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4 Tips to Build Projects That Look Great on Your Resume | Tips for Your Project
You don’t have to implement them all, but every single one of them adds a lot of value to your project and your confidence. So try to follow them all.
1. Follow a standard architecture/design pattern while building your project
You could build a to-do list app that works, and it would mean nothing to the company interviewing you. But if you tell the interviewer that you built the app following this particular design pattern — even if it only partially works — that would mean a lot!
An interviewer who is a developer will always be more interested in knowing how you built something rather than what you built it with.
They would want to know what key architectural decisions you made and why.
They would want to know how you structured your code and why.
They would want to know what technical blocks you faced and how you resolved them.
They would want to know how you would scale this application.
If you don’t know what design patterns are, now would be a great time to learn about them.
2. Build a professional UI, but don’t waste too much time on it
People have a visual bias — they literally judge a book by its cover.
Similarly, make sure the UI for whatever you build looks good and professional. When it comes to applications, people often make the assumption that if the app looks good, the code is good too. I know, it’s sad.
Here is the great part: There are tons of great-looking free project templates that you can use to build your awesome-looking application. This way, you can focus more on building the core application rather than wasting too much time on aligning things vertically.
3. Think about database and security
This is where things start to get tricky, giving you a lot of things to talk about during the interview. If your project doesn’t have any database, it just might not be sophisticated enough. So maybe pick a new one?
There are four basic CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations that you need to add to showcase your skills. Spend time planning your DB’s architecture and think about how you can optimize for the reads and writes. This is another great talking point in the interviews.
Also, have at least some sort of authorization that adds basic security to your application. You can totally use Firebase Auth to take care of basic authentication in your application without having to waste too much time on it.
When you are making decisions like depending on third-party solutions to quickly build your app and not reinvent the wheel, that’s a really valuable skill to have and show during your interview. You can talk about it and how much value that decision added to your project.
You can always do more things to make your application more secure. See what is feasible and required as per your application’s scope.
4. Solve a business problem
This is something I learned in my first year as a working professional. No matter how cool the technology you learned is, don’t just build anything to show your skills.
Identify a suitable business problem and then implement the solution using technology. When you do actually solve a business problem, the business doesn’t care about the technology you used to solve it. True story.
There will be candidates showing random applications and games, while you:
Invested some time into understanding the business — learning ability.
Identified its problems — analytical ability.
Thought about a solution— problem-solving ability.
Built something — your technical competency.
Those are the skills of a working professional and not just any developer, and that’s who the businesses are looking to hire.
Bonus tip: Follow the industry standards
There are some industry standards around the development process, and if you already know them, it will portray you as a professional. These are:
Clean code standards.
Writing unit tests for your code.
Maintaining a code repository.
Continuous Integrations and Continuous Delivery.
Being agile.
If you can also learn and showcase these skills in your side projects, they will definitely make all your projects more valuable and give you a lot more keywords to add to your resume and talk about during your interview as a true professional. | https://medium.com/better-programming/4-tips-to-build-projects-that-look-great-on-your-resume-b1f022a0968c | ['Dhananjay Trivedi'] | 2020-09-11 15:00:29.136000+00:00 | ['Coding', 'Programming', 'Software Engineering', 'Software Development', 'Startup'] |
How I Knew He Wasn’t The One | How I Knew He Wasn’t The One
And why you should pick blueberries with your partner…
Blueberries freshly picked by me at Rulf’s Orchard in Peru, NY.
I dated a boy for much too long who was quite obviously not good for me. There were many reasons for this, but one exchange sticks in my mind that proves to me just how wrong we were for each other. And no, it had nothing to do with our opposite political views or starkly contrasting moral compasses. The moment that sticks out to me in hindsight has to do with blueberries.
Yes, blueberries. Or more specifically, picking blueberries.
I grew up not far from an area in New Jersey that is known for its blueberry farms. The boy I was dating lived in this area so I thought we could go pick them together. It’s kind of a basic boyfriend-girlfriend activity that I thought could be fun. I craved taking cute pictures together and then maybe going back to his house, well his mom’s house, and baking a pie with our goodies. People love to pick apples with their significant others so let’s just replace apples with blueberries!
Now, this guy didn’t like to do much with me besides watch TV, eat food, and have sex. That sounds pretty great at this moment in time actually, but not if that’s all your relationship has to offer. He would very occasionally come to visit me in New York City, but he hated it there. He much preferred the comfort of his bubble. I would often come home just to sit with him on his mom’s couch. But I wanted us to be like a real couple. I wanted to share experiences with him even if I had to force it.
So one weekend I was visiting him during blueberry season and I thought going blueberry picking at one of the local farms would be something he’d be mildly into. He wouldn’t need to travel far from home. It wouldn’t take long. It would be cute. I was nervous to ask him about it because he so often would shut me down, but when I finally brought it up he responded quickly with a “Sure we can go to my friend’s farm.” I was shocked at how quickly he responded and even more surprised that he seemed into the idea. I immediately replied with “Really?! Your friend will let us pick there?” to which he responded with “No, we can just go buy blueberries from my friend.”
Womp, womp, womp.
I tried to explain that I didn’t want to go buy blueberries, I wanted to experience picking them. I wanted to spend the time with him. He shut it down though. He thought picking them was a waste of time when we could just buy them and be done with it. I shared this story with my friend and she laughed because it was such an odd reaction on his part. Doing cheesy activities with your girlfriend is far from unheard of. Even if he didn’t want to do it he could have just said yes, but that was a lot to ask of him, apparently. Looking back I laugh at this because it’s so ridiculous. I also see it as a very clear moment of us being on completely different pages. I’m not even sure we were in the same book together. He didn’t want to spend that time with me and couldn’t even pretend that he wanted to go pick some stupid blueberries if only to make me happy. He truly did not care. It was disappointing and it hurt my feelings although I pretended it didn’t. I wanted something so simple from him and he couldn’t provide.
Sometimes small differences between people don’t matter at all. It is, of course, possible to have a healthy and fulfilling relationship with someone who doesn’t want to do all of the things you want to do. But sometimes the small things really matter. They can shine a light into what your future might hold. In this case, I saw that my life would be spent trying to convince someone to want to spend time with me, to love me, and to be who I wanted him to be. That isn’t a way to be in a partnership with someone. Sometimes your partner might want to do something that you’re not into, but you do it anyway because you know how happy it would make them. You know that the small, simple things matter. It took me a long time after this to finally walk away from that relationship, but eventually, I did. | https://medium.com/be-unique/how-i-knew-he-wasnt-the-one-ad7bb211a196 | ['Sarah Shoshana Rosen'] | 2020-07-31 02:16:01.046000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Sex And Relationships', 'Partnerships', 'Love And Relationships', 'Love'] |
Murdering Miracles | Photo by Jonathan Carroll on Unsplash
What a miracle it is that the Earth birds sing
Not enough their soft feathers and tails with rings
Nor the glory of their many brightly colored wings
Though most creatures don’t have any of these things
The songbirds too have the secrets of flight
And keep a clean nest to sleep in each night
But they have yet together a greater blessing still
A song and a voice with a high clear shrill
To warn of the dangers that threaten their flock
To call for their mates and probably to talk
To greet the new dawn coming over the hill
To find somewhere warm in a long winter chill
What a horror it is then that the love in their throats
Is mimicked and mimed in many hunter’s totes
And lead birdshot is sold for ten-dollar notes
To make murdering miracles quite common and rote | https://medium.com/resistance-poetry/murdering-miracles-181273d082bb | ['John Gillen'] | 2020-12-19 14:32:22.946000+00:00 | ['Resistance Poetry', 'Hunting', 'Murder', 'Birds', 'Poetry'] |
Beginners Guide To Transfer Learning with an example using VGG16 | When To Use Transfer Learning?
As stated in the chapter ‘Transfer Learning’ of the book ‘Handbook of Research on Machine Learning Applications and Trends’ we should consider using transfer learning if we reap any of the below stated benefits:
Higher Slope- The rate of performance improvement should be more than it would usually be. Higher Start-Performance initially achieved using only the transferred knowledge without refining or further learning is higher or better than that otherwise. Less Time Taken- The amount of time taken for the model to completely learn target class considering the transferred knowledge should be lesser than what a model made from scratch would take. Higher Asymptote- The final performance of the model with transfer learning should be greater than that without.
Performance Vs Training Graph
If the performance has actually decreased after applying transfer method, then negative transfer has occurred. This is one of the major challenges in applying transfer learning .We need to produce positive transfer between appropriately related tasks while avoiding negative transfer between tasks that are less related.
Notations and Definitions
Domain: domain D comprises of a marginal probability distribution P(X) and a feature space ꭕ. Mathematically domain can be represented as D = {ꭕ, P(Χ)}. Task: A task T comprises of a 2 element tuple of objective function, η and label space γ. From a probabilistic point of view the objective function can be denoted P(γ| Χ).
As stated in the paper ‘ A survey on Transfer Learning ’ by Sinno Pan and Qiang Yang the mathematical definition of transfer learning goes as follows:
‘Given a source domain DS and learning task TS, a target domain DT and learning task TT , transfer learning aims to help improve the learning of the target predictive function fT (·) in DT using the knowledge in DS and TS, where DS ≠ DT , or TS ≠TT ’
How To Use Transfer Learning?
We can either follow :
A Develop Model Approach: which consists of selecting a source task and developing a skillful model for it while also ensuring that some feature learning has been performed and then reusing that model on our second task of interest after performing some fine tuning
OR
A Pre- Trained Model Approach: which consists of selecting a pre trained source model out of the many models available which have been released by many famous institutions and research centers. We can reuse this model as our starting point on our 2nd task of interest. Most of the times we need to fine tune or adapt the model to apply it.
Some Examples
Using image data as input while performing predictive modelling is very common in transfer learning. There is also a wide use of it in solving NLP problems .
Models using Image Data
VGG Model — Developed by Oxford Inception Model — Developed by Google ResNet Model — Developed by Microsoft
Models Using Language Data
word2vec Model — Developed by Google GloVe Model — Developed by Stanford
Using them is really convenient because we can freeze all the layers(which means no need to train them again) and just train the lower layers making the process of retraining less cumbersome.
Implementing VGG Model to Classify An Object
VGG is an award winning model implemented by the Oxford Researchers.It is a convolutional neural network model developed as an improvement to the AlexNet.
ImageNet
ImageNet which is organized by the WordNet hierarchy is an image database consisting of around 14 million images with all the images having annotations done manually by humans. Since 2010 an image classification challenge called ILSVRC or the ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge is being conducted. The Oxford Visual Geometry Group won the award in 2014 by developing a convolutional neural network model.
Lets start off with the VGG-16 model
1) Load the VGG Model In Keras
An application interface is provided by keras for using and loading pre trained models.
2) Check Summary Of the Layers For Better Understanding
The base model of this particular model contains 16 layers. VGG16 is used for classification of images into various categories as it is pretrained on a large range of images providing rich feature representation. It accepts an input image of size (224,224,3). The initial layers comprises of convolution layers and convolution plus max-pooling layers this is followed by fully connected layers in the end.
Output would be:
3)Load The Image
I have used this image for this code demo.
First we load the image and then resize it to (224,224,3) to make it compatible with the model for input. In order to work with keras we also would have to convert the pixels to Numpy array. Generally the network is given multiple images as input, so it accepts an extra dimension(no. of samples) as a part of its input along with the rows, columns and channels. This brings the need to reshape our existing array. The image pixels need to adhere to the same format in the way the ImageNet training data was prepared (according to the research paper).Basically the mean RGB value calculated on the training set is subtracted from each pixel. Keras already provides with a function preprocess_input() for this purpose.
4) Prediction Time
model.predict() gives a list of length 1000 which consists of the probabilities of the image belonging to any of these known object labels. The keras function decode_predictions() provides us with the list of the topmost three object classes along with their probabilities. We just print the top most one.
Output:
fox_squirrel (96.02%)
Running the above code we get a prediction of the squirrel with 96% likelihood. Feel free to experiment and play with the above example since it will give you a better understanding.
Extending It To Transfer Learning
If you want to apply it for transfer learning you need to know about the arguments that VGG() takes.
include_top (True or False): It signifies whether or not the output layers are to be included. Generally when fitting to your own problem we do not include it. weights (‘imagenet’): Signifies the weights that you want to load. We generally specify the imagenet weights but if you want to train the model from scratch you can choose to write ‘None’. input_tensor (): Adding a new input layer incase you want fit the model on new data with a varied size. input_shape (): Incase you have changed the input layer you will have to specify the expected size of image the model needs to take in. pooling (): If you would be training a new set of output you need to mention the type of pooling layer (max pooling , average pooling etc) you would be using. classes ():output vector size of the model need to be specified within the brackets. That would signify the number of classes to be considered in the model. Generally we take 1000 .
Further reading | https://medium.com/ai-in-plain-english/beginners-guide-to-transfer-learning-with-simple-example-using-vgg16-61040c095ab9 | ['Isha Puthige'] | 2020-11-22 08:33:07.149000+00:00 | ['Deep Learning', 'Transfer Learning', 'Convolution Neural Net', 'AI', 'Keras'] |
10 Mistakes Photographers Make Their First Year In Business | 10 Mistakes Photographers Make Their First Year In Business Visualmodo Follow Dec 12 · 4 min read
Every business commits mistakes as they grow. While errors may impact your business financially, they can serve as learning opportunities to do better. By sharing the common mistakes photographers make their first year in business, you can hopefully avoid them to keep your business thriving.
10 Mistakes Photographers Make Their First Year In Business
Not having a contract, price list, business plan, and marketing strategy can hurt your first year in the photography industry. Poor customer service, inefficient workflow, unnecessary spending, and being impatient in growing can also negatively impact your business. Hence, it’s essential that you understand how you can prevent these from happening.
Underestimating the Power of Contracts
A contract saves you from wasting resources, time, and effort. Without a legal agreement, clients can exploit your services or terms, making you work beyond what they initially expected from you.
Besides, a contract builds healthy and professional relationships with customers. This is why it’s vital to create a contract for every client that details important information such as inclusions, limitations, expectations, and deadlines. As a result, big mistakes on photographers business.
Failing to Have a Business Plan
Writing a business plan may be one of the most challenging things you would do. However, setting goals and financial terms serve as a guide to know what’s crucial to your business. These factors can help measure your progress and identify what to improve.
Not Setting an Efficient Workflow
Being a photographer isn’t all about capturing beautiful images. Efficiency in following a timeline and meeting deadlines is a crucial aspect of managing a business.
Some photographers make the mistake of not setting a workflow system, leading them to procrastinate post-production, finance tasks, client communication needs, and other logistical and administrative work.
Forgetting to Develop a Price List Mistakes on Photographers Business
Skipping this part can tremendously hurt the future of your business. Some photographers new in the industry don’t spend time thinking about how much to charge to achieve the desired income after taxes and expenses.
If you do this, you may end up raising rates significantly and regularly in the first few years, causing you to lose clients in the process. Having an accurate and well-thought price list helps retain clients and makes your business profitable.
Undervaluing Marketing Strategies
There are clients or job opportunities that won’t come to you on a silver platter, especially during your first year as a photographer. You must be proactive in developing a marketing strategy to give you the best ways to reach target clients and secure bookings.
Building your brand through a website, social media campaigns, and email marketing are all part of engaging with an audience, driving sales, and managing a profitable business.
Splurging On Unnecessary Equipment Without Clients
It can be thrilling purchasing office equipment and shooting gear. However, they would end up collecting dust if there are no client shoots to return the investment. Even if you don’t have the most high-tech tools yet, you can make it work by using the right gear for your skills.
Poor Client Response Mistakes on Photographers Business
From answering simple queries to sending quotations, clients appreciate feeling valued and special. About 66% of adults feel that valuing time is an essential thing in providing good customer service.
Some photographers fail in client communication because they don’t show enthusiasm, not unless the message is regarding a secured booking. Whatever message a client sends, make it a habit to respond respectfully and right away.
Being Impatient in Growing as a Creative Professional
It’s normal to assume that you need generic shots as the market demands these commercial purposes and beyond. While you may get inspiration from other photographers, don’t forget to create your own craft. Strive to improve your shooting techniques, post-processing methods, and even marketing strategies so that your style can stand out among the rest. As a result, big mistakes on photographers business.
Refraining from Collaborating
Other professionals in the photography world can be among the most significant influences in your business. Whether they are new or seasoned creatives, you would learn a lot from them while establishing professional relationships. In some cases, you may get referrals from other photographers, makeup artists, or event coordinators.
Always Saying Yes
Free shoot? Discounted rate after a reduced rate? Unpaid revisions or extended hours? It’s tough to say no, especially if you are new to the business and underbooked. However, overly demanding clients and not getting paid enough can also cause you to sacrifice time and money.
Mistakes on Photographers Business Conclusion
While you may experience or discover other problems, we hope these photography business mistakes serve as lessons to make your first year in the industry successful. | https://medium.com/visualmodo/10-mistakes-photographers-make-their-first-year-in-business-9c57ebe1e746 | [] | 2020-12-12 11:09:04.297000+00:00 | ['Photography', 'Business', 'Photos', 'Mistakes', 'First Year'] |
Our School’s Arbitrary Standards Tell Us Your Child Has ADHD | Our School’s Arbitrary Standards Tell Us Your Child Has ADHD
Education isn’t supposed to help children.
Photo by CDC from Pexels
Dear Mr. & Mrs. Smith,
Upon looking over your son Justin’s performance in our Childhood Review And Performance (CRAP) evaluation, it is clear he has failed (miserably we might add) and does not conform to our style of teaching, leaving us no choice but to assume he has ADHD.
As you know, the CRAP test is set up in such a way that if your child does not successfully catch a ball, recall a beef Wellington recipe word-for-word, or say that their favorite Star Trek character is Spock, it can only mean the presence of a learning disability.
We first became suspicious of Justin’s condition during Study Hall, after seeing that all the other kids were either doodling in their notebooks or playing Roblox on their phones, but that he was reading about the life and fashion of Grace Kelly. The logical conclusion is that he’s interested in the history of pop culture, or that he’s hyperactive. We think the latter is more likely. Academics aside, we’ve noticed various other odd behaviors over the past few months. For example, while other kids were sitting in a circle at recess singing Baby Shark, he was in the corner humming I Got You Under My Skin.
Even his attire has been unusual. While many of his peers sport Fortnite t-shirts, Justin has been seen wearing shirts that sport phrases like “Sic Parvis Magna.” We told him he had to explain himself, and he said it was Latin for “Thus great things from small things come.” Since no ten-year-old could possibly know Latin, we knew the best course of action was to treat Justin like he’s the subject of a scientific experiment.
To evaluate Justin for the CRAP, we separated him from his classmates without warning and he began to cry for some reason. Another unusual behavior, as we only expect kids to cry when we tell them they’ll be having indoor recess.
We left him in the waiting room with some Legos as we prepared the evaluation, and while his ability to recreate an exact model of the submarine from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was impressive, Lego building, Latin, and 20th-century history are not considered a good investment of his time as they are not part of our district’s standardized testing.
Given the results, we suggest a heavy dose of Adderall and repeating the fourth grade until he is properly reconditioned. Only then can he pass the CRAP and be considered normal.
Signed,
Principal Sawyer | https://medium.com/slackjaw/our-schools-arbitrary-standards-tell-us-your-child-has-adhd-a983acef5c5a | ['Justin Avery Smith'] | 2020-09-19 14:47:19.131000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Education', 'Learning', 'Satire', 'Adhd'] |
8 Reasons You Should Start a Blog in 2021 — Bernard Walter | If 2020 gave us anything, it was time. Most of the things we usually spend our time doing, like meeting up with friends for coffee or dinner, going for drinks, or just ordering in, weren’t allowed for most of the year. Instead of spending our time doing something, we spent a lot of time looking for things to do. If there’s one thing that we learned from 2020, it’s that our time spent with others, the time we spend creating and sharing our stories, is precious.
Blogging is a phenomenal way of sharing your stories and 2021 is the perfect year for it. Blogging isn’t dead — it’s just been taking a nap.
1. The simplicity of it.
The barrier for entry into blogging is low. You don’t need a fancy camera or an expensive microphone. All you really need to get started with blogging is a computer connected to the internet. If you have that, and some will, you can start a blog.
2. You learn how to write for an audience.
Writing for yourself is great. Journalling is a great way to get things off your chest or work through your ideas. Writing for an audience forces you to flex a different muscle — there’s somebody else listening to you. When you’re writing for an audience, you’re writing with the intention of someone reading. This is a good skill to practice because it helps you think about how what you’re writing is going to be received.
3. Storytelling.
Storytelling is an essential part of human culture. Stories are what help us understand the world around us and how we fit in. They help us understand who we are. Stories make sense of the complexities of the world and help articulate the nuances in our experiences. Stories are what reflect our truest understanding of what life is about.
Learning how to tell stories well takes practice. Keeping a blog will help you focus in on your ideas and pick out the most interesting and relevant parts to keep your reader engaged while still conveying your message.
4. Reflection.
Blogging regularly will help you look at your life and the world around you in new and interesting ways. Things you hadn’t noticed before will become more interesting to you. The connections between different parts of your life and the things in it will start to reveal themselves.
5. Finding your voice.
Everybody has a story to tell. Nobody’s experience is the same as anybody else’s and that’s one of the great things about life. Being able to tell your story is one way to leave your mark on this world. Everything about you is unique and so is your expression of who you are. People are interested in who you are and what you have to say so share your story. Use your voice.
6. A captive audience.
The people who are reading your blog are there to read what you’ve written. They’ve taken the time out of their day specifically for you. They are interested in hearing what you have to say — well, reading what you have to write. They could have scrolled through an endless stream of tweets but they want to focus on your ideas and experiences. This is a fantastic feeling. Engage these people.
7. It’s a record of your story.
A little bit at a time, you’re writing your own autobiography. When you look back over your posts, you’ll be able to see where you came from. It’ll give you perspective on where you currently are. It’s an interesting way to keep a record of what’s going on in your world.
8. It makes you think.
Writing a blog isn’t easy. It requires some time and energy, but it’s well worth the effort. First, you have to come up with an idea — something to write about. Then, you have to type it up. If you don’t know something, or need a bit more information, you have to do some research. From there, you have to work with your writing to make sure that it captures all of your ideas, flows nicely, is engaging, and sends the right message. All of these things use brainpower. This is a good thing.
9. A Bonus: You get to share your world with the world.
If there’s nothing else compelling you to blog in 2021, carving out a little corner of the internet for yourself should be. From that space, you get to broadcast your experiences and thoughts, wrestle with your ideas, and impact others simply by sharing your stories.
You are an interesting person and people do want to know about you. Give them the chance to learn about who you are and learn from what you know. You’re a lot more interesting than you think you are. The world needs to hear what you have to say. Say it.
If you have something to add to this list, I’d love to hear it. I hope that you’re going to start, or continue, blogging in 2021. Leave a note about your blog in the comments below. | https://medium.com/@alygulamhusein/8-reasons-you-should-start-a-blog-in-2021-bernard-walter-6e283b8755a9 | ['Aly Gulamhusein'] | 2020-12-23 03:39:34.609000+00:00 | ['Blogging', 'Self Expression', 'New Year 2021', 'New Year Resolution', 'Blogger'] |
Think But, Do not Overthink | The gloomy brain is however so different than a normal brain as it does not only contain 100 million neurons but a brutal corner where thoughts are floating on the brain’s fluid causes a pessimistic sense of inadequacy , despondent lack of activity along with the supplementary feeling of fear, and the worrisome state of hypervigilance in a person who thinks more than his capability of thinking. This is what overthinking is.
The person who overanalyzes the situation is the person who is having a brain that is like an empty jar filled with solicitude, fear, judgmental thoughts and the anxiety which brought the person into disastrous conflict. Overthinking rises when the thoughts contradict the desire. This happens when a brain is holding two opposing thoughts fighting to reach the final destination just like a road having two different paths but the only one can lead to the destination. This creates disharmony in the mind and gives rise to serious mental distress.
Overthinking leads a normal person to such a disastrous stage where his mind works through difficult, complicated, excessive, mope, repine, unsettling thoughts, emotions and experiences to achieve something which his heart desires.
The anxiety, another name of overthinking is a disorder with the capability to overthink everything, everywhere at any time. Overthinking is obsessive thinking or ruminating that feels like a person can’t turn off its brain from the racing thoughts wandering here and there in the brain like a rat on the floor.
If we talk about the main reason for ruminating or overthinking about a situation that surely doesn’t even exist, it is the fearful “what-if” scenarios about things that are wild and created by ourselves due to the wrong imagination and incompetency.
A famous philosopher, Anthony Hopkins once said, “We are dying from overthinking. We are slowly killing ourselves by thinking about everything. Think. Think. Think. You can never trust the human mind anyway. It’s a death trap”.
Well, it’s a fact that overthinking kills the person slowly and steadily because nothing in the world can trouble a person as much as his own thoughts. The flow of overthinking and negative thoughts that originate from what-if scenarios is bombarding the consciousness of a normal person every second which is a serious mental and emotional disorder so stop being the prisoner of your own false thoughts that do not even exist at all.
Some people misinterpret things in order to cause controversy. If people believe that by thinking over they can get a meaningful result or reach the best verdict so it is totally wrong as overthinking can only cause negative vibes in a person. Overthinking is nothing but, the art of creating problems.
Concluding the topic with a pro tip that being patient while things are unfolding. Learn to be calm and centered and how not to be controlled by other people’s negativity because you cannot walk around with a button that can easily be pushed. | https://medium.com/@maliihadaniyal/think-but-do-not-overthink-f7de885e295b | ['Maliiha H. Daniyal'] | 2020-12-21 11:16:07.217000+00:00 | ['Thinking', 'Anxiety', 'Overthinking', 'Brainstorming', 'Depression'] |
Six Fun Ways to Get Your Kids Off Electronics and Into Nature This Winter | Photo by Kobby Mendez on Unsplash
The slow, long months after the holidays can stretch out endlessly as we wait for spring. The weather is cold, wet and uninviting, leaving even the most well-intentioned of parents tempted to throw in the towel on screen time rules and chalk it up to the pain of the season. Unless there is a fresh white snowfall begging the kids to come out and play, getting them motivated to turn off the screens and go outside can be tough.
Finding a purpose for your trip outdoors can help get your kids interested. There are many fun ways to connect with nature in winter that will get your family moving and maybe even learning at the same time.
Animal Tracking
Winter is the perfect time of year for tracking animals. Snow is a favorite medium for trackers because the prints are easy to spot. If it’s not snowy, the ground is usually damp, and mud is also great at capturing signs of creatures. Take a local class or check out one of the many great introductory tracking books. Even in your neighborhood, you will likely find cat, dog, and squirrel tracks.
Aside from prints, tracking also involves looking for the other signs left behind by creatures as they go about their daily life. The rocks and logs where squirrels crack and eat nuts are known as squirrel kitchens and are easy to identify with a little effort. Scat, of course, is every kid’s favorite part of tracking. Animal scat is a great indicator of an animal’s presence and is surprisingly unique to each species of animal.
Plants
While you are outside looking for scat, check out the plants as well. Herbalism is a great way to get kids interested in botany and learning the amazing things that plants can do for us. There are several great kid’s books on herbalism with simple instructions on how to make classics such as immune-boosting elderberry syrup or cold and cough salves. You may have to visit a health food store or order elderberries from Amazon, but many of the chest rubs and teas that are best for kids are all the common household herbs you most likely grow in your garden or have in your pantry. These are herbs such as lavender, sage, lemon balm, thyme, peppermint, ginger, and chamomile.
Indoor gardens
Take your herbalism to the next step by starting a window garden to bring nature indoors this winter. You can purchase a ready-to-go kit that will provide you with containers, soil pods, and seeds to start your crop, though a few pots and a bag of potting soil will also work. Kids will enjoy checking on their seeds daily and watching them come to life. After the frost in the spring, you can transplant them outside and enjoy your produce all summer long.
Backyard bird watching
When the weather is too rotten to venture far from home, or even outside at all, backyard bird watching can be a great way to connect with nature from inside. Reuse your empty juice and milk cartons to create homemade bird feeders. Once the feeders are hung it will take a few days for the birds, and eventually squirrels to appear. Watching birds and identifying them will help your children appreciate the smallest of creatures and get them thinking about how they survive outdoors all winter long.
Moss hikes
When everything else is dormant, there is an amazing variety of life still thriving on the forest floor. Moss, ferns, and mycelium are all alive and well during the winter months and waiting to be studied. Encourage your children to appreciate without destroying by taking pictures and sketching in a nature journal. Research the different types of moss and how they are specially adapted to your part of the world. Younger kids will love building fairy furniture with small twigs and acorn caps and leaving them set up in the moss for the next lucky group of forest sprites to venture upon.
Full moon hikes
Night hikes under a full moon will be sure to create lifetime memories with your children. Whether you stick to the neighborhood or venture out into the woods, there is a certain awe of being under the winter sky that will help your family slow down as they marvel at the stars. My son never tires of hearing the names of the full moons from cultures around the world and the stories behind them.
Getting outside can take a little research and preparation this time of year but is always well worth the effort. Making time for nature this winter will help your family connect to the wonders of nature as well as each other. | https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/six-fun-ways-to-get-your-kids-off-electronics-and-into-nature-this-winter-7d55ccb836 | ['Corrine Corcoran'] | 2020-01-13 23:17:37.596000+00:00 | ['Wellness', 'Gardening', 'Nature', 'Outdoors', 'Parenting'] |
Introduction to the Basic Principles of Functional Programming in JavaScript | Immutability
Unchanging over time or unable to be changed.
When data is immutable, its state cannot change after it’s created.
If you want to change an immutable object, you can’t. Instead, you create a new object with the new value.
In JavaScript, we commonly use the for loop. This next for statement has some mutable variables.
For each iteration, we are changing the i and the sumOfValue state. But how do we handle mutability in iteration? Recursion.
So, here we have the sum function that receives a vector of numerical values. The function calls itself until we get the list empty (our recursion base case). For each "iteration" we will add the value to the total accumulator .
With recursion, we keep our variables immutable. The list and the accumulator variables are not changed. It keeps the same value.
Observation: We can use reduce to implement this function. We will cover this in the higher-order functions topic.
It is also common to build up the final state of an object. Imagine that we have a string and we want to transform this string into a url slug .
In object-oriented programming in Ruby, we would create a class, let’s say, UrlSlugify . And this class will have a slugify method to transform the string input into a url slug .
It’s implemented!
Here, we have imperative programming saying exactly what we want to do in each slugify process — first lower-case, then remove useless white spaces, and, finally, replace remaining white spaces with hyphens.
But we are mutating the input state in this process.
We can handle this mutation by doing function composition, or function chaining. In other words, the result of a function will be used as an input for the next function, without modifying the original input string.
Here we have:
toLowerCase : converts the string to all lower-case.
: converts the string to all lower-case. trim : removes white space from both ends of a string.
: removes white space from both ends of a string. split and join : replaces all instances of match with replacement in a given string. | https://medium.com/better-programming/introduction-to-the-basic-principles-of-functional-programming-in-javascript-6849ae196326 | [] | 2020-03-31 22:36:55.713000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Software Development', 'Coding', 'Functional Programming', 'Programming'] |
Other days | I look to the clouds for compassion,
the sun for a warm embrace.
Some days it feels the whole world is against me,
I feel the sadness drape itself around me like a weighted blanket.
The sun and the clouds have turned their backs on me,
and with that, I feel everyone has.
Some days I need to sit outside and feel the air dance in my lungs.
Some days I need to sit on the roof of a tall house so I don’t feel so small.
But other days, are better days.
Other days the sun gladly embraces me,
the clouds hold my cheeks and swirl my hair.
Other days my dog doesn't hesitate to snuggle next to me.
Other days my best friend reminds me of her pouring love for me.
There was a time when I thought there weren't other days.
I'm glad I stayed for them. | https://medium.com/@caithartley/other-days-4662e27a4a1b | ['Cait Hartley'] | 2020-12-25 02:40:35.214000+00:00 | ['Cloud', 'Heartfelt', 'Compassion'] |
Eaton Wi-Fi smart universal dimmer review: Great on paper, less thrilling in person | Eaton’s new Wi-Fi smart dimmer comes without one common component that is virtually ubiquitous across today’s smart home landscape: A mobile app. Aiming for a “frustration-free setup,” Eaton decided to rely on the Amazon Alexa app exclusively for setup and control.
In smart home reality, of course, there’s no such thing as “frustration free,” and while not needing to download, register, and configure yet another smart home app on my phone (I have more than 100 of them currently installed) was freeing, performance problems and a lack of flexibility ultimately hampered my enthusiasm for this device.
This review is part of TechHive’s coverage of the best smart switches and dimmers, where you’ll find reviews of competing products, plus a buyer’s guide to the features you should consider when shopping for this type of product.Let’s start with the hardware. The in-wall dimmer requires a neutral wire in the electrical box where it’s being installed, and it works with both single-pole and three-way installations (using either Eaton’s WACD accessory dimmer or a regular three-way switch). Paddles in three colors come with the switch, but a cover plate is not included (Eaton’s spec sheet indicates the dimmer is available in your choice of eight colors, including metallic finishes).
Christopher Null / IDG Eaton places screw terminals on three of the four sides of the device, making wiring a bit complex.
Wiring attaches via covered screw terminals, which are located on three of the four sides of the device. This makes getting everything connected a bit of a challenge, but it’s not as daunting as many switches I’ve tested. I inadvertently mixed up the line and load wires the first time out—it’s tricky because the wiring labels are on the backside of the device, where they’re hard to see—but otherwise the hardware installation was straightforward.
[ Further reading: The best smart plugs ] Mentioned in this article Leviton Decora Smart Voice Dimmer with Amazon Alexa (model DWVAA) Read TechHive's reviewSee it Physical controls include a standard button-style push pad for on/off operations and a slim, separate paddle on the right-hand side for dimming. A column of seven white LEDs on the left-hand side indicates the brightness level of the dimmer, cascading up and down when the lights are activated or turned off. There’s no mechanism to disable these LEDs, and they also illuminate when the switch is having trouble connecting to the network.
Christopher Null / IDG With no official app to configure, all interaction is done via Alexa—either the app or voice commands.
Once the dimmer is wired, the next step is as promised to turn to Wi-Fi (2.4GHz only) and the Alexa app to continue setup. You can search for the devices within the Alexa app, or just say to a nearby Echo to “add new devices,” though note that you do not need Echo hardware to use the app with the dimmer.
Initial registration completed without complaint, but from there I experienced more than a few hiccups with the dimmer, driven primarily by frequent and erratic disconnections from my Wi-Fi network. I installed the switch only 25 feet from an access point and had a strong Wi-Fi signal nearby, but time and time again the dimmer would become unresponsive, both to Alexa voice commands and the Alexa app, after disconnecting from the network abruptly.
Eaton Eaton’s Wi-Fi smart product line consists of an in-wall dimmer, dimmer accessory, switch, and outlet.
Eventually the dimmer would return—often within a few minutes—and allow me to interact with it for a short while before dropping offline again. On many occasions the dimmer would appear to be online and working, but would then stutter when commands were sent to it, sometimes taking 10 to 15 seconds to respond to a verbal on/off command. These patterns were played out repeatedly over the course of a week of testing, and I never found any rhyme or reason to its behavior.
Eaton’s smart dimmer is definitely priced on the high end even against name-brand products in this category, particularly since you need to provide your own wall plate. And while Eaton’s Wi-Fi smart product line also includes a switch and an outlet, other large manufacturers have broader plays in this space. Leviton, for example, offers a smart ceiling fan controller, a smart dimmer with an integrated Alexa-compatible smart speaker, and various plug-in products, too.
It’s possible Eaton’s product work better for other users than it did for me, it’s also worth noting that being tied to the Alexa app really doesn’t offer much flexibility to the end user. Firmware updates? Ability to customize LED behavior? These kind of features, which would normally be part of an official app, are nowhere to be found because Alexa just doesn’t support them. Perhaps it’s good news then that Eaton is indeed working on its own app—though it will be completely optional, of course.
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/@sarah78559832/eaton-wi-fi-smart-universal-dimmer-review-great-on-paper-less-thrilling-in-person-d09a8fee2631 | [] | 2020-12-25 02:52:20.597000+00:00 | ['Streaming', 'Music', 'Chargers', 'Cord'] |
Bicycle Gourmet’s French Wine Vine — Part One | French Wine Grapes
When someone says: “French”…..what’s the first second word that comes to mind? “Fashion?” Maybe. “Film?” Uh,could be.”WINE?” Yes sir, you betcha! That be the first,second word describing France. How could it not be with vines covering so much of the “terroir?”
From time to time France gives the World a movie/music star/sports hero. But the “gift” of French wine is constant and(happily)consistent. (Curiously,the World’s premier wine magazine is American.)
On the World markets, French wine faces stiff competition from producers in other countries. Many of whom are either French,and/or have adopted the French model. Regardless of taste/price,there is one element French wines have that World wines do not.Authenticity.
Because of A.O.C.(Appelation Origine Controle) — The government system of wine designation/control.
This “fidelity”to a specific location means that a Pinot Noir from Beaune,must be produced from those grapes alone,and grown within the Beaune appellation. This assures the consumer that this pinot is an authentic reflection of Beaune’s soil and climate.
World wines,on the other hand,have no such restrictions. And because wine is such a huge business, the Multinationals who churn out container carloads plus o’ vino,focus on the taste/price balance,relative to each market. And,if their grapes in any year are not “ab/fab”,they’ll be “enhanced” in the cellar.(“Better drinking through chemisty”…….NOT!)
There is even a wine producers “hotline” offering market specific additive info. “OK — So you want to produce a Chardonnay for low end Japanese consumers..Since they like a banana flavor on the finish,you need to add yeast b-957.”
Happily, if you do detect a nuance of banana in your French Savignon, you can rest assured, thanks more to tradition than A.O.C, it’s the real deal.
Although Italy produces more wine by volume than France, the adjective -“Quality” is synonymous with French Wine in the popular imagination.
The Bottom (and obvious)line: Every Country has wines of varying degrees of “quality” — however you wish to define the word.
One wine that fits MY definition of quality is produced by Domaines Tatin.
You can join their wine harvest HERE. | https://medium.com/@bicyclegm/bicycle-gourmets-french-wine-vine-part-one-8e4355b133a3 | ['Christopher Strong The Bicycle Gourmet'] | 2021-01-21 11:01:31.944000+00:00 | ['France', 'Wine', 'French Wine', 'Travel', 'Paris'] |
Making a monster | Ray Dillahunty stands next to the largest Audrey II puppet used for the production of ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ at the Port Aransas Community Theatre on Tuesday, Nov. 9. Dillahunty designed and built the puppet for the show. Staff photo by Graysen Golter.
For audiences at the Port Aransas Community Theatre’s (PACT) production of “Little Shop of Horrors,” the monster Audrey II is an R&B-singing, man-eating plant that frightens and entertains all at once.
Behind the scenes, the four puppets used for the plant are a testament to over a year of hard work, practice and ingenuity by more than a dozen people.
The show opened on Thursday, Nov. 4, after the PACT was closed for more than a year due to COVID-19.
Director Ken Yarbrough said the largest puppet exceeded his expectations and that the people behind it are to be commended for their work, ranking it as high as the dragon created for PACT’s production of “Shrek the Musical.”
“That dragon is legendary,” he said. “It had eyes that lit up, it had smoke that came out of its nostrils. It was the best piece that we had ever had on the stage… until Audrey II. Couldn’t be happier. (During shows,) there’s an audible gasp from the audience, then they laugh and they clap. That’s real rewarding when you know that you have done something right.”
Ray Dillahunty works on the frame of one of the Audrey II puppets used for the production of ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ at the Port Aransas Community Theatre in early September. Courtesy photo.
The crew members behind the puppets are Ray Dillahunty and Rick Adams, puppet design and builders; Laura and John Garcia, puppet artwork and Justin Revels, Raina Smith, Aubree Boyer, and Tammy Weidemann, puppeteers. Actor Tre Minor provided the vocals for the character. Volunteers who consistently have helped with the puppets include John Krampitz, Scott Collins and Ed Tobia, Dillahunty said.
Dillahunty said there wasn’t much of a blueprint to work from when designing the puppets, but the delay the coronavirus put on the production allowed him to get creative and use unconventional means to put the Audrey IIs together.
One example is a playground slide that he got from a junkyard, using it for actors to go down when Audrey II “eats” them. Others include using a store- bought Easter egg to mold one of the smaller puppet’s mouth around and making teeth out of bits of a swim noodle.
“This, by far, is the most complicated contraption I’ve made,” he said of the largest puppet. “The best quote Rick ever said was, ‘It’s like building an airplane in midair.’ It’s just a hell of a lot of thinking out of the box.”
The largest puppet is about 4 feet wide and 6 feet long, Dillahunty said, and about 11 feet tall when it reclines into its resting position. In order to make its mouth open and close, puppeteers stand inside the mouth, behind a dark veil, while pushing and pulling two handles.
Minor had been an actor since 2006 before Yarbrough offered him the role of Audrey II in June 2021.
The role wasn’t as simple as talking and singing, Minor said, because he had to coordinate with the puppeteers to make sure the plant’s voice and mouth aligned.
One technique the puppeteers employed was memorizing Minor’s lines, he said. Meanwhile, he would practice the same line with different inflections so that he could react to the puppeteers’ movements.
“ It was a bucket- list role… (and) this is probably right at the top,” Minor said. “Playing Audrey (II) definitely has probably been one of the biggest roles that… I’ve had the opportunity to play.”
For artists Laura and John Garcia, the show was the first time they had ever gotten involved with PACT. While others handled the mechanics and structure of the puppets, the two said they enjoyed being responsible for the aesthetics and making Audrey II look “real” through painting and airbrushing.
“It was awesome,” Laura said. “I’ve seen (the puppets) grow from a piece of plaster… to this real-life thing on stage.”
Check out this edition of the South Jetty for future showtimes of the musical that ends its run on Sunday, Nov. 21. | https://medium.com/@graysengolter/making-a-monster-c14fcc45a332 | ['Graysen Golter'] | 2022-01-27 17:33:33.648000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Theatre', 'Journalism', 'Graysen Golter', 'Port Aransas'] |
Does your website push visitors away or does it convince them to work with you? | Framing your solutions in your buyers’ world is a very effective twist. No matter what you’re selling, it just works. Here’s what I mean:
Instead of writing “We have 70 fulfillment centers in 20 countries,” write “You’ll cut your warehousing costs in half when you take advantage of our supply chain’s infrastructure.”
Instead of writing “Our retirement solution will help you reach your retirement goals,” write, “Have the income you need to retire the way you want with our retirement funds.”
Instead of writing “Our cloud-based solution is designed using storage and networking from leading infrastructure providers,” write “Your website will let shoppers buy from you how, and when they want.”
Do you see the difference? The second option/version re-frames your solution using the buyers’ goals as the result that you are also going after. You need to practice framing it correctly, but doing this correctly will completely change the interactions with your prospects. (question 3)
Also, make sure that it’s easy to buy your product or service. Nobody wants to feel lost and not knowing what to do. The same is true for your website visitors, try to make it as easy as possible to buy. You can do this by explaining what they need to, it can be as simple as that.
Make an easy-to-follow plan for the buyer to follow. Explain every step of the buying process. Tell what the buyer can expect after they bought from you, let them know every step of the way to keep them updated on the process. The more you can explain what’s going to happen the better, but don’t overdo it by sending them 10 emails even before they receive the product. Keep the steps simple and clear, explain what’s going to happen and inform them the best you can.
Or you can make it even easier, by including a ‘buy button’. When the prospect clicks this button, he or she will be sent to a form or cart where they can finish the buying process. Or you can do like me, and include an explanation and a buy button on your website. Keep in mind that I sell a service and not a product, so this tactic might not work for you. (question 4)
Conclusion
Please, go ahead and examine your website and pretend that you a first-time visitor who is looking for answers. Pretend that you have looked at other websites before, but you are not convinced by them. You have a rough idea of what you want, but you are looking for that website where you feel that you are understood. A product or service that will help you get what you are looking for because they understand the problem you face and what the result of this problem is. | https://medium.com/swlh/does-your-website-push-visitors-away-or-does-it-convince-them-to-work-with-you-8ca66305f32b | ['Eric Jan Huizer'] | 2019-11-26 23:16:43.927000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Business Development', 'Work', 'Business Strategy', 'Connection'] |
Hooper vs Hoopster — Basketball Player Evolution | Say Hi to Hooper — mascot of the NBA team “Detroit Pistons”
Whilst browsing Facebook I read the below discourse that infuriated me. It is such an offensive foul, I felt someone needed a good swat.
Dennis’s comments are typical of those teachers we all suffered from — those arrogant and condescending “know it alls”…who love to put others “in their place”. So…
Smackdown* time!
FAO: Dennis Young Sr.
As a retired teacher myself I find your comments embarrassing beyond belief. The arrogance you display is beyond words…or maybe not, I’ll give it a try:
You of all people (being a teacher of English!) should know that language evolves through common usage.
Whilst 'Hoopster' has been around since 1915, 'Hooper' — as you are about to discover —has begun to replace it in common usage, since at least 1996.
'Hooper' is not a “made up word" as you stated.
Furthermore, regarding your belief that it is not a slang word equivalent to 'Hoopster', again, you are incorrect; I present evidence below. Like any rational person, as new evidence is presented, I encourage you to adjust your beliefs.
For instance, your beliefs about dictionaries.
FYI the Oxford English Dictionary (from OU Press) is the official arbiter of the English Language, with etymology going back over a 1000 years. For words to be added/updated in the OED there is a very rigorous academic process applied (unlike MW).
I expect you don’t know that MW has been known to use online polls to add new words! WTH?! That’s a foul if ever I saw one.
MW is most definitely not a good reference source, as you can see here:
https://waronpants.net/.../why-i-dont-use-the-merriam.../
*They added Smackdown. Hilarious.
MW also deletes words regularly. Another foul.
The OED never, ever deletes a word. It is thus more than a dictionary — it is the history of our language.
Etymology of Hoopster and Hooper
As you correctly stated in your first comment, originally the term was “cagers”, but this was only for the first few decades of the sport (since the game was most often played inside a cage, as I expect you know).
The game evolved, as did the word used to refer to players.
It continues to evolve today.
As already pointed out by Michael, the word Hooper was originally a profession (a Cooper’s assistant); the OED first citing is in 1552.
‘Hooper’ is an old-fashioned term that fell out of general use, as Coopers (kūpe ‘cask’, middle Dutch/German) started to take over the work of their assistants (the Hoopers). By the time basketball was invented (1891), the term Hooper was likely already old-fashioned and out of use; thus the term ‘Cooper’ would have been more commonly used for anyone making baskets/casks/barrels.
Thus contrary to what Michael Zaracostas claimed, using “Hoopster” to refer to players is not because of the link to the profession of basket/cask/barrel making — since Hooper was already out of common use by then (1891).
If Michael was correct, then it likely would have been “Coopsters” ;)
So where did “Hoopsters” originate?
In 1902, the out of bounds rule in basketball was abolished, and so cages — which had been added to instantly return the ball into play — went into decline (even though they had tended to only be used in the North East). So as cages disappeared it made no sense to continue to call the players ‘cagers’, and it started to fall out of use. Basketball culture was ripe for a new slang word to refer to players…
The crucial turning point came in 1906, when the baskets were replaced by metal hoops in front of backboards. So as the game evolved, naturally ‘cagers’ began to be replaced by wider usage of the term ‘hoopsters’….and if wider usage of ‘hooper’ continues today, as it appears to be doing, it will soon supplant ‘hoopsters’.
The earliest recorded use of ‘hoopsters’ is 1915, a mere 9 years after hoops replaced baskets:
“Tables Turned By Aggies On B.Y. Hoopsters” — The Logan Republican [Logan, UT] 23 February 1915
The Merriam-Webser entry for ‘Hoopster’ incorrectly states the first use was 1934. So don’t trust everything it says!
As a point of interest, the word ‘hipster’ was not in general use until the 1930’s, so ‘Hoopster’ even predates that. Take note that hipster no longer has its original meaning.
Furthermore, Dennis, being an English teacher, you should know that there can be many slang terms for the same thing; and simply because a dictionary does not reference the term, does not mean that it is not in common use; nor that it is a made up word.
Herewith some evidence of modern usage:
2018: “Hoopers” vs “Basketball Players”
2011: Rice University entry for “Hooper”
It’s pretty clear that the word Hooper is replacing Hoopster.
Why might that be?
For the same reason language has always evolved — culture shift. It feels old-fashioned in the world of Bloggers, Youtubers, Tweeters and TikTokers.
I’d happily place a bet that MW will have an entry soon enough…then you can come back and edit your comment.
Finally, I think you should recognise that whilst there are lots of hoopers,
there is only ONE Hooper — the team mascot of NBA team the Detroit Pistons. Hooper was ‘born’ March 3, 1996.
Go Hooper!
Hooper might be made up, but he’s got a real name, a Proper noun, derived from a real noun. Your dictionary, like all dictionaries, is behind the times, due to the time needed to ‘accept’ a word as official.
Kinda like you, sir. | https://medium.com/@richardmcsharry/hooper-vs-hoopster-basketball-player-evolution-17deb33f1597 | ['Richard Mcsharry'] | 2020-12-24 16:51:10.194000+00:00 | ['Basketball', 'Hooper'] |
The Murder of George Floyd & How to be an Ally Against Racism | The murder of George Floyd has rocked America. The 46-year-old unarmed black man died in police custody, as a white officer handcuffed and kneeled on Floyd’s neck for several minutes, despite saying that he could not breathe. The initial issue arose when a grocery store clerk thought he cashed in a fake $20 bill. However, we all remember Dylan Roof, the 26-year-old white supremacist who was arrested for killing nine churchgoers but was taken to lunch by the arresting policemen. And more recently, the COVID-19 protesters who occupied a state building in Michigan with firearms, but were left to protest.
Photo by Nicole Baster on Unsplash
There is a lot to unpack from this tragic death, but the one thing I can do as a non-black person is educate others and use my platform, my privilege and my power to help. Racism exists within a hierarchal structure with power at its core. Racism only works because one group has power and other groups do not. It is white people who possess such power thanks to centuries of Eurocentric beliefs and structures that continue to place whiteness as the cultural standard. If you, as a white person, can listen to the likes of Stormzy or Dave and preach about your love for black culture, you can open your eyes and do something to create change.
‘Black Lives Matter’ has been given this striking name for a reason
If the movement was called ‘All Lives Matter’, and let me be clear on this: George Floyd would be alive, the late Ahmaud Arbery who was killed on a jog would also be alive, and so would many other unarmed black people. The white people who reply to this movement with ‘No, all lives matter’ are wrong for many reasons and you can see why in German Lopez’s article on the subject. But the main reason why ‘Black Lives Matter’ is not because they matter more than white people’s: it’s because they matter less to begin with. It is a fact that all lives matter; that is a fact of life, we do not need to say it. The fact is that BLACK LIVES MATTER precisely because many in the world believe, and act upon, the premise that black lives DO NOT matter. This is the definition of racism.
Photo by Josh Hild on Unsplash
Do Not Sit in Silence
Desmund Tutu said “ If you are neutral in situations of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppressor”. No one is disputing the videos, photos and narrative surrounding George Floyd is distressing. No one is saying police officers are like this, or that white people are racist. But you need to understand something, if white people truly think police officers choose justice over order every single time, and you do not speak up because you ‘do not wanting to get political’, you are contributing to the oppression that still happens. You can say a lot with a little: share, like and retweet a quote, speak up about what has happened or just do better to avoid it happening again. If you do not, the unheard stories, the sadness, the pain and the grief of every single victim, family member and black person in this world will continue to live in fear. If we went around only seeing things from our own innocent eyes, the world would never change.
Why do White People Need to Speak up for the Black People?
White people often say “I don’t see their colour, I just see the person” or “But I have a black friend”. There lies the inherent flaw: if you do not feel you have to voice what is going because it does not affect you, that is your white privilege PROTECTING you. Just like my second point, if you believe all police officers and white people are not discriminatory, that is your white privilege not having to fear being killed for the colour of your skin. I saw a very blindingly true TikTok, where she accurately explained how white people fear going to prison but black people fear losing their lives. Therefore, white people’s dislike for officers will never be the same as black peoples because the colour of a white person’s skin is a shield that automatically protects them.
Photo by Josh Hild on Unsplash
So, I now address all white people directly: stop being blind to the truth. Be better, speak up so you are heard on behalf of the black community because the only way out of injustice is for the white people to scream it because we will not get killed for it.
Words by Polly Dale | https://medium.com/the-indiependent/the-murder-of-george-floyd-how-to-be-an-ally-against-racism-c5b1e2a7b75e | ['Polly Dale'] | 2020-06-01 11:11:44.442000+00:00 | ['Opinion', 'Police Brutality', 'George Floyd', 'White Privilege', 'BlackLivesMatter'] |
Serverless number crunching | General architecture
For high flexibility of our front end we will use quasi static web site. The “ quasi static” means that it does not have any server-side rendering, and only uses minimum client side javascript to query the API and update graphs. This allows to have very simple and fast front end. Regarding hosting — anything will do if it allows javascript. A storage on Amazon S3 with web-hosting option enabled for the bucket will suffice(see static hosting on S3).
Since we took graphics and UI off the backend, the only tasks it has are to ingest the input, crunch the numbers and provide response. AWS lambda function can do all of that, as long as we fit within its limitations. Benefits include high scalability, no need to maintain servers, and Lambda Free tier (which unlike general AWS free tier is available not only to the new users and does not expire after 1 year). The key question is whether your application fits into lambda use case, and since we are talking about actual number crunching, and not just querying pickled ML model — it is not always the case. So, what are the main limitations? Here are the most important:
Limitation on execution time of 900 seconds (beware default value is only 3 seconds, my benchmark code hits that limit rather easily )
Memory limits 128 to 3008 Mb
Dependencies (default runtime has almost no packages preinstalled, managing dependencies is a bit of a hassle, max deployment package 250 Mb unzipped)
Full list of limitations on AWS
By default AWS Lambda Python runtime includes a bare minimum of libraries. Anything that does any simulation using Python will likely require some of the common libraries such as numpy, Scipy or ML libraries like scikit-learn, pyTorch etc.
Getting dependencies work on AWS lambda is not as straightforward as on some other platforms like Azure or GCP, where a simple requirements.txt will do the job.
On AWS you either need to provide locally installed libraries or use available through lambda layers. For the locally installed option you will need to provide libraries in a zipped folder together with the rest of your code. Make sure that the folder size limitation of 256 Mb is respected, and your code and dependencies run smooth with the rest of the lambda runtime environment.
The best way of doing so is to download a docker image of amazon Linux and test everything in there. This topic is well covered by some other authors (a basic instruction , more comprehensive versions with a bit more of Docker)
We will follow simpler approach with lambda layers. Layers are prebuild bundles of dependencies, and if you use ones from AWS itself, they are guaranteed to run smooth with the rest of the runtime. If a single layer does not cover your needs you can use up to five. With our approach of leaving only number crunching in the lambda function the list of our dependencies can be reduced to a workable minimum. More on layers can be found in this introduction post.
In this example I consider a code that tracks time evolution of some Markovian process, where each object in state n has probabilities to either remain as is or change to states n-1 or n+1. We are looking at the time evolution in the population of states in an ensemble of such objects.
From this general description you see that this is a very common task, which may describe anything, from a chemical reaction to a balance between species in an ecosystem.
In my particular case it is a process called charge breeding, and it is found in large research labs working on nuclear physics around the globe such as CERN (CH), Brookhaven National Lab(NY, US) and a few more. It is not important to understand the AWS part, just bragging :)
What is important is that from the description we see that the full extent of required libraries is quite limited and numpy for arrays handling and Scipy for solving differential equations are the only things we need.
This combo is readily available as a single layer on AWS as AWSLambda-Python37-SciPy1x layer for Python 3.7 runtime, for example.
Finally, we will need to bind the lambda function to our front end. Though lambdas can be called by a direct API call, this will require AWS credentials and in standard practice lambdas are called by other AWS events, such as CloudWatch alarms, or in this type of situation by a dedicated AWS service — API Gateway. API Gateway allows you to access your lambda by a simple http request such as GET, POST and get a response.
After all our architecture looks as follows:
Detailed application scheme, drawn by author
Front end is hosted in an S3 bucket, and uses jquery to talk to API endpoint, Bokeh to plot graphs and bootstrap to put our UI in a column based flexible layout. I use optional AWS route 53 to provide DNS alias to the bucket, but for test purposes a meaningful S3 bucket name is as good.
Then we have API gateway to bind together front end and back end. And finally in the back end we have our code that does main simulations, raw data in elements.json and a file with lambda function handler. All loaded as a zipped folder. Dependencies are met through a single lambda layer with numpy and scipy. | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/serverless-number-crunching-cefbfe42d1c3 | ['Andrey Shornikov'] | 2020-12-31 16:52:16.817000+00:00 | ['AWS', 'AWS Lambda', 'Python'] |
What is Actually Happening in Online Retail During COVID-19? | What is Actually Happening in Online Retail During COVID-19?
Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash
The general perception is that online retail has increased during the last few months during the Coronavirus Pandemic.
It feels like everyone is trying to buy groceries online especially so when you realise that there is no delivery slot to your area for two weeks.
There is very little option for purchasing clothes anywhere else which is becoming more and more necessary as the seasons change to what seems to be a very hot summer in the northern hemisphere and a cold winter in the southern.
But what is really happening, it is always useful for online sales management service in the UK and indeed anyone associated with e-commerce to know what has changed in online retail and to what extent people have deliberately purchased products through online platforms instead of offline specifically during the coronavirus pandemic.
Statista has been conducting a daily coronavirus pandemic survey which can assist in giving us a snapshot of how patterns of online purchasing have changed in the UK.
The specific question that was asked was “Have you deliberately purchased any of these products or services online instead of offline because of the COVID-19 / coronavirus pandemic?”
So, this provides insights to offline sales management services and online sales management services in the UK on the extent to which purchasing behavior has changed.
This data does not include those people who were already purchasing these items online so what this points towards is the potential growth in online purchasing platforms.
In the UK people who chose to change from online to offline purchasing did so mostly for their grocery shopping needs, there was a 32% increase in people using online platforms to fulfil their shopping needs.
Therefore, more people feel comfortable choosing online options for food and drink delivery rather than going into shops.
Going online for clothing, restaurant deliveries and hygiene products all saw a more than 20% increase.
The choice of people to change from offline to online purchasing differs slightly across the globe.
If the UK experience is compared to the USA and Germany then people in the UK are more likely to change their patterns particularly when compared to those in Germany, with 43% saying that they did not deliberately change to online shopping.
More people in the UK also chose to change to online options for groceries than in the other comparison countries but those in the USA are more likely to change their purchasing patterns for takeaway food deliveries.
The deliberate change to online clothing purchasing is similar across the comparison probably due to the similarity in the majority of clothing shops being closed.
What will be interesting for any sales enablement companies in the UK is whether these new customers to online platforms can be retained and whether the converts will continue to deliberately choose to shop online, a lot of this will depend on the strategies of e-commerce businesses.
The question that people will need to answer is whether the experience of shopping online is preferred to be going into a shop with all the new normal rigmarole.
Especially when it comes to those areas which have seen the most growth in the UK such as groceries, clothing and takeaways. It is interesting to note that 32% of people had deliberately made the decision not to change to online shopping and continued to do so offline, which means that they are either delaying their purchasing until all shops open or do not have the ability, skills or resources to access online shopping.
There is a definite trend of people changing their shopping habits; from going into a shop to an online click and purchase experience. | https://medium.com/@kemalsidar/what-is-actually-happening-in-online-retail-during-covid-19-18e1134a828f | ['Kemal Sidar'] | 2020-12-23 10:09:50.221000+00:00 | ['Retail', 'Ecommerce', 'Marketing', 'Sales', 'Amazon'] |
From pandas to PySpark | 1. Comparisons 🔎
Now, let’s look at the syntax comparisons between the two libraries. Throughout this section, only PySpark outputs will be shown to keep the post less cluttered.
📍 1.1. Basics
Both libraries’ data objects are called DataFrame: pandas DataFrame vs PySpark DataFrame. Let’s import the data and check its shape:
# 🐼 pandas
df = pd.read_csv('penguins.csv')
df.shape # 🎇 PySpark
df = spark.read.csv('penguins.csv', header=True, inferSchema=True)
df.count(), len(df.columns)
When importing data with PySpark, the first row is used as a header because we specified header=True and data types are inferred to a more suitable type because we set inferSchema=True . If you are curious, try importing without these options and inspect the DataFrame and its data type (similar to pandas, you can check data types using df.dtypes for PySpark DataFrames).
Unlike pandas DataFrame, PySpark DataFrame has no attribute like .shape . So to get the data shape, we find the number of rows and columns separately.
