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Solume’s Weekly Crypto Digest #3 | Solume’s Weekly Crypto Digest #3
Jan.22–26, 2018
Hi and thanks for following Solume.io! While market is recovering from last week’s bloodbath, check out this new edition of our Crypto Digest!
Ethereum is The New Bitcoin
“The Weiss rating is what happens when traditional bankers think they understand crypto.” —Ran Neuner twitted. And you can be sure, he wasn’t alone in this wave of outrage over the recently published first-ever rating of 74 cryptocurrencies from Weiss Ratings.
So what’s the madness behind it?
None of cryptocurrencies received A “excellent” rating.
Bitcoin gets C+ “fair” rating, as well as DASH and ARK.
The only coins rated B “good” are Ethereum and EOS.
Cardano with yet-to-be-released product gets B-, as well as STEEM which enjoys growing adoption of its Steemit platform.
Ripple received “fair” C rank along with Dogecoin that initially was launched as a Joke Coin.
Electroneum with plagiazed whitepaper gets C-, while Monero is rated C.
Weiss based their ranking on four factors: risk, reward, technology, and fundamental aspects of adoption and security. But if Weiss are so smart, they have known they had it coming from the crypto community:
But jokes aside, Charles Hoskinson from IOHK tweeted:
Some of the ranks were surprising, and social volume for featured coins went up 200%. Take EOS for an example here:
The strongest reaction without a doubt came from James Clayton who decided to take matters in his own hands and release his very own version of crypto rating awarding nine coins, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Monero, with the highest A rating. Very generous of you James!
What are your thoughts? Are you a Weiss’ or a James’? Please comment below.
Bitcoin.org Update — The Latest BTC — BCH Drama
Since Bitcoin first hard forked in 2017, we’ve seen millions of “what-real-bitcoin-is” discussions between Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Cash holders. Seems that pointing out slow transactions, poor adoption, high fees, lack of decentralization, etc never gets old in crypto.
Source: reddit.com
This week the world has seen another page of the BTC vs BCH saga. On Monday, users spotted minor update on Bitcoin.org, that eliminated “fast transactions” and “low fees” part of BTC’s features.
Source: reddit.com
Fair enough, Bitcoin’s transactions fees have been extremely high, and strong emphasis webside had made on “fast and cheap” operation doesn’t seem to meet the reality anymore.
Minor website update sparked major reaction in social media.
And here we go again:
Despite the fact that now description on the website is less misleading, social media voices still have something to complain about:
BTC supporters however pin their hopes on upcoming Lighting Network proposed as a solution to the Bitcoin scalability problems and said to be capable of millions to billions of transactions per second across the network at a low transaction fee.
Throughout this entire mess, our algorithms successfully spotted a 64% growth in BTC’s social volume:
The Dogecoin’s Story
If you’re around crypto for a while, you’ve probably also wondered what is up with that coin with a dog logo.
Started off as a meme-based joke coin, Doge unsurprisingly got lots of love from the crypto community (and a lot of humor, too). It’s supposed to be a fun and easy to use internet currency. And that’s it. There is a strong philosophy behind the coin: “1 Doge = 1 Doge, so why worry about USD/BTC exchange rates?”. And there is a strong community responsible for bringing much value to the coin. Such wow.
Despite the joke, Doge broke 2-billion market cap on early January. Later on, it lost more than half of its value during the last week horror show and is now touching 800M.
Feel like you need some Doges in your crypto pocket? That’s how you get them:
Buy them on one of the exchanges
Mine them
Get tipped in Goges.
According to our data, Dogecoin’s social volume reached amazing 2235 points on January, 8, which brought it to our hot TOP 5 for a few days (just check out the chart below).
Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and have a great weekend!
Yours,
Polina
Community Manager at Solume.io | https://medium.com/solume-io/solumes-weekly-crypto-digest-3-1557603bc836 | ['Polina Krasniansky'] | 2018-01-26 10:16:24.406000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Weiss Rating', 'Ethereum', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Dogecoin'] |
Haftanın Grafiği 1— Ark Diyagramı | in Both Sides of the Table | https://medium.com/veri-b%C3%BClteni/haftan%C4%B1n-grafi%C4%9Fi-ark-diyagram%C4%B1-a83f42ecd8b5 | ['Veri Okuryazarlığı Derneği'] | 2019-07-13 09:23:59.719000+00:00 | ['Grafik', 'Dataviz', 'Veri Görselleştirme', 'Veriokuryazarlığı'] |
什麼是 ICO ？— 來聽聽工程師怎麼說 | Useful Link
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About me
I am a full-stack javascript developer and one of the contributors for NEO blockchain project.
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歡迎加入我們的中文官方 Telegram、官方社區 | https://medium.com/cobinhood-%E4%B8%AD%E6%96%87%E5%A0%B1/%E4%BB%80%E9%BA%BC%E6%98%AF-ico-%E4%BE%86%E8%81%BD%E8%81%BD%E5%B7%A5%E7%A8%8B%E5%B8%AB%E6%80%8E%E9%BA%BC%E8%AA%AA-4db9fc25a63c | [] | 2019-03-08 12:36:19.539000+00:00 | ['Smart Contacts', 'Ethereum', 'Neo', 'Blockchain Technology', 'Blockchain'] |
Carpooling — What does the law say? | by Jagriti Arora
This is Part 2 of a three part story on Carpooling — intuitively is a silver bullet solution to India’s mobility woes, yet without an at-scale organised market. Part 1 set the here-and-now importance of Carpooling, Part 2 looks at the current legislative barriers and Part 3 tries to draw experience from other countries.
With Indian cities struggling with pollution and congestion, they might benefit from people sharing a ride. The previous article in the series established that not only does carpooling ease congestion and emissions, it also enables the utilisation of existing cars and reduction of monthly expenses for commuters. One might wonder, “if carpooling is so beneficial, why isn’t it incentivized?”. The short answer — legally, carpooling lies in a grey area.
The relevant regulation for Carpooling in India is the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (MVA). According the MVA only Contract Carriages and Public Service Vehicles under the relevant licence can carry passengers for ‘hire and reward’. By definition, Contract Carriages and Public Service Vehicles excludes ‘a private car which is only used occasionally for the giving of lifts against some payment’. However private car providing occasional lifts against a payment which only sets off the cost of a trip is not really vehicle in which passengers are carried for ‘hire or reward’. This vagueness in definition of what constitutes “hire or reward” makes carpooling grey.
Clearly, for cities to fully benefit from carpooling, it needs to be adopted at larger scale for which an enabling regulatory environment is required. But policymakers are wary of carpooling operations turning into a full-time taxi service. A glimpse of possible governance risks associated with ride-sharing may reveal the way-forward for governments to preemptively address the various associated challenges. Firstly, privacy is a concern for users because the operation of ad-hoc businesses involves the collection of sensitive data such as telephone number, geolocation data, credit, and debit card details. Secondly, safety accounts for a primary concern among the riders since the ridesharing drivers are not professionally trained or vetted like taxi drivers. Moreover, private vehicle owners’ motivation to earn may overpower their prudence for vehicle fitness. This creates a difficult situation for private owners in case of accidents because accidents become a sole liability of the private vehicle owner. Thirdly, some passengers may delay the entire trip due to their unpunctual nature.
However, there does seem to be some movement on part of the Government to institute measures for organised Carpooling. Moving Together Forward, a report by Niti Aayog, launched at the MOVE summit, revealed a political will to implement carpooling in India. The report defined ride-sharing as “ An arrangement in which trips are shared by travelers, but with the exception that drivers are not considered “for-hire,” though they can receive some forms of compensation to recover their cost”.
What can be some measures that India can adopt? Read Part 3 of this series. | https://medium.com/@mobilityinstitute/part-2-carpooling-what-does-the-law-say-e54af9e97dd1 | ['Ola Mobility Institute'] | 2019-12-04 06:44:30.394000+00:00 | ['Mobility', 'Urban Mobility', 'Transport', 'Carpooling', 'Shared Mobility'] |
Picks And Shovels In The Crypto Economy | Picks and Shovel
ICO Announced
As the crypto economy grows, there is a building of intensity and excitement exemplified in reports of “the bubble bursting,” that’s reminiscent of the Gold Rush. It is often said that the people who thrived during the Gold Rush were the people who sold picks and shovels, not the miners, and the same could also be said for today’s crypto rush. Lendingblock is one such “picks and shovel” business for the crypto economy, but is it set for the same success?
Lendingblock is an open exchange for borrowers and lenders of crypto currencies. The platform enables owners of digital assets to earn passive, low risk interest income, and borrowers to support trading, hedging and working capital needs. It brings to the crypto world something that institutional traders and investors take for granted, and which generates billions of dollars in traditional markets. In a world-first move, Lendingblock is set to bring cross-chain securities lending to the crypto economy.
The Platform
Built on a combination of blockchain and cloud technologies, Lendingblock matches borrowers and lenders in a way that is simple, safe and transparent.
Borrowers, including hedge funds, investment managers, market makers, and proprietary traders, pay for access to crypto assets for an agreed interest rate and collateral. Lenders, including institutional lenders, such as asset managers, hedge funds, and family offices; and individual participants, simply and safely earn additional income on long term investments without sacrificing ownership. Borrowers and lenders are transparently and fairly matched on a “best rate, first date” basis. Users of the platform can be confident in its security, as the actively managed collateral and advanced cryptographic security protects both borrowers and lenders.
With full cross-chain interoperability, the platform enables cross-blockchain value transfer for the crypto lending market. In short, it’s the infrastructure to secure the future of the crypto economy.
Why Is It Exciting?
Securities lending is a multi-billion dollar market for stocks and bonds, yet until now there has not been the equivalent for traditional trading practices to occur in the crypto space. Until Lendingblock, professional investors have lacked the financial tools to be able to play in the crypto economy. Allowing lending and borrowing of cryptocurrencies opens up the securities lending market to both crypto investors and enthusiasts, and has the potential to generate up to $300 million revenue within 3 years.
Why Is It Different?
Lendingblock isn’t the only crypto lending platform, but it is unique. We’re the first in the to offer cross-blockchain lending, and the first to comply with the highest regulatory standards.
Who Is Behind Lendingblock?
The core Lendingblock team are capital market traders and techies, united by deep hands-on experience and the passion to create something new and better in the crypto economy.
Steve Swain, Co-founder and CEO, has worked in capital markets technology in London, New York and Australia, and as a FS Technology partner for Deloitte, was instrumental in seeing the need for Lendingblock. Co-Founder Linda Wang — ex-Deloitte, Entrepreneur First alumnus, and founder of peer-to-peer lending business Lendr — was the blockchain brains behind the platform. Read Linda and Steve’s stories in our Inside Lendingblock blog.
How Can I Get Involved?
If like us, you believe in the positive future of digital assets, then we want you to get in involved and join our ICO. We are passionate about creating the infrastructure essential to the crypto economy, and relish the opportunity to partner with investors who are too. Our ICO pre-sale goes live on 7th April, the main sale is on 15th April. To find out more, take a look at our token paper or join our conversation on Telegram. | https://medium.com/lendingblock/picks-and-shovels-in-the-crypto-economy-9c294725eeb7 | ['Linda Wang'] | 2018-03-23 14:53:42.475000+00:00 | ['Fintech', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency Investment', 'P2p Lending', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
How To Run an Angular App As a Container On Azure VM | How To Run an Angular App As a Container On Azure VM
There is a number of ways you can run your applications nowadays. It’s very common to containerize your application and run it on Docker runtime. You have several options in Microsoft Azure such as App Service, AKS, etc. But, you have limited control over the underlying architecture when you use these options. If you want complete control over the underlying architecture you can install Docker on Azure VM and run your application on it.
In this post, we will see how we can install Docker on Azure VM and run an Angular application as a container on it.
Prerequisites
Example Project
Set up a VM and Install Docker
Run the Container
Access From the Browser
Summary
Conclusion
Prerequisites
There are some prerequisites for this article. You need to have nodejs installed on your laptop and how http works. If you want to practice and run this on your laptop you need to have these on your laptop.
Azure Prerequisites
You should have a Microsoft Azure Account. You can get a free account for one year. You should see the below screen after you login.
Azure Home Screen
You need to create a subscription for your account. The most common is Pay As You Go subscription.
Subscription Offers
Pay-As-You-Go Subscription
You need a subscription to be associated with your tenant so that all the cost is billed to this subscription.
Install Azure CLI and Configure
Once you have the Azure Account you can install Azure CLI. You can go to the below documentation and install Azure CLI based on your operation system. You can configure Azure CLI with your subscription.
az login
Let’s list the subscription with the following command | https://medium.com/bb-tutorials-and-thoughts/how-to-run-an-angular-app-as-a-container-on-azure-vm-ae4e9d0469fb | ['Bhargav Bachina'] | 2020-12-24 06:02:38.800000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Cloud Computing', 'Software Development', 'Programming', 'Azure'] |
Work with private repositories and other updates of the FlyElephant platform | Work with private repositories and other updates of the FlyElephant platform
The FlyElephant team has prepared a number of upgrades that allow you to work with private repositories with an improved system security and good task functionality.
FlyElephant is a platform for scientists, providing a computing infrastructure for calculations, helping to find partners for the collaboration on projects, and managing all data from one place. FlyElephant automates routine tasks and helps to focus on core research issues.
The Azure cloud is used as a computational resource. Users can run computing tasks written in C++ (with support for OpenMP), R, Python, Octave, Scilab, Java, Julia, OpenFOAM, GROMACS, Blender on servers from 1 to 32 cores and up to 448 GB.
Here is a list of our updates:
· Working with private repositories.
The possibility of working with a private repository using a RSA key, which you can get at your account settings.
· The process of running computational tasks was improved.
Now the starting command can be specified directly in the form of a task creation. The necessary files — run.sh and build.sh — were removed from repository.
· The functionality for saving, stopping, deleting and duplicating tasks was added.
· Improved log system.
On the task details page you can check in real time all logs of the computing task.
· Public API.
The public API was realized, which allows to interact with the platform (to manage tasks and data), also to integrate FlyElephant with your solutions or to build a new one on the platform.
· New payment system.
Users have two accounts now: Computing Hours (CH) and General ($). CH is a bonus account that gives users free calculation time. General — the main account, can be replenished using a credit card.
· Referral Program.
Invite your friends using a personal link, which you find in the account settings and you’ll receive a bonus (200 CH).
· Implemented SSL.
· New Documentation.
Updated documentation is placed here: https://flyelephant.net/documentation/.
We invite you to try the new features of the system. If you haven’t registered yet, go here. After registration, 500 CH will be in your account. Use the promo code 145124070132 and enter it in the Dashboard and you can recharge for another 300 CH.
We will be happy to hear your feedback and suggestions on how to improve the platform. We also can hold a 30-minute demo presentation for you with great pleasure. You can book time for a demo presentation right here. | https://medium.com/flyelephant/work-with-private-repositories-and-other-updates-of-the-flyelephant-platform-ab3addf580d2 | ['Dmitry Spodarets'] | 2016-03-16 18:00:25.980000+00:00 | ['Science', 'Data Science', 'Big Data'] |
Police Attack Queer Liberation March for Black Lives | On Sunday afternoon, according to Reclaim Pride New York and multiple independent news sources, police attacked peaceful LGBTQ marchers in and around Manhattan’s Washington Square Park, using pepper spray, batons, punches, and violent shoving. Ironically, marchers protesting police brutality were met with that same brutality. Multiple independent observers documented hardcore police violence directed against people who were guilty of nothing but attending a march.
One observer even called the police violence “Stonewall 2.” Activists and advocates are calling for defunding the New York City Police Department, claiming they are incapable of reform and essentially unchanged since they sparked the original Stonewall riots of 1969.
Background on the march
Reclaim Pride, which held its first Queer Liberation March last summer, formed in opposition to corporately funded Pride parades, which in most major American cities have morphed into expensive parties for the privileged elite.
Last year’s Reclaim Pride march, which retraced the route of the original illegal march the summer after the Stonewall riots, emphasized Pride as protest, calling attention to the marginalization and oppression of diverse queer communities in the US and abroad.
Reclaim Pride Queer Liberation March — June 30, 2019
Queer Liberation March for Black Lives and Against Police Brutality
This year’s march focused on queer Black lives, seeking to keep a spotlight on continuing Black Lives Matter protests that have rocked much of the world after a string of police killings of unarmed Black people.
Reclaim Pride had originally cancelled this year’s event in the wake of COVID-19 concerns, but organizers called it back on in a June 4 announcement:
RPC’s Queer Liberation March for Black Lives and Against Police Brutality will be focused on elevating and protecting Black Lives. This moment, the principles of the 1970 march, and the RPC founding mission demand it. Black Americans and their children have suffered disproportionate abuse at the hands of America’s white supremacist power structure. The most marginalized among Black Communities, like Trans people, Immigrants, Disabled people, Deaf and Hard of Hearing people, and Neurologically Diverse people live under an even greater risk for the worst outcomes within this system. Inordinate risk calls for urgent consideration.
Organizers did not seek a police permit for either last year’s march or this year’s, in keeping with their recognition of Pride as protest. The original post-Stonewall LGBT liberation marches didn’t have have permits either.
But, as with last year’s march, this year’s seemed to start off with no police interference. Organizers were surprised by a huge turnout, estimated to approach 50,000 people, but the event proceeded smoothly and without violence.
Even so, organizers noted an exceptionally heavy police presence. Also, according to The Gothamist, in a change from last year, NYPD helicopters circled above during the entire march.
Marchers started off from Foley Square and headed north on Sixth Avenue, then around the Stonewall Inn and back east to Washington Square park.
The violence started as the march wrapped up in Washington Square
“The NYPD is going ballistic,” reported one witness on a Facebook livestream. “The situation was at a point where this was almost Stonewall 2.”
Reclaim Pride reports that as marchers entered the park, an NYPD officer tried to arrest someone, and a crowd gathered to object, chanting, ‘Let him go.’ Some news sources report the marcher had spray painted graffiti on a building, but police have not verified this claim.
Witnesses agree that a large crowd of NYPD officers then rushed in and attacked the crowd with pepper spray. Reclaim Pride says one NYPD officer slammed a woman on a bicycle to the ground as other marchers were punched, violently shoved, and hit with batons.
Officers reportedly assaulted marchers with bicycles, motorcycles, and at one point, even a squad car. Police violence quickly spread beyond the small area where it started, into parts of the crowd where marchers knew nothing about the original altercation.
Mike Perles, a 29-year-old city employee, described the escalation to The Gothamist:
We were dancing right in front of the arch on 5th Ave and out of nowhere, cops started storming into the crowd. They pushed everyone in front of them out of the way and onto the ground. They pushed a reporter who was taking photos down and started randomly pepper spraying people. I couldn’t see anyone instigating. It seemed like they felt out numbered after entering a huge group and panicked and started beating people up.
Pippa Bianco told reporters she was picking up food and water supplies for charity NourishNYC when officers shoved her and held her to the ground. She says she then watched officers pepper spray three other peaceful people, apparently at random.
“The cops rushed into the crowd in a panic and started the violence,” she said.
Mike Perles was at the march and posted video of the police violence to Twitter, saying, “The police just started a riot at Washington square park.”
Organizers and advocates condemn NYC police violence
“Using pepper spray against the Black and queer community, beating LGBTQIA+ protestors with batons and bicycles, and intimidating our right to peacefully assemble, reflects the wanton disregard that the mayor, along with the NYPD, have for the lives and safety of all Black and queer New Yorkers,” Reclaim Pride told BuzzFeed News.
Reclaim Pride organizer Jake Tolans issued the following statement:
I wish that I could say what I saw today was shocking, but how could I reasonably expect anything else from the NYPD? 51 years after the Stonewall Rebellion, the NYPD is still responding to peaceful, powerful, righteous queer joy with pepper spray, batons, and handcuffs. Thank you, Commissioner Shea and the entire NYPD, for continuing to show us why you should be abolished.
City council candidate Marti Gould Cummings, campaigning as an out and proud drag queen, tweeted her own opposition to the mayor and the police. “Hey @NYCMayor @NYPDShea on the anniversary of stonewall your cops are beating and arresting people.”
In an accompanying video, Gould details what she saw:
I was leaving Washington square — there was a beautiful rally centering around Black trans women. As we were leaving, we noticed a commotion directly in front of us and realized it was the police. People were chanting ‘don’t shoot’ and many took a knee. The police escalated and used pepper spray and batons.”
Out gay City Council Speaker Corey Johnson has called for a full investigation of the violence, tweeting, ““Today, peaceful protesters were pepper sprayed on the 51st anniversary of Stonewall. This is incredibly disturbing. We need a full investigation into what happened today.”
Police violence against marginalized people is nothing new
I did a Zoom meeting last week for a reading of a screenplay based on a story I’ve written about Act Up and Queer Nation in the 1990s. Most of the actors are too young to remember how things used to be, and somebody asked me a question about violence.
I spoke before thinking. “You have to understand,” I said. “When we went to actions and zaps, we expected to be brutalized.” Then I felt embarrassed, like I’d been too dramatic. So, I started to correct myself, to downplay what I’d just said. “Wait a minute, let me think.”
But as I closed my mouth, images of violence flashed through my mind. I shook my head. “Yeah, that’s the reality. I’d like to soften it, but that’s the way it was. We expected the cops to brutalize us.”
So, I have to join my voice to Jake Tolans’ and ask how we can expect anything different from the NYPD. How can any marginalized people anywhere in the United States expect to be treated well by police forces?
How can Black people, queer people of color, and other folks on the fringes live as free and equal people when police everywhere aim violence squarely at them for the most minor of offenses.
Sunday’s police violence is a distressing example
According to one narrative, which may or may not be true, one man in a crowd of peaceful marchers spray painted graffiti somewhere near Washington Square. For this minor offense, police punished an entire crowd with pepper spray, beat people with fists and batons, shoved them to the ground, and violently hurt them.
Is this what it means to live in a free country?
I don’t know, but that’s absolutely what it means to live as a marginalized person in the United States. If you’re a middle or upper class white person, you probably don’t experience police as brutal people.
But if you’re Black or transgender or, as Reclaim Pride points out, Black AND transgender, you’ve got a target on your back, one that says it’s OK to gas you, punch you, push you, cuff you, brutalize you.
Sunday wasn’t Stonewall 2, sadly. After the police brutalized marchers, everybody went home. There will be no three nights of riots to protest like in 1969. But maybe this summer as a whole can become a sort of Stonewall 2 for Black people and all marginalized people.
It’s time to take back the streets from police violence. The brutality must end. If our politicians won’t see to it, then it’s time to elect people who promise radical change. It’s time to defund the police. | https://medium.com/james-finn/police-attack-queer-liberation-march-for-black-lives-90ece00ccba5 | ['James Finn'] | 2020-06-30 11:44:50.019000+00:00 | ['Racism', 'LGBTQ', 'Police Brutality', 'Equality', 'Police'] |
The Absurdly Deranged Fantasy of The Handmaid’s Tale | The Absurdly Deranged Fantasy of The Handmaid’s Tale
As a student of economics, history, and anthropology, I can only find the Handmaid’s Tale to be the deranged fantasy of someone who doesn’t understand a thing about how people function.
First, I want to admit something. I have not seen the entire series. I’ve seen pieces of it, and dived into the Wiki as well. I’ve read summaries of both the new series and the book. I cannot waste such a large amount of time on such nonsense. But if I’m going to call this story nonsense, I have to explain myself, though a bit of a disclaimer: this is somewhat of a rant.
Background and Nonsense
Facing environmental disasters and a plunging birthrate, Gilead is ruled by a twisted fundamentalism in its militarized ‘return to traditional values’.
The modern series does seem to be poking at environmental devestation, and I don’t reject sustainable practices. In fact, Politicoid’s original philosophy started as a combination of libertarianism and environmentalism. But there are so many issues with this idea.
But can we start with the fact that medical science has progressed far enough that plunging fertility rates are not a problem, because we can fertilize eggs and implant embryos into women do wish to have children? In fact, we’re really moving beyond this limited form of fertility treatment, as I addressed in my discussion on children with three biological parents.
Okay??
But alright. We have some environmental disasters and low fertility and roughly 300 million people spread across roughly 300 million square miles of land. And they are so easily controlled by a group of fundamentalists that not even most Christians would tolerate?
There is an actual moral to this story though. It is not the threat of religion that is the real concern, although the author clearly is having a fantasy about her hatred of religion. The real issue is that supposedly this takeover worked because they took over the existing power structure of the United States. In other words, the real weapon wasn’t religion. It was government.
But things get worse.
This is Not Early 20th Century Russia
It might seem obvious that a large scale takeover would go without too much of a problem. After all, the Bolshevik revolution succeeded — if you consider the establishment of an even more ruthless system a success. But there are major differences. Russia was a rural society at the time. They were largely illiterate, both linguistically and technologically.
There are so many people spread across such a large area that it would already be difficult to keep an eye on what they’re all doing. There would be huge pockets of people who would largely be out of control of the government. There are also a ton of guns in the United States. Many people, both on the “left” and the “right” are armed. There are even 3D printers that can print new guns.
There are also numerous people who are trained in radio technology. Indeed, the United States has a total of 758,032 licensed amateur radio operators. Many of them have significant technical knowledge. And that’s a small fraction of the people with information that could be used to fight an totalitarian regime.
Indeed, the only reason that our government is able to maintain control over us is because we accept it. The majority accept being ruled by this government. Most believe that while the government has its problems, it’s still a good institution that does right by us. It doesn’t, but people believe it does, and so the government maintains its power. If the majority rejected the government, it would lose its ability to control us.
Electricity
In the series, there’s electricity and technology, and all sorts of nice stuff. Who is maintaining the power grid? As it stands, maintaining the power grid takes a massive number of skilled people working around the clock. Who is maintaining the nuclear reactors, preventing them from melting down? It’s true that next generation nuclear reactors are passively cooled and will shut down on their own. But a lot of reactors in the country are actively cooled.
Gun Ownership
A final point about how America is not early 20th century Russia, or really wherever such strict order is maintained. The United States is well armed, and not just among conservatives. Even among liberals over 25% are armed. There are more guns than people in this country. Maybe if the zero gun tolerance agenda succeeds things will be different, but as of now, there’s really no way that Gilead would survive.
Maybe in the Book
From the reviews I’ve read, the book was a little different. For one thing, Gilead didn’t have electricity. There’s still the issue of managing the existing power plants, but okay. It could have worked back in 1985, though I still don’t buy it.
If Gilead as a whole went back to a time before most of our technology existed, it wouldn’t have a way to defend itself from incursion. It’s easy to defend a small region. It’s impossible to defend a massive region like the United States, without a lot of willing people and massive infrastructure.
Russia, China, and even the Pacific Islands would probably jump at the chance to take a piece of the United States. Mexico’s border would likely be extended North, and Canada’s border would likely be extended South. Other countries would quickly carve away at the nation until there was nothing left of Gilead.
Summery
Whether discussing the new series or the original book, there is so much that is just absurd about the story that it’s hard to call it anything but the deranged fantasy of the obsessed. There’s obviously an anti-religious and anti-Christian sentiment, and while fundamentalism is a problem, this view holds true for all forms of fundamentalism, whether religious or not. Moreover, if the story tells us anything, it is that the greatest danger is having a power structure in place that can control a large group of people, for such a power structure, if taken over by the wrong people, ultimately becomes the most dangerous weapon that humans have ever created. | https://medium.com/politicoid/the-absurdly-deranged-fantasy-of-the-handmaids-tale-1568f7411b71 | ['Daniel Goldman'] | 2019-08-23 16:50:31.124000+00:00 | ['Religion', 'Politics', 'Television', 'Sociology', 'Government'] |
Typing DNA Command Line Authenticator | The application uses Typing DNA authentication services, a service that captures user typing pattern to authenticate the commands that a user wants to run and if verified then it let them execute them. The user gets a simple popup application where he/she can add/edit commands that needs to be verified for the specific typing pattern that of the user.
Demo:
Inspiration for the Project
All the developers make use of the terminal while running the commands. And commands can be run by any user without verifying whether it was explicitly run by a specific user who was authenticated to do that or by anyone else. If anyone gets access to my laptop or a server the user will be able to run the command.
What it does
The application uses Typing DNA authentication services to authenticate the commands that a user wants to run and if verified then it let them execute them. The user gets a simple popup application where he/she can add/edit commands that needs to be verified for the specific typing pattern that of the user.
How I built it
It has a 6 component architecture that interacts with one another. The swift application creates a popup for ease of use which has an embedded application for angular. Angular application interacts with the Django backend which stores and persists the user information, command information, access tokens as well as interacts with the Typing DNA Apis and the PostgresSQL Database. The Swift Application interact with the Terminal and syncs up the commands that are being configured in the system.
Challenges I ran into
First i thought of using the swift application’s global listeners to get all typing events and pass it to the angular application which has the typing dna javascript library but the delay in the events form the computer created an abnormal typing pattern at the javascript library. Thus i changed a few bits and got the application working as seen in the demo.
Accomplishments that I’m proud of
Learn about the typing DNA apis as it is an interesting project. I had heard about the concept when i was in my final year of engineering but it was good to see a product working in production and learning to interact with it. I also enjoyed completing the application in due time. I got to know about the competition on 10th of October thought of an Idea but wasn’t sure would be able to complete it as i wasn’t aware about swift development and there were a lot of loop holes i saw in the development lifecycle for my application.
What I learned
Interacting with typing DNA.
Swift application development. A little bit of bash scripting. How swift interact with the shell scripts and vis-a-versa.
What’s next for Typing DNA Command Line Authenticator
With some small changes in the code this can be deployed on the server and as a proper application for Mac Users. The same shell scripts and the backend can be reutilised for authenticating command requests on a server.
Github: | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/typing-dna-command-line-authenticator-313837bdec73 | ['Anmol Singh Suri'] | 2020-11-08 17:08:33.255000+00:00 | ['Angular', 'Python', 'Development', 'Swift', 'Programming'] |
Tesla Model 3 vs. Tesla Model Y | Which Tesla has a better performance for its price?
By: Jacob S.
As many may know, Tesla’s are very fast and efficient electric cars, but now you will know the difference between the performance, designs, and most definitely, the price between the two. So the big question is: which one is better; the Tesla Model 3 or the Tesla Model Y?
Long Range Tesla Model 3
Size and Color
The Tesla Model 3 is a sedan and can come in the colors: white, black, red, blue, and gray. The Model Y is a S.U.V. and can come in the same colors as the Model 3.
Different Designs
The Model 3 comes in three designs: Standard Range Plus, Long Range, and Performance. The Model Y only comes in two designs: Long Range and Performance.
Performance Tesla Model Y
Range, Top Speed, and 0–60 mph acceleration
The Long Range Model 3 has a range of 353 miles, while the Long Range Model Y has a range of 326 miles. The Performance Model 3 has a top speed of 162 miles per hour, whereas the Performance Model Y has a top speed of 155 miles per hour. In addition, the Performance Model 3 has a 3.1 second 0–60 mph acceleration, while the Performance Model Y has a 3.5 second 0–60 mph acceleration.
Price
Last, but definitely not least is the price comparison of both vehicles. The purchase price of the Long Range Model 3 is $46,990, and the purchase price of the Long Range Model Y is $49,990. The Performance Model 3 is $54,990 at its purchase price, while the Model Y Performance model is $59,990 at its purchase price.
The Conclusion
Both vehicles are very efficient and drive really well. The real question is: which one should you buy? In my opinion, I think the Model Y is the better option if you have the money. I say this because the Model Y is a better fit for more people. It’s a better fit for more people because the Model Y is not as much as a sports car as the Model 3. The Model 3 is more for people who want a really fast car with 3.1 second acceleration 0–60 mph. I mean who really needs to go that fast? The Model Y is still really fast and it has more room inside because it’s a S.U.V. All an all, they are both very efficient cars and are very fast, but at the end of the day the Model Y is the car I would choose.
Bibliography:
Tesla.com | https://medium.com/@jrslavsky/tesla-model-3-vs-tesla-model-y-b05c1af62c09 | ['Jacob S'] | 2020-12-26 16:17:00.287000+00:00 | ['Environment Friendly', 'Tesla Model 3', 'Electric Vehicles', 'Tesla', 'Tesla Model Y'] |
Safein Announces Strategic Business Development Partnership With Data-Driven Evergrowth To Accelerate Client Acquisition | We are pleased to announce our recent strategic partnership with Evergrowth, a data-driven business development consultancy led by seasoned B2B sales experts Arvydas Bložė and Jean-Baptiste Daguené. Through this partnership, Safein, a blockchain-based, single sign-on digital identity and payment wallet, is aiming to attain the necessary expertise and strategic assistance to take its product to the market.
As part of the ongoing business relationship, Evergrowth will assist Safein with devising a tailored client approach strategy and fine-tuning our sales process. Unmatched in their capabilities to help startup businesses rapidly achieve their scale-up ambitions, Evergrowth brings a wealth of specialist expertise and experience. Jean-Baptiste Daguené, who is a partner at the consultancy firm, has previously helped Trustpilot, one of the most successful Danish startups, to first enter and then win the French market, and later managed the startup’s enterprise accounts and key partnerships across Europe.
“As we are approaching the final stages of product development and getting ready for the ICO, ensuring a strategically sound and well-choreographed Safein’s launch to the market becomes ever more important. We are delighted to have secured the help of Evergrowth known for their excellence and outstanding reputation as one of the leading B2B sales advisors in the Baltic states. This gives us even more confidence that a product like Safein that offers an unparalleled and most importantly, effective solution for e-commerce and cryptocurrency markets, will quickly achieve market adoption and become the go-to solution in the industry,” said Vladas Jurkevičius, co-founder and CEO of Safein. “With strategic guidance from Evergrowth, we are aiming to start onboarding our first customers in the next two to three months.”
Arvydas Bložė, partner at the consultancy firm Evergrowth, added: “Evergrowth is thrilled to have formed a strategic partnership with Safein. Enabling early-stage companies to achieve their product-market fit and accelerate their scaling up is what we do best. A stand-out product like Safein will be immensely interesting to work with, so we couldn’t be more excited about hitting the ground running.”
About Safein
Safein offers a blockchain-based, single-sign-on digital wallet which enables access to websites and other third-party services with a single click, eliminating the need for people to create and verify numerous accounts with many different login and password combinations. In addition, Safein returns control over personal information to its true owners — the people who are the subjects of the data — by disclosing to websites and apps only the data elements that have been explicitly approved by a user, and by providing users with the ability to stop the sharing of data with any particular third-parties at any time. Safein also simplifies making and receiving electronic payments — whether denominated in classic, fiat currencies or in cryptocurrencies — by leveraging the same digital identity capabilities that it uses for authorization. Safein’s initial target markets include the cryptocurrency and gaming sectors, within which its management team enjoys significant prior experience and successes.
About Evergrowth
Evergrowth is a spin-off of Startup.lt, the in-house incubator of the venture capital company Practica Capital. Working across a range of industries, Evergrowth specialises in helping early-stage companies achieve their product-market fit through agile business development strategies. The company also supports later stage companies with scaling up and automation as well as fundraising and facilitating successful exits. Evergrowth has recently expanded their services to provide high-calibre sales and marketing expertise in creating predictable pipelines by implementing their agile data-driven sales framework. | https://medium.com/safeincom/safein-announces-strategic-business-development-partnership-with-data-driven-evergrowth-to-5b195b105063 | ['Audrius Slažinskas'] | 2018-04-04 08:29:24.143000+00:00 | ['B2B', 'Sales', 'Partnerships', 'Growth', 'Startup'] |
You’re not dumb, you’re inexperienced — and that’s okay. | Have you felt doubtful about your work and the meaning it brings? Or having received feedback on how it doesn’t meet the ‘standard’? Well I did — and it made me feel dumb but really it’s just inexperience.
I’m here to share that it is OKAY to feel this way and that it is a clear measure for growth. While I’d like to share my personal story and risk this post being long-winded, I’ll cut to the chase with four simple steps that helped me then… and even now in combatting this ‘feeling’.
Step 1: Manage your audience expectations
Your audience could be your client or boss or anyone you’re serving. To whomever it is, you want to make sure they are happy — and to do so — it involves under-promising and over-delivering. So whatever work you start, just be sure Step 1 is ticked off.
Step 2: Plan your work with the end in mind
Meaningful work will be challenging and ambiguous. It becomes easier when you plan because it will give you a map of what needs to be done and which should come first. Think outcomes you want to drive and for who specifically. Remember, the goal is not the map but the clarity you will gain that allows you to focus on the right priorities, plus it will help with Step 1 where you can get buy-in from your audience to validate your approach.
Step 3: Do the drafts and iterate on improvements
Every work begins with a draft. Think through it, keep improving on it, be resourceful and ask help where needed, be quick in asking for help, don’t worry about perfection — focus on progression. It’s an iterative cycle that will lead you to the best possible output under any constraint. Adding emphasis on audience-centricity here, make sure your work tailors to your audience. Else, you won’t be doing justice to the work you’ve done.
Step 4: Chill out, the world isn’t going to end
Everyone is bound to make mistakes and it it through mistakes, we learn. The important lesson is not to let these set backs define you. What matters more is how you bounce forward and rectify the situation. Frankly speaking, who cares if you fail — at least you have a story to tell and life really is a collection of stories. That’s what makes it interesting.
If you’re worried about perception of others, just know that you have a lifetime to live and that perception will change (granted you make the changes).
To my audience, I hope this was helpful for you as it was for me.
Happy to hear your thoughts! | https://medium.com/@joshwang/youre-not-dumb-you-re-inexperienced-and-that-s-okay-7d6aac4b78e3 | ['Joshua Khang Hwui'] | 2020-12-26 06:35:52.007000+00:00 | ['Professional Development', 'Career Advice', 'Personal Growth'] |
Cartesi Partners with Elrond to bring the World’s Prevailing OS to the Internet Scale Blockchain | Cartesi Partners with Elrond to bring the World’s Prevailing OS to the Internet Scale Blockchain Colin Steil Follow Feb 10 · 2 min read
We are thrilled to announce that Cartesi is partnering with Elrond (EGLD) to integrate optimistic rollups for high computational scalability and enabling a Linux runtime for smart contracts. This partnership is part of Cartesi’s continual emphasis on the mainstream adoption of blockchain tech and its commitment to allowing developers to deploy their DApps on the most relevant blockchains.
Elrond is one of the fastest-growing blockchain projects in the industry, bringing a highly scalable, fast and secure blockchain platform for distributed apps, enterprise use cases and the new internet economy.
Through our partnership, Cartesi will expand the array of possibilities for smart contract developers building on Elrond, who will be able to use mainstream software stacks supported by Linux. Besides the advantages of higher productivity given by the vast software ecosystem of the world’s prevailing OS, smart contracts on Elrond will be complemented by massive off-chain computational throughput.
Cartesi Rollups running on Elrond will preserve the security guarantees of the blockchain, creating great opportunities for a new generation of more complex decentralized applications.
Cartesi and Elrond will collaborate from 2021 on the integration, working together to onboard the next billion people and bring blockchain to mainstream adoption.
We encourage anyone with questions to join our development community on Discord!
About Elrond
Elrond is the internet-scale blockchain, designed from scratch to bring a 1000-fold cumulative improvement in throughput and execution speed. To achieve this, Elrond introduces two key innovations: a novel Adaptive State Sharding mechanism, and a Secure Proof of Stake (PoS) algorithm, enabling linear scalability with a fast, efficient, and secure consensus mechanism. Thus, Elrond can process upwards of 15,000 transactions per second (TPS), with 6-second latency, and negligible cost, attempting to become the backbone of a permissionless, borderless, globally accessible internet economy.
About Cartesi
Cartesi is taking smart contracts to the next level. It is solving the urgent problem of scalability and high fees by implementing a variant of optimistic roll-ups. Most notably, Cartesi is revolutionizing smart contract programming by allowing developers to code with mainstream software stacks instead of Solidity. Noether is Cartesi’s side-chain that’s optimized for ephemeral data, providing low-cost data availability to DApps. | https://medium.com/cartesi/cartesi-partners-with-elrond-to-bring-the-worlds-prevailing-os-to-the-internet-scale-blockchain-af0fcba26b59 | ['Colin Steil'] | 2021-02-10 14:29:05.335000+00:00 | ['Ctsi', 'Egld', 'Ecosystem', 'Crypto', 'Elrond'] |
Django 3.2 Async Support: What You Need to Know | Since the release of Django 3.0 in December of 2019, the wildly popular web framework has begun the journey to support Async through ASGI. For those new to Async, here is a little more context of ASGI:
ASGI (Asynchronous Server Gateway Interface) is a spiritual successor to WSGI, intended to provide a standard interface between async-capable Python web servers, frameworks, and applications.
But what does this all really mean? As a Django user and web developer, why does this matter to me?
Depending on the specifics of your Django project, async functions could allow you to make database updates or requests while still going about other processes. For many simple Django applications, this will not matter since the code is likely written in a way that does not do complex processes, but for use-cases like messaging services or perhaps a complex dashboard, these async functions can really solve a performance bottleneck.
Let’s take a quick look at this idea in practice:
In the above example, we can see the fetch_listings function is defined using the async keyword which allows that function to be called asyncronously. The function itself is simply retrieving entries from the database so this is one of the main potential use-cases of this async functionality.
Under the hood, any async function is returning a co-routine. This should not make much of a difference since Django takes care of managing this in many cases, but it’s good to be aware of the proverbial magic that is taking place.
Hopefully this gets you excited about the potential of async functions in Django! There are already a ton of amazing resources out there if you want to dive in so I suggest checking out the links below to get started. Happy coding!
Want to read more about Async in Django? Check out these articles: | https://medium.com/@logankilpatrick/django-3-2-async-support-what-you-need-to-know-5864a7b0259c | ['Logan Kilpatrick'] | 2021-07-12 13:07:29.050000+00:00 | ['Asynchronous', 'Python', 'Django', 'Web Development'] |
Value Network project history — a lookback to 2018 | Everything starts from the past, so does the Value Network project.
It is crucial to take a little look back because it can tell you a little more about our background, vision, and priorities.
In early 2018, on top of altcoins’ hype, I looked at the market and tried to check for any valuable and promising ideas. Looking at it from 2020, it looked easy, but at the moment, in the mass of hyped projects, it wasn’t so.
One of the ideas I loved was the idea of crypto-backed loans — very similar to loans for the liquid assets that banks, financial institutions, and individuals are using every day in the fiat world.
Need proofs? Here are some artifacts from back in the days:
Whitepaper (2018) — https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y79hJ-GmQC3sOHDpmhClDZ193zyf6H8xNepo6_BeAmU/edit?usp=sharing
Demos (on Russian) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bAT6xyJy-w and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U62itS5eDMw
Presentation (2018) — https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vAAYKZ-FFdbhkyyJeIvP4tJcz83IGU_N/view?usp=sharing
The initial liquidity of the token was one of the main problems we’ve faced and the reason to freeze the project these days.
And I was thrilled to see this problem solved through placing tokens of the projects on DEXes like Uniswap and Sushiswap. So do in Value Network 2020, we’ll put the token on DEXes (planned date — till the end of 2020) to let the community decide on its price in the future.
The MVP of the Prediction Markets platform will be released till February 2021.
The description of our token economy will be in one of the next posts. | https://medium.com/@valuenetworklive/value-network-project-history-a-lookback-to-2018-9cc5c30eb2ad | ['Value Network Defi Products'] | 2020-11-24 10:04:48.957000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Markets', 'Defi', 'Prediction'] |
How I Became a Disillusioned Environmentalist | “This is pointless, you know,” my boyfriend told me often. “All this trouble you go to to ‘save the planet.’ That’s all liberal propaganda. There’s nothing wrong. You don’t need to be going to all this trouble.”
I never engaged in this conversation. We both knew we were on opposite sides of the political spectrum and mostly, we just avoided talking about those issues.
But my efforts often encroached on his lifestyle. He didn’t want to have to live in a house that didn’t have Ziploc bags in it. In fact, he was a plastic junkie — he even owned a 3-D printer and had boxes and boxes of plastic thread in the garage that he fed into that machine.
He owned two cars and a motorcycle which he drove hundreds of miles each week, just for pleasure. When he went shopping to restock his pantry shelf, he bought dozens of pre-packaged snacks that came in plastic tubs, nestled within cardboard sleeves, wrapped with an outer layer of plastic. And he wasn’t going to waste time cutting all his plastic soda rings to prevent them from ending up around some poor turtle’s neck when it eventually ended up in the ocean.
On my way to work in 2012. (Copyright Yael Wolfe)
There was nothing I could do about this. I am not the type of person who would ask her partner to take on all her causes. My boyfriend had already done a lot to accommodate my activism, but I knew where the line was and I wasn’t going to ask him to cross it.
But as the years went on, I began realizing how utterly pointless my efforts were. Every single thing I did was being canceled out by the person I lived with. Not to mention the other millions of people in America. Oh yeah, did I mention that by 2013, the “going green” movement seemed to have gone out of fashion? I guess a lot of people really did see it as a one-year experiment that might earn you a book deal and then after that, it was business as usual.
And maybe that’s not fair. There were certainly a lot of big names out there that I believe were legitimately trying to create systemic change. Yet I witnessed the public and even the media constantly criticizing them for promoting green living in soundbites, as if the little changes we make (like turning off the faucet while you brush your teeth) will actually create any kind of impact. Just take a look at all the pushback Colin Beavin received from journalists back in the late aughts, or watch his documentary No Impact Man to see people arguing that what he was doing was…superficial, I guess.
I was astounded by that then and continue to be astounded by it now. What’s the argument? That we can only make a genuine impact by taking extreme measures and since that’s not a realistic solution, we should do nothing, at all? That seems to be the message, so far as I can tell.
And yet, if everyone — or even nearly everyone — had taken these “soundbites” to heart, had made these adjustments, we would be in a very different place today. A better one.
To call any efforts to have a lighter impact on the earth superficial is a cop-out, pure and simple. It’s a great way to spin the message beneath that: that we don’t really care about the earth and have no intention of inconveniencing ourselves on her behalf. | https://medium.com/wilder-with-yael-wolfe/how-i-became-a-disillusioned-environmentalist-183a201a478c | ['Yael Wolfe'] | 2020-08-27 15:52:05.203000+00:00 | ['Conservation', 'This Happened To Me', 'Activism', 'Climate Change', 'Environment'] |
Rails: mirroring uploads to other s3-compatible services | Recently I wanted my uploaded files (to s3) to be mirrored in other s3 compatible services,
Note: if you want to copy a whole bucket (with tons of files maybe) to another bucket within another cloud storage provider, you may want to check https://rclone.org/ so just keep in mind that what I’m discussing here is different.
The idea is… when a file gets uploaded (I do that using direct upload) the file should be mirrored to another s3 service like digitalocean spaces, wasabi or backblase b2, or dreamobjects, basically any other s3 compatible service (there are a lot), like that I have at least another copy/backup of the file, it should be also possible to mirror the file in more than one S3-like service.
If you are using ActiveStorage, you have already this functionality out of the box, but if you are not (which is my case), then you might be interested how mirroring files can be done!
I was curious how ActiveStorage does it, so I jumped right into ActiveStorage repository and started analyzing the code… don’t get me wrong, I love Rails, but I was surprised how much complexity is involved in their code, I never try to look saavy, I love simple ways, simplicity works, but let’s see how Rails do it…
The first file I came across was https://github.com/rails/rails/blob/a6f42938390138ae88d4d32a3a16ddcb1e61d3f2/activestorage/lib/active_storage/service/s3_service.rb
When you read it, you will find a method “upload”
def upload(key, io, checksum: nil, filename: nil, content_type: nil, disposition: nil, **)
instrument :upload, key: key, checksum: checksum do
content_disposition = content_disposition_with(filename: filename, type: disposition) if disposition && filename if io.size < multipart_upload_threshold
upload_with_single_part key, io, checksum: checksum, content_type: content_type, content_disposition: content_disposition
else
upload_with_multipart key, io, content_type: content_type, content_disposition: content_disposition
end
end
end
This method checks if the file is not greater than a certain size threshold (like 5.megabytes or something) then upload it at once, otherwise it will use a multipart upload function
uploading small files at once is done via s3 sdk gem “object.put” like so:
def upload_with_single_part(key, io, checksum: nil, content_type: nil, content_disposition: nil)
object_for(key).put(body: io, content_md5: checksum, content_type: content_type, content_disposition: content_disposition, **upload_options)
rescue Aws::S3::Errors::BadDigest
raise ActiveStorage::IntegrityError
end
In the other hand, uploading large files is done with multipart upload, using aws s3 gem method called “upload_stream”, it’s as follows:
def upload_with_multipart(key, io, content_type: nil, content_disposition: nil)
part_size = [ io.size.fdiv(MAXIMUM_UPLOAD_PARTS_COUNT).ceil, MINIMUM_UPLOAD_PART_SIZE ].max object_for(key).upload_stream(content_type: content_type, content_disposition: content_disposition, part_size: part_size, **upload_options) do |out|
IO.copy_stream(io, out)
end
end
I’m not going to go much deeper in the explanation, but before uploading your file to mirrors, ActiveStorage downloads the file from the primary storage that was uploaded to, then re-upload it to all configured mirrors, one of the method you may notice is “download” which looks like this:
def download(key, &block)
if block_given?
instrument :streaming_download, key: key do
stream(key, &block)
end
else
instrument :download, key: key do
object_for(key).get.body.string.force_encoding(Encoding::BINARY)
rescue Aws::S3::Errors::NoSuchKey
raise ActiveStorage::FileNotFoundError
end
end
end
It checks for a block and either stream download the file (in case it’s a large file or it download it at once via aws s3 sdk “get” method, let’s for example see how large files gets downloaded (notice the line “stream(key, &block)”) large file are downloaded using the method stream:
def stream(key)
object = object_for(key) chunk_size = 5.megabytes
offset = 0 raise ActiveStorage::FileNotFoundError unless object.exists? while offset < object.content_length
yield object.get(range: "bytes=#{offset}-#{offset + chunk_size - 1}").body.string.force_encoding(Encoding::BINARY)
offset += chunk_size
end
end
As you see, a while loop will call #get method of aws s3 sdk (https://docs.aws.amazon.com/sdk-for-ruby/v3/api/Aws/S3/Object.html#get-instance_method) with a range option to download only a small chunck of the big object, until the object is fully downloaded into your desk.
object.get(range: "bytes=#{offset}-#{offset + chunk_size - 1}").body.string.force_encoding(Encoding::BINARY)
I don’t want to overwhelm you with the full code used, I just exposed some code from one file, but if you try to connect the dots, you will find that the code is bigger than what you think and it’s spread through different files, here is more 2 files to check if you are curious:
https://github.com/rails/rails/blob/a6f42938390138ae88d4d32a3a16ddcb1e61d3f2/activestorage/lib/active_storage/downloader.rb
https://github.com/rails/rails/blob/5cfd58bbfb8425ab1931c618d98b649bab059ce6/activestorage/lib/active_storage/service/mirror_service.rb
Honestly after reading how this is done with ActiveStorage, I was like:
Noway I can write similar code, it’s just complex and to be honest I don’t know how to write complex stuff, writing simple things make me sane.
So how you can avoid insane code and write SUPER SIMPLE code, that just works?
