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Know Yourself by Knowing Your Shadow | Have you ever wondered, how well do you really know yourself? As Plato once said, “know thyself.”
But why?
Typically, when we contemplate whether we know ourselves, the thoughts that come into our minds are our desires, values, and beliefs about the universe. These characteristics we form around ourselves is our code; something the “I” we create for ourselves identifies with. That saying, ‘every man has a code,’ we all do. You have a code that you see the world through and make decisions with, it’s the conscious ego. That code is customizable and changeable.
But what can we do with this awareness? We can ask ourselves, who am I? That’s really the most reliable thing you have, knowing yourself.
We all create this belief system we follow — the identity of you — that is your moral code, your sense of duty, your sense of purpose; the identity that becomes the driving force for action.
But is that truly you?
Ask yourself, have you ever done or said anything — on impulse — that you regretted afterward? You get frustrated and down on yourself — you scream in your head, “why did I say that?” And if that doesn’t relate, think of a time where you had this sudden emotional reaction — out of anger — that had you wondering, why couldn’t I control my emotions? My anger.
Those moments are us coming face to face with our shadow self.
The Shadow
As psychologist Carl Jung said:
“The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.”
The shadow within all of us is the parts of us we deny in ourselves and cast out into our own inner abyss. That abyss is the place within ourselves that our conscious ego has tried to forget about. We lock it up and throw away the key, yet it’s still there screaming, yelling, and demanding control over your actions.
Seeing the shadow within us is difficult, it’s in that black abyss of our mind that is difficult to enter, as it’s hard to face.
Yet, the judgmental creatures that we humans are, we are good at seeing those shadow traits in others, but not ourselves.
Think of your favorite celebrities and public figures. When a story of cheating in a relationship, corruption, or simply a public display of anger from one of them, the public quickly moves to pass judgment.
This judgment is a reaction that protects us from admitting to ourselves that those thoughts, reactions, and emotions lie within us. This idea is what Jung calls “projection.”
You see, our conscious mind wants to avoid our own shadow, yet our subconscious wants us to acknowledge that abyss of the shadow self, but instead of going into the abyss of our minds — our own shadow — we project and amplify the flaws of others.
We notice these shadow traits of aggression, carelessness, materialism, hatred, envy in the projections we create of others. But that projection becomes a reflection of you: a denial of the perceived inferior qualities and evils that we do not want to admit is deep within us.
We set our conscious mind on the throne of our ego.
Imagine that throne being a giant iceberg, your ego is the tip floating above the water, but that unconscious mind is where the shadow lurks in the endless mountain of ice that lies beneath.
To understand this, imagine a time you had a friend confront you about a fault, something as simple as arriving late to everything. When confronted you are met with this overwhelming rage for a moment. That rage is from your friend hitting the iceberg beneath the surface, the nerves you weren’t aware of, thus lack control of.
For Jung, when we deny the shadow, the more control it has of your thoughts, actions, and reactions.
As he said:
“everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.”
Those projections are ways of passing blame for those perceived negative emotions we have ourselves. If we are not aware this is happening, we project our negative traits upon others, blaming them for our own shortcomings and our own lack of personal happiness.
So how do we work with our shadow?
For one, we must become aware of it — dive into the abyss with it — and integrate it into the whole of our conscious ego. If we deny the shadow, we allow it to control us while providing our ego the illusion of control.
We must identify possible origins for our shadow triggers, such as repressed trauma, pain, fear, and aggression.
We must then integrate our shadow by acknowledging those parts in our everyday lives. With this knowledge of those parts, only then can we unlock the wisdom that being aware of it brings.
So instead of allowing fear to control us, we choose courage; instead of pain, we see an opportunity for strength; instead of allowing the trauma to define us, we see it as an opportunity for understanding; instead of allowing aggression to overcome us, we see an opportunity to find our passion.
This understanding bleeds into our interactions with others, instead of meeting other shadows with our own irrational shadow, we meet it with compassion by knowing it’s a trigger they’ve not fully understood and integrated into themselves.
I’ll close with what Jung said beautifully about what integrating your shadow into the whole can bring:
“Such a man knows that whatever is wrong in the world is in himself, and if he only learns to deal with his own shadow he has done something real for the world. He has succeeded in shouldering at least an infinitesimal part of the gigantic, unsolved social problems of our day.”
You see, changing the world begins with knowing yourself. | https://medium.com/the-philosophers-stone/know-yourself-by-knowing-your-shadow-1b6e36b1a480 | ['Brenden Weber'] | 2020-07-25 16:14:33.372000+00:00 | ['Philosophy', 'Mindfulness', 'Life', 'Psychology', 'Life Lessons'] |
Bitcoin | Bitcoin is not a bank-funded or country-funded fund. It is actually a virtual currency. Bitcoin is a virtual currency as you know about currencies like rupee, dollar, pound, etc., and can be taken or given digitally as well. This is different from the rest because we can touch and see the notes and coins of other currencies, but Bitcoin cannot be touched. It can only be stored in a digital wallet. And you can spend it according to your usage.
You would be surprised to know that five years ago the value of one bitcoin was only five rupees. Today (22 March 2021) the price of a bitcoin is close to around 42 lakh rupees. It is a different matter that this coin is not visible to anyone because it is a kind of digital coin
Bitcoin is the first decentralized currency in the world (ie it has no parent, no control of RBI or any other financial institution) which is created only for the digital world. Bitcoins can be used anytime, anywhere in the world. .Through bitcoins, any person can send money to any other person in the world and therefore no help from any bank or any third-party agencies is required.
It was started by a man named Elias Satoshi. But let us tell you who is a person with this name, no one knows till this day. Some people claim to be Satoshi-Naka-moto, but no one is still aware of the real parent of Bitcoin. Its popularity was also not very special, but today it is a very valuable and hard-to-find currency. Bitcoin trading is being done secretly in India too, although the government has warned about it. The Reserve Bank has also given strict instructions on bitcoin.
Bitcoin trading takes place through the digital wall. The price of bitcoin is the same at a time around the world, so its trading became famous. The price of bitcoin keeps on decreasing according to the activities of the world. It is not determined by any country but…..
for more read https://iclubmobile.com/bitcoin/ | https://medium.com/@hbisht368/bitcoin-c48dd2a162cb | ['Himanshu Bisht'] | 2021-03-22 17:29:37.255000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin Price In India', 'Bitcoin Price', 'Bitcoin Wallet', 'Bitcoin'] |
Higher Education Innovation: 25 Examples of Excellence | Arizona State University
Arizona State University has been a technology pioneer and innovator for decades. Since 2003, ASU has filed 2,700 invention disclosures, issued 800 tech licenses, and helped launch more than 100 startups.
Whether it is their Knowledge Enterprise Development or futuristic initiatives like Project Hieroglyph, they’re one to watch. Let’s take a quick look at these two fascinating areas of ASU.
Knowledge Enterprise Development program
ASU’s Knowledge Enterprise Development program “advances research, innovation, strategic partnerships, entrepreneurship, and international development.” This program is one of the fastest growing research enterprises in the US.
By encouraging interdisciplinary research and an entrepreneurial approach in all its students, ASU has become a haven for cross-discipline, out-of-the-box projects, such as a recent study which combines engineering and biology to analyze protein structures in a new light.
Project Hieroglyph
Can science fiction serve as inspiration for actual innovation?
Yes, it can, and ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination has started Project Hieroglyph to help bring those ideas to fruition.
“The name of Project Hieroglyph comes from the notion that certain iconic inventions in science fiction stories serve as modern ‘hieroglyphs’ — Arthur Clarke’s communications satellite, Robert Heinlein’s rocket ship that lands on its fins, Issac Asimov’s robot, and so on. Jim Karkanias of Microsoft Research described hieroglyphs as simple, recognizable symbols on whose significance everyone agrees.”
The project challenges students to think inventively and imagine a better future — gleaning inspiration from anywhere and everywhere, including the science fiction stories and content that provide a bit of a roadmap for future innovations.
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a selective, private research university that only takes chances on those who dare to dream big. Its pioneering history dates back to 1870, and the school is known for its forward-thinking veteran education programs.
Vet Programs
In 1944, Syracuse University played a key role in establishing the original G.I. Bill. Since then, they’ve been honoring that legacy through the creation of new veteran education programs.
One such example is Syracuse’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF). The IVMF is the first interdisciplinary higher education institute solely focused on assisting military veterans and their families.
Syracuse University will also soon be the home to the nation’s first National Veterans Resource Complex, currently under construction. This center will be “dedicated to advancing academic research, actionable programs, and community-connected innovation in service to the nation’s veterans and military-connected families.”
Cal State East Bay
Ranking as one of the most diverse four-year public colleges in the nation, Cal State East Bay is taking a new, more diverse approach to education. This year, U.S. News and World Report ranked CSU East Bay №1 for ethnic diversity in regional universities of the West. And in 2017, the Chronicle of Higher Education elected it the “Most Diverse Public Institution in the Continental United States.” Thanks to their distinctive MBA program, it’s also a leader in global innovation.
MBA for Global Innovators
CSU East Bay’s MBA for Global Innovators is a unique kind of MBA program — it creates an incubator environment that mimics the international business world. This program allows MBA-seeking students to work with experienced professionals and entrepreneurs to learn the ins and outs of global innovation.
The MBA for Global Innovators program focuses on: teaching global awareness of business opportunities and how to pursue them; expanding worldview of the global economy; teaching how to respond to dynamic situations as an innovator; honing leadership and collaborative skills; teaching how to manage and motivate others in complex environments; and teaching how to develop sound business plans and present ideas effectively.
Purdue University
Since 1869, Purdue University has long been committed to providing students with quality education. It is the #1 destination for international students in STEM disciplines and home to the “Back a Boiler” program.
Just last year, 15 startups were founded based on new tech owned by Purdue faculty, staff, or students, and 21 companies were launched using Purdue intellectual property.
Back a Boiler
Purdue’s Back a Boiler program utilizes Income Share Agreements (ISAs) to make paying for college more affordable.