Now, let’s check high level information about the data:
# 🐼 pandas
df.info() # 🎇 PySpark
df.printSchema()
While this method doesn’t give identical output to df.info() , it’s one of the closest built-in methods. Time to look at the head of the data:
# 🐼 pandas
df.head() # 🎇 PySpark
df.show(5)
By default, df.show() will show 20 rows if there are more than 20 rows. PySpark DataFrame actually has a method called .head() . Running df.head(5) provides output like this:
Output from .show() method is more succinct so we will be using .show() for the rest of the post when viewing top rows of the dataset. Now let’s look at how to select columns:
# 🐼 pandas
df[['island', 'mass']].head(3) # 🎇 PySpark
df[['island', 'mass']].show(3)
While we can use almost pandas-like syntax here, the following version of snippets are probably more common for selecting columns in PySpark:
df.select('island', 'mass').show(3)
df.select(['island', 'mass']).show(3)
📍 1.2. Filtering
Let’s look at how to filter the data based on a condition:
# 🐼 pandas
df[df['species']=='Gentoo'].head() # 🎇 PySpark
df[df['species']=='Gentoo'].show(5)
The syntax is almost the same between the two libraries. To get the same output, we can also use:
df.filter(df['species']=='Gentoo').show(5) df.filter("species=='Gentoo'").show(5)
Below shows a few common filter comparisons:
# 🐼 pandas
2a df[df['species'].isin(['Chinstrap', 'Gentoo'])].head()
3a df[df['species'].str.match('G.')].head()
4a df[df['flipper'].between(225,229)].head()
5a df[df['mass'].isnull()].head() 1b df.loc[df['species']!='Gentoo'].head()
2b df[~df['species'].isin(['Chinstrap', 'Gentoo'])].head()
3b df[-df['species'].str.match('G.')].head()
4b df[~df['flipper'].between(225,229)].head()
5b df[df['mass'].notnull()].head() 6 df[(df['mass']<3400) & (df['sex']=='Male')].head()
7 df[(df['mass']<3400) | (df['sex']=='Male')].head() # 🎇 PySpark
2a df[df['species'].isin(['Chinstrap', 'Gentoo'])].show(5)
3a df[df['species'].rlike('G.')].show(5)
4a df[df['flipper'].between(225,229)].show(5)
5a df[df['mass'].isNull()].show(5) 1b df[df['species']!='Gentoo'].show(5)
2b df[~df['species'].isin(['Chinstrap', 'Gentoo'])].show(5)
3b df[~df['species'].rlike('G.')].show(5)
4b df[~df['flipper'].between(225,229)].show(5)
5b df[df['mass'].isNotNull()].show(5) 6 df[(df['mass']<3400) & (df['sex']=='Male')].show(5)
7 df[(df['mass']<3400) |(df['sex']=='Male')].show(5)
While both ~ and - work as a negation in pandas, only ~ works as a valid negation in PySpark.
📍 1.3. Sorting
Let’s sort the data and inspect 5 rows with smallest mass:
# 🐼 pandas
df.nsmallest(5, 'mass') # 🎇 PySpark
df[df['mass'].isNotNull()].orderBy('mass').show(5)
Pandas' .nsmallest() and .nlargest() methods sensibly excludes missing values. However, PySpark doesn’t have equivalent methods. To get the same output, we first filter out the rows with missing mass, then we sort the data and inspect the top 5 rows. If there was no missing data, syntax could be shortened to: df.orderBy(‘mass’).show(5) .
Let’s look at another way of sorting using .sort() instead of .orderBy() :
# 🐼 pandas
df.nlargest(5, 'mass') # 🎇 PySpark
df.sort('mass', ascending=False).show(5)
These variations of the syntax also work:
df.sort(df['mass'].desc()).show(5)
df.orderBy('mass', ascending=False).show(5)
df.orderBy(df['mass'].desc()).show(5)
We can sort by multiple columns as follows:
# 🐼 pandas
df.sort_values(['mass', 'flipper'], ascending=False).head() # 🎇 PySpark
df.orderBy(['mass', 'flipper'], ascending=False).show(5)
In PySpark, you can get away without the list like this: df.orderBy(‘mass’, ‘flipper’, ascending=False).show(5) . To sort by multiple columns but in different directions:
# 🐼 pandas
df.sort_values(['mass', 'flipper'], ascending=[True, False]).head() # 🎇 PySpark
df[df['mass'].isNotNull()]\
.sort('mass', 'flipper', ascending=[True, False]).show(5)
Here’s an alternative:
df[df['mass'].isNotNull()]\
.orderBy(df['mass'].asc(), df['flipper'].desc()).show(5)
📍 1.4. Aggregation
Now, let’s look at a few examples to aggregate data. Simple aggregation can be done very similarly as follows:
# 🐼 pandas
df.agg({‘flipper’: ‘mean’}) # 🎇 PySpark
df.agg({'flipper': 'mean'}).show()
When looking at multiple aggregations, we will need to approach differently:
# 🐼 pandas
df.agg({'flipper': ['min', 'max']}) # 🎇 PySpark
from pyspark.sql import functions as F
df.agg(F.min('flipper'), F.max('flipper')).show()
To get distinct values in a column:
# 🐼 pandas
df['species'].unique() # 🎇 PySpark
df.select('species').distinct().show()
To get a number of distinct values in a column:
# 🐼 pandas
df['species'].nunique() # 🎇 PySpark
df.select('species').distinct().count()
📍 1.5. Aggregation by group
By now, you may have noticed PySpark uses camelCase for the methods and functions. This is true for .groupBy() as well. Here’s a simple group by aggregation example:
# 🐼 pandas
df.groupby('species')['mass'].mean() # 🎇 PySpark
df.groupBy('species').agg({'mass': 'mean'}).show()
Here’s an example aggregating multiple selected columns:
# 🐼 pandas
df.groupby(‘species’).agg({‘flipper’: ‘sum’, ‘mass’: ‘mean’}) # 🎇 PySpark
df.groupBy('species').agg({'flipper': 'sum', 'mass': 'mean'}).show()
If we don’t specify a column, it will show stats for all numerical columns:
# 🐼 pandas
df.groupby('species').mean() # 🎇 PySpark
df.groupBy('species').mean().show()
We can also substitute .mean() with .avg() as well. In other words, we can use df.groupBy(‘species’).avg().show() .
That was it for this post! Hope you find these comparisons useful and learned a bit about PySpark syntax. As you may have noticed, there are quite a bit of similarities between the two libraries when it comes to basic tasks. This makes it easier to get started on PySpark for those who have working knowledge in pandas. | https://towardsdatascience.com/from-pandas-to-pyspark-fd3a908e55a0 | ['Zolzaya Luvsandorj'] | 2021-09-06 07:53:17.899000+00:00 | ['Big Data', 'Python', 'Data Science', 'Pyspark', 'Pandas'] |
Postmortem | On 9–04–2021 PDT at midnight, our company released a new project where there were issues. We were tasked with finding the cause of the problem by the end of 14–04–2021. This is the postmortem of that bug.
The Service Interruption
A WordPress website, running on a LAMP stack, was returning a 500 status code to all get requests. The website itself is a simple HTML page, but a problem with MySQL or PHP can still disable the website.
Timeline
9–11–2021, 12:00 am PDT, Project released.
9–12–2021, 12:00 pm, Begin working on a project with Madison Burke, with help from Mitali Sengupta and Victor Nguyen. Notice missing error logs.
9–12–2021, 12:30 pm, Error logging has been enabled and ‘no such file’ error is seen.
9–12–2021, 12:40 pm, typo is manually fixed and requests return 200 status code.
9–12–2021, 1:53 pm, Rough draft of Puppet code written.
9–12–2021, 5:56 pm PDT, Puppet code finalized.
The Bug
The first clue came from /var/log. Apache and MySQL both had error logs, but PHP’s was conspicuously missing. After enabling PHP’s various error configurations in /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini, I restarted the server and used the command curl localhost:80 , and the response stated an error on line 137 of the file /var/www/html/wp-settings.php. Going to the file, the line reads require_once( ABSPATH . WPINC . ‘/class-wp-locale.phpp’ ); , a clear typo.
The Solution
To fix this server, the file var/www/html/wp-settings.php can be changed directly, but if the issue exists on multiple servers a script will be handy. Here’s a Puppet script that accomplishes the task.
# fixes typo in config file
exec { ‘replaces line in config file’: command => ‘sed -i “s/.phpp/.php/g” /var/www/html/wp-settings.php’,
path => ‘/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin’,
onlyif => ‘test -f /var/www/html/wp-settings.php’
}
After implementing the solution, a get request returns a normal HTML page with a status code of 200.
Prevention
This is a very glaring error to find in production, so I assume this would likely be caused by someone manually changing one thing in a config file and accidentally changing something else. It’s also possible that a seemingly unrelated part of the program hosted on the server changes this config file as an unforeseen side effect. I would check other servers for the same bug, and implement more rigorous testing. | https://medium.com/@julianmendezw/postmortem-5cc1cc1a0980 | ['Julian Mendez'] | 2021-05-16 19:04:31.663000+00:00 | ['Debugging', 'Issues', 'PostMortem'] |
Good Catholic Boys: Reject thy Church | Good Catholic Boys: Reject thy Church
“A reminder that Catholics should not support LGBTQ ‘Pride Month’ events held in June. They promote a culture and encourage activities that are contrary to Catholic faith and morals. They are especially harmful to children.”
Thomas Tobin, Bishop of Rhode Island, on Twitter, June 1, 2019
I was a good Catholic boy, obedient and devout. Everyone thought I would become a priest, including me. Brainy and subservient, I would follow in the footsteps of my Franciscan uncles. But then I developed qualities anathema to the Catholic Church: curiosity and independence. So I eschewed the priestly life, and the security that the Church offers men like me became shackles of sin and shame, which I’ve spent the last fifty years unraveling. I can distill my evolution to four distinct moments in time, landmarks of my personal liberation. Doubt steered me away from the priesthood. Arrogance prompted me to leave the Church. Scandal triggered my rejection of the institution. And now Thomas Tobin’s judgmental — and blatantly false — tweet incites my personal rejection into public action. It is time to make this Church: history.
September 1969
A new year of CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine), which is a solemn name for teenage Sunday School. I am fourteen, eager beyond reason. Our teacher, Peter Stravinsky, a Diocesan Seminarian, is only five or six years older than me. He begins our instruction by extolling how a call to religious vocation is superior to all others. I wonder, perhaps, whether a doctor, a dentist, a farmer, even an architect, might make important contributions to the world; that the superior calling for each of us is the one that best suits our skills. I raise my hand and suggest this. I am shut down immediately and not called upon again. Peter’s surety, his superiority, is absolute. It also becomes the seed of my own doubt. I know, right then, that I will never be a priest, though I remain a steady practitioner of the faith.
May 1979
I am getting married! My fiancé is not Catholic. However, she agrees to be married by one of my uncle-priests. Our pre-Cana lessons are condensed into a weekend retreat: workshops, seminars, congregate meals, and communication-building sessions from dawn past midnight. Since Lisa doesn’t plan to convert, we are targeted as a ‘problem couple’. Men in black shadow us the entire weekend.
We survive the cultish proceedings, marriage plan intact. Then meet with my college chaplain to seal the deal. Father Moran explains that, as the true Catholic, I am required to sign a paper stating that I will raise our children in the faith. When I question this policy, the bearded Jesuit says, “No one can ever know how you raise your children. Just sign the paper.”
I always figured I would raise my children Catholic. But in that instant I realize how poorly my Church treats my chosen wife; what little faith their contract places in me, or in us. I am also shocked by my pastor’s moral shrift. I refuse to sign. I stop going to mass. The Catholic Church played me like a numbers game, gambling on bagging Lisa, or at least my unborn children. Instead, the Church lost me.
June 2002
Morning after morning The Boston Globe headline captures my eye. The sexual abuse by priests within the Archdiocese of Boston pollutes the news. People are appalled by the fallen vows and cover-ups, the abuse of young children, the abuse of power itself. I am less surprised. Any babe weaned on Catholicism knows that the Church is not a democracy; it doesn’t pretend to equate all humans. Priests are God’s intermediaries; they are better than the rest of us. The Church will never turn them out for something insignificant as diddling little boys.
I absorb the clerical abuse story, but try not to let it absorb me, until one morning when the headline proclaims a fresh rash of predatory behavior. I stop dead still. I stare at the newsprint. I begin to sweat. Was I abused?
I have no conscious memory of anything untoward during those sacred moments as an altar boy, after mass, in the sacristy, washing Father’s cruets, kneeling before him for his blessing, feeling the whiskey warmth of his breath on my tender shoulders. I am closer to God, through him. Still… If a priest ever touched me, I would have taken it as a special blessing. If a priest asked me to touch him, I would have considered it holy intervention. And if a priest told me this was our private secret, I would have felt our bond more deeply blessed.
I don’t believe I was ever abused. But I know for sure, that I would have interpreted the touch, the pain, as a spiritual experience. I would have accorded it the same sanctity as the confessional; I would have concealed it beyond that hallowed chamber.
That was the moment I stopped simply being a lapsed Catholic. I became anti-Catholic. I stopped calling the religious in my family ‘Father’ and ‘Sister’. I called them ‘Aunt’ and ‘Uncle,’ like all the rest. When they lectured me about my failing marriage, I lashed back, “You know nothing of marriage.” When they called out my sin of being an openly gay man, I replied, “This is how god made me.” When they chided me for sending my children to an urban public school, I shot back, “My children will be exposed to the full rage of life, not the propaganda of the Catholic Church.”
The last mass I ever attended was my mother’s funeral. She remained Catholic ’til the end, though I eulogized that her most generous gift was to love and support five children, all of whom left the Catholic Church. There’s a quirky logic to my generation abandoning the flock, as the Church abandoned us in kind. When my parents divorced after thirty-two years, my mother’s shame was so great that she spent a considerable sum to have her marriage annulled. At the Vatican, for a price, any lie can be scrubbed true. This good Catholic boy, whom everyone thought would one day become a priest, became a certified bastard.
June 2019
I don’t know why Thomas Tobin’s ugly, hurtful tweet triggered such a strong response in me. The Church has hurled hundreds, thousands, of judgmental directives to bring me to heel. But his is the one that made me understand that it is not enough to doubt, to leave, and to reject the Church. I must oppose it. I must help others oppose it. If the highest official in Rhode Island’s Catholic Church can spew such lies, I have a greater moral responsibility: to shout the truth back at him.
Before I came out I suffered depression and anxiety vomiting. I steered clear of ‘men who made me nervous.’ I knew the evil that nature planted within me; even though it took thirty-eight years to even utter its name. Too often, I weighed the relative weight of complementary sins. Ending my life would free me of homosexuality. Twice, the desire for extinction held sway, and though I am successful in many things, apparently suicide is not one of them.
At my tenth high school reunion, an old friend told me, “Of all the angry young men I know, you are the angriest.”
When I finally came out. I had long ago stopped going to mass. Now I stopped going to therapy, I stopped seeing friends from my previous life, I stopped being married. I also stopped being angry. I had nothing except the responsibility to raise two children, whose immediate needs saved me from drowning in emptiness. Always a latent learner, I started reading about others like me, I went to discussion groups, I sang in the chorus. By the time I finally kissed another man, all the shame had drained out of me. It was as pure and delectable as a kiss should be.
I became more patient, with my children, with my clients, with my fellow humans, even with myself. In fact, I became more patient with everyone. Except priests. My only insight into PTSD occurs when I encounter a Roman Collar. My heart speeds, my temperature rises, anger zooms. He might as well be wearing a Swastika armband or Klan hood; a Roman collar triggers that much wrath in me.
Which brings me back to Thomas Tobin’s tweet, posted twenty-five years after Boston’s clergy abuse scandal, two thousand years after a clever group of manipulators twisted Jesus’ message of human charity into a platform for power and privilege. Tobin’s hateful words make me realize that the Catholic Church will not change. The few who hold the power and the money will not loose their grip. Whatever good the Church may have done in the past is clouded by its inability to clean its own house, and its unwillingness to embrace and celebrate the variety of human conditions. Since the Church will not change, we must destroy it.
After Tobin’s tweet, hundreds of well-intentioned Rhode Islanders proclaimed that he does not speak for the Church, that the church is the community of God, that the Church can be reformed by working for change from within. I have three words for these good folks: You are wrong. Thomas Tobin is the appointed head of the Catholic Church in Rhode Island. When he speaks, he speaks for the Church.
If you sit in a pew at mass, you are affirming Thomas Tobin’s view. If you open your mouth to receive communion, you are abetting a bigoted Church that controls people through shame. And if you–god forbid–put even one dime in that collection basket, you are supporting an institution premised that a select few are better than all the rest of us, a church that will never capitulate that imbalance.
Bringing down the Roman Catholic Church will not be easy, but it isn’t all that hard either. The largest spiritual institution in the world has no army; it controls only a tiny parcel of land. The church will fall apart when we simply stop participating. Catholicism’s Catch-22 is that, although not a democracy, it is more dependent on direct participation than any nation state. The church cannot force you to attend; it cannot tax your tithe; you can leave without becoming a refugee.
The Church will not fall quickly; it’s richer than Midas and can sputter on for decades without further contributions. But if we stop listening to Thomas Tobin’s bilious lies, we make him impotent. If we scratch Pope Francis’ inspirational words to reveal he hasn’t instigated any real change, we expose him for what he really is: a clever spin master.
The more difficult aspect of bringing down the Church is: what will we have in its stead? We need faith. We need community. We need each other. How will we come together to create that, without the Church’s guiding hand? Without its mystery and satisfaction? Being churchless is lonely; I know this firsthand. But the true cross we have to bear is not trying to reform a church that will not change: it is to create a church that nourishes our spirit through love rather than edict.
The Awkward Pose’s byline is ‘Seeking balance in a world of opposing tension.’ I strive to acknowledge, even understand, all perspectives. But each of us has triggers that propel beyond moderation, and I do not maintain a balanced perspective on the Catholic Church, especially with regards to how it treats gays. The Catholic Church did more damage to me than any single person or influence in my life. Being an out gay man is the singular most positive step I ever took. I could not be my highest and best self until I threw aside the shackles of shame the Church piled on me. I am not interested in appeasing the Catholic Church. I want it gone. I want every Catholic to throw off whatever chains the Church uses to imprison them, and experience the wonder of a world liberated from this heinous institution.
__________
The images in this post are from Sacred Heart Church, a once substantial parish in my neighborhood that has closed its school and holds only two masses on Sunday. | https://paulefallon.medium.com/good-catholic-boys-reject-thy-church-fda033e562ed | ['Paul E. Fallon'] | 2019-06-05 17:59:31.950000+00:00 | ['LGBT', 'Catholic', 'Roman Catholic Church', 'Bishop Thomas Tobin', 'Gay Pride'] |
For the Executive: What to do When You’ve Been Dismissed | What should you do if you’ve been dismissed from your executive job?
You are (or were) an executive or senior staff member. Your employer has unceremoniously shown you the door. Maybe they’ve asked you to sign a deed, or perhaps they are about to.
Either way, what do you — the former executive — do?
This article explores the options open to executives and senior staff in Australia who are (or are about to be) dismissed from their employment.
Author: Farrah Motley, a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland
1. “The writing is on the wall”
Sometimes, it may become apparent to an executive that their employer is looking to ‘make a move’ long before the guillotine falls. If you have noticed that invitations to meetings have become less frequent, your direct report(s) seem to have more knowledge of key business matters than you, your decision-making powers have been dashed or some other fishy activity — this should be a red flag.
At this point, preparation is key. Those conversations that may seem innocuous — write a diary note about them. Those emails that may seem to hint at issues regarding your executive role or responsibilities — print them. Those job boards that seem to be advertising for a role with eerily similar duties to yours (albeit with a different job title) — save them.
All of these things may serve you well as evidence later down the track.
2. Do not sign anything or comment in writing
Don’t sign anything or provide any written comments to your employer. At least, not until you have spoken to a lawyer.
There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, being dismissed from a role you gave your heart and soul to can be emotional (to say the least!) and you may say things you will later come to regret. Secondly, you may inadvertently impact any legal claim you may later wish to bring, with disastrous consequences.
My tip? Play it cool. Ask questions, but don’t answer them.
If you can, write the answers down or follow up and confirm with your employer what they said to you in the meeting. Contemporaneous notes (that is, a record written around the time of an event) can be worth their weight in gold. This is particularly the case where the notes were shared and went unchallenged, and later any dispute with your employer becomes a ‘he said’ / ‘she said’ scenario.
3. Dust off your executive employment agreement
If you were considered a high income earner, your employment contract becomes ever more important. This is because if you earned over the high income threshold, you do not have the benefit of unfair dismissal protections under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).
Depending on the reasons for your dismissal and the way in which your employer went about the dismissal, you may seek to bring a claim for breach of your executive employment contract.
4. Consider your options
If you prefer the ‘all guns blazing’ approach, you may choose to bring a claim against your employer for:
adverse action; or breach of contract.
Not everyone wants their dismissal to be as public as ex Australia Post CEO, Christine Holgate. If that’s not your style or you want to minimise the personal toll of any potential legal action, you can seek to pursue an out-of-court settlement. Often, your employer will be the one seeking to keep your dismissal and any legal fallout ‘on the down-low’.
5. Seek legal advice
Let me say it again — seek legal advice! Employment law issues are very rarely straight forward. You need to make sure you have a qualified and experienced employment lawyer in your corner.
Time is of the essence, so it’s important to seek legal advice and seek it fast.
Luckily, we’re here to help! We can provide expert legal advice for executives.
Author: Farrah Motley | Legal Principal
PROSPER LAW — A Law Firm for Businesses
M: 0422 721 121
E: [email protected]
W: www.prosperlaw.com.au | https://medium.com/@prosperlawau/for-the-executive-what-to-do-when-youve-been-dismissed-f165f544c9b1 | ['Farrah Motley'] | 2021-06-17 21:36:59.040000+00:00 | ['Employment Law', 'Dismissal', 'Executive Employment', 'Executives', 'Employment'] |
Best Security System For Home Ft. Smith AR | 877.740.1411 | If you are considering a home security system, there are a few features that you need to take into consideration before buying a Ft. Smith Arkansas Home Security System. First of all, is the type of alarm system that you need. There are many different kinds available, so you want to choose one that best suits your needs and your home’s security requirements. For example, if you live alone or with small children, you will want to get a home alarm that alerts the police rather than just lighting up your home at night. In this article, we will help you determine what features are most important, and which ones you might not want to overlook.
Compere the Best Security Systems
Best ways to protect your home.
“There are many different ways to protect your home, but one of the best ways is a home security system. It’s important to note that this system isn’t just for older people who live alone. Even if you only have one alarm, or just a spare key, you can protect your home with the help of a home security system. Here are some of the best ways to protect your home with the help of a home security system.
When most people think of a home security system, they think of having a monitored alarm system. This is usually where you get burglar alarms installed. While this is definitely one of the best ways to protect your home, there are other types out there. One such alternative is a do-it-yourself home security system. It may not be as effective as a monitored system, but it can be just as reassuring if you’re going to be away from home for an extended period of time. Many homeowners go this route because it’s inexpensive and does not take much expertise to install.
If you don’t have a lot of money, you can go the cheap route and install wireless security cameras. These cameras can either be hooked up to a DVR, or recorded to a VCR tape. If you’re really worried about your home being protected, then opt for the latter. The recorded tapes can then be played at night, and are sure to wake the neighbors up! However, wireless cameras can also be an excellent way to keep an eye on your pets if you’re not home a lot.
The best ways to protect your home and your family from home invaders and burglars are to make your home as off-limits as possible. Unwind at home, watch a movie, go out with friends, avoid heavy traffic, and get away from the noise of the neighborhood. When you leave the house, close all of the doors and windows, and lock them so that no one can get in. This sounds pretty basic, but it’s incredibly effective at keeping thieves out, since they have nothing to steal from you while you’re not home.
If you feel like your home is already adequately secured, then it’s time to take it a step further. Invest in some smart home security products. Items such as DVRs (digital video recorder) and motion detectors are very effective ways to keep an eye on what’s happening in and around your home. A DVR can be used to film suspicious activity and even capture live video of anybody trying to gain access to your home or property. Motion detectors can prevent burglars from entering through cracks or doorways, and they can turn on lights in your home when you aren’t home.
Overall, the best ways to protect your home and family is to invest in a good home security system. These systems are designed with your safety in mind and can even alert you if someone is trying to break in while you’re not home. The most advanced systems can even tell you when your babysitter is in the home, and whether the food in your fridge is safe. With a quality security system, you can rest easy knowing that your home is safe from thieves, fire, and other dangers.”
Reliable Home Security Systems with the Latest Technology.
“When it comes to getting the most out of your home security system, there are a few things that you can do to make sure that you get the most protection possible. The first thing that you can do is to find a home security system that has the latest technology so that you can protect the most part of your home and not just the area around your home. The first thing that you will need to do is look into the various features that a home security system has to offer. For example, if you live in an area that has a lot of crime then you will want a home security system that has more than just smoke and fire detectors. A home security system can also come with a motion detector that will only activate when someone approaches the house.
It will be important to consider what part of your home you are protecting when choosing a home security system. This will make it easier for you to choose one that is going to work the best for you. You should also make sure that you get a home security system that comes with wireless so that you will not have to worry about hooking up wires throughout your home. The more that you can do to protect your home, the less likely it will be that you will have to worry about something happening to it.
Reliable home security systems with the latest technology are something that everyone should be taking advantage of. The most basic home security systems will cost you a bit of money but they are definitely worth every penny that you spend on them. If you have a burglar who is trying to break into your home or if you have an intruder who is threatening you then a home security system will help you keep yourself and your family safe. It can give you the peace of mind that you never had before. Make sure that you are getting a system that will offer you everything that you need.”
Carbon Monoxide Monitoring.
“Carbon monoxide monitoring for home security systems in the U.S. is becoming more commonplace. Carbon monoxide (CO) is a tasteless and odourless gas that can kill within hours from inhalation. Many people do not realise that their home may be a potential threat to their health, with CO being responsible for at least 70% of household fires. Carbon monoxide monitoring is used to detect any sign of trouble such as gas leakage or carbon monoxide leaks.
A typical home security system will include both CO monitors and smoke detectors. In the past home owners would have to manually switch the monitors on and off. The beauty of modern monitors is that they can be programmed to activate with a preset time, so if your house tends to burn early each morning then you can be alerted and manually turn on the monitors, before they are accidentally disabled by the ‘careful’ fire detection algorithms in your home security system! Carbon monoxide detection monitors can also act as an additional security precaution when choosing to leave televisions, DVD players etc plugged into the same network as the home security system (this can also be desirable if the home security system is used with CCTV). Carbon Monoxide Monitor/Detector — A portable device that automatically monitors the levels and presence of carbon monoxide in a given place.
When purchasing a carbon monoxide detector for the home you should consider a few factors. Ensure that the detector is easy to use. Make sure that the detector brand you choose is recommended by the manufacturers as being one of the best quality detectors in the market. Also ensure that your detector brand is recommended by a reputable manufacturer as the best and most reliable option for carbon monoxide monitoring. Once you have purchased your carbon monoxide detector for home alarm, make sure to read the user manual thoroughly — this will help you ensure your detector is functioning at its optimum level.”
Compare the best home security systems.
“When it comes to finding the best home security systems, you need to do a lot of comparison shopping. Not only are you trying to decide which home security system will best protect your home and family, but you are also comparing several competing home security providers as well. This is important, as home security systems vary widely. For example, one home security company might offer a system that’s very high tech, with 24 hour monitoring. Whereas another provider might not offer any monitoring at all!
The first thing you need to do when comparing home security systems is to determine what your budget is. If you have unlimited funds, then you can purchase whatever home security system you want. But, if you are on a limited budget, then you need to evaluate what each home security system offers, and then judge whether or not those home security systems are worth your money. You’ll obviously want a home security system that has the highest value for your dollar, and you should be able to find one fairly easily.
Once you’ve evaluated the home security systems that interest you, then you can compare them on more practical grounds: cost, monitoring, technology, ease of installation, etc. In other words, you need to decide whether the home security system that’s right for you is absolutely the best home security system that there is. After all, it’s ultimately up to you to choose how much protection you want your home to have. So, evaluate your needs, and then choose the home security system that is best suited for you.”
How much do home security cameras cost.
“Home security systems and home security cameras are becoming more popular nowadays. There is a general perception that these two have almost become one. The fact of the matter is that both have been around for decades. In fact, they are not actually new. Home surveillance has been around for a long time.
Security cameras have proven to be quite effective in keeping our homes and valuable properties safe. They are inexpensive, yet they prove to be very efficient in keeping our homes and properties secure. Home security systems are becoming more advanced every year. With the advent of digital video recorders and DVRs, a home security system has many more features than it was a few years ago.
How much do home security cameras cost? One major factor why security cameras are so important is because most burglars don’t want to be caught. When they see that their actions are being recorded, it becomes easier for them to avoid your home. They know that they will get caught and that could mean trouble for them.
So, the question is, how much do security cameras cost? That is a very good question and the answer is actually “”It depends””. You should look for a good security camera that is going to fit your budget and your needs. Some people can afford high-end units, while others may want to consider lower-end units. There is also a wide range of models available.
Home security cameras are used primarily to deter criminal activity. If you are concerned about your home being burglarized, you may want to consider purchasing a video surveillance camera. However, if you have a lot of valuables and if you live alone, you probably won’t need to invest in this type of equipment. You can, however, use simple security cameras to keep an eye on the things that are most important to you. If you have valuable jewelry or antiques in your home, you may want to think about purchasing a system that will allow you to track them down and return them to their rightful owners.
Security cameras can give you a lot of peace of mind if you are at work or if you are away from your home. They can give you piece of mind that your home and your family are protected and safe. In addition, if you are concerned about the safety of your loved ones, you can purchase home security cameras that are connected to a monitoring center. This way, if you are away, they will be notified and you will be contacted if anything suspicious occurs.”
Home alarm security systems reviews.
“Consumer Reports has released a report that ranks Home Alarm Security Systems Reviews according to consumer satisfaction. The overall consumer satisfaction score is improved by four, which is an improvement for Home Alarm Systems Reviews overall. In the overall report it was found that twenty-one percent of consumers who purchased Home Alarm Systems Reviews preferred them, and that twenty-three percent were unsatisfied with their purchase. Surprisingly the remaining forty-two percent chose the companies that were not ranked.
Of course the fact that fifty-two percent of consumers were unhappy with their purchases should tell us something about Home Alarm Systems Reviews itself. This would mean that the majority of home security system consumers were not happy with their purchase, but there was room for improvement. The number of dissatisfied consumers was much lower than the one-hundred and forty-nine percent who were satisfied with their purchase. This would indicate that the number of unsatisfied consumers may have been an underestimate.
So, what did these numbers really mean? They indicate that Home Alarm Systems Reviews needs to do some more research on their own to improve the numbers. It would be good to see some objective numbers as well as comparative rankings of different systems. For now it is safe to say that the best home security systems are those that are easy to install and operate. The only system I could find that qualified as the best home security systems according to this report was the Honeywell Intellicore IP Network Security System.
In summary: based on the results of a simple review of Home Alarm Systems Reviews it is safe to say that the Honeywell Intellicore IP Network Security System is by far the best home security systems that can be found on the market today. While it might be interesting to note that the company behind the Home Alarm Systems Reviews is a major security company, the ratings are not to be taken seriously. These reviews are only for marketing purposes. In fact, the company is not even a major player in the home security industry; however, the Honeywell name is certainly well-known and respected throughout the security industry.
Based on my findings, the top two systems that receive the most positive reviews from home security cameras reviews consumer are the GE Home Security System and the Honeywell Intellicore IP Network Security System. Of course, I could be doing this review for many years in the future and these systems may still be in the top two. However, what I am saying at this point is that they are two of the best systems that are available on the market today. If you are in the market for a new home security system, these are both great choices. You will simply need to look deeper into both companies to find exactly what you are looking for.
My last bit of advice would be to take a little time to really understand exactly what a security camera system does before you purchase any. It’s important to know whether or not it has night vision, infrared imaging, a one hundred and twenty-five feet clear view from which to view your home, whether or not it comes with a wireless remote control, if so, how many wireless remotes are available, and more. Reading through several security cameras reviews consumer makes it very easy to choose a product. This is also a good way to familiarize yourself with the security camera technology. By reading about what is available and reading consumer reviews, you will have a much better chance of choosing the right home security system for you.” | https://medium.com/@homesecuritycamera8777401411/best-security-system-for-home-ft-smith-ar-877-740-1411-635441479759 | ['Home Security Camera'] | 2021-02-12 07:55:13.837000+00:00 | ['Best Security Services', 'Security Camera', 'Home Monitoring Camera', 'Security Systems For Home', 'Arlo Camera Setup'] |
Why You Should Think About Personalizing The Birthday Gifts? | India’s Gifting Market
India is the world’s seventh largest country in terms of the area and as of 2020, houses roughly 17% of the world population. As of 2019, India is world’s fifth largest economy with a GDP of $2.94 trillion. Culture is a playing factor over the interests of people of different areas. We Indians are basically generous people who wouldn’t go to any occasion without a gift, so how can we let alone the birthdays? Indian gifting market is expected to grow from $ 119 million in 2019 to $ 159 million by 2025. But the question again arises, how do we judge if goods are really worth gifting?
What makes a gift worth gifting?
The simplest answer is utility and uniqueness. The fact is that an average Indian cannot resist passing the gifts further. This is a hilarious occurrence common during our festivals. Likewise, kitties and birthdays are not untouched from the habit.
Another habit of us is that, we store the new stuff so as to forward it and keep using the old stuff that we have.
We need to delve into the average Indian customer mindset. Sometimes, when we get anything that is new or trending, or is simply anything that we have never seen before; we have a general craze to bring it into our use. But, as more as the thing gets common, our craze for it declines and similarly does its utility for us.
In other words, if you gift your dear one, any gift that is not a unique thing (or you’re also just passing), he is more likely to pass it further. But, if you gift him something which carries your vibes, then such probability might be minimised. Further, if the good is of his utility and that too is personalized especially for him, then the chances of it being passed are completely eliminated.
If the recipient feels that you’re not just picking up a random gift or forwarding one; indeed, it is a well planned or chosen one, out of love and dedication, he is more likely to keep it.
How to find the best gifts online?
Myphotoprint.in is one of the best online gift shops for the purpose. Name any customised gift item and you find it here. Not just this, we’ve come up with several unique propositions, which would really impress the recipient of the gifts.
Do you have a good picture of the person whose birthday is approaching? Well! You can get it printed photo cushion covers, lamps, wooden and customised photo frames, coffee mugs, wooden prints and even clocks with the pictures embedded. You can get the picture in 3d format. The list just doesn’t end here. What about a shadow box, which would cast a shadow around when lit up?
The next time, the person would be randomly looking at the gifts you gave him on the birthday, he’ll remember you and simply smile peacefully. | https://medium.com/@myphotoprint15/why-you-should-think-about-personalizing-the-birthday-gifts-c8890e193ca6 | [] | 2020-12-20 15:58:04.442000+00:00 | ['Myphotoprint', 'Gifts', 'Online Shopping'] |
SO THE PAIN WASN’T GONE | So the pain wasn’t entirely gone Coming out of our African maternity over and over again. The Roots seems so deep rooted So strong bound that no prayer failed to erase
It surpasses all understanding that we can confidently ruin our own For the revenge the revenge that we never took At the real perpetrators
Deep down in your hearts Find a place to understand That Africa belongs to Africans . The pain will never fade, if we fail to see the The sweetness of unity and love. | https://medium.com/@amosbett161/so-the-pain-wasnt-gone-2ba100935961 | [] | 2020-12-21 11:17:52.526000+00:00 | ['Africa', 'Pain', 'Revolution'] |
Write your love (325) | I want to still feel your lips
writing novels on my body.
from Monday to Sunday,
night after night.
you will read me every day,
make my lines better every night.
In the end,
I’ll be the book of your life;
revealed desire inside unlocked words. | https://medium.com/poets-unlimited/writing-your-love-325-74d934437a96 | ['Roxana Ștefan'] | 2017-03-22 10:09:04.346000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Poems', 'Love', 'Thoughts', 'Poetry On Medium'] |
Song of the Day — October 29. The Dirty Knobs — F*ck That Guy | Song of the Day — October 29
The Dirty Knobs — F*ck That Guy
29.October.2020
The Dirty Knobs
“F*ck That Guy”
2020
Mike Campbell is to rock and roll and guitars as Martha Stewart is entertaining and cooking — flawless and brilliant.
Both know what they do well, and they stick to it and make every attempt to level up at their craft.
Serving as Tom Petty’s right hand for, well, forever, Mike Campbell became proficient at many things in addition to guitar playing — producing and songwriting being chief among them.
In between Petty projects and other side gigs, Campbell formed The Dirty Knobs with guitarist Jason Sinay, bassist Lance Morrison and drummer Matt Laug and mainly stuck to playing around Los Angeles.
After Petty’s untimely death and Campbell’s epic worldwide tour replacing Lindsey Buckingham in Fleetwood Mac, he returned home to his Knobs.
They hunkered down and recorded a proper album scheduled to be released in March but got delayed. The Dirty Knobs Wreckless Abandon will officially be released on November 20.
The first single, “F*ck That Guy,” just came out. You may think by the song's title that it’s an all balls-out rocker …it’s not. Written by Campbell and Chris Stapleton, “F*ck That Guy” has a very laissez-faire sound and vibe to it, like you could picture guys on their porch saying just that.
It’s a cross between Sheryl Crow’s “All I Wanna Do” and Campbell sounds (and plays here) a lot like Mark Knopfler. Provided you like those things, you’ll like this.
Releasing it so close to election day, it very well could take on a different tone . Regardless of what political side of the spectrum you’re on, we’re so divided right now that the genius here is that both sides are saying the same thing about the other.
BUT, what makes the song is the video.
The Dirty Knobs play a kind of Keystone Cops character as they chase a personified COVID-19 around Los Angeles. It’s silly and fun and absolutely makes the song.
The song is good, but it’s really the video that puts it over the bar: | https://medium.com/pop-off/song-of-the-day-october-29-bd9abbc08697 | ['Keith R. Higgons'] | 2020-10-29 17:49:40.291000+00:00 | ['Music', 'Rock', 'Album', 'Covid 19', 'Art'] |
On the Realization That I Will Never Be the Best Writer | On the Realization That I Will Never Be the Best Writer
Getting Over Myself (and How You Can Get Over Yourself, Too)
Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash
I just started listening to Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon and it’s blowing my mind. This isn’t the first time I’ve been reading or listening to something and had the realization that every word I’ve ever spilled onto a page or screen is tantamount to discarded bulk waste. You know, the kind that you put out on bulk day and it’s so awful that bulk trash won’t even take it. That’s how I feel about my words sometimes.
There are days when I am typing away, sufficiently pleased with myself, and then I listen to The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath or read Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami. Then I feel like an impostor. And not just a regular one, like a third-rate one, not even good enough to be a good impostor. I can’t even have impostor syndrome correctly.
But for all the times this has happened to me (and probably to you), this time was different. I had a serious realization while I was fanboying over Kiese’s dynamic spoken-word flow as he read his novel into my soul.
I will never be the best writer.
And when I say never, I really mean it. Never, ever. I don’t even know if I will ever be good, but I can be one hundred percent sure I will never be the best. And as that dawned on me, like our realization that the Tooth Fairy is just an elaborate prank pulled off, for years, by our parents, an overwhelming sense of calm washed over me. I can stop worrying.
I will never be the best writer.
Some hardcore coaches and online trainers would call this level of realization a defeatist attitude. I call it realism. And honestly, it’s not really much of a stretch. Who was I to ever strive to be the best writer anyway? I majored in Criminal Justice. I went to law school. I didn’t even start reading as a voracious bibliophile until a couple of years ago, so who the hell was I kidding even worrying about how good I was? Or am.
In short, this is about getting over myself. And how you can get over yourself, too. | https://medium.com/assemblage/on-the-realization-that-i-will-never-be-the-best-writer-92d8f7b423e1 | ['Jonathan Greene'] | 2019-11-26 13:53:30.937000+00:00 | ['This Happened To Me', 'Writing', 'Blogging', 'Self Improvement', 'Books'] |
The State Of Blockchain In Ireland | Blockchain is a technology that is changing the rules. In the next few decades, blockchain will likely have a bigger impact on the world than the internet has had to date, as we enter the next stage of its evolution — the internet of value.
Ireland is positioning itself as a blockchain hub with companies across every industry in the country actively experimenting with the nascent technology. Let’s take a look at how some of these innovative companies are exploring new and exciting ways to leverage blockchain technology:
Domestic Banks
Ulster Bank, AIB & PTSB are collaborating together on a project known as Project GreenPay, which is exploring the application of blockchain technology to improve the speed of domestic payment systems. Bank of Ireland completed a proof of concept to demonstrate how financial institutions can combine blockchain with their existing systems to provide better client experience and regulatory oversight at a lower cost.
International Banks
Citi’s innovation lab in Dublin delivered a blockchain based payment solution they launched with Nasdaq. Irish Funds created a blockchain proof of concept for regulatory reporting in collaboration with State Street and Metzler. JP Morgan is leading a blockchain based network called Interbank Information Network (IIN) that has signed up dozens of banks including AIB. They have also recently launched their own JPM coin on their blockchain network Quorum, an enterprise-focused version of Ethereum.
Consulting
Deloitte’s EMEA blockchain lab is based in Dublin where they help their public and private sector clients design propositions and business models using blockchain as a platform technology to connect to their peers, suppliers, regulators and governments. The other big consulting firms along with a few smaller ones are also offering similar blockchain consultancy services to their Irish clients. ConsenSys is Ireland’s largest blockchain company who help build and deliver Ethereum-based blockchain platforms and products.
FinTech
Unsurprisingly there is a number of active blockchain projects in the FinTech community with a good mix of tech start-ups and more established global players. Some notable ones are MasterCard, who have been working on a range of blockchain solutions in their MasterCard Labs since 2016, Circle who are global crypto finance company and Fidelity Investments.
Fast growing start-ups include TradeIX, a FinTech platform provider who are building the world’s first distributed trade finance platform, as well as we.trade which is a platform that uses smart contracts to make cross-border transactions more efficient between its consortium of 9 major European banks.
Image credit: monsitj | Getty Images
Infrastructure
Most of the major infrastructure tech companies based in Ireland such as Microsoft, Amazon and IBM are working on providing tools and applications which will allow their customers to create and manage scalable blockchain networks using open source technologies.
Education
The rapid growth of blockchain means Irish universities are playing catch-up in terms of offering courses to help develop the right talent for some of the aforementioned companies. Most now offer some exposure to blockchain on their curriculum but more needs to be done. Firms have started funding their own scholarships now with ConsenSys, for example, having launched a scholarship programme with UCD, DCU and Trinity College to support computer science students and encourage them to pursue a career in the Ethereum blockchain ecosystem.
Governmental & Regulation
There are a number of governmental and regulatory bodies in Ireland coming to grips with blockchain technology. The Central Bank has established a working group focused on the latest financial technology innovation such as blockchain to help inform their policy decisions. The Department of Finance are carrying out active research into virtual currencies and the blockchain ecosystem that exists in Ireland, Europe and globally. The IDA is helping to promote and enhance the blockchain industry in Ireland.
Legal
To support FinTech clients working with cryptocurrencies or blockchain technology in Ireland a number of leading Irish legal firms are now offering their services in this space to help them understand the interactions between financial regulation, data use and technology. Cosgrove Gaynard Solicitors are one of these and were the first Irish law firm to accept Bitcoin payments from their clients last year.
Supply Chain
Blockchain is seen as an enabler for greater supply chain efficiency from conducting payment and audits to tracking inventory and assets. The coffee company, Moyee Coffee, is a great example of this who are running a pilot project to provide supply chain transparency by recording and capturing data on every transaction from the farmer to the coffee cup while making real-time payments to Ethiopian farmers for their coffee beans.
Digital Currency Exchanges
A handful of digital currency exchanges — who make it easy for the public to buy, sell and store cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum — have operations in Ireland. The two most prominent ones are Coinbase and Poloniex, the latter of which was bought by US Dublin-based peer-to-peer payments platform Circle last year.
Venture Capital
Last year in Ireland there were nearly 200 VC deals worth around €553m. VC investment in blockchain startups increased significantly recently with the likes of Cosimo Ventures and Draper Espirit making investments in start-ups focused on the emerging technology.
Conclusion
Blockchain is still very much in its infancy with a lot of technological challenges still to be overcome before it can properly scale and deliver on its promise of being the foundation for new economic systems that are more open, efficient and accessible.
However, that is not preventing companies all across Ireland from aviation to social impact and everything in between to actively experiment with blockchain to see how it can help save them time, remove overhead costs, reduce risk and increase trust within their business networks.
With so many new advancements and use cases of blockchain appearing every day it can be hard to keep up. Blockchain Ireland and BlockW are initiatives that were created to provide valuable sources of information on the Irish blockchain ecosystem and provide a platform for communication, education and discussion of ideas.
If you want to find out more information visit the Blockchain Ireland website or attend one of the many blockchain meet-ups that are happening regularly across the country.
If you are interested in reading interesting soundbites from leaders in the blockchain space, Niall writes a weekly blog here, or follow him on Twitter. | https://medium.com/hackernoon/the-state-of-blockchain-in-ireland-e85a60739482 | ['Niall Minihan'] | 2019-07-10 21:00:57.986000+00:00 | ['Ireland', 'Blockchain', 'Distributed Ledgers', 'Ethereum', 'Bitcoin'] |
Tre’s Morning On A Lake In The Mountains | It is cold.
And the breeze
That lifts itself from the
Mountains
Showers us in pain.
We are stringed along —
Little pieces of
Nuances chiming in
At the right time
To give life an
Uppercut to its naked chin.
We calmly sneak a peek
At the sunset,
Making wishes
Like a shooting star
Passed us by.
In the vastness of
A mighty world —
We are still
Too small to be
Heard, even with
The mountains carrying our voices. | https://medium.com/the-scene-heard/tres-morning-on-a-lake-in-the-mountains-31bad72e0c55 | ['Tre L. Loadholt'] | 2017-11-10 08:30:30.808000+00:00 | ['Photography', 'Audio Poem', 'Nature', 'Challenge', 'Poetry'] |
What lessons does delayed gratification hold for life? | Virtually everything is a click away today — anything you want can be delivered to your doorstep within 24 hours or less, the choicest of foods across a multitude of restaurants are only but a few minutes away and all the entertainment you seek can most likely be streamed on this very device right this instant. This makes you think whether, for today’s one-click generation, delayed gratification is even relevant. In this world that makes it possible for everything to happen now, why wait till later?
Maybe the concept of delayed gratification can be construed as a sign of maturity, a concept that has not even touched the lives of many of the current generation. Though, if you come to think of it, its relevance has not depleted in the least; rather it has become all the more significant. In today’s world where everything is within reach, delaying gratification is a test of one’s resolve. But, then why delay what is easily available? I think there are enough reasons to do that:
It helps you value what you get. As they say, anything that comes easily is not valued as much — be it money, fame or relationships. However, if you have worked hard for them, you value these achievements or acquisitions much more.
As they say, anything that comes easily is not valued as much — be it money, fame or relationships. However, if you have worked hard for them, you value these achievements or acquisitions much more. It can be a source of motivation. When you set a goal for yourself and decide that you will enjoy the gratification only once you have achieved those goals, delayed gratification becomes a source of immense motivation.
When you set a goal for yourself and decide that you will enjoy the gratification only once you have achieved those goals, delayed gratification becomes a source of immense motivation. You learn to live within your means. Not only is everything easily accessible today but also the money to access the same is just there, thanks to the credit cards and pre-approved loan limits which banks are falling over each other to offer to you.
Not only is everything easily accessible today but also the money to access the same is just there, thanks to the credit cards and pre-approved loan limits which banks are falling over each other to offer to you. You compel yourself to think. Once you deny yourself instant gratification and delay the fulfilment of the desire, you pass over that refraction period immediately following stimulation during which your thinking is suspended, your faculties regain control of the mind and compel you to think whether the need is genuine enough to require gratification.
Once you deny yourself instant gratification and delay the fulfilment of the desire, you pass over that refraction period immediately following stimulation during which your thinking is suspended, your faculties regain control of the mind and compel you to think whether the need is genuine enough to require gratification. You cut your clutter. The later you accumulate the more you are living with your current options longer and hence delaying the building of clutter for yourself. Clutter breeds its own tension of organising the same and de-cluttering at some stage, which can be an energy-draining exercise
The later you accumulate the more you are living with your current options longer and hence delaying the building of clutter for yourself. Clutter breeds its own tension of organising the same and de-cluttering at some stage, which can be an energy-draining exercise You may just skip the desire. If you pass the instant gratification opportunity, chances are that you may completely skip the desire. Avoiding trips to the mall during shopping sales, invariably means you don’t end up buying at all once the sales frenzy has passed over.
If you pass the instant gratification opportunity, chances are that you may completely skip the desire. Avoiding trips to the mall during shopping sales, invariably means you don’t end up buying at all once the sales frenzy has passed over. You also do something for the planet. Not only for yourself but you also help the planet by delayed gratification of your desires. Most of the things that we consume come at a cost to the environment, the later we gratify ourselves, to that extent we delay our carbon footprint or even sometimes avoid it completely, as the need to gratify passes over with time since the desire was never backed with a real need.
Try putting delayed gratification in action and see if it works for you, earn the fulfilment of every desire by aligning it with goals and outcomes that you want to achieve.
Delaying gratification leads to long term satisfaction. | https://medium.com/@jainsandeepk/what-lessons-does-delayed-gratification-hold-for-life-114a728ef039 | ['Sandeep Jain'] | 2020-02-08 15:41:09.294000+00:00 | ['Delayed Gratification', 'Life Coaching', 'Lifehacks'] |
Crucibles of Leadership: From Conflict to Collaboration | Crucibles of Leadership: From Conflict to Collaboration
The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative is collaborating with Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Coronavirus Local Response Initiative to support mayors as they manage COVID-19. A fifth virtual discussion session held on April 16, 2020, focused on conflict resolution and teamwork.
In the fifth session of the Coronavirus Local Response Initiative, Howard Koh, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard Kennedy School; Jorrit de Jong, Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative and Harvard Kennedy School; Josh Sharfstein, Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and Tom Frieden, former director of CDC, president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, explored collaboration — across sectors, departments, and levels of government — and the challenges, conflicts, and opportunities for effective leadership and a resilient recovery that come with this work. | https://medium.com/covid-19-public-sector-resources/crucibles-of-leadership-from-conflict-to-collaboration-a0c37b202630 | ['Harvard Ash Center'] | 2020-04-16 20:46:19.806000+00:00 | ['Cities', 'Crisis Management', 'Covid 19', 'Leadership', 'Coronavirus'] |
Scaling Impact through Collaboration | Scaling Impact through Collaboration
Data Clinic Director Rachael Weiss Riley speaks about Two Sigma’s model of Corporate Data Philanthropy (CDP).
At least once at every Data for Good conference, our team has the nagging sensation that a project being presented sounds eerily similar to another one we stumbled upon sometime within the past year. And after connecting with our peers, we know we’re not alone.
Data for Good initiatives aim to make the world a better place by responsibly and intelligently supporting mission-driven organizations, often by helping them achieve their vision more efficiently. But if these initiatives keep engaging in isolated one-off projects in their own bubbles rather than scaling and improving upon solutions, are they really making a sustainable impact on their communities?
With such a vast need in the world for skilled data science talent and not enough data scientists to fill it, it’s clear that none of us should be spending precious time and resources reinventing the wheel when we don’t need to be.
Furthermore, in the spirit of doing good, it is all of our responsibility to ensure nonprofits’ needs are being met. If each Data for Good effort is trapped in its own bubble, how can it reliably connect a nonprofit with the most relevant resources, especially if the problem is outside of that organization’s expertise?
Last November, Data Clinic took a step toward addressing these challenges by hosting an event on the Emergence of Corporate Data Philanthropy (CDP) — the growing movement of data and tech-related corporate social responsibility. The talk, moderated by Jake Porway of DataKind, featured our very own Rachael Weiss Riley alongside fellow panelists Saška Mojsilović of IBM Science for Social Good, John Paul Farmer formerly of Microsoft Cities, and Leah Siskind of Uptake.org. Through the lens of their unique Data for Good models, panelists shared the lessons learned and successes of giving back through data, talent, resources, and capacity building.
Representatives share how their companies give back through data and technology at an event on ‘The Emergence of Corporate Data Philanthropy’ at the Two Sigma offices.
In response to the duplication and lack of clarity around efforts that exists in the Data for Good world, Rachael announced that in addition to helping nonprofits, government agencies, and academic institutions have a greater impact on the communities they serve, we at Data Clinic are also committing ourselves to helping build a more formal corporate data philanthropy community — one that is transparent, collaborative, and empowering:
Transparent
It’s unclear exactly which for-profits have a corporate data philanthropy initiative. We should understand what organizations exist, what their models are, what their unique skill sets are, and what kind of projects they’ve worked on. Building a living landscape that helps us help nonprofits is critical to advancing beyond the status quo.
Collaborative
CDP is still a nascent sector, and there are a lot of lessons to be learned. On top of sharing lessons on how to be operationally more effective, we can begin to progress away from duplicative efforts through a more collaborative approach to developing solutions. Being acutely aware of the kinds of projects our peers have worked on, we could proactively connect with each other where appropriate to build off each other’s advances, partnering toward even more innovative solutions.
Empowering
The ultimate goal is to help mission-driven organizations reach their goals and increase their impact on the communities they serve. No request should go unanswered. When a CDP initiative receives a request that doesn’t align with their expertise or resources, we should, through the transparency of our community, know exactly to whom the request should be referred, empowering our peers to make a difference for that nonprofit.
The enthusiasm at the November event for creating this type of action-oriented network was palpable. The audience stayed well after the conclusion to connect with their peers, and dozens of organizations signed up to be updated on next steps for the Corporate Data Philanthropy collaborative.
To build a community that actually focuses on action and delivers tangible benefits to both its Corporate Data Philanthropy members and our ultimate beneficiaries — nonprofits and their communities — we seek to shape it from the ground up in partnership with the many initiatives that have already thrown their hats into the ring.
Join us
To join the growing movement and help us amplify the impact of the data for good sector, contact us at [email protected]. | https://medium.com/dataclinic/scaling-impact-through-collaboration-b0d1bdd47922 | ['Data Clinic'] | 2019-09-23 16:29:28.893000+00:00 | ['Tech For Good', 'Data Clinic', 'Volunteering', 'Data For Good', 'Corporate Culture'] |
Aura Carver review: This landscape-only photo frame automatically pairs portrait images | A smart, elegant digital photo frame that you can set up and enjoy within minutes, the Aura Carver makes for an easy and handsome way to show off your snapshots, provided you have a steady Wi-Fi connection and you’re comfortable with cloud storage.
This sturdy, $200 photo frame comes with a bright, vivid screen; a landscape-only design; and an AI-powered photo-pairing feature for displaying portrait photos side-by-side. But the lack of user-accessible local storage means that photos must be stored in Aura’s cloud servers, a requirement that raises privacy concerns (cloud storage is free and unlimited, at least), while the frame’s support for voice assistants is perfunctory at best.
[ Further reading: A smart home guide for beginners ]DesignLike Aura’s other frames, the $299 SawyerRemove non-product link and the $399 SmithRemove non-product link, the Carver isn’t wall-mountable; instead, it’s designed specifically to sit on a table, a shelf, or another flat surface. Unlike Aura’s other two frames, the Carver has a landscape-only orientation, while the Sawyer and Smith frames has a swiveling stand that allows you to switch from landscape to portrait modes.
Ben Patterson/IDG The Aura Carver photo frame has a sturdy bass and a removable braided power cord.
Measuring 10.63 x 2.6 x 7.45 inches and available in charcoal and “white chalk” flavors, the Aura Carver weighs nearly two pounds, which gives the frame a reassuringly sturdy heft. The frame itself has a minimalist yet elegant look, while the solid, wedge-shaped base is deep enough to keep the unit upright and free from wobbles. The Carver comes with a detachable braided power cord, although the boxy wall wart (about 1.6 x 1.6 inches) will block the lower socket of a two-plug wall outlet.
DisplayThe Carver’s 10.1-inch IPS display has a 1920 x 1200 resolution, which comes out to 224 pixels per inch. Looking closely, I couldn’t detect any pixelation or screen-door effect. Colors looked vivid yet natural, and viewing angles were excellent (as is the case with most IPS panels), with the screen barely dimming while I was looking from the side or above.
Related product Meural Canvas II (wood frame) See it A (barely visible) sensor in the top-left corner of the frame measures ambient light and adjusts the screen brightness accordingly, or turns the display off altogether when the room goes dark (which, during my testing, the sensor did quite reliably). You can also put the display on a daily schedule, although you can’t set different wake/sleep times for weekends or specific days of the week.
SetupTo get started with the Carver, you’ll first need to install the Aura app for either iOS or Android, and you’ll need to set up an account (that includes creating a user name and a password, meaning you can’t just sign in via Google, Facebook, or Apple).
Once that’s done, you pair the app with the frame by tapping in the four-digit code that appears on the frame’s display, after which the app connects the frame to your Wi-Fi network (there was no need to enter my network password, at least not with the iOS version of the Aura app). While the Carver only supports 2.4GHz Wi-Fi networks, the frame had no trouble connecting to my dual-band 2.4GHz/5GHz mesh network.
After you’ve named the Carver and decided whether to invite family members or friends who can view and add images to the frame, it’s time to start adding photos. The easiest way is to pick and choose photo albums on your phone, but you can also sync the Carner with albums in your iCloud Photo Library or Google Photos account (but not Facebook, unfortunately), as well as upload images from your Mac or PC using Aura’s Web Uploader tool. If you choose to upload iCloud or Google photo albums, any subsequent photos you add to those albums will automatically be added to the frame.
All your images are stored on Aura’s cloud server, which is powered by Amazon Web Services and protected by AES-256 encryption. In its privacy policy, Aura promises that only you and those you choose to share the frame with will have access to your photos, although Aura says it will analyze your snapshots in order to do a better job of grouping them together (more about that in a moment) while skipping duplicates and fuzzy images.
Unfortunately, the Carver doesn’t come with any user-accessible internal storage or memory card slots (the Carver’s local storage is intended only for image caching), which means any photos you want to display on the frame must be uploaded first, and it rules out pre-loading the Carver with photos and sending it to a friend or relative who lacks—or refuses to get (I’m looking at you, Bubbe)—Wi-Fi. It also means that those who are squeamish about uploading their personal photos to a third-party cloud server (an entirely reasonably attitude) would be better off consider an alternative digital photo frame with local storage options.
Back on the plus side, you can upload an unlimited number of photos to Aura’s cloud server for free. That’s no small thing given the pricey subscription plans that other digital photo frames come saddled with.
Operation and featuresOnce you have your photos synced to the Carver (the process can be a lengthy one, depending on how many images you upload—and my iPhone got pretty hot during all that uploading), your snapshots will start appearing on the display, and you’ll quickly see one of the innovations that comes with the Carver: Aura’s new “Intelligent Pairing” mode.
Ben Patterson/IDG The Aura Carver’s “Intelligent Pairing” digital.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360050053894-%D0%97%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%B0-Ariza-11-%D1%81%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D0%A0%D1%83%D1%81%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F-%D0%BE%D0%B7%D0%B2%D1%83%D1%87%D0%BA%D0%B0-%D1%81%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B0%D0%BB-18-09-2020-">mode uses an algorithm to pair similar portrait photos for side-to-side viewing, thus avoiding any unsightly black letterbox bars.
An antidote to displaying single portrait photos with big black borders in a landscape-oriented frame, the AI-powered Intelligent Pairing mode uses (according to Aura) a “sophisticated algorithm” to pair “related” photos and display them side-by-side. The whole “Intelligent Pairing” conceit isn’t a new one as far as digital photo frames is concerned—the view.html&xcust=US_003_3571450_000_1443514_web" target="_blank" data-productid="1443514" data-product-name="Google Nest Hub Max" data-vars-product-name="Google Nest Hub Max" data-vars-link-position-id="000" data-vars-link-position="Body Text" data-po="vendor" data-product-id="1443514" data-vars-product-id="1443514" data-bkc="HomeTech" data-bkmfr="Google" data-vars-bkmfr="Google" data-bkvndr="Google" data-vars-bkvndr="Google" data-vars-outbound-link="https://store.google.com/us/product/google_nest_hub_max">Google Nest Hub Max, which doubles as a photo frame, does much the same thing—but it is new for the Aura line, and for now it only works on the Carver frame.
I found that Intelligent Pairing (which you can disable, although I’m not sure why you’d want to) did a pretty nice job of picking photos that complemented each other, although it probably helped that I only uploaded albums with family photos (as I suspect most other users will), which means pretty much everyone in each photo was related in some way. Mostly, I was just happy to see that portrait photos were always displayed side-by-side rather than by themselves with distractingly ugly black borders.
You can set the interval between photos to be anywhere between 15 seconds to four hours, or you can manually switch to the next picture (or pictures, in the case of a pair of portrait photos), by swiping a touch-sensitive strip along the top of the frame.
Ben Patterson/IDG The touch strip on the top of the Aura Carver lets you navigate photos and display more information about them, as well as delete them from the frame.