Maybe… you should just avoid things that distract you when you are writing code (like your phone, twitter, or any other noise out there) and learn how to concentrate…
The Aws s3 sdk already has 2 (out of the box) methods/actions to download and upload files, why reinventing the wheel?
The download method is called: download_file (so simple isn’t it?) and it will do everything for you, if the file is big, it will download it part by part, if it’s a small file, it will download it at once.
2. The upload method is called similarly: upload_file (make sense) and like the other method it will upload the file in multipart if the file is big, otherwise it will upload it at once!
By using just 2 simple methods download_file and upload_file you will be able to write in few lines what Rails ActiveStorage does in multi-complex lines, how comes?
Someone will come and tell me that they know what they are doing, maybe yes… maybe not (collaboration sometimes is a mess, and being smart more than normal is the way to show the community how clever you are)! but at the end, my way also works, and it just works even though it’s not that fancy o smart :) I even wrote some logic around it and put it out there as a Gem ( a one short class gem that does it all ) called s3mirror check it out: https://rubygems.org/gems/s3mirror
In the next write up, I will maybe explain how I write it :) Let me know what do you think. | https://medium.com/@technoblogueur/rails-mirror-uploaded-files-to-other-s3-compatible-services-510b64a26283 | ['Med Bouzid'] | 2020-12-23 22:00:37.831000+00:00 | ['Ruby on Rails', 'Mirror', 'S3'] |
Chubi Farmers Empowerment Project (CIFEP) | Chubi Agro is a Nigerian based company registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) with registration number RC 1543606 to venture into the business of Agro-Allied Training of small holder farmers across the production value chain.Chubi Agro have positioned herself based on her indebt knowledge to provide adequate fertilizers, improved seed, chemicals, mechanized services and extension. We will adopt a value chain distribution network to get to the framers within our chosen population.
Chubi Farmers Empowerment Project (CIFEP) is a smallholder farmer-focused intervention initiative of Chubi Agro at supporting 500 small holders farm households comprising of 300 women and 200 youth owning 1ha with an average of 7dependents, translating to 3,500 persons in soba Local Government Area ofKaduna State. Each household will be supported with kits of rice seeds (Seeds, Fertilizer, Chemicals and basic health insurance) worth about 110,000 USD.
Visit our website to know more and donate for us | https://medium.com/@hadegold001/chubi-farmers-empowerment-project-cifep-fe1086af9487 | [] | 2020-12-26 01:09:45.235000+00:00 | ['Farmers', 'Indiegogo', 'USA', 'Empowerment'] |
TV-TWO & OKEx: Special Partnership Offer | TV-TWO & OKEx: Special Partnership Offer
OKEx, the world’s leading one-stop crypto exchange, and TV-TWO, the world’s leading content discovery platform for crypto, join forces! We are proud to present our exchange partner and start the campaign with a special trading competition exclusively for the TV-TWO community.
Win up to $200 for simply signing up and trading crypto on OKEx!
Here is how it works:
Step 1) Register here and pass KYC Level 1 Step 2) Deposit over $100 to compete for the following rewards
Here is how to win:
a) The most active trader during the campaign will get $200
(Requirements: Trading volume > $10,000)
b) The top 3 traders with the highest volume during the campaign will get $200 each
(Requirements: Trading volume > $10,000)
c) The other traders qualify for random airdrops of $5 — $20 each
(Requirements: Trading volume > only $300) Promotion Period: 14 days
Currently seeking a (new) go-to crypto exchange to buy, sell, and manage cryptocurrencies in minutes? Feel free to join OKEx and the trading competition!
OKEx is a world-leading cryptocurrency exchange, providing advanced financial services to traders globally by using blockchain technology. OKEx provides hundreds of token & futures trading pairs to help traders to optimize their strategy. They are also one of the top digital asset exchanges by trading volume, serving millions of users in over 100 countries. The BTC futures trade has nearly $1.5B of volume daily, and is widely recognized as the gold standard for the industry. | https://medium.com/tvtwo/tv-two-okex-special-partnership-offer-629344726e94 | [] | 2020-06-25 16:04:35.487000+00:00 | ['Trading', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Competition', 'Partnerships'] |
Top Content Service Platform | Top Content Service Platform
Today, the growth of content services is driving the evolution of enterprise content management (ECM). Consequently, leading organizations are deploying content services platforms (CSPs) to create a unified information management environment that can connect, share, and govern content across the entire enterprise, and build on the strengths of their ECM deployments. The development of CSPs has been focused on delivering content in a way that meets the needs of both sides — the digital workspace and digital business — of digital transformation. Within the digital workplace, CSPs are based around contextual content delivery, sharing, and collaboration to enable users in accessing relevant content from the application or device that best suits their needs. Besides, with the cloud-based nature of CSPs, businesses can overcome barriers in content storage and distribution of critical information.
With a comprehensive understanding of this new development, CIOReview has compiled a list of the 20 most promising content services platform providers to guide organizations in harnessing the power of new-age content management technologies and ensure the effective automation of content-related processes. With several innovative technological capabilities and success stories up its sleeves, these firms are constantly proving their mettle in the field of content management. We hope this edition of CIOReview helps you build the partnership that you and your firm need to foster a unified and efficient information management environment.
We present to you CIOReview’s “20 Most Promising Content Services Platform Solution Providers ”
Top Content Service Platform
Computhink’s Enterprise Content Management solution Contentverse is an exception. Computhink provides highly secure implementation options with multiple choices of secure client access, mission critical application integration, and secure access for a wide range of business environments. No organization in need of a versatile, easy-to-use ECM has to settle for less.”
Founded in 1994, ImageSource is a privately held corporation headquartered in Olympia, WA. Through a number of strategic acquisitions and mergers, ImageSource has positioned itself as a leader among Enterprise Content Management integrators. ImageSource is the manufacturer of ILINX software and a recognized leader in consulting, strategic analysis and rapid application deployment of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions. Utilizing expert teams and a broad portfolio of world leading ECM technology, the company improves critical business processes that leverage the management of data, documents and integration with legacy software systems
KnowledgeLake provides its customers with a PaaS cloud platform as a part of their managed services. Its fully managed services help the client migrate data to the cloud, perform necessary software configurations, define jobs that need automation, capture and store documents, and various other things. The company does all the mentioned jobs without requiring any IT administration. Services offered by KnowledgeLake are entirely cloud-based. Its clients can involve themselves in the migration and any content service operation at any point of time they wish
The company provides corporate across the world with powerful digital content publishing platforms enabling them to create and distribute rich, interactive digital content on any device. The tools are aimed at various businesses from media, corporations to book publishers. The company clients include world-leading business giants. The offices are located in both Paris and Montpellier, but the company partners and collaborators are from all over the world. Being part of the global internet services company Rakuten enables to innovate and provide the clients with genuinely cutting edge and localized services
Appatura
Industry leaders since 1993 Appatura, innovates with its data-driven experts in Enterprise Content Management (ECM). The company empowers its clients to leverage and repurpose the content across the enterprise via products like DocuBuilder. Headquartered in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, Appatura evolves consistently by updating its technology to meet and exceed industry requirements. They stay ahead of the curve and always bring new expertise to the table by establishing and maintaining a good partnership with their clients. Appatura’s host of solutions develops an integrated hub that enables organizations to break down content like LEGO blocks to an atomic level and then transform them into creative assets, improving productivity, ensuring compliance, and creating workplace efficiencies
Aptara
Headquartered just outside of Washington, D.C, and serving the global 10 largest publishers and Fortune 100 companies, Aptara transforms content for engaging and monetizing new Digital and Corporate Learning audiences. The company’s full-service content production accelerates information providers’ transition from print to digital. Starting from creation and design to new media enhancements and output for all mobile devices and platforms, Aptara produces innovative digital products that deliver content on how, when, and where readers want it while giving content providers renewed agility and revenue opportunities. Aptara’s host of solutions include Digital Content Development, Corporate Learning and Performance, Custom Content Services, Customer Lifestyle Management, Healthcare RCM, IT Services, and Learning Administration Services
Box
Founded in 2005, Box is a Cloud Content Management company that enables enterprises to revolutionize how they work by safely connecting their people, information, and applications. Headquartered in Redwood City, CA, the company offers various products such as cloud content management, security and compliance, collaboration, workflow, integrations, developer tools and APIs, and IT administration and controls. Box consulting helps businesses to transform the organization by focusing on accelerating the time to market and helping companies to unlock their full potential from successful implementations to more sophisticated technical integrations and adoption programs. Box transforms a customized plan that provides a team, necessary tools, and experience to bring an organization into the digital age quickly
Everteam
Having 25 years of experience in the field of Information Governance and Enterprise Content Management, Everteam offers a complete content services platform for Information Governance. Everteam solutions enable enterprises to build and manage content-driven processes that support a range of business opportunities. The company’s content management solutions include web app studio, document management, and digital assists management. The web app studio is a rapid application development platform that empowers the client to develop automated processes with minimal IT department dependency. Document management efficiently builds, amanges, and structures corporate repositories helping customers reduce the amount of time and effort spent on managing corporate documents. Data storage improves the business, to become agile, and drive online customer engagement
Interfy
Headquarters in Orlando, Florida, Interfy believes in the power of digital transformation. To help companies in various industries reach this level, it operates in the organization and digitization of content and processes in the cloud. Today, it is the only one in the industry to provide 100 percent integrated ECM, BPM, BI, PMS, CRM, and ERP tools, built into a single platform and accessible with a single login. The company develops software platforms to accelerate digital business transformation, enabling better information management in an affordable and customizable way. With their team of professionals who are passionate about creating innovative technologies, they have over two decades of experience developing software for corporate management, processes, and content
Laserfiche
Headquarters in Long Beach, California, Laserfiche Enterprise Content Management transforms the way organizations manage content, make timely, automate document-driven business processes and informed decisions. Leveraging Laserfiche, organizations can innovate how unstructured information and documents are processed and analyzed to extract business results. Laserfiche offers intuitive solutions for capture, workflow, case management, electronic forms, cloud, government-certified records management, and mobile. The company with its team of experts provides Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software, Document Management (DM), Records Management (RM), Business Process Management (BPM), Electronic Forms, Process Automation, Workflow, Case Management
MODX
Headquartered in Dallas, MODX is a company that backs the open source Content Management System and Web Application Framework. MODX Revolution is the world’s fastest, most secure, flexible, and scalable Open Source CMS. Their cloud platform, MODX Cloud, is the ultimate hosting for modern PHP applications, especially MODX. The company provides the fastest, most flexible, scalable, and secure, open-source CMS. Unlike other CMS platform plugins, MODX Extras are designed to be easily tailored to your specific design and requirements, and it connects to the tools the client already uses and easily integrates with anything that has an API
Newgen Software Technologies
A provider of Business Process Management (BPM), Customer Communication Management (CCM), Enterprise Content Management (ECM), Document Management System (DMS), Workflow and Process Automation software Newgen Software was founded in 1992. The company has extensive, mission-critical solutions that have been deployed in Banks, Insurance firms, BPO’s, Healthcare Organizations, Government, and Telecom Companies. Newgen, through its proven Business Process Management, Enterprise Content Management, Customer Communications Management, and Case Management platforms, brings about the perfect amalgamation of information/content, technology, and processes, the building blocks of Digital Transformation. Newgen’s commitment is towards enabling clients to achieve greater agility when it comes to transforming processes, managing information, enhancing overall customer satisfaction, and driving enterprise profitability
Nuxeo
Nuxeo, the maker of the leading, cloud-native content services platform, is reinventing enterprise content and digital asset management. Nuxeo is fundamentally changing how people work with both data and content to realize new value from digital information. Its cloud-native, hyper-scalable content services platform has been deployed by large enterprises, mid-sized businesses, and government agencies worldwide. Founded in 2008, the company is based in New York with offices across the United States and Europe. The company with a team of experts specializes in content management software, enterprise content management, document management, application platform, content management platform, digital asset management, case management, and content repository
OpenText
OpenText, The Information Company™, a market leader in Enterprise Information Management software and solutions, enables intelligent and connected enterprises by managing, leveraging, securing and gaining insight into enterprise information, on-premises or in the cloud. The company was founded in the year 1991 and is based in Waterloo, ON. From its inception, the company with a team of experts specializes in providing Enterprise Information Management, Business Process Management, Enterprise Content Management, Information Exchange, Customer Experience Management, and Information Discovery. The company’s EIM products enable businesses to grow faster, lower operational costs, and reduce information governance and security risks by improving business insight, impact, and process speed
Primero Systems
At Primero Systems, the company provides software solutions to enterprises. More specifically, they understand enterprise software and the role it plays in helping to maintain a competitive edge and grow the business. The company is a trusted software development firm that has been delivering innovative solutions ranging from enterprise-grade custom software to web content management systems for more than 25 years. The company wants to help businesses achieve their goals and maximize their potential through software. Integrity, Competency, and Quality are the words that shape the company, and we develop and support our products and services with them in mind
Simflofy
Simflofy’s content integration platform is used for creating federated content networks and migrating content from a legacy content source. The platform has connecters to over 20 of the most common sources for content. They have developed solutions on the platform for federated search, in-place records management, and email archiving. Solutions based on the content integration platform have been used by millions of users and work with billions of documents. The solutions have been used in various industries, including healthcare, insurance, consulting, and state and federal government
Systemware
Founded in 1981, Systemware quickly established itself as a developer of products that effectively managed enterprise content. The solutions can help with report output management, correspondence, and customer communications. With more than 35 years in information management, Systemware solutions continue to support the changing environment of content while continuing to respond to the evolving needs of customers, both large and small. Systemware has developed a suite of applications that streamline the flow of documents and information through a variety of business processes. Systemware currently serves customers in a variety of industries ranging from financial services, insurance, healthcare, and retail markets
Veritone
Veritone is a provider of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and solutions. The company’s proprietary operating system, aiWARE, orchestrates an expanding ecosystem of machine learning models to transform audio, video, and other data sources into actionable intelligence. aiWARE can be deployed in several environments and configurations to meet customers’ needs. Its open architecture enables customers in the media and entertainment, legal and compliance, and government sectors to easily deploy applications that leverage the power of AI to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness dramatically. Veritone is headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, with over 300 employees and has offices in Denver, London, New York, San Diego, and Seattle
Vodori
Vodori is an innovative technology company creating cloud-based software that revolutionizes how life science companies (such as Acacia Pharma, Pentax Medical, and Tris Pharma) move regulated content from ideation through review, approval, and distribution. Customers love the unparalleled product design and usability, decades of industry knowledge, and world-class customer service with a combination anywhere else. The company specializes in providing Digital Marketing, Online Strategy, User Experience, Visual Design, Software Development, Enterprise Content Management, and Promotion Review System. The company is based in Chicago, Illinois
Zorang
Zorang is a solution provider with a unique blend of experience and passion for creating Product Information/Content Management, eCommerce, Digital Marketing, Cloud Integration, and Digital Asset Management solutions providing a compelling end to end-user experience for our customers. They have more than a decade of experience in helping the enterprises move to Cloud technologies and integrating their Cloud infrastructure with other enterprise-wide legacy applications. The company helps to strategize how to get to the cloud and how SaaS-based systems will integrate into the overall IT architecture to give the business and marketing an edge.
See More | https://medium.com/@techmag1/top-content-service-platform-803a78a1edfd | ['Technology Magazine'] | 2020-11-19 12:03:44.159000+00:00 | ['Content Management', 'Content Marketing', 'Technology News', 'Technology', 'Magazine'] |
The WhatsApp Take Over Issue — It has started… | What if your WhatApp goes in hands of Someone?
WhatsApp has undoubtedly become an integral part of human life. More than 50 Crores users in India use WhatsApp. Owing to this popularity, ‘Desi’ Cyber Criminals have found out a way to loot people by taking over WhatsApp Accounts of victims.
WhatsApp Installation & Verification:
WhatsApp installation requires Six-digit verification code that is sent on your phone via SMS or Call.
OTP is stolen using SMS, Call, SMS Forwarder or Remote Access App.
Both methods of activation are innovatively used to take-over WhatsApp accounts
· Mode: Social Engineering over Call.
· Motive: Mostly Money.
1. Call based WhatsApp account take over: OTP over call
· Victim gets a call from an unknown number (fraudster) on interesting topic (Vaccine Feedback, WhatsApp support, Survey etc.)
· Parallelly, fraudster will initiate WhatsApp registration process of target number.
· Call based WhatsApp activation option will be selected and victim will be asked to merge the call stating some logical reason.
· Victim merges call, which is verification call from WhatsApp that has OTP.
· Fraudster enters the OTP and activates the account and victim gets logged off.
2. SMS based take over
Classic method of fraud. Victim is called and asked for OTP stating any random reasons. Unaware victim shares OTP which is WhatsApp activation OTP and this account gets compromised.
Extra smart criminals will then exhaust the limit of entering OTP so your account is freezed for some time (typically 12–24 hours ) for registration on any other device. This means, you will not get your account back for 12 hours.
Time is Money as they say. Cyber Criminals will get 12 hours now to use your account.
Temporary Lockout of your WhatsApp account.
What can they do after getting your WhatsApp?
1. Financial Fraud: Message all groups and contacts “I am hospitalized, I need money. Please transfer to my account”
2. Extortion: Use your personal photos to Blackmail — Extortion.
3. Defamation: Post status/messages that may defame you and your image.
4. Connected Account compromise: WhatsApp based activation service can be opted and used.
5. Account Deactivation request via email to WhatsApp’s deactivation Email ID.
What they cannot?
WhatsApp payment cannot be used as SIM is mandatory for registration of UPI service.
Incident Response: What to do if your WhatsApp is taken over?
1. Re-Activate your WhatsApp on your device and log off from all active devices.
2. Many a times, you will not be able to log-in as they could exhaust your login attempts purposefully. In that case:
a. Call & SMS your relatives and group members stating your account is hacked and do not respond to any request.
3. Report any financial loss by calling 155260 helpline and subsequently complete details on www.cybercrime.gov.in (Report Other Crimes)
4. Read WhatsApp guidelines for further protection https://faq.whatsapp.com/general/account-and-profile/stolen-accounts
5. Follow @CyberDost handle of Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center, MHA for staying up-to-date on security of digital space.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CyberDostI4C
Telegram: https://t.me/cyberdosti4c
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/CyberDostI4C
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CyberDost
International Incidents:
Indian tricksters learn from International incidents, advisories, news reports. Other countries too have similar incidents.
New Warning For WhatsApp Users Over Account Suspension ‘Hack’ (forbes.com)
New Variants Of Scam Involving Takeover Of WhatsApp Accounts (police.gov.sg) | https://medium.com/@rushibmehta/the-whatsapp-take-over-issue-it-has-started-966f03cf37ca | ['Rushi Mehta'] | 2021-12-12 09:45:33.271000+00:00 | ['Account Takeover', 'WhatsApp'] |
How to get an internship — and other things I learned while career coaching my mentee | How to get an internship — and other things I learned while career coaching my mentee Ilana Krause Nov 18, 2021·4 min read
Photo by Peter Fogden on Unsplash
You know the drill. It’s your sophomore year in college, and you know you should be doing everything in your power to secure a summer internship. This is the setup for your Junior year summer — your last chance in Undergrad to intern and get a full-time offer before you graduate.
Let’s set the stage for this drill. It is 2021, the pandemic has altered life as we know it for the last two years. Universities were disrupted with the shift to online schooling, and social clubs and extracurriculars faded away. Career fair comes around, and you have no idea how to prepare or showcase your unique skills and abilities to recruiters. When even was the last time you made small talk with a stranger? Let alone pitch yourself and your potential during the conversation?
During college, I was a part of extracurricular clubs that helped with coaching and preparation for upcoming career fairs. Freshman year, they whisked us away to talk with recruiters before the big event, organized numerous mock interviews, taught seminars on professionalism and resume writing…the list goes on. I was even given a professional name tag to wear during the event to help me stand out even more. Needless to say, I was very much prepared for the career showcase and felt confident when applying and interviewing for internships I was excited about.
This is in direct contrast to how my mentees felt preparing for an internship search. There were no coaching services, no upperclassmen reviewing resumes, no pre-showcase meetups with recruiters from different companies…there wasn’t even an easy-to-navigate website that had all of the relevant recruiting information. After many hours of coaching, I am elated to say that one of my mentees has received their first offer (to my great excitement and relief)! I hope my key learnings can help you along your career journey, especially if you are in a similar spot to where my mentee was earlier this year.
1. Your network plays an invaluable role in moving your application forward.
Do not underestimate the power of connecting with people. Is there any way you can make contact with a recruiter or individual who works at the company? Think of ways this can be done: recruiting events, career showcases, LinkedIn DMs, and using your network of family and friends to find a contact at the company you are interested in. This will greatly increase your chance of moving to the next step, as someone will be tracking your application instead of your online form waiting to be discovered in the ether.
2. Find ways to highlight your unique traits and how they build towards your success at the company.
When walking through resume editing, I found that often there was great content to include that usually wasn’t in the first draft because:
It was something taken for granted (not realizing that what you did was a valuable skill or ability to showcase). An example of this is someone organizing their friends to help mow lawns over the summer, not realizing the leadership, entrepreneurial, and people-management skills they are gaining that could be highlighted in their resume.
It was not communicated in an actionable or tangible way that captured your unique value add. Instead of “Worked at a summer lawn care service,” your resume could include anything you did to improve the business, like automating the scheduling of customer appointments that saved 5 hours of work per week, or developing new marketing plans that brought in a dozen customers.
Think about ways to be more specific in how you are communicating your contributions on your resume. Remember to begin your statements with action words like managed, led, developed, created, etc.
3. Come prepared.
This applies to all stages of the recruiting process. Here is what that looks like in terms of what you definitely need to do and what exceeding expectations looks like. ( I recommend always trying to exceed expectations…how else are you going to stand out against the hundreds of applicants going for the exact role you are interested in?)
Baseline Expectations
Know what the company does, what roles you are interested in, and have a good answer for why you are interested in this company.
Have your resume edited and ready to submit to online applications.
Practice your elevator pitch before giving it to recruiters.
Connect with recruiters before/during the career fair.
Be prepared to talk through your resume.
Above and Beyond | https://medium.com/@ilanakrause/how-to-get-an-internship-and-other-things-i-learned-while-career-coaching-my-mentee-6ef7f8a22b8e | ['Ilana Krause'] | 2021-11-18 21:11:10.104000+00:00 | ['Career Advice', 'Advice', 'Internship Experience', 'Apply', 'Resume'] |
Why High Heels Should Never Be Required | Photo by Apostolos Vamvouras on Unsplash
Look, I get it. Some of us love our high heels. Adore them. We like the look, we think they’re cute.
We’re willing to put up with a bit of discomfort…and even damage for our fashion. But high heels are a real problem, and many of us have consigned them to the back of the closet…or the dumpster.
Why High Heels are Bad
So, why are high heels a problem anyway? The fact is that high heels cause real, actual harm. They were started by people who wanted to, well, look taller (I say people, because there’s a surprisingly long history of men wearing high heels). Now, heels in and of themselves aren’t a problem. Riding boots have heels for safety reasons, for example. But very high heels cause a ton of issues:
According to one study by the University of Alabama, between 2002 and 2012 emergency rooms in America alone dealt with 123,555 injuries relating to high heels. These injuries include sprains and strains to the foot and ankle, but some involved broken bones. Injuries are caused by poor balance, getting stilettos stuck in ventilation grates, etc. High heels cause your back to hyperextend, resulting in leg, hip, and back pain. High heels increase your risk of hammer toes, bunions, and ingrown toenails, and will make these things worse. Chronic wearing of high heels can lead to tendonitis in the achilles tendon. Women who have worn high heels too much can even have difficulty wearing flats or going barefoot. High heels have been associated with pinched nerves, stress fractures, and heel spurs.
So, I’m not saying never wear high heels. The damage is done when you wear them all the time.
And here’s where the problem comes in: It’s perfectly legal for employers to require that you wear high heels.
Photo by Amanda Vick on Unsplash
High Heels and Dress Codes
Dress codes that require high heels are rarer than they used to be. But if you go to the airport, you’ll see a bevy of flight attendants in heels heading to a transatlantic flight. Most of them are carrying the flats they’re going to sneak on as soon as everyone’s seated. They aren’t wearing those heels by choice: Internationally, flight attendants are commonly forced to wear heels. Norwegian Airlines hit the news recently for requiring female flight attendants to wear their heels for their entire shift — or provide a doctor’s note (which had to be renewed every six months). This was alongside another sexist rule: Women were required to use makeup while men were banned from applying it.
Anti-discrimination laws can be used to challenge dress codes that put more onerous burdens on women than on men. In the U.K. there is now a major campaign to reduce dress code discrimination, of which high heels are a key part. Japan’s health minister, on the other hand, has spoken out in favor of discriminatory dress codes (Sexist dress codes tend to be worse in east Asia. Korean women have been fighting hard against requirements to wear makeup, and Japanese women face a ban on glasses).
The Cannes Film Festival hit the news for turning away several woman from a premiere in 2015 for wearing flats. At least one had a disability that meant she couldn’t wear heels. Cannes has denied that the dress code requires heels, but women are still being harassed for wearing flats.
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
Dress codes that require heels show up in offices (one high profile case involved a London receptionist who was sent home because her heels weren’t between 2 and 4 inches), restaurants, and stores.
What Can You Do About Dress Codes?
The basic standard for whether a dress code is legal is whether it applies similar standards to men and women. For example, it’s been ruled that requiring men to cut their hair short is not discriminatory.
Given high heels cause health problems, you would think requiring heels would be a no-brainer. You aren’t asking men to damage their feet and backs, only women. Unfortunately, courts have yet to agree with this.
If you have a medical condition that makes wearing heels difficult or impossible, you can potentially file an ADA complaint, although this is likely only to get you an exemption, not fix the problem.
Of course, the common answer is to find a job where heels aren’t required. We all know that “just find another job” is not really an appropriate response.
So, basically? We need to push until it’s socially unacceptable (or illegal) to require women to wear heels. Our feet need it. | https://medium.com/the-illusion-of-choice/why-high-heels-should-never-be-required-bf5797d5d419 | ['Jennifer R. Povey'] | 2019-12-06 18:46:45.872000+00:00 | ['Dress Code', 'Feminism', 'Fashion', 'Footwear', 'Dress Code Discrimination'] |
Flutter: Widgets for Starter #2 | So, we’re back to our Flutter: Widgets for Starter! Now, we’re here for the next part! Just a recap from Flutter: Widgets for Starter Part 1.
Introduction to Flutter Widgets
Text Widget
Container
Column
Row
Expanded
If you missed the article, here’s the link for you! 💙💙💙
Let’s start for Part 2! Are you excited guys?!
GIF by Hannah by giphy
1) Button Widget
In Flutter, Button Widgets are common needs by the users. Flutter has also had several types of buttons like FlatButton, RaisedButton, OutlineButton, and more buttons!
We will tackle buttons for a lot for this session!
Flat Button Raised Button Outline Button Icon Button Floating Action Button
1.1) Flat Button
In Flutter Documents, A material design “flat button”. A flat button is a text label displayed on a (zero elevation) Material widget that reacts to touches by filling with color.
Read more: Flat Button from Flutter Documents.
1.2) Raised Button
In Flutter Documents, A Material Design raised button. A raised button consists of a rectangular piece of material that hovers over the interface.
Read more: Raised Button from Flutter Documents.
1.3) Outline Button
In Flutter Documents, A medium-emphasis button for secondary actions that are important but are not the primary action in an app.
Read more: Outline Button from Flutter Documents.
1.4) Icon Button
In Flutter Documents, An icon button is a picture printed on a Material widget that reacts to touches by filling with color (ink).
For the Icons, A graphical icon widget drawn with a glyph from a font described in an IconData such as the material’s predefined IconData in Icons.
You could read more about icons here.
Read more: Icon Button from Flutter Documents.
1.5) Floating Action Button
In Flutter Documents, A floating action button is a circular icon button that hovers over content to promote a primary action in the application. Floating action buttons are most commonly used in the Scaffold.floatingActionButton field.
Read more: Floating Action Button from Flutter Documents.
That’s all for the Buttons! So, let’s proceed to Text Inputs.
2) Text Field
In Flutter, the text field allows us to use to get our inputs. They are used to build messages, search, or other inputs in our applications.
In TextField widget, We also can add decoration like putting outline or inline border, radius, and more things that can be decorated with styles!
Read more: TextField from Flutter Documents.
In Additional to TextField Widgets. We will be adding these subjects to this article.
onChanged
onSubmitted
Controller
TextFormField
2.1) TextField: onChanged
In Flutter Documents, when the user initiates a change to the TextField’s value: when they have inserted or deleted text.
Read more: onChanged from Flutter Documents.
2.2) TextField : onSubmitted
In Flutter Documents, when the user indicates that they are done editing the text in the field.
Read more: onSubmitted from Flutter Documents.
2.3) TextField: Controller
In Flutter Documents, Controls the text being edited.
Read more: Controller from Flutter Documents.
2.4) TextFormField
In Flutter Documents, A FormField that contains a TextField. This is a convenience widget that wraps a TextField widget in a FormField.
A Form ancestor is not required.
The Form simply makes it easier to save, reset, or validate multiple fields at once.
As you can see from the code, we have onSaved and validator.
onSaved — An optional method to call with the final value when the form is saved via save from FormState.
validator — An optional method that validates an input. Returns an error string to display if the input is invalid, or null otherwise.
So, That’s all for today’s session! I hope you learn something new today!
Also, I want to thank the Flutter for the best Documents! You could read more in advance at this link. | https://medium.com/dev-genius/flutter-widgets-for-starter-2-40649c9885b5 | ['Jan Salvador Sebastian'] | 2020-07-18 09:15:57.413000+00:00 | ['Google', 'Flutter App Development', 'Flutter Widget', 'Flutter', 'Dart'] |
5 Reasons It Might Be Time To Rebrand | Considering a rebrand in the new year? Here’s 5 reasons why it might be time.
What is rebranding?
The Economic Times defines rebranding as “Rebranding is the process of changing the corporate image of an organization. It is a market strategy of giving a new name, symbol, or change in design for an already-established brand. The idea behind rebranding is to create a different identity for a brand, from its competitors, in the market.”
Usually a rebrand includes:
New or refreshed logo
New or refreshed colors
Updated brand messaging
Analysis of demographics
Are you thinking it might be time to rebrand your organization or business. Here are some signs that you might be ready:
Your brand is outdated or no longer reflects your vision.
Normally, a brand should consider getting a refresh after ten years. Within the last few years, more and more organizations are updating their brands more frequently than that. If your messaging has changed or it no longer reflects the trends of your competition, it might be time.
You’re embarrassed to hand out your business card or website address
If you or your employees hesitate when handing out flyers or business cards, it might be time for a refresh. Styles and trends evolve over time and if someone cringes when looking at your brand, that’s your sign. It also gives you a new excuse to make new collateral to hand out when it’s finalized. “Have you seen our new logo??”
You’re launching a new product line or shifting business models.
If you’re shifting business models then it is DEFINITELY time for a refresh. You may be shifting audiences, using new keywords, trying to get different kinds of clients. This all requires a new brand that will resonate with your audience, one that they can associate your face with solutions to their pain points. This is the perfect time to introduce your new brand and product. Change is good to embrace and everything needs to evolve to survive.
You’re trying to connect with a new audience
Your current audience already has assumptions about who you are as an organization. How can you get the attention of a new audience? What are they looking for in a product or service? Does your current brand bring to mind those colors or keyword phrases? If your intended audience looks at your brand and says “huh?”, it’s time for a rebrand.
You’re failing to differentiate yourself from the competition
Do you find that you’re blending in with your competition? What makes you different, special? How can you stand out? If new colors, symbols, and messaging is the answer, then this is your sign that it’s time to rethink your brand. You can have a new look that is completely unique to your voice and mission that separates you from the pack.
If you can relate to any of these situations, it’s definitely time to look for a brand designer. With 2021 around the corner, now might be the time to update your brand and start fresh. Everyone was worn down from this last year, so why not get a facelift for your organization? | https://medium.com/@creative-eileen-asher/5-reasons-it-might-be-time-to-rebrand-11b8c6d1e7d7 | ['Eileen Asher'] | 2021-01-03 19:34:43.948000+00:00 | ['Graphic Design', 'Nonprofit', 'Nonprofit Marketing', 'Branding'] |
Gear Up for Remote Work | Last Updated: December 2020
Setting up your remote work space can be daunting. You’ll be confronted with dozens of purchasing decisions, and you may feel like you need to do a lot of research. I build and advise remote development teams as part of my regular work, and have been doing so since 2014. I’ve looked at all the microphones and headsets, furniture, and accessories, so you can gear up quickly and get right to work.
Here are my current recommendations.
Note: Purchase using these links to support more great, free content.
A Fast Computer
Remote software development is CPU and memory intensive. You’ll often be recording and transcoding video clips, screen sharing or video chatting while compiling and interacting with a web browser.
Lots of computers will struggle with those demands. You’ll start an npm install and the video will drop frames. Grab at least 16 GB of RAM for best results. 32 GB is better. A current MacBook Pro will do a great job.
I recently purchased the 16" 8-core i9. It’s a great machine. It’s lighter, smaller, and still manages to pack an extra inch of screen real-estate into the compact package. I love the new keyboard, touch bar, and touch ID, and I don’t miss the old function keys. Apple recently announced the new M1 laptops.
New MacBooks only have USB-C compatible Thunderbolt 3 ports. You’ll probably need to connect to USB 3, HDMI, and memory cards. You can get a connector hub that has all of those built-in.
External Keyboard, Trackpad, Mouse
Ideally, you’ll want to mount your laptop on a high stand to bring your screen and video camera up to eye level. Doing so will make you more comfortable, allow you to easily adjust your camera for video conferencing, and probably improve your health, but it will also put the built-in keyboard and trackpad out of easy reach.
In my opinion, nothing beats the Apple Magic Keyboard and Apple Magic Trackpad for productivity. Syncing is easy. There are no battery replacements to worry about. Plug them in with the included cable, and you can charge them while you work.
If you plan to do any gaming to relax when you’re not working, you’ll want a real mouse. Trackpads just won’t do it. The best mice out there are designed for gamers. Check out the Logitech G Pro Wireless.
A Good Microphone
A built-in mic is OK, but it’s not ideal for video chats. First, it’s too close to the speakers, so if the speakers are too loud, it will pick up your coworker’s voices and echo back to them, which can be very distracting. Second, it’s not very good at rejecting sound that’s farther away, so it’ll pick up all the background noise.
If you want your coworkers to really hear you clearly, pick up a better external mic. Choose a dynamic mic rather than a condenser mic. You need to speak directly into a dynamic mic for it to pick up the sound well. That’s a good thing, because it automatically filters out most of the background noise.
I’ve tried a whole lot of mics over the years, and I keep circling back to the Shure Beta 58A. This is a professional mic commonly used by professional musicians on stage, which means it’s not a USB mic. That’s OK.
You’ll need a USB audio interface. My favorite is the Scarlet 2i2. While you’re at it, pick up an adjustable boom stand for the mic. There are good ones that clamp to your desk.
A Good Monitor
The MacBook Pro monitor is great, but even a 16" monitor is a bit small. While I’m coding, I usually have a browser and terminal on one screen, and an IDE on the other. Having plenty of screen real-estate can help you be up to 20% more productive. It’s worth splurging on a nice ultra wide. While you’re at it, pick up a desk mountable, adjustable stand. My favorite is the VARIDESK Vari Monitor arm + Laptop Stand.
Headphones
If your surroundings are loud, first, remember your coworkers and mute yourself when you’re not talking. Second, you may want to block out the noise for yourself. A pair of comfortable, over-ear, closed-back headphones might come in handy. It’s hard to do better than the Beyerdynamic DT 1770 Pro.
If you are in a particularly noisy environment you may want to get some cans with active noise canceling. Many of those also offer wireless connectivity. The Sennheiser Momentum 3 offers best-in-class sound and a more natural sound signature helps you avoid ear fatigue. It also offers a transparent mode so you can have conversations or hear your surroundings without taking them off.
Sometimes you might want to tune into a meeting without looking like you’re hiding in some gigantic over-ear headphones. Sennheiser has you covered with the Momentum True Wireless Earbuds. I find these far more comfortable than the ubiquitous Apple AirPods. Despite their popularity, AirPods don’t comfortably fit all ears, don’t offer different size or ear shape options, and can’t hold a candle to Sennheiser on comfort or sound quality.
If you don’t need the noise isolation, the AKG K 701 will let your ears breathe and offer more transparent, detailed, expansive sound than any of the other options here. If you’re looking for the best sound quality to enjoy some great sounding music while you work, with great comfort and build quality, these are the ones to buy.
Sick of headphones? Check out the Beats Pill+ bluetooth speaker. It’s hard to believe such great sound can come out of such a small package. Compact, loud, and plenty of punch.
Lights
For best results, you don’t want a big window with bright sunlight directly behind you. Your indoor lighting won’t be able to compete with the sun, and your face will be lost in shadow on your video calls. Instead, you want good illumination. I used to use a pair of brightness and color adjustable LED panel desk lamps which I set up on the left and right sides of my desk. Now I use desk mountable LED panels to free up desk space.
The panels are bigger, which makes it possible to position them a little further away and retain the softness. They also get brighter than the lamps, so they can more easily compete with and overpower a bright background, like a window.
Many people make the mistake of skipping the lights. Don’t make that mistake. Good lighting is an inexpensive way to dramatically improve the experience of video calls. Even an inexpensive lamp can make a dramatic difference.
A Good Chair
You’re going to spend a lot of time sitting. You need a good chair. My favorite is the Herman Miller Aeron chair. I would say it’s the Rolls-Royce of office chairs, but it’s not about luxury. It’s about posture, comfort, and health. A cheap chair could lead to far more expensive back trouble. Besides, it looks a lot more professional than a gaming chair.
A Good Desk
You’ll want a desk with space for a dual monitor. Bonus: The ability to sit or stand. We love a good height adjustable standing desk. If you’re standing up a lot, you’ll want an anti-fatigue standing mat. | https://medium.com/javascript-scene/gear-up-for-remote-work-d93cf61300f | ['Eric Elliott'] | 2020-12-16 03:54:45.173000+00:00 | ['Remote Work', 'Covid 19', 'Gadgets', 'Technology', 'Coronavirus'] |
From Blockchain to DAG: Getting Rid of Middlemen | This is a talk I gave on October 31 at Decentralized conference in Athens. I believe it is the best introduction to DAG so far that clearly shows what DAG stands for and why it excels blockchain.
Special thanks goes out to the University of Nicosia for organizing Decentralized, and for their work in promoting DLT as a whole. In fact, we are very pleased to announce that Obyte and the Institute for the Future of the University of Nicosia have agreed a partnership in which UNIC will be a candidate to become the next independent witness on the Obyte network, and their research department will be studying, testing and validating the Obyte network and consensus mechanism.
Below is a transcript of the talk.
I’ll tell you about using Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) for building distributed ledgers and how it compares to blockchain.
DAG is not a new thing in crypto. You perhaps have already heard about it and most likely it was praised as a solution to blockchain’s scalability problems.
But I will not talk about scalability. I’ll talk about what makes crypto different from what was before crypto: about decentralization, disintermediation, censorship resistance.
And I’ll show that DAG is more disintermediated and more censorship resistant than blockchain.
In blockchains, you as a user do not have direct access to the ledger. When you want to add a transaction to the ledger, you can’t do it yourself, you have to go through the block producers, the miners. It is miners who get to decide if your transaction gets into the next block. It is miners who have exclusive access to blocks and have the power to accept or not accept your transaction.
Miners are middlemen that stand between you and the ledger.
And in practice, there is usually a small number of miners or mining pools that collectively control more than half of the mining power. It is only 4 pools in Bitcoin and 2 pools in Ethereum. Should they collude, they could block any individual transaction from entering the blocks.
Over the years, many blockchain designs have been proposed that vary in how the block producers are selected. But block producers still serve as gatekeepers: every transaction has to pass through a block producer and if a block producer didn’t accept it, it doesn’t exist.
This is a problem that is inevitable in blockchains. And in order to solve it, rather than inventing another way to select block producers, we have to radically change the design and get rid of blocks and block producers completely. And instead of connecting blocks, we connect transactions directly by having each transaction include a hash of one or more previous transactions. As a result, the transactions get connected into a structure that is known in mathematics as a Directed Acyclic Graph — DAG.
Now, the access to the ledger is completely direct, disintermediated. It doesn’t depend on any third parties, any middlemen. When you want to add a transaction to the ledger, you just add it. Select a few parent transactions, add your own data, sign, and broadcast to peers. Done. There is nobody who could stop you from doing so, and your transaction is already in the ledger.
It is the most decentralized, most disintermediated, most censorship resistant way of accepting transactions into a ledger. Because everybody just adds his transactions to the ledger without asking for anybody’s permission.
You can think of DAG as the 3rd stage of the evolution of ledgers. First, there were centralized ledgers where a single party was a gatekeeper. Then, came blockchains, where a few gatekeepers accept transactions into the ledger. Finally, in DAG, there are no gatekeepers at all, users add their transactions directly.
Now, with so much freedom, it should not be chaos, all nodes should still agree about the state of the ledger. And agreement, or consensus, generally means an agreement about two things:
what happened;
in what order.
The first part is easy: once a properly composed transaction is added to the ledger by anybody, it happened. Period. It can reach different nodes at different moments in time but still it will eventually reach all nodes and all nodes will know that the transaction did happen.
If it were a blockchain, the miners would decide what happened. Whatever a miner decides to include into a block, did happen. What he didn’t include into his block — didn’t happen.
In blockchains, miners also decide about the second part of consensus: the order. They are allowed to order transactions within a block as they like.
How do we determine order in a DAG?
Just because it is a DAG, we already have a lot of order. Every transaction references one or more parents. Parents, in turn, reference their own parents, and so on. Parents obviously come before children. If one transaction can be reached from the other through parent-child links, we know the order between those two transactions.
The order doesn’t directly follow from the DAG structure when two transactions lie on parallel branches of the DAG.
To resolve this ambiguity, we rely on so called order providers. We also call them witnesses. Order providers are regular users who are supposed to post their own transactions frequently enough and only in order, that is their previous transaction can be reached through child-parent links from their next transaction. Order providers are trusted to not break this rule, and in order to rationally trust them, we require them to be individuals or organizations with known identities and to have something to lose in case they misbehave, such as reputation or a business that is based on trust.
Order providers are selected by users and every user includes a list of order providers he trusts in every transaction he posts. The list includes 12 order providers, the number is small enough so that users can realistically know the identities of all 12, and the number is large enough so that the system survives random failures of a minority of the order providers.
The lists of order providers can vary from user to user but the lists in the neighboring transactions can only differ by one position.
Now that we have order providers, we can highlight their transactions on the DAG and order all other transactions around the order created by the order providers. It is possible to create such an algorithm (see the white paper for technical details).
However the order is not established immediately, we have to wait for some time until the order providers post enough transactions to be certain about the order of the past transactions.
And since the order is determined solely by positions of order provider transactions on the DAG, all nodes will eventually receive all transactions and arrive at the same view of the order of transactions.
So, we have an agreement about what happened: we agree that every posted transaction is accepted, and we have an agreement about the order of events: it is either evident from the shape of the DAG or is established by looking at transactions posted by order providers. Therefore, we have a consensus.
This is the type of consensus we have in Obyte. And although the admission into the ledger is totally decentralized, order provision in Obyte is currently still centralized as 10 out of 12 order providers are still controlled by the founder, that is me, only 2 are independent. And we are looking for candidates willing to serve as order providers and help us decentralize order provision. (Update of July 2020: order provision is also decentralized now with 7 out of 12 order providers being independent, see our blog article Obyte Achieves Full Decentralization by Adding University of Nicosia as an Independent Order Provider.)
And I’m happy to say that the University of Nicosia is currently setting up their order provider node and is going to be a candidate.
Next, how do we resolve double-spends?
We agree that when there are two transactions trying to spend the same coin, the one that comes earlier in the established consensus order, wins. The other is invalidated by the consensus algorithm.
In case there is a partial order between two double-spends, the order is immediately obvious and everyone just rejects the double-spend attempt.
In case there is no partial order between them, their order is not immediately obvious. The protocol prescribes to accept both and wait until it becomes possible to establish their order relative to transactions from order providers. Then, the earlier one wins, and the later one becomes invalidated.
Although invalidated, the failed double-spend transaction still stays on the ledger because it is already connected to neighboring transactions that didn’t break any rules and didn’t know that this transaction would become a double-spend, and orphaning these innocent transactions would break our fundamental rule that every valid transaction is accepted.
This is again a very important rule that makes the whole system strongly censorship resistant.
Indeed, assume that all the order providers collude in an attempt to censor a specific transaction. They can refuse to accept it as a parent in their own transactions. But it’s not enough, the transaction can still be included indirectly, as a parent of some other transaction issued by some other user who does not participate in censorship. And once the unwelcome transaction is posted, it quickly acquires a lot of children and grandchildren, their number grows like a snowball, and the colluding order providers would also have to censor all those transactions in order to censor a single victim transaction. Ultimately, the entire network would have to be censored, and instead of censorship the conspirators commit sabotage.
To conclude, DAG stays censorship resistant even in case order providers collude and is therefore more censorship resistant than a blockchain, which fails in similar conditions. And this follows from the main property of DAG: that admission into the ledger is totally disintermediated and irreversible. | https://blog.obyte.org/from-blockchain-to-dag-getting-rid-of-middlemen-28afa7563545 | [] | 2020-09-13 09:20:16.983000+00:00 | ['Distributed Ledgers', 'Dag', 'Obyte', 'Blockchain', 'Decentralization'] |
Spirituality of My Ancient Ancestors | On my quest to connect with the practices of my ancient ancestors, I discovered more information than I ever imagined existed. Indigenous Celtic spirituality, it turns out, is a thing.
There is evidence from 5,000 years ago that suggests people in Western Europe practiced a spirituality rooted in reverence for the earth and her creatures. Their religion was not expressed in sacred texts but through the experience of being attuned to the land and sky, the changing seasons, the power of the mountains and rivers, the vastness of the stars, the movements of the sun and moon. These early religions were instinctual and grounded in intuition. The people invoked a sense of awe and wonder at the power of life itself and of death. They were amazed by each type of animal, plant, tree, landscape.
For the Celts specifically, regions and tribes of people developed a spirituality based on their relationships with the land, and local sites became ritual places. Gods and goddesses were guardians of those places. Over time, groups began to interact with their neighbors, stories and deities were shared, some subsided and others persisted and spread. Practices included the use of music and chanting, the belief in animal spirits as guides in the Otherworld, honoring the four directions, sweat houses for healing, a reverence for all living things.
Like other indigenous streams of wisdom, Celtic spirituality was an oral tradition. Place was especially important. We know that in 3200 BCE, Newgrange was built in Ireland’s Boyne Valley. It is an enormous tomb with an entryway that leads into a chamber with three alcoves where bones were found. The passage and chamber are illuminated with light as the sun rises each year on the Winter Solstice. It is physical evidence of the ancestors’ understanding of the cycles of the year and the sun, along with their appreciation of the people who lived and died before them.
History shows that in about 2000 BCE there were Mystery Schools in Egypt, Greece, Rome and Albion (now called Britain). The last one influenced and taught my people, most certainly, as it was prevalent in Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England. It is likely that the teachings were called druidry.
At first glance, indigenous Celtic/Druid practices look much like Native American practices. There is speculation that the ancient ones met each other somehow, but scholars believe it is more likely that Nature was the common teacher, and her message was universal and clear.
From about 450 CE until the sixteenth century, indigenous Celtic spirituality seemingly went underground. Then in the sixteenth century, scholars in Europe ‘rediscovered’ the Druids, and began to reclaim their Celtic heritage.
I learned much of this using Wikipedia (a useful resource, admittedly), and then a friend told me about www.druidry.com. I compared it to other modern schools of Druidry, talked to several folks who were members, and decided to give their program a try. Every month I get a packet of lessons — myths, meditations, prayers, rituals, music. I’m part of a local “grove” which is the term for group. (I can’t believe that my maiden name is Groves.) I feel like part of myself has been reclaimed. It’s as if I’ve come home.
There are many ways to explore your own indigenous spiritual roots. Google searches and Wikipedia are places to start. For example, “What was the religion of people in Germany before Christianity?” “What was the first religion in Russia?” And so on.
Or maybe when you go to your current house of worship, you can remember that people have been gathering to invoke spiritual power for more than 5,000 years, and you can imagine your own ancestors doing so.
One of my Unitarian Universalist colleagues wrote a “call to worship” that describes just that. I close with it.
For Five Thousand Years, Or More
By Matthew Johnson
For five thousand years, or more,
more than fifteen thousand generations,
human beings have been invoking spiritual power.
My predecessors, and yours,
have gathered together
to make sense of their lives
and their place in the cosmos.
And they have spoken aloud,
and invited what they conceived as sacred and powerful to be with them.
They called upon the spirits of air and earth, fire and water.
They called the bear and dear.
They asked for the raven to protect them.
They pleaded for the heroes of old to slay the monsters of their fears.
They sang songs they learned from their grandparents, and moved in the appointed ways, or in ways that were new, but felt like the right thing to do.
And they imputed power to these spirits, and to the memories of those heroes.
They called them gods.
And they were invoked.
Vishnu and Kali,
Elohim, Odin, and a hundred million others.
Every group of people,
everywhere:
they gathered to make sense of their lives and to make sense of their place in the cosmos, and they called these spirits to be present to them.
And so do we.
So do we — we gather this morning
to make sense of ourselves and this universe in which we live, as best we are able.
And we call ourselves to worship together, and we invoke the power and wonder of life itself, that to which all those spirits of animals, and memories of heroes pointed the way.
We invoke that power,
which is, we know, always around, always with us, but which we sometimes forget about.
We forget that we are part of the whole of creation.
We forget that we are stardust.
We forget that we are capable of miracles, first among them, that we can love.
We forget these things,
so we invoke the power of existence
so that we can remember.
So we can lift our eyes and open our ears to the true and beautiful.
For five thousand years, or more,
we have done this.
In many tongues, in many ways,
we have done this.
And so we continue that ancient tradition, in our way and in our time, and so let us now worship together.
Sources:
Wikipedia
The Celtic Shaman by John Matthews
The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids — Introduction www.druidry.org | https://medium.com/kelly-dignan/spirituality-of-my-ancient-ancestors-2713e627e751 | ['Kelly Dignan'] | 2020-06-02 19:58:17.147000+00:00 | ['Religion', 'Ancestry', 'Indigenous', 'Druidry', 'Spirituality'] |
3 Easy Tricks to Get Started with Python (and Ditch Excel!) | So you’ve taken the mental leap and want to learn Python — that’s awesome! But where to start?
Let me guide you through tasks you already know how to do in Excel and how to do them in Python!
You’ll be using Pandas, the primary data analysis library in Python.
If you need to install Pandas, you can do this using pip or conda:
pip install pandas
#or
conda install pandas
Pandas loads data into dataframes, which you can think of as Excel sheets.
Let’s load a dataset into a datagram. You can accomplish this by using the following code. We’ll also explore the first five rows by using the Pandas head method:
Generating our dataframe with Pandas. Source: Nik Piepenbreier
To follow along with the tutorial in Excel as well, the file can be found here.
