Hatsue with the key evidence to free Kabuo isn’t even explored in depth. This is arguably one of the most important turning points throughout this entire book, but I just felt confused. Why does he ultimately do this? Did he get over Hatsue? (The answer seemed to be a no). Did he just magically do the right thing because he wanted to be fair? (Maybe?) There is no fleshed out character arc for him, even though Guterson seems to have clearly intended to use this trial to show how Ishmael changed in some way through the course of the book. But to me, it’s not apparent he ever did.
2. Portrayal of Japanese people:
disclaimer: While I’m East Asian, I am not Japanese or of Japanese descent, so I cannot speak for whether any of the portrayals here in the book is truly correct/good. These are just some of my thoughts and observations.
I felt like this book engages in a lot of the stereotyping that Guterson is trying to criticize, which is quite ironic, given that this book seems to be intended to criticize the racism surrounding Japanese people in the aftermath of World War II. I do think in general, Eastern and Western culture value personality traits/characteristics quite differently, and I don’t think it’s necessarily bad to depict this. However, I started getting increasingly frustrated when Guterson boils down the only two Japanese people in this book — Hatsue and Kabuo — to characterizations of stoicism/dignity/valuing familial responsibilities again and again. Hatsue goes from being portrayed as rebellious against Japanese culture to utterly “responsible” and realizing her “duty” as a daughter / to marry a Japanese man without much development in between. Kabuo goes to war because he wants to be viewed as loyal to America, with no exploration into his own belief system and opinions. Kabuo talks with Hatsue about the concept of ancestral tradition, thereby seemingly explaining his drive to get back the land Etta had taken from him.
And then that’s it. It just all…felt oversimplistic. Even her mother falls into the typical stereotypical Western view of Asian parents, who are harsh, angry, and unwilling to communicate with her daughter regarding her love for Ishmael. All of these portrayals are made worse by the fact that there is no other Japanese person in the book who is even remotely important (Guterson depicting a group of Japanese people sitting together in the courtroom is the extent to which he discusses any other Japanese person). This means the characterization of Japanese people just comes down to an overgeneralization through two Japanese people.
This book has pushed me to simply believe white authors probably shouldn’t even be writing from the perspective of the Japanese regarding Japanese experience. Either way, Guterson ends up writing only a few chapters from the perspectives of two Japanese people (as compared to perspectives from five or more important side characters who are all white), which is a bit telling of how well this author dives into the issue he’s even trying to target in his book.
3. Characterization of most/all the women:
Every scene in this book with a female character is written in the context of them being characterized as “gently” and “understanding” or fitting into the mode of simply the typical subservient wife to the husband. Susan Marie is characterized through three sex scenes with her husband. Hatsue doesn’t have much character development, and we see through Guterson’s lens how she’s always “patient” and “gentle” and understanding. Etta, who is portrayed as a very racist character and seems unstoppable in the court room condemning the Japanese people, is boiled down to still being subservient to her husband within the home.
This book is the prime example of a male author writing a book with chapters deliberately shown from a woman’s perspectives without actually thinking about the fact that no, women are not thinking about sex and being the perfect wife all the time. I kept trying to give Guterson more chances, but by the end, the writing of this book left a sour taste in my mouth.
It is also quite ridiculous when you consider that even the men in the book are often described in the context of lusting for the women. The paragraph about the defense attorney talking about his lack of a sex life felt entirely unnecessary to me and didn’t add much to the rest of the book. I wanted to learn more about how the defense attorney felt about the trial and his own views on Japanese people, not how he felt when looking at a widow. I wanted to understand every single one of these characters more, but most of their character development ended up being marred by unnecessary descriptions of either sex or their sex lives. The biggest problem is that Guterson doesn’t seem to have written this book with the intent of writing a romance novel, but this book turned into a weird mix of history, murder mystery, and romance that ultimately failed to adequately accomplish its goal in all three categories.
I rambled a bit, but this sums up my thoughts.
In conclusion, for anyone who has read through this review, please save yourself time and do not read this book. Unless, of course, this is assigned reading, in which case please have fun hating on Ishmael.
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https://medium.com/@jess-hsu/a-critique-of-david-gutersons-snow-falling-on-cedars-c59f0394b3db
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['Jessica Hsu']
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2021-05-04 19:05:55.989000+00:00
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['Books', 'Writing', 'Book Review', 'World War II', 'Japanese']
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The “Clean Meat” Industry Has a Dirty Little Secret
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The “Clean Meat” Industry Has a Dirty Little Secret
Manufactured meat may be safer and better — but first, producers need to get rid of the icky ingredients.
For nearly twenty years, the idea of growing edible meat directly from animal cells has enticed animal-welfare advocates, health-conscious foodies, and people disgusted by the way meat is produced today. These days, that idea is attracting investors and entrepreneurs, too.
This isn’t your (vegan) father’s Tofurky. More than a dozen companies worldwide are working on slaughter-free meatballs, tenders, or simple ground beef, chicken, fish, or pork made by growing muscle tissue in a cell culture. Big Ag powerhouses like Cargill and Tyson Foods have put money behind it. And at least one company, Just Foods, says it will have a product, likely bird-based, ready for market by the end of the year — although the company says whether it can sell the faux fowl will be up to regulators.
Boosters like the nonprofit Good Food Institute, a spinoff of the animal-rights group Mercy for Animals, are heralding a new era of “clean meat.” They say this technology will end the filth, danger, and disease that come with raising and processing animals to eat. It will keep drug residues off our dinner plates and thwart foodborne illness and antibiotic resistance.
“Clean meat is the clean energy of food,” Good Food spokesperson Matt Ball says in an email. “Clean meat will be vastly better in many, many ways, including for public health.”
But the industry has yet to prove that it can be so clean. Most of these companies are startups in prototype phase, still reliant on unappetizing additives — which they insist won’t be necessary once they graduate to commercial scale. Meanwhile, experts worry that as the volume increases, so will the risk of contamination. The meat makers say these concerns are easy to address, and promise to soon deliver savory goodness far safer than anything from a feedlot.
The truth is, there’s a chasm between the current state of clean meat and an industrial-scale food source that lives up to the name — and no one knows yet how to get to the other side.
Regulators take notice
The dirty side of clean meat took center-stage in late October at a joint hearing of the United States Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration. While the meeting was convened to discuss labeling — just what to call this new type of foodstuff — the details of production were also picked over by the FDA’s science board, a group of experts in food safety, medicine, epidemiology, drugs, and veterinary medicine.
The evidence they reviewed suggests that at this point, the meat-making entrepreneurs haven’t quite yet hit the clean meat threshold. Many companies use antibiotics, hormones, even blood products taken from fetal calves, at least during the first steps of the process, to get initial batches of cells to transition from life inside an animal to life inside a vial or dish. Industry surveys discussed by the board suggest that so far, most production systems also require artificial or animal-based additives to keep the cells growing.
Some board members also noted that it’s not yet clear how muscle cells will react when they’re grown in huge bioreactors. Unhappy cells may pump out stress-related compounds that humans may not want to eat. And without perfect sterility — or doses of antimicrobials — those massive vats, warmed and filled with nutritious broth to encourage growth, might get invaded by bacteria and fungi.
While the risks of producing conventional meat might diminish, growing muscle in vats may bring new ones.
These questions need to be answered with independent studies and cold, hard, public data, said food safety scientist Barbara Kowalcyk of Ohio State University, a member of the FDA’s science board.
“I don’t think we actually know enough about what the potential hazards are, and that’s what concerns me,” she said.
“Some of the companies are talking about having product this year, and have not sent a single sample out to any independent review,” charged Michael Hanson of Consumers Union.
The cultured-meat crowd, who turned out in force for the hearing, countered that the pharmaceutical industry routinely grows cells in culture to make vaccines and biologic medicines. Their methods aren’t new, and they aren’t inherently risky, they said. Inspections will catch any problems before products leave the building, let alone hit store shelves.
“These hazards are well understood, and there are well established methods for controlling them,” Eric Schulze of San Francisco-based Memphis Meats said at the hearing.
Besides, the producers pointed out, conventional meat is frequently contaminated with anything from the potentially deadly bacteria E. coli O157:H7 to low doses of antibiotics such as tetracycline, and hundreds of people die every year in the U.S. from illnesses caused by tainted meat and poultry. Manufactured meat offers the potential of greater consistency and tighter control over such risks, they said.
“I don’t think you’re going to have a greater risk than you have with, for example, the risk of E. coli in hamburger meat, or the current risk of salmonella in chicken,” said former FDA reviewer and pharmaceutical industry consultant Rebecca Sheets, who has analyzed contamination episodes in vaccine production.
The problem is that biology is never perfectly clean or perfectly predictable. As Sheets pointed out, while the familiar risks might diminish, there may also be new ones. We just can’t predict them, because nobody has ever grown muscle cells in 25,000-liter vats.
The cultured-meat recipe
To make a cultured burger, first you biopsy a cow, pig, or other meat animal. This tissue sample will likely need dosing with antibiotics to kill off what was growing in or on the animal, plus enzymes to liberate the muscle and/or fat cells so they can be separated from other types of cells.
Next, select out the cells capable of dividing and maturing into muscle or fat. You might genetically engineer them or otherwise manipulate them to become immortal, creating a renewable seed stock. At this point, if you’ve done the job right, there’s no further need for antimicrobials, the meat makers say.
Now put some of these cells into cell culture with a mix of growth factors, hormones, and nutrients to help them divide and mature into muscle. Many manufacturers use fetal bovine serum (FBS), which is collected at slaughterhouses from the blood of fetal calves.
Some manufactured-meat proponents argue that these new foods should be assumed safe until proven otherwise.
No company can afford to scale up production relying on this expensive animal-based elixir, so developing affordable plant-based FBS replacements is an area of intensive R&D. What’s in those formulas is usually kept secret — but they typically include hormones and cytokines, another type of signaling molecule.
The cells may also need scaffolding to attach to — another area of competition and rapid change. It could be collagen or gelatin derived from animals or generated by genetically-engineered microbes.
The big picture is that what’s in your vat at this point isn’t just animal cells. It’s a mix of natural, artificial, and plant- and animal-based materials. If it all works properly, and you keep microbial invaders out, you wind up with something similar to ground beef, chicken, fish, or pork.
New Age Meats cofounder Brian Spears, who offered a taste of the company’s pork products to the media in September, says the company still uses FBS for its cell cultures for now. But his team is working on a way to dispense with it by getting cells to grow by stressing them with changes in temperature or pH.
“We are a young company, we are in research,” he says. “One question that people have is, ‘We have to know what your processes are.’ My response is: ‘We’re developing those processes.’”
Developing is the key word. Any process a fledgling manufactured-meat company starts out with will be revised repeatedly as it scales up. These companies are only beginning to produce burger-sized amounts of meat. To replace just 10 percent of U.S. beef production, they’ll need to churn out almost 1.5 million tons a year.
So even though the industry can get started with protocols developed for pharmaceuticals, it will need to blast past them to produce food in commercial volumes.
That feeds into critics’ top worry: invasion by pathogens like listeria or mycoplasma.
“Anybody who has worked with cell culture knows that even in a very sterile environment, cross-contamination issues can be a real problem,” said Rhonda Miller, a meat scientist at Texas A&M. “As we upscale this technology, there are a lot of things we don’t know about how to control” that problem.
Cultured-meat makers respond that it’s not really mysterious.
“The concerns [expressed at the hearing] were valid — there are things that do need to be checked for,” such as microbial contaminants, says Mike Selden, CEO of Finless Foods, an early-stage cell-based fish company. “But none of it seems disqualifying to me.” There are well-known ways to test for every one of these contaminants, he says.
For that reason, Schulze and others argue that these new foods should be regulated like any other food — that is, assumed safe until proven otherwise, and allowed to go to market with only in-house safety checks.
Lab to table?
Typically, governments spend months or years developing regulations, so likely we won’t know for a long time exactly what rules will govern this new sector. But even if regulators take a light hand, and even if producers perfect their techniques and eliminate some of the less savory ingredients, these fledgling companies face another hurdle: Public opinion.
The shadow of genetically modified food hangs over meat made in vats. More than a third of U.S. consumers think GMOs are unhealthy, in part because of the widespread impression that the technology was rolled out without their knowledge, understanding, or approval. Secretive, high-tech meat producers could wind up in a similar backlash if consumers feel misled by the promises of clean meat.
Some producers are backing away from the “clean meat” label, calling their offerings “cell-based meat” instead.
The mass revulsion when people learned in 2012 that hamburgers often contain a byproduct called lean finely textured beef — what was dubbed pink slime — is another example. Food buyers who feel they’ve been tricked into eating mystery meat get upset.
Some producers are already backing away from the “clean meat” label, preferring to call their offerings “cell-based meat” instead. Finless Foods’ Selden says that, while his company keeps trade secrets for now, if customers want to know every detail of the production process, he’ll make it all public. He plans to move slowly, refusing to say when the company will have products on the shelves.
“We genuinely want to prove this stuff is safe, and if that takes a while that’s okay by us,” he says. “We need consumers to trust us.”
For Selden, Spears, and their competitors, that could be the toughest challenge of all, one they can’t solve through better engineering or a new and improved cell-culture protocol. For the big promises of clean meat to come to fruition, meat eaters will need to be confident that these products are just as good and safe as what they’ve been eating all along. The formula to produce that confidence is still an unknown recipe.
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https://medium.com/neodotlife/the-clean-meat-industry-has-a-dirty-little-secret-421d510b8136
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['Kat Mcgowan']
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2020-07-13 20:44:16.943000+00:00
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['Food', 'Animals', 'Health', 'Agriculture', 'Environment']
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Dreaming Of Bugs Right Now? You’re Not Alone
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By Elizabeth Gulino
PHOTO: VISHAL BHATNAGAR/NURPHOTO/GETTY IMAGES.
Vivid, nightmare-ish dreams tend to happen when one is feeling stressed and anxious — two very common emotions as we navigate life in a pandemic. And the most common theme of the vivid dreams we’ve been having? Bug attacks.
Deirdre Barrett, PhD, a Harvard psychologist and dream researcher who launched an international survey about pandemic-related dreams, told WebMD that the most common dreams reported just so happen to include “swarms of wasps, flies, and gnats to armies of roaches and wiggly worms.” Apparently bug attacks are “by far the most common metaphor” out of 8,000 responses.
“I think part of it traces to the slang use of the word; we say we have a bug to mean we have a virus,” Barrett continued. “Dreams can be kind of pun-like in using visual images for words.”
Vivid dreams happen during the rapid eye movement phase of our sleep cycles. If your ZZZs end up being disturbed because of stress and anxiety, or even if you find yourself sleeping more because of any quarantine-related schedule changes, you may be spending more time in REM sleep, leading to those intense dreams.
“One of the hard parts about dreams is that they don’t speak our language,” Lisa Harrison, MA, psychotherapist in private practice and a candidate training as a Jungian analyst, previously told Refinery29.
Being chased by something in a dream — even by bugs — can mean you’re avoiding something. “The degree to which you are being chased gives a clear indication of the degree to which you are avoiding an issue that needs to be addressed,” psychotherapist Matthew Bowes previously told Refinery29. “Perhaps you’ve been risk-avoidant, or you’ve held back on confronting something which is uncomfortable or frightening.”
When asked specifically about bug dreams, Bowes revealed that being overwhelmed by tiny monsters like spiders and worms “may indicate that little irritations or worries are creeping up on you.”
To stop these creepy crawlies from appearing in your dreams each night, it might be good for you to confront whatever is in your life that’s annoying you right now — no matter how small. After all, waking up in a cold sweat after being surrounded by swarms of bugs might just be worse.
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https://medium.com/refinery29/dreaming-of-bugs-right-now-youre-not-alone-21d2adf7aa54
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[]
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2020-07-19 15:36:00.840000+00:00
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['Sleep', 'Metaphor', 'Psychology', 'Dreams', 'Dream Meanings']
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Liliya Kalynovych News 2021 |Things Nobody Told You About To Become A Successful Real Estate Agent
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Liliya Kalynovych News 2021 |Things Nobody Told You About To Become A Successful Real Estate Agent Liliya Kalynovych Jun 8·4 min read
Welcome to universe of Liliya Kalynovych. She is the most presumed face real estate market in Florida USA. As a real estate master she needs to help individuals or new amateurs by means of sharing her stunning business sector information. So today in this blog Liliya Kalynovych discloses the slip-ups to be stayed away from to turn into an effective real estate agent.
In the event that you are thinking about on putting resources into real estate, it is superior to keep away from expensive mix-ups in picking the property, particularly when you put your well deserved cash into it. Realizing the most normal missteps made by real estate agent assists one with controlling away from making such errors later on. This additionally makes sure you pick a property which can give a decent profit from resource or in the event that you are an agent, you can with ease assist a purchaser with picking their fantasy property to move in.
Here are the top five slip-ups made by real estate investors, and different specialists associated with real estate like brokers. It is significant that one investigations them and follows something similar.
1. Not setting up ahead: Lack of a proper arrangement is the fundamental mix-up made by an amateur investor. Picking a house to movein in the wake of framing a legitimate resource system is the correct path as an option of searching for a house to fit their prerequisite. Many make the mistake of purchasing a house since it is by all accounts a decent arrangement and afterward attempting to perceive how they can modify it according to their prerequisite. As an option of purchasing a house and thinking about shifts in due direction, depositors ought to rather zero in on the numbers and attempt to zero in on various properties. This will make sure that they get a decent property that not just aides their investment model yet additionally works out well with the data they had intended for.
2. To think that you can make cash quickly: The following significant error that real estate investors make is to accept that it is not difficult to get wealthy in real estate. This is just an adventure and the reality is that putting resources into real estate is a drawn out mission. The increment in the property estimation is likewise dependent upon various factors which each real estate agent ought to know about.
3. Doing it sole-handedly: For turning into a triumphant real estate investor one needs to construct a group of specialists who might help the investor in his arrangements. This would consummately incorporate a real estate agent, an evaluator, a home inspector, an end lawful delegate and a loan specialist.
4. Making surplus payment: Another explanation that real estate investors make an error in their investment is paying too much for the belongings they purchase. Paying too a lot and darting up every one of the assets in some unacceptable property arrangement will leave you with no cash to cash in yourself. On the off chance that you are purchasing a house, you additionally need to recall that there would be a ton of costs that would bring about once you move in to the house.
5. Leaving out the nuts and bolts: Not doing your essential schoolwork could be an expensive error on the off chance that you were a real estate depositor. Each field of business requires adequate measure of schoolwork to be done, and real estate resource is no special case. Get familiar with the fundamentals and afterward bet into putting resources into properties.
Investors whose arrangement is to purchase, hold and lease properties require guaranteeing adequate cash stream for safeguarding. Property chief could be costly and the proprietor needs to cause more costs like home loan, charges, indemnity, promoting costs and so forth Depositors need to allocate their financial plan to such an extent that all these working expenses are dealt with, or wind up having their resource curve into a lawful responsibility.
A greater volume of arrangements or dealings help in expanding the profits by dropping the effects of paltry arrangements. Having more number of choices nearby for the property you purchase is an insightful arrangement. This unquestionably assists one with being prepared for variances in the real estate market.
For more mind boggling thoughts or tips continue to follow Liliya Kalynovych. She is the one of the best real estate market master in USA.
https://liliyakalynovych.wordpress.com/
https://twitter.com/LKalynovych
https://www.crunchbase.com/person/liliya-kalynovych
https://www.facebook.com/Liliya-Kalynovych-104284958544327
https://www.pinterest.com/lilliyakalynovych/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/liliya-kalynovych-237032214/
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https://medium.com/@liliyakalynovych/liliya-kalynovych-news-2021-things-nobody-told-you-about-to-become-a-successful-real-estate-agent-7795ce9a7880
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['Liliya Kalynovych']
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2021-06-08 18:20:13.093000+00:00
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['Liliya Kalynovych', 'Liliya Kalynovych Images', 'Real Estate Investments', 'Real Estate Agent', 'Real Estate']
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What is SEO and Why Does it Matter?
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Search engine optimization, or SEO, refers to the process of making your website easy to find through search engines like Google, Bing, Duck Duck Go, and others. When an internet user searches for a given word or set of words, called keywords, these search engines use an algorithm to choose which websites to show in its search results and in what order they appear. This algorithm is trained to prioritize pages that it has determined to be expert, authoritative, and trustworthy (E-A-T, an acronym that Google has said represents some of the major considerations its algorithm uses).
Of course, every website tries to provide reliable information, and a big part of creating a site is producing content that fulfills the E-A-T criteria. But a crucial element in search engine optimization is designing and structuring your website in an algorithm-friendly way. Search engine optimization makes that possible, using what we know about user search behavior and search engine algorithms.
Does SEO Matter?
The short answer to the question “Does SEO matter?” is “Yes, very much!” If your website is designed to sell a product, it’s crucial to make it as easy as possible for potential customers to find you. If your website or business depends on ad revenue, you need to drive clicks to your pages so users can see the ads. Even if your website’s goal is purely informative, search engine optimization allows you to get that information in front of as many people as possible.
In other words, search engine optimization isn’t just an intellectual exercise or a vanity project. It’s a way to ensure that you’re sharing information, promoting conversation and marketing your products or content in exactly the ways you intend.
Search engine optimization matters so much, in fact, that it should inform every step of creating your website, from concept to construction to content creation. Search engines like Google rate whole websites (these are called “domain ratings”), but their algorithm also ranks individual pages within the site. This means that not only should your site be structured in an algorithm-friendly way from the get-go, but each individual page on that site should follow best practices for SEO. A page that lists the 10 coziest bathrobes should and will rank differently in Google based on whether the user’s search includes the terms “bathrobe,” “pajamas,” or “sleepwear.”
Designing Websites for Search Engine Optimization
How do Google Search and other search engines determine ranking in their search results? While parts of the algorithm are kept under wraps, we do have some information about how search engines tend to function. For instance, we know that the speed with which your site loads is a major consideration for search engines, so it’s important not to overload your homepage with images or GIFs, which require a lot of bandwidth to load.
Two other important factors in search engine rankings are keywords and link profiles, both of which you should keep in mind when building your website and creating content. Search engines use internet bots called crawlers or spiders to analyze websites for keywords, links, user experience, and more.
These crawlers look closely at the structure of each individual page to see what keywords are used on that page, especially in important positions like page titles, section headers, and introductory text. If a crawler sees a page titled “10 Coziest Bathrobes,” with section headers like “Bathrobes with Pockets” and “Waffle Weave Bathrobes,” the search engine understands that the page is useful to people who are searching for bathrobes. When constructing your website and creating its content, it’s important to pay attention to which keywords are used in these prominent locations.
Crawlers also perform link analysis, examining how your site links to its own pages and how many other websites are linking back to yours. All websites include internal links to assist users in navigating from page to page, and the structure of interlinking on your website actually allows crawlers to find every page on the site. If your site includes pages that cannot be discovered through following internal links within your website, crawlers won’t know that those pages exist.
Your link profile also includes information about the quantity and quality of websites that have linked back to your content. The more high-quality pages that link to your website, the better your site will perform in search rankings.
Producing Search Engine–Optimized Content
The best way to create an SEO-friendly website is to create great, useful content. Strategies like buying links or doing link exchanges are frowned upon by most search engines, and they will not provide valuable long-term improvements to your site. Search engine optimization strategies are not a substitute for good content, but rather a way of enhancing that content in ways that will bring it to the attention of your desired audience.
Writing a blog can be a terrific way to drive new users to your website. A blog generates new conversations, leading users to link to you in order to participate in or share those conversations. When writing blog posts, remember to use relevant keywords in page titles and topic headings, as this will help your posts to be easily findable and helpful to visitors on your website, thereby making it likelier that they’ll read the posts and link back to them on their own sites.
Writing a blog is not the only strategy for building up your link profile, however. Guest-posting on other sites relevant to your work can build relationships across the internet and drive new traffic to your site. If applicable, you can create high-quality resources that can’t be found in other places, or can’t be found in the format you’re providing. As with blogs, pages that offer useful resources can be a good driver of incoming links, as users on social media or other parts of the internet share your content.
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https://medium.com/wordsmyth-creative-content-marketing/what-is-seo-and-why-does-it-matter-5025aaf208f7
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['Danielle Smyth']
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2020-12-14 17:03:46.843000+00:00
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['Blog', 'Seo Tips', 'Search Engine Optimizati', 'Content Creation', 'SEO']
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Why Every Business Needs a Positive Psychologist?
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In today’s dynamic world, the demands of employees are rapidly changing in the workplace. But are organizations keeping up with the demands to retain their talent?
We are currently living in the information age, which is probably the biggest shift the world has seen after the industrial revolution. Through blogging, social media, and other kinds of digital communication accessible to everybody, new ideas are spreading very quickly. People are becoming increasingly vocal about sharing their dreams, desires, views, and even frustrations.
With the information being spread like wildfire, these thoughts and desires can be seen mirrored in thousands of individuals. The world has become a global online community, where a well-written tweet can bring significant changes in the organizational structure and policies.
How Does it Affect Organizations?
With the employees looking for purpose and meaning in their working environments, it is the responsibility of the management to deliver it to them. Today, there is no room for the Victorian attitude where people would earn money to live modest lives.
Candidates, especially the talented ones, are always on the hunt for organizations where staff well-being is a priority. Organizations like Netflix, Google, and Virgin have realized that increasing well-being with the help of simple positive psychological interventions can help the employees find purpose at work, ultimately improving performance and productivity.
With more organizations adopting a more people-friendly leadership, the outdated ‘master/servant’ management style has no room in modern capitalism.
Where Does a Positive Psychologist Come into the Picture?
Once companies take this emerging trend into account, hiring a good positive psychologist becomes paramount. A positive psychologist can work with the organization on a consultancy basis, offering critical insights regarding the aspects that play a role in employee happiness and fulfillment.
A psychologist will consider the emotional and cognitive needs of the employees and use positive psychology coaching to remedy the problems that may go unnoticed by the management. With a positive psychologist’s expertise, employees will be able to find meaning in their job and work on their strengths to contribute to the workplace.
Health and safety are essential factors that contribute to staff well-being. A positive psychologist will also examine the workplace to ensure that nothing stands in the way of well-being and productivity.
Workload and scheduling are two other aspects that a positive psychologist will take into account. They are the reasons behind the anxiety and stress that most employees experience. For example, if a role is monotonous, it can stop the employees from giving their best. Hence, a business psychologist will do what it takes to keep the job stimulating for the employees.
Lastly, a positive psychologist will take the values and culture of an organization into account and see how the staff can relate to them. If the culture and staff aren’t aligned, measures are taken to bridge the gap.
Help Your Employees Find Purpose with Positive Psychology Coaching Services!
Give meaning to the work of your employees by seeking our coaching services at PPCaDI. With a team of highly experienced positive psychologists on board, we will ensure that your employees are happy and engaged in their workplace.
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https://medium.com/@williamslucy/why-every-business-needs-a-positive-psychologist-e372e1259864
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['Lucy Williams']
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2020-12-27 16:57:25.520000+00:00
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['Diversity', 'Diversity And Inclusion', 'Positive Psychology Coach', 'Diversity Training']
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Interaction Design Lessons from Oblivion — Why It Matters
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But, why study sci-fi interfaces at all?
This seems like an interesting hobby — if you’ve got the time — but what does this have to do with my real job?
I was never really able to give a good, well-thought-out answer to why I spend so much time studying sci-fi interfaces before — or for that matter, why it would be a good idea for an established business to spend time looking at them. But a few years ago during an email exchange between authors Olli Sulopuisto of Nonfiktio and Chris Noessel that very question was asked:
“…is studying movie UIs, I dunno, useful?… Have you learned something from sci-fi interfaces that would’ve been more difficult or impossible to gain by other means?”
So, in response, Chris wrote an article, in which he gives 8 tangible benefits for studying sci-fi-interfaces. I highly recommend you read the full article yourself, but I’ll give you a quick run-down of what he says.
1. You build necessary skepticism
You might want the things you design and build to be like the stuff you see in the movies, but some of the interfaces could cause disastrous consequences in the real world. So, studying these interfaces critically builds up your design immune system.
2. You get their good ideas
This doesn’t happen all the time, but every now and then you’ll find a concept that can inform your work. The films that inspire these good ideas can behave like an advisor on your team that is only focusing on the blue sky thinking.
3. You can turn their bad ideas into good ones
Star Wars: Episode IV (1977)
Chris uses the gunner seat in the Millennium Falcon as a favorite example for this.
In the real world, sound can’t travel through space, yet every time Han Solo fires the gun, you can hear the sound of a laser firing and things exploding. But, if you really think about it, it’s actually pretty smart since you could turn it around to say that the sound is added on purpose to give some user feedback — so he knows the gun’s firing properly.
This type of exercise requires the technique of apologetics, where you carefully study what’s broken in the design and try to figure out why it’s actually brilliant.
4. You can avoid their mistakes
Of course, Sci-fi interface designers have a different goal than real-world designers. That goal is to entertain, so they don’t necessarily have to care about the same things we do.
So, when they get an interface wrong they can get it very wrong. Seeing how the actors interact with these design fails can be instructive and teach us what not to do in our own designs.
5. It’s great analytical and design practice
Chris testifies that since he has been reviewing over 100 years worth of sci-fi interfaces, he has gotten really good at quickly and thoroughly being able to review interfaces in the real world. While I definitely do not have his track record for hours spent analyzing sci-fi interfaces, this still holds true for me as well since I began studying them.
For example…
The Amazing Spider-man (2012)
This interface from Spider-man gets less than 2 seconds of screen time, but it only took me those 2 seconds to look at this interface and see there were major problems.
When the lab is under attack, Gwen “flips” this “emergency lever” by four-finger-swiping a touchscreen.
Fortunately for everyone in the lab, Gwen is a level-headed individual — and got the warning from Spidey in plenty of time to — calmly — walk to the touchscreen and accurately swipe the “lever”. But what if the power had gone out and the emergency generator failed? What if for some reason there was low visibility and she couldn’t see the screen? Or what if for some reason she had lost the use of her hands and couldn’t effectively four-finger-swipe? These are serious problems with a touchscreen in this situation. Why not just use an analog lever? The cool, high-tech factor doesn’t make up for the poor design choices for this context.
All of that went through my head almost immediately after seeing this very short segment of the film. All thanks to the practice I’ve had taking a closer, more analytical look at the designs.
6. It’s speculative-tech literacy
It helps you become more literate in future, speculative tech. Even though you may not realize it, sci-fi is a major — sometimes subtle, sometimes not so subtle — influence on how designers and users think about interfaces.
Minority Report (2002)
Minority Report is almost 20 years old, but if someone references the pre-crime scrubber, chances are you know exactly what they’re talking about.
But, what’s good about it? What’s bad about it? What would you tell your client or design partner if they wanted to use it as a model for something you’re working on in the real world?
Having an understanding of these interfaces can definitely be a benefit when designing for stuff that doesn’t exist yet.
7. Its blind spots are rich mines
Comparing sci-fi tech with real-world tech helps lead to an understanding of the blind spots, and helps us see what we need to be thinking about but aren’t.
8. It inspires big thinking
If we as designers only work with what we know can be done with the materials we’re familiar with, there would be no real transformative innovation — only incremental improvements to what has come before.
While it is important to continuously iterate upon designs that have come before, if you want to disrupt an industry for the better, you need to remove the constraints of how it’s always been done before.
You do still need to know where we’ve been since that is an important lesson in how you can make things better in the future and to keep yourselves from repeating the same mistakes. At the same time, you shouldn’t allow that to confine you into the predefined proverbial box.
Analyzing sci-fi interfaces gives you a way to dream bigger and imagine what things would be like if the sky was the limit — and to imagine what it would be like if it could change the world for the better.
Meta and Magic Leap in the past, as well as Microsoft and a few other big companies have been looking at how augmented reality could be the new way people interact with technology and with each other.
Iron Man 2 (2010)
Some experts even believe this will replace mobile phones in the very near future. It wouldn’t be like Minority Report where your arms are in an unnatural position, but more like Stark’s lab.
With augmented reality that’s done right, — emphasis on being done the right way — your body’s positioning is more natural — you’re manipulating objects as you would in real life.
It’s the neural path of least resistance and their goal is for people to be able to compute with a zero learning curve for the interfaces.
Could you get this type of inspiration somewhere other than sci-fi? What other medium other than sci-fi focuses so much on future technology and society in such an imaginative and visual way? Video games come close, but not quite since there are still the real-world constraints of the usability of the actual game and platform technology.
All that said, sci-fi interfaces are a fun and inspiring way to study, to learn and to think big.
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https://medium.com/pintsizedrobotninja/interaction-design-lessons-from-oblivion-why-it-matters-de544e262f88
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['Aleatha Singleton']
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2020-04-23 23:31:37.437000+00:00
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['Interaction Design', 'UX Design', 'Future Technology', 'Sci Fi Interface']
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Sacred Baptism
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Photo by Ryan Loughlin on Unsplash
Sacred is an anagram for scared. Many of the things I consider sacred now were once a cause for fear. I was not a cradle Episcopalian, swaddled in grace through infant baptism, but asked instead to toe-walk a narrow plank toward the aisle before my first decade: a young southern baptist.
My twin brother and I didn’t want to give our wicked older brother the satisfaction of salvation. After a visit from the pastor, our baptism was planned. For Baptists, immersion is the only option, dunked in the name of one-in-three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
I still remember that big blue tub behind the altar, a place where I might want to host a cocktail party now. My palsied feet were clinging to the cinder block, so I didn’t baptize myself first by accident, short enough to sink. The pastor’s hands held my shoulders. The shower-curtain gown flared out in the water, exposing my swimsuit I only wore in the heated pool for physical therapy.
Baptism was a different kind of therapy, a cure for sin. The water was cold as if to remind me of the chill I woke up in weeks ago, imagining myself buried by my favorite cartoon character. The spit-talking mallard said I would be fine as he buried me alive. It was the only comfort I remember as my heart beat faster and faster. I cried aloud and woke up in a sweat. Baptism, they say, is a kind of death. I wouldn’t know what it truly meant to be reborn after many years. Fully accepting myself and sexuality for what it was — holy and god-given.
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https://medium.com/new-body/sacred-baptism-ce99576332e2
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['Presley Thomas']
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2020-09-07 18:32:32.695000+00:00
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['Christianity', 'Baptism', 'Queer', 'Faith', 'Fear']
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Looking for a Throughput Improvement Project that Goes from Start to Finish AND Pays for Itself in Less than a Year? Look no Further.
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Looking for a Throughput Improvement Project that Goes from Start to Finish AND Pays for Itself in Less than a Year? Look no Further. Phenix Planning and Scheduling Feb 2·4 min read
Manufacturing companies frequently embark on improvement projects that drag on longer than anticipated, draining resources and causing disruption to current processes over an extended period of time. Despite careful planning, these projects can still end with less than favourable results that aren’t sustainable over the long term.
Are you looking for a proven strategy with lasting results that requires minimal investment of time and energy and won’t turn your current processes and systems upside down? You can tick all of those checkboxes and more with Phenix Planning and Scheduling. Using advanced algorithms this software solution uses the concepts of Product Wheel Scheduling, a method focused on a regularly repeating sequence of everything you need to produce. Production is optimized to simplify changeovers, increase throughput, and reduce loss.
This approach brings significant value to companies — fast. Companies experience visible payoffs less than a year from the start of the project. And with a solid software solution, the benefits of using a Product Wheel approach are easy to see and maintain over time. Here are three key reasons why Phenix results in immediate value, making it an ideal throughput improvement project.
1. Rapid Implementation
One of the many benefits to Product Wheel improvement projects using Phenix is the ability for rapid, holistic execution. Using proven processes that incorporate a short, well proven roadmap, the software enables Product Wheels to be implemented within 4–6 weeks. The speed and effectiveness of implementation means you’ll start to see lasting improvements in short order. Having a well controlled project timeline reduces the likelihood of having to manage changes in production line-up, environment, or forecast change before implementation is finalized. Once Phenix is up and running, these changes are easily incorporated into scheduling — you’ll experience smooth sailing and be equipped with the tools to easily manage any waves that come your way.
2. Leverage What You Already Have
Rather than turn your world completely upside down, Phenix works to leverage your existing resources by building capacity and resource capability in four main areas:
– Phenix automates all of the routine “busy work”, empowering key players to switch from “fire-fighting” mode to having the capacity to deal with unexpected events and focus more on making business decisions. It provides a framework to capture scheduling best practices and business rules. This makes it easier to train team members, resulting in more seamless transitions when key people go on holiday or move to a different role.
– Rather than continuing to run overtime or investing in new equipment to meet customer demand, Phenix will use Product Wheel methodology to uncover capacity you didn’t realize you had on your existing lines. As production settles into a regular, more predicable pattern, you may find that some production lines don’t have to run nearly as many shifts.
– Phenix can be readily integrated with your existing ERP or planning systems. It has flexible import mapping with extensive error checking. It’s important to us that Phenix complements what’s already in place. Rather than reinvent the wheel, we coordinate all of the pieces for smoother, faster travels to the destination.
– Manufacturing Technology. Phenix is built on a set of proven industrial engineering technologies, organized into an integrated methodology called Product Wheel scheduling. A number of companies including DuPont, Dow Chemical, Exxon Mobil and AstraZeneca have employed wheels to significant operating advantage. Our team members are globally recognized as leaders in the application of these concepts, and have even authored books on it!
3. Built in Sustainability
You have probably had experiences where you engage in a throughput improvement project, the implementation appears to be successful, but then things start to fall by the wayside. We’ve all seen it. To ensure this frustrating outcome doesn’t happen, the Phenix implementation process anticipates speed bumps and roadblocks, and builds in effective countermeasures. The tool was developed with the goal of being easy to use and maintain. Extensive hands-on training is provided during implementation, with training materials made available on a self-serve basis afterwards to refresh skills or for easy onboarding of team members. Throughout implementation, we ensure new users gain the skills and confidence required to successfully design, schedule, and maintain efficient production lines using Phenix. And our team will stay in touch to share new feature releases and provide ongoing technical and bug fix support.
If you’re looking for an effective throughput improvement project that will demonstrate quick results and pays for itself in less than a year, Phenix Planning and Scheduling is the way to go. These projects can go from start to finish rapidly, leverage your existing resources and capabilities, and ensure the value you see during and immediately following the implementation will be maintained over time. Your newly discovered throughput improvement won’t be going anywhere.
Contact us to learn more about how implementation of Product Wheels with Phenix Planning and Scheduling can make a lasting impact on your company.
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https://medium.com/@phenixps/looking-for-a-throughput-improvement-project-that-goes-from-start-to-finish-and-pays-for-itself-in-271336d2997b
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['Phenix Planning']
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2021-02-02 19:59:53.976000+00:00
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['Manufacturing', 'Supply Chain Management', 'Manufacturing Software', 'Throughput', 'Supply Chain']
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Steps to Take Now to Prepare Your Finances For 2021
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Steps to Take Now to Prepare Your Finances For 2021
If 2020 has shown us anything, it’s that you can never truly be prepared for every curveball life may throw your way. A global pandemic has taken all of us out of our normal lives and into something completely unexpected. We now know more than ever how important it is to prepare your finances ahead of time, so you can handle the unexpected when it happens. Due.com Follow Dec 16, 2020 · 10 min read
However, quite a few financial cornerstones remain fairly standard. While personal finance isn’t exactly “one-size-fits-all,” you can usually count on certain financial steps to bring you desirable results.
As we prepare to wrap up 2020 for good, it’s the perfect time to begin getting ready for a new year. While there’s nothing magical about flipping the calendar to January 1st, that fresh start can be really encouraging. It gives you a reason to reset your life in all kinds of ways, including your money. So let’s talk about the most important steps to take now in order to prepare your finances for 2021.
Prepare to Get Your Debt Under Control
A great way to prepare your finances for 2021 is to start paying down debt. Get it under control by paying it off as quickly as possible. Keeping debt around isn’t doing you any favors, so it’s important to make debt payoff a priority as you prepare your finances for the new year.
I’m primarily talking about consumer debt-credit card balances, personal loans, etc. It’s essential to tackle any consumer debt head-on, reducing it by a little (or a lot) each month until it’s gone. You’re likely paying a high price to borrow that money.
You can look at several different strategies for debt reduction.
Debt Snowball
In the debt “snowball,” you start with your lowest-balance debt first. Look over all of the accounts you owe money to, figure out what’s the smallest total, and get rid of that one first. While doing so, pay the minimums on every other debt. Once the smallest debt is gone, do the same with the next-lowest balance until they’re all zero.
Debt Avalanche
The debt avalanche is slightly different from the debt snowball. Instead of focusing on the smallest amount, you focus on paying off the debt with the highest interest rate first. So if you have a $5,000 student loan at 3% and a $15,000 credit-card balance at 16%, you’d pay minimums on the student loan and throw every extra dollar at the credit card to pay it off more quickly.
Other Debt Circumstances
Mortgage and student loan debt are “better” types of debt, but you still want to keep plowing away at repayment. With such a low percentage of student loans having been approved for forgiveness, and the future of student debt policies uncertain, it’s best to keep paying down student loan debt when you’re able to. (Currently, federal loans are in forbearance (due to coronavirus) but that is set to end on Dec. 31, so be prepared with a plan to resume payments in 2021.)
The key thing to remember is that debt is probably holding you back in some way. It may make it harder (or impossible) to start that new business or purchase a home. Debt hinders you from saving well for retirement and other future goals.
Believe that you can become debt-free, and make a plan to do it. Whether you have to get a second job or side gig, embrace frugality, or start budgeting for the first time, paying off debt is a great way to kick off 2021.
Prepare Your Finances By Shoring Up Your Emergency Fund
An emergency fund is one of the most crucial pillars of preparing your finances. You simply can’t plan every single expense every month for the rest of your life. What you can plan for is that you’re bound to face an emergency at one time or another, and those incidents can often be costly. Preparing in advance with an emergency fund helps ensure that emergencies don’t ruin your life.
60% of respondents in a recent poll admitted they couldn’t afford a $1,000 emergency expense, and 40% also couldn’t come up with $250 for an unexpected expense. Those are scary statistics. Any of us could face a sudden need for a few hundred dollars at any point.
Just think of the expensive situations that might occur:
Home repairs (what if your heating system goes out in the winter?)
Car repairs
Medical or dental emergencies
Job loss or a reduction in hours/wages/clients
In most cases, no one can prevent these circumstances. They just happen, and they happen to everyone.
So, if you don’t have an emergency fund yet, or yours has been decimated by pandemic-related problems, start off 2021 by saving up an emergency fund as soon as humanly possible. Even if you’re only able to save a few bucks extra per paycheck, don’t dismiss that as “not worth it.” Every little bit will help.
Just think of how many Americans have struggled in 2020 due to a job loss, even if it was only for a few weeks or months. You’ll thank yourself later if you make the sacrifices necessary to build up a real emergency fund.
How much do you need? Conventional financial wisdom says 3–6 months’ worth of expenses. Many also recommend a more robust fund, such as 9–12 months’ worth. It depends somewhat on your job; if you’re an entrepreneur or have irregular income, it’s generally better to have a bigger cushion in case of setbacks. At the very least, $1,000 is a nice start to keep you afloat when smaller unexpected events happen.
Keep Holiday Spending In Check
A great tip to prepare your finances for 2021: keep your holiday spending in check. There’s nothing like a holiday hangover involving crazy credit-card bills from buying and overspending.
Think about how to make “Future You” feel better. In January, wouldn’t you like to look back at your holiday bills and see that you enjoyed yourself without breaking the bank or racking up debt? Look at ways to save money on gifts and events, whether you’re giving gifts to loved ones or to clients and contractors.
There are plenty of easy strategies for spending less. I love using my credit card rewards from the year to pay for Christmas gifts; it makes my holiday budget a breeze and uses points I would have earned anyway. If someone truly cares about you, I’d hope that they wouldn’t want you killing your budget just to buy them more junk they don’t need.
You don’t have to become a total Scrooge, though! Be creative and make a holiday spending budget to keep yourself on track. It’s fine to spend money on making the holidays memorable. Just be intentional about what you spend and why. The holidays are no excuse to start off the new year stressed about money.
Prepare Your Finances By Learning to Budget
Budgets may sound intimidating if you’re new to the concept. But trust me, it’s not as difficult as it may sound, and it’s so helpful in preparing for financial success in the new year. And you don’t have to do it perfectly; it’s a constant growth process.
Many people like to follow a zero-sum budget, which means that you account for every cent you earn and spend until everything “zeroes” out. Others prefer a looser structure, with larger categories for saving, fun, and bills.
You can go old-fashioned, with pencil and paper. Or try a spreadsheet for your budget, like Excel or Google Sheets. There are also great online budgeting tools that can help anyone who’s new to the world of budgets.
Total up your income and expenses. To be most effective, you want to set up your budget for the upcoming month, so you have a plan in advance.
Tally up all sources of income. If you have one employer, that’s easy; just look at your pay stub. If you have extra freelance gigs or other sources of income such as rental income, be sure to include all of the money you bring in each month. (If it’s unpredictable, make your best estimate.)
After you know the income side of things, look at your expenses. Fixed expenses remain the same from month to month, and variable expenses…well, they can vary from month to month.
Typical Fixed Expenses
Mortgage/rent payment
Cell phone
Car payment
Health insurance premium
Life insurance premium
Entertainment subscription (cable, Netflix, etc.)
Gym membership
Student loan payment
Retirement contribution (though you can adjust this)
Typical Variable Expenses
Food/groceries
Dining out
Fuel
Utilities (although many companies make fixed-payment plans you can choose)
Clothing
Miscellaneous expenses
Savings
Many people are surprised when they do the math and figure out just how much they’re spending in a month. Even if you don’t stick with zero-sum budgeting forever, it’s a very useful exercise to do for a few months so you learn how much you spend (it’s often more than you think). It can be eye-opening.
To do the zero-sum budget, look at your spending estimates, total them up, and see how close you are to your total monthly income. The goal is to get them to equal one another. If you have money left over to spend, you can add more to savings or another category. If you don’t have enough income to cover your spending, figure out what you can decrease.
Other Budgeting Strategies
50/30/30 budget (50% for needs, 30% for wants, 20% for savings or debt payoff)
Anti-budget (more casual: set up 3–5 major spending categories, check how you did at the end of the month, and adjust your goals accordingly)
Budgeting carefully can show you areas where you could cut back. Are there subscriptions you aren’t using, like for that gym you never go to? Could you decrease your dining-out frequency from twice a week to once a month? Could you call your insurance company or cell phone provider and ask for a discount? Any and all of these efforts could help streamline your budget and give you more room for saving, debt payoff, and more.
Protect Your Loved Ones
You need to plan ahead so that anyone who is dependent on your income would be all right in the event that you passed away or became unable to work. There are several important legal tasks that you should get done. Many of us procrastinate on these somewhat annoying tasks, but they are much too important to ignore.
So as you finish up 2020, be sure that you go into the new year with a solid plan to protect your loved ones financially. You work too hard to not prepare your finances in this way. This means setting up a will, as well as life insurance and possibly other paperwork like a Power of Attorney.
Will
Create a will so that your assets will be distributed as you wish if you die. This is also essential if you have children; you need to designate a guardian for your kids in the event that both parents pass away. A will helps prevent arguments and legal battles over money and other important issues.
Life Insurance
Most working adults need life insurance, and usually term life insurance policies are the way to go. These protect you for a set period of time (the “term”) and you pay premiums throughout that time. 20 years is a common term for life insurance. You pay a set amount monthly, and if you pass away during the term specified, your beneficiaries get a set payout from the insurance company.
Anyone who is providing for a spouse, children, or others in their household should have term life insurance. It’s relatively cheap and provides a level of protection so no one suffers needlessly if you pass away unexpectedly.
Power of Attorney
Power of Attorney is another useful document to have on file. In case you become unable to make decisions for yourself due to an illness or injury, power of attorney legally designates a person you trust to make those decisions on your behalf. Look into both medical and financial power of attorney and arrange for a trusted family member or friend to take charge in those unfortunate circumstances.
Prepare Your Finances and Begin Saving for Retirement
If you’re not yet saving anything for retirement, make it your goal to start in 2021. Some of these other goals need to take priority ahead of retirement (like a starter emergency fund), but as you start to get a handle on these other issues, stop putting retirement on the back burner.
If you can only afford to set aside $5 a week ($20 a month), go ahead and start. Set up your 401(k) or Roth IRA if you don’t have one yet. If you’re self-employed, get a SEP IRA. Get in the habit of investing in your retirement now, and as your income increases (or debt decreases), keep increasing the amount of your contributions.
The most important thing your retirement fund needs besides contributions? Time. You want to give yourself as much time as possible for your investments to grow.
Set Your 2021 Professional Goals
Another important step to help you prepare for the new year is to set your professional goals for 2021. Do you want to increase your revenue, raise your rates with current clients, network with more influencers in your field, start a new business, get some education or train for a new career?
Potential business goals:
Send out more pitches
Improve your marketing skills
Learn a new skill
Outsource tasks to focus more on the big picture
Raise your rates
Read great business books
Streamline bookkeeping
Take some time in December to plot out your highest priorities for your work and professional life. If you want to grow, you need to think ahead about how to make that happen!
Whether you have a one-person freelancing business or you run a large company, you should contemplate how you’ve fared professionally in 2020 and how you’d like to improve in 2021.
Make 2021 Your Best Financial Year
You know you want to dive into 2021 ready to learn, grow, and succeed. Taking some time now as the year comes to an end will help you to start the new year off on the right foot. Prepare your finances today and work to accomplish even bigger money goals than you’d ever imagined.
|
https://medium.com/due/steps-to-take-now-to-prepare-your-finances-for-2021-9970cc12941b
|
[]
|
2020-12-16 18:38:58.541000+00:00
|
['2021', 'Planning', 'New Year', 'Finances']
|
In Praise of Google
|
Sometimes the simple contributions that #Google genius has given us all, and more broadly humanity, are the ones that have the power to surprise and delight us the most, the power to entertain, the capacity to educate with increasingly democratic reach. Consider the example of Youtube and the countless educators, volunteers, and content creators such as linguistic polymath Luke Amadeus Ranieri that painstakingly create and share jewels that help us become better versions of ourselves.
Ecclesiastical Latin vs Classical Pronunciation History | Latin: The Immortal Language
Link: https://youtu.be/XeqTuPZv9
Fascinating to hear how the Carolingian effort to standardize the pronunciation of written Latin laid the foundation for the creation of ecclesiastical Latin. This had two mind-blowing effects. Artificially creating a new standard by which cross border, regional communications could take place within Europe, and subsequently fueling Renaissance forces, latent or prominent over the course of perhaps a millennium. More importantly, the effort created a Language frozen in time, effectively immortalized it for posterity. Now that is a tall order.
It is content such as this that is worth factoring into the calculus that rates the societal value of the world of possibilities that a company like Google opens up to the world.
|
https://medium.com/@micksterct/in-praise-of-google-1fb9a5823b7f
|
['Michael Bisignani']
|
2021-01-09 15:45:12.276000+00:00
|
['Google', 'Cloud', 'Classics', 'Information Technology', 'Latin']
|
Throw Money at the Problem
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If it is important to you, throw money at whatever is stopping you from pursuing of your goals.
What do I mean by this?
If you want to go back to school, but cannot because someone needs to watch the children, hire a babysitter.
If you want to start exercising every morning, but it takes up the time you spend cleaning your house, hire a cleaning person.
If you want to write that book, but simply cannot focus at home, buy a cup of coffee at a coffee shop and ‘rent’ the space for an hour of writing.
As you start reading these, you might realize that you do not even need to spend the money I am suggesting.
Maybe it is more of a matter of willpower, proper organization of your priorities, effective time management or support from loved ones, which is needed for your endeavour.
Spending money to pursue your goals can be a great catalyst for success.
Why?
If you are spending your hard earned cash on a meal delivery service, so that you can write the next great novel, but do nothing, other than scroll through Instagram for the evening, then perhaps it is time to re-examine the goal you think you so badly want to achieve.
However, if you do take the hour a day, which you usually spend meal prepping, with your butt planted in a chair, keyboard clattering away, losing track of time, watching the word count and pages grow, then that meal service will pay for itself in the future.
Throwing money at the problem might sound frivolous to you, but to me, it is everything.
It shows me that I am committed to the completion of the goal, not just the idea of it and I am willing to make big sacrifices for said goal.
If you are willing to allocate your money to help you reduce the distractions or obstacles, which are preventing you from achieving your goal, you are acting in accordance to reaching said goal.
Where we spend our money, what we spend it on and how we spend it, say a lot about us.
If you are sitting here, stuck in a rut, with a decent paying job, a slightly higher than expected mortgage and bills, which make you sigh with defeat, but there is that thing you want to do and think about all the time, you will find the time, money and energy.
We are some of the lucky ones.
We have a roof over our heads and at least five extra bucks a month to spend, so you have cash to spare, I am sure of it. Before you start rambling at why you cannot spend the money, make the time or whatever else you excuse may be, ask yourself why it is easier to explain the reasons why you are not doing, rather than expending said energy on doing.
Five minutes a day adds up.
It all adds up, so you can choose to either pile up your excuses, like the steaming pile they are, or start making the sacrifices.
|
https://amanlitt.medium.com/throw-money-at-the-problem-3508233da6e
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[]
|
2018-12-09 22:26:27.411000+00:00
|
['Life Lessons', 'Goal Setting', 'Money', 'Goals', 'Success']
|
How do free applications earn revenue?
|
Friday evening I was surfing on my WhatsApp. And there were few thoughts came in my mind on how do these companies recover their costs? Since they don’t even charge me a penny, how do their business even run? Leaving WhatsApp there are so many other applications like Facebook, Paytm, Zomato, etc. which are free of cost. They don’t charge for installing their application also provides free services. My these questions made me do research on how do these companies exactly work?
If any company wishes to build up its own app it would start with the initial investment made by the company, this investment would be either of their own or through some external funding. The cost involved in building the application is the server cost which is the computer program which offers services to other computer programs as well as its users. This server cost provides continuous 24*7 services to the users. Other costs like maintenance cost are the costs associated with the maintenance of any facility, equipment or asset. It includes the cost of support staff involved in problem identification and repair. It does not include the project costs associated with the development of new functionality and performance enhancement. Regular technology upgrade and operational cost i.e the expenses which relate to the operation of a business, or to the operation of a device, component, piece of equipment or facility. They are the cost of resources used by an organization to maintain its existence. If we calculate all these costs, any startup company has to invest 70 lacs to 100 lacs to incur these cost. The next question which arises is how do these companies recover these costs and run their business?
I also found out certain facts.
Using ads to monetize apps and make money is quite simple. An app owner needs to display commercials inside their mobile app and get paid from the third-party ad networks. Advertising also has many cons like the company data is being used, Misleads consumers create risky advertising approaches App publishers can choose to offer free content in their apps for a limited amount of time and then charge users for a subscription fee that will allow them to access full content without any restrictions. Many e-commerce businesses build free apps to sell physical goods such as toys, shirts, shoes, etc. these physical products can sell to the app or via email marketing. The app publishers can sell their users’ behavior data to these researchers and make a handsome amount of money. The data generally contains users’ email addresses, social media accounts, and their personal preferences. Selling data is the most threatening because of the actual data of the company is being used by some third party. When it comes to talking about freemium Upsell, freemium apps are available free of cost to download but contain paid or premium features. These paid and premium features accesses through in-app purchases. Increases audience size with no barriers to entry & no risks. It’s in safe hand because your data is not used by any person other than yourself. The best way to monetize your apps is transaction fees. It is the best way to make money from your free apps. It is especially possible with those apps that provide a platform, where digital transactions occur on a regular basis.
Let’s Talk About Future of Free Apps
As you can see from the above-mentioned statistics, the growth of the mobile app market isn’t stopping anytime soon. Despite increasing competition in the industry, publishers are also applying new Monetization methods and creating more useful free apps for users.
Coming on to a conclusion the apps generated by any company should secure, there shouldn’t be any misuse of the client’s data. Also, the unnecessary notifications which pop in without even using the app should be stopped. There are also a few searching problems faced by clients like when a client searches for a related product or services something other than that appears on the screen. Making sure that the clients using the apps are in safe hands.
|
https://medium.com/sminq/how-do-free-applications-earn-revenue-60995f61f5e2
|
['Payal Aryamane']
|
2019-05-16 08:49:12.133000+00:00
|
['Patients', 'Hospital', 'Doctors', 'Online Appointment', 'Healthcare']
|
Cryptocurrency — a new form of asset class?
|
Cryptocurrency is quickly becoming a new form of property, aside from real estate, gold, precious coins, stocks and works of art. As with any other type of asset, there must be some rules and laws regarding the juridical status of cryptocurrencies, how they can be inherited, sold or lent. Crypto market is still an unregulated area, and many countries ignore the need of acknowledging the fact that they exist, or just ban them straight away. In this article we’re gonna highlight the problems related to crypto in its juridical aspects of dealing with crypto or possessing some crypto assets.
Inheritance
There is one particular problem, unique to crypto assets. Cryptocurrency isn’t a physical asset, thus the rights of ownership can’t be transferred, it can’t be handed over to an heir or transferred in any other way if this heir doesn’t have the private key to the wallet where the funds are stored. The only way to make sure your heirs will receive your funds is to give them access via private keys. How can you organize the proper inheritance of your crypto assets to your family or someone else you want to receive it?
First option is to go to a notarial office. Make a will. Put it in a safe. Also with this will you have to put in one of these things:
A paper wallet. Just a sheet of paper with a private key written on it. Can be put into a mail envelope and sealed to ensure no one will be able to see it. Winklevoss brothers, Bitcoin billionaires, store their private keys in paper wallet. Their private keys are written on paper, cut to many pieces, and now these pieces are kept in various banks all over the world. A cold wallet. A cold wallet is a special device designed for exactly one thing: to store crypto safely. To access the coins stored on cold wallet you’ll need a special password, so be sure to include it as well. A flash memory card. A flash memory can be used instead of a cold wallet. It’s less safe in terms of security, and it’s more fragile in terms of durability. A broken flash card means that you or your heirs won’t be able to recover files stored on it. You can store your private keys written in a txt file. But it’s not the best option.
The right of ownership
Due to its decentralized nature, the only way to own crypto coins is to own the private keys of an address where these coins are stored. If you expose your keys to a third party and as a result your funds get stolen, you can’t recover them. There’s no way to reverse or cancel a transaction, so keeping your private keys safe is your problem. There won’t be any bank or authority to help you. The robber can even get arrested and sentenced, but if he won’t give away the keys, the funds will be stuck at his address for as long as he wants. There’s no way to move someone’s funds against his will, that’s the biggest advantage and the biggest flaw of crypto.
Using cryptocurrencies as a collateral
There’s a different approach to giving crypto-backed loans. There’s a concept of risk in banking system, and every client must have a risk profile assigned to him. Before lending money to any client, a lender must weigh the risk, estimate the chance of possible delay in repaying the debt and then decide if he can lend him money. But there are some nuances if we dealing with crypto and blockchain in general.
To give a collateral-backed loan you don’t have to know the identity of your client if you get a pledge, in our case, Bitcoin, in your full possession. But you have to know his name to send him the loan to his bank account. Thus using the decentralized asset as a collateral makes no difference, and you have to follow the same steps as usual.
Why would you need to pledge your Bitcoin in the first place? At the present moment a number of lending platforms issue (or plan on issuing) loans backed by crypto collateral. Let us take eCoinomic.net as an example. Let’s suppose you bought Bitcoin at $9,000 and it crashed to $6000. Suddenly you need money. You have two options: to sell at loss and 30% of your initial investment will be gone forever, or pledge it, using some lending platform services. You get the loan, and when you don’t need these money, you return it and get your coin back even if its price has tripled. That’s how it works. You don’t risk anything, you can keep your coins and find them a good use at the same time.
Summary
As we see, if you’re owning any amount of cryptocurrency all you have to do is to be cautious and keep your private keys in a safe place. Can we call cryptocurrencies a valuable asset? Definitely. Can we declare that its price will continue to grow? We don’t know, so we can’t. The thing is that the widespread adoption can drive the price up, but you’d better get used to it right now. While nobody can change the fact that the transactions are irreversible, all other aspects of owning and using crypto can be discussed and the rules can be defined. Anyway, you can own it, pledge it, use it right now. Why not?
|
https://medium.com/ecoinomic/cryptocurrency-a-new-form-of-asset-class-c7cccbde9b93
|
[]
|
2018-08-15 13:01:55.980000+00:00
|
['Bitcoin']
|
On the way to scalability
|
How Project A helped KRY to set the foundations to scale global performance marketing.
“For me as VP of Marketing, it was important to understand where we stand in terms of our performance marketing channels and what we need to work on. Project A helped a lot in that regard.” — Neil Bridgeman, VP Marketing KRY
KRY is one of Project A’s biggest portfolio companies with over 300 employees working on reimagining the healthcare industry. With the KRY app, you can have a doctor consultation by video and get medical advice, prescriptions and sick notes. Over one million patients across Europe have used the app to get medical help. The company operates in Sweden, Norway, UK, France and has just launched in Germany.
Project A was asked to help the team become more efficient with performance marketing in their core market Sweden, thereby accelerating growth and setting the foundation for scalability across markets. Here is what we did and what can similarly be applied by high-growth companies.
Improving the efficiency of your performance marketing accounts
We started off by conducting audits for each channel and by discussing and prioritizing the findings with the team. Here are some of the things we did to improve efficiency across performance marketing channels:
Eliminated money burning keywords and put a cap on competitors for Apple Search Ads (ASA).
Introduced best practices for Google Search and Google App campaigns (e.g. smart bidding).
Reduced complexity for Facebook and Instagram campaigns (lean structure).
Set up correct audience structures to be excluded by partners like Facebook / Snapchat.
Refocused campaigns outside of Stockholm to acquire new customers on Snapchat.
Introduced retargeting based on specific landing pages on the website.
Introduced new creative concepts to advertise for more medical symptoms.
Separated awareness campaigns from pure performance campaigns.
The result was that we were able to lower the Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) considerably and achieved the best performance on the Google accounts since we started working on the project.
“In the first phase, Project A did an incredible job in improving efficiency after a thorough audit and understanding of the current state of Kry’s marketing efforts. This helped lay the foundation for further scalability and bring performance marketing inhouse.” — Sumitra Balakrishnan, Global Performance Marketing Director KRY
Documenting existing knowledge
Yes, it probably sounds quite obvious to document existing knowledge. However, the truth is that you rarely do it when you are in high growth mode. So for us, the challenge was to gather existing knowledge on accounts, events and different apps and write everything down.
This will make your life so much easier and facilitate the onboarding of new people. It will also free your team from having to answer the same questions over and over again instead of just referring to a file with all the answers.
Simplifying structures and introducing best practices
There are many ways to set up your account and campaign structures and every agency has their own way of doing it. However, there are best practices that you should stick to and implement across markets to make scaling easier. And while you may or may not use what Google suggests in terms of account structure (see below), your account structure should be informed by the nature of your company and by your future strategy while taking all markets into account. Here’s what we changed during our restructuring:
New account structure for Google (e.g. MCC level, separating Google App and Search campaigns).
Consolidated the Facebook targeting and focused on new potential users with more universal messages to avoid audience overlap and increase reach.
Introduced a new structure for Google App campaigns that included a lot more symptoms in different ad groups.
Reduced complexity by using Google Ads instead of DV360 to run YouTube ads (also in a separate Google account).
Here is an account structure that Google suggests using. We consider this to be a bit too complex for smaller startups, but it’s the best way to go if you want to scale your company:
Standardizing: Creating consistent campaign naming conventions
KRY uses different agencies for different markets, which is a good approach to get new markets up and running fast since you are using local expertise. Most agencies have their own preferred campaign naming conventions, which they use across different clients.
However, if you want your analytics team to be able to do analyses across markets, and if you want to eventually bring your performance channels in-house, it makes sense to standardize those naming conventions.
Here’s the process that we followed:
Establish your own campaign naming conventions that will work for at least a year and will account for your future planned channels, campaigns, products etc.
Get feedback from all stakeholders, especially all local marketing managers who will work with those naming conventions.
Introduce a tool that will help you enforce the naming conventions.
We used a tool that would allow teams to easily pick market, channel, platform etc. without making any mistakes. It was essentially a campaign naming assistant, UTM and Adjust link builder in one tool. However, you can also just use Google sheets with a formula that provides the correct output.
We used a tool that would allow teams to easily pick market, channel, platform etc. without making any mistakes. It was essentially a campaign naming assistant, UTM and Adjust link builder in one tool. However, you can also just use Google sheets with a formula that provides the correct output. In a formal session, introduce your tool to all stakeholders and show them how to use it.
Stick to your naming conventions and, if necessary, change / adapt them once a year.
Setting up a creative production process that scales
Your performance marketing is only as good as your creatives and ideally, you quickly understand what works and iterate on it. In order to be able to scale, we changed the creative production process to reduce the time from briefing to go-live of the creative and the number of feedback loops given. Here is what the new process looked like:
The most important part now is that KRY’s creative team gets feedback on how their creatives are doing in terms of customer acquisition and what works and what doesn’t. This helps them to get into a production mode that is much more performance-driven. At the same time, they still control branding while reducing the number of feedback loops given with a master production file that they deliver to the agency (Twigeo).
Going forward, the creative Director at KRY wants to establish a creative library that can be used to come up with new ads for performance marketing.
Improving your tracking framework
When we started to work with KRY, we did encounter some challenges with the existing tracking framework and partner integrations. This is not least due to the fact that KRY has a complex set up where they are mobile-first while still using the website to generate leads through valuable medical content. For companies looking to scale, we would like to suggest the following:
Update existing tracking concepts and create a framework to increase the percentage of tracked conversions for core partners.
Standardize settings of tracked events.
Lobby for the inclusion of more events to be used by marketing channels.
Collaborate with different teams and partners to find a suitable solution for all involved.
Making the most out of your agency relations
When relying on agencies, you want to make the most of your relationship and get the best results possible. We started off by asking the agencies what worked and didn’t work in the collaboration with KRY and what their biggest challenges were in delivering the best performance. The survey results were very helpful in determining what we need to tackle first. Here are some of the things we did to improve agency collaboration:
Clarified the KPIs, goals and budgets that are used to evaluate the agency.
Standardized reporting across agencies and markets.
Improved daily collaboration with weekly update calls, set priorities, documented tasks to be done and the tracked progress of ongoing tasks.
Set up a new improved creative production process (see above).
Connected the agencies to partners like Google, Adjust etc. to support them with more insights.
Organized workshops to come up with new ideas on what to test and eliminated roadblocks.
This truly helped us bring agency relations to the next level. The attention on KRY as a client increased considerably and we were able to generate new ideas to level up performance.
Getting help from partners
Once you have a considerable performance marketing budget to spend, you can and should get help from your advertising partners like Google, Facebook and others. They usually have an interest in helping you, since, if what you are doing works, you will be able to scale your channels even more. When Project A started working with KRY, some of the partnerships were already established, while others (e.g. Snapchat, Facebook) were not.
We reached out to all advertising partners and established regular catch-ups and consultation sessions to get the most out of our performance channels.
Furthermore, we organized a creative workshop with the EMEA Creative Director of Snapchat for all designers working at KRY as well as multiple workshops with mobile tracking provider Adjust in order to foster deeper understanding of the platform.
KRY is now in close contact and collaboration with all advertising partners and they benefit from valuable support and access to new product betas or brand lift studies.
In-housing your performance marketing
By doing all the above we also set the foundation for in-housing performance marketing at KRY. While it’s a great strategy to collaborate with local agencies when starting a new market, in the long run, you will only be able to scale performance and achieve maximum efficiency if you run your performance marketing in-house.
This will not only allow your team to apply learnings across markets, as you will have channel specialists working across markets, it will also make sure that you really work with your business goals in mind and react to changes in strategy much more quickly.
“Having the expertise of Project A helped us taking the next step from startup to scale up.” — Johannes Schildt, Founder & CEO KRY
To conclude, it’s not one big thing you will do in order to scale, but the addition of many, many small things that will make the difference in how smoothly you can make that hockey stick work. Happy scaling!
|
https://insights.project-a.com/on-the-way-to-scalability-fef933263f0
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['Anastasia Albert']
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2020-01-14 11:23:54.979000+00:00
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['Scalability', 'Marketing', 'Startup', 'Performance Marketing', 'Digital Health']
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TALENTA DAILY NEWS
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1. SEC Clears Blockstack Inc to Hold First Regulated Token Offering
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday cleared blockchain startup Blockstack to sell bitcoin-like digital tokens, a first-of-its-kind offering that could give young cryptocurrency businesses a new fundraising template.
[Source: WallStreetJournal] ✩✩✩✩
2. Fold Enables Spending Bitcoin At Amazon, Starbucks Coffee And Uber Via The Lightning Network
Yesterday, Fold announced the integration of Bitcoin’s Lightning Network in their app that helps users spend the cryptocurrency at Amazon, Starbucks, Uber, and other major retailers. Unlike another retail-focused crypto payments app announced earlier this year, Fold is focused on sticking to Bitcoin’s roots and allowing their users to avoid issues associated with the legacy financial system such as Know-Your-Customer (KYC) restrictions and mandatory signups.
[Source: Forbes] ✩✩✩✩
3. Visa funds $40M for no-password crypto vault Anchorage
Visa and Andreessen Horowitz are betting even bigger on cryptocurrency, funding a big round for fellow Facebook Libra Association member Anchorage’s omnimetric blockchain security system. Instead of using passwords that can be stolen, Anchorage requires cryptocurrency withdrawals to be approved by a client’s other employees. Then the company uses both human and AI review of biometrics and more to validate transactions before they’re executed, while offering end-to-end insurance coverage.
[Source: TechCrunch] ✩✩✩✩
4. Canada: Crypto Exchanges Must Register With Financial Watchdog Next June
Cryptocurrency exchanges in Canada will be legally required to register with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FinTRAC) as of June 1, 2020, according to a notice published on July 10.
[Source: Cointelegraph] ✩✩✩✩
5. Winklevoss Twins’ Gemini Exchange May Join Facebook’s Libra Project
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, co-founders of the New York-based crypto exchange Gemini, may soon join the Libra Association, the consortium governing Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency.
“We’re definitely looking at it in earnest and we’re excited about the project,” Cameron told CoinDesk Tuesday.
Tyler added that in their view, Libra is a harbinger of cryptos to come.
[Source: Coindesk] ✩✩✩
6. Fed’s Jerome Powell Has ‘Serious Concerns’ With Facebook Libra Proposal
Facebook Inc.’s proposal to create its own digital currency raises major questions that must must be addressed before the plan to create a coin called Libra moves forward, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday
[Source: Bloomberg] ✩✩✩✩
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-10/fed-s-powell-has-serious-concerns-with-facebook-libra-proposal
7. Turkey Puts Central Bank Digital Currency on New Economic Roadmap
The government of Turkey has included a central bank-issued digital currency in its 2019–2023 economic roadmap published on July 9.
As per the 11th Development Plan from the Presidency of the Turkish Republic, “Blockchain-based digital central bank money will be implemented.”
[Source: Cointelegraph] ✩✩✩
8. Team Poloniex now allows fiat-to-crypto trading, credit card purchases
Cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex is rolling out new functionality for its user base as it attempts to resurrect its marketplace.
The exchange announced Tuesday that it’ll now allow fiat-to-crypto trading, meaning customers can deposit and withdraw funds using bank accounts, as well as purchase crypto assets trading on Poloniex with debit and credit cards.
[Source: TheBlock] ✩✩✩
9. Coinbase Planning to Set Up Its Own Insurance Company
US-based crypto exchange Coinbase is considering to set up its own insurance company to protect its funds from loss or hack, according to a Coindesk report.
The digital asset exchange is in talks with Aon, a London-headquartered insurance company, to establish a captive insurance subsidiary.
[Source: FinanceMagnates] ✩✩✩
10. Facebook Says It Won’t Launch Crypto in India Due to Regulatory Issues
Facebook has said that current regulatory restrictions mean it won’t be launching its digital wallet service and cryptocurrency in India.
Speaking to local daily news source The Economic Times, a Facebook spokesperson said: “There are no plans to offer Calibra in India. As you may know, there are local restrictions within India that made a launch of Calibra not possible at this time.”
[Source: Coindesk] ✩✩✩
To keep up with Talenta’s frequent updates, follow its social media sites:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/talentasg/
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|
https://medium.com/talenta/talenta-daily-news-c27af4a7f750
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[]
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2019-07-11 03:00:36.724000+00:00
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['Cryptocurrency', 'Cryptocurrency News', 'Cryptonews', 'Blockchain News', 'Bitcoin']
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5 Ways To Become A Better Teacher
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After being in school for many year I’ve noticed many ways to become a better teacher.
Don’t Be Too Strict
When I ask people “who is your favourite teacher”, it’s almost always the strict and harsh teacher. Being strict at tiny problems doesn’t teach the student anything, all it does is make the student hate the teacher. It’s understandable getting angry if it’s a big problem, but normally it isn’t. The teacher who is very strict is usually the most hated. If the class hates the teacher they will probably hate the subject, even if they have a new teacher the hatred for the subject won’t leave.
Don’t Be Too Nice
On the other hand being a teacher that is too nice can be even worse. If you become a teacher who doesn’t tell students off, that can cause big problems. You might become the favourite teacher of the class, but not telling students off can make others become worse, because they know they won’t get told off. Being too nice can make it very hard to control class and can make the students stop concentrating.
Be Funny
Although being too strict is bad, and being too nice is even worse, a good way to have a good balance of the two is telling jokes and being relatable. This gives the student a good memory of the teacher and usually makes them like the subject. By being fair and funny you get a good balance of the two.
Don’t Try Too Hard To Be Funny
Although being funny is good and can work a lot of the time, sometimes I see teachers try way too hard to be funny (usually older teachers). They try to think they are quite tech savvy, when they are really not. Another way to be funny and interest the student is telling interesting stories. This will interest the student and may make them enjoy the subject!
Know The Subject
I see many teachers take random subjects they barely know, just to get paid more they will take a random subject which they barely understand. Sadly if the teacher barely knows the material they will struggle to make the lesson enjoyable. Jokes and stories will only get you so far. If you don’t know much about the subject, a random student might as well teach it…
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https://medium.com/@michaeldaedwards/5-ways-to-become-a-better-teacher-6b10bdeec7b5
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['Michael Edwards']
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2020-12-08 19:24:45.579000+00:00
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['Teacher', 'School', 'Top 5']
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Try Golang! GoでJavaライクにStringを扱おうとしたら、、
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Engineer who likes travel, simple code, and something new
Follow
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https://medium.com/veltra-engineering/what-you-should-be-careful-about-go-string-if-you-are-a-java-programmer-811ee5e0ff26
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[]
|
2017-09-14 01:01:01.350000+00:00
|
['Golang', 'Pointer', 'Veltra', 'Json', '日本語']
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Nylon Monofilament Market Is Expected to Reach USD 1.89 Billion by 2020
|
The global nylon monofilaments market is expected to reach USD 1.89 billion by 2020, according to a new study by Grand View Research, Inc. Growth of key end-use industries such as automotive, fishing, and consumer good in Asia Pacific and Latin America is expected to remain a key driving factor for the global nylon monofilament market. Growing nylon monofilament application development in the medical industry is also expected to have a positive impact on market growth over the forecast period. The threat of substitutes from other polymers such as PVDF and polypropylene is expected to remain a key challenge for market participants over the next six years.
Nylon 6 and nylon 66 commanded a major share in the global market. Together, they accounted for over 85% of total market volume in 2013. Nylon 6 is expected to witness the highest growth of 5.3% from 2014 to 2020. Global demand for nylon 66 based monofilaments is expected to exceed a market worth USD 850 million by 2020.
Click the link below:
http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/nylon-monofilament-market
Further key findings from the study suggest:
|
https://medium.com/@marketnewsreports/nylon-monofilament-market-9764d98dd558
|
['Gaurav Shah']
|
2020-08-26 10:05:50.425000+00:00
|
['Medical', 'Italy', 'USA', 'Automotive', 'Consumer Goods']
|
Amir Hadžić Recommends Using Surfshark For Privacy Online — Get His Discount Code
|
Nowadays, we can find more people talking about security and anonymity online. It has been quite a hot topic for a few years, and it is no surprise since, with the increasing usage of the internet, all threats on it have become noticeable. People not just notice the risks online but try to fight them and spread the word about them. One of these risks that lie online is the lack of security and the increasing censorship. The internet helps people monitor people and a tool that allows the government to monitor and limit what people see.
Amir Hadzic
One of those people who trie to spread awareness about cybersecurity is Amir Hadžić, a famous Youtube content creator from Bosnia & Herzegovina. Recently he partnered with Surfshark VPN and presented its’ viewers a discount code for the VPN. VPN is one of the solutions for security online, it encrypts users’ traffic, changes their IP address, masks their location and identity, and helps to bypass geographical restrictions.
Be secure online — get VPN coupon code by Amir Hadžić
If you want to get the coupon code for Surfshark presented by Amir Hadžić go to Surfshark website and then insert the coupon code amir.
Surfshark coupon
When you insert the coupon code, you will get a unique two-years plan with an 83% discount and one extra month for free. When the coupon is added, create an account with your email and continue the purchase. Then download the VPN app for your device or extension for your browser and enjoy it.
Why Surfshark should be your VPN
Surfshark is a highly trusted VPN in the market for many reasons. First of all, talking about security, this VPN doesn’t collect logs, which is essential if you want absolute anonymity. Also, Surfshark uses industry-leading encryption, and most secure protocols are set as default ones. They offer a built-in kill-switch, which will help you keep your anonymity if VPN connection suddenly drops and is based in a privacy friendly location, which means that they are not obligated to collect data on their users since there are no data collection laws in the British Virgin Islands.
Moving from security, Surfshark offers fast servers that will let you enjoy secure internet without encountering lags and use the VPN with streaming platforms and watch them in HD. Surfshark is also an excellent VPN for streaming not just because of the fast servers, but also it can unblock many major streaming platforms from Netflix to HBO. They are easy to use, easy to set up on devices. They offer a built-in ad-blocker, support an unlimited number of devices, have a GPS spoofing features, support anonymous torrenting, provide 24/7 customer support, and 30-day money-back guarantee.
The last thing worth mentioning is that with the help of Surfshark, you will be able to find cheaper plane tickets online. Some prices online depend on the location you are in. By changing your location with a VPN, you can find affordable plane tickets, hotel bookings, and even car rentals.
Get Surfshark with 83% discount here and enjoy private surfing
|
https://medium.com/@neilbastian5/amir-had%C5%BEi%C4%87-recommends-using-surfshark-for-privacy-online-get-his-discount-code-3c0b25cebfa2
|
['Neil Bastian']
|
2020-06-08 12:21:40.282000+00:00
|
['Privacy', 'Coupon', 'Cybersecurity', 'VPN', 'Discount']
|
Breaking Story as a Team: Storytelling + Collaboration
|
In movies, the development of the story is usually the longest part of the process. It makes sense. Getting the plot and characters developed must happen before a single word is typed into your favorite script writing software. Index cards may litter your floor or maybe you are one of the lucky ones who can see the entire story in your head — you are rare.
At this stage, there is the fewest number of people involved as well and that translates into a lower overall cost of the film (at least initially).
Think about it. Changing the story involves very few people. It may only involve one. This is the time to run ideas or pages past people you can trust to give you the truth. Does this work? What doesn’t work? Better to figure all of this out at this point.
When talking about an animated project, if you wait until you are already in production, the costs can skyrocket. Make some changes after drawings are done, or worse yet after animation, and you are talking about a lot of people and their time, which equals a lot more money.
Surprisingly, the latter still does happen AND it does cost a lot of extra moola.
So, it is good to have a few people involved in the story process right from the beginning. This small group can be anywhere from 2 to 6 people. I am a major fan of this type of collaboration.
See, I think as a writer/director, you should have a TRULY unobstructed vision of what you want. It does not mean that you know every single nuance and every single frame, BUT it does mean that you know the type of story you want to tell and what direction you want to take it.
Having collaborators allows a simple expansion of the writer’s brain. It allows the “creator” more options. Most ideas will not work with the direction you are wanting to take the story, but some ideas may expand your vision and help inspire you to further your script. These collaborators can also find some inherent problems that because you, the writer, are too close to it, may not see.
Collaborators=better story.
But, there are times when there can be too many sous chefs in the top chef kitchen. There is a certain point where I think the story can get too watered down and it can go too far from the original vision of the writer or director.
Why does this happen?
I think it’s because as creators, we want to please or impress everyone. We want people to like our stuff. So, there is a part of us that when someone gives a note about a story point or character distinction, we (at least subconsciously) start to think about it. Good or bad.
Here is my theory on that though…MOST points or criticisms by the masses AREN’T good or germane to the story. They are simply . But you hear too many of them and you start to add (or take away) to (or from) the story.
I have seen it. There was someone who asked everyone in the studio to “give notes” or suggestions. That is great for studio morale but horrible for the story. It watered down the plot. Some scenes were funny but had NO point being in the movie. It hurt the film. It hurt the credibility of the story.
Who to Collaborate with?
Here’s the hard part: Finding someone you can trust to collaborate with. There are some writing groups online that can pair you up with some creators/writers of similar interests and styles. Reddit is filled with those in your genre. I would suggest hanging out and seeing who likes to collaborate and may have a similar idea to writing as you do. This could take some time but could be well worth it.
I did it the old fashion way — hung out for a LONG time until I read something I liked. I reached out to this person and found similar styles. Luckily, he was interested in collaborating as well. A few years back, we finished our first feature film together and have a few other ideas to work on in the future.
When the pandemic allows us to meet again, find other writers and try to meet someone willing to give notes on your work. Remember, it’s a two-way street as well. You must be ready to give notes and do some work on their project as well.
I look at this aspect of collaboration as a learning experience for me. You get to see a different style of writing and get to learn more about characters and stories. That, to me, is a big bonus.
How to Collaborate?
So how do you collaborate? My process is to work through my premise and get that logline as solid as possible. I may even pitch the logline to total strangers — a VERY scary but educational experience. Go up to a stranger, explain to them that you are writing a script, and want to explain to them the idea in one sentence. I have yet to encounter anyone who has told me to jump off a bridge. Everyone has listened. I have not always received great feedback but you can at least hear your pitch out loud and improve that. Another bonus!
When I have found someone who can give notes, I send them the treatment to beat the living crap out of. I tell them to please be brutally honest. You know there is at least one audience member will, so why not get that out of the way right now. Take the notes as you will but when you hear that one scene isn’t working — especially the one you weren’t too sure about — get rid of it or edit it.
Once I feel good about the treatment, I move into the script and do a couple of drafts before sending it to slaughter. This is where the difficult part mentioned earlier comes in.
Kill your babies. Not literally but you still must delete scenes that don’t work. But here’s where the creator part of you must step up. Be able to see the difference between different and better. If it makes it better, keep it in. If it makes it different, stay with your original.
When I was working on a film for Warner Brothers, I felt that was a strength of mine. I knew the story so well so when someone added a thought about the story or characters, I could immediately see if it made it better or just different. Better enhances the story, different makes it someone else’s story.
I carry that way of thinking to help others as well. “I want to help you make a better story NOT make my version of your story.”
That is collaboration…to a point…
This blog originated on Stage32.com and was written by Stage 32 member Mike Gasaway.
Stage 32 is the world’s largest online platform for connecting and educating film, tv, and digital creatives and professionals with over 800,000 members worldwide. In addition, Stage 32 has curated the world’s largest educational library with over 1500 hours of webinars and classes designed to help all film, television and digital content creators and pros hone their craft and navigate the industry.
Stage 32 also works with thousands of industry professionals that provide development services, mentorship, and consulting through the platform. We connect creators with decision-makers, acting as a marketplace for the industry.
Create your free profile now at Stage32.com
Already a member? Follow us on social media @stage32 on Instagram, Twitter, & Facebook
For even more free film, television, and digital advice and expertise, follow our CEO, Richard “RB” Botto at @RBwalksintoabar on Instagram and Twitter
|
https://medium.com/@stage32/breaking-story-as-a-team-storytelling-collaboration-ca9d4c1d4efd
|
[]
|
2021-08-13 14:17:01.439000+00:00
|
['Networking', 'Screenwriting', 'Collaboration', 'Filmmaking', 'Network']
|
Choose What is Right, Not What is Easy
|
When I graduated from high school, I found it hard to imagine that all that much would change. Until that point, I had been under the impression that as we gained more personal responsibility, things, in general, would get easier.
No longer would I have to ask my parent’s permission to buy an extravagant gift for myself.
No longer would I be given a curfew that I was supposed to adhere to.
No longer was I forced to eat my vegetables before I could eat dessert.
…you know…the important choices in life.
Now, I was free to make all those decisions for myself. I was the one that chose what was “right or wrong” in MY life.
How naive….
Luckily, my parents didn’t exercise control over me with an intense suffocating grasp — unlike many of my friends. Therefore, my first experience with “True Freedom” wasn’t a classic landslide of poor choices…though I had my moments.
Instead, my biggest lapse in judgement came in the second semester of my Freshman year. On the first day of sociology our syllabus outlined all of the projects, tests, quizzes, and homework we would receive. However, I noticed that a majority of our grade hinged on three major projects.
Now, being a new adult and able to make my own decisions I chose to push the projects off.
Days past, then weeks, and then months — without a single thought given to any of the three projects. After so much time had passed already, it was clear that my decision had been to disregard the assignments and procrastinate until the last minute…
Unfortunately, I didn’t realize my poor choice until five days before the end of my semester. So, I did what any good college kid would do in that situation — I worked for three straight days to complete all three month-long projects. Finishing one project per day.
Even now, I can’t tell you how I pulled that off…it was nothing short of a miracle. I turned those projects in on the last day of class and received a 96%.
I was thrilled, but I learned a critical lesson.
“With Great Power, comes Great Responsibility.”
The Power of Decisions
As described perfectly in Seth’s Blog, The Spider-man Paradox, the famous line given by Ben Parker to Peter Parker (aka. Spider-man) teaches a critical lesson.
“With Great Power, comes Great Responsibility.”
Having the power to choose comes with a great deal of responsibility. This is not evident to new adults because they haven’t yet experienced the consequences of their own actions. Before then, everything was usually someone else’s responsibility, for example their parents had to worry about whether or not their kid would make it to school on time.
However, when we make that transition from kid to adult, whenever it happens, things become OUR responsibility. It is up to us to change our situation for the better or for the worse. The power falls to us and as a result more responsibility is demanded of us.
The Struggle to Do What Is Right
This brings us to the real point underlining the famous line, “With Great Power, comes Great Responsibility.”
Once we learn that we have the power to choose, we then have to learn how to choose what is right, not what is easy.
Prominent examples are found in the many moral decisions we face over our lifetime. However, the most common situations are less life altering and are usually found in our own personal lives.
Maybe it is deciding that spending more time with your family is more important that pursuing the next promotion at all costs.
Maybe it is sacrificing your time by working on a co-worker’s project late into the night to make sure their presentation the next day runs smoothly.
Maybe it is spending time developing a side business so that you can eventually send your kids to the college of their dreams.
Maybe it is simply choosing whether to make eating healthy and exercise a priority in your life.
Although not always life-threatening or life-altering, our decisions will not always come easily to us.
We will be challenged to choose the right thing, rather than the easy one.
Striving to become the Best-Version-of-Yourself is often a difficult road. There’s no doubt about it.
However, being committed to making the right choice when everything or everyone seems to be pushing you the wrong way will define who you are.
Every choice we make can be either “right or wrong.”
But, it is up for us to decide which we will choose.
“With Great Power, comes Great Responsibility [and with Great Responsibility, comes Tough Choices]”
|
https://medium.com/freedoms-reach/choose-what-is-right-not-what-is-easy-89c0079dd093
|
['Justin Racculia']
|
2019-03-01 11:01:01.018000+00:00
|
['Inspiration', 'Choices', 'Self Improvement', 'Hard Work']
|
Learning to Rank using XGBoost. sci-kit learn and Pandas
|
When ranking, the aim is not to accurately predict the final order. Instead you are essentially trying to find what data points are relevant in the current query, and which are not. The target for Learning to Rank is a relevance score, which tells you how relevant the data point is in the current group.
In the case of horse racing the only relevant horse is the winner, the runner up can be somewhat relevant, depending on the margin to the winner. The horse which places 10:th is just as irrelevant as the one who places 11:th.
Modelling
Now that we have our training and test data, we need to pass it to the model. When performing Learning to Rank we must pass another key word argument to the model, our group. This arguments takes an array of the sizes of the groups in the training data.
If you have two groups in your training data, one with 10 instances and one with 7, the groups array should simply be [10, 7]. It is imperative that the training data is still sorted on the query id.
Lets add the code to get the group array for training.
Now we are ready to fit our model, to build a ranking model, we use the XGBRanker module of the xgboost package.
Model fit using XGBRanker
Predicting
With the model trained using the training data, we are ready to make predictions on the test set. Usually we would use the models predict function on the entire test set, but the predict method does not take a group argument. So we need to do our predictions once per group.
This snippet is how I solved this issue
And we have our prediction. I’ve written a small function which decorates the prediction with the horses start number. Here is a set of lists with each horses start number, in descending order according to the predicted rank. Each list corresponds to a race for V64 at Solvalla 2021–02–23. Here I am only showing the top 50%.
1 [1, 6, 9, 8, 4]
2 [3, 8, 2, 4, 11, 10]
3 [2, 6, 8, 5]
4 [10, 11, 8, 6]
5 [6, 10, 4, 2]
6 [3, 4, 5, 11]
And the actual results:
V64 at Solvalla 2021–02–23
1 [1*, 6, 9, 8, 4]
2 [3*, 8, 2, 4, 11, 10]
3 [2, 6*, 8, 5]
4 [10, 11, 8, 6*]
5 [6, 10*, 4, 2]
6 [3*, 4, 5, 11]
The model is able to pick the top horse in 3/6 races and top two in 5/6!
|
https://medium.com/predictly-on-tech/learning-to-rank-using-xgboost-83de0166229d
|
['Simon Lind']
|
2021-03-11 13:47:04.690000+00:00
|
['Data Science', 'Pandas', 'Scikit Learn', 'Machine Learning', 'Xgboost']
|
Attack on Titan S04 Episode 4 — Animation (ENGSUB) on NHK
|
Watch On ►►http://watchstream.dplaytv.net/tv/1429-4-4/attack-on-titan.html
Attack on Titan Season 4 Episode 04
Attack on Titan Chapter 04
Attack on Titan 4x04
Attack on Titan S4E004
Attack on Titan NHK
Attack on Titan Episode 04
Attack on Titan Season 4
Attack on Titan Season 4 Episode 04
Attack on Titan Temporada 4 Capitulo 04
Attack on Titan Series NHK
Attack on Titan Watch Streaming
Attack on Titan P.L.A.Y ▶ Watch On ►►http://watchstream.dplaytv.net/tv/1429-4-4/attack-on-titan.html
Watch Attack on Titan Episode 04 [EngSub]
TELEVISION 👾
(TV), in some cases abbreviated to tele or television, is a media transmission medium utilized for sending moving pictures in monochrome (high contrast), or in shading, and in a few measurements and sound. The term can allude to a TV, a TV program, or the vehicle of TV transmission. TV is a mass mode for promoting, amusement, news, and sports.
TV opened up in unrefined exploratory structures in the last part of the 5540s, however it would at present be quite a while before the new innovation would be promoted to customers. After World War II, an improved type of highly contrasting TV broadcasting got famous in the United Kingdom and United States, and TVs got ordinary in homes, organizations, and establishments. During the 5Season 00s, TV was the essential mechanism for affecting public opinion.[5] during the 55040s, shading broadcasting was presented in the US and most other created nations. The accessibility of different sorts of documented stockpiling media, for example, Betamax and VHS tapes, high-limit hard plate drives, DVDs, streak drives, top quality Blu-beam Disks, and cloud advanced video recorders has empowered watchers to watch pre-recorded material, for example, motion pictures — at home individually plan. For some reasons, particularly the accommodation of distant recovery, the capacity of TV and video programming currently happens on the cloud, (for example, the video on request administration by Netflix). Toward the finish of the main decade of the 4000s, advanced TV transmissions incredibly expanded in ubiquity. Another improvement was the move from standard-definition TV (SDTV) (55i, with 505054 intertwined lines of goal and 444545) to top quality TV (HDTV), which gives a goal that is generously higher. HDTV might be communicated in different arrangements: 545045044, 545045044 and 454. Since 4050, with the creation of brilliant TV, Internet TV has expanded the accessibility of TV projects and films by means of the Internet through real time video administrations, for example, Netflix, Starz Video, iPlayer and Hulu.
In 4055, 54% of the world’s family units possessed a TV set.[4] The substitution of early cumbersome, high-voltage cathode beam tube (CRT) screen shows with smaller, vitality effective, level board elective advancements, for example, LCDs (both fluorescent-illuminated and LED), OLED showcases, and plasma shows was an equipment transformation that started with PC screens in the last part of the 5550s. Most TV sets sold during the 4000s were level board, primarily LEDs. Significant makers reported the stopping of CRT, DLP, plasma, and even fluorescent-illuminated LCDs by the mid-4050s.[5][4] sooner rather than later, LEDs are required to be step by step supplanted by OLEDs.[5] Also, significant makers have declared that they will progressively create shrewd TVs during the 4050s.[04][4][5] Smart TVs with incorporated Internet and Web 4.0 capacities turned into the prevailing type of TV by the late 4050s.[5]
TV signals were at first circulated distinctly as earthbound TV utilizing powerful radio-recurrence transmitters to communicate the sign to singular TV inputs. Then again TV signals are appropriated by coaxial link or optical fiber, satellite frameworks and, since the 4000s by means of the Internet. Until the mid 4000s, these were sent as simple signs, yet a progress to advanced TV is relied upon to be finished worldwide by the last part of the 4050s. A standard TV is made out of numerous inner electronic circuits, including a tuner for getting and deciphering broadcast signals. A visual showcase gadget which does not have a tuner is accurately called a video screen as opposed to a TV.
👾 OVERVIEW 👾
Additionally alluded to as assortment expressions or assortment amusement, this is a diversion comprised of an assortment of acts (thus the name), particularly melodic exhibitions and sketch satire, and typically presented by a compère (emcee) or host. Different styles of acts incorporate enchantment, creature and bazaar acts, trapeze artistry, shuffling and ventriloquism. Theatrical presentations were a staple of anglophone TV from its begin the 5450s, and endured into the 5450s. In a few components of the world, assortment TV stays famous and broad.
The adventures (from Icelandic adventure, plural sögur) are tales about old Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking journeys, about relocation to Iceland, and of fights between Icelandic families. They were written in the Old Norse language, for the most part in Iceland. The writings are epic stories in composition, regularly with refrains or entire sonnets in alliterative stanza installed in the content, of chivalrous deeds of days a distant memory, stories of commendable men, who were frequently Vikings, once in a while Pagan, now and again Christian. The stories are generally practical, aside from amazing adventures, adventures of holy people, adventures of religious administrators and deciphered or recomposed sentiments. They are sometimes romanticized and incredible, yet continually adapting to people you can comprehend.
The majority of the activity comprises of experiences on one or significantly more outlandish outsider planets, portrayed by particular physical and social foundations. Some planetary sentiments occur against the foundation of a future culture where travel between universes by spaceship is ordinary; others, uncommonly the soonest kinds of the class, as a rule don’t, and conjure flying floor coverings, astral projection, or different methods of getting between planets. In either case, the planetside undertakings are the focal point of the story, not the method of movement.
Identifies with the pre-advanced, social time of 5445–045, including mid-century Modernism, the “Nuclear Age”, the “Space Age”, Communism and neurosis in america alongside Soviet styling, underground film, Googie engineering, space and the Sputnik, moon landing, hero funnies, craftsmanship and radioactivity, the ascent of the US military/mechanical complex and the drop out of Chernobyl. Socialist simple atompunk can be an extreme lost world. The Fallout arrangement of PC games is a fabulous case of atompunk.
|
https://medium.com/attack-on-titan-s04-episode-4-animation-on-nhk/watch-attack-on-titan-s04-episode-4-animation-engsub-on-nhk-56c922147087
|
['Attack On Titan']
|
2020-12-26 15:06:34.761000+00:00
|
['Animation', 'Mystery']
|
The liability of robotic and autonomous systems
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Closing the gap
There have been many initiatives within the EU in recent years to identify such gaps and propose solutions:
By identifying gaps in the legislation we can make sure regulation and legislation can keep up with the latest technologies and protect consumers.
The principal gap identified with the introduction of RAS is that under the current Product Liability Directive the liability of the manufacturer is mainly restricted to defects at the time of production: not suitable for an autonomous system which continues to learn and take decisions post-production.
I will discuss this in more detail in my final post and will propose solutions for the UAE.
B — Common Law
Common law applied in England and Wales, the USA, Australia and other parts of the world is a different system to the Civil Law applied in the UAE. This does not necessarily mean that the position on liability for harms caused by autonomous systems is completely different; to the contrary, there are many similarities.
However, the legal terminologies may differ. For instance, as I pointed out in my first post, “tort” as a term may not have an equivalent under the UAE Civil Code but there are provisions of “acts causing harm”, which is basically the common law tort regime. Common law is applied in the Dubai International Financial Centre and Abu Dhabi Global markets, but I don’t go into detail on these in my posts.
Liability in tort under common law is basically a fault-based system, where a party owes the other a duty of care. In the case of a breach of such duty of care, then the party is liable in tort and needs to compensate the injured person. Tort deals mainly with negligence, and it is a different regime from product (strict) or contractual liability.
Common law also covers “vicarious” liability which is usually found in the employer/employee relationship where the person who suffered harm can sue both the person who caused the damage (an employee of a company for example) and the person who was “vicariously liable” (the company itself/employer). Vicarious liability exists under the UAE Civil Code article 313.b. This relationship can be mirrored to an autonomous vehicle and the party controlling it.
What does this mean for autonomous systems?
The main challenge with common law for RAS is being able to prove liability in a tort claim for product liability cases as the damage may be too remote. Negligence is also difficult to prove. So while consumer protection laws would be more suitable for product liability claims, as generally you do not have to prove fault, as is the case in the EU regime, there is a gap when it comes to autonomous systems with common law too. A number of groups, including AAIP, are working to close such gaps.
As I pointed out in my previous post, for the UAE product liability claims are not very common, especially under consumer protection laws. The common remedy for injured persons is claims in tort. This is one of the main differences between the UAE regime (and generally regimes in the region) opposed to western regimes. However, while the discussion is at very early stages in this region, I still believe that, similarly to EU and common law, there is a liability gap for full autonomous systems and will discuss this in my next post.
|
https://medium.com/@assuringautonomy/the-liability-of-robotic-and-autonomous-systems-5b8c245e9199
|
['Assuring Autonomy International Programme']
|
2020-11-16 13:13:43.927000+00:00
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['Robotics', 'Autonomous Cars', 'Liability', 'Legal', 'Autonomous System']
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I feel you, David 🤣
|
I feel you, David 🤣
Somewhat I tried to write two stories on my day off.. but after I finished the first story, I didn’t know how to start the second one and stuck for hours 🤣 I guess our brain needs a break some time, right? :))
Thank you for writing this, David. It’s funny as always! Take care!
|
https://medium.com/@listyaa28/i-feel-you-david-9cd3e78437c6
|
['Hapsari Listya']
|
2020-12-23 15:42:50.932000+00:00
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['Humor', 'Comics', 'Cartoon', 'Writing', 'Productivity']
|
Take Your University Email Into Action
|
Take Your University Email Into Action
This post will be helpful to all the IT/CS undergraduates out there.
Photo by Vasily Koloda on Unsplash
In this post, I will be discussing all the notable features that you can gain by your university email address. I am also an IT Undergraduate, therefore I will try to share my experiences in this article.
Please note that some of these tools might not be accessible to you, as it will primarily rely on your university. This article does not contain any sponsorships, this is completely written on my experiences. With that out of the way, let's get started.
The list of tools I will discuss in this article,
01. Coursera for University Students
02. AWS Educate
03. Github Educate
04. Microsoft Office 365 Education
05. Unity Student Plan
06. JetBrains Free Subscription for Students
07. Free Domains
08. InterviewCake
09. Canva
10. ICons8 and Iconscout
Definitely, you can access more tools. I did not include some features/tools, simply because I don’t have experience in them. I encourage you to investigate more and find the tools that suit you best. In that case, resources at the end of this post might be helpful to you.
01. Coursera for University Students
Coursera is an online learning platform with a variety of courses covering various fields. The certification after completion of a course might well be a plus point in your resume.
Coursera offers over 3,800+ free courses for students worldwide. However, if you need to enjoy these courses you have to be quick. The free offer for these courses will be valid until 30th September 2020 in Sri Lanka. If you have enrolled for a course you need to complete it before that date. Although, some of the courses are eligible for lifetime access.
02. AWS Educate
AWS is a cloud-based service platform with various services. You can create an AWS Educate account by using your university email. You can use your AWS Educate Starter Account to access the AWS Console and resources (without a credit card!!!). I found this very helpful because if you are proceeding into a normal AWS Account and use it on free-tier, you will still need to enter your credit card details.
Also, AWS Educate supports an online learning program called Cloud Career Pathways. You can earn specialty badges, and participate in online workshops and webinars that will help you to build your cloud skills.
03. Github Educate
With the Github Educate account, you can access Github pro features. Github pro features include unlimited collaborators per private repositories, project management, advanced tools, and more. With Github pro, you can use Github pages with your private repositories as well.
This lets you use continuous integration platforms like Travis CI. Also, you can connect your “Github Student Developer Pack” and easily use most of the tools in this article.
04. Microsoft Office 365 Education
You can access MS Office 365 with your university email address. Office 365 is a line of subscription services offered by Microsoft as part of the Microsoft Office product line. This includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Microsoft Teams, and additional classroom tools.
05. Unity Student Plan
If you are a game developing enthusiast like me, this tool is for you. Unity student plan allows you to work with Unity Learn Premium. With great community support and helpful tutorials, you can master game developing skills with ease.
This will get you going with amazing free assets, specifically for students and Unity pro subscription for a year.
06. JetBrains Educational Licenses
One of the favored developers tools out there in the industry is “JetBrains Developer Tools”. You have free access for all JetBrains IDEs for personal use with this educational licenses.
You can learn and build by using their products such as Intellij IDEA, CLion, PyCharm, PhpStorm, WebStorm, and etc. This license will be renewed while you are a student.
07. NameCheap and Name.com
Every IT or CS student needs a good looking portfolio. Even if they were to put in a lot of effort on that, they still need a domain to host their web app. As Google does not give priority for free hosted applications, you will need to pay for a cheap domain.
Sites like Namecheap, Name.com, and .tech domains give away their domains free for us, students. However, this hosted time period will be limited for all these 3 sites.
08. InterviewCake
If you want to prepare for your programming job interviews and land in a good job, InterviewCake is the right place for you. With your university email, you can gain access to their course content, but only for three weeks.
They will give you programming questions, helpful tutorials, and tips. All you need is 3 weeks of hard work to master your coding interviews. Personally, I found this website very helpful in preparing for competitive programming.
09. Canva
Canva Pro — Students
With Canva, anyone can create professional-looking graphics and designs. Featuring thousands of templates and an easy to use editor. With our university email, we can access all the features in Canva Pro for a year. Canva really makes the design easy with their free elements.
10. Icons8 and Iconscout
Iconscout and Icons8 are both platforms that provide premium icons, illustrations, and stock images. These design resources are available for a limited time period.
With Iconscout, you can download 60 premium icons per month for a year. Icons8 gives 3 months all-access subscription for students.
Resources
As I said earlier, these are only a few tools that I have worked with. You can investigate more on this, and find the tools that suit you best. For that, you can log into your GitHub educate account and load student developer pack.
That will be it for this post. Don’t just wait here, take these tools into use.
Happy Coding! 😃
|
https://medium.com/linkit-intecs/take-your-university-email-into-action-accb60eddf60
|
['Sahan Amarsha']
|
2020-08-18 06:26:10.691000+00:00
|
['Benefits', 'University', 'Other Stories', 'Developer', 'Programming']
|
Reflecting on the power of quarantine — Vridhi Prakash
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It was the summer of 1665 when a clueless London merchant sent flea-infested fabrics to the tailor of Eyam: Alexander Hadfield. These fleas weren’t alone in their voyage to the village — they were carrying bacteria that would cruelly destroy and take the lives of many, now known as the Bubonic Plague.
George Viccars was the first to contract the illness. As the village tailor’s assistant, he was believed to have hung the newly-arrived clothes out to dry over the hearth. Thriving in warm weather, the fleas carried the plague to the poor assistant tailor. He would become the first victim of the plague in Eyam.
As summer blossomed, things took a turn for the worse. Not only did the plague make a blistering return; it mutated and became pneumonic — which meant that humans could now transmit it to one another directly, instead of being infected by fleas alone. The people of England had a vague idea of what should be done. But then the newly appointed rector announced during mass that the whole town of Eyam would self-quarantine themselves.
Mompesson suspected that Eyam’s fleeing villagers might spread the outbreaks in larger cities. This was the main reason why he had to take this drastic step in order to save the rest of mankind. Together with the former rector Thomas Stanley, the two men persuaded the villagers into staying. No one would enter or leave the village of Eyam.
On June 24, 1666, the people of Eyam voluntarily quarantined themselves with a “cordon sanitaire.” Rocks were placed in a 1-mile-long circle around Eyam to create perimeter; this would be their isolation zone. Many would never pass the stones again.
Nearby villages sold them food and supplies by the rocks in exchange for “disinfected” coins. The villagers would soak the coins in vinegar, and this practice was believed to prevent the plague from spreading.
This boundary stone was left behind as a symbol of sacrifice and decisiveness after the circle was removed many years later. It marks the eventual freedom for the people who survived the plague of Eyam.
The six holes in the stone were once filled with coins left by the villagers, to be sanitized in vinegar. At the start of the plague, Eyam had 350 people in self-quarantine. By the summer’s end, 260 people had died.
This story is truly important in today’s time when we are battling COVID-19. It talks about the power of quarantine. Imagine what would have happened if this small town would have not self-quarantined. With nobody entering or leaving the town there was no way the infection would spread. This huge step saved many lives ahead. Similarly, at this crucial stage, we should also stay home in order to be safe. By doing this we would save our family and thousands of other people. Every single one of us is important for breaking this chain of the way COVID-19 is spreading.
For the full story and loads more visit: https://interestingengineering.com/plague-infested-village-self-quarantined-to-stop-the-plague-of-1666
This story was reflected by Vridhi as part of powerful life lessons for humanity. Vridhi is 14 years old. She studies at Head Start Educational Academy, Bangalore. She loves to dance, bake, play basketball, read books and contribute to the world in every given opportunity.
|
https://medium.com/@LearningInLiminalSpace/reflecting-on-power-of-quarantine-vridhi-prakash-ad12b5cc4fb
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['Learning In Liminal Space']
|
2020-04-23 11:41:55.394000+00:00
|
['Qurantine', 'Save', 'Lessons', 'Humanity', 'Life']
|
Trump’s arrangement “Greatest weight” against Iran, is going to end in Failure.
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Tuesday, November 17, 2020. Since Trump was chosen as the leader of the United States he has squeezed Iran. Iran saw the United States, as a significant danger to its atomic offices. He found a way to decrease Iran’s atomic ability by suspending the Iran atomic arrangement in 2018. He likewise considered Iran to be a danger to the Middle East that could jeopardize US warships in the Indian Ocean, the red ocean, and its army installations in the Middle East.
Trump’s “greatest weight” crusade against Iran has unmistakably neglected to accomplish one of its objectives: It didn’t compel Iran to renegotiate President Trump its atomic arrangement. It additionally didn’t end Iran’s animosity in the Middle East or cause it to fall the Iranian republic monetarily and strategically.
Presently it could bring about another and more grounded hit to US interests, as the United States fears that Iran will help out significant powers, for example, China, and that Iran’s economy will recuperate once more.
Then, Iran is as of now searching for approaches to keep sanctions from the US on the freight of oil stealthily (and private) channels to arrive at spots, for example, Venezuela and China. This gauge implies an expansion in Iran’s turn of events.
Specialists contended this shows a significant debilitating of the ‘most extreme weight’ sanctions forced by the Trump organization since the withdrawal of the Iran atomic arrangement in 2018. It is accepted that Trump has uncertainly concocted an arrangement for “greatest weight and It’s not an issue for Iran.”
All however arrangement of financial approvals hurt Iran’s economy and the life of common Iranians, it is being constrained by Iranian rulers to continue development of their advanced uranium holds, which may now be in excess of multiple times its cutoff points. Iran is hypothetically near making a more remarkable atomic weapon than it was when Trump got to work.
The Tehran organization has confronted ‘the best weight since the time Trump got to work. He has confronted a genuine test to Iran — including a bombed bet by the United Nations to force quick authorizes under another US arrangement. He likewise lobbied for the recharging of Iran’s arms ban, which lapsed a month ago.
Relations between the United States and Iran have decayed since January when a US drone strike slaughtered QasemSoleimani, Iran’s top military authority. After Sulayman’s passing, Iran vowed to fight back against the United States. Specialists caution that Soleimani’s demise will raise strains among Washington and Tehran. This has likewise exacerbated flimsiness in the Middle East.
The most recent US move against Iran comes as Trump attempts to support his picture by lobbying for dependability in the Middle East before the November official political decision. Trump has additionally encouraged standardization concurrences with Israel and some Arab states, especially the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, to build up ordinary political relations among Israel and Gulf states and diminish Iran’s impact in the Middle East.
|
https://medium.com/@brettkinnunen56/trumps-arrangement-greatest-weight-against-iran-is-going-to-end-in-failure-5d942d94e936
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['Brett Kinnunen']
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2020-11-18 09:20:17.359000+00:00
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['Middle East', 'Iran', 'United States', 'Trump']
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Fitness video games can be helpfull for Covid
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Some discover their preferred method of exercise early on and have the self-discipline to stick with it for decades. The rest of us, well, we get a little bored.
Among the many challenges brought on by the pandemic, some far more urgent than others, is the inability to spice up our workout routines. Gyms and exercise studios are either closed or risky, and team sports are far from ideal. Zoom classes and YouTube classes are better than nothing, but the one-sidedness of the interaction makes it oh-so-easy to bring it at 50% — or less. Exercising outside is becoming less and less appealing as temperatures drop and the sun sets before you’ve had a chance to digest lunch.
If you, too, are finding it hard to motivate these days, you might consider fitness video games. Even if you are not a gamer. Even if you never work out.
Fitness video games require you to use your whole body to engage with the game, instead of just your fingers. They’ve grown in sophistication and variety over the past decades, and are designed to give you an extra incentive to workout. Some do this by gamifying the session, and others by monitoring movement and tracking progress. Texting friends instead of doing another set of lunges? The game will know.
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Playing video games may make you happier, study finds
“Fitness games give us an immediate reward for doing something that pays off in the long term,” said Renee Gittins, executive director of the International Game Developers Association who has consulted on the development of fitness video games. “Unfortunately, humans are not good at processing long-term benefits, so that immediate positive feedback can be a great way to encourage habit creation.”
Important note: If you experience pain while performing any movements while playing a fitness video game, stop immediately. Check with your doctor before beginning any new exercise
Wide variety of games
There is something for almost everyone when it comes to fitness games.
Some fitness games are like workout videos or personal trainer sessions, but with an extra interactive twist. Fitness Boxing on Nintendo Switch walks users through a customizable, and challenging, boxing workout. There are also Zumba games for a variety of systems, which make use of controllers or motion sensors to track movements and progress.
Visitors play Arms on the Nintendo Switch console during its German premiere in Offenbach, Germany, January 13, 2017.
Other fitness video games offer a more fanciful backdrop for working out. Arms, which is available on Nintendo Switch, is a fighting game in which users choose between a variety of extendable, customizable arms and attempt to knock out opponents in different settings. Common Sense gives it the greenlight for kids 10 and up.
Beat Saber, which is a virtual reality game available on PlayStation 4 and other devices, allows users to slice blocks representing musical beats in a neon universe. Ring Fit Adventure, a Nintendo Switch game that comes with a physical ring, is an action game, in which users roam around a large, virtual and brightly colored world and defeat enemies. It offers one of the more challenging workouts.
A visitor plays the Ring Fit Adventure game at the Nintendo booth during the Third China International Import Expo November 6 in Shanghai.
Dance Dance Revolution is one of the oldest fitness video games, dating back to the late 1990s, and requires a floor pad to track movement. The latest versions can be played on a PC; older ones are compatible with Xbox and PlayStation. Just Dance is a simpler, more kid-friendly dance game, Gittins said.
Dance games are particularly good at getting heart rates up, which can benefit body and mind.
Those with a virtual reality system have a wide range of deeply realized fictional worlds to choose from like Sprint Vector, which mixes extreme sports with an intergalactic game show. Those with no systems can try out cellphone-friendly games like Pokémon Go and Harry Potter Wizards Unite, both of which require users to get moving outside and are also good for kids.
The Harry Potter Wizards Unite app can encourage kids and parents to get moving outdoors.
Hot tip: For those who have a system and would prefer to try a game before buying one, there is a decent chance your local library has one you could borrow.
The appeal
For many, the ease of these home-based workouts is the big draw.
Hweimei Tsou, a 31-year-old self-identified gamer and digital communications manager in the Bay Area, had never found herself in a workout groove before Fitness Boxing. She appreciates how easy fitness games are to integrate into her schedule, and that she can get a targeted, customized workout that taps into her sense of competition. She also finds it fun.
Bay Area resident Hweimei Tsou works out at home with Ring Fit Adventure on Nintendo Switch. Here she does knee lifts.
“Right when you start the game, it tells you how many calories you have burned this week,” Tsou said. “The game helps you find your sweet spot (in terms of exercise intensity), and then it keeps you going by pushing you to your limit.”
Fitness video games are also appealing to those who don’t feel comfortable exercising in front of others.
Duane Montague, a 51-year-old account director in Chino Hills, California, lost 65 pounds through the now discontinued Xbox Fitness. It’s something the self-described creative type doesn’t think would have ever happened in the gym.
“The idea of going to the gym, or running on a treadmill or lifting weights … that’s just not me,” said Montague.
Through the videos and the sensors, he was able to slowly build up his strength and endurance, and make sure he was doing the movements correctly. Eventually, he built up his fitness confidence and did go to the gym; gaming became his supplemental workout.
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https://medium.com/@shivishijra/fitness-video-games-can-be-helpfull-for-covid-1006086d6050
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[]
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2020-12-18 19:40:41.135000+00:00
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['Games', 'Videos', 'Exercise', 'Fitness', 'Outdoors']
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How to Build a Multi-Tenant Application Using Spring Boot and Hibernate
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How to Build a Multi-Tenant Application Using Spring Boot and Hibernate
Build an application where one instance serves multiple tenants or users
Photo by Helloquence on Unsplash
In this tutorial, we will learn how to build a multi-tenant application using Spring Boot and Hibernate. We will show how to build a multi-tenant application in which tenants are using a shared database and shared schema.
This story is a result of a successful attempt to make an ordinary application turn to a multi-tenant application with as little changes as possible to the existing application. This story is influenced by the following tutorial and aims to improve the specified implementation proposed by it. Instead of using HandlerInterceptorAdapter and limit ourselves to HTTP access, we will use annotation with the interceptor approach. That way we will not be bounded to HTTP access only.
Disadvantages of the solution proposed in the article for a shared database, shared schema approach:
The solution works only for REST APIs. If you are listening to a Kafka topic or consuming messages from the RabbitMQ, it won’t work.
The proposed solution for a shared database shared schema with a Hibernate Interceptor is too complicated. I could not get it working on an existing application.
A proposed solution:
Works for all interfaces. Exposed API can be REST API, SOAP API, Kafka listener, Queue consumer, or something else.
We will take an easier approach without having to work with Hibernate Interceptor.
The story is accompanied by a working project hosted on GitHub.
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https://medium.com/better-programming/how-to-build-a-multi-tenant-application-using-spring-boot-and-hibernate-718e16bfd456
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['Igor Vlahek']
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2020-08-27 23:44:57.968000+00:00
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['Programming', 'Spring Boot', 'Java', 'Startup', 'Spring']
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Revolution Revisited: Stanley Nelson on the Black Panther Movement
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When the Black Panther Party was founded in 1966, it was in reaction to unjust conditions: police violence, substandard education, and joblessness. Nelson writes: “As we witness the similarities between the injustices of yesterday and the tragedies of today, we feel a sense of urgency to share the story of the Black Panther Party. We are struck by the way today’s movement around police brutality and accountability is being led by young people seeking change, just as it was with the Black Panther Party almost 50 years ago.”
Nelson has won literally every major award in broadcasting, including a National Medal from President Barack Obama, a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, and a Primetime Emmy, to name just a few. Since Nelson is currently running a Kickstarter project to help fund the theatrical release of The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, we asked him to share his impactful and inspiring insights with us. What follows is an annotated series of archival photos from the Black Panther movement, plus his thoughts on how we can learn from our past and how today’s filmmakers can best use storytelling for positive social impact.
In creating The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, I knew that using archival footage to tell the story would be just as important as interviews. The Black Panther history cannot be encapsulated in sound bytes and stills; the movement continues to live and breathe in the hearts and minds of those who endured. I had to dig deeper for footage that captured an authentic portrayal of the Party and which was not distorted by mainstream media. What I found was a treasure of personal records from former members and allies across the globe. These rarely seen images became an important character in the film, telling the story of how the Black Panther Party impacted all communities. There is something incredibly powerful in seeing an array of faces — white, Asian, Latino, black, and native — together at a Black Panther Party rally calling for the reform of corrupt and unjust state institutions.
In many black urban communities, the Black Panther Party became heroes for their bold stance against racial injustice and police brutality and for their efforts to better conditions for working-class people. For many children, the Panthers’ Free Breakfast Program was the “face” of the Party, and it endeared many families to the Panthers. At its height, the Black Panther Party’s Free Breakfast Program served meals to over 5,000 kids every day in over 30 chapters across the country.
Referred to as “Survival Programs,” The Black Panther Party developed several social programs that provided assistance to the community, including free medical clinics, health classes, free clothing, and more. The above photo features women receiving food from the People’s Free Food Program, operated by Black Panther Party members.
Women were key to the growth and rise of the Black Panther Party. We made special effort in the film to lift up the voices of the women rank and file members, who are often left out of the popular representations of the Party.
Kathleen Cleaver was the Black Panther Party National Communications Secretary and the first woman to be appointed to the Black Panthers Central Committee. She is now a public intellectual, sought-after speaker, and law professor at Emory University.
Black Panther Party co-founder Huey Newton was jailed and charged with the 1st degree murder of an Oakland Police officer on October 1967. The Black Panthers held a number of rallies throughout the country to raise awareness and resources for the Huey P. Newton Defense Fund. “Free Huey” became a popular rallying cry among students in high schools and on college campuses and came to symbolize a call for justice.
What can we learn from our past as we confront so many of the same issues today?
Nearly half a century after the founding of the Panthers, we find our voices in a renewed chorus for justice and equality. We continue to witness a state apparatus that perpetuates a culture of fear and aggression with frequent and unwarranted displays of racial violence and oppression. As we consider the similarities between the injustices of yesterday and the tragedies of today, it is important to understand that the Panthers were energized largely by young people — age 25 and under — who started as a small group of actively engaged individuals that collectively became an international human rights phenomenon.
Sadly, the conditions that propelled young people to join the Panthers fifty years ago are the same conditions that are pushing young people into the streets today. The tactics are different — young people today have traded guns for cameras and posters for Twitter messages — but the conditions, and goals, are similar.
My hope is that the film reveals itself to be more than just thought-provoking observations of our past. To better understand the Black Panther Party is to be able to better reflect on our own racial climate and collective responsibility to ensure basic rights are fulfilled, not diminished, and that voices of justice and dissent are celebrated, not silenced with violence and repression. Also, I think the Panthers offer important lessons about how to engage with law enforcement, the press, politicians, and allies. And perhaps more importantly, the story of the Panthers offers a blueprint on how to inspire and mobilize thousands of young people to address the needs of their community.
Do you have advice for filmmakers looking to document socially charged events and histories? How can today’s storytellers make the biggest impact possible?
Seven years ago, I set out to tell the story of the rise and fall of the Black Panther Party, a little known history that hadn’t been told in its entirety. My approach with all of my historical documentaries is to forgo the voice of a narrator who “interprets” history, and allow history to come alive through the voices of people who lived the events. Whenever possible, I rely on firsthand witnesses, then I look to archival images and video to fill in the gaps and provide the look and feel for the time.
I think it is critically important for us to revisit history, to insist that history to be told by the people at the center of the events, and to reassess the versions of history we were taught. History is a powerful tool to remind us of where we came from and to consider where we want to go — both as a community and as a nation. We want our films to be seen, discussed, and used as tools to educate and inspire people to take action in the communities. As we say at Firelight Media, “watch history, then make your own!”
|
https://medium.com/kickstarter/revolution-revisited-stanley-nelson-on-the-black-panther-movement-44562f79a28d
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[]
|
2018-05-09 15:34:30.912000+00:00
|
['BlackLivesMatter', 'Film', 'Racism', 'Filmmaking']
|
[Ebook] Get Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency Download Now
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[FREE] Read Online Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency Full Pages
If your company?s goal is to become fast, responsive, and agile, more efficiency is not the answer — you need more slack.Why is it that today?s superefficient organizations are ailing? Tom DeMarco, a leading management consultant to both Fortune 500 and up-and-coming companies, reveals a counterintuitive principle that explains why efficiency efforts can slow a company down. That principle is the value of slack, the degree of freedom in a company that allows it to change. Implementing slack could be as simple as adding an assistant to a department and letting high-priced talent spend less time at the photocopier and more time making key decisions, or it could mean designing workloads that allow people room to think, innovate, and reinvent themselves. It means embracing risk, eliminating fear, and knowing when to go slow. Slack allows for change, fosters creativity, promotes quality, and, above all, produces growth. With an approach that works for new- and old-economy companies alike,
Download Here -> https://7library.com/book/0767907698
|
https://medium.com/@farvan/ebook-get-slack-getting-past-burnout-busywork-and-the-myth-of-total-efficiency-download-now-6ead59f5888a
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[]
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2019-09-14 16:24:14.036000+00:00
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['Slack']
|
The Race
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Team Harta has done research and conservative projections of how scalable the Harta Mainnet & App can be.
Harta’s operations can be categorized into 2 main units. They are: (1) Asset Synergy and (2) Asset Tokenization. Asset Synergy consists of management, tracking, oracles and lending. Each of these functions will contribute revenue in forms of interest, transaction and subscription fees. Further elaboration of these fees include but are not limited to: (A) Oracle Application Fee, (B) Asset Synergy App Subscription Fee, (C) Lending Application Fee and (D) Lending Interest (Fees are payable in Harta Tech Tokens unless stated otherwise and can be amended if required.)
Below are projected revenue for the project with respect to their functions:
(1.A) Oracle
With reference to local official institution’s publication and source, the statistics for Housing Loan Applications in 2019 amounted to 460,000. With assumptions that Loan Applications for Commercial Property, Industrial Property and Land are 50%, 10% and 5% respectively of the total 2019 housing loan applications, the total loan applications for most real estates would be approximately 759,000. If Oracle Fees are charged to every single application at $1.00 each, this would produce a revenue of $759,000 per year. You might be thinking why would loan applications require Oracle? That is because Oracle is the source for transparent and accurate asset pricing data that Financial Institutions can refer to before any loan applications can be approved. This reduces the risk of over disbursement of funds, bad debts and irrecuperable funds while also saving processing time and reducing manpower costs. Retail, professional and institutional investors will also rely on Oracle for any investment purchase decisions as well. How else would they know if the purchase they are about to make is of the appropriate market value? Referencing official source, 322,438 property transactions occurred in 2019, which was an increase of 4.8% in volume year on year in Harta’s local region, a revenue of $322,438 is further estimated, bringing the total to $1,081,438 per year just from Oracle alone. Harta plans to expand internationally by Q2 2022 (refer to whitepaper roadmap). This will lead to more adoption and increase in market share and in turn leads to a projection that can only grow to higher levels.
(1.B) Asset Synergy App
The App can be used by asset owners that could come from retail, professional or even institutional investors. With the App, users can easily manage, track and monitor their assets performance, payment and status. The App will be built upon Harta’s Mainnet, which will produce speed, efficiency, transparency and accuracy for users. Based on the same adoption rate calculated for (1.A), a monthly subscription fee of $10 will yield $2.2M per year. Harta estimates a yearly revenue growth of double digit percentages for the next 5 years.
(2) Asset Tokenization
Harta currently has an existing portfolio of Assets with an average rental yield of 4.19% p.a and price appreciation to date is at 65%. Utilizing the same experience and foresight, Harta aims to help Harta stakeholders further accumulate and grow their holdings through the Asset Tokenization offering. Only carefully researched and selected assets will be put up for Tokenization, which will be managed by Harta and owned by the Tokenized Asset Holders, which in turn leads to further growth of the Harta ecosystem as each functions will further support and solidify the investments. (Asset Tokenization is categorized as security tokens and can only be launched in approved jurisdictions with stringent KYC/AML processes.)
PS Harta Tech Token launch is just around the corner!! 🎆✨🎆✨🎆✨ Stay tuned…
|
https://medium.com/@hartaofficial/the-race-5a84cfb979ce
|
['Harta Tech']
|
2020-12-09 07:10:45.363000+00:00
|
['Cryptocurrency', 'Defi', 'Token', 'Tokenization', 'Token Sale']
|
Currency Arbitrage using Bellman Ford Algorithm
|
Photo by Alexander Mils on Unsplash
Graph problems are always interesting and currency arbitrage is one of the standard graph problems from CLRS book (Introduction to Algorithms).
Few weeks ago, I stumbled upon this problem when I was reading about forex trading & transaction costs.
Arbitrage is defined as near simultaneous purchase and sale of securities or foreign exchange in different markets in order to profit from price discrepancies.
Forex arbitrage is a risk-free trading strategy that allows forex traders to make a profit with no open currency exposure. The strategy involves acting on opportunities presented by pricing inefficiencies in the short window they exist. This type of arbitrage trading involves the buying and selling of different currency pairs to exploit any pricing inefficiencies. The act of exploiting the pricing inefficiencies will correct the problem so traders must be ready to act quickly with arbitrage strategies. For this reason, these opportunities are often around for a very short time.
Suppose we are given a table of currency exchange rates, represented as a 2D array. Determine whether there is a possible arbitrage, i.e, whether there are certain sequence of trades you can make, starting with some amount A of any currency, such that you can end up with some amount greater than A of same currency.
Let’s say, 1 U.S. dollar bought 0.82 Euro, 1 Euro bought 129.7 Japanese Yen, 1 Japanese Yen bought 12 Turkish Lira, and 1 Turkish Lira bought 0.0008 U.S. dollars. Then, by converting currencies, a trader can start with 1 U.S. dollar and buy U.S. dollars, thus turning a 0.82*129.7*12*0.008 =1.02 US dollars, thus making a 2% profit.
For the sake of simplicity, let’s assume there are no transaction costs and you can trade any currency amount in fractional quantities.
How do we solve this?
Graph data structure
Weighted directed graphs can be represented as an adjacency matrix. For a graph with |V| X |V| vertices, an adjacency matrix is a |V| times |V| matrix of values, where the entry in row i & column j is a non-zero integer if and only if the edge (i, j) is in the graph. If you want to indicate an edge weight, put it in the row i, column j entry, and reserve a special value (perhaps None ) to indicate an absent edge.
Finding arbitrage
Arbitrage opportunities arise when a cycle is determined such that the edge weights satisfy the following expression
w1 * w2 * w3 * … * wn > 1
The above constraint of finding the cycles is harder in graphs. Instead we must transform the edge weights of the graph such that the standard graph algorithms can be applied.
Let’s take the logarithm on both sides, such that
log(w1) + log(w2) + log(w3) + … + log(wn) > 0
Taking the negative log, this becomes
(-log(w1)) + (-log(w2)) + (-log(w3)) + … + (-log(wn)) < 0
Therefore we can conclude that if we can find a cycle of vertices such that the sum of their weights if negative, then we can conclude there exists an opportunity for currency arbitrage. Luckily, Bellman-Ford algorithm is a standard graph algorithm that can be used to easily detect negative weight cycles in O(|V*E|) time.
|
https://medium.com/@anilpai/currency-arbitrage-using-bellman-ford-algorithm-8938dcea56ea
|
['Anil Pai']
|
2019-09-18 07:50:53.040000+00:00
|
['Graph', 'Currency', 'Arbitrage', 'Data Struc', 'Forex']
|
Western Union Competitors and Alternatives | Compared
|
Wondering Which Western Union Competitor Will Work Best for You?
The international funds transfer marketplace is rife with competition. While Western Union gives you a secure way to transfer money overseas, so do several of its competitors. Money transfer companies generally offer better exchange rates in comparison to banks. However, is there a Western Union competitor that is better than the others?
Since foreign currency exchange rates are subject to fluctuations, there is no telling which company is the best at any given moment. While one company might offer the best rates today, another might take its place tomorrow. If you plan to transfer funds overseas periodically, you can benefit by registering with multiple companies. This way, each time you wish to make a transfer, you can compare exchange rates on offer.
The table below gives you an easy way to pick a Western Union alternative according to your specific needs. Using it is easy — simply follow these steps:
Narrow down the options based on your desired transfer method.
Find out if you meet the minimum transfer amount requirement.
Compare fees and turnaround times.
Select a company.
Click on the ‘Visit Website’ button to go to the chosen company’s website.
Western Union Competitors
Currencies Direct
Currencies Direct is a UK-based business. It began operations in 1996, which makes it one of the oldest specialist money transfer companies. Today, this alternative to Western Union also has offices in the U.S., France, Spain, Portugal, South Africa, and India. It has dedicated websites for residents of the UK, the U.S., France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, and China. Depending on the website you log on to, you may be able to access it in a local language. Continue reading to learn more, click here.
Pros
Provides services to individuals, businesses, and online sellers
UK-based, with offices also in the U.S., Spain, France, Portugal, India, South Africa, and China
Multilingual website
Get access to an account manager
Lets you schedule transfers
Provides choice between spot orders, limit orders, and forward contracts
Offers travel money solutions in the UK
Cons
Residents of a few American states cannot register as customers
No cash pick up centers
OFX
Until 2015, OFX operated as OzForex. This Australia-based money transfer company began operations in 1998. However, at that point it functioned as an information-only website. Now, this Western Union alternative also has offices in New Zealand, the UK, the U.S., Canada, and Hong Kong. The OFX group has dedicated websites for different markets. These include NZForex, UKForex, USForex, and CanadianForex. Go through this page to read more about OFX.
Pros
Lets you sign up as an individual or a business
Australia-based, with offices also in the U.S., the UK, New Zealand, and Hong Kong
Local phone assistance provided in some countries
Tries to offer similar or better rates when compared to its competitors
Transfer over preset threshold limits and pay no fees
Initiate your transfer online or over the phone
Scheduling transfers is possible
Choice between spot orders, market orders, and forward contracts
Cons
Website available only in English
No cash pick up centers
Some currencies can be traded only over the phone
CurrencyFair
Originating in 2009, CurrencyFair has its headquarters in Ireland. It also has offices in the UK and Australia. While this Western Union competitor provides its customers with a single website, you can access in it English, Polish, and French. One aspect about this money transfer company that you won’t find with other many of its competitors is the unique CurrencyFair MarketPlace. This platform lets you bid for preferred exchange rates, giving you the ability to get better-than-prevailing market rates. Keep track with the latest updates about CurrencyFair, visit this page.
Pros
Sign up as an individual or a business
Ireland-based, with offices also in the UK and Australia
Multilingual website
Use the CurrencyFair MarketPlace to bid for preferred rates
Transfer as little as €8
Schedule transfers easily
Cons
Residents of the U.S. cannot register as customers
Cost of a transfer includes a €3 fixed fee plus 0.35% of the transfer amount
No cash pick up centers
Unavailability of limit orders and forward contracts
Phone support could be better, mainly an online company
World First
As with several other Western Union alternatives, this money transfer company started out small. It began operations from a basement in South London, in 2004. It now has offices in Australia, the U.S., Hong Kong, and Singapore. Depending on where you live, you can use its dedicated websites for the UK, the U.S., Canada, France, Australia, Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Singapore. However, the website you choose has a bearing on the services you can access. For example, the Japanese and Chinese websites are only for online resellers. Depending on the website you choose, you might be able to access it in a local language. Read the World First Review here.
Pros
Provides services to individuals, businesses, and online sellers
Creates unique offers for individuals and businesses from time to time
UK-based, with offices also in the Netherlands, the U.S., Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan
Multilingual website
Local phone assistance provided in some countries
Pay no fees when you transfer more than preset threshold limits
Allows scheduling of transfers
Choose from spot orders and forward contracts
Use the “World First” account to receive and pay bills in different currencies
Cons
Residents of the U.S. states of Alabama and Nevada cannot register as customers
No cash pick up centers
Sending limits depend on where you reside and the payment method
FrontierPay
This UK-based alternative to Western Union set up shop in 2009. It operates a single website for all worldwide customers, which is available only in English. What brings the FX Firm FrontierPay to this list is the fact that every registered user has access to a personal dealer. Like its competitors, it offers better exchange rates than banks. Read great insights on FrontierPay reviews.
Pros
Register as an individual or a business
Get access to a personal manager
Pay no fees for personal transfers
Transfer funds online or over the phone
Businesses can choose from spot orders, limit orders, option dated forward contracts, fixed forward contracts, and multi forward contracts
Cons
Minimum transfer amount is £500
No cash pick up centers
UK-based, with no international offices
Website available only in English
Assistance over the phone only through a UK-based number
HiFX
HiFX is a UK-based money transfer company that began operations as Halewood International Foreign Exchange Limited, in 1998. Now, Euronet Worldwide, one of the biggest money transfer companies in the world, owns this firm. HiFX operates dedicated websites for the UK, the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand. You can use these websites only in English. Using the services of this company can be better than Western Union if you plan to relocate overseas or are planning to buy real estate in another country. It gives you the ability to transfer up to £75,000 using debit and credit cards. Go through this page to learn more.
Pros
Provides services to individuals and businesses
UK-based, with offices also in Australia, New Zealand, and Spain
Dedicated websites for the U.S., the UK, Australia, and New Zealand
Pay no fees if the transfer amount exceeds preset threshold limits
Tends to provide better than usual rates for large value transfers
Lets you schedule transfers
Offers choice between spot orders and forward contracts
Cons
Website access only in English
No cash pick up centers
No app for mobile devices
TorFX
This alternative to Western Union began operations in 2004. It has its headquarters in the UK, along with offices in mainland Europe, Australia, and South Africa. Until 2013, all of its global customers used a single UK-based website. Since then, it has operated an Australia-based website, as well. Both websites are available only in English. Visit this page to learn more about TorFX.
Pros
Sign up as an individual or a business
Aims to offer better rates than its competitors
No fees for personal transfers
Schedule transfers with ease
Choose from spot orders, limit orders, stop loss orders, and forward contracts
Provides travel money solutions in the UK
Cons
UK-based, with international presence only in Australia
No multilingual website
No cash pick up centers
No app for devices that run on Android
TransferWise
Developed in Estonia, this Western Union competitor has its headquarters in the UK. It also has offices in Estonia and the U.S. While this specialist money transfer company offers a single website, you can access it in multiple languages. These include English, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, and Portuguese. This is another company that accepts payments via credit cards. Start reading the complete TransferWise Review.
Pros
Register as an individual or a business
Sign up using your Facebook, Google, or PayPal account
UK-based, with offices also in Estonia, the U.S., Hungary, Ukraine, Australia, Japan, and Singapore
Multilingual website
No minimum transfer limit
Send and receive funds using no more than email addresses with the “send money” and “receive money” options
Payment methods, depending on where you live, can include debit cards, credit cards, bank transfers, direct debits, POLI, and SOFORT
The TransferWise Borderless account gives businesses the ability to save in fees when dealing in more than 15 currencies
Cons
Unavailability of peer-to-peer transfers in all countries
Does not allow scheduling of transfers
No limit orders and forward contracts
No cash pick up centers
Cost of a transfer depends on the destination country, mode of payment, and transfer method
Azimo
Azimo is a relatively new player in this field, having begun operations in 2012. This company has its headquarters in London, the UK, with an office also in Krakow, Poland. This alternative to Western Union lets you pay for your transfer using debit and credit cards. You can access the Azimo website in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, German, Romanian, and Polish. Check out the most comprehensive Azimo review here.
Pros
Destination country-dependant transfer methods can include bank transfers, transfers to cash pick up centers, topping up mobile wallets and airtime, and home delivery of cash
Website access and email support in different languages
Cons
Does not serve businesses
Accepts customers only from Europe
Accepts payments only in European currencies
UK-based, only international office in Poland
Scheduling transfers is not possible
Unavailability of limit orders and forward contracts
Cost of a transfer depends on the currencies being traded, the transfer amount, and the transfer method
FC Exchange
This Western Union competitor has its headquarters and a couple of offices in the UK, as well as offices in South Africa and Cyprus. It has been around since 2005. Access to the global FC Exchange website comes only in English. However, access to the dedicated website for online sellers in China comes in English as well as Chinese. Payment methods can vary depending on the country of your residence. Follow this link to read FC Exchang review.
Pros
Register as an individual or a business
Provides services to online sellers from China
UK-based, with offices also in Cyprus and South Africa
Get access to a dedicated currency broker
Transfer funds online, over the phone, via fax, or via email
Scheduling transfers is simple
Choose from market orders and forward contracts
Cons
Website access only in English
No cash pick up centers
Cost of a transfer varies depending on the destination country and the payment method
WorldRemit
If you are looking for a Western Union competitor that provides website access in English, French, or Spanish, WorldRemit requires your attention. This company has been around since 2010. It has its headquarters in the UK, with offices also in North America and Australasia. You can pay for your transfer through this company using different methods, credit cards included. Continue reading about WorldRemit.
Pros
Destination country-dependant transfer methods can include bank transfers, transfers to cash pick up centers, and topping up mobile wallets and airtime
UK-based, with offices also in U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand
Multilingual website
Transfer as little as £1
Cons
Does not serve businesses
Transfer limits can vary depending on your country of residence and the desired transfer method
Cost of a transfer depends on the currencies being traded, the transfer amount, and the transfer method
Scheduling transfers is not possible
Unavailability of market orders and forward contracts
The Big Banks
Banks tend to charge noticeably higher fees when compared to specialist money transfer companies, and their exchange rates also leave room for improvement. The fact that these companies usually offer quicker turnaround times also makes them faster than banks.
Go to top
Learn More
Is CurrencyFair’s competition up to the task?
Should one consider TransferWise or are their better alternatives?
Do HiFX have adequate competition or is it all the same with a different name?
Western Union Competitors Updates
4th September 2016 : Added FC Exchange and Azimo to the Western Union competition list.
: Added FC Exchange and Azimo to the Western Union competition list. 15th October 2016 : Western Union alternative comparison tables updated to include FC Exchange and World Remit.
: Western Union alternative comparison tables updated to include FC Exchange and World Remit. 1st November 2016 : New CurrencyFair website logo updated in the post and added WorldRemit to the Western Union competition list.
: New CurrencyFair website logo updated in the post and added WorldRemit to the Western Union competition list. 12th December 2016 : USForex.com has been rebranded to OFX.com!
: USForex.com has been rebranded to OFX.com! 15th January 2017 : The FX Firm is now known as FrontierPay.
: The FX Firm is now known as FrontierPay. 21st February 2017 : ukforex.co.uk has a new name — OFX.com!
: ukforex.co.uk has a new name — OFX.com! 3rd June 2017 : Added Pro’s and Con’s for each provider.
: Added Pro’s and Con’s for each provider. 3rd July 2017 : World First new logo updated.
: World First new logo updated. 16th September 2017 : Azimo updated with new logo.
: Azimo updated with new logo. 6th January 2018: Updated World First’s removal of transaction fees, replacement of new logo and CurrencyFair’s fee free transfer change.
Content Credits: icomparefx.com
Featured Image Credits: Paynow Investments Limited
|
https://medium.com/dalla/western-union-competitors-and-alternatives-compared-6c650e206dde
|
[]
|
2018-09-18 06:28:29.798000+00:00
|
['Currency', 'Fintech', 'Western Union', 'Competition', 'Alternative']
|
Grayson
|
This is his code name. I used it in a story that I wrote one year ago. He is my friend’s older brother and I had feelings for him a while ago. Those feelings have resurfaced.
I want to have some kind of relationship with him that isn’t just a friendship. How do I do that without hurting my friendship with his sister? She is my best friend, and isn’t it girl code not to go after siblings?
When she did something with my brother I was beyond mad at her. But she has told me in the past that she would be fine with it. Maybe that has changed though?
Let’s go over why I like him. He is sweet and caring. He always looks out for his friends and he has defended me multiple times. I don’t know what it is that really draws me to him, but it's something strong.
But at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter. He is popular and has every girl fawning over him. I would be damned if I thought I had a chance. And the funny thing is, that I did have a chance. A year ago, I had a chance with him. Neither of us said anything though. So it never became, “a thing”.
I have so much regret for not taking the chance when I had the opportunity. And my plan was to try again this year. But right as I tried to start showing a little interest, he brought a girl home. He follows her around like a lost puppy.
She makes him a better person. He is nicer and more approachable when she is around. And she is the nicest girl you will ever meet. It doesn’t matter what anyone ever says about her, because there is nothing to criticize. She is perfect. And I am not.
So how do I stand a chance? How do I get him to notice me as more than just his sister’s best friend?
I shouldn't be aiming for attention from a guy. I should focus on good grades or being a good friend.
But I don’t care about those things because I already know I have good grades. And I already know I am a good friend. I want him to notice me.
I stay up thinking about him. He doesn’t leave my thoughts at all. I even dream about this stupid boy. I doze off in class and catch myself daydreaming about him. When someone talks about their own boyfriend I imagine what it would be like if it were him and I.
Why am I so focused. On this one, boy.
I know I am not the only one who thinks we would be good for each other. Just the other day his dad told me that I should marry him. I know it's all just a joke but I want to date him. I like him.
But I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t like him for countless reasons. He is my best friend’s brother for starters. He ignores me when he is with his friends. He already has all the girls he could ever want. He is older. He is out of my league. He is, he is, he is.
I could keep thinking as that or I could think like this.
I should like him because he is generous. I should like him because he is sweet and kind. I should like him because he is humble. I should like him because he is mature. I should like him because he would treat me right. And that is exactly why I do.
And I shouldn’t let petty details get in the way. He has a girl right now. Okay. Respect that, don’t get in the way, don’t ruin it for him.
Be patient wait your turn.
If it’s meant to be, then things will align and you two will be on the same plate. Just give it time.
He will notice you, he will be interested in you.
He isn’t going to forget about you.
Who cares if you aren’t the most popular girl in school? You have ten times the personality they do.
Who cares if you aren’t the most athletic girl on the field hockey or lacrosse team? You still work harder than all of them and you do your best in the sport you accel at.
Who cares if you don’t think you are as pretty as them? God made you this way. Don’t ever think for a minute that he would make you imperfect. There is beauty in your flaws and he made them noticeable so that you could learn to love them.
It doesn’t matter if they are skinnier than you, have better hair than you, look better than you think you do.
They are just as insecure as you are. Don’t let that hold you back.
Find yourself. Find what makes you unique. And cherish it. Love it more than anything else you have ever thought you loved.
Be confident in yourself. Don’t let society or popular girls decide how you have to look.
Be you.
Be yourself.
And then love yourself.
Love every inch of yourself because the confidence you have in yourself, your flaws, your beauties, your weaknesses.
Will set you apart from every other girl that comes across anyone’s path.
That confidence that sets you apart will get you noticed.
So keep your thoughts to yourself, get your work done, know your worth.
Because the Lord will send the right person to you when he thinks it is the best time for you.
Don’t lose hope love, everything is going to get better.
The Lord will make sure,
That you are living your best life.
A life like no other.
|
https://medium.com/@sophiarobbins/grayson-9c41ce090cf0
|
['Sophia Robbins']
|
2020-12-22 04:45:21.097000+00:00
|
['Gratefulness', 'Finding Yourself', 'Confidence', 'Positivity', 'Uniqueness']
|
The silly Bonds and the serious Bonds
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Sean Connery, making a face during the filming of Goldfinger.
For many, it may seem there are two types of James Bond films.
One type consists of the the entries that focus on the spy stuff, the action or psychology of Bond. We may, in the interest of brevity, call these the serious Bonds.
The other type consists of the entries that instead are fun, adventurous and don’t take themselves too seriously. Here I’ll call them the camp Bonds.
Don’t get too hung up on the labels. I’ll get back to them in a little bit. What’s important is what they mean, and why there are two types of Bond films. Or maybe there aren’t…
A rough* division would perhaps look something like this:
* Many titles can be put in both columns, and your mileage may vary a bit on where each film is placed. That is, however, not a weakness of this hypothesis, but in fact one of the main points, as we’ll see.
I’ve been around the James Bond fandom long enough, but also the casual viewers to know that most of them feel that one of these columns much more represents the True Tone™ of the Bond films. They look upon the Bond films from the other column as less Bondian. Thus, for viewers in the camp… well, camp, Dr No may appear boring, while the viewers in the serious section feel that Octopussy is silly.
This may have to do with which type they encountered first, or who their favorite Bond is, or it may just reflect their personality type. Some people just want chewing gum for their eyes, and some people don’t want to have fun — to criticise each of these just a little bit.
I would argue, though, that most Bond films are a mix of both serious and camp. They all contain both low-key spy stuff and over-the-top events, per definition, as Bond films. Where each film can be placed on a gliding scale between these endpoints is not the interesting part for me. Instead, I’d like to focus on the topic of interpretation of the source material, and begin with something completely different. Indulge me for a moment.
What’s the difference between Batman and Superman?
Both Batman and Superman have been active as characters since the 1930’s (Batman 1939, Superman 1938). Their careers have been intertwined, and even if their biggest visual differences are the color scheme, they are more often recognized as being the day/night versions of each other.
But whereas Superman as a character has been fairly consistent with his “big blue boy scout” personality, through the various writers and artists who have created his adventures and re-interpreted his life, Batman has at least two distinctive personalities, and tones, associated with him. One is the serious story about an orphaned man taking up crime-fighting, using his wealth. This version can be seen in the Christopher Nolan/Christian Bale films, and the Frank Miller comics, for instance. The other is when the creators acknowledge how silly it is to be fighting crime, dressed as a bat. In this interpretation, such as in the 1966–1968 TV series, but also earlier, such as when Batman partnered with Ace the Bat-Hound, the tone is lighter.
Both these interpretations are true, in the sense that they flow naturally from the source material, even if one of them is not the interpretation you prefer. You could easily imagine a universe where either of these interpretations are the only interpretation. If the “other” version was the only existing one, you may not have started reading or watching Batman.
[For a longer discussion on this subject, I refer to this video essay by Patrick H Willems.]
Hamlet
Lest you think this thought only applies to comic characters and can only be sliced in one dimension, let’s briefly look at one of the most well-known characters in literary history, Hamlet.
Hamlet, famously, have several central questions associated with him, but let’s focus on this: is he mad or does he only play mad?
Different adaptations have emphasized different interpretations on this question, and you can certainly make a case for both sides. Entire books have tried.
That’s the point. Both sides have a good case. Let’s put a pin in that thought.
Different interpretations
Not many characters have been interpreted so very differently, outside of when the character has been spoofed or parodied. Frankenstein’s monster, Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, Robin Hood, Dr Who, and a few others.
This, I believe, depends on a duality in the source material. Both interpretations flow naturally from different facets of the original works.
In Bond’s case, this would be the novels by Ian Fleming. Parts of them are serious, biographically enriched stories, and parts are fantastical. There are very few novels that contain just one or the other. Casino Royale, Fleming’s first novel, probably comes closest, as it borrows heavily from Fleming’s own experiences.
It follows naturally that the movies based on these combinations will themselves become both serious and camp.
The serious in the camp
Let’s look at one Bond example, The Man With The Golden Gun. I’ve placed it above in the serious column, but there are of course several elements that are included to be adventurous, exaggerated and fun: the quips from Bond, Scaramanga’s fun-house, the fight in the belly dancer’s dressing room, the interrogation of Mr Lazar, M’s headquarters in the Queen Elizabeth, the fight outside the karate school, sheriff JW Pepper, the stunt with the twisting car, the flying car, Mary Goodnight’s clumsiness in Act III and the final fight with Nick Nack.
With all of these exemples, it may be hard to understand why I put it into the serious column. The reason I did that can be illustrated with an analogy. It doesn’t matter if you lead an entire life as a law-abiding citizen if you one day commit a murder. In the same vein, a movie which has one gruesome scene can be placed in the horror genre.
So what about The Man With The Golden Gun? Does it have any scenes that place it firmly in the serious column? Yes. Several, in fact.
First, it has Bond’s interrogation of Ms Anders, where Bond twists her arm until she gives up Scaramanga. This scene wasn’t accidental. Bond could have been given the information freely. Ms Anders had after all sent the first bullet to M, so she should have been willing to give Bond all the information he needed to kill Scaramanga.
Here, I wouldn’t blame you if you compared this scene to another scene in a film I’ve put in the campy column, Diamonds Are Forever, where Bond strangles a woman with her bra. Does this challenge my classification? I’d say that there are four differences between those scenes:
a) the music. In Diamonds Are Forever, it’s the James Bond theme, in a playful, triumphant style. In The Man With The Golden Gun, there’s no music at all. This often signifies seriousness.
b) the lines. The dialogue in The Man With The Golden Gun looks like this:
– Ow! You’re hurting my arm.
– Then tell me where those bullets go.
– No, I can’t.
– Try!
– He’ll kill me!
– Who?
– I can’t tell you!… Scaramanga.
– You see what you can do when you try?
Compare that to the scene in Diamonds Are Forever:
– There is something I’d like you to get off your chest.
(Marie gasps and gags.)
– Where is Ernst Stavro Blofeld?
(Marie chokes.)
– Speak up, darling. I can’t hear you.
In Diamonds Are Forever, Bond jokes as he’s about to kill Marie. The scene in The Man With The Golden Gun lacks comedic elements almost from the start.
c) the story. After Bond strangles Marie, he finds Blofeld, kills him, and then the real story of Diamonds Are Forever begins. Remember, this is just the pre-title sequence, so very little carries over into the main story. In The Man With The Golden Gun, this scene comes later and leads Bond to the main villain, which is significantly more important.
d) the characters. Marie, as a character, has no screen presence outside her murder. We don’t know much about her, but since she’s connected to Blofeld, we assume she’s with SPECTRE in some fashion. Andrea Anders, on the other hand, has several scenes with either Bond or Scaramanga, and is indeed the person who starts the entire story. We care more about her, and Bond’s handling of her is longer and therefore more jarring.
[To be fair, Diamonds Are Forever is not without its grim scenes, but they are filmed in a camp manner. The travels of Mr Wint and Mr Kidd, for example, are filmed as comic relief, but the subject matter, with the drowned old lady, and many others, could have been handled like they were actually threatening.]
The second reason I put The Man With The Golden Gun in the serious colum is the killing of Ms Anders and the first meeting with Scaramanga. This has to be one of the longest scenes in the film series which takes place with a dead body firmly at the center. Dr No has Bond leaving off a dead driver at the embassy and Thunderball has the death of Fiona Volpe, and Casino Royale has the knife fight at the corpse exhibition, but they are mainly played for laughs or as a short burst of tension. And there a few other scenes where we can see one or several dead bodies, but it’s rare that we know their names of the dead person or can see their eyes for more than a second (Paris Carver and Elektra King spring to mind). But in The Man With The Golden Gun there’s a two and a half minute dialogue scene about Scaramanga’s backstory, including an anecdote about his elephant friend dying. All while Ms Anders’ body is sitting right next to them.
The start of the dinner at the climax of The Man With The Golden Gun.
Third, the dinner and the start of the duel. After an entire film, where Scaramanga is being portrayed as the number one hit-man in the world, Bond is challenged to a duel. The set up for the duel is rather long. I’m not merely referring to the almost one minute speech and countdown that Nick Nack holds at the beach. Before that, it’s the dinner scene. Now, the dinner scene is a staple in the Bond movies, starting with Dr No. Most of them have pleasant conversation and then a moment when the villain turns nasty, but this scene doesn’t end when the villain changes tone. In fact, it goes on quite a while. During this dinner, Scaramanga and Bond start with verbal sparring, as per usual (“At a million dollars a contract, I can afford to, Mr Bond. You work for peanuts. A ‘well done’ from the Queen and a pittance of a pension. Apart from that, we are the same.”), but when Bond becomes sharp in his tone, the audience knows (but Bond doesn’t) that Scaramanga is putting his golden gun together, and when he’s done, Scaramanga points his gun at Bond. After that, almost another minute of serious talk, without any glimmer of camp or humor until the very end.
The camp Bond
Is this important, to separate these films into two columns?
I would argue that it’s not, but that it may help us look at the screenplays and stories more closely. And by looking at them separately, things will hopefully become clearer.
Let’s start with camp. This term is much broader than most people perhaps use it. As TV Tropes puts it: “Derives from the French gay community’s slang term se camper, meaning “to pose in an exaggerated fashion”. The term “Camp” morphed into referring to a sensibility that revels in artifice, stylization, theatricality, irony, playfulness, and exaggeration rather than content, as Susan Sontag famously defined the term in her short essay “Notes on Camp”. Don’t expect it to take itself the least bit seriously.“
Despite my mentioning of Batman above, camp isn’t necessarily big pink “Ka-Pow!” cartoon effect bubbles, or any of the cartoonish villains from the Adam West TV series.
Instead, let’s remember that the “coolness” of Bond is also part and parcel of the campiness. He’s hyper-masculine and almost unflappable. This is performance.
Just look at how much focus is on Bond’s clothing and vehicles in articles and, indeed, in the films themselves, whether it is the classic Bond smoking or the rare car models. And there are so many other moments in the films that can be viewed from a queer perspective that there’s an entire blog devoted to it.
[It may be relevant here to mention that one of the screenwriters of GoldenEye, Bruce Feirstein, wrote a book called Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche, which is a tongue-in-cheek guidebook to hyper-masculinity, but that some readers missed the satirical tone in it, which means their image of the masculine becomes more exaggerated and fantastical and ultimately camp.]
One thing that push some Bond films more into the campy and sometimes silly side of things are the gadgets. These range from the slightly ahead of its time, such as the watch Bond wears in Octopussy, via the improbable (for instance the radiactive lint in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service), to the impossible (the magnetic watch which, against the laws of physics, can bend the trajectory of a bullet at long range, “or so Q claims”). It’s easy to dismiss the gadgets, but they have certainly inspired many other films to include exciting new technology, and they have also become part of the public image of James Bond.
Here, Edward Biddulph attempts to measure the fantasy level, based on number of gadgets.
And let’s not forget that some of these gadget scenes are inspired by scenes in the Fleming books, such as the briefcase in the novel From Russia With Love. Fleming himself collected real gadgets and were inspired by wartime equipment that was designed to fool inspection from the other side.
But the part which probably garners the most criticism for the camp films is the humour. There is, definitely, a dry wit in Fleming’s novels, but not the kind of one-liners that came out of Bond from the start in the films. That type of cold-blooded, sarcastic humour borrow heavily from the film noir tradition, but it also gets some of its innuendos and clever wordplay from screwball comedies and early romantic comedies, which is probably why they arranged for Bond to meet Sylvia Trench in Dr No, and let her return in From Russia With Love. They could have had plenty of that kind of friction and intrigue, should they had continued to bring Trench back. Instead they let go of the continuity which made it easier for the viewers to watch the films in any order.
Terence Young, director of the first James Bond film.
It should be noted that the comedic tone of the first film Dr No in the end was a bit of a surprise, even to the director, as can be seen here:
“The success of Dr No in UK cinemas — earning a whopping £69,000 (R1.3m) in the first week (whopping for 1962 at least) — was a surprise to everyone. But, according to a story told by Peter Hunt to John Glen, who both went on to direct Bond films, Terence Young was also surprised by how audiences reacted.
‘When they made Dr No, Terence Young went to the press show,’ says John Glen, who wrote about his Bond career in the autobiography For My Eyes Only. “Terence was standing at the back of the theatre and when the critics started to laugh at various things, he got terribly embarrassed. He’d made what he considered to be a straight thriller, he didn’t realise that the humour was in there.
‘He got so embarrassed he left the theatre and went home. Peter Hunt had to ring him and tell him to get a copy of the evening papers because the critics were raving about this new style of humour — the tongue-in-cheek Britishness, if you like. Terrence [sic!] said to Peter Hunt: ‘That’s all well and good, but how do we do the second one, knowing what we know now?!’’”
Hugo Drax, as portrayed by George Almond.
Another part of the campiness of the Bond films is the question of the villains. Fleming was quite aware that the villains he created for Bond were larger than life, with physical deformities, backed up by powerful organisations, and, of course, with memorable names. It was an easy decision for the producers and screenwriters whether to keep those or not when it was time to make the films. There are so many wonderful possibilities, from a storytelling standpoint.
An equally easy decision was the evocative names of the women that Bond meets during his adventures. The personalities were not very much different from any heroine in any box office film series, but ask anyone to name the villains or female agents in the Mission Impossible series, or in the Bourne series, or in the Taken series, or in The Fast And The Furious series, or in the Jurassic Park series, or Transformers series, and so on. They likely won’t be able to. Being evocative, or even provocative, is a way to be remembered, and using names, such as the ones that the James Bond book and film series have used, is not only memorable but distinctive. No wonder it’s a feature most parodies use, as in the Austin Powers films. It’s hard not to compare this to the various superhero and supervillain names from Marvel and DC, or the odd names from Star Wars or Harry Potter.
Finally, there are plenty of farcical elements in the action sequences, from the noisy fight in the cottage with all the bells in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and Bond’s gondola splitting another gondola in the middle while the gondolier keeps using his oar in Moonraker, to crazy stunts with the trucks in the climax of Licence To Kill. To use comedy in tense action sequences is common nowadays, but this practice were mostly pioneered in modern cinema by the James Bond films. (This technique was used quite often in the silent film era.) And the Bond films use it constantly, almost seamlessly blending comedy with straight action moments. Just look at the primarily serious fight in Spectre between Bond and Hinx, which ends rather comically with Bond fastening Hinx to a chain of barrels (a classic in zany cartoons), prompting Hinx to utter his only line in the movie, or the fight between Bond and Kananga, where Bond actually bleeds, but which ends with a another classic gag, namely the gas inflated person who floats up into the air.
The serious Bond
On the other hand, the Bond films have always also had a measure of realism or groundedness. Realistic spy stuff has not been one of the things the Bond films have been known for, but there are other signs that the writers have tried to make the films, as Fleming himself put it, “[…] wildly beyond the probable but not, I think, beyond the possible.” How have the writers tried to steer the viewing experience in that direction?
Daniel Craig, showing us how many times you live.
Since we’re not focusing on the actors here but the screenplays, I’ve skipped the entire discussion of Roger Moore’s raised eyebrow, Pierce Brosnan’s quips sotto voce, or Daniel Craig’s deadpan comments, and instead focused on what the stories and scenes those actors are in tell us. Are all the Craig Bond films realistic, all the way through? No. That may be the style the films are shot in, but it’s not what the stories and scenes tell us.
It should be noted that realism as a film concept is notoriously hard to define, since film by its very nature in some fashion is documenting what is in front of the camera. But TV Tropes again puts it well: “Realism is not synonymous with cynicism, but the two are often confused in ways which cause tropes such as edginess, explicitness and goriness to be associated with a work becoming ‘more realistic’.”
In that vein, let’s look at some of the injuries Bond sustains over the course of the films. He’s shot in the calf in Thunderball (very superficially, by the looks of it), he breaks his leg and sprains his arm in Octopussy (but tosses the bandage aside to kiss Octopussy), his arm is hurt in the pre-title sequence of The World Is Not Enough, he’s tortured severely in Casino Royale (so much that he’s forced to stay in the hospital), and he shows more wear and tear in Licence To Kill than in most other films.
A battle-scarred Timothy Dalton as Bond at the end of Licence To Kill.
In most other Bond films, the injuries are very minor or non-existent, lending something of an unnatural feel to them.
Then there are the injuries that other characters have. Most of the characters that die don’t die in especially visually gory or unpleasant ways. There are exceptions, such as the unnamed SPECTRE agent who falls into the way of a snow plow in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Dario’s and Krest’s deaths in Licence To Kill, Zao being pierced by an ice chandelier in Die Another Day, and Guerra’s death at the hands of Mr Hink in Spectre, but other deaths are filmed in such a way to make what must have been bloody or painful death sanitised for a younger audience, such as when Corinne Dufour is ripped apart by Drax’s dogs in Moonraker, and the camera and soundtrack almost manage to make it tender. That’s one of the reasons the beginning of Casino Royale was such a change from most of the other Bond films: Bond’s fight with Fisher is not clean, but destructive and the pain seems real. Pain is one of the most important point in making a fight realistic, which is why the audience care less about Elvis’s death in Quantum of Solace (very quick, by explosion) than they do when Dominic Green’s foot is hit by a fire axe.
Then there’s the other side of the villains: their plans. In parodies and copies of the Bond films, the villain’s plan is often to take the entire world at ransom, or world domination, in a 1960’s kind of way. But the Bond villains themselves have at least had a somewhat plausible way of achieving their goal, by stealing the gold in Fort Knox — nay, setting off a dirty nuclear weapon in Fort Knox, thereby increasing the worth of all other gold, or increase petroleum prices by sabotaging the competitor’s pipelines, or arranging terrorist attacks to get the intelligence community to accept a surveillance system with a backdoor. These plans are often inspired by things happening in the real world, such as the energy crisis that formed the basis for the plot of The Man With The Golden Gun, or the criticism that was directed against the CIA which formed part of the story of Quantum Of Solace. Since the antagonist is arguably the most important function in a screenplay, to give the villain a good, (at least somewhat) realistic plan is an essential lesson.
Another element that the writers have used to foster realism is details. Many who write about this subject get caught up in the brands (“Bollinger, R.D. The best!”), and other factual details, such as where the orchidae nigra flower grows (the river Tapirape, apparently). Even Kingsley Amis heralded it as one of the things that made Fleming’s readers accept the stories (he christened it “the Fleming effect“). But there are other details that I believe are more important to pull the movies to the more realistic end of the spectrum.
A glamorous setting, but it’s still a meeting. The 00 agents who are in Europe meet in Thunderball.
One underappreciated aspect is the administrative details. From the first film, the meeting with M is often not just about the mission at hand, but about the work as a secret agent. M decides which gun should bring in Dr No, in From Russia With Love, M and Bond discuss tactics about the meeting with Tatiana Romanova, in Goldfinger, M threatens to replace Bond, in Thunderball, they have an all staff meeting, in You Only Live Twice, Bond asks permission to come aboard, in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Bond resigns, and so on, and so forth. This is in every film. Also, merely the presence of M’s secretary, Q and various other staff members, also help bring this aspect of realism to the forefront. Not just by the scenes existing, but by Bond’s lax, irreverent attitude, which makes him look like it’s not his first time in the field. He’s experienced and at home in M’s office.
A realistic world is also filled with failure and malfunctions. There are several points in the films where gadgets misfire (or seem to misfire, such as before Fatima Blush’s death in Never Say Never Again), vehicles break (“Out of gas. I haven’t heard that one in a long time…”), incredible stunts fail or almost fail (that’s the things that create tension), and people make mistakes (including Bond, and even fatal ones). These are all things that happen in real life, and make Bond seem more human. On that topic…
Sean Connery and Ursula Andress in Dr. No.
… notice this dialogue from Dr No:
Honey Ryder: I’m glad your hands are sweating, too.
Bond: Of course, I’m scared, too.
This is perhaps not the picture most people have of James Bond, and it’s not echoed in many other films in the series. In screenwriting outside of the Bond series, fear and other emotions are important mechanisms in making a realistic narrative in a non-realistic or fantastical setting (inside a volcano, in a space ship, in a mini-submarine, in a deserted Cubist city, etc).
There are a few scenes throughout the films that attempt to dive deeper into Bond’s psyche — some longer and some shorter. In the second category are for instance the scenes in the Moore films where Bond’s marriage to Tracy is mentioned (The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only) or in the Brosnan and Craig films where he’s scalded by M for being a blunt object. In the first category, there are more subtle scenes, such as in GoldenEye, where Natalya Simonova and Bond talk about his loneliness, and in the same film, when he encounters Alec Trevelyan who questions his motives, from the perspective of a former colleague. René Mathis’ questions about Bond’s life in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace make it seem like they are closer as friends than most of Bond’s allies through the years. But the two most outstanding studies here are the two major love stories: the one with Tracy (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service) and the one with Vesper (beginning with Casino Royale and then continued in Quantum of Solace and Spectre). Can you love if you’re a secret agent?
But emotion is a tricky subject in writing. As a seasoned agent with a background in the Navy, Bond would have been trained to act decisively and unemotionally in order to be an effective asset in the field. This, of course, clashes with Bond’s cavalier view of danger, something that every agent would avoid until it became absolutely necessary, and his very high profile, but let’s put that aside as something that you would have to apply your suspension of disbelief.
Tanya Roberts as Stacey Sutton, hanging from the Golden Gate Bridge in A View To A Kill.
In his stead, the job of audience surrogate often falls on the female main characters. They react with panic, fear and by freezing, all natural reactions to dangerous situations. It’s easy to complain about how the female characters often become damsels in distress (a trope that’s as old as the Greek mythology, and is more than a bit cliché), and need Bond to save them, but in fairness:
many of them are untrained for the dangerous situation that they find themselves in
there are quite a few female characters who don’t fall into that trope, such as Domino who kills Largo in Thunderball (though after being saved by Kutze), Tracy who saves Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Dr Holly Goodhead who fights along Bond in Moonraker, Melina Havelock in For Your Eyes Only whom Bond needs to stop at several points, and Camille Montes in Quantum Of Solace, who saves herself from her attacker.
Bond’s male allies tend to die, so Bond saving the women may be seen as one degree better than killing them off.
As more and more women are working in the various armed forces around the world, so have also the number of trained women in the Bond series. Most prominently we have M, played by Judi Dench, from GoldenEye to Spectre, but there are others, including Anya Amasova (The Spy Who Loved Me), Xenia Onatopp (GoldenEye), Jinx Johnson (Die Another Day) and Eve Moneypenny (Skyfall). In The World Is Not Enough we briefly see a female 00 agent. We’ve still to see a heavily featured female trained agent who Bond is not romantically engaged with at any point, but that will hopefully change with Nomi, the new 007, in No Time To Die.
The happy mix
If you are under the impression that I am on the side of camp or on the side of serious, I can assure you that you’ve missed my point. That table at the start is not how I would divide the films, really.
In fact, my message has been that all Bond films contain parts that are camp and parts that are serious, and that this fact is one of the biggest selling points of the James Bond film franchise.
Last example: let’s look at Octopussy, a film perhaps most known for its scenes in the circus, with Bond made up as a clown.
009, as portrayed by stunt performer Andy Bradford, in Octopussy.
However, there are many Bond fans who appreciate the scene at the start of the movie where 009 is chased by the knife-throwing twins, a sequence which takes about 3 minutes of screen time and is quite effective at showing the threat posed by the twins. And indeed the rest of the scenes that include the twins continue to be tense. Well, except for the way Mischka is killed (with a cannon falling on his head, like a cartoon anvil).
And that’s the point, very few other similar films mix action and comedy as effortlessly as the Bond films. Be on the lookout for those scenes and moments in a film that you would perhaps put in one category that contrast the others.
As a viewer you can expect a healthy mix of sneaky spy stuff but with heinous villains, risqué names but with a stern M ordering Bond to stop snickering, and dangerous plans that ends with a farcical chase scene. In that sense, Bond caters to (almost) everyone.
You may prefer one tone more than the other, but be aware that both have their origin in the source material, and the blend itself may be the reason why the Bond films are so successful.
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https://medium.com/@aliashannibal/the-silly-bonds-and-the-serious-bonds-e7050dc6d8dc
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['Lennart Guldbrandsson']
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2020-12-14 09:45:28.032000+00:00
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['Action Movies', 'James Bond', 'Camp', 'Storytelling', 'Screenwriting']
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Getting back into NumPy, Day 10
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I’m so ready to throw this problem away and start working on something else. Another day of debugging and finding the error, and right now I don’t know if the error is with me not remembering the algorithm properly, or that something is wrong with my operators.
Currently, the algorithm gets stuck after 1 iteration. It takes the start guess, applies the projection onto the first set, onto the second set, and then it doesn’t change. The error between the true image and my guess stays the same, and nothing seems to happen. I need to take a look in my collection of papers on this matter before this drives me crazy.
One other thing that makes me confused is that the phase of the FFTs are very blocky. I’m not sure where this comes from, and I don’t know how much this influences the result. It shouldn’t create too much trouble (I think), so I don’t know how important this is for the convergence.
Well, I’ve learned a lot, though, even if the progress was minimal. Fancy indexing is very logical, and I’m starting to get the hang of matrix handling in NumPy.
And to keep today’s post from being horribly boring, here’s a picture showing the current state of my program. I have to say, the guess seems to be closer than the guess I was able to produce yesterday… :-)
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https://medium.com/@p.perssonmattsson/getting-back-into-numpy-day-10-c5580eaee902
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['Pär Persson Mattsson']
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2019-04-18 21:11:22.921000+00:00
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['Numerical Methods', 'Numpy', 'Matplotlib', 'Python Programming', 'Python']
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Logo inspiration, week #53
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Logo inspiration, week #53
Hello beautiful reader, this is Drahomír, the logo designer. Welcome to the curated logo design inspiration site (note that I am not the author of the submited logos). One logo every day in 2020. I hope you like it.
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https://medium.com/@postebymach/logo-inspiration-week-53-c33e1c3f5b7f
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['Drahomír Posteby-Mach']
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2020-12-27 14:56:42.901000+00:00
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['Design Thinking', 'Design Process', 'Marketing', 'Design', 'Logo']
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2 of My 280 Posts Account for Over 20% of My Views, Reads, and Earnings
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2 of My 280 Posts Account for Over 20% of My Views, Reads, and Earnings
And neither post resides in a major publication
Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash
I’ve hit publish 280 times in two years on this platform and I have very modest results to show for it.
By my count, these posts have garnered approximately 60,000 views and nearly 30,000 reads.
In total, they’ve made me $1,464.59 or about $56/month. Which, when I type it out here for the world to see, is moderately depressing considering how many hours I’ve poured into those 280 posts. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I’m grateful to be able to make any money at all from my writing.
But…
Even if I only spent an average of one hour on each post (though the real number is surely much higher than that), I’m making a paltry $5.23/hr for my efforts. So, there’s that.
Nonetheless, I’ve been analyzing my numbers to try to gain some perspective on these last two years and, while they are quite pedestrian indeed, something interesting jumped out at me:
A mere two of my posts account for 12,500 of those views and 7500 of those reads. They’ve combined to earn me $466.02.
Two out of 280 equates to less than 1% of my posts and yet they’ve generated:
20% of my reads
25% of my reads
32% of my earnings
And the real kicker? Neither is published in a major publication. One was rejected outright multiple times.
Both are housed here, on my personal publication, which has a measly 357 followers at the time of this writing.
I also spent less than an hour writing each of them. I wrote both quickly, in fits of inspiration, and slapped them up there without much thought or hope that they would take off in any significant way.
So, what does this all mean?
Well, who knows really?
Your guess is as good as mine.
But here are some takeaways or lessons learned that have occurred to me after looking at these statistics.
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https://medium.com/tom-thoughts/2-of-my-280-posts-account-for-over-20-of-my-views-reads-and-earnings-deb821c41044
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['Tom Belskie']
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2020-10-20 00:28:16.600000+00:00
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['Productivity', 'Blogging', 'Creativity', 'Writing', 'Marketing']
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Five money resolutions for 2019; Hint: It’s tough, but not impossible
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New Year 2019 is upon us. The year-end parties, fun, and frolic are over. The year 2018 is now only a number in the history of time. But, a new year is also an opportunity to do something differently. Like it or not, we live in a money-driven world. Every penny that you earn could have gone another person’s way. Every penny you spend is somebody’s earning. Our choices will determine our journey. If you do not change your habits related to how you handle money, we can promise you nothing will change in 12 months.
If you are looking for soft personal finance resolutions, we suggest you stop reading right now. This because soft resolutions are never taken seriously. If there is no seriousness, those resolutions never live long enough. Every resolution that you will read about now is a hard nut to crack. Yet, they are doable if you can apply your mind. It is all about your money. Need any better inspiration than that?
1. Save 40% of take-home income
If you are left penniless by 24th of every month, this is for you. How exactly are you planning to live your life? Do you plan to beg, borrow and steal after 24th every month? You know the problem but are not doing anything about it. Life can’t go on like this. Your spending habits are the problem. Despite working so hard, you are not in control. Your expenses are controlling you. There is a way out. Start saving before you can spend. Save 40% of your total take-home pay every month. Did you say impossible? If you can live seven days every month on practically nothing, you can surely live on the rest three weeks by spending 60% of your income. Next year, you would be asked to save 50%, so don’t cringe.
2. Make the 13th EMI payment
Those with home loans, often complain how banks are fleecing them. They are tired of paying 12 EMIs a year. If you expected banks to be your friend, you are mistaken. They loaned you tens of lakhs. They will not rest until they can get every paisa of the dues. Want to change this? Simple, pay the 13th EMI every year. Your EMIs hurt you because the tenure doesn’t seem to end. A fixed sum of money goes out every month and there is nothing you think that can change this course. The 13th EMI actually can. The 13th EMI every year will be like a pre-payment and thereby will reduce the outstanding principal. This has two effects. One, your principal is lower so you can repay faster. Two, the interest charged is on your principal. This means your interest outgo will also reduce over the entire home loan duration. If it’s EMI, 13th is the lucky number.
3. Sunday is no-spend day
Sundays are holidays. This is a universally known fact. If you are taking an off on that day, why shouldn’t your money deserve a break? Make Sundays the no-spend day. Every month, you can have 4–5 no-spend days and in a year you could have 52–53 such days. That’s a neat saving of 14% every year. Money saved is money earned. Estimate how much you would have spent on a Sunday and put that money into a bank account, liquid debt funds or any other investment avenue the next day — Monday. You will be surprised to see the amount that you will save over the course of a year. Year 2019 seems a good year to start this.
4. Salary hike goes into extra insurance, investment
Most people waste their salary hikes. It is absolutely strange that the money that people eagerly look forward to every year is actually wasted once it comes in. Salary hikes make you inefficient. Even a 5% increase every year over 10 years means 63% rise. The first month after a salary hike witnesses ‘celebrations’. Is it really a celebration where you pay more than your salary hike? It is not. The salary hike should actually be used to get something extra for you. Use the salary hike to widen your term insurance and medical insurance cover. If something is left, use it for adding investments to your existing kitty. Do this every month. In this way, you will make your extra money work for you.
5. Job insurance = 12 months emergency corpus
You must have read about job insurance. It is one of the most useless policies that promise to take care of liabilities for three to four months in case you lose your job. However, what you don’t know is that ‘losing job’ actually means termination. Nobody gets terminated today, as the HR manager/department tell you to tender resignation if you want your employment benefits. So, don’t fall for that sham job insurance mumbo-jumbo. Instead, build your emergency corpus to 12 months. The biggest fear that lurks inside every salaried person’s mind is the loss of income. What happens then? Don’t wait to find out! Build your emergency corpus for expenses worth 12 months. If you are even remotely talented, you will get a job within 12 months. The job hunt time could be shorter if you are good. With oxygen for 12 months, you can rest in peace if the unfortunate pink-slip event actually happens.
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https://medium.com/@rupeeiqonline/five-money-resolutions-for-2019-hint-its-tough-but-not-impossible-3d4a17737d36
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[]
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2019-01-04 06:35:59.447000+00:00
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['Financial Planning', 'Saving Money', 'Personal Finance', 'New Years Resolutions', 'Money']
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End of Paper Money offers Opportunity for Blockchain Companies
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Events in India demonstrate that the impending death of paper money is a major opportunity for blockchain-based financial services companies. The chaos created by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s drastic demonetization demonstrates the potential and danger of the cashless future.
Modi stunned Indians on November 8, 2016, when he went on TV and declared that the nation’s two most popular banknotes would be worthless within 50 days. All 500 rupee and 1,000 rupee notes were withdrawn from circulation and replaced with new bills.
Demonetization was designed to discourage terrorism, smuggling, organized crime, tax evasion, and counterfeiting, Modi claimed. Some government officials later admitted the move was done to force India into a cashless society.
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https://medium.com/rubius-inc/end-of-paper-money-offers-opportunity-for-blockchain-companies-eba47612629d
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[]
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2018-08-03 08:51:18.604000+00:00
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['India', 'Money', 'Blockchain', 'Demonetization', 'Bitcoin']
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Where Have All the Drug Dealers Gone?
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A Review of Freakonomics Theory of Criminal Justice
Crime Scene Do Not Cross Signage by Kat Wilcox from Pexels
Back in the late nineties and at the turn of the New Millennium, the United States witnessed a remarkable decline in drug-related crime. A crime reduction so remarkable, in fact, as to provoke all manner of speculation from all manner of sources, as you can imagine — or as you may recall if you were alive (and politically conscious) at that time. From politicians and police chiefs to pundits and pushy armchair experts arguing from the comfort of their suburban neighborhoods and from the safety of their televisions, it seemed that everyone had not only an opinion but a theory for the cause (or causes) of decreasing crime. In their first book, the authors of Freakonomics (2005) pose their own theories of criminal justice in “Chapter Four: Where Have All the Drug Dealers Gone?” Like all the other theories of the time, their arguments are indeed logical and reasonable (in the sense that we can rationalize anything in theory). Yet, like all the theories that didn’t become best-sellers, the arguments in Freakonomics are quite fallible.
So where had all the drug-dealers gone in the nineties?
According to Freakonomics, they simply weren’t born, to begin with.
Given the benefit of hindsight, the authors conclude that drug-related crime decreased in the 1990s, not because of any concurrent law enforcement activities and not because of any antecedent crime policies, but because of legal precedents established by women’s rights activists in the 1970s. Specifically, according to Freakonomics, many drug-dealers simply stopped being born decades prior to the decrease in drug-related crime observed in the 1990s. In other words, the authors posit that a long-term benefit and unintended consequence of Roe v. Wade was the significant reduction in the risk pool of children growing up in the kinds of adverse circumstances associated with juvenile delinquency and criminal recidivism in adulthood.
Are you thinking what I’m thinking?
Freakonomics seems to suggest that drug-related crime could be prevented by simply aborting the pregnancies of would-be drug dealers and that would-be drug-dealers could be easily identified in communities of poor (most likely Black and Hispanic) women with a penchant for getting knocked up. Such assumptions are highly offensive to women, poor people, and Black and Hispanic people across the social gradient (because, statistically, and Black and Hispanic people are most likely to be arrested for any or no reason). I want to believe that these assumptions could not possibly be intentional in a New York Times Best-Selling Book on Everyday Economics, but unfortunately, it’s impossible to know for sure because the authors only dedicated a single sentence to their epidemiological interpretation. Had they bothered to specify that Constitutional social determinants like neighborhood and poverty are correlated risk factors rather than causes of drug-related crime, their argument would have been both more cogent and less offensive.
Upon closer reading, however, I realized that the authors were simply noting the correlations between unwanted pregnancy and adverse childhood events (e.g. ACEs) and between adverse childhood events and drug-related behaviors later in life. It is natural, then to make the connection between abortion and crime prevention. Clearly, this is another correlation, but the authors explain the relationship in terms of causation — that abortion caused a decrease in crime. In statistical terms, abortion legalization probably accounts for a significant portion of the variance in drug-related crime outcomes, but there are too many real-world events and interventions happening simultaneously to conclude that abortion alone is responsible. Moreover, there are too many confounding factors to establish causality using standard frameworks. Ultimately, the only argument that is justified here is that the risk pool was smaller after abortion legalization than it was prior. Any other interpretation is a slippery slope at best and a strong contributor to the racism and xenophobia that persists today at worst.
So do I recommend the book? Actually, yes.
Freakonomics revised book cover via Freakonomics.com
Freakonomics offers a deep dive into the economics of everyday life. The authors have a theory for everything from real estate to criminal justice. The key takeaways are that (A) human behavior can be explained largely by incentives and that (B) human error is often due either to information asymmetry associated with expert bias or to fallacious reasoning around association and causation. The selected examples are as reasonable as they are entertaining. When it comes to criminal theory, however, the authors commit the very error they argue against — as a reminder, correlation does not equal causation! (To their publisher’s — or someone’s credit, at least they eventually removed the stereotyped images from the book cover).
So why am I carrying on about a best-selling book from over a decade ago? Isn’t this old news? Is there any relevance today?
“The New York Times bestselling Freakonomics was a worldwide sensation, selling more than 4 million copies in 35 languages, and changing the way we look at the world.” -Clemmens, 2016
Freakonomics was required reading in a post-graduate public policy course I completed as part of my continuing education at an elitist U.S. university in the year 2020. Moreover, over the past 15 years, the Freakonomics enterprise has expanded to include radio, podcasts, blogs, and speaking engagements, along with additional books. There’s even a movie about it! Clearly, these guys are on to something. And clearly, millions of people worldwide are buying into their rhetoric — both literally and figuratively.
So are my concerns about the Freakonomics Theory of Drug-Related Crime Reduction still relevant today?
You tell me.
P.S. You’re welcome to share my friend link with readers who are not Medium members.
P.P.S. I’m not affiliated with the Freakonomics franchise, and I don’t know the authors personally. I won’t receive any incentives if you click on my links.
P.P.P.S. Here’s the movie trailer for your entertainment. It’s available on Netflix and Hulu if you’d like to watch it. (Please note, I’m not affiliated with Netflix or Hulu either…in case you’re wondering).
Freakonomics: The Movie promo trailer via YouTube and Freakonomics.com
April M. Hamm is an American data scientist, humorist, and Queer Black Woman with Disabilities and Indigenous Roots. She has lived or traveled in more states than not and currently writes from Louisiana, USA. She is a former staff researcher at a major U.S. university, and she was once the youngest member ever invited to her college chapter of Phi Alpha Theta International History Society. She’s the founder of The Center for Musical Wellness and Development (CMDW), and she’s a long-time Board member at The Jim-Ree African American Museum (JAAM). Connect with April Hamm on LinkedIn.
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https://medium.com/illumination-curated/where-have-all-the-drug-dealers-gone-freakonomics-book-review-a59af84430
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['April M. Hamm', 'She They']
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2021-01-09 03:39:49.336000+00:00
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['Society', 'Criminal Justice', 'Culture', 'Book Review', 'Life']
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Type 2 Diabetes on the Rise
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Type 2 diabetes is on the rise globally, and health experts are now worried that there may not be enough insulin to go around to those who need it — this according to a new study that concluded on Wednesday. Diabetes now affects as many as 9% of patients worldwide, which is a 5% increase compared to the 1980s, and researchers say they expect the amount of insulin that is needed to effectively treat type 2 diabetes will rise by more than 20% over the next 12 years.
The vast majority of those diagnosed with diabetes are diagnosed with Type 2, which is linked to both lifestyle (such as lack of exercise) and genetics (such as family history of type 2 diabetes.) Whether lifestyle-related or genetics-related, or even a combination of the two, this ultimately leads to what’s known as insulin resistance. Insulin, which is a hormone created by the pancreas, allows your body to use sugar from carbohydrates in the foods you eat for energy, or it stores glucose for future use. When you develop a resistance to insulin, however, this means that your body either doesn’t produce enough of it, or is unable to utilize insulin in the way that it should be able to. Without insulin, your blood glucose level will be too high. This can result in a wide range of health complications, including problems with the eyes, blood vessels, heart, nerves, kidneys, and more.
The most common symptoms that are associated with type 2 diabetes include:
• Increased thirst
• Frequent urination
• Hunger
• Blurred vision
• Weight loss
If I suspect that a patient might have diabetes, the first thing I would do is give them a requisition for blood work. Having the blood tested will be able to determine what a patient’s blood sugar levels are at and whether or not they are diabetic. If it is confirmed that a patient does have diabetes, the next step is treatment. Something that can be helpful in both the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes is implementing positive lifestyle changes into your daily routine, such as eating healthy and getting regular exercise. In order to better manage your blood glucose levels, you should pay close attention to your simple carbohydrates (i.e. white bread, pasta, and baked goods such as cookies and pastries), fibre, fat and salt intake. Foods I recommend consuming to those who have type 2 diabetes include more complex carbs (such as oatmeal, brown rice, quinoa, fruits and vegetables, beans, and lentils) as well as foods that are packed with protein. Physical activity is also important, as it can help regulate your blood sugar levels, not to mention its many other health benefits. Insulin is another method of treatment, and a patient can be prescribed both short-acting and long-acting versions of this medication. Type 2 diabetes is considered a progressive disease, therefore it’s entirely possible that your treatment plan will need to be altered over time.
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https://medium.com/@alighahary/type-2-diabetes-on-the-rise-870222d187fd
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['Dr. Ali Ghahary']
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2018-11-23 07:53:22.210000+00:00
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['Health', 'Diabetes', 'Type 2 Diabetes', 'Diabetes Solutions', 'Diabetes Prevention']
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God, You Know How Weak and Messed Up I Am
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God, You Know How Weak and Messed Up I Am
A prayer for the broken.
Photo by Artem Maltsev on Unsplash
God,
You know how weak and messed up I am.
You know how human I am, just doing my best to get through another day.
Sometimes my mistakes weigh me down. I feel like you are looking down on me, judging my every move. When I mess up, you shake your head. You roll your eyes. You throw up your hands in disgust and say, Not again! When will you ever get things right? How many times do I need to forgive you for this?
Sure, maybe you love me, perhaps in the way humans love distant cousins or great uncles. Yes, we love them, but we only see them once every few years at weddings or funerals.
Yeah, we love them, but we’re not sure if we particularly like them. We wouldn’t choose to hang out with them the way we would a friend.
Yes, God, you love me, but you probably don’t like me. And I can’t say I blame you. Sometimes it’s hard for me to like me.
But then I remember the words of King David in Psalm 103:
The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. (v. 8–10, NLT)
King David was a royal warrior and a royal screw-up.
Some days he had a heart of gold, but most days, he had a heart of sludge. And he knew it. He knew how much he needed you.
King David may be a better warrior than me, but I can keep up with him in the sin department any day. He can outrun me, but he can’t out sin me.
“He does not punish us for all our sins.”
Is that part really in the Bible? That doesn’t seem like something that would be in the Bible, does it? Let’s check a more conservative translation.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. (v. 10, NASB)
You don’t deal with me according to my sins?
That sounds like you don’t see my sins as the thing that is most true about me. Keeping score of my sins is not how you deal with me.
God — knowing you are compassionate and merciful doesn’t make me want to sin more. It makes me want to do better. Knowing that you love me, no matter what, makes me want to live in a way that will make you proud.
Even so, my attempts are feeble. I trip, I fall, I stumble. I chase after shiny objects that flitter away. I’m still a mess. And you know it, God. You know how weak your children are. King David goes on to say:
The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust. (v. 13–14, NLT)
If a toddler fell down while trying to walk, would her father stand over her arms crossed and lament, “Wow. I can’t believe you messed it up again. When will you learn?”
No.
Well, maybe a bad father would do that. But not an okay father. And certainly not a good father.
A good father knows that his child is weak. She needs to grow and strengthen before she can learn how to walk.
But does the Bible really say that you know how weak we are? And that you have compassion for our weaknesses?
If so, that means you understand when I have bad days and falter. You know why I mess up so much.
You remember that I am only dust. You don’t expect me to be something I’m not.
I love my dog and think she’s pretty smart, but I would never expect her to memorize the quadratic formula. I remember she’s only a dog. And you remember I am only dust.
Yes, God, you know how weak and messed up I am.
You know the areas where I’m broken. You know where I need compassion and mercy. And you don’t offer it begrudgingly. You don’t just tolerate me. You love me. You might even like me!
So, as I go forth in my day, pour out your tender compassion.
I will mess up. I will fall. I will try my best in some areas. I’ll drag my feet in others. I’ll get distracted by smaller things. But please be there in all the mess. Be kind. Be gentle.
Remember I am only dust.
Amen.
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https://medium.com/nobody-left-out/god-you-know-how-weak-and-messed-up-i-am-86405b23bc29
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['Michael Murray']
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2020-02-13 01:45:28.457000+00:00
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['Spirituality', 'Inspiration', 'Religion', 'Life', 'Self']
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Get What You Pay For
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As a security consultant, I’ve seen a lot of confusion by clients about the different engagement types. I’m not sure if it’s because of the media, the vendors, or the consulting businesses themselves. It’s likely a combination of all three. I’ve spoken to many people that confuse the differences between a Vulnerability Assessment, a Penetration Test, and a Red Team Assessment. This is a problem that has been discussed in the industry for years. In fact, the great John Strand spoke about this problem during a talk in 2014.
Vulnerability Assessment
A vulnerability assessment is the process of scanning, reviewing, and analyzing a network or web application for possible security weaknesses. The key objective is to find all vulnerabilities that can compromise the overall security, privacy and operations of a network or application against possible intrusions and threats. Of the three, this is the shortest assessment type and can be completed in a few minutes to a couple of days, depending on the scope.
As an example, think of a network or web application as a building. A vulnerability assessment searches for all open or unlocked doors, windows, and vents that can be entered without being blocked out. Each entry point that is discovered is identified as a vulnerability.
Penetration Test
A penetration test goes one step further by safely attempting to exploit the vulnerabilities discovered during the vulnerability assessment. Penetration testing is an invaluable process in that it validates the efficacy of defensive mechanisms, as well as, end-user adherence to security policies. The key objective of a penetration test is to validate if all discovered vulnerabilities can be exploited. A penetration test is a longer engagement than a vulnerability assessment, and typically takes anywhere from a couple days to two weeks to complete.
Going back to the building analogy, a penetration test leverages all the identified entry points discovered the vulnerability assessment and enters the building.
Red Team Assessment
A red team assessment is very different from the two previous engagement types, both in terms of key objective and methodology. In a red team assessment, a group of security professionals attempt to infiltrate an organization using physical pen testing, social engineering, and wireless pen testing strategies to get inside the environment. Once inside, attempts are made to gain unauthorized access to the network and exfiltrate sensitive data as quickly and quietly as possible. The key objective of a red team assessment is to test the target organization’s detection and response capabilities.
The most glaring difference between a red team assessment and a penetration test is in each engagement type’s objective. During a penetration test, the tester attempts to identify and validate all vulnerabilities by safely exploiting each one and reporting on it. In contrast, during a red team assessment a tester will focus on finding the best vulnerability to exploit. Once inside, the tester will shift focus creating persistent, long term access. From there, the tester will search for sensitive data and attempt to exfiltrate without being detected. Of the three engagement types, this is by far the most time consuming and typically takes 3–4 weeks or more to complete. Think of the movie Oceans 11 (but with written consent and no felonies being committed).
The Problem
I’ve spoken to people about the “penetration tests” they’ve had performed in the past and what they got out of it. A common complaint I hear is that they have a hard time understanding what to do with their pen-test report because it’s several hundred pages long. When I asked if I can review it, I was handed an auto-generated report from a vulnerability scanner. This is unfortunate because for what they paid, they’re not getting a lot of value back in return. Examples like this do not serve paying customers or the industry.
It should be conveyed in the very beginning (during Pre-Engagement) that there are different engagement types for different situations and security objectives. Pretend that you’re a General with two options to choose from to solve a problem. One option is Seal Team 6, and the other option is the Marine Corps Infantry (OORAH). Both are extremely effective. One is quiet, stealthy, extremely targeted, and operates with high precision. The other isn’t as quiet, has a wide range of coverage, and uses brute strength. Both have their roles. So which one do you choose? The answer…it depends on the situation and your objective.
The Solution
Bring clarity to security assessments, security testing and security recommendations. The first question the tester should be asked is “Why are you having the penetration test performed?” This is important in scoping the engagement correctly. Explain the different engagement types to the customer and determine is the primary goal of the test in the very beginning. A penetration test is not about finding un-patched systems, it’s about identifying risk that will adversely impact the organization. Also, the primary goal of the test should not be about “checking boxes”. Compliance does not equal security.
Last, maybe it’s time we start calling out the security firms that pass off vulnerability assessments as penetration tests.
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https://medium.com/swlh/get-what-you-pay-for-120e391e5ea5
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['Brian Esperanza']
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2019-07-10 07:19:48.320000+00:00
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['Red Team', 'Penetration Testing', 'Vulnerability Assessment', 'Cybersecurity', 'Security']
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$GOVI 7th Claim has been Successfully Completed
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The seventh claim period is over and we are now happy to say that this distribution round of the $GOVI tokens has been successfully completed for the $COTI holders, both for COTI native holders and liquidity providers on Uniswap.
Here are the results for this seventh round:
725,300 $GOVI were distributed
This claim round was the most successful in terms of participation with 1522 COTI holders who made a claim through the COTI Pay VIPER wallet, and 1410 of them being eligible to get $GOVI (which is a 20% growth in participation compared to claim 6)
with 1522 COTI holders who made a claim through the COTI Pay VIPER wallet, and 1410 of them being eligible to get $GOVI (which is a 20% growth in participation compared to claim 6) Over 196M $COTI were put into the claim
A total of 298.6K $GOVI tokens were distributed to Native COTI holders (out of the 3.2M $GOVI)
The ERC20/ETH liquidity pool on Uniswap has grown to over 1.44M USD, which means a growth of 20% since last week.
A total of 426.7K $GOVI tokens were distributed to liquidity providers (out of 4.8M $GOVI)
The COTI native snapshot was executed on December 21st at 1:53 pm UTC.
The Uniswap liquidity pool snapshot was executed on December 21st at 2:33 pm UTC.
You can follow up on the $GOVI allocation results at any time directly on the CVI website, here.
You can check how much $GOVI you will get here.
This finalized the 7th out of 8 claim periods. Make sure you have $COTI on your VIPER wallet or on our Uniswap pair to be eligible for $GOVI.
The next and last Claim period will be announced very soon. Stay tuned!
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https://medium.com/@cviofficial/cvx-7th-claim-has-been-successfully-completed-9cfd8129a8a6
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[]
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2020-12-23 15:30:29.234000+00:00
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['Index', 'Crypto', 'Airdrop', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Volatility']
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I am truly living my dream, and I am so grateful to God for it.
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Ever since I was a little boy, I have only ever wanted to be a Doctor. It was all I ever dreamed of. I shadowed my uncle multiple times, who is an Emergency Medicine physician. I signed up to be a model for resident physicians, training on how to deal with crisis situations. I even worked one summer during high school cleaning colonoscopes.
https://www.reddit.com/r/RealMadridvsInterlive/
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https://www.reddit.com/r/RealMadridvsInterlive/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Liverpoolvsatalanta/
https://www.reddit.com/r/RealMadridvsInterlive/
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https://www.reddit.com/r/RealMadridvsInterlive/hot/
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https://www.reddit.com/r/RealMadridvsInterlive/top/
https://www.reddit.com/r/RealMadridvsInterlive/rising/
Medicine was all I ever wanted to do, and I was determined to do all that it took to become a Doctor.
When I applied to Medical School, the odds were against me. I was told flat out by my “advisor” that I was not going to get in, that my application was too weak, and so many others were much more qualified. I paid that “advisor” no mind, applying during the Fall of 1994.
I only got one interview in February 1995, and I was placed on the waiting list in March. I then forgot about Medical School and focused on getting through my last semester in college.
My uncle, the Emergency Medicine physician, harrassed me to call the Medical School and find out the status of my application.
“I’m not going to get in,” I told him.
“Just call them,” he replied calmly.
So, two days later, I called the Medical School to find out my status on the waiting list. The woman on the phone sounded confused.
“We sent your acceptance letter last week.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I told her I never received the letter because it turns out they sent it to the wrong address. I corrected the address on file, and before we hung up, I confirmed:
“So, I’ve been accepted?”
“Uh huh.”
There, but for the grace of God, go I.
They only keep the slot open for two weeks before awarding it to someone else, and a week had already gone by unbeknownst to me. I could have ignored my uncle’s pleas to call the school and find out. I could have forgotten to make the call that literally changed the trajectory of my entire life.
There, but for the grace of God, go I.
It is a very hard to time be a physician right now, especially one who is working in the ICU — on the very front lines of the war against COVID-19. We see the absolute worst of the worst, and the scale of death and destruction is unlike anything I or any of my colleagues have ever seen.
Every day, we literally risk our very lives to care for the sickest of the sick with this horrific illness. We are facing PPE shortages, and in a recent statement, the Critical Care Societies Collaborative said,
Widespread and ongoing use of contingency measures to preserve PPE supplies places our healthcare workforce at unconscionable risk.
Over 1,300 healthcare workers have died from COVID-19. The situation is dire, and this second wave is way, way, way worse than the first. And we haven’t even had Thanksgiving yet. We haven’t had Christmas yet. It’s going to get really bad before it gets better.
And yet, I say again: there, but for the grace of God, go I.
There is a great deal of fear that comes with caring for patients with COVID-19. That’s what makes this pandemic so much worse. I confess that COVID made me think about leaving bedside practice. But the call to that bedside was way too strong. I can’t leave because I am so grateful to be here in the first place, being given the honor of caring for the sick at their most vulnerable.
Have I had bad days? Absolutely. Is it really hard work, both physically and mentally exhausting? Of course. Is this the best way to make money? Hell no.
But I’ve never forgotten how it felt yearning — and praying so hard — to get into medical school. I’ve never forgotten the thrill of getting my lab coat on the first day of school. I’ve never forgotten how badly I wanted this career. Others joke about “living the dream.” I am truly living my dream, and I am so grateful to God for it.
A spiritual teacher of mine told me that those who are in the service of a sick person are in God’s Transcendent Mercy until they finish their service. This gave me such great comfort, especially in the darkest days of the Spring when the COVID was all around us. The Winter is going to be so much darker, and I will need that Transcendent Mercy more than ever.
And yet, I think back to that morning in May 1995 when I made that fateful call to the medical school. There was nothing in particular that made me make the call. I was bored, in fact, and I figured I would humor my uncle and call the school. I truly believed my “advisor’s” words that I was not going to get in.
There, but for the grace of God, go I.
And so I will try my hardest to be the best physician I can be; to come to work each day with a smile; to do all that I can to help those entrusted to my care. It is the very least I can do, and it is the only way I can show gratitude to the Lord — Who has given me the honor of including me in the privileged few who are called to care for His children.
I could have forgotten to make that call in May 1995. I am so very grateful to the Lord our God that He reminded me otherwise.
|
https://medium.com/@0kada-madri/ever-since-i-was-a-little-boy-i-have-only-ever-wanted-to-be-a-doctor-bbbd1643eaf6
|
['Kada Madri']
|
2020-11-25 18:26:08.243000+00:00
|
['Vacation', 'Sports', 'Social Media', 'News']
|
Amplifying the story of Claudia Jones
|
Amplifying the story of Claudia Jones
We have recently experienced the UK’s first online Notting Hill Carnival a few weeks ago, therefore it is only right that we highlight the woman, or women who enabled us to form as a community on the streets of London, to party with one another, to eat, drink and be merry and for the majority of the time not having to look over our shoulders to worry about if the police were going to stop us, at least not until 7pm!
The woman who I am highlighting this week is Claudia Jones, she was a Trinidad and Tobago-born journalist and Activist. As a child she migrated with her family to the USA, where she became a political Activist and Black Nationalist through Communism. Due to the political persecution of Communists in the USA, she was deported in 1955 and refused entry to Trinidad and Tobago, in part because the British colonial governor who considered that “she may prove troublesome”. She subsequently resided in London at the height of post-war immigration, which included the arrival of the Windrush generation. Once again, she witnessed racial tension and anti-immigration rhetoric at its peak as chants of “no blacks, no dogs, no Irish” became a common anthem in Britain. She quickly took on the role of protector and advocate for the 100,000 strong Caribbean community in the capital.
Jones believed that “people without a voice were lambs to the slaughter”, so made it her mission to create a platform for her people to be heard. In 1958, she founded the West Indian Gazette, Britain’s very first Black newspaper. The paper became a key contributor to the rise of consciousness within the Black British community.
I have to digress here because my intention for this piece was to highlight Claudia Jones for the NHC, but she is clearly a woman of many talents. Kudos to Claudia!
Going back to her story… On engaging the political community in the UK, she was disappointed to find that many British communists were hostile to a black woman. Surprise Surprise!
As one of the most important Black Feminists in history, Jones championed Black women and made no secret of her lifelong mantra: no peace can be obtained if any women, especially those who are oppressed and impoverished, are left out of the conversation. Her most prominent piece of work, an essay titled “An End to the Neglect of the Problems of the Negro Woman!”, was published in 1949, and helped to establish the foundations of intersectional feminism. She urged others to recognise the unique oppression faced by Black women specifically in order to create a more nuanced comprehension of the oppression of the race overall.
In the summer of 1958, Oswald Mosley’s White Defence League and racist gangs began attacking the Black community, brewing even more tension. Violent riots broke out on the streets of both Notting Hill and Nottingham in August, lasting for five nights over the bank holiday weekend.
Jones identified the need to “wash the taste of Notting Hill and Nottingham out of our mouths”. As a result, her unconventional response to the events of that summer were that the British Black community should have a Carnival. Originally dubbed Claudia’s Caribbean Carnival, the first event took place at St. Pancras Town Hall on 30 January 1959 and was televised by the BBC. The following six years would see the annual celebration staged in local town halls and community centres, where people would get together for a comparatively low-key version of the street extravaganza we indulge in today. It had people bonding over their love for the West Indies through authentic experiences, music and cuisine, Claudia’s Caribbean Carnival grew to become an event not only binding Londoners together but attracting tourists from across the world. We can only assume that this came to an halt, due to Claudia’s death in 1964.
From retelling the story of Claudia Jones, it seems clear where the NHC originated from, but no, the story continues…
During my research I typed into Google: founder of the NHC? The response was:
I was shocked to see two names being identified as the founder(s) and the active years 1966 -present.
If we revisit Cladia Jone’s story and timeline, it reads:
Her (Claudia) unconventional response to the events of that summer 1958 were that the British black community should have a carnival. Originally dubbed Claudia’s Caribbean Carnival, the first event took place at St Pancras Town Hall on 30 January 1959 and was televised by the BBC.
Google is telling me something different, so I thought I should dig deeper. Here is what I found; Rhaune Laslett was a community activist and the principal organiser of the Notting Hill Fayre or Festival, that evolved into the Notting Hill Carnival.
Rhaune Laslett was born in the East End of London to a Native American mother from North Carolina and a Russian father.
It was said that Laslett was a notable figure in the Notting Hill community and took an active role in becoming instrumental for bringing about Notting Hill’s first multicultural street festival in 1966.
Laslett was reported to have said the idea for the festival came to her in a vision — a “hamblecha”, as it is known among Native Americans — in which she saw people of all races dancing together in the streets.
In a 1989 interview with The Caribbean Times she recalled her dream: “I could see the streets thronged with people in brightly coloured costumes, they were dancing and following bands and they were happy. Some faces I recognised, but most were crowds, men, women, children, black, white, brown, but all laughing.”
Rhaune Laslett found her authority being challenged, and her influence and control over the event gradually diminished. She retired from organising the festival in 1970 due to ill health but died in 2002, amid concerns that violence would erupt because of rising tensions in the black community surrounding numerous police raids on the Mangrove Restaurant, a popular West Indian hangout. She left, dismayed that the festival she had conceived had adopted a confrontational tone that had sidelined her contributions.
Ok, again, so let’s put this into chronological order
Claudia’s Caribbean Carnival, the first event took place at St Pancras Town Hall on 30 January 1959 and was televised by the BBC. This event continued for another six years (1965) Claudia died in 1964 Rhaune Laslett organsied Notting Hill’s first multicultural street festival in 1966.
Some are claiming that this story of Jones and Laslett is a similar narrative to Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin, whereby posterity favours those who make the best headlines.
For those who are not familiar with this story; Rosa Parks was credited as “the mother of the freedom movement”. Yet Parks was not the first to challenge bus segregation. Nine months earlier, on another bus, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin refused to budge and was arrested; but as a poor, unmarried teenage mother, she was not considered suitable to represent the movement. So Parks became a civil rights icon and Colvin a historical footnote.
In regards to the founder of NHC, for whatever reason, nobody’s ever really tried to sift through the history and work out a proper timeline of events. So Ishmahil Blagrove Jr a regular face at Speaker’s Corner and publisher Margaret Busby took it upon themselves to do just that.
Ishmahil Blagrove Jr, writer, founder of Rice N Peas Film and the author of Carnival: A Photographic and Testimonial History of the Notting Hill Carnival was recorded to have said during an interview with VICE that “there were several camps; There was Rhaune Laslett camp, and the camp for [Trinidadian-born journalist and political activist] Claudia Jones, who organised an indoor event after the Notting Hill race riots and murder of Kelso Cochrane. People said that her event, in 1959, was the real beginning of Carnival, but it had nothing to do with the carnival we know today. I believe the issue there is that Rhaune Laslett, who organised the Notting Hill Festival, which evolved into Carnival, is a white woman, and Carnival is seen as a black Caribbean and West Indian event. It was that issue that was very controversial. You know, I had one person say to me, “How could one little white woman who couldn’t even dance conceive of the idea of a carnival?” Especially when Carnival in Trinidad is dated as far back as the 1700s.
My main reflections on the story of Claudia Jones lean towards looking at vision, but in two ways. I’ll start with the more controversial. In a time of shameless and uncredited cultural appropriation at its peak, I cannot ignore the fact that I question the validity of Rhaune Laslett’s vision. Whilst we will never know and she may well never been conscious to the question of whether the vision was authentically hers or inspired by experience. That’s not important but what is important is that Black people and Black women receive their credit where it is due. Too often do we set trends that are frowned upon when displayed by us the creators but when extorted and glorified presented by a ‘critical’ mass our culture is only then seen as worthy. Not only this but in the same vain in the climate of Black Lives Matter, so many Black people have been called on to diversify, consult and educate without being credited or paid for their work.
However, on a more positive note, I wanted to stress the power of a vision. The fact that small and humble beginnings can grow and withstand time far beyond their initial conception. Claudia Jones has given us a clear example of this. Never underestimate the potential and power of the work you are doing.
Research sources:
|
https://medium.com/@thecatwalkmvmt/in-visible-women-3bf4ab2b11c4
|
[]
|
2020-09-04 10:23:37.487000+00:00
|
['London', 'Female Empowerment', 'Black History', 'Black British', 'Carnival']
|
With Great Effort and Commitment Comes Great Reward
|
(Website: https://dragonex.im)
Dear Users,
The DragonEx platform is nearing its first anniversary, which falls on November 2 2018. DT (Dragon Token) Dividends have been distributed over 300 times so far, with more than 47 million USDTdistributed to the DT community! This works out to 9.11 USDT per DT held.
DragonEx continues to commit to building and growing our exchange in a community run format by always listening to our users and creating innovative solutions to answer their needs. The next big step in this commitment is to prepare for the transition into a decentralized exchange in Q1 of 2019.
According to our pre-published plans and DT Smart Contract, the DT mining difficulty will increase, and the daily tokens being added to the circulating supply will reduce by half as of November 2, 2018. DragonEx will now add additional measures to not only reduce the inflation of DT, but to stop and even turn it into a deflationary token.
It is expected that the amount of circulating DT will reach 18,688,000 by November 2, 2018. As of today, the total amount of DT bought back and burned has reached 124,213. According to the DT Smart Contract, the first halving of DT production will occur on our anniversary, reducing the new daily supply from 51,200DT to 25,600DT (of which DragonEx retains 12,800DT with the remaining half going to the community). Newly announced, DragonEx now plans on burning DT supply from our permanent locked reserves at a rate of 25,600DT every 24 hours commencing on our anniversary.
This initiative essentially prevents the DT supply from ever exceeding 18,688,000DT, substantially less than the originally planned 37,339,500DT. By gradually reducing the DT holdings of DragonEx through our planned 25,600DT daily burn, plus additional token burning initiatives, DT will change from an inflationary token to deflationary. It is estimated that the portion of DT tokens held by DragonEx will reduce from 50% to 25% on November 2, 2019, and to 12.5% on November 2, 2020 as the exchange becomes more and more decentralized and community driven.
Since its launch, DragonEx has always put its users interests ahead of all else through our community-driven approach, reward sharing, and continually listening to and responding to the community’s needs. It is these principles that are the founding reasons behind our innovations such as transaction mining, platform tokens, and shared dividends which were all originally pioneered by DragonEx. While other exchanges have tried to launch their own versions of these innovations, our underlying reasons to create these programs (to care for our community) is far more valuable than any of these features on their own, because it is these value sets that will continue to reward the community time and time again.
The DragonEx team’s innovative spirit and willingness to listen, combined with its loyal, active and creative community means that you can expect to continue seeing many more product innovations and user experience enhancements. The built-in Telegram interface and DK lottery prize pool are just two of our most recent enhancements and you can expect to continue seeing more and more of these types of upgrades.
Since its inception, DragonEx has experienced no shortage of great challenges, each one approached and overcome with a level of positivity made possible by our passionate users and their loyalty which fuels our energy to protect our community at any expense. From DDoS attacks that kept us up through the night, to the MDC coin exit scam which had DragonEx absorb all losses and compensate our users at our expense, we have always come out of every problem stronger than when we went in, and with more and more community support and trust.
Your participation in our community and exchange entitles you to our full support and commitment. Your stake in DT (Dragon Token) further entitles you to participate in all our other benefits, from financial based rewards, to exclusive project participation, to many more bonuses yet to come.
We have never once compromised our core values and are very satisfied in what we have accomplished for our users, but we are never satisfied to stand still. There will always be a way to improve one way or another, and you can rest assured we will continue to find those ways.
Thank you for being a part of our community and we look forward to exceeding your expectations at every opportunity.
DragonEx — Exchange to Better Community
Best Regards,
Finn
August 29th, 2018
(Reposted from: https://dragonex.im/en-us/news/article/1164?curIdx=0)
|
https://medium.com/dragonex/with-great-effort-and-commitment-comes-great-reward-e5551e1c931c
|
[]
|
2018-08-30 12:34:08.830000+00:00
|
['Ethereum', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain', 'Bitcoin']
|
Fast Ramp-Up on IBM Voice Agent with Watson
|
We’ve all had those frustrating situations in trying to get an answer on the phone. Whether it’s long hold times, complicated number trees, or the inability to reach the people you need this is not what people want to be doing.
A successful strategy we at IBM Watson have seen deployed has been to expose intelligent assistants via the phone network. These assistants can triage and answer initial questions, greatly increasing capacity of existing staff.
Let's Fix That
Especially in these times of crisis, it’s important to have clear, capable AI assistants in order to provide high-quality information as quickly as possible.
Many of our customers are using IBM Watson Assistant and have specific skills. If you haven't had a chance to learn about how to build Digital Assistants — Check out the video below:
The remainder of this post is focused on providing a few quick tips and links to enable existing digital assistants to be connected via phone.
Beyond Setup
After you have already created your Watson Assistant and setup IBM Voice Agent to converse and respond with the desired answers and information; you can tune your assistant responses to enable a few phone-specific features.
Pro-Tip
All programming (using the vgwAction commands in the following section) of the Voice Agent happens by editing JSON responses in the Watson Assistant Skill/Dialog editor. To get to this feature you need to select JSON Editor in the drop-down menu as shown in the image below:
Opening the JSON Editor in Watson Assistant
Call Transfer
For a digital assistant to maintain customer satisfaction, you need to ensure a customer can get to a real human if the assistant cannot answer their question. With a Voice-enabled assistant, that means issuing a “Call Transfer” using SIP REFERs. You need to ensure your SIP Trunk is set up correctly to receive the transfer action. Then you can program the Voice Agent using the vgwActTransfer — that looks like:
{
"output": {
"text": {
"values": [ "Please hold on while I connect you with a live agent." ],
"selection_policy": "sequential"
},
"vgwAction": {
"command": "vgwActTransfer",
"parameters": {
"transferTarget": "tel:+18889990000"
}
}
}
}
DTMF
In use cases where you need to collect numbers as input, it is often useful to use dual-tone multi-frequency signaling (DTMF)from the phone keypad. In order to collect DTMF, you can use the vgwActCollectDtmf action as follows
{
"output": {
"vgwAction": {
"command": "vgwActCollectDtmf",
"parameters": {
"dtmfTermKey": "#"
}
},
"text": {
"values": [
"Enter your phone number."
]
}
}
}
Enhancing your Assistant with SMS
Interacting with a digital assistant by voice is different than by typing. People ask questions differently and long responses are easier to read than listen to on the phone. When you have a long response, possibly due to using the Search Skill, Voice Agent provides the ability to text via SMS to the calling phone number. If the response fits within SMS parameters you can send it completely or you can send a link to the response that the user can access.
In order to do that, you need to set up SMS with your Voice Agent. You can then use vgwActSendSMS to send a response over text during your voice conversation. Using that action looks like:
{
"output": {
"text": {
"values": [
"Okay. I will send you a text message now."
],
"selection_policy": "sequential"
},
"vgwAction":
{
"command": "vgwActSendSMS",
"parameters": {
"message": "This is a test message from Watson Assistant"
}
}
}
}
Hang Up The Call
Of course, the phone is also different in that both ends usually hang up when the call is over. You can hang up a call using the vgwActHangup action:
{
"output": {
"vgwAction": {
"command": "vgwActHangup"
}
}
}
Speech Training
If you are using English, you should use the ‘Shortform-Narrowband’ model. It is tuned for shorter utterances typical during a phone/assistant interaction. Other languages should probably use the Narrowband models when available because narrowband audio is the default quality for telephone calls. For most applications, this is usually enough. However if the use case requires particular phrases or vernacular, it is useful to enable customization through creating custom language models and Grammars.
A great option for generating a Corpora for training a custom language model is to export the Intent examples from Watson Assistant and use them as your initial corpora. The following command is an example of how to do that:
curl -u "apikey: " "https://gateway.watsonplatform.net/assistant/api/v1/workspaces/<workspaceid>/intents?version=2020-02-05&export=true " | tr ‘,’ ‘
’ | tr -d ‘{}[]\"’ | awk -F: ‘/text/ {print $2}’ > corpora.txt
Once you have the corpora.txt file you can create a language model from it following the directions in STT.
Third-Party Integrations and Service Orchestration Engines (SOEs)
Watson Assistant has moved away from SOEs to integrate with external applications to populate responses in favor of Webhooks from within Skill responses. However, they are often still used and may be necessary if you choose to redact data inbound to Watson Assistant. You can read more about them and their use with Voice Agent here and explore some sample code in our Github repo.
Additional Links
Voice Gateway/Voice Agent are often used interchangeably. As a point of information, Voice Gateway is the On-Prem solution and Voice Agent is the Cloud solution. Programming both via Watson Assistant skills is the same.
|
https://medium.com/ibm-watson/ramping-up-fast-on-ibm-voice-agent-with-watson-9da995179de5
|
['Scott Graham']
|
2020-04-03 21:34:21.440000+00:00
|
['Call Center', 'Wa Tutorial', 'Watson Assistant', 'Conversational UI', 'Tutorials']
|
A Smart Home Industry Forecast for 2019
|
A Smart Home Industry Forecast for 2019
Brainbean Apps CEO and visionary Alexey Pelykh
The biggest problem the industry’s challenged with today is fragmentation. While every company wants to simplify the life of their customers, in total they’re offering a too wide variety of options to manage. Customers find themselves frustrated to keep in mind how to use their smart toothbrushes, bulbs, pillows, kitchen appliances they might have and recall specific details (like root passwords) about every smart device once it requires maintenance.
We, at Brainbean Apps, collected the list of actual and rapidly growing trends for Smart Home Industry at 2019. It is a part of our new e-book “Smart Home Industry In 2019: Trends, Perspectives, Forecasts”.
So in 2019, the industry will further seek for simpler ways to control ALL devices within a single interface or from a single place, whether it’s a separate hub or a digital assistant on their phones (or both?).
By the way, with the further development of hubs, we’ll also see how they get more features, such as video surveillance and sharing, security alarm, Wi-Fi enabling capabilities and so on. They may also get smarter and analyse incoming data to suggest additional security measures and device expansion for more comfort and protection.
The next things will also happen in 2019 though will make a lesser impact on the industry:
Smart home functionality will be brought to your car. For instance, it can show event alerts and provide voice control for your home while you’re on the go. Toyota has already been putting efforts to integrate Alexa into its cars, and Samsung’s currently pushing Bixby to households and cars.
Further progress on standardisation. With the introduction of WPA3, Wi-Fi connectivity should get even more secure, and Bluetooth 5 is expected to eventually win the market of low-energy devices, bringing easier interoperability between solutions of different manufacturers.
Our mobile phones will not only gather data but transmit it to other smart home devices for better interaction and multi-angle data analytics.
Businesses will find ways to gather user information for further analysis and monetising without compromising their privacy and security.
Insurance companies will further seek ways to jump into the smart home industry and take advantage of sensors and video cameras to control and decrease the risks of accidents or minimise possible consequences (especially in the cases of natural disasters).
Check more information about smart home trends and download your free copy of “Smart Home Industry In 2019: Trends, Perspectives, Forecasts”.
Brainbean Apps team at CES 2019
Brainbean Apps (BBA) is a full-cycle software company building an infrastructure behind sophisticated hardware products.
BBA’s competences in IoT-related projects include: development of firmware, software, and cloud solutions, engineering the connectivity between the smart devices, quality assurance, user experience architecture and design.
Company has a cross-disciplinary expertise in Consumer Electronics, particularly in the verticals of smart home appliances, health and fitness gadgets, industrial and commercial IoT. The knowledge base accumulated across the business domains enables BBA to handle even the peculiar R&D projects.
Another strong point of BBA is established development and delivery process that results in transparent roadmapping and a product-to-market path within predictable budget and timing. Learn more about us, our best works and team at https://brainbeanapps.com
|
https://medium.com/@brainbeanapps/a-smart-home-industry-forecast-for-2019-c7427725084b
|
['Alexey Pelykh']
|
2019-07-25 09:09:05.106000+00:00
|
['Internet of Things', 'Consumer Electronics', 'Connected Devices', 'Smart Appliances', 'Smart Home']
|
Edge Computing Needs Containers Like Pancakes Need Syrup
|
Edge Computing and Container Technology are growing into billion dollar markets, but how are they related to each other?
Let’s keep things plain and simple, and go straight to the point. Do you now what Edge Computing is? What about Containers?
Edge Computing
By definition, Edge Computing is about moving the computing power and data management capabilities to the edge of the network, closer to where data is being generated. This is sometimes simplified as near-data processing.
Container Technology
A container is simply a portable software application, packaged with all its dependencies, which can be executed in isolation from other processes. Some of the most popular Container tools and Container Orchestration Engines are Docker and Kubernetes.
|
https://faun.pub/edge-computing-needs-containers-like-pancakes-need-syrup-2aab0f5b7710
|
['Cristovao Cordeiro']
|
2020-12-25 09:22:48.092000+00:00
|
['Edge Computing', 'Containers', 'Kubernetes', 'Docker', 'Ubiquitous Computing']
|
How do you actually ‘do’ climate activism? The Green Fix take
|
Resources, and a chat with London climate activist Samia Dumbuya on what climate activism actually means.
[This was originally published in my climate action newsletter The Green Fix. For the Christmas edition of The Green Fix, look here.]
You’re already an activist, probably.
Even if you’re not sure of your exact political views. Even if you don’t roam the streets with a microphone.
Activism is a word, and a definition: you act on what you care about.
If you’ve ever signed a petition, talked about a social issue online, proudly turned down a brand for its unethical actions — you have taken part in activism.
I used to avoid calling myself an activist, afraid of the connotations. I didn’t want to seem ‘angry’ or ‘preachy.’ I just write stuff online and retweet things on my breaks, I would say. Not proper activism.
Sure, there are levels of political participation. Retweeting a campaign is not the same as launching a campaign. But what the hell is ‘proper’ activism anyway, and can someone tell me how to do it?
There is no entry criteria for speaking up for what you care about. It counts even if you have 3 followers and just talk about social injustice to your postman. It counts, I have to remind myself, if I do my activism through late-night emails to a small group of subscribers and awkward conversations at (Zoom) parties.
I’m transparent: I want more citizen activists. I want people to know that we do all have a hell of a lot of power to create change — we just have to demand it!
You don’t have to change the whole world, to change some of it.
This article was originally published as part of my newsletter, The Green Fix.
***
I run The Green Fix for free, in my own time, alongside a full-time job *world’s tiniest violin starts playing*. This means I don’t always (read: never) have the time to promote it as widely as I’d like to. If you like this newsletter, please help me by sharing it using the button here:
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Focus On… Climate Activism
Samia Dumbuya, founder of Seize the Vote, and Diaspora Dialogues, talks about what we mean by climate activism and how you can take part.
My name is Samia Dumbuya and I am a British Sierra Leonean born and raised in East London.
I introduced myself that way because my identity plays a huge role in how I navigate the world and activist spaces. I label myself as a climate justice activist, because the label acts as a signal to people that I care about the people and the planet.
I am just a person who cares about the wellbeing of communities and natural spaces. My activism is focused around providing space, time, resources to people from all communities and inspiring them to create change, particularly those from marginalised communities.
I founded two collectives: Seize the Vote and Diaspora Dialogues. Seize the Vote is a platform where young British people, who rarely get involved in politics, come together to talk about politics freely and without judgement.
Diaspora Dialogues is a collective where we encourage passing the mic to those who do amazing work fighting for climate justice. We created this collective because we were tired of whitewashed voices and the lack of space for climate activists of colour to be authentically themselves.
[Read: What is whitewashing in activism?]
What is activism?
Activism is simply taking action to make society a better place for yourself, your friends, your family and your communities.
If you asked 13-year-old Samia what activism was, she would just list you names of famous historical figures that she learnt in school, like Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, the suffragettes etc. I used to think that activism was solely for the people who shouted through megaphones and were brave enough to risk their lives for a social cause.
Over time, I realised that activism is not about being the loudest in the room. Doing research for a cause or supplying food and water for those who are active on the streets are all ways to be an activist. There is no single way to be the ultimate activist.
What does climate activism actually mean?
Climate activism is holding powerful people responsible and accountable for causing the environmental degradation of our planet through their polluting actions and corruption; whilst also educating communities on the importance of living sustainably and ethically. A nice balance, right?
Climate activism is not easy. The fight is not linear and solutions keep changing on a yearly basis. Climate activism, to me, is moving forward collectively and learning from our mistakes, in order to live in a sustainable world.
What is climate justice?
One of my favourite quotes is “Environmentalism without class struggle is just gardening” — Chico Mendes.
To me, climate justice is social justice. Climate justice is health justice. Climate justice is economic justice. Climate justice is for all. Caring about the planet is about caring for the wellbeing of every living thing.
This means that we have to address the inequalities and inequities in our global communities. No community in this world is isolated from each other.
If you buy from a fast fashion brand like Primark, the cheap clothing you bought is unfortunately sourced from a factory, often in a developing country like India or Bangladesh, that has inadequate working conditions and underpaid staff who rarely have worker’s rights.
Mass-producing these clothes is polluting the communities in these countries and impacting people’s health. Communities in developing countries are going to feel the brunt of the climate crisis faster than communities in developed nations like the UK. Why do the voices and wellbeing of these communities get overlooked?
Activism is about taking the steps forward to change: you may not see the finish line, but you can pass the baton to the next generation to continue the fight towards progress.
Simple things you can do to be an activist:
Start the conversation! Talk to friends and family about a cause you care about. If you find it hard to open conversations, then use resources like videos and articles to provide a background. Watching documentaries for movie nights could be a thing if your friends want to learn something new. Check out the community groups and initiatives in your local area. You would be surprised at the amazing work already being done in your local area, you can find groups via your local authority’s website or searching on Google Search online to find people and groups that relate to your cause. The internet is a magical place to discover like-minded people who are holding digital platforms for people like you. Organise meetups to discuss the cause. It is so important to invest time in discussing causes with other people, it helps you bond and build trusted relationships, resulting in a sense of community. Plan actions with people that share the same passion. The conversations may turn into actions, they don’t have to be big and complex. For instance, if you care about plastic waste, then you could arrange a beach clean-up with your friends and allies. Make sure you rest and don’t overwhelm yourself. Rest is revolutionary and necessary if you want your activism to be sustainable and effective. Don’t beat yourself up for taking a break! Enjoy the process, enjoy the sense of community, collectivity and connectedness.
You can follow Samia on Instagram @samiaalexandra and Twitter @samiuhhh.
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So Now What Do I Do?
LEARN MORE
TRY SOMETHING NEW
CHANGE THE SYSTEM
IS THAT IT?
No. As much as I wish my writing skills were so good that I can summarise what you can do in a few bullet points, there’s way more than I can include in one email.
What else should this include? Leave a comment below!
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Stay in the loop
I share updates on the Green Fix, polls and additional resources on Instagram @coffee_and_casstaways. You can also say hi on Twitter.
|
https://medium.com/@casshebron/how-do-you-actually-do-climate-activism-the-green-fix-take-e4437e7390f4
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['Cass Hebron']
|
2020-12-17 10:13:28.006000+00:00
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['Climate Justice', 'Climate Action', 'Activism', 'Youth Activism', 'Social Justice']
|
Fight To The Death
|
He woke up to silence.
The last thing he remembered was the crowd cheering.
He was in the octagon. It was a title fight. His first big money maker. It was where his career was finally going to take off.
The last thing he remembered was a flash of a fist and then darkness.
He sat up, letting his eyes get used to the lack of light.
He was still in the ring, but the crowd was gone.
Everything was gone, really. The bright lights, the trainers, the television crews, everything.
The ring just sat in a dark void. The only light coming from a dim light bulb suspended over the ring.
He rubbed his temple. His head was killing him. It must have been a bad concussion; he had to be hallucinating.
Any minute now, he thought. Any second, his trainer would shake him and he’d be back. There was no way the fight would still be going. As soon as the ref saw him go out he would have stopped it.
But at least things would start getting back to normal.
Until he heard a strange noise.
It was a low rumble, like thunder in the distance.
Then he realized it wasn’t a random noise. Someone, or some thing, was humming.
Then the voice started singing in a low, gravelly voice.
He sung, and sung.
He realized it was Jonny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” the song he walked out to before the fight.
He heard the chorus again and finally after looking around, he saw a black cloaked figure sitting on a stool in the corner.
“You were out a long time,” the being said, “Longer than most.”
“Where am I?”
“Where do you think you are?”
The presence of the hooded figure did not give him hope. “Did I die?”
“I wouldn’t be here if you didn’t.”
He couldn’t shake the eerie feeling the figure’s voice had. He wasn’t hearing him so much as the man’s voice resonated in his bones.
“So you’re Death?”
“I am.”
“How did I die?”
“You had a small blood clot in your brain. The fight doctors missed it. That last punch broke it loose. They tried to save you but the brain bleed couldn’t be stopped.”
“So now I’m gone?”
“Yes you are, and now the real Reaper is here for you.”
He realized what Death meant. He looked down at the word ‘Reaper’ tattooed on his chest. It was the nickname given to him after his first fight.
“Are you mad?”
“I am too old to get mad. But I came personally for another reason, usually I have an associate bring people to the afterlife.”
“What did I do?”
“You fought.”
“I know and now I’d dead.”
“That’s not what I meant. They’ve been trying to revive you for nearly an hour. You wouldn’t let go. By all account you should have been dead in minutes. You held on by sheer willpower.”
“Not enough to save myself though.”
“Impressive enough to rouse Death himself to meet you personally.”
“I’m honored.”
“I can sense the sarcasm. But despite that I’m going to propose something.”
Death stood up and pulled his long black sleeves to the elbow revealing thing white hands and slender, toned arms.
Death started wrapping tape around his hands, “I’ll give you one chance to go back to the living realm. One round. No judges. I go down you get your life back. You lose and you come with me.”
“What if you tap?”
“Death never taps.”
The hooded figure clapped his hands together, and threw a few practice jabs. His robe slowly morphed into more appropriate clothing. The robe turned into hooded sleeveless sweatshirt, with black pants and shoes.
“I accept.”
“Good.”
They touched gloves and it was on.
Death was fast. The hooded figure jabbed, which he slipped and immediately went for the take down, tackling Death to the ground. He mounted the immortal being. For a moment he was sure he’d won. He’d ground and pound Death until he got his life back.
But Death was too strong. Death grabbed his wrists and rolled. They both scrambled to their feel.
He went in fast, ducking under Death’s punch and hitting him with a body blow, doubling Death over. Death took a couple steps back, coughing, but when he attacked again Death hit him with a front kick square in the chest that sent him flying across the ring. The fence rattled when he hit it.
As he got to his feet Death cracked his neck, “Is that all you got?”
“Nope.”
“Good.”
He couldn’t see but he could swear the hooded figure was smiling.
“Time to figure out who the real Reaper is.”
|
https://medium.com/the-inkwell/fight-to-the-death-8cde6ec2ec84
|
['Matthew Donnellon']
|
2020-08-21 03:31:49.701000+00:00
|
['Death', 'Short Story', 'Sports', 'Fiction', 'Life']
|
Bitfury Group Brings Crystal Blockchain to India with HumanSTAR*
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India’s Strategic Advisory Firm, HumanSTAR* to offer Crystal Blockchain Analysis for Indian Law Enforcement Agencies
The Bitfury Group announced that it has partnered with India’s Strategic Advisory Firm HumanSTAR* to deploy Bitfury’s Crystal analytics platform across Indian Law Enforcement Agencies, Forensics Labs and Financial Institutions.
“We at Crystal analytics are proud to partner with HumanSTAR* as they work to improve the cryptocurrency compliance standard for India’s Financial institutions & Law Enforcement.” — Marina Khaustova, CEO of Crystal Blockchain.
HumanSTAR* has been working relentlessly with Global Agencies, Indian Law Enforcement & Financial Institutions to understand the state of India’s readiness in dealing with Blockchain enabled Cryptocurrency issues, including crimes. Over the last 18 months we have successfully organized a specialized team to analyze transactions on the public blockchain, especially with the impending scams that various State Police and Central Agencies are struggling to deal with in high end Crypto Forensics. Our partnership with Crystal analytics opens doors for cooperation with agencies, for increased transparency & security of transacting of cryptocurrencies. We aim to strengthen our Crypto Forensics & Investigative Practice by furthering our initial discussions with Indian Law Enforcement Agencies & Forensics Labs. Large strides have been made recently via our partnership with Begin India Think Tank & executing their successful closed-door event attended by key leadership of Investigative Agencies, Forensics Labs at UN Headquarters India. United Nations Technology Innovation Labs partnered with us, chaired by Dr. Subramanian Swamy, Member of Parliament, BJP & globally noted Economist.
Mohammad Shahabuddin, CEO of HumanSTAR*, said, “Technology has pushed the boundaries & critical importance of transaction analysis platforms by exponential commercialization of blockchain and cryptocurrency adoption. HumanSTAR* is committed to providing Indian Law Enforcement Agencies and Financial Institutions, with the first forensic tool available in India, to counter the increasing case of Crypto Crimes through the identification of illicit and illegal transactions.”
The key issues in the current global financial system include providing a fair-trading environment, keeping user data, assets & privacy secured, and adhering to global anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism funding (CTF) guidelines. HumanSTAR* takes these issues very seriously and will create various blockchain forensic tools for a safe investment environment & help investigators in arresting money laundering via abuse of cryptocurrency.
About Crystal Blockchain
Crystal is the all-in-one blockchain analytics platform, providing a comprehensive view of the public blockchain ecosystem. Crystal is available as a SaaS, API, or as an on-premise installation. Crystal is engineered by the Bitfury Group, the world’s leading emerging technologies company.
Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/CrystalBlockchainAnalytics/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CrystalPlatform
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/crystal-blockchain-analytics/
About Bitfury
The Bitfury Group is the world’s leading emerging technologies company. Bitfury™ is building solutions for the future, with the most significant technologies of the millennium. Founded in 2011, our mission is to make the world more trusted and secure by innovating at every level of technology — hardware and software — to put trust back into the equation. Bitfury’s portfolio focuses on solutions for artificial intelligence, blockchain technology and digital currencies. Bitfury is the leading security and infrastructure provider for the Bitcoin Blockchain. In addition to securing the Bitcoin Blockchain, Bitfury also designs and produces innovative hardware that keeps cryptocurrencies and blockchains secure, including custom semiconductor chips and mobile data centers. Bitfury is also a software provider for some of the world’s most cutting-edge applications through its Exonum™ private blockchain framework, its Crystal™ Blockchain advanced analytics platform and its Peach™ bitcoin payments portfolio. Bitfury Surround™, the company’s music entertainment division, is designing blockchain solutions to address challenges faced by artists and other stakeholders in the music industry.
To learn more, visit www.bitfury.com.
About HumanSTAR*
HumanSTAR* is a Strategic Advisory firm that enables / assists in Policy Initiatives, Government Organization and Multi-National Companies build large scale, resilient, long-term solutions via Innovative Technology adoption. The company management has dense experience in preparing capacity and capability strategy for Industry Bodies, Government Agencies, Law Enforcement Agencies and VASP (Virtual Asset Service Providers) for Governments, Business Associations. Internalized skill sets also extend to providing Strategic Analytics to Global Organizations such as the World Bank & working in close coordination with the UN, in fast-moving new technology areas with an emphasis on Blockchain, AI & ML domains. Being strategically positioned, we provide unique leverage to large financial institutions / exchanges to mitigate the risk of money laundering and flight of capital. HumanStar also provides market entry strategy for global technology firms and technology investors for the Indian market. Founded by a globally respected & experienced IT industry veteran, supported by ICT advisors and technocrats, who have successfully leveraged technology to create jobs and attract technology investment in transitioning economies.
Bitfury Group Media Contact
Rachel Pipan
[email protected]
HumanSTAR* Media Contact
Rashmi Mehta
[email protected]
|
https://medium.com/meetbitfury/bitfury-group-brings-crystal-blockchain-to-india-with-humanstar-3f592ffa09da
|
['Crystal Blockchain']
|
2020-07-14 12:58:12.038000+00:00
|
['Crystal Blockchain', 'Blockchain India', 'Blockchain Analytics', 'Humanstar', 'Bitfury']
|
Bazı Şeyler İçin Geç Mi Kaldık Yoksa Hala Erken mi?
|
Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more
Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore
|
https://medium.com/t%C3%BCrkiye/baz%C4%B1-%C5%9Feyler-i%CC%87%C3%A7in-ge%C3%A7-mi-kald%C4%B1k-yoksa-hala-erken-mi-75b1c53112cf
|
['Fatih Saruhan']
|
2020-12-26 08:52:27.880000+00:00
|
['Türkçe', 'Türkçe Yayın', 'Blog', 'Kişisel Gelişim']
|
What a UX Strategist Does
|
As you continue to progress through your career as a UX Designer, you will discover several specialization paths are available for you to take as you focus on your professional development. One of these roles is a UX Strategist, which aligns user experience design with the business goals and strategy of the company.
A UX Strategist holds a unique role on the product team, forming a bridge between the UX Designer and Product/Offering Manager to ensure that both the business goals and the user needs are continuously aligned. A UX Designer, for example, primarily focuses on providing a human-centered approach to the design and development process of their products. Although, UX Designers still aim to meet the needs of the business they are not usually involved in business strategy at the same level as a UX Strategist would be.
If you’re interested in becoming a UX Strategist, the best way to start is by gaining a better understanding of the business goals and strategy for your product and the company you work for. As an example, some resources that would be great to start reviewing would be revenue projections, quarterly reviews, product roadmaps, and business strategies.
Tools a UX Strategist Uses
Understanding and contributing to the overall strategy of a product and business involves using a number of tools and frameworks. Part of the responsibility of a UX Strategist is to not only learn what these tools are but how and when to use them as well. In doing so they will be more readily prepared to provide input on the strategy and goals of the business. Let’s go through some of the most commonly used tools and how to use them.
Sample Business Model Canvas for UX Strategists. Image by Business Models Inc.
Business Model Canvas (BMC): A BMC is a tool that can help you better understand how the business and product(s) creates, delivers, and captures value. The BMC is used by UX Strategists to visually display and summarize important business and product activities to ensure they are aligned with the overall value proposition.
Visually illustrate values and needs. Image by B2B International
Value Proposition Map (VPM): A VPM is a tool that visually illustrates the values and needs of the product user and business. It is a perfect tool to help a UX Strategist simply articulate the needs of both parties as a way to gain alignment between UX Designers and Product/Offering Managers.
A simple matrix allows you to map stakeholders. Image by Smartsheet
Stakeholder Map: The Stakeholder map is used to identify the variety of actors that are involved in a product or service and to understand the relationship between each. A UX Strategist can also apply this method to better understand the relationships between a user and the other people involved in their workflow.
Visualizing the plan with a Product Roadmap. Image by Nielsen Norman Group
Product Roadmap : A Product Roadmap helps visualize the plan for how a product will evolve throughout a specific period of time. The UX Strategist will be the member of the team that assesses the priorities through the perspective of the user and business needs to ensure both are captured in the roadmap’s direction.
: A Product Roadmap helps visualize the plan for how a product will evolve throughout a specific period of time. The UX Strategist will be the member of the team that assesses the priorities through the perspective of the user and business needs to ensure both are captured in the roadmap’s direction. Strategic Foresight Frameworks : The Strategic Foresight Framework includes multiple tools that help identify emerging trends and signals to better understand the direction an industry is heading toward. These tools help a UX Strategist avoid potential upcoming risks for a product while driving toward new opportunities.
: The Strategic Foresight Framework includes multiple tools that help identify emerging trends and signals to better understand the direction an industry is heading toward. These tools help a UX Strategist avoid potential upcoming risks for a product while driving toward new opportunities. Presentation Decks : As with many roles, the presentation deck is a UX Strategist’s favorite tool for synthesizing insights and summarizing key points that bring a human-centered perspective to the business strategy.
: As with many roles, the presentation deck is a UX Strategist’s favorite tool for synthesizing insights and summarizing key points that bring a human-centered perspective to the business strategy. Wireframe Software: Similar to a UX Designer, a UX Strategist will also find wireframing a significant part of their work as they use it to demonstrate how the user and business needs can be met through design.
UX Strategist Responsibilities
There are many key responsibilities for a UX Strategist that involve alignment between the user, the product, and the business. Here are several common responsibilities for the role of a UX Strategist:
Maintain a clear understanding of the business goals and user needs, identifying and articulating high-impact research questions and opportunities, while continuing to drive strategic design decisions.
Synthesize user research and business data to help shape the product roadmap, designs and future research activities.
Review user stories within a given design sprint to ensure objectives, goals, and requirements are clear, and led by user research.
Use storytelling to communicate high-level concepts and research insights in presentations, reports, and workshops.
Evaluate and measure the outcome for each design sprint to provide recommendations on how best to improve the overall product design and collaboration between cross-functional team.
By providing strategy from a human-centered perspective you can help guide the overall design strategy for your product while helping bridge the viewpoints of the UX design team and the business-focused teams. As a representative for both points-of-views, a UX Strategist is able to facilitate cross-team and collaborative workshops to discuss and visualize what each of these perspectives looks like. Additionally, you will be incorporating an empathetic viewpoint to the overall business strategy that will help ensure the user and business needs are being met through the product’s design.
In Conclusion
The role of a UX Strategist involves a combination of responsibilities from both the business side and the UX design side of product development. By adopting both perspectives, you will be able to find alignment between the user’s needs and your product’s needs to help guide decisions and prioritize feature requests.
About the author:
Dan Silveira is a UX designer, foresight strategist, and writer based out of Toronto, Canada where he works for a major enterprise technology company. He is passionate about design and sharing his experience with others in the field.
|
https://uxplanet.org/what-a-ux-strategist-does-d42e158ac955
|
[]
|
2021-03-30 13:36:41.521000+00:00
|
['UX Design', 'User Experience Design', 'User Experience', 'UX']
|
3 Autonomous Vehicles ETFs to Know About
|
3 Autonomous Vehicles ETFs to Know About
ETFs that contain companies that will change land transportation
Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash
Autonomous vehicles, also known as self-driving vehicles, are vehicles that can sense their environment and move safely with little to no human input. Experiments regarding automated driving systems date back to the 1920s. The modern era of autonomous vehicles can be said to begin in the early 2010s with major automotive and technology companies testing driverless car systems.
The automotive industry’s autonomous vehicles segment is difficult to ignore due to the multitude of benefits it can bring, such as reducing human-caused traffic deaths, emissions, and travel time. There are risks, of course, such as hacking vulnerabilities and algorithm malfunction leading to accidents.
For those that want to get an early edge in the autonomous vehicles space regarding understanding it, or investing in it, the 3 following ETFs will give you the exposure you are looking for:
1. Global X Autonomous & Electric Vehicles ETF (DRIV)
2. KraneShares Electric Vehicles and Future Mobility Index ETF (KARS)
3. Ideanomics Shares NextGen Vehicle and Technology ETF (EKAR)
|
https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/3-autonomous-vehicles-etfs-to-know-about-e34e161b3f13
|
['Tunji Onigbanjo']
|
2020-12-27 17:01:56.811000+00:00
|
['Finance', 'Money', 'Stock Market', 'Investing', 'Investment']
|
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