You can also single-tap the touch strip to see more information about the photo, such as where and when it was taken, along with who shared it to the frame. Touching and holding the strip lets you delete a photo, which you can only do after you’ve confirmed it with an additional swipe. While the touch strip gestures are relatively intuitive, the strip itself could be quite finicky about registering touches and swipes, and I often found myself having to repeat gestures more than once.
Besides the touch strip, you can also control the Aura Carver with voice commands via Alexa or Google Assistant, although the process is too clunky to be of much use. With both Alexa and Google Assistant, you must first open the Aura Frames skill (“Alexa, open Aura Frames”) before issuing any commands, and in both cases the list of available commands (“show me the next photo,” “where was that photo taken”) is pretty basic. In most cases, you’re better off simply using the touch strip rather than asking Alexa or Google Assistant for help.
Bottom lineProvided you’re fine with the Wi-Fi and (free) cloud storage requirements, the sturdy and attractive Aura Carver makes for a simple, practically plug-and-play way of displaying your photo collection, while its AI-powered photo-pairing abilities means you’ll never see ugly black bars letterboxing your portrait images. That said, we do wish the Carver’s touch strip was a bit more forgiving, and we would have preferred more advanced and easier-to-use voice assistant support.
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/@Jennife92039254/aura-carver-review-this-landscape-only-photo-frame-automatically-pairs-portrait-images-cc91c9b15789 | [] | 2020-09-18 17:32:36.431000+00:00 | ['Streaming', 'Deals', 'Connected Home', 'Audio'] |
Toddler Spring Cleaning | Toddler Spring Cleaning
Disclaimer: I am NOT promoting child labor! I am promoting ways to include your little ones in active moments to where they enhance motor skills, cognitive skills and learn how this all can be fun.
My son started showing signs of wanting help mama organize and clean a few months ago. This mama also uses safe, baby friendly cleaning products, so no he’s not all up in bleach while I’m cleaning. He would for some reason take my slipper and move about the kitchen island as if he was vacuuming underneath things and around. He always wants to be in my arms when I vacuum to help hold and push the vacuum. So as an early Easter gift, we bought his a baby Dyson that he sat with and cleaned the floor for 30 minutes the first time he got it. Now, I’m not saying give your kid a mop and tell them to get to work, but showing them how organization and tidying up not only teaches them great practices, but also helps create a future mindset to always help clean up after any activity.
Kids will be kids and YES messy is fun, so chill out moms who are like, “My kid can rummage all day in toys and dirt.” Okay, cool. Again, through tiny practices you can help instill a feeling of independence moving forward where they can then apply it at school and really anywhere.
Independence
The family works together and they too can help. At a toddler age sing a clean up song while they watch you clean up after eating. Even if they just hand you something during that process, they are contributing and will later contribute more and more.
Future Skills
What you teach early on, they will carry out forever. Early intervention is so important when it comes to the development of a child’s brain, so the earlier we model, the more their great little minds can expand and grow.
Appreciation
Thank you mama. Thank you dada. This isn’t about what child has more manners, it’s about the appreciation of what effort was put forward. When my son hands me his hands to clean up I say thank you so he knows that he has helped me. When he finishes his milk and hands me his bottle I say thank you and we walk to the sink together. A little appreciation goes a long way.
Outdoors
Best spring activities are outdoor ones. Planting and gardening or just setting up the patio furniture can be fun if you make it fun. The bubble lawnmower is one of my favs I admit and while you are mowing, so can the little one. They want to do what we want and truly help out, so why not let them.
So folks here’s to sunnier days, warmer temperatures and little ones staying little.
Xx
Deana | https://thequeenbuzz.com/toddler-spring-cleaning-30f9ecb4722d | ['Deana Elwood', 'Head Bee'] | 2019-04-05 13:52:07.568000+00:00 | ['Baby', 'Spring', 'Creativity', 'Parenting', 'Spring Cleaning'] |
Christmas 2020: The Light of Hope Shines Brightest in Darkness | The birth of Jesus is the most powerful sign and message of hope in a world darkened by the shadows of fear and uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic. We bring you the voices of religious leaders and heads of Christian charitable organizations as they look to a future in which “No one is saved alone.”
By Vatican News English Section
Celebrating the birth of the Child Jesus, who brings the light of hope and salvation into the world, Bishop Sithembele Anton Sipuka of Mthatha and President of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference, reflects on how God has given us the intelligence to “outsmart” the covid-19 virus and on how we are called to solidarity as ”Through this crisis God is making us realize that regardless of nationality, wealth, class, race and age, we are all brothers and sisters and invited to care for each other.
Greetings to everyone in the name of the Lord as we celebrate His birth.
We always look forward to Christmas because it is a culmination of the hope of humanity to live and work with God again, after having been separated from him by sin.
This hope of walking with God is a source of joy because, as St Augustin famously stated, “our hearts are restless until they find rest in God.”
God is our life, God is our fulfilment, in Christ God comes to give us life and life to the full. Yet as we look forward to Christmas of 2020 we are not that hopeful because the coronavirus dragon is waiting to make use of our Christmas celebration to swallow-up that joy.
Covid-19 has wreaked havoc in the whole world leaving a trail of pain and suffering, completely disrupting our way of life, bringing about isolation and loneliness, making the situation of the poor and the destitute worse, and prematurely ending hundreds of thousands of lives. As it has made our lives miserable in the last nine months, it is waiting to make our joyful feast of Christmas an occasion of sorrow.
This coronavirus is symbolised by Herod who tried to change the joyful mood of the birth of Christ, expressed in the song of Angels and shepherds, by seeking to kill the child Jesus. Similarly, the coronavirus is bent on making this season of joy a sorrowful season by destroying lives and making it hard for people to earn a living.
Yet, as the God of life did not allow Herod to destroy Jesus, He will not allow covid-19 to snatch away our joy of Christmas. As he directed the wise men to elude Herod in his plan of killing Jesus, and in a dream instructed Joseph and Mary to escape to Egypt to save the child Jesus, God is guiding us and making provision for us to celebrate this Christmas in a life-giving manner.
As heaven and earth united when Jesus was born, more than ever in this covid-19 period, God is calling us to solidarity. Through this crisis God is making us realize that regardless of nationality, wealth, class, race and age, we are all brothers and sisters and invited to care for each other.
In this Christmas of 2020 we are invited to shed off our Herod syndrome of selfishness that seems to take advantage of this painful period to make profit by committing fraud and corruption around the funds that are meant to bring relief against the onslaught of coronavirus.
As hopes to discover a vaccine against coronavirus rise, in the spirit of Christmas it must be made available to all in an equitable and affordable manner. Profit consideration must not be the main priority about the drug, but the common good. In the spirit of human solidarity, whatever nation or continent discovers the drug first must be generous to share with other nations and continents.
Covid-19 has laid bare the huge economic inequalities in our societies and in the world at large. As we celebrate the birth of Christ through which God decisively united himself with humanity, we human beings are also called to strive for unity and equality among ourselves. Such unity and equality will find expression in an economy that is inclusive instead of the present form of economy where only a few benefit.
As the wise men outsmarted Herod and went back home on different route, God has given us the intelligence to outsmart this virus in three simple ways: wearing the mask, washing our hands and keeping safe distance. Let us practice these simple requirements to save lives and secure livelihood.
Christ is present among us even as we celebrate his birth in smaller circles of families and friends rather than in huge crowds and in less extravagant ways that we usually do.
May the magnanimity, love and generosity expressed by the Christmas season permeate us and influence our inductions during this trying time of covid. Merry Christmas. | https://medium.com/ave-maria/christmas-2020-the-light-of-hope-shines-brightest-in-darkness-fb5e76a5e3f6 | ['Vic Alcuaz'] | 2020-12-31 15:12:23.586000+00:00 | ['Church History', 'Christmas', 'Women', 'Inspiration', 'Catholic'] |
The groupby Method in Python | Everything about groupby method in python.
Diveagar Beach, Maharashtra, Source:-Internet
Hello Everyone, hope you all are doing well.
In this article, we will understand everything about groupby method in python. So read this article up to the end, you will get to know how easily we can play with data using groupby method to find interesting insights.
Prerequisites:- Basic knowledge of pandas library of Python
Objective:- Suppose we have a GDP dataset of India, which contains the features like State, Zone(North, South, East, West), etc. and we want to calculate GDP zone-wise i.e we want to group GDP by zones. Here groupby method comes to help us.
Table of contents:-
What is groupby method? Where to use groupby method Demonstration with one example
The groupby feature allows you to group rows together based on a column and perform a specific function(like sum, average, count)on them. We will need to use the groupby feature in order to group some rows, from a table, to then perform a specific function(like mean, count) on them.
Let’s move to an example…
For this demonstration, we are going to use dataset Credit Risk. You can download it from here.
The dataset includes information about applicants applying for a bank loan.
First, we will import all the necessary libraries and load the dataset
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
from IPython.core.interactiveshell import InteractiveShell
InteractiveShell.ast_node_interactivity='all'
df=pd.red_csv('credit_risk_train_data')
Shuffle the dataset and make a simple filter ‘prop’ to group ‘Property_Area’ feature
df=df.sample(frac=1.radom_state=123)
df.head()
prop=df.groupby('Property_Area')
Now we are going to find the first occurrence of the attributes, below code will show you how to do that, but before we will see the frequency distribution of attributes of ‘Property_Area’.
df['Property_Area'].value_counts()
Now we want to find the first occurrence of Property_Area attributes in the dataset.
prop.first()
From the above table, we get to know that applicant-Loan_ID=LP001924 is the first applicant in the dataset whose Property_Area is in Rural. Similarly, applicant Loan_ID=LP002537 is the first applicant in the dataset whose Property_Area is in Rural
Similarly, we can find the last occurrence of attributes.
prop.last()
Now, sometimes we need to extract a sample from the original dataset to study it. The following code will show you how easily, using groupby method we can extract the desired sample from a large dataset. We are going to extract rows/observations whose ‘Property_Area’ is ‘Urban’.
prop.get_group('Urban').head()
Let’s cross-check whether we are true
df[df['Property_Area']=='urban'].head()
Both the above two table returns the same set of observations, so we are true.
Now we are going to find the index number rows corresponding to attributes.
prop.groups
Now, we are going to find the mean value of numerical variables having a particular attribute of another feature
prop.mean()
So above table gives us the mean/average income of applicant corresponding to attribute Rural, Semiurban, and Urban
Data visualization using groupby method:-
We can also visualize our data with the help of groupby method.
prop.size().sort_values(ascending=True).plot(kind='barh')
prop[['ApplicantIncome','LoanAmount']].mean().plot(kind='bar')
prop['Loan_Status'].count().plot.pie(subplots=True)
So, here we can see that applicants from Semiurban have more number of Loan Approval.
Up to now we just make one grouping of Property_Area. Now, we will see how to group data more than one feature
Multiple grouping:-
Group dataset according to feature ‘Gender’ and ‘’Property_Area’.
prop=df.groupby(['Gender','Property_Area'])
Now we are going to calculate the frequency of attributes [‘Rural’, ‘Property’, ‘Semiurban’, ‘Urban’] according to ‘Gender’.
Similarly, as we did above, we are going to calculate the total of [‘ApplicantIncome’, ‘CoapplicantIncome’, ‘LoanAmount’] according to attribute.
prop.sum()
Now we are going to use the Aggregate function to find dome more statistical computation on data
prop.agg({'LoanAmount':'mean','ApplicantIncome':'sum'})
As we see in the above table, the LoanAmount column gives a mean value of the Female applicant corresponding to each Property_Area. ApplicantIncome column gives a total of Income of Female applicants corresponding to each Property_Area. So aggregate function gives complicated insights of data in simple tabular form, we can easily understand.
We have looked at some aggregation functions so far, such as mean, mode, and sum. These perform statistical operations on a set of data. Have a glance at all the aggregate functions in the Pandas package:
count() — Number of non-null observations
sum() — Sum of values
mean() — Mean of values
median() — An arithmetic median of values
min() — Minimum
max() — Maximum
mode() — Mode
std() — Standard deviation
var() — Variance
prop.agg(['size','sum','mean'])
In short, we can say that the Groupby method is very useful to capture insights into data and patterns. Using groupby method we can derive effective and impactful insights from our dataset in just a few lines of code.
Thank you!
Connect to me on LinkedIn if you have any queries or want some more insights.
Clap and comment, if you like the article! | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/the-groupby-method-in-python-4b3c24e4a9e5 | ['Dhiraj Patil'] | 2020-12-18 16:10:15.922000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Pandas Groupby', 'Numpy', 'Pandas', 'Data Science'] |
Why even bother to create content & put yourself out there? | Every new year we’re supposed to create these lofty goals.
We should do this. We should do that.
We should change this. We should change that.
We need to make X amount of money. We need to lose X amount of weight.
Having lofty goals is cool but..
Most successful entrepreneurs know that creating & distributing content has always been the play of every successful business.
Because content is everything.
It’s your ads.
It’s videos.
It’s case studies.
It’s whitepapers.
It’s blog posts.
It’s giving interviews.
It’s doing interviews.
It’s sticking a big ass billboard depicting your brand somewhere where some will care enough to see it and many won’t even notice it.
It’s pushing out an instagram swipe up ad that many will see but most won’t care enough about it to swipe up.
All of it is content
But all of the sudden marketers coined the term “content marketing” acting like it’s something new.
It works.
It always has worked.
And God only knows whether it’ll keep working or not.
But the question I’ve begun asking is
“Why do I care so much about getting views, likes, comments or any other type of engagement on my content?”
I mean what causes me to have negative emotions about not getting recognition form let’s face it, complete strangers on the internet?
What can we as entrepreneurs who create content, do to ensure we eliminate this kind of mental push back?
Good boy, you
It comes from having the desire to feel like we’re hot shit and the world should love us, cheer for us, pat us on the frikin’ back.
I don’t know about you but I don’t believe that giving in to all of our desires, is the way for growth.
So what can we do?
Simple.
Keep reminding yourself why you’re putting yourself out there.
And keep reminding yourself that before something takes off, it is preceded by failures.
I’ve been diggin’ deeper about this and someone I respect as an accomplished businessman mentioned this multiple times as well and I’ve been trying to wrap my mind around it but hadn’t fully committed to it.
Which is
“What can I do to affect just ONE person at a time?”
How can every piece of content I put out contribute to helping at least ONE person out who may be on the brink of losing himself?
What if
What if just ONE piece of content I create reaches just ONE person and hits him in the frikin’ heart and causes him to change his entire life?
What if ONE piece of content helps bring just ONE struggling business owner from the brink of bankruptcy to having a flourishing business offering jobs and opportunities to his community?
Just ONE person.
Everyday.
Or every week.
Or every month.
Would that be ONE reason enough to:
1. Create content and
2. Not give a crap about getting views or likes or whatever it is we love getting that don’t mean shit?
I think it is.
I believe THAT one reason IS one reason enough to put your truth out there and not give a crap about metrics.
The marketplace will speak anyway
And the truth is, if it’s good enough, it will start to get traction someday somehow.
If it isn’t good enough, the market will speak.
And that’s cool too.
And we should accept that.
But we can’t reach that point without first implementing.
It’s all about the TLA: Test. Learn. Adapt.
That’s it.
I’m grateful for your attention, for your likes, comments and shares.
Be great!
p.s. If you’re a small business owner that already has a working sales process and you want more leads, inquiries or visits; if you’re fully aware of the power of running social media ads to achieve that but you don’t have the time to do it yourself OR you’ve tried it once before and it didn’t work out; go to farukdeveci.com, read the letter on that page and if it makes sense, fill out the form on the bottom and we’ll reach out to ya. | https://medium.com/@thefarukdeveci/why-even-bother-to-create-content-put-yourself-out-there-9120ed9c8912 | ['Faruk Deveci'] | 2019-06-17 14:25:19.888000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneurship', 'Content Marketing', 'Personal Branding'] |
Why Dental Floss Is a Marketing Scam | How Do You Market a Product That Nobody Needs?
First, you need to present your product as the solution to a problem.
The problem here is rotten teeth. Who wants that? This is an easy sell in a dentist. The patient already has a need, their teeth ache or it’s a check-up and they’ve arrived at your business. It’s now a question of when to present the worst scenario that foretells the loss of teeth.
And it’s not just the loss of teeth. The social impact has a major psychological grip on my sense of worth. With bad teeth I can’t get a date. Without a date I’ll be lonely. Being lonely will lead me to depression. Being depressed… well, you get the picture. A spiraling decline in my mental health all because of bad teeth.
It gets worse. You’re seeking employment. You have bad breath caused by food stuck in your teeth. You have an interview coming up. Without flossing you could be doomed. Without a job, you can’t get a date. Without a date, you’ll be lonely. Yeah, I know, it all leads back to sex.
All this runs through my mind as I sit sprawled in the dentist’s chair unable to answer back coherently.
“You wouldn’t want to have bad breath would you Reuben?” asks the Gentle Dental.
“Murhhmughhhh muuuummmmrrrgrhlll mmooorrrrhhhh” I would reply.
What? Didn’t I say I was in a vulnerable position?
“Tell me Reuben… do you date?” He doesn’t wait for an answer. “Because you’ll not be wanting to kiss anyone with food stuck in your teeth, would you now?” He’s a pessimist my dentist. Probably because he’s made the choice of staring at people’s bad teeth every single day of his life.
The nightmare scenario rapidly plays through my head and within ten seconds I have died, alone, somewhere in Palmerston North (formerly the worse place to live on Earth).
Need. Check.
Prevention message. Check.
Now all he needs to do is close the sale. | https://medium.com/better-marketing/why-dental-floss-is-a-marketing-scam-31cb666f1a00 | ['Reuben Salsa'] | 2019-11-22 00:13:55.504000+00:00 | ['Ideas', 'Marketing', 'Medical', 'Opinion', 'Dentistry'] |
Roses are Dead, Oops, I Mean Red | 50 Words
Roses are Dead, Oops, I Mean Red
Photo by Biel Morro on Unsplash
When roses die
they first start to rot
along the edges.
Red goes Black
as petals spread open
like my legs,
like my heart
when I’m
hopeful and scared.
Those petals don’t know
how beautiful they are
when they’re breaking
and falling to the ground.
They never know how loved. | https://medium.com/the-bad-influence/roses-are-dead-oops-i-mean-red-4005996f247a | ['Meaghan Ward'] | 2020-12-09 14:50:36.791000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Relationships', '50 Words', 'The Bad Influence', 'Love'] |
Exploring Human Memory Through Storytelling | Learning & Modeling
The first question that was explored was whether the similarity score of a retold/imagined story could be predicted with its corresponding recalled story. Using similarity score as a proxy for memory accuracy, this process revealed vital features that are most predictive of similarity score. These features are important in determining which factors in the dataset affect memory the most.
The models considered include multiple linear regression, a lasso-regularized linear model, and a decision tree regressor. The linear regression was considered as a starting point to the analysis since it would not take a lot of time to implement and could help guide the analysis. The lasso and decision tree regressor were considered because of their built-in ability to perform feature selection, which further developed insights on what impacts a similarity score the most. The mean-squared errors were very small, so the linearity of the model was further analyzed, and it was discovered that the data was not very linear. This meant that predictions would not be very accurate.
Decision Tree Regressor’s Output
The second question that was explored was whether it is possible to mimic what the research paper included with the data set was trying to do and predict if a story is imagined or recalled based on this database. Most of the features provided weren’t helpful, so some new features were developed for this analysis. A total of seven features were used: the sentiment of the story with respect to the summary, the sentiment of the story with respect to the main event, total word count of stories, total word count of “cleaned” stories, the cosine similarity of the story with respect to the summary, the cosine similarity of the story with respect to the main event, and the average concreteness of the words.
The data frame including the new features
Sentiment analysis was based on the Summary and Main Event with respect to the story because the recalled story would have a larger absolute sentiment value than the imagined one. Concreteness evaluates the degree to which the concept denoted by a word refers to a recognizable entity, and it was introduced by Dr. Brysbaert and his team in 2014. The team provided a database with thirty-seven thousand English words and three thousand two-word expressions of concreteness with mean and standard deviation scores. For reference, there are 280 words or expressions ranking with the highest mean concreteness score of five in the database (e.g. sled and peacock), and the words with the lowest scores are “eh” and “essentialness” with a mean score of 1.04.
Results
When looking at the linear regressions and decision tree regressor, we found certain variables appeared throughout these models. They include the log amount of time (in days) since the event was told to the person who would go on to either retell the story or imagine a story. Draining, an indicator variable that asked how tired a person was while performing the task, also appeared. These results made intuitive sense but they were not the most insightful.
To predict the type of story, several binary classifier models were run because finding the best accuracy score would be ideal. The accuracy score for the logistic regression is the highest of all the binomial classifiers with a 62% accuracy score. Among all the features, the decision tree classifier indicated that the sentiment analysis for the summary and the total word count are the two most important features. By referencing the decision boundary graph below, it is evident that the total word count actually plays a large part within the classification.
The Decision Boundary for the Logistic Regression Model
The decision tree is also another simple way of showing the importance of the features. It is difficult to compare many features; however, if the similarity is large and the total word count is large, then there is a high possibility that it is an imagined story.
The Decision Tree Classifier Model
The logistic regression provides the best results, which is even better than the multi-layer perceptron classifier. It is predicted that the neural net would give better results. | https://bryantleal.medium.com/exploring-human-memory-through-storytelling-109476588878 | [] | 2020-12-12 03:01:50.107000+00:00 | ['Predictive Modeling', 'Towards Data Science', 'Analytics', 'Unstructured Data', 'Python'] |
Father’s Day | The morning before Father’s Day, my brother and I rode our bicycles to McCann’s Gift Shop. The store carried a brass shaving kit with our old man’s initials embossed on the mahogany case. We went fifty-fifty on the gift and engraving — an idea endorsed by our mother.
Mama Bear raised the bar and demanded we start acting like grownups instead of children. By then, the man of the house had started getting on our nerves. The uptick in chores and expectations made us wonder if a shaving set was worth the trouble and money.
At thirteen and fourteen, we were wise guys. Sneaking beers, smoking weed, and skipping church. Raised Roman Catholic, my brother and I were required to go to mass. A house rule besides cutting the grass, taking out the garbage and recyclables.
On Sunday mornings we’d hide in the woods counting down the minutes. Other times we’d flag a bus to the pool hall. Church-smirch.
I don’t recall discussing it, but we decided to hit McCann’s on the way home. With a full afternoon, who wanted to hump a Father’s Day gift around?
That’s when we tilted our handle bars and glided the bikes towards the meadows and railroad tracks. The dark side of town. Where the bad kids lived.
In minutes we rambled over the wooden planks of the crossing. On one side, factories, cattails, and a turnpike overpass. On the other, Jasmine Court. Garden apartments that looked like army barracks.
Jasmine Court was better than HBO or those lame reality shows. Between the tenants raising hell and the cops rolling in to clamp things down, Jasmine Court had it all: Danger, dysfunction, and tough breaks.
Drug dens, poker tournaments, and underground dog fights. Bedrooms and storage space hiding stolen property. Living rooms equipped with pirate cable, hot stereos and flat screens. Whenever the police showed up, you got your money’s worth.
Special ops in motion, like an action movie. Battering rams, raids, and riot gear. Squad cars and SUVs answering fisticuffs, a barricaded psycho, a disturbed soul threatening to jump off a roof. Various mayhem, as mobile news crews arrived and jockeyed for footage.
The cops refused to back down and always won. Hauling off the trouble to jail or the mental hospital. Jasmine Court had the highest TV ratings and ‘evaluations’ in the county per capita. I really didn’t know if that’s true, but I’d bet the ranch and that’s no fib.
And the best part? We weren’t supposed to be there. Jasmine Court remained off-limits. My brother and I were expected to rat each other out for breaking this rule. Thick as thieves, we were a tight team.
Too daring to pass up, we had to come. To find our friends and classmates. To see what mischief Jasmine Court had in store.
Breaking windows, blowing things up, and hopping the trains. These kids were nuts. Most, beyond redemption.
We’d never find out how they spent Father’s Day at Jasmine Court. We had plans to celebrate the holiday as a family. Morning mass and reservations at a restaurant. We’d skip dessert and return home for cake, coffee, and gifts.
Most of the families in Jasmine Court were broken. Missing fathers who were on the lam, in prison, or worked the night shift. The rest were bookies, black market dealers, and other scammers gaming the system.
Kevin Kilroy’s father was around. A short guy who wore a wife-beater tank top and drank Red, White, and Blue Beer — a poor man’s Pabst Blue Ribbon. Kevin always called him a ‘pigeon’.
At the vacant rail yard, the security guard approached us. We knew Tony from our neighborhood. An older guy who lived around the corner with his wife.
“Does your father know you’re hangin’ around with this kid?” Tony asked in earshot of Kevin.
“Mind your own business, shit for brains,” Kevin told Tony. Tony looked over at my brother and I shaking his head. We shrugged our shoulders and followed Kevin to the next location.
A downer of a day fueled by the nuclear heat. We should have went to the town pool instead. Our family had badges while Jasmine Court ran its course. Our parents and Tony were right — we didn’t belong here.
Kevin brought us back for soft drinks, treating the gang to knock-off cola. He tossed one each to my brother and I. We thanked him and popped the tabs.
Mr. Kilroy followed Kevin outside and said something I couldn’t make out. It didn’t seem sarcastic since I knew the tone from my own father.
Kevin guzzled and drained his soda in one swig. He crushed the can and flung it towards a trash barrel. He belched and walked towards his father.
Kevin got in Mr. Kilroy’s face and shoved him. As Mr. Kilroy stumbled, Kevin raised his fists. Crouched and shuffling in a boxing stance, Kevin sprang, unloading a flurry of haymakers and uppercuts on Mr. Kilroy’s mug. Out-matched and dwarfed, Mr. Kilroy couldn’t block the assault nor fight back.
My brother and I went from bored to disbelief in a nanosecond as Kevin pummeled his father. Mr. Kilroy crumpled to the asphalt, forming a fetal position. Blood leaked from his mouth as he waved his hands in defeat.
Kevin stalked his father, daring him to get up. That’s when Joe Coroza from the next door apartment leaped onto the shared landing.
“What’s the matter with you? That’s your father!” Joe hollered.
“Call the cops, Joe. I can’t control him anymore,” Mr. Kilroy pleaded as he wept.
“You call the cops old man, I’ll kick your ass too,” Kevin told Joe as he stepped towards a guy smaller than Mr. Kilroy.
A mystified Joe held his ground, calling out to see that Mr. Kilroy was okay. Mr. Kilroy patted his bloody lip with one hand, wiped his tears and sweat with the other. Dazed and bruised, a jinxed Mr. Kilroy stayed silent.
My brother and I remained in shock, stunned by this freak of nature. A man-child with the strength and savagery to take apart his father and challenge any adult who stepped in his way.
Kevin turned towards my brother and I as if we were next. His bestial stare backed us up. The warning shot to never cross these tracks again.
We boarded our bikes and pedaled off. My brother and I never discussed what we witnessed that day. Too sad and depressing to share — even amongst ourselves.
Instead, we hightailed it to McCann’s Giftware to pay the balance on that shaving kit. Mr. McCann showed off the engraving. Holding the mahogany case like a piece from a pharaoh’s exhibit.
He then handed the case to an assistant at the wrapping station. We paid the rest in cash and left the store. No detours this time. Straight home to make peace with our parents and count our blessings. | https://medium.com/lit-up/fathers-day-ebf52d9bd228 | ['Phil Rossi'] | 2018-04-01 12:05:47.026000+00:00 | ['Teenagers', 'Growing Up', 'Short Story', 'Fiction', 'Flash Fiction'] |
The four main subelements of a reinforcement learning system | Chapter 1 — Introduction
A reinforcement learning system has four main subelements:
- a policy
- a reward signal
- a value function
- and optionally, a model of the environment
Policy
The policy defines how the agent will behave in any given time. More formally, it’s a mapping from the states of the environment to actions to be taken when in those states.
Different states and the possible actions from them [ref]
For example, imagine that you’re in state S2. Notice that you can go to either state S3 (taking action a6), or stay in the same state S2 (take action a3). The policy tells that you should take action a6 and go to state S3.
So again, a policy π is a function that takes as an input a state “S” (S2 in our example) and returns an action “a” (a6 in our example).
That is: π(s) → a
Or in our example, π(S2) → a6
It’s also important to understand that the learner and decision-maker is called the agent. The thing it interacts with, comprising everything outside the agent, is called the environment.
The policy may look like a lookup table, a simple function, or it may involve extensive computation such as a search process.
Also, the policy alone is sufficient to determine the agent’s behavior.
Policies are usually stochastic, meaning that we select an action from a probability distribution.
As an example, imagine that we are state S2 again. The policy will not just tell the agent “take action a6”. Instead, it will say “take action a6 with probability 88%, and take action a3 with probability 12%”.
Reward signal
After every action that the agent takes, the environment sends it a single number, a reward. The reward that the agent receives depends on the agent’s action and the state. The agent’s only goal is to maximize the total reward it receives over the long run.
The reward signal thus tells the agent what are the good and what are the bad decisions (e.g. low reward = bad, high reward = good).
The reward signal is the primary basis for altering the policy. Meaning, if the policy tells the agent to select an action when it’s in specific state (e.g. choose action “a6” when you’re in state “S2”), and that action is followed by a low reward, then the policy may be changed to select some other action in that situation (i.e. state) in the future.
Value function
Whereas the reward signal indicates what’s good for the agent at the moment (e.g. taking action “a6” right now when the agent is on “S2), a value function specifies what is good in the long run.
The value function takes into account the states that are likely to follow, and the rewards available in those states.
The value of a state is the total amount of reward an agent can expect to accumulate over the future, starting from that state.
So going back to our example, the value of state S3 takes into account the fact that after going into S3, you could also go to states S1 and S4.
The value of state S2 takes into account the fact that after going into S2, you could also go to states S3 and S2.
It’s important because a state might always gives an agent a low immediate reward, but if that state have a high value, it means that it’s often followed by other states that yield high rewards (hence, the agent should still go to that state).
So for example, imagine again that the agent is at state S2, and that taking action “a3” yields a reward with a value of 5. And that taking the action “a6” yields a reward with a value of 3. Maybe the reason the policy told the agent to go to state S3 from state S2 (taking action “a6”) is that once the agent is on state S3, it can take action “a2” that yields a 100 reward value.
Rewards are given directly by the environment, but values must be estimated and re-estimated from the observations an agent makes over its lifetime. That is, because the value of a state will change depending on what the agent knows about futures possibilities from that state. And since the agent continuously explore, it will discover more possibilities.
Without rewards there will be no values, and the only reason to estimate values is to achieve more rewards in the long run. Hence, you can think about rewards as primary, and values as secondary (they are just used as predictions of future rewards).
Nevertheless, it’s values that we care about when making and evaluating decisions. We seek actions that bring us to states of highest value, not the highest reward, because these actions will provide us with the greatest amount of reward in the long run.
Model of the environment
The model of the environment is a model that mimics how the environment will behave.
For example, given a state and an action, the model might predict the next state and next reward.
Models are used for deciding on a course of actions, by taking into account possible future situations before they are actually experienced.
RL problems that use models are called model-based methods.
RL problems that don’t use models are called model-free methods. The agents here are explicitly trial-and-error learners. | https://towardsdatascience.com/introduction-to-reinforcement-learning-rl-part-1-introduction-c0d55c1240a3 | ['Sagi Shaier'] | 2020-11-21 15:55:01.091000+00:00 | ['Rl Tutorial Series', 'Data Science', 'Reinforcement Learning Tutorial Series', 'Machine Learning', 'Reinforcement Learning'] |
5 Steps to Build Meaningful Communication With Your Customers | Everything you need to know about responding to reviews here.
It’s also important to monitor your direct messages on Facebook and Twitter to ensure you’re responding to any questions or comments coming in.
More on extending your customer service online here.
These platforms are where you’ll get the most valuable feedback on what’s working and what’s not at your business — and what’s resonating with your fanbase. In your responses, you can ask questions to try to understand where their input is coming from and let them know that you want them to have the best possible experience at your business.
If you’re responsive, polite, and open to feedback in your responses, you’ll be able to build brand loyalty because your customers will feel heard and appreciated, which is, after all, why they reached out to write a review or send a request in the first place. Plus, it’s not just the reviewers who will see your responses, but anyone visiting your pages will too — and with thoughtful responses, visitors will see that you’re a brand that cares about its customers and the customer experience.
4. Get sharing
Encourage your customers to get sharing! According to a 2016 PwC poll, 45% of shoppers say social media, comments, and recommendations influence their shopping behavior. By combining loyalty programs with social media, such as extra points for sharing your posts, Instagram contests, etc., you can grow your audience and improve how your brand is perceived.
With mobile apps, a recommendation on social media brings in, on average, 3–5 new downloads, out of who 1–2 users become regular customers, says LoyaltyPlant.
5. Engage
Communicate! With a mobile app, businesses can create a useful and effective channel of communication. On some apps, businesses can ask customers to leave comments, and respond to those comments directly in the app. This is a good way to handle some negative feedback offline. You can also directly reward unhappy customers in the app — building a relationship and creating a potential loyal fan. A brand that evolves with their customer’s wishes and trends is a brand that can grow and last, according to LoyaltyPlant.
“More than ever, users demand brand interactions and if the company doesn’t respond on social, it’s easy to lose customers. That’s why engaging, conversing, and contacting customers via social media can have tremendous payoffs.” — SproutSocial
This means responding to reviews and direct messages as we mentioned above, but it’s just as important to respond to all interactions on social media from your customers — posts, tags, comments, tweets, and mentions.
If your customers are posting about your business on Instagram — like, comment, and ask to repost on your business page!
If your customers post about your business on Facebook — like, comment, and share to your business page!
If your customers are tweeting about your business on Twitter — like, retweet, quote tweet, and reply!
Thank your customers, like their content, and reshare their content. This is the best way to let your customers know that you value them and their interaction and engagement with your business both online and offline. | https://medium.com/main-street-hub/5-steps-to-build-meaningful-communication-with-your-customers-f518e02595fb | ['Main Street Hub'] | 2018-07-31 15:10:16.634000+00:00 | ['Social Media', 'Social Media Marketing', 'Apps', 'Small Business Marketing', 'Marketing'] |
Critical Introduction to Probability and Statistics: Fundamental Concepts & Learning Resources | From Probability Theory to Statistics
Statistics was antedated by the theory of probability. In fact, any serious study of statistics must of necessity be preceded by a study of probability theory — since the theory of statistics grounds its foundation. While the theoretical ends of statistics ought to agree that (at least to serve as a common feature) it depends on probability; the question as to what probability is and how it is connected with statistics have experienced certain forms of disagreement [8].
Whereas there are arrays of varying statistical procedures that are still relevant today, most of them rely on the use of modern measure-theoretic probability theory (Kolmogorov) while others express near relative as a means to interpret hypotheses and relate them to data.
Probability is the most important concept in modern science, especially as nobody has the slightest notion what it means (Russell, 1929).
What does probability mean? The mathematical notion of probability does not provide an answer to this. Hence, the formal axiomatization of probability does not guarantee that it be held meaningful for all possible worlds [11].
Interpretations of Probability Theory [10–11]
Since the notion of probability is deemed one of the foremost concepts in scientific investigation and spans its relevance to the philosophy of science in the analysis and interpretation of theories, epistemology, and philosophy of the mind, the foundations of probability [and its interpretations] which is held of utmost relevance in honing our understanding in statistics, bear, at least indirectly, and sometimes directly, upon scientific and philosophical concerns.
The probability function — a particular kind of function that is used to express the measure of a set (Billingsley, 1995) — may be interpreted as either physical or epistemic. In addition, the American Philosopher, Wesley C. Salmon (1966) provides a set of criteria for coming up with an adequate interpretation of probability which is briefly reviewed as follows [11]:
Admissibility — if the meanings assigned to the primitive terms in the interpretation transform the formal axioms, and consequently, all the theorems, into true statements.
— if the meanings assigned to the primitive terms in the interpretation transform the formal axioms, and consequently, all the theorems, into true statements. Ascertainability — This criterion requires that there be some method by which, in principle at least, we can ascertain values of probabilities.
— This criterion requires that there be some method by which, in principle at least, we can ascertain values of probabilities. Applicability — The interpretation of probability should serve as a guide relative to the domain of discourse (or field of interest).
According to Salmon (as cited in Hájek, 2019), most of the work will be done by the applicability criterion. That is to say, more or less, that our decision for interpreting probability should cast the world which we are interested in. For example, Bayesian methods are more appropriately used when we know the prior distribution of our event space — for instances like rolling a dice where there is a geometric symmetry that follows a natural pattern of distribution. For most, experiments, however, Bayesian methods would require the researcher’s guess for setting some prior distribution over their hypotheses. This is where other interpretations may seem more appropriate.
Because we are more concerned with honing our deep understanding with statistics, I limit this article to the most relevant set of interpretations which can be classified into physical and epistemic class. For a more detailed interpretation of probability, the reader is invited to consult the entry from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on Interpretations of Probability [11].
Physical where the frequency or propensity of the occurrence of a state of affairs often referred to as the chance.
where the frequency or propensity of the occurrence of a state of affairs often referred to as the chance. Epistemic where the degree of belief in the occurrence of the state of affairs, the willingness to act on its assumption, a degree of support or confirmation, or similar.
According to the University of Groningen Philosophy Professor Jan-Willem Romejin (2017), the distinction should not be confused with that between objective and subjective probability. Both physical and epistemic probability can be given an objective and subjective character, in the sense that both can be taken as dependent or independent of a knowing subject and her conceptual apparatus.
Meanwhile, the longheld debate between two different interpretations of probability namely being based on objective evidence and on subjective degrees of belief has caused mathematicians such as Carl Friedrich Gauss and Pierre-Simon Laplace to search for alternatives for more than 200 years ago. As a result, two competing schools of statistics were developed: Bayesian theory and Frequentist theory.
Photo by Ellicia on Unsplash
Note that some authors may define the classical interpretation of probability as Bayesian while classical statistics is frequentist. To avoid this confusion, I will dismiss the term classical to refer to the Frequentist theory.
In the following subsections, I will briefly define the key concepts between Bayesian Theory and Frequentist Theory of Statistics which I got from [14].
1.0 Bayesian Theory
The controversial key concept of Bayesian School of thought was their assumption for prior probabilities — which relies solely on the researcher’s naive guess or confidence towards their hypotheses. But there are also good reasons for using Bayesian methods over the Frequentist approach. The following highlights the key ideas as to why you should or should not use Bayesian methods for your analysis.
Bayesian inference depends on one’s degree of confidence in the chosen prior. Bayesian inference uses probabilities for both hypotheses and data; it depends on the prior and likelihood of observed data [14].
Criticism [14]
Subjective nature of selecting priors. There is no systematic method for selecting priors.
Assigning subjective priors does not constitute outcomes of repeatable experiments.
Reasons for using Bayesian Methods [14–15]
Using Bayesian methods are logically rigorous because once we have a prior distribution, all our calculations are carved with the certainty of deductive logic [14]. Philosophers of science usually come down strongly on the Bayesian side [15].
[15]. The simplicity of the Bayesian approach is especially appealing in a dynamic context, where data arrives sequentially, and where updating one’s beliefs is a natural practice[15].
By trying different priors, we can ascertain how sensitive our results are to the choice of priors [14].
It is relatively easier to communicate a result framed in terms of probabilities of hypotheses.
2.0 Frequentist Theory
While Bayesian methods rely on its priors, Frequentism focuses on behavior. The frequentist approach uses conditional distributions of data given specific hypotheses. Frequentist approach does not depend on a subjective prior that may vary from different researchers. However, there are some objections that one has to keep in mind when deciding to use a frequentist approach.
Criticism [14]
Struggles to balance behavior over a family of possible distributions.
It is highly experimental; it does not carry the template of deductive logic. P-values depends on the exact experimental set-up (p-values are the threshold of which inference is drawn).
P-values and Significance level (both are forms of a threshold for inferential decision) are notoriously prone to misinterpretation [14].
Reasons for using Frequentist Methods [14]
The frequentist approach dominated in the 20th century, and we have achieved tremendous scientific progress [14].
The Frequentist experimental design demands a careful description of the experiment and methods of analysis before staring — it helps control for the experimenter’s bias [14].
Comparison
The figure above is a comparative analysis made by Little (2005).
The difference is that Bayesians aim for the best possible performance versus a single (presumably correct) prior distribution, while frequentists hope to due reasonably well no matter what the correct prior might be [15].
Important notes
The competing notions between Frequentist’s approach to statistical analysis and Bayesian methods have been around for over 250 years. Both schools of thought have been challenged by one another. The Bayesian method had been greatly criticized for its subjective nature while the Frequentist’s method had been put into question for its justification of probability threshold of which it draws an inference (p-values, and significance value). It is worth noting that, albeit the Frequentist’s approach to Statistic prevailed in 20th-century science, the resurgence of Bayesian method has been greatly values in 21st-century Statistics.
For more detailed discussion for this matter, the reader is invited to consult [15]. | https://medium.com/dave-amiana/critical-introduction-to-probability-and-statistics-fundamental-concepts-learning-resources-95853e94308c | ['Dave Amiana'] | 2020-06-09 14:45:16.916000+00:00 | ['Science', 'Statistics', 'Mathematics', 'Philosophy'] |
How to create a resume that meets the requirements of an applicant tracking system. | How to create a resume that meets the requirements of an applicant tracking system. jessicalexi Dec 27, 2021·4 min read
The systems for tracking applicants are likely to assist companies in finding to hire, recognizing and retaining top talent on the market quickly. Businesses fail to achieve their recruitment goals by not utilizing the latest technologies for recruitment. So, resumes with ATS-friendly templates become increasingly crucial.
Your recruitment process can be managed digitally across a single platform if you use software for recruiting. The screening process helps you identify the most qualified candidates from the applications received. An ATS could do various other things for you as well, and these are only some. The entire process of recruiting can be enhanced with an ATS. It also helps with the most important issues that are associated with recruitment and acquisition of talent processes.
How do companies determine which HR-related decisions to take using robots?
The speed is crucial. It can be a hassle exhausting, time-consuming and tiring to go through hundreds of resumes in order to select the most suitable applicants. By identifying resumes with important skills and experience the applicant tracking system can help speed the process of hiring.
In a study in which it was discovered that the majority of applicants did not pass screening ATS screening. By screening, a huge candidate pool is reduced to a handful of candidates who are further evaluated through human-based hiring supervisors.
Your resume must be saved to the below file types:
PDF files aren’t the most appropriate file type for tracking applications Contrary to what many believe. True, PDF files are ideal to protect resume designs and format. However, some applicant tracking programs might not work with PDFs. Be sure to use the appropriate format for your documents for your resume. If you must submit your resume in PDF format, you can upload the PDF version.
It is advised to utilize Word Documents in .doc or .docx If the system doesn’t have any particular kinds of documents. Plain-text documents are also an excellent choice since they are extremely compatible with ATSs. They do, however, are limited formatting options.
In the header or footer, you of the document should not contain important information like:
The software used to track applicants does not always have the capacity to properly read and understand the information contained in the section of the footer and header. A majority of applicant tracking systems are incapable of identifying the contact details of applicants 25 per cent of the time, according to a study. Place your essential contact details outside of the footer and header of your resume in order to avoid these mistakes. Include your name, telephone number and email address.
In order to optimize your resume, include specific keywords like:
Keyword optimization is among the most effective methods to create resumes that are compatible with ATS. Keywords and phrases in marketing like “proactive” and “ambitious” are a good way to showcase your soft skills and hard abilities. Apart from expressing your work experience, it proves that you’re qualified to be hired. If you’re not certain of the terms, all you have to do is write up to three job descriptions that reflect the responsibilities of the job. Input the description of your job into a word cloud maker (Wordle, WordArt, Tagxedo) and identify which words are frequently utilized in all of your jobs. Incorporating these keywords into your resume of yours is a great idea if you are qualified or have abilities.
It is vital to consider the frequency and location of these terms account when creating an ATS-optimized resume. ATS systems assess the legitimacy of your abilities by evaluating the number of words that appear on your resume (ideally utilize the term at least two or three times in your resume) while other systems assign an estimated amount of experience based on the location of the skill in the resume. It is important to optimize your resume taking each of the ATS techniques into consideration when you create ATS appropriate resumes.
Only use text, and not images graphs, charts, or images:
Human eyes can find appealing images and graphics. The process of incorporating images into resumes can appear obstructed. Tracking systems can make them disappear once they’ve passed through it. The software that recruits you cannot interpret charts or images that represent your most important abilities. You won’t be able to view the image you used to identify your name if you’ve included it in your resume.
Make use of bullets to make it easy:
Bullet points can be used to highlight your accomplishments and skills in your resume if used appropriately. Your most prominent marketing elements could be lost if you select an elaborate font for bullet points. When creating a bulleted list of your resume, stay away from using intricate symbols. The resume you submit should appear easy and straightforward. Be sure that the bullets are portrayed using solid circles either an open circle or an equilateral square. If you wish that your application be considered in an online applicant tracker, make sure to stay clear of the elements that could make it ineligible.
The design and structure of your resume must be easy to follow:
The most basic layout is most effective when it comes to your resume. Apart from the complexities of applicant tracking systems complicated resumes can be a source of frustration for recruiters. Resumes must include specific details that are compliant with ATSes and is easily scannable. Take Free demo ats Now!
Consistency
A LinkedIn profile that has similar terms to the resume you have is an effective job-search strategy. Make your search as successful as possible by using LinkedIn. Employers will be attracted by your meticulous approach because it proves your reliability | https://medium.com/@recruitbpm7/how-to-create-a-resume-that-meets-the-requirements-of-an-applicant-tracking-system-8a489646017d | [] | 2021-12-27 20:58:51.196000+00:00 | ['Ats', 'Recruiting', 'CRM', 'Applicant Tracking System'] |
How to Get Leads by Publishing Content | Content is the new black in the marketing world.
Content marketing is an inbound marketing approach that believes in attracting leads rather than chasing them. Content marketing integrates online marketing tools like web analytics and SEO to attract, nurture and target potential consumers.
In recent years, online content consumers have become intolerant towards intrusive marketing — and as of 2015, 200million internet users have installed various ad-blocking softwares.
To overcome this issue, marketers have come up with another option, i.e., native advertising. It is a form of advertising where the ad matches the platform’s content upon which it appears.
Content marketing is a great approach that targets the consumers without any interruption; it’s a non-intrusive marketing method that engages the prospects by creating and publishing quality content that suits their needs.
However, generating organic traffic through content marketing requires patience and high-quality, SEO-enriched publishing content. To ensure high lead generation, a marketer should take the following measures:
Design Your Content Keeping The Buyer’s Journey In Consideration
A customer has become aware and does thorough research before purchasing. Therefore, a content marketer should study different stages of a buyer’s journey and publishing content accordingly.
Initial Stage: Looking For Awareness
The prospect is currently experiencing a problem and is seeking education awareness, looking for a solution. This is the perfect time to establish your brand presence by publishing content that can generate web traffic.
At this stage you should provide your prospects with:
Analysis Reports
eBooks, White Papers, and Blogs
Expert Reviews
Educational content
Press Releases
Checklists
Infographics
Mid-Stage: Service Consideration
The mid-stage phase is where a marketer can convert traffic into promising leads. By this stage, the prospect has defined his problem and is considering all possible solutions. The consumer is now involved in extensive research looking for all the services available.
A marketer can cash on the opportunity by publishing content like:
Case studies regarding the product
Webinars
Podcast
Expert Advice
Comparison Blogs
Whitepapers
Testimonials
The main target at this stage should be lead generation, therefore, a marketer should help the prospect by differentiating his product from the rest.
Final Stage: Purchase Decision
By this time, a prospect has conducted research and enlisted all the possible services that can help resolve the problem. Now he is shortlisting from the different PEO services that he has initially jotted down.
A content marketing campaign should be reinforcing to impact prospects’ final decision. With a sole motto of generating sales, publishing content should include:
Product Comparisons
Free Trial Offers
Live Demos
Product Literature
Free Consultations
Post Purchase Stage
A content campaign should convert a customer into a loyal one. At this stage, client nurturing is the key goal of the strategy.
The content strategist should publish:
Content For Free Trials
Consultations
Free Tools/Offers
The effectiveness of a market campaign relies on its tendency to retain a client’s interest, so it can help generate further lead generation.
Research Is The Backbone of Any Content Strategy
Smart campaigns are backed by extensive research. Without an in-depth market analysis, it is impossible to create a content strategy to boost lead generation.
To write successfully, research extensively!
Content that lacks research is unable to interest the target audience can never generate leads no matter how well-written it may be. When creating niche-specific content, you need to be aware of the specific aspects of the market and targeted segment.
Basic information like sex, age, and socioeconomic class, etc.
Cultural values and norms
Psychographics
Most favored type of content
Motives of a potential customer
Research backs up the content through facts and figures that make your work’s credibility cloud nine. A speculated content — be it in any form — lacks the charm to convert a prospect into a loyal customer.
Keywords Are the Key to Success
Keywords are the easiest and most effective to unlock the secrets of your consumer’s interest. They act as a bridge between consumers’ search patterns and the information that your content offers.
Keywords can help generate tremendous organic traffic to your website only if they are utilized correctly. A slight difference between your elaboration and your consumer’s understanding can attract unwanted audiences to your website that can set back the entire campaign.
To generate organic traffic, marketers need to know: how their consumers think, what kind of language they use and what sort of content they are seeking.
Content Rich Landing Page
The first impression of the landing page will get you impressions on your website!
A landing page having apt call-to-action buttons are an ad campaign booster. Remember, people looking for something online are anything but patient. They skim through the content; landing pages with attractive and compelling headlines gain prospects’ attraction with ease.
A popular blogging forum, HubSpot reports that companies that increased their landing pages from 10 to 15 saw a 55% increase in their leads. Another report suggests companies with 40 landing pages generate 12 times more leads than the ones with 15 pages.
A quick tip for marketers who want to increase their landing pages’ effectiveness is to put the most important message right away. Your landing page should be covered with your product/service’s benefits and features if you want your consumer to be hooked by your content.
Content Creation
Content that generates leads is always research and data-based. To fully utilize the potential of content marketing campaigns, marketers must understand the needs of the audience that is being catered to.
An article published by CopyBlogger states that 8 out of 10 people will read the headline, while only two will read the rest of the content. It means that a marketer has only 10 to 15 words to hook his prospect, and if used wisely, these words are more than enough.
According to DemandMetric, content marketing is three times more effective than traditional marketing methods and costs around 60% less. Due to this inbound marketing technique’s high success rate, around 90% of organizations have started using content in their marketing strategies.
Content creation is not a single step, but a long process that requires a wholehearted effort from the marketing team.
Content Distribution Channels
Once you are finished finalizing your content, you need to decide which digital channels you will be showcasing it on. There are only two ways in which you can post your content on social media platforms:
Paid campaigns
Organic Reach
For a paid approach, you need to invest money and time for another. The quality of your produced content will generate organic reach, but it will take time. If you want quick results, then running paid ad campaigns across the relevant digital mediums is the best bet for you.
Only invest in the popular mediums among your target audience; otherwise, you would be wasting your hours of effort on unwanted traffic.
Content marketing is a sea, and to thoroughly understand the magic of this inbound marketing strategy, one must be keen enough to seek more knowledge about the tools that can help you ace your content marketing campaigns. At the end of the day, curiosity is what drives us towards success!
If you are still here reading this, you might like to check our website blog.
This article was originally published on Techxide
Related: The Secret Sauce Of Producing An Award Winning Digital Content Copy | https://medium.com/techxide/how-to-get-leads-by-publishing-content-18d298ad1047 | ['Usman Ali'] | 2021-06-17 13:32:29.384000+00:00 | ['Lead Generation', 'Content Creation', 'Content Strategy', 'Content', 'Content Marketing'] |
Glen Weyl on Fighting COVID-19 and the Role of the Academic Expert (Ep. 94 — BONUS) | Glen Weyl on Fighting COVID-19 and the Role of the Academic Expert (Ep. 94 — BONUS)
Glen Weyl is an economist, researcher, and founder of RadicalXChange. He recently co-authored a paper that sets forth an ambitious strategy to respond to the crisis and mitigate long-term damage to the economy through a regime of testing, tracing, and supported isolation. In his estimation the benefit-cost ratio is ten to one, with costs equal to about one month of continued freeze in place.
Tyler invited Glen to discuss the plan, including how it’d overcome obstacles to scaling up testing and tracing, what other countries got right and wrong in their responses, the unusual reason why he’s bothered by price gouging on PPE supplies, where his plan differs with Paul Romer’s, and more. They also discuss academia’s responsibility to inform public discourse, how he’d apply his ideas on mechanism design to reform tenure and admissions, his unique intellectual journey from socialism to libertarianism and beyond, the common element that attracts him to both the movie Memento and Don McLean’s “American Pie,” what talent he looks for in young economists, the struggle to straddle the divide between academia and politics, the benefits and drawbacks of rollerblading to class, and more.
Listen to the full conversation
You can also watch a video of the conversation here.
Read the full transcript
TYLER COWEN: Hello. Today, I am chatting with Glen Weyl, who is one of the smartest and sharpest of all the economists, and Glen is, among other things, the founder and leader of RadicalxChange Foundation. Most recently, he is coauthor of a significant study on how we should fight back against COVID-19. He and his coauthors have come up with a plan — a rather ambitious plan — for a pandemic testing board and hoping to test as many as two million Americans each day. Glen, welcome.
GLEN WEYL: Thanks so much for having me on, Tyler, especially at such short notice. It’s really great to be able to talk about these issues with you.
COWEN: We will have our usual wide-ranging chat, but also a lot of focus on COVID-19. Let me start with a simple question. Why is testing in America, right now, so hard to scale up?
WEYL: I think we’ve got two basic problems. One is a coordination failure along the supply chain, and the other is a lot of small innovations that require a lot of regulatory engagement to get rapidly deployed that need to be really accelerated and coordinated.
If you look deep into the supply chains where they’re producing the reagents, where they’re producing the test kits, there has not been a clear demand signal to those parts of the supply chain that we’re going to aim for a really high level of testing like we’re describing. Therefore, there’s a real unwillingness to make the fixed-cost investments to repurpose manufacturing, to supply tests at that level. We can go into why that’s the case in a minute.
If you think of closer to the consumer, the issues are actually quite different. They’re not really about money. They’re much more about the fact that the current testing technology is extremely intrusive and very volatile. So —
COWEN: That’s the swab up your nose, right? It hurts.
WEYL: Exactly. Exactly.
COWEN: It sounds scary. So you want to spit into a cup.
WEYL: Exactly, or a tube.
COWEN: Say I’m an individual American, and we’re in a world where tests are easy to get. Indeed, we’re testing two million Americans a day. Why, in fact, want to be tested if I’m afraid that information can be used against me, keep me away from my job, or remove me from my family?
WEYL: That’s a great point, Tyler. That’s the reason why the three pillars of our strategy are testing, tracing, and supported isolation. We need to ensure that isolation is accompanied by supports from the public that are sufficient to give people a strong reason to want to engage in isolation. People have a lot of concern for their neighbors. They don’t want to get people sick. They don’t want to get their families sick.
So there’s already an inducement isolation there. But especially for Americans who have more limited economic means, it can be a huge hardship to be away from your job for that long, which is why we need public support for people who need to be isolated so that they can receive the treatment that they need, so that they can receive the food and income support that they need, and so that they don’t get detached from their jobs.
COWEN: Where physically will we put these people? Say I test as having COVID-19. Where does the truck bring me, so to speak?
WEYL: I don’t think a truck brings you anywhere. The vast majority of people in the Asian countries that have been most successful in containing the disease have isolated at home, sometimes being isolated even from their families, but overwhelmingly at home. Note, for visitors from abroad who have no clear residence in the country, there may be some dedicated facilities, particular types of hotels associated with isolation. But that’s going to be a very small minority of all cases.
COWEN: Is there enough trust in America to pull this off? Even if you write down the rules of the game and they sound fair, the people don’t trust the federal government. They don’t trust Donald Trump. They may not trust the Democrats and Nancy Pelosi. Won’t people really still run away from the test like a plague? We don’t know how long immunity lasts, if there’s immunity, how long contagion lasts. I just don’t want to know or behave carefully enough that I don’t feel guilty. Otherwise I’m like, “Keep that test away from me.” Or not?
WEYL: Yeah, I couldn’t agree more that there is a systemic lack of trust — especially in federal government — in this country, which is why we believe that the most effective way to make this work is by drawing on institutions that have a lot more trust. A lot of the leading businesses in this country have a very high degree of trust. The state governments, local governments have a very high degree of trust.
So we need a strategy that has a role for the federal government in funding and coordinating the parts of this that absolutely need the federal government in terms of the supply chain. But beyond that, we want to empower those localities and trusted businesses to be the ones who both execute on and lead the public communication around the strategy.
There’s a well-worn tradition of that in something called the interstate compact, where the federal government can provide funding, but it’s actually administered by state governments and often staffed by the private sector.
COWEN: At what rate of false negatives are these tests not worth doing?
WEYL: Probably around 50 to 60 percent. Now, it depends a huge amount on whether those false negatives are what we call permanent false negatives or whether they’re from poor administration of the test. If they’re from poor administration of the test, you can just give a test multiple times. And it appears that most false negatives are currently from poor administration of the nasal swabs, which, by the way, is another reason why moving towards a spit test is so desirable, because it’s much harder to screw up.
COWEN: But the spit test doesn’t do better on false negatives, right? It probably does the same.
WEYL: Swabs are more sensitive if they’re correctly administered, but they’re very easy to incorrectly administer because they’re a very invasive and complicated procedure. The spit test is much less prone to that sort of human error and so may actually, in practice, perform better even though the nasal swab has the potential to do better.
COWEN: What do you think is the rate of false negatives right now?
WEYL: Probably about 20 percent, 20 to 25 percent.
COWEN: At what rate of false positives are these tests not worth doing?
WEYL: I think that even a relatively low rate of false positives could create a huge problem here because the disease prevalence is not that high. So, if you start getting a lot of false positives, pretty much everything that’s going to come up is going to be a false positive. Luckily, the PCR tests have shown a very low rate of false positives so far.
COWEN: But is that data on false positives very reliable? Because we don’t have another test to test the test, right? There’s never been a control group when we subject people to all the different tests and then find out if they really had it. We have a lot of uncertainty about test quality?
WEYL: I think that that’s true. I also think that we’re not getting a huge dragnet coming out of these PCR tests in countries where prevalence rates are low, and you would expect to see that if the false positive rate were nontrivial.
In Korea, they’re administering a lot of these tests, and they’re getting about 2 percent of tests coming back positive. If you look at countries where we know that there is very low prevalence, you would expect that, even if there’s zero prevalence, you would be getting a significant false positive rate. The fact that some countries are really getting close to zero tests coming back positive suggest that there’s a very low false positive rate.
COWEN: If we look at Singapore, which has done a lot with testing and track and trace, it seems, at least superficially, they did many things right. Now they’re back to having over 900 cases a day [subsequently more], and they’re about the size of Fairfax County and have incredible governance. What did Singapore do wrong, and how will we avoid that same mistake?
WEYL: The truth is I haven’t followed the Singaporean case recently closely enough to figure out what went wrong recently. My impression is that they put too much confidence into a particular digital tracing system, which turned out to get very low take-up, and they pulled back on their manual tracing efforts before there was reason to be confident that they had the ability to pull back on them.
There’s also a big problem, which is that manual tracing efforts do a poor job of covering public spaces, and I think that the Singaporeans believed that these Bluetooth-based tracing technologies would cover those public spaces well, and they failed to do so. And they therefore allowed redensification of their public spaces too quickly, and I think that’s something we need to be very careful about.
COWEN: But whether or not we make those exact same mistakes, the fact that such a high-quality government made mistakes, didn’t we really truly fear the United States — with 50 different state governments, a barely competent federal government, if that — will make a lot more, possibly quite different mistakes? How confident are you about how this is going to run?
WEYL: Well, look, I think that there is likely going to need to be some capacity for states or localities — probably through some sort of identity certificate or something like that — to potentially limit travel across jurisdictions. In Canada, they’ve done that across provinces.
COWEN: So this could limit travel across some US states?
WEYL: Yeah, I think so. I don’t know if it will come to that. There’s a possibility that we get very successful here in a very uniform way, but for the reasons that you’re saying — because of the federal structure — I think we’re going to face a choice between centralizing power more than I think we should want to and in a way that would reduce the scope for desirable experimentation, and allowing some restrictions on travel across localities.
COWEN: Actually, I look right now at New Zealand, Hawaii, and the Faroe Islands, in fact, also Taiwan. They’re all doing a great job. They’re all like islands in some way, or they’re literally islands. Isn’t so much of the gain just from reducing the travel? And if we reduce travel, not worry so much about the tests. We get most of the gain, or no?
WEYL: Well, there’s plenty of islands that have restricted travel, at least at some point, and have failed. The UK has had a terrible experience and is also an island. So I don’t think being an island is enough.
COWEN: It’s a big island, right? If you’re in Hawaii, it’s pretty carved up, even within Hawaii, and there’s not much mobility.