There are a number of differences between Excel sheets and Pandas dataframes. Let’s take a quick look!
Comparing Excel worksheets and Pandas dataframes. Source: Nik Piepenbreier
Ok, now let’s get started!
Filtering, Sort, & Reorder Columns
Excel is a much more visual tool, which makes it easy to click a button that abstracts the function behind what you want to accomplish.
Sort by a Single Column
Sorting a single columns in Excel. Source: Nik Piepenbreier
For example, if you wanted to sort a column in Excel, you could simply:
Select the Data tab,
Highlight the column you want to sort, and
Click Sort A to Z or Sort Z to A.
To do this in Pandas, you would write:
Sorting by a single column in Pandas. Source: Nik Piepenbreier
Sort by Multiple Columns
Sometimes you might want to sort by multiple columns.
Sorting by multiple columns in Excel. Source: Nik Piepenbreier
Again, Excel makes this easy:
Click on the Data tab
Click on Sort
Enter the columns you want to sort by
To do this with Pandas, simply add a list to the “by” argument:
Sorting by multiple columns in Pandas. Source: Nik Piepenbreier
Filtering Columns
Filtering columns is an easy task in Excel! Simply click on the Data tab, then Filter. This creates arrows on all the column headers. When you click on these, simply fill in your selection:
Filtering columns in Excel. Source: Nik Piepenbreier
In Pandas, this is just as easy:
Filtering a column in Pandas. Source: Nik Piepenbreier
What’s great about this, you can also use comparison operators to select more than 10 units, or select based on multiple conditions:
Comparison : You can use > (greater than), < (less than), == (equal to), >= (greater than or equal to), and <= (less than or equal to),
: You can use > (greater than), < (less than), == (equal to), >= (greater than or equal to), and <= (less than or equal to), ‘And’ Conditions : wrap each condition in brackets and separate the brackets with an ampersand (&)
: wrap each condition in brackets and separate the brackets with an ampersand (&) ‘Or’ Conditions: wrap each condition in brackets and separate the brackets with a pipe (|)
Different types of filters in Pandas. Source: Nik Piepenbreier
Reordering Columns
Reordering columns is more of a visual cue for yourself.
To drag a reorder a column in Excel, you’d select the column by click its header, hover on the side until the cursor changes to a four-pointed arrow, then hold the SHIFT key and drag the column to a new position:
Moving a column in Excel. Source: Nik Piepenbreier
To accomplish the same thing in Pandas, you simply write in the order of columns you want to have into a double set of square brackets:
Re-ordering columns in Pandas. Source: Nik Piepenbreier
Pivot Tables (with Percentages)
Pivot tables are one of those things that take you to the next level in Excel.
They allow you to easily summarize data quickly, without needing to rely on complex formulas.
Say you wanted to know the total value of sales in each region, you would:
Select your data and click PivotTable on the Insert Tab and click OK to create your table. Drag Region into the Rows box, and Sales into the values tab. Excel automatically assumes we want to add up the values.
Creating a pivot table in Excel. Source: Nik Piepenbreier
To accomplish the same thing in Pandas, you could simply use the pivot_table function:
Creating a pivot table in Pandas. Source: Nik Piepenbreier
Let’s break this down a little bit:
We create a new variable called pivot.
We use the pandas pivot_table function. Our first argument is the dataframe df.
The index argument is ‘region’, which tells Pandas to create rows based on the ‘Region’ column.
We assign the argument values the field ‘Sales’, to let Pandas know we want to calculate the Sales column.
Finally, we use the aggfunc (‘aggregation function’) argument to tell Pandas to sum up the values. The default value is ‘mean’.
For a deep dive into the Pandas Pivot Table function, check out my other post on Pivot Tables in Pandas.
Show Pivot Table Values as Percentages
You may want to show your values as percentages of the column total. Again, Excel makes this very easy:
Calculating percentages in pivot tables in Excel. Source: Nik Piepenbreier
Simply right-click on a value,
Select Show Values as → % of column total
It’s just as easy to do this in Pandas. The easiest way is to create a new column for this:
Calculating pivot table percentages in Pandas. Source: Nik Piepenbreier
Let’s take a look at what’s happening:
We declare a new column by using pivot[‘% of column total’] — this assigns the name ‘% of column total’ to the column
We then divide each value in the row (pivot[‘sales’]) by the sum of the entire column (pivot[‘sales’]sum()) and multiply it by 100
Creating Charts
Creating a chart in Excel. Source: Nik Piepenbreier
Now, what if you wanted to create some charts, this is incredibly easy in both Excel and in Python.
Let’s look at Excel first. If you want to plot this pivot table out as a column graph:
Place your pointer on one of the cells in the table,
Go to Insert → 2-D Column Chart
In Pandas, this is even easier. Pandas comes with one of Python’s top data visualization libraries functionality built-in. It’s as easy as adding .plot(kind = ‘bar’) to the end of your code:
Creating a chart in Pandas and Matplotlib. Source: Nik Piepenbreier
This might look a little daunting. Let’s break it down:
Import pyplot from matplotlib as plt
Re-write your earlier code (lines 2–3)
Now plot out the ‘Sales’ column and assign a kind = ‘bar’ as an argument
Finally, save the file by using the savefig method.
Note: if you’re using Jupyter notebooks, you can display the chart inline by writing this code after importing your library:
%matplotlib inline
Bonus Tip: Format Values Properly
While you’re working with data, it may be helpful to format your values properly.
Formatting your data in Excel. Source: Nik Piepenbreier
For example, formatting currencies as dollars (etc.) or percentages as percentages.
To do this in Excel, you would:
Select the values you want to format,
Under the Home tab in the Number section, select your desired type
Pandas hides this away a little bit, which is something that can stump newcomers quite a bit.
An easy way to accomplish this would be using the apply() function. What this function does is take a series and apply another function to it. The function being applied would be the one formatting the values.
If you wanted to format the Sales column in the pivot dataframe, you could write:
Formatting values in Pandas. Source: Nik Piepenbreier
This might seem a little round-up (and it is), but it does give you a ton of flexibility in terms of how you style your data. Let’s take a closer look:
We define a function called format() that takes one argument (x)
The function only serves to return a formatted value using string formats in a particular format.
The ${:,.2f} part represents the actual formatting. The colon (:) is used to signify the beginning of the formatting, the comma (,) is used to signal comma separators for thousands, and the .2 signals two decimal places.
This notation can be a little tricky to get used to and I tend to google the style I want and copy and paste it.
Similarly, if you wanted to stay percentages, you could write:
Formatting percentages in Pandas. Source: Nik Piepenbreier
In this code, we created another function called format_percent() and went through similar steps as above.
Note: The ‘% of column total’ column has been amended to not multiply the value by 100. This is because the formatter does this automatically.
Where You Can Learn More
Thank you so much for reading this article! I hope you found it useful!
I have written a number of articles that explain how to take on common and advanced Excel tasks in Python, if you want to check them out!
If you’re ready to take the plunge into Python and Pandas, I have also written an eBook that provides a complete introduction to Python, Pandas, and Matplotlib and will have you up and running in no time!
You can find it by clicking this link.
Have a great day! | https://towardsdatascience.com/get-started-with-python-and-ditch-excel-85e7f67318b | ['Nik Piepenbreier'] | 2020-05-25 04:12:33.753000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Python', 'Software Development', 'Coding', 'Data'] |
Novel Ideas to Supercharge Your Meetings | When you ask someone what they do for a living, it’s not likely that they’ll answer with “Well, I sit in meetings all day.” But when you look at the average businessperson’s schedule, it’s clear that meetings make up a substantial part of many jobs — especially for those in leadership.
Meetings are often dismissed as a waste of time, but meetings that have a clear purpose and are well run can actually make things go more smoothly and save time.
And what happens after those meetings is just as important.
Dealing with meetings is a frequent topic in my work with hundreds of organizations as a leader. I’ve devised a simple system to help my clients have the kind of meetings they need for the best results possible.
An important part of that system is ending a meeting.
Here are the three things you need to make sure you do before adjourning any meeting:
Confirm key decisions
Make sure everyone is on the same page about any decisions that were made. It’s important that everyone comes away with a shared understanding because it will help focus everyone to move in the same direction. You can ensure this by putting two quick questions to the group:
What topics did we discuss?
What decisions did we confirm?
Agree upon the next action steps
Have everyone agree upon the next steps and what actions will be taken. Make it clear that you expect each step to be fulfilled as agreed upon, and that any changes or unforeseen obstacles need to be discussed as soon as they emerge. Ask the group these questions related to the next steps:
What was agreed upon for the next steps?
What are the deadlines?
Create commitments
Be clear about the commitments and responsibilities that are made during the meeting so you can follow up by sending everyone involved a communication about the key objectives and action items. The goal is for everyone to commit to accomplishing their tasks on schedule. Make sure to assign someone to check in at appropriate intervals to ensure that the commitments are being kept and, when necessary, re-evaluated in light of unexpected issues. These three questions ensure that commitments are understood:
Who is responsible for what?
How will we communicate this information?
Who will conduct the follow-up?
One of the biggest complaints I have from the leaders I coach is that they spend much too much time in meetings, leaving them with less time to do their jobs. But I’ve seen firsthand that a good system for meetings can limit distractions and keep everyone focused on what needs to get done so you get the results you want. | https://medium.com/@mikeschoultz/novel-ideas-to-supercharge-your-meetings-7978ca3fc1ae | ['Mike Schoultz'] | 2020-11-27 12:51:07.233000+00:00 | ['Events', 'Meetings', 'Ideas'] |
The Best Cruise Lines in 2019 | Last year, Cruiseline.com members submitted over 30,000 verified reviews for cruises sailing from the Caribbean to the South Pacific and everywhere in between. We used this massive collection of valuable input to determine the cruise lines you should be looking into for your 2019 adventures.
Best Overall Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean (4.32 / 5)
See The Best Cruises From Royal Caribbean
Runners-Up
2. Carnival Cruise Line — 4.32 / 5
3. Celebrity Cruises — 4.31 / 5
4. Disney Cruise Line — 4.28 / 5
5. Princess Cruises — 4.26 / 5
After coming out on top for three years straight, Celebrity was finally overtaken by Royal Caribbean for the honors of Best Cruise Line. The competition had always been close since Celebrity claimed the title from Royal in 2016, but Royal’s recent efforts — including Symphony of the Seas, the new largest cruise ship in the world — were enough to put the line known for their “go big or go home” approach to cruising back on top.
As dramatic as Royal’s victory was, perhaps the biggest surprise here was Carnival’s strong second-place finish. After years of not even placing in the top 5, they surged forward and beat out upscale lines like Celebrity and Princess, nearly winning it all in the process. Their strong showing is at least in part due to the excellent reception of their new ship, Carnival Horizon, which is already averaging an excellent 4.3+ rating after 474 reviews.
Best Cruise Line For First-Timers: Royal Caribbean (4.52 / 5)
See The Best Cruises From Disney Cruise Line
Runners-Up
2. Celebrity Cruises — 4.522 / 5
3. Carnival Cruise Line — 4.46 / 5
4. Princess Cruises — 4.39 / 5
5. Norwegian Cruise Line — 4.30 / 5
After dominating the First-Timers category with wins in 2015, 2016 and 2017, Royal Caribbean was ousted by Disney in 2018. This year, Disney failed to place while Royal just barely reclaimed the top spot by one one-thousandth of a point. Princess and Carnival swapped their third and fourth-place spots, while Norwegian knocked off Holland America to move up to fifth.
Best Line For Singles & Friends: Celebrity Cruises (4.39 / 5)
See The Best Cruises From Celebrity Cruises
Runners-Up
2. Royal Caribbean — 4.37 / 5
3. Carnival Cruise Line — 4.34 / 5
4. Holland America — 4.30 / 5
5. Princess Cruises — 4.29 / 5
Celebrity’s refined yet relaxed style made it the preferred line of single and solo cruisers for the second year in a row. Royal Caribbean and Carnival also made significant gains: Royal moved up from fifth to second, while Carnival finished third after not ranking at all last year.
With Norwegian’s continued focus on single travelers and a large number of Studio staterooms on their newest and biggest ships, we were surprised they didn’t rank.
Best Line For Couples: Celebrity Cruises (4.37 / 5)
See The Best Cruises From Celebrity Cruises
Runners-Up
2. Royal Caribbean — 4.36 / 5
3. Carnival Cruise Line — 4.33 / 5
4. Cunard — 4.29 / 5
5. Holland America — 4.28 / 5
Despite being known as a line that puts kids first, last year Disney won a surprise upset victory in the Best Line for Couples category. The feat proved difficult to replicate, however, with Disney failing to rank in the top 5 and Celebrity reclaiming its top spot, adding to its wins from 2017 and 2016 wins. Royal Caribbean also made a notable step forward as the moved from fifth to second, just one one-hundredth of a point behind Celebrity.
Best Line For Families With Young Children: Disney Cruise Line (4.39 / 5)
See The Best Cruises From Disney Cruise Line
Runners-Up
2. Princess Cruises — 4.39 / 5
3. Royal Caribbean — 4.30 / 5
4. Carnival Cruise Line — 4.27 / 5
5. MSC Cruises — 4.22 / 5
Despite falling in several other categories, Disney continues to be the undisputed best line for kids, handily winning the category with the largest margin we’ve seen so far. Celebrity fell dramatically from second place last year, failing to rank at all. Princess, Royal and Carnival each moved up one slot, while MSC made notable gains to take the #5 slot.
Best Line For Families With Teens: Royal Caribbean (4.36 / 5)
See The Best Cruises From Royal Caribbean
Runners-Up
2. Celebrity Cruises — 4.34 / 5
3. Carnival Cruise Line — 4.31 / 5
4. Disney Cruise Line — 4.28 / 5
5. Princess Cruises — 4.27 / 5
Royal Caribbean’s focus on keeping cruisers active is often overwhelmingly popular with restless teens, which is why we we had to double check our numbers last year when Disney came in first while Royal barely squeezed onto the board with a fifth-place finish. Things seemed to normalize this year, with Royal, Celebrity and Carnival claiming the top three spots, and Disney falling to number four.
Best Line For Large Groups: Celebrity Cruises (4.37 / 5)
See The Best Cruises From Celebrity Cruises
Runners-Up
2. Royal Caribbean — 4.35 / 5
3. Holland America Line — 4.289 / 5
4. Carnival Cruise Line — 4.288 / 5
5. Princess Cruises — 4.27 / 5
Celebrity again demonstrated its multi-generational appeal by repeating their 2018 win in the Best Line for Large Groups category. MSC fell from #2 to unranked, while Royal showed more improvements by moving from fourth to second.
The following lines were considered for Best Overall Cruise Line: Carnival, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, Disney, Celebrity, Princess, MSC, and Holland America. | https://medium.com/@Cruiseline.com/the-best-cruise-lines-in-2019-c50c2d084c2 | [] | 2019-03-12 18:46:36.070000+00:00 | ['Cruises', 'Vacation', 'Travel', 'Travel Tips', 'Traveling'] |
Quick Tips to Boost Your Self-confidence | Quick Tips to Boost Your Self-confidence
Image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay
Self-confident people have a can-do attitude that helps others see them as competent, capable professionals. They believe that they can meet and overcome obstacles and are willing to face challenges. Those with low self-confidence tend to avoid challenges. They are unsure of their abilities to succeed or have a set of beliefs that stop them from trying. On the extreme end of self-confidence is arrogance and an unrealistic belief in how much can be achieved. The right amount of self-confidence is necessary if you want to succeed in your chosen profession or business.
Self-confidence starts with the right mindset, and that’s where we’ll start.
Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck conducted a series of experiments on mindset and discovered two distinct types: fixed and growth. Each affects what you believe you can achieve and how much effort you are willing to put into a task.
Fixed Mindset. People with a fixed mindset believe that their abilities are limited and cannot be changed. Success goes to those who are born lucky or who have natural, innate talents. They believe that growth is not possible. The glass is half-empty.
Growth Mindset. Those with a growth mindset believe that change and growth are always possible. Everyone can learn and master new skills by putting in the effort. Mistakes are teachers that show us how to be better next time. It doesn’t matter if the glass is half-full or half-empty; the glass is refillable.
Please understand that neither mindset is wrong. If you have a fixed mindset and are fine with that, you don’t have to change. However, if you want to boost your self-confidence, it’s to your advantage to shift over to a growth mindset since it fosters confidence. If you already have a growth mindset, you may suffer setbacks that cause you to doubt yourself.
Now, let’s look at a strategy for shifting into a growth mindset. This might feel uncomfortable at first, and that’s okay. Just take it slow and steady.
Choose something that interests you and that you would like to learn or improve. It could be anything from cooking to learning a language to refinishing a dresser.
Set a small, achievable goal around this interest. For example, if you’re interested in cooking, don’t set a goal of learning how to cook a five-course meal. Instead, aim for learning basic knife or seasoning skills. Don’t try to master Italian; start with learning a few phrases you can use at your favorite Italian restaurant. You want to set yourself up for an easy success.
Take one, small, action step toward the goal. It might be reading a book, taking a three-hour class, or just talking to someone who is considered an expert.
Let yourself make mistakes. Remember, people with a growth mindset view mistakes as learning opportunities. When you are trying new things, expect to make mistakes. Don’t beat yourself up or give up. Shift how you view it and ask, “What can I learn from this to improve next time?”
Give yourself credit for trying and for achieving a milestone.
To cultivate more of a growth mindset, start by answering these questions:
What is one skill that interests you and that you want to improve or learn? Set one, small, achievable goal for this skill. What is the first action step you can take toward this goal? When will you take it? Put it on your calendar.
Excerpted from How to Improve Your Self-confidence an e-course in 10, short, daily lessons and action plans.
Course plan Lesson 1. Cultivate a Confident Mindset
Lesson 2. Know and Appreciate Your Strengths and Skills
Lesson 3. Keep a Weekly Accomplishment Journal
Lesson 4. Be Prepared
Lesson 5. Showcase Your Abilities without Bragging
Lesson 6. Defend Your Ideas without Becoming Defensive
Lesson 7. Communicate with Confidence
Lesson 8. Turn Mistakes into Opportunities
Lesson 9. Keep Learning and Growing
Lesson 10. Set Big Goals But Take Small Steps
Visit GoHighbrow.com to enroll.
Note: I am paid a royalty by GoHighbrow.com for my e-courses. | https://medium.com/becoming-unstoppable/quick-tips-to-boost-your-self-confidence-739623065663 | ['Patricia Haddock'] | 2020-12-22 22:29:12.177000+00:00 | ['Self Confidence', 'Personal Development', 'Professional Development', 'Self-awareness', 'Self Improvement'] |
I Miss Being a Fundamentalist | I’ll level with you. Although I have no intention of ever being part of the big conservative evangelical church scene ever again, there are actually times when I miss it. Some of these feelings are purely nostalgic, and others a harkening back to when faith was simple, when everything made sense, and there was no question that I did not have a satisfactory answer to.
Then life happened.
It exposed the flaws and frailties, and limitations of religious fundamentalism and left me with more answers than questions. Maybe that’s ok. But, in my weakest moments, I recall — with a mix of fondness and disdain — why I sometimes miss it! Here are a few of those reasons:
It was nice to be part of ‘the club’
The conservative Evangelical church is a first, and foremost, a belonging system. Within its four walls and steepled roof, the church provided an oasis of safety and predictability, tucked away from the dangers of the big, bad world — which we knew from our Sunday school teacher was hopelessly depraved, wicked beyond measure, and ultimately perishing in the fires of Hell.
We grew up surrounded by other children. We played together, and when we got older, our children played together. We were each other’s groomsmen and bridesmaids. We shared many meals around many tables. We were friends. We belonged. And it felt nice.
And all that was required to be part of the club was wearing relatively modest clothing, not swearing or drinking too much, and intellectual assent to a bunch of spiritual ‘truths.’ As long as you didn’t mention the problem of human suffering, your general discomfort with the idea that a loving God might create people and predestine them for destruction, your slightly liberal political leanings on matters of abortion or gay marriage, or your belief that maybe there was an evolutionary process involved in the creation of the world, then you remained part of the club. Easy!
Of course, once I became aware that much of my experience of religion was simply a quest for social order, group cohesion, and personal belonging, I understood why I was not experiencing any of the transformative power that it purports to offer.
It’s easier to view the world in black and white
Life is really easier when you can neatly place everything into a two-columned table with one column labeled “good” and the other column labeled “bad.” You can bet your bottom dollar that I had my two lists sorted out in my mind.
The problem came when I started meeting people that the church told me were wicked and sinful, and they actually seemed like decent people who were doing their very best. My black and white view of the world was eventually swallowed up in compassionate acceptance, as I heard the stories of individuals in their personal struggles, and I came to accept the personal struggles in myself. Still, labeling everything and everyone is easier, right?
The kind of thinking that reduces everything down to just two options, where one is the right way and one is the wrong way, is known as dualism. Dualism is essentially binary, either/or thinking. It knows by comparison, opposition, and differentiation. It uses descriptive words like good/evil, black/white, in/out, not realizing there may be a hundred degrees between the two ends of each spectrum.
Dualistic thinking works well for the sake of simplification and conversation, but not for the sake of truth or the immense subtlety of actual personal experience. To put it simply, this kind of thinking takes no account of the individual person, which is exactly the opposite approach to that of Jesus Christ.
Image by By Natasa Adzic on Shutterstock (purchased with license)
Moral superiority is good for one’s ego
“Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this p‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people — cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector.” Luke 18:9–11
I am ashamed to say that, as a younger man, I sent up a few prayers thanking God that I was not like ‘this person’ or ‘that person.’ This was certainly the result of being brought up in a system with such clear boundaries to demarcate who was ‘in’ and who was ‘out’ — more binary thinking! Still, it feels good to feel that one is good. It feels even better to feel that one is better than someone else. My own ego was stoked by the fact that I didn't drink too much, swear too much, or jerk too much (yes, this is what it really came down to when I was a teenager).
I completely failed to recognize that I was living out this heartless, cold, and arrogant brand of self-righteousness — the kind that looks down on others and judges others while simultaneously congratulating oneself on having it all together (which, in reality, was another lie that I told myself).
I have come to realize that true spirituality is actually the death of one’s ego, along with anything that one uses to prop it up — including spiritual action and activity.
It’s easier to take the Bible literally than to view it critically
I was taught that the Bible was 100%, without doubt, the pure, perfect, inerrant word of God himself. Still, I couldn’t understand how anything written by human hands could possibly be called pure and perfect. Perhaps you are different, but I have never met a person, in all my days, who came to a task with complete impartiality and neutrality. Every author has a bias — even this one!
Sure, I believe that the Holy Spirit can inspire someone to write something. As a writer myself, I want to believe that! Therefore, I believe that the Bible we have in our hands is good, helpful, powerful, and inspired. But perfect? I struggle with that.
I wish I didn’t struggle. It would certainly be easier to take the Bible literally. Many fundamentalist Christians tend to do that, but I feel that this is a lazy approach. The Bible was written in a completely different time, culture, and context to our own. It contains cultural and linguistic nuances that are difficult for us to interpret and grasp through the lens of our 21st-century world view. It deserves careful and proper consideration and study.
Should we continue to stone adulterers to death? Yes or no? Biblical law says, “Yes,” but then Jesus Christ said, “No!” What do I make of this contradiction?
Nonetheless, let’s imagine for a moment that the Bible is, in fact, the perfect and divinely inspired word of God. Why is it that the same powerful Scripture that leads one person to a greater love is mangled and misused by others? It is simply in how it is interpreted, and that it is largely dependant on the heart of the reader.
Photo by Samantha Sophia on Unsplash
I miss the spiritual benefits of being a white, middle-aged heterosexual male
Imagine a scenario where every time you opened your mouth to speak, what you had to say was respected not based on your knowledge, skills, or qualifications, but simply because you are a white, middle-aged, heterosexual male. Welcome to the world of conservative evangelicalism.
In the real world, you have to demonstrate your value to your workplace or company by doing things like being competent, working hard, and being a good team player — that’s if you ever hope to move up the “food chain.” By contrast, in the last church I attended, virtually any older, married man who had been attending the church for a while was considered a suitable candidate for a position on the church board, regardless of any evidence to the contrary. Simultaneously, many much more competent people were overlooked because they were either too young or too female or both.
The church leadership ensured that this arrangement carried on in perpetuity by using an obscure passage from the biblical book of Titus 1:6:
To be an elder, a man must not be guilty of living in a wrong way. He must be faithful to his wife, children must be faithful to God.
They took this verse to mean that men and only men — specifically married men — can be church leaders— another example of taking a biblical text, removing it from its original cultural context, and applying it verbatim to the modern-day (but only when it suits). I still see good churchmen trimming their beards despite the clear command of Leviticus 19:27. I suppose we only really uphold the Biblical commands to help us to maintain power and control, rather than the ones that personally inconvenience us.
Conspiracy theories make fine entertainment
Fundamentalism is often associated with belief in conspiracy theories — so much so that there even exists a Wikipedia page to support the assertion! It must be true!
My friend at work calls Christians “Flat-earthers,” even after trying to explain that not all Christians are conspiracy theorists. Still, I don't blame him for settling on this label. How could I when back in 2013, the Guardian reported that one in four Americans believed that Barack Obama might be the anti-Christ who was secreting plotting to rule the USA by Sharia Law? I guess that didn’t eventuate… at least not yet!
More recently, Christian “COVID-19 denialists” have come out of the woodwork, like 66-year-old Christian “musical evangelist” Landon Spradlin, who claimed on social media that Coronavirus was nothing more than media-led mass hysteria designed to damage President Trump’s re-election chances. He died of COVID-19 a few days later. How very sad that Mr. Spradlin’s faith didn’t grant him access to his common sense. Sadly, fundamentalism is fertile soil for gullibility and denial of scientific fact.
As for me, I never got into conspiracy theories, but I confess that I sure enjoyed having conversations with people who did.
Image by By Feng Yu on Shutterstock (purchased with license)
Pot Luck suppers are charming
This one definitely falls into the ‘nostalgic’ category.
There was one thing that the church was good at. It was food. The food was always good. Is it any wonder that Christians, on average, are more likely to be overweight than non-Christians?
Whenever I gathered with other Christians, there seemed to be food involved. Potluck suppers were common fare. The spread after the Sunday morning service was something to behold. And every mid-week Bible study was accompanied by decadent treats and excellent coffee. We couldn’t open our Bible without opening a packet of potato chips as well.
Christians even call this excuse to gather and eat by its own special name — ‘fellowship.’ The word ‘fellowship’ makes organized gluttony sound like religious exercise that enriches one’s soul — enlarging one’s faith as well as one’s waistline.
I confess; I miss gathering around tables for good food with generally nice people. I miss the human connection and conversation. When I was involved in the church, it was at least a weekly event. Nowadays, it is an occasional indulgence. Perhaps that is one thing we can learn from the church?
But I couldn’t go back…
There is a quote, commonly attributed to St Augustine, that says, “The church is a whore but she is still my mother.” This is how I feel. The Church raised me from childhood, despite her own dysfunction. She taught me many things. In many respects, She did her best.
But, while I miss the food, these days I cannot stomach much of the rest of what the conservative church is offering. It needs to change and I’m determined to be part of that change because free from the constraints of organized religion, I have found Christianity personally life-giving and existentially satisfying. I am only sad that I didn’t discover that until I left behind my conservative, fundamentalist roots.
Still, sometimes I miss it. | https://medium.com/backyard-theology/i-miss-being-a-fundamentalist-b99654793772 | ['Dan Foster'] | 2020-12-14 00:10:46.058000+00:00 | ['Christianity', 'Spirituality', 'Faith', 'Church', 'Religion'] |
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Livestreaming, what’s in it for us?
Technology has advanced significantly since the first internet livestream but we still turn to video for almost everything. Let’s take a brief look at why livestreaming has been held back so far, and what tech innovations will propel livestreaming to the forefront of internet culture. Right now livestreaming is limited to just a few applications for mass public use and the rest are targeted towards businesses. Livestreaming is to today what home computers were in the early 1980s. The world of livestreaming is waiting for a metaphorical VIC-20, a very popular product that will make live streaming as popular as video through iterations and competition.
Shared Video
Do you remember when YouTube wasn’t the YouTube you know today? In 2005, when Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim activated the domain “www.youtube.com" they had a vision. Inspired by the lack of easily accessible video clips online, the creators of YouTube saw a world where people could instantly access videos on the internet without having to download files or search for hours for the right clip. Allegedly inspired by the site “Hot or Not”, YouTube originally began as a dating site (think 80s video dating), but without a large ingress of dating videos, they opted to accept any video submission. And as we all know, that fateful decision changed all of our lives forever. Because of YouTube, the world that YouTube was born in no longer exists. The ability to share videos on the scale permitted by YouTube has brought us closer to the “global village” than I’d wager anyone thought realistically possible. And now with technologies like Starlink, we are moving closer and closer to that eventuality. Although the shared video will never become a legacy technology, before long it will truly have to share the stage with its sibling, livestreaming. Although livestreaming is over 20 years old, it hasn’t gained the incredible worldwide adoption YouTube has. This is largely due to infrastructure issues such as latency, quality, and cost.
Latency is a priority when it comes to livestreams.
Latency is the time it takes for a video to be captured and point a, and viewed at point b. In livestreaming this is done through an encoder-decoder function. Video and audio are captured and turned into code, the code specifies which colours display, when, for how long, and how bright. The code is then sent to the destination, such as a streaming site, where it is decoded into colours and audio again and then displayed on a device like a cell phone. The delay between the image being captured, the code being generated, transmitted, decoded, and played is consistently decreasing. It is now possible to stream content reliably with less than 3 seconds of latency. Sub-second latency is also common and within the next 20 or so years we may witness the last cable broadcast (or perhaps cable will be relegated to the niche market of CB radios, landlines, and AM transmissions).
On average, the latency associated with a cable broadcast is about 6 seconds. This is mainly due to limitations on broadcasts coming from the FCC or another similar organization in the interests of censorship. In terms of real-life, however, a 6 second delay on a broadcast is not that big of a deal. In all honesty a few hours’ delay wouldn’t spell the doom of mankind. But for certain types of broadcasts such as election results or sporting events, latency must be kept at a minimum to maximize the viability of the broadcast.
Sensitive Content is Hard to Monitor
Advances in AI technologies like computer vision have changed the landscape of internet broadcasting. Before too long, algorithms will be better able to prevent sensitive and inappropriate content from being broadcast across the internet on livestreaming platforms. Due to the sheer volume of streams it is much harder to monitor and contain internet broadcasts than it is cable, but we are very near a point where the ability to reliably detect and interrupt inappropriate broadcasts instantaneously. Currently, the majority of content is monitored by humans. And as we’ve learned over the last 50 or so years, computers and machines are much more reliable and consistent than humans could ever be. Everything is moving to an automated space and content moderation is not far behind. We simply don’t have the human resources to monitor every livestream, but with AI we won’t need it.
Video Quality
In the last decade we have seen video quality move from 720p to 1080p to 4K and beyond. I can personally remember a time when 480p was standard and 720p was considered a luxury reserved for only the most well funded YouTube videos. But times have changed and people expect video quality of at least 720p. Live streaming has always had issues meeting the demands of video quality. When watching streams on platforms like Twitch, the video can cut out, lag, drop in quality, and stutter all within about 45 seconds. Of course this isn’t as rampant now as it once was, however, sudden drops in quality will likely be a thorn in the side of live streams for years to come.
Internet Speeds
Perhaps the most common issue one needs to tackle when watching a live stream is their internet speed. Drops in video quality and connection are often due to the quality of the internet connection between the streamer and the viewer. Depending on the location of the parties involved, their distance from the server, and allocated connection speed the stream may experience some errors. And that’s just annoying. Here is a list of the recommended connection speeds for 3 of the most popular streaming applications:
Facebook Live recommends a max bit rate of 4,000 kbps, plus a max audio bit rate of 128 kbps.
YouTube Live recommends a range between 1,500 and 4,000 kbps for video, plus 128 kbps for audio.
Twitch recommends a range between 2,500 and 4,000 kbps for video, plus up to 160 kbps for audio.
Live streams are typically available for those of us with good internet. Every day more people are enjoying high quality speeds provided by fibre optic lines, but it will be a while until these lines can truly penetrate rural and less populated areas. Perhaps when that day comes we will see an upsurge of streaming coming from these areas.
Language Barrier
You can pause and rewind a video if you didn’t understand or hear something, and many video sharing platforms provide the option for subtitles. But you don’t really get that with a live stream. Pausing and rewinding an ongoing stream defeats the purpose of watching a stream. However, the day is soon approaching where we will be able to watch streams, in our own native language with subtitles, even if the streamer speaks something else. Microsoft Azure’s Cognitive Speech Services can give livestreaming platforms an edge in the future as it allows for speech to be automatically translated from language to language. The ability to watch a livestream in real time, with the added benefit of accurate subtitles in one’s own language, will also assist language learners in deciphering spontaneous speech.
Monetization
One of the most damning features of a live stream is the inherent difficulty in monetizing it. As mentioned before, videos can be paused and ads inserted. In videos, sponsored segments can be bought where the creators of the video read lines provided to them. Ads can run before videos etc. But in the case of a spontaneous live stream sponsored content will stick out. In the case of platforms like YouTube there are ways around ads. Ad blockers, the skip ad button, the deplorable premium account, and fast forwarding through sponsored segments all work together to limit the insane amount of ads we see every day. But in the case of a live stream, ads are a bit more difficult.
Live streaming platforms could implement sponsored overlays and borders or a similar graphical method of advertising, but the inclusion of screen shrinking add-ons like that may cause issues on smaller devices where screen size is already limited.
Monthly subscriptions are already the norm, but in the case of a live streaming platform (Twitch Prime not withstanding), it may be difficult for consumers to see the benefit in paying for a service that is by nature unscheduled and unpredictable. Live streams are great for quick entertainment, but as they can go on for hours at a time, re-watching streamed content is inherently time consuming. For this reason, many streamers cut their recorded streams down and upload them to platforms like YouTube where they are monetized through a partnership program. It is likely that for other streaming platforms to really take off, they would need to partner with a larger company and offer services similar to Amazon and Twitch.
What Might the Future of Livestreaming Look Like?
It is difficult to say, as it is with any speculation about the future. Technologies change and advance beyond the scope of our imaginations virtually every decade. But one thing that is almost a certainty is the continued advancement in our communications infrastructure. Fibre optic lines are being run to smaller towns and cities. Services like Google Fiber, which is now only available at 1 gigabit per second, have shown the current capabilities of our internet infrastructure. As services like this expand we can expect to see a large increase in the number of users seeking streams as the service they expect to interact with will be more stable than it currently is now. Livestreaming, at the moment, is used frequently by gamers and Esports and hasn’t yet seen the mass commercial expansion that is coming.
The future of live streaming is on its way. For clues for how it may be in North America we can look to Asia (taobao). Currently, livestreaming is quite popular in the East in terms of a phenomenon that hasn’t quite taken hold on us Westerners, Live Commerce. With retail stores closing left and right, we can’t expect Amazon to pick up all of the slack (as much as I’m sure they would like to). Live streaming affords entrepreneurs and retailers a new opportunity for sales and growth.
Live streaming isn’t the way of the future, video will never die, but the two will co-exist and be used for different purposes, as they are now. Live streaming can bring serious benefits to education as well by offering classrooms guest lessons and tutorials by leading professionals. Live streaming is more beneficial for education than video as it allows students to interact with guest teachers in real-time.
The live streaming market is waiting to be tapped. Right now there are some prospectors, but in North America, no one has really found the vein leading to the mine. So maybe it’s time to get prospecting. | https://medium.com/nba-2021-brooklyn-nets-vs-atlanta-hawks-live-2021/live-streaming-brooklyn-nets-vs-atlanta-hawks-2021-full-match-f2d3d5603475 | [] | 2021-01-27 12:16:08.915000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Startup'] |
Don’t Lose Sight of Syria Just Yet | Don’t Lose Sight of Syria Just Yet
Damascus and Syrian Kurdistan are the key pieces holding Russia in check.
The Kremlin
Syrian conflict has historically remained a touchy subject in American foreign policy. This persists today. American leadership in the current climate is right to be hesitant regarding a third major front in the Middle East that shows no signs of abating.
But this doesn’t mean we should take our eyes off of Syria. The country sits physically at the strategic crossroads of a greater MENA, and the battlefield is one that draws Russian, Turkish, Iranian, and Saudi (all alongside American) personalities into varying and eternally shifting degrees of coordination and conflict with one another. The Syrian state has for years maintained a delicate balancing act that affords the tiny minority Alawite community in the northeast corner of the country centralized power over its entirety.
The Alawite community is congregated in Latakia — the city and its slim coastal flatland that plays primary host to Russian military elements in Syria. Latakia, Russian interest, and the rugged spine of highland that detaches it from the remainder of the state are critical to understanding the pincer unleashed by Turkish forces during the brief withdrawal of American personnel.
Admittedly, it is possible that a sudden US evacuation was designed as a ruse to create movement among ISIS leadership — in particular Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, who was successfully killed during these unexpected realignments. However, the lasting damage that it has wrought elsewhere was too steep a price to pay for a head of dwindling importance.
By repositioning American troops elsewhere, we left Kurdish allies without any support and trapped between an unmoving Russian contingent and a rapid American retreat. Kurdish fighters had been instrumental in routing ISIS gains across northern Syria, and our absence created dramatic lane for Turkish armor and men to exploit. Their deployment crippled a number of key footholds for the Kurdish rebellion that had almost unilaterally pushed back ISIS combatants and then built and maintained systems of government in spaces that Syrian state authority has completely lost.
The real loser in this movement is the Kurdish population spread across the lower, east, third of Turkey.
Wikipedia
By allowing for the rapid deployment of Turkish military equipment, the American government has singlehandedly threatened Kurdish security inside of Turkey’s borders. As Turkish troops return to their posts, they will be traveling through spaces most heavily affected by Kurdish protest movements. Erdogan has shown himself to be highly resourceful in applying pressures on national inconveniences.
The American government has handed Turkey a golden opportunity to strategically place a bolstered military presence in its most autonomous region without the requirement of internal justification. | https://medium.com/the-national-discussion/dont-lose-sight-of-syria-just-yet-df2e055496d | ['Dan Feininger'] | 2020-06-02 16:01:01.334000+00:00 | ['Syria', 'War', 'Foreign Policy', 'Russia', 'Conflict'] |
Python for Transit: Line frequencies in a map from GTFS | Python for Transit: Line frequencies in a map from GTFS
In this article, we will see how to get line frequencies from a GTFS using the Python package gtfs_functions. You can find the repository and official documentation on GitHub.
If you are looking for an extensive explanation of the package, I recommend you first read this introduction. Here, we are going to directly dive into the specific use case of getting stop frequencies in a map.
Package installation and GTFS parsing
To install the package and parse the GTFS run the code below. For the article, I downloaded the GTFS from SFMTA (San Francisco, CA).
Calculate line frequencies
The function lines_freq takes 5 arguments:
stop_times calculated in step 1
calculated in step 1 trips calculated in step 1
calculated in step 1 shapes calculated in step 1
calculated in step 1 routes calculated in step 1
calculated in step 1 cutoffs: list of numbers that define the time windows we want to aggregate the data by.
The output for one specific line shows:
GeoDataFrame output for the function lines_freq().
Which has the following columns:
route_id from the GTFS
from the GTFS route_name
dir_id : the direction is “Inbound” if it had 0 in the GTFS and “Outbound” if it had a 1.
: the direction is “Inbound” if it had 0 in the GTFS and “Outbound” if it had a 1. window : service window defined from the “cutoffs” input.
: service window defined from the “cutoffs” input. frequency : hourly frequency in minutes per trip in the window.
: hourly frequency in minutes per trip in the window. ntrips : number of trips in the widow.
: number of trips in the widow. max_freq: highest hourly frequency in the day in minutes per trip.
highest hourly frequency in the day in minutes per trip. max_trips : maximum number of hourly trips that take place in that stop.
: maximum number of hourly trips that take place in that stop. geometry
Show results on a map
You can always export the GeoDataFrames we saw and open them in your favorite GIS software, but I added a function to allow the user to quickly take a look from the notebook before going into that workflow. It is not meant to be presentation-ready or fully customizable, just to take a quick look.
The function map_gdf() is built on top of the folium library and allows you to quickly visualize and style the data on a map.
It takes 6 arguments as shown below. For example, to visualize line frequencies:
Acknowledgments & References
Far from taking credit from other’s work, I want to acknowledge that some functions of this package were built on top of great and more generic packages and were just slightly modified to better serve this specific workflow.
For example, the function import_gtfs() heavily relies on partridge, a powerful Python library created by Remix founders that makes parsing a GTFS very easy. Similarly, map_gdf() and save_gdf() are built on top of folium and geopandas respectively. | https://medium.com/@santiagoa-toso/python-for-gtfs-line-frequencies-in-a-map-d1c967695e3d | ['Santiago Toso'] | 2020-12-09 15:43:05.624000+00:00 | ['Data Visualization', 'Python', 'Transit', 'Transportation Planning', 'Urban Planning'] |
Neobanks Continue to Up the Game in the US Market | Neobanks are not only providing a digital version of traditional banking but also innovatively working on building customer-centric products as part of their collective mission to build trust in new-age FinTech banking services. This trust is demonstrated by an expanded customer base, continuous investments in fundraising rounds, and high market valuations.
Chime, a San Francisco-based unicorn, recently raised $485 million in its Series F funding. With this funding round, the current valuation of this neobank stands at $14.5 billion, surpassing Robinhood (a massive retail trading platform valued at approximately $11.2 billion with over 10 million customers). Chime also surpassed Brazil’s Nubank, which was valued at $10 billion in July 2019, with a customer base of 25 million.
Chime was founded in 2013 in San Francisco with a seed capital of $3.8 million. Over a span of seven years, it has raised eight rounds of funds with $1.2 billion in total funding. The post-money valuation of $14.5 billion of Chime is with a customer base of over 8 million users.
What Is Happening in the US Neobanking Space?
Neobanks are FinTech-founded digital-only banks without physical branches, mostly operating on a partnered license in the market. Solutions and services provided include checking and savings accounts, lending, remittance and money transfer services, insurance, and mortgages, entirely via mobile applications.
The global neobank market was valued at $2,800 million in 2018. It is expected to reach $14,200 million by the end of 2024, expanding at a 38.3% CAGR between 2019 and 2024.
The US is home to some of the oldest neobanks, such as Simple (2009) and Moven (2011). Europe has taken over as the new players’ market.
Traditional banks still hold a majority of the market share in the US. Recent customer deposit trends during lockdowns indicate that customers still trust large traditional banks with their money over new-age banks, especially in crises. Customer trust has always been the holy grail of the banking industry. Neobanks have a long road ahead of them to match up to the trust built by traditional banks. One way to build this trust is to capture them young and participate in their early phases of life. Hence, millennials are a key target segment for many neobanks.
Interestingly, neobanks have been some of the fastest-growing players. Top digital banks are doubling their customer base in 2–3 years. Owing to the bullish capital market, their market value (valuation) growth is much higher than the customer growth rate.
To continue reading this article on the biggest Neobank players in the United States, visit www.gomedici.com. | https://medium.com/@gomedici/neobanks-continue-to-up-the-game-in-the-us-market-29a592bbfa47 | [] | 2020-12-24 06:16:58.860000+00:00 | ['Neobanks', 'USA', 'Fintech'] |
ML入門（十二）SGD, AdaGrad, Momentum, RMSProp, Adam Optimizer | 簡單回顧
在ML入門（十）Gradient Descent有介紹什麼是SGD，就是只對一個example的loss做計算，求梯度最小值。也介紹什麼是Adagrad，就是每次更新的𝜂就是等於前一次的𝜂再除以𝜎^t，而 σ^t則代表的是第 t 次以前的所有梯度更新值之平方和開根號(root mean square)。
RMSProp
從下面這張可以看到，沿著同一個方向的梯度變化是非常大的，只用AdaGrad是不行的。這邊介紹的方法叫做RMSProp，每一次更新learning rate時，分母所除的σ都與前一次的有關係，調整上面多了一個參數 𝛼，可以自由調整新舊gradient的比重（影響力）。
Momentum
momentum就是慣性或動量的意思，利用物理的概念做更新。如下圖所示，藍色線是位移，而綠色線代表就是momentum，它可以解決停在local minimum的問題。如第二張圖所示，當球滾到最右邊的時候，gradient告訴我們的方向是往左，可能會卡在local minmum的地方，但是如果加上momemtum是有可能可以往右前進，突破local minmum。
Adam
Adam其實就是加了momentum的RMSProp，下圖的公式mt代表的是momentum，就是前一個時間點的movement（可以參考上面momentum的介紹），vt就是RMSProp裡的σ，式子雖然看起來很複雜，但其實跟RMSProp很類似，每次更新都會調整新舊gradient的比重。所以Adam繼承兩者的優點，適合大部分的狀況，為目前最常使用的優化方法。
tensorflow簡單實作
f(x, y) = 0.1x² + y²
import matplotlib.pyplot as pltfrom sklearn
import datasetsimport numpy as npfrom sklearn.preprocessing
import StandardScalerfrom sklearn.model_selection
import train_test_splitfrom sklearn.svm import SVC
from sklearn.metrics import accuracy_score
from matplotlib.colors import ListedColormap def plot_decision_regions(X, y, classifier, test_idx=None,
resolution=0.02):
markers = ('s', 'x', 'o', '^', 'v')
colors = ('red', 'blue', 'lightgreen', 'gray', 'cyan')
cmap = ListedColormap(colors[:len(np.unique(y))]) x1_min, x1_max = X[:, 0].min() - 1, X[:, 0].max() + 1
x2_min, x2_max = X[:, 1].min() - 1, X[:, 1].max() + 1
xx1, xx2 = np.meshgrid(np.arange(x1_min, x1_max, resolution),
np.arange(x2_min, x2_max, resolution)) z = classifier.predict(np.array([xx1.ravel(), xx2.ravel()]).T)
z = z.reshape(xx1.shape)
plt.contourf(xx1, xx2, z, alpha=0.4, cmap=cmap)
plt.xlim(xx1.min(), xx1.max())
plt.ylim(xx2.min(), xx2.max()) X_test, y_test = X[test_idx, :], y[test_idx]
for idx, cl in enumerate(np.unique(y)):
plt.scatter(x=X[y == cl, 0], y=X[y == cl, 1], alpha=0.8,
c=cmap(idx), marker=markers[idx], label=cl) if test_idx:
X_test, y_test = X[test_idx, :], y[test_idx]
plt.scatter(X_test[:, 0], X_test[:, 1], c='', alpha=1.0,
linewidth=1, marker='o', s=55) def main():
iris = datasets.load_iris()
X = iris.data[:, [2, 3]]
y = iris.target
X = np.array([m for m, n in zip(X, y) if n != 2])
boolarr = y != 2
y = y[boolarr]
X_train, X_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split(
X, y, test_size=0.3, random_state=0)
sc = StandardScaler()
sc.fit(X_train)
X_train_std = sc.transform(X_train)
X_test_std =
sc.transform(X_test) svm = SVC(kernel='linear', C=1.0, random_state=0)
svm.fit(X_train_std, y_train)
y_pred = svm.predict(X_test_std)
print("Misclassified smaples: %d"
% (y_test != y_pred).sum())
print("Accuracy: %0.2f" % accuracy_score(y_test, y_pred))
X_combined_std = np.vstack((X_train_std, X_test_std))
y_combined_std = np.hstack((y_train, y_test))
plot_decision_regions(X=X_combined_std, y=y_combined_std,
classifier=svm, test_idx=range(50, 100))
plt.xlabel('sepal length [standarlized]')
plt.ylabel('petal length [standarlized]')
plt.legend(loc='upper left')
plt.show()
下面這幾張圖片，是這幾種方法的比較，可以清楚看到各種方法的差異，如何調整learning rate讓其收斂是非常重要的。
以下這是固定同一種方式，不同learning rate的比較：如果learning rate太大會造成波動非常大；反之，如果learning rate非常小，收斂得很慢。 | https://medium.com/chung-yi/ml%E5%85%A5%E9%96%80-%E5%8D%81%E4%BA%8C-sgd-adagrad-momentum-rmsprop-adam-optimizer-e331ef3cf5cf | [] | 2019-09-25 15:23:13.439000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Gradient Descent'] |
Top 10 Free Courses to learn Node.js in 2021 — Best of Lot | Top 10 Free Courses to learn Node.js in 2021 — Best of Lot
These are the best free online courses from Udemy, Coursera, Pluralsight, edX, and freeCodecamp to learn Nodejs online in 2021
image_credit — NodeJS — The Complete Guide (incl. MVC, REST APIs, GraphQL)
Node.js has completely changed the way JavaScript is used for development. Earlier JavaScript was considered as a client-side language because it runs on a browser and mostly used for client-side validations, animations, and interaction.
Node.js takes that to the next level by allowing JavaScript to run on a server-side, which means you can now write JavaScript applications that can execute without a browser. Node JS uses Google Chrome’s execution engine and asynchronous processing to do this.
All you need to is include node.js script in your application, and you are ready to create server-side applications in JavaScript, which wasn’t possible until a few years back.
Node.js has also played an essential role in doing full-stack development using just one programing language because now it’s possible for a JavaScript developer to create an end-to-end web application using Node.js and React.js or whatever stack they want. The bottom line is they will be using JavaScript on both the client and server-side.
Because of the immense popularity of Node.js and JavaScript, many programmers are also learning JavaScript and Node.js framework to become a web developer, mainly a full-stack developer, and that’s where these online courses help a lot.
In the past, I have shared some of the best Node.js online courses for Web developers, which many of my readers liked a lot and appreciate it. Still, some of them also asked about the free alternatives of those paid courses so that they start without investing any money.
Thankfully, the internet is full of excellent free resources, and I also encourage you to learn from them. They are not only best to get an idea of what node.js is and how it helps you to create a server-side application in JavaScript but also can teach you all the nitty-gritty of node.js and walk you through creating an end-to-end application.
Even though I am a nerd and have read hundreds of books, online courses have changed the way I learn new technologies. Now I start with a class, learn the basics like setting up my dev environment and writing my first few programs. Once I get the hang of technology, I follow-up with a book to further consolidate and learn that in depth.
I’ll share the Node.js books later, but this is the time for some of the best free online Node.js courses from Coursera, Udemy, Pluralsight, and edX.org to kick-start your Node.js development journey.
Btw, If you don’t mind paying a few bucks for learning something as valuable as Node.js, then I also suggest you check out Nodejs — The Complete Guide by Maximilian, one of my favorite Udemy instructor. This is also, one of the best courses to self-taught Node.js yourself.
Top 10 Free Online Courses to Learn Node.js for Beginners
These courses focus on Node.js basics and fundamentals and some hands-on coding. If you already know Node.js, you may find them a bit repeating, in that case, I suggest you take some advanced Node.js courses I have shared earlier.
Without wasting any more of your time, here is my list of some of the excellent free Node.js courses which you can take online at the comfort of your office and home. I have hand-picked these Node.js course for beginners.
This is one of the best Node JS beginner courses you can get online. In this course, you will learn Node JS API Development from absolute scratch.
This course is like complete beginners getting started guide, as you will start from what is node js and why learn node.js to installing node js dev environment and understand how JavaScript executes in a browser and a non-browser background.