ISAs allow colleges to pay a portion, or all, of a student’s tuition up front. In exchange, when the student graduates and is able to find a job past a certain minimum income threshold, the student begins making a certain number of payments until they are finished. These payments are a small fraction of their salary. Once the student has completed the payments, they keep 100% of their salary.
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a nationally-ranked public university that is consistently recognized as one of the nation’s best values for graduates’ return on investment. Driven by its core philosophy of “Learn by Doing”, students are challenged to put what they learn into practice in a real-world setting.
Innovation Sandbox
Cal Poly’s Innovation Sandbox is a shared workspace that allows students to “play” with the latest prototyping/ideation tools, explore new subjects, develop technologies, and share knowledge.
The space is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, educational programs, and student mentors from all disciplines. Students are encouraged to use the Innovation Sandbox to not only apply what they’ve learned in the classroom, but to collaborate with others to develop their own theories, experiments, and projects.
The Dairy Innovation Institute
Fun Fact: Cal Poly is also home to The Dairy Innovation Institute, a globally recognized institute for dairy foods research and education.
Students can study cheese science and technology, dairy foods quality, dairy ingredients technology, and novel process technologies. Lactose intolerant folk, beware!
University of Southern California
University of Southern California is a leading private research university and a global center for arts, technology, and international business. Their Health Sciences campus also houses cutting edge research in cancer, stem cells, regenerative medicine, orthopedics, and sports medicine. USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies is also making waves, working with studios like Warner Bros and Sony Pictures Entertainment to study how people engage with simulations and to develop more realistic CGI in movies.
Outside of the classroom, USC is the largest private sector employer in the city of Los Angeles and is responsible for $8 billion annually in economic activity in the region.
Masters in Business Veteran Program
USC’s Masters in Business Veteran Program (MBV) is a fully accredited one-year graduate degree created specifically for military veterans, active duty, and reserve personnel. It provides an understanding of all business disciplines and is designed to leverage participants’ management and leadership experience already gained during military service.
Mixed Reality
Mixed Reality (MxR) is part of the USC Institute for Creative Technologies. The project explores techniques and technologies to improve the fluency of human-computer interactions. Their current prototypes focus on immersive systems for education and training simulations that incorporate both real and virtual elements.
Oberlin College
Oberlin College has been changing education since day one. They were the first to admit African Americans AND the first to admit women. Oberlin College is known for its intense energy, creativity, and, according to historian Geoffrey Blodgett, “stubborn moral idealism.”
“With a top-ranking liberal arts college, a world-class conservatory, and a first-rate art museum all on a single campus, it is the ideal laboratory in which to study and design the world you want.” -About Oberlin
Creativity & Leadership
Oberlin’s Creativity and Leadership Program challenges students to hone their intellectual and artistic passions. The program provides support by offering academic courses, funding for project development, guest lectures, and experiential learning opportunities.
This program reflects Oberlin’s commitment to artistic excellence, academic rigor, and preparing students for leadership and civic engagement.
The Oberlin Project
The Oberlin Project is just one way Oberlin College is encouraging better care of our environment. The goal of the project is to create “a resilient, prosperous, and sustainable community” by shifting the city and college to renewable energy sources.
Full Sail
Full Sail offers accelerated degree programs that allow students to graduate in approximately half the time required to complete a traditional bachelor’s degree program. Their fast-paced courses are designed to build upon each other, making it easier for instructors to provide an individualized educational experience.
Dan Patrick Sportscasting Program
An innovative education model is combined with Dan Patrick’s years of industry experience in these hands-on courses. Dan Patrick Sportscasting Program includes on-camera experience in voice training and live presentation and covers behind-the-scenes skills such as journalism and multimedia storytelling. There is also a heavy focus on emerging tech and broadcast opportunities such as gaming, virtual reality, and augmented reality.
Master of Science: Innovation & Entrepreneurship
This degree dives deep into product design and development to suit the needs of our rapidly growing and changing global marketplace. Students tackle real-world projects that teach them how to apply their skills and innovative strategies to existing businesses in need of fresh perspectives.
Babson College
Babson College provides students with a top-of-the-line business education, including global research projects that are used as key benchmarking indicators by supranational authorities around the world. It’s no surprise that their MBA and MS degrees are highly ranked.
Entrepreneurial Thought & Action
Babson’s Entrepreneurial Thought & Action methodology is highly respected in the business world. The college has been the number one leader in entrepreneurship for 25 consecutive years. Through their “Act, Learn, Build” motto, students learn experimentation and creativity with a deep understanding of business fundamentals and rigorous analysis as the ideal approach to creating economic and social value.
Social Innovation Lab
The Social Innovation Lab at Babson connects people and ideas in order to prototype, evaluate, and prove new social innovation in real-world contexts. It’s the hub of a global, interdisciplinary community that is dedicated to building a better world.
Olin College
Malcolm Gladwell loves this innovative school. It’s a “new kind of engineering college” that believes “engineering is a creative enterprise that begins and ends with people and their desire for a better world.”
Transforming Engineering Education
Olin College is passionate about Transforming Engineering Education. The school was “founded to become an important and constant contributor to the advancement of engineering education in America and throughout the world.” Faculty members engage in education research, education consulting, and the development of innovative, research-based student learning opportunities.
Affordable Design and Entrepreneurship
Affordable Design and Entrepreneurship, or ADE, is one of Olin’s year-long senior capstone programs. It can also be taken as a one-semester design depth in which faculty and students work together to improve aspects of human life. These include food security, education, air quality, and many other areas of importance.
University of California — Berkeley
UC Berkeley is the number one public university in the nation and the number four public university in the entire world. Their research “crosses disciplines and illuminates new ideas”, pioneering since their expeditions to Egypt in the late 1800s.
The University of California System (which includes all of UC’s 10 campuses) is responsible for filing 2,382 patents from 2010 to 2015, 33% of which were granted.
SkyDeck
SkyDeck is UC Berkeley’s startup accelerator. It has a dedicated fund that donates half of all profits back to the university at large and accepts applications from companies in all industries to foster a well-rounded program. SkyDeck is “where entrepreneurs come to create the innovative companies that will better our world.”
Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership
The Fung Institute for Engineering and Leadership is “transforming engineers and scientists into leaders who develop technical, social, and economic innovations”. It expertly combines leadership coursework with intensive study for a truly innovative program.
Ivy Tech Community College (Indiana)
Ivy Tech Community College offers hands-on experience with some of Indiana’s most advanced technologies and training facilities. It has more than 1,000 online classes and more than 40 locations.
Innovation Day
Ivy Tech’s Innovation Day was created last year in order to improve all areas of the college and the real world. Participants bring their most innovative ideas before a panel of judges who are looking for one or more powerful ideas for which they can provide funding.
Iowa State University
Iowa State University has earned the title of “the nation’s most student-centered public research university” through its revolutionary research in numerous areas of study. Cutting edge technology meets innovative ideas in its various laboratories.
Nanovaccine Institute
The Nanovaccine Institute is “revolutionizing how we prevent and treat disease”, one day at a time. Coordinated by Iowa State, 68 researchers at 20 universities, research institutes, national laboratories, and companies are merging immunology, nanotechnology, materials science, microbiology, neuroscience, cancer biology, clinical science, and social science to create a better world.
Bioeconomy Institute
The Bioeconomy Institute “seeks to advance the use of biorenewable resources for the production of fuels, energy, chemicals, and materials. The Institute will assure Iowa’s prominence in the revolution that is changing the way society obtains its essential sources of energy and carbon.” In essence, we will reduce our dependence on petroleum by using biomass as a renewable resource to “sustain economic growth and prosperity.”
Greenville Technical College
Greenville Technical College is one of the largest public two-year colleges in South Carolina. It collaborates with community and business leaders to drive economic growth through workforce development, training students who are dedicated to lifelong learning.
Center for Manufacturing and Innovation (CMI)
Greenville’s Center for Manufacturing and Innovation (CMI) builds on an educational partnership with Clemson University and is strongly supported by area manufacturers. This innovative curriculum features project-based learning experiences on real-world projects. Programs are flexible and customizable, allowing students to find their unique place in advanced manufacturing. The CMI offers machine tool tech, CNC machining, mechatronics, and much more.
Ohio State University
Ohio State University ranks 16th among the nation’s best universities and 1st among Ohio publics in academics. Additionally, they have 57 active startups in their portfolio. Between their unprecedented affordability commitment and their excellent health care system (Wexner Medical Center has been named one of the country’s best by U.S. News & World Report for 25 years), innovation is front and center at this school.
CubeRRT
CubeRRT is Ohio State’s first satellite, launched on May 20th of this year. The project was named after “Q*bert”, one of the most popular video arcade games of the 1980s. CubeRRT’s creators aim to improve how scientists collect data from Earth.
Innovate
Innovate is an annual conference that brings together educators, admins, and tech industry pros. Over the course of the event, they explore recent advancements, best practices, and provocative approaches to teaching and learning with tech.
University of Maryland University College
University of Maryland University College specializes in high-demand academic programs, making this school a convenient option for busy professionals who are looking to gain experience. They take pride in their achievement-based admissions process, which does not require SAT, GRE, or GMAT test scores. And to top that off, their Center for Innovation in Learning and Student Success is “leading the search for next-generation learning models.”
Adaptive Learning
The college’s Open Learning Initiative Pilot applies adaptive technologies to meet students’ unique needs. This field “has the potential to address each student’s unique preferences, needs, and capabilities.” Adaptive technologies include intelligent use of learning management systems and sophisticated stand-alone tools that can be integrated into course learning environments. Though this program is still in its early stages, the school is confident that it will transform the way we view learning.
Predictive Analysis
UMUC’s CILSS is an industry leader in analyzing big data “to identify appropriate and effective learner interventions”. The program is bringing learning analytics to many student concerns, including choosing courses and making the most of study time.
The University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is one to watch. It’s currently ranked #3 in national universities. According UC President Robert J. Zimmer:
“The nature of rigorous inquiry at the highest level, in both research and education, requires an environment that fosters sustained open discourse. A commitment to such inquiry as our highest value has been an essential part of the University of Chicago’s culture since its inception.”