WEYL: I think you can certainly achieve a lot if you don’t yet have the disease in country that way. There are not that many places in the US that have low enough prevalence that I think that that would really succeed. But it would probably succeed for some localities. I just think it’s not a comprehensive strategy for most of the population centers of the US, where prevalence is already high enough that trying to treat yourself as an island is not really going to accomplish a lot.
COWEN: Give me a sense of the timeline of what you’re proposing. What do we get the rate of transmission down to? How quickly do we get the tests available? And then when do we reopen the economy? What’s the ticking of the clock?
WEYL: There’s one really critical element of this plan that I don’t think has been widely discussed, which is that there are 40 percent of people in the essential sector who are still out there doing their jobs. There may have been some improvements in sanitation. There probably have been, though there have been a lot of issues with getting the PPE required to do that.
But those people are basically transmitting the diseases they always have been. And so, by far, our first priority has to be not “reopening the economy,” but rather stabilizing that sector of the economy so that transmission is not taking place within that sector.
Once we’ve accomplished that goal, it will actually be relatively easy to reopen the rest of the economy, given that that’s 40 percent. It’s just a doubling to get to everybody being in a disease-stabilized situation. So I really think the focus has to be on stabilizing the essential sector by building up this regimen. I think we can do that by the end of June.
Once that’s accomplished, I think we can, over the course of July, reintroduce most of the rest of the economy and have the confidence that, because we haven’t seen reemergence of diseases within the essential sector, that reintroducing everybody else will proceed in a similar fashion.
COWEN: I think if people not paying their rents, and maybe more importantly, not paying their mortgages — they worry, say, within four to six weeks, the whole banking system will be insolvent. I don’t mean illiquid, where the Fed can prop it up. I just mean flat-out, permanently insolvent. Isn’t there some very rapid, irreversible, nonlinear deterioration going on, and we’ll need to reopen more than we would like to pretty soon, no matter what our level of testing is? What do you think of that claim? Obviously, you’re an economist.
WEYL: I think it’s a little bit extreme, but I’m certainly inclined in that direction. The problem, Tyler, is that if we reopen under the current conditions, we’re going to see — and this is expected by all the epidemiological models — a resurgence of the disease, probably sooner rather than later, and we’re going to have to lock things down again.
As problematic as it is to keep things closed for another month plus, it’s going to be much more problematic to suddenly and unexpectedly every so often have to shut everything back down again. It will completely destroy the capacities of businesses to plan if that is looming out there.
As problematic as it is to keep things closed for another month plus, it’s going to be much more problematic to suddenly and unexpectedly every so often have to shut everything back down again.
Whereas, if we can plan for some period of bridge loans, some period of the Fed bailouts, et cetera, then at least we can get that into a bill and get ahead of it, rather than relying on people to just have to deal constantly with new crises emerging.
COWEN: Let’s say we never soon figure out the puzzle of immunity, how immune you are, and for how long, and we’re not sure how long contagiousness lasts. You get the test, and we learn that you’ve had COVID-19. We’re not sure if you’re immune or you’re contagious for two months. What do we do with you? What box do you get put in?
WEYL: I think serological tests — if we get them working, and they’re not really working very reliably yet — can be quite helpful for that because there’s one of the antibodies — I always forget which one it is, MMM or MMG — but one of them is an indicator of convalescence and at least temporary immunity. So serology is very useful in that case.
It’s also widely believed that if you’ve had a period of symptoms and no longer have symptoms — though this is not known for sure because we have seen some returns of it in South Korea — but it’s believed that during that period when you don’t have symptoms, the amount of the virus that you’re shedding is low.
So I don’t think we can quite say that those people are immune until they get a serology test, but at least they can go back to being in the same condition as the rest of the population unless we see a resurgence of symptoms.
COWEN: What are the labor requirements for following up on people who test positive? You track them down, you call them up, you text them reminders — whatever’s going to be done. How many people do we need to hire and train to do that work?
WEYL: Somewhere on the order of a few hundred thousand. Precisely how many depends, really, on how quickly you want to follow up on the cases because you can have one person on each case or you can have multiple, but somewhere in that range.
And by the way, the Australian government managed to train 20,000 people in a week who had been laid off from Qantas. So we definitely have examples around the world of this being done, and I’m hopeful that we can replicate this in the US. Even a county in rural East Texas has managed to do this quite rapidly, as well as the state of Massachusetts. So we already have some success stories on that.
COWEN: And the party ultimately making this work — is it the federal government or the state governments? Or if there’s a disagreement, who or what is the final adjudicator?
WEYL: I think it’s going to be many different things with many different roles. But if you’re talking about the pandemic testing board that would be the coordinating body, it could be a national forum or it could be an interstate compact.
I’d prefer it to be an interstate compact, in which case it would be a consortium of governors who would be the final authority, but they would appoint the pandemic testing board, which I think would be mostly staffed by retired generals and business leaders, as well as probably someone representing labor and so forth.
COWEN: Say my employer tests me, maybe it’s George Mason, and the test is wrong — false positive, false negative. Can I sue them? Or is there a complete liability waiver here?
WEYL: I think employers should have a responsibility to use the best tests.
COWEN: There’s still a pretty high false rate, right?
WEYL: High false negative rate. At maximum, 1 percent false positive rate because —
COWEN: Total rate could be over 30 percent. So if result is wrong and you can sue your boss, bosses won’t want to test you.
WEYL: I think that they should have a negligence requirement to use the best tests available, but I don’t think that they should have a strict liability requirement that if anything goes wrong, it’s their fault.
COWEN: But we’d have to get, through all the different court systems of the country, some kind of agreement on liability, right? And just for going back to work. You’re in the workplace, there’s a testing regime.
WEYL: Yeah. I think that’s fair. I think the pandemic testing board should have some authority to set guidance about that, and my guess is, under standard common-law approaches, that there would be a fair bit of deference to that by most reasonable courts. I can’t say that that would happen everywhere, but that would be my guess.
COWEN: Let’s say I love taking the test. I take the test every week. It clears me every week. Do I get a certificate?
WEYL: We believe that taking the test frequently enough — and I don’t think once a week is enough; it should probably be twice a week — that that should give you an equal status to someone who’s been shown an immune.
COWEN: Can I get a certificate proving that, and it’s like a passport?
WEYL: Yeah, for both of those cases, both for immunity and for if someone takes frequent tests. We don’t think people should have the right to do that until we have enough tests to do the more basic regime for the whole population. But eventually, we would like to make them available through a more standard price mechanism like you’re describing.
And then, especially in essential sectors, I expect, yes, there would be a certification process like you’re describing for people who are either known to be immune or for people who get frequent enough negative tests.
COWEN: We end up with a segregated nation.
WEYL: I don’t think so because first of all, we will not make that available — the immunity certificates or these ones that you’re talking about, the frequent negative tests — until we’ve already managed to really control the disease enough that we feel comfortable for people going back into most public amenities just based on the fact that we’re tracing down most of the disease.
So really, the only reasonable purpose of those types of things — either immunity or frequent negative tests — would be for jobs in extremely sensitive professions, where you’re close to people who are in a very vulnerable part of the population.
COWEN: But if I can’t get a certificate for a long time, doesn’t that mean I just don’t want to take the test? There’s no benefit for me.
WEYL: Until that time, all the tests are being used in a test-and-trace regime. And if you test positive in the test-and-trace regime, you will go into supported isolation. So, both you’ll end up having your health protected, but also you’ll get the support so that you can actually be just as well off as if you didn’t get the negative test.
COWEN: Seems to me trust there will be very weak. I wouldn’t believe they’re going to send me enough money. If they tell me they’re going to send me a nurse, I worry about rate of contagion amongst healthcare professionals. What’s the support I get that’s so valuable?
WEYL: I think that getting the precise parameters of that right are really critical, Tyler, and I can’t say that I’ve gotten down to the level of precision necessary. But there’s obviously a real tradeoff there between not inducing people to voluntarily get the disease in order to obtain the support, but also not getting so low that people don’t want to go into that regime. I think there is an incentive-compatible place between there. I’m not sure precisely how to set it.
We do know that in the East Asian countries with a wide range of government structures, it seems to have worked out reasonably well, and they’ve managed to induce most people to isolate. I also think there’s a fair bit of altruism and desire to protect your family, which doesn’t go all the way, but it helps broaden the range of incentive compatibility there.
COWEN: What do you think of the Robin Hanson point — this is not a question unique to your system at all — that many young people will want to expose themselves to limited doses in order to get immunity at some point, the certificate, reenter normal life? And can that be a feature of a system rather than a bug?
WEYL: I think that that is not desirable because during the period . . . We don’t know how asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission precisely works here. And I think a lot of young people, if they do that, would be putting their more vulnerable and elderly relatives into a lot of risk. So that’s something we would like to discourage, but I don’t think it’s something that we should have more than social sanctions against.
COWEN: You are estimating a benefit-cost ratio for your plan. What would that number be?
WEYL: Well, it depends on what the alternative plan is, but I think the most natural alternative —
COWEN: Continuation of the mess we’re in. I don’t even know how to describe it.
WEYL: I would say 10 to 1. The costs we estimate of our plan are on the order of a bit less than a month of continued freeze in place.
COWEN: What percentage of Americans do you think will download the tracing app?
WEYL: It’ll depend a huge amount on what part of the country you’re in. In suburban and rural areas, I don’t think many people will download it, and I don’t think there’s any reason for them to. I think in areas with a lot of high-density public amenities, a lot of people will download it. And some of them, especially some of the private amenities, may choose to require you to show that you have the app before you enter that amenity.
COWEN: We all know, when doing policy, proposals go through the Washington, DC, meat grinder and the state- and local-government meat grinder. What do you think about the tradeoff between getting this done quickly and getting it done the way you want it to be done? Let’s say your version is the best version. You want speed more importantly or getting it right more importantly?
WEYL: There’s a clear tradeoff between the two of them, and there are minimum requirements that are needed to get this working at all. I would say those things have to be met, but the fastest possible, subject to those being met, is probably going to be much more important than getting it all precisely right.
COWEN: How do your views on testing differ from those of Paul Romer, if at all?
WEYL: Overall, I think there’s a lot of similarity between us and Paul. Paul believes in mass-scale testing, and we do as well. Paul thinks that tracing is so problematic that he would rather see universal, very frequent testing, rather than tracing being used to reduce the number of tests necessary. His plans, correctly calculated, would require something like 10 to 20 times the number of tests that ours would and, therefore, has costs much closer to something like $500 billion rather than $100 billion.
It would also be much more intrusive because there’d be a much greater reliance on these negative test certificates that you were talking about earlier, Tyler. Therefore, from both a civil liberties and a cost perspective, I strongly prefer a regime that also involves tracing. The other thing I would say is, because it’s so ambitious, Paul’s plan, in terms of the number of tests required, will take much longer to ramp up to that point, so we’ll end up with one to two more months of freeze in place.
Overall, I think that there’s a strong case to be made for test, trace, and supported isolation instead of just testing. But on the other hand, I think it’s great that he’s advocating an ambitious target just as we are.
COWEN: What do you think of the plans that say we should try to predict who is a super spreader and then test them incredibly often? Maybe we won’t get that far in universal testing, but we’ll get most of the gains. Testing nurses, testing people who shake hands a lot, testing the extroverts, whoever people are at these nodes. Maybe they work in nursing homes — wherever we find, say, from analyzing big data. How effective would that be?
WEYL: I certainly support some forms of that. I think testing essential workers, especially in long-term care facilities where there is a possibility not just for a lot of spread but for a very dangerous spread, makes a lot of sense.
I think having a very top-down regime of someone analyzing a bunch of data and, on the basis of some probably pretty tenuous statistical correlation, claiming that such and such a person needs to be tested, and then coercively going in and testing them on a government basis — it does not seem to me like a very robust regime.
So I think that there’s some robust elements of this that I would love to see implemented, probably largely through private demand. “I want my person taking care of me to be tested.” And then there’s other things that seem to me problematic and potentially authoritarian.
COWEN: Here’s a question from a reader, and I quote, “What are the best ideas for applying radical markets to the COVID-19 crisis?”
WEYL: Okay. I think some of my favorite ideas actually aren’t necessarily on radical markets but on RadicalxChange ideas more broadly. But the ones that are related…
COWEN: That’s fine. Absolutely.
WEYL: For example, I think a huge problem we have right now is that cultural industries are struggling to survive or thrive in the internet world. And we’re now, suddenly, completely in the internet world. All the possibilities of doing in-person gigs that were really supporting a lot of the music sector are gone.
I’d really love to see a pool of funding be put into the matching mechanisms that we’ve been emphasizing to improve the environment for things like Patreon and Kickstarter to fund cultural innovation that will help sustain morale during the times when people are separated from each other. So that’s —
COWEN: They could write better incentive-compatible contracts by drawing on your other insights, and that would help these people raise money and support themselves.
WEYL: That’s the idea.
COWEN: More generally about the crisis, should we allow price gouging, say, for masks or reagents? They don’t like calling it price gouging, by the way.
WEYL: Yeah, the problem I have with the price mechanism here is not the usual “price gouging” or variable pricing, but the fact that there’s so many externalities in the allocation of some of these critical inputs here. In principle, we could try to price those externalities, but in practice, trying to get such a pricing mechanism and the information required for it in place quickly is going to be very hard.
Therefore, I think we need to have a lot of nonprice allocation, not of the whole economy but just of the really critical elements, like testing and certain types of PPE, because I think otherwise we’re all going to be harmed by that not being allocated to those nodes, as you were talking about, where they have the largest costs associated with it.
COWEN: If we need to do two million tests a day or whatever’s the number, and if you’re a little skeptical about targeting the super spreaders, or you just want high prices, mobilize elastic supply as quickly as possible. Make sure who should get the stuff.
WEYL: Yeah, you definitely want high prices to the suppliers, for sure. Absolutely. I just don’t think the best way to do that is by, on the demand side, allocating according to the price mechanism. I absolutely agree with Alex Tabarrok that things like advanced market commitments that throw a lot of money at the supply chain make a ton of sense.
But whatever comes out of the supply chain I don’t just want allocated by the price mechanism to a bunch of rich people who want to go out and have dinner somewhere. I want to allocate it to the people who are going to spread the disease the most because that will let everybody go out and go back to normal life at a much lower cost.
COWEN: But it seems a lot of the rich people have been big spreaders, right? Prince Charles, Boris Johnson, Tom Hanks.
WEYL: [laughs] Yeah, I’m not saying that there wouldn’t be some of that, but I wouldn’t say that, on average, that’s going to be the case. A lot of the long-term care facility workers, who are some of the most dangerous spreaders, are not people who have a lot of means.
COWEN: Now, in economics, why has price theory so fallen out of favor?
WEYL: I think price theory is actually making quite a bit of resurgence in the last couple of decades. Raj Chetty, Amy Finkelstein, Jon Levin — people like this, who’ve won the John Bates Clark medal, recently have really drawn on it a lot. I think it fell out of favor in the ’80s and ’90s largely because of a lot of the rise of the mathematization of economics, the rise of technocracy within the profession, the increasing focus on refinement of methods as opposed to engagement with the public. I think those were some of the underlying reasons.
There’s also an association with the University of Chicago and a particular ideological view there, which sort of mixed it all up with politics. And that’s something that I think has become less and less true with this new wave that I was describing.
COWEN: Now, you’re a reformer. How would you reform the economics profession, which you’ve seen from a number of different vantage points, right?
WEYL: Yeah, one of the most important failings of the economics profession right now — and I think this is something you’re doing a great job of trying to rectify with the engagement work you do — has to do with the lack of accountability to public discourse. This is something that’s really systematic across American society, not just in economics.
There’s a very unhealthy relationship to expertise, where either there’s a total disregard of and distrust of expertise or a deference to it, rather than the notion . . . If you look at someone like Milton Friedman — the way you judge an expert is by their ability to distill things down and convey a message that becomes part of the public discourse. That’s hurting us in the COVID situation, and it’s been a disaster in the economics profession.
COWEN: What’s the mechanism design you would implement to get us there? We might all agree with the outcome, but what do you change? Tenure procedures? Peer review?
WEYL: One thing we need to change is the way that universities evaluate professors for tenure and the way that we evaluate people for prizes. There needs to be a much, much greater emphasis on your ability to bring things into public discourse in evaluating people rather than just the esteem of your colleagues.
One thing we need to change is the way that universities evaluate professors for tenure and the way that we evaluate people for prizes. There needs to be a much, much greater emphasis on your ability to bring things into public discourse in evaluating people rather than just the esteem of your colleagues.
Getting the right metrics on that is a really tricky thing. I bet it’s something you’ve thought about, actually, Tyler. But I think we need to be bringing that public engagement and delivery of things directly to the public much more into how we evaluate people.
You look at someone like Henry George. Henry George was one of the great economists. He ran for mayor of New York, and he actually beat Theodore Roosevelt. I’d like to see more economists living that sort of life. Milton Friedman obviously had a bit in that direction. John Kenneth Galbraith. We need more of that.
COWEN: Here’s another reader question. “How have the events around COVID-19 changed Glen’s views on RadicalXchange and related issues?”
WEYL: It’s actually interesting because the first thing I wrote about COVID was not the stuff that I’m doing now. It was about Taiwan’s experience and how much better Taiwan had done — and it appears this is still going — than even places like Singapore and China. I think one critical reason for that is that Taiwan has this really rich democratic technology tradition in which citizens are engaged in making technical tools that then help scale up and govern the country.
In China and in the US, for different reasons, the technical leads are quite divorced from those who their technology is meant to serve, and therefore they’ve been very poorly responsive to the emerging issues on the ground. The signals have not been reaching them from the local knowledge very effectively. That actually makes me believe that RadicalxChange ideas may be a very powerful mechanism for warning us about future crises.
It’s very hard to innovate in those fundamental ways in the midst of a crisis, which is why, at some level, the proposals I’ve been pushing for this have been conservative in nature. They’re drawing on things we really know have worked in the past rather than experimenting with new things. But as an early warning system for this type of thing, I believe all the more in that type of democratic technology.
COWEN: Now, you may wish to challenge the premise here. Why do I see so little talk about the blockchain during this pandemic? Just doesn’t seem that salient.
WEYL: Well, first of all, I don’t think blockchain is very salient, period. If you think about the conversations around technology and society, AI is way up there. Internet of things is way up there. Blockchain is pretty far down in terms of the broad public imagination. Within the blockchain community, obviously that’s a bit different.
And within that community, I think there has been quite a bit of focus on what are the best ways to do things like contact tracing. Now, if you call that blockchain or not is a bit of a question, but certainly privacy-preserving cryptographic technologies, if anything, I think are getting more attention now than they were getting before because of the emphasis on trying to do contact tracing in a privacy-preserving way.
COWEN: Other than possibly the adoption of your plan, what do you think will be the most enduring economic or social change from this pandemic?
WEYL: My guess is that there will be a lot of large corporations that take on important social responsibilities because of the trust environment that you were talking about and that it becomes increasingly illegitimate for them to be run under a pure shareholder-maximization perspective once they’re taking on that role. I think we’re going to see fundamental shifts in some of the corporate governance parameters as a result of the social role that a bunch of companies end up taking on.
On things under- and overrated
COWEN: In the middle of these dialogues, we have a section, overrated versus underrated. I have some easy ones for you. Are you game?
WEYL: Yeah, sure.
COWEN: Rio de Janeiro — overrated or underrated?
WEYL: About correctly rated, I would say.
COWEN: What do you like most about it?
WEYL: Best place in the world to be as a tourist, but a very challenging place to live and be productive.
COWEN: Song by Don McLean, “American Pie.” Overrated or underrated?
WEYL: Oh, that’s one of my favorites. Underrated.
COWEN: Underrated. What’s so good about it?
WEYL: It manages in a very accessible and catchy way to be just allusive enough about historical events that you can make sense of it and yet still appreciate the poetry and complexity of how it’s speaking to things.
COWEN: Why didn’t Don McLean have a better career? There’s “Starry Night,” and then it seems to end, or am I missing something?
WEYL: I actually don’t know much about the dynamics of his career. And I like a couple of his other songs, but I agree, it is kind of remarkable that he’s such a one-hit wonder.
COWEN: How much people respect law in Latin America — does the typical educated outsider underrate or overrate that, law-abidingness in the Latin countries?
WEYL: I think that they think people respect law more than they actually do because they don’t really see the favelas and the informal settlements very much on most standard trips, and they don’t realize how pervasive the fact that people are living outside the law is to the way that everyday life works in Latin America.
COWEN: Julius Krein — overrated or underrated?
WEYL: Underrated. I’m a big fan.
COWEN: He’s your coauthor, right?
WEYL: Yeah, I met —
COWEN: Tell us the story there.
WEYL: First of all, Julius and I disagree on a great many things, but I have a huge amount of respect for his intellect. He’s one of the people who really challenges a lot of the ways that people have fallen into thinking. And he did it, really, at a time when I think that was incredibly necessary, so I’m a big fan of his. I really like collaborating with him, even though in some ways we’re sort of polar opposites. He’s a nationalist. I’m very much an anti-nationalist in my basic outlook.
COWEN: What was Milton Friedman most wrong about?
WEYL: Monopoly power.
COWEN: Say just a little more.
WEYL: Milton Friedman — if you read Capitalism and Freedom, it’s beautiful. It’s one of my favorite books. I actually think it’s very similar to Rawls. It’s funny because a lot of people on the left love Rawls, but they hate Milton Friedman. I actually think their visions are very similar.
I think both of them dramatically underestimated the importance of increasing returns phenomenon. Friedman says, “Well, there may occasionally be a temporary monopoly, but it’ll go away because of competition anyway, and we need to try to just avoid it becoming too permanent by the government getting involved in it,” and so forth.
I don’t think he perceived that increasing returns phenomena that tend to create monopolies are really the foundation of what creates the possibility of civilization. He had in the back of his mind this sort of decreasing returns model that’s dominant in economics, and I think that that colors his whole worldview in a way that leads him to miss a lot of the key questions, even though he was right on a lot of the things that he spoke about, actually.
I’m actually largely sympathetic to a lot of Milton Friedman’s ideas on the things he focused on. But the problem is, the things he focused on weren’t the key problems, I don’t think.
COWEN: Speaking of increasing returns, what’s your favorite movie?
WEYL: Memento.
COWEN: Why?
WEYL: Because it captures a really critical philosophical issue in an extremely engrossing thriller fashion. It’s sort of like Don McLean. It’s getting at something deep and rich, but in a way that’s broadly accessible.
COWEN: What makes for a good movie critic? You were a movie critic once, right? For The Daily Princetonian.
WEYL: [laughs] I once tried to be one. I don’t think I was all that successful. I don’t read nearly as much movie criticism as I used to in the past. What I like in a movie critic is when they’re able to capture the emotional feeling of a film and what it would be like to experience it without talking too much about what actually happens.
COWEN: Galapagos Islands aside, what’s the best place in Latin America to go see turtles?
WEYL: I love turtles, and I love Latin America. But I don’t feel I have a definitive answer to give to that. I do have the place that I’ve enjoyed seeing turtles most, which was Puerto Escondido, which is a relatively small beach town where we saw some nice turtles. I’m sure there are better places.
I’ve heard that some of the islands off of Venezuela are some of the best. But my wife got banned from going to Venezuela because she wrote a critical report on the government. And so, we’ve never been able to go to Isla Magdalena, I believe, which is supposed to be one of the best places.
COWEN: One of the ideas you pushed earlier in your career — not that long ago — was quadratic voting, which would place greater weight on more intense preferences. Let’s say we take the current pandemic, and right now we had some form of quadratic voting. How would that change the nature of our response?
WEYL: I’m a big fan of quadratic voting still. I think the question is, quadratic voting for precisely what? The things I’d most like to see quadratic voting be used for in the pandemic response is eliciting from people informed and rich feedback about what things they value or what elements of the response they value most.
I think it could be quite powerful there in allowing basically large-scale deliberation in a remote fashion. I think we would learn a lot more about what elements, for example, of the social distancing are hurting people the most and what elements people are most willing to accept. And we might get a much richer picture of the cost-benefit tradeoffs that we’re facing, which I don’t think have been very well factored into public policies.
COWEN: Do you think we, as a collectivity, would value human lives more or less with quadratic voting?
WEYL: I think probably quite similar, but a lot of the more rich and nuanced things — for example, restrictions on parks versus restrictions on theaters — I think we’d learn a lot about what’s most important to people there.
COWEN: Let’s say you’re applying your ideas on mechanism design to higher education. In general, what would you change?
WEYL: One thing I’ve thought about quite a bit has been the evaluation of people for tenure and some of the publications stuff. I don’t know if that’s higher education, really, though, because it’s a little more research.
COWEN: Part of it. I’ll ask about students next, but what’s your idea for that?
WEYL: We’ve been working for a while at RadicalxChange on trying to create a new system of peer review in journals, where rather than having a set of authors and then referees and editors, instead there’s just an ordered list of people who sign on to the article, so that authors would have the first chance to sign, and maybe editor next, and the referees next.
I think this would be a much more incentive-compatible way to get good-quality referee reports and to actually allocate credit in proportion to what people have contributed to making an article work, as compared to the current system, where there’s a very binary division between the authors who get credit and everybody else who gets very little.
You could add into that some really rich stuff around having some quadratic voting in there, and then maybe having individualized views of how many citations or how much respect someone gets from a journal based on who you respect, and who they respect, and how that filters through. I’d have to go into more of it, but I think that those are some ways you can put these elements together to get a much better approach to understanding how you evaluate a scholar.
COWEN: How would you apply mechanism design to improving admissions? It’s been very controversial. It seems unfair. Some people would say intensity of preference being counted is the problem. Do you agree?
WEYL: I think it’s really critical in admissions that we — and this is a really different element than intensity of preference — but that as the American system does, at the point when people need to make a lot of costly investments in figuring out what places they like, that they have a sense of who might let them in.
If you think about the medical match system that Al Roth is very famous for being involved in, and Gale and Shapley — they have a system where you rank all the institutions before you know which ones are going to admit you. That requires you either to do a huge amount of due diligence about all the different institutions or to make guesses about where you’re going to get into. That’s not a very effective process, even though it has some other properties that people have highlighted.
Something more like the way that we admit students in the university — an undergraduate admission—is more sensible. And I think there are ways to further improve on that, to add more stages of letting in the top matches first — the people who most want to go to someplace and the schools most want them — and allowing those parts in the market to clear, and then doing the other things later. That’s a little bit like early admission, but actually making it much more finely graded.
COWEN: As I’m sure you know, at a school like Harvard or Princeton, you can’t just buy your way into getting a graduate admission. It’s run by the faculty, correct?
WEYL: Yeah.
COWEN: Could we do undergraduate admissions the same way? It would be a lot of work, of course, the faculty.
WEYL: It’s interesting. I think you’d probably have to filter a little bit. Maybe it should be graduate students who should be helping admit undergrads or something like that. I think it’s a very interesting idea.
COWEN: You wrote a paper in 2009 called “Whose Rights? A Critique of Individual Agency as the Basis of Rights.” Do you think now, standing in 2020, are individual rights ever an appropriate concept to invoke, to argue for or against a policy?
WEYL: I think almost any moral concept is a useful concept in certain contexts because all our ideas are proxies for some deeper truth that we don’t fully understand. I often make arguments about individual rights, individual liberties, even though I ultimately think we need to get past our standard conception of individuals as atomized and understand individuals more as being an intersection of different social circles that they’re a part of.
But of course, the more sophisticated these ideas are, the more true to reality, the more complicated and foreign they are. And we always need to strike a balance between clearly communicating and verisimilitude to the reality we’re trying to describe.
COWEN: You still think, in principle, that either group rights can be meaningful or even a component of an individual could have rights, and that there’s no particular reason to necessarily stop at the level pinpointed to methodological individualism. Would that be a fair description for you now?
WEYL: Yeah. I would enrich that story a little bit. I alluded to this in that original piece, but now I have a clearer sense of it. I think often the parts of individuals that we’re talking about actually are associated with various groups, so we should think of individuals as being made up of group identities to a large extent, and group identities as being made up of individuals to a large extent. So we should be moving towards a dual perspective on these things rather than a grounding that sees one as the endpoint that composes the others.
COWEN: But this would be one foundational reason why you’re less libertarian than maybe you might have been before you wrote the paper.
WEYL: Yeah.
COWEN: The practical reason would be increasing returns, correct?
WEYL: Yeah, and those are, I think, actually just two different ways of expressing the same thing. I view the fundamental role of groups as just a different way of expressing the notion of increasing returns.
COWEN: Do you have a unified theory of you and what you believe?
WEYL: I don’t often have time enough for the meta-rationality that that requires. David Foster Wallace was one of the most remarkable people at doing that sort of thing. I aspire to it, but I haven’t had quite enough time to figure it out.
COWEN: Here’s the unified theory of you, which I’m not endorsing, just playing with.
WEYL: Yeah. Yeah.
COWEN: At heart, coming out of the Jewish socialist tradition, through a matter of biographical accident, you first became a libertarian. Needed time to find your way back to the tradition you belonged to. Along the way, did economics, so you believe in some notion of markets, albeit directly adjusted by regulation and mechanism design. And you’ve moved away from methodological individualism.
But you’re this weird person of a Jewish socialist, believes in markets, and had this path leading away from libertarianism. No other person in the world probably is that, but you are. Is that a unified theory of you?
WEYL: Well, the thing that throws a little bit of a wrench into that is that I was actually a Jewish socialist before I became a libertarian.
COWEN: Does that strengthen or weaken the theory?
[laughter]
WEYL: Well, the thing that’s funny is that it’s certainly the case that I came back to identifying with my Judaism at around the same time that I was starting to move away from libertarianism. I don’t know if that’s because of the entanglement between the collective element of religion and the ideological element of this other stuff.
But my unified theory of me on those lines has always been that I’ve been someone who’s hugely about Hegelian synthesis and trying to find things that seem persuasive and to find a way to simultaneously fully embrace them both in my mind by finding some syncretic fusion of them. Intellectually, that’s something that is quite important to me.
I actually saw, from my senior year of high school, I had a capstone project, which was about conservative liberalism. And actually, if you read it, it reads a lot like what I’m writing recently. [laughs] So the reality is I think I have these themes of trying to find syntheses of different things, and those keep recurring and getting nuanced by the more I learn about different fields.
COWEN: As you well know, there’s a long-standing historical connection between Judaism and socialism: Karl Marx, Moses Hess, Eduard Bernstein. One could go on with this. What do you think, ultimately, is the foundational reason for that historical connection, and yourself as well, right?
WEYL: Well, I also think there’s a deep historical, maybe even stronger historical association between Jews and capitalism. I think it really has to do much more with just abstraction and the ways in which Jews have engaged with the economic world, coming from the ways in which they’ve been able to express their political voice, the fact that there was literacy much earlier in the Jewish community than there was in many other communities in a broad scale. I’ve actually written about that issue and why Jews have been so engaged with economics.
But I don’t think it’s really socialism in particular. It’s both socialism and capitalism. If you look at the Nazis, they often depicted one Jew of socialism and one Jew of international capitalism, both eating the German nation, so Jews have always been put in that position of representing these abstracted economic systems, rather than one or the other in particular.
On the Glen Weyl production function
COWEN: Our final segment is about what I call the Glen Weyl production function. This is about you. Simple question: at Princeton, as an undergraduate, why did you rollerblade to class?
WEYL: I had always been into rollerblading since I was very young, and I thought it would be a good way to get around Princeton, though the hills ended up having a big challenge for getting around on rollerblades. I pretty quickly abandoned it for that reason. I didn’t really like biking like other kids did. And luckily, it caught the eye of my future wife, so that was great.
COWEN: What’s your own account of why you were so successful before the age of 27?
WEYL: I think I developed intellectually much more quickly than a lot of my peers, and I developed physically and emotionally a lot more slowly. Eventually I had to balance those things out.
But as it turned out, that made me very unsuccessful until I got into high school, very successful from high school through the very beginning of my career. And then, I faced a number of challenges because of it after that. There are just different times in life where different forms of development are more important than others.
COWEN: If you’re looking for talent in young economists, other than the obvious, like people who work hard, what is it you look for?
WEYL: I look for people who have an ability to see beyond the ways in which the field shapes them to see, while at the same time internalizing it, who can sort of live within the world of economics and then also see it from the outside.
COWEN: What do you view yourself as rebelling against? The foundational level.
WEYL: Oh, many things.
COWEN: Look at Robin Hanson. Robin, to me, is rebelling against hypocrisy. I think he even might agree with that. What are you rebelling against?
WEYL: I think I’m most deeply rebelling against the separation between the role of the expert and the role of the politically engaged person. I grew up wanting to be a politician for long periods, and also wanting to be a physicist for long periods, and I’m deeply frustrated by the ways in which these things are these separate and contradictory roles in our society. I’m struggling to straddle the divide.
COWEN: Well, that’s a good answer. But if you had to boil it down to something more foundational, what institutional failure or what personal quality lies behind that? What would that be? Why do we screw that thing up?
WEYL: Singular identity is one way of putting it. Many people who are economists think they’re an economist. Many people who think that they’re libertarian think they’re libertarian. Every identity that I’ve been part of, that I thought I believed in, ended up having so much corruption entwined in it, and ultimately, it’s the plurality and intersection of those things where I find meaning. It’s that sort of singular definition of what I am, who I am that I find most constraining.
COWEN: So people aren’t Hegelian enough, and there’s a lot of corruption out there. And that’s a big part of what you’re rebelling against.
WEYL: Yeah.
COWEN: Let’s say I’m a young person. Maybe I want to do economics, or maybe I want to be a politician, or I’m conflicted. And I go to you, and I say, “Glen, what can or should I do to become more Hegelian?” What’s your advice?
WEYL: Travel in different circles. Take them all really seriously, and don’t let yourself totally compartmentalize them. Ask why there are contradictions and what it means. And don’t get intellectually lazy about just writing it off to people being different.
COWEN: Glen Weyl, thank you very much. Again, for our listeners and readers, I recommend you all read Glen’s new paper, coauthored, on how to fight the pandemic. Thank you, Glen.
WEYL: Thank you so much. Tyler. | https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/glen-weyl-tyler-cowen-covid-19-coronavirus-pandemic-relief-e4869e1a7a51 | ['Mercatus Center'] | 2020-05-21 13:48:31.873000+00:00 | ['Coronavirus', 'Economics', 'Authors', 'Covid 19', 'Podcast'] |
Organizing Black in AI 2020 | Attendees from the Black in AI 2019 posing for a picture in Vancouver (Photo by Timnit Gebru)
The 4th Black in AI workshop co-located with NeurIPS 2020 happened on the week December 7th 2020. The workshop was set to happen in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Because of the pandemic, the workshop happened in a virtual format for the first time. It was chaired by AI4Society student Victor Silva.
The black in AI a place for sharing ideas, fostering collaborations, and discussing initiatives to increase the presence of Black people in the field of Artificial Intelligence.
What is Black in AI?
Black in AI (BAI) was created in 2015 after researcher Timnit Gebru observed that there were not too many researchers in the largest conference in Artificial Intelligence in the world, NeurIPS. With co-founder Rediet Abebe and other people in the field, she created the Black in AI workshop, co-located with NeurIPS. Since then, Black in AI has evolved from only the workshop to become an initiative to support Black, African and Diasporic individuals. It received its Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) and created programs such as an academic position program that serves over 400 people to navigate challenges such as joining graduate programs, navigating graduate school and entering the industry in Artificial Intelligence. Black in AI also advocates for waiving fees for those who can’t afford it and removing GRE requirements from graduate school admissions. Moreover, the institutions provides assistance and funding for graduate students.
Timnit Gebru and Rediet Abebe (left) pose with peers at the Bloomberg 50 Event (Photo by Bloomberg)
Historically, less than 20 black students graduate with Computing Science PhD’s each year in North America. Black in AI helped over 200 black students to apply each year and provides resources, online sessions, and mentorships. For instance, many of BAI mentees have graduated from top schools worldwide like Stanford, Oxford, New York University, to name a few. This year BAI is aiming at increasing the amount of Black faculty in North America. According to a survey made by the institution, there are only 85 black faculty in Computing Science in the US and Canada. BAI has helped over 90 mentees to apply to post-doctorate faculty and research scientists jobs this year.
Black in AI 2020 Workshop
The 2020 Workshop was the first time where BAI happened solely online. To provide more interactivity, a virtual world was created where users could navigate an avatar and interact with each other and the world using audio and video.
Screenshot of the virtual world created for Black in AI 2020
The workshop also featured a poster session where users could interact with authors and their respective posters. This poster session was shared with other affinity workshops, namely: Women in ML, Queer in AI and Indigenous in AI. In total, there were over 100 submissions to BAI 2020 and 58 presentations of accepted papers. The research presented in the workshop represented 16 countries from the Americas, Africa, and Europe.
The workshop featured a Best Paper award: “Symptoms, Scares, and Misclassifications: Information Sharing Behavior Across Online Birth Control Communities” by LeAnn McDowall and Maria Antoniak.
One of the many challenging tasks of running a workshop online is to make sure that every participant can fully experience it. Firstly, the workshop waived NeurIPS fees, to make it more accessible (joining the BAI workshop requires a NeurIPS registration). BAI also had to be accessible for those in countries where internet access is costly and limited. To address the internet accessibility challenge, BAI partnered with NeurIPS to create a Data Grant subsidy. This program provided data for those who needed most, specially in Africa.
How was AI4Society present at Black in AI?
AI4Society was represented by Victor Silva, a PhD Student Victor Silva at the University of Alberta under supervision of Dr. Eleni Stroulia and Dr. Joerg Sander. Victor first volunteered with BAI in 2018. Subsequently, he was invited to be the Recruitment Chair of BAI 2019. In this positions, he boosted the participation of Black and Diasporic individuals from South America with special focus in Brazil by six-fold.
Brazilian Researchers posing for a Picture at Black in AI 2019
He also helped BAI to land a new partnership that brought African Americans and students from Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to Black in AI. The Black in AI 2019 had a record number of 450 papers submitted and more than 500 attendees. Black and AI was able to fund over 200 black students and/or practitioners to attend and present their research at the 2019 workshop. The attendees were provided with travel and accommodation for the workshop and for the full NeurIPS conference.
Black People and Canadian Visas
In 2018 there was controversy when the Canadian Government denied several visas to Black Researchers to attend Black in AI in Montreal, challenging that Dr. Yoshua Bengio corroborated invitation letters. There was no resolution to the Visa problem and the Government made a commitment to be more transparent and helpful with the Visa process for research conferences. In 2019, again, the workshop faced several challenges to bring black researchers to attend NeurIPS in Vancouver. Victor and his co-chairs negotiated a historic turnaround in visas for Black in AI attendees. Initially, the Government of Canada had refused about 30% of the visas to Black individuals, compared to 5% visa refusals to White individuals. That disparity raised a discussion on whether Black people were in disadvantage with respect to the Canadian visa system. Victor collaborated with other chairs, immigration officers and Embassies in several countries to revert those Visa refusals. Ultimately, about only 5% of the visas were refused after negotiation and revision by the Government of Canada.
References
[1] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/canada-denies-ai-visas-1.5361812
[2] https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/canada-denies-numerous-researchers-visas-for-ai-conference-for-second-year-1.1348845
[3] https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/13/tech/ai-conference-african-academics/index.html | https://medium.com/@vnasilva/organizing-black-in-ai-2020-f5661e7bef0f | ['Victor Silva'] | 2020-12-16 16:49:49.399000+00:00 | ['Blackinai', 'Academia', 'Research', 'Neurips', 'Black'] |
Hell is Unjustifiable & Unethical | No one in their right mind would ever consider an eternal judgment to be an ethically sound sentence to the short life that we live on this planet. Maybe in the case of extremes, such as Nero, Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, or Pol Pot — we may consider extreme punishments — but STILL, we’d be quicker to analyze their sanity and probably grant them a quick punishment.
No modern day democracy views torture as an ethical punishment for wrong unethical actions. The death penalty is a misunderstanding of how Free Will works and how much our upbringing affects us.
Occasionally I stop thinking about Christianity and the beliefs I held when I was in my early & later teens. The longer I live, the more surprised I am that I once believed that people that don’t believe in things that are almost entirely out of their control — like belief, knowledge, & ideologies — go to hell after they die.
It is a sad misunderstanding of how much things like upbringing, culture, and our education affect us.
The more I read, the less I know.
You’d think that it would be the other way around. You may think that that is the case when you believe in the objective truth concept that Christianity and other Abrahamic religions hold. Well, in reality, that is not the case.
Reading more about Christianity would put you further into doubt about the belief, or the doctrines that the hundreds of denominations hold if you were sincerely open to difference of opinion. The fear, then, for some people is for that to lead to some sort of overt skepticism that disallows dialogue.
When in fact, it produces sincere humble desperation for ‘truth’ (as a discernible right action) and being honestly ashamed for being unable to express any idea accurately. I don’t think that I’ve EVER actually represented any idea in my life. You’ll never REALLY know anything. The idea of Hell is absurd, mainly because of how finite we are.
Hell is actually simply such a radically bizarre concept that I wonder often how anyone who believes in such a thing can sleep at night.
To give you one idea of why it’s bizarre and why people that believe in it are actually dishonest and inconsistent:
I actively disagree with God’s methods of judgment as being unethical and cruel. Hence, I think God is nothing close to being worthy of praise. Because of that, if I die, I am going to hell. Anyone who would ever care for my soul, should then never cease trying to persuade me/ pray for me (depending on how your understanding of salvation works). But few do.
That means either, as a Christian, you are:
(1) uneducated on the topic/ importance of hell in the Scriptures,
(2) hypocritical,
(3) judgmental,
(4) don’t take the Bible seriously,
(5) never thought about hell, or
(6) need to be radicalized (in the form of Jonathan Edward’s infamous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God).
Luther in hell: fineartamerica.com
Hell could be one of the most obvious faults of Religion, especially the Abrahamic ones. And it DEFINITELY is one of the clearest examples of inconsistencies among believers.
Then why do people in the 21st century still believe in hell?
The most obvious reason to why civilized people can still believe in hell is because of how much influence upbringing, culture, and intuitions have on us.
There’s probably no other explanation.
If you can think of one, please let me know.
Unless, you’re a psychopath and for some reason, you find it justifiable for someone who has lived a short life not believing in God (by all accounts, living an ethical life — just in a state of separation from God) and then deserving to burn in hell for eternity.
Burning in hell (or being punished) is just too bizarre a concept to be a credible solution to the sinful nature that we are born into.
I have suggested this elsewhere, but why in the world, would you ever want kids in such an existence? You are creating a human soul that now has the likelihood of burning in hell forever.
The concept of hell, then, is Still Absurd. I am happy (?) we agree.
P. S. for my friends that keep reading my blog posts — THANK YOU — and I am now done my finals. So, I plan on writing on some juicy topics! I have started exploring & researching these topics below. Be sure to see a lot on these issues. I hope you like them! (I’ll maybe start getting a Newsletter working… if I figure it out.)
Celebrity Culture: Why Narcissism is Celebrated
The Spanish Inquisition
Stoicism
Stephen King: Tips on Writing
Noam Chomsky: Democracy
Thomas Sowell: Economical Fallacies
Be on the look out!
Before you go…
🗣Connect with Me on Twitter, or Instagram.
AND If you found this article helpful, click the
button below (remember it can go up to 50 claps — it helps me a lot if you’re generous with that clap button ;) ) or share the article on Facebook/TWITTER if you want your friends to benefit from it in some way at all.
I write to keep you thinking and to keep me thankful and reflective. Cheers and until next time,
keep reflecting. | https://medium.com/the-humanists-of-our-generation/hell-is-unjustifiable-unethical-faa43b0c5492 | ['Jakub Ferencik'] | 2018-12-30 07:14:11.762000+00:00 | ['Christianity', 'Education', 'Society', 'Ethics', 'Religion'] |
Running Python Selenium script out of Linux | Tools you will need:
Selenium python package
apt-get chromium-chromedriver
set-up with appropriate options.
#Premise#
I was tasked to generate a simple report card everyday for finance department. Even though it was a simple action — open browser, open several tabs and input search string to record down numbers and compile it to a small report card, I find it incredibly dull and soon become tedious. So I set myself out to write a python script that can generate the report card for me.
Better yet, the script will run on cron tab and automatically send through a chatbot so I don’t have to do anything at all.
At first, I’ve written the script locally, and it works nice enough.
A simple trick to avoid a lot of hassel in setting up path is to to put the chrome driver in python’s /Scripts folder. (http://chromedriver.chromium.org/)
Since I’m using conda’s virtual environment, the full path looks some like this:
C:/Users/[Administrator]/AppData/Local/conda/conda/envs/[envname]/scripts
By placing the chrome driver here, I was able to run the selenium without any further troubles.
class selenium_driver():
def __init__(self):
chrome_options = Options()
chrome_options.add_argument(“ — headless”)
self.driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=chrome_options)
Interestingly, when the script is finished testing and uploaded to linux, it was not so straight forward. Given the linux server was an ec2 instance from Amazon, it requires a few extra setup in order for the script to run.
First, the ec2 needs to install chromium program, there are two, both should in-theory work, but I’ve chosen the package called chromium-chromedriver
apt-get install chromium-chromedriver
After installtion, both chromdriver and chromium-browser shoud be in /usr/bin path. *in order for the chrome driver to work with selenium, these two packages should be added to path if you choose to put them in non-path directory.
This should have worked, but the script crashed instantly. After some further research, I’ve realised that the chromedriver and chromium will not work in this set-up as the EC2 does not have GPU and cannot run as sandbox.
Therefore adding the following options:
chrome_options.add_argument(“ — no-sandbox”)
chrome_options.add_argument(“ — disable-gpu”)
The result is a nice autonomous script which I have put on crontab to run on a set time everyday. | https://medium.com/@roger.zhou/running-python-selenium-script-out-of-linux-60e023796da7 | ['Roger Z'] | 2019-02-12 00:29:16.957000+00:00 | ['Selenium'] |
Exposure ( 17.7.) | Exposure of the inner-core
Exposure of the indescribable
Yet, I sip.
Exposure of you,
Exposure of us.
Yet, a feeling I adore.
Fast-forward! Fast FOWARD.
Dancing while holding a drink
Yet, you only like juice.
Moonlight beams down on you.
Oh, such a beauty..
Fast-forward, fast forward.
We bring out a different kinda us
You fall so easy, yet so cautiously..
Dancing, dancing.
As we only enjoy the company
Of our silence.
Told me, “ you take me to places I’ve never known & you push me to places I’ve never gone.”
Dancing, dancing
As we allow the silence
To speak for ourselves. | https://medium.com/@millerrlitee/exposure-17-7-a79a92dfc478 | ['Millie Hernandez'] | 2020-11-25 04:46:25.382000+00:00 | ['Creative Writing', 'Poetry', 'Writers On Medium', 'Poems On Medium', 'Thoughts And Feelings'] |
Reverse Integer | My Solution
const reverse = (x) => {
let reverseX = parseInt(x.toString().split("").reverse().join(""));
let result = +reverseX;
if (x < 0 && -1 * result < Math.pow(-2, 31)) {
return 0;
} else if (x < 0) {
return (result *= -1);
}
if (result > Math.pow(2, 31) - 1) return 0;
return result;
}; | https://medium.com/@soomyung/reverse-integer-5da2d088db90 | [] | 2020-12-05 02:32:45.434000+00:00 | ['Leetcode', 'Leetcode Easy', 'Reverse Integer'] |
chapter IV, purification into the abyss | There it is, the inevitable black hole of emotions and eternal vortex of suppressed feelings. I have been avoiding you, old foe. You never want to offer me peace. Why are you so stubborn and choose to keep me in this solitary confinement?
I hear the calling of the abyss and I run, again. Each time it is the same. Preparations have been made to meet you, but at the very last moment, it all goes away, like a castle in the sand. I have also tried avoiding you, all my life, but when you find a small window of open-heartedness, you always seize the opportunity and pop by to show your threatening fangs, as an emotional reminder of our inevitable encounter.
The traditional robotic humans have offered me ingestible chemicals nicely wrapped in a package of hope. Lost hope, that is. All you need to do is read between the lines, and there the lie lies. Poison your body and mind, to help big Pharma get bigger, while never addressing the main cause of the issue. Chemical attempts to temporarily numb the emotional hopelessness.
My only motivation is choosing to believe my own lie, the lie of suppressed feelings going away by ignoring them. It is a myth, I know, an urban legend, but the easiest path can be the most seductive. I reject the painful truth and embrace the cheap and elegant lie.
But this lie gets heavier every time, it is becoming ever-increasing in size, and it has morphed into an un-manageable loud guest of my heart.
I immerse myself in meaningless and exhaustive work, aiming to become too tired to know it is still there, waiting. I wake up, work like a mindless drone, embrace soulless routine, then I get back to rest for a few hours. Anything to help me run away, faster, further. A new day, same routine. And it is effective, for a while. My mind is too busy animating this zombie body with an artificial personality. But to fix a wrong with another wrong, isn’t that still wrong?
Tried a therapist, but the ancient humanoid did not seem to understand the answer to my question. How can I revert these heavy feelings of unhappiness? Shouldn’t be so hard, all I have to do is follow my steps backwards, no? So I thought.
I push harder towards exhausting work. But it still does not feel right. A louder noise to cover a stronger earthquake. If it was not a futile idea, I would have appreciated its deceptive attempts to persuade me towards the mighty Sun. But all the time I know, it is but a cheap postcard seducing me with the promise of Rupture.
I feel the veil of heavy darkness covering my brain. It is cold, all-consuming and wants to take over the entire Temple of Thought, this is what it is designed to do once it gathers enough power of avoidance. It feeds with my lack of attention, it grows by absorbing the power of my resistance. The more I push, the stronger it gets, the unbeatable anti-hero.
I see the world in dark and light, more dark, less light. Ingested food tastes like glass powder, and breathing feels like inhaling nails. My body rejects nutrients and I’m constantly loosing weight, strength, vitality.
My skin no longer enjoys any kind of contact, the air does not feel replenishing. Is there really so much sadness in this world, or am I tuning into a heavy realm? Why was I never taught about this in school? All those years, they never told me how to live, how to fight the inner monster of a broken heart and how to dance with an army of heavy emotions. | https://medium.com/@human-terran/chapter-iv-purification-into-the-abyss-d9322a6b23c | ['Human Terran'] | 2021-07-08 08:26:17.670000+00:00 | ['Fear', 'Anxiety', 'Heros Journey', 'Letting Go', 'Courage'] |
Indexing in PostgreSQL and applying it to JSONB | From e-commerce, news websites to the campus website, Most web applications probably use a database of some kind. Searching is one of, if not the most frequent, operations using a database. When you do a search query without any set-up, your database will go over all the rows and return the matching rows. This will cause slow searches when you have tens of thousands of rows, while you only need to search for a few rows.
This article will discuss several things. Note that the discussion is focused on PostgreSQL:
Index: what is an index? How can index help search? Basic index: Creating indexes for searching exact matches on PostgreSQL? Indexing prefix searches: indexing prefix searching such as abcd% , mediu% , or galangkan% Indexing pattern searches: indexing pattern searching such as %abcd% , %kami% , %sato% Indexing a function output: what if you want to search for columns that match in case-insensitive? JSONB: A powerful PostgreSQL data type that makes MongoDB obsolete Basic JSONB index: Creating indexes for searching exact JSONB field values on PostgreSQL Indexing Pattern in JSONB: applying prefix and pattern indexes for JSONB Why Does the Speed Increase Varies: Some reasons why indexes speed up vary. Sometimes by 68x, 350x, or barely even 2x Closing: Closing remarks on indexes
1. Index
A database index is a data structure that allows faster searching at the cost of slightly slower write (insert, update, delete) time. Some possible data structure includes B-Tree, Hashing, GIN, trigram. Here, we will use B-Tree, GIN, and trigram indexes. You can look up these data structures if you’re curious or unfamiliar, but knowledge of those data structures is not required to follow this article as I will be talking about cases where to use each index type.
The data structure is represented in a separated table, so adding an index also increases memory usage. However, the benefits far outweigh the cost. Indexing narrows down the search space so that the database finds the results faster. On large databases, indexing is a must because search results should be given promptly.
b-tree index example
Above is an example of a b-tree index. The numbers on each node represent the indexed column keys which can be integers, strings, etc., while the leaves represent the data stored. There are 18 rows stored here, where they have indexed values 4, 8, 16, 20, 25, 27, …
Here's the difference when searching on the indexed table vs. the not indexed table. Let's say you’re searching for all rows with value = 49:
Non-indexed: sequential scan on all possible rows. So you go over all 18 rows and return all rows with value = 49. In total, it compares 18 times.
Indexed: you go from the top of the b-tree. It compares the value and finds the largest node with a value less than your key, 32 (took 3 compares). Then traverses to the middle. Do the same to get key 43 (took 3 compares). Then traverses to the middle and do the same to get your key 49 (took 2 compares). In total, it compares 8 times.
This might not seem like a large improvement. Indeed it is for smaller tables. But indexes get better when more data is introduced. The speed of the b-tree grows at a logarithmic rate, while the speed of the sequential scan grows at a linear rate. Therefore, for 100k data, the sequential scan will need to scan for all 100k data, while the above b-tree will only scan about 2 * log3(100k) = 20 keys. That’s over 5000x speed improvement! However, in practice, there are other limiting factors, so it's that bombastic. I will show actual results later down the article.
2. Basic Index
Let’s use this Postgres table for reference:
TABLE surat_tuntutan {
id int
nomor_perkara int
status TEXT }
The most common index is b-tree indexes. You can create them in Postgres like this:
CREATE INDEX surat_tuntutan_nomor_perkara ON surat_tuntutan(nomor_perkara)
For integers, this supports mathematical comparisons such as <, >, and = so queries like these will use the index:
SELECT * FROM surat_tuntutan WHERE nomor_perkara < 10; SELECT * FROM surat_tuntutan WHERE nomor_perkara > 50 AND status = 'free'; SELECT * FROM surat_tuntutan WHERE nomor_perkara = 70
Note the second query. Although ‘status’ is not indexed, Postgres is smart and chooses the nomor_perkara index and then filters the rows with status = ‘free’ from the resulting index scan.
What about B-Tree indexes for strings? The above index only supports equality for strings. So if nomor_perkara is a string, only these types of queries will use the index:
SELECT * FROM surat_tuntutan WHERE nomor_perkara = 'FM123'
How about pattern searches like nomor_perkara LIKE 'FM%' ? on to the next section!
3. Indexing Prefix Searches
Btree indexes actually have a couple of options to choose from. Such as text_pattern_ops, varchar_pattern_ops, and bpchar_pattern_ops. Here, we will focus on text_pattern_ops.
If you create a btree index using text_pattern_ops option, it creates a “different” b-tree implementation which in a nutshell stores your strings in lexicography order which allows searching for prefix pattern easily. You can watch this video for an in-depth explanation of text_pattern_ops. here’s how to create the index:
CREATE INDEX surat_tuntutan_nomor_perkara_prefix_idx ON surat_tuntutan(nomor_perkara text_pattern_ops);
Very similar to the basic index, add text_pattern_ops after the column name you want to index. With this, now searches with prefix patterns such as FM% will use the index.
Here’s an example using and not using the index:
here I seeded 100k data into the database
It took 50.691 ms without the index, while it took 0.739 ms with the index. So it's about a 68x speedup! The speed difference will continue to increase. On 10k data, it took roughly the same time for the indexed table, while it took about 6 ms on a sequential scan. That matches what I said about sequential scan increases time linearly on the input. So, on a million rows, it will take about 500 ms on a sequential scan, while it may take the same time for the indexed columns.
speed increases of indexes belike
Now that you understand how powerful indexes can be let's move on from btree indexes into the more powerful indexes type.
4. Indexing Pattern Searches
Now let’s skip to a hard string matching problem: pattern matching! Let's say you want to do queries like SELECT * FROM surat_tuntutans WHERE nomor_perkara LIKE %Q.1.3% . Btree index cannot support this, so we’ll look into a different type of index: GIN and trigram indexes.
GIN (General Inverted Index) indexes are indexes on composite or multi-value data types such as arrays, jsonb, etc. such that it maps each value to the rows. You can read more about GIN indexes and examples here.
Trigram is a method to split each string entry into substrings of size three. For example, the string ‘kamisato’ will be split into an array [‘kam’, ‘ami’, ‘mis’, ‘isa’, ‘sat’, ‘ato’]. Then, when you’re searching for pattern ‘misa’, it will also split into array [‘mis’, ‘isa’] and find all rows containing those two elements on their arrays. How to find the rows containing those two elements? GIN indexes.
Fortunately, PostgreSQL GIN indexes provide a trigram index option, gin_trgram_ops . So to get this powerful trigram index + GIN index combination, you can use GIN(column_name gin_trgm_ops) . GIN() tells postgre that we are using the GIN index, and gin_trgm_ops is the extra implementation detail on the GIN index. Let’s create a trigram index:
CREATE INDEX surat_tuntutan_nomor_perkara_pattern_idx ON surat_tuntutan USING GIN (nomor_perkara gin_trgm_ops);
Now some testing:
Seeded 100k data, where the query should return 26 matches
About 4x speed increase from using the index. Not great, but not bad also.
5. Indexing a Function Output
Here is where it gets exciting. It would help if you had a little bit of experience creating postgres stored procedures to follow along. Previously when we create indexes, we use the values as is. It turns out, postgres can not only index columns but also immutable functions of one or more columns. So, you can create an index like this:
CREATE INDEX ON surat_tuntutan_fun_index ON SURAT_TUNTUTAN(transform(nomor_perkara) text_pattern_ops)
transform is a custom function that removes all punctuations and makes all characters lowercase:
create or replace function transform(str text)
returns text language sql immutable as $$ select regexp_replace(lower(str), '[&\.,\s''-]', '','g'); $$;
surat_tuntutan_fun_index basically creates an index where the keys are transform(nomor_perkara) with text_pattern_ops btree. To use this index on searching, you use the same function call:
SELECT * FROM SURAT_TUNTUTAN WHERE transform(nomor_perkara) LIKE 'Q.1.3%'
experimentation with 100k seeded data. Here i renamed transform() to be lowercase_remove_punctuation()
Without indexes, it took 307.5 ms. With indexes, it only took 0.878 ms. That's over 350x speed increase!
Using this method, you can index anything. Your function can also use two or more columns. Say you want to search for rows that depend on two columns, you can write a function f(column1, column2) that returns a value representing these two columns. Now the sky is the limit!
This method will come in handy when indexing our extraordinary data type discussed below.
6. JSONB Data type
Ever heard of MongoDB? MongoDB is a NoSQL database where each row is stored as a denormalized JSON. It is said MongoDB is said to better than postgres if:
the schema changes a lot. Since MongoDB stores as a JSON, it’s quite easy to change.
You have a one-off nested attribute that is not used anywhere else. You can define such attributes on the same table in mongo, while in Postgres, you need to create a new table and use relationships.
Sadly, MongoDB storing scheme comes with way more bad things. As shown in this amazing article, it turns out, having no relationship really reduces the use-cases of MongoDB to a small fraction.
In version 9.15, Postgres released the JSONB data type. It’s basically just a data type that stores JSON as binary form. So basically, it’s how MongoDB stores its JSON. With JSONB, you can use Postgres powerful tools such as indexes, data types, optimizations, relationships while having the power to have ‘nested’ attributes.
On my current group project app, we had such a use case. We have a field called ‘Daftar Terdakwa’ inside Surat Tuntutan, which stores a list of people and their information. JSONB is perfect for storing this because these people’s data is not used anywhere else. The simplified ‘schema’ looks like this:
TABLE surat_tuntutan {
id int
nomor_perkara int
status TEXT
daftar_terdakwa: [
{
name string
phone_number string
address string
} ] }
Now we define daftar_terdakwa to be type JSONB, and we can store its value to any valid JSON value we want. In this case, it’s a list of objects. Here’s the table definition:
TABLE surat_tuntutan {
id int
nomor_perkara int
status string
daftar_terdakwa JSONB }
Here’s an example row:
id | nomor_perkara | status | daftar_terdakwa
121621 | 736/H.17.20/DD.2.5/2007 | Tutup | [{"NIK": "0075813708576826", "nama": "Gita Enzi", "agama": "Hindu", "pekerjaan": "Wiraswasta", "pendidikan": "SMA", "tempatLahir": "Makasar", "wargaNegara": "Indonesia", "jenisKelamin": "Perempuan", "tanggalLahir": "2002-08-21", "tempatTinggal": "Surabaya"}, {"NIK": "9844358813241006", "nama": "Hara Jayendra", "agama": "Kristen", "pekerjaan": "Pengusaha", "pendidikan": "S1", "tempatLahir": "Makasar", "wargaNegara": "Indonesia", "jenisKelamin": "Perempuan", "tanggalLahir": "2000-01-13", "tempatTinggal": "Pekanbaru"}]
You can see the daftar terdakwa is just a normal JSON. It’s a list of objects with size 2.
If you want to search for rows with “nama”: “Gita Enzi”, you can do this query:
SELECT * FROM surat_tuntutan WHERE daftar_terdakwa @> '[{"nama": "Gita Enzi"}]';
The @> is a contains operator. So the query means to find all rows where one of the list elements contains an object with {"nama": "Gita Enzi"} as one of the fields.
