title
stringlengths 1
200
⌀ | text
stringlengths 10
100k
| url
stringlengths 32
829
| authors
stringlengths 2
392
| timestamp
stringlengths 19
32
| tags
stringlengths 6
263
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Why I Trust Medium as a Digital Publishing Platform
|
Medium is in the middle of several large platform changes that will fundamentally alter the standards for digital publishing platforms.
And yet, I find myself scrutinizing the minute changes to the site’s user interface.
As someone who already spends a lot of time thinking and writing about Medium, I feel like I should be focused on big picture concepts.
And most of the time I am.
But the very fact that I notice and care about UI changes, as an observer with no training in graphic design, has me questioning my belief that Medium’s strength comes from its underlying value proposition:
Medium provides a free blogging platform, accessible to virtually everyone in the world, which allows them to share their thoughts, ideas, and experiences, without needing the technical expertise or the time commitment typically associated with blogging.
Yes, the sleek and uncluttered design was a major bonus, but I always believed that this was of secondary importance.
And I still believe this to be true…
However, I don’t find myself preoccupied with Medium’s current platform changes (of which there are many, some of which I’ve had the privilege of testing early).
I find myself thinking about a series of small graphic design changes that I’m sure few users consciously stop to think about or have even noticed.
Small changes that I’m beginning to believe may have more of an impact on my choice to write on Medium, despite my original thoughts and having explored virtually every other digital publishing platform.
|
https://medium.com/digital-marketing-lab/why-i-trust-medium-as-a-digital-publishing-platform-7166091b7baa
|
['Casey Botticello']
|
2020-09-24 19:46:29.879000+00:00
|
['Creativity', 'Technology', 'Medium', 'Writing', 'Design']
|
The perfect cocktail for veterans; isolation with a splash of pandemic fatigue
|
Two dispatchers at the Veterans Crisis Line failed to help a veteran who died of an overdose just hours after calling the hotline. The veteran died from a mixture of alcohol, antidepressants, and over-the-counter medications on July 4, 2018.
Like Father Like Son
My grandfather Stanley died in his sleep an alcoholic. Like normal he would take a nap during the day. After a Jim Beam and Coke. Until my grandmother Velma found him permanently asleep in their bed that day.
His son David, my father was a recovering alcoholic, and Army veteran. Before dying on the floor of his apartment in Kennewick, WA in 2018 in the fetal position. Three feet from where my mother Grace died while sleeping in her living room recliner. Both were opioid addicts.
While serving in the Navy for 23 years I constantly drank alcohol. I never considered myself an alcoholic however. This is how I blew steam as a uniformed member when not in uniform. Work hard, play harder.
For years I kept alcohol in the house. Even after retiring. At one point a few years ago I would stop and buy a bottle of wine daily at the store on the way home from work. Many veterans either drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, or both. Both substances are also known to cause death among veterans.
I walked into the doors of the American Lake VA hospital in 2018. Shortly after my father died within a year of my mother. I had graduated to McAllen scotch by the bottle weekly. Essentially drinking myself to sleep each night. My self-medication strategy. Before I had found an alternative.
Many veterans are isolated with only their thoughts during this lockdown. Many located in states where alternatives for pain management that won't cause death are not available. Many are also homeless and without established VA care. Which directly contributes to the 17 veterans who take their own lives ever day. Sixty-nine percent commit suicide with a firearm.
Statistics show that LinkedIn members with a photo receive far more engagement: 21 times more profile views and 9 times more connection requests.
Son of a Gun
Gun sales have risen since spring when the pandemic hit. Every holiday season they rise. It seems everyone went to buy all the toilet paper and gun ammunition once it started. From the inside looking out now, it appears the perfect cocktail is being mixed for veterans.
“Firearm purchases have climbed every month since March, and more than 1.7 million background checks were conducted in October alone, a roughly 60% jump over the same period in 2019.” H/T CBS
It's hard for me now even though I quit drinking almost 2 years ago. Luckily I have an alternative for pain management with medical cannabis in a legal state. Isolation is the new enemy of the state among veterans. The VA is currently locked down for many veterans in remote locations. So try this.
What is virtual care? Virtual care means you can contact your VA provider (and health care team) through Secure Messaging or receive treatment by telephone or video.
When the days pass by and you can't remember what day of the week it is you might be experiencing pandemic fatigue. Many veterans need human interaction in order to function. Including yours truly. Seek virtual help.
Humans are social by nature. Social isolation for veterans especially is not healthy. I too am experiencing pandemic fatigue in this realm currently.
As the dark winter spirit mixes in with this cocktail the suicide numbers will eventually pour themselves out in 2021 statistical fashion. First and foremost We can't ignore these 18 signs that veterans show us this time of year either.
Many veterans own guns themselves. Many have went out and bought guns as a result of the corona mania. Which in no way am I saying this pandemic is not real. It is very much real and has hit very close to home for our family.
As this freshly squeezed cocktail silently puts many of us to sleep this dark winter there is one thing you can do to help. Would you like to help me here?
Seventeen veterans commit suicide every day. Sixty-nine percent actually do it with a firearm. Eleven of those 17 had zero health care established with the VA. Veterans are at a simultaneous war with this pandemic fatigue and mental health. Have you dialed a veteran today?
Phone a Freind
Each one of us can give the gift of life this holiday season. By simply reaching out on your phone to a veteran. They need to hear your voice because they are tired of hearing their own.
As increased pressure mounts this holiday season on encouraging consumers to shop online it means two things. Less human interaction for one, and an opportunity many veterans who may not see it for two.
Idle hands are the work of the devil. It is important for veterans to have a sense of purpose to get through each day. Without it many become lost. For this reason let’s connect please, and follow me Barry Gipson on Medium.
My platform is strictly bringing awareness to veterans and our challenges we face with mental health. In addition how to find alternative ways to heal. Every Monday I will publish my newsletter “Weeekly Smoke.”
A freshly packed email full of cannabis potency. Not found anywhere else on Medium. Designed with veterans in mind. To help both you and I develop a mental health Bullet Proof State of mind together.
`
|
https://medium.com/@barrygipson/the-perfect-cocktail-for-veterans-isolation-with-a-splash-of-pandemic-fatigue-12f7097744b8
|
['Barry Gipson']
|
2020-12-10 16:07:26.471000+00:00
|
['Cocktails', 'Pandemic Fatigue', 'Veterans', 'Alcohol', 'Suicide']
|
how to personalize your Windows 10: 11 tips for new users
|
Do you know why apart from so many operating systems out there you only hear about windows only?
Take a guess?
No, it’s not fast or very efficient for heavy work, there are many operating systems out there which are far better than windows in terms of efficiency.
Still, we purchase windows, because windows give you a great user experience, with windows you can personalize your computer as you like.
There are many things that you can customize and make your windows computer more stylish. and change things the way you like.
This is a beginner’s guide for windows users who have just started using windows.
make a picture your background change your account picture personalize your lock screen give your apps a new look choose a theme you like download desktop themes customize your desktop color enable the night light feature make text larger or smaller hear everything from one ear personalize your task manager
make a picture your background
With windows, one of the basic changes that you can do on your computer is, changing the background as you like, you can set any image as a background, as long as it’s size is perfect for the background.
To change your background picture of windows computer follow these steps:
change your account picture
Some of you might not know but, Just like your background, you can also change the profile picture which will show up on your lock screen.
It looks very elegant and professional, so there is no reason why you shouldn’t change it with your desired picture.
To do that:
personalize your lock screen
When it comes to personalizing your computer, nobody likes a boring lock screen, and when you can choose a lock screen you like then why not?
Here is how you change the lock screen:
give your apps a new look
with windows, you can give your apps a new look. if you’re a dark mode lover person and don’t like too much light on your eyes then you can change the look too dark mode and vice versa.
which will also change your whole system into dark mode.
here is how to do that:
choose a theme you like
apart from all the above, the best thing you can do now is, you can change the theme which will change many things about your computer.
Themes are artistic combinations of wallpapers, sounds, and accent colors.
try playing with its theme section to know better.
here is how to change your theme:
download amazing desktop themes
if you don’t find any themes that interest you, then you can download some extra themes from Microsoft from as well.
here is how you can download desktop themes in windows:
customize your desktop color
if you are fond of any special like pink or blue or something, then you can change your desktop color in that color as well.
here is how to customize your desktop color in windows:
you can also pick an accent color from the background, moreover, you can set a custom
Enable the night light feature for your eyes
if you are a heavy computer user then you might want to enable windows night light feature.
the night light makes it easier to look at the screen in the night.
it helps stop light from affecting the brain. you can read more about how night light affects our brain — here
here is how to enable night light feature of windows-
Click the small message icon in the bottom right of your desktop under that enable Night light to go easy on your eyes with warmer colors.
make text larger or smaller
if you have trouble seeing small texts on your computers, or don’t like big text and prefer tiny texts then there is an option for that also in windows.
here is how to make text larger or smaller in windows:
Select Start Go to Settings Go to Ease of access Go to display then adjust the slider under make text bigger to make everything bigger, choose an option from the drop-down menu under make everything bigger.
hear everything from one ear
if you have trouble in hearing then there is an option in windows exactly for that.
with the help of windows “mono audio option”, you can hear everything from one ear only.
to enable the mono audio option in windows:
If you’re using one earbud or something similar, the audio will be combined into one channel.
personalize your task manager
with windows, you can personalize your task manager. here you can edit many things in the task manager.
from changing task manager size to deciding what you apps you want to keep, you can change everything here.
here is how to personalize your task manager in windows:
there are lots of things you can do on task manager check the below article-
|
https://medium.com/windows-ground/how-to-personalize-your-windows-10-11-tips-for-new-users-466595bd1da6
|
[]
|
2020-09-27 21:26:26.127000+00:00
|
['Tech', 'Technology', 'Windows 10', 'Computers', 'Windows']
|
NFL WEEK 16 — Sunday Picks & Plays
|
1:00 PM ET
DETROIT LIONS at ATLANTA FALCONS (-7) ; O/U 42
Model Z Projection: ATL -9, 55.14 Total
Straight Up Pick: Atlanta Falcons
Spread Pick: ATL -7⭐⭐
O/U Pick: Over 42⭐
Zack’s Plays:
- Patterson over 83.5 rushing & receiving yards (-110)
- Pitts over 50.5 Receiving Yards (-110)
- Pitts 80+ Receiving Yards (+290)
- Pitts to score (+170)
- Pitts to score 2x (+1000)
- Matt Ryan over 244.5 Passing Yards (-110)
1:00 PM ET
BALTIMORE RAVENS at CINCINNATI BENGALS (-7) ; O/U 41.5
Model Z Projection: CIN -.5, 51.14 Total
Straight Up Pick: Cincinnati Bengals
Spread Pick: BAL +7⭐⭐
O/U Pick: Over 41.5⭐⭐
Zack’s Plays:
- Andrews 60+ Receiving yards (-102)
- Andrews to score (+230)
- Chase over 62.5 Receiving Yards (-110) [added at 11:00am ET]
- Chase to score (+105) [added at 11:00am ET]
1:00 PM ET
LOS ANGELES RAMS (-3) at MINNESOTA VIKINGS ; O/U 48.5
Model Z Projection: LAR -11, 49.32 Total
Straight Up Pick: Los Angeles Rams
Spread Pick: LAR -3⭐⭐⭐
O/U Pick: Over 48.5⭐
Zack’s Plays:
- Kupp over 8.5 Receptions (-110)
- Jefferson over 21.5 Longest Receptions (-110)
- Mattison over 17.5 rushing attempts (-110)
1:00 PM ET
BUFFALO BILLS at NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (-1) ; O/U 43.5
Model Z Projection: NE -1.5, 47.01 Total
Straight Up Pick: New England Patriots
Spread Pick: NE -1⭐⭐
O/U Pick: Under 43.5⭐⭐
Zack’s Plays:
- Singletary over 47.5 Rushing Yards (-110)
- NE -1 (-110)
- Damien Harris to score (+100)
- Damien Harris over 60.5 Rushing yards (-110)
- Damien Harris 80+ Rushing Yards (+205)
1:00 PM ET
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS at NEW YORK JETS (-1.5) ; O/U 41
Model Z Projection: NYJ -1, 53.85 Total
Straight Up Pick: New York Jets
Spread Pick: NYJ -1.5⭐⭐
O/U Pick: Over 41⭐
Zack’s Plays:
- Michael Carter over 40.5 Rushing Yards (-110)
- Michael Carter over 63.5 Rushing & Receiving yards (-110)
- Michael Carter 80+ Rushing yards (+490)
- Michael Carter to score (+135)
- Berrios to score (+280) [added at 11:45am ET]
- Berrios 50+ Receiving Yards (+154) [added at 11:45am ET]
- Robinson 100+ Rushing Yards (+200)
- Robinson to score (-105)
- [2X BET] Marvin Jones over 50.5 Receiving yards (-110)
- Zach Wilson over 217.5 Passing Yards (-110)
- Trevor Lawrence over 218.5 Passing Yards (-110)
1:00 PM ET
NEW YORK GIANTS at PHILADELPHIA EAGLES (-10.5) ; O/U 40.5
Model Z Projection: PHI -7.5, 51.72 Total
Straight Up Pick: Philadelphia Eagles
Spread Pick: NYG +10.5⭐
O/U Pick: Over 40.5⭐
Zack’s Plays:
- Goedert to score (+210)
- Goedert to score 2x (+1300)
- Hurts over 246.5 Passing & Rushing Yards (-110)
1:00 PM ET
TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS (-10.5) at CAROLINA PANTHERS ; O/U 43.5
Model Z Projection: TB -8, 48.72 Total
Straight Up Pick: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Spread Pick: TB -10.5⭐ (Going against the model on this one, Panthers suck)
O/U Pick: Under 43.5⭐
Zack’s Plays:
- Antonio Brown to score (-115)
- Antonio Brown over 66.5 Receiving Yards (-110)
- Panthers under 16 Points (-110)
1:00 PM ET
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS (-10.5) at HOUSTON TEXANS ; O/U 45.5
Model Z Projection: LAC -7, 50.33 Total
Straight Up Pick: Los Angeles Chargers
Spread Pick: HOU +10.5⭐
O/U Pick: Under 45.5⭐
Zack’s Plays:
- Burkhead to score (+170)
- Mills over 214.5 Passing Yards (-110)
- Justin Herbert over 17.5 Rushing Yards (-110)
4:05 PM ET
CHICAGO BEARS at SEATTLE SEAHAWKS (-6.5) ; O/U 41.5
Model Z Projection: SEA -6.5, 52.33
Straight Up Pick: Seattle Seahawks
Spread Pick: SEA -6.5⭐⭐
O/U Pick: Under 41.5⭐
Zack’s Plays:
- Kmet to score (+400)
- Metcalf to score (+135)
- Lockett to score (+135)
- SEA -6.5 (-110)
4:25 PM ET
PITTSBURGH STEELERS at KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (-10.5) ; O/U 45.5
Model Z Projection: KC -13.5, 51.84 Total
Straight Up Pick: Kansas City Chiefs
Spread Pick: KC -10.5⭐
O/U Pick: Under 45.5⭐
Zack’s Plays:
- KC 1st Qtr winner & KC 1st Half winner (-111)
- Hill over 86.5 Receiving Yards (-110)
4:25 PM ET
DENVER BRONCOS (-1) at LAS VEGAS RAIDERS ; O/U 41
Model Z Projection: DEN -.5, 49.85 Total
Straight Up Pick: Denver Broncos
Spread Pick: DEN -1⭐
O/U Pick: Under 41⭐
Zack’s Plays:
- Carr under 1.5 Passing TDs (+100)
8:20 PM ET
WASHINGTON FOOTBALL TEAM at DALLAS COWBOYS (-10) ; O/U 46.5
Model Z Projection: DAL -9.5, 52.54 Total
Straight Up Pick: Dallas Cowboys
Spread Pick: DAL -10⭐
O/U Pick: Under 46.5⭐
Zack’s Plays:
- McLaurin under 4.5 Receptions (+100)
- Zuerlein under 2.5 XP’s (+100)
|
https://medium.com/@zack-nicol11/nfl-week-16-sunday-picks-plays-abe1ccb10dcf
|
['Zack Nicol']
|
2021-12-26 16:47:45.898000+00:00
|
['Fun', 'Sports Betting', 'Football', 'NFL']
|
My Best Sex Discoveries of the Year
|
I started writing to make money.
But I didn’t write about sex because it made the most money (as far as I could tell, there wasn’t much gold in those hills). I wrote about sex because it’s what I’m most passionate about.
Over the course of a year (and some change) writing erotic fiction and then blogging about sex, I did a lot of research, covered a lot of ground, and hit multiple slumps where I was convinced I’d run out of ideas for good.
The work was harder than I expected, but I powered through. I kept my head down and stuck to my work schedule. And I’m glad I did because I got so much more out of this than some earnings and a fun hobby.
My year as a writer taught me a lot about sex, about myself, and about my relationship.
I feel like I’ve grown in leaps and bounds. I’m more adventurous. I’m more open and confident. And I’m having better and more interesting sex than I ever have before.
The year coming to an end has me thinking about all the amazing things I discovered since I started writing. It’s a huge list and it’s been hard to narrow it down, but these are the ones that really stand out for me.
Masturbation in Marriage Is a Beautiful Thing
Masturbation has been a constant in my married life, but talking about it was awkward. My husband and I were extremely open with each other, but masturbation remained a taboo subject in our home.
On his end, I know it had to do with shame about doing it and about having a very high sex drive.
For me, it had a lot to do with guilt about having a low libido. I knew my husband wanted sex, but sex was a tall order for me. Instead, I made time to stick a vibrator down my underwear to give myself some sexual relief.
I felt bad knowing that he was getting so little action. I didn’t want him to think I was wasting what little desire I had on myself.
That changed when masturbation became part of my research. If I was going to write about it, there was no way to keep it under wraps.
I wish I had opened up sooner, because it’s been really liberating.
Masturbation in a marriage shouldn’t be a source of shame or guilt — it should be embraced and celebrated.
Jilling off has been a lot more satisfying since I stopped doing it quickly and in secret.
It’s been hot as hell, too, because now I’ve had multiple opportunities to masturbate with my husband or to just watch him while he gets himself off.
And it’s just nice to strip the shame away from self-pleasure.
Paying for Porn Is Worth It
I like that paying for porn lets you access more ethical content and I love knowing the creators are compensated for their work.
But my biggest motivation was my frustrations with free porn.
When Pornhub came on the scene, I stopped watching adult DVDs and started streaming it for free. It was really cool and exciting at first, but in recent years I’ve been having trouble finding videos that appeal to me.
I can’t count the number of times I almost lost my lady boner and my will to masturbate after scrolling through 12+ pages of thumbnails and not finding a single thing that struck my fancy.
I guess I was a bit picky. I wanted high-quality, high-production content by cute amateurs, and I wanted to be able to access it quickly.
Cherry Crush was the tipping point. I found some of her videos on Pornhub and I loved them so much I googled “porn stars like Cherry Crush.” It didn’t help — the cuteness and quality were still missing.
So, I opted for the simplest solution: I subscribed to her site.
Since then, I also got a subscription to Erotic Films and I’m on the lookout for a new site or two I can use when I need help diddling myself or getting things started with Mr. Austin.
Phone Sex Can Be Surprisingly Hot
I had no idea phone sex could be fucking intense.
I kind of thought it was something you settled for when your partner was out of town, not something you’d crave and go out of your way to enjoy.
Having phone sex for the first time changed my mind about the whole thing. I discovered that it can be incredibly satisfying to get yourself off while listening to someone get themselves off to you. Some dirty talk makes it even sweeter.
Unfortunately, I also found out that phone sex can get complicated, to say the least. My last round of it was absolutely miserable and upsetting.
But I’m not deterred. I’ve already tried it with my husband and he knew how to make it really hot and worth my while. If I only have phone sex with him going forward, it will still be a great discovery.
Dick Pics Can Be Beautiful
There’s one comment I keep seeing about dick pics: “No one wants to see that.”
I get it when it comes to unsolicited ones — I don’t want those in my DMs, either.
But if it’s the dick of someone I like, then yes, please, send me all the pics.
I’m a very visual person (don’t let the vagina fool you) and if I’m into someone, I’m into all of them. I want to see what they’re packing, and I get very excited by getting a look at it.
I knew I liked dick pics, but this year I got briefly involved with someone who didn’t just send me a lot of them — he also had a knack for taking great ones.
His cock shots were artful. They were in gorgeous black and white. And he had a talent for composition, so I could look at dozens of photos of his dick and they all felt different and original.
Those dick pics were so good they opened up my eyes to erotic photography in general. Seeing them gave me some ideas I could use when taking nude shots of myself. Even though those are mostly for my eyes only, I’ve enjoyed improving my skills (and getting to admire some cocks along the way).
I Can Actually Have Doggy Style Sex
I know that sounds like a weird thing to discover in my thirties. I knew I could have doggy style sex. I just didn’t know I could have good doggy style sex with my husband.
Any time we tried that position, it hurt. At best, I could withstand a bit of slow, shallow fucking, but I could never get the kind of pounding I wanted out of it.
This year, I figured out what the issue was: his cock curves. And because it does, it jabs me the wrong way when I’m on my knees.
Once we knew what was wrong, we could figure out how to fix it. All he needed to do was shift his angle. If he gets it right, he can finally give me a very decent, hard fucking.
The Sex Script Is Meant to Be Broken
My whole life, I bought into the idea that sex has a script.
You can switch things up, get creative, and do whatever the hell you want, but at the end of the day, sex starts with foreplay, moves into some fooling around, and ends with penetrative sex.
This year, I finally let go of that idea.
Sometimes, penetration isn’t the last thing on the menu.
Sometimes, there’s no penetration at all, and we just use our hands and mouths on each other.
Sometimes, I just want to give his cock a long massage.
Sometimes, I just want to get eaten out until I can’t take it anymore.
Of all the discoveries I made this year, this is probably the one that improved my sex life the most.
I’m Really Into Control Play
I’ve always had a bit of a submissive side. But until I really explored it, I didn’t realize it’s such a big part of my sexual identity.
I found out that I have a really hard time getting aroused and feeling in the moment if I have to take a dominant or leading role. It just doesn’t feel natural or sexy.
I also discovered that I can get into a very euphoric state when I feel like I’m giving up control to someone I trust.
Some of the hottest things I’ve done this year have been sex acts that let me really tap into my subby side.
I had an extremely memorable night when my husband told me to stay completely quiet while we fucked (and denied my orgasm whenever I made a sound).
I got off like crazy when he blindfolded and handcuffed me.
And I’ve been extra excited for Christmas since he hinted that one of his presents for me is “bondagey.”
I never thought of myself as someone who was into BDSM because I’m not into pain. And my submissiveness is relatively tame (I don’t get off on being caged or pulled around on a leash or anything like that). But learning that it’s a role I love to play has let me lean into it more and communicate what I want to my (thankfully more dominant) partner.
Silicone Lube Is Amazing
I started using lube years ago, but I didn’t know a lot about it. I knew there were different types, but I wanted to keep it simple. I didn’t want to bother keeping track of which lube was for what, which could be used with toys, and which were safe with condoms.
So, I memorized one thing and one thing only: water-based lube is all-purpose. You can use it with sex toys. You can use it with condoms. You can use it for everything from handjobs to anal.
I made sure any lube I bought was water-based. That way, I would never have to think twice when reaching for it.
This year, I wanted to take my lube game more seriously. I looked into different kinds and settled on Uberlube. It’s silicone-based, so for the first time in my life, I was going to have to be careful to keep it away from most of my sex toys. But everyone raved about it and I wanted to see what the big deal was.
The hype was completely justified. Not just for Uberlube (though it’s still my favorite), but for silicone-based lube in general.
Silicone lube has been a game changer for me. It’s so much fun to use. If I’m not using any toys or using flavored lube while giving head, I always use silicone. It’s slipperier, slicker, and long-lasting. If I could use it for everything, I would.
My Husband’s Delayed Ejaculation Isn’t About Me
My husband has severe delayed ejaculation. It’s probably due to a combination of phimosis and death grip (though the death grip might itself be due to phimosis).
Simply put, I can’t make him come. I’ve done it exactly once in the last fifteen years we’ve been together, and it was a complete chore.
I would love to make him come. I know it would be hot as fuck if I could. But my biggest problem with it has been my insecurities.
I felt embarrassed at not being able to make my own husband come (that feels even more embarrassing now that I’m a sex writer). I also felt guilty because I was on the receiving end of so many orgasms but I couldn’t give him a single one.
This year, I took a long, hard look at this. I had a lot of frank conversations with him. I let him know how I feel. He let me know how he feels. And we’ve both come to a place of acceptance.
His delayed ejaculation is hopefully something he won’t be dealing with forever. He’s taking steps to remedy it. I’m trying to find techniques that can help him get off (the closest I’ve come is the time I whaled him). In the meantime, I’ve made peace with it. I’ve come to realize it’s just the way he’s built and it’s what he brings to the bedroom. It’s got nothing to do with me.
Now, we just have fun. I get him to finish himself off and I don’t worry too much about the fact that I can’t do it for him. I just put in a decent effort, give him as much pleasure as I can, and feel satisfied that I’ve successfully fulfilled my wifely duties.
We All Need Pussy Massages in Our Lives
If you have a pussy, get it massaged.
If you don’t have one, start massaging them. With consent, obviously (I’m Emma Austin, not Donald Trump).
Pussy massages are very sensual, relaxing, and intimate.
But unlike a sensual, relaxing, and intimate massage, this one makes you come. A pussy massage always ends with a wallop of an orgasm. For me, it’s almost always a laughing orgasm (easily one of my top 3 types of orgasm).
It feels like a massage with a happy ending (and a happy beginning). I feel extremely relaxed and satisfied after getting one.
There’s no downside whatsoever (other than the fact that I’m the only one getting off from them). I can even enjoy them when I’m not totally in the mood because they’re just so pleasurable and the buildup is slow and subtle.
When I first got one, I told my husband I kind of wanted one every week. That was a lie. What I really wanted were daily pussy massages. But I know that’s a big ask.
I Should Never Stop Trying New Things
This year, I branched out a lot.
I experimented in my late teens and then I quickly fell into a sex rut. And that rut only got deeper with time. Sex became predictable to the point of almost being boring.
Researching and experimenting put the spark back into my sex life. Only it was less like a spark and more like a flash fire.
Now, everything I do is playful, exploratory, and focused on the joy it brings me and my partner.
I used to be quick to strike things off my list. I tried a couples sex toy and didn’t enjoy it, so I stopped using them altogether. I fell into a routine with sex, so I stopped having as much of it instead of trying to spice things up.
This year, though, I’ve been giving everything a second chance, and some things a first chance. I’ve changed my mind about multiple things because I come to sex with a very open attitude.
That attitude allowed me to grow so much in so little time. And I know I’m not done. There’s still so much more to explore and try out. So, I’m looking forward to another year of unboxing sex toys, trying weird sex tips, and just seeing what else will tickle my fancy.
|
https://medium.com/love-emma/my-best-sex-discoveries-of-the-year-16715d2f8e07
|
['Emma Austin']
|
2020-03-30 23:56:11.984000+00:00
|
['Relationships', 'Life Lessons', 'Self', 'Life', 'Sex']
|
The Sneaker Black Market
|
Not long ago sneakers like Nike and Adidas came at an affordable price. But things have changed dramatically with a pair of limited edition Jordan sneakers setting you back hundreds, even thousands of dollars. But what happened to inflate the market price? Was it something deliberate done by the brand or by resellers? And finally, what are the ethical concerns and repercussions of these expensive limited edition shoes?
It all started with the creation of Air Jordan’s, a sneaker collaboration between Nike and famous basketball player, Michael Jordan. Jordan’s opened up a frenzy of sneaker connoisseurs now known as ‘sneaker heads’. Fans of basketball players would purchase Nike Jordan’s, Kobe’s or LeBron’s as a way to show exclusivity and power within the ‘sneaker head’ community. Decades later, the hype for NBA collaborations is still thriving, but as new generations enter the world of sneaker head collectors, the game is changing and so are the reasons for collecting.
Source: ‘Wings’ (Music Video), YouTube Video (click photo for link)
Sneaker Con in New York City houses the biggest convention for sneaker heads to buy, sell and trade sneakers. One seller, Brandon Booskenera, 12, stated in ABC New’s video, “It’s a cycle. Buy, sell, trade. It’s kind of a hobby… An addiction. More of an addiction.” The notion of a new generation collecting sneakers for financial benefit rather than for personal enjoyment is questionable but also a reality where ethical issues arise. As an original sneaker head with over 2500 sneakers collected, DJ Clark Kent believes new generations aren’t collecting for the same reasons his generation did 35 years ago. According to him, “these kids today don’t seem like they want the shoes. They want the “thing” that goes along with having the shoes. Somebody found out there’s money for a pair of sneakers, because of the hype”.
Source: ‘Sneakerheads: Inside the World of High-Stakes Sneaker Trading’, ABC YouTube Video
Nike’s marketing tactic for keeping the hype alive for new shoes is based around their Saturday launches. Every Saturday, Nike releases a small quantity of a particular shoe design for sneaker heads to fight over. People were able to line up at participating stores and attempt to purchase a pair of the newest sneakers. However, the hype behind many launches surpassed Nike’s control and riots broke out at local malls. Thousands of sneaker-heads were injured, arrested and trampled over, just for a pair of new kicks. In some instances, teenagers are shot, stabbed or robbed for their new pair of shoes while they’re walking or catching transport home. An issue familiar to many in the sneaker head community, even artist Macklemore releasing a track ‘Wings’, depicting a negative image around sneaker envy to the point where his “friend Carlos’ brother got murdered for his (Jordan) 4's”.
Ethical issues arose against Nike for the way they carried out supplying limited sneakers to the public. Many claimed the actions of the murders stemmed from Nike’s failure to supply the demand of a limited edition shoe. So what did Nike do? Well, you can’t get hurt clicking a button. Today, many (but not all) of Nike’s hottest Saturday launches are sold online, where it’s even harder to score a new pair of sneakers, making them even more valuable. Rather than wearing limited edition Nike’s, many sneaker-heads are buying limited edition sneakers to resell for double, triple or quadruple the retail price. Sneaker analyst Josh Luber, 32, says as soon as Foot Locker launches the newest Saturday sneakers country wide, thousands of pairs appear on eBay the next day.
Source: FiveThirtyEight, ‘You See Sneakers These Guys See Hundreds of Millions in Resale Profit’
It’s Saturday in Harlem, New York and more than 100 people have been waiting in line outside Footlocker, with hope to purchase the new release of LeBron 11: What The. According to site FiveThirtyEight, 22-year-old Shirod Ince, an avid sneaker head had been waiting in line since Wednesday to purchase a pair. However his intentions weren’t to wear them. Like many sneaker-heads today, Ince is an entrepreneur that collects sneakers to sell online on sites such as eBay. With a price tag of $250, its considered chump change for many resellers. On eBay, a new pair of LeBron 11’s was selling for AU$850 — That’s a mark up of 240% and a profit margin of $600. However, this is considered an average profit. Air Yeezy 2 Red October’s, designed by Kanye West retailed at $250 but sold out worldwide in 2 minutes with only 2000 pairs made. Only one pair remains on eBay Australia and for that very reason it is selling for $6,734. That’s a mark up of nearly 2700%! This ridiculous mark-up would be unheard of for any other type of ‘hobby’, but in the sneaker world shoes never depreciate.
‘LeBron 11: What The’ on the left, ‘Yeezy 2 Red October’ on right (click images for link)
After researching this topic, I admit I have become somewhat of an admirer of sneakers. However, the sneaker head community still baffles me. The most concerning factor is children as young as 12 years old buy, sell and trade shoes for thousand’s of dollars, all in the name of addiction. But as I researched, I understood how smart and savvy these children are becoming. They learn first hand at events, such as SneakerCon, how to handle customers, create sales pitches to potential buyers and ultimately, build their confidence with each sale they make. Although the mark up is astonishing, Nike has created a multi million dollar resell market place that has created a new generation of sneaker heads. Whether you believe this is a positive approach for it’s educational angle or negative approach for the unethical Saturday launches, the fact stand that unless sneaker heads band together and say “I’m not going to let you charge me that much for shoes”, nothing will change. It’s a vicious cycle of greed and envy, buying to sell and selling to make more money. I’ll leave you with this last question: If the resale value of sneakers did not increase, and instead depreciate, would the new generation of sneaker-heads still camp outside Foot Locker for Saturday launches?
|
https://medium.com/the-isthmus/the-sneaker-black-market-9d1a7a71e0e1
|
['The Isthmus']
|
2016-05-22 01:05:37.676000+00:00
|
['Adidas', 'Jordans', '2015']
|
Kahaani 9 Years Later: Was It Any Good?
|
Why am I really reviewing a near-decade old movie with relatively lesser mass appeal?
Well, it’s because the trailer for “Bob Biswas” is out and I’m hyped to go see it. For those who don’t remember, let’s just say he was an interesting character who showed up in Kahaani. With Dabangg sequels, the Singham movies, and Satyameva Jayate 2, it looks like Bollywood might be giving us yet another cinematic universe here. Well sign me the fuck up.
But there’s one problem: when I watched Kahaani, my brain had not yet developed object permanence. So I have no recollection of the story, except for….well, Vidya Balan’s belly bump.
The only logical thing for me to do on a Sunday evening, therefore, is to search for it on Netflix. Netflix has this feature where it finishes a movie’s name for you and then reveals that the movie isn’t on Netflix. Perfect cockblocker.
But this time, this feature malfunctioned. Kahaani was actually on the platform. 2 hours after I hit the play button, I already knew I had to write this.
Alright, I’m kidding. I’m reviewing this because of just how fucking badass Vidya Balan is in the movie.
So, if you’re like me and you had no concept of reality back in 2012, you might want to stop reading. Take your time and watch the movie and come back. Or don’t.
A Synopsis
The film opens with a poison-gas leak inside a Kolkata metro train. This ends up killing hundreds. 2 years later, not Bidya Bagchi comes to Kolkata to file a missing-persons’ complaint for her missing husband. She is a part-time hacker and full-time pregnant.
As she goes about finding the secrets about her husband, she gets to learn about the mysterious city of Gotham, I mean, Kolkata. She starts to harden up and becomes an absolute ass-kicker by the end. The movie ends with umm…. an epilogue…. which is pretty bad. We’ll get into it all.
Here’s me dissecting the good and bad aspects of this decade-old mystery thriller so that you can distract yourself from the harsh realities outside your screen.
The Good
The Ambition
Look, I have to give credit where credit is due. This movie was made in 20-fucking-12. It is UNBELIEVABLE just how ambitious this project is. An all-star cast, a gritty ass story, a pregnant lead. Hell, this doesn’t even sound like a Bollywood movie to be honest.
Do I love it? Absolutely not. Do I think it was a giant leap for Bollywood? Far from it. But was it the start of something? YES.
Source: hungama.com
Kahaani was a very refreshing story. A woman who is trying to seek vengeance in a city more crowded than an ant colony while she dribbles with the police? And that woman is Vidya Balan? Yessir.
Sujoy Ghosh is the director and this movie genuinely made me want to dive deeper into this man’s legacy. For I believe this person may have dropped some underappreciated bangers while I was getting my first voice cracks.
The Videography
I don’t know if many people even wonder about the behind the scenes efforts while consuming art. I don’t really know why I care, to be frank. But boy oh boy is the camera work excellent in this movie.
The camera work isn’t used just to add or withdraw tension from a scene. Close-up shots are more stressful than wide angles, yeah we get it. But the way things just haze out and pace up from time-to-time really matches the contexts it is used in. The videography is used less as a constructive medium and more as a tool to tell the story here, and I absolutely love that.
Bob Biswas
You knew I was gonna talk about this. Bob Biswas has to be in the list of the most menacing characters in Bollywood. This man looks like a stereotypical nerd kid who would get bullied by dudes like Kabir Singh. But simultaneously, he is a cold-hearted killer. And he says “Nomoshkar” before unifying your eyebrows with a bullet.
Bob exhibits strange under-developed brained behaviour and simultaneously knows how to get away with murder. Saswata Chatterjee is a veteran actor from the Bengali film industry and you can totally see why. From ticks on his face to his slightly disoriented running, everything about this character is irksome.
I want to believe that Abhishek Bacchan will be able to do this character justice in the spin-off.
Nawazuddin Siddique
Do I even need to say more?
Siddique plays Khan, a chain-smoking asshole senior officer from the Intelligence Bureau and kills it. Given that Siddique was still a name that not many were familiar with, it is simply humbling to watch this person exuding sheer confidence and skill.
Khan’s character is actually written as a Devil’s advocate. He was meant to blur the lines between right and wrong and he pulled it off like Bhai pulls his Rupa Frontline off. Ok I promise I’m done with these jokes.
In fact, Siddique played the role so well that even I started hating his holier-than-thou attitude at points, knowing fully well it’s a fictional character. That’s a performance you can’t fake.
Social Commentaries
The movie actually tries to be an allegory for women empowerment. It brings up Durga Maa as a cornerstone of purity and draws parallels between her and our female lead. Whether or not it succeeds to do so, I’ll discuss later. But here’s something that the movie absolutely nails: commenting on the shifting nature of morality.
So there’s this mystery guy in the movie, alright? Goes by Milan Damji. He used to be with the law and got sold to some terrorists, because corruption. So, the cops are after him. Siddique’s character decides to do something rather unethical to catch Damji and is asked “How are we any different from him then?”
And I kid you not, Khan says, “We are not.”
The lines between what’s right and what’s wrong are VERY muddy in this film and that is what makes it an interesting watch. Speaking of “watch”-
Pacing
I was somewhat hesitant going into this movie when I saw its 2hr+ runtime. But the pacing is so well-maintained throughout the movie that you would never want to glance at your clock, or “watch”. Que laughter track.
Every five or ten minutes, there is something or the other that is happening that solves the mystery a little bit. This keeps the movie engaging and completing it does not feel like a task. Pacing is something that I feel like a lot of writers all over could improve but this movie really stood out. This was because it was telling you a story so grandiose that if it were conceived today, it would have been a Netflix series with 4 seasons and Radhika Apte.
The Lead’s Character Arc
Vidya Bagchi starts out as a helpless woman in the city of Kolkata. She seems fragile yet reckless. But as the story advances and her husband’s connections with terrorism and the 2 year-old poison tragedy unfolds, she is hardened by this harsh realities surrounding her.
By the end, we see a Walter White-like transformation in Vidya where she isn’t hesitating to pull a trigger anymore.
I love this. Or should I say I loved it until the epilogue. Which beautifully brings me to the bad.
The bad:
The Lead’s Character Arc
Wait what? Ankur, didn’t you say you liked the lead character’s arc?
Why yes, of course I did. I did like the lead’s character arc. Until the epilogue.
You see, in the epilogue it is revealed that Vidya was actually playing everyone else in the story. She was doing this to bring the actual person responsible for her husband’s demise to justice. Turns out she wasn’t actually pregnant. Turns out she actually had the support of an ex-Intelligence Bureau officer. Turns out she has a hair clip that can conveniently pick any lock in the entirety of kolkata. Turns out she knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who may conveniently provide information about her husband’s killer’s whereabouts. Turns out every alley in Kolkata houses someone or the other who has information about national threats lurking among us.
Just fuck off already.
I’m especially upset about this because the character development that I thought she underwent due to her time in Kolkata was a lie. Do you see just how much better and real the movie could’ve got by, I don’t know, just AVOIDING THIS REVEAL.
Because it is revealed that our protagonist was always 8 steps ahead of everyone, it feels like I’m watching a superhero movie without knowing how they actually became a superhero. This is like watching Peter Parker kick green butt with only a 5 minute explanation about how he got his powers in the Sam Raimi movie. Hell, the twists of this movie actually remind me of a Rick & Morty episode that was parodying the ‘Heist Movie Trope’.
Kahaani feels like the sequel to a story that was never established to begin with.
The Epilogue
This goes hand in hand with the previous section. You know how this could’ve been improved? By cutting this segment out of the fucking movie. Imagine how goddamn jaw-dropping the ending would’ve been if it didn’t explain who Vidya was. If it didn’t reveal that she wasn’t pregnant. If it didn’t spoon-feed the audience about her obsessive cleaning habits to not leave her fingerprints. An open ended ending for Kahaani is all I ask for. That would’ve become Christopher Nolan’s boner jam for Christ’s sake.
To top this part of the script, we have Amitabh Bacchan making allusions between Durga and Vidya Bagchi. This is simply ignorant and dare I say forced.
There are highly feminist undertones throughout this story that tries to show that women are capable of anything as long as they have the necessary skill. But it all falls short. Because what the movie doesn’t realize is that Vidya Bagchi is not a feminist role model. In fact, she is hardly a person you should want to invite to your home. Which brings me to her character.
Vidya Balan, I mean, Bagchi
I know this is one of Vidya Balan’s most critically acclaimed roles in forever. I know this is something that desi cinephiles like to call the epitome of good character writing. But trust me when I say this, Vidya’s character is a catastrophic mess.
All the other characters in the movie are individuals with their own personalities. They feel like standalone characters and feel real. They are unique.
But for whatever reason, Vidya’s quirks just seem to be all over the place. She goes from a more family friendly Harley Quinn to every kid’s best friend aunt to Enola Holmes to Hackerwoman in seconds. All because the script needs her to. This is a recurring flaw in the movie. The world painted by the script doesn’t really have any strong rules. Events just sort of happen. Because the script said so.
By the end of the movie, I was genuinely left wondering, which of these personas was the actual Vidya?
Her performance is confusing and feels like she was playing 5 different characters at the same time. And I do not criticize Vidya Balan’s acting for it. I think she did the best she could with the script. This was especially hard for me to admit because I actually appreciated her development, just not her quirks. And jesus fucking christ what are these crying shots?
And did I mention her futile character arc?
Has her character fallen so far down the rabbit hole of trauma that she is adopting these personas to cope with the reality of not having any real human connection left?
Or was the writing utterly inconsistent and an attempt to create a desi Captain Marvel? You decide.
Kolkata: You sexy
Woah, those are not my words! That’s straight out of the movie’s album.
Do you hate clinginess? If so, be prepared for a cringe-fest as Kahaani shows you just how clingy it is to Kolkata. From the get-go, the movie is actually so obsessed with trying to paint a Kolkata that is alive and interesting, that instead of it serving as the backdrop for an interesting Kahaani, it BECOMES A CHARACTER.
I don’t know about you, but that only works when we are in places like Asgard, or Gotham, or whatever.
This attempt to shove so much fucking Kolkata down the viewers’ throats actually feels more like propaganda and less like entertainment. I went to Kolkata recently and I was fairly unfazed. Don’t get me wrong, Kolkata is all chill. It’s a giant ass city that intimidates me. But if Kahaani were a meal, I would have liked a little less Kolkata in it.
Screenplay
It’s bad. Plain and simple. It is bad and HAS NOT aged well. AT ALL. Nu-uh.
So much cringe-worthy dialogue in this movie that I actually gave a disappointed face to my walls from time to time. Especially Vidya Balan’s. But then I have to take into consideration that it WAS in fact made a decade back. Lines like “Ladkiyon ki tarah ro kyu rahe ho?” and “Tune mujhe didi bulaya? Toh mai teri elder sister hui na? Now, give me a high five.” certainly is the recipe for a little too much cringe for my fragile heart.
A huge chunk of the story’s events boil down to pure coincidence. And a wise man once said, “If a movie relies too much on coincidence, you should probably watch ‘Travis Scott’s Apologises for 1 Hour’ on YouTube instead.”
Final Thoughts
Kahaani is a flawed step towards a Bollywood that doesn’t demand the same cookie-cutter, hollow movies that have the personality of a table. It is unique in its portrayal of women but definitely overdoes by telling the audience exactly what to think. And I can’t even blame it for doing that. I’m both glad that this movie exists and frustrated that it isn’t as good as it could’ve been. Thassit, cya.
If you liked reading it, share it with your MOM because she’s probably the only one who remembers watching this relic of a movie. Leave a comment. It does nothing for the algorithm, I just like to know who read my stuff, and what went wrong with them to read a 2455 word article about a movie.
PS: While I was writing this review, I realized that there is a Kahaani 2 that was released 5 years ago. Apparently it has nothing to do with the original version. Yet another missed opportunity to expand on Vidya Bagchi’s character.
|
https://medium.com/@ankurjdas/kahaani-9-years-later-was-it-any-good-7e5f7227cbe3
|
['Ankur J. Das']
|
2021-11-30 15:10:13.746000+00:00
|
['Bollywood', 'Cinema', 'Mystery', 'Thriller', 'Review']
|
How We (Usually) Don’t Get Sick From Raw Sushi
|
Here’s the difference between delicious sushi, and dangerous undercooked chicken or hamburger
I certainly did not write this article just so I could share all these incredibly cute animations by Marcus Gestré and Brikk studio… Source.
It’s almost anathema for me to admit it, living in the Bay Area, but it took me some time to come around on sushi.
Part of this uncertainty came from growing up in the Midwest, where there wasn’t much opportunity to really enjoy fresh fish. After all, any salt water fish, like tuna or salmon, will have to travel quite a ways to get to Minnesota — and does anyone really want to risk dodgy, gas station sushi?
It wasn’t until I started graduate school, out on the West Coast in California, that I started trying really good, really fresh sushi — and I was hooked. The good stuff is fresh, with a great flavor; it’s not “fishy” in the same way as cooked fish, but has a milder flavor that pairs great with the umami of soy sauce and wasabi.
(Don’t even get me started on the first time I tried wasabi, by the way. You know the story, I’m sure you’ve heard it before — thought it was some sort of avocado-based paste, like guacamole, put way too much in my mouth, and then spent the next several minutes gasping and gulping water.)
But there’s still a little part of me that finds it weird, eating raw fish. When I was a child, it was drilled into my head that we don’t eat any meat that isn’t fully cooked. Yet somehow, sushi is the exception to the rule?
Raw chicken? Wash every surface that it touches, to avoid spending several days incapacitated with salmonella.
Raw fish? Go ahead, put it in your mouth!
And even among fish, it seems like there are some hidden, inscrutable rules. Why is it okay to eat tuna and salmon when raw, but why not pike, or tilapia? What makes these few fishy examples okay to eat raw?
Two Threats, Two Methods of Neutralizing Them
There’s two big concerns when thinking about parasites in meat — the bacteria, and the other types.
First off: the bacteria. There’s a whole host of different, potentially toxic bacteria that live in the animals we eat, mostly in their digestive systems. This includes pathogenic (disease-causing) strains of Escherichia coli, various species in the Salmonella genus, and others.
These bacteria aren’t found in the muscle tissue of these animals — that is, not in the stuff that we eat. Instead, they’re located almost entirely in the lower digestive tract, everything that comes after the stomach.
The challenge here comes when preparing the meat — in less squeamish terms, when slaughtering the animal. When fish are harvested, they’re gutted early on, removing the digestive tract and keeping the meat fairly free of these bacteria.
On the other hand, in most slaughterhouses, the bacteria from the intestinal tracts of the killed animals end up being spread over the rest of the meat, which is why that chicken breast from the store is likely contaminated with Salmonella — even though there was no Salmonella on that part of the bird while it was alive.
|
https://medium.com/a-microbiome-scientist-at-large/how-we-usually-dont-get-sick-from-raw-sushi-b8d61f96e55f
|
['Sam Westreich']
|
2020-06-08 11:01:01.120000+00:00
|
['Health', 'Fish', 'Food', 'Science', 'Sushi']
|
Ludus Genesis NFT 001 Farming, Ludus Income update
|
Hi Team,
Today we are proud to announce a ‘first in history’ for crypto yield farming, along with our partnership with the NERD team.
Ludus Genesis 001 Farming:
We are rewarding farmers that provide LP tokens (Ludus/ETH) with shards of the Ludus Genesis 001 NFT from our previously announced partnership.
Duration Time of the pools: 1 month.
New Farm is here: https://covenants.eth.link/#/farm/dapp/0xe3EE1a2729ddB729d99e3ef5d54C6553dfD96aFD
A post by our CTO explaining it in more detail here: https://hackmd.io/5y8SBjIqRfqomK0Nbfxqlg
Ludus Income Pool Update:
Originally, Ludus Income pools were going to come out this weekend, but after several meetings with the development team and CTO, we decided that we should focus on having the new app closer to the finish.
Because if we release it too early, a token without utility, the market will only find it valuable by selling it after farming it, thus damaging the token health and the long-term goal of distributing a token with value back to the users.
More updates:
I have been in contact with ex-athletes that are interested in the project as well as coaches over the past few weeks, and I will meeting with them over the next few weeks.
Our latest partnership with the new studio of developers is going great, tomorrow after a final meeting with the developing team I will share a roadmap for Q2 of the Ludus app as well as for the marketing campaign.
Things look great for Ludus, and we are just getting started.
-jose
|
https://medium.com/@luduseth/ludus-genesis-nft-001-farming-ludus-income-update-45f26caa9719
|
[]
|
2021-04-25 18:24:47.547000+00:00
|
['Nft', 'Sports', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Yield Farming', 'Defi']
|
Life After
|
Life After
(photo by the author)
Your undoing
came in the shape
of san bernardino white trash
and an irish priest
locked in the boldest
of tangles
After the wedding party
drowned their sorrows
and those from
the old country
tipped their cups
to her chastity
She had a bit too much
soft skin for his constitution
she turned her back to
covet his cloth
where cloth was never
meant to flow
So you ducked to the
beat of the international parade
the muslim girl in your shadow
black hair flying
down the airport corridor
with you in pursuit
they cuffed her
and took her away
Your undoing
came in the shape
of an old book
with whithered pages
where you read
with indignation
the science of your breed
where you tossed
your soul to the righteous
and the dead.
|
https://medium.com/lit-up/life-after-f773c0d9fef5
|
['Lisa Sellge']
|
2019-03-23 21:59:08.783000+00:00
|
['Challenge', 'Poetry', 'Relationships', 'Love', 'Race']
|
Gospel 101. Is the gospel the same as the popular Christian religion we see in practice today?
|
What is the gospel and what is it not?
Going straight to the point, the gospel is not that God was angry, we apologized( “God I’m sorry, forgive me my sins” ) then he said ok, don’t do it again. The gospel is not a second chance to live a holy life. If it was, we’d need more than a zillion chances.
A Gospel means a good news meant to incite a rejoicing in you. The gospel (good news) is that we were dead and God made us alive forever.
How were we dead? We didn’t have God living inside of us.
How does God live inside a man? God lives inside a man through his spirit called the Holy Spirit.
God made a promise that he would pour out his spirit upon all flesh(old, young, rich, poor). Joel 2:28 “ And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh….”.
To believe that the holy spirit is now available for reception is to believe that Christ ascended because apostle John records in John 7:39 NKJV that “.. this He (Jesus) spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him (Jesus) would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
Jesus is glorified when he ascended and sat at the right hand of the Father (God).
To believe that Christ ascended is to:
First believe he was conceived by the Holy Ghost (Someone who’s born of God has life. He was the only man that had life, that had God living inside of him and he gave it up when he died).
Secondly, believe he died to pay our debt(yes we have debt, “the wages of sin is death”, we were meant to die eternally for not having God living inside us. But he paid the price for us).
Finally, believe that he was buried and God raised him up from the dead that we all that have joint baptism in his death may all receive newness of life through him by faith.
That’s the gospel my lovely people.
The gospel is not mere going to church every Sunday neither is it obeying the 10 commandments or keeping the mosaic law. The latter is Christian religion.
Truth be told, nothing can ever reconcile us with God except Christ. Not our sobering or our zealousness. Only faith that God through Christ has forgiven us all our sins and reconciled us to himself permanently.
Do you know that all the atrocities we commit against ourselves and our neighbors stem from God’s absence in us including physical death, sicknesses, diseases, possession by evil spirits.
In essence, we rise above those atrocities and bondages when we allow God live inside of us. This is true joy 🤩. You receive a new nature, a new heart, a new spirit. The almighty God’s own spirit living in you! You’re reborn of the spirit by faith.
That is salvation! That is the gospel!!💃Once you believe all these, you’re saved. You have a new spirit.
Afterwards, we need to grow in God’s spirit which we received. This is crucial because it’s a new spirit. Our mind doesn’t know/ understand anything about it. That’s why we renew our mind by praying and studying God’s word(the Bible). More so, we grow into what God has called us to be.
