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How to use Notion Note-taking Application for Research — One Zero Blog | Why Notion?
Recently, I have started using a beautiful app called Notion. Yes, you guessed it, this is a note-taking app and I really like the flexibility this application offers. From the past 3 years, I have been an Evernote user but I did not like the rigid folder structure where one could only able to create a sub-level notebook. I believe Evernote is still good for many users because it is mature and well developed but the Notion application is one step ahead of every other competitor.
I am a Transportation System Engineering Ph.D. student at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (Department of Civil Engineering). I work in the field of pedestrian safety. Those who are in the academic field definitely knew about the headache of managing literature. If your literature is not well managed it could cause a big headache during article or thesis write-up.
Now, in the era of digital note-taking, there are plenty of candidate apps you could find on the internet. I recently started using Notion for managing my research work. So let me demonstrate how you could also manage your literature/research smoothly.
This is my Notion Home Page.
My Notion’s Home Page
Note: Notion is free for students and educators. You just need to sign-up using an academic email address.
Creating a New Page
Let’s start with the Notion. Everything in Notion is a block even if it is a text or image. There is no drop-down menu but you could call the menu using a forward slash “/”. For creating a new page just select page from the forward-slash menu and it will create a blank page.
Forward Slash “/” Menu
This is an example of a blank page, where you could add a meaningful title, an icon or a cover.
Empty Page
Creating an Inline Table
Once you create a page, you can create a table by calling table inline using the forward-slash “/”. The table contains a name, tags and files field by default. Here is a gif of how to create an inline table.
Generating an Inline Table
You could add more field based on your requirement. It could be text, number, select/multi-select option, date, person, files and many more.
Column Type Selection Menu
Here you can see, I have customized my master literature table. You could add as many as rows or columns you want as per your requirement.
Master Literature Table
One thing to note that in the first column “Article Title”, each row contains a notion page which you can open to write about the literature review in detail. You could include study objective, location of the study, primary findings and many more.
Opening Article 1 for Detailed Review Write-up
Here you can see I have opened the Article 1 as separate page for further editing.
Article 1. Full page view
Next, you can edit the page in more detail for detailed record keeping. Here, you can see I have added details about the study location, Model used and Outcomes.
Article 1 page’s body
Creating a Linked Database
One of the best features of Notion is that you can create sub-table using linked database feature. For example, I have created a master literature table and tagged each journal with meaningful keywords (see the above figure’s Tags column). I could call this table from any new page and filter out the table articles based on keywords/tags.
Say, you planned to write an article regarding worldwide road accidents statistics. Earlier, during the literature review, you had tagged all your accident-related articles (read) in the master literature table. So, rather skimming through your 100 of literature you entered in the master literature table. You could create a new page in Notion and call your master literature table there and filter out articles based on your keywords/tags. In this way, one could create separate study tables on different pages using a linked database.
The obvious question would be why not filtering and reading out from our master literature table. This could be one option but very traditional. By using old fashioned tricks you could not leverage the potential of linked database.
The main advantage of having a linked database table inside a new page is that once you start reading more papers and start updating your master literature table, your linked database also automatically update itself if you tag it with specific keywords.
For example, say in future I start reading more accident-related literature and added them to my master literature table with accident keyword, then it would also reflect inside other pages where I have linked that master literature table with accident filter. Isn’t it awesome?
Here, I have added a small video clip to illustrate, how you could create a linked database.
Creating a Linked Database
For demonstration purpose, I have created two linked database page. One for New Reads and another for Pedestrian Accidents Stats.
Pages with Linked Database
Let’s open the accidents stats linked database table, see below Table (a). You can see, there is an arrow on the top left side, indicating that the table is linked to the original literature table using a linked database feature. Now, if I add another article to my master literature table with “accident” tag then this article will appear to Pedestrian Accident stats table too and vice-versa.
Table (a). Accident Stats Linked Database
Table (b). New Reads (future read) Linked Database
Note: You can create a linked database based on any column. Here in my case I can create a linked database based on journal priority type, say only five stars journals (most important reads).
Lined Database based on Priority Filtering (Five Start Journals Only)
Code Embedding
The next feature that I like the most is code embedding. Notion supports code embedding for a significant number of programming languages. As a researcher, I have to develop plots and models using R and Python. So, this feature helps me manage and search embedded codes.
To add code just call the forward-slash “/” menu and type code. This will create an empty code block.
Calling code block
Empty code block (R default in my case)
To change it to another language, just click the bottom right side arrow. This will pop up options for different languages.
Here you can see popular languages like R, Python, Ruby and PHP.
In the figure below I have presented an example of R code embedded inside notion’s block.
R programming GGPLOT code
Here is a video from Notion’s YouTube channel on advanced features. Here you could learn about
Database
Database views
Adding content to databases with templates
Connecting databases with relation & rollup
Linking Databases to create advance dashboards
There are plenty of features available in the Notion that would make your research work smooth and hassle-free.
Notion offers:
Ready to use templates
Table of content
To-do list
Numbered and toggled list
Quote
Callout (for highlight or message)
Link to page (linking one page to another)
Reminder
Emoji
Inline Equation
Different table view (Board, Gallery, List and Calendar)
Audio, image and video upload
Web-bookmark
Embedding (Pdfs, Google map, Google drive, Tweet, Github Gist and many more)
Math equation (like latex)
Mentioning page inside a write-up
Here, I have shown only two major features i.e., the linked database and code embedding that I personally enjoy most. You could explore more watching Notion for beginners YouTube videos.
I hope this would help.
* Read more by visiting my personal blog website: https://onezero.blog/
If you learned something new and liked this article, say 👋 / follow on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, or Github. | https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-use-notion-for-research-6003ed8cc07b | ['Rahul Raoniar'] | 2020-09-19 16:15:13.209000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Productivity', 'Research', 'Notion', 'Notetaking'] |
Create Your Own Smart Home With A Few Basics | Imagine that you come back home after a long day and as you approach your drive way the light turns on before you get in, your favorite music plays on the smart speaker, Air conditioner gets started. Other than this, when you get in the house with one click from your mobile phone, dinner starts to prepare in the oven, and you sit back and relax while it gets cooked. If you picture all this, it would definitely feel really good and relaxing. its sounds like something magical that cannot be actually done. But bringing this scenario to reality is not a problem now specifically in Atlanta through RMS Installs Smart Home Integration.
This facility can be now started at an affordable cost while providing a relaxed and easy future. Creating a smart home is not affordable but also as easy as it sounds to be. It basically depends on how advanced and innovative smart home you want. To make it easy, the only things that you will be priory require include, firstly a good WIFI connection which is consistent and secondly either a mobile phone, a tablet and a computer or laptop, but these devices shall be smart speaker enabled so that the message to the connected home device is be conveyed and also received easily. Other than this, to bring all this into practice you will have to download the relevant apps on your mobile phone and then connect the smart device to your home network. Sometimes it happens that there is a trouble shoot and the connection or the message between the product and your mobile phone is not much strong and is interrupted. There happen to be several smart assistants which are namely, Alexa, google assistant, Siri and a lot more. These are termed as the central hub of a smart home which make tasks for people a lot more easier than they are. Some of these assistants are not built in the mobile phone but one can always buy a smart speaker which has these assistants built-in. these can be easily activated through voice command. It not mandatory to get a smart device but they are of extreme benefit, as they make the tasks a lot relaxed and easy.
Once you start using these assistants, you can later make your own voice commands such as, if you only give the voice command “now it’s movie time” the assistant will itself turn on the television and speakers and turn off the lights and then play the movie. Amongst these assistants, Amazon Alexa and google assistant dominate and the most known and used connected devices. These basically provide the user with freedom to have control over various smart products from different speakers. This facility is not available in SIRI because it can only be connected with apple devices such as iPhone, iPad, apple TV, mac book etc. to make life more easy the technicians are now adding these assistants to various other devices as well such as, a normal remote now can have a microphone and a built in assistant so that you can control things from your handy remote. For this an example can be that tell the assistant to give you a live feed from your home door’s security camera on the television. In the future these facilities will not be only limited to home but will also be installed in the cars. Another benefit that comes along is that the price won’t effect the quality of the built in system but there will be some effect on the voice or sound quality. For more information contact RMS installs. | https://medium.com/@rmsinstalls/create-your-own-smart-home-with-a-few-basics-d1613431ad9f | ['Rms Installs'] | 2019-09-16 13:17:56.850000+00:00 | ['Installation', 'Smart Home', 'Home', 'Doorbell', 'Thermostat Installation'] |
10 Best Vitamins for Digestion Problems : Vitamin A, Vitamin B & Vitamin D | Digestive system is one of the most important organs of the body and your body needs vitamins to function well and digestive system is also not an exception. However, there are some vitamins that are more crucial for digestion than the other part. You can supply vital vitamins for the digestive system by eating a proper and balanced diet. In this article, VKool.com will show you top 10 best vitamins for digestion problems and hope that you will get the comprehensive information and balance the diet to obtain vitamins for healthier digestion.
Top 10 Best Vitamins For Digestion Problems You Should Know
1. Vitamin B-1
Vitamin B-1 or thiamine is a crucial vitamin that can increase your energy. This vitamin will provide you the tissues to improve the digestion and it strengthens the immune system to keep the body healthy and prevent the digestive diseases. Getting vitamin B-1, you will improve appetite, produce energy, improve cardiovascular functions, and enhance your brain function. You can eat vitamin B1-rich foods such as rice, organ meats, pork, grain foods.
2. Vitamin B-3
Vitamin B-3 or niacin is one of the best vitamins for digestion problems and according to the University of Maryland Medical Center, like vitamin B-1, B-3 can support the digestive system in getting fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. Additionally, vitamin B-3 adjusts the hormones level and help you prevent the imbalances of the hormone in the body. Peanuts, brewers yeast, beets are good sources of vitamin B-3. Added to, vitamin B-3 can help reduce heart diseases, reduce bad cholesterol, elevate good cholesterol level and decrease the risks of diabetes, osteoarthritis, cataracts, and Alzheimer’s disease. | https://medium.com/@buttler377/10-best-vitamins-for-digestion-problems-vitamin-a-vitamin-b-vitamin-d-9598ccf8e88e | ['Jos Buttler'] | 2019-11-21 06:39:22.334000+00:00 | ['Healthcare', 'Health Recipe', 'Vitamin', 'Health', 'Health Foods'] |
How to Get Started with AdMob for iOS; Tips and Best Practices | Before We Get Started
AdMob is an advertisement platform made by Google as an extension of AdSense to allow app developers to make earnings with easy to implement in-app ads.
In this post, I will go over how to add ads to your iOS app, type of ads you can implement, and some best practices that I’ve came across while adding ads to my apps.
But before we get started into the technicals, let’s tackle the elephant in the room. No one likes ads. Even developers don’t like to add ads in their apps like everyone else, and we would rather have free apps with no ads. But us developer have to make money for the hard work we put in to make those amazing apps we give to others for free. Each app cost something, whether that was the membership fees you pay for Apple yearly, or the cost of your website hosting. There are some ways where you can still serve ads, but your app will still look elegant and clean without having to make huge sacrifices.
Signing Up
Now, let’s get started by first setting up your AdMob account. Head to https://admob.google.com/and login with your Gmail account. Click Sign up, and continue. As you will see in the sign up process (see screenshot below), you will need to provide you country, time zone, and the billing currency, approve the terms and conditions, and click continue. See the screenshot below for a references.
TIP: If you have ad blockers installed in your browser you will need to turn those off before you can sign up or view the AdMob page. A good idea for the future is to whitelist that url above so you don’t have to turn on/off your ad blocker every time you visit this website.
Then you will need to verify your account with a verification email sent to you, a valid phone number, and then you should be all set to get started.
Adding Your App
Once you finish the sign up process, you will land on the AdMob dashboard where you can add your first app. This screenshot below is from my personal account, and while yours might look a bit different, you can still follow the same directions.
From the side menu, click on Apps, then select ADD APP,
Then you will be asked if your app is already published or not.
If you select NO, then you will have to enter the App name, and which platform it will be on.
But if you have already published your app, then you can search for it in the search box provided, which supports searching both, the App Store and the Play Store.
Here is an example of searching for an app called filters. You will notice that the search results are for both iOS and Android, so make sure to find your app and not someone’s else app. Click ADD to proceed.
TIP: you can search based on the developer name instead of the app name, which will make it easier to find all your published apps in the App Store or Play Store.
Once you click ADD, you will get the following screen. The most important piece in this screen is your App ID. This will be used when you add the code to initialize the SDK into your app, so before we proceed make sure you copy that and save it somewhere. But don’t worry, you can find it later if needed by going to the APPS section from the side menu and clicking VIEW ALL APPS.
While you’re still on that screen above, and you have saved that App ID, click on NEXT: CREATE AD UNIT. If you clicked on I’LL DO IT LATER don’t worry, Go to the APPS section from the side menu, select your app and click ADD AD UNIT like in the screenshot below.
Creating Your First Ad Unit
After clicking ADD AD UNIT, you will see the following screen. And while it might look overwhelming, each ad will have very similar setup and coding requirements so once you setup one you can setup a different type easily.
1- Banner: This is the most popular ad unit that you see in almost all apps with ads, it is a rectangular ads that you can place anywhere you want in your app. The format of this ad is usually either a text, a photo, or rich media.
2- Interstitial: This is a full-screen ad that is designed to appear after the user completes a certain task, or when transitioning between pages. The format of this ad is usually a video or animated photo, but it can have still image or sometimes just texts.
3- Rewarded: Similar to full-screen ads, this type of ad allows the user to interact with the ad before you can dismiss it in order to achieve or unlock something. This is very common in mobile games.
4- Native Advanced: This type of ad allows you to customize the ad unit to match your app content. For example, if you have a new app displayed in a tableView style you can match the style of this ad to blend in with your cells.
5- App Open: This ad unit will appear to the user once they open your app, or when they come back to it. This ad format is new and still in beta, so you might experience some issues or instability if you decided to use it.
TIP: I would highly recommend starting with a Banner type. Its the most simple one you can add to your app without cluttering the interface or annoying your users. I find that the full-screen ads, like Interstitial and Rewarded are the most annoying to the user especially if they’re in the middle of performing a task or about to do something important. Therefore, I recommend starting with a Banner and then evaluate your revenue and go from there.
In this post, I will be creating a new Banner ad by clicking on SELECT underneath the Banner box (#1 in the above screenshot).
1- Ad Format: This is the type of ad you have chosen in the previous step. In this case, it is the Banner ad.
2- Ad unit name: You can name your ad whatever you want. I would recommend naming it something related to the type. For example, bannerOnMainView.
Advanced Settings: These advanced settings are hidden by default, once you expand this section you will see options 3–5. Note that this section is optional and you don’t have to fill it out.
3- Ad type: You can choose the type of ad you want to be displayed for your banner. By default, all the types are selected, but you can disable the ones that you don’t want. For example, if you app is heavy on text, you might not want to distract the user with a video or a rich content and you would rather display text-only ads.
TIP: It is best to leave all ad types selected to gain more potentially. If Google can’t find the specific type of ad you have selected then no ads will be served at all and your users will see an empty space instead.
4- Automatic refresh: By default this is set to “Google optimized”, which means that Google will figure out when to refresh the ad and display a new one. If you want, you can set this to the number of seconds you want the ad to refresh, but keep in mind the minimum is 30 seconds. Also you can choose to display refreshing ads all together.
5- eCPM Floor: Per Google, this value defines the minimum eCPM that Google needs to meet in order to serve an ad on your app. It is better to leave this disabled because setting high numbers means less fill rate for your ad, which means less revenue.
Once you’re done filling all that info slam that CREATE AD UNIT button, and you will be taken to the following screen below.
Implementation
Now that you have created your first ad in AdMob it is time to add the AdMob SDK into your app, and implement that banner to show up.
TIP: In the screenshot above you will notice that step 1 has the app ID that you got when you first created your app in the first step of this tutorial. But don’t get that mixed up with the other ID in step 2, this one is for the banner ads that you have just created.
Step 1 — Adding the SDK: The first thing you have to do now is to add the AdMob SDK into your app. Google’s documentation (here) provides a very detailed step-by-step instructions on how to do that. You can add the SDK either by using Cocoapods, or manually, but I highly recommend going with Cocoapods especially if you are already using other third-party libraries that uses it. Unfortunately, Google’s AdMob doesn’t support Carthage or Swift Package Manger yet.
Step 2 — Implementing the Ad: After you have completed step 1, you can now implement the banner you just created. Use the ID you got when you created the banner as shown in the screenshot above. As mentioned earlier, Google’s documentation (here) is very detailed and easy to follow, and you can get this done within few minutes if you are looking to add a simple banner to your app.
TIP: I highly recommend reading both documents thoroughly to ensure that you follow all the rules and guidelines of AdMob. Failure to adhere to those guidelines might results in account termination. TIP: Google recommend using a test ad ID to test with before you add the real ad ID that was generated for your ad (see point 2 in the screenshot above). That being said, make sure you don’t go live with this ID since your ad will not display any ads. I’ve done that before.
Payments
Now that you have done with creating the ad, setting up the SDK, and possibly pushing your app to the App Store as well (see my post: App Submission Checklist), you might wonder how are you going to get paid?
Well, there is a section on AdMob specifically for that, located on the side menu to the left where you can manage your payments, setup your bank account info, and other details. See screenshot below.
One you need to do for sure before you can actually get paid is adding your tax information. If you are living in the United States, you will need to enter your full legal name, your full social security number, address, and phone number. This is required by law and there is no way around it. To do so, go to MANAGE SETTINGS (see the arrow in the screenshot above), then scroll down to the Payments profile section, and provide your details there.
As you see in the screenshot above, Google sets a payment threshold of $100. So basically you won’t be paid anything till you total revenue reaches a $100. Currently, I’m at $77, and trust me, it takes a while till your reach $100 unless you have this viral app with a lot of active users.
Conclusion
The goal of this tutorial is to get you started with AdMob. There are many other 3rd-party ad-serving companies that you might be able generate more revenue from, but in my opinion I trust Google the most with my private information.
AdMob is a huge advertising platform, and it provides many great features, one of which is Reporting, which gives you a lot of detailed information on how your ad is doing and how much you’ve gained.
I hope you found this tutorial detailed enough to get you started. If you have any questions, comments, or thoughts please leave a comment below.
Thanks! -Kais | https://kaiusee.medium.com/how-to-get-started-with-admob-for-ios-tips-and-best-practices-87c7f1316406 | ['Kais K.'] | 2020-10-23 14:26:35.973000+00:00 | ['iOS App Development', 'Swift', 'iOS', 'Google Ads', 'Admob'] |
Crypto Emporium – The Innovative Cryptocurrency-Powered E-Commerce Platform | You have been looking for a way to spend your cryptocurrencies, all to no avail. Unlike the hay days when you could pay for food like the popular Bitcoin investor that bought pizza with Bitcoin; the same isn’t readily available now.
There is a higher demand for cryptocurrency-backed payments in retail stores and different sectors of the global economy. It is this clamour that can increase the use cases of cryptocurrencies because more people will be willing to use their cryptocurrencies to pay for real-world products and services.
The E-Commerce Industry
If there is an industry that can enjoy more patronage of cryptocurrency payments, it has to be the Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce) industry.
Considering how comfortable people are to pay for products and services over the Internet, it isn’t surprising that cryptocurrencies are one of the most sought-after payment systems in that industry.
Besides, integrating cryptocurrency payments will now open up more frontiers for cryptocurrency investors and e-commerce merchants to facilitate their transactions with ease.
That is exactly what the Crypto Emporium intends to achieve. This is poised to be the first platform that will allow you to pay for products and services using select digital assets like cryptocurrencies and Alternative Coins (Altcoins).
Here are some of the unique advantages the Crypto Emporium has over the other platforms that promise to make cryptocurrency payments for products and services easier:
1. Rewards for Buying Activities
The first benefit you will derive from using this platform is that you will be rewarded for purchasing products from the platform.
The idea is to provide cash back for buyers to earn rewards and be incentivized for buying products and services from the platform.
It will also interest you to know that the cashback offer here is meant to achieve two purposes. The first is to reward the buyers, while the second is to create an opportunity for other potential buyers to be interested in buying products from the emporium so they can contribute to the growth of the platform.
2. Pay for Luxury Items
The other time, it was a pizza that was purchased with Bitcoin.
However, the tide has turned now, because you can now conveniently pay for a variety of products on Crypto Emporium.
The idea is that you can pay for different products ranging from electronics like laptops to devices like smartphones and iPhones.
Also, you can purchase other luxury items like motorbikes, massagers, cars and yachts. You can also buy other products, such as handheld camera, the Ledger Nano X Cryptocurrency hardware (offline) wallet, tablets, wristwatches, and properties.
3. Community Governance
Crypto Emporium is committed to dominating the cryptocurrency commerce industry where it wants to be the formidable platform that makes it easier and more flexible for potential buyers to purchase products with their crypto assets.
To that end, the platform has entrusted more of the governance structure to the users so they can come up with policies that will not only benefit them but will also increase the fortunes of the broader Crypto Emporium ecosystem.
Conclusion
If you have been looking for where to spend your crypto assets (especially to buy products), Crypto Emporium is the platform you must rely on.
Information HuB
Website https://cryptoemporium.eu/
Medium https://medium.com/@cryptoemporiumeu
Twitter https://twitter.com/CryptoEmporium_
Github https://github.com/Emporium-Finance
Facebook http://facebook.com/cryptoemporium
Authored by Opeku
BTT URL https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2282743
ETH WALLET ADDRESS: 0x92cA25Ee1E7eCA348561596A2DF03523FF012E0b | https://medium.com/@nanayaamavis14/crypto-emporium-the-innovative-cryptocurrency-powered-e-commerce-platform-6c3fd3adb984 | ['Nanayaa Mavis'] | 2020-12-03 02:25:30.262000+00:00 | ['Universe', 'Ethereum', 'Blockchain', 'Exchange', 'Altcoins'] |
How removing the word ‘busy’ lead to more meaningful conversations. | Five mindset shifts that helped with more authentic responses and less ‘busy’:
Creating an alternate response by being specific about what you’ve spent your time doing.
Busy is generic. It doesn’t describe or explain anything anyway, so try specifically mentioning a few activities or areas you’ve been focusing on. “I’ve been good — currently enjoying reading, pottering around the house, working on a new strategy at work and trying to do yoga twice a week”. This requires a pause as you consider a response, but with practice becomes simple.
An added bonus of the specific response is it opens the conversation up wider. You may find a common interest, experience or lead onto another topic when ‘busy’ often shuts conversation down.
2. Applying honesty in how we decline invitations to spend our time.
Instead of saying ‘ we’re too busy’ to go to an event, could we respond with ‘ I am in much need of a night home alone relaxing so I can’t attend’? By giving ourselves permission to be more open about what we need, hopefully it gives others permission to do the same. Adopting new language demonstrates via actions and leads others to do the same by example. Bonus, no more ‘fake busy’ when you’re really recharging at home.
3. Change your mindset to how you spend your time.
Analyse any TV commercial break and you’ll see over scheduled-ness being blamed as the catalyst for many of lifes challenges. The word ‘ busy’ is ingrained in many aspects of society, embraced by the workplace and associated with familial life. Smartphones and constant pings don’t ease the perception of busy-ness either. It can feel like we are extremely busy. However, we are in control of how we spend a large portion of our time. Shifting our mindset to being the designers of our schedule instead of the receivers can change how we view our calendars. Take control back and re-shuffle your time to be spent on what matters most.
4. Be realistic in what you can do and apply some self-compassion.
Identify what is truly important to you, bin the rest. It’s unrealistic to expect high performance in every area in your life. Being realistic in the important areas can help release some of the expectations and perfectionism we place on ourselves. Easier said than done but once applied, this can be extremely freeing. What activities ground you? What are must-dos? How much time you really spend commuting, working, cleaning, worrying and scrolling on Facebook?
Develop a clear view of how you spend your time and tweak accordingly if you feel out of balance in a certain area. Pay close attention to how you use your free time and identify when you need to rest, recoup, play or refill your cup. Hopefully, then you’ll feel less busy and less inclined to use that word to reference how you have been. Applying self-compassion and empathy towards yourself for this is crucial.
5. Listen generously when the other is talking
Generous listening seems like a simple act but when in the moment of an interaction that starts with ‘I’m so busy’ it can seem like a race to the end of the conversation. Listen between the lines, can you pick up on experiences subtly mentioned? If you’re applying openness and intention to how we response to others, we can hope to receive the same back. | https://medium.com/@becthexton/how-removing-the-word-busy-lead-to-more-meaningful-conversations-6f6afe0998b3 | ['Bec Thexton'] | 2021-08-21 23:24:03.669000+00:00 | ['Words Matter', 'Attention', 'Productivity', 'Awareness', 'Conversations'] |
The Rise of Avatarism | The next decade is going to be wild, and weird. The wave of disruption sweeping over our society from the Big Bang-like creation of the Internet seems to only be accelerating, and many long dreamed-of technologies such as AI, AR, VR, decentralized trust, and biological augmentation seem to be on the cusp of delivering seismic shocks to our institutions, cultures, and even what it means to be human.
These changes will come to be seen as the catalysts for the arrival of second-wave liberalism. Much like the first Enlightenment, we should expect the second one to be tumultuous, confusing, and at times, scary. Many will find themselves in a world they no longer recognize, much like those who were terrified as the old order of the church and aristocracy crumbled around them and the great chain of being unraveled.
One thread which will emerge in this new tapestry of ideas is the largely liberal movement of avatarism. Much like the printing press was a technological prerequisite for endowed rights like freedom of speech to become recognized and secured, the rights which avatarism will seek to secure will gain universal relevance with the arrival of virtual and augmented reality visors (described below.)
Before reading further, note that some of the possible implications of avatarism may be surprising, offensive, or downright revolting. This article isn’t meant to be an endorsement of avatarism, but a map to help you better see the terrain ahead. Avatarism will upset large parts of the social order. Some will embrace it, but many will resist it as a threat to their entire worldview. Frankly, I am not sure where I personally land on most of the questions it raises. Like you, my opinions will solidify as these issues become more relevant to my own life and the lives of those I care about.
Avatarism, like all -isms, isn’t a single belief but a constellation of interconnected beliefs that share a few common roots. There will be tacit supporters, moderates, and even extremists in this movement. Here, I will attempt to predict what the various flavors of avatarism and their adherents might look like.
But first, I’ll sketch out the core of what avatarism is, and then describe how it will emerge, catalyze, and come to permeate much of our discourse.
What is Avatarism?
Avatarism is a movement to recognize and protect the fundamental human right of freedom of form. Like freedom of speech, freedom of form is a claim on an endowed right to free expression. And like the right to bear arms, it is a right which will suddenly gain relevancy after specific technological breakthroughs.
Specifically, freedom of form is the right to choose the form in which you are seen by others.
This is a rather strange concept to imagine in general, nevermind one which will one day be seen as important enough to codify as a universal human right. What does it even mean? Despite the temptation to seek out good analogies, most analogies fall short.
Other than rare practices like full body modification or costumes, people typically do not attempt to radically change or replace their physical form. Many go their entire lives without even considering it. And for those who do, they’ll make such changes a small number of times, usually retaining much of their prior form out of necessity (such as when changing their gender presentation.)
Body modification enthusiasts are rare given the immense personal costs of permanently altering your physical form. Soon, taking on these kinds of forms will be less life-altering than changing clothes. (Credit: HuffPost)
Soon our physical form will become subservient to one or more virtualized ones. Fully controlling how we are seen by others will become more accessible, frequent, common, and culturally accepted, and be less like a radical, life-altering event, and much closer to how we think of changing our clothes today.
What are the consequences of our freedom of form in a world where it’s easy to change it?
Perhaps one day if a person claims they are not a cat, and, against their wishes, you continue to interact with them as a cat, it will be seen as a violation of their rights.
Weird, huh?
How Avatarism will emerge
If this movement emerges, it won’t materialize out of nothing.
Avatarism will emerge from:
Groups of people benefiting from virtualized avatars,
Who are harmed by oppressive power structures which inhibit their ability to be seen how they wish,
That will cause them to demand recognition and protection of their freedom of form,
Along with catalysts and network effects which will lead these concerns to expand to all of us.
It turns out, this all now seems evident, for reasons described next. And so, avatarism seems certain to emerge and grow into a universally recognized, coherent movement.
Pre-adopters
Today, many are benefiting from virtualized avatars or by completely overriding their physical forms. Avatar chat apps and online games have allowed millions to embody avatars. In my own work, I’ve directly observed the benefits of avatar-based representation, seeing it reduce social anxiety and help people construct entire social lives they otherwise would have not had. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many turned to using avatars to offset “Zoom fatigue.” Gaming literacy, which fosters the normalization of avatars, will eventually be as common as reading literacy.
Meanwhile, phone-based augmented reality is taking off, letting people experiment with fully overriding how they appear to others. Snapchat filters, AR-generated clothing, and celebrity deepfakes are getting more and more sophisticated and accessible to your average person. Phone AR provides a literal and figurative window into the future.
Phone AR avatars give us a glimpse of what is to come. (Credit: Road to VR)
All of these point to a wider trend of virtualized, avatar-based representations becoming widely accepted and embraced.
Motives for the avatarist movement
Most of these developments are happening organically and, for the most part, are not yet being directed towards reshaping society around the goals of avatarism. However, we can start to see the early conflicts that will seed the demand for a unified movement for protections around freedom of form.
There are large differences between the avatar chat applications available today in the degree they empower or constrain avatar representations. Some, like Mozilla Hubs or VRChat, allow the use of any humanoid avatar the user can create themselves. Many others constrain avatar choices to photo-realistic or semi-realistic humanoids, intended to reflect a person’s physical appearance. And some, like Jel, constrain choices to extremely abstract avatars, which allows expressiveness while not pressuring people to embody avatars which mirror their physical appearance.
Avatar chat apps can impose constraints or assumptions around what avatar choices we ought to make.
Power over representation is already being distributed unevenly in these various environments: sometimes the centralized platform owners exhibit immense power over individuals’ choices, and sometimes individuals exert power over other individuals in how they are seen. So far, there doesn’t seem to be any unifying movement to advocate for restraining these power structures in accordance with protecting our freedom of form, though some holistic frameworks for XR ethics have been proposed that touch on these concerns.
Everything unfolding currently affects a relatively a small number of people in tightly bounded contexts. Lives are not yet being widely damaged through violations of freedom of form. But if the status quo of existing avatar systems and their embedded power structures were magnified to envelope all human affairs, similar to how social media has magnified to a global phenomenon over the last decade or two, there would be widespread demand for a coherent movement to protect the right to choose how we appear to others. That movement is avatarism.
Catalysts for global reach
Before the avatarism movement will coalesce, avatars must first become understood as being as relevant in our lives as our physical form. To get there, one or more catalyzing events must occur. These events will be defined by one key characteristic: they will radically expand the contexts where avatars can be used in lieu of our physical form.
For most people today, avatars are secondary forms, subservient to our primary physical form which is felt to be our “real” self. Avatars are typically used exclusively online, in social media or in games. In-person interactions, professional spaces, or other “third places” have the norm of appearing as our “real”, physical form.
This is going to change soon, with the arrival of devices which unlock a capability I refer to as full photonic override. Specifically, we will soon have augmented and virtual reality devices (likely in the form of hybrid, pass-through camera over-the-eye visors or goggles) which will allow software to fully control everything we see while incorporating the outside world. A glimpse of the potential of full override can be seen with Phone AR, which fully allows software to modify, remove, or replace what is seen by the camera. Imagine two such cameras on the front of a pair of opaque goggles, which feed themselves into screens on the inside, and you have the general idea of a passthrough, hybrid visor.
Apple’s rumored VR/AR hybrid headset may be more magical and disruptive than this sketch alludes to. (Credit: The Information)
Passthrough visors will take us a step further beyond phone AR by covering our entire field of view and hence will allow software to have full control over all of our visual and auditory perception. High resolution displays on the front will render expressive eyes driven by eye tracking, which will allow wearers to make bidirectional eye contact with anyone not wearing one. With these visors, it becomes possible to convincingly remove and replace people with their virtualized avatars. This will be indistinguishable from magic, using simulated lighting and advanced rendering such that the naked eye will be unable to tell that these avatar replacements are anything other than real.
Once the public can see, for the first time, other people being fully, convincingly replaced in front of them with new, fantastical forms they can fully customize, it will be clear where things are headed.
It will be obvious these devices will rapidly become smaller, cheaper, more comfortable, and eventually ubiquitous. And in that world, you will, for the first time, be able to take on whatever form you wish as your “primary” form, leaving your physical form now (and forever) behind as the subservient, secondary representation you were born with, one only seen by others during childhood and by your closest loved ones behind closed doors.
Avatarism emerges
Once our avatars have a place in our minds equal to or even superior to our physical self in how we are seen by others, we will feel a deep need to secure and protect our right to forever be able to be seen how we wish.
One day, a person will be victimized by having their avatar altered or removed under the sight of others in a way that harms them.
They will assert their right to freedom of form in court. And they will win.
Avatarism and liberalism
Some extremists within avatarism will have deeply illiberal beliefs, such as a belief that people should be forced to wear passthrough visors when interacting with them. However, some kind of freedom of form will be accepted as a human right within the liberal framework. Like other such rights, its legal protections and the cultural norms surrounding it will be hotly debated and will slowly evolve over time.
Avatarism and personal liberty
Liberalism is centered on personal liberty. Avatarism presents hard questions around such liberties. While advertising my preferred form seems like an obvious application of freedom of speech, what about you, who observes me? Where does my freedom of form end and your freedom to shield your eyes from me begin?
With our physical form, these questions seem a bit easier to answer. If a plastic surgeon alters my face, when we are together you have no choice but to see my new form. In the physical world, within the inherent limitations of body modification, reality itself seems to secure my right to be seen how I wish. But does it? The following thought experiment highlights the dilemma we will face once virtualized forms become widely embraced.
Let’s say I enjoy the look of popular fictional character who happens to be entirely blue. At some point I develop a desire to replicate this look and become blue myself. I head to the local tattoo parlor, emerging with my entire body inked with a bright, blue hue. As I look in the mirror I’m overjoyed: I look ridiculously awesome.
Now, imagine a colleague at work who loathes the the idea of blue humans. One day, I walk into their office, and they put on a pair of blue-filtering sunglasses. To them, I now appear as muddy grey, a look I find disgusting, but which they prefer. As I chat with my colleague, I struggle to accept that they’ve not just chosen to subvert how I wish to be seen, but now see me in a way I find detestable.
Left: how I wish to be seen. Right: how my colleague’s glasses lets him see me. Is he violating my rights? (Credit: gomezcasseres on deviantart)
Is my colleague violating my rights by putting on those glasses? Situations like this where a person can personally alter how they see others are rare or contrived, so we don’t yet really have a good answer. But as we’ve seen, ubiquitous full photonic override will make such a possibility not just common, but nearly universal.
Avatarism will force us to start asking these questions. It could be that while you cannot force another person to see your preferred form arbitrarily, taking actions to replace or modify a person’s preferred form while interacting with them could be considered a violation of their rights, with social or even legal consequences.
This creates more questions than answers. What if you fear negative mental health consequences, such as triggering PTSD, upon seeing someone’s preferred form? At what point does removing a person from view run up against altering them? It’s obvious these questions will not be fully settled anytime soon, if ever.
I’m not sure where these boundaries will be, but avatarism will force us to start trying to draw them.
Avatarism and equality
Beyond personal liberties, there is a more controversial area of avatarism that will likely emerge. It is grounded in the liberal principle of equality and the goal of creating a colorblind society.
Liberalism’s primary mechanism of creating social justice has been maintaining an open door for incremental reforms and the free exchange of ideas. These mechanisms of progress have served us well. They are, however, bound by the assumption that many forms of stereotyping will always exist as our physical appearance can always be used to divide us. And so bigotry must be continually undermined through free speech and legal force, as it will never go away completely.
Some avatarists will question this assumption, seeing a new path to eradicating stereotyping and bigotry based on appearance: diminishing the role of our physical form altogether. Some avatarists will seek to relegate our physical traits to a role similar to our blood type or fingerprints: useful for medical or authentication purposes, but not much else.
Humanity’s immutable, always-visible physical forms may come to be seen as a curse inflicted upon us by nature. The long history of violence and upheaval stemming from the lack of empathy we often show towards others who do not look like us will be used to argue that this particular curse is one we should try to escape from by any means necessary.
To avatarists, the idealized liberal society of true colorblindness will be made possible not through laws or persuasion alone, but through excising our physical appearance from most human affairs. Not just a cure for past ills, this may be also argued as a panacea to cut out stereotyping itself at the root. One mechanism to do so would be deploying software to adjust how we appear to others which takes into account their biases, so as to undermine their ability to stereotype us, and eventually force them to abandon those (now useless) stereotypes.
It will be argued that if this could pave the way to a world where we will judge people entirely on the content of their character, we should pursue it.
Striving to completely eradicate physical appearance from our day-to-day affairs would be far from cost-free, and may not be attainable. But many avatarists who already went through this transition will advocate for it to become the norm, despite the potential that it would almost certainly displace our existing cultural identities. Needless to say, this will likely be one of the most contentious areas in the development of avatarism, but one we should be prepared to engage with given the stakes involved.
Hopes and Conclusions
If you’ve read this far, you are better prepared for one of the many societal tsunamis headed our way as we continue to slam into one technological exponential curve after another. The rise of avatarism will cut into nearly every facet of our lives and the lives of our children.
Avatarism has the potential for great benefit or great harm. Sane, liberalized systems to protect freedom of form may let us live out the best versions of ourselves, less shackled by social norms and high stakes interactions, with more fulfilling relationships. If we make the wisest choices we may even eliminate some of our greatest problems in a way that our descendants will be grateful for.
However, if we choose poorly or fail to prepare, we could also see great moral confusion and fear, societal schisms, suppression of our identities, or more widespread surveillance and constraints imposed on our lives by centralized mediators.
Avatar representations will soon eat the world and be embedded into our lives and the physical world we currently inhabit. Our devices will literally mask over the people we already see day-to-day, replacing them with the versions of themselves they want us to see.
As this story unfolds, we must think a few steps ahead. It’s during this period where the issues still seem distant and have yet to become controversial that we can think the most clearly about them. We should try to live a bit in the future, forming coherent beliefs about our rights to freedom of form, before we are rushed into doing so. Then, we can design the systems and norms to create the world we want to live in. It’s going to happen fast, and so we should feel some urgency to start preparing.
Avatarism is about the sudden arrival of transformative, new answers to a universal question: how should others see you?
If you think the answer is a simple one, one day you might look back at yourself, and smile at your naivete.
And your past self, who you now barely even recognize standing in front of you, may smile back. | https://medium.com/@gfodor/the-rise-of-avatarism-b7ecfa7c42bc | ['Greg Fodor'] | 2021-09-04 20:03:08.613000+00:00 | ['Social Vr', 'Avatar', 'AR', 'VR'] |
Karen Wawrzaszek Joins Meyer Foundation Board of Directors | The board also bids farewell to Jim Sandman, Debby Ratner Salzberg, and Rajiv Vinnakota and thanks them for their years of service.
Karen Wawrzaszek
The board of directors of the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation elected Karen Wawrzaszek, senior director of financial planning at Sullivan Bruyette Speros & Blayney, to the board at its June 4 meeting.
Prior to joining Sullivan Bruyette Speros & Blayney, a Washington, DC area-based financial advisory services company in 2018, where she leads the firm’s planning strategies and team development, Wawrzaszek was a managing director for Rockefeller Capital Management. For more than 20 years, she has helped families and nonprofit organizations navigate financial planning and impact investing. In 2018, she was named one of Washingtonian magazine’s Top Financial Advisers.
She is also the co-founder and chief executive officer of Pomona Society, a diverse collective of women who collaborate to affect systemic change for women and families in the District.
She serves as treasurer of the Washington Area Women’s Foundation’s board of directors and business advisor to Bubble, LLC, a privately held company. She is a member of the Washington, DC Estate Planning Council and the Family Firm Institute.
Wawrzaszek is a 2018 graduate of Leadership Greater Washington’s Signature Program. She holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Wichita State University, is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ™ professional, and Certified Trust and Financial Advisor (CTFA).
“Karen is an excellent addition to the Meyer Foundation’s board of directors,” says Meyer Foundation President and CEO Nicky Goren. “She brings to the Foundation a commitment to systemic change, as well as a belief and expertise in aligning organizational practices — including investments — with values and mission.”
In addition to Wawrzaszek joining the board of directors, three board members will also be departing the board in June: Board Chair Jim Sandman rolls off the board after 12 years of board service, as does Immediate Past Board Chair Debby Ratner Salzberg; Rajiv Vinnakota completes a three-year term on the board and takes on a new leadership role at the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation in New Jersey. Vice Chair Charlene M. Dukes takes over as board chair and Bo Menkiti as vice chair.
Debby Ratner Salzberg; Jim Sandman; Raj Vinnakota | https://medium.com/meyer-foundation/karen-wawrzaszek-joins-meyer-foundation-board-of-directors-ffc51a17f72c | ['Meyer Foundation'] | 2019-06-18 17:07:37.819000+00:00 | ['Philanthropy', 'Meyer Foundation Board'] |
Large Graph Visualization Tools and Approaches | What to do, if you need to visualize a large network graph but all tools you try can only draw a hairball or eat all your RAM and hang your machine? I used to work with large graphs (hundreds of millions of nodes and vertices) for more than two years and have tried a lot of tools and approaches. But I still did not found any good survey, so now I writing such a survey by myself.
(This is translation of my article on habr originally written in Russian)
Why visualize a graph at all?
To find what to look for
Usually, we simply have a set of vertices and edges as input. We can compute some statistics or graph metrics based on such data, but it is not enough to get an idea of structure. A good visualization can clearly show if there are some clusters or bridges in a graph, or maybe it is a uniform cloud, or something else. To impress the public
It’s obvious that data visualizations are used for presentation. It is a good way to show conclusions from the work that was done. For example, if you solved a clustering problem, you can color your plot by labels and show how they are connected. To get features
Despite most of the graph visualization tools were created only for making some pictures, they are also good as dimension reduction tools. A graph that represented as an adjacency matrix is data in high dimensional space. When drawing it we get two (usually) coordinates for each vertex. These coordinates can also be used as features. Closeness between vertices in this space means similarity.
What a problem with the large graphs?
I will mean by the “large graph” sizes approximately from 10K vertices and/or edges. There are usually no problems with smaller sizes. All the tools you can find by a few minutes’ search most likely will work at least acceptable. What’s wrong with large networks? There are two main problems: readability and speed. Commonly, the visualization of a large graph looks messy because there are too many objects in one plot. Also, graph visualization algorithms mostly have awful algorithmic complexity: quadratic or cubic dependency from the number of edges or vertices. Even if you wait for the result once, it will be too long to find better parameters.
What is already written about this problem?
[1] Helen Gibson, Joe Faith and Paul Vickers: “A survey of two-dimensional graph layout techniques for information visualization”
The authors of this paper tell which graph visualization methods exist and how do they work. There is also a good table with info about algorithms, their features, and complexity. I used a few pictures from that paper in this article.
[2] Oh-Hyun Kwon, Tarik Crnovrsanin and Kwan-Liu Ma “What Would a Graph Look Like in This Layout? A Machine Learning Approach to Large Graph Visualization”
The authors have big work done. They tried all the algorithms they could. Then they drew it and manually evaluated similarity. After that, they fit the model to predict what would a graph look like in this layout. I also used a couple of pictures from this work too.
Theoretical Part
Layout is a way to map a coordinate to each vertex. Usually, this is coordinates on a 2D plane.
What is a good layout?
It is easy to say if something looks good or bad. It is not so easy to name criteria, how could machine evaluate it. In order to make a “good” layout so-called, aesthetic metrics can be used. Here is some of them:
Minimum edges intersection
It is obvious: too many intersections make the plot look messy. Adjacent vertices are closer to each other than not adjacent
This is logical that connected nodes should be close to each other. It represents the main information that is present in a graph by definition. Communities are grouped into clusters
If there are a set of vertices that are connected to each other more frequent then to other parts of the graph, they should look like a dense cloud. Minimum overlapping edges and nodes.
It is obvious too: if we cannot determine if there few vertices or one, then the readability of plot is poor.
Which kinds of layouts are exist?
I consider it important to mention these three types of layouts. However, it is possible to classify them in many other ways. But this classification is enough to navigate through all possible types.
Force-directed and Energy-Based
Dimension Reduction
Node Features Based
Force-Directed and Energy-Based
Force-directed layouts examples. Source of the picture is [1]
This family of methods are based on physical system simulation. Vertices are represented as charged particles, that repulse each other, and edges are treated as elastic strings. These methods try to model the dynamics of this system or find a minimum of energy.
Such methods typically give a very good result. Resulting plots reflect the topology of graph very well. But they are also computationally hard and have a lot of parameters to tune.
Important members of this family are Force Atlas, Fruchterman-Reingold, Kamada Kawaii and OpenOrd. The last one uses tricky optimizations to speed up computation, for example, it cuts long edges. As a useful side effect graph gets more clustered.
Dimension Reduction
Dimension reduction layouts examples. Source of the picture is [1]
A graph can be defined as adjacency matrix NxN, where N is the number of nodes. This matrix can also be treated as a table of N objects in N-dimensional space. This representation allows us to use general-purpose dimension-reduction methods such as PCA, UMAP, tSNE, etc. Another way is to compute theoretical distances between nodes and then try to save proportion when moving to lower-dimensional space.
Feature-Based Layout
Hive Plot example. Source of the picture is [1]
Usually, graph data are related to some objects in the real world. So vertices and edges can have own features. Therefore we can use these features to representing them on the plane. We can deal with node features as with usual tabular data using mentioned above dimension reduction methods or by directly drawing a scatter plot for pairs of features. It worth to mention Hive Plot, because it is very different from all other methods. In hive plot nodes are aligned to several radial axes, and edges are curves between them.
Tools for Large Graph Visualization
The joy of graph visualization.
Despite graph visualization problem is relatively old and popular, there is a very bad situation with tools that can handle large graphs. Most of them are abandoned by developers. Almost each of them has their big disadvantages. I’ll tell only about those who are worth to mention and can handle big graphs. Concerning small graphs, there is no problem. You can easily find a tool for your purpose and most probably it would work well.
GraphViz
Bitcoin transaction graph before 2011
Sometimes it’s hard to tune the parameters
This is an old-school CLI tool with its own graph definition language named “dot”. This is a package with several layouts. For large graphs, it has sfdp layout, from force-directed family. The pros and cons of this tool are in the same thing: it runs from the command line. It’s useful for automation, but it’s hard to tweak parameters without interactivity. You don’t even know how long you need to wait for the result, and also don’t know if you need to stop it and rerun with other parameters.
Gephi
Image from gephi.org
137K movies recommendation graph from iMDB
A few million is already too much for Gephi
The most powerful graph visualization tool that I know. It has GUI, it contains several layouts and a lot of graph analysis tools. There is also a lot of plugins written by the community. For example my favorite layout “Multigravity Force-Atlas 2” or sigma.js export tool, which creates an interactive web-page template based on your project. In Gephi users can color nodes and edges by its features.
But Gephi is abandoned by developers. It also has a little-bit old-fashioned GUI and a lack of some simple features.
igraph
Last.fm music recommendation graph. Source, description and interactive version are here
I need to pay a tribute to this general-purpose graph analysis package. One of the most impressive graph visualizations was made by one of the igraph authors.
Disadvantages of igraph is awful docs for python API, but sources are readable and well commented.
LargeViz
Several tens of million vertices (transactions and addresses) in one of the largest bitcoin clusters
It is a great savior when you need to draw a really huge graph. LargeViz is a dimension reduction tool and can be used not only for graphs but for arbitrary tabular data. It runs from the command line, works fast and consumes a little RAM.
Graphistry
Addresses that could be hacked in one week and their transactions
Intuitive and pretty looking GUI, but very limited
It is the only paid tool in this survey. Graphistry is a service, that takes your data and does all the calculations on its side. A client only looks at the pretty picture in his browser. Other features not much better then in Gephi, except Graphistry has reasonable default parameters, a good color scheme, and slightly better interactivity. It provides only one force-directed layout. It also has a limit of 800K nodes or edges.
Graph Embeddings
There is an approach for crazy sizes too. Starting from approximately one million vertices there is only reasonable to look at vertices density and not to draw edges and particular vertices at all. Simply because no one is able to make out individual objects on such a plot. Moreover, most of the algorithms that were made for graph visualization will work a lot of hours, or maybe days on such sizes. This problem can be solved if we would slightly change the approach. There are a lot of approaches to get a fixed-sized representation that reflects graph vertices features. After getting such representation the only thing you need is to reduce dimensionality to two in order to get a picture.
Node2Vec
Node2Vec + UMAP
This is the adaptation of word2vec for graphs. It uses a random walk in a graph instead of sequences of words. Thus this method only uses information about node neighborhood. In most of cases it’s enough.
VERSE
VERSE + UMAP
Advanced algorithm for versatile graph representation. One of the best in my experience.
Graph Convolutions
Graph Convolutions + Autoencoder. Bipartite graph.
There are a lot of ways how the convolution on the graph can be defined. But in fact, it is a simple “spreading” of features by vertices’ neighbors. We also can put the information on local topology in vertices features.
Little Bonus
I have made a little tutorial on simplified graph convolutions without neural networks. It is located here. I have also made a graph embeddings tutorial where I have shown how to use a few of mentioned above tools.
Links
Simplifying Graph Convolutional Networks
arxiv.org/pdf/1902.07153.pdf
GraphViz
graphviz.org
Gephi
gephi.org
igraph
igraph.org
LargeViz
arxiv.org/abs/1602.00370
github.com/lferry007/LargeVis
Graphistry
www.graphistry.com
Node2Vec
snap.stanford.edu/node2vec
github.com/xgfs/node2vec-c
VERSE
tsitsul.in/publications/verse
github.com/xgfs/verse
Notebook with simplified graph convolutions example
github.com/iggisv9t/graph-stuff/blob/master/Universal%20Convolver%20Example.ipynb
Graph Convolutions
List of papers about Graph Convolutional Networks: github.com/thunlp/GNNPapers
TL;DR:
New hope: Graphia [Update 5 june 2020]
This is the neuron connections of the part of the fly brain from https://neuprint.janelia.org/
The article was published about a year ago. Now there is a new very promising tool for graphs visualization, and large graphs particularly: Graphia. It’s under active development as opposed to abandoned long ago Gephi and it also works much faster. As Gephi it has a lot of tools integrated, you can read about them here: https://graphia.app/userguide.html
Disadvantages are excusable:
Currently, it has only one force-directed layout and very limited ways to tune it.
Rendering options not good for large graphs. At least option to turn off edges display or add opacity would be very useful.
Right now Grapia is relatively raw. For example, I had to convert graph formats with Gephi in order to put in in Grapia, which crashed on the same graphs represented as CSV. But I’m sure all these little things will be improved soon.
The advantages are too many to list. Imagine Gephi with all these analysis tools but rewritten from scratch on C++, much quicker, and under active development. For comparison: Gephi needs several hours to layout 173K nodes graph, but Graphia needs only several minutes.
I believe that this review will be outdated soon, so better check the current state of this app by yourself. | https://towardsdatascience.com/large-graph-visualization-tools-and-approaches-2b8758a1cd59 | ['Sviatoslav Iguana'] | 2020-06-05 09:29:19.289000+00:00 | ['Graph', 'Network', 'Data Science', 'Data Visualization', 'Machine Learning'] |
Encrypted communication on Elastic server by setting up TLS and adjusting CORS permissions | On May 20, version 7.1 of Elastic Stack was released. In this version, there are no new features but some core security features are free now, including:
TLS for encrypted communications
File and native realm for creating and managing users
Role-based access control for controlling user access to cluster APIs and indexes.
Which means we don’t need to set up the additional proxy on our Elastic server.
In this tutorial, we will provide step-by-step instructions on how to encrypt communication among Elasticsearch, Kibana, and Logstash. After the setup, Elasticsearch and Kibana can be accessed by web browsers via https as well.
Before we start, make sure the following conditions are satisfied or agreed:
Elastic services are running with no issues on the server.
The directory layout for the Elastic stack is known. We use the directory layout of RPM in this tutorial. For further information, check this website: Directory layout of RPM
If shell prompt asks for additional options, press ENTER to choose the default one.
Using sudo before any command if Permission denied occurs
before any command if occurs If any service fails to start, check the corresponding log. If the log indicates access denied for some files, make sure you have given the access permission for the files. Check this website for further information.
for some files, make sure you have given the access permission for the files. Check this website for further information. Some steps like creating directories , copying files, and editing files may be omitted.
, may be omitted. Read the comments for the commands carefully. Make changes for the commands according to your situation.
Since we use self-sign CA in this tutorial, the web browser will show the certificate is not trusted in the case. It is ok, later I will write a tutorial on how to use third-party CA to make sure the certificate is trusted by the web browser. Please follow me to receive the latest notification about my articles.
Step 1: Using self-sign CA generate from Elasticsearch:
cd to the binary scripts directory. In my case, cd /usr/share/elasticsearch . Make sure you type your own domain name or IP address after CN= in the following commands
bin/elasticsearch-certutil ca --ca-dn CN=your_domain_name
bin/elasticsearch-certutil cert --ca elastic-stack-ca.p12 -name "CN=your_domain_name,OU=Consulting Team,DC=your_domain_name,DC=com"
At this point, you have obtained two files: elastic-certificates.p12 and elastic-stack-ca.p12 . Now we are going to set up passwords for built-in users. Make sure the passwords are recorded and protected in a safe place. Once the password is set up, it won’t allow being recovered. Use bin/elasticsearch-setup-passwords auto to let the script generate the passwords or use /bin/elasticsearch-setup-passwords interactive to customize the passwords for each build-in users by yourself.
Use the following command to create a directory certs under the conf directory and copy elastic-certificates.p12 to this directory.
mkdir -p /etc/elasticsearch/certs
cp /usr/share/elasticsearch/ elastic-certificates.p12 /etc/elasticsearch/certs
Add the following lines in the Elasticsearch configuration file. In my case, the path is /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml .
http.host: 0.0.0.0 # accept request from remote xpack.security.enabled: true xpack.security.transport.ssl.enabled: true xpack.security.transport.ssl.verification_mode: certificate xpack.security.transport.ssl.keystore.path: certs/elastic-certificates.p12 xpack.security.transport.ssl.truststore.path: certs/elastic-certificates.p12 xpack.security.http.ssl.enabled: true xpack.security.http.ssl.keystore.path: certs/elastic-certificates.p12 xpack.security.http.ssl.truststore.path: certs/elastic-certificates.p12 xpack.security.http.ssl.client_authentication: optional
Restart Elasticsearch service to make sure the above changes take effect and no error occurred at this point.