UChicago Empower
UChicago Empower is a new initiative that will no longer require standardized tests scores to be admitted as part of your application. The program is aimed at under-served and low-income students, for whom the prices of taking standard admission tests leave them with few options. Along with eliminating the testing mandate, the program will also offer a bevy of financial aid packages and more for those who might otherwise have been left out of the education process.
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a top research institute that is acknowledged globally as a leader in international engagement. It’s also been recognized as one of the best value universities in the United States.
MSU is “advancing the common good in uncommon ways,” and their exceptional financial aid programs help assist all students do just that.
The MSU Spartan Advantage Program
Sometimes outside grants and scholarships don’t cover all of a student’s college tuition and expenses. That’s where MSU’s Spartan Advantage Program (SPAD) steps in.
SPAD “reduces the educational loan debt of our neediest Michigan students” by providing students with institutional grants, scholarships, and work-study opportunities. SPAD supplies students with the final financial assistance needed to fully cover tuition, fees, room, board, and even books.
Spelman College
Innovation is at the core of Spelman College. This school is “a global leader in the education of women of African descent.”
ExxonMobil WISE
ExxonMobil WISE uses funding from ExxonMobil to sponsor the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Scholars Program. It “provides scientifically talented students from groups underrepresented in scientific and engineering fields with the opportunity to pursue undergraduate studies in science and engineering in the highly motivating and supportive environment of Spelman College.”
Stanford University
Stanford University is a magnet for innovators and entrepreneurs, named the most innovative university in the world. It was a Stanford professor who designed the basic communication standard for the Internet, and alumni have founded companies such as Google, Intel, and Netflix.
From Reed Hastings to Peter Thiel to Larry Page and Sergey Brin, there’s a long line of former Stanford students who have changed business and the world. From 2010 to 2015 alone, Stanford filed for a whopping 636 patents, 40% of which were granted.
As can be seen by the type of people their program attracts, Stanford is truly “a place for learning, discovery, innovation, expression and discourse.”
Stanford Interdisciplinary
At Stanford Interdisciplinary, “collaboration is a way of life.” Faculty members seek out diverse patterns on the path to innovation, with interdisciplinary institutes spanning departments. Students are encouraged to take on research projects that cross traditional boundaries, and collaborations between these students and faculty members are central to the school’s culture.
Howard University
Howard University is an HBCU in Washington, D.C. Their motto is Veritas et Utilitas, which means Truth and Service. Howard University is thoroughly committed to this motto and to the education and advancement of underrepresented populations.
Verizon and Howard Partnership for STEM
Howard University and the Verizon Innovative Learning Program teamed up to offer STEM and technology courses to local minority male students in middle school.
“Every young man deserves access to a better future. That’s why we’ve launched the Verizon Innovative Learning Program for minority males — a dynamic, three-week summer program for middle school boys, where they’ll design thinking, 3D printing, augmented reality and social entrepreneurship.”
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University is America’s first research institution. The school lacks a core curriculum, which they believe “fosters academic freedom.” Johns Hopkins has put more money into research than any other academic institution, 38 years in a row.
Around since 1876, Johns Hopkins University has been at the forefront of medical technology innovation. The university introduced the rubber glove, discovered saccharine, and developed a treatment for sickle cell anemia.
Social Innovation Lab (SIL)
The Social Innovation Lab (SIL) supports innovative non-profits, mission-driven companies, and disruptive technologies that aim to create change and opportunity in Baltimore and beyond. The lab is open to Baltimore-area world-changers, faculty, students, and staff, and provides social entrepreneurs with funding, mentorship, office space, and workshops.
Rice University
Rice University “practices need-blind admission, meets 100 percent of demonstrated need for admitted students and is consistently heralded as one of the best values in higher education.”
It is #3 in Best Undergraduate Teaching, was the nation’s first university to create a space-physics department, and recently had a team develop liquid batteries!
Bioscience Research Collaborative
Through Rice’s Bioscience Research Collaborative, scientists and educators from Rice and other Texas Medical Center institutions work together to perform leading research, benefiting human medicine and health. The program encourages interdisciplinary interactions among interinstitutional researchers and performs cutting-edge laboratory, theoretical, and computational investigations. According to their website, “… BRC is a catalyst for new and better ways for researchers to collaborate, explore, learn and lead.”
Allen University
Allen University is an HBCU in South Carolina that teaches “the mind to think, the hands to work and the heart to love.”
Honors Program
In Allen’s Honors Program, creative inquiry begins freshman year and ends with a capstone research project. Students receive special instruction in honors-designated courses and seminars and have the opportunity to attend conferences and participate in community outreach and experiential learning. They also participate in sustainability and campus beautification projects. The program offers a heavy focus on advocacy, activism, and art.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has an “appetite for problems — especially those big, intractable, complicated problems whose solutions make a permanent difference.” According to Reuters, it is the second most innovative college in the world after Stanford.
Since its founding in 1861, MIT has become the school for all things tech, math, and science. The school was granted nearly 600 patents from 2010 to 2015. MIT is also the home of MITx, an open-source platform that allows students all over the world to enroll in free online classes taught by the institute’s professors.
(Fun Fact: Their mascot is the beaver! It was chosen because of its “engineering and mechanical skill and habits of industry.”)
MIT International Center for Air Transportation
The MIT International Center for Air Transportation exists to improve the safety, sufficiency, and capacity of domestic and international air transportation and its infrastructure. It utilizes information tech and human-centered systems analysis to research Air Traffic Management, Air Transportation Infrastructure and Economics, Aviation Safety and Weather, Airline Management and Operations, Human Factors, Flight Instrumentation, and Environmental Impact of Aviation. | https://medium.com/the-mission/higher-education-innovation-25-examples-of-excellence-faa66af4105e | [] | 2018-11-14 23:33:54.126000+00:00 | ['College', 'Higher Education', 'Learning', 'Education', 'Innovation'] |
breaking up with the past | Reflecting on the transformations which have transpired inside of me as well as the ways I have grown as a human in general this past year or so makes me indescribably proud. Life is a constant work in progress, a never-ending project, a continuous lesson, and so on with other metaphorical comparisons which, admittedly, ring true. There are still so many things that I plan to continue to work and improve on, and while some are more simple, other things are unquestionably easier said than done. Something I have been struggling with trying to improve is living without regret; living without wondering about the “what if?”- what if I had chosen to live differently than I did in my past? What if I did (x) instead of (z)? I know I know, I wouldn’t be where I am nor who I am today if it weren’t for all of my glorious mistakes, my notoriously poor decision making, or my self-destructive way of living in the past. I tell myself to be thankful for all that I put myself through because I know how much stronger I am thanks to it and sometimes feel as though I have this emotional connection to life that some people aren’t capable of because they haven’t experienced the extremely high highs, as well as the excruciatingly low lows. But, it’s hard sometimes. There are periods of time where I feel like I have made so much progress on this specific conflict, and then times I feel like I’m regressing 10 steps. Times where I have accepted that what has happened has quite indeed happened and to take what I’ve learned and move on, as well as times where I drive myself crazy dwelling on what I should have done differently in various scenarios. Even though I am so beyond grateful for where I am now and the people I am so very fortunate enough to have in my life, it’d be a lie to say the past doesn’t pop up to haunt me every now and again.
As someone who has recently been on the quest to live as presently as possible, this obviously proves to be quite a road block in doing so and I have been navigating the best way to cope with it. I believe worrying about the future and dwelling on the past can really only serve a negative purpose and pull you out of the present moment, which is why I wanted to address this as well as admit to some my faults during recent years, and maybe serve as some sort of explanation as well as apology to those who knew me during this time. I also feel compelled to share this in hopes of the cathartic relief it may provide letting some of this out onto (digital) paper. Basically, I’m just getting a lot of shit off of my chest, and maybe somebody reading this will be able to relate on some degree…or maybe not and someone will just refer me to a therapist idk (looking for one anyways so hmu).
Before going on to discuss why I have such a difficult relationship with the period of time which is presumed to be “the best time of your life”, I do want to recognize that there are undoubtably so many positive outcomes from my time at Auburn; I did create some amazing friendships with people who I couldn’t imagine my life without, and also had opportunities that I don’t believe would have come my way if it weren’t for me being there. I also did have a *helluva* good time for a good portion of college, I don’t want this to come off as if I didn’t have any fun or that I didn’t make some amazing friends. It’s also not that I necessarily wish I went somewhere else, I just wish I did my time there, and in life, during those years so differently.
College was….a tumultuous time for me, to say the least. Personally speaking, I feel like I may be a minority in admitting that I am quite thankful that I am out of college. The majority of my friends miss college, which I totally understand, but I can’t fully say the same. I definitely miss certain aspects of college and specific times as well as my friends, but sometimes feel that the only reason I’d go back would be to redo pretty much everything I did while there.
I was- at least what feels like to me as- a complete and utter disaster throughout my entire time there, and feel like I am a considerably different person now than I was during that time. I think a lot of people who knew me in college see me now and think that I’ve changed so much, but the thing is, I was never fully the person they knew. I didn’t even have any idea who the fuck I was. I think a major factor was that I began college with no true sense of self…I was the equivalent to a piece of play doh, willing to mold and form into whichever shape fit the people I surrounded myself with. I never ever felt fully like myself, and I believe a lot of the adversities I encountered during this time were inarguably self-inflicted, but nonetheless still valid. I still wish I could shake myself back then, I wish I could tell my college self so so many things.
Rewinding to the years 2014–2018, I basically was living in an extremely destructive manner, having fallen submissive to the pressure which can occur while attending a very large school where it seems to consist of a rather large pool of beautiful and wealthy 18–20something-year-olds. I cared way less about what I was studying than I am willing to admit and more so about my social status. It was definitely more about the quantity of friends I had versus the quality. I feel like I knew a pretty decent amount of people, but probably actually knew a very small chunk of them. I definitely found self-worth in attending/getting invited to the most social events I could, as well as the amount of people I knew when I would go out or even just run into on campus…I *smh* thinking about it. I genuinely sought validation through other people. I was an active participant in Auburn’s nightlife, and an aggressive participant at that. It was a rarity that I went out and didn’t black out at some point during the evening, which some may say is just modern college culture, but I was definitely doing it for the wrong reasons and I woke with regret the following morning time and time again. I was making decisions I am still too ashamed to admit to and doing things that I never would do sober, and it genuinely still hurts to think about them in detail. My anxiety was at its absolute peak, all the while dealing with an eating disorder which managed to stick with me like the nuisance of a little tic who wanted to run my life throughout my entire college existence. Everything was feeding onto one another, and I ended up caught in this whirlwind of destructiveness and didn’t know how to find my way out for way too long.