More on the above later…
Love y’all,
DamiOsh.
|
https://medium.com/@loladinkhr/gospel-101-is-the-gospel-the-same-as-the-popular-christian-religion-we-see-in-practice-today-caf55748ec2b
|
['Dami Osh']
|
2020-12-17 21:15:28.520000+00:00
|
['Gospel', 'Good News', 'Truth', 'Bible', 'Salvation']
|
Fireside Chats at KI labs; ep. 18
|
In this episode, we talk with our newly joined Data Engineering Lead, Ahmad Alhour, about his path from Jordan to Greece, and finally, to Munich!
Where did things start for you?
I was born in Amman Jordan, the middle east. So that’s a very big city, almost twice as big as Berlin. During my life growing up, Jordan was fairly peaceful. The oil and gas prices were impacted by the political issues around us but luckily we never had to worry about violence.
The bigger problem is how centralised the country is. About half the population lives in the capital city. The government is trying to change that by building universities in small cities so that cities can expand around the services demanded by the university.
I very much enjoy going back to visit family once or twice a year but each time I go back, I realise why I left in the first place.
How did you get into technology?
I fell in love with computers and programming when my dad bought a Pentium 1 PC around 2001–2002. I didn’t know what it was but I wanted to operate it. For my birthday, he gifted me Visual Basic Studio with a book on programming. I tried to hack a calculator and after messing around for a few months, I decided I wanted to be a programmer and it became my hobby. Graduating high school allowed me to immediately choose software engineering as an area of study.
In university I was approached by a few guys who were graduating about an idea for starting a social network; but in Arabic (this was right when Facebook was getting big). They asked me if I’d like to join them part time and I worked with them for a little bit over 2 years.
That’s where I actually learned software engineering professionally — which is much different than academic software engineering. I was very excited about visual programming and so getting into the web was sort of like a ‘dark art’ for me. I took electives in university to get better in that area so I could help the guys build the social network.
After graduating, I worked at a different startup for more than a year but then moved to Greece as an R&D Engineer for a large corporation, which was exciting. I definitely learned a lot but I learned that I wanted to do something solely with software. Then I moved to Germany.
Why did you choose Greece?
I didn’t really decide Greece as opposed to any other country. A recruiter offered me the opportunity and I saw it as a ticket into Europe. I talked with a few friends who told me Greece was a beautiful country from their holidays, so I was sold. Worst case, I’d just move back if I didn’t like it. Athens actually reminded me a lot of Amman. I expected something like London or Munich but it’s more southeastern European than Northwestern. Luckily, the food is amazing and the summers are fantastic.
How did you get to Germany?
I made the decision myself this time. The company in Athens wasn’t doing so well, and Greece as a country wasn’t either. Greece was considering leaving the EU and I had no interest in that. I wanted to move to Central Europe because tech was growing and that’s where my career could start developing. In Greece, the work atmosphere was more like, “hey let’s go to the beach, let’s grab a drink,” rather than working on an interesting project. There aren’t many Meetups or Conferences, and if there was any, it would be in Greek. I had to learn Greek as quick as possible because nearly everyone in the country (that I interacted with) spoke exclusively Greek; greek students only learn English if they take the class in secondary school as an elective.
Jordan is even much more English speaking than Greece. We learn English in primary school so everyone speaks it. There are many International companies in Amman too: Yahoo, Expedia, and Microsoft all have engineering offices. There are also different tech conferences, different open source community groups, etc. When I went to Athens, I expected an upgrade. This was the expectation of a European country. So, for my next move, I wanted my expectation to be met and Germany provided that.
How did web development turn in to data engineering?
In my previous company, my software engineering team wanted to build a report for a previous client. The client wanted to track reviews online to see if they were real or fraudulent. The technology “Spark” was recommended, and we decided to give it a try. We estimated 3 working days for it and I ended up spending two weeks on it. Despite taking too long, I realised I really enjoyed that type of work and eventually I was able to transfer to lead a Data Engineering team. There is so much to be learned and it’s a very new field, so the domain is loosely defined which makes things very interesting.
How does KI labs fit your life and career goals?
The data engineering team here is almost 3 times as big so there are many engineers to learn from. They also have a huge pool of knowledge; as many of them come from very diverse career paths, all coming together at data engineering.
There were three (+1) factors that convinced me to join KI labs. The first was my interview experience. I had great talks with the team. Second, the portfolio of projects the company is getting into and how important data engineering is in winning projects. I want to grow in data engineering, so it aligned well with my own goals.
Also, the office being near the city centre is a huge draw. My commute distance was more than halved which makes a significant difference in the quality of life. I make one tram connection and I’m at the office.
The +1 is because while I was trying to make a decision about joining KI labs or not, I read the Fireside Chat with Shreyas and Alex.
You joined less than two weeks ago. What’s the first impression of working at KI labs?
The onboarding process was very smooth for me. Everything was at my desk and ready for use. The team was welcoming and I’m getting to know them more over lunches. The data team dynamic is somewhat different than a product-company’s data team would be like since some of the engineers are working on projects completely different than other members of the team. Since I am a Lead, this will be an area of focus for me; understanding each team member’s wants and frustrations and trying to improve team cohesion while not restricting the freedom each engineer has. I’m quite excited to see what we’re able to accomplish!
|
https://medium.com/ki-labs-engineering/fireside-chats-at-ki-labs-ep-18-695066ce8b15
|
['Wyatt Carr']
|
2019-10-14 08:38:09.816000+00:00
|
['Hiring', 'Diversity', 'Technology', 'Data', 'Startup']
|
Artificionaturality: why build parks when you can build ecosystems?
|
The other day an acquaintance was asking whether we had spotted some green parrots in the city he had never seen before. As he was enthusiastically describing the little birds he had seen, I realized I had seen those plenty of times in Barcelona long time ago.
Monk parakeets pasturing in Barcelona.
These parrots, called Monk parakeets, come originally from South America but can be now found pretty much anywhere in Southern Europe and in the US (if you’ve seen them, let me know in the comments below). These are a feral animals i.e. wildlife animals that descend from once domesticated specimens. He obviously did not know this, and when I told him, to my surprise, his reaction was: “Well, it’s good to see animals in the cities” and that got me thinking…
While introduced species are generally regarded as invasive and harmful for the existing ecosystem, this might not the case for urban areas. After all, what ecosystem is there to disrupt in a city? Instead, why not taking advantage of this serendipitous wildlife adaption to try to bring back nature into the urban habitat? It is now well known that natural environments improve cognitive performance and help reduce levels of stress and anxiety, among other benefits [1,2,3], so by bridging the gap between urban and natural habitats, we might make our cities a more comfortable place to live in.
Yet when trying to bring back nature into our cities, we tend to think about planting some trees or building a soulless park. But what if we could change entirely the way we think about reintroducing nature in our cities? What if instead of parks, that merely focus on reintroducing vegetation, we could build entire self-sustained ecosystems within the city? What if we could engineer nature, to design perfectly balanced ecosystems, much like the EcoSphere licensed by NASA? Imagine the feeling of entering a city park and seeing all sorts of animals roaming around you. This concept of creating pockets of nature-like environments inside cities is what I call artificionaturality.
In this regard, one city I find particularly extraordinary where wildlife adaption has occurred both spontaneously and artificially, is Amsterdam, where one can find animals such as swans and grey herons adapted to the city lifestyle. Much of this is thanks to the variety of natural elements present throughout the city, such as the canals, and the reduced number of cars in circulation as a result of the bike-friendly city planning.
Geese roaming around the canals of Amsterdam.
But perhaps more astonishing is the biodiversity explosion one can find in the Oosterpark. Ponds and canals fuse with all sort of trees that are host to a plethora of birds such as white storks, starlings, ducks, robins, coots and others. One can see them eating grass, bathing, mating and being territorial, much like in the wild. Surprisingly, one can also find non-indigenous species such as Egyptian geese and funnily enough, rose-ringed parakeets (yes, an African and South Asian species introduced in 1980).
|
https://medium.com/@thewhiteorange/artificionaturality-why-build-parks-when-you-can-build-ecosystems-8ec90cf45128
|
['The White Orange']
|
2020-12-27 21:18:25.268000+00:00
|
['Cityscape', 'Future', 'Urban Planning', 'Travel', 'Ecocity']
|
DeFi Launch Incubation Program
|
Development 🌐
DeFi Launch has a world-class dev team with extensive knowledge in software development, including solidity experts. Our experienced team has worked on other successful blockchain projects and is ready to support the needs of every project that we incubate.
It’s not just about smart contracts working well. For a project to be successful, a project must have a comprehensive plan and design its tokenomics efficiently.
Security 🔐
To attract pre-sale investors to a new blockchain project, it’s critical to make them feel secure. A significant component of the process is having the project audited before it goes live.
Obtaining an audit from a renowned audit company is not an easy process. Smart contracts must not only be secure and well-designed, but they must also be well-executed in terms of communications and work dynamics in order to provide outcomes on time.
Our main security partner is Certik, which has audited DeFi Launch and will audit every project we incubate.
DeFi Launch has more than four renonwed audit companies as strategic partners. Priority access for audit schedules and personalized assistance to get through it.
Marketing & Communications 📢
An effective marketing plan is key for a successful launch. DeFi Launch facilitates access to the most recognized media on all DeFi, such as BscScan, CoinMarketCap, Coingecko, DappRadar, BSC News, Dapp.com, and more.
Our expert and experienced team will provide assistance and will help create an expansion plan to build a strong community that supports the project. Building communication channels on Twitter, Telegram, Discord and Medium are key to maintaining a fluid relationship with the community.
Partnerships 🤝🏼
It is well known that no project can achieve positive outcomes working alone. DeFi Launch connects new projects with exclusive partnerships that are simply not available to most new projects.
Get immediate access to world-class partnerships with the most recognized Swaps, DEX, Yield Aggregators, Marketplaces, and more.
|
https://medium.com/@defilaunch/defi-launch-incubation-program-5d9086b2ef9c
|
['Defi Launch Incubator']
|
2021-12-30 19:13:42.081000+00:00
|
['Fantom', 'Incubator', 'Launchpad', 'Defi', 'Bsc']
|
What precisely is Flipkart Affiliate Marketing?
|
Flipkart, as we as a whole know, is one of the most mainstream E-Commerce organizations that house a few items that an individual needs in their day to day existence. Flipkart was established in 2007 by Sachin and Binny Bansal who are not siblings as ordinarily mixed up because of their family name. From that point forward, it has just picked up force and a great standing by offering a quality support to its clients.
|
https://medium.com/@webreedigito77/what-precisely-is-flipkart-affiliate-marketing-d7ae202be8f0
|
['Webree Digito']
|
2020-12-23 15:33:37.928000+00:00
|
['Flipkart Affiliate', 'Affiliate Marketing']
|
The Gender Binary Shattered in the 2010s
|
This piece is part of the The Whiplash Decade, a package on the wild ride that was the 2010s.
For centuries in the United States, gender was largely simple, imposed, and compulsory. Even as indigenous people have recognized multiple genders for millennia, and black and brown urban communities have enacted rebellions against prevailing gender norms, the standard, white-driven U.S. cultural assumption was that there were men and there were women — no one had a choice in the matter. Even those of us who ultimately left the gender we were assigned at birth could only transition with the understanding that we had once properly belonged to the other gender, and that we would hew to the norms of our new gender. Those of us with the ability to seamlessly blend in would try to erase all signs of our previous history.
No one could have predicted that an entire generation would upend these assumptions in the span of a decade. Even as we revel in the visual spectacle of fabulous streaming and social media products that interrogate and rebel against binary gender — from the wild popularity of trans-driven shows like FX’s Pose and HBO’s Euphoria to the Instagram-fueled success of nonbinary figures like Jacob Tobia and Alok Vaid-Menon — we must also remind ourselves of the liberation such acts foretell, a world where our thoughts, actions, and destinies can no longer be determined by the gender that society insists we are.
Tracing how we arrived at this moment is like traveling upstream on a raging river to search for the major tributaries that have fed into its waters. A sure source, as Jenna Wortham argues persuasively in the New York Times, has been the development of the internet; from heartfelt Tumblr sharing or YouTube video-watching, from private Facebook groups to Instagram influencer accounts, an array of platforms that provide alternate gender models for people who would otherwise be unable to find them in their immediate vicinity — degrees of engagement and intimacy that were previously impossible in non-interactive platforms like books, documentaries, and zines.
No one could have predicted that an entire generation would upend these assumptions in the span of a decade.
Moreover, the specific emergence of two politicized trans celebrities of color, Janet Mock, who came out in a 2011 Marie-Claire article, and Laverne Cox, who shot to stardom with a role on Orange Is the New Black in 2013, gave us media figures who deployed their Hollywood-driven normative attractiveness by making space for the expressions of trans people who run afoul of binary gender assumptions. They have been instrumental to advancing voices with more complex histories and identities, from justice-seekers like Cece MacDonald, who was imprisoned for defending herself against a transphobic attacker, to nonbinary actors like Indya Moore, who refused only to be called a woman even as they graced the cover of women’s magazines. These gender-complex role models have multiplied exponentially, from genderfluid celebrities like Ruby Rose, Miley Cyrus, and Sam Smith, to social media influencers like Chella Man, Jeffrey Marsh, and Gigi Gorgeous.
The Obama administration also certainly played a role, making it easier for transgender people to avail themselves of state-funded medical care in 2014, and in 2016 allowed people to obtain government identification in new genders without the requirement of surgery. But perhaps the most salient tributary that led to this gender era has been the advocacy that led to the medical community finally taking steps to de-pathologize gender nonconformity. Transgender healthcare changed radically with the publication of the 7th edition of World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) in 2011, which significantly shifted major transition decisions from gatekeeping medical professionals to trans people themselves, in what has come to be known as an “informed consent” model. And in 2013, the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) shifted the name for the condition of being trans from “Gender Identity Disorder” to “Gender Dysphoria” in its fifth edition.
Prior to 2011, WPATH recommended long periods of therapy, often amounting to several years, before hormones and surgeries could be prescribed and performed. More perniciously, these guidelines recommended the “real-life experience” of a trans person living in their new gender for at least several months prior to hormone therapy or surgery. This requirement not only psychologically punished but actively endangered trans people, often scaring them into receding back to their assigned genders. These barriers not only made it more difficult for large numbers of people who desired to transition to do so, but also resulted in legal trans-related care only being provided to people who wanted to shift from one binary gender to another, or were among a courageous few who were willing to lie to avail of services.
This is the world that the vast proportion of trans and nonbinary people seek, where the goals of the #MeToo and transgender movements are very much aligned.
At the end of the decade, the prevailing model is informed consent. This gives agency to the trans person and not the medical provider, who now plays the role of advisor rather than gatekeeper. The effect of trans people having a greater right to self-determination is that we now have more ability to judge our relationship to the medical community for ourselves, which in turn helps us enormously in defining our individual genders on our own terms. This has resulted not only in greater numbers of trans people living openly, but also many more whose transitions don’t correspond to the norms of binary gender identity and presentation.
While this account may seem to only deal with a tiny minority of people, it’s worth considering that the demand for bodily self-determination in the transgender community is the same demand that has undergirded cisgender women’s movements for contraception and abortion rights. More pressingly, one of the key demands of the #MeToo movement is also a call for bodily self-determination — shifting the norms of sexual consent. Tarana Burke founded the movement in 2006, sowing the seeds for its emergence as a widespread reckoning for abusive men starting in 2017. The assertion that all parties in a sexual encounter must give explicit and verbal permission for that encounter not to be rape has come to be known as an “affirmative consent model.” Women must actively and verbally consent in sexual situations with men — a call for agency that echoes those of trans people.
Sexual harassment and assault would be significantly less prevalent in a world where people of all genders are taught to seek and obtain consent prior to sex — an idea which can extend to a world where there are no assumptions of behavior whatsoever based on gender. This is the world that the vast proportion of trans and nonbinary people seek, where the goals of the #MeToo and transgender movements are very much aligned.
Yet even as these social developments have shifted the dynamics of gender over the last decade, they have also meant that gender is now much more contentious than it was in the past. The #MeToo movement persists against the backdrop of a president who has documented history of sexually abusive behavior, and an administration that is actively hostile toward transgender lives. The next decade must be one of continued vigilance as we strive to overcome gender’s continued oppression of us, whether cis or trans people, women, nonbinary folks, and also men who themselves have fallen captive to gender’s oppressive system, even though it no longer serves any of us.
|
https://gen.medium.com/the-decade-gender-was-revealed-513e46bc954e
|
['Meredith Talusan']
|
2019-12-10 17:37:41.139000+00:00
|
['The Whiplash Decade', 'Gender', 'Lgbtqia', 'Equality', 'Culture']
|
Sunday sermon
|
Sunday sermon
Acts 1:3
To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
Links to my sites here and the bottom of every post- https://ccoutreach87.com/links-to-my-sites-updated-10-2018/
Sunday sermon video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjJRRUsa09w&t=8s
https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5/videos/10205714658543929/
https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMi0oTQlcxLhm8L-Wc
ON VIDEO
.The longer reading
.Luke/Acts
.Who wrote the most chapters in the New Testament?
.Who wrote the largest part of the New Testament? — Good Question [Word for word- Luke. Most letters- Paul]
.The promise of the Spirit
.The importance of the ascension
.The Kingdom question in Acts 1?
.The unfolding of the plan/mystery of God
.The present ministry of Jesus
.Continual intercession
.He showed himself alive- after his passion
.How about us?
.Passover- Pentecost
.Jesus and his church are the fulfillment of these great feasts
.The good argument Justin Martyr made
.Tabula Rasa
.The 2nd coming of Christ
Hebrews 7:25
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
TEACHING [Past posts below]
Today I have no plan on making a video- so this will be it until Monday night.
I just finished a study for the weekly text posts- and I’ll start a new one Tuesday, God willing. I want to wish all of you a great Lord’s day- hopefully most will attend a church service in the city you live in.
I realize some are not able to attend for various reasons- but would encourage you to fellowship with other believers- even if it’s in a home setting- it’s important for believers to meet together- it builds each other up when we do this.
Ok, that’s it for this brief note-
God bless all
John
James 2:26
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
[These verses thru out the post are some I quoted on the video- all the verses I quoted or taught from are at the bottom of this post]
PAST POSTS [These are links and parts of my past teachings that relate in some way to today’s post- Verses below]
https://ccoutreach87.com/acts-links/
https://ccoutreach87.com/ephesians-links/
https://ccoutreach87.com/hebrews-links-updated-10-2018/
https://ccoutreach87.com/house-of-prayer-or-den-of-thieves/
https://ccoutreach87.com/james-2015/
https://ccoutreach87.com/corinthians-links-4-2019/
Acts 1
POSTED BY CCOUTREACH87 ⋅ JANUARY 18, 2017 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT
ACTS 1
Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
https://youtu.be/7UqPubfdyTM Acts 1
https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/1-12-17-acts-1.zip
ON VIDEO-
.The Jesus movement
.Is it just a ‘story’?
.Act’s proven to be historically accurate
.How?
.Industrial revolution leads to field of archeology
.We found stuff
.field of documentary evidence arose-
.That proved it too
.Sir Ramsey changed his mind
.Church in world history
.Descartes- Copernicus- etc.
.Acts-
.Jesus ascends
.Wait for the promise of the Father
.Judas replaced
.Power is on the way
.History-
.early 20th century- Spirit comes to Azusa
.Then at Duquesne University
.Catholics get it too
.Charismatic movement
PAST TEACHING [below are my past links/teaching I did that relate to today’s video- ACTS 1]
https://ccoutreach87.com/john-complete-links-added/
https://ccoutreach87.com/overview-of-philosophy/ %5BMentioned Aristotle and Plato on today’s video- Here’s my past teaching on them]
https://ccoutreach87.com/acts/
https://ccoutreach87.com/atheism-apologetics-links-added/
ACTS study [Some sites- see the rest here https://ello.co/ccoutreach87/post/bk5bpacazvw8mqpvvzaxzw
Introduction; Yesterday I took my kids to the mall after church, I usually get lost in the book store. Even
|
https://medium.com/@johnchiarello/sunday-sermon-5edf39484429
|
['John Chiarello']
|
2020-12-20 11:04:34.179000+00:00
|
['Bible', 'Religion', 'Jesus', 'Ccoutreach87', 'God']
|
Nest.js & Webpack Hot Module Replacement
|
Hot Module Replacement, or HMR, can be found in many different languages and frameworks in software engineering to keep this article short the scope will be limited to HMR in webpack and, briefly, how it works with nest. For more information check out nestjs.com documentation on hot reload and webpack’s documentation on HMR
Nest.js
According to nestjs.com:
Nest is a framework for building efficient, scalable Node.js server-side applications. It uses progressive JavaScript, is built with TypeScript (preserves compatibility with pure JavaScript) and combines elements of OOP (Object Oriented Programming), FP (Functional Programming), and FRP (Functional Reactive Programming). Under the hood, Nest makes use of Express, but also provides compatibility with a wide range of other libraries (e.g. Fastify). This allows for easy use of the myriad third-party plugins which are available.
Nest does most of its dirty work through annotations which gives it a feel similar to Java Spring. The most common use case for nest is quickly building a loosely coupled, scalable architecture using Typescript.
Webpack
Webpack is an open source JavaScript module bundler. At its most basic it bundles JavaScript files for use in a browser but can also be configured to minifiy, transform, or package anything.
What is Hot Module Replacement(HMR)?
HMR is a way to quickly replace modules in a running application, removing the need to reboot an entire server when changes are made. A high level view of HMR is that the run-time will occasionally download updates. The application will then sync by replacing the updated or removed modules.
Photo by Chiara Ferroni on Unsplash
A more in depth explanation is that the HMR run-time supports a check and apply method. When check is called an HTTP call goes out to update the JSON manifest. If this call fails, then HMR assumes there is no update. If the call succeeds, then the list of updated chunks are compared to the list of current chunks. For each current chunk the updated chunk is downloaded. When all chunks are downloaded the HMR run-time will then switch to ready. Now an apply method in your code, most likely in a router if using nest.js, will flag all updated modules as invalid and update handlers will stop bubbling up of the invalid designation. If there is no update handler for the code being updated, the invalid will continue to bubble up to the parent module until it reaches an update handler or an entry point and fails. Assuming the code has an update handler all invalid files will be discarded and the run-time will switch back to idle from ready.
What are some use cases for HMR?
The strongest use case I have found for HMR is in a development environment. Locally, without HMR my node server needed to be rebooted at every change and would take an average of 17 seconds to reboot. With HMR I was able to keep my node server up and running all day and updates were applied around 13 milliseconds. Nest.js also wraps its main.hmr.ts file in a conditional, so if HMR is disabled all HMR related code will be removed from the compiler. HMR also provides extremely fast styling changes comparable to if the changes were made in a browser debugger, and will retain application state during a reload.
Photo by Rishi Deep on Unsplash
How do I implement HMR?
|
https://jtearl188.medium.com/nest-js-webpack-hot-module-replacement-c321626139ca
|
['Jt Earl']
|
2019-01-10 00:26:51.488000+00:00
|
['Typescript', 'Webpack', 'Nodejs', 'JavaScript', 'Expressjs']
|
Evesham Education Foundation thanks Oak Mortgage Company for support
|
[caption id=”attachment_54692" align=”alignleft” width=”300"]
Evesham Education Foundation has saluted Oak Mortgage Company for its support of the Evesham Education Foundation and its Wine, Dine and Win! Event. Foundation board members recently presented Bill Gelernt , president of Oak Mortgage Company a plaque signifying the Foundation’s sincere appreciation. Pictured from left: EEF board members Dave Scott, Bobbi Jo Grace, Gelernt, and EEF board members John Cipollone and Karl Eckstrom.[/caption]
Evesham Education Foundation ( EEF ) board members presented Bill Gelernt , president of Oak Mortgage Company a plaque signifying the foundation’s sincere appreciation for Oak’s ongoing generous support. Oak Mortgage has supported the Evesham Education Foundations Wine, Dine and Win! event for the last two years. They will also be the event sponsor again in 2016 along with Wineworks Marlton.
“Our corporate philosophy values reinvestment in our community,” Gelernt said. “Our ongoing participation with the EEF enables us to touch the lives of many students in the Evesham Township school district. We are proud to offer our support.”
The next Wine, Dine and Win! Event will be held on Feb. 5 at The Mansion on Main Street Voorhees. The event will feature a tasting of hundreds of wines and spirits from around the world provided through the courtesy of Wineworks Marlton as well as culinary samplings provided by the executive chefs at the Mansion as well as local restaurants including Flemings, Bertucci’s Italian Restaurant, Good Foods To Go, Classic Cake, Jersey Mike’s Subs, Brio, and Carabba’s and ShopeRite — A La Cart, Allora and Marcello’s . In addition there will be casino games offering participants the opportunity to win over 65 gift baskets and prizes.
Committee co-chair Bobbi Jo Grace also stated “Our Wine, Dine & Win! Event has become one of the marquee social events in Evesham Township with over 450 participants annualy. The funds raised go to support several programs in the school district that would have otherwise been discontinued without the financial support of the EEF.”
For more information on the event please go to www.eveshameducationfoundation.org.
|
https://medium.com/the-marlton-sun/evesham-education-foundation-thanks-oak-mortgage-company-for-support-5cf48c3b007d
|
[]
|
2016-09-23 18:57:19.135000+00:00
|
['Families', 'Headlines', 'Foundation', 'Company', 'For']
|
4 Things Every Programmer Should Aspire to Be
|
What makes your career as a developer a great one.
Do you still ask yourself what you want to be when you grow up? Even if you’ve already grown into a full adult?
I do that daily. And as a junior developer, most of my answers are related to what type of programmer I aspire to be one day.
Every coder has different inspirations for the future, but I believe that the secret ingredient for a career made of gratification is made of just 4 principles.
Let’s see them in details.
Be Very Skilled On A Niche Of Technologies
You can’t master every discipline in the coding world. You probably won’t be the next master of self-driving cars, lunar module software engineer and top JavaScript developer all at once. Yet, you can still find something you’re truly passionate about and become a master of that, whether the discipline is mobile-development or writing code for the missions on Mars.
Mastering a set of skills is a beautiful thing, which can bring you a lot of satisfaction in the world of developers, from becoming a CTO or tech lead, to getting recognized as an authority in your field.
In going deep into something you are passionate about in this world, I’m sure you will find a renewed passion every day and a lot of career achievements along the way.
Speaking about coding for space programs:
|
https://medium.com/javascript-in-plain-english/4-things-every-programmer-should-aspire-to-be-7372a7ac7fbe
|
['Piero Borrelli']
|
2020-12-05 06:32:59.035000+00:00
|
['Work', 'Programming', 'Software Engineering', 'Web Development', 'Technology']
|
Google Analytics Customer Revenue Prediction
|
Welcome to the series about Google Analytics Customer Revenue Prediction using machine learning with python in a hands-on approach.
In this series, we’ll explore pretty much about the problem of Revenue Prediction of customers and solution for generating good revenue in future.
Here’s the set of articles in this series:
This intro guide is to understand the problem and basic idea on how to start with.
Introduction Real-world Problems Prerequisites Business Problem Data overview Understanding the data & Features Mapping to an ML Problem Reading Data
1. Introduction
What do you see in the below picture?
80–20
We can see that 20% is weighing much more than 80%. This is called the 80–20 Rule. Many Analysts say that the 80–20 Rule works everywhere. The 80–20 rule says that 20% has more impact than the other 80%.
This principle was observed in different fields like economics, epidemics, computing, sports, engineering, and many more, sometimes taking extreme values like 90%/10%, 95%/5%, or even 99%/1% but 80–20 performed better results than all.
So let's come back to the idea and look at where the 80–20 rule is used.
2. Real-world Sceanarios
A general example of the 80–20 rule is that 20% of the students have grades more than 80%. This is a case we can see everywhere. 20% of the leaders take care of 80% of the people. We know that leaders are very less in number, but they lead 80% of the people.
3. In the same way 20% of the customers generate 80% of the revenue. This is the case we use here.
3. Prerequisites
This post assumes you are familiar with basic Statistical and Machine learning Learning concepts like Dealing with Data, Pandas, Python basics, and Simple understanding on classification and regression .
4. Business Problem
The 80–20 Rule in Business states that 80% of the revenue is generated by 20% of the customers. So we need to find out the 20% of the potential customers so the marketing teams will focus more on them by Promotional Advertisements and attractive offers. So our goal is to find out the revenue generated by the 20% customers in future.
We were given customers past data like visits, transactions made by them in G-Store. We will analyze this and predict the customer's revenue in the future.
The 80/20 rule has proven true for many businesses–only a small percentage of customers produce most of the revenue. As such, marketing teams are challenged to make appropriate investments in promotional strategies.
5. Data overview
The data is taken from Kaggle competition. You can find the data from the below link
We need to download train_v2.csv,test_v2.csv
train_v2.csv — contains user transactions from August 1st, 2016 to April 30th, 2018.
test_v2.csv — contains user transactions from May 1st, 2018 to October 15th, 2018
We need to analyze train and test data and predict revenue for all the unique customers in test_v2.csv in the future (December 1st, 2018 through January 31st, 2019)
Each row in the Data set is a visit to the store. A customer can visit a store many times and can purchase only once or twice. Customers may visit many times and may not purchase anything as well.
6. Understanding the data & Features
The dataset has features as follows.
fullVisitorId- A unique id for each user or customer of the Google Merchandise Store.
channel grouping — The channel via which the user came to the Store.
date — The date on which the user visited the Store.
device — The specifications for the device used to access the Store.
geoNetwork — This section contains information about the geographic location of the user.
socialEngagementType — Engagement type, either “Socially Engaged” or “Not Socially Engaged”.
totals — This section contains aggregate values across the session.
trafficSource — This section contains information about the Traffic Source from which the session originated.
visitId — An id for this session. This is unique to the user. For a unique ID, you should use a combination of fullVisitorId and visitId.
visitNumber — value n in nth number of vists
visitStartTime — The timestamp of visitStartTime
hits — This row and nested fields are populated for any types of hits. Provides a record of all page visits.
customDimensions — This section contains any user-level or session-level custom dimensions that are set for a session. This is a repeated field and has an entry for each dimension that is set.
totals — This set of columns mostly includes high-level aggregate data
These are all the features present in the Data set given.
7. Mapping to an ML Problem
so here we are going to predict the revenue generated by the customer (in dollars) when he visits the store ., so we can pose this problem as a regression problem
Performance Metric
We are predicting the natural log of the sum of all transactions per user.
The submissions are calculated based on Metric RMSE.
Predicted is the predicted revenue for customer
Solution Idea
By going through a lot of resources and kaggle experts solutions the problem is solved as follows.
Firstly they will predict if the user will come to the store in the future or not using classification Model
Next, if the user comes to the store we will predict the revenue for that user
Solving a problem using both Classification & Regression is called as Hurdle Model
Hurdle Model
Hurdle model means Modelling the zero and non-zero data (classification) with one model
Then modeling the non-zero data for predicting the value
We will talk more about this in Feature Engineering
8. Reading Data
Reading train_v2.csv
|
https://medium.com/@venugopalmuvvala123/google-analytics-customer-revenue-prediction-24e3428fbd56
|
[]
|
2020-11-30 02:23:48.617000+00:00
|
['Handling Missing Values', 'Regression', 'Kaggle', 'Google Analytics', 'Finance']
|
A WEEK AT WORK!
|
Author: Eden Wakefield-James (work experience/ office lackey for the week)
A week at work. Oh, I never knew how tiring it was going to be. BUT, I love it!
I am a 15-year-old student doing work experience here at Univers Labs, and I wanted to give you an insight from a teenager’s point of view of my time here.
I originally wanted to come to Univers Labs because I thought it was a cool place where my mum worked and where I could indulge my love of photography, my keen interest in design and processing strategies.
I was tasked with finding faults in the websites that I would then report to testing. Finding issues or formatting errors that would negatively impact the site and the users made me feel like I had a real, positive impact on the company. For example, the ‘text overlaps’- this results in being unable to see certain parts clearly which might make users miss an important piece of information, ‘the site is not responsive’- ‘the pictures are too pixelated’, WHAT A NIGHTMARE!
I wanted to include as much photography into my work experience as possible, and Univers Labs were more than accommodating. Max, the Head of Production, is also a photography enthusiast, and very kindly took time out of his busy schedule to give me a practical lesson. We went round various buildings in Oxford, and he showed me some techniques he uses to take amazing architectural photographs!
So why is the use of photography so crucial to websites?
Let’s use ‘Jim’ as an example:
‘Jim is a customer and was looking at lawnmowers. However, the pictures on the site were either not loading or too pixelated resulting in him being unable to see what he was buying. Because of this, Jim did not proceed with any payment. Most customers visiting the site encountered similar problems, losing the company money, customer reliability and overall credibility’ — All they had to do was change the pictures! It’s that simple.
Of course, you need a topnotch website to back up the pictures (something Univers Labs seem pretty good at!). But even with a great website, the lack of good images, especially on sites used to purchase goods from, can severely impact sales.
Photography relays information to the user very efficiently, generates more significant interest in the company, and improves overall business. Images are an easy way for customers to understand what products you are selling. It is a reliable marketing strategy which gains the company more sales through strategically placed visualisations.
Many companies don’t have a gallery or anything to portray the products or services they sell. Especially for a website that is planning to sell stuff, it would be a bit silly if you didn’t have any! So, if you want your site to be better than anyone else’s, I would suggest adding some photographs, and some pretty stellar ones at that!
I’d like to finish by saying a big THANK YOU to everyone at Univers Labs for an amazing week. It was a great introduction to the scary word of work and I’m going to miss you all!
|
https://medium.com/universlabs/a-week-at-work-19ce16efcc2f
|
['Alex Bradley']
|
2018-06-05 10:52:40.073000+00:00
|
['Workplace', 'Design', 'Photography', 'Digital Marketing']
|
Gabriel the Archangel Throughout Salvation History
|
Saint Gabriel is most well-known by Christians as the angel who announced the coming births of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ in the first chapter of Luke. Yet he has a number of other scriptural and traditional appearances, as well. He is considered to be among the order of archangels, alongside Raphael and Michael. Though there exist many angels and heavenly spirits, these three archangels comprise three of only five angels named in the Bible (the other two being the demon Abaddon/Apollyon and Satan himself). Though Catholics tend to hold Saint Michael in the highest esteem and are often most devoted to him among the angels, Gabriel is arguably the most important of the three named archangels due to his mission’s continuous closeness to our Lord.
Angel or Archangel?
First of all, what is an archangel? The Church traditionally considers there to be a whole hierarchy of heavenly spirits, with archangels and angels occupying the “lower” end of the hierarchy. “Angel” means “messenger,” and so an “archangel” is a “chief messenger.” Saint Gregory the Great explained this in the sixth century:
Angels are called those who announce things of lesser importance, Archangels those who announce the most high. This is why it was not an Angel, but the Archangel Gabriel whom God sent to the Virgin Mary. In such a ministry, indeed, it was fitting that the greatest of the angels should come and announce the greatest news. — Homily 34, Pope St. Gregory I
It is noteworthy that Gabriel (along with Raphael) is never actually referred to as an archangel in the canonical Scriptures; only Michael is given that title in the Bible with certainty. Gabriel is only referred to as an angel in the text. However, it is reasonable to assume that Gabriel holds this distinction as well. Firstly, as Saint Gregory says above, if an archangel is one who delivers particularly important messages, then what angel is more worthy of the title than he who announced the Incarnation of Christ Himself?
Secondly, Raphael appears to hold a particular significance among angels, a significance apparently shared by Gabriel. Raphael calls himself “one of the seven, who stand before the Lord” (Tobit 12:15, DRA). Gabriel later refers to himself with similar language, saying to Zechariah, “I am Gabriel, who stand before God” (Luke 1:19, DRA). It seems that Gabriel is also one of these seven “important” angels Raphael speaks of.
Thirdly, a connection between Scripture and liturgy implies that the Church’s Tradition has long considered Gabriel and Michael to be in the same rank in the hierarchy. Gabriel is said to be “standing on the right side of the altar of incense” (Luke 1:11). Curiously, the same language is used for Michael instead of Gabriel in the traditional Offertory prayers of the Mass:
Through the intercession of Blessed Michael the Archangel, standing at the right hand of the altar of incense, and of all His elect may the Lord vouchsafe to bless this incense and to receive it in the odor of sweetness. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. — Missale Romanum, 1962
If Michael is known through Scripture to be an archangel, and occupies the same “position” as Gabriel, then it makes sense that Gabriel would also be considered an archangel.
Gabriel’s Messages to Daniel
The first named appearance of Gabriel in the Scriptures is in the book of the Prophet Daniel. In chapter eight, Daniel receives a vision of a rampaging ram being destroyed by a one-horned goat. The goat’s horn was then replaced by four horns, one longer than the others, which knocked many of the stars from the sky and took away the continual burnt sacrificial offering from before the Prince of the heavenly host. The angel Gabriel was then sent to Daniel to interpret this vision:
“Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end… As for the ram which you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia. And the he-goat is the king of Greece; and the great horn between his eyes is the first king. As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power. And at the latter end of their rule, when the transgressors have reached their full measure, a king of bold countenance, one who understands riddles, shall arise. His power shall be great, and he shall cause fearful destruction, and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people of the saints. By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall magnify himself. Without warning he shall destroy many; and he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes; but, by no human hand, he shall be broken.” — Daniel 8:17, 20–25 (RSV-CE)
Gabriel’s interpretation of Daniel’s vision reads like a prophecy both of upcoming historical events (the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great and its aftermath) and of the apocalypse (“the time of the end,” the casting down of the stars as in Revelation 12, etc.).
Gabriel returns in the following chapter to deliver a prophecy of Jerusalem’s desolation and, fittingly, of the coming of the Messiah:
“Seventy weeks of years are decreed concerning your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off, and shall have nothing; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war; desolations are decreed. And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week; and for half of the week he shall cause sacrifice and offering to cease; and upon the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.” — Daniel 9:24–27 (RSV-CE)
Gabriel Announces the Immaculate Conception
The Protoevangelium of James is not considered canonical, inerrant scripture. Nevertheless, a good deal of its content was adopted as Catholic tradition, including the names of Mary’s parents (Saints Joachim and Anna) and the Presentation of the child Mary at the Temple (which is celebrated as a feast day on November 21). So although it is considered apocrypha and not an apostolic text, much of its narrative is held in high esteem by the Church. In the Protoevangelium, Joachim and Anna pray for a child in their old age. Unnamed angels are sent to respond to their prayers:
And, behold, an angel of the Lord stood by, saying: “Anna, Anna, the Lord has heard your prayer, and you shall conceive, and shall bring forth; and your seed shall be spoken of in all the world.” And Anna said: As the Lord my God lives, if I beget either male or female, I will bring it as a gift to the Lord my God; and it shall minister to Him in holy things all the days of its life.” And, behold, two angels came, saying to her: “Behold, Joachim your husband is coming with his flocks. For an angel of the Lord went down to him, saying: ‘Joachim, Joachim, the Lord God has heard your prayer. Go down hence; for, behold, your wife Anna shall conceive.’” — Protoevangelium of James
There is a tradition that the primary messenger among these angels was Gabriel himself. For example, a version of events similar to the one in the Protoevangelium appears in the seventeenth century private revelations to Venerable Mary of Ágreda:
The holy archangel Gabriel humbled himself before the throne of the most blessed Trinity, adoring and revering the divine Majesty in the manner which befits these most pure and spiritual substances. From the throne an intellectual voice proceeded, saying: “Gabriel, enlighten, vivify and console Joachim and Anne, our servants, and tell them, that their prayers have come to our presence and their petitions are heard in clemency. Promise them, that by the favor of our right hand they will receive the Fruit of benediction, and that Anne shall conceive a Daughter, to whom We give the name of MARY.” — Sister Mary of Jesus of Ágreda, Mystical City of God, Vol. 1, Chapter XIII, trans. Fiscar Marison
Gabriel Foretells the Births of John and Jesus
Gabriel’s next named appearances in the Bible are both in Luke 1 (previously discussed in more detail here). He is sent first to the priest Zechariah to tell him that his wife Elizabeth will, despite her lifelong infertility, conceive a child who will be the Messiah’s forerunner. When Zechariah expresses doubt, he is struck mute at Gabriel’s word until the child, John the Baptist, is born. Some months later in the same chapter, Gabriel most famously appears to the young Mary to announce her virginal conception of the Son of God by the overshadowing of His Holy Spirit.
After realizing his betrothed has become pregnant, an unnamed angel comes to Saint Joseph in a dream:
[A]n angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” — Matthew 1:20–21 (RSV-CE)
As in the Protoevangelium, there is a tradition that the unnamed angel is in fact Gabriel:
Yet though Joseph think on these things, let not Mary the daughter of David be troubled; as the word of the Prophet brought pardon to David, so the Angel of the Saviour delivers Mary. Behold, again appears Gabriel the bridesman of this Virgin; as it follows, “Behold the Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph.” — Pseudo-Augustine
Although the Bible itself does not confirm the identity of this angel, is it not fitting that the archangel who has at least thrice foretold the coming of Christ (first to Daniel, second to Zechariah in relation to the Messiah’s forerunner John, and third to Christ’s own mother) should be the same angel who entrusts the coming Christ to His foster father Joseph?
“The Annunciation” by Fra Angelico
Other Possible Appearances
An old Divine Office hymn for the feast of Saint Gabriel from the Dominican Breviary, called “O robur Domini”, sings of Gabriel’s various scriptural appearances. Two verses in particular preserve yet more traditions that identify unnamed angels with Gabriel.
One verse claims that Gabriel is the angel who announces the birth of Christ to the shepherds near Bethlehem in Luke 2:8–14:
Good shepherds of the night / Heard angel voices sing, / As thou [Gabriel] didst come in light / Tidings of joy to bring / For them and all the earth: / That God, the King of might, / Hath taken form by human birth. — “O robur Domini”, translation from The Hymns of the Dominican Missal and Breviary, ed. Aquinas Byrnes, O.P.
Another verse identifies Gabriel as the angel who strengthened our Lord before His Passion during His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane in Luke 22:43:
To Christ, when in His prayer / Great pain turned sweat to blood, / Thou didst bring strength to bear / God’s anger in full flood / Let loose upon His Son — / The Son He would not spare / Until the Holy Will was done. — “O robur Domini”, translation from The Hymns of the Dominican Missal and Breviary, ed. Aquinas Byrnes, O.P.
Gregory Palamas, a fourteenth century post-schism saint of the Orthodox Church, preserves a tradition that the “angel of the Lord [who] descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone, and sat upon it,” whose “appearance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow,” (Matthew 28:2–3) who announced Christ’s Resurrection “was, after all, that same angel of the Annunciation, Gabriel” (Homily of Gregory Palamas For the Sunday of The Myrrhbearing Women).
(There is some controversy over how Catholics should view Gregory Palamas. On one hand, he was canonized by the Orthodox, not the Catholics, after the Schism; and some of his theology is controversial to say the least from the western point of view. On the other hand, he is still liturgically commemorated by some Eastern Catholics, and Saint John Paul II held him in some esteem. Regardless of this Orthodox saint’s status in Catholicism, he did not inherit this view of Gabriel as the angel of the Resurrection from nowhere.)
Gabriel’s Horn
Saint Paul the Apostle teaches that Christ’s Second Coming will be announced by an archangel and a trumpet:
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. — 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 (RSV-CE)
Nowhere in Scripture indicates who the trumpeting archangel is. Yet it should come as no surprise by now that at some point a tradition arose that just as Gabriel announced Christ’s First Coming, he will be assigned to ring out His Second Coming. In 1375, the “proto-Protestant” John Wycliffe implied that Gabriel would be the trumpeting archangel in a turn of phrase:
And men must needs see here, that their priest bindeth man above earth, when he bindeth man after God, and not for the flesh, nor for covetousness. And so this pope should teach men that he bindeth thus above earth, and neither in the earth, nor under the earth, but according to the keys above. But this will he never teach, before that Gabriel blows his horn. — John Wycliffe, De Ecclesiae Dominio
(Regardless Wycliffe’s heretical views, he lived in the thoroughly Catholic context of fourteenth century England. As with Gregory Palamas, his mention here of Gabriel is really unrelated to his non-Catholic views, but rather indicative of a tradition he likely inherited rather than pulled from thin air.)
Interestingly, all the way across Europe in Armenia, evidence of belief that Gabriel is the archangel of 1 Thessalonians can be found in a manuscript illustration from 1455, showing an image of him trumpeting as the dead rise:
“Dining in Paradise and the Resurrection of the Dead” (Walters MS W.543, fol. 14r)
The fact that an identical tradition existed in fourteenth century Catholic England (preserved by Wycliffe) and in a fifteenth century Armenian Orthodox monastery (preserved in the manuscript illustration) seems to indicate some currently unknown common source of this tradition from a previous date. This is reasonably strong evidence that Gabriel is indeed Paul’s archangel.
Conclusion
God created Gabriel, alongside all other angels and heavenly spirits, before He created time and space. Gabriel’s mission was to announce the coming of the Messiah, a mission he would begin carrying out centuries before Christ’s birth, most notably in his messages to the prophet Daniel. In preparation for the Incarnation, he foretold the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin to her parents. Later, he promised Zechariah that he would have a son, John the Baptist, who would be given the similar job of being the Messiah’s forerunner and preparing the Jewish people for Jesus’ life and preaching. Soon thereafter, Gabriel told the Blessed Virgin that she would miraculously conceive the Son of God and give birth to Him, and also encouraged Saint Joseph to be Jesus’ foster father. After Jesus’ Nativity, he revealed the world-changing event to humble shepherds. Due to his close connection to Christ’s coming, it was fitting that he was there to comfort and strengthen Him before His Passion. Then, just as He first announced Christ’s birth, he became the first to announce His Resurrection. Finally, how suitable it is that Gabriel will also be the one to announce Christ’s Second Coming, just as he did the First.
As Christians, we have a common apostolic mission to preach Christ and Him crucified and risen to the world. We should pray often for Saint Gabriel the Archangel’s help and intercession in this mission, which follows from his. His name signifies “Strength of God;” through his prayers may we be strong in our faith and prepared for our Lord’s return.
Gabriel is celebrated alongside Michael and Raphael on the Solemnity of St Michael and All Archangels on September 29.
He is celebrated on his own feast day in the Extraordinary Form on March 24, the eve of the Annunciation.
|
https://medium.com/catholicism-coffee/gabriel-the-archangel-throughout-salvation-history-catholicismcoffee-c056fc802f8b
|
['Joe Calabrese']
|
2020-12-16 09:59:34.756000+00:00
|
['Christianity', 'Christmas', 'Religion', 'Saint', 'Catholic']
|
How The West Stole Coffee From The East
|
The Birth Of Coffee
“…although all the Arab historians are in accord that the story of coffee drinking as we know it apparently begins somewhere in or around the Yemen in a Sufi order in the middle of the fifteenth century, additional details of its origin had already been mislaid or garbled within the lifetimes of people who could remember when coffee had been unknown.” — The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World’s Most Popular Drug, Bennett Alan Weinberg, & Bonnie K. Bealer
A traditional tale that has been passed about in the West is the story of an Ethiopian goat-herder named Kaldi. This herder noticed that his goats took on a strange energy when they ate wild red berries. He’d try them himself and take the coffee berries to an Islamic monastery.
The holy man there would disapprove of the caffeine effects and toss them in a fire. Both men soon noticed a powerfully pleasant aroma. The roasted beans were removed from the fire, ground up, and put into hot water and coffee was born.
This is a wonderful story, but it’s most likely not true. Weinberg and Bealer in their book found the story in Western literature, but no corresponding tale in Islamic sources. However, it does appear that the coffee plant did originate from Ethiopia.
Weinberg and Bealer reference the 1790 book Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile by Scottish explorer James Bruce. Bruce describes warriors from the Galla tribe who made incursions into Abyssinia (Ethiopia). They were known to travel light, carrying small provisions with them in leather bags.
The provisions consisted of ground up berries from coffee trees, roasted and smashed, then mixed into an animal fat. This mixture was then fashioned into balls about the size of a modern pool table ball. It was claimed one of these balls would support a warrior for an entire day and also improve their spirit. So, there does appear to be history of people in Ethiopia using the coffee plant as a stimulant.
Weinberg and Bealer found the first written accounts of people drinking coffee in Islamic texts from the early 1500’s. Practitioners of the Sufi branch of Islam in Yemen (not far from Ethiopia) would use a drink called “qahwa” to stay awake late into the night to finish religious rituals and prayers. Eventually, the drink would be brought out of the mosque and into the surrounding towns.
By 1510, kahwe khaneh (coffeehouses) would appear in Cairo and Mecca. The drink would spread through the Ottoman Empire. Although some authorities would try and ban coffee, the bean would not be stopped. The coffeehouses would move underground until attitudes changed. Man would ignore the authority of God and local chiefs of police — coffee was pulling the strings.
Weinberg and Bealer would also find coffee being written into marriage contracts in Cairo. If a husband couldn’t provide a wife with an acceptable amount of coffee, this could be used as evidence of neglect in divorce proceedings.
In 1555, two businessmen would bring coffee to Istanbul and it would spread like wildfire. According to The Economist’s 1843 Magazine, the drink would now be referred to as kahve and 1 out of every 6 shops would be selling the drink. The coffeehouse would become a grand meeting place where gossip and news would be spread. Think of the golden age of Islam meets Starbucks
Not only would coffee capture the palate and culture of the Islamic world, it would become a big business — particularly trading it to the West.
|
https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/how-the-west-stole-coffee-from-the-east-9651c79bcb1e
|
['Erik Brown']
|
2020-03-03 16:00:18.945000+00:00
|
['Food', 'Spirituality', 'History', 'Culture', 'Business']
|
Analysis of Presidential Speeches throughout American History
|
Natural Language Processing intrigued me from the beginning. I first heard about it at a presentation of an author predictor based on word patterns. It later was explained to me with song lyrics across the decades. So I sought to also use it historically. And where could I get a lot of data? Presidents: they love to talk! Or at least most did. So I created a NLP project on Presidential speeches in American history. It includes all 44 presidents from George Washington’s first inauguration in 1789 to speeches on Coronavirus at the end of April of 2020. Yes, I said 44 presidents as Grover Cleveland had two separate terms. Fair warning as you read along: I was an American Studies major and taught history for 13 years. So don’t mind me as I throw in some presidential knowledge along with my knowledge on Data Science. Enjoy!
Speech Organization
I obtained the majority of my speeches from UVA’s Miller Center. Their collection of speeches and other primary sources is considered top-notch, even being referenced by Harvard’s database. As I started cleaning up and analyzing my data, I realized some presidents should have had more speeches than were present in this collection. I could fix this for Truman and Eisenhower by adding in their missing State of the Union Speeches from the NLTK’s corpus. Every other president in this corpus had their SOU speeches already in the Miller Center collection. In total my analysis included 1018 speeches with approximately 23.8 million words. The math side of me did have to look at a few numbers and stats. The shortest speech came from George Washington’s Second Inaugural Address with 787 words. On the other hand, the longest speech goes to Harry Truman’s State of the Union address in 1946 at just shy of 170 thousand. He had to discuss such historic topics as the post-war economy, protection for veterans, the creation of the United Nations, communism concerns…and that doesn’t even cover the first half!
The data, each being a full speech, has understandable asymmetry. I could have retrieved other speeches from other sources, but it would have made it extremely skewed to modern times. Technology such as the radio and television led to more speeches versus letters written. Examples of this already in the data set include televised Addresses to the Nation and FDR’s Fireside Chat’s.
I color-coded my bar graph to represent presidents who served more than one term versus 4 or fewer years. Lyndon Johnson, with the most, had historic events such as the Civil Rights Acts and the Vietnam War to address. On the flip side, the two presidents with only one speech in the collection died months into their term. William Henry Harrison died specifically BECAUSE he gave his 2-hour inaugural speech in a snowstorm outside without a coat on.
Topic Modeling
I first split up each speech to check the frequency of all the words. Here I was able to make my own list of stop words in preparation of count vectorizing. Some words I was not surprised to find, such as ‘united’, ‘states’, and ‘america’. One that caught me off guard but made sense was ‘thank’ and ‘you’. Think of how many speeches start off with that phrase or are thanking people later on for their accomplishments. Two other words of note are ‘applause’ and ‘transcript’. This just showcases how the speeches are documented for history along with how presidents and their speechwriters make notes within the speech.