Step 2: Enable cross-origin resource sharing for Elasticsearch
Enable CORS so that a browser on another origin can send requests to Elasticsearch. Add the following lines in the Elasticsearch configuration file. In my case, the path is /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml .
Attention, for the setting http.cors.allow-origin , it should be the URL of the website which you are giving permission to connect. In my case, I will use "https://ai.query.ai" .
http.cors.enabled: true http.cors.allow-origin: "https://ai.query.ai" http.cors.allow-methods : OPTIONS, HEAD, GET, POST, PUT, DELETE http.cors.allow-headers : Authorization, X-Requested-With,X-Auth-Token,Content-Type, Content-Length
Step 3: Encrypt communication between Kibana and web browser:
cd to certs folder under the Elasticsearch conf directory. Run the following commands to obtain the key file and certificate file from elastic-certificates.p12 .
openssl pkcs12 -in /elastic-certificates.p12 -out newfile.crt.pem -clcerts -nokeys penssl pkcs12 -in ./elastic-certificates.p12 -out newfile.key.pem -nocerts -nodes
At this point two new files are obtained: newfile.crt.pem and newfile.key.pem . Create a directory named certs under Kibana conf folder, and copy these two files to certs directory. Add the following lines to the Kibana configuration file to enable HTTP SSL for Kibana. In my case, it is located at /etc/kibana/kibana.yml
server.host: 0.0.0.0 server.ssl.enabled: true server.ssl.key: /etc/kibana/certs/newfile.key.pem server.ssl.certificate: /etc/kibana/certs/newfile.crt.pem
Step 4: Encrypt communication between Kibana and Elasticsearch:
See step1, we’ve obtained the password for user Kibana. Add these lines to the Kibana configuration file to enable TLS between Elasticsearch and Kibana:
elasticsearch.hosts: [" https://localhost:9200" ] # https, not http elasticsearch.username: "kibana" elasticsearch.password: "XXXXXXXXX" # the password for user kibana elasticsearch.ssl.verificationMode: none
Restart Kibana service, access the Kibana UI on your web browser. Make sure the Kibana UI shows up and is connected by https.
Step 5: Encrypt communication between Logstash and Elasticsearch:
There are configurations related to Elasticsaerch in Logstash’s pipeline. Since we’ve enabled https and built-in users for Elasticsearch. We should do the following changes in every pipeline config file in order to make the connection to Elasticsearch via https.
First, create a directory called certs under Logstash conf directory. In my case, it is located at /etc/logstash . Then, copy newfile.crt.pem to the certs directory.
Make changes on Elasticsearch output plugin for every Logstash pipeline
output { elasticsearch { hosts => " https://localhost:9200" #make sure it's https index => "nginx-%{+YYYY.MM.dd}" document_type => "nginx_logs" user => logstash_system password => xxxxxxxxx # obtained by step1 cacert => '/etc/logstash/certs/newfile.crt.pem' # generated from step3 ssl_certificate_verification => false } }
Restart Logstash in order for the changes to take effect.
Overall:
After the above changes, the communications among Elasticsearch, Kibana, and Logstash are encrypted. Also, you can access Elasticsearch and Kibana by the web browser using https. These features are performed through a tool called, X-pack, which was enabled for free in the Elastic update 7.1 at the end of May.
About me:
I am a software developer working at Query.AI ( http://query.ai ). Query.AI provides answers and insights on IT and cybersecurity data residing in log and SIEM platforms like Splunk and ELK / Elasticsearch. | https://medium.com/query-ai/encrypted-communication-on-elastic-server-by-setting-up-tsl-and-adjusting-cors-permissions-c569c2d1c352 | ['Minxuan Sun'] | 2019-06-10 23:52:31.825000+00:00 | ['Elasticsearch', 'Kibana', 'Elk Stack', 'Logstash', 'Ssl'] |
What’s So Critical About Critical Thinking? | It’s a vaccine against lies, disinformation and conspiracy theories
In an era when untruths have been proliferating across platforms in the form of disinformation, misinformation, fake news, lies and conspiracy theories, it’s refreshing and hope-inducing to know that there’s a vaccine against the easy acceptance of what’s heard, seen or read. It’s called “critical thinking,” and it’s currently being taught in select schools, K through college.
I say “select” because some schools include it and many don’t. It’s a gap that’s decades-long, in part because “teaching to the test” took up so much of the curriculum there wasn’t time to add a class or teach critical thinking skills in the context of existing classes. Consequently, students that lack critical thinking skills remain susceptible to falsehoods, disinformation and conspiracy theories throughout their lives.
The critical thinking gap is one of the most significant, yet overlooked equity challenges in education today. — Colin Seale, author, “Thinking Like A Lawyer: A Framework for Teaching Critical Thinking to All Students.”
Frank Breslin, a retired high-school teacher in the New Jersey public school system, writes in a Huffington Post article, Why High Schools Don’t Teach Critical Thinking — “State education departments mandate that so much material has to be covered that critical thinking cannot be taught, nor can the courses themselves be critically presented. To cover the curriculum, courses must be taught quickly, superficially, and uncritically, the infallible way of boring students… It leaves students with the mistaken impression that there is little if any disagreement among scholars about what they are taught, as though what is presented is self-evident truth… Because students are usually taught only one viewpoint about everything, they simply accept the theory they learn on their teacher’s authority with perhaps little understanding of the reasons provided… The essence of an education — the ability to think critically and protect oneself from falsehood and lies — may once have been taught in American schools, but, with few exceptions, is today a lost art.”
Definition
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, rritical thinking is “The process of thinking carefully about a subject or idea, without allowing feelings or opinions to affect you.”
Significance
Critical thinking wards against the immediate acceptance or judgment of an idea, opinion, event, policy, perspective or phenomenon, political philosophy or religious ideology, irrespective of the presenter or source.
It’s necessary because there are many people who, purposefully or not, and for a variety of reasons, tell and disseminate falsehoods. In part, we’re experiencing an “uncivil war” because the preponderance of our educational systems have been teaching students what to think rather than how to think —
To question whatever they read, and never to accept any claim blindly; to suspend judgment until they’ve heard all sides of a question, and interrogate whatever claims to be true, since the truth can withstand any scrutiny. Critical thinking is life’s indispensable survival skill, compared to which everything else is an educational frill! — Frank Breslin, retired high school teacher.
The Value
Critical thinking (CT) promotes attentiveness, a habit of inquiry, self-confidence, courage, open-mindedness, willingness to suspend judgment, trust in reason, evidence-based beliefs, and the desire to know the truth. By stepping back to look at an idea or situation from different perspectives, we gain an understanding and empathy for how other people think and decide. CT provides reasoning skills that form the basis of history, science and mathematics. It promotes democratic citizenship, which requires the ability to observe carefully and check emotions and prejudices before jumping to erroneous conclusions. It prevents baseless assumptions and prejudging, increases awareness of who and how language is being used and looks for both causes and consequences. Essentially, it’s a thought process that seeks the truth.
The Skillset
“Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.” (Foundation for Critical Thinking) The following are specific skills that are part of critical thinking.
Active rather than passive thinking
Critical thinking is about being an active learner, a discover or wonderer, rather than a passive recipient of information. Critical thinkers want more information before accepting something as real or true. They question everything. How do you know that? What’s your source? Where’d you hear that? What’s it based on? What are the other possibilities? How can we make it better? If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If it sounds outrageous, beyond reason, it probably isn’t true. And if it’s out-of-character for someone, it needs to be investigated. Intuitions like these constitute “red flags,” signaling that critical thinking is required.
Open-mindedness
Among human beings, truth is almost never one thing and it’s never absolute, that is, holding for everyone, all the time everywhere. In pursuit of the truth, an open-minded person is willing to consider ideas and opinions that are new or different from their own, even to the extent of modifying or completely changing their point-of-view. This is commonplace for scientists, the foundation of scientific inquiry. And it’s what we expect in lawyers, judges, politicians and the criminal justice system.
Reserving judgment
It’s easy to accept something as true or factual, especially when it comes from an authority figure or someone we know and respect. But no one is infallible and we all tend to diminish, embellish or exaggerate, often to persuade, enhance the telling of a story, to telegraph that “I know something you don’t know” or to be seen as part of the in-the-know crowd. Reserving judgment on whatever is presented to us, gives us time to find or allow more information to either affirm or refute what’s been said, shown or written.
Gathering facts
In whole-systems terms, more information increases the resilience of a system’s functioning. The same applies to discovering the truth. As we gain information about an idea, event, theory or circumstance, the reality becomes more clear. Typically, this is done through question and answer interactions, the more and more diverse the people the better. As we know from police and detective movies, to prove that something is true, there has to be evidence — indisputable facts.
Sources matter
Credible sources are those that are credentialed to have direct knowledge and extensive experience with the subject or viewpoint we’re researching. Because we don’t have ready access to professionals on many issues, we go to the Internet and Google a question. Of the options presented there, critical thinkers will pay close attention to the source, indicated in the green URL address under the topic heading.
After the https:// designator is the source’s name, many of which are advertisers, publishers, information services such as Wikipedia, Linked In, Facebook and dictionaries. These are “Tertiary Sources.” They present summaries or condensed versions of materials, usually with reference to other sources. “Secondary Sources” are accounts written after the fact with the benefit of hindsight. They are interpretations and evaluations of primary sources. Secondary sources are not evidence, but rather a commentary on and discussion of evidence. “Primary Sources” are firsthand documents that provide direct evidence on your topic. (Sotheby’s Institute of Art).
We wouldn’t go to a carpenter next door to heal a toothache. Neither would we consult a dentist about creating a will. Edutopia, George Lucas’s educational foundation posted some very nice guidelines to help students evaluate sources on the Internet —
Who wrote it and what credentials do they have?
Why was it written?
When was it written or updated?
Does it help meet my needs?
How is the site organized?
What would be a good to-do list for the future?
Especially, I look for an answer to the second question — What’s in it for the source? As noted, I give more credence to individuals who have direct knowledge and extensive experience with the subject or viewpoint being researched.
Evaluating the facts
When to our satisfaction the facts are in, we apply logic, a method of reasoning that involves a series of statements, where the truth follows from preceding statements that are all true. For example —
Dogs are man’s best friend.
I have a dog named Fluffy.
Therefore, Fluffy is my best friend.
The conclusion is false, not logical, on two counts: Not all men consider dogs to be their best friend. And most “best friends” are persons, not animals. Another —
Where there’s a gun in the house there’s the potential for harm.
We have a gun in the house.
Therefore, harm could come to someone in my house.
The conclusion is logical, true because the statements that precede it are true.
Considering the consequences
This didn’t turn up in my research on critical thinking, but it deserves serious consideration. The ideas, theories and perspectives we accept shape our life and the lives of those around us and the world.
Hypothetically, I move to a new town and am invited to the home of an acquaintance to watch a football game with his friends. In short order, the group tries to convince me that the moon landing was a hoax. They tell how the government, in cahoots with a movie producer, pulled it off as part of a scheme to beat the Russians to the moon. Another says that big corporations were in on it, reaping enormous profits on ancillary sales. They offer no evidence, but the ideas they present are many and they sound plausible. Driving home, if I take what they said somewhat seriously, the first step in my thinking process would be to apply a brief litmus test to see if their perspective would warrant some investigation. If I adopt their point-of-view —
Would it make me feel good or bad about myself?
Would it make me feel good or bad about humanity?
Would it increase or decrease trust in our economic, social and political systems?
Does the idea uplift or depress me?
Would it move me further in the direction of love or fear?
Would it encourage me to widen my circle of friends or narrow it?
Would it boost my confidence in the way the world works, or diminish it?
Would I want to speak about it openly?
Would it impact my family life?
If I accept it, what would I do about it?
If the answers indicate that adoption would be generally uplifting, enriching and good for my mental health I’d begin to take the next step — gather the facts.
The Good News
At Woburn High School in Boston, 60 new classes were added to teach critical thinking. Jeff Landers, CEO of Mind Edges Inc., an educational technology company that reviewed the system, concluded that “Critical thinking should be integrated into every course in every high school.”
Jason Singer, Principal at Kipp King Collegiate High School, San Lorenzo, California said “Our theory is that critical thinking wins the day.” CT is integrated throughout the curriculum, in a school that’s 85% African American and Latino. One of the students said, “To me, critical thinking means thinking beyond what you hear.” Jared Kushida, who teaches global politics, encourages the flow of questions. “I rarely go on for more than 30 seconds without asking a question, and I rarely stop at that one question.”
The Foundation for Critical Thinking is a comprehensive resource offering programs, conferences, events, media and materials to educators from the 3rd Grade on, including the institutions of science and engineering, business, health systems and homeschooling. It’s a “primary” source that offers on-line courses, guided study groups, webcasts and more. It’s a wealth of information. And there’s no charge.
Critical thinking takes time, of course. It’s so much easier to accept someone’s word or perception, especially if the issue generates heat and is in alignment with a group that invites us in. Trouble is, we act and promote what we believe. And it escalates. Personally, we start living the lie or unproven theory. And socially, these can build into a consensus reality where numbers of people will act on it. The raid on the U. S. Capitol building is a prime example where actions were based on erroneous beliefs. By taking the time to think critically, the realities we create will be based on facts, on the truth. And when that happens, both the universe and the soul will support it. | https://medium.com/@lightsmith333/whats-so-critical-about-critical-thinking-b9f56030d4cc | ['David L. Smith'] | 2021-01-24 16:12:18.954000+00:00 | ['Vaccine', 'Truth', 'Beliefs', 'Conspiracy Theories', 'Education'] |
Jacqueline Franklin | The rape destroyed me
It ripped open every wound I had and created more
It taught me how to hate
And it taught me how to die
But it also
Taught me how to live | https://medium.com/@jacquelinespoetry/rape-c370fb7906a | ['Jacqueline Franklin'] | 2020-11-18 06:27:37.717000+00:00 | ['Rape', 'Poem', 'Sexual Assault', 'Metoo', 'Poetry'] |
1. What is the COMPUTER? | Introduction
I have seen an article that recent young people are more familiar with smartphones than computers. Fortunately, born in the 1970s~1990s people were able to join the advancement of computers, the advent of the Internet, and the advent of smartphones from the early mobile phones(feature phones).
The advent of computers that can do conventional analog things in an instant was a huge innovation. However, Gen Zers born after 2000 have been accustomed to smartphones since they were in elementary school or before, and feel that computers are unnecessary. But computers are not superfluous.
In fact, a smartphone has all the components of a computer and can be seen as an evolutionary form of a computer. It’s like a big calculator has become a small box-sized computer and it has evolved into a notebook-sized laptop. I hope that people who do not know computers will be friendly with computers, so I will collect data and write this series.
1.1. Etymology of computer
The etymology of the computer comes from the Latin computare, com and putare. com means to be together and putare means to think. In the UK, the word Compute has been used for a long time in the sense of Calculate, that is, to calculate, and it is said that computer is used to mean a person who calculates. As people used various tools, the machine that functions as a person who calculates was called a computer.
1.2. Computer history
The first computer is believed to be an abacus. Computers that match the word used by modern people began with IBM’s Personal Computer (PC) in the 1980s and Apple’s Macintosh and have been developed to this day. There is a lot of opinion that the computer that started the IBM PC was a computer with a punched card made by Herman Hollerith. In the 1880s, it took more than seven years to tabulate the results of the US Census. This led the U.S. government to find a way to get the job done quickly, which Herman Hollerith solved.
Modern computers naturally support complex calculations and refer to products that enrich human life by executing documents, network communication, web browsing for Internet surfing, and various programs. In a macroscopic sense, Program can also be replaced with the word Application familiar to the smartphone generation.
IBM PC 5150 (1981), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer
Macintosh 128K (1984), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh
Representative history of computers
1801
France, Joseph Marie Jacquard
Invented a loom that automatically weaves fabric designs using perforated wooden cards
France, Joseph Marie Jacquard Invented a loom that automatically weaves fabric designs using perforated wooden cards 1822
England, Charles Babbage
A steam-powered calculation machine is devised that can calculate a table of numbers, but the project fails.
England, Charles Babbage A steam-powered calculation machine is devised that can calculate a table of numbers, but the project fails. 1890
USA, Herman Hollerith
Machine development using punched cards.
USA, Herman Hollerith Machine development using punched cards. 1936
UK, Alan Turing
Presenting the concept of Turing machines (general-purpose machines capable of calculating everything that can be calculated).
Becomes the central concept of modern computers.
UK, Alan Turing Presenting the concept of Turing machines (general-purpose machines capable of calculating everything that can be calculated). Becomes the central concept of modern computers. 1941
USA, Atanasoff, Clifford Berry
Computer design capable of solving 29 equations simultaneously
First computer capable of storing information in main memory.
USA, Atanasoff, Clifford Berry Computer design capable of solving 29 equations simultaneously First computer capable of storing information in main memory. 1943~1944
USA, John Mauchly, J. Presper Eckert
Developed ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator)
Eniac is considered the grandfather of digital computers, measuring 20 by 40 feet and holding 18,000 vacuum tubes.
USA, John Mauchly, J. Presper Eckert Developed ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator) Eniac is considered the grandfather of digital computers, measuring 20 by 40 feet and holding 18,000 vacuum tubes. 1946
USA, John Mauchly, J. Presper Eckert
UNIVAC (UNIVersal Automatic Computer)
The first commercial computer for business and government.
USA, John Mauchly, J. Presper Eckert UNIVAC (UNIVersal Automatic Computer) The first commercial computer for business and government. 1974~1977
Personal computers are released.
Scelbi & Mark-8 / Altair
IBM / 5100 (the first portable computer, 25kg)
Radio Shack / TRS-80
Commodore / PET
Personal computers are released. Scelbi & Mark-8 / Altair IBM / 5100 (the first portable computer, 25kg) Radio Shack / TRS-80 Commodore / PET 1981
USA, IBM
Acorn launch
Popularization of PC terminology.
USA, IBM Acorn launch Popularization of PC terminology. 1981
USA, Osborne Computer
Launch of Osborne 1, the first personal laptop computer.
USA, Osborne Computer Launch of Osborne 1, the first personal laptop computer. 1983
USA, Apple Computer
Launch of Lisa, the first personal computer with GUI.
USA, Apple Computer Launch of Lisa, the first personal computer with GUI. 1984
UK, Psion
Launch of the first electronic dictionary, Scion Organizer.
UK, Psion Launch of the first electronic dictionary, Scion Organizer. 1989
USA, GRiD Systems Corporation
Launch of the first tablet computer GRiDPad.
USA, GRiD Systems Corporation Launch of the first tablet computer GRiDPad. 1992
IBM’s first smartphone Simon development
IBM’s first smartphone Simon development 1993
USA, Apple Computer
Newton message pad released
First use of PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) term.
1.3. Type of computer
I’ll just go over the classification by size.
1.3.1. Super computer
Super computer used by the Meteorological Agency. It’s not necessarily the case, but you can think of it as a large and expensive computer that would normally occupy an entire room. Since it is mainly for complex arithmetic and scientific operations, it can be called a super computer if it is small in size in terms of functionality but has excellent performance.
1.3.2. Desktop
Imagine that the square computer you normally use at home. It is a computer whose main purpose is to write personal documents, work on graphics, enjoy media, and play games.
1.3.3. Laptop
Lap-Top is meaning that it can be used while resting on your lap. In general, think of a notebook computer. However, laptops have a broader meaning than laptop computers.
1.3.4. Plamtop
It is called Palmtop, meaning that it can be used on the palm of your hand. PDA is one of the representative palmtop products and is the Personal Digital Assistant. In the late 1990s or early 2000, when popularization first began, some people used it for diary purposes, but it will be easy to understand if you think of the portable credit-card terminals.
1.3.5. Mobile computer (Tablet, Smart phone)
I grouped the categories of tablet and smartphone. These two concepts are also included in palmtops, but since smartphones appeared after the industry defined palmtops, they were classified separately. It supports various calculations, application execution, and web browsing that can be done on a general computer, as well as functions such as phone calls and text messages through mobile networks.
1.3.6. Wearable computer
It is a wearing computer that began to appear in earnest in late 2010. This includes glasses for VR (Virtual Reality), robots worn by humans used for rehabilitation treatment, and transportation of objects. | https://medium.com/@groonika/1-what-is-the-computer-b382fafe653f | [] | 2020-10-06 16:47:30.632000+00:00 | ['History', 'Computer Science', 'History Of Computer', 'Computers', 'Starter'] |
Scaling up zkSNARKS with Intel SGX for Proof-of-Transcoding | In order to meet the level of verification required for the VideoCoin Network, our development team has made a breakthrough to improve proof-of-transcoding with an integrated zkSNARKS and Intel’s Software Guard Extensions(Intel SGX) solution.
A few months back, we shared VideoCoin’s breakthrough advancements in using zkSNARKS for proof of video transcoding. Building on these advancements, our team has a newly implemented solution that enhances verification on-chain through the VideoCoin Network.
In the zkSNARKS based proof-of-transcode, the Worker(Transcode Miner), generates the zkSNARKS proof and submits to the VideoCoin Network. The zkSNARKS verification process requires checking of elliptic curve pairings(bilinear maps) which are compute-intensive tasks. The problem is the high usage of the CPU limits the number of verifications that can be performed, and this impacts performance.
We’re excited to share the new highly scalable solution based on Intel Software Guard Extensions(SGX) wherein a separate zkSNARKS verifier runs in SGX Enclave along with the Worker.
How Intel SGX and VideoCoin Network integration works
Intel SGX Enclave is a trusted execution environment embedded in a process that protects code and data from disclosure or modification. Enclaves are protected areas of execution. Application code can be put into an enclave via special instructions and software made available to developers via the Intel SGX SDK. SGX Enclaves are hardened by CPU-based security mechanisms. SGX Enclaves can also be remotely provisioned and attested. One part of physical memory(RAM) is reserved for enclaves. It is called Enclave Page Cache, or EPC. EPC memory is encrypted in the RAM.
When the Worker is running on a machine with SGX support, the VideoCoin Network enables the offloading of the verification computations to a program running in the SGX Enclave. A trusted attestation server, which is a form of Oracle running on the VideoCoin Network, establishes the chain-of-trust. The attestation server maintains a list of valid verifiers. It can detect any compromised nodes and remove them from the authorized verifiers.
Integration Overview of SGX-based Worker and the VideoCoin Network
Each remote SGX machine will have two accounts on the VideoCoin Network, one Worker account that performs work and receives rewards, and one Verifier account that runs in SGX Enclave to perform verifications.
The role of the Worker account is the same as current transcode miners in the VideoCoin Network.
The role of the Verifier account is similar to Verifier Oracles in the VideoCoin Network except the Verifier runs along with the Worker on the same machine.
The verifier running in the trusted enclave will be attested. View this white paper for more information on attestation: https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/innovative-technology-for-cpu-based-attestation-and-sealing
After performing the transcoding of a chunk, the Worker generates zkSNARKS proof and submits to the Verifier running in the SGX Enclave.
The Verifier performs the verification and sends the result to the VideoCoin Network. Verifier signs the validation transaction with the private key corresponding to the account registered with the VideoCoin Network.
The same zkSNARKS scheme designed for non-SGX systems will be used with the SGX system except the verifier will be running in the SGX Enclave.
FAQ
Q: What is the role of zkSNARKS in the new proof-of-transcode? Can we do away with it and use any alternative?
A: The “probabilistically checkable proofs” of zkSNARKS provides an efficient proof generation and verification mechanism. It provides succinct proofs for recording on the blockchain.
Q: What are the advantages of using SGX based zkSNARKS Verifier?
A: Scalability: Verifier running in an SGX enclave can be treated as equivalent to “verifier Oracle” for the blockchain. This alleviates the need for running dedicated verifiers or burdening EVM with on-chain verification.
Improved security: Since the proof system, verification system and compute resources are closely located, man-in-the-middle attacks are eliminated.
More robust verification: Since the verifier is running on the same system as a transcoder, we can enable more robust commitment schemes for the transcoded data.
Q: What are the disadvantages?
A: Requires the setup of an ISV Provisioning Server that communicates with Intel Attestation Server which brings in a centralized component into the network.
References
1. Overview of Intel SGX: https://blog.quarkslab.com/overview-of-intel-sgx-part-1-sgx-internals.html
2. A Pure Rust Implementation of an Elliptic Curve Keypair Generator in an Intel SGX Enclave: https://github.com/provable-things/ethereum-keys-sgx | https://medium.com/videocoin/scaling-up-zksnarks-with-intel-sgx-for-proof-of-transcoding-85a36b1361b | [] | 2019-11-27 13:28:24.389000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Cryptography', 'Crypto', 'Blockchain'] |
Everybody Loves a Cad: Mank and Citizen Kane Analysis | Photo by Caryn from Pexels
Reading Playlist
The commonalities between the new-ish ( it went live on Netflix December 6) Mank, the David Fincher film all about the writing process of…the movie we spend all of Mank not naming (it starts with a C and ends with a itizen Kane) don’t end at the black and white cinematography. The largest of which lays between both of the film’s heroes.
We follow the literally half broken Herman ‘Mank’ Mankiewicz as he embarks on writing a script for Orson Welles about any subject Welles wants...in ninety days. Mank toils and struggles to get the story absolutely correct on such a tight deadline. To be completely transparent as a once weekly film and tv and theater blogger who has a penchant for procrastination, I can relate. His subject? The largest and richest newspaper mogul in the world, William Randolph Hearst; cleverly hidden behind another three named character.
Everyone in Mank’s life, except the merry band keeping him company and, of course the always looming like a shadow in the corner, but…not really doing anything but cracking the whip on our poor hero, Orson Welles, wants Mank to stop writing this script. Mank pushes forward anyway. Constantly drunk, perilously treading water, tired, but — somehow, almost annoyingly likable and annoyingly intolerable Mank continues to write Cit — sorry. It’s never called by that name the whole movie. Anyway, back to Mank.
Like I was saying, Mank is portrayed beautifully with such nuance by Gary Oldman and is written with such tender honesty by Jack Fincher, that you can’t help but root for him. Especially if the viewer knows what movie Mank is writing. The frustration comes when Mank screws up every other aspect of his life. Which, he does; often. He is always worrying his wife, his stenographer, his brother, and downright terrifying his bosses at Paramount Pictures all because of his big mouth. All the audience can do is watch him dig himself deeper and deeper into trouble. It’s like watching a close and greatly admired friend constantly undermine how admirable they are. Mank is everything one could ever hope to be as a writer. He’s smart and charismatic. He knows how to tell a story succinctly yet with terrific creativity. The problem is, you watch him also blow all those attributes to smithereens because dammit, he couldn’t stand by and watch people do something dishonestly.
The difference with the character Mank writes, the “hero” of the second film I watched this week, is that the viewer will wait the entire two hours of the film to root for the “hero”, and never will completely. Citizen Kane’s Charles Foster Kane makes that impossible to do, because, well, we never hear from his perspective. We never see him be entirely human…because (and this isn’t a spoiler) he dies before we get to know him. The audience has to hear from people who, while they were close to Kane, never really get to see him fully. He’s unlikeable. He’s just as intolerably unlikeable as Mank, the only difference is, we don’t feel like we know him at all. It robs the viewer of ever finding him annoyingly likable. Who do we have to blame for that? Our annoyingly likable hero from Mank for writing him that way.
Now, if you want to do what I did, and watch these two movies together, I first want to recommend that no matter what order you watch them, take a small break in between. Give yourself a chance to sit with one or the other. If you have never actually seen Citizen Kane before, watch Mank first. It’ll give you the actual context of why Citizen Kane was so scandalous at the time, and it’s a bit of an easier watch because you have someone to care about and admire while also wanting him to just keep his mouth shut. With Kane, all you get is a figure. You get characters surrounding him that you start to care about. The dialogue and acting in Citizen Kane are wonderful (as is the dialogue and acting in Mank), and there are some beautifully composed shots. So if you don’t know anything about Kane, it’s better to have some background.
If you have seen Citizen Kane before, it’s better the other way around. You already know the pitfalls of not ever exactly being able to pin down Charles as the hero of the story, and you know all about the final mystery so you won’t be surprised by anything. Watching Mank afterward is like getting a beautifully made glimpse into what lead up to the making of such a masterpiece. It’s like a story about the Titanic or Jesus, you know what’s going to happen, with the added bonus of getting a new perspective from a person most don’t hear about in the mythology of Kane. | https://medium.com/@oliviahrko/everybody-loves-a-cad-mank-and-citizen-kane-analysis-5383a27117f5 | ['Olivia Hrko'] | 2020-12-18 14:03:05.287000+00:00 | ['Movies', 'Classic Hollywood', 'Film', 'Analysis', 'Heroes'] |
Have you found the “One Thing”? I have. Lots of them. | I’d found it. The One Thing. It was Microsoft Access.
Yes! No laughing at the back. Microsoft Access.
In 1997, I’d been working as a financial analyst at Chase Manhattan for three months. Every day I had to grapple with 64 Excel spreadsheets. Some were linked and some you had to copy and paste the data from one to the other. They always broke. It took ten hours to magic up figures that had errors every day. It was a nightmare until my boss’s boss dumped one of those three-inch-thick books on my desk and said, “Fancy learning Access?”
So I did. Three months later, I had one shiny new Access database, five spreadsheets, and I could publish accurate figures in two hours.
So now I’d found my One Thing. That was it. Search over.
But then I discovered VBA. Then Oracle. Then Java. Then Extreme Programming. Then Agile. Then W. Edwards Deming. Then Lean. Then Systems Thinking. Then the Viable System Model. Then Complexity. Then Editing. Then Publishing.
Did I miss any? Yes, lots. There were dozens more One Things along the way.
Now I have discovered a new One Thing.
There is no one thing. There is just another step on the path. But whereas before, scaling one peak would lead to seeing the next. I now realise that there is a whole mountain range. Some peaks are near, some far. Some lit by a bright sunbeam, some shrouded in mist.
I have abandoned my search for the One Thing. But I still get a little blip of joy when I spy another mountain to climb. It’s visiting the groups on all their mountains, learning from them and making connections that are my Many Things now. | https://medium.com/exapt-press/have-you-found-the-one-thing-i-have-lots-of-them-fdf6bd01cb84 | ['Rob Worth'] | 2021-07-20 10:22:54.792000+00:00 | ['Systems Thinking', 'Complexity', 'Learning', 'Purpose', 'One Thing'] |
Improving Bottom Line with Big Data Analytics | Most often, procurement subcontractors do get a handful of data to operate business functions but fail to understand what they should actually do to analyze the data and implement them on increasing profit margins. Having the data in hand is not an issue nowadays but analyzing it to impact and increase the bottom line is. Big data is available to every organizational owner, but the key point lies in the value of analytics that is driven by the strategies of how to apply it to make improved decisions and solve business issues.
This context will be providing procurement experts with ideas helping them to critically analyze the big data so that they can effectively increase the bottom line and decrease the issues related to the workforce.
With the growth of every business, its kingdom spreads rapidly along with the number of products offered by it. As the list of offerings is increasing, product managers are spending their valuable time trying to create the next big thing to launch in the market. But, the procurement subcontractors rarely dedicate their time in assessing the complete portfolio to manage the entire life cycle of the product. Products do have a life cycle and product managers must invest their time in analyzing the efforts they put on manufacturing such products to increase the profit margin. So, the next time you manufacture a product, simply analyze it and see the magic.
Analysis of big data should be effortlessly used to improve customer service quality. Whether your organization provides services or products or both, keeping up to the expectations of the customers and serving them value is what you should have your aim at. Customer service and quality of products go hand in hand and these two topics can make or break your business’s reputation. Customers will always want quality products in return for the money they will invest. If you can satisfy your customers with quality products, you will be doing the best for your organization’s success.
Photo by Franki Chamaki on Unsplash
The supply chain in modern days produces unparalleled quantities of digital information. Previously, the procurement consultants used to pen down all these transactions and data on paper. But with the advent of supply chain analytics system, they can easily capture these data digitally without having to put so much effort personally. And, with these advanced capabilities, organizations can easily identify shortcomings and performance.
The big data analysis tools help in improving credibility by checking the profit margin closely. Nowadays, most of the businesses among a broad range of industries require the department’s management to approve requests of various financial issues. The managers must properly analyze the vet suppliers, monitor them, and make various other critical decisions. These decisions, when backed up with solid and reliable data, helps in increasing credibility. This is effectively done by the implementation of good procurement technologies and in-depth analysis of big data.
These are some of the reasons why procurement consultants should be analyzing their data to increase their profit margin and improve the bottom line. | https://medium.com/procurement-and-sourcing-hub/improving-bottom-line-with-big-data-analytics-994c7be5a5a6 | ['James Diaz'] | 2020-12-14 11:03:39.874000+00:00 | ['Bottom Line', 'Supply Chain', 'Business Growth', 'Big Data Analytics', 'Procurement'] |
Random Lego Set — Wind Shark (REDLINE) | We are in the final hours of Redline: Siege’s Kickstarter campaign. This has been an incredible process thus far, watching and supporting the campaign. As I’ve said before, I do love this setting. I love the grittiness of it, the grayness of the morality, and the kickass mecha designs. I would still love to write down Desert Flower, scheduled to be the setting’s first novella. For this to happen, though, I still need your support.
I think the Wind Shark is a good efreet to end this stage of my support for the setting. A machine possibly inspired by advanced BRIMEA designs, it is used by the super-rich as a racer, although some warlords and mercenary outfits have managed to use it as a war machine.
The original design was created by a fan, too, Alex Bronner. Interestingly enough, the original Wind Shark was also made in Lego. Go check it out!
And all that is left is to unlock the additional pledges on Kickstarter, and share the Twitter announcement enough for the novel to happen. It will be a good story, I think. Epic mecha battles, intense firefights, deep emotional moments, and lingering romance, all set against a background of a wasted warzone and lost hope. Just give it a look, and see if you want to help us out.
Thank you in advance! | https://medium.com/@metastablemachine/random-lego-set-wind-shark-redline-84b004517e9c | ['Francisco Duarte'] | 2021-09-06 19:17:06.194000+00:00 | ['Lego Instructions', 'Redline Trading Card Game', 'Wind Shark', 'Saving Throw Studios', 'Kickstarter'] |
Beyond Excel: how data is leaving spreadsheets behind | Beyond Excel: how data is leaving spreadsheets behind Sciant Follow Jan 7 · 3 min read
Since the 80s spreadsheet software like Excel has been used to crunch, analyse and present data. But now the sheer volume of data that most organisations handle means spreadsheets are becoming defunct. With 21% of businesses moving towards other software solutions in the US alone, organisations are slowly waking up to the need for bigger and better data handling. But what does this mean for the technology we will interface with and the skill sets we will need moving forward?
Problems with Excel
Excel has been a solid workhorse for several decades but there are a number of issues that make it unsuitable for the kind of data loads modern businesses deal with. With manual inputting and lack of consolidation across different users, errors are almost inevitable and often costly. A relatively minor error at TansAlta cost the Canadian power company over $24 million and J P Morgan lost a massive $6 billion due to operational errors with Excel. With four out of five CFOs citing problems with their spreadsheets, clearly something needs to change.
Spreadsheets are often not integrated with other systems such as accounting and enterprise resource management systems. Often collaboration between users is overly-complicated with manual updates needing to be communicated to all other users. And because spreadsheets weren’t designed to handle the huge amounts of data required by modern businesses, they often have to be segmented into more manageable data sets which then become incredibly difficult to consolidate, making it almost impossible to see the big picture.
Also poor data visualisation means that data is often presented in an unclear or even misleading way, leading to key insights being missed. All of which can make spreadsheet data unpleasant, boring and even intimidating, especially for non-technical staff.
The way forward
Many businesses are now turning to cloud-based solutions where large amounts of data can be handled in an integrated way, connecting various systems and maintaining and presenting a single source of truth. Collaboration also becomes easier — gone are the days of the torturous process of consolidating all the various changes and inputs made by different users. With cloud-based software multiple users can work on the same task with real-time updates and instant communication, meaning that all changes are tracked and errors can be quickly pinpointed.
AI is the other big step change. Big data is about integrating information from all systems in an up-to-date, relevant and clean manner in a way that can be analysed effectively by machine learning algorithms to provide novel insights. It automates the often tediously repetitive manual inputting tasks and eliminates the possible errors from the procedure. It also provides easy-to-understand, intuitive visualisation tools which enable people to quickly understand the most relevant and important points, leading to greater insight and access to people from across the workplace.
New skills and opportunities
Adoption of this new technology ultimately means more freedom for the humans in the chain. Whereas before they had to be number crunchers who spent large portions of their working time manually inputting and updating data, they are now more able to engage the creative side of their minds, free of mindless tasks, free of the fear of error and free of the headache of trying to analyse opaque data.
Our invaluable human brains can now focus on what they are best at — finding creative insights from the data presented to unlock and power new and innovative business solutions.
At Sciant, we connect your systems to unlock the potential of your data, by building big data platforms with full visualisation so data can be exchanged in real-time allowing each and every department to access only the information they need to drive business performance. | https://medium.com/sciant/beyond-excel-how-data-is-leaving-spreadsheets-behind-b52edee73f45 | [] | 2020-01-07 08:59:44.353000+00:00 | ['Data Optimization', 'Efficency', 'Data Visualization', 'Digital Transformation', 'Big Data'] |
What if — and this is gonna sound really f**king crazy so just bear with me — what if we don’t let… | What if — and this is gonna sound really f**king crazy so just bear with me — what if we don’t let race or gender factor into our decision making processes at all? As in, don’t even consider those details as relaying any useful information.
Like, maybe we can just judge people by the merits of their accomplishments instead of putting their demographics at the center of the dialogue?
I mean, yeah, for sure, if a non-white female co-worker does something impressive, definitely speak up and make sure their hard work is justly rewarded, but like, maybe instead of going out of your way to shower them with accolades because they’re non-white and female, do it because what they did was something genuinely impressive that warrants going out of your way to shower them with accolades?
Do you think that might be less dehumanizing than qualifying all your praise with “and they did it all while being black and female"? Maybe? Just a little?
Is it possible that looking at them as charity cases we can “save” by running our white male mouths for them sorta relies on the demeaning assumption that our white male mouths are inherently superior to theirs, which is lightweight racist as f**k and lowkey insulting?
Do you see how your article kinda reinforces implicit racial biases instead of challenging them yet, or do I need to keep using condescending and sarcastic questatements to beat my way clockwise around the bush?
On an unrelated note, will Medium punish me for describing someone as a “pompous, out-of-touch dumbf**k"? Obviously not asking because of anything to do with you, kind sir. I’m just new at this and insult humor is a passion of mine. | https://medium.com/@davidbarletta1/what-if-and-this-is-gonna-sound-really-f-king-crazy-so-just-bear-with-me-what-if-we-dont-let-4e787d561029 | ['David Barletta'] | 2020-12-16 19:17:26.605000+00:00 | ['Social Justice', 'Roasted Marshmallow', 'Racial Justice', 'Equality', 'Fire Safety'] |
LA CONFIDENTIAL INDICA BY STIIIZY | CANNABIS DERIVED TERPENES POD | This potent indica boasts deeply relaxing effects with energetic undertones. LA Confidential is a well-rounded strain that delivers a fast-approaching sensation that is both psychedelic and super calming on the mind and body. For seeking relief, LA Confidential can both put to sleep and treat acute pain.
LA Confidential effects
Taste: Pine | Skunk | Lemon
Feeling: Relaxed | Talkative | Uplifted
Feels Like: Relaxed | Happy | Euphoric | Sleepy | Uplifted
Helps With: Stress | Pain | Anxiety | Insomnia | Depression
Side Effects: Dry Mouth
Extracted directly from local single-sourced cannabis plants, STIIIZY’s Cannabis Derived Terpenes preserve the natural terpene profile of each flower strain to deliver optimum synergy in both flavor and potency. | https://medium.com/@mindrnd/la-confidential-indica-by-stiiizy-cannabis-derived-terpenes-pod-171d268b7968 | ['Mind Research'] | 2020-12-14 04:39:11.447000+00:00 | ['Pot', 'Confidential', 'Marijuana', 'Weed', 'Cannabis'] |
Buying Wins at the Sales | Introduction
Since Moneyball, i’ve been largely obsessed with the translation of concepts used in Sabermetrics and wider Sports Analytics into the sport of Horse Racing. In this article we aim to convey a methods utilized in other sports can be applied to thoroughbred analysis, thus allowing for identification of value in the bloodstock markets and sales rings across the UK & Ireland.
We believe that by better understanding of the variables that influence thoroughbred performance that investors can identify and realize greater value opportunities at the sales.
Data
All race data is taken from Flat & All Weather races in the UK and Ireland since 2010.
All sales data is taken from sales in the UK & Ireland since January 2017. This was compiled manually by aggregating sales results across the Tattersalls and Goffs Auction houses together.
Winners-to-Runners Ratio
What proportion of sires’ runners end up winning at the track?
We will start with the traditional metric, Winners-to-Runners Ratio. WTRR assesses the % of runners from a sires’ progeny that end up winning on the track.
Intriguing aspects, even as we begin, as we see that two “newer” sires in the form of War Front and Frankel top the Winners-To-Runners rankings. War Front displays an impressive record with 68.0% of his total runners hitting the track in the UK & Ireland recording a race victory. Frankel continues to back up his stallion credentials with a 65.7% winners-to-runners ratio and Scat Daddy rounds out the top 3 with a record of 64.4% winners-to-runners ratio. Dubawi is impressive in fourth due to his durability — a 63.8% WTRR over a large sample size of 853 horses since 2010.
Perhaps most impressive is the ability of Galileo and Dubawi to sustain their WTRR after such a large number of progeny have raced. If Frankel and War Front can sustain a similar level of performance when approaching 1000 progeny hitting the track, then they will lay claim to stand with the greats.
Sales Prices
In order to bring a comparison between on track performance and value throughout the sales ring, we have also compiled records of all bloodstock purchases across the UK & Ireland since the start of 2017.
The breakdown below shows the average (mean) sales price of progeny going through the sales ring in this time period. This will come in useful later on.
Winners-to-Runners Ratio x Sales Price
In order to bring some further context to the winners-to-runners ratio, and also the opportunity to identify some value, we correlated the WTRR performance vs. the average purchase price of progeny through the sales ring since 2017. Of interest are the horses with a below average sales price, but an above average WTRR. Pay particular attention to the positions of Lope De Vega, Pivotal, Exceed and Excel, Kodiac and Holy Roman Emperor.
A Pearson correlation of 0.529 shows that there is a moderate correlation between Average Sales Price and Winners to Runners Ratio.
Throughout this piece I will use some simple Linear Regression equations to calculate an “Expectancy” level based on the various factors that we will explore.
Due to a necessity to remove outliers for this type of data analysis, as it causes skew, Galileo has been removed from the analysis below. Our Linear Regression model shows the comparison between actual performance in terms of winners on the track vs. a calculated expected performance based on average sales price. All results have then been adjusted to 100 runners to allow for consistent analysis across the sample sires of the different sires analysed.
The top 5 sires delivering “above expectation” in terms of winning runners when compared to average sales price are as follows: | https://medium.com/@tomwilson1986/buying-wins-at-the-sales-c76a4bce9bb5 | ['Tom Wilson'] | 2021-05-26 19:27:53.615000+00:00 | ['Bloodstock', 'Gambling', 'Investing', 'Betting', 'Horse Racing'] |
How to prepare for ISTQB Foundation Level and Agile Extension | Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash
For the ones not familiarized with the sigla ISTQB, it stands for International Software Testing Qualifications Boards and is “the worldwide leader in the certification of competencies in software testing”.
If you are a tester or already check some testing job opportunities, you should have seen that ISTQB certification is usually a requirement we must/ should have.
I have the Foundation Level for four years counting and, I remember I felt the difference in the approaches from companies HR after adding the certification to my LinkedIn profile.
Therefore, more than the learning we can acquire doing ISTQB certifications, I think having the certificate can open some extra doors in our professional opportunities.
But, focusing on what we can learn with ISTQB certifications, it is evolving very well in the last few years. They are paying attention to the software industry and testing trends and, considering that they’ve been adding some new certifications to their list.
Currently, we have the following available certificates:
Image by ISTQB on istqb.org
As you can see, now we have three vertical paths — Core, Agile and Specialist — which is excellent because, as far as I can remember, back in 2016, when I start working and first searched for ISTQB, we only had the Core path.
This means that the ISTQB understood the need we had on how to work in Agile projects (not only waterfall). They also understood that fields such as automated tests and mobile testing started growing and, they needed to go along with that growth and training us in that regard.
Despite creating brand new paths and levels within them, the organization did not neglect the existing ones and, the Foundation Level — Certified Tester — Syllabus suffered some improvements in 2018. Just adding, for the people who don’t know, Syllabus is the book with all the approached contents. Each certificate has a specific Syllabus.
Not only their certifications catalogue changed. The final exams are also more aligned with technological development. When I did the Foundation Level, the exam was in paper format and, the final score was disclosed a week after through email. Last year (before the pandemic), I did the Agile Extension Level exam and, this time, the exam was in digital format. We had to go to a classroom but, they provided us iPads and a unique code to access our exam. The score was immediate as I got my final result right after submitting the exam replies. | https://blog.devgenius.io/how-to-prepare-for-istqb-foundation-level-and-agile-extension-e1f33501c740 | ['Sofia Rebelo'] | 2021-05-17 20:34:08.920000+00:00 | ['Istqb Foundation Level', 'Quality Assurance', 'Certificate', 'Learning', 'Istqb Certification'] |
Fourth Wave Welcomes New Contributors | And I’ve been writing my tuchus off, with most of my stories focused on our political and social situation in the U.S. There are too many to curate a favorite quote from each one (or to wait any longer to send out a newsletter!) so dip in where you like to find one of your own.
Starting with the most recent first:
The Five Best Things I Read on Medium This Week
Sharing the love
Cliff Notes on the 1619 Project
The curriculum which provoked a backlash in the Senate
Someone Stole the President
Finding some humor in that one tender tweet
The Morning After
A stream of consciousness on my emotions after the debate
Who You Follow Now Matters More: Nipples!
Comments of interest to Medium writers about the latest tweaks
Forcing Women to Bear Children Against Their Will
About Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett and Roe v. Wade
Trump Can’t Pull Off a Coup
Because nobody likes him
Sacred Masculine II
A second attempt to list the masculine traits we love; in pagan publication Queen’s Children
Open Letter to Colin Kaepernick
Asking him to ask others to vote; in Morgan Babbs’ blog Contrasts
The Parable of the Orange Ogre
A fun foray into fairy tale
Cuties is a Feminist Movie
Critics are clueless
Eve Delivered Us From Ignorance
I never understood why original woman got a bad rap
Mother Earth is Trying to Kill Us
And why wouldn’t she? We are murderous guests
U.S. Police Should Not Carry Guns
They kill too many people
Everybody Isn’t Going to College
A few problems with our educational system
All this productivity has led me to think about writing: what I want from it, and what it means to me. And though I’d love to make the big bucks and get wide acclaim on Medium, I’m also well-served and well-satisfied by nurturing a small group of sincere people who are trying to understand our crazy world.
When I started Fourth Wave a year and a half ago, my friend Evelyn Jean Pine and I brainstormed a “tagline” for the publication and came up with “Jamming the Frequency,” which represented my hope at the time: to interrupt destructive systems in society.
But after all the anxiety and upset I’ve swallowed during this presidency, this month I moved toward a gentler motto: *changing the world for the better, one story at a time.
Here’s hoping we readers and writers and new world creators can realize that dream.
Yours truly,
Patsy Fergusson
Editor
Fourth Wave | https://medium.com/fourth-wave/fourth-wave-welcomes-new-contributors-3ba53aa823a | ['Patsy Fergusson'] | 2020-10-07 19:49:53.156000+00:00 | ['Feminism', 'Writing', 'Politics', 'Relationships', 'Self'] |
Techniques for Subtour Elimination in Traveling Salesman Problem: Theory and Implementation in Python | Techniques for Subtour Elimination in Traveling Salesman Problem: Theory and Implementation in Python Aayush Aggarwal Follow Dec 6 · 9 min read
INTRODUCTION
In this article, I will explain and implement the well-known Traveling Salesman Problem aka TSP with a special focus on subtour elimination methods. We will use python to implement the MILP formulation. The dataset contains the coordinates of various cities of India. The aim is to find the shortest path that covers all cities. We will cover the following points in this article
Input the data and visualize the problem Model TSP as ILP formulation w/o Subtour constraints Implement Subtour Elimination Method 1: MTZ’s Approach Implement Subtour Elimination Method 2: DFJ’s Approach Compare MTZ’s formulation and DFJ’s formulation Conclusion
The GitHub codes for this article can be found on the link: https://github.com/Ayaush/TSP-ILP
1 Input the data and problem visualization
The CSV file “tsp_city_data.csv” contains the names of cities in India with their latitude and longitude information. The first city “Delhi” is assumed to be the starting point of the trip (depot). The data input to TSP model is the distance matrix which stores the distance (or travel time or cost) from each city (location) to every other city. Thus, for a traveling salesman problem for N cities (location), the distance matrix is of size N x N. The variable no_of_locs in the code is used to define the first n no. of cities we want to include in our TSP problem data. The value is set at 6 for now. The python pandas library is used to read CSV file and distance matrix “dis_mat”.
#import libraries
%matplotlib inline
import pulp
import pandas as pd
from scipy.spatial import distance_matrix
from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
import time
import copy
The function “plot_fig” is used to plot the data and visualize the problem and the function “get_plan” takes the LP solution and returns all the subtours present in the solution.
#This function takes locations as input and plot a scatter plot def plot_fig(loc,heading="plot"): plt.figure(figsize=(10,10))
for i,row in loc.iterrows():
if i==0:
plt.scatter(row["x"],row["y"],c='r')
plt.text(row["x"]+0.2, row["y"]+0.2, 'DELHI (depot) ')
else:
plt.scatter(row["x"], row["y"], c='black')
plt.text(row["x"] + 0.2, row["y"] + 0.2,full_data.loc[i]['CITy'] )
plt.ylim(6,36)
plt.xlim(66,96)
plt.title(heading) # this function find all the subtour in the LP solution. def get_plan(r0):
r=copy.copy(r0)
route = []
while len(r) != 0:
plan = [r[0]]
del (r[0])
l = 0
while len(plan) > l:
l = len(plan)
for i, j in enumerate(r):
if plan[-1][1] == j[0]:
plan.append(j)
del (r[i])
route.append(plan)
return(route)
The following code below reads data from the CSV file and creates a distance matrix for TSP problem.
# set no of cities
no_of_locs=6
data=pd.read_csv("tsp_city_data.csv")
full_data=data.iloc[0:no_of_locs,:]
d=full_data[['x','y']]
dis_mat=pd.DataFrame(distance_matrix(d.values,d.values),\
index=d.index,columns=d.index)
print("----------data--------------")
print(full_data)
print("-----------------------------")
plot_fig(d,heading="Problem Visualization")
plt.show()
2 Model TSP in ILP without Subtour elimination constraints
TSP problem can be modeled as Integer Linear Program. The LP model is explained as follows
Data
N= Number of location including depot (starting point)
Ci,j = Edge cost from node i to node j where i,j= [1…N]
Decision Variable
xi,j = 1 if solution has direct path from node i to j, otherwise 0
The LP model is formulated as follows
The objective (1) minimize the cost of the tour. Constraints (2) and (3) ensures that for each node, there is only one outflow and inflow edge respectively. Thus, each node is visited only once. Constraint (3) restrict outflow to one’s own node.
In this article, python’s PuLP library is used for implementing MILP model in python. PuLP is an LP modeler written in Python. PuLP can call a variety of LP solvers like CBC, CPLEX, GUROBI, SCIP to solve linear problems. It can be installed from the link “https://pypi.org/project/PuLP/”. The CBC solver is preinstalled in the PuLP library while one has to install other solvers like GUROBI, CPLEX separately to use in PuLP. In this implementation, CBC is used as LP solver.
model=pulp.LpProblem('tsp',pulp.LpMinimize)
#define variable
x=pulp.LpVariable.dicts("x",((i,j) for i in range(no_of_locs) \
for j in range(no_of_locs)),\
cat='Binary') #set objective
model+=pulp.lpSum(dis_mat[i][j]* x[i,j] for i in range(no_of_locs) \
for j in range(no_of_locs))
# st constraints
for i in range(no_of_locs):
model+=x[i,i]==0
model+=pulp.lpSum(x[i,j] for j in range(no_of_locs))==1
model += pulp.lpSum(x[j, i] for j in range(no_of_locs)) == 1 status=model.solve()
#status=model.solver()
print("-----------------")
print(status,pulp.LpStatus[status],pulp.value(model.objective))
route=[(i,j) for i in range(no_of_locs) \
for j in range(no_of_locs) if pulp.value(x[i,j])==1]
print(get_plan(route))
plot_fig(d,heading="solution Visualization")
arrowprops = dict(arrowstyle='->', connectionstyle='arc3', edgecolor='blue')
for i, j in route:
plt.annotate('', xy=[d.iloc[j]['x'], d.iloc[j]['y']],\
xytext=[d.iloc[i]['x'], d.iloc[i]['y']],\
arrowprops=arrowprops)
The optimal solution given by the LP model has subtours i.e
Tour 1 : Delhi > Nagpur > Rajkot Tour 2 : Kolkata > Dispur > Agartala
The solution given by the model has 2 tours but what required is the single tour that starts with the depot (Delhi) and visits all locations one by one and ends at Delhi. To solve this problem and to get the desired single tour, the subtour elimination constraints need to be added in the LP Model.
There are 2 well-known formulations DSF and MTZ (named after their authors). This article covers both the ideas and the implementation in python.
3. MTZ Method for subtour elimination
This formulation was proposed by Miller, Tucker, Zemlin. To eliminate subtours, continuous decision variables representing times at which a location is visited is added. Variable for all locations except depot node is added. ti= time at which location i is visited, i =[2,…N] Finally what is required are the constraint
How does constraint (5) remove subtours ?
Lets takes an previous example and take the subtour Kolkata (k) > Dispur(d) > Agartala(a)
So adding constraint (5) will eliminate the subtour.