7. Basic JSONB index
Remember GIN indexes on section three? If you’re looking for exact match queries like from the last part of the previous section, pure GIN indexes are the perfect match since GIN indexes the values of the objects to the rows. Creating the index:
CREATE INDEX surat_tuntutan_daftar_terdakwa_nama ON surat_tuntutan USING GIN(daftar_terdakwa)
To query, you can use the @> query explained above.
Searching on 100k data. Only took 5ms
8. Indexing Pattern in JSONB
Bah! indexing exact matches are quite boring. What if we want to search for patterns? let's say we want to get rows that the JSONB contains {"name": "%ayaka%"}
We will use our knowledge from indexing a function output section. Let's create a function that returns a string of values for all “name” fields on the list:
The function basically iterates over every element on the list of objects and then appends the field's value with key ‘wanted_key’ to the array. For example:
select jsonb_values_of_key(jsonb $jsonb$[
{
"nama": "Galangkangin",
"npm": "1806696969",
"kelas": "A"
},
{
"nama": "Akbar",
"npm": "1806696970",
"kelas": "B"
},
{
"nama": "Krisna",
"npm": "1806696971",
"kelas": "C"
},
{
"nama": "HuTao",
"npm": "1806696972",
"kelas": "A"
},
{
"npm": "1806696973",
"kelas": "A"
}
]$jsonb$, 'nama')::text;
will return Galangkangin Akbar Krisna HuTao
Using this function, this problem now reduces to indexing a single string! We know this! we can use trigram indexes:
CREATE INDEX surat_tuntutan_nama_values_idx ON surat_tuntutans
USING GIN (jsonb_values_of_key(daftar_terdakwa, 'nama') gin_trgm_ops);
This is a normal index declaration if you have been following section 5. The jsonb_values_of_key(daftar_terdakwa, 'nama') returns a string, which is then indexed normally using a trigram index.
To query using this index, you can do queries such as:
SELECT * FROM surat_tuntutans WHERE jsonb_values_of_key(daftar_terdakwa, 'nama') LIKE '%ris%'
The left-hand side is the same as the index, and the right-hand side is your query string.
Experiments:
on 100k data
over 10x increase. However, this one is quite impressive since the time is relatively large compared to the previous queries.
Note that it doesn’t matter what your functions do, it just matters that it returns a string so it can be indexed. So you can do any weird string matching you want. Other function examples:
9. Why Does the Speed Increase Varies
You might be wondering why does the speed increase from the experiments vary? Sometimes it's 68x faster, sometimes it's 350x, and sometimes it’s barely even 2x faster. That’s because it depends on a lot of things, such as:
The size of the table
The number of returned rows
How your tables are ordered
etc
Some examples when indexes speed increase arent that good:
the number of returned rows is large, and there’s an ORDER BY clause. Then, both the index and the sequential scan may spend a lot of time sorting, so the speed increase may not be that much.
You do not have an ORDER BY clause, and there are a lot of matches. Postgres is smart because once it gets the required number of matches defined by LIMIT, it will immediately return the rows without checking the other rows. If you want a sequential scan to read all rows, you can use an ‘ORDER BY’ clause.
If the table size is small, postgres may choose not to use the index altogether because the analyzer may think it's faster to read all the rows.
Here are examples where index gives great speed-up from the sequential scan:
The number of returned rows is relatively small. Indexes can only scan these rows, while sequential scan must scan all rows.
There's a SELECT * ORDER BY column query where you indexed column . This is a huge speedup because not only sequential scan needs to read all columns, it must also sort them. While if indexed, postgres can streamline the rows.
However, I think it’s still best to index your columns if used for searching since your table will generally contain distinct enough values for indexes to work.
10. Closing
In my opinion, indexes are what separates real apps from toy apps. When creating indexes, you are also thinking of the application’s scaling. Therefore, you think that a lot of people will use your application. PostgreSQL has many different indexes to choose from. Knowing when to use what index is crucial.
The advantages of using indexes rather than a separate technology such as elastic search or meilisearch are that you have full control over how you want to search and maybe lessen your application's development and maintenance cost.
References | https://medium.com/@thegalang/indexing-in-postgresql-and-applying-it-to-jsonb-c99ecf50a443 | ['Galangkangin Gotera'] | 2021-05-24 04:10:51.702000+00:00 | ['Optimization', 'Trigram', 'Postgresql', 'Indexing', 'Json'] |
The wolf in sheep’s clothing, how we ALL got duped on the closure of the #Rikers plan. | The wolf in sheep’s clothing, how we ALL got duped on the closure of the #Rikers plan.
The wolf in sheep’s clothing, how we ALL got duped on the closure of the #Rikers plan.
When I was incarcerated there were numerous times when I was the victim of a “dope fiend” move. For example, it was around Mother’s Day and one of the women on my housing unit came to me and asked to “borrow” 2 postage stamps. She had Mother’s Day cards she wanted to send to her mom. Wow, how could I say no, it was Mother’s Day, I am a mother, I have a mother and well damn I would want to get a Mother’s Day card too, so I gave her 2 stamps (knowing full-well I would not be paid back). That night the same girl was playing cards and “gambling” with those 2 postage stamps. As I said, this is just one of many examples of a “dope fiend move.”
Last weeks’ public hearing in New York City regarding the closure of Rikers Island in favor of 4 smaller borough based facilities turned out to be and will continue to be one huge dope fiend move. From the statements made by both Elizabeth Glazer who heads ups the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice and Dana Kaplan the Deputy Director at the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice (“MOCJ”) among others this farce!
Dana, stated back in April of this year on the record that the women currently housed at the Rose M. Singer Center (“Rosies) would be going to the new facility in Kew Gardens. “MOCJ Deputy Director Dana Kaplan said this decision was made after speaking with focus groups that advocate for women in the justice system.” Not sure which “focus groups” she spoke with but figures supplied by the NYC Department of Corrections based on information collected from the women housed at the Rosies when asked the borough of their residence show Queens is not in the top three of the list. Brooklyn tops the list with 25%, followed by the Bronx at 19%, Manhattan at 15% and Queens at 13%. Heck when I was at Rosies I resided in NJ but worked in Manhattan where I was arrested. So one has to ask, “why Kew Gardens?”
I have read the Lippman Commissions report and the supplemental reports, I have spoken to staff at the commission and they too know my feelings on the failure by the commission to even mention women in their first report, in their supplemental report they punted the question to MOCJ and well we know how that went, Kew Gardens. Nothing personal against Kew Gardens, but there are viable locations in Manhattan that could solely be dedicated to facilities for women, take Lincoln CF which Governor Cuomo has announced earlier this year will be closing, or Bayview CF which was leased to the Novo Foundation and thus far in the last several years not much has been done with the building — both would make perfect locations for a facility dedicated solely to replacing Rosies.
At the September 5th hearing, “Councilman Rafael Salamanca cornered Dana Kaplan, deputy director of Close Rikers and Justice Initiatives (MOCJ), into sharing that the decision as to where the jails would be located preceded any form of public outreach and the decision was settled upon by “the powers that be” without community input.
So twice now on the record in less than 6 months, Dana has contradicted herself on the jail in Kew Gardens for women and the input from “focus groups that advocate for women in the justice system.” Bottom line as Dana said on September 5th, “the decision was settled upon by ‘the powers that be’ WITHOUT COMMUNITY INPUT. Gosh, Mayor De Blasio, Elizabeth Glazer AND Dana Kaplan, what a “dope fiend” move. No doubt about it, we have been had, we have been conned! This is not politics, this is people’s lives.
Please explain to me, how can we adequately provide the proper services for both men and women detainees in the same facility, how can we provide equal access to medical and mental health services, how can we provide equal access to programming, recreation space and visiting all under one roof for both sexes, it simply cannot be done. What is worse is that the women will once again be short-changed on services which are so critical to them. Access to trauma programming, domestic abuse programming, reentry services, medical and mental health services, educational programming when the men will certainly out-number women. It simply cannot and will not be done. Based on her past statements Dana Kaplan unfortunately cannot be trusted nor taken at her word.
While the men will ALL be housed in a community-based facility (close to family, lawyers and the court) the majority of the women housed in Kew Gardens will be far removed from not only their families, but their lawyers and the Courts totally defeating the purpose of “community-based” facilities. It should be noted that over 60% of women detained currently at Rosies are the primary caretakers of their children under the age of 16, how will a facility in Kew Gardens bring these mom’s closer to their children when over 50% of those to be housed in Kew Gardens do not even reside in that borough? Who will make sure these children are taken to visit their mothers? Certainly not Dana Kaplan, MOCJ or even Mayor De Blaiso.
When I was last at Rosies in 2011 I promised the women that I would make sure their voices would be heard, that I would let the community know exactly what was happening at Rosies and to that end I have and will continue to do so. I am vocal and speak out as much as I can, I write about my own experiences which I do share on social media and Medium and I encourage you if you have not already done so to check out my posts. I am brutally honest, blunt about what I have to say and hold no punches. I share some extremely traumatic and brutal experiences from my detention at Rosies. I am not beholden to anyone since I receive NO funding from anyone. I do not live in New York, I reside in New Jersey and work in a warehouse where I get paid $16 an hour which many times makes it impossible for me to attend these meetings, rallys or hearings in person but that does not mean I do not stay informed, I am a news junkie and every night I read and absorb everything I can and I tweet like crazy. I know how many of these advocates who claim to fighting for women on Rosies are being duplicitous — you cannot bite the hand that feeds you. In simple terms, you are receiving funding from either the Mayor, the First Lady of New York, MOCJ or in some cases the Manhattan District Attorney and you are certainly not going to come out in public and call them out on their BS for fear the source of your funding being cut off.
I am a lone-wolf — beholden to no one. I support my efforts with the money I make at my warehouse job. I have interviewed for numerous positions in #cjreform work heck I even interviewed for a job with MOCJ and now I know why I was not hired by them and many others, I am too honest, too blunt. During my interview at MOCJ I asked Dana point blank, “what about the women” she told me they had not focused on the women. Dana, I believe that statement is still true today (almost 2 year later) you never have nor will you ever truly focus on the women. It’s truly a shame because what happens at Rikers could become a national model for other cities and county jails across the country.
So in the meantime I will continue to be my one-woman army, never forgetting the women I left behind nor my commitment to them to make sure that the community is made aware of what is going on in jails and prisons and to do everything in my power to change that until I draw my last breath. Please note that this is part one in a series of pieces on the subject.
Please feel free to follow me on twitter @KathyMorse0914 and also @CloseRosies | https://medium.com/@kathymorse_98687/the-wolf-in-sheeps-clothing-how-we-all-got-duped-on-the-closure-of-the-rikers-plan-3460fc408251 | ['Kathy Morse'] | 2019-09-09 02:00:55.166000+00:00 | ['Incarceration', 'Jail', 'Incarcerated Women', 'Rikers Island', 'Prison Reform'] |
It’s a Wage Shortage not a Labor Shortage | It’s a Wage Shortage not a Labor Shortage
Oftentimes, life feels like one giant, swift kick to the nuts. And then, right at the moment you pick yourself back up and shake off the agonizing pain with a series of slow, deliberate breaths and straighten yourself to full height, life comes along and plants another one right in the ‘nads. After more than a year of having their doors shuttered by a global pandemic and hanging on by a tenuous thread of financial viability, many restaurants were chomping at the bit to finally reopen once dining regulations were rolled back and they were once again able to operate at full capacity. Ah, but fate is a cruel, cruel mistress, and God has one hell of a sense of humor. Despite eager crowds anxious to go to out to eat and drink in public again, bars and restaurants have been thwarted from cashing in on that pent up demand by a source few people could have foreseen: worker shortages.
When national employment statistics hit their peak of 14.8% in April of 2020, with claimants numbering more than 25 million, few could have predicted the worker shortages that have predominated many parts of the United States since many retail and service-centered businesses began re-opening this past Spring. Walk through your local urban corridor, and you will see many restaurants and bars advertising for workers, and many of these service-oriented establishments or retail sector businesses have been operating on reduced hours for months now. These places want to be open, but they simply cannot find enough employees to fully staff their operations, and consumers, eager to get out and spend once again, are beginning to see the impact.
So just how is it that we have come to be so nationally understaffed? Even though the national unemployment rate has fallen dramatically since the height of the pandemic, clocking in at 5.8% for the month of May, that rate is still 2.5% higher than the 3.3% unemployment rate for February 2020 right before the pandemic began. Moreover, May 2021’s 5.8% rate is still higher than any non-pandemic month since 2014. And yet, despite those lower unemployment numbers in the years from 2014–2020, suggesting there would have been fewer employees available for hire, we weren’t experiencing anything like the worker shortages we are currently seeing. In other words, the workers are out there; they just aren’t taking the jobs.
A significant factor in all of this, of course, has been the extension and supplementation of unemployment benefits on both a state and federal level. As part of the immense Covid bailout package, Biden and the Democrats sent every American a check for $1400 and lengthened unemployment benefits eligibility for people who lost their jobs during the pandemic. This included many folks in the service industry, who were hit hardest by the ravaging impacts of the pandemic, especially those who worked in bars and restaurants. For months, many of these folks survived and fed their families only due to these expanded benefits. But now those jobs are coming back and many of them aren’t so eager to go rushing back to work. So why?
Now many of you on the conservative side of the aisle will point to these circumstances and suggest that these people are entitlement-takers, that this is just further evidence of how government unemployment programs only encourage reliance on the government rather than the self-sufficiency of a job, but I am going to contend that it is demonstrative instead of an entirely different factor altogether. If these folks are eschewing gainful employment in favor of remaining on unemployment, this is not indicative that unemployment benefits have been made far too lucrative as Tucker Carlson would have you believe, but rather that the pay at the jobs they are being offered is just that shitty. Before you go waving the flag of government entitlements as the problem, do you know how much the average unemployment check is? Yeah about $320/week or about $16k/year. How about you go try to live on that….
If you make a concerted calculation and arrive at the conclusion that you are better off not taking a job and instead living on the paltry allowances of unemployment, that is one crappy-paying job. But that is the place we find ourselves in for failure to pass a reasonable increase in the federal minimum wage to $15/hour. Because employees in some states are allowed to make as little as $7.25/hour, or less than $15k/year for a 40-hour work week, sitting on your ass and getting handed a check from the government that is actually slightly more than that suddenly seems like a damn good idea. You can’t blame the workers who aren’t taking these jobs. We have to place the blame squarely on the employers who are offering them too little.
In a recent newspaper article, I read the comments of Vail Resorts belly aching that they couldn’t find enough bus drivers at $13.50/hour and were thus “forced” to shut down a number of shuttle options for guests at their resorts. Have you seen the cost of living in the mountains these days? College kids are paying $1600/month in rent to live 6 to a room, so how in hell do you expect a bus driver to support a family of two? The math just doesn’t add up, and workers are finally in a position of strength to demand a living wage. The expanded unemployment benefits of the pandemic relief package have not only helped many Americans stay afloat during the shutdowns, they have also helped to shift the supply and demand dynamics of hiring economics and buttressed workers’ bargaining power, essentially getting from many employers what should have been granted to them by a more respectable federal minimum wage.
If you walk down to my local Target or Starbucks right now, they both have signs advertising that they are hiring at a starting wage of $16/hour. And they both have decent benefits too. As a response, Vail Resorts begrudgingly upped their driver pay to a whopping $13.75, but that just isn’t going to get it done, now is it? Who is going to drive a bus of of overly-entitled tourists instead of making about $100 more per week pouring lattes and frappuccinos? That’s just basic good ol’ American free-market, supply-side economics, baby! But for once, it’s working for the benefit of the American worker.
Yes, this may mean increased costs for consumers, but if you have enough money to be spending on bars, restaurants or other service-industry providers, you can afford to spend a little more to allow the people who work there to have a living wage. We are, after all, talking about people at the bottom rungs of the earnings ladder versus those with the discretionary income to spend in the service sector. Businesses that can offer a reasonable wage to their employees and still weather the current economic environment will survive, and those that can’t, well, they won’t. Isn’t that the very heart of free-market capitalism? American workers have been kicked in the nuts long enough.
Steven Craig is the author of the best-selling novel WAITING FOR TODAY, as well as numerous published poems, short stories, and dramatic works. Read his blog TRUTH: In 1000 Words or Lessevery THURSDAY at www.waitingfortoday.com | https://medium.com/@stevencraig8888/its-a-wage-shortage-not-a-labor-shortage-c1908cdf2ed | ['Steven Craig'] | 2021-07-15 12:31:07.163000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Life', 'Economics', 'Labor', 'Life Lessons'] |
25 | So today is my 25th birthday. I knew I wanted to write something, but it was unbelievably difficult to get started. Sometimes you have so much to say that it’s easier to say nothing at all. But you don’t get very far by doing what’s easy, so I’m going to do my best to speak my piece. I’ll start by saying that, like mostly everyone, this past year and a half for me has been about learning some new lessons, and being reminded of others. 2021 thus far has been one hell of a teacher.
Back in March, I got an infection (not COVID lol) and was prescribed some antibiotics, as is the norm. I wasn’t feeling better a few days into my antibiotic course, in fact I was feeling worse. Specifically I felt ridiculous levels of lethargy, and I couldn’t take too many steps without getting exhausted. I grew increasingly worried about my own wellbeing as the week wore on, until one night when things came to a head. Earlier that day, I had literally fainted on my way to the bathroom and woke up on the ground. I spent the rest of the day panicked, hoping that incident wouldn’t repeat itself. Sitting on my couch that night, my vision began to blur and black out. I heard ringing in my ears. My breath was shallow, and yet seemed to echo through my entire body. I grabbed my phone, as I couldn’t shake the feeling that if I didn’t get help right then, I wouldn’t make it through the night. I can’t quite express how it feels to muster one’s energy to fight death. How easy it would have been to lie there and let the darkness come. Or perhaps the light, depending on your interpretation. How effortless it would have been to let my shallow breathing grow thinner and thinner until there was none left. But I felt that my business here wasn’t finished, so I willed my vision to clear long enough to text a friend, who also lived in my building, and ask them to drive me to the hospital. When I fell into an open box on the way to open the door for them, “drive me to the hospital” became “call an ambulance”. I slurred together instructions for what I would need to take with me to the hospital, where I would doubtlessly be admitted for a while.
About two weeks and another course of antibiotics later, I was feeling pretty decent and was discharged back to my apartment, where I lived alone. Slowly but surely, I returned to the rhythms of daily life. I washed my dishes, I cleaned my filthy apartment which hadn’t been touched in the two weeks I was gone. Anytime I felt the slightest hint of dizziness, I panicked, wondering if my symptoms were returning. I never wanted to experience anything like that night ever again. The funny thing is, as a chronically ill person, that wasn’t my first brush with death. It wasn’t even the first time my systolic blood pressure dropped to 60. But something about this encounter felt so visceral and so manual and so personal, I was traumatized. Somehow I scraped together the energy to finish the semester, finishing quite literally two months of homework and final exams in less than a week.
Having made it past one enormous obstacle, I was still facing another, this one six years in the making. But the roots of the issue go back even further. In 2012, when I was a sophomore in high school, my intestines twisted upon themselves, a medical condition known as a midgut volvulus. The fix for this was to resect some small bowel and create an ileostomy. However, my system was getting pretty close to toxic shock from the waste that couldn’t pass, so once the surgery was done it took two months in the hospital for me to recover. At the end of that year, they reversed the ileostomy and all was well…until it wasn’t. A few years later in 2015, the spring of my freshman year of college, my worst nightmare came true. Midgut volvulus, round two. The fix was much the same, resecting some bowel, creating an ileostomy, one month in the hospital this time. By then, so much of my small bowel had been cut away that my body couldn’t nourish itself without the help of parenteral nutrition through an IV. My gastroenterologist pushed for ileostomy reversal as soon as possible to get back use of as much vital intestine as we could, but after going through reversal once just to have another volvulus, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I went on for four more years infusing parenteral nutrition multiple nights a week, taking calls from my pharmacist weekly to organize deliveries of the refrigerated nutrition bags, scheduling weekly nurse visits to my dorm to draw blood for the lab, and simultaneously living the life of a college student. In 2019, as I was preparing to move to Nashville for a Master’s program, I met a surgeon who would change everything.
Initially, I met with Dr. J just to ask about an issue I was having with my ileostomy. Once he was familiar with my case, he immediately recommended ileostomy reversal, which wasn’t even on my radar at that point. I had firmly decided, or so I thought, that I wouldn’t reverse the ileostomy this time. But a lifetime of parenteral nutrition isn’t ideal, and my liver was essentially a ticking time bomb as long as I remained on it. He seemed to listen to me and really understand what I had going on, and I just got an indescribably good feeling. Things like this are why I remain highly spiritual, despite being a scientist, which some people think is incompatible with spirituality for some reason. But what else am I supposed to do when I just feel a feeling? I rode the wave as far as it would go, and told Dr. J that when my Master’s program was over, I’d come back to Dallas so he could operate. “I want to take care of you” is what he said as he left the room, making it clear he wanted to be the one to perform the surgery. We all felt good about it, and I left the office knowing I’d be up for an adventure in two years’ time.
This past summer, I finished my Master’s program. I emailed Dr. J to make sure we were still on for the operation, and we were, so I booked my flight back to Dallas and prepared for everything to change. I couldn’t really process or internalize all the things that were about to be different. I had been through an ileostomy reversal once before, but everything about this felt different. It felt final. Like it was all going to work this time, and I was going to get my life back. I had built an identity around being chronically ill, and constantly compromising with my body to balance its health with my happiness. I had the overwhelming feeling that God or whatever is out there was telling me I had done my time, and this time would be for good. “This is risky” Dr. J reminded me. “You could die!” he said to my Mom over the phone. But I knew I wasn’t getting any younger, and my liver was only going to get angrier the longer I did those infusions. My job was essentially to go to sleep, and will my body to do everything in its power to wake up. June 25th was the big day. The fact that you’re reading my words obviously means that I indeed woke up in the recovery room. But the journey to discharge wasn’t so straightforward. If you haven’t guessed, good fortune doesn’t usually befall me.
Ideally in the days following the ileostomy reversal, I would progressively eat more and more, allowing my newly reattached colon to acclimate itself to having food pass through it. But I felt extreme discomfort and pain every time I ate, and a distinct tickle in my lower abdomen. After some more imaging, we learned that I had a little pinhole sized leak in my colon. Back to the operating room I went, and imagine my shock when I awoke with a freshly placed chest tube. When I was no longer groggy, my mom explained that there was some fluid found near my lung, and that was the reason for the tube. I mentally adjusted, always one to do my best to go with the flow, and accepted that I’d be in the hospital a little longer. The day came to remove my chest tube, and I got one more little surprise.
After chest tube removal, I got up to go to the restroom, and while I was in there, I felt a peculiar rattling within after a deep breath. Walking back to bed, I felt shaky and uneven, and struggled to catch my breath. It was early morning, and my day nurse popped in to introduce herself. I told her I was struggling to breathe, and she gave me a nasal cannula with flowing oxygen. I thought I knew what was going on, but we would need an x-ray to check. Fortunately, the people I needed to see waltzed into my room as I was next in their rounds. Before they could say a word, I told the team of surgeons that I was struggling to catch my breath, and a chest x-ray was ordered immediately. Shortly thereafter, I was proven correct. My old friend pneumothorax had come to visit. It wasn’t my first collapsed lung, but it was no less terrifying than the last one. A surgeon swiftly came in to install another chest tube, this time to get rid of the air in my pleural space rather than fluid. At this point I had to giggle internally, partially at my own misfortune and partially because I was conversing with the surgeon whilst she plunged a needle into my chest. She numbed it really well though! And the hydromorphone certainly didn’t hurt either.
Finally, chest tube: the sequel was removed, and after three weeks in the hospital, I was discharged. I was free of all parenteral nutrition, and for the first time in six years I had no intravenous access. No ileostomy pouch. I was no longer bound to weekly pharmacy deliveries. No longer limited in the duration of my travel by storage of a refrigerated infusion therapy. I felt more free than ever, but I was conflicted. I had spent years getting used to all the limitations that had been placed upon me. I built an identity around them, because so much of my life was altered by their existence. I didn’t really know who I was without those limitations. For the decade or so since my first midgut volvulus in 2012, my entire life has been in flux. My weight, my medications, my nutrition, my lab work, my physical health, my mental health, everything about me has been constantly shifting. It was all I could do to just live, never thrive. It was all I had the energy for. Suddenly I was being faced with the reality of the most stability I had known in a decade.
Things aren’t stable yet though, don’t be fooled.
With my flight back to Nashville booked, I soaked up my last few weeks with my parents in Dallas. A week before my flight, I woke up with a swollen and pained left leg. Hoping it was nothing serious, while deep down knowing how these things typically go with luck like mine, I elevated the leg in hopes that the swelling would go away. It did, but to my chagrin the pain didn’t go with it. I recognized the symptoms, and told my Mom we should go to the ER to get an ultrasound in case I had a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) blood clot. I had had one before, a year and a half ago, in my right arm. One ultrasound later, I had confirmation of a large blood clot in my left leg. Just as the ER nurse was about to start an IV to prepare for admission, Dr. J, who had apparently been watching my chart, intervened. He also knew that bad luck made me its friend, so he didn’t want to take any chances with procedures or anything else. At his request, they sent me home with a prescription for blood thinners. For the past two weeks I’ve been slowly recovering from the clot, and I’ve rebooked my flight back to Nashville for two weeks from now. As I said, I do my best to go with the flow, but even I get frustrated sometimes. I’ve been pretty quiet these past two weeks, just thinking, sending emails. It feels like I’ve been to hell and back and the hits just keep coming. Just to upgrade my recovery to challenge mode, my brother (who is a teenager and hence lives here at my parents’ house) tested positive for COVID last week, so I’ve been dodging a virus on top of…*gestures wildly*. Fortunately I tested negative, but the anxiety is real nonetheless.
So as far as my body goes, I’ve got a blood clot. I’m going to be on blood thinners for a while. But things aren’t really settled in my mind yet either.
My relationship to food is still in flux. In the past, I’ve been unable to eat food for periods as long as six months. I’ve been assigned diets with low sugar, I’ve been assigned diets with high fat. Low fiber, high sodium. Parenteral nutrition, tube feeding. Food is one of my greatest pleasures just as much as it is one of my most important chores. Eating is a joy, eating is an assignment, eating is intentional, eating is survival, eating is work. Over time I’ve come to learn that there are few things I hate more than unsolicited opinions regarding my diet. The volume, the contents, it all has a purpose whether your realize it or not. I’ve learned to keep my mouth shut because this could also be true of anyone on Earth.
My relationship to my body is still in flux. I’ve been 99 pounds and I’ve been 150 pounds. I expect to lose some weight here and there and eventually gain some weight in the not-too-distant future. But not too much. No one knows exactly what weight I’ll end up. As a human, I think constantly about my body. As a chronically ill human, I think constantly about my body. With the premium the gay community places on appearance and body type, thereby awarding social currency, I think constantly about my body. But the greatest gift and the greatest curse ever given to me by chronic illness is lack of control. My weight and body type will forever be dictated by nutrition absorbed by my intestines, of which I only have so much left. I’m always going to be thin, generally, and there’s nothing I can do about it. It is purposeless for me to desire that my body be anything other than what it is, so while I feel limited, I also feel free. Free to recognize my body for the wonder that it is, all that it has been through, and the incredible work that it does to keep me alive. Free from the pressure to conform to a standard, because I couldn’t even do it if I wanted to. Nevertheless I’m human, and I find myself staring in the mirror, sometimes satisfied and often not, but always knowing the reflection that I see is beyond my control for better or worse.
My relationship to others is still in flux. Prior to this summer’s surgery, I had essentially tossed the idea of non-platonic interaction in the garbage. I had no desire to think about dating or sex. There was too much explaining, too much apologizing for simply existing as chronically ill. I was tired of justifying my existence. Since surgery, and the subsequent quality of life increase, suddenly interactions that supercede the platonic no longer seem so far-fetched. With no ileostomy pouch and no intravenous access, there would be nothing to explain except for my scars. And I actually feel terrible about that. What of those for whom ileostomy reversal isn’t an option? They can’t wait for surgery to put themselves out there. Was I not tacitly implying that they couldn’t be desired as they are? Was my hiding an act of cowardice? Was I not brave enough or strong enough? Or worse, had I internalized ableism and the rejection I assumed would come from others was a projection of my own self-loathing? I try to avoid the word “normal” as it posits able bodies as the default, but I can’t help but feel that secretly it’s what I was waiting for. I could get back to interactions beyond the platonic when I had a “normal” body again, one that would require no apologies and no disclaimers. This isn’t the type of attitude I stand for and it’s not something I’m proud of, but all I can be is honest with myself.
That said, my relationship to myself is still in flux. I’m still a little lost without the markers of my identity for the past six years. The brief period between my first and second midgut volvuli was the most peaceful time of the last decade, and I know now that it wasn’t true peace, just the eye of the storm. So I’m not quite sure who to be now that I feel I’ve closed that chapter and moved on. Age 15–24 was a time of enormous change. Beyond medical things, I went through most of high school, all of undergrad, and a Master’s program in that time. I moved from Dallas, to Houston, to Nashville. Now it feels as though I’ve stopped running and paused to take my first breath in 10 years, and I don’t know where to go from here. I have a whole life to figure it out, I suppose.
The one thing that hasn’t changed, is that I am still, at 25, fundamentally the same entity. All my memories are my memories. My brain is my brain, even if it’s racing a mile a minute. My guts are my guts, as much as they’ve been put through. My blood is my blood, even if I’ve had a few transfusions and a couple clots. The Me who is greater than the sum of his parts has gotten me this far, and that’s what I’ve got to grip with all of my strength while everything around and within me continues to shift. As it should! Lest we forget I’m only 25. | https://medium.com/@kekeivory/25-381f94e674cd | ['Keshawn Ivory'] | 2021-08-27 11:28:15.567000+00:00 | ['Thoughts', 'Personal', 'Birthday', 'Reflections'] |
Figment’s First Look: Solana | Figment Networks will be offering a validator service for Solana that will be open for delegation. Contact us to learn more.
Figment Networks: meet Solana
Upcoming Staking AMA
Staking Hub will be hosting an AMA with Anatoly Yakovenko and Eric Williams to discuss everything Solana with an emphasis on staking.
Join us! Thursday, August 8 at 11am PT / 2pm ET / 8pm CET
Blockchain Scalability Now
Figment Networks provides trusted token delegation, secure staking infrastructure, and compliance tools for long-term token holders and Proof of Stake (PoS) blockchains.
In addition to running best in class validator infrastructure, Figment is dedicated to growing PoS blockchains via open source software tool development, analysis, community, and governance.
We believe that blockchain network participation must include more than just staking and validating. We have the opportunity to grow networks via active participation, including building software tools like Hubble, creating compliance tools like Rewards Reporting, governance, and community building. What is the goal?
End-user Adoption
We see the scalability problem as a sticking point for end-user adoption. One of the things we love about the current generation of blockchains launching are all the different approaches to scaling.
What if we don’t have to wait years for blockchain scalability? What if someone made a blockchain faster — much, much faster?
Solana is a permissionless, decentralized, and secure smart contract blockchain platform proposing to solve the scalability problem now. Without sharding.
Why is that important?
Solana bypasses the complexities and developmental delays inherent in sharded blockchains. While other networks push back launch dates, Solana is gearing up to deliver now. We’re excited to help make that happen by participating in Solana’s incentivized testnet competition, Tour de SOL.
The Countdown 🚀
The point of Tour de SOL is to test the stability and performance of the network, to test its design and parameters, and to harden the network’s design prior to Solana’s imminent mainnet launch. These tests will be critical to building confidence in Solana’s innovations.
Figment joined 49 other external nodes on July 25 for Solana’s first attempt at booting a fully decentralized cluster in preparation for Tour de SOL. Tour de SOL is scheduled to run from September through November, paving to path to Solana’s mainnet launch 🚀
Figment Networks will be offering a validator service for Solana that will be open for delegation. Contact us to learn more.
Solana
Solana is designed to ensure that the software doesn’t get in the way of the hardware. Their internal testnet recently achieved approximately 50,000 transactions/second across 200 nodes in 23 regions worldwide. As global Internet bandwidth capacities increase to meet user demand, so does Solana’s scalability solution.
Solana encodes the passage of time as data, called Proof of History (PoH), and leverages a verifiable delay function (VDF) to reduce transactional overhead between nodes in the network. The seven key innovations that make the Solana network possible:
This is a really deep dive into how Solana works ☝️
Project contributors
The Solana Labs team is composed of 24 members, including co-founders Anatoly Yakovenko and Greg Fitzgerald.
“Anatoly (CEO) rose the ranks to Senior Staff Engineer Manager over a 12 year period at Qualcomm. After leaving Qualcomm, he began engineering distributed systems for Mesosphere and later, Dropbox. He holds 4 patents in his name, including one for the invention of a lossless data compression system that leverages recurrent neural networks.”
“Greg (CTO) spent 11 years at Qualcomm where he contributed to the development of their LLVM toolchain. Before leaving Qualcomm to found Solana, he rose to the position of Senior Staff Software Engineer, leading the web and messaging infrastructure team.”
Use Cases
Solana is designed for decentralized applications that demand high throughput. Its architecture enables transactions to be ordered as they enter the network, rather than by block. Examples provided by Solana Labs:
Decentralized exchanges (DEXes) & marketplaces in need of fair transaction ordering (to prevent front-running)
in need of fair transaction ordering (to prevent front-running) Payments & gaming via sub-second transaction confirmation
via sub-second transaction confirmation Micropayments via low transaction costs (~$0.0001USD/tx)
via low transaction costs (~$0.0001USD/tx) Distributed storage
Network Token
Solana’s token, SOL, will be used for staking and transaction fees.
Staking
The network will be secured by bonded validator nodes that put SOL at stake in order to participate in the network. Participants receive block rewards and transaction fees. Token holders may also earn rewards by delegating tokens to reputable validators.
Transaction fees
Every transaction on the network will involve a fee that incentivizes validators and replicators, while protecting the network from spam attacks. The fee rate will vary.
Token Distribution
The supply cap is set at 500M SOL, but the initial token supply and distribution have yet to be determined.
Funding
Solana Labs recently announced that they raised $20 million in a Series A round led by Multicoin Capital, with participation from Distributed Global, Blocktower Capital, Foundation Capital, Blockchange VC, Slow Ventures, NCG Ventures, Passport Capital and Rockaway Ventures.
Token Minting
New SOL tokens will be created based on an inflation rate that varies each epoch, based on two main factors:
Staking participation rate - the current fraction of staked SOLs out of the current total circulating supply The global time since the first block
The initial annual inflation rate is expected to be set around 10 to 15% of the circulating supply, and programmed to decrease by between 10 to 20% per year. The team’s aim is to bottom out the annual inflation rate of 2% over the years to keep incentivizing validators. Inflation will increase when fewer tokens are staked to incentive participation and network security.
Staking
Solana Labs is aiming to have thousands of nodes active at the network’s maturity, so there is no restriction on the number of nodes. Participants must stake SOL tokens as a security bond, and the unbonding period has not yet been determined. Leader selection/rotation is based on stake-weight, so we should expect minimum or maximum stake thresholds. There appears to be no advantage for an entity to run multiple nodes.
There will be two types of clients involved in the consensus mechanism:
Validators — verify and submit transactions Replicators — provide storage space to store the growing blockchain, meaning validators will only need to store the most recent transactions, rather than the full ledger
Staking Rewards for Validators
Rewards will be SOL tokens, and the number will depend on the network’s inflation rate, the global amount of SOL staked, the volume of network fees, and for delegators, the validator’s commission rate.
Validators will not have custody over delegator rewards. Rewards will be held in a smart contract and may withdrawn at any time by delegators. Thus rewards will not earn compounding rewards until they are staked. There are reportedly plans for auto-delegation for replicators, a feature that may be extended to validators.
The annual inflation percent to be distributed to validator nodes will be a function of:
the fraction of staked SOLs versus the total circulating supply
the global time since the first block
the availability and participation rate of the validator
Half of the transaction fees are to be burnt, with the remaining fees going to the current leader processing the transaction.
Staking Rewards for Replicators
Anyone may offer the network storage space, and may use basic hardware such as a laptop to become a replicator. Replicators will earn SOL token rewards proportional to the number of successfully validated Proof of Replications provided to the network, thus the amount of storage provided.
Tracking Staking Rewards for Tax Reporting
Currently no tools or ability to track staking rewards for tax reporting.
Staking risks
The validator and its delegators’ tokens are at risk of being slashed. Downtime will not be punished by slashing, but both signing illegal transactions and voting for an inferior fork will result in a loss of tokens (slashed). Partial slashing may be implemented in the case of multiple validators being slashed during the same time period.
Governance
Long-term governance will be conducted under the Solana Foundation, a Swiss non-profit entity established in June 2019. The foundation’s board will be elected representatives from the various stakeholder communities within the Solana network, such as validators, replicators, users, developers and token holders. The Solana Foundation will focus on efforts to grow the network ecosystem through grants and decentralized governance processes. Solana Labs intends to begin the process of transferring network governance to the Solana Foundation in 2020.
Project status
Solana Labs is preparing to launch Tour de SOL, an incentivized testnet and competition. The point of Tour de SOL is to test the stability and performance of the network, to test its design and parameters, and to harden the network’s design prior to mainnet launch. These tests will be critical to building confidence in Solana’s innovations.
Figment joined 49 other external nodes on July 25 for Solana’s first attempt at booting a fully decentralized cluster in preparation for Tour de SOL. The next attempt is scheduled for August 6, 2019.
Tour de SOL is planned to run from September until November, leading up to the launch of the mainnet. The Tour de SOL schedule may change, so the forum is the best place to keep up to date.
Solana Labs | Twitter | Medium | Discord | Telegram | https://medium.com/figment/figments-first-look-solana-f90014ac273c | [] | 2019-08-05 19:26:14.628000+00:00 | ['Scalability', 'Staking', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain', 'Solana'] |
Basics in R Programming | As a consultant, I am led to work on different projects in a team. My last one brought us to develop a tailor-made R solution in the style of a Python scraping project. Sadly, the client environment made us use R. Are you used to develop on a state-of-the-art IDE? Are you familiar with basic programming principles? Then read the following!
Customize RStudio
You should begin by creating the best programming environment so that the hours you will spend in the near future are the more comfortable. The last thing you want to do is to spend hours on a trivial “bug” such as:
Yes, it took us hours to understand that this O is not a 0
So, start with configuring RStudio:
Choose a font that can’t trick you (Global Options > Appearance)
Choose a theme that fits your eyes and your taste (Global Options > Appearance)
Moreover, if you want to use git correctly:
Remove trailing whitespaces on saving (Global Options > Code > Saving)
Make sure that your files end by a new line (Global Options > Code > Saving)
Encode your files with UTF-8 (Global Options > Code > Saving). Note that this command may alter the opening of differently encoded files.
Naming standards
Only in R could I see as many naming conventions as this:
dot.case, camelCase, you name it.
You should choose one naming convention and respect it throughout your project. Indeed, fixing it afterward with multi-cursor won’t work 90% of the time. Do not let yourself be influenced by the disparity of R.
Not convinced by the naming conventions? Check out this article.
Unit-tests
As long as you develop your code as a package, R offers an easy testing environment. Keep in mind that the more you unit-test your code, the more confident you can be in what it actually does.
If you don’t know unit-testing or don’t see the point, give 5 minutes to this StackOverflow thread.
Hidden behaviors
There are many things that happen behind your code in R and some are not straightforward. Here are a few behaviors we discovered on a span of 8 weeks.
Checking if a variable is NA
One of our regular pain points was checking if a variable is NA. There are lots of ways to do it:
variable == NA : the double equals operator checks if the value of your variable equals NA. This operation has no sense in R (if you want more details, you can refer to this StackOverflow thread) and won’t work.
: the double equals operator checks if the value of your variable equals NA. This operation has no sense in R (if you want more details, you can refer to this StackOverflow thread) and won’t work. is.na(variable) : this function is optimized for tables. It is performed element-wise and thus creates a mask suited to your variable.
: this function is optimized for tables. It is performed element-wise and thus creates a mask suited to your variable. identical(variable, NA): this function is reliable to test if a variable is an atomic vector with single value NA. Nevertheless, it won’t work on other NA types in R.
Indeed, R contains different types of NA. But R also allows functions to return custom NAs, such as in the package “rvest”.
If you have this kind of issues with NA values, you should use anyNA(variable).
Unexpected Autocompletion
R has a tendency to autocomplete a few key elements:
functions’ arguments (that are also keyword arguments):
column names when manipulating data frames:
It didn’t bother us but I can imagine plenty of situations where it could have.
EDIT: You can make RStudio display warnings when such autocompletion happens, editing your .Rprofile:
R is a functional programming language
Coming from Python, with a more procedural/imperative programming use, I was surprised by the following behavior. R is a functional programming language, meaning that every call, every expression is a value.
…
Read the full article on Sicara’s blog here. | https://medium.com/sicara/basics-r-programming-standards-52bea7aebd59 | ['Alexandre Sapet'] | 2020-01-30 13:35:20.907000+00:00 | ['Sustainable Development', 'Programming', 'Standards', 'R Language', 'Machine Learning'] |
HAUL: Green Transportation Exchange Traded Fund | The launch of the first Green Transportation Exchange Traded Fund is an interesting development. I am sure the fund’s ability to pick green companies for their “green value” will improve, and hopefully a new set of succesful companies that are using innovative technologies along the automotive supply chain (and powertrain) will join as they go public. In the meantime, this is an interesting development that highlights not just a growing interest in sustainable/clean/low carbon transport sector, but also in finding ways to track the progress of innovations and companies that hold promise.
Invesco PowerShares is set to open its Global Progressive Transportation ETF to investors on Sept. 18. The fund will track the Global Energy Efficient Transport Index , or HAUL, from Encinitas, Calif.-based WilderShares , the creator of several green-energy exchange-traded indices that have seen assets grow with the rising price of oil and increasing interest in greener investment opportunities.
A new exchange-traded fund that invests in “progressive” transportation companies — ranging from makers of electric-vehicle batteries and drive systems to bicycle makers and railroad and shipping giants — will soon add its name to the a growing roster of ETFs focused on green businesses.
But are there enough public green-transportation companies to make up a whole index?
HAUL has addressed the issue by capturing two themes: the “innovative companies that are just on the horizon with new technologies” that people would expect to see in the index and lower-tech transportation, which is more efficient than regular gas-guzzling cars, WilderShares CEO Robert Wilder said.
The first category includes companies like Ener1 (AMEX: HEV), a lithium battery and fuel-cell maker, and Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc. (NSDQ: QTWW), which makes the drive train in Fisker Automotive Inc. hybrid electric cars.
But most of the index is comprised of companies involved in transportation methods “that are simply more efficient to begin with,” Wilder said. That includes “everything from scooters and bicycles,” including Vespa maker Piaggio SpA and bicycle makers Shimano Inc., Giant Manufacturing Co. Ltd. and Merida Industry Co., to developers of subway and passenger train systems and shipping and logistics companies like International Shipholding Corp. and OceanFreight Inc.
And then there are the other companies in that second category, such as railroad giants like CSX Corp. and Union Pacific Corp. and oil and natural-gas pipeline and shipping companies like Enbridge Inc. and Williams Cos., that may not strike the environmentally conscious investor as particularly clean or green.
“That’s something we talked about very early on. People kept saying, ‘How can you include a traditional railroad [company] — they’re so dirty,’ “ Wilder said.
“The most energy-efficient way to move something from point A to point B is railroads,” he said. “Could you have an energy-efficient transportation index that didn’t have rail? To me, that would raise eyebrows.”
Including tried-and-true rail, shipping and fossil-fuel companies in a “green” transportation portfolio could be a good way to avoid placing too many bets on an electric and alternative-fuels industry that’s still in its infancy, noted Ying Wu, senior analyst with Lux Research Inc. in New York City.
While she sees long-term promise for companies working in the plug-in hybrid and pure-electric vehicle space, “I think that market is three to five years in the future,” Wu said. “I’d take more of a wait-and-see attitude, rather than putting the money in there now.”
She also suggested adding Toyota to the index for its leadership position in the hybrid car market, and concentrating natural gas-fueled vehicle investments in companies working on building up the distribution network that would fuel them.
Wilder noted that the HAUL index, now less than a month old, will continue to grow and refine its methodology.
“In time, we’ll be able to pick the greenest of the railroads,” as well as add more companies in the electric, hydrogen and gaseous fueled vehicle space that meet the fund’s criteria, such as a $200 million market capitalization or greater, he said.
WilderShares’ other green technology indices and matching exchange-traded funds include the WilderHill Clean Energy index, traded under the symbol “PBW;” the WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation index, traded under the symbol “PBD;” the WilderHill Progressive Energy index, which tracks companies involved in making fossil fuels cleaner and is traded under the symbol “PUW;” and the Cleantech Index, which concentrates on companies involved in cleaner energy, water and industrial production and is traded under the symbol “PZD.” | https://medium.com/bz-notes/haul-green-transportation-exchange-traded-fund-2bf3aa9f5fb | ['Bilal Zuberi'] | 2016-03-21 00:53:45.798000+00:00 | ['Clean Energy Index', 'Automotive', 'Etf'] |
8 Fundamental Statistical Concepts for Data Science | 4. Probability
Probability, in simple terms, is the likelihood of an event occurring. In statistics, an event is the outcome of an experiment which could be something like the rolling of a dice or the results of an AB test.
Probability for a single event is calculated by dividing the number of events by the number of total possible outcomes. In the case of, say, rolling a six on a dice there are 6 possible outcomes. So the chance of rolling a six is 1/6 = 0.167, sometimes this is also expressed as a percentage so 16.7%.
Events can be either independent or dependent. With dependent events, a prior event influences the subsequent event. Let’s say we have a bag of M&M’s and we wanted to determine the probability of randomly picking a red M&M. If every time we removed the selected M&M from the bag the probability of picking red would change due to the effect of prior events.
Independent events are not affected by prior events. In the case of the bag of M&M’s if each time we selected one we put it back in the bag. The probability of selecting red would remain the same each time.
Whether an event is independent or not is important, as the way in which we calculate the probability of multiple events changes depending on the type.
The probability of multiple independent events is calculated by simply multiplying the probability of each event. In the example of the dice roll, say we wanted to calculate the chance of rolling a 6 three times. This would look like the following:
1/6 = 0.167 1/6 = 0.167 1/6 = 0.167
0.167 * 0.167 * 0.167 = 0.005
The calculation is different for dependent events, also known as conditional probability. If we take the M&M’s example, imagine we have a bag with only two colours red and yellow, and we know that the bag contains 3 red and 2 yellow and we want to calculate the probability of picking two reds in a row. On the first pick, the probability of picking a red is 3/5 = 0.6. On the second pick we have removed one M&M, which happened to be red, so our second probability calculation is 2/4 = 0.5. The probability of picking two reds in a row is therefore 0.6 * 0.5 = 0.3. | https://towardsdatascience.com/8-fundamental-statistical-concepts-for-data-science-9b4e8a0c6f1c | ['Rebecca Vickery'] | 2021-02-08 19:40:01.018000+00:00 | ['Editors Pick', 'Education', 'Getting Started', 'Data Science', 'Statistics'] |
Keeto App helps you achieve your dreams faster by simplifying finance and providing free tools, videos, blogs, and financial advisory to achieve Financial Freedom. | Keeto is your personalized financial fitness tracking, credit score improvement & Money Manager app. Get an Instant loan, Cashe Loan & Moneytap (via Partners). | https://medium.com/@keetoapp1/keeto-app-helps-you-achieve-your-dreams-faster-by-simplifying-finance-and-providing-free-tools-44635d456844 | [] | 2020-12-25 15:58:41.272000+00:00 | ['Android', 'Press', 'iOS', 'Launch', 'App'] |
Lord Asriel was Supposed to Appear in the Second Season of His Dark Materials | The HBO series His Dark Materials is an adaptation of a trilogy of the same name by Philip Pullman. I was extremely excited when I first heard about HBO attempting to adapt the trilogy as it deserved a good adaptation. I was also excited that Dafne Keen (Lyra “Silvertongue” Belacqua) was getting more work.
I have read the entire trilogy a couple of times. It seems that every few years I am drawn back to reading the books. Suffice it to say that there have been more than a few things I’ve been excited about seeing on the small screen.
One of those things is what Lord Asriel’s big plan is. Especially where he went after The Golden Compass (or Season 1 of the show). In the first book I thought of him as a villain but by the end of the trilogy if he’s good or evil is harder to determine. He, basically, fights for everyone to remain free so I can’t hate his cause.
Where Lord Asriel went after Season 1 should be amazing if the show continues to do a good job at adapting the source material. Which, after seeing Mrs. Coulter controlling the Spectres, is something I have absolute faith in.
So I got excited for a moment when I heard that Lord Asriel was supposed to have his own standalone episode in His Dark Materials Season 2. Then that excitement died when I found out the episode was cancelled due to Covid-19.
But was it better that viewers didn’t get to see Lord Asriel in Season 2?
His Dark Materials Season 2 was largely based on The Subtle Knife, the second book in the trilogy. A book that Lord Asriel didn’t appear in. The Subtle Knife worked just fine without Asriel’s appearance as it centered around finding the titular weapon.
Changing things up in an adaptation isn’t a bad thing as long as said changes keep to the heart of the source material. Such as Will Parry didn’t appear until The Subtle Knife but had a decent sized plot in His Dark Materials Season 1.
If the plan was for Lord Asriel to appear heavily in the second season of His Dark Materials, I would be against that as his appearance would be too much of a distraction. However, Asriel’s appearance was to be limited to one episode. Thus he wouldn’t be a big distraction and I wouldn’t mind him getting screen time in the second season.
All in all Lord Asriel not appearing in His Dark Materials Season 2 doesn’t matter much. | https://medium.com/@jashykins/lord-asriel-was-supposed-to-appear-in-the-second-season-of-his-dark-materials-31f8f0fd3a5a | ['Jash Kolze'] | 2020-12-24 02:44:52.980000+00:00 | ['His Dark Materials', 'HBO', 'Young Adult Fiction', 'Science Fiction', 'Fantasy'] |
Psychology of the Connected World | It’s true that the surrounding technologies are changing not our lives but also our behavior and attitudes. They or, rather, their creators learn not only to help us, but also to manipulate us in new ways. Our over-trust to technologies might be underneath the new notion of “post-truth” where nothing is ever provable.
The recently emerged era of the connected world has produced new concerns about our behavior and psychology in the new settings. The connectivity of the world around us is changing our lives at home and at work. It gives us more opportunities but also shapes our identities.
At Home
Privacy
Does it still exist? We leave hundreds of digital footprints everyday when we visit a webpage or pay with a credit card. In the connected world, where IoT devices will gain the ability to see and record all our moves, all of our notions of privacy will vanish. It is believed, that such constant surveillance violates the social and psychological foundation of humans, destroying our sense of privacy at every dimension.
We are told that this “ubiquitous surveillance” is emerging from our own voluntary choices because it is out choice to buy smart devices and accept cookies and privacy disclosure agreements on websites. Yet, for example, standard smartphone operating systems don’t permit you to choose safeguards to prevent being surveilled, so our choices are prompted by technology, not our free will.
How will this lack of privacy affect us in the long run? The Helsinki Privacy Experiment explored such long-term psychological consequences of surveillance at home when participants had to live with all their activities, both online and offline, tracked. At first, their responded to the constant intrusion of a camera by changing their behavior — sometimes stopping their activities entirely or hiding them. Yet, after several months, 10 out of 12 participants simply got used to it.
Privacy, it turns out, may not be so valuable after all.
Permanent connectivity
From the emergence of laptops, to the newest devices such as smart watches, the market offers a wide range of accessories that cement the idea of “always-on”. Once you had to look at your phone to stay in touch and up to date with everything, now it can be strapped around your wrist. We are so much attached to our “always-on/always-on-us” devices that we now live in two separate worlds: plugged and unplugged.
Availability
We believe that we live in a society where we expect to be able to reach everyone instantly. In this society there is no excuse not to be able to communicate at any time, because you are supposed to be constantly available. With wearable technology, it becomes even easier to do blurring of the lines between “real-life” and “virtual-life”. People stay connected to one another at any time through diverse microdata.
Digital fatigue
Constant connectivity can take a toll on physical and mental health. We can speak of addiction to smart devices, physical problems due to device-prompted positioning of our bodies, and constant stress. As a result of the blurred line between the online and offline life, many users feel the need to declare a “purge”, or a “holiday” from the connected world.
Changing habits
There exists a separate group of smart devices that are aimed at changing our habits and lifestyle, such as fitness bracelets that try to make us eat less and move more. Though giving valuable recommendations, such devices are still notoriously poor in terms of addressing the person’s motivation. When we use a smart device to have a healthier life, we should still enjoy it and not feel oppressed by the machines. Yet, some studies suggest that constant consulting with wearable devices can reduce our content with workouts.
Self-discovery
Smart devices collect all kinds of data about us to provide physical and psychological monitoring. At the same time, not all the information we get can be beneficial for us: with too much knowledge of ourselves and our vices we are forced to self-discovery which may lead to lower self-esteem and even self-rejection.
At Work
Impersonal workplace
With the IoT, teams can collaborate across very long distances saving corporate money and giving more independence and freedom to knowledge employees. Of course, many enterprises choose to reduce their office footprint in favor of “virtual teams.” At the same time, when team collaboration is mediated through software, it can be more difficult to understand the nuance behind communication and identify another’s intentions — potentially leading to disruptive misunderstandings and the sense of alienation
Really incessant work
“Always on” devices have led to an “always on” workplace, where people feel trapped to work on a 24-hour basis through their phones. Many people report discomfort when they do not check their work email at night or over the weekend. This reduces morale and makes off-time less restorative.
Working in a panopticon
The IoT provides immense capacity to track our movements throughout the workday. Potentially, this data can be useful — a good example is tracking trucks to ensure they are on time, but in practice it reduces autonomy and creates a sense of constant observation.
Greater safety and security
Especially in manufacturing and resource extraction, the Internet of Things can mitigate risks that were once believed to be intractable by integrating safety systems into a true network. Whilst the current model relies on the individual vigilance, in future workers will be able to think less actively about their safety and feel more at ease without a constant anticipation of life-threatening events. | https://medium.com/sciforce/psychology-of-the-connected-world-1c2190b0bf29 | [] | 2019-07-25 12:14:01.026000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Technology', 'Internet of Things', 'Psychology', 'Work Life Balance'] |
Why third-party cookies are NOT sent where you think they should | What are third-party cookies
A cookie is associated with a domain. If this domain is the same as the domain of the page you are on, the cookie is called a first-party cookie. If the domain is different, it is a third-party cookie.
You can view the first-party cookies on chrome by following the procedure: Open dev console -> Application Tab -> Storage -> Cookies .
Context where we need third-party cookies
A cross-origin request where CORS is used.
OPTIONS request
A CORS preflight request is a CORS request that checks to see if the CORS protocol is understood and a server is aware using specific methods and headers.
It is an OPTIONS request, using three HTTP request headers: Access-Control-Request-Method, Access-Control-Request-Headers, and the Origin header.
A preflight request is automatically issued by a browser and in normal cases. It appears when request is qualified as “to be preflighted” and omitted for simple requests.
Cookies attributes
httpOnly
Use the HttpOnly attribute to prevent access to cookie values via JavaScript. It's a way of preventing XSS attack.
Domain
The Domain attribute specifies which hosts are allowed to receive the cookie. If unspecified, it defaults to the same origin that set the cookie, excluding subdomains. If Domain is specified, then subdomains are always included.
Secure
Cookies are only set on https.
Same-Site
The SameSite attribute lets servers specify whether/when cookies are sent with cross-origin requests (where Site is defined by the registrable domain), which provides some protection against cross-site request forgery attacks (CSRF).
It takes three possible values: Strict, Lax, and None. With Strict , the cookie is sent only to the same site as the one that originated it; Lax is similar, except that cookies are sent when the user navigates to the cookie's origin site, for example, by following a link from an external site; None specifies that cookies are sent on both originating and cross-site requests, but only in secure contexts (i.e. if SameSite=None then the Secure attribute must also be set).
Requirements for third party cookies to be sent
Browser settings should support third party cookies to be set. For Chrome, check the setting through the path: settings -> privacy and security -> Cookies and other site data -> Allow all cookies Server correctly sets the Same-Site attirbute in the Set-Cookie response header, Set Access-Control-Allow-Credentails: true in the OPTIONS prefilight request. Client should explicitly includes the credentials in the request.
Fetch
fetch('https://example.com', {
credentials: 'include' | 'same-origin' | 'omit'
});
Axios
axios.defaults.withCredentials = true;
Notice | https://itnext.io/why-third-party-cookies-are-not-sent-where-you-think-they-should-1ebc60f4f314 | ['Michael Zheng'] | 2020-12-19 16:00:53.920000+00:00 | ['Cookies', 'Cors', 'Web', 'Cross Origin', 'Web Development'] |
Junior in High School… + Pandemic: 5 Ways I’ve Found Some Piece of Mind | Photo by Bethany Laird on Unsplash
I never thought my junior year would turn out like this. Like seriously — I never imagined a global pandemic completely and utterly derailing my high school football games, events, SATs, and classes. I can’t even be in the building of my school with my friends. God forbid our last names fall in the same section of the alphabet.
This year has been hell for all of us — especially students. In almost a year, my life has been turned upside and back around. This being my junior year of high school, I am starting to think about the future. What do I want to be? What college do I want to go to? Can I even stand living at home for another year and a half?
Throughout this interesting year, I have found some piece of mind. I have learned more about myself than ever before. Here are some tips for others like me:
No more expectations! — we live in a new world. No more expecting that things are just going to happen for us. We can’t expect our prom or our football season or anything really. This is the time we have to appreciate what we do experience. My new motto is: expect nothing and appreciate everything Take care of your mental health — Do what is best for you and your mental health before anything. We have experienced how lonely people have become during these hard times. Mental health is incredibly important in maintaining a balanced life. Lay in your bed, take a break from the computer and go eat some ice cream, go out with friends. Do whatever makes you happy. Trust me, it’s good for you. It is okay not to be okay — If things are going wrong, it is OKAY. Life is full of ups and downs (key part being downs). For some of us, 2020 has been a major dip in the road. Let yourself not be okay. Take many breaks, cry it out. Things will get better I promise. Use this time to do something for yourself — During quarantine, I decided to use the downtime to focus on my relationship and get in shape again. Now, my new goal is to study and get a better score on my SAT. Personally, I think now is the time to work on yourself. Get better at something you always wanted to get better at. You are never going to have the downtime you have right now. Whether it’s studying or working out or anything else, set a goal and go after it. You got this! Learn to love the person you are today — Over this past year, I’ve really come into my own. I never smiled more, laughed more, cried more. I learned how to live for myself and what I truly want in life. If you love yourself, you learn to love your life
Remember, this year is almost over. Enjoy the last few days of 2020! And be excited for what 2021 holds. It can’t be worse, right? | https://medium.com/@elizabethdifiore4/junior-in-high-school-pandemic-5-ways-ive-found-some-piece-of-mind-fc66877ef636 | [] | 2020-12-21 03:23:19.794000+00:00 | ['Quarantine', 'Lifestyle', 'High School', 'College', 'Mental Health'] |
Perfect Recipe for Classification Using Logistic Regression | Perfect Recipe for Classification Using Logistic Regression
Supervised Learning is an essential part of Machine Learning. Classification techniques are used when the variable to be predicted is categorical. A common example of classification problem is trying to classify an Iris flower among its three different species.
Logistic regression is a classification technique borrowed by machine learning from the field of statistics. Logistic Regression is a statistical method for analyzing a dataset in which there are one or more independent variables that determine an outcome. The intention behind using logistic regression is to find the best fitting model to describe the relationship between the dependent and the independent variable.
In this article, we will first be taking a theoretical approach on what Logistic regression actually is and after that we will be building our very first classification model. But before getting started with this article, I would suggest you to take a look on my previous article to get a gist of what classification problem actually are, in virtue of Machine Learning
Why not Linear Regression:
Consider a scenario wherein we need to classify whether a particular type of cancer is malignant or not. If we use linear regression for this problem, there is a need for setting up a threshold based on which classification can be done as linear regression return continous value.
Image from Gfycat
But in scenarios wherein the actual class is malignant, but the predicted continuous value is 0.4. Given that the threshold value is 0.5, the data point will be classified as not malignant which may lead to serious consequence. As a result it can be inferred that linear regression is not suitable for classification problems as it is unbounded and the predicted value is continuous, and not probabilistic.
The decision for converting a predicted probability into a class label is decided by the parameter known as Threshold. A value above that threshold indicates one class while the one below indicates the other.
Image from Freepik
Not only this but linear regression is also highly sensitive to imbalanced data as it tries to fit the line by minimising the error(distance between the line and the actual value). As a result it can be inferred that Linear regression is better off with regression problems and is not suitable for classification problems, which brings logistic regression into picture.
Logistic Regression:
Logistic Regression is a classification technique used in machine learning. It uses a logistic function to model the dependent variable. The dependent variable is dichotomous in nature, i.e. there could only be two possible classes (eg.: either the cancer is malignant or not). As a result, this technique is used while dealing with binary data.