I kicked off college with the typical freshman year that many of us shamelessly partook in: going out four+ nights a week, blacking out on most of those nights, late-nighting at Little Italy’s Pizzeria, waking up in unfamiliar locations, etc. It was crazy, it was fun, it was reckless; it was all one hopes their freshman year of college would be. After my first semester of nights I didn’t remember more than ones I did paired with the famously inevitable freshman 15, I realized over that first winter break that I needed to get my shit together. I began to feel extremely lost and even applied to transfer to a different college (which I would later on decide against). Second semester was where, unbeknownst to me at the time, an extremely unhealthy relationship with myself would form its’ early stages. I became regularly acquainted with a little drug known as Adderall and realized not only does it help you learn a semesters’ worth of information in three nights, it also makes you not eat! What a discovery! What began as a little boost to study quickly became my fuel for energy and an addiction to a repressed appetite. Slowly but surely, I became to be reliant on the feeling that Adderall provided and it became a part of my daily life to the point where I felt like I could not take on the day unless I had the drug running through my blood, though I wasn’t prescribed it. This little cycle fed into the summer, where I hit an extremely low point due to many factors of that period of time, which I will refrain from going into too much detail about at the current moment. I gave up Adderall cold turkey, and felt that I had reached the light at the end of the tunnel.
Sophomore year began and before I knew it, I was sucked back into my old ways. I believe I was seeking some form of control in my life, which resulted in me resorting to welcoming an eating disorder back into my life. When I think about sophomore year, I feel empty. And dark. I became absolutely obsessed with this eating disorder, allowing it to consume every aspect of my life. Thinking about this year, I am reminded of all of the dinners I missed with friends because I couldn’t bear to put myself under the pressure that I did back then around food. I’m reminded of the multi-hour naps I was taking daily because of the lack of energy I had, as well as the 3–5 mile runs that I forced myself to go on every. single. day. no matter how tired or bad I felt. I’m reminded of the trips to the bathroom after every meal, thinking no one around me knew, but realizing now that, in fact, everyone knew. I’m reminded of the times I cried looking in the mirror because I wasn’t skinny enough, even though I was at my lowest weight. I’m reminded of how absurdly drunk I would get due to the lack of nutrition I obtained in my body over and over again. I didn’t realize at the time how little control I had allowed myself to have over my own life. I’m not sure how I made it out of that year, but I did. I have multiple people who deserve my never-ending gratitude for not giving up on me during that year.
The next two years were somewhat of a blur when I look back on them. I spent the summer after sophomore year interning in New York City which was an absolute DREAM. Things felt like they were going so well, so I ignored the many issues I was still facing due to the circumstances of life at the time. Unfortunately, but expectedly, my ED followed me to the Big Apple and had no intentions of departing anytime soon. With each period of time it stuck around and life evolved, it evolved with me. It took shape in many different forms- varying in severity, frequency, amount of space it took up in my brain, etc. There were times when it would seem like I was finally kicking it, and times where it was evident that it was kicking me. **Something you find out after trying to beat an eating disorder on your own: the majority of people battling an eating disorder cannot beat it on their own.
Throughout junior and senior year, I was still on my same bullshit. I was going out more nights than I wasn’t; I prioritized my social life so much more than my mental health and it took a massive toll. It wasn’t until the end of senior year when an incident (it shall be referred to as) occurred which forcefully ripped me out of the downward spiral I was heading down at an extremely rapid rate and forced me to confront everything I had been running away from for so long. The entirety of the past four years hit me like a fucking train. This period of time was without a doubt one of the hardest things I have ever had to go through, but thinking about what would have happened had I continued heading down the same path is honestly terrifying.
Looking back, I see how I was using drinking and going out, among many other things, to run away from the internal struggles I was facing. I constantly surrounded myself with others because the second I was in a state of solitude was when I was reminded of all of the demons which were residing inside of my head whom I had no desire to face. I genuinely had zero healthy coping mechanisms whatsoever, and though I thought I was solving my problems by keeping myself occupied constantly, I was actually just adding fuel to the fire. I found myself lying constantly- whether about myself, my life at home, my eating disorder, where I came from, etc. Life never felt calm, I never felt at ease, and I never felt honest. So much time feels wasted from being in this state, all of these factors were consuming me daily. Days went by in a blur and I knew throughout this period how much I needed help, but was too scared to actually admit to myself the reality of my situation, so I left the whirlwind continue on and continue to swallow me until I was finally forced out of it.
Another part of this period of time which also haunts me is my awareness of the fact that I wasn’t only harming myself throughout this time. I was hurting so many people around me, people who cared endlessly for me, who I gave every reason possible to walk out on me, but who didn’t. This is the part I think that makes me regret everything the most, not only what I put myself through, but what I put others through. There are times when I truly do not know how they ever put up with me and stuck around for as long as they did as well as times where I wonder where I would be had it not been for them and their persistence with our friendship, knowing quite well it probably wouldn’t be in a good place.
When I think back to this time period, feelings of anger and resentment tend to arise. It sometimes feels like 4.5 years was taken from me, that they feel almost as though they were wasted. I blame the thievery of those years on my eating disorder and my anxiety, but mostly my lack of coping mechanisms and failure to reach for help. I feel angry I didn’t pay more attention to life and what actually mattered. I feel angry that I treated people the way that I did, that I selfishly continued harming myself, watching them suffer as well. I feel angry that I could have been gaining so much knowledge and experience, but instead chose to retreat to the surface level part of college. I get angry that I didn’t study something that ignited a fire inside of me and that I took advantage of the education that we paid for which I had at my fingertips. I wish I had sparked up conversations with random people in class outside of my stereotypical group, studied way more, attended class way more, played around to figure out what made me feel passionate, took random classes on things I was interested in. I wish I cared more about what was going on in the world around me and so much less about what people thought about me. Four and a half years is a lot of time, and while it’s happening it feels so fast, but then you look back and realize how much you could’ve done with your life in that amount of time, and that’s where a lot my regret stems from.
In retrospect, this period of time is such a small speck of life. While it feels like those years are where you figure out who you are and who you want to be, I will not let them define me. I have changed and grown more in the past year and a half than I did within the entirety of those four years. Instead of beating myself up for not being able to conquer this mental battle with regret, I want to remind myself that it’s okay to not be okay with my past. To sometimes be vulnerable with myself, allow myself to genuinely wonder what the fuck was going through my head during that period of time. I think if I just allowed myself to simply just accept my past and move on, I’d end up compartmentalizing it and not dealing with it, thus allowing this dark ball of regret marinate inside my head popping back in every now and again to taunt me. Emilee mentioned something which really resonated with me. Instead of moving on, move forward. The more I contemplated these words, I understood what they meant. Moving on means you just try to forget about something and continue on with life expecting everything to be okay after whatever you have experienced, while moving forward is more about the acknowledgment of what has happened, making amends with it, and to keep the past as the past and keep moving, which is exactly what I plan to do. This is not an overnight nor linear process, it is something I am going to have to continue to work on for many years to come.
I believe an important part in the process of healing overall is to close your eyes, let yourself be angry, be sad, grieve over things you’ve done and said, but always remembering to open your eyes back up and look around. Look at where you are, appreciate the fact you’re still alive, you’re still breathing, and you made it out of whatever dark hole which felt like the end of the world without too many bruises. Let all of the regret that you feel from your past manifest into the fuel for your future, for what you’re going to do and how you’re going to live differently. This testing time period of my life will serve as a reminder as well as motivation constantly; a reminder of how far I have come and motivation to never let myself regress to that place again.
I’m eternally grateful for the people who stuck around, for those who were introduced to me during this time thanks to the sequence of life’s events which happen with their own perfect timing, for (somehow) always being given a second chance, and for simply just wanting better for myself. There is no choice but to move forward, you can’t change where you’ve been but you can sure as hell change where you’re going. | https://medium.com/@chastinearbaugh/breaking-up-with-the-past-ce63b2b2401e | ['Mackie Arbaugh'] | 2020-04-23 21:19:34.714000+00:00 | ['Healing', 'Mental Health', 'Regret', 'Wellbeing'] |
Climate change Climate change is the gradual change in temperature due to human and non human… | Climate change
Climate change is the gradual change in temperature due to human and non human activities.When climate change occurs; temperatures can increase a dramatically. When temperature rises, many different changes can occur on Earth. For example, it can result in more floods, droughts, storms or intense rain, as well as severe heat waves.As these changes frequently occur in future decades, they will likely present challenges to our society and environment.
In the last century due to industrial revolution human effort is decreasing but machines come with drawbacks. Almost all machines run on electricity generated from Fossil fuels which release immense amount of CO² and other pollutants in the air. These Greenhouse gases are like a blanket around the Earth, trapping energy in the atmosphere and causing it to warm up. We humans have adapted to the stable climate we have enjoyed since the last ice age which ended about 10,000 years ago. A warmer climate can bring unpleasant changes that can affect our agriculture, the natural environment, and even our own health and safety. Simply we won’t survive climate change.
Climate change is considered one of the few things that threaten human life and survival on planet earth. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2010 and 2005 has been the warmest years in recorded history. The earth could warm by an additional about 1.4 degrees centigrade during the 21st century if we fail to reduce emissions from burning fossil fuels. If we talk locally Gilgit Baltistan and chitral are one of the largest supplier of illegal timber exportation in pakistan. This uncontrolled deforestation has severe drawbacks, if it’s not controlled in time our valleys will be hit with severe flash floods as trees contol water ways, our animal life would be destroyed. Our summers would be extremely hot and winters would be unbearably colder.