The complete Lp model is formulated as follows
Data
N= Number of location including depot (starting point)
Ci,j = Edge cost from node i to node j where i,j= [1…N]
Decision Variable
xi,j = 1 if solution has direct path from node i to j, otherwise 0
ti = time at which location i is visited , i =[2,…N]
The LP model is formulated as follows
The MTZ’s formulation is implemented in python as shown below.
start_t=time.time()
model=pulp.LpProblem('tsp',pulp.LpMinimize)
#define variable
x=pulp.LpVariable.dicts("x",((i,j) for i in range(no_of_locs) \
for j in range(no_of_locs)),\
cat='Binary') t = pulp.LpVariable.dicts("t", (i for i in range(no_of_locs)), \
lowBound=1,upBound= no_of_locs, cat='Continuous')
#set objective
model+=pulp.lpSum(dis_mat[i][j]* x[i,j] for i in range(no_of_locs) \
for j in range(no_of_locs))
# st constraints
for i in range(no_of_locs):
model+=x[i,i]==0
model+=pulp.lpSum(x[i,j] for j in range(no_of_locs))==1
model += pulp.lpSum(x[j, i] for j in range(no_of_locs)) == 1
#eliminate subtour
for i in range(no_of_locs):
for j in range(no_of_locs):
if i!=j and (i!=0 and j!=0):
model+=t[j]>=t[i]+1 - (2*no_of_locs)*(1-x[i,j])
status=model.solve()
#status=model.solver()
print("-----------------")
print(status,pulp.LpStatus[status],pulp.value(model.objective))
route=[(i,j) for i in range(no_of_locs) \
for j in range(no_of_locs) if pulp.value(x[i,j])==1]
print(route)
plot_fig(d,heading="solution Visualization")
arrowprops = dict(arrowstyle='->', connectionstyle='arc3', edgecolor='blue')
for i, j in route:
plt.annotate('', xy=[d.iloc[j]['x'], d.iloc[j]['y']],\
xytext=[d.iloc[i]['x'], d.iloc[i]['y']],\
arrowprops=arrowprops)
print("time taken by MTZ formulation = ", time.time()-start_t)
4. DFJ Method for subtour elimination
This formulation was proposed by Dantzig, Fulkerson, Jhonson. To eliminate subtours, for every set S of cities, add a constraint saying that the tour leaves S at least once.
How does this constraint eliminate subtours?
Let's take the same example and take a set Si= {kolkata, Dispur, Agartala} and the rest of the cities be represented by s′i={ Delhi(del), Rajkot(r), Nagpur(n)}
Now as per constraint (15), the new constraint added is as follows
since there is no edge going to any other node in this set (due to subtour), this equation is not satisfied for the set Si= {{kolkata, Dispur, Agartala}. So, by adding constraint (15), this solution becomes infeasible and all subtours will be eliminated.
Modification in DFJ Method
For N cities, the number of possible sets adds up to 2^n i.e the number of constraints grows exponentially. So, instead of adding constraints for all the possible sets, only some constraints are added. Given a solution to LP model(without having subtour elimination constraints) with subtours, one can quickly find the subset for which DFJ subtour constraint is eliminated. In the example above, one needs to add only 2 constraints and not 2^5 constraints.
So, the higher-level algorithm is as follows
Higher-level Algorithm for DFJ
step 1. Solve TSP problem with LP formulation w/o Subtour Constraints
step 2. If no subtour present in the current solution, goto step 6
step 3. Add subtour constraint only for the subtours present in the current solution.
step 4. Solve TSP problem with newly added constraint.
step 5. goto step 2
step 6. Return the final TSP solution
The above-mentioned algorithm is implemented as follows
start_t_1=time.time()
model=pulp.LpProblem('tsp',pulp.LpMinimize)
#define variable
x=pulp.LpVariable.dicts("x",((i,j) for i in range(no_of_locs) \
for j in range(no_of_locs)),\
cat='Binary') #set objective
model+=pulp.lpSum(dis_mat[i][j]* x[i,j] for i in range(no_of_locs) \
for j in range(no_of_locs))
# st constraints
for i in range(no_of_locs):
model+=x[i,i]==0
model+=pulp.lpSum(x[i,j] for j in range(no_of_locs))==1
model += pulp.lpSum(x[j, i] for j in range(no_of_locs)) == 1
status=model.solve() route=[(i,j) for i in range(no_of_locs) \
for j in range(no_of_locs) if pulp.value(x[i,j])==1]
route_plan=get_plan(route)
subtour=[]
while len(route_plan)!=1:
for i in range(len(route_plan)):
#print(route_plan[i]) model+=pulp.lpSum(x[route_plan[i][j][0],route_plan[i][j][1]]\
for j in range(len(route_plan[i])))<=\
len(route_plan[i])-1
status=model.solve()
route = [(i, j) for i in range(no_of_locs) \
for j in range(no_of_locs) if pulp.value(x[i, j]) == 1] route_plan = get_plan(route)
subtour.append(len(route_plan))
print("-----------------")
print(status,pulp.LpStatus[status],pulp.value(model.objective))
print(route_plan)
print("no. of times LP model is solved = ",len(subtour))
print("subtour log (no. of subtours in each solution))",subtour)
print("Time taken by DFJ formulation = ", time.time()-start_t_1)
plot_fig(d,heading="solution Visualization")
arrowprops = dict(arrowstyle='->', connectionstyle='arc3', edgecolor='blue')
for i, j in route_plan[0]:
plt.annotate('', xy=[d.iloc[j]['x'], d.iloc[j]['y']],\
xytext=[d.iloc[i]['x'], d.iloc[i]['y']],
arrowprops=arrowprops)
plt.show() #print("total time = ",time.time()-start)
Compare MTZ’s Formulation vs DFJ’s formulation
Since two approaches for subtour elimination have been discussed in this article, it's time to compare the two. MTZ’s approach introduces n² constraints (one for each pair (i,j) where i, j=[1..n]) while DFJ’s approach introduces subtour constraints for all possible sets of locations i.e 2^n for n locations. Thus, MTZ’s approach adds a polynomial number of constraints while DFJ’s approach introduces an exponential number of constraints.
In terms of decision variables, MTZ approach introduces n new decision variables (titi for i =[1..n]).ON the other hand, DFJ introduces no new decision variable. MTZ’s approach has to be solved only once to get an optimal solution While DFJ is generally implemented as a modified version and it is solved iteratively ( i.e LP model has to be solved multiple times with new subtour constraints added every time).
There is no clear winner among the two. For some problems, DFJ gives solutions faster than MTZ and for some problems, MTZ is faster. But DFJ has an efficient branch and bound approach due to which it becomes more efficient than MTZ. Also, MTZ’s formulation is weaker i.e the feasible region has the same integer points but includes more fractional points.
Conclusion
In this article, MILP formulation of TSP is explained with a special focus on subtour elimination approaches. TSP problem is a special case of Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) with no. of vehicle equal to 1. But, subtour elimination is a core issue in VRP as well which is solved by using the same techniques. In this article, the TSP problem is solved for only 6 cities to simplify the explanation of subtour elimination. The CSV file uploaded in the Github repository contains data of 27 cities. One can try to solve the problem for more number of cities. | https://medium.com/swlh/techniques-for-subtour-elimination-in-traveling-salesman-problem-theory-and-implementation-in-71942e0baf0c | ['Aayush Aggarwal'] | 2020-12-06 22:35:02.606000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Optimization', 'Analytics', 'Travelling Salesman'] |
#BigParentingIdea — Your Work Ethic Is The Single Most Important Thing You Leave Your Child With | Parents care a lot about their children’s future and yet the majority of them forget that the single most important ingredient of their children’s lives, the cornerstone of their happiness, health and relationships, is their attitude toward and their relationship with work.
There is no denying that work will be the biggest part of their lives. Whether we’re chasing the conventional success (money, power, status, etc.) or any other success (because we decided that we will pursue other goals) we will need to put in the hours.
Work is what gets us there. Nothing else will.
You can play the lottery, you can hope that you will inherit a fortune when your parents pass away, but if having money isn’t your only purpose in life, and it isn’t for most of us, you will still need something else. You will need the work.
Work is being portrayed as something we don’t like. We say things like “If you love what you’re doing it doesn’t feel like work.” Our stereotypical image of work is that it sucks and that we all would be much better off if we worked less or if we didn’t have to work at all.
That’s bullshit!
Work is the most noble and most vital part of our existence.
It’s through work that we contribute to the society. It’s through work that we add value to other people’s lives. It’s through our work that we usually help others.
Work is at the centre of our lives. The fruits of our work are the most important things we can share with others. Any creation that has ever been made, any masterpiece that we admire, has come to existence because someone worked, not because someone sat on the front porch, sipped beer and talked to friends. Heck, we couldn’t even sit on that front porch without someone’s work.
We stress the importance of being among people and interacting with each other (socializing, going out with friends, finding a work-life balance), but we almost never stress the importance of work.
Work has become this nasty, unwelcome part of our lives. The necessity we all have to put up with.
People dream about winning the lottery or suddenly inheriting a enough money to retire. They fantasize how they would never again have to work a single day in their lives. Worse still, they share those fantasies with friends and family thus polluting their minds with this crap.
They tell their children that they should enjoy their lives while they’re still young. That the best years are our childhood years, the teenage years and our 20s. That’s usually a time when we still have adults who care about paying the bills and providing for us. Thus our message is clear “Enjoy your life while you still can.” That’s a hell of a motivation, isn’t it?
When you’re being primed to hate work from as early as elementary school (or even kindergarten) what can you expect in terms of your attitude toward work later in your life?
Parents who do this make a massive mistake. They forget that their broken relationship with work is not enough of a reason to sell their children on a notion that in general work sucks.
They forget that we always tend to see more of the “reality” we’re part of. When we hate work we are far more likely to believe that that’s just the way things are in this world and sell our children on this bullshit life philosophy.
Ever had the impression that after you have bought your car or stroller, suddenly you were seeing more people in this particular car or moms (or dads) with this particular stroller? It’s not that they all suddenly decided to buy this particular brand (after “hearing” that you too bought it) but we simply start to notice those cars and strollers more. They’ve become part of our reality and that’s why we pay more attention to them rather than other brands.
If you aren’t that lucky and haven’t yet found the work you love, don’t tell your children there is no such thing. The fact that you haven’t found it yet doesn’t mean it’s impossible to have such relationship with work.
Life becomes easier and way more pleasurable when you get to do the work you love. So spare your children your flimsy wisdoms about how much work sucks (because it doesn’t) and don’t deprive them of the chance to develop a deep, meaningful and beautiful relationship with their work. | https://medium.com/rethinking-parenting/bigparentingidea-your-work-ethic-is-the-single-most-important-thing-you-leave-your-child-with-20017abb6df8 | ['Lukasz Laniecki'] | 2016-10-16 14:15:11.095000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Parenting', 'Passion', 'Work', 'Children'] |
Top 10 AR Developer Tools Every Developer Should Know | Top 10 AR Developer Tools Every Developer Should Know echoAR Follow Feb 11 · 6 min read
According to the latest report from Statista, the global augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) markets are exploding and are forecast to reach a total of 72.8 billion U.S. dollars by 2024.
Given the rapid growth of the AR industry, developers and non-developers alike are leveraging some of the most popular platforms, developer tools and software development kits (SDKs) to create exciting AR applications and experiences. Here is a list of the top ten AR developer tools that every developer should know which will hopefully serve as a helpful resource (in no particular order):
Already at version 4, Apple’s ARKit is used by iOS developers to build mobile AR apps and games for iPhones, iPads, and other Apple devices. ARKit uses visual inertial odometry technology to identify the dimensions of the surrounding environment and adjust lighting conditions based on the location of 3D objects. It offers image and surface detection as well as object and facial tracking, all of which allow you to create immersive multiplayer AR games. A product of Apple, ARKit supports development in iOS only.
ARKit is provided for FREE by Apple. Learn more about ARKit here (great documentation can also be found here).
Google’s ARCore has many features that help integrate AR elements into the real environment, including motion tracking, surface detection, and lighting estimation. In particular, it allows 3D objects to be simultaneously rendered on different devices. It supports development in Android, iOS, Unreal, and Unity as well as 3D drawing with Google’s Tilt Brush.
ARCore is provided for FREE by Google. Learn more about ARCore here.
echoAR is a cloud platform for augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) that provides tools and server-side infrastructure to help developers & companies quickly build and deploy 3D apps and content. With its flexible cloud infrastructure, intuitive content management and system, fast content delivery network, and other functionalities, echoAR provides for highly efficient 3D development and delivery processes. It enables developers to build an AR/VR app backend and allows content creators to easily manage and publish 3D content to their AR/VR app.
You can learn more about echoAR and start for FREE here.
Unity is one of the most popular game development tools out there and has been used to create popular games such as Pokémon Go, Hearthstone and Rimworld. With its C# scripting API, built-in Visual Studio integration and powerful animation tools, Unity is one of the top choices for game developers, designers and artists.
You can learn more about Unity and start for FREE here.
A popular AR SDK, Vuforia deploys computer vision technology to recognize and track 3D objects in real time. It allows developers the ability to create both marker-based and markerless AR experiences and one of its highlight features is its support of persistent objects. Vuforia provides an API for multiple programming languages and supports native development for iOS, Android, UPW, and Unity.
The Vuforia SDK is owned by PTC and is offered for free (with limited functionality) and as part of paid subscriptions. Learn more about Vuforia here.
Wikitude is a flexible AR development tool with which developers can customize solutions and retrieve 3D objects from third-party SDKs through its own platform. Some of its features include navigation support, distance-based scaling, and localization. Wikitude can be used for Android, iOS, and Windows for tablets, and certain smart glasses.
Wikitude has a free trial (with watermarks) as well as paid subscription plans. Learn more here.
Spark AR Studio is an AR platform owned by Facebook for Mac & Windows to create AR effects for mobile cameras. Designed for both developers and non-developers, Spark AR allows users to add animation, import personalized 3D objects and share AR effects through Facebook and Instagram.
You can start using Spark AR studio for FREE here.
8th Wall provides powerful tools to create WebAR experiences which are optimized for the browser. 8th Wall supports great AR features such as face effects, world tracking, and image targets, and allows for source code control through a cloud editor.
8th Wall has a FREE 14-day trial version. Learn more about 8th Wall here.
Similar to Vuforia in many ways, Kudan uses Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) technology to create high-quality 3D graphics and recognize images and objects. Kudan has some great features such as marker-based tracking, map integration and camera-relocalization, and supports development on Android and iOS.
Kudan has a FREE version as well as a paid one. Learn more about Kudan here.
ARToolKit is an open-source library for developing AR applications. Using computer vision algorithms, ARToolKit is able to track user viewpoints through calculating the real camera position relative to physical markers in reality. ARToolKit supports development for Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, and more.
ARToolKit is completely FREE. Learn more about ARToolKit here.
Blender is a free open-source 3D computer graphics software suite used for creating animation and 3D models. It supports 3D modeling, simulation, rendering, and more. AR developers can create their own 3D assets by using Blender for FREE.
Learn more about Blender here.
Final thoughts
Many of the above AR platforms, developer tools and SDKs are complementary and can be used in tandem. For example, ARCore provides an SDK for Unity. echoAR’s cloud platform also supports many AR client-side SDKs such as ARCore, ARKit, Vuforia, WebXR, AR.js, Unity-based SDKs, and more. The AR world is expanding rapidly with more and more developers creating immersive 3D experiences that interact with the real world. These developers are always in search of great tools to help them create amazing apps while saving them time, money, and effort.
Not sure where to begin? Join the echoAR community of AR builders on Slack and reach out to developers and AR enthusiasts just like yourself. | https://medium.com/echoar/top-10-ar-developer-tools-every-developer-should-know-32fef1471883 | [] | 2021-02-20 01:54:14.411000+00:00 | ['Augmented Reality', 'Echoar', 'Software Development', 'Developer Tools', 'Top 10'] |
Lesson 31: The Tree, Binary Search Tree Data Structure | Tree
In computer science, a tree is a widely used abstract data type (ADT) that simulates a hierarchical tree structure, with a root value and subtrees of children with a parent node, represented as a set of linked nodes.
A tree data structure can be defined recursively as a collection of nodes (starting at a root node), where each node is a data structure consisting of a value, together with a list of references to nodes (the “children”), with the constraints that no reference is duplicated, and none points to the root.
Every item in the tree is a node
The node at the top of the tree is the root
Every non-root node has one and only one parent
A leaf node has no children
A singleton tree has only one node — the root
Links
Binary Search Tree
In computer science, binary search trees (BST), sometimes called ordered or sorted binary trees, are a particular type of container: a data structure that stores “items” (such as numbers, names etc.) in memory. They allow fast lookup, addition and removal of items, and can be used to implement either dynamic sets of items, or lookup tables that allow finding an item by its key (e.g., finding the phone number of a person by name).
Characteristics
Every node has 0, 1, or 2 children
Children are referred to as left child and right child
In practice, we use binary search trees
The left child always has a smaller value than its parent
The right child always has a larger value than its parent
This means everything to the left of the root is less than the value of the root, and everything to the right of the root is greater than tha value of the root
Because of that, we can do a binary search
Time complexity
Average: Space O(n), Search O(log n), Insert O(log n), Delete O(log n)
Worst case: Space O(n), Search O(n), Insert O(n), Delete O(n)
Operations
Can perform insertions, deletions, and retrievals in O(log n) time
Traversal
Level — visit nodes on each level
Pre-order — visit the root of every subtree first
Post-order — visit the root of every subtree last
In-order — visit left child, then root, then right child
Delete
Node is a leaf
Node has one child
Node has two children
Delete node with two children
Need to figure out what the replacement node will be
Want minimal disruption to the existing tree structure
Can take the replacement node from the deleted node’s left subtree or right subtree
If taking it from the left subtree, we have to take the largest value in the left subtree
If taking it from the right subtree, we have to take the smallest value in the right subtree
Choose one and stick to it
Let’s create a tree implementation:
final class Tree {
private Node root;
void insert(final int value) {
if (root == null) {
root = new Node(value);
} else {
root.insert(value);
}
}
Node get(final int value) {
if (root != null) {
return root.get(value);
}
return null;
}
void delete(final int value) {
root = delete(root, value);
}
int min() {
if (root == null) {
return Integer.MIN_VALUE;
} else {
return root.min();
}
}
int max() {
if (root == null) {
return Integer.MAX_VALUE;
} else {
return root.max();
}
}
void traverse() {
if (root != null) {
root.traverse();
System.out.println();
}
}
private Node delete(final Node subTreeRoot, final int value) {
if (subTreeRoot == null) {
return subTreeRoot;
}
if (value < subTreeRoot.getData()) {
subTreeRoot.setLeftChild(delete(subTreeRoot.getLeftChild(), value));
} else if (value > subTreeRoot.getData()) {
subTreeRoot.setRightChild(delete(subTreeRoot.getRightChild(), value));
} else {
// Cases 1 and 2: node to delete has 0 or 1 child(ren)
if (subTreeRoot.getLeftChild() == null) {
return subTreeRoot.getRightChild();
} else if (subTreeRoot.getRightChild() == null) {
return subTreeRoot.getLeftChild();
}
// Case 3: node to delete has 2 children
// Replace the value in the subtreeRoot node with the smallest value
// from the right subtree
subTreeRoot.setData(subTreeRoot.getRightChild().min());
// Delete the node that has the smallest value in the right subtree
subTreeRoot.setRightChild(delete(subTreeRoot.getRightChild(), subTreeRoot.getData()));
}
return subTreeRoot;
}
final static class Node {
private int data;
private Node leftChild;
private Node rightChild;
Node(final int data) {
this.data = data;
}
void insert(final int value) {
if (value == data) {
return;
}
if (value < data) {
if (leftChild == null) {
leftChild = new Node(value);
} else {
leftChild.insert(value);
}
} else {
if (rightChild == null) {
rightChild = new Node(value);
} else {
rightChild.insert(value);
}
}
}
Node get(final int value) {
if (value == data) {
return this;
}
if (value < data) {
if (leftChild != null) {
return leftChild.get(value);
}
} else {
if (rightChild != null) {
return rightChild.get(value);
}
}
return null;
}
int min() {
if (leftChild == null) {
return data;
} else {
return leftChild.min();
}
}
int max() {
if (rightChild == null) {
return data;
} else {
return rightChild.max();
}
}
void traverse() {
if (leftChild != null) {
leftChild.traverse();
}
System.out.print(data + ", ");
if (rightChild != null) {
rightChild.traverse();
}
}
int getData() {
return data;
}
void setData(final int data) {
this.data = data;
}
Node getLeftChild() {
return leftChild;
}
void setLeftChild(final Node leftChild) {
this.leftChild = leftChild;
}
Node getRightChild() {
return rightChild;
}
void setRightChild(final Node rightChild) {
this.rightChild = rightChild;
}
@Override
public String toString() {
return "Data = " + data;
}
}
}
It can be used as follow:
final var tree = new Tree();
tree.insert(25);
tree.insert(20);
tree.insert(15);
tree.insert(27);
tree.insert(30);
tree.insert(29);
tree.insert(26);
tree.insert(22);
tree.insert(32);
tree.insert(17);
tree.traverse();
var value = tree.get(27).getData();
value = tree.get(17).getData();
value = tree.get(8888);
var min = tree.min();
var max = tree.max();
tree.delete(8888);
tree.traverse();
Links | https://medium.com/it-lessons/lesson-31-the-tree-binary-search-tree-data-structure-e8a2c3816532 | ['Andrey Karazhev'] | 2020-12-15 06:38:29.764000+00:00 | ['Data Structures', 'Binary Search Tree', 'Trees', 'Tutorial'] |
[Leet Code] Number of 1 bits | Leetcode: https://leetcode.com/problems/number-of-1-bits/
Problem:
Write a function that takes an unsigned integer and returns the number of ‘1’ bits it has (also known as the Hamming weight).
Note:
Note that in some languages such as Java, there is no unsigned integer type. In this case, the input will be given as a signed integer type. It should not affect your implementation, as the integer’s internal binary representation is the same, whether it is signed or unsigned.
In Java, the compiler represents the signed integers using 2’s complement notation. Therefore, in Example 3 above, the input represents the signed integer. -3 .
Follow up: If this function is called many times, how would you optimize it?
Example 1:
Input: n = 00000000000000000000000000001011
Output: 3
Explanation: The input binary string 00000000000000000000000000001011 has a total of three '1' bits.
Example 2:
Input: n = 00000000000000000000000010000000
Output: 1
Explanation: The input binary string 00000000000000000000000010000000 has a total of one '1' bit.
Example 3:
Input: n = 11111111111111111111111111111101
Output: 31
Explanation: The input binary string 11111111111111111111111111111101 has a total of thirty one '1' bits.
Solution:
class Solution(object):
def hammingWeight(self, n):
"""
:type n: int
:rtype: int
"""
return list(format(n,"b")).count("1")
Explanation: | https://medium.com/@matthewboyd123/leet-code-number-of-1-bits-cf96e403ad74 | ['Matthew Boyd'] | 2020-12-15 18:03:45.171000+00:00 | ['Leetcode', 'Leetcode Easy', 'Data Structures', 'Algorithms', 'Leetcode Solution'] |
Round One with the “Fight Club” Movie | I’m taking a zoom-delivered psychology class on the dark masculine that includes the movie “Fight Club.” It’s been more than twenty years since the movie shattered male jaws and restful sleep but it still resides restlessly in the unconscious of some young men. A fellow student said that he must have watched “Fight Club” fifty times in high school and college, but his latest viewing revealed to him how dark the film actually was.
When the movie came out, I was somewhere between Beijing and Barcelona, pushing wares and dares. I was aware of the movie and I thought it was simply a play on the bruising fight club version we conducted in the holds of my Navy ship, named after Mount Baker, a volcano, where we would teach lessons to the above-deck “pussies” who apparently didn’t live up to the mores of the “dark masculine.” Fancy that! But no one died or was too badly bruised. After all, there was that Uniform Code of Military Justice looking over our shoulders.
I started boxing with the boy scouts in north London when I was about twelve, continuing when I moved to the states in high school, the Navy and at college. I was a huge fan of Muhammed Ali and regularly visited his training camps in the Pennsylvania Pocono mountains. I lost my appetite for boxing when I saw the damage done to Ali’s health. I stopped watching fights years before “Fight Club” was released.
I’ve read that “Fight Club” had a satisfactory opening day, then the box office seemed to slow. The U.S. audience seemed to be put off by the sheer violence of the movie and it wasn’t until the film became a teen favorite and DVD’s helped distribution that it became something of an underground hit. More than 60% of audience were male and it became known as a genuine anti-date flick. It would take the better part of a decade for the media to recognize “Fight Club” as a cult classic of our time.
On viewing “Fight Club” my first impression was that the lead character played by Ed Norton was lost, searching for rituals, meaning and companionship. That he had really never known his father underscored his need for meaning and, as it turned out, a “rites of passage.” That the character played by Brad Pitt, a maker of soap and other chemicals, shows up, almost on schedule, suggests that this will be a naturalistic tale about men finding themselves in the dark underground of the fight club. And these details are raw and bruising. When the underground violence associated with the fight club spills over into the general community in the form of organized mayhem, the tale seems predictable and complete.
But that is not really the case. I suspect one reason this movie was not an instant hit, even beyond the violence, was that there was a psychological thread, at times a little confusing, evident in this tale from the very beginning, hinting that the Norton character was projecting many of his stories and much of his life. This character might be known in psychological language as a “puer,” an unlived, untested male who hasn’t endured the rites of passage to manhood. That Norton is referred as the “narrator” throughout the film puts the action and psychology in perspective. We are seeing everything through Norton’s eyes. He is the shaper of and filter for the action. The film depicts his restless and dangerous shadow on display. And as I learned in literature class a long time ago, one must beware the unreliable narrator. In this bromide resides an important psychological truth.
It is no accident that much of the movie, especially the fights and other violent scenes, is set in the darkness. In such scenes the characters can seem to be in the shadows and, in a way, the darkness becomes them. From what I read this was intentional on the part of the screenwriter and director. And this shadow element has important psychological ramifications, suggesting the dark, unseen or undiscovered aspects of our personality. In “Fight Club” we come to understand, through various narrative hints, that Pitt it is actually a projection of Norton that provides the dark, shadowy, unconscious elements that Norton lacks in his own psyche. This drama will remain, psychologically speaking, on the inside and repressed until the narrator has grown in consciousness and is ready to acknowledge his dark burden.
“Fight Club” is a charged sexual movie with the female character Marla also moving in and out of the shadows and apparently in and out of the arms of Pitt. By the end of the movie, in another midnight turn of events Norton begins to understand that he, not the imagined Pitt, was Marla’s lover. Now Norton is beginning to come into consciousness. He sends Marla away for her own protection. He comprehends his projection of Pitt as “he” is about to blow up the city. There is an encounter between the two. Norton “shoots” himself in the mouth and Pitt dies. Marla returns and Norton apologizes. He is coming into consciousness and is on his way to healing. The narrator has “killed” his repressed self.
Whatever the fate of the movie, the film’s narrative line and rough psychology spawned versions of fight clubs across the land. Of course, it has been well-documented over the decades by the poet Robert Bly and many others that young men increasingly have difficulty “entering” adulthood because of lack of rituals, absent fathers, and mother complexes. The culture lacks coming of age rituals. The results can be a one-sided masculinity such as dramatized in “Fight Club” and in men who find compensation at work, in sports or at their fitness club. There is often displaced aggression on women. The streets are full of it.
It is not surprising that all men in “Fight Club” seem fatherless. For the sons there is no instruction from the father figure. They have to learn their masculinity the hard way. And it is one-sided. The psychologist Carl Jung wrote about the process of ‘individuation,” a path into consciousness. The Norton character shows this in his journey through hell and almost back. He has taken one small step.
The “Fight Club” archetypes can still be found in back alleys and unheated basements. And they are increasing showing up in our political power games. The Proud Boys and similar groups occupy this archetype. The cost to young men and society is enormous. | https://medium.com/a-different-perspective/round-one-with-the-fight-club-movie-91e1ca9ddc99 | ['Charles Mccullagh'] | 2020-12-02 18:48:53.617000+00:00 | ['Masculinity', 'Archetypes', 'Sexuality', 'Film Reviews', 'Psychology'] |
Enabling supply chain resilience through digital transformation. | Image by Wokandapix from Pixabay
As we are at the end of 2020, we can see how COVID-19 is impacting supply chains around us, starting from the demand of paper tissues in the beginning of lockdown across the globe to the current demand of vaccination and how to distribute the vaccination across the population in each country.
In 2011 an earthquake and tsunami had struck Japan, which has created massive disaster impacted human and environment in Japan and impacted the global supply chain. everyone knows about earthquakes in Japan and how they can introduce disruption to the business, but as Japan has a mature manufacturing system, they were able to measure the risk of business disruption and mitigate it.
In the current pandemic, we are experiencing a new kind of disruption due to the lockdown across the globe. airports are closed and airlines are grounded due to travel restrictions. Leisure facilitates and restaurants are closed due to social distance rules applied to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 in the mass gatherings.
many firms are thinking how supply chain will be mapped post-pandemic and how to consider resilience of supply chain.
Currently many companies link supply chain risk management with enterprise risk management (ERP) by integrating ISO 31000 with supply chain risk management and make sure they have a risk register for expected risk impacting supply chain. It looks a good strategy but unfortunately no one was ready to accept force majeure clause in his contracts!
Risk registers are considering risks with high-likelihood high-severity, but risks with low likelihood high-severity are not registered well in most of risk registers. as we did not experience a global pandemic for the last many decades.
Resilience is
an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change
So, when we are talking supply chain resilience, we are not talking only about how to manage risk, but also how to overcome the severity of the risk and continue my business again. It is like standing up after falling.
So how digital transformation will help supply chain to become resilient? It is about the organizational change and introduction of the self-disruption culture in the organization. being innovative and data driven organization. considering innovation as part from the business strategy. Understating the cost of the added complexity to the system and how the drivers of the complexity are the drivers of profitability.
Image by Niek Verlaan from Pixabay
Leveraging data as an organizational asset and a source of differentiation will help organizations to know more about their supply chain behavior and detect disruption with signals coming from data models and demand forecasting models as well as from other procurement tools like third party risk management tools or TPRM tools to detect disruptions coming from external stakeholders. not only first tier suppliers but deeper to second, third, or even fourth tier supplier!
Supply chain managers should not consider technological bubbles as a silver bolt which will solve all their problems, but an advanced option to simplify and accelerate their daily business.
One challenge many organizations are facing is data silos, where planning is done in a silo, sourcing and logistics in another silo, and supplier risk management is in another silo, etc.. . And everyone is considering it is a normal practice to build silos in spreadsheets and exchange information through emails and during meetings. this challenge will fail any digital transformation as the culture of silo-builders should be changed to bridge-builders. Allowing corporates to integrate accurate data from Sales and Operation, Master Scheduling and Demand Planning to drive business and reduce complexity like bullwhip effect.
Using Machine Learning, Deep Learning and other sorts of Artificial intelligence will come to picture later adding accurate sales and demand forecasts with lower inventory holding cost.
Another element in the digital transformation is using e-procurement suites in strategic sourcing, supplier performance management, and e-invoicing as a faster substitute to manual processes which requires many data exchange in multiple formats.
Another element in the digital transformation is logistics transformation, using real time tracking and simulation of supply chain network to find out real time threats or challenges facing the people while moving goods.
Final thought about building resilient supply chain that investment in people and raising the bar for supply chain professional is a healthy strategy to have the internal capacity to absorb supply chain disruptions and build a reliable business. | https://medium.com/@moh-ali-square/enabling-supply-chain-resilience-through-digital-transformation-20a351198854 | ['Mohamed Ali Hefnawy'] | 2020-12-22 20:21:01.503000+00:00 | ['Covid-19', 'Digital Transformation', 'Resilience', 'Organizational Culture', 'Supply Chain'] |
Does Cold Emailing Work To Find Freelance Clients? | Does Cold Emailing Work To Find Freelance Clients?
Somebody on the freelance writers’ subreddit asked (paraphrased):
“I’m a beginner freelance writer in the SaaS niche. I’ve emailed 430 content marketing agencies and 70 marketing SaaS companies including hosting companies and email marketing firms. 9 have asked me for my rate, 1 of them has offered me work at ridiculously low pay and 1 offered me work that was out of my niche. What’s going on? I feel like I’m doing everything right but this isn’t getting me anywhere. What could be holding me back?”
My thoughts:
Several issues pop up at disproportionate frequency in freelance writing communities (the freelance writers’ subreddit is the latest such community I have participated in. So far I like it the best of all! Primarily because I have a public username and Reddit, and its many subreddits, are not behind a login. In other words, my comments and posts are on the record and indexable in Google. I’m not hiding. I like the effect that this has on my writing).
These are:
Rants / vents about bad clients
Questions about pricing
Questions about client acquisition
Why Expecting A High Response Rate Is Unrealistic
When discussing client acquisition, a lot of people report these kind of middling (or poor) results with cold email marketing efforts.
To my mind, this isn’t exactly surprising. Although a few years ago it possibly would have been.
This is both because:
a) I’ve been there and got the t-shirt. Actually, I could have a wardrobe full of those t-shirts by now.
Actually, I could have a wardrobe full of those t-shirts by now. b) Even if you do it well, cold emailing marketing has a relatively low success rate.
You can get various numbers about the latter by plugging this into Google, but I reckon it’s unrealistic to expect more than a 1% reply rate. I’m also writing this while suffering from a mild hangover and am too l
In the original poster’s case, that would already be pegging the result rate at 5. Although if we were more optimistic and expected a 10% reply rate, that number would mushroom to 50.
We’ll see soon why even these somewhat diminutive figures may be over-generous (which is why I believe those that assert that cold email is a numbers game are partially in the right).
Now compound point b) with the fact that freelance writers compete against one another in a now globalized marketplace.
Then consider the fact that most outreach is probably going to be in vain — or which will elicit, if you’re lucky, a “we’ll,ll keep you on file” response.
Let’s look at all the assumptions you might be making that might ultimately prove to be untrue:
If you’re cold pitching a marketing agency or client then you have no idea about their putative need for a freelance writer
You have no idea what their current client load looks like. If they don’t have enough business, they don’t have any need for you
You have no idea whether they use freelancers at all (if you do this for any length of time, you will find marketing agencies that will tell you that they don’t on policy.)
Some would argue — and I would have previously agreed-that agencies and companies always need freelance writing support. But in a world of Upwork and Fiverr they also have may places to turn for it. If they’re cost sensitive and you’re not bottom of market, then these talent sources are also likely to be a lot cheaper than what you’re offering.
The more I read posts like the poster’s here, the more I also understand that the kind of businesses we might target through our cold email outreach are also routinely receiving pitches like the ones I have often sent. Even if you get through to somebody that could hire you, you’re going to be facing stiff competition for mindshare.
Finally — when I have brought my freelance cold outreach woes to my wife — she likes to make a good point in return.
Put yourself in the position of a client receiving your email.
Now ask: how do you perceive of somebody that sends you unsolicited mass email? What kind of value judgments do you automatically arrive at?
I don’t know about you, but I get about 10 of these a week from low budget SEO specialists promising me backlink-building schemes. If I don’t instantly hit the delete button I probably think “this is most likely rubbish.”
Now let’s put that all together:
Even if the agency or company has a need and they hire freelancers and they happen to need one reasonably soon and your email manages to get through they will quite possibly think of you as a low-end provider.
See what I mean by your chances being low. And that’s even if they receive the email.
Technical Factors Compound The Burn
Don’t forget those servers!
But wait — there’s more!
To actually derive an accurate percentage about the likely response rate, you need to first figure out how many of these emails are actually getting through to target.
I’m fond of pointing out the fact that “Contact Us” forms — while almost guaranteed to be intercepted by a gatekeeper — actually enjoy a 100% deliverability rate. That’s something you can’t achieve with cold email.
Finally — oh yes, there’s even more !— you have a bunch of technical nuance to throw into the works.
If you’re sending through a third party system, you must ask whether all DNS records are correctly configured to ensure proper email authentication?
And here’s a tip: if you’re doing cold email at any kind of volume, you should not use your primary domain much less the email address you routinely do business from.
Why? If its reputation is imperiled through your wild use of mail blasts, you don’t want to find yourself in a position in which actual client correspondence goes to spam.
How To Use Cold Email To Find Freelance Clients
But if you want to try anyway, how do you go about cold emailing?
I try to hone in on companies or agencies that are somehow interesting to me and which work in niches that I could credibly write about.
‘Interesting’ can mean many things to me. I might like what they do. I might think that they have a cool clients list. Or perhaps there’s something about their branding that just jives with me.
Then, I use my brain — rather than a specific technology — to figure out who to contact.
Typically, that process might involve:
Using Hunter.io to determine the likely internal email structure
LinkedIn to map out hierarchies
Other sources of open source information to seal the deal.
I would then either write that person an individual email, use a CRM like Hubspot to do so with tracking, or use a cold email tool like Klenty or Woodpecker that supports building out automated cadences.
You’ll also want to pay attention to GDPR compliance if you’re contacting individuals that haven’t opted in to receive your communication. Woodpecker has a good resource on this subject.
My Observations
I’ve used cold emailing in the past to land clients.
Some of them have actually been great to work with.
I think that as a cost-effective form of outbound marketing it should be in every freelancer’s toolkit — at least while it’s needed.
Equally, however, the few times I have experimented with automated cold email at any volume (I engaged in a ‘push’ around this time last year), I’ve ended up speaking with a lot of very low-intention “leads” who — I quickly got the feeling — were just toying with the idea of hiring me.
In other instances, these efforts have dredged up those that were transparently merely attempting to collect pricing intelligence.
In some cases, this led to conversations with startup founders that simply appeared to want to talk about their business with another human.
Finally, some people, it seemed, wanted to use me as a sort of unpaid consultant. They would love to learn more about content marketing — even if it wasn’t they would ever think of doing. Snap responses asking for pricing are particularly common.
I’ve had plenty of all of these types of conversations. Although they might sound like a total waste of time, speaking with a lot of companies has had its perks.
For one, it allowed me to up my sales game quite quickly. Speaking with a lot of founders passionate about their companies and disrupting industries was interesting. But it had its place and time — and I’m much more focused now on running a slick marketing and sales machine (and I don’t envision that I’m anywhere near there … it’s a work in progress, although I’m further along than I was this time last year).
Thus, while the cost of cold email marketing is indeed minimal, one has to keep in mind the cost expenditure of the time wasted talking to low-intention leads when computing the campaign ROI.
During several campaigns I have run-for instance the one I just referenced- this has ended up being considerable.
Here’s What Has Worked For Me
If I can derive any conclusions about my experience with cold email marketing to pitch for freelance work it’s this.
Although it’s easy to understand why it’s a numbers game (in theory) in practice it’s something quite different.
The best successes which I have enjoyed with cold email marketing have come from very selectively targeting a narrow audience and writing individual emails to companies and individuals that were genuinely of very high interest to me.
Stuff that I couldn’t possibly fake.
Ultimately, I believe this comes down to authenticity, which is a value that I am trying hard to cultivate this year (yes, I know that sounds incredibly corny).
Of course, you’re not guaranteed success regardless of what tactic you use. But there’s something inherently powerful about genuinely approaching a target with an email that simply couldn’t have been template-based.
This speaks to, I believe, a contradiction at the root of volume cold emailing marketing. Something which I believe is its ultimate undoing: you can’t genuinely be all that interested in working with a pool of recipients you have targeted programatically.
I mean you can — if you curate that list — but ultimately it communicates that you have less interest than if you individually reached out to them using the method I have described above.
That’s just time economics at work. I doubt this poster had time to hand craft 500 messages. But it might feel like a snub to some recipients.
If I have one regret about freelance writing so far, it’s relying too heavily upon cold emailing as part of my outbound marketing strategy and putting less time into thinking about who I really wanted to go after and how I could use every possible means to communicate that desire. Quality over quantity, in a nutshell.
My focus, these days, is on inbound marketing.
Again — excuse the corniness! — this aligns far more closely with my desire to be more authentic and transparent about who I am this year.
Instead of hoping to win clients through interrupting their day, I will be attempting to draw them closer to sharing things that I care about with the world.
Oh, and finally one very important point. This one speaks to wellness and mental health which — the longer I do this — I realize is an essential concern.
Cold emailing (searching for companies, guessing email addresses, dealing with poor quality leads) is really no fun. Actually, it gets pretty dejecting very quickly.
I would rather write a personal blog than content marketing for my company. But — relative to outbound marketing — it’s in another category of enjoyment.
Both outbound and inbound marketing have their places, I believe.
Cold email can be used to win clients. But even the successes it produces may not be pretty.
My concluding advice: proceed with caution. And consider other options. | https://medium.com/freelance-writing/does-cold-emailing-work-to-find-freelance-clients-bb7fd8841eed | ['Daniel Rosehill'] | 2021-03-24 00:44:52.058000+00:00 | ['Freelance Writing', 'Freelance', 'Sales', 'Freelancing'] |
Building a Robot | Here is the list of parts I used (sans wires, adhesives, etc.):
I’ve included some notes at the end for suggestions on wires, connectors, stand offs, and other useful accoutrements. You can definitely get away with much smaller & less expensive hardware — I just happened to have these on hand already (plus they look cool).
The Chassis and Motors
The chassis I used was a fairly straightforward assembly. I actually thought it would be bigger when I purchased it, so assume at some point I will plan to build a bigger robot. Fully assembled it will look like this:
Credit: Amazon.com
Once the chassis is assembled, it’s time to wire up the motors, power supply, L298N controller, and Arduino. Rather than build a motor controller from scratch with MOSFETs, diodes, capacitors, etc. the L298N integrated circuit is a dual-channel H-bridge that will allow you to control the speed and direction of two DC motors “out of the box”.
Credit: Amazon.com
The pinout for the L298N module is as follows:
OUT1 — left motor negative terminal
OUT2 — left motor positive terminal
OUT3 — right motor negative terminal
OUT4 — right motor positive terminal
12V — positive (red) from the 18650x2 battery pack
GND — negative (black) from the 18650x2 battery pack
5V — unused, output could be to made to power the Arduino
ENA — right motor speed control, Arduino pin 2
IN1 — right motor pin 1 (high forward), Arduino pin 3
IN2 — right motor pin 2 (low forward), Arduino pin 4
IN3 — left motor pin 1 (high forward), Arduino pin 5
IN4 — left motor pin 2 (low forward), Arduino pin 6
ENB — right motor speed control, Arduino pin 7
And here’s a visual diagram (using Fritzing) that shows the connectivity:
Note that the two ground pins for the Arduino and the L298N must be connected so they have the same baseline for voltage. The chassis battery pack fits two 18650s to power the motors.
Thank you to Ryan Chan for writing an Arduino test script for the L298N! I’ve modified his slightly for my pinout:
The motor pins are digital and are written out as either HIGH (5V) or LOW (0V); swapping which is HIGH and which is LOW will reverse the direction of the motor. As you can see, I wired the terminals to PWM pins for convenience but the effect is the same as were they digital. The speed control pins are actually PWM and a value between 0 and 255 will set each motor somewhere between stop and full speed — consistent with the voltage supplied. In this case, both the L298N module and the DC motors are rated for a full 12V, however I’m only supplying 7.4V and it still has some pretty decent kick.
Check out the chassis and motors test in action:
Not bad.
Mounting the Components
Next it’s time to make the wiring a little more elegant, and start putting these components onto the chassis. I’ll start by simplifying the connections between the Arduino and the L298N module. First, some pin headers/connectors:
Add a ribbon cable, solder, and hot glue:
Then some shrink wrap so it looks pretty(ish):
And voilà:
Then I’ll add some wires to connect the OUT# pins to the motor terminals:
With that done, I can mount the major components. I’m missing pictures of these steps, but if you look at the chassis:
Credit: Amazon.com
…I put the L298N directly on the frame to the right side of that picture — the back of the robot. Above it vertically, mounted using standoffs, is the Raspberry Pi. To the left, also mounted with standoffs, is the Arduino — the front of the robot. I put the battery pack underneath the frame to save space for more components. Then I just connect the wires, and it’s starting to look like a real robot.
After all that, this is what I have:
I intentionally designed everything so it could be disassembled if necessary without breaking soldered wire splices or removing any form of adhesive. So without further ado, the robot’s maiden voyage:
(with a portable battery pack on the Raspberry Pi for the moment)
Pretty cool.
UPS HAT, Camera, Speaker, and Microphone
The remaining components I’m adding serve two purposes: to secure an additional power supply for the non-motor components, and to add sensors & “actuators” for use in upcoming features. First is a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) HAT (hardware attached on top) that — ironically — will be attached underneath the Raspberry Pi. It also takes two 18650 batteries, and can disburse power while charging.
On the other side of the HAT board are some circular spring-loaded contacts (upper right in gold):
…that line up with six of the GPIO pins on the Raspberry Pi, seen here (upper left in silver):
Those connections will handle all of the power management between the UPS HAT and the Raspberry Pi. After putting some standoffs and plexiglass in place to secure it all, it lights up beautifully: | https://medium.com/@piankalabs/building-a-robot-2f292334560f | ['Pianka Labs'] | 2020-12-31 21:54:07.968000+00:00 | ['Arduino', 'Raspberry Pi', 'Robots'] |
A Parent’s Guide To Lying To Your Children About Drugs | A Parent’s Guide To Lying To Your Children About Drugs
5 tips to help you evade questions about all those fun times you had before kids ruined the party.
Photo by cottonbro on Pexels
For a lot of us who are now parents to teenagers, we were the first batch of children whose folks lied to us about their drug use. Prior to the hippie and boomer generations, parents had no need for dishonesty, as the most dangerous intoxicants they ingested were gin rickeys and the fumes from the lead-based paint used on their homes. Parents, to this day, continue to lie to the fruit of their loins, ensuring that misrepresenting one’s own experiences with drugs remains an American tradition, like crippling student loan debt, mass shootings, and celebrating the 4th of July.
You don’t have to be a child psychologist to know it’s a bad idea to regale your kids with the tale of the time Daddy did an eight ball of the Devil’s dust with two strippers in a New Orleans pool hall. Instead, it's important to learn to bend the truth to protect your children’s innocence and lie like you’re Donald Trump at a campaign rally, just as you were raised. Below are some helpful tips to ensure your duplicitous answers don’t ring any alarm bells, mostly because it would harsh the buzz from the edible you ate an hour ago.
1) Deny
Never admit to anything. Remember, your children have no proof. Finding your Cypress Hill tapes isn’t enough evidence of your alleged enjoyment of the occasional jazz cigarette. They will have a hard time proving you went to Phish concerts “just for the music,” unless, of course, they listen to any of their songs.
2) Be vague
Even if pressured to offer a cautionary tale, never discuss specifics. Sure, tell them about the time your friend Doug spiked your drink with a hit of LSD as some sort of warning to them against keeping their guard down; just don’t tell them about the previous six hits you ingested and that “Doug” was a hallucination.
3) Distract
Say your children find that photo of you at Burning Man wearing nothing but sunglasses and flowers in your beard. Instead of admitting to your drug-soaked weekend, point out that their mother is in the background taking a crap on the desert floor. After they see the reason you kept the photo in the first place, they will no longer be concerned about how much peyote you gobbled during the best weekend of your life.
4) Exaggerate
Feel free to tell them all about the “people you know” and their experiences with drugs. You can even make stuff up. For example, tell them about an old college buddy, let’s call him Gary, whose appetite for pills caused him to fail out of school and now the only job he can get is manually masturbating wild pigs for research purposes. It’ll scare them, but they don’t need to hear the details of how it’s the third-largest pig masturbation company in the Midwest. Gary’s doing just fine.
5) Punish
If all else fails, grounding them always works. A punishment ends any uncomfortable conversation with your children instantly. Think how useful it would have been if, instead of being cornered into the awkward conversation about drugs, you could have just sent them to their room for, oh, I don’t know, looking at you funny. You wouldn’t have had to lie about that time you and the wife backpacked through Europe after college and ended up in a Berlin nightclub doing speed with a guy named “Razor” while watching a private sex show consisting of three men, a goose, and what Urban Dictionary calls a “Sloppy Kentucky Sunrise.”
Remember, it’s always better to tell your kids the truth, but sometimes it’s just not possible. The need to keep our kids safe and free from learning from their own mistakes outweighs any need for honesty. The last thing any of us want is for our children to become dishonest, drug-addicted sex perverts, just like their parents. | https://medium.com/slackjaw/a-parents-guide-to-lying-to-your-children-about-drugs-3b0c28b265c8 | ['Rip Warren'] | 2020-12-27 13:52:25.760000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Drugs', 'Teen Drug Use', 'Parenting', 'Satire'] |
We used WooCommerce to build the world’s largest online vintage pencil store. (Yes, pencils.) Here’s what we learned. | Needless to say this aging, circa 2005 website wasn’t even pretending to be mobile friendly, nor was SSL ever enabled (or any security best practice, for that matter). These factors, among others, contributed to a steady decline in its Google search ranking. Pencil sales were also way down.
Together, Bob and I explored a variety of ideas for how he could right the ship, but in the end I offered to take the project on with my team at the MAC. This was both a way of helping out an old friend and it would also provide our younger developers with an interesting project to cut their teeth on.
Why we chose WooCommerce
This was our team’s first experience with WooCommerce, and prior to beginning development we took a close look at other popular shopping cart platforms, including Shopify. We settled on Woo for a few reasons. For one, its huge number of installations gave us peace of mind that the code was stable. The UI design was also highly customizable, and it had an attractive price tag: Free.
Woo’d you like fries with that?
Of course, as the saying goes, only birds sing for free. While it’s true WooCommerce doesn’t require a credit card to install the core shopping cart system, we learned there would be a price for “adding on” even some of the most basic features. Automattic, the company behind WooCommerce, currently lists 286 available extensions, about 90% of which require payment to install. For example:
In fact, we learned it’s not even possible to download customer purchase history without installing, and paying for, a $79 extension. Funny, I don’t recall seeing that in the brochure.
Fortunately, we were able to find no-cost work-arounds for most of our desired functionality. But as experienced WordPress developers we also know it’s best to keep the number of plugins down to a minimum. Haphazardly installing plugins and extensions can lead to unwanted conflicts and even security holes.
Pick a number, any number
We were surprised to discover how seemingly random WooCommerce order numbering works. Curiously, soon after the site launched, the very first order wasn’t #1 or even #00001 as you might expect. Instead, it was labeled Order #43972. The second order came in as #43973, but then the third jumped to #43992. Following that, the numbers seemed to jump and skip and hopscotch ahead without a care in the world.
After some Googling I learned that, by default, Woo’s order numbering is based on the amount of items in your store’s database. Every new product created, or image uploaded, is another item to be counted. When a customer makes a purchase, that order number slides into the sequence. It’s odd and confusing from a UX standpoint, and I’m sure Automattic has received thousands of questions and complaints about it. Their solution? Charge you $49 to fix it.
Woo plays nice with our process
Despite the missing basic features, there are some things we really like about what WooCommerce offers out-of-the-box. As mentioned above, one of the main reasons we chose Woo was because it allows full customization of the front-end product page templates (and the shopping cart, and the checkout pages, and the…).
Our firm follows a tried and true process when we develop custom websites for our clients. We always start with Sketch and InVision to design and present our UX/UI recommendations, get client input and buy-in, and only then will we proceed to development. WooCommerce fit seamlessly into this process. Our developers were able to easily modify Woo’s templates to match the mockups created by our designers.
Part store, part museum
Woo’s built-in flexibility enabled us to solve a unique challenge of integrating and displaying thousands of products which, ironically, aren’t currently for sale and may never be.
Typically, an individual model of pencil is listed for sale only when Bob has a duplicate — the original stays in his personal collection. For this reason we needed a system that would give him two options: showcase an item, or both showcase and sell it. WooCommerce allowed us to hide all shopping-related details — the price, inventory, “Add to cart” button, etc. — for those products not for sale. However, in the fortuitous event that Bob scores a box of rare Tom-A-Hawk 1275 №2 at some point in the future, he can instantly enable those features in the back-end simply by entering a price. Either way, the pencil is always there for the world to see.
Above: Some models are for sale, while others aren’t
This was an important detail for the overall user experience, as we didn’t want visitors to be distracted by five thousand items labeled “out of stock,” or worse yet, hidden altogether because they aren’t (yet) for sale.
Final thoughts
After an honest tire kicking, we now have a good understanding of what’s possible with WooCommerce. It’s a solid system, and we’ll continue to use and recommend it.
On the downside, while we don’t fault Automattic for charging for upgrades, we were a bit disappointed that some of the most basic features (e.g. logical order numbering and the ability to export customer information) are not included in the standard installation. When you add up the price of even a few necessary extensions, plus the separate cost of hosting, the total could easily surpass the annual cost of using an all-in-one package like Shopify.
The winning difference, however, is in Woo’s flexibility. We were able to confirm that a WordPress + WooCommerce solution provides virtually unlimited ways to customize the interface and display products, working well with our design process.
In the end, Woo proved itself ideal for selling vintage and ultra rare pencils that may — or may not—have a price. The main takeaway: Sales are way up since the new website launched. Indeed, Bob Truby’s spirits are soaring, too. | https://medium.com/madison-ave-collective/we-used-woocommerce-to-build-the-worlds-largest-online-vintage-pencil-store-53e4ee40764b | ['Jeff Jimerson'] | 2019-10-18 18:45:57.327000+00:00 | ['Ecommerce', 'Woocommerce', 'Web Design', 'History', 'UX'] |
Between The Omnibus Law, Changing Nationality, and Migration | source: pinterest
In early October, the House of Representatives’ hasty and furtive decision to pass the controversial omnibus bill draft into law had sparked discontentment among working-class Indonesians who perceived that some articles contained in the bill, such as articles on remuneration and termination of employment, would put them at disadvantage against their employers. Many protests opposing such action were then held in big cities to demand it to be revoked, with some of them were turned violent. On the internet, some people even created online campaigns to support the annulment of the bill and had virtual discourses that compared all the articles in question with the respective laws currently existing to substantiate their criticisms.
But, of all the expressions of disapproval the people had towards the omnibus law that were put on national display, there was one interesting bit circulating on the internet that appeared to have gained quite a traction from the public — the desire to change nationality. As soon as the law was passed, social media users began sharing an idea about relinquishing their Indonesian citizenship to move to the developed countries in hopes of avoiding the negative effects of the bill and any other government’s unpopular actions. And in response to that idea, some online news media even made articles about the procedures and requirements needed to change nationality.
Certainly, it was served only as a little jest and people didn’t actually leave the country because of the situation. But, looking at how the government fought back the crowds by incarcerating protesters and surveilling social media accounts they considered provocative, people might eventually start to view changing nationality as a promising option they should take into account. And it’s not a bad thing. Rather, emigration could, in some ways, help reduce the unfavourable impact of the bill on workers, especially those who are most vulnerable to being exposed to it. In Puerto Rico, which is one of the poorest U.S. territories, emigration contributed to the decrease in the poverty rate from 44.4% in 2017 to 43.1% in 2018, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The logic behind the premise that emigration could help workers is quite similar to what happens in Puerto Rico and other countries that experience a large scale of emigration throughout history. If people — particularly middle- and upper-class Indonesians — who can afford to live abroad do emigrate to other countries, it would subsequently make the Indonesian labour market less competitive. And the vacant positions they leave behind will be filled by those who are currently out of the job. As a result, the overall disposable income will increase, and the unemployment and poverty rates will decrease. By having more paycheck, people can afford to get a better education with which in turn will help them improve their well-being. Thus, in the end, if the new bill does have negative effects on workers, at least it would be less severe.
In addition, emigrants often contribute to their former country’s economy by sending back remittances to their families or to invest in local businesses. In the last few years, according to the World Bank, migrant remittances have become the largest foreign capital inflow into developing countries. The Chinese diaspora is the perfect example of the success story of this whole narrative as they have been an important source of investment and one of key drivers of mainland China’s economy for decades. A strong sense of cultural affinity helps them develop tight-knit business ties with mainland China’s local entrepreneurs, as well as among themselves. They help finance Chinese ventures within and beyond mainland China’s borders. In Southeast Asia, this web of connections, called the Bamboo Network, even controls a large part of the region’s economy.
Nevertheless, In Indonesia, changing nationality is still regarded as an unpatriotic move by many Indonesian nationalists. People who change their Indonesian citizenship have been judged as disloyal or feeling embarrassed with their Indonesian roots. Anggun C. Sasmi, an Indonesian-born internationally acclaimed singer, is one of them. She has been criticised for her decision to change her citizenship and become a french passport holder. She defends herself by saying that the only thing that has changed is the colour of her passport, but she is still an Indonesian at heart. This shows that the old concept of nationalism the people have this whole time definitely needs to be redefined.
Indonesian people who stay abroad might still have a strong connection and identity with the nation, even if they no longer hold Indonesian passports. It is not something that can be wiped out as soon as they leave the country. And with the wealth they accumulate and the new connections they build, they can still contribute to the nation and be the ambassadors that promote Indonesian culture and economic prospects in their new countries. Therefore, changing nationality should not be perceived as an act of disloyalty. Instead, it can expand the meaning of nationalism beyond Indonesian borders and, once again, help people reduce the downsides of the government’s unpopular policies.
For information, to begin working in foreign countries, as a starter, people can try to apply for a working holiday visa. Currently, there is a bilateral partnership between the Indonesian government and the Australian government to establish a working holiday visa program for Indonesian citizens aged 18 to 30 years old, where they can stay and work in Australia for a maximum of 12 months. This program aims to promote cultural exchanges and to maintain relations between the two countries. Yet, for the Indonesian people, this can serve as an open door for those who want to emigrate and an opportunity to enhance their skills and start building a promising international career abroad. | https://medium.com/@agrithastubinawan/between-the-omnibus-law-changing-nationality-and-migration-86bb95b02be1 | ['Agrit Hastubinawan'] | 2020-12-15 07:49:31.798000+00:00 | ['Nationalism', 'Omnibus Law', 'Migration'] |
Best Practices for Writing On Medium | Best Practices for Writing On Medium
A non-exhaustive list of tips from our editors
Photo by Susan Yin
Medium is an open platform and a publisher. Anyone can write a piece on Medium and, as long as it’s not in violation of our rules, have the potential to find an audience. We celebrate diverse voices and believe that good stories can come from anywhere.
We also care about quality. We want you to put your best work on Medium, and we regularly feature stories we think are great. To help you understand what we mean when we say “quality,” we’ve written up these guidelines. They are based on what we know works best for readers — which means they should work well for you, too.
Write a clear headline. Readers have a split second to decide if they want to read your piece. Put a good, descriptive title and subtitle on your story. (Standard “headline” styling is title case for the headline and sentence case for the subtitle. This isn’t mandatory, but it’s ideal.)
Your story should contain original insight, ideas or perspectives. Don’t just aggregate the work of others, and don’t plagiarize.
Clean it up. We all make mistakes, but do look out for typos and janky formatting. Put care into your work.
Avoid CTAs. Readers tell us that they find repeated calls to action — to sign up for a newsletter, to clap — annoying. Consider eliminating CTAs altogether.
One of the things our readers like best about Medium is that it’s an ad-free zone.
Please don’t publish stories with the primary purpose of selling a product or a service. Readers can see through content marketing.
There are a lot of places on the Internet for clickbait. Medium doesn’t want to be one of them.
Put a nice image on your story — just make sure you’re not violating someone else’s copyright.
Finally, please don’t peddle pseudoscience or bad health advice. Life’s already too short to give people bad health advice.
In short, do your best work. People like to read things that are just good. | https://blog.medium.com/best-practices-for-writing-on-medium-386506ae62b9 | ["Siobhan O'Connor"] | 2018-06-27 17:03:12.859000+00:00 | ['Medium'] |
mdsl apprentice recruitment 2020 | Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited MDSL Are Invited online Application Form for Various Post s. some eligibility is for this all notifications are given below. if you are interested then apply on their official website. if you are eligible for this post and all requirements are clear then fill the form. all-important dates are given below.
Application Start: 04–12–2020 Last Date Apply Online: 23–12–2020 | https://medium.com/@dsaienterprises2018/mdsl-apprentice-recruitment-2020-81bd98a06a8f | [] | 2020-12-05 17:25:48.974000+00:00 | ['Governance', 'Jobs', 'Government', 'Sarkari Naukri', 'Latest Job Vacancies'] |
When I Look Back | ‘This is an unlawful assembly’ Police Chief Harris declared over the loudspeaker of his patrol car. The words fell out of his mouth and landed on the ground with such disdain for the people he was talking to. ‘You are to disperse; you are ordered to disperse. Go home or go to your church.’
Harris barked this order off to the side of the protest, while some six hundred strong stood in defiance as he spoke, and while close to fifty armed policemen dressed in military helmets and gas masks joyfully swung their batons in hand.
From where I stood on the sideline you could tell — even though you couldn’t see behind the gas mask, that many of them were smiling, waiting for the order to step forward, to put down the protesters and to cause chaos and destruction in the name of law and order.
It was the beginning of spring in 1965, and I was nineteen at the time when I saw these events take place. I watched them from as far as I was allowed to watch, and although I was in favor of the march and the protests, at a distance I blended into the anonymity of the crowd who gathered to jeer and hurl abuse at those who just wanted their voice heard.
They were tired, sick, and tired of not being heard and tensions were high on both sides of the line.
My girlfriend, Jamie, didn’t want me to go down to Selma that day to watch the march. We’d both seen what happened in other incidences across the country. High-pressure hoses that stripped the skin from the flesh in the cold, dogs that had been let loose to attack people and, in some areas, people were set on fire, and in almost every area of the country, somebody had died.
But I would be damned if I wasn’t going to watch the march. This was history in the making, this was justice manifest, change was happening. Not to mention Jamie was marching, and if she was going to be there then I was going to watch out for her.
Her father didn’t want her in the march, he told her ‘If you go out there, you’ll be coming back dead, and I’m not going to be burying my baby girl’
But if Jamie wanted something then Jamie more often than not got what she wanted, much to the annoyance of her parents and to me in later years.
Before the march I asked her if I would be able to walk with her, to keep her company on the long road. She got quiet and shook her head and said, ‘It’s not your fight Harry. I’m sorry, but I’ve got to walk this road by myself’
We left it at that, but as long as I was with her, then her fights were my fights too.
The march started peacefully, and even joyously when they left Brown chapel. Everybody in line seemed to be in high spirits as they began the journey. But when they attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge, that is when the police intercepted them.
They were issued a warning to disperse their illegal gathering. Something that they refused to do. Because the right to gather was just and granted to them by the first amendment to peaceably assemble.
I watched as a man in front denied their request to disperse, and instead dropped to a knee to pray.
Before he had finished the first sentence in his prayer he had been knocked to the ground by the police and had his head broken open by the billy club of an enthusiastic patrolman.
Many people in the front of the protest were pushed to the ground, and those who weren’t pushed down were beaten down until those in the back saw what was happening and tried to flee.
Because the protesters were running, the police fired tear gas into the street and sent the mounted officers on horses in to stop them from running away to accept their fate at the hands of the officers in the street.
I lost sight of Jamie in the heavy acidic fog and ran into the street to try and find her in the chaos.
There were many people on the ground. Some were motionless, some had been arrested others were being beaten brutally under the cover of the thick fog.
The mounted officers were running the length of the street up and down, east to west then back again, scaring the lucky who saw them and trampling the brave who stood their ground.
Jamie was one of the unlucky ones who found herself lost in the mist and was hit in the back of the head by a mounted officer and sent her headfirst to the ground.
I found her on the gutter, sobbing into her hands, her blue dress wet and stained with her blood and the blood of the man next to her who gushed blood from a head wound in the top of his head like a water fountain in beat with his heart.
I grabbed her and ran as fast as I could for as long as I could, and I didn’t look back until I couldn’t smell the sick vinegar scented smoke and the cries of hundreds turned to just hers.
It was dark when I finally got back to Jamie’s house. Her father threw me out of the house and screamed at me for not taking care of her. Jamie tried to tell him that I saved her and that she wouldn’t be there without me, but he wasn’t hearing it.
I started walking home, and on my way ran into Jamie’s sister Lily who sneaked out of her bedroom window to apologize for her father. She ran up to me and hugged me and thanked me for looking after Jamie and said she knew she was only here because of me and then ran back home.
The next day I came to see Jamie, her father refused to let me in the front door. He told me it was best for everyone and everything if I just left without saying another word. He said that people like me had made their lives awful, they forced them to live in the ghettos and gave them looks in the streets that made them feel worse than dirt on the undersides of your shoes. He told me it was bad enough to live the way they do, and he didn’t want any more undue stress and pain in his daughter’s life by having me in it.
So, I left.
When I left, however, so did Jamie. She had packed a bag while her father screamed at me for the second time in as many days. She said she loved him and kissed him goodbye and left with me.
She knew that things were about to get very rough for both of us, she knew that we were going to face a lot of trials.
But she didn’t care and neither did I.
A week later, a second march was held. Only this time it wasn’t a few hundred who showed up, but a few thousand.
I walked hand in hand with Jamie as we walked down the same street and across the same bridge that only a week ago was the canvas for a painting of suffering and chaos.
Hand in hand we crossed the street where I found her bleeding in the gutter, and she held my hand tight as people stared at us from beyond the national guards’ barricades.
For five days and four nights we walked, and we talked about the good times and the bad times. The good times we have had, and the bad yet to come and more importantly, the bad times we have seen and the good yet to come.
On the final night of camping out after four long days of walking and sleepless nights we rested our tired and sore feet and laid on the side of the road in the mud and the dirt. A man approached us and sat next to our fire and talked with us for a short while.
He introduced himself, although he didn’t need to his reputation preceded him. He said to us, ‘Things will get better, as they always do. The good days will come, maybe not all at once, but when they do appreciate them. Because the dark days will come as well, and you will need the good days to look back on and smile. But for now, don’t think of the bad days, because today is a good day’
The following day when we reached Montgomery and our long and wearisome journey came to an end. We sat on a park bench on the other side of the capitol building while the same man who sat down and shared our campfire the night before stood in front of the entire crowd of those who marched the five-day journey to be there and told us all that one day soon we need not make the travels like this, that one day the people of the country who see prejudice when they look at their fellow man will one day be no more, and when someone asked him how long it would take he answered simply, ‘How long? Not long. Because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice’
I think back on the good old days from time to time and I smile. I smile because days today are bad, not quite as bad as back then, but they feel pretty bad and they only feel like they are getting worse.
But I will continue smiling, because I know the better days will come again.
Yesterday was a good day but today is not. But so long as your voice is heard by those in charge, then tomorrow will bring forth change and greatness with it. | https://medium.com/@bjameshancock/when-i-look-back-714ea19ec8b7 | ['B. James Hancock'] | 2020-12-15 06:33:19.911000+00:00 | ['Short Story', 'Bjameshancock', 'Fiction', 'Civil Rights'] |
Innovation culture: how we make things happen at Sinch | Innovation culture: how we make things happen at Sinch Sinch Follow Aug 23 · 4 min read
Learn why it’s important to let go of specific projects instead focus on your impact in a company. — Beatriz Zarattini
In environments that are focused on innovation, it’s important to constantly move and evolve. Here at Sinch we are always changing and adapting, and our baseline is a continuous process of learning, testing, redoing, and learning again.
This agile culture that makes us continuously transform and rebuild ideas is completely tied to the essence of our products and our purpose.
First, the essence of our products: it was precisely due to such agility in recognizing that previous strategic guidelines didn’t make sense anymore and reinventing the routes, that made us successfully reach the universe of Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS), delivering cloud communication for messaging, voice, and video — which allows a two-way conversation between brands and clients through different channels.
And then I mention our purpose because Customer Experience has become an even more fundamental focus for companies around the world as time goes by. Competition grew, so keeping a loyal customer base demanded a better sense of personalization and attention to their wishes. With this greater sense of urgency, we seek again to adapt and deliver the best experience to our clients. In other words, letting go of what we thought worked best and going after new ways to improve, is directly connected to living a business dynamic that has innovation as premise.
Encourage people to “let go” of projects and ideas
Every project requires planning and execution. This is done so that, in the end, we deliver products or services in the best possible way to our customer. However, each project has unique goals and timing due to different strategic scenarios; meaning that you might be working in a project that can be changed or deprioritized in order to focus on more impactful initiatives for that moment.
This is challenging! It demands flexibility and resilience from your team members whenever plans are switched. We are a company that changes very fast and when we talk about change being part of our everyday lives, we’re not lying. This alone already requires a profile of people who are willing to not only change their mind and plans frequently, but also create new paths. Today we have a strong entrepreneurial culture, which is very much linked to the detachment of old ideas and the reinvention of new ways of working within the company.
So, if I would sum up what’s important for a Sincher, it would be to focus on the impact you’ll generate rather than attaching yourself to projects that might or might not get you there.
The benefits of this culture for the company and its employees
The implementation of an agile culture is positive for the company mainly under the aspects of empathy towards people and the survival of the business. An important first step is to give greater attention to feedback, thinking about how to improve and adapt, which is essential for those who want to be successful in this booming technology market.
This dynamic places as the main responsibility of the company, customer focus, both external (end), and internal (employees). First, external (end) customers, it is necessary to target on offering the best experience. This can only be achieved if we actively listen to feedback and reduce our biases and false illusion of total mastery of knowledge. Why? Because the needs of customers change in a matter of seconds and it makes them easily want to switch to another option in the market.
Regarding internal customers, they are the ones who directly influence the reality of working in a company and are responsible for the development, implementation, and maintenance of the products. That said, in an environment of constant change and innovation, the sense of trust between people needs to be very high, so that there won’t be fear of exposing yourself and risking bringing new ideas.
We can also see this kind of culture as positive to our careers, since in more traditional workplaces we won’t face this amount of challenge. The fact that you’re not in your comfort zone involves the feeling of “risking” as a principle of the search for innovation. The ability to reinvent yourself, test new paths, and be questioned makes you more open to listening to different points of view, in addition to testing new skills that, doing the same thing over and over again, would not give you an opportunity to develop.
Do you want to work where the innovation culture will challenge you like no other? Check out five tips to make it happen HERE. Also make sure to check out our vacancies! www.sinch.com/careers/ | https://medium.com/wearesinch/innovation-culture-how-we-make-things-happen-at-sinch-87225f241e95 | [] | 2021-08-23 18:42:41.459000+00:00 | ['Company Culture', 'Culture', 'Innovation', 'Impact', 'Make It Happen'] |
Overthinking your real estate research? How much is too much? | Is this the house for me?
Real estate is a national hobby in Australia. Whether you are looking to buy or sell now or later, or just want to know what the market is doing, major real estate listing sites get plenty of traffic. But what is it that people want to know? Clearly at the top of the list is property values. You either want to know that you paid, or will pay, the right price for a property, or that it is going up at a good rate since you bought it, thereby increasing your wealth. But how important is this really at a micro level?
In Australia, home owners hold onto their houses for just over 11 years on average and their apartments for just under 10 years on average. Over the last 25 years the median property value increase has averaged 6.8% per annum which means that for the average time held, values will have more than doubled. Looking at what price is paid on purchase, even a 2% difference (which equals about $17,000 on current average values of $850,000) seems to be not so significant against a value increase of $850,000+ from now until sold in 10+ years’ time.
That extra 2% paid may give you the edge to secure the property you really desire. Further, at current interest rates of say 3.5%, your extra monthly repayments for principle and interest should vary by around $100 only. The problem is that we get drawn into the comparison game where we want to know we are getting the best deal possible and that we are buying into the highest potential value-increasing property. Should our decision-making on a major lifestyle choice be predicated on that basis?
Leaving price/value aside, what should we look for in our property research?
Simple view of locality profile
It seems that many property portals are now giving us potentially everything, including the colour and style of the kitchen sink! We now have the opportunity to access historical and current data on the property, locality, risks, community characteristics, neighbours, crime, traffic, shops, schools, parks, fees, transport, services, ethnicity, crime, drugs, climate (change), planning, pollution, broadband, drive times, pests, insurance loadings, family demographics, bike and walking trails, sporting clubs, coffee quality and much more!! The result is that we are being overwhelmed by data/information that is rarely presented in a logical and simple manner to allow easy profiling of any specific property.
Let’s therefore go back to basics such as the intuitive approach offered by Residz which is about having a simple view of whether a property meets your needs in terms of layout and whether the local area and community aligns with your lifestyle. Those attributes, even allowing for different family profiles, should be easily attainable with a few clicks from a simple locality or address search, all up taking less than 15 minutes. Spending more time to dig deeper is then up to you depending on your specific hobbyhorse. This is what other real estate portals need to get back to instead of looking like the controls of an alien spacecraft with no user guide. | https://medium.com/@stepwalker/overthinking-your-real-estate-research-how-much-is-too-much-8e7cd4d74374 | ['Steve Walker'] | 2020-10-13 05:33:55.192000+00:00 | ['Research', 'Data', 'Property', 'Maps', 'Real Estate'] |
Jean Batten Stamp Collection | Jean Batten Stamp Collection
In 1990 the National Library of New Zealand’s Sub-Committee on Strengthening Resources supported MOTAT’s Walsh Memorial Library in purchasing a lot of Jean Batten memorabilia from the Hendon Aircraft Sale at Sotheby’s. This included aero club badges, stamps, first day covers and other ephemera addressed to Batten.
Since March, between the two Covid rāhui, Library and Conservation have been working together to take care of this stamp collection, which numbers over 1000 stamps. Previously housed loose in overfilled envelopes, we have begun the process to put them into stamp stock sheets, making them easily accessible for researchers to view. As part of this process, we will also look to attach a finding aid and create further records for Collections Online.
Based on the work we’ve done so far; it appears the stamps were collected as a result of correspondence sent to Jean Batten and the stamps offer a cursory glance into where she received mail from throughout her life, spanning from the 1930s to the 1980s and 62 countries.
Most of the stamps are used, torn from envelopes. We’ve also noticed a few envelope edges with her name on. And even a half letter, shown on the left.
So far, the stamps have been sorted by country of issue and we are now going back through each country, counting the number of stamps and measuring them to help determine the storage requirements for the collection, as well as recording how many stamps require flattening, or other conservation treatments. Recording how many stamps require each kind of treatment will help us to plan our treatment strategy so that we can work as efficiently as possible. Researchers tend to look out for country and date of issue, so these are our how we will arrange the collection.
Conservation considerations
One of the key early decisions made during the project was not to remove stamps from their envelope backings unless that backing poses a risk to the stamp. Many of the envelope fragments contain contextual information that may be of value to researchers such as: postmarks, cancellations, addresses, air mail markings, and fragments of letters or other writing.
The fact that so many of the stamps are still adhered to envelopes also suggests much about the manner in which they were collected. In cases where the backing conveys no additional information but is not deemed harmful to the stamp, it will be trimmed down for storage, leaving a wide enough border around the stamp to protect the perforations.
Leaving the stamps on their backings also removes the need to expose otherwise stable stamps to the high levels of moisture required to make the gum adhesive soluble. Any stamps requiring treatments commonly achieved via humidification, such as flattening, will require systematic solubility testing before treatment is undertaken. This involves testing every part of the stamp and envelope including: all the colours of ink used to print the stamp, the ink of any cancellations or postmarks, the envelope itself if it is coloured or printed in any way, and the ink of any writing on the envelope. As one envelope fragment may have many different stamps on it, as well as coloured paper, cancellations, postmarks and writing, the testing itself may be a major undertaking. One of the reasons that it is important to test the solubility of the stamp ink is due to the fact that, in the past, some stamps were printed with extremely water-soluble aniline inks. This was done intentionally by postal services in many countries to prevent a stamp being soaked off an envelope and reused for postage. When exposed to moisture, these inks bleed out into the surrounding paper, causing the image to blur or, in extreme cases, wash off the paper entirely.
The sorting process has also given us a chance to trial using the Gunnar Computerised Mat Cutter to create a modular box system to fit within one of our standard-sized boxes. When first sorting the stamps it quickly became apparent that we needed a way to store them between sorting sessions that prevented them becoming mixed up again. We initially assigned each country a small, commercially produced box, however we soon realised that a more bespoke solution was needed as the volume of stamps from countries such as New Zealand and Great Britain quickly exceeded the capacity of these boxes. The commercial boxes also didn’t fit neatly into the larger standard-sized box, leaving gaps that allowed them to shift around inside when the larger box was moved. With no other suitable boxes in stock, we decided to develop a modular box system based on the internal dimensions of the standard-sized storage box already used to house the collection.
Showing the modular boxes temporarily housing the stamps. MOTAT, All rights reserved.
This would allow us to produce boxes in a range of sizes, all of which would fit neatly together within the larger box. Once the dimensions of each box size were determined they were programmed into the Gunnar software and saved as a “nest”. The nesting feature of the Gunnar allows multiple boxes or mats to be cut at once with the software automatically determining the most efficient layout to maximise board yield. Nesting is a great way to use up offcuts from other projects as the software will try to cut as many boxes as possible out of whatever sized board you have. In this case it allowed us to cut all 45 stamp boxes from offcuts. Nests can also be saved so that, should we ever need more boxes of these sizes, they are already in the software ready to go. We are currently exploring how we can use this kind of modular system and the Gunnar to rehouse other small objects.
It seems Jean Batten was consciously collecting these stamps, but little appears to have been done to them before they made their way to MOTAT. We welcome any enquiries about this collection and look forward to making it accessible to researchers in the future once rehoused.
Please feel free to email [email protected] or [email protected] with any enquiries about this collection.
Cite this article
Ross Sheppard, Kasserine & Renshaw, Chelsea. Jean Batten Stamp Collection. First published: 02 November 2020. URL: https://medium.com/motat/jean-batten-stamp-collection-1f3bd6ea3d5c | https://medium.com/motat/jean-batten-stamp-collection-1f3bd6ea3d5c | ['Chelsea Renshaw'] | 2021-07-27 02:16:21.593000+00:00 | ['Heritage', 'Stamp Collecting', 'Conservation', 'Philately', 'Museums'] |
Restarting Httpd Service is not idempotent, how to make the Service Idempotent. | Hello Everyone,
First of all, we should know what is idempotence,
Idempotence: Idempotence means that applying an operation once or applying it multiple times has the same effect. Examples: Multiplication by zero. No matter how many times you do it, the result is still zero.
When we make any changes in the configuration files then only we restart any service. If we are executing a command to restart the service it will consume compute resources.
When we run ansible-playbook for restarting the service of httpd. It will again restart the service at the target node but I want the service to only restart when I make any change to configuration files otherwise it will not restart the service of httpd and save the compute resources.
For achieving the idempotence we will use the handler module and notify task in ansible.
notify
List of handlers to notify when the task returns a ‘changed=True’ status.
handlers module in ansible
Sometimes we want a task to run only when a change is made on a machine. For example, We may want to restart a service if a task updates the configuration of that service, but not if the configuration is unchanged. Ansible uses handlers to address this use case. Handlers are tasks that only run when notified.
I have written the playbook for this giving example : | https://medium.com/@a4bhishekkmr/restarting-httpd-service-is-not-idempotent-how-to-make-the-service-idempotent-607750b12a80 | ['Abhishek Kumar'] | 2020-12-11 11:08:49.159000+00:00 | ['Idempotency', 'Ansible', 'Ansible Playbook', 'Apache', 'Httpd'] |
Three Non-Policy Victories Essential to a Successful Biden Administration | Much talk has been said about the Nation’s need to heal. From racial tensions to a deep partisan divide, our country has not experienced greater domestic trouble in recent history. The divide is no more apparent than the fact that Joe Biden won the Election, but only just barely. For his greater agenda to gain traction with all people, he must achieve three basic broader victories first.
Reestablish Press Authority
The most basic but arguably the most essential — Joe Biden must stop the war against the media. Every piece of the governmental apparatus has their own function, the media is not part of the government but they are a part of the apparatus. Their ability to operate independently and without constant attacks on the legitimacy of their work is paramount to the public regaining trust of the happenings in and around Washington D. C.
The secondary objective in this category is eliminating the scandals. The Trump administration was hounded by near constant allegations of personal misconduct, abuse of powers, collusion with foreign governments, illegal business dealings, and misinformation or lack thereof. This objective amounts to another relatively simple action item, but will result in mountains of success to the end of achieving other (actually important) objectives.
Deescalate Partisan Politics
Too much about Washington is Republicans vs. Democrats. While this is far from new, many aspects of life became politicized that simply should not have — highlighted by COVID legitimacy and Election results. Items of this nature should be relatively simple, but like much in the Trump administration, they became points of inflammatory inflection. Creating a united front on these types of issues will do the Biden Administration well and is a core piece of the “healing” promise that the country so desperately needs.
The other side of partisan politics will be more difficult, but it is Biden’s supposed strength: cutting deals with the other major political party in Washington D. C. The strange thing about Congressional voting is that it’s become nearly split across party lines for every major vote. Eliminating this chasm could be asking too much but its what we should hope for these next two and four years (depending on House and Senate election results, including Georgia runoffs, rather than hope this could be a fact of a divided government).
Maintain Economic Progress
Trump will likely run again in 2024. Or even if he doesn’t, Republicans will be quick to point out any economic failures or “worse” numbers than what Trump produced. If Biden is not able to outperform Trump, he and the Democratic party will have trouble achieving their initiatives. If he is able to stay on par with Trump’s performance, he will likely have a sound administration. But if he is able to outperform Trump, the 45th President and GOP will have no chance come the mid-term elections and 2024 election.
The major pieces that will stay in the conversation are the unemployment rate (especially that for Black Americans and other minorities) and the performance of the stock market. What surprised many pollsters is that Black men voted for Trump at a greater percentage than from the 2016 election. If not proving once and for all that economic factors are of the highest concern to a large swath of the population.
Conclusion
President-elect Biden will have an odd array of priorities coming into the White House given the chaotic Trump administration. These three measures (Press Authority, un-Partisan Politics, and Economic Progress) are key to restoring a sense of normalcy that so many Americans sought in their vote. Quickly establishing that will be the biggest victory the President-elect can deliver. | https://medium.com/@a-b-taelor/three-non-policy-victories-essential-to-a-successful-biden-administration-c803a8b4506c | ['A B Taelor'] | 2020-11-27 22:13:15.334000+00:00 | ['Partisan Divide', 'Media Criticism', 'Partisanship', 'Biden', 'President'] |
Failure is Part of Life | Self-Development
Swallowing it with a smile
Photo by the blowup on Unsplash
Everyone knows that failure is part of life. We’ve been told that since the day we first started school. I can’t argue with that. And before I go any further, please note that this is not a service piece in which I give five ways to cope with failure.
I’m not able to write that article because I’m a failure at dealing with failure. People that lean toward perfectionism usually are. Of course the flip side of failure is success, and what is more successful than perfectionism? Nothing really. If you’ve answered every question right on a test, written a perfectly cohesive, coherent essay or given a flawlessly-executed speech, you’ve tasted perfectionism and success.
Success is the bell that rings melodiously at the end of a long hard road to a destination. On the other hand, failure, if we are to continue the above metaphor, is the dissonant clang of cymbals announcing errors, mistakes, and important omissions.
Whether we want to admit it or not, we’ve all been clanged far too much in our lives. I know I have. Even learning to ride a two-wheeler was an ordeal for me. I failed, persisted, failed, persisted until what to my wondrous surprise, I actually balanced myself on the vehicle and rode as if I had been doing it for years.
That’s the good part of failure. Once you have defeated it by editing that article the fifth time or interpreting that literary work so it makes sense to you, you have put yourself smack in the middle of success. You’ve converted failure into success, and you can forget all about that disturbing interim when your article lacked succinctness or you could not determine the theme of a classic novel.
But what happens when you are unable to convert failure into success? That’s exactly what happened to me when I taught third grade. I failed in fits and starts. It wasn’t like I walked into the classroom and couldn’t figure out what to do with two dozen or so nine-year-olds. In many ways I did the correct things. I gathered the necessary supplies, observed other people to see how they taught, and applied ideas I had learned in college classes.
But somehow and like a recipe for coffee cake that comes out too sweet or too moist or just falls apart when you serve it, I could not put all the pieces together to achieve a palatable dish. The problem was that I was failing at different points along the continuum of teaching. For one thing, I could not discipline adequately, and I was too ashamed to ask for help. I also didn’t really care about the less bright or rambunctious students, and once or twice I’m ashamed to say I embarrassed them on purpose. Even so I still got decent evaluations. But I knew — and I expect the children also knew — that I was far from the ideal teacher.
I tried to convert my failure into a success, but the funny thing about the process of conversion is that if you don’t have the commitment or motivation, you cannot complete the process. It took me five years to realize I lacked the commitment to improve my teaching skills. Moreover shame washed over me constantly because I regarded my failure as a teacher as part of a greater failure. I had not chosen the right career — a career for which I had some passion.
I lacked passion for presenting what I considered dull material, and I lacked passion for delighting in the learning of young people. I had traded it in for practicality and a decent job offer. I wanted to graduate college with instant credentials for employment, and teaching was the instrument to allow me to do that. I never asked the hard questions such as what did I really want to do for the next 50 or so years? I was too obsessed with perfectionism in terms of GPAs and praise from teachers and too blind and naive to realize that perfectionism would never give me the confidence and success I truly yearned for.
So I turned in my erasers and resigned as a teacher. I only admitted my failure to myself and my close family, and even they could not understand why I gave up a tenured job to fail at finding another one. Because that’s just what I did. Instead of asking the right questions, I again continued to ask the wrong question: What would be an expedient career decision for an unemployed teacher?
The right question — what was my passion? — -would not surface until I failed a few more times. On the surface these failures would appear as successes, but I was not happy so something was wrong. Some of it was chronic depression, but a lot of it was disgust at having failed yet again. I was a good-enough librarian, but I never thought so.
Yes, perfectionistic standards were barriers to my experiencing success, but even so, I never developed the attitude and bearing so critical to excelling at a job in which you help others to find information. So, yes, I failed again to ask the right question and, as a result, I asked the universe to find me another — more different, presumably better — job as a librarian.
The universe balked and saw me for the liar I was. I finally got the message after a stint as an acquisitions librarian who chose materials for a collection in the Southwest. I didn’t want to be a librarian. I wanted to write. Most of the day I read reviews of books, and I wanted to be that person who wrote the books or at least wrote the reviews.
So I became a freelance writer and opened myself up to more failure. By then I was getting good at bouncing back from it. I still have not gleaned any secrets to impart to others who chose the wrong careers. I just kept moving ahead and hoping to convert my failure into success.
At least, I told myself, I had cleared one of my hardest hurdles: I was in a writing career, a career that aroused the passion I had so long pushed away because it wasn’t practical. Unfortunately, writing is a magnet for failure unless you persevere. So perseverance and persistence became my conversion techniques, and eventually I had some success.
Have I learned to cope with failure better? Yes, I have. Do I do it with a smile, as my subtitle above indicates? Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t.
If I’ve learned anything about failure from my years of experience, I’ve learned that perception is key to the conversion formula. If you always see the glass as half empty, you’ll always be a failure in your eyes. Confidence and courage are two keys to perception. If you believe the glass will continue to fill up as long as you have the strength to push on, then you are a success.
So I tend to smile more at failure when I feel confident. So what if I didn’t sell that book proposal or that humor piece or that nonfiction idea. I tried my best. The passion is still there as is the commitment — they generate the fuel to keep my engine moving ahead. Always. | https://medium.com/illumination/failure-is-part-of-life-9f434aad246d | ['Janice Arenofsky'] | 2020-12-25 18:02:52.305000+00:00 | ['Failure', 'Passion', 'Conversion', 'Careers', 'Success'] |
The Time is at Hand | Repent! “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” [Mark 1:15]
Some of you might be thinking what have we gotten ourselves into with this guy!? We have a street preacher telling us it’s the end times?! It’s actually not what you may think. I’ll come back to this. So when I was in grad school the first time around at Clemson, I had received money from family and friends as a graduation gift from FSU. My plan was to use this money to buy a kayak. Between moving expenses and just plain and simple poor budgeting, I spent the money. I figured that money was for the kayak. I’ll buy it after church on Sunday with the credit card. I mean the way I looked at it was, it really was the same money I just needed to figure out where the already spent money came from That is “really” what I’m financing.
Well, I get to church. And this is a time when I’m really starting to understand what it means to hear from God. My faith was just starting to develop. That morning the preacher began a series about money. About how financial responsibility is a spiritual issue. My heart sank. I felt like he was reading my thoughts, and preaching straight to me. I had a choice. Right in front of me was presented a situation and I could stay the course or I could turn away from the original course and make a different course. I knew what I had to do. So I bought the kayak….. KIDDING! I knew I was not to do that. I knew it was not God’s will.
I recall another time. I was about to do something I knew I shouldn’t. I think it involved money again. Either that or something relationship-oriented? I was ready to do that, and on my radio came on the Verve Pipe song titled “I Want All of You.” That was like a little dagger stabbing me in the heart. God was saying God wanted all of me not just some of me. I knew it was not a coincidence.
So, what does any of this have to do with Mark?: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the good news.” You’ve likely heard people say or maybe even have said yourselves:
The bible is clear on this
“This” meaning whatever subject at hand. What is actually meant by this is: my understanding of this scripture is clear. Look! It’s in the text! Well, outside of the original language, culture, and context, it is not always as clear. The New Testament of the bible was written in Koine Greek, which is an ancient form of Greek spoken by commoners rather than aristocracy. It is not the same Greek spoken today in Greece. So let’s examine this scripture in the Greek.
While these two texts tell the same basic story, there is a subtle difference. Matthew does not include the word “time,” but Mark does. The word that was translated into time here in Mark is kairos. The Greeks had 2 different words for time. Kairos and Chronos. For those of you getting bored with the language study, just stay with me here. Chronos, (xrónos), is translated as age (1), all (1), delay (1), exact time (1), long (5), long ages (2), long* (1), period (2), time (30), times (5), while (5).
Kairos, (καιρὸς), on the other hand, translates into fitting season, season, opportunity, occasion, or time. So what does this mean?! Jesus here, is not saying this is the end of the world, repent now. If that was the message, it would be Chronos. But it was Kairos. It’s like he is saying: in this moment, in this fitting season, I am ushering in the kingdom of God. Repent and believe.
The next keyword is metaneo, (μετανοέω), which translates into repent. Talk about a word that gets a bad wrap! Repent, means to change mind, change an action, or, as more commonly referred to by evangelists, change one’s inner posture toward God.
3DM ministries describes these “kairos moments” as grace-filled opportunities where we can change the trajectory of our life.
In this “kairos moment”: Jesus came to Peter, Andrew, James, and John and said because I am here with you, now, in this moment, you have an opportunity. He did not say to them, make a choice for me as your savior or perish in eternal fire.
This was kairos, an opportunity, not chronos, the ultimate time.
So going back to my story… The kairos, the moment in which God intersected me was the preaching on financial responsibility. God intersected my path. By changing my decision that was repentance and believing was following through on that changed decision. The trajectory of my life changed even if in a small way.
So I could hear another question being is this really what the passage is about? Did it not say “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel”? Isn’t the bigger picture about becoming a Christian? About following Christ?
Yes, that is true. Jesus offered those listening something new. That is what all of his signs were about. He was fulfilling prophecies from the scriptures and He was living out his preaching. He was talking the talk AND walking the walk. This was evidence of a new era. The kingdom of God is here. It hasn’t been completely fulfilled. The world has not been fully reconciled and redeemed in its current state. But, Jesus ushered in something new. He also awakened us to a new understanding of how to live.
Jesus’s message and all of his signs point to repentance love. Heart matters. Not just knowing the right rules. Jesus opened a new pathway to commune with God.
So what does this mean for each of us? Maybe some of you are not sure where you stand with believing in God. Maybe this is your kairos moment, your fitting season, your opportunity to repent meaning to change your posture toward God. The fact many of you are here, your posture is already changed you want to know more to take the next step. Here is where this example I gave about the kayak fits into the text.
The fascinating thing about studying theology more deeply is learning about how intricate the scriptures really are. There are surface meanings, but there is so much more. When you extract this verse “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” ….. It can sound like a street preacher sign. But when you read it in the context of the entirety of scripture it has a much larger theme. In fact, it has many themes.
When you look at John chapter 8, the woman was caught in adultary, and Jesus told the Pharisees, let he without sin cast the first stone, then he said go and sin no more. There was the kairos moment, the fitting season to change. It was the kairos for the Pharisees, the religious leaders to stop being hypocrites, and for the woman to change the trajectory of her life. Why the man participating in adultery was not addressed is for another time.
In John chapter 4, the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus shared with her that he is the living water, the messiah. How did she repent? She became the first female evangelist in the gospel of John.
The time is here. God has convicted you or invited you to change something. What will you do?
Let’s look at repent again. What is this about? Is this a one time thing? Was this Kairos moment for the deciples a one time offer to change one thing and them move on? No, as theologian Stanley Hauerwas states, repentance requires training called discipleship. The mission of the United Methodist Church is: Make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi to follow him. That was Levi’s kairos moment. Levi became known as Matthew, one of the original disciples. How did he repent? He became a disciple! Being a tax collector then was more like being a loan shark. No one likes the IRS, but these are not the same type of professions. Tax collectors then illegally extorted people. Matthew left the illegitimate profession and became a follower of Jesus.
This verse: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” is a theme of God intersecting in the world and inviting us to make a change. We have simple kairos, one-time changes to make throughout life. And discipleship trains us to recognize these throughout the journey.
These moments happen all the time. Not just on Sunday when the misfit minister is talking too much upfront. Following these prompts. Part of discipleship, is life-long, and ongoing. If we do not follow these prompts to change, then we just admire Jesus rather than follow him.
So, the Kingdom of God is at hand. What is God calling you to do? Is God saying to end an unhealthy relationship? To not buy something you can’t really afford? To take a leap of faith and take that new job across the country? What?
I’ll leave us with this brief conversation noted by Hauerwas. Try and note what the kairos moment is that is slapping one of these brothers in the face is. Take note of what discipleship looks like:
A story that James McClendon tells about Clarence Jordan, the founder of the Koinonia Community, an interracial farm in Georgia, wonderfully illumines the difference between being a disciple and those who simply admire Jesus. In the early 1950s it is said that Clarence asked his brother, Robert Jordan, who would later be a state senator and a justice on the Georgia Supreme Court, to represent Koinonia Farm legally. His brother replied: | https://misfitminister.com/the-time-is-at-hand-fa10937a7e47 | ['Jon U'] | 2020-01-27 23:54:15.993000+00:00 | ['Christian', 'God', 'Jesus', 'Christianity', 'Christian Living'] |
Uninterruptible power supply buyers guide | An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) offers a simple solution: it’s a battery in a box with enough capacity to run devices plugged in via its AC outlets for minutes to hours, depending on your needs and the mix of hardware. This might let you keep internet service active during an extended power outage, give you the five minutes necessary for your desktop computer with a hard drive to perform an automatic shutdown and avoid lost work (or in a worst case scenario, running disk repair software).
In terms of entertainment, it could give you enough time to save your game after a blackout or—perhaps more importantly—give notice to others in a team-based multiplayer game that you need to exit, so you’re not assessed an early-quit penalty.
A UPS also doubles as a surge protector and aids your equipment and uptime by buoying temporary sags in voltage and other vagaries of electrical power networks, some of which have the potential to damage computer power supplies. For from about $80 to $200 for most systems, a UPS can provide a remarkable amount of peace of mind coupled with additional uptime and less loss.
UPSes aren’t new. They date back decades. But the cost has never been lower and the profusion of options never larger. In this introduction, I help you understand what a UPS can offer, sort out your needs, and make preliminary recommendations for purchase. Later this year, TechHive will offer reviews of UPS models appropriate for home and small offices from which you can make informed choices.
Updated December 7, 2020 to add our Tripp Lite AVR900U uninterruptible power supply review. This otherwise fine product doesn’t earn our strong recommendation because it produces a simulated or stepped sine wave that can cause problems with computers outfitted with active power factor correction (PFC).
[ Further reading: The best surge protectors for your costly electronics ]Uninterruptible is the key wordThe UPS emerged in an era when electronics were fragile and drives were easily thrown off kilter. They were designed to provide continuous—or “uninterruptible”—power to prevent a host of a problems. They were first found in server racks and used with network equipment until the price and format dropped to make them usable with home and small-office equipment.
Amazon This inexpensive AmazonBasics Standby UPS ($80) features 12 surge-protected outlets, but only six of them are also connected to its internal battery for standby power.
Any device you owned that suddenly lost power and had a hard disk inside it might wind up with a corrupted directory or even physical damage from a drive head smashing into another part of the mechanism. Other equipment that loaded its firmware off chips and ran using volatile storage could also wind up losing valuable caches of information and require some time to re-assemble it.
Mentioned in this article Cyberpower CP800AVR UPS See it Hard drives evolved to better manage power failures (and acceleration in laptops), and all portable devices and most new computers moved to movement-free solid state drives (SSDs) that don’t have internal spindles and read/write heads. Embedded devices—from modems and routers to smart devices and DVRs—became more resilient and faster at booting. Most devices sold today have an SSD or flash memory or cards.
It’s still possible if your battery-free desktop computer suddenly loses power that it may be left in a state that leaves a document corrupted, loses a spreadsheet’s latest state, or happens at such an inopportune moment you must recover your drive or reinstall the operating system. Avoiding those possibilities, especially if you regularly encounter minor power issues at home, can save you at least the time of re-creating lost work and potentially the cost of drive-rebuilding software, even if your hardware remains intact.
A more common problem can arise from networking equipment that has modest power requirements. Losing power means losing access to the internet, even when your cable, DSL, or fiber line remains powered or active from the ISP’s physical plant or a neighborhood interconnection point, rather than a transformer on your building or block. A UPS can keep your network up and running while the power company restores the juice, even if that takes hours.
When power cuts out, the UPS’s battery kicks in. It delivers expected amounts over all connected devices until the battery’s power is exhausted. A modern UPS can also signal to a computer a number of factors, including remaining time or trigger a shutdown through built-in software (as with Energy Saver in macOS) or installed software.
CyberPower In the event of a blackout, CyberPower’s software will gracefully shut down a computer while it operates on battery power from its CP800AVR UPS.
One of the key differentiators among UPSes intended for homes and individual devices in an office is battery capacity. You can buy units across a huge range of battery sizes, and the higher-capacity the battery, the longer runtime you will get or more equipment you can support with a single UPS. In some cases, it may make sense to purchase two or more UPSes to cover all the necessary equipment you have, each matched to the right capacity.
Mentioned in this article AmazonBasics Standby UPS 800VA 450W Surge Protector Battery Backup See it Batteries do need to be replaced, although it can be after a very long period. A UPS typically has a light or will use a sound to indicate a battery that needs to be replaced, and it might indicate this via software running on the computer to which it’s connected.
With great power, comes great power conversionUPSes for consumer and small-business purposes come in standby and line interactive versions. Standby units keep their battery ready for on-demand, automatic use, but it’s otherwise on standby, as its name indicates. A line interactive version feeds power through an inverter from the wall to connected devices while also charging the battery. It can condition power, smoothing out highs and lows, and switch over to the battery within a few milliseconds. (Other flavors are much more expensive or intended for critical systems and higher power consumption.)
A few years ago, the price differential was high enough that you had to really balance the need for particular features against cost. Now, you may want to opt for a line interaction UPS because of its advantages, which include less wear and tear of the battery, extending its lifetime. Batteries are relatively expensive to replace, at a good fraction of the original item’s purchase price, so keeping them in fit condition longer reduces your overall cost of ownership.
A UPS isn’t just about providing power when it’s interrupted, though, and that’s another place that a standby and line interactive approach vary.
Glenn Fleishman / IDG APC’s website offers a handy tool that will help you decide which of its UPSes fit your requirements, based on total power draw and how long you’ll need battery power for your components.
These three voltage fluctuations can happen regularly or infrequently on power supplied by your utility:
Surges: Utilities sometimes have brief jumps in electrical power, which can affect electronics, sometimes burning out a power supply or frying the entire device. Surge protection effectively shaves off voltage above a certain safe range. Sags: Your home or office can have a momentary voltage sag when something with a big motor kicks on, like a clothes dryer or a heat pump—sometimes even in an adjacent apartment, house, or building. Undervoltage (“brownouts”): In some cases with high electrical usage across an area, a utility might reduce voltage for an extended period to avoid a total blackout. This can mess with motor-driven industrial and home equipment—many appliances have motors, often driving a compressor, as in a refrigerator or freezer. With electronics, extended undervoltage has the potential damage some power supplies. A standby model typically relies on dealing with excess voltage by having inline metal-oxide varistors (MOVs), just as in standalone surge protectors. These MOVs shift power to ground, but eventually burn out after extensive use. At that point, all the UPS models I checked stop passing power through. (That’s as opposed to most surge protectors, which extinguish a “protected” LED on their front, but continue to pass power.)
For power sags and undervoltage, a standby model will tap the battery. If it happens frequently or in quick succession, your UPS might not be up to the task and provide enough delay that a desktop system or hard drive loses power long enough to halt its operating system or crash.
Mentioned in this article Tripp Lite Smart1500LCDT See it A line interactive UPS continuously feeds power through a conditioner that charges the battery and regulates power. This automatic voltage regulation, known as AVR, can convert voltage as needed to provide clean power to attached outlets without relying on the battery. With a line interactive model, the battery is used only as a last resort.
There’s one final power characteristic of a UPS that can be found in both standby and line interactive models: the smoothness of the alternating current generation produced by the model from the direct current output by its battery. Alternating current reverses its power flow smoothly 60 times each second, and a UPS must simulate that flow, which can be represented as an undulating sine wave.
Tripp Lite The Tripp Lite Smart1500LCDT is a line-interactive UPS, meaning it feeds connected devices conditioned power while it charges its battery at the same time. In the event of a blackout, it will switch to battery power within a few milliseconds.
A UPS might produce a pure sine wave, which adds to cost, or a stairstepped one, in which power shifts more abruptly up and down as it alternates. A rough simulated sine wave can be a showstopper for certain kinds of computer power supplies, which have components that interact poorly with the voltage changes. It could cause premature wear on components or cause them to outright shut down or cause additional damage.
If your device has active power factor correction (PFC) or incorporates fragile or sensitive electronics, especially for audio recording, you likely need a pure sine wave. It’s not always easy to figure out if your device has active PFC; when in doubt, opt for a pure sine wave—the additional cost has come way down.
Even for equipment that isn’t susceptible to power-supply problems, a stepped sine wave can cause a power supply to emit a high-pitched whine when it’s on battery power.
One final UPS feature that may also be helpful: less-expensive models have one or more LEDs to indicate certain status elements, like working from backup power or the internal battery needing to be replaced. Others have an LCD screen (sometimes backlit) that provides a variety of information, sometimes an excessive amount, which may be viewable through software installed on a connected computer.
All UPSes have built-in audible alarms for outages, and some are quite loud.
APC A UPS that puts out a pure sine wave, such as this APC SMC1000, is your best choice if you’re operating sensitive equipment, such as audio-recording gear. An LCD display is also useful for monitoring the UPS’s status.
Determining your UPS needsMost of us have two main scenarios to plan for: keep the network up, and prevent our AC-powered computers from abruptly shutting down. These involve very different choices in hardware and configuration.
One common element between both, however: having enough outlets spaced correctly to plug all your items directly in. Most UPSes feature both battery-backed outlets and surge-protected outlets that aren’t wired into the battery. You need to study quantity and position, as it is strongly recommended you don’t plug a power strip or other extensions into either kind of UPS outlet, as it increases the risk of electrical fire.
That can be particularly tricky if you have large “wall wart” style AC adapters or wider-than-average AC plugs.
Scenario 1: Keep the network up Mentioned in this article APC Smart-UPS C 1000VA (model SMC1000) See it Examine all the devices that make up your network. That may include a broadband modem, a VoIP adapter for phone calls, one or more Wi-Fi routers, one or more ethernet switches, and/or a smart home hub. Because you may have these spread out across your home or office, you might wind up requiring two or more UPSes to keep the network going.
If you have a modem, router, and switch (plus a VoIP adapter if you need it) all in close proximity, you might be able to live without other parts of your networking operating during an outage. It’s also probable that you already have this hardware plugged into a surge protector. (These devices tend to not benefit from a UPS’s sag/undervoltage assistance, as their DC adapters tend to provide power in a larger range of circumstances.)
You might already have a simple battery backup built into or included with one or more pieces of equipment. Many smart home hubs have built-in battery backups. And since government regulators typically require a multi-hour battery backup for VoIP service, your broadband modem or VoIP adapter might include an internal battery for that reason.
To find out the size of UPS you need, check the specs on all your equipment. This is usually molded in plastic in black-on-black 4-point type on the underside of the gear or on a DC converter that you plug directly into a power outlet or that comes in two parts with a block between the adapter to your device and a standard AC outlet cord. The numbers you are looking for are either DC voltage and amperage, like 12 volts and 1.5 amps, or total wattage, like 18 watts.
Add up these quantities, and that can let you use planning tools to find the right unit. For instance, APC offers an extended runtime chart that lists wattage and runtime for each of its units. You can also use a calculator on the site in which you add devices or watts and it provides a guide to which units to purchase and how much time each could operate at that load.
For most combinations of gear and affordable units, you should be able to keep network equipment running for at least an hour entirely on battery power. Spend more or purchase multiple units, and you could boost that to two to eight hours.
Glenn Fleishman / IDG To determine the size of UPS you’ll need, add up the the number of watts that each device will draw. You can find this information on each one’s power supply or AC adapter.
Scenario 2: Bridge power blips and shut down a computerYour goal here is to make sure all your devices that need to continue running have enough power to do so across a short outage and to shut down—preferably automatically—during any outage that lasts more than a few minutes.
There are two separate power issues to consider: the electrical load that devices connected to the UPS’s battery-backed outlets add up to, and the capacity of the internal battery on the UPS, which determines how long power can flow at a given attached load. (The outlets only protected against power surges have a far higher power load limit that computer equipment won’t exceed.)
Start by calculating the total wattage for all the equipment you’re going to connect, just like with network gear. Most hardware will show a single number for watts or a maximum watts consumed; if it only shows amperes (or amps), multiple 120 (for volts) times the amps listed to get watts. In my office, I have an iMac, an external display, a USB hub, and two external hard drives. That adds up to about 250W.
With that number, you can examine the maximum load on a UPS, which is often perplexingly listed using either volt-amperes (VA) and watts or both. Although volts times amps and watts should be equal, UPS manufacturers use a different formula, which is probably a bad idea. Watts on a UPS is volts times amps times power factor, or the efficiency with which a power supply on a computer or other device provides power from its AC input to its components.
AmazonBasics A UPS uses a USB cable to communicate with a connected computer, triggering software on the machine to gracefully short down while operating on battery power.
In practice, you can still add up all your devices in watts, and use that as a gauge to find a UPS that exceeds that amount by some margin: you can’t exceed the UPS load factor with your equipment, or it won’t function. (If a UPS is rated only in VA, multiply that number by a power factor of 0.6 or 60% to get the bottom level in watts.)
With that number in hand, you can then look over the runtime available on models that can support your total load, consulting the figures, charts, or calculators noted above that manufacturers provide to estimate how many minutes you get on battery-only power.
With my iMac set up above of 250W, I have several options in the $100 to $150 range that have a power load maximum far above that number and which can provide five or more minutes of runtime.
It’s also critical to pick a UPS model that includes a USB connection to your desktop computer, along with compatible software for your operating system. While macOS and Windows have built in power-management options that can automatically recognize compatible UPS hardware, you might want additional software to tweak UPS settings (like alarm sounds) or to provide detailed reports and charts on power quality and incidents.
The OS power-management tools and software from UPS makers give you options to create safe, automatic shutdown conditions. You can define a scenario like, “If the outage lasts more than three minutes or if the battery’s power is less than 50 percent, begin an immediate safe shutdown.”
It’s also important to be sure that all your running apps can exit without losing data and not halt the shutdown. For instance, an unsaved Word file might prevent Windows from completing a shutdown. In macOS, the Terminal app refuses to quit by default if there’s an active remote session, but it can be configured to ignore that.
Picking the right UPSWith all that in mind, here’s a checklist to go through in evaluating a UPS:
What kind of time with power during an outage do you require? Long for networked equipment; short for a computer shutdown. How many watts do your equipment consume? Calculate your connected devices’ total power requirements. Do you have frequent or long power sags? Pick line interactive instead of standby. With a computer, does it rely on active PFC? If so, pick a model with a pure sine wave output. How many outlets do you need for power backup? Will all your current plugs fit in the available layout? Do you need to consult the UPS status frequently enough or in detail that an LCD screen or connected software is required? We’re in the process of reviewing several uninterruptible power supplies and will update this stories with links to those reviews as we finish them. Stay tuned.
Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details. | https://medium.com/@nikki78211148/uninterruptible-power-supply-buyers-guide-70db771be946 | [] | 2020-12-17 03:54:19.085000+00:00 | ['Electronics', 'Cord', 'Gear', 'Streaming'] |
Design thinking and lean startup concepts to make your team more agile. | Here is a summary of some of the reference material I have found most useful in exploring design thinking and lean start-up concepts to get to the heart of the problem you are trying to solve. Often despite all this prework you have to acknowledge that you may still end up with the wrong problem statement which is where the beauty of the design process comes in, as you ideate and prototype your concepts and continually refine your problem statement with real client feedback. A side benefit of this approach is that you are setting yourself up with excellent stakeholder engagement.
The initial phase when you approach a problem with design thinking is to avoid converging too quickly on a solution — now is the time for divergent thinking and coming up with as many ideas as possible. When you think you have enough — come up with more! This 3rd Third concept from Tim Hurson gets you to examine a process 3 times before looking to move one.
A key component of defining the problem you are working on is understanding the people you are solving the problem for. Consider using the Experience Map, Empathy Map, and systems thinking tools to help you look at connections and linkages beyond the linear 5 why’s type analysis.
A wonderful example of the design process being used to understand and find the clients pain points and the problem that requires solutions is the human centred design (HCD) case study — Toward a veteran centred VA. IDEO’s guide to human centred design is an excellent starting reference
Elements of a Customer Journey Map — (ref NNGroup)
If you find yourself stuck, look at reframing the opportunity — this allows you to step back, examine your biases, and open up new solution spaces — how would you solve it if you had no money; all the money; What if you where a fireman; a doctor; a child; a 90 year old; how could this be the greatest opportunity ever — what has to be true; what would the founder do; what would new management do; What if you had to solve it tomorrow; What about it needing to be 10x better for half the price? More good questions to ask when you are stuck here
Once you have used design thinking tools to understand your audience and frame a problem then you should be starting to see some better defined boundaries around your solution space — something like the business model canvas or lean canvas or lean change canvas or lean dashboard are all tools that you can use to help capture current thinking and areas of uncertainty.
For a known problem with an unknown solution you want to apply a more iterative style such as Agile / Scrum, kanban, a design sprint or rapid learning cycles. Ash Maurya summarises how the sprint cycles come together to form a LEAN sprint.
Geert Claes plots out graphically how some of these different style interact at different phases of problem solution. Also a good summary of the methodologies here.
If you need some added motivation for why you should move towards an agile approach in your business you can look at this McKinsey study on the trademarks of an Agile organisation; Ash Maurya on theory 3x3 perspective; Scaled Agile framework on how their portfolio of options fit together (great for an enterprise wide summary); This great slideshare running through the lean startup process; Or this summary of why Lean drives value. The Spotify Engineering culture videos Part 1 and Part 2 are excellent summaries as well.
Ash Maurya — A 3x3x3 Perspective for getting your Vision, Strategy, and Product aligned
Finally Jeff Patton looks at the continuous delivery of projects whilst combining the development of new concepts. One track focused on maximising learning velocity, the other track on delivery velocity.
Books for the journey
Courses
Links | https://medium.com/10x-curiosity/design-thinking-and-lean-startup-concepts-to-make-your-team-more-agile-c659bbc82d1 | ['Tom Connor'] | 2019-09-20 00:45:53.893000+00:00 | ['Tom Connor', 'Blog', 'Design Thinking', 'Lean Startup', 'Agile'] |
Questions for a Baltimore Journalist | For Ron Cassie on the occasion of your interview by WYPR’s Tom Hall about “If You Love Baltimore, It will Love You Back: 171 Short, But True Stories”
Another Way of Seeing the Same Thing
Sean Yoes wrote: “I am a journalist and a student of history; for me, the two are interdependent when telling the story of Baltimore.” (Baltimore After Freddie Gray: Real Stories From One of America’s Great Imperiled Cities)
Q: How do you balance the weight of that history in chronicling Baltimore’s present? | https://medium.com/@osilvermana/questions-for-a-baltimore-journalist-1bd1bae80c92 | ['Owen Silverman Andrews'] | 2020-11-24 08:15:51.352000+00:00 | ['Journalism', 'Racial Justice', 'Literature', 'Interview', 'Baltimore'] |
Best way To Learn Finance? Understand Market Data | Financial institutions consume market data on continuous basis to value their portfolios. As human body cannot function without blood, financial institutions cannot value their portfolios without market data. Therefore, understanding market data is the key to calculate risk and return of financial transactions and it can also help us understand finance in general.
Please read FinTechExplained disclaimer.
I encourage everyone to understand market data.
A large number of models and mathematical formulae are implemented to price a transaction in a portfolio. These models rely on market data.
Importance of Market Data
In my previous articles “What is an Interest Rate Swap?”, “Options & Trading Strategies” and“Bond Price And Risk”, I explained how to price and calculate risk of a number of financial transactions. Market data is used as an input to value a transaction. Subsequently, it can help financial institutions take calculated decisions to increase return and hedge risk.
Market Data Types
Market data is composed of a large family of components. In this article, I will explain foreign exchange rates, yield curves and volatility surfaces. Additionally I will briefly outline purpose of spreads.
Let’s Start With Foreign Exchange Rates
Foreign Exchange Rates
Foreign exchange (FX) rate is a numerical value that is used to convert an amount in one currency (domestic currency) into an equivalent amount in another currency (foreign currency). Exchange rates change on timely basis.
Exchange rates are crucial in pricing trades where multiple currencies are involved. For instance to price a FX Forward or Cross Currency Swap, spot exchange rates of the currencies are used to convert an amount in one currency to another currency. Exchange rates reflect trading activity. They are based on a number of factors including supply-demand and current investments. Unlike stocks, exchange rates are not traded in exchanges. Exchange rates are volatile and frequently move from one level to another.
Exchange rates are usually quoted as bid-offer rates per currency. The distance between bid and offer rates can help us understand volatility of a currency and how stable a currency is. Spot exchange rate is one-dimensional in nature. To elaborate, exchange rate is represented as one value per currency. As an instance, for domestic currency GBP, we can represent foreign exchange rates as
EUR = 2, USD = 3, AUD = 1.5, INR = 100 and so on.
These hypothetical rates represent value of 1 GBP in the respective foreign currencies.
Example 1 — Basic Calculation
Let’s assume we go to a high street exchange broker to convert £100 to Euros. For the sake of simplicity, let’s also assume that the exchange rate is the average of bid and offer rates. The current exchange rate from GBP to EUR is 2 GBP/EUR. This means, for every 1 pound that we pay, we will receive 2 Euros in return. In the example above, GBP is the domestic currency and EUR is the foreign currency.
Therefore for the £100, we will receive 200 Euros.
Example 2 — Exchange Rate Triangulation
We can use a combination of exchange rates to compute exchange rates for other currencies. Based on the exchange rates information above, how many Indian Rupees (INR) should we get for 150 Australian Dollars (AUD)?
According to the information above:
1 GBP = 100 INR
1 GBP = 1.5 AUD
Therefore 1 AUD = (100/1.5) = 66.7 INR.
As a result, 150 AUD = 66.7 x 150 = 10005 INR (approx).
We can also gather exchange rates over a period of time and calculate valuable statistical measures such as mean, max/min, volatility etc. on the data. These measures then help analysts forecast exchange rates.
Furthermore, interest rate parity, volatility and correlation between exchange rates also exist which are used to simulate exchange rates for future time points. Forecasting and stimulating exchange rates is beyond the scope of this article.
To summarise, we learnt what exchange rates are and how amounts in one currency can be converted to another currency.
The next part will concentrate on interest rate curves which are also known as yield curves.
Yield Curves
Yield curve is an important market data component. Yield curve tells us the relationship between interest rate and the time to maturity of debt contracts. They are used in pricing bonds, swaps, options and a range of important transactions.
Interest rates help us understand price and value of money. Subsequently, interest rate is the cost of borrowing money.
For example, yield curve is used to determine the amount a bank will charge a borrower to borrow money for contracts of different maturities. Yield curves are two dimensional, they plot interest rates for a range of contract maturities.
As an instance, the chart above shows an hypothetical yield curve. X axis shows the length of the borrowing contract. It indicates that a bank will charge roughly 2.7% interest for borrowing money for 1 year.
Yield curves help investors understand economical situation of a country as interest rate curves are influenced by a number of factors including supply and demand, credit worthiness, whether country wants to raise its reserves, price of Government bonds etc. Higher government rates are usually better for investors who wish to invest their money in banks and earn profit from the interest rates whereas lower interest rates imply that the cost of borrowing money is cheap. As a consequence, lower interest rates help borrowers to borrow money. It increases outflow of money in a bank.
Yield Curve Attributes
Interest rate curve has a number of attributes for example curve name, currency, maturity etc. Maturity of the curve is also known as term e.g. 6M which indicates length of the contract. Usually, loan borrowed for longer period requires higher interest than loan required for shorter term due to greater risk and uncertainty in lending money for longer term.
Interest rate curve has a number of interest rate points where each point is two dimensional and contains Year Fraction and Interest Rate Value properties.
Year Fraction is the fraction in years for borrowing money from today to some date in the future e.g. Year Fraction to borrow money for 6 months will be 0.5 years.
Spot yield curve for a currency can be shown in a table:
Table shows that the cost of borrowing money for 1.06 years is roughly 2.9%
Spot Vs Forward Yield Curves
Yield curves can be spot or forward curves. This section explains the difference between spot and forward curves.
Spot Rates
Current interest rates for borrowing money are spot interest rates. Spot interest rates are observed in market and are available via a number of interest rates providers. Spot rates are also known as zero rates and are computed from zero coupon bond returns.
Spot rate is the rate lenders charge on loan to be taken immediately.
For example, imagine you want to borrow £1000 from a bank for 1 year. Also assume bank offers interest rate of 8% for 6 months and 10% for 1 year. This means that if you borrow money for 1 year then you will pay the bank 10% of interest. Therefore, the bank expects you to pay £1000 + 10% interest in a year’s time. As a result, you will pay the bank back
£1000 x (100%+10%) = £1100
£100 is the cost of borrowing £1000 for a year.
If you borrow the same amount for 6 months then you will pay £1000 x 8% x 0.5 because 8% is the interest rate for borrowing money for 6 months.
This calculation assumes discrete compounding. To see it another way, £1100 in a year’s time is worth £1000 today. We get that figure by discounting (dividing) the amount by the interest rate for the year, for example £1100/(1.1) = £1000
Larger the interest rate, smaller the future value of money
Yield Curve Example — Spot Rate
Imagine you invest £1000 in a bank today that offers 10% interest rate for a year. After a year, you will receive £1000*(10%+100%) = £1100 from the bank.
Forward Rates
Forward rates are calculated by extrapolating current spot rates. They are computed such that the future interest rates do not introduce arbitrage opportunities. Forward rates are the agreed interest rates. If someone wants to borrow money in future for a specified amount of time then forward rate is used. Forward rates are also known as future implied spot rates. Price of transactions that require delivering currency or commodity in near future is based on forward rates.
Yield Curve Example — Forward Rates
In the spot rate example above, we invested £1000 for a year and received £1100 after a year due to 10% interest rate. Assume instead of investing £1000 for a year, you decide to invest the money in a bank for 6 months at 8% interest and then reinvest again for 6 months. 8% is the 6 month spot interest that the bank offers.
The bank should offer a 6M forward rate such that the amount of money for two six month periods after a year should be equivalent as you investing your money straight for 1 year at 10%. If both of the amounts are not equal then the investor can benefit and start earning profit without taking any risk.
Forward rate formula at period n = [(1+Spot Rate (n)) ^ n /(1+ SpotRate (n-1)) ^(n-1)] — 1
To calculate 6M forward rate for 1 year, formula is
Forward Rate 1Y = ((1+Spot Rate 1Y/2)²/(1+Spot Rate 6M/2)) — 1
= ((1+10%/2)²)/((1+8%/2))-1=6%
We are dividing the rate by 2 because each period is 6 months long (semi-annual).
This means, we can invest £1000 in a bank for 6 months for 8% interest and then reinvest again after 6 months for 6%. We should receive £1100 after a year. This is equivalent to us investing £1000 for 1 year for 10%.
To elaborate, we can invest £1000 in a bank for 6 months and get 8%/2 *£1000 = £40 back. Then we can reinvest for 6 months in 6 months time for 6% rate and get £1000*(1+(6%/2)²)=£1060. Total received money will still be £1100. This is the same amount which we would have received if we invested £1000 for 1 year.
OIS And LIBOR Curve
OIS and Libor curves are the two common yield curves used in banks to price interest rate swaps. This section briefly outlines the curves.
LIBOR curve
LIBOR is the average interbank interest rate and comes in 7 maturities (from overnight to 12 months). LIBOR rates are registered in a number of different currencies including EUR, USD, GBP, CHF, JPY, CAD, DKK, AUD, NZD and SEK. LIBOR interest rates are essentially the rates at which selective high credit rated banks are prepared to lend money to one another. Therefore LIBOR is the rate of interest at which a bank is prepared to deposit money with other banks in Europe. It is usually higher than government yield curve because of inherited credit risk.
OIS curve
OIS curve is an overnight interest rate curve. OIS reflects daily change in curves. OIS curves are usually used for discounting because they are the average of daily movements in the interest rate curves and are better suited to discount collateralised trades as they are marked-to-market daily.
Yield Curve Summary
We outlined and explained what yield curves are, their structure along with difference between spot and forward rates. Interest rates can be evolved by using a number of short term interest rate models such as Ho Lee, Hull and White, Vasicek, CIR etc. The concept of these models is beyond the scope of this article.
Bootstrapping
Bootstrapping is a process of constructing yield curves from eligible set of financial trades that pay coupons periodically. The set of trades can include interest rate swaps, government bonds etc. with different maturities. Bootstrapping method is recursive in nature.
At a high level, the set of steps to construct a yield curve via bootstrapping methodology is:
Select trades that pay coupons periodically. Ensure that the trades have differing maturity and their price at par is known. Recursively compute interest rate for periods; starting from the first period and then use the computed interest rate for the next period. Interest rate is computed by estimating the rate that gives known price of the trade.
For example, if a semi annual coupon bond maturing in six months is chosen that is priced at £100 then compute the 6M rate that will give the required price for the bond. This rate will then become the 6M spot interest rate. Now take a bond that matures in 1 year and pays semi annual coupons.
Use the rate which was computed for 6M and price of the 1 year bond to calculate the spot interest rate for second period (6M to 1Y).
These steps are applied recursively to construct a spot yield curve.
Bootstrapping technique is simple to implement and does not require optimisation techniques.
Lastly, let’s understand a third type of market data; volatility surface
Volatility Surface
Volatility surface contains volatilities that are used to price a number of financial trades e.g. options, swaptions etc. Volatility surface can be of many types, for example FX Volatility Surface or Swaption Volatility Surface. A volatility surface has usually three dimensions: Expiry, Tenor, and Volatility Value. These volatility values are implied volatilities which are produced from market prices of options.
Before we explain the concept of volatility surface, it is important to understand the basics of Swaption and Black Scholes.
Swaptions:
In my article “ Options & Trading Strategies”, I explained how options work. Option is a derivative contract that gives the buyer right, but not the obligation, to buy the underlying security. At a high level, swaption is a type of option where the buyer has the right to enter into buying an underlying swap such as interest rate swap or CDS. Price of a swaption is based on many factors including properties of the underlying swap such as term of the swap contract and maturity of the option which is also known as option expiry.
An option can be priced using Black Scholes formula.
Black Scholes
Black scholes is a mathematical model that can give us theoretical price of options including swaptions. Volatility of an option measures how stock will move in the future. It is expressed as an annual basis in percentage. Higher the volatility, more the stock price moves.
Black scholes model assumes that the volatility is constant whereas in practice, volatility is constantly changing. As a consequence, the market price of options with the same expiry and strike price tend to diverge from their theoretic price calculated by Black Scholes formula.
There are several models implemented to estimate volatilities. One common and simple methodology is to feed the actual option’s price along with all other inputs into Black Scholes model to compute theoretical volatility that resulted in the option’s price. This volatility is known as implied volatility.
It is important for an investor to ensure that their portfolio’s theoretical value is as close as possible to the market value.
What is a volatility smile?
If we plot implied volatility for options with different strike prices, we will notice a line graph that resembles shape of a smile.
This chart is known as Volatility Smile. Volatility smile shows that compared to at-the-money options, volatilities are higher for deep out-of-money and deep in-the-money options.
An at-the-money option is when the strike price equals the price of the underlying asset.
Constructing Volatility Surface From Volatility Smile
We can start calculating volatilities for options with different strike price and expiries. Once we compute volatilities for at the money options with different expiries, we can start creating a volatility surface out of the group of volatility smiles.
To elaborate, at the money swaption trades are selected with a range of option expiries and/or strike prices that are based on swaps over a range of tenors (or maturities). These options are used to compute implied volatility smiles.
We then extend volatility smiles by interpolating the points using smile interpolation. Piece-wise linear interpolation is usually used due to its simplicity.
Once a range of volatility smiles are produced for different tenors and expiry terms, we join all of the smiles on terms and tenors and plot the smiles together into a surface.
As a result, a three dimensional surface can then be created. This surface can then be used to price options. With interpolation, we can establish volatilities for a larger range of expiries and tenors.
If we plot volatility surface, where y axis is volatility point, x axis is term and z axis is tenor then we can see a volatility surface:
Volatility surfaces can also be created on different combinations such as from options with different strikes and maturities.
The table below illustrates three dimensional swaption volatility points:
Example:
If we have been given FX volatility for two currencies and we are required to calculate volatility for the third currency then we can use volatility formula along with exchange rates triangulation to compute the required volatility.
For example, if we have:
Currency 1 per Base Currency e.g. GBP per USD where USD is the base currency
Currency 2 per Base Currency e.g. EUR per USD
Furthermore, we are required to calculate FX volatility for EUR per GBP then we can use the volatility formula with exchange rate triangulation:
Volatility Currency 2 per Currency 1 Squared = (Volatility Currency 2 per Base Currency Squared) + (Volatility Currency 1 per Base Currency Squared )— (2 x Volatility Currency 2 per Base Currency x Volatility Currency 2 per Base Currency) x Correlation of (Currency 1, Currency 2)
Correlation can be derived by calculating mean and standard deviation of the volatilities of each currency, potentially by using Person correlation formula.
Spreads:
Finally, I wanted to outline role of spreads as they help us in valuing credit risk. Spread is the difference between two data points.
As an instance, government offered interest rates are considered risk-free. Financial institutions also offer interest rates to investors.
These interest rates are usually higher than the rates that government offers because of the inherit credit risk present.
Lower the credit rating, higher the rates
Financial institutions attract investors by offering higher interest rates. The difference between government rates and rates offered by financial institutions is known as “spread”. Differences of rates between two currencies is the basis spread. Difference between exchange rates bid/offer rates is bid/offer spread.
Spreads such as CDS spreads play a vital role in credit risk. Credit default Swap (CDS) is an increasingly popular structured product. It transfers credit risk from the buyer to a counterparty such as an insurance company.
For example, assume an investor buys UK bonds and he is worried that UK government might default. He can then transfer the default risk by buying a CDS from a US bank. The investor will receive coupon payments from UK bonds, he will need to pay premium payments or CDS spread to the US bank and in return US bank will guarantee payments in case UK defaults. UK government is the reference entity, UK bond is the reference asset and US bank is the insurance company.
The value of CDS spread is based on the default probability of UK Bond and the joint default correlation of US Bank and UK. Therefore, higher the probability of UK default, higher the CDS spread.
Summary
This article highlighted importance of understanding market data components. There are number of market data providers such as Bloomberg, Markit, Timescape etc. who provide market data on timely basis. Market data plays a vital role in pricing portfolios and calculating risk.
This article outlined concepts of exchange rates, yield curves, volatility surfaces and briefly explained role of spreads.
Hope it helps. Please let me know if you have any feedback. | https://medium.com/fintechexplained/understand-market-data-to-understand-finance-d13e8ceb3fe4 | ['Farhad Malik'] | 2018-10-02 16:43:37.676000+00:00 | ['Interest Rates', 'Fintech', 'Marketdata', 'Finance', 'Exchange Rate'] |
Tapping into Courage Requires Leaning into Shame and Vulnerability | Shame is — I’m sorry, I am a mistake. Guilt is — I’m sorry, I made a mistake.
The difference here is profound. With guilt, we are able to separate ourselves from our behavior and the circumstances we find ourselves in now, or have found ourselves in the past yet continue to judge ourselves. When we are in shame, we cannot separate ourselves from our behavior and inherently believe that we are not worthy of love and belonging. Guilt, rather than shame, allows us to remember our self-worth and helps us to maintain our positive feelings of self-worth as separate from our choices. That way, we can understand that our behavior can be altered and that we are not powerless in our ability to change for the better. Leaning into guilt, rather than shame, enables us to move out of a victim narrative of “life happens to me” and into an empowering narrative of “I create the life I deserve.”
For women, or more feminine individuals, shame most often manifests as what I refer to as the “Wonder Woman Complex”. Women experience shame when they can’t “be everything to everyone”. Women feel the need to live up to ridiculous standards, contradictory expectations, and successfully complete an endless array of tasks, without breaking a sweat or giving themselves the ability to fall apart once in a while to just own up to the fact that they are tired or have had enough. What have we told women who were at their wits end, feeling an entire range of emotions all at one time? We have told them that they are crazy, that they are irrational, that they are too moody and unstable. We tell women that their vulnerability is too wild, it is not welcome here because it makes men uncomfortable and makes them feel unworthy because they have not upheld their duty of “keeping it all together” for the women in their lives.
For men, or more masculine individuals, shame manifests as what I call the “Iron Man Complex”. Men have been told their entire lives, “don’t be perceived as weak”. Men have been told that they are the rock, the foundation, the support for their families. In order to create and maintain that strength, they cannot be seen as weak. Now, what have we told men weakness looks like? We have told men that crying is weakness, speaking about their fears is weakness, that questioning their next steps or looking for loving support is weakness. We tell men that their vulnerability makes them weak, and therefore it is not welcome here because we need men to be strong and to keep it all together for the women in their lives.
Under the patriarchal systems we have lived in for centuries, we have created a narrative that shuts down feminine expression, in both men and women. I believe that our shame today was born out of the shutting down of the wild feminine — the incredibly powerful and dynamic feminine and goddess archetypes. With the extinguishing of feminine emotional depth, shame was born. We began to equate emotional expression as weakness and therefore lost our ability to cope with and move through emotions in healthy ways. We have lost the ability to self-soothe and we have lost the ability to hold space for ourselves and others with non-judgement.
Men need women who can sit with them in their fears, in their emotions, in their vulnerability, without fear of being judged or seen as weak. Women need to be able to embrace their men with unconditional loving compassion, seeing them as the wholly dynamic human being they are. Women, we have to stop judging our men for being weak when they show emotion or fear. We must also stop telling our little boys to “stop crying” or “man up”. We need to model to them what real courage looks like, and that is vulnerability. Our men need a safe place and space to feel, to be seen, to be heard, and to be loved, as they work through their shame and uncomfortable feelings.
Women need men who can sit with them as they work through their range of emotions. Men need to allow women to freely express all that is on their hearts and in their minds, also from a place of non-judgement. Men need to be able to embrace their women with unconditional loving compassion, without judging them as clingy, crazy, or weak. Women need men who know that they don’t have to save their women, but instead offer loving help and assistance when she asks for it. We must also stop telling our little girls that they need saving. Our women need a safe place and space to feel, to be seen, to be heard, and to be loved, as they work through their shame and uncomfortable feelings.
Can you see the similarities? We need to have the ability to hold space for one another. However, we are not always equipped or able to do this. Or, we avoid it all together. We can also recognize that the narrative of vulnerability as weakness is detrimental to both sexes in ways that are unique to their experience of patriarchal social conditioning.
Two good questions to consider when challenging the belief that vulnerability is weakness are: | https://medium.com/@caitlin-lynch/tapping-into-courage-requires-leaning-into-shame-and-vulnerability-7d0943b03414 | ['Caitlin Lynch'] | 2020-12-20 14:04:47.116000+00:00 | ['Courage', 'Relationships', 'Relationships Love Dating', 'Psychology', 'Love'] |
This Seven Years Old Girls Discovered Seven Asteroids for NASA | Nicola Oliviera, a 7-years old girl from Brazil who discovered seven asteroids has become the youngest astronomer in the world.
Nicola was just two years old when she discovered her love for space and astronomy. She took part in a citizen-science program called ‘Asteroid Hunt’ organized by International Astronomical Search Collaboration and NASA is also a part of this program.
Under this program, Nicola helped discover seven asteroids for which she was awarded a certificate as a token of appreciation for her effort.
According to a Brazilian news organization named ‘R7’, Oliviera’s love for astronomy only grew by leaps and bounds. At the age of two, she asked her mother to get a star. She got her a toy star to make do with at that point but it was only then that she realized what her daughter actually wanted.
Brazil’s Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation also invited her to give a lecture during their first-ever International Seminar on Astronomy and Aeronautics.
Nicolas also hosts her youtube channel where she imparts her knowledge of astronomy and talks about asteroids, space, and things that fascinate her. At times, she even invites eminent researchers and professors in this field to share their wealth of knowledge in the same for the people who truly want to know more about the subject. | https://medium.com/yellow-telegraph/this-seven-years-old-girls-discovered-seven-asteroids-for-nasa-bf0acc450717 | ['Aswin Kumar'] | 2021-07-26 19:25:00.068000+00:00 | ['Asteroids', 'NASA', 'Astronomy', 'Space', 'Space Exploration'] |
13 Attributes of the Ultimate Writer (Part 1 of 4) | 13 Attributes of the Ultimate Writer (Part 1 of 4)
Soul, Creativity, and Intelligence
Graphic designed by author
In this series of articles, I’m going to step into my lab and assemble the ultimate writer according to 13 core attributes.
Investing in a Medium membership and joining the Partner Program has opened me to a new world of fantastic wordsmiths and I thought it’d be fun to dream up how I’d assemble the ultimate writer.
Now I must say that this list is based purely on my opinion. I don’t intend to disrespect anyone by leaving them off this list.
The Backstory
Our soon-to-be 5-year old son wants a Voltron toy for his 5th birthday. Not only does this bring me nostalgia as I reflect on when my father bought me a Voltron toy, but it also got me thinking about combining powers in another sense. So, I owe credit to a 4-year old for inspiring me to assemble the ultimate writer.
I also must mention that I miss sports right now. I miss playing them. I miss watching them. I miss the camaraderie and rhythm of playing pickup basketball at the Y. One interesting positive out of this pandemic is it has inspired me to think of writing as a sport (which is why I decided to make Stamina one of the attributes of the ultimate writer).
Fantasy sports is another one of my hobbies. I love the excitement in assembling the ultimate team. This passion has led to me winning my fantasy football league two years in a row! Humble brag much? But today and later in Parts 2–4, I’m going to combine my passion for fantasy sports with my passion for writing (and reading).
Allow me to step out of my lab and present to you the ultimate writer. The 13 attributes are:
Soul
Creativity
Intelligence
Voice/Presence
Communication/Delivery
Vocabulary
Sense of Humor
Heart/Empathy
Work Ethic
Stamina
Guts
Versatility
Connecting
If you noticed the flow and pattern, I’m stepping through the attributes from the all-encompassing eternal aura (the soul) and then from top-to-bottom from there.
Today, in Part 1 of this series, I’m focusing on the attributes of Soul, Creativity, and Intelligence.
In Part 2, I’ll cover Voice/Presence, Communication/Delivery, Vocabulary, and Sense of Humor
Part 3: Heart/Empathy, Work Ethic, Stamina
Part 4: Guts, Versatility, Connecting
Let the fun begin!
Soul
When I think about the connection between Soul and writing, I think about where the writer’s power to create comes from and who they give the credit to. I also think about the vibe I feel when I read their words. But Soul is deeper than having the ability to help people feel good (this ability in the wrong person is very dangerous), it’s about also having the heart to properly steward your abilities and truly want good to come from your writing. So with those characteristics in mind…
Jim Wolstenholm is the writer who I choose for Soul because of how he displays his desire for righteousness through his writing. His words are warm and communicate care for his readers. He’s present in his writing, but he also has a great ability of getting out of the way to let God’s Word shine through.
A story by Jim that shows his soul, love for God, and love for others: 3 Life Changing Prayers
Creativity
I appreciate writers who approach topics from unique angles. I find that some writers (myself included) are so in the rush to publish that they don’t take the time to sit with their work. Sitting with your work and being diligent in the revising and editing stages of the writing process are key to creativity. Yes, for some writers, creativity flows directly from the mind to their fingers in the drafting stage of the writing process. But I often find interesting ways to creatively tweak and contort what I wrote while editing a story.
When I ventured into my glorious ultimate writer creation lab, one writer stood out to me for his creativity. He is an amazing writer and I love that the mysterious person behind the pen name is free from the tyranny of his name and the public.
Nom de Plume is the writer who I choose for Creativity.
A story by Nom that shows his gift as a creative writer: Dear Books…
Intelligence
I love smart writers. This goes beyond using big words. An intelligent writer helps me see things in a new way. An intelligent writer tackles complex issues but expresses them in a way that’s understandable. An intelligent writer shows dedication to their field of expertise and their deep knowledge shines through their words. With these attributes in mind…
Yong Cui, Ph.D. is who I choose for how they exhibit Intelligence in their writing. When I read his writing, I feel like I totally understand programming. I studied some programming at Morehouse and while studying Electrical Engineering at Georgia Tech, but that was ages ago and I wasn’t a whiz by any means. Yong’s writing gives me the confidence to go try to whip up some code!
A story by Doctor Cui that showcases their intelligence (and the ability to explain a complex technical topic in plain English): Time Complexity of Algorithms- Big O Notation Explained In Plain English | https://medium.com/inspirefirst/13-attributes-of-the-ultimate-medium-writer-part-1-of-4-c9e4960cb768 | ['Chris Craft'] | 2020-08-26 11:20:20.778000+00:00 | ['Soul', 'Blogging', 'Creativity', 'Intelligence', 'Writing'] |
Why Babies Are More Resilient Against Covid-19 | Why Babies Are More Resilient Against Covid-19
Understanding infants’ peculiar response to the virus may be a key to finding new treatments Kvsndidj Dec 5, 2020·10 min read
Photo: Sirapat Saeyang/EyeEm/Getty Images
Babies make up a tiny percentage of all diagnosed cases of Covid-19. In the United States, where 1.2% of the population are children under one year of age, they account for only 0.27% of the positive tests, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report. It’s not clear if babies are getting infected at a lower rate compared with other age groups or if they are just not being tested as much. But what is evident is that the ones who are diagnosed have, in general, significantly milder illness compared with adults.
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https://www.imagingspectrum.com/ema/drc/S-v-So04.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/S-v-So00.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/S-v-So01.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/S-v-So02.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/S-v-So03.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/S-v-So04.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/Sc-v-So00.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/Sc-v-So01.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/Sc-v-So02.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/Sc-v-So03.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/Sc-v-So04.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/B-v-B00.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/B-v-B01.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/B-v-B02.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/B-v-B03.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/B-v-B04.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/B-v-Br00.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/B-v-Br01.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/B-v-Br02.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/B-v-Br03.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/B-v-Br04.html
http://www.veniaminlesviossociety.gr/nccm/Bay-l-Igon-k01.html
http://www.veniaminlesviossociety.gr/nccm/Bay-l-Igon-k02.html
http://www.veniaminlesviossociety.gr/nccm/Bay-l-Igon-k03.html
http://www.veniaminlesviossociety.gr/nccm/Bay-l-Igon-k04.html
http://www.veniaminlesviossociety.gr/nccm/Bay-l-Igon-k05.html
http://www.veniaminlesviossociety.gr/nccm/Bay-l-Igon-k06.html
http://www.veniaminlesviossociety.gr/nccm/Bay-l-Igon-k07.html
http://www.veniaminlesviossociety.gr/nccm/Bay-l-Igon-k08.html
http://www.veniaminlesviossociety.gr/nccm/Bay-l-Igon-k09.html
http://www.veniaminlesviossociety.gr/nccm/Blue-v-col-li01.html
http://www.veniaminlesviossociety.gr/nccm/Blue-v-col-li02.html
http://www.veniaminlesviossociety.gr/nccm/Blue-v-col-li03.html
http://www.veniaminlesviossociety.gr/nccm/Blue-v-col-li04.html
http://www.veniaminlesviossociety.gr/nccm/Col-Vs-Mer-ui01.html
http://www.veniaminlesviossociety.gr/nccm/Col-Vs-Mer-ui02.html
http://www.veniaminlesviossociety.gr/nccm/Col-Vs-Mer-ui03.html
http://www.veniaminlesviossociety.gr/nccm/Col-Vs-Mer-ui04.html
http://www.veniaminlesviossociety.gr/nccm/toca-jui-oi-01.html
http://www.veniaminlesviossociety.gr/nccm/toca-jui-oi-02.html
http://www.veniaminlesviossociety.gr/nccm/toca-jui-oi-03.html
http://www.veniaminlesviossociety.gr/nccm/toca-jui-oi-04.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/D-v-B10.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/D-v-B11.html
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https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/B-v-B.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/B-v-B1.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/B-v-R.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/B-v-R1.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/C-v-R.html
https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/C-v-R1.html
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https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/S-v-M.html
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https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/S-v-T.html
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https://steakfrites.ca/vkm/W-v-C.html
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The reason behind babies’ apparent resilience to Covid-19 is being intensely investigated by scientists. Getting to the bottom of that mystery could inspire the development of new treatments, potentially benefiting people of all ages.
What’s known so far about the outcomes of babies infected with SARS-CoV-2 comes from reports such as the one published in this month’s edition of The Journal of Pediatrics by physicians at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. The study, which included 18 previously healthy children under 90 days old who tested positive for Covid-19, showed that none had severe symptoms. Nasal congestion was seen in 28%, cough in 44%, and vomiting or diarrhea in 22%. The study sample is very small (again, the number of infants who test positive is a low figure overall), but the researchers say the early findings provide some potentially important insights.
“It’s notable that a large percentage of them had fever as maybe even the only symptom,” says lead author Leena B. Mithal, MD, a pediatric infectious diseases expert from Lurie Children’s and assistant professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “None of the babies required any oxygen or any respiratory support at all,” she adds. “This is a small series, but what we saw during that period has remained true moving forward in the cases of previously healthy infants.”
Scientists have a few theories that could help explain why the novel coronavirus is mostly harmless to healthy babies. One of them has to do with the receptor that SARS-CoV-2 uses to enter human cells. The expression of this receptor, called ACE2, varies with age and is less present in babies and children compared with adults. The hypothesis is that, in the youngest people, the virus finds fewer keyholes it can unlock to get inside the cells and replicate.
“An additional hypothesis proposed for the mild infection in young children is their strong ability to mount primary immune responses mediated by T-cells,” says pediatrician Petter Brodin, MD, PhD, a researcher at the department of women’s and children’s health at Karolinska Institute in Sweden. T-cells, along with antibodies, are part of our adaptive immune system, whose function is to target pathogens like SARS-CoV-2. The fact that babies have a large repertoire of naive T-cells, which are able to recognize new invaders and develop into mature killer cells, is probably important to explain their effective response to the virus, Brodin says.
Brodin also notes that, at least until puberty, children’s immune systems are calibrated differently from those of adults, and this could protect them from the sequence of events that usually leads to severe disease, including a poor initial response by interferons (proteins that act as “first responders” against viruses), a poor response of the adaptive immune system with T-cell exhaustion, and hyperinflammation driven by massive tissue damage.
Another theory is that young children, including infants, might have more recent exposure to common cold coronaviruses, which could potentially modulate their immune response to SAR-CoV-2 infection. “Although adults have likely been exposed to those coronaviruses as well, it’s common to get many colds in the first decade of life and there may be some cross-protection,” says Mithal. It’s not clear, though, if babies are currently as exposed to these other coronaviruses as they normally would, given the social isolation measures in place.
Although these theories are yet to be proven, at this stage of the pandemic there is enough epidemiological data to confidently state that infants are in general protected from severe illness. So much so that the American Academy of Pediatrics has updated its recommendations regarding newborns and mothers with symptomatic Covid-19 at the time of delivery. AAP now does not recommend universally separating babies from Covid-19-positive mothers, as long as they are well enough to take care of the baby and take the necessary precautions to decrease transmission.
“Over time, it seems that babies who went home with moms infected with SARS-CoV-2 at the time of delivery did not do significantly differently or have worse outcomes than babies who were separated from their mothers in the initial postpartum period,” says Mithal. “This speaks to the fact that, of these babies at risk of exposure and infection in the household, only a small subset may have symptomatic infection and further problems.”
Observing how children and infants respond to the virus may lead to new therapies for Covid-19.
This doesn’t mean that babies cannot get severe symptoms. Alvaro Coronado Munoz, MD, a doctor specialized in pediatric critical care and an assistant professor at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth in Houston, learned that lesson when he and his colleagues treated a three-week-old boy who was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit in with low blood pressure, tachycardia, rapid breathing, and hypothermia. He had presented nasal congestion for two days and had an X-ray consistent with Covid-19 infection. A nasal swab confirmed the diagnosis.
“It was one of the first cases reported in the U.S. of critical care admission of a pediatric patient with Covid-19. It was very early in the pandemic and there was all this information regarding the fact that pediatric patients were less affected, so it was a little bit of a surprise,” says Munoz. The boy had to receive mechanical ventilation for five days and survived after intensive care. “This case was very important to recognize that an infant can become as sick as adult patients. So, don’t just assume that it’s something else.”
Observing how children and infants respond to the virus may lead to new therapies for Covid-19. One of the treatment strategies that is being explored is how to combat a harmful type of inflammation sometimes seen in the acute phase of the infection. “We hope to learn from ongoing studies that certain inflammatory pathways are differentially activated in children with mild infection compared to adults with severe disease. Maybe then we can develop more targeted immunomodulating therapy that we can apply to those with more severe illness, including adults,” says Mithal.
Another avenue of research is looking at the strong initial interferon response, which is probably critical for early antiviral defense and is a system that the SARS-CoV-2 directly interferes with, according to Brodin. This is most likely a mechanism that protects babies and children and it is possible that triggering the same response in adults could help protect them as well. | https://medium.com/@kvsndidj/why-babies-are-more-resilient-against-covid-19-f53f22db1d02 | [] | 2020-12-05 15:08:04.229000+00:00 | ['Babies', 'Health', 'Covid 19', 'Coronavirus', 'Science'] |
TILT #89 — A hopeful end to 2020. Some hopeful news for entering into… | Folks! Hello and welcome to I guess it’s December. Our snow here in Vermont has come and gone and now it’s back again. But what isn’t weird about our current times? I feel like I’m in a holding pattern inside a holding pattern, waiting for January 20th. Our local libraries have been closing to browsing again; I know libraries nationwide have been having similar discussions.
I was proud at how many libraries stepped up to help people be part of civic engagement this election cycle. Just look at these snazzy ballot boxes outside of all 73 LAPL’s branches. They have a great voting page as well.
I will breathe easier after January 20th, though each day gets a bit easier. I have a health care worker friend getting vaccinated today, it’s a step in a hopeful direction. I’ve never been much of a doomscroller, but I am even less of one now.
Speaking of care, the Pirate Care Syllabus has been on my mind. The general idea is that in order to confront institutionalized and cruelly-reinforced inequality in our society, we may need to operate in the grey areas of legality in order to level the playing field. Along with some shouldn’t-be-radical notions, this document also contains an exceptional round-up of other social justice syllabi, documents that are very meaningful and important in their own right. Likewise Green Book for Libraries may be a thing that is useful or interesting for you.
University of Oklahoma librarians petitioned the Library of Congress to change the Tulsa Race Riot subject heading into the much more accurate Tulsa Race Massacre, but the story no longer exists on their own website. If you want a backgrounder on this tragic event, this article is a good place to start, with a lot more useful information at the Tulsa Library.
I’ve been working on Wikipedia’s coverage of State Libraries recently. Many didn’t have pages at all. Now they all have at least something. If you’re Wikipedia-curious, look at your State Library’s page and see if it can be improved.
I learned a lot about many states’ library systems. I learned that Mississippi Public Broadcasting created a television series about a post-apocalyptic Earth scenario where librarians are valiantly trying to save all human knowledge as people evacuate the planet. Each episode teaches library skills! It’s called Tomes & Talismans and the first episode is on YouTube. There’s some hope the later episodes will somehow make it back online.
Another wintertime hobby here is finding images from the National Library of Medicine’s public domain images in their History of Medicine collection and getting them out to a larger audience. Speaking of Wikipedia here’s a short interesting article about Wikipedia from OCLC, discussing how students think about it: useful knowledge for library instruction. Lastly, a very cool tool for tracking down an accessible version of a public domain work: Book Aligner, found as a result of this Twitter thread where I was trying to track down a 1902 book about the Delaware State Library.
Lots of video content in my life lately. You too? This PBS documentary called The Book Makers, about people who design and make books in many different ways and formats, is worth a watch. Neat art books, interesting book discussions, a little hipster-y, and of course there’s an Internet Archive cameo in there.
You may also enjoy browsing some of the world’s strangest books.
Interaction time! I absolutely loved this University of Colorado Boulder quiz where you have to try and guess how much they pay for their library subscriptions. It’s a very effective, and amusing way of helping people understand just how much these resources cost to maintain (the answer to the question posted below is SAGE).
This book is round.
I continue to learn more about accessibility as part of my role on the Vermont Humanities’ Technology and Accessibility Committee. This article on “assisted digital” — the idea that people creating digital services needed to include a pathway for people who can’t use digital services — helped me think about designing digital tools, and how to talk with others about how they design theirs. Other inclusion-and-access reads:
Access
Inclusion
These attributes do make libraries special, but they also make them a terrible symptom of this country’s truths. We have virtually no safety nets; homeless shelters and social workers are overwhelmed; childcare is grotesquely expensive; addiction is rampant. These needs have been neglected, consolidated, and displaced largely onto libraries.
In the bad/sad news category:
My reading has been stellar lately. All of these books were quite good. Longer booklist with reviews (lagging slightly) is here.
[Collage image with the covers of four books: Floating Gold, Bull’s Eye, The Once and Future Witches, and The Bridge of Years]
Stay warm in your hearts.
Today in Librarian Tabs is written irregularly by Jessamyn West who also maintains librarian.net. It’s available in more-accessible format your inbox via TinyLetter. Thanks for reading. | https://medium.com/tilty/tilt-89-a-hopeful-end-to-2020-f78859739cf4 | ['Jessamyn West'] | 2020-12-18 22:10:33.592000+00:00 | ['Accessibility', 'Inclusion', 'Racism', 'Tilty', 'Libraries'] |
Marketing Pessoal: Dicas para Turbinar Sua Estratégia! | in In Fitness And In Health | https://medium.com/agenciaalaska/marketing-pessoal-dicas-para-turbinar-sua-estrat%C3%A9gia-228e4a1a78e1 | ['Alaska Marketing Digital'] | 2017-06-07 00:46:21.259000+00:00 | ['Marketing Social', 'Marketing Digital', 'Marketing Pessoal', 'Marketing De Conteúdo', 'Inbound Marketing'] |
Christmas, I Have Questions | Christmas, I Have Questions
After ripping through all the wrapping paper and finishing your Figgy Pudding (whatever that is), I’m sure you’ll be ready for a long winter’s nap. Every year I have a few Christmas questions. Perhaps you could help answer them.
🎄Who taught the “Peanuts” kids how to dance?
🎄Should “Baby It’s Cold Outside” be retired because of obvious #MeToo implications?
🎄Same question for “Love Actually” — Does it have the same Creeper Quotient?
🎄Do you avoid the “Christmas Shoes” song as much as I do (I’ve only heard three syllables of it this season — changed the station immediately)?
🎄How many versions of “Rockin Around the Christmas Tree are there?
🎄Also, how does one “rock” around a Christmas Tree, other than very carefully?
🎄Is “Frosty the Snowman” a sad or happy song? Think about it.
🎄Why did Grandma get run over by a reindeer — too much egg nog, or what? And isn’t that a “caribou” in North America?
🎄Christmas lights synched to music — yes or no?
🎄Team Mariah or Team Nat King Cole?
🎄Here’s wishing you the merriest — and hope that figgy pudding is delish! | https://medium.com/@brookerameynelson/christmas-i-have-questions-4c589b9c6479 | ['Brooke Ramey Nelson'] | 2021-01-28 02:49:56.456000+00:00 | ['Merry Christmas', 'Me Too Movement', 'Questions', 'Answers', 'Listicles'] |
5 Things I’ve Learnt Since Having The Coil | The copper coil is a non hormonal form of contraception, which repels sperm from the small amount of copper contained in the device. I am now three years into having the coil and have never looked back. These are the things I have learnt — they may not be similar to other people’s as everyone is bound to experience things differently, but these are drawn from my own personal experience.
I know my emotions are authentic
I went through hell with my emotions whilst being on the mini pill and having the implant for two years previously. Granted, at this stage I had failed to recognise the extent of my pre-existing poor mental health, but being on the pill definitely increased my anxiety and feelings of worthlessness.
Part of the problem was that I would spend so much time questioning whether the emotions I was experiencing were because of the added progesterone, or coming from myself.
Now, with greater hindsight, I know these emotions were real. However at the time, being on the pill made me convince myself I didn’t have any mental health issues — and that it was all coming from the tiny pill that I popped every day.
Being on the coil and returning to my natural cycle, has in many ways increased my premenstrual syndrome (PMS) but at least now I know these feelings are authentic.
Also, the pill’s effect on my emotions was constant, not just in the lead up to my period, so undoubtedly having the coil fitted did wonders for stabilising my mental health. I am now so regular and in tune with my natural cycle, that I can predict what days I am going to feel worse, and I can sleep better at night knowing this version of myself is me.
It doesn’t interfere with sex
One of the things I used to worry about before I had it fitted, was if my partner would be able to feel it, or if it would make sex uncomfortable.
It varies from person to person, but I couldn’t even notice it was there and neither could my partner! Some people have to go back to their doctor and get their strings trimmed to make it more comfortable — but for me, this was never the case!
In fact, sex became even more worry free, with the knowledge that the copper coil has an effective rate of 99.2% — compared to the varying rate of effectiveness for the combined pill and the mini pill which can range between 93–99%, as it is dependent on the individual remembering to take it correctly. This is obviously something women don’t have to even think about if they have the coil. There is a very small chance of expulsion in the first few months but this is very rare.
I no longer have to worry about contraception (at least for another 7 years!)
I chose to have the copper coil as it can last for ten years, on the other hand, the mirena coil, which contains a small amount of progesterone, lasts for five years, which is still a lot!
Remembering to take my pill at the right time was a constant battle for me, even reminders on my phone didn’t always work. Whenever I went away, I’d always have to remember to take enough with me.
Having the constant reminder at the back of my mind was so annoying and now I’m so glad I don’t have to worry about it day to day. It’s safe to say it has freed up my mind a lot!
The pain is worth it
I mean this in two senses — period pain and the pain you get when it’s first inserted.
This appears to be the number one thing that puts people off getting one. Having the coil fitted requires a quick procedure performed by a sexual health nurse or doctor. I was worried about it before having it, but was surprised when it was all over in a few seconds. The pain afterwards was like bad period cramping for 1–2 days and then I didn’t notice much else. Everyone’s experience of it is of course different, but I was pleasantly surprised (and lucky!)
However, in the months after I have had some of the worst period pain I have ever experienced. I didn’t really have period pains on the pill and can only remember them like this before I was on contraception. They now last 1–2 days before my period but are perfectly treatable with paracetamol and a hot water bottle.
All in all, I would say the pain is worth it for me and it’s kind of a sign that my body is working as it should. One thing to note — the mirena coil can reduce period pain and bleeding but the copper coil can increase it — which I definitely noticed in the first few months, but now my periods are pretty much back to normal.
I value having a ‘normal’ period
Having been on the mini pill and the implant, my periods were never settled or regular. Both contraceptives meant they were all over the place and I was constantly bleeding in some form which was very annoying.
Now, with the help of the fabulous cycle tracking app, Clue, I have seen my periods become incredibly regular. Being able to predict it is of course very useful, but also knowing that my body is doing what it should be — there’s something I find strangely comforting about that.
For all the inconvenience, having the coil fitted has given me a better relationship with my periods, my body and my mental health. It certainly won’t work for everyone — but I am very glad it did for me!
Words by Violet Daniels | https://medium.com/the-indiependent/5-things-ive-learnt-since-having-the-coil-eec0fb99f3de | ['Violet Daniels'] | 2020-08-15 13:54:18.960000+00:00 | ['Women', 'Mental Health', 'Lifestyle', 'Contraception', 'Womens Health'] |
A Farewell to Future Splash Animator | What the Flash IDE looked like before Macromedia bought them out
I have a confession to make: I love Adobe Flash. I owe a lot to the quirky, powerful, yet ultimately vulnerable (in a software sense) web development platform. I also believe that it is a horrible waste that Adobe will just update it out of existence. What happens now? No more Flash development at all? That’s a hard pill to swallow, though I am sure quite a few folks are scratching their heads at what I mean by this. Shouldn’t I be glad that we are losing a vector for many ills of the digital ilk? Shouldn’t I celebrate the wonderful evolution into a perfect world of HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and all those other wonderful interconnected technologies that can work from a browser without a need for a vulnerable, forgotten virtual machine?
Were you not aware of the death of Flash? If so, this handy release notes page from Adobe explains what I’m talking about. Not only is development on Flash technologies over (at least outside mainland China; a curious note but one I don’t know much about), but Adobe will also block the Flash player from running content from January 12, 2021, onward. Harsh, but probably a necessary evil.
Oh boy, that’s a lot to consider, so allow me to wax nostalgic and offer Adobe, nay, Macromedia Flash, a love letter that I feel it deserves. I owe it that much at the very least.
Crabby Tool
I’d love to have this box in a drawer somewhere, but alas, I was a broke college freshman back then
Adobe Flash actually started life as something far simpler than the current software is. A company called FutureWave, way back in the ancient period of 1996, created a vector animation suite that could play with an embedded plugin within a web browser. This was back in the Cretaceous period of anything-goes-web-content in which every application had its own plugin to run. Future Splash animator was actually fairly simple from what I’ve read and only supported basic commands to control the animation’s timeline from my understanding. I never used this version of the software, but it seems to have garnered enough attention for it to be bought by a company that was actually fairly well-respected within the design community at the time: Macromedia. Macromedia is a company that is very dear to me and that eventually got bought out by its biggest competitor, Adobe, but that is a subject for another post.
It wasn’t until version 4.0 that I got interested in using the toolset, thanks in no more small part to a little Internet sensation of the time called Pulp Phantom. Essentially a parody animation melding Star Wars and Quentin Tarantino storytelling concepts (mostly Pulp Fiction as the name suggests, but it has some Reservoir Dogs in there too), it really opened my eyes as to what could be done with Flash. Now, I don’t really know if Pulp Phantom was built with Flash 4.0; it’s just that at the time that was the version available in the PC’s in my college’s library. It didn’t have the most sophisticated programming language, but it allowed some simple interactions and even the original Flash Pulp Phantom episodes used those interactions to offer a choice or two on a few of the episodes. Thus, I started playing around with Flash on my free time, but mostly just the drawing and timeline tools. I wasn’t big on the coding aspect because there wasn’t much to code in version 4.0 anyway.
That changed in version 5.0 though. It changed, big time!
ActionScript
I remember this splash screen well…
The big change with Flash 5.0 was what Macromedia called ActionScript! Probably predicated on the popularity of web development script languages such as JavaScript, Macromedia thought that a coding language with a ‘script somewhere in there was trendy. Or so I think. Regardless, the game changed. Sure, the first version of ActionScript was rather inelegant, but it was very easy to learn, especially if you weren’t really a software developer and allowed much more than just timeline manipulation. I think that this right here was a game-changing moment, and one that I really lament as I think back on it. Why do I lament it? Because Flash, with the application of ActionScript, offered a very unique value proposition: a tool that can allow someone who’s not a software developer to create fairly complex programs in a very organic manner. I messed with ActionScript 1.0 at times that I should have been doing print work at an ad agency during my internship. It was fun, but I didn’t really dedicate all that much time at it.
Some of the last lines of ActionScript 3.0 code I ever wrote
Powerful All-Encompassing Tool
At some point by the early aughties, companies decided that version numbers were a thing of the past and they all started using weird names or letters to name their products. Windows XP, Adobe CS (Creative Suite), etc. Well, Macromedia wanted some of that action, so here comes Flash MX! I didn’t use the original MX, but I had a decent job by the time that MX 2004 was released and I saved up some money to purchase my own copy of Flash MX 2004! I also bought a bunch of Flash development books at the local Borders (oh how I miss them). See, the big feature for MX2004 was a new version of ActionScript: 2.0! And the big thing about it? Mostly that you had to follow stricter rules to use it. It wasn’t a true strongly typed language, but it made important headway into becoming that. I had to become familiar with a lot of object-oriented programming terms that didn’t really matter with the original version of ActionScript, even though if the implementation was sort of superficial. The code would still get turned into ActionScript 1.0 before the Flash virtual machine would interpret it, but it started to create better development habits. That is when my life changed.
I had lost my job at the advertising agency and was having a difficult time. That’s when I noticed a newspaper job ad for a developer with Flash MX and Macromedia Director experience. I had never used Director, but I figured that it couldn’t be that different from Flash, so I applied. My first interview was over the phone, and I behaved like an overexcited kid gushing about video games to his interviewer over the phone. I went over all the kinds of things that I had built on Flash and what I was hoping to do. Apparently this worked, because I was hired and what a job it was! I was suddenly a contractor for the pharmaceutical industry creating interactive e-learning software to train new hires and to document Standard Operating Procedures.
The main software we were using was Macromedia Director, but the company’s chief engineer (and owner) was aware that you could drop SWF’s (the files that Flash creates when deployed) into Director programs (called “Projectors”), so he took the chance on me. My first application was a SCADA (stands for “ supervisory control and data acquisition;” it’s a piece of software used to monitor and control plant equipment, in this case an Uhlmann blister packaging machine) simulator meant to be used within a teaching tool developed by my engineer boss. It was a big hit, and the simulators kept coming. More Uhlmann SCADA simulators, NIRO fluid bed control panels, and my masterpiece at the time: a simulator of a “Swaging” machine cross-referenced against a product database to teach the employees of a suture manufacturing plant how each product needed to be manufactured. It was a combination of Flash SWF’s and Director sections controlled with a USB Xbox 360 controller to simulate the action of the operator’s individual hands. All of this could have been built by a team of software developers and graphic designers (for all the graphical assets) using more complex languages such as C, but the simple development power of ActionScript 2.0, Director (actually using Lingo, which is quite different from ActionScript), and their visual palettes actually allowed me to single-handedly handle the development within a few months. It was really challenging but enjoyable.
What made Flash so convenient anyway? Why was it such a powerful tool (IMO)? Unlike most other development tools, Flash is mainly a graphical tool. Oh sure, with Flash 8.0 Adobe tried to move towards a more common development environment by suggesting the use of .as files to be opened apart from the graphical assets and the application treating it more like a standard IDE (Integrated Development Environment) when in scripting mode, but it is possible to start a project with a completely blank canvas and start drawing with tools that will be familiar to any graphic designer that’s ever drawn a vector. From that humble start, Flash allows interaction to be added. From simple timeline manipulation to control where in the timeline to navigate to, to much more dynamic situations such as loading external content from an XML file (or database connections), managing user login screens, and possibly some of the easiest ways to add a movie player to a web site. Once past the initial shock of seeing a blank screen that expects code and doing some experimenting, the average graphic designer will feel very comfortable doing Flash code. And the best part of it is that the last version of ActionScript developed, 3.x, is actually a very well-structured development language that can serve as a wonderful bridge to learning other, much more common languages. Yes, I confess that ActionScript 3.0 gave me a very big headache at first, but I eventually caught on and was able to use it to build the same things I was building with ActionScript 2.0, and much more complex ones.
Farewell My Friend
So at this point, I will say my goodbyes Flash. Currently, as a Systems Integration Engineer performing data transformation and backend server management, I don’t think I would have found myself on this career path if I hadn’t met the wonderfully quirky piece of software that started out as a simple vector animation program. I really wish that Adobe had spent more resources on the Flash Virtual Machine to plug all those security holes that plague it, but it was a losing fight from the moment that Apple decided that the iPhone would never host Flash content. At that point, with one of the most impactful technology revolutions unfolding before our eyes and in the palms of our hands, keeping Flash from ever penetrating it turned the Flash technology into much more of a liability than an asset for Adobe. Efforts were made to integrate it into other mobile OS’s such as WebOS and Android, but they were met with mixed results. They just didn’t have the oomph to run the Flash Virtual Machine in a satisfactory capacity, and Adobe didn’t have the motivation to improve the performance while also plugging all the security vulnerabilities.
Now, there are several projects to create Flash Virtual Machine emulators so old SWF content can continue to exist and be appreciated (particularly games). Adobe Animate is positioned to be a successor to Flash, though I haven’t had a chance to use it so I am not aware of how it compares. I do notice it mentions the capability to publish to HTML5 and other platforms such as WebGL so maybe we haven’t completely lost Flash after all. In any event, I am really fond of Flash because of its power as a tool that can slowly turn graphic designers into software developers.
So farewell Flash! A tool that started me down a very interesting journey just because I wanted to animate some simple boxes on a screen. | https://medium.com/@arodznegron/a-farewell-to-future-splash-animator-cd1bbd801a82 | ['Antonio Rodríguez Negrón'] | 2021-02-18 01:39:35.615000+00:00 | ['Graphic Design', 'Adobe Flash', 'Macromedia', 'Software Development', 'Software'] |
Geode | Geode
Photo by Grant Durr on Unsplash
Someone’s strung death from wall to wall,
little skeleton men
lit up against a variation on Mountain Dew.
Even warmth burns blue tonight.
Your hands sign offerings to the stove,
its crown of sapphire.
You tell me you’re selling handbags.
Only 3,412 more
until you can move somewhere safe —
where women walk dogs in slow motion,
where couples still spend all afternoon
sleeping in the kind of yellow
that pools in curtains and falls onto skin.
According to your sources,
if you strike life with the radical
when it cracks
the inside’s going to glow
with the translucence of red wine.
Below us, people in dark coats stream home,
their faces unavailable for comment. | https://psiloveyou.xyz/geode-4239850aab90 | ['Lori Lamothe'] | 2020-12-13 13:02:52.188000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Pandemic', 'Poetry Sunday', 'Love', 'Life'] |
We Banned Screens On Our Holiday, Now We’re All Addicted To Heroin | Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash
On our family holiday, we wanted to spend time together, so we banned screens. We entertained ourselves with I Spy and checkers, and by chewing on the insides of our faces and wondering if shooting up on drugs would help? And that’s how we ended up becoming a screen-free household! And also addicted to heroin.
It changed us. For example, before we banned screens our kids never wanted to do anything. We’d nag them to go out and get some fresh air, but they just wanted to vegetate and watch mildly amusing YouTube videos of dogs barking to Who Let the Dogs Out. However, once we banned screens and switched to scag, we found them outside all the time, lying face-down in the hotel’s flowerbed or binge-watching the resort’s lawn from close up.
My wife and I got closer too. We used to lay in bed ignoring each other while mindlessly scrolling through our phones. But once we banned screens, we focused on each other all night long as we snorted speedballs off each other’s naked bodies. And it was like — Fuck Yeah — now this feels like a holiday!
All the InstaEnvy, the FOMO, and the disappointment you feel when a friend’s tweet goes viral while yours remains unseen and unliked …that doesn’t matter anymore when you’re blissed out on smack with your family during a holiday resort sailing competition and your boat crashes onto the outer reef.
And that’s living, man.
And our habit of furtively checking social networking apps while talking to someone and zoning out of the conversation? That completely stopped. Now the only time we zone out is if we’re Od’ing and we need a shot of Narcan to the aorta.
And we felt safer too because our personal information was no longer being surreptitiously collected by faceless, untrustworthy tech giants. Our identities were more secure because our holiday heroin suppliers had no interest in our personal data at all, they just wanted to know: a) did we like to party, b) were we cops, and c) did we want to sell any of our bodily organs on the black market?
So we banned screens on our holiday, and man! We became interactive with humanity again. Like, before, if we had a problem with our devices, we’d have to spend hours with customer service chatbots; whereas now, if we have a problem with our heroin, we complain to a real live person who is usually just a whacked-out dope dealer that’s no match for a jonesing family of four.
Oh man, on heroin we became sentient with the knowledge that only time is essential. You know? And that God is a poppy seed. I mean, we used to waste our discretionary income on material things like Fortnite skins, apps, and Instagrammable holidays; whereas now that we are penniless drug addicts seeking top dollar for our organs, discretionary income is just a laughable abstraction.
Yes, you give up screens and you’ll notice things. For example, I noticed that my 15-year-old son was 5 years older than I remembered him. And that my 17-year-old daughter wore way more clothing than I’d assumed from her Instagram selfies. I was like, “Hello, you two. How are you guys?” My flesh and blood! We hugged and cried. It was a beautiful thing. And then we robbed a heroin dealer and ripped off a kilo of uncut china white.
And that blew my mind!
Look, I’ll admit, some things didn’t change; our days didn’t stop smearing into each other like the infinitesimal slices of an infinity beyond reckoning, but at least we faced that void together and we had each other’s hand to hold.
On the last day of our holiday, we woke up face down on the beach as the sun scrolled up. The mountainous island cove and the sky reminded me of the background of Candy Crush Saga. I’d once jeopardized my top score attempt by taking one hand off my phone to cut my child’s umbilical cord. I remembered this and a tear escaped my eye as I dragged my withdrawing family into a pile and said:
“Let’s enjoy every moment of our short lives guys, because it goes by in the blink of an eye. I LOVE YOU, SO MUCH.” I shouted. “Also, just letting you know that there will be a bus taking us to rehab in about 5 minutes.” | https://medium.com/slackjaw/we-banned-screens-on-our-holiday-now-were-all-addicted-to-heroin-7076dcf7e9e8 | ['Glenn Orgias'] | 2019-11-11 15:41:02.263000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Phone Addiction', 'Family', 'Drugs', 'Satire'] |
Students. Studies. Mental Health. | All images are not ours unless stated. All credits go to the owner.
In no way is this meant to explain the struggles that all students have. This is my experience as all I can talk from is experience. School was hard. College is hard. And that, to me, never was or is from the studies. Dealing with mental health issues is hard, but maybe sharing my hardship might make you feel less alone, even if you only related to one thing that I talk about. Below I only talk about one struggle of many.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
ANXIETY:
I wrote the word… and teared up. You see, I never even imagined that I would ever struggle with feeling anxious, let alone anxiety!
It is important to note that feeling anxious sometimes is normal, but struggling with anxiety to the point where your life is affected greatly is another thing.
I was always confident when it came to my marks. I was bullied about my weight, my origin, my stupidity when I was young, my being boring, every aspect of my existence was ridiculed from my classmates and when I came home the house was never quiet, unless it was the silence before a horrible… horrible storm.
Maybe my classmates might have a different reading, my family too, but this is what I went through, not others, and I shall narrate it as I was affected by it. So no, I do not narrate the truth, I can only narrate my truth.
Anyway, I would debate and give speeches and study hard and get good grades. I was good at nothing else… as everything I found my soul craving was closed off… study, study, study. This is what my young ears heard, this is what my mind commanded, and then the marks became the thing that my worth was decided upon.
Studying was not that hard, I had no one and nothing else in my life after all. Until sh*t went down. I was betrayed and my heart was stepped upon, I developed an eating disorder that ate at my brain and muscles… including my heart. I guess now I can say that at 18, I have had 2 silent heart attacks…
I can remember the time at which my anxiety started. First I couldn’t talk in debates as well as I used to. That was about 3 years ago… I was given a huge responsibility to bear at such a young age that as the years went by, when those efforts were just judged as selfishness and uselessness, my self-esteem diminished, aimz was slowly erased.
Slowly I started cleaning for hours and hours, slowly I couldn’t eat in front of people as someone might point out how shameful it was of me to eat a whole plate. Slowly, I stopped eating, slowly, I forbade myself to feel, and you see when you do not feel, you do not feel happiness either.
I thought my scars increased due to my anger issues…
looking back it was very much my anxiety that started my bulimia. Very much my anxiety that increased my scars. Very much my anxiety…
HOW DOES IT FEEL DURING EXAMS?
You see, you can calm yourself enough to study if exams aren’t very close. You can ignore the constant nausea, the knot in your stomach and the tears stuck somewhere between your eyeballs and eyelids, unable to come out.
As the exam comes nearer it harder to eat, it is harder to sleep, it is harder to have functioning muscles. Before the exam even by a few days, as you study, your gag reflux starts to take hold, you enter a constant state of dissociating (not as in DID) which, by the way, means very little of what you study when you are derealized/depersonalized actually registers with your mind. Constant panic attacks, then when you get out of those you cannot breath because some weird force is choking you all. the. time.
My hands seize, nightmares engulf my sleep, at times I shake all over. Headaches. And the fr*aking knot in the stomach. The constantly full bladder, the constant dizziness.
And if all of this did not happen at once during those few days/ week, they all come racing to you right before (and during) the exam.
And then try explaining why you got a low mark.
They would tell you:
“ you are making excuses.”
“Your reason is invalid.”
“You should grow up.”
“It is your fault.”
“Stop crying.”
Oh, but my sweet soul. Yes, whoever you are, male or female, young or old or any age in between, studying or working or a mom or a dad.
Here I am to tell you: You do not need external validation. Your truth is to be believed. Your truth is still the truth. Your struggles are real. It is okay not to be able to deal with things right now.
I may not have the answers and I do not have solutions. But I am right here struggling with you. Remember that we are all going through our own struggles and pain, but we are all still people on this earth, and if you ever feel alone. Remember that I am here with you, and I believe you.
-Aimz | https://medium.com/18percent/students-studies-mental-health-68006a5cea9a | [] | 2020-12-24 18:05:36.567000+00:00 | ['Schools', 'Mental Health', 'College', 'Anxiety', 'Stress'] |
Have you had “The Talk” with your chatbot about graph data structures? | This week our own Mark Watson was published in the Free Code Camp Medium publication. You should read it:
In his article, Mark describes how he modeled API interactions with the Watson Conversation service (no relation 😛) and the Spoonacular recipe API to work with the Apache Tinkerpop graph database framework. The result is a Slack chatbot that can use graph traversals to intelligently recommend recipes based on their popularity with other users.
The code and setup instructions are on GitHub in the watson-recipe-bot-nodejs-graph repo.
Hungry for more?
It builds off of two excellent articles, one by Josh Zheng and another from Mark.
Josh’s article reviews the important functions of the client application (in Python), and it walks readers through how to build the dialog flow in the Conversation Tool. It’s the place to start if you want to understand the inner-workings of the chatbot.
Mark’s previous article shows readers how to extend Josh’s chatbot by integrating the Cloudant JSON database service to cache API calls to Spoonacular. Aside from improved performance, Mark describes how to use the cached data to provide a more personalized user experience (for example, “show me my favorite recipes”). He also shows how to run some simple analytics on interactions, with an eye toward informing UX improvements. There are versions for Python and Node.js.
It was fun editing Mark’s work, especially after having recently completed some Coursera classes that emphasized graph data structures.
So check out Mark on Free Code Camp, and don’t forget to recommend the article to other intrepid Medium readers by clicking the ♡.
Thanks to Brad Noble and Quincy Larson for their feedback. | https://medium.com/codait/have-you-had-the-talk-with-your-chatbot-about-graph-data-structures-30925accd6c9 | ['Mike Broberg'] | 2017-06-22 19:00:03.495000+00:00 | ['Cognitive Computing', 'Chatbots', 'JavaScript', 'Database', 'Cloudant'] |
H-1B Visa Analysis — R Shiny with Plotly Visuals | H-1B Visa Analysis — R Shiny with Plotly Visuals
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash
About a month ago, I had three telephone interviews scheduled in a particular week. All of them ended up “not moving further” with my application because of my U.S. visa status. One of the conversations lasted less than 60 seconds since the first question they asked was if I would need visa sponsorship now or in the future, and that was it. The interview ended there.
Yes, the infamous H-1B visa, which provides American companies the ability to hire foreign talent temporarily for up to 6 years. Employers have to file an application with USCIS on behalf of the employee, and approval from USCIS makes employees eligible to work in the United States. Understandably, employers are becoming hesitant to hire someone who would need visa sponsorship in the future due to frequent legal changes and uncertainty.
Many international students like me are finding it difficult to find a job because of this reason. Being an aspiring Data Scientist, I decided to analyze the publicly available data on the USCIS data hub. A detailed description of the data is available here.
I used the ‘plotly’ package in R to create interactive graphs and ended up developing a web app using ‘R Shiny’. The detailed description of how to use the app and explore this data interactively is at the end of this article. The aim was to make the job-hunt more focused, and the app will be useful for all the international students who are in the same boat as me.
Note: I wanted to keep the focus of this article as a descriptive report, thus I have omitted some of the code from the post. However, all of it is available on Github. The plots/graphs in this post are static, but one can interact with them in the web app.
What follows are some of the insights that I unearthed:
Have the denials for H-1B visas risen?
Yes, they have. When we look at the total number of approvals and denials in the following graph, we realize that since 2015, visa approvals are dwindling while denials are surging. We will delve deeper into the number of approvals and denials in the further sections, and we’ll analyze them through various angles such as geographical, industrial, organizational, etc.
## Code for plotly chart of total approvals and denials require(tidyverse)
require(plotly)
output$plot1 <- renderPlotly({
Data %>%
group_by(Year) %>%
summarize(Approvals = sum(Initial_Approvals), Denials = sum(Initial_Denials), C_Approvals = sum(Continuing_Approvals), C_Denials = sum(Continuing_Denials)) %>%
plot_ly(x = ~Year, y = ~Approvals, type = “scatter”, mode = “lines”, color = I(‘dark green’), name = “Approvals”) %>%
add_trace(x = ~Year, y = ~Denials, type = “scatter”, mode = “lines”, color = I(‘red’), name = “Denials”) %>%
layout(title = “H-1B Visas by Year”,
xaxis = list(title = “Year”),
yaxis = list(title = “Count”))
})
Total Visa Approvals And Denials Since 2009
Geographic Analysis
What cities/states are you most likely to find professional opportunities as an international student?
I wanted to inspect which areas of the country are observing the highest visa approvals, which also means more opportunities for international students. Moreover, since a lot of companies prefer “local” candidates, I am pondering whether I should be moving to any of these cities. So, I investigated for the states and cities with maximum visa approvals for the last two years; the last two years specifically since we are witnessing a sharp decline during this period. You can select whichever year/s you wish to look at in the app and perform deeper analysis.
The state of California leads with the highest number of visa approvals. No surprises there as California is one of the largest states in the continental U.S. and has Silicon Valley and several cities with major tech hubs that are often hiring. With less than half the approvals of California, New York, New Jersey, and Texas take the second, third, and fourth spot on the list.
Top states with highest H-1B visa approvals in the last two years
City wise, I found out that New York City (NYC) is the hotspot with the highest number of visa approvals in the last two years. NYC is followed by Chicago, San Francisco, Boston respectively.
# Plot of top cities for shiny server require(plotly)
require(ggmap) #geo styling for plot
g <- list(
scope = ‘usa’,
showland = TRUE,
landcolor = toRGB(‘light gray’),
projection = list(type = ‘albers usa’),
showlakes = TRUE,
lakecolor = toRGB(‘white’)
)
output$cities <- renderPlotly({
Data %>%
filter(Year %in% input$Year) %>%
group_by(City) %>%
summarize(Approvals = sum(Initial_Approvals), Denials = sum(Initial_Denials),
C_Approvals = sum(Continuing_Approvals), C_Denials = sum(Continuing_Denials)) %>%
arrange(desc(Approvals)) %>%
top_n(50, Approvals) %>%
left_join(coords_cities, by=”City”) %>%
plot_geo(lat = ~lat, lon = ~lon, color = ~Approvals, size=~(Approvals)) %>%
add_markers(hovertext = ~(paste(“City:”, City, “
No. of Approvals:”, Approvals))) %>%
layout(title = ‘Top cities with H-1B Visa approvals in the selected Years’, geo=g)
})
Top cities with highest H-1B approvals in the last two years
Which industries are impacted the most?
When we look at the denial rates in the following graph, we notice that visa denials across the board increased in 2018. The denial rate is calculated as the percentage of denials out of total applications.
‘Educational Services’ industry has been least impacted and has the lowest overall denial rate. The exemption for the education industry from the 85,000 annual number of H-1B approvals could be an explanation.
Institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations that are related or affiliated to institutions of higher education, nonprofit research organizations, and governmental-research organizations are exempt from H-1B annual quotas.
# Code for denial rate plot
output$dept_denial <- renderPlotly({
plot_ly(Dept_Data, x = ~Year, y=~Denial_Rate, color =~Dept_Name, type=’scatter’, mode = ‘line’) %>%
layout(title = “H-1B Visas Denial Rate by Department”,
xaxis = list(title = “Year”),
yaxis = list(range = c(0,50), title = “% Denials”))
})
Denial Rates For The Departments
When considering the total number of approvals, the ‘Professional and Technical Services’ industry dominates, with more than 50% of the total approvals. Although, since 2015 the approvals in this industry have dropped and steadily declined.
Number of approvals per department
Which employers to target?
This is the most interesting part. On average, I personally spend about 5–10 minutes for each job application. I would not want to apply to a job with an employer only to hear back from them letting me know that they are not considering international students or applicants who “require sponsorship now or in the future”.
You can look up any employer in the app to see details about how many candidates they sponsored over the years. For the analysis part, I decided to find top employers, as in the employers with the highest approvals in the last two years.
#Code for employer wordcloud require(wordcloud2)
employer_wc <- Data %>%
filter(Year > 2017) %>%
group_by(Employer) %>%
summarize(Approvals = sum(Initial_Approvals), Denials = sum(Initial_Denials), C_Approvals = sum(Continuing_Approvals), C_Denials = sum(Continuing_Denials)) %>%
mutate(Denial_Rate = Denials/(Approvals+Denials)*100) %>%
select(Employer, Approvals) %>%
arrange(desc(Approvals)) %>%
top_n(15, Approvals) wordcloud2(employer_wc, size = .25, minRotation = 0, maxRotation = 0, color=rep_len(c(“blueviolet”,”blue”,”darkgreen”,”purple”,”deeppink”,”darkorchid”,”darkviolet”,”brown”,”darkred”), nrow(demoFreq) ), backgroundColor = “white”)
Top employers with H-1B approvals in the last two years
As we can see all the tech companies are leading in visa approvals. Apple tops the list with about 1700 approvals in the last two years. Deloitte, Intel, IBM, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, and others are also top contenders.
This is an analysis I completed with some of the insights that I discovered. I understand there’s much more one can do with this data. If you have any changes you’d like to see in the app, feel free to suggest in the comments or collaborate directly on Github. | https://towardsdatascience.com/plotly-with-r-shiny-495f19f4aba3 | ['Suraj Malpani'] | 2020-07-16 08:09:03.892000+00:00 | ['Data Visualization', 'Data Science', 'Plotly', 'Programming', 'R Shiny'] |
Thinkific: Leading the Educational Renaissance | From left to right: Thinkific co-founders Miranda Lievers (COO) and Greg Smith (CEO). Image courtesy of Alana Paterson.
An entrepreneur’s most valuable assets are the knowledge and skills they have acquired through building their ventures. Thought leadership is a popular buzzword these days; a promising area to build a successful business is to take it a step further by sharing and selling skills or knowledge online. However, managing the operational side of sharing one’s expertise online can be cumbersome. Greg Smith, CEO and Co-founder of Thinkific, knows this all too well.
Greg graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from UBC Sauder in 2000 and then studied at UBC’s Allard School of Law. After being exposed to many CEOs while working as a junior securities lawyer, Greg was encouraged to start a business of his own. He had already been running LSAT courses on the side, and decided to take his classes online so he could reach more students. Although his brother, fellow UBC Alumnus Matt Smith, offered to build it for him, they found a lack of digital infrastructure to easily create online courses. That was when the idea for Thinkific was born. Eventually, the two brothers and a few other co-founders launched Thinkific to empower any person with any expertise to create, market, and sell their own online course easily.
The SaaS company is unique from other online learning platforms like MasterClass or Skillshare because they allow educators full autonomy in this way. It provides tools for educators to independently create and sell courses, enabling them to own their brand, customer relationships, and build a sustainable business. These educators are often entrepreneurs or established thought leaders in their respective industries.
Thinkific also has an enterprise arm, Thinkific Plus. Intel, Samsung, Shopify and many others have used it to successfully enter the online learning market. Thinkific has gained noteworthy support from fellow Vancouver based startups: Hootsuite’s famous Academy is hosted on Thinkific’s learning platform, enabling more than 450,000 people to achieve social media certifications. Further, Corporate Finance Institute has trained over 300,000 people predominantly outside of North America to become financial analysts, powered by Thinkific.
It is clear that Thinkfic has not only transformed educators’ lives but also the lives of students globally. Thinkific is contributing to the educational renaissance, leaning into the future of education by promoting Direct to Learner content, unbundling of education (you increasingly do not have to enroll in a traditional institution to learn or teach a skill), and lifelong learning.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated these trends, especially the last: with heightened job insecurity and a higher pace of innovation, upskilling more frequently is beneficial. It is likely that in the future, ever-changing technical skills required of jobs will be taught throughout life instead of just in college. Similarly, COVID-19 also pushed people to realize the feasibility of making a living by running a course online.
True to their mission to help entrepreneurs, Thinkific put forward a $1 million Entrepreneur Growth Fund in the midst of the pandemic. The initiative supported 2,000 entrepreneurs with the mentorship and funding needed to quickly create online courses. Many shifted their existing business — which previously had either no digital or online learning aspect — online. By being a low barrier to entry solution, Thinkific has enabled a class of knowledge entrepreneurs to emerge. Thinkific saw a 221% surge in users creating courses at the start of the pandemic. To date, Thinkific course creators have earned more than $650 million in revenue. The online course market was forecasted in 2019 to be worth $300 billion by 2025, but with Thinkific’s hyper growth that timeline may not be as long.
Thinkific will continue to fuel its growth with its Series A raise of $22 million in September, the third largest deal in Vancouver in Q3 this year. The raise was led by early investor Rhino Ventures, which NBR profiled on Pitch Deck earlier. Fraser Hall, Managing Partner at Rhino, was quoted in a TechCrunch article discussing Thinkific:
“Working with Thinkific over the past four years has been nothing short of exceptional. It’s no secret that its business model, user numbers, and ~ 150% year-over-year revenue growth is tracking, by stage, very closely to Shopify, which is now Canada’s most valuable public company. It’s a model that is undoubtedly shaping a new world of knowledge entrepreneurship and one that’s accessible to any individual or organization that wants to add education as a new revenue channel.”
Thinkific is emblematic of the recent uptick in momentum and mentorship within Vancouver’s startup scene. Beyond Rhino, it was supported by early stage Vancouver-based investors Ryan Holmes (Founder of Hootsuite), Jeff Booth (Founder of BuildDirect) and others — evidence that successful local entrepreneurs are keen to encourage and increase entrepreneurial ventures in the region.
Thinkific plans to use its latest funding to explore opportunities accelerated by COVID-19 and grow its team — it is currently hiring for more than 30 roles and is planning to hire 350 people over the next 18 months. NBR got to sit down with Dalena Nguyen, a Talent Branding Specialist at Thinkific. As someone involved in Thinkific’s human resources, Dalena provided insight into how Thinkific’s strong values guide every decision and form the ethos of the company’s strong culture. One of the values includes being “fanatical about customer success”. As a company focused on being accessible to anyone, Thinkific has found that having a diverse workforce has allowed them to build a better product by taking a wide range of perspectives into consideration, better reflecting its diverse customers. Notably, 51% of Thinkific’s leadership team is composed of women, which is uncommon in tech.
It’s clear that Thinkific’s rigorous hiring process, which uses the topgrading approach, has been successful in finding individuals who add a new perspective while still adhering to Thinkific’s core values and contributing to the company’s growth. Thinkific was named one of the Best Workplaces in British Columbia, made the Growth List of Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies by Canadian Business (ranking 17th out of 415 companies), and was named to Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 all in this year alone. It is leading the way in not only building more resilient digital infrastructure for entrepreneurship but growing Vancouver’s startup ecosystem. We look forward to seeing Thinkific continue to revolutionize the way people earn and learn online. | https://medium.com/new-business-review/thinkific-leading-the-educational-renaissance-7f33db4f45d1 | ['New Business Review'] | 2020-12-15 20:13:30.623000+00:00 | ['Innovation In Education', 'Vancouver Startups', 'E Learning Solutions', 'Online Learning', 'Edtech'] |
A List of Fully Funded MFA Creative Writing Programs | Big thanks to The Workshop for putting this list together. They’ve done an incredible amount of research and due diligence to provide a list of MFA Creative Writing Programs that fully fund its students.
Fully funded means that the program costs are covered by the institution. It’s such a helpful list for writers who would otherwise not be able to afford these opportunities.
If you’re a writer and thinking of entering into an MFA, you must visit The Workshop to check out what they’ve put together. | https://medium.com/cry-mag/a-list-of-fully-funded-mfa-creative-writing-programs-3692b9f8d687 | ['Kern Carter'] | 2020-11-24 12:17:29.597000+00:00 | ['Creative Writing', 'Education', 'MFA'] |
Simply Install: PostgreSQL | Installing PostgreSQL
I use a m5a.large instance in AWS with Ubuntu 18.04 AMI with 20G of disk space. We can directly install PostgreSQL using apt-get .
ubuntu@ip-10-0-0-13:$ sudo apt update
ubuntu@ip-10-0-0-13:$ sudo apt install postgresql postgresql-contrib
PostgreSQL is installed as a service, configured at /etc/init.d . It can be accessed using the service command.
ubuntu@ip-10-0-0-13:$ sudo service postgresql [start|stop|restart|status]
When you install this you automatically setup a superuser postgres and a database postgres associated with that user. Currently, PostgreSQL is set up as a peer authentication, which means it uses client OS’s user profile to authenticate the user. In order to access the database, we need to log in as that user. By default, the installation creates a new OS user postgres inside the Ubuntu OS.
First step, we log into postgres user.
ubuntu@ip-10-0-0-13:$ sudo -u postgres -i
PostgreSQL provides a command line interface psql to access the tables in the database.
postgres@ip-10-0-0-13:$ psql
psql (10.6 (Ubuntu 10.6-0ubuntu0.18.04.1))
Type "help" for help. postgres=#
Here is a detailed list of psql command options. The most common options are listed below.
-U username (default = postgres)
-W access with password (default = none)
-h hostname (default = localhost)
-p port (default = 5432)
-d databases name (default = postgres)
Here is a visual representation of what happened here.
We have a running database that allows connections from a user postgres .
Configuration files: Setup as a service
All configuration files are stored at the following location:
/etc/postgresql/10/main
postgresql.conf and pg_hba.conf are most relevant to us for configuring the database. Have a rough estimate of the number of parallel connections that you need to create.
#postgresql.conf
#listen_addresses = 'localhost' # what IP address(es) to listen on;
# comma-separated list of addresses;
# defaults to 'localhost';
# use '*' for all
# (change requires restart)
port = 5432 # (change requires restart)
max_connections = 100 # (change requires restart)
...
Best practice: Change the default port number.
Changes to port and max_connections require a restart (using the service command).
In order to expose it as a service, “uncomment” the line listen_address and set the value to * . Any changes to listen_address also requires a restart.
listen_addresses = '*'
If you are setting it in a production setup, you can have additional security by specifying a comma-separated list of IP-addresses instead of allowing all connections using ‘*’.
pg_hba.conf contains control over which hosts are allowed to connect, how clients are authenticated, which PostgreSQL user names they can use, and which databases they can access. Records take one of these forms:
# local DATABASE USER METHOD [OPTIONS]
# host DATABASE USER ADDRESS METHOD [OPTIONS]
# hostssl DATABASE USER ADDRESS METHOD [OPTIONS]
# hostnossl DATABASE USER ADDRESS METHOD [OPTIONS]
By default, the superuser postgres can be used only by peer authentication. To expose it as an external service and allow client connections to authenticate using a password, add the following line to pg_hba.conf . Refer to the documentation for more details and info on authentication methods that postgres offers to each client.
host <database> <user> 0.0.0.0/0 md5
Best practice: To ensure secure setup, specify a database, user and a source IP.
Recommended next steps
Create a new user with a password for application access
To let an external application like a web-app access postgres, we need to create a user (with appropriate permissions).
Users are also called as Roles in Postgres
postgres=# CREATE USER db_select WITH PASSWORD '<setpassword>';
Grant permissions using the GRANT command. Permissions can be granted only at a schema level or at a relation level. | https://blog.insightdatascience.com/simply-install-postgresql-58c1e4ebf252 | ['Sriram Baskaran'] | 2019-06-19 01:30:48.192000+00:00 | ['Insight Data Engineering', 'Database', 'Postgres', 'Installation', 'Ubuntu'] |
Recognizing Handwritten Digits Using Machine Learning | This article serves as a documentation of my second project — Recognizing Handwritten Digits for my internship program at Suven Consultants & Technology Pvt. Ltd.
The main objective of this project is to understand the classical problem of Recognizing Handwritten Digits by computers. This is a classic classification problem in machine learning that can be traced back to the first automatic machines that needed to recognize individual characters in handwritten documents. Think about, for example, the ZIP codes on letters at the post office and the automation needed to recognize these five digits. Perfect recognition of these codes is necessary in order to sort mail automatically and efficiently.
Included among the other applications that may come to mind is OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software. OCR software must read handwritten text, or pages of printed books, for general electronic documents in which each character is well defined.
But the problem of handwriting recognition goes farther back in time, more precisely to the early 20th Century (1920s), when Emanuel Goldberg (1881–1970) began his studies regarding this issue and suggested that a statistical approach would be an optimal choice. | https://medium.com/@saandman/recognizing-handwritten-digits-using-machine-learning-747e35e201e3 | ['Sandeep S'] | 2020-10-15 16:44:49.464000+00:00 | ['Digit Recognition', 'Scikit Learn', 'Machine Learning', 'Internships'] |
Impromptu Rally Brings Community, Local Figures, to Court House. | Kneeling in the shadow of the Hunterdon County Courthouse, protesters showed their support to get justice for George Floyd — the man who died in police custody in Minnesota and sparked dozens of protests across the nation.
Starting in the park behind the courthouse, the rally was organized via text messages and other private communication not connected to any specific organization. Participants gathered from across the county, with an appearance by a co-founder of Flemington DIY and running Democrat city councilman Malik Johnson.
Mayor Betsy Driver of Flemington issued a press release before the event, stating that the event had no permit and that police would be instructed to act in a de-escalating manner, and urged the organizers to contact her.
“Because no permit has been issued,” She wrote, “There is no insurance coverage in place […] The lack of permit exposes the decentralized leadership of this grassroots event to serious personal financial risk in the event of injury or property damage.”
At the protest, two organizers stepped forward and identified themselves, and passed out literature and bottled water to about hundred participants. Holding a megaphone, they thanked the community for being there, and implore for community change and support to those arrested by police for protesting.
“We are here to protest the killing of the people in Minneapolis, and to show that black lives matter,” one said into the megaphone. “This town is one of the most affluent in the country, and we have a list of bail lists- so get out your credit cards and put your money where your mouth is.”
They then handed the megaphone to the several community members that volunteered to speak.
Taking social distancing precautions, by keeping masks on distancing themselves from others, they shared their thoughts and experiences with racism, police violence, and government officials.
“I have a strong memory of being on the bus as a child,” One young man said into the microphone, “believing that with a black president, that racism was from a bygone era. I was innocent then. Now, as the years have gone by — that innocence has been chipped away.”
“I love my school, my friends, and Flemington — but the city does not guarantee my safety. They have not spoken out about what happened in Minnesota. So I cannot say that I truly love this place.”
Bradd Powell speaking to protestors behind the Courthouse.
Bradd Powell took the stand, and identified the young man as his son. Speaking with his mask over his face, he held a large sign that said ‘VOTE’ and thanked the organizers and led chants with the crowd- saying ‘Black lives matter’ and ‘George Floyd lives in all of us.’
“This is the future of America,” Powell said, “Multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-racial — the population is gonna be the future of America. Were going forward […] we care about each other.”
Powell also said that he felt upset by the loss of the life of any individuals, and that life is precious, saying ‘that we have to change the system’ and get everyone involved. He later said that he was happy for the support from the community, and the singling out of black lives to protect.
Malik Johnson took the stand, who is running for Flemington City Council this year against Elizabeth Rosetti, and spoke of committing to change in Flemington.
Others who approached the stand spoke of taking the stand against racism, speaking out against relatives and co-workers who speak discriminatory language, and working hard against injustices.
One woman, who identified herself as Karen, spoke of taking this message home — and of white community members doing the work to protect those affected by racism.
“Don’t be a Karen!” she said into the megaphone, to cheers.
Protestors holding signs, shown from behind.
The group then moved to the front of the court house, and chanted out ‘No justice, no peace, no racist police,’ and organizers instructed the crowd to take a knee for nine minutes and 45 seconds, to show how long the officer, Derek Chavin, had his knee on George Floyd’s neck.
Motorists showed their support for the protestors by shouting, and honking horns, to the knelt silent crowd. Police officers kept their distance down the street, and Hunterdon County Sheriff Frederick W. Brown looked on across the street.
The Sheriff said at the protest that it was ‘more like a memorial.” and that the people of Flemington were fortunately, very well-disciplined. When asked about the de-escalation order, the Sheriff said that the police were there to show discipline, and keep the situation calm.
He later said in response to a question about other protests in the state, that he saw the actions taken by police officers in New York and Newark were necessary for the situations at hand.
Mayor Betsy Driver looked on from the street corner, and expressed that she was happy to see that the protest was peaceful, though said the organizers should have sought out a permit.
“We don’t say no to people asking for a permit,” she stressed, “We want to make sure that it was safe- and that someone, like white nationalists, who has bad intentions can be stopped.”
“You have to assume the worst in these situations, and make it clear that’s our intention.”
Driver had also relayed that the Hunterdon Democrats were planning a similar event, but gave no details about a date.
The event disbursed peacefully, with protestors walking away from the courthouse and deeper into the borough, masked up and still holding signs. | https://medium.com/@siobhan.b.donaldson/impromptu-rally-brings-community-local-figures-to-court-house-3e31c9bac2bd | ['Siobhan Donaldson'] | 2020-06-01 23:00:42.111000+00:00 | ['New Jersey', 'George Floyd', 'Community News', 'Hunterdon County'] |
OpenMinter: A Lean, Mean, Clean NFT Minting Machine | NFTs are all the rage lately — garnering big media coverage and celebrity engagement from everyone from Snoop Dogg to SNL to The Daily Show. One of the reasons for their popularity is that NFTs serve as a friendly bridge that brings together both crypto and non-crypto users together in a way that pushes artistic boundaries and creativity like never before. But while this is exciting, many have also been (rightfully) pointing out the darker side of NFTs — their ecological impact. Fortunately for artists and the planet, not all NFTs are made equal: enter OpenMinter.
OpenMinter is a Tezos based open-source DApp (“decentralized application”) framework for enabling the creation and collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This makes it possible for anyone, individuals, brands and enterprises, to use OpenMinter to easily create their own NFT marketplaces, gallery collections, or simply to run their own personal NFT minting machine. Due to it’s proof-of-stake design, which requires millions of times less energy consumption (and therefore has a miniscule comparative carbon-footprint), Tezos is leading the way in the #CleanNFT movement; learn more about the ecological advantages of Tezos here.
Using & Running OpenMinter is remarkably simple — we’ve outlined the necessary steps to get up and running, so even if you are not a developer or technically inclined it is straightforward to get going.
1 — (I want to run) OpenMinter:
Looking to run your own OpenMinter local instance? Let’s get started (steps shown are for macOS):
Download and install the latest version of Node.js
Install Yarn by opening up a terminal window and running the following command as admin: sudo npm install -g yarn
Download OpenMinter github source code .zip, unzip and rename folder to “ minter ”
” In a terminal window, change directory to the minter folder using the cd command: cd desktop cd minter
folder using the cd command: cd desktop cd minter While in the minter directory in terminal, run the following command: yarn install
Start OpenMinter on mainnet by using the following command in terminal: yarn start:mainnet
Your local instance of OpenMinter should load and open up in a browser window.
Congratulations! You now have your own personal NFT minter and marketplace running. To get started minting, all you need to do now is connect your Tezos wallet, ensure you have enough tez in it (it doesn’t take much) and you can start minting and selling your creations as NFTs.
2 — (Hey, I just want to) Mint:
If you are only interested in minting and selling an NFT, you don’t have to follow all of the steps to install and run your own instance. There’s an even easier way — you can simply join one of the fast growing artist communities on Tezos to mint and sell your NFTs, such as Hic Et Nunc or Kalamint.
3 — (I really want to tinker with) OpenMinter:
If you are interested in really customizing your own NFT service but want to leverage the clean OpenMinter platform, then fear not — there’s an SDK that can be used to do just that. While SDK integration/customization is not in the scope of this article, we recommend visiting the following resource to read up on what the SDK allows you to do:
OpenMinter SDK | https://news.tezoscommons.org/openminter-a-lean-mean-clean-nft-minting-machine-d4e293bb72a4 | ['Tezos Commons'] | 2021-04-12 16:23:11.248000+00:00 | ['Nft', 'Bulletin', 'Tezos', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
City mattering | My starting point was, in fact, a hiatus of about a decade. Around 2009 and 2010 I have written a bit about smart cities, albeit very superficially and only in Portuguese. My main interest was not technology in itself, for I already felt the deployment of information systems and hardware in cities was arguably nothing new. From public lighting to policing and transportation systems, cities have often been the proving grounds for new technological developments, since way before the digital appeared. I was rather more interested then in understanding the potential role of experimental labs when associated with emergent urbanism and local communities.
After writing those first texts, though, my attention was driven to other directions as I committed myself to a series of projects over the next years. Meanwhile, the role of technologies in society and politics has changed substantially. Just think that in 2010 there was no WhatsApp; few people knew about Wikileaks, nobody could foresee what Snowden and Manning would reveal; and far-right politicians still laid at the fringes of representative democracy.
Upon starting my Ph.D. research I felt then the need to read a lot, if only to get up to date with recent developments. I also felt I needed (and to be honest still do) to acquire a wider understanding of scholarship about the thousands of years of urban development, and to gain insight into how that relates to digital technologies. One of my first clues was a short pamphlet that I had intended to read since it was out in 2013, but never had the time to do so. In Against the Smart City, Adam Greenfield exposes how the mainstream narrative around smart cities was manufactured intentionally by big IT vendors willing to sell their services and equipment to municipalities — often similar to services and equipment they were already delivering, but for a premium; that said narrative is based on a very hollow understanding of what a city is or should be; that some of the most widely used examples of smart cities are in fact artificial urban sections built from scratch with no genuine urban life; that they often aim at a supposed increase in productivity and efficiency, but those are very hard — likely impossible — to measure; and consequently that those famous cases of smart cities are much more mobilized as PR stunts to legitimize retrofitting every other city than honest experiments with new ways to organise urban life in those locations all while throwing more public money onto private corporate suppliers with little democratic oversight.
For some years after exploring the shortcomings of the idea of a smart city, Greenfield went looking for alternatives. His Practices of the Minimum Viable Utopia saw value on emergent urbanism, community workshops and local making, while later in Radical Technologies he would go further on the potential uses of technologies such as blockchain and digital fabrication equipment to support meaningful political change. In the process, though, he would give up on smart cities altogether and is reportedly treading other paths nowadays whilst still interested in cities, democracy and change.
Alongside Greenfield, many other authors have been contributing to understanding smart cities from a critical lens. Around the first month after I moved to the UK, a friend who’s a researcher on Latin American studies and decolonization suggested I had a look at the work of Ayona Datta. In a series of interesting pieces, Datta tries to bring the perspective of non-western urban environments to the discussion about smart cities, engaging with Indian and South African contexts, as well as more recently bringing to the fore the potential implications in small towns too. Her work weaves, on the one hand, an ethnographic approach with eyes and ears on the field, and on the other an incisive reading on the political aspects of urbanisation and how power relations are represented in it — not only at a local level but regional and transnational as well.
Beyond Smart Cities
Ayona Datta was also one of the keynote speakers in the Beyond Smart Cities Today seminar I came to attend in Rotterdam last September. As well as her own work, I had then the opportunity to learn about other interesting researchers. Many among them were speakers at the seminar, as well as being featured in a book recently edited by Rob Kitchin and Paolo Cardullo, The Right to the Smart City (a play with Henri Lefebvre’s well-known “The Right to the City”). Those days turned to be a good crash course on the critique of the smart city. I was put in contact with a number of works questioning the lack of agency of local populations about smart city projects, as well as issues of surveillance and privacy, ownership and the often intimate relationship of local authorities and the interests of transnational corporations.
The extent to which a significant part of the conflict arising from smart cities is tied to such a fundamental issue as land use regulation and the governance of private-public partnerships was somewhat disappointing to my own illusions around the smart city. It felt in fact surprisingly similar to what we found while running Ciência Aberta Ubatuba, a research project initially interested in promoting open and collaborative practices amongst researchers and scientists working in a particular area of Brazil, but which ended up trying to contribute precisely to promote wider access to the discussions about land use regulations. Not a new subject to me, in that sense.
During one of the last sessions of Beyond Smart Cities Today, Rob Kitchin noted that the participants had been discussing smart cities for those three days, but very little was explicitly said of, and I paraphrase, capitalism, labour and value creation. In something of a parallel to that perception, it indeed feels to me that all the discussion about smart cities is only concerned with what people do before they get to their workplace, or after they leave — public transport, lighting, options for entertainment and leisure, access to public services and play areas. Sometimes even housing, education, and healthcare. But little is said about work itself. As if citizens are not workers.
Again from Rob Kitchin, this time in his own keynote during the conference, I have learnt about Francesca Bria’s and Evgeny Morozov’s Rethinking the Smart City, published in 2018 by the Rosa Luxembourg Foundation. Despite having been reading a number of articles written by Morozov in the last couple years, and being acquainted with Francesca since the days of the Bricolabs network, somehow I had previously overlooked that work. The book interestingly makes the point that the smart city is precisely the stage of reproduction of neo-liberalism:
“it seems to be the case that technological infrastructures configured in a fashion more in line with the dogmas of neoliberalism — e.g., which treat data gathered in the city as a commodity to be bought and sold on secondary markets, delegating a greater share of public transportation to firms like Uber and taking a more hands-off approach towards the likes of Airbnb — will make it rather difficult for cities to experiment with non-neoliberal political and economic agendas.”
Later on, Bria and Morozov propose that building on the idea of technological sovereignty — a term first circulated, it seems, from within autonomist and anarchist circles [PDF] and encompassing a number of experiments around free/open source technologies, local manufacturing, and degrowth — would be a first significant step in overcoming the neo-liberal dead-ends. Rethinking the Smart City lists examples of local administrations facing the immense power of venture-funded transnational corporations by trying to shift from market-oriented urbanization to approaches oriented towards the public good.
Unfolding the map
Those three or four leads opened my eyes to a diversity of meaningful research and literature done in recent years. Only on smart cities and other urban issues, there are a couple dozen books, articles and papers I plan to read in the coming months. The list can keep on growing indefinitely as new works appear, as is natural. To mention just two of the most recent ones that caught my attention: Some Thoughts and How to run a city like Amazon, and other fables.
The former stems largely from the opposition to Sidewalk Toronto. I must confess I was not following that project before starting the Ph.D., but many people drove my attention to it since, not least Bianca Wylie, who was also a keynote speaker in the Rotterdam conference and is one of the key people resisting in Toronto. The project seems to be the new shining utopia of the smart city canon, updated with a little hipster-greeny dressing. For research purposes, I have listened to some episodes of a podcast made by Sidewalk Labs, the project’s developer. I feel that the people who host and participate in the podcast sound as they even believe to be taking on the establishment (the automotive industry, for instance, or the construction sector). More important than whatever they say, however, are the many issues they do not address. To what extent their blindness to the corporate interests behind their own organisation (backed by Alphabet, which itself owns Google, no less) is either ignorance or cynicism remains to be discussed. Against that, Some Thoughts offers many quick entry points to deeper discussions and that way highlights important ideas and initiatives in the smart city space.
In a different approach to similar matters, How to run a city like Amazon explores “how a city might look, feel and function if the business models, practices and technologies of 38 different companies were applied to the running of cities”. It features speculative or otherwise exploratory essays, flirting with cyberpunk and dystopic storytelling and as such can contribute to the discussion in ways that go beyond the mere naturalisation of new technologies and key points of neoliberal ideology in the urban environment.
Focusing
In any case, up to now, I have read a part of those books and articles on smart cities and urban issues in order to understand what the perspective of my research must be. And I will be focusing next on one particular subject, for a number of reasons. First of all, I understand that a general critique of the smart city is already being well concerted, and for now, I wouldn’t have much to contribute significantly to it apart from closing ranks against the ill consequences of digital-driven transnational capitalism. Even if the smart city is still making headlines on specialized news and being promoted by IT vendors to maximize their businesses with vulnerable officials in cities of all sizes, the groundwork is laid to understand how problematic that image is. I do however see a gap in most of what I have read to date.
I am naturally aware of the risks of bias, as the proverbial hammer for whom every problem is a nail head, but I know as well that one needs to value their past experience to understand current challenges. It is then expected that my eyes will pay attention to an area I have been involved in and out in the last couple decades: waste management. And from what I read so far, I do see it mentioned briefly within smart city materials, but usually only in introductions sections. That is, whenever people try to explain what smart cities are about, they will say something about cities trying to use IT in order to better manage transportation, lighting, security, and… waste. There it is, indeed, mentioned quite often. But as the works unfold, the smart city may be criticised for its own blind spots that increase inequality, undermine democracy and put us all under permanent surveillance. Some will even start proposing alternatives, escape routes, ways to say no and create different settings for contemporary urban life. But at that point waste is absent from the conversation. It may be mentioned anecdotally — some rightly dismiss the deployment of “smart bins” as useless or outright nonsensical. But the whole discussion about capitalism, labour, inequalities, sovereignty… is apparently unrelated to whatever mechanism is generating and disposing of waste. And to my understanding that view must be challenged.
It is as though compared to issues such as social participation, agency and inclusion, waste dissolves (literally?) in the background, seen as nothing more than an unsexy technical-material ensemble only interesting to engineers and perhaps some environmentalists. After all, isn’t society already moving forward as more citizens start sorting their recyclables all over the world?
It turns out it is not. And that requires me to dive into literature and insights from a whole other area, as well as recollecting projects I’ve been involved with in the past couple decades. But I’m keeping that for my next blog post. Meanwhile, check how waste and scraps entered my life, back in the last Millenium. | https://medium.com/@felipefonseca/city-mattering-8f27a5e8c90e | ['Felipe Fonseca'] | 2020-01-14 12:48:06.905000+00:00 | ['Opendott', 'Smart Cities', 'Dundee', 'Waste'] |
How to close binance account? | How To close Binance Account? you must perceive that the binance doesn’t enable users to shut their account. However, there’s how which might build your account disabled. Binance is that the cryptocurrency exchange that is growing incessantly.
How to close binance account?
This is the explanation it’s turning into one in every of the most important cryptocurrency exchange supported the commerce volume. it’s incessantly adding the new currency beneath its belt that has created it one in every of the foremost used web site and attracting a lot of users. However, their area unit some those that wish to shut their Binance account. There may be numerous reasons for that.
How to shut Binance account?
Currently, Binance isn’t permitting its users to delete the account however you’ll be able to go in our own way around by disabling your account. this will be a good thanks to shutting your account.
You can try this by implementing these straightforward steps:
1. You have to use another laptop to log in than the standard one you utilize.
2. When you log in your account from another laptop you’ll be obtaining the notification. during this notification, you’ll be asked if you have got logged in or not.
3. You have to click thereon notification and easily click on the Disable your account choice.
After this, your account is disabled and you’ll not be ready to log therein an account | https://medium.com/@danjane0101/how-to-close-binance-account-221ce93b28d1 | ['Dan Jane'] | 2019-02-25 05:17:50.190000+00:00 | ['Binance'] |
Using color in data visualization and information design | Color is an important tool in the construction of information dashboards and data visualizations. In natural and built environments, color can signal danger, attention, attraction, and other states. Analysts and data scientists come to color with specific goals in data visualization and information design: Making useful distinctions, directing the user’s attention, and perhaps communicating or reinforcing a brand identity, among others. Color can be employed to help accomplish all of these.
But color brings challenges, too. Because it can dominate the visual field, it may distract instead of enhance, taking center stage over the information it is intended to convey. In extreme cases the use of color can interfere with comprehension, leading to misinterpretation or at least ambiguity. Some differences in color may also not be discernible by those who are color-blind.
Used effectively, color increases the informative value of a visualization — and even the appeal of the how the information is presented — without dominating. Achieving this means that color fades into the background, along with the rest of the design or data visualization elements, so that the message is what stands out and is remembered.
Metaphorically speaking, instead of bursting into a crowded room and shouting “COLOR!” so that everyone stops and stares, I want to enter the room, join and help guide the conversation, and mention color as part of the dialogue. In this article I share ways to think about color and show some ways to use color to achieve specific information design goals.
An example of color use in wayfinding
Consider roadway signs. Although ubiquitous, they are such an integrated part of the roadside landscape that it’s easy to notice them without actually seeing them. They guide, inform, advise, and warn — all in a small amount of space in which they can be noticed, decoded, understood, and acted upon quickly, at a glance and at a distance. These purposes are probably already familiar: Almost all of them are the same as for information design and data visualization.
Their use of color is especially relevant. According to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices used in the United States, the specific colors of a roadway sign indicate the information contained. Regulatory signs use only black, white, and sometimes red. Warning signs use only yellow and black. Guide signs use only green and white. Color is applied with a clear intent for motorists to quickly take away specific information so they can act on it, as shown at left in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1: The customary U.S. roadway sign at left uses color purposefully and deliberately for quick comprehension and action, in contrast to the one at right.
Just as color can communicate purposefully in roadway signs, it can do the same for us in information and data visualization. In this article I look at ways I have used color to communicate key information in dashboards and data visualizations I have developed.
Start with a single color
Color choices abound in modern tools, whether, for example, in a package such as Power BI Desktop or in code with R and ggplot2. Default settings are often set to display color from across the spectrum or may otherwise make it easy to use several colors in a single visualization. But starting with multiple colors just because they’re available may increase the user’s cognitive load (the working memory resources necessary to process information) by diminishing clarity.
In my last article, using grids to improve information dashboards, I recommended considering information design and user experience goals when starting information design and data visualization problems. A significant consideration in this approach is to determine what users should take away from the visualization being constructed. Color is a powerful way to help accomplish this. When I use it to direct attention or make a distinction, I move from merely reporting data to telling a story about what’s important, and I increase the impact of the information so it can be acted upon.
To start down this path, I begin with a single color (which, not incidentally, also makes the information design process easier as there’s one fewer initial design variable to manage). I choose a medium level of shading for that color — i.e., not over- or under-saturated. In addition to being easier on the eyes, starting with a medium shade enables other shades of that color to be used for contrasts. I choose a darker or more saturated version of the same color to make a distinction or draw attention, and a lighter or less saturated version of the same color to de-emphasize an element or help it fade into the background. This approach is shown is shown in the first two graphs in Figure 2 below.
An additional advantage of this approach is aesthetic: It eliminates concern about whether the colors look good together — what color theorists call color harmonies, of which there are several. This is because shades of a color combine to form what is called an analogous color scheme, which naturally forms a visually comfortable presentation.
Contrast this approach with one, shown at right in Figure 2, using the ggplot2 scale_colour_hue() default color scheme with evenly spaced colors from the HCL color wheel, as described by Hadley Wickham in his book ggplot2, second edition. This graph increases cognitive load, taking the user longer to process, not only because the multiple colors themselves don’t suggest what’s important — in fact, the use of red in one of the bars might be misinterpreted as noteworthy, which is not true in this case — but also because of the additional element (the red box) employed as a result to draw attention.
Figure 2: Ways of showing a distinction in bar charts: With purposeful color choices for a simplified presentation shown at left and in the middle, and with ambiguity, an extra element, and more cognitive load shown at right.
Adding a second color
Using shades of a single color not only provides a way to make useful graphical distinctions, it also sets the stage for introducing a second color for a defined purpose. For example, Stephen Few describes the utility of using a red dot to flag items in data visualizations requiring user action in his book Information Dashboard Design.
I show an illustration of the red dot in Figure 3 below at left, which indicates the user is to take action for item E, which is below target. (Building on this approach, if I consistently combine this use of red with a specific shape, it helps serve the needs of color-blind users who are unable to distinguish red but can rely on seeing the shape.) Of course, red is often used to signal alarm as well. If no warning is intended, I either use a more “neutral” color for the dot, shown in Figure 3 in the middle, or I change other elements of the visual to highlight the element needing attention, shown in Figure 3 at right.
Figure 3: Purposeful ways of drawing attention: Stephen Few’s red dot, a dot with a contrasting color when a warning is not intended, and a contrast in one of the elements of the visual.
I can use a second color to draw useful distinctions in other ways, too. Consider a line graph in which the lines overlap, as shown below in Figure 4 at left. If the graph contains only a couple lines, I can use a baseline color of medium shading and a darker shade where I want to show what’s important. If the graph contains many lines, as shown in Figure 4 in the middle, I can introduce a second color for this purpose. By indicating emphasis in this way, I am helping direct attention and telling the user a story of what’s important while minimizing cognitive load — enabling the viewer to focus on the impact of the information itself instead of trying to figure out how to read the visualization, as is the case in the graph shown in Figure 4 at right.
Figure 4: Ways of showing distinction in line charts: Purposeful use of one and two colors shown at left and in the middle readily reveals what’s important, while use of multiple colors shown at right obscures it.
Using multiple colors
A natural question might be when to use multiple colors. I would answer by saying there are better questions to ask, namely by going back to my information design and user experience goals. For every color I want to use, starting with the first one, I ask whether it serves a purpose. In cases where that purpose is not obvious — or perhaps nonexistent — I stay with as few colors as I need to tell the story about what’s important. This eases comprehension and enables action.
An illustrative example of this approach can be seen in two presentations of a graph showing cumulative views of a set of web-based articles over time. In the graph at left in Figure 5 below I use blue to call attention to the trendline of one particular article. In this way I form a narrative that contrasts the performance of that article with the others, which are presented more for context than for their individual details. In the graph at right in Figure 5, I use multiple colors from the default in Excel, but this time with purpose: The aim of the narrative I construct here is to focus not on the performance of any one particular article, but on comparing and contrasting all of them. Note that I would not use the default Excel color scheme in this way without a specific intention like this one in mind, after first formulating my information design and use experience goals for the data visualization. | https://medium.com/data-science-at-microsoft/using-color-in-data-visualization-and-information-design-ec33ee7cc764 | ['Casey Doyle'] | 2020-04-13 23:54:32.333000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Power Bi', 'Analytics', 'Dashboard Design', 'Information Design'] |
Talkin’ Bout My Reputation: In Defense of ‘Red Sparrow’ | Just like its ornithological counterpart The Goldfinch, Francis Lawrence’s Red Sparrow was a film pronounced dead on arrival.
I didn’t have Letterboxd when Red Sparrow was released, nor was I yet au fait with the beast that is ‘film twitter’. I watched it at an empty screening with a friend at Everyman King’s Cross, and then a second time a few months later. I promptly then forgot all about it. But recently, my interest in Red Sparrow re-ignited after becoming more interested in the erotic thriller genre. Looking back, I can see that critics I respect and whose opinion I frequently share posted mainly 1 or 2 star reviews, deeming it a “convoluted mess”, “furiously inhumane”, “torture porn” and similarly outraged epithets. I, however, stuck out like a sore thumb, giving it 4 out of 5 stars. I still sort of struggle to understand the outrage, to be honest.
The film opens on Dominika (Jennifer Lawrence), a prima ballerina who uses her pay-check to take care of her ill single mother. However, when a vengeful colleague schemes to have her leg broken, she’s soon out of work and desperate for cash. After being manipulated into a dangerous situation by her Uncle (Matthias Schoenaerts), a high-up official in Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, she witnesses an event that means she either must be killed or join a ‘Sparrow School.’ There, she learns the art of spying and seduction and is sent off on a mission to extract information from CIA Operative Nate Nash (Joel Egerton). Her lessons on how to pick locks and give handjobs haven’t prepared her for the possibility she may fall in love with her subject during the process, however.
The less questions you ask about a Hollywood movie this ridiculous (the levels of hatred towards Russia are verging on McCarthyesque), the sooner you can just enjoy it. America’s view of what Russia thinks of them is hilarious: one particularly memorable monologue comes from Charlotte Rampling (“The West has grown weak, drunk on shopping and social media, torn apart by hatred between the races. As a result, the world is in chaos, and only Russia is willing to make the sacrifices required for victory”). The script verges on Joe Eszterhas in places. Joel Egerton is the dashing (?) young (??) American who saves Dominika from the mean ol’ Soviet Union which is oppressing her. There are Verhoeven-esque levels of sleaze, and Jennifer Lawrence has wig-changes to rival Roxxxie Andrews in a lip-sync. Mary-Louise Parker has a hilarious cameo as a drunk US Senator’s Chief of Staff, telling a man from Soviet Intelligence: “It never ceases to amaze me how Russian women are so sexy and all the men look like toads.” The sooner we start thinking of this movie as camp, fallible entertainment as opposed to a grim drama, the better.
Red Sparrow’s biggest problem, I think, is that current cinematic discourse doesn’t really know what to do with a trashy erotic thiller in the middle of the moralistic 2010s. Why is Jennifer Lawrence doing a dodgy Ryussian ayksent and why is her love interest 17 years older than her? Look, I don’t intend to suggest a story of a downtrodden woman avenging her abusers is some kind of empowering feminist thing, but it’s hard to call this sexist or exploitative when, plainly, the bad guys get their comeuppance and then some. Francis Lawrence gave Jennifer Lawrence the opportunity to view a cut of the film before showing it to the studio so that she could request the removal of any nudity she may feel uncomfortable with — a luxury rarely afforded to a female star (she opted to remove none). After the actor’s private nude photos were leaked in 2014, she went on to describe her experience making Red Sparrow as liberating: “The insecurity and fear of being judged for getting nude, what I went through, should that dictate decisions I make for the rest of my life? This movie changed that. I didn’t even realize how important changing that mentality was until it was done […] we talked about [the violent and sexual scenes] extensively, which was really important for showing up on the day and there being no surprises.”
Would I have rioted if this won Oscars? Yes! That isn’t to say it can’t still be a great film, with the beauty of the medium meaning that movies, despite star ratings, can’t all exist on the same echelon. I think we need to normalize not being overly harsh on a film just because it received, say, Awards attention it didn’t deserve (one example that springs to mind is Jojo Rabbit — a film that was Just Fine but people treated like The Room). Jennifer Lawrence falls into the category of actress people hate for no reason (internalized misogyny), a club that includes Kiera Knightley and Anne Hathaway among others. People pile on J-Law for being all “I’m a quirky tomboy and I love pizza!”, claiming “she only won her Oscar because she shagged Harvey Weinstein!”, when in reality she’s a remarkably great actress.
She was vilified for wearing a revealing dress while promoting Red Sparrow during the height of the #MeToo movement, resulting in her asserting it was her own choice: “It was a fabulous dress, I wasn’t going to cover it up in a f***ing coat! All these people trying to be feminist — you’re not. You’re loud, you’re annoying, you have no point.” She does well with the material provided in Red Sparrow, as do the rest of the cast. The final scene, in which we realise Dominika has double-crossed the Russians and sealed the fate of her abusive Uncle, is a devastating reveal that Matthias Schoenaerts delivers to perfection.
It’s not ground-breaking, it’s not the best film in the world, it’s not even in my top 10 list of films released in 2018. But I watched it for the third time last week and I still found it thrilling, shocking, and-remarkably-never boring considering its 2hr20 runtime. Justice for Red Sparrow!
Part of Dead Sexy: A Fortnightly Column on Erotic Thrillers | https://medium.com/the-indiependent/talkin-bout-my-reputation-in-defense-of-red-sparrow-72ad85b1b836 | ['Steph Green'] | 2020-08-22 14:22:26.365000+00:00 | ['Erotic Thriller', 'Movies', 'Jennifer Lawrence', 'Film Criticism', 'Film'] |
Hypocrisy, Religious Liberty, and COVID-19 | Religious liberty has taken a backseat to these extreme social distancing regulations. Nowhere is that more evident than in the state of New York.
Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Order 202.68 is extremely hostile to places of worship. The order lays out a color-coded system that includes “red” and “orange” zones. In the “red zones”, no more than 10 people are allowed to attend each religious service, and in “orange zones”, 25 are allowed to attend.
Thankfully two religious organizations, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and the Agudath Israel of America challenged these restrictions as violations of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States to stop the enforcement of that order.
The Supreme Court granted their petition to stop New York from enforcing these regulations finding that even though once the issue was presented to the court the Governor changed his order there was nothing stopping him from changing back to the old system any time he wanted.
I want to highlight a few quotes from Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch:
“ Government is not free to disregard the First Amendment in times of crisis. At a minimum, that Amendment prohibits government officials from treating religious exercises worse than comparable secular activities, unless they are pursuing a compelling interest and using the least restrictive means available. (See Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah, 508 U. S. 520, 546 (1993). Yet recently, during the COVID pandemic, certain States seem to have ignored these long-settled principles. Today’s case supplies just the latest example. New York’s Governor has asserted the power to assign different color codes to different parts of the State and govern each by executive decree. In “red zones,” houses of worship are all but closed limited to a maximum of 10 people. In the Orthodox Jewish community that limit might operate to exclude all women, considering 10 men are necessary to establish a minyan, or a quorum. In “orange zones,” it’s not much different. Churches and synagogues are limited to a maximum of 25 people. These restrictions apply even to the largest cathedrals and synagogues, which ordinarily hold hundreds. And the restrictions apply no matter the precautions taken, including social distancing, wearing masks, leaving doors and windows open, forgoing singing, and disinfecting spaces between services. At the same time, the Governor has chosen to impose no capacity restrictions on certain businesses he considers “essential”. And it turns out the businesses the Governor considers essential include hardware stores, acupuncturists, and liquor stores. Bicycle repair shops, certain signage companies, accountants, lawyers, and insurance agents are all essential too. So, at least according to the Governor, it may be unsafe to go to church, but it is always fine to pick up another bottle of wine, shop for a new bike, or spend the afternoon exploring your distal points and meridians. Who knew public health would so perfectly align with secular convenience?”
At a minimum, that Amendment prohibits government officials from treating religious exercises worse than comparable secular activities, unless they are pursuing a compelling interest and using the least restrictive means available. (See Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah, 508 U. S. 520, 546 (1993). Yet recently, during the COVID pandemic, certain States seem to have ignored these long-settled principles. Today’s case supplies just the latest example. New York’s Governor has asserted the power to assign different color codes to different parts of the State and govern each by executive decree. In “red zones,” houses of worship are all but closed limited to a maximum of 10 people. In the Orthodox Jewish community that limit might operate to exclude all women, considering 10 men are necessary to establish a minyan, or a quorum. In “orange zones,” it’s not much different. Churches and synagogues are limited to a maximum of 25 people. These restrictions apply even to the largest cathedrals and synagogues, which ordinarily hold hundreds. And the restrictions apply no matter the precautions taken, including social distancing, wearing masks, leaving doors and windows open, forgoing singing, and disinfecting spaces between services. At the same time, the Governor has chosen to impose no capacity restrictions on certain businesses he considers “essential”. And it turns out the businesses the Governor considers essential include hardware stores, acupuncturists, and liquor stores. Bicycle repair shops, certain signage companies, accountants, lawyers, and insurance agents are all essential too. So, at least according to the Governor, it may be unsafe to go to church, but it is always fine to pick up another bottle of wine, shop for a new bike, or spend the afternoon exploring your distal points and meridians. Who knew public health would so perfectly align with secular convenience?” “No apparent reason exits why people may not gather, subject to identical restrictions, in churches or synagogues, especially when religious institutions have made plain that they stand ready, able, and willing to follow all the safety precautions required of “essential” businesses and perhaps more besides. The only explanation for treating religious places differently seems to be a judgment that what happens there just isn’t as “essential” as what happens in secular spaces. In his judgment laundry and liquor, travel and tools, are all “essential” while traditional religious exercises are not. That is exactly the kind of discrimination the First Amendment forbids. ”
” “ In far too many places, for far too long, our first freedom has fallen on deaf ears .”
.” “It has taken weeks for the plaintiffs to work their way through the judicial system and bring their case to us. During all this time, they were subject to unconstitutional restrictions. Now, just as this Court was preparing to act on their applications, the Governor loosened his restrictions, all while continuing to assert the power to tighten them again anytime as conditions warrant. So if we dismissed this case, nothing would prevent the Governor from reinstating the challenged restrictions tomorrow. And by the time a new challenge might work its way to us, he could just change them again. The Governor has fought this case at every step of the way. To turn away religious leaders bringing meritorious claims just because the Governor decided to hit the “off” switch in the shadow of our review would be, in my view, just another sacrifice of fundamental rights in the name of judicial modesty.”
“Even our dissenting colleagues do not suggest this case is moot or otherwise outside our power to decide.”
“It is time-past time- to make plain that, while the pandemic poses many grave challenges, there is no world in which the Constitution tolerates color-coded executive edicts that reopen liquor stores and bike shops but shutter churches, synagogues, and mosques.”
I encourage you to take some time and read the order from the court. I have placed a link to it at the end of this article. Issues of government overreach are becoming more and more common.
It’s past time that the politicians remember who they work for.
It’s past time that the people remember that politicians work for us not the other way around. We have been given the power to create change in our political landscape. We must educate ourselves and push back against these flagrant abuses of power.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20a87_4g15.pdf | https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/hypocrisy-religious-liberty-and-covid-19-f7bc89e26369 | ['Eric Allen'] | 2020-12-11 14:58:03.567000+00:00 | ['Covid-19', 'Religion', 'Politics', 'Liberty'] |
Helping in the fight against Al-Shabaab | How does the work you do help keep those at home in the UK safe?
“Day-to-day, I advise Commander 8 Brigade SNA and his staff on stability operations and the running of a brigade. I also help advise staff officers, if required.
“Most of this advice consists of helping the brigade achieve its tasks in conjunction with other security actors. This is to support the defeat of Al-Shabaab and bring the primacy of the civil power and the rule of law to reclaimed areas.
Security actors: other organistations such as the Somali Police Force, who are helping restore peace and security in the region.
“More widely, our training team supports the SNA with training, advice, equipment, and accommodation across the South West State.
“This can take the form of delivering trucks and driver training to the SNA. This is so that they can support operations better with more agile logistics and manoeuvre.
“Or the building of accommodation, ablutions, dining facility, and headquarters building to better serve the needs of SNA soldiers.
“Ultimately, make them more operationally effective.”
Major Dowdall
Was there anything that you didn’t expect to happen whilst deployed?
“Days before he was supposed to go into isolation before attending the Brigade Staff Course, Commander 8 Brigade SNA, who I was to train and advise was killed. He was leading his soldiers during a counter-attack on Al-Shabaab when they attacked an SNA Forward Operating Base.
“This hit home as he only had limited options available to him because of a lack of training.
How did you prepare before your deployment?
“We went through the High-Threat Pre-Deployment Training Package at the Mission Training and Mobilisation Centre (Individual).
“We completed our Military Annual Training Tests and qualified as team medics. We underwent further Survive, Evade, Resist, and Escape training, and an advanced live-firing package.
“We also created the structure and drafted lessons for the Brigade Staff Course through remote working.”
Major Daryl Michael Dowdall
What’s your favourite aspect of the deployment?
“The staff officers of 8 Brigade SNA are currently conducting an estimate for the provision of security in and around Baidoa for the upcoming election period.
Combat Estimate: This is the planning process for conducting military (army) activity, anything from an attack, defence or convoy. Everything the army does at a unit level is planned through this process.
“It is good to see that they are using the training and aide-mémoires we gave them.
“They have retained a lot of the information from the course. They are taking their first steps towards producing their own estimates, plans, and orders.
“There is still a lot of work to be done as they only finished the course a month ago and it takes a lot of practice and experience to become proficient with the estimate and planning. But 8 Brigade are now on their way to take more security responsibility from African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and eventually take the military lead in stability operations in their area of operations.”
African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) aims to increase the security and stability in the region. And ultimately stop the threat posed by Al-Shabaab.
Officers from 8 Brigade SNA HQ conducting collaborative training with the Darwish and the Danab on the Command and Staff course taught by the Somali National Army Training and Advisory Team, Op TANGHAM.
What’s it like working with other nationalities?
“We work with the Somalis every day. We also do a lot of liaison with the United Nations and its myriad of nationalities.
“In Baidoa, we are based next to the UN and work with them in providing our mutual force protection. In Mogadishu, the UK supports the UN directly with two distinct teams.
“We also do a lot of work with the AMISOM with its eight-nation contingent of Ethiopians, Ugandans, Kenyans, Burundians, Djiboutians. Sierra Leoneans, Nigerians, and Ghanaians.
“The mission in Somalia is truly multi-national and it is interesting to see how other nations go about their business, and what one can learn from them.”
Find out where else the UK Armed Forces are deployed here 👇 | https://medium.com/voices-of-the-armed-forces/helping-in-the-fight-against-al-shabaab-fdbc475e48af | ['Ministry Of Defence'] | 2020-12-14 16:02:33.300000+00:00 | ['UK', 'Case Study', 'Military', 'Terrorism', 'Somalia'] |
Five steps to forgiveness at Christmas. | Five steps to forgiveness at Christmas.
At Christmas a lot of old hurts can show up. You may be catching up with people you only see infrequently, and so whilst you have been able to practice avoidance throughout the year, all of a sudden that is no longer possible. And then amongst other expectations at Christmas is that you ‘play nice’ on the day.
You may also have trouble forgiving people who are now no longer in your life, or have an ex-partner who has chosen not to see their children at Christmas (and yes it happens a lot) and be feeling resentful about this. You may be experiencing fractious family relationships, feeling hurt by friends who don’t seem to be making an effort to catch up. The list of possible sources of resentment is almost endless.
What is forgiveness?
So, what is forgiveness?
Do you do it once and only when the person involved has apologised and promised not to do it again?
Do you forgive someone as many times as it takes?
Over and over?
Can you forgive someone who doesn’t want to be forgiven?
Is forgiveness an act of self-care, of grace, or an act of rebuilding a friendship or relationship?
Or perhaps it can be any of these and all of these.
As a parent sometimes I am practicing forgiveness almost on an ongoing basis! And each day begins anew. Dwelling on the mistakes, of myself and them, would only get in the way of relationship building.
You need to let go continually of the hurts and the disappointments that come with human imperfection. And this comes more easily to some people. And it is easier to forgive some people than others…
Forgiveness is first and foremost a choice
Forgiveness is first and foremost a choice, an action. It involves moving from a space of blame to a space of release. My question to you is, do you want to put the burden down?
Forgiveness is an act you do for yourself. It does not mean you agree with what someone did, it does not mean you agree with whatever you did. It does mean you are choosing to release the blame, anger, resentment, and hurt.
Five steps to forgiveness
Use these five steps to practice forgiveness.
Acknowledge that being human means being imperfect and making mistakes. Notice your language around the act that needs forgiveness. What is the message you are telling yourself? “I can’t believe this?, “they should apologise”, “how could they do that”, “I’ll never forgive them”, “they must hate me to do that”, “why did I do that?”. Practice saying “I notice, I am feeling hurt”, “I notice, I am thinking that what they did to me was horrid”. Notice how your body feels when you are say this. Write yourself a statement of belief. Now this is not an airy fairy everything is OK with the world statement, and this is not the time to quickly forgive someone for serious actions such as trauma or abuse. Create a statement such as “Forgiving ………. allows me to move forward”, “I notice my feelings of hurt and I choose to forgive”. Please, please notice that these statements do not say “I am not hurt anymore”. They are a realistic, life affirming statement. REPEAT
And keep repeating…..
Congratulations on taking the step to start this often difficult work.
Until next time, take care of yourself
Kim Dunn
Psychologist | https://medium.com/@kimdunn-psychologist/five-steps-to-forgiveness-at-christmas-71ee9becc725 | ['Kim Dunn'] | 2020-12-20 21:02:03.435000+00:00 | ['Forgiveness', 'Self Care And Self Love', 'Christmas', 'Mental Health', 'Connection'] |
Could a Commonwealth Free Trade Area be a success? | Originally written for The Royal Commonwealth Society, October 2018
Trade is back on the agenda. Following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump in the USA, trade policy has moved from the fringes to the front and centre of contemporary geopolitical discussions. The erosion of the consensus around global trade was unthinkable even five years ago, yet it continues to unravel before our eyes. Discussions as to how this could have happened have become increasingly framed around the sinister rise of reactionary nationalism, as contrasted with the enlightened, forward-thinking proponents of free trade fighting to protect the status quo.
To some, for example Shanker Singham writing in the Daily Telegraph, the Commonwealth represents a potential bulwark against the rising tide of protectionism which threatens the global economic order. The possibility of reorganising the informal grouping of countries into a formal trading bloc has loomed large in post-Brexit debates, with the hope that such an agreement could kick-start multilateral trade talks which have been at a standstill in recent decades.
The recently released UNCTAD Trade and Development Report 2018, titled ‘Power, Platforms and the Free Trade Delusion’ may pour some cold water on these ambitions for a Commonwealth Free Trade Area. The report tells some hard truths about the state of the global trading system, showing that far from being a result of any recent growth of populist nativism, the cracks in the global economic order have been growing for a long time, and not without good reason.
Discontent with the state of the international trading system can be seen as early as 1964, when policymakers from the Global South raised concerns that the rules governing this system seemed to benefit wealthy countries at their expense. The proliferation of free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties in subsequent decades, culminating in the creation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1995, opened up the markets of developing countries to foreign investors and competitors, shifting the global economy into a period of what UNCTAD’s report refers to as ‘hyper-globalisation’.
Yet despite the assurances given to countries in the Global South, the supposed gains from embracing hyper-globalisation never materialised. The average per capita income growth rate of 3.2%, which countries in the Global South enjoyed during the period of state-led developmentalism during the 1960’s and 70’s, fell to 0.7% in the 1980’s and 90’s. Even worse, in Sub-Saharan Africa per capita income actually fell by 0.7% annually throughout the 80’s and 90’s. In Nigeria, the poverty rate rose from 28% in 1980 to 66% in 1996. Global inequality soared, with the ratio of the richest fifth of the world population’s income to the poorest fifth’s rising from 30:1 in 1960 to 74:1 in 1995.[1]
There were a few success stories during the period of hyper-globalisation, but only a few. As UNCTAD’s report highlights, only a small number of countries have managed to use increased international trade as a means to transition away from low-value activities (e.g. agriculture and mineral extraction) and develop higher-value manufacturing and service industries — necessary for providing higher wages and living standards. In most cases it resulted in increased specialisation in the production of low-value goods, further entrenching the countries’ positions in the low-income bracket.
The reason which the UNCTAD report gives for this is that increasing the volume of trade alone is not sufficient to produce positive outcomes for developing countries. Rather, ‘without policy interventions to generate structural change, channel profits into productive investment and bring better quality employment, trade can nurture more economic, social and environmental damage, at odds with the Sustainable Development Goals.’
At the same time, ‘many of the rules adopted to promote “free trade” have not promoted a rules-based system that is inclusive, transparent and development friendly.’ Instead, these rules have increasingly prohibited developing countries from using such state-led development strategies as were used to great success by many present-day developed countries, and most recently China, during their industrialisation. These strategies include tariffs on imports, capital controls, regulation of foreign direct investment, state-owned enterprises, and other measures which are considered ‘market-distorting’.
The dissatisfaction of developing countries with the state of the international trading system came to a head with the Doha round of WTO negotiations. Beginning in 2001, the negotiations — designed to further integrate countries into a hyper-globalised world economy — dragged on until 2008, when the talks collapsed. Unable to reach an agreement, multilateral trade talks through the WTO have been at a standstill ever since.
It is against the backdrop of WTO stagnation that regional trade agreements — such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the hypothetical Commonwealth Free Trade Area — have gained in popularity, the idea being that negotiations between a bloc of countries may prove easier than those at the global level. However, this is a misdiagnosis of why the multilateral trading system is at a standstill. The problem is not one that can be solved simply by selecting the right grouping of countries. As the UNCTAD report shows, the problems with the international trading system run much deeper than that. Until the concerns of developing countries are addressed and the rules governing international trade adjusted to benefit them, any attempt at a Commonwealth Free Trade Area is unlikely to succeed. Indeed, given the deleterious effects of previous free trade agreements on developing countries’ economies, the creation of a Commonwealth Free Trade Area may actually be undesirable.
UNCTAD’s report has little good to say about those who advocate more free trade as a route out of poverty for developing countries: ‘simple-minded calls for more trade liberalisation are no substitute for development strategies…’ Furthermore, the rules-based global economic order cannot be saved from the present threat of protectionism by simply ‘doubling down on business as usual’. Instead, policymakers must recognise the problems which global trade rules have caused developing countries and ‘move the system in a more inclusive, participatory and development-friendly direction.’
As a voluntary association of independent and equal states committed to sustainable development, where the voices of developing countries are given equal weight to those of their wealthier counterparts, the Commonwealth is well-placed to push for this transformation.
[1] Statistics obtained from Jason Hickel, The Divide, pp. 158, 160, 174 | https://marknormington.medium.com/could-a-commonwealth-free-trade-area-be-a-success-9f4af0c497fd | ['Mark Normington'] | 2018-10-08 19:04:26.443000+00:00 | ['Economics', 'International', 'Politics', 'Trade', 'Commonwealth'] |
Top 10 Stock Brokers online Trading Platforms & Customer Support | Top 10 Brokers are ranked based on the maximum number of mediums through which they offer support (phone, email, SMS, WhatsApp, live chat etc) and also based on turnaround time, number of complaints.
In this article, we will list out Top 10 Brokers based on Customer Support and also give a brief introduction of Top 10 Brokers.
Scroll down to know brief information about them :
RankBroker Name1Tradejini2Sharekhan3ICICI Direct4Angel Broking5Axis Direct6Zerodha7Trading Bells8Wisdom Capital9Upstox10My Value Trade
Get Best Tradejini Offers
Tradejini is a discount broker established in 2012, headquartered in Bangalore. They are depository participant of CDSL and offer products like:
Equity Spot
Equity Futures and Options
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Mutual Funds
Bonds
Services ThroughPhoneYESEmailYESSMSYESWhatsAppYESTransaction AlertsYESLive ChatYESRelationship ManagerNOTraining & EducationYES
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Sharekhan is a full-service broker established in 2000, headquartered in Mumbai. They are depository participant of NSDL and they offer products like:
Equity Spot
Equity Futures and Options
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Services ThroughPhoneYESEmailYESSMSYESWhatsAppNOTransaction AlertsYESLive ChatYESRelationship ManagerNOTraining & EducationNO | https://medium.com/@discoverbroker1/top-10-stock-brokers-online-trading-platforms-customer-support-b68f47fed6eb | ['Discover Broker'] | 2020-01-11 07:28:28.069000+00:00 | ['Investing', 'Share', 'Discount', 'Trading Platforms', 'Stock Market'] |
Book review: The forty rules of love- Elif Shafak | Book review: The forty rules of love- Elif Shafak
Among the hundred books on our shelf, there is only a handful that will forever change us. Elif’s The 40 Laws of Love is undoubtedly one of these life-changing novels. Chapter by chapter, it steadily affects your spirit and your mind that you can sense a tremendous shift occurring inside you.
The spirituality of the book:
When you read down the lines, a change in viewpoint will happen effortlessly in love, visions, sins, God, and so many more. The Sufi mist that travels across the floor will fill your heart when you move between the past of Shams and Rumi’s love on one hand and the modernity of Ella and Aziz’s love on the other. You will find yourself wanting more and you will suddenly end up listening to Sufi music, reading about Rumi, and meditating as much as you can.
Some of the remarkable sayings:
There are actually 2 sayings that I love the most from the book:
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and right doing there is a field.
I’ll meet you there”
“When the soul lies down in that grass
the world is too full to talk about”
-Rumi
The positive side of the novel :
When you read down the lines, a change in viewpoint will happen effortlessly in love, visions, sins, God, and so many more. The Sufi mist that travels across the floor will fill your heart when you move between the past of Shams and Rumi’s love on one hand and the modernity of Ella and Aziz’s love on the other.
I’m very grateful to Elif Shafak for this wonderful story told so elegantly and masterfully. It made me want to do more research into the poetry of Rumi and overall Sufi thought.
The critical side of the novel :
The sections that take place in Konya (the past) are interesting for the first half of the novel, but then the author gets lazy, missing the modern aspect of the story that eventually feels conceived, hurried, and coerced into the book, and Shams, whom I considered inspirational, loses all legitimacy as to the fault of the author, who probably lost track of the various rules and lessons of love that Shams preaches. Shams’ character ignores all of the rules that the author puts earlier in the book in the last half of the book, and the entire “40 Rules of Love” becomes a severely disjointed and amateur endeavor.
It seems like anyone at the publishing house might have reviewed this book and found out the numerous contradictions inside its chapters, just like Ella’s part-time career. The lessons and contradictions, though, are so diverse that it would have been very hard to save this book. | https://medium.com/@atifashah999/book-review-the-forty-rules-of-love-elif-shafak-3a245f8a5215 | [] | 2020-12-24 20:37:18.248000+00:00 | ['Elif Shafak', 'Spirituality', 'Book Review', 'Book Recommendations'] |
STK Progress Update: June 22, 2018 | Thanks to everyone who joined us yesterday for our monthly AMA! One of our awesome Blockchain Developers completed two live transactions at our local coffee shop, using STK tokens to pay at retail, in real-time (thanks Natalie!).
Aside from daily coffee jaunts to ‘test the platform,’ we’ve been working hard on creating what we think will be the first mass-market solution to real-time cryptocurrency payments.
Here’s what we’ve been working on over the last couple of weeks:
Recent Progress
STK Smart Contract:
Optimized gas cost
Finished ETH payment channel
Server:
Deployed dockerized container to AWS using ECS
Finished endpoint for creating a ETH payment channel
STACK app integration:
Waiting on designs for eth integration
Design:
Finished the prototype for multi payment channels
Validating technical aspects of the design before finalizing
What we’re working on now:
STACK app ETH integration
That’s it for this week, we’ll see you in two weeks with more progress to report! As always, you can join the conversation anytime on Telegram, Twitter, Discord and Reddit. | https://medium.com/stk-token/stk-progress-update-june-8-2018-23c236ee8584 | ['Stk Token'] | 2018-06-22 20:33:21.235000+00:00 | ['Ethereum', 'Blockchain', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Fintech'] |
When the Democrats Seized the Day | In the three and one-half years I’ve been here, we have not been allowed ONE VOTE, NOT ONE VOTE on matters of gun safety. This was why we had to protest.”- - Rep. John Larson, Sit-in ringleader whose Connecticut district is near Sandy Hook.
On June 23, around 11:25 AM, Democrats in the House of Representatives, fed up over the lack of action on simple, common-sense gun control measures after years of failed attempts, and led by Civil Rights icon John Lewis, announced a sit-in on the floor of the House chamber, and then, one by one, sat themselves down on the hard floor in front of the speaker’s podium. (Watch it here.)
As Vera Bergengruen wrote for McClatchy DC:
“Where is our soul? Where is our moral leadership? Where is our courage?” Lewis shouted Wednesday when he began the sit-in, his preacher’s voice loudly echoing in the House chamber. Brow furrowed, he angrily pounded the podium.
“This is the time,” he cried. “Now is the time to get in the way. The time to act is now. We will be silent no more.”
He paused for a moment, the chamber silent.
“The time for silence is over.”
For some of them, getting down on the floor wasn’t easy. Some were older and arthritic, some were women in short skirts and high heels, and one of them, Tammy Duckworth, a former Blackhawk helicopter pilot whose legs had been shot off over Baghdad, had to work her way out of her wheelchair and remove her prostheses in order to sit on the floor with her compadres.
Speaker Paul Ryan quickly shut the place down, calling for a short recess until the Democrats came to their senses, and, as is the rule when the sessions are in recess, the microphones went dead; the chamber cameras went dark.
Then, as if the revolt by the Democrats in the form of an actual sit-in wasn’t extraordinary enough, something even more amazing happened. Several House members, using their smart phones, began live-streaming the event via Twitter’s Periscope. Before long C-Span, against House rules and entirely on their own, picked it up and began broadcasting the live-stream.
It had its glitches. As phone batteries went dead, C-Span hosts ad-libbed, filling in the minutes until borrowed battery packs could be installed or someone else picked it up and fed it to them live. People kept bumping into or standing in front of the cell phones, but they were quickly righted and put back into action.
Within seconds after John Lewis announced the sit-in, Twitter and Facebook exploded. News spread that something big was happening on the House floor (literally), and for one brief shining moment even Donald Trump couldn’t draw media attention away from the disobedient but mostly civil Democrats who had finally had enough.
It was a sit-in that felt like a loose version of a filibuster. A long line of representatives took turns standing before the dead microphones, passionately begging for the chance to vote on sensible, common sense gun control, hoping the cell phones would pick up their voices and send their message afar.
Within a few hours, several senators came in to offer their support. Elizabeth Warren sat on the floor for a time, left, and then came back again, this time with donuts. Al Franken, Bernie Sanders, Gary Peters, and a number of other senators made appearances.
Some time during the day Paul Ryan acknowledged the sit-in at a news conference. He called it nothing more than a publicity stunt. (Newsflash: All demonstrations are publicity stunts, Paul.) He took pains to remind everyone that the sitters were breaking rules. (Again, Mr. Speaker: civil disobedience)
It went on for more than 26 hours, with a few bathroom breaks and cloakroom naps. Elizabeth Warren bought donuts. Cases of bottled water arrived. Someone else ordered pizzas. For more than a full day those of us who have been waiting a long time for something like this sat riveted. It was awesome.
Did it change even one single mind on the Republican side? No. Will the NRA stand down and stay out of government business? Of course not. But we saw democracy in action. We saw the Democrats acting like Democrats.
It did my heart glad.
(Cross-posted at Ramona’s Voices and Crooks & Liars) | https://medium.com/indelible-ink/when-the-democrats-seized-the-day-d58cb69da75e | ['Ramona Grigg'] | 2020-07-18 14:13:40.505000+00:00 | ['Activism', 'Democrats', 'Politics', 'Civil Disobedience', 'John Lewis'] |
Book Review: “The First Actress: A Novel of Sarah Bernhardt” (by C.W. Gortner) | I’ve been a fan of C.W. Gortner’s historical novels for quite a while now. He has an uncanny knack for both finding the perfect subjects to write about and for identifying the key moments in their lives that make for the most compelling, and revealing, drama. While I’ve been particularly fond of his novels about royal women — particularly Isabella of Castile and Empress Marie of Russia — I’ve also found myself drawn to his portraits of more modern women, and his newest novel on the famed actress Sarah Bernhardt is no exception.
The novel begins with Sarah a child being raised in Brittany. Soon, however, she is brought to Paris by Julie, her courtesan mother, who quickly grows frustrated with her daughter’s rebellious streak. After a far-too-brief sojourn learning from nuns, Sarah becomes both a courtesan and an actress, though it is the stage that is her true calling. Eventually, through trials both personal and professional and nature, she manages to ascend to a position of prominence, becoming one of the most celebrated actresses of the age.
From the moment that she appears, Gortner’s Bernhardt casts her spell over the reader. She’s proud, there’s no question about that, but it’s also clear that she has the seed of greatness within her and that she will stop at nothing to make sure that he lives life on her own terms, not those of someone else: not her mother, not those in charge of Paris’s theatre scene, and not the other actors and actresses that try to stand in her way. While there are times when we get a little frustrated with her for her intransigence, it turns out that she knew what she was about, and she richly deserves the success that she eventually attains.
At the same time, Gortner does an excellent job of capturing the Paris of the late 19th Century. We wander with Sarah down the boulevards, we encounter the dissipated (and insufferably proud) aristocracy, we come face-to-face with the ridiculous but powerful Emperor Napoleon III. We also get to stand by while she meets with Edward, the Prince of Wales (who prefers to be called Bertie) and becomes fast friends with none other than Oscar Wilde, one of the most famous (one might say infamous) poets and writers of the 19th Century.
For there’s no doubt that the 19th Century that Sarah inhabited was a time of immense cultural change, and she is often caught up in it. One of the chief conflicts of the novel is Sarah’s desire to embrace styles of acting that are anathema to the hide-bound and quite conservative members of France’s foremost theatre company. Time and again, those who can’t see the future — and who are unwilling to change anything about themselves or how they do things — attempt to quash Sarah’s relentless and restless spirit of innovation. Fortunately for her, she’s not the type to let others, no matter how powerful they might be, tell her what to do and, as a result, she almost always ends up winning in the end. In Gortner’s capable hands, Bernhardt becomes something of an incandescent figure, blazing a new trail and urging others to follow her. She becomes, in essence, a celebrity and a star in our modern sense of the word, with the public demanding to have a little bit of Bernhardt in their homes (this is also the time when photography was fast becoming the medium of modernity).
However, being an agent of change entails great sacrifice and, driven as she is by her ambition and her desire to succeed in the world of the arts, it’s not really surprising that Sarah’s personal life suffers, and she endures quite a lot of tragedy during the course of the novel. She loses one of her younger sisters to consumption, and the other, having followed their mother Julie into the world of being a courtesan, dies of an opium overdose.
And yet, for all of the tragedy, there are moments of genuine human warmth aplenty, from the older woman who becomes a second mother to Sarah to the great Alexandre Dumas, who takes her under his wing and helps her along professionally. And, of course, there is Sarah’s son Maurice, whom she loves with a fierce and protective passion. Some of the most touching moments in The First Actress involve her relationship with this young man that she decided to raise on her own, even knowing that her society didn’t look kindly on women who raised a child out of wedlock in front of everyone.
For it’s important to realize just how extraordinary Bernhardt was as a woman willing to maintain her independence. In one of the novel’s most revealing passages, she at last confronts her mother Julie, and the two of them realize that, despite their strong dislike for one another, they have far more in common than either of them have ever wanted to acknowledge. It’s a powerful moment, not just because it shows how much they have fundamentally misunderstood one another (one can almost imagine one of them saying, “You mean, all this time we could have been friend?”) but also because it shows that each of them is aware of the fraught position that women occupy in their world.
The First Actress is a historical novel of the highest order. In some ways, it’s very much like the biopics of classical Hollywood. It takes a particularly important part of this historical figure’s life and puts it under a microscope, allowing us to see how the things that happened during this period shaped their entire persona and later life and actions.
Sarah Bernhardt was, truly, one of the most extraordinary women to have lived during the 19th and early 20th Centuries, a woman driven by desire yet who knew how to get what she wanted from a world always unwilling to give it to her. Fortunately, Gortner is a novelist more than capable of bringing her extraordinary personality to life. | https://medium.com/cliophilia/book-review-the-first-actress-a-novel-of-sarah-bernhardt-by-c-w-gortner-44df2e01beb0 | ['Dr. Thomas J. West Iii'] | 2020-12-27 15:51:38.983000+00:00 | ['Book Review', 'Novel', 'Books', 'Biography', 'History'] |
Automatic Ticket Tagging with NLP Text Classification | Getting to the root
The first step towards training a classifier with machine learning is to transform each text into a numerical representation in the form of a vector. In order to do that, we must first keep just relevant words from our model. Then, it would be nice to have just the root of each word. Meaning that “I broke my PC” and “My PC is broken” is equal to “Break PC”. Here “Break” is the root word, we want both cases to be same.
type_pipeline_preprocess = Pipeline([
('clean', htmlCleanerPipeStep()),
('lower', lowerCasesPipeStep()),
('stopwords', stopWordsPipeStep('utils/stopwords.txt')),
('lemmatize', lemmatizePipeStep())
]) component_pipeline_preprocess = Pipeline([
('clean', htmlCleanerPipeStep()),
('lower', lowerCasesPipeStep()),
('stopwords', stopWordsPipeStep('utils/stopwords.txt')),
('stemmize', stemmizePipeStep())
])
These are our preprocess pipelines. First we’ve created some straightforward regex to remove HTML tags, and some other special characters. Then we convert every word to lower, filter not relevant words for our model such as connectors, prepositions, specific words from our business which are not important to determine ticket category, etc.
In the last step, for token normalization we choose lemmatization for one case and stemming for other. Why is that? Basically with lemmatization you get the actual root of words, meaning its inflected form. For example lemma of forms “studies” and “studying” is “study”.
With stemming you just get the root prefix for every word, and those words are not necessary within the language. For example stemme of “studies” is “studi”. Stemme of “studying” is “study”. For other words it could match with actual root of word.
In our case it just worked better this way, since component is a little harder to predict, with stemming we have more information about the word. We recommend you to try both.
Unprocess words at left and different pipes applied on the right
So far, we applied these transformations, now we have to vectorize our words to have a numerical matrix to train on.
Vectorization
By doing this, we will transform all of our processed sentences into numerical vectors representing original words. We used two Word Embedding techniques based on our domain: Word2vec for Type prediction and Tf-Idf for Component, and we added it to each pipeline. With these configuration we’ve got better results. Nevertheless we could have done a bit more fine-tuning over word2vec to achieve more accuracy in vector similarity. We note it as a future work. We advise you to try both and choose the one that suits better to your model.
Training Time
Right now we have a “simple” classification problem, where we have a matrix with a target column to train and predict. We follow an straightforward approach in which we choose some candidates classifiers from scikit-learn library that tend to work well for NLP such as LinearSVC, SGDClassifier, LogisticRegression, RandomForestClassifier, AdaBoostClassifier, LGBMClassifier, MLPClassifier. We give a quick train for all this classifiers, get the score and choose the best. Then, we’ve performed a GridSearch to help us find better parameters, and fine tune by hand until we got the best results.
If you need more details on how to do this, you should read Choosing between ML models using pipes for code reuse.
This is our final model for Type prediction:
type_pipeline_fe = Pipeline([
('preprocess', type_pipeline_preprocess),
('word2vec', word2vecPipeStep())
]) type_pipeline_fe.fit(X_train,y_train)
X_train_transform = type_pipeline_fe.transform(X_train)
y_train_transform = y_train from sklearn.neural_network import MLPClassifier
clf_t_nn = MLPClassifier(
hidden_layer_sizes=(100,75),
activation='relu',
random_state=42,
tol=0.001,
alpha=1.3,
early_stopping=True,
n_iter_no_change=20,
validation_fraction=0.1,
verbose=False,
warm_start=False
) _ = clf_t_nn.fit(X_train_transform,y_train_transform)
We got better score values using this network for type prediction. Second classifier was Logistic Regression, which is faster, but overfit our training.
For Component Prediction:
component_pipeline_fe = Pipeline([
('preprocess', component_pipeline_preprocess),
('tfidf', tfIdfVectorizerPipeStep({
'stop_words':utils.get_stopwords(),
'strip_accents':'unicode',
'use_idf':True,
'ngram_range':(1,3)
}))
]) component_pipeline_fe.fit(X_train,y_train)
X_train_transform = component_pipeline_fe.transform(X_train)
le = preprocessing.LabelEncoder()
y_train_transform = le.fit_transform(y_train) from sklearn.linear_model import SGDClassifier
clf_c = SGDClassifier()
clf_c.set_params(alpha=0.0005,learning_rate='optimal',penalty='l2',
random_state=42,tol=0.0005,loss='modified_huber') _= clf_c.fit(X_train_transform,y_train)
Here are the results:
Component Model is Overfitted
This closes the full training cycle, and we are ready to start cycling over and over again, trying to improve our model. From now on, we did several things which won’t worth telling because are tightly coupled to our problem. Nevertheless we leave some ideas below: | https://engineering.hexacta.com/text-classification-647e2fa1ec48 | ['Julián Gutiérrez Ostrovsky'] | 2020-11-09 13:29:09.798000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Text Classification', 'Scikit Learn', 'NLP'] |
Why do cryptocurrencies fork? | As part of our ongoing series exploring the basics behind Bitcoin, today we’re exploring forks.
Why does a cryptocurrency fork? 🔱
Most cryptocurrencies are open-source , which means there isn’t one person or group who controls how the currency should evolve. 🤷
That can make things tricky, for a number of reasons.
Deciding on what problems to fix or solve first 🔧
What to do if miners solve a block at the same time 😕
What happens if the network the currency is built on is hacked 👨💻
This leads to a fork: or a change in the underlying rules of how the blockchain works.
But not all forks are created equally. 🍴
Soft Forks
Soft forks are what happens when the software the blockchain is built on is upgraded. 💾 ➡️ 💿
What’s unique about soft forks is they allow users on the platform to upgrade over time. They’re effectively backwards compatible.
In a nutshell, most things remain the same, bar a few tweaks, and the community is on board and happy with the changes. 👨👩👦👦
Hard Forks
Hard forks meanwhile, are changes to the blockchain that are not backwards compatible, and it forces everyone on the network to upgrade to the newest software in order to keep participating. 🕹️➡️ 🎮
Those who don’t upgrade, don’t get to participate. If there are enough members in the previous version of the blockchain, two versions now exist. 👯
Some of those forks can be planned, and are referred to has Planned Hard Forks, where as sometimes there is no plan in place, and they fall into the Contentious/Unplanned Hard Fork category.
Planned Hard Fork
When the community agrees on a new direction for the blockchain they’re a part of, a hard fork is planned. ↩️
That means everyone agrees to upgrade the software, create a new blockchain, and leave behind the old blockchain. ↕️
One of the most famous planned hard forks was on ETHEREUM . Called Byzantium, it was a hard planned fork that took place in October 2017 to help improve Ethereum’s scalability.
Want to know more?
This is just the tip of the crypto iceberg. Aysha has a a whole host of easy-to-understand articles that make learning about cryptocurrencies, blockchain and DLT technology really bloody simple.
Click here to learn more. | https://medium.com/aysha-io/why-do-cryptocurrencies-fork-cc19cca840e0 | ['Matt Hussey'] | 2018-04-27 09:19:51.461000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Bitcoin', 'Fork', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Crypto'] |
Delivering the (fake) Goods — Thriving Counterfeit Trade and the Lack of Tech Solutions | The counterfeit value chain has become highly sophisticated at every link in its chain. From websites and e-commerce platforms to forged trademarks and labels all the way to transit route planning, counterfeiters are not deterred by the requirements to commercialize and transport their illegal inventories. On the contrary, with overland rail logistics facilitating trade between the counterfeit hubs in China and European markets, delivery time of goods can be reduced from an average of 45 to just 10 days.
Accelerated delivery is met with consumer behavior as online retail goes from strength to strength. Considering that 2020 levels of online retail are a solid indicator of a revised base load activity for future e-commerce, counterfeiters from abroad are looking at considerable potential to continue flourishing. Although Europe’s leading economies still vary widely in terms of the online share of retail trade in 2019, the trend is undeniable. At the lower end, Italy hovers at under 5% of the online share of retail trade. By contrast, the UK nearly broke the 20% barrier in the same year. The European average, meanwhile, sits comfortably above 10% and is expected to remain near or above 15% going forward.
So, if the requirements to commercialize and transport fake goods do not pose a barrier to entry, and the combined framework of inter-continental rail logistics networks and scaling e-commerce adoption point to a likely increase in counterfeit trade, what are the solutions to combating this trade more effectively?
Clearly, customs officials are overwhelmed with the task at hand. At an estimated 1.1 billion international inbound parcels arriving in Europe annually during pre-pandemic times (2018), no amount of analog manpower could put a significant enough dent into the problem.
As a result, tech companies, from bootstrapped startups to major corporates, are eagerly developing supply chain transparency solutions, with several options on the table from Continuous Delivery Experience (CDX) to smart contract technology. According to an SAP-run survey of 200 customers and partners in their Blockchain Community, supply chain management was perceived far and away as the most promising use case for blockchain technology at 63%, followed by legal/regulatory (19%) and cryptocurrency (8%). Smart contract technology and sensors fitted to packages to detect compliance metrics like quality requirements sound promising but not without their fair share of complexity in terms of implementation. Not to mention that without additional policy enforcements, bypassing this potentially more costly option remains all too easy.
Raids and undercover work remain the cat-and-mouse state of play as things stand, and that means brands and the brand protection managers they employ will have to continue the risky, difficult work to fight the good fight. In closing, we recommend this insightful TED Talk by Tommy Hilfiger’s brand protection manager, Alastair Gray, as he delves into the undercover work that shows just how far brands are willing to go.
Beam Berlin | https://medium.com/@countercheckcom/delivering-the-fake-goods-thriving-counterfeit-trade-and-the-lack-of-tech-solutions-30a4c51335af | [] | 2020-12-09 13:14:58.458000+00:00 | ['Trade', 'Counterfeit', 'Supply Chain', 'Fake Goods', 'Logistics'] |
The Potential Cost of Impatience | Impatience combined with slow Internet speeds is a dangerous combination.
This is what happens all too frequently:
I navigate to a web page I want or need to visit. It takes ages to display, often because of the many ads and scripts that must also be loaded, over and above the content I actually want to read. I therefore click to another browser or tab to do something else while the original page loads. I become engrossed in that new site. I completely forget about the page I originally went to.
If I weren’t so impatient or my Internet speed were fast enough to load a page, with all of its associated junk, much more quickly, I doubt I’d end up in that situation.
But I’m lucky if my download speeds are much higher than 4 Mbps, which is simply not high enough for today’s Internet.
If the original tab were merely an article I wanted to read for my own entertainment or education, then no harm done. The page will still be open, and I’ll probably find it again later on.
On the other hand, if that tab is something I need to take action on, and I forget about it, then I might be in trouble. So far, I’ve come close but been lucky, but one day, I might forget to process an order or pay a bill, or who knows what?
There’s probably some ADD at play here too, not that I’ve ever been officially diagnosed with it. But I know how my brain works (most of the time).
I can do nothing about my Internet speed because I live in a remote rural area where I only have a single provider. The package I have is what they like to call their “best available”.
It’s ironic in a way. I go off and look at other pages while I’m waiting for the original one to load because I don’t like wasting time. But then I become distracted and often end up wasting more time than if I’d merely waited.
It’s also worth noting that how you define wasting time is incredibly subjective. I can easily break off from working on a story, even mid-sentence, to go and check email or Facebook and not worry about it. But waiting a few additional seconds for a web page to finish rendering is apparently too much for me, and I need to do something during that dead time.
I could “solve” this problem if I really feel the urge to do something else while I wait by using my phone, so the tab I’m waiting for is still visible on my laptop — not that this tackles the underlying issue.
But I know I wouldn’t have the patience to wait long enough to cure my impatience. 😃 | https://medium.com/@markfarrar/the-potential-cost-of-impatience-ec055e0d79e7 | ['Mark Farrar'] | 2021-05-12 19:19:02.135000+00:00 | ['Impatience', 'Add', 'Internet', 'Self', 'Wasting Time'] |
Balancing in Chaos | Everything is always expanding.
Creativity. Love. Trust. Faith. Knowledge.
Everyone is always growing and changing.
Opening. Learning. Creating. Becoming.
Everything is always ending.
Expiring. Breaking. Moving. Dying.
Life is never set in stone.
It will never be consistent or dependable.
I don’t care how many structures or routines you put in place, it will all change… sometimes in an instant. And the more tightly you grip onto the pieces you believe bring you balance, the harder you’re going to crash when it inevitably falls away.
The trick is learning how to balance on the summit of Mt. Chaos. To be quick, nimble, and trusting in your own self… your own mind and body. While we’re wired to fear change, we’re also hard coded to adapt. We’re designed to survive. To find a way. To persevere when things are most challenging. To fight against the current that tries to drag us under.
So when the ground shifts beneath your feet, trust that part of yourself that’s wired to move. To pivot. To adapt. Trust that part that’s designed to keep you alive, and learn to shift with the ground as it moves beneath you. To find a new center when the one that held you upright is no longer there.
Everything is always changing.Even when things appear to be still.
Especially when you begin counting on things as certain.
Learn to uproot yourself when your foundation falls away.
Learn to fly, floating just above the surface until it’s time to land.
And trust that you’ll know when it’s time to land, as well as where.
You’re far wiser than you give yourself credit for. | https://medium.com/thrive-global/balancing-in-chaos-66d3d047d144 | ['Stephenie Zamora'] | 2019-03-26 20:17:49.190000+00:00 | ['Happiness', 'Purpose', 'Grief', 'Life Lessons', 'PTSD'] |
When the Ice Age Ends | When the Ice Age Ends
Photo by Alto Crew on Unsplash
“Let’s join hands, close our eyes, and bow our heads.”
The survivors shuffled out of the bunker as they obeyed.
“We must remember and be grateful.”
They frowned and nodded.
“Feel the warm sunlight on our faces. Hear the birdsong.”
He saw knowing smiles.
“And see, the ice has melted.” | https://medium.com/centina-pentina/the-moment-an-age-ends-a74cb3fb668a | ['Zane Dickens'] | 2020-11-25 04:14:56.604000+00:00 | ['Flash Fiction', 'Environment', 'Fiction', 'Pentina', 'Short Read'] |
Function over visual aesthetics: It’s for the birds | Five years ago I was sitting in my audiologist’s office with my then-girlfriend/now-wife. I’d made the decision to forgo visual aesthetics for function and accessibility. I was trading my tiny inner-canal hearing aids for a bigger, less concealable behind-the-ear set.
<<Flashback<<
The choice to get inner-canal hearing aids was a vain one. I worried about the visual aesthetics of my disability. Having those big obtuse listening boxes behind my ears wasn’t for me. Oh, the judgments people would cast… Vanity, Al Pacino’s favorite sin, had the opposite impact on my life I’d expected. My quality of life was actually lessened, not improved. People had an even more difficult time deciphering I was deaf. They even challenged the legitimacy of my impairment, accusing me of not paying attention. But, people will be people. What’s even worse is I had no idea what I was missing.
>>Flash Forward>>
My audiologist places the hearing aids on the back of my ear. I fit the earpiece into my canal and flip the on-switch. There were a few little doo-ditty-doo audible tones letting me know it was “go-time” and then something remarkable.
Birds chirping. Birds chirping?
My then-girlfriend/now-wife and audiologist looked at me with big Disney doe eyes waiting for a response.
“I hear birds. Outside.”
Then it hit me: I’d allowed the vanity of visual aesthetics to steal the sounds of the world from me and I didn’t even know it. I had stopped hearing the choir of birds completely. You see, inner-ear canal hearing aids don’t work for my hearing loss. But, they sure did look better…
Moral: Don’t allow vanity aesthetics in your design to overrule functionality & accessibility. Looking pretty is nice, but being able to function is so much nicer. | https://medium.com/@dustin-dooling/function-over-visual-aesthetics-its-for-the-birds-ad529329834a | ['Dustin Dooling'] | 2020-12-09 23:28:36.330000+00:00 | ['UX Design', 'Funtion', 'Visual Design', 'UX', 'Accessibility'] |
The Life Changing Lesson I Learned By Peeing Next To Della Reese | The Life Changing Lesson I Learned By Peeing Next To Della Reese
There are certain people in this world. You probably know one of them. The people who are missing that little filter that goes between their brain and their mouth. No matter what they’re thinking, they say it. As if affected by gravity it just falls from their brain right out of their face. I’m not one of those people. I own and operate that particular filter.
Most of the time.
Several years ago, I was writing a fun little talk show that was produced by a very big and scary multinational conglomerate. Those of you in the know can narrow that down to about 3 potential companies but I choose not to name the actual company. See? That’s because I have the filter.
Well near the top of this very big and scary multinational conglomerate were many, many, many big and scary executives. You can’t have big and scary companies without big and scary executives. They need each other to exist, thrive and multiply. One of those big and scary executives was overseeing our fun little talk show. Like many big and scary executives this woman…uh oh, the filter just leaked a little…this PERSON liked to carry herself with an air of authority that would make Vlad the Impaler tremble. I used to wonder if she went through elite corporate training to master that skill.
Walking the long halls of Television City, she had a unique way of making her beige, patent leather, Etienne Aigner pumps sound like jackboots.
This woman was a lifer at the big and scary multinational conglomerate. I never once saw her crack a smile. In fact, I think her face would actually have to crack in order to form a smile. Have I said too much?
Filter!
I was employed as a writer on this fun little show which was ironic because the host was known for improvising everything and not being in need of writers. So, for all intents and purposes, none of us writers existed. They called us “producers” because we produced the words that the host said.
Semantics.
Part of my job as a nonexistent writer had me sitting in the broadcast booth during the tapings “not” to write the teases which were also “not” written by anyone. As if that job wasn’t difficult enough, at every taping, sitting a few feet away from me in the booth was the aforementioned stone-faced Executrix. I could easily touch the imitation pearl epaulet buttons on her silk blouses.
Filter!!!
Because I was basically nonexistent, the Executrix chose quite deliberately never to make eye contact or say a word to me. Ever. For the show’s senior producers and host, she was all smiles…or as close as she could get to a smile.
But I was nothing. I was an unwashed, rat-faced garbage person TV writer. I did not exist.
Everyone knew that this woman was dangerous and powerful. Come on, she had epaulets on her blouses. So, always the rule follower, I avoided eye contact and kept my head the required distance below her perfectly-coiffed short blonde hair. Oooops!
Filter!!!
Near the end of the first season, I realized that my job not writing the fun little talk show was coming to an end. There are subtle clues, everyone around you gets fired, the host stops talking to you, no one will sit with you at the Emmy Awards…all the little signs that you’ll be handing in your sweet studio parking pass very soon. So, as my days were winding down, I found myself as always, sitting in the booth “not” writing one of the last episodes of the season.
During a commercial break I ran to the bathroom just outside of the booth. Who walked in immediately following me? None other than TV’s Della Reese. Chico and The Man, Harlem Nights and Touched By An Angel’s Della Reese! The legendary, Reverend Miss Della Reese!
I was in one stall, TV’s Della Reese was in the other one. We both did our biz, washed our hands and left. She went wherever Della Reese normally goes and I returned to my seat in the control room and took my place adjacent to the Executrix. At that very moment, after an entire year of blatantly snubbing me, the big, scary, epauletted Executrix, completely unprovoked, turned to me and said, “How are you, Wendy?” To which I immediately responded…
“I just peed next to Della Reese.”
Whatever air was in that room was quickly sucked out. I’m certain I heard someone gasp. Oh my god, where the hell was my filter?!?! I could have easily said, “I’m just dandy thanks. You?” I could have said, “Oh me? Why I’m fit as a fiddle.” I could have said, “Nice epaulets.” I could have said so many things to her. But no. At that very moment, after an entire year of being stepped over like vomit in the parking lot of a Smash Mouth concert, I chose to reply, “I just peed next to Della Reese.”
Yep, MY FILTER VANISHED, soon followed by my job and not long after that, the fun little talk show. But that particular moment has rerun over and over again in my head. Just like the My Pillow guy, it won’t go away. Nope, in that unretractable millisecond, due to my faulty filter, I sealed my fate forever.
MOTHERFILTER!!!!!!!
But we all know that not all mistakes are mistakes. Many “accidents” are actually quite deliberate. Looking back, I realize this comment was no accident at all. This fleeting moment was my only real shot at revenge. And I leaned right into that shit with a full clip. For the entire run of that show I was rendered entirely powerless and worthless by this woman, 100% by design. And I bought into it. I actually believed it. So, after being entirely disregarded and treated like garbage by this woman for an entire year, I had one tiny moment, one split second to continue to bow down to her…or be me.
I’m a comedy writer. What were you expecting? Tact?
Yep, this moment, my last hurrah, my blaze of glory, my only shot at redemption was as calculated as this woman’s entire demeanor. If I was going out, I was going out with a big, fat, inappropriate bang.
This was for all of the bullies I cowered to in middle school. All of the power I gave away to snot-nosed 12 year old assholes who’d simply figured out the game long before me.
This was for one particularly repulsive female VP at NBC with damaged hair, who made it her daily ritual to trash me at any opportunity she got and then deny it. I remember walking into her office one afternoon, my fists clenched with the goal of punching her in either of her faces. I didn’t do it.
I still kinda regret that.
This was for my male superiors who blatantly stared at my tits in meetings and then during performance reviews accused me of “sitting defensively” because my arms were crossed in front of my chest. Can you imagine a man admonishing his male employee for “sitting defensively” in meetings?
Every single denigration, humiliation, manipulation or sexist confrontation I endured over my career came to a head in that very moment. I finally lost control in the control room and answered her question 100% honestly…with no fucking filter. And in one brief, shining moment, I took back all of the power I’d ever given away. My weapon of choice was simply answering her question.
“I just peed next to Della Reese.”
Life is made up of split second decisions and despite all of our planning, it’s usually in the tiniest moments where everything changes. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. In my case, it was a little of both. But even in losing that job, I gained something much more valuable — the knowledge that I finally stood up to a bully and got a big laugh at the same time. For that opportunity, I am truly thankful for finding my inner strength after my bathroom encounter with Miss Della Reese.
Oh, and speaking of going out with a bang, not long after me, the Executrix was fired in an allegedly scandalous, escorted-out-of-the-office-by-security way. Yep.
She now wears a sailor suit every day at her new job in Branson.
I’ve gone on to write other TV stuff.
And, after a truly groundbreaking career, Miss Della Reese passed away in 2017.
Wendy Miller is an Emmy Award winning TV producer and the host and creator of the wildly successful podcast, Sex Ed The Musical. She is currently writing her memoir, and a guidebook on how to keep a man happy forever. Spoiler Alert: It’s not that difficult. | https://medium.com/@thewendymiller/the-life-changing-lesson-i-learned-by-peeing-next-to-della-reese-fbac05d6206e | ['Wendy Miller'] | 2020-12-06 04:01:53.779000+00:00 | ['Careers', 'Life Lessons', 'Sexism', 'Bullying', 'Television'] |
Sequretek, empowering growth without fear by simplifying security | Sequretek has raised $3.7M in total. We talked with Pankit Desai, Co-founder and CEO.
How would you describe Sequretek in a single tweet?
We empower your growth without fear as your trusted partner by simplifying security.
How did it all start and why?
Cyber Security industry from a customer’s point of view can be divided in the world of have’s and have not’s — where the Top 10% has access to everything whilst the rest have to make do without much of any. As they say the industry is for, by and to the elite.
If you look at any technology, it goes through a curve where there is complexity in the beginning and over a period of time it becomes simple and commoditized. Security industry is going the other way where every year new technology areas emerge in response to new threats instead of enhancing existing technologies, the result is 90 technologies areas and 3500 different companies make security amongst the most fragmented market in the tech space. All these options make the life of Have-nots difficult since they do not the resources to understand the what, why, when and how of their needs. There is way too much buyer’s remorse and consequential churn here.
Sequretek was born in 2013, therefore, with a vision “to simplify security by consolidating the technology landscape” and mission “to empower our customer’s growth without fear as their trusted security partner by simplifying security”. The key words here are removing fear attached to security threats linked to the digital transformation that has become essential for our customer’s growth and the fact that we will make security simple and accessible to them as their trusted partner.
We focus on three areas where we would lead with our technology i.e. device security, user behavior and enterprise security visibility. There are two major trends that one sees in the industry, first is that employees are moving out of their offices and second is that data-centers are moving to cloud. In this scenario the traditional perimeter defense concepts are becoming irrelevant, since there is hardly anything within the perimeter to protect. In fact, the new perimeter that needs to be defended zealously is your user and the devices they use to interact with the company. This is where our products come in, the traditional approach of addressing these forces customers to buy 8+ individual security technologies to adequately secure their environments. Most customers do not have the financial and technical maturity to be able to understand and procure it. Our EDPR, which is an end point security product, comes with features of upto 7 products rolled into one, thereby making it simple for customers to procure such tech products and keeping it simple when it comes to end point security.
What have you achieved so far?
We have been growing at CAGR of 60% over the past few years and have customers that span across the financial, manufacturing, retail and services segment. Whilst so far our operations were focused in India, but recently we forayed into the US. We believe that the market we are addressing is currently underserved and our approach of offering simplicity, ownership of outcomes and affordable subscription-based services makes us uniquely positioned to be a preferred choice for our customers both in India and the US.
Our products have been competing with the established industry giants and still do not fail to leave its mark. Sequretek products implement cutting edge technologies for next generation threats, reduce total cost of ownership for enterprises and simplify cyber security.
Our management team is a unique blend of very experienced resources that bring complementary skills required to succeed in this deeply competitive market place.
Pankit Desai: Co-Founder, is a veteran of corporate industry with over 25 years of experience in global sales, operations and FP&A with leadership stints at Rolta (President) , NTT Data (SVP), IBM(Country Manager), and Wipro (Regional Manager). He is responsible for sales and investor relationship functions.
Anand Naik: Co-Founder, has worked in the corporate world for our 25 years with companies like Symantec where he was their MD for South Asia, and before that with IBM, Sun Microsystems in technology roles. He is responsible for product vision and operations.
Santhosh George: Chief Products and Technology Officer, has over 25 years of experience as CTO, product development leader as well as entrepreneur with companies like Rolta, Finestra, Oracle and Cognizant. He is responsible for product strategy and execution
Arun Rathi : Chief Financial Officer and Member of Board, has over 30 years of experience with companies like Religare (MD and COO) and Citibank (Director Investment Banking).He is responsible for finance, admin and back office functions
Commander Subhash Dutta: Head of Operations and Malware research, he brings over 30 years of experience with a majority time being spent in Indian Navy where he was responsible for Indian Navy’s information warfare group
Udayanathan Vettikat: Head of Channels, Sales and Marketing, comes with over 30 years of experience with bulk of it being in Cisco where he was responsible for general business sales and marketing.
Achievements:
One of the Top SME, by GreatCompanies.in (2019)
Best MSME, by CISO Mag (EC-Council, world’s largest security training organisation) (2019)
Top 4 Enterprise Startups, Enterprise IT World (2019)
Top 50 Innovators, by World Innovation Congress (2018)
Game Changing Startup, EC-Council (2018)
HOT 100 Race to Grace Award by organizations of senior Industry CIO (2017)
Top 5 Fintech startups award by Fintegrate Zone (2017)
Next Big Idea 2017 contest winner (by Government of Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia) along with Ryerson Futures, Zone Start-ups and Government of India
What do you plan to achieve in the next 2–3 years?
In the next five years Sequretek wants to:
Make world a better and safer place for digital interactions through delivering cutting edge security technologies
Employ over 2,000 people. Protecting more than 2M+ endpoints across 1000 enterprises.
Revenue in excess on USD 50 Million.
The biggest IT security company in India and among top 100 globally.
Sequretek will have:
Equal opportunity employment environment
Well defined governance model that will enable ethical business practices and sound fiscal management
High performance culture that fosters innovation, transparency and collaboration among our employees and extended ecosystem
Agile business processes to adapt to changing business environment
Technology innovation will be core to Sequretek ethos. All innovations will be with an aim to simplify security for enterprises and consumers, thus creating safe experiences in digital economies. | https://medium.com/petacrunch/sequretek-empowering-growth-without-fear-by-simplifying-security-5f69115e7627 | ['Kevin Hart'] | 2019-11-15 16:46:02.797000+00:00 | ['Growth', 'Cybersecurity', 'Security', 'Startup', 'India'] |
Zerobank Update: The first version of MVP is launched on schedule | During the last few weeks, ZeroBank team has been gathering up speed and working with full capacity. Now, we proudly inform you that the very first version of our MVP (Minimum Viable Product) will be launched on schedule, within the next 7 days — on August 15th, to be exact.
After the launch next week, this MVP version will be released for the internal testing purpose. Regarding the release, we hope to show our team’s determination to build a genuine product according to the previously-agreed roadmap and to fulfill our promise of building a revolutionizing money exchange and remittance ecosystem.
For our community, our CTO, Dr. Ly Van Bao, will share some exclusive features of ZeroBank application on the MVP release day.
Save your date and stay tuned for more updates on the project development!
Stay updated on our channels: | https://medium.com/zerobank-cash/7-days-left-until-the-launch-of-zerobanks-first-version-of-mvp-1dce091ae42e | ['Zerobank - Your Local Currency'] | 2018-08-10 09:58:06.398000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'ICO', 'MVP'] |
Working as a software engineer on an internal product Vs a customer-facing one in E-commerce companies | Working on software systems is usually a complex process if not a complicated one. In this post, I am going to highlight the key differences between working for internal software and customer-facing applications with examples related to E-commerce. I have worked with both internal products and customer-facing applications in the past 8 and a half years. Without further ado, let’s get started.
Why e-commerce examples?
E-commerce has been around for decades now. I have worked for fashion e-commerce companies for the past 8 years now on 2 continents. Unsurprisingly, due to COVID-19, many brick and mortar businesses have been forced to jump on the e-commerce bandwagon. This has created many new opportunities. Smaller companies could live with services like Shopify or one of its competitors like Wix. This would result in no or minimal software development.
Businesses with an appetite for in-house software development can even start with something like woo-commerce, Magento, Odoo, or similar. But, at a scale of millions of customers, cookie-cutter generic solutions might not be the best fit.
Either it is too much work to get things customized well or hammering the screw is not a path you want to choose for your business. Therefore, having custom-built solutions that can scale well with business demands is crucial for commercial success.
Assumptions
Having worked for fashion e-commerce companies with lots of internal systems, I assume that many e-commerce companies work the same way.
Examples and experience will be based on physical products especially related to fashion.
I had written about working as a software engineer for a dev shop/agency vs a product company in the past, it should be a good read too. Let’s look at what are internal products and customer-facing applications.
What is an internal product?
Simply put, an internal product is a product used only by the employees of a company. In the case of e-commerce, any software system that is used to do back-office operations will qualify as an internal product.
Some of the examples of internal products include order management system, picking and/or packing applications. software systems to book parcels with couriers, software to manage returns, etc are also internal applications.
What you see from the outside world as a customer is just the tip of the iceberg. There will be many software systems used internally by e-commerce companies to make your purchase experience better.
Even before a product (SKU) is visible on the catalog pages, it would have passed through multiple internal systems. For instance, it would be uniquely identifiable on the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. If there is a buying software in place, that SKU would be visible and accessible there too.
In case there is a production and/or studio management system, that same SKU will exist there as well for the imagery and text contents of the product.
After the purchase, there will be a suite of internal applications to make sure the product reaches the customer easily. From systems that send the order to the EPR, software that talks with couriers to even systems that track customer’s returns.
There will be a web of internal products not directly visible to the end customer. On the other hand, there will be some software systems that are available for use to end customers, let’s learn what they are.
What is a customer-facing application?
Any application used by the end customer can be referred to as a customer-facing application. First and foremost, the website customers use to browse through the catalog and buy is an important customer-facing application.
Another must-have customer-facing application these days are native mobile apps that serve a similar purpose as the website. By now, it is clear anyone browsing or buying from the e-commerce website is a customer or lead for the website.
Depending on how the e-commerce company breaks down its software services there can be many customer-facing applications.
For instance, the wishlist can be a standalone application on its own. The cart can be another application that works in tandem with the other related customer-facing parts. The catalog can be a big independent application on its own with the search capabilities inside it. Checkout, the money earner can also be another software application.
Any application the end customer has direct access to qualifies as a customer-facing application. Ranging from the catalog page to the return page used by the customer to request a return.
Customer-facing applications will work closely with internal applications to provide superior service to the end customer.
Time to be informed of the difference between working as a software engineer on these two sides of the spectrum.
The differences in working on internal applications vs customer-facing ones
Now let’s dig more into the differences between working as a software engineer on internal applications and customer-facing ones.
Fewer performance and scalability considerations for internal applications
As software engineers, we always have to be conscious of the performance impact of our architecture and code decisions. These performance impacts have a higher value for customer-facing applications compared to internal ones. An internal application being 100 milliseconds slower won’t have a big impact. On the other hand, if say the checkout is 100 milliseconds slower, that would be a big concern.
Of course, this in no way promotes writing poor performing code for internal applications. Still, even if you would want to do the refactoring of code, performance upgrades in 1–2 weeks from now it will not hurt the business much.
Another aspect is the load the application will receive. For internal products, it will be predictable as the number of users or usage patterns will be clear. For an open to the whole world customer-facing application, you could potentially get millions of users in a day. This means those millisecond/microsecond optimizations will need some careful consideration for customer-facing applications compared to internal products.
Similarly, the scalability of the application also comes into play at this point. Customer-facing applications will be provisioned more resources to make it more scalable as the load is difficult to predict. Usually, internal applications run on much fewer resources as they don’t get hit millions of times a day.
Customer-facing applications are more security sensitive
Depending on your customer base, a customer-facing application can be accessed by anyone in the world. Conversely, an internal product’s users are limited. Because of this, access to the application can be behind a VPN/firewall or even allowed a group of IPs. With all of this network-level filtering in place, the application-level security can be a bit relaxed for internal products.
On the other hand, as a software engineer, you will have to be on your toes for customer-facing applications. Even though the attack vector may be similar but the people who could try to attack is a lot more.
This is where knowledge of OWASP top 10 vulnerabilities will come in very handy for you.
Security is everyone’s responsibility. In no means or form, I am suggesting to write less secure code for internal applications. The only thing is the cost and blast radius of a security breach of an internal product will be lesser than a customer-facing one. This is surely subject to people’s intentions if an employee does a security breach on a customer database from an internal product that is a completely different scenario to process.
Minimal use of feature flags, A/B testing, and gradual rollouts on internal applications
As per my experience, I have never seen an internal application being A/B tested. The reason is simple: you can just go to the user and have a chat to come to a better decision. As the users are limited and within the same organization you can even ask the user to use a certain browser or software. Once, we deployed a go executable on like 10 photographers’ Mac to be able to upload images to S3 much faster. There was no need for an A/B test there. Another reason not to do A/B testing for internal products is the limited scale which will result in skewed results due to low volumes.
There is a similar situation for using feature flags. It will be needed now and then but not all the time. I have also rarely witnessed gradual rollout like 1% of the users for the first week, then 5% next week and slowly going to 100% on internal products.
On the contrary, for customer-facing applications especially for e-commerce A/B testing is like an agreed norm. Many times one user will see the checkout button “green” but another sure will see it “blue”.
Similarly, feature flags are used a lot more for customer-facing applications. In my own experience, when I first added PayPal to our website back in 2012 it was only available for 2 emails initially, then it went live for all company emails. Only after a couple of days of testing, we released it to everyone.
I share a similar experience with gradual rollouts on customer-facing applications. One instance I remember is we changed our payment gateway. After a lot of rigorous testing on staging, the first time it was released to production was for just 1% of the customers. Gradually next week it came to 5%. After some fixes, it went to 10, and to reach 100% it took about a month or so.
In terms of measuring impact, internal products are easier. Internal products work on one of these two objectives. Either enable to do a thing or optimize (like speed) of something by X%. On the other hand, customer products have multiple complex metrics. The metrics can range from NPS, conversion rate to return rate, etc. While one metric is improved another metric might be hampered along the way.
Customer-facing applications get more UX love
Customers are the money payers and they should “enjoy” using our websites and mobile apps. Contrastingly, employees who use the internal product, it is part of their jobs. Internal products are built to make their lives easier so the UX love is somewhat missing on them.
This certainly does not equate to that all internal products must lack the UX factor. I am just sharing my personal experience from the past 8–9 years of working in e-commerce. Once we built an internal application that was built on bootstrap. I am not saying bootstrap CSS is bad in any way.
My point here is that in that project we didn’t even have a dedicated UX person for designs. The frontend engineers pieced together the app and it was ready to go. Of course, it made the user’s life much easier and their work much faster. Still, some UX love would have been the cherry on the cake.
On the flip side, customer products usually have a dedicated UX person. This person does research, thinks through how the customer will use this new feature. S/he probably even interviews some customers to get the feedback and make that app/feature a UX gem. Making that button round or square is a decision. Showing the message on top or beside the product is another factor. I won’t be wrong if I say customer-facing applications get much more UX attention and work than internal products and honestly it is deserved too.
Another reason internal products don’t get much of the UX love is “personas”. While customer-facing apps cater to different personas with varied needs, internal products have usually one persona trying to get their job done.
Conclusion
The main thing to comprehend is both internal products and customer-facing applications make the overall customer experience better. Don’t focus on only one part, having one of the best checkout experiences but delivering the item after 30 days does not make sense.
Strengthen both sides of the coin. Internal products and customer-facing applications are like two wheels of a chariot. If one fails the chariot can only go in circles leading to nowhere. I hope as a software engineer, you get to work on amazing products on both sides with world-class software engineering practices in place. | https://medium.com/quick-code/working-as-a-software-engineer-on-internal-product-vs-a-customer-facing-one-in-e-commerce-companies-644d70e4438d | ['Geshan Manandhar'] | 2020-11-23 17:03:04.681000+00:00 | ['Ecommerce Web Development', 'Ecommerce', 'Software Development', 'Web Development', 'Software Engineering'] |
Dynamic Scheduling of Emails & Slack Messages | Open Source Nodejs & React App on top of the Strapi Headless CMS
Ever wish you had an app that you could use to schedule reminder emails and slack messages for your employees? Me too so I built one!
EZMessageManager is an open-source project made with the strapi headless CMS backend. It is the beginning of a web application to schedule sending emails & slack messages to users based on dynamic queries. I am sharing the features, lessons learned, and the source code.
EZMessageManager has three parts, the frontend, backend, and cron.
History
I needed to schedule recurring messages to new employees about onboarding. For the past few months, I have been teaching myself React & Nodejs in my free time. I fell in love with a headless CMS concept and wanted to build a react frontend application on top of Nodejs using a Strapi backend with Restful API and GraphQL.
I worked with a freelance developer to help expedite the development process, but since we were both novice nodejs/react developers, the code still needs more love. Given this was a “learning” project for me, I thought it would be best to share it with the world as open-source and allow other developers to learn or contribute their genius.
Technology Stack
Features
Manage Employees — Including assigning tags and add metadata fields based on the unique information about each employee. (example: demographic, orgs, manager, expertise)
— Including assigning tags and add metadata fields based on the unique information about each employee. (example: demographic, orgs, manager, expertise) Email Templates — Generate email templates using unlayer. Email templates include the ability to include employee profile fields and employee metadata fields.
— Generate email templates using unlayer. Email templates include the ability to include employee profile fields and employee metadata fields. Contact List — Build dynamic distribution lists of employees based on GraphQL queries.
— Build dynamic distribution lists of employees based on GraphQL queries. Email Schedules — Schedule emails to send to a contact list using an email template.
— Schedule emails to send to a contact list using an email template. Slack Schedule — Schedule slack messages to a contact list using an email template.
— Schedule slack messages to a contact list using an email template. JWT Authentication — using Strapi’s built-in JWT authentication for managing users and accounts.
How it Works
The backend (Strapi running on nodejs) can be easily deployed on Heroku and connected directly to Github for automatic builds and deploys. You would want to fork the Github repository, so you have your version to connect to from your own free Heroku account. I am also using a free Heroku Postgres Hobby database.
Note: Using the free version of Heroku that falls asleep after 30 minutes does not work that great for applications like this because your scheduled emails will fail, but it works fine for testing.
The frontend is deployed on Netlify and connected directly to my Github repository for automatic builds and deploys. I was able to use their free-tier.
The cron uses PM2, which is a production process manager for nodejs. I created a procfile, ecosystem.config.js, and updated my package.json start script to run seamlessly on Heroku.
SMTP
I have it set up to use Mailtrap for testing
Contact Lists
Typically with a contact list, you would manually upload a list of employees. If I wanted to automatically send an email to everyone assigned to a particular organization or hired in the past week, I would have to generate a static list manually.
I needed the ability to create a query that would run every time the scheduled email was triggered and picked up the most up-to-date list of employees based on my criteria without manually making a list myself.
This was tricky, so I decided that my contacts lists would be stored as a GraphQL query in the database and that query would be run each time it was scheduled to send emails.
Note: If I were going to rewrite it, I would use the built-in Strapi restful API filters
To create a contact list, you need to write a GraphQL query.
Example
This query looks for employees who were hired after 2010–01–08 but before 2021–01–14 and have been assigned the tag with an id: 2
query{ employees (where: { hiredate_gt: “2010–01–08”,hiredate_lt: “2021–01–14”,tags_in:[“2”] }) {id, email, firstname, lastname } }
Challenge
GraphQL does not allow you to include “Now” variables for the current date/time. My work-around was to parse the query using regular expressions to find and replace the word “today” with the current date. Then it would look for a numeric value in <brackets> at the end to add or subtract that number of days.
Hired in the last 90 days:
query {
employees (where: { hiredate_gte: “today”,tags_in:[“1”] }) { id, email, firstname, lastname }
}<-90>
Next Steps
I would love to work with a bored, yet talented, react/nodejs developer who is inspired by this project and wants to geek out with me to make it better. | https://medium.com/@jazmy/dynamic-scheduling-of-emails-slack-messages-1f4b564b31c3 | ['Jasmine Robinson'] | 2021-03-09 02:46:37.963000+00:00 | ['Slack', 'Headless Cms', 'Email Marketing', 'Nodejs', 'React'] |
Olymp Capital and Ø Crypto Union are glad to announce a strategic partnership in banking services and asset management. | This agreement will enable Ø Crypto Union members and its community including ARK Ecosystem, Tezos, and Komodo users, to access professional asset management solutions by the first European investment and management firm dedicated to Blockchain and digital assets leads by a team of high-level profiles and a unique network.
Besides, it will also include several asset management mandates that will assist protocols to create and manage their portfolio strategy and allow them to develop their ecosystem.
This partnership will allow Olymp Capital’s customers to access ØPay and ØLift two main services of Ø Crypto Union. ØPay is a unique modern use case for a traditional financial instrument known as “Credit Lombard”. It links the finest of both worlds: keep the value of your digital assets in fiat money without selling it thanks to a crypto-backed credit.
On the other hand, ØLift combines tailor-made services including asset management, tax optimization and much more. The in-house team of renowned legal & financial engineers, coupled with the Ø Crypto Union community, delivers tremendous value to its members.
Both parties study the opportunity to partner up and join forces in founding a highly valuable first European financial establishment. The full details of the partnership will be disposed and announced publicly in the upcoming weeks.
About Ø Crypto Union
The mission of Ø Crypto Union is to create a one-stop-shop entity dedicated to the use and management of cryptocurrencies. The Crypto Union was created by and for crypto- owners, offering a solution tailored to the specific needs of such assets.
They aim to become the world’s first decentralized bank by leveraging the infinite possibilities created by the blockchain technology.
https://ocryptounion.io
About Olymp Capital
Olymp Capital is the first asset management firm in Europe to focus on the blockchain and crypto asset classes. The firm is headquartered in Luxembourg and is comprised of experts in traditional finance and the blockchain ecosystem.
For more information, visit the website at www.olymp.capital
Contact
Christophe de Courson, CEO, Olymp Capital
Tel: +33 9 77 19 62 42 — email: [email protected]
Romain Cabirol, CMO, Ø Crypto Union
Telegram: @rcabirol — email: [email protected] | https://medium.com/ocryptounion/olymp-capital-and-%C3%B8-crypto-union-are-glad-to-announce-a-strategic-partnership-in-banking-services-be458da8d718 | ['Ø Crypto Union'] | 2018-10-04 11:06:49.358000+00:00 | ['O Crypto Union', 'Partnerships', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain', 'Olymp Capital'] |
Event Sourcing From Static Data Using Kafka | Event Sourcing From Static Data Using Kafka
A different distributed scheduler approach.
Events in DDD platforms use to be raised by interaction with external sources, and those events use to be generated from commands (updates, creations, deletions, or pure business actions). Distributed computing platforms receive messages from other systems and there is usually a gateway where those messages become events with a generic and standard format.
Users can also interact with APIs and raise other events that must be propagated over the platform in order to save the information or notify other services to affect other domain entities.
Events life-cycle is not a long term process, basically, we could summarize it like: “something has changed, and maybe someone is interested in this change” maybe our event can notify a service, and this service is forced to raise another event, but the life of this “consequence” should be similar than the one that triggered it. On the other hand, it’s easy to find business information related to dates, or temporal information, that should perform the transformation in our data. In this situation, we can face the problem that motivates this post. Events cannot wake themselves up.
A typical problem, expiration date.
Let’s imagine we are working on an e-commerce platform, and maybe we have thought about creating object models called… I don’t know… price? (Maybe you could think this section is a plagiarism of Walmart labs post (1), but I swear I had to deal with exactly the same problem before reading its solution)
The prices can work like promotions in a certain way, but if the prices want to be dynamic, they need to work (activate, deactivate) in a temporal window. We can think in large promotion days like Black Friday, as window times for promotions, or even as activation periods for different prices.
Let’s suppose a typical situation related to event-streaming systems:
Price is a model entity, and it has an attribute called “expiration_date” with a date value, and another called “status” with active/inactive value.
An external system begins to load a bunch of active prices through a similar bunch of price-domain-events.
Our asynchronous CQRS-based persist system is listening to our message’s middleware and quickly saves all prices in the persistence engine.
Another service is also listening and refresh all prices in our cache system.
Users can see new prices, data is consistent and everything is running like it’s supposed to. Let’s have a beer, this streaming platform has been successfully designed.
A typical price evet lifecycle.
When space-time in our dimension reaches the date marked as the expiration date for one of our little prices, what should happen? This price should change its status and users should notice the change… but what really happens?
Absolutely nothing.
Our events cannot work with time attributes unless these attributes have only informative purposes. We can’t change entities and make notifications to other services. Our entire system depends on external systems to send every time information and that kind of event if some information must be changed. This could be a problem, or at least a great limitation to design event-based platforms.
So, how can we know then, if some promotion or some price has expired?
Solutions based on a distributed scheduler
Basically, all solutions for this problem are based on schedulers or distributed schedulers, this means many jobs searching over trillions of elements. If we are lucky we can have our entities distributed and well balanced over persistence systems and some entity-based designs to look for changes in small triggers.
Couchbase has proposed recently an eventing framework working on one of its services which could be a great solution for this problem. (2) Document insertions in the database are linked to small functions, and these functions can be scheduled to run when our attribute “expiration_date” time comes. Through Kafka connectors, each document can be transformed into a domain event and be released in the middleware.
Wallmart also has released Big Ben. This is a system that can be used by a service to schedule a request that needs to be processed in the future. The service registers an event in the scheduler and suspends the processing of the current request.
When the stipulated time arrives, the requesting service is notified by the scheduler and the former can resume processing of the suspended request.
Those are both good solutions to solve this problem, but we had an idea that could be simple (and therefore smart) and help with all of our cases.
Kafka to the rescue
Stream processing its maybe the greatest strength of Kafka. New features related to Kstreams and KTables are showing a new world of possibilities for software engineers and architects.
KTable is an abstraction of a changelog stream from a primary-keyed table. Each record in this changelog stream is an update on the primary-keyed table with the record key as the primary key.
A KTable is either defined from a single Kafka topic that is consumed message by message or the result of a KTable transformation. An aggregation of a KStream also yields a KTable.
Since Kafka 2.4 KTable joins work as SQL joins, Foreign-key, many to one, joins were added to Kafka in KIP-213 (3).
This basically means that we can join events not only using its primary key, we can also join events in different topics by matching any of its attributes.
Join by foreign key between two KTables.
Our solution
What do foreign keys in KTables have to do with our static events?
Let’s think about our original problem with expiration dates. In a pure event sourcing system, we would have a topic dedicated to price events.
Creation, update, and deletion events are allocated on the same price topic.
On one hand, we can develop a really easy service based on a simple scheduler. Its responsibility is sending time events each minute, or each second if we need more accuracy. On the other one, we have to deploy a joiner service, the “Updater”. This service is listening from time event topic and price (or any other domain) event topic. Its entry points are two KTables, and these KTables are allowed to store a very big set of data.
When the timed event arrives in time topic (and time KTable), our update service seeks over domain KTable if one specified field matches with this date. If there are one or many matches, we can send a new update event with our price, or even we can put some logic into the update-service in order to change the price entity status.
Prices lifecycle with even update process based on time events.
Show me the code!
Ok, this could be a good solution but, how many lines of code do you need for a joiner?
Less than ten lines:
Joiner by Fk with KTables.
Performance
We can think in many scenarios for event expiration or release. We have tested scenarios for 0.5–1%, 5–10%, and 50% of business events affected for time events.
Let’s imagine the worst situation, one in which time is over midnight, and it begins a very special date, where almost half of our entities have to change its status.
As you can see, we have filled our topics with 4 and 8 million messages in order to stress Ktable join processors.
Performance tests.
In average cases, our system is updating elements (releasing events) each millisecond, working with one replica. Worst cases can make join over our KTables in 2 milliseconds.
We have checked this system scaling horizontally close to a linear progression in performance metrics. We could say this solution can release as many events as you want with a really low effort in development and infrastructure.
Generalization
What do we need to use this solution across all our domains? Not much work, really.
We just need to configure our time scheduler service (It can be fault-tolerant through replication because we can filter replicated messages with the same temporal key in destination topic) and one “joiner” service for each entity topic.
In each domain, it can be found many domain entities “allocated” in a Kafka topic, each one of this topic receives events related to these entities, and those events can be resent or reloaded in our event pipeline when its temporal field matches with timed events.
Placing a few dedicated services, our platform can “reload” events itself leaving that responsibility in Kafka, and it also guarantees consistency and really good fault tolerance levels.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Rafael Serrano and Jose Luis Noheda the support received, Soufian Belahrache (Black belt on KTables), and Francisco Javier Salas for their work on this POC, and Juan López for the peer review. | https://medium.com/swlh/event-sourcing-from-static-data-using-kafka-d00069332802 | ['Javier Martinez Valbuena'] | 2020-08-13 14:21:20.699000+00:00 | ['Streaming', 'Kafka', 'Microservices', 'Event Sourcing', 'Software Architecture'] |
When I started as a software developer five years back, I had no clue where or | Photo by Andhika Soreng on Unsplash
When I started as a software developer five years back, I had no clue where or whom to reach for improving my skills. The truth is we have the needed information available online. All we need to do is learn how to access those resources effortlessly.
Over these years, I’ve come to know about some developers who are helping the community. They are really good at their jobs and could teach us a lot of things.
https://247sports.com/high-school/mississippi/board/football-102607/contents/watch-northwestern-vs-ohio-state-live-streaming-free-ncaaf-live-157309966/
https://247sports.com/high-school/mississippi/board/football-102607/contents/streaming-northwestern-vs-ohio-state-live-stream-free-157309968/
https://247sports.com/high-school/mississippi/board/football-102607/contents/northwestern-vs-ohio-state-live-stream-total-sportek-157309970/
https://247sports.com/high-school/mississippi/board/football-102607/contents/watch-texas-am-vs-tennessee-live-stream-free-reddit-online-tv-157310146/
https://247sports.com/high-school/mississippi/board/football-102607/contents/streamsreddittexas-am-vs-tennessee-stream-reddit-157310149/
https://247sports.com/high-school/mississippi/board/football-102607/contents/watch-texas-am-vs-tennessee-live-streaming-free-ncaaf-live-str-157310150/
https://247sports.com/high-school/mississippi/board/football-102607/contents/livestreamncaaf-oklahoma-vs-iowa-state-stream-157310271/
https://247sports.com/high-school/mississippi/board/football-102607/contents/streamsredditoklahoma-vs-iowa-state-stream-reddit-157310272/
https://247sports.com/high-school/mississippi/board/football-102607/contents/oklahoma-vs-iowa-state-live-stream-how-to-watch-ncaaf-online-157310274/
If you are a beginner or an experienced developer, I am sure you can learn a couple of things from them. In this article, I am going to share ten developers that every person should follow to improve their skills.
Let’s get started.
1. Ben Awad
Ben Awad is a software developer who makes videos about React, React Native, GraphQL, Typescript, Node.js, PostgreSQL, Python, and all things coding.
He has the funniest and creative content available on YouTube. If you are a React.js or GraphQL developer, then you should definitely subscribe to his videos. He prepares people for coding interviews in FAANG.
Github repo: https://github.com/benawad
2. Brad Traversy
Brad Traversy has a YouTube channel (Traversy Media) that he started more than ten years ago. It features the best online web development and programming tutorials for all of the latest web technologies such as Node.js, Angular 2, React.js, PHP, Rails, HTML, CSS, and much more.
If you are aiming to be a full-stack developer, then this is the best place to start. His channel has a lot of videos on the latest web technologies from scratch.
Git repo: https://github.com/bradtraversy
3. Edward
Edward or better known as Dev Ed Romanian-German YouTuber who makes programming and design videos. If you are someone who easily gets bored and wants to learn something while being creative, then Dev Ed is the right channel for you.
If you like to create video games in Unity or develop an application in node.js, then you should immediately follow this guy.
Git repo: https://github.com/developedbyed
4. William Candillon
William teaches how to build mobile applications in react native. He’s the creator of the ‘Can it be done in React Native?’ series on YouTube.
If you are a mobile developer for iOS or Android, then you should watch his videos to learn the development and also how to create beautiful animations. He will teach you everything you need to know.
Git repo: https://github.com/wcandillon
5. Adrian Twarog
Adrian Twarog’s channel DeveloperHabits is for software developers who want to consistently improve their craft, mindset, and habits. This is a relatively new channel that started earlier this year. It is more for trips and ticks to improve as a developer rather than a technology-specific.
The channel is mainly meant for newcomers and junior developers with both technical and non-technical videos.
Git repo: https://github.com/adriantwarog
6. Tim Ruscica
Tim’s channel Tech with Tim is quite popular and has half a million subscribers. His videos are mainly focused on machine learning with a special emphasis on Python and JavaScript.
Tim also interviews some of the very popular programmers about their approach, tips, and tricks. This channel is useful for people wanting to learn python frameworks.
Git repo: https://github.com/techwithtim
7. Gary Simon
Gary Simon has a YouTube channel Design Course that is quite popular among people who want to learn UI, UX, and everything required to design a beautiful website.
He is a full-stack developer with 20+ years of experience. He has created close to 100 courses from graphic design to advanced frontend development for DigitalTutors.com, Pluralsight.com, and LinkedIn Learning.
Git repo: https://github.com/designcourse
8. Dennis Ivy
Dennis is a full-stack developer specialized in Django. In his videos, he explains developing a website from scratch using a set of technologies and sells it for $40,000.
Git repo: https://github.com/denivy
9. Caleb Curry
Caleb has tutorials on Python, Java, C, JavaScript, and SQL. He also teaches Data Structures and Algorithms on a blackboard. He is one of the great developers out there helping the community by sharing experiences.
Teaching programming is his passion, and he does it with great joy.
Git repo: https://github.com/CalebCurry
10. Clément Mihailescu
There is an interesting story behind the journey of Clément. In 2016, when he graduated from college, he had never written a line of code in his entire life. Roughly 6 months later, he got a job at Google as a Software Engineer.
His videos are full of his personal experiences and how he become a better programmer. He’s an Ex-Google and Ex-Facebook employee, now co-founder and CEO of Algoexpert, a website that helps Software Engineers prepare for coding interviews.
Git repo: https://github.com/clementmihailescu | https://medium.com/@ugeorge/when-i-started-as-a-software-developer-five-years-back-i-had-no-clue-where-or-9193d2a3efb3 | [] | 2020-12-19 15:03:27.333000+00:00 | ['Developerscoffee', 'Programming', 'Software', 'Developer', 'Lessons Learned'] |
Ric Lee of Ten Years After on Today’s Debut of ‘A Sting in the Tale (Deluxe Edition)’ | Ric Lee of Ten Years After on Today’s Debut of ‘A Sting in the Tale (Deluxe Edition)’
Ten Years After fans will be thrilled at today’s release of the Deluxe Edition of A Sting in the Tale. The venerable blues rock band has added four live tracks to their well-received 2017 studio album: “Land Of The Vandals,” “Last Night of the Bottle,” “Silverspoon Lady” and “I’d Love To Change the World,” their biggest US hit.
The core of the original band — singer-guitarist Alvin Lee, drummer Ric Lee (no relation), keyboardist Chick Churchill and bassist Leo Lyons — formed in the UK in the mid-1960s as the Jaybirds. By 1967 they’d adopted the name Ten Years After.
Ten Years After burst onto the scene at 1969’s Woodstock Festival. The ensuing Woodstock documentary and soundtrack album highlighted the band’s electrifying performance of “I’m Going Home.” Ten Years After never focused on producing hit singles but songs like “I’d Love to Change the World,” “Love Like a Man” and “I’m Going Home” remain staples of classic rock radio.
Ten Years After (l-r): Colin Hodgkinson, Ric Lee, Chick Churchill, Marcus Bonfanti
The band broke up in 1974 after the release of its Positive Vibrations LP. Alvin Lee, who died in 2013, pursued a solo career but never enjoyed the success he’d had with the band. After a period of brief reunions and other ventures, Ten Years After reformed. Original members Ric Lee and Chick Churchill were joined by guitarist-vocalist Marcus Bonfanti and bassist Colin Hodgkinson. A Sting in the Tale features this hard-rocking lineup.
There are limited edition bundles available here that include the CD along with a t-shirt and tote bag emblazoned with the Ten Years After logo and an autographed photo of the group.
The pandemic has slowed but hardly stopped the band. In November 2020 the band took part in Let Me Help, Inc.’s livestream concert to benefit victims of COVID-19. Produced by New York philanthropist John “SoHo Johnny” Pasquale, the concert also featured Sir Patrick Stewart, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, Julian Lennon, John Lodge, and many other stars.
Ric Lee published his autobiography, From Headstocks to Woodstock: A Drummer’s Tale, in January 2021. Ten years in the making, the book is packed with little-known stories of the band’s rough-and-tumble beginnings in Mansfield; performances at famous venues like Fillmore East and West; meeting Muhammad Ali, The Who, Led Zeppelin and Miles Davis; and how they almost missed their career-changing chance to perform at Woodstock. The book can be ordered on Lee’s website.
We spoke recently with Lee from his home in the Midlands region of England.
“Suranne Suranne” by Ten Years After
Let’s talk about some of the tracks on the new album. Some are about real people. Who is “Suranne Suranne”?
Ric Lee: That’s from my stalking period [laughs]. Seriously, there was a series called Scott & Bailey on British TV, which was a kind of an English version of one in America, Cagney & Lacey. There are two female cops and one of them was played by an actress called Suranne Jones. For some reason I fell in love with her. She’s a brilliant actress. I met her and had a photograph taken with her. I wrote to her later inviting her out to dinner but she didn’t come back to me.
Who is “Two Lost Souls” about?
Ric Lee: Oh crikey, that’s another one started by me. I wasn’t divorced but I was separated. When I’m not on the road, I do a bit of drum teaching at schools and colleges. I walked into one of them where I’d known this young lady for several years, a very attractive lady, flaming red hair, and I said, “How are you doing? You don’t look well.” She said, “If you’ve been through what I’ve been through. . . I’m getting divorced.” I said, “Well, that’s strange, it’s happening to me. Do you want to go out for a drink sometime and we can cry in each other’s drinks?” She said, “Yeah, that would be great.”
We started a little relationship but it didn’t actually go anywhere. Shame, as we got on famously.
“Land of the Vandals” by Ten Years After
What inspired “Land of the Vandals”?
Ric Lee: That basically was Colin and Marcus. I think it was a reflection on what’s happening in town centers in certain parts of England. There’s a negative effect from kids hanging around and becoming vandals and creating problems for the rest of humanity.
How did you choose the new live tracks in the deluxe edition?
Ric Lee: Deko Entertainment said, we need to put some bonuses on this. Can we get four live tracks? And we’d like “I’d Love to Change the World,” which was a big hit. Luckily we’d done an album subsequent to A Sting in the Tale, it’s called Naturally Live. They took the live tracks from that.
Last November I talked to a good friend of mine in New York, “SoHo Johnny” Pasquale. He has a couple of foundations, one of which is called Let Me Help. And he wanted to do a fundraiser concert for COVID sufferers. They were putting together a virtual streaming concert.
They wanted a video of “I’d Love to Change the World.” And I said I don’t think we’ve got one with the current lineup. Marcus and I searched around and found one but the sound wasn’t very good. So Marcus did a great job of dubbing the sound from the live album we used for the additional tracks for A Sting of the Tale.
We sent it over and we closed the show with it. Ozzy Osbourne and Sharon were on it, Sir Patrick Stewart, John Lodge of the Moody Blues; it was a good lineup and they had a huge number of views from around the world.
Let’s talk about your autobiography. It’s packed with good stories. You’ve said Ten Years After was an underground band and didn’t concentrate on singles. Why did you make that choice?
Ric Lee: Alvin was never a big fan of singles or AM radio, or as we had it here, pop radio. Consequently he was never into writing that. If you take “Love Like a Man” as an example, which did become a single, the original version done in the studio was seven minutes long. Decca wanted to put out a single in the UK so they insisted on editing it. They edited it down to three minutes. They cut out the guitar solo, which is the largest portion of the song in the seven-minute version. The guitar solo on the edited single version is one note. It was really silly.
Alvin must have been thrilled about that.
Ric Lee: What he did, which was very smart, he said, right, if you’re gonna do that, we want to give the fans value for their money. You have to put the full version on the B-side. They said, well, we can’t get it on there. So he said, you can if you put it at 33 RPM. So the A-side was put out at 45 and the B-side at 33!
It created problems in jukeboxes because jukeboxes play everything at 45. That’s an example of why we didn’t tend to put singles out.
What went into the recent decision to record shorter tracks?
Ric Lee: With this album, A Sting in the Tale, we wanted to make a radio-friendly album, which is why the songs are all that much shorter. The longest one is “Up in Smoke,” which is six minutes long. Everything else is less than that.
You’ve said you regretted not pushing back when Alvin wanted to write the original songs alone.
Ric Lee: Yes. We suggested that we all write together and Alvin said, No. I can’t sing other people’s songs. That was a bit hard to believe because virtually all the songs on the first album, Ten Years After, were covers. A majority of them were on the second album as well. So the thing about not being able to sing other people’s songs didn’t really hold water. And I think in all honesty we were too soft and we should maybe have dug our heels in and said, “We’re helping with these arrangements. It’s the way we play them that are making them Ten Years After material.”
At worst, we could have had a small percentage between us as arrangers. And I think that would have been a fair reward for everybody in that instance.
A Sting in the Tale was the first time Chick and I have been involved in a collaborative way, making an album. And it was a great joy, it really worked well. I actually said to Marcus, what are we going to do about the writing splits? Because quite often the thing that causes problems with bands is the splits. Marcus said I don’t see the problem, we’re all going to be involved in this.
You were friends with John Entwistle of The Who, who had a similar experience.
Ric Lee: We were talking together somewhere and he said, “Yeah, [Pete] Townshend gets all the writing, and he does fantastic demos, but at the end of the day, the final product ain’t the same as the demo. It’s how we play ’em that makes it sound like The ‘Oo.” I thought, hello, kindred spirits here, John.
You also talked with John after Keith Moon died.
Ric Lee: He said they were thinking of firing Keith because he was getting very unreliable, wasn’t turning up when he was supposed to for rehearsals, for recordings. So they had a word with him, they said listen, you’d better get your act together otherwise we’re going to have to start thinking about somebody else.
So the next rehearsal, Keith was there first, the drum kit was all set up, he’s ready to go, smiling as he always did, and they said, God, well done Keith. He said, yeah, yeah, I thought I’d get here early and set everything up. And they said, that’s fine but today’s Tuesday and the first rehearsal was yesterday!
I liked Keith, I got on well with him. I always said it was not a good idea to get too close to Keith because you could get killed. Not by him but by something stupid he might do. As a person, I loved him, I thought he was a great character.
“I’m Going Home” (live at Woodstock) by Ten Years After
You almost didn’t play Woodstock. What happened?
Ric Lee: The problem was, Frank Barcelona was our, we used to call him Super Agent, in America and he kept phoning Chris Wright, our manager, saying listen, there’s this festival being put together in upstate New York. He said it’s going to be big, they’re already expecting about 50,000 people, which is what the original estimates were.
Chris said, so what are they offering? Frank told him. Chris said, we’re doing better than that in an auditorium. In an auditorium we can do 3,000 people on our own and we can do 5,000 if we’re with somebody like Frank Zappa or with Blood, Sweat & Tears. And the money’s better. So what do we want to do that for?
So Frank said, I think it’s going to be pretty big, 50,000 is a lot of people. The weeks went by and the press got on it more and more, people were showing up and more and more acts were getting signed. Frank picks up the phone with the final call and he says, Chris, you’ve gotta do this because Jefferson Airplane just signed, Janis Joplin signed, The Who are doing it, and today I heard that Hendrix is signing. So yeah, you’d be crazy not to do this. And thank God we did.
By the mid-1970s, Alvin decided to go solo and the band broke up. What happened?
Ric Lee: Effectively I quit in ’75 because Alvin said you’re going on wages, I’m the star of the show. And I said, you are the star of the show, there’s no two ways about it, I’m not arguing with you on that. But in fairness, if that’s what you wanted to do, you should have done it eight years ago. We’ve played through the rough with the smooth and this may never have happened, we may never have gotten to this. So I think it’s unfair that you now turn around and say right, you guys are now getting paid wages and I get the lion’s share. He’d already got all the writing on the albums anyway.
So I said no, I’m not prepared to do that. He said, well, you can’t do that. I said, I can do that. And that’s what I’m gonna do. If that’s the story, then I’m out. And I did. I said I’ll take my chances.
The band did reunite a few times in the 1980s. How did that happen?
Ric Lee: I don’t really know. I don’t know whether it was money with Alvin or it was trying to be back at the forefront again. Sadly, he didn’t do as much as a solo artist as he probably could have done although I expected he would do.
At one of the rehearsals when we did get back together and we played a couple of tracks he said, this is incredible. This sounds just like Ten Years After. And I said, that’s ’cause it is. I always thought that the band, and to a degree a lot of bands, is the sum of the parts, not just one individual. And I think that was definitely the case with Ten Years After.
You end the book with the performance at Woodstock. Did you consider ending the book with the band’s breakup?
Ric Lee: Originally I was going to write from my date of birth to the age that I was whenever I finished it. I was going to do more or less my whole life. And then I realized if I wasn’t careful, the years from Woodstock through to 1975 could sound like sour grapes ’cause it was the gradual disintegration of the band.
So I have started writing that and I’ve gotten a great help, there’s a book called Alvin Lee and Ten Years After: Visual History, which is put together by a guy who sadly died now, he was one of our most loyal fans, called Herb Staehr. That was a chronological history basically from the beginnings of the Jaybirds with Alvin and Leo right through Sept 20, 1999. We terminated at the House of Blues in Hollywood. Just after that we did a gig in Madrid and Alvin and Leo had an almighty row and that was basically the end of it.
I’d stupidly said to somebody I’d probably be working on the second one. And so they’re now asking me, what is it like and when is it going to be ready. It took me 10 years to do this one. I’ve got two rough chapters and I said I’m hoping I’ll be around long enough to finish it.
What’s coming up for Ten Years After?
Ric Lee: We can’t really tour until the vaccine is completely sorted. It’s going very, very well over here. Both our American and European agents are of the opinion that we can’t think about anything until 2022. Which is a bit of a blow because we’ve got the album coming out in America.
One of the ideas that we had was to maybe link with a younger jam band, which would pull a new audience for them and also for us.
We’ve got the Woodstock album coming out in June, July on Chrysalis. I believe it’s going to be red vinyl in America. That’s the actual six or seven tracks we did at Woodstock, which I don’t think have been out before.
What songs are on that set?
Ric Lee: “Spoonful” is the first track. “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl.” And there are two false starts, which have been left in on purpose for the collectors. We had to keep tuning up the guitars because of the dampness in the atmosphere. And then the actual full version of “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl.” And then I was surprised that this was there but “The Hobbit” is on it, my drum solo. And then “I Can’t Keep From Crying Sometimes” and “I’m Going Home.”
I approved it a couple of months back and it sounded really good.
“I’d Love to Change the World” by Ten Years After
October this year is the 50th anniversary of A Space in Time, which of course was the first studio recording of “I’d Love to Change the World.” I thought A Space in Time was a highlight of Alvin’s songwriting. I thought he was really coming on as a writer at that point.
We’re all doing individual video interviews that Deko is going to put out to promote the album. We all talk about how we made the album with different views on how it was made. I’ve got another one to do, which is to explain the difference between recording in the 1960s and recording now.
Marcus took the guitar off “Land of the Vandals” and did it as a video explaining and playing the chords. And then we’re inviting would-be guitarists to play on the video, film themselves with the backing track, so they get to play with me, Chick and Colin. And then we’ll have a competition to judge who’s the best. And then they get a one-to-one Zoom chat with us.
If the guitar thing works, then we could do the same, we can take the drums off or we can take the bass off or whatever and people could play along on different instruments.
We’re gonna do a Zoom town hall press conference and the first hundred people who buy the album bundle get to be the guests there, to interview us and ask us questions.
As soon as we can get to Germany, ’cause all our equipment lives there, and also in the town where our sound man lives, there’s a very good venue; we want to get in there and make a video of the whole set, all the songs. That way we’ve got individual videos of each song as well if we want them. And we can use them for streaming or whatever. Which we could do as a kind of a re-promotion in Europe as well.
So yeah, we’ve got plans. That’s when we can get the hell outta here, of course! | https://medium.com/the-riff/ric-lee-of-ten-years-after-on-todays-debut-of-a-sting-in-the-tale-deluxe-edition-b6f3785923f1 | ['Frank Mastropolo'] | 2021-03-19 13:02:32.905000+00:00 | ['1960s', 'Music', 'UK', 'Woodstock', 'Rock'] |
The National Computer Science Education Community Announces 165 New Efforts to Achieve Computer Science for All | New Commitments Reflect Efforts from Schools, Cities, Nonprofits, and Industry to Advance Computer Science Education Across the U.S. and Around the Globe
Today we announce 127 organizations have made 165 commitments
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK, NY, NOVEMBER, 17, 2020 — Today, at the virtual CSforALL Commitments Showcase, CSforALL announced new commitments from the CS education community to advance computer science education for all youth, including highlighting promising new work in response to the impacts of the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and racial injustice on the computer science (CS) education movement. The 2020 CSforALL Commitments were announced during a live-streamed event featuring a keynote from notable CS educator Mitchel Resnick, creator of the SCRATCH programming language, computer science education influencers, policy makers, industry leaders, and celebrities, all celebrating and elevating the incredible work being done in this unprecedented year.
As the U.S. continues to grapple with the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and racial injustice in a year full of obstacles and surprises, the need to bring rigorous and equitable CS education to prepare ALL students for a successful future is more urgent than ever. Fortunately, the systems in place to expand that critical access are getting a significant boost today through 165 new commitments from 127 organizations to advance computer science education access and opportunity for youth across the United States and beyond.
#CSforALL commitments are new, specific, and measurable actions aimed at advancing the goal of rigorous and inclusive computer science education for all U.S. youth, and are designed to grow support and momentum for a sustainable K-12 computer science education system in and out of school. Notably 29 organizations listed below have made a #CSforALL commitment annually since 2017. To continue the trend, in 2020, 78 organizations have returned to make a commitment at least twice. The commitments detailed below include investments in 34 individual states, 43 commitments with a nationwide focus, and 5 commitments serving youth around the globe.
Highlights of Today’s Major Announcements Include: | https://medium.com/@csforall/the-national-computer-science-education-community-announces-165-new-efforts-to-achieve-computer-484c6057ce24 | [] | 2020-11-20 19:17:18.691000+00:00 | ['Computer Science', 'Covid 19', 'Racial Justice', 'Technology', 'Education'] |
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