Image from Gfycat
Types of Logistic Regression:
Though generally used for predicting binary target variables, logistic regression can be extended and further classified into three different types that are as mentioned below:
Binomial: Where the target variable can have only two possible types. eg.: Predicting a mail as spam or not. Multinomial: Where the target variable have three or more possible types, which may not have any quantitative significance. eg.: Predicting disease. Ordinal: Where the target variables have ordered categories. eg.: Web Series ratings from 1 to 5.
In logistic regression in order to map the predicted values to probabilities, sigmoid function is used. This function maps any real value into another value between 0 to 1. This function has a non-negative derivative at each point and exactly one inflection point.
Image from Freepik
Cost Function
A cost function is a mathematical formula used to quantify the error between the predicted values and the expected values. Put simply, a cost function is a measure of how wrong the model is in terms of its ability to estimate the relationship between x and y. The value returned by the cost function is referred to as cost or loss or simply, error. For logistic regression, the cost function is given by the equation:
This negative function is because when we train, we need to maximize the probability by minimizing loss function. Decreasing the cost will increase the maximum likelihood, assuming that samples are drawn from an identically independent distribution.
Now that you have an idea of what Logistic Regression is, we shall now be building our very own logistic regression model. The code and other resources for this classification model can be found here.
Step 1: Importing the Required Libraries
Our first step is to import the libraries required to build our model. It is not necessary to import all the libraries at just one place. To get started we will be importing the Pandas and Numpy libraries.
Image from Freepik
Once these libraries have been imported our next step will be fetching the dataset and loading the data into our notebook. The dataset we’ll be using in this example is about Heart Diseases.
#Import the Libraries and read the data into a Pandas DataFrame import pandas as pd
import numpy as np df = pd.read_csv("framingham_heart_disease.csv")
df.head()
The pandas library is used for accessing the data. The read_csv function inputs the data of the format .csv into the pandas dataframe.
The head() function is used to display first few records of the dataframe. The function by default displays the first five records but can be made to display any number of records by entering the desired value.
Step 2: Cleaning the Dataset
Data cleansing or data cleaning is the process of detecting and correcting corrupt or inaccurate records from a table, or database by identifying incomplete, incorrect or irrelevant parts of the data and then replacing, modifying, or deleting the coarse data.
Image from Freepik
The missing values of the dataset can be detected using the isnull function. These records with missing values are either deleted or filled with the mean value of the record. However, inputting the approximation may introduce variance and/or bias in the model.
The bias error is an error from erroneous assumptions in the learning algorithm. High bias can cause an algorithm to miss the relevant relations between features and target outputs and thus result in underfitting.
#Handling missing data series = pd.isnull(df['cigsPerDay'])
On the other hand, variance is an error caused due to the sensitivity of the model towards small fluctuations in the training set. High variance can cause an algorithm to model these fluctuations in the training data, thus resulting in the overfitting of the model.
Image by Author
In this example we also note that certain features of the dataset such as Education does not play a factor in deciding the output. Such features shall be dropped before building the model.
#Dropping unwanted columns data = df.drop(['currentSmoker','education'], axis = 'columns')
cigs = data['cigsPerDay'] cig = cigs.mean()
integer_value = math.floor(cig)
cigs.fillna(integer_value, inplace = True)
data.dropna( axis = 0, inplace = True)
Certain features like CigsPerDay already denotes that the person is a smoker and hence the column CurrentSmoker is of effectively no use.
Step 3: Analyzing the Dataset
Now that our dataset is clean and free of irregularities, the next step will be to create two separate dataframes for people with high risk of heart disease and for those with lower risk of heart disease.
This step can also be referred to as Feature Engineering. Another important step is visualising the data as it greatly helps in determinig which features to select that may yield the most optimum results..
#Analyzing The Dataset Heart_Attack = data[data.TenYearCHD == 1]
No_Heart_Attack = data[data.TenYearCHD == 0] final = data.drop(['diaBP','BMI','heartRate'], axis = 'columns')
Another important step in feature engineering is to scale the data as logistic regression is sensitive to whether or not the data has been scaled. If the data is not scaled, the model might consider 3000 grams to be greater than 5 KG which may result in erroneous prediction.
Image from Freepik
In this example I have also dropped the values for ‘diaBP’, ‘BMI’ and ‘heartRate’ as they have similar values for either values of TenYearCHD.
Step 4: Preparing the Model
Now that we have cleaned the data and selected the effective features, we are all set to fit the model on our training data. For doing this, we first need to split the dataset into training and testing data with a given random state, so that the output remains same every time the program is executed. In this example, the random state is 99.
#Preparing the model from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split
X_train, X_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split(X,y, test_size = 0.20, random_state = 99) from sklearn.linear_model import LogisticRegression
model = LogisticRegression() model.fit(X_train, y_train)
model.score(X_test,y_test)
Once done, import LogisticRegression from sklearn.linear_model and fit the regressor over the training data. The performance of the model can be evaluated by calculating the model score.
In this example, the model is found to be 85.6% accurate. Confusion Matrix is also a good technique for summarizing the performance of the prediction model. In it there are two possible predicted classes - Positive and Negative.
Image by Author
The confusion matrix can be further used for determining various important metrics including Accuracy, ROC Score, Precision, F Score etc.
Advantages of Logistic Regression
Logistic Regression is one of the most efficient technique for solving classification problems. Some of the advantages of using Logistic regression are as mentioned below.
Logistic regression is easier to implement, interpret, and very efficient to train. It is very fast at classifying unknown records. It performs well when the dataset is linearly separable. It can interpret model coefficients as indicators of feature importance.
Image by Gfycat
Disadvantages of Logistic Regression
Though used widely, Logistic Regression also comes with some limitations that are as mentioned below:
It constructs linear boundaries. Logistic Regression needs that independent variables are linearly related to the log odds. The major limitation of Logistic Regression is the assumption of linearity between the dependent variable and the independent variables. More powerful and compact algorithms such as Neural Networks can easily outperform this algorithm.
Summarizing What You Learned
To summarise what we have learned in this article, first we discussed about what Logistic Regression is and how it can be used to build classification models. We then discussed about the various different types of Logistic Regression, its cost function and the metrics that are used to evaluate the performance of the classification model.
We then took a hands on experience of the algorithm where we built our very own classification model. To prop up our learning we also discussed about the advantages and disadvantages of this technique.
With that, we have reached the end of this article. I hope this article would have helped you get a solid understanding of what Logistic Regression is and when to use it in your Machine Learning journey. If you have any question or if you believe I have made any mistake, feel free to contact me! You can get in touch with me via: E-Mail or LinkedIn. Happy Learning! | https://towardsdatascience.com/the-perfect-recipe-for-classification-using-logistic-regression-f8648e267592 | ['Ashwin Raj'] | 2021-01-05 13:59:50.866000+00:00 | ['Supervised Learning', 'Towards Data Science', 'Logistic Regression', 'Machine Learning', 'Classification'] |
Movement Lawyering for Alternative Futures | Movement Lawyering for Alternative Futures
By Zahra Stardust, Roslyn M. Satchel, Afsaneh Rigot, Kendra Albert and Micaela Mantegna
Ten years ago, trans activist, writer and teacher Dean Spade published a piece for those considering law, setting out ‘what every activist should know before going to law school.’
In the article, Spade discusses the complicated relationship between law and social movements (including how law is used to maintain rather than undo systems) and asks what role can lawyers play in social movements, through demystifying the law to resist indoctrination and by linking legal service provision to transformative change strategies.
Inspired by this piece, 5 lawyers, ex-lawyers and legal practitioners from the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society speak about their vexed relationship to the law, tensions in their practice, their strategies and tactics, and the kinds of futures they are trying to build.
Media, Law, Ethics, & Social Movements
Principles of justice, equity, mutual aid, and self-determination animate my work.
Law is content for courses I teach, as well as organizing and policy advocacy I do in communities. I teach that the law can be helpful as both a guide for protecting the vulnerable and for challenging unethical practices/laws. Simultaneously, however, I often use history to reality-test slippery slope harms created by laws that are inconsistent, cause confusion or lack predictability — particularly in relation to race, gender, sexuality, ability, national origin, language, socio-economic status, or other caste markers.
The relationship between law and social justice movements is one of tension and boundary challenging. The law could be an instrument to help people live in security and dignity, but instead those in power use it to entrench and fortify their power via status quo. These competing interests require juxtaposition to avoid dominant group tyranny. Those pushed to the margins must exert pressure by all necessary means. For 20 years, I’ve pushed back.
Sometimes law is not the answer; it’s the problem.
Sometimes law is not the answer; it’s the problem. The difficulty I often see arises when law enables/permits money and power to corrupt movements. The non-profit industrial complex has a political economy that retains power with elite gatekeepers through funding grants. These foundations broker grants to address certain social problems but rarely change social conditions or the law. As a result, Non-Government Organisations/Community-Based Organisations compete for grants (scraps) — often abandoning the mission or programming for the preferences of grantors — in order to make payroll or provide healthcare benefits for staff. Meanwhile, the government either fails to act or enacts laws that tie activists’ hands (e.g., U.S. Patriot Act). Currently, this divisive dynamic is at work in popular social movements, and we must question whether splintering is the purpose; and if so, who benefits?
Having experienced these problems professionally as a non-profit executive (as well as hating disempowering adversarial courtroom practices), I opt for alternative uses of my legal skills that shift power by prioritizing research and interventions with practical benefits to marginalized communities. I am trying to build a future where children of the African diaspora have futures as bright as (or even brighter than) they did before colonization and enslavement.
Resistance and the Power of the People
I never wanted to study law. It wasn’t for us. Coming from Iran, moving to the UK as a refugee and living in the UK in a struggling working-class family (in a predominately immigrant BIPOC town) l quickly realised, the law was not for us. The law was about us. It was for us to bypass and navigate and not fall into the traps of.
In Iran the law served as a tool for a theocratic dictatorship that surveilled, imprisoned, tortured and exiled its residents, our friends, my family. In the UK it was the structures that worked to keep people like us out — on the outskirts of borders or in the margins of society.
The law meant barriers to jobs, financial support and opportunities to exist. It meant the police, immigration control, access issues. The law meant: you’re not safe; this isn’t for you.
That changed as I grew. I didn’t know about Movement Lawyering per se — but came to admire those who I now know employed it: legal aid lawyers that helped us get status when all other hope was lost; the fearless lawyers in Iran who used their in-depth knowledge against the legal system itself; those I’d read about in books who used the law as a tool to contain its own power, to cripple the structures confining groups most oppressed, marginalised and targeted. Then I was intrigued. I wanted to learn how to wield the same tool for our communities.
My favourite movement lawyering quote is from Law for Black Lives: “It means building the power of the people, not the power of the law.”
I didn’t continue with traditional legal practice (I was working towards becoming an immigration and human rights barrister). These days, I use my access and knowledge to support communities in my region. I follow their leadership on how to build strategic movements and support their safety. I use the language of law to leverage power and hold companies accountable for harm. Most of the time the law itself isn’t useful, but my knowledge of how to navigate it is.
The law might not be for us, but we can do our best to stop it from being used against us.
The Limits of Law
I’ve always had a weird relationship to my role as a lawyer. I didn’t go to law school because I believed in the majesty or dignity of the law, but because I wanted software engineers to listen to me. Law felt like a way to accomplish that. And somehow, at the end of law school, people expected me to be a lawyer. Turns out a law degree isn’t just humanities finishing school, it’s a professional degree. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Fortunately, while I was in law school, my peers radicalized me. Specifically, Derecka Purnell, Kidist Keaton, and the other Black women who led the student protest movement at Harvard Law School called #Reclaim, radicalized me. I saw how lackluster the institutional response to racism was. I also saw how easy it was for White folks who the institution worked for (even self-professed liberal ones) to underestimate their own power to make change. At the same time, I was processing my own identity as a transgender person who wasn’t out (or even totally sure of their gender), and I could see all the ways in which law failed trans folks.
As I’ve gotten further into my legal career, I am more and more aware of the limits of law. As an attorney, I’ve embraced my role as a demystifer of legal systems (to use Dean Spade’s words). I’ve also been taught by friends and comrades, like Danielle Blunt of Hacking // Hustling, how to use the power that comes with institutional affiliations for rebellion.
As a teacher, I hope to help my students understand the limits of law as a tool. I support my students by building spaces for them in hierarchical institutions with unwritten rules, while challenging them via the material I teach to think bigger about systemic oppression, violence, and our duty as people to make change. Through my teaching, I aim to pass along, at least in part, the gift I was given by #Reclaim.
Ultimately, my legal work pales in comparison to the hard work of building movements and supporting communities. So now I play a small part in making the law less of a barrier to those who are making what John Lewis called “good trouble”, and I hope to train the next generation to push further and imagine more.
Law in 8-bits: Finding Joy and Creativity in the Legal Profession
My relationship with the law is ambivalent to say the least: I went to law school because I wanted to make a positive impact in the world, and becoming a judge seemed the proper way to do so. Spoiler alert! It was not.
Years as a Court clerk taught me a fair bit about how bureaucracy shapes organizations, preventing them from effective action and meaningful change. I come to the unsettling place of a non-conforming legal practitioner buried in one of the most archaic, formal and change-averse institutions: the judiciary. If you don’t fit, you must not acquit, but make room.
Law is a loose corpora of building blocks that interact to create solutions, a duality of limits and spaces for freedom. In that sense law is as much a tool as is code, and both could be equally inaccessible and esoteric for the uninitiated. Wide and open knowledge is crucial as a catalyst for change, that can be achieved by involving the communities affected by law’s frameworks before they are set in place.
Being lectures, podcasts or streamings, in divulgation and advocacy I found my call. And through pop culture and video games, the language to translate law and policy into something relatable and fun.
When presenting myself, I used to be in a “too many hats” conundrum: Should I speak as a policy researcher or from my place as a diversity activist through Women in Games Argentina? Videogames or artificial intelligence? Media or attorney?
Before, all these facets seemed antagonistic to being a legal professional. Now I settle on defining myself as the mind of a scholar, the heart of an activist and the skillset of a lawyer, trying to use all of them for good.
Through an unconventional journey I came to peace of mind with my purpose: trying to inspire the rogues and the misfits to embrace the whimsical weirdness of being different and to find our place in Law and its intersections: you are welcomed and you are needed here.
Sex, Law & Protest
When I was admitted to practice, I was advised by colleagues to disclose my sex work experience so the Legal Profession Admission Board could consider whether I was a ‘fit and proper person’ of ‘good fame and character’. Sex work is often seen as some kind of reputational risk. But in my view, sex work is a more dignified profession than law. And sex workers have plenty to offer in legal analysis, including robust critiques of criminalisation, licensing, border patrol, policing practices and the carceral state.
Law makes us preoccupied with incremental change and symbolic victories. My auto-ethnographic research on pornography taught me about the perils of reformism and my background as a policy advisor taught me that an ‘evidence-base’ will only get you so far before it is trumped by political expediency and self-interest.
In law reform, wins for some mean losses for others. And it is consistently the most marginalised who are left off the agenda with the promise that legislators will return for them ‘later’, a date that never arrives.
Where I live, on the unceded Gadigal land of the Eora Nation, our government refuses to enter into a treaty with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait people, anti-protest legislation is on the rise and there is political backlash against trans youth. Yet the law maintains a delusion of progress.
My work has involved various strategies and interventions, from demystifying the law to legal accountability to strategic litigation. I’ve been a Legal Observer during protests for Black Lives Matter and Mardi Gras to document and record police brutality. I began the Illustrated Law Project, collaborating with tattoo artists to create accessible guides to police powers, protests and strip searching. I am working with Scarlet Alliance, Australian Sex Workers Association and the Inner City Legal Centre, to prepare a class action of sex workers against payment processors for financial discrimination.
As lawyers, we should be thinking about how we can use our skills to further social movements. Law speaks to itself in inaccessible jargon and maintains a profoundly unjust system of race, class, gender, sexuality and ability. The real legal experts are not lawyers or academics, but the communities who witness the brunt of its operation. I want to help build a future where marginalised communities drive social, cultural and economic change and eventually dismantle institutions of law as we know them.
For more on movement lawyering, see Law for Black Lives, the Movement Law Lab, the Movement Lawyering Conference, or watch this Spotlight on LGBTQ Advocacy in Lebanon as part of a series on Movement Lawyering and Social Change. | https://medium.com/berkman-klein-center/movement-lawyering-for-alternative-futures-404ba2010bf2 | ['Zahra Stardust'] | 2021-01-04 14:38:33.513000+00:00 | ['Social Movements', 'Resistance', 'Activism', 'Tech', 'Law'] |
React Native: How to Load and Play Audio | React Native: How to Load and Play Audio
Working with audio clips in React Native and Expo AV
Expo AV: Reliable Native Audio Support
This article introduces the expo-av package, a universal audio (playing and recording) and video module for React Native projects. The package is maintained by Expo, the go-to library for bootstrapping React Native projects targeting a range of platforms.
Audio packages have come and gone in the React Native ecosystem, most of which either do not work or have not been updated for a significant amount of time. When looking at packages to adopt — especially for critical tasks like audio playback — a reliable and well maintained package is needed. Major iOS updates are launched on a yearly basis and Android updates considerably more regularly. These updates sometimes come with breaking changes, so choosing reliable source code on the React Native side will be in every developers interest.
Note that react-native-audio has not been updated in over 2 years, and react-native-sound has been stagnant for over 1 year (since the time of writing this article); these packages should be avoided as they will not support the latest native APIs, and will lead to dead-end troubleshooting when they do not work in your project.
With all this being said, expo-av ticks all the boxes in terms of maintenance and platform support. With weekly downloads at >25,000, and the last update published a month ago (at the time of writing), it is a fairly strongly adopted package that the developer should have confidence using. Not all apps require audio, so it can be hard to gauge the popularity relative to the whole React Native ecosystem.
expo-av also has strong documentation that is kept up to date. The reader can visit the package on GitHub as the true source, but the majority of documentation is hosted on the Expo website, where there is a dedicated audio page along with an API reference page for the Expo AV module. It is this documentation that we’ll be referencing throughout this article as we build some audio tools.
What this article will cover
Now that I have hopefully persuaded you that Expo AV is the way to go with React Native audio, it is time to delve into some development. Instead of writing a standard tutorial of loading and playing an audio clip, we will make things more interesting to more closely reflect real-world use cases. After installation, this piece will:
Explain the audio loading and playing workflow and the key APIs needed to get audio working.
Walk through an audio controller class that loads, plays, resets and stops audio clips. This class will be separate from React components as to separate the audio logic from component logic.
Demonstrate how to load and manage multiple audio clips simultaneously. For this piece we will assume that a male and female audio clip need to be loaded, whereby the end-user can choose which gender to listen to. Of course, switching the gender can be achieved simply by toggling that gender via state management, but the corresponding audio itself must be loaded and available, ready to be played.
and audio clip need to be loaded, whereby the end-user can choose which gender to listen to. Of course, switching the gender can be achieved simply by toggling that gender via state management, but the corresponding audio itself must be loaded and available, ready to be played. Walk through a <PlayButton /> component, that will initialise the audio (request to load the audio files from a remote server), and manage the audio state. More specifically, we will visit concepts such as auto play, tap to play, tap to stop, and reflect this in component state. Another thing we need to manage with audio is the component state while the audio is being retrieved. This means asynchronously requesting the audio and waiting for it to be fully loaded before it can be played. This adds further (but needed) complexity into the component as to not attempt to play an unloaded audio file that would result in a runtime error. | https://rossbulat.medium.com/react-native-how-to-load-and-play-audio-241808f97f61 | ['Ross Bulat'] | 2020-12-25 07:28:49.655000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'App Development', 'React Native', 'Software Engineering', 'Programming'] |
What It’s Like to Have an Eating Disorder During Lockdown | What It’s Like to Have an Eating Disorder During Lockdown
A cupboard full of canned goods triggers my deepest insecurities
Photo: Thomas Hawk/Flickr
When I was 11 years old, I watched the second Jurassic Park movie, The Lost World, and had a panic attack about a giant meteor hitting the Earth and causing the end of the world. I lay in bed and pushed my open eyes into my pillowcase, imagining the last moments I would spend with my family. Apart from the total and encompassing terror a panic attack brings, I sensed frustration — this imagined catastrophe was so utterly unfair. Why did this have to happen to me? Surely it wasn’t the actual end? What did I do wrong?
My feeling of powerlessness during these childhood attacks still angers me. Over time, I have trained myself to control these fears. I’ve learned to either ignore reality with self-medication (to my own detriment) or to play so deeply into the needs of the people closest to me that when they eventually hurt me and my fears are confirmed, I call it control.
Control has been high on my list of values for a long time. As soon as I become uncomfortable in a situation, I shrink into the safety of rituals that shape who I am when I am alone with myself. Ask anyone who has an eating disorder or is in recovery from one what goes on in their head, and most will describe a similar tendency. No matter how anxious I get, I know I can find refuge in those rituals—no matter what they cost me.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve fielded a dizzying barrage of information about Covid-19 from various corners of the internet. Apart from generally triggering my anxiety about the end of the world, I feel bullied into a corner by familiar fears and trace traumas.
Here’s what it’s like for someone suffering from ED: On a good day, I can eat three medium-ish meals and snacks and only have nine to 10 negative thoughts about my actions. On a great day, I can have ice cream or fast food and only once hear the growl of the thought that I’m going to balloon to the size of a planet. On a bad day, I can’t sit down for 10 minutes for fear of being called a lazy, fat bitch by the voice in my head — and proving it right.
As I’ve learned to care for myself again and regain some of the actual control my ED faked for so long, I’ve learned to quiet these thoughts a bit. During recovery, I loosened the grip I had on my own throat. I eventually fell into patterns that I concede are sort of relaxed “rules” that still cause me major anxiety when broken. It’s like a soft orthorexia (an obsession with healthy eating) that at once benefits and restricts me.
On a great day, I can have ice cream or fast food and only once hear the growl of the thought that I’m going to balloon to the size of a planet.
Recently, I saw a headline about a staff member at one of the gyms I attend being infected with the novel coronavirus. It felt disgusting of me, really, that my first thought was panic at the idea of not being able to go to the gym — instead of sadness for this person who was infected. When I think about removing this part of my routine from my day, images of my flabby body flash before my eyes like a Spielbergian war scene. In 2015, when I hospitalized myself for a week to try to make some progress with my recovery, I quietly did illegal sit-ups and high knees in my curtained portion of the room. I knew it was stupid, but I felt like the world would end if I didn’t perform for my disorder. Is this what I would be reduced to once Sydney is shut down and we couldn’t leave the house? I wondered.
Other habits I thought I’d conquered have become harder to avoid in isolation: checking my body in every mirror to dissect the minute differences in the size of my stomach, treating Coke Zero as a meal replacement, and trying on clothes I haven’t worn in months and squinting at my reflection like it’s a gore-filled scene in a slasher film.
Even the word “stockpiling” sends shivers down my spine. Having massive amounts of food in the apartment seconds away from the possibility of being devoured is an alarming concept, to say the least. (It’s a funny quirk people with anorexia have: believing they have no self-control when they are literally starving themselves to death.)
What would my quarantine menu consist of? The safe stuff — beans? Bread? No, too many carbs and not enough using those carbs. Those carbs will stick to you like glue. Soup might be okay, but pasta is out—not that I have a choice in that anymore.
I debate with myself, all while knowing that food is energy and my body needs energy to fight off any kind of disease. But that seems less important than staying skinny. I sit after a meal for hours and hours, confined in a hotbox of panic, unable to relieve my guilt with exercise. The fact that I can still consider these fears in times of a literal pandemic is shocking to me and reinforces how deadly my disorder is. It would have you die before defying it. This disorder tells you it’s better to die skinny and sick than survive and be any bigger than you are, which is already too big.
I know that, at heart, this is about something deeper than weight or body shape or what I look like to others, which truly doesn’t worry me that much anymore. It’s about testing the self-worth I have grown over the past five years. It’s about existing with myself at my core and not othering the healthy, beautiful body I have been given. These rules around food and exercise are coping mechanisms that have been working, for the most part, and being forced to alter them feels fucking terrifying. Here, I really have no control.
Yes, I know this all sounds very silly. I am very embarrassed to admit these things because sending them out into the world makes them real, but I am trying not to lie to myself so much anymore. I am incredibly privileged to even have access to food, medicine, and shelter. What this has taught me is that unlearning practices we all hold dear to us is going to be difficult. If I can get through this time without descending into a relapse my ED so badly wants me to return to—and without getting physically sick—I will consider myself incredibly lucky. Many will not have that opportunity.
As a last thought, I think it’s pretty ironic that one of my obsessive-compulsive disorder tics used to be repeatedly washing my hands while counting to 30 seconds. Full circle, right? | https://humanparts.medium.com/how-the-covid-19-pandemic-is-testing-my-eating-disorder-recovery-249ca881cb63 | ['Cara Roe'] | 2020-04-07 17:58:33.075000+00:00 | ['Coronavirus', 'Mental Health', 'Pandemic', 'Self', 'Body'] |
Hamsters and Elderberries | On the 45th anniversary of Monty Python and the Holy Grail
For all the talk about Monty Python and the Holy Grail being the Python troupe’s first “proper” movie — with a narrative and everything, unlike their previous film, the sketch assortment And Now for Something Completely Different — it is still, in large part, a sketch assortment. The film turns 45 this month, and in the intervening years, its bits of business have become every bit as iconic as the boys’ greatest hits from Flying Circus. “Bring out your dead.” The Knights Who Say Ni. The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. And so on. The movie’s anarchic, shambolic nature (and the abruptness of the troupe’s desire to get on with it and get out of a bit) will shock a string of laughs out of the first-time (like-minded) viewer, but past a certain point, as it did this most recent time I sat with it, it becomes simply a warm bowl of comfort food. The film’s world of amiable nonsense looks so much better than the world of frightening nonsense we now occupy.
The filmmaking duo of Python, the two Terrys (Jones and Gilliam), cut their teeth here. Having no idea how to make a film, they taught themselves how to make a film by making this film. It shows, though charmingly. Occasionally there is a striking image that links Holy Grail to Gilliam’s Jabberwocky, Time Bandits and so forth, but largely it’s a slovenly piece of work directorially, though not necessarily in a bad way. The Pythons, after all, were thumbing their noses at the very concept of films, or epic films. As a film artist, Terry Gilliam grew astronomically in the ten years between Holy Grail and Brazil. Terry Jones, bless his soul, did not improve. The Jones-directed Life of Brian, naggingly funny as it often is, is as crude as the crudest parts of Holy Grail, and he continued to prove in such uneven attempts as Erik the Viking that filmmaking was not his strength. (I would say that aside from performing, Jones excelled as a writer and historian, which is certainly nothing to sneeze at.)
None of this is to throw shade at the film as a cult object and cultural going concern (even though the lucrative spin-off musical Spamalot ended up costing the boys 800,000 pounds in legal fees and royalties). We settle into the film’s ramshackle absurdity very quickly, as soon as the credits start being subtitled in increasingly baffling “Swedish.” We all agree to accept the “story” of King Arthur (the perfectly cast Graham Chapman) assembling his knights in search for the Grail, though usually the agreed-upon illusion of this as a story we’re being told doesn’t last long. There’s just too much meta-commentary for that illusion to hold firm. I don’t remember, say, Airplane! even at its most chaotic calling its own structure and credibility as a movie into question the way Holy Grail does. I think it was Danny Peary in Cult Movies 2 who floated the notion that we may as well be watching an asylum escapee who thinks he’s King Arthur, and the assorted goofs and loons accompanying him. Like Life of Brian, this film has little respect for mob illogic; a straight line could be drawn from the “Burn the witch” bit to the easily gulled crowds of followers in Brian.
I’ve seen Holy Grail on cable, on video, on the big screen (possibly a 20th-anniversary showing at the Coolidge Corner), and now on Netflix. All the things I appreciate in it — its restless, reckless imagination and its insistence on using its budgetary limitations for comic effect — are still there. Much as I love Python, I find a little of them goes a long way for me, and my watch beckoned a couple of times here, as it does during all their other feature-length romps. (It’s possible that their cinematic swan song, The Meaning of Life, has held up the best solely by virtue of not having been quoted to death.) Still, Holy Grail has a rumpled, unpretentious quality that ties it to other well-loved British cult films like Withnail & I and much of Edgar Wright’s output. It is the very definition of “right, boys, let’s go putter around these Scottish castles and see what we come back with.” The comedy may be harsh at times — its quantity of (glaringly fake) gore may raise eyebrows among parents who take its PG rating on faith — but its impulse to entertain via what amounts to a clothesline of blackout sketches is reassuringly human. | https://robgonsalves.medium.com/hamsters-and-elderberries-fe93ba77af17 | ['Rob Gonsalves'] | 2020-03-30 21:30:36.980000+00:00 | ['Monty Python', 'Film Reviews'] |
Ocean is not yet a country, but we are all already citizens | Images from Gordon Johnson & Jonny Lindner (Pixabay)
Ocean is not yet a country, but we are all already citizens Jean Dambreville Aug 27·4 min read
(from previous publishing on LinkedIn in November 2019 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ocean-yet-country-we-all-already-citizens-jean-dambreville/)
Participating two years ago to the #SustainableOceanSummit organized by World Ocean Council (WOC), I realized that my feelings about the Ocean were shared by a lot of others all around the world. From my exchanges with others attendees, it’s clear that we share at least two ideas:
Our first collective responsibility is to convince the rest of the world population to change their point of view on this big tank of salted water. We need to speak with a clear and loud united voice to the decisions makers, all around the world that we can’t afford to spoil the ocean opportunities as it has been done elsewhere. We need to cooperate much more between Ocean community beyond these kind of meetings. It would be really a pity if each of us go back home having been impressed by such and such idea or project, but giving it with no support or highlight of our community.
At the beginning of everything, there is Ocean !
We too often speak about oceans as the “last something”:
the last place to explore on Earth, because there is so much we still ignore about the Ocean,
the last unconquered territory on our planet, because as space odyssey, it’s nearly unreachable for common people,
the last place of freedom, because no national regulation applies.
In reality, to change people’s point of of view, we should say that Ocean is the “FIRST” in so many topics:
the FIRST place where life appears about 4 billions years ago,
still the FIRST oxygen producer, and by the way, the FIRST carbon dioxide stowage,
and, I’m not afraid to say it, the FIRST international country because it’s the FIRST place where international laws are prevailing.
Ocean is the FIRST place where humanity has a chance to build a sustainable way of life since we do know in our century what were the mistakes made before on mainlands.
We are all “Oceaners”
We should all consider this quote from the first Saudi Arabian astronaut: “The first day or so we all pointed to our countries. The third or fourth day we were pointing to our continents. By the fifth day, we were aware of only one Earth.” Sultan Al Saoud
In spite of the fact that France has one of the biggest maritim territory, one of our famous sailor, Eric Tabarly, said that: “For the majority of French people, ocean is what they have in their back when they are looking at the beach”. Let’s assume that those words stand for the majority of human beings and not only the French. Of course, because I was born and grown up on an island, I’m not part of this “majority of french people”. But all of the attendees of the #SustainableOceanSummit, just because they are participating to this event, are all not part of the “majority of human beings”. They are all belonging to organizations who consider oceans as a real topic of concern.
I have met during this summit a lot of really wonderful people with very interesting projects. One of the ideas I may suggest to the WOC would be to organize a survey between the attendees of the summit to make them vote for the best idea they’ve came across during this event. That should raise some opportunities to join our forces to promote the bests ones.
Each time one project, linked to Ocean, is a success, the whole ecosystems benefits of it. The challenge is to make quick wins to change the rest of the world minds about opportunities in Ocean.
Engineering the future of Ocean
I was representing at #SustainableOceanSummit the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO). I am the executive director of Ingénieurs Et Scientifiques de France (IESF, the French Society of Engineers and Scientists) which is the French member of this world federation. We are working very closely with WFEO since they are based in Paris, hosted by UNESCO.
IESF and WFEO organisations, are organized around committees and we intend to create (or reborn) an Ocean Committee with our joined forces. Engineers are neither marine biologists nor meteorologists, but they are very used to build the most realistic and acceptable solution in constrained environments. I’m pretty sure that this engineer’s committee will be able to produce ready to launch projects, to help our planet Ocean to be resilient.
Restoring a previous “pure”, “natural” state of the Ocean may already be a risk we can’t afford to spend a lot of efforts on an unreachable target. And even if by chance this is a success, it will only be a starting point. The destination is to organize the place of the ocean in a sustainable cycle of life on our planet. For example, acidification and warming are already killing very extended areas of coral gardens. The problem is more the speed of the changes than the changes themselves (when life appears, Ocean was far more acid and warmer than the worse actual forecast). May be helping nature to face the speed of changes is also a solution (developing resistant coral species in damaged areas to preserve the fish nurseries, helping stressed coral species to colonize new areas which were previously too cold, …). Once again, engineers are not marine biologists and we don’t have the answers to all the questions. But I’m sure that anyone trying to answer with ideology and not with a real scientific studies to rely on, is doing it in a wrong way.
In reality Ocean may be already our nation. We are all citizens.
It’s time for us to join the Oceaners Defense Forces. | https://medium.com/@jean-dambreville/ocean-is-not-yet-a-country-but-we-are-all-already-citizens-a1ac55c08794 | ['Jean Dambreville'] | 2021-08-27 09:39:23.783000+00:00 | ['Society', 'Oceans'] |
Beautiful Creatures; Grotesque Reality: the Shallow World of Narcissism | Photo by Apostolos Vamvouras from Unsplash
Most people are familiar with the myth of Narcissus, an excruciatingly vain and hauntingly beautiful man who fell deeply, irrevocably and hopelessly in love with himself. Less people are aware of Echo: the devoted, nature-loving forest nymph whose unrequited love for Narcissus caused her to wither away into emaciation, until her “lovely features wasted away” and her flesh atrophied, while nothing but a faint echo remained.
According to Ovid’s myth (from his collection, Metamorphoses), Narcissus harshly shunned Echo by snarling, “Hands off! I would rather die than have your hands caress me!”. It was not only Echo who received the brunt of his sharp tongue, but several other forest nymphs too, for he did not believe any of them to be worthy of his desire and affection.
“Alas, this fatal image wins my love”
Nemesis, the goddess of Revenge, sought to punish Narcissus for his ruthless vanity. One day, after hunting, he discovered a silver fountain, where he peered at his alluring reflection. Oblivious to the truth that he was gazing at his own face, he instantaneously fell into a frenzy of love and desire. His affections could never be returned, and out of desperation, he sighed, “Alas, this fatal image wins my love, as I behold it. But I cannot press my arms around the form I see”. Consumed by his self-obsession, he too, withered away, while his prized beauty faded. A flower grew in the exact spot that he perished.
A beautiful and fragile flower, to be admired by others, but incapable of returning love.
‘Narcissus’ is the scientific name for the daffodil. Photo by Brett Jordan from Unsplash
An infatuation with oneself
Although Ovid composed Metamorphoses over two thousand years ago, the intriguing (albeit dramatic) tale of shallow love offers insightful cognizance of the depths of the human psyche, still relevant today. A narcissist is defined by Merriam-Webster as the following: “[one who is] extremely self-centred with an exaggerated sense of self-importance: marked by or characteristic of excessive admiration of or infatuation with oneself.” This word is often casually thrown around to describe people who are overly confident, those who harbour excessive selfie-posting habits, or those who behave as if they are a ‘cut above the rest’.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
However, the actual psychological disorder is known as Narcissistic Personality Disorder, or NPD. NPD includes the inflated sense of self-importance, alongside a lack of empathy, a constant need for admiration, attention and validation, and abnormal fantasies of success and power. Someone with NPD also has no qualms with using and manipulating others for their own benefit. They believe that they are entitled to special treatment and will do whatever it takes, to ensure that their elevated self-image is preserved. This often results in traumatic, superficial and dysfunctional relationships.
Who enchants the narcissist (besides him or herself)?
Although the narcissist may be drawn to talented and successful people (people who will make them look impressive, in society’s eyes), or anyone who will reflect well with their self-image, it is also the kind, gentle and forgiving individuals that magnetise them. According to psychotherapist Karen Arluck, it is those who give them praise or attention, or endlessly forgive them for their abuse, that the narcissist perceives as suitable ‘relationship material’.
The connection between the ‘empath’ and the narcissist
An empathetic person often believes that their love will help or inspire change within the narcissist, and tries to love more profusely, while the narcissist thrives off of the validation and special attention from the ‘empath’. Clinical psychologist Dr Shefali Tsabury maintains that the narcissist will feed off of the empath’s generosity and lack of boundaries.
Like Echo, the empath will often waste away emotionally, and feel drained; their needs are seldom met in this parasitically one-dimensional relationship. The narcissist may merely feel bored or indifferent to this pain, and casually migrate to the next option, or continue to emotionally extort, overpower and dominate the empath. The empath must first acknowledge these issues, before taking the necessary next steps (such as seeking therapy or leaving the relationship altogether). Trauma bonds and codependency may arise from this dysfunctional union, so inner work is often necessary for both parties.
The relationship can become emotionally taxing for the empath. Photo by Odonata Wellnesscenter from Pexels
The sombre reality
Like Narcissus, such a deep sense of self-absorption will wreak havoc on the narcissist, too. Stable, long-term, authentic and deeply loving relationships are not likely to be constructed, and the narcissist’s fragile wounds will be easily triggered, due to their disdain towards criticism, boundaries, judgements and being challenged. They may even enter fits of narcissistic rage (intense anger, when something threatens the narcissist’s self-esteem).
“[They] develop a false sense of superiority as a way to cope with their inner pain” — Dr. Shefali Tsabury
However, there is a crucial fork in the road, in which the conventional narcissist may depart from the mythological Narcissus. While Narcissus was deeply vain, intrinsically arrogant and genuinely believed himself to be superior to all other mortals, a narcissist is actually, deep down, according to Tsabury… the opposite.
A narcissist is usually someone who is deeply insecure, and, according to Tsabury, “Narcissism originates in the child who has not learned to truly value themselves. [They] develop a false sense of superiority as a way to cope with their inner pain”.
Their inner self is wounded and feels unworthy, and the image that they project to the world is merely a flimsy façade. Clinical psychologist Dr Nicole LePera describes narcissism as “protection based on a coping mechanism”. It is “a survival state resulting from severe emotional trauma that manifests as the inability to see another”. Over time, and with adequate therapy and efforts, a narcissist may change — but usually, on their own terms.
Additionally, Tsabury also advises us all to reflect on our own ‘inner narcissists’. I interpret that to mean, the part of you that subscribes to the belief that you are MORE special, important or worthy, than others. It is crucial to heal your own inner wounds that stem from feelings of insecurity and unsafety, which lead you to project a grandiose sense of self, or ignore the needs of those around you.
The rise of narcissism
Ovid’s myth retains relevance due to the reality that narcissism may very well be on the rise, according to psychology professor, Jean Twenge, PhD. Twenge analysed data from 85 studies and noted that there was a substantial increase in narcissistic scores, in college students, from 1982 to 2006, while a follow-up study noted additional increases in these scores throughout the year 2008.
Social media and self(ie) love
So, why are so many more people, well, besotted with themselves? According to Twenge, one reason is because of the Internet. Social media and blogs encourage people to perpetually ‘promote themselves’. A study in 2020 by Computers in Human Behavior (performed on 720 students; American and Lebanese) found a correlation between grandiose narcissism and excessive selfie posting habits, on Instagram and Facebook. Essentially, narcissists are more inclined to create virtual shrines to themselves, in an attempt to draw admiration and attention from their followers. Further data is needed, in a broader cultural context, to bolster these findings.
Photo by Esmee Holdijk on Unsplash
Don’t stress though — posting selfies does NOT make you a narcissist… Self-love, self-care and self-confidence are healthy. But if you have an overly-inflated self-esteem, a sense of heightened personal superiority, a tendency to exploit others for personal gain, excessive confidence and display aggression when your views are challenged… Then you may very well be on the spectrum, to say the least. | https://medium.com/@nicolehinchliff/beautiful-creatures-grotesque-reality-the-shallow-world-of-narcissism-93028d5e3141 | ['Nicole A Hinchliff'] | 2020-12-26 16:17:03.668000+00:00 | ['Dating Advice', 'Dating', 'Mental Health', 'Narcissism', 'Psychology'] |
How to raise £1M in 20 minutes in a record-breaking crowdfund. | Techcrunch announcement of our crowdfund
Following the announcement of our $2M seed round in Techcrunch (which included the fastest ever £1M raised for a health and wellness company in crowdfunding history), in line with our company values around transparency, I wanted to share the reality.
Any truly well-written post would tease the reader all the way to the end making sure that the story builds and culminates in the epic conclusion you were waiting to hear, but instead I’m going to break convention and start right at the end.
The question is: How did we (Heights — a ‘braincare’ company) raise £1.7M ($2M) in 5 days for our seed round.
The answer: We didn’t.
So, by now you’re angry at me for being misled, but I promised to give an honest account of what it’s been like raising a meaningful seed round in 2020 — and the journey really started in December 2019.
In that context — you might well see that it really took us 12 months, not 5 days… but I’ll explain.
But first — I want to make this content valuable for all sorts of readers — ‘time poor’ is the typical audience but I’m not writing this for them — this is for people who want the detail. Either way, I’ll break convention again and do 3 versions.
For the lazy — 1 minute summary.
For the curious — 3 minute summary.
For the serious — probably more like 10 minutes — but I’m hoping it will be as valuable as possible.
So — just scroll to the section that works for you!
BTW: If you can’t be arsed to read this — I share our crowdfunding story on The Crowdfunding Champions Podcast here.
For the lazy:
Well if you’re so lazy you just want to know in one minute how to do this — then you’ve either smashed this before or aren’t going to replicate it so here’s the summary you deserve:
Built and failed a startup called Grabble (key point here is not a first-time founder)
Learned lots of tough lessons (key point — loads of failures & time to reflect)
Built a network over the last 10 years in the startup scene by paying it forward every time I had the opportunity to
Launched a newsletter called “Dawn” over 2 years ago — writing science-based tips on nurturing your mental health
Built a community from that newsletter of people following our journey, caring what we do, and caring about how to improve their wellbeing
Raised a convertible round
Found a lead
Raised a huge chunk before launching crowdfund
Picked Seedrs
Planned properly.
The end.
Co-Founders Joel Freeman and Dan Murray-Serter
For the curious:
So, you’re a little more invested in this story but not quite ready for the full version. That’s cool, I feel you. But you still just get bullet points. Just, you know….more. Because really if you only have 3 minutes to hear this story, you don’t deserve any more than extra bullet points!
As I said above:
Built and failed a startup called Grabble (key point here is not a first-time founder)
Learned lots of tough lessons (key point — loads of failures & time to reflect)
Built a network over the last 10 years in the startup scene by paying it forward every time I had the opportunity to
Launched a newsletter called “Dawn” over 2 years ago — writing science-based tips on nurturing your mental health
Built a community from that newsletter of people following our journey, caring what we do, and caring about how to improve their wellbeing
BUT THEN……
We raised a convertible end of 2019
Pitched well over 500 people this year (about 450 “no”s)
Found lead investor (Rianta Capital) in May with Forward Partners participating, explaining we wanted to do crowdfunding for the remainder of the round
Agreed a ‘first close’ for our round of £750k and managed that by end of July
Spoke to both Crowdcube and Seedrs in August, planned campaign for November for the remainder of the round on the same terms
Used first close cash for hiring
Communicated every week in our newsletter “The Sunday Supplement” that we were crowdfunding so pre-register
1500 people did
We loaded the £750k (and by this point another £150k that was waiting to go into the round once it opened) so that we started on £900k — aka very close to our target
The Smart Supplement by Heights — 20 key nutrients your brain needs to thrive
For The Serious
So the truth is — raising for startups is hard. I’ve built a network over a LONG time by asking people how I can help them, and 99% of the time, not asked for anything in return.
If you learn ONE thing from this article please make it that — if you give and don’t expect to receive, and you are patient and understand where you want your life to go, and are consistent, generous, passionate, and kind — you might well find that one day it starts to click. And on that road?
Expect loads of bumps, in my case, an epic failure, burnout, full-blown mental health problems — the works. But I never stopped caring about other people and helping them if I could — and even with all that…. This round still pretty much took us a year. So anyway, let’s begin.
November 2019
We raised a convertible of £250,000 which we started raising in November 2019 (pre-launch) and closed in January (post-launch). This was going to be double the amount, but in January the government changed the law on “Advanced Assurance” meaning EIS was only guaranteed if you raised your next round within 6 months — and so Rianta Capital (run by New Look Founder Tom Singh) pulled out.
Whilst this was a punch to the stomach at the time, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise — because Rianta ended up tracking us along our journey and becoming our lead investor in a priced round, which is what we needed for crowdfunding to go well….
This is the money we survived on throughout 2020 (plus revenue).
Strategically, my business partner Joel Freeman and I had decided that we would start raising our seed round earlier than we had in the past, giving us more options and opportunities to find a lead.
We knew we wanted to raise up to £2m to give the company the best chance of success (building a startup is hard, building a category is that bit harder!), and we knew that we would be told “no” a lot because of this ambition (in the UK) — so it made sense to start early.
Given the maturity of the US market towards both mental health and nutrition/nutritional supplements — we decided we would raise half the round in the US, half in the UK.
Fortunately — due to building up a pre-launch waitlist through the newsletter we’d been writing for a whole year on what science says is good for your brain (see this week’s and sign up here please), we’d smashed our launch month with over £30k of sales and £0 on marketing.
Sadly though, as February hit, I was wiped out with COVID (hospitalized, etc — a true early adopter!), and that left us with a 1 man team in Feb with Joel desperately trying to manage the business with half the team down. Feb numbers were OK but it wasn’t ideal timing.
USA Meetings 🇺🇸
As a number of the angel investors in our convertible were high profile entrepreneurs who invested after being our first cohort of customers (founders of Planet Organic, Wetransfer, Shazam, Moonpig, etc), they helped us set up some great high profile meetings against a backdrop of this weird sense of a pandemic growing in intensity.
I’ll save you a long story but I ended up confirming (again) that all my meetings were going to happen the night before my flight, amid my wife freaking out that I really shouldn’t be flying and me explaining how important it was — only to land to have those meetings cancel and suggest we “move to zoom”.
So, jet-lagged — I had those investor meetings on zoom, about 5 miles away from people, which could have just as easily happened in London. Consequently — I flew back home Monday, 72 hours of time and money pretty wasted.
Quarantine
Upon coming home, as was suddenly a new law (great timing) I consequently spent 2 weeks in quarantine in my bedroom. Literally. My wife was vigilant and I had meals brought to my door like a dog with a bowl — not even exaggerating!
The next 2 weeks I tried to follow up with all the US investors at night, spending my day back to back trying to pitch Heights, explaining our vision. My business partner Joel and I realised the truly tragic severity of our timing and had a frank conversation together. With just 2 of us at the time, it was clear that 1 would need to focus full time on business ops, including navigating supply chains in a COVID world and hiring, the other on fundraising full time.
So — my bedroom became my pitch palace. I am not exaggerating at all when I said I made over 500 calls over the next 2 months. Almost all of them were a no. Thankfully — Tom Singh and Ben Betancourt at Rianta who had by now been doing ‘due diligence’ on us for quite a few months, had grown fond of us and decided to lead our round — and despite the lack of options, cards on the table or anything really to push back with, we held out for the target we knew in our hearts we would reach.
The Turning Point
We set out to raise £2m in total (including our convertible) for our seed round, because we had a clear plan and vision for what we would do with it. The benefit of not being first-timers meant we had already experienced EXACTLY what happens when you underfund a crucial stage like seed, and we kept reiterating this story every single time an investor pushed back, told us to just raise £1m and have a much lower valuation.
Instead, we decided that if it took another 500 calls, we would set about our target, clinging on to our plan and vision, giving us enough money to execute what we needed to do, and we were only willing to dilute by 20% — so this became a £2m round at £8m pre, which Rianta, who by now were quite impressed (we think) with our consistency, conviction, and commitment, lead. Forward Partners participated too, and that set the ball rolling. Slowly.
Every single other fund, pre-seed, seed, VCT or any other type of fund turned us down — I literally spoke to every single one you’ve heard of and then used this incredible list set up by Phil Wilkinson, and set up a comms plan in my bedroom to go through every single one that wasn’t B2B. That made about 400 — perhaps 300 of which I hadn’t already tried to get in touch with, and cold emailed. A small handful I managed to get on a call.
Whilst this was going on, Joel was successfully growing the business, and the only non-investor related activity I was getting up to until May was hiring — but by May, we had ourselves a little, but brilliant team.
We also (crucially) agreed with our Lead that if we raised £750K (of the £2m) we would be able to do a ‘first close’ aka put the money in the bank. We had got up to about £650k and hit a brick wall, and now I was going around calling people up for £5 — £10k tickets, pretty desperately. We were slowly dragging ourselves over the line. About 100 calls later, we were there, and it was time to get that money in the bank — this took us to the end of July.
Seedrs Vs Crowdcube
The Heights Smart Supplement Bottle
Next it was time to decide how we would complete the round, and pick a crowdfunding partner. We spoke at length to both platforms and in the end the reason we picked Seedrs was their focus on sustainable brands. Whilst it was a fair (and true) part of Crowdcube’s pitch that we were very brand-led and they had a better track record with typical consumer brands — in the hierarchy of things we cared about as a company, being mission-led around sustainability, B Corp values, etc ranked higher and Seedrs ultimately played that card to perfection.
Shortly after quite a long and intense set of conversations with both parties (whose sales teams were incredibly charming, made us feel wanted and refreshingly competitive), they ended up merging anyway so next time that might well be some time saved!
Prep for the campaign
I appreciate it’s taken almost 2000 words to get to the point you care about. Soz. Well — by this point we had £750,000 already lined up as part of the raise, and agreed a date (mid-November) to launch the campaign, and set a ‘target fundraise’ of £1m (even though we could raise up to £1.7M in total), so the plan was to focus on building hype, triggering FOMO and then getting over the line with ‘overfunding’ as quickly as possible.
As such we set about pre-planning investors to join the round through pre-registration from September, meaning that for 2 whole months we teased our deck, talked about the round, our vision, and the campaign to any investors we knew might be interested. I also used my own social channels consistently (particularly Instagram stories and Twitter) to say we would be fundraising and let us know if you would be interested — and managed to get a list of about 200 email addresses interested to learn more simply by repeating the message.
There were 3 core components to our fundraise (other than the overly meticulous due diligence by Seedrs which became pretty boring/frustrating but at least I now know that any statement I ever see anyone make on a Crowdfunding platform has probably had a blacklight for evidence shone on it!
Almost Live
The 3 things we needed were:
A great deck A decent video A project plan
A Great Deck
Our beautiful deck (if I say so myself)!
Not to toot our own horn, but our deck really is great. A labour of love from my Co-Founder Joel. He wrote all about it here (you can also see the deck here).
He actively went out of his way to consistently find negative feedback. There was a round of feedback we got at one point where everyone said it was great, until one person (our head of product), essentially said it was great for other brands, but not good enough for us. This was just the kind of feedback we seek in the team, and it took another week of hard work, clarifying our message around ‘braincare’ and thoughtful positioning to really crystallize our vision.
Advice for all founders — doing a deck is a GREAT way to refresh your vision, your ideals, your values, where you’re going and how it’s going. It’s also an amazing opportunity to solicit feedback and I strongly suggest you do what Joel did — keep asking until someone shits all over it, so you know you can do better!
You can see our deck here.
Video
A quality video makes a big difference
For the video — we used a brilliant agency called Pangea TV (you can email [email protected]) who will happily talk your ear off about the number of times they’ve done a crowdfunding video, how reliable they are, how it’s almost always the same, and how they will work tirelessly until you’re happy. Even though it sounded like one big sales pitch — we decided to choose him and they absolutely delivered on all promises — it was a 10/10 experience.
We did almost pick another agency at double the price and production value — but to be honest, we had an inkling our campaign would go well and I don't like to spend silly money if not necessary so their pitch was the fairest and most convincing.
You can see our video here.
A project plan
Fail to plan…. plan to fail!
For this, I’ve heard of lots of great companies/services that will manage the entire thing for you — but call us old fashioned, we love to learn how to do new things at Heights so instead, I opted to work with a lady called Hannah Forbes at the Funding Crowd.
She worked with me on an hourly rate and helped me create a plan leading up to both our private and our public launch, and beyond (most of which we never ended up having to use, as we opened and closed the round so fast).
It reminds me of one of my favourite quotes on planning: “The thing about planning is this. The plans? Always useless. But the planning? Invaluable”.
Couldn’t agree more.
You can see our plan here (and if it’s helpful make a copy and use the template yourself)
Pre Launch Registration
Seedrs gave us a great account manager (Clement) and integrated on our slack to make sure we had constant communication with them to leverage their expertise during the campaign. It was finally time to open ‘pre-launch registration’ which we did, initially for one week, but extended it into 2.
We sent an email to our database (at the time about 20k) announcing they could pre-register, and Seedrs did the same to theirs. By the time we closed pre-registration we had about 1,600 people signed up ready to invest in Heights when it went live.
Pre Launch Goes Live
So, this is the bit you’ve been waiting for.
Whilst lining up the email ready to go to our pre-registered investors, this was now the moment to load up the investors that had already invested in our seed round, onto Seedrs.
The thing is — lots of crowdfunds are ‘convertible notes’ into future rounds — but because we had already raised a large part (£750k — which actually ended up being £900k by launch day) of the money, privately, behind the scenes — we were able to include all of that in the round and reflect it fairly and legally — because everyone was getting the same share price, and the same deal.
And so — if you’ve read to this point, you’ve earned the detail here — that £900k was already in, we weren’t allowed to spend it (so thank goodness we had revenue) and we loaded it on to Seedrs (manually by me which was an admin nightmare but needed to be done), and by the time the campaign went live — the 1600 people who saw the email, clicked on to Seedrs and landed on the page could see:
That it was already at 90% funded of our target The investors who were already in were incredibly credible (some of the top entrepreneurs in Europe) That if they didn’t act fast, they would miss out.
20 minutes later — the £1M mark was officially reached!
Getting us over the line
We knew that we didn’t really want to push into the public launch for very long (crowdfunding is distracting though great for brand awareness — but the longer it goes on, the more questions you have to ask and ultimately, the more you repeat yourself. It starts to become more time consuming and stops you from executing the business.
We decided to say we were going to ‘overfund to £1.5M’ even though we knew we could go up to £1.7 — and just by saying that, out of nowhere, Chris Smalling (England and ex-Manchester United footballer) got in touch. We explained how fast the round was moving and got a call within 2 days. After one zoom, he declared he wanted to put in £150k, and suddenly we were over the £1.5M.
Suddenly, Seedrs were worried the public would never get a chance to invest (which didn’t look good for them either) so we moved the ‘Live to Public’ deal up a few days and sent that out on Monday (day 5) — and just like that, by the end of the day — the whole amount was taken.
Hype as a strategy
If you’ve learned one thing from this article — hopefully it’s that the success of our campaign came down to a few key factors:
Raise at least 50% of your “target” amount in advance (in our case, this ended up being 90%, but we set a lower target and overfunding to the full amount — so be tactical! Make sure they know that you will crowdfund for the rest but this is all part of the strategy. We also didn’t take any tickets over £5K in the crowdfund (apart from Chris Smalling, but rules are made to be broken) — so if you wanted to invest meaningfully, you had to do it privately before. Don’t be shy. I kept talking about the fact we were going to crowdfund for weeks on end (on my own channels, obviously this wasn’t appropriate chat for ‘braincare’ on our main channels) — but if anyone expects you NOT to shout about your own startup on your social media — they can unfollow! Make noise! Once we hit the £1M in 20 minutes — I not only made us all sing and dance about it, but I verified from Seedrs that this was in fact record-breakingly fast (and it was). Suddenly the people who were rolling their eyes at your pathetic desperation have turned into the people waking up and realising that they are missing the boat. I was flooded with messages of people who could have pre-registered at any time, but they chose to ignore my 100 posts saying so. Now they wanted in — and they had to wait til we opened to the public! Create clear materials that nail your brand messaging so you don't get many questions. Create some rules. We don't send our financials out to anyone — and when anyone said ‘I wouldn’t invest without this’, we said “OK no problem thanks anyway”. Guess what — most of them invested. Know why? FOMO. When people asked too many questions on the forum — we set up one AMA and invited people to it for an hour (that’s all we ended up having to do). Hold back news to announce during the campaign. In the end — we didn’t need to do any of that, but we had some we could have. In fact, we grew so fast leading up to the round that we doubled in size (and what better investment story is there than success).
To that point — if you want to see what all the fuss is about with Heights… well, you cant. We’re now sold out (only serving existing customers) and operating a waiting list so unless you put your name on it, you won't be getting our premium braincare packages through the letterbox in 2021 either.
The hype is real, and so is the FOMO.
If this post has actually helped or inspired you — take it from me, there’s no better way on earth to say thanks than by trying our product and becoming a customer! REAL TALK. 😍
www.yourheights.com
Can’t do that? Well follow us @yourheights and me @danmurrayserter on twitter and instagram at least then!
Thanks so much for reading this mammoth essay. The point was to try and answer as many of the questions I’ve received in my DMs about how we did it but also to say this.
Startups are F*CKING hard. I have one of Europe’s top business podcasts (Secret Leaders), have a decent network I’ve built up over years (from helping people and paying it forward), and yet, 2020 — we almost died. And we heard ‘no’ hundreds of times. And in the end — £1.7M in 5 days was more like in 12 months, with a ton of hard work and hustle behind it. All worth it.
So — don’t believe everything you read, but if you’re building something meaningful that you’re passionate about, and you’re willing to be patient, solicit honest feedback, and turn up every day with the same enthusiasm like I did in my bedroom/office in quarantine after endless rejections and still talk about the vision for your company & how you need to exist for your customers — well, you might stand a chance too!
Good luck.
PS: Remember the truth behind the glossy scenes…. | https://medium.com/@danmurrayserter/how-to-raise-1m-in-20-minutes-in-a-record-breaking-crowdfund-1c6289f3ff2d | ['Dan Murray-Serter'] | 2021-01-29 10:21:56.570000+00:00 | ['Startup Lessons', 'Funding', 'Crowdfunding', 'Mental Health', 'Entrepreneurship'] |
Spring Boot With GraphQL: What The Cool Kids Are Doing | Written By Keyhole Software Software Consultant Matt McCandless June 21, 2021.
This article introduces you to Spring Boot with GraphQL. We’ll walk through a simple beer app to show you what GraphQL can do.
So you have built this really sweet API with all the gets , puts , and deletes you can think of. Your baby is just beautiful the way it is, right? Well, maybe developer Joe thinks your baby is fat.
WHAT?!
The RESTful calls you have are bringing back way too much information. In other scenarios, the calls don’t do enough, and your baby is left crying because it needs more to play with.
Well, this is where the power of GraphQL comes in.
Graph-What?
The new kid on the block in querying APIs is called GraphQL. Okay, but what is it? Well, the definition pulled directly from the GraphQL site is:
“GraphQL is a query language for APIs and a runtime for fulfilling those queries with your existing data. GraphQL provides a complete and understandable description of the data in your API, gives clients the power to ask for exactly what they need and nothing more, makes it easier to evolve APIs over time, and enables powerful developer tools.”
Uh-huh. Great. But what is it?
GraphQL is a tool that allows you to get what you want and only what you want from your existing API. You can eliminate the things you don’t need or care about in implementation. It can also offer a one place, one call to join what would otherwise be multiple REST calls to get the same information. GraphQL can significantly speed up performance and simplify coding.
Here is a video introduction to GraphQL, as well as some more information on why it’s cool and what you can do with it.
Not In This Article
This article is not going to go into an in-depth explanation about Spring Boot (nor Spring Boot’s complete awesomeness). We will also avoid the arguments about development usage for and against it versus things like NodeJS or .NET.
That said, this article does assume that you are at least familiar with Spring Boot and Java already. It is more about how you can be a part of the “cool” crowd and implement GraphQL in your Java project.
Let’s Doll Up Your GraphQL Baby with Spring Boot
First things first, you must either have an existing API built into Spring Boot, or you can conveniently use the Beer App provided at the end of this article.
Next, you will need to add these into your pom if not already there.
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-actuator</artifactId>
</dependency>
<!-- GraphQL -->
<dependency>
<groupId>com.graphql-java-kickstart</groupId>
<artifactId>graphql-spring-boot-starter</artifactId>
<version>7.0.1</version>
</dependency>
<!-- to embed GraphiQL tool -->
<dependency>
<groupId>com.graphql-java-kickstart</groupId>
<artifactId>graphiql-spring-boot-starter</artifactId>
<version>7.0.1</version>
<scope>runtime</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.postgresql</groupId>
<artifactId>postgresql</artifactId>
<scope>runtime</scope>
</dependency>
Next, in your application.properties file add the following:
graphql.servlet.mapping=/graphql
graphql.servlet.enabled=true
graphql.servlet.exception-handlers-enabled= true
graphql.servlet.contextSetting= PER_REQUEST_WITH_INSTRUMENTATION
# GraphiQL (not GraphQL!)
graphiql.mapping= /graphiql
graphiql.endpoint.graphql= /graphql
graphiql.static.basePath= /
graphiql.enabled= true
graphiql.pageTitle= GraphiQL
graphiql.props.resources.defaultQuery= schema.graphqls
graphiql.props.variables.editorTheme= "solarized light"
These settings tell GraphQL where everything is set up. GraphiQL is a graphical interface that you can use to test out your GraphQL queries.
This is an important feature that will help you get familiar with using GraphiQL (not a typo!). Keep in mind that if you are using an existing API, you will need to add exceptions to your security filtering rules or log in first
Here is more information on how to use GraphiQL.
Next, let’s look at the mutators and query classes. A mutation is something that will change data. So this is your creating, updating, or deleting of data. The query classes are just that: methods that query the database or "get" data.
EntityMutationResolver.java:
@Component
public class EntityMutationResolver implements GraphQLMutationResolver {
private final BrewerService brewerService;
private final BeerService beerService;
/**
* Constructor that takes instances of injected service bean for all entities
*
*
*
*/
public EntityMutationResolver( BrewerService brewerService,
BeerService beerService) {
this.brewerService = brewerService;
this.beerService = beerService;
}
/**
* Adds a Brewer entity
*
*
*
*
*/
public Brewer addBrewer(String name) throws Exception {
Brewer brewer = new Brewer(name);
return brewerService.save(brewer);
} public class EntityMutationResolver implements GraphQLMutationResolver {private final BrewerService brewerService;private final BeerService beerService;/*** Constructor that takes instances of injected service bean for all entities @param brewerService An instance of Spring managed BrewerService bean @param beerService An instance of Spring managed BeerService bean*/public EntityMutationResolver( BrewerService brewerService,BeerService beerService) {this.brewerService = brewerService;this.beerService = beerService;/*** Adds a Brewer entity @param name Name of the Brewer @return An instance of Brewer if created successfully @throws Exception If any occurred*/public Brewer addBrewer(String name) throws Exception {Brewer brewer = new Brewer(name);return brewerService.save(brewer);
The key here is that it implements GraphQLMutationResolver .
Here, we define the methods that are described in the GraphQL schema. We’ll get to that more later.
EntityQueryResolver.java:
@Component
public class EntityQueryResolver implements GraphQLQueryResolver {
private final BrewerService brewerService;
private final BeerService beerService;
/**
* Constructor that takes instances of injected service bean for all entities
*
*
*
*/
public EntityQueryResolver(BrewerService brewerService,
BeerService beerService) {
this.brewerService = brewerService;
this.beerService = beerService;
}
/**
* Returns a Brewer for the given id
*
*
*
*/
public Brewer getBrewerById(Long id) {
try {
Optional<Brewer> brewer = brewerService.findOne(id);
if (brewer.isPresent()) {
brewer.get().getbeers();
return brewer.get();
}
} catch (Exception e) {
// TODO: handle exception
}
return null;
} public class EntityQueryResolver implements GraphQLQueryResolver {private final BrewerService brewerService;private final BeerService beerService;/*** Constructor that takes instances of injected service bean for all entities @param brewerService An instance of Spring managed BrewerService bean @param beerService An instance of Spring managed BeerService bean*/public EntityQueryResolver(BrewerService brewerService,BeerService beerService) {this.brewerService = brewerService;this.beerService = beerService;/*** Returns a Brewer for the given id @param id Primary key of the Brewer @return An instance of Brewer*/public Brewer getBrewerById(Long id) {try {Optional brewer = brewerService.findOne(id);if (brewer.isPresent()) {brewer.get().getbeers();return brewer.get();} catch (Exception e) {// TODO: handle exceptionreturn null;
Here again, this class implements GraphQLQueryResolver , which allows GraphQL schema to resolve these methods. Remember that these are Get type methods returning data and not changing it.
GraphQL Schema
Now, it’s time to configure GraphQL to know what methods and models are available. We do this by adding a schema.graphqls file at the project’s root in the resources folder. It’s in the same place as the application.properties file.
Below is the content we need:
type Brewer {
id: ID!
name: String!
beers: [Beer]!
}
type Beer {
id: ID!
title: String!
brewer: Brewer!
} # Mutation: to add entities
type Mutation {
addBrewer(name: String!): Brewer!
addBeer(title: String!, brewerId:Int!): Beer!
}
# The Root Query for the application
type Query {
brewerById(id:Int): Brewer
beerById(id:Int): Beer
getAllBeers: [Beer]
}
Let’s break this down briefly:
The types are the "models" for the objects.
are the "models" for the objects. The mutation is the data changing methods.
is the data changing methods. The query is the definition of methods available to pull data.
is the definition of methods available to pull data. The exclamation point means the value cannot be empty.
Brackets point to arrays. (Most developers will see this as straightforward.)
Go in and Run the Spring Boot Application with GraphQL
If you have problems, it’s probably due to mismatching between the resolvers and the schema file. In a browser, go to localhost:8080/graphiql , and it should show you something like this:
Congratulations! You did it. Now you are on your way to GraphQL greatness!
So this output is simply telling you what is available on your GraphQL. Remove what is there, and write these:
mutation addBrewery {
addBrewer(name:"Leinenkugel") {
id
name
}
} mutation addBrewsky {
addBeer(title:"Summer Shandy", brewerId:1) {
id
title
}
} query allBreweries {
getAllBeers {
id
title
brewer {
id
name
}
}
}
The mutation word tells you what your GraphQL is going to do. Then, the addBrewery is whatever you want it to be.
mutation addBrewery {
addBrewer(name:"Leinenkugel") {
id
name
}
}
The addBrewer is the actual method that you are going to be calling. You pass fields inside the brackets.
Hint: the GraphiQL tool tells you what is available, what it is expecting, and the available fields for return. You must fill in what you want to be returned, or it will complain.
mutation addBrewery {
addBrewer(name:"Leinenkugel") {
id
name
}
}
The results are JSON:
{
"data": {
"addBrewer": {
"id": "1552",
"name": "Leinenkugel"
}
}
}
A Few Advantages of Spring Boot with GraphQL
Just think of it in this way: your API has a table return that typically returns 100 fields. Not efficient!
With GraphQL, you can specify that you only want a handful of fields. It will adjust the query to only request and return the fields you are looking for.
This also allows you to make simpler CRUD functions that only return everything but let GraphQL and the request define what you want from that implementation.
Combining REST calls; although no example is given here, you can combine multiple requests into a simplified request limiting the number of requests that a requester has to make to your API.
Conclusion
Although this article is not a complete discussion of what you can accomplish with GraphQL, it gives you a rough look at it with respect to Spring Boot. It will ultimately be a game-changer for many developers who want to stay at the top of their game.
If you’ve found yourself intrigued with Spring Boot with GraphQL and would like to learn more, here is a course on the fundamentals of GraphQL that provides a more in-depth introduction to this query language.
Please feel free to post any questions or examples where you have used this. I’m looking forward to using this in the near future!
Resources:
https://gitlab.com/mmccandless/boot-graphql | https://medium.com/@keyholesoftware/spring-boot-with-graphql-what-the-cool-kids-are-doing-fb83e0cdf8b6 | ['Keyhole Software'] | 2021-07-09 20:18:10.298000+00:00 | ['Graphql Vs Rest', 'GraphQL', 'Spring Boot', 'API', 'Json'] |
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT | Jose S. Azcona Bocock
This is the title of a famous work by F. Dostoevsky, a 19th century Russian writer. In it, a murderer is so anguished by remorse that the strongest punishment is the product of his own conscience, and for him being tried and judicially punished becomes a release from his moral burden.
This is a very psychologically instructive novel. However, an organized society cannot rely on the conscience of the people as an agent of punishment for crime. A punishment system is required that is proportionate in intensity and duration to the offense.
I emphasize the word punishment, and not “rehabilitation.” Society has an interest in the rehabilitation of offenders, but this interest diminishes as the intensity of the crime increases, in the same way that its interest in punishing it increases. For this reason, there must be differences in the prison system for different types of crime.
Other systems establish prisons with maximum, medium or low security. This designation is understandable in accordance with the risk of escapes or riots, but also coincides with the greater emphasis given to rehabilitation (low security) or punishment (high security).
In order to fulfill these different purposes, it is necessary to create prisons of different types. In particular, the establishment of a high security prison focused on the punishment of serious crimes is urgent. This center should have several purposes: isolate violent and/or organized criminals from society, not expose the normal prison population to such elements, and inspire a severe fear of punishment among potential criminals.
This center must be located as far as possible from communication with normal society. Whether this is achieved by means of an isolated geographic location or another system is debatable. What is evident is that the more isolated the internal population is from visitors, the media, etc., this will help reduce their profile and harmful contact with society.
The normal prison population (who is there for non-violent crimes, or others without a link to organized crime) should not be subjected to the bad influence and brutality of these people. Criminal structures grow and solidify in prison, where they absorb individuals without any natural inclination to be part of them.
The fear of punishment is a crime prevention weapon. The regime in the high security prison must be militarized, austere, classless, permanent, and forcing the individuals to work to earn a living. By restricting external access and avoiding the purchase of privileges for money, prohibiting exits for “medical” or other similar reasons, a severe and unpleasant regime can be achieved within the framework of justice, equity, and order.
The resources required to achieve these objectives may seem excessive. However, the social cost of having prisons that are the hotbed of more crime and that do not inspire due respect is much higher than any potential expenditure in the building of an authentic Maximum-Security Prison.
Society cannot rely on human conscience as the only weapon against illegality. It is necessary that the needed coercive resources are available to guarantee justice, peace, and order to all citizens.
(2001, LT) | https://medium.com/@josesazcona/crime-and-punishment-71720bd3943e | ['Jose S Azcona'] | 2020-12-23 21:46:56.631000+00:00 | ['Honduras', 'Articles', 'Jose Azcona', 'Crime', 'Punishment'] |
The Difference Between the Top Five Cryptocurrencies | “four round silver-colored and gold-colored Bitcoins” by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
Over the past year, Bitcoin has become one of the biggest buzzwords in tech and business, but Bitcoin alone is just the tip of the cryptocurrency iceberg. There are hundreds of different cryptocurrencies, and each cryptocurrency has its own spin on the blockchain technology and serves a unique function.
The purpose of this article is to briefly explain the basic history and purpose of the top five currencies on CoinMarketCap at time of writing.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin was the first decentralized peer-to-peer payment network and was first created in 2009 after the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto first published his white paper proposing the digital currency.
It’s meant to be used by anyone as a replacement for traditional currency, but in the past nine years since it was created, an increasing amount of users see Bitcoin as more of an investment asset rather than a cash replacement, due to the possible earnings that come if the price of Bitcoin increases.
Ethereum
Ethereum was released in 2015 and was created by Vitalik Buterin, Gavin Wood, and Joseph Lubin. Rather than a just a cash replacement, Ethereum is primarily a platform that allows developers to create peer-to-peer contracts and distributed applications, or dapps. Dapps allow things like digital rights management, crowdfunding, online gambling, and financial exchanges to take place on the blockchain.
The actual cryptocurrency, ether, is used to facilitate and monetize the work of the the Ethereum platform, so people can use it to either create or join smart contracts.
XRP
Ripple Labs launched Ripple in 2012 in order to allow financial institutions to send money and other assets across borders easily, quickly, and cheaply. Created for both businesses and consumers, banks use the Ripple software to transfer money between various foreign currencies.
It isn’t technically blockchain technology, and has much more control from a middle man than other cryptocurrencies, but that hasn’t stopped Ripple from becoming one of the top coins traded on crypto markets. The actual currency is called XRP and is used to allow consumers to use any of the Ripple payment products.
Bitcoin Cash
Bitcoin Cash is a hard fork of Bitcoin, which means that it was originally created from the Bitcoin ledger. Due to scalability and fee problems with Bitcoin, developers made changes to the Bitcoin blockchain that would run concurrently with the bitcoin ledger after August of 2017, and called it Bitcoin Cash.
It increased the blocksize (or number of transactions that can be processed on the blockchain) from 1 MB to 8 MB, and doesn’t use the SegWit protocol to process transactions (an extra layer to the Bitcoin network that allows transactions to be made faster). Bitcoin Cash, like the name suggests, is meant to be used for smaller, everyday transactions.
EOS
Released in January of 2018, EOS is the newest of the top five cryptocurrencies. The original authors, Dan Larimer and Brendan Blumer, created the currency to allow app developers and users to use the EOS.IO platform to develop, host, and execute decentralized applications (dapps), similar to Ethereum. They’ve focused on offering services like cloud storage, server hosting, and user authentication.
EOS has a unique economy, where users simply need to own the tokens rather than spend them to take advantage of network resources. EOS concentrates their effort of solving common blockchain problems such as speed, scalability, and flexibility.
Conclusion
Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Bitcoin Cash, and EOS all offer unique ways to utilize cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. If you’re considering investing in any type of cryptocurrency, it’s vital to understand the purpose of the currency and how the token is used within the network. Even if you aren’t planning on investing in a currency, a basic knowledge of the top tokens will help you have a better understanding of the crypto markets.
Disclaimer: Buying cryptocurrencies is not appropriate for everybody. Cryptocurrencies are not regulated. They are not backed by governments or central banks. Cryptocurrencies are technology based. You will not benefit from protections available to clients receiving regulated investment services from licensed brokers.
Neuryx Club
Cryptocurrency investment is an exciting world of opportunity, growth, and potential, and represents the future. Entering the cryptosphere is as much about learning as it is investing, and the important thing is not to invest more, but to invest smarter.
Neuryx Club is an AI-powered crypto trading assistant that offers exclusive analytics and advanced trading tools to help you stay on top of your crypto game and trade smarter. | https://medium.com/neuryx/the-difference-between-the-top-five-cryptocurrencies-9e8503cb9e8b | ['Neuryx Club Support'] | 2018-10-30 16:02:38.443000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin'] |
How to reduce your cost of capital with R&D finance | “The WACC is the price that a business is expected to pay on average to finance its assets to everyone that has a security, be it debt or equity. In short, it’s the average cost of the capital you raise.”.
Your cost of capital under equity finance
Photo by Chris Liverani on Unsplash
When equity funding is the only type of finance available to a company, the WACC will rely solely on the valuation of the business. This means that the less proof of market viability the company has, the more expensive the capital will be. A seed round at a $1,000,000 valuation will have a founder part with 10% of equity for a $100,000 cash injection. Given that the cost of capital reflects the current market price of stock in the company, if the company is valued at $2,000,000 one year later, the cost of the funding received in the earlier round has effectively increased by 100%. This reflects the risk of the early investor but it’s not great news for the founder who has worked diligently to grow the company and cannot make use of 10% of their company’s value anymore.
The alternative here would be debt finance, but most often companies who have few assets or are pre-revenue or low revenue do not have access to debt, as most lenders will want a safe bet. An innovation stands out in this space for companies with a high degree of innovation: R&D finance.
With an R&E loan, a company with minimal assets that is pre-profit or even pre-revenue can still access debt finance by using future government payments from HMRC for the R&D tax credit as security.
What does R&D finance mean for your WACC?
Photo by Michael Longmire on Unsplash
Given how expensive equity finance is at the start of a company’s journey, it makes sense for the company to take on debt to optimize its cost of capital.
The best way to explain the difference it makes is through an example.
You have a company that is valued at $10,000,000 pre-money at the beginning of the year, and by the end of the year reaches a $15,000,000 valuation. At the beginning of the year, you decide that your funding needs will be $1,000,000 for the year, to cover your runway and ensure you hit your targets. You can either raise the whole round through equity, or you can raise $500,000 through an equity raise where you sell with 5% and the other $500,000 through an R&D tax credit loan you are eligible for at 1.2% interest and a 3.5% facility fee.
If your company goes the traditional route of raising $1,000,000 via equity the total cost of capital as measured by the end of the year will be $500,000. If you choose to mix in the available debt, the company’s cost of capital will be $250,000 for the equity component and $89,500 for the R&D debt, with a total of $339,000.
If the company’s valuation goes up the year after that, the debt funding will have improved in relative cost while the equity gets relatively more expensive as time goes on. At the end of the year in question, if the company takes on the SR&ED facility and complements it with the equity sale, its WACC is reduced by 32% as compared o a full equity round, saving the company $161,000 in value.
In conclusion, for a company that is on a steady growth trajectory, it makes sense to use available debt smartly to optimize its WACC and avoid further erosion of the founders’ equity position.
If you’re curious if you can use SR&ED finance to lower your cost of capital and what this could look like for your company, we’re always happy to have a chat and see if we can help. Chat to us about reducing your WACC. | https://medium.com/fundsquire/how-to-reduce-your-cost-of-capital-with-r-d-finance-13c125729cfa | ['Alex Kepka'] | 2020-01-10 14:13:22.334000+00:00 | ['Fundraising', 'Startup', 'Finance', 'Venture Capital', 'Scaleup'] |
PySpark + MySQL Tutorial | PySpark + MySQL Tutorial
This post is meant as a short tutorial on how to set up PySpark to access a MySQL database and run a quick machine learning algorithm with it. Both PySpark and MySQL are locally installed onto a computer running Kubuntu 20.04 in this example, so this can be done without any external resources.
Requirements
Installing MySQL onto a Linux machine is fairly quick thanks to the apt package manager with sudo apt install mysql-server . Once it’s installed, you can run sudo mysql in a terminal to access MySQL from the command line:
Screenshot of the MySQL prompt in a console window.
For PySpark, just running pip install pyspark will install Spark as well as the Python interface. For this example, I’m also using mysql-connector-python and pandas to transfer the data from CSV files into the MySQL database. Spark can load CSV files directly, but that won’t be used for the sake of this example.
Finally, we need the Java drivers that will let Spark connect to MySQL. I didn’t see a good way to install them through apt , so I downloaded the driver from the MySQL website and installed it manually. You may need the location of the driver file later on, depending on where it was installed, so finding it may be necessary. On Kubuntu, the driver file was installed to “/usr/share/java/”.
The data that I’m using is the wine quality dataset from the UCI machine learning repository. It’s not especially large, with only around 6500 examples total, but it’s clean and easy to use for this example. There are a few possible ways to use it for machine learning or other predictive purposes, but I’m going to focus on predicting whether the wine in question is red or white.
Writing Data to MySQL
The first step is to read in the data. The only things worth noting here are that the files are semicolon-delimited, and we need to create the column for whether a wine is white or red ourselves:
First and last five rows of the data, including the new “is_red” column, as they appear in a dataframe.
MySQL is similarly straightforward as you just set up the new database and an appropriate table. You will need to ensure that your user has privileges to edit the table, though; if you need to change privileges, that will have to be done from the MySQL prompt.
And then load the data. MySQL can load multiple rows into a table at once if the contents of each row are contained within parentheses and comma-delimited, which a simple str.join() can do. Then upload into the database, using FLUSH TABLES to actually update the table with the rows (otherwise the changes are merely staged and would eventually be discarded once the connection is closed).
Accessing MySQL with PySpark
Starting a Spark session from Python is fairly straightforward. Again, I had to specify the location of the MySQL Java driver, which is the only subtlety that I found. Loading the table afterward is similarly simple, despite the number of options that need to be specified, though you’ll need the port number that MySQL is on when loading the data from the database (the default port is 3306).
If you’re loading data into Spark from a file, you’ll probably want to specify a schema to avoid making Spark infer it. For a MySQL database, however, that’s not necessary since it has its own schema and Spark can translate it.
Training the Model
Finally, training the model. As always, split the train and test data first, then define the target and predictor variables. Specifying the model can be done a few ways, including the ability to use an R-like formula to specify the model. Here I’ll use the VectorAssembler , which basically just concatenates all the features into a single list:
Then a logistic regression model can be trained on the data, and we can get the predictions that the model makes for the test data.
PySpark also has a Pipeline class, which can intelligently connect up all of the separate steps into a single operation, if you prefer:
Regardless, evaluating the model is necessary. Spark seems a little limited in the native options for evaluating models — the BinaryClassificationEvaluator below only seems to support area under the curve for ROC (default) or the precision-recall curve.
Note that the logistic regression model will actually return three columns of prediction data:
rawPrediction depends on the model used, but here refers to the value of the linear part of the logistic regression model before being transformed
depends on the model used, but here refers to the value of the linear part of the logistic regression model before being transformed probability is an array of the actual probabilities for each class
is an array of the actual probabilities for each class prediction is the actual class prediction
You can use the toPandas() method to return the prediction data as a pandas dataframe, so other metrics are possible to calculate with either pandas or numpy .
Pandas version of PySpark’s prediction columns.
Finally, if you want to look at an overview of Spark’s activity during the session, you can open a browser tab to localhost:4040 and see an overview of it:
SparkUI after running the above code.
So that is a quick, not-too-into-the-weeds overview connecting MySQL to PySpark and fitting a logistic regression model. Obviously, there is much more power in both tools, but this will hopefully provide a window into your own work. | https://towardsdatascience.com/pyspark-mysql-tutorial-fa3f7c26dc7 | ['Gregory Janesch'] | 2020-12-13 04:37:14.021000+00:00 | ['MySQL', 'Pyspark', 'Python', 'Linux', 'Data Science'] |
Jakie jest najzimniejsze miejsce zamieszkane przez ludzi? | Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more
Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore | https://medium.com/lukasz-laniecki-po-polsku/jakie-jest-najzimniejsze-miejsce-zamieszkane-przez-ludzi-7b2058d3bce5 | ['Lukasz Laniecki'] | 2020-12-15 18:44:48.397000+00:00 | ['Earth', 'Weather', 'World', 'Climate', 'Winter'] |
The Vicious Circle of Mediocre Work | 1. Identify your quadrants on how you spend time
Stephen Covey famous quadrants of busyness illustrate the problem.
Most of us think we’re working on urgent and important stuff. The irony is that urgent often doesn’t equate to important at all. Urgent needs to be done, but important is where you can have impact. Not surprisingly…
What’s important to someone else often ends up feeling urgent to you.
I’d argue that urgency is the number one reason passionate people get stuck in mediocrity. But it depends on the type of urgency. A limited amount of urgency can be a great source of inspiration. It can help us prioritize, be focused, and get stuff done. But once urgency becomes a default state in how you, your team, or your company operates, it inadvertently becomes a catalyst for mediocre work.
Too much mediocre work, too many sacrifices, and a continuous lack of pride doesn’t just kill passion and create a culture of mediocrity. It makes people quit.
So…
What are you excited about?
What are you excited about? Chances are it’s not what you spend your lion’s share of time working on. We all have responsibilities and even if you’re at a startup — living the dream — and super excited about shipping your world changing idea, you probably still need to write that damn investors report from time to time.
That’s probably ok. A 100% focus on one single task is not just an illusion, but it can actually severely limit your ability to stay flexible and improve your ideas along the way.
But there is a large body of research that shows that people who find ways to do what they love, excel in how they contribute, grow, and ultimately succeed.
We’ve heard that story a couple of times didn’t we?
But while the do-what-you-love mantra has gotten so much attention lately, the necessary sacrifice to get there didn’t.
2. Regaining focus
Staying focused is not easy. I’m terrible at it, not just because I have severe ADHD, but because I easily get excited about new ideas.
The struggle of passion, is a struggle of focus.
At the core of our focus lies our ability to say no. Breaking a constant sense of urgency only happens, once we learn how to say no and start reconnecting with the values we deeply care about. This is—I believe—our ticket out of mediocrity.
Saying no is like standing in parking lot and trying to spot your car. What color is it? Red? Great. Your brain will automatically adjust your perception and make red cars pop while the blue, gray and black ones slowly fade in the background. This is called selective attention. It’s magical, it works, and we should learn how to put it to work outside of the parking lot.
After all, this is not about you finding your car, but about you deciding how you spend your time. Without the willingness to allow other priorities to fade in the back, focus won’t happen and we risk getting sucked right back into the vicious circle of mediocrity.
3. Keep saying no
You’ve made it till here. You kept saying no, you were able to resist distractions, and start seeing your first results. Congratulations. Let’s tap ourselves on the back and celebrate that moment for a second.
That was great. Now what?
The problem with successes, no matter how big or small, is that they will make it even harder for you to stay focused. I know people who get invited to conferences and give one talk after another while at the same time neglecting the very thing that got them on stage in the first place.
Focus needs deliberate practice and attention. We need to nurture it. We need to focus on staying focused.
Let’s keep doing that and hopefully it will keep us out of the dreaded cycle.
Conclusion
Even though we may think that mediocre work is avoidable, in reality, it’s not. Our capacity to create great things also relies on our willingness to be mediocre along the way.
The important part is giving ourselves the tools to ensure growth. And I think the steps to get there are remarkably simple.
It starts by stopping to operate in a constant sense of urgency, remembering why you signed up for what you do, and keeping your focus on things where you personally feel like you can make the most significant contribution.
Do you have some tips for all of us out there who have a hard time to focus? Please share.
Hopefully that resonates with you. If it does, some clap clap 👏 would be great if you feel like it could help others break the loop.
We can keep in touch on Medium or on Twitter. | https://medium.com/swlh/the-vicious-circle-of-mediocre-work-c15e98a30798 | ['Adrian Zumbrunnen'] | 2017-12-15 09:22:22.259000+00:00 | ['Design Thinking', 'Startup', 'Design', 'Self Improvement', 'Productivity'] |
Algorithmic problems with JavaScript | YoYo. This article is for people who are bored doing trivial tasks every day. This might cheer you up a bit. You might also encounter these kind of questions in some interviews.
1.Soooo, here is the first one — Imagine we have a string which is a math expression (e.g. (1+(2*3–2))+3). We have to create a function to decide whether or not its parentheses are valid. This means that every opening parenthesis should have it’s own closing one. 1+(2+3) is valid, (1+(2))) is not.
Think of a good algorithm which will be the fastest and use minimum amount of memory…
Answer ahead!!!
If you have thought of creating a stack you are good! As we are not interested in keeping the actual data in stack, we can just use a simple counter. Here is the algorithm I suggest:
The solution
Will be glad to see better ideas, just add a response :)
2.Imagine you have an array and you want to find the item in the middle of that array(let’s consider only the case when the array length is even). You can’t use `.length`. But what you can use is just a for loop.
Think of a good algorithm which will be the fastest and use minimum amount of memory…
Answer ahead!!!
Will be glad to see better ideas, just add a response :)
There are 2 indexes, one going twice as faster than the other. Once the first one gets to the end, the other one get right to the middle.
3.How to remove duplicate values from an array?
Answer ahead!!!
With ES6, you can do the following:
With ES5,
That’s it for today!! I hope to add some more stuff soon. Thank you. | https://medium.com/codeep-io/algorithmic-problems-with-javascript-16b5672b39bb | ['Narek Harutyunyan'] | 2018-06-08 11:49:52.228000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'JavaScript', 'Vanillajs', 'Algorithms', 'Logic'] |
Bluetooth Low Energy BLE devices with Azure IoT Edge | Bluetooth Low Energy BLE devices with Azure IoT Edge
How to connect BLE devices to Azure IoT Hub with Protocol Tranlsation in a custom IoT Edge Module
One of the major reasons for utilizing an Azure IoT Edge Gateway is to connect devices to the internet that cannot directly establish a connection themselves. A very common case are Bluetooth beacons, that can provide sensor data through a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connection but are not able to send this information directly to an Azure IoT Hub.
For this scenario, a bridge or gateway is required to create an IoT message from the Bluetooth payload. This is called Protocol Translation and can be achieved by creating a custom IoT Edge Module. Interestingly enough, Microsoft has still not managed to provide a sample or best practice on how to do this with the IoT Edge Runtime V2, so here’s how we did it in our latest IoT project.
In our case we are using the Open Source Ruuvi Bluetooth Tags since they are robust, affordable and there are already a number of SDKs available for different programming languages. For the Gateway we are using the Dell Edge Gateway 3001 running Ubuntu Server 18.04.
To get Bluetooth working inside a IoT Edge Module there are some pitfalls to be aware of that I will be highlighting throughout this article. The full source code can be found on GitHub. Let’s start with the necessary container configurations to be able to access the devices. After creating a new module, you need to adjust the deployment settings so the docker container runs in the host network.
We chose to build the module using NodeJs & the node-ruuvitag package. This way we don’t need to handle any of the BLE-specific communication & protocol translations ourselves but instead get easy-to-work-with JSON messages whenever a nearby tag sends an update.
Most of the code is just the generated Node boilerplate code that the IoT Edge SDK provides when generating a new module. After the module client initialization, we listen for new Bluetooth tags. Once found, we subscribe to the messages sent by them. Those get wrapped in a new Message object and passed to the IoT Edge Runtime through the defined output for delivery to the Azure IoT Hub.
The only thing left now to do now is to make sure you’re running the app in a properly configured Docker Image with all the Bluetooth tools installed that are required by node-ruuvitag or rather the underlying noble package. I mentioned that we’re using a Dell Gateway with Ubuntu, meaning I have adjusted the default Dockerfile.amd64, but the same setup also works for example on a Raspberry Pi with an ARM base image.
Besides installing the required dependencies note that the node process is being started as root to make sure there are no permission issues when calling the Bluetooth APIs.
If you want to wrap each Ruuvi Tag into their own Azure IoT Hub device identity you can find a post on Identity Translation here:
Again, the full code can be found over at GitHub. Hope this post helped you getting started working with Bluetooth on Azure IoT Edge. | https://medium.com/medialesson/connecting-bluetooth-low-energy-ble-devices-with-azure-iot-edge-35fcfba03b8d | ['Thomas Pentenrieder'] | 2020-10-01 12:17:22.138000+00:00 | ['Azure Iot Hub', 'Bluetooth', 'Iot Edge', 'Azure', 'IoT'] |
EU fully committed to sustainable development | European Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen is responsible for ‘Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competiveness’. This includes for example the promotion of structural reforms in EU countries and helping improve the business environment in the EU. He was keynote speaker at the Sustainability reporting Forum the ECA organised in Brussels on 17 June 2019. He responds to some questions on how the Commission has integrated the SDGs in EU policies and where the EU stands regarding reporting on realising the SDGs.
Interview with Jyrki Katainen, Vice-President of the European Commission
By Gaston Moonen
Mainstreaming SDGs in the European policy framework
When you think about the EU and sustainability, what are the key issues that come to your mind?
Jyrki Katainen: I think it is fair to say that the EU has a strong starting position and track record. The EU is fully committed to sustainable development. It is part of our DNA. And Europe was a leading force behind the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals — the SDGs — and also of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. EU policies, funds and actions cover all SDGs and provide a significant contribution to their implementation. This is the case not only within the EU, but also outside, through EU external action and trade.
What has the Juncker Commission done to realise the SDGs, particularly in the European Union?
Jyrki Katainen: Since 2015 — when the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted — the Commission has been following a two-step approach towards the implementation of the SDGs. I think we can distinguish two work streams here. The first work stream is to ‘mainstream’ the SDGs in the European policy framework and the Commission’s priorities. We, as Commission, have mainstreamed sustainable development into key cross-cutting agendas but also sectoral policies and initiatives. I can even say that this Commission has put in place some of the most ambitious agendas in the world to fully deliver on the SDGs.
Let me give you some examples which address, at the same time, the economic, social, environmental and governance aspects of sustainability. These are policies of a new kind, a ‘new generation’ of policies. Just to name a few:
The Circular Economy Action Plan includes steps for changing consumption and production patterns, by focusing on the design of products, waste management and increasing consumer awareness;
The EU Plastics Strategy and legislation on single-use plastics will protect the environment from plastic pollution while fostering growth and innovation;
The Action Plan on Sustainable Finance will provide for the first time investors with full information on what is a sustainable investment, and create a new market for it;
The Investment Plan for Europe boosts investment for Europe’s future, for instance in renewable energy, circular economy, digitisation, innovation and social entrepreneurship.
Presenting a vision for the a sustainable future
What does the Commission do to ensure that SDGs are well integrated in the ongoing discussions for the new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF)?
Jyrki Katainen: This relates exactly to the second work stream of the two-step approach I was referring to earlier. As Commission, we have presented a vision for a sustainable future for the EU, reflected in the Commission Reflection Paper ‘Towards a Sustainable Europe by 2030.’ We published it in January this year, together with First Vice-President Frans Timmermans.
Of course we are not starting from scratch and a lot has been achieved already. But further and prolonged efforts are needed.
The Reflection Paper forms part of the discussion on the Future of Europe and aims to inspire the discussion on the political priorities post-2019. We also decided to present different scenarios, offering ideas to spur the debate and thinking. In the Reflection Paper we identify key policies areas where we need to take further steps towards sustainability: circular economy; food systems; future–proof energy, buildings and mobility and last but not least, a socially fair transition. Of course we are not starting from scratch and a lot has been achieved already. But further and prolonged efforts are needed.
Having goals is one thing, how to get there is often a much more difficult challenge. Does the Commission also present concrete ideas on the instruments to be used to realise a sustainable Europe by 2030?
Jyrki Katainen: We certainly do. The Reflection Paper also identifies the key enablers for the sustainability transition. Just let me mention a few. First, we need to invest more in education and training. It is the best investment we can make for our future to ensure equal opportunities and fairer societies. Second, we need to invest more in research, development, innovation and digitisation, in particular in artificial intelligence. It has huge potential, for example in health or agriculture, and Europe cannot lag behind in this field. Third, a key enabler is the rule of law and respect of fundamental values. We have recently seen worrying signs of leaders calling the very foundations of our democracies into question.
First, we need to invest more in education and training. It is the best investment we can make for our future to ensure equal opportunities and fairer societies.
The Reflection Paper focuses — understandably — on how Europe can achieve the SDGs by 2030, but I want to underline the global dimension to it. Challenges like climate change do not stop at borders. We need and will continue contributing to solutions together with the rest of the world in multilateral forums. We will make a positive contribution through development cooperation, initiatives like the External Investment Plan, as well as through open and rules-based trade.
If we wait too long, challenges will only get bigger and we miss out on the opportunities.
The Commission Reflection Paper — with its different scenarios — should drive citizens, stakeholders, Member States and the European Parliament, to reflect towards which Europe we want by 2030 and provide feedback to the Commission, giving guidance on the priorities to pursue going forward. With this reflection paper we also presented a call to the rest of the world, not to get tempted by easy solutions that may solve symptoms in the short term, but do not address the causes of our problems in the medium-term. If we wait too long, challenges will only get bigger and we miss out on the opportunities.
Monitoring and reporting
For the citizens, stakeholders like Member States and the EP, but also at the global level, such as the UN, it will be important to have reliable information on how the EU contributes to sustainable development and where the EU is when it comes to reaching them in time, that is by 2030. In its review the ECA concludes that the Commission still has a few steps to take when it comes to reporting on the contribution of the EU’s budget and policies towards the 2030 agenda for SDGs. What is your view on where the Commission stands and can improve?
Jyrki Katainen: Let me first underline that I believe that monitoring the implementation of the 2030 Agenda is key. Without knowing where we stand, it is difficult to progress. The Commission supports a robust global monitoring and review process, which will enable us to take stock and adjust our approach as needed.
Jyrki Katainen, Sustainability Reporting Forum 17/6/2019, Brussels.
These robust assessments of the EU’s progress on the SDGs are provided in several reports. The ‘Eurostat Monitoring Report on progress towards the SDGs in an EU context’ is a key tool for facilitating the coordination of SDG policies. It promotes the assessment and monitoring of progress in implementing the SDGs, and it helps to highlight their crosscutting nature and the links among them. Also, the first Joint Synthesis Report on the implementation of the European Consensus on Development, published last May, shows how the EU and its Member States are jointly delivering on the UN 2030 Agenda through development cooperation and supporting partner countries in pursuing the SDGs.
So, as a first reaction to the rapid case review, I must say that the Commission does report and monitor how the EU policies contribute to sustainable development, and we will continue to do so. However, as is also indicated in our Reflection Paper, it is clear that there is room for further strengthening this aspect. One scenario of the reflection paper indeed refers to a specific EU SDG implementation strategy, for instance.
When it comes to reporting at the global level on where we stand, the United Nations’ High-level Political Forum is the central platform for follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The EU reporting will be based on the Commission’s Reflection Paper and its annexes, the 2019 Eurostat report, the Joint Synthesis Report and the 2019 EU report on Policy Coherence for Development. And I very much look forward to further ideas, from the ECA and others, on how to improve our reporting, which the next Commission could possibly take forward. | https://medium.com/ecajournal/eu-fully-committed-to-sustainable-developmentjust-more-of-the-same-330115ca2c5e | ['European Court Of Auditors'] | 2019-07-24 13:15:13.130000+00:00 | ['Sustainable Development'] |
Twisted Winter Air | Fiction writer. Coffee enthusiast. Writer of romance, mystery, and humor. Discover more at Patreon.com/danleicht and DanLeicht.com
Follow | https://medium.com/the-coffee-pot/twisted-winter-air-b99028f2086 | ['Dan Leicht'] | 2020-10-26 12:42:05.358000+00:00 | ['The Coffee Pot', 'Poetry', 'Haiku', 'Poem', 'Winter'] |
industryGlobal industrial sensors market size is expected to reach $35.47 billion by 2027 from $18.81 billion | industryGlobal industrial sensors market size is expected to reach $35.47 billion by 2027 from $18.81 billion Ajay Partap Jun 17·4 min read
The report titled, “Industrial Sensors Market By Sensor Type (Image Sensor, Pressure Sensor, Temperature Sensor, Level Sensor, Position Sensor, Humidity Sensor, Force Sensor, and Others), and Industry Vertical (Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical, Chemical, Oil & Gas, Energy & Power, and Mining): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2020–2027” published by Allied Market Research, says that industrial sensors market is expected to grow sustainably by 2028. The report offers an extensive market analysis focusing on key growth drivers, key market players, stakeholders, and forecast of revenue based on past data. This helps the existing as well as potential market players in framing long term profitable strategies.
Download Sample Report (Get Full Insights in PDF — 200+ Pages)
@ https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/8508
NEED OF THE REPORT:
The current situation of pandemic makes it very important for the stakeholders in the industrial sensors market to understand the market deeply, which will help them in taking sound decisions to gain the competitive advantage. By exploring the unexplored areas of market, the key players can surely gain a larger market share.
COVID-19 SCENARIO:
The market for industrial sensors has been adversely affected by the pandemic, globally. Following the government’s and WHO’s guidelines to maintain the social distance, the companies has put production activities on a halt, which has impacted the employment rate directly and demand ultimately.
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INDUSTRIAL SENSORS MARKET KEY SEGMENTATION:
The market is analyzed based on regions and competitive landscape in each region is mentioned. Regions discussed in the study include North America (United States, Canada and Mexico), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia), South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia), Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa). These insights help to devise strategies and create new opportunities to achieve exceptional results.
Segregating the large problem into smaller parts makes it easy to solve even the complex problems. Similarly, to analyze the industrial sensors market effectively and efficiently, the market has been segmented into, sensor type, industry vertical and region. The related graphs and data tables have made the analysis much impactful and easily understandable. The interested parties can surely rip the benefits of the report on the industrial sensors market.
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INDUSTRIAL SENSORS MARKET KEY PLAYERS:
The report offers a competitive analysis in the report, in which, the performance of the competitors in past, the revenue, and strategies framed are analyzed in detail. The key market players in industrial sensors market are Honeywell, Texas Instruments, Siemens, STMicroelectronics, Amphenol Corporation, TE Connectivity, Rockwell Automation, NXP Semiconductors, Infineon Technologies, and Renesas Electronics, etc. The competitors’ analysis will be helpful for new entrants to frame the profitable strategies that will help them gain the market share and achieve the objective of wealth maximization.
KEY OFFERINGS OF THE REPORT:
1. Key drivers & Opportunities: Detailed analysis on driving factors and opportunities in different segments for strategizing.
2. Current trends & forecasts: Comprehensive analysis on latest trends, development, and forecasts for next few years to take next steps.
3. Segmental analysis: Each segment analysis and driving factors along with revenue forecasts and growth rate analysis.
4. Regional Analysis: Thorough analysis of each region help market players devise expansion strategies and take a leap.
5. Competitive Landscape: Extensive insights on each of the leading market players for outlining competitive scenario and take steps accordingly.
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KEY BENEFITS FOR STAKEHOLDERS:
1. This study includes the market analysis, trends, and future estimations to determine the imminent investment pockets.
2. The report presents information related to key drivers, restraints, and market opportunity.
3. The market size is quantitatively analyzed from 2021 to 2028 to highlight the financial competency of the industry.
4. Porter’s five forces analysis illustrates the potency of buyers & suppliers in the market.
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Allied Market Research (AMR) is a market research and business-consulting firm of Allied Analytics LLP, based in Portland, Oregon. AMR offers market research reports, business solutions, consulting services, and insights on markets across 11 industry verticals. Adopting extensive research methodologies, AMR is instrumental in helping its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their market domains. We are equipped with skilled analysts and experts, and have a wide experience of working with many Fortune 500 companies and small & medium enterprises.
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Follow Us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/allied-market-research | https://medium.com/@ajay-partap/global-industrial-sensors-market-size-is-expected-to-reach-35-47-7efcf6078873 | ['Ajay Partap'] | 2021-06-17 09:12:02.080000+00:00 | ['Market', 'Industry', 'Sensör'] |
Working at a Korean Startup as an Engineer from Nepal | Hello Aayush! Please briefly introduce yourself!
Hello! My name is Aayush, one of the Backend Engineers here at Angelswing. I joined Angelswing approximately two years ago on September 3, 2018, and have been part of the team since! My responsibilities include various things from designing, developing and maintaining various features in the backend to doing a lot of research work for new features and issues.
Working at a Korean Startup from Nepal wouldn’t have been an easy decision, but what made you join Angelswing?
I wanted to expand my skill sets and challenge myself to experience new things. The only foreign interaction I had before joining Angelswing was when I used to play online games with people from around the world. (Laughs)
Before joining Angelswing, I worked at a company here in Nepal, but I thought there were limitations as to how much I could grow.
I wanted to experience the challenges and work culture of an international company. I also wanted to be a part of something big and something different. I wanted to be part of a company that provides a different kind service than what I have been exposed to. Seeing that I’ve learned the intersections of GIS and drone data at Angelswing, I think I was able to satisfy my desires to learn something different.
What are the differences from when you worked at your previous company in Nepal?
The biggest difference is definitely the workplace culture. Everyone is so driven, extremely proactive, and respectful. There are all kinds of people with different kinds of skill sets working together and I have found lots of opportunities to grow and learn from each one of them.
There is a time difference between Korea and Nepal. How do you collaborate for work?
I start the day pretty early, 6.00–6.30 AM NPT (9.15–9.45 AM KST), for two reasons. One, to align the work hours with the Team at Korea and to make some time in the evening for personal time. I start work by scanning through any messages that are in Slack. I reply to any messages that are related to me and if there are some bug reports that are related to Backend and are not already being looked at by other members, I take that case and provide a solution for the issue. Most of the time, it does not take long but there are rare cases where we have to invest a lot of time for a report.
Then I write my daily stand up where I inform the rest of the team about what I will be focusing on for the day. Then I start doing my work. Depending on the day and schedule, I also attend a number of meetings where I provide the update about the work I am doing as well as brainstorm for new features and ideas. But for the most part, I sit in front of my computer and work.
Regarding the type of work I do as a backend engineer, it really depends on what we have on our hands. Sometimes I will be developing a new endpoint for our backend server, sometimes I will be researching new or existing features, or sometimes writing scripts to get some jobs done in the cloud. There is a huge array of things we do as Backend Engineers.
What project/work are you currently focusing on?
I was recently involved in implementing a new feature that allows our clients to compare their design with the real terrain and compute the amount of earth to fill or extract. We call it Design Based Volume Calculation (DBVC).
Right now, my focus is on making improvements on a current feature. Since it is one of the most important features that clients need, we are working on making it better and more accurate so that our client can make full use of it.
For over 2 years, what was the most meaningful work you’ve done at Angelswing?
There are a couple like DBVC and Elevation Profile. But if I have to choose one, I think Elevation Profile (which allows users to draw a line segment and see the terrain change along that line) would be the one. Elevation Profile required some extensive research work as well as designing and developing it from scratch.
No matter how a remote work environment is well-organized, there should be some difficulties. What is the hardest thing about working remotely in Nepal?
In terms of resources, it would be the internet and power issues. Compared to Korea, Nepal has less IT Infrastructure that sometimes I lose my job regardless of my will. But in terms of work itself, for me it was and still is communication. It is not as easy to put forward your ideas or your findings as it is when you are in person. Since most of our coworkers are Korean and I don’t speak Koren, we communicate through English and translation. In this case, sometimes I can’t share my idea 100% because things get lost in translation or I am not able to explain it as well as I could have if I was speaking in my native language. But I learned to get over this by writing some extensive reports/briefings with as much detail as possible and getting active assistance from our teammates.
On the contrary, what are the advantages of working remotely in Nepal
Able to really focus on my work is a big benefit. I don’t have to waste time commuting to and from work and don’t have to worry about getting tired. Other people say they cannot focus when they work from home, but that is quite opposite for me. Compared to on-premise work I used to do in my previous company, I believe I am more productive.
Another thing is that I can be around with my loved ones. This might not be true for everyone due to cultural differences. But being the eldest child in Nepal, I have responsibilities to look after my parents and home. Actually, I could not join Angelswing if I had to work in Korea office. I am getting married next month, and remote working is even more beneficial as I have more families to look after.
Don’t you sometimes miss colleagues in Korea?
Of course! Last fall, Angelswing invited me and my girlfriend to visit Korea, and we loved it. It was my first time leaving Nepal, and even flying abroad since I was born. Communicating face-to-face and going on a fall trip with my colleagues, we got even closer. It would be great if colleagues in Korea visit Nepal, but it’s sad that they can’t because of COVID-19.
What is good about working for Angelswing as a back-end engineer?
Challenges and constant learning! You get exposed to so many different challenges along the way that you are constantly learning new things. I first joined Angelswing as a Ruby on Rails Back-end engineer. But along the way, as I started taking on different tasks and languages such as GIS, Python Scripting, Flask, NodeJS, AWS, Shell Scripting and more, my technical skills improved a lot. Now I am not just a good developer. I can also broaden my perspective on industry and technology as I naturally get interested in new areas.
What are the required qualifications of a Backend Engineer at Angelswing?
First and foremost, and kind of obviously, better understanding of back-end tech stack and writing better, cleaner, and simpler code. But it is so much more than just knowing how to write a RestFUL API.
Angelswing isn’t just about developing a web application. You need to have interests and understanding in construction, geography, photogrammetry, and other relevant fields as well. This doesn’t mean that Angelswing expects you to be an expert on everything from the beginning. In fact, no one can. I am a huge advocate of hard work and believe that even if you know nothing about something, hard work will get you through it eventually. Being open to any challenges thrown at you with an eagerness to learn is what Angelswing signifies the most. Learn, grow, and solve problems. One step at a time.
Is there a milestone you’d like to set up at Angelswing in the future?
One milestone that I continuously had in my mind is to have an Angelswing’s branch here in Nepal. Establishing a branch office in Nepal, we can expand our skill set and our service one step towards global reach.
Is there advice you would have for an engineer in Nepal who wants to join Angelswing?
As I mentioned before, if you have passion to learn, go for it. Even though culture and language are different, we have great team members who encourage and motivate you. We welcome anyone who is willing to learn Angelswing’s culture and product quickly. We will support you to hone your skills with all the resources we have, so join us! | https://medium.com/@angelswing/working-at-a-korean-startup-as-an-engineer-from-nepal-1d25d17199c3 | [] | 2020-12-09 03:13:11.956000+00:00 | ['Recruiting', 'Startup', 'Startup Life', 'Drone', 'Construction'] |
Muji: The Brand With a No-Brand Strategy | Muji: The Brand With a No-Brand Strategy
Understanding the business model of a truly unique company
Muji store in Stockholm, Sweden. Image by Muji
The idea of a company not branding itself seems contradictory. In a world where brands allocate millions on marketing, it’s rare to find a company with a single-minded focus on the product at hand. That’s what makes Muji, short for Mujirushi Ryohin, meaning “no-brand, quality goods,” stand out among the rest.
The Japanese company sells conventional items such as household goods and apparel, but unlike most brands, Muji doesn’t want consumers to feel an urge to buy their products. Instead, as they put it:
Muji’s goal is to give customers a rational satisfaction, expressed not with, “This is what I really want” but with “This will do.” “This is what I really want” expresses both faint egoism and discord, while “This will do” expresses conciliatory reasoning.
To most marketers, this philosophy may seem outright bizarre. But Muji’s success suggests it’s a refreshing alternative. So how did they go about creating a truly unique company? What is their business model? And perhaps most importantly, what are the secrets behind Muji’s success? | https://medium.com/better-marketing/muji-the-brand-with-a-no-brand-strategy-60e4e988ac3 | ['Kenji Farré'] | 2020-11-20 15:01:58.573000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Branding', 'Business', 'Japan', 'Strategy'] |
Submarine BatteryLead-Corrosive Submarine Battery is Adult in Innovation and Financially savvy Contrasted with Lithium-Particle Options | Submarine BatteryLead-Corrosive Submarine Battery is Adult in Innovation and Financially savvy Contrasted with Lithium-Particle Options Priyankashinde Apr 6·3 min read
Submarine battery assumes a significant part in the operational activities of submarines. They can be utilized to run various frameworks of the submarine. The normal life expectancy of sub-ocean batteries is around 30 years. Additionally, most significant fabricates plan batteries for marine applications with adequate underground battery stockpiling limit. Submarine batteries are fabricated by various set up organizations like Cushing, General Electric, Goodrich, Hyperion, Peppermint and West Point. The greater part of these brands have constructed a decent standing on the lookout and have great monetary dependability.
Expanding interest for submarines and expanding interest in the military and protection area is relied upon to support interest for submarine battery. The expanding utilization of batteries in electric boats in self-governing submerged robots and remote ocean fishing has brought about a critical expansion in the interest for high-energy release Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) submarine battery. NiMH has low sulphation limit and high force yield. Thus, it is ordinarily utilized in high voltage power supplies and auto industry. Lead-corrosive batteries are generally utilized in atomic fueled maritime submarines. In spite of the fact that, they have low energy thickness they are experienced in innovation and cost impressively not as much as lithium-particle options.
Diesel submarine battery is for the most part utilized in bigger diesel-controlled submarines. They are ideal for submarines that movement significant distances in their operational territories. These batteries can be utilized to control all gear and electrical things inside the submarine. These kinds of batteries are by and large accessible in both norm and high temperature assortments. Standard renditions of these batteries fill for general need, while high temperature variations are used in specific applications like marine application.
During The Second Great War, German U-boats was outfitted with batteries to control them. Today, these batteries are as yet utilized in U-boats and most present day submarines. Numerous countries have additionally begun utilizing batteries in their subs; despite the fact that, there is contention in regards to the security and natural risks of utilizing batteries in submarines.
Submarine battery is generally introduced in profound water and should be kept everything under control to abstain from rusting. Most present day submarines accompany installed battery charger that charges the batteries while the Submarine is adrift. These batteries are typically situated in the overflowed lower part of the boat. They should be completely energized prior to utilizing the batteries under any circumstance.
Submarine batteries are intended for profound submerged use. Numerous subs use lead-corrosive batteries. There are a few downsides to the utilization of submarine battery. These incorporate an expanded requirement for ventilation, as the vast majority of these batteries introduced are situated in the overflowed lower part of the boats. Another hindrance is that during cold weather months, it is hard to utilize submarine batteries for warming.
A significant issue with the utilization of submarine battery is that the destructive salt water of the sea ought not come in direct contact with the batteries. This is to forestall any harm to the submarine batteries. It is likewise fundamental that the submarine batteries ought to be kept dry and all around kept up, as though they get wet, even subsequent to having been lowered submerged for a significant stretch, can prompt difficult issues. | https://medium.com/@priyankashinde2888/submarine-batterylead-corrosive-submarine-battery-is-adult-in-innovation-and-financially-savvy-17b384d2c55d | [] | 2021-04-06 05:34:30.662000+00:00 | ['Submarine Battery', 'Savvy', 'Battery', 'Submarine', 'Semiconductors'] |
Top 7 Baby Care Tips for New Moms | Top 7 Baby Care Tips for New Moms
For new parents, having children is overwhelming. In the newborn phase, babies need plenty of focus and concern.
Every new parent wants to do the right thing as much as possible about the precious newborn. From burping a baby to dressing him to cutting those tiny nails, sometimes it seems full of challenges.
Your wrong behavior may hurt your child, and this thought makes you more nervous.
However, these baby care tips for new moms can easily make new moms feel surprised.
7 Baby Care Tips For New Moms
Trust yourself
First of all, you need to trust yourself. When the newborn baby arrives, you will get a lot of advice from relatives, parents, friends, and blogs.
Although many people may argue about the best parenting method, you must believe in yourself to make the right decision.
You must spend more and more time with your baby to get to know him/her better than anyone.
2. Standardize your baby’s sleep style
You can influence the baby’s sleep time by playing and interacting with the baby during the day while keeping the overall area bright.
If your baby wakes up at night, please refrain from playing with the baby and minimize the lights and noise.
It helps the child to realize that nighttime is for sleeping.
3. Trim your nails regularly
Since your baby’s skin is very delicate, he or she may be injured if the nails are long, so please trim your nails regularly.
Also, you must trim your baby’s nails regularly to avoid scratching their own face.
Do it carefully, though, and when the baby is sleeping.
4. Comfort a crying baby
If they are hungry or facing some pain, crying is the only way for newborns to communicate.
You would be able to interpret what your baby is trying to express by observation.
5. Bathing Your baby
In the first few days, you don’t need to bathe your baby. You may prefer carefully washing their face, neck, hands, and bottom.
Ensure that the room is warm and have it ready in advance. You need a bowl of warm water, a towel, cotton wool, fresh diapers, and washing clothes if necessary.
Also, See Best 3 Newborn Baby Bath Tub Online India
6. Handle with care
The newborn’s body is very fragile and needs extra care. When you hold your baby in your arms, please hold and support the head with one hand first, because it is the heaviest part of the body, put it in the recess of the elbow, and then oop up with the other arm His bottom.
Make sure that one hand always supports the baby’s head, even if you are holding the baby’s head upright and overlooking the shoulders.
You can also seek medical advice in this regard.
7. Take Care of Yourself
Do not forget to reward yourself and take some time to rest, at least an hour a week.
Go out to see your friends, or change to a new hairstyle to improve your self-esteem.
In order to follow these “Baby Care Tips For New Moms,” you must take care of yourself also.
Note, you won’t be able to take care of your baby properly if you’re not well. | https://medium.com/@mybabyneed/top-7-baby-care-tips-for-new-moms-f85b4644899e | ['Vikrant Sharma'] | 2021-02-21 06:52:32.901000+00:00 | ['Baby Care', 'Baby'] |
In Praise of Unlike-able Argument | (Caption: You can disagree with me if you want.)
A friend shared yet another article by yet another writer who claims we should not argue with each other. This writer is of the persuasion that it is not a likable trait and especially (and here he is wielding the reformulated but age-old weapon beloved by those of the Inquisition), that it is not very “Christian” to argue or disagree, especially in public forums. But no matter Christian or not, I think many people in my own country at least, and no matter their religion or lack thereof, think that it isn’t completely kosher to argue with each other. Of course, if you know me, you will know that I am always dumb enough to think I owe it to other people to jump into the ring. I really have to argue with people like this who make me feel bad for arguing with people like this. Especially when they want to play the moral tone card.
I have long wanted to make and sell t-shirts that read, “Jesus was not nice, but then neither is God.” Niceness, I’m afraid, isn’t really the point of a god or of a savior. Christianity, at least all too often over here under this flag, has turned God and his supposedly chosen people into self-serving cultists who hide behind tax-free shelters being nice to each other and anyone who agrees with them. Americans, especially, have met so little resistance to our own crusades and imperialisms that we have had no reason to listen to or debate with those from other countries. The United States has had no valuable practice in debating our desperate need to seriously rethink the beloved institutions and historical documents we have enshrined and idolized. And neither church nor state spokespersons understand why, Rodney King fashion, we all can’t just get along — as long as you agree with my point of view, that is. Janis Joplin might rejoin that our freedom has become just another word for we don’t argue, so we can’t lose. But not losing, doesn’t mean we haven’t lost our way. Thinking we are being nice by not arguing won’t help us find our way, either.
Niceness is highly over-rated, unlike courtesy or kindness, or sacrifice in the name of love, all which seem to have become virtues we have put on the backburners, along with truthfulness, humility, and restfulness.
Ironically this latest article posted by my friend, was shared on social media and the article was about how we shouldn’t argue with people on social media. Oh, Irony, how I love thee! But then irony seems to be too argumentative a viewpoint for some people today; people who would rather drift along without anyone arguing against hypocrisy, foolishness, wrongness, or the ubiquitous, “that’s just what I think”. The worst are often people like this author; those who claim the Bible says it or some famous person they quote said it, or an historically specific philosophy says it. The worst are those who use that gigantic, greatly misunderstood and little read collection of genres, which is The Bible, and who then make these bold arguments and stunt any dissent; and they do so by cutting and pasting some quip or commentary or verse taken out of the whole contextual mass, or by one of the later day additions to what some people think of as “The Word of God”. Not that you can’t do that, but if you do, please realize that by doing so, you are, in fact, actually inviting people to argue with you.
People like this author make their sweet-sounding, oh-so-rational and unemotional bullet points about how we should interact, or rather not interact, and that is usually by not arguing with people on social media. Then they get excited that people repost them on…. social media, where …no one can argue with them. Ha! However, it is not just on Facebook or Twitter that we are unfriended for dissent; we are also strongly cautioned that we are never to debate and argue in the marketplace, or at home, or in the classroom, or in the halls of government, or at work, or at temple or sanctuary or mosque. God help us! Personally, I would rather you give me instead, any day, the angry, prophetic, justice-seeking disagree-ers like Greta Thunberg; or the friendly, wrangling sages like Kathryn Schultz, who argue about the very basis of our thought processes and our foibles because of our fear of being wrong. Let me read the stories about those crazy old, raging prophets like Jeremiah or Isaiah. And I love to sit awhile meditating on the debates among friends like Frodo and Sam and Boromir and Gandalf, as they argue over which way to go and what to do on their journey of immeasurable importance. It is because the characters argue and discuss and point out to each other their different strengths and weaknesses, that we know that one of the deep truths that the author Tolkien is teaching us, is that though each of us must ultimately make his or her own way, the journey is more “Good” and much better if we all try our best to help each other. Even if they are wrong, it is good to have companions who will disagree with us on the way, and those who will try to shed a bit of dim light whenever they think we might trip and fall. When you have a Balrog on one side of you and orcs and trolls on the other side, then losing an argument is infinitely less important than making it safely across the bridge.
Don’t get me wrong, there are simply many ideas or statements or point of views that are not worth arguing over, and argument for argument’s sake may get the juices flowing in some people I know and love, but not in me. I have an uncle and a few friends who quite often strongly disagree with me and I with them; and we banter publicly when necessary and privately when possible, but we don’t unfriend each other. I absolutely hate any argument with my children, but I would hate even more, not loving them enough to speak my mind about something I fear could hurt or misdirect them. I love and trust these people because we can keep (sometimes) arguing with each other and we can still keep loving each other.
And as much as I really do hate conflict, I also want to be able to look at myself in the morning, knowing I tried my best with other people to make bridges, not walls. I don’t sleep well at night anyway, I may as well lie awake regurgitating someone’s arguments against my complacency or fuming over a point of view that I don’t understand, or trying to think about whether I have been wrong — maybe wrong yesterday, maybe wrong this past year, maybe wrong for most of my lifetime. Or I might wrestle with an argument and be even more justifiably and peacefully confident that I am even more right today than I was yesterday, because someone had the chutzpah to disagree with me. With that attitude, I may not like argument, but I don’t fear it. I may avoid it if possible, but I won’t avoid it if preferable.
If I have the time and need to say something, then I also have the time and need to listen to someone’s argument about what I said. I may as well try to learn something from someone, even if I continue to disagree. I would rather someone take me seriously enough to not like something I post or communicate and to argue with me, (unless they agree with me, of course, which is why most of us speak out, usually, right? — to gather the like-minded troops with our rallying cries.) I would rather exchange an exhausting volley of words, than I want to take time to punch one more “like” button on one more picture of a cute pet. Although, I do really love those cute pet pictures.
Arguing with someone doesn’t have to mean I am shutting her out or putting down his ideas. No, actually, it is not imitation, but argument that is the greatest form of flattery. Argument means that I take you seriously and that you are worth thinking about. You are worth my time, not just to hit the “like” button, but to engage with, to converse with, to learn with. Arguments don’t have to mean I want to tear down someone, but rather I want to build something with someone. Just because we are now on opposite sides of a chasm or gulf, doesn’t mean we both can’t work together. I am piling up stones on my side of the chasm or river, while you pile up stones on your side; and I hope that one day, we will meet in the middle on a completed bridge of deeper understanding, and open communication, and real community.