In this course, you will learn Modern JavaScript, Node JS event loop, Asynchronous programming, using node modules, npm modules, and creating your own modules, creating a server, connect to the database, and sending json responses.
It has a really nice mix of theory and hands-on practice, which is very difficult to get in a free course. Talking about social proof, more than 11,605 students have already benefitted from this, and it has, on average, 4.3 ratings from close to 500 participants.
Here is the link to sign up this course —Node JS API Development for Beginners
A big thanks to instructor Ryan Dhungel for creating this course and making it free for learners.
This is another free Node.js course from Coursera, my favorite site for online learning from a reputed institution. This course is also offered by The HongKong Univerity of Science and Technology.
The course starts with a brief overview of the Web protocols like HTTP and HTTPS and then explains what NodeJS and NodeJS modules like Express for building web servers are.
On the database side, you will review basic CRUD operations, NoSQL databases, in particular, MongoDB and Mongoose, for accessing MongoDB from NodeJS.
After that, you will learn basic REST concepts and how to build a RESTful API with authentication and security features. Finally, you will learn about backend as a service (BaaS) approaches, including mobile BaaS, both open-source and commercial BaaS services.
Here is the link to sign up this course — Server-side Development with NodeJS, Express, and MongoDB
This course is also part of Full-Stack Web Development with React. If you don’t know, A Specialization is a series of classes that help you master a skill. When you complete this course, your progress will count towards your learning in this Specialization.
Like many Coursera courses, this is also free-to-audit, which means you can access the course for free but won’t get a certificate or grading. If you need a license, then you need to pay for that and complete the other courses on Specialization, which also contains a project perfect for some real-world experience.
And, if you find Coursera courses useful, which they are because they are created by reputed companies like Google, IBM, Amazon, and best universities around the world, I suggest you join the Coursera Plus, an annual subscription plan from Coursera.
This single subscription gives you unlimited access to their most popular courses, specialization, professional certificate, and guided projects. It cost around $399/year but its complete worth of your money as you get unlimited certificates.
This is another excellent free course to learn Node.Js from Microsoft and edX Team. The ultimate beginner guide to creating web applications using Node.js, Express, and MongoDB.
In this free Node JS course, you will learn the basics of Node.js and its core modules. You will also learn how to import additional modules and configure your project using the npm.
From there, you will see how to use Express to set up a web server and how to interact with a MongoDB database using Mongoose.
By the end of the course, you will have created several real-world projects such as a web scraper, a blogging API, and a database migration script using node.js. Overall, a perfect node.js beginner course to kick-start your journey.
Here is the link to sign up this course —Introduction to NodeJS
This is another introductory free course on Node JS and Express for beginners. The course is very informative and takes a step-by-step approach to teach Node JS and Express. The 10-part series covers:
Project Structure
Static Assets
Templating Engines
Dynamic Requests
Handling POST data
Rendering Dynamic Data
Styling and Images
Middleware
Deployment
By the end of this series, you will understand the basics of a Node/Express project and be able to deploy a full-functional web app. I would highly recommend this course if you’re a beginner in the NodeJS and Full Stack development.
Here is the link to sign up this course — Intro to Node JS & Express
If you have Pluralsight membership, then you can also take this excellent Introductory course on Node.js for Beginners then this is it.
Created by Samer Buna, the course provides an excellent overview of Node.js, including writing asynchronous code with callbacks and streams and modularizing your application with NPM and require() .
You will learn the following things about Node.js in this course:
What, How, and How of Node JS. Node’s REPL, Patterns, Globals, and Utilities Node’s Package Manager Working CommonJs modules
You will also learn about how to use built-in APIs for building and scaling web applications as well as a few critical third-party modules.
Here is the link to sign up this course — Node.js: Getting Started
Btw, this course is not exactly free as you would need a Pluralsight membership to access this course, which costs around $29/month or $299/year but also provides access to more than 5000+ high-quality online courses on latest technologies on Pluralsight.
A membership like this is beneficial for programmers who need to continually learn to keep themselves up-to-date. Even if you don’t have a membership, then also you can get access to this course by signing up for their 10-day free trial, provided you haven’t taken it already.
This one is one more hands-on Node js course which his freely available on Udemy. This is a great course for beginners and experienced programmers who want to become a full-stack developer by learning how to create and deploy a REST API
Unlike some other free online courses which are very short and cover only one or two topics, this is a comprehensive Node.js course with over 19 hours of content and downloadable resources. More than 22,694 student students have already put their trust in this course.
Created by Ian Schoonover, this is an ideal course to learn intermediate to advanced level web development and programming using Node.js and Express.js.
You will learn things like how to debug errors on the fly and how to build real-world features like pagination, search, filtering, geolocation, clustering, geospatial indexing, authentication, authorization, admin dashboard, user profiles, image upload, payments, and more!
Here is the link to sign up this course for FREE —Code with Node: Learn by Doing
This is another completely free course to learn Node.js on FreeCodecamp Youtube channel.
In this 3 hour, ad-free course, you will learn about Node.js from scratch
In case you are having the error of “Error: Cannot find module ‘ejs’ “ when you run node app from 2:25:24 run “npm install ejs” to fix this err
You can watch this course for FREE on Youtube or just here using this link:
This is another awesome free course to learn Node.js on Udemy, my favorite online training platform. In this hands-on, project-based course you will create a fully-working, professional portfolio site using Node.js and Express.js
This course is created by Daniel Kwon and it has over 3 hours of content and 8000 students have already trusted this course. While you get to start early on your capstone project, a Portfolio website and along the way you will also learn about request routing, templating engines, working with a database, REST API, image uploading, and AJAX requests with jQuery.
Overall, you will learn the following things in this course:
Project Structure
Templating Engine
Request Routing
REST API
CRUD operations
File uploading
CMS for blogs and projects
AJAX with jQuery
This free Node.js course is perfect for those looking to break into professional web development as a full stack developer
Here is the link to sign up this course for FREE — Portfolio Website with Node JS & Express
That’s all about some of the best free online courses to learn Node.js or Node JS in the 2021 and coming years. These are fantastic resources for any beginner learning Node.js and includes free courses from sites like Udemy, Coursera, edX.org, and Pluralsight.
They are not classroom training, so you don’t need to go anywhere to attend them. You can take these courses online from your office and home.
Once you have gone through these courses and want to learn advanced Node.js concepts or explore Node.js in-depth, then you can also refer following resources, they are not free, but they are not very expensive either and complete worth of your time and money.
Other Web Development Resources you may like:
Thanks for reading this article so far. If you like these free Node JS courses, then please share it with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback, then please drop a note.
P.S. — If you don’t mind paying a few bucks for learning something as valuable as Node.js, then I also suggest you check out The Complete Node.js Developer course by Andrew Mead and Rob Percival, one of the best course to learn Node js online. | https://medium.com/javarevisited/7-free-courses-to-learn-node-js-in-2020-2f1dd6722b49 | [] | 2020-12-11 08:52:22.295000+00:00 | ['Web Development', 'JavaScript', 'Web Design', 'Nodejs', 'Website Design'] |
Our Experience at KDD2021 | Our Experience at KDD2021
Our AI Team at RappiBank had the pleasure to both attend and present one of our papers at KDD 2021 (More on that to come!) Jaime D. Acevedo-Viloria Follow Sep 6 · 4 min read
KDD is one of the top AI conferences in the world, with the mission of providing a premier forum for advancement, education, and adoption of the “science” of knowledge discovery and data mining from all types of data stored in computers and networks of computers.
It was an all-around amazing opportunity for us to better learn our craft, learn from amazing speakers, and hear innovative ideas on the subject. We will go through a small summary of what we personally considered the highlights of this conference, doing a bit of an emphasis on the Workshop for Machine Learning in Finance where our paper was accepted.
How to learn more with less in Graphs!
As you may know from our previous post we are really into Graph Machine Learning in RappiBank. As such, there is no other way to start these highlights without Neil Shah’s amazing presentation about Graph Machine Learning with Scarce Labels.
In a field that we personally have been looking into semi-supervised and self-supervised solutions for this same problem of scarcity, Neil presented a brilliant way to learn more with graphs through modifications of the edges in the graph. With the idea, that through the removal of noisy edges and the adding of possible missing edges we can more closely approximate an ideal graph, where classes are perfectly separated into the same sections of the representations.
These generated augmented graphs achieve better performance in graphs with practically every GNN model! As Neil said himself:
You can learn better representations without labels by exploiting good priors through graph augmentation.
GCN performance on the original Zachary’s Karate CLub graph in (a), and three augmented graph variants in (b-d). Black, solid-blue, dashed-blue edges denote original graph edges, newly added, and removed edges respectively.
Fairness and performance, both equally important
Afterward came Pedro Bizarro to talk to us about the many amazing projects Feedzai is working on. From fairness in AI to models that actually can explain themselves, it was an exciting ride through many subjects that have room for innovation and are critical to our work.
Our personal favorite was Fairband, a bandit-based fairness-aware hyperparameter optimization algorithm. A simple to implement, model-agnostic methodology to consider the tradeoff between performance and fairness (if there is one!). The authors even found out that without extra training cost, Fairband consistently finds configurations that obtain substantially improved fairness at a comparatively small decrease in predictive accuracy.
Fairness-accuracy tradeoff of thousands of models on the Adult dataset. In orange, the linear regression relationship between accuracy and fairness; in the red rectangle, the top 10% models with the highest accuracy; in light gray, the fairness accuracy Pareto frontier; marked with an A, the model with the highest accuracy; marked with a B, a model with 0.8% lower accuracy and 44.8% higher fairness than A.
For more information on how the authors define fairness, or how do they solve this multi-objective optimization problem make sure to check out the paper!
How to use deep learning to create user-merchant recommendations
Finally, Mahashweta Das talked to us about an impressive Transfer Learning approach that embeds users and merchants in the same contextual vectorial space for a novel and impressive recommender system of merchants for users. With the key intuition to:
Guide neural collaborative filtering with domain invariant components shared across both dense and sparse domains, improving the user and item representation learned in the sparse domains.
They show the effectiveness and scalability of their proposed approach on two public datasets and a massive transaction dataset from Visa. Make sure to check the paper for further information about it!
General Overview
It was nice to see the emphasis on ethical issues like fairness evaluation and interpretability methodologies for models. It is really important for us as developers of this community to not forget about ethics and make a better place when developing state-of-the-art models and innovating.
It was also interesting to see some presentations centered around Graph Machine Learning, such as the one presented by Neil Shah, a couple of others by MIT and the National University of Singapore that are yet to be publicly shared, and ourself’s (Make sure to check our future post on this!). | https://medium.com/rappibank/our-experience-at-kdd2021-4a6646bd7a8a | ['Jaime D. Acevedo-Viloria'] | 2021-09-06 15:12:09.747000+00:00 | ['Conference', 'Kdd', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning', 'Graph'] |
Replacing and canceling Ethereum transactions | What is the Replace by fee?
A situation arises when you want to cancel or replace a transaction. This may be due to the fact that transactions do not enter the block for a long time. All operations that were not added to the block after launch are considered unconfirmed. Unconfirmed transactions most often happen precisely because of the low fees. Such transactions still have the ability to become processed.
In the blockchains Bitcoin, Ethereum and others, there is a mechanism that allows you to replace an unconfirmed transaction with another transaction with a higher commission (transaction fee). This mechanism is called Replace by Fee.
Accelerating transactions by increasing fees
The difference between Ethereum and Bitcoin is that each transaction has a sequence number (nonce). Therefore, in order to use the Replace by fee function, the transaction to be replaced and replaced must have one number.
Nonce tells miners and nodes about the order of transactions and, accordingly, how to change the “account state”. The first to be accepted is the transaction with the smaller nonce. If there are two transactions with the same nonce, then the one with the higher commission will be accepted.
Open the wallet that you used to send the original transaction. Fill in the “Recipient” field, indicating the address to which you want to send. Change the value of the “Amount” field from 0 to the amount of ETH you want to send. When sending a standard transaction in ETH, you can use the fuel limit of 21,000. If you are sending tokens, increase the limit to around 100,000. Otherwise, just leave the default. Increase the value of the “Fuel Price” field by 10 GWEI, compared to your previous transaction. If it is an urgent transaction, you can increase it more. Keep in mind that the higher the gas price, the higher the transaction fee (gas limit * gas price). Make sure the value in the Nons field is the same as in the previous transaction. If so, then do not change the value in the field. If you change it, then this transaction will not replace the previous one. Click the “Submit Transaction” button. The hash of the new transaction will appear. Click on the link to view it and see if you got it. If it doesn’t appear right away, try refreshing the page after a few minutes.
Canceling a transaction
In order to prevent the “passing” of the previous transaction, its extraction and inclusion in the blockchain, you need to create a transaction in the amount of 0 ETH to your own address.
Go to Etherscan.io or Ethplorer.io. Insert your transaction hash.
• If the status of the transaction is Pending, then you can try to cancel it.
• If the transaction is not found, press the button again, waiting a few minutes between each press. If that doesn’t work, chances are your transaction was not sent.
• If the status of the transaction is Success, then you cannot cancel it. If the status is Pending, log into the wallet that you used to send the original transaction to MEW. Send yourself a transaction with a balance of 0 ETH. Click the Submit Transaction button. A dialog box will appear. Click the “Yes, I’m sure” button to submit it. The hash of the new transaction will appear. Click on the link to view it and see if you got it. If it doesn’t appear right away, try refreshing the page after a few minutes.
Speeding up a transaction with Child Pays for Parent
In ETH, the Child Pays for Parent option is not possible. Wanting to speed up the transaction with higher fees, an ETH user can only send the same transaction with the same nonce with a higher gas price. The miner adds only one transaction with the best commission to the block. Two transactions with the same nonce cannot be added to a block.
Source: fixedfloat.com | https://medium.com/fixedfloat/replace-by-fee-etherium-9b79035a9e72 | ['Mr Robot'] | 2020-12-10 11:13:06.930000+00:00 | ['Rbf', 'Ethereum', 'Crypto', 'Eth'] |
I Spent 2020 Swiping for a Baby, Not a Man | “I don’t know if I want to try again,” my then-boyfriend said about a year ago, and I understood.
We were two miscarriages deep, and I was still bleeding when he said it.
Miscarriage is awful. It hurts physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, psychically — what other “-allys” can I throw in there to help people understand? You can’t really know unless you’ve had one, and even then, you can’t know how it was for someone else.
My second miscarriage was a ruptured ectopic that required emergency surgery. I asked my surgeon if he would consider taking a nap before operating on me because he looked tired. Adequate rest is so important for good performance.
He told me that if he took a nap, I would die.
Fair enough.
As we spoke, my shoulders jolted around like a dying soldier in an old war movie. That’s a real thing, did you know that? Internal bleeding irritates a nerve that causes the shoulders to jump in painful spasms. About a quarter of the blood in my body pooled in my abdominal cavity before they cut me open and suctioned it out, taking my left tube and my eight-week-old embryo with it.
I awoke from surgery mid-monologue, staring up at my audience, a semicircle of surgical masked faces (a sign of things to come?). I’d prioritized travel and adventure, I told them, and I’d waited too long, and now I’d never have a family. I told them this as if they could change it. Hazy from anesthesia, my wires were crossed — I felt if I convinced them I knew my sins, they might put my baby back in. Despite the assurances of some Ohio politicians, reimplanting an ectopic pregnancy isn’t possible, whether the woman’s a sinner or not.
A nurse patted my hand, asked how old I was, told me she’d had two after 38.
I know my then-boyfriend was somewhere in the background while all of this was taking place, but I don’t know whether he was trying to be a good partner or not. For months, the miscarriages had enveloped me in a fog all my own, so thick I couldn’t see him.
“I don’t know if I want to try again.”
His sperm was obviously trying to kill me. I didn’t really want to try again either, except that I did. I did want to try again.
The miscarriages and my newly diagnosed endometriosis pushed us in equal and opposite directions on the baby issue. I’d been on the fence when he first suggested we try for a child. After feeling them grow inside me and losing them in literal bloodbaths, it’s like I could feel that they had wanted to be born. That’s not a commentary on when life begins or any political issue. I’m a feminist, and I want to be in charge of my own body — it’s just that my body wants to make babies. I can’t be the only woman whose eggs are screaming at her to get going, to bring them to life. At age 38, I was running out of time.
I respected my ex’s insight into his own wants and needs. I never pushed him to try again. But I felt I’d been unfairly recast. See, at first, I was the brave woman making sacrifices for something we both wanted. Now, I was the deranged fool who wants a baby even though her partner’s not sure and her body might not be able to do it.
My former boyfriend and I hung on for nine months after the ectopic and then broke up. I called it, but he should have. Why do I always have to do the hard things? | https://thebolditalic.com/i-spent-2020-swiping-for-a-baby-not-a-man-257dd1c06c30 | ['Ija Mei'] | 2020-12-18 00:59:52.112000+00:00 | ['Relationships Love Dating', 'Relationships', 'Digital Life', 'Parenting', 'Dating'] |
UI/UX Case Study: Tantan App Redesign | Research Sprint
Data Collection from Tantan App
Problem Statement & User persona (Hypothesized)
FOR Young adults
WHO is serious about looking the compatible partner
THE TanTan IS a dating app
THAT helps people to meet new friends or find their dating partner
UNLIKE Tinder, Paktor
OUR PRODUCT will make sure that users are able to use this app in a safe and comfortable environment to make friends or look for a serious relationship. By making the experience more customizable for every user, the app will provide features that fulfill what the users demand, and also analyze the data collected from them to enhance the algorithm.
User Persona
User Persona
Research’s Objective
To understand the interviewee’s behavior of using dating app. To get to know and process the thoughts, experiences, challenges, frustrations the interviewees have for dating life. To know the interviewee’s thoughts and experiences when using a dating app. To understand the usability of dating app.
Research Procedure
Downloaded and played at least one dating app.
Listed down the interview questions in google form.
Ask for feedback for the questions listed in google form.
Find suitable interviewees and schedule a session with them.
On Thursday night, interview all of the interviewees and get insightful responses from them.
Some questions that I missed during the interview were asked personally.
Based on the recording and feedback from 4 interviewees, I had written it down in the google form.
Interviewees
Interviewee’s Profile
Interviewees who had used dating apps to meet up with a few online friends before. Interviewees that had used a dating app and successfully finding a partner. Interviewees who had trouble using dating apps to find a partner.
Interview Questions
https://forms.gle/PTsSzckhVYArx6Hh9
Insights
The interviewees feel lonely, and they find it quite anxious when people all around them have partners, and when they don’t, they would try to look for one 75% find approaching people in real life is difficult such as they are too busy in real life, or they are too shy, or there are too limited options in real life, meeting friends online is way easier 100% of the interviewees are not willing to pay for premium features because they think it is unnecessary to spend money on people you don’t even know if you can trust them. 75% of them does not prefer long-distance relationship because they do not trust what will they do at the other side. They won’t meet the person unless they spend much time enough with each other, and most of them are not afraid to meet a new person at all. There are a lot of playboys and playgirls on the app which makes it even harder to find a compatible partner. Photos are important, although they believe personality is the most important, they also believe in the first impression. 75% of the interviewees refuse to initiate the conversation because they will feel hurt if they do not respond back, therefore lowing their self-esteem. They exchange social media account and chat there a lot instead of using the app, they find it more comfortable if the person can show their social media account because you can see their life 75% of the interviewee think that the dating app gives them a neutral impression. The interviewee encourages people to meet friends casually on dating app instead of seeking a serious relationship because the chance to find a compatible partner is pretty low. The dating app is very handful for introverts because they make the interaction easier, and they find it comfortable to not having a face to face conversation, it is like they can work on their own pace The interviewees find the premium feature annoying, and it does not really make sense. 75% of the interviewees find the swiping feature fun because you can decide who you like anonymously. 75% of the interviewees find it embarrassing to let their close ones to know that they are using a dating app. 25% of them suggest having mini-games, another kind of interaction other than just chatting. 25% of them find that revealing personal information is very uncomfortable because they worry people might misuse them.
Problem Statement
Problem Statement
User Journey Map
The user journey starts from Mia Ng felt lonely and she wants to meet someone and chat with them. Although she heard about dating app a lot from social media and her friends, she is still not familiar with the dating app, she faced some issues and finds some users not trustworthy enough.
User Journey Map
Pain Points
Too busy or have difficulties in finding a partner in real life. Feel uncertain whether if they can trust the users on the dating app, as there are a lot of ungenuine users, and they worried about safety issues. Afraid or shy to approach other people even on dating app. Feel uncomfortable when people come to you mainly because of your look/profile picture. The VIP feature is expensive and is not worthy/useful/attractive enough for users to purchase.
Propose Solutions
To deal with safety issues and ungenuine users, we proposed a new feature which is the Rating System. According to the algorithim, high rated users will be most likely encounter other high rated users as well. This is to make sure the genuine users get the genuine experiences they deserved. We introduced the Virtual Mode to create a whole new experience for Tantan users. Since they feel uncomfortable or too shy in making friends basing on looks, this feature allow users to hangout in virtual world and actually bond without worrying too much about privacy issues. Wth the Virtual Mode created, there is also avatar customisation feature as well. Users are allowed to customise their avatar however they want. They can obtain new fashionable items during event or purchase with in-app currency in the virtual store. This open a whole new opportunity to make the VIP feature more attractive for users to actually purchase it. To expand the usage for the avatar, when video calling, users’ face is actually protected by a filter with their own avatar face. In this way, privacy issues can be reduced. The final feature will be added in is the Quest feature, which allows users to gather in-app currency without actually paying real money. The Quest can actually serve like a tutorial tool or something that actually bring the users to try once of everything in a day.
Competitor Analysis
After researching some of the fundraising apps, I have compiled a list of four of the best socializing apps I’ve come across. I put all of the comparison boards in Google Slides so that I could examine each of the social apps to check whether they had similar features. | https://medium.com/@mswonghueyyng/ui-ux-case-study-tantan-app-redesign-4c45ba2f8a70 | ['Ada Why'] | 2021-09-16 21:50:05.113000+00:00 | ['Ui Ux Design', 'Ued', 'User Experience Design'] |
Turkey grants its citizenship to a leader of the “Ajnad al-Sham” organization involved in horrific crimes | A Turkish identity card for the terrorist leader of the “Ajnad al-Sham” organization, known as Abu Hamza al-Hamwi, and appears in his new Turkish name, “Manar al-Shami.” “Al-Qaeda” Manar Al-Shami, for Turkish citizenship.
A lot of evidence has emerged that proves the Turkish regime, headed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, supports terrorist groups, and attempts to exploit extremist jihadists to achieve Ankara’s goals by providing them with money and granting them Turkish citizenship.
The authorities in Turkey recently granted one of the leaders of the jihadist group Ajnad al-Sham in Syria Turkish citizenship, an attempt to cover him up by changing his name from “Abu Hamza al-Shami” to “Manar al-Shami”,.
A photo of Abu Hamza’s Ukrainian passport shows that he transplanted his hair prior to obtaining Turkish citizenship.
During the past years, Ankara had granted its citizenship to a number of leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is classified in many countries as a terrorist organization, and it also granted its citizenship to a number of leaders of the Islamic organization Hamas
a high-ranking source as saying that 7 of the 12 activists obtained Turkish citizenship and passports, and 5 others are waiting.
According to the same report, Hamas leaders live in Turkey under Turkish pseudonyms
The information indicates that the so-called “Abu Hamza Al-Hamwi” hails from the city of Hama — Al-Jarajmeh neighborhood, and before the outbreak of the bloody events in Syria, he was working in sanitary installations in the neighborhood of Talaat Al-Moallem in Hama.
According to the information, he was involved in committing horrific crimes such as beheading Syrian soldiers who were captured and walking them in the streets, and he recently obtained Turkish citizenship, according to which he became a Turkish citizen with a personal card in the name of “Manar al-Shami”, and he is currently residing in the city of Antakya in the Iskenderun district. | https://medium.com/@majdhelobi/turkey-grants-its-citizenship-to-a-leader-of-the-ajnad-al-sham-organization-involved-in-horrific-426ecdf856cc | ['Majd Helobi'] | 2021-06-29 06:18:28.137000+00:00 | ['Europe', 'Syria', 'America', 'ISIS', 'Turkey'] |
Fever | Fever
“Mother isn’t doing well,” the doctor rubbed sanitizer over her hands and shook her head, “but she’s a fighter.”
“How long.” It was meant as a question but the words came out flat, unemotional, and sounded more like a statement.
Those gathered stood around the bed and simply watched, eyes fixed on the woman racked with fever. Her daughters Flora, Fauna, and Terra stood huddled in a clutch beside a curtain-drawn window, silently weeping; her sons Caelum and Mons, stone-faced at the foot of the bed.
“It depends,” the doctor walked towards the door where a chair had been awkwardly placed in the corner of the room. Sitting in the soft chair her body sank into its shape. Crossing her left leg over her right, she brought her hands together, fingertips touching. Bringing her hands to her face she pressed them against her lips, her thumbs pushed up to her chin, elbows resting on the arms of the chair. Her eyes closed, the physician looked as if she was praying. When she finally spoke it was in hushed, gentle tones, but honest and serious. “She’s infested with parasites. An infection like this can kill her but she’s fighting it,” she inhaled, with a long exhale she continued. “Her fever is slowly rising, maybe it will kill off the parasites.”
“What can you do for her?” Flora’s voice was low and pleading.
Dropping her forearms, her fingers gripping into the chair the doctor opened her eyes and looked at each of Mother’s children in turn. “Nothing. She has to do this herself.” The doc made a helpless gesture with her hands, “I’m afraid anything I do could make it worse. This is a persistent infection and letting this fever run its course is likely the best course of action.”
She paused and stood, it seemed like an eternity before she made her way toward her patient. Looking down she pressed her wrist against Mother’s forehead, “anything else threatens the balance she’s trying to achieve internally.”
“But she’s suffering.” It was Caelum who stepped forward, his brow furled in frustration.
Mother’s body shivered, the shape of her weakening body sweat-plastered to the thin sheet draped over her. Her skin, covered with sore-like scabs, glimmered at night with an eerie illumination the color of yellow puss.
“Yes she is,” the doctor nodded, “and all we can do is try to make her comfortable.”
“How easily can this parasite spread?” Fauna covered her mouth with her right hand, her hand trembling with dread.
The doctor exhaled, her breath long and steady. “I’m not sure. It’s evolving but I don’t believe it can survive outside the host body for an extended period of time,” she paused again looking at each in turn before setting her eyes back on Mother. “Yet.”
Fauna buried her face in Terra’s shoulder and began to quietly weep.
Mons spoke up this time, his voice trembling. “What’s this parasite called?”
The doctors spoke with an ominous tone. “Homo sapiens.”
Mother’s temperature continued to rise. | https://medium.com/@j-leegraves/fever-9624f7268417 | ['J. Lee Graves'] | 2020-11-23 17:41:48.761000+00:00 | ['Creative Writing', 'Climate Change', 'Global Warming', 'Fiction'] |
How Cryptocurrencies Can Go Mainstream | image source: kisspng.com
Though it seems like we hear about cryptocurrencies in the news all the time now, the movement is really still in its infancy. It’s true that 2017 saw tremendous growth in the industry and crypto market cap, but the fact remains that still only a small percentage of the population owns any sort of cryptocurrency.
A Recent survey conducted in 2018 found that only 8% of Americans have invested in cryptocurrencies. 8% is definitely an increase compared to what it was in the past, but for those involved in the cryptosphere, it’s easy to get tunnel vision and only see the hype in the industry. Often times, crypto enthusiasts lose perspective on just how new the crypto economy truly is. But what’s holding it back and how does the industry go mainstream? Let’s take a look at a couple of the barriers to entry and how they can be remedied.
Regulatory Concerns
A key issue keeping many out of the industry right now is the lack of clear guidelines when it comes to regulation in the crypto economy. For the time being, there still isn’t a comprehensive plan enacted by any governing body establishing how cryptocurrencies are to be handled. American regulators are still working out which coins, if any at all, will be considered securities. and what the proper procedure will be for regulating them.
Similar to the United States, the European Union is still standing on the sidelines until a comprehensive plan can be developed and implemented. Without knowing what direction officials and regulators are headed in, many potential buyers are waiting in the wings as well. Without a clear indication of what the future of the crypto economy is going to look like, many institutional investors don’t want to accept additional risk by entering uncharted waters.
This barrier to entry has a clear solution: regulation. Though the word is disliked by the cryptocurrency community, the fact is that knowing the rules of the game is imperative before you can play. Regulation is bound to happen, the only question remaining now is what it will encompass and when it will be enacted. Once there are clear rules for how the industry is going to be regulated, there’s likely to be a large influx of investors coming to the legitimized markets. Regulatory concerns play a major role for institutional investors, but what are the concerns of people not worried about investment banking rules and regulations?
Liquidity and Usability
This is where issues around liquidity and usability come into play. For the average person interested in cryptocurrencies, one of the barriers keeping them out of the industry is not being able to really use the cryptocurrency they purchase. While there are some mainstream investors interested in day trading and investing in cryptocurrencies, most of the population isn’t interested in playing the markets; they’re interested in actually using the cryptocurrencies.
Though bitcoin was created to be a “Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” , many aren’t able to actually use it in that way. Bitcoin’s being accepted by less merchants now, rather than by more, as transaction fees get higher and price volatility increases. While bitcoin isn’t the only cryptocurrency in the markets, it is the one most people are aware of. Without a legitimate use-case or liquidity, many won’t even get into the cryptocurrency markets to begin with. Clearly, the solution to the issue for this bottlenecking barrier of entry is to give regular consumers a viable option for using their cryptocurrencies to purchase goods and services.
Many services already exist for buying cryptocurrency using fiat currency and for converting cryptocurrencies back into fiat currency like the US dollar or euro, but this still defeats the purpose of a cryptocurrency if consumers need to exchange it back into fiat to use it. Right now, there are a few projects out there tackling this issue to bring more people into the markets.
Many services already exist for converting cryptocurrencies back into fiat currency like the US dollar or euro, but that defeats the purpose of a cryptocurrency if consumers need to exchange back into fiat to use them. Right now, there are a few projects out there tackling this issue to bring more people into the markets.
One of the projects in the space is Paxful, which has established a large online marketplace for consumers to buy, sell, and trade gift cards. Though the website doesn’t focus exclusively on cryptocurrencies, the p2p trading site’s accepted payment methods include bitcoin and Ripple’s XRP token. The site is working to alleviate part of the liquidity problem many cryptocurrency holders are experiencing by offering an additional outlet for holders to spend their cryptocurrency to get goods and services.
Another project tackling this space is Zeex which is proposing a solution of cutting out the middleman altogether. Instead of forcing consumers to trade their cryptocurrencies for fiat, users on the platform can purchase goods and services with cryptocurrencies directly via gift cards. Zeex is building a platform for consumers to easily use their cryptocurrencies to purchase gift cards from a variety of vendors without paying any exchange fees they would otherwise need for exchanging crypto to fiat. By creating a simple, easy-to-use system, the platform will help get less tech-savvy users on board. The simpler and more cost-effective the platform is, the more consumers will get involved.
By straightening out what the rules of the cryptocurrency industry are going to be in the future, institutional investors (i.e. “big money”) will be more likely to get involved. Additionally, once regular consumers get to see an opportunity to actually use cryptocurrencies, the industry is likely to see a significant influx of users and can truly go mainstream. | https://medium.com/hackernoon/how-cryptocurrencies-can-go-mainstream-524845452f46 | ['Sadie Williamson'] | 2019-04-16 08:48:39.782000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency Mainstream', 'Cryptocurrency Adoption', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Keep This in Mind When Buying a Home | There we were, my husband and I, sippin’ cocktails and toasting each other on our new home when my nine-year-old came running in from the kitchen.
“Mama water is coming from the roof!”
It wasn’t raining outside.
We figured someone, or some kid, had spilled water in the kitchen and didn’t want to fess up to the mess.
Low and behold water was steadily dripping from the kitchen ceiling all over the floor. So, I went to the basement to get a bucket only to find another treasure waiting below.
A sewage leak, all over the basement floor.
Eventually, the leak in the kitchen caused the ceiling to collapse.
The leak came from the upstairs bathroom directly above the kitchen
We had just closed on the house three days prior.
Almost $8000 later and the leak was fixed, the water restoration process had begun and the basement was sterilized. And we hadn’t even lived in the house a week yet.
Oh, and Christmas was ten days away and since we had just moved, we hadn’t bought a lot of gifts yet for the kids. I don’t think I have ever been so stressed out or angry in my life. The whole situation still grinds my gears but I’m trying to deal with it like a grown-up. I’m not writing this for sympathy, but to hopefully educate others from my mistakes.
While complaining about the situation to my mother I had a realization. She asked if I had the house inspected before closing.
“Yes of course I did but the inspector didn’t crawl into the walls and through the pipes.”
Then it hit me.
Was there a separate inspection for that? Was I supposed to get the plumbing inspected too? Uh-oh. A quick google search answered that question with a big fat YES. Well, damn…How was I supposed to know?
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
It probably seems like a no-brainer to most people but I didn’t even consider the plumbing. In fact, during the inspection, the guy checked the visible plumbing under sinks and around the toilet. I figured that was good enough.
Buying a house can be a stressful and confusing process, especially your first time. It’s also probably the most expensive thing you will ever buy, but you know almost nothing about it.
You end up Googling almost every phrase used by your realtor and the lawyers and still don’t understand half the jargon they use. Not to mention the paperwork. So much paperwork and contracts, agreements, and repeated credit checks. You just want it to go away and stop.
Technically, I am an adult and therefore responsible for my own actions as well as inactions. Meaning it was my job to know everything or at least try to learn everything I could about buying a home, covering all the bases and checking all the blocks.
Here is what I have learned after the fact.
Why You Need a Home Inspection
The home inspection gives the buyer a better understanding of the condition of the home they might be buying. You may think the house looks great but a professional can tell you what is hidden, sometimes in plain sight. They also explain how the house works and what you need to do as far as maintaining the home.
There Are Several Different Types of Home Inspections
Most people get a home inspection before buying a house but those are usually general inspections. They look for flaws or issues and make recommendations based on their findings. They also explain things about the house if needed. For example, I’ve lived in the southern US my whole life and recently moved up north. I’ve never seen a basement or a furnace in my life and the home inspector had to tell me how all that worked.
Here is a list of all the different specialized home inspections I found. Some of these may be covered under a general inspection but you may need a specialist to further investigate.
Radon Inspection
This is a colorless and odorless gas that may cause lung cancer. I never heard of it until I bought a home but had it done anyway. It took 48 hours and wasn’t that expensive. Some testing can take longer, depends on your time frame and how much of a concern it is to you.
Mold Inspection
Sometimes you can visibly see mold and know it’s there, other times it is hidden. If you get a certified mold specialist they can find hidden mold by doing air tests and using a meter to check your walls for dampness. Mold can be a concealed danger that can cause serious health problems.
Lead-Based Paint Inspection
You can have an inspector come out and visually check the paint in the home as well as swipe samples to have it tested for lead. Most modern homes should be lead-free but older homes may need this inspection. Lead can be dangerous especially to children.
Landscaping and Soil Analysis Inspection
These inspections are especially good for letting you know about erosion and irrigation issues. They can even test the soil for quality or contamination. If you plan on doing some outdoor renovations or extensive landscaping, you might want to have a specialist come and evaluate your property.
Chimney Inspection
If there is a chimney you will need to get it inspected before you actually use it. The inspection will make sure the structure of the chimney is in good condition and that there is good ventilation. Also, to clear out any unwanted guests possibly residing in the chimney.
Pool and Spa Inspection
If the home has a pool you may want to look into finding a professional inspector to evaluate its condition. They will check for safety features, the pool structure, and the shape of the pumps, heat, and filters. Depending on where you live, there can be several laws about pools and what you will be legally responsible for if an accident occurs. A pool inspector will make sure you are covered legally.
Roof Inspection
A roof inspector will verify the sturdiness and condition of the roof. They check for mold, damages, and leaks. This one is important because they can tell you the roof’s life expectancy and how to maintain it.
Pest Inspection
Pest inspections will evaluate the house for previous damages or infestations as well as point out potential problems. They check for termites, mice, rats, and other insects that can cause damage to the home.
Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Inspection
Depending on the home inspector you use, these can be included in the general inspection. They can tell you if the system was managed properly by the previous owners and what if anything needs to be fixed or replaced. You don’t want a faulty heating or AC system in your new home.
Electrical Inspection
During this inspection, they should check the electrical panels as well as any underground wires that could be damaged. They will inspect for damaged wires and possible fire risks.
Foundation or Structural Inspection
These are usually engineers who look for cracks, slopes, or any irregularities regarding the house foundations. What may look like a minor imperfection to you, could potentially be a serious problem later on down the road for your home. It’s best to have an expert determine if the foundation is adequate.
Asbestos Inspection
Asbestos can cause serious health issues if it is released into the air and may pose a threat in older homes. The only way to test for it is with a microscope. If your general inspector suspects asbestos you will need to hire a professional to do the actual test.
Plumbing and Sewage Inspection
Last at certainly not least, I definitely recommend you get professional plumbing and sewage inspection. Not only will they visually inspect the plumbing in the house they can also run a camera through the mainline to check for possible blockages. They will also make sure all the pipes are in good working condition and point out possible issues with the plumbing. Like a leak. Pay a couple hundred bucks for this inspection and you can save thousands of dollars. Trust me on this one.
Consider These Inspections
Now, these don’t come cheap especially if you got every single one but they may also save you money in the long run. As for me, I will definitely hire a professional plumber to do an inspection along with the general inspection, the next time I buy a home. You don’t have to get a specialist for every category but consider the home you are buying and your situation. Do your research and determine which inspection needs a more thorough approach and not just a general look.
Educate Yourself
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash
I may legally be an adult but half the time I feel as lost and confused as a sixteen-year-old. Most of the important life stuff has been learned through trial and error, like everyone else.
It’s been said before but they really need to teach us this stuff in school. Paying taxes, buying a home or car, personal finance, insurance, etc. are all areas I would have benefited from a class or two on.
That is why we need to do it ourselves. These days you can learn anything for free thanks to the web. I could have done more to educate myself on the home buying process and I am paying for it now. You live and you learn. Still, the information is out there. It literally took me less than ten seconds to find all the information I needed on home inspections to write this.
Take Away
The process of buying a home can be overwhelming. It can be so much that you may try to rush it or skips steps just to get it over it. This will probably be the biggest financial decision of your life so take your time. Make sure you understand each part of the process. Looking back I could have done a lot more and I have a ton of excuses why I didn’t but those excuses don’t help me now.
If you are considering or in the process of buying a home, please consult with professionals to get you the best home for you.
Disclaimer: This story was based on my personal experience. Everyone’s home buying situation is different and there are a lot of variables to consider when buying a home. I am not a professional realtor or housing inspector but I wanted to share my experience to prevent others from going through the same issue. | https://medium.com/@jessicaholman/keep-this-in-mind-when-buying-a-home-d2ae6443ed1c | ['Jessica Holman'] | 2020-12-18 20:08:49.765000+00:00 | ['How To', 'Money Management', 'Home Buying', 'Home', 'Buying A Home'] |
Grow your brand with digital marketing | In the contemporary world, if a brand can’t keep its socials aligned to the current trends then you’re not in the race! Brands try very hard to build an online presence so that they can attract an audience and make more business online. One of the best ways to go about this is by hiring a media agency that creates your brand stronger digitally. One such upcoming digital marketing agency in Gurgaon is Ants Digital. Services by Ants Digital for speeding the growth of your socials!
ANTS is a brilliant blend of industry veterans, up-and-coming creatives, and digital professionals who have the ability to scale ideas to the point where their effect is increased by a factor of ten. We literally breathe the spirit of our company name because of our mindset.
They use their digital skills to provide brand strategy, content, creativity, experience design, and web-ready solutions for enterprises and brands across a variety of market areas. Some of their digital marketing services are as follows-
Search Engine Optimization- Ants’ technological techniques are supported by compelling user experiences, which help search engines crawl and index their clients’ sites more effectively, enhancing organic results. Our extensive experience in the sector has given us in-depth knowledge of on-page and off-page SEO approaches. Our goal-oriented team of experts conducts in-depth keyword analysis and makes tailored recommendations in response to algorithmic changes. They also produce personalised and compelling content that will encourage searchers to interact with your website across different devices, hence increasing its visibility.
1. Keyword Analysis
2. Content Analysis
3. Technical Analysis
4. Post Project Optimisation
5. Reporting
6. Competitive Analysis Services of SEO
Advanced Search Engine Optimization
As a digital firm, Ants evaluates consumer demands and the intent behind their searches when developing search marketing campaigns. They engage in extensive, in-depth keyword research using our proprietary tools, provide targeting recommendations, and create content that will drive searchers to engage across multiple devices and ultimately convert.
Pay Per Click (PPC)-
Ants Digital assists you in strengthening your internet marketing policies by using a model in which you only pay a fee when your ads are clicked on. They vouch to handle PPC accounts for companies of all sizes, and we work hard to meet and surpass key performance indicator targets that show growth and scale.
PPC, or pay-per-click advertising, is one of the most effective ways to reach your most qualified audience. It gives you an advantage over your competition by allowing you to reach them where they are already looking.
Ants works all day to get those required results to boost your presence online.
Website Development- We create all types of websites that work on every device, from concept to completion. We design websites to meet any company needs, keeping aesthetics, usability, functionality, compatibility, and the user journey in mind.
Services for Website Development
We’ve executed more than 135 projects in a variety of industries. To be able to design a fully working solution, our process-oriented staff must first understand the demands of each organisation. Because we understand that your website is a representation of your business, our designers collaborate closely with the technical team.
Development of the front end
With our technical skills, you can improve your user experience. Give your users a wonderful visual experience with intuitive UI and UX.
Experiential Learning
Users might have more meaningful experiences on a website thanks to the interactive design.
Development of the backend
We aim for an intuitive customer journey rather than just creating applications, servers, and databases.
This is your cue to choose Ants Digital today to change the face of your business and build an impactful brand. | https://medium.com/@antsdigital/grow-your-brand-with-digital-marketing-28534ad4c7d1 | ['Ants Digital'] | 2021-12-23 12:12:55.908000+00:00 | ['Digital Creative Agency', 'Creative Design Company', 'Seo Agency In Gurgaon', 'Digital Marketing Service', 'Digital Marketing Agency'] |
AI Ethics: Robotics | When we think about robots and Artificial Intelligence, it is obvious that most people picture a Terminator-style robot that hunts down humans who are threats to them. However, this vision is not what is occurring in robotics at our present technological time. In our time period, we are merely using robots to take over tasks that humans could do, but even this advancement has led to some ethical implications. These implications include dilemmas regarding employment, various autonomous systems, and the morality of robotic systems.
The first thing that should be discussed is the influence of robotics on employment in many sectors. Productivity increases greatly when using robots instead of humans due to their lack of many needs. This efficiency increase will dramatically impact our economic gains, but there should be ethical considerations before having robots do every job. In past generations and even now, classical automation takes the place of human muscles, not our brains. Still, when we can automate human thinking, we must consider the expansive change in our job markets. Our society also has to think about distributing the monetary costs and subsequent benefits of using this type of Artificial Intelligence in our workplace.
Furthermore, the usage of robotics and autonomy in various fields needs to be addressed. For example, autonomous vehicles can save approximately one million lives lost every year to traffic accidents. Various dilemmas about using these vehicles have been brought up, such as the “trolley problem,” where the user has to decide to sacrifice one life to save multiple or keep one person alive. In addition to these dilemmas, programmers for the vehicles have to account for user mistakes, keep driver safety in mind, and think about ensuring everyone's safety on the roads and streets.
Another example for which autonomy and robotics can be used is weaponry and warfare. Algorithms for warfare, such as having a computer trained on war simulations and using that information to decide on an army’s next move, can be implemented in the future. We can use robotics and autonomy to keep wars safer or destroy even more lives in this occurrence. It is up to governments and the programmers of these systems to always ensure their systems avoid the slaughter of innocents as has occurred in every war up to date, and to keep checks and balances in place such that not one autonomous algorithm has all the power to make decisions.
As the next generation of thinkers and idealists enters the workforce, we have to keep in mind the morality behind using AI and robotics wherever we go. To allow for a peaceful and well-built society in the future, we must ensure we use our technological advances to ensure the welfare of our society and not for death or destruction. Creating a better future for generations to come should be our only goal.
This is my last post for the blog series about AI and ethical dilemmas. Thanks for reading and supporting my endeavors. | https://medium.com/@arjun-santhan/ai-ethics-robotics-f5b4597c251e | ['Arjun Santhanakrishnan'] | 2020-12-14 00:17:32.397000+00:00 | ['Ethics', 'Robotics', 'AI'] |
LoveLocal Competition Terms & Conditions | LoveLocal Competition Terms & Conditions
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● These Terms and Conditions shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Any disputes arising here shall be exclusively subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales. | https://medium.com/@sevenoaksgastro_93356/lovelocal-competition-terms-conditions-55a96218d896 | ['Rebecca Hill'] | 2019-04-28 18:55:19.738000+00:00 | ['Terms And Conditions', 'Competition', 'Startup', 'Food And Drink'] |
The Overlooked Conservative Case for Reining in Big Tech | The Overlooked Conservative Case for Reining in Big Tech
Democrats aren’t the only ones ready to rewrite the antitrust rules for internet platforms
Photo: SOPA Images/Getty Images
Never in world history has one sector of the global economy risen to such global dominance, so fast, as Big Tech has in the past 20 years.
In 2000, Amazon was an online bookseller, Apple was still an underdog, Google was a scrappy startup with little revenue, and Facebook didn’t exist. Today, along with Microsoft, they are the world’s five most valuable companies, and their decisions carry a level of global influence rivaled only by nation-states. They exert control over what we can say, how we can say it, what we buy, and what we read, and they wield unilateral power over the countless smaller businesses that rely on their platforms.
Until about five years ago, a prevailing 21st-century view was that the internet sector was so dynamic that upstarts could come along at any point and depose the giants: Just look at how Google and Apple blew past Microsoft, or how Facebook conquered MySpace. That view is no longer tenable, as the top platforms’ network effects, lock-in, access to data, diversification of business lines, and ability to buy or copy rivals has given them advantages that now appear nearly insurmountable. The relevant business question is no longer, “Will they stay on top?”, but rather, “What markets will they conquer next?” (The one competitive threat that still looms is that China-based giants could outmaneuver them with products such as WeChat and TikTok. But the Trump administration’s crackdown on Chinese tech has abruptly curtailed that threat domestically, and India’s crackdown has mitigated it in the largest non-aligned market.)
What to do about that concentration of power, if anything, is a question that has rapidly grown in urgency. There is an emerging consensus that antitrust action in some form is warranted, including among Republicans who are naturally skeptical of government intervention in markets. But there has been little clarity or agreement as to what form that action should take — until now.
The Pattern
We finally have a blueprint for regulating Big Tech. Or rather, two blueprints.
Undercurrents
Under-the-radar trends, stories, and random anecdotes worth your time.
Facebook and Twitter are taking some precautionary measures ahead of the U.S. election. The most interesting came from Twitter, which announced on Friday that it will take three previously untried steps to pump the brakes on misinformation and polarizing content, starting October 20. First, it will default to a quote-tweet when you go to retweet something, encouraging you to stop and think about what you want to add to the conversation rather than simply amplifying a viewpoint. Second, it will stop surfacing tweets from people you don’t follow in your feed or notifications. Finally, it will only show trending topics that come with editorial context. You can read its full announcement here. Facebook, for its part, announced an indefinite ban on political ads starting after November 3, along with other measures aimed at thwarting misinformation around who won the election or incitements to violence in its wake.
The most interesting came from Twitter, which announced on Friday that it will take three previously untried steps to pump the brakes on misinformation and polarizing content, starting October 20. First, it will default to a quote-tweet when you go to retweet something, encouraging you to stop and think about what you want to add to the conversation rather than simply amplifying a viewpoint. Second, it will stop surfacing tweets from people you don’t follow in your feed or notifications. Finally, it will only show trending topics that come with editorial context. You can read its full announcement here. Facebook, for its part, announced an indefinite ban on political ads starting after November 3, along with other measures aimed at thwarting misinformation around who won the election or incitements to violence in its wake. Cambridge Analytica didn’t unduly influence Brexit, a U.K. commission concluded, wrapping a three-year investigation into the political consultancy’s use of Facebook data in the campaign. The Financial Times reports that probe found that the methods used by a Cambridge Analytica affiliate were “in the main, well recognised processes using commonly available technology,” and that the resulting targeting of voters was not uniquely effective. The report was taken as vindication by some who felt the Cambridge Analytica scandal was overblown all along. Some privacy advocates were quick to reply that the real scandal was always more about how the data was gathered and obtained than how it affected election outcomes. (Both can be true; I made a version of this argument in 2018.)
Headlines of the week
Five Years of Tech Diversity Reports — and Little Progress
— Sara Harrison, Wired
How Excel may have caused loss of 16,000 Covid tests in England
— Alex Hern, The Guardian
QAnon high priest was just trolling away as a Citigroup tech executive
— William Turton and Joshua Brustein, Bloomberg | https://onezero.medium.com/the-overlooked-conservative-case-for-reining-in-big-tech-5d1942d79a26 | ['Will Oremus'] | 2020-10-10 12:55:38.805000+00:00 | ['Pattern Matching', 'Antitrust', 'Facebook', 'Technology', 'Apple'] |
Prosecute? Start With Records | Terry H. Schwadron
Dec. 24, 2020
Joe Biden reportedly has been torn about whether, as president, his administration should consider prosecuting citizen Donald Trump after he leaves office and the protections it has afforded.
After all, the thinking of his group seems to go, Biden can’t very well put himself forward as a healer of divides while appearing to prosecute his predecessor. But then, he can’t easily just ignore some of the legal excesses of Trump’s time before and during office without appearing to be saying that some people, indeed, are above the law.
So, we know we can expect that Middle Road Biden will seek to distance himself from the Justice Department and the Attorney General he names in hopes that a walled-off, independent set of attorneys will come up with the right decision — along the lines of leaving important coronavirus decision-making to the advice of scientists.
And, Biden, like the rest of us, knows that New York State, for one, is not going to hang on the horns of his perceived dilemma, and will be moving ahead through multiple investigations to pursue allegations of tax fraud, campaign finance and legal misrepresentations that preceded Trump’s years in the White House and continued to the present without asking Biden’s permission.
The only problem with all this perception of distancing himself is that, politically at least, Biden will be tagged with prosecuting Trump no matter what he does.
And Trump himself will help in all this by continuing to do his best to seek shortcuts around paying corporate and personal taxes and by continuing to play up the conspiracies that he seems to love to spin.
Open Them Up
In that regard, Paul Blumenthal of Huffington Post seemed to have an interesting set of suggestions for the incoming president. He can simply open the books to independent prosecutors, Congressional oversight committees, journalists and the public, and let the chips fall where they may.
“If President-elect Joe Biden was inclined to prosecute Trump, his only dilemma would be where to start,” argues Blumenthal. Justice has declined to look at hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels and others deemed campaign finance violations, at criminal obstruction of justice counts detailed by the Mueller investigation, and loads of financial issues from personal business practices to the inauguration. But most of the information has been based on news reports with original documents kept hidden.
Just by ordering a preference among federal agencies for open records under current Freedom of Information laws, Biden could usher in a level of transparency that by itself might produce a river of information that has been withheld from Congress, for example. In turn, that information that could lead to a reckoning either in the political sense or in a legal sense might just bubble up quite naturally without Biden himself having to appear as vengeful. A presidential order for agencies to review and respond to congressional document requests regarding Trump administration actions could also involve reviewing and overruling the administration’s assertions of executive privilege, for example.
Resulting investigation might lead to reversal of policies that abused individual rights in child separation or lying to Congress or the introduction of political leanings into normally independent federal agencies, including Justice. Investigation might detail the blatant Hatch Act violations normally barring political activity by nearly every high-ranking Trump official.
We need review of how the Trump family profited, in blatant violation of Constitutional bars against personal gain by the president, from using its hotels and properties for diplomats and required government trips. Ethics all but died in this administration.
Yet, the call for official congressional reviews or a task force approach to looking over the last four years for new rules to stop excess obviously will be burdened by partisan politics.
Oddly, the one political Justice case Biden will inherit is the probe into the origins of FBI investigation of ties between Trump’s campaign in 2016 and Russian operatives, since Atty. Gen. William P. Barr’s goodbye gift to Trump was granting U.S. Attorney John Durham the status of special counsel under a law extending his independent probe into the Biden years.
Review the Rules
In any case, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has issued a report on openness in government directly in response to the Trump years, as has a coalition of other groups called Accountability 2021. Together, the recommendations are an outline for what a Biden administration could be doing to create a better balance between necessary secrecy and the need for oversight.
There was abuse of classification of documents, for example, that may have little to do with personal liability for Trump, but a lot about a better alignment of powers between the executive and legislative branches.
How much should we be allowed to know about all those pardons from Trump, or about why and how decisions were made to keep Mueller documents secret, or to shove the transcript of that call with the Ukrainian president into a deep, dark cave? How do we ever know what Trump said to Russian President Vladimir Putin in multiple one on one conversations held secret or about what went into the decisions to skip early action on coronavirus?
Trump adopted a novel legal viewpoint, refusing to comply with congressional oversight, arguing simply that the executive branch did not have to do so, even during an impeachment inquiry. When do we hold Trump accountable for such actions?
Sure, let Biden keep his hands off Justice.
But give us the right to see how our own government is working. If prosecution is warranted, that will come out.
##
www.terryschwadron.wordpress.com | https://medium.com/@terryschwadron/prosecute-start-with-records-621b58d82102 | ['Terry Schwadron'] | 2020-12-24 11:16:45.970000+00:00 | ['Prosecution', 'President', 'Donald Trump', 'Crimes', 'Joe Biden'] |
Rethinking the Orchestrator | (Unknown image author)
It was a rare rainy August morning in Lisbon as the first developers of the Routing team arrived at a quiet office. Like every other day, the QA Specialist greeted them as they arrived, but today something felt off. There was a slight uneasiness in the air, a hint of apprehension intensified by the gloomy weather. They did what every developer would do in the situation. They opened Jira. And what they saw threw their world into an immediate stall. The Orchestrator had emitted the same event twice. War-torn and battle-scarred they knew what it meant. They knew right away it was a race-condition and thus they became silent. For hours they were silent, as silent as anyone had ever been. And in silence they remained, while the patter of the rain and the mechanical keyboards echoed around them.
At least that’s how I imagine it (I wasn’t there at the time).
The reality is that, six months later, many other instances of race-conditions had been found in the product which meant that a critical flaw in the design needed to be addressed.
In this article, we will guide you through the process of rethinking and redesigning our system to be thread-safe.
What Is the Orchestrator?
To put it in simple terms, the Orchestrator is a distributed state machine that supports concurrency. It is used as a runtime for complex functionality that is built in the form of Routing Configurations — directed graphs (in JSON format) that describe a set of steps to be executed. These steps can be computational (i.e. starts, forks, joins, decisions, terminations), or function-steps, which are small programs built (by internal teams) to perform custom operations.
The Orchestrator’s architecture is comprised of four components:
Figure 1 — The Orchestrator’s architecture.
Interactions REST API — used to trigger a start step in a configuration, creating a new flow.
— used to trigger a start step in a configuration, creating a new flow. Message Queue — a RabbitMQ cluster that queues configuration steps for execution.
— a RabbitMQ cluster that queues configuration steps for execution. Engine — this component will consume steps from the queue, evaluate them, and then enqueue an event that will signal the runtime to proceed to the next step. This helps us increase performance by scaling the number of engines and guarantees that no interactions will remain unfinished due to a failing engine.
— this component will consume steps from the queue, evaluate them, and then enqueue an event that will signal the runtime to proceed to the next step. This helps us increase performance by scaling the number of engines and guarantees that no interactions will remain unfinished due to a failing engine. Data Store — the Engine is completely stateless to improve scalability and fault tolerance, so all of the operational data is stored in a MongoDB cluster.
What’s Wrong with It?
The first issue we discovered was related to a configuration that contained a fork step, creating two flows that would eventually reach two separate termination steps.
When steps are executed, they can trigger events that are listened to by other systems in order to begin performing certain computations.
One of those events is triggered by the termination step after all other flows have reached their termination and the interaction is marked as finished. This event tells other systems to begin their post-interaction work.
When the termination step is executed and all other flows have finished, it will check if the interaction has been marked as finished by another flow, and if it hasn’t, it marks the interaction itself. This process is illustrated below.
Figure 2 — The Orchestrator’s Race Condition.
With the configuration described above, we noticed that in certain situations two flows would terminate at the same time, and, since both would see that all flows were terminated, both would check the state of the interaction.
However, due to a race condition, both flows would see that the interaction was still running and would mark it as terminated, publishing the event in the process. This is worrisome because the post-interaction work may not be idempotent.
This sounds like an easy fix, but it was only a symptom of a much larger problem. The system had no structured way to deal with concurrency, and the addition of more complex features that relied on it began consistently breaking two of our invariants:
Events must be delivered exactly once.
All flows must begin with a start step and eventually reach a termination step.
The issue needed to be tackled, and so we set out to find a solution.
Proposed Solution
Our solution was conceptually simple.
We decided to identify all the primitive orchestration operations, such as those that modify the internal state shared between nodes. These operations must be atomic as they are used, for instance, to emit events, transition between steps, and other more complex features. These primitives would then be consolidated under a single interface in the Engine, which would be implemented with thread safety in mind. All features would then have to go through this implementation to execute any of the primitive operations.
We knew that it would be difficult to achieve as the primitives were being used completely ad-hoc, and scattered throughout the codebase.
Getting it Started
Now that the problem had been identified and a solution had been found, we were ready to start working, but first, some important decisions needed to be made.
Rewrite or Fix?
Most of us have felt the urge to completely rewrite our projects at some point in our lives.
As the customer base grows, requirements change, and projects become more complex.
Changing core components is no longer something that can be done in a few days’ work, and you’re absolutely sure you could write a leaner, meaner, cleaner system if your manager would just let you start from scratch.
However, from a management standpoint, this isn’t always easy to justify. Rewriting might take more time, cost more, and a better system for developers might not have clear quality-of-life improvements for the customers.
In our case, the primitive operations were scattered throughout the code. In theory, this could be fixed with a lot of effort but it would result in a hackish solution and a rapid increase in tech-debt.
Additionally, several new developers (including me) had joined very recently, and a lot of them (also me) were quite inexperienced. This meant that it would take quite a lot of time, possibly months, for the team to be fully accustomed to the existing code be and ready for these massive changes.
Another important factor is that our system is not yet being used in production for clients, but lots of teams were already building on top of it for a joint release that was approaching. So, while we had to maintain the whole system running for the other teams in order to meet our deadline, there was less risk for the company.
In the end, rewriting the Engine was a natural decision for us. The newcomers would be able to contribute much sooner, providing a point-of-view that hadn’t been tainted by the previous implementation. The more inexperienced members would have a rare chance to contribute to a large project from its inception, learning from the architectural decisions taken along the way. And finally, the original team would be able to bury the demons in their past.
Feature Flags or Feature Branch
The decision to build alongside the current product had been made, but we couldn’t just create a new module and work on it for a few months while our prescient programmer vision guided us towards the right path (turns out that’s not what Extreme Programming means).
This new module would need to interface with the rest of the project so that it could be functionally tested.
The decision then fell on whether to use feature flags or a feature branch to isolate the new developments while V1 was still being actively maintained.
In day-to-day development we use feature branches to easily parallelize our work, so creating a feature branch for this new endeavor would seem like a natural extension of the process. However, using a feature branch for long term development tends to delay the integration process leading to complex, error-prone conflict resolution, and possibly unexpected incompatibilities.
We are also very accustomed to feature flags in our daily work and they’re usually used to build and roll-out new features progressively. This avoids some of the drawbacks of feature-branches but, depending on the project, may require significant effort to cover all possible entry points. Additionally, it would increase our build times noticeably with the addition of a duplicated module and all of its tests. There’s also the remote possibility that the new guy (me again) will accidentally roll-out the untested Engine in production.
For this endeavor we settled on Feature Flags, the Orchestrator had a very clear entry point meaning we could use a single if statement to switch between both versions of the Engine. With a single flag, we were able to continuously deploy the new changes and it allowed our QA team to easily test both engines in the same environment, which proved to be useful countless times.
Defining the API
As previously stated, we set out to identify the primitive operations of the system and consolidate them under a single API.
The advantage of this approach was that we could start by building and testing these primitives without the overhead of all the higher-level features. Additionally, it allowed us to parallelize our work, and implement multiple primitives simultaneously.
The key here was the test battery that we created to validate the API. There were multiple tests for each primitive, and all of them exploited concurrency in an attempt to simulate race conditions.
As we expected, most of the tests failed, as the API was not yet built for concurrency.
This test-driven approach not only validated our understanding of the existent issues, but it created a baseline for the implementation of structured concurrency.
Getting it Done
Now that the foundation had been built we could start working on a better Engine.
Lock or Not to Lock
The problem of lock vs lock-free algorithms has been widely studied, and thanks to that, we common mortals can now make this decision after reading a single StackOverflow answer. Fortunately, not everyone in our team is a common mortal and we decided to thoroughly test the two approaches before committing to one.
To do so, we built two proofs-of-concept, that took the API we had implemented, and improved it to solve the concurrency issues. The lock-free version would rely on MongoDB’s atomic operations, while the other would be built around a custom-built distributed lock service.
Both approaches can be easily compared by looking at how they solve the problem depicted in Figure 2. Since the crux of the issue is the fact that the MongoDB read and write operations aren’t performed as part of an atomic transaction, solving this with the database’s atomic findAndModify operation becomes trivial, as can be seen below (Figure 3).
Figure 3 — Solving the race condition with atomic database operations.
It’s not possible for Consumer 2 to view and modify the old state while it’s being modified by Consumer 1 by reading and writing in a single atomic step, thus solving the race condition.
The distributed-lock based approach, on the other hand, is slightly more complex. It required creating a MongoDB collection in which each document represents the lock-state of a resource (i.e., locked or unlocked).
When operating over any privileged resource, the consumer must acquire the lock over it, execute its operation, and release the lock.
In the meantime, the other consumers will not be able to obtain the lock and must retry the operation until they are successful (or they exceed the number of retries).
To ensure that there are no race conditions when obtaining the lock, we once again used MongoDB’s findAndModify operation. This approach is depicted below (Figure 4).
Figure 4 — Solving the race-condition with a distributed lock implementation.
It’s clear that the first approach is much simpler, and more efficient, while the second approach is more flexible. MongoDB’s findAndModify operation can only be executed on a single collection, so it cannot be used to solve every problem.
Initially, we hoped that a lock-free approach was sufficient, as locks may degrade performance and one must be careful to avoid deadlocks.
However, tests showed that even after reworking our data model, our operations could not be implemented with the atomicity guarantees provided by the version of MongoDB we license, as many operations required changing multiple collections in a single atomic step. Therefore, our concurrency was solved by distributed locks.
By luck of the draw, both PoCs were implemented by two of the new members of the team. This goes to show the importance of our early decisions, as the newcomers were able to contribute to core design decisions and evaluation efforts right away.
Supporting the Current Function Ecosystem
As we’ve stated before, Routing Configurations can be composed of function steps.
Now, these functions are not made of completely arbitrary code, and a disgruntled developer cannot build a function that lets him play online games instead of working (although we did try in the last Hackathon).
These functions make use of a set of functionality provided by the Engine that we call StepSDK. The SDK allows functions to make remote requests to other internal systems, emit events (not to be confused with the Engine’s events) among other things.
Thankfully the functions only depend on the StepSDK’s API and not its implementation, but the implementation itself was tightly coupled with the Engine V1, especially its data model.
To fix this, we began by first isolating the minimum set of data needed to implement the SDK, while attempting to keep it Engine-agnostic by not relying on the internal data model, which shouldn’t be exposed. Once we did that, we extracted the SDK method implementations to a separate module that only depended on this data (that we called Engine Commons).
We were able to support most of the StepSDK’s features using this approach, with a small subset having to be reimplemented for the Engine V2. Still, this saved us a lot of work, and after this effort, all the functions that already existed for V1 (a number that grew every day) could be used in V2.
This took some effort but it was a major stride towards the roll-out and adoption of the Engine V2.
Learning from Current Mistakes
As we were building the new Engine, version 1 was still being used in production and integrated with other systems.
Often, we would have requests from internal clients to fix or improve some features in the existing product. Usually, these were things that we had previously identified, so they were either small easy fixes or larger changes that we had decided to solve in the reimplementation. “That’ll be solved in V2” became our team’s catchphrase.
However, our assumptions weren’t always right. In certain instances, while the feature we had created would be able to solve the customer’s problems, its semantics did not match what they naturally expected. So we were left with a dilemma, do we teach them how to use the features, or do we pivot and implement it in the way they expected?
The answer to this question was to speak to more users. When consulting other clients we came to the realization that most of them followed the same thought process.
Desire paths prove that it is very difficult to get people to follow a procedure when there are other ways that are easier or better for them.
When faced with the decision, we decided to model our approach around the client’s assumptions, rather than force a different approach upon them and risk having no adoption of the feature. | https://medium.com/@goncalogarcia/rethinking-the-orchestrator-32bf9dcb0369 | ['Gonçalo Garcia'] | 2021-01-19 09:56:15.016000+00:00 | ['Distributed Systems', 'Backend Development', 'Software Architecture', 'Software Development'] |
See the Coronavirus for Yourself | This plot is very telling of the impact of coronavirus on different age ranges — the distribution for deaths peaks at an older age, around 75 years of age, whereas the peak for those who recovered was at about 45 years of age, and the peak for those discharged from the hospital peaking at 30 years of age.
Note that because it is a distribution plot that must be continuous and smooth throughout, the distribution plots for discharged and recovered to begin in -20 years of age.
This means that a distribution plot, while helpful in that one can view the overall distribution, deceives the viewer, for example, by suggesting that there are people under 40 who died (which is not true in the dataset).
A boxplot, while not showing the distribution, and give us an idea of where the important checkpoints of a distribution (minimum, 1st & 3rd quartiles, median, maximum) are:
df1 = pd.DataFrame(data[data['outcome'].apply(clean)=='death']['age'].apply(apply_int)).assign(outcome='death')
df3 = pd.DataFrame(data[data['outcome'].apply(clean)=='discharge']['age'].apply(apply_int)).assign(outcome='discharge')
df2 = pd.DataFrame(data[data['outcome'].apply(clean)=='recovered']['age'].apply(apply_int)).assign(outcome='recovered')
cdf = pd.concat([df1, df2, df3])
plt.figure(figsize=(5,5))
sns.boxplot(x="outcome", y="age", data=cdf) # RUN PLOT
plt.show()
Note that diamonds represent statistical outliers. It’s clear that each outcome moves lower on the age range. Most people who die are 60 years of age or above.
Let’s find the average age for the three outcomes.
The code for the average age for deaths…
data[data['outcome'].apply(clean)=='death']['age'].apply(apply_int) .mean()
…returns 65.125 . The average age for recovery is 45 years of age, and the average age for discharge is 39 years of age. | https://towardsdatascience.com/see-the-coronavirus-for-yourself-88ce06b88f5e | ['Andre Ye'] | 2020-03-22 04:28:14.455000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Disease', 'Data Analysis', 'Data Visualization', 'Data'] |
Transcreation | These are examples showing how difficult a tagline translation can be:
Have a break. Have a KitKat.
As in poetry, copywriters like to use alliteration to create memorable slogans. However, it’s a peculiarity of the English language that the verb “have” can be used to mean “take a break” as well as “eat a KitKat”. When translating this to another language, there is little chance that the translator will be able to use the same verb for both parts.
Harley Davidson. All for freedom. Freedom for all
This example is much alike the previous one. The word “all” is taken at first glance to mean “everybody,” but the slogan gains more depth from the fact that it can also be understood as “everything”, creating a double meaning in the first part of the phrase. It is nearly impossible to recreate this in another language. The translator would have to choose which of the two meanings is most important, or central to the message, making for a less interesting slogan.
LG — Life´s Good
In this example, a sentence was created by using the letters of the brand name of the company. It would be hardly possible to create the same message using these letters in any other language.
The three above taglines were not translated to Portuguese here in Brazil. The companies decided to use them in English. | https://medium.com/@latinlanguagestranslation/transcreation-26fdd38daa32 | ['Latinlanguages Translation'] | 2021-12-20 14:37:17.328000+00:00 | ['Translation', 'Transcreation', 'Business', 'Translation Services', 'Language'] |
Building a People API for a growing platform | Building a People API for a growing platform
When I took a job at Apolitical, a fast-growing global learning platform for public servants, it was the first time I joined a company remotely.
As you might imagine, it was challenging: new teammates who you only see on a Zoom window, few opportunities to socialise outside of working hours, etc, etc. But, as I had expected, there was little time to dilly-dally, anyway. We found ourselves trying to overcome performance issues with the old API and the first project I was given involved migrating the entire user base from WordPress to a new, modern, and ready-to-scale API.
TL;DR: If you’re cherry-picking modules for your next Node.js project and you want to jump straight into your business logic, then use Finale REST endpoints and controllers from Sequelize models in your Express.js app to allow you to create a powerful and customisable API.
Yes, I know, another blog post about REST APIs and microservices — please, just bear with me to find out how to quickly prototype your next project.
Getting started
Where the tech stack was concerned, the project had some preconditions:
On the development side, we planned to use PostgreSQL relational database, Node.js ( Javascript ECMAScript 2018) runtime, Sequelize object-relational mapping (ORM), and Express.js server
relational database, ( ECMAScript 2018) runtime, object-relational mapping (ORM), and server On the infrastructure side, we run our platform on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) with Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) and Cloud SQL
Of course, all of these are industry standards and well-known technologies. Apart from the software architecture and database schema itself, the complexity of the project relied upon structuring the REST endpoints and controllers.
We needed to do this in a way that allowed us to maintain and extend the business logic of our resources. That’s when Finale REST came into action to offer CRUD (create, read, update, and delete) operations out-of-the-box, significantly reducing the effort and amount of code needed for the initial setup.
Proof of Concept
The first step of any successful project is to validate the modules (or 3rd party dependencies) that will satisfy your needs. To get us started, we decided to set up a basic user resource to get a real sense of what the value would be from using Finale REST on our API stack. The code would have looked like this:
Note: The Express.js middlewares (e.g. bodyParser) should be set before the Finale REST initialisation — otherwise the POST or PUT methods won’t work (line 34).
To our pleasant surprise, at that point, we had working REST endpoints and controllers for the user resource, including CRUD operations and support for filtering, searching, sorting, and pagination (to find more about this, visit this page).
Milestones
Now, even on the best days, your API will require more business logic than plain REST controllers. Perhaps, you may need to secure your endpoints with JSON Web Tokens (JWT), or you may need to write presentation layers based on roles and permissions, or any other functionality you may think of.
To do this, Finale REST has built-in support for milestones. Basically, each controller has hooks for setting and overriding behaviour at each step of the request. Or, in other words, the milestones provide opportunities to run your business logic at various important steps throughout the duration of the request (to find more about this, visit this page). An example of how to use milestones can look like this:
Note: The userResource variable was previously defined (line 41).
The context object must be used to control the milestone flow, allowing you to continue, skip or stop the milestones chain, or directly throw an error from your milestones. The example above is only setting milestones for some of the hooks, but you are able to dig further into changing any other step on the CRUD operations. Finale REST also comes with very handy, predefined errors (Not Found, Bad Request, Forbidden).
Conclusions
Currently, you can find many modern web-frameworks for creating Node.js microservices out there, such as LoopBack, Nest.js, or Feathers, to mention only a few. And if you’re developing an API from scratch, it could be a good idea to go with one of those. But, given our preconditions, it was clear for us that having a highly customisable plain Express.js server was the way to go — and I would not be suggesting using Finale REST if the People API had not successfully gone live. You can trust me that the People API is handling all the requests related to the users on the Apolitical platform.
However, the engineering team found Finale REST somewhat difficult to get started with. The main reason, in my experience, is that it is unclear which functionalities are built-in, and which are not. I have been asked multiple times, “but… where’s the query to the database?” or similar questions. And the answer is: Finale REST does that for you! Despite this disadvantage, the flexibility of adding business logic at any point of the request/response flow is one of the things Finale REST has implemented very well, and it has allowed us to quickly iterate and increment the functionality of the People API over time.
During this project, I had the opportunity to meet and become part of the incredible engineering team at Apolitical, where we share the motivation and commitment to Apolitical’s mission of creating great opportunities to learn for public servants everywhere. | https://medium.com/apolitical-engineering/apolitical-building-the-people-api-finale-rest-1c7a2e53487b | ['Renzo Rozza'] | 2020-12-19 11:13:32.614000+00:00 | ['Microservices', 'Rest Api', 'Sequelize', 'Expressjs', 'Nodejs'] |
5 Things I Wish My Father Had Told Me About Men | Dad, I know that one reason you hoped, when you found out you were going to be a father again at almost 43, that I was going to be a boy, was because you doubted your ability to keep a daughter safe. And I know that, when I turned out to be curious, strong-willed, prone to midnight rambles, and friends with every animal and person I met, you were terrified that I’d be bitten by a stray dog or raped by a strange man. So I know that all the things you told me about men were meant to keep me safe, but Dad, fear can’t keep me safe. Fear only kept me… afraid.
So here is what I wish you had told me about men.
They’re nice to hug, and hugging doesn’t make you pregnant.
I must have been 11, maybe 12, when my friend went away. We’d known each other since infancy, because my mother babysat him. But as we got older, and went to different schools, I didn’t see him so much. So I know you didn’t know him, and you didn’t have any reason to trust him. But when he broke down that last time I saw him, and said he didn’t WANT to go to California to live with his mom and he wished his parents hadn’t split up and he was scared that it was his fault, and I awkwardly slipped my arm around his shoulders because it seemed like the thing a friend would do — hearing “If you keep acting like that we’re going to have a baby to raise,” as soon as I came in the house, wasn’t helpful.
Because hugs, when a friend is sad, aren’t dangerous or wrong just because the other person is a man (or will be a man if you give him a few years.) They aren’t sexual, they aren’t a come on, and they aren’t the “gateway” to getting pregnant. They’re what we do when words won’t do, they’re what we give when our hands are empty, but our hearts are full. They’re natural, and healing, and sometimes a bear hug from a man you’ve never had sex with, and don’t even want to have sex with, is the most validating, uplifting, and hopeful thing that can happen on any given day.
They like to help you out and make you smile, but not because you’ll owe them something.
I’m glad you drilled it into me that I needed to be self-sufficient. We lived out away from towns or houses, and cell phones were a fantasy only Robert Heinlein and his Navy-yard buddies could imagine. So knowing how to change a tire, set the points, jump start the battery, and clobber someone with a tire iron if I needed to, made me feel a little more confident when I did drive into town on my own.
And when I went away to college, knowing how to troubleshoot simple things around the apartment, or even drive a nail (although you never did admit I could drive it straight) made me feel pretty cocky. But I would have bought into the need to learn to fend for myself without being told that I shouldn’t depend on men to help me because they were only doing it for one reason.
The same for making sure I could pay my own way in the world. I’ve never depended on a man for my livelihood, except for those months before you left this world when I was caring for you, and the month or so after while I looked for work. I’m proud that I can earn my keep, but I’ve learned that men enjoy footing the bill sometimes. They like taking me to nice places, or buying me nice things, and seeing my face light up. And I no longer spoil it for them with my old suspicions of what they’re going to ask for in return. Men like to see me smile, maybe because they love my smile, maybe because they love me, but I’m learning to take that at face value instead of looking to see what’s behind the mask.
“Yes” is the most beautiful word in the world to them, and they won’t think less of you for saying it.
You were raised with “no means yes” and “only bad girls ever say yes to sex.” That had to really suck. For the men and the women. Because it’s confusing, and it’s wrong, and it hurts everyone. You told me if I “wanted it” I was a bad girl, well, you used a different word, but we both know that those are “bad girls.” And you told me that all men wanted it, and that if I teased, or showed too much skin, or made eye contact and smiled, or went out by myself late at night, that I could easily be mistaken for the kind of “bad girl” who really wanted it, who was asking for it, who meant “yes” even when she said “no.”
I wish you’d told me that men get as confused and as hurt over the whole “good girls don’t” baloney as women do. I wish you’d told me how much it means to a man to have a woman he wants and loves say “yes” and mean it.
I wish you’d told me that rape has nothing to do with sex, it has to do with yes and no. Rape is a violation of the right to give or withhold consent, it’s not exclusive to men, and it’s not the only violation of consent that matters. I wish you’d told me that a man’s sexual urges aren’t what causes them to commit rape, that the cause is in their insecurity, their fear, their need to dominate, to control, to hold another person powerless. Because if you’d told me that, we would both have known that isn’t about sex, and it isn’t about gender.
There are a few men you need to be afraid of, but not because they’re men.
Yes, there are men who have done me harm. There are women who have done some major damage too. And I’ve been thrown off a few horses (and a half grown buffalo once, but that was totally my fault.)
Yes, there are a few men I need to be afraid of, because of their pain, their conditioning, their belief systems.
I’ve been raped, and I’ve been hit. I’ve been lied to and cheated on. I’ve been discarded and mocked and taken for a ride. But none of that had to do with the gender of the person abusing me, any more than getting thrown off of that dappled blond mare when I was 10 and ending up with a hole in my head and blood all over my collar and Mom almost fainted which Mom just didn’t usually do had to do with the fact that that mare had brown and blond dapples, or the fact that she was a mare.
Just like there are some dogs I don’t reach out to pet, and some puddles I go around because I suspect they might be bottomless wells in disguise.
Because…
Men are human.
Yeah. They aren’t angels or devils. They aren’t demons or wild beasts. They aren’t inferior, or superior.
They get scared, they get stupid. They get hurt, they strike out. They walk the same tricky path to trying to be a good person, and happy person, and a person of value whose life means something in the world, as I do.
They have needs and desires — and they have the same choice that I do, to control them or be controlled by them.
They have goals and impossible dreams — and they have the same opportunities as I do, to walk into them or walk away from them.
They have expectations and obligations — and whatever they believe society expects of them because of their gender, they have the same rights that I do, to buy into those beliefs that have been instilled through generations of programming, or to say “no thanks world, I’ll decide for myself how I live, what I do, and who I will become.” | https://medium.com/modernidentities/5-things-i-wish-my-father-had-told-me-about-men-6b307e109219 | ['Agents Of Change'] | 2020-12-13 03:02:35.905000+00:00 | ['Daughters', 'Masculinity', 'Relationships', 'Sexuality', 'Fatherhood'] |
The Destructive Tyranny of Offensive Wealth | The Destructive Tyranny of Offensive Wealth
The only thing that stands in the way of a better world is the insatiable greed and incomparable cruelty of the wealthy class Walter Rhein Follow Nov 16, 2020 · 7 min read
Photo by Daniel Jensen on Unsplash
Every tragedy and injustice that plagues our society persists due to the cruel indifference of the wealthy class. Every child that goes hungry, every person that goes homeless, every illness that goes untreated is because a rich person would rather be surrounded by luxury than help out their fellow human beings.
Wealth inequality is the fundamental injustice of our age. The richest people in our nation control the media, so the narrative of wealth cruelty is pushed aside, buried, and ignored. Our political discourse is littered with carefully crafted soundbites designed to divert attention away from the problem, and even justify ongoing wealth theft.
At the core of the problem is the general public’s complete lack of understanding as to what motivates the rich. The working class is so caught up in paying their medical bills, or student loans, or insurance premiums that they don’t have time to speculate on what wealthy individuals are up to. The simple fact is that there’s nothing you can buy with a billion dollars that you can’t buy with 500 million. The tireless quest of the obscenely rich to acquire more assets isn’t motivated by a desire for personal gain. They do it because they want to subjugate and torment the rest of us.
More than their fair share
Every year the richest people in our nation manage to increase their fortunes while the rest of us have to scrape to get by. They strive to increase their percentage of all new wealth created, and our society is approaching the point of no return.
In the second quarter of 2020, the share of net wealth in the United States held by the top 10 percent increased slightly from the previous quarter to 69 percent. At the beginning of 1990, this figure stood at 60.5 percent. During this period, the wealth share of the 90th to 99th percentile remained broadly constant at around 37 percent, while the share of the top one percent increased from 23.5 percent of net wealth to 30.5 percent. — Eric Duffin
Consider if that trend had gone the other way. Currently the bottom 50% of households hold only around1.6 trillion dollars. The total wealth of the United States is approximately 100 trillion dollars. If an additional 10% had trickled down instead of up, 50% of Americans would have seen their net worth rise by an astonishing 725%.
What does that mean?
The numbers are almost too big to comprehend. An additional 10 trillion dollars distributed to 50% of American families would irrevocably alter everything about our society. Basically, all your perceptions about growing wealth could be thrown out the window.
According to Nerdwallet.com, the best savings accounts offer a rate of around 0.6%. If you put $100 in a savings account with that rate, at the end of 30 years you would have a total of $119.66. In contrast, if you saw your $100 go up by 725% after 30 years, you would have $825.00.
Would you rather have $119.66 or $825.00?
The multiplier
To put in terms that are even easier to understand, think about everything you owned 30 years ago. If your wealth had increased at the same rate it does for the nation’s wealthiest people, you would be able to multiply all your assets by 8.25. Look around your house, imagine that for every pair of shoes you had, you now have 8.25 pairs of shoes. If you had a car, you now have 8.25 cars. If you were fortunate enough to have a house, you now have 8.25 houses.
Wealthy people have so much more money than the working class that our minds are almost incapable of calculating the difference. It’s similar to comparing the distance to the nearest post office to your house, to the distance between the Earth and the sun. It breaks your mind to even try to consider.
They play on the other side of the decimal point
Regular working class people don’t even strive for a 100% percent return on an investment. We fight and we claw and we struggle to get 5% and we congratulate ourselves the few times we achieve it.
Wealthy people laugh at a 5% return. They think people that are placated by such a pitiful achievement are pathetic and stupid. Competing with them is like trying to win a game of monopoly against somebody who starts the game in possession of all the properties, hotels, and cash.
Working class people are forced to put our money in their banks which allows the rich to steal their obscene percentage. They refuse to admit that they can’t do it without us, and it offends them that they have to distribute the paltry fraction of a percent the market dictates they provide.
They control us
We don’t have the option of avoiding them. It’s not possible to survive in the modern world without a bank account. Furthermore, when banks get into trouble, the government is always right there to send the wealthy elite trillion dollar checks that the working class will eventually have to repay.
Our whole perception of working and investing is a completely artificial scheme which is designed to keep us struggling and in poverty. The rich like to claim that it’s possible to work our way to a better station in life, but the wealthy class does everything it can to place obstacles in our path.
Wealthy people aren’t job creators
One of the worst parts about living in the United States is how we are all constantly subjected to these nonsensical axioms that have been manufactured to justify the continuing existence of tyrannical wealth.
“Well, we need rich people, they are the job creators.”
Yeah, because if a rich person didn’t exist, the oak tree in my yard wouldn’t drop its leaves in autumn and I wouldn’t have to rake. If rich people didn’t exist, people wouldn’t be hungry and farmers wouldn’t have to tend their crops. If rich people didn’t exist, people wouldn’t have to go anywhere and there would be no need to build roads.
Necessity creates jobs, progress creates jobs, the natural demands of survival create jobs. All rich people do is divert economic wealth to themselves. They obstruct and inhibit the progress of our species, they don’t aid it.
No rich person ever helped you
Consider your life. Every single time somebody has changed the oil in your car, s/he has been in the bottom 50%. Every time somebody has cooked and served you food, that person has been in the bottom 50%. Every soldier that has died to protect our freedoms has been in the bottom 50%. Every positive social interaction of your life has come from a person with minimal wealth just like you.
The only time you’ve interacted with somebody in the top 10% was when you were served a medical bill that robbed you of everything you’ve ever earned. If you’ve ever had a bank foreclose on your home, you’ve dealt with a rich person. If you’ve ever had your pension stolen or your social security cut, you’ve endured the aggressions of the rich.
Class warfare
The rich often complain about being the victim of a non-existent form of class warfare, but their complaints are just propaganda. The only class warfare that exists is the one the rich constantly wage on the middle class and those that live in poverty.
If you go to your local bar, it’s likely you’ll find someone who has been programmed with the divisive lies that are designed to set working class people against each other. They’ll rant and rave for hours about the pennies that are distributed to Welfare recipients, while remaining completely indifferent to the trillions of taxpayer dollars that go directly to the obscenely rich.
It’s time to drop the anchor
If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me — Jesus Christ, Matthew 19:21
The sad reality is that there’s plenty of wealth to go around for everyone. All of our children should receive medical care and quality education. As a society, we should be able to cultivate the drive and determination of every generation and harness its full potential in pursuit of a brighter future for everyone.
The only thing that stands in the way of a better world is the insatiable greed and incomparable cruelty of the wealthy class. It’s time we recognized once and for all that their ultimate motivation is not personal achievement, but the destitution and destruction of their fellow citizens. The wealthy class is an anchor. In the name of compassion and humanity, it’s past time we purged them from our nation. | https://aninjusticemag.com/the-destructive-tyranny-of-offensive-wealth-7810407b91a0 | ['Walter Rhein'] | 2020-11-16 18:42:18.979000+00:00 | ['Elections', 'Politics', 'Wealth', 'Debt', 'Wealth Inequality'] |
Applied Mathematics for Daily Use. | Ladies & Gentlemen,
I just played several rounds of the world’s finest golf courses, Yas Links, Abu Dhabi. This well nominated course did not just the golf element of the 2019 Special Olympics World Games, but has also recently been ranked 48th in Golf Digest’s Top 100 courses on planet earth.
While playing this wonderful concentration game, that certainly not only requires consistency, persistence, will-power to make use of applied mathematics during every single strike. This golf-game, an abstract science of number, quantity, and distance, either as long drive / approach to the green (pure mathematics), or let’s just consider it as golf swing applied to other disciplines such as physics and engineering. Physics is the impact of club onto the golf ball, it’s degrees, and that craftsmanship of a quality club, engineering. An iron or driver does not require only research, innovation, development, and engineering that breaks the mold for golf club design, but also the player and his / her body structure. Every single person on this planet is different and we as individuals can swing differently.
Applied mathematics in daily life:
Most of the folks that have just been looking into golf as a “meaningless” sport, where people just hit balls and keep chasing after all the same, or may be looking for it, it is not any much different to soccer or football, or even tennis, keep hitting it and trying to score. What the majority of even players have not been made aware of is how to calculate your handicap. See, the actual meaning of golf is not to just the hit the ball and get it as far as possible “out there”, rather it is the precision and the calculation of the score itself.
The score card, as seen below, what does that actually mean?
Take a quick look at the “Par — Line”, marked in yellow. As you can see, all the way, on each whole it either shows “3” or “4” or “5”, only three types of “Pars” mentioned. Those numbers represent the numbers of shots you are supposed to play on each “hole”, therefore three, four or five strikes. 36 are being recommended for the front nine, this is also counts for the back nine. In theory, if you would follow that path of 36 on each 9 holes or 72 on 18, you would play “handicap 0”.
However, when it comes to the score, everyone has to start somehow and each golfer will get a “starting-score”, which is “45”.
How it all starts, same as a business or relationship:
Everything starts somehow, in this occasion, golf has to start with an individual that is able to play +45 shots over 72, meaning: 117, otherwise you won’t receive a permit to actually play on a course at all. On top of that, you will have to have a “home club” that actually “manages” your score, which based on your “home club score and rating”.
If you could manage to complete a round, during a tournament, with an official rating and score, with for example 112, instead of 117, your HCP (or so called handicap) will be officially reduced from 45 (-5) to 40, next tournament you will have to play 112 (again) just to keep up with your rating, otherwise, play better and lower than 112, let’s say, 110 and your HCP will be reduced to 38 instead.
In a nutshell, what the golf sport is all about:
This particular sport does not work with power, or “the harder you are hitting the ball”, “the further it goes”.
it requires patience, persistence and an applied mathematical understanding instead.
We can have great days in life, and outstanding performance the other day, one day or another we can encounter difficult situations, which we have to manage / usually some Red Bull will definitely leaves for more room for improvement and encourages your brain power to act.
Everyday in life, we get out of bed -hopefully- brush our teeth, get dressed and start with at least “something between” our teeth, so our body gets up and running for our day. This is how we are “getting the ball rolling”, everyday “here I go again”.
Respectfully to the game and our lives, there is simply no such “mulligan”, where we can just get back to bed and get back in time, most of us just have “one shot”, and “one go”, there is simply no second chance at all.
The very first game day in Abu Dhabi, a new course, can be rather challenging. A new encountered territory, with obstacles that have not been clearly defined on the “birdie-map”, could be quite demanding and more effort would have to be put into action instead.
Same as in our current “life”, we will be in extremely tough but inspiring situations, which have to be dealt with, there is simply no turning back.
Act, act, act and don’t look back, keep going and focus on the aim, in this case: it is the flag, with the lowest possible amount of strikes.
What does Applied Science have to do with our Lives?
Frankly speaking, there are plenty of examples, golf-sport just to name a view, by contrasting our real-life-case-scenarios that we will encounter, in the end our life is a journey, no matter how long, or short haul it goes.
Membership card programs:
Apart from science, there are also mathematical formulas we can make money out of. Calculating numbers can actually be a tool, a tool that has been right in front of us, but we have not seen it and did not know how to use it. This is all the same as a racket or club, even a bike or inline-skates, tools we can make use of, but if we are not familiar we need to try to getting familiar first, than we can use it for our own good.
The other day I did write about membership card programs, such as airline-, supermarket-, hotel-credit-card reward programs, with the credit-card as “points-booster”, this can and will be taking you to the next level.
As a landlord of properties, I keep encountering tenants what would be more than willing to extend their stays, somehow, instead of an additional year or two, it can be just for a week or two, and there can be caps between one tenant moving-in / out, where simply staying in hotels can be the very best alternative not being forced to sleep in “work in progress” flat instead, while being able to getting complimentary breakfast, welcome gifts, afternoon-teas, happy-open-bar dinners, as part of their “lounge access” and by still not having to pay a fortune instead.
All you will have to do is to stay loyal, and persistent, to stick with one global brand instead, using their branded credit cards, no matter airlines, hotels, or even supermarkets can let you stay ahead of the rest and remind yourself that there is something that money cannot buy: loyalty.
No matter it is just a sport, life, career, studies, or a membership program (associated with a credit card), it is all about being consistent a loyal. All those are tools that can make life, your life, a better place.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
If there are any questions that may arise in the meantime, please feel so free to contact me directly at (86–21) 6157 4954 or drop me an email to max (at) prscenterprises (dot) com.
Kind regards from the very city centre of Shanghai, The People’s Republic of China,
Max
Maximilian-Alexander Agostini
PRSC APAC Procurement Team a division of People’s Republic Sourcing Channel Limited Corp..
Chief Executive Officer
People’s Republic Sourcing Channel Limited (Shanghai, CN)
People’s Republic Sourcing Channel Limited (Beijing, CN)
People’s Republic Sourcing Channel Limited (Dubai, UAE) | https://medium.com/@maxagostini/applied-mathematics-for-daily-use-25529a935472 | ['Max A. Agostini'] | 2021-12-16 12:38:41.668000+00:00 | ['Trading', 'Dubai', 'Golf Tips', 'International', 'Food And Beverage'] |
[Linux] Play a warning sound when your laptop battery is low | When working on a big project or when watching a movie or a TV series in an extended display, all of a sudden you might have ran out of battery and your laptop got shut off or goes to sleep or hibernation. This is very bad for the battery in terms of its lifetime and if your laptop has a mechanical hard drive (not SSD) sudden power off could damage the data in it.
What if your laptop could give you a warning sound when your battery drops a certain value,continuously ( ex: every 5 minutes) so that you can plug in your laptop at your earliest. Well this is very easy and will take about 5min to configure 😍.
Download a short warning sound from anywhere on the Internet. (if you like you can even play a whole song 😀 but remember, that could drain your battery even more if you are not near it to plug it back). Install the command line music player `mpg123` by running the following commands in your terminal.
sudo apt-get update -y
sudo apt-get install -y mpg123
3. Create a script file to play the downloaded music if your battery percentage is less than 20 (you can customize this value to anything you want 😀 ) and save it in a desired location with executable permission.
#!/bin/bash # You need to export this environment variable in order to play sound from cron
export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR="/run/user/1000" currentBatteryPercentage=$(upower -i /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0 | grep "percentage" | awk '{print $2}') currentBatteryPercentage=${currentBatteryPercentage/\%/} if [ $currentBatteryPercentage -lt 22 ] then mpg123 /home/kasun/Music/apx_battery_low_aler.mp3 -l 2 fi
Note:
If upower is not installed in your system run the following commands for installing upower .
sudo apt-get update -y
sudo apt-get install -y upower
Replace mpg123 ‘s argument with the path to your downloaded music file (mine is located at `/home/kasun/Music/apx_battery_low_aler.mp3`)
4. Open your crontab file for editing by running the following command in terminal.
crontab -e
Fill in the following to execute our script for every 5min.
*/5 * * * * bash /home/kasun/Documents/Scripts/battery-low.sh
Note:
Provide the path to your script file after the sh command (mine is located at `/home/kasun/Documents/Scripts/battery-low.sh`)
command (mine is located at `/home/kasun/Documents/Scripts/battery-low.sh`) You can change the scheduled time to anything you want.
Please refer https://kb.iu.edu/d/afiz for more details on the crontab .
5. Save the crontab file.
It’s done 😊
Cheers !!! | https://medium.com/@kasunsiyambalapitiya/linux-play-a-warning-sound-when-your-laptop-battery-is-low-4aa23d5b279e | ['Kasun Siyambalapitiya'] | 2021-06-16 06:03:28.750000+00:00 | ['Laptop', 'Linux', 'Ubuntu', 'Battery', 'Laptop Battery'] |
Welcome — What’s on this site?. From your tutors… | This site uses Medium. Medium is a platform that enables you to create and share blogs easily and effectively. It is an open access platform enabling all students on the programme to learn to use this tool, to publish their own blogs and to be inspired and learn from others. Support is easily available and you can access and share information across a broad network. You can find out more about Medium if you want at: About Medium
What’s on this site? You will see that there are separate tabs depending on whether you are completing your blog assignment as part of the the Short Work Placement (SWP) or Career Management Unit (CMU) module and under those tabs you will find the assignment requirements, and marking criteria. Use Support for all the help available to make your assignment effective and to build your digital skills. Once published, yours and other students’ blog posts can be found under Student Submissions. You might find it odd that you can read other students’ blogs, and that they can read yours, but we are working in a spirit of open access and knowledge sharing. We trust that our contributors (you and your fellow students) will post their own, independent work but recognise that you can gain inspiration and ideas from those around you. Why not capture that in your coursework? You edit your stories right up until the submission/deadline date, and choose when to ‘publish’.
Photo by CJ Dayrit on Unsplash
Finally you should look at the Your Future in Digital? to read about all the things you could do whilst at university to continue on your digital journey and grow your skills (whatever your career interests). For example, how will you use your digital skills in the world of work, which ones are needed most by employers?
Any questions?
If you have any questions, please contact us through the discussion board for your module on Blackboard or if it’s a technical question go here:
Thank you. Thanks to all our contributors to this platform including our student bloggers, alumni volunteer contributors and you, all our students. You are building a valuable resource. | https://medium.com/building-digital-skills-for-the-future/welcome-whats-on-this-site-acd6bfc9600f | ['Building Digital Skills For Psychology Students'] | 2020-04-22 18:14:24.869000+00:00 | ['Education'] |
Doing Good By Moving Goods: Helping The Education Fund in Miami Deliver Food Autonomously | Doing Good By Moving Goods: Helping The Education Fund in Miami Deliver Food Autonomously
At Ford, we believe self-driving vehicles will help make a positive impact in our communities by providing greater access to transportation and delivery services. Since establishing our self-driving operations in our first launch city, Miami, Florida, collaboration has been central to our approach. We’ve been working closely with local officials and the community to understand how our service offerings can integrate within the existing transportation system and how it can provide value.
To do this, we are conducting pilots that will help us stand up our self-driving business. At the same time, we also wanted to find a way to help the community as it deals with the challenges of the global pandemic. That’s why we recently teamed up with The Education Fund, a local non-profit in Miami-Dade County, building on previous business pilots to now conduct deliveries with our self-driving vehicles in autonomous mode.
What we’re doing: The pilot we are operating with Argo AI supports The Education Fund’s Food Forests for Schools program, which has food forests at local Miami-Dade schools to promote healthy eating by growing fresh fruits and vegetables for school cafeterias and for students to take home to their families.
The Ford Motor Company Fund has been a long-time supporter of The Education Fund. With the ongoing pandemic restricting widespread access to these schools and food forests, Ford and our self-driving technology provider Argo AI offered to deploy our self-driving test vehicles to make contactless deliveries from the Food Forests to students and their families.
How we’re making deliveries: As part of the eight-week program, Ford and Argo AI are delivering fresh bags of produce to approximately 50 students and their families each week in our Ford Fusion Hybrid self-driving test vehicles. | https://medium.com/self-driven/doing-good-by-moving-goods-helping-the-education-fund-in-miami-deliver-food-autonomously-65fafafdde8b | ['Ford Motor Company'] | 2020-12-07 11:03:15.504000+00:00 | ['Self Driving Cars', 'Automation', 'Business', 'Autonomous Cars', 'Technology'] |
How Should We Respond to Workplace Change? | WORK
How Should We Respond to Workplace Change?
We define ourselves in these moments.
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
In the workplace, changes come quickly and suddenly, often with little explanation. That Monday morning meeting is suddenly not so routine and employees peel out into the hallways to shake their heads and complain. This workplace venting, though understandable, is unproductive.
Change is inevitable. We all know this, so why is it so hard for us to see it coming? To accept it when it arrives? To quickly adapt and master it with our skillset and our grit?
In short, because change is not usually our choice. We feel a loss of power. We feel our voices are unheard. But, those that truly master their careers know that this is the time to rise above the petty complaints, re-strategize, and get to work.
Adapting to changes in the workplace
Recently there have been changes at my workplace that are worrisome. I look around the new adjustments with utter confusion, questioning the boardroom discussions that led to these changes and wonder — what on earth were they thinking? This will never work. They are working against everything I am trying to do here. Now what?
I have 2 choices in this situation
Complain, gripe, struggle against the changes like a bug caught in a spider web — and we all know how that turns out for the bug!
Adjust. Adapt. Get busy! There are strategic planning and new goals to set and pursue. Adaptation of daily scheduling and tasks. Personal feelings on the matter set aside, it is time to work within the new structure and find ways to rise up — when others are still spinning in place like those mice in “Who Moved My Cheese.”
Clearly, one of these options sets you apart from the competition (your co-workers or other potential employees that could replace you) and prepares you for greatness.
Rising above the chatter
When changes occur, we are derailed. We had it all planned out, our sticky notes in place, our agenda for the day, then we open the company website and the whole thing looks different. Navigating is now a challenge. Now we don’t like the way things look anymore. Now we wonder how our clients will find us or whether anyone will spend enough time on the site to find us. We shake our heads and groan.
All of this is unfruitful and wastes time that could better be spent working toward our goals and seeking out new paths to success. If you simply must be heard on the matter, take notes on helpful and constructive feedback on the changes should there be a way to anonymously provide feedback.
The more time we spend ranting about it, the less time we have to find those tips and tricks for making this work for us. So, it is different? Figure it out, find the good, and maximize it. Go straight to the clients — we have a brand new look! Here’s what you can expect from me. Empathize and reassure your clients that regardless of what changes occur, they can count on you.
As tempting as it may be, stay out of the circles of complainers that spin in place. Getting caught up in that will only make you dizzy and keep you in an unhealthy headspace. Keep any venting brief and remember that what comes out of your mouth or goes into a heated email cannot be retracted. Get some space and take a walk.
Kelly Cutrone summed it up beautifully in her boldly-worded book, empowering women for unapologetic success in the workplace, “If You Have to Cry Go Outside”:
“We’ve already established that life is going to kick you in your ass sometimes and that there’s no way to avoid that, but if you get up and keep doing what you do, giving your best self each time, you eventually achieve not only success but that great psychic coup of detachment.” — Kelly Cutrone
Sometimes workplace changes make no sense to us
But were we at that decision-making table? Chances are, we were not.
We usually aren’t privy to the data that drove those decisions. We don’t get “behind the scenes” info that would explain it more thoroughly. Speculation can leave you exhausted and frustrated.
Accept that the higher-ups made their decisions for whatever reasons and your position is to impress with your ability to navigate, adapt, and slay. Yes, slay. You’ve been brought to a challenge; now show them what you are really made of.
Change can bring about the opportunity to display new skills
When the path is clear, each step is a confident one.
But, when changes come along and make the path “clear as mud,” it can be more difficult to move forward confidently in the “direction of our dreams” as Thoreau, American naturalist, poet, and essayist would have advised us in such a tumultuous situation. But find our steps, we must do.
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.” ― Henry David Thoreau
It is in this tentative navigation that we have the opportunity to plow a new path and rise to meet the occasion of setting ourselves apart from others with our attitude, our adaptability, and an impressive display of skills they may not have had the chance to see under the “old” way.
Workplace changes challenge your sense of control
Psychologist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross created a model called the Kübler-Ross Change Curve™, a model that is widely used in business applications, defines our response to change much like the stages of grief. The Change Curve defines phases we go through when faced with major changes in our lives:
Shock
Denial
Frustration
Experiment
Decision
Integration
The trick is to learn to spend as little time as possible in the early stages of response so that you can move on quickly, seek workable solutions, and apply them. When changes occur that are out of your hands, it can challenge your sense of control and stability, which affects some people more than others depending on personality traits, past experiences, mental health, and emotional maturity.
I think back to a time early in my career when I was working my first “real job” fresh out of college. I was older, in my thirties, but every prior job I’d had was in a very different industry and now I had the dress pants, the desk, and the nice office window overlooking the front parking lot of our office building. I felt I’d finally landed that job that would take me places.
But I was a mess. I thought I knew how to get my job done and do it well, and I did to some degree, but what I didn’t know at the time is that my overly emotional reaction to anything outside of my control marked me as unpredictable and perhaps unprofessional. I took everything too personally. I expected too much too soon. And I should have learned more from the more seasoned employees around me.
That 3 1/2 year gig ended one day with me being escorted to my car with all my “personal effects” and my plant in a cardboard box and told to leave the property. In my effort to do such a “great job” I had driven myself into a place of workplace stress that made my work more difficult to do — I made a critical error on some paperwork and was fired. In short, I let my job stress affect my mental health entirely too much by taking everything too personal. It wasn’t about me. A company was making decisions and I was there to do a job. That simple. (Now, I know better.)
When changes press your mental health and feelings of security, it can cause a backlash response that is counterproductive. If you can learn to identify these self-preservation responses and address them as such, you can keep your work presence professional and your responses respectable, progressive, and productive.
Finding the ‘sweet spot’ for adaptation
Your personal purpose, goals, and workplace objectives may not always align with what you see going on around you at your place of work. This does not mean you cannot continue to pursue your own objectives while making adjustments that suit the needs of your employer.
The trick, and one that successful people employ, is to find where these two (often conflicting) paradigms meet and insert yourself there. Find the commonalities and maximize those in your daily tasks.
Workplace changes and redirections do not have to derail you from your own personal career path. If you find this happening so often that you are unable to adapt, perhaps it is time to reconsider your employment with this particular company. Like a failing marriage on the grounds of “irreconcilable differences,” it is sometimes necessary to part ways. Try to make this decision with a clear head and with your emotions set aside.
Positivity isn’t just a slogan word; it’s a roadmap to success
If you make it a habit to find the positive in every situation, you can plow ahead with determination. You’ll be able to shake off those complaints, steer clear of the whiners and “Negative Nancy” individuals, and reassess your daily tasks, adhere to new rules and adjustments, and do it with grace.
Grace under pressure is a very desirable trait for any employee and of successful people.
Consider this quote from Entrepreneur.com in an article entitled “The Most Successful People Learn How to Focus on the Positive”:
Cognitive convergence can be powerfully positive. Firestarters are able to make associations between similar situations and use lessons learned from one sphere of their lives to inform actions and thoughts in seemingly unrelated situations. They look for patterns of success, and then they pounce on situations that have proven to be generators of that success. Then they replicate that success. — Kathy Palokoff, Paul Eder and Raoul Davis, Authors of “Firestarters: How Innovators, Instigators, and Initiators Can Inspire You to Ignite Your Own Life”
Author’s note: More on Cognitive convergence theory here.
Make adaptation your superpower
If you do not recalculate or change your methods of operation, then you align yourself with those who stumble, fall behind, and become their own worst enemy. Show yourself how adaptable you can be by moving toward the positive and finding your new space in a growing and changing workplace environment.
One celebrity face we all know and love that has made a career out of adaptability and making opportunities out of challenge is Leonardo DeCaprio, raised in humble means by a single mom, a German immigrant. His career began early but got off to a rocky start as he was kicked off the set of Romper Room at the age of 5 for being too rambunctious. His break came with What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, a brave and unconventional role that clearly demonstrated his acting abilities. Other roles such as the iconic “Jack” in the 1997 blockbuster hit the Titanic were to follow.
What stands out about DeCaprio is his ability to adapt to a variety of roles and in addition create a world-renowned charity organization in a controversial and politically hot topic of climate change. His Leonardo DeCaprio Foundation travels the globe in various activism efforts to make a difference for our planet. While many celebrities struggle to balance their personal objectives with garnering more acting roles, DeCaprio continues to secure daring roles such as in Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, 2013. DeCaprio demonstrates an ability to mold himself into a variety of roles yet master his own personal agendas when he is off the set. Adaptability is certainly a superpower for the accomplished actor.
Those that do this well will find a greater workplace satisfaction, set themselves apart, and define their own successes.
In summation
Get a clear understanding of the changes and expectations of you.
Apply them objectively — the outcome to be observed by upper management who may or may not change things all over again.
Move forward with grace, positivity, and confidence.
How we respond to the changes around us are defining moments; opportunities to show our adaptability. These are moments that stretch us, teach us, and help us to grow both individually and in the workplace. We, as capable and inspired individuals, can set the example for others that challenges all to rise up and meet their best selves. What will you choose to do today? | https://medium.com/the-partnered-pen/how-should-we-respond-to-workplace-change-98ccdc3e5232 | ['Christina M. Ward'] | 2020-10-30 00:29:54.090000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Work', 'Advice', 'Productivity', 'Success'] |
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: Dirty_Computer Online Convention & Urgent Full Stack Web Dev Job | spoilers_ahead/ b_ware.
Digital speed dating 4 the quarantine_age.
Join with a partner, a crew, or just yr own bad self, as our capricious matchmaking AI pairs you up for a series of speed-dates with sexy humans from 1 to 7 minutes. Afterward, you’ll have the opportunity to message with any matches you found intriguing to keep the banter going.
Art history, but make it kinky + live + IRL.
The kinky side of art history collides with the artistic side of kink, in an event that will stimulate your intellect and your appetites. Explore Femdom in art with a rich history of artistic representations of powerful and sexual women, as well as a history of artists who were inspired by dominant female partners.
A strip club + cam show bound to get you vibing.
Get your digital tips ready for authentic, high-quality performances and fun conversations with five hotties at this unique hybrid strip club web-cam show.
You can buy the dancers drinks, request your favorite song, and indulge in a POV lap-dance!
Find out more about Sanctuary here.
Nerdy experts, bad advice + real dating dilemmas.
A throwback sex talk show for the quarantine age with special guest experts, bad advice + wild stories of dating in the bad sci-fi novel we live in now. Got quarantine bubble drama? Should you humblebrag about your antibodies on tinder? We got you.
Have a wild story? A weird question?
Reach OUT to us bb.
The Digital Domming u know u need.
Our featured performers submit to a telepresence dominatrix. The future is here, and it is demanding. Enjoy the show, or play along at home . . . if you can keep up.
CW: dominance, submission, bondage, penetration, voyeurism, exhibitionism, impact play, corporal punishment, oral sex, power play
Ruffle yr bustle + satisfy yr need for Bridgerton Szn 2.
Everything’s sexier in a petticoat, corset, or top hat, isn’t it? Let us regale you with stories ripped straight from the hemlines of the 1800s, along with other raunchy literary tales from a … more contemporary era.
CW: offensive language, discussion of sex, oral sex, BDSM, kink
Sexy + true stories, told live by the hotties who lived ‘em.
Math Magazine, the authority in sex-positive media + authentic living, is bringing you a brand new podcast, hosted by Natalie Mlikota + featuring MacKenzie Peck, Founder + CEO of Math Magazine.
Guests will share their hot stories with our live audience (you!).
Find more information about Math here.
A zany/nerdy pre_ party + explicitly wild after_ hours.
Come 4 befores n’ afters with yr fellow tech pervs — do sexy trivia over drinks to warm up and heat up the screen with wild performances at our afters because who TF needs a cool-down?
Ft. a playlist designed to evoke the 90’s digital dreams that’ll make you feel like a world champion hacker absolutely finger diddling a keyboard in yr basement AND an e-girl cam star fantasy all at the same time.
Exciting new 3-D spaces to chatter n’ gather yr microchips.
Join us for an exclusive visit to an immersive + captivating 3-D world where you can gather and connect like an_ actual_ human.
Watch select broadcasts from inside our multiverse while hanging with your friends from their couches in a new way that feels like you’re standing right next to them — like at an actual party.
[PSSST: This platform is not even AVAILABLE to the general PUBLIC yet. We CANNOT FN WAIT to show u.] | https://medium.com/@defcon201/community-spotlight-dirty-computer-online-convention-urgent-full-stack-web-dev-job-90ccaa771c12 | [] | 2021-02-12 07:41:47.251000+00:00 | ['Sex Work', 'Education', 'Activism', 'Virtual Reality', 'Technology'] |
Think Energy Management Is Esoteric? Here’s How it Works in Everyday Life. | Photo by Jiayu Chan on Unsplash
This year my husband and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary. We’d always planned to do something special to celebrate, but it’s 2020 — ‘nough said.
We thought we’d at least go out to dinner at the fancy new restaurant recently opened at the beach near our house. When we made our reservations, they asked if we had any dietary restrictions. We said we were excited to try their new plant-based menu. The receptionist said they currently weren’t offering a separate vegan menu, but had options on the regular menu. Perfect!
We were really looking forward to this special dinner for a number of reasons:
• we don’t eat out often to begin with
• we’d been cooped up for months like everyone else
• it was our silver anniversary!
The big night finally arrived. We dressed up, donned our masks, and drove down to the new hotel at the ocean.
We were greeted, seated, and…disappointed. The only thing we could order from the entire menu was a pizza with cashew cheese, or a pasta, hold the cow cheese.
Oh geez, what to do?
We were famished! I knew my husband would have been happy with the vegan pizza. I also knew he would not want to cause a scene. It was his anniversary as much as mine.
I desperately wanted to make my discomfort go away. I was frustrated that we were told there were plant-based options on the menu when we’d made our reservations. I was angry that, yet another restaurant in Santa Barbara was clueless about the vast number of us choosing to eat plants instead of animals. I did not want to be labeled an obnoxious vegan by making a bunch of changes to the animal dishes. And on and on and on…all thoughts happening in split seconds.
I grounded out my upset, trying to regain my equilibrium. I released my discomfort, my expectations, my need to be nice and liked.
Wait! What?! I thought you did that 17 years ago with the contractor?
Yes, I did! But, just like yoga, meditation, deadlifting — it’s a practice. You build the muscles over time. Issues still arise, but you get faster and more adept in processing the energy in real-time.
I told my husband I would be happy to stay and just get the pizza, but I would prefer to leave and not pretend everything is fine. This was true, I would have made either work.
To my surprise, he sincerely agreed! We politely explained the situation to our server and discretely left. We walked out on air — proud of our shy selves for having the courage to act in accordance with our values despite the awkwardness that entailed.
We decided to go to Oliver’s, a local plant-based restaurant up the street. It was packed! We were immediately energized by the high vibe — a stark contrast to the staid, haughty energy of the “in” place we’d just left.
Then, as if on cue, the Universe gave us a special wink of approval. Every table was taken, except magically, the special table for two where the owner usually sits. We were promptly seated there, on the sunny deck, with a clear view of the sunset. We ordered a variety of delicious dishes to share and enjoyed every one!
There were two possible outcomes to this situation:
We could have stayed at the “in” place and faked our way through dinner, pretending we were having a good time, hiding our disappointment. We would have put the server’s comfort above our own, tipped as expected, etc. It would have been fine, but we would have left frustrated and resentful for having supported this business.
Instead, by owning our right to choose what was best for us, we had one of our best dinner experiences and a memorable highlight to our marriage story.
And, it gives me a great excuse to talk about two of my passions: Energy Management and the Environment!
Energy goes beyond the esoteric. Processing it in real-time, in real life, that’s Ascended Presence! | https://medium.com/@ascendedpresence/think-energy-management-is-esoteric-heres-how-it-works-in-everyday-life-558870ece55a | ['Susan Moe'] | 2020-12-19 14:03:42.762000+00:00 | ['Spiritual Growth', 'Personal Growth', 'Vegan', 'Grounding', 'Mindfulness'] |
2020 Election Aftermath Part 1 | With the dust settling of the 2020 election, there is a lot about the results to be broken down that will help us understand the direction of US politics.
Expectations, The Results, and Why They Occurred
All polling and forecasts leading up to the election indicated we were going to see a blowout for Biden, gained House seats for Democrats and a more likely than not possibility they would take the Senate. With Trump being unpopular, coronavirus raging, and the economy on the downswing, all of the indicators for predicting a presidential election would back up all the polling we saw that showed huge discrepancies. All this combined with turnout higher than the past two decades all would seem to line up for a cataclysmic defeat.
And while Biden did still net over 300 electoral votes, his margin in key swing states was nearly as small as Trump’s was in his victory in 2016. Democrats lost seats in the House and the Senate will now be decided by two run off elections in Georgia that are technically winnable, but will be incredibly difficult. Vulnerable senators like Susan Collins and Thom Tillis were able to win their races, the former being a decisive victory.
With polling being significantly off the mark for two presidential elections in a row, it’s clear these can’t be reliable indicators to predict presidential elections. One potential theory to explain this is that Trump voters simply are not answering polls anymore. Nearly all polling is done by mainstream news organizations that Republicans are demonstrating outright hostility towards. Trump’s own disdain towards “fake news” polling just means that his supporters are likely to not want to participate at all and validate it. In doing so, polls can’t gauge the proper support and enthusiasm for Trump. He increased his support with Republicans from 2016, a perfect encapsulation of the failures of the Lincoln Project.
In 2018 and 2020, we’ve seen substantial Republican turnout in both elections, demonstrating that Trump is a clear turnout machine for the Republican base. This massively helps Republicans down ballot that would normally be washed away in a wave election. Another help down ballot is that because the Democratic strategy was still to not tie the Republican Party as a whole to Donald Trump, which created more split ticket voters that would go Biden and then Republicans down the ballot.
Why Coronavirus Was Not a Wave Generator
While this all helps explain why predictions were wrong, what is still unexplained is how could Trump not be thoroughly defeated along with the Republican Party given the state of the country. This requires us to take a closer look at how coronavirus has been metastasized by the country as an issue and compare it to similar election year defining issues from the past. The Great Recession and Iraq War became focal points of the 2008 election, with both being total disasters for Republicans, but also their being a clear presented alternative in presidential candidate Barack Obama. Not only were people doing far worse but the party not in power was explicitly running on the issues that were affecting people the most at the time.
Coronavirus is certainly on the same disaster level, but the way people saw the issue was different because of how it played out as a political issue. Not only was there little difference between how prominent blue and red states handled the issue, with California, New York and Illinois experiencing break outs alongside Texas and Florida, but the crux of the coronavirus was not about the material response to it, it was about a disposition to the problem itself.
In April, the Democratic Party quickly acquiesced to the CARES Act which sent 1,200 dollar checks to everyone, expanded UI payments, but spent far more money ensuring that banks and corporations would not suffer from the supply chain issues and store closures that arose from the global pandemic. Defacto leader of the Democrats at the time, Nancy Pelosi, said they would be able to get far more of their demands later on in a second deal. Presumptive nominee Joe Biden had little to say about the CARES Act inadequacies.
When a second deal was falling through at the end of the summer, Nancy Pelosi went on CNN to tell people to “calm down” and obviously something would get done. The biggest thrust of the criticism of Trump was that he didn’t “believe science.” And on the other end, Trump argued that Democrats wanted to kill the economy via lockdown so he would lose the election. While believing science is certainly better than just sending people off to work, when politicians like Gavin Newsome and Dianne Feinstein end up breaking their own rules, it’s easy to point out blatant hypocrisy. People can easily discount these arguments as just scolding and not take it seriously precisely because people in power aren’t to begin with. At no point was the discussion of coronavirus focused on the economic conditions that people were dealing with, and what little economic help people got, Trump could take plenty of credit for.
Joe Biden’s campaign focused on having a plan and listening to scientists, not that he would give everyone a check, or cancel rent, or any significant forms of redistribution that would give people a clear alternative. The choices people had were of personal disposition, or cultural. One is going to tell you to wear a mask because you believe in science, and the other one is going to tell you to go to work because eventually coronavirus will go away and you have to make money right? There was no indication that you were going to get anything from voting for either of these candidates.
Changing Demographics
I thought Biden was going to win in a blowout, but one thing that was well known throughout this election was that Biden was not lagging badly with Latino voters. And that if this panned out and Biden’s gain with other voters wasn’t enough that we could see a much closer election. And this materialized in a big way on election day, doing worse than Clinton among Latino voters in major counties across the country.
While we need a better dataset than exit polls to do a full and proper analysis of the election results, Democrats doing worse with Latino voters and Trump also gaining with black voters depending on the region in the country shows that there is a degree of shift happening in politics right now. Increasingly the electorate is being divided by education level, with college educated voters going for Democrats and non-college educated voters going for Republican, aligning with the focus of US politics going from material issues to ones of culture. According to new analysis from the New York Times, Democrats were able to flip Georgia despite a decline in the share in the black electorate thanks to their performance in the very white Atlanta suburbs.
While some of this better performance from Trump could have to do with nonwhite voters simply not voting when they were previously voting Democrat, these shifts around education and college are creating a precarious situation for those that are deeply invested in current party politics as a means of changing the United States. In the next part, I’ll go further into depth about how culture is now totally subsuming material politics within both political parties.
What Does a Vote for Biden Mean?
It can’t be stated enough that this is the exact election the Biden campaign wanted. While they’d probably like better margins, this almost entirely went according to plan. They ran a campaign on a return to normalcy, about bringing back decency and on nothing fundamentally changing. This was about restoring the “soul of America”, a line so devoid of meaning and substance it would be like trying to eat air. They promised nothing to nobody other than having a guy with a better temperament in the White House. While there may be many people, several of my peers and those I know personally among them, who voted for Joe Biden for anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-xenophobic and anti-corporate reasons, that is not what their vote meant outside of their intentions. This was a hollow moral crisis presented to people while just weeks later Harris is fist bumping Lindsay Graham on the Senate floor.
A vote for Joe Biden was a vote for manners and etiquette, not for anything material. This election result could not be more of a repudiation of the progressive project within the Democratic Party over the past 12 years, especially if you consider the outcome of the ballot propositions in California. The architect or key driver of nearly every ill in the country has been elected President of the United States after handily defeating the left-wing candidate and running on doing nothing of note in office. His transition team is already being filled with key corporate figures from across the worst companies in the country. With the Democratic Party rushing to blame left wing activists, “defund the police”, and “socialism” for their lackluster performance, it’s clear they don’t plan to suddenly govern as left-wing figures. A vote for Biden was simply meant to display you care about an array of social issues, but not to do anything about them. | https://medium.com/@mitchellcares/2020-election-aftermath-part-1-cb07711a4f04 | [] | 2020-11-19 22:32:51.402000+00:00 | ['Elections', 'Democratic Party', 'Politics', 'Joe Biden', 'Donald Trump'] |
8th Wall Now Works Across All Major iOS Apps Including Instagram, Snapchat and More | The massive reach and frictionless experience you know and love about 8th Wall WebAR just got even better! With the new iOS 14.3 update, which brings camera access to WKWebView, your WebAR experiences now work in all major iOS apps, including Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Messenger, LinkedIn, and Chrome — increasing your discovery and reach to the 728 million iPhone users worldwide.
Easily share and open 8th Wall WebAR experiences on apps such as Snapchat.
8th Wall Works Wherever the Web Is
8th Wall WebAR already has a massive reach of roughly 2.9 billion Android and iOS devices and has the least amount of friction for users to engage with your augmented reality experience with just a click of a link to access it. While iPhone users were previously well-supported in Safari and in apps like Twitter and Slack, which use SFSafariViewController web views, the latest iOS update now lets you meet your iPhone audience wherever they spend their screen time, in all of their favorite apps.
With iOS 14.3, applications that use WKWebView can now run 8th Wall WebAR experiences. This of course includes the most popular social media apps, but it also means that iPhone users can experience WebAR content within any iOS app or even in the browser of their choice. This update removes even more friction to access AR experiences, allowing users to get directly to the experience no matter where they are with just the tap of a link.
Supercharge Your Discovery in Social Networks
Now that 8th Wall WebAR can be easily accessed within social media platforms, you can boost discoverability of your WebAR content by including a link to it in your page bio, or promoting WebAR experiences with social media advertisements and sponsored content. If you’re posting a story on Instagram or Snapchat from a verified account, you can add a “Swipe Up” link that instantly launches your WebAR experience.
Users can now easily discover 8th Wall WebAR experiences in social apps such as Instagram.
Easily Add AR to Any Existing Native Application
You can now add AR, including World Effects, Face Effects and Image Targets, to your mobile app with 8th Wall. Embed WebAR inside of your mobile app as a link or iFrame and leverage the power and freedom of the web by integrating external APIs (such as analytics) within your WebAR content. Since you can make instant updates to any WebAR project, you will also benefit from faster development cycles and have complete control over the launch schedule of your project.
8th Wall Is Ready to Support iOS 14.3 WKWebView
With 8th Wall’s own release (15.2) we have added support for WKWebView on devices running iOS 14.3 and higher and updated our open-source library XRextras. 8th Wall’s XRExtras library provides modules that handle the most common WebAR application needs, including the load screen, error handling and social link-out flows which direct users to the right place, maximizing accessibility of your WebAR projects from these apps. With the release of 15.2, we have updated XRextras with the necessary changes to our intelligent routing to deliver the right messages to users wherever they are including users who are running iOS 14.3 and accessing apps that make use of WKWebView.
We can’t wait to discover your WebAR experiences in more places! Log in or start a free trial here.
Learn more about these updates in our Documentation.
🙌 A big thank you to our developer community for consistently providing us with helpful insights and critiques on our software. We’re continuing to develop and iterate based on the valuable feedback that you provide us. | https://medium.com/8th-wall/8th-wall-now-works-across-all-major-ios-apps-including-instagram-snapchat-and-more-637c6b6a3f6d | [] | 2020-12-14 21:09:02.734000+00:00 | ['Instagram', '8th Wall', 'Augmented Reality', 'Webar', 'iOS App Development'] |
Best Denim Jackets for New Year 2021 | When the cold sets in, it can feel like Mother Nature is trying to hold you back from your active life, but not with Powerlook winter jackets. Our collection of men’s winter Jackets delivers warmth and performance while keeping you comfortable during Cold Days. Whether you’re out on Vacation or a casual weekend, Powerlook Jackets provides your body with the optimal warmth and comfort to stay active all day long. | https://medium.com/@powerlook1/best-denim-jackets-for-new-year-2021-375f3f92c9d5 | ['Ritesh Bhuwad'] | 2020-12-26 09:29:07.830000+00:00 | ['Denim Jacket', 'Online Shopping', 'Powerlook Jackets', 'Winter Jackets', 'Winter Jacket Online'] |
How (Not) To Behave In a Crisis | How (Not) To Behave In a Crisis
Panic buying, face masks and other irrational ways we have behaved in this crisis—why we do it and what we can do about it.
Photo by @markusspiske on Unsplash.
Panic buying was a widespread phenomenon observed of buyers at the start of the COVID-19 crisis. With food supplies and household products being in particular demand (toilet paper sales skyrocketed by a shocking 700% between February and March!), many supermarkets were forced to impose limits on the number of items shoppers can buy.
A selection of photos of shoppers stockpiling. Images by @abewitchedangel on Twitter (top left); @tinik972 on Twitter (top right); Forbes (bottom left); and Telegraph (bottom right).
Why do we panic buy?
Some people may panic buy as a form of forward planning. However, more often than not it is a way we cope with our fears and anxieties during times of uncertainty. When things appear out of our control, taking bold, decisive action may help us to re-exert control over a situation, even if these actions reduce our risk in one respect but are largely ineffective for solving the problems we face (e.g. buying massive amounts of toilet paper in response to a pandemic).
Panic buying may also be triggered, and reinforced, by herding behaviour. Seeing other shoppers empty shelves and prices rise in response may spur our own sense of urgency to buy. “It’s already sold out in three supermarket chains, if I don’t buy now I will miss out…” FOMO — the fear of regret, or of missing out — can provide a strong motive for herding, allowing the behaviours of others to reinforce our own.
The ‘rationality’ of panic buying
Although panic buying is dismissed by some as irrational, it accords with a ‘rational’ outcome in behavioural game theory — the prisoner’s dilemma. The analogy proceeds as follows — two members of a criminal gang are arrested and seperately interrogated. The prosecutor does not have sufficient evidence to prosecute both, so he offers each gang member a bargain. If they testify on the other gang member, they receive a lighter sentence. If they do not, they receive a full sentence.
The well-publicised outcome of this experiment (that each gang member will testify on the other) suggests that two agents, each acting ‘rationally’ and in their own best interests, will settle for outcomes that are worse off for both parties.
The prisoner’s dilemma is in some ways analogous to the dilemma faced by shoppers in a supermarket. Consider the following stylised example involving two shoppers:
In this scenario, each shopper can choose only to stockpile (‘S’), or not to stockpile (‘NS’). If neither shopper stockpiles, the supermarket functions as normal and each shopper successfully purchases the goods they need. If only one shopper stockpiles, but the other does not, then only the shopper that stockpiles is able to purchase any goods. If both shoppers stockpile, then only one shopper successfully purchases any goods, i.e. it is equally likely for either shopper to get nothing.
Both shoppers realise they can achieve the same or a better outcome by stockpiling (represented by the upper-left quadrant in the matrix below). Comparing the first row with the second, Shopper 1 always achieves the same or a better ‘payoff’ by stockpiling, irrespective of Shopper 2’s actions. The same is true vice versa. In other words, they settle for the worst combination of outcomes possible.
A COVID-19 shopper’s dilemma. (x, y) denotes outcome x for Shopper 1 and outcome y for Shopper 2. I represent the outcome for each shopper as a figure between ‘1’ and ‘5’, with ‘1’ being the worst outcome and ‘5’ being the best outcome. If neither shopper stockpiles, they each maximise their payoff at ‘5’. If one shopper stockpiles but the other does not, the shopper that stockpiles has a payoff of ‘5’ and the other has a payoff of ‘1’. If both shoppers stockpile, they are each equally likely to receive nothing and I represent this as an average payoff of ‘3’. Comparing the first row with the second, Shopper 1 always achieves the same or a better outcome by stockpiling, irrespective of Shopper 2’s actions. If Shopper 2 stockpiles, then by also stockpiling he is better off (3 > 1). If Shopper 2 does not stockpile, then he is no worse off (5 = 5).
The prisoner’s dilemma is not isolated to our supermarkets. It also arises in other contexts relevant to this crisis:
Wearing a face mask is known to stop the transmission of viral particles, but is less effective for preventing users from contracting the virus. In other words, people may choose not to wear a face mask because this is the most rational (albeit least socially optimal) outcome that minimises personal cost while overlooking the associated benefits that (mostly) accrue to others.
Businesses eager to restart their operations may be motivated by commercial considerations and the actions of their competitors. While an extension to lockdown may be the most sensible solution from a public health standpoint, business owners who have suffered months of losses may be eager to reopen with the intention of recovering these losses, or even gain an edge on their competitors. Yet, if all businesses reopen prematurely and a resurgence of the virus transpires, none will benefit and almost certainly all will suffer.
What can we do to resolve this?
Acting in our own best interests but ignoring those of others is clearly not the way to navigate this crisis. When facing the prisoner’s dilemma, coordination and cooperation (with some degree of altruism) are necessary as a cure. Self-serving individuals are simply not predisposed to comply with crisis management and public safety measures, which require collective effort.
The silver lining is that most people are not selfish, ‘utility-maximising’ agents as classic economic models of decision-making often assume. Rather, we are conditional cooperators, and we care deeply about others. We also often care about what others think of us (more on the importance of this later).
It is crucial that we share the right information to create the necessary incentives for cooperation. While strict rules (such as limits on the number of items shoppers can purchase) are effective, it is helpful also to understand the ‘why’ of these policies and to have in place a clear mental framework of how our actions contribute to the wider strategy.
Often, simple enforcement mechanisms such as social disapproval can be powerful, cost-effective ways of shaping behaviour. Just as ‘herding’ reinforces undesirable behaviours, so it can be used to encourage desirable practices and deter non-compliance. Many low-cost ‘nudges’ have already been deployed during this crisis to promote public health, including:
the 2-meter rule (or 1.5-meters in some countries), to encourage social distancing
the elbow bump, to reduce physical contact
singing the ‘Happy Birthday’ song to prolong hand-washing
placing hand sanitiser dispensers in visible public locations with clearly marked signs.
Similar measures can be put into place to encourage social consciousness and promote empathy.
As we slowly emerge from our homes and readjust to our old routines, we would do well to consider how our actions affect the social collective. With a bit of care, and a little nudge, we are well placed to overcome our irrational ways. | https://medium.com/the-innovation/how-not-to-behave-in-a-crisis-14b1b9e9e041 | ['Park Yeung'] | 2020-08-02 18:51:51.424000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Behavioral Science', 'Coronavirus', 'Behavior Change', 'Psychology'] |
Automatic Pipeline Flow using GIT, JENKINS, and DOCKER | ABOUT
In today’s fast-paced world, automation provides us with the speed and accuracy we need. The greater all industries' access to Automation, the greater our lives become on the whole.
This project is about creating an automatic setup for an organization.
In this project, three aspects are considered which includes
how a developing team works on a central version controlling system
how a webpage is tested by the Quality Assurance Team, and then
how a webpage is deployed finally for the clients.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Vimal Daga Sir, who has guided me in this project.
OBJECTIVE
Create a setup in which once the developer will commit the code, it will be pushed automatically to GitHub.
And then Jenkins will pull the codes. Code of MASTER BRANCH will be deployed in the webserver and the code of the DEVELOPER BRANCH will be displayed to the Quality and Assurance Team.
Once QA Team will approve the design in Developer Branch, it will be merged to Master Branch automatically.
WORK PROCESS:-
TOOLS USED
For Automation: JENKINS
For Containerization: DOCKER
For Repository Hosting: GitHub
For Version controlling: Git
________________________
AUTOMATIC PUSH IN GIT
Here, we can see initially both branches are at the same commit level.
Then the developer will clone the repository in his system using the following command.
In the following way, a post-commit file will be created which will automatically push the repository once a developer commits.
The following are the changes made by the developer.
RESULT OF POST COMMIT
In the above picture, as soon as the developer enters the command to commit the changes, it is also pushed and the changes are reflected in GitHub.
JENKINS JOB DESCRIPTION
Points To Remember:
You have already downloaded the GIT plugin in Jenkins.
Make sure to run the following command in RedHat Base OS to start Docker services.
__________________
There are three independent jobs (no job chaining).
__________________
The jobs are explained in detail as follows:
**JOB1**
This job will pull the code files from the MASTER BRANCH and then will launch a container using the httpd docker image for final production.
Link Jenkins with MASTER BRANCH to pull final files.
Poll SCM will keep checking every minute for any updates.
Remote Build is used, as JOB3 has to trigger JOB1.
Bash commands to launch a container for deploying webpage on httpd server for clients.
RESULT OF JOB 1
As we can see, this build successfully launched the “final_display” container which launches the webpage at port number 8084.
The webpage is showing initial commits.
**JOB2**
This job will pull the code files from the DEV BRANCH. Then docker will launch a container using the httpd docker image to a specific port number for the Quality Assurance Team to test the webpage.
Pulling files from DEVELOPER BRANCH.
Poll SCM will keep checking every minute for any updates.
We can also use GitHub hooks to inform Jenkins about any modifications.
Bash commands to launch a container for deploying webpage for QA Team on a different port.
RESULT OF JOB 2
This build successfully launched a “test_env” container which launches the webpage at port number 8085.
Also, there is no change in the previously launched final webpage at port number 8084 (top-right window).
**JOB3**
Once the Quality Assurance Team approves the web page, they will start the job. And this job will then merge the DEVELOPER BRANCH to MASTER BRANCH and will trigger Job1 which will deploy the updated final webpage in httpd webserver.
Link to DEV branch in GitHub.
Specify the “Pre-build actions”, for merging the branches in GitHub as shown in the above image.
There is no need for any build trigger as this job will be built manually by the QA Team.
Bash commands to trigger JOB1 and delete the already deployed final webpage.
RESULT OF JOB 3 | https://medium.com/@tiwari-deepti262/automatic-pipeline-flow-using-git-jenkins-and-docker-aed3c805cfce | ['Deepti Tiwari'] | 2021-01-21 18:24:20.858000+00:00 | ['Jenkins', 'Kubernetes', 'Github', 'Docker', 'DevOps'] |
Mexico Facts — 71 Interesting Facts About Mexico | Interesting Facts About MexicoMexico Facts. Mexico is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered toward the north by the United States, toward the south and west by the Pacific Ocean, toward the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea and toward the east by the Gulf of Mexico. If you searching for Interesting facts about Mexico? You have come to the right place. Check out the following interesting facts about Mexico.
Interesting Facts About Mexico
1. The official name of Mexico is Estados Únidos Mexicanos (United Mexican States).
2. Mexico Government system is the Federal presidential constitutional republic.
3. Mexico City Capital and the largest city in Mexico.
4. Mexico is the world’s 13th largest country by size, covering almost 2 million square kilometers.
5. The colors of the Mexican flag are green, white and red.
6. There are 31 states in Mexico, and Chihuahua is the largest of all with a land area of 247,460 square kilometers.
7. Mexico has 68 languages that are officially recognized, but there are even more spoken by smaller communities around the country.
8. Mexico was ruled by the 9. Spanish Empire for more than 3 centuries, from the 1500s right through until 1821.
Independence Day is celebrated on September 15th and 16th. It marks the day when Mexico gained Independence from Spain in 1810.
10. Mexico is the 10th most populated country in the world. 11. Mexico is the third-largest country in
Latin America, After Brazil and Argentina,
12. Mexico is also the world’s largest Spanish speaking country. There are more people speaking Spanish as their first language than in Spain.
13. Mexico is the 4th most biodiverse country in the world. With over 200,000 different species of fauna and flora, Mexico is home to 11% of all the world’s biodiversity.
14. T he national symbol of Mexico is a golden eagle.
15. The
Chihuahua is the world’s smallest dog, originating from the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
16. According to the Happy Planet Index, Mexico is the second
happiest country in the world, after Costa Ricans.
17. Dahlia is Mexico’s national flower.
18. Football is extremely popular in Mexico. The country even hosted the World Cup in 1970 and 1986. 21. The world’s 22. The Rio Grande is the 23.
19. About 30% of Mexico’s population is Indian. In the southeast, Indian languages are spoken.
20. Prior to 1822; Mexico, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and California were all Spanish colonies.
richest man home is Mexico. Carlos Slim is currently worth a staggering $72 billion, he alone makes up 7% of Mexico’s entire GDP.
longest river in Mexico. The river is 3033.613 km in length and is 18 m deep. World’s largest beer exporter country name is Mexico. Corona is famous worldwide, but there are lots of other Mexican beer brands besides Corona. Some of the most sold beer brands are Corona, Tecate, Modelo, Bohemia, Indio, Pacifico, Victoria, and of course Sol.
25. Children in Mexico don’t receive gifts on
24. Mexico uses four time zones.
Christmas Day, They have to wait until 6th January instead, as this date marks the visit of the Three Wise Men to baby Jesus in the biblical tale.
26. Almost 34% of Mexico’s land area is covered with forest.
27. The 34th Mexican president ruled for less than 60 minutes before quitting.
28. The country imports 48% of its goods from the United States and is a part of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
29. In 2016, there were 5.6 million Mexican nationals living in the U.S. without authorization, half of the unauthorized immigrant population.
30.
Highest Mountain of Mexico name is Pico de Orizaba (5,636 meters above sea-level).
History Facts About Mexico
31. Do you know? Mexico has 34 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
32. The Aztecs sacrificed about 1% Of Their Population(around 250,000 people ) every year, at the Chichen Itza and other ancient pyramids. They did this to appease the sun god.
33. One of the seven wonders of the world is Chichen Itza This pyramid was once part of the Mayan Empire, and in 2007 it was named as one of the new seven wonders of the world. It is one of the most visited archaeological sites in Mexico with over 2.6 million tourists in 2017.
34. 8 out of the 52 U.S. states exist on the land that used to belong to Mexico.
35. The National University of Mexico was founded in 1551 by Charles V of Spain and is the oldest university in North America.
36. Modern-day Mexicans are the descendants of many ancient civilizations that include the Olmec, Toltec, Zapotec, Maya, Inca, Aztec, French, African, and Spanish.
The Great Pyramid of Cholula is the world’s largest pyramid It is one of the most interesting Mexico facts. Just because most people think of Egypt when it comes to pyramids, but in fact, the largest pyramid of them all is nowhere to be found in Egypt but in Mexico.
Prior to the 1848 Mexican-American war, San Francisco was part of Mexico.
39. The national sport in the country is called Charreira, which displays distinctive horsemanship techniques. 40. In Mexico,
Dia De Muertes, aka The Day Of The Dead, is a traditional festival widely celebrated across the country. Starting on 31st October and ending 2nd November, the event involves family and friends gathering to pray for and remember those who have died, and helping to support their spiritual journey. This public holiday date back hundreds of years where its origins came from the Aztec civilization.
Facts About Mexico City
42. Mexico City was built over the ruins of Tenochtitlan, a great Aztec city built on a lake.
43. Did you know that the Mexican capital (Mexico City) is sinking by 3 feet a year? In the last 60 years, the Mexico city has sunk more than 32 feet. The reason for this is the huge demand for water, which is being taken from the aquifer below the city.
44. Mexico City has 160 museums, the second-highest number in the world, falling short only to 46. In terms of scale and population, Mexico City surpasses London.
45. Mexico City has the largest taxi cab fleet in the world. They have over 100,000 taxis running every day.
New York City. Now Mexico City is bigger than New York City.
47. The earliest printing press in
North America was used in 1539 in Mexico City.
48. Mexico City is considered to be the most traffic-congested city in the entire world.
Amazing Facts About Mexico
49. Mexico has the world’s smallest volcano. It stands 13 meters tall and it’s accessible by stairs that allow you to walk up to the crater.
50. 52. After Brazil, Mexico is the world’s second-largest
Colour TV was invented in Mexico. In 1942, a guy named Guillermo Gonzalez Camarena created the thermoscopic adaptor for the early colour tv transmission system. The first transmission was aired in 1946.
51. A 95-mile long river flows underground beneath Mexico. The river flows through limestone caves and crevices that are below the Yucatan Peninsula.
Catholic population, making up 83% of Catholic Citizens.
53. Mexican tamale weighs around 150 pounds and is 3 feet long. 54. Mexico has the world’s 6th 55. The largest wildcat in North America is the
largest electronics industry, after China, the US, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan,
jaguar, which can be found roaming the southern jungles of Mexico.
56. Mexico is the 6th most visited country in the world. It has the 15th highest income from tourism in the world, As of 2019.
57. Millions of monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico every year from the U.S. and Canada, though logging operations are rapidly destroying their habitat.
58. Mexico is the largest silver producer in the world. In 2017 they produced 5,600 MT silver in Mexico, which gives them the title of the largest silver producer in the world.
59. It is home to a rare breed of rabbit, which usually lives near volcanoes.
60. Mexico is the hardest-working citizens in the world, with the average citizen working 43.2 hours of per week, around 2,246 hours of work a year.
62. Mexico introduced to the world many popular and loveable foods including — chocolate, avocado, tomato, vanilla, courgette (zucchini), and various beans and chilies.
63. Mexico is the origin of chocolate, chilies, and corn.
64. As a result of the rapid industrialization of Mexico’s food system, churning out processed, fatty foods, 1 in 6 Mexicans suffer from diabetes, heart disease, and other weight-related conditions.
65. Popcorn was domesticated 9,000 years ago in Mexico.
66.
Mexican foods encompass a wide variety of spices and herbs. Common foods that can be found in the country include burritos, enchiladas and tacos.
67. Mexico has the capabilities to create
nuclear weapons but has pledged to only use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
68. The Mayans were creative in their military tactics. They would throw hornet nests into the advancing enemy during battles.
69. Surprisingly, there is only one gun shop in Mexico where people can buy guns legally.
70. About 90% of Mexico’s firearms are smuggled in from the United States. 71. Historically, Mexico has stayed neutral in international conflicts, with the exception of the
Second World War.
Hopefully, you have enjoyed and loved, Above I
nteresting Facts About Mexico. If you need more country facts, keep with this blog and share with your friends. Thanks for visiting this blog. | https://medium.com/@feedspotinfo/mexico-facts-71-interesting-facts-about-mexico-aa0d120682fc | [] | 2019-12-14 16:13:26.207000+00:00 | ['Geography', 'Mexico', 'Facts', 'World', 'Lifestyle'] |
Bharat Bandh — The Farmers Protests Continue — Another Day of Police Brutality and Further Calls for Boycotts | December 12, 2020
This past week marked one of the world’s largest protests in history. It took place in India, and the world barely took notice. More and more farmers have continued to join the protests from across India — Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Rajasthan, Kerala, and Uttar Pradesh to name just a few. Some farmers were blocked from leaving their states by their police, so they sat down at their borders blocking the roads. One of the largest democracies in the world is facing major backlash within its own country. It’s facing international criticism of their handling of the farmers as they peacefully tried to enter Delhi through Haryana, a BJP led state. Narendra Modi and his BJP government also face criticism on passing the farmers bill despite opposition within Rajya Sabha against the bill — the bill is unconstitutional. The BJP government also did not hold any discussions with farmers unions prior to drafting this bill. For more information on this, you can refer back to my previous article.
Many of us were forced to rely on Instagram to provide us with daily updates because news outlets across the world were not reporting on the protest. And if they were reporting on the protest, it was inaccurate and trying to label the protesters as Khalistani terrorists. Thanks to social media we were able to change the narrative back to what it was really about — the farmers protest.
As discussions with the BJP government were coming to a standstill, the farmers announced a nationwide protest — Bharat Bandh. Many different trade unions joined the protesters on December 8th. While we were still sleeping, videos began circulating on Instagram of police in Chandigarh spraying water cannons at protesters outside of the BJP’s office. I watched videos of police beating protesters, while other protesters were trying to stop the chaos. Less than two weeks ago, protesters marching to Delhi received the same treatment with the addition of tear gas. The second upset was that the December 9th meeting with the government was cancelled.
If you didn’t know already, Chandigarh is Union Territory, which means its administration functions directly under the Central Government and not by the state of Punjab. It may be the capital of Punjab and Haryana, but it doesn’t actually belong to either state (that’s a story for another day). Minister of Parliament in Chandigarh is Bollywood actress turned politician, Ms. Kirron Kher, who has also remained deathly silent since the protests began. Her only post on Instagram or Twitter after November 27th was for Gurpurab. I really shouldn’t expect anything more from a BJP MP, but keep reading and you’ll see why I’m overly annoyed by the hypocrisy of this lady.
Let’s go back five years ago. On December 1, 2015, she spoke in Lok Sabha on the debate of intolerance within India. Lok Sabha is the lower house of Parliament and below the Rajya Sabha where the farmers bill was passed. I remember watching the video and feeling proud that someone spoke so passionately for us within the government. She spoke about Congress’s conscience not being awoken when Indira Gandhi sent in the army to attack the Golden Temple in 1984; the mass sterilizations committed by Indira Gandhi’s government during the emergency order; and the anti-Sikh riots after Gandhi’s assassination. Ms. Kher was only right about one thing — it was no riot. It was a massacre. When the opposition parties tried to speak over her, her response was essentially: we listened to you, now it’s our right to speak, and that all sides have a right to voice their opinions. Ironic isn’t it?
She talks about intolerance and people’s conscience in 2015, but where is her conscience today? Today it was your city where the police brutality occurred, Ms. Kher. Aap jatt hoke vi hun chup behti hain, kyon? When you need their votes, you remember your people and your Punjab. What happened to you these last 11 days? In 2015 you also mentioned the mass sterilizations imposed by Indira Gandhi, the emergency order, and the intolerant practices of the Congress party, but what about the BJP now? The Congress party wasn’t any better for India in the past, but it doesn’t mean that the BJP is the best option for India today. India continues to face injustices on all fronts because of your party. Today your government is oppressing all minorities. How can you be so hypocritical?
Image: screenshot of Narendra Modi’s twitter account
And Modi saab, you tweeted on May 3, 2014 about this very emergency order, and celebrating freedom of expression and freedom of press. Today you’re sending internet jammers at the protest sites and increasing police presence everywhere. Today, you’re spraying water cannons, beating, and shooting tear gas at our grandparents, parents, brothers, and sisters. The only difference between you and Indira Gandhi is that we knew what and who she was trying to suppress, but you sir are a different type of breed. You target all minorities that we can’t keep our head straight. In recent years, numerous protests have taken place against your fascist government and its policies. Time and time again, you and your supporters have shown the world how you treat your citizens — you know, the ones who have a democratic right to protest when they so chose to do so because they live in a democratic country. You detain politicians who try to support the farmers. India is still a democracy right? Legitimately, every community that stands up to you, Modi, can’t all be wrong — students, farmers, Dalits, Muslims. They’re all misguided?
Today generations and different religious groups have come together in unity. Army veterans are joining the protest. For the first time in India’s post-partition history, the country has united irrespective of their language barriers and faith. Punjab is the unsung hero of this country pre- and post-partition. Despite all this, their voices have always fallen on deaf ears — yours, your governments, and a film fraternity’s. Perhaps Dr. Ritu Singh is right — it’s time for you, Modi, to step aside. Let the Ambani’s and Adani’s lead the country since they’re the ones running the agenda anyway. The farmers can deal directly with them considering the bill you passed benefits their corporations.
Tomorrow is the start of the next phase of the farmers protest. While car rallies across the world will be taking place, the farmers have called for a different type of protest. They announced the following plan:
Blocking the Delhi-Jaipur and Delhi-Agra highways on December 12th;
boycott of all Adani projects, malls, toll plazas and other projects that provide revenue to the BJP on December 14th (tolls will be made free for travellers on December 12);
All Jio products will be boycotted;
On December 14th, protests to be held at district BJP headquarters across the country;
Another ‘Delhi Chalo” protest will be held in Delhi’s neighbouring states in order to surround India’s capital;
Farmers across the country will continue to protest.
You have to give credit where credit is due. These farmers have come prepared — they know the country no longer trusts this government; they exposed the government controlled media groups; they have support from Punjabi artists, and they’re relying heavily on social media to get their messages across. They have received the support of independent documentary photographers and they have received external support from people and politicians across the world. While in the midst of a global pandemic, we have figured out ways to show our support relying heavily on car rallies. Last weekend past and within Canada, America, and the U.K., we say more than tens of thousands of cars come out in support. This weekend is round 2 — Ontario wide car protest starting in Windsor and heading to the Indian Consulate in Toronto while other cities join in. In Birmingham, U.K., cars will be joining from different cities, like Leicester, Coventry, Derby, Southall, etc. My hope is that we will be able to garner more attention from the mainstream media and put further pressure on the Indian government to repeal the farmers bill.
Finally, if all of the above didn’t get through to you, I hope this will. The Economist got it right when it said that the world’s largest democracy was heading into a future that is less free. Those supporting the farmers today have already come to this realization. They know they have less freedom today than they had when Modi was first elected. The unconstitutional passing of the farmers bill is a clear indication of what this country has to look forward to. Modi is attacking every group — Muslims, doctors, Dalits, farmers, students. No one is safe in this dictatorship and divisive government. However, for those that are still following this anti-national narrative — the day will come when your rights get stripped away and then you’ll realize you were on the wrong side of history. Remember the last time your basic fundamental rights were stripped away was during the Emergency Order, and then think back to how your parents and grandparents felt at the time. Today, democracy is on the brink of extinction. If you thought Trump was dangerous, you were wrong. While there may be many more Trump 2.0’s out there, Modi isn’t one of them. Modi is the Godfather. He’s learned from Trump’s mistakes, and that’s worse. After the defeat of Trump in the 2020 American elections, journalists and political scientists alike wrote about that one politician who would learn from Trump’s mistakes. Modi is that one they were all worried about and let that sink in!
#kisaanmajdoorektazindabad
#farmersprotest
#istandwithfarmers
___________________________________________________________________
Footer regarding Kirron Kher’s Video:
Just a side note: I’ve linked two videos of the same speech by Kirron Kher. Please do watch both of them. I have watched the first video so many times since 2015 (highlighted under the word ‘intolerance’). When I re-watched it again to write the paragraph on her speech, I wanted to make sure that I mentioned her three points. Except the last point in her speech was muted. I kept replaying the video thinking ‘how come I can’t find that part anymore?’. At 3 minutes and 46 seconds, the video goes quiet for a full minute, but the time continues. I specifically remembered her mentioning the assassination and the Sikh’s massacred in the aftermath, but for some reason I couldn’t locate it in the first video. I had to look for other videos of the same speech and was luckily able to find the second one highlighted under ‘Gandhi’s assassination’. Watch for yourself. I don’t know what it means or if it even amounts to anything at all, but I thought it was worth mentioning that a portion of the video was now muted on BJP’s YouTube page. | https://medium.com/@hkaur84/bharat-bandh-the-farmers-protests-continue-another-day-of-police-brutality-and-further-calls-edeb0a88e22c | ['Kirat Kaur'] | 2020-12-12 06:33:39.050000+00:00 | ['Farmers', 'Democracy', 'India', 'Protest', 'International'] |
Eyal Gutentag : Marketing is Changing Rapidly | Companies are demanding to understand ROI, just as measurement is simultaneously getting both easier and harder. At the same time, audiences are increasingly resistant to advertising and more challenging to reach than ever thanks to Netflix, Spotify, Instagram, Satellite Radio, Podcasts, DVR TV and more.
The skill sets and the experience required to succeed have changed. Companies are desperately trying to catch up.
As companies are challenged to scale faster and more globally than ever before, their people and culture can be either the key assets or liabilities to doing so. The right people are a requirement, but it’s less about what they have previously done professionally. It’s far more about who they are, how they’re wired and how they solve problems. The nuances of the hiring process are critical.
But that’s really just the beginning…
Roles must evolve frequently — measured in months, not years. Org charts become obsolete quickly.
Mentorship and rapid advancement of high achievers and leaders not only requires a strategy but a culture to enable it. If a meritocracy is your goal, processes must be in place to effectively reward and reinforce it.
At least that’s how I see it. I’ve seen these approaches prove successful over decades. I’ve been fortunate to hire hundreds of exceptional people over the years. If you’re among them, you know I love building high-powered, diverse, collaborative teams that enjoy working together. That is foundation to success in the knowledge economy.
I also love watching ambitious team members transform their companies, and their careers in the process. It is the MOST rewarding part. | https://medium.com/@eyalgutentag/marketing-is-changing-rapidly-682ec656d8fc | ['Eyal Gutentag'] | 2021-04-15 18:51:42.750000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Eyal Gutentag'] |
How Can I Make Much More Money from Satta King? | Gambling is all about money, and the more money there is, the more incredible the thrill of gambling. However, risks are involved; you could lose your entire income or become ten times richer than before. Here are impressive points to support you in avoiding losing money while playing Satta King.
Here are some pointers to help you avoid losing money while playing Satta king:
Play the Right Games
A basic rule for experienced Sattaking gamblers looking to make money is only to play games where you have a chance of winning. In reality, you can win any game, but the point of this discussion is to discuss the games that gamblers can win consistently when they use the right strategy.
Play Satta King with Proper Strategies
Once you’ve chosen which game you want to play, concentrate on it and learn everything there is to know about it. Become a master of the game and its strategies. This increases your chances of making money from the Delhi Satta King game. It’s not a great plan to jump from one game to another without first mastering the first.
Use Your Money Wisely In SattaKing
After all, money is at stake when it comes to gambling. Regardless of how beatable a game is or how perfect your strategy is, if you over beat or bet money you don’t have, you’re going to lose. Be cautious with your money at all times. If you think you’re addicted to Delhi Sattaking, you’re not cut out for the game because you’ll only lose money instead of making it.
Luck
One of the most important factors in the game of Sattaking is luck. Luck, without a doubt, matters, and there have been individuals who have won large sums solely based on this factor rather than on complicated or intelligent work. In fact, they didn’t bother learning the game at all. If you’re one of the favorable ones, you have a good chance of succeeding in the game of Delhi SattaKing. I don’t believe in luck, but there are plenty of people who do. However, keep in mind that luck isn’t always on your side.
However, keep in mind that luck isn’t always on your side. It is possible that it will not always be with you. “Brave men make their own luck,” a great man once said. Always be prepared for such situations and make your own luck.
Many people follow these tips and play safely, while others do not and sometimes lose a lot. If you enjoy Satta and have a lot of experience with it, you can use it to plan your finances. There is no requirement to spend in another reference when playing Delhi SattaKing can provide you with a lot on a good day. Furthermore, having prior Satta King experience gives you more confidence to put your money in than any other mode.
Final Thoughts:
Satta King is all about placing a bet; you could win a lot of money or nothing. So, why take risks that aren’t necessary? If you want to win big, keep your head in the game, keep your job handy, and approach the Delhi Satta game slowly and carefully, as well as consider the points listed above.
Source url: https://www.sattaking.agency/blog/how-can-i-make-much-more-money-from-satta-king/ | https://medium.com/@priyankarawats/how-can-i-make-much-more-money-from-satta-king-1e0a34bf156f | ['Priyanka Rawat'] | 2021-12-18 09:13:12.582000+00:00 | ['Gambling News', 'Gambling Business', 'Gambling', 'Gambling Addiction', 'Gambling Games'] |
10 things I learned from Covid-19 with D3.js | 10 things I learned from Covid-19 with D3.js
Global Timeline of Covid19 by Stacy S. Cho
Overview
Global Covid19 Timeline has earned a lot of 💌 👏 😍from many people. I really appreciate for everyone’s support
As of now April 16, 2020, Global Covid19 Timeline has earned - 9K+ User Traffic - 58 Likes & 15 Comments from LinkedIn Post - 100+ Visits & 25+ Clone from Github repository
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
Douglas Noel Adams, an author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy once said,
Programming gets things done
I was actively looking for software engineer jobs in NYC before the Corona Virus swept New York & New Jersey. I had many interviews scheduled and I was very hopeful and motivated to start my career as a software engineer.
The virus swept the U.S., especially New York and I received many emails and messages about interview process being pended and rejected due to the the virus. New Yorkers were asked to Stay at Home and my job hunting period stopped until further notice.
For the first few days of my status being changed from Job seeker to the unemployed, John Hopkins’s Covid Website & Google’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) map became my Netflix. I was checking the graphs and the world map every hours hoping that the trend goes down and everything comes back to the normal, but the trend goes an opposite of what I hope so. | https://javascript.plainenglish.io/combining-what-i-learned-from-covid-19-with-d3-js-2c03d9df521e | ['Stacy Cho'] | 2020-04-17 19:15:28.940000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Programming', 'Web Development', 'JavaScript', 'D3js'] |
WINTER | WINTER
Besides the surging numbers of Covid cases worldwide, many of us, like other animals of this gorgeous garden planet Earth, are burrowing deeper in our nests.
Each year I’ve brought in a cut leaf from the “wild” plantains that I transplanted from a former, warmer landscape than mine presently is.
Each year the plants grow hardier, sturdier, responding to my touching them, honoring them, occasionally nurturing them in other ways as well.
I bring in a single leaf, during warm months here in northern Florida, because I love their color, form, and immensity!
This particular leaf I cut and brought in today, probably the last of this wildly improbable year of 2020 – but it is by far the most gorgeous of any of its stunning brother and sister plantain leaves.
We have much to be grateful for, even in the midst of such tremulous transformative times. Exude thankfulness like this leaf. Focus on the goodness of being alive. Than all IS well.
teZaLord.com | https://medium.com/@tezalord/winter-d7a14eba167f | ['Teza Lord'] | 2020-12-03 20:38:00.014000+00:00 | ['Nature', 'Gratitude', 'Positive Thinking', 'Beautiful', 'Gardening'] |
Now, it still make sense to buy a big external hdd？ | Do you think everybody have external hdd？What on earth would a person do with that much space of external hdd? Sure, if you use your PC as a media center and record a lot of high-def TV shows and movies, this would be great.
Photo by Jens Kreuter on Unsplash
However, I think we’ve reached the point where the storage rules have changed. Thanks in large part to the cloud, most users no longer need such vast expanses of digital space. Which brings us to the question: does it still make sense to buy a big HDD?
How about the SSD and HDD?
There’s another consideration here: solid-state drives. SSDs run considerably faster than their mechanical counterparts. They consume less power, generate less heat, and survive even the hardest knocks and drops. But so what? I’m at the point where I’d gladly choose a 128GB SSD over, say, a 500GB External HDD— which is exactly what I did when I bought my last computer, a Samsung ultrabook.
Photo by Rafael Pol on Unsplash
OK, enough out of me. What’s your take on modern storage? Do you prefer the comfort and breathing room of a huge local drive, or do you find you can get by with a lot less space — especially in exchange for the awesomeness of an SSD?
Some question about External HDD and SSD：
Q： Why can’t I transfer 4GB or larger files to storage media? Why do I receive a “destination disk drive is full” message when I know there is still space available on the destination disk?
A：The Windows FAT32 file system supports maximum single file of 4GB only. To resolve this, storage media can be formatted to NTFS.
Photo by Kevin Bhagat on Unsplash
Q：When I connect the external hdd, the system asks me if I want to format it!
A：For the first time installation, system requirement for a format is normal. However, if the external hdd has data, and the system asks you to format the drive when you connect it to a computer, then the external hdd may not be installed correctly.
Attach the USB power transmission line to the USB slot behind the computer, and ensure that the computer has sufficient power. Do not use a USB hub, extension cord, or other USB devices, as doing so may cause a power shortage and cause your computer to be unable to read the external hdd.
From：Cnet、ADATA | https://medium.com/@nono20175184/now-it-still-make-sense-to-buy-a-big-external-hdd-5fd2f39bc256 | ['Andy S Blog'] | 2019-03-21 06:00:05.766000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Windows 10', 'Tech', 'Hdd', 'Computers'] |
Won the first prize in the coin pusher game, how to play Super Circus | Won the first prize in the coin pusher game, how to play Super Circus CoinWoned Nov 27, 2021·2 min read
First of all, when playing the Super Circus coin pusher, score from the left and right sides, usually three on the left or three on the right, set the score higher, and then start to adjust the wiper direction, facing one side, try to adjust the wiper to In which position, the probability of hitting a balloon or a single wheel is high, note the position of the wiper, and when the Jenga comes out, directly adjust the wiper to this position and start Jenga, so that the number of stacks will be very high, 3 is 6 4 times is 10 times, 5 is 20 times, 6 is 30 times, which is 3000 points. Of course, if your score is not 100 points, there will be no 3000 points. In this way, you will win JP3 and the full prize. The odds of winning are much higher, that is, you are sure that as long as you fight like this, you will basically not lose, and if you win, you will change your machine.
Secondly, the number on the bottom of the coin pusher represents the score for this. There are 6 types in total. The lights at the bottom always turn on two randomly. If your coin passes the lighted up, the score will be +1. to 100. Points, so the theoretical total score is 600 points. In addition, there are two OUT lights, which light up randomly. If you just pass the OUT when it lights up, the score indicated on the screen will be cleared to 0.
Finally, the coin pushing machine has not produced much prizes. It is either a big prize or a big pit. If you keep going out of Line, Jenga, and Little Mary, there is still a certain amount of time before the big prize, JP1 or JP2. Afterwards, it is explained that the machine will eat to a certain extent, it is possible to get the whole plate, and it is possible that the machine will have to eat for a period of time. If you have not issued JP1 or JP2 before, you can directly play JP3. If you have JP3, the machine will be rewarded after a certain amount of points. You can choose to change the machine to play. In short, the JP prize means that the machine eats points and eats a certain amount of points before paying out the whole game. Rhythm. | https://medium.com/@daylongtech168/won-the-first-prize-in-the-coin-pusher-game-how-to-play-super-circus-6a688b6b6a42 | [] | 2021-11-27 08:11:21.129000+00:00 | ['Gaming', 'Casino Games', 'Arcade Games', 'Slotonline', 'Casino'] |
Dying Flesh, Thriving Pixels | Quotes from “The Myth of Sisyphus” by Albert Camus
Mystics… Find freedom in giving themselves. By losing themselves in their god, by accepting his rules, they become secretly free.
Against my better judgment, I have caved to temptation. An extended imposition towards self-isolation has caused me to turn to one of my oldest vices. At four it was the Gameboy, at six it was the Gameboy, at ten the Wii, at eleven the DS, and now I have purchased a Nintendo Switch. For about two weeks, I allowed my usual disciplined attitude towards spending to go untethered and purchased games with abandon. After the frenzy, I pulled my head out of this black hole of spending, and I stared in horror at the infinite mountain of interactive media I had collected. When all the games I purchased are transmuted to hours, there are well over 800 for me to indulge in. In my twenty-two years of life, I am dangerously close to mastering the art of staring at a screen and pressing buttons to complete an arbitrary goal, but I don’t know if I regret buying the very chains I now feel bound to until I complete this multi-year sentence of gamer-girl transformation. My bloodshot eyes scream that they do, but my uncalloused hands and electrifying synapse throughout the different lumps of my melted smooth-brain would tell a different story.
[The Gods] had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor.
To write down my three pillars of youthful addiction as sugar, television, and weed feels like a cliche. The same friend who gave me my first taste of weed when we were high school freshmen was also the first person to show me the original Halo on Xbox when we were both in kindergarten. I still remember laying on his bedside by side, shooting each other in the game just to test out the weight of the mechanics that were so new to me. For a six-year-old, it was more control than I had ever experienced before. I have a vague memory of one Christmas (perhaps that year, perhaps a year before) where my parents presented me with a turquoise GameBoy Color that came preloaded with Pokemon Crystal. These two memories are two sides of the same coin but still contain a wide barrier in the ways that they ignited different passions within me. On the one hand, the GameBoy ignited already established pleasure centers. The device fit into my small hands, and I can still remember the textures of hard plastic on a bed of tissue paper, a red light signaled the device had been turned on, and the pixel art of Suicune ran onto the title screen which showered my vision with a torrent of instant serotonin. The other experience was completely foreign to me. Laying on a bed in a new friends house, someone who I felt understood me in a way no one else I really knew up to that point did, thrusting a bulky controller into my hands that I had to struggle to grip, but feeling a weight of victory when I felt it become a part of my essence. I transported into a world of three-dimensional polygons to shoot a gun and watch blood spurt out of my opponent. This would be sacrilege if it occurred at my own house, but here I was in an isolated environment of my new friend's design. This was not the pleasure of the mind. it was something more taboo I wouldn’t understand until years later: the pleasure of the body.
When he had seen again the face of this world, enjoyed water and sun, warm stones and the sea, he no longer wanted to go back to the infernal darkness.
Fast forward countless experiences and advancements in virtual technology, the last modern game I committed myself to in an isolated, individual setting was 2017s Prey for the Xbox One. I was a parks employee during the week; at night I would unwind with a joint, lay on a black leather couch, and sweat out of anxiety and dread as I transported myself to a space-station hellscape until my eyes dried out and I had to lay in bed and hydrate. There was something too advanced about this generation of consoles that caused me to stop. It was breaking down my body more than it was providing pleasure; I was no longer transported into a different space but absorbed into a sinister corporate hub of multimedia temptations and advertisements promising a whole new experience the instant I maxed out all activities the game provided. I was giving myself over to the virtual world and dove backward into bulk orders of weed and a new affinity for thrifting books the moment I returned to Boston at the end of the summer.
This is the price that must be paid for the passions of this earth.
Now that I have firmly planted myself again in the culture of games, albeit in a way removed from the new current generation of the Xbox series X and Playstation 5, I have rediscovered a fear of the virtual world that threatens to trap me within it while my physical body rots away. While not nearly as intense since I cut weed out of my life since the beginning of autumn, I find that similar restrictions are necessary in order for me to retain a healthy relationship with this vice. On the nights that I do choose to indulge myself, it feels like I’m searching for something. It could be the pleasures of the body or a return to the sharpened reciprocals of pleasure that have been dulled with time and substances. While I’d like to see myself as Orpheus looking for Eurydice in the digital underworld, I can only look at myself as Sisyphus, pushing the same boulder up the same hill day and night to no end, carving a smooth path that will not make the pain more enjoyable, but only easier to enact. | https://medium.com/@horsegirls/dying-flesh-thriving-pixels-8e0653dcb32d | ['P Henry'] | 2020-12-25 03:43:05.603000+00:00 | ['Culture', 'Gaming', 'Purpose', 'Joy', 'Art'] |
Are letters of recommendation the ace under the sleeve of bully mentors? Surviving Bullying in higher education — Part 2 | Bullying in higher education, The Survey
Letters of recommendation are key in the process of hiring for academic and research job positions. Subjective perspectives and the existence of bias can jeopardize scientific careers. Celia Arroyo-López, member of the MCAA GEDI and Policy Working Groups, discusses abuses and misuses related to bully mentors and their targets.
This article is divided in two parts. In the first one, we have examined the letters of recommendation, their definition, and roles in academic and research environments. In this second part, you will find how these letters might negatively or positively affect your career depending on the writer’s beliefs about you and I’ll give you the results of an interesting survey I carried out while creating my campaign to bring light to the common cases of abuses we could all suffer in an academic environment. This article aims to collaborate in improving ethics in academia and research, evaluating how letters of recommendation might be used against you in cases of labour abuse.
Bringing Light to Obscurity
After dealing with labour abuses, bullying, and mobbing in academia, with no effective institutional and governmental support, I decided to come out and to initiate a campaign to bring to light the common cases of abuses we suffer in academic environments and the reasons why they are underreported. I experienced the lack of policies to protect victims, after ten years I have several articles blocked or not allowed to publish, as a way of affecting my c. vitae, and my career seems to be over. As part of my healing process, I launched a small-scale anonymous survey about Academic harassment to collect preliminary data, without any funds or institutional support. I asked people whether they ever experienced or witnessed harassment in higher education or in their research field? If so, what were the most common harassing methods they have experienced or witnessed? As examples, some of the results are discussed below, the rest will come soon in the form of a new publication.
The Survey
“75% of respondents considered themselves victims of harassment in academia and 39,6% witnessed it at some point of their careers.”
Carried out between April and June 2020, the survey collected 53 responses (data not published yet). The survey was distributed using email lists and social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Slack, LinkedIn. While the great majority of respondents wanted to remain anonymous, some of them said they would be willing to go public.
According to the survey’s results, abuses in academia are underreported because victims and survivors are afraid of being considered as “troublemakers.” More specifically, 75% of respondents considered themselves victims of harassment in academia and 39,6% witnessed it at some point of their careers[1] [2] . When asked why, based on their own experience, they think harassment/bullying/mobbing is generally underreported, and what were the victims´ main fears, the majority of the surveyed mentioned the end of their scientific careers (81,13 %).
62,26% of respondents were worried about having bad LORs or being blacklisted. Also, not being believed or being too psychologically and emotionally affected to be able to report their situation were repeated responses (60,38 %). Likewise, fearing the termination of contracts (52,83 %), being badmouthed (47,17 %), a lack of trust in the institutions, and/or in academia’s human resources management (47,17 %) were frequent responses too. Curiously, some of them were concerned about protecting the bully and the institution from bad publicity (37,74 %).
Lastly, a fear of a VISA expiration or being deported was also noted (26,42 %). A VISA-dependent person is more vulnerable. If one’s VISA status is determined by the length of their contract or host program, dealing with an abusive supervisor might be more complicated.
In general, it is interesting to notice that the main concerns of victims or witnesses’ supervisor- or mentor-dependent, and not associated with their careers, skills, or abilities. However, it is also interesting to note that, despite the lack of institutional and social support, victims and survivors are still willing to talk and share their own experiences. It is a communal catharsis, and the beginning of a healing process.
Conclusions and Take home messages
In summary, a poor LOR, or the lack of it, might jeopardize the opportunities of getting a job in academia, despite one’s scientific record. So, if our referees do not like us, or if we do not “behave properly,” we are more likely to get a bad LOR. This may hint to the existence of clear bias in academic LORs. We are meant to be strong and competitive within this extremely demanding environment, however still little is considered about the real labour conditions. Are LORs a tool for the maintenance of the glass ceiling? I think so. In my experience, the fact of reporting discrimination and abuses has brought me defamatory LORs. Research in the era of COVID-19 and Open Science has now the opportunity to evaluate the problems concerning science, scientists and research, propose changes and improvements for a better science, and a better future for new generations of scientists. Luckily, there is some hope for change, thanks also to the Marie Curie Alumni Association. The MCAA is one of the first (and sadly still few) organizations that are openly discussing bullying in academia. Hopefully, its work would be soon followed by other organisations. | https://medium.com/marie-curie-alumni/are-letters-of-recommendation-the-ace-under-the-sleeve-of-bully-mentors-cdc56ec3e41 | ['Marie Curie Alumni Association'] | 2020-10-26 10:45:56.380000+00:00 | ['Science', 'Research', 'Bullying', 'Mcaa'] |
Abortion Clinic Worker Tells Women: “Be Selfish” and Abort | In the book Abortion: A Positive Decision, pro-choice author Patricia Launneborg paints a rosy picture of abortion. She quotes a number of abortion clinic workers talking about how wonderful their jobs are and how much they are helping women.
In fact, one interviewed clinic director favorably compares providing abortions to performing heart transplants:
I’ve said many times that the amount of good that we do here in one day doing 10, 20 abortions is far greater than somebody working in a heart transplant unit doing one or two heart transplants on 64 year old men. (p 26)
At one point, however, Launneborg does let slip that she knows exactly what’s at stake in the abortion debate:
No matter that legal abortion is as safe a procedure as having your tonsils out or a penicillin injection or wisdom tooth extracted. It is far more than a safe medical procedure because of the complicated decision-making that is involved, and the fact that it has to do with sex and life and death. (3–4)
Exactly whose death is she talking about? The woman doesn’t die in the abortion (most of the time). This is the only place in the book where Launneborg comes close to admitting that abortion is killing.
One of the abortion providers describes how she encourages women to be “selfish”:
I think it’s okay to be selfish. I don’t think there’s anything bad about putting yourself first. I don’t mean selfish is in the sense of greediness. I mean thinking clearly about yourself and what is best for you and the world and what you can deal with.… I can list you a million reasons why I wouldn’t want to have a kid, and they’re all selfish. But what is the point of being selfless about it? Why have a child that’s not wanted? So I see selfishness as a virtue in making choices for yourself and your life.(157)
In counseling women considering abortion, this clinic worker encourages women to put themselves first and completely disregard the well-being of their unborn babies. Some women, apparently, took this advice to heart.
Here are some quotes from women who had abortions:
A lot of people would argue that, that’s a life, but I say, what about my life?… Do I think abortion is pro-life? It’s pro-my life, and I am the most important person in the world and I want to make myself happy.… A good friend of mine has 2 kids, she’s a perfect mother, roast on Sundays. Good for you, if that’s what you want, more power to you. Let me have what I want.( 134) This is not right for my soul’s growth at this time. You can basically say to the child, I’m not equipped to help you grow up right yet. I’m not grown up myself. I choose not to let you into my life for your benefit. I need to mature, I need to grow.(This woman had 2 abortions) (94) You’ve got to tell yourself, I am worth a hell of a lot, and I come first. Because as women we’re told everything else comes first. But my well-being, my peace, my value comes first. The focus of my life should — and can — be me,… So when the outside says you should be thinking of the child, say No. The only thing you should be thinking about is you.(72) Abortions aren’t anti-life. Abortions are pro-life, my life. (This woman had 3 abortions)(58)
It would be a mistake to characterize all women having abortions as selfish. Many women are driven to abortion by desperation, feeling that they have nowhere to turn. Every counselor who has worked at a crisis pregnancy center can tell you that many women do agonize over their decisions.
Others are pressured into abortions by their partners or, in the case of teenagers, by their parents. There is no “typical” abortion patient. So it would be a mistake to assume that these quotes are representative of all women who have abortions.
Also, as damning as these quotes are, it is good to keep in mind that these women grew up in a consumer culture where they were constantly given the message, through the media, through their peers, and through the efforts of pro-choice groups and organizations, that abortion is an acceptable and moral choice.
The fact that abortion is legal, and has been legal for the entire lives of many of these women, sends the message that abortion is okay. They have been encouraged by abortion clinic workers to put themselves first and disregard their babies’ needs. It is easy to judge these women, but doing so is counterproductive. We must reach out even to these women, with compassion. | https://medium.com/the-pro-life-rose/abortion-clinic-worker-tells-women-be-selfish-and-abort-2abb674d4bd9 | ['Sarah Terzo'] | 2020-12-12 03:38:47.374000+00:00 | ['Women', 'Pro Life', 'Abortion', 'Abortion Clinic', 'Pro Choice'] |
Inside OYO’s InfoSec team: Making our lives hard so stakeholders sleep easy | One of our biggest assets is the trust our customers, partners and employees place in us. We understand that trust is hard to earn and easy to lose. One key responsibility in earning this trust is protecting the data our customers and other stakeholders have with us from any unauthorized use. Our team of 1100+ world-class security, network, software engineers and external partners across multiple geographies is at work 24x7 ensuring the protection of this data, so our customers and stakeholders can rest easy.
Security is an integral part of any process at OYO; beginning from the collection of data, during transfer and processing to storage at rest. We follow a comprehensive information security framework based on version 1.1 of the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA) covering all aspects of information security:
We are PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679) compliant and closely follow the ISO 27001 framework. We have a comprehensive information security policy in place since the inception of our company that’s based on the ISO 27001 framework and other stringent industry standards. The policy is revised periodically to ensure it encompasses the latest information security practices.
According to recent research by VPNPro, more than 2.7 billion people were affected by the data breaches in 2019. Today, it is imperative for technology companies to stay updated with the latest tools and technologies to mitigate against any unauthorized data access and breaches.
Our internal compliance team is responsible for ensuring that all our systems and processes adhere to this. Zero tolerance for violations is a good thing when it comes to data security. There are a host of measures that we adopt to make this possible. These include -
1. Access based on “Least privilege” and “Need to Know” principles along with Multi Factor Authentication(MFA)
2. Appropriate Data Classification
3. Incident Response and Plan
4. VAPT Exercises at regular intervals
5. Password Management using Industry Best Standards
6. Regular Education, Awareness and Acceptance to enterprise policies and procedures
7. Appropriate measures for Endpoint Protection
It’s never too early to start with the right education. All our new joiners go through information security training as part of the New Employee Orientation. Our software developers and other Information Security personnel also attend a mandatory quarterly refresher since the technology in this space is dynamic and evolving very quickly. We have also recently started an annual mandatory refresher training for all existing employees. All of our developers are trained on the OWASP top 10, SANS top 25, WASC Security Standards which are being deployed in some of the best technology companies, world over. For the larger employee base as well, our security governance team regularly sends security advisories to the entire organization educating them on Information Security best practices; how to prevent getting tricked by phishing emails, maintaining password confidentiality, etc including consequences of non-compliance including up to termination.
The best defense starts with limiting exposure. At OYO, access to all resources/systems is limited to need-to-have basis and requires manager approval before grant. The access is kept up to date as any employee changes their role or takes on additional responsibilities. We use industry best, next-generation antivirus and malware protection solutions to protect user’s devices. Our offices and development centers are protected with the latest next generation firewalls, IPS, IDS, VPN devices in compliance with our Information Security policy and stringent perimeter security recommendations of Industry.
All our systems are on a highly secure cloud platform, using robust network architecture including separate VPC for each critical system. Our Websites & Applications are using strong SSL encryption to protect data during transit. All sensitive data is encrypted at rest in the cloud. All public traffic is scanned through the industry-leading web application firewall (WAF). Connection to cloud is allowed only through MFA enabled VPN tunnels.
Our sophisticated WAF service with custom rules thwarts millions of attacks every month:
All code changes go through automated and manual security testing before getting deployed to production. Our code is stored on secure Github private repositories protected through MFA (multi-factor authentication) which is a step above the commonly used two factor authentication. We carry out static code analysis and dynamic testing of our Applications, Websites and services using both internal teams and external security partners. Any new application has to go through mandatory Vulnerability Assessment/Penetration Testing(VAPT) and certification before the public launch.
As per the Vulnerabilities Trend Report 2020 from SkyBoxSecurity, there has been 3.8% vulnerabilities increase i.e. 16391 in 2018 to 17220 in 2019 at the infra, application and OS level. These ever increasing numbers have been the primary driver to take the VAPT process on highest priority. This exercise has helped us:
1. Identify, detection and remediation of most recent bugs existing in the environment to prevent any current and future exploits/attacks
2. Efficacy and Validation of Security Controls currently implemented
3. Enumerate Risk associated with application, systems and information
4. Attain and Sustain various compliance requirements
Regular vulnerability assessments and penetration tests are conducted both by our internal staff as well as external partners on our behalf. Our 24x7 SOC is constantly monitoring for any threats and suspicious activities and proactively protecting against those. In addition to PCI-DSS and GDPR, we are regularly audited for information security as part of ITGC (IT General Controls audit) and various statutory audits.
“OYO has been successfully running its 2nd year of PCI Compliance. Adherence to Payment Standard is of utmost importance to our business, non-adherence or non-compliance to any of the payment requirements is just out of question” says Arpit Jain, Sr. Engineering Manager, Payments
“With the majority of our Infrastructure on Cloud, we take enormous caution and controls before exposing any of our assets publicly. All such requests go through a thorough need vs risk logic.” says Nitin Nagpal- DevOps Architect
True to our core leadership principle of “We make our lives harder to make our customers and partners life easy”, our information security experts spend sleepless nights protecting your data, so our customers, partners and employees can sleep easy. | https://tech.oyorooms.com/inside-oyos-infosec-team-making-our-lives-hard-so-stakeholders-sleep-easy-1f989f7c0aa3 | ['Jagbir Singh'] | 2020-02-20 07:08:24.383000+00:00 | ['Cyber Security Services', 'Privacy Protection', 'Data Protection', 'Infosec', 'Appsec'] |
Toilets, stoves and joint inflammation | Once I heard a story about a woman who was renting out an apartment to someone I know.
And my acquaintance told me about how she, one day, seemed so conflicted.
‘I feel so depressed….’
She said, visibly frustrated.
You see, the guy I know had just asked her for help to deal with a leaky toilet. After all, he could probably have tried his luck with dealing with the toilet myself, but he wouldn’t pay her rent, only to have the toilet malfunctioning.
Now, I do believe that the landlady’s depression stemmed from several things.
One thing was, the stove in the kitchen didn’t function properly. So, my acquaintance requested that she fix it or replace it.
Second, there had actually been a leakage in the toilet just a couple of months earlier, and now it had started to leak again.
Of course, the new leakage in the toilet happened at the same time as the stove had stopped working. So now, she had two problems to deal with in the apartment.
But that wasn’t the worst thing.
What was worse was that she wasn’t doing so well, health wise.
She’d been seeing a doctor. A specialist of some kind. In another town. She dealt with severe joint inflammation in her right arm.
And now, the left arm had started to give her trouble as well.
What that meant was, she couldn’t lift things anymore. Particularly not heavy things. Nor could she squeeze or pull at things.
Of course, my acquaintance made sure to offer my help to whatever kind of things she needed to get done.
Whether it be taking the trash can down the driveway so that the garbage men could empty it whenever that time came.
Or shove snow during winter so that she could go somewhere with her car.
Even carrying her lawnmower robot back and forth. He made sure to offer my help. And she of course accepted it.
All of a sudden, it made so much more sense him why there was so much noise when people were visiting her. Almost every time, it sounded like they either were moving furniture back and forth, vacuuming and even mopping the floor.
Almost as if she was rearranging her living room every time someone would visit her.
Or, the other explanation could be that she wasn’t able to move big things and to clean herself, so she requested that her friends and family helped her.
And this is the reality for a lot of people who suffer from chronic pain. They’re unable to move big things because they’re in so much pain.
So if they don’t have children or a spouse that can take care of such things, well, they’re in trouble.
To say the least.
Anyway, I don’t know what happened after.
Hopefully, the old lady resolved her issues.
And hopefully, if this applies to you, then you may solve your issues also.
CBD is quick and easy to buy these days.
You know the drill. | https://medium.com/@aaryningen/toilets-stoves-and-joint-inflammation-fa19d4b8fc2c | ['Aasmund Ryningen'] | 2020-10-07 13:24:45.775000+00:00 | ['Hemp', 'Health', 'Chronic Pain', 'Medical Marijuana', 'Cbd'] |
Berries for Summer. | This is a deluded love story. A story of one fruity summer — with a little help from Rumi.
Watermelon June
Being in self-imposed isolation during this quarantine has got my thoughts snowballing. Being at the tiny desk, being in my own head, being sat on a couch, streaming series that play a background sound to my mental narrative do not serve as distractions, merely as settings. To keep it fresh, as summer drew closer and sunscreen became a priority, I started taking longer walks across the urban, busy area my parents happened to buy our house in.
During these walks, I found vials of memories splattered across the streets. It is strange to recognize how objective and ever-lasting streets are. They are merely there. The fact that the army had brutally injured rebels in the same spot you’d once gotten a sloppy blowjob fascinates me. It truly puts things into perspective for me. Most importantly, this summer, I have been thinking about the different possibilities on these streets. What if? What could have been? Why not?
On my walks, I think of one integral summer. Mind you, I am not so sober during these walks and the pills ground into my coffee keep my mind spiralling. I feel like it is time, in this quarantine, for my doubts to be tackled head first, no more escapism, no more metaphorical procrastination. Is it time to be a man? Anyone got a manual on how to be that?
I remember the summer I had spent with her. It was hot in every dimension. She lived close. I was a college student with too much time on His hands. I liked wine. She became the same. I liked witty arguments. She tried her best. I liked binge and excess. She found it in herself to accommodate. I liked the lush and the luxurious. She actually did, too. She was kind and I was not. In drawing a dimensional comparison between us, I see that now.
In my previous opinion, when two people commit, love puts on its Nike Decades and covers itself with a square, purple cloth. I had told her that and was dumb enough to assume that both her and I would control ourselves. It fascinates me sometimes how much like AI bots we are already trying to be, with our objectivity, our emotional defenses and our pragmatic take on relationships. AI is the enemy we are trying to impregnate.
Our summer together started on her kitchen counter. She wore a ridiculous tiger onesie; I was in my douchebag fit. We talked of love, commitment and the families we were blessed with. She cooked some dumb, yoghurt-based lunch. I watched her move across the beige and brown kitchen. She really was not my type, but trying telling that to your hormones. I sat on the counter, she sashayed here and there.
‘Have you ever thought about what your ideal partner would be like?’ I asked, merely curious about everything that had to do with her. I poured a rum & coke as she walked around and took her time to answer.
‘I have an idea. Why do you ask?’ she gave me that smile that she thought was mystique and sexy but which I, held in the silk of my God Complex web, thought I could see right through.
‘I mean,’ I started then laughed, ‘I actually have a list of qualities I want in mine.’
She paused, turned around and said, ‘I do, too.’
‘I have it written down.’ I challenged.
‘You’re a weird guy. Check.’
I laughed then listed the qualities I wanted in my someone and slowly reached the realization that she fit most of them. She was short, though.
‘Well,’ she tried to be nonchalant, ‘I think my guy would have the same qualities.’ Then she remembered and added hastily, ‘I want him to fit well with my family.’
‘Yeah, that matters.’ I croaked.
I guess it started then. Kitchen kitsch talk and sexual tension all around her house. We spent June going to all the bars we could, the clubs that left us sweaty, testing the patience of our deodorant, the restaurants where we’d drink more Rosé than consume solid food. We talked for hours, constantly. We built up a bubble of interest, of curiosity, of incomprehensible trust. And across all of that, I was truly convinced that I did not like her. I am coming to the conclusion that the most persuasive people are those in denial. The abandonment of logic and the fixation on one thought can truly work wonders. Look at me for example, a previously delusional dick with arrogance by the ton.
June was pink, red and white. June was the honeymoon phase. Watermelon on the beach. The smell of coconut oil. The crisp scent of dried hair. The sweet warmth of the cold shower water which strangely makes you feel warmer on the inside after the beach. The aroma of shower gel which we would soon share.
We wanted to make sangrias once, I remember. I am thinking of this as I walk under the house in which these events took place. Told you she lived close. I swallow another pill. So, yeah, we wanted to make sangrias once. I watched as her excitement was mirrored in mine. I realized this event of sangria-making was not about the alcoholic nectar, but about the fact that we would invite all our friends to share it with us at her place. She longed for family, she longed for stable recognition. Unfortunately, she thought that was achievable with me. My condolences.
As we shopped for the items (white rum, red wine, oranges, etc.), I remember we laughed a lot. I accidentally broke the first bottle of rum I picked off the shelf. She ran away as I tried hitting her ass repeatedly with the cart. She threw Kinder eggs at me. We talked about our friends and their inconsistencies. We made fun of the people we saw there: the fed-up mum, the kid with a booger halfway down his lips, the old man tapping a watermelon expecting a response, the father who was on his phone while his daughter tugged at his shirt. I nearly broke another bottle and then she came to me and tugged it from my hand, placing it safely into the cart. She touched my hands frequently. I remember she was quite touchy. I remember liking that. I also remember wondering if that was her sending me messages. I remember liking those messages. And slowly, my perception of her transmuted from mere curiosity and enjoyment to basic attraction, the kind that gets you kind of hard when she walks into the room. It was not about the physical merely. It was about what we shared in that bubble that looked like the inside of a cool watermelon.
What I remember most was that she truly cared about what I thought and what I wanted. She was a girl that cared and gave. She had issues in a bundle, but she cared. When we were buying the stuff for the sangrias, she kept on asking me what I wanted and whether I wanted that or not, but not in the sense that she was asking casually, rather that she was guessing what would make me happy to purchase and she wanted that, I guess. She wanted me happy.
Back on my tiny desk, I groan as I lie down, thinking of where this line of fruitless thought is taking me. What is it about the past that is supposed to help me grow? Do we eventually start living in the memories of our teen years and twenties as the world of capitalistic, expectant reality begins to become home? Fuck, are these the questions we ask at my age?
I open an Instagram page full of Rumi quotes. If only we could all elucidate feelings like he. We have the sex, the rum & coke and the watermelon feelings. He had eccentric passion, religion and nature in blossom.
‘How’d you do it, Rumi?’
‘Love has taken away my practices and filled me with poetry.’
‘Just like that?’
‘I tried to keep quietly repeating, ‘No strength but yours’, but I couldn’t.’
‘So, you put your heart into writing?’
‘I had to clap and sing.’
‘And then, did you get her or you won’t tell me to keep me on edge, you bastard?’
‘A mountain keeps an echo deep inside itself. That’s how I hold your voice.’
‘At least tell me, will I get her?’
‘We’re groggy, but let the guilt go. Feel the motions of tenderness around you, the buoyancy.’
‘Ok, boomer.’
I walk in the sun now, coffee mug in sweaty hand and mind in a pink cloud. I wonder, how many times have people wanted me to be happy?
Blueberry July
What if? What could have been? Why not?
Such an interesting set of questions. My four friends and I could discuss this for weeks on end. The chat is what keeps the lights on in our heads at this point. Now, that I am recalling my summer with her, I am also faced with another spark of curios thought: How bulletproof are the friendships we nurture? If I could think about her on end for weeks, have the instinctive physical urge to drop whatever I was doing just to sit next to her on the couch and feel her up slowly, calmly, not even sexually, just comfortably, could I have found it that easy to end things in the way I did? And if I could do that to her, someone whose attention I indirectly and unbeknownst to me, craved, could I do that to the four friends?
Dear lord, this is Act II.
July was more of the same, but intense. Once you develop that bubble, that watermelon cover, you begin to dig deeper into the moist, foamy texture. I wanted the berries in her mind, the brown of her belly. She wanted more. She always wanted more. Actually, let me rectify that. She faced what she wanted, I denied it, when it was probably the same. There.
July was dark lilac, violet sunsets and deep orange. Lana Del Rey in the car. Her hand in mine. We had come to an unspoken agreement. 11 pints of beer had finally broken the tension, shattered it with a make out session in the car. It was long, it was wet, it was stuffy. Will we relive that again?
July was short, full of shitty movies and long spans of time spent eating Tortilla chips whilst watching Game of Thrones. The orange couches had withstood a lot. They witnessed the sweat we spilled, the clothes that we’d have to dig out from their corners, the drunkenly whispered promises. One time I asked her for a condom and that was ridiculous. One time I asked her why she wasn’t my girlfriend and that was even more ridiculous. When we go to heaven, I wonder, do we get to sit in a circle and share the fucked up shit we’d done with impunity? I hope so, it’ll liven Eden a little.
July was blueberry sweet and sour. July was me starting at her feet and ending everywhere. July was ours. Under blankets that made it so hot, it was impossible to not have our skin stick onto one another painfully, we shared stories and dreams. She told me she liked my back. I loved the color of her skin. She told me about the family she wants. I told her about my dreams. I told her my favorite fruit was the blueberry. She told me her favorite fruit but I forgot. Knowing her, it was probably something exotic.
All this time, I was resisting. Denial is loathsome but powerful. I wanted to cave in because when I felt things, I thought of her. The heart and its untraceable fallacies. When someone puts you on a pedestal, rise up with them, Adam. I got to know her in a lot of ways. Obsession with natural products, her rejection of the heroin chic body type, her direct dislike to any of the girls in my life and her desire to make me hers. That is probably when it got bad. I jumped down the pedestal and she tried to lasso me there again. I should have listened, but I ate blueberries in the sun, shades on, linen shirt half open, pretending that I wasn’t directly causing her to act that way. Clap for the scum, clap.
One July night saw us downing two bottles of wine at the isolated terrace of a bar her best friend had gotten us ticket to visit and review. I sat there and enjoyed her. I was on a date with a beautiful girl, she talked and I stared at her, listening, sipping, pouring, sipping, letting my senses run like fingers across purple velvet. I had a proclivity for hot summer nights and alcohol made everything in me tender. She told me about her grandfather and the beauty of the connection they’d shared. I think that in that moment, as soapy and Gen Z as that sounds, it hit me that I wanted to be with that girl.
Alas, that is not where the story ended. My own self preservation, my illusive denial and the primal need in me to protect myself brought the bars up. The walls formed around me. They were walls embroidered with selfishness, self importance, prioritization of my own plans, rejection of being cared for, avoidance of commitment and a search for more hook-ups, new bodies. Nobodies, really. On the apps, on the dick-pic sharing platforms and the repetitive Hi, How You Doing?, Got a Place? stages, I found nobodies. I never really, till now, found someone to tell me about their grandfather and let me smile at them genuinely as a gust of hot July wind danced around us.
On my tiny desk, I wonder why I am telling you this. Is it for the sake of soothing this aching soul? Is it because I’d spiked the coffee again? Is it in search of confirmation?
‘Rumi, any advice?’
‘I was once like you, fresh from the ground. Then I boiled in time, and boiled in the body, two fierce boilings. My animal soul grew powerful. I controlled it with practices, and boiled some more, and boiled once beyond that, and became your teacher.’
‘Blueberries are too soft to boil and maintain form. I guess I’m a chickpea; softened when boiled.’ I tried to confuse Rumi with my self-knowledge. Joke is on me, I guess.
August Kiwi
At this point, my recollection is hazy. You can probably guess why.
I lie down and drift away, dreaming in pale green tones, floating along aurora lights, trying to make sense of the mess. Trying to make this part of my story something less volatile, constructive. My soul on caffeinated Xanax is leading me to the midsection of this conflict. I guess some knowledge is innate after all.
My story with her will always be relevant because it is at the core of my struggle, a mirrored insight of what ails me: The diminishing returns, the amortized depreciation of everything that matters. I grow bored fast, I seek thrills ephemeral. And that is what happened with her and everyone after her. Me and my world of ideas never fit in with those who sought stability.
In states of semi-conscience, I see us that August. I see her and I dancing. I see us naked, hiding from her roommate. I see us look at each other across the room whilst we watched Oscar winning speeches. She wiped a tear off my acne-riddled face that night. I see her filming me during my rendition of Beyoncé’s Halo and me filming her for one of my artistic projects. I see her as I’ve tried to describe her for you.
All that ended in August because I did not know what I want.
I lie down in this isolation, thinking of gardens electric and souls departed. I pass through Wonderlands of decadence and puddles of genetic mutations. All of that would have been assuaged, worthwhile if her and I had lived in a house made of recycled kiwi packages. I imagine that would be the house were the impossible happened. This was a tale of recollection, a tale of trying to understand what happened when I nearly tread over the border of my self-preservation into the city of love and light. The kiwi house is there, all pink and lit up against a backdrop of hazy, sunsets.
I did not know what I want.
August was not much. I started to get bored because I felt smothered by how close we had become. Her naked silhouette had less of an effect on my turgidity but it was my head that was reacting like that, not her smoothness becoming defunct. August was like someone throwing water and chlorine across graves, washing off their hallowed state of ancient sadness. August was like a queen removing his make up after a night of beautiful renditions. August was the end of the what if, the what could have been and the why not.
I did not know what I want.
August was green, pale and lukewarm. It was us trying to be formal. Us recognizing I was no longer invested. Me realizing I was unfit for that life. Me realizing I was unfit for love. Me realizing I liked denial more than reality. It’s way too hard to digest, like kiwi peel, which you could actually eat, believe it or not. Here you go, a fun fact.
I did not know what I want.
I was such an extremist in the sect of Not Knowing What I Want that when she had pushed the limit of getting my attention by kissing my best friend at the time, I went up to her and told her,
‘I love you.’
All I knew is that I wanted to serve her some poetic justice. I let her believe that I loved her for 20 minutes before shooting fire from my mouth and reminding her that she would never be loved by me because ‘Someone whom I love would not hook up with my best friend for attention! Someone whom I love wouldn’t act like a whore! Someone whom I love would not compromise her character to be someone that I didn’t even know I wanted!’ She grabbed her phone, power bank and purse and rushed off.
My question is, would I have reacted like that had I not meant the first three words I had told her?
‘Rumi, who the fuck do I think I am?’
‘You are no known species.’
‘Come on, now. I know what I did will haunt me daily, but who am I?’
‘You haggle and make jokes to keep what you own for yourself.’
‘Where did I go wrong?’
‘You have forgotten the One who doesn’t care about ownership, who doesn’t try to turn a profit from every human exchange.’
That, I have.
I lie down, a kid with too many words, too little care for others, drowning in a world weighed down by expectation, emoting by swipes, minimum wage and digital annihilation. A kid with a dream of being within a house made of kiwi packages: A house, in other words, that probably doesn’t exist.
I wonder, as I suddenly float circularly (numb) but in a state of calm clarity, whether I had tasted the kiwi that I should have not skinned. How could I have been saved by her when I rejected the very concept of salvation through love? And Rumi suddenly began floating beside me, an iPhone in his hand. He tilted the screen towards me and showed me her number.
I peeled that kiwi. I can’t undo that.
Sat on my tiny desk, I wonder whether I can peel enough of myself to save the remnant mushy innards? | https://medium.com/@ziadnahas/berries-for-summer-a624de8c59d9 | ['Ziad Al Nahas'] | 2020-11-06 08:33:24.502000+00:00 | ['Summer', 'Relationships', 'Regret', 'Fuckboys', 'Love'] |
NTCIR-15 Dialogue Evaluation Task DialEval-1 | TRANSFER LEARNING
NTCIR-15 Dialogue Evaluation Task DialEval-1
A brief introduction and a simple approach
DialEval-1 consists of two subtasks: Nugget Detection (ND) and Dialogue Quality (DQ). They aim to evaluate customer-helpdesk dialogues automatically. The ND subtask is to classify whether a customer or helpdesk turn is a nugget, where being a nugget means that the turn helps towards problem solving; and the DQ subtask is to assign quality scores to each dialogue in terms of three criteria: task accomplishment, customer satisfaction, and efficiency. The official evaluation results of 18 runs are received from 7 teams. IMTKU (Dept. of Information Management, Tamkang University, Taiwan) and I, on behalf of ZEALS, by utilizing XLM-RoBERTa via HuggingFace Transformers, fastai, and blurr, achieve top-1 or top-2 in terms of various evaluation metrics for both ND and DQ.
NTCIR? DialEval? ND? DQ?
NII (National Institute of Informatics) Testbeds and Community for Information Access Research, a.k.a. NTCIR, is a series of evaluation workshops designed to enhance research in information access technologies, including information retrieval, question answering, text summarization, extraction, etc. It can be seen as an Asia-Pacific counterpart of TREC (Text REtrieval Conference; America), CLEF (Conference and Labs of the Evaluation Forum; Europe), and FIRE (Forum for Information Retrieval Evaluation; Southern Asia).
DialEval-1 is one of the initiatives, e.g., DSTC (Dialog System Technology Challenges), that study the complexity of the dialogue phenomenon and various dialogue-related problems. Unlike typical tasks of DSTC, however, DialEval-1 focuses on reducing the cost of corpus curation and data analytics. Although WOZ (Wizard-of-Oz), a common approach nowadays, can distribute the workloads of data collection, annotation, and evaluation to crowd-sourcing, the time spent on reaching an agreement for annotation/evaluation standard is nonetheless linear, if not worse. In other words, human annotation and evaluation have two types of issues:
Scalability: costly and hard to decentralize;
Measurability: likely unrepeatable/inconsistent even for the same system.
To overcome the issues, DialEval-1 proposes to assess dialogues automatically. Given a customer-helpdesk dialogue (Figure 1), for example, can a system predict which turn of the dialogue is helpful, and by how much?
Figure 1. An example of a dialogue between Customer © and Helpdesk (H). The original dialogue on Weibo in Simplified Chinese is on the right, and its English translation is on the left. [1][2]
Therefore, DialEval-1 continues ND and DQ subtasks of Short Text Conversation (STC-3) at NTCIR-14 [1], and further constructs a new test collection, such that the performance evaluation would be fair and realistic.
What to predict, exactly?
Allow me to briefly describe what the expected outcomes are, and how to evaluate them. There will be no math formulae. If the reader is interested in rigorous definitions, please kindly refer to the overview papers [1][2].
Nugget Detection
Figure 2. Nugget state transitions [1][2]
A nugget is a turn by either Helpdesk or Customer. It helps Customer transition from Current State (including Initial State) towards Target State (i.e., when the problem is solved). STC-3 and DialEval-1 organizers define the following 7 nugget types:
CNaN / HNaN: Customer or Helpdesk’s non-nuggets that are irrelevant to the problem-solving situation;
CNUG / HNUG: Customer or Helpdesk’s regular nuggets that are relevant to the problem-solving situation;
CNUG* / HNUG*: Customer or Helpdesk’s goal nuggets that confirm and provide solutions, respectively;
CNUG0: Customer’s trigger nuggets that initiate the dialogues with certain problem descriptions.
Dialogue Quality
Using subjective scores to quantify the quality of a dialogue as a whole. The organizers define 3 score types:
A-score: Accomplishment; has the problem solved? To what extent?
S-score: Satisfaction; how satisfied Customer is with the dialogue;
E-score: Effectiveness; how effective and efficient the dialogue is.
Each score is on a 5-point scale of ranks, ranging from -2 to 2.
Evaluation Metrics
Since the issues are about inconsistent human assessment, the gold standard of the datasets is not trivial classes or ranks but distributions. Roughly speaking, the distributions are votes from annotators for certain class/rank. Such that the organizers evaluate a system’s prediction of class/rank by comparing how similar the predicted distribution to the gold standard’s. More specifically, the metrics for ND are Root Normalized Sum of Squares (RNSS) and Jensen-Shannon Divergence (JSD). and the ones for DQ are Normalized Match Distance (NMD) and Root Symmetric Normalized Order-aware Divergence (RSNOD). Again, I will spare the readers with the math formulae, please see the papers if interested.
How do we approach the tasks?
Despite the architecture differences, almost all participants of STC-3 modeled ND and DQ as classification tasks. We adopt the same tactic for DialEval-1, and then pay more attention to tokenization and optimization. Because STC-3 showed that none of architectures from participants outperformed the baselines of BiLSTM with GloVe [1][2]. Therefore our approach is simply fine-tuning the state-of-the-art pre-trained models with well-established tricks of tokenization and optimization.
Tokenization
Based on our preliminary trials, we find that XLM-RoBERTa works well for both Simplified Chinese and English. Although the rationale behind it hasn’t been fully examined, we speculate that the sentencepiece-based unigram subwords may have been helpful. Besides that, in order to simulate the turn structure of a dialogue, we not only utilize XLM-RoBERTa’s special tokens, namely BOS (beginning of sentence; <s> ), EOS (end of sentence; </s> ), and SEP (separator of sentences; </s> </s> ), but also customize several tokens in fastai style to provide some minimal context.
For example, consider a tokenized turn below:
xxlen ▁3 <s> xxtrn ▁1 xxsdr ▁customer ▁@ ▁China ▁Uni com ▁Customer ▁Service ▁in ▁Gu ang dong ▁Shi t ! ▁What ▁is ▁your ▁staff ▁service ▁doing ▁on ▁earth ? ▁I ▁have ▁called ▁the ▁staff ▁service ▁for ▁3 ▁hours , ▁but ▁no ▁one ▁answer ▁my ▁phone ▁call . ▁It ▁is ▁no ▁wonder ▁that ▁customer ▁evaluation ▁is ▁so ▁bad . ▁Shi t ! ▁I ▁am ▁at ▁Kang le ▁Middle ▁Road . </s>
Where xxlen and xxtrn stand for length of the dialogue in turns and the position of each turn of the dialogue, respectively. The numbers right next to them provide certain features of turns. The same trick goes with xxsdr that differentiates whether the sender is Customer or Helpdesk. When a turn’s context says xxtrn _1 xxsdr _customer , the nugget type is almost definitely CNUG0.
As for DQ, a whole dialogue can be tokenized in a similar fashion, where xxlen could be useful for certain quality scores:
xxlen ▁3 <s> xxtrn ▁1 xxsdr ▁customer ▁@ ▁China ▁Uni com ▁Customer ▁Service ▁in ▁Gu ang dong ▁Shi t ! ▁What ▁is ▁your ▁staff ▁service ▁doing ▁on ▁earth ? ▁I ▁have ▁called ▁the ▁staff ▁service ▁for ▁3 ▁hours , ▁but ▁no ▁one ▁answer ▁my ▁phone ▁call . ▁It ▁is ▁no ▁wonder ▁that ▁customer ▁evaluation ▁is ▁so ▁bad . ▁Shi t ! ▁I ▁am ▁at ▁Kang le ▁Middle ▁Road . </s> </s> xxtrn ▁2 xxsdr ▁help desk ▁Hello ! ▁We ▁are ▁sorry ▁for ▁the ▁in con veni ence . ▁100 10 ▁is ▁our ▁service ▁hot ▁line . ▁We ▁may ▁not ▁answer ▁your ▁phone ▁call ▁during ▁the ▁busy ▁hour ▁of ▁tele traf fic . ▁We ▁sincer ely ▁ap ologi ze ▁for ▁that ! ▁What ▁can ▁I ▁do ▁for ▁you ? ▁Thank ▁you ! </s> </s> xxtrn ▁3 xxsdr ▁customer ▁The ▁Uni com ▁Internet ▁access ▁in ▁Z ha oq ing ▁Nur sing ▁School ▁can ' t ▁be ▁connected . ▁What ▁is ▁wrong ▁with ▁it ? ▁You ▁have ▁repair ed ▁it ▁for ▁the ▁whole ▁afternoon ▁in ▁the ▁area . ▁What ▁are ▁you ▁doing ▁on ▁earth ? ▁Shi t ! ▁Why ▁can ▁the ▁China ▁Mobile ▁service ▁hot line ▁be ▁got ▁through ? ▁Shi t ! ▁The ▁service ▁hot line ▁can ' t ▁be ▁got ▁through ▁the ▁whole ▁morning . ▁ 651 ▁I ▁bought ▁a ▁watch ▁last ▁year ▁and ▁the ▁service ▁hot line ▁can ' t ▁be ▁got ▁through ▁within ▁24 ▁hours . ▁I ▁won ' t ▁for give ▁you ! ▁No ▁phone ▁call ▁is ▁answered ! </s>
Optimization
Thanks to the great works of HuggingFace, fastai, and blurr, a stable fine-tuning scheme enables us to rapidly trial-and-error for a sufficiently good combination of hyper-parameters. For instance, the core steps for fine-tuning a model of ND can be as short as this:
dls = ... # fastai's Dataloaders
lrnr = Learner(
dls,
HF_BaseModelWrapper(hf_model), # blurr's HuggingFace model wrapper
opt_func=partial(SOME_OPTIMIZER, decouple_wd=True),
loss_func=LabelSmoothingCrossEntropyFlat(),
metrics=[
accuracy,
partial(top_k_accuracy, k=2),
F1Score(average='weighted'),
MatthewsCorrCoef(),
...
],
cbs=[HF_BaseModelCallback],
splitter=hf_splitter,
path=DATA_DIR,
).to_fp16()
lrnr.create_opt() for ...:
# iteratively decrease base_lr and/or factor
lrnr.fit_one_cycle(n_epoch, lr_max=slice(base_lr/factor, base_lr))
Admittedly, there are many moving parts of this fine-tuning scheme. After all, the most time consuming step for fine-tuning is Grad Student Algorithm (a.k.a. Grad Student Descent), i.e., figure out a nice combination of magical numbers, a stable optimizer, a reasonable loss function, and other techniques such as discriminative fine-tuning and mixed precision. Fortunately, with the help of slanted triangular learning rates, it only takes minutes to finish each fit_one_cycle(…) .
One particular choice we realize is that no need to do gradual unfreezing. It works pretty well with AWD-LSTM, but somewhat insignificant for fine-tuning Transformers.
That’s it?
Yes, mostly. In our experiences, although there are more techniques to explore, the bottom line is that, unless we discover a substantially better architecture (for classification) and/or an alternative modeling perspective (that is not simply classification), a good beginning (of tokenization and optimization) almost assures success.
While the official report and datasets won’t be published until the end of year 2020 [2], STC-3 datasets are available for anyone wants to give it a shot: https://sakai-lab.github.io/stc3-dataset/ [1]. | https://medium.com/zeals-tech-blog/ntcir-15-dialogue-evaluation-task-dialeval-1-d41178624566 | [] | 2020-12-14 05:16:01.106000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Fastai', 'Transformers', 'Hugging Face', 'NLP'] |
Iran shares evidence of a supposed government agent, Kylie Moore-Gilbert being enlisted by Israeli insight | After the arrival of British Australian academician, Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who was held by Iran on surveillance charges, the Islamic Republic legitimized her capture sharing data identified with her binds with previous Bahraini MP and the Israeli military. Iranian state-run news source delivered an almost 10-minute section including a few of Gilbert’s pictures, which indicated that she was venturing out to Israel on her big day and with loved ones.
The report on Kylie Moore-Gilbert, by Iranian media, asserted that she was enlisted by the Israeli knowledge office to keep an eye on Tehran, and was even positioned at Cambridge University, and had contacts with a few previous Israeli armed forces officials. The report additionally indicated her photos of visiting Jerusalem and different destinations in Israel, incorporating an instructional course in Hafia.
“According to her preparation and to dodge any danger, she went to all spots where travelers visit and settled on decisions from those territories and took photos,” the report said. “She was advised to shroud her movements to Israel and furthermore her contacts with Israelis.” Besides, the Iranian Broadcasting network additionally included copies of her identification and those of her Israeli spouse, to come to an obvious conclusion.
The 33 years old scholarly was delivered from Iranian bondage after almost 800 days in return for three Iranian residents who were carrying out punishment in Thailand for their inclusion in the 2012 Bangkok impact. The Iranian detainees were blamed for endeavoring to slaughter Israeli negotiators yet didn’t succeed. The impact just exploded their leased condo and leaving five individuals harmed.
Moore-Gilbert and the Australian government over and over kept the Iranian charges from getting spying as unjustifiable. Some even accept that Tehran’s most recent mission to legitimize her capture appeared after the Australian specialists squeezed the settlement that the Islamic nation had no proof of supposed violations and has never introduced any openly.
She was captured while was leaving Iran in the wake of going to a meeting in 2018. She was likewise connected to Jasim Husain, a previous Bahraini MP, who was blamed for showing Moore-Gilbert Arabic and Farsi, and helped her to keep an eye on Shia banishes in Iran. Husain negated the allegations and told the Guardian, “The story is unconvincing to anybody with fundamental information.”
Husain, who was removed from Bahrain in 2016, was an individual from the Al-Wefaq party and spoke to Bahrain’s minimized Shia people group. He stated, “I knew about her outing, she was going there for a gathering, at that point setting off to some vacationer destinations, at that point participating in some examination.” In his sentiment, it was Moore-Gilbert’s gathering with Shia ousts from Bahrain, in Iran, which put her on the radar and was viewed as a danger to the nation’s security foundation.
Husain stated, “Analysts ordinarily get the opportunity to do an essential examination as opposed to auxiliary… Kylie can do no difficulty to anybody, not to mention a nation. She is appropriately quiet, a genuine scientist, a scholarly, somebody who adores the Middle East.” He added, “[These groups] think Kylie and I attempted to sabotage them, to keep an eye on them and give data to an insight network. It is absolutely false — zero percent valid.” After Moore-Gilbert’s capture, Husain felt frightened for his security too. He stated, “A few people accept this jabber,” he said. “I feel badgering, I can’t carry on with my life ordinarily, go out to networks. I must be ready, cautious — and that is in my own nation.” | https://medium.com/@blackwilliam879/iran-shares-evidence-of-a-supposed-government-agent-kylie-moore-gilbert-being-enlisted-by-israeli-4fffb294abc5 | ['William Black'] | 2020-12-04 06:32:39.311000+00:00 | ['Australia', 'Iran', 'Kylie Moore Gilbert', 'Israel', 'Tehran'] |
Introducing X2D: Ready for Duty — the first Skydio Original Series | From the leading American drone manufacturer selected as a trusted provider for the Department of Defense, comes an episodic web video series about next-gen ISR with autonomous drones. Produced with the participation of combat veterans, all of which are part of the Skydio family.
X2D: Ready for Duty, tells the story of a team of fictional warfighters as they face five different missions, and highlights what happens when ISR is conducted with the support of an intelligent drone capable of working as a trusted teammate.
So please, join us as we follow the team through their missions, starting with the response to an explosion in an urban setting, and ending with a night raid on the responsible bomb-maker. This blog provides a synopsis of the six episodes.
The Blast
In the first episode, an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team uses Skydio X2D to assess the risk, survey the damage, secure the area, and search for survivors of a vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED). With Skydio’s AI-based obstacle avoidance reducing the cognitive load on the pilot, the team is able to fly confidently at low altitude and between obstacles to detect any oncoming threats.
When dedicated manned ISR support is unavailable, having a portable vertical take off and landing X2D that can be deployed in seconds and easy to fly is invaluable to obtain real time situational awareness. During the chaos of conflict, the team depends on AI-powered drones to reduce risk to force and ensure mission success.
3D Scan Evidence Gathering
After the area is secure, the team begins a next-generation Sensitive Site Exploitation technique. This is done using Skydio 3D Scan to create a 3D model of the scene from an autonomous collection mission. The Skydio X2D surveys the scene, generating data that can be turned into an accurate reconstruction. Building a model helps the team make sure they have captured photos of the blast site, which are indexed spatially to make them easier to navigate, and that the after action report can give the viewer a sense of scale. Accuracy and efficiency are paramount so that the unit can effectively provide targetable intel for follow on operations.
Convoy Overwatch
After the EOD team passes intel back to the JOC, a special operations team follows a tip to apprehend the bomb-maker who was responsible for the VBIED in the prior scene. As they maneuver across open terrain, they use Skydio X2D to provide overwatch of their convoy infil route. With Skydio Autonomy the pilot is able to conduct sensor scans for threats on both the thermal and visual feeds without worrying about crashing. The team’s ability to detect nefarious actors before being seen may be the difference between mission success and mission failure.
Daylight ISR
As our SOF team completes infil to the suspected area of the bomb-maker, they are forced to prepare for a raid without the benefit of manned ISR support. From an OP, they launch the X2D to conduct a target recon of two suspected sites. By using Skydio’s autonomous flight capabilities the operators are able to maintain element security and focus on their collection plan. Skydio Autonomy decreases the cognitive load on the operator and in turn reduces risk to force and risk to mission. The intelligence the team gathers will determine whether they have truly closed in on the target.
Night Raid
Under cover of darkness, the team prepares for a raid on the target they have surveilled throughout the day. As the unit moves in, their sniper team uses X2D’s GPS-based precision night flight and 320p infrared camera to keep eyes on the target and provide overwatch. The team advances confidently with overwatch from their snipers and Skydio X2D. Will this be enough to ensure mission success?
How to watch
Want to see how this story unfolds? Follow this link to watch the series for free. We hope you’ll enjoy it and pass it along — and to all those who serve or have served, thank you for your service. This is for you. | https://medium.com/skydio/introducing-x2d-ready-for-duty-the-first-skydio-original-series-8ca744d0d9a | ['Chuck Mcgraw'] | 2020-11-20 02:51:05.090000+00:00 | ['Defense', 'Military', 'Tech', 'Drones', 'Technology'] |
Arrival Plug & Play Newsletter: Volume 1 | Quick Charge
Everything you need to know for the week
Arrival accelerates global expansion with $118M investment
Arrival welcomes another blue chip strategic partner, with investment from funds managed by BlackRock that will support execution of Arrival’s international growth plans.
South Carolina to home Arrival’s first US Microfactory
Arrival begins its expansion into the US with its Rock Hill Microfactory expected to start operations in Q2 2021 and deliver its first vehicles in Q4 2021.
Fostering a Faster Transition to Commercial EVs
Why haven’t we seen widespread adoption of electric vehicles on a global scale? After almost a century, it’s time for a new approach. Arrival’s CEO for Automotive, Mike Ableson looks at how Arrival’s new method can revolutionize an industry. | https://medium.com/@arrivalnewsletter/arrival-plug-play-newsletter-volume-1-1216235b55c5 | ['Arrival Newsletter'] | 2021-03-22 10:10:04.771000+00:00 | ['Newsletter', 'Manufacturing', 'Electric Vehicles', 'Arrival', 'Mobility'] |
Middle Age and the Money House is on Fire | Middle Age and the Money House is on Fire
Wealth Accumulation for the Middle-Aged Single Mom
Photo by Jp Valery on Unsplash
I lived most of my adult life with a husband who was clueless about money, who made nonsensical purchases, knew nothing about budgeting, and worse yet — allowed me zero control of our finances. We bought a house we couldn’t afford, overextended our spending, and he never revealed to me how much he made (not enough) his ego got in the way of our spending habits, so nothing was realistic, and in the tsunami that was the 2008 housing crisis, we barely held on to our house through a chapter 13 bankruptcy. It was awful.
I was a stay at home mom at the time; I hadn’t finished my college degree (I changed that super fast and went back to college to help dig us out of our financial hole), and we started to turn the ship around, slowly, but it wasn’t enough to save both our financial ruin and our marriage.
I learned a lot — a whole lot. He never did gain any more financial savvy, and our marriage floundered, but I studied hard. Very hard. I was determined to never again face financial insecurity even though I was starting so late in life.
When I first launched my financial self, I was an insecure twentysomething with very little to rely on, a single mother with no appreciable skills, anchored to a financially unskilled guy who had a steady income but no wealth-building knowledge. Now, many years later, I am a late-40s woman with grown children, an impressive income, but no nest egg to speak of.
I set a distinct path with a few small, achievable goals at first. The first real chunk was moving toward good credit, which I did immediately after our bankruptcy was settled. My husband (now my ex, but he wasn’t at the time) and I disagreed about taking on any new debt. I had read volumes about establishing a new, clean, well-attended credit report, so I took out one of those credit cards specifically designed for repairing credit, with a low limit and low annual fee (but grossly high interest) and paid very close attention to making small purchases and paying them off immediately. I was vigilant.
Once I was divorced (at age 44), and my income was wholly my own, I set about planning a realistic payment plan for my student loans. They were by far the biggest impediment to establishing great credit longevity. I made extra principal payments whenever I could, chipping away at my debt but being realistic. I mean, keeping that account stellar was a good move, but then again, it’s within the federal government. No one can repossess my degree.
I knew it would be more important to look at future planning, to maintain free funds for the next 20 years, not the past 10. So I started socking away more and more into my company’s 401k, whatever they would match as much as I could. If the match was 6%, then I absolutely put in at least 6% and added a bit more here and there whenever I could.
My company offered a free investment advisor, so I scheduled a session right away. Thanks to the divorce, there would be a rollover coming my way in the form of a QDRO at some point, and I wanted to be sure I didn’t squander it. Again, my ex was never knowledgeable in this area, so I had little experience in this realm. It was time to learn. I soon found out that I could sock some money away, as little as $10 a week in an index fund, all robo-managed, giving it little thought, and knowing that I had some time on my hands (I wouldn’t need to dip into those funds next week or even next year), I could handle some volatility in the market. So I did.
If I were to put $10 a week into my savings account, at the end of the year, I would have just a teensy bit over $520. Umm…yawn. But year over year, a fund like Fidelity’s Index 500 comes close to yielding 10% over time, and while that is definitely not a guarantee, and some years it winds up in the negative, there is no savings account on the planet that is going to earn me 10% interest, not ever, not no how. So, I started putting upwards of $10 a week in my Index fund. I realized that I spend at least $6 a week on my little “guilty pleasure” — at least. I treat myself to a Venti Starbucks fancy-schmancy drink every Friday, so if I can do that, I can certainly treat myself to $10 in potential wealth growth, right?
(The answer is — right.)
So I set my money house on fire.
If I had invested $520 a year in the S&P’s Fidelity 500 Index Fund in 2019, the lowest-cost Index fund, I would have seen gains of 31%. That’s a lot of Starbucks fancy-schmancy.
At 50 years old, I figure investing $520 a year for the next ten years, that’s $5,200. Even if I estimate just a flat interest rate, no compounding or anything, so the leanest gains, and I shorten that to 10% — I’m up $500. But we all know I will put in more, the market will gain more, and I’ll be in a diversified spot. My 401k will grow, there will be other savings, the gains will compound with other gains, and the look of it will be substantially rosier. Because that $520 will buy $520 more, and $520 more.
If my $520 at the end of the year nets $52.00? Then next year, I’ll buy $572, and well, you can do the math.
The best part of leaving my husband (well, there are a LOT of best parts, but the best financial part) is that within just a couple of years, I figured out how to put aside enough money to buy a house, I figured out how to invest for my future, and even better, I’ve started to teach my kids how to build wealth for themselves.
So if you are nearing 50 years old, you are not too old to figure out how to set your financial house on fire, to begin to build a financial future and to bask in its glow. It feels great. | https://medium.com/makingofamillionaire/nearing-50-and-the-money-house-is-on-fire-4c8f53f28d23 | ['Susan Kelley'] | 2020-12-07 16:48:08.915000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Financial Freedom', 'Investing', 'Women And Money'] |
Comparison is the thief of joy. | When I write this I have 8 days of the 31 left in Paris. When talking to people they remind me that the end is near, that it’s almost over. I admit, in my head I do the same. What do I still want to do now that November 19th is approaching. Approaching fast.
I’m so stupid to do that. If I offer every one of you an 8 day trip to Paris you will all be extremely happy. Ok, most. But you get my point. 8 days out of 31 is the last third. But if I look at this as a 8 day trip to Paris it looks totally different. Same number of days. Same city.
A few years back I read the subtle art of not giving a fuck. The book has since moved from person to person around me. Currently my daughter is reading the book. I’m not going to spoil it, if you haven’t read it, but it’s about perspective.
We put way to many things in a wrong perspective. We compare them to bigger, brighter, taller, longer things. That way we don’t see how fantastic our current situation is.
As I do every week I work from different locations in Paris. This week I worked one day from La Défense. The glass and concrete part of Paris. One big shiny skyscraper next to the other. On my way there on Metro line 1 you have a Franklin D. Roosevelt station. I had to think about a quote of him :
“Comparison is the thief of joy!”
Easy for me to feel joy, I hear you think. You are in Paris. We are at home. True, I realize how privileged I am. Even if you are not currently living in Paris try to think of that one sentence once and a while. No matter how good your life is, there are always people who have it better.
Last week my wife and I walked past the place where hipsters and insta-loving tourists flock to. Café De Flore and Les deux Magots. Been there, done that, took the pictures and yes, me too, I posted them on my social media channels. It’s a fantastic place to see and be seen. When my wife and I walked past this time a big Mercedes stops in front of us. The driver gets out and opens the door for a couple, that gets out, skips the line outside of Les Deux Magots and just walks in. The man says to the driver : “ I’ll call you when we are done.”. Driver closes the doors behind them and drives of.
Mona Edulesco Painting
Two streets further we see that same Mercedes waiting. The driver is outside cleaning the already shiny black car. If I compare my wife and I walking around, biking around or taking the metro to move around the city with that couple, I could forget that I am in Paris. Enjoying life and love. That said I’m sure that there is a couple with a bigger Mercedes and a bigger Hermes handbag that even outdoes the duo we just saw.
Don’t. Just don’t. Count your blessing. See what you have. Don’t compare. So to everybody who says to me that the end is near (I’m also talking to myself here). I say : “ I have 8 days in Paris in front of me. Eight! Days! “. Nobody can be the thief of my joy, not even me. Especially me.
A la prochaine. | https://medium.com/@tjorvend/comparison-is-the-thief-of-joy-581476cfd2cb | ['Tjorven Denorme'] | 2021-11-12 09:00:53.980000+00:00 | ['Perspective', 'Comparison', 'Paris'] |
The Shame of Aging and What we Need to Unlearn | The Shame of Aging and What we Need to Unlearn
At 18 I’m working to create a positive relationship with my older self
My mother Caroline Dennis and Grandmother Shirley Stookey
One thing I know I’ve been hyper-aware about since the day I was born, was how to stay absolutely young for as long as possible.
“You better start moisturizing young, or else you’ll get wrinkles or even worse… smile lines.”
“It’s good you’re eating well now, you won’t be able to eat anything good when you’re my age.”
The unpacking of this unfortunately trails back to the stem of young sexualization in addition to this societal unbalance of misogynistic power that perpetuates being apologetically a woman.
That means we are actually born believing we need to attain a certain age and stay there until we become irrelevant.
I’ve often caught myself in these societal ideals of what I’ll look like when I’m old. How to prevent lines or how to be more hyper concious to keep an idealist version of my body. I usually have to stop myself and say,
“But what about the experiences I’ll have, and the incredible people I would have connected with, and the beauty of watching life move?” You are not born onto this earth to be hyper-aware of lacking youth.
I’m always wondering what other people’s relationship with aging is, and how much of that standard is ingrained from outer sources.
Being 18, I’m unfairly told that these are the best years of my life. Are there any men who are held to the same visual standard? The reason they aren’t is merely that our society very much romanticizes the young, beautiful woman. Of course, this isn’t new information, but I’m always wondering what other people’s relationship with aging is, and how much of that standard is ingrained from outer sources.
My grandmother, who passed away a couple years ago, was a big inspiration for my relationship with aging. She lived how she lived, without conforming to how it should be. Her walls were filled with art and she was a music fanatic, with lined bookshelves of CD’s and musicals. She had a taste for life that I knew I wanted to match when I got to her age. She introduced me to the beauty of gardening, even with her knees in pain, she would produce nature as her own art form. She was an inspiration of how to bring brightness and color, physically and mentally.
I want to be insanely curious, just the same I am now. I don’t ever want to stop discovering what scares me. I don’t want to stop my life for someone else’s and stay behind on my interests. Being curious is one of the things that I hold closest, and it’s an outlet for my creativity, which I’ve noticed is easy to lose as the years pass.
In extension to that, “Unapologetic” will become my single line life-affirmation. Being unapologetic is an obvious importance in women’s lives throughout. Being old though, I want to especially encapsulate it. This one is big for me, having real struggles with setting proper boundaries, as I know many women do.
Wrinkles are absolutely glorious, they’re very much an imprint of how we expressed our lives.
Of course, eating for the heart, expressinig myself creatively, and doing things without seeking validation. That’s the goal!
I will have smile lines. I hope to god I have smile lines. Wrinkles are absolutely glorious, they’re very much an imprint of how we expressed our lives. Elation is exactly what I want my imprint to be, whether there be some “frown lines” it’s all just a sweet reminder of how much of a mixed bag life can be. Ripples of a story.
I’m trying to unlearn every idea about aging that it isn’t a beautiful, exciting experience that’s worth embracing. Growing old is always a scary thing, and by no means am I saying that it’s invalid to feel nervous about it. However, there is a line between being nervous about aging and letting it rule how you live. We were brought up to believe we need to feel shame around how we grow, and this awareness is already the first step. From there we can really understand our capabilities of self love in any future form. Allow forgiveness to yourself. You have the power to change the narrative that growing old is anything less than extrodinary. | https://medium.com/an-injustice/the-shame-of-aging-and-what-we-need-to-unlearn-ca1bcef00a9a | ['Chloë H Dennis'] | 2020-05-03 07:30:38.135000+00:00 | ['Equality', 'Women', 'Empowerment', 'Agism', 'Intersectionality'] |
Lessons Learned From HUCP’s Intercollegiate Accelerator | Key takeaways from organizing, co-hosting, and participating in HUCP’s weeklong accelerator with Columbia’s CORE team.
By Dev Patale
Over the past few months, I’ve had the privilege of organizing and co-hosting a virtual intercollegiate accelerator with my peers in HUCP and in CORE, Columbia’s undergraduate entrepreneurship society. The goal of the accelerator, a weeklong program for MIT-, Harvard-, and Columbia-affiliated student founders and builders, was to provide participants with access to world-class mentorship, connections with peer entrepreneurs, and opportunities to accelerate growth; this included workshops about topics such as growth hacking, market research, and startup financing, as well as individualized office hour sessions with mentors. With the accelerator having concluded this past week, I thought I’d share some of my experiences.
Beginning with our first meeting in June, we were responsible for the vision, logistics, and execution of the program, which had been slated for the first week of August. We quickly went to work, reaching out to potential speakers and mentors as well as designing the structure of the accelerator. Although I had anticipated difficulties with the organizing process, I never expected it to be as complex as it was; working asynchronously with over 15 peers, establishing weekly meetings with members scattered throughout the world, and confirming speakers for our various planned events proved to be logistically demanding. However, by remaining diligent and dedicated, we continued building out the program and were eventually ready to host it, pulling in Vice Presidents at Amazon, Partners at YCombinator, and investors at leading VC firms. The lessons learned from these mentors were invaluable, and here are some key takeaways. Fundraising 101 with Raza Shaikh, Managing Director of Launchpad Venture Group:
Raza has been a longtime partner of HUCP and is an active angel investor in early stage companies in the New England area, investing with Launchpad since 2016. His expertise in angel investing was beyond valuable for the accelerator participants.
As a single startup founder, your chances of success are lower, so take the time to find cofounders who complement your skillset and who are passionate about the mission.
If the founding team has the same academic or professional background, investors may see that as a weakness because of a lack of diversity in perspectives.
Investors are more confident in a founding team if each member has bought in to the product and won’t run to a corporate job if/when the venture hits a low.
In a world of virtual pitches, make sure you solidify your narrative, present in proper lighting with minimal background distractions, and immerse the investors in the pitch.
Know the differences between angel and VC investors. They have varying priorities, timelines, and methods of investment.
Consumer Hardware with Robert Williams, Vice President of Software at Amazon:
Rob has years of experience building and deploying consumer hardware as well as helping lead Amazon’s executive team; responsible for operating systems across Amazon devices, Alexa Smart Home and smart devices, among other initiatives, Rob has unparalleled expertise in product-building, so we were fortunate to learn from him.
Hardware startups require significant upfront investment for prototyping, safety, regulation, etc; however, this should not shy entrepreneurs away from the space.
Timing with hardware is critical- you’d ideally enter a market that isn’t saturated. Otherwise, you risk a failed product such as Amazon’s Fire Phone.
Hardware feedback cycles are significantly longer than software cycles, so you must compromise between innovation and optimization.
Growth Strategy with Kat Manalac, Partner at YCombinator:
Kat is a Partner at YC and former Chief of Staff to Alexis Ohanian, cofounder of Reddit. Her advice for growth and launch strategy was extremely informative, and we took away key lessons from her presentation.
In pitches, the goal is to push listeners into asking followup questions.
First impressions are crucial! Use a strong one-liner, which should be descriptive, conversational, and concise.
Consider the advantages and disadvantages of your kind of launch:
Silent launch- sometimes necessary for products where intellectual property is at risk, etc.
Friends and family launch- great for initial feedback, but don’t stay in this stage for too long because you risk growth potential.
Online community launch- Product Hunt, Hacker News, Elpha, etc, are great resources to launch your services to; however, you must understand the community and audience before you launch.
Accelerator Programs with Michael Seibel, CEO of YCombinator:
Michael Seibel is the current CEO of YC and former cofounder and CEO of Justin.tv (Twitch) and Socialcam. His experience in the entrepreneurial space, through his own ventures and the ventures he’s worked with in YC, proved invaluable for the speaker session. He provided relevant advice on every fact of venture-building, from accelerator programs to fundraising.
Fundraising is not a particularly good metric for success, as small and large companies can be equally impactful.
High-profile accelerator programs facilitate long-term growth by providing startups with brand name recognition and validation.
Be careful about investors you work with; avoid investors who provide money quickly but then don’t actively support your venture or check in with your progress.
You need to optimize your venture for a great product and a large base of clients (your product must be user friendly, regardless of how technically complex it is).
Introduction to the AWS Startups Team with Vincent Ponzo, Startup Business Development at AWS:
At AWS, Vincent supports, mentors and advises startups launching from within the world’s top universities. Prior to AWS, he was the Managing Director of the Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Center at Columbia Business School, where he coached and advised hundreds of student and alumni entrepreneurs annually. Vincent has been a strong partner of HUCP, providing us with AWS credit packages for our Innovation Fund, as well as being an open resource for community events.
The AWS Startup Team is a group of former founders, CTOs, and startup execs who help startups grow their businesses and get the most out of AWS.
The team provides AWS credits and training, go-to-market resources, etc, to help you maximize AWS’s potential and grow your business.
With the Startup Team, you are able to tap into AWS technical expertise through 1:1 office hours with a Solutions Architect and get advice (+ ongoing support) on topics relevant to your business.
University Resources Panel with Leo Guyshan (Harvard i-Labs), Michael Retchin (Columbia CORE and Almaworks), and Tim Miano (MIT Innovation Initiative):
Leo, Michael, and Tim are all seasoned professionals with years of working in the entrepreneurial space, advising student founders and building out further resources at their respective universities. I found their perspectives on university entrepreneurship uniquely valuable, given how I hadn’t recognized the vast variety of resources available to me as a student.
Take advantage of the professionals within each university’s entrepreneurship centers; they’re here to help you in any way they can, so do not hesitate to reach out to them.
Break out of your university bubble- search for cofounders at other universities, and leverage entrepreneurship resources in your greater area.
The sheer number of resources available is overwhelming, so find a point of contact at your university who can advise you and your venture.
With nearly 30 world-class mentors, over 150 student entrepreneurs, and numerous corporate perks, the intercollegiate accelerator was an enormous success. We at HUCP were grateful to provide these unique opportunities, and the lessons we’ve learned as organizers will allow us to continue fulfilling our mission statement in fostering entrepreneurship across university campuses. Although I was initially apprehensive about a virtual format, I learned how effective such events could be with the proper execution. By preparing months in advance, explicitly laying out event logistics, and providing unparalleled opportunities, we successfully envisioned and ran this program. As HUCP moves forward, we plan on continuing to organize similar virtual events, whether it be in the form of fireside chats, VC office hours, student networking events, etc. | https://medium.com/harvards-the-rundown/lessons-learned-from-hucps-intercollegiate-accelerator-6520738ee833 | ['Harvard Undergraduate Capital Partners'] | 2021-04-15 16:27:42.501000+00:00 | ['VC', 'Venture Capital', 'Startup Lessons', 'Events'] |
Mosaic Plot in Python | Mosaic Plot in Python
Data Visualisation Tool in Python:- Mosaic Plot
Image courtesy:-Internet
Hello Everyone,
In this article, we will understand the Mosaic Plot, the difference between crosstab and Mosaic Plot, How to plot the Mosaic Plot in Python, Use of the Mosaic Plot.
Prerequisites:- Python basic coding knowledge
Suppose we have a dataset in which there is one column ‘Gender’ and another feature is ‘Education’ containing ‘Graduate’ and ‘Not_Graduate’ as a factor.
Male Graduate:-2 (50%), Female Graduate:-3 (75%)
We need to find some insight between these two feature i.e we have to find which class of ‘Gender’ have more percentage of Graduates and which class have less percentage of ‘Graduates’. So how do we do that?
One way is the crosstab function of panda’s library. But it just gives numbers. How to make it graphical and effective visualization?
Here Mosaic Plot can help us.
Table of Contents:-
What are the Mosaic Plot and use? Difference between crosstab and mosaic plot How to plot the Mosaic Plot in Python with one example
Well,
What is Mosaic Plot:-
Mosaic Plot is a graphical method for visualizing data from two or more Qualitative data. It’s also called crosstabs or two-way table and it’s used to summarize the relationship among several categorical variables. The Mosaic Plot is based on conditional probabilities.
2. Difference between crosstab and Mosaic Plot:-
Mosaic Plot (also known as Marimekko diagram)is nothing but a further version of (pd.crosstab()) function in python. Crosstab function just gives us a table of numbers whereas Mosaic Plot gives it’d graphical diagram which we can use in the data analysis report.
3. How to plot Mosaic Plot in Python:-
To plot the Mosaic Plot, we are going to take a dataset of Credit Risk. You can download it from here
First, we will import all the necessary libraries.
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from statsmodels.graphics.mosaicplot import mosaic
from itertools import product
Then we will load the dataset which we have discussed above.
Let’s have a look at count wise relation between ‘Gender’ and ‘Education’ using the crosstab function.
crosstable=pd.crosstab(df['Gender'],df['Education'])
crosstable
crosstable
Here we can observe the number of Male Graduates is 376 out of a total of Male 489 and the number of Female Graduates is 92 out of a total Female 112. So Male Graduate percentage is 76% and the Female Graduate percentage is 82% which is more than the Male Graduate percentage.
Now we will visualize this data with the help of the Mosaic Plot.
We have already imported mosaic from statsmodels library. mosaic is a function used to plot the Mosaic Plot.
It contains four parameters
(data,featuresToBeCompare,labelizer, properties) as given below
properties parameter is used to fix color
labelizer parameter is used to give label and count number in a plot
props={}
props[('Male','Yes')]={'facecolor':'red', 'edgecolor':'white'}
props[('Male','No')]={'facecolor':'red', 'edgecolor':'white'} props[('Female','Yes')]={'facecolor':'xkcd:aqua','edgecolor':'white'} props[('Female','No')]= {'facecolor':'xkcd:aqua','edgecolor':'white'} labelizer=lambda k:{('Male','Yes'):357,('Female','Yes'):31,('Male','No'):130,('Female','No'):80}[k] mosaic(df,['Gender','married'],labelizer=labelizer,properties=props)
After running this code we will get the following Mosaic Plot
We can replace count numbers by percentage also and add in our analysis report, which will very nice visualization.
Thank you!
Connect to me on LinkedIn if you have any queries or want some more insights
Clap if you liked the article! | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/hello-everyone-4f9400e008dc | ['Dhiraj Patil'] | 2020-12-11 16:47:41.209000+00:00 | ['Analytics', 'Mosaic Plot', 'Data Visualization', 'Mosaic Plot In Python', 'Data Exploration'] |
Power BI Modelling | This is my question,
I want to report on my inventory and transactions by day. Each day has sales so I want to know my sales.
Here we can already tell we want to report on inventory and sales. These will likely be our fact tables. It sounds like there is a date time dimension involved so we probably need a day time table.
These are our fact tables we want to use,
Image by author
We will also need a table to join the inventory and transactions table together, so we can filter by the dates. We will need a date table. Here we can use
Date_Filter = CALENDAR( DATE(2021,04,01), DATE(2021,12,31))
Power BI will automatically create a table for you. The result will be a table like this.
Simple date table — image by author
Here in this model, you can see that I will join the date table with the transactions date and inventory date.
Image by author
This is a basic model you need to remember.
Here the date table joins the inventory and sales table on the date columns. If you are to filter on date, it will “grab” the data from both tables. The Date table filters both the Inventory and Transactions table in a 1:Many relationship.
Now let’s expand this a little bit further and say,
I want to see the inventory and sales by type and who bought them.
Here we can tell that we will probably need something to filter again, both tables by the inventory and sales. We have the date dimension, but here the request is just by type. I will have to create a table that takes the unique product types of both tables in order to filter them all.
Here you can use Power Query to select the individual columns of the product types in the inventory and transactions table, append them and run a remove duplicate to create a filtering table.
In DAX, you can use DISTINCT to create a table that contains the unique values of all the inventories.
Product_Type_Filter = DISTINCT(Inventory[Inventory]))
This is how the model now looks, 🍦 🍩🍰
Image by author
Here I can filter by Date, by the product type and see only the customers that bought them.
Image by author
Once again, it’s a simple filter that allows you to filter through both tables to get at an answer.
It’s also important to talk a little about the filtering direction. Let’s look at this model again, I’ve added in the arrows.
Image by author
What do these arrows mean?
It means that when a user filters using the date filter or the product filter, and because these filtering tables are joined to the Inventory and Transactions tables, they will be able to filter them in one direction.
It’s important to filter on the same direction as the join.
Here, I have filtered on cake in the inventory table, which is not designed as a filtering table, and it will pull up a transaction of ice cream in the transactions table. As you can see, it can get very confusing quickly if you don’t use the proper filters.
image by author
I hope with this article you get the basics of creating a data model.
Remember this. The model you build doesn’t have to be hard. It just has to be simple and works. For it to work, it has to be something you and others can understand quickly.
No one will care how elegant your model looks if you can’t produce a report that was requested.
To recap,
Analyze your questions Identify your fact tables Creating filtering tables to join them
Take a look at the star set up.
Image by author
Isn’t this quite similar to what we have discussed? This is the famous star schema data model set up.
Now if you know a data modeler talking about star schema and snowflake, go ahead and ask them where the filtering tables and fact tables. They should be able to tell you right away.
If not, then it’s likely there is something wrong and I hope you won’t have to be the person to use the model or better yet, to rebuild it! | https://towardsdatascience.com/power-bi-modelling-8f1e4246c84e | ['Peter Hui'] | 2021-05-30 01:05:41.933000+00:00 | ['Data Analysis', 'Data Science', 'Data Analytics', 'Machine Learning', 'Power Bi'] |
IoC (Inversion of Control) Containers | 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/kodcular/ioc-inversion-of-control-containers-132bf6e1ce5a | ['Barış Dalyan Emre'] | 2021-01-08 08:42:15.112000+00:00 | ['Eğitim', 'Yazılım', 'Spring', 'Türkçe', 'Java'] |
Will green energy save our planet? | As a provider of alternatives to fuel energy production, green energy is becoming the way to go. It’s a rapidly growing vertical that’s empowered by new technology based on solar panels and wind turbines leading the change.
However, after seeing solar panels mounted on thousands of home roofs, and wind turbine farms scattered out on the wild and at sea, I can’t help but wonder what’s going to happen with the waste generated by the solar panels when are no longer working.
If they aren’t working they perhaps will need to be dismantled and disposed of. That will be a lot of metal frames, glass panels, and embedded chemical products. Have anyone pondered about the chemical components that are part of the overall design of those panels? Where are we going to throw them out?
I’ve heard that the lifecycle of solar panels is good for up to 20 years and they require to be replaced after that period.
Nowadays, there’s a green energy trend that’s pushing homeowners to install solar panels to save energy and, in some cases, with the hope of reselling electricity back to a small grid expanding the neighborhood’ area.
However, for homeowners, is a very expensive undertaking filled with a plethora of shady areas imposed by solar panel manufacturers concerning the contract, insurance, costs, and installation, that together creates a hurdle in addition to the mounting uncertainty related to the house market, now that prices seem to be falling as a consequence of the low-interest rates that may have buyers cautious wondering whether a recession similar to the one in 2008 is coming.
In the case of the wind turbines, it’s tricky to see how Mother Nature, which this technology supposed to be saving, is affected by the construction of those tall poles.
Acres of land that end up razed to allow the construction of the towers supporting the turbines. The number of flying birds the turbine fans are killing on the regular basis, and the unknown consequences of the invasion of those white poles in the marine ecosystem when building up offshore, are elements that should be considered when planning the implementation of this replacement technology.
Besides, torn fiberglassed fans have shown the need to be replaced more frequently than initially expected.
Both technologies won’t cover the entire need for energy. Solar panels require sunlight to operate efficiently, and wind turbines need heavy winds to push the fans to around 180 miles an hour to produce energy.
No sunlight, no wind, and no electricity.
Although the green economy is sitting over a $1,3 TN pile of cash, it needs to dig deeper by check and balance more objective planning capable of figuring out the real savings against the implementation costs and real long-term benefits of both technologies.
Please check the following article below to expand the narrative regarding the green energy subject: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/16/us-green-economy-generates-1point3-trillion-and-employs-millions-new-study-finds.html
Armando Castellano Jr is the founder of walletever.org | https://medium.com/@ArmandoCastellanoJr/will-green-energy-save-our-planet-bebd54e2c766 | ['Armando Castellano Jr'] | 2019-10-17 14:59:31.939000+00:00 | ['Solar Energy', 'Green Energy', 'Renewable Energy'] |
The Ultimate Guide to Fulfillment, Pt. 1 | Real life insights into fulfillment and logistics for startups and subscription box companies
We’ll start with an overview of how fulfillment centers how, then delve into the steps of finding the right partner in future posts.
After a product has been manufactured, all companies face the same challenge: How to get the goods to the end customer?
For startups that want to scale beyond shipping in-house, Third Party Logistics companies (3PL) offer a way to outsource the fulfillment of their products.
Fulfillment partners will store inventory in their warehouse, package the product, and ship it, which can save a startup a boat load of time and money. As you can imagine, this dramatically shifts how your business is set up from an operational standpoint.
You’ll want to be prepared in your search, because the right partner will be a trusted resource that helps you grow, while choosing the wrong option can lead to dissatisfied customers, delays and countless headaches.
Pro-tip: It’s not all about the cost, you want to make sure you find a quality partner and think about the long-term. Anthony Thomas, Founder of Sticker Mule, offers his reasoning for thinking long-term,
“when you’re small it’s almost impossible to achieve a major cost savings, but the upside is that as you grow costs won’t grow linearly if you’re constantly striving to keep things simple. This is why it’s so important to build rapport with your partners early on. If you beat them up over price when you’re small you might get a small win, but then they won’t care to work with you to architect solutions that can deliver bigger wins down the road.”
Fulfillment 101: Fulfillment is generally understood as the steps between processing an order and making sure the product arrives at the intended customer.
On a grander scheme, the actual process can include coordinating freight from your factory (shipping from manufacturer to your warehouse), final assembly of the product, storage, packaging, labeling, and more.
Here’s an overview of the positives and negatives of working with a fulfillment warehouse: There are a number of advantages:
Potentially cheaper fulfillment rates — By having lower cost of labor and cheaper real estate, fulfillment companies can have significant savings in their operations.
— By having lower cost of labor and cheaper real estate, fulfillment companies can have significant savings in their operations. Cheaper Shipping Rates — Fulfillment warehouses ship large quantities of items and receive cheaper shipping rates from the major couriers. They’re also well versed in the shipping logistics landscape, and can give you access to the widest range of shipping options.
— Fulfillment warehouses ship large quantities of items and receive cheaper shipping rates from the major couriers. They’re also well versed in the shipping logistics landscape, and can give you access to the widest range of shipping options. Shorter Shipping Times — Strategically choosing your fulfillment partner closer to the bulk of your customers means your customers get their orders faster.
— Strategically choosing your fulfillment partner closer to the bulk of your customers means your customers get their orders faster. Freedom of time — As a growing business, your time is your most limited factor. In all likelihood, fulfillment is not your core competency, and by outsourcing this component of the business you free up more time for the things you are really good at.
Some downsides to consider:
Expensive — Fulfillment centers need to make money, and they charge for everything from storage fees to how the shipment is packed.
— Fulfillment centers need to make money, and they charge for everything from storage fees to how the shipment is packed. Less control — It’s your face on the product, but you no longer have direct control of when shipments get processed and sent out. If there are delays in the warehouse, the customer comes to you (and they won’t care about why your warehouse couldn’t ship it out).
— It’s your face on the product, but you no longer have direct control of when shipments get processed and sent out. If there are delays in the warehouse, the customer comes to you (and they won’t care about why your warehouse couldn’t ship it out). Locked in contracts — Typically, 3PLs want a contract with startups because getting vendors set up takes a lot of time, and they make their money through volume over time.
— Typically, 3PLs want a contract with startups because getting vendors set up takes a lot of time, and they make their money through volume over time. Long on-boarding process — You have to negotiate rates, send product to the warehouse, wait for them to input it into their system, and get their software to talk with your eCommerce site and other software. It can take weeks to get up and running.
How warehouses work: Fulfillment centers house products from many vendors, and while they suggest they can handle anything, you’ll find that each warehouse has it’s own strengths and weaknesses.
Some 3PLs will specialize their offering (i.e. only do bottled beverages, hardware with lithium-ion batteries, dry packaged goods, etc.), while others focus on a particular size of company.
If you have a more complicated product or packaging procedure (think, subscription box), you’ll want to focus on warehouses that cater to this, such as Dotcom, or negotiate lower pick-and-pack fees.
Most warehouses will be open to all sorts of custom experiences, but you will often have to pay for variations. Warehouses make money through a variety of ways:
A one-time setup charge (from a few hundred dollars to thousands)
Monthly account management fee
freight delivery charge
Pallet break down and storage fees ($12 to $20+ per pallet per month)
Charges for repackaging items and shipping, and the little discussed price gouging on shipping rates.
Fun fact: While warehouses receive discounts on shipping rates, they don’t often pass on all the savings to you, their customer.
As a practice, many 3PLs like predictability in their business (such as consistent sales volume or weekly deliveries) because it helps them to budget time and schedule labor appropriately.
It is this consistency that allows them to optimize their operation and save money. For an overview into the inner-workings of a 3PL, Matthew Carrol provides an excellent graphic:
(Source: Quora)
There are many variables to consider when evaluating whether to work with a fulfillment center. Jeff Becker, Co-Founder ofEarhoox , notes,
“outsourcing fulfillment can be very beneficial, but it’s important to understand the costs to do it yourself versus a third party. The volumes need to make sense, the storage fees depending on your particular product need to make sense, and your market or where you are shipping have to make sense.”
Next, we’ll talk about how to refine your current operations in order to make a smooth transition to outsourcing.
//
Glossary of terms:
Pick-and-Pack: The process of taking an item from the shelf and putting it into the shipping package (parcel).
The process of taking an item from the shelf and putting it into the shipping package (parcel). Lick-and-Ship: Applying a label to the packaged item and shipping out the parcel.
Applying a label to the packaged item and shipping out the parcel. Pick or Touch fees : A fee associated with each time the warehouse “touches” an item that goes into the final package, such as taking an item out of a “pick location” i.e. a shelf in a warehouse or placing a sticker on the outside of the box.
: A fee associated with each time the warehouse “touches” an item that goes into the final package, such as taking an item out of a “pick location” i.e. a shelf in a warehouse or placing a sticker on the outside of the box. Kitting: When you need to combine individual items to be grouped, packaged, and supplied together. This often happens when products are first received, and need to be grouped together to be sold.
When you need to combine individual items to be grouped, packaged, and supplied together. This often happens when products are first received, and need to be grouped together to be sold. A subscription box is a good example: For Spoil, the warehouse would need to pick the tea infuser, the hydrating mask, the disc of soap, the tea, etc. with each item representing a separate “pick.”
(Source: Spoil)
WMS (Warehouse Management System) : The software system warehouses use to track inventory levels.
: The software system warehouses use to track inventory levels. Case or Case Pack: Shipping packages that contain individual SKUs grouped together
Shipping packages that contain individual SKUs grouped together Pallet: A flat transport structure that is used to transfer large amounts of goods (often stacked Case Packs) from your manufacturer to the warehouse, within the warehouse, and often for large orders to retailers. They require a lifting device such as a forklift, pallet jack, or front loader. These have become popular interior design elements of late.
(Source: Joanne Cleary)
Tools and resources mentioned:
Sticker Mule: Custom die-cut stickers for startups.
Dotcom Distribution: eCommerce logistics partner specializing in high volume subscription boxes. | https://medium.com/the-chain/how-to-find-your-first-warehouse-pt-1-2d974e262a2a | ['Akin Shoyoye'] | 2016-08-05 00:43:21.024000+00:00 | ['Tech', 'Startup', 'Fulfillment', 'Ecommerce', 'Subscription Boxes'] |
Top Flutter plugins to take your app to next level | Top Flutter plugins to take your app to next level
Best of the Flutter plugins that can be used almost in any Flutter app and enhance the User Experience to a great extent.
You can also read this article directly on RavSam’s blog. We publish our articles on Medium after a week.
Flutter is one of the fastest rising frameworks for developing cross-platform applications. At RavSam, we also use Flutter for mobile app development services. One of the biggest advantages of Flutter is its plugin ecosystem. There are tons of plugins available on pub.dev built by the community that can be integrated right on the go with our Flutter apps. In this article, we will take a look at some of those plugins which can be used almost in any Flutter app and enhance the User Experience to a great extent.
Share is a plugin that we can use to share the app content via other apps using the platform’s share dialog. It works on both Android and iOS and can be used in a social media application. According to its developers, a backward-compatible 1.0.0 version will be released soon as the plugin has reached a stable API.
Geolocator is one of the must-use plugins if you are building an application that shows content based on the location of the user. It provides an easy to implement API which can be used to access platform-specific location services. We can access the last know location, current location of the device, and even get continuous location updates. This plugin is of great use in Cab Booking, Food Delivery, etc.
URL Launcher is one of the most famous plugins which is used on almost every production Flutter app. It is a plugin for launching different URL schemes like:
It supports every platform that Flutter targets such as iOS, Android, Web, Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Shimmer is a brilliant plugin to enhance the UI/UX of the app while the content is loading. It is visually appealing as it gives the user an indication that the content is being fetched from the Internet. This package provides a Widget for adding a shimmer effect in the Flutter project.
There may be sometimes when a user opens our app but he is not connected to the WiFi or Mobile Internet connection. In circumstances like these, we can simply add this plugin to our Flutter app for discovering network connectivity and deciding the UI state accordingly. This plugin provides the developers with a great way to distinguish between Mobile and WiFi connection. According to its developers, a backward-compatible 1.0.0 version will be released soon as the plugin has reached a stable API.
About RavSam Web Solutions
We have been rated as one of the fastest emerging companies in India that use modern technology to solve the problems that businesses face. Reach out to us to know more about our android app, ios app development services, pricing, or anything else.
You might also enjoy reading | https://medium.com/ravsam-web-solutions/top-flutter-plugins-to-take-your-app-to-next-level-a8732845248c | ['Ravgeet Dhillon'] | 2020-12-08 06:59:51.634000+00:00 | ['App Development', 'App Design', 'Flutter', 'Flutter App Development'] |
What you should know before you get admitted into the hospital: Claustrophobia and Bilirubin | I knew I did not want a c-section and wanted to give birth the old fashioned way, so I never bothered to watch those scary videos of women in labor. Most of us are urged to watch those videos for some sadistic reason. I was in labor for a long long time and then the time came to pop and I popped.
The doctor checked on me the next day and said that I’d be leaving that night but then something unexpected happened; my baby’s bilirubin level was a bit high. That’s the first time I heard the word ‘bilirubin.’ They said we’d need to do photo therapy for the baby. By we they meant me. So I was up all night that night with my baby under the blue light. The night went like this — feed, poop, feed, poop.
The next morning, I could barely open my eyes. My vision was blurry from that blue light. The baby had an eye mask which she thankfully did not take off. I eagerly waited for the doctor to check her bilirubin level. She came and poked my baby’s foot with a needle. The baby did not cry but I did (welcome to motherhood.)
The next night was a repeat of the previous night, except my poor mother was there along with me (motherhood again.) They didn’t have guest beds in the hospital so she joined two chairs and slept when she could. We took it in turns to give baby photo-therapy. The next morning both of us were exhausted. The doctor came and checked the baby and her bilirubin level was still a bit high.
This was my 4th night there, and that’s when my claustrophobia kicked in and this was because there were no windows that opened on our floor and patients weren’t allowed to go outside and get fresh air. The nurses came that night to give me painkillers which I refused to take thinking that they wanted to trap me and keep baby and me in the hospital forever. My mother was visiting and was with the baby so I thought let me go downstairs and get some fresh air. I went downstairs in the hospital gown and hospital bracelet and guess what? the guards wouldn’t let me out. I told them I needed fresh air so they let me sit by the door so whenever someone entered the building or exited I got a whiff of fresh air which was supposed to get rid off any claustrophobia I may have had.
Anyway, so what happened for six days was — bilirubin, claustrophobia, bilirubin claustrophobia and then voila her bilirubin levels were normal and the day had come when we were going home.
The biggest problem was that I didn’t know for the first two days how I was supposed to help reduce her bilirubin levels. I thought all we had to do was give her photo-therapy. But what I wasn’t aware of initially was that the baby has to poop for it to reduce. Once, I was made aware of that, I was on mission decrease bilirubin, waiting each morning for the doctor to give the result. Eventually, they’d had enough of me and my claustrophobia so they let me go home.
Mums to be, this is a topic to read up on before you go into labor so that you don’t end up flummoxed like I was. | https://medium.com/@snigdhaguptamehta/claustrophobia-and-bilirubin-900565033887 | ['Snigdha Gupta'] | 2019-01-29 14:15:03.001000+00:00 | ['Parenting', 'Motherhood', 'Baby', 'Mum', 'Pregnancy'] |
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