I processed the data with a Count Vectorization with a df-maximum of 40%. This allowed many of the random topics to be filtered out of my topic modeling. On the other hand, I combined the NLTK’s stopwords with my list of over a dozen words to filter out the words that show up too much. I settled on the nonnegative matrix factorization(NMF) for my modeling. I experimented with various topic modelers and vectorizers. Using my knowledge of history, I did not like anything about what LDA put out. Within NMF, the TDIF Vectorizer created mismatched topics. It had two different categories based on the Vietnam War yet missed major topics that I found in my final result that I will discuss below. I also experimented with how many topics to focus on. This part of NLP really is like Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. I tried 5, that was too little. I tried 15 and that was too much. My initial run of 10 ended up being the perfect amount.
When I ran it that first time I got to appreciate NLP’s full power. The first two topics were words related to domestic and economic affairs. Ok, makes sense. Then I read the 3rd topic. I realized all the words had to do with slavery and the antebellum compromises. I was ecstatic. NMF was supposed to be better for short text documents. However, its benefits shined through. NMF learns topics by directly decomposing the term-document matrix and it reduces the dimensions to find the main topics of the speeches. And here it was taking all the speeches and realizing that slavery was a topic that not only enveloped our country for decades leading to a Civil War but also continued to be something that Presidents discussed decades after its abolition.
I set out to find a correlation with all of the 10 topics. Topic modeling showed me some topics I wouldn’t expect, such as the Civil Service establishment. I used to teach this in about twenty minutes yet this shows teachers should give this more emphasis. Also, there was a topic I best named ‘Encouragement’. You have Presidents that have campaign slogans of positivity that make it into their presidency, but that has been going on for years. This topic shows up in the 1950s with the advent of television and proves that television has shaped the presidency probably more than any invention. There are a few topics that no matter my tinkering, I was surprised never showed up as a major topic. There were no words or topics that I could find that related specifically to the World Wars or the creation of new amendments.
I’m a visual learner and creating a heatmap taught me even more. Summing up the words of each topic you can observe them across time.
doc_topic_nmf = pd.DataFrame(doc_topic.round(3),
index =df.Year.astype(int),
columns = [“Domestic”,”Economy1", “Slavery”,”Economy2",”Mid_1800s_Politics”,
“Encouragement”,”Civil_Service”, “Cold_War”,”20th_Cent_Politics”, “Panama_Canal”])
dtn = doc_topic_nmf.groupby(doc_topic_nmf.index).sum() dtn.reset_index(level = 0, inplace = True)
graph_topics = dtn.groupby(dtn.Year // 10 * 10).sum()
graph_topics.drop([‘Year’], axis=1, inplace = True)
plt.figure(figsize = (25, 6))
sns.heatmap(graph_topics.T, annot=False, cbar=True, cmap=”Blues”)
plt.xlabel(‘Year’, fontsize = 20)
plt.xticks(fontsize = 14)
plt.yticks(fontsize = 16)
plt.title(‘Speech Topics Over The Years
’, fontsize=25)
The darkest box in the heatmap below belongs to the Cold War in the 1960s. This time period whether good(Space Race) or bad (Cuban Missile Crisis) encompassed the United States in many ways. The darker stretch in the 1800s Politics demonstrates how this is a time period that should not be shortchanged in its teachings. The politics around the National Bank were a debate for years. Furthermore, the Mexican American War along with Manifest Destiny thoughts formulated the shape and land of our country.
|
https://towardsdatascience.com/analysis-of-presidential-speeches-throughout-american-history-bb088d36d7dd
|
['Nicole Semerano']
|
2020-09-03 23:43:04.996000+00:00
|
['NLP', 'History', 'Data Science', 'President']
|
How to Actually Get Your Lead Magnet to Your Reader
|
The rest of the Google Doc format is pretty self explanatory. I’m all about simple and this is a super simple tool, perfect for creating your first opt-in.
Make Sure It’s in Shareable Form
Once you’ve made your opt-in, you’ll need a shareable link. Here’s how to get that.
Click the blue ‘share’ button up in the right top corner of the screen.
Screenshot: Author
You’ll get this pop-up in the center of the screen.
Screenshot: Author
Name your document if you haven’t already. Then click save. You’ll get this pop-up.
Screenshot: Author
Your document is set to ‘restricted’ by default. You need to change that. Click the little down arrow next to the word ‘restricted.’ You’ll get the menu below. Click ‘anyone with the link.’
Screenshot: Author
Now, your permissions have been changed. Anyone with your link will be able to view your document.
Screenshot: Author
All you have to do now is click ‘copy link’ and you’ll be ready to share the URL with your audience. If you’re not ready to quite yet, that’s okay. At any time, click the blue share button again and you’ll get the pop up below. Just click ‘copy link.’
Screenshot: Author
Create a Landing Page or Sign-up Form
Now that you have your opt-in, you need to create a sign-up form so that your reader can grab it.
I use Convertkit for my email server, so I’m going to show you how to do this in Covertkit. You can find directions for making a landing page in almost any email server by Googling.
Here are directions for Mail Chimp and Mailerlite.
On Covertkit, start by clicking ‘landing pages and forms’ on the top menu.
Screenshot: Author
Then click the red ‘create new’ button on the right side of the screen.
Screenshot: Author
You’ll see a choice between a form and a landing page. A form is super simple — literally just a form with a few words. The landing page is more advanced (but still pretty easy.)
Screenshot: Author
It says that the form is for embedding, but you can use it as a landing page, too. If you choose ‘form’ you’ll get a list of choices for the mode of delivery. Choose ‘modal.’
Screenshot: Author
You’ll have the option of several different types of forms. Just pick one — I picked the one called ‘Mills’ for this tutorial.
Screenshot: Author
Once you’re in there, you’ll see all the options on the right for changing things up.
Screenshot: Author
Just click on the part of the form you want to change (the lines of text) and you’ll be able to change it. When I clicked on ‘Join the Newsletter’ I was able to type a new headline right on the form and was offered some choices for font color, size, and weight.
Screenshot: Author
If you click the plus sign under the ‘your email address’ box you can add another field. Like ‘first name.’ You can rearrange the boxes by clicking with your mouse and dragging.
Screenshot: Author
Keep working at it until you like the way it looks. When you’re all done, click the ‘preview’ button to see how it will look when readers see it.
Screenshot: Author
When you’re happy with it, you can click ‘embed’ next to ‘preview.’ You’ll get this screen. Click ‘share’ to get a URL to link your readers to.
Congratulations! You’ve made your first simple form.
Link an Automated Email to Your Form
This is the step where you attach your opt-in gift to your new form, so that when someone gives you their email on the form, they’ll automatically get their download.
To do that in ConvertKit, you’re going to go to ‘automations.’ It’s on the top black menu bar, right next to ‘anding pages and forms.’
Screenshot: Author
When you’re there, you’ll see ‘sequences’ on the next menu bar down. Click that. When you get to the next page, click the red ‘new sequence’ button.
Screenshot: Author
First, you’ll name your sequence. I always name it the same name as my opt-in.
Screenshot: Author
When you name your sequence, the next screen with be a page where you can write an email. I named my sequence ‘sample.’ You can see that in the upper left corner. There’s some sample text in the email field that you can just delete.
Write a subject line. Something like “Here’s the (free thing) I promised you.’ Then write a short, simple email that does a few things.
Thank your reader for asking for your opt-in.
Link them to it. Just write something like ‘here’s that thing I promised you’ and then highlight the text, click the icon that looks like a figure eight, and paste in the link to your opt-in you created in the last step.
Let them know what to expect from you going forward. (For example, I’ll send you a newsletter every Friday or over the next week you’ll get my free class, etc.)
Screenshot: Author
Now, the little pencil next to ‘after 1 day’ and change it to 0 days. That will set your email to send immediately when it’s triggered. Change the ‘status’ to active.
That’s it!
Next you’ll want to go back to ‘automations.’ This time, click on the red ‘new automation’ button.
Screenshot: Author
Now click ‘create automation.’
Screenshot: Author
You’ll see this form on the next page. Choose ‘joins a form.’
Screenshot: Author
Pick the form you just made. Then click ‘add event.’ You’ll see this page next.
Screenshot: Author
Click the plus sign below the form box. You’ll be able to choose the sequence that you just created.
Screenshot: Author
Now your automation looks like this. All done! Click the greyed out ‘paused’ button in the top right corner to activate your automation.
Screenshot: Author
That’s it. Now every time someone uses your opt-in form, they’ll be automatically sent your welcome email with the link to your opt-in gift. Good job!
If you’re using a different email server, you’ll have to Google directions for setting up an automated email.
Here’s how to do it in Mail Chimp and Mailerlite.
Create a Call-to-Action Sentence
Next thing you need to do is let your readers know you have a gift for them.
You can do that by adding a call to action, or CTA, sentence at the bottom of your blog posts. I put mine just above my bio.
Screenshot: Author
I highly recommend writing a short, engaging bio that includes links to your social media and any other information you want people to know about you. You can see here that I link to my books and to Ninja Writers, as well as sharing my Twitter handle.
The sentence “Here’s my secret weapon for sticking with whatever your thing is” is my CTA sentence.
When a reader clicks that, they get sent to a form where they can ask for my secret weapon.
You want a sentence that’s enticing and generous. Don’t say ‘click here.’ That’s A) too salesy and B) it’s you asking something of them. Just offer something awesome to your reader.
Think ‘here you go’ rather than ‘do this.’
You’ll be able to see on your email server dashboard how well your link is performing. On Convertkit, just go to ‘landing pages and forms’ and look for your form.
You can see here the number of times someone has seen my forms (visitors), how many have subscribed, and the conversion rate.
Screenshot: Author
Give it a few days. If no one is clicking your link, it’s your CTA sentence. Tweak it until you get one that people click on. If you’re getting clicks, but no conversions, it’s the form and/or the opt-in that’s the problem.
I look for at least a 10 percent conversion rate. You can see here on this example, only my FRED Freebie was really successful.
This is a form I’ve used on my website for five years. It’s got a great conversion rate, so I just keep using it.
Screenshot: Author
It’s worth playing around with the components until you get an opt-in, a form, and a CTA sentence that work together really well.
Voila!
That’s it. You’ve done it. Now you’re ready to add your CTA sentence, linked to your form, to your BYOB posts. Your readers will automatically get your opt-in gift.
You’ll have to decide what to do with that list now. My suggestion is to touch bases with your list weekly. Just send out an email every Friday and link to your posts, share some cool information, or offer them some support.
|
https://medium.com/the-write-brain/how-to-actually-get-your-lead-magnet-to-your-reader-9ea37e292a66
|
['Shaunta Grimes']
|
2020-07-17 19:23:52.629000+00:00
|
['Creativity', 'Byob', 'Blogging', 'Productivity', 'Writing']
|
Sun Editorial: Let’s resolve to give back in 2016
|
Sun Editorial: Let’s resolve to give back in 2016
Most of us are lucky enough to spend the holidays with our loved ones. Most of us are lucky enough to be able to give and receive presents, to put a home-cooked meal on the table and to sit back, relax and enjoy what’s important in life.
There are many, though, living right here in our state who are not as lucky as we are. And these are the people who need our help the most.
So as we are about to put 2015 behind us and enter a New Year, let’s all resolve to give back more in 2016.
We like to think of ourselves as giving people, but compared to the rest
of the country, that’s just not the
A study released recently by the Corporation for National and Community Service and the National Conference on Citizenship found that 22.5 percent of New Jersey residents volunteered their time in 2014.
That ranked us near the bottom, 45th, in the nation. Utah topped the list at 46 percent.
The study found that 1.61 million residents volunteered a total of more than 225.5 million hours of service. The stats counted only non-paid work as volunteering.
These numbers did get better since 2013, even if New Jersey’s overall ranking did not, as 1.45 million residents volunteered a total of more than 206 million hours of service that year.
The good news is it doesn’t take much to change this trend. Volunteering doesn’t have to take up all of one’s free time, and it doesn’t have to include big monetary donations.
Volunteering can be as simple as pitching in at a soup kitchen, coaching a Little League team or collecting trash at a public park. Doing a little can go a long way. What may seem as not much to most of us can have a huge impact to someone else.
So while you’re compiling your list of To Do’s for 2016, add giving back to the community by volunteering. You’ll be surprised at the impact you can have.
|
https://medium.com/the-mt-laurel-sun/sun-editorial-lets-resolve-to-give-back-in-2016-dc2ea8d2f92d
|
[]
|
2016-09-23 18:18:43.109000+00:00
|
['2016', 'Headlines', 'Editorials', 'Give']
|
The Must-Follow Best Practices for Your Push Notifications
|
So here they are, my best practices for push notifications. These can be thought of as four pillars*:
When : Make them timely
: Make them timely Who : Make them relevant
: Make them relevant What : Make them precise
: Make them precise Tech: Implement them correctly
When: Make them Timely
So my first tip is make push notifications timely. And what I mean by this is to try predict the right time to contact your user. Can you be more flexible than just when you want?
Respect Local Timezone
Respect their timezone. It might be easy to say “Oh it’s 6 PM here in New Zealand, lets send out a push to all commuters”, only to have your audience asleep in other parts of the world. If you have a sale or time-sensitive event, try send in the local timezone for the user. This will stagger the pushes over a window and might even reduce load on your server, if that’s required. A decent push service should give you this option.
Use Backoff Times
Sometimes you might want to send multiple pushes per day, or different services that interact with your app with to inform the user. Consider having a hard limit on this. The limit is relative to the value, but something like a 5–10 max per day would suit most applications. Chat apps for example, won’t have a limit, but 25 marketing messages in a day is probably (read: definitely) going to annoy your users. Consider developing internal priority for some notifications types over the other, perhaps favouring transactional pushes over generic.
People Sleep
While I imagine most people have their phones on do-not-disturb overnight, or at least on silent. But consider this: do you read all your notifications in the morning? Or do you clear them all immediately maybe after reading the important ones?
If you’re part of that overnight noise, you have a lower chance of standing out. Perhaps restrict the amount of pushes you send over night and send a summary style push in the morning, a few hours after waking up.
Who: Make them Relevant
The most important thing is to keep pushes relevant to the user.
Don’t send content for anyone
Ultimately the most valuable pushes are the pushes for me. Chats, deals based on history, or news alerts based on preferences. Don’t send me junk and certainly don’t something that can’t apply to me, for whatever reasons.
Personalize based on Journey
Many services offer personalization based on journey. This could be anything to do with the context of the app. What level of the game you’re on, which items you have in your cart, which news stories you’ve read. How long you’ve had the app installed, or how long it’s been since you’ve last used it. There’s a bunch of marketing and engagement automation possible based off just some basic data points — have a think what could be awesome inside your app!
Use Transactional Push
Alternatively, but not mutually exclusively with audience segmentation, is transactional push. These are the 1:1 pushes that go to a single users only. Perhaps their package is shipping, or they have a chat, or they’ve got a new like. These sorts of notifications are perfectly personalized by definition, but still must adhere to the other best practices, such as timeliness.
Personalize with Names
Use the persons name in a push, if you have it (and your users would remember where they gave it to you — don’t be creepy). For example: “Sam, we have new Doctor Who toys. Tap here”. Oh, and don’t ever say “click” if you’re on mobile. We don’t click there. /peeve
What: Make them Precise
The rule is simple here and there’s only one.
10 Words
Generally speaking, you have about 10 words to make your impact, so use precise language. Be obvious what you want. Make the call to action clear. “You have a new chat from Ben”. “A new deal for you. Tap here for more” “Sam sent you a friend request”. 10 words. Use them wisely.
The Tech: Implement Them Correctly
Notifications are quite tricky to implement, beyond the confusing mess of provisioning and certificates, but taking the time to do them right further helps with reducing the scary 71% stat above.
Ask for Permission Carefully
That alert box that pops up for notification permission may be one of the most important dialogs for your apps. Preempt it. Onboard your user well. Explain “Hey, here’s why we want to send you pushes and here’s what you get out of it. Are you in?” If you explain the value before you present that alert, you’ll get a much higher opt in rate. I’ve seen rates go from 20–30% opt jump to 70–90% with these techniques. This also applies to all other dialogs such as location or bluetooth as well. Explain the value, then ask the user to give up some privacy.
Use a 3rd Party Service
Don’t try do this yourself. 3rd party services are all relatively cheap for the value they provide. They worry about scaling, reliability and have good feature sets. Just use another service.
Preload Content
If your push drives a user to some in app content, you should really be pre-loading that with the available API first. This will delay the push by 20 seconds or so, but when they open the app, the UI should be ready to go. No one wants to be taken to a loading screen.
Duplicate Notifications Inside Your App
It’s almost too easy to clear notifications. You should always try and duplicate the notification content inside the app. This could be an activity log, a chat history or a notifications log. Make it so users can always re-read the alert text of a notification. I really like Tweetbot’s implementation of this.
Expose Settings
If your app has different scenarios in which to send push, let the user turn off hearing about certain situations. Additionally, You can also use the Notifications API on iOS or Android to see which alerts your user has enabled. For example; if they have turned off push, you can detect that and present the benefits again, and if they say yes, you can deep link them to the Settings app. This, over time, will slowly increase your opt in rate again.
Rich Push
In additions to notifications with Actions or Text Input, iOS 10 and Android forever lol brings Rich Push, which allows you to show a selection of Images, GIFs and Videos in your push previews. In iOS 10 you can even do arbitrary views too, and you can learn more about that here.
Clear the Badge
Finally, my last best practice is to clear the unread count on the badge icon. Either natively on iOS or however it’s implemented on Android (It’s complicated), be sure to remove the badge count when the app is finished launching. Me, and I’m sure several others, have an obsessive compulsion to have all the badges cleared on our phones, so please don’t make us tap around to find out how to clear it.
|
https://medium.com/hackernoon/the-must-follow-best-practices-for-your-push-notifications-5f878565d2a9
|
['Sam Jarman']
|
2017-07-14 20:52:20.175000+00:00
|
['Marketing Automation', 'Best Practices', 'Push Notification', 'Mobile', 'Digital Marketing']
|
How to Form a Deeper Connection With Your Spirit Guides
|
I used to Be so Embarrassed
I was embarrassed about sharing my spiritual side. I denied it because I thought spirituality had to be tied to religion and I didn’t want to be associated with any organized religion ever again. And then it was because I thought the ‘woo woo’ had no place in my business.
Will people think I’m weird? Will it stop them from wanting to work with me?
I denied this part of myself for so long because I was trying to make sure people would like me. But then I started coming across more and more spiritual entrepreneurs.
They would talk about all the things I was interested in. And I was so magnetized to them. And that was a giant permission slip for me to embrace this side of me. I love it all. It’s been part of me since I was a child. My mum was into it all. As a kid, I remember playing around with her rune stones and tarot cards. And she was always burning incense and buying us crystals.
As I got older, I grew out of it. Even mum stopped being so involved in it, so I thought it was just a phase and I forgot about it.
|
https://medium.com/mystic-minds/how-to-form-a-deeper-connection-with-your-spirit-guides-a4c27ac99f34
|
['Jade Scarfone']
|
2020-10-20 13:12:42.418000+00:00
|
['Spirituality', 'Psychic', 'Spiritual Growth', 'Self', 'Spirit Guides']
|
Singapore educators exchange information with counterparts in Kazakhstan
|
Under a cooperation program rolled out earlier this month, educators from Singapore share their pedagogical expertise with their counterparts in Kazakhstan.
The relationship between the Temasek Foundation, Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) International, and the Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan (MOES) focuses on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (Stem).
The three-part capacity and development program conducted by NYP experts and associate lecturers, started last Monday (Dec 7).
The participants from Kazakhstan will share their experience and what they have experienced with their peers back home after the programme.
A $283,825 grant from the Temasek Foundation and around $231,000 from MOES of Kazakhstan would cover the costs of the non-profit venture.
Henry Heng, Chief Executive Officer of NYP International, said such programs could help NYP develop ties with overseas educational institutions.
He added: “Through these links, we can begin to create a whole spectrum of learning opportunities for our students, such as overseas internships, attachments, project work and immersion programmes.”
The program started with a 10-day online training course for 50 department heads of schools in Kazakhstan, including physics and chemistry. They will be introduced to topics such as design thinking, an approach to problem solving that aims to consider the needs of people and come up with solutions.
The second phase of the curriculum, which will also be available online, will put together 40 STEM specialist teachers in Kazakhstan.
This three-week course is scheduled to take place next March, and will go deeper into the real delivery of teaching, Mr Heng said.
For instance, participants can learn how NYP lecturers involve young minds with the learning of Stem, and how experience can be applied to real-world issues and projects.
The third section will be a five-day trip for 25 government officials and senior leaders from Kazakhstan to Singapore, tentatively in the middle of next year. Mr. Heng said he hopes that by then, international travel would be permitted.
|
https://medium.com/@tasianaffairs/singapore-educators-exchange-information-with-counterparts-in-kazakhstan-16cc109c747
|
['The Asian Affairs']
|
2020-12-14 12:57:58.340000+00:00
|
['Asean', 'Singapore']
|
Cassava Leaf Disease Classification: Blog Post #1
|
The Team
The Problem + Dataset
This is the first of three blog posts that documents our group’s experience solving an image recognition problem using ML/DL methods.
Our dataset, drawn from the Cassava Leaf Disease Classification Kaggle competition, is comprised of over 20,000 images of cassava leaves taken from relatively inexpensive cameras. In addition, the dataset also provide mappings of each image to a disease/health status. These mappings include:
Cassava Bacterial Blight (CBB)
Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD)
Cassava Green Mottle (CGM)
Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD)
Healthy
Naturally, the goal of this project is to successfully distinguish multiple diseases visually present in cassava leaves, making this a multi-class classification problem. Cassava is an important staple in Africa, so the ability to ascertain the health status of its leaves can incur significant benefits with regards to its agricultural management.
Healthy Cassava Leaves (Source: Health Benefits Times)
Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)
Our EDA was largely inspired by Yaroslav Isaienkov’s EDA for this same dataset. Given our data source, the first line of action was to programmatically map the labels contained in a csv file to the images in our training directory. We did this by creating a dictionary mapping an integer value from 0–4 to a disease/health status. We then added the map as a new column of a pandas dataframe, which contained columns for image_id, label, and disease_name.
We then determined a discrepancy between the number of labels in the csv file and number of images in our directory, so we had to identify which images were missing in our labels file and remove those images from our training directory. Around 50 out of 21400 images were removed from our training set. To ensure that our labels and images were properly mapped, we printed a batch of the mapped images and labels, seen below:
Batch of cassava leaf images
Of the mapped images, we examined the distribution of disease types in the training images. The figure below depicts exactly that. Interestingly, most of the cassava leaves in our dataset have Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD), 61.5% of them to be exact. The remaining labels are more/less evenly distributed in our dataset.
Over 13,000 of 21,400 images of cassava leaves contained cassava mosaic disease, and just over 12% of them contained healthy cassava leaves.
Baseline Model Identification + Performance
Our next line of action was to create a baseline model to serve as a reference point as we develop more complex models. Considering the properties of our data and the fact that we’re working on a classification problem, we believed that logistic regression was an appropriate baseline model for its simplicity. Using the simplest algorithm possible should establish a true minimum standard for our future models’ performances. This allows us to start small and build up from there.
In the interest of RAM, we fitted logistic regression on a subset of 2000 images and conducted a 70/30 train-test split, so our training set contained 1400 images and our validation set, 600. This is in accordance with Siddhant Sadangi’s notebook for a baseline classifier on Kaggle. The baseline accuracy score was 0.50. We’re aware that the model was fit on a very small sample of data, so we’re also curious whether increasing our sample size would improve performance to something closer to 0.61, the proportion of the most populous class.
We provide a confusion matrix outlining the model’s exact choices below. Notably, we observe that most diseased plants are commonly mistaken as having CMD.
Confusion matrix from logistic regression
Overall, this score is less than the proportion of the most populous class in the data, so logistic regression in this case would perform worse than a model that always predicted CMD. Nonetheless, there is much room for improvement for our future models.
Next Steps
After EDA and establishing a baseline model, we will now focus on the development of a convolutional neural network to distinguish the diseases in these images. Our approach will be iterative — we’ll start with a fairly shallow network and build up from there, assessing different models with hyperparameter tuning. Stay tuned for more! Catch you next time.
References + Relevant Links
Kaggle Documentation
|
https://medium.com/@kevin-j-le/cassava-leaf-disease-classification-blog-post-1-b9f3ba73bcea
|
['Kevin Le']
|
2021-02-23 04:49:29.842000+00:00
|
['Neural Networks', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning', 'Exploratory Data Analysis', 'Deep Learning']
|
Design in journalism: beyond the buzzwords
|
Design in journalism: beyond the buzzwords
A conversation with Tran Ha, former managing director of media experiments at Stanford d.school
Tran Ha facilitating a design thinking crash course during the News Impact Summit Manchester
In the past few years, design techniques and human-centered approaches have gained popularity across many industries. In sectors as diverse as retail, healthcare and education, design tools and frameworks have proved useful to reinvent business models and improve the user experience. We are not talking about design as in “what graphic designers and creative people do”, but in a broader sense: design as a practice based on a set of processes and a concrete mindset.
When we launched the News Impact Academy one year ago, we wanted to find out how journalists could use design methodologies for problem-solving and to innovate their day-to-day work. News organisations are now experimenting with building prototypes and testing new ideas with their users. J-schools are incorporating design thinking courses in their curriculums and new research is shedding light on the opportunities found at the intersection of journalism and design.
But there’s still a long way to go.
Last year, in the midst of setting up the Academy, we met and teamed up Tran Ha, an experienced design and business strategy consultant. Today, while we are getting ready for the first Summit and Academy editions of 2018, we sat down with Tran and asked about her thoughts on the use of design in journalism.
In the past, when talking about “design” in a newsroom, we would automatically think about visual and graphic design. But what does it actually mean to adopt a “design mindset” in journalism?
I think of a design mindset as a set of practices and the lenses through which we approach and work through problems. The key practices for me are focusing on the needs of the users, exploring both the problem and the solution space and embracing experimentation.
How does design help us facing the current unpredictable and challenging media landscape?
Navigating this much uncertainty and change requires a different way of working. We can’t analyse, predict or plan our way out of uncertainty. Instead, we need to experiment our way forward — building, testing and learning as we go. This mode of “prototyping to learn” is one of the key tenets of design thinking.
Are there certain type of problems or situations in which adopting a design perspective can be especially beneficial?
A design approach is helpful in many contexts. In my experience, it’s particularly useful when a problem is very complex or ill-defined, or when I’m exploring uncharted territory.
Prototyping phase at the News Impact Academy in Manchester
Building empathy with the users is one of the key and first steps that any design methodology includes. Why is empathy so important?
In order to uncover unmet needs and create truly effective products or services, we must understand the problem and/or experience from the perspective of the people for whom we’re creating. This is true no matter what you’re developing. It’s even more important with journalism because we live in an era of such information overload. To stand out among the noise and connect with audiences in a meaningful way, we need to know whom we seek to serve, the significance of their habits, what’s important to them and how we might provide unique value.
And how can we meaningfully connect and understand what value we can bring to our users?
It’s important to note that building empathy with users and audience members does not mean simply asking people what they want. It is also different from possessing demographic data about them or conducting focus groups or market research with them. Empathy is intended to deeply learn about the users/audience members themselves: it’s more about them than about what they think of you, your organisation or idea.
Design thinking has become a buzzword lately and, in some cases, it is presented as an easy recipe for success and innovation. What is true about that and how can we make the most out of its 5-step process?
The design approach has been widely and successfully leveraged to develop innovative solutions and improve user experiences in many sectors. But it is not a silver bullet to all the challenges we face, and it is certainly not easy — in fact, good design can be quite rigorous.
What makes design thinking effective and differentiates it from other problem-solving methods?
Instead of focusing on the end goal or the idea, we start with the user and his or her needs. Instead of rushing to solutions, we take time to understand the problem and frame it in a way that creates new possibilities. Instead of pouring all our time and effort into creating one perfect solution, we test multiple possibilities in low-risk, iterative ways.
How can newsrooms and people working in journalism start adopting a design approach?
Practicing design doesn’t require you to overhaul all your processes or double your headcount. You can start simply by picking one design practice or tool, and finding a small way to incorporate it into your day-to-day. You can build on it from there.
Do you want to apply design in journalism?
Participants of the News Impact Academy in Rome
We believe that there’s a lot of potential in the use of design methodologies in the journalism industry. From improving internal workflows, to developing new products and engaging with our audiences. That’s why we will dedicate our first News Impact Summit and Academy to this topic:
News Impact Academy - Amsterdam, 17–18 May
A hands-on training on how to apply design processes in the newsroom. This Academy edition is aimed at anyone working in the media industry who wants learn a new approach to problem solving. Combining expert talks, knowledge-sharing sessions and hands-on work, the 20 selected participants will unleash their creativity and put into practice design methods in the context of newsroom challenges.
News Impact Summit - Paris, 25 June
An event where to get inspiration and learn with some of the brightest minds working on journalism and design. With presentations, panel discussions, hands-on workshops and other collaborative formats, the Summits provide learnings attendees can bring back to their newsroom and easily implement.
All the News Impact activities are free-of-charge and for the News Impact Academy travel and accommodation of the participants will be covered.
Registrations and applications are already open and can be submitted via newsimpact.io/registration
|
https://medium.com/we-are-the-european-journalism-centre/design-in-journalism-beyond-the-buzzwords-c75df94a192d
|
['Paula Montañà Tor']
|
2018-07-23 09:16:38.884000+00:00
|
['Insights', 'Design Thinking', 'Design', 'Journalism', 'Innovation']
|
The one about Terraforming Mars and Venus
|
TERRAFORMING
MARS
*The chart above may not be visible in dark mode”
Compared to Earth, Mars has almost no atmosphere. And whatever atmosphere it does have is made almost entirely of CO2. So, there’s no question of breathing on Mars. And we will need a spacesuit to keep us pressurized. Also, without the atmosphere we will get the full blunt of radiation coming from Sun including X-rays and gamma rays. Mars is also 1/3rd the size of Earth so the gravitational attraction humans will feel there will be much less. Mars has lost its magnetic field. And unless we generate one for it, all our terraforming efforts are to be lost in several generations. Oh. And let’s not forget global dust storms. But Mars does have a similar rotation rate to Earth so our days will be of similar length. Mars also has a similar tilt as Earth, giving it seasons.
Without an atmosphere full of greenhouse gases to retain infrared radiation coming from Sun, Mar’s average surface temperature is -80F. So, for the first several generations that live on Mars, the main mission would be to warm up the planet, raise atmospheric pressure, and make Martian air breathable. How do we do that? Well, by using greenhouse gases we can accomplish two of the three things: increase air pressure and warm the planet. Easiest would be if you could find the greenhouse gases on Mars itself rather than lugging it from Earth.
ACCOUNT OF MARTIAN GREENHOUSE GASES
Though Mars lost quite a bit of its atmosphere to space, a significant amount got bound to various elements on ground. The most accessible CO2 reservoir is in the polar ice caps. These ice caps also have frozen water. There are several proposals for how the polar ice cap CO2 can be released. The best leading proposal is to have two well positioned giant mirrors directing all of Sun’s energy on the ice caps. This will sublimate the CO2 into its gas form. To make this even more effective, albedo reduction may be adopted where the ice caps will be covered with dark dust increasing sunlight absorption. Dust from Mars’s moons Phobos and Deimos, which are amongst the blackest bodies in solar system will be ideal for the albedo reduction. Orbital mirrors with about 50 mile radius will be required. Carl Sagan had even proposed covering the ice caps with dark extremophile lichens. Not only will the lichens help the polar ice cap heat up faster, these microorgnanisms will produce their own CO2. But they would have to be lab treated as there are only a handful of microorganisms that can withstand the harsh environment of space. Releasing all this CO2 will raise Martian atmospheric pressure to about 4% of Earth’s and raise the temperature from -80F to -70F. Water vapor is a great greenhouse gas as well. Though we rather leave the frozen water in ice caps to form lakes as Mars warms up, we may have to direct it towards building the atmosphere instead. Some CO2 is bound to rocks on Mars as carbonate minerals. This would be hard to release as breaking down of carbonates require temperatures greater than 575F. This will require a lot of energy and resources. It will add another 2% to the atmosphere. There’s also CO2 dissolved in Mar’s crust. Because the gas is so widespread throughout the crust, any significant CO2 release will require heating of the entire planet. Releasing all of this would add another 1–2% of CO2 to the atmosphere. And still quit a bit of CO2 got buried deep inside Mars. This will be hardest to access but also the area with most CO2. Releasing all the CO2 from here might get us up to 30–40% of Earth’s atmospheric pressure but it’s still not quite enough. But it’s possible that with this amount of CO2 may trigger a runaway greenhouse effect like on Venus. The warming up of planet would increase volcanic outgassing (the biggest volcano in our solar system is Mount Olympus on Mars), making the atmosphere even thicker. But that would take millions of years.
Ok, so Mars doesn’t really have much of anything other than CO2 which is also not enough. We might just have to bring our own. One of the most powerful greenhouse gas, thousands of times stronger than CO2, is chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) — infamous for their destructive effects on Earth’s ozone layer. We can use Fluorine based gas which is safer for ozone layer. Because the compounds are easily destroyed by photolysis, they are extremely short lived. Maintaining the temperature will require continuous production of CFCs. So, we will have to build production factories on Mars. And let’s just say that we will need a LOT of CFCs.
Another possible greenhouse gas is Ammonia (NH³). Problem with this is that it won’t stay as ammonia for long. It will break in Nitrogen and Hydrogen gas within a few hours. So, it may not warm the planet but Nitrogen is a great filler gas. Earth’s atmosphere is 70% Nitrogen. Filler (buffer) gas help reduce Oxygen toxicity. A crazy proposal for getting Ammonia to Mars is by bombarding it with comets from Kuiper belt. We could send many drones that would each nudge an ammonia rich comet towards Mars. Their precision will have to be dead on considering Earth is right next door. Also we would need about 10,000 comet. And Kuiper belt is really far away. Comets are mostly gas so won’t damage the Martian surface much; instead the gas will sublimate up and get caught by Mars’s gravity.
There’s also the option of using Methane as a greenhouse gas (CH4). There is evidence of Methane pockets under the surface from Curiosity’s data. We could try mining that. Worst scenario, we could also try importing Methane from Titan which has plenty. Plus it’s closer than Kuiper belt. Some bacteria also produce Ammonia and Methane. But we will have to at least partially terraform the planet before most microorganisms can survive there. Or with CRSPR and future of genetic engineering we may be able to manufacture just the right microorganisms.
Latest research shows that Silica aerogel can warm the planet by mimicking Earth’s greenhouse effects. The researchers show that a two to three-centimeter-thick shield of silica aerogel could transmit enough visible light for photosynthesis, block hazardous ultraviolet radiation, and raise temperatures underneath permanently above the melting point of water. Silica aerogels are 97 percent porous, meaning light moves through the material but the interconnecting nanolayers of silicon dioxide infrared radiation and greatly slow the conduction of heat. These aerogels are used in several engineering applications today, including NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers.
Silica aerogel
In the best case scenario, the warming of the planet may take about 100 years. After which the water that’s frozen underground will fill in dried up river beds again. We also need Oxygen. Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE), placed inside the latest Mars rover, Perseverance, will produce a small amount of pure oxygen from Martian CO2 in a process called solid oxide electrolysis. Based on the success of this experiment, we can set up large scale models of this. If our planet by this point has a decent atmospheric pressure and CO2, we can also place cyanobacteria in Martian soil to help produce oxygen. It’s cyanobacteria that billions of years ago triggered the Great Oxygenation Event on Earth changing its entire ecology. But this method will take 100,000 years to make Mars’s air breathable.
Next, we need vegetation for nutrition as well as for more oxygen. But in order to grow anything in Mars’s soil we will have to rid it of its perchlorates which is extremely toxic. This could be done with the right bacteria that can survive on Mars and breakdown the toxins.
It will take time. A lot of time and a lot of resources to terraform Mars. It won’t happen for many generations. But it’s definitely doable. Many scientists have recommended biodomes instead. These domes will be just like Earth. But outside the domes will be the same deadly barren Mars. Some people may not prefer a world with boundaries. I personally think the biodomes are a great idea to have our Martians feel at home while they do the hardest jobs of their lives. But there will eventually come a day when they would be able to step out of these domes and breathe fresh air on Mars. Of course, people who don’t want the Mars life anymore will always have the option of coming back on Earth with the next spacecraft (which should fly every 2 years because of Mars’s Opposition). Having biodomes will also eliminate the need for genetically modified organisms. We could just have cyanobacteria ingrained in the ecosystem of the domes.
But we still haven’t resolved one big problem. Mars’s missing magnetic field. It’s not clear how we would go about restoring Mars’ magnetic field, but we might be able to build an artificial one. Previously NASA scientist Jim Green proposed a concept of placing a magnetic dipole satellite with a 1–2 tesla magnet placed in an orbit between Mars the Sun. This would provide a magnetosphere protecting Mars’s atmosphere from harmful solar radiation. The satellite would have to be placed in one of the Lagrange points. The Lagrange Point is a location of gravitational equilibrium that ensures the structure remains between Mars and the sun. This isn’t easy but definitely possible.
Elon Musk in not crazy for starting so early. He is brilliant for giving humanity a head start on an extremely difficult problem.
BUT WHY TERRAFORM IN THE FIRST PLACE?
I know many people who believe that the main reason we want to terraform other planets because we have almost broken Earth. Then why not just fix Earth? Wouldn’t that be a hundreds of magnitude easier than terraforming an extreme planet? Yes, of course that would be easier — IF the many proponents of fossil fuels and the many more disbelievers of global warming stop adding hurdles. But that’s not it. This is not the only reason we want to terraform.
Earth has faced 5 extinctions in its history. We are currently amidst the 6th one. There are many many reasons for extinctions from Earth’s natural albeit a bit dramatic internal homeostatic mechanism (ice ages) to the possibility of collision with asteroids (like the one that killed the dinosaurs). We are also not always the best of people. There are wars, fight for nuclear power, exponential increase in technology, election of corrupt officials in power. Based on current trends, it only seems like a matter of time before there is a third world war that thanks to our advanced technology will completely destroy Earth. We could be struck with another pandemic with a much higher mortality rate. Then we have the problem of an ever growing population that doesn’t seem to slow down. Given the vast time of the cosmos, it only seems like a matter of time before something goes wrong. And given the vast spaces of cosmos, it will be the saddest story ever if we extinguished before anyone even knew we existed.
Our fear to remain unknown is so strong that both Pioneer and Voyager spacecrafts that were launched with intention to maybe one day leave the solar system have were equipped with a memorabilia of Earth.
|
https://medium.com/@rashmi-singh1789/the-one-about-terraforming-mars-and-venus-2f26a9a879ab
|
['The Basics Of Everything']
|
2020-12-25 01:12:05.486000+00:00
|
['Mars', 'Venus', 'Earth', 'Solar System', 'Terraform']
|
Heads or tales from the Crypt…
|
Looking to add some funny to your feed? Follow this page for new cartoons every week.
Follow
|
https://medium.com/andy-anderson-cartoons/pay-with-cryptocurrency-be6c9645abd6
|
['Andy Anderson']
|
2019-08-18 15:31:01.004000+00:00
|
['Cryptocurrency', 'Crypto', 'Cartoon', 'Comics', 'Humor']
|
Sleep Paralysis
|
The first time it happened, I was in my 30’s. My husband was working away from home. I went to bed at my normal time and had no trouble falling asleep. The next thing I remember is waking up with the absolute certainty that I was about to die. Someone was in the room with me, slowly moving toward my bed. I started to scream and realize I couldn’t. Paralyzed, unable to make sound or move a muscle, I felt like my heart would explode from fear.
Whatever the window illuminated, it continued to move closer to the bed. I felt the weight depress the bed as the crawled on the mattress. My heart rate was through the roof, and my biggest terror was for my children. Had I been drugged? Was this why I couldn’t move? Not even my pinky finger. What had this person done with my kids sleeping throughout the house while I lay drugged? I desperately tried to break the hold the paralysis had on me. Whoever or whatever it was was beside me in the bed, but just out of my line of sight.
Then, I felt them start to choke me. Helpless, paralyzed, unable to make a sound, and now I could no longer breath as well. Along with mortal terror came a primal fear of the presence of pure evil. Some rational thought pierced the terror for a moment, and I remember having thought that if I could call out the name of Jesus, I might survive. I screamed his name in my mind, and suddenly I was free from the paralysis.
I bolted from the bed and turned on the light. Sweaty, shaking, and gasping for breath, I could see that nothing was in the room. I ran to each of the kid’s rooms. Not content to see them in their beds, I put my hands on them to make sure they were breathing. I still couldn’t calm down. I had no idea what that was, but that was no nightmare. Exhausted, but unable to fathom the thought of sleep, I logged on to the computer. All sorts of weird things about haunting and demonic episodes flooded my computer screen.
That didn’t feel right, either. I am a Christian, and I wholeheartedly believe that there is spiritual evil in the world, but nothing I read felt like what I had experienced. I finally added some new words to the search string, and on maybe page 6 of the search results, I came across the term sleep paralysis. The cold, clinical terms used on the medical web site did little justice to the horror of the event.
Digging a little deeper, I finally found others sharing their stories of the same phenomenon. It wasn’t exactly like mine, but close enough that I felt some peace that it was what I had just experienced. Knowing it had a name gave little comfort, nor could I dispel the horror of the evil that had been in bed with me.
It was months before I would sleep in my bed alone. It happened again a few short weeks later. Only minimally less terrifying since I knew what it was. Since then, it has become a regular occurrence in my life. It is most common if I take a nap during the day — so naps are a thing of the past. By now, it has finally lost the ability to terrify me. However, the sensation of being unable to draw a breath invokes panic even as I tell myself it isn’t real.
I have learned some coping skills. Calling on the name of Jesus will sometimes break the paralysis for me. Other times, I can semi-calmly focus on moving just one finger. If I can manage to wiggle one finger, the paralysis breaks, and I am free.
Now, it happens most commonly just as I am drifting into sleep. I can hear it coming. A weird rushing noise comes from every direction, then the inability to move and the sensation of being unable to breathe. It seldom gets far enough that I sense the evil in the room moving toward me.
I have done tons of research on the phenomenon. The official medical explanation is that it is a symptom of your body not moving smoothly through the stages of sleep. During REM sleep, our bodies are paralyzed so that we do not actively act out our dreams during this stage. That is why those of us who have sleep paralysis have the sensation of being unable to move. There is a list of risk factors for developing sleep paralysis, such as narcolepsy, the use of certain medications, sleeping on your back, etc. I have none of the risk factors.
Throughout history, the event is described with eerily similar terms. Legends to explain have popped up and include “the old hag,” and “the hat man.” I can understand how, without access to modern medicine and instant internet communication, people developed legends to explain the phenomenon.
I understand the rational explanation for why calling upon Jesus’ name breaks the paralysis. I know it is my faith and belief that He will protect me from the evil that allows me a modicum of control over the event. However, the part that remains a mystery is why all sleep paralysis episodes are so eerily similar across cultures and varying beliefs. Even non-believers report the absolute feeling of evil and impending doom. So, why do I, a Christian from the bible belt, have the same experience in my sleep as a Muslim from Africa, an atheist from Iceland, and a Buddhist from Asia? Obviously, our cultural conditioning is vastly different.
For those who have sleep paralysis, you will understand exactly what I mean. For those that do not, there are no adequate words to describe the horror and terror you experience the first time it happens. However, knowing it had a name and that it wasn’t something unique to me, did offer some comfort. If you want a real understanding of what the event feels like, you can watch “The Nightmare,” a 2015 documentary about sleep paralysis. A terrifying but fictional movie about sleep paralysis is “Dead Awake.”
If you have experienced sleep paralysis, I would like to hear about your experiences and what you have done to cope. Sleep paralysis can occur in children as well. I cannot imagine how horrible it would be for a child with no frame of reference for understanding what is happening to them, and perhaps not even the words to describe it.
|
https://medium.com/the-4-elements-of-change/sleep-paralysis-ae3dc5d458bb
|
['Dena Write-Solutions']
|
2019-11-19 20:15:28.177000+00:00
|
['Health', 'Sleep', 'Short Story', 'Horror', 'Fear']
|
What Magnitude
|
Photo by Bruce Christianson on Unsplash
at what magnitude of
torn limbs he pulled apart
your senses; he, a phantom
and zealous lover seamlessly
fused; the dark arts of his
palms conjuring tempests
of delight from your flesh;
the deus ex machina
of the moment, a ruptured
unit of time that halts
beating hearts; what tectonic
tilt he compels within your
your bones' marrow--what urge
to unsheath from skin and sinew;
what bloodletting cry passes through
you--whisper of a dying star.
|
https://medium.com/illumination/what-magnitude-b626c44c4cd2
|
['Jude Folly']
|
2020-12-30 16:58:39.412000+00:00
|
['Poetry', 'Poem', 'Sensuality', 'Literary']
|
20 Inspirational Leadership Quotes To Read Every Day
|
Inspirational leadership quotes come from inner wisdom
Inspirational leadership is the most effective and engaging style of leading people. This is because inspired leaders speak to their own and others higher self. We all have a higher self, we can call it our frontal lobe part of the brain, our inner best friend, our God, or the Universe. There is a wisdom inside ourselves which knows everything we need to know. However, tapping into that wisdom can take years of practice and dedication. Inspirational leadership quotes are those which emanate from the higher self of the leaders. This is why they are universally popular and can become mantras for many people.
Inspired leaders are mostly You just have to listen to great leaders like Martin Luther King Jr and his “ I have a dream speech” to know he was speaking from his higher self. That is the reason so many people resonate and were inspired by him. Many of his sayings have become shared by millions and are widely loved.
Affirmation using great quotes
Affirmations are thoughts and ideas you want to believe which you repeat over and over again to your subconscious mind to change unhelpful inner programming. So if you are wanting to lose weight. A good affirmation is to say every day, something like “Every day, I am becoming slimmer and happier” With such an affirmation at least you have a fighting chance of living your predominant thought. Conversely if every day, you get up and say “I feel fat” then guess what that is what you are affirming to yourself and what are the results? It’s not just about affirmation, there also needs to be some work on self-awareness and other methods to get on track, but its an important part of development.
Instead of thinking up your own affirmations, you can use inspirational leadership quotes which if used regularly can not only inspire you but help you to develop an inspiring leadership mindset.
Inspirational leadership quotes to read every day.
So over the years, I’ve reused many quotes, simply because they’ve easily reflected the particular nugget of wisdom I’ve wanted to impart. Many of these quotes come from authors or leaders who I greatly respect. The ones who have opened my eyes to my own inner wisdom. So here are my favourite inspirational leadership quotes. I invite you to read some of them every day!
1 “Be the change you wish to see in the world” Gandhi
2. “Peace begins with a smile” — Mother Theresa
3. “You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right” — Rosa Parks
4. “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear” — Martin Luther King
5. “The last of human freedoms — the ability to choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances” — Viktor Frankl
6. “All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them” — Walt Disney
7. “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
8. “I will never let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet” — Gandhi
9. “I am the Captain of my soul” — Nelson Mandela
10. ”We cannot truly listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time” — M Scott Peck
11. “Change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change” — Wayne Dyer
12. “When we are no longer able to change a situation — we are challenged to change ourselves” — Viktor Frankl
13. “When you know better, you do better” — Oprah Winfrey
14. “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle” — Plato
15. “Real magic in relationships means an absence of judgement of others” — Wayne Dyer
16. “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure” — Paulo Coelho
17. “The imagination is not a state: it is the human existence itself”. — William Blake
18. “We don’t know a millionth of one per cent about anything” — Thomas A Edison
19. “I want to put a ding in the universe” — Steve Jobs
20. “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.
So there you are my favourite short inspirational leadership quotes which can easily be read every day. Is there a quote which speaks to your inner wisdom?
Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay
Originally published at https://peopledevelopmentmagazine.com.
|
https://medium.com/@peopledevelopmentmagazine/20-inspirational-leadership-quotes-to-read-every-day-8a7a5b9c12cc
|
['Christina Lattimer']
|
2021-01-17 10:40:53.980000+00:00
|
['Quotes', 'Leadership Development', 'Leadership', 'Management', 'Wisdom']
|
Mr. Bean taught me one thing in Life…
|
“Enjoy your own company, instead of expecting someone else to make you happy”
“Man is by nature a social animal”, wrote the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. What he meant is that social interaction is an inalienable part of life. But though we may be social by nature, every now and then it doesn’t hurt to give ourselves some “alone time” as a reminder that we don’t always need company or other people to add meaning to our existence.
Putting ourselves first by shutting out our loved ones and having some temporary “me time” Does not mean we are being selfish. This form of solitude can offer notable benefits, such as promoting mental and emotional calmness, which enables us to be more focused and productive.
There are so many little things which I remind me always, that make my day and makes me happy ….
Stop trying to change people who don’t see an issue with their actions, its toxic to your mental health. Today is the day you distance yourself from these people.
Stop giving people permission, it's your mind, body, and heart and it's your responsibility.
No one should have the power over you, God has a purpose for us all.
Only we have the power to heal and fix ourselves.
Self care is not just doing breathwork and eating organic, its also setting boundaries and protecting your time, emotions, energy, and personal space.
Distance helps you to find you.
If we don't have standards we allow other people to define them for us. Which means we subject ourselves to less than we deserve, set rules for yourself.
Your Me-Time will help you to create space for more positivity in your life. When you are alone, you can make choices without outside influence. Thus it paves the way to let you know yourself deeply. So slam dunk the negativity out and cut off those toxic people who are contagious. Life is far too short for negativity!
If you found this article helpful then please share it with everyone.
Thank you! 😃
|
https://medium.com/dsc-dypcoe/mr-bean-taught-me-one-thing-in-life-f3f13276ca03
|
['Pranali Survashi']
|
2020-05-06 15:35:37.619000+00:00
|
['Social', 'Life', 'Enjoy', 'General', 'Fun']
|
Go Fly A Kite
|
The author at “work.”
“Go fly a kite” is very nearly a perfect metaphor for “fuck off and do nothing” and we have Mary Poppins (1964) to thank. A stuffy English patrician, a banker literally named George Banks, gets fired from his job only to realize that his regimented aristocratic life is an absurd farce and he makes amends by vowing to take long walks in the countryside, spend time with his family and… go fly kites. Life is absurd. All absurdities being equal, choose the fun ones.
Flying a kite consumes so much attention and so little brain. It is a simple joy holding tight to a struggling thing fighting for altitude; it is so wonderful and strange as to be impossible to take one’s self seriously doing it so it almost seems like blasphemy to make such a carefree past-time into a productive effort capable of doing useful work. Putting a camera onto a rainbow kite and trying to do photogrammetry for mapping projects while fretting about payloads and data storage almost feels like bringing your laptop to the beach.
My interest in kite aerial photography (KAP) began when I met Dr. Michelle Tobias at FOSS4G in 2019. Dr. Tobias has been doing KAP since 2011 and she’s produced tons of great content that has proven invaluable in my own experiments. Here’s her discussing her KAP journey on Youtube and sharing her photoprocessing workflow. Most of my journey is simply uncovering the research done before me and I think I’ve added very little to the field. My only contributions have been, per my M.O., to pursue KAP as cheaply as possible with the intention that almost anyone anywhere could follow my example.
New Jersey has a complicated relationship with coastal development as sea level rise, storm surge and erosion threaten seaside communities. Drone surveys have been able to track dune movement as sand is blown across the landscape or alternatively held in place by delicate beach vegetation. Being able to fly regular drone surveys to track these changes has been invaluable to high stakes development policy decision making. Can we create workflows that will work for for people on much more limited budgets with kites and simple cameras and free software? I’m still trying to figure that out (and many others are doing so in a more rigorous way) but based on my own experience I’m inclined to say ‘yes!’
Kites are cheap and ubiquitous and most cultures on earth have some relationship with kites as tools and toys. Now that billions of people have a camera in their back pockets, the camera/smartphone combination has the potential to be a democratizing force when paired with free and opensource software. I’ve fascinated with the idea that KAP could become the ubiquitous bicycle of remote sensing.
What kites are good at:
They’re cheap. You’d be hard pressed to pay more than $200 on a nice kite/string/reel system and you can make them fairly easily as well.
They can fly nearly anywhere with a light breeze and in stronger winds they can lift huge cargoes that can stay aloft for days.
They don’t run out of batteries or fly off when they lose GPS signal.
They’re easy to build, mod and fix.
They’re portable and you can take them lots of places drones can’t go: in high winds, restricted airspaces near airports and parks.
Where drones are banned, kites are often welcome and colorful additions to the sky without the annoying buzz that has become synonymous with surveillance.
You don’t need a license to fly and most anyone can do it. It is marvelously accessible.
You’ll have a hell of a lot of fun with it.
100m is about my maximum kite altitude so this map is a pretty decent resource for seeing if your region has KAP weather. 3.9m/s is about 9mph and that’s probably your minimum wind speed with a decent payload.
What kites are not good at:
You can only fly when there’s wind. I mean. Duh. But also wind can be fickle or turbulent. Too much wind can break your kite (I broke a fiberglass spreader bar in what I think were 35mph winds. I know, it was dumb). Not enough and you won’t be able to hit the altitude you want. If it’s coming from the wrong direction the kite won’t fly over the object you’re trying to survey. Field work is hard enough to schedule without having to also work around the wind. I’ve been tempted to get a 9 foot delta kite for light wind and a sturdy box kite for strong wind but how many kites do I need to buy before I just get a drone?
Kites are difficult to steer and it’s hard to get the shots you really want. With surveying, you probably just want to walk around in a lawnmower pattern with the camera pointed straight down but photographers who want an artfully aimed oblique shot have greater struggles. There are rigs that allow operators to use a remote control to aim and shoot photos with servos and micro-controllers but they are often expensive and unwieldy to the point where, again, one might as well just use a drone.
You’ll probably get a lot of shots with the kite string in them.
Where a drone can rise vertically up through a gap in the tree canopy and then fly over obstructions while maintaining visual contact with the pilot, kites require a direct line of sight to be perfectly clear which makes urban and forested environments difficult to survey.
Trees, powerlines, fences and low lying obstructions are all serious hazards to equipment and personal safety. It seems silly to say but kites are fully capable of being dangerous. I’ve given myself some nasty rope burns on the kite string when I’ve been foolish enough to fly without gloves. Wind is energy. Large kites are capable of harnessing a great deal of it. Any high energy system is capable of damaging your body.
My Process
People have been doing KAP for a long time. Incredible photos taken of San Francisco just weeks after the 1906 earthquake made its photographer rich and famous in part because of their novelty but even at the turn of that century Europeans had been experimenting with flying cameras for decades. Me? I’ve been experimenting since last May after two and a half months of shelter in place. I have no illusions of vast expertise but I have played around with this long enough and with a particular perspective that I think I can contribute somewhat meaningfully to the discussion of how KAP can be used to make maps on a budget.
George R. Lawrence’s famous SF shot taken weeks after the 1906 earthquake. He used a stack of small kites strung together to lift a large camera on a timer.
The Rig
Many kites will work for KAP but rokkaku, deltas and box kites seem to be the favorites for their stability and wide wind speed range. For a decent payload you’ll probably need at least .5 square meter of sail.
My kite is a medium sized Delta Conyne (or DC for short) made by Into the Wind. For about $75 it came with 300 feet of sturdy dacron line and a hoop reel. In a light breeze it is motionless ~80 degrees overhead and it’s only when the wind gets up to 25 mph or so that it starts to shudder and pull menacingly. It could probably use a tail to keep it more stable or drag it down to fly at lower angles but I’ve done well without one.
You can get a very nice rugged and waterproof camera like this for about $150
I started taking pictures with my old Nexus 6P phone that had an irreparably busted mobile network chip and was no longer good for much except as an e-reader and camera. When that fell out of the sky and broke I upgraded to a GoPro Hero 3+ silver and I use a Hero 4 now. Anything with timelapse, video or intervalometer will work fine.
Givin’ a lil’ kickstart
There’s usually a steady breeze by the water so I’ll walk out to a nice open area and find a place without too much pedestrian traffic or overhead obstacles like streetlamps and power lines. I’ll assemble the kite and clip the string to the bridle and launch with one hand. Sometimes I run a bit to get the kite up into more stable wind. I’ve gotten pretty good at watching the tops of trees to see how much running I’ll have to do to get into the good air. Sometimes I’ve had to fly in the windy gap between trees until I’m up and over the canopy at which point I have enough wind to walk around.
Simple slip loop on a bight, sometimes called a trucker’s hitch.
Tuna clips
Once the kite is up and stable and pulling a bit, I make a simple loop in the middle of the string. This is a slip knot so I can hook the loop with a tuna clip and the pull of the kite tightens the knot securely until I unclip the camera from the string and the knot comes out with a gentle tug.
I bought the floatline tuna clips off Ebay so I could clip my camera onto a loop instead of relying on my knot-tying skills. They’re quick and sturdy and give me some peace of mind when launching the camera. When I inevitably upgrade my camera I’ll make a picavet camera platform attached with two clips.
With the camera line securely clipped to the kite string, I turn the camera on and set it to take photos every 10 seconds and let out the line. Now I just fly the kite. I might let out all the line to see how high I can go. I might wander a bit as if I was walking a flying dog. I might sit on a park bench and read a magazine. I relax until I get bored, I run out of batteries or in one memorable instance, I get kicked out of a park for “flying a drone.” It’s lovely.
When I get home, I download the photos and the work starts.
Making Orthophotos
Taking pictures is easy. Taking pictures that are useful is much harder. I typically delete about 10% of all of my photos after visually spot checking them. On turbulent days, the camera might spin and cause motion blurring. If it’s too dark I might get poor exposures. That’s fine. You don’t need many good photos for this to work.
A bubble style panorama made with a rotating motion. For this to work, the camera needs to be mostly stationary while rotating. The farther away the subject is, the less important it is for the pictures to have been taken from the same spot.
Most panoramas that smart phone users make are taken from a single point while the camera is rotated. This makes a cylinder or a bubble pano that looks cool and can even be viewed in VR but it’s not super useful for mapping.
An ortho image from Alameda CA. I’d like to fly a camera with a polarized filter to circumvent the glare off the water but those filters need to be manually rotated which would require a servo or remote.
If you’re trying to replace a drone, you’re probably most interested in taking images straight above a target in an orthographic projection. Long oblique shots like the kind you get from cheap satellite images don’t have much utility if you’re doing pavement assessments, rooftop solar suitability studies or landscape architecture. To make the camera point directly down, simply attach it to a broom handle or dowel and hang it from a single anchor on the string. The dowel will act like a stabilizer and keep the camera 90 degrees to the ground for the most part.
For obvious reasons, the closer to the ground you fly, the higher the resolution. I find that with a 12MP camera, I can only improve on Google Maps satellite imagery when I’m less than about 200 feet off the ground. Much higher and I’m only producing wider extents at lower quality. At least they’re more current!
When I used a GoPro Hero 3+, I ran into an interesting issue: the timer function of the camera only worked on the Wide Angle setting and unlike the Narrow setting, all the Wide shots looked a bit fish-eye. Most newer cameras will save lens information with the photo metadata and the software can read it and correct the image but the older GoPro models have to be manually de-fisheyed with GML Undistorter or Darktable which could bulk-correct hundreds of photos in under a minute. Now that I have a newer camera, this is no longer a concern.
The program I use to process the images is called Image Composite Editor made by Microsoft. It’s free and pretty easy to use with either video or still images. You can use ICE to stitch together any images you collect into a single, continuous orthomosaic that you can georeference in QGIS or ArcGISPro and use as a basemap. This is probably the easiest product you can create with KAP. If you want extra credit, you can open the images in the excellent opensource Photoshop analog GIMP and clip out the strings or any defects and then run them through ICE which will plug up the gaps.
I’ve also used Hugin as a pano stitcher. I don’t have strong opinions about it.
A stitched perspective shot from Albany Bulb. You can see the image sort of fall away at the edges so this is not an ortho image. You could probably clip out the edges and use the middle.
Making 3D Meshes
You can’t measure accurate distances between these points until you scale them appropriately but when you do, this turns into a pretty nice altimeter for your camera after you’re done.
Making 3D meshes is a little more complicated. Like your eyes, a computer can take two images of an object from slightly different angles and reconstruct 3D shapes. A computer can calculate the angles between the camera shots by identifying landmark features that are common between multiple photos, then using a ton of trigonometry, the computer can draw tiny triangles that connect the camera to those landmarks and determine the relative distance and angles between them. That’s what Google Maps does to provide the reconstruction of buildings and terrain when you turn on 3D mode. Unless you have an object in the foreground of known size, all you’ll get is a dimensionless cloud of landmark points and a proportional cloud of inferred camera positions but we can address that later. To make a good mesh you’ll need to:
Get as many photos of the region in question. You can scan rolling hills with a kite flown at constant height just by walking around the area. The more photo overlap, the better the quality of the resulting model so consider how this will inform your coverage strategy. Since any object that moves is going to appear differently between your photos, reducing the amount of people or waving vegetation is going to be important. With decent resolution and a simple subject, you should be able to get a pretty good model with less than 40 images. If the objective is to scan a building or more complicated shape, you’ll need more photographs from around the sides and inside crevices, overhangs and concavities. Click and drag the photos into a program called Meshroom which will turn your photos into a textured mesh. It really is as simple as clicking “run” and there aren’t many settings to fiddle with. Having a good graphics card and hefty RAM is essential because this is a processor heavy project. The more savvy technicians might set up an S3 account to run the processing through a cloud server. The completed mesh will have some noise and ragged edges. To clean up errors and artifacts, trim the mesh in Meshlab which is also a good platform for exporting the model into different file types like .obj or .stl depending on where your model is going to end up. Just get rid of the errors and export your final mesh. You might even want to show off your new mesh by posting it to Sketchfab which is a cool resource to see what other folks have done with these techniques. Here’s a simple beach from the Shetland Islands done with KAP.
Sand is not an easy medium to record because it has a tendency to shift. This mesh was made with photos that were taken over the course of an hour so people, footprints and umbrellas moved a bit between the images and introduced error.
Alternatives to Meshroom:
Maps Made Easy will allow you create small 3D maps for free but the photos have to be geotagged because the software wants to place the mesh on the Earth’s surface and not merely a dimensionless model. I have an Olympus TG-6 point and shoot camera that also has a GPS logger capability and I might try to use that for mapping one day when I’m confident enough in my system to lift that camera off the ground safely.
Open Drone Map is a little more complicated because you’ll need to create a virtual machine with Docker. If you want to spend money, you can have a remote server do all your photo processing. If you want to do it all locally, you can do that too if you don’t mind it taking a bit longer. ODM is an interesting, fully opensource project that uses the same SfM algorithms developed by Mapillary, now owned by Facebook.
Your mesh can be exported to fulfill a couple of different purposes:
Art
For higher quality rendering in an artistic model or graphic, say a proposal or a flashy public image, import your mesh into Blender and adjust the colors and shadows with a shader. This is potentially really time consuming but the results have the potential to be superb. I might write something more about this later as I’m trying to get better at representing water on some of my marine maps. Right now I’m working on a map that combines sonar bathymetry data to a building and terrain mesh scraped from Google Maps.
Digital Elevation Model
If your objective is to create a DEM from your mesh, you’ll need to bring it into a program that can make the conversion from mesh to raster, although these days QGIS and ArcGISPro can ingest meshes as well. For rasterizing ungeoreferenced meshes I use Cloud Compare which is a free LiDAR processing package. One of the cool things about meshes is that they can be treated in much the same way as point clouds. Once you load the mesh, you can edit or classify the points, trim away errors and run statistics on it like terrain ruggosity. Cloud Compare is incredibly powerful in its own right but I mostly use it to export the mesh as a height map raster that I can then open in QGIS’ georeferencer tool.
If you planned ahead, you can leave Ground Control Points (GCPs) on your survey area as you take pictures. This could be as simple as a trashcan lid that you’ve taken GPS coordinates of so that when it comes time to georeference your imagery you can just click on the center and type in the coordinates. A phone GPS unit isn’t very reliable and has about a 10m error but with a small handheld GNSS antenna and an app that lets you average a series of values for a couple minutes, you can get that number down to 20cm for just a couple hundred bucks. Since I’ve been trying to apply photogrammetry techniques to underwater subjects, I haven’t paid much attention to GPS because the radio waves that make GPS signals work can’t penetrate water but one of these days I’ll borrow the office BadElf unit.
Things I want to Try
Infrared cameras. Also pretty expensive but now that it’s too dark after work to do much flying an IR camera would keep me busy until spring.
Adding RTK to surveying is a big deal but it’s also extraordinarily expensive on the order of a few thousand dollars. I don’t even fly cameras with GPS on them because I georeference the imagery manually later but if I had a better GPS antenna I might be tempted to make a kite more like a drone.
While I’m studying for my HAM radio certification, it occurred to me that kites might make an excellent aerial antenna. Could be interesting. I could even use a packet transmitter to beam my images to the ground in real time which means I wouldn’t have to worry about filling up memory cards.
I’m currently working on mapping projects underwater by making 3D models of reef structures in Monterey Bay to replicate some of the efforts being done in much warmer, clearer waters. Visibility is limited so we cant do the kind of deep reef scanning being done in the tropics but on smaller scales we can do similar and fascinating stuff. Maybe my next step is trawling a camera across the bottom with a downrigger to create higher resolution benthic characteristic studies. It’ll be like flying a kite underwater. Hanging out on a boat is probably the only way to relax even harder.
Further Reading:
An interesting Peruvian archaeology expedition uses KAP to provide consistent aerial imagery to the dig site.
|
https://medium.com/@andrewmiddleton/go-fly-a-kite-d48c35b62796
|
['Andrew Middleton']
|
2020-11-09 21:48:40.297000+00:00
|
['Kite Aerial Photography', 'Workflow', 'Photogrammetry', 'Maps', 'Cartography']
|
How to Manage Influencer Campaign using Partipost
|
Partipost is a Crowd-Marketing Platform that allows Brands to connect with people in order to create word-of-mouth advertising through Social Media. This platform was created to simplify Brand process on commencing Influencer campaigns in one platform with easy access. So what kind of advantages do Brands get in this platform?
Create Your Brief
Brands are able to create their own campaign brief, all include Select Social Media Channel, Set Influencer’s Requirement, Set Content Requirement, Set Hashtag Requirements, Set Caption Requirements, and any other detail related to the campaign.
Customize Your Budget
Brands are able to customize their own budget hence there are no any requirements or limitations in the Partipost Platform. In addition, these Influencers can be paid based on their engagement in each post related to Brand’s contents. These engagements consist likes, comments, clicks or mentions (this engagement depends on Brand’s requirements).
Choose Your Targeted Influencers
Brands are able to choose & invite The Influencers who registered in their campaign
Check Photo & Video Submissions
Brands are able to examine each photo and video submissions from Influencers who joined the campaign, all the submissions must be approved by Brand before it can be posted on Social Media.
Learn how to use our Platform and manage all the Influencers for your campaign, talk to your audience, and let them spread the information about your product through their circle!
Please feel free to contact us here or get in touch with our Marketing Specialist, email to [email protected].
|
https://medium.com/partipost/how-to-manage-influencer-campaign-using-partipost-27e85b497c2a
|
[]
|
2020-12-17 08:43:34.409000+00:00
|
['Advertising', 'Brands', 'Platform', 'Influencer Marketing', 'Campaign']
|
Why Do Dogs Kill Themselves at the Overtoun Bridge?
|
Why Do Dogs Kill Themselves at the Overtoun Bridge?
The mystery of the 600+ dogs that jumped off Scotland’s “suicide bridge”
The Overtoun Bridge | Photographed by John Gunion | The Sun Glasgow
In 2015, Alice Trevorrow was walking with her 3-year-old springer spaniel, Cassie, on the Overtoun Bridge near Dumbarton, Scotland.
Out of the blue, Cassie became agitated, ran, and jumped off the bridge. The fall was 50 feet.
The behavior exhibited by Cassie has been observed for decades in over 600 dogs who set foot on that bridge. Cassie was among the lucky ones who survived. But her owner, Alice, was still very disturbed by the event when she described it to The Sun.
“There is no way my dog did it on purpose. There is something sinister going on here. It was so out of character for her.”
Each jump, whether fatal or not, seems to follow the same scenario. The dog is acting normal. It starts walking on the bridge. Right away, it starts growing agitated and manic. Then it runs to the side of the bridge and jumps. The fall ends on the rocks of the deep valley below.
The phenomenon occurs so consistently that the structure is now known as “Dog Suicide Bridge” in Scotland and it has warning signs on both ends that read, “Dangerous bridge. Please keep your dog on a lead.”
There is no conclusive explanation of what causes these tragedies. But there are two vastly different theories
The White Lady of Overtoun
The area of the Overtoun Bridge — a lush, quiet natural oasis — is what the pagan Celts used to call a “thin place.” A spot where the border between the living and the dead becomes fuzzy.
Paul Owens, a teacher of religion and philosophy in Glasgow who wrote a book about the phenomenon, had this to say:
“After 11 years of research, I’m convinced it’s a ghost that is behind all of this.”
But whose ghost?
In 1908, First Baron Overtoun died. His widow, Lady Overtoun, was inconsolable. She lived in grief and heartbreak for 30 years until she, too, passed away.
Since her death, people have reported sightings of her ghost. Still shackled by sorrow, she lingers in windows and walks around the mansion. And her sadness seeps into the dogs who come close so they become suicidal.
People who watched in horror as their pets leaped off the bridge are adamant that something unnatural and sinister was going on.
Another dog owner, Ms. Mackinnon, indicated to The New York Times that her collie, Bonnie, did not act out of her own free will when she jumped.
“Something overcame Bonnie as soon as we approached the bridge. At first she froze, but then she became possessed by a strange energy and ran and jumped right off the parapet.”
But it’s not only the dog owners who believe something supernatural is going on. Residents of Dumbarton mostly agree. The area is considered “spiritual.” Locals have grown up believing in ghosts and have seen or felt spirits in Overtoun.
And many people who walk on the bridge report it “feels strange.” Even dogs that do not jump tend to freeze up when they enter the area.
Mink and other animals
In 2010, animal behaviorist David Sands called on by the Dumbarton council to investigate.
His conclusion was simple. The strong scent of mammals — mice, squirrels, and especially mink — is what compels dogs to jump.
Sands further argued that the dogs are not even aware that they are leaping into a 50-feet deep gorge. They make no distinction between the even ground surrounding the bridge and the even ground on the bridge itself.
And the parapets of the bridge create an optical illusion for the dogs. They are wide and flat, covering any indication that what lies beyond them is a 50-feet fall.
Obertoun Bridge | Picture by Allan Ogg | Wikimedia Commons
Also, the walls of the bridge are tapered. Even if the dogs don’t aim for a long leap, they can easily fall off once they are on the parapet.
|
https://medium.com/the-mystery-box/why-do-dogs-kill-themselves-at-the-overtoun-bridge-fce5abc75235
|
['Martina Petkova']
|
2020-09-23 16:02:58.463000+00:00
|
['True Story', 'Mystery', 'Unsolved Mysteries', 'Bizarre', 'Nonfiction']
|
We Need To Rethink Singapore’s Draconian Conscription Policies
|
An image of a Singapore Armed Forces outfield training
I find much of Singapore’s public policy praiseworthy. I’ve written a book about it. But one big exception are its conscription policies, which is perhaps its most draconian yet rarely talked about.
Jailing people for doing drugs is deplorable. But conscription is far worse. At least with drugs, there is some element of free choice involved. You knew the laws, yet you did it anyway. You should’ve known better. Conscription on the other hand, does not give avail you a choice. If activated for war, there is a very real risk of death or at best, permanent injury. Conscription therefore in some ways is tantamount to slavery, and is far more morally objectionable.
There are many ways Singaporeans defend the status quo of conscription. There are the plainly stupid ones like, “It teaches boys to be men” and“It teaches them self-responsibility”. Right. Because billions of men in the world who have never been enlisted in the army endure their lives as irresponsible half-men?
Then there is the realpolitik reasoning, where we have to defend Singapore from potential invaders, or use our army as a powerful diplomatic bargaining chip. Cue an impressive sounding Lee Kuan Yew quote about ruling with an iron fist.
This argument was a lot more plausible during the heights of communism and the Cold War. But today? We live in one of the most peaceful times in the history of the world, and there is no serious threat of a geopolitical war forthcoming. This is a widely acknowledged fact of the 21st century.
This is not to say that we are enjoying world peace and that we can do without an army force — which is not what I am advocating. But it does beg a justification for maintaining one of the most expensive and militarised armies in the world.
At this point, some Singaporeans will concede that we may currently live in peacetimes, but “we need to be prepared for unforeseen circumstances”. This would be a halfway decent argument if only it wasn’t such an arbitrary and vague precautionary principle that could be applicable to almost any circumstance.
First, wars do not break out overnight. If there was any realistic chance of a war happening, its earliest signs would emerge years beforehand, leaving the government ample time to ramp up militaristic measures.
Second, Singapore’s value lies in its commercial hub, not its natural resources. What are the incentives for invading Singapore? This is not a James Bond movie, where villains sit around plotting world domination. It makes zero economic sense to invade Singapore, much more so to trade with us.
Third, no one is saying abolish the army. If the objective is to be well-prepared, maintain an army by all means, but the current state of the army by which it exists in is completely unjustifiable. According to the Global Militarization Index 2019 by the Bonn International Center for Conversion, Singapore has the fifth most militarised army in the world, far ahead in terms of militaristic power compared to Indonesia or Malaysia if you’re worried of their potential aggression. The largest chunk of Singapore’s government spending — 30% in 2019’s National Budget — goes to defence and security, the second highest in the world.
|
https://medium.com/@donovanchoy/we-need-to-rethink-singapores-draconian-conscription-policies-6463a24d8131
|
['Donovan Choy']
|
2020-12-13 18:09:32.063000+00:00
|
['Politics', 'Philosophy', 'Army', 'Singapore']
|
A Conversational Interface with Algolia’s Nicolas Dessaigne
|
“There is more information available at our fingertips during a walk in the woods than in any computer system, yet people find a walk among trees relaxing and computers frustrating. Machines that fit the human environment, instead of forcing humans to enter theirs, will make using a computer as refreshing as taking a walk in the woods.”
Mark Weiser
In 2012, Nicolas Dessaigne founded Algolia, a company that provides ‘Search as a Service’. Algolia works with companies that build apps. It provides those companies with the building blocks to make their apps easily searchable. Algolia is also a star player in the emergence of the SaaS based API business — along with scale-ups like Twilio (telco infrastructure), Stripe (payments), Clearbit (Business Intelligence) and Contentful (Content Management Systems). Amongst the giants, Salesforce built the traditional business to business SaaS model, but it has also evolved its own hugely successful SaaS API play. But how is Algolia the wunderkind for search in the SaaS API world? Why don’t companies just use Google’s technology to make their products searchable?
Algolia v Google
Google has turned us into impatient humans.
Google Cloud Search
Nicolas told me in our 14 Minutes of SaaS interview that Google has made life hard for developers building in-house search functions. They have raised the bar so high, companies struggle to get near it. And we’re all used to using Google, so we all know how high that bar is positioned. However Google can’t be all things to all companies.
Enter Algolia. It addresses a widening hole in the market created by the explosion of software product development and the implosion of user patience. It can’t match Google for generic search, but Algolia is a much better fit for many companies because of its ability to be flexible and responsive to the particular needs of an individual client. The company gets much closer to its clients and can help them build creative solutions that involve highly accurate, responsive and extremely fast search solutions.
Building context-specific search solutions results in a more authentic search experience. For example Stripe uses Algolia for its support function. Developers can more efficiently search for the tools required to integrate Stripe’s payments technology into their sites and apps. Periscope uses Algolia in a completely different way - allowing real-time visualisation of livestream videos on a global map.
The more specific the use case, the bigger the delta between Algolia and Google in terms of quality of delivery. That’s powerful because use cases are getting more specific over time. Google is continuously building Algolia’s market. Moreover Algolia is not just about helping users to search — they want to guide the user, making intelligent suggestions with immediacy as the user types in the query.
Nicolas feels that as Algolia progresses, it becomes better at predicting the future. “Every 6 months it’s a new company!”
The Emergence and Future of the Conversational Interface:
What is a conversational interface anyway? It’s an enabler of verbal and written interactions between artificially intelligent software and a human. They are sometimes text based chatbots, and sometimes they are voice recognition interfaces empowered with natural language processing capabilities. The virtual assistant Amazon Echo is probably the most well-known voice-based conversational interface.
Advances in natural language processing and the fact that we all have smartphones with mics connected to the web are the reasons why conversational interfaces are suddenly surging as an area of interest. These interfaces (particularly voice driven ones) will change our lives and Algolia is well placed to play a role in the future of this technological evolution.
This new wave of interfaces is likely to enhance the human experience very positively overall. I don’t think we realise how tired, antisocial and distracted screens are making us and how inefficient GUIs really are. This will all change over the next decade. And by then we’ll be fully cognisant of the dark side of our bright screens. We evolved to be social animals and we converse primarily using our voices. The more you mess with that, the more likely we are to create psychological, social, cognitive and even physical problems. The next wave of innovation will start to undo some of that damage for the next generation.
Nicolas says that conversational interfaces will be huge in 4 or 5 years. Algolia is currently working on understanding how they can integrate their technology to augment the power of virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa. He believes Amazon, Apple and Google will educate the market to have a very high expectation for conversational interfaces. I’m delighted to see sophisticated companies like Algolia focused on this space because I feel that over-exposure to screens is a ticking time-bomb — especially for our children.
“Tomorrow’s search is going to be invisible. People won’t realise they are using a search technology anymore. Everything is about the context.”
Nicolas Desaigne, Co-founder and CEO, Algolia
Apple, Facebook and Slack are embracing conversational interfaces.
Big organisations with vast data and more than a passing interest in artificial intelligence are diving into conversation interface design and technology. Any UI that pretends to ‘chat’ with a human is a conversational interface. It needs to be able to ‘understand’ and respond somewhat convincingly to the natural language of a human. Conversation Interfaces will irreversibly weaving themselves into the fabric of everyday life.
“If our goal is to understand intelligent behaviour, we had better understand the difference between making it and faking it.”
Hector J. Levesque
When we talk about conversational interfaces, we’re talking about faking it in terms of replicating human conversation, but making it in terms of engaging in a valuable way. That value can be delivering your goal e.g. solving a problem directly. Alternatively it can be assisting you to progress towards your goal e.g. transferring you to a human capable of answering your question. These are some of the reasons why text based chatbots and, much more profoundly, voice interfaces will change our world:
· They are platforms agnostic and do not always need screens.
· They integrate with the guardians of vast data e.g. Facebook, Google, Amazon and Twitter.
· They lower barriers between humans and computers. Anatomically modern humans, an advanced form of homo sapiens, evolved around 200,000 years ago — give or take 20,000 years either side. We started to speak human languages about 100,000 years ago, give or take a lot of long arguments. We started to speak GUI only 45 years ago in the brief age of Xerox Parc, but GUIs only reached the masses in the 80s. It comes as no surprise that we still communicate infinitely more efficiently in human languages.
· The omnipresence of screens is a big problem. We spend more time awake watching a screen than we do sleeping. And we spend more time sleeping than awake without watching a screen. We have a big problem talking about this, because nobody in the tech industry wants to say just how destructive screens can be for a child’s development. We just didn’t evolve to spend huge amounts of time reading, writing and interacting with GUIs. Behaving in such a way from an early age represents a huge danger to the cognitive and emotional development of children. I wrote about this in 2014 in a popular 4-minute article titled Evolving Away from Boxes of Tricks and Screens. The rise of the voice interface cannot happen soon enough in my book.
Stephen Cummins, Evolving Away from Boxes of Tricks and Screens
“Pretty much any website or app can be turned into a bot.”
Larry Kim
Why is Algolia so interested in voice interfaces and why might it be so well placed to become a major player?
According to a BI Intelligence survey of 950 users of Voice assistants, the top 2 uses were to ‘Ask Questions’ (75%) and to ‘Search’ (58%). And, after all, a search query and return is simply a Q & A. Hence it’s no surprise that Google are the #2 company in this space. Only a currently dominant Amazon sits above them for now.
If voice interfaces are most useful for asking questions and searching, then Algolia can play a big part. Nicolas talks all the time about wanting to be more than a search engine API — he talks about guiding the user. When one thinks of guidance, one thinks of holding the users’ hand a little more, one thinks of a friendlier Q & A, one thinks of conversations.
The conversational interface is evolving from chatbot to voice assistant to something I call a ‘voice friend’. All of these overlap of course, but the endgame is this voice friend. I think Algolia’s current technology, it’s stated interest in conversational interfaces, it’s huge focus on a user friendly experience and it’s obsession with evolving a culture that supports all of these things, combine to suggest a very special opportunity for them in this space.
“The best of life is conversation.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
A Healthy Obsession with Culture
Nicolas is extremely proud of maintaining a relatively horizontal culture of integrity and mutual respect within and between his teams. He loves seeing developers and sales people working together on discovery calls with customers. I know from experience that this is something rare in the traditional SaaS space. You might have a sales person with a semi-technical pre-sales engineer on the line. However, Algolia is a leading light in the emergent domain of the SaaS API. It’s dealing with developers that are allergic to spin. They want detail and they want their hands on the product yesterday. This API-centric sales process is usually much more complex, high touch and interactive than a traditional SaaS sales process.
Nicolas takes customer obsession to an extreme level. If a premium customer is down for 5 hours, Algolia will refund up to 6 months. Essentially they refund up to 1,000 times the downtime. This sort of self-imposed pressure has proven to be very healthy in the past. One of the best decisions Salesforce ever made was to launch trust.salesforce.com. Such transparency was great for the company’s brand equity because transparency looks great, but the far greater benefit was that it forced Salesforce to hold its own feet to the coals. It realised that if it’s servers were not up virtually continuously, it was going to fail as a business. This transparency kept that uptime front of mind 24–7.
Algolia also understands how critical it is to have trust as a core business value. You get the feeling with Nicolas that this is not just a smart strategy, it’s a core part of values he builds into the company’s culture. Developers, product managers and heads of IT suffer very few fools gladly. Algolia makes an internal culture focused on optimising the end-user experience and the employee experience part of its external brand. It wears its heart on its sleeve like a badge of honour. And why not? A strong focus on positive human experiences is always something to shout about.
“It’s a bit counter-intuitive but sometimes when you have a problem or a bug it’s an occasion to shine, it’s an occasion to show how much you care.”
Nicolas Desaigne, Co-founder and CEO, Algolia
“You want people walking away from the conversation with some kernel of wisdom or some kind of impact.”
Harry Dean Stanton
Live long and prosper!
Stephen Cummins, 27th March, 2018
CEO & Founder, AppSelekt
— — — — — — — —
If you found this interesting, then please press the applause symbol for as many claps as you feel it deserves! And …
1. Listen to me interview the greatest founders in the world on the14 Minutes of SaaS podcast … you can listen to it wherever you listen to podcasts:
14 Minutes of SaaS on Spotify / Apple podcasts / Google podcasts / TuneIn / Stitcher
2. Follow me on social networks you use: @Stephen_Cummins and @14MinutesOfSaaS and my LinkedIn profile
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
|
https://medium.com/understanding-as-a-service-uaas/a-conversational-interface-with-algolias-nicolas-dessaigne-f17221ba8973
|
['Stephen Cummins']
|
2019-11-22 12:17:39.028000+00:00
|
['Podcast', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Conversational UI', 'SaaS', 'API']
|
One Nature to rule them all — Letter #1
|
Dear Ricardo,
How are you? I hope all is well with you and your loved ones.
I wanted to write you this letter because the other day I thought of an amazing topic and I was curious about your take on it.
Have you ever noticed how different our world must feel from the raw, untouched world the first humans encountered? All these materials, textures, colors, drawings, symbols, designs, forms, technologies… All new, products of generations. It’s somewhat cool to say one wants to take a step back, reunite with our animal roots and with nature. But what would be of us if these creations were not the product of our generations? Isn’t this result inevitable? Aren’t we innovators by nature and, thus, innovating and making civilization more different from what it was thousands of years ago are, in fact, the ways to be in constant touch with nature?
As if nature isn’t everything. Literally, every single thing that exists must be natural. A salad that mixes different types of vegetables and fruits doesn’t become less natural because it’s a mix of different elements. A cooked fish isn’t less natural because it went through the industrial process of cooking. It’s all part of the same nature; and not just elements of the periodic table and amazing processes that you can learn in a Physics class, but actions too. Actions are nature, because they derive from an organ and are executed by our body. There’s nothing about our actions that’s unnatural. Hence, the consequences of our actions are all part of nature, too.
This to me means that we should spend less time constantly evaluating the fitness of everything into this abstractly defined concept of Nature, judging our way into some kind of promised Heaven, where we’d finally be one with Mother Nature, our God.
Of course, one of the benefits of religion or religious thinking is the sense of meaning that it gives. If everything is natural and every act is a natural act, in the absence of traditional religions, what holds the souls of these people?
Anyway, sorry if it feels nuts or confusing, but I had to share it with someone. As I said, I’m curious to read your thoughts on this.
All the best,
Francisco
Read Ricardo’s response here.
|
https://medium.com/the-other-day-i-thought-of/one-nature-to-rule-them-all-letter-1-cdb53f9a33d
|
['The Other Day I Thought Of']
|
2020-11-25 09:15:47.242000+00:00
|
['Nature', 'Letters', 'Religion', 'Philosophy']
|
Image Processing using Streamlit
|
In this article, we will see how we can use Streamlit with Image Processing Techniques and Object Detection Algorithms. I am assuming that you have Streamlit installed and working on your system. If you do not know how to start with streamlit then you can refer to my previous article where I have explained it in brief.
I have also deployed this streamlit app on Streamlit Sharing. You can have a look at it before reading the article further.
Here is the link: Image Processing using Streamlit
Let’s dive into the code now.
First importing the necessary libraries
import streamlit as st
from PIL import Image
import cv2
import numpy as np
I have created the main function which is the starting point of the code. In this function, you will see a sidebar that I have created. Streamlit provides you sidebar selectbox function to easily create one. In the sidebar, I have added some values and with each of the values, a function is associated. When the user clicks on any one of them the corresponding function is triggered. By default, the first value which is the Welcome string is selected and the if statement calls the welcome() function.
def main(): selected_box = st.sidebar.selectbox(
'Choose one of the following',
('Welcome','Image Processing', 'Video', 'Face Detection', 'Feature Detection', 'Object Detection')
)
if selected_box == 'Welcome':
welcome()
if selected_box == 'Image Processing':
photo()
if selected_box == 'Video':
video()
if selected_box == 'Face Detection':
face_detection()
if selected_box == 'Feature Detection':
feature_detection()
if selected_box == 'Object Detection':
object_detection() if __name__ == "__main__":
main()
Image by author
The below image shows the welcome page. Let's look at the welcome function as well.
Image by author
def welcome():
st.title('Image Processing using Streamlit')
st.subheader('A simple app that shows different image processing algorithms. You can choose the options'
+ ' from the left. I have implemented only a few to show how it works on Streamlit. ' +
'You are free to add stuff to this app.')
st.image('hackershrine.jpg',use_column_width=True)
With st.title you can create a bold title and with st.subheader you can have a bold with lower font size. And with st.image you can display any image on your streamlit app. Make sure you set the column width to true so that it fits properly.
Next, we have the image processing part in the sidebar. Here, we will see thresholding, edge detection, and contours. I have used a slider to change the value of the threshold as per user convenience. To make an interactive slider you simply write st.slider in streamlit. With the help of OpenCV, we are doing the conversion of RGB to Gray and then using the threshold function in OpenCV. We pass the value of the slider in the threshold function. So when we move the slider the value changes and is stored in thresh1. Then we use st.image to display the thresh1 image. Make sure you set clamp to True.
Next, we have a bar chart displaying that image. You can do this using the bar chart function in streamlit. The value that is passed is calculated with the cv2.calchist function. You can use different histograms and plots for analysis of your images.
Then we have the Canny edge detection technique. I have made a button and when the user clicks on it, it runs the algorithm and displays the output. You can create a button simply by writing st.button along with if statement. Inside the if you write your edge detection code.
For Contours, again I have used a slider to change the image so that it the contours change. In OpenCV, you have the find contours function and draw contours function where you pass the image.
def photo(): st.header("Thresholding, Edge Detection and Contours")
if st.button('See Original Image of Tom'):
original = Image.open('tom.jpg')
st.image(original, use_column_width=True)
image = cv2.imread('tom.jpg')
image = cv2.cvtColor(image, cv2.COLOR_BGR2GRAY)
x = st.slider('Change Threshold value',min_value = 50,max_value = 255) ret,thresh1 = cv2.threshold(image,x,255,cv2.THRESH_BINARY)
thresh1 = thresh1.astype(np.float64)
st.image(thresh1, use_column_width=True,clamp = True)
st.text("Bar Chart of the image")
histr = cv2.calcHist([image],[0],None,[256],[0,256])
st.bar_chart(histr)
st.text("Press the button below to view Canny Edge Detection Technique")
if st.button('Canny Edge Detector'):
image = load_image("jerry.jpg")
edges = cv2.Canny(image,50,300)
cv2.imwrite('edges.jpg',edges)
st.image(edges,use_column_width=True,clamp=True)
y = st.slider('Change Value to increase or decrease contours',min_value = 50,max_value = 255)
if st.button('Contours'):
im = load_image("jerry1.jpg")
imgray = cv2.cvtColor(im,cv2.COLOR_BGR2GRAY)
ret,thresh = cv2.threshold(imgray,y,255,0)
image, contours, hierarchy = cv2.findContours(thresh,cv2.RETR_TREE,cv2.CHAIN_APPROX_SIMPLE)
img = cv2.drawContours(im, contours, -1, (0,255,0), 3)
st.image(thresh, use_column_width=True, clamp = True)
st.image(img, use_column_width=True, clamp = True)
The next part we will look at is Face detection. For face detection, I am using a haar cascade file. Using the cascadeClassifier we will load the XML file. We have the detectMultiScale function where we pass the image to find the faces in that image. If we find the image then draw a rectangle around the face. If you wish to save the image then you can use write function. Then we display the image using st.image using Streamlit.
def face_detection():
st.header("Face Detection using haarcascade")
if st.button('See Original Image'):
original = Image.open('friends.jpeg')
st.image(original, use_column_width=True)
image2 = cv2.imread("friends.jpeg") face_cascade = cv2.CascadeClassifier("haarcascade_frontalface_default.xml")
faces = face_cascade.detectMultiScale(image2)
print(f"{len(faces)} faces detected in the image.")
for x, y, width, height in faces:
cv2.rectangle(image2, (x, y), (x + width, y + height), color=(255, 0, 0), thickness=2)
cv2.imwrite("faces.jpg", image2)
st.image(image2, use_column_width=True,clamp = True)
The last part that I want to show is the Object Detection. I have used wallclock and eye haar cascade files to do object detection. Similar to face detection, we will load the XML files and use the detect multiscale function. If the respective objects are found we are going to draw a rectangle around that object. The below images show the output.
def object_detection():
st.header('Object Detection')
st.subheader("Object Detection is done using different haarcascade files.")
img = load_image("clock.jpg")
img_gray = cv2.cvtColor(img, cv2.COLOR_BGR2GRAY)
img_rgb = cv2.cvtColor(img, cv2.COLOR_BGR2RGB)
clock = cv2.CascadeClassifier('haarcascade_wallclock.xml')
found = clock.detectMultiScale(img_gray,
minSize =(20, 20))
amount_found = len(found)
st.text("Detecting a clock from an image")
if amount_found != 0:
for (x, y, width, height) in found:
cv2.rectangle(img_rgb, (x, y),
(x + height, y + width),
(0, 255, 0), 5)
st.image(img_rgb, use_column_width=True,clamp = True)
st.text("Detecting eyes from an image")
image = load_image("eyes.jpg")
img_gray_ = cv2.cvtColor(image, cv2.COLOR_BGR2GRAY)
img_rgb_ = cv2.cvtColor(image, cv2.COLOR_BGR2RGB)
eye = cv2.CascadeClassifier('haarcascade_eye.xml')
found = eye.detectMultiScale(img_gray_,
minSize =(20, 20))
amount_found_ = len(found)
if amount_found_ != 0:
for (x, y, width, height) in found:
cv2.rectangle(img_rgb_, (x, y),
(x + height, y + width),
(0, 255, 0), 5)
st.image(img_rgb_, use_column_width=True,clamp = True)
Detecting Wall Clock | Image by author
Detecting Eyes | Image by author
You can find the code on my Github. I have also made a video on it.
For further reading on Image processing and Machine learning, you can refer to this informative article.
https://neptune.ai/blog/what-image-processing-techniques-are-actually-used-in-the-ml-industry
Peace !
|
https://towardsdatascience.com/image-processing-using-streamlit-d650fb0ccf8
|
['Aniket Wattamwar']
|
2021-01-11 13:32:58.638000+00:00
|
['Computer Vision', 'Image Processing', 'Streamlit', 'Object Detection']
|
The dawn of human rights era in developing countries: The case of Indonesia
|
They must adopt and apply vast established social principles, including human rights, in a very tight time frame, like only in a few decades — if not just several years. Whereas the West successfully developed and applied those principles after several centuries.
(Photo credit: Jawapos.com)
Many developing countries are these days focusing on integrating human rights values into their routines. These countries are set to understand and implement the principles in a speedy time especially in the era of post-colonial, which were developed arguably initially in the West within centuries. A developing country, Indonesia, is no exception as it keeps on trying to immerse most of its government processes into the human rights atmosphere. The issues of West Papua have become a significant focus of the international community on seeing whether Indonesia has been understanding and incorporating human rights principles into their government processes.
The start of the era of openness
Indonesia faced a big bang of a completely new era when the 1998 Reformasi broke out. The demand for transparency in all government processes and the acknowledgment of human rights principles were a significant agenda of the Reformasi. All of a sudden, the national authority was devolved. Indonesia also witnessed the birth of many government watchdog organizations including those of human rights advocacy groups.
One department that gained so much attention was the security forces, including the National military Forces (TNI) and the Police (POLRI). They were forced to transform from superpower, untouched bodies to become publicly accessible department where the public could monitor and evaluate their work at any time. One significant change was they were, inexorably, forced to get introduced to and to adopt the principles of human rights.
Western civilization developed the current human rights values and principles for centuries. As for now, they are considered the ones that best safeguard the principles. But, one should never forget that they were once cruelly snatched away the freedom of many nations by colonizing them. As they realized their horrific mistakes in the past, they are forcing developing countries (which are mostly ex-colonies) to catch up in understanding and navigating issues related to human rights.
Indonesia, as one of those ex-colonies, has continuously been in the global spotlight for its alleged human rights violations in many parts of its territory. The most recent one is related to issues of West Papua including the debate whether the region should be independent of its ‘hinterland’.
Many raise their opinions that the human rights situation in Indonesia is worsening concerning that violence keeps happening in West Papua and some other parts of the country. Many human rights organizations and individuals are now freely talking and uncovering the gruesome memories from the past.
Cases that happened before the Reformasi like alleged kidnappings and shootings undertaken by the security forces keep coming up, being discussed in many seminars and forums. The government and its security forces often become the ones to blame, critique and even cuss out.
The local principles of human rights
Indonesia is actually not unfamiliar with principles that uphold the current human right framework. It has Pancasila and the 1945 constitution, which guarantees freedom and justice for all. After the Reformasi, Indonesia also passed a human rights law, which also covers most of the human rights principles which are internationally admitted.
But implementation is an entirely different matter than that regulatory or policy making, of course. One should see that the presence of human rights-based laws and regulations is a significant, positive step for Indonesia to advance in the realm of human rights.
The question, then, is why a lot of entities still think that human rights acknowledgment is worsening? Why can’t they see the positive step the country already developed and worked on helping it advance?
The progressing situation in human rights in Indonesia has been acknowledged both at home and abroad. As mentioned above, the enactment of the laws and regulations and the increasing number of non-military figures taking leadership are seen as a positive milestone (AII, 2018). Furthermore, as also mentioned previously, human rights organizations are burgeoning in Indonesia. They have been part of a significant watchdog society, including the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and Amnesty International Indonesia.
Debates and frictions with the government are, of course, here and there. But, almost no one denies that they are now present in Indonesia, especially after the Reformasi, without being feared of potential oppression or dissolution by the government.
We emphasize the Reformasi era because it is all about the progress after that momentum. Before the 1998 revolution, Indonesia was under a dictatorial-military rule where human rights might be an agenda, but they were never a significant one. A few years after the Reformasi, violence related to human rights was still happening like a few inter ethnicities bloody conflicts and the murder of Munir, a once-respected human rights lawyer.
But as time progresses, things are becoming more open and arguably better, even though, of course, still far from perfect. Now many advocacy groups are actively advocating their communities and their pertinent issues ranging from rights of the land, child protection, to climate change and human rights.
Continuing debates
In 2018, The United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet expressed her appreciation towards the progress on human rights implementation in Indonesia. Republika writes that the UN HR chief believed that Indonesia is a dynamic country, with active democracy practice and a substantial role in the region.
“The Indonesian government has carried out a number of positive measures in the human rights sector, including on rights of land, environmental rights, the impact of climate change on human rights, as well as the criminal code revision process that is being pursued,” as quoted by Republika (2018).
Bring up the UN HR chief’s statement above may be a bit controversial in recent times because many would strongly disagree. The main argument lies in the recent outbreaks in West Papua that have been igniting the current serious debate internationally.
In the era of open media like social media, graphic videos, and photos especially about how Indonesian security forces mistreat West Papuans circulate in a speed of light without proper research or investigation. As a result, people, especially those of the above watchdog community, keep on questioning whether Indonesia is serious in implementing and adopting the principles of human rights.
Debates over matters like whether Indonesia deliberately killed 500 thousand of West Papuans over the decades, (which the source of the number has also been debatable) and how the freedom fighters mercilessly murdered innocent civilians in the last two massacres in Nduga and Wamena, of course, do not seem to be over or seen through soon.
So, just for a moment, let us think about how Indonesian especially the security forces, can adopt and implement human rights values and principles in all their security measurements. Before going too far, let us ask a question: have these security forces been well-exposed to human rights-related understanding?
What has been happening since the Reformasi is unfortunately super poor communication and mutual understanding among stakeholders in human rights matters regarding the issues of West Papua. Collaborative work and actions are a scarce occasion.
One the one end, the security forces (the TNI and POLRI), have, in fact, been trying to understand and adopt the human rights principles on their own. After the last Surabaya incident, a few people have been arrested as they provoked racism against their fellow West Papuans. Furthermore, at least five security forces member have been detained and suspended. However, due to their prolonged, established-structural tradition, the adoption has been quite slow, as their internal transformation includes many other agendas.
On the other end, the government watchdog community keeps on developing knowledge and understanding of the progressing framework of human rights, while accusing the security forces are allegedly developing impunity. The community indeed have the most advanced measures to evaluate human rights implementation. It is believed that every person is free to express their opinion and political expression. However, these established understandings have never gotten tabled on the transformation agenda by the government, especially the security forces.
Analysis on the recent arrest at Fakfak Regency, West Papua
Let us look at the recent arrest made by the Indonesian security forces at Fakfak regency. Many people of West Papuan ethnicity were arrested as they were allegedly set to force an agenda of the Morning Star flag raising at the regent’s office. As captured, it was found that they brought along sharp weapons which were potentially to harm both civilians and security officers. These people then were stripped topless and laid down on the ground with hand-tied for questioning.
Sounds inhumane, doesn’t it? The photo of them being stripped topless and pushed to the ground circulated fast. People quickly criticized how inhumane they were treated. However, the part that they were a potential threat to social safety was not that much highlighted.
Many watchdog organizations and individuals condemned what happened to their fellow West Papuans who deserved better treatment while arrested. We also, of course, condemned it! And, every educated person would do so. Every person in this world should never deserve to be treated like that.
But with the context of Indonesia as a developing country, one should think more thoroughly to understand the situation.
The security forces, as reported by the media, argue that such a condition was very complicated, and they focused on the potential bigger anarchism which should be subdued immediately. The ‘inhumane’ measurement was taken to secure the area and the society there, as those people arrested were bringing weapons like bows and arrows.
One can see how different perspectives were used in examining the unfortunate treatment during the arrest. The security personnel seem to have little or no exposure to the principles of human rights. Meanwhile, the human rights advocators used their developed standards of human rights in understanding and judging the situation.
Help expose the government to human rights principles
As argued above, in the end, it is all a matter of weak communication and connection between people from the two different groups. If perspectives were languages, these contesting entities argued with one another using different languages that they did not know each other.
Law enforcement in Indonesia, of course, can never be compared with law enforcement in Western countries which have different social and cultural characteristics. However, a mutual connection should establish the necessary bridge to enable mutual understanding and even collaboration between those who are less and those more exposed to human rights values and principles.
Practically, human rights fighters should be willing to knock on the door and start to establish friendly discussions and forums with the government, especially the security forces. Why should the human rights people take the first step? It is merely because they are the ones that best know about human rights matter and its ramifications. Meanwhile, the security forces are weakly exposed to those principles.
We all know that talking with the government, especially bureaucrats both from civil and military sectors, is a pain in the butt. But if we would die for safeguarding the human rights principles and criticizing the government, why not work hard on developing better understanding and adoption of human rights among government officers, especially those of the security forces. This connection is essential to be undertaken in the pursuit of further human-rights-based government processes and security-related actions.
Focus on collaborative actions
Henry Kissinger (1998) wrote that post-colonial countries are continuously in a problematic, complicated political situation. They must adopt and apply vast established social principles, including human rights, in a very tight time frame, like only in a few decades — if not just several years. Whereas the West successfully developed and applied those principles after several centuries.
This piece is not and never a rationalization or justification of the many unfortunate occurrences related to human rights violations across Indonesia, especially in West Papua. As you may have read this far, it gives us a new perspective that more focuses collaborative work between the government especially the security forces and the human rights and watchdog community should be seriously considered.
Indonesia, in fact, has been a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2020–2022 term. Although, this is not the first time for Indonesia on the council, as this is the country’s fifth term at the table. Safeguarding and advocating human rights at home and abroad, of course, is part of the task.
This momentum should be seen by the watchdog community to bring the Indonesian government to friendly meetings and dialogs about how human rights in Indonesia can keep improving. The community should be very relentlessly active in developing communication with the government to help the officers exposed to human rights principles. Relevant to what Kissinger argues, the complexity within the government may as well cause the slow adoption of human rights principles. Thus, the collaborative work as discussed in this entire piece is necessary.
Indonesia has endeavored to accommodate and safeguard human rights at home, for example, by giving a full right only West Papuan natives to take the top leadership there as governors and mayors or regents. Many, though, oppose the policy because it is seen as unfair because West Papuans can also become leaders in other provinces or regions. But Indonesia is firm on this matter as the Special Autonomy, which regulates the policy, is applied in respect to the principle of equity.
In this sense, pertaining to the local complexity, West Papuans are the ones that must be granted full responsibility to regulate their own people and lands. Affirmative actions and policies are also well-provided for those who need them in Indonesia, including West Papuans. For example, scholarship opportunities are provided more for West Papuans than Javanese.
For sure, this all is a very first step to better human rights in Indonesia. It is part of, probably, thousands of other further steps that must be taken to see an Indonesia, including West Papua, that is free from any violation, especially related to human rights. (*)
|
https://wawawajournal.medium.com/the-dawn-of-human-rights-era-in-developing-countries-the-case-of-indonesia-690adbfdbbb0
|
['The Wawawa Journal']
|
2019-12-14 01:14:31.572000+00:00
|
['Human Rights']
|
Global Domination: InsurTech Edition
|
Global Domination: InsurTech Edition
Credit: icanhascheezburger.com. yum.
It’s no secret that insurtech is far more advanced abroad. Here in the US, we’ve got Lemonade, Root, Hippo and…
I dare you to name another one.
You probably can if you’re actually into insurtech — and probably can’t if you’re not. No way. But go on any insurtech news site and you’ll see row upon row of press releases announcing that XX company has gotten funding and is now expanding into the U.K. or France or Latin America, etc.
So let’s dive into some insurtech companies spreading their wings.
Companies on the Up and Up
Emma
Who is she? A life insurance company from the Great White North. But this life insurance company isn’t like the others — and not just because of the cute name. You can get life insurance with Emma in under 20 minutes, with a digital policy that’s immediately accessible. On top of that, they give you personalized options and payment options as low as $8 a month.
Credit: Warner Media
The Montreal-based startup recently announced its plans to expand throughout Canada. You can learn more about them here: http://emma.ca
WeGroup
The promising Belgian startup recently raised 3 million euro to begin their expansion into France. Leveraging data and analytics, the company calls itself “the insurance platform of the future”. Their digital assistant/platform, Louise, assesses customers then identifies policies across various insurance companies that are ideally suited to them. Curious? Read up here: https://www.wegroup.be/en/about
Insurello
The Stockholm-based startup handles the claims filing process for users — and even finds opportunities for compensation of which users might not previously have been aware. The company plans to expand internationally, and recently raised 1.7 million euro to help smooth its path to global domination. If you understand Swedish, you can learn more about them here: https://insurello.se
Company That’s About to Explode (in a good way): Coherent
This one is a little different in that it has a menu of products — ranging from a platform that enables insurers to digitize their back-end to a product that empowers agents to sell policies remotely. The pandemic has proved the latter product — named “Flow” — particularly useful.
Coherent already has bases in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and Manila — but recently had a $14 million Series A round that they will use to expand their operations throughout Asia.
Company That’s About to Become an Even Bigger Deal: Lemonade
It’s the hot pink insurtech company with the artsy Instagram campaigns that’s named after a staple life beverage. Boba? No.
Lemonade.
The provider of homeowners, renters, and pet health insurance is already available outside the US in France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Up next? Their “Coming Soon” list is impressive and includes ideal post-COVID vacation destinations such as Malta and Liechtenstein.
Do Not Sleep On This Company: Omnidya
Knock knock.
Who’s there?
It’s us. The future of personalized insurance. Powered by AI and data transparency, we only want the best for you. So we’ll give you the best auto insurance policy of your life — so hella customized it’ll fit you like a bespoke glove. You can join our party here.
|
https://medium.com/omnidya-ai/global-domination-insurtech-edition-d32e66c9289d
|
['Aisha Tritle']
|
2020-12-16 00:06:50.789000+00:00
|
['Insurtech', 'Insurance', 'Innovation', 'AI', 'Data']
|
【每日幣讀】0411–2018：「3,500 萬日本人交易虛擬貨幣」、「Telegram 機器人盜幣嚴重」、「中美大舉投資區塊鏈新創」…更多不可錯過的幣圈新聞
|
in In Fitness And In Health
|
https://medium.com/mibinews/%E6%AF%8F%E6%97%A5%E5%B9%A3%E8%AE%80-4-11-2018-17a6ba001f33
|
[]
|
2018-04-13 07:36:51.735000+00:00
|
['Bitcoin', 'Investing', 'Ethereum', 'Dailynews', 'Cryptocurrency']
|
Steve’s Story
|
Tell us about your experience supporting someone with suicidal thoughts or tendencies?
My son Gregory died by suicide in January 2016. He was 21 years old. He was a final year student at university and took his own life during the Christmas holidays. Greg was impacted by several adverse events which culminated in his long term relationship ending in September 2015. This sent Greg into a depression.
I visited Greg in Bristol in November 2015. He was withdrawn and unusual in his behaviours, but at times he was normal and the old Greg. One night we went to dinner. He told me that he was a monster and that he had behaved badly to his girlfriend (which was completely untrue). I was worried and asked him if he had been thinking of suicide. He said that he had but not seriously. I asked him to come to the hospital with me, to stay in my hotel, or let me stay with him, he refused. He was very withdrawn and sullen.
That night I thought about calling family to discuss this but I was overwhelmed and did not. The next day we met and talked a little and he assured me he was feeling better and he promised me he would go to the doctors. We spoke again on the phone and he seemed fine.
In December we met up again in London for a day. He was in good form and we played pool together. At the train station, I asked him if he still thought he was a monster. He became very sullen. I begged with him to think positively, to seek medical help, to make sure he graduated from university. He told me he would graduate. That was the last time I saw him alive. He did graduate with first class Honours, but posthumously.
Who was the first person you spoke with about it?
I did not speak to anyone about it. I was so overwhelmed and traumatised by talking to Greg that I was paralysed. I did not know how to discuss this with his mother, his sister or anyone else. I thought about calling the police on 999 at one point but I did not know what to say as it was not an immediate emergency and I thought that involving the police against Greg’s wishes might make things worse. I thought about calling the Samaritans but I did not know the number, (seems stupid now, but at the time not knowing the number was a hurdle I did not overcome) and also I did not know what I was going to say. I thought about going to the hospital but again I did not know what to say or even how they could help if Greg would not go with me. In my mind I went round in circles and tried to bury it within me.
I took comfort that Greg seemed normal at times, and was happy and joking and I thought, or wanted to think, things were getting better. I continued to ask Greg to go to the doctors, I did use the word suicide and we even talked about drugs that could help. I do not know if he was already convinced that he did not deserve to live.
Did talking to someone about your experience help you? How?
I talked to plenty of people after Greg died. There were people at work who had worked in the mental health services and nurses who had experience of suicide, who were really helpful. I truly wish that I had talked to them before he died because it may have helped to save his life, but I had such a block in my own mind that I could not bring myself to talk about it. It was too awful to contemplate. I felt weak and unempowered. I just did not know how to start a conversation with someone else.
Why do you think talking is important, especially when it comes to suicide?
Because talking may save a life. I personally felt closed in, that I could not talk, that I could not share. I did not want to upset people, I did not want to appear weak, I did not want to burden others. If I felt like that then one can only imagine how some people who are actually suicidal must feel.
I think by overcoming the stigma and bursting the belief that we should not talk about suicide, that it is some quasi criminal offence undertaken by selfish people who are seeking attention or who are only thinking of themselves, we can really open peoples’ minds and encourage them to have conversations.
By providing suggestions on things to say we can help people take that first step and say something.
I think that having a service where somebody could just text how they are feeling or even just the word suicide I think would be very helpful. I think that when I was mentally paralysed and blocked it would have been easier for me to text for help rather than actually talking.
Greg was very protective of his sister and his mother. He left a note. In his state of mind, he really thought it was for the best for everyone if he died. I think it’s important for families to talk and listen more to loved ones who are at risk of suicide and also for families to talk to each other. That could make all the difference to saving a person at risk of suicide’s life. I think my son would have needed medical intervention but we may have been able to get that for him, either voluntarily or for his own good.
I think it would be great to have as part of any campaign a focus on the emergency and medical services and have representatives tell us in their own words what support they provide and also educate us as to what rights we have as individuals to help save others. For example, do we have the right to call the police to intervene, what can the police do, at what point can they intervene, how would you know when someone is a danger to themselves and at what point should you call for support.
Greg’s death impacted dozens of people. My other children are still affected to varying degrees. I was off work for four months. It had a big effect on Greg’s friends too. The inability to make sense of it yourself makes it doubly difficult to talk about it.
People have great difficulty in talking to a survivor. They do not know what to say. The subject is avoided, like it is the death that dare not speak its name. The death that is well and truly still in the closet. That has got to change.
For months after Greg died, I fully blamed myself for his death. It took a lot of input from a counsellor and some very good friends who have medical expertise, to help me through this and also help me support my wife and other children. I am very thankful to them. Greg had a large group of friends who have kept his memory alive. This has been very comforting.
Steve’s son Greg
The following services offer confidential support from trained staff and volunteers. You can talk about anything that is troubling you, no matter how difficult:
|
https://medium.com/@unitedtopreventsuicide/steves-story-50429b29bd6b
|
['United To Prevent Suicide']
|
2020-12-21 11:30:11.750000+00:00
|
['Suicide Awareness', 'Suicide Prevention', 'Suicide']
|
Christmas Get It Organized book review: 12 Days of Bookmas / Blogmas
|
Ready to get organized and have a relaxing Christmas? It’s not too late! This book will help guide you and provide you with recipes to make it happen!
Do you find yourself dreading the Holiday season? Does the word Christmas make you cringe? Christmas…Get It Organized by Deanna Martinez provides easy steps to be ready for the Holiday without all the stress, crowds and expenses. Learn easy ways to stay organized, spend less and have more time to spend with the people you love, doing the things you love.
Deanna will show you how to make lists, shop ahead of time, have parties, bake treats, create drinks, add new family traditions and much more. Gifts do not have to be things we buy. They can be things we make or time we can give.Put Deanna’s organizing ideas into practice this year and find yourself laughing instead of crying this Christmas. Simply click to purchase and download your copy of Christmas…Get It Organized, now!
What is Blogmas?
Book release: Picture This
|
https://medium.com/writers-tips/christmas-get-it-organized-book-review-12-days-of-bookmas-blogmas-a10a09b7a96b
|
['Deanna Martinez']
|
2020-12-15 12:43:17.509000+00:00
|
['Books', 'Christmas', 'Organization', 'Book Review', 'Blogmas']
|
Drawing The Everyday
|
Drawing The Everyday
A New York City street vendor puts me in a trance
How many times have I passed by people just doing their jobs and don’t notice them? Hundreds of thousands of times.
While waiting for a meeting, I sat in a coffee shop and drew what was in my line of vision. What sat squarely in front of me and my cappucino happened to be this man in his magazine stand. There was a few feet of sidewalk and glass between us, so I could draw him unoticed. The man seemed very happy to be doing what he was doing: selling candy, chips, water, soda, gum, lottery tickets, perhaps a newspaper (there were only a few offered), and rearranging his merchandise.
I enjoyed watching his smile as he greeted the people who stopped to buy something. For the nine minutes it took me to draw him and his wares, I was in a sort of trance, focusing on the colors and shapes, his smile and his hat. I was momentarily oblivious to my emails, the news of the day and world events.
The above video was done with video screen capture. Here is the finished product.
It was a lovely few moments of noticing the everyday.
|
https://lizadonnelly.medium.com/drawing-the-everyday-6dbc31ce9e80
|
['Liza Donnelly']
|
2019-01-03 18:26:45.149000+00:00
|
['Politics', 'Daily Life', 'Observation', 'Art', 'New York City']
|
8 Best Big Data Hadoop Analytics Tools in 2021
|
Most companies have big data but are unaware of how to use it. Firms have started realizing how important it is for them to start analyzing data to make better business decisions.
With the help of big data analytics tools, organizations can now use the data to harness new business opportunities. This is return will lead to smarter business leads, happy customers, and higher profits. 🔗Big data tools are crucial and can help an organization in multiple ways — better decision making, offer customers new products and services, and it is cost-efficient.
Let us further explore the top data analytics tools which are useful in big data:
1. Apache Hive
A java-based cross-platform, Apache Hive is used as a data warehouse that is built on top of Hadoop. a data warehouse is nothing but a place where data generated from multiple sources gets stored in a single platform. Apache Hive is considered as one of the best tools used for data analysis. A 🔗big data professional who is well acquainted with SQL can easily use Hive. The Query language used here is HIVEQL or HQL.
👉Pros:
Hive uses a different type of storage called ORC, HBase, and Plain text.
The HQL queries resemble SQL queries.
Hive is operational on compressed data which is intact inside the Hadoop ecosystem
It is in-built and used for data-mining.
2. Apache Mahout
The term Mahout is derived from Mahavat, a Hindu word describing the person who rides the elephant. Algorithms run by Apache Mahout take place on top of Hadoop thus termed as Mahout. Apache Mahout is ideal when implementing machine learning algorithms on the Hadoop ecosystem. An important feature worth mentioning is that Mahout can easily implement machine learning algorithms without the need for any integration on Hadoop.
👉Pros:
Composed of matrix and vector libraries.
Used for analyzing large datasets.
Ideal for machine learning algorithms.
3. Apache Impala
Ideally designed for Hadoop, the Apache Impala is an open-source SQL engine. It offers faster processing speed and overcomes the speed-related issue taking place in Apache Hive. The syntax used by Impala is similar to SQL, the user interface, and ODBC driver like the Apache Hive. This gets easily integrated with the Hadoop ecosystem for big data analytics purposes.
👉Pros:
Offers easy-integration.
It is scalable.
Provides security.
Offers in-memory data processing.
4. Apache Spark
It is an open-source framework used in data analytics, fast cluster computing, and even machine learning. Apache Spark is ideally designed for batch applications, interactive queries, streaming data processing, and machine learning.
👉Pros:
Easy and cost-efficient.
Spark offers a high-level library that is used for streaming.
Due to the powerful processing engine, it runs at a faster pace.
It has in-memory processing.
5. Apache Pig
Apache Pig was first developed by Yahoo to make programming easier for developers. Ever since it offers the advantage of processing an extensive dataset. Pig is also used to analyze large datasets and can be presented in the form of dataflow. Now, most of these tools can be learned through professional certifications from some of the 🔗top big data certification platforms available online. As big data keep evolving, big data tools will be of the utmost significance to most of the industries.
👉Pros:
Known to handle multiple types of data.
Easily extensible.
Easy to program.
6. Apache Storm
Apache Storm is an open-source distributed real-time computation system and is free. And this is built with the help of programming languages like Java, Clojure, and many other languages. Apache Storm is used for streaming due to its speed. It can also be used for real-time processing and machine learning processing. Apache Storm is used by top companies such as Twitter, Spotify, and Yahoo, etc.
👉Pros:
The operational level is easy.
Fault tolerance.
Scalable
7. Apache Sqoop
If there is a command-line developed by Apache, that would be Sqoop. Apache Sqoop’s major purpose is to import structured data such as Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) like Oracle, SQL, MySQL to the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS). Apache Sqoop can otherwise transfer data from HDFS to RDBMS too.
👉Pros:
Sqoop controls parallelism.
Helps connect to the database server.
Offers feature to import data to HBase or Hive.
8. HBase
HBase is a non-distributed, column-based oriented, and non-relational database. It composes of multiple tables and these tables consist of many data rows. These data rows further have multiple column family and the column’s family each consists of a key-value pair. HBase is ideal to use when looking for small size data from large datasets.
👉Pros:
The Java API is used for client access.
It blocks the cache for real-time data queries.
Offers modularity and linear scalability.
Besides the above-mentioned tools, you can also use Tableau to provide interactive visualization to demonstrate the insights drawn from the data and MapReduce, which helps Hadoop function faster.
However, you need to take the right pick while choosing any tool for your project.
|
https://medium.com/@palakdatascientist/8-best-big-data-hadoop-analytics-tools-in-2021-de1166d1ec05
|
['Palak Sharma']
|
2020-11-19 09:08:26.459000+00:00
|
['Hadoop', 'Big Data Analytics', 'Apache Spark', 'Big Data', 'Data Science']
|
Real Talk: “The Queen’s Gambit” Was A Pretty, Predictable Mess
|
2020’s most beloved shlock is an awkward train wreck. There, I said it.
To have a negative opinion of something most people delight in makes a person, in the eyes of others, a wet rag. No fun at parties. A misanthropic bore. But occasionally a beloved cultural artifact is contemptible enough that to pretend either fondness or worse, apathy, is to betray a truth that bears shouting from the rooftops to save society from its own shallow-minded, blasted decay.
See, that was a bit of glib hyperbole — something that appears full of meaning and substance but is in fact pretentious bullshit. Which describes “The Queen’s Gambit” exactly.
The show that spawned a million amateur chess players pulls off one grand, inglorious move: it manages to be both entirely formulaic and completely inconsistent. Sure, the Cold War-era costuming and set design is lovely, but the cinematography itself is often ridiculous — how many dramatic zoom-outs do we need of grand hotels set against large-scale, green-screened backgrounds of exotic cities? Why does dialogue written for a cast of young people read like an exchange of self-conscious, formal wooden monologues (if this is an inside joke about everyone behaving like actual pawns, I would forgive it, but alas — I don’t think that’s the case)? Just how can something so awkwardly composed manage to still be so cliché?
Beth’s pill-fueled chess hallucinations in bed are inviting vignettes, moments where a straightforward period piece gives way to something more existentially experimental. But these moments are few and far between, and I wondered why we weren’t offered more surrealistic touches when she began trouncing her competitors, or when she devolved in an alcohol-and-drug-fueled haze, or even when she was flying to different havens as a formerly-sequestered orphan. The show’s creators take a character-revealing stylistic impulse and then employ it unevenly, relying the rest of the time on superficial cues.
“How can something so awkwardly composed still be so cliché?”
Given how tight-lipped but complex Beth is meant to be (she carries abandonment trauma and so trust is a THING and she has to hold her brilliance close to her chest, I get it!), rearrangements of mid-century furniture and an evolving diva walk are poor stand-ins for her inner life. Though we’re occasionally served sudden sepia-toned flashbacks to her late mother’s boozy, advice-fueled monologues, which neatly fill in a bit more of our understanding of Beth (Never trust men! They explain everything but know nothing! You gotta do it on your own, child!), this is perhaps the only other foray into distinctive storytelling and it’s pandering and cringeworthy at best.
“An evolving diva walk is a poor stand-in for Beth’s inner life.”
We also learn that this young prodigy has an unhealthy relationship with every man she competes with. But even though this is the story the show has spent six long episodes telling us, the finale (minimal spoiler ahead), presents us with something like a 1980s-style sports movie moment, where the troupe of fuckboys suddenly band together behind her to cheer her on in the World Tournament. This may feel swell (to use era-appropriate slang), but it’s a patronizing move that is entirely out of joint with the rest of the series — a series, I’ll remind you, which is supposed to be about chess, but I don’t remember learning a thing about the game except that it makes a cool foreground for some pretty lush scenes and tense encounters.
“The troupe of fuckboys suddenly band together to cheer her on????”
All of this mess would, perhaps, be more distracting if the lead actress wasn’t so immediately captivating. Like the show, Taylor-Joy’s performance is intriguing in passing, but it doesn’t amount to more than a close-up capsule collection of smoldering, doe-eyed gazes and pursed lips (I blame the screenplay and direction, not Taylor-Joy herself, who is riveting even with thin material). All of the chic period outfits and the defiant stares that read, “Sad, glamorous genius will come out on top!” are impossible to look away from — a dependable Hollywood hook. But though the actress’s poses admittedly stir the senses (I have a pulse!), they’re not enough to redeem the thing.
Many of the show’s inadequacies are things I’d forgive and even praise in a more self-aware offering — something like the shamefully misunderstood “Ratched” from Ryan Murphy, which can bear the load of epically-wide camera shots and broad characters because it knows what it’s doing and is consistent in carrying it out. Good Camp (or, to nod to Murphy’s own preferred nomenclature, “Baroque,” highly stylized work) can play on predictable tropes, but it treats them to sensational costuming, design, cinematography, acting, and story that feels of one expertly shaped piece — one big, clear-eyed vision. Instead, in “The Queen’s Gambit,” we’re given all the grand tropes handled with utter seriousness and an uneven hand. And in a show about a game as complex as chess, it’s a shame I could predict every over-the-top, stilted move before it happened.
….
Want more? Follow me here on Medium and Twitter and subscribe to my newsletter!
|
https://medium.com/@saraaboulafia/real-talk-the-queens-gambit-was-a-pretty-predictable-mess-ec27f2f1bc15
|
['Sara Aboulafia']
|
2020-12-29 21:32:59.479000+00:00
|
['Netflixoriginals', 'Netflix', 'Tvcriticism', 'Queensgambit', 'Tvshows']
|
The Secret In Ditching Your Boxing Class Friends And Improving Your Return On Exercise (RoE)
|
The Secret In Ditching Your Boxing Class Friends And Improving Your Return On Exercise (RoE)
Image Credit: Wikipedia Commons Licensed for Reuse
How’s your ROE going? No, I am not talking about the Return On Equity of your pension fund, I’m talking about Return On Exercise.
Return On Exercise is one of my favourite topics because it makes me happy to help people understand how to meet their fitness goals better. I’m especially talking about men and women over 50.
I’m aiming at you who are already doing regular exercise, especially those going to a gym. If you are doing that, then you are making quite a commitment.
Given that you are making this commitment, how would you like to get the best return?
I know that this can depend on your priorities. If your preference is simply the social interaction that’s fantastic and you don’t need my advice.
However, in my 20 years of going to a big brand gym, I see that most people are seeking more than just social interaction. Most are wanting to look better, have better posture, feel more physically attractive, and to be stronger and have more energy.
I also see, in my 20 years of first-hand experience, that most people don’t achieve those goals. They stagnate. They look better after the first 6 to 12 months, and then they look the same for the next 5 to 6 years.
This creates a problem because it is demotivating. It results in many people fading out of their exercise routine. Others keep muddling along with little show for their commitment and effort.
Knowing how to get the best Return on Exercise will keep you motivated. You will feel yourself improving not stagnating, and that will build a virtuous circle.
W hat’s the secret in knowing what to do — which classes to do, what exercises?
I’ve already let my secret out of the bag.
Here’s what I suggest that you do. Observe the people who are doing various activities at the gym and ask yourself:
How long have they been doing this thing?
Considering their initial gains over the first year, have they changed much since then?
Do they look as fit and active as I aspire to be?
How do they match up doing other things around the gym, e.g. in other classes, or doing bodyweight exercises? (Meaning — are they surprisingly “weaker” than you thought at things that they don’t do regularly.)
That’s enough. What I’ve suggested is not a scientific process; it is about just making some observations which inform your path to living longer better.
Here are some examples of what I believe that you will observe:
People who favour the cardio room for years — walking machines and stationary cycles — look pretty much the same as after their first 12 months. People who favour the machines look stronger than #1 above, but don’t look fit and active even after many years. And if you observe them doing bodyweight exercises, they look surprisingly weak and unstable. That’s because their fake muscles from the machines are not useful for real life. People who favour big brand gym boxing classes look the same as they did after the first six months, which is pretty much as they walked in off the street. They are not aerobically better off nor stronger, nor is their posture any better. The best you could observe is that they haven’t lost their balance as the people who favour the machines have.
You’ll also observe that the people in the back rows of the classes, e.g. Bodypump, Spin etc. have also changed little despite their years of investment in exercising. Their Return on Exercise is poor.
How can you use this information?
There’s a truism about exercise which is almost universally ignored by all gym-goers. It is this: “If you keep doing the same thing, you will get the same results”.
The “same results” for most people are a poor Return on Exercise.
To change what you are doing, firstly make your observations, as above. Then make informed choices to improve your Return on Exercise.
Here’s what I suggest:
Avoid doing those things where you have observed little benefit over time for the participants. Typically that would be the boxing classes and using the gym machines.
Reduce the time you spend in other activities, e.g. the cardio room, and mix things up with different exercises, e.g. strength training, circuit training, functional training.
Go to the front of other classes and apply a bit more intensity. Ask for help from the instructors, sharing your goals. (There is another secret about intensity which will share in a forthcoming post.)
In summary, congratulations on your choice to go to the gym and exercise regularly.
I’d love you to be able to get more out of what you are doing; to increase your Return on Exercise.
Make your observations and drop the classes which you can see deliver the least Return on Exercise.
Channel your energy into new combinations of exercises and classes where you see people getting the results you desire. Move to the front and learn how to increase your intensity.
By the power of your own observations and the decisions you take, you will increase your Return on Exercise and live longer better.
It’s up to you.
Good luck.
If you liked this post you may also find this one interesting: How to keep your weight off with daily walks — 5 fun level-ups that everyone can do and Building a stronger body in 5 minutes
|
https://medium.com/body-age-buster/the-secret-in-ditching-your-boxing-class-friends-and-improving-your-return-on-exercise-roe-87e4ee8ac26b
|
['Walter Adamson']
|
2020-07-08 09:02:12.940000+00:00
|
['Exercise', 'Health', 'Fitness', 'Choices', 'Body']
|
Dear Roh: Letter #18
|
Dear Roh: Letter #18
Makes me wonder: Does the price of our individuality has to come at the cost of our humanity? Aren’t we all just pebbles to each other lying along the cosmic shore waiting to be washed up by the tide of time?
(This letter is part of an epistolary series Speaking Our Souls and is a response to Letter #17. If you wish to start from the beginning, you can look at the list here)
Wow. It fascinates me that fictionalizing a situation forges a sense of freedom for you-
Wait. Let me back it up a little bit here.
I guess it’s been so long that this letter might as well be considered a new season*. Right. So. I was going to start by explaining why there has been a hiatus (yes, can’t seem to let go fo the TV series metaphor. I have a problem). But no. As legitimate it may sound in my head, it will come out as an excuse. However, I think I will try being honest.
And yes, I can cite numerous circumstantial reasons — new environment and lifestyle rebirth being the primary one (being caught in the daily routine is another one). But the truth of the matter is I was irrationally put off.
I was surprised by your lack of address to anything from my previous letter. Don’t get me wrong. As much as I adored your last response in all its depths and dwellings, it was almost a new conversation started. Perhaps, naturally so because of the time gap between the two letters. But it was a sudden change of topic with any acknowledgment or reaction to what was being discussed.
I may be being a bit immature here. I had actually written the draft to this but never got around to publishing it because it never felt…finished. Yes, that’s what I conveyed during our non-digital dalliances. But expressiveness is entangled with emotions. Every iteration — whenever drafted — felt like an enforced encapturing of an ephemeral emotion I felt at a distant point of time. I wasn’t sure if I wanted it to be etched online eternally, at least not when it didn’t feel authentic. I also wanted to know for sure how I felt about writing back to you without a hassle of fighting a fleeting temperament.
So, I did what I always do best: Patiently procrastinated waiting for the presence of mind to pen it all down perfectly. This delay became so apparent that it got even you to hold this against me as leverage.
Why am I telling you this now? Because recently I realized that I was missing the point of why we started this in the first place. We both had a different reason. Mine initially was to find the sanity that I am not sure I ever had.
Truth is, I miss and love talking to you all the time. Distance doesn’t make it easy. So for me, every form and format is just a way for me to indulge in doing just that. It wasn’t my intention to stop writing and I am sorry for the delay.
So – Anyway – back to what I was saying — in reference to the last letter — Yes, I am intrigued by you saying that “this world is not real and that this life is only a figment of my imagination”. Really? Not making it real means you having the power to have control it?
But that is the part boggles me. I think this is where I see reality — at least objective reality — in a more liberating light than any fiction conceived by us human. We, humans, have made it a poor substitute of dreams and our own subjectiveness. But for me, it’s always been those two that are so entrapping either by our subconsciousness or our biases.
It is great if the technique works for you — and I am more of a sucker for a story than next person — but I actually find the whole “everything is an illusion” more frightening than freeing.**
Maybe, it makes sense. Maybe, it is the “othering” of a presented reality from one’s own state of mind that makes it easier to combat it. But in my head, that just makes it more complicated.
I get it. It is this thinking that leads me to the appeal of not being bound by the expectation of “others” or the satisfaction of defying them. It’s feels liberating for me to defend the feminist ideals, even better to call “others” out on their misogynistic comment.
But how many time must I have been the reason for someone to believe that their dream isn’t worth pursuing? How many time must I had have my actions reaffirm a stereotype or a behavior trait been used as an example of deeply rooted sexism?
We keep hearing about “believing in oneself” and to “not listen to others” but what we are failing to see is how we always are “the others” to someone else.
Makes me wonder: Does the price of our individuality has to come at the cost of our humanity? Aren’t we all just pebbles to each other lying along the cosmic shore waiting to be washed up by the tide of time?
Maybe these are mere metaphysical musings that I am mentally meandering in search for meager meaning. Maybe, I am just trying to realizing something that “others” have already figured out or let it go.
I recently got a chance to star-gaze at an offsite a month ago, which I told you about. In the midst of celestial sighting, all I could think about was having you there with me. I guess in some ways, even these futile attempts to comprehend any aspect of reality – with all its quirks – along with you just make it something to root for and immerse myself in.
That is all from me now. I am not sure if this is what I had in my mind when I started off but I hope you liked where it ended.
Hope to hear from you. Sooner than what we both are going to aim for. But either way, it will always be worth it. In the meanwhile, I might be swallowing large morsels of time as an appetizer in efforts to bend reality and see you sooner.
Empirically Yours,
Regards,
*Picture a short recap montage of “Previously on, Speaking Our Souls…” ending with a cliffhanger to get back the right emotional pulse of this epistolary series.
**If you see Matrix, you will understand why. But subjective relativism in Hinduism had got me worked up about this long before that movie.
|
https://medium.com/@anupriykanti/dear-roh-letter-18-6c191d179d2d
|
['Anupriy Kanti']
|
2019-06-16 21:08:34.355000+00:00
|
['Love', 'Letters', 'Reality', 'Procrastination', 'Fiction']
|
Is Sustainability for the Elite?. If their goods and services continue to…
|
If their goods and services continue to be priced as they are, is the sustainable movement only for the demographic that can afford it? If so, can it even still be called sustainable?
By: Anna Cayco
Art by: Chelsea Caritativo
These days, “sustainability” is instantly associated with metal straws, tumblers, or bamboo toothbrushes.
But beyond these innovative yet trendy products, the United Nations defines it as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” which includes gender equality, labor rights, education for all, and more.
Various social enterprises, whose industries range from ethical fashion to organic agriculture, are indeed attempting to establish the sustainable movement in the Philippines. In a review by the British Council, many of these social enterprises are producer-based organizations that collaborate with low-income laborers and suppliers to distribute their products to the general market.
And there is definitely a demand for these businesses. According to a global survey by Nielsen, the Philippines placed 5th among the top countries that demand for programs to improve the environment.
Considering 21% of Filipinos is below the poverty line, much of the population cannot rely on regularly buying organic food priced higher than competitive prices. Many Filipinos would find it impractical to purchase ethically-made clothing that sells for thousands instead of second-hand clothing — whose sustainability is actually ambiguous — at only a tenth of that price.
With low minimum wages, many cannot afford to make the switch from cheaper and more ubiquitous plastic-wrapped necessities to more expensive non-single-use, eco-friendly, and ethical products.
Thus, the rise of social enterprises has been met with hostility, particularly towards its authenticity and its sustainable impact. If their goods and services continue to be priced as they are, is the sustainable movement only for the demographic that can afford it? If so, can it even still be called sustainable?
Climate change has never been more observable, especially this year’s summer, which has reached to a scorching 35.9 degrees Celsius.
Good intentions, misguided actions
Erwin Lizarondo, a professor of social entrepreneurship, explained that the hostility towards sustainability is due to the demographic that owns these businesses.
“The people who lead the sustainable program are the elite… The elites are actually funding these projects or social enterprises… The middle class and even the lower socioeconomic status are suspicious of these elites simply because of our politics. It’s the politics of the rich and we continue to see that,” he said.
There is no harm in wanting to engage in sustainability, especially if one had the resources and quality education to do so. The problem arises when these business owners are unable to properly engage with a market outside of their own, Lizarondo said. Good intentions can become savior complexes due to a preconceived notion of proper livelihood by living in metropolitan cities.
With a lack of understanding of their beneficiaries’ environment, livelihood, and etc, social entrepreneurs can have a tendency of treating their laborers as just a means of production. Businesses should prioritize investing in people holistically — not just in their skills — rather than just the brand.
“The teaching of sustainability at least is often mistaken that it’s all about environment. It is not. It’s a whole lot of issues under it. And I don’t think we’re getting at the root cause of what sustainability really is,”
More than metal straws
For Pang Delgra, a member of Habit, which provides alternative products to help transition to a more sustainable lifestyle, she believed these harsh criticisms are aimed towards the more popular yet less systemic solutions towards sustainability.
At Habit, their metal straws and collapsible cups are just a first step for their market. “But, as we now realize, aren’t the cheapest or best solution. It’s a good first step for those who can afford it but it’s definitely not for everyone,” Delgra said.
The following steps should consider beyond products and more onto habits. Because to claim sustainability is only for the elite is to only talk about the consumerist side of things. Lizarondo said, “It’s simple practices; all of those small practices. And they do make a difference.”
These practices even include age-old reminders from the older generations, such as bringing one’s own shopping bag or bayong to do the groceries, saving food scraps for compost, and cutting on electricity and water use — all which don’t necessarily need to purchase new eco-friendly products.
Alongside new innovations, old habits and practices before a time of plastic and disposable waste are returning. In Britain, milkmen have begun their operations once more in delivering bottled milk from door to door.
There is no harm in wanting to engage in sustainability, especially if one had the resources and quality education to do so. The problem arises when these business owners are unable to properly engage with a market outside of their own, Lizarondo said.
Expand and engage
Is it possible to argue that eventually the prices of sustainable products and services will go down as the demand increases? Possibly, yes. But Lizarondo countered that there is no time for “eventually.”
“Yes, we’re making a dent. But it’s not quick enough for us to actually make significant difference. Because if we look at it, unless we involve those who are in the lower socioeconomic status, you won’t be able to hit critical mass. And we are not the critical mass,” he said.
The alarms have been ringing loud and clear for exactly that critical change needed. Last March 18, a young whale washed up on Compostela Valley with its stomach containing 40 kilograms of plastic trash. Climate change has never been more observable, especially this year’s summer, which has reached to a scorching 35.9 degrees Celsius.
“If you really want to make a dent into this whole sustainability thing, it’s important to actually get to know those who are not in your market to understand why we’re asking these people to use these things,” Lizarondo argued.
“If you actually look at the social entrepreneur scene in the Philippines, how many are really being led by grassroots level? Who supports ideas from the grassroots level? How much of the elite can really bring it down to the grassroots?” Lizarondo continued.
For Habit, they make it a point to make their products cheaper or at par with the rest of the market. “This is a deliberate choice because we want to be able to say that we did our best to make our products available to as many people as possible,” Delgra shared.
Yet, they don’t see themselves selling directly to the lower socioeconomic status. Instead, they channel 1/8 th of their profit to community-related work such as beach cleanups or for conducting research on the waste flow from the consumer to post-consumption stakeholders such as basurero, mambobote, and junk shops or what they call their 8th Partner Initiative.
There are other social enterprises that have the capacity to provide straight to their beneficiaries and make their products affordable to most. Sinaya Cup, a menstrual cup provider, uses a percentage of their profits to donate their products to women in need as well as fund seminars on female hygiene for school children. Ritual, a package-less, organic, eco-friendly, and fairtrade grocery, has been operating since 2010 and is now able to sell their products at much more affordable prices.
But the burden should not fall on the consumer but more so on big corporations and the government. By asking whether sustainability is limited only for those who can afford it, the attention is diverted from solutions that can actually make impactful change.
“The teaching of sustainability at least is often mistaken that it’s all about environment. It is not. It’s a whole lot of issues under it. And I don’t think we’re getting at the root cause of what sustainability really is,” Lizarondo claimed.
The current sustainable movement needs proper government intervention to not only require these corporations to ban single-use waste, unethical labor policies, and accountability for their carbon footprint but also encourage and support local social enterprises.
Government policy on sustainability is indeed taking place on a local level. Since 2012, San Fernando, Pampanga has cut back on its landfill from 88% to 20%. The local government unit collaborated with both its citizens and the nonprofit organization Mother Earth Foundation to implement a zero-waste strategy through material recovery facilities and closely regulated waste management.
Such case is a microcosm as to how sustainability should be on a national level. For impactful sustainability to occur, all sectors of the community must be engaged; not just the upper and lower socioeconomic class, but every single member of the community.
Originally published at https://www.offcrowd.com on June 6, 2019.
|
https://medium.com/offcrowd/is-sustainability-for-the-privilged-b73d7b034ea0
|
[]
|
2019-06-07 08:43:25.896000+00:00
|
['Philippines', 'Sustainability', 'Economics', 'Environment', 'Equality']
|
BLUEPRINT
|
BLUEPRINT
She changed her look so she could erase us.
Tried to copy the blueprint designed just for us.
Thinking she could attempt to take on God’s job
And sketch a new life, hoping it will be better for her.
Taking what does not belong to her.
Using photoshop to mould her.
Believing she won’t make an ass of herself.
Injecting her body with false promises.
I wish she knew how bad this was for her.
But her story is like many others.
Hoping to be placed on a pedestal,
Forgetting the outcome of her idea
Would be so abysmal.
In order to be liked by online fools
That don’t understand how body shaming works.
That don’t know what it is actually like to be a woman
With skin that you have to convince yourself is beautiful,
Even when you are the only one.
I wish I had another story for you,
But I find my energy being pulled
Into directions where the end of the tunnel does not have a light.
Because fighting the battle of colourism
Is dark and ignored,
Just like many of us women
With brown shades across the spectrum.
With bodies shaped in God’s perfection.
So when moments occur
In the blink of an eye,
When a woman wants her small window of fame,
Flood her with reminders that no matter what harm she was caused
You hope she finds a way to smile again.
And love herself again.
And see that what she does is harmful to others.
That taking a set of blueprints in hopes to find a new way,
Just means you are barking up the wrong tree
And ought to be grateful that you are still around to learn how to tell your own story.
|
https://medium.com/@marthacmutale87/blueprint-bcf978754b8d
|
['Martha Mutale']
|
2020-12-22 13:49:54.841000+00:00
|
['Feminism', 'Life Lessons', 'God', 'Racism', 'Image']
|
Short biography of Mother Teresa in english
|
Short biography of Mother Teresa in english
Name: Agniesz Gonkashi Bonzshiu.
Born: August 27, 1910 Yugoslavia.
Father: Drana Boyaju. (Kathlick)
Mother: Nikola Boyaju.
Died: September 5, 1997
Early Life:
Mother Teresa was born on August 26, 1910 in Scotje (now in Masedonia). His father, Nikola Boyju, was an ordinary businessman. Mother Teresa’s real name was ‘ Agnes Gonjha Boyjiju ‘. In Albanian language, Gonjha means a flower bud. When she was only eight years old, her father went to Parlok Sidhar, after which all the responsibility of his rearing came to his mother, Drana Boyju. She was the youngest among five brothers and sisters.
At the time of his birth, his elder sister was 7 years old and brother was 2 years old, and the other two children had passed away in childhood. She was a beautiful, studious and hardworking girl. Along with reading, he loved the song. She and her sister were the main singers in the nearby cathedral. It is believed that when she was only twelve years old, she realised that she would put all her life in human service and at the age of 18 she decided to join the ‘ sisters of Loreto ‘.
mother teresa short biography,
what did mother teresa do,
Who is Mother Teresa biography?,
Read full article
|
https://medium.com/@biographyonline/short-biography-of-mother-teresa-in-english-e6cff737267e
|
[]
|
2020-12-09 04:25:01.477000+00:00
|
['United States', 'World', 'India', 'United Nations', 'London']
|
SWIFT publishes its 2018 Communication on Progress to the UN Global Compact
|
SWIFT publishes its 2018 Communication on Progress to the UN Global Compact
SWIFT has taken a series of initiatives which focus on reducing our impact on the environment, by reducing plastic waste by encouraging re-use and recycling, and on implementing measures to reduce our energy consumption. SWIFT encourages staff engagement in CSR activities, promotes diversity and inclusion and supports organisations aiming to provide equitable quality education and access to financial services. SWIFT Follow Mar 27, 2019 · 2 min read
SWIFT is pleased to announce the publication of our sixth annual Communication on Progress to the UN Global Compact, presenting our 2018 progress towards the Ten principles of the UN Global Compact, and herewith our support to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Photo by ANGELA BENITO on Unsplash
In October 2012, SWIFT became a signatory to the UN Global Compact, the world’s largest strategic corporate platform for companies to align strategies and operations with Ten universally accepted Principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, and take actions to advance societal goals. By joining the initiative, SWIFT also agreed to issue an annual Communication on Progress (COP), a public disclosure to stakeholders on progress made to implement the Ten Principles.
SWIFT’s sixth annual UNGC COP was submitted in March 2019. This report shows the main tangible actions taken by SWIFT and the outcome achieved in 2018 with regards to the Ten Principles. In particular, it describes how SWIFT has progressed on a series of initiatives, both internally and externally. Internally, we focused our efforts on reviewing our environmental strategy, reducing plastic waste by encouraging re-use and recycling, and on implementing measures to reduce our energy consumption. We also continued to encourage staff engagement in CSR activities and to promote diversity and inclusion. Externally, we continued to support a growing number of organisations aiming to provide equitable quality education and access to financial services.
These actions, their results and how they support the UN Sustainable Development Goals are described in more details in this Communication on Progress.
If you are interested to know more, please contact us.
|
https://medium.com/planetswift/swift-publishes-its-2018-communication-on-progress-to-the-un-global-compact-ab83b1132d2d
|
[]
|
2019-04-24 19:18:33.583000+00:00
|
['Global Compact', 'UN', 'United Nations', 'Sdgs', 'Sustainable Development']
|
The Future of LIGHT
|
Initial Design
This is where the initial mechanics for the game will be designed, but I do want to stress that this is being done in my spare time and mechanics are fluid at this point. As such, I have intentionally not put timing on the roadmap.
The current trajectory for the design is as follows:
Players will use LIGHT to pay a small entrance fee to gain access to the current battle.
Then LIGHT will be used to train (preparation grounds) soldiers of different varieties with a mechanism similar to farming tokens on Rocketswap. If enough soldiers have not been trained and the armies fear defeat, additional mercenaries may be purchased (auxilia) before battle.
All trained soldiers will then go in a pool of one large army to be pitted against an opposing army of darkness. Once the battle starts, it will be a hands-off simulation where the winner is calculated on the blockchain.
The winner will be determined by a number of factors such as melee strength, range strength, speed, terrain of the battle field, etc. There will be small components of randomness, but the intention is that skill and planning of what troops to train, accounting for terrain, etc. are the main impacts of who wins.
After the battle, if the players win, the prize pool will be distributed based on troops contributed. If the forces of darkness win, the prize pool will go to the house where a percentage will be sent to the LIGHT team and the remainder will return to the prize pool.
Roadmap Phases
Each phase of development will go through several stages including offline design, blockchain integration, and web integration. Also, The nice pretty chart with the arrows is for illustrative purposes. In reality, progress will probably bounce around the roadmap.
Initial design: Basic game design working on nailing down all of the game mechanics.
Equilibrating: Balancing the game. This will likely be an ongoing process as with any game, but there will likely be a good chunk of time spent here initially.
Terrain: Add terrain to the battlefield. What will the mean practically? Different types of terrain will have different impact on melee vs range strength throughout the battle. As an example, if a battle take place on plains, ranged soldiers will be very strong early on in the battle, but this advantage will wane as the battle progresses. Or, if the battle takes place in a
Preparation grounds: This is where LIGHT will be used to train troops for the battle. Think of it like staking your tokens to earn another token, except in this case you’re earning troops to be used in the current battle.
Auxilia: If the battle is near, and not enough troops have been trained, you will be able to purchase mercenaries (at a higher cost than training since LIGHT must be spent instead of staked) to aid in battle.
Initial Campaign: This will be the milestone when the first battle occurs on the blockchain. After this, there will be regularly scheduled battles. Details TBD.
Contests: This feature is one the would most likely come some time after the initial campaign. It would allow for players to challenge each other to combat, bet, and compete for the prize pool. Details TBD.
Heros: This is another feature for after the initial campaign. These would be NFTs that provide special bonuses during a battle such as a range boost early, weakening the opponents melee strength, etc.
Modifiers: This is another feature for after the initial campaign. Similar to Heros, these would have different effects during battles, but these would be randomly selected on the blockchain to add further variety to combat.
Closing
There is no update on liquidity farming at this time, but given the direction LIGHT is taking, I am investigating options.
I will likely be adding more details to the token allocation for the community initiative tokens, but for the short term I will keep raining in the LIGHT, Lamden, and Rocketswap groups. Be warned though, if you beg for rain, repeatedly ask for rain, or spam the group repeatedly with nothing but stickers and gifs to try to catch rain, you will be muted in the LIGHT group.
As mentioned before, this is being done in my spare time. There were also no funds raised and at this point there are no set timelines. In interest of full transparency, I will also be seeking development assistance and will arrange payment and/or profit sharing with those I recruit for help. If you’re experienced in python and/or web design, please feel free to reach out to me in the Telegram group. Lastly, this is very early in design, so details of this article are subject to change, especially if it is at the behest of community feedback.
I will keep you updated along the way. Until then:
PUSH BACK THE DARKNESS
BRING FORTH THE LIGHT
|
https://medium.com/@lamdencrusader/the-future-of-light-491c2fd2eb8e
|
['Light Crusader']
|
2021-06-17 02:09:20.840000+00:00
|
['Cryptocurrency Game', 'Light', 'Lamden', 'Blockchain Game', 'Medieval Fantasy']
|
The power of crypto currency from $5 dollar to $50000 dollars in 2 months
|
The power of crypto currency from $5 dollar to $50000 dollars in 2 months crypto Arena Jul 15·4 min read
The price changes for Bitcoin alternately reflect investor enthusiasm and dissatisfaction with its promise. Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s inventor, designed it for use as a medium for daily transactions and a way to circumvent the traditional banking infrastructure after the 2008 financial collapse. While the cryptocurrency has yet to gain mainstream traction as a currency, it has begun to pick up steam through a different narrative—as a store of value and a hedge against inflation.
Though this new narrative may prove to hold more merit, the price fluctuations of the past primarily stemmed from retail investors and traders betting on an ever-increasing price without much grounding in reason or facts. But Bitcoin’s price story has changed in recent times. Institutional investors are trickling in after the maturing of cryptocurrency markets and regulatory agencies are crafting rules specifically for the crypto. While Bitcoin price still remains volatile, it is now a function of an array of factors within the mainstream economy, as opposed to being influenced by speculators looking for quick profits through momentum trades.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Since it was first introduced to the world more than a decade ago, Bitcoin has had a choppy and volatile trading history.
Bitcoin's price has undergone multiple bubbles in a short history.
The factors influencing its price have changed with Bitcoin's evolution as an asset class.
The narrative surrounding Bitcoin has shifted from being a currency to a store of value as a hedge against inflation and uncertainty around the U.S. dollar's future purchasing power.
Bitcoin Price History
For the most part, Bitcoin investors have had a bumpy ride in the last ten years. Apart from daily volatility, in which double-digit inclines and declines of its price are not uncommon, they have had to contend with numerous problems plaguing its ecosystem, from multiple scams and fraudsters to an absence of regulation that further feeds into its volatility. In spite of all this, there are periods when the cryptocurrency’s price changes have outpaced even their usually volatile swings, resulting in massive price bubbles.
The first such instance occurred in 2011. Bitcoin's price jumped from $1 in April of that year to a peak of $32 in June, a gain of 3200% within three short months. That steep ascent was followed by a sharp recession in crypto markets and Bitcoin's price bottomed out at $2 in November 2011. There was a marginal improvement the following year and the price had risen from $4.80 in May to $13.20 by August 15.
2013 proved to be a decisive year for Bitcoin's price. The digital currency began the year trading at $13.40 and underwent two price bubbles in the same year. The first of these occurred when the price shot up to $220 by the beginning of April 2013. That swift increase was followed by an equally rapid deceleration in its price and the cryptocurrency was changing hands at $70 in mid-April.
But that was not the end of it. Another rally (and associated crash) occurred towards the end of that year. In early October, the cryptocurrency was trading at $123.20. By December, it had spiked to $1156.10. But it fell to around $760 three days later. Those rapid changes signaled the start of a multi-year slump in Bitcoin's price and it touched a low of $315 at the beginning of 2015.
The fifth price bubble occurred in 2017. The cryptocurrency was hovering around the $1,000 price range at the beginning of that year. After a period of brief decline in the first two months, the price charted a remarkable ascent from $975.70 on March 25 to $20,089 on December 17.
The 2017 hot streak also helped place Bitcoin firmly in the mainstream spotlight. Governments and economists took notice and began developing digital currencies to compete with Bitcoin. Analysts debated its value as an asset even as a slew of so-called experts and investors made extreme price forecasts.
As in the past, Bitcoin's price moved sideways for the next two years. In between, there were signs of life. For example, there was a resurgence in price and trading volume in June 2019 and the price surpassed $10,000, rekindling hopes of another rally. But it fell to $7,112.73 by December of the same year.
It was not until 2020, when the economy shut down due to the pandemic, that Bitcoin's price burst into activity once again. The cryptocurrency started the year at $7,200. The pandemic shutdown, and subsequent government policy, fed into investors' fears about the global economy and accelerated Bitcoin's rise. At close on November 23, Bitcoin was trading for $18,353.
Continued institutional interest in the cryptocurrency further propelled its price upwards and Bitcoin’s price reached just under $24,000 in December 2020, an increase of 224% from the start of 2020. It took less than a month for Bitcoin to smash its previous price record and surpass $40,000 in January 2021. At its new peak, the cryptocurrency was changing hands at $41,528 on Jan 8, 2021. Three days later, however, it was at $30,525.39. Now Bitcoin reached to $ 32000 supported by Bitcoin lovers.
Do you want to become part of history click here
|
https://medium.com/@investonomy00/the-power-of-crypto-currency-from-5-dollar-to-50000-dollars-in-2-months-6032c2a80fee
|
['Crypto Arena']
|
2021-07-15 10:58:22.756000+00:00
|
['Bitcoin News', 'Cryptocurrency Investment', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin Mining']
|
Stop Loss, Trailing Stop, or Take Profit? 2 Million Backtests Shed Light
|
LARGE-SCALE BACKTESTING IN 5 MINUTES
In this article, we will utilize large-scale backtesting with vectorbt to explore the performance of the most common stop signals for different cryptocurrencies, time periods, and stop values.
Photo by FLY:D on Unsplash
A trading strategy is just a grain of sand when compared to the whole universe of possible strategies; only the big picture can reveal its quality.
Methodology
Our goal is to utilize large-scale backtesting to compare the performance of trading with and without stop loss (SL), trailing stop (TS), and take profit (TP) signals. To make this attempt representative, we will run a huge number of experiments across three different dimensions: instruments, time, and hyperparameters:
First, we will pick 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization (except stablecoins such as USDT) and fetch 3 years of their daily pricing data. In particular, we aim at backtesting the time period from 2018 to 2021 as it contains periods of sharp price drops (e.g., corrections due to ATH in December 2017 and coronavirus in March 2020) as well as surges (ATH in December 2020) — this keeps things balanced.
For each instrument, we will split this time period into 400 smaller (and overlapping) time windows, each 6 months long. We will run our tests on each of these windows to account for different market regimes.
For each instrument and time window, we will then generate an entry signal at the very first bar and find an exit signal according to the stop configuration. We will test 100 stop values with a 1% increment and compare the performance of each one to that of trading randomly and holding within this particular time window.
In total, we will conduct 2,000,000 backtests.
Setup
All we need is Jupyter Notebook/Lab with Python ≥ 3.6, yfinance, vectorbt, and packages required by them. We will use yfinance to download pricing data, and vectorbt to both run 2 million backtests in under 5 minutes and analyze the results visually.
vectorbt is a next-generation backtesting library for Python that applies various backtesting and data science techniques to technical analysis. The way it works is by representing trading data — from time series to order records — as nd-arrays, and processing them using NumPy and Numba. This in turn enables use cases such as blazingly fast hyperparameter optimization, which is otherwise mainly done using distributed and cloud computing. Another advantage is integration of Plotly and ipywidgets to display interactive charts and dashboards right in the Jupyter notebook.
Define parameters
The first step is to define the parameters of the analysis pipeline. As discussed above, we will backtest 3 years of pricing data, 400 time windows, 10 cryptocurrencies, and 100 stop values. We will also set fees and slippage both to 0.25% and initial capital to $100 (the amount per se doesn’t matter, but it must be the same for all assets to be comparable). Feel free to change any parameter of interest.
Start date 2018-01-01 00:00:00
End date 2021-01-01 00:00:00
Time period (days) 1096
Assets 10
Window length 180 days, 0:00:00
Windows 400
Exit types 5
Stop values 100
Tests per asset 200000
Tests per window 5000
Tests per exit type 400000
Tests per stop type and value 4000
Tests total 2000000
dtype: object
Our configuration yields sample sizes with enough statistical power to analyze four variables: assets (200k tests per asset), time (5k tests per time window), exit types (400k tests per exit type), and stop values (4k tests per stop type and value). Similar to how Tableau handles dimensions and measures, we will be able to group our performance by each of these variables, but we will mainly focus on 5 exit types: SL exits, TS exits, TP exits, random exits, and holding exits (placed at the last bar).
Download data
Getting daily pricing data of each cryptocurrency is straightforward using yfinance:
dict_keys(['BTC-USD', 'ETH-USD', 'XRP-USD', 'BCH-USD', 'LTC-USD', 'BNB-USD', 'EOS-USD', 'XLM-USD', 'XMR-USD', 'ADA-USD'])
(1083, 5)
The dictionary ohlcv_by_symbol now contains OHLCV data by cryptocurrency name. Each DataFrame has 1083 rows (days) and 5 columns (O, H, L, C, and V). You can plot a DataFrame as follows:
OHLCV of BTC-USD pair
Since assets are one of the dimensions we want to analyze, vectorbt expects us to pack them as columns into a single DataFrame and label them accordingly. To do so, we simply swap assets and features to get a dictionary of DataFrames (with assets now as columns) keyed by feature name, such as “Open”.
dict_keys(['Open', 'Low', 'High', 'Close', 'Volume'])
(1083, 10)
Generate time windows
Next, we will move a 6-month sliding window over the whole time period and take 400 “snapshots” of each price DataFrame within this window. Each snapshot will correspond to a subset of data that should be independently backtested. As with assets and other variables, snapshots also need to be stacked horizontally as columns. As a result, we will get 180 rows (window length in days) and 4000 columns (10 assets x 400 windows); that is, one column will correspond to the price of one asset within one particular time window.
(180, 4000)
A nice feature of vectorbt is that it makes use of hierarchical indexing to store valuable information on each backtest. It also ensures that this column hierarchy is preserved across the whole backtesting pipeline — from signal generation to performance modeling — and can be extended easily. Currently, our columns have the following hierarchy:
MultiIndex([
('BTC-USD', '2017-12-31', '2018-06-28'),
('BTC-USD', '2018-01-02', '2018-06-30'),
('BTC-USD', '2018-01-05', '2018-07-03'),
...
('ADA-USD', '2020-06-16', '2020-12-12'),
('ADA-USD', '2020-06-19', '2020-12-15'),
('ADA-USD', '2020-06-21', '2020-12-17')
], names=[
'symbol',
'range_start',
'range_end'
], length=4000)
This multi-index captures three parameters: the symbol, the start date of the time window, and its end date. Later, we will extend this multi-index with exit types and stop values such that each of the 2 million backtests has its own price series.
Generate entry signals
In contrast to most other backtesting libraries, signals are not stored as a signed integer array, but they are split into two boolean arrays: entries and exits, which makes manipulation a lot easier.
At the beginning of each time window, let’s generate an entry signal indicating a buy order. The data frame will have the same shape, index, and columns as that of price so that vectorbt can link their elements together.
(180, 4000)
Generate exit signals
For each of the entry signals we generated, we will find an exit signal according to our 5 exit types: SL, TS, TP, random, and holding. We will also concatenate their DataFrames into a single (huge) DataFrame with 180 rows and 2,000,000 columns, each representing a separate backtest. Since exit signals are boolean, their memory footprint is tolerable.
Let’s generate exit signals according to stop conditions first. We want to test 100 different stop values with a 1% increment, starting from 1% and ending with 100% (i.e., find a timestamp where the price exceeds the entry price by 100%). Usually, when OHLC data is checked against such conditions, the position is closed at (or shortly after) the time of hitting the particular stop, but we will simplify things and use the “Close” price to exit any position.
(180, 400000) (180, 400000) (180, 400000)
This also extended our column hierarchy with a new column level indicating the stop value, we only have to make it consistent across all DataFrames:
MultiIndex([
(0.01, 'BTC-USD', '2017-12-31', '2018-06-28'),
(0.01, 'BTC-USD', '2018-01-02', '2018-06-30'),
(0.01, 'BTC-USD', '2018-01-05', '2018-07-03'),
...
( 1.0, 'ADA-USD', '2020-06-16', '2020-12-12'),
( 1.0, 'ADA-USD', '2020-06-19', '2020-12-15'),
( 1.0, 'ADA-USD', '2020-06-21', '2020-12-17')
], names=[
'stop_value',
'symbol',
'range_start',
'range_end'
], length=400000)
One major feature of vectorbt is that it places a strong focus on data science, and so it allows us to apply popular analysis tools to almost any part of the backtesting pipeline. For example, let’s explore how the number of exit signals depends upon the stop type and value:
SL 0.434195
TS 0.590803
TP 0.514545
Name: avg_num_signals, dtype: float64
Average number of signals by exit type and stop value
We see that TS is by far the most occurring exit signal. The SL and TP curves come hand in hand up to the stop value of 50% and then diverge in favor of TP. While it might seem that bulls are mostly in charge, especially for bigger price movements, remember that it is much easier to post a 50% profit than a 50% loss because the latter requires a 100% profit to recover; thus, negative downward spikes seem to dominate small to medium price movements (and shake out weak hands potentially). These are well-known cryptocurrency dynamics.
To simplify the analysis that follows, we should ensure that each column has at least one exit signal to close the position, which means that if a column has no exit signal now, it should get one at the last timestamp. This is done by combining the stop exits with the last-bar exit using the OR rule and selecting the one that comes first:
|
https://medium.com/@polakowo/stop-loss-trailing-stop-or-take-profit-2-million-backtests-shed-light-dde23bda40be
|
['Oleg Polakow']
|
2021-02-09 22:44:21.560000+00:00
|
['Trading', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Stop Loss', 'Backtesting', 'Optimization']
|
Introducing Ignite 6.0: “Flame”
|
Introducing Ignite 6.0: “Flame”
(Note: a previous version of this blog post introduced Ignite Flame as version 4.0. Since then, we have decided to publish as 6.0 to avoid confusion with Ignite Bowser 4.x and 5.x.)
5-minute Video Intro
Ignite is well-known in the React Native world. It’s a collection of all of Infinite Red’s opinions on stack, patterns, and packages in one place. It usually saves teams about two to four weeks off the front end of their React Native projects.
Almost three years ago, Gant Laborde unveiled Ignite 2.0, which brought in the concepts of “plugins” and third-party boilerplates to Ignite.
The reasoning was sound: not every project is the same, and we wanted to have the flexibility to support many different needs and opinions on our wildly popular Ignite CLI.
But over the following years, we learned that maintaining an ecosystem of plugins and boilerplates — especially as a relatively small team — was easier said than done. Not only that, but with a few notable exceptions, Ignite continued to be what it always was: Infinite Red’s battle-tested stack & patterns in a single boilerplate.
And yet, there were all these other pieces that had to be maintained: two official boilerplates, CLI, plugins, generators, “sporking” (don’t ask), and much more. Plugins, while a cool concept, were challenging to keep up to date as well, and a source of a lot of issues.
Flame
After several conversations about this, we decided to take a step back in time and re-combine Ignite into a single code base. But this time, we’d have the full power of Gluegun at our fingertips and all the learnings from the last five years of React Native. We called this effort “Ignite Flame”.
🔥 Plugins are gone!
🔥 Third-party boilerplates are gone!
🔥 “Sporking” is gone! (more on this later)
We’ve reduced the complexity of the code base by a lot. The Ignite 2.0 CLI was over 3,000 lines of code in 57 files. The Ignite Flame CLI is under 1,000 lines of code in 15 files. It also takes about 25% less time to spin up a new app from scratch.
Note that Ignite 4.0 and 5.0 don’t exist — we are skipping those versions to not cause confusion for developers who have used Ignite Bowser 4.x and 5.x in the past. Ignite 6.0 is the new Ignite!
Boilerplate
Our philosophy is that nothing makes it into our boilerplate until we’ve proven it in a real-world client project at Infinite Red.
Our first version became the legendary Ignite Andross, and we then switched over to the top tier Ignite Bowser which is still our standard today.
Ignite Flame continues that tradition, bringing in Bowser to the main repo and allowing for a tighter integration between the Ignite CLI and our favorite boilerplate.
We’ll no longer call it Ignite Bowser — it’ll be simply “Ignite”. Just like the 1.x days. Any new versions will be released as 6.x, 7.x, etc.
Our battle-tested stack, as of Ignite 6.0, will be the following:
React Native 0.63 — latest RN
TypeScript 4.x — type checking
MobX 6 & MobX-State-Tree 4 — state management
React Navigation 5.x — navigation/routing
Detox 17.x — end-to-end tests
apisauce 2.x — network requests
expo-localization — internationalization
reactotron — debugging and inspecting state
We also support Expo out of the box, and new to Ignite 6.0 is Expo Unimodules support even when you don’t select the managed Expo option!
If you want to know more about why we chose the stack we have, head on over to the documentation.
Generators
While plugins and third-party boilerplates were rarely used, generators were the “hidden gem of Ignite”.
What’s a generator? It’s a command that you can run from your terminal to create boilerplate components, data models, and the like. It makes it super simple to add components or other files without having to copy & paste.
The previous version of generators wasn’t very flexible. If you wanted to customize your generator, you’d have to run ignite spork (which was an odd naming choice). Most Ignite users weren’t even aware this was an option.
The new generators are much more flexible and simple to use. When you spin up a new app, you get a folder:
ignite
|- templates
|- component
|- NAME.tsx.ejs
... etc
If you look at the NAME.tsx.ejs file, you’ll see that it’s an ejs template.
// ... omitted some for brevity
export const <%= props.pascalCaseName %> = observer(function <%= props.pascalCaseName %>(props: <%= props.pascalCaseName %>Props) {
const { style } = props return (
<View style={[CONTAINER, style]}>
<Text style={TEXT}>Hello</Text>
</View>
)
})
When you run ignite generate component HelloWorld , this file will be copied into the appropriate folder ( app/components/hello-world ) and parsed using the ejs template system. Any props will be passed in, such as <%= props.pascalCaseName %> , and replaced with the appropriate names. For example, the command above would generate the component like this:
// ... omitted some for brevity
export const HelloWorld = observer(function HelloWorld(props: HelloWorldProps) {
const { style } = props
return (
<View style={[CONTAINER, style]}>
<Text style={TEXT}>Hello</Text>
</View>
)
})
If you want to customize those generators, just edit the template files in ignite/templates , and anytime you use the generators, they will have your customizations.
If you want to reset them back to defaults, or you’d like to update the template to a newer version, just run ignite generate component --update and they’ll be updated to the latest version.
Upgrading From Previous Versions
You can find a diff (thank you Niclas Söderström!) between previous versions of Bowsers and the new Ignite Flame, as well as future diffs, in this repo:
For Expo apps, there’s a different diff repo:
Older Bowser-specific diffs here:
Going Forward
Ignite will be much easier to maintain going forward, and so we expect a lot of improvements to be headed your way.
If you’re interested in helping out with Ignite, join the Infinite Red Community Slack and reach out in #ignite (tag Jamon Holmgren in there). And follow @ir_ignite on Twitter!
Thanks to Bryan Stearns and Frank von Hoven for helping me with this rewrite!
Happy Igniting!
|
https://shift.infinite.red/introducing-ignite-4-0-flame-1dfc891f9966
|
['Jamon Holmgren']
|
2021-01-25 19:34:39.261000+00:00
|
['Ignite', 'React Native', 'Cli', 'Mobile App Development', 'Software Development']
|
Progressively create a Gantt chart in Excel
|
Drawing Gantt charts is laborious, and that is why you can find Gantt charts only in professional project management tools, e.g., Microsoft Planner. Professional tools are expensive and limit customizations and overkill for presentation or documentation needs. We show you how to build a very sophisticated Gantt chart in Excel that you will be able to customize to your needs.
1. Create a simple project schedule:
and do a few customizations to Stacked Bar chart to create a simple Gantt chart:
2. Add the % Complete, Days Complete, and Days Remaining columns to the project schedule:
and rebuild your Stacked Bar chart to create a Gantt chart with progress status:
3. Add an events table to the Excel spreadsheet:
and change the Stacked Bar to a combination chart to add events to your schedule:
4. Add the current or a custom date cell to your table:
and add a secondary axis for a vertical line that tracks today’s date:
Do any color, shape, or font changes that suit personal taste or company guidelines.
|
https://medium.com/@olga.slipchenko/progressively-create-a-gantt-chart-in-excel-c6244cd5ed11
|
['Olga Slipchenko']
|
2019-06-05 11:39:55.975000+00:00
|
['Excel', 'Project Management']
|
A pragmatic approach to demonstrating impact
|
When it comes to impact measurement, it can be hard to know where to start. Most people now understand the need for measurement and seek to understand the ‘impact’ of impact enterprises. But there is not yet a common understanding of how to do this in ways suitable for smaller organisations or those just starting out.
What should we measure? How can we account for value beyond financial? How can we demonstrate impact generated across multiple dimensions in often-complex entities? How can we show some sort of industry consistency while accounting for our specific context? And how is this all possible in a small, stretched team with limited financial resources or time for the task?
At The Yunus Centre, Griffith University we recently completed an Outcomes Framework and Impact Report for Logan-based social enterprise Substation33.
Through this project we uncovered and tested six learnings we think may be useful to other impact enterprises and their key stakeholders, including funders.
6 steps for new economy organisations to start measuring and sharing their impact right now
Start with the Theory of Change
Also called an Impact Map — use this to step-out the logic and establish a framework for your narrative.
2. Work closely with those who will be involved in the collection, storage and reporting of data to design your outcomes framework
The people involved in these steps are best placed to understand what is already available, where and when there might be opportunities to collect something new, and how to collect and store it in the most practical way. They’re often closest to the impact too, so can provide useful insights into appropriateness of indicators and other design matters.
3. Focus on existing data and processes that already occur, first
Make the most of what you’ve got. Do a deep dive of all the data and processes that already link to various stages of your Impact Map. If you only have a few, that’s still a good place to start.
In this example the team built upon an existing sign-in/off process. They added more data points to the daily fingerprint scan process to improve understanding of people’s journeys to track changes over time. Now, volunteers and staff answer one randomly allocated question each time they sign-in for the day.
Planned data collection during daily sign-on process at Substation33
4. Be transparent about where you’re at
Your data set may not be perfect, but that’s ok. The important thing is to always be transparent about how robust the data is, and seek to improve it over time.
5. Do a ‘pilot’ for the first reporting cycle
Linked to point four — make your first impact report a pilot. Test and trial it, discover what works and what doesn’t, find out how your stakeholders react to it.
6. Agree a staggered implementation timeline
Don’t overwhelm your team. As you improve your methods, create space for iteration and time for new practices to develop and be integrated into daily routines.
Think about a staggered approach that is fit for purpose and reflects the reality of the organisation
We hope this helps you find a place to start, or to have deeper discussions with key stakeholders about how to better understand, monitor and demonstrate your impact. For further inspiration and detail around some of these points you can delve into the full Substation 33 Outcomes Framework and Impact Report 2020.
|
https://medium.com/y-impact/a-pragmatic-approach-to-demonstrating-impact-c70398b72400
|
['Griffith University Yunus Centre']
|
2021-08-02 08:47:11.913000+00:00
|
['Impact Investing', 'Sdgs', 'Impact Measurement', 'Social Enterprise', 'Philanthropy']
|
Transformers: War for Cybertron ‘2020’ 𝒮𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑜𝓃 2 Episode 1 [Official — Netflix]
|
📱 CREDITS 📱
Television shows are more varied than most other forms of media due to the wide variety of formats and genres that can be presented. A show may be fictional (as in comedies and dramas), or non-fictional (as in documentary, news, and reality television). It may be topical (as in the case of a local newscast and some made-for-television films), or historical (as in the case of many documentaries and fictional series). They could be primarily instructional or educational, or entertaining as is the case in situation comedy and game shows.
♛ ALL CATEGORY WATCHTED ♛
Anaction story is similar to adventure, and the protagonist usually takes a risky turn, which leads to desperate scenarios (including explosions, fight scenes, daring escapes, etc.). Action and adventure usually are categorized together (sometimes even while “action-adventure”) because they have much in common, and many stories are categorized as both genres simultaneously (for instance, the James Bond series can be classified as both).
📱 STREAMING MEDIA 📱
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a provider. The verb to stream identifies the process of delivering or obtaining media in this manner.[clarification needed] Streaming refers to the delivery method of the medium, instead of the medium itself. Distinguishing delivery method from the media distributed applies particularly to telecommunications networks, as almost all of the delivery systems are either inherently streaming (e.g. radio, television, streaming apps) or inherently non-streaming (e.g. books, video cassettes, music CDs). There are challenges with streaming content on the Internet. For instance, users whose Internet connection lacks satisfactory bandwidth may experience stops, lags, or slow buffering of the content. And users lacking compatible hardware or software systems may be unable to stream certain content.
Live streaming is the delivery of Internet content in real-time much as live television broadcasts content over the airwaves with a television signal. Live internet streaming takes a form of source media (e.g. a video camera, an audio tracks interface, screen capture software), an encoder to digitize the content, a media publisher, and a content delivery network to distribute and deliver the content. Live streaming does not need to be recorded at the origination point, although it frequently is.
Streaming is an option to file downloading, a process where the end-user obtains the entire file for this content before watching or listening to it. Through streaming, an end-user can use their media player to get started on playing digital video or digital sound content before the complete file has been transmitted. The word “streaming media” can connect with media other than video and audio, such as live closed captioning, ticker tape, and real-time text, which are considered “streaming text”.
📱 COPYRIGHT CONTENT 📱
Copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to make copies of a creative work, usually for a limited time.[4][2][3][4][5] The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is intended to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself.[6][7][8] A copyright is subject to limitations based on public interest considerations, such as the fair use doctrine in the United States.
Some jurisdictions require “fixing” copyrighted works in a tangible form. It is often shared among multiple authors, each of whom holds a set of rights to use or license the work, and who are commonly referred to as rights holders.[citation needed][1][40][44][42] These rights frequently include reproduction, control over derivative works, distribution, public performance, and moral rights such as attribution.[43]
Copyrights can be granted by public law and are in that case considered “territorial rights”. This means that copyrights granted by the law of a certain state, do not extend beyond the territory of that specific jurisdiction. Copyrights of this type vary by country; many countries, and sometimes a large group of countries, have made agreements with other countries on procedures applicable when works “cross” national borders or national rights are inconsistent.[44]
Typically, the public law duration of a copyright expires 50 to 400 years after the creator dies, depending on the jurisdiction. Some countries require certain copyright formalities[5] to establishing copyright, others recognize copyright in any completed work, without a formal registration.
It is widely believed that copyrights are a must to foster cultural diversity and creativity. However, Parc argues that contrary to prevailing beliefs, imitation and copying do not restrict cultural creativity or diversity but in fact support them further. This argument has been supported by many examples such as Millet and Van Gogh, Picasso, Manet, and Monet, etc.[45]
📱 GOODS OF SERVICES 📱
Credit (from Latin credit, “(he/she/it) believes”) is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), but promises either to repay or return those resources (or other materials of equal value) at a later date.[4] In other words, credit is a method of making reciprocity formal, legally enforceable, and extensible to a large group of unrelated people.
The resources provided may be financial (e.g. granting a loan), or they may consist of goods or services (e.g. consumer credit). Credit encompasses any form of deferred payment.[2] Credit is extended by a creditor, also known as a lender, to a debtor, also known as a borrower.
FIND US:
✓ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/
✓ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/
✓ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/
|
https://medium.com/s2-e1-series-2-episode-1-fulleps-on-netflix/transformers-war-for-cybertron-2020-2-episode-1-official-netflix-50b4fdb51e82
|
['T E R U S Men C Ob A']
|
2020-12-27 04:12:48.637000+00:00
|
['Robots', 'Animation', 'Fantasy', 'Adventure', 'Action']
|
Subatomic Love
|
Subatomic Love
From molecules to particles
Image by Robert Couse-Baker on PxHere
A river otter slides across an ice pool in Japan
not knowing, methinks, that the water below
is the same as the ice above
Is it really alike
Surely it’s H₂O in two states
solid above
liquid below
Its gaseous form exists in the otter’s breath
where it helps life thrive within this spacetime
Further inside this vapour of life
molecules of love expand before they fall
Further still between forces and interactions
particles oscillate and race
according to quantum calls
for more, much more love
through particle entanglement
doublets loving each other
across the mind-boggling universe
seemingly lost to each other
yet passionately bound
more intensely than atoms in a diamond
You know, Dr. Mehmet Yildiz
this to be true even without
all the required proofs
given that human poetry
transcends every universal law
while always merging
with the poetry of the universe
but only considering those
lasting implications for love
Patrick M. Ohana
|
https://medium.com/illumination-curated/subatomic-love-68bfc5d7a1b2
|
['Patrick M. Ohana']
|
2020-12-22 18:12:10.516000+00:00
|
['Poetry', 'Particle Entanglement', 'Water', 'Love', 'Molecules']
|
The Problems With Conservation: Scenic Clickbait, External Costs, and Community
|
Consumerism and conservation are dependent on “out of sight, out of mind.”
American consumerism is rooted in the violent extraction of natural resources, culture, and human labor. The ways and means of extractive consumerism must remain as far from the consumer as possible, otherwise risking the upheaval of a populace finding the real cost of production untenable.
These practices are removed from civilized society because, let’s face it, if belching factories, sweatshops, and strip mines were in plain sight, no one would stand for it. The wealthiest business people don’t live where the goods their companies produce for a reason: It eliminates moral culpability.
“At the end of this transaction [modern consumerism] it’s easy to not eat responsibly because we see nothing, hear nothing, know nothing. We bear no responsibility for our decisions because they’re out there somewhere. We don’t internalize our decisions because we’ve externalized our living.” — Joel Salatin
Because the problems caused by consumerism are “out of sight, out of mind,” so too are the available “solutions.” Like buying away anxiety on Amazon, we alleviate eco-anxiety by throwing dollars at people we’ve never met to fix places we’ve never visited. While well-meaning, it further pushes our responsibility into the foggy margins and blasphemes earth-healing by relegating it to a mere transaction.
Here’s Berry again:
“The dilemma of our private economic responsibility … is that we have allowed our suppliers to enlarge our economic boundaries so far that we cannot be responsible for our effects on the world. The only remedy for this that I can see is to draw in our economic boundaries, shorten our supply lines, so as to permit us literally to know where we are economically.”
We’ve removed ourselves from production, so the only marketed recourse to solving its woes is to throw dollars at an external organization. Because we prioritize “scenic” places like national parks, the systems of production in our communities are free to fall into extractive practices at their leisure, because we pay no attention to the “unscenic” places where their production occurs.
Conservation as a tragedy of the commons: public vs. personal solutions
In our current system, external costs are usually not passed down to the consumer at the store. The public eventually pays for them by way of healthcare costs, farm subsidies, and the tragedy of the commons. Likewise, we don’t “pay” to conserve our iconic landmarks directly. But we do pay in the form of taxes, entrance fees, and occasional donations to our favorite environmental charities. The necessary cost of effective conservation is disproportionately redirected to these external, publicly diffused solutions which nearly eliminate personal responsibility.
Public law is mostly unconcerned with individual morality. And unlike morality, public law is enforced by violence and compartmentalized force. “Public” spaces, as beautiful as they are, are the least common denominator in conservation. The public preserves them because it deems them so, and can be unpreserved just as quickly, often with political and physical violence.
Moral law is enacted by community consciousness and accountability. Community spaces prioritize the well-being of those who live within them and are more resilient to trauma and change.
And yet we sacrifice the lion’s share of our nation’s natural capital to less-than-scrupulous marketers eager to sweep the soul of our lands away from an unwary public, loading their RVs for a trip to Yosemite.
A fundamental distinction between public and community spaces is the prerogative to engage the land. A public space delineates recreation and work, meaning all human activities therein must adhere to strict understandings of recreational behavior barring things like farming.
For a sustainable community, work and pleasure are not separated because the land’s redemptive work is a joy and a vocation.
Private life is where change happens, where we find a sense of place, or space attachment, and discover our power to preserve and protect our communities and environment.
As Masterson et al. write in an article for Ecology and Society,
“[R]esearch on place attachment has shown that place attachment can indeed contribute to protective and restorative stewardship actions in dynamic SES [socio-ecological systems]. [S]trong attachment is associated with care and action … Attachment is based on meanings: We become attached to a landscape as embodying a certain set of meanings, and it is those meanings we seek to preserve.”
To conserve the vast majority of land now overlooked, we must rewrite apathetic and hostile meanings we attach to them. But it’ll take more than changing narratives to establish a sense of place: We must create meaning that is intrinsic, palpable, real. To create local spaces worth fighting for, we need to add value to our communities, making them beautiful places to live and worthy of stewarding.
For rural areas, this could be beautiful forests and land easements intertwined between arable land. For urban areas, this could be community gardens, green space, and biophilic buildings.
“Sustainability is about defining and working toward creating a tenable place for humanity to live. Whether place refers to one’s backyard or the planet as a whole, understanding how people relate to places is key for sustainable development” (Masterson et al.).
Rightful placement of the conservation imperative on overlooked rural and urban areas is the linchpin for creating a sustainable world driven not only by top-down policy but also by grassroots, vested interest in the places we work and live. By caring for, and conserving, the overlooked places we live and work, we will add massive conservation value to the efforts already assigned to scenic public spaces.
Space attachment exists anywhere someone finds meaning in the community. But space attachment does more than just indicate a person’s sense of belonging or loyalty to a locale: It also correlates to how likely the person is to engage in conservation and sustainable practices.
To paraphrase Aristotle, people take better care of things when they own them. But when it comes to real conservation and sustainability, I believe people are more likely to care for something if they feel connected to a place, based on three pillars:
Practical connection: The person derives direct and traceable benefit from her/his community, including but not limited to local production of food, shelter, materials, transportation, clothing, energy, etc. Aesthetic connection: Attachment drawn from the visual appeal of surroundings, including natural and artificial landscapes. Spiritual/moral connection: This whopper includes everything that binds a person to a place apart from the practical and aesthetic (though it can, and often does, draw from them). This can include (not at all exhaustively): Faith/religion, familial ties, tradition/heritage, promises, bequests, etc.
The greater these three attachments, the more likely a person is to care deeply about where they live. Imagine each of the attachments as a leg in a three-legged stool. If they’re proportionately applied, the stool sits evenly. If the legs are uneven or non-existent, the stool will tilt towards it’s weakest leg, or cease to be a stool.
The latter two scenarios are where most of us find ourselves concerning our own communities.
The answer to building a sustainable conservation ethic is to increase the three legs of place attachment. But how does this happen? We’ll get to that.
A note on public lands
The National Park system exists solely on compartmentalization: “This place is suitable for exploitation and profits; you can recreate over there.” But that mindset fails to recognize the immeasurable value of belonging to the locale by which we draw inspiration. We work, exploit, and pinch pennies with eager hopes to visit the Grand Canyon next year, see the glaciers before they melt, or buy a retirement home with a life of cloistered, protected scenery. I know when I advocate for or donate to conservation projects, the act is tainted with pessimistic defeatism. As my dollars and efforts are whisked away to help save the Amazon or protect the Tongas National Forest, they’re accompanied by the winds of a faint, disheartened whisper: “Quick! Stay beautiful. Don’t become like the place the rest of us live.”
But this scenery will disappear as the communities we flee from are ravaged unrestrained. We are creatures of place, and if we stop being so, we will cease to create, and exist to destroy.
Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.
“If conservation is to have a hope of succeeding, then conservationists, while continuing their efforts to change public life, are going to have to begin the effort to change private life as well.” — Berry
We shouldn’t abandon public solutions. God help us from stripping the Department of the Interior of funding all to save a few bucks for a community garden. If anything, the DOI is in dire need of some financial lovin’. But, theoretically, we could have our cake and eat it, too by reducing externalities and pumping the savings into national conservation projects and local conservation-production. For the U.S., these savings would be more than enough to go around, somewhere to the tune of $214.5 billion annually (this is in no way exhaustive, so give an extra several billion here or there, but likely little take). Put in perspective, the cumulative 2021 budget for the Department of the Interior is $12.8 billion. The DOI includes federal agencies responsible for conservation, including the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the Fish and Wildlife Service, and 16 other agencies and departments.
But the hole dug by dollars can’t be escaped by filling it with dollars. Similarly, our souls’ destruction can’t be ameliorated by looking to “scenic” places as our only remaining Eden. We can find solutions (and salvation) by establishing a sense of place. Solutions entail getting to know what your locale is all about, what it can produce that it currently isn’t, what’s hurting there, and what abhorrent practices are going on in places where our food and goods come from that you’d never want to happen in your community. By embedding external costs into the community, we know how and why we produce our products and become personally vested in change when we aren’t happy with the process.
This is impossible with our current system of production and conservation.
What do sustainable communities look like?
Conservation will reach its fullest potential when we value the dynamic health of both the “scenic” and the “unscenic.” The key will be to redeem public diffusion of responsibility back to where it can genuinely make a difference: Responsibility for the communities in which we live, and their means of production and consumption.
Localizing the actual cost of production forces us to address anything unsustainable. NIMBY is a decisive factor at work here: Few think twice about a KFC dinner bucket’s social and environmental costs, but would take to the streets if a poultry farm and processing plant set up shop in the neighborhood.
We must build a strong sense of place by building lovable, livable communities.
We must reduce externality costs of production and invest those savings into community and public conservation projects.
We must produce as much as we can in our communities through meaningful, space-based work, and strip away the hidden externalities of production and incorporate them locally so the community can see it for what it is.
Communities need the power and efficacy to change their production and conservation systems when production costs become too high, thus spurring grassroots sustainability owned by the community.
This is real conservation: Communities producing as much as they can, as sustainably as they can, as close to home as they can, and the willingness to be honest with themselves when equilibrium goes out of balance. This concept is impossible with extractive production that relies on external costs being distributed unfairly throughout society and ecology.
When local/community lands are degraded, the community is culpable. The land and community that belong to it (and the resulting damage which all suffer) are close at hand and mutually shared. Conversely, damage to public space is absorbed without feeling by the public. But loss to a community space is felt immediately among its members and avoided at all costs.
Internalizing social and environmental costs of production strengthens community resiliency and safeguards against unsustainable external costs of production. In the case of conservation, prevention is the best medicine. And degradation is best prevented when you live in a place where you produce what you consume.
Local conservation-based production is self-regulating because it accounts for all external costs — environmental, social, and economic — generated by creating a product. In this way, a conservation-production community stays within its means.
Declaring public and scenic spaces alone as worthy of conservation stymies real conservation work and diffuses blame of mismanagement. In such a case, conservation is, at best, a statistic and, at worst, diffused responsibility.
If we’re serious about redeeming the conservation potential of all lands, we need to invest in local projects that build place attachment, create opportunities to engage in productive work with embedded externalities, and continue to allocate funds into meaningful protection of public spaces.
A call to action here would be too banal. Multi-faceted problems require multi-faceted solutions. The tools for building place-based conservation are as wildly varied as the communities they need to be built in. Anything and everything you can do to bring what you consume closer to home, fall in love with where you live, and find reasons to protect it all, is worth it’s weight in gold.
“[Environmental] protections are left to the community, for they can be protected only by affection and by intimate knowledge, which are beyond the capacities of the public and beyond the power of the private citizen.” — Berry
There’s enough ingenuity, love, and money to go around. We just need to fall in love with where we live.
I guess my call to action is this: Go love your place.
|
https://medium.com/climate-conscious/the-problems-with-conservation-scenic-clickbait-external-costs-and-community-60334de05a40
|
['Christian Wayne Yonkers']
|
2020-07-26 19:21:40.146000+00:00
|
['Vision', 'Conservation', 'Sustainability', 'Community', 'Environment']
|
Serverless LocalStack Lambda API Gateway
|
Serverless LocalStack Lambda API Gateway.
In this article, we will help you to cover the Serverless framework with LocalStack to create Lambda function with API Gateway locally.
We hope you are familiar with the Serverless framework and LocalStack If you are not please read our previous article.
Video
What is LocalStack?
LocalStack provides an easy-to-use test/mocking framework for developing Cloud applications. This means you can test AWS cloud resources locally on your machine.
Note: LocalStack supporting only AWS cloud stack.
LocalStack spins up the following core Cloud APIs on your local machine.
ACM, API Gateway, CloudFormation, CloudWatch
CloudWatch Logs, DynamoDB, DynamoDB Streams
EC2, Elasticsearch Service, EventBridge (CloudWatch Events)
Firehose, IAM, Kinesis, KMS, Lambda, Redshift
Route53, S3, SecretsManager, SES, SNS
SQS, SSM, StepFunctions, STS
Benefits of Using LocalStack
Reduce Cost
Test AWS Cloud Resource Locally
Learn AWS Cloud Resource Locally
Debug Locally
Let’s Start
We hope you have installed Docker on your system else you can check the following article to install Docker.
Make Sure You have installed Node JS or NVM on your system or follow the following article.
Install a serverless framework using the following command
npm install -g serverless
2. Install a serverless-localstack plugin using the following command
npm install --save-dev serverless-localstack
3. Create a new Serverless Service/Project
serverless create — template aws-nodejs — path localstack-lambda
Once the project created successfully. You will see the following files as shown in the screenshot.
handler.js
2. serverless.yml
4. Install AWS Client
Make sure you have installed AWS client on your system if not you can follow the following link to install
5. Docker Compose file
Create a new file docker-compose.yml file under the root directory of the project as shown below.
In the above file, we are creating a LocalStack docker image with the following services
Lambda S3 Cloudformation STS
All services will be accessed using http://localhost:4566 URL
Run the following command to run the docker container
docker-compose up
Once the container started successfully you will see the logs of the LocalStack services as shown below
To check all the services type the following URL in the browser
You will see the defined services running fine as shown in the below screenshot
6. Now update the serverless.yml file to add the LocalStack plugin as shown below
In the above file, we have added the local/dev stage as well as endpointFile localstack_endpoints.json as shown below
Let’s deploy the serverless stack locally
To deploy the hello function in the LocalStack run the following command
serverless deploy --stage local
To check the service deployed successfully. Run the following command
serverless info --stage local
Then you will see the following output as shown below
To invoke the function locally. Run the following command
serverless invoke local -f hello -l
Then you will see the following output as shown below which means the function run successfully locally using LocalStack
API Gateway
Earlier we have created the function that only invokes using the following command
serverless invoke local -f hello -l
Now we are adding API Gateway using LocalStack. So that the hello function can be accessed using URL to do that we need to update the docker-compose file to support more service such as
API Gateway Route53 IAM
Update Docker Compose
In the above file, If you see line no. 9 we have added 3 new services to work with API Gateway i.e apigateway, iam, route53
- SERVICES=lambda,s3,cloudformation,sts,apigateway,iam,route53
If you are already running the docker container using the following command to stop.
docker-compose down
Then start again the container using the following command
docker-compose up
then you will see the following logs
Update localstack_endpoints.json file
In the above file, We have added 2 more URL’s
“APIGateway”: “http://localhost:4566" “Route53”: “http://localhost:4566"
Update serverless.yml file
In the above file, we have added the events for HTTP endpoint that support the GET method
To execute the updated code Run the following command
serverless deploy --stage local
In the above screenshot, you will see we have deployed the serverless function to LocalStack which returns the endpoints
To invoke the hello function use the following URL in the Browser
Github
Thank you! 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀
|
https://medium.com/@onexlab-io/serverless-localstack-lambda-api-gateway-7fad63d9a9eb
|
[]
|
2020-12-14 05:07:31.147000+00:00
|
['Localstack', 'AWS Lambda', 'Localstack Apigateway', 'Aws Api Gateway', 'Onexlab']
|
How A Pandemic Forced The World To Slow Down
|
How A Pandemic Forced The World To Slow Down
Ways our family are growing together during the COVID-19 crisis
I’ve been working from home for a full week since COVID-19 forced the world to stand still (or stay home).
I felt the stress of making sure our family was taken care of with basic essentials like food and toilet paper. I worried about managing my work responsibilities and juggling parenting with my husband.
As the days moved on and glitches worked out we have settled into our new normal. A world that moved very fast has started slowing down. Proof that even in bad there is good.
Here’s how a pandemic helped our family slow down and reconnect.
Time Is On Our Side
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
My commute to work is 25 minutes. That’s 50 minutes a day. That’s a little over 4 hours a week. For those 25 minutes in the morning I am able to commit more time to myself. I can do a workout or spend more time with my daughter. Without worrying about a commute home I’m able to prepare family dinners (and desserts).
Speaking of family dinners, everyone is under the same roof. Even if my husband is still working, he can take some time away for everyone to enjoy a meal together.
The evening is my favorite. My husband and I go outside and play with our daughter. We do activities like hop-scotch, riding bicycles, wagon rides and playing on the swing set. We enjoy going for walks in our neighborhood and getting out.
We’ve used this time to cut technology, but we will use a cell phone to take photographs.
Getting fresh air and hearing the sweet sound of a child’s laugh is the greatest stress relief.
The Big Picture
When you’re a mother who works full-time it’s hard being away from your little ones. I swear there are days she looks like she has aged years between the time I have left for work and by the time I get home.
It’s heartbreaking to see the world suffer and live in fear, but this time has been a gift.
I love being home and being able to take a quick glimpse away from my computer to watch her play. I love watching her curiosity and joy. I’ve loved having her come up to me asking what I’m doing and actually seem interested.
Children bring a lot of humor to the world. There’s nothing like a sweet toddler voice yelling, “Bye!” repeatedly on the phone when I’m on a conference call.
The pandemic storm will pass, the big picture I’ve learned is to remember to slow down. It’s so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of daily life. It’s moments like these that make me realize we have to stop and smell the roses sometimes.
While the present is a stressful time. These will be the days we’ll remember and cherish. These young children will remember this as the time they got to be with their family. When the world stood still and we got to reconnect.
|
https://medium.com/live-your-life-on-purpose/how-a-pandemic-forced-the-world-to-slow-down-16b8d919c447
|
['Sarah Seweryniak']
|
2020-03-28 01:14:32.370000+00:00
|
['Covid 19', 'Life Lessons', 'Time', 'Family', 'Hope']
|
Palm OS — How does it look today?
|
Palm OS — How does it look today?
The first Palm PDA was introduced in 1996 and it was a huge success. How did Palm OS really work? Let's test it and figure it out. Dmitrii Eliuseev Apr 11·8 min read
Before we begin, it can be useful to remember the technological level of that time. The typical mobile phone, available for the customers in 1994, was a Nokia 2110, which had a 236g weight, a 25mm thickness, and a small monochrome 96x96 screen:
Nokia 2110 © https://www.imei.info/phonedatabase/3506-nokia-2110/
Laptops were heavy and expensive, smartphones were not invented yet, and nobody was even thinking about iPhone or Android at least for the nearest 10 years. Thus, an appearance in 1996 of a Palm Pilot device, that was relatively cheap and lightweight, that could be held in a palm and could work as a personal digital assistant, was a huge step forward. These devices became really popular and were on the market for about 10 years.
Palm V © amazon.com
From the tech perspective, it is also interesting to see how it works. Nowadays nobody will be surprised by having a smartphone with an octa-core CPU, 8GB of RAM and an AMOLED screen. On the contrary, the typical Palm OS device was having a single core 16MHz Motorola Dragonball processor, 2MB RAM and a grey-scale LCD with 160x160 resolution. There was even no Lithium battery inside, just two AA elements. How was it working? Let’s get started and figure it out.
Emulation
It is easy to test the Palm OS device using the emulator. It is free and can be downloaded from the https://palmdb.net/app/palm-emulator page. To start the device we also need a ROM file, and actually, this is all, we need for the start.
After selecting the ROM image and setting parameters, we are ready for testing:
User Interface
After the first boot, the setup screen appears. Palm OS had a stylus and a resistive touch screen, that required calibration:
After that we get a fully-fledged UI in all its beauty — b/w screen with 16 shades of grey support and 160x160 resolution:
Surprisingly, even in the modern era of high-dpi displays, it looks not so bad — all fonts and icons are good readable and the contrast is fine (it’s not AMOLED for sure, but because of the principle of this TFT, it can be readable even on direct sunlight).
The next funny thing is a “graffiti” input. Instead of the on-screen keyboard, we are using now, it was possible to draw characters on the bottom of the screen. The 16 MHz processor was not powerful enough to recognise the hand-written text, so the simplified “alphabet” was invented:
Of course, nowadays it looks like a huge waste of screen space, but the technology in 1995 probably did not allow to make a touch screen, sensitive enough to recognise the hand-written text. And maybe nobody was even thinking about a screen covering all the device surface. So the display was divided into two parts — the standard touch screen and the separated area for the handwriting. And anyway, compared to something like Nokia 2110, it was a big step forward.
Applications
The device was originally designed as a PDA — Personal Digital Assistant, it has all needed apps for productivity, like contacts or todo-lists:
In the address book, it’s fun to see a “Pager” field, something that is not in use more nowadays. The calendar and appointments views are pretty functional:
Surprisingly, 160x160 resolution allows to make notes using a stylus and to use graphical UI:
By the way, it’s fun to see nowadays, that after about 20 years, the “fashion” for having the stylus-based input is returning back in devices like Galaxy Note.
It was also possible to install 3rd party apps. Palm OS device was working 1–2 weeks from 2 AA batteries (the feature, we mostly don’t have today in modern devices), and it was good as a book reader. There was no SD-card support in the first Palm models, but 2–8 MBytes of internal memory allowed to store enough books in a zip-compressed format:
Many other apps were available, for example, we can find even the sky chart:
Text editor can be also used:
There was even a possibility to connect external keyboard:
Palm Portable Keyboard © Amazon.com
The keyboard was foldable, so it was easy to take it on the trip. Surprisingly, this keyboard is in stock even now on Amazon, but maybe the product listing just was not updated.
Connectivity
The connectivity was in general good for the end of the 90th. Palm OS devices had both serial and infrared ports, data could be synced with a local PC or even with a remote computer via modem. There was no internet support, but Palm had a serial port and it was possible to make a remote connection using an external modem.
I actually don’t know what is the “Earthlink” and what connectivity features it was providing. If somebody used it, please write in the comments.
The local PC sync was automatic, it was enough to put the device in the cradle and press the button:
Palm HotSync Cradle © amazon.com
The synchronisation could be also done wirelessly, via the IR port, if the PC has one. The Infrared connectivity was in general, well integrated into the system. For every document or note, it was possible to send it to another device:
Obviously, the infrared port does not work on the simulator.
Games
The 16 MHz CPU and b/w screen with 160x160 resolution is not the perfect choice for gaming, but some games were created for this platform. This platformer game is using the hardware buttons to move and jump, but I was not able to press 2 buttons at the same time on the emulator:
The Sokoban game is not working on the emulator at all:
For finding the mines that screen is good enough:
This chess game works also good. It’s surprising to see that on the hardest level it can take up to 8 minutes for the Palm to make the move. Alas, I am not a chess player and cannot check how good is it playing, readers can check on theirs own.
Programming
For those who are interested, it’s possible to try making apps for Palm OS. The SDK can be downloaded from GitHub, and there is a nice tutorial on how to build apps for Palm using the Ubuntu machine.
Conclusion
It was fun to test Palm OS and to remember how it was working. These devices were compact, cheap (I had one when I was a student), had plenty of apps and were good customizable (there were enough utilities, launchers, hacks, etc) and had extremely long battery life. The first Palm-based device was released in 1996 and the last was made in 2007 — in the fast-moving IT-world it's a huge interval. Of course, when much more powerful Pocket PC and Android devices appeared, there was no public interest in the Palm OS devices more, but anyway it was an important page in the IT history.
This article was based on Palm OS 3.5, but during 10 years many different devices were made by different manufacturers (Palm, Sony, Lenovo, Samsung, etc). It is even possible to say that in the pre-android era, it was a sort of a large ecosystem. Some of the devices were pretty interesting, like Palm Tungsten T3, which was released in 2003, it had a slider form-factor with a large 3.7" screen, 64 MB RAM and 400 MHz CPU:
Palm Tungsten T3 © amazon.com
And surprisingly, the Palm heritage is not completely disappeared. The “Palm Phone” is in stock even now, but personally, I don’t think there is something from the original Palm inside (according to screenshots it is based on Android OS), and I also don’t think it got even a bit of the commercial success of its predecessors. It is not possible to step in the same river twice, but I wish the Palm team good luck anyway.
Thanks for reading.
Those who are interested in the computer’s history, are welcome to read other stories:
|
https://uxdesign.cc/palm-os-how-does-it-look-today-f1c3c29f2240
|
['Dmitrii Eliuseev']
|
2021-04-20 08:37:28.286000+00:00
|
['Smartphones', 'History', 'Visual Design', 'Technology', 'User Experience']
|
The Dark Side of Digital Distribution
|
Obtaining keys
Digital keys themselves have no immediate or direct monetary value per se. Money comes into the equation when the store (or user) decides to sell a key. Pricing can vary significantly depending on a wide range of factors (including the potential demand around the game the key is related to, and the overall availability/supply of keys). This is where G2A and its contemporaries come into the picture — but where and how do these sites actually acquire keys in the first place? There are two popular sources.
The first relates to fraudulent transactions via stolen credit card numbers. Credit card fraud and the precise role it plays here is a large topic unto itself, but suffice it to say, a significant number of keys are initially purchased through this method.
Also, developers may be tricked into giving multiple copies of their game to the same scammer. There are plenty of stories floating around on Twitter and other locations about developers receiving fake emails from people claiming to be well-known content creators. They’ll ask for one key to use themselves, and then multiple additional keys for giveaways in exchange for free exposure.
Grey markets
Regardless how keys are obtained in the first place, they can be sold anywhere once they’ve been distributed initially. This is where sites like G2A come in — G2A was the premier “grey market” site for game keys at one stage. But whether we’re talking G2A or not, the principle is the same: these sites don’t care where the keys come from, and they make no attempt to police users on their service.
This is also where things become blurry for consumers who use sites like G2A. They are making what they think is a legitimate purchase for something that may have been acquired illegally (or at least, unethically). Even if the original transaction was overturned because it was fraudulent, the key itself is still legitimate and still exists. The consumer who purchased the key will generally have no idea where it came from originally (the only exception being if the key is revoked — I’ll touch on that in a moment).
Headaches for developers
You might be looking at this situation and wonder where the damage is actually being done. Fundamentally, it’s the developer who is always hurt the most. Generally speaking, the developer is cut out of the transaction flow (especially in the case where a key is initially purchased fraudulently and the transaction is reversed).
In addition, every key that is acquired illegally and then sold on is another sale the developer misses out on entirely. For all those keys you saw on G2A or equivalent, none of the sale revenue reaches the developer unless said developer has agreed to work with one of these sites in the first place.
Fraudulent keys can also devalue the game in question. There will always be a theoretical maximum number of people a game can be sold to — the people who purchase the game via a key reseller represent lost sales from the developer’s perspective.
One way developers have combatted this problem over time is to revoke keys that were initially purchased illegitimately (but that were perhaps purchased legitimately further down the line). But this too can have negative consequences for the developer, because it can generate negative PR from angry consumers who found out that they don’t actually have access to the game they think they bought — all through no fault of their own. As you can imagine, this issue can then be picked up by YouTubers who might be in a position to amplify any outrage directed towards a particular developer.
Protecting yourself as a developer
The whole key reselling business is a pretty grim story. And developers can often feel like they are in a no-win situation. But there are a few things you can do, as a developer, to protect yourself.
My first tip is to ensure that you don’t sell your game without any kind of fraud protection. Fortunately, in today’s market, it’s quite easy to acquire basic protection by using third-parties like Humble Widget or itch.io.
Also, when you’re being approached by content creators, make sure to check their credentials. Just because someone says they are a big name or they have a huge following doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true. Check their channel/or their streams to see how active they are. And if their email appears to come from a big, well-known name, then make sure you email them directly through their channel to double-check their legitimacy. It doesn’t hurt to ask for any credentials you require to satisfy yourself that you’re dealing with a legitimate content creator.
Legal key sales
My final point may be a controversial one. At the end of the day, I do feel that consumers should have the right to sell keys (new or used) in a legitimate second hand market. But for that to happen, there would need to be changes to the law when it comes to the nature of ownership around digital products. This is definitely a broader question with significant longterm implications.
As a developer, it’s important to consider how you might protect your products. I also hope that consumers will become more aware of dodgy key reselling practices and understand that purchasing keys for ultra-low prices isn’t a good way to support your favorite developer.
|
https://medium.com/super-jump/the-dark-side-of-digital-distribution-ca8b1562d2ae
|
['Josh Bycer']
|
2020-06-01 02:16:47.861000+00:00
|
['Features', 'Gaming', 'Money', 'Product Management', 'Economy']
|
Device Encrypted Storage And Direct Boot Mode In Android
|
Device Encrypted Storage And Direct Boot Mode In Android
Photo by Meghraj Neupane on Unsplash
In Android, when a phone is powered on but the user has not unlocked the device yet, most user applications and user data are not accessible.
Prior to Android 7, the system was designed to be inactive during this state; no user action can take place, only system services could be launched normally. Fortunately, from Android 7, to respond to the demand of some particular functionalities like alarms or reminders, Google has introduced Direct Boot mode that enables a quick access to these components.
The purpose of Direct Boot mode is to get access to data when device is not unlocked.
But why is data not accessible when device is in this state?
1. Data encryption — FDE and FBE.
Android is actually one of the most-used Operating Systems. Besides potential vulnerabilities in software and hardware, Android also faces the risk of physical device loss.
Protecting user data even when the device is out of user’s control is one of the aims of Google Android Team.
To do that, they integrate a data encryption mechanism.
Basically, Android encrypts automatically all user data on the disk when the phone is powered off and uses user PIN/password/pattern to decrypt data when the user unlocks the phone after booting the device.
Just to be clear, it only encrypts user data which is the data in /data folder.
To do that, Android uses FDE and FBE mechanisms. In the context of this article, we don’t dive into the details of these methods; however, if you are curious about them as well as some other security models of Android, feel free to refer to this article for more information.
In other words, user data is unavailable by any means until the user logs in (only the first time after the phone is rebooted) with PIN/password/pattern. Event if the user doesn’t set a key lock, he still has to swipe the lock screen (but please lock your phone).
That’s the reason for the introduction of Direct Boot mode.
2. Direct Boot mode
Direct Boot, introduced from Android 7, is the new name for the moment after device performs a verified boot and before user get logged in using PIN or password.
In Android 6 and before, data is only stored in a default area where they remain credential-encrypted after finishing booting. This storage is called Credential Encrypted Storage(CES). You would have to unlock the phone to decrypt data and get the accessibility.
To support Direct Boot mode, Android 7 adds up a secondary storage which is known as Device Encrypted Storage (DES). Data in this storage is also encrypted using a different key than user PIN or password; this key is tied to the physical device and is available following a successful boot. Thus, the decryption process takes place as soon as the device is on and data is accessible right after that.
This is a very nice design from Google to keep things secured and convenient at the same time.
3. Make components executable in Direct Boot mode.
Apps or components aren’t, by default, allowed to run in Direct Boot mode. The only way to launch them is to declare in AndroidManifest the attribute android:directBootAware as true for these components:
<activity android:name=".MainActivity"
android:directBootAware="true"/>
If you want to actively listen to the boot process in order to launch components, you should register the BroadcastReceiver android.intent.action.LOCKED_BOOT_COMPLETED . This action is invoked while the device is still in “locked” state:
<activity android:name=".MainActivity"
android:directBootAware="true">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.LOCKED_BOOT_COMPLETED" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
This action requires RECEIVED_BOOT_COMPLETED permission:
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED"/>
You can also subscribe to device unlocked state by registering this event:
<activity android:name=".MainActivity"
android:directBootAware="true">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.USER_UNLOCKED" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
4. Store data in Device Encrypted Storage.
To get access to data in Direct Boot mode, we have to store data in DES. It’s pretty simple to do this. Just like the default storage manipulation, with DES, everything stays the same except a special context provided by calling createDeviceProtectedStorageContext() :
// create device protected storage context
val context = createDeviceProtectedStorageContext() // SharePreference
context.getSharedPreferences("DeviceProtectedStorage", Context.MODE_PRIVATE)
// Files
context.openFileOutput("sample.txt", MODE_PRIVATE) // Database
Room.databaseBuilder(context, AppDatabase::class.java, "database-name").build()
We can also migrate data from CES to DES :
// Migrate SharePreference file "token" from CE to DE storage
context.moveSharedPreferencesFrom(sourceContext,"token") // Migrate Database "database" from CE to DE storage context.moveDatabaseFrom(sourceContext,"database") // sourceContext : The source context which contains the existing shared preferences to move.
Actually, there isn’t any public api in Android framework to move a file from CE to DE storage (as for SharePreference and Database). However, we can use a simple work-around to achieve the goal:
val fileInCE = File("${context.dataDir}/files/$fileName")
val fileInDE = File("${context.createDeviceProtectedStorageContext().dataDir}/files/$fileName")
fileInCE.renameTo(fileInDE)
5. File hierarchy.
Since Credential Encrypted Storage and Device Encrypted Storage don’t use the same key to encrypt/decrypt data, they are isolated in different folders. While CES is located in /data/user , you can find DES in data/user_de :
File hierarchy
There are further filesystem isolations in /data/misc and /data/system .
5. Direct Boot pitfalls.
Direct Boot gives us the power to do some cool stuffs. However, fundamentally, it partially breaks the Android Security Models to support some use-cases. Therefore, it could be a trap if you don’t understand the concept correctly.
As a developer, we need to carefully decide where to store data.
|
https://medium.com/@lampham/device-encrypted-storage-and-direct-boot-mode-in-android-6e5e25d173f3
|
['Lam Pham']
|
2020-12-17 20:08:59.866000+00:00
|
['Mobile', 'Android', 'AndroidDev', 'Mobile Security', 'Android Security']
|
Stuck in the Tutorial Loop as a Developer?
|
Impostor Syndrome
The lack of a formal structure from a college program has certain benefits but also some drawbacks. Many self-taught developers may think that they are not worthy compared to their colleagues with bachelor’s or master’s degrees in computer science. It sounds ridiculous just writing this. However, I noticed this with myself early on and have a suspicion that this is the case for a few of my fellow risk-taking, self-taught peers. I go into more detail about getting over the impostor syndrome in this article.
Essentially, as a self-taught developer, you will always feel that your colleagues who spent four years getting that degree know something you don’t. With the huge diversity of things you can learn from Udemy, YouTube, Medium, and several other websites, I promise you there will always be something you see there that you don’t know — no matter how experienced you are.
You will simply have to accept the fact that you can’t learn everything. Forcing yourself to go through every single tutorial you come across is like trying to catch every snowflake when it’s snowing outside.
I get the appeal. You are trying to “outdo” your university-taught colleagues by learning things they don’t know. But instead, what you’re doing by going through more language tutorials is learning the same operators, different syntactical sugars, and implementations of data structures like hash tables, arrays, linked lists, etc. in different languages. That’s all. If you are not stuck in the tutorial loop of programming languages, then maybe you are stuck in the loop for frameworks. Do you really need to learn how to create a REST API in Django, Ruby on Rails, Koa, and Spring if you know how to do it in Express.js? Or learn Vue, Angular, and Svelte if you know how to create a full-fledged website in React? True, there are special cases for several other frameworks, but you should only look to branch out into other frameworks once you have mastered one. This will also make you acknowledge the quirks of the framework/language and appreciate it more.
The points I mentioned above even go for developers who have graduated with computer science degrees. With the wide array of tutorials available and the pace at which newer technologies are released, it is quite easy to feel overwhelmed and think that you don’t know as many technologies as you should. This is mostly never the case.
Instead, the issue with a lot of developers is that they don’t know their few core technologies deeply enough.
|
https://medium.com/better-programming/stuck-in-the-tutorial-loop-as-a-developer-2d1a3f76c941
|
['Angad Singh']
|
2020-05-20 13:41:47.837000+00:00
|
['Software Development', 'Impostor Syndrome', 'Programming', 'Web Development', 'Learning To Code']
|
Why Flutter is the best choice for MVP development?
|
WHY FLUTTER FOR MVP?
Why Flutter is the best choice for MVP development?
Read this article to know why you should use Flutter for building MVP for your startup.
There are billions of applications in the play store that makes it challenging for you to stay ahead of your competitors. The app development industry has a cut-throat competition as around 3739 apps are released every day on the play store!
So, there are high chances that someone will create and release an app similar to your idea when you might be still working on your dream idea.
That is one of the major reasons for you to roll out your app idea into the market as soon as possible. How to do that? Well, the simple answer is creating your app in the minimum possible time.
Minimum viable product development and Flutter are the two aspects you can easily find in every conversation regarding time-saving mobile app development discussion.
You must ask why? MVP is widely used for validating the idea by the startup owners across the globe. Implementing minimum viable product development is the easiest way to reduce app development time and avoid potential disappointment & failures.
Here, we will understand both approaches together. We will try to understand why this combination of Flutter and MVP is the most sought-after solution for startups to test the water before rolling out a full-fledged application.
Let’s begin with what makes Flutter and MVP important for the app industry, individually.
What Makes MVP Development Necessary?
MVP (Minimum viable product) has seer importance in the application development industry, especially among the startup owners looking to test their idea in the market.
Eric Ries has defined MVP as;
The aim of building an MVP is to develop a basic version of the application with just the required features to use the app that is shared with the target audience to get feedback for further improvements.
When you build an MVP, you get to enjoy the various benefits like;
Reduce development costs
Evaluate their project/idea
Collect feedback from intended users
Save time and efforts
Engage potential investors
What Makes Flutter an essential Part of the Application development Industry?
Flutter is the cross-platform framework and software development introduced by Google in the year 2018. It is utilized for developing high-quality apps for iOS & Android platforms. Developed based on Dart programming language, Flutter comes with astounding features that offer what was missing in all the previous cross-platform frameworks.
Flutter has many benefits that have attracted programmers to choose Flutter as an ideal cross-platform app development framework. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits;
1. Hot Reload
Flutter comes with this amazing feature called hot reload. With these features, you can see the code modifications’ output simultaneously, and therefore you can try different variations to make your app the best. Moreover, because of this feature, your app development will be faster as well.
2. Performance
It’s a known thing that Flutter got more speed than other hybrid frameworks in the market. Flutter does not have a javascript bridge to run and link the code, and it does not use web-view to display the application.
C++ engine of the Flutter converts all the codes into C++ in order to maintain the run with the performance of native level on iOS & Android platforms.
3. Reusable widgets
Flutter comes with a lot of ready-to-use widgets. You can save your time as these widgets are customizable. Developers can reuse the widgets that are visual components of Flutter. That means it allows developers to utilize the widgets in various parts of the project.
4. Soft learning Curve
We all know that any programming languages are not easy to learn, but one language’s learning curve can be comparatively soft than others. Fluuuet is a language that has a soft learning curve.
Learning Flutter will be a piece of cake for you if you have a knowledge of naive. Flutter won’t be even hard for you if you have a basic understanding of JS or Java.
5. Use of dart codes
Flutter uses object-oriented and strongly-typed Dart code. Hence, any flutter application has a high performance as it requires shortcodes. And because of eliminating the need for javascript, the flutter app will have a high startup time.
Why Flutter is the best choice for MVP development?
Developing Cost-Effective Applications
The cost would be one of the main factors in your app development in the beginning. Here, Flutter comes as your savior to save your app development to an extent.
As Flutter is a cross-platform application development framework, you can build your app for both iOS and Android platforms with a single codebase. Thus, you need not develop an application for two different platforms; hence the time and cost would be saved.
Attractive Designs That Draw Investors
Whether you are a business or startup, Investors would be one of the most essentials in your app development. Your MVP must have an engaging design to attract investors. When you are using Flutter for MVP, that becomes quite easy as Flutter comes with a great collection of interactive design and UI features.
Flutter software development kit supports the motion, Cupertino, Material Design, and visual oriented widgets for iOS and Android. Flutter extends support for widgets that are accessible and enable programmers to customize the widgets as per their design requirements.
Accelerated App Development Process
When you decide to develop your MVP with Fluter, it will take less time to build your application. As we discussed, Flutter comes with Hot reload feature that enables developers to view the changes made in the app code appear on the screen simultaneously. That ultimately accelerate the app development process.
Moreover, using Flutter, close collaboration among developers, QA specialists, Designers becomes possible, especially when an urgent change is required to enhance the quality of an MVP application.
Developers can add new features and fix bugs in a couple of minutes because of the hot reload features that make Flutter the best choice for building MVP. And the experimentation process for your MVP also gets faster as the new version is not required to be coded entirely.
Flutter + MVP = Minimum Resources Requirements
We know that the MVP development strategy aims to utilize the minimum resources. So, Flutter is an excellent choice for that. Flutter comes with Firebase integration that reduces the part of doing server-side programming. That is quite useful for developers when they need to develop applications in less time and fasten the time to market.
Flutter — The Best choice For MVP
When you have a million-dollar idea, you should develop an MVP before rolling out a full-fledged product into the market. For developing your MVP, Flutter is definitely a game-changer for startups. Let’s sum up how;
Flutter comes with the provision of reduced coding as the code can be utilized for Android and iOS app development.
The cost of MVP development gets reduced because of the single codebase for multiple platforms.
Flutter provides high reliability as it is backed by Google, and there is great community support.
There is not any powerful machinery with Flutter; thus, developers can arrange the setup seamlessly.
Flutter offers support for a design element that is useful for drawing the attention of the investors.
If you are looking to turn your idea into reality with MVP agile development, then Flutter has got all the potential to make it successful.
|
https://medium.com/devtechtoday/why-flutter-is-the-best-choice-for-mvp-development-3c34997f7c17
|
['Bharti Purohit']
|
2020-12-16 05:34:26.589000+00:00
|
['Mvp Development', 'Flutter', 'MVP', 'App Development']
|
Let’s Create a React app with Firebase Auth, Express Backend and MongoDB Database
|
Beginning React Frontend
Setting up React
With Firebase in place, we’ll begin setting up our frontend. We will be using create-react-app to bootstrap our frontend
$ npx create-react-app phone-frontend
...
Happy hacking!
$ cd phone-frontend
/phone-frontend $ npm start
If everything goes as planned, we should see this at http://localhost:3000
Sweet. Now, most of our work will be done inside the src folder. our folder structure within the src folder will be as following:
/components
- /sessions
Login.jsx
- /phonebook
AddNumber.jsx
ListAllNumbers.jsx
/services
- phonebookServices.js
App.js
index.js
We change our index.js to:
// index.js import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
import App from './App'; ReactDOM.render(
<React.StrictMode>
<App />
</React.StrictMode>,
document.getElementById('root')
);
and our App.js to:
// App.js function App() {
return (
<div className="App">
Hello World!
</div>
);
} export default App;
And we’re ready to start working on our React frontend. Note — you may have to restart your react server at this point for the changes to take effect.
Now, we know we are going to have multiple views. We need a way to change between login page, listing all phone numbers, and adding numbers. We’ll use an npm module called react-router-dom for this. Let’s install it:
npm install react-router-dom
We also need to install the firebase package:
npm install firebase
Now, let’s create our login route, and make it so we always land on our login page if we’re not logged in.
Add firebase to our frontend
In a previous step, we created a new Firebase app. There are some configs we need to get from the firebase website.
Back at the firebase website, click at the upper most link in the left navigation bar — Project Overview. We need to add a new web app:
We give it a name:
And we copy the firebaseConfig object, and click ‘continue to console’
In a production app, you may put these configurations in environment variables, but Google states that it isn’t strictly necessary. The reason for this is that Firebase security is based on multiple rules which restricts and opens up the application. In my humble opinion, it’s always better to hide these types of settings. I might be wrong though.
inside our src folder, we’ll create a new file — fire.js and add our configs to it. The file should look like this:
// fire.js
import firebase from 'firebase';
apiKey: "AIzaSyAHDUwcM0zO4yMCoyazo4w-HOeKfGsQL2g",
authDomain: "phone-book-fe436.firebaseapp.com",
databaseURL: "
projectId: "phone-book-fe436",
storageBucket: "phone-book-fe436.appspot.com",
messagingSenderId: "410083027161",
appId: "1:410083027161:web:e69ec743153a72d48df6c8"
}; const firebaseConfig = {apiKey: "AIzaSyAHDUwcM0zO4yMCoyazo4w-HOeKfGsQL2g",authDomain: "phone-book-fe436.firebaseapp.com",databaseURL: " https://phone-book-fe436.firebaseio.com ",projectId: "phone-book-fe436",storageBucket: "phone-book-fe436.appspot.com",messagingSenderId: "410083027161",appId: "1:410083027161:web:e69ec743153a72d48df6c8"}; try {
firebase.initializeApp(firebaseConfig);
} catch (err) {
if (!/already exists/.test(err.message)) {
console.error('Firebase initialization error', err.stack);
}
} const fire = firebase;
export default fire;
We will be using firebase through this file. We are now ready to start authenticating users.
Setting up the authentication
Firebase provides us with a very easy way to check if we’re authenticated. We’ll create a new state with the useState() hook, and store the result there:
// App.js
import React, { useState } from 'react'; import fire from './fire.js'; function App() {
const [isLoggedIn, setIsLoggedIn] = useState(false);
fire.auth().onAuthStateChanged((user) => {
return user ? setIsLoggedIn(true) : setIsLoggedIn(false);
});
console.log('logged in?', isLoggedIn);
return (
<div className="App">
Hello World!
</div>
);
} export default App;
We import useState from the React library, and firebase from our firebase config file. We use the .onAuthStateChanged() function to check if the user is logged in or not. If we are logged in, we’ll set our isLoggedIn state to true.
if we check our console, it clearly states that we are not logged in.
We’ll create our first route. Now, at every request we want to check if we are logged in before proceeding.
// App.js import { BrowserRouter as Router, Switch, Route } from 'react-router-dom'; ... <div className="App">
<Router>
{!isLoggedIn
? (
<>
<Switch>
<Route path="/">
<Login />
</Route>
</Switch>
</>
)
: (
<>
Hello World!
</>
)}
</Router>
</div>
...
All routes are children of the Switch component, which is a child of the Router component. If we’re not logged in, we won’t be able to see anything but the Login component. We may verify this by looking at our blank page.
Let’s move over to the Login component, and see if we can get some stuff onto our page.
We’ll start off by creating a simple, workable form which records both the email and password input:
// components/session/Login.jsx
import React, { useState } from 'react';
import fire from '../../fire.js'; const Login = () => {
const [email, setEmail] = useState();
const [password, setPassword] = useState();
const handleSubmit = (e) => {
e.preventDefault();
console.log(`submitted email:
${email} password: ${password}`);
}
return (
<div>
<h2>Login</h2>
<form onSubmit={handleSubmit}>
<input
type="text"
onChange={({ target }) =>
setEmail(target.value)}
placeholder="Email"
/>
<br />
<input
type="password"
onChange={({ target}) =>
setPassword(target.value)}
placeholder="Password"
/>
<br />
<button type="submit">
Sign in
</button>
</form>
</div>
)
}; export default Login
We set up two new state hooks, which will hold our email and password state. Each of the inputs has a onChange attribute, which records the inputs directly into each state hook. If we press the ‘sign in’ button, our inputed data will be displayed in our console. Pretty neat. Signing in is going to be very easy. We just have to add one line of code to our submit function:
// components/session/Login.jsx ... const handleSubmit = (e) => {
e.preventDefault();
fire.auth().signInWithEmailAndPassword(email, password)
.catch((error) => {
console.error('Incorrect username or password');
});
} ...
This simple line. If you enter the wrong email and password:
If we log in with the proper username and password, we’ll get back our Hello World! text, and our console is now printing true (which comes from the state hook holding our session state).
Take a moment and let it sink in. This is incredible easy authentication. I don’t think you can get it any easier than this.
We should probably figure out a way to log out as well. Fortunately, Firebase makes this incredible easy as well. Replace the text ‘Hello World!’ in App.js with:
// App.js
<span onClick={signOut}>
<a href="#">Sign out</a>
</span>
And add a new function to the App component:
const signOut = () => {
fire.auth().signOut()
};
Thats it! Once you click ‘Sign out’, we get redirected back to the login form. We’re off to a good start!
Creating a view for our phone numbers
We previously created a component file for our phone numbers. Now is a good time to start implementing the way our data is going to be displayed. Let’s start by creating a new route. We’ll put our route just underneath our ‘sign out’ link:
// App.js import ListAllNumbers from './components/phonebook/ListAllNumbers'; ... <span onClick={signOut}>
<a href="#">Sign out</a>
</span>
<Switch>
<Route path="/">
<ListAllNumbers />
</Route>
</Switch> ...
The application is going to crash as soon as you save the file. That’s ok. We haven’t created the ListAllNumbers component yet. Let’s head over to the component file.
For now, we’ll create a very simple table, which we are going to display our data in:
// components/phonebook/ListAllNumbers.jsx import React from 'react';
import { Link } from 'react-router-dom'; const ListAllNumbers = () => {
return (
<div>
<Link to="/add-number">Add number</Link>
<h2>Phone numbers</h2>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Name</th>
<th>Number</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Foo Bar</td>
<td>999888777</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
)
}; export default ListAllNumbers;
It’s a masterpiece..
Creating a view to add phone numbers
We’ll create our last view before we start looking at any logic.
We’ll set up a new route above our previous one.
The whole App.js is going to look like this:
// App.js
import React, { useState } from 'react';
import { BrowserRouter as Router, Switch, Route} from 'react-router-dom'; import fire from './fire.js';
import Login from './components/session/Login';
import ListAllNumbers from './components/phonebook/ListAllNumbers';
import AddNumber from './components/phonebook/AddNumber';
function App() {
const [isLoggedIn, setIsLoggedIn] = useState(false);
fire.auth().onAuthStateChanged((user) => {
return user ? setIsLoggedIn(true) : setIsLoggedIn(false);
});
const signOut = () => {
fire.auth().signOut()
};
console.log(isLoggedIn);
return (
<div className="App">
<Router>
{!isLoggedIn
? (
<>
<Switch>
<Route path="/">
<Login />
</Route>
</Switch>
</>
)
: (
<>
<span onClick={signOut}>
<a href="#">Sign out</a>
</span>
<Switch>
<Route path="/add-number">
<AddNumber />
</Route>
<Route path="/">
<ListAllNumbers />
</Route>
</Switch>
</>
)}
</Router>
</div>
);
} export default App;
Perfect. Our routes are configured. Lets jump into the AddNumber component and add the necessary code:
// components/phonebook/AddNumber.js import React, { useState } from 'react';
import { Link } from 'react-router-dom'; const AddNumber = () => {
const [name, setName] = useState();
const [phone, setPhone] = useState();
const handleSubmit = (e) => {
e.preventDefault();
console.log(`submitted: ${name} - ${phone}`);
};
return (
<div>
<Link to="/">View phonebook</Link>
<h2>Add Number</h2>
<form onSubmit={handleSubmit}>
<input
type="text"
placeholder="Name"
onChange={({ target }) => setName(target.value)}
/><br />
<input
type="text"
placeholder="Number"
onChange={({ target }) => setPhone(target.value)}
/><br />
<button type="submit">
Add number
</button>
</form>
</div>
)
}; export default AddNumber;
As we did with the login field, we store both input fields in a state hook. On submit, we print the input data to our console. Perfect. This is as fancy as our frontend will be. We are done with the frontend for now. We should create the backend, and hook up the database next. We will return to the frontend soon.
|
https://javascript.plainenglish.io/lets-create-react-app-with-firebase-auth-express-backend-and-mongodb-database-805c83e4dadd
|
['Stephan Bakkelund Valois']
|
2020-11-04 07:27:08.915000+00:00
|
['React', 'Programming', 'JavaScript', 'Firebase', 'Mongodb']
|
Trips Every Couple Should Take Before Getting Engaged
|
It’s an open secret that traveling with your partner is one of the best ways to strengthen your relationship. Yes, a fun and exciting vacation will help you two improve your communication skills, learn about each other in a new context, and even enhance your sex life.
With all these benefits, it’s crucial that couples take a few vacations together before making a lifelong commitment to one another. But what type of vacations should you actually take before getting hitched? After all, every different kind of vacation brings its own benefits and challenges.
We put together our guide to the top five vacations every couple should take before getting engaged. With these ideas and experiences under your belt, you’ll be able to make an informed decision about your relationship before tying the knot!
BEFORE YOU PLAN A TRIP, MAKE SURE YOU READ OUR ULTIMATE TRIP PLANNING GUIDE
The Great Road Trip
The road trip is like nothing else you’ll ever experience with your partner. Days on end in a small metal box, with nothing but you, your partner, and the open road. While that might not be the most appealing description of the road trip, it gets down to the basics: such a trip will help you see how you and your partner function in a small space together for days on end. It also has the added benefits of oftentimes being cheaper than a plane-based vacation, and you can see some pretty amazing sights flash by as you wind down the road.
There are many remarkable places to go on your next road trip: we particularly love the Baja California trip with its stunning views, immaculate beaches, and killer nightlife. Or, if you are a movie lover, you could traverse the whole US stopping at cinematic sites around the country. If you and your partner are film geeks, this is the trip for you!
If you are looking to get off-the-beaten path (which provides seriously rewarding benefits for you and your relationship, in its own right), may we recommend the Great South American Road Trip. In particular, Bolivia’s Death Road provides beautiful scenic views (though, as its name suggests, it’s not for the faint-hearted). Another great route is Argentina’s Ruta 40, which allows you to see Argentina in all of its glory, from glaciers to mountain. Except for Guyana and Suriname, most countries in South America drive on the right, making it an easier transition for all the North American drivers out there.
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR OTHER FAVORITE PLACES IN SOUTH AMERICA
The Budget Backpacking Trip
You never know when money might be tight or times hard in the future. Practice your frugality with your partner and rough it for a few days on a budget backpacking trip to make sure that you all can agree on how to budget and save for the future.
Plus, the budget backpacking trips allow for (and even require!) spontaneity, flexibility, and compromise. Practicing these skills with your partner will definitely come in handy as you spend a lifetime living and making decisions together.
But where should you go on your budget backpacking trip?
Definitely check out Kyrgyzstan, the “Switzerland of Central Asia.” Its affordable prices and lax visa requirements make it a perfect place for a couple trying to save some cash. Go trekking (or horse trekking) in the country’s towering mountains and sleep in a yurt (or opt for a more standard hostel). The prices will leave your wallets full and your hearts happy!
India is also another incredible backpacking destination, as it offers cheap prices, budget accommodations, and developed railways linking the whole country. While you are there, make sure to head to Jaipur for some incredible history, architecture, and food. Then head down south to Goa, followed by Kochi, for their lush greenery and mouth-watering delicacies. Or, hop over the border to Nepal via a cheap flight and check out Boudha, Kathmandu.
Looking to stay closer to home? Nicaragua may be a great option for you. With easy shared shuttles, chicken buses, and more, traveling around the country is easy. Head to San Juan Del Sur for a nightlife hub, or visit Popoyo Beach for some chill vibes and surf. There are lots of backpackers traveling through Nicaragua these days, so it should be easy to meet some like-minded friends if you need a break from being one-on-one with your partner 24/7.
CLICK HERE FOR OUR OTHER FAVORITE DESTINATIONS IN CENTRAL AMERICA
The Off-The-Grid Spiritual Stay
The monastery stay provides two major benefits for your relationship: first, you can see how you and your partner act in a totally different context, allowing you to learn how to weather unfamiliar situations together.
Secondly, you can learn about your partner’s own spiritual and religious inclinations, which can help you understand them in a deeper and more meaningful way.
There are so many monasteries around the world, all of which offer significant growth and learning for a couple. A popular one is Plum Village in France, which was the first monastery founded in the west by Thich Nhat Hanh. You can visit just for the day, but we recommend signing up for one of their many great mindfulness retreats.
Or, head to Cambodia, a historically Buddhist country that offers many incredible monastery stays that will challenge you and your partner spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.
Finally, Nepal is an amazing country for monasteries and Hindu ashrams which you can stay with your partner. We recommend staying at Namo Buddha Monastery if you are interested in exploring Buddhism and meditation practices, or Sri Aurobindo Ashram which offers Hindu teachings and daily yoga classes.
LOOKING FOR A SPIRITUAL VACATION? HERE ARE OUR FAVORITE PILGRIMAGES AROUND THE WORLD FOR THE CULTURAL TRAVELER
The Romantic Getaway
We at Jubel are big proponents of the pre-wedding honeymoon. Sure, it’s great to celebrate your relationship after you are married in a lavish vacation, but taking a romantic trip before you are even engaged has some major benefits for your relationship.
First of all, it helps you to reconnect and rekindle the spark in your relationship after however many years of dating. You want to go into an engagement in the strongest place possible, and this will help you do just that.
Second, the romantic getaway will help create indelible memories that will last a lifetime. These memories, as we’ve discussed before, will help you get through difficult times as you can always fall back upon them in the future.
There are many destinations particularly conducive to romance. The extraordinary views of the Azores, plus the delicious food and nature experiences found there will 100% ignite a spark in your relationship.
Other romantic spots include the Seychelles, which offers island views, crystal-clear water, and hiking trails, and Yamba in New South Wales, with its blissful beaches and lush greenery. With these places, you’ll be able to relax, be together with no distractions, and fall in love all over again.
CHECK OUT OUR OTHER FAVORITE ROMANTIC DESTINATIONS FOR ALL TYPES OF TRAVELERS!
The Heritage Trip
When you get engaged, you are signing up to marry not only your partner, but also their whole family. Therefore, it is crucial you know about and really understand your partner’s family history before you agree to marry them.
The best way to do this is to take a heritage trip. Whether that means visiting their childhood home to have the standard “meet-the-parents” moment, or digging a little deeper and heading off to their ancestral country, this is the perfect way to intensely dive into your partner’s family history and teach them about your own.
So yes, the honeymoon is great, but so are the trips you take before you decide to get hitched. They’ll help you grow as a person and as a couple, and ensure better communication and a stronger bond for years to come.
|
https://medium.com/jubel-co/trips-every-couple-should-take-before-getting-engaged-c4148a7a9464
|
[]
|
2019-11-21 10:43:47.490000+00:00
|
['Couples', 'Travel', 'Vacation', 'Engagement', 'Couples Travel']
|
Hibernate e JPA com Spring Boot e Microservices
|
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/java-e-arquitetura-de-forma-mastigada/hibernate-e-jpa-com-spring-boot-e-microservices-8d265c4c2183
|
['Marcelo De Souza Vieira']
|
2020-12-31 14:24:12.489000+00:00
|
['Udemy', 'Jpa', 'Java', 'Hibernate', 'Microservices']
|
Miracle of hope
|
Pantoum after Rachel B. Baxter
Photograph taken by me
A soul lost in doubt-
A miracle they say,
Chasing the darkness out,
Quickly swept me away
A miracle they say,
When ‘can’t be’ turned to ‘done’
Quickly swept me away
My despair now undone
When ‘can’t be’ turned to ‘done’
A chapter new began
My despair now undone,
I was now hope’s new twin
A chapter anew begins
Chasing darkness out,
I am now hope’s new twin
To souls lost in doubt!
|
https://medium.com/chalkboard/miracle-of-hope-b94b5bd59f35
|
[]
|
2017-09-09 23:31:47.051000+00:00
|
['Passing Pantoum', 'Pantoum', 'Poetry', 'Hope', 'Life']
|
AWS EMR, Data Aggregation and its best practices
|
What is Big Data ?
Big data is a field about collecting, storing, processing, extracting, and visualizing massive amounts of knowledge in order that companies can distill knowledge from it, derive valuable business insights from that knowledge.While managing such data analysis platforms different kinds of challenges such as installation and operational management, whereas dynamically allocating processing capacity to accommodate for variable load, and aggregating data from multiple sources for holistic analysis needs to be faced. The Open Source Apache Hadoop and its ecosystem of tools help solve these problems because Hadoop can expand horizontally to accommodate growing data volume and may process unstructured and structured data within the same environment.
What is AWS EMR ?
Amazon Elastic MapReduce (Amazon EMR) simplifies running Hadoop. It helps in running big data applications on AWS efficiently. It replaces the need of managing the Hadoop installation which is very daunting task. This suggests any developer or business has the facility to try to to analytics without large capital expenditures. Users can easily start a performance-optimized Hadoop cluster within the AWS cloud within minutes. The service allows users to effortlessly expand and shrink a running cluster on demand. They can analyze and process vast amounts of knowledge by using Hadoop’s MapReduce architecture to distribute the computational work across a cluster of virtual servers running within the AWS cloud so that it can be processed, analyzed to gain additional knowledge which involves data collection, migration and optimization.
Figure 1 : Data Flow
What is Data Aggregation ?
Data aggregation refers to techniques for gathering individual data records (for example log records) and mixing them into an outsized bundle of knowledge files. For example, one log file records all the recent visits in a web server log aggregation. AWS EMR is very helpful when utilized for aggregating data records
It reduces the time required to upload data to AWS. As a result, it increases the data ingest scalability. In other words, we are uploading larger files in small numbers instead of uploading many small files. It reduces the amount of files stored on Amazon S3 (or HDFS), which eventually assists in providing a better performance while processing data on EMR. As a result, there is a much better compression ratio. It is always an easy task to compress a large, highly compressible files as compared to compressing an out-sized number of smaller files.
Data Aggregation Best Practices
Hadoop will split the data into multiple chunks before processing them. Each map task process each part after it is splitted. The info files are already separated into multiple blocks by HDFS framework. Additionally, since your data is fragmented, Hadoop uses HDFS data blocks to assign one map task to every HDFS block.
SFigure 2 : Hadoop Split Logic
While an equivalent split logic applies to data stored on Amazon S3, the method may be a different. Hadoop splits the info on Amazon S3 by reading your files in multiple HTTP range requests because the info on Amazon S3 is not separated into multiple parts on HDFS. This is often simply how for HTTP to request some of the file rather than the whole file (for example, GET FILE X Range: byte=0–10000). To read file from Amazon S3, Hadopp ussed different split size which depends on the Amazon Machine Image (AMI) version. The recent versions of Amazon EMR have larger split size than the older ones. For instance , if one file on Amazon S3 is about 1 GB, Hadoop reads your file from Amazon S3 by issuing 15 different HTTP requests in parallel if Amazon S3 split size is 64 MB (1 GB/64 MB = ~15). Irrespective of where the data is stored, if the compression algorithm does leave splitting then Hadoop will not split the file. Instead, it will use one map task to process the compressed file.Hadoop processes the file with one mapper in casse the GZIP file size is of 1 GB. On the opposite hand, if your file are often split (in the case of text or compression that permits splitting, like some version of LZO) Hadoop will split the files in multiple chunks. These chunks are processed in parallel.
Figure 3 : AWS EMR pulling compressed data from S3
Figure 4 : AWS EMR using HTTP Range Requests
Best Practice 1: Aggregated Data Size
The suitable aggregated file size depends on the compression algorithm you’re using. As an example , if your log files are compressed with GZIP, it’s often best to stay your aggregated file size to 1–2 GB. The primary principle is that since we cannot split GZIP files, each mapper is assigned by Hadoop to process your data. Since one thread is restricted to what proportion data it can pull from Amazon S3 at any given time, the method of reading the whole file from Amazon S3 into the mapper becomes the main drawback in your processing workflow. On the opposite hand, if your data files are often split, one mapper can process your file. The acceptable size is around 2GB to 4GB for such kind of data files.
Best Practice 2: Controlling Data Aggregation Size
In case a distributed log collector is being used by the customer then he/she is limited to data aggregation based on time. Let’s take an example. A customer uses Flume to aggregate his organisation’s important data so that later he can export it to AWS S3. But, due to time aggregation, the customer will not be able to control the size of the file created. It is because the dimensions of any aggregated files depend upon the speed at which the file is being read by the distributed log collector.Since many distributed log collector frameworks are available as open source, it is possible that customers might write special plugins for the chosen log collector to introduce the power to aggregate based on file size.
Best Practice 3: Data Compression Algorithms
As our aggregated data files are depending on the file size, the compression algorithm will become an important choice to select. For example, GZIP compression is accepted if the aggregated data files are between 500 MB to 1 GB. However, if your data aggregation creates files larger than 1 GB, its best to select a compression algorithm that supports splitting.
Best Practice 4: Data partitioning
Data partitioning is an important optimization to your processing workflow. Without any data partitioning in situ , your processing job must read or scan all available data sets and apply additional filters so as to skip unnecessary data. Such architecture might work for a coffee volume of knowledge , but scanning the whole data set may be a very time consuming and expensive approach for larger data sets. Data partitioning allows you to create unique buckets of knowledge and eliminate the necessity for a knowledge processing job to read the whole data set. Three considerations determine how you partition your data:
1. Data type (time series)
2. Data processing frequency (per hour, per day, etc.)
3. Different query pattern and Data access (query on time vs. query on geo location)
|
https://medium.com/@hirenchafekar/aws-emr-data-aggregation-and-its-best-practices-e89470a76fe5
|
['Hiren Chafekar']
|
2020-12-17 17:38:48.836000+00:00
|
['Hadoop', 'AWS', 'Big Data Analytics', 'Emr', 'Big Data']
|
The Granger Component Taxonomy
|
An application has at least one root component. In most cases for an SPA you will have your main AppRoot and potentially an ErrorRoot (see “Fail-First Error Handling for the Frontend” for more info on this latter component). If you are progressively upgrading an existing legacy application and have components injected into specific parts of your app (e.g. ReactDOM.render is part of a backbone view), or you have several entry points, then you may have more root components defined.
If you’re doing hot module reloading, or have global styles for your entire app, then AppRoot is the place these things are included:
import {hot} from 'react-hot-loader';
import './globalStyles'; // ... export default hot(module)(AppRoot);
Defining characteristics of root components:
Typically include application routing.
Typically provide global data or state to the rest of the component tree.
MUST be mounted somewhere in code by ReactDOM.render or registered by AppRegistry.registerComponent if using react-native .
or registered by if using . MUST be composed of view components.
MAY include provider components (e.g. redux ’s Provider ).
Example <AppRoot /> root component:
import * as React from 'react';
import {ThemeProvider} from 'styled-components';
import {Switch, Route} from 'react-router'; import HomeView from '/component/view/HomeView';
import SettingsView from '/component/view/SettingsView';
import NotFoundView from '/component/view/NotFound'; import theme from '/config/theme.config'; class AppRoot extends React.PureComponent {
static domNodeId = "app"; render() {
return (
<Router>
<ThemeProvider theme={theme}>
<Switch>
<Route
exact
path="/"
component={HomeView}
/>
<Route
path="/settings"
component={SettingsView}
/>
<Route component={NotFound} />
</Switch>
</ThemeProvider>
</Router>
);
}
}
And then in an application entry point (e.g. client/client.js :
import * as ReactDOM from 'react'; const element = document.getElementById(AppRoot.domNodeId);
ReactDOM.render(<AppRoot />, element);
Partial Components
Partial components are reusable blocks composed of base components that are consumed by view and layout components. As your app grows you will likely find common code between multiple view components, and this should be abstracted into a partial component. Partials are simply the natural evolution of wanting to DRY up your code. Common partials include things like: headers and footers, information panels/cards, and search result lists.
A key defining difference between base components and partial components is the consumption of state. No base component should access state or have side-effects beyond what is provided to it as props. Similarly, partial components should not have their own styles, since defining visual style is the responsibility of base components.
Defining characteristics of partial components:
Presentational and behavioral.
Give UX re-use.
MUST be composed of base components or other partial components
MUST be re-used by multiple views (otherwise it belongs with the view).
MAY contain some local, very purpose-specific styles.
MAY be connected to state ( redux , apollo , etc.).
Example <SearchResults /> partial component:
import * as React from 'react';
import {Query} from 'react-apollo';
import gql from 'graphql-tag'; import List from '/component/base/List'; class SearchResults extends React.PureComponent {
render() {
return (
<List>
{results.map((result) => (
<List.Item key={result.id}>
{result.productName}
</List.Item>
)}
</List>
);
}
} const PRODUCT_SEARCH = gql`
query search($searchQuery: String!) {
search(searchQuery: $searchQuery) {
id
productName
}
}
`; const ConnectSearchResults = ({searchQuery}) => (
<Query query={PRODUCT_SEARCH} variables={{ searchQuery }} >
{({data}) => (
<SearchResults results={data.results} />
)}
</Query>
);
Utility Components
Utility components are used to define common behaviour that does not represent visual or interactive UI elements. This means utility components are quite often either higher-order or they have function children (the latter of which is generally preferable). Common utility components often include: pluralizers, common key or mouse behaviour (e.g. handling the pressing of the escape key), timer components and accessibility wrappers, like those for visually hidden content.
import * as React from 'react'; import VisuallyHidden from '/component/util/VisuallyHidden'; const Error = ({message}) => (
<div>
<VisuallyHidden>Error: </VisuallyHidden>
{message}
</div>
);
Because utility components don’t have anything to do with branding and are purely behavioural, they can quite often be carried over from project to project (or even published to npm ). These components rarely involve any business logic and rarely access application state. Just like base components allow UI re-use, and partials allow UX re-use, utility components allow behavioural re-use.
The “click outside of component” behaviour is a one that gets re-used regularly in most apps.
Because of their focus on behaviour, util components should not return styled or visible elements. There are very occasional exceptions to this; for example a pluralization component could add commas between its children and those would be visible elements.
Defining characteristics of utility components:
Give behavioural re-use.
MUST be behavioural, not presentational.
MUST not render branding/content-based visual elements.
MAY return other visual elements in rare cases.
Example <OnClickOutside /> utility component:
import * as React from 'react'; class OnClickOutside extends React.PureComponent {
container = React.createRef();
isTouch = false; componentDidMount() {
document.addEventListener('touchend', this.handle, true);
document.addEventListener('click', this.handle, true);
} componentWillUnmount() {
document.removeEventListener('touchend', this.handle, true);
document.removeEventListener('click', this.handle, true);
} handle = (e) => {
if (e.type === 'touchend') this.isTouch = true;
if (e.type === 'click' && this.isTouch) return;
const {onClickOutside} = this.props;
const el = this.container.current;
if (el && !el.contains(e.target)) {
onClickOutside(e);
}
}; render() {
return this.props.children(this.container);
}
}
Debug Components
Debug components help developers and QA testers do their job. A lot of times a new feature is being developed or a new API endpoint is being used and you would like an easy way to be able to toggle certain settings without having to rebuild the app or inject specific code into the build; debug components fulfill this need by providing access to application internals in a more user-friendly manner. Common debug components include things like configurators, theme adjustors and build information display panels.
Example set of debug components.
In many cases, because these components provide access to application internals, you may wish to disable them in production builds or on specific environments. Assuming you’re using folder components, you can simply adjust the index.js file to conditionally include your component in the build:
import BuildInformation from './BuildInformation'; const index = (process.env.NODE_ENV === "production") ?
() => null : BuildInformation; export default index;
Defining characteristics of debug components:
Provide value to the development team, not to the product owner.
MAY be excluded from the production build or certain environments.
MUST be composed of base components or partial components.
Example <DebugInfo /> debug component:
import * as React from 'react'; import pkg from '/../package.json'; class DebugInfo extends React.PureComponent {
render() {
return (
<div>
Version {pkg.version}
</div>
);
}
}
Static Components
Static components are used by an external process to render static parts of the page outside of the root component target nodes. This is typically just the page markup itself, but could include smaller static markup required for third-party code or for doing last-ditch error handling. For more information on how to do error handling with static components see “Fail-First Error Handling for the Frontend”.
If you have a React app without server-side rendering or without a page build process then you won’t have any static components. If you would like more information on either of these processes (building a server-side React app or generating static markup) then have a look at “React, Webpack the Server and You”.
Defining characteristics of static components:
MUST function correctly as markup (i.e. the behaviour of renderToString is well defined for the component).
is well defined for the component). MUST not access the DOM or use component lifecycle methods.
Example <Page /> static component:
import * as React from 'react'; class Page extends React.PureComponent {
render() {
const {
rootElementId,
assets,
markup,
state,
head,
} => this.props;
return (
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charSet="utf-8" />
<meta httpEquiv="x-ua-compatible" content="ie=edge" />
{styles(assets.index)}
</head>
<body>
<div
id={rootElementId}
className="root"
dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{__html: markup}}
/>
{typeof state !== 'undefined' && (
<script
type="text/json"
id="state"
dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{__html: serialize(state)}}
/>
)}
{scripts(assets.index)}
</body>
</html>
);
}
};
Layout Components
Layout components are responsible for generating the outermost markup of the page. Layout components are designed to be rendered by view components and should contain any markup and styles that is common among a set of multiple views. This typically includes things like headers and footers. For smaller apps sometimes people prefer to move the header and footer into the AppRoot itself, but in other cases people prefer to keep AppRoot focused choosing which components to load for the app and providing data to the app.
Defining characteristics of layout components:
Purely presentational.
MUST be consumed by view components.
Example <MainLayout /> layout component:
import * as React from 'react'; import Header from '/component/partial/Header';
import Footer from '/component/partial/Footer'; class MainLayout extends React.PureComponent {
render() {
return (
<div>
<Header />
{children}
<Footer />
</div>
);
}
}
The One True Path?
This isn’t the one true path, and, in fact, most projects require other useful categorizations; sometimes error for complex global error messaging components, sometimes context or connect for when you need to inject app-wide state further down the component tree. Ultimately, whatever structure you decide on should make it easier to understand how you application fits together and should promote high cohesion and loose coupling. And it turns out that this taxonomy does a really good job of achieving those goals, and has been in use extensively on projects I’ve been a part of over the past couple of years.
Organize your components for great justice and even greater productivity. Give the Granger Taxonomy™ a try on your next project. 🙏
|
https://medium.com/bootstart/the-granger-component-taxonomy-24c795fa02fb
|
['Izaak Schroeder']
|
2018-12-04 04:43:24.854000+00:00
|
['JavaScript', 'React', 'Front End Development']
|
Shopify & Dynamic Remarketing
|
Shopify & Dynamic Remarketing
The “what, why & how” guide to winning back your non-converting customers
iStock Photo by Getty Images
The holiday season is here and due to the special circumstances we live in (COVID-19), merchants should think about investing more in digital marketing strategies. The most common pain point of online merchants around the world is non-converting customers: people who visit your e-store, search around a bit, and then leave without purchasing.
Well, not for long — dynamic remarketing ads are the answer to all your problems.
By setting up dynamic remarketing campaigns, you will be able to personalize the ads displayed to your customers and stop guessing what they would be interested in. Trust me on this: the results in sales are outstanding.
Unfortunately, this is not always an easy task to complete, especially when we talk about Shopify stores. The implementation is often complicated and the results are not always to be trusted.
What you will need:
|
https://medium.com/better-marketing/shopify-dynamic-remarketing-613111c3b9af
|
['Alexandra Poulopoulou']
|
2020-12-07 16:02:48.177000+00:00
|
['Shopify', 'Dynamic Remarketing', 'Marketing', 'Google Ads', 'Digital Marketing']
|
Well-written article!
|
Well-written article! It’s funny, as “everyone’s an artist” (Joseph Beuys quote) as children, but we don’t draw as much when we reach around our middle school years for some reason. I don’t think it’s more as taking it for granted, but our system doesn’t see applying it to everyday life like other skills. Art saved my life! Thanks for sharing.
|
https://medium.com/@krystalcconsult85/well-written-article-57862e90a52e
|
['Krystal']
|
2020-11-27 08:25:53.188000+00:00
|
['Drawing', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Writing', 'Business', 'Art']
|
RPA BOTs Post Production Support Mechanism
|
The generic question asked by industry experts is — how RPA Bots keeps on working post production? How to tackle post-production changes/issues?
A support Model captures all of the information in one place like What’s changing? When is it changing? How does it work? Any risks or issues to be aware of? All of these things need to be communicated with business.
This is one of the important activity and needs to be implemented properly.
Governance:
Ticketing platform and Level 1–3 support — RPA projects need to be defined as any other application project. Support levels need to be defined and service ticket model needs to be implemented. In general L1 support person deals with monitoring and very basic issues in production, should have understanding of the process. Example — Basic Bot maintenance, Password Reset, Start or stop the job, scale up or scale down number of bots. L2 support requires more technical expertise to resolve issues. Mostly developers with prior understanding of use case and flow need to analyze and provide solutions. Example — Analysis of current issue and find a quick workaround for processing, minor changes to the flow due to additional data or exception condition. L3 support comes into picture in case of major process flow changes. Example — Impact of change on overall flow and architecture, It requires more in-depth analysis of issue and solution needs to be discussed and approved with client before implementing.
— RPA projects need to be defined as any other application project. Support levels need to be defined and service ticket model needs to be implemented. In general L1 support person deals with monitoring and very basic issues in production, should have understanding of the process. Example — Basic Bot maintenance, Password Reset, Start or stop the job, scale up or scale down number of bots. L2 support requires more technical expertise to resolve issues. Mostly developers with prior understanding of use case and flow need to analyze and provide solutions. Example — Analysis of current issue and find a quick workaround for processing, minor changes to the flow due to additional data or exception condition. L3 support comes into picture in case of major process flow changes. Example — Impact of change on overall flow and architecture, It requires more in-depth analysis of issue and solution needs to be discussed and approved with client before implementing. List of Application Stakeholders — RPA should be a stakeholder in application change process, any change to the application UI should be communicated to the RPA team. RPA team should be making the required changes and should test with application team before these are implemented in production.
— RPA should be a stakeholder in application change process, any change to the application UI should be communicated to the RPA team. RPA team should be making the required changes and should test with application team before these are implemented in production. Roles and responsibilities setup — Roles and responsibilities should be setup for all support and development team members.
— Roles and responsibilities should be setup for all support and development team members. Budget for resources — Resource requirement for support needs to be calculated and budgeted. This helps management and RPA team to focus on support activities.
— Resource requirement for support needs to be calculated and budgeted. This helps management and RPA team to focus on support activities. Resource estimation –One support resource for 6–8 production business processes. There are number of tasks that support resources needs to do as discussed in last point( Points to Remember — for support resources )
–One support resource for 6–8 production business processes. There are number of tasks that support resources needs to do as discussed in last point( ) Support activities vs Change Requests — There will be regular support requirements from business or small changes to configuration updates. There may be request to add some more functionalities or additional requirements. Those should be handled as change request and not as support requirements.
— There will be regular support requirements from business or small changes to configuration updates. There may be request to add some more functionalities or additional requirements. Those should be handled as change request and not as support requirements. Additional exceptions not communicated at the time of requirements gathering should be considered as change request.
Undelivered requirements should not be part of support and PM/scrum master needs to consider this separately
Process documentation — All documentation PDD and SDD should be complete. Document should be kept up to date with any change request or additional functionalities.
H andover Documentation:
Once development is done and bots went live successfully, development team handovers Bots to support or operations team. The Bot handover document should include following details:
Release Date
Stakeholder involved and sign off
BOT Functional and Design documents
Access Required
Code Overview
BOT run schedules
Trouble shooting steps should be explained, like location of logs, execution reports, reprocessing of jobs steps, etc.
should be explained, like location of logs, execution reports, reprocessing of jobs steps, etc. Process restart steps — If any process stops during execution, what are the steps to clean up and restart the process, these should be decided beforehand
— If any process stops during execution, what are the steps to clean up and restart the process, these should be decided beforehand How to trigger the bot?
Setup and Deployment plan(config, environment setup, files location, log file location, share folder location)
Escalation procedure
BOT Application interface details
Known issues resolution
Ticketing Platform
Points to Remember — for support resources
•Do not change anything directly in production.
•Take backup before changing anything.
•Maintain proper versioning of all the tasks.
•Take necessary permissions if required from the client.
•Know the Security Compliance of client.
•Keep monitoring jobs, robots and newly fixed bug.
•Take necessary screenshots as evidence if required and permissible.
•If there is any downtime for any Bot, communicate with client and stakeholders.
•If there is any alternate solution, suggest it to the client.
•If it is taking too long to resolve, update the client with progress and complexity.
•If you are taking help from Product Team, highlight this to client to get more time.
•If you need to share logs to outside the client environment, please make sure you are following client data security compliance.
•Keep on updating about license expiry, password expiry and software updates.
•Keep monitoring memory and performance of the system.
|
https://medium.com/elcome2amol/rpa-bot-post-production-support-model-mechanism-20b37c40968f
|
['Amol Deshmukh']
|
2020-01-24 19:46:17.224000+00:00
|
['Support', 'Robotics', 'Rpa Tools', 'Automation', 'Rpa News']
|
66 percent of Americans say they love to shop for this reason
|
Nearly seven in ten (69 percent) Americans would also go as far as calling hunting for discounted items a “sport.”
And according to the survey, many Americans consider themselves to be pretty skilled shoppers. Three in four Americans actually think of themselves as “experts” when it comes to finding an item discounted.
Josh Meyers, Slickdeals CEO said, “This survey illustrates what we witness with our Slickdeals audience every day. There’s a significant level of excitement and entertainment value around discovering a great deal.”
For many, buying online can almost be more fun than buying in stores.
In fact, 66 percent of Americans polled say they feel excited just knowing something is currently being shipped to them.
Getting our hands on something we’ve had our eye on for a while can be an instant attitude booster — 65 percent of Americans say they are actually nicer to people after they buy something they want.
So what are the items that make us happy?
The research showed that our number one “happy buy” is clothes, with half of the respondents (50 percent) saying they get a rush when they shell out on part of a new ensemble.
Shoes came in a close second with 46 percent saying it gave them a nice jolt of happiness after completing the transaction, and rounding out the top three was a new computer or laptop (40 percent.)
Meyers added, “Getting a great deal isn’t just a rational exercise in stretching the dollar, there’s an element of gamification, where consumers derive pleasure from the thrill of the hunt. By tapping into Slickdeals’ crowdsourced platform, shoppers can not only experience the thrill of a good deal, but also gain validation and purchase confidence that this is something they should be buying thanks to the wisdom of the crowd.”
TOP 20 PURCHASES THAT MAKE US HAPPY
Clothes 50% Shoes 46% Computer/laptop 40% Electronic Accessories (e.g. headphones) 35% TV 34% Accessories/jewelry 32% Groceries 30% Vacations 28% Video games 28% Kitchen supplies 26% Home Decor 26% Home Improvement (tools, gardening, etc) 24% Takeout 23% Phone apps 22% Makeup 20% Coffee 19% Hair appointments 17% Toiletries 16% In-app purchases 15% Toys 14%
>> Download the video & infographic for this research story <<
NOTE: All news copy and multimedia on this SWNS account is free to use as you see fit. Where research has been conducted, we ask that you credit the company which commissioned it.
|
https://medium.com/@swns-research/66-percent-of-americans-say-they-love-to-shop-for-this-reason-c02b19dc0b21
|
[]
|
2019-07-03 18:00:33.348000+00:00
|
['Research', 'Discount', 'Online Shopping', 'Shopping', 'Deal']
|
The Audacity of the ‘Genderqueer’ Voice
|
I pretended to laugh too. Maybe I could fool my heart. If I was laughing, it couldn’t hurt. Could it? I mean, how can you take people seriously who have never met you and whinge and call you a “wanker” for a non-offensive piece about a personal epiphany? Which they only came across because it was specifically selected and thrust upon them for the distinct purpose of ridiculing it?
Another woman was more concerning. She took the time to tell me my writing was “regressive, navel-gazing bullshit” — she was a professor and legal academic. That hurt a little bit more than the Facebook jerks.
Looking closer at her profile, which has unsurprisingly now been removed by Medium, she clearly stated she was a radical feminist. She had left explosions of hate on a number of trans-related stories on Medium, a lot of it incoherent and full of expletives. ‘Real women don’t have dicks!’ was the gist of it.
Perhaps she was drunk? Hacked? I couldn’t imagine a professor doing such a thing. I made excuses for her. I found out later she’d been banned from Twitter for the same reason.
I looked at the social media profiles of some of these others: most stated they were radical feminists, all of them had strings of anti-trans posts, where they shared videos or writing by trans or non-binary people, or news articles about trans issues, and ridiculed them.
The relief I felt from noticing I was not the only victim on Medium, that it wasn’t that something was wrong with me and my writing, soon made way for the terrifying realisation that there are people out there systematically targeting non-cis voices and attacking their experiences.
I felt ashamed of the initial relief I had felt, of not being the only one. It was true these women weren’t attacking me, but it was much worse. They were attacking all voices emerging from beyond the gender binary. They were attacking something much larger, which my stories represented.
Something they despise:
That we have the audacity to speak at all.
That nerve of ours to feel differently and then speak about it must be controlled. Our voices must be answered with abuse.
Don’t let us rise.
By joining together online and using ridicule they assert their territory (in my case, female-ness), they feel stronger through the support of their peers via the shared mockery of those who impinge on their territory (or reject it, in my case, which is equally as heinous), and through all of that they feel a little bit safer and in control, behind their provincial little wall of hate.
|
https://medium.com/th-ink/the-audacity-of-the-genderqueer-voice-25513fcd134f
|
[]
|
2019-08-06 14:13:20.910000+00:00
|
['Identity', 'Gender', 'Transgender', 'LGBTQ', 'Bullying']
|
LeetCode — 983. Minimum Cost For Tickets
|
1. The Problem
In a country popular for train travel, you have planned some train travelling one year in advance. The days of the year that you will travel is given as an array days . Each day is an integer from 1 to 365 . Train tickets are sold in 3 different ways: a 1-day pass is sold for costs[0] dollars; a 7-day pass is sold for costs[1] dollars; a 30-day pass is sold for costs[2] dollars. The passes allow that many days of consecutive travel. For example, if we get a 7-day pass on day 2, then we can travel for 7 days: day 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Return the minimum number of dollars you need to travel every day in the given list of days .
Example 1:
Input: days = [1,4,6,7,8,20], costs = [2,7,15]
Output: 11
Explanation:
For example, here is one way to buy passes that lets you travel your travel plan:
On day 1, you bought a 1-day pass for costs[0] = $2, which covered day 1.
On day 3, you bought a 7-day pass for costs[1] = $7, which covered days 3, 4, ..., 9.
On day 20, you bought a 1-day pass for costs[0] = $2, which covered day 20.
In total you spent $11 and covered all the days of your travel.
Example 2:
Input: days = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,30,31], costs = [2,7,15]
Output: 17
Explanation:
For example, here is one way to buy passes that lets you travel your travel plan:
On day 1, you bought a 30-day pass for costs[2] = $15 which covered days 1, 2, ..., 30.
On day 31, you bought a 1-day pass for costs[0] = $2 which covered day 31.
In total you spent $17 and covered all the days of your travel.
Note:
1 <= days.length <= 365 1 <= days[i] <= 365 days is in strictly increasing order. costs.length == 3 1 <= costs[i] <= 1000
2. Description
To calculate how mach is the minimum spend for all trips. “Days” is the numbers like you are supposed to go on those days. There are three kinds of tickets to choose. Find the cheapest cost to cover all travel days.
3. Needs Attention
Because it can be inputed any values of cost, it won’t be the specific rank for all tickets. cost:[1, 50, 100] is also possible. To calculate the rate in cost is unrealistic. Can allow multiple sets if and the only if the cost is the same.
4. Values recommendation
Cost is not in the reasonable price. Ex. cost: [1,50,100], [100,101,102] Don’t follow the cost which is only 1-day < 7-day < 30-Day. Ex. [7,2,6]
5. Reference Code (Beats 91.67%, 8ms)
“travelRecord”: To record all days. False represents the days we are not planning to travel, true means yes.
“costRecord”: The money we have spent so far in that day. Begin from 0.
Walk though all the days. If travelRecord is false, copy the cost to the next day. (means doesn’t spend any at that day). If it’s true, we need to buy a ticket to travel then we have three choices:
A 1-day ticket: The cost yesterday add the cost today(cost[0]). A 7-day ticket: If i-7≤0 no need to pay extra tee. Add cost[1] after 7 days A 30-Day ticket: The same as 7-Day.
“costRecord” inserts the minimum cost.
|
https://medium.com/@yy929058/leetcode-983-minimum-cost-for-tickets-2b349d6feb03
|
['Cheng-Che Hsieh']
|
2020-12-04 02:55:30.662000+00:00
|
['Leetcode', 'Midium', 'Algorithms', 'Swift']
|
I wasn’t the smartest kid in the physics department.
|
Photo by Senad Palic on Unsplash
I’m thinking about how to become a marginally better human being. At the moment, the desire comes from a place of feeling well and wanting more. Lukas and Noah are in the next room, in bed. I’m their father. I want to give them more, be more, do more. It’s hard sometimes, to look at my own limitations. I’ve chosen this life. I’ve chosen to chase this flying dream, and that pulls me away from them more than I’d like. And there’s a part of me that wants it all. I want to have a place closer to where they live, with a porch and a lawn and an apple tree or two. I want to spend days with them and also adventuring. I want to keep teaching and learning in airplanes.
It’s funny that some of the best moments and greatest adventures came when I said ‘yes’ on a whim. A yes brought me to the South Pole. I wasn’t the smartest kid in the physics department, and I wasn’t the tallest or the strongest. But going to the ass-end of the world was an adventure and I raised my hand.
If I have regrets now, they’re around not saying yes more times. And at the same time, I’m still 42 and full of energy. I feel like my fire is still burning hot. Adventure still calls. I yearn for that. Maybe that’s part of the allure of flight. To go skyward is unpredictable. You mentally prepare for what others might find the unthinkable. Before you line up on the runway, you rehearse what you’ll do if your single engine fails and your airplane becomes a heavy glider full of fuel. Stick forward, get best glide speed, aim for open terrain. At low altitude, you’re lucky if you have time to switch tanks and check the fuel pump. The first priority (as always) is to fly the damn airplane.
The Rolling Stones are playing Angie in my kitchen. The entire band fits in a tiny little green speaker that gets a radio signal from my phone. If you were born before 1896 that might sound like a miracle. The refrigerator sounds like it’s humming with life. Its pipes are gurgling and giggling. As it gets older, it gets bolder. Louder. A lot like an old relative. On the table, there’s an apple I picked from the tree outside my front door. The apple is still green with just a touch of pink. It’s going to be sour, but I don’t mind that. It wakes up my mouth.
I’m safe here, living under my friend’s house. He and his family have taken me in as part of their family. I feel grateful. We went to the skatepark the other day and rode in the concrete bowl like the 40+ year old amateur skateboarders that we are: tentative, appreciative of not getting injured, getting cheap thrills on boards like heavier versions of teenagers with a few more grey hairs.
Getting back to the habit of writing, I realize that I’d let the fear of failure block me. I’d allowed myself to believe that I’d never amount to much when it came to my writing. And that’s a poor reason not to put in the effort to get better.
I hereby step back into the worn leather shoes of a writer trying to become good. I’m going to stumble, and I’ll get up, and I’ll read and write some more. I’m reading Tom Robbins, Still Life With Woodpecker, and I find myself feeling marvelous champagne bubbles of appreciation as I read. Tom’s mind is so full of metaphor and simile and absurd humor. It’s like watching a genius on mushrooms write poetry in pink clouds with his index finger.
Now and then, I catch him spewing some bullshit when it comes to his aviation references, but it’s brilliant bullshit and it doesn’t matter. I’m not from the FAA or the EAA or any of the other AAs. I’m just a writer and a reader and I love how he tells a story that makes you feel something. Lest we forget, bullshit can also be a source for new life.
It’s getting late. The music has changed to AC/DC. Midnight crept past without a sound. She’s riding away with her red hair flowing in the wind, on a motorcycle powered by moonbeams, and telling me not to think too much about the morning. The refrigerator has quieted down its geriatric wheezing. Somehow it continues to hold on.
We’re pinballs making meaning, one collision at a time, one yes at a time.
Take care of yourself.
Best,
Jesse
|
https://medium.com/@jessebastide/i-wasnt-the-smartest-kid-in-the-physics-department-7ce741ec4a12
|
['Jesse Bastide']
|
2021-08-27 22:20:20.539000+00:00
|
['Adventure', 'Philosophy', 'Meaning', 'Fatherhood', 'Wellbeing']
|
Hello,
|
I am back with another Story, Check out the tips for your 1st date…
Perhaps the best things in life are free. Looking back, the best dates I ever went on didn’t cost much or anything at all.
Traditional dating can be expensive; dinner, which can easily cost $40 or more. Follow that with a movie, which can run another $40 if you buy popcorn, drinks and candy. Suddenly you are close to a hundred dollar evening, and before you know it, all of your extra money for the month has been spent on a date.
Yet it doesn’t have to cost so much. The best thing is that often, romance can be free. An afternoon spent hiking. Having a nice quiet picnic at a park or lake, an afternoon stroll through the forest; All wonderful dates, and they only cost you time
Click Here to Read the Full Article
|
https://medium.com/@shreevanditha/hello-547ecdddd182
|
[]
|
2020-12-25 17:10:47.410000+00:00
|
['Marriage', 'Dating', 'Relationships Love Dating', 'Couples', 'Love']
|
Where College Is Free
|
Sign up for Taking Stock of COVID: New comics from The Nib
By The Nib
New comics from Matt Lubchansky, Keith Knight, and Niccolo Pizarro. Plus How Seniors Are Living With COVID-19. Take a look
|
https://medium.com/the-nib/where-college-is-free-f6c33b851b07
|
['The Nib']
|
2020-12-21 15:48:36.738000+00:00
|
['Debt', 'College', 'Comics', 'Student Loans', 'Education']
|
What’s in ProPublica’s NYPD Complaints Data?
|
What’s in ProPublica’s NYPD Complaints Data?
An Initial Run Through
ProPublica recently released The NYPD Files, a database of records listing complaints filed against members of the NYPD from 1999–2020. This was a highly controversial move, as NYC Police, Firefighters, and Corrections Officers Unions are currently suing the state to keep these records secret. In any case, ProPublica has made this data public for their own reasons, and as a data enthusiast, I thought reviewing this data and analyzing it would serve both myself and the public some good. You can read more about it here, and access the database here.
The following are a few simple graphs I’ve created based on my initial review of the data. I am making no allegations, drawing no conclusions, and establishing no relationship or correlations from this data at this point in time. These are simple histograms of NYPD complaints data for those who want a big picture overview.
First, a timeline of complaints:
|
https://medium.com/swlh/whats-in-propublica-s-nypd-complaints-data-7567c2e2b382
|
['Hamilton Chang']
|
2020-07-31 14:39:47.085000+00:00
|
['Pandas', 'Police', 'Data Science', 'Data Analysis', 'Propublica']
|
Growing a Growth Team
|
What is a growth team? Growth can mean a lot of different things at different organizations. At Wish, growth is a mission-based, multi-functional team. It’s a collaboration of marketing, creative, engineering, analytics, and product professionals to create a dynamic team that excels at efficiency and innovation. Together we optimize our over 400 million users’ experiences from the first time they see Wish online, to the point that they love it so much that they start referring friends to download the app!
The team is extremely data-driven and works on each feature based on user actions. Here at Wish we think, what better indication of what to tackle than how customers are actually using the app?
Because of the nature of data-driven decision making, the team is very flat in organization and everyone is encouraged to own and add new channels / features to engage users. And with users across 78 different countries and over 1 million products sold per day, there are a lot of opportunities for engagement.
The growth team works cross-functionally across international markets to ensure that users are being taken care of throughout the user lifecycle. To do this, the team is comprised of several different channels that each have a core function in maximizing our users’ experience. They are:
User Communications — Naturally, email and push notifications are huge components of any e-commerce company’s success. If you are a Wish user, you’ve definitely been touched by one of the 200+ million emails, sms or push we send every day via our personalized campaign system backed by machine learning and growth analytics. Wish is always adding new channels to streamline communications for our users, and we pride ourselves on being early movers and adopters for new product offerings. Keep an eye out for our new channels that are in the works!
SEO — Our engineers work to ensure that the best Wish information is easily available to users (or soon-to-be users!) who are searching for information about us on the web.
— Our engineers work to ensure that the best Wish information is easily available to users (or soon-to-be users!) who are searching for information about us on the web. ASO — Our app store pages are optimized to showcase the overall app experience and unique product features in each locale. Most of our users sign up via the app, so it’s important that we make a great first impression when they’re deciding whether or not to download the Wish app.
— Our app store pages are optimized to showcase the overall app experience and unique product features in each locale. Most of our users sign up via the app, so it’s important that we make a great first impression when they’re deciding whether or not to download the Wish app. International Growth — Wish is available in 78 countries, and our regional growth leaders help to propagate our app in their respective markets. We aim on making Wish the #1 shopping app for all types of users across the world.
Our team members come from a variety of backgrounds, such as math, statistics, fine arts, and MBAs, given the cross-functional nature of growth. Whatever your background is, if you’re interested in re-defining the shopping experience on mobile, don’t hesitate to reach out. We are currently hiring for our growth team! Please visit wish.com/careers and click on the “Growth” button to view available positions. Come be part of a fast-growing company!
|
https://medium.com/wish-engineering/growing-a-growth-team-88a8bf852bac
|
['Jonathan Collins']
|
2018-07-17 17:42:07.467000+00:00
|
['Growth', 'Engineering', 'Design', 'Startup']
|
Returning to Trees
|
Returning to Trees
A wander through the science and symbolism of majestic oaks, as we search for a way home to forests.
Along the country lane, a solitary row of oak trees arches towards the road as if to offer a safe passage to all who pass. The winter branches are bare and the rain-soaked wood is black against the grey sky. These oaks are exposed to the full force of storms, climate and petrol fumes. They also suffer the runoff from pesticides used on nearby farms.
As I pass the lane I feel a twinge of regret.
In the Devon landscape these isolated oaks appear not as Tolkien’s Ents, but as bronchial silhouettes. Perhaps like you, I have my own perspective on trees, familiar with those in my local environment. I associate them with breath, oxygen and life.
I now also recognise them as masterpieces of evolution.
Oak evolution had been taking place for at least 50 million years before our first apelike ancestors began walking upright on two legs. They radiated and expanded across Europe, North America and East Asia, leaving large numbers of co-occurring species in their wake, all with the potential to hybridise and exchange genes that would prove useful as they continued to colonise new territory.
As the last glacial period thawed, birch and pine, hazel, elm, oak and alder spread across all of Britain, forming an expansive wild wood. From the Neolithic age deforestation began in earnest when half of all forests were cleared for agriculture. Each succeeding era saw vast depletions of trees for timber and pasture land which continues today.
Not so long ago we hunted, cooked, feasted, and created new life under the leafy boughs and canopies of trees.
If a helicopter could fly over Britain just a thousand years ago the land would have looked like a mosaic of dense canopy and open ground. You would see ‘thin blue spirals of smoke rising here and there’ from the cottages; the oaks thriving near the outskirts where they could gain sufficient light.
Dwelling in the forests, we forged a sympathetic connection to oaks as we lived as part of a mutual ecosystem. As we started to migrate into the swelling farms and villages we brought with us the folkloric oak beliefs that for so long enabled us to live and cooperate as a species in their world.
To fell an old oak tree was almost unthinkable: medieval woodcutters feared the dreadful ‘shrieks and groans’ that came from the tree as it was about to fall. They were warned off by superstitions that misfortune would befall those who cut down ancient oak groves.
Destroying something so old and deep-rooted has never been taken lightly.
As the forest shared ever more of its resources with us, we grew confident in despoiling its ecosystem until we abandoned it for good. Now we can no longer hear the oak’s screams we have fewer qualms about cutting it down.
As we hurtle into a new planetary age of mass extinction, the oak trees reveal what it means to thrive as a species. In doing so they hold up a mirror to the human race, perhaps reflecting an uncomfortable truth.
We formed an emotional attachment to oaks, more than with any other tree. For thousands of years oaks stood as symbols of stoicism, strength and the wisdom of old age. This much is evident in the many spoken aphorisms that draw on their robustness and resilience. You could even say we lavish them with too much human compassion.
As far as trees go there isn’t anything especially outstanding about oaks. Their immune systems are strong, having evolved to ‘neutralise’ many of their natural enemies: viruses, bacteria, insects and fungi among other pathogens. Being resistant to disease and rot also contributes to the high value of oak wood as a building material.
The towns and villages emerged from postglacial forests and were constructed with oak timber. In the houses, dining tables, bookcases and floorboards were all made from oak: the wood being preferred for its durability, versatility and appearance.
As the timber ages it’s said to become stronger, but this is barely an aphorism. Rather, it becomes more beautiful as it acquires an antique charm.
Contrary to belief, oaks are not the longest surviving of all trees or the most robust. A bristlecone pine claims the record at around 4,867 years. Old Tjikko, a spruce in Sweden, is an estimated 9,550 years old!
The oldest oak in Britain is the Bowthorpe Oak at around 1000 years — an infant in comparison. Ebony wood is stronger than oak, ranking among various hardwoods in the African and Indian continents. And like us, oaks are also vulnerable to acute population decline by new and foreign viruses.
Yet oak trees carry a potent symbolic status that informs our understanding and beliefs about them. For some plant scientists our romantic ideas about oaks, and trees in general, could have unintended ecological consequences.
As the world wakes up to the climate emergency, rising numbers of people are taking a stance against the ongoing deforestation rapidly wiping out millions of species.
Evolutionary scientist, Dr. Thibault Leroy, and his colleagues, recently published an article on oak symbolism in the light of genomics. While pleased to observe a growing popular interest in trees and the protection of forests, Leroy has voiced his concern about a growing movement to resist felling any trees.
Leroy’s argument is that forests need to be sensibly managed so we can start replacing plastic products (made with fossil fuels) with sustainable wood-based solutions. He questions if an emergence of anthropomorphic nature writing might be fuelling romanticised ideas of trees that could compromise our ability to effectively solve the climate crisis.
One bestselling work has made quite a stir in the scientific community. In The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben presents the case that trees are ‘feeling and communicating’ creatures that live together like human families. In the forests, tree parents nurture their offspring and provide nutrients to ‘sick and struggling’ trees, comprising a social system.
Wohlleben’s anthropomorphic narrative is largely inspired by scientific findings that trees are connected to sprawling mycorrhizal networks that drive acts of reciprocity and mutual support. These discoveries were made by Suzanne Simard, Professor of Forest Ecology, who in her ground-breaking work also identified ‘mother trees as vital hubs’ performing a variety of functions that place them in the role of forest caregivers to saplings.
This new perspective of plant interdependence looks beyond natural selection as an unintentional chemical process. Instead, it probes the evolutionary mechanisms which engender cooperation, communication and kinship in nature.
Does Simard’s science and Wohlleben’s narrative imply trees in forests are more like human societies than previously thought? Well, there is an important distinction to be made. For humans, social cohesion is a complex emotional experience: something that is carried out intentionally as well as instinctually, and is largely due to our language skills. We know plants communicate through chemical signalling, but do they behave intentionally? Not as far as we know.
Within the plant science community Simard’s research is well-respected. Neither is there any empirical problem in likening human characteristics to trees. They compete and cooperate for survival just as we do — although they do so very differently.
It’s possible we have always ascribed human characteristics to trees, wanting to know them as feeling, communicating, and sentient beings in order to pay them respect — perhaps not to feel so alone — but in doing so we miss an opportunity to tap into something far richer and transformative in the light of modern science.
Oaks are an evolutionary success in terms of diversity and abundance. Dr Andrew Hipp, Senior Scientist in Plant Systematics, describes them as 435 species all working on solving the same problems, over and over in different ways.’ Of all the woody plant genera of North America, oaks have the highest number of species and most biomass. By their sheer diversity and ability to adapt, exchange genes, and migrate rapidly, they have come to dominate in a wide range of forest types. And, remarkably, they often share the same community: when you find one oak species in a forest, you commonly find at least one other as well.
But to call this a ‘success’ is perhaps to put too much of the human into the trees. They flourish through natural selection, migration, mating with their own kind and others, speciating, going extinct — all of which are natural events.
One can try to understand these processes in relation to the human experience, but even using anthropomorphic language we will struggle to relate to migrating without legs, radiating across continents, cross-pollinating in the wind and speciating over millennia. Like mathematics, understanding trees requires us to comprehend patterns and forces in nature that elude our senses and daily life experiences.
For biologists, using language to accurately describe an oak species is just as elusive. Oaks consist of so many converging characteristics it’s difficult to tell some species apart just by observation. In this sense there’s no such thing as a definitive oak species, but a kaleidoscope of oaks.
Trees aren’t like us at all. They’re not one but 60,000 species.
As humans we take pride in our large brains and talents for science and poetry. Having mastered tools and technology we think of ourselves as supremely successful and destined to last. But consider this: we once inhabited the Earth with other hominid species that shared many of our evolutionary challenges.
And now we are just one.
Alone, we face the problem of imminent extinction from a catastrophic event like the advent of a super virus. The complex and subtle diversity of tree evolution stands in stark contrast to our own.
In a very short time, human civilisation forged an alternative reality in conflict with the natural world. Deep in our conurbations we are a beleaguered species, addicted to gas, coal and oil. It seems the more efficient we become the more we compromise our natural environment.
Our vision is narrowed by an obsession with clock time. As a species in a hurry, we travel in the most linear way to arrive sooner rather than later.
When one thousand ancient woodlands are to be cleared to make way for the UK’s new High-Speed railway, bypassing the old oaks isn’t workable. A route which bends and detours like a snaking woodland stream adds several unbearable minutes onto the journey.
Our need to get places faster has presented us with a dilemma: the more efficiently we use the Earth’s resources the cheaper they become and the more we rely on them. Consumption levels continue to rise, as does climate chaos, creating a rebound effect.
Hominids have been failing to arrive at win-win situations with our own and other species.
As the last survivor of our kind we remain inescapably bound to forests, just as the shore is bound to the ocean. Trees were once everything to us: our keepers providing food and fuel and the timber we used to build ships, housing and so much more. Now that we know our reliance on fossil fuels is leading to catastrophe, we are searching for a way to return to trees.
If the life of oaks can teach us anything, it’s how we overthink the problem of survival. Shall we privatise this or that service so the strong can prosper? Or should everyone pay into a system that distributes the benefits evenly, ensuring the weak can also thrive? At every turn we are torn between the choice to either cooperate or compete.
Oak trees do not share our burden of having to make choices. They perform their evolutionary tasks with indifference to their suffering neighbours. As they also pay no attention to the myriad benefits they bestow on the animals and other plants they host.
By way of our mindset, we are locked into a contest with nature for finite resources. But with oaks there are no contradictions: different species live side by side in an understated unity.
The oak simply thrives, and, all things being equal, exists in the complex society of which it forms a magnificent part.
Curious for more? Sources and references for this article can be found here.
|
https://medium.com/snipette/returning-to-trees-caf24e532125
|
['Belatrix Bean']
|
2020-02-28 13:04:07.158000+00:00
|
['Ecology', 'Evolution', 'Trees', 'Plant Science', 'Science']
|
WhatsApp 2021: WhatsApp launches ‘Hey’ features in India throughout the year
|
WhatsApp 2021: Launches ‘Hey’features in India: WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app. Everyone with a smartphone has this app in their mobile. India has the highest number of WhatsApp users. So WhatsApp brings new features for its customers. This year, WhatsApp has taken a step forward to fight Corona with new features. This has benefited the state and central governments from this platform.
See Alos | WhatsApp Meaning In Hindi: What Does WhatsApp Web Mean,
WhatsApp 2021 launches ‘Hey’ features
The second wave of Corona in India came in March-April. As a result, 15 state governments had launched the Covid-19 helpline on WhatsApp to reach out to the public.
Read Also | Android 12 launched 4th beta version, game mode with app search-
At the same time, in order to control the tax-like monster, facilities have been provided in India from vaccine booking to certificate download. In 2020, the central government launched the MyGov Corona Helpdesk feature on WhatsApp.
WhatsApp has launched a number of features in 2021, including default disappearing messages, message level, reporting specific messages and backup encryption.
WhatsApp Add many Features
In addition, the company has introduced a number of features like desktop video calling, wild card entry in group calls, media web editor and stickers.
Read Also | WhatsApp Image editing tool came into the WhatsApp web
WhatsApp partnership with Uber
Uber and WhatsApp have announced a partnership this year. Uber has signed an agreement with WhatsApp. So customers will now be able to book Uber Cabs through WhatsApp.
This feature is built on the WhatsApp Business Platform. Uber will be implemented in Lucknow on an experimental basis. It will then be expanded to other cities.
WhatsApp 2021 launches ‘Hey’ features
Check it | Contactless e-RUPI: Easy, Secure and Quick Transactions
This feature allows customers to book Uber cars, Uber Moto and Auto. With the option to book a car on WhatsApp, there is no need to download the Uber app.
Read Also | What is Advanced Threat Protection, ATP Security: Keeps Your Data Safe And Secure
WhatsApp started the payment feature considering the problems of the users. However, due to some restrictions, the number of users of these features was low. WhatsApp now has regulatory approval to double the number of users for payment services in India.
|
https://medium.com/@deeanatech/whatsapp-2021-whatsapp-launches-hey-features-in-india-throughout-the-year-79b90ce03024
|
[]
|
2021-12-21 04:53:47.022000+00:00
|
['Hey', 'Deeanatech', 'WhatsApp']
|
The Best Collected Travel Tales by Travel Psychologist Michael Brein
|
Mind-Reading Dolphins?
Three more sea-creatures stories
ANIMAL COMMUNICATION
DOLPHINS
MARINE LIFE
THE PARANORMAL
by Michael Brein, Ph.D.,
The Travel Psychologist
Story 1:
Mind-Reading Dolphins?
The Great Barrier Reef, Australia
The 1990s
Told to me by BB D. Can dolphins mind-read or be telepathic with humans? BB makes an excellent case that maybe they can and do. Or maybe it’s just a matter of intelligent animal perception? You be the judge.
I scuba dive a lot in Australia, on the Great Barrier Reef, and it can be pretty dangerous out there, because of the sharks. But, for me, personally, I’ve never been scared of sharks. I have actually hand fed them; I’ve worked with them at Sea World in Main Beach, on the Gold Coast of Australia.
I think dolphins and sharks are very telepathic and can maybe even mind-read with humans. They know exactly when you’re scared. They’re like dogs that way. They know when you give off the electric signals of being scared — that attracts them. But I think it’s also more than that. I think they can, in some sense, mind-read, too — or be telepathic with people.
I was stuck once in an underwater cave while free diving, and what happened was the water pushes you in there, and it’s so much pressure that you cannot get yourself out. I just didn’t panic, though. Iheld my breath.
I could see the light shining through on the surface, so I managed first to wriggle my arm out of the cave, and then I pulled myself out. And at that point, while still under water, and barely able to keep holding my breath, suddenly these dolphins just surrounded me and made like a swirling suction kind of motion through which I could funnel myself up to the surface.
Michael: They rescued you?
Yes, they rescued me; I know they did! I still get cold shivers when I think about it.
Michael: Did you have any mental communication with the dolphins?
Well, I wouldn’t necessarily say it was any direct sort of mind-to-mind form of communication, per se, but I strongly felt they knew I was in trouble. Whether it’s a form of mind-reading, telepathy, or just some enhanced chemical or electrical sense of some kind, I do not know.
I just know they are aware when people are in trouble.
And, one other time, I was in a boat which was taking on water off of Catalina Island in California. We’d been sailing for hours, and I thought a big wave had just come over us and got the boat wet, but then, I soon discovered I was up to my ankles in water. I didn’t yet realize the boat was actually beginning to take on water and was in trouble.
And, on making our way back to port, I noticed that the dolphins suddenly surrounded our boat. They know when people are in trouble — they know instinctively.
I didn’t know where they had come from or how they knew, but, obviously; they knew what was happening and had come from somewhere maybe to be helpful in some way, huh? Pretty wild, don’t you think?
If you ask me, I think they are more intelligent than anything else on earth; you know. Even though it may be some kind of highly developed electrical sensing of some kind, I can’t help but feel they were consciously aware in some way of my mental state — maybe even a form of telepathy or brain-to-brain awareness which we might label as paranormal.
The Travel Psychologist’s Take:
The Deadly Fer de Lance Snake
I think there is a degree of telepathy between some animals, but it’s not always a good kind of telepathy.
For example, I collected a story once, in my travel tales series, where this woman was on a canoe inGamboa National Park in Panama City, Panama approaching the riverbank, and suddenly, the hair on her arms stood up on end, and she got this mental message “Stop, turn around, go away, go back. Don’t come any closer!”
And then she looked at the bank where she was about to land the canoe and step off, and there facing her was this deadly poisonous fer-de-lance snake all curled up, nearly within striking distance of her, just looking right at her, staring into her eyes.
I think it communicated telepathically to her, “just don’t you come here!”
Her first thought was it must have been her ‘guardian angel’ warning her. I said it might have been her guardian angel, or maybe it was the snake itself, communicating with her telepathically?
I just brought that up half-seriously, for the sake of argument, just to entertain it as an alternate possibility, because it just seems to me snakes might just possibly be telepathic!
Who can say?
Read more of my deadly snake stories on Medium.com.
Story 2:
Sandy’s Whale Story:
Here’s Looking at You!
Baja California, Mexico
The Early 1990s
Told to me by Sandy P. I was I camped by the San Ignacio Lagoon in Baja California. It’s the place where the gray whales come in, and you can interact with them on the Mexican side.
And so, I went out into the bay in a small boat with a guide, and we waited patiently on the bay to see what would happen.
Suddenly, I saw this enormous shadow under the boat.
I knew it was a whale, so I casually thought, Okay, here’s a whale. But I had absolutely no idea what was in store for us!
The whale came up to the surface. It turned its head and looked right at me with that huge eye of his and then lifted his head high up out of the water.
Unbelievably, I was able to pet him — mind you — not just touch him once and have him disappear, but I actually stroked this whale. And then he silently and gracefully went down, disappeared, and this time came up on the other side of the boat. I pet him again!
The whale then went down under the boat again and came up again on the other side. This went on for 30 minutes.
Michael: What was going on?
I don’t know. This is one place in the world where the whales actually seek out human contact. I’m not the only one to have this experience, either.
And I had a baby whale come up out of the water, too. I almost kissed him.
And then another time there was a gap between a mother and a baby the whole time. I came to this area; I think three different times. The whole time, each time, I never felt unsafe, not even for a minute! They never, never even once hit the boat.
They were always very cognizant of where they were in relation to you, except the one time with a mother and her baby when the baby kept coming over to the boat. And the mother was trying to keep running interference.
This one time, the mother came over and knocked her head to the boat only slightly, causing us to rock-and-roll a bit.
And that was just it — just her message to us: we needed to stop interfering.
She wasn’t hostile, though, but she did knock the boat with her head a couple of times. She could have easily knocked us over, but she didn’t.
That was the simple message to steer clear of her baby.
Michael: Do you think she had the experience of being pestered by humans?
I don’t know. I don’t think so.
If they’ve done any studies on these whales here, it’s a place of peace and harmony where they birth their baby calves right outside the dunes where they can come into the lagoon, because they’re very protected there.
You know how you often hear it said you should never come in between a mother and a baby calf, right? Well, it’s definitely true. Yeah.
Michael: Now let me ask you this: when you had this huge whale I looking right at you, did you feel any kind of communication going on between the two of you?
It was as if it were looking at me to see if they could trust me enough to come up out of the water. I felt like I was being checked out. Because, otherwise, he would have just come up without the human contact we wanted to have with it. It would have just come up without any direct interaction.
But just the fact that he turned and looked at us was unbelievably bizarre in and of its own.
Michael: So what do you think whales were reading about you? What kind of person are you? A person who loves such encounters would be changed for life, I would think.
Yeah. That’s incredible.
Hummingbirds
I do have other stories which have to do with contact between humans and animals, you know, but I particularly like this next one.
We’ve had a lot of contact with hummingbirds, of all things. We had a hummingbird feeder.
Once we took care of a hummingbird inside the house for a 24-hour period. We took care of a hummingbird that crashed into the window one time and got stunned by it.
And when it recovered, my husband held it in his hands to let it go, whereupon it flew right up in front of his face and made eye contact with him as if to say, “Thank you!”
Margaret Howe Lovatt
Story 3:
“Dolphina,” the Dolphin Lady, Again!
One lady’s being upfront and personal with dolphins
Bimini, The Bahamas
2008
Told to me by Robin B. I went with a group of animal communicators to swim with wild dolphins. Being with a group of animal communicators is what made the trip even that more special because, as part of the process, we would “talk” to the animals before we went out, so they would be ready for us and be very willing.
And we just had, indeed, one such incredible experience with them, where they do come to you. You don’t go to them; they come to you.
And, if they stayed around your boat, we’d then send a couple more people into the water to see if they’d still stay around. It was a kind of stepwise approach.
And then, if they stay, it’s game on: everybody gets in the water.
And so, one day, we were all in the water. There were probably about 20 dolphins out there with us. These were bottlenose dolphins, and they were just all swimming around us. And it was absolutely amazing. They would just come within inches of your face, though never touching.
And the rule is you don’t touch them, either. You know, they’re still wild animals. You have to respect them, but they do want to interact with you. They totally come to you.
Michael: Do they feel good about humans?
Yes, they do. Especially humans who have open hearts because that’s what their messages seem to be focused on: they’re trying to help us open our hearts.
They’re such joyous, amazing creatures.
Anyhow, I was just in awe of them. Of course, you’re in probably 30 feet of water or so with snorkels. The seas were a bit rough. For our part, we weren’t all that far from land. I don’t know how to gauge the distance. You could see land off in the distance. But you know, we weren’t.
So I was out there ecstatic. They’re just coming all around us and wanting to interact,
I was having a hard time with my snorkel. And I think I must have twisted something. And the water was getting in, and I was having an increasingly hard time breathing. And I am fumbling, all the while, what with this dolphin being just upright like this (demonstrates to me), just as close as you and I are together. And it’s just watching me.
And it’s like my entire demeanor is like, Oh my god, I don’t even care that I can’t breathe because you’re so amazing you’re right here with me!
I’m thinking this.
Michael: Are you having eye contact with him?
Oh, for sure. That’s right. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah!
And he’s just right there all the while, being very still, just watching me while I’m struggling. And I can’t breathe.
Michael: Does he know you’re struggling?
Oh, yes; he does. But he can’t do anything. But the thing is, he just sits there and is calm all the while.
So finally, I get it together, and I’m able to take in some deep breaths and relax, you know, because, God, I’m sure the energy of just being here is the ultimate big experience that it is, huh?
And he’s just so patient. I am quite surprised. You’d think I would have kind of scared him out of the water, what with all my nervous human energy.
Yeah, but anyhow, so he just stayed with me until I totally was able to relax enough and just calm myself down. And then he just sort of looked at me and then swam off.
I’m thinking he was likely a male, as I found out later he was a male.
And then, you know, all these other ones were swimming all around. And then I noticed a friend of mine was diving down, and his fin came off in the water. So I then dove down to try to retrieve it for him and give it to him, because there was some current.
So then I started kicking really hard. And, in the process, my own fin fell off. So, of course, I give up on him because I’ve got to retrieve my own fin. So I went to swim by it, and wouldn’t you know it: there’s a dolphin just right next to the fin, about six inches away from it, just hanging with it as the current was kind of taking it farther away from the boat.
And so, I swim up to it, not wanting to swim too fast because I don’t want to spook him. But I need my fin back because it’s a little scary being out there. And without fins, given there’s a strong current out there, you can so easily get too far away from the catamaran.
And so, you have to always be conscious of staying close.
And so anyhow, I slowly creep up to the fin, slowly floating toward it. So, the fin now rests between me and the dolphin.
And it just looked at me, and I just looked at it. And then I slowly pick up the fan and put it on, and then it just kind of hangs in there for a minute. And then it’s like, “Okay, you’re okay.”
And then off he goes!
Michael: So, he connected with you. He knew you were trying to get the fin to put it on; you think?
Yeah, I think he was just kind of watching it for me, just kind of making sure I was okay. I mean, it was just a very tender feeling, you know. It’s the sort of feeling you got when you were in the water.
I am just absolutely blown away by the whole thing.
And this is happening all the while, among all this burst of activity of the people and the dolphins. All this is going on betwixt and between all that’s going on with all the people and the dolphins swimming around together.
And when I finally get out of the water because I was just so exhausted — I’d been out there for over an hour — one of the women on the boat shouts, “Oh my God, Robin, we’re all starting to call you, “Dolfina!”
And I say, “Well, why is that?”
And she says, “Because they were all around you.”
And I say, “Well, they were around everybody!”
“No, no; not like they were around you!”
I guess because, after all, they could see easier all what’s going on from their vantage point being up above.
And they go, “Oh, no; they just were around you the whole time.”
I went, “Wow, that’s interesting!”
“Yeah, I think he was just kind of watching it for me… ”
So not only was “talking” (animal communicating) with the dolphins prior to swimming with them an integral part of the process but “talking” with them, so-to-speak, afterward, was also to be part of that very same dolphin experience.
Later that night, when we returned to where we were staying, as part of our dolphin experience, we all were asked to have another “conversation” with a particular dolphin we met during the day.
So, of course, I wanted to “talk” to the two dolphins that interacted up close and personal with me during the day.
And so I call to them in my mind. And I don’t know… Michael, do you know about animal communication? Have you ever done anything with that or heard of it?
Michael: No, not much.
It’s basically telepathy.
Michael: Okay.
So you just get yourself into a quiet space. And then, you know, you start communicating.
They say some people hear; some people feel; some people get images; sometimes you get combinations of all the above. And I kind of get a bit of both — a little of a lot of those things.
I usually “hear” them, you know. I hear them along with some imagery.
And I immediately hear this little voice saying to me, “Well, that was ME both times!”
And so I say, “Oh, cool. Well, thank you very, very much.”
And I find out it was a little male under two-years-old. And what I found out afterward is that from the number of spots they have, you can kind of gauge how old they are because as they get older, they get more spots.
So the number of spots on his body was consistent with that age he told me he was, yeah, around two years old.
And so I thank him for hanging out with me when I was in distress.
And in my “conversation” with him, he said, “I wanted you to know what true compassion feels like.”
And I then got this huge overwhelming feeling of compassion come over me, such that I just sat there and cried. I mean, tears were rolling down my face.
It was as if he was then sending me this same very compassion yet again.
Furthermore, he said, “You know; you give compassion to others. And I just wanted you to know what it feels like to be on that other end, the receiving end.”
And it was all very, very sweet, and very humbling.
And then he said, “It’s very easy to give compassion to those who are loving and open and easy. But that same compassion certainly needs to go to those who aren’t so easy to love. They need that same unconditional compassion.”
Michael: And this is not something you would have ordinarily come up with yourself?
No, no, not at all! I mean, it was just this beautiful little lesson of compassion. It was just so beautiful.
So we just “talked” for a while longer. I got a some more detail about his family, and, you know, just a bit more about who he is. But, in the end, the gift that he wanted to give me was already given, and it was an amazing gift at that.
The next morning, I walked over to one of the cabins, to a woman I had befriended on this trip but never knew her all that well before this trip.
She was a sweet, sweet woman who was having a hard time on this trip. I found out later. This was her first time she’d been out without her lover who’d recently had to put her into a nursing home because of developing Alzheimer’s. So she was having a hard time with that.
And she had also been suffering from very bad rheumatoid arthritis. And she didn’t have her normal person to help her, like, to get into her wetsuit stuff, put on sunscreen in places she couldn’t reach, and so on.
I just more or less adopted her during the week because I saw she needed the help. And so that’s how our relationship started.
So, naturally, I told her the story about this little dolphin I talked to during the day because she, herself, did not go to our evening exercise thing; she went to bed early.
And here’s what’s so amazing: she says, “Robin, when you were out there swimming, I called the dolphins to you. I told them that if anybody deserves love that it’s YOU.”
Of course, it was her way of thanking me for all throughout the week of my helping her — to say to me that that’s what she was doing. So, according to her, that’s why the little dolphins came to me — they kind of came around full circle to me. It was just a really beautiful sweet moment on love.
From the Internet
There was a lady who was said to have lived and developed an unusual relationship with a dolphin named “Peter.”
Margaret Howe Lovatt took part in the 1960a in a NASA-funded research effort. It was said that in part she developed even an unusual relationship that was said to even have had a sexual component, by the way.
The director of the project was Gregory Bateson, and she met John C. Lilly, as well, a famous neuroscientist at the time with the California Institute of Technology.
The purpose of this “Dolphinarium” project was to teach dolphins human language.
So, over two years, Dr. Lilly and Margaret Howe tried to prove that human language could be mimicked by dolphins. The project had mixed success, but Margaret was so-named, or at least thought of as, perhaps, the first “Dolphina”— the Girl who Talked to Dolphins, a documentary by Christopher Riley.
|
https://medium.com/the-best-collected-travel-tales-by-travel/three-more-sea-creatures-stories-87588e6e8434
|
['Michael Brein']
|
2021-01-06 18:07:31.490000+00:00
|
['Travel Writing', 'Wildlife', 'Dolphins', 'Travel', 'Psychology']
|
Am I More than Just a Piece of Meat?
|
To the boys at my first-part time job who held a bet to see who could score my virginity first.
To the men on the street who leer at me with ogling eyes when all I'm doing is sitting on a park bench reading a book.
To my first love who decided he was entitled to my virginity, whether I gave it willingly or not.
Am I a human being to you?
Or am in nothing more than a piece of meat?
|
https://medium.com/fearless-she-wrote/am-i-more-than-just-a-piece-of-meat-6df347d484ad
|
['Gillian Sisley']
|
2019-07-18 14:24:00.232000+00:00
|
['Self', 'Body Image', 'Feminism', 'Equality', 'Women']
|
3 Ways I’m Cutting Back on Social Media
|
So what am I going to do about it?
Once you’ve figured out how much time you’re spending on social media and why you’d like to spend less time using it, it’s time to develop a game plan for pulling back. These are the top three steps I’m taking to cut back on my social media use:
Turn off notifications
I took the major recommendation of the interviewees of The Social Dilemma, and the very first thing I did was to turn off notifications for all social media alerts. I’d have an Instagram alert for every single like, comment, share, and DM at one point in time. I still crave those likes. But without all of the notifications popping up on my screen, I’m opening up the app less and less for a hit of that validation.
When I post now, I still find myself curious about how my post is performing for the first few hours after it goes up, but less so after that. The same goes for Facebook and LinkedIn. I’ve tried deleting apps from my phone and vowing only to access those platforms on my computer, but that hasn’t ever lasted long. Turning off notifications is less extreme than deleting apps outright but more effective in diverting my attention from using them.
2. Program App Limits and Downtime
On iPhones, you’re given the option to set time limits for app usage as well as schedule “downtime” for turning off nonessential apps. Both are customizable, and both have helped curb how much time I’m spending scrolling.
Sure, part of me feels like I’m implementing my own parental controls on myself — and in a way, I am. But I’m trying to look at it less like a restriction and more like an opportunity to focus on other things.
At the moment, I’ve set a time limit for 2 hours of social media usage per day (covering Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter). In the future, I’d love to cut that down even further. I’ve also set a downtime from 12 to 3 pm. During that time, I can only receive messages and calls from my family and use essential apps like Weather, a meditation app, reading apps, Google maps, and my banking app. This turns my iPhone into little more than an actual phone — and cuts down on interferences while I’m working or resting. In the future, I’d love to increase that time frame.
If you want to waive the time limits at any point in time, you’re welcome to do so. But having an awareness of how much time you’ve spent scrolling goes a long way in regulating your own usage.
3. Give yourself something else to do
When I stopped to think about why I was mindlessly scrolling, it turns out that I was just bored or procrastinating. I’m still not sure if I was scrolling because I was bored or bored because I was scrolling, but either way — it eventually comes time to break the cycle and face your procrastination head-on.
App developers have intentionally made social media platforms as stimulating as possible, serving up the desire for validation and drive for interactions that can sometimes dwarf real-life interactions. Ironically, the most interesting content comes from the people actually doing and creating real-life things (even if the ultimate goal is to create more content).
So I made a list. Nothing fancy, just a quick list of all of the things that I’ve wanted to do recently. It’s mostly made up of things I want to cook, read, write (like this article!), and paint. One day it will include places I want to travel to and visit when the world is safe to do so again. Once I hit that time limit for social media consumption for the day, I can choose to keep scrolling or choose to put my phone down and create something of my own.
The one thing I’m trying to balance is: in an especially sinister way, many of the things I create can ultimately be shared on social media, perhaps fueling this cycle. The long game really is about finding a balance between what I consume and what I create.
Obviously, social media and phone addiction is a real thing. These simple steps scratch the surface of an average social media infatuation and in no way should be considered medical advice. I encourage anyone finding it difficult to detach from their screens for a prolonged period of time (or those who see loved ones struggling) to seek out a behavioral therapist for help.
|
https://medium.com/swlh/3-ways-im-cutting-back-on-social-media-8cbeb3590912
|
['Jenny Kellerhals']
|
2020-12-08 06:36:43.406000+00:00
|
['Social Media Detox', 'Facebook', 'Screen Time', 'Instagram', 'Social Media']
|
How To Lose More Than 20 Kg In 3 Months?
|
the man from wales told how he lost more than 20kg in just three months.
in today’s modern world many people are struggling to gain weight and lose it.
that is why a few people lose weight unimaginably.
not many people will tell you the secret of how it all works.
be that as it may, a person from carmarthenshire, wales has revealed to a popular english media the secret of how he lost more than 20 kg in just three months.
In it, PE teacher Phil Bowen says his body weight has continued to increase over the years, despite being actively working.
Thus he has decided to lose this body weight somehow earlier this year.
He lost 107 kg before losing weight and reduced it to 88 kg in the next three months. She has heard about the diet diet available at the local pharmacy for weight loss and has tried it.
Not only this, he also took his wife with him. That diet plan is called the DA Group diet. This is an easy-to-follow diet plan for everyone.
It contains recipes we cook, a list of what foods to eat and products for weight loss.
Developed in 2012 by DA Group based on the Swansea area. Because it is readily available at the local pharmacy, many people have used it and reported a good result.
Phil Bowen, When I saw what people on this DA Group diet were cooking it really helped me.
Also, when you follow this, someone from that group will always be with you. I really did not expect to lose so much weight, I was surprised.
I could not believe I had done this in such a short time. My diet has changed now. Although I have eaten a lot before and will continue to eat.
Psychologically I needed more food but not physically.
Mainly I cut down on sugar, cut down on coffee intake and took tea instead. I learned to change everything I enjoyed, such as alcohol and soda water.
Furthermore, he says that when doing this diet, the capsules in it help to reduce appetite and absorb fat and sugar, which provide the right vitamins and minerals.
Currently I am getting a lot of benefits, by reducing my body weight. My self-esteem has skyrocketed. I run everything now and it feels good
It is a great motivator psychologically. I used to wear a 38 size shirt but now I wear a 34 size shirt.
I would definitely recommend this 100 percent to others.
A few people have lost weight so quickly that they ask if there are any side effects. But for me he has just finished telling them that my life has changed in turn.
|
https://medium.com/@bestthink.official/how-to-lose-more-than-20-kg-in-3-months-c11536f2defb
|
[]
|
2021-11-25 15:46:31.887000+00:00
|
['Weight Loss Tips', 'Weight Loss', 'Lose Weight Fast', 'Fat Burning Foods']
|
The One Gift We All Need, Most Won’t Unwrap
|
The One Gift We All Need, Most Won’t Unwrap
What’s waiting under your tree this year? Photo by Matthias Cooper on Unsplash
Walk into the living room, and the Christmas tree is lit with ornaments and tinsel hanging from the branches.
Underneath the tree lie presents in their colorful wrappers, perhaps some with bows on them.
In most homes, the week of Christmas is a scene of anticipation building with the kids endlessly talking about what may be hidden underneath the wrapping paper.
In some homes, the scene might be quite different. No tree, no wrapped presents, just broken hopes and dreams, perhaps mixed with anger and depression.
The day of Christmas follows the shortest day and longest night of the year for a reason.
For some, they remember the light of the day, no matter how short. For others, it is the long darkness that overcomes all their senses.
No matter the scene in your home this year, there is a present waiting for us all to unwrap.
Sadly, this present may lay in the corner of the room, unwrapped and awaiting our eager anticipation of what lies beneath the wrapping paper.
Unwrapping Our Feelings
Unwrapping our feelings to find truth. Photo by Freestocks on Unsplash
Christmas may be one of the most felt seasons of all the year.
Unwrapping our feelings is never a joyous occasion as it can be painful.
Some feel peace. Others feel anxious. Some feel joy. Others feel anger. The list of feelings is endless.
Some will feel an overwhelming desire to give to others less fortunate. Still, others will feel an overwhelming hatred and anger for those who have.
The fantastic principle of feelings is that none of them are false or worthless.
All feelings are valid and should be felt.
Your feelings should not, however, overwhelm you. Your feelings are simply that, a feeling.
Apply Truth to Feelings
Truth is the light that floods the caves of our hearts. Photo by Bruno van der Kraan on Unsplash
Every feeling requires one more step to process them properly. Most either skip this step or ignore it altogether.
This step is to simply apply truth to the feeling.
Are you alone and afraid this season? Physically, the feeling of aloneness and fear are real. But are they true?
Chances are that there is somebody out there just waiting to spend time with you. They’re ready to listen and help you overcome the loneliness and fear.
Do you have an abundance of joy this season? It’s been a good year and the light of the day shines brightly upon you.
Perhaps the truth is that you have had an incredible year, so you can share that joy with others in ways you never thought possible.
There is always truth to apply to your feelings. Decide to begin seeking the truth to apply to your feelings.
Back to That Unwrapped Gift
There is a gift waiting to be unwrapped. Photo by Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash
Let’s go back to your living room. There’s a present waiting for you to reach down and pick it up this year.
It may be wrapped in bright paper, or it may just sit in a cardboard box with no wrapping paper on it.
Pick up that present, shake it a little, try to guess what’s in it.
Then slowly unwrap this present this year. What awaits you inside is more valuable than anything you have ever received.
The present that most will not unwrap this year is a gift that the world desperately needs in abundance today. Sadly, we have gotten out of the practice of giving this gift.
That gift is the gift of love. Not the love of Hallmark movies. No, this gift of love is so much greater than that.
This gift of love is the gift that allows you to see the incredible person you really are. This gift of love won’t cost you a thing, but when you unwrap it yourself and then proceed to give it to others, it is worth more than all the gold on earth.
This gift of love allows you to see the value of those that surround you.
This gift of love gives you the ability to reach out to those who may not know a gift awaits them. Reach out and provide them with this gift.
Don’t allow this to remain unwrapped, waiting under the tree.
Unwrap the gift of love and begin to give as you’ve never given before.
|
https://medium.com/live-your-life-on-purpose/the-one-gift-we-all-need-most-wont-unwrap-56d1b515f5dc
|
['Michael Horner']
|
2020-12-22 15:03:55.797000+00:00
|
['Gifts', 'Truth', 'Encouragement', 'Love', 'Christmas']
|
Classifying Logos in Images with Convolutionary Neural Networks
|
While we will use the Rectified linear unit (ReLU) activation for hidden layers, the Softmax activation is used for the output layer to obtain a probability in the interval [0,1] for each output node. When “training the neural network”, the computer itself repeatedly optimizes the weights of the connecting edges so that the neural network’s output becomes as close as possible to the true logo classes.
When analyzing images, the amount of parameters in a classical neural net becomes very large: If an image measures 224 x 224 pixels and we record for each pixel its 3 RGB values as input, then we have 224 x 224 x 3 = 150,528 input nodes so that the neural net needs to optimize a large amount of weight parameters for all fully connecting edges. Further, the input nodes are arranged as a vector so the neural net does not know any regional patters of the image. These problems motivate Convolutional Neural Nets like this one:
In our example, the input nodes of the CNN are arranged in a 4x4 matrix shape. Then we define three 2x2 filters for the four input regions, where each region is only connected with the three correspondingly colored nodes in the hidden layer. Note that the 3 filters define 3 feature maps, which each detects a feature like a vertical, horizontal or diagonal line in the four regions. Or, in our use case, such a feature may be detecting a Starbucks, Burger King or Telekom logo.
As the weights parameters for the connections from the input layer to the convolutional layer are the same for each of the three filter, here we have only 2 x 2 x 3 = 12 weight parameters to be optimized in the training process thanks to fewer connecting edges and the CNN “understands” the regional contributions of the input data. Of course, in addition the training process optimizes the 12 x 9 = 108 weight parameters for the final fully connected output layer.
With respect to our concrete example of classifying small logos in images, a further advantage of CNNs is that they are translation invariant, i.e., they recognize logos in any region of the image.
|
https://medium.com/twodigits/classifying-logos-in-images-with-convolutionary-neural-networks-cnns-in-keras-21f02fcea5c2
|
['Ann-Kristin Juschka']
|
2019-08-18 08:49:25.835000+00:00
|
['Machine Learning', 'Deep Learning', 'Convolutional Network', 'Udacity', 'Keras']
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.