Of course, everyone just wants everyone to be nice and to let the people we may call our “brothers and sisters”, or our “peeps”, say whatever they want to say, post whatever they want to post, whether it is true or not, whether it is good for them, or us, or the planet or the church or the school or the workplace or the family — or not. And so, we don’t argue with them. We also don’t argue, because we hate being wrong, and if we don’t allow other people to debate what we think, well, then, there is little to no chance we will ever be proven wrong. Staying silent seems nicer and safer.
And we let ourselves forget that silence means acceptance. Silence means you are letting someone else control your narrative. We forget that it isn’t only words that hurt, but wordlessness hurts as well. We forget how much it hurts when someone we care about gives us the “silent treatment”. We forget that one of the very worst things that other humans do to each other is to stay silent in the presence of great wrong. We forget that the thing we hate most about God, is His silence.
It is rather clever of this author, and so many like him, to take this stance against argument. It is, however, especially disingenuous to brook no argument if you are in a position of leadership, like those in pastoral or “Christian”-speakership roles, or like Senators or CEOs, or teachers or coaches or parents. These powerful people can speak out or write articles or post things about how we must avoid argument, and since no one can argue with them after reading or hearing it, they have by default won the argument that they won’t let us participate in because we should not argue. Ha!
Brooking no debate, is of course, one major way especially in the current versions of Christianity and perhaps other religions as well, in which religious peoples have long erred and gone so very wrong. We have accepted the strange and unspiritual corporate structure and marketplace attitudes that have infected groups of human beings since the beginning of shared space and spiritual yearnings. We have become a group of sheepish followers who do not debate or struggle with truth or meaning. We accept the false doctrine that “church” or “community” or “education” is supposed to be made by having a man who stands in front of the rest of the congregation or a teacher who stands in front of a classroom, and who gets to say whatever he or she wants to say while no one else can ask questions or disagree or argue or “teach back”. And this is where we have come as a country as well, this rotten acceptance that democracy means that with whatever power and freedom I have, I will do what I want to do and I think what I want to think and if you argue with me, you are not nice and I will not continue to discuss things with you or try to work out some solutions to the problems we share. Because like it or not, we all share the same problems on some level or other. Our problem is, we are told that we shouldn’t want to share the solutions. And then, to feel safe from each other, and self-important, we end up creating and accepting a world with overly powerful leaders in the whole triumvirate of powers, the three- headed beast of state and church and marketplace, and we let these eventually Orwellian-styled rulers apocalyptically write our narrative because they do not have to be nice and they can no longer be argued with. That person who will encourage you not to be argumentative, is, after all, your pastor or priest or mullah, or CEO, or President, or Prime Minister, or owner, employer, or principal, coach, or mom. And it is why, like that violently arguing prophet, Isaiah said, “all we like docile sheep have gone astray, and each of us has turned to our own way.”
If we want to look at just one great human being who wasn’t nice and who argued with the best of his argumentative Jewish brethren and who ever since he lived, people have said you should imitate and follow, we could look at Jesus. If you actually read about Jesus, who supposedly all these churches have been set up to honor and follow, he and his followers were little to nothing at all like we tend to think of them today. It would be instructive to look at how much Jesus argued with people who supposedly believed in the same God He did, even just the bits noted in the slight records we have of Christ’s remembered life story. It would be wise to look further at Jesus as the brilliant rabbi, a debater in the temple, a teacher who listened and pushed back and lost as many arguments as the ones that he won. Even from a young age, when Jesus talked back to his parents, dismissing their viewpoint about him as their son, and when a young Jesus questioned his own teachers, he was a man who always wanted to learn more and grow more and open the door to debate to rich and poor, believers and unbelievers alike. Since oral communication with others was the primary way of learning and teaching, the greatest man and teacher and King who ever lived, did a lot of verbal sparring, open-ended debating and question-induced conversing and yes, Jesus did a lot of arguing. Arguing proves someone is listening.
It might also help some people, like this author, who look to a collection of books they call “The New Testament” and “The Old Testament”, to open-mindedly read what the people in those stories were really like. And I mean, not only Moses who argued with God, or Jacob who wrestled with Jehovah, or Leah who kept nagging God about things from her point of view; but the very people who claimed to know and follow Jesus when he lived here with us for awhile, as a human on our planet.
It has been instructive for me to see the saint, Paul, as the irascible, argumentative commentator he really was; a man struggling with making sense of a new form of Judaism, and a worthy opponent who was not always right, but was always up for a good heated back and forth with the others in the ecclesia. This author I am ragging on today, happens to quote Saint Peter. Well, let’s not even go there. If we want to talk about someone, like the disciple Peter, who never waited a nanosecond to make sure he was right or knowledgeable or nice before he spoke out, and who argued with Jesus and the other disciples so much that it’s a wonder he was able to keep silent when the rooster crowed three times. We are talking about a man, who was nonetheless, specially chosen by Jesus Christ to further the Gospel by continuing to argue with others and for his beliefs, even after Jesus was gone. Jesus must have been howling with ironic laughter when he said, “By this hard-headed argumentative foolish Rocky of a pugilistic guy, I will further the future of my community of chosen ones.”
The current community of the saints was built on centuries of argument and debate, beginning with Jesus and slogging sloppily on through the wrangling of Peter, Paul, and Mary (who had lots of great “hits”, but not a theology nor seminary degree between them). The community of the saints has driven forward rather erratically but it is headed towards home only by the trial and error of argument and debate among those courageous enough to be wrong and loving enough to engage in discussions. The Good News that there is a way that we humans can know truth and love is because of writers, and prophets, and arguers of all sorts and stripes. It is because of people who dared to speak out, speak up, speak against, and speak to others, that the ideas of Jesus and his followers, and with some later-day help from Augustinian Confessions, Ninety-Five Theses arguing against a closed door, and even some wee hobbits and folks in Narnia, have thrived. It is because of people talking with each other, that the ideas that Jesus left us about how we should live are still with us, to argue about and to, first and foremost, seek and yearn after. And if you don’t believe in Jesus, look to your own best man or woman, and try to follow their arguments for engaging in meaningful dialogue with other human beings.
Instead of arguing for more understanding of the whole of anything, (which none of us can claim complete understanding of, nor can we through soundbites bite-off all of the whole at once), most of us prefer to keep cutting and pasting ideas or philosophies or Scripture verses or newspaper items, or unrelated facts into manageable two-by-fours which we use to either whack the competing voices with or use to build a foundation for our individual towering house of cards that we have already decided to live alone in until it teeters down on us. We take the bits of ideas that we like and have secured safely, or so we think, into our warehouses of ideas, (gotten there ironically, only by the arguments of willingly or unwillingly hotly debated truths of people who have come before us), and we clip and glue small parts of the whole, taking some one single thing all out of the context of the entire arc of the whole story.
By telling others how to argue (or not), how to talk (or not), how to be (or not), we are not only losing the point of this planetary experiment, we are losing one of our best human qualities besides. Especially for anyone who claims to believe in democratic communities or in a God, we must be willing to argue, for “Pete’s Sake” (pun intended). Because if you read the stories, or if you believe even a modicum of religious thought might be true, then you must accept that even God Himself, has some super good arguments on record, some of which He loses! A God who would create a human being, must have debated long and hard with Herself, before giving that creature free will. Who are we to not argue with that?
I personally hate conflict and argument, but I hate even more the strange place we, at least in my country, seem to have gotten to today. To encourage someone how to be like Jesus, is to inherently have debate about who He was. And please, can we let the record show that both Jesus and God even called people names. They name-called people! and it wasn’t usually funny, like it was with Peter. Try having Jesus, in an argument, call you a “dog” or a “viper” and see how you feel. See if you still think Jesus is nice. See if you decide to take your feel-good Facebook posts and go home. Check out some of the adjectives God uses for us, “obstinate”, “arrogant”, “hard-hearted”; or God who in His many arguments with His children when He calls us “chaff”, “fools”, or “dust”. For a great story about God talking back to humans and arguing, check out His argument to the man Job in the book of that name, beginning with chapter thirty-eight and going on and on and on. And here’s the kicker, at the end of this great myth, Job gets rewarded, unlike his friends, because he respected God enough to argue with God but never stopped worshiping or serving or loving God.
Of course, I do not recommend name calling as a persuasive technique unless you are perfect yourself , as Jesus was, or unless you are God. But today, considering how many small-minded men think they are God or The Chosen One, perhaps some of us “nice” people need to throw around a few names after all; names like “hypocrite” or “vipers” or “fools” or “stiff-necked oxen”. For those of us who hate to argue but do it anyway because we think it is the right, honorable, loving thing to do; please let the record show to those of us who want to be “good” or “loving”, that Jesus, the “goodest” and “lovingest” of all, was in an emotionally charged conflict so often, that he had to literally flee from other people, even his family and friends, and escape somewhere alone to chill out and recuperate from the emotional and spiritual toil that his conversations took.
As our mothers used to say, “choose your battles wisely” but as our fathers used to say, “tell that kid you will meet him on the playground after school because you respect him, and yourself, enough to fight him”. If only people would spend more time competing with ideas and throwing around words, than they did competing on sports fields and throwing around balls. If only we would spend more of our lives wielding honest discussion and loving passionate debate, than we do wielding remote controls and loving passionate fictitious soap operas, we might actually make a go of this thing called humanity.
I think that we have to keep trying to point people to the truth and to the best ideas and ways of thinking and living that we can. But I can’t assume that because I think it is the best idea, that there isn’t room for argument. We can’t be truly our best of either this or that by only posting, tweeting, writing, and gathering “likes”. We have to wrestle, even if we end up with bruises and sore brain muscles. We have to be willing to walk the narrow road of seekers rather than the wide avenue of controllers. As much as I prefer hiding my thoughts and keeping to myself, I write because I want to learn. I wrestle with you, because I wrestle with my own ideas and beliefs and feelings and choices. And I want to learn as much as I can, even from those I disagree with.
I would rather have to take down a whole lot of the weak, faulty, un-trued lines of rocks that I have built on my side of the gap between me and you, than I would to keep stacking up my ideas into a wall that no one can assail. I would rather you argue with me even if I get hurt, than I would to never reach the middle of a bridge between your side and mine. And I can only do that by looking over at what you see from your side of the chasm between what I think and what you think; and by together building something strong, and beautiful, and worthy of our humanity.
Because that is after all, why Jesus came to our planet to argue with us; he wanted to give us a shot at making ourselves better at being human together. Believing all that seems a rather foolish theory, I know, but I would still rather be a fool seeking God’s Kingdom, and to open my mouth and remove all doubt when I argue with you, than I would to wait in silence for whatever happens at the end. That is my Pascal’s wager in praise of argument.
People like this author that sent me into this multi-sided and rambling debate with myself (and maybe you), make “good points” that we all “want to agree with”; and so we erroneously neglect the true theme, the more devious purpose, and the bent point of view of people like this. They want to wield their own power of communication without giving their audience that same power. They control the narrative. They control the “conversation”. So, while they encourage you to give up and be nice, or learn a bit more before you take a stand, they speak or write as nicely to you as all dictatorial bullies do and without themselves, giving up an inch of their stated “expertise” or power. The opiate of the masses has long been, not religion, but the idea that we should all be nice little sheep who don’t argue with authority, whether that authority is your Pope, your President, or your BFF on Facebook.
I used to teach young people, you can’t control or craft how you write or debate something, until after you learn what it is you want to say and most importantly, why you need to communicate it. You must write and speak freely, feelingly, unafraid of error, but also unafraid of others who may come along later and point out to you that you might be wrong. We need not only freedom to disagree, but also good conscience to listen to other people’s arguments, and to accept other people’s ways of arguing, even if they argue with passion or emotion or even with wrong facts. When did we start thinking that by listening, we had to agree? When did we start thinking that we learn best by sitting still and shutting up? Or that it is better to never risk being publicly wrong because then we never risk being publicly right?
If we continue to unlearn how to argue, and go on disconnecting from discussing, debating, arguing, sometimes fighting our ideas even heatedly, pigheadedly, foolishly; then how will any of us ever learn again which of all the doors ahead that we can open are the best ones? Sometimes, while we are standing, looking up and down the roads one might take, we need a good friend to argue with us, about the different directions one might use on this path called life.
If we are unwilling to argue with each other about important things, belief-type things, planet-survival type things, love thy neighbor type things, then we will not be remembered as smart, or wise or “Jesus-like” or likable beings on this planet. We will, if we somehow survive to be remembered by anyone at all, be remembered not as nice, but as lost. | https://janetawel.medium.com/in-praise-of-unlike-able-argument-cc400e4ab00e | ['Jane Tawel'] | 2019-10-04 13:54:14.816000+00:00 | ['Christianity', 'Philosophy', 'America', 'Arguments', 'Jesus'] |
A trail of… plagiarism? | Jean Ray once said that he wrote to H.G Wells in order to tell him that his idea for the Invisbile Man was ludicrous. What with light not being able to fall upon the cornea if one had been rendered transparent. In otherwords, an invisible human being had to be as blind as a bat.
Jean Ray was a liar and I already touched upon this on my paper on the Big Scare. Hence why I didn’t believe his story when I first heard it. But there’s another reason for my distrust. Maurice Renard once actually wrote The Man who Would be Invisible. A pastiche wherein an old man is sure that Wells’ story had to be based upon facts and scientific evidence, so he tries to recreate said experiment. The failure of the endeavour leads to him becoming blind leading his whole family to act as if the poor soul had genuinely become invisible — for he KNEW that cecity would be a consequence of such a transformation — in order for ur old chap not to mournthe loss of his eyesight.
What’s more, Renard actually dedicated his very first novel New Bodies for Old to HG Wells, a lenghty monologue sits at the very front of the book:
To H. G. Wells: I beg you, Sir, to accept this book. Of all the pleasures that its writing gave me, that of dedicating it to you is assuredly not the least. I conceived it under the inspiration of ideas that you cherish, and I could have wished that it had come nearer to your own works than it does, not in merit — that would be an absurd pretension — but, at any rate, in that pleasant quality shown in all your books, which allows the chastest minds, as well as those that exact the greatest realism, to have communion with your genius — a communion which the ablest people of our time can acknowledge without feeling its charm lessened by such considerations. But when Fortune for good or ill allowed me to discover the subject of this allegorical novel, I felt bound not to set it aside because of a few audacities which a faithful rendering involved and which an arrest of development alone — that is, a crime against the literary conscience — could avoid. [vi]You now know — you could have guessed as much — what I should like people to think of my work, if by chance any one did it the unexpected honor of thinking about it at all. Far from desiring to arouse the creature of instinct in my reader and amuse him with scandalous descriptions, my work is addressed to the philosopher anxious for Truth amid the marvels of Fiction and for Orderliness amid the tumult of imaginary Adventures. That, Sir, is why I beg you to accept it.
Even more interesting is the fact that Ray was very aware of Renard’s work for he wrote about it: “The whole of Maurice Renard’s work shell out pages like a rosary made of precious stones, scary stones and opalines gems, reflects of a human brain full of life.”
I was recently watching The Phantom of the Opera, starring Lon Chaney Sr, wherein at some point the Phantom takes on the appearance of the Red Death. At least in the version I saw, in which shots of him in his red robe were oddly reminiscent of Todd Macfarlane’s Spawn. This precise scene I was almost certain was not in the original book, which I didn’t read but having already read a bunch of Gaston Leroux’s books, the journalist didn’t struck me as the type of guy who would pay homage to Edgar Allan Poe. To me, Leroux would have been more enclined to salute Renard’s or Vernes’ pragmatism, for they all stem from the same bud, and the three of them like to construct intricated lies only to then shatters them through science. Because it works.
As for the scene the party scene I was referencing earlier? Wikipedia actually says am right, it doesn’t exist in the book. Still, I knew this HAD to be a reference from the screenwriter to Poe’s short story the Masque of the Read Death. Being the conscious reader that I am, I went on, grabbed my omnibus of Poe’s work gathering dust on one of my shelves and began to read it, for I had never experienced it beforehand and this was as good an occasion as any. This tale of a ball taking place in an enclosed castle in the countryside, only to be disturbed by a ghost rang strangely familiar to my ear. For I once had read something similar.
In my mind, Maurice Renard was the culprit. I first took out a collection of short stories written by him but no plot came even close. So, I turned over to my semi-omnibus of his collected works. Searching through the short fictions inside of this book, I noticed a titled Chateau Hanté (Haunted Castle in English). This was the particular story I remembered. In it, a noble French man has taken refuge in a castle in the countryside because of his depressive state. Soon, the main character, in the form of his psychiatrist, assures the sad man that he should throw a party, medieval style, in his newly acquired estate. The idea seduces the depressed but on said day, a set of armor supposed to be empty crashes everyone’s fun and giggles.
Seriously though, doesn’t this make you think of Spawn?
Maurice Renard is credited as the creator of the “merveilleux fantastique” genre; which is just an elevated way of saying he treaded the same waters as Jules Vernes and H.G. Wells. Still, Renard possessed this weird way of trying to ground everything in the scientific realities of his time. Tet he always did it in a fun way. This educative pulp’s style gives his work a really distinctive vibe and it plays also a part in the way Chateau Hanté ends; what with everyone discovering that a rival noble, who was unhappy that the depressive man had bought the house found a way to pass as a ghost in order to then buy the haunted mansion a cheaper price. In a way, this is Dream Home in an ungory and fun way. But the question remains? Is this plagiarism? Some will argue that while the setting is the same, it’s the whole plot that matters. In other words, this exploitation is how genres are created.
A few months ago, I touched upon the whole Hans Heinz Ewers/Erckmann-Chatrian debate. Erckmann-Chatrian were a duet of French writers specializing in regionalistic and fantastic litterature. In their tale, L’Auberge des Trois Pendus, three men took their own life while residing in the same room of an inn. The main character decides to solve this mystery and sleeps there. Through time, he will discover that a witch inhabits the house right across the street and forces the guests to kill themselves by sheer magical suggestion. Being the hero, our man repells the spell and the witch ends up hanging herself instead.
Ewers, on the other hand, was a German writer who must have been very aware of Erckmann-Chatrian’s work because of their geographical proximity, for the French duet actually lived in the region bordering on Germany. A few years later, after L’Auberge des Trois Pendus was published, he released what may be his most well-known tale The Spider. In his story, three suicides have been comitted in the same room of an inn. After a quick introduction in third person, the German writer switches to a first person epistolary form — reminiscent of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and now that I think of even more so that Dracula actually possessed an introduction short story named Dracula’s Guest actually written in the first person and not the epistolary form the book became a classic for — through the diary of a student who claimed he would solve the whole ordeal, when it is actually just an excuse to have a free roof over his head.
Bunch of details co-exist in both fiction. But the truth is, while Erckmann-Chatrian treaded the thin line they often liked, laying somewhere in-between naturalistic fiction and fairy tales, Ewers’ short story is undeniably a work of weird fiction with its main character being slowly hypnotized by a spider passing as a woman. It’s interesting to note that some Wikipedia entry notes The Spider as being a case of plagiarism of Erckmann-Chatrian’s work when such accusation appears, at most, debattable. Pretty much like Renard had done with Poe’s work, Ewers simply elaborated on a premises which existed somewhere else. Question then becomes, if fiction about repeated suicides in a same room had became a norm, like, say, the slasher genre movie, would we be having this conversation?
Before jumping onto my third comparison, I would like to note that since I wrote this paper, I discovered Marcel Schwob’s work. A French writer who pretty much wrote exclusively really short stories. One of those tales, aptly named Arachné, taking its name from the Roman tales of the same name by Ovidus, actually speaks of a murder who says he killed his wife while under the influence of a spider-goddess and do not fear his execution for she would comes to him everynight and loves him with a passion as sharp and gentle as death itself. The whole spider/hypnotism scheme made me connect some dotshere, yet I don’t know.
Cover of the Man-wolf Anthology
In 1838, Sutherland Mckenzies wrote Hugues The Wer-Wolf. In this tales, a family of Normand emigrant are treated as parias in their local English community. Folks say that every members of this French family are werewolves. Eventually every member die except for the first son, who discovers a strange attire, a werewolf disguise that he soon uses in order to terrify the townfolks who he thinks are responsible for the death of his relatives. Intertwined in all of this is a romance story with a butcher’s niece and an ending where a man is haunted by a hand pretty reminiscent of The Monkey’s Paw albeit in a rushed fashion. All in all, this short story, in style, resembles Horace Walpole’s Castle of Otranto — considered to be the first novel of Gothic horror- which also means that Mckenzie’s story seems stuck in-between Gothic litterature and earlier Medieval style type of writings.
By the way, before I go on about my point, do you know why a werewolf is called a werewolf? I know that some sources on the internet claim that it is a mix of wari meaning man, and wolf. But there’s an explanation in a French book which also works surprisingly well in Engish. See, In France a were wolf is named a loup-garou. Book goes on to explain that it means that this un loup dont il faut se garder. In English this would translate into a wolf you should be wary of. Anyway…
In 1859, Erckmann-Chatrian released the Man-Wolf, which is actually a story about a doctor trying to solve the sickness of a noble men inhabiting an isolated castle in the French mountains. While the writers used the title as a means to attract potential readers, in the end, the plot has nothing to do with werewolf. What’s interesting is that the French title of the Man-Wolf is actually Hugues-le-Loup and noone will ever make me believe that the duet of writers didn’t know of Mckenzie’s previous work. While both fictions entertain few, if any, ties, they still both took on the werewolf myth to apply to it a sensible explanation. Making this coinciding two titles ring eerily to me. | https://medium.com/curious/a-trail-of-plagiarism-166b7c8c6a94 | ['Basile Lebret'] | 2020-12-04 19:09:39.463000+00:00 | ['Books', 'Science Fiction', 'Science', 'Comics', 'Movies'] |
Out of Range | Out of Range
by Sebastian Palomino on Pexels
West Texas land runs flat for a note
like a string unstruck
then rises into ridges
plucked by stratus clouds
feathering down like fingers,
and the mountains
are fists banging
They knock at you and you open up
to listen but too late,
after crescendo and sounds cascade
then fall off into canyons,
a mystery you just missed hearing,
the swell before the fade
A gorge is left in your ground
as you swallow the sound
of what you can’t hear,
and it’s a lump in the throat
You yearn to feel
what’s too hollow to touch:
whispers just out of your range
Your eyes tear as the dust dances
to wind whistling beyond your ears
It is a loss paramount
to a song you’ve forgotten,
and the mountains
are fists banging | https://medium.com/for-the-sake-of-the-song/out-of-range-fcff16662862 | ['Sydney J. Shipp'] | 2020-12-14 19:35:23.009000+00:00 | ['Loss', 'Poetry', 'Desert', 'Texas', 'Music'] |
The Coin Mine Australia Team answers your questions… | WEBSITE | TELEGRAM | WHITE PAPER | AIRDROP | TEAM
Where is your company registered?
Coin Mine Australia Pty Ltd is registered in Australia. The company is regulated by the Australian Investment and Securities Commission (ASIC).
Coin Mine Australia Pty Ltd Australian Company Number (ACN): 623 906 990
Confirmation of registration details can be found at: https://connectonline.asic.gov.au
Additional information can be found in our Whitepaper and Disclosure Documents at: https://coinmineaustralia.com
Can I have details of any intellectual property which the company has created?
We are a crypto mining operation and our product is physical infrastructure. We do not hold intellectual property that will be brought to market. The intellectual property we hold in terms of bespoke algorithms and code is held securely by the company.
Can you share your TGE Cap Table?
Tokens will be distributed via the TGE as follows:
120,000,000 Tokens to TGE Participants (80%)
15,000,000 Tokens to Bounty and Marketing Incentives (10%)
7,500,000 Tokens to Future Staff & Partnership Incentives (5%)
7,500,000 Tokens to Founders & Advisors (5%)
What is the vesting schedule for Team and Advisors token?
We will set aside 5% of the total token allocation for current founders and advisors with a further 5% allocated for future staff. The tokens will be escrowed for a minimum of 12 Months after the end of the TGE. Further information can be found in the Token Paper at: https://coinmineaustralia.com
Is vesting for Team and Advisors coded in the smart contract?
No it is not, although we do have a freeze function that will be used to enforce the escrow of tokens for founders, team and advisors.
What does your power pricing look like?
We acknowledge that Western Australia does have higher energy costs than other parts of the world, but we feel that participants will also look to the security of supply, stability of commercial electricity contract pricing and increasing availability of renewables as providing stability and lower levels of risk in the operation.
Locating operations in Australia also offers participants low levels of sovereign risk, high standards of corporate governance, regulation and commercial law as significant counter weights to some jurisdictions with cheaper electricity markets.
With regards to your specific question, we have carried out comprehensive analysis of how current and future electricity pricing impacts the operation. As part of that analysis we have identified a breakeven electricity price for the operation at AUD0.67/kwh. Currently non contracted larger user commercial power rates stand at AUD0.19/kwh (peak) and AUD0.12/kwh (off-peak). In our discussions with providers we have indicative pricing for fixed term contracted supply at 20% below these rates if the mining operation achieves its full 16,000 GPU capacity.
Was your smart contract audited by an independent cybersecurity company?
Yes, and we continue to retain their services. For the smart contract particular attention was paid to issues such as ZeroFunctionSelector, DelegateCallReturnValue, ECRecoverMalformedInput, SkipEmptyStringLiteral.
They perform infrastructure vulnerability assessments including intrusion and penetration testing.
Information on our independent cybersecurity advisors, Hivint, can be found at: https://hivint.com
Could I have a link to your github repo?
The link to our github repo will be released once the TGE goes live. The repository will show the ERC20 contract.
Are you using a reputable 3rd party for KYC verification? How safe is it to upload my Identity Document on your site?
Coin Mine Australia operates in jurisdictions with strict KYC and AML regulations and takes its obligations under these regulations seriously. In order to meet regulatory KYC and AML requirements for the TGE we have employed the services of Truiloo, one of the world’s largest and most reputable global identification and verifications services. All documents provided will be encrypted and held on AWS S3 storage for the minimum times required by law under each jurisdiction.
For more information about our KYC/AML service provider please visit: https://www.trulioo.com
Can US investors participate in the sale?
The Coin Mine Australia TGE restricts access for Citizens, Greencard holders and Residents of the United States to the category of “Accredited Investors“ under the U.S. Security Act Regulation D Rule 506 (4).
Therefore, in the United States, CMA Tokens can only be distributed to “Accredited Investors” with a net worth of USD $1,000,000 (excluding the value of their primary residence) or have a minimum income of USD $200,000 each year for the last two years (or USD $300,000 combined income if married).
The term “Accredited Investor” is defined under Rule 501 of Regulation D of the U.S. Security Act and classification requires confirmation from a Tax Advisor or Chartered Accountant.
Where is my money going and what will it be used for? Is my money going to be used to “cash out” others?
Coin Mine Australia will deploy ninety two point five percent (92.5%) of funds raised in the TGE to hardware and infrastructure costs, including a hardware refresh reserve and contingency fund. Five percent (5%) will be allocated to registration on exchanges and promotion of the CMA token. The final (2.5%) will be allocated to legal and regulatory compliance costs.
No TGE funds will be used to ‘cash out’ or ‘reimburse’ others.
What specific rights come with my investment?
Token Holders will be issued with a lifetime token that is fully transferable, tradeable and entitles them to their share of 85% of all mining profits, the remaining 15% being reinvested in a refresh and growth fund to ensure the future profitability of the operation. Token Holders will receive payouts monthly. First payouts will be issued no later than 31 Dec 2018.
How, when, and at what cost can I sell my investment? For example, do I have a right to give the token or coin back to the company or to receive a refund? Can I resell the coin or token, and if so, are there any limitations on my ability to resell?
Tokens will be purchased directly from Coin Mine Australia during the Token Generation Event. There is a hard cap of 150,000,000 tokens.
The CMA token is fully compliant with U.S. SEC regulations. CMA Tokens may be traded on secondary exchanges after the Token Generation Event in addition to public regulated exchanges when listed. Tokens may be transferred directly between ERC20 compliant wallets at any time after issuance.
As part of the Token Generation Event, Coin Mine Australia will be targeting major exchanges to list the CMA Token. Exchanges include, but are not limited to:
● Cryptopia
● HitBTC
● Binance
● Poloniex
● Bittrex
A portion of the funds raised through the Token Generation Event will be applied to listing and compliance costs with each major exchange.
The CMA token generation event (Main Sale) will start on the 2 April 2018. 120,000,000 CMA Tokens have been allocated for the TGE and are priced at USD 20 cents per token. The number of CMA Tokens available in the main sale will be dependent on the number of CMA Tokens sold in the pre-sale period.
You will be able to acquire CMA Tokens in exchange for Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC) or fiat currency. Payment must be received at https://tge.coinmineaustralia.com (TGE Website) and at no other domains or portals. Please note that purchase of CMA Tokens is non-refundable.
Coin Mine Australia anticipates that delivery of CMA Tokens to you will be after the receipt of funds from you, but no later than 60 days after the TGE closes if KYC/AML and verification documentation is submitted and accepted within 7days of the TGE completion.
The CMA tokens will be sent to the Ethereum address provided by the purchaser at the time of the purchase. Coin Mine Australia will not accept any responsibility for the incorrect delivery of CMA tokens due to invalid Ether addresses supplied.
If a digital wallet is involved, what happens if I lose the key? Will I still have access to my investment?
We do not provide a digital wallet nor will we be building one. There are many capable ERC20 compliant wallets already available in the crypto ecosystem that would suit payouts from the Coin Mine Australia operation. We feel it’s our responsibility to inform users of the wallets we recommend as well as guide them to follow best security practices.
What protections may or may not be available in the event of fraud, a hack, malware, or a downturn in business prospects?
Physical and cyber security risk management is one of our highest priorities and we understand that ensuring participants interests in the mining operation are secure is paramount to the operations success. It for this reason we employ third party cybersecurity advisors, we encrypt all data that we hold and secure physical assets with biometric measures.
Furthermore, we mitigate the risk of financial loss by transferring mining outputs to participants on a monthly basis. This means that financial exposure is never greater than one months worth of mining rewards at any given time.
In terms of economic downside change, no investment or business is immune and therefore it is something that is uninsurable. However, through our model we are investing in physical assets that are required for the mining operation and which in the event of major corporate failure could be realised through sale. | https://medium.com/coinmineau/website-telegram-white-paper-airdrop-team-6033b0943ba5 | ['Kelvin Daley'] | 2018-03-13 09:26:31.668000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Ethereum', 'ICO', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
The Complete Guide to Affiliate Marketing Strategy | This article aims to provide in-depth advice on some of the most popular and the lesser-known, but still highly effective, Affiliate Marketing strategies.
We’ll explore strategies relevant to different Affiliate types, we’ll understand which are the most effective, as well as outline case studies and show a whole host of examples.
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Intro: What this article will cover
Whether you’re looking for strategies to help grow your own Affiliate Marketing channel, or you’re here to learn more about Affiliate Marketing and looking to apply these techniques at a later date — we hope this article covers everything you need.
In this article we’ll explore…
The fundamentals of typical affiliate strategies The affiliate strategies every affiliate manager should know Importance of diversification & tactics that work a treat Exploring strategies for specific affiliate types
Chapter 1: Understanding the big picture
Before we delve too deeply into Affiliate Marketing strategy, this article assumes some knowledge of Affiliate Marketing. You don’t have to be an expert to understand everything we’re about to talk about, but it helps to have a beginners understanding at the minimum of what Affiliate Marketing is and how it works.
Key fundaments when it comes to Affiliate strategy
When we talk of the ‘big picture’, we’re referring to looking at your Affiliate Marketing from a holistic view. And here are some key fundamentals every Affiliate Marketing channel should follow/understand when it comes to strategy…
1. The Big Picture
Let’s remember there is no fixed way to run affiliate advertising. There isn’t a blueprint, nor an out-of-the-box solution to do so. Your affiliate marketing is purely dependent on your brand, the industry and the product you’re selling. Simply put, to maximise your performance in affiliate marketing you need to understand your product and your consumer inside out.
2. The Last Touch
Affiliate marketing is an integral part of the online consumer journey. Most advertisers consider affiliation in their attribution as ‘ the last touchpoint’. Therefore they reward publishers if the consumer came through their site as the final step of their journey and didn’t interact with another marketing channel or other publisher afterwards.
3. Segmentation
Segmentation is absolutely key when it comes to affiliate marketing. Not only regarding strategy, but also your publisher mix, product mix, and marketing mix. We’ll come onto more of this later, but for affiliate strategy and publisher mix, don’t just focus on individual publishers when making decisions or optimising, but treat them as segments to make larger incremental improvements.
4. Diversification
Continuing the theme of segmentation. Most affiliate managers know that overly on one or two super affiliates can be a risky game. It’s important to diversify and recruit different types of affiliates and varying sizes to succeed. This makes up a key part of our strategy points laid out in this document.
5. Learnings
Advertisers should rely on the learnings and analysis of their optimisations to create incremental growth. Your strategy and ultimately your growth cannot be obtained without learning from your past actions. Every campaign test, every new publisher, and each optimisation should be bought together to analyse and learn from. As with all marketing, your data should drive your actions.
6. Performance Marketing
And lastly, let’s not forget what affiliate marketing is — it’s a performance channel. This means everything is trackable, payouts are on real sales. And more so than other performance channels like Display Marketing, you only pay for the sales you make (as most advertisers pay on CPA on rev-share — unless you’ve decided to pay your affiliates on a CPC).
Chapter 2: Typical Strategies
The Typical Publisher Strategy Cycle
Now we’ve covered off a few fundamentals to Affiliate marketing in relation to strategy. Let’s now explore some typical strategies, again from a holistic viewpoint.
Here is the typical strategy per affiliate you work with. If we’re only talking about individual affiliates, from a general viewpoint, this is what your typical cycle involves.
Advertisers will identify an opportunity of a publisher to work with. They then look to get in touch and build a relationship with them to promote your product/service. Next, you may negotiate on commissions, terms and campaigns. Once decided, a strategy/campaign is deployed — the publisher will start promoting your product to their audience using the agreed methods. Once done so, you both analyse the results and optimise accordingly to improve sales. Perhaps they will position your product differently or include a special offer. All of this is the classic cycle of just a one publisher affiliate program.
The Typical Channel Strategy Cycle
Now from the viewpoint of the entire channel, rather than one specific publisher. In general almost all affiliate managers will follow this cycle of activities. Starting at recruitment, then onboarding publishers using key tactics. Once onboarded and campaigns run they will segment their base, whether that’s by publisher, by product, or by customers acquired.
Once full segmentation has occurred to establish what is working and where an affiliate manager will focus on the top-performing areas. They will then optimise and optimise again. With the final stage being adjusting commissions and tweaking exclusive offers, essentially more ingrained optimisation tactics. Until they then start the process again with more recruitment.
Overall a cycle of bringing in new affiliates, focusing on them, growing them, shedding the fat, and then recruiting new ones, occurs over and over again. Over time this results in a healthy and grown affiliate channel.
We call this the typical strategy cycle of an affiliate channel. One that focuses on growth and optimisation.
Segmenting by Top Performing Publishers
Continuing the typical strategy across the channel, we mentioned that segmenting the base is a key part of the cycle. We’ve therefore delved a little deeper into that here and outlined one way of segmenting — by top-performing publishers.
As the screenshot describes, an affiliate manager should be continuously looking at their publisher base and ranking them according to performance. Performance should be measured by your own KPI’s, such as revenue, revenue per lead, CPA or new acquisition. Which ever the main metrics are for you to determine which publishers are the best performing.
Here we’ve split the optimisations required as part of this strategy into 3. Where the top-performing actions should be to captilise on their success and increase exposure. For your medium performing affiliates you should be focuses on moving them into the top category and utilising tactics like tiering commission or improving hospitality/relationship.
For your least performing, you need to decide whether they are worth the effort — in many cases they are, because of the ‘power of the long-tail’ where your long-tail could equal several super-affiliates — see the below image, so don’t underestimate them as a group. In terms of effort, you should deploy tactics to grow their performance, such as special offers, new creative or improved content.
Segmenting by Top Performing Publishers Types
Another way of segmenting your affiliate base as part of your strategy is to split them by publisher types. Some affiliate managers may find they have hundreds if not thousands of affiliates, so for them viewing the base in terms of publisher type, such as aggregator, content, cashback etc, might be the easiest way.
For your aggregators you should always aim to be number 1 in their comparison tables. Introduce special offers to improve your conversion rates, and adjust your text to be as clear on your brand proposition as possible. For your second rung of affiliates, if they are email and content for example, look at where you can boost the quantity of content. Deep dive into the email data and which customer segments are converting. And lastly your least converting, if they are cashback and voucher, look at ways you can improve your cashback rates. Explore what the competition is doing and try to out-do them.
This image gives a more detailed look per affiliate type. So depending on whether it’s your influencers or your aggregators who sit at the top of your segmentation tree, there are ways to optimise and improve their performance.
Chapter 3: Affiliate Strategies every Affiliate Manager should know
Strategy 101
Starting with Strategy 101, this strategy is often forgotten by many Affiliate Managers but it’s one they should all use as a staple to their activities.
It can be described in 3 steps:
Don’t forget the 80–20 rule — as is very common in affiliation, 80% of your revenue often comes from 20% of your affiliates. Think of your group of affiliates as a pyramid, with the few super affiliates sitting at the top, and the long-tail partners propping up the bottom. While the revenue follows the opposite shape, mainly coming from your super affiliates. This though doesn’t mean one should purely focus on the 20%, if anything it means you should always be looking to balance your pyramid and turn it into a square. One that won’t fall over if other variables kick in. Utilise other channels to boost performance (ATL, Display) — this part may be out of your control, as other members of your company may take care of your above-the-line marketing, or Display. The aim though is to align all your marketing efforts to support each channel. This means affiliates will benefit from the success of PPC, SEO and your branding efforts offline. Try to incorporate this into your actions with affiliates. When a big TV campaign is taking place, inform them, and try to adjust your copy and/or promotions to align with it. This will have a big impact on your channel performance. Expand segments & sectors — as mentioned in some of our previous strategies above, expanding your segments and sectors is a key element to the overall strategy, which is why it makes up 1 of the 3 sections of 101. Growing your affiliate base, while diversifying is so important to turn your pyramid into a square. More on diversification later.
The 6 Step Strategy
The 6 step strategy takes Strategy 101 a little further, and breaks it down into 6 key areas. Of course not all of these strategies are relevant to every affiliate program. Some of these may seem high level to you or not important, but the aim is to find a strategy that suits and works for your program. We’ve found the 6 step strategy is relevant to most affiliate programs out there, whichever the sector.
1: Establish your channel KPI — is it sales you want, revenue or quality?
2: Focus on The 3 Levers — affiliate management is a balancing act, you need to manoeuvre the 3 levers; traffic, LTV, conversion rates, in your favour, to succeed.
3: The Balanced Approach — don’t over-rely on one publisher segment or one publisher for that matter. Diversification is key, and more on this coming up.
4: Build and follow a refined Road Map segment by segment — below gives you an example of road map with different tactics per affiliate segment. Each of these should shift the needle in your performance.
5: Access, track performance and implement a monthly process — this refers more to your daily and monthly operations and keeping your house in order. Track and meet, analyse, optimise and plan ahead.
6: Avoid the icebergs and mitigate risk — you need watch out for the hidden risks under the water, such as unforeseen changes, regulation, PR mishaps, or promotions errors. Always look to mitigate risks, such as notice trends, watch your competition, recognise cookie stuffing, illegal PPC bidding and coupon fraud.
Other Strategy Scenarios
Our original objective of ‘acquisition’ is not succeeding — our answer to that is to switch objectives and focus on lead generation. You’ll need to get the internal buy-in to shift, but a shift in objective can work if your seniors support it and you have support from other channels like CRM to follow up on those leads. We’re bringing in a lot of customers but only a last-click basis— most companies are moving away from last click to attribution to multi-touch. In this format affiliates often loses out because it sits at the end of the funnel. In this scenario, you need to continue to encourage a last click view with affiliates, as you do payout on last click. Or you begin to optimise towards multi-touch, which tends to reward more impression based channels. This means altering tactics towards more banner placements and fewer promotions. I have no budget, how can I continue to run an affiliate channel without a sustained budget? — the answer to this is to re-adjust models. This might imply that a lot of your commission agreements are set to CPC or CPM, meaning you’re paying on view or click but not actually conversion. If you’re set to conversion, ie. CPA, then budgets should never be a problem because you shouldn’t be paying more than customer value. If you are then you need to re-negotiate your CPA.
Chapter 4: Why diversification is so important
Definition of diversification
An affiliate marketing tactic for advertisers where you never over-rely on a dominant publisher, group of publishers, segment of publishers or region of publishers.
The tactic underpins the idea that spreading your publishers far and wide, whether it be geographical, industry lead, or segment type will reap the benefits in the long-term and diminish down-turns leading to a more stable channel for growth.
Case study on diversification
In the gaming industry Oddschecker dominate the affiliate landscape. Upon analysis quarter after quarter, they grew and continued to overshadow my other publishers, making over 50% of new sales.
We had a great relationship, they were promoting my brand and the affiliate channel was one of the most successful in the business, accounting for 20% of turnover.
Then suddenly we lost our top placement on Oddschecker. Our odds slipped further down the rankings due to high competition and their account manager changed to a young new recruit, all in the space of a fortnight, meaning starting a new relationship from scratch.
Sales slipped very quickly and the following quarter they fell to just 10% of affiliate sales, dragging the entire channel with it. My error; over-relying on one publisher and not diversifying enough. I should have had other publishers to support them and take their place.
Going forward I ensured that I focused my efforts on bringing my large affiliates up to the level of super affiliate so that I had several successful publishers at the top of my tree. I diversified into different segments and didn’t just rely on comparison sites like Oddschecker. I spread my wings into new regions too, so that not just the U.K. market propped up my portfolio.
Origins of diversification
One should think of their affiliate program as a portfolio of accounts. In wealth management and the investment industry, no financial advisor would tell you to put all your money in one stock or one company. Diversification has always been a long-term secret to success.
This is why when people invest to grow their money they should buy hundreds or thousands of stock types across regions and industries so that if one falls it has far less impact on the entire portfolio. This is where the origins of the diversification strategy really come from.
It’s also prominent in our own lives, many people believe that we should not just focus on one source of income due to over-reliance. Multiple sources can help support and not put too much strain on the other.
Secondly, any good business will tell you that by diversifying products, suppliers and regions it will lead to a much stronger backbone to the company. They would never just rely on one source and neither should your affiliate channel.
Chapter 5: Affiliate tactics that work a treat
Strategies can be broken down into tactics, as we alluded to in step 4 of the 6 step strategy above. Lets explore this in more detail with specific tactics that work very well to grow key affiliates and/or segments.
Encourage Co-branded Landing Pages
Co-branding your landing pages can have incremental impact to conversion rates. Always try to co-brand this part of the journey, and if possible more steps of the journey too, like email or confirmation pages. It all makes it feel like a more interconnected journey, giving the consumer confidence to purchase.
Hospitality & Relationship Management
Such a key part of affiliate marketing management is relationships, particularly with your super affiliates. We recommend the following tactics to ensure that they like you and will keep promoting your brand:
Meet regularly & pay interest in their personal and work lives
Become friends with your counterparts
Make small- talk, go to their parties and invites
Give gifts at Christmas, give free tickets (not bribes)
Invite to your office, make the effort to go to theirs
Exclusivity
Exclusive offers mean that the customer cannot get that offer anywhere else for your product. Most advertisers are willing to offer publishers exclusive offers but only if performance is at an acceptable level or the demand is there.
Introducing exclusive offers and using them to onboard or motivate publishers is one of the main tools you have at your disposal. If you’re going to offer an exclusive discount or promotion to a publisher make sure you negotiate well. You want the top placement for this exclusivity or you want them to refer you another publisher before offering it out.
Also remember, the more you dish out, the less impact they have. They are no longer exclusive, so pick your publishers and offers wisely.
Promotions and Competitions
Promotions and competitions are a great way to motivate your publishers. Promotions to your customers via publishers come in the form of exclusive offers as mentioned above. There are also competitions direct to publishers to encourage them to recruit for you or convert at a higher rate.
Below is an example from BGO who encourage their affiliates to compete against each other for most sales, to win a monetary reward.
We’ve also listed some ideas of competitions, both on the customer side and to publishers.
Managing Churn & Reactivation
Publishers go through a lifecycle on your affiliate channel just like customers do in your product lifecycle. A key tactic is to therefore monitor these closely and notice when the downfall begins and aim to mitigate that drop.
Sudden downfalls could be as simple as tracking issues, or it’s as drastic as they removed your link altogether.
Chapter 5: Looking at specific affiliate types in more detail
Cashback — How to utilise cashback affiliates without canabalising your existing traffic
Cashback affiliates are some of the most successful and renowned affiliates on the web. Famous for turning around the fortunes of not only affiliate programs, but entire businesses too. In the U.K. the most widely used cashback sites are Quidco and Topcashback, both with over 10 million users. They are in fact almost identical in set up, layout and proposition. They offer cashback to customers when they uptake a merchant’s product, service and on the most part their associated offer.
How they work is to pass the CPA onto the customer, so in fact, they don’t take a CPA as a traditional affiliate would. Normally you would pay a publisher say 10% of the sale price or a fixed £100 per verified sale. Though with cashback sites they’ve decided to pass the CPA onto the customer.
How they make their revenue is via fixed tenancy placements — adverts around their site to promote your offers. These can be priced in the thousands, depending on how lucrative the position. So these companies make huge income from the tenancy placements on offer and do not keep any of the CPA, choosing to pass it all to the customer.
Other cashback sites like Easyfundraising or Give As You Live have taken a slightly different approach and pass the CPA onto charities.
The big question that many businesses ask themselves is whether they should be appearing on cashback sites at all? They question it because they don’t want to cannibalise their existing traffic. If you think about it, a growing eCommerce site is seeing their traffic come in from all the usual sources, PPC, Paid Social, Organic etc, and this is already costing them to achieve it. So, why do they want to then pay extra for customers on top via a cashback site? Second too, why do they want to encourage customers to get a discount when they might have come to their site anyway. The main point is that, why reward someone if they would have purchased anyway?
Sites can see a pattern of customers come to their site, bounce, and then reappear after visiting through a cashback site. We’ve all been guilty of adding a pair of jeans to the basket of our favourite shopping site. Only to abandon the journey because we remembered we might be able to get cashback for it instead. So we look on Quidco and there it is, our favourite retailer, so we click through, add the jeans again to our basket and purchase. In turn obtaining a 10% cashback, due to be paid in a few weeks’ time.
So how do businesses get around this problem? Well, there are a few solutions so that you don’t have to remove yourselves from cashback sites. Because let’s face it, you don’t want to not feature on a site with 10 million loyal and active users, let alone several of these sites combined, probably accumulating 25 million users (assuming there is no cross-over, which there probably is in abundance). In order, what you can do to get the most out of them is:
1. Reward mainly for new users – offer cashback just for new customers for incremental growth. It will attract and convert those new users. Saying this, it can work for existing customers if you have trouble reactivating them and you keep the rate low.
2. Offer tiered cashback to encourage higher basket value – if your users are purchasing at £100 a basket, then offer cashback only to those that far exceed that, at £200 for example. Therefore cashback is used as a mechanism to attract higher-value customers.
3. Restrict abuse with tight T&S’s – having tight measures in place to prevent fraud will certainly stop those thinking they can get quick and easy cashback. Having T&C’s that have been reviewed by your legal team will ensure they are robust enough to stop customers finding loop holes and taking advantage.
4. Feature seasonally and time tenancies – some businesses will have clear seasonality with their products. A skiwear brand will normally only spend during colder periods of the year. Cashback therefore allows them to compliment this higher converting period.
Overall, there are several tactics one can employ to protect your traffic and organic sales without losing the huge audiences these sites offer. At the least it’s worth trying, adjusting, optimising and managing these sites carefully to get the most out of them. Like every affiliate and every marketing channel, they take time to find the right suitability and spend for your proposition. It might not be right for everyone but when it works it can be very, very right.
Email Affiliates — understanding how they work to get the most out of them
One of the main affiliate types for generating awareness is Email. Email publishers are considered ‘lead generation’, publishers or networks have a vast database of potential consumers to reach out to. As oppose to cashback publishers who sit at the purchase end of the consumer journey, or content and comparison that sit more on the researching phase.
Email publishers often sit at the start of the journey and are therefore associated more with awareness, branding, or as we said — lead generation than sale completion or purchase.
This appeals to such advertisers as Car Manufacturers who are looking to simply grow their database and encourage test drives, rather than a full car sale online. It works best for industries where the purchase consideration period is far longer and takes the greater decision making time and effort.
Email publishers are simply websites that maintain a targeted email list and are willing to reach out to them on your behalf. These often come in the form of an email feature, placement, or solus — a complete email takeover. Sometimes they appear in weekly or monthly mailers or one-off sends. The solus is often the most effective method as it’s exposure across the entire email.
An email publisher can be a news/media site, like Thisismoney or Lovemoney who would be classed as a content publisher but maintain such a large subscriber base email that can be utilised with the advertisers brand. They can also be coupon or cashback sites where email is utilised.
There are also networks and agencies that have relationships with a huge array of publishers, they group them together and offer advertisers the option to reach thousands or millions of users in one go. All that’s required is your HTML email template, or creative, and landing page link, which is then distributed to publishers via the network.
The benefits to the publisher are the commission earnings they receive in return for the email send. This can be in the form of CPL, CPM or CPA. As email is primarily used for lead generation over sales, publishers often push for CPL or CPM as oppose to CPA, depending on the product they’re promoting. CPM is an impression based pricing model, which is charged on a price per 1000 email recpients. Prices for CPM can range from £5.00 per 1000 email profiles to £100 per 1000 email profiles depending on the quality of the audience.
Email is often considered the fastest way to generate traffic, leads or sales for an advertiser. Email sends can be in the millions, therefore generating thousands of click-throughs and hundreds of conversions in one send. So bulk leads can be captured in a matter of minutes.
As we mentioned previously, networks like advortis.com have publisher partners that have access to more than 9 million unique U.K. email profiles.
The advantages of using such a provider are their reach, their industry connections, particularly long rail publishers, a management service where all you need to provide is creative and landing page and a reporting system showing earnings and conversions.
Another key aspect of email marketing affiliates are the access of data and the ability to segment their base to target exactly who you’re looking for. Unlike other affiliate types, they can really hone in on your potential lead or user. Targeted email campaigns can then take place via demographic, interests, intent, age and whole range of possible segment splits. This all makes it a very appealing outreach program for advertisers.
And lastly, the top tips for utilising these publisher types…
Always vet where they received their data and email lists to ensure quality and relevance. Negotiate on CPM, especially if it’s the first time using them. Imbed a networks fee into the CPL so that they have to work for their reach. Ensure full GDPR, IAB and other regulations are adhered to. Ensure your creative is relevant, clear, tested and in line with their previous email sends. Always optimise by regularly refreshing creative for each campaign.
Thank you for reading this article & I hope you found it useful!
If you liked this content you can also…
Disclaimer
The author takes no responsibility for any misuse of information contained in this article. All information has been taken from actual events and imagery or screenshots from free sources. If any owner or brand wishes to have any information removed, they may get in touch. He is not responsible for any copyright infringement as this is used purely for educational purposes and is happy to edit if required. | https://medium.com/@growpartnerships/the-complete-guide-to-affiliate-marketing-strategy-c5e69ebcee74 | [] | 2021-02-01 22:19:14.647000+00:00 | ['Affiliate Marketing Tips', 'Affiliate', 'Affiliate Marketing'] |
‘Animal Kingdom,’ Prince’s Animal Rights Anthem | When regarding the late musician Prince, subjective statements find themselves turning objective. It is simply and undeniably factual that he was a guitar virtuoso, a musical visionary, fearless, pioneering, and massively influential. Also undeniable is how prolific Prince was, with an astonishing thirty-nine studio albums, to say nothing of compilations, live recordings, albums recorded with his bands, and posthumous releases. You might conclude that statistically anyone who creates thirty-nine albums worth of material would surely end up with a song about the plight of animals, because eventually, what else would there be to write about? Prince, of course, had no need for such a theorem: he was a proud animal rights activist and wrote about the subject very much on purpose, for example, in the song “Animal Kingdom” from his 1998 album The Truth — which was, for those counting, merely his twenty first studio album.
“To eat a tomato and then replant it for your nutrition as opposed to killing a cow or a pig for your meal is reducing the amount of suffering in the world. Besides, pigs are too cute to die.”
For the casual fan — which I admit, is me — it would be very easy to miss this song amongst Prince’s dizzying output. But it’s a highly rewarding discovery.
According to interviews, Prince stopped eating red meat in the 1980s — “we don’t have to kill things to survive!” — and then continued to move towards a vegan lifestyle, although he has also claimed to be a vegetarian. “Compassion is an action word with no boundaries,” he said, “It is never wasted. To eat a tomato and then replant it for your nutrition as opposed to killing a cow or a pig for your meal is reducing the amount of suffering in the world. Besides, pigs are too cute to die.”
This idea of compassion and living in harmony with the universe is explored in “Animal Kingdom,” a song that is edifying yet sexy at the same time, a curious but effective mix for getting his point across. His opinions are unambiguous, strident even, however the song is so languid and lushly produced that it’s a pleasure to receive the information.
I saw a friend of mine today, in an ad sayin’ what would do my body good I told him he was wasting time I say If God wanted milk in me The breast I suck would have a line around the hood.
The friend Prince is referring to is director Spike Lee, participating in the 90s celebrity-fronted Got Milk? campaign. This opening feels like pure brazen Prince, but the lyrics continue in an emotive, informative fashion.
“No animal nurses past maturity,” he reminds us, and then, “I don’t eat red meat or white fish, don’t give me no blue cheese — we’re all members of the animal kingdom, leave your brothers and sisters in the sea.” I won’t lie, I don’t often consider the interiority of the clam, but such is the power of Prince’s profound words and delivery that I felt my eyes get a little misty when he sung this line:
What about the clams on the shore? Souls in progress — here comes the fisherman — souls no more.
This song was ahead of its time in many ways — not just in terms of the relevance of its message, as more people continue to reject eating animals. “Animal Kingdom” really sounds like it could have been released in the last year. There’s an airy quality to the production, his voice is extruded through a vocoder, every part of it is dreamy and unhurried — even the slinky guitar riff and bass line — and it’s interspersed with ambient ocean noises. It somehow sounds — and I mean this in a positive way — viral. It could sit side by side with say, “Old Town Road” or “Redbone,” those tracks that become songs of the summer, that become the background of your favourite TikToc videos, that you want to hear over and over again. It just feels so fresh.
Further evidence of the power of Prince — way back in 1998 he knew how to not only preempt the ideas of the future, but also the sound of it. | https://medium.com/tenderlymag/animal-kingdom-prince-s-animal-rights-anthem-eea65d165db2 | ['Laura Vincent'] | 2020-01-10 17:31:01.950000+00:00 | ['Vegan', 'Equality', 'Prince', 'Animal Rights', 'Music'] |
AYS Daily Digest 21/05/19: Report shows that 1,007 children went missing in Greece between 2018 and 2019 | AYS Daily Digest 21/05/19: Report shows that 1,007 children went missing in Greece between 2018 and 2019
Four unconscious people found in a tanker in Serbia//Italy transforming former prison in pre deportation centre//More deaths and violence in France//Pregnant women in Morocco denied access to doctors//Updates from Zintan//Deportations from Germany and Sweden.. Are You Syrious? Follow May 22, 2019 · 7 min read
Lesvos, Greece, 1 April 2019.
A refugee girl holds a puppy in the Moria refugee camp in the island of Lesvos. Credit: Aris Messinis -Art Against
FEATURED STORIES
According to a report presented by the Hellenic Police, 299 children went missing in Greece during the course of 2018.
The report also underlines that 257 of these children were eventually found.
From the 299 children who went missing last year, 123 were boys and 176 were girls. Of these, 96 boys and 161 girls were found, leaving 27 boys and 15 girls still missing. […] In the first four months of 2019, 45 boys and 71 girls went missing, of whom 39 boys and 58 girls were found, leaving 6 boys and 13 girls still missing.
These data, though, refers to children who could, most probably, return to a family. But when it comes to unaccompanied minors, the data are extremely worrying, giving that:
as 1,110 children went missing in Greece in 2018 with only 421 found, while in the first four months of 2019 some 404 children went missing, of whom only 137 were found.
This means that a total of 1.007 children (both accompanied and unaccompanied) disappeared between 2018 and the end of April 2019!
The reasons to disappear could be multiple: lack of trust in authorities, “the threat of bureaucratic procedures and the fact that reception hospitality facilities are often inadequate or unsuitable for children”.
Children disappearing were mostly Greek, Albanian and Pakistani, of an age range between 13 and 18, according to officials. | https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-21-05-2019-report-shows-that-1-007-52c10a72ea86 | ['Are You Syrious'] | 2019-05-22 09:50:59.263000+00:00 | ['Digest', 'Children Rights', 'Greece', 'Refugees', 'Missing Children'] |
Reflections On the “Myth of the Cave” | A short paper from high school…
The Allegory of the cave is an excerpt from “The Republic”, a book written by Plato. First of all, it is notable that this excerpt contains a myriad of symbols and their own definitive meanings.
The first symbol I would like to highlight are the Shadows. The prisoners who were trapped inside the cave could only look at the wall in front of them. They were not allowed to look at the sides nor back. Occasionally, when things pass by, such as travelers, etc.… the prisoners would see their shadows cast upon the wall. Since they never left the cave before, they would believe that the shadows were the actual objects, and not a mere reflection of it. In my opinion, this is meant to represent how some people would just see things, and perceive it as the truth, despite it not being completely true. There is such a term as a “blind believer”, who just believes without even questioning it. The dilemma that these blind believers face is their lack of knowledge to challenge their beliefs. It is not completely their fault, because, by chance, they were never given an opportunity to explore outside the realm of what they can see in front of them. This might mean that there is a chance that whatever we see presented to us is not completely true, but instead a shadow of it.
Another symbol, the Cave itself, has its own purpose as well. There were three prisoners, all of which had been tied to rocks, and never allowed to leave the cave since they were born. There was a fire at their back which casted a light that made it possible for them to see the shadows of things behind them. I believe that this is a representation of the world, and everything it shows us. Sometimes people rely on what they see and hear to be knowledge and wisdom.
This reminds me about the 1994 movie “True Lies”, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Harry, played by Arnold, was a CIA agent. It was required of him to tell his friends and family that he was a computer salesman, and not working for the CIA. All his family believed him, because of one reason, they didn’t know a thing about the whole ordeal. There was no reason to believe, nor to seek out if Harry was actually a CIA agent. Just like in the cave, the things we can see inside of it may appear real, even though they are not. There will be no reason presented to us to go out and look for the truth. The cave, to me is a world of misunderstanding.
Finally, it is worth noting about the Prisoner Who Escaped and Went Back to the Cave. One prisoner was able to escape the cave and discovered the truth that lies outside. He found out that everything he saw and believed at first was wrong. Since the prisoner had the goodwill, and decided that everyone has the right to know this, he went back and decided to tell the other prisoners about it. Since the prisoners didn’t know better, they did not believe what the escapee has said, and even threatened to kill him over trying to change their views. I think that the escape of the prisoner could mean man’s everlasting thirst for wisdom and the truth. The prisoners who rejected what the escapee had said represents the people who are afraid of the truth, and will do anything to silence it, all because they don’t know any better. These are typically the closed-minded people who hold what they see in high regard. The “I know everything already” mentality takes over here.
I, as a student regard knowledge to be very important to me. What I learn now, as well as in the future will have an impact on who I am as a person. It is without a doubt I will be influenced by all the things I see around me, especially the ones I believe to be true. Us humans will naturally thirst for the truth, because it is the best for us. I try my best to keep an open mind, even in sensitive topics such as religion. I like to think of things that challenge what I believe, as opportunities to bring myself closer to the truth, because who knows, I could be wrong about everything. This allegory is relevant to me because of this purpose: It shows how the world and everything I see is not 100% true. In order to chase the truth, I will have to keep an open mind.
The even more astonishing implication and application of this allegory is to society today. With the emergence of new media, we can now learn information faster and more effectively. With the help of news organizations, we are kept up to date on the latest happenings around the world, but with all good, comes a bad side. How do we know what we see is true. We can see that there are numerous conspiracy theories regarding heated issues: What if the World Health Organization (WHO) actually already has the cure for cancer, and are just hiding it because they want to keep laundering the money given from donations and research funding? What if 9/11 was staged, to give the US an excuse to invade Iraq? These are just a few of the questions that flew over my head. But if I were to choose one issue where these things are extremely prevalent, it would be everyday Politics. We constantly see this in articles or newscasts regarding this topic. Media could side to one politician, and turn the tide of political turmoil to his/her favor, thus making more and more people like him/her, while media could also destructively criticize another, causing people to take action, making things get even more spicy.
The true victims of this, however, is the people. The people will never get to know the truth, all because they were not given the chance to by the media. We are trapped in a cave, and escape is only available to those with minds open enough to get out. | https://medium.com/@djanthonyb/reflections-on-the-myth-of-the-cave-63c15e1e6893 | [] | 2020-12-16 01:17:22.495000+00:00 | ['Reflections Of Life', 'Truth', 'Classics', 'Philosophy', 'Plato'] |
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