In a nut shell we need to take part and try to stop climate change. If the earth’s temperatures continue to rise in the future, living things on earth would not survive. If everybody as one take stand and try to end most of the climate changes that are occurring, this world would be a safer place to live on. The earth is our protective ceiling and we need to protect it. As its written in the holy quran "And We made the sky a protected ceiling, but they, from its signs, are turning away.” Sura Al-Anbiyya [21:32]. | https://medium.com/@ali-shan/climate-change-climate-change-is-the-gradual-change-in-temperature-due-to-human-and-non-human-d11aae4b6a33 | [] | 2020-12-17 07:40:43.066000+00:00 | ['Greenhouse', 'Pakistan', 'Earth', 'Humanity', 'Climate Change'] |
We need to talk about the way we talk about men | It’s become something of an annual tradition, when images of small boats making their way across the English Channel once again start to appear on our TV screens, to rehash the same tired debate about whether the UK should honour its international obligations to take in those seeking asylum.
Public attitudes towards refugees remain alarmingly hostile. 27% of UK adults have “no sympathy at all” for asylum seekers, according to a YouGov survey, with 22% described as having “not much sympathy” for them. Racism and Islamophobia doubtless play their role in this, but there is another underexamined source of hostility: most of the refugees crossing the Channel are young men.
‘Males of military age’
For 2019, 53% of asylum applicants to the UK were adult men, compared to 24% adult women and 23% children. Much has been made of the prevalence of adult men amongst those making the dangerous journey to Britain’s shores by reactionaries such as Nigel Farage.
In an interview on Talk Radio in August, Farage used the fact that the majority of those arriving by boat were young men to argue that they could not really be refugees. ‘Although Nigel, there are also some poor children being put on these boats too,’ the host Dan Wootton argued back in response — the underlying assumption that young men would never be vulnerable enough to qualify as refugees remaining glaringly unaddressed.
Farage would later describe the arrival of these young men in the UK as an ‘invasion’ — the kind of military language which is often deployed by the far right to portray asylum seekers not as people fleeing a desperate situation who are worthy of our compassion, but as a hostile force which means great harm to UK citizens, particularly women and children.
A sample of tweets showing the way that young male refugees are disparaged as dangerous and illegitimate
When coming out of the mouths of well-known xenophobes and online reactionaries, it’s easy to see these opinions as the bigoted nonsense that they are. However, I am concerned that many of the underlying assumptions about men which underpin these views are not the sole preserve of the far right.
The uncomfortable truth is that many of us, who normally think of our views on gender as considerably more enlightened and progressive, agree with the notion that adult men can never really be vulnerable, not the way women and children can; that men are inherently violent and threatening; that they are a risk to our women and children; that we need to exclude them from our spaces in order to keep everyone else safe.
Until we reckon with these anti-male biases which many of us hold, our movement will be institutionally incapable of challenging the hostility toward male refugees which is robbing them of the dignity and compassion they deserve. At the same time, we must not give an inch to those who wish to cynically exploit men’s issues in order to turn back the clock on gender equality.
Who counts as vulnerable?
It should be a fairly easy case to make for why ‘military age’ men fleeing active warzones should be granted refugee status. A tragic feature of many modern-day conflicts is that the distinction between combatant and civilian is eroded to the point where all men capable of fighting are seen as potential threats and therefore legitimate targets. For example, under President Obama’s drone strike policy, all military age males within a strike zone were by default counted as combatants, ‘unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent.’
‘The iron-clad rule is that if a non-combatant was there, if a woman or a child was there, no operation would proceed.’
They are also vulnerable to other gender-based threats, including forced conscription and sex-selective massacres. During the first four years of the Syrian Civil War, three quarters of all civilians killed were adult men. Not to mention the fact that the vast majority of combat fatalities are male.
Despite this, there is an unwillingness within the NGO sector to ever classify adult men as vulnerable, even in situations where this is clearly warranted. I’ve written previously about the fact that many NGOs intentionally exclude men from definitions of “gender-based violence”, so that the term is used synonymously with “violence against women”, thus erasing the lived experience of men who are targeted with violence as a result of their gender.
Additionally, by using phrases such as “innocent women and children” as a byword for civilians, and “especially vulnerable groups” — which in the words of Professor Charli Carpenter, ‘with rare exceptions…tends to include every possible category except able-bodied adult civilian males’ — international organisations fuel the harmful idea that men should be excluded from the category of ‘vulnerable’ in all circumstances.
Take for example the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Many studies suggest that men are significantly more likely to die from the disease than women, due to a range of biological and societal factors. However, this did not stop the avowedly progressive agency UN Women from tweeting, ‘The world’s women continue to pay the highest price during the pandemic.’
It appears that we are so insitutionally blind to the possibility that men could be victims that we simply cannot see it, even when the numbers are right before our eyes.
If the very organisations which should be most vocally supporting the rights of refugees cannot bring themselves to acknowledge any circumstance under which men could be subject to additional risk due to their gender, no wonder it has proven so easy for toxic attitudes about the illegitimacy of adult male asylum seekers to become so widespread.
I imagine many readers will object to my reasoning here on the basis that, given the privileged position of men in society, it is perfectly valid not to classify them as vulnerable as this label should be reserved for groups which hold less systemic power and privilege.
However, unless we understand the concept of male privilege to mean that it is everywhere and always an advantage to be a man no matter the circumstances (a definition which I do not think is sustainable), then we must accept that there will be certain situations in which maleness comes with additional vulnerabilities which we should acknowledge and be sensitive to. The fact that men are privileged in general does not mean that we can blanketly apply this to any particular situation and expect it to hold true.
Many of us in the progressive movement are getting pretty good at analysing the ways in which categories of disadvantage intersect to produce multiple vulnerabilities. What we are less good at is recognising the circumstances in which the intersection of maleness with a disadvantaged identity serves not to lessen vulnerability but to enhance it.
‘Including women and children’
The idea that adult men are unlikely to be genuine asylum seekers is reinforced by the widespread belief that they are legitimate targets of violence, therefore any attempt to flee such violence would itself be illegitimate.
It is highly common when deaths from violent incidents are reported in the media that special mention is made when women and children are amongst the victims. This is even the case when adult men constitute the majority of victims. Take for example the fact I mentioned above that adult men made up 75% of all civilians killed in the first four years of the Syrian Civil War. The study from which this statistic is taken was reported with the following headline: ‘Quarter of civilians killed in Syrian War are children, women’.
Or take this Guardian article with the headline ‘End violence against female aid workers’, which half way down the piece admits that ‘men in the humanitarian sector experience three to six times higher attack rates than women overall…’
The implicit message being sent by this special focus paid to female and child victims is clear: violence against men is normal; violence against women and children is an aberration worthy of particular condemnation.
Leave no-one behind…except for half the world’s population. Logo for the UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
This trope is so common that we may not even see it, or be aware when we use it. Or if we do use it we may not consider the harmful message that it sends. The oft-repeated call by NGOs to end violence against women, without commensurate calls to stop violence being committed against men — and the tendency to declare that women are most affected by phenomena even when they kill men at a greater rate — reinforce this regressive idea that it is perfectly natural for men to be the targets of violence.
While there’s clearly nothing wrong with an indvidual organisation choosing to focus their energies on advocating on behalf of female or child victims, it becomes a problem when this is repeated on aggregate to such an extent that it is only ever women and children whose victimisation is being discussed. For instance, no reasonable person would criticise a lung cancer charity for not paying sufficient attention to other types of cancer. Yet, if all of the most prominent cancer charities focused exclusively on lung cancer, this would create a false impression in the public mind that other types of cancer are less serious and therefore less deserving of resources and support.
Of course, it is absolutely right that we draw attention to the gendered impacts which women face, and to advocate for the rights of children to be respected. Additionally, we must not allow our analyses of violence to exclude female victims, or forms of violence which disproportionately affect women such as sexual violence during conflict which was so shamefully ignored for so long.
But we must be careful to do this in such a way as not to minimise male victimhood and perpetuate negative stereotypes. When men are the primary victims of something, we must not shy away from highlighting this.
I can understand why there is a certain reluctance within progressive circles to be seen to be advocating on behalf of men. Political advocacy on men’s issues does not exactly have the best rep, largely thanks to reactionaries such as self-styled ‘men’s rights activists’ who only bring up men’s issues in bad faith in order to harm the cause of gender equality.
Yet we must realise that conversations about these issues will happen whether we choose to participate in them or not — the choice before us is whether we want to work to move those conversations towards progressive solutions, or allow the far right to continue using them as a recruiting tool to reel in vulnerable young men.
Violence as male pathology
The association of men with violence is nothing new. The view of men as warriors and protectors, and on the flipside as rapacious invaders, is arguably as old as gender roles themselves. It’s a great shame that, despite the welcome upheavals of traditional notions of gender which have taken place over the past few decades, it still lingers with us.
Most disappointingly, this archaic gender essentialism has been given something of a progressive makeover in recent years through the emergence of concepts such as ‘male violence’ and ‘toxic masculinity’ which — though I’m sure they are well-intentioned — have the unfortunate effect of further reinforcing the link between maleness and violence in the public mind.
It has been argued that it’s perfectly reasonable for maleness to be linked to violence — after all, the vast majority of violent acts are committed by men, so it is only right that gender forms a significant part of our analysis of the causes of violence.
However, this view is complicated by the fact that as well as the majority of perpetrators of violence, men constitute the majority of its victims. This fact is counterintuitive, since it is given little prominence in public discourse about violence. Yet it is backed up by research carried out by reputable bodies such as the United Nations Development Programme, which in its landmark 2014 report on interpersonal violence found that 82% of all homicide victims were men, as well as a disproportionately high number of those treated in hospital for physical injuries as a result of interpersonal violence. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported a similar figure (81%) in its 2019 Global Study on Homicide. Reliable global data for non-lethal violent offences is harder to come by, though trends from countries which do have such data suggest that men are similarly disproportionately the victims of non-sexual violent crime.
To understand why this should complicate our way of thinking about violence, consider our response when islamophobic types try to capitalise on terrorist attacks carried out by self-professed Muslims in order to claim that there is something inherently violent about Islam and its followers.
The usual (and correct) response from progressives goes something like this: You cannot tarnish an entire group of people because of the actions of a minority. The fact that some people carrying out terror attacks happen to share one characteristic with other Muslims does not mean that those other Muslims bear any responsibility for the terrorists’ actions, and nor do they have a special duty to call out and condemn those acts of terror.
Moreover, the idea that Muslims act as some kind of homogenous bloc is shown to be absurd by the fact that the majority of victims of terrorism globally are themselves Muslim. Any kind of analysis which lumps together the perpetrators of terrorism with the people they are most likely to harm, and then claims that together they constitute a unified group which bears collective responsibility for acts of terrorism, is at best hopelessly flawed and at worst intentionally deceptive.
In the same way, to argue that violence is a ‘male problem’ erases the distinction between victim and perpetrator — a distinction which is far more important than the fact that they both happen to have similar physiology. If we want to properly understand the causes of violence, we need a much more nuanced analytical framework than one which views the problem at the level of magnification of an entire half of humanity. | https://medium.com/@marknormington/we-need-to-talk-about-the-way-we-talk-about-men-680777e4932f | ['Mark Normington'] | 2020-11-19 00:14:37.341000+00:00 | ['Refugees', 'Charity', 'Violence', 'Men', 'Gender Equality'] |
The Power of Color in Music | Throughout the course of history, people of color have been highly mistreated. Racism targets many nationalities, especially those from the African-American and Latinx communities. To fight against these injustices, many musicians and artists use their art to address racism. Kendrick Lamar, Marvin Gaye, and others write music depicting racism and the negativity surrounding racism, and not only do they write music, but they have also created events and donated money in order to help. For these reasons, we can make an educated guess that music indeed helps spread awareness to dismantle systemic racism. If enough people can spread the music of these artists and the artist’s accomplishments, it may be possible for people to realize the evil realities existent in our nation, and wider world, because of racism.
Music has been connected to the cause of fighting against segregation for many years, from rock to rap. Even though it may appear as if discrimination has decreased, it still exists in today’s world and needs to be ended. As stated previously, many artists fight against racism and because of their large audience, their message spreads faster than any other means. Not only do artists speak on the interactions that they as people of color have dealt with, but they also highlight the poor and dangerous communities they have to live in because of their identity. Although there are going to be people who disagree with the artist’s message, there will still be other people that are connecting to the music. Artists should keep on making musical masterpieces about their personal experiences to share the continuous trauma and struggles people of color are forced to deal with because of racism.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Kendrick Lamar is one of the best-known artists, and is recognized for the powerful messages in his music. He is an African-American rapper. Raised in a poor community dealing with gang activity every day, Lamar managed to create a better and safer life (Smuskiewicz). Unfortunately, not everyone is lucky enough to get out. Lamar acknowledges this and uses his platform to say so. Some of his songs that speak on social issues include “DNA”, “King Kunta,” and “I.” Out of all the songs listed, “DNA” is one of his most well-known songs. “DNA” is about the way the world views the color of his skin versus the way he views it. In addition to his music, Lamar has used his Grammy performances to speak on racism and gang violence. In his 2018 performance, he strung together many of his songs in one beautiful and stunning performance (“Grammy Rewind”). With this incredible performance Kendrick Lamar was able to spread the importance of stepping out of one’s own world to understand that of others.
Excerpt | Full performance available on Grammy Rewind.”
Marvin Gaye was an African-American singer and songwriter commonly known as the “Prince of Soul.” He had a pretty rough childhood, mainly because of his abusive father (Talevski). In one Marvin Gaye’s songs called “What’s Going On,” he spoke about racial issues. This song blew up, won a Grammy, and was covered in the Rolling Stones magazine (Perone). In an article, James E Perone explains the legacy of Gaye’s song more clearly. “Despite the fact that ‘What’s Going On’ essentially is a protest song, Gaye’s musical setting features a lush, spacious arrangement, something that was disarming and highly unusual for a politically and socially motivated song of the time period.” To summarize, Gaye’s song was extremely motivational and his legacy should continue more in music, due to the fact that racism still exists as well through unemployment and such. We can assume that, because of its popularity, this song helped a lot of people. With the information we have on Marvin Gaye, we can tell that he used his platform to spread his message on racial inequality. His music worked really extremely well for that purpose.
Music has a way of connecting to many listeners, so much so that it can even touch the soul. Because of this, an artist’s audience members want to share their interests with different people they know. This is how music gets spread around the world. If the music is good enough, it becomes mainstream; if the artist is lucky enough, they awards. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, Kendrick Lamar is perhaps one of the most influential musical artists in the realm of social equality. With Kendrick Lamar’s music being mainstream, and others as well, we may be able to use their actions as an example. The more that award-winning artists use their platforms to support causes, the more awareness people have. To continue, artists like Kendrick Lamar are fighting hard to spread the message of what people of color are going through. This is why artists should join the fight for equity. The fight is yet not over.
Photo by Roger Cosby on Unsplash
History plays a huge role in today’s world, from racial inequality to massacres. Knowing and understanding what has been done, we are able to learn from these past experiences, reflect and grow from them to become better than we were. Unfortunately, there are still people in today’s world who do not understand this. By spreading positive messages, using things like music and media, people may understand different perspectives and realize how they can evolve and become more compassionate. We may be able to use history to gain information or to recreate something and make it our own. One of the most important parts of history that still continues today is segregation. Segregation was a major and more noticeable issue in the past. One of the most common places for segregation were the schools. Children were not able to get the proper education because of their skin color. Even after segregation ended legally in the U.S, many people of color still are discriminated against because of their skin color and may still face the repercussions of segregation such as redlining. Joe R. Feagin wrote a journal article in the year 1992, speaking on discrimination in universities. People in the article were interviewed and all spoke about how they were discriminated against. “Perhaps because she was inadequately prepared for her encounters with campus racism, she at first did not want to believe that she was being labeled in a derogatory way. The student quoted above also commented on the racist jokes that are part of the White campus subculture: “I hate to say that I’ve gotten bitter, but I’ve gotten bitter . . . last summer, I can remember people telling jokes, that’s what I remember most, everyday there was a racial joke”(Feagin). Since the article was written, society has greatly improved for the better, however there are still minority groups that feel discriminated against. This is because of the spread of awareness in today’s society resulting from the easy accessibility of media and music. If it were not for the spread of awareness, there may be even more racism than we have today. We as people need to continue to spread awareness, because racism still exists today.
To wrap up, music on social issues is extremely important, because without it, people would not be aware of issues that are going on around the world, mainly racial issues. Artists such as Kendrick Lamar are very important because they’re making powerful music and using their platform to spread their message. Today’s world is changing; the difference from today and the 20th century is astronomical. We are on the path towards ending racial inequality, however the fight is not over, and there is still a long way to go.
Photo by Mélodie Descoubes on Unsplash
This topic means a lot to me because I come from a minority family who worked extremely hard to have a better life. Even though I am privileged to have the life that I have now, I will always remember where my family came from. In addition, I love many types of music. It’s a huge part of my life. This writing is from the heart, and I have put a lot of thought into this piece. This should as well mean a lot of other people, since it is an issue that many people are currently fighting hard for. Racial inequality needs to be fixed and addressed. There are a lot of ways people can support the cause, such as donating money, participating in events, or just simply talking about the issues to family members or friends. Always remember that there is a way to help; any action, small or large, will mean something to someone. | https://medium.com/music-culture-irl/the-power-of-color-in-music-5ae68303c068 | ['Juan Martinez'] | 2020-12-20 20:23:24.102000+00:00 | ['Equality', 'Blm', 'Music', 'Protest', 'BlackLivesMatter'] |
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The Evil Empire | What do you really know about Great Britain, and how much of it is a lie?
The devil has impeccable manners and wears a suit
I lived in England with my daughter from 2018 to 2020. I lived in a small village in the most affluent part of the Southeast, 40 miles off London. I wanted to live in a safe place and chose a low crime area. Despite the village having the lowest level of crime in the Southeast, during my stay there, a man was stabbed to death on a train, my property was stolen, other people reported having things stolen, and it was considered the norm. I was shocked with what I saw, also traveling around the UK. I felt generally unsafe with the level of harassment, theft, and knife crime. The lack of respect for women was just shocking and I felt like schoolgirls were targeted by adult men. I feared that something bad could happened to my kid anytime, and the law enforcement wouldn’t do anything about it. I couldn’t carry pepper spray or a taser because they are illegal in the UK. In addition to insights based on my personal experiences I made some analyses, which relate to politics, society and how the law is enforced in the UK. Below are my thoughts on why I think it’s not the best country to move to. I don’t want to use the word “emigrate” because it was my choice to move there, I wasn’t forced by any terrible circumstances. In the end, my own country offers more comforts to me, better food and more safety. Below are the main reasons why I think moving to the UK was a bad idea for me. This list is not exhaustive — there are more things which bothered me, during my stay there, maybe I’ll cover them in another story.
The financial and moral decomposition of society
The state of society in Britain is not at all what it is claimed to be. It’s not a modern society, it’s not a rich society and the comfort of living is not that high, given the country’s high economic ranking. The culture, lifestyle and general mental state of British people is deteriorating, but because of the country’s exceptionalism, people are covertly forbidden to discuss any problems. The housing and land ownership situation is dire and is a direct consequence of a lack of a serious land reform. The majority of land is owned by a miniscule percent of society — the super rich, which means that most people are forced to rent until they die, having little chance of leaving anything to their children.
Multiculturalism is a failed concept and Great Britain is proof of it. You can’t squeeze a bunch of people together, who all have different moral codes, values and cultural traditions, without causing friction. In the long run, multiculturalism gradually erases the local culture. It seems that larger forces are at play, forces that may purposely destroy the fabric of society, to reach their own goals. Finally, the media propaganda (yes there is propaganda) tries to baffle people into believing they can’t use their own common sense to figure out what is right or wrong. The tabloids are constantly trying to distract, shock and morally numb people down. This is no new thing, as aristocrats have been using these tactics to keep the common class in check for centuries. It’s just that in other European countries, they don’t do it anymore. European aristocrats have been disempowered by revolutions, uprisings and land reforms. In Britain this tradition is unbroken, which causes a great imbalance of power. It is important to remember that Great Britain is not a real democracy but a mix of elements of monarchy, capitalistic oligarchy and a facade democracy.
British traditions incorporate ideas dragged straight out of the middle ages, and men think it’s their god given right to harass women in a creepy way.
What does sexual harassment look like in Great Britain? British men think they are entitled to treat all women like hookers. If a man is interested in you, he will just stare at you with a creepy smile, for a prolonged period of time, even if you completely ignore him. They do this in front of their wives and girlfriends, who are limited by the British culture and forced into some exotic, prehistoric submission. It happened to me all the time, that men would stare at me, try to make eye-contact with their female companions present. While in my country it is considered rude to stare at strangers, and a man will be told off if he stares at a woman, making her feel uncomfortable, in Britain it is considered normal. So while a man stares at you, for five, ten, fifteen minutes, in a way that is not friendly but sleazy, his companion becomes visibly irritated. Of course she is not angry with her man, telling him to stop, she will be angry with the woman he is staring at. The weird, ancient myth, that women are to be blamed for male behaviors is very pervasive in the British culture and leads to a continuously worsening state of things regarding the of abuse of women and their rights. Women are routinely blamed for everything that happens to them, be it harassment, rape or being murdered by their spouse. Not only are they blamed by the male population, but other women as well, as they seem to have some kind of Stockholm syndrome in relation to the women-hating, oversexed, misogynistic men.
“All other countries have the same problems as the UK or worse” — British exceptionalism.
It’s not difficult to notice, that British people have internalized their country’s communist style propaganda, namely that Great Britain is better than all other countries. This leads to a number of serious consequences. First of all, Brits get extremely defensive whenever anyone tries to point out the rampant social and political problems, which need addressing. Refusing to acknowledge these problems -since the country is great and there are no issues to be fixed — means that nothing ever gets fixed. It’s just gets worse and worse and worse. British people are sleepwalking into a social collapse, which they can’t avoid or turn away from, because all they know is that “We’ve won two wars” and “We’re the fifth largest economy in the world.” The British are willing to discuss other countries and their problems — their favorite topic is of course Africa, which is also their favorite country of comparison. No one realizes that a country on another continent, with a drastically different climate and a mosaic of different local cultures is not the best pick for comparison. There is a myriad of problems that need addressing. One of those problems is poverty, which is often generational, and the divide between the rich and poor which is steadily increasing. There is a low social mobility, the poverty of children is extreme and many people suffer from insufficient nutrition. About one million people in England rely on food banks. The fact that there is a functioning class system doesn’t help at all, because the common class is considered sub-human and is discriminated, while the middle class is slowly pushed down, through shrinking wages and higher prices. Instead of giving people a decent livable wage, the government relies on cheap labor from abroad.
Immigration — one side of it
It’s not an accident that immigrants are coming in large numbers to the UK. This all relates to class divisions, the currency and how the country is being run by THE POSH CLASS. Ten years ago, there was a deficit in dentists in the UK. At this point, the British government actively recruited medical graduates from Eastern Europe. The NHS recruited East Europeans because there were not enough people in the UK willing to work for the wage they proposed. Of course, with the strong currency and the colorful propaganda which depicts Great Britain as a utopia, it seemed like a great deal. It’s the British government that ships immigrants into Britain, not “people smugglers”. This way, they get highly motivated, educated people with a strong work ethic, who will work for very low wages, letting the rich stay rich. This means, that wages can be kept at the current level, while housing and living costs continue to rise. People who immigrate to Britain are used to hardships and can handle it. Earning their wage in a strong currency means that it pays off for them to send money home, because whatever they make will be double or triple the amount they would have got paid at home. If you add to this other factors, like local military conflicts, drought, etc. even if life in Britain is not at all great, form many people it’s better than home. This immigration scheme can only work if enough countries are kept poor and in political disarray, and the British currency is kept strong. Only if the currency is strong enough, Britain can get cheap food from other countries and cheap, strong workforce. Advertising Great Britain as a stable, civilized, modern country ensures, that money keeps flowing in. The problem is, you can’t exploit people all of the time. At some point, they will reach a breaking point. And the British working class, which incorporates the middle class at this point, is coming very close to breaking.
The country is sold to the highest bidder
A country with that has a history and reputation like the UK should strictly control acquisitions made by foreign capital. Why? I talked to a friend the other day and he said “Politicians who come to the government for money are not the problem. The dangerous ones don’t care about money. Like Hitler. Hitler didn’t care about money.” Which is true. Hitler wanted to eradicate Jews and for Germany to conquer Europe. So what do today’s “Hitlers” want? Among today’s extremists we’ll find Muslim terrorists, far right fascists and a very small group of anarchists. Unfortunately, the terrorist groups operating from the Middle East do have the largest funds, and their fanaticism, hate towards Christians exceeds any other group in terms of emotional intensity. Allowing Arabs to invest in England is a threat to national security. Not just because they might be secretly extreme in their views, but because the anti-white racism and a contempt for Western culture are deeply engrained in the Arab culture. Allowing a private company to buy out the water infrastructure in England is sabotage waiting to happen. And looking at how the entire UK population suffering from deficiencies and inexplicable health issues on a national level, it might as well already be happening. It could very well be that a lot of water supply is compromised, because of low testing standards. There are many harmful chemicals, but only several are tested. Fracking pollution and agricultural runoff, are not controlled and are difficult to remove.
The covert Jihadists, who have vowed to spread the faith of Allah all over the world and eradicate all other religions, are often compared with the Nazi movement in pre-war Europe. A comparison which is accurate and on point, except for the methods used by both groups. Today, these modern-time Nazis, wear suits, run hedge-funds and have different tactics than the hard-headed fanatics of the past. They fight their war with finance, buy up influence and protect their own people in foreign countries. They infiltrate local governments, change laws to accommodate their religious groups, assault British girls and build mission centers in the English countryside. The Muslim exceptionality is very well visible in England and is a result of years of bribing politicians on all levels, to accommodate the Muslim population, giving them preferential treatment and advertising Islam as a “religion of peace” in the GCSE Religious Studies course. The level of lies and propaganda in this particular course, is shocking and it’s evident that corrections were made, to benefit a certain group. And who was in charge of making this agreement? Dodgy Dave of course.
Middle Eastern immigrants are shipped in, in an organized manner. In many cases they are well groomed, young men, not disheveled war refugees with small children, like the press is trying to portray them. They are then given free accommodation in four star hotels. Later they get council housing and benefits without a lot of hassle. Everything is done in a smooth and orchestrated manner. An accident? No, people got paid. What else could it be? Nothing in the British system is organized better than the immigrant importation process. It’s very unlikely that it’s happening by chance. The dismantling of the British society is visible with a naked eye, but no one is allowed to talk about it.
Countries meddling with British assets and influencing politicians is one thing, criminal cartels which have the budget of a small country, are a whole other level of danger. Allowing foreign capital to come into the UK in an unregulated and obfuscated manner, makes the whole system prone to bribery, sorry, lobbying, and turns it into a playground for international crime syndicates. The ease with which you can register a company in London, draws criminals from all over the world. About 200,000 people a year are reported missing in the UK. This means that 200,000 people every year end up either dead or trafficked, because people don’t vanish into thin air. To make things worse and easier for the police, many suspicious deaths are ruled as an accident, suicide or manslaughter. In the case of intimate femicide (the murder of a woman by her partner) 17 percent of cases over a ten year period, have been ruled as manslaughter (Femicide Census for England and Wales) This trend in sentencing means that the real number of homicides in England is concealed and much larger than the official statistic. It also means that a lot of killers are roaming the streets of London, thinking that they can totally get away with murder. With so many people going missing, it is clear, that the UK is an international hub for human trafficking. As police almost solely relies on grainy CCTV footage as evidence, ditching traditional police work, it’s easy to smuggle people all over the UK, traffick children and transport people in lorries. The UK, being surrounded by the sea, is fairly easy to penetrate, and people are taking advantage of this.
The British legal system is an insult to justice
The jury system can only work in a relatively solid society where everyone abides by a uniform moral code. Introducing cultures which have historically been known for oppressing and violating women derails the judicial system in their inability to convict criminals according to the local moral law. In one case I heard of, the jury to rejected evidence of sexual incestual child rape on grounds of the victim “not crying hard enough”. Putting men, especially men with non-western cultural backgrounds on the jury, inevitably changes every rape case into a witch trial. It’s bad enough that members of the jury have no legal knowledge whatsoever. People who come from countries with high levels of abuse against women, should be banned from jury duty. The conviction rate for rape according to the latest figures is three percent. Six percent of reported rapes go to court. Three percent end with a conviction. They lying pro-government propaganda then says, that the conviction rate is therefore fifty percent, taking the number of prosecuted cases as the base number. Rapists immediately get lawyers and are represented by professionals. As soon as they get to court they get help and advice. They are told exactly what to say to evade conviction. Victims go through the ordeal in court with no representation. They need to hand in their social media passwords and have their past is dissected, while their rapist’s past sexual offenses are not taken into account. Sex offenders routinely change their surnames to get off the offenders list, and become invisible. I could go on and on about the state of sex crime in the UK, but I’ll just say this: something is evidently wrong with the British, sexually.
Brexit Primodos and the blood clotting factor — deep lobbying.
Knowing today, how lobbying has worked in the past we can reverse engineer the Primodos situation and create a possible scenario of what happened. A pharmaceutical company had a stock of hormones about to go bad. They needed to sell all of it quick. They pay a politician under the table, he pushes an NHS deal with the company. NHS buys up a shipment of drugs that don’t work and that nobody wants. They give it to the people. The pharmaceutical company is happy, they got their money for a shoddy product. The politician is happy, he got his envelope. The NHS is happy, they get paid by the government for administering the drug and pretending to be doctors. It is clear that the government did a con job, but people still ask “how could this have happened?” But let’s look at what happened.
The government covered up instances of deliberate poisoning of British people by the NHS which resulted in congenital disorders and death of many children in the 1980’s. As per usual, the report, ordered by the government to investigate the government, was manipulated by the government in its wording, to show that no one knew anything and that everyone is innocent. I actually watched the parliament debate on this, where MP’s quoted the changes made in the report. They changed individual words in the report, to say there was no wrongdoing in using Primodos on pregnant women. It was part of medical knowledge at the time, that giving large amounts of sex hormones, can damage or kill the fetus. The doctors knew, also from the feedback, that the drug was harmful to pregnant women. Did anyone go to jail for this? No. The British government’s main currency is futile gestures — such as apologies. An apology? Really? Anyone responsible for giving out Primodos, should be facing criminal charges. Children died and others have been born with heavy conditions. Their families should at least get some financial compensation. The whole thing was axed by the government. In the case of the blood clotting factor for people with haemophilia, the batches of the plasma were infected with AIDS and Hepatitis B among other things. This led to infecting patients with those diseases and in many cases led to their premature death. So, an accident? Most likely not. Naturally, no compensations for victims and no trials for the people responsible.
The British government routinely self-assesses themselves, always giving themselves the highest marks. When a systemic abuse is detected, such as pedophilia in foster homes, they do “an inquiry”. Which is not a real trial. Essentially it boils down to people asking other people questions. There is no lawsuit right away or no criminal investigation, which would be the usual course of action, in a European society. For a real democracy to be effective, people need to have a legal right to sue the government. With the EU gone, it could be even more difficult for the British people to do this. This means that whenever the government violates people’s rights, in cases of systemic sexual abuse or manslaughter as result of negligence, they will not be held accountable, and no reparations will be paid to the victim’s families. The government will close the case, self-assess that it did an awesome job, and put it out in the paid conservative media channels.
To sum up the issue of selling the British people for the benefit of foreign investment companies, we need to look at the issue of Brexit. This campaign looks just like one of those lobbying cases, also because it has been designed by Dogdy Dave. It is evident, that free trade with its closest neighbors was beneficial to the UK. But there is something worse lurking in the shadows of the post-Brexit economy. While the Brexit campaign was certainly designed to siphon some money out of the government, it doesn’t exclude the possibility that other forces could have been at play. By dodging strict EU regulations, many British companies, will be able to cut costs of chemical waste disposal. Chemical production and oil fracking companies will increase their profits. The true cost will be paid by the people who will have to drink the poisoned water and eat polluted food. Ineos seems to be a major player to get a large win, making them a suspect in meddling with the Brexit campaign. As it is run by the richest man in the UK, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to provide the necessary funding to tip the scales in his favor. We will find out by observing, which countries and companies will benefit from this situation in the end and who will end up with the biggest pile of money.
Children snatchers — social services are stealing children for profit
Family courts regularly take children away from their parents, because of petty reasons and place them in foster families, until they reach adulthood. These courts operate in secrecy, meaning that the parent is not present in court proceedings and cannot effectively defend their right to their children. This is a criminal operation, meant to siphon money from the state, destroying families and traumatizing children for life for profit. The organizations which steal children, are not government agencies, so they are completely uncontrolled. They target women, often before they give birth and take their newborn children without a court conviction, based on a “prediction”. They practically create a social score, based on the parent’s history, their wealth and background, to take their child away, immediately after birth. Social workers are given commissions for every child they manage to rip out of their family. The foster agency does the paperwork to get their share of the loot, and the foster families live off of state money, getting thousands of pounds for fostering children. These children often end up living in poverty, their needs neglected, because they are a meal ticket for their foster parents. Many people in the UK came forward, claiming that their foster parents rented them out for sex as soon as they have been placed in their care. White, blond children are a preferred target for foster agencies. East European mothers, especially if they are single, are targeted by social services, to get nice blond children for their covert sex trade. At the same time, black children, who sometimes really need help, can wait to be placed in a family for as long as a year. Once a child is placed in the foster system, they usually never go back to their real family and often have no contact whatsoever with their parents. In 2016 about two hundred eighty children were taken from Polish families by the foster care system. In one case, a thirteen year old boy burned his hand on a hot pan and this was the reason why he was taken away from his mother. It’s enough to leave a teenager at home alone for a couple of hours, or let them skip one day of school, to have the social services, take the child away from their parents FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES. There are other East European nations which have been targeted, because they don’t know the language and the British legal system. They usually are threatened into signing the papers to give up their children as soon as the social workers get to them. After that, they can never get their children back again. The British people are raised to be lukewarm about many things, but there are some parents who care deeply for their children. I’m talking about British people, who have been deeply hurt by this system, where taking their children away has become a life tragedy they cannot overcome. A lot of British parents have committed suicide as a direct result of having their children taken away. Ten thousand children a year go missing from foster care, which means they probably end up either dead or are sold as sex slaves. Pregnant women, often teenage women are targeted before they give birth A great number of women have their children taken away as soon as they give birth. They are targeted by social services as soon as they get pregnant, they have a worker assigned to them, before they give birth and then they snatch the baby as soon as it’s born.
Children have their names changed and are severed from their birth family for life. Older children have their laptops and phones are confiscated. If they are allowed to meet their parents, it can be as little as four hours a month, or just via phone call. If the parent attempts to make contact with their child, outside the permitted time, they are sentenced to years in prison for contempt of court. The birth parents need to sign a special agreement, saying they will not discuss any possibility of returning home, or physical and sexual abuse that takes place in the foster family. If they dare to talk about it, the contact with their children is terminated. Currently, it is estimated, that there are about a hundred thousand Polish children in the British foster care. They will never return home or rebuild their bond with their birth parents and their extended family. The practices used by the British social services to snatch babies from their mothers are comparable to methods used in communist and fascist regimes. Social workers are known to create false evidence and manipulate witnesses into making false statements. They give no rights to birth parents and they take children away without their knowledge, even before the family court reaches a verdict. The very secrecy of family courts is a rampant violation of human rights. The parents and their children who are in foster care, are forbidden from posting anything regarding their situation on social media, they are not allowed to speak about it to the press, or they will be thrown in jail. The social services also trick vulnerable mothers, who come to shelters for help. They offer help, get them to come to a shelter and then take their children arguing that a shelter is no place for a child.
The British are not real people
It is evident that the British culture, their false beliefs, the class system, the aristocratic chauvinism is causing the British society to collapse on itself, producing people who don’t have the psychological qualities and emotional life of a fully developed human being. The idea that lying, suppressing emotions and being dishonest is equal to sophistication, produces generations of broken people, who are just a cardboard front of a person. The psychological damage this culture inflicts on their own people, has many far reaching consequences. In legal proceedings, rape victims’ depositions will be dismissed, because of their impaired ability to express despair, sadness and hurt and all the emotions they feel as a result of the sexual abuse they have suffered. The jury, comprised of uneducated random people, will make their layman assumptions based on stereotypes and misconceptions, as they have no legal or psychological knowledge. Acquitting rapists and letting them walk is a butterfly effect of this learned suppression, which hinders communication of emotions in women who have suffered abuse. They have had it beaten into them, that being polite requires a blunted emotional expression. So they are in fact, victimized three times — by their abusers, their culture and the legal system.
England is a slut-fest and schoolgirls are considered sex-puppets
The British pop-culture advertises sexual relationships of adult men with teenage girls. The society practically condones these kinds of relationships, which leaves many girls exploited, cast out of society and branded as low-lives, just because a grown man decided to take advantage of them. The British always blame the woman in any male female relationships, even if the woman is an underage girl. The man is absolved of all responsibility, and women are deemed “evil” and “manipulative”. Of course it is expected by everyone, that women are open and promiscuous, creating a catch 22 culture of sexual behaviors. Teenage pregnancies have become something ordinary and people simply just don’t care anymore. Grown men stalk secondary schools, checking out girls like hookers on the strip. Grooming gangs made of South-Asian and British men, befriend underage girls to later seduce and gang rape them. People are having sex everywhere, in cars on parking lots, in parks and forests. You can’t go anywhere without being harassed.
Rampant pedophilia and rape
England and Wales have the HIGHEST number of rapes per hundred thousand inhabitants in the European Union, with 62,000 rape offenses reported last year. Only six percent of rapes go to court. And only three percent end in a conviction. So 97 percent of rapes go unpunished. Regardless of the evidence issues, there are legal struggles associated with the fact that justice relies on the jury system, which is corrupted by design. It is very discomforting to know that rape is generally not prosecuted. A large part of the British legal system struggle is related to cuts in public spending. Thousands of police officers have been laid off and there are not enough public service workers to process the cases. So in 2018, eighty percent of crimes were not prosecuted because of lack of resources. Sure, these were mostly non-violent crimes such as theft of property, but it’s a sign that something’s broken in this country. So many people came out saying that they were victims of sexual abuse in Westminster, that they were abused and rented out for sex in foster homes. A lot of sexual abuse happened in boarding schools (see the documentary “Chosen”) And then there is Jimmy Savile who has sexually abused hundreds if not thousands of children over the course of forty years. He cleverly covered up his crimes by bribing police officers, running summer camps for children and mixing with the aristocrats. Conveniently, his crimes were brought to light after he died. How many Jimmy Savile’s are still doing this today?
The monarchy effectively disables capitalistic democracy
The monarchic system is unsustainable in psycho-economical terms in the long run. In a capitalistic democracy, social mobility is the key factor that motivates entrepreneurship, innovation, intellectual and economic growth. Becoming rich and living a wealthy lifestyle is the universal carrot. As social mobility decreases and the posh class tightens up their flanks, young people will become demotivated and uninspired to work and overcome challenges, knowing that the chance of them entering the high social class is slim to non-existent. That’s something almost every poor British person believes.
Although history proved that upon becoming a millionaire many people have been knighted, as the aristocracy made sure that no significant group of influence gains enough power to threaten their position, the divisions between classes are still more or less rigid, and considered to be inherited with one’s genome. The existence of an upper class which is impenetrable for a common man, is economically demotivating. As there is nothing that one can do to reach that pinnacle of social crème de la crème, there is a general sense of hopelessness and inferiority. There is that (popularized as) amazing lifestyle, unattainable to you, and there is nothing you can do about it. The lack of motivation, a feeling of every job being a senseless activity that leads, at best, to a mediocre style of life, in the long run will cