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We Love to See It: 5 New Black Marvel Moments You Don’t Want to Miss | We Love to See It: 5 New Black Marvel Moments You Don’t Want to Miss
Black Panther II poster, Marvel Studios
For Disney’s Investor Day 2020, the media juggernaut threw out its biggest trump card in the never ending battle for best streaming platform, as Marvel Studios revealed enough details about upcoming projects to decidedly tip the scales in Disney+’s favor. The comic-based subsidiary has built an empire of movies and shows have consistently taken the film industry by storm and their latest rollout is no different, with one notable development: Marvel’s newest slate is very black, and we are here for it. Quietest kept, you should be too. Here are the top 5 things that have us praying theaters are open by 2021.
1. Marvel announces its first film to be directed by a black woman.
Despite being a box office success, Captain Marvel drew harsh reviews from movie critics, garnering the reputation of being more of a supplemental film in preparation for Avengers: Endgame, than a stand-alone epic for Marvel’s namesake hero. Marvel may have heard the criticism and leveled up, giving fans a major reason to watch the sequel, when they announced via twitter that Nia Da Costa will be the first black woman to direct a Marvel film. The Candyman director and co-writer will take on Captain Marvel 2 slated to release in 2022, so hopefully the celebrated female-led series will have another added layer of Black girl magic. Disney + also announced that ____ actress Teyonah Parris will star as a grown-up superhero Monica Rambeau, Captain Marvel’s niece, in spinoff series Ms. Marvel, scheduled to arrive on the streaming platform in 2021.
2. LoveCraft Country actors are getting shown major love.
The HBOMax horror drama series captivated a multicultural audience this summer, telling the story of Atticus Freeman journeying across the Jim Crow south in search of his missing father with his friend Letitia Lewis and Uncle George. Jonathan Majors, who plays Atticus Freeman, will take on the role of Kang the Conquerer, a time-traveling villain, in Antman and the Wasp: Quantamania, while costar Wunmi Mosaku, who plays Rubi Baptiste, (Letitia’s older sister) will reportedly be a series regular alongside Tom Hiddleston in Loki, the upcoming Marvel original based on the adventures of Thor’s baby brother. The series will be headed to Disney+ in May 2021.
3. Black Avengers are making their way to the main stage.
Always an assistant, never an Avenger, characters like James Rhoades a.k.a. War Machine (Don Cheadle), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Sam Wilson a.k.a Falcon (Anthony Mackie) have always added levity and humor to the Avengers movies, helping to save the universe on multiple occasions but rarely get the spotlight. Marvel swivels the lamp with a few new original series featuring the characters, centering War Machine in Armor Wars, as James Rhoades jumps into action when keep Tony Stark’s tech falls into the wrong hands. Samuel L. Jackson takes center stage in Secret Invasion as Nick Fury, the mysterious and smart-mouthed director of S.H.I.E.L.D. while Captain America’s oldest and newest friend, Sam Wilson and James “Bucky” Buchanan link up in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. It’s almost enough to make us forgive them for pulling an “Aunt Viv switch” with recasting Captain Rhoades character in Iron Man 2 (no shade, Terrence Howard.)
4. A new black super-shero: the arrival of the Ironheart series
After the final scenes of Endgame, it seemed as if the likely choice to carry on Iron Man’s legacy in the modern film franchise would be the young Spider-man, but Marvel chose to stick to the script and expand the Iron Man family, returning to the comics in the new series Ironheart, casting Dominique Thorne (If Beale Street Could Talk) as young inventor Riri Williams creates “the most advanced suit of armor since Iron Man.” The best part? The young genius in a metal suit is a Black girl. Shoutout to Marvel for staying true to the comics and casting a young black actress for the role. The new original series will stream on Disney+.
5. We won’t have to go through the emotional trauma of adjusting to a new Black Panther.
After the tragic death of legendary Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman earlier this year, the speculation began almost immediately as to how the sequel would look; whether the role would be recast or rewritten. The first Black Panther film was a major milestone for Black people in cinema; the first blockbuster-budget movie to have a predominantly Black cast and be directed by Marvel’s first African-American director, the movie immediately captivated the hearts of Black comic fans worldwide, young and old alike. Boseman himself brought a special magic to the role that captivated us all from the first “Wakanda Forever” to well beyond the ending credits. With such large shoes to fill for such a beloved character, Marvel has opted not to recast Boseman’s character, and instead center the film around other members of the original cast, a tasteful tribute to the late actor, and our forever Black Panther. | https://medium.com/@arielfortheculture/we-love-to-see-it-5-new-black-marvel-moments-we-dont-want-to-miss-87d976f78bdc | [] | 2020-12-11 20:55:18.655000+00:00 | ['Marvel', 'Film', 'Movies', 'Disney', 'Streaming'] |
Analysis of Bookmarks and Revisiting the Forgotten Topics | Our thoughts, as well as interests evolve and our reading sometimes reflects this evolution. A major part of our reading has now moved to the internet and the way we use to read the news on the internet has changed dramatically over the past few years. From reading news on certain news outlets to reading the news headlines on social media, we can get a glimpse of this rapid change of the reading habits of users. However, we still use some sort of bookmarking for saving certain articles for future reads and references. These bookmarks, whether on browsers or social media websites contain valuable information, which can be used to improve our future reading as well as remind us of some forgotten topics of past interests. A reading profile can be built by the analysis of the articles read in the past and the associated tags used by the readers. This article explores some of the key information that can be obtained from bookmarked and tagged articles, especially for revisiting some forgotten topics.
Photo by Daniela on Unsplash
Analysis of Bookmarks
1. Identifying the Data Sources
There are primarily two data sources for building a user reading profile: bookmarks from internet browsers and bookmarks from social media. Blogs, news websites, and news aggregators were frequently used by the readers in the past for reading. This however limited the users to a limited number of websites. However, bookmarking web services and social media have exposed them to a large number of websites, thanks to the possibility of sharing. Social media help users discover relevant media from the users interested in similar topics. Users use their browsers to navigate these articles and even bookmark them. However, some social media companies display a snippet of the article (including an image and a small text) which helps the readers get a glimpse of the article content without clicking it. Many social media websites have different ways to let users bookmark such information. Some of the following may not seem completely close to the explicit option for bookmarks, since bookmarks are usually considered to be something personal. But the following information may be public or available to a group of users (depending on the settings).
Likes and Favorites
Retweets and reposts
Internet browsers usually use HTML, XML, or JSON data format to store the bookmarks. But the data format is not standardized across browsers. Browsers let you export or import bookmarks in HTML format. In some cases like Firefox, user tags are not present in the exported HTML file. One option here, in the case of Firefox, is to make use of bookmark backups that provide a lot of information usually absent in the exported files like the logo URL of the bookmarked sites, time of bookmarking, user-generated tags. Social media websites provide application programming interfaces (or API) so that the developers can access some of the above information.
2. Data Analysis
So the next obvious question that arises: what are the data available for performing analysis and what do we want to achieve from this analysis? Following is a list of data available from the exported bookmark HTML and bookmark backup JSON files from browsers:
Source URL
Article title
Article content (usually for feeds, after fetching the content)
Website URL
Website title
Website description (often available)
Timestamp
Bookmarked time
Time of last modification
User-generated content
Categories/Folders
Tags or hashtags
In addition to the above, the social media companies provide additional information based on their own analysis. The following information is also available to the readers:
Number of users who bookmarked the article
Number of times an article was shared
The users who shared the article
…
This is a treasure-trove of information. Take for example, given the availability of time, one interesting aspect is to know what theme of topics interested me during specific periods of time and when did a particular topic catch my first attention. Tags and categories (or folders) may also give an idea of the information classification style, in this case, how the users categorize different articles under a category or a sub-category. Internet browsers usually allow only one category (or subcategory) for an article. Tags may play an important role in the classification since an article can have more than one tag.
Now that we have seen the data to analyze, we can take a look at how to infer interesting insights with these data. Some non-exhaustive questions are given below:
Bookmarks
Total number of bookmarks
The average number of bookmarks in a day/week/month/year
Maximum number of bookmarks made on a day/week/month/year
Minimum number of bookmarks made on a day/week/month/year
Websites
Total number of unique websites
The average number of bookmarks per website
The website with the maximum number of bookmarks or commonly referred website(s)
The website with the least number of bookmarks or the least referred website(s)
Tags/Categories
Total number of unique tags/categories
Tags/categories with the maximum number of bookmarks or the most common tags
Tags/categories with the minimum number of bookmarks or the least used tags
Tags/categories with the maximum number of websites or the most common tags
Tags/categories with the minimum number of websites or the most common tags
Analytics Information
Tags of interest
Users interested in similar topics
All the above questions are based on the aggregation functions like count, minimum, maximum, average. These are commonly used tasks in data analysis in almost every domain. This information is sufficient enough to build a basic reading profile. But care must be taken to ensure that it doesn’t lead to building a profile that ignores the least commonly used bookmarks or websites. In other words, data analysis must also help in filtering out the forgotten topics or bookmarks and websites. To revisit the forgotten topics, one needs to focus on the least frequented websites, the least used tags, the least used categories, etc. Additionally, the focus must be on the past bookmarks and not on the recent ones.
Unfortunately, most of our current recommendation systems focus on aspects like recency. Hence recent posts and articles have a prominent place on the search results. Certain past topics of interest never appear in the results.
3. Data Visualization
What better way to analyze than to visualize! Visualization techniques help not only to find interesting patterns but also to pop out striking features. As time passes, bookmark related information accumulates. When the number of data increases, it’s usually not feasible to analyze them with tables. More data need to be analyzed than those that can be analyzed at a single glance. There are a large number of visualization libraries available that can help to obtain a word cloud corresponding to bookmarked articles, particularly to understand the main topics of interest. Then some can be used to visualize the pattern of website visits on a timeline. This idea can be extended to understand the (recurrent) pattern of bookmarks concerning a particular topic. The interesting results thus obtained can be fed back to the system in the form of new user-generated tags.
Building a Reading Profile
Such a reading profile built after analysis of past bookmarks can be used to recommend articles. But a mere recommendation isn’t enough. The justification for a recommendation must also be presented. This contextual information can be verified and any corrections required can be fed back to the system for improving the recommendation mechanism. Most of the current recommendation systems are opaque about their functioning. However, content-based filtering systems focus on individual users and not on the results related to multiple users. This is extremely relevant in the case of bookmarks analysis, especially when the user is interested in quantifying themself.
Another important aspect of reading is the surprise factor. Users must get a certain amount of articles that are surprising that may help them to exit their filter bubble. And as discussed above, the past topics of interest and the least visited sites may give certain insights.
Conclusion
The overall goal of bookmark analysis, especially for individual users may not be to understand reading behavior but to save time skipping through irrelevant or redundant articles. Yet some users may wish to understand the time taken by them on the internet, their reading habits, the topics of interest, the number of bookmarks they had made during a period, etc. Others may use it to understand and revisit the forgotten topics. By clustering the articles based on theme and grouping similar articles, relevant and non-redundant articles can be shown to the users. But the aspect of surprise (e.g., new technological advancement) should not be missing from the overall scene of filtering. Information overload is a major challenge, but there are several ways to reduce it, and just focusing on recency should not be one of them.
References | https://medium.com/swlh/analysis-of-bookmarks-and-revisiting-the-forgotten-topics-20c279c2004c | ['John Samuel'] | 2021-01-22 12:17:38.058000+00:00 | ['Bookmarks', 'Social Media', 'Browsers', 'Data Science', 'Analysis'] |
The First Signs of Alcoholic Liver Damage Are Not in the Liver | The First Signs of Alcoholic Liver Damage Are Not in the Liver
Myfather died of alcoholic liver cirrhosis four years ago. It came as a surprise to all of us, even though it was clear he had a severe drinking problem for decades. It was especially surprising to me, as a former nurse and a recovering alcoholic. You would think I’d know more about liver problems and alcohol use than the average person. But the truth is, in the months before his death, I had no idea my father’s liver was struggling at all. Most people know about cirrhosis, but few people know how a liver goes from early damage to end-stage liver cirrhosis.
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The combination of my father’s death and my personal background lit a fire in me to know more. He was admitted to the hospital on June 24, 2016, and he died on July 18. Only 24 days passed between the first sign there was a problem and his subsequent death.
Now, hearing that he was in end-stage cirrhosis didn’t surprise me, given his heavy drinking. What did surprise me was that he’d visited several doctors and specialists in the months before his death, and no one knew his liver was struggling either.
So what happened? Does end-stage liver cirrhosis really sneak up that fast? Were there other signs that would have alerted someone to his failing liver?
As for why the doctors and specialists didn’t know what was happening, that mystery resolved reasonably quickly. The plain truth is that alcoholics rarely divulge the amount and frequency of their drinking to their doctors. This was the case for my dad. He had many health issues that he was trying to solve, but he protected his drinking habit fiercely. So he refused to spill the beans, even when it mattered.
The problem is that liver damage has numerous multifaceted symptoms that are confusing and associated with many other illnesses. Unless a doctor knows that the patient is an alcoholic, they may not know how to interpret what’s happening until it’s too late.
As he was dying, my father told me that he didn’t think to tell the doctors how much he was drinking. He said it was as if he blanked out and “forgot” to mention it. As crazy as that sounds, this strange “forgetting” is a common part of the alcoholic mindset. It may also be due to the metabolic and physical changes of cirrhosis itself.
There are many signs of liver problems, but oddly, none seem to point to the liver at first. And in fact, many of the first signs of liver damage occur in other parts of the body. Knowing these signs may help educate alcoholics and their families if they want to understand their risk of developing liver cirrhosis.
Liver damage has numerous multifaceted symptoms that are confusing and associated with many other illnesses. Unless a doctor knows that the patient is an alcoholic, they may not know how to interpret what’s happening until it’s too late.
Digestive signs
The liver plays a huge part in our digestive process. It filters out all toxins from food as well as helping to break down fats and glucose.
When a liver starts to slow down due to significant damage, it will reduce its digestive work. Instead, it will divert its energy toward vital functions like metabolizing medications and filtering toxins.
This means that symptoms like bloating, nausea, vomiting, gas, and diarrhea will start to increase. Over time, eating becomes more challenging. In the later stages of liver cirrhosis, toxins that can’t be filtered out begin to build in the bloodstream, which causes more nausea.
Cognitive signs
Although confusion and brain fog happen in end-stage liver cirrhosis, they can also be early signs.
The liver is responsible for filtering dangerous substances in the blood. It also helps regulate hormones, blood glucose, and vitamin absorption. In the early stages of liver damage, these processes can be interrupted. Inevitably, this affects our brain and nervous system.
This means that early liver problems can make you feel tired, confused, slow, and foggy. You may have some memory issues as well.
Neuromuscular signs
The liver stores vitamins required for the functioning of many organs and systems in the body — one of them is vitamin B1 or thiamine. A deficiency in this particular vitamin has been documented in many alcoholics with or without liver damage.
Unfortunately, alcohol inhibits the absorption of thiamine in the intestine. Over time, as the liver becomes damaged, it can no longer store thiamine in enough quantities. Thiamine deficiency is responsible for many neurological issues in people with alcoholism.
Symptoms of thiamine deficiency range from mild to severe and include things like: confusion, mental fog, lack of balance, pain and numbness in hands and feet, muscle weakness, rapid heart rate, digestive problems, flushing, and involuntary eye movements.
Thiamine deficiency happens in almost every alcoholic who consumes frequent and large amounts of alcohol. And if thiamine deficiency due to alcoholism is discovered, you can be sure the liver is suffering damage at the same time.
Many of the first signs of liver damage occur in other parts of the body.
Vascular signs
All alcohol consumption can lead to blood vessel dilation, causing flushing in the face and hands. Over time, this can cause damage leading to permanent redness in the face. Although many alcoholics have rosacea or spider-like veins on their faces, this is often benign.
However, spider angiomas are different from rosacea or spiderlike veins. They’re circular and have a central point called a spider nevus that is darker than the rest of the lesion. Spider angiomas are a sign of liver disease and can be present in the early stages. They often progress to more extensive and more numerous lesions.
Spider angiomas are caused by increased estrogen levels in the blood. When the liver becomes damaged, it can’t properly metabolize estrogens, which causes them to build up in the body.
Many women who are pregnant or taking birth control pills may have a few spider angiomas. However, in alcoholic liver disease, these lesions are often more frequent and accompanied by red palms and varicose veins in the esophagus.
These are a few of the main signs of alcoholic liver damage that happen outside of the liver. It’s important to know this because most of us have no idea how the liver functions and how it communicates distress.
The liver itself doesn’t show signs like pain or swelling in the early stages of liver damage. This contrasts with other organs like the heart or stomach, where any damage will emit pain or symptoms directly from these organs.
What happens with liver damage is that its many diverse functions become interrupted, causing symptoms in other parts of the body. This may explain why most people never think they have a problem with their liver.
Unfortunately, patients with alcoholism are rarely educated about these issues. This is because they often don’t reveal their drinking, to begin with. And even if they do, the symptoms are widespread and complex, which makes patient education challenging.
My goal in writing articles like this is to help educate regular people about alcoholic liver disease to understand their health and make better decisions.
It’s hard to say if my father would have changed his drinking habits if he knew more about his vague and complicated symptoms. But I think having proper education would have certainly helped him understand his risks and health problems better. | https://medium.com/@roxanegay775767/the-first-signs-of-alcoholic-liver-damage-are-not-in-the-liver-9b37d7e6c449 | ['Roxane Gay'] | 2020-12-18 00:13:45.263000+00:00 | ['Addiction', 'Health', 'Body', 'Alcohol', 'Mental Health'] |
Dating Coach Certification | First dates can be nerve-wracking. When you haven’t gone on a date in some time, you may be anxious about getting back into the dating game or unsure about what to expect during the meetup. If you don’t know what questions to ask on a first date, you’re not alone. It’s not uncommon to feel rusty, and it can even lead to you saying the wrong things to the person you’re interested in. While there are some things that you probably should avoid saying, there are other things that aren’t off the table that you should consider asking. Here are seven questions you can totally ask on a first date.
Read full Article on https://bit.ly/38yV6n9 | https://medium.com/@genosyscs/dating-coach-certification-e58d914d5e17 | ['Genosys Consulting'] | 2020-12-19 13:00:03.141000+00:00 | ['Dating Tips', 'Coaching', 'Relationships Love Dating', 'Dating'] |
How to build a Solar Powered CPU Mining Server for Under $1000 | Have you ever thought about taking cryptocurrency mining to the next level? Are you concerned about electricity cost? This article unveils a method which will save you money by using retired industrial server equipment.
These servers take advantage of large core counts and high frequencies, while at the same time, keeping the power consumption low - perfect for mining.
Choosing an affordable CPU
The Xeon Series of processors used during the LGA 2011 architecture for servers in the early to mid 2010’s are currently everywhere, selling used on the market.
The reason that these processors are discarded for a good deal, is usually due to that fact that large businesses and server companies will buy their new equipment on warranty, and simply do not want the equipment anymore when the warranty runs out.
They will sell them in bulk on the resale market, where smaller re-sellers pick them up and let them go for dirt cheap on places like Ebay.
DYOR
It is important to do some of your own research of processor types, because unlike most Intel i-Series processors, each Xeon processor is very different,
having massive disparities in things like cache size, core count, power rating, pin count, and frequencies.
Motherboard, Ram, Power Supply and Hard drive
Generally, parts are cheaper when you buy them separately and put them together your self, sometimes though the latter can be the case.
When it comes to the used server market, many companies selling their equipment have whole sale, and let things go together for a very good deal, due to the already low demand for the product.
DELL POWEREDGE R630 2 X SIX CORE 2.40GHZ E5–2620v3 8GB 2 x 73GB SERVER
Buying parts separately
If you decide to put the server together yourself; using only individually bought used parts; your options might be significantly greater. There is a surplus of used server parts to chose from.
Remember to always be aware of compatibility while building your mining server!
Halfway through!
By this point we’re already halfway through the build, and so far have spent around 400 $USD for an entire mining server with 24 cores and 3.0 GHz!
Solar Panels
The idea behind the solar mining concept is to push as many mining rigs as you can during the day, focusing as much energy as possible on to the mining servers; while you have it available.
Solar systems can run at night, however the cost for storing energy is significantly greater than the cost of making it, so expect paying at least double the total price of the system; for the battery alone; to store the extra energy.
Solar panels have a life span of roughly 25 years, so when looking at used panels try to find panels closer to the 5–10 year mark, or less.
They also do not always produce exactly the amount that they are rated for, therefore it is a general rule of thumb to double the solar power output for the required server amount.
Also be sure to remember and find a sunny place in your yard or on your roof, so that the panels can get adequate sunlight for energy production.
Why do we need a battery?
The reason that we need a battery is because a computer server system requires a constant flow of stable energy to operate; if a cloud happens to go over the panels, or a bird sits on top, it can cause discrepancies.
Solar power is collected by the battery as DC power, after which a power inverter is used to convert the energy back in to AC for the computer system.
Topically the AC/DC inverter sells new for as cheap as $30 on ebay; Keep the inverter as close to the battery as possible, and the entire system should be in a safe, non-flammable environment.
Remember to always be cautious while working around live wires, solar energy is powerful and can cause severe electric shock!
The battery and the charging controller
A battery can be the most expensive investment for the project, depending on the type, amount, and intensity of the charge.
Charging controller
You don’t want to destroy anything, so make sure to include a charging controller which will connect between the solar panels and battery, to prevent overcharging/voltage issues.
Battery Charging Controller
Battery types
The ideal type of battery to get for using and storing solar energy are deep cycle. Deep cycle batteries are built to handle a constant flow of energy from both the solar panels, and the servers load.
There are many different makes and models, although two commonly used types of deep cycle batteries are Lead Acid and Lithium Iron phosphate. Choosing which one works best for you should in part depend on how much power your system requires to operate.
How much power is your system using?
Generally if you are not storing energy for night use, you can get away with buying a small battery with the minimum power requirements. Otherwise, an equation can help you to determine how much power your systems will use:
The energy E in kilowatt-hours (kWh) is equal to the power P in watts (W), times the time period t in hours (hr) divided by 1000:
E(kWh) = P(W) × t(hr) / 1000
You can also use a calculator: Kilowatt watt Calculator
Conclusion
By this point, you should have everything required to build the solar powered mining system.
All the parts listed in this article put together in a working system.
Total costs:
2x E5–2670 V3 CPUs: 260$
DELL POPEREDGE R630 Server: $130
2x Solar panels: $280
Battery: $150
Power Inverter: 30$
Solar Battery Charger Controller: 20$
Extra: 50$
In total, all the listed parts in this article total $920!
Now you can enjoy solar powered mining devices, without the headache energy bill at the end of each month!
A note on mobile mining devices
Mobile devices have a more energy-efficient CPU architecture and enable you to build even cheaper solar powered mining devices.
You can get all the latest news about the mobile miner beta on our twitter and discord channels. | https://medium.com/scala-network/how-to-build-a-solar-powered-cpu-mining-server-for-under-1000-28577c7573e2 | ['Johnny Appleseed'] | 2020-02-18 16:25:45.699000+00:00 | ['Solar Energy', 'Cpu', 'Privacy', 'Crypto', 'Mining'] |
Some Dreams Didn’t Come True | Some listen when you’re reading: https://open.spotify.com/track/2avxfGxmg06kIetQ38kD9q?si=RVEk_teDTlmk_hdJWfwABA
Everybody has a dream when they are a teenager. But I’m pretty sure a lot of teens are dreaming about what kind of person they are going to be like in the future like myself.
Everyone on this planet has a dream, or must. I’m not sure. In December, I have passed 26 years old and when I turn back my head and look to the past, can say myself “no man, you’re not that point that you always dreamed”. This sounds sad and you know what? It is sad. Most of the people getting a great amount of support from their family unlike me. Anyway, this is not the point.
When I was a teenager I’m always dreaming “I’ll have a car, I’ll have a great life and a good girlfriend who can support me in any condition and have a great life eventually”. I couldn’t even one of these. Yes, there were many women in my life before but none of them was the one. You know, when you think for someone they might be the one probably you’re going to disappointed.
I just wanted to say, I’m still not at the point that I imagined, not even close. I’m trying to work hard for making my life better but the country and stupid people I was living with don’t allow that, damn! Right? :)
Today my flirt told me “you’re working too hard and there’s no space for a woman in your life”. What can I say? She was right at some point. But I still do not think this was my mistake. Sometimes, you have to work. Especially if you’re living in a country like my country which it does not support, contrary, making life harder some things could be difficult. My family doesn’t have money, they don’t have a job, they don’t have savings, etc. I have to work and I have to build my own life. I’m still not sure what can I do. Only work work work… And still can’t making money for enough to live in comfort. Sometimes I’m considering changing my country. Maybe another country and another culture fit me better than this. I’m not sure. Still considering it. Maybe it will become as I desired. In that case, I’m telling myself not to making a real relationship in my current country. | https://medium.com/@someanotherthoughts/some-dreams-didnt-come-true-93e78feee647 | ['Blog Author'] | 2021-01-23 18:54:34.136000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Blog', 'Sad', 'Life', 'Story'] |
How Tech Support Companies give Importance to Customer interaction | tech support services
Customer interaction is an important aspect not only for your customer support system but for the overall improvement of your business. Technology has provided various mediums through which every organization can be connected to its customers.
Staying connected to the customers is very important because it allows you to understand how happy they are with your product/service and what you can change to increase their level of satisfaction. A robust framework ensures you do not miss out on opportunities to connect better with your customers.
When your customers contact you, it is because they are facing an issue and need help in resolving it. In such a situation, they are seeking a variety of elements from you. They are:
Reliability:
Customers are much more contempt and relaxed when they know that you are a business organization they can rely on. They are only looking for services that personify the fact that they can trust you and also are an indicator that you are coming through on your promises.
Assurance:
They feel the need to make sure they have chosen the right product service. Resolving the issue they are facing seamlessly validates this to a certain extent and enables you to meet their expectations.
Empathy:
Customers need to know they are being heard and the necessary attention is given to them. They want the support agents to see their point of view and understand the issue they are facing with a gist of empathy. Hence, customer interaction should be based along these lines.
Responsiveness:
Availability and speed are two crucial aspects that the customers can judge your services by. No customer likes to wait. Instead, any customer would want to be prioritized and given importance. By responding quickly to their queries and providing them with solutions, you are fulfilling the criteria.
Top IT support companies like us, Sapizon Technologies, are always focused on delivering these attributes to the customer of our clients. It has allowed us to help them improve their businesses.
Customer Interaction Cycle:
Customer interaction can play a crucial role in determining if a business can deliver all the above-mentioned attributes to its customers. If you one of the businesses that need help with this, here is a run-down of how customer interaction takes place:
Greeting:
The first and foremost step in customer interaction on part of the agent is to greet the customer graciously. Agents can keep it short and sweet before proceeding further with the interaction. It can make substantially the way the desired customer interacts with you for the remaining part.
Some of the most common ways of greeting are:
· “Hi, thank you for contacting us! How may I help you?”
· “Hello, you have reached (company’s name). What can I assist you with?”
· “Good Afternoon, this is (company’s name). How can I help you?”
Understanding:
The next step in the interaction cycle is to understand what the issue of the customer is. It involves assessing and gauging the difficulty they are facing while collecting the information. If you are a support agent, you need to be polite in your tone, listen actively, and constantly pay attention.
The easier way to ensure your focus is intact is to seek confirmation of the information you are being fed. Repeating what you have heard goes a long way into doing that, if you have heard something wrong, the customer will correct you and you can proceed further.
To resolve any issue at the earliest, support agents need to understand the problem. Therefore, this is an important step in interaction.
Mutual Agreement:
Once a support agent has understood the issue, he/she then has to propose a manner in which the issue will be resolved. They need the customer’s approval before going through with the resolution. This is very crucial especially if there is a need to tinker with the system for a while.
Agents need to confirm and re-confirm with the customer that he/she agrees to the proposed solution. Only after they reach a mutual agreement can they proceed with the next step.
Delivering:
When you are making changes to the system of a customer while resolving an issue, you must keep him/her in a loop and have the customer informed about what is going to happen and when it is going to happen. This way, the customer is always involved in the process.
It is important to keep him/her involved because there should be no additional issues when the solution is complete.
Closing:
The closing of interaction involves the support agents portraying gratitude to the customer for his patience. Again, this needs to be done in a polite and there must no indication of frustration even if the agent has just gone through a lengthy process of providing a solution.
Some of the most common ways of closing an interaction politely are:
· “Thank you for contacting us! Have a nice day ahead.”
· “Thank you for reaching out!”
Conclusion:
Healthy customer interaction can boost the productivity of your business in many ways. It enables you to establish a sense of trust and loyalty among your customers. Also, it can increase the number of referrals your customers provide you with.
As one of the leading customer and technical support companies, we aim to provide our clients with the best services. We have an excellent team of experienced support professionals to ensure we deliver our promises.
If you want to understand how we achieve this, you can book a free consultancy with some of our experts and get a detailed analysis of the same. | https://medium.com/@sapnasapusapzion/how-tech-support-companies-give-importance-to-customer-interaction-e92512867b8 | ['Sapna Sapu'] | 2020-12-22 06:46:14.952000+00:00 | ['It Companies', 'Tech Support', 'It Services', 'It Support', 'Customer Service'] |
What an incredible lesson in leadership, decision making and humanity. | What an incredible lesson in leadership, decision making and humanity. Thanks for sharing, Mr. President. This is a must read for leaders, managers, coaches and parents! | https://medium.com/@alex-kusters/what-an-incredible-lesson-in-leadership-decision-making-and-humanity-ba0d55174412 | ['Alex Kusters'] | 2020-12-13 15:15:27.156000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'Management And Leadership', 'Decision Making', 'Coaching'] |
PIBBLE will be listed on CPDAX exchange! | The week of exciting announcements for PIBBLE continues. PIBBLE has been selected to join other premier cryptocurrencies on the CPDAX exchange.
CPDAX stands for Coinplug Digital Asset Exchange, a new digital asset exchange created through Coinplug’s technical experience and exchange knowhow. We provide trading services for various digital assets starting with Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic and Litecoin for convenience of domestic and international users.
CPDAX provides a differentiated platform to lead the growth of digital asset market and minimize the risk and inconvenience of domestic exchange users. Through a workforce with over 60% in blockchain research experts, Coinplug highly values security through crypto algorithms and various security systems. We confidently assures that our security is superior to all other exchanges.
CPDAX provides differentiated service for the convenience of users.
We provide a professional trading UI that shows the orderbook, chart and order page in one view, allowing everyone from beginners to experts to trade quickly and easily.
CPDAX is the first exchange to provide a comprehensive profit estimation of your trades. | https://medium.com/pibbleio/pibble-will-be-listed-on-cpdax-exchange-11357693f571 | ['Bryan High'] | 2019-03-04 10:00:27.555000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency Exchange', 'Social Media', 'Investing'] |
How Creative Tim generated tons of traffic using Reddit | How Creative Tim generated tons of traffic using Reddit Karim Jul 2·1 min read
Creative Tim, a place where you can buy UI Kits, boosted their growth by posting in different communities. Reddit has over 130k subreddits (niche communities on Reddit). Creative Tim started posting content on subreddits where their target audience would hang out like /r/web_design, /r/html5, /r/frontend and others. By posting something the community loves to see their content got upvoted to the top. Resulting in a ton of highly targeted and free traffic.
btw… You’re missing dozens of other marketing ideas! Pro members get a nice Kanban dashboard with 40+ (and growing) step-by-step marketing ideas just like this one that helps them attract their first 1,000 users. Become a pro member
In which subreddit is your target audience hanging out, right now? Which posts seem to do well within those subreddits? How can you create a post that adds value to the community and link back to your product/service?
💡 Here’s how
1 — Go to https://www.reddit.com/subreddits/ and start typing keywords related to your business.
2 — Make a list of a few subreddits where your target audience is conversing
3 — Check out the top posts within those subreddits to get a better understanding of the type of posts that seem to work well
4 — Start contributing to the subreddit. Spamming will backbite you. Be helpful and engage in the community with helpful posts & comments. You’ll gradually build up a super targeted, free traffic channel back to your product or service.
More from Phireworks | https://medium.com/@jibly/how-creative-tim-generated-tons-of-traffic-using-reddit-f7e455cef6 | [] | 2021-07-02 08:45:13.227000+00:00 | ['Side Hustle', 'Startup', 'Indiehackers', 'Marketing'] |
Open-sourcing Rocksplicator, a real-time RocksDB data replicator | Bo Liu | Pinterest engineer, Infrastructure
Pinterest’s stateful online systems process tens of petabytes of data every day. As we build products and scale billions of Pins to 150 million people, we need new applications that work in a way where computation co-locates with data. That’s why we adopted RocksDB. It’s adaptable, supports basic and advanced database operations with high performance and meets the majority of requirements for building large-scale, production-strength distributed stateful services. Yet two critical pieces were missing for us: real-time data replication and cluster management for RocksDB-based stateful services. To fill this gap, we built a RocksDB replicator–Rocksplicator–a cluster management library, as well as tools for RocksDB-based stateful services. Today we’re open-sourcing the project on GitHub for all RocksDB users.
Before we dive into Rocksplicator, let’s first see three examples where this technology helps engineering teams at Pinterest.
1. Powering ranking systems with machine learning
Personalized machine learning models rank Pin candidates so Pinners discover relevant ideas to their interests and tastes. We extract features from several KB of data to compute the relevance between a person and a Pin. For every Pin recommendation, our scoring system computes tens of thousands of relevance scores between a set of candidate Pins and a Pinner. Previously, we used a stateless ranking system that pulled required data through the network. But as we grew, network bandwidth consumption increased dramatically and high service latency became a pain point of the core Pinterest system. To solve these problems, we built a stateful ranking system to co-locate computation with data and greatly improved network bandwidth consumption and service latency.
2. Online event tracking system
So Pinners don’t see duplicate Pins, we take into consideration each Pin someone sees and how many times they see it (in case we want to do soft deduplication). To maintain impression events in real-time and support online queries for months of data, it’d be inefficient to use a traditional standalone database with a Read-Modify-Write model. Instead, we co-locate computation with data so the Read-Modify-Write kind of application logic happens as the data node end merges.
3. Analytics system
Our analytics system has a broad range of use cases, such as ads reporting and A/B test result reporting, and supports time series counters and time series application-specific data structures like HyperLogLog. Each data point stored in the system has multiple client optionally specified tags used for arbitrary aggregations and breakdowns. To answer a single client request, an analytics system usually scans hundreds of MB of data, and the eventual response returned to client is often very small. This makes it challenging (if not impossible) to build a large-scale, efficient analytics system without co-locating computation with data.
Adopting RocksDB
Before introducing RocksDB into our technical stack, we had MySQL, HBase and Redis running as storage systems. For this new group of applications, we decided to not use any of these systems for a few reasons. For MySQL, it’s difficult to co-locate computation with data. With HBase, we had challenges developing complex logic through its co-processor framework, and it has long tail serving latency. For Redis, its replication feature didn’t have the best reliability at scale.
RocksDB gave us an embeddable persistent key-value store for fast storage. As mentioned earlier, RocksDB is adaptable, supports basic and advanced database operations with high performance. And while we found the majority of our production needs were met, we built a RocksDB replicator, cluster management library and tools for RocksDB based stateful services.
Rocksplicator
Design decisions
Rocksplicator was implemented in modern C++, and we made the following technical decisions as we designed it.
Async Master-Slave replication only
Besides Master-Slave replication, an alternative way of doing data replication is employing a consensus algorithm. A consensus algorithm-based solution achieves better write reliability and stronger data consistency guarantee, but usually has lower write throughput. Our applications are perfectly fine with the data consistency model provided by async master-slave replication. We also recognized the challenge of implementing a one hundred percent correct high performance consensus algorithm with limited time and resources, so our RocksDB replicator only supports async Master-Slave replication.
Replicating multiple RocksDB instances in one process
A typical stateful service process hosts multiple shards which makes it easier to expand cluster capacity or redistribute uneven workload. RocksDB allows multiple RocksDB instances to be embedded into one process, and the data stored in them is isolated between instances. We conveniently use a physical RocksDB instance to model a logical DB shard, so the library should replicate multiple RocksDB instances in parallel.
Master/slave role at RocksDB instance level
Instead of services processes, we assign master/slave roles to RocksDB instances. This allows us to mix master and slave shards on each host of a cluster so hardware resources can be fully utilized for the entire cluster.
Work reactively
The Rocksplicator library needs to be robust and performant, so we limited its responsibility scope. It provides two APIs, one for adding a DB to replicate and the other for removing a DB from the library to stop replication. The library only does data replication and isn’t responsible for other tasks such as determining the topology of replication graph or replication role for each shard. These tasks are handled separately by the cluster management library and tools, which we’ll cover later.
Optimize for low replication latency
We minimized the delay between the moment an update is applied to its master and the moment the same update is applied to all slave(s). This reduces the time window for potential data loss if there’s a system crash.
Implementation
To exchange RocksDB updates, replicators need to talk to each other across networks. We employ async fbthrift server and client for this task.
Typically, a persistent log of all updates applied to the master is needed to replicate updates among a set of replicas. Each update in the log should be tagged with a global unique ascending sequence number so master/slaves know the next updates to be sent/requested. This is a non-trivial task, especially when moving master role from one host to another comes into the picture. After verifying a set of properties of RocksDB WAL sequence number, we decided to use RocksDB WAL as the persistent log and RocksDB sequence number as the global replication sequence number. What we verified includes:
RocksDB WAL sequence number always starts with 0 for a newly created DB
It increases by one for every update applied
It’s preserved during DB close/open or DB backup/restore
RocksDB provides two convenient APIs, GetLatestSequenceNumber() and GetUpdatesSince(). These APIs allow us to use its WAL sequence number for data replication. By reusing RocksDB WAL, we minimized the performance penalty that could have been introduced by an additional persistent layer. Essentially, the write throughput is bounded by RocksDB write throughput.
Hybrid pull- and push-based replication
Broadly, there are two data replication models, pull-based and push-based models.
For pull-based models, each slave periodically checks its latest local sequence number and requests its master for new updates since that. For push-based models, the master tracks the latest sequence numbers for all slaves and proactively sends data to them whenever it has newer updates. A pull-based model is simpler to implement, while push-based has lower replication latency. We employed a hybrid approach to achieve both simplicity and lower latency. In our implementation, the master doesn’t track slaves’ latest sequence numbers. Instead, it serves replicate requests from slaves. If there are no new updates after the sequence number specified in the slave’s request, the master holds the request for a configurable amount of time before sending back an empty response to the slave. Whenever the master receives a new write, it fulfills currently held requests immediately. Note the slave side replicate request timeout value has to be larger than the waiting timeout used by the master. Both timeout values are defined within the replicator library, so it’s easily enforced.
Data replicating workflow
Figures 1, 2 and 3 demonstrate replicator internal workflows for different scenarios. Rocksplicator runs an internal fbthrift server to handle replicate requests from remote slaves. It also has a small worker thread pool to do CPU intensive work and to make blocking calls to RocksDB. These blocking calls include getting the latest sequence number from a local slave, applying new updates to it and getting updates after a specific sequence number from a local Master.
Figure 1 shows the workflow for replicating data to slaves. For every local slave, the worker thread pool repeatedly does step 1 through 4. The delay between step 2 and 3 can be large (the remote master may not have the requested data at the moment), so async fbthrift client is used.
Figure 2 shows the workflow for handling a replicate request for data currently available.
Figure 3 shows the workflow for handling a replicate request for data currently unavailable. When the worker thread learns the requested data isn’t available at step 4, it will register for notification when new update to the corresponding DB is available. Once a new write is applied to DB1, a worker thread (can be any thread in the worker thread pool) will activate immediately to fetch the new update from DB1 and pass it to the fbthrift server for sending back to the remote slave.
Common system architecture
We’re using Rocksplicator in several production systems. Each shares the same architecture as depicted in Figure 4. The grey box is a service process which has several embedded RocksDB instances, a RocksDB replicator, admin logic and application logic. All green components are libraries or tools built in-house at Pinterest. The black components are third party open-source libraries or systems. The red box is application-specific logic. If we need to build a new RocksDB-based stateful service, we implement the red application part and don’t need to handle the most complex work of building a distributed stateful service such as data replication and cluster management (like expand/shrink cluster, move shards, failover masters, etc.).
The admin library manages the life cycles of all local RocksDB instances. It loads the cluster config from ZooKeeper when the process first starts, in which the cluster shard mapping is stored. It also receives admin commands from the admin tools to open/close/backup/restore local RocksDB instances, or to change the roles or upstream network addresses for local RocksDB instances. Every time the application logic needs to access RocksDB, it will first get a DB handler from the admin library and then use the handler to read/write the corresponding DB.
Open-sourcing Rocksplicator
We’re open-sourcing Rocksplicator on GitHub and including all the green components in Figure 4. It has a set of tools and libraries, including:
RocksDB replicator (a library for RocksDB real-time data replication)
Cluster management library and tools for RocksDB replicator-based stateful services
An example counter service that demonstrates how to use RocksDB replicator and cluster management library
A set of other libraries such as async fbthrift client pool, fbthrift request router, concurrent ratelimiter, a stat library for maintaining and reporting server stats and more.
We hope you find Rocksplicator as useful as we do. We can’t wait to see new ideas from the community. Together we can make RocksDB data replication better for everyone.
Acknowledgements: The contributors to this project include Shu Zhang, Jian Fang and Bo Liu. | https://medium.com/pinterest-engineering/open-sourcing-rocksplicator-a-real-time-rocksdb-data-replicator-558cd3847a9d | ['Pinterest Engineering'] | 2017-02-21 20:35:25.159000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Rocksdb', 'Open Source', 'Database', 'Infrastructure'] |
Pierde-te. Cu puțină atenție, vei avea șansa să te găsești. | Artisan of words and thoughts. Dedicated in designing a sense of style through ideas meant to illustrate the good and the inspiring beauty in the world. 💜 | https://medium.com/@dianatrnvn/pierde-te-cu-pu%C8%9Bin%C4%83-aten%C8%9Bie-vei-avea-%C8%99ansa-s%C4%83-te-g%C4%83se%C8%99ti-41307c212d8d | ['Diana T.'] | 2020-12-15 14:14:43.509000+00:00 | ['Passion', 'Digital Nomad Lifestyle', 'Freedom', 'Motorcycle'] |
Coldplay Viva La Vida Chords | [Intro]
C D G Em x2
[Verse 1]
Em C D
I used to rule the world
G Em
Seas would rise when I gave the word
C D
Now in the morning I sleep alone
G Em
Sweep the streets I used to own
[Interlude]
C D G Em x2
[Verse 2]
Em C D
I used to roll the dice
G Em
Feel the fear in my enemy’s eyes
C D
Listen as the crowd would sing:
G Em
“Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!”
Em C D
One minute I held the key
G Em
Next the walls were closed on me
C D
And I discovered that my castles stand
G Em
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand
[Chorus]
C D
I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
G Em
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
C D
Be my mirror, my sword, and shield
G Em
My missionaries in a foreign field
C D
For some reason I can’t explain
G Em C D
Once you go there was never, never an honest word
Bm Em
That was when I ruled the world
[Interlude]
C D G Em x2
[Verse 3]
Em C D
It was the wicked and wild wind
G Em
Blew down the doors to let me in.
C D
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
G Em
People couldn’t believe what I’d become
Em C D
Revolutionaries wait
G Em
For my head on a silver plate
C D
Just a puppet on a lonely string
G Em
Oh who would ever want to be king?
[Chorus]
C D
I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
G Em
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
C D
Be my mirror, my sword, and shield
G Em
My missionaries in a foreign field
C D
For some reason I can’t explain
G Em
I know Saint Peter won’t call my name ,
C D
never an honest word
Bm Em
But that was when I ruled the world
[Interlude]
C Em x3
D x2
C D G Em x2
(Ohhhhh Ohhh Ohhh)
[Chorus]
C D
I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
G Em
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
C D
Be my mirror, my sword, and shield
G Em
My missionaries in a foreign field
C D
For some reason I can’t explain
G Em
I know Saint Peter won’t call my name ,
C D
never an honest word
Bm Em
But that was when I ruled the world
[Outro]
C D Bm Em
Oooooh Oooooh Oooooh x2 | https://medium.com/@puttri-cittra/coldplay-viva-la-vida-chords-c2700e6ad8ba | ['Puttri Cittra'] | 2020-12-16 07:42:42.695000+00:00 | ['SEO', 'News', 'Music', 'Videos', 'Love'] |
“You Shall Make A Parapet”: Facing our Fears | Rabbi Sara Mason-Barkin, 9.13.19
Parashat Ki Teitzei
Congregation Beth Israel, Scottsdale, Arizona
Shortly after our family moved to Arizona, I posted a picture on facebook of our kids eating lunch in the backyard after a Sunday morning swim. They were, of course, adorable, holding up their sandwiches, still dripping from the pool while sitting at their little kid sized table. I added caption that said something like ‘loving our new AZ life!’ I received two distinct kinds of comments. Category A, mostly smile emojis and phrases like ‘cute kids!’ Category B came from their grandparents and my friend who is a pediatrician: ‘where is the pool fence!? Please install ASAP!!’
Of course, they were right — and while we already had an appointment scheduled with the pool fence guy for the following week, the future appointment would not prevent an incident in the present. And, now, a year later, everyone can relax as the pool has been well fenced since last July, about 5 days after the picture was taken, and the kids have been in weekly swim lessons since our arrival. We also have a special out-of-reach doorknob to get out to the backyard, and clear rules that the kids know to respect. You can all exhale, everyone is doing just fine.
However, it’s in our nature to worry. I always tell my kids that my number one job is to keep them healthy and safe — even when they aren’t happy about it. And the same goes for every job that I’ve ever had working with children, and adults for that matter: health and safety — the Jewish value of briut — is always the first priority.
And this isn’t even modern coddling or helicopter mom-ing — it’s right there in the Torah, found in this week’s parasha. Ki Teitzei includes a long list of rules describing family dynamics, daily living, and intimate relationships also includes this first mention of building codes:
Ki tivneh bayit chadash v’asita m’a’keh l’ganecha,
v’lo-tasim lamim b’veitecha ki-yipol hanofeil mimenu.
When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof,
so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house if anyone should fall from it.[1]
The crenellated parapet on a bastion of Kyrenia Castle, Cyprus
In other words, when building a home, especially one with an attractive flat roof or a balcony perfect for picnics or sunbathing — make sure you install a parapet –a protective wall, or perhaps a fence, or at the very least a railing. Because if someone falls off that roof, the guilt — and the blame — will lie with you.
This is a biblical example of our instinct to stay safe. We don’t need to be taught to protect ourselves and our loved ones from danger, and we don’t seek to put others in harm’s way. We all remember that the Torah also teaches us not to ‘place a stumbling block before the blind.’[2] It is in our nature when danger is imminent — and even when it isn’t — to protect the value of health and safety, of briut.
At the end of August, in the days leading up to Hurricane Dorian, Florida declared a state of emergency. First responders delivered sandbags in several counties. Residents prepared their own evacuation routes, or made arrangements to shelter-in-place with stocked cabinets of bottled water, batteries, and non-perishable food. In Jacksonville, bridges closed. Emergency shelters opened.[3] In the end, the impact of Hurricane Dorian in the continental United States was limited. In some ways, the ‘parapet’ that was built, or the protection measures that were put in place worked: for the most part, people were able to find their way to safety. They were also lucky.
When the hurricane touched down, the greatest impact was not in the US, but in the Bahamas where the storm was destructive — including catastrophic damage to homes, a flooded airport, buildings swept away and a death toll that is still on the rise. No matter how many sandbags were provided, or how many shelters were open, it was not possible to implement adequate protection from the storm. It is not always possible to build the wall high enough or make the fence strong enough to prevent every danger.
Some dangers catch us off guard. Taking our breath away, changing our lives.This week we remembered September 11th, 2001. It’s hard to believe that it was 18 years ago when we felt this tangible shift in our sense of safety. The day before the attacks, on September 10th we were comfortable in public spaces. By September 12th, once we had seen the news and understood what had happened, we learned just how vulnerable we are to the unknown and unanticipated. When there are those who seek destruction, there is always a way around, over, or through even the most sturdy parapets.
Everyone who remembers 9/11 remembers where they were when the towers fell. We remember the first images that we saw, the moment we understood this new reality. And we also have the story of the days that followed, and how we coped with our fear.
I was living in Boston at the time, a student at Brandeis University. I was scheduled to fly out of Logan airport just a few days later to be home in Chicago for Rosh Hashanah. The planes had departed from Logan airport. In my youth and in my grief and in my fear, I cancelled my trip. This was how I installed my first parapet: Rational or not, a part of me believed that if I didn’t fly, I would be safe. But eventually that became impractical, I had to go back to Chicago sometime. So I installed my second parapet: I refused to fly out of Logan, choosing instead to drive an extra hour in order to fly out of Providence, Rhode Island. I wasn’t the only one who developed a new flying routine: TSA protocols changed. No more meeting people at the gate. Stricter rules regarding carry-on luggage. After another incident we all were instructed to remove our shoes at security. More fences. More rules. More parapets. More structures in place to keep us safe all the while acknowledging: we are vulnerable.
At the core of our very humanity is the recognition that we can’t protect ourselves from every unseen danger. We can eat healthfully and still get sick. We can look both ways before crossing the street and still get hit. We can prepare for the storm and still be in the path of the hurricane. We can take every precaution, uphold our commitment to briut, build every parapet and follow every rule: but no fence can make us immortal. Life is still uncertain.
This is the essence of the prayer that we say on the High Holy Days — Unetaneh Tokef — when we wonder out loud ‘who shall live and who shall die, who shall reach the ripeness of old age and who shall not.’ The prayer acknowledges plainly and clearly — that we are vulnerable. That we are human. That we are mortal.
And it also seeks to offer us a nechemta, a comforting thought: that return to the right path, prayer and righteous giving — u’teshuvah, u’tfillah, u’tzedakah, ma’avirin et roah ha’gzeirah. We can soften the severity of this inevitable ending.’
When we think back to the most difficult moments we have encountered as a community, these words ring true. After the devastating floods in Houston and damaging fires in California, this community brought in tremendous tzedakah to help those in need. After the horrific tragedy at the Tree of Life congregation in Squirrel Hill last October, we gathered in prayer, for t’fillah, with words of comfort and the embrace of one another. And in just a few very short weeks we will come together for the Days of Awe, for the purpose of t’shuvah, reflecting on the ways our commitment to a good and holy path will help us to endure what comes in the year ahead.
The month of Elul ticks forward towards the month of Tishrei. And every year now, for the last 18 years, this passage and coincidence of time encompasses the message of 9/11. The words ‘never forget’ ring in our ears this time of year.
I noticed this week that the stories that we tell from 9/11, and the stories that we tell from the floods or fires or any of our own countless personal tragedies -are most often not the stories of the tragedies themselves — but the hopeful stories of people being their best selves on our darkest, most vulnerable days.
When we say ‘never forget,’ what we mean is never to forget the stories of t’shuvah — the ways people changed for the better. We mean to ‘never forget’ the stories of t’fillah, the way communities came together. And we mean the stories of tzedakah, the ways that people gave what they had emotionally, financially, and spiritually to help those in need.
Each of these: t’fillah, t’shuvah, tzedakah — these are our parapets. These three things are the raw materials we need to build structures and systems for protection. This is how we cope with the severity of the inevitable. This is how we keep ourselves from being paralyzed by our very real, very human, very beautiful vulnerability.
We build this parapet — not for protection, but for connection. Return to the right path, prayer, and righteous giving won’t keep us from an unexpected slip off an unprotected roof, but they can help us grasp hands, and move together away from edge of our fear. | https://medium.com/rabbinic-writing/you-shall-make-a-parapet-facing-our-fears-549bdb9602bf | ['Rabbi Sara Mason-Barkin'] | 2019-10-13 23:26:02.258000+00:00 | ['Fear', 'Teshuvah', 'High Holidays', 'Prayer', 'Unetaneh Tokef'] |
How My A-Level Results Were Determined by an Algorithm | How My A-Level Results Were Determined by an Algorithm
And how many students in the UK left school with worse grades than they deserved.
Choosing the right path through education is one of the most important decisions you will make when it comes to your career. At 5-years old, you start primary school, which is the beginning of a 13-year experience that will essentially help you decide which route you would like to take in life. Along the way, you have to sit in many exam halls to prove how good you are at a certain subject, and to impress those in your future industry.
Exams are one of the biggest stresses in a teenager’s life, as the results will decide whether or not you can start Sixth Form, whether you can get into your university of choice, or whether you can apply for certain jobs. Students spend hours revising subjects and finding new methods to store information so they can leave school with the best grades to their names.
However, the end of 18-years of compulsory education ended slightly different for me, and thousands of other students. The most important results from our 13-year school journey were simply generated by an algorithm. This article is going to take a look at why this is, and how it has affected us.
Photo by Ivan Aleksic on Unsplash
When did it start?
We start this story at the end of March 2020. I’m sat in my Business Studies class with my friends, not doing any work at all. Instead, my teacher is explaining to us about how a lockdown is going to happen — which had everyone immediately wondering what would happen with our exams in two months time. ‘Will we still be sitting exams? Will we still need to revise?’ we were all asking. But, the teachers were only able to do were say ‘We don’t know. We’ll have to wait for tomorrow’s announcement’. It was a strange day, as nobody really knew what they were supposed to be doing.
The next day, it was announced that exams had been cancelled, and the teachers told us that we didn’t have to complete homework, coursework (apart from a few subjects) or do revision — exams were off. This was a rather bizarre situation for me at the time as I was in a rhythm of revising, and suddenly we just had to stop. Little did we know, this was going to be the longest summer holiday we had ever had.
However, it was also a huge weight off my shoulders to find out that exams were cancelled. When it comes to learning, coursework is my preferred style of assessment, as I find that I can sometimes be great in the exam hall, and sometimes be not-so-great. Though, I would have preferred to sit the exams as I was rapidly improving in my subjects during revision season. Regardless, everyone was wondering what would be happening with their grades, myself included. | https://medium.com/the-innovation/how-my-a-level-results-were-determined-by-an-algorithm-acd6caae374b | ['Joe Mccormick'] | 2020-08-20 19:48:31.610000+00:00 | ['Education', 'A Level', 'Work', 'Life', 'Schools'] |
Maths Club: From Circles to Approaching Squares | Photo by Roman Mager on Unsplash
Monday was the final meeting of maths club before Christmas, we explored the graphs of equations of circles, going into the realm of analyzing equations x⁴ +y⁴ = 1 and x³ +y³ = 1.
The Unit Circle
The unit circle is a circle of unit radius centered at the origin in the Cartesian plane. It is represented by the equation x² + y² = 1. Knowledge of transformations allow us to plot circle equations of the form (x – k)² + (y – h)² = r².
Photo by Matheo JBT on Unsplash
Sketching x⁴ + y⁴ = 1
If we know that the curve x² + y² = 1 is a unit circle, can we sketch the curve x⁴ +y⁴ = 1 using this information? And what happens as the powers become bigger even integers?
One skill for sketching unfamiliar functions is to consider the intercepts on both axes. Substituting x = 0 gives us y-intercepts at x = 1 and x = -1, and likewise, putting y = 0 gives us x-intercepts at y = 1 and y = -1. Looking at our unit circle, we know that our new curve intersects with the circle at both axes.
Rearranging equations into forms with y as the subject can help us further understand the behaviour of graphs. In this case, we can show that for our new equation, y = ±(1 - x⁴)^(1/4) and the unit circle can be rearranged into y = ±(1 - x²)^(1/2). Algebraically, we can start with the inequality x⁴ - x² ≤ 0 and prove that y = ±(1 - x⁴)^(1/4) is greater than or equal to y = ±(1 - x²)^(1/2) for -1 ≤ x ≤ 1, meaning the unit circle is bounded by our new equation.
Unit Circle bounded by our new equation
Try playing around with different even integer powers and observe the behavior of the graphs. What happens when the powers are 100 or even 1000? It looks like the curve is becoming a square as the powers increase to higher even integers. Interestingly, if you actually zoom in on the graphs and look at the corners, you will notice that it’s in fact a rounded shape and the corners are smooth. And that is true no matter how big the powers are, the graph will never become a square.
Image by ladyeleanor from Pixabay
Unfolding the Mystery
In general, the graph x^(2k) +y^(2k) = 1 for integers k are differentiable at every single point. In mathematics analysis, our equation is said to be smooth. And since a square has sharp corners, similar to the absolute value function f(x) = |x|, it’s not differentiable at point x = 0. Intuitively, you can’t draw a tangent at a corner like you do at a point on a curve. And because non-differentiable curves can only be generated using special mathematical operators like the modulus sign, our equation that consists of polynomials alone does not have sharp corners and therefore cannot become a square.
x¹⁰⁰ + y¹⁰⁰ =1
Sketching x³ + y³ = 1
What about the graph of x³ + y³ =1. Notice the equations discussed above all have even integer powers. And it should be noted that the main difference between x³ + y³ =1 and x² + y² = 1 is that the former is a function because for every for every y value, there is only one corresponding x value, whereas the latter is an equation since for every y value, there is more than one corresponding x value.
Rearranging the equation gives us y = (1 - x³)^(1/3) and we find that the curve crosses points (0,1) and (1,0) by evaluating the intercepts on both axes. And it putting 0≤ x ≤ 1 gives us a similar shape of a circle in the first quadrant. Now, to sketch other parts of the curve, let’s consider what happens when x approaches ±infinity. In our newly arranged form y = ±(1 — x³)^(1/3), as x approaches a bigger and bigger value, the effect of 1 becomes negligible and treat the equation as y ≈ (x³)^(1/3), which is simply y = -x. And we have successfully found the oblique asymptote of our function. On the graph, the curve will approach the line y = -x for both positive and negative x values.
curve approaching y = -x for extreme values of x
Asymptotes in a Nutshell
Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash
For most people the idea of asymptotes is introduced when learning about the reciprocal functions like f(x) = 1/x. The domain is all real numbers except for 0. Division by 0 is a common theme in functions involving asymptotes. And an oblique asymptote mentioned above can be found by putting extreme values of x to evaluate the behavior of the graph.
Oblique asymptotes are like your really good friends; you can cross them, but you’ll stay close in the end. | https://medium.com/swlh/maths-club-from-circles-to-approaching-squares-5eceb17b11ab | ['Barry Leung'] | 2020-12-30 21:10:52.510000+00:00 | ['Math', 'Function', 'Education', 'Mathematics', 'Graph'] |
Designing for Transformational Change | Originally published for Exco Partners: https://excopartners.com/2020/04/22/designing-a-transformational-change
For an organisation to be able to deliver transformational change, thorough careful consideration and preparation are needed in the design of the change program itself. Simply picking a delivery methodology and a technology platform is not enough. A successful and truly transformative change program needs as much consideration into the how as the what. Yet the how it is often overlooked or neglected with leaders simple stating “we will be using agile” or creating an org chart and assuming everyone will just work it out.
In this article, I describe three important steps I have learned are critical in establishing a high performing digital transformation program. The intent is not to undervalue other important activities such as technology decisions, make a theological stance on methodology or take away from other important and foundational change management activities; it is intended simply to highlight that these things alone are not enough.
People Design:
Your transformation program will likely start up at pace with lots of new people who have never worked together before, from different backgrounds and with different skill sets.
People will be seconded from within the business who will likely be experts in their domain but will not have experience in managing large change programs. You will also likely have an environment with multiple vendors, suppliers and teams, each with best intentions but early on will often spending more time “grabbing land” and “chest-beating” than getting on with the job.
People Design looks to address how to align and organise the people in the program team and the broader organisation to deliver the right focus, organisational priorities, leadership, outcome, behaviours, role clarity and support for performance. It specifically looks to accelerate the program through the forming, storming and norming stages that, while unavoidable, can be managed.
Some key considerations in the people design:
Engage the cultural business leaders, create business ownership and buy-in . This is an important change management technique that most change frameworks agree on. A good example of this is Kotter foundational change model here. The building advocacy within the business groups to break down pockets of resistance and create a sense of unity in what the program team is building toward for the business users.
. This is an important change management technique that most change frameworks agree on. A good example of this is Kotter foundational change model here. The building advocacy within the business groups to break down pockets of resistance and create a sense of unity in what the program team is building toward for the business users. Clearly define roles, accountability and responsibilities for everyone. There have been a lot of studies on high performing teams and they tend to agree on this point. An example of a study from Google here. Being clear on the roles, responsibilities and purpose is important, not only for individuals but also for the team. It particularly helps to navigate quickly through the forming, norming and storming stages and all teams will transverse but some for a longer period than they should.
There have been a lot of studies on high performing teams and they tend to agree on this point. An example of a study from Google here. Being clear on the roles, responsibilities and purpose is important, not only for individuals but also for the team. It particularly helps to navigate quickly through the forming, norming and storming stages and all teams will transverse but some for a longer period than they should. Align suppliers and vendor roles to protect the interests of the principal (client). The principal-agency problem (or Agency Theory) is a well-documented description of the conflict an agent (vendor or project team) has in balancing their own interest while representing a principal (client, business, shareholders). When vendors and third-party organisations are engaged in your program, despite best intentions, this will inevitably happen and must be designed for. The effect can also happen with internal project teams.
(client). The principal-agency problem (or Agency Theory) is a well-documented description of the conflict an agent (vendor or project team) has in balancing their own interest while representing a principal (client, business, shareholders). When vendors and third-party organisations are engaged in your program, despite best intentions, this will inevitably happen and must be designed for. The effect can also happen with internal project teams. Invest in skills, both short and long-term. Ensuring people have the right skills will be a big factor in the success of the program. This includes the people who will be fundamentally involved in delivering the change and also the people who will be encumbered with the change when the program is over. This also goes beyond simply skills uplift like training, it also means investing in being able to free key people up from their day-to-day job so they can focus on delivering the change.
Ensuring people have the right skills will be a big factor in the success of the program. This includes the people who will be fundamentally involved in delivering the change and also the people who will be encumbered with the change when the program is over. This also goes beyond simply skills uplift like training, it also means investing in being able to free key people up from their day-to-day job so they can focus on delivering the change. Use the right people for the right jobs. Set people up to be successful and to deliver their best. Consideration should be given to being deliberate with who plays what role in the program so both the program and the individual can be successful. Your best sale person, for example, may not be a good choice to run a workstream. The skills and traits that make a salesperson successful in sales are not always the same traits that are needed in a leadership role on a change program, despite a wealth of subject matter expertise or their position in the organisation structure.
Set people up to be successful and to deliver their best. Consideration should be given to being deliberate with who plays what role in the program so both the program and the individual can be successful. Your best sale person, for example, may not be a good choice to run a workstream. The skills and traits that make a salesperson successful in sales are not always the same traits that are needed in a leadership role on a change program, despite a wealth of subject matter expertise or their position in the organisation structure. Support governance and consistency without bureaucracy. Governance will be required. Difficult decisions will need to get made, things will go wrong, changes will need to be accommodated, the investment returns will need to be measured and the underlying business will need to continue. Making sure the program governance structure is fit for purpose is important. Fit for purpose means the appropriate checks and balances are in place to protect the business/shareholder investment without a level of bureaucracy that would otherwise stifle leadership, energy and innovation within the broader project team.
Information Design:
We work in the information age and much of what we do in digital change programs is about managing information technology solutions. The information created by a transformation program itself, however, is just as critical to design for as the solution the change will ultimately deliver.
As the team comes together, clarify on where to get information, how information is created, why it exists and how it is used to facilitate the delivery of the program is important for efficient and effective communication and alignment on purpose.
While the days of heavyweight bureaucratic methodologies are behind us, what has also been left behind is a common language of the information required to enable change. A definition of user stories and a kanban is most certainly not enough to help a team navigate the ocean of information and decisions that need to be understood in a large scale organisational change delivering change beyond just technology.
Some key considerations:
Ensure everyone understands how information is connected throughout the program and their own role in the information life-cycle . This aims to provide clarity to all on the purpose of information and how it will facilitate the program outcomes. Your project will consist of different groups of people with different skills, objectives and producing different outcomes yet they must all come together to deliver the change as a whole. Understanding how the business case informs the service design which informs the technology architecture, change and communications plan, dependency plan, training needs analysis, user stories, work instructions and so on is important so your team can truly understand their individual contribution and how the component parts of will make the whole. People are uncomfortable with uncertainty. Helping everyone to see the program information architecture as a whole can reduce friction, lift collaboration and refine alignment to make sure the metaphoric jigsaw will really fit together at the end. Spend the time to develop an information architecture for your program and publish it for everyone to see.
. This aims to provide clarity to all on the purpose of information and how it will facilitate the program outcomes. Your project will consist of different groups of people with different skills, objectives and producing different outcomes yet they must all come together to deliver the change as a whole. Understanding how the business case informs the service design which informs the technology architecture, change and communications plan, dependency plan, training needs analysis, user stories, work instructions and so on is important so your team can truly understand their individual contribution and how the component parts of will make the whole. People are uncomfortable with uncertainty. Helping everyone to see the program as a whole can reduce friction, lift collaboration and refine alignment to make sure the metaphoric jigsaw will really fit together at the end. Spend the time to develop an information architecture for your program and publish it for everyone to see. Make information available and accessible. Your program will develop an enormous amount of information yet if people can’t find it and access it, it might as well not exist at all. This can lead to duplication, missed dependencies, errors, rumours, frustrations and all sorts of confusion.
Your program will develop an enormous amount of information yet if people can’t find it and access it, it might as well not exist at all. This can lead to duplication, missed dependencies, errors, rumours, frustrations and all sorts of confusion. Capture information in discrete artefacts that can be finished and published. Controversial I know. A trend with technology folk has been to capture information on a wiki, never really finishing a document or recording it as done. While this is fine for sharing some types of information within a small team, in a large change program, where information needs to be shared between multiple teams of varying disciplines, this is not a good approach. No-one ever really knows if the information is correct and is similar in effect to not having information available and accessible. The discipline of publishing small discrete documents and artefacts drive a discipline, understanding and appreciation of the importance of sharing accurate information with a broader team. Many artifacts will continue to evolve throughout the life of the project but this need not stop publishing regular reversions. These concepts will seem obvious in any construction or engineering industry but in information technology and business transformation domains, our side of software source code, the concepts have become often foreign or at least forgotten.
Controversial I know. A trend with technology folk has been to capture information on a wiki, never really finishing a document or recording it as done. While this is fine for sharing some types of information within a small team, in a large change program, where information needs to be shared between multiple teams of varying disciplines, this is not a good approach. No-one ever really knows if the information is correct and is similar in effect to not having information available and accessible. The discipline of publishing small discrete documents and artefacts drive a discipline, understanding and appreciation of the importance of sharing accurate information with a broader team. Many artifacts will continue to evolve throughout the life of the project but this need not stop publishing regular reversions. These concepts will seem obvious in any construction or engineering industry but in information technology and business transformation domains, our side of software source code, the concepts have become often foreign or at least forgotten. Don’t duplicate information, avoid waste. While building out discrete publishable and finished artefacts is important, it is also important not to burden this process by creating unnecessarily complex and heavy artefacts. Don’t repeat sections across multiple documents, don’t waste time filling documents with information that is not needed or is better served in another document. I don’t subscribe to each document needing to ‘live on its own’; it is the programs information architecture as a whole that needs to make sense collectively. Keep each individual artefact clean, clear and pure of purpose.
While building out discrete publishable and finished artefacts is important, it is also important not to burden this process by creating unnecessarily complex and heavy artefacts. Don’t repeat sections across multiple documents, don’t waste time filling documents with information that is not needed or is better served in another document. I don’t subscribe to each document needing to ‘live on its own’; it is the programs information architecture as a whole that needs to make sense collectively. Keep each individual artefact clean, clear and pure of purpose. Make governance of information valuable, simple. Most agree that bureaucracy stifles innovation and fortunately, the days of heavyweight governance frameworks and processes are behind us. Consideration should, however, be given to finding a balance as with a large workforce, forming quickly and executing fast, some guide rails will be invaluable to drive consistency, quality and ultimately success.
Interaction Design:
Out of the gate, it is important to define the interaction design as being far more than choosing agile vs waterfall. The interaction design defines how work and information flow between people, how stakeholders will stay informed and engaged, how decisions get made and how progress is tracked.
The interaction design will help clarify how you will empower teams to work together to implement truly transformational change.
A common theme in digital transformation is to simply re-platform the core technology systems. This aligns with the thinking that digital transformation is all about the technology. It’s not, you can read more in an interesting HBR paper here. Implementing old processes in a new system is not transformative, that’s just a systems upgrade, yet it is an inevitable outcome when the program is structured and oriented to do so.
Simply picking a delivery methodology is certainly part of this design but alone it is not enough. As mentioned in the opening, a successful and truly transformative change need as much consideration into the how as the what. This part of the how describes how information is shared within and outside of the project, what the hand-off points will be with team members and between teams, how the information will feed delivery execution activities and continuous improvement. It considers what cadence information will be shared, to which groups and to what purpose. It will consider how the program will transition through various phases and will provide a stake in the ground from which individual project teams can find their own groove. It will be the playbook for the program as a whole.
For example, how will a service design or process re-engineering team be empowered to define truly transformational process change without defining solution requirements that a software delivery team can’t possibly build within the allocated time and budget? Similarly, how does a software delivery team build our the solution using ‘out-of-the-box’ configuration so that is it supportable and maintainable? How will one stream prioritise conflicting requirements from different stakeholder groups? How is progress, accountability and ultimately success measured? How will the people at all levels in and around the program stay inform aligned and true to the program purpose and objectives?
None of these problems is new and many solutions exist to address them but a single unified multi-disciplinary approach does not exist for business and digital change. Many assume there is a unified approach and we have all heard people quote how their last project did it properly, or make ridiculous statements like ’this isn’t true agile’. The fact is projects are hard, they are typically unique and bespoke solutions and will most certainly be bringing people together with very different ideas of what is the right “way”. The most important thing is to define “away”, educate people about that “way”, continue to improve the “way” and don’t assume the “way” is a given and inherently understood. A balance, of course, will be required so as to give teams within the program the autonomy to find their own groove while guiding them toward a common purpose and rhythm.
Thorough consideration must be given to how the component parts will all fit together and the role the program and project management leaders take in establishing this interaction design will be crucial.
Side note, if you are running a project(s), particularly in the form of a large transformation program, it will need project management. The project can support agility and flexibility and use Agile methods to manage the work tasks but the discipline of managing the project and program as a whole cannot be neglected. The topic for another discussion.
Conclusion
Delivering change that transforms business across all aspects of business operation is hard. Someone once told me that if you find it easy, you are likely not doing it well. This article has discussed the consideration needed to design for the change as much as designing the change itself. In summary: | https://medium.com/@benlaughlin/designing-for-transformational-change-d3c323aaface | ['Ben Laughlin'] | 2020-12-15 02:44:42.218000+00:00 | ['Change Management', 'Design', 'Transformation'] |
Orwellian times or nah? | I just watched V for Vendetta for the thousandth time. I used to be so stirred up by it and I guess I like to periodically check if this feeling endures. What feeling you ask? Dejection that muddles my sense of comfort whenever I evaluate the state of the world.
Living in an age of surveillance where Robert, the robo vacuum cleaner could spy on you whilst ‘lifting up your crumbs and dusting off your pet hair’ speaks volumes about our technological inroads. Robert’s cousin, Roomba, has been well documented to do some ‘mole’ work from time to time, because apparently that is just an unavoidable reality of the internet of things, if you are not tech savvy.
If Siri and Cortana are your thing just remember they could allow their respective operating systems to listen in to what you say. Typing is after all so 2005(I don’t know why I just typed this), and summoning Alexa to do stuff is so much easier. Having strangers possibly collect data about the outline of your home while your consent is not forthcoming is a little unnerving, so much so, going off-grid is starting to shape up to be a more desirable option.
I like that the movie touched on themes similar to our pharmaceutical company paranoia which have led many to believe Bill Gates et al are probably going to profit from their philanthropy(or are already), what with everything that is going on with the corona virus. Conspiracy theories aside, is being outraged by profitable philanthropy that ludicrous?
To put it lightly, it is weird that the downtrodden are used as cappers for the rich. Economic despair garners ‘help’ that girdles the poor into an enclosure of neocolonialism so tight only a few will escape unscathed, and when they do they will sing songs of the wonders of meritocracy, and how the rest of society’s failure to make it is their fault.
Are we crazy to be weirded out by audacious wealth gaps, racism, homophobia, patriarchy and fascism?
My favorite scene in the movie is the part where Evey is tortured out of her fear and not because I think torture is great. In retrospect that scene idealised violence and made it seem like a key to overcoming fear(that I don’t like). I just thought it was great how someone’s toilet paper letter inspired her to unmask her convictions, and inspired her to decide to not be cowardly. The power of words and ideas, nothing new there of course, but still — never gets old.
My Christian friend says these are the end times. Sounds a tad too pessimistic for me, but are these Orwellian times? I don’t think so. As I typed this, I was not huddled in a cold bunker situated in a grey obviously totalitarian state(where ‘The Sacred War’ by the Alexandrov Red Army Choir plays on a continuous loop) and where the government is beguiled by brutalist architecture. This preceding imagery of course, being how The West wants the rest of us to imagine oppression, in order to for us to fear socialism, and to have us all feel safe underneath their drapes of depraved despotism.
I didn’t feel like clicking on ‘publish’ would condemn me to a life on the run, because this piece might upset ‘authorities’. It could also mean maybe those in power have evolved to create environments that feel so innocuous, ecosystems that can deal with dissenting voices quietly will be born. Or this could be a case of ignorance is bliss or me just believing I am not important enough or something to that effect.
The very idea that one group can can have absolute power over others indefinitely is to me the stuff of fairy-tales, and maybe worst of all why people give up on fighting for what is just.
I think my credo is shaped by my absolute refusal of any ideology that wants me to believe harmful social ills will pervade perpetually. I don’t think the human spirit at its core can be caged, at least not forever(I don’t even care that this is based on my own romanticised conjecture). This I think is the essence of the movie and why I think maybe we haven’t reached a dystopia-level type of entropy. | https://medium.com/@anwveialbdi/orwellian-times-or-nah-66ea81ad4a55 | [] | 2021-02-20 07:07:02.660000+00:00 | ['Ideas', 'Orwellian', 'V For Vendetta', 'Covid 19', '2020'] |
Chaos Engineering: A Shift in Mindset | 👉 This article has moved and is now available here. | https://medium.com/production-ready/chaos-engineering-a-shift-in-mindset-d8fbfc8c5dc2 | ['Mathias Lafeldt'] | 2019-04-20 12:41:14.783000+00:00 | ['Resilience', 'Testing', 'Chaos Engineering'] |
Causes,Symptoms and Precautions of Heart Attack | World Heart Day is celebrated every year on 29th September. It is an attempt to make people aware of the health of the heart. Heart attack is a common disease today. According to the latest statistics, people between the age of 30 to 40 have started getting heart-related diseases. Stress is believed to be the cause of heart attack. People are not able to remain alert for their health in the run of life. Due to this, people are getting affected by diseases related to different lifestyles. This is the reason that World Heart Day is celebrated on 29th September every year to spread awareness among people about heart diseases. In many cases, cases of heart attack while sleeping were also observed. In such a situation, it is important to know what to do when a heart attack occurs. What is the first step to take after a heart attack. For this, it is important to understand the symptoms of heart attack.
Symptoms of Heart Attack :
Often, people start smoking, taking sleeping medicines or drinking alcohol etc. These habits further promote heart diseases.
In the event of a heart attack, it is important that you recognize the symptoms of heart attack and get first aid.
Every time symptoms of heart attack do not complain of difficulty in breathing, chest tightness, chest cramps, breathlessness and sudden sweating.
Nowadays cases of ‘silent’ heart attack are being seen. No symptoms are seen in silent heart attack.
If you are wondering what a silent heart attack is, let us tell you. About half the cases of heart attack are ‘silent’, which greatly increases the risk of death.
is, let us tell you. About half the cases of heart attack are ‘silent’, which greatly increases the risk of death. You should take necessary precautions from your side to avoid heart attack. So let us tell you what are those things that you can keep in mind and reduce the risk of heart attack.
Causes of Heart Attack & Ways to avoid an attack :
Stress can affect heart health :
Stress can prove to be very bad for your heart. But we all have made a habit of taking stress on very small things in our lives. But if you want to make your heart healthy or want to avoid heart diseases, then avoid taking stress. Most cases of heart attack are due to stress. Stress affects your body in many ways. It affects heartbeat and functioning. To avoid this, you can exercise.
Keep cholesterol under control :
Cholesterol is not good for your heart. Yes, cholesterol can cause clotting in blood. In a survey that came out some time ago, it was found that about 50 percent women living in India are affected by high levels of cholesterol. Increased cholesterol levels may increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). In fact, an increased level of cholesterol increases the risk of heart attack. Therefore, include such things in your diet that are helpful in keeping cholesterol under control.
Change Your Lifestyle :
The lifestyle that most people are adopting today is taking them towards diseases like heart diseases and diabetes. Heart attack can also be called a lifestyle gift. Because by adopting an active lifestyle, you can avoid it to a great extent.
High blood pressure or diabetes can increase the risk of heart diseases :
High blood pressure or Diabetes can also be the cause of heart attack. High BP affects your veins and it also affects the heart. Not only this, high blood pressure also affects the arteries, which can increase the risk of heart attack.
Obesity can be dangerous for the heart :
Obesity or too much weight can also call for a heart attack. Increased body weight is dangerous for the heart. Keep an eye on weight as it increases the chances of high cholesterol, which can lead to diabetes, risk of arterial disease and blood pressure. Also keep an eye on BMI (Body Mass Index) and maintain it to the appropriate level.
Healthy food habits for Healthy Heart : | https://medium.com/@aghosh897/causes-symptoms-and-precautions-of-heart-attack-a27fb1492ec8 | ['Aritra Ghosh'] | 2020-05-12 15:25:57.214000+00:00 | ['Symptoms', 'Heart Attack', 'Blogger', 'Treatment', 'Heart'] |
Custom Object Detection using TensorFlow — (From Scratch) | Image by Author (Harshil, 2020)
In this tutorial, we’re going to create and train our own face mask detector using a pre-trained SSD MobileNet V2 model.
First we will create our own image dataset and later we will see how to train a Custom Model for Object Detection (Local and Google Colab!)
1. Installation
1.1 Tensorflow
Install Tensorflow using the following command:
$ pip install tensorflow or pip install tensorflow==1.15
If you have a GPU that you can use with Tensorflow:
$ pip install tensorflow-gpu
1.2 Other dependencies
$ pip install pillow Cython lxml jupyter matplotlib
Install protobuf using Homebrew (you can learn more about Homebrew here)
$ brew install protobuf
For protobuf installation on other OS, follow the instructions here.
1.3 Clone the Tensorflow models repository
In this tutorial, we’re going to use resources in the Tensorflow models repository. Since it does not come with the Tensorflow installation, we need to clone it from their Github repo:
First change into the Tensorflow directory:
# For example: ~/anaconda/envs/<your_env_name>/lib/python3.6/site-packages/tensorflow$ cd <path_to_your_tensorflow_installation>
Clone the Tensorflow models repository:
$ git clone https://github.com/tensorflow/models.git
From this point on, this directory will be referred to as the models directory
1.4 Setting up the environment
Every time you start a new terminal window to work with the pre-trained models, it is important to compile Protobuf and change your PYTHONPATH .
Run the following from your terminal:
$ cd <path_to_your_tensorflow_installation>/models/research/$ protoc object_detection/protos/*.proto --python_out=.$ export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:`pwd`:`pwd`/slim
Run a quick test to confirm that the Object Detection API is working properly:
$ python object_detection/builders/model_builder_test.py
2. Images
For Dataset images I am using face masks Images, You can use your own dataset images or download it from google. For that enable fatkun batch download extension in google. Download bulk images and remove unwanted images from downloaded folder.
Image by Author (Harshil, 2020)
Now go to tensorflow object_Detection directory and delete the data folder. Create a new empty data folder, ‘training’ folder, ‘images’ folder.
Now in images folder create 2 new empty folder ‘test, ‘train’. It will look something like this. Copy the images you downloaded and paste into models>research>object_detection>images
object_detection
├── data
|
├── training
|
├── images
| ├── test
| ├── train
| ├── ...
2.1 Image Labeling
Now to label images clone — https://github.com/tzutalin/labelImg repo, go to the anaconda cmd prompt and cd to labelImg path
C:\Users\path\labelImg> python labelImg.py
if you are getting any error in running the cmd, pip install lxml. Once the labelimg window is opened, select open dir and save dir to images folder in object_detection.
Screenshot by Author (Harshil, 2020)
Now use W to crop image and label your image, and save it with the same name of img into images folder. Same way crop and label all images. If you have more than 1 label make sure you can name it differently. Make sure you get img and xml file with same name(no space).
Now that you have label all the images, copy 10% of images and xml files into test and rest into train.
object_detection
├── images
├── test
| ├── cmimage1.jpg
| ├── cmimage1.xml
├── cmimage2.jpg
| ├── cmimage2.xml
├── train
| ├── ...
xml to csv python by author (Harshil, 2020)
now make xml_to_csv.py file and paste above code into it. Make file path in models>research>object_detection. Now make a new file generatetfrecord and paste below code into it.
Tfreorcrd python by Author(Harshil, 2020)
Now replace label and num on obj for your model. Now open conda cmd and cd to models/research/object_detection and run-
path/object_detection> python xml_to_csv.py
Now 2 files will be created into your data folder. Open both the files and check the labels and number of images into it.
2.2 Generate_tfrecord
Now that you have generated csv files, now cd/ to dir.
Commands by Author(Harshil, 2020)
If you got any error check the file names and dir for the images. Once you successfully run both cmds you will get 2 .record file into data folder. That's it for part one, if you have generated .record file you are doing great. Make sure you use proper version, file name, and dir. path for the project.
I have added some imp files in this repo — https://github.com/its-harshil/tensorflow-custom-objectdetection | https://levelup.gitconnected.com/custom-object-detection-using-tensorflow-part-1-from-scratch-41114cd2b403 | ['Harshil Patel'] | 2021-03-02 00:29:55.572000+00:00 | ['Model', 'Python', 'Machine Learning', 'TensorFlow', 'Object Detection'] |
How Social Media Changes the World | That’s my story. The point of this whole storytelling is social media matters. Your existence in social media matters. In fact, your existence in social media affects your real life. I’ll elaborate that with another story (please don’t be bored and judgemental, okay?).
My sister and I have been using dating app for a few months. It’s the last resort to hopelessly find the one, or at least someone (this is getting embarrassing). She and I have our own success, with her being 95% successful while me being 5% (I’m okay, don’t mind me). Anyway, the thing with dating app is everyone is not to be trusted. You have to be skeptical. I’m actually a positive thinker but in this case I’d love to stalk some people rather than getting fooled.
Stalking is the only way to do background check on people we don’t know anything about. When stalking, what’s the first thing you do? Yes, Google. But because everyone is generally normal people, there’s no news article or business website writing about them, right? Or Wikipedia. Or Forbes website (keep dreaming). So, the result is mostly from social media; Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
When you don’t have them, your existence is questioned. Why doesn’t he/she have any social media? Is he/she a real person? Is he/she really a [insert college name] student? Is he/she really a [insert company name] employee? Everything becomes too suspicious just because you don’t sign up to some shit. Well, it’s like your social media existence = your real life.
I, at times, because of my Instagram presence that’s barely alive, feel like I’m suspicious in some way. That’s what social media does. When you don’t get enough likes, you question yourself. When you don’t receive any birthday wishes from anyone’s Instagram story, you question yourself. But there’s nothing wrong with you. It’s just… how social media works and benefits from you. You should watch The Social Dilemma if you haven’t for elaboration, but I will give you a hint. You don’t get enough likes > you post more > social media benefits more.
The Era of Social Justice
That being said, social media rules the world. Everyone with an internet connection has at least one (except my mom, of course). In social media, everyone is allowed to say anything (except what’s forbidden by UU ITE, please beware). Everyone has a say.
Ever wonder why people are getting offended easily nowadays? Why are social norms so tight now? Why do people pay attention to social justice and inclusivity now more than ever? Why now? I once had no idea at all. But then I’m starting to figure out why.
In the U.S. this year alone, there are at least two brands (as far as I know) which make rebranding effort because of their logos’ association with slavery; Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben’s. I mean, these brands have been around for so long (133 and 77 years old respectively), so why now? I know there’s the protest this year, but it doesn’t explain why not earlier when the civil rights movement was happening?
Also, there are so many celebrities being called out and cancelled for things they did or said in the past. Tyra Banks, a judge and the creator of America’s Next Top Model, was called out recently because she dissed a contestant who wouldn’t close her tooth gap. She did in a video gone viral a little too late, and that’s 14 years later.
Jimmy Fallon, the TV host, was called out earlier this year when a video of him doing a Chris Rock impersonation on Saturday Night Live 20 years ago resurfaced because he was wearing blackface. (As you may already know, blackface is a makeup used by white people to represent a black person, and it was once used in form of mockery towards slaves.) In response, Chris Rock said of Jimmy, “He didn’t mean anything,” and “He doesn’t have a racist bone in his body.” But this doesn’t change anything because in people’s minds, Jimmy is cancelled and that’s it.
It’s funny that the thing Tyra and Jimmy did were considered normal. People weren’t mad when these episodes of ANTM and SNL aired. They weren’t mad for more than a decade. But they are now. It’s like the rage has been in the cage for so long and unleashes. Again, why now?
It’s logical if you think it’s because of the lockdown, people have much more free time, they watch old episodes, and so on. But I only give you the examples of past “wrongdoing” to emphasize the difference between social norms then and now. The MeToo movement, the Oscars new rules for Best Picture category, and the very recent statement made by The Weeknd against Grammys indicate how the world has changed no matter what.
Back then, people tend to keep everything to themselves. If anything, they will only tell people they know, which is a small circle. People with heavier weight have been subject to bullying for so long. Before social media, they only tell people they know that they don’t like being bullied. Since social media is here, people being bullied have a say. They tweet, they post, and that means it’s for the world to know that they’re being bullied.
Now the world knows that A is being bullied. B, who has been bullied too, comes to A’s defense after reading his tweet. C reads B’s tweet and admits that she was once bullied when in elementary school. D reads this and sympathizes because her sister is being bullied too. It goes on and on, until it forms a chain of conversation about bullying which is interesting for people who are being or have been bullied to engage. Imagine, without social media, it would have been impossible to gather 1,000 people having experience with bullying in a day, but social media can make it happen in an hour if not less.
This conversation not only attracts people who are being or have been or have their relatives bullied. It also attracts you, me, and so many others. Human is human, we feel for people. We care. We sympathize. So, when there’s this person who calls someone fat the next day, we remember the conversation about bullying and feel the sympathy again. We hate this person for saying such offensive thing. That’s when the phrase “body shaming” created.
It applies to everything; weight, height, race, skin, religion, culture, health, wealth, gender, etc. You may call someone crippled in the most negative tone possible at a random supermarket parking lot back in the day because he/she pisses you off. But don’t do it now, please. That person could record you saying something like, “You crippled bitch! *peep*,” post it on social media, the video going viral, and the next day you lose your job. You probably go to prison too (UU ITE is creeping). You’re not just being an ass is all I’m saying, your whole life could crumble with your shitty attitude too. | https://medium.com/@aishaadelia/how-social-media-changes-the-world-bc6b24a3ffb | ['Aisha Adelia'] | 2020-12-04 05:20:41.277000+00:00 | ['Discrimination', 'Six Degrees Of Separation', 'Social Media', 'Social Justice', 'Social Media Presence'] |
Your Trauma Didn’t Make You Gay | Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels
As I’m sitting across from my mom on the back patio of a restaurant in Boca Raton, Florida, picking at my fish tacos, she asks if I’m seeing anybody. I take a long sip of my margarita on the rocks, deciding how to answer this. I’m a bad liar and I know she’ll be able to tell right away. Plus, I want to tell her, just maybe not right now, in this exact moment, surrounded by 84-year-olds at what looks like a knockoff Harpoon Louie’s. The butterflies begin to bang against the sides of my stomach.
“Yes,” I say, smiling uncomfortably. I feel guilt for some reason.
“You are?” she asks, surprised.
“Um. I am.”
“What? Is he weird?” she asks. It’s a fair question. Literally every man I’ve ever dated up until this point was weird af.
“She’s not, no,” I say. I take another long sip of my margarita.
“It’s a girl?!” she asks, before letting out a short, shocked laugh. She can’t believe it.
Then she asks a bunch of questions about how I knew I was gay, when I knew. How could she have missed it? Does she really know me? Had I been lying to her? I assured her, she did know me, and I didn’t want to talk to her much about my sex life anyway, so aside from that, nothing had really changed. I told her I wasn’t lying, per se, and certainly not any more to her than I was to myself.
After I answered a few of her questions, she seemed to relax as the conversation went on, but I could tell something was still gnawing at her. Maybe the same thing that had gnawed at me before — but why was I gay? There had to be some sort of explanation. Was it something she did? I assured her it wasn’t. Was it because I was raped in college? When she asked this, my heart sank.
Here I was, so excited about the girl I was seeing, so thrilled to tell my mom about her, and my mom wanted to talk about my rape — as if one of the worst experiences of my life had anything to do with one of the best. I didn’t think then (and I still don’t think now) that there is any correlation whatsoever.
My mom’s question, however, is completely normal and even expected. I’ve had several friends ask me if my experiences with men — violent or abusive — have anything to do with the fact that I’m gay. I came out at what I considered then as “later in life” (I was 26, which is only “later in life” for 26-year-olds) and I think most of the people in my life were so accustomed to me being straight that they were searching for a reason as to why I was now “all of a sudden” gay — in the same way I always felt like I had to find a reason for it. People just aren’t gay. Especially women. Especially women who come out “later in life” and have dated their fair share of men. Especially me.
I know I’m not the only gay woman who has considered whether or not her sexuality, specifically her homosexuality, has anything to do with her past abuse or negative experiences with men. A lot of us contemplate this at one point or another. Being gay has been otherized so much, we assume it’s some kind of bizarre form of punishment for something we’ve experienced and survived. We pull moments from our past, overanalyze them, putting together the pieces in order to explain away our gay. Surely we can’t just be gay because being gay isn’t natural, being straight is.
But the fact is, no one has ever attributed being heterosexual to abuse or childhood trauma, only being gay. I’m still asked all the time if my rape or abuse at the hands of men made me gay and it disappoints me every time, because I love women so much and they deserve better than to be seen as just safe havens. Also, this idea perpetuates the myth that all women are safe, which they’re not, and that they aren’t abusive and they don’t ever physically and emotionally hurt people, which they do.
This mentality also assumes there’s something fundamentally wrong with us — something that requires any kind of explanation at all. Gay women — who have always been told our sexualities are unnatural, inappropriate, wrong — are constantly looking for a reason. An explanation. A diagnosis. We think there’s something amiss — why would I, of all people, be gay? I’m not like one of those natural normie gays, I must be gay because I’m damaged. My gay has to come from somewhere, doesn’t it?
But I’m here to tell you: you don’t need to solve this Rubilk’s cube. You don’t need to bend yourself into a pretzel in order to explain why you want to makeout with and fuck and date women. That’s just who you are. That’s just what you want to do. There’s nothing wrong with you. Sure, you might be damaged, but it’s got nothing to do with your urge to eat pussy. As sex writer and educator Yana Tallon-Hicks wrote for the Valley Advocate, “your sexuality… is a fluid entity that is part of who you are, not a symptom of what someone did to you.”
You’re not gay because you were raped in college or your mom didn’t pay enough attention to you when you were a kid. You’re not gay because men are, on average, louder and smellier and more violent. You’re not gay because women are the best alternative or the safest option. You’re gay because you were born with it in your bones. You’re gay for the same reason your sister or brother or cousin is straight — no fucking reason at all. | https://medium.com/mad-dyke/your-trauma-didnt-make-you-gay-7225dcac731d | ['Mad Dyke'] | 2019-08-07 18:14:10.149000+00:00 | ['Queer', 'LGBT', 'LGBTQ', 'Lesbian', 'Gay'] |
ICO: All you need to know | ICO: All you need to know
Ranchi Mall ICO
“ My passion stems from the fact that these technologies have the potential to positively impact every single human being. They have the potential to change every sector. For example, incorporating blockchain technology into the financial sector — which impacts everyone’s lives — would change the way financial bodies work and empower the common people. Systems enabled by blockchain are conducive to faster economic development as they afford freedom from the bureaucracy of current financial systems.
Blockchain, the technology behind cryptocurrencies, is backed by mathematics and not by the monopoly of a few people. Blockchain enables transparency, autonomy from external governing organisations and full privacy during a transaction. In addition, cryptocurrencies are limited in supply. This enforces their value.”
— Gautam Gupta (A blockchain, cryptocurrency and 3D printing enthusiast)
This is part of a conversation I had with Gautam about ICOs. Gautam happens to be an admirer of Ranchi Mall’s ideas & products.
What is an an ICO?
An ICO (initial coin offering) is a process startups use for raising funds. It is similar to an IPO (initial public offering) or crowdfunding. A whitepaper is written to explain the project, the amount of money required to initiate it, the quantity of tokens to be released, the amount of tokens to be kept by the creators, the medium of exchange such as legal tender money or cryptocurrency like bitcoin, the tenure of the project and, the projected returns on investment upon completion of the project. The coins are exchanged by the means established by the project creators or via an already existing IOC exchange. The money raised by the project during the initial offering is decided from the start and, if the ICO is unable to fulfil its initial required funds, the money is returned to the investors. ICOs are released into the market over a certain time frame as per the whitepaper. Investors invest in ICOs because the rate of these tokens tends to increase as they gain popularity. This brings the exponential financial benefit to investors that make cryptocurrencies a much talked about phenomenon.
2. Are ICOs risky? How is Ranchi Mall’s ICO unique?
ICO’s are risky! They are backed only by a whitepaper and not regulated by any financial authorities such as the SEC (Securities Exchange Commision). Therefore, anyone can offer an ICO no matter what their intention and what they convey to investors. The hard and painful fact is, once money is lost it cannot be recovered. Ranchi Mall is an example of a viable ICO. It’s first product, Bitcoin Bonds, was very successful. Ranchi Mall’s ICO is backed by 70% of the profit from their Bitcoin bonds The token also comprises 1% of Ranchi Mall FZE (Free Zone Enterprise) and is dynamically adding future products ensuring the increase in token value. The offering is backed by a blockchain process on the Flo Blockchain.
3. What steps should potential coin buyers take to avoid market risk when participating in an ICO?
While participating in an ICO, the investor should go through the whitepaper, join the community, get familiar with the project and look at the other products offered by the project owners, since they will provide security to the ICO. Ranchi Mall tokens are a good example of a viable ICO because its tokens are backed by the profit made by its other products. Investors should get a sense of the network’s game theory and learn to evaluate the token separately from the business model, so that they don’t get stuck holding a token that won’t appreciate, irrespective of how popular its platform gets!
Everything you always wanted to know about Ranchi Mall but were afraid to ask
1medium.com.
Questions? Suggestions?
You can write to :
[email protected] | https://medium.com/ranchimall/ico-all-you-need-to-know-d8e0ca8f334c | ['Siddharth Vikram'] | 2018-01-29 07:43:19.199000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'ICO', 'Blockchain', 'Ranchi Mall'] |
Summery Happiness | Near or far, my loved ones live in my heart (Picture taken by the author)
I miss licking the ice-cream lolly
Sucking it till it consisted
Of nothing but ice,
Sitting outside our house
On the pavement
And listening to the shouts of
Mrs. Khandelwal,
opposite our house,
who was getting angry
at her maid, yet again.
I miss going for long walks
Holding my mother’s little finger
And swinging my other arm
Fancy free and gaily,
Having to crane my neck
All the way up,
To see the eyes of Bela aunty
Who fondly tousled my hair
Every time we met.
I even miss doing the
Holiday handwriting homework,
The teacher would assign us
Without fail, every year
And we would do it
Grudgingly, cribbing daily.
I miss the phalse wala’s
Loud voice booming in the locality,
And praying for him
Every time he would pass our house,
His back soaked and bent,
And even though I thought
The phalse were sour
I would buy a packet anyway.
I miss drinking tall, cold glasses
Of pink Roohafza mixed with milk,
Willing to have them
Only after great negotiation
With my mother,
because I loathed milk.
I miss biking with my lone friend Shia,
Licking churan sticking on our fingers,
Chasing each other, yelling
Shouting out warnings to each other,
To look out for the stray dogs
Appearing out of thin air.
I miss going to Shakuntala aunty’s house
Who lived at the corner most house
Of our twenty house street,
Who told stories and gave us pistachio burfi
And laughed but no teeth shone,
Who occupied just one room
Out of the six in her house.
I miss Spotty, who appeared suddenly
One May summer evening in 1995,
Whose beautiful brown spots
On her moon white skin
Sparkled like a stream of water
Against warm sunrays,
I miss patting her bovine face
And wiping her licks off my hands,
I miss her understanding nods
At all my weaved stories
Which she listened to so
Patiently and uncomplainingly,
I miss wondering that next summer
Where she must be,
And was she missing me
As much as I missed her?
Summer now consists of
Looking at redwood trees
Outside my California home
Through my grown up eyes,
Going for a swim in the evenings
Or for a walk, alone
Smiling at strangers
Who sometimes reciprocate,
And sometimes turn down their noses
at my brown skin maybe?
Summer now is going to Starbucks
For the same old mocha drink,
That seems to fade next to the Roohafza
Of my childhood days,
It consists of me becoming
That long gone phalsewala,
Shouting from within
Hoping somebody might hear me,
But the beautiful clean America
Just passes me by.
Now I know that
Summer or life,
Is really made up of
People and family and friends,
And so what if they are
Millions of miles away,
My summery happiness is within,
Because they live in my heart.
(This poem was originally published in Women’s Era magazine in 2012.) | https://medium.com/@indianfitmom/summery-happiness-974547d383b4 | [] | 2020-11-28 20:16:08.855000+00:00 | ['Childhood', 'Summer', 'Loneliness', 'Poetry', 'Immigrants'] |
Fili-busted! | Last Time…
In the previous post, I went into a fair bit of detail about the features in the final DataFrame I used for EDA purposes. For clarity, I will only explain the eight features that I used for the regression (down from 11) in this post, but feel free to jump back if you want more information.
A few of the things I observed during my EDA:
The most frequent first name for a U.S senator is John (surprise?)
Participation of Third-Party candidates fluctuate over time, with some vanishing completely
Before incumbency, a candidate’s party matters the most
The Big Question
I will be taking these ideas forward in conjunction with my regression results to see if any further insights can be found while simultaneously addressing my initial question:
Can I predict the winner of a given U.S. Senate election using a data set scraped from Wikipedia?
Prep Time!
In order to answer this question, I needed to modify my data set for use in a regression model. There are a lot of great resources for data cleaning best practices (such as this post by Omar Elgabry) but I will share some of the things I needed to do for this project:
Fill missing values (handled during data assembly)
Group party membership before encoding (handled during data assembly)
Re-interpret “seats up” and “seat before” variables as percentages (handled during data assembly)
Create one-hot encoded categorical variables
Numerically encode election year
Filling missing values
In a very broad sense, there are two strategies to address data points with missing values: fill it or drop it. I primarily opted to either fill missing values during the cleaning process for my model because any non-essential data points were removed during my initial assembly of the data set. Just like snowflakes, every data set is different and thus there is no single strategy that will efficiently clean any data set. So make sure to spend time in exploring your data and its underlying topic as often background knowledge can be a key factor in determining the cleaning strategy for a data set!
One example of such a decision is how I decided to fill in the missing turnout values. Due some variances in the source HTML, my scraping functions left missing values in some of the elections. In total, there were 17 years that I needed to address, each year having at least one state senate election where one or more candidates are without a turnout number. My thoughts to handle them were to:
Take the closest prior and future cycle’s number and take some sort of midpoint or average
Enter a numerical placeholder such as 0, expressing the lack of data in a way that can still be used in a regression
Use the ‘ol reliable Google search for each election’s numbers and enter them individually
Against my better judgement, I took the option with the highest time and code requirement: individually filling in each value according to personal research. The reason I decided to do so was to ensure the data I had was as accurate as possible. In my prior experience, I mostly trained regression models on data sets with 10+ features, so I felt that I needed to protect the integrity of my eight features any way that I could.
I was able to take advantage of a great method for filling missing values that is available to Pandas’ DataFrames (creatively) called .fillna(). This one method was able to significantly shorten the amount of time spent coding once I retrieved the correct information from the Internet.
In words, my strategy was:
Find and collect the indices for those elections in each year that had a missing turnout value Navigate to the corresponding web page on Wikipedia to obtain the reported number (Google search if not there) Arrange these values into a nested dictionary; the outer having the years as the keys and the values being a dictionary. This inner dictionary has the indices of targeted rows for keys and their respective turnout number(s) to be filled in Put the inner dictionaries by each year as the value= parameter in the .fillna() method to assign the correct value to the right index Set the method= parameter to forward fill any missing values, entered as “ffill”. This method fills in the value from the closest row before the target row (according to the index). Changed the turnout values from strings to integers and stored the results in a dictionary for further cleaning
Here is how I implemented my strategy in the code:
Highly condensed version of code from a custom function I used in the project
The original code included more years in the year_dict than displayed above in addition to other operations being performed on each of the tables. However, the snippet above demonstrates my strategy for handling missing values in the “Turnout” column.
Getting the party started
My plan for prepping the “Party” column was very straightforward despite the variety of values included in this data set. Originally, it contains about 190 unique parties that candidates have pledged their allegiance to over the years. If I decided to one-hot encode these, I would be adding that same number of 190 to the amount of features to consider in my regression. This, in addition to potentially needing to one-hot the “State” column, would quickly lead to a sparse data set with a vast majority of zeroes.
As defined on page 6 of the Defining Data Objects developer pages from Oracle, sparse data is:
“A variable with sparse data is one in which a relatively high percentage of the variable’s cells do not contain actual data. Such ‘empty’, or NA, values take up storage space in the file”
This storage space is precious, as the more of it you can preserve the better your machine can process the data set. The same Oracle developer page recommends actively managing your data’s sparsity by “keeping analytic workspace size to a minimum” which in turn will promote good performance.
Keeping this in mind I transform the 190+ parties into encoded representation consisting of five different values. I decided how to group them based upon their representation all-time, allowing those with greater than a 5% participation rate to maintain their sovereignty; this equated to a requirement of roughly 275 candidates to make the cut.
Here’s how I coded this in:
Snippet from ‘st_mapped_cleaner’ custom function used to encode political party membership
Messing with the seating chart
Some of the tables scraped from Wikipedia included values that indicated one of two things about a given political party’s presence in U.S. Senate. I was able to know the raw count of how many seats any party either has in the senate at the beginning of the year’s election cycle or are up for election in this year’s cycle (most states do not elect both of their seats at the same time).
While these raw counts could have been used in a regression model as-is, I wanted to transform them into a standardized way that could be easily understood upon a glance. Standardizing these values would make for easier comparison across time because the United States’ senate, along with the total amount of possible seats, has grown since 1920. I ended up with these two features:
Seats_before% → The number of seats held by a party at the end of the last election cycle. Expressed as a function of number of seats held as of last cycle divided by the total seats in senate available (at that time)
→ The number of seats held by a party at the end of the last election cycle. Expressed as a function of number of seats held as of last cycle divided by the total seats in senate available (at that time) Seats_up% → How many of a party’s seats that are up for grabs in the current election year. Created as a function of total seats up divided by total seats held at the beginning of the elections
Here’s how I did it:
Feeling hot, hot, hot
My next alteration was to one-hot encode my relevant categorical variables such that they can be represented numerically and thus useful in a regression model. This is easily achievable through the use of the Pandas’ .get_dummies() method that, once called upon a DataFrame, will convert all non-numerical columns into “one-hotted” representations. It is a bit easier to see visually, so I’ll share the before and after for the columns in my modeling DataFrame.
Before:
.info() display for X data prior to one-hot encoding
After:
.info() display of X data post one-hot encoding
This time-saving method took the two categorical columns I had and spread the data accordingly across brand new columns. These new columns in essence serve as a binary representation of the original data’s form. For example, with regard to expressing a candidate’s party, every declared Socialist would have a 1 in the “Party_enc_S” column and a 0 in each of the other “Party_enc_” columns. A key detail here is lack of a column to represent Democratic party membership. This is due to a parameter available when using .get_dummies() called drop_first= . Using this parameter will help reduce redundancy in the data by causing what I like to refer an assumption.
Essentially, if you know the total number of possibilities in a given category (let’s say 8), you only need to keep as many columns as that number minus one (8–1=7). This means that for one row, if all one-hotted columns in a given category are set to 0, the model is assuming a 1 value is present in the remaining possibility not included in the columns. With respect to my project and the “Party_enc_” columns, my model would assume Democratic party membership.
Forward thinking
The last change I made to the data set prior to modeling was re-interpreting the year value as a number that can be useful in a regression model. My issue was not in the formatting, as each year is represented as a number already, but in the concept of a year as a number. Simply put, my model would not be able to interpret the number 2028 in a way that would allow it to use what it learned from the 2008 elections.
To allow for a sense of relativity comparative to now, I used the Pandas Series .map() method in conjunction with a lambda function to create an origin point from which all year values would be generated from. It was an easy choice to use 2020, as it is the year this project was made, but additionally made an even -100 to represent the oldest information I had from the 1920 elections.
Here is how I did it:
Training the Model
Now that I’ve explained some of my choices leading up to the modeling process, let’s explore how well Sci-Kit Learn’s random forest regressor was able to perform using the data set I created!
Train-Test Splitting the vote
When preparing to train a model using supervised learning, one needs to know how to evaluate and interpret that model’s performance with respect to the initial task (the big question).
One common way to do this with relative ease is through the use of the train-test split function found in Sci-Kit Learn’s “model selection” module. Keeping this post’s length in mind, there is a lot more information regarding what a train-test split is, when to use it, and some useful features the function provides in this blog post by Jason Brownlee.
In my case, I used a very simple implementation, keeping with the default parameters and setting a random state for replication’s sake.
Creation of one-hotted X data for context; train-test split on X_ohe
Now I have a mini-data set that can be used to cross-reference my model’s predictions against after the training is complete!
Picking the model
In my opinion, one of the most fun parts about machine learning is how many different ways a single task can be approached and completed. When choosing an actual supervised learning algorithm for a task, this variety continues. In my project, I created a custom function that helped to streamline a potentially time-intensive process. This function would:
Take in train-test split data (shown above)
Train one or multiple instances of a model (regressors in my case)
Make predictions using training and testing data sets
Generate and store evaluation metrics for each model in a DataFrame
Optionally display of metrics during initial generation
If you’re interested in seeing more about this function, check out this link to the actual code I used!
Keeping in mind my deadline, I decided to test six different algorithms using this function before committing to further parameter tuning. Here are my results (names were added for clarity):
Evaluation table from custom function
The table generated in by my function displays each’s models performance for both the training and test data sets. Indicated by the coefficient of determination (R-squared), the mean squared error (MSE), and it’s root variant (RMSE), I was able to get a general sense on how well each model performed during it’s trial run.
However, I ultimately was making my decision based upon which model produced the smallest RMSE value, which happened to be the random forest regressor from Sci-Kit Learn (Index 1 in image above).
Tuning it up
My next step after choosing which model to train was to see how much better I can make it’s predictions beyond the trial run. This process is better known as “hyperparameter optimization”, or simply as tuning. Wikipedia defines it as:
“…the problem of choosing a set of optimal hyperparameters for a learning algorithm.”
Additionally, they expand upon what a “hyperparameter” is with reference to machine learning:
A hyperparameter is a parameter whose value is used to control the learning process. By contrast, the values of other parameters (typically node weights) are learned.
If you’re starting to notice a pattern here, there is a variety of hyperparameter combinations one could use in a single supervised learning model. This means that there were a near, if not literally, infinite number of combinations I needed to attempt to account for when trying to improve performance past my trial run’s results. Luckily, Sci-Kit Learn is able to come to the rescue again!
The GridSearchCV function is available from their “model selection” module and makes the daunting task of hyperparameter tuning just a bit less scarier. This magical function can train a single type of model with every conceivable hyperparameter combination that you make available to it. Once this is done, it can tell you which combination performed the best based upon the metrics that you tell it to track too!
It is super easy to use too; Once I had my random forest object, I just needed to create a dictionary full of the parameters I wanted to test and the function did the rest! Here’s how I used it:
Example code setting up and fitting GridSearchCV
After the .fit() is done, the grid search object ( grid_s in my case) is now able to return the search results using various methods or attributes. Using the grid_s object from above, I was able to display my results by coding:
GridSearchCV results from code above
The above grid search did not result in the final hyperparameters I ended up using in my model, but I thought this could still illustrate the process in a general sense. After executing a number of searches, taking the “best parameters” from prior searches into account when creating the dictionary to be used in the current search.
Getting Results
At this point in a regression problem, the workload shifts from the brain and coding fingers over to the hardware buried inside the computer. To recap, I have:
Filled in missing values
One-hot encoded categorical variables
Created numerical variables
Train-test split the data
Compared multiple regression models
Conducted a grid search for optimal hyperparameters
The training begins..
Because I was using the same custom regressor testing function from earlier, I only needed to instantiate a regression object with my final hyperparameters and run it through the function with the necessary data. In addition, I generated a scatter plot of residuals for both the testing and training data sets as well as a feature importance plot to help visualize the prediction results for interpretation.
Here are my final results:
Final results table for tuned model
The final model was able to achieve (approximately) a RMSE of 10.86 and R-squared of 82.92%, a 0.64% and 0.36% improvement over the trial model respectively. Although the grid search did not yield much of an improvement, being able to model a data set scraped from Wikipedia with such a level of accuracy feels great for my first attempt at such a project.
The residuals:
Scatter plot visualizing residuals of testing data
The scatter plot of residuals helps to visualize some interesting patterns in the predictions made by my model.
For example, on the lower-left, there appears to be a group of data points that are mirrored over the blue, “true value” line. This indicates that there is a group of candidates in the data the model seemingly could not understand and therefore made a guess of some sorts. Similarly in the category of “misunderstood” candidates, there is a small group of points at the bottom-right of the graph, that were predicted to receive a low percentage of the vote despite actually netting nearly 100% of their respective turnouts.
Secondly, at the top-right in which my model simply under-predicted almost every candidate who actually received more than 70% of their respective turnout. For some reason unknown to me, the model is missing something in the underlying patterns of the input data that would allow it to place it’s predictions closer to the “true line”.
Lastly, the scatter plot shows how well my model performed with those candidates who fell into the “middle of the pack”. There is a clear, consistent grouping around the center (35%-65%), that demonstrates a solid understand on what makes a candidate fall into this range.
Taking these observations into account, if the model performed in this manner along the entire plot, my results would improve greatly. At minimum I can use them to help improve my data set for later work.
The feature importances:
Feature importance plot for final model (missing ‘Seats_before%’ = 0.77)
A huge benefit to using a Sci-Kit Learn random forest is access to the “feature importances”, which are values that represent how much influence each feature has on the regressor’s prediction. Simply put, the higher the value, the more weight each feature has in moving the needle; this does not indicate which direction the needle moves however.
Sci-Kit Learn’s website provides a warning for their importance plots:
“Warning: impurity-based feature importances can be misleading for high cardinality features (many unique values).”
Looking at the feature importances, it is clear that relatively speaking:
Being the incumbent senator has more of an effect on a candidate’s results than their party allegiance
How many seats a candidate’s party has up for election is less informative than the year itself
How many votes are cast is more informative on a candidate’s performance than how many terms they’ve served
A brief disclaimer:
Although at this time I am not sure, the feature that received the highest importance was the “Seats_before%” variable and may have been effected by this misleading behavior. It’s importance value was ~0.77, which was over 10 times higher than of the next highest value of ~0.07. Due to this, I filtered this value out of the above graph to allow for the remaining features to be shown in better detail. This is because of the nature of the values themselves; they do not indicate how much the given feature positively or negatively effects the prediction. Thus, in doing so, I wanted to be able to understand the relative importances more than the values themselves.
Are We Done Yet?
In summary, the Fili-busted! series has documented in various styles, how I took some pages from Wikipedia and used data science techniques to create a machine learning model that can be implemented for future use.
Also, as a side-effect, I learned a great deal about the U.S. Senate, it’s past elections, and former members. Voting is one of the most powerful tools people of any nation have to make a change in their government. Besides displaying a project I am proud of, I intend this work to be part of a larger project. One that can help those who want to make a change, do so.
But enough about me, if you’ve made it this far, I really appreciate your support and hope to continue to share more of my projects over time.
Links
Fili-busted!
Part 1 — A web scraping introduction
Part 2 — Web scraping multiple pages
Part 3 — Exploring the data
Link to full project | https://medium.com/@dariuslfuller/fili-busted-d19ca0fa136 | ['Darius Fuller'] | 2020-09-25 00:24:31.392000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning', 'Scikit Learn', 'Regression'] |
4 Step Guide To NYDFS 500.11 Compliance | Whistic has seen a steady uptick in questions and chatter regarding NYDFS deadlines the past few weeks. By now, you know the clock is ticking on Phase 4 of 23 NYCRR Part 500, more specifically termed 500.11 Third-Party Service Providers. There is a reason for the lead time in this section’s requirements, the first certification due for compliance is March 2020 due to the involved nature of managing third party vendors. This means that a covered entity’s policy must be in effect March 1, 2019 in order to be able to provide TSP (Third-Party Service Providers) compliance certifications 12 months down the road.
Experts have speculated NYDFS could calculate penalties according to the New York Banking Law which in a nutshell state fines of $2,500 per day during which a violation continues, $15,000 per day in the event of any reckless or unsound practice or pattern of misconduct, or $75,000 per day in the event of a knowing and willful violation. It is believed that those in violation won’t find out the degree of enforcement until they are presented with a reprimand, inclusive of any corresponding fine. Definitely nothing any business entity wants to risk experiencing firsthand.
If you have sorted through The New York State Department of Financial Services Cybersecurity Resource Center, you may still have questions as to what is required in each phase & how to quickly get compliant in time for the coming deadline. Below is a 4 Step NYDFS 500.11 Compliance Guide to assist covered entities working to comply, or to audit existing progress against by the March 1, 2019 deadline.
STEP 1: Understand Exactly What’s Required in 500.11
In-short, establish a cybersecurity risk management program (written policies & procedures) under the jurisdiction of a CISO. The monitoring of all third-party vendors must be included within these policies & procedures. Four sections are detailed in 500.11 including: (1) the identification and risk assessment of Third Party Service Providers; (2) minimum cybersecurity practices required to be met by Third Party Service Providers in order for them to do business with the Covered Entity; (3) due diligence processes used to evaluate the adequacy of cybersecurity practices of Third Party Service Providers; and (4) periodic assessment of such Third Party Service Providers based on the risk they present. Number Four expands quite a bit including access controls, encryption & warranties; certainly worth a closer look.
Similar to HIPAA, entities covered by 23 NYCRR Part 500 may be liable for breaches caused by any vendor with access to the covered entity’s systems. One thing to consider here, to be in compliance with 23 NYCRR 500, this also obligates your third-party service providers to comply.
STEP 2: Draft Your Third Party Written Policies and Procedures
Think of this step as essentially implementing Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in order for your third parties to understand, your security policies in writing. To put this simply, contemplate your ecosystem, how many vendors have access to sensitive data? Understand risk based on your vendors, namely based on how they interact with your data and let this dictate the policies you are setting and/or amending. Core sections of your SLA should include:
Information privacy
Information security
Network and data access
Threat and risk analysis
Compliance verification process
Breach disclosure reporting requirements
As part of these requirements, it’s always a good idea to check adherence to NIST (SP) 800–171 guidelines and SANS Critical Security Controls.
Be sure to check out additional useful information from industry-leading cybersecurity resources:
https://cloudsecurityalliance.org/
www.vendorsecurityalliance.org
https://sharedassessments.org/
https://www.privacyshield.gov/welcome
https://www.cisecurity.org/
STEP 3: Evaluate Your Third Parties
Now that you have your policies & procedures, it’s time to start the process of assessing vendors. Basic steps for this process include:
Review all contracts with third party relationships & amend these where necessary to incorporate the new DFS requirements.
Evaluate limiting customer or non-public data to as few third parties as possible, thus limiting your exposure.
Request third party certifications and audits
Ask tough questions about the vendor’s cybersecurity risk management program.
Understand where the data is stored, because many vendors have multiple data centers.
Have documented plans for dealing with data breaches if and when they occur.
If you are planning for scale and into future-proofing, a plan to automate ongoing Third Party Risk Management has already crossed your mind. Pro tip, get the right tool for the job when it comes to Third Party Risk Management (TPRM). Far too often businesses implement systems that don’t actually do what they need it to, wasting time, budget & resources; returning them to square one to hunt for something that actually does the work that needs to be done. Whistic is the only complete Vendor Security Platform that enables any company to both conduct & respond to security reviews.
Whistic related reading for this step:
6 Ways Compliance Teams Can Benefit From Using Whistic
How Whistic Helps Tech Companies Start Up a Vendor Risk Management Program
STEP 4: Establish Your Security Profile
Third Party Vendor Management cuts both ways in this instance, so if you are a covered entity you are likely doing business, consuming or providing data, with other covered entities; and are therefore subject to the same requirements as a third party of that company. Whistic recommends a living, breathing record of your company’s security and compliance posture that you can use to respond to inbound security reviews from your customers, prospects, regulators or partners.
This sort of Security Profile is especially helpful for financial services organizations that are highly regulated and compliance-driven. A Security Profile is not just a storage unit for security and compliance documentation, but a scalable tool that enables you to not only proactively share your security posture, but save significant time and money moving forward since this supplants the necessity to fill out a security questionnaire every time a third party sends you one.
While this may be somewhat taxing or stressful for NYFS covered entities currently, it appears they may be ahead of the curve when one considers evolving regulations rolling out at state, national, and even worldwide levels. At least 24 states have laws that address data security practices of private sector entities, which is double what it was just 2 years prior according to The National Conference of State Legislatures. | https://blog.whistic.com/4-step-guide-to-nydfs-500-11-compliance-5523ed6fab72 | [] | 2019-02-06 14:31:00.820000+00:00 | ['New York', 'Information Security', 'Risk Management', 'Cybersecurity', 'Ciso'] |
What should be the mindset before starting to learn something new? Taking the First step. | What should be the mindset before starting to learn something new? Taking the First step. AK Subodh Jun 1·2 min read
Learning always require efforts. But above all what is it that decides whether we fail or succeed? If I start learning a skill today, as an individual in this time of pandemic where any way I could contact peer is virtual, will the old ways work?
Working alone while managing the ongoing semester. Fear of imperfection. Self-assessment revealing the same poor results persistently.
Being daunted by this ever-growing void, I’m somewhere missing out the opportunities. If there’s no one to counter or compare to, then managing my own profile might work.
Almost all the resources and tutorials out there are by the people having considerate amount of experience in their field. This scenario gets reversed when we practice with our peers. They’re inexperienced and learning along with us at their pace which is beautifully challenging and exciting.
The process to attain the flow actually leads to satisfaction while sometimes watching too many people already having rehearsed access to it, leads to unnecessary comparisons and frustration, whether we accept it or not. Truth is, everyone has their individual timeline. Difference is of relativity.
Acceptance is the key.
I was unable to find anyone in my field, at my level whose growth + failure + success+ challenges I could witness and learn freely with them. Hence, deciding to record my own thought process, approach and activities for anyone in a situation like me.
I’ve fear of presenting my work. Divergent interaction between the natures of the subjects I want to pursue and the one I’m studying at college, results into chaos in maintenance of knowledge I gather.
Therefore, I’m working on developing connections between the dots. Somehow it’s easier to find topics to read but problem is too much availability of the content out there. Being a beginner, you’re a dead man the moment you dig in too deep in the first topic you find. The connections I develop definitely are based on the assumptions on the data I could find. Hence,process is based on trial-an-error.
This post is to just mark the Day1. All the plannings and challenges I plan to undertake are part of second post.
P.S: If it reaches you, I’m really happy to find you! It was surprising to find out that even a loner being like me could miss observing people from a distance. Contribution of people in our lives is significant, even if their interaction is minimum.
Happy First step! | https://medium.com/@aksubodh/what-should-be-the-mindset-before-starting-to-learn-something-new-taking-the-first-step-c5677229f8d | ['Ak Subodh'] | 2021-06-01 19:19:43.545000+00:00 | ['Productivity', 'First Post', 'Growth Mindset', 'Growth', 'Learning'] |
Confessions of a Traveler in a Pandemic | Confessions of a Traveler in a Pandemic
Photo by Guilherme Stecanella on Unsplash
I work in Cybersecurity, so since the pandemic began earlier this year, I’ve been lucky enough to be able to work remote. And fortunately, I kept my job, unlike millions of people that lost theirs.
Every year I go to Florida for Christmas to visit family. My parents moved there six years ago. Back in August, I was on the fence about whether I’d still go this year, but things seemed to be looking up and I felt okay about booking a flight. The cases were way down, hospitals were recovering from being at capacity or close to it, and I think things were finally getting better. Or maybe that’s how it seemed in my bubble I call home.
So should I go, should I not? I’ll be brutally honest, in the end my selfishness won out. I don’t mean that in a bad way, I just mean me wanting to see my family was the reason I decided to travel. With things opening again, I felt comfortable with that decision.
I’m no hermit, I definitely haven’t sequestered myself indoors like many people have chosen to do. I work from home Monday to Friday, and Saturdays and Sundays are usually spent out and about, doing my grocery shopping and whatnot.
That’s been my routine for months now, and I even frequented restaurants over the summer. I went to the beach a few times, and went hiking as well. I felt the need to continue to enjoy the outdoors as much as possible because when it gets cold I’d much rather be cozied up at home! | https://byrslf.co/confessions-of-a-traveler-in-a-pandemic-8a2af11318d2 | ['Katlyn Gallo'] | 2020-12-23 03:10:26.368000+00:00 | ['Coronavirus', 'Storytelling', 'Beyourself', 'Experience', 'Travel'] |
The cost of pursuing your passion | Photo by Joshua Sortino on Unsplash
I have heard lots of people say how much pursuing something they loved would be hard. Truth is your passion should beat the excuse barrier and find its way to the part where you can still do it even if it does not pay you back.
If you find yourself still giving an excuse, then you may not be passionate enough. The cost of pursuing your passion may be big but the cost of NOT pursuing it is higher.
Pursuing a career you hardly know about may land you into a lower-paying job for a start, but soon enough you will reap the passion and the satisfaction the change will have brought, which is the satisfaction that comes with fulfillment, doing what you love, impacting people’s lives directly or indirectly.
So what really is your excuse?
Are you willing to live that long without pursuing that which you love only to have a life full of regrets?
Is the cost too high with so much at stake? Perhaps you have a family to feed or and by taking up that lower salary that would mean giving up on some luxuries? Or perhaps it would mean late nights as you learn the ropes of a new skill?
I hear people say that there is no richer place than a graveyard because so many people die with so much untapped potential and ideas that sadly nobody ever gets to know about it.
For example, let’s take into consideration the person who wants to be a professional athlete. This person will have to put in something in order to get something in return. They will need to invest in quality running gear and then factor in the time to practice. If the person puts in 3 hours of exercise and running each day, that person will have put in over 500 hours in 6 months and 1000 hours in a year.
But still, they may not be professional athletes yet.
Another example would be the author. It takes massive amounts of time writing, editing, proofreading, and eventually publishing. It takes a lot of time, patience, and energy.
As a writer, I spend a lot of time drafting ideas, writing, reading, proofreading, and editing that I end up skipping resting time. I have a full-time job, and besides being a writer, and I enjoy pursuing other passions that I have. Am also a friend, a sister, a daughter, a girlfriend- I have to make sure I have time for all the people in my life while still eating healthy, taking 8 glasses of water every day, brushing my teeth, read the bible, pray, meditate and maintaining positive energy.
Photo by Rahul Chakraborty on Unsplash
I recently quit social media to keep up with my busy schedule and I am convinced that there is always a way to ensure we keep tabs on our goals and our passions.
Some people are lucky enough to pursue their passion full time but some us, it may take some time. And that means patience and sacrifice and burning the midnight oil sometimes.
And here is what I think, pursuing our passion may seem costly but the cost of living a mediocre life is even greater.
I mean, can you imagine how little impact you will end up having? Can you imagine living a life without a good legacy? Nobody will remember you or what you did simply because you shied away from pursuing your dreams.
I don't want to be that person and neither should you.
Calculate the cost of pursuing your passion and then be ready to pay the price, because, in comparison to missing out on living a legacy, that cost is too small to pay. | https://medium.com/@mukamikareko/the-cost-of-pursuing-your-passion-c7a056ae2b0b | ['Mukami Kareko'] | 2020-12-20 16:43:16.599000+00:00 | ['Passion', 'Dreams', 'Goals'] |
Freelancing during Lock-down | Freelancing during Lock-down
Corona virus pandemic is increasing day by day across the world. Government and health experts advise people to stay home to stay safe. So, we are kept in isolation to be alive and have to wait for things to get better. Majority of individuals around the globe have additionally experimented an effect on their livelihoods, regardless of whether in reduced working hours, varied working patterns, or losing work. Until the situation is not better, and we are stuck at home, why not to think to do something creative and to earn something to survive.
Photo by Ali Yahya on Unsplash
If you are one them and searching for an occupation and decent amount of extra money you should probably go for online freelance market to sell your skills. Give it a shot. Explore your skills and master them. It would be fun to pursue your passion as your profession. There are a lot of earning ways and websites to help you during this potential epidemic.
Freelancer is a term specified for the one who is not restricted to one employer for a long term and freelancing is a self-employed job. You can make money on hourly basis through your own selected tasks. Your portfolio is in your hands. You must be passionate for the skills you want to be paid for. So, master your skills and build some extra skills.
Photo by Headway on Unsplash
Searching for the customers is not that easy going. Marketing your work is indeed on of the most tedious tasks that you can face. Here the freelance websites come in.
Listed down are a few websites that may help you to start.
Sites offering freelance work come up with different work types and payment terms. They put employers and companies in contact with a global network of freelancers. If you are not careful, you can end up wasting time and effort on a platform with questionable standing.
Online freelance market is a big market. The number of people working in coworking spaces worldwide is predicted to grow to 2.26 million in 2020 — almost 128 times higher than the 21,000 workers in 2010. These numbers seem to be set to increase further considering that younger generations appear to be more motivated to take freelancing jobs than older generations.
If you know web developing and coding there are plenty of opportunities for you to become a freelancer. You could be a web developer and run your income. If you are a creative writer from childhood you can earn from content writing and if you are not a camera shy person and a good communicator YouTube could be the platform for you to earn in this tough time. You may go for graphic designing if you are skilled with designing techniques and may earn by offering online services in this field. Listed down are a few ways to make money during quarantine.
Web development Content creation Graphic designing Create YouTube videos Start teaching online Starting your own website or blog Virtual assistant Translation Product reviews Consulting Customer service
And if you are not a web developer nor a creative writer or a designer no worries, internet is a vast ocean with many other opportunities to earn. Find out which ones suits you best according to your interest and start with it. Just explore. You may learn some new skill to earn because now a days the one thing we have in huge amount is time.
All we need is to figure out the way to best utilize the time. Best of Luck! | https://medium.com/@khansa.anwarulhaq/freelancing-during-lock-down-6aae7d82fd7f | ['Khansa Anwar'] | 2020-05-16 11:19:06.475000+00:00 | ['Freelancing', 'Freelancers', 'Freelance', 'Freelance Writing', 'Lockdown'] |
What’s inside your Truth? | I’ve been developing my idea of what “speaking your truth” really means. Of course, you can Google this phrase and see that many people find great value in speaking their truths. But as someone who has been historically transparent, I still felt there’s a personal definition inside of me, by which I’d rather live.
My marriage is over. That’s an objective statement.
My marriage lasted less than 7 weeks. Another objective statement.
My husband created a Tinder account, and a woman reached out to me to tell me her experience of him. Again. Provable. Reliable. Facts.
But what’s my truth? First, let’s break down the questions I had to ask myself before I make my statement:
What is my goal in speaking my truth? In the past, I used to yelp like a puppy who’s paw was stepped on. Just wanting the world to know I hurt- hoping for the good humans to reach out and comfort me. But also, to expose the human who stepped on me. I’ve stopped doing that. I realized that it’s not helpful or productive to speak before processing pain. No yelping- talk with someone first. Am I activated? How do I feel in my body when I speak it? Am I in fight or flight mode, or do I feel solid in my truth? If my body is screaming “danger!” while I get ready to tell someone (who may not be emotionally safe to share with) my vulnerable truths, I may need to back out and process/co-regulate with a safer recipient of my news. Am I projecting? Am I speaking only of my experience with facts and objective understandings of what occurred in my life, or am I trying to fill in the blanks and explain the “why” of another person’s behavior? It’s not fair to the other person, to put words in their mouth or explain their experience- no matter what occurred. I’ve learned to only speak about myself and my own interpretation of what happened. After all, my goal is not character assassination. My goal is to speak freely of my experiences in life- good and bad. Am I relaying a deeper message? What’s the juice of it all? Surely it’s not the details of what happened… there’s reality TV for indulgences like that. What’s the core of your truth?
Again- these are questions I’ve just learned to ask myself along the way- after conflating truth with yelping in pain. Failing to process that pain before speaking it out into the world is a very human thing to do. But if you want to make impact with your truth, it’s best to be as intentional as possible.
My truth:
This relationship was the best relationship of my life. I’ve never felt safer.
I woke up most days with one of my first thoughts being, “Please don’t die,” as I looked at my children and my new husband and thought about how freaking magical life had become. I felt like had everything I needed.
My world is rocked, yet somehow, I feel really blessed to experience this type of betrayal. The fervor I had going into my marriage was genuine, inspiring, and I won’t forget how great he made me feel about myself.But I’m burdened by the potential grief my daughters might feel, so my life is about distracting them right now, and building my business because I feel a bit unleashed by all of this pain.
I don’t believe people are entitled to your silence when they cause so much pain. But I don’t want that to be my only message.
Pain has taught me the most in this lifetime, and the truth is, I’m grateful for it. | https://medium.com/@attractedtohealthy/whats-inside-your-truth-9c4d81f50894 | ['Brittany Taylor'] | 2020-12-27 11:42:29.053000+00:00 | ['Life Coaching', 'Self Healing', 'Truth', 'Marriage', 'Divorce'] |
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We Care About You, Now Be A Good Girl And Shut Up: On Resigning From The CDP’s Sexual Misconduct Working Group | We Care About You, Now Be A Good Girl And Shut Up: On Resigning From The CDP’s Sexual Misconduct Working Group Kate Alexandria Apr 6·18 min read
I gave notice today that I’ve resigned from my position as one of the Co-Chairs of the California Democratic Party’s A Way Forward working group, which was formed after a deal was made with the Bauman survivors to address sexual misconduct after the Bauman-era investigative report. This decision brings me no joy, and neither does writing this article, but I cannot in good conscience legitimize this group with my presence as a Bauman survivor in light of the current circumstances.
I understand that I’m going to say some things here that will piss people off or make them feel like I violated their confidence. But some of the things that have happened recently have violated my personal ethics and are valuable bits of insight to the delegates and Democratic voters of California, particularly as we come up on convention. I’m trying to balance the necessity of speaking out with the admiration I have for the intent of this project and many of the people who have labored for it. I have immense respect for a lot of people in the group, particularly the subject matter experts from outside of the political realm who have participated in it.
I have a philosophy of trying to do the most good I can relative to my social/political position. For a while, I thought that this group fit that criteria. But over the past few months and especially the past few weeks, I have realized that my participation in this group isn’t doing good — it’s doing harm to me, to other survivors, and to Democratic voters who are being actively misled about its effectiveness or the Party’s broader attitude.
There are three core reasons I’ve come to the decision to resign in protest: the ways I’ve been targeted for my recent criticism of Rusty by the group, the fact that the “reformed” investigative process this group touts is grievously failing survivors, and the broader cultural issues of the Party, including CDP Officers remaining silent on sexual harassment that they’ve been recently informed of and the Chair outright ignoring survivors. But first, I wanted to offer some brief context.
The group was formed in response to Chair Rusty Hicks making, as usual, a decision about the livelihoods of survivors without informing them or discussing it with them first. Last spring, the Bauman investigative report was finished. Rusty unilaterally, much to the surprise of me and every other survivor named or interviewed in that report, decided that it wasn’t being released. It was only after the outrage of survivors who had been blindsided by this, including myself, that we came to a decision. Because of the glaringly biased, anti-survivor law firm that chose the investigator, the report was, as one of our attorneys put it, “traumatizing.” (Shocking!) So, we all collectively agreed we didn’t want it released to the public, and instead we cultivated the idea for a working group on sexual misconduct that would be chaired, in part, by Bauman survivors. Two Bauman survivors would be part of the first five co-chairs of the group. Our broader cohort of litigants chose me and former CDP Communications Director John Vigna. In partnership with the CDP’s Executive Director, the ombudsperson, and a survivor trauma expert, we filled out the rest of the ranks and got to work.
At the outset of this, I set up strong boundaries I discussed with the other original co-chairs. This needed to be a politically neutral space — one where people were free to lobby outside of the group but wouldn’t use the group space/time/energy as a medium for political advocacy. I think that my initial push for this church-and-state neutrality made some people think that I was neutral, which, spoiler alert: I’m very much not. I’m not neutral towards the CDP. I’m not a moderate or a centrist. I’m a DSA member. I have not left the events of the California Democratic Party’s bullshit behind me — because trauma isn’t something that you “come back from,” it’s something that permanently changes you. My lack of neutrality was exactly why I knew that this approach was feasible: if I’m comfortable with other people voicing opinions or supporting people outside of the group antithetical to my values and experiences, then other people theoretically should have that same comfortability with my outside opinions. I naively viewed this as an actual turning of the page — a trap as old as time for young progressives.
I am truly sad that this was not actually a real turning of the page. Here are some of the things that have made me reach that conclusion.
Being Punished & Harassed For Criticizing The Chair
My favorite thing about the group was that Rusty was not actively involved in it. Not in our decision making, not in our conversations. Rusty, after all, had pledged to immediately fire the law firm that was terrorizing survivors two years ago, backed out of it, ghosted me as both his employee and the author of that pledge, and only followed through on that one basic tenant after being publicly pressured by delegates. He had then pulled his nonsense about the report, so it was clear to me that nothing had changed about him. (Cis straight white dude didn’t have an epiphany in less than a year? What a thrilling plot twist.) But since he wasn’t involved in the group proper, his personal failings didn’t seem to matter here — this was a space where Party resources could be used for a positive impact, where my story about the abuse and harassment and institutional betrayal from the Bauman scandal could actually matter.
I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy for me all the time. There was still a lot of dissonance that I had internally about working with the CDP at all. I left politics as soon as I settled and resigned as Digital Director in 2019. But I was willing to shoulder the triggers and annoyances that would come up, and for a while, I did.
The first major red flag was the Executive Board meeting last fall. Our group did a virtual presentation — one to a committee, one to the general body. For the general body event, we were told that we would be speaking immediately. Instead, we got to sit through 25 minutes of Rusty speaking before our presentation with no warning. An oversight? Surely, but a glaring one. Two survivors on that panel had been victimized by the CDP’s conduct very much under Rusty. We had both settled lawsuits with the Party during Rusty’s first year, and it doesn’t take more than a few seconds of introspection to realize that he might be triggering or upsetting for us. During this presentation, the group’s work was referred to as “Rusty’s vision.” This was an outright lie, not only because of Rusty’s conduct but because this group was formed at the request of survivors in response to yet another anti-survivor action by Rusty. But I went along with it and didn’t cause a fuss during the presentation. I felt used and violated afterwards, though. After E-Board, I scribbled not your pet survivor barbie on my arm in Sharpie.
I let that be the extent of my rage and swallowed up most of my disgust, eventually telling the Executive Director that, despite her consistent message of “well, those things happened in the past before I got here,” we needed to be able to discuss and honor the experiences of Bauman survivors and the continuing impact of people “from the past” on the Party. She copped to the language about “Rusty’s vision” being “over the top.” She agreed to my idea of a subgroup, an idea which never came to fruition, and the event was never brought up again.
That brings us to a few weeks ago. I asked the Chair of the Progressive Caucus if he would include questions on the Caucus’s candidate questionnaire about the Pledge that Rusty had signed and broken — inquiring if people believed that the second plank, which involved discussing who made the decision to keep Delfino Madden on and why that choice was made, should still be fulfilled. Frankly, I expected that Rusty’s response would be some vague “these issues are important to me and I will reflect on them further, I support survivors” dodging.
Rusty didn’t respond at all. Not a word. He straight up ignored the questions. And that was worth actively, loudly criticizing to me. A survivor that he took part in intentionally tormenting was doing free labor that was being called “Rusty’s vision” and he couldn’t even be bothered to bullshit an answer about his lies to her? The working group is focused on survivor-centered, trauma-informed work, but it’s overtly clear that its message was not being reflected by the Chair during this act of dismissal.
So I did criticize him for it, and I criticized the Party’s ongoing failure to have a more extensive response than simply shouldering it all on the working group — a primarily volunteer effort that meets for two hours a month in a good month. I was more than satisfied just leaving it there — he made a terrible anti-survivor decision, I criticized him for it on my own time, all good.
Within all of two hours of that op-ed getting posted, I received a text from a non-political member of the working group whom I openly admire. She said that there was a lot of shock about my article, which was interesting to me, because it’s not like I haven’t criticized Rusty before on this exact issue repeatedly. It was clear from her texts that some kind of conversation had occurred pretty immediately. Upon talking to her on the phone, it was revealed that conversation had happened between Rusty, the ombudsperson, the Executive Director, and two pro-Rusty CDP delegates in the group.
Let’s pause for that monumentally damning action. Rusty, who is not supposed to be involved in the working group, immediately intervened in it and sent people after me after I criticized him publicly on my own time once. This on its own is evidence of a fundamental structural flaw in the working group and proof that it is beholden to the political whims of the Chair.
The conversations that followed were even more upsetting. I was told that she was reaching out on the behalf of the people in that conversation because “they didn’t want me to feel ganged up on.” It doesn’t make logical sense to bring in an entirely unrelated person and brief them on it and dispatch them to me to avoid “ganging up on me.” That’s because that probably wasn’t their chief concern. They wanted someone I was close to and that I deeply admire and that wasn’t political to filter their words and demands.
Yes, demands. I was told that they felt “caught off guard” and that they had a problem with me using my title as a co-chair of the working group, though it was abundantly clear I wasn’t speaking for the group and no such rules had ever been presented before now. I was pressured over the next few days to send an email to the Executive Director, the ombudsperson, and the two CDP delegates apologizing for my behavior and offering to talk. I informed the woman they had dispatched that I was not comfortable preemptively reaching out to people who hadn’t voiced their concerns in their own words to me, because I felt like it was rife for the potential for miscommunication. I also informed her that I was not comfortable with them using her as the messenger and that she should tell the ED and anybody else involved that they should approach me directly if they wanted a conversation or new regulations. I also said that, because of the neutrality of the group, I didn’t feel like there needed to be a conversation or new regulations. Why can other members of the group publicly praise Rusty and Dan Weitzman without it becoming a group-related issue but I can’t criticize Rusty under that same logic? I closed by reiterating that I was happy to talk and listen and explain where I’m coming from and find a solution if people just reached out to me.
In response, the ED cancelled all of our meetings scheduled through convention. Previously, it had been floated that our subgroups could meet together ahead of convention, but that went out the window. I of course did not receive an email from any of them, because they don’t want to have to defend their “concerns” in writing and without the assistance of a non-political person that I look up to. Without her filter, they’d be unable to cover up the stench of “you criticized Rusty and now we’re mad.”
Since there hadn’t been any conversations, I continued the activism that I was working on. I even directly emailed Rusty and asked for answers regarding the Pledge — no response. I released a video addressed to delegates and his endorsers, asking for their intervention and for them to hold him accountable and demand he follows through on his promises or at least explains why he chose not to. The video was shared widely, and I was invited to speak on a panel with Feel The Burn OC and Me Too Survivors.
I received yet another call from the working group member that had been dispatched by Rusty. Apparently, one of those pro-Rusty delegates had seen the promotions for that panel and was upset about it. I voiced my confusion at the outreach, prompting her to assure me that she hadn’t been asked directly by anybody to make this call. I’m not sure if I believe that, particularly because other group members kept being referenced. Regardless, I was again given the line about using my title, which I actually hadn’t — someone promoting the event on their own page mentioned that I was a co-chair, and as I explained on the phone to her, I am shockingly not capable of or responsible for managing other people’s social media posts about me. I also explained that because nobody had reached out to me and no rule about using our titles outside of the group had ever been established, this still seemed off to me. I was asked to have that person — Amar Shergill, the Chair of the Progressive Caucus and perhaps the only person that’s more of a pain in the ass to Rusty than I am — take down those posts, though the event had already passed. I declined but voiced my support for the ED or someone else sending an email to the group setting guidelines for people to use their titles. I asked that it be sent to the entire group, not just the political people, because I’m sure that some of the subject matter experts in the group could inadvertently be using their titles on resumes, promotions, etc and to prevent any misunderstandings, we should all be subjected to the universal guidance.
Before that phone call wrapped, I was warned of the sinister intentions that the delegate, the woman calling me, and other political members of the group felt I was being coerced by. “‘That guy,’” as they referred to the Progressive Caucus Chair, “is using you for political purposes.” I strongly pushed back on that assertion, mostly because using me for political purposes is a bit like trying to give a cat a bath — I will scratch the fuck out of you before I let you put me in the water, as evidenced by this entire article. I explained that I had reached out to him, the questions and the op-ed were my ideas, and that I had worked with Feel The Bern OC directly to create that panel event.
This narrative is not only insulting and condescending to me, it’s steeped in disturbing and disgusting racist undertones that speak volumes about the establishment’s inner monologue: a mean radical Brown man — whose name we won’t use and we’ll dehumanize him down to That Guy — corrupted the CDP’s poor helpless docile white woman survivor trophy. She’s been such a good girl till now! What happened? Some malicious, insidious Brown man must’ve gotten into her head.
But I am not a good girl. I’m not even really a girl. And Amar isn’t the one politically manipulating people — perhaps it’s actually the person who is dispatching people to emotionally manipulate and pressure a survivor. Rusty’s projection skills really are top-notch here.
The call ended with this: “We care about you and we’re all worried for you being manipulated.”
We care about you. As long as you shut the fuck up, bend the knee, apologize to us, and don’t make Rusty look bad. The emails that would rectify their supposed concerns were never sent, because their concerns aren’t really about using titles or getting advance notice, they’re about me daring to criticize Rusty.
I have strongly criticized CDP Vice Chair Daraka Larimore-Hall for his behavior in early 2019, when he had friends call me to ask me why I wasn’t “grateful” for him and pressured my co-plaintiff to drop out of the lawsuit so it would be “just Kate.” I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that sending working group members after me to pressure me and to urge me to apologize for something I didn’t do wrong is that same flavor of corruption, intimidation, and aggression. It’s perhaps even more insidious because Rusty, the ombudsperson, and the Executive Director chose to send someone I greatly, greatly admire as the messenger. At least Daraka had the guts and communication skills to say shit mostly himself.
I was not aware my participation in this group was conditional on not publicly criticizing Rusty, and that is one of the primary factors driving my resignation.
2. Not Allowing For Past Investigations Is Antithetical To The Nature of Trauma
My second reason for resigning from the working group is that the allegedly-reformed investigative process it promotes is dangerously insufficient and antithetical to the nature of trauma — and participating in a “trauma-informed” group regardless of that fact does not sit right with me.
A staffer went public several months ago about the abhorrent misconduct she was subjected to at the Party by its HR Director. She contacted our investigative side/the ombudsperson and was told that they wouldn’t open a case because her abuse happened in 2018.
The Party that supposedly supports survivors and vigorously pushed back against Republican talking heads who attacked survivors like Dr. Blasey-Ford for “waiting too long to report” is truly basing its investigative process off of a “sorry, if it happened in the past, you’re shit out of luck” approach. Trauma is a neurobiological injury that vastly impacts your decision-making and willingness to talk about or acknowledge what happened to you. It is not uncommon at all for survivors of trauma — be it sexual, emotional, or physical — to not speak out about their experiences until months, years, or decades after the fact. Refusing to investigate past incidents — especially those that are only two years old — is an abdication of moral and political responsibility. It is a policy that flies in the face of being “trauma-informed,” and it guarantees that more incidents will be covered up or brushed aside whenever they’re “in the past.” I cannot participate in a Working Group that promotes a process so out of touch with the reality of trauma.
3. Rusty Ignores Survivors & CDP Officers Are Silent On Sexual Harassment
My third and final reason for resigning from A Way Forward is that it is abundantly clear that our work has been ineffective in reaching the top-level leadership of the Party. Rusty straight up ignoring my two-years-worth of public requests, my email, and the questions of the Progressive Caucus is a devastating indictment of the working group’s supposed survivor-centered progress. If the Chair will not even give survivors the time of day or acknowledge their existence if he doesn’t like them, then how can people trust that anything the working group does will be effective?
This broad cultural issue does not just stop with Rusty, though. Two Officers of the CDP are currently having their delegate status debated because of their vote to allow a serial predator to maintain his own status two years ago. I came forward yesterday morning to reiterate the already-publicly-available claims against CDP Controller Dan Weitzman, who participated in vile sexual harassment towards me and another female staffer in 2018 and egged Eric Bauman on in his own regard. I also had an intermediary forward irrefutable evidence of that harassment to the CDP officers.
It’s well over 24 hours later. They’ve been silent. Despite having the allegation publicly discussed and having received proof of its accuracy, every single CDP officer has been completely silent. While it’s true they’re voting on Weitzman’s delegate status in a few weeks, that vote wouldn’t have to be referenced in order for the Officers to at least say something, even something minimal. Say “these allegations are incredibly disturbing and I’m disheartened to hear about the trauma that’s been caused. We will be discussing this evidence at the hearing and beyond, and I want to be clear that I strongly condemn sexual violence and harassment.”
But they won’t. Because they’re all playing political chess and this is all happening during convention/Officer election season. And maybe, to them, that feels like doing the most good that they can relative to their positions. I would admire that if it didn’t involve stepping on survivors and allowing a very serious credible allegation to go unsupported and unanswered. I’m sure there are fears of bias motivating that hesitation, but as a friend and registered Democrat told me this morning as I described my frustration and betrayal: “y’all got other problems if condemning harassment is a bias.”
They do appear to have other problems. But in a world where publicly speaking out is met with silence because of political inconvenience and where I can’t take that evidence to the ombudsperson because, oh, that’s right, it happened all of 2.5 years ago, I am disinterested in working to gain the favor of people who apparently have bigger problems. This is my third reason for resigning.
//
I have gone around and around about this decision. Ever since that first red flag at E-Board, my friends and loved ones have tried to pull me away. They noticed it before I did, gently encouraging me or outright telling me that this wasn’t worth it and that they were concerned for how much I agonized over it. Even last fall, the people in my circle tried to tell me that no matter how hard I tried or how much I tried to act like “A Good Survivor,” one that would be palatable to them, one that could voice their opinion and maybe even influence people without appearing too aggressive or antagonistic, it would not matter.
They were right. And I was wrong. I was wrong to prop this up. I was wrong to participate in this. I was wrong to speak at E-Board and let the CDP use my image and words to legitimize this.
I’ve voiced this frustration and disillusionment to a lot of people recently. All of them in the political realm, some with malice or dubious intentions but a vast majority without, have told me to stick it out, that I have power here, that I’m making an impact on what happens to the survivors who come after me. This message, at the end of the day, distills in my head down to: but aren’t you the saint of survivors, Kate? Isn’t this what you’re committed to? Why don’t you give us some more labor? You’re femme enough, you’re soft enough, why don’t you just take the fucking hit?
I won’t take the hit because, broadly speaking, I do not have power here. I don’t. Because the person who harassed a staffer and made the decision to keep on a law firm in order to psychologically terrorize a survivor? Still at the CDP. A Chair who flat out ignores questions from survivors about the pledge he broke to create accountability for that decision and participates in hushed conversations with his working group members to harass her for it? About to get re-elected for a four-year term. The Officers who just got notified and were provided evidence of undeniable sexual harassment by the Controller? Absolutely fucking silent all of yesterday and today — same thing with a stunning majority of regional leaders, caucus chairs, and activists. The working group on sexual misconduct? Meets twice a month for one hour and actively targets people who criticize whatever administration’s in power. The supposedly reformed investigative process? Won’t take your case if it happened in the past.
I believe that the only slight power that I have here is the power that I’ve been letting them drain me of. The power of being a Bauman survivor, the first one to make a report, the one who was so loud and outspoken against the Party and Rusty originally. That is the power that they get to strip me of and wield. See, she’s on our side! The work we’re doing must be good if she’s participating in it!
I cannot truthfully reassure survivors who want to come forward that the CDP is a safe place to do so. Because even with my “power,” I’ve been degraded and targeted for coming forward recently, not even counting the intentional mental torture I was put through in 2018–2019. And if I can’t reassure them that this is a safe place, I cannot morally be part of this. If the only version of my power here is the version that the CDP has drained from my mind and body to prop up Rusty and the establishment that he protects, let this serve as my notice that I am ripping out every single IV and plug. They will get nothing from me. And maybe — just maybe — being willing to destroy what little “power” I wield here so that the California Democratic Party can’t continue to bastardize it will make something a little better for the next person who tries to do good.
I wish them better luck than I’ve had. | https://medium.com/@kfreddiea/we-care-about-you-now-be-a-good-girl-and-shut-up-on-resigning-from-the-cdps-sexual-misconduct-25724d3b6e8 | ['Kate Alexandria'] | 2021-04-06 22:55:47.361000+00:00 | ['US Politics', 'Metoo', 'California', 'Sexual Assault', 'Sexual Harassment'] |
How to Control Tilt | We’ve all done it. We ask ourselves how an idiot can stupidly win so many pots. At some point in our poker careers, we’ve thought that “it’s my turn to win” or “that donks luck is bound to run out!” Unfortunately, that’s not how poker works. Each hand is an independent event. The hands before it have no effect on how the current hand will play out. That donk is just as likely to have a monster on this hand as he did on the previous one. But suckout after suckout, bad beat after bad beat, can leave even the most talented of players letting their emotions get in the way of making correct decisions. Well, I’m here to help. I’ll give you a few pointers on how to control steaming/tilting so you can prevent yourself from being like this crazy German kid.
First, let me give you a brief explanation on how emotions work. Most people think that you experience an event (getting sucked out), you experience an emotion (anger) and then you get a physiological response (increased heart rate). There is overwhelming psychological evidence that this is actually not the case. What really happens is you experience an event (getting sucked out), get a physiological response (increased heart rate) and then your mind infers an emotion (anger). If that’s really the case, you’d expect that influencing your physiology would influence your perception of your emotion. And guess what, you’d be completely right.
There are literarily hundreds of studies that offer support. One study had some participants punch a punching bag while others just chilled and sat on a couch. All the participants later got to play a game where they could deliver a loud blast of noise to their partner if their partner messed up. The participants that punched the punching bag delivered more intense noise blasts and for longer durations. This demonstrates that a physiological response (acting angry by punching the punching bag), can have significant effects on behavior (expressing anger by delivering loud blasts of music). Another study had participants rate cartoons while holding a pencil between their teeth. One group was instructed to hold a pencil in such as a way as to create a smile, while the other group held the pencil in a way that resembled a look of disgust. The group that held the pencil in a smile position rated the cartoons as significantly funnier. The study shows that once again, a physiological reaction (facial expressions) has a profound impact on emotional experience.
Ok, now that we know that physiology influences emotions, how can we apply it? How can we decrease our natural tendency to tilt? You’ve probably guessed it by now: eliminate the physiology associated with anger and eliminate the anger itself.
So the next time you feel yourself starting to tilt here’s what you do:
Force yourself to smile.
Sit back in your chair with a relaxed posture. An angry posture (which you want to avoid at all costs) is as follows: leaning slightly forward, feet flat on the floor, fists clenched.
Control your breathing. Breathe slowly and deeply.
Don’t hit anything. Don’t slam your mouse down. Don’t act angry!
I hope some of you take this advice to heart and try it the next time you feel yourself about to tilt your hard earned money away. Good luck and may the poker gods be with you!
Notes: The study that had participants hold the pencil in their mouth to manipulate facial expression was done by Strack, Martin & Stepper in 1988. The study that had participants punch a punching bag and then play a cooperative game with a partner that they could punish with loud blasts of noise was done by Bushman, Stack, Baumeister in 1999. | https://medium.com/anskypoker/how-to-control-tilt-66a29d4050f2 | ['Michael Gugel'] | 2016-12-27 05:02:13.262000+00:00 | ['Psychology'] |
Feature Report: Robotaxi business in China | Recently, the global leading players in the Robotaxi industry have become clear.
Chinese companies in the industry are led by Baidu Apollo, Pony AI, AutoX, WeRide, and Didi, and the lead international players are Waymo and Zoox, Cruise, and Aurora, etc.
In the Robotaxi field, there are a lot more moving parts that need to be done. Currently, most of the companies are still software developing firms and provide only autonomous driving software services.
The final realization of autonomous driving still needs to adapt the software to specific hardware models. Aside from policy and technical thresholds, the cost is a key factor in the development of the Robotaxi industry: a Robotaxi may cost as low as $0.18 per mile, which is significantly lower compared to the average cost of Uber’s traditional carpool service ($1–2 per mile).
According to McKinsey’s forecast, China may be the world’s largest autonomous driving market.
By 2030, the total sales of autonomous vehicles will reach $230 billion, and the total value of the travel orders based on autonomous driving will reach $260 billion.
iResearch predicts that by 2022, the global penetration rate of autonomous driving at L1 to L5 levels will reach over 50%, and the global penetration rate of autonomous driving will increase to 70% by 2030. | https://medium.com/@techinchina/feature-report-robotaxi-business-in-china-5a58164ce880 | ['Tech In China'] | 2020-10-19 03:28:30.799000+00:00 | ['Waymo', 'Robotaxi', 'Autonomous Vehicles', 'Autonomous Cars', 'Didi'] |
Introducing AI-Powered Portfolio | How?
There are 6 steps you have to do to build your own personal AI assistant and I’ll guide you for each of the steps!
1. Install ‘Semantic Reactor’ Add-On from the G Suite Marketplace
You can simply install the add-on from here. Make sure you are using the same Google account with your Google Sheets account to install the add-on.
Semantic Reactor Page. [Screen-shotted by Author]
2. List all possible responses in Google Sheets
After you installed the Semantic Reactor add-on, you can open your google sheets and then list all of the possible responses.
Example of my possible responses. [Image by Author]
One hacky trick I can suggest you is to generate several lists of responses based on the topic.
In my case, I generated six different kinds of responses list, where one of them is a general responses list, and each of the rest of the five is specific for responses related to my professional working experiences (Traveloka, Tokopedia, Do-It, Qlue Smart City, The World Bank).
3. Start ‘Semantic Reactor’ Add-On
Once you have listed all of the possible responses, you can start the Semantic Reactor add-on.
Start the Semantic Reactor Add-On. [Image by Author]
4. Choose the ‘Local’ model and the ‘Input/Response’ rank method
As explained before, there are several pre-trained models provided by the Add-on. Here, we will choose the ‘Local’ model since it’s the same model with the one we will use in the deployment phase.
We have to choose the ‘Input/Response’ rank method because we will use this add-on for a QnA task.
Model and Rank Method Selection. [Image by Author]
5. Refine your responses based on the query given to the ‘Semantic Reactor’
Most likely, your first set of possible responses is not able to support the pre-trained model to return a suitable answer for a given query. We actually can try to do the transfer learning from the pre-trained model in our dataset.
But for this case, I think it’s wiser to refine our possible responses rather than spending our time and hardware resource to do the transfer learning. Just like as Albert Einstein said:
“Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler. “
So, you can keep refining all of the possible responses until you see the result is good enough.
Visual when the query is given. [Image by Author]
6. Embed TensorFlow-JS USE Lite model into your HTML file
Once you are confident with your list of possible responses, you can use that list in the deployment. The ‘local’ model in the Semantic Reactor is a Universal Sentence Encoder-Lite model, which is the engine we will use in the deployment.
The first thing to do is to load the TensorFlow-JS and USE module from CDN.
Then you can define functions to select the best response from the responses list, given a query.
Finally, we have to choose which function we want to use or which list of responses we want to use based on the given query. I used the keyword matching method here to choose which lists of responses we should use.
All of the main codes I used to build this personal AI assistant is based on these 3 sources:
Final Words
Photo by Recal Media on Unsplash
Congratulations for keeping up to this point! Hopefully, I can see many new AI-powered portfolios developed after this article is published.
If you love my content, please kindly follow my Medium account to get the notifications for my other future posts. In the next 3 months, I’ll also make an article series about Reinforcement Learning. You can check the first article here. | https://towardsdatascience.com/introducing-ai-powered-portfolio-4ac820fbcfeb | ['Louis Owen'] | 2020-10-13 14:30:07.404000+00:00 | ['Artificial Intelligence', 'Portfolio', 'Personal Branding', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning'] |
Writers … Pay Attention To Your Life | Gorgeous fragrant orange groves used to blanket much of Southern California, specifically Orange County and the Inland Empire. The citrus industry dominated the area, but little by little the orchards were sold as the value of the land increased and it became less lucrative to grow oranges. The packing houses became empty buildings and eventually they disappeared along with the trees.
Homes now sit where the orange groves used to grow. When my husband and I first moved to our town, this area still had privately owned groves. Every spring evening, we were enveloped in the scent of orange blossoms when we stepped out of the house. It was heavenly.
Soon, those too were sold. In the neighborhood, we still have a couple of old homes with a few acres of orange groves, but not close to the numbers we had in the past.
A few years ago, the downtown area was zoned commercial and some of the older Victorian homes along the main road were demolished when the land was purchased by corporations like McDonalds.
Most of the owners sold their homes and moved, but one family decided that they wanted to preserve their home. It was built in 1907 and was a piece of local history, so they did sell their lot, and who could blame them; I wouldn’t want to live next to a McDonalds either. But they moved their house to a new location. I don’t know if the city agreed to move the house for them, but they did move things like streetlights to make it possible for the house to make the trek across town.
I remember being on my morning walk and seeing this humongous mansion making its way to its new lot. People followed and took pictures. I think Home & Garden television was even going to have a show about it.
I am not a historical author, but I am fascinated by local history. In my last couple of novels, I’ve used the local setting as the setting for my novels. The setting fit my main character perfectly, and I was happy to be able to pull from the nostalgia of the area to create the longing for the past that the heroine needed.
Something I encourage writers to do is to pull from their everyday life and to include interesting details in their stories.
I did not use the house in my book, but I could have. The house belonged originally to a family who own the groves in much of this area. It might have made a nice little story and shown the changes over time of families selling their home and their land to developers and businesses. Though I didn’t need to include this story in my book, it remains an interesting tale that I might use in the future.
Taking Notes and Keep a File of Ideas
Writers need to be observant and take notes of what is happening around them. An insignificant event or just an interesting happening could spark an idea for a subplot or a major book.
The notes could be in form of pictures or just notes organized in electronic files. I file things away according to topics like setting and plot ideas, but I’ve also had files for unique food, hairstyles I liked, parts of conversations, quotes. Anything that might be useful or spark an idea later when I’m writing a current novel or a future novel I save or jot down or take a picture.
Think of the Big Picture
Themes are also important to stories. Authors don’t always know the theme or larger idea of their book and that’s okay. But being aware of what things represent can generate an idea for a story as well.
The movement of the Victorian Mansion and disappearance of the orange grove industry signifies many things to me. One is the loss of our industries in America, another is the chasing away of the average person and small businesses as large corporations take over, another can be the preservation of history, and so on. We might see and be attracted to a theme and be able to use an event that has happened or that we have witnesses as an example.
Details Make a Stronger Story
When I was writing That Was Then, I brought a chapter of the book to my MFA class for my classmates to read. This is what we did, we workshopped each other’s work. Anyway, of my characters, Margarita bought her father a panini maker for Christmas. The professor said, “I like that detail. I don’t know why I like it, but I like it.”
The reason he liked it was because it characterized the father and the relationship they had. He liked to cook and he cooked for her when she was a kid. It was the only caring thing he did for her. NONE of that is revealed in that book, it’s part of the backstory that comes out in another book. But it felt real. The reason it felt real was that one year, I was Christmas shopping and a couple of girls in their twenties were in the houseware department at Macy’s. One said to the other, “I guess I’ll my dad an indoor grill.” Her friend said, “For your dad?” The girl shrugged and said, “He likes to cook. And he loves steaks.”
I filed that way in my brain. Now, when I wrote the scene for my book, it was nothing like that. Instead of George Foreman indoor grill, I changed it to a panini maker. But I liked the idea of buying a guy, your dad, a kitchen appliance.
And details, even if they seem insignificant, make stories come alive. The characters feel real. If nothing else, the reader has the same reaction the girl did in real life. Why is she buying her father a kitchen appliance? It’s unique detail.
We never know, as writers what will be used and what will not. So, keeping notes and filing away everything we can for later is always a good idea. | https://medium.com/@juliaamante/writers-pay-attention-to-your-life-99a164831ddf | ['Julia Amante'] | 2020-12-23 04:16:16.950000+00:00 | ['Using Life Events', 'Writers On Writing', 'Better Writing', 'Writing Details', 'Writing Ideas'] |
How to Raise US$1.35M for Your Tech Startup During a Pandemic | A Venture Finance Academy Case Study — Introduction
A few weeks ago, in late November 2020, our founder Brad Furber travelled from his current WFH base in Basel, Switzerland to Kiev, Ukraine to produce a deep dive case study with Sam Cook.
The case study dates back to Spring 2018, when Brad met Sam at a startup conference in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Sam was pitching his media agency services to “authors and experts”, and Brad agreed to hire Sam and his team to produce some video content for Aery Advisors focused on certain venture finance matters. The videos were shot during the summer of 2018 in Warsaw, Poland. While directing some of the video sessions, which were based on Brad telling the story of his “hero’s journey” (namely, the story of an visionary entrepreneur with a big idea that could change the world if only he or she had enough capital to attract, retain and motivate the right team to build it), Sam bolted upright from his director’s chair and exclaimed: “Wow, it sounds like your telling my story!”
It started out as a simple request to help negotiate a proposed deal
Sure enough, about a year later, after Sam had moved his media agency business to Ukraine, Sam called to ask Brad to coach him through a negotiation with a non-dilutive source of capital offer that seemed almost too good to be true: upfront investment to hire developers and build a minimum viable product, in exchange for just 10% of future revenues. Brad was familiar with revenue-backed financing arrangements and, always curious about innovations in venture finance, Brad agreed to help Sam evaluate and design an appropriate deal.
[READ FULL ARTICLE ON OUR BLOG]
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Thank you! | https://medium.com/@aeryadvisors/how-to-raise-us-1-35m-for-your-tech-startup-during-a-pandemic-5270704efbb0 | ['Aery Advisors'] | 2020-12-20 13:46:31.651000+00:00 | ['Case Study', 'Preseed', 'Venture Capital', 'Startups', 'Venture'] |
From Foragers To Engineers And Beyond. | With the constant barrage of speculations everywhere on AI destroying jobs, I thought of putting out my two cents here. Cautiously being optimistic about a deeply automated AI world, I am excited, hopeful and curious about the future.
When I look back on our workforce at various points in history, I see a pattern. I see them evolving towards automation. Twelve thousand years ago, everyone on the planet was either a hunter or gatherer. Agricultural revolution changed everything. Hunter-gatherers became farmers. It continued for centuries with the workforce mostly dominated by farmers, carpenters, and others until the industrial revolution kicked in.
Fears of unemployment crept in with the discovery of electricity and the advent of the industrial revolution. New jobs with factory work appeared in the market. The workforce then learned and upgraded their skills to suit for factory work.
In the last few decades, when computers were adopted in places like banks, it triggered similar fears of unemployment. Again, the bank employees upgraded their skills and moved on. Also, new jobs appeared in the market with the job title as “Software Engineer”. And now, I see new courses in Udacity for Autonomous Car Engineer.
I see it as an evolution of the workforce from ancient foragers to farmers to factory labourers to web developers to autonomous car engineers to something else in the future. This pattern is what makes me believe that it is not just wishful thinking. Also, it is inherent in capitalist economies to continuously update its workforce to meet its ever-growing goals.
AI solutions in many fields like healthcare, manufacturing, banking, retail, hospitality are widely discussed. And it is no more fictitious to accommodate bots like Home, Alexa in our households today. As we gravitate more towards these artificial intelligence solutions, these bots would take over many mundane tasks. It’s interesting to ponder whether these solutions would address problems like unpaid work of women in households, oppression of the needy in the capitalistic world. Would these AI solutions free up humans from busy work, enabling them to cultivate or innovate new hobbies? Or would we lead busy lives forever? Sadly, In today’s ambitious world, intellectual ability is far more applauded than emotional traits like empathy. With AI replacing all the human tasks involving intelligence, would jobs requiring emotional intelligence gain importance? Would our society change to cheer compassion more than IQ?
I am ending here with some food for thought. | https://medium.com/@prabhamanepalli/from-foragers-to-engineers-and-beyond-13e5db46e395 | ['Prabha Manepalli'] | 2019-12-14 15:38:37.362000+00:00 | ['Artificial Intelligence', 'Jobs', 'Employment'] |
22 Things Big Tech Companies Know About You Right Now | You’d be surprised just how much big tech companies like Google, Facebook, Apple, Twitter and Amazon know about you.
They’re collecting information about you and your habits right now.
This information is being used to market specifically to your preferences.
Wondering just how much they know about you?
Here are 22 things they’re collecting data on.
1. Personal Information
First of all is basic information like your name, gender, birthday, contact information, etc.
If you’re on social media in any capacity, these are easy enough to dig up unless you’re using a fake name.
2. Location and Address
Most tech services make use of location tracking on smartphones.
That means where you live and your usual routes can be tracked.
This is especially useful for local businesses looking to market to customers in the area.
3. Relationship Status
Whether you’re single or married affects what’s marketed to you.
For instance, if you just got engaged, you may get ads related to weddings.
If you just got married, you may start seeing furniture and baby product ads.
4. Work Status and Income Level
Businesses want to market to people with employment or other sources of income.
Your income level will dictate the ads you see.
5. Educational Background
College graduates are more likely to have higher employment, which typically correlates to higher income — accordingly, companies are tracking your education level.
6. Ethnicity
Big tech companies track your race/ethnicity.
7. Religious and Political Beliefs
They also want to know people’s religious beliefs and political leanings.
8. Facial Recognition Data
Face ID is becoming more ubiquitous as a biometric security solution, mostly thanks to Apple.
Casinos, for example, have databases of facial recognition data to track everyone going in and out.
China is also tapping into the technology for their sophisticated public surveillance systems.
9. Financial and Banking Information
This is information you have to be really careful with since it involves your money.
There are people out there who can do bad things if your financial information is dug up.
But people do tend to enter their credit card numbers in online stores, so companies get them all the time.
10. IP Address
If you’re using a device connected to the Internet, it will be assigned a unique IP address.
As long as your IP address is known, your online activities can be tracked.
Even your device can be hacked into if you’re unlucky or not careful enough.
That’s why you have to be very careful about people knowing your IP address.
11. Communications
When you send a message or make a call online, they’re most likely archived in some way.
Instant messengers like Facebook Messenger stores your chat history.
Meanwhile, applications like Skype can store your call history as well.
12. Calendar Events
If you use a calendar app like Google Calendar, the data regarding those events is kept even after they’re over.
Companies use it to learn how you spend your time, how organized you are, and how busy you are.
13. Search History
Every time you search something on Google or other search engines, the query gets stored.
Your search history can say a lot about what things you’re interested in.
14. Media Consumed
Whatever you tend to watch on YouTube says a lot about you and your interests.
It’s especially true now since are videos on just about everything on the Internet these days.
It’s not just videos they’re tracking — they keep track of the games you play, music you listen to, books you read, etc.
15. Web Browsing History
Even if you delete your browser history, Google will still remember what websites you visited.
Not only do they know where you’ve been, but they also know how long you’ve stuck around.
They may also know where you go at what usual times, so they get your browsing habits.
16. Social Media Behavior
It’s natural nowadays for everything you do on social media to be recorded.
Whatever you like and comment in, the pages and profiles you follow, the people you block, and so on are all kept in your account’s history.
17. Purchase History
Naturally, online stores keep records of what you buy from them.
It lets you track whatever you’ve bought before so you know how much you’ve spent.
The data can also be used to advertise products you gravitate to.
18. Fitness and Health Data
Fitness trackers are everywhere now, and that fitness and health data sometimes get uploaded.
They can say much about your exercise habits, how health conscious you are, and how consistent you are with your fitness regimen.
19. Clicked Ads
Companies want to know if their ads are being clicked on.
They’re tracking those clicks, as well as the ad copy and format that caused the clicks.
20. Posts Hidden from Facebook Newsfeed
Social media platforms are interested in what posts on your feed irk you.
If a certain page tends to post content that gets blocked or hidden by a lot of people, that’s a cause for concern.
21. Devices Used
Companies are also interested in the devices you use to access the Internet.
This influences how they shape their media formats — for example, the widespread use of mobile devices has caused companies to make content and ads more mobile-friendly.
22. Voice Data
More people are now using devices like Amazon Alexa or Google home to access information and buy things.
You better believe there’s a record of your voice data, too.
This infographic from Visual Capitalist shows exactly what tech companies like Google, Facebook, Apple, Twitter, Amazon and Microsoft have admitted to collecting about you.
Courtesy of: Visual Capitalist
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About the Author
Larry Kim is the CEO of MobileMonkey — provider of the World’s Best Facebook Messenger Marketing Platform. He’s also the founder of WordStream.
You can connect with him on Facebook Messenger, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram.
Originally posted on Inc.com | https://medium.com/marketing-and-entrepreneurship/22-things-big-tech-companies-know-about-you-right-now-4b20f4987a98 | ['Larry Kim'] | 2019-02-15 10:16:01.439000+00:00 | ['Privacy', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Tech', 'Marketing', 'Startup'] |
How to Find Paid Social Media Workers | If you are ready to start, we have work for you…
If You’re An Honest, Enthusiastic Person, Confused With Silly or Unrealistic ‘make money online’ Offers and Promises of ‘Instant Riches’… Keep Reading… This Might Be Your Best Chance To Work For Yourself, Full or Part Time, From The Comfort Of Your Home, In A Business That Makes Earning An Outstanding Income An Absolute Breeze!
Thousands of companies on our Paid Social Media Workers Platform are in desperate need of trained professionals to help them manage their social media accounts…
We’ll give you the skills to get paid to help them today!
What Makes Paying Social Media Jobs So Unique and Credible? Five Distinct Qualities:
1.You Will Be Among The First To Join -this flourishing industry of professionals helping businesses globally to manage and grow their social media accounts for profit (In The U.S. Social media accounts for $107 Billion+ in annual sales and it’s Growing Everyday!) Managing accounts for these companies is an exploding opportunity- everywhere in the world.
2.There’s Is Virtually NO Competition -as there are so many clients that need this service. Think of the millions of businesses in the world that need this service to grow and develop today.
3.You’ll Be Leveraging Our Platform For A Great Income- our massive platform has 60,000 plus companies and is growing FAST-These businesses are looking for people like you to manage their social media accounts.
4.You’re Solving A MAJOR Problem faced by companies today-who need people to help with their social media groups and pages.
5.We’ve Done All The Work For You — sales, marketing, set up, ongoing training and support, It’s all here. We will give you the Hot, Qualified, Eager To Buy customers for your business. Yes, That’s Right. You Don’t Even Have To Find Your Own Clients. Just use our platform.
You don’t need any special education or background to make a life changing income at this…
As a member of Paying Social Media Jobs, you will be paid to help businesses manage their social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Full training is provided and your simple tasks will include:
Uploading images and videos for posting across different accounts
Managing groups and responding to comments
Generating more likes and shares for business posts and profiles
You can make great money from the comfort of your own home…
Forget about a gruelling daily commute.
Forget about dealing with horrible bosses or office politics.
You can simple log in remotely from any part of the world to make a great living online helping business owners grow their income using social media.
And perhaps the best part is…
Your income is unlimited…
Because it’s up to you how many people you work with…and how many projects you take on…there really is no cap on your income.
Work as little or as much as you like.
You decide on our income goals- and use your skills to hit those goals month after month.
Sound good?
All Paid Social Media Job Workers are required to go through a simple short (24 hour) training and certification process
Your application has already been approved…so we know you fit all of the main criteria. The next step is for you to go through our basic training program to learn how to effectively manage social media accounts for businesses and get the best results…so you can earn more money. The training is very short (normally 24 hours) and you can do it at your own pace.
You simply log into the members’ area and follow the training. The courses are easy to follow, so you will soon be fully trained and ready to start. There are no tests or exams. We simply need to see you have completed the online course.
Once you have completed the training, you will then be able to start making money with our platform.
LEARN MORE
We Are Currently Offering A Huge Discount On Certification For Members From India!
We charge a small fee for training and certification because it enables us to train and support you as a Paid Social Media Worker for the businesses on our platform, WITHOUT taking any cut from your earnings. You are paid directly for your work and you keep 100% of your earnings.
Your Free Gift
Your free gift here today is some free advice.
Look, if you do nothing, 30 days from today-you will be a month older and nothing more, or you could be making life-changing money in your new career as Paid Social Media Worker. You’ll be making a great living and securing your financial future for you and your family. Remember-You’re protected by our full 60-day trial with a money-back guarantee so there is NO RISK on your part. You have nothing to lose. You have everything to gain. Hit the Get Certified button below right now. | https://medium.com/@afterpage/we-need-more-paid-social-media-workers-17ceda547db7 | [] | 2021-01-10 13:00:01.544000+00:00 | ['Affiliate Marketing', 'Instagram', 'Needs Work', 'Social Media', 'Social Media Marketing'] |
5 Reasons Why the LGBTQ Community Loves Kamala Harris | With the accession of this California Senator, Joe Biden has built the very pro-equality presidential ticket in U.S. history.
After Kamala Harris confessed Joe Biden’s invitation to become his running partner, she brought on the desk a pro-LGBTQI+ governmental album which goes back to 2004, when she had been sworn in as District Attorney of San Francisco.
Check Out This Biden Harris LGBT Shirt to Support Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as the first black woman VP.
This is the most pro-equality ticket Ever, as Those five Important Indications show it in Harris’ Profession:
1. Hate Crimes Unit: As San Francisco Attorney General, at 2004, Harris created a hate crimes unit to investigate and prosecute anti-LGBTQIpreventing violence. In 2006, she coordinated a seminar to go over approaches to terminate the usage of this so-called”homosexual and transgender panic defence” — a valid approach where a defendant asserts that they acted in a nation of abusive, temporary insanity due to unwanted sexual advances. This paved the way for California to become the first country in the country to prohibit this practice in Legislation. Since U.S. Senator in 2018, Harris co-authored a statement to forbid the practice nationwide.
2. Rejection of”Kill the Gays” Proposition: Since California’s Attorney General, she promptly denied to shield Proposition 8 — a ban on marriage equality passed by popular vote in 2008. In 2013, a national court declared unconstitutional, and after another judgment from the U.S. Supreme Court had an identical impact. After union equality returned to California, Harris officiated the marriage of the few who had been plaintiffs in the instance, the very first union of the LGBTQI+ bunch performed from the nation after the choice. At 2015, she fell to certify a step to institute the death penalty for same-sex actions, better called the”Kill the Gays” initiative. Harris asked a judge to alleviate her from her responsibilities as attorney general to create continue using the legal procedure which would make it possible for the inventor of the initiative to search encouraging signatures, along with the court alongside her by announcing the proposal was unconstitutional.
3. Ally from the Senate: for a senator,’’ Harris was a staunch ally of LGBTQI+ faith, often co-sponsoring pro-equality laws and speaking out against violence confronted with trans ladies. She’s also a co-sponsor of this Equality Act. This statutory bill will amend many nondiscrimination legislation to add LGBTQI+ individuals and protect people in several regions uncovered for the date such as housing, employment, credit, education, public areas and solutions, federally financed programs, and prosecution services.
4. Presidential Platform: As a candidate for president, she called for finishing the transgender army prohibit and spiritual exemptions to anti-discrimination Legislation. Harris has also pledged to push to the alteration of policies which discriminate from LGBTQI+ people from adoption, housing and public accommodation. Harris asserted to make a White House urge for LGBTQI+ occasions, something that she will urge for the next Vice President. She vowed to place LGBTQI+ individuals in the Cabinet and best rankings if she had been elected.
5. Perfect score: In each one of the three decades since a U.S. Senator,’’ Harris has made a perfect 100 on each Rights Campaign (HRC) Congressional Scorecard. She supports efforts to stop anti-LGBTQI+ Legislation in schools. She opposes using faith for a license to discriminate. And she supports banning damaging”conversion treatment.
In sum, Kamala Harris has shown an unwavering dedication to individual rights for many LGBTQI+ individuals during her career. And she unites Joe Biden, who declared that his support of marriage equality before President Barack Obama came out in favour of this.
Biden and Harris are staunch allies and supporters of this LGBTQI+ battle, a stark comparison to this regressive and destructive policy created by Donald Trump along with Mike Pence. We shall all breathe a sigh of relief once Biden and Harris are sworn in as President and Vice President of the USA following January.
Read More: WHAT DO THE COLORS OF THE LGBT FLAG MEAN?
My Website: LGBT Blog | https://medium.com/lgbtq-community/5-reasons-why-the-lgbtq-community-loves-kamala-harris-f9d1483356d0 | [] | 2020-12-06 12:00:47.376000+00:00 | ['LGBTQ', 'LGBT'] |
Pofma legislation should only have been decided by referendum. | Pofma legislation should only have been decided by referendum. The Chief Pofma Officer should be Sylvia Lim, not K Shanmugam. | https://medium.com/@azsitu/pofma-legislation-should-only-have-been-decided-by-referendum-4128d79eb77a | ['Az Situ'] | 2020-12-23 14:41:13.724000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Singapore', 'Fake News'] |
FESSChain Launched InBlock Mobiles- India’s First Blockchain-powered Smartphones | We are so damn excited to share this elating news with all of you that in a grand event held on 22nd December 2020 FESSChain has launched InBlock- India’s first smartphone with the might of blockchain mobile phones with grand success.
The event took place in the presence of honorable political representatives of the state in Hotel Taj. They showered kind blessings on the team and appreciated the Initiative by Durga P. Tripathi to support Indian Prime Minister Mr. Modi’s call for #vocalforlocal and Make in India.
The team has also disclosed all the features of our smartphone. The most promising feature of the device is the use of blockchain technology and a replacement warranty with the phone.
Also, Our CTO told us one more promising feature- The InBlock devices can also be used as a node as well.
The Marketing head unveiled the website inblockphone.com before the guests where smartphones will be publicly available from January 1, 2021, for sale. We are already overwhelmed by the demand for the phones we are receiving via different channels.
All key persons of Our marketing partner Mether were available at the event.
The event concluded as planned with a very satisfied audience. Thanks to all of you to make the event a golden feather in our hat.
We bid a warm thanks again for your beliefs and support in FESSChain. | https://medium.com/fesschain/fesschain-launched-inblock-mobiles-indias-first-blockchain-powered-smartphone-efbfc9143c07 | ['Alok Mishra'] | 2021-01-19 15:31:32.520000+00:00 | ['IoT', 'Blockchain', 'Fesschain', 'Internet', 'Smartphones'] |
I sold my Tesla stock for WHAT?! | I sold my Tesla stock for WHAT?!
The Next Big Investment
Photo by Jamie Haughton on Unsplash
Tesla stock for me has been a gift that keeps on giving. I have made some great profits on it and I’m sure if I continue to hold Tesla stock at its current price, I will still make significant profits over the next few years. Tesla is an amazing company with a visionary chief in charge — Elon Musk. If an election for humanity’s president comes along; I will vote for him. I am of course bullish on Tesla. Yet I sold all my Tesla stock. I also sold all my other stocks. I did not have a very diversified portfolio — I only held 3 companies, Tesla, Sony and Palantir; all in profits. There might be some volatility but it seems that the worst part of economic crash is over. USA and the rest of the world is slowly opening up and the economy is receiving helicopter money from central banks as “Stimulus”. With the US elections coming up, I am expecting more volatility but I think that after elections, stocks will continue to climb regardless of the election outcome. If Trump wins, stocks will rise because of corporate tax breaks. If Biden wins, stocks will rise because of more/higher Stimulus packages. So, if this is what I believe then why am I selling my stock portfolio? Simply because I believe that I have a better investment opportunity.
Securing the profits
This year, due to the Covid-19 crash in the stock market, and some lucky timing on my part, I was able to gain significant profits in my stock portfolio by buying when the crash hit and holding these stocks until yesterday. I could be greedy and hold the stocks for a further increase in the gains but I think the time to make 2x, 3x and 4x on Tesla stock and others is gone. Perhaps my Sony stock could provide a significant gain over the next 12 months with PS5 sales but taking all this out and “actualising” the gains made in the last 9 months or so seemed like a very good idea to me. Now with the money back in my bank account, I’m sure that I am out of the risk of an unexpected market correction caused by the US elections or some other black swan event like a second lockdown.
Photo by T on Unsplash
What Next?
USA printed more than $9 trillion this year for “Stimulus”. This is more than it has printed in the last 2 centuries. To leave your money lying around in a savings account in such a case would be financially suicidal due to the impending hyper-inflation that at least the US, and most likely the EU economy is also going to suffer. Because of this creation of money out of thin air, Gold’s price has surged like never before. And I believe it will continue to rise as a hedge against inflation as well as uncertainty. But Gold is not what I have in mind as the next big investment. What I believe is the next big investments are Bitcoin and Ethereum. I believe in them so much so that they represent roughly 50% of my net worth and I have now sold my complete stock portfolio to add to these positions.
How am I so sure?
Having more than half of your eggs in one basket is certainly risky and something that I would normally be against. However, I’m not the only person thinking this. Here is a quote from legendary investor and billionaire Paul Tudor Jones:
“The best profit-maximizing strategy is to own the fastest horse… If I am forced to forecast, my bet is it will be Bitcoin.”
This is monumental, because now Bitcoin is not just some magic internet money that geeks use to buy pizza, instead it is something that WallStreet firms like Grayscale, hedge fund managers like Paul Tudor Jones and publicly traded companies like Square Inc. are putting their money in. The so called “Smart Money” is now backing Bitcoin. It is no longer considered a speculative asset. Paul Tudor Jones has come on CNBC and talk about Bitcoin. Raoul Pal has come on Yahoo Finance and talked about Bitcoin. 6 years ago you would never hear something like this. Bitcoin was thought of as a medium for criminals to bypass authorities and buy weapons anonymously, online. Now it is seen as a hedge against political crisis, sanctions and inflation. If you still don’t understand why Bitcoin is important, read this.
With trillions of $ being printed; hyperinflation is just a matter of time. If you want to preserve your wealth you have a few conventional options; Stocks, Gold, Real Estate. To me all these assets are good but are not as undervalued as the new kid on the block; Bitcoin. Which acts as a store of value and does what Gold does but only better — it is more transportable than Gold and easier to store. A few days ago $1 billion worth of Bitcoin was transferred from one account to another. Do you know what the transaction fees for this was? $3. Can you imagine Gold doing that? Can you imagine the amount of KYC your bank will ask for to perform this transfer? Can you even imagine a small bank being able to transfer this amount? (if they do fractional reserve lending this might not be possible).
Tesla went 2x, 3x, 4x, even 5x or 6x for some investors this year. Do I expect this to continue? No. I would rather invest in Bitcoin, which I believe has a chance of 10x in the next 12 months. Why do I say so? Because Bitcoin’s price changes in 4 year cycles. The last peak we had was Bitcoin at $20,000 in 2017. Before that the peak was in 2013. This is because the “halving” of Bitcoin’s mining rewards occurs every 4 years, which reduces Bitcoin’s rate of inflation and causes a pump in Bitcoin’s price. And with the way things are going, it seems highly likely that Bitcoin will reach its next peak in 2021. Conservatively, Bitcoin does at least a 10x in each 4 year cycle. In the last cycle Bitcoin went from hundreds to thousands in 2016–2017. Then went briefly to tens of thousands in late 2017. If we expect the same then Bitcoin will move from tens of thousands (which is where it is at now) up another level of magnitude to hundreds of thousands (aka above or near $100,000).
Tl;dr — I’m selling Tesla, buying Bitcoin.
My Bitcoin Buying Strategy
I have been buying Bitcoin slowly (a little bit almost everyday) since Bitcoin was at $6000 in 2018. Now it is $13,000+. If I dump all the profits I gained from stocks straight into Bitcoin it will increase my average buy-in price. As I see it, this is inevitable but instead of dumping all the profits at once, I intend to follow a similar strategy of Dollar cost averaging this amount so my risk is spread over some time rather than just 1 day. I invest a little bit of money into Bitcoin and Ethereum everyday anyway, so the only change I will make is that I will increase the amount I invest everyday. I do not want this blog post to be never-ending so I will leave out why I think Ethereum is an equally good (if not better) buy as Bitcoin for another post. Happy investing! And please make sure you read this disclaimer below: | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/i-sold-my-tesla-stock-for-what-257d3ea507ab | ['Angad Singh'] | 2020-11-02 07:01:56.900000+00:00 | ['Ethereum', 'Trading', 'Bitcoin', 'Investing', 'Tesla'] |
What Home Stereo System Is The Best 2021 | When you want to buy a home stereo the question that arises is, what home stereo system is the best in the market today. There are many home stereo systems with different features and prices. How do tell which the best for you?
The best home stereo system in the market must have easy connectivity with other devices play most music formats and is affordable to the user. It must be covered well with the manufacturer’s warranty and produces high-quality sound.
Certain things need to be addressed. The kind of stereo quality you want for your home must be first known. The second is the budget and the third is the size of the room where you will have your music. Large rooms need an elaborate system that has a number of speakers. A small room will need a more compact system with fewer speakers.
Top 8 Home Stereo System in the market 2021
Logitech Home Speaker System Bose Wave SoundTouch Music System LG CM4590 XBOOM XBOOM Bluetooth Audio System Yamaha YHT-4930UBL 5.1-Channel Home Theatre Sony All in One Stylish Micro Music Stereo System Rockville HTS56 Home Theatre System Sharp XL-BH250 Speaker System Polk T50 150-Watt Audio Home Theatre Standing Tower
Logitech Home Speaker System
Logitech Home Speaker System has speakers that produce the best sound quality for any room. It is a THX-certified machine that has to meet all the standard quality for this. The machine can connect up to two devices on its receiver and delivers 400watts of power.
With USB, RCA, and 3.5mm jack you can connect any device with it. Logitech Z623 2.1 speaker system equalizers have the ability to balance your bass and treble sound output well. It has satellite speakers that can be used in any room.
Features
Brand
Logitech
Color
Black
Speaker Type
Satellite, Subwoofer
Item Weight
18.15 Pounds
Surround Sound Channel Configuration
3.1
Bose Wave SoundTouch Music System
Bose Wave SoundTouch Music System is on top of the machines in this category. It is expensive compared to its competition but it delivers super quality sound in every room. You will stream music, play your CDs listen to the satellite radio and the old school AM/FM radio stations from this system.
The Wave SoundTouch system is elegant and delivers anything you may desire in the world of music. If you are not short of budget and want to experience what the rice experience, then this is for you.
Features
Brand
Bose
Color
Espresso Black
Speaker Type
Wireless
Model Name
738031
Control Method
Voice
LG CM4590 XBOOM XBOOM Bluetooth Audio System
LG CM4590 XBOOM XBOOM Bluetooth Audio System is a machine for a party person. It produces 700watts of sound with an Auto-Dj element that plays music in a non-stop DJ style.
It has wireless, Bluetooth, and two Bluetooth connectivity that will enable you to connect to other devices. It has a CD player so you don’t miss your favorite music from your old CDs. It has an affordable price in comparison with others. It will deliver a pumping boom of music to your room.
Features
Bluetooth connectivity
FM radio tuner
USB to USB recording
700 watts total power
Cd player
Yamaha YHT-4930UBL 5.1-Channel Home Theatre
Yamaha YHT-4930UBL 5.1-Channel Home Theatre is a complete system where you can watch your movies and stream music with ease. All the speakers are connected via Bluetooth. there is no wireless that is seen anywhere.
The home theatre system has an HDMI connection that delivers 60 frames per second of 4K video quality. It supports HDR and Dolby Vision. With YPAO technology it calibrates itself to every room that it is placed. Every room has an acoustic configuration that is different from the others.
It is able to deliver high-quality sound through its 5.1 Surround Sound. The system is affordable and delivers quality sound and movie quality using its intelligent optical design.
Features
Brand
Yamaha Audio
Color
Black
Speaker Type
Surround Sound
Item Weight
16.3 Pounds
Surround Sound Channel Configuration
5.0, 5.1
Sony All in One Stylish Micro Music Stereo System
Sony All in One Stylish Micro Music Stereo System is ideal for the office kitchen or your living room. It is completely wireless with Bluetooth connectivity. You will enjoy your music to your favorite CD collection and listen to the radio station through its receiver.
It has an output of 50 watts in a compact presentation. The system is recommended for most music lovers has is also affordable. It has a classic design that is impressive to look at.
Features
Brand
Sony
Speaker Type
Bookshelf, Computer
Mounting Type
Floor Standing
Connectivity Technology
Wireless, Bluetooth, USB, Nfc
Rockville HTS56 Home Theatre System
Rockville HTS56 Home Theatre System is budget-friendly with impressive intelligent performance. The system delivers an incredible 1000watts. It has Bluetooth connectivity with a built-in 5.1 surround sound system. The system is a good competitor in quality and reliability.
Apart from Bluetooth, it has USB RCA and headphones connectivity. It is supplied with remote control for your use. It is easy to connect it wirelessly which enables you to listen to music on all 6 speakers at once.
Features
High 1000-watts
Bluetooth connectivity
Deep bass, clear treble
Budget-friendly
5.1 surround-sound
Sharp XL-BH250 Speaker System
Sharp XL-BH250 Speaker System has USB and Bluetooth connectivity which will allow you to play CDs and listening to the radio easily. It has 5 disc micro self and 40 EQ presets. It is compactly built without occupying a lot of space.
The remote control allows you to operate the system comfortably. You will seamlessly stream music with stable connectivity to your devices.
Features
Brand
Sharp
Item Weight
15.73 Pounds
Power Source
AC & Battery
Mounting Type
Floor Standing
Controller Type
Corded Electric
Polk T50 150-Watt Audio Home Theatre Standing Tower
Polk T50 150-Watt Audio Home Theatre Standing Tower comes in different versions with 150 watts and 5.1 speakers with a subwoofer. The speakers produce a stable sound with impressive bass. It ensures the sound is delivered in clear along the entire sound field using Polk’s dynamic balance technology.
The components of the Polk T50 are compatible with most home theatre systems. They have a wide range of offers from two towers to 9.1 Surround sound systems.
Features
Brand
Polk Audio
Color
Black
Speaker Type
Surround Sound
Model Name
T50
Speaker Size
6.5 Inches
Before making a decision on what to buy here are the basic guidelines to consider;
Where to use the system
Sound Quality
Connectivity
Volume
Size
Style
Channel Capability
Innovative Technology
Warranty
Durability
Budget
Where to use the system
Where and how want to use the equipment should be known before buying your system. If you want to use your system for watching movies then you will require one with a surround system. If you only need for listening to music, then a compact system would do.
If you host parties in your backyard or move your system from room to room, then you will consider one with wireless speaker connectivity.
Sound Quality
Sound quality is paramount. You need a system with good sound quality. Get one with good equalizers which enables you to tweak sound the way you want. Wattage is also important depending on the size of the room you intend to use it in. If you have a big room, then consider 1000 watts with bass.
Connectivity
You need to consider a system that connects to a variety of other devices. Most systems come with wireless connectivity. The old version of connectivity, wires, USB, and RCA is still reliable. You will have a guaranteed connection to these.
Wireless connectivity is equally good. It gives your room a tidy appearance and you have the flexibility of moving your speakers to any place in your home.
Volume
If your room is small then you need a system with low sound volume. If you need a system for parties or large rooms, then you will need a system with more than 200 watts and a good subwoofer.
There are many systems with low and good quality sounds like the Bose Wave SoundTouch. It delivers good quality and low volume.
Size
The size of the system will depend on the size of your room. If you want a system to move from room to room them go for a small compact system. If your room is small and may not fit many extra speakers then you need a small compact system.
Style
The style will depend purely on your taste. If you need a system that will blend well with the rest of home decor, get one that fits this style. Most home stereo manufactures have a modern machine-made in a tasteful way. Choose your best.
Channel Capability
Channel capability is the ability to connect to many format types. Most system stereos are able to connect wirelessly via Bluetooth. They are also able to stream music from the internet. If you want something that will play your old CDs them go for one. If you love to listen to the radio, then check if it has AM/FM or satellite radio.
Innovative Technology
Home Stereo systems come with tons of innovative technology. There those that come with coveted Auto-DJ applications that once set up will play music the DJ style without breaking it. There are those that calibrate to the acoustic environment and deliver music to the room with the best audio version to this environment.
Warranty
Check that your system stereo is covered by manufactures warranty defects. You don’t need to spend all your money on something which stops working when you arrive home. Get covered for all possible defects in the warranty.
Durability
Most good durable system stereos come with a good warranty. All good manufacturers know that they have produced equipment that will withstand and hardy environment. You need to know that your system stereo will withstand any hard use during your parties. A little wine spill that will not destroy it.
Budget
You need to ask yourself do afford this. There many system stereos in the market that don’t cost much and deliver quality sound. Of course, if you want the state of the earth equipment, you will be required to pay more.
The budget should not restrict you from enjoying your music in the sound quality that you deserve. The variety of stereo systems in the market today will make it able to have the best.
Conclusion
To get the best from the home stereo system you will need to check the details on quality reliability and affordability. When you want to use your home stereo also needs to be decided beforehand. With the presentation, we have given you can’t miss one that will be good for you. | https://medium.com/@shegudigitalworld/what-home-stereo-system-is-the-best-2021-887a67a92f0a | ['Shegu Musicworld'] | 2021-04-15 17:49:41.265000+00:00 | ['Bose', 'Bluetooth', 'Soundtrack', 'Music', 'Home Theater'] |
9 Best Diapers For Babies- | 9 Best Diapers For Babies-
Your baby will go through thousands of diapers before potty training, so you want to make sure you’re shelling out for ones that actually work. The best diaper should be absorbent and built well to prevent leaks, and they should also be lightweight and soft so your little one stays comfy.
How to find the best diaper for your baby:�
�Look for design add-ons: Things like wetness indicators and front-back labeling are surprisingly convenient for diaper changes.
�Avoid absorbency weight claims: Some diapers claim to be super absorbent because they can hold a specific percentage of their weight. The truth is that most diapers can physically hold more than they’ll need to, but what matters more is how quickly and effectively they absorb the fluid. Plus, the ones that can hold an excessive quantity tend to be bulkier, like overnight diapers.
�Be cautious with green marketing: We’ve seen a handful of brands make unqualified green claims that violate FTC regulations. For instance, no diapers are “eco-friendly” (i.e. they all have at least some impact on the environment) and they’re not “natural” because they’ve all been processed in some way. Still, there are sustainable options that also perform well (and are included in this roundup!).
Buy in bulk: They won’t go to waste. You know you’ll be using lots of diapers, so it’ll save you time and money to buy more at once.
Here are the best disposable diapers you can buy for your baby:
� Snug & Dry Diapers
� Swaddlers Diapers
� Hello Bello Diapers
� Honest Diapers
� Small Strides Diapers
� Pure Diapers.
� Cruisers 360˚ Fit Diapers
� Classic Diapers
� Premium Diapers
Now that you’re aware of these amazing products to take care of your babies always. Here is a FREE way to WIN COUPONS and FREE DIAPERS.
Need Free Pampers Coupons and Merchandise …. GET THEM HERE | https://medium.com/@suucedewithme/9-best-diapers-for-babies-7b43f60e3153 | [] | 2020-10-30 09:16:32.005000+00:00 | ['Motherhood', 'Baby Clothes', 'Baby Care', 'Baby Products', 'Baby Boomers'] |
Berglas with Node.js on Cloud Run | Berglas with Node.js on Cloud Run
💻 Runtime Secret Decryption with Golang & Node.js
Google’s KMS provides a mechanism to encrypt secrets, but unfortunately does not provide a secure store service. Berglas is a Golang tool built to solve this problem. It utilises KMS to encrypt your secrets, store them in a secure GCS Bucket and decrypt them at runtime.
Being written in Golang, Berglas can be used in the Cloud Function Go runtime, but not the Node.js, Python or Java runtimes. Porting it to other languages would be costly and fragment the effort to keep the tool exploit-free and our secrets safe.
Now that we have serverless containers (Cloud Run), we can install whichever binaries we want, no longer are we restricted by the tools of our runtime’s ecosystem or the compute image supplied by our cloud provider. The following is an example showing Berglas with a Node.js docker image in the Cloud Run service!
Berglas with Node.js on Cloud Run
Berglas
Berglas has three main components: bootstrap, encrypt and runtime decryption. The Bootstrap and Encrypt steps are most easily executed within the GCP Cloud Shell. Berglas is supported in many more envs than Cloud Run, see the well maintained documentation after this quick introduction!
Bootstrap
This step provisions the resources required by Berglas:
configures a GCS Bucket (with location) to hold your secrets
configures a KMS keyring to be used to encrypt your secrets
configures audit logging to the Storage and KMS APIs
This step is intended to be run once per Bucket you wish to store secrets within. Since the Bucket uses Object level access control, we will do this once for this example. Depending on your security needs, you can either use the Object path for namespacing or multiple buckets.
Berglas Bootstrap
Encrypt
This step is run once per secret/key you wish to store:
create a secret in the storage location enrypted with the KMS Key
allow the Cloud Run Service Account access to the secret
Berglas Encrypt
Runtime Decryption
Berglas has a minimal Docker image containing all deps required to fetch a secret, decrypt it and write it to Cloud Run environment variables. It runs prior to our own Cloud Run code which will be detailed later.
Berglas on GCR
Berglas Request Lifecycle
Here we get a better overview of what we’re trying to achieve:
Berglas Request Lifecycle
1. requests comes into container and are consumed by Berglas
2. encrypted secrets are fetched from GCS
3. the secrets are decrypted and placed into Cloud Run Environment Variables
4. the request is forward to the Node.js server
5. decrypted secrets are read from process.env.*
6. the server sends back a response
Node.js on Cloud Run example
Now that we know how Berglas works, let’s dive into our example. The goal here is to execute the following in our GCP project’s Cloud Shell environment:
Clone the example code
Bootstrap Berglas and Encrypt a secret
Build our Node.js Cloud Run image
Deploy our image to Cloud Run
The example code in GCP Cloud Shell
Clone the example
git clone https://github.com/jthegedus/firebase-gcp-examples/
Berglas Bootstrap & Encrypt
I created some shell scripts to get going more quickly (These are rather crude and it is not advised to use these particular scripts). We just need to add exec permissions to the files.
cd firebase-gcp-examples/gcp-cloudrun-berglas/berglas-setup
chmod +x 01-bootstrap.sh 02-encrypt.sh
⚠️ Peruse the code before executing
Initialise Berglas with API access, a GCS Bucket, KMS Keyring and Audit logging.
./01-bootstrap.sh
Encrypt and store a secret with berglas create command and grant IAM access to the Cloud Run Service Account.
./02-encrypt.sh “api-key” “super secret test api key”
Docker & Node.js Code
Before we go further, let’s look at the code in more depth:
Our Docker image is Node.js 10 Alpine with ca-certificates added (a requirement of Cloud Run), our copied source code and production dependencies.
The last set of COPY commands bring in the Berglas binary via the aforementioned Docker image. Finally, the ENTRYPOINT is set to run Berglas and our package.json ’s yarn start command.
Our only dependency is the aforementioned Functions Framework which is used in the start script to run the helloBerglas function.
The JavaScript code here utilises the new Node.js Functions Framework which unpacks the HTTP event received by Cloud Run (see the Consistent Eventing section of my last post for more detail).
We expect our secret to be defined in the process.env.API_KEY environment variable (we will define this during the deploy step). We simply return it as text in the response (⚠️ do not do this if you want your secrets to be secret!).
Build our Node.js Cloud Run Image
Run gcloud build with our Dockerfile pushing the result to Google Container Registry.
cd ../helloService
chmod +x build.sh
./build.sh
Our final image in GCR is only 32.5MB, thanks alpine!
Deploy your Image to Cloud Run
Run gcloud beta run deploy berglas-example-node … to deploy our berglas-example-node GCR image to Cloud Run.
chmod +x deploy.sh
./deploy.sh “api-key”
The key part of this script is the flag
--set-env-vars "API_KEY=berglas://${BUCKET_ID}/${1}" \
which sets an environment variable in Cloud Run to be interpretted by Berglas and fetched from the correct GCS location. | https://medium.com/weareservian/berglas-with-node-js-on-cloud-run-d7cecfa5aa49 | ['James Hegedus'] | 2019-07-08 04:29:47.270000+00:00 | ['Berglas', 'Secrets', 'Google Cloud Run', 'Google Cloud Platform', 'Docker'] |
How Have Upper West Side Residents Responded to their New Unhoused Neighbors? | “ I am a 59-year-old Black man currently living at the Lucerne Hotel on West 79th St. on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. I’ve been moved around several times since the pandemic started, and now I’ve heard we’ll soon be moved yet again because some neighbors of the hotel don’t want us here.
My experience during the pandemic has been marked by instability.”
-Larry Thomas
In an attempt to minimize the risk of rapid COVID-19 transmission throughout New York City’s notoriously overcrowded shelters, Mayor Bill De Blasio put forth a program aimed at temporarily housing unhoused residents in hotels across the city. Launching back in April, the program has relocated roughly 9,500 unhoused residents into 63 hotels — 4 of which are located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan (NYTimes, 2020).
The Hotel Belleclaire on West 77th and Broadway, The Lucerne Hotel on West 79th and Amsterdam, The Belnord Hotel on West 87th between Amsterdam and Broadway, and The Park West Hotel on Central Park West between 106th and 107th Streets, are now home to many of the City’s formally unhoused residents (West Side Rag, 2020). Most notably, The Lucerne hotel houses 283 formally unhoused men, invoking contentious debates amongst longterm residents of the Upper West Side.
Within the last 10-years, 0.79% of total 311 complaints throughout New York City have involved homelessness. However, in the Upper West Side this percentage reaches a staggering 4.3% , meaning that 4.3% of the neighborhoods 311 complaints reference homelessness— more than 5x that of the citywide average. This is not to say that the Upper West Side experiences more homelessness than other neighborhoods in New York City, but rather that the residents of this particular neighborhood are much more adverse to the presence of unhoused residents in their community.
Although a seemingly consistent trend in the neighborhood within the last 10-years, the recent influx of unhoused residents as a result of COVID-19 has contributed to heightened antagonism from longterm residents. This growing hostility can be seen when parsing through the City’s 311 call complaint database.
Analyzing the City’s 311 database, conclusions can be drawn regarding the increased frequency of complaints involving unhoused residents. In 2018, a 9-month period between January, 22nd and September, 22nd, showed 1,573 total complaints referencing “homelessness”. Similarly, the same 9-month period in 2019 showed 1,564 total complaints. However, this same period in 2020 — spanning both pre- and post-COVID-19 program implementations — shows an alarming 2,450 complaints. The timeframe of these complaints are visualized in the graphics below. | https://medium.com/@tb2866/how-have-upper-west-side-residents-responded-to-their-new-unhoused-neighbors-98f6ec9328d5 | ['Tihana Bulut'] | 2020-11-03 00:07:52.661000+00:00 | ['Urban Planning', 'NYC', 'Homelessness', 'Covid 19', 'Upper West Side'] |
The Mother of All Updates | Hello there! This is your friendly neighbourhood Faf again, back in action after missing the writing spirit for a few days! Trust me, on the back-end we are having Infinity Wars, with superheroes like Bitty, Birchy, Tomas and yours truly vs Thanos and his army of innumerable updates!
OK, excuses done, now updates! And there are several updates! In fact, there are so much to share that I don’t know how to start! Do people call this ‘problem of plenty’?
Let’s list them in ascending order!
1. Faster, smoother, more secure, more pro looking website!
How many comparative words did we use there?! OK, so, in short, we have completely revamped the website.
We have moved to a much better server. This should make https://defy.farm load at least 3x faster.
We have worked around the edges to make the site free from glitches.
Important: We improved the website code to keep us safe from malicious attacks. We have patched all the hatches and latched it securely.
We improved the website code to keep us safe from malicious attacks. We have patched all the hatches and latched it securely. We have changed the website design to a great extent, making it look more professional. Now, looking at the site, you can say, ‘these guys mean business’.
2. The most versatile DeFi dashboard is now open to all DEFY holders.
Yep. THE MOST VERSATILE dashboard. We know what we are saying. Or else, find us a dashboard of an upstart project where you can do these things from one single interface.
Trade: Buy/Sell $DEFY directly form the dashboard. Liquidity: Supply/Dissolve LP from the dashboard. Farm: Stake/Unstake/Harvest from the dashboard. Charts: Check $DEFY charts from the dashboard. DEFY Eco Stats: Check all the required stats of DEFY project from the dashboard. Personal Stats: Check all the $DEFY related stats of the connected wallet from the dashboard.
Come on! Won’t you pat our back? Buy us a round when we finally meet! Or, get a $DEFY tattoo like our sincere member Jesse promised to have?
I can foresee using my Jedi vision, “Not a long time later, in a group far far away from $DEFY” a member asking their dev, could we please have a dashboard like $DEFY?
Oh man! Let us all bask in the glory for a while!
3. Partnership with ApeSwap, your favourite BANANA farm!
You know ApeSwap, right? If you havent Aped, in either sense, you should! We just made it to their list of preferred projects and have been included in their BUIDL program.
What we get from this partnership?
Eligible for an ApeSwap Farm rewarding in $BANANA 🍌 $5,000 to $20,000 to be used for collaborative marketing and business development 💰 A kickback of your trading fees generated 📈 Official marketing support from ApeSwap 🚀 Reimbursement of $5,000 on your audit expense 🛡 Two official ApeSwap Non Fungible Ape’s — one for your team and one for a random community member (first 25 graduates) 🐵 Eligible for a free trading competition and other partnership and collaboration opportunities with the ApeSwap core team 🥳 Continued direct contact with one of our apes. Have any questions? Need a recommendation? We are always here to help our BUIDL partners ❤️ Access to our BUIDL network, where we get you connected to all of our top BUIDL projects and help to ensure you secure those partnerships 🤝
Read this for even greater details: https://ape-swap.medium.com/introducing-the-apeswap-buidl-program-%EF%B8%8F-bf1d6c74e145
Now, we can’t be ungrateful to such a generous mate, could we!
What are we offering in return?
$DEFY is moving focus from PancakeSwap to ApeSwap, as our preferred exchange for both Trading and Farming.
We are introducing two ApeSwap farms, DEFY-BNB and DEFY-BUSD.
Both of these farms will have double $DEFY rewards compared to existing DEFY-BNB and DEFY-BUSD farms.
compared to existing DEFY-BNB and DEFY-BUSD farms. You can trade on Apeswap and create Apeswap LP directly from our dashboard.
Clarification: The existing farms will continue to work. You can trade and add/remove liquidity on Pancakeswap like before. However, we strongly recommend that you switch to ApeSwap even if you lose some $DEFY in this process. The higher rewards will soon compensate for your losses. | https://medium.com/@defyfarm-bsc/the-mother-of-all-updates-9536c8a14953 | ['Defy Farm'] | 2021-04-09 18:06:29.278000+00:00 | ['Yield Farming', 'Binance Smart Chain', 'Defi', 'Binance'] |
The Red Queen’s race | The Red Queen’s race
In Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass, The Red Queen’s race is an event where The Red Queen and Alice are frantically running but don’t move. This is the exchange they have while out of breath afterwards.
“Well, in our country,” said Alice, still panting a little, “you’d generally get to somewhere else — if you run very fast for a long time, as we’ve been doing.” “A slow sort of country!” said the Queen. “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”
In evolutionary biology, the red queen’s race is used to illustrate that sexual reproduction and the resulting genetic recombination may be just enough to allow individuals of a certain species to adapt to changes in their environment. More importantly however, it is also used in environmental sociology by Allan Schnaiberg’s idea of the Treadmill of Production. In this example producers are continually driven to accumulate capital and expand the market in an effort to maintain relative economic and social position. Much like an evolutionary game-theoretic biological system.
These evolutionary forces dictating the direction of evolution are well understood. Utilising statistics game-theoretic models are able to predict the spread of a genome, they conclude that,
Targeted experiments based on our computational results could further help assess the BQ [Black Queen] Hypothesis.
The Black Queen
The Black Queen hypothesis is based on the card game Hearts. The significant rule in the game for this analogy is that the queen of spades, which must end up in a player’s deck, carries a very large penalty. The biological theory is that it can be beneficial for a cell to lose vital functions (i.e., losing the ability to process Sulpha) if the surrounding cells are able to fulfil that function for them. The main driver for this would be that the individual cells become more metabolically efficient as they no longer have to provide the function for themselves, allowing cells to specialize. There are again parallels here with business: if the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) in a business model are correctly identified, it would stand to reason that these metrics can be used within similar biological models described above. The forces acting on both nature and businesses are measurable, thus can be modelled and tested.
Equal and opposite
Using the kind of thinking from above we maybe able to understand the secret to Bitcoin’s success. Why is Bitcoin able to resist attacks and what are the mechanisms behind that resistance? To answer this question we must look in detail at Bitcoin’s genome or the technical details of the way Bitcoin has been constructed.
The Bitcoin network, made up of miners, takes a snapshot of time roughly every 10 minutes via the probabilistic Proof of Work (POW) mechanism. Companies that decide to take on this process wherein they reward themselves every time they produce a valid snapshot are known as miners. This reward includes a subsidy and transaction fees. In order to validate other miners are worthy of their reward, each miner checks their competitors’ attempt at solving the proof of work by observing the blocks they produce. Other miners will only accept their work if it contains no double spends and follows a given rule set. It is this incentive mechanism that guards the network against would-be attackers that wish to double spend. Miners are encouraged to propagate their work as fast as possible to ensure their effort, money and time is not wasted on invalid blocks due to a competitor’s block orphaning theirs.
The fact that miners must follow the longest valid proof-of-work chain creates a balanced incentive mechanism. Not only to propagate the block being worked on top of as quickly as possible but also to validate incoming blocks as quickly as possible. The transition from one block to the next block is an important one, it must be done both quickly and with managed risk. As we know, if a miner begins working on top of an invalid block, the work is wasted. Yet to ensure that they are not left behind, work must be commenced on a valid block as soon as possible. This may mean that work begins before all aspects of an incoming block are validated.
The image illustrates this as a free body force diagram where miner ‘A’ has found a block and is positively incentivised (F1) to propagate their block as soon as possible. Miner ‘B’ who is receiving the block is positively incentivised (F2) to receive and validate the block as soon as possible. The weakening of either incentive would be a detriment to the system as a whole. The dictum to assume that everyone is always trying to attack is one that miners should not take lightly. One mistake could cost them everything that their business has been built upon. This financial force could be seen as a Key Performance Indicator of the Bitcoin network.
A seat at the table
Imagine a party of miners sitting at a table. A miner that is not sitting directly at the table, and thus not well connected, collects less revenue through mining fees due to not receiving transactions in a timely manner from other miners. They also experience more orphans due to not being able to communicate the block fast enough. All of which results in a loss of revenue for that individual miner and increased revenue for all other miners.
This is an evolutionary type mechanism, described by both the red and black queen hypothesis, just the same as in biology or in economic capitalism. This is the economic effect that determines which miners will be able to compete to find blocks; if they produce too many blocks that are orphaned they will not be able to make a profit and will find that they lose their seat at the table. Once we understand what mechanisms cause miners to be tightly connected we can understand the core technical and economic properties of the system.
Propagation
Both transactions and blocks are broadcast on a best effort basis. The exact mechanism used to propagate the information is not relevant to any of the core design on the Bitcoin protocol. However, it can have an effect on the core protocol if adjustments are made to Bitcoins economic protocol that might allow propagation to become more efficient, however the mechanisms proposed to increase block or transaction propagation time may not even achieve that. If propagation times are given as a reason to alter the Bitcoin protocol we must be very aware of how exactly this is achieved if anyone is asking for consensus changes primarily because the networking protocol should never need consensus altering changes. If a miner elects to use a different networking protocol and others cannot connect to them, this miner isolates themselves from the other miners.
Current and proposed methods of propagation are beyond the scope of this series as they are not protected by a consensus mechanism. It is much more like a language spoken between miners but has no effect on the way they process information they are given. Each miner can agree on different languages between themselves yet can work on the same protocol. There is no risk of one miner creating a block that is seen as invalid by some and valid by others so long as each miner has all the same information to complete the block.
Validation
Transactions
As we are going over the validation process for blocks it is worth mentioning the validation process for transactions. As soon as a new transaction is seen on the network a number of conditions need to be met for it to be accepted and thus enter the blockchain. These conditions involve a verification that the signatures are valid, the input is greater than the output, unless it is a coinbase transaction in which case there is no input, and there is a valid parent transaction. If any of these conditions are not met the transaction is rejected by being flagged, kept in memory as an incident and an alert is propagated throughout the network. Keeping the transaction in memory and propagating an alert is not vital however, it may help miners spot a pattern in malicious behaviour. There is also a loop that can be used to control a miners risk level to attacks, if there is a very large transaction chain that a miner does not have and is given the final transaction first a miner may find themselves continuously requesting data from their peers. The ‘j’ parameter will allow a miner to stop this loop and black list a peer that is behaving maliciously.
Blocks
The miner that is more connected and can produce blocks that are easiest to validate will find themselves at an advantage due to lower orphan rates, which again, cost the miners in revenue and profit. The opposite side of this is that the miner that is able to validate blocks the fastest will also have an advantage. Above is a simplified process which miners may choose to follow to ensure that they are on the longest valid chain for as long as possible.
A rule of this process is that the first valid block received is the one worked on. That means the block that validates first is the one that is to be considered part of the valid chain. Therefore if a block takes too long to download or validate the miner either reverts back to the previously saved block, or transitions to a competing block that is found to be valid first. One may notice that only one loop exists within this flow chart. It is this loop that miners can use to manage their risk level by setting the value of ‘k’. This is similar to the ‘j’ parameter used to protect against a DDoS attack for transactions. However, it is much more important. If this value is set incorrectly it is not just a transaction fee that is missed, but an entire block reward. If other miners accept and build upon the block just rejected by the miner under discussion, then it becomes the longest chain and work has been wasted.
It is also worth mentioning that a miner cannot produce a block larger than one that they are not able to validate as part of the building process is the act of validation. Only a more efficient or more connected miner may be able to produce a block that others cannot produce in the given time between blocks. These more efficient and resilient miners can faster adapt changing market demand for block space and are thus more competitive. They therefore may build blocks in accordance with a competitive economic strategy, in which a miner produces a large block that 51% of the network can validate whilst the other 49% find difficult to and thus fall behind.
Where are we going?
In this section we have outlined the validation process and identified two potential Key Performance Indicators (KPI) of the mining business. This KPI is a risk mitigation factor which will directly affect their profits and therefore chances of survival.
While this knowledge is not new or revolutionary, it is the underpinnings of how Bitcoin functions. Without understanding this it is difficult to have constructive conversations about the direction of the protocol. We are laying the groundwork for further more complex discussions. One may also notice that the processes above, although they are linear, allow transaction validation and tree construction to be parallelised. Chained transactions can be validated by a single thread, and the merkle tree can be built in sections. This will also be covered in more detail in the next block. | https://medium.com/two-hop-ventures/the-red-queen-8d0844aa5a20 | ['Alex Fauvel'] | 2018-10-25 14:09:23.395000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Fintech', 'Technology', 'Bitcoin'] |
#17: Chapter 11: Protocol Principles: Principle One: Avoiding Toxins (part A) | This post starts a new section of my naturopathic protocol book, What I Did and Do and Why. My protocol has 6 principles… the 6 principles can be seen here.
Stop putting toxins in
eat organic and evaluate your cosmetics and cookware avoid foods that create inflammation, avoid processed foods reduce stress
What do I mean by ‘avoiding toxins’? Many man-made chemicals have a strong, causal link to cancer. And for those who choose chemotherapy and/or radiation, this is an obvious challenge since the treatments themselves are extremely toxic. All the more reason to give our organs of detoxification a break by limiting as much toxic overload as we can. Toxins stress a healing body.
It’s not enough to ‘eat right’ unless you have a deep commitment to what that means. I eat only organic if possible, eat whole foods, avoid processed foods (especially sugar and bleached flour), and limit consumption of beef and dairy. Any animal products I do consume are organic or at least free of anti-biotics and hormones. I consume lots of fruits and vegetables. I don’t smoke and I limit alcohol. I’m not saying anything you haven’t heard. This is just a loving, gentle reminder that you are your best healer. You need to treat yourself and that body that is fighting for you with love and support.
I chose to have chemo and radiation… a LOT! It was a hard choice for me. I suffered… but not as much as everyone else and I credit my naturopathic regimen for sustaining me. Withstanding horrendous amounts of chemo and radiation gave me an edge to beat the bastard back so that my natural therapies could work as well. Peace and love be with those who are struggling with this now.
This post is the first of three posts that will cover the 1st principle… Stop Putting Toxins In, and contains the following subjects:
Better living through chemistry?
Methylation, MTHFR, and cancer
Organic vs. non-organic
Better living through chemistry?
Many factors contribute to the unprecedented epidemic of cancer but many man-made chemicals are proven carcinogens and/or they throw our physiological systems out of balance, contributing to our perfect storm. Levels of contamination from industrial chemicals and pollutants is alarming, as is the recent decrease in regulation and monitoring. The rise in disease conditions is not unrelated.1 https://www.ewg.org and www.tedx.org are great science-based chemical toxin watchdog agencies/resources.
I find it hard to trust safety research for many reasons. Research solely conducted by product producers is ‘the fox guarding the hen house.’ Another issue… the food given to lab rat ‘controls’ has been found to be full of GMOs and toxins. So, if one is testing the toxicity of something an experimental population is given against controls, the results may show that something is ‘safe’ in that the experimental population isn’t suffering more side effects than controls. Since controls are eating toxic food, this is not good science. Also, in research studying the carcinogenic effects of multiple chemicals, they have found that many chemicals previously determined to not be carcinogenic on their own can be carcinogenic when combined.2 The implications of how many permutations of combinations that would have to be tested, and yet aren’t, are staggering!
It’s enough to make me throw my hands up in the air and say, “Why bother?!” But then I gather myself to fight, in my way. All we can do is educate ourselves and decrease the toxic load, right? I support the Cornucopia Institute and Organic Consumers Association because they are watchdogs dedicated to enforcing organic standards and holding corporations accountable. I follow The Endocrine Exchange (TEDX) because they do valuable research on endocrine disruption caused by chemicals in our environment… disruption linked to a wide variety of growing chronic health problems our society is experiencing.
One concern I have is effluent from pharmaceuticals, especially, chemo. Studies have found high levels in deformed fish in the Great Lakes. Fish that you’re eating? When I pee, will someone downstream be ingesting my chemo? Will my caregivers be exposed to harmful poisons? Google “chemotherapy residue in drinking water.” You will find research with disturbing implications. We should be aware, be careful with our waste at home, and press for water treatment solutions that truly remove all these chemicals before returning the water to the supply. Large quantities of antidepressants, cocaine, etc. have been found in fish in the Puget Sound and shrimp worldwide. Think about this… what happens when a patient treated with radioactive drugs is cremated?3 What we put into our body and surround ourselves with matters. Whatever your treatment regimen, please take loving care of your body.
The liver, methylation, MTHFR, and cancer
Liver function is very important when fighting or preventing cancer. Its effectiveness may make the difference in survival. The liver detoxifies our blood, synthesizes proteins, produces digestive biochemicals, stores vitamins and minerals, balances glucose levels, and performs methylation. Methylation is the addition of methyl groups to biochemicals, such as hormones, DNA, and proteins. It is an essential process for the proper function of nearly all our bodies’ systems, including detoxification. Basically, the more toxic load you put on your liver, the less methylation, and the less able the liver is to detoxify. It’s a spiral downwards. Studies have found that cancer is characterized by methylation imbalance. Methylation converts aggressive estrogens into milder versions, playing a role in female cancers. Factors influencing methylation are toxic exposures, poor diet, malabsorption, hypothyroidism, and genetics.
A genetic mutation on the MTHFR gene inhibits methylation and detoxification and can be a precursor to breast cancer. It is thought that 30–50% of people have this mutation. But epigenetics shows us that lifestyle factors influence whether a gene mutation expresses or not. If you are concerned, start with a blood test for homocystine. For more info, see www.mthfrliving.com.
Ways to improve methylation, even if you have the genetic mutation, are:
eat fruits and vegetables rich in anti-oxidants, folate, and B6 and B12
avoid inflammatory foods such as sugar, dairy, gluten, meat, processed
avoid tobacco and limit caffeine and alcohol
supplement with folate, Vitamins B2, B6, B12, C, D3, E, glutathione, N-acetyl-cysteine, Omega 3s, and betaine
avoid environmental pollutants
detoxify organs and body regularly
reduce stress and get enough sleep
Hmm, sounds suspiciously like Gramma’s advice and my protocol, doesn’t it? Support your body and let it do its job and you can avoid disease. I provide liver cleansing and support information in Principle Two: Getting Toxins Out.
Organic vs. non-organic
I refuse to refer to non-organically grown produce as ‘conventionally grown’ as the signs in stores proclaim. For millennia, crops were grown without chemicals and it is only in the last hundred years that we have chosen to soil our nest. I refuse to make poison a ‘convention.’ Non-organically grown crops contain a variety of substances our bodies have not evolved (or were designed) to ingest… genetic modification, pesticides, insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, and fertilizers. Many are known carcinogens. In over 260 worldwide studies, all kinds of cancer have been linked to agrochemicals. Globular fruits and vegetables such as apples, tomatoes, berries, coffee beans and leaves such as herbs and tea, are covered in pesticides… and then you boil it and drink it? Yechhh. A recently published study shows a higher frequency of eating organic food was associated with a reduced risk for cancer.1
Factory-farmed meat and dairy is tainted, not only with pesticides from feed, antibiotics, hormones, and preservatives, but scores of pathogens. Any meat or dairy consumed should at least be raised without antibiotics or hormones. US dairy cattle are treated with rBGH to boost production. It increases udder infections and pus in the milk. Ewwww! It also leads to higher levels of IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor), which contributes to breast, prostate, and colon cancers. rBGH is banned in most industrialized countries (not the US).
Organic products can be more expensive. EWG publishes annual lists of produce to avoid as well as those that contain less pesticide residue:
The Dirty Dozen: The Clean Fifteen:
strawberries, spinach, corn, avocados, pineapples, cabbage,
nectarines, apples, onions, frozen sweet peas, papayas,
peaches, celery, asparagus, mangoes, eggplant,
grapes, pears, honeydew melon, kiwis, cantaloupe,
cherries, tomatoes, cauliflower, grapefruit
bell peppers, potatoes
Genetic modification of our food supply is a very controversial. I urge you to conduct your own research. There have been no studies published that show it is safe and there have been many studies showing detrimental effects of consuming GMOs. Most, if not all, research showing that GMOs are ‘not so bad’ was funded by companies who gain financially from GMOs. Whether or not GMOs themselves are harmful, the increased use of glyphosate (Round-up) with GMO crops has been linked to many health problems, including cancer. If something is labeled ‘organic,’ it cannot contain GMOs or glyphosate.
In addition to not containing all the bad things that ‘gum up the works’ in our bodies and present an obstacle to healing, organically grown and raised food is designed to increase nutritional content. Two large meta-analyses of over 200 and 300 studies were published in the British Journal of Nutrition, and concluded that organic farming resulted in increases in key nutrients.2
I have access to a store that sells only organic and the prices are the same as or lower than the closest chain grocery store. Even if you pay a little more for organic, in my opinion, the eventual savings on health care is likely to justify it. The more we increase demand for organic, the less expensive it will be when it takes it’s deserved place as the ‘conventional’ way our food is raised.
How To Remove Pesticides From Your Produce
I wash produce, even though organic, because of potential air-borne and parasitic contamination. I fill the sink with water, add baking soda, let the vegetables soak for about 15 minutes, and scrub them with a brush. Sometimes vinegar instead of the soda.
This post, Avoiding Toxins, is from Book 2 of my Thrive Tribe Series, What I Did and Do and Why, a naturopathic protocol that helps me to survive and thrive, available from the bookstore, starting at $7. I am posting the entire book sequentially, in its entirety, on this blog once a week. Subscriptions are free.
Nothing contained on this website nor in my blogs or books should be construed as medical advice. I am not a doctor. I am a Stage IV metastatic breast cancer thriver who is currently NEAD and simply sharing my journey in the hopes it helps you to find your power and path. Please research anything I share to determine if it is a good choice for you. I believe in you! Bless you all on the path you choose.
All original content contained on this blog, What I did and do and why, is copyrighted 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 Kaiulani Facciani, Snarling Wolf, Inc. | https://medium.com/@kaiulanifacciani/17-chapter-11-protocol-principles-principle-one-avoiding-toxins-part-a-f1cd51336945 | ['Kaiulani Facciani'] | 2020-12-16 19:52:26.222000+00:00 | ['Cancer', 'Avoiding Toxins', 'Detoxification', 'Breast Cancer', 'Naturopathic Medicine'] |
Where Will We Bottom? (excerpt edition) | I’ve been playing around with indicators and spreadsheets lately, in an attempt to predict the bottom and new highs. That’s what I want to focus on with upcoming articles. But first things first, the bear market. I’ll take a look at the 2014/2015 bear market and the similarities compared to 2018. I came across a few other graphs which I would like to take a look at in a next article.
A little disclaimer: I combine things from other traders with my own findings. Credit where credit is due 😘
Where did we bottom in 2014 / 2015?
History repeats itself. When it comes to trading certain things have a high probability of happening when certain patterns emerge. Taking a look at 2014 you can clearly see two parts of the bear market. The first lasts until mid September. Hopes were high for a price recovery, but it broke down when the price broke below $440 for a fourth time. From this moment on the second part of the bear market started and found an ultimate bottom of $220. With some spikes as low as $160.
Was it possible to predict this bottom in the first part of the bear?
Fibonacci Extension Levels
Let’s grab Fibonacci extensions to start with. Basically, to use this tool we first need a move with a good Fibonacci retracement. A few of those happened in 2014.
2014 Fib #01
The first move started at around $1163 and fell to $382. The retracement went all the way back to $995, the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement level. Grabbing the extension tool and connecting those points creates the grey (100%), yellow (127.2%), red (141.1%) and blue (161.8%) lines. Those are likely support levels. And those support levels are even stronger when different moves create the same levels. In the image above it shows there’s good support around $214. I didn’t force it, I didn’t cheat. It just happens to be spot-on! The other levels this extension creates are a bit unrealistic.
I’ll show you a few other examples of good extensions during the first part of the bear.
2014 Fib #02
With this one, the price was only $16 short from the 78.6% retracement ($710 high on Bitstamp, $719 high on Bitfinex). I’m using $815 as a starting point. You could lower it a bit, since the breakdown level would’ve been a bit lower, giving a perfect match for 78.6%. It doesn’t make much of a difference for the extension levels though. The grey line now sits at $320, giving great support around October and November 2014 after the $440 breakdown. The next support is the 127,2% which was sitting at $209.
Great! We now have two different extensions showing support between $209 and $214.
2014 Fib #03
A third one. The starting point might seem weird, but $677 was the daily close on the third of March. This retracement came back to the 61.8% level. Extensions gave another 100% level in the $209 area. You could argue that the retracement should be 100%, since the price went all the way back to $677. Let’s take a look at it below.
2014 Fib #03
A little less useful. But it still would’ve given you a good buy price at 141,4% extension ($199, again very close to the lows and prior extensions).
The Fibonacci extension tool predicted a few very good support areas for the second phase of the bear market.
Bollinger Bands, Historic Volatility and Parabolic Stop & Reverse
There are some other indicators that showed the bottom was in. Bollinger Bands, Parabolic Stop & Reverse (both mentioned by Tyler Jenks) and Historic Volatility (Willy Woo) are a few I’d like to take a look at. These indicators gave a clear signal back in 2014/2015 for a bottom. I leave the BB and S&R at default, but set the HV to 33. As mentioned by Willy Woo in the interview above, the moment the HV flattens out is where your bottom is.
2014 BB HV S&R
For a bottom you would like the HV to be as flat as possible. This signals a long term stable price. It also tightens the Bollinger Bands. At the lows, the upper band was at $280 and the lower at $210. A difference of 25%. The HV was quite flat and between 70 and 45.
The S&R points are also a good indication of a long term trend switch. Although later in the article I will point out why in 2018 this isn’t a 100% perfect indicator. As always, never trade a single indicator.
RSI and volume
2014 RSI and volume
What can I say? Right now we’re far from oversold on the weekly chart. I do have noticed something in volume. Near the end of bear phase one, the volume made a low before rising again. The volume topped afterwards near the price lows. The low volume and RSI in the 40’s marks the spot the bear market changed from phase one to two. More on this when I get to the 2018 part of this article.
Where will we bottom in 2018 / 2019?
We now know how to find support levels with Fibonacci extensions and where to look at near the bottom. Let’s take a look at the present day and use the same analysis.
I think we’re still in the first phase of the bear market, but nearing it’s end to go into the second phase.
Fibonacci Extension Levels (strict)
2018 has shown some great retracements already, and we’re working on another one. I’ve divided this extension section into two parts. One that’s very strict on the Fibonacci retracements, the other less strict. This way it creates a few support ranges.
2018 Fib #1 (strict)
The one above starts at $11700, goes all the way down to $6425 and retraces back to the 61.8% level. You could argue if it should be $9685 or the high of $9990. Extension levels near $4410 (100%) and around $2975 (127,2%).
2018 Fib #2 (strict)
This one is just spot-on! Again, a retracement to 61,8% at $8372. But for good measures I’ll take a look at a retracement to the high of $8500 as well. Support: $4137 (100%), $2985 (127,2%).
Taking the extension levels from both, gives the following support ranges:
2018 Fib support range (strict)
Magical! Just perfect when you look back at 2017. The 127.2% (yellow) will be a perfect buy. More on this later.
Fibonacci Extension Levels (less strict)
The first one with a retracement to $9990:
2018 Fib #1 (less strict)
The second one with a retracement to $8500:
2018 Fib #2 (less strict)
It gives the following support ranges:
2018 Fib support range (less strict)
You see, here’s the difference between the ‘pure’ Fibonacci one and this one. The support ranges are a little bit higher.
Fibonacci Extension Levels: Verdict
I’ll quickly line up the numbers for you.
Support ranges for the pure Fibonacci one:
The 100% extension level is in the range of $4410 to $4137
The 127,2% extension level is in the range of $2985 to $2975
The 141,4% extension level is in the range of $2383 to $2226
The 161,8% extension level is in the range of $1520 to $1150
Support ranges for the second one:
The 100% extension level is in the range of $4715 to $4271
The 127,2% extension level is in the range of $3280 to $3119
The 141,4% extension level is in the range of $2531 to $2517
The 161,8% extension level is in the range of $1653 to $1455
I think the $4400 range is a good one to show support for the near future. When $6000 finally breaks, you should look for a long in that area. I do think this will be a temporarily low and that $3000 will be the ultimate bottom. Maybe an intraday spike down to $2500, near the 141.4% level.
I think it’s safest to go for the second set of ranges. This way you’re always sure of getting a long in before a bottom hits. Not getting the perfect bottom for your long (or short exit) isn’t bad. Being $100 or $200 off isn’t that much, especially when a move retraces back to 61,8% levels shortly after. You’ll still make a very good profit. By putting in a buy order too low, you risk missing the buy if it bottoms $100 higher.
Bollinger Bands, Historic Volatility and Parabolic Stop & Reverse
To determine if the bottom is in by now, we’ll grab the BB, HV and S&R points.
2014 BB HV S&R
The HV is nowhere near the lows it showed back in 2015 and is still descending. Wait for it to flatten.
The BB are very far apart from each other. Remember that the difference between the BB in 2015 was 25% at it’s low. Right now the upper band is at $9654 and the lower band at $5265. That’s a 45% difference. Back in August/September of 2014 we saw similar percentages (42%) before breaking the support of $440 and going into phase two of the bear market. This tells me we’re clearly at the verge of breaking $6000 and going into phase two.
Only the S&R shows something different compared to 2014. We already broke it for four weeks! This isn’t very strange, since the S&R is a parabolic indicator. Every time you make a new high/low during a move, the S&R points accelerate. According to the way S&R is calculated, we made two lows before October 2014. In 2018 we already made four lows before August, accelerating the S&R. That’s the reason it already broke once.
RSI and volume
2014 RSI and volume
Not really much I can say. The RSI is far from oversold. It looks like we’re really for bear phase two. Around the same time in 2014, the RSI was in the 40’s while making a volume low. You can clearly tell the resemblance. | https://medium.com/lexvanderwerff/where-will-we-bottom-a6013fb481b8 | ['Lex Van Der Werff'] | 2018-08-27 10:04:09.934000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Technical Analysis', 'Bitcoin', 'Trading'] |
Ditching The Dreadful Bin Liner | Bin liners!
Brightly coloured rolls of the things lurk in our kitchen drawers and barely register on our consciousness. When our kitchen bin gets full, we tie the liner top and take it to our outside bin. Then, we grab a new bag from the roll and line our kitchen tidy bin with it, while no doubt thinking of things less mundane.
And the cycle continues. Every day or so, depending on how much kitchen waste you generate.
Using something as seemingly innocuous as a kitchen bin liner may seem unimportant. Until you start to think about it.
We buy this product only to throw it away. It has no other use. Its entire purpose is to hold rubbish for a short time before it and its contents end up in landfill.
Do some quick calculations and you start to realize how appalling bin liners are from an environmental perspective. Hundreds per year from every household that uses them. Around the world, millions upon millions of them end up in garbage dumps.
All that extra, environmentally destructive plastic waste. All those precious resources wasted to produce and transport them. All for no good reason.
It’s not as though bin liners are an essential item. For your average household kitchen, they are completely unnecessary and we can easily do without them.
Go Naked in the Kitchen!
Well, you can keep your clothes on if you like, but your little kitchen tidy bin can and should go stark naked.
Here’s how to eliminate bin liners and achieve kitchen bin nakedness with little effort.
Recycle
First, recycle everything you can!
This is probably already happening at your house, but it's worth reviewing what you can and can't recycle from time to time. Information about recycling will likely be on your local council website or perhaps inside the lid of your council recycle bin.
Your kitchen recycle bin should ALREADY be naked. Recyclable items should not be placed into bags because it makes sorting and processing much harder.
Compost
Even if you don’t do much gardening, you can help reduce kitchen waste by composting. I keep a small bin on the kitchen bench for food scraps and other compostable material. Every day, I transfer the bin’s contents to a larger compost bin in the garden.
Once your food scraps are in the main compost bin, you don't really need to do much else. There are ways to enhance and speed up the composting process if you want, but otherwise, just leave it be.
Every few months, you can remove the bottom contents of the bin and spread it over a garden bed. This enhances the health of the soil and keeps a lot of rubbish out of landfill.
Keep a Little Bag Box
Most household rubbish can go directly into your unlined kitchen bin. But, occasionally you might need to wrap some items such as messy food scraps that can’t be composted before binning them.
To deal with that, I collect and keep food and produce bags that cannot be recycled. Bread bags, soft plastic bags from frozen vegetables, bags from packaged items and plenty more. I keep these bags handy in a box in the kitchen so that I can grab one if an item needs to be wrapped before binning.
Clean Your Naked Bin at The End of Wash Ups
One of the main reasons that people use bin liners is to keep the kitchen tidy bin clean. And, it's true that your naked kitchen bin might get a bit grubby without a liner.
I empty the bin just before I wash up each day. That way I can give it a clean during the wash-up without wasting any extra water or detergent.
If you use a dishwasher, and the bin won’t fit, giving the bin a quick rinse or wipe once a day should do the trick.
Compromising
If you’re not ready to completely ditch your bin liners, an alternative approach is to simply reuse the bags.
Rather than dump the entire bag, just empty its contents into your outside bin and then put the bag back into your kitchen bin for a second round. One liner should do several days before it needs to be replaced.
If you use the small unrecyclable bags you’ve collected to wrap messy rubbish, the bags should not get too dirty.
While you’ll still be using liner bags, the amount you use over time should be greatly reduced.
Aside: Plastic Shopping Bags
Major stores and supermarkets here in Australia have now eliminated single-use plastic shopping bags. Shoppers need to either bring their reusable green bags with them or purchase multiple-use plastic bags at checkout.
This is a very welcome and positive move that should be applauded.
However, a small consequence of the move is that our households no longer have collections of used plastic shopping bags at hand. One of the primary uses for such bags was as bin liners.
And, with the shopping bags no longer available, many people have reverted to actually buying bin liners.
So, it’s even more important that we ditch the bin liner. We don’t want to compromise the environmental benefits of eliminating single-use shopping bags by purchasing a gazillion more plastic bags that are manufactured solely to be thrown away. | https://medium.com/positively-green/ditching-the-dreadful-bin-liner-9d4975646cb1 | ['Brett Christensen'] | 2019-10-04 04:34:36.793000+00:00 | ['Environment', 'Recycling', 'Kitchen', 'Plastic', 'Garbage'] |
Why Do-It-Yourself Digital Marketing not a Cool Idea | What’s your style?
If you are managing the social media accounts of your business on your own, you may be struggling to get constant growth and falling short of ideas for social media content. This might be a personal choice to do it yourself but it may not be a good idea since social media platforms work on algorithms that you might not be aware of, you might not be knowing how it works. Outsourcing a social media manager for your brand comes with a bundle of advantages since every business has different requirements for growth. Both doing it yourself and going for a social media manager have their pros and cons, therefore, it becomes important to understand the business needs before you proceed with doing-it-yourself or a professional social media manager.
D-I-Y Digital Marketing and Social Media
The Pros
The most important pro of managing social media by yourself is that you know your brand very well which means that none other than you can be a voice for your brand. You can take your brand forward since you know your brand inside out.
very well which means that none other than you can be a voice for your brand. You can take your brand forward since you know your brand inside out. You are in charge of the content you are sharing and the results, no one else can be held responsible for this.
you are sharing and the results, no one else can be held responsible for this. Another pro of doing it yourself is that you don’t have to look for someone’s permission, you can go on with your creative ideas for your brand. You are in complete control of everything.
for your brand. You are in complete control of everything. Although you might not know about certain things in the beginning, however, as you pick up doing it yourself, you learn new things and get knowledge by its application and at a point in time, you become a master of it.
The Cons
The first con of doing it yourself is that you are not an expert in the field and this can become a hurdle if you wish to grow your business at a constant rate. A digital marketing agency or social media specialist can serve you better when it comes to growth.
in the field and this can become a hurdle if you wish to grow your business at a constant rate. A digital marketing agency or social media specialist can serve you better when it comes to growth. Since social media can be a new thing for you, you might not know where to start from or how to scale up with what strategy . This can do worse to your business rather than good.
. This can do worse to your business rather than good. Even if you are already using social media for quite some time, then too you might get stuck when it comes to managing business and professional accounts and their day-to-day updates and new features.
You might be managing and running your business on your own, then doing social media by yourself can increase your burden to an extent.
Hiring a Professional Digital Marketing Agency /Social Media Marketing Company
The Pros
A professional digital marketing agency or a social media manager has the required skill-set and experience , this could benefit your business. They can constantly deliver you results in terms of growth.
, this could benefit your business. They can constantly deliver you results in terms of growth. They know how to target the right class of audience , they know how to understand insights and metrics and therefore they can modify the social media strategy for your business accordingly.
, they know how to understand insights and metrics and therefore they can modify the social media strategy for your business accordingly. They are up to date about the algorithm changes and the recent trends of the platforms, they can easily adapt to these changes and plan strategies according to them.
and the recent trends of the platforms, they can easily adapt to these changes and plan strategies according to them. Hiring a digital marketing agency or a social media company could save your time and also reduce your stress since now they are responsible to make you lead among others. They have the responsibility for your constant and effective presence on the platform.
and also reduce your stress since now they are responsible to make you lead among others. They have the responsibility for your constant and effective presence on the platform. Even hiring part-time or freelance social media managers can be cost-saving for you.
The Cons
Although there exist no drawbacks to hiring a professional digital marketing agency or a social media manager, however, there can be differences in your work ethics. It is important to find a social media agency that treats your business with sensibility. They should have the time, energy, and responsiveness that you need.
Professionals will charge you, so you need to check their past experience and case studies.
Conclusion
Whether you opt for doing it yourself or hire a digital marketing agency or a social media manager, the ultimate goal is the growth of your business. It is important that you understand the needs of your business before you arrive at a final decision. So before you move forward analyze your requirements, understand what your decision can do for your business, and then make the decision.
The-Socializers.com is a leading digital marketing agency specializing in Google Ads and FB Ads and policy.
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pic credit* https://o360.com/blogs/run-away-from-do-it-yourself-diy-marketing/ | https://medium.com/@socializers22/why-do-it-yourself-digital-marketing-not-a-cool-idea-eff5a2fdafc2 | [] | 2021-12-24 15:27:40.051000+00:00 | ['Social Media Agency', 'Digital Marketing Company', 'Social Media Marketing', 'Digital Marketing Agency'] |
What’s Really Going On In Sweden During The Corona Crisis | Sweden’s strategy is essentially a change process and it lets individualistic preferences and beliefs shape habits
Photo by Marten Bjork on Unsplash
I’m witnessing a cultural shift in Sweden that is taking place alongside a pre-pandemic reality. I see people living life on very different levels of what I best can describe as semi-quarantine, at most. Some do all of their shopping and communication online to avoid physical proximity as much as possible, others go about life as usual with only a minor tweak to their handwashing habits. As usual, when it comes to people, you can imagine the endless variations in between.
Swedens corona strategy has been widely and highly criticized in the media. While still being portrayed as risky and unconcerned, it just differs a lot from the rest of the world because of The Swedish Public Health Agency’s rather agile approach to the strategy (always making appropriate decisions based on current knowledge).
For instance, the strategy has proven and highlighted a flawed (to say the least) health care system for the elderly. A recent report by the Health and Social Care Inspectorate, a governmental agency responsible for the supervision of healthcare and social care in Sweden, says that 70 percent of Covid-19 deaths in elderly care homes are mainly concentrated on 40 of Swedens 290 municipalities.
A recent article by The New York Times European correspondent Peter S. Goodman was quickly challenged by Swedish journalist Emanuel Karlsten who pointed out multiple errors in the New York Times article about Swedens corona strategy. No matter what the stats say about Swedens strategy, it’s been based on the following beliefs:
The people of Sweden act sensibly and responsibly during the crisis, i.e. minimize risk for themselves and others. Lockdown is essentially unsustainable in the long run.
Looking in from the inside, I’d dare to say that these values seem to be shared by the majority of people. Yet, it’s open to individual interpretations. Those who stand in lines to cash registers in stores keep distance, as instructed by the signs on public floors. “Traditionalists” still reach out for a handshake, while others don’t even invite people over anymore but settle for outdoor social activities. Myself included — in all three examples, but not simultaneously. In the pre-pandemic time, you’d easily be deviating from social norms, whereas now all variants are justifiable and acceptable.
Physical distancing in Sweden used to be common, but now it’s common sense. Which ironically doesn’t necessarily make any difference in social norms at all.
I’m an employee of a global corporation, but I haven’t been to the office since March. Global management quickly established a new policy after corona hit Sweden, requiring every group manager in the organization to control physical attendance throughout the workweek in order to prevent overcrowded office spaces. Remote work was traditionally and unofficially frowned upon, but now it’s become a legitimate option that can keep many businesses afloat and allows for the mutual responsibility of preventing the virus from spreading. Those who prefer, or perhaps need the social interaction that the office provides, are basically free to work there whenever. Those who prefer not to, perhaps out of fear or practical reasons (like myself) are free to work from home.
As a well-established company with history and legacy systems, we were already on the verge of a cross-over to remote work thanks to recent digitalization efforts. Even though the main IT infrastructure was in place to enable remote work, the pandemic pushed us over the edge and hastened a one or two-year digital transformation overnight, much thanks to the 95 percent of the adult population in Sweden that already has home Internet service.
The safety of people unable to work remotely has been relying on the solidarity of others. A couple of months back, the management of my daughter’s kindergarten acted upon the public healthcare guidelines by establishing new rules for caretakers to follow. Aside from calling on clean hands and personal belongings before the kids would enter the classroom, they also prohibited crowded hallways as a way to limit the physical proximity. That enabled at least some protection for the staff and children. There’s even no longer a need for explaining the importance of hand hygiene to my daughter every single time. Corona has become a well-used word in children’s vocabulary. | https://medium.com/illumination/what-lifes-really-like-in-sweden-during-the-corona-crisis-1ad3131e894e | ['Sara Kiani'] | 2020-07-16 11:43:52.258000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Culture', 'Philosophy', 'Covid 19', 'Leadership'] |
Remembrance Day: A Day of Pride or Sorrow? — Dare to Know | Remembrance Day was oddly sunny and warm this year. I reflect on the history of Armistice Day and what it means for us a century later.
Today’s weather is glorious. I’ve never seen such a summery Remembrance Day. Neither has the weather office. We’re enjoying record-breaking warmth and sunshine when we’re used to enduring rain, sleet and grey, gloomy skies.
The brilliant weather might have attracted a record turnout in other years. With the pandemic, gatherings had to be limited in size across the country.
Having witnessed a lifetime of Remembrance Days, I can’t shake the impression that the weather during both world wars was equally dreary and bitter throughout. They weren’t, of course. The world wasn’t black and white before they invented colour film, either.
The 11th of November Has an Provocative History
The 11th of November has a provocative history. As readers will know, it began with the armistice ending the First World War. All fighting suddenly halted at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
Choosing this iconic end time consigned over 11,000 men to die between the time the leaders signed the paperwork and the ceasefire’s beginning. That’s only one of countless callous decisions enacted in that futile conflict.
Communities around the world felt the need to gather on the first anniversary of that armistice. In countries involved in the debacle, just about every town had lost one or more young men to the fighting.
No Appetite for Parades or Pageantry
The gatherings were funereal. There was no appetite for parades or pageantry. They were occasions to come together to console one another for the grief of their losses.
After those first gatherings in 1919, the expressions of grief became an annual tradition. The motto behind those ceremonies was, “Never Again!” It was called Armistice Day back then, and it still is in Britain and much of the world.
Here in Canada, starting in 1931, our parliament renamed it Remembrance Day. The government decided to make the day official to “remember all the members of Canada’s Armed Forces who have died in action.”
Poppy Tradition from the Epic Poem “In Flanders Fields”
As all Canadians know, the red poppy symbolizes Remembrance Day. That tradition comes from the epic poem In Flanders Fields by Canadian field surgeon John McCrae, who served in WWI.
Something interesting developed in Britain starting in 1933. The Co-operative Women’s Guild began wearing and handing out white poppies to mark Armistice Day.
Why the colour change? The guild wanted to send a different message to the public. In their minds, the red poppy had become politicized and detracted from the original intent of the first Armistice Day gatherings.
In Their Minds, Red Poppy Had Become Politicized
Many people interpreted the red poppy as representing only fallen British soldiers while excluding the other victims who lost their lives in the war. They also believed that the red poppy marginalized the original rallying cries of “Never Again!” and “No More War!”
The purpose of the white poppy was to refocus on the original intent of Armistice Day. The white poppy campaign’s threefold aims were to mourn all war victims, commit to peace, and challenge war’s glorification.
There’s been tension back and forth between veteran groups like the Royal Canadian Legion and peace groups like the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace ever since the white poppies started appearing in Canada.
Outward Sign of a More Profound Difference of Opinion
As we know, this isn’t about simple colour preference. Nor is it a trivial trademark dispute as the Legion has sometimes claimed. The clash over symbols is the outward sign of a more profound difference of opinion about the true meaning of Remembrance Day.
Are we mourning the victims of war, or are we honouring those who purchased our freedom? Are we remembering those who died because war is futile? Or are we pledging our willingness to “Take up our quarrel with the foe,” as McCrae wrote in his influential poem?
I noticed this today as I ran my errands around town. One local business had proudly planted a sizable Canadian flag in their front yard. A few streets away, the Legion Hall was discretely flying their flag at half-mast, just as they would if one of their members had passed away.
A Day of Pride or Sorrow?
Is the Act of Remembrance a day of pride or sorrow? Are those who died heroes or victims? If we get right down to it, the question everyone’s trying not to ask is, “can we justify war?”
World War I prompted this controversy over Armistice Day, but it’s a bad example. To this day, nobody can pinpoint what the First World War was supposed to be about.
It was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. Instead of arresting the assassin, Austria-Hungary declared war on the entire nation of Serbia in 1914.
Trance-Like March Toward Global Conflict
A tangled jumble of treaties and alliances drew much of Europe into a trance-like march toward global conflict. As a result, 16 million young men died in an unbroken line of trenches 475 miles long.
We often hear the Battle of the Somme mentioned on Remembrance Day. What we may not remember is that over more than four months, a million men suffered and died to gain seven miles of land.
If World War One was a bad example, was World War II a good war, or at least a necessary one? Most people think so. Of course, without World War I, World War II wouldn’t have arisen.
Wiping Out Civilians and Entire Cities
World War II entailed wiping out civilians and entire cities. The darkest example of that was the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States, one of the “good guys.”
Over 50 million civilians died directly because of World War II. Another 20 million died of famine and disease related to the conflict.
In recent years, peer-reviewed studies have shown that non-violent resistance is ten times more effective than violent campaigns. There were some brilliantly successful campaigns against the Nazis that used peaceful civil disobedience rather than force. Sadly, they weren’t well supported or rolled out nationally.
Could Non-Violence Have Defeated the Nazis?
Could non-violence have defeated the Nazis more effectively than global war? We’ll never know, but Gandhi believed that it could have.
He argued that although there would have been enormous sacrifice and loss of life with non-violent resistance, the war had also caused unimaginable hardship.
For the first time, I bought a white poppy this year. I also bought a red poppy. From now on, I think I’ll wear them both.
We always have more to learn if we dare to know.
Learn more:
Remembrance & White Poppies
The Tragic Futility of World War I
Nonviolent resistance proves potent weapon
Don Cherry, Poppies and Cancel Culture
UN Peacekeeping: 8 Point Plan to Build Beacon of Hope
Happy International Day of Non-ViolenceCovid Ceasefire Ignored as Wars Rage On
Originally published at https://daretoknow.ca on November 12, 2020. | https://medium.com/@daretoknow/remembrance-day-a-day-of-pride-or-sorrow-dare-to-know-3a89459338c7 | ['David Morton Rintoul'] | 2020-11-12 01:24:31.814000+00:00 | ['World War I', 'Peace', 'War', 'World War II', 'Remembrance Day'] |
Formula #001 — Smart Holiday Lights | STEP 1 — Login to your Wyze app to set up Wyze Plug(s). For information on how to get the Wyze app, click here.
STEP 2 — Go through the setup process for Wyze Plug(s). You can find out how here.
STEP 3 — Plug in holiday lights of your choice into Wyze Plug(s).
STEP 4 — Link your Wyze account with your Google Home app. We walk you through how to do that here.
STEP 5 — Set up your routine within the Google Home app. Touch Routines>Manage Routines>Add a Routine. Under the When category, you will want to select Add Commands and write what you would like your trigger phrase to be for the routine. In our case, we use ‘Happy Holidays.’
STEP 6 — Under Assistant Will and Add Action, touch Browse Popular Actions to select Adjust Lights, Plugs, and More. Tap the checkbox and then tap the gear icon on the right side. Under the gear icon, you should see your Wyze Plug(s). If you do not see them, go back to Step 4 to make sure your Wyze account is linked to Google. Choose the device you would like to turn on and select Turn On in the dropdown on the right. Make sure to touch Ok at the top to save.
STEP 7 — Now when you’re back on the Browse Popular Actions screen you can add a few more actions if you would like. In our case, we added it so that Google would say ‘Happy Holidays’ back to us. Once you are done setting these actions, touch Add at the top right. Now that you’re back on the New Routine setup screen you can either save or add another step. We added Media so that with this routine, Google can also play holiday music. Once you have this all worked out, touch the Save button on the top right!
STEP 8 — Test for success!
The same setup can be done with Alexa using Alexa’s routines instead.
Didn’t work? Chat with us!
Have your own Formula recommendation? We want to hear it! | https://medium.com/wyzelabs/formula-001-smart-holiday-lights-5ee59b4a4888 | ['Maggie Mann'] | 2019-11-25 22:39:26.577000+00:00 | ['Tech', 'Smart Home', 'Google', 'Automation', 'Wyze Formulas'] |
Animals Tale | Animals Tale
Motivation
Photo by Sid Balachandran on Unsplash
Bird fly up in the sky
with no fear of falling down
because he knows he can fly
so, like birds
we should believe
in our abilities
and work hard to make things happen.
Ants work very hard
they don’t need instructor
how discipline they are
We should learn from them
to become discipline like them.
The dog is a very faithful animal
he is always loyal to his owner
In the same way
we can be loyal to our Goal
by performing our hero’s role.
A rabbit runs very fast
he is always run hard.
We should also try hard
to get what we actually want.
A lion is the king of the jungle
he lives without fears.
We should also become courageous like him
then we will also easily win.
Peacock Wait for the rainy season
dance when the rain comes
In this way, we can find happiness
in Small things in our life.
Sparrow works really hard
she makes a nest without rest
she works with consistency
to give shelter to her children
We have to become consistent
like her to achieve our goal.
Snake sleeps in the day
and work at night
we can also follow
same work rule
to achieve something in life.
Animals teach us tales
we must follow them
so we will become strong like them.
to achieve successfully our goals. | https://medium.com/flicker-and-flight/animals-tale-3460cc95afd5 | ['Mike Ortega'] | 2020-09-16 14:24:27.248000+00:00 | ['Success', 'Poetry', 'Motivation', 'Poetry Writing', 'Poem'] |
Reflection on Amal Totkay | Amal suggest the five totkay (methods) for mindset growth and those are following
1- Self-Talk
2- Get out of your comfort zone
3- Create Habits
4- ASK PEOPLE HELP
5- Fake it till you make it
These five tips are quite helpful in mindset growth I’m also trying to adopt these methods. For me get out of your comfort zone is the most important as majorly I have to work on this.
You should start implementing these totkay from now and start from self-talk then after making the decision go for 2nd one after that create habits those were relevant to your decision and then adopt the remaining two methods respectively. I think this is the best strategy for mindset growth. | https://medium.com/@choudary-sanwal171/reflection-on-amal-totkay-d694d9785e | ['Sanwal Akram'] | 2020-12-25 14:35:32.714000+00:00 | ['Amal Fellowship', 'Growth Mindset', 'Amal Academy', 'Mindset'] |
All About Bit Coin You Must Know | All About Bit Coin You Must Know
At the point when the most wealthy individual on the planet gives his help to a virtual cash you know it’s large business.
A particular Bitcoin went from being worth £3,600 in March a year ago to more than £27,000 now.
As discussion of the money has gone worldwide, the Bank of Singapore has recommended that the 12-year-old cash could supplant gold as its store of significant worth.
With so much discussion you’re most likely pondering — what is Bitcoin and how can everything work?
Here’s beginning and end you need to know.
What is Bitcoin?
Learn More:
Bitcoin, regularly depicted as a cryptographic money, a virtual cash or an advanced cash — is a sort of cash that is totally virtual.
It resembles an online form of money. You can utilize it to purchase items and administrations, however very few shops acknowledge Bitcoin yet and a few nations have restricted it out and out.
Notwithstanding, a few organizations are starting to become tied up with its developing impact.
In October a year ago, for instance, the online installment administration, PayPal, declared that it would permit its clients to purchase and sell Bitcoin.
The actual Bitcoins you see in photographs are an oddity. They would be useless without the private codes printed inside them.
How does Bitcoin work?
Each Bitcoin is essentially a PC record which is put away in a ‘advanced wallet’ application on a cell phone or PC.
Individuals can send Bitcoins (or part of one) to your advanced wallet, and you can send Bitcoins to others.
Do you want to earn more?
Each and every exchange is recorded in a public rundown called the blockchain.
This makes it conceivable to follow the historical backdrop of Bitcoins to prevent individuals from spending coins they don’t possess, making duplicates or fixing exchanges.
How individuals get Bitcoins?
There are three principle ways individuals get Bitcoins.
You can purchase Bitcoins utilizing ‘genuine’ cash.
You can sell things and let individuals pay you with Bitcoins.
Or on the other hand they can be made utilizing a PC.
Learn More : Click here
Disclosure: We are affiliated with some of the resources mentioned in this article. We may get a small commission if you buy a course through links on this page. Thank you. | https://medium.com/@anvayavani24/all-about-bit-coin-you-must-know-a5ad787f82f2 | [] | 2021-02-20 08:43:55.096000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin Mining', 'Bitcoin Wallet', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency Investment'] |
Kotlin mapOf and mutableMapOf Performance Trade-off | Recently, when doing a small coding challenge in Kotlin I was faced with the choice of mutableMapOf() or HashMap()
Photo by Marc Sendra Martorell on Unsplash
Being a Java old-timer, I went with HashMap() .
But but… all the Kotlin tutorials start with mapOf() and mutableMapOf() ?
Afterwards, I had some interesting discovery to share here:
Behind the scene, both mapOf and mutableMapOf use Java’s LinkedHashMap data structure
Utimately, the comparison between mapOf , mutableMapOf() and HashMap() is down to LinkedHashMap vs. HashMap in Java.
These are the 2 most popular implementations of Map (or Dictionary or Hashtable if you will) data structure in Java. Here you can find a very detailed comparison between the too.
The theory is that writing to a HashMap should be faster than a LinkedHashMap (as the former doesn’t care about maintaining insertion order). Also, the difference should be constant, not even linear.
Let’s measure them for fun anyway :)
Write performance showdown mutableMapOf() vs HashMap()
We’ll be using the following function to initialize 2 maps, one with HashMap() and the other with mutableMapOf()
Function we use to initialize Maps
One time run
fun main() {
compareMapInits(1, 10)
compareMapInits(1, 100)
compareMapInits(1, 10_000)
compareMapInits(1, 1_000_000)
}
Results in
>>> compareMapInits for 10 elements (repeated 1 times)
- mutableMapOf: time taken: 3ms
- HashMap: time taken: 0ms
<<<
>>> compareMapInits for 100 elements (repeated 1 times)
- mutableMapOf: time taken: 0ms
- HashMap: time taken: 0ms
<<<
>>> compareMapInits for 10000 elements (repeated 1 times)
- mutableMapOf: time taken: 2ms
- HashMap: time taken: 1ms
<<<
>>> compareMapInits for 1000000 elements (repeated 1 times)
- mutableMapOf: time taken: 107ms
- HashMap: time taken: 119ms
<<<
What stands out here are:
For a small number of entries (10), mutableMapOf() takes more than 3 times to write compare to HashMap() ! But the difference is only 3ms in absolute terms. Let’s repeat the operation a number of times later as we might see a substantial difference.
takes more than 3 times to write compare to ! But the difference is only 3ms in absolute terms. Let’s repeat the operation a number of times later as we might see a substantial difference. For a large number of entries (1mil): mutableMapOf only takes longer by a few milliseconds compared to HashMap() most of the time. Interestingly, it’s sometimes faster than HashMap() . Let’s measure the probability below as well.
Repetitive runs
1k times:
fun main() {
compareMapInits(1000, 10)
compareMapInits(1000, 100)
compareMapInits(1000, 10_000)
compareMapInits(1000, 1_000_000)
}
outputs
>>> compareMapInits for 10 elements (repeated 1000 times)
mutableMapOf() total time taken: 5 ms
HashMap() total time taken: 2 ms
How often is HashMap() slower? 2/1000
<<<
>>> compareMapInits for 100 elements (repeated 1000 times)
mutableMapOf() total time taken: 8 ms
HashMap() total time taken: 10 ms
How often is HashMap() slower? 10/1000
<<<
>>> compareMapInits for 10000 elements (repeated 1000 times)
mutableMapOf() total time taken: 335 ms
HashMap() total time taken: 225 ms
How often is HashMap() slower? 206/1000
<<<
>>> compareMapInits for 1000000 elements (repeated 1000 times)
mutableMapOf() total time taken: 81266 ms
HashMap() total time taken: 69712 ms
How often is HashMap() slower? 180/1000
<<<
HashMap() write performance win increase significantly, in absolute terms when you repeat the operation many times.
write performance win increase significantly, in absolute terms when you repeat the operation many times. Interestingly, when writing thousands of entries or more, there’s a ~20% chance HashMap() will be slower!
Conclusion
HashMap() write is faster than mutableMapOf() a.k.a. Java’s LinkedHashMap
The difference is constant and insignificant when writing millions of elements.
Unless you repeatedly write to maps many times, it’s probably not worth it using HashMap() over mutableMapOf() in production. since a wrong-order bug might be disastrous.
“Premature optimization is the root of all evil” — Donald Ervin Knuth
On the other hand though, one should be careful about using ordered Map in production, IMHO. While it’s useful during a prototyping phase, over-reliance on Map data structure can be fragile and harmful for your production system in the long run. You never know what you’ll get from the API in a Map for example. Properly designed data classes should be preferred. For simple usage, List<KeyValuePair> can be a great choice IMO, as it explicitly states the importance of ordering here.
What do you guys think?
P.S. I wonder if mentioning the performance win for HashMap() vs. mutableMapOf() will gain you some bonus points in a data structure and algorithm interview though.
Further reading
They are not the only implementation of Map of course. TreeHashMap is useful in certain scenarios for example. | https://medium.com/swlh/kotlin-mutable-map-write-performance-90bd14bc67b0 | ['Eric N'] | 2020-07-02 15:47:36.681000+00:00 | ['Kotlin', 'Data Structures', 'Performance', 'Programming'] |
How to integrate your Python Class into Plotly Dash dashboards | Code overview
Our simple application makes use of two Python scripts:
Payback_Calculator.py: the script in which you can define our own Payback Tracker class object and its functionality Payback_Application.py: the script in which you run and render the Plotly Dash application
Let’s now go over both scripts step by step, from class instantiation to app rendering.
1) Defining our custom class: the Payback Tracker
Class instantiation and attributes
Classes in Python are initialized with the class keyword, followed by the class name. The code below creates and names a Payback_Tracker class.
Upon instantiation, Python classes make use of the built in __init__() function to give a class its attributes. Attributes are class object properties you can attach to a given class instance, depending on its definition and use you plan to make of the class and its objects.
This Python Tracker class takes in 5 explicitly given attributes upon instantiation (name,initial_cost,usage_benefit,frequency,period) plus 3 others, described below:
name: the name of the class object instance (i.e. “bike”)
initial_cost: the cost of the item representing the upfront investment required
usage_benefit: the monetary value of the opportunity cost extracted by using the item
frequency: usage frequency of the item within a given period
outstanding_balance: The monetary value left to amortize with usage. Upon instantiation and thus at the time of the initial investment, it is equal to initial_cost
period: usage period reference (i.e. “daily”,”weekly”,”monthly”, or “yearly” usage)
The Tracker instance also initializes three additional attributes it will make use of to keep track of relevant object information as the item gets “used” and amortized by the owner:
balance_history: The collection of outstanding_balance values the tracker uses to keep track of the payback history of the item. Initialized as a list with the first outstanding_balance value as the initial value.
payback_counter_period: numerical count of the periods passed since usage started. Initialized as 0 at the time of initial investment.
usage_total: keeps count of the total monetary value equivalent of the item’s usage at any given time. (i.e. after buying the item and having it used 2 times with a usage_benefit of 4$, the usage_total value after one period would be 2*4$=8$)
Class methods
With class methods, you can put your class attributes to good use by enriching our Tracker with custom functionality and by thus defining its behavior via functions (the methods) typical of that class.
Our Payback_Tracker class has three methods:
get_result(): given an object’s initial_cost, usage_benefit, frequency and period, returns the estimated number of usages, or periods as defined in the period attributes.
Source: Author
generate_balance_history(): returns a list of amortized values in descending order (starting from the initial investment value of the item), which represent the value of the initial item left to payback. Decreases linearly with usage.
Source: Author
get_balance_history(): returns the list of amortized values as generated in the generate_balance_history() method
Source: Author
get_balance_data(): returns a data-frame format version of the balance_history of the item
The Payback_Tracker class now has its own attributes and methods, and given its inputs it can compute the amortization history and timeline of an item.
Let’s now put it all to work by embedding the object into our Plotly-Dash application!
2) Embedding the Payback Tracker class into the app’s functionality
The Payback Tracker app resides in Payback_Application.py. The script has three main sections described below.
Package import and Dash app creation
First, let’s import the necessary packages to be able to run our plotly-dash app (lines 1–11); then, our app’s instance can be initialized with the relevant dash and .server methods (lines 13–15).
Notice how the script also imports our Tracker class from Payback_Calculator.py, which enables access to definition of Payback_Tracker class instances and their methods (line 11).
2. App’s HTML layout (with some built-in CSS formatting)
Next, our HTML components can be defined as a list into the app.layout variable. You can also refer to the above image of the app’s front-end for reference.
The main components (embedded into a main container <div> element set at the beginning) are:
an H1 header setting the app’s title (“Item Payback Period Calculator”)
(“Item Payback Period Calculator”) a <div> element containing the description of the app, with title and subtitle
of the app, with title and subtitle an additional <div> with a header ( form legend ) and three paragraph <p> tags providing legend information around the user input fields.
) and three paragraph <p> tags providing legend information around the user input fields. another <div> containing input fields for the user to fill in with the variable the Payback_Tracker class will use to calculate the estimated time required to return from the investment: the item’s name, initial cost, usage benefit and frequency, as well as the relevant period. These elements are coded as Input elements in the dash app for the back-end to be able to refer to the user’s input and store those values as variables our class will make us of in the next step.
for the user to fill in with the variable the Payback_Tracker class will use to calculate the estimated time required to return from the investment: the item’s name, initial cost, usage benefit and frequency, as well as the relevant period. These elements are coded as elements in the dash app for the back-end to be able to refer to the user’s input and store those values as variables our class will make us of in the next step. the layout closes with <div> tag (id=’output_graph’) which will contain our data output graph, as well as a <div> tag (id=’output_text’) which will render the output from calling the get_result() class method on the user’s input variables
Having styled our page elements with some additional but essential in-line CSS, you can now move on to the app’s main functionality piece.
3. Calling our Payback_Tracker class to enable app’s functionality
Our app’s functionality in Dash is enabled by one and only one function, called generate_graph(). The app makes use of a Python decorator to define input and output components the function will make use of.
Our 5 input components are coming from the input elements defined as part of the layout in the prior section and referenced by their ID fields in HTML. They are passed in the generate_graph() function as arguments and correspond to our 5 key attributes of the Payback_Tracker class (name,initial_cost,usage_benefit,frequency,period).
There are also 2 Output elements defined, respectively the ’output_graph’ and ’output_text’ HTML elements, which will be used to return and render the function’s output.
The function’s body is then defined. After the user fills in the form with his/her 5 input elements, these are passed as input arguments to generate_graph(). The function then creates a Payback_Tracker class instance with those 5 attributes (line 11) called object_, and successively calls the generate_balance_history() and the get_balance_data() methods on those inputs, storing the result of the latter in a data variable (line 13).
Using such data, a bar chart (stored in the fig variable) is then created via the plotly.express (px) library (lines 15–18).
The function the returns both the fig variable, embedding it in the first of the 2 output elements (‘output_graph’) and then also embeds the result of calling the get_result() method into the ‘output_text’ element.
Therefore, whenever the user fills in the form, the 5 input fields are used by the class to:
create an instance of that class
call its methods on its attributes
use the generate_graph() function to capture the input, process the methods and render the results (the fig bar-chart plus the output of get_result()) into the Dash HTML layout, repeating this workflow every time the user modifies the input fields in the form.
In this way, you have been able to interact with Dash elements and processing them via your custom class, then also used to render visual output to the user via the generate_graph() function!
Our simple app’s functionality is now complete.
Summary, code repository, useful resources and next steps
I hope this simple example serves as a useful illustration of how to potentially make use of your own class objects to create data visualization elements with Dash!
Thanks for reading!
Code repo: https://github.com/edoard0/Item-Payback-Calculator
References: | https://towardsdatascience.com/how-to-integrate-your-python-class-into-plotly-dash-dashboards-11a796a601b4 | ['Edoardo Romani'] | 2021-04-07 14:00:36.753000+00:00 | ['Python Class', 'Object Oriented', 'Python', 'Dash', 'Plotly'] |
How To Justify The Valuation of Tesla Stock? | Photo by Austin Ramsey on Unsplash
That’s it. Tesla is now part of the S&P 500 index, achieving the status of a safe bet and representing one of the first weightings of this prestigious index, whose members include Apple or Amazon.
Many financial analysts have long been skeptical of Tesla’s valuation. Elon Musk himself tweets, in May, the stock price is too high.
But it looks like the pandemic has not had an effect on Tesla which signs a very convincing third quarter. The stock price is only going up. So what’s happen? What can we find in the leader of the electric car?
Market Value
Why is difficult today is to differentiate the quality of the company from the stock price? We must therefore analyze Tesla as a stock market valuation and not as a company. Tesla has a technological advance in electric cars. We all agree.
Tesla’s turnaround in fortunes this year came after the company managed to report profits for five consecutive quarters.
But for a market valuation, the central question is whether Tesla is really worth that much. As of December 2020, Tesla has a market cap of $658 billion. It makes Tesla the world’s 9th most valuable company by market cap. More than General Motors, BMW, Volkswagen, and Chrysler… Can Tesla reach a market cap of $ 1 trillion?
As Tesla’s loyal investors reap the rewards of their faith in Musk’s vision, the big question for 2021 is how to trade this stock in the future. The analyst community is divided. Is Tesla a bubble or the new El Dorado?
A major challenge for investors and analysts is how to justify further gains for a stock that is trading well above high valuations. For this to be justified, it is not enough just strong growth. This is already the case but it is not enough. It takes more than that. In fact, the market is already betting on the fact that it will become number one in the world as it has done with Amazon in the past. This helps to understand what is called a high valuation on the stock market.
What is the motivation of buyers to buy so high? What are they based on?
For instance, Piper Sandler recently raises Tesla’s price target to $ 2,300. Market studies notice competitive advantage, a strong balance sheet, and finally the ability to generate cash for the company of Elon Musk.
Tesla’s cash position is improving but in these three points what I am really interesting to analyze is one aspect of the competitive advantage. How is tesla different from others? So how can Tesla get ahead of it never to be caught?
Of course, we could focus on all material innovations such as batteries to defend Tesla’s lead over others. But technological innovation at Tesla is quite different, it could well be software.
Tesla’s innovation strategy, which focuses on transforming the automotive industry as a whole, demonstrates, in particular, the validation of hypotheses and the implementation of new technologies in the market.
Tesla’s hardware architecture is an assembly of batteries at the base, two electric motors, no transmission… All of this also gives it an advantage over competing electric vehicles built on traditional vehicle architectures.
What makes this part of the strategy truly unique is not only the fact that Tesla produces electric vehicles, but also that it introduced a vision for assembling them. These are new hardware and software architecture. A Tesla has more software than the average vehicle and is integrated around a single central software architecture. Tesla has a great ability to update their software and optimize vehicle performance thanks to this very unique architecture that most traditional cars, which also have the software, find it hard to emulate.
Full Self-Driving (FSD)
Autonomous driving is Tesla’s biggest opportunity. Much of Tesla’s earnings call was devoted to discussing the company’s efforts to achieve full self-driving capability (FSD). Let’s dig a little deeper into this technology.
Tesla’s vehicle software, which currently enables the FSD capability, has improved over time. Its release followed a “fundamental rewrite” of the FSD (for “full self-driving”) software, and which now combines imagery gathered from all eight cameras of a Tesla vehicle into a series of linked images, as opposed to the image after image.
New steps for the autonomous car? On October 21, Tesla released the beta version of its FSD update.
In August, Musk promised a “quantum leap” as to the capabilities of this option at $ 8,000, explaining that the software had not been simply improved but completely rewritten by his teams. Explaining himself to use the alpha version of the FSD mode between his home and work, he promised in particular that the cars with them were able to perceive their environment in “four dimensions” and not in two.
This improvement of the FSD allows cars to drive alone on small roads or in town, and no longer only on freeways or expressways. Only a few customers have been chosen by the brand to test this advanced mode, which is not yet available to the general public. Drivers should keep their hands on the wheel and be extra vigilant because the vehicle can do the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Thanks to many kilometers of data gathered by enthusiastic beta testers and feedback to Tesla, FSD appears to be getting rapidly better.
Tesla Autopilot FSD Oracle Park to Crissy Field at Night 1x Raw Footage — Whole Mars Catalog
When activated, the digital instrument cluster takes on new graphics: vehicles and obstacles are framed, along with traffic signs. This visually represents the observations of the software.
The autopilot was reserved for highways. Another system was used for parking assistance and low-speed maneuvers. Until now, urban speeds were a problem for engineers. Testing in the real world is key to Tesla’s strategy to expose the neural net and algorithms that underpin the self-driving software to “edge cases”, that would not otherwise occur in a simulated environment.
The YouTuber Dr. Know-it-all Knows it all shared his thoughts on FSD and describes the system that allows objects to be identified through an image-based neural network and then find the object in the image database. Semantically, recognizing a cat does not mean that the computer understands what a cat is. It is simply the assembly of edges, pixels, and colors that is associated with a label which it knows is called “cat”.
Trajectory prediction and 4D data continuity — Dr. Know-it-all Knows it all
This affects the driving because the computer only detects what a picture contains in relation to a tag, it doesn’t give the computer any more information about what a cat actually is. It doesn’t give any idea of how a cat behaves.
In order to drive effectively, the computer must know the difference between the images and what they represent as well as being able to anticipate what will be in the next image. This is what Dr. Know-it-all called “continuity”. If the computer detects what is in one image, the computer should be able to tell that it is in the next image, in four dimensions over time. This is why it is the “4D”, he noted. Time, or continuity, is the 4th dimension. A dimension where the algorithm would be able to predict variations in speed or even changes in direction of objects near the vehicle.
We need to move forward in this direction and optimize the semantics of the computer in order to avoid very rudimentary driving errors and achieve the sci-fi autonomous driving that we expect, with the car driving itself. For this to happen, we need data continuity over a long sequence of images or videos and a temporarily semantic understanding of what the car sees. This is where 4D training comes in. He noted that Tesla’s FSD looked at eight individual cameras as well as radar and sonar about every 30 seconds. It is very fast treatment. The FSD has treated all of this information separately. It identified the objects and then he acted on them.
Tesla’s Competitive Advantage
The new beta of FSD with 4D capabilities uses the Tesla inference engine and the chips Tesla has in its vehicles. The eight cameras are now linked together in a single view, and it’s a video sequence instead of individual images. Along with this, there is object detection which has more information.
Besides the likelihood of fewer errors in semantic identification over time. What this 4D training opens the door to is trajectory projection. This would require the computer to have a large amount of knowledge because it has to understand what these objects are. The computer now knows that it must take immediate action to avoid this object which can move on its own or, at the very least, that it must break quickly to avoid a collision with the object, or use different calculations to avoid hitting it.
This type of trajectory projection is what humans do extremely well, at least if we are paying attention while driving. Existing software like Waymo and GM Cruise exactly map the environments around them and can track those things. They can sense objects in the way and brake if they need to, but they lack the understanding of Tesla’s new FSD software.
Not only are there a variety of objects in the world that can get in the way of the car, but the computer must also determine if these objects are moving, standing still, how dangerous they are, and then be able to respond. Along with this, the computer must also determine if things are far enough away.
The software security of such systems seems far from certain. A hacker, known as Green, discovered also the actual system settings of the beta version of the brand’s full self-driving feature. The system has dozens of parameters and settings. But what stands out most is that it is possible to make a detailed view of the vehicle appear in the world while a Tesla is in motion. One can see the internal states of the system, which show the dozens of parameters including controls for FSD, camera information, and ultrasound. Another hacker unlocks the “augmented vision” mode used to understand what the car is seeing and build confidence in the system.
There was a time when manufacturing seemed to be Tesla’s weakness. Manufacturing issues affected the initial production ramp-ups of the S, X, and 3 models. But Tesla’s Model 3 launch at its new factory in China and the company’s new Model Y at its California plant came about not only ran smoothly but also at faster rates than previous launches.
The promise of the new FSD is beautiful and the timing of the competition imposes urgency. Tesla claimed the possibility of 30% gross margins if more customers choose to purchase the company’s FSD software.
Dominating the industry given its size, structure, and politics is a challenge for Tesla. However, the multiple challenges facing the industry’s economic model give it a competitive advantage.
Tesla investors must still be patient. Many criticisms are indeed directed at the manufacturer because of its communication regarding the automation of driving.
Tesla is valued as a technological innovation. Tesla’s current valuation does not imply that it is only an auto company. Tesla buyers and investors are betting that, like Apple, the company will soon have a series of services built into its hardware that will make Tesla more than just a car maker.
Summary | https://medium.com/@daniel-leivas/how-to-justify-the-valuation-of-tesla-stock-50be668afc13 | ['Daniel Leivas'] | 2020-12-22 22:13:42.632000+00:00 | ['Self Driving Cars', 'Technology', 'Tesla', 'Electric Car', 'Stock Market'] |
Ethereum Zero to Hero: Setting a Development Environment | This is the second part of our Ethereum Zero to Hero guide. If you have not read part, I highly recommend it before jumping ahead.
In this post, we are going to set up a basic private test-net environment for ethereum development and experimentation.
Step 0: Requirements
You are using MacOS
You have a basic understanding of software development
You know what Ethereum is and understand it is basic usage.
You have a basic understanding of MacOS Terminal usage .
. You have homebrew installed
Step 1: Setting Test-Net
While we are learning the in’s and out’s of Ethereum development, we probably don’t want to test against the real production network with real ether.
There are several Ethereum tests-nets out in the wild for this purpose Rinkeby and Morden for example; however interacting with this networks still requires for us to acquire ethereum either by mining, or getting ether from other users.
While we will eventually work with the public test networks, for beginners like us that are just starting out, that is far from ideal, and it can be difficult to get significant amounts of ether.
A better option is setting up our private testnet, that we can bend and twist; as well it will allow us to gain a deeper understanding of the inner workings of the Ethereum network.
Let’s GETH Going
We will need to install the geth, a go CLI client that will allow us to run a full ethereum node locally.
brew tap ethereum/ethereum brew install ethereum
We can verify that everything installed correctly by typing:
geth version
Which should give you an output similar to the following:
Step 2: Genesis Block
To get our on private testnet started, we are going to need a Genesis Block. Every Blockchain requires a genesis block, which is essentially the configuration file for our blockchain.
The genesis block is the start of the blockchain — the first block, block 0, and the only block that does not point to a predecessor block. The protocol ensures that no other node will agree with your version of the blockchain unless they have the same genesis block, so you can make as many private testnet blockchains as you would like!
Create a project directory, for example ethereum_0hero Open your preferred editor and create a file named HeroGenesis.json Copy the following contents and save the file:
As you can see the file contents are in json and for the most part self-explanatory, but let’s go over the each one of the parameters quickly to clarify their purpose.
coinbase : The 160-bit address to which all rewards (in Ether) collected from the successful mining of this block has been transferred. This can be anything in the Genesis Block since the value is set by the setting of the miner when a new block is created.
: The 160-bit address to which all rewards (in Ether) collected from the successful mining of this block has been transferred. This can be anything in the Genesis Block since the value is set by the setting of the miner when a new block is created. timestamp : A scalar value equal to the reasonable output of Unix time() function at this block inception. A smaller period between the last two blocks results in an increase in the difficulty level and thus additional computation required to find the next valid block.
: A scalar value equal to the reasonable output of Unix time() function at this block inception. A smaller period between the last two blocks results in an increase in the difficulty level and thus additional computation required to find the next valid block. difficulty : It defines the mining Target, which can be calculated from the previous block’s difficulty level and the timestamp. The higher the difficulty, the statistically more calculations a Miner must perform to discover a valid block. This value is used to control the Block generation time of a Blockchain, keeping the Block generation frequency within a target range. On the test network, we keep this value low to avoid waiting during tests, since the discovery of a valid Block is required to execute a transaction on the Blockchain.
: It defines the mining Target, which can be calculated from the previous block’s difficulty level and the timestamp. The higher the difficulty, the statistically more calculations a Miner must perform to discover a valid block. This value is used to control the Block generation time of a Blockchain, keeping the Block generation frequency within a target range. On the test network, we keep this value low to avoid waiting during tests, since the discovery of a valid Block is required to execute a transaction on the Blockchain. gasLimit: A scalar value equal to the current chain-wide limit of Gas expenditure per block. High in our case to avoid being limited by this threshold during tests.
Finally, the config parameters are there to ensure that certain protocol upgrades are available from the get go.
For a full explanation check this answer in stackexchange
Next, we will need to initialize our chain by running the following command:
geth --datadir ./TestNetData init HeroGenesis.json
Setting the data directory is important since otherwise we will override the default data directory for the real Ethereum network.
The output should return something similar to the following:
Step 3: Running a Local Node
Now that we create our initial chain we can run it by executing the following command:
geth --datadir ./TestNetData --identity "HeroNode1" --rpc --rpcport "8080" --rpccorsdomain "*" --port "30303" --nodiscover --rpcapi "db,eth,net,web3" --maxpeers 0 --networkid 24 console
This command does a few things:
Utilizes the Genesis block we previously created It uses a custom data directory instead of the default Sets the network id to 24 to prevent us from talking from noes from the main network Disables peer discovery Disables the network by setting up the maxpeers to 0 Launches the geth console so we can interact with the blockchain/node
The output should be something similar to the following:
At this point, you should be up and running, and in the geth console ready to do something, but what?
Well let’s switch attention to the following Warning:
WARN No etherbase set and no accounts found as default
We have node up and running, but it will not be much use without any accounts.
Step 4: Creating an account
Since we are already in the Geth console is easier to ahead and create an account directly from there, in the terminal type the following:
personal.newAccount()
The console will ask for a passphrase DO NOT LOSE THIS!, and return a has like the following:
0xe857331e4e3354bb72b3751cce419c8444e89e17
And let’s validate that the account exist by running:
> eth.getBalance("0xe857331e4e3354bb72b3751cce419c8444e89e17") 0
Now, let’s put some ether into that account.
Step 5: Let’s Geth Mining
Quick recap:
We have a working private network with a single node running locally
We create a test account that on said private network
We do not have any ether in that account, and we need to fix that
Now, while we could easily issue ether to our account using the Genesis block, let’s have some fun and mine Ether on our private network.
Open a new terminal tab and running the following command:
get attach ./<DirectoryName>/geth.ipc
This will connect our second terminal to the existing geth instance and open the Javascript console. Inside the console run the following:
miner.setEtherbase("0xe857331e4e3354bb72b3751cce419c8444e89e17") miner.start()
If we go back to our first terminal we should see the following happening:
Let’s go back to the second terminal and stop the miner and check our balance:
miner.stop() eth.getBalance('0xe857331e4e3354bb72b3751cce419c8444e89e17') 75000000000000000000
Congratulations! We have now created our private network and mined our few amount of ether, and we have a valid network that we can use to developer our Smart Contracts and DApps.
In the next post of the series, we will start developing with Solidity and Smart Contracts.
This article was originally posted on my own site. | https://medium.com/hackernoon/ethereum-zero-to-hero-setting-a-development-environment-d45e11532105 | ['Allan Macgregor'] | 2017-12-25 14:29:23.268000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Ethereum', 'Programming', 'Ethereum Zero To Hero', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Carcinogens, Cancer & Chaos: The Story Behind J&J’s Baby Powder | The fall of a family friendly company.
Johnson & Johnson’s — The Empire
You, me and I believe, the entire world, used Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder while growing up. From being gifted to parents who have a newborn to the ones who wanted a “chemical-free” option, J&J products were used by several people because people used to think, “It’s a baby product. It can’t contain any harmful chemicals”.
Founded in 1886, Johnson & Johnson was making a mainstream manual on treating injuries and the first mass-market first-aid kit in the earlier years. However, Johnson & Johnson, as we know it today, arguably began in 1959.
Since then, the company has acquired several other firms and has reported billions of dollars in profit. Even though the company is doing well now (in terms of numbers), a lot of things have actually changed, especially the perception of the company in people’s minds.
What Happened Now?
Today, Johnson & Johnson announced it would stop selling its talc Baby Powder in the United States and Canada. The company said that the demand has dropped for the product. It also said that it had stopped shipping talc baby powder when the coronavirus crisis led to limits on shopping and manufacturing.
Not only the Covid-19 crisis, the firm said that the “misinformation” around the safety of the product and a constant barrage or litigation advertising also led to the change in the consumer habits.
Why Did This Happen?
In 2018, Reuters released an investigative report, which said that from at least 1971 to the early 2000s, the company’s raw talc and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos and that company executives, mine managers, scientists, doctors and lawyers fretted over the problem and how to address it while failing to disclose it to regulators or the public.
The report also said that J&J didn’t tell the FDA (U.S Food and Drug Administration) that at least three tests by three different labs from 1972 to 1975 had found asbestos in its talc — in one case at levels reported as “rather high”.
In short, J&J knew for decades that its talc powder had asbestos, which is a known cancer causing substance, but failed to tell the regulators. And people were using it on their newborns for years without knowing about it.
The Fallout
The Reuters report triggered a stock selloff that erased around $40 billion from J&J’s market value in one day and created a public relations crisis for the company.
In order to limit the impact of the report, the company took out full-page newspaper ads defending its products and practices.
In 2019, the company’s stock suffered its biggest loss in 10 months over news that the company recalled a “single lot” of its Baby Powder, “out of an abundance of caution”, after a FDA test found “sub-trace levels” of chrysotile asbestos.
The company faces over 19,000 lawsuits from consumers and their survivors claiming its talc products caused cancer.
Even though Johnson’s Baby Powder now accounts for only around 0.5% of its U.S consumer health business, the baby powder has always remained a symbol that the product has nothing but goodness for babies. However, J&J still hasn’t said anything about their talc products containing asbestos. They have rebutted all of the information in the Reuters report and said that their products are safe.
But the news of a decline in demand due to change in consumer habits shows that the company, which once was perceived as something family friendly, is now seen as dangerous and deadly. And we believe that it will take years and a lot of effort to change its brand perception. | https://medium.com/moneyguru-insights/carcinogens-cancer-chaos-the-story-behind-j-js-baby-powder-16cc1044c336 | [] | 2020-05-20 12:01:10.544000+00:00 | ['Stocks', 'Baby Powder', 'Company', 'Insights', 'Johnson And Johnson'] |
DAD Monthly Report 2021–6 | Development
Updated DAD-go-crypto to v1.0.4;
Checked transaction size in deserialization;
Fixed error handle in VM reader;
Cli prints detailed error information when a transaction sending error occurs;
Fixed Committer message for skipped broadcasting;
Product & DApp
Combining characteristics of the Klaytn public chain to design the DAD NFT Marketplace. 90% completed.
Market & PR
To expand DAD Chain’s global reach, DAD has launched a recruitment program for global brand ambassadors. Promote DAD on Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, TikTok, and other social media platforms for a chance to earn $DAD.
Interested in helping DAD grow? Send a message to [email protected] with the subject line “DAD Ambassador Invite” and include a self-introduction, your Telegram number, and social media profiles. A member of the DAD team will contact you upon review. We look forward to hearing from you.
개발 진척
DAD-go-crypto v1.0.4 업데이트 내용;
역직렬화 시 트랜젝션 크기를 확인;
VM 리더 조작 오류 수정;
트랜젝션 전송 오류 발생 시 자동으로 오류 세부 정보를 송출;
건너뛴 브로드캐스팅에 대한 커미터 메시지 수정;
제품 & DApp
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마케팅 & PR
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Follow us on social media | https://medium.com/dadchain/dad-monthly-report-2021-6-6cbe8998646b | [] | 2021-06-06 00:00:00 | ['Dad', 'Nft', 'Decentralization', 'Advertising', 'Blockchain'] |
Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! Gotta Catch ’Em All | The following blog is a combined (and equal) effort of authors:
Prashant Ramnani, Rithin Manoj, Satyam Porwal, and Shivam Kumar Jha, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.
Fault tolerance is in the center of distributed system design that covers various methodologies. In past, there have been cases where critical applications buckled under faults because of an insufficient level of fault tolerance.
“A distributed system is one in which the failure of a computer you didn’t even know existed can render your own computer unusable”
Leslie Lamport, May 1987.
Through this blog, we tried to bring out the ways various researchers have tried to detect failures in operating and distributed systems in recent times.
We’ll discuss 4 different papers, hence 4 different approaches for failure detection, and briefly describe their working and certain limitations that each faced.
Capturing and enhancing In Situ system observability for Failure Detection
Huang et al., OSDI’18
Faults are common in large systems, they can be Hardware faults, Software bugs, or even misconfiguration. Failure detection is a fundamental building block for fault-tolerant systems. An important factor in the availability of data is detecting failure reliably and rapidly.
Extensive work has been done in this field. Studies done over several decades have focussed on the detection of fail-stop failures in asynchronous systems. The problem to reliably determine whether a process has crashed or is just “very slow” has proved to be a daunting task.
Gray Failures
If you’re going to fail, fail properly dammit! Masking problems turn out to be one of the key causes of major availability breakdowns and performance anomalies in cloud-scale systems.
Gray failures are when some component of the system fails but the whole system does not crash. Making this even more nuanced and harder to detect.
… cloud practitioners are frequently challenged by gray failure: component failures whose manifestations are fairly subtle and thus defy quick and definitive detection. Examples of gray failure are severe performance degradation, random packet loss, flaky I/O, memory thrashing, capacity pressure, and non-fatal exceptions.
Talking out gray failure is a blog of its own. If you’re really interested you can refer to our inspiration for choosing this paper, Adrian Colyer.
The paper presents its own version of Gray Failure, ZooKeeper cluster, which can no longer service write requests event even though the leader was still actively exchanging heartbeat messages with its followers.
The key insights of the paper are
1. Critical Gray Failures are Observable
2. Error Handling can be used for Error Reporting
The paper tries to design a failure detector that can correctly report the status of each component. The quality of which is measured by
1) Completeness, which says that if a component fails, a detector suspects it
2) Accuracy, which says that a component is not suspected before it fails.
THE SOLUTION: PANORAMA
A collaborative based approach to detect complex production failures by gathering observations about each component from different sources in real-time.
Panorama is divided into two phases (we will see this is a very common trend across multiple papers):
Offline Phase
The panorama includes an offline tool that statically analyses a program’s source code to find critical points for observation (another common observation among various papers; usually coined different terms but refer to a very similar idea) capture to inject hooks (depicted in green lines) for reporting observations.
In the above example, we can see an observation point to be an exception handler, which is invoked when an exception occurs at the observation boundary.
Hooks also capture first-hand observations, especially the runtime errors which are generated from executions of these code regions in production. So whenever Panorama reports a failure, there is concrete evidence and context to help localize where the failure occurred.
2. Runtime Phase
Each Panorama instance maintains a Local Observation Store(LOS) that stores all observations reports made by colocated components.
Each LOS, using a local decision engine, makes judgments about the status of observed components’ status; the status can be any one of HEALTHY, DEAD, and a few levels of UNHEALTHY. These LOSes are synchronized and, in a decentralized fashion, a central verdict server allows easy querying of judgments regarding the failure of components.
There is also a central verdict server that allows easy querying of judgments and arbitrates amongst the decentralized LOSes.
Overview of Panorama. Each Panorama instance runs at the same endpoint with the monitored component.
With the observations collected about a subject, Panorama uses a decision engine to reach a verdict and stores the result in the LOS. A process is judged as unhealthy if the latest status is unhealthy or the health status does not have a recent majority. The summaries across all observers are then aggregated and status decided using a simple majority.
Panorama was applied to ZooKeeper, HDFS, HBase, and Cassandra, at both process and thread level. The system proved to be a messiah which helped us get rid of all production gray failures. While this might be the case with 1000 lines of code, it is a very tedious task to annotate all production code.
Developers find it hard to write proper documentation, making them do annotations would be even harder. Automating this process with minimum manual work would be the best way to go but that itself requires a lot of effort since it needs to be done for a large set of languages.
Even though Panorama has shown positives it has a lot of challenges to become a practical production solution.
CrashTuner: Detecting Crash Recovery Bugs in Cloud Systems via Meta-info Analysis
Lu et. Al, SOSP’19
Moving towards another theme of failure which would result in much more clearly visible and catastrophic outcomes. Crash recovery codes are often buggy and random fault injections have proven ineffective for detecting these. Model-checking at the code level is infeasible (unlike our previous problem), due to the large possible state space.
Recovery must be a first-class (independent) operation for any distributed system. The image below shows a statistic depicting the high number of failures that occur over an interval of one month.
How common are node crashes?
Node Crash Events can be common in large clusters. Existing detection approaches include:
Random fault injection: Ineffective
Model-checking: Inefficient and requires manual specifications
Existing Crash-recovery bugs can be easily triggered nodes:
Crash before reading variables
Crash after writing variables
THE SOLUTION: CRASHTUNER
The paper observes that crash-recovery bugs involve meta-info variables. Meta-info variables include variables denoting nodes, jobs, tasks, applications, containers, attempts, sessions, etc.
The paper infers that crash-recovery bugs can be easily triggered when nodes crash before reading meta-info variables and/or crash after writing meta-info variables.
Overview of the CrashTuner approach.
The basic working of CrashTuner as depicted in the image can be divided into two parts:
Identifying all crash points
a. Using log-based program analysis on runtime logs to discover the meta-info variables (nodes referencing variables and related variables). Mines runtime logs to discover meta-info variables and record their runtime values.
All 4 distributed systems, which CrashTuner was evaluated had a very distinctive common theme: a common logging library that provides common logging interfaces with the following terms: fatal, error, warn, info, debug and trace. Using these log patterns and instances are generated effectively, which are then used to generate the meta-info variables.
b. Static crash point analysis is done on these to identify all other meta-info variables. This is a good approach as it derives all the meta-info variables in the system without precisely tracking program dependencies, which can be a highly complex task in the field of distributed systems.
These “static crash points” are access points to the fields of meta-info types. These are also referred to as pre-read/post-write points (the name says it all).
If a read reference is only used in the return statements the corresponding static crash point is promoted. Such promotion helps to simplify the call stacks of corresponding dynamic pre-read points.
c. The profiler generates dynamic crash points, i.e., executed static crash points with distinct calling stacks. Those static crash points not exercised are discarded.
2. Performs fault injection testing at each crash point, to carefully inject the right faulty event we need to figure out which node to crash when hitting a dynamic crash point.
a. Online Log Analysis is performed where Runtime logs are collected at each node of a cluster using a LogStash Agent, which is optimized to send only the runtime values of meta-info variables to a custom stash.
These are then processed in FIFO order using a HashSet.
b. Trigger instruments the system to inject crash events at dynamic crash points, where pre-read and post-write are instrumented differently.
For pre-read points, a shutdown RPC is followed by a wait, which works as a timeout period for the shutdown event to be handled. For post-write points, a crash RPC is instrumented. Both are invoked with arguments <P, context> and id. P is a dynamic crash point, context is the call stack and id is the access runtime meta-info value. The bugs are reported in 3 cases:
i. Job failures
ii. System hangs
iii. There exist uncommon exceptions in logs
CrashTurner was evaluated on Yarn, HDFS, HBase, and ZooKeeper and proved highly effective in reporting bugs in each of the systems. Using this Crashtuner inserts crash points at read/ write of meta-info variables. This results in a 99.91% reduction in crash points with previous testing techniques.
Silent errors are not reported which leads to unexpected behaviors. Even though Meta-info is a well-suited abstraction for distributed systems. There are questions about identifying meta-info variables and what would be false-positive and false-negative rates for finding meta-info variables via heuristic definition.
Efficient Scalable Thread-Safety-Violation Detection
Li et. Al, SOSP’19
Similar to the two papers discussed above, here also we present a specific problem which the researchers try to deal with, which in this case is Thread-Safety Violation (TSV).
TSV occurs if two threads concurrently invoke two conflicting methods upon the same object. Similar to the gray failures, these are hard to find via testing as they don’t show up in most of the test runs.
Thread-safety violations are a generalization of data races to objects and data structures and occur when the client fails to meet the thread-safety contract of a class or library. It is possible to use data-race detection tools in a manually intensive process to find some of these bugs on a small scale. To reduce the manual effort, it is possible to adopt dynamic data race analysis while running the program under test inputs, but these require a lot of false-positive pruning
THE SOLUTION: TSVD
TSVD is a scalable dynamic analysis tool for TSVs. It uses lightweight instrumentation and dynamic analysis to identify potential conflicting accesses without paying the overhead while being effective in finding bugs. We provide TSVD only the thread-safety contract, and it finds the results with zero false positives.
TSVD requires a static analysis that identifies all the call sites(called TSVD points) to relevant data structures’ methods whose thread-safety needs to be checked in the code.
The only interface to TSVD is the OnCall with arguments that show the thread making the call thread_id, the object being accessed obj_id, and the operation being performed op_id.
Algorithm for OnCall
The trap mechanism works as follows. When a thread calls this OnCall method and it is chosen by the shoud_delay, set_trap will register the current method call to some global table, and the thread will sleep for some period. During this period, every other thread entering OnCall checks if it conflicts with the currently registered traps. If two traps conflict and at least one operation is a write, TSVD finds a bug. This is a delay-based strategy which guarantees that if a violation is found, it is a true bug (i.e., no false positives).
A potential violation is used in multiple test executions by injecting delays to trigger a real violation. If a real violation is found it is a true bug, else TSVD can guarantee it is a false-positive and is ignored.
TSVD maintains a trap set that contains dangerous-pairs of program locations that can likely contribute to thread-safety violations and injects delays at only these locations. TSVD looks for conflicting calls with close-by physical timestamps. If two calls from different threads to the same object occur within a short physical time window, TSVD will add these two calls into the set. This is a highly efficient and scalable method than trying to do a happened-before analysis and finding calls with concurrent logical timestamps.
TSVD was deployed at Microsoft for several months and found 96% TSVs which were previously unknown to developers and 47% were causing severe customer-facing issues.
Comparison of TSVD against other benchmark models
A seemingly straight-forward drawback of the TSVD approach is that it may cause a false-negative by adding the random delay, but when we try to run the tool multiple times, those missed false negatives are captured due to different random delays tried.
FCatch: Automatically Detecting Time-of-fault Bugs in Cloud Systems
Wang et. Al, ASPLOS’18
Moving with the common theme of trying to achieve high availability, the paper introduces Time-of-Fault (TOF) bugs that only manifest when a node crashes or a message drops at a special moment. TOF bugs are composed of trigger, error, and failure.
Previous works relied on Fault injection to expose TOF bugs. These works have shown great progress, but all of them required a deep understanding of the system and a lot of manual effort. Furthermore, they struggle at searching in a huge state space of distributed systems. [Looks like this is another common theme. I wonder why?] These systems failed to reveal any TOF bugs under certain conditions.
SOLUTION: FCATCH
The paper presents a new model for TOF bugs, which have two key properties:
Triggering Conditions: the bug is triggered by special timing of fault f, if f occurs earlier or later, the system would behave correctly.
Root causes: Once triggered, a TOF bug can cause system failure when faulty node Ncrash leaves a shared resource in a state that can’t be handled by another node.
An example of TOF bugs from MapReduce
The image above depicts these two properties.
Take a page from previous work the paper also presents the idea of predict TOF bugs by analyzing operations that read/write the same resource from different nodes (conflicting operations), helping reduce the bug search space. Based on the triggering conditions, predicting TOF bugs can be done by analyzing the correct runs to see if/how the system behaves when TOF changes, this helps reduce the manual work considerably.
Crash Regular Bugs: conflicting operations are from crash node Ncrash and a non-crash node Nregular Crash-Recovery Bugs: conflicting operations are from crash node Ncrash and recovery node Nrecovery.
Conflicting operations in a crash-regular bug. →: define-use relation; gray items disappear due to crash.
Conflicting operations in a crash-recovery bug. →: define-use relation; gray items disappear due to crash.
The flow of FCatch
How are these bugs detected?
FCatch monitors a fault-free run of the target system, recording resource-access operations, happens-before operations, and time-out operations FCatch identifies pairs of conflicting operations from different nodes that have blocking happens-before relationship with each other FCatch checks time-out mechanisms in the target system and reports conflicting and fault-intolerant crash-regular operation pairs as candidate bugs FCatch tries to trigger a reported {W, R} crash-regular TOF bug by crashing the node of W right before W or dropping the message where W is from
The model evaluations show that FCatch can indeed effectively detect TOF bugs with high accuracy and a decent overhead.
The model does not cover all bugs that are related to faults in distributed systems. It only covers node-crash and some message drop faults. It does not cover faults that are not related to the timing of faults or ones that may involve interaction among more than one fault/ resource. Previous works on detecting these multi-variable TOF bugs could help extend this to FCatch.
What we learned…
In distributed systems, failure detectors are used to monitor the processes and to reduce the risk of failures by detecting them before system crashes. Accuracy and completeness are the key attributes to measure the quality of failure detectors. A common way to handles these involves two steps: detecting failure and recovering using periodic checkpoints.
In the papers discussed, we looked at how different failures were dealt with. The first paper describes a unique way to approach gray failures, which are really hard to detect. The second paper describes a method to detect crash recovery bugs using meta-info and fault injection testing. The fourth paper on the other hand says that there exist injection-based methods to detect TOF bugs and present its unique approach to solving the problem, which involves it to describe a new approach to look at the TOF bugs. The third paper tries to detect TSV, which has been said to be hard like gray failures.
A common theme that all the papers present are to use some sort of “crash point” which they use in their own way to detect bugs and try to achieve it without using too much overhead.
Large scale distributed systems are hardly ever “perfect”. Due to their complexity, it is extremely difficult to produce flawless designed distributed systems. Traditional fault detection solutions, in particular, fail to work properly in the context of large scale distributed systems. These papers present their innovative solution to this problem.
Hope you have fun reading them as much as we did.
:) | https://medium.com/@satyamporwal/bugs-bugs-bugs-gotta-catch-em-all-61aaeb2daec2 | ['Satyam Porwal'] | 2020-11-25 18:10:02.471000+00:00 | ['Distributed Systems', 'Failure Detection', 'Operating Systems'] |
Set Up TSLint and Prettier in VS Code for React App with Typescript | First, install the following VS Code extensions:
Prettier — Code formatter. VS Code package to format your JavaScript / TypeScript / CSS using Prettier.
TSLint. Adds tslint to VS Code using the TypeScript TSLint language service plugin.
After you have installed this plugin you need to enable it in tsconfig.json:
{
“compilerOptions”: {
…,
“plugins”: [{“name”: “typescript-tslint-plugin”}]
},
…
}
In case, you might want to format your code using the Prettier extension after saving a file, you will need to configure VS Code Workspace Settings.
You can quickly get there through the Command Palette… (cmd + shift + P, by default on MacOs) and type “>settings”:
Choose the first option from the above, Preferences: Open Settings (JSON), and add the following rule to the settings.json:
“editor.formatOnSave”: true
If you open the workspace settings, you will see that the rule is reflected immediately after you save the changes to your settings.json file like so:
Add Prettier to your project
Prettier is a fully automatic “style guide” worth adopting.
“When you’re a beginner you’re making a lot of mistakes caused by the syntax. Thanks to Prettier, you can reduce these mistakes and save a lot of time to focus on what really matters.”
npm install prettier --save-dev
Specify the formatting rules you want in a .prettierrc file, which you create at the root level of your project, same as package.json:
{
"printWidth": 80,
"tabWidth": 2,
"singleQuote": true,
"trailingComma": "es5",
"semi": true,
"newline-before-return": true,
"no-duplicate-variable": [true, "check-parameters"],
"no-var-keyword": true
}
Add TSLint dependencies to your React project
npm i --save-dev tslint tslint-react
TSLint will be deprecated some time in 2019. See this issue for more details: Roadmap: TSLint → ESLint.
So, in case if you are interested in migrating from
tslint-react . Lint rules related to React & JSX for TSLint.
Adding Linter Configuration
Now, let’s configure our linter, TSLint, by adding a file called tslint.json at the root level (same as package.json ) of your project.
Below follows the configuration that I am currently using in my CRA project. Feel free to copy and adjust the “rules” (on line 9) according to the needs of your project.
Adding TypeScript-specific configuration
Another file that you have in your CRA-based project is tsconfig.json , which contains TypeScript-specific options for your project.
Also, there are tsconfig.prod.json and a tsconfig.test.json in case you want to make any tweaks to your production or test builds.
Add the rest of the dependencies
To make Prettier compatible with TSLint, install the tslint-config-prettier rule preset:
npm i --save-dev tslint-config-prettier
Usage
Now, to actually lint your .ts and .tsx files, run tslint -c tslint.json 'src/**/*.{ts,tsx}' command in your terminal.
Additional plugins
In case you want to add tslint-plugin-prettier to your project, and it will run Prettier as a TSLint rule and report differences as individual TSLint issues.
npm i --save-dev tslint-plugin-prettier
You will then have to add few lines to the TSLint configuration file tslint.json like below:
{
"extends": [
"tslint:recommended",
"tslint-react",
"tslint-config-prettier"
],
"rulesDirectory": [
"tslint-plugin-prettier"
],
"rules": {
"prettier": true,
"interface-name": false
}
}
However, I did not try using it in my own project, so this is just additional info.
Finally
I created the following script in my package.json , and named it lint:ts . You can name it whatever you want.
"scripts": { "lint:ts": "tslint 'src/**/*.{ts,tsx,js}'", },
By adding this configuration you can now run linting on your project files in terminal like so:
➜ my-app git:(feature/new-feature) ✗ npm run lint:ts
Running this command and fixing errors (if any) before pushing your code to the repo will help you avoiding failed Jenkins builds. 👌 🎊 | https://0n3z3r0n3.medium.com/set-up-tslint-and-prettier-in-vs-code-for-react-app-with-typescript-5b7f5895ce37 | [] | 2019-08-15 19:50:20.976000+00:00 | ['Typescript', 'React', 'Vscode', 'Linter', 'Tslint'] |
What designing for seniors has taught me | What designing for seniors has taught me
Designing digital products for people over 65 years old has some very valuable lessons.
Product designers are obsessed with the people we design for. No, I’m not talking about our internal clients (though we should be in tune with them as well), but rather we’re obsessed with the end-user of our products. For three years my world has revolved around senior citizens — working as a designer for a health and wellness company who’s focus is around bettering the lives of the aging population in America. What I never expected was that designing for seniors was one of the best crash courses on becoming a product designer.
Photo by Christian Bowen on Unsplash
These are some lessons that the amazing boomers I’ve been designing for have taught me over the past couple years. I’m sharing these because I’ve realized most of them don’t just apply to seniors, but rather to everyone we might design for, no matter the age.
Never underestimate your user
I’ve always had a soft spot for older adults, mostly because I see my own grandparents when I look at someone who’s lived a long, fascinating life. I love my grandparents dearly and have spent tons of time with them growing up, but because of this I thought I already knew a bit about what made seniors tick. I thought I knew at least some things around how they use technology and what’s important to them.
I was horribly wrong.
This revelation of “don’t assume you know your user” hit me when I started conducting user tests on some products I was designing early on in my role. I assumed that things had to be overly simplified, extra big, and almost a departure from what is considered “trendy” right now. Because, technology is difficult, right? Then the test results started coming in.
As I watched these unmoderated user tests we conducted, I began to see that though there are some limitations with dexterity; seniors were just as capable and knowledgable about their mobile phones and computers as the rest of us. This was especially true for the fitness products I was designing. Then it really hit me when an older lady who was testing a design was trying to work around a usability issue by utilizing accessibility tools in the iPhone that I didn’t even know existed.
From here on, I began to look at our aging population through a new lens — a lens that showed that nearly everyone nowadays has the same expectations and capabilities when it comes to technology, no matter their age. Don’t ever assume you know what someone is capable of.
Accessibility is a win for everyone
Despite me realizing that seniors are just as capable at using tech as a millennial, that doesn’t mean I can just design products as I would use them. No, there’s still so many things to keep in mind when designing for seniors. These are the top things I’ve learned to pay attention to for seniors:
Dexterity : arthritis and years of hard work can make smartphones difficult to use. Even a simple swipe gesture can be difficult for many. An easy fix — provide a fixed button alternative to any swiping elements and keep the over-exaggerated interactions to a minimum.
: arthritis and years of hard work can make smartphones difficult to use. Even a simple swipe gesture can be difficult for many. An easy fix — provide a fixed button alternative to any swiping elements and keep the over-exaggerated interactions to a minimum. Vision : this goes without say that there are definitely issues with small, tiny text on websites and apps with seniors. General rule-of-thumb, keep your smallest text no less than 14pt (16pt preferably). You can still design gorgeous interfaces at this size.
: this goes without say that there are definitely issues with small, tiny text on websites and apps with seniors. General rule-of-thumb, keep your smallest text no less than 14pt (16pt preferably). You can still design gorgeous interfaces at this size. Color: I can relate to this one all too well. As we age, the rods and cones in our eyes can deteriorate or misalign, so colorblindness becomes a very real thing. Make sure you use plenty of contrast in your interactive elements. WebAim has a great contrast checker to make sure you’re meeting the proper ratio.
I can relate to this one all too well. As we age, the rods and cones in our eyes can deteriorate or misalign, so colorblindness becomes a very real thing. Make sure you use plenty of contrast in your interactive elements. WebAim has a great contrast checker to make sure you’re meeting the proper ratio. Accuracy: combine some barriers like dexterity issues and slight vision impairment, and you quickly realize that tiny little buttons that look cool on iOS are a nightmare for someone older. Make sure the target areas for the actions in your designs are big enough to be missed just a little bit, but still take the user to the place they want to go.
combine some barriers like dexterity issues and slight vision impairment, and you quickly realize that tiny little buttons that look cool on iOS are a nightmare for someone older. Make sure the target areas for the actions in your designs are big enough to be missed just a little bit, but still take the user to the place they want to go. Clarity: as the saying goes; “Don’t Make Me Think”. This is especially true for seniors. Not because they don’t understand something, but rather if something isn’t clear, like a result of an action, they won’t tap/click into it like younger people. Exploration isn’t something they care to waste their time on in your app or website. They need to know what will happen after an action is taken or they’ll ditch your product.
as the saying goes; “Don’t Make Me Think”. This is especially true for seniors. Not because they don’t understand something, but rather if something isn’t clear, like a result of an action, they won’t tap/click into it like younger people. Exploration isn’t something they care to waste their time on in your app or website. They need to know what will happen after an action is taken or they’ll ditch your product. Memory: back to the rule of “Don’t Make Me Think” comes “Don’t Make Me Remember”. If someone has to memorize how to perform an action, they probably won’t remember it. For seniors this is even more true. Clearly labeling actions someone can take in your UI will help guide them effortlessly, even if they use your app or site daily.
There’s a few others I know I’m forgetting at the moment, I know it, but these are the biggest accessibility reminders I’ve learned when designing for seniors. Here’s the catch though: these are not exclusive to seniors.
A coworker of mine mentioned that if you design something that’s easy to use for seniors, then it’ll naturally be easy to use for everyone else. It’s true though — why should someone who’s younger have to think harder about how to use your product? For what, some prettier UI that’s going to win you a shiny award? You can still design beautiful interfaces while meeting our basic human needs of interaction.
Everybody wants a beautiful product
Speaking of beautiful designs, don’t think for a moment that everything has to look like those god-awful Jitterbug phones when you design for an older population. I learned this lesson first-hand when I started as a UX designer and tried to repress the 10+ years of visual designer in me to focus purely on usability. Seniors, just like all of us, expect to have gorgeous digital products that they can take pride in using (and show off to friends).
Don’t think for a moment that everything has to look like those god-awful Jitterbug phones…
This reality check hit me a few months into my UX designer role when I was testing something we had been working on for a while. I won’t share the details of the project, but what I can say is that when you hear the words, “It’s a bit boring, I don’t think I’d use this.” — it hurts.
There were many other choice words by some delightfully honest seniors during these tests as well as some feedback on other tests we conducted — all of which spoke volumes on how they care about the shiny part of a product just like everyone else. Don’t forget that everyone deserves a visually beautiful experience. They’ll remember your product whether it wowed them or bored them, so don’t be an idiot like I was. Stand for beautiful design — your users will thank you for it.
Read between the lines
In my opinion, the aging population is one of the best groups of people to design products for. I came to realize this the more I surveyed, talked to, and tested designs with seniors. Like all of us, they can be brutally honest when discussing what they like or didn’t like about a product, but more often than not I found them to be extremely polite and conscious to my feelings as a designer.
This was not a good thing.
When it comes to feedback from my users, I want brutal honesty. I want whoever I’m designing for to tell me why they can’t stand using something I created. This is how we improve our products — with honest feedback.
Though it might feel nice to get warm fuzzies and hear someone find the good in what is obviously a frustrating experience, it doesn’t do the end-user any good in the long run. With seniors I’ve learned to read between the lines. When they hesitate or struggle to find something good, or let out an audible “huff” while searching for something on a screen — I know to mark down that interaction as something that should be fixed.
Don’t get blinded by the kindness, make sure to focus on fixing the pain points of your product.
Technology is helping
This touches a little on the accessibility deal from earlier, but it was something I began to notice pretty quickly when I observed how seniors interact with computers, phones, and tablets. Technology is helping make things accessible to more people than ever.
I often observe seniors utilizing the larger font settings on their phones, bookmarking webpages at an exponential rate to remember where things are, and ditching computers for the much more portable tablets. It’s clear that while we might think technology is getting more complicated (and it is), it’s also becoming more flexible and easier to use for people of all types.
This means that when we design for seniors, we should really understand how they’re using technology and what tech they’re actually using. If you think that most older adults use Jitterbug phones, you’re wrong. From my observations, it’s actually iPhones and iPads that are used the most by seniors. Though it might be a generation or two behind the latest model, the point is that these devices can be tailored to seniors just as much as those other atrocious devices that are stuck in a bias mentality.
Enjoy every moment
This last thing I learned over the past few years of designing for senior citizens revolves around they joy of learning about someone different than you. A lot of us designers can find exciting challenges in nearly any job we take, but becoming obsessed with our users brings a certain amount of extra delight to our job. In fact, it becomes less of a job and more of a Really Awesome Thing I Get To Be a Part Of™.
When I started to really understand the capabilities of this population and how exciting it was designing for someone decades older than me, I wanted to learn as much as I could about them. I enjoy reading studies and books on the aging population now, especially when it revolves around technology. An example would be books like The Longevity Economy that have opened my eyes to the possibility of what my team and I can tap into.
So enjoy who you’re designing for and keep these lessons in mind, no matter what age you design for. These things I talked about today don’t just apply to seniors, but when you dig deep you realize that they apply to every type of person we design for. Product designers design for people and people are wonderfully complicated creatures.
Be obsessed. Be open. Have fun. | https://uxdesign.cc/what-designing-for-seniors-has-taught-me-c9c8a1421e84 | ['Joshua Reach'] | 2019-11-30 14:35:50.043000+00:00 | ['Product Design', 'Accessibility', 'UI', 'Ts', 'UX'] |
Daughter, don’t hate your body…..please? | I don’t want to write about this. I’m so done with thinking about the aesthetics of my body and women’s bodies in general. I am tired of envy. I am over diets. I reject binary labels like ‘good body’ vs ‘bad body’. I am done with self-loathing over fictional imperfections. I’ve finally found a relative peace with my body after years of psychological and physical warfare and I want to leave the rubbish behind me and enjoy my hard-fought mental freedom.
But I can’t leave it, because I have a tiny daughter who will one day transform into a woman, with a woman’s body, that is subject to critique and judgement in her culture, community and own head. I want to do whatever I can to make sure she never feels body shame or an obsessive need to change herself to be worthy. The problem is I don’t know how to teach her this because I learnt backwards - I developed all the issues and then found an effective treatment to make them go away. What I need to learn for her sake is how to effectively do prevention.
Like it or not, cultural messages obtained from mass media are a powerful influence on how we see ourselves. Growing up my body-shape was associated with negative things in women’s magazines and mainstream media. I should try to hide my ‘pear-shape’ and get rid of my ‘saddle-bags’. Women with my shape were considered less attractive (‘hourglass’ envy anybody?)and we were told ways to dress to hide our imperfections. Models in clothing catalogues were young, pretty, tall and slim, or ‘sexy curvy’. This is still the trend today for most large retailers of women’s clothing.
What. A. Pile. Of. Shit.
As a vulnerable teenager I internalised these ‘not good enough’ messages and felt disgusting, unattractive and defective. I wasn’t able to talk to other people about it so I took the ‘problem’ into my own hands and thus begun a lifetime of obsession with shrinking myself through dieting and exercise. I am so sad I wasted so much of my brain power on this miserable goal during my teens and twenties. It took a tonne of self-work and actively engaging in the body positivity movement to undo this damage, and old ugly neural pathways still flare back to life occasionally.
Incredibly in the last few years the particular cultural narrative of ‘tall and slim is best’ has started to change, seemingly at random, in a way I never would have dreamed of when I was a teenager being bombarded by images of size 6/8 glamazon models. Big booties are now hot, and my most hated body-part, ‘thunder thighs’ are now considered ‘thicc’ (which is apparently a good thing). ‘Shorties’ are cute. Unfortunately this is just replacing one unhealthy trend with another, leaving a different subset of girls feeling like they don’t measure up (as evidenced by the upward trend in butt implants). I’m glad I wasn’t a young woman when the ‘thigh gap’ bullshit started showing up.
Without getting too feminist about it, the unspoken but powerful message underlying so much of this is “as a female your body should be appealing to the male gaze”. Western media not only lies to women about where their worth is, it then sets an impossible standard for young women to measure up to and it’s making many of them very miserable and sick. Not to mention porn, which I can’t go into here because it’s just too large, scary and heart-breaking.
One benefit of the internet age is that there is so much more diversity in media available. If you look in the right places you can see positive representation of the full array of women’s body types and healthy body image messaging. Clothing retailers are starting to add more ‘plus size’ and ‘curvy’ offerings — penning women into different body categories is a bit problematic of course, but it’s nice to see clothes advertised on women of different shapes and sizes. The pockets are small but they are growing and it’s an exciting time.
Unfortunately the flip side is that now technology allows filtering and editing of images and the use of algorithms to pump dangerous media directly into tween and teen‘s social media feeds and website advertisements, no matter how good your security and filtering systems are. For example, I had an ad pop-up in my Instagram feed today which had a photo of a seductively-posed young women in lace underwear whose body had been photo-shopped beyond natural proportions. The ad was selling a diet drink.
So how do I protect my baby girl (Little One) from the harm media messages can cause to a developing and vulnerable mind? At seven years old she has already been exposed to thousands of pieces of media (including storybooks) that contain both overt and subtle ‘good body’ versus ‘bad body’ messages. Even a simple conversation is peppered with landmines for the amateur body positivity mentor.
When Little One was four we started talking about her body and mine and I didn’t know what language to use and messages to promote; there was no tested and proven script in my head. For example, after Kinder one day we had the following exchange:
Little One: “Mummy, do I have a fat tummy?”
I instantly went in to anxious thinking overdrive: ‘Where the fuck did that come from? What does it mean? I thought I had at least 2–3 years before I had to deal with this shit. Does she have issues already? IS THIS NORMAL??!!.’
Then I ran through the possible responses: ‘I could say “No you don’t?” But would that subtly imply fat is bad? Also her tummy does stick out, so would I be confusing her or falsifying her reality? Would that undermine my future credibility? No, can’t say that. Shit, shit, shit, stall for time.’
Mummy (light and neutral voice): “Why do you ask that Little One?”
Little One (bashful); “No reason.”
So I spun the wheels a bit more: ‘Hmmmm that sounds like a hidden reason. Why is she hiding things from me? What have I done to make her feel she can’t confide in me? Stop over-thinking muppet and answer the kid. Go for honest, age-appropriate and judgement-free.’
Mummy (light and neutral voice): “No Little One, you have a sticky-out tummy because your a little kid and your tummy muscles haven’t grown yet. All little kids have sticky-out tummies.”
Little One smiles and does a happy wiggle.
I breathed a sigh of relief: ‘Fuck yeah, crushed it. Now to kick a mothering field goal and blast away fat stigma straight-up.’
Mummy (wise voice): “Little One you know there’s nothing wrong with having fat on your tummy. Fat is lovely and soft and keeps us warm.”
Little One (glazes over): “Stop talking Mummy.”
So you can see it’s not as simple as it seems. There are resources out there but time to research, read, practice and apply is a huge time commitment. My poor daughter has been the unwitting guinea pig in many a parenting fumble. However, through this research, trial and error I’ve picked up a few strategies that seem to be planting healthy seeds. Here’s my top five:
……………………………………………………………………………………….
Language Basics.
Don’t shit on your own or other people’s bodies in front of the kids. You don’t have to shake your soft bits in their face on the daily shouting ‘I love my body!’, but be mindful of the fact they are always listening and learning and try to curb self-depreciation in their earshot.
Try not to overdo observations and complements given about physical beauty/attractiveness. I’m not saying don’t do it at all, just try to make sure it’s not coming across as the most important thing to measure a girl or woman’s worth, or as a criteria girls and women are compared against. Aside from causing individual self-esteem issues, I also believe comparison and competition are toxic to the development of healthy female peer relationships.
Take time to compliment other positive things(funny, strong, clever) that you see in your child and their potential role-models. e.g. “I like how Barbie is very kind to her little sisters.”
These probably aren’t breaking news to anyone and I know it sounds like preachy ‘St Parentia’ advice, so I will be real with you and admit I’ve found it incredibly difficult to apply the above consistently. Some days I’ve said “I want to lose some stomach weight” in front of my daughter. I also call her cute and beautiful often and I’ve praised her for being the best swimmer in class. As for Barbie…..that one nice comment about her came after several episodes of shitting on her for being a bimbo. It’s hard to change habits of a lifetime, but I think it’s important so I’m working on it.
2. Content Curation — Spot the Lie.
Little One isn’t old enough to be on social media but she still consumes a fair bit in terms of storybooks, cartoons and YouTube videos. I try to keep an eye on it and ban the worst stuff but it’s impossible to curate it all and eliminate undesirable content. One example is Teen Titans, which is for the most part a great kid’s show with strong female characters. However it falls into one of the classic cartoon traps of presenting the female protagonists as conventionally pretty and skinny and even sexualised/objectified in some episodes (i.e. Beast Boy’s obsession with Raven’s legs).
I don’t want to poop the kid’s party by not letting her watch her favourite things so I’ve tried to open up a dialogue that makes her more critically aware of what she is seeing. As such I invented a game called ‘Spot the Lie’ where we spot images where women’s bodies have been illustrated or presented in an unrealistic way, or there is an absence of diversity in how body shapes are presented. Little One is excellent at the game and picks things I don’t even notice — thanks to her I’ve learnt that there is a problem with under-representing body diversity in a lot of storybook illustrations too.
The risk with this game though is that they can accidentally get a ‘skinny is bad’ message because kids tend towards binary thinking and may be too young to understand the nuance. So again, minefield. I’m hoping regular, evolving dialogue as she gets older and sees more light and shade will be the ticket.
3. Tell the story behind the image.
I invented this one out of desperate necessity. Little One randomly mentioned she had seen and liked the Britney Spears Toxic video and I instantly thought of the nude bodysuit + seductive flight attendant + sexual writhing and felt sick. Then super fucking angry. Then desperately powerless. I’ve tried launching into explanation mode before (“Mummy doesn’t like that video because…”) and the typical outcome is a fully glazed child thinking her mum is lame.
So this time I cooled my own jets and started a conversation about Britney Spears the person. We talked about how after she made that song she had a really tough time and some people were bullying her and taking advantage of her. We talked about how she’s doing well now and she is a mummy of two boys. That bit was the most exciting to Little One: “Really?! she’s a Mummy?! “ I don’t know if it helped her, but I felt better for having added some human perspective to supplement what she had seen. And then I made myself feel even better by throat punching the person who showed it to her.*
4. Direct her towards healthy media.
If you fill up on the good then hopefully there will be less room for the bad. This one I struggle with because it requires time, effort and research skills, as well as changing my own behaviour regarding what media I consume.
I’m still training myself to turn away from the media that talks about ‘how to lose 5kgs quickly’ or before and after photos of celebrities who have ‘let themselves go’ and instead turn towards the voices with substance (male and female)that are speaking quietly and eloquently on important topics.
Growing up I didn’t have much access to the stories about great women, nor the stories written by them. I didn’t know what to look for or where to look. Or why it is so important to so do. Five years ago I couldn’t have told you who Maya Angelou was. Today I can tell you that her story and words of wisdom have helped me through the toughest moments in my life.
Thankfully there are websites that have done some of this research work for us. One fantastic resource that makes it easier for me to find good stuff is A Mighty Girl. https://www.amightygirl.com/ .
They’ve introduced me to many amazing female role models, like the bad-ass Night Witches; a Soviet WWII all-female fighting squadron who bombed the shit out of the Nazi’s in rickety old planes.
https://www.history.com/news/meet-the-night-witches-the-daring-female-pilots-who-bombed-nazis-by-night.
5. The ‘Amazing Machine’
This comes from a very wise friend of mine. Celebrate all the wonderful things you and your child can do with the amazing machine that is your body like run, dance, lift, build, contort, hug, pat and so on. Teach them practical skills so they find joy in what they can do with their bodies, helping them to see that bodies have value far beyond just being there for decorative purposes.
This can extend to building a mindset of seeing food as fuel for the amazing machine and a way to talk about making healthy food choices. Having a healthy relationship with food is still very much a work in progress for me so I don’t feel confident talking about it here, but I acknowledge it’s an incredibly important part of this discussion.
……………………………………………………………………………………
You can see I am still stumbling through the dark trying to find the right language, tools and techniques to protect and foster my daughter’s mental well-being in relation to body image. Maybe I’m over-thinking it and seeing monsters where there are none; after all the stats say rates of eating disorders have remained stable over time for the last twenty years, though age of onset has progressively gotten younger. Maybe all that is needed is to live a life centred around strong values like kindness, compassion, courage, and empathy, and to deal with issues instinctively as they arise. Maybe I was more vulnerable to developing body issues due to my early childhood traumas than the average teen, and my daughter will be much less affected than I was by what she sees in the outside world.
But then I recall an article by another Medium writer recently who talked about how in his high-school the boys developed a classification system of the girls based on their face and body attractiveness. On a podcast yesterday a woman told her story of how when she was 17 her head was photo-shopped onto pornographic pictures and spread on the internet. I still remember a documentary I saw in my twenties, where a young woman had labiaplasty because her sister told all their friends she had a ‘Hanging Hound’. Stories like this are what keeps me up at night. Am I afraid for my daughter and other young girls? Shit yeah. Do I feel equipped to prepare her and them for the possible trials ahead? Fuck no. Do I know what I’m going to say to my daughter if she comes home one day and tells me the boys (or other girls) called her a ‘2’ or just as bad, a ‘10’? Nup. Do I think I can wing it on instinct alone? Hell to the no.
I see a problem in society. I’m working on finding strategies for me and my girl, and it’s a rough work in progress. I want to learn enough so that I can one day also help other girls, especially the most vulnerable ones. However I want to leave this by saying I care about the boys too, and to acknowledge that they are being just as grievously harmed by media and pornography, albeit in different ways.
That is an article I am not qualified to write, but I am looking to read the articles written by people who are so I can understand their world better too. Here’s one piece that I like: https://blog.heartsupport.com/in-search-of-the-perfect-body-1316211ddce5
Thank you for reading.
*Joking. | https://medium.com/@catherineshep/daughter-dont-hate-your-body-please-8a5f0fc370cb | ['Catherine Shep'] | 2019-09-17 02:12:17.440000+00:00 | ['Body Positive', 'Body Image', 'Media', 'Parenting Advice', 'Parenting'] |
Up Close With: Monica Camara | Up Close With: Monica Camara
The Mistress of Mikes, the resident Tango Queen, and the one who takes us with her on her morning commute: we’re sure you’ve met our Open Mic Lead before. Let’s get to know Monica Camara a bit better.
Monica Camara
Early 40s
Based in London, UK
On what she writes: “I’m a newbie writer so I am still finding my voice. At the moment, I am inclined towards personal essays and monologues but would love to try short stories and fiction (even perhaps dip into fantasy).”
What are you working on right now?
Building my confidence as a writer to move from blogging into short story and novel writing. I have this magical protagonist who is sitting beside me, patiently waiting for me to write their story.
When and where do you write?
Mornings are reserved for journaling. Any other available writing sessions, usually in the evening, are dedicated to writing projects that I will be sharing with the world, universe, and anyone who cares to read/listen. Ideas come from being outdoors but most writing happens when I shut out the world, quietly scribbling and typing into the small hours.
How do you write?
Before words actually land on the page they live in my head, bouncing around as I move and make space for them to grow. When they finally materialise and come into their own existence, I write them by hand. I read the piece out loud several times to see how they dance and feel. As a social tango dancer, I like words to come to life and step on the beat, occasionally syncopating. Writing from the body, using those gestures of physicality helps me write. Typing up is usually the final step… and then it’s time to release those words and let them live out in the world.
Why do you write?
To fill the spaces in between, to make sense of the world, find beauty in all things — all in all, to make the world dance and smile
What inspires your creativity?
Body movement, dance, music, beauty in urban landscapes, colours and beautiful tango shoes (naturally).
Monica is the resident tango queen, and even showed us her moves during the 24-hour writing marathon!
What’s your favourite book?
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.
What’s the best advice you’ve received about creativity?
It’s in our nature to create, so channel that inspiration and turn it into something beautiful. Dance, write, sing…whatever it is, create and liberate the magic!
What’s the one thing you would tell other or aspiring writers?
Done is better than perfect, so don’t overthink and don’t fear the publish button.
How can we discover more about you and your work?
Visit my blog at underthewaspnest.com. | https://medium.com/london-writers-salon/up-close-with-monica-camara-ea23b0cac323 | ['Lauren Mcmenemy'] | 2021-05-16 11:31:45.724000+00:00 | ['Writers On Medium', 'Writing Community', 'London Writers Salon', 'Writing Life', 'Writers Life'] |
The Cookies | I had just finished the tea, and watching through main door. As usual 4 months old Brown colored, sorry I don’t want to address him DOG, why because I called him Badka
Badka was sitting on wet road outside, why on wet road, simple he was feeling cool in this summer. Badka was so punctual as he comes around 09:30 AM every morning. His eyes was speaking. He was hungry before I got up one customer entered to my eatery, so I was forced to attend him, meanwhile customer was busy eating food served by me on table just placed next to me.
I imagined what Badka may be thinking about me, that I will not come out un-till the customer eats food, I think dog think (what do you think do comment)
Badka was right because I was not in the position to leave my cash counter and kitchen unattended. Just after 10 minutes customer paid the bill and stepped out. I assume Badka was smiling now (what do you think Dog smiles?) I too was not sure un-till I have seen Badka I waved at him and said wait wait Badka I am coming.
I rushed outside and pored the biscuits in front of him. His excitement was on peak as he was trying to snatch whole packet from my hand. Hold On dear badka it is for you only.
For you who I am to declare this ? Reason I saw four puppies was rushing towards my spot with enthusiasm and hope. They too were hungry.
Sigh — sorry badka now “this naughty gang” will spoil your breakfast. You cannot imagine the expression on Badka’s face. He must be assuming like Gayee Bhainsh Pani Mai. How true this gesture may be, I am not sure. Anyway
I think he was about to sniff the aroma of his favorite, cookies
And boom. Puppies Attack they all climbed on him along with cookies and finished the stuff under 90 seconds.
Badka was sitting still and watching them, actually allowing them to eat. Once they finished they roam around for minutes and run away to next destination.
I was recalling — Badka was just like them even more naughty and aggressive when he was small, I used to feed HIM with biscuits, Bread etc. Technically Badka has no direct connection with these Puppies except the connection of positive vibes or what we called being a human — the connection of humanity
These four puppies was just 45 to 60 days old, they born in the same colony in un constructed empty plot, so Badka witnessed from day one to today.
But I really don’t no. How Badka become so responsible and concerned, he was not a real bro, but he was caring.
He was not a father, still he was protecting. People says dogs bark a lot but he was so cool, I says super cool especially with them. Because if any strange or outsider comes to their territory.
They don’t bear anyone, anyone means anyone but here the situation was different.
I have gone inside to get two more packets and given to Badka. Again he was smiling showing gratitude and was willing to jump on his favourite morning meal — The Cookies
But one question was shunting in my mind.
When we human behave like Badka though we are intellectual and so called human. — Think over it. | https://medium.com/@lekhakkumarji/the-cookies-d3887d0673f9 | ['Author Kumar Bhardwaj'] | 2021-04-09 18:50:40.907000+00:00 | ['Pet Lovers', 'Dog Lover', 'Social', 'Human Behavior'] |
Sascha Fitness: The pioneering Venezuelan fitness influencer | Sascha Fitness: The pioneering Venezuelan fitness influencer
Her journey began in 2010 when she decided to start using the Internet as a platform to share her knowledge on nutrition and health.
She started by giving health tips on Twitter but faced criticism and doubt. Not only because social media was not THE THING yet but also because the fitness world was very male dominated. However, she always had faith on the power of online platforms and continued using them which is what brought her to success later on. Also, the scientific terminology she uses or the studies she cites when giving health advice helped her gain the respect of other fitness influencers and her followers.
Her first big achievement was in 2013 after releasing her book called “Sascha Fitness’ recipes” which became a best seller in Venezuela and other countries in South America. This success was due to the smart decision of making her followers feel part of the creation process by sharing pictures of the recipes included or documenting how she was dealing with the writing process.
After realising her huge influence on social media, in 2016 she decided to create her own brand of supplements called Sascha Fitness. As always, she bet on an online platform and used E-commerce instead of having a physical shop. This Internet based activity was a clever decision which facilitated selling and marketing counting she was in Venezuela and her enterprise was based in Miami.
Sascha adapts fast and efficiently to the constant changes in the social media world. She is present in online blogs, Instagram, and YouTube. Her last novelty is using the Reels option on Instagram to share short videos about recipes or workouts because that is the preferred format after the huge rise of TikTok. This high adaptability helps her reach more and more people every day making her have 4M followers on Instagram and 1.77M subscribers on YouTube.
She could also do sponsored collaborations to gain more money and visibility, but she has explained that anything carrying her name should be of best quality and with this type of collaborations she cannot ensure that. This decision increases the respect her followers have for her and keeps her image of a trustworthy person who isn’t purely driven by money.
Her page stands out because apart from health tips she also shares her daily life, how she’s feeling or some problems she faces. This helps build rapport with her fans and makes her a close and relatable person instead of an inaccessible public figure. In fact, her online growth started when she decided to document her weight loss journey after her first pregnancy. The idea of a fitness influencer showing cheat meals, imperfections and flaws was very innovative at the time and made her have a special relationship with her followers. Sascha’ s goal has always been to “humanize fitness and make it available to everyone” not selling an unachievable “perfect” image.
As we can see since the beginning Sascha recognized the Internet’s potential and used it in its most effective way. She sets an example of how a good use of online platforms can bring a lot of fame and success | https://medium.com/digital-society/sascha-fitness-the-pioneering-venezuelan-fitness-influencer-60962a1be412 | [] | 2020-10-22 23:28:05.047000+00:00 | ['Digisoc1', 'Digisoc'] |
Nationwide Programs That Present Educational Opportunities to Veterans | Man holding a US Flag Photo by Snapwire from Pexels
Richard “Rich” J. Graziano is a New Haven, Connecticut, entrepreneur who has an extensive media industry leadership background. With his father Anthony having lost a leg in service and earning the Purple Heart as a decorated Vietnam veteran, Richard Graziano is a contributor to educational programs that support veterans in achieving advancement goals.
There are dozens of programs in existence, such as the GI Bill, which is a foundational initiative that provides veterans with financial assistance for higher education and career training. Coordinating with the GI Bill is Veteran Success Jam, which represents a partnership between the Kresge Foundation and the American Council on Education. The aim is to provide an online forum for colleges to fine-tune their academic offerings in ways that better suit the circumstances and practical needs of veterans in search of job opportunities.
Another vital program operated by the Department of Defense and Department of Education is Troops to Teachers, which provides a pathway for qualified military personnel to gain training and experience that places them in public school teaching positions. Similar to this program but focused on areas such as construction is Helmets to Hardhats, which also partners with Wounded Warriors in ensuring that those who have suffered combat injuries receive equal employment opportunities. | https://medium.com/@RichardGraziano/nationwide-programs-that-present-educational-opportunities-to-veterans-ffc55d5f451f | ['Richard Graziano'] | 2020-01-24 09:45:21.780000+00:00 | ['Veteran', 'Nationwide Programs', 'Education'] |
Poetry in Motion | Photo by Sergei Akulich on Unsplash
To make progress in AI, our models need to learn to cope with the messy real world
By Samuel Flender — 5 min read in Science | https://towardsdatascience.com/poetry-in-motion-ea7d5e6c5bb6 | ['Tds Editors'] | 2020-09-21 14:06:05.477000+00:00 | ['Knowledge Graph', 'Science', 'The Daily Pick'] |
Web Scraping Berita dengan 4 Baris Kode menggunakan Python | Get this newsletter By signing up, you will create a Medium account if you don’t already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
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Medium sent you an email at to complete your subscription. | https://medium.com/milooproject/web-scraping-berita-dengan-4-baris-kode-menggunakan-python-7fb6a8113a67 | ['Fahmi Salman'] | 2020-06-12 02:47:17.409000+00:00 | ['Python', 'News', 'Data Science', 'Hacker', 'Web Scraping'] |
Devise gem in Rails | add gem file gem 'devise' to Gemfile, and then running: $ bundle install then run $ rails generate devise:install after that Create your User Model. $ rails generate devise USER then run $ rails db:migrate Generate your View $ rails generate devise views:users
then show your User login use
<p class=”navbar-text pull-right”> <% if user_signed_in? %> Logged in as <strong><%= current_user.email %></strong>. <%= link_to ‘Edit profile’, edit_user_registration_path, :class => ‘navbar-link’ %> | <%= link_to “Logout”, destroy_user_session_path, method: :delete, :class => ‘navbar-link’ %> <% else %> <%= link_to “Sign up”, new_user_registration_path, :class => ‘navbar-link’ %> | <%= link_to “Login”, new_user_session_path, :class => ‘navbar-link’ %> <% end %> </p>
This is a basic setup, but you can read more on how to customize Devise and utilize the included helper methods here! | https://medium.com/@virendrapsamrat/devise-gem-in-rails-85711ea55be4 | ['Virendra Pratap Samrat'] | 2020-12-04 11:27:48.498000+00:00 | ['Ror', 'Ruby', 'Ruby on Rails', 'Gemfile', 'Rails'] |
Latest Crypto News and Regulations in France | France’s newest ambition to become one of the leading blockchain countries was partly driven by Brexit in the hopes of attracting foreign investors to Paris. Today, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology represents a new vibrant industry in France. Yet no consensus has emerged to say whether digital assets should be treated similarly to existing ones using current regulations or if a new system should be devised.
Brief history of crypto regulation in France
After garnering a suspicious stance towards cryptocurrencies by the AMF (Autorité des Marchés Financiers) with the blacklisting of crypto websites, France has recently changed its position toward digital currencies and ICOs. The AMF is the French authorized governmental authority drafting ICO regulations to complement the law and enforce the regulation and sanction of potential violations throughout France.
Recently, French politician Bruno Le Maire stated that the French blockchain and the crypto sectors had now full support from the government. The French Minister of Finance added that “France will not miss the Blockchain revolution”.
On January 15 ,2018 a working group headed by “Monsieur Bitcoin” Jean-Pierre Landau was created to help regulate the crypto ecosystem and has shown the desire of France to monitor cryptocurrencies closer than ever before.
To build a fraud-free and dynamic crypto environment that safeguards investors, France mentioned the necessity to professionalize the ICO space with new regulations and perhaps even rating agencies. The new legal framework being drawn by the AMF will address this matter in-depth.
July 5, 2018, Jean-Pierre Landau, stated it was unnecessary for France to regulate Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Earlier this year, the French civil servant’s virulent critics toward Bitcoin were received poorly by the Fintech industry. However, today some new regulations are shining through to support the emerging world of cryptocurrencies in Europe and France.
Where is France heading in regards to crypto regulations?
France has shown a growing interest for cryptocurrencies and ICOs (or Initial Coin Offerings) a form of crowdfunding with the issuance of tokens for funds raised that are used to launch innovative crypto projects.
On April 26, 2018 a new French regulation appeared for cryptocurrency taxation favoring investors with a flat tax rate of 19 percent down from a heftier 45 percent. This followed a new classification of BTC as “movable property” by the Council of State.
The blockchain space is still untested in France but the creation of the working group and the new taxation of Bitcoin provides a fresh and progressive perspective.
The New ICO framework
Today, France belongs to the top 10 ICO countries in the world representing 2.10% of global ICO projects, which is behind the likes of the US and the UK who account for more than 15% and 10% respectively.
France is currently discussing a new ICO framework under the PACTE law to be adopted by September 2018 to foster ICOs to protect purchasers, and to eliminate risks faced in unregulated crypto markets such as money laundering, fraud, and scams.
The new ICO framework proposed by the French Treasury governed by the AMF will see a new section added in the French Monetary and Financial Code to describe tokens and define the rules of conduct for ICOs.
Under this framework, the AMF will look to publish a whitelist of legitimate ICOs and exchanges as a proof of reliability for investors and user alike. This whitelist will include projects and exchanges that have applied to be placed on the list and who have then been consequently vetted thoroughly by the AMF. An “ICO Visa” will be available for projects to apply for that is coupled with KYC accreditation and approves crypto projects to carry out an ICO.
The law firm Kramer Levin summarized the forthcoming legislation:
“The proposed legislation would introduce a new chapter to Book V, Title V of the French Monetary and Financial Code, or CMF, which will be renamed “Intermediaries in Miscellaneous Property and Token Issuers.” Chapter 2 of Title V will be titled “Token Issuers” and will detail the rules applicable to ICOs in articles L. 550–6 et seq.
Chapter 2 provides a definition of tokens, indicating that a token is intangible property representing, in numerical form, one or more rights that can be issued, registered, conserved or transferred using a shared electronic registration mechanism that facilitates the identification, directly or indirectly, of the owner of said property. It also defines an ICO as any offer to the public, in any shape or form, to purchase tokens. However, it excludes offers made to a small number of buyers. Under the proposed legislation, the issuer should notify token buyers of the status of the project the ICO funds were used to finance, and of the establishment of any secondary market for the tokens.”
Under the new framework, project’s white papers will need to summarize the information surrounding their ICO following a certain set of guidelines. A description of the project related to the ICO and the rights conferred by the token will need to be clearly outlined along with the legislative court in any cases of dispute and the economic purposes of the funds collected in the ICO.
All white papers will then be submitted to the AMF to obtain a “visa” to launch their ICO. Only French legal entities seeking to undertake an ICO will be required to register in France as the visa is aimed toward French issuers only.
The future of ICOs in France is bright
Fostered by a new European initiative to protect countries from money laundering, the French nation will update its legislation toward cryptocurrencies by January 2020. The AMLD5, Anti Money Laundering 5, has come to effect since July 2018, and requires European countries to extend their scope toward cryptocurrency exchange platforms.
French banks are also working to offer eligible crypto entities a similar status to what would be known as a “broker dealer” status within the US, and eligible entities would be called “prestataire de services de banque”.
With the new framework aimed at regulating ICOs, the accounting and taxation of crypto assets on companies still currently remain unclear in France as in many other nation states. If the AMF approves the launch of ICOs as stated above, the taxation of crypto assets and how that will all be managed is yet to be defined. On top of this, the AMF has stated that advertisements of financial products around crypto assets are prohibited via electronic means.
Whether France will become a new crypto haven is yet to be seen however, within less than a year, the country has shown a positive growing attitude toward cryptocurrencies and ICOs overall.
With a new regulation framework in place to launch ICOs governed by the AMF and with the willingness of the government to make France a blockchain friendly destination, the crypto revolution is clearly en route within the French nation. | https://medium.com/blockchainio/latest-crypto-news-and-regulations-in-france-687aa22289e | [] | 2018-08-10 11:05:25.653000+00:00 | ['Regulation', 'News', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'France'] |
Journeying to the ends of Earth | “Pacific black brant diet consists of mostly eelgrass,” said Pat Fitzmorris, former refuge biologist. “You don’t see eelgrass beds like this anywhere else in the world, which is why this lagoon is critically important for their overall survival.
“When they get here in the fall, they’re pretty skinny from breeding migration. The plant is so nutritious for their body composition that 1/3 of their body weight is increased just by the fat content alone from the plant. Sometimes the sky is just black with birds, it’s amazing to see.” | https://medium.com/usfws/magic-at-the-ends-of-earth-c70aeb355bf0 | ['U.S. Fish', 'Wildlife Service'] | 2020-12-05 18:06:33.265000+00:00 | ['Nature', 'Photography', 'Wildlife', 'Travel', 'Alaska'] |
30+ realizations of My Fourth Trimester in GIFs. | I gave birth for the first time while the world was revolving with a pandemic. Which means restrictions, no help, insecurity, limited access, NO FAMILY around and so on. To keep my spirit up I avoided all the negative contents (Thank god!) And fast forward 3 months into that I can say WOMEN ARE INVINCIBLE. My newbie mom-brain has encountered thousands of experiences, here’s the prime ones. Enjoy!
The pain heals. (Just hang in there)
2. How many times can one wash their hands? Ask a mum.
3. I realized I can do almost everything with only one hand.
4. Hot Beverage is a dream.
5. A good rocking chair is bae.
6. Sleep is a luxury that I can’t afford right now.
7. Nothing bothers the baby except when mom moves an inch.
8. Breastfeeding is B.R.U.T.A.L.
9. Oh I hate Colic!
10. Burp..Burp..Burp….
11. Not brushing teeth is normal.
12. I lost my comb last month and I kind of don’t care.
13. Shower time is set by alarms.
14. Constipation sucks.
15. My makeup is a lip balm.
16. Baby wipe is a life savior.
17. There’s an amazing tribe out there called “Parents”.
18. I can feel my parents like never before.
19. Sleep when the baby sleeps does not work, at least I couldn’t (Can’t)
20. Why do I hear baby cries even when there isn’t any?
21. You can never spoil a baby with love. Never.
22. The pregnancy support groups are gems (Specially in a time like this!)
23. Everything is a blur in the first few weeks.
24. My search history got replaced by millions of baby questions.
25. All hail minimalism.
26. My partner is my bff.
27. I let the house be messy while trying to be cosy. It’s hard in the beginning but rewarding as time passes by.
28. baby vomits? not bothered at all.
29. And when everyone has gone to sleep, it’s just me and my sleep thief in the corner. I keep reminding myself the days are longer and the years are short!
30. Having loads of liquid helps.
31. People who sent food are angels.
32. Going out in the sunlight helps.
33. Whispering in bed with partner is fun! (works as ASMR as well. Lol)
34. I made a section in my closet called “Breastfeeding Friendly Dress”.
35. Formula or breastfeed, it’s always your decision.
36. It’s been a tough day but one smile of that little creature is enough to give hope to the power infinity.
37. Self care is important. For you, for the baby, for the family. | https://medium.com/@absolutebasma/30-realizations-of-my-fourth-trimester-in-gifs-ecce8138be00 | ['Nafisa Hasan Basma'] | 2020-12-02 09:09:21.196000+00:00 | ['Baby', 'Postpartum', 'Mum', 'New Mom', 'Pregnancy'] |
Business of software | While talking to few acquaintances who are in the business of building different kind of software (Attention based; consumer product; SaaS; or others) than on-premise enterprise software products — it is interesting to observe similar discussion. This is probably the core nature of software business. At the end of the day it comes down to 2 set of metrics driving business:
1. Acquiring new customers/members/subscribers/etc. More and more businesses now run calculations to understand the cost to acquire new customer/member. Cost to acquire new customer usually is much higher than many would guess, if they had no clue. It gets costlier in mature industry where traditional market is about replacing someone else’s product. Also, it can be costlier in the web world where there is now actual cost of goods sold (think of all the IT infrastructure that goes around delivering a service) as opposed to the cost of CD.
Question usually gets asked: Beside product strategy to attract and differentiate offering from competitors — keep cost of customer acquisition in check; what other ways to generate traffic/leads; foster communities; target competition; create winning buzz; adjust pricing or terms; bundle products/services to make it more attractive; etc. Increasingly more web based product focus on marketing presence on the local/industry circuit from the get-go rather broadly within ranks via blog/communities to earn credibility. Increasing emphasis on Marketing too important just to leave it to dedicated few — every one has to play.
2. Retaining a customer. It is about understanding the likelihood of customers staying on the product. Generally a combination of understanding attrition rate (as some folks leaves the fold) and knowing life time value of a customer/member. Although harder to find, however, there are industry best practice metrics for the type of busines one can use as a guideline. These days businesses (particularly on the web) have a greater understanding of trends among its existing customer base. One suggestion: if you don’t already know about your customer trends — invest quickly and gain better understanding. By the nature of it -Web based businesses know well how many of their customers renew membership; what is their average monthly dues; what %age of customers usually don’t renew; on an average how long customers remain a member; what feature gets used most; demographics details; etc. Likewise, enterprise software products — SaaS or otherwise have similar metrics to help project maintenance or recurring revenue.
Question usually gets asked: What needs to be done to keep a customer happy using our product/services? What features to add (particularly that generate stickiness); what pricing lever to play; how to provide value without disrupting the apple cart; what promotion to have; etc. To find the secret formula that can help a customer retained longer paying healthy dues — is what makes a business sticky and profitable in long run.
So to remain growing — it is about adding more new customers than the customers leaving the fold. Visualize a funnel — add more while few trickle away. A math described easy but takes an organization with a winning attitude to achieve… | https://medium.com/aloktyagi/business-of-software-f8e54668817b | ['Alok Tyagi'] | 2017-03-08 21:01:57.776000+00:00 | ['Blogging', 'Enterpreneurship', 'Internet', 'Software Development', 'Startups'] |
Please can’t we just be sheep | An interesting chunk from Thaddeus Russel’s conversation with Douglas Lain, Douglas Lain speaking:
90% of the left isn’t anti-capitalist. What they are is just another managerial class coming in to try and fix and work within the system as is and fix the problems. And on top of that, there are people who are basically using the problems that exist in order to further themselves, or to make themselves feel better or live in the world as it is — they’ve developed a permanent relationship with the injustices of society and it helps them be who they are.
The summation of the left today — most of the left — as a class that wants that wants to keep things going — is this a critique of this group of people? Is this description a critique? As a description I feel it is fair. Most people just go with the flow. I feel Bernie rocked the boat and had a lot of folks on his side, Bernie being a medium of transmission for a vague desire for some new way. Against the backdrop of the assumed inevitably and righteousness of Hillary’s victory. That her victory would have been a just result in a just world typifies the problem.
Maybe this ball parked 90% know something I don’t. Maybe they figured out the sweet-spot.
That someone would have voted for Hillary makes sense against the backdrop of what could be called “topicality” and this is a description of the world that comprises most people’s conscious lives: the fundamental of our society — how it was founded and what we believe it should become — are not discussed. This is the world of pop culture, the world of which one can have a conversation with their neighbor or casual acquaintances: that generic mode of thought and conversation that trickles into our close personal lives, our talks with our families not really breaching those big, big, big topics. This topical world comprises the totality of what is.
Meta-politics, the subconscious, the in-depth — how the sausage is made — is not attended to. People don’t want to know or don’t know how to perceive how this world is shaped, manipulated, controlled by others.
What is it, this world of topicality? What shapes it? It is the world of network news, the world of corporate production. It is the world that relies on the myth of progress. It’s more fundamental than simply the reification of primal needs: that is the crux, for me, the drawing of the line between the simple, amplification of primal needs into the medium of any society versus the controlled manipulation of primal needs in a manner that allows further manipulation to affect more change, the desired ends of a different set of people.
Shall we shelter in the safety of the known even if that is what is headed over a cliff? | https://medium.com/@chrischigbrow/please-cant-we-just-be-sheep-17129068b9af | ['Cristobal Saad'] | 2017-12-25 06:34:34.371000+00:00 | ['Thaddeus Russell', 'Hillary Clinton', 'Pessimism', 'The Left', 'Douglas Lain'] |
Using Rust to Scale Elixir for 11 Million Concurrent Users | Over the last year, the Backend Infrastructure team at Discord was hard at work improving the scalability and performance of our core real-time communications infrastructure.
One big project we undertook was changing how we update the Member List (all those nifty people on the right side of the screen). Instead of sending updates for every single person in the Member List, we could just send down the updates for the visible portion of the Member List. This has obvious benefits such as less network traffic, less CPU usage, better battery life; the list goes on and on.
However, this posed one big problem on the server side: We needed a data structure capable of holding hundreds of thousands of entries, sorted in a particular way that can accept and process tons of mutations, and can report back indices of where things are being added and removed.
Elixir is a functional language; its data structures are immutable. This is great for reasoning about code and supporting the massive concurrency you enjoy when you write Elixir. The double-edged sword of immutable data structures is that mutations are modeled by taking an existing data structure and an operation and creating a brand new data structure that is the result of applying that operation to the existing data structure.
This meant that when someone joined a server — internally referred to as guilds — with a Member List of 100,000 members, we would have to build a new list with 100,001 members in it. The BEAM VM is pretty speedy and getting faster everyday. It tries to take advantage of persistent data structures where it can, but at the scale we operate, these large lists could not be updated fast enough.
Pushing Elixir to the Limits
Two engineers took up the challenge of making a pure Elixir data structure that could hold large sorted sets and support fast mutation operations. This is easier said than done, so let’s put on our Computer Science helmets and go spelunking into the caves of data structure design.
Elixir ships with a set implementation called MapSet. MapSet is a general purpose data structure built on top of the Map data structure. It’s useful for lots of Set operations, but it provides no guarantees around ordering, which is a key requirement for the Member List. This pretty much ruled out MapSet as a contender.
Next up would be the venerable List type: wrap the List with a helper that would enforce uniqueness and sort the list after insertion of new elements. A quick benchmark of this approach shows that for small lists — 5,000 elements— insertion time was measured between 500𝜇s and 3,000𝜇s. This was already far too slow to be viable.
Even worse, the performance of insertion scaled with size of list and depth of position in the list. Worst case that was benchmarked was adding a new element to the end of a 250,000 item list, which came in around 170,000𝜇s: basically an eternity.
Two down, but BEAM isn’t out of the competition yet.
Erlang ships with a module called ordsets. Ordsets are Ordered Sets, so sounds like we found the solution to our problem: Let’s break out the benchmarking to check for viability. When the list is small the performance looks pretty great measuring between 0.008𝜇s and 288𝜇s. Sadly, when the size tested was increased to 250,000 worst-case performance increased to 27,000𝜇s, which was five times faster than our custom List implementation but still not fast enough.
Having exhausted all the obvious candidates that come with the language, a cursory search of packages was done to see if someone else had already solved and open sourced the solution to this problem. A few packages were checked, but none of them provided the properties and performance required. Thankfully, the field of Computer Science has been optimizing algorithms and data structures for storing and sorting data for the last 60 years, so there were plenty of ideas about how to proceed.
SkipList
The ordsets perform extremely well at small sizes. Maybe there was some way that we could chain a bunch of very small ordsets together and quickly access the correct one when accessing a particular position. If you turn your head sideways and squint real hard, this starts to look like a Skip List, which is exactly what was implemented.
The first incarnation of this new data structure was pretty straightforward. The OrderedSet was a wrapper around a list of Cells, inside each cell was a small ordset: the first item of the ordset, the last item of the ordset, and a count of the number of items. This allowed the OrderedSet to quickly traverse the list of Cells to find the appropriate Cell and then do a very fast ordset operation. By leveraging compile time guards in the implementation of traversal, you can get pretty good performance in the worst case scenarios that stymie ordset. Insertion of an item at the end of a 250,000 item list dropped from 27,000𝜇s to 5,000𝜇s, five times faster than raw ordsets and 34 times faster than the naive List implementation.
So pop the champagne corks and celebrate, right? Not quite.
The old worst case was better, but a new worst case of insertion at the beginning of the list had been created; a 250,000 item list was clocking in at 19,000𝜇s. Wat?!
This makes sense if you think about the data structure. When you insert an item into the front of the OrderedSet it ends up in the first Cell, but that Cell is full, so it evicts its last item to the next Cell, but that Cell is full, so it evicts its last item to the next Cell, and so on. At this point, most engineers would shrug and say “You can’t have your cake and eat it too,” but at Discord we are pushing the envelope on quantum cake technology.
OrderedSet
The problem is that when things fill up, operations can cascade from Cell to Cell. What if we could do something more clever? What if we allow Cells to swell and split, dynamically inserting new Cells in the middle of the list? This is slightly more expensive, but has the benefit that the worst case is a Cell Split instead of 2N Cell operations, where N is the number of Cells.
Another day of coding data structures and we were ready to benchmark.
At small list sizes, this new dynamic OrderedSet could perform insertions at any point in the list between 4𝜇s and 34𝜇s. Not bad. The real test came when we cranked up the size to 250,000. Inserting at the beginning of the list took…. drumroll…. 4𝜇s. That’s looking fast. But remember last time we made one number fast, we made another slow. Maybe the end of the list is horrible now, better check.
With a list size of 250,000 items, inserting an item at the end of the list took 640𝜇s. Looks like we have a winner.
Must. Go. Faster.
This solution would work for guilds up to 250,000 members, but that was the scaling limit. For a lot of people, this would have been the end of the story. But Discord has been using Rust to make things go fast, and we posed a question: “Could we use Rust to go faster?”
Rust is not a functional language, and will happily let you mutate data structures. It also has no run-time and provides “zero-cost abstractions.” If we could somehow get Rust to manage this set, it would probably perform much better.
Our core services aren’t written in Rust, they are Elixir-based. Elixir serves this purpose very well, and lucky for us, the BEAM VM had another nifty trick up its sleeve. The BEAM VM has three types of functions:
Functions that are written in Erlang or Elixir. These are simple user-space functions. Functions that are built into the language and act as the building blocks for user-space functions. These are called BIFs or Built-In Functions. Then there are NIFs or Native Implemented Functions. These are functions that are built in C or Rust and compiled into the BEAM VM. Calling these functions is just like calling a BIF but, you can control what it does.
There’s a fantastic Elixir project called Rustler. It provides nice support on the Elixir and Rust side for making a safe NIF that is well behaved and using the guarantees of Rust is guaranteed not to crash the VM or leak memory.
We set aside a week to see if this would be worth the effort. By the end of the week, we had a very limited proof-of-concept that we could measure. The first benchmarks were extremely promising. The best case for adding an item to the set was 0.4𝜇s with a worst case of 2.85𝜇s, compared to OrderedSet’s 4𝜇s to 640𝜇s. This was a benchmark just using integers, but it was enough evidence to build out support for a wider range of Erlang Terms and fill out the rest of the functionality.
With the spike showing so much promise, we continued on building out support for most Erlang Terms and all the functionality we needed for the member list. It was time to benchmark again. We cranked the number of items all the way up to 1,000,000 items. The test machine churned for a few minutes and finally printed out the result: SortedSet best case was 0.61𝜇s and worst case was 3.68𝜇s, testing multiple sizes of sets from 5,000 to 1,000,000 items.
For the second iteration in a row we were able to make the worst case as good as the previous iterations best-case timings.
The Rust backed NIF provides massive performance benefits without trading off ease of use or memory. Since the library operations all clocked in well under the 1 millisecond threshold, we could just use the built-in Rustler guarantees and not need to worry about reductions or yielding. The SortedSet module looks to the caller to just be a vanilla Elixir module that performs crazy fast.
Happily Ever After
Today, the Rust backed SortedSet powers every single Discord guild: from the 3 person guild planning a trip to Japan to 200,000 people enjoying the latest, fun game.
Since deploying SortedSet, we’ve seen performance improve across the board with no impact to memory pressure. We learned that Rust and Elixir can work side by side to operate in extremely tight performance constraints. We can still keep our core real-time communications logic in the higher-level Elixir with its wonderful guarantees and easy concurrency while dropping down into Rust when needed.
If you need a high-speed mutation friendly SortedSet, we have released SortedSet as an open source library.
If solving hard problems with awesome tools like Elixir and Rust is interesting to you, go check out our jobs page. | https://blog.discord.com/using-rust-to-scale-elixir-for-11-million-concurrent-users-c6f19fc029d3 | ['Matt Nowack'] | 2019-05-17 20:35:40.945000+00:00 | ['Elixir', 'Rust', 'Functional Programming', 'Engineering', 'Product'] |
A Few Tips to Get a Job in Data Science from a Junior | A Few Tips to Get a Job in Data Science from a Junior
Getting a job in data science can sometimes be a real challenge. With the recent crisis, the number of jobs available declined everywhere. Meanwhile, the data science field is attracting more and more people, such as graduates from universities and people who are switching fields.
Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash
The competition can be really difficult, and I have experienced this in the past year. After doing a few part-time courses online and in-class (SQL, Cloud Computing for Data Scientists…) and finishing a few projects, I started looking for a job. During my job hunting, I ended tracking my job applications and I realized that I applied to a total of 142 jobs from October 2020 to December 2020. From these, I received eight calls back from recruiters and I received two offers. Note that I was just applying for jobs in Canada, but mainly in the Greater Toronto Area.
From my personal experience, I clearly found out that the biggest step is to get the call back from the recruiters is your resume, and this is the reason why your resume must be perfect.
As I am now working in a tech position, I have the chance to see the other side of the recruitment process and I can share a few tips that can make your resume great for the recruiters and hiring managers. I have gathered those tips from meet-ups I joined, people I have talked to, and also from my own experience as a candidate. Please note as well that this is my personal point of view and some readers might disagree with me. This is totally OK, I agree to disagree with you. Let’s start!
1 — Links, links, links!
If you apply for a job in Data Science like Data Analyst, Data Scientist, Data Engineer, the recruiter will likely love to see projects that you have done, especially when you don’t have professional experience in the field. Therefore, it is important to add at least a link to your GitHub, your Medium articles, and/or your personal website. In my case, I created a simple website on GitHub for free gathering all my info, and I even added a link to my part-time course certificates (hosted on Google Drive) and a link to the website of the companies I have worked for. The idea of doing this is to make life easy for the recruiter or the hiring manager. In some companies, if you don’t have a GitHub linked to your resume you would not be considered.
Photo by Tamanna Rumee on Unsplash
In case you have published scientific papers, I also encourage you to put the link to those.
If you are a freelancer, include the link of your Upwork’s profile for example, then the recruiters can review your work and the clients’ feedback.
2 — Avoid the schools' project dataset and do something sexy
This is a tip that I have seen a few times It is fine to do projects using the Titanic dataset and the Monkey flowers data, but you likely want to show more because those datasets have been explored over and over. It is best if you avoid using the popular datasets on Kaggle as your main project as well.
I think the best dataset you can use is your own datasets, like your WhatsApp data for an NLP project. Here is the project I did on WhatsApp:
Alternatively, you can analyze your sports activities on Strava, the music you listened to on Spotify. You could also scrap some data from a website you are interested in. We create so much data everywhere!
Moreover, it’s totally OK to use the script of someone else to prepare or clean your data. You don’t need to create everything but, in that case, please cite the authors you got the work from.
In my part-time course, the instructor used an API for our project and to try to find a project that has never been done before to show that we are able to do more than the average. I ended up doing a project analyzing a political movement in France using the Twitter API. See the article I wrote below.
As Cloud Computing is picking up, I encourage you to do a project on the cloud (GCP, Azure or AWS) as many companies are switching to Cloud Computing and since there is a real lack of people with knowledge on Cloud Computing, it is worth a shot, right? You can pick either GCP, AWS or Azure.
2 — One page only?
During my job hunting, I had the chance to talk to many tech recruiters from Canada and elsewhere, and most of them told me that it’s OK to have a two pages resume, but that having more than that is not good and can be a reason for them to discard you right away. Therefore, you don’t need to squeeze everything into one page, and I would suggest doing a two pages resume.
3 — Match your skills with your projects or work experience
Most likely in your resume, you have a section with all the tech skills you are using and know, like Python, SQL, Tableau, Spark. It’s great to have those skills, however, recruiters would be looking where you have applied those skills either in one of your projects or at a previous job, my suggestion is to make sure that all skills appear in a project or a job description and avoid listing all the popular tech to trick the applicant tracking system.
Try not to list more than seven or eight skills to avoid overwhelming the reader, and don’t list skills that have no chance of being relevant for the job. I would suggest listing only the skills you are really comfortable working with. I read a suggestion that if you have not used a specific tech in the last 5 years it is not needed to include it in your CV.
4— Use a template or create one.
If you are using Microsoft Word, you have likely access to resume templates, you can also find resources online. Some are really great and have been using them almost all the time, it makes your resume more aesthetic and more readable for the recruiters. You can also pick a template and then personalize it.
5 — Avoid the soft skills but prove them!
We all have soft skills, and they are really important to do the job. Here is the list of the most basic skills: communication, teamwork, problem-solving, time management, critical thinking, and decision-making.
I would suggest not to include soft skills into your resume but rather prove them. For example, if you are great at communication you can put the link of an article you wrote online or any other proof. You can also provide evidence about them in r job experience section.
6 — You don’t need to match at 100% the job description
When I first started my job hunting, I realized that I was not matching well many job descriptions; I was scared to apply and I censored myself. After talking to several people in the industry, I realized that the descriptions can be really overwhelming. The description can sometimes be written by someone who is not in the field. I ended up reading the job description more like a wish list from the company and if I was matching most of the main skills then I would move ahead and apply.
In case you ended up being picked by the recruiter, and you don’t know one of the main skills the company is looking for, I would recommend taking a crash course before the interview. For example, I was selected for a job as a Data Engineer in a big corporation and the recruiter told me to be well-prepared on Apache Airflow. A few days before the interview with the manager I took a course on Udemy at $15 to learn Apache Airflow, I learned the basics of it in a few hours. Nevertheless, the manager never asked me any questions about Airflow, and my application got rejected because I was too junior for the position. My energy was not wasted though because I now have some knowledge about this tech.
Photo by AHMED HINDAWI on Unsplash
Another example, in case you know that the company you applied for is using GCP, but you know AWS, I would recommend doing the same steps I did. Take a quick introduction course to know the few basic things about GCP. Then you can even mention to the hiring manager that you don’t know much about GCP, but you just took a course a few days ago. This will show the hiring manager that you are a proactive candidate and that you are willing to do the extra effort.
With those few tips, you might be able to put yourself into a better position among the other candidates, but as the recruitment process is not always a rational process there is also a bit of luck involved.
I have other tips on how to handle the recruitment process once you have been selected by the recruiter, and I will share those in a later article. | https://towardsdatascience.com/a-few-tips-to-get-a-job-in-data-science-from-a-junior-bb3009335f47 | ['Laurent Risser'] | 2021-04-12 04:12:21.226000+00:00 | ['Projects', 'Data Science', 'Portfolio', 'Resume', 'Recruitment'] |
2017 predictions for web design & technology trends | When I worked as a web designer, I was fascinated by how design trends changed each year. Since hanging up my design boots and focusing on being CEO of Envato, my focus has shifted from visual trends, to industry and technology ones. As I did in 2014 and 2015, here’s my take on where the world is moving!
3D entering the designer’s toolkit
Project Felix from Adobe
3D is inexorably headed our way, and it’s coming in many forms.
First, we’re about to see a pretty decent set of 3D/2D compositing tools come out of Adobe in the form of Project Felix (alpha). Do designers want 3D? For graphic design work, I think the answer is very much yes. We recently partnered with the 3D giant Turbosquid to offer rotatable layered 3D renders in our Envato Elements subscription and have seen thousands of downloads in the following days.
For browser-based web design, we’ve got WebGL for serious applications, and CSS 3D Transformations for neat tricks. These aren’t new, but their usage is still pretty novel. Here’s a nice write-up with some eye opening inspiration from last year.
And finally, there is of course VR/AR interfaces on their way. With WebVR (visit Mozilla’s portal), A-Frame, and the freshly pre-released ReactVR, the tooling for creating UI for this new medium is evolving steadily. But don’t be fooled, just because these tools make use of familiar technologies, doesn’t mean working in this new space will be a simple cross-over. FastCo has a great write-up on just how far the mental jump is.
It’s never been a better time to start scrubbing up your 3D skills. Whether it’s just for making sweet looking graphics, experimenting with browser-based interfaces, or going in the deep end to invent the future of interaction.
Lots of tools, more market consolidation
Lingo, from the people behind the Noun Project
We’re in a golden era of tools for designers with new products coming out every month. Just hang out on ProductHunt for a while!
Innovative tools are popping up in every part of the workflow. From brand/asset management (Lingo and Bynder), to prototyping and collaboration (Marvel, Zeplin, InVision, Flinto, Justinmind), to website creation (Webydo, Blocs, Webflow), to tools for the amateur or marketer (Canva, Stencil, PicMonkey), and of course, to professional creation tools (Sketch, Affinity). And those are just the larger, more successful ones.
Where there is proliferation, inevitably comes market consolidation. The bigger tools are showing that they will acquire (Marvel buys POP, InVision buys SilverFlows) or imitate their rivals, in the race to win the space. The next couple of years should see more of the same.
What’s driving all this innovation? Much of it boils down to a paradigm shift created by the internet. The ability to collaborate and share online, the SaaS model for software in the cloud and browser, and the associated rise in importance of user experience and prototyping that mobile and web have necessitated.
Since those trends haven’t run their course yet, we should expect more innovative apps to follow in 2017. I continue to watch with interest to see how Adobe respond to these trends. So far we’ve seen one major push in the form of Adobe Experience Design, and it’s getting some solid reviews when paired up against Sketch. Surprisingly though, we haven’t seen a lot of acquisitions from the big U.S. firm. This isn’t because Adobe isn’t acquisitive (recent years saw them buy stock photo site Fotolia to create Adobe Stock and social network Behance to name a couple), so perhaps they are simply biding their time to pick a winner. Still no matter what Adobe does, it’s clear there’s plenty of appetite to go outside of the Creative Cloud for tooling.
Simpler WordPress
WordPress’ REST API based Calypso interface
Still the incumbent web platform, WordPress is increasingly under fire from the website builders — Wix, Weebly and Squarespace. With multimillion dollar ad budgets putting them into the Super Bowl, this trio are hell bent on taking on the mantle of most-popular-website-tool from WordPress, and they’re making inroads amongst the DIY / small business market.
WordPress for its part is responding. Matt Mullenweg has called a war council on marketing, and increasingly podcasts and media feature spots not for Squarespace et al, but for WordPress.
Mind you, it’s not advertising that’s driving the growth in these newer web builders, but simplicity and ease of use. So a more important effort from WordPress is the continued push on their REST API. Why is the API so critical? It enables WordPress’ rich ecosystem of developers and designers to repurpose the core of WordPress however they think most appropriate. Automattic themselves put out an interface called Calypso, in part, to demonstrate the power of the API.
To protect it’s spot, WordPress needs to find a way to fuse simpler interfaces like Calypso on to the complexity of its platform of plugins and themes. To make the complex simple is no mean feat. Especially when that complexity is the foundation of such a big ecosystem.
Still, there are a lot of bright minds bent on making sure WordPress has the cake, and eats it too.
More machine learning making its way in
Adobe’s Sensei is a framework of intelligent services
A couple of years ago I predicted we’d see more “AI” type tools appearing in the world of design. One of the first, a website builder called TheGrid, has been something of a disappointment after a much-hyped and marketed launch. But that doesn’t mean the design world isn’t seeing steps forward.
TheGrid’s fanfare paved the way for competitors like Wix to introduce their own take on the concept of AI-powered web design. Meanwhile in the logo space Tailor Brands has now raised millions, and seen newer entrants like Logojoy hit the market to compete with it.
Of course this isn’t the full-blown human-like ‘AI’ you might see in a movie like Ex Machina, rather it’s mostly ‘Machine Learning’. This is the process of using computers to optimize and ‘learn’ from user behaviour and data.
To a professional designer, all of these products are a bit clunky and produce some pretty naff results. But it’s not a good idea to bet against technology. These things will get stronger over time (that’s pretty much how they’re designed to work).
What does that mean for designers? It’s not that different from any other technological advancement in our field. We simply move upstream to broader, deeper solutions that solve design problems more holistically, while simultaneously making use of these same tools to help us do just that.
In fact, Adobe is working hard on their AI/Machine Learning framework, Sensei — some secret sauce they plan to feed into all their applications. Where might you see Sensei at work? Think Photoshop’s Face-aware liquify tool, and in-app “search by image”. It’s early days for Sensei, but Adobe is no slouch on the technical advancements, and we can expect its offerings in the Creative Cloud (as well as Marketing and Document Clouds) to get more powerful as Sensei learns from the huge troves of information Adobe feeds it.
Better services for freelancers
Clearbanc — targeted financial services
How people work has been changing for years, but the push towards the “sharing economy” has broadened the market for contract/freelance workers by leaps and bounds. While there is plenty about this trend that isn’t good news (think worker rights, stability and protections), there is some upside. Namely, the market for providing services for freelancers is improving with the increased demand.
In the U.S., the Freelancer’s Union has long been an advocate and service provider for the freelancer community. The union offers access to information, networks, advocacy and a range of insurance services. This isn’t always an easy business to be in however. Just ask Zen99, who formed to help freelancers in the US deal with their taxes (and the 1099 forms they file) as well as insurance. Despite making it into the prestigious Y Combinator, Zen99 closed down in late 2015 (here’s their fascinating post-mortem).
The traditional domain of businesses catering to the freelance market was in invoicing and accounting (Xero, Freshbooks, LessAccounting and their ilk). But more recently we’re seeing other types of services. Take Clearbanc for instance, special purpose financial services catering exclusively to freelancers.
Services around the freelance space are blooming on many fronts. Check out Bonsai to help manage teams of freelancers, or Konsus, a service to streamline the process of finding a freelancer. And 2017 should see even more services and tools for the freelancing ecosystem. It’s a good time to be going solo! | https://medium.com/envato/2017-predictions-for-web-design-technology-trends-d11d29afd109 | [] | 2017-01-02 22:42:50.326000+00:00 | ['WordPress', 'UX', 'Web Design', 'Web Development', 'Design'] |
Man Obsessed with Vampires and Fantasy Role-Play Finds His Perfect Murder Victim | Man Obsessed with Vampires and Fantasy Role-Play Finds His Perfect Murder Victim
Lisa Manderach was a beautiful woman just 2 weeks shy of her 30th birthday at the time of her murder; Photo source.
I used to live in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Home to Ursinus college, an art museum, and even a state park, it’s a great little suburb to raise a family. But to me, the best part about Collegeville, or any suburb for that matter, are the strip malls. There’s something quaint and homey about the mom and pop stores that populate these shopping centers and create a sense of safety and community.
That illusion of safety was shattered in 1995 when a woman and her baby were murdered inside a clothing store at the Collegeville Shopping Center.
Background
Lisa Agostinelli Manderach was a 29-year old wife and mother. She and her husband, James “Jimmy,” had known each other since childhood. After marrying in 1992, they had a beautiful baby girl named Devon and settled down in Limerick, Pennsylvania.
Lisa, Jimmy, and Devon, a young, happy family; Photo source.
Lisa worked as a fork-lift operator in a food warehouse. In her spare time, she volunteered for the charity Meals on Wheels. Since Jimmy also worked full-time, the couple enjoyed making the most of their weekends to relax and spend time with Devon.
September 10, 1995, started off like any other typical day for the Manderachs. A new clothing store called Your Kidz & Mine had recently opened in nearby Collegeville, and Lisa wanted to check it out. Jimmy decided to stay at home and watch football. He breezily said goodbye to his wife and daughter, not realizing that he would never again see either of them alive.
Lisa and Devon go missing
When Lisa and the baby hadn’t returned by dinnertime, Jimmy instinctively feared something was wrong and frantically called his family. At first, they thought he was overreacting, but Jimmy knew better. He and Lisa typically called each other if they were apart for longer than an hour. More importantly, he recalled that Lisa had handed him her diaper bag before heading out and told him that she’d be right back. This suggested that she wouldn’t be gone long enough to change Devon’s diaper.
Police initially wondered whether Lisa had run away with Devon; Photo source.
Police found Lisa’s abandoned car in the strip mall parking lot where Your Kidz & Mine was located. There were no signs of foul play around the car, nor were there any clues suggesting where they’d gone. The only store still open in the shopping center was the Acme supermarket. Jimmy and his family members combed every aisle of the store with no success. Lisa and Devon had vanished without a trace.
That same afternoon, police got a call that a baby’s body had been found by hikers in nearby Valley Forge National Park. Jimmy’s brother identified the body as 19-month old Devon. Based on the bruises on her tiny body, an autopsy determined that Devon had been strangled to death. After her death, someone had thrown her lifeless body down to the hiking trail.
Valley Forge National Park has several hiking trails; Photo source.
Police were quick to identify Jimmy as their prime suspect. Aside from the usual suspicion that is cast on the spouse, they found it odd that Jimmy was unwilling to identify his daughter’s body. But Jimmy’s neighbor confirmed his alibi that he had been at home all day. Also, one could hardly blame him for his odd behavior. An entirely uneventful Sunday had turned into a living nightmare. His daughter was murdered, and his wife was still missing.
Police focus on Caleb Fairley
Police began an intense search in Valley Forge National Park the day after Devon’s body was found there. Meanwhile, investigators interviewed people at the Collegeville Shopping Center. One woman recalled seeing Lisa in Your Kidz & Mine at around 3:30 pm the previous day while leaving the store.
Caleb Fairley, the 22-year old son of the store’s owner, was working alone that day. He denied seeing Lisa and Devon, but he agreed to meet with the police to look at photos. The officers noticed that Caleb was wearing a thick coat of makeup on his face that covered deep scratch marks.
Caleb Fairley came from an affluent family; Photo source.
A background check and search warrant of his room turned up additional disturbing information. Caleb had previously been accused of sexual harassment, and his room was filled with pornography depicting perverted acts. Friends described Caleb as a loner who lived with his parents and was obsessed with vampires and fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons.
Now, none of the above facts, when viewed independently, mean that someone is a murderer, and people are certainly allowed to enjoy (even be obsessed with) vampires and fantasy games. But Caleb’s checkered history with women and obsession with role-playing seemed too coincidental, given that he was the last person to see Lisa and Devon alive.
Investigators found saliva belonging to Devon and semen belonging to Caleb in the back of the store. They also found long, dark strands of hair with the roots attached, which suggested they were yanked from the head. But without Lisa’s body, these facts were all circumstantial and insufficient to arrest Caleb.
One of the t-shirts that Caleb frequently wore depicts a vampire ravishing a woman who looks eerily similar to Lisa; Photo Source: Screenshot of Forensic Files episode “Shopping Spree.”
A shocking twist in the case
Caleb told police that he would lead them to Lisa’s body but on the condition that he be spared the death penalty if Lisa was found to be murdered. Prosecutors agreed, and Fairley led police to a wooded area near the store. There lay Lisa’s body posed in a sexually suggestive manner with her thick hair covering her face. She was naked except for a black lace top. An autopsy showed that, like her daughter, Lisa was also strangled to death.
Investigators could now forensically compare the evidence found in the store to Lisa’s body. Not surprisingly, the evidence conclusively tied Caleb to Lisa’s murder. Caleb was charged with two counts of murder, aggravated assault, theft, and abuse of a corpse.
So what happened that day in the store?
Police believe that Caleb targeted Lisa because she resembled his idealized woman — a fair, raven-haired beauty — popular in fantasy role-playing games. With her creamy complexion and jet-black hair, Lisa looked a beautiful, gothic Snow White.
Caleb’s mug shot; Photo source.
Police theorize that Caleb locked the store door when he realized that Lisa and Devon were the only customers. He then attacked Lisa, who viciously fought back and clawed at his face. During the struggle, some of her nails were ripped off entirely and her ribs were broken before she died by his hands. Caleb then sexually assaulted Lisa’s dead corpse before strangling a crying Devon.
Aftermath
Caleb was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to two consecutive life terms. He tried unsuccessfully to vacate his conviction in 2012, claiming that his age at the time of the crime should have been considered during sentencing. As of 2017, he is held in SCI Fayette, a maximum-security prison in Labelle, Pennsylvania.
To Jimmy and his family, two life sentences fail to atone for the sheer evil of his acts. Jimmy’s brother stated in an episode of Forensic Files, “I’d like to buy [Caleb] a weekend furlough and give him to my brother Jimmy.” That sentiment seems shared by many of the law enforcement members who worked on this horrific case.
Conclusion
I occasionally go back to Collegeville to visit family. The strip malls are still there, although Your Kidz & Mine is long gone. Also gone is my naivete that suburbs are free of crime and psychotic individuals with deranged sexual perversions.
The Manderach Memorial Playground in Limerick, PA; Photo source.
But in the end, I like to think that most people are still inherently good and kind-hearted, including the residents of Limerick, who rallied around the Manderach family. Over two years, they raised over $250,000 to build a memorial for Lisa and Devon. The Manderach Memorial Playground was unveiled on September 12, 1998. | https://medium.com/chameleon/man-obsessed-with-vampires-and-fantasy-role-play-finds-his-perfect-murder-victim-897ed77732d5 | ['Liz Jin'] | 2020-12-19 20:40:45.256000+00:00 | ['True Crime', 'Vampires', 'Crime', 'Murder', 'History'] |
The “Nice Guy” Doesn’t Exist | My boyfriend’s a nice guy.
Seriously, he’s one of the good ones. Well…for the most part.
Some ugly truths we had buried came floating to the surface when we went to see Promising Young Woman together, a movie about the rape of Nina, best friend of the protagonist Cassie, played by Carey Mulligan.
Walking beneath the large neon cinema lights my heart was light and my step bouncy. I was out with my boyfriend to see a movie, something I hadn’t been able to do in ages. I knew the material was going to be heavy, but my boyfriend was one of the good guys so I had nothing to worry about…right?
Wrong.
The movie was uncomfortable, disturbing, and raw. It masterfully picked apart our carefully crafted facades and buttresses built on notions we tell ourselves, that we’re “not like those people” and showed us that we are.
When the movie was over we walked out, a heavy silence between us. The jaws of the Cinema’s entrance leered and grinned at us as we shuffled out. Once we were inside my boyfriend sat and attempted to clumsily patch up the walls the movie had sent crumbling down.
“I just felt that the movie was saying all men are assholes. Even the nice guy turned out to be a jerk.” I could tell he was sifting through his memories, scanning for any evidence that he had unintentionally hurt a girl in the past. “I mean she was drunk but she came onto me and I rejected her.”
I sat with this the way I usually do when something bothers me but I can’t put my finger on it. A day later while I was folding laundry it bubbled to the surface like a blackhead.
“First off, I feel the fact that you’re more concerned with how you perceive yourself and how society perceives you, as a ‘nice guy’ than with the fact that women deal with this is the problem the movie is pointing out.”
“You’re right,” he said, sighing.
“If you know you’re not one of those guys you have nothing to worry about, right?”
Silence.
I know my boyfriend hasn’t even come close to committing the atrocities in the movie, but something wasn’t right. He was acting guilty, something had lodged itself within the comfort blanket of being a “nice guy” and eaten through the fabric.
“Well, it just makes me think of the picture of that girl in my friend’s group chat.”
Bingo.
The memory surfaced and with it the same anger, fresh as a daisy on a summer’s day.
You see, my boyfriend is a nice guy. But some of his friends aren’t. Some of his friends are the type to post the naked picture of a girl who had clearly sent the nude in confidence in the group chat with their buddies. I remember seeing it and expressing my extreme discomfort and anger to my boyfriend and asking him to speak up about it.
“I didn’t say anything.”
I suddenly saw a piece of Dr. Ryan Cooper in my boyfriend. The pediatrician played by Bo Burnham who takes care of kids and sweeps into Cassie’s coffee shop, all charm. The one who very nearly convinces Cassie that good guys do exist until she finds a video of the night her best friend Nina was raped and hears his voice, egging the abuse on.
Obviously, the situation I’m dealing with is on a much smaller scale. My boyfriend would never egg on the rape of an incapacitated girl. On our second date, I got drunk. We went back to his house, watched a movie, and fell asleep. Nothing happened.
But here I was, the girlfriend who had swept it under the rug, and there he was, the boyfriend who said nothing when his buddies decided to pass around the photo of a naked girl so they could use her body for fodder, and toss her around like meat to feel big.
I felt guilty too. I should have been more insistent. I should have demanded.
Nice guys don’t exist. The nice guys follow the rules so they can throw their hands up and say “hey don’t look at me.” But so often they are the ones enabling abuse and violence by standing by and staying quiet while they watch their buddies hurt an innocent girl. In this way, they are experiencing this abuse vicariously while walking around and batting their eyelashes, crowing about how unique they are, how much they respect women.
My boyfriend is a nice guy but he’s guilty of this. As small as the circumstance may seem, it’s not. He was more concerned with how his friends would look at him, more concerned with being rejected than with speaking up. In my mind, I wouldn’t want to be friends with guys who do that, or care what they think. I also know that it’s small situations like this that set the stage for abuse and rape.
I can’t help but feel all of my old rage and resentment rising to the surface, shattering the comfort and trust months of dating a “nice guy” has built. Why is there this brotherhood between men where you look the other way when your buddy does something terrible to an innocent girl? Why do men feel the need to abuse women in order to feel big and mighty?
And why do they cling so tightly to this delusion of niceness? The only purpose it serves is to preserve the fragile male ego while excusing the “nice guys” from culpability. It’s a get out of jail free card.
If you really are a nice guy you shouldn’t feel the need to broadcast it to women. You should show it, especially around your male buddies. But I feel most of the time men use it to defend themselves against the conversations surrounding violence against women and inequality, to get into a girl’s pants, or bolster their ego.
Women need men to speak up and let their buddies know that this behavior is intolerable. Men are looking to their friends for a pass, and they’re given that when the assholes egg them on and the nice guys keep their mouths shut.
Most men really don’t respect women. If a man is hitting on me, I always tell him I’m taken because nothing else works. They don’t listen to your wishes or respect your stance. The only thing they acknowledge is another male. The same goes for the conversation surrounding passing around the naked photo of an ex. I can talk until I’m blue in the face but men will dismiss me, and often they keep their circle of buddies tight so this information doesn’t reach women. They keep their toxic behavior under wraps. We need men present in the situation to step up.
After our conversation, my boyfriend was clearly deflated. He looked very low, and I reminded him of how well he treats me and what a good boyfriend he is, but the damage had been done. I took heart that he had taken what I said seriously. He wasn’t fighting it or brushing it off. His ability to respect and listen to me, to be honest with me and with himself, and to take responsibility is what makes him, not a nice guy, but a man. | https://aninjusticemag.com/the-nice-guy-doesnt-exist-26136bb2bf1c | [] | 2021-01-29 02:10:24.014000+00:00 | ['Women', 'Rape Culture', 'Nice Guy Syndrome', 'Feminism', 'Movies'] |
What is your unfair advantage? | What separates a good business from a great business?
A good business solves a painful problem in a delightful way for customers. Think about your favourite coffee shop, or that vintage clothes store you love.
A great business does all this, plus it has an unfair advantage that makes it increasingly difficult for competitors to challenge them over time.
This post exposes the ways a business can build structural advantage into their business model from the very beginning.
“The key to investing is not assessing how much an industry is going to affect society, or how much it will grow, but rather determining the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage. The products or services that have wide, sustainable moats around them are the ones that deliver rewards to investors.” Warren Buffett
So what gives a company an unfair advantage?
It varies depending on the type of company you want to build, but there are several characteristics investors often look for when considering whether to invest in a company.
Incorporating one or many of these into your business could mean the difference between $1 million in annual revenue and $1 billion.
Let’s start with the best known of all:
Economies of Scale
The larger you grow, the cheaper your costs become relative to competitors.
Wal-Mart is a great example of this —
Promise the lowest price and generate demand from consumers Use that demand to bargain with suppliers — “what discount can you offer if we 10x the order?” Invest in complex technology to simplify the supply chain, further driving down your costs vs competitors. Use the advantage gained in 3 & 4 to lower your prices again Repeat
Amazon took this a step further by allowing third party sellers to list products on their e-commerce platform and eventually use Amazon’s infrastructure to store and distribute their products, which further reduced Amazon’s costs as they scaled.
Jeff Bezos famously drew the ‘virtuous cycle’ on a napkin in 2001 at the first Amazon offsite:
By delivering a great customer experience selling its own products, Amazon.com gets more traffic.
More traffic means more potential buyers
Which in turn attracts third party sellers to the website,
Resulting in a wider selection of products to customers,
Further improving the customer experience.
Amazon can then reinvest their revenue in infrastructure (fulfilment centres and robotics) to bring costs down further and reduce prices for both suppliers and customers.
By continually reinvesting earnings in infrastructure, Amazon eventually offers Fulfilled by Amazon as a service to third party sellers, reducing distribution costs for these sellers and tying them to Amazon.
With so many products using FBA, Amazon soon offers guaranteed 1 day delivery through Prime, which significantly increased consumers’ annual spend.
With each step Amazon makes it harder for competitors to challenge them.
No one can provide a greater selection of products, at such competitive prices, with such quick delivery.
Amazon repeated this model with AWS — using their considerable investment in internal data centres to offer flexible cloud services to companies all over the world at a fraction of the cost and headache of maintaining their own servers.
AWS is now Amazon’s largest business unit, surpassing all of North America e-commerce.
Network Effects
Network effects occur when the value of the network increases as more people join the network.
Systems with network effects generally have direct interactions between users over a defined interface or protocol.
Think about how much more useful the telephone network became when everyone had a telephone. Or how much more valuable Instagram is when all your friends are posting photos.
As a result, the larger your business gets, the harder it becomes for a competitor to challenge you.
Investors love network effect businesses because they tend towards monopoly. The structural advantage you’ve accumulated over time through building a dense network of strong connections between nodes makes it difficult for any competitor to challenge you. This gives you pricing power, which enables sustained profits over the long term.
That’s often why VCs pour large amounts of capital into these businesses quickly to ensure they get to scale before their competitors, developing such a dense network of nodes that any competitor coming in will offer a significantly worse experience for early users.
Switching Costs
How hard is it for customers to leave your product?
Some products make it super easy to sign up, and exceptionally hard to leave.
Think Salesforce and SAP…
These products are called Systems of Record, and become invaluable to customers once all their data is captured inside the product. Imagine how hard it is to change CRM when you have 8 years of data in Salesforce.
Switching costs are an unfair advantage because customers are willing to pay a higher price for your product simply to avoid the hassle of changing to a competitor.
But that doesn’t mean you should use the excuse to deliver a poor customer experience. Instead, you use your active customers as a distribution channel for new products that improve their user experience and build in defensibility.
Salesforce is a master of this — they opened up a platform on top of their CRM and allowed third parties to build solutions for specific customer use-cases — improving niche user experiences for Salesforce customers, and generating revenue from each transaction. Salesforce even has a venture fund to invest in the best of these solutions and further integrate them in the Salesforce experience.
Brand
How do customers feel when they hear your name?
Building a trusted brand takes a long time — you need to set customer expectations of the value your company will create, and consistently fulfil those expectations over time.
Brand is why people choose to pay luxury prices for a Louis Vuitton handbag and a Barry’s bootcamp workout.
To build a loyal brand following, you need your customers to feel like part of a tribe — by using your product they are demonstrating to others a part of their identity.
I’m the type of person who goes to Crossfit.
I’m the type of person who rides a Harley Davidson.
In B2B, this means creating a category…. there was no such thing as conversational marketing 3 years ago, Drift invented it and last year Gartner created the category and labelled them a ‘Cool Vendor’.
Brand can be a fierce unfair advantage, but brands are delicate and need to be managed carefully.
Your employees need to live the brand values throughout the supply chain — from manufacturing to packaging and distribution — so customers experience what they expect from your brand at every interaction.
The very best brands build a community of loyal followers who are actively engaged in living the brand values and spreading the word. When people you trust recommend a product to you, you are much more likely to believe them, so nurturing your budding community can lead to strong organic growth over the long term.
Building a Talent Brand
While a strong customer-facing brand can attract loyal customers, a strong talent-facing brand can entice the most talented employees in the world to work on hard problems at your company.
That could be SpaceX for aerospace engineers or Google for machine learning.
In these areas one talented employee could be worth 100 average employees, enabling the company that acts as a talent magnet to build the best solutions to the most difficult problems consistently over time.
Regulation
In highly regulated industries, simply complying with existing regulation can be an unfair advantage.
Within healthcare, new medical devices need several regulatory approvals to show they meet manufacturing requirements and demonstrate conformity with health, safety, and environmental protection standards.
In banking it can take years of work and millions of dollars for neo-banks to secure the banking licenses required to take deposits from consumers.
The time and capital it takes to comply with existing regulation provides a solid barrier to entry — no brand new startup can spin up a landing page and compete with you, so you have a solid head start. Don’t waste it.
IP
This can include trademarks, copyrights, patents, and trade secrets. They’re most useful when the product is likely to stay on the market in its current form for a number of years eg. in biotech or telecommunications.
When your product is iterating constantly as is typical in software, patents can be difficult to maintain, and even more difficult to defend when your competitor has a war chest and an extensive legal team.
Holding IP is a significant barrier to entry forcing competitors to solve the problem in a different way, however at some point your competitor will develop an equally functional (or superior) solution, so you need to continually invest in R&D to stay one step ahead.
But unfair advantages don’t last forever
Andy Grove famously declared “Only the paranoid survive”.
Even if you’ve built several of these elements into your business, you need to constantly monitor how the market is evolving and adapt your strategy.
Brands can go out of fashion, startups can lose talent, and new competitors can find better ways to serve your customers.
Uber is a great example of this — early on investors believed the ‘network effects’ of Uber would create a winner-takes-all dynamic in the taxi market. However in 2019 most consumers have several ride-hailing apps on their phone and select a provider based on price.
It turns out that once you get to a 3–4 minute wait time, the incremental benefit from more drivers in the network becomes marginal.
So Uber is seeking new ways to build defensibility into their business — embedding the app in other products (eg the Qantas app and Facebook Messenger) to create a distribution advantage and building out new products like Uber Freight.
There are many ways to build a great business
From software to hardware and e-commerce, there are multiple ways to build a sustainable competitive advantage into your business.
So when you’re first starting out, make sure you think through how you want to include one or many of these into your business model, and dedicate resources to reinforcing those elements as you grow.
And there’s never been a better time to get started…
Everyone thought network effects were over…. then Slack came along.
Some exceptional brands have been built in the last 5 years…. Everlane, Glossier, Dollar Shave Club and Who Gives A Crap.
And the proliferation of neo-banks in finance and AI-driven diagnostic tools in medicine demonstrates that entrepreneurs are not afraid of tackling industries with high regulatory barriers to deliver a vastly improved customer experience.
If you’re building your business and looking to raise money, get in touch with me at [email protected]
—
A full list of AirTree’s Open Source VC resources can be accessed here. | https://medium.com/airtree-venture/what-is-your-unfair-advantage-d547d8055af | ['Jackie Vullinghs'] | 2021-03-22 02:38:21.030000+00:00 | ['Competitive Advantage', 'Venture Capital', 'VC', 'Startup', 'Insights'] |
5 คาเฟ่ สุดชิล วิวหลักล้าน!ในอ.สิชล ไม่มาถือว่าพลาด | in In Bitcoin We Trust | https://medium.com/@charinsong8012/5-%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%9A%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%B2%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%9F%E0%B9%88-%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B8%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%8A%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%A5-%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A5%E0%B9%89%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%99-%E0%B9%83%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%AD-%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%8A%E0%B8%A5-%E0%B9%84%E0%B8%A1%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%96%E0%B8%B7%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%A7%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%94-5da616ce72b6 | ['ว ยร', 'นพ ลว ลล า'] | 2020-12-26 16:24:49.902000+00:00 | ['Coffee', 'Chill', 'Cafe'] |
Smart Water Metering to Reach at a CAGR of 10.3% —Challenges with the Existing Water Management System | Smart Water Metering to Reach at a CAGR of 10.3% —Challenges with the Existing Water Management System Prathmesh Patil Nov 23, 2020·3 min read
The growing concern toward managing the supply of water is a driving factor for the market. Moreover, the adoption of the Internet of Things in the water industry is bringing opportunities for the market. Increasing efforts by water utilities to reduce nonrevenue water are driving the smart water metering market.
The global smart water metering market is projected to reach USD 9.6 billion by 2024 from an estimated USD 5.9 billion in 2019, at a CAGR of 10.3% during the forecast period.
The ultrasonic meter segment is expected to be the fastest growing smart water metering market, by meter type, during the forecast period
The ultrasonic meter segment of the smart water metering market, by meter type, is expected to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period. This is mainly because ultrasonic meters deliver highly accurate data outputs than mechanical and electromagnetic meters. These meters are equipped with sensors that can measure the water velocity and then convert it into the water flow rate. Moreover, ultrasonic meters have a longer life span, and they are able to transmit real-time data using communication network connectivity; the data is analyzed by meter data management systems or central monitoring software platforms.
The AMR segment is expected to dominate the smart water metering market, by technology, during the forecast period
AMR is a key driver of proficiency for water utilities. It helps in lowering operational costs by optimizing maintenance and reducing human intervention in the measurement operation. AMR is a system and process used to remotely collect water meter data without the physical presence of personnel at the reading point. North America and Europe are the regions mostly implementing this technology. Other regions have also started implementing this metering infrastructure to reduce nonrevenue water.
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North America: The largest smart water metering market
In this report, the smart water metering market has been analyzed with respect to 5 regions, namely, North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa. The dominance of the region is mainly due to high installation rate of smart water meters by the North American water utilities. Also, the region is the highest consumer of water in the world. Smart water meter suppliers are focusing on expanding their offerings in the North American region to help customers reduce the water bills as the smart water meters detect water leakages and turn off the supply in case of water losses. Ultrasonic meters are gaining more preference by the water utilities in North America due to higher efficiency and more accurate rates.
To enable an in-depth understanding of the competitive landscape, the report includes the profiles of some of the top players in the smart water metering market.
Some of the key players are Arad Group (Israel), Badger Meter (US), Itron (US), Kamstrup (Denmark), and Diehl (Germany). The leading players are adopting various strategies to increase their share in the smart water metering market. Contracts & agreements has been a widely adopted strategy by the major players in the smart water metering market.
Get Sample Pages of the Report Here — https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=250996975
Key Questions Addressed by the Report — | https://medium.com/@pprathmesh367/smart-water-metering-to-reach-at-a-cagr-of-10-3-28f3b770ab39 | ['Prathmesh Patil'] | 2020-11-23 06:53:56.115000+00:00 | ['IoT', 'Smart Home', 'Smart Meter', 'Water Meter', 'Smart Cities'] |
“Write to Right” | Thank you for reading Soliloquies! Read from the beginning here.
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Special thanks for acting editor and good friend, Jason Barber. | https://medium.com/@soliloquies/write-to-right-9ee1315aa1ea | [] | 2020-12-26 21:17:59.471000+00:00 | ['Lessons Learned', 'Writing', 'Healing', 'Poems On Medium'] |
Nuclear is important — but we must be cautious | Nuclear is important — but we must be cautious
The debate over the use of nuclear energy as a stop-gap energy source is fiery, albeit seldom ignited to the same level as other debates. I believe it must be used, but there are a few big caveats.
Renewable technologies are of a good standard, and many countries could probably subsist to a large extent on them already. The UK is one which doesn’t but could, and many countries such as France and Germany are making concrete strides from nuclear to renewable; they are one stage ahead.
So while renewables are improving, these two nations prove to us that nuclear is a very good transitional, temporary energy source. They prove that the model does work. But, in order for others to replicate this model, there are some key things that they must ensure.
Standards
Any nuclear power plants built come with the risk of meltdown. There have only ever been two ones with major death tolls, and one of these, Chernobyl, was due to standards. This simply cannot be allowed to happen again. Therefore, nuclear energy can only be worth it with exceptionally good standards.
To that end, I believe that international law should say which companies are permitted to construct nuclear plants, and require those who fall short of the standards to improve to be allowed. In addition, any given nuclear power plant should have its own extensive protocol for what to do in case of disaster, as this can vary from region to region.
Disaster Zones
This one is really important. Countries particularly susceptible to natural disasters should not be building nuclear power plants. The only other major disaster was Fukushima in 2011, as a direct result of a tsunami. Similar accidents, albeit much less severe, have occurred in other disaster zones, and this is something that isn’t easy to guard against.
Nature is ultimately more powerful than anything we can build, so the best way to avoid future disasters is to not give nature the chance. Areas at risk of tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and intense weather (which can apparently cause issues) shouldn’t have nuclear plants. In addition, any plants built should have protective systems against natural disasters regardless.
Disposal of Nuclear Waste
This is arguably an even bigger deal than either of the previous two. The reason for this is that nuclear waste can poison water supplies, affect the growth of plants, and release huge amounts of CO2 indirectly as a result of that.
Moreover, these problems are often palmed off onto other countries which are much poorer in exchange for money and trade. With China’s increasing exploitation of Africa, there are fears that this is a growing trend in this particular region.
The shuttling of nuclear waste on trains through the countryside must also be stopped: the only safe and acceptable way of disposing of nuclear waste is to put it deep underground, surrounded by layers of concrete.
Agreements to ensure fair treatment
Any country that wishes to have nuclear plants must make arrangements with people to make mandatory purchases of land, but this should be at a fair market value as well as additional compensation.
However, the bigger problem stems from people who live in the area around a plant or disposal facility. Too often, governments simply will not give compensation when disaster hits, or when nuclear waste is proven to be contaminating land, water, and air.
Minimising damage and harm cannot just mean safety, but also financial compensation when something does go wrong. | https://medium.com/discourse/nuclear-is-important-but-we-must-be-cautious-8d35a6e2ca21 | ['Dave Olsen'] | 2018-11-30 12:06:01.187000+00:00 | ['Renewable Energy', 'Nuclear', 'Energy', 'Environment', 'Climate Change'] |
Does it really make sense to move more work to chat? | Behind ChatOps, there is an idea that you can bring the most of your day-to-day digital operations right into the company chat and run them from there. Doing everything from one place sounds like a good idea but hold on. Wouldn’t it add even more noise to a place that is already considered the biggest source of distraction by many? Most definitely, your Slack/MS Teams/[platform of choice] won’t get quieter after you add a bunch of apps, but hey, there are benefits to it as well, and some of them are big! Let’s take a closer look, shall we?
Here’s what our friends at Mio say: We conducted our own research and the headline stat was that 91% of businesses use at least 2 messaging platforms
Built-in collaboration
This is one of the most significant points that make ChatOps so unique and compelling — no matter what you do, collaboration is always built into it. Discuss notifications right in the threads underneath them, comment on tickets, elaborate on polls — all that is easier when you don’t have to switch windows every time you want to say something. With the introduction of things like shared channels in Slack, you can even invite your customers to the dialog and let them interact with your internal systems, which generally don’t support this way of sharing.
Unified UX.
All modern chat platforms provide a way to build flexible UX for bots, that goes way beyond a basic conversation. Slack apps, for example, can have buttons, dropdowns, dialogs, and, with the introduction of the Home Tab, entire UI pages with complex interactions.
New App Home UI mockup
Is it flexible enough and offers perfect UX for each possible workflow? Umm, perhaps not. Can it be clunky and ugly at times? Yeah, I think so. However, it all doesn’t matter for the vast majority of the workplace apps that we use infrequently. Expenses, benefits, approvals, surveys, candidate reviews, helpdesk requests — everyone needs to deal with these things only occasionally. Still, the total time spent by all people in the company figuring out how to interact with each new system is enormous! Making them all look the same, behave the same, and live in the same place saves a ton of time across the company.
No need to log in
Companies use Okta, OneLogin, and other SSO providers, but they only work if the app supports SSO, and then you still need to click buttons to actually sign in. In the corp chat, you’re already logged in, the app already knows who you are, and you can get straight to business without foreplay.
Actionable notifications
While a regular app can send you an email notification with a call to action, it still can’t be more than a link that leads you to a web page where you need to log in first and then… you know the drill. Chatbot notifications are much more direct — because there’s no need to authenticate, and because UI controls are built-in, you can react to a notification right at the moment you see it, and that’s a huge productivity boost. Just remember how many times you decided not to react to a notification just because you knew you would need to go to another system, potentially recover your password, the other system could be slow and bulky, etc. Chat apps make simple actions really simple, and hence more people want to perform them.
Fewer context switches
We all know how expensive context switches are, and we all continuously at least between the chat and the browser. Why add more? While going from coding to filing an expense report via a chatbot is still a context switch, it’s confined to an app you’re already using (the chat), it’s already “warm” in your brain, and the switch is much cheaper this way.
Simplified discovery
The time we spend just looking for the right systems often exceeds the time we actually use them. Example: I recently spent 10 minutes digging through my inbox, looking for a link that points to the system, my co-working space uses for booking conference rooms. It was not directly mentioned in the email, but rather in a document, stored in a yet another system. Of course, I’ve bookmarked that link since then, but the point is that we all spend significant time just searching for the entrance into different systems, not even using them.
Chat apps, at least, all live in the same place [the chat]. They often belong to the same channels as the people whom you’d want to talk to when you had given up looking for the login link. E.g., HR bots live in the #hr channel, alongside all the HR people, and IT bots reside in #it, next to the guy who fixes your printer. Some chatbots can even automatically reveal themselves when the context is relevant.
Great, but doesn’t it make the chat even more distractive?
The biggest concern about platforms like Slack becoming an “operating system for work” is that they’re designed to steal our attention, sometimes to the point that they disrupt the actual work. Considering this, adding more apps to an attention hog like Slack doesn’t help at all. There’s, however, a trade-off that you get in the form of more work being done because the work is now simpler to do. I have a few big hopes for the long-term future that should solve the distractiveness problem:
New design patterns will emerge that will help better separate important information from less important from noise. For example, merely introducing a second class of “less important” notifications with a less screaming bubble style could already help a bit.
AI will catch-up and help a lot in surfacing “stuff that I want to see” from the rest of the mess. This, of course, has a danger of forming filter-bubbles around people, just like the ones we have in large-scale social media platforms, but that’s a different story. Our own OneBar.io is a part of this AI movement, and we’re looking for better ways to extract meaningful information from Slack logs automatically.
People will adapt — people always adapt. Our brain is very susceptible to short reward-loop “attacks,” which produce enormous amounts of dopamine and make us go crazy about social networks and online video games. The good thing is that over time our brain learns that the reward is not real and stops paying attention. We’ve all learned somehow not to open spam emails and not to pick up calls from unknown callers. I think we’ll learn to deal with apps like Slack in a similar way, and only use the productive part of them.
“The Hook” framework is behind the world’s most addictive apps
Which Slack apps do we use at OneBar
OneBar is a tiny team, and we don’t have many of the corporate functions that larger companies have. Still, even at our size, we already have many Slack apps, which are parts of our daily workflow.
All incident reports (Rollbar + Sentry) come to Slack where we discuss them, tag people who should take action, or decide to ignore.
All live chats (HubSpot + Intercom) are hooked up to Slack too, and we often talk to our customers by starting a thread in the #chat-with-customers channel.
channel. We use /zoom a lot; it’s just the easiest way to start a meeting.
a lot; it’s just the easiest way to start a meeting. We’ve also used Polly a few times to run quick surveys in our users’ workspace.
We used to use Trello for bug tracking but recently switched to an even simpler workflow. We just throw bugs-reports into relevant feature-channels, work on them in threads, and delete the original message when the bug is fixed.
Our own app updates: sign-ups, upgrades, in-app feedback, uninstalls — everything comes to a separate Slack channel and gets monitored there.
We have a few custom-built tools that allow us to broadcast a message from our workspace to all our customers (via @onebar bot)
Finally, of course, we use OneBar every day! All technical how-to’s, how-does’, and what-is’ are stored there and are easily accessible in Slack. We also put meeting notes, user-call summaries, and various message templates in OneBar. Even though I’m biased, I honestly can’t imagine storing all this information elsewhere with the same level of convenience and accessibility.
Do you embrace ChatOps or oppose it? Post your story in the comments! | https://blog.onebar.io/does-it-make-sense-to-do-more-work-from-chat-fa85cbe416bc | ['Maxim Leonovich'] | 2020-01-29 02:33:37.394000+00:00 | ['Chatops', 'Slack', 'Productivity', 'Collaboration', 'Chatbots'] |
Taxidermy and Why it Won‘t Work | This week, rather than focusing on the Blue caravan consisting of the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, the Three Percenters, and other white supremacist groups riding into D.C. to defend their hero, I prefer to focus on the largest group of American voters, 3 million more than cast their votes for Biden, and 8 million more than cast their votes for #45, the 80 million out of a total of 238 American voters who did not vote. They are the largest percentage of the electorate, 33 1/3 % to be exact. Who are these people? It helps to understand that they tend to fall into one of three categories: those who can’t vote because they are either undocumented, or incarcerated, or paroled; and those discouraged from voting because of impediments like strict ID laws or lack of a street address; and those so disaffected by US politics they no longer care to vote — if they ever did.
For obvious reasons, trying to determine how many undocumented people could not vote is speculative at best. That number ranges from 10.5 million to 12 million or 3.2% to 3.5% of the total population. Incarcerated people .7% of the population, cannot vote. That equals 2,310.371 people. some of them simply held while awaiting trial, the highest percentage of incarcerated people in the world. Additionally twenty-seven states still deny the franchise to felony probationers (fortunately the trend is slowly changing to restore the vote to people who have served their time) such that 5.2 million ex-felons cannot vote. These two groups, undocumented immigrants and incarcerated people and ex-felons account for a total of plus/or/minus 20,110,471 million.
If we exclude these two groups, that still leaves 217,989,529 non-voters some of whom, for a spectrum of reasons, have been discouraged from voting. For some of these, strict voter ID laws cause a number of black, Hispanic, Native American, elderly, transgender, and poor voters to fall between the cracks. Pressure for strict ID laws comes mostly from the GOP (for the obvious reason that in all probability most of this group is thought to vote Democrat) but the laws are in a constant state of flux, and the number is hard to determine.
For other folks, many without a permanent street address, voting was impossible. (For example, one year ago as I drove north through the length of Kern County, California I encountered not one human being aside from the clerks behind convenience store counters in the gas stations we patronized. I discovered where many of Kern County’s people now reside: the railroad right of way between Fresno and Hanford, a distance of 34 miles, is lined with tent cities.) How many tent dwellers, evicted either by landlords, or mortgage default and other folks without permanent street addresses exist at present in the US? As the Depression worsens, the number mounts. Clearly the Office of Government Statistics has not busied itself tallying their number. According to the August 6, 2020 edition of the Washington Post, #45 called for another eviction moratorium, but push back by landlords did not help re-elect him. It’s safe to say, however, that even with a burning desire to vote, voter ID impediments, including not having a permanent address, might very well have offered this group of voters some discouragement. Was such desire present in non-tent-dwelling non-voters? Apparently not. And if not, why not?
Elephant in the Room those, comfortable and otherwise, who did not care to vote
For Biden, politics-as-before (“nothing will change”) shuns taking into account any of the many aspects of voter disillusion. A cursory look at his transitional team and at the appointment A list tells the story. Rahm Emanuel (“Liberals are fucking retards”) is now a Biden adviser, and in line for a cabinet post. Of the 23 who comprise the Biden Defense Department transition team, 8 are working for think tanks financed by all the preeminent defense contractors, the same folks who set Bush’s and Obamas war policies. Cecilia Muñoz, who defended family separation under Obama has joined the transition team. A flood of war mongering neocons are flocking to Biden, foreign policy hawks like Susan Rice, Samantha Power and Michele Flournoy. It’s important to remember that so far, the Middle East wars they aided and abetted have cost the American taxpayer $5 trillion, and to speculate how many homeless people, and how many food insecure people that $5 trillion might have helped, or how much PPE some of that $5 trillion could have provided to insure the safety of essential medical personnel as they battle a pandemic. Richard Stengel who has restrictive views of freedom of speech. is likely to head the US Agency for Global Media. Not only does the team consist of the greatest amalgam of multi millionaires ever assembled, but in the words of independent journalist Caitlin Johnstone, Biden “will have the most diverse, intersectional cabinet of mass murderers ever assembled.” And on Nov. 14, Fox News reported that Hillary Clinton, the Scourge of Libya, is under consideration as Biden’s ambassador to the UN.
A Biden who stiffs the UN with a stuffed has-been like Hillary Clinton, and draws on a bunch of sclerotic neocons may very well be hitting the summit of the taxidermist’s art. But taxidermy never brought change about. It may very well be that, despite a boobytrapped two-party system, change, if it ever comes about, will prompt at least some part of that 33 1/3 percent of non-voting voters to declare itself. But, according to Information Clearing House, “the demographics of the recent election show no sign of a permanent majority for Democrats.”
Without a Herculean effort on the part of a newly-galvanized post card and letter writing public joining old-time activists nationwide, don’t bet on either happening any time soon.
URGE Biden to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement.
LISTEN as AOC calmly excoriates and absent Senate/
DEMAND Biden make family reunification a top priority.
INSIST Barrett recuse herself from all Election-related cases.
DEMAND Senate not confirm any more corporate lobbyists.
URGE Biden to put people before banks and corporations.
DONATE to Justice Democrats & Rashida Tlaib
The Elders, founded by Mandela, warn baseless accusations of voter fraud by #45 endanger democracy worldwide.
UN panel votes 163–5 in support of Palestinian statehood, end of occupation. US opposes.
World’s public banks gather at first-ever summit.
Bolivia President Arce approves bonus against hunger. If Bolivia can, why can’t we?
Bolivian prosecutor’s office orders arrest of former ministers.
Peruvians stage massive protests against legislative coup that ousted President Martin Vizcarra,
Brazilian municipal elections show gains for Left.
Dutch foreign minister seeks EU arms embargo on Turkey.
India, China close in on plan to end months of border standoff.
In victory of China over US hegemony in Asia, 15 Asian states sign huge new trade deal.
Climate on agenda in first Russia visit by UK minister since 2017.
World pushes ahead with climate action as US remains in limbo.
Scotland may look at serious and long-standing concerns about #45’s business activities.
EU slams Israel plans to construct new settler units in occupied Jerusalem al-Quds.
UK troops to b e withdrawn from Afghanistan by Xmas as staying without US untenable.
European Court upholds right to boycott Israel.
Nova Scotia First Nation to launch lawsuits against non-indigenous fishers. for damages.
Tribes, Dem governors, and Klamath dam owner announce salmon restoration plan.
Manchester students revolt aster university demands they pay rents that 74% cannot afford.
Manchester lecturers show solidarity with students following racial profiling.
Okinawa protesters keep up years-long blockade of construction dump trucks at US airbase construction site in defiance of Japanese government .
Amnesty warns US of culpability in rising Yemen civilian death toll if drone sale to UAE inked.
US invasion forces convoy leaves illegal bases in Syrian territory to Iraq.
After 4 years of hiding behind #45, populist Polish and Hungarian leaders suddenly exposed.
New feminist peace initiative releases movement-driven foreign policy framework.
About time: Longtime union members Pocan and Norcross announce labor caucus to advocate for workers in Congress.
Pocan leads 40 Dems demanding condemnation of Israeli demolitions.
AOC demands #45 non-payment of taxes be investigated.
Don’t hold your breath department: urges to reject Ernest Moniz and choose climate champions for cabinet.
150 high-level government expert issue Climate 21 Projet Report urging Biden-Harris a running climate start.
Public Citizen delivers robust transition agenda demands to Biden.
Indigenous and progressive activists and lawmakers plan rally at DNC to push Biden in greener direction.
Citing her ties to agribusiness and fossil fuels, 160 groups tell Biden Heitkamp is wrong choice for USD.
Social Security defenders tell Biden to keep austerity-obsessed Bruce Reed far away from White House.
Michigan governor moves to shut down Line 5 Pipeline to protect Great Lakes.
Refusing to be bullied, Michigan governor rebukes #45 aid’s call for uprising over COVID measures.
Nearly four dozen faith institutions announce divestment from fossil fuels.
Chevron Phillips publishes climate report in response to investor concerns.
Legal protest blasts plan for 430 square miles of fracking leases in Wyoming.
With irrevocable justice on line, Dem lawmakers demand #45 administration put brakes on killing spree.
Federal judge rules acting DHS head Chad Wolf unlawfully appointed, invalidates DACA suspension.
Federal Court rejects latest #45 attack on DACA in Batalia Vidal v Wolf case.
Judge blocks #45 administration policy using pandemic as excuse to kick out asylum seeking children.
N.J. releases over 2 thousand incarcerated workers to help stop the pandemic spread, the largest single-day release in U.S. history.
In 58-day-long vigil, members of Decarcerate Now, NC, gather outside exec mansion demanding Gov. Cooper use his powers of pardon to protest incarcerated during pandemic.
Hunger enters third week at California’s largest prison.
California ‘bans the box’ protecting formerly incarcerated people in the college admissions process.
After defund police victory, Portland keeps marching.
Mi’kmaq First Nations coalition takes control of major seafood company.
Oregon City Voters recall mayor for downplaying police brutality against black people.
With COVID surging,, school superintendent in Tippecanoe County Ind. suspends in-person education.
Philly crocodile city council apologizes for deadly 1985 Move bombing.
Abby Martin sues State of Georgia over Israel Loyalty Oath mandate.
Proudly BDS: Jewish-led groups condemn Pompeo for declaring boycott-divestment movement anti-Semitic.
Two Muslim women derive NYPD to change its practice of forcefully removing the hijab.
Student action spurs student vote to help turn Georgia blue and defeat #45.
As #45 seeks to shred food inspection riles, advocacy group endorses Rep. Marcia Fudge for Secy of Agriculture.
Bloomington, MN unhoused community forms tenants union.
A homeless camp in Rapid City, SD shut down by police moves to trust land outside town where indigenous people return to living traditionally.
UAW workers at Johnson Controls go on trike, warning the company they may lose all their workers’ experience.
Biden solidifies AZ victory as election officials counter #45 fraud lies in joint declaration.
Biden signals flexibility on North Korea.
Lindsay Graham under fire for allegations he urged legal ballots be tossed in Georgia.
Following Berkeley, CA arrest of 5 G protester, city vows no more new permits for small cells will be issued.
S.F.’s only Nigerian restaurant uses free food to support police violence activism. | https://medium.com/@cecilepineda/taxidermy-and-why-it-won-t-work-8d0036282efd | ['Cecile Pineda'] | 2020-11-21 02:59:09.454000+00:00 | ['Housing', 'Hunger', 'Wall Street', 'Corporations', 'Conservation'] |
13 Best Website Builders For Any Occasion Among 30+ Tested | 1. Zyro — Most reliable price
website design example
Zyro is a privately held company founded not long ago in 2019. The Zyro platform is designed to create drag-and-drop websites and templates without any additional coding knowledge.
Here is a special discount for medium users. Apply “MEDIUMSPECIALOFFER”
There are indeed many offers on the website builder market, however, developing Zyro in 2019, the company released a unique product. The main strength of Zyro is its application of AI technologies. For example, you do not need the services of copywriters, since a tool such as a text generator (AI Writer) will select thematic texts for your site. Another unusual tool is AI Heatmap. It displays which parts of the website will get the most attention from users. Zyro has focused on speed and availability, which is why it uses an advanced server infrastructure from Hostinger, which is one of the largest web hosting companies. I would especially like to note that Zyro has affordable tariff plans, especially long-term ones.
creating the first website on Zyro
The process of creating websites with Zyro is extremely simple. To create a website you just need a couple of clicks: registering via email, choosing templates for the relevant topic, and setting up and editing the template.
Building a website on Zyro does not require any special skills. Everything is as simple, fast, and clear as possible. All templates are divided into categories, for example, e-commerce, business, portfolio, resume, etc. After choosing a template, you can edit it by clicking on any element on the page and changing its content or appearance. By dragging elements with the mouse or finger in the mobile version, you can position the elements anywhere on the page. New items are also added with one click from the toolbar.
Zyro is a grid-based website builder. If you have used Photoshop, you may want to know about the grid system. This approach is very popular in web development and allows you to place elements nicely and aligned on the page. this way, your website will look neat and well-organized, and you won’t need to spend any effort on alignment. In addition, the grid is also used when creating a mobile version of web pages.
Pros:
With Zyro, you don’t need to work with code;
A large set of design templates for any purpose;
A handy set of blogging tools;
Create a store in minutes using a template;
Huge selection of reliable delivery services for your customers;
Single dashboard for order and warehouse tracking;
Launch of advertising campaigns;
SEO optimization tools;
Integration with social networks;
CRM setup;
Over 1 million free high-quality images;
30-day money-back guarantee.
Best for:
very easy
Perfect for those who don’t have a lot of experience in web design. If you need to quickly create a website and configure all the necessary functions for your business, then Zyro is the right tool.
Pricing:
Low cost is one of the biggest advantages of Zyro. On average, the price for tariff plans is 3–4 times lower compared to similar tariffs from competitors.
2. 10Web — Easy of use
10Web is a one-stop platform for building WordPress sites. The platform offers managed site hosting powered by Google Cloud. The team behind 10Web is the team behind Google Analytics WD, Photo Gallery by WD, and more. On the platform, users can find everything they need to create the perfect WordPress site. 10Web is a new service that aims to be the perfect website builder. Using 10Web, you don’t have to think about code, because you don’t need to program to create a website. One of the amenities I noted is the unified control panel. From one location, you can manage multiple websites at the same time.
10Web editor
I have said more than once that there are quite a few website builders on the market right now. However, not all of them are complete and versatile. One of the most important characteristics is the ease and accessibility of creating web pages. 10Web fully supports this concept and strives to simplify the website creation process. 10Web is a simple drag-and-drop builder. Despite the fact that it is easy to use, it is very powerful and has a large arsenal of functions. To try it out you will be offered a free 14-day version beforehand Also, it doesn’t require a credit card, so you can just use your Google account to sign in.
Below, I talk about the Elementor page builder. Since both solutions work with WordPress sites, the Elementor page builder and Elementor premium widget bundle are available on 10Web. Let me remind you that Elementor is an open-source WordPress plugin.
Speaking of simplicity, I also mentioned the power of this tool. 10Web includes over 50 plugins that you can use for your WordPress site. For example, you can add forms for simple surveys or fields for payment.
Pros:
Network security, monitoring attacks and ensuring uptime;
Google Cloud service. Which provides 10Web managed hosting. It guarantees the speed and safety of the service;
An architecture that strives for speed, using modern technologies such as Nginx for scalability, isolation and continuous availability;
Premium domain name system;
Test area — the presence of a clone of the site for testing functionality before embedding on the main site;
AI website builder.
Best for:
Like all website builders, the tool is suitable for those who don’t want to bother writing code. Of course, it will be quite difficult for a complete newbie to understand SEO and domain settings well. However, the 10Web principle is simple, which is why it is loved by thousands of users around the world.
Pricing:
There are 3 pricing plans that you can pay annually or monthly. The price for 10Web is quite affordable for both individual users and teams.
10Web pricing
3. Ucraft — Best for creativity
website designs ucraft
Another incredibly laconic and functional website builder for beginners and professionals. With Ucraft, you can create responsive websites that will be convenient to use from any device. What I noticed so special about the Ucraft constructor is its intuitive design and simple interface. With it, even beginners can easily create their own web pages. Simply follow each action according to the instructions and steps, this way you can be sure that you will not get confused. When registering, you choose one of a dozen templates for thematic groups. Each template can be previewed in advance and see if it suits you. After that, you need to fill in the subdomain name for your site and complete the registration.
sign up process on ucraft
When you go directly to the process of designing your website, one cannot fail to note the ease and simplicity of organizing the workspace. You can add widgets to your page by simply dragging and dropping to the work area. In addition, Ucraft has a wide range of pre-built blocks in addition to templates. All that remains to be done is to replace the ready-made information with content for your site. It helps you not to worry about design, as Ucraft provides you with quality and professional patterns. Continuing the description of the amazing functionality, I will add that by clicking on any element you can get a list of various available operations. For example, for images, this is cropping, visibility for different devices, adding links. When setting up forms, you can set the font, colors, alignment, size and number of fields, buttons, etc.
Besides, I noted one interesting feature of Ucraft which is the progress section. A novice user can visually see how far he has progressed in creating a website.
Also, if you want to move away from stereotypes and bring creativity to your project, you can use the Designer Tools section. It includes the following parameters:
Layout : Fine-tune the pixel position of elements;
: Fine-tune the pixel position of elements; Typography : customizing fonts;
: customizing fonts; UI kit: buttons and other elements with which the user interacts.
Pros:
Drag & Drop editor;
All elements on the page can be edited;
Adaptive layout;
Connect analytics tools from Google Analytics;
Connecting an SSL certificate to a domain;
Teamwork on a project;
Wide possibilities of interface customization;
Built-in logo editor.
Best for:
Ucraft is a platform for creating dynamic, stylish, and modern websites for business, creativity, and blogging. The target audience of this service is small and medium business owners. In addition, the tool may be of interest to client site developers, freelancers, and designers.
Pricing:
ucraft pricing
Ucraft provides 4 custom development plans and 3 branded pricing plans. On the site, in the pricing section, you can see in detail all the information about the functionality of each tariff. I will only note that Ucraft is a medium-priced tool and at the same time affordable even for a beginner. There is also a 14-day free trial when you can fully try out the builder.
4. Webflow — Best for advanced users
Webflow is an American company founded in 2013 that provides SaaS services for website creation and hosting. The tool allows users to build responsive websites based on a drag-and-drop mechanism using browser-based editing instruments. The magic is simple: while the user is creating the website, Webflow is generating HTML, CSS, and JS code. Webpages built on Webflow are powered by Amazon Cloudfront and hosted via Fastly.
What I personally enjoyed was the guidelines helping users to get adapted to the process of creating a website on Webflow.
webflow guidelines
Before starting work, you will have to go through a short tutorial on how to use the platform. Each action is clearly instructed and you cannot proceed further until you have followed all the instructions correctly. The tool is not extremely simple, the skill level is expected to be above average. Therefore, such instructions really help a lot for those who use Webflow for the first time.
Although Webflow does not involve coding, thus attracting newbies, with a basic understanding of the HTML markup language it will be much easier for you to navigate. For example, not all users may know what a div block is. And so with all elements and widgets — they are named as basic HTML tags and also as CSS property or attribute classes. The syntax and name of HTML/CSS tags can confuse newbies and give them a false impression of the ease of use of website builders. For more advanced users, there will be no difficulty. On the contrary, those who are already familiar with HTML/CSS and JS site layout will see only a huge advantage in the absence of the need for coding.
Let’s talk a little about the editor features in Webflow. The editing space can be divided into 3 logical areas: the canvas as a workspace and 2 sidebars on the sides. The right sidebar contains settings and properties that you can edit depending on the selected layout or element. The left sidebar represents elements for forming the structure of the site — blocks, widgets, a library of elements, store settings, etc.
I would like to pay special attention to the extensive options of the store. There are quite a lot of options here, for example, bulk export and import of goods in CSV format.
setting up store on Webflow
You can customize payment methods, currencies, shipping methods, and taxes. However, if there are no banking system options that you use locally, then you will have to add it through the code. The developers paid attention to the design by providing the ability to design a showcase, basket, product page and order form, product properties fields, images, etc. You can track the status of the product in the order panel. Setting up a store is also not quite simple, it is more suitable for advanced users, but the result can be quite successful and effective.
Pros:
Enabled CMS — system for managing content including creating and publishing posts, making changes in designs, editing and so on. It is used to provide and organize a collaborative process for creating, editing and managing content;
The dashboard contains all your projects that can be organized and sorted by folders;
Provides extensive security settings. This is especially noticeable in the form settings, namely captcha, access registration, passwords, message delivery addresses;
You can save draft blog posts and add posts to your reader’s recommendation;
Contains hundreds of ready-made templates to take design hassle off of you.
Best for:
As I already mentioned, Webflow may be hard to master for beginners. Since it has quite a lot of advanced features, it is better for prototyping in case you are aware of HTML and CSS. Nevertheless, Webflow will facilitate the development of sites for specialists who previously wrote code. The tool offers a lot of templates for online stores, blogs and personal websites, so it is suitable for small and middle businesses.
Pricing:
The peculiarity of this constructor is that the demo version is provided here forever. You don’t need to enter a bank card, you sign up through your Google account or email and access the tool for free. You will have 2 projects in your arsenal, full control over the design, over 100 hours of tutorials and publication on webflow.io. Paid plans have been divided into 2 categories — site plans and service plans:
Webflow pricing plans
The basic site plan starts from 12$/month if paid annually or 15$/month if paid monthly. Ecommerce plans are more expensive 29$ to 212$ but allow you to checkout on your domain. Account plans are divided into individual and team plans.
5. Wix — Best for design freedom
Firstly, we will consider perhaps the most popular website builder. Wix is an international platform for creating websites and their mobile versions using drag-and-drop tools. The service is constantly evolving and in recent years the number of its users has reached 200 million according to their statements. Wix is a typical SaaS (Software As A Service) representative. This is why you can manage your site projects from any device after logging into your account.
business website templates
The process of creating websites on Wix is very simple. You just need to choose a template from those offered for your chosen topic. The site uses a very interesting tool Wix ADI. It is an artificial intelligence-powered tool that prompts you to answer a few questions to suggest templates for related topics. The builder has a huge number of templates, so you can be sure that you will find something to your liking.
Next, you go to the section for editing the template. Based on the selected pattern, you choose the settings according to your brand and identity. As for me, Wix is the best website builder for those who love freedom while creating. It allows you to drop elements anywhere on the template. However, some of the web builders work only according to the grid. Another thing I liked is the wide set of functions on offer. For instance, you can add such vidgets as appointment scheduling, order tracking, music distribution, maps, product widgets, etc.
Wix website settings
When creating a website, it is very important to pay attention to such points as domain connection and search engine optimization. For many people, these are rather incomprehensible topics, they are not so easy to deal with. However, Wix has done everything so that you can easily customize your domain name and search engine optimization.
Here are some awesome and inspiring websites powered by Wix:
If you are still a fan of programming, then with the simplified development tool Wix Velo you can make your site more functional. To do this, you need to activate Wix Velo, and then you will be able to add databases and JavaScript code. You can use databases to collect user data, conduct polls, and create dynamic pages, while JavaScript allows you to create your own applications.
Pros of Wix:
Responsive templates;
Logo maker;
Built-in editor for professional developers;
Simple and intuitive interface;
App Store with over 350 positions;
Search engine optimization module;
Wix Velo — a platform for developing and managing scripts, building applications, and managing databases.
Best for:
The service is perfect for creating small online stores, business card sites, portfolios. Wix is a great tool for creatives who want to create a website with a personalized and impressive design. For small and medium-sized businesses, individual entrepreneurs, this is an affordable opportunity to create a website to provide their services.
Price:
There is a free version with which you can try working with the constructor. The combo version allows you to edit your domain name and work without ads for $18/month. The Unlimited plan comes at $23/month and gives you 10GB of storage, good for larger projects. Business Basic is available for $28/month and allows you to sell online. For more information on what exactly is included in each plan, visit the official Wix website.
6. Elementor — Best for WordPress
Elementor is a website builder that appeared in 2016. It is used for the layout of landing pages, blogs, online stores, etc. Very often, WordPress users are faced with the fact that it is difficult for them to figure out how to create sites on the platform. As a result, they are unhappy with the choice of the tool. Elementor solves this problem by providing a universal website builder for creating websites of any complexity and configuration. With the help of ready-made elements, you can make up sites without special knowledge and programming skills. The slight difference between Elementor is that it is a WordPress plugin. Namely, to work with Elementor, you need to create a WordPress site and install the Elementor plugin. If you want to make the most of WordPress resources but are hesitant due to a lack of coding or web design skills, then the plugin will help you build sites with ease. Elementor turns your WordPress site into a website builder that is easy and simple to work with.
After registering on the Elementor website, you will be asked to answer a few questions to find out your user experience and goals. This is necessary to make a selection of templates in accordance with your interests. Next, you will be asked if you have a site to which you will connect the plugin, or whether you will be offered to configure the site if it does not exist.
process of website creation on Elementor
If you don’t have a WordPress site yet, you will be asked which provider you want to choose: Flywheel or Bluehost.
Further, the principle of operation will be the same as if you already have a site on WordPress. When adding a new page, you can click on the ‘Edit with Elementor’ button and start building your website using the plugin.
The functionality of the site includes the creation and editing of pages, and as for other functions such as template design, work with SEO and other plugins, it is implemented as in WordPress. One of the coolest settings in my opinion is the customization of the site display on different devices. It is important for users that the site is equally user-friendly on all devices and Elementor helps you make the necessary settings. Elementor has a ton of different fonts and exclusive tools to help you create responsive websites. You can use any of the 40+ widgets provided on the platform to diversify your design possibilities.
Pros:
40+ widgets;
Dragging items;
Works with all WordPress themes;
Ease of work;
Working with dynamic elements and animating websites;
Lack of need for knowledge of coding and programming.
Best for:
Focused on WordPress users only. First of all, it is suitable for beginners as it simplifies website development. Perfect for entrepreneurs, creative people, small businesses who want to expand their presence on the Internet without spending a lot of money on it.
Pricing:
Tariff plans are divided into 2 groups: individual and team one. There are 2 team plans: studio for $499 per year and agency for $999 per year.
Speaking about the individual plan, the following categories are distinguished:
To learn more about the features included in each plan and compare plans, you can visit the official website Elementor pricing section.
7. Jimdo — Best all-in-one business solution
Jimdo is a website management platform developed in 2007 in Germany. It is a simple service that provides editable design templates. On Jimdo, users can create and manage websites without any additional software, since Jimdo is a web application that has 4 main functions:
website creation;
online store development;
getting a personalized domain;
development of an individual logo.
When registering on the site, you will be offered two options. The first one is suitable for those who want to create a website using ready-made templates. The second option assumes that you have programming skills because this is an editor for experts in coding.
Jimdo website creation modes
Choosing the easy way, the user goes through a step-by-step website setup. Step by step you will be asked to answer the questions, who is the creator — one person or a team. After that, you will need to select the purpose of creating a website. For example, you want to start a business or professional project, something personal, or a hobby that you develop into a business. You also choose the goals for which you are creating the site. Promote a product, tell about an event, sell something. In addition, you need to indicate the area to which the site belongs — IT, beauty, communications, etc. The next step is to work with your color preferences. You choose the color palette that best reflects your brand. At the final step, you can choose which pages besides the main one will be included in the website. It can be a page of services, gallery, a portfolio, etc. By default, there is a choice of three pages for your site, namely news, about you and contacts.
If you went the second way and chose the advanced mode, then the main difference is the ability to add code. This mode is suitable for advanced users who want to bring custom design or functionality to their site. Also, when choosing the second option, you will not need to take a survey to identify goals and preferences.
One of the weaknesses of Jimdo, which the company’s developers are working on, is the lack of tools to promote the site. Now, on the free plan, you can customize SEO parameters for one page. As the tariff plan increases, more options open up for the user. For example, setting up SEO for each page of the site, not just the main one, access to redirects.
Pros:
Adaptive design;
Library with free images;
A huge number of opportunities for online stores;
Payment methods from PayPal to SEPA direct debit for an online store;
Business logo creation;
Ability to add functionality through code.
Best for:
Jimdo is a web service that is suitable for beginners and those who are not keen on creating websites. The simplified version of creating a website is as easy as possible for even your grandmother to understand and master.
grandmother and computer
Jimdo’s main audience is individual entrepreneurs, freelancers, people who need a portfolio. As for advanced users, Jimdo is more likely not suitable, because it is too simple and does not have a wide range of advanced settings.
Pricing:
There are 4 types of tariffs: play, start, grow, and limitless. With the tariff, you will not be charged a game fee and will have minimal opportunities. This tariff is designed so that the user could see if he was buying a paid plan. Paid tariffs are paid every month, you just need to indicate your card account. You can find out more about what features are included in these plans on the website.
8. TemplateMonster — Best design marketplace
TemplateMonster website builder
TemplateMonster is a world-renowned company for quality web development solutions. This company is truly the pioneer of website builders since it started in 2002. Years of experience and a sincere desire to simplify website development have taken TemplateMonster to the world level. This is not just another company, another website building service, it is a digital marketplace that is trusted by hundreds of people around the world. Let’s take a closer look at why users fall in love with TemplateMonster services.
Few facts about TemplateMonster:
1) Top 3 global manufacturers of web products; 2) 5,000,000+ buyers; 3) it takes about 30 seconds to wait for a response from the technical support service.
Initially, the developers themselves created templates for TemplateMonster. However, then the company began to cooperate with large contractors and CMS developers. As a result, the library of templates has been significantly replenished and now it contains a huge number of templates for every taste and for any project.
So, as with all services, you will need to register and create a personal account. It will display all the necessary information, namely the billing period, reviews, ratings, requests for technical support.
As I noted earlier, the platform has just an uncountable amount of materials for creating a website. Agree that with a huge database, it is very difficult to make a choice. TemplateMonster developers have solved this issue by adding a filter by topics and various characteristics. By marking the components you want, you narrow down your selection. In addition, to return to a product you like, you can add it to the collection, so as not to filter again and remember the settings.
The platform provides the following categories of templates:
Website templates with drag and drop editor;
Advanced graphics (creative fonts, UI elements, Keynote templates, illustrations);
Online store templates (Shopify, OpenCart, WooCommerce, etc.);
WordPress plugins and themes;
Marketing services;
Development services.
Ted saying wow
So now let me briefly highlight which features are, in my opinion, the benefits of TemplateMonster.
Pros:
World name and long history;
Huge collection of templates and tools;
Integration with other popular builders;
Incredibly fast technical support;
Convenient filtering by templates;
Template customization services for non-professionals;
All source files;
Best for:
TemplateMonster’s target audience isn’t just entrepreneurs and enthusiasts looking to build their website. Here you can become a template author and receive a percentage of the sales of your work. Of course, before publication, the works are carefully selected and not all of them will be approved.
So, the platform can be of interest to both freelancers, marketers, web studios, and those who promote business projects on the Internet. Website creation tools are easy to use, but here you can order a website creation and promotion service. This seemed convenient to me since entrepreneurs do not always find the time to create a website on their own. And so
they do not need to waste time looking for a specialist on freelance platforms.
Pricing:
In terms of its pricing, TemplateMonster also differs from all the services we have previously reviewed. You can choose a suitable template for yourself and pay for it separately for its specific cost. That is, in fact, you choose a product in the TemplateMonster marketplace.
However, for those who often use the site builder and create several sites, TemplateMonster has come up with an interesting way to subscribe. You can pay $ 199 for unlimited access to all platform resources for one year, or $ 599 for lifetime access.
9. Squarespace — Best pre-packaged design
squarespace website builder
Squarespace is an American company founded in 2014 with a focus on website design and hosting. It is a SaaS platform that allows users to pre-built website templates using an easy drag-and-drop mechanism to create unique web pages.
Squarespace is a tool that is trusted by thousands of users around the world and has already created over a million websites on the platform. Ready-made templates, drag-and-drop widgets, interactive elements — all this helps users to create responsive web pages. Users are provided with instructions on how to set up search engine optimization and e-commerce. Squarespace competes with WordPress.com and Wix.com as a website building platform. Squarespace was originally created as a blogging service, but then the e-commerce features were expanded. A mobile version was also released and the ability for developers to write their own templates, plugins and features. The platform also integrates with Getty Images and Google Apps for Work. Squarespace became a serious competitor to GoDaddy a few years ago, as it started selling domains, implemented PayPal integration and dashboard.
When registering on the platform, you will be asked to describe the topic of the future site in order to select the appropriate templates and design.
Squarespace template device preview
When you decide on the topic, you will be offered templates that match the description. One of the features that I noticed is the ability to preview the selected template on different devices. That is, even before you started creating a website, you can see how a particular template will adapt to different devices. I think this is an incredibly useful feature, since many now use mobile devices and tablets rather than computers as they used to. This is why ensuring responsive web page design is so important.
Pros:
Suitable for those who know nothing in programming, have no experience with HTML and CSS;
High performance and reliability of your website;
Free domain name when purchasing an annual plan, a small fee when transferring a domain;
Great opportunities for integration with social networks and various payment systems provide unlimited opportunities for online sales;
When registering a domain name, the user gets free WHOIS privacy and SSL cryptographic protocol for a more secure connection;
No Squarespace branding names in paid plans.
Best for:
Squarespace is a great choice for anyone looking for the perfect portfolio site for their work. A visual demonstration with a scrolling display, the carousel will help show your portfolio perfectly. Plus, the tool is great for creating attractive and modern branding for your company. Features such as built-in analytics, e-commerce, SEO tools, and email campaigns help you grow your business through your website. Like its counterparts, the tool may not be suitable for people with little technical confidence. However, Squarespace is a good choice for building a website without much effort.
Pricing:
Squarespace pricing
Speaking about prices, Squarespace provides users with a 2-week free trial period. The most popular plan among users is Business one. On the other hand, it includes charging a 3% transaction fee, no e-commerce analytics and merchandising tools. To have a full and powerful set of tools you have to opt for a basic or advanced commerce license.
10. Website.com — Best free builder
Website is another webpage building tool that I would like to share with you. The platform is one of the industry leaders in creating online pages. The company has a fairly high profile as they invest a lot in advertising. The strategy of the website is to provide every business with the ability to create web pages. This is why they offer completely free services. A free plan includes 500MB storage, free web hosting, 1GB bandwidth, 10 web pages, and some more features. I tested it and found it to be super user-friendly and incredibly functional. The website divides its products into several categories for you to choose from:
website features
As for me, it is incredibly easy to create a website with this tool. You can use the free version, which does not require any fees from. In the first step, you will be prompted to name your site and agree to the policy of use. Next, the amazing world of website creation will open before you.
The first thing you need to decide on is a design template that will allow you to create a fresh, modern website. Next, add any items to your page using drag and drop. These can be widgets, galleries, videos, etc. Discover advanced online store building, customer communication, and booking services. All this you can implement on your website and you don’t need any special skills. The final step is to set up ways to engage your audience. Namely setting up a suitable domain name, SEO.
website as well as all advanced website builders understand the importance of having a responsive web page. That is why choosing this tool you do not need to worry that your clients will have a user-friendly design on all devices. Even if you go to the homepage of the website, you will find many examples of web and mobile versions of the same website.
Pros:
Focuses on eCommerce;
Hundreds of templates to optimize for mobile devices;
Quite simple and straightforward interface;
Tool for selecting a template from a suitable category;
Frequently Asked Questions for Beginners;
A tool to create websites for restaurants;
Translation tools for different languages.
Best for:
This tool is great for business owners (large and small) looking for a way to expand their online presence. The pandemic has shown us that having an online presence for your business is essential in the 21st century. That is why this tool will be relevant for online stores, restaurants and portfolio sites.
Pricing:
website.com pricing
A distinctive feature of the website is the low cost of services. Such incredibly low prices and a powerful arsenal of tools. An incredible coincidence that you can only dream of!
11. Godaddy — Best for simple websites
Godaddy is another great company on my list. It offers many services such as registering a domain name, creating stunning web pages that will represent your brand. In addition, Godaddy has several hosting options: WordPress, Virtual, Dedicated Servers, VPS. Signing up on the site is pretty straightforward and you don’t even need to enter your credit card details for the trial period. You will be asked to enter the name of the company or brand for which you are going to create a website. To determine the best template for editing, you need to select one of the categories to which your site will belong, for example, an online store.
As for the web page builder itself, it is quite simple, but I would not say that I figured it out the first time. It took me a while to understand how to interact with the function bar even though it was intuitively simple and reminded me a bit of Photoshop.
edit website on Godaddy
Another thing I liked was the suggested next steps. This is a great feature for aspiring web designers. Not everyone knows exactly how to promote your website on the Internet. This step-by-step plan will help you drive more visitors to your page.
Godaddy dashboard
Pros:
world’s largest domain name registrar;
monitoring and protection against DDoS attacks;
24/7 support;
refunds within 30 days for some types of subscriptions;
All plans include a free domain;
promises 99.9% uptime;
cPanel for monitoring.
Best for:
GoDaddy’s services are suitable for all users, both experienced and newbies. Budget rates are suitable for people who want a small site to showcase their services on the Internet. However, if you plan to use a CMS such as WordPress, then you may encounter some limitations. You will probably have to spend time configuring cPanel.
Pricing:
GoDaddy pricing
GoDaddy has 4 tariff plans presented on their official website. In addition, there is also a free version with a limited range of features. On the site, you can find a comparative characteristic for all tariffs and decide which one is right for you.
12. Duda — Best for customized solutions
duda website builder
Duda is one of the leading web design platforms providing web design services to small businesses. It was founded in 2009 and grew up to be a professional website builder for creating and selling high-converting websites. This tool is not the most famous among competitors and analogs, however, this does not make it a less professional and reliable solution. Duda is truly a veteran of the website builder industry, having been on the market for over 10 years.
Duda shares the main advantages with the constructors we have already reviewed. The most important mechanism used on the platform is the drag-and-drop function. By dragging and dropping elements around the page, users can freely and easily create responsive and responsive web pages without coding knowledge. The overwhelming majority of reviews for Duda are positive due to its intuitive and smooth interface.
There are several things I enjoyed the most about Duda. First of all, it provides team collaboration tools. It includes a selection builder which allows users to create, save and share selections of websites across the team, it can be your inspo or any draft ideas. Besides, the template function is rather useful, since you can come back to any designs, save your time while creating, and also share it within the team. Secondly, client management tools are also worth noting. Duda provides an instant client feedback tool, white label, so your clients can edit and manage sites under your brand, customized settings, automated content import, comprehensive statistics, and analytics.
analytics in Duda
What I also noted was a good website structure, so before signing up and purchasing a tariff plan users can examine the official webpage and get to know more about Duda opportunities. One thing I want to pay attention to is how they explain the strengths of each of their services, so users exactly understand how implementing Duda solutions will enhance their business.
Pros:
Professional 24/7 support and guidance;
Smart management tools: review tool, client control dashboard, extensive roles & permissions;
Cloud-based hosting, sites are worry-free, auto SSL;
Flexible drag-and-drop editor;
Advanced features such as App Store, widget builder, access to JS, CSS and HTML, rich API;
Superior support in migrating sites to Duda.
Best for:
Duda offers solutions for agencies, SaaS platforms, and hosts with the aim to increase revenue, earn customer loyalty, and boost your brand.
Pricing:
With no credit card required you can opt for a 14-days free trial version to test the Duda website builder. After 14 days are over, you can choose between 4 plans:
Duda tariff plans
What I noticed is that there is a custom plan opportunity that includes all the services by default, but you can set what you really need by contacting a manager. So, it allows users to create their custom plan with all the features they need. Since sometimes are not exactly suitable for all clients. For instance, a plan can lack some vital features but offer ones, a customer will never use.
13. Shopify — Best for eCommerce
Shopify community
Shopify is a platform focused on developing internet solutions for online and retail stores. It is one of the most popular e-commerce solutions around the world. Shopify allows you to easily launch your websites without programming skills, it does not require additional skills, everything is intuitively clear even for inexperienced users. The platform differs in that it focuses on business growth. With Shopify, you can launch your online store and keep it growing effortlessly since the platform provides all the tools you need to do this.
There are several tools except for the website builder that is widely used by Shopify clients. To start with, it is a branding tool, a business name generator in particular. It is a wonderful function, since not everyone understands the importance of the brand name, although it plays a huge role in its recognition. Moreover, Shopify offers domain name generator, search, and registration features. A domain name is another important aspect of e-commerce, because it gives credibility to your business, enhances search optimization, and makes customers remember your brand. Stock photography is another unique feature of Shopify. High-quality images are very important for business websites, however, not all entrepreneurs can afford professional shootings.
The platform focuses specifically on online stores, which is why it offers a large number of e-commerce tools. Email marketing, Facebook ads, sales channels, managing shipping and payments — all this you can do within the one platform. Isn’t it a superpower? Shopify makes building websites for online stores as easy as never before. You can sell your products worldwide regardless of your location. Shopify is a tool you can use to build your brand and make it recognizable.
Pros:
You can focus on your business since Shopify takes responsibility for all technical issues such as hosting, SSL certificate, software updates, etc;
A simple and quick launch of an online store without special skills. Incredibly simple interface and ease of use at every step;
24/7 client support;
Adaptive design, so your online store is accessible within any device. Plus, Shopify has mobile apps for iOS and Android which will allow you to manage your store from your mobile device;
Powerful search engine optimization tools and access to granular analytics to better understand your customer;
Unpaid cart recovery function. Leaving the site without shopping, the client is notified of the items left in the cart. When a customer visits a site again, the basket is saved and is not reset;
Dozens of available payment systems for integration and Shopify’s own Stripe-based one.
Best for:
Many companies still sell their products online, yet there is no doubt that the future lies with e-commerce. Shopify is a great tool for small to medium businesses looking to have an online presence. Imagine how many opportunities are opening up even for the simplest small business!
Price:
Shopify pricing
Tariff plans are slightly more expensive compared to the solutions we have previously reviewed. However, Shopify is a specialized builder for online stores. That is why the price is fully justified due to the powerful possibilities for e-commerce. You also get a 14-day free trial to try out the platform. | https://medium.com/swlh/i-tested-30-website-builders-these-14-are-the-best-for-any-task-7713b6912eae | ['Dmitry Leiko'] | 2021-05-29 11:29:22.658000+00:00 | ['Creators', 'Website Development', 'Website Design', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Business'] |
ZVOX AV50 AccuVoice Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Headphones REVIEW | MacSources | Amazing addition for working at home.
Headphones have become necessary equipment for those who are working and learning from home. Amidst the public health crisis that surrounds us, we must carry on with our lives as best as we can. For most of us, that means working and/or going to school from the comfort of our computer screens. I know in my home alone there are three adults (myself included), a small but very loud dog, and a caged rabbit that bounces to and fro throughout the day. All of these things are classified as “distractions” to daily tasks for my job. Therefore, I’ve found that I have to have a great set of headphones that can not only isolate me from the ambient noises around me, but they also have to be able to perform as a partnering device for video conferencing like Zoom. Fortunately for me, the AV50 Noise Cancelling Headphones from ZVOX came across my desk.
DETAILS
The ZVOX AV50 headphones are designed to provide immersive, realistic, high-fidelity sound. They feature advanced noise cancellation technology that should eliminate ambient noise like air conditioners and even jet engines. Another feature of the AV50s is the AccuVoice technology that helps to boost voices and reduce unwanted noises at the same time. This helps people to understand dialogue without turning up the volume. The headphones come with 3.5mm stereo headphone cable, but users can also take advantage of the aptX Bluetooth technology to connect wirelessly to devices such as a phone, tablet, or computer. The AV50s weigh less than half a pound, which makes them lighter than most headphones in their class. The headphones come with a slim carry case that’s easy to travel with. The AV50 headphones come in four different colors — basic black, deep blue, dark red, or rose gold.
SPECS
Advanced Noise-canceling technology with the use of aptX Bluetooth for high-quality sound — wirelessly.
Light and comfortable. The AV50s are lighter than many noise-canceling headphones — less than half a pound.(230 grams)
A battery that lasts for up to 15 hours in noise-canceling mode using the supplied audio signal cable. The battery lasts for up to 11 hours in noise-canceling mode when the Bluetooth wireless signal connection is used.
A fully-depleted battery typically recharges in 1.5–2 hours. A partially-depleted battery will take less time to recharge.
Frequency range: 15Hz-23kHz, +/-4dB
Bluetooth: Line of sight, greater than 100ft/30 meters. Anything in between can reduce that.
Magnets: Neodymium
USER EXPERIENCE
The headphones came in consumer-ready packaging. What I mean by that is the box could sit on a shelf and could be picked up by a customer and they would know what they are getting. There was quite a bit of information on the box including a photo of the product and a list of main features. I was impressed to find that the headphones came enclosed in a semi-hard shell storage case, which also housed the charging cable and 3.5mm stereo headphone cable. While the case was nothing overly special, I do appreciate it when product designers include them because otherwise, the headphones could easily get damaged and its accessories might be lost in the wind. A case ensures that the headphones are protected and their accessories are never far away.
The AV50s are quite comfortable. They are over-ear style headphones and as such, they do cause a bit of heat collection. The ear cups themselves are a bit smaller than some other over-ear headphones I’ve used, but that didn’t make them uncomfortable for me at all. The ear cups have great cushioning and they are lightweight so I didn’t experience any latent headaches after long-term use. Even though my ears did get a little warm while wearing them, it wasn’t unbearable.
I think what really took me by surprise was how good the sound quality was. I’ve had good luck with ZVOX products in the past, but I was just blown away by how pure everything sounded. The noise cancelling feature works amazingly well. I had it turned on while I was working at my computer. We have a small dog that likes to bark at any potential intruder on our property — even sticks. His high-pitched bark was muffled to barely a yip with the ANC engaged on the headphones. Air conditioner noise and any other air handling ambience was virtually eliminated and I had no problems hearing people when using the headphones to make phone calls.
The AccuVoice feature is outstanding. I don’t personally have a lot of issues hearing dialogue, but I did find that it was much more clear than it typically is with other headphones. My fiancé tried them on (he has high-end hearing loss) and he always has issues hearing spoken words on TV shows. We turned on NCIS, which is usually one of the shows he has the most trouble with. He said it wasn’t perfect, but he was able to hear the dialogue much easier than he usually can with the AV50s on.
CONCLUSION
The ZVOX AV50 headphones are a great option for people who need to work or complete virtual studies from home. Not only are they comfortable and sound great, they work really well as a complement to most video conference programs. The AV50s are moderately priced and they do a great job.
For more information, visit zvox.com, Facebook, and Twitter. | https://medium.com/@macsources/zvox-av50-accuvoice-noise-cancelling-bluetooth-headphones-review-macsources-538c79b2755a | [] | 2020-09-04 18:10:29.469000+00:00 | ['Anc', 'Headphones', 'Zvox'] |
A Summary on the Immortality of Racism | Racism is a vile belief that poisons the mind of those with whom it resides. It is an irrational, immoral and unintelligent ideology. It seeks to destroy the humanity of those for which it takes aim.
Racism is practiced by those who were taught it, sheltered from the realities of life, and weak enough to continue practicing it upon adulthood. It is the ideology of the uneducated, irrational and the individual with a propensity toward hate. Racism is immoral at its very core because it aims to deny the human that which both God and nature bestowed upon them; the sovereignty of individual choice.
Humans, by the laws of God and nature, have the right to make their own choices, as long as those choices don’t infringe on the rights of others. Humans are the sovereign of their own selves. Among other things, this includes both the content of the mind and ability to make choices. Racism, however, claims that a human is not the sovereign of their own self. That, instead, a collective of their ancestors predetermined their future choices, capacity for reason, and even the very content of their mind.
As Ayn Rand said, racism is a primitive form of collectivism. It denies the human their inherent individual characteristics, and replaces it with a predetermined (and often wrong) assumption of the characteristics of a collective. Racism refuses to accept an individual’s humanity by denying them that which separates humans from animals, the capacity for reason. Racism is an immoral and unintelligent ideology. | https://medium.com/@theparadoxofvalue/a-summary-on-the-immortality-of-racism-1824f975eb3d | ['The Paradox Of Value'] | 2020-04-30 17:04:06.947000+00:00 | ['Ethics', 'Morality', 'Philosophy'] |
Heuristic Evaluation — DePaul University Website (Filter Courses) | As a part of one of my graduate course work final project, I was supposed to perform Heuristic Evaluation on an application using Neilson’s 10 principles. I always used to think that performing Heuristic Evaluation must be a very easy task it wasn’t until I myself did it that I found how tedious the process could be. It is very important to study the application for minute details and find flaws within the system.
Photo by Giovanna on Unsplash
I have performed heuristic with the goal to filter courses by certain criteria on the University's website, with severity of the issues I thought the sight might have.
Here it goes…
1. Visibility of system status:
The system should always show the status of an on-going operation to the users until it is done. So, the user will get a clear understanding of the progress of that particular process/activity. Never create a situation where the user is completely confused over certain progress of the process/activity.
The Filter for college and Academic level takes time to get selected even after clicking on the select icon multiple times, it doesn’t get selected immediately if the selection is to be removed, again it takes time to do that, or even while reloading the page (depicted in figure 1 & 2). This can be quite frustrating for the user while filtering programs.
Fig 1. Filter takes time to get selected
Fig 2. Filter gets unselected after a while
Severity : 2
2. Match Between System and The Real World:
Is there something on your application that a user may not understand? This is very common to miss since we get associated with the product for over a period. It’s also important for the application to speak the language of the target user base.
The website does make use of terms like “undergraduate, graduate, programs, courses, academics” which the user can relate with to the real world and can be easily understood by any kind of user novice or a pro. (depicted in figure 3)
Figure 3: Terms used on the website
Severity: 0
3. User Control and Freedom:
This principle talks about giving the user the freedom to navigate and perform actions. The freedom to undo any accidental actions.
The website allows user to select multiple filters and apply them be it program selection or course selection. There are multiple criteria that the user can select depending on the course or program they wish to filter. (depicted in figure 4)
Figure 4. List of Courses with filters
Severity: 0
4. Consistency and Standards:
Consistency is the key. The way the interface is organized and how elements are presented is consistent across the site, irrespective of which device is being used to access it.
When selecting the academic catalog and going to academic programs there is a menu bar present at the top of the screen that helps in navigation. The same tab is also available throughout the website but if I go to the Filter courses page the tab isn’t available. After selecting the course tab, I remember having difficulty navigating back. Plus, this can be major issue for user while navigating. (Depicted in figures 5 and 6)
Fig 5. List of programs with navigation bar
Fig 6. No navigation bar is present at top
Severity: 3
5.Error Prevention:
Users are humans. Humans tend to do mistakes. So, we should always keep an eye to avoid those possible mistakes by giving appropriate suggestions and notifications when needed.
There isn’t any kind of major error that occurs since the process is to filter courses on different criteria. There isn’t any form that requires to fill any important data that may cause some issue. User just has to select criteria. There is a tab to enter keywords, but it is not important. (Depicted in figure 7)
Figure 7. Course Filters
Severity: 0
6. Recognition Rather Than Recall:
The application should minimize user’s memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable.
When going through the list of all programs (from academics tab) the user can search program in the search tab, when I tried entering a few words it prompted me the courses that would match. The only issue with this is that no past searches are saved. (Depicted in figure 8)
Figure 8. Search bar
Severity: 1
7. Flexibility and Efficiency of Use:
The interface should be flexible transforming itself between a novice user and an advanced user.
From the contextual enquiries that I have conducted in past and my personal experience from when I started using the application, the website for DePaul university and the course filtration process is easy to use for the new and old users alike. There is one issue I had was that there are two windows tabs for filtering programs one shows is available on the home page and other under academic catalog, one has list view and the other one shows tiles. It could really help users if there was only single page to search for programs. (Depicted in figure 9, 10)
Figure 9. Tile view of programs (from academic catalog)
Fig 10. List of programs (academics tab)
Severity: 1
8. Aesthetic and Minimalist Design:
Minimalist design is about making sure that everything presented to the user is necessary and useful. Important things can easily get lost if they are surrounded by clutter, so it is very important to keep things simple. Aesthetic considerations are where visual designs coming into play, but functions should always come ahead of form.
The system over all has a very well arranged and minimalistic design, the issue is just that some filters have a smaller font and certain tabs arranged are also smaller it would be great if the tabs and font would be large. Apart from these the site has a pretty decent design overall. (Depicted in figure 11)
Figure 11. Font of the filters for course
Severity: 1
9. Help Users Recognize, Diagnose, And Recover From Errors:
Sometimes errors are unavoidable. In those situations, you should design the system in such a way that users can easily see what happened and find a solution. Language is one key here. It is an opportunity to communicate with your user. Also, an opportunity to guide the user towards the solution, give tips for solving the error.
As I mentioned earlier, since the courses are being filtered by criteria that the user has to select from the dropdown menu and there aren’t any forms to be filled and hence there aren’t any errors or error messages displayed. Just one problem with the search bar that is present on the programs page. If user misspells any program name it just displays “your search didn’t match any results” and this can be frustrating to students. (Depicted in figure 12)
Figure 12. Search bar no result found
Severity: 1
10. Help and Documentation:
Ideally, all systems would run without the need for the help but that’s not realistic. When help and instructions are needed, they should be accessible, understandable and accurate.
The website has a request info tab on the academic program page that lets user request information on the course. There are links for contacting support as per requirements, different links for graduate, undergraduate information. All the information is given out in a very good manner. (Fig 13, 14)
Figure 13: Request Info
Figure 14: Categories to request info for
Severity: 2 | https://medium.com/@siddhi-naik18/heuristic-evaluation-depaul-university-website-filter-courses-60d1ebe3561a | ['Siddhi Naik'] | 2020-12-23 18:31:05.838000+00:00 | ['User Research', 'Heuristic Evaluation', 'User Experience Research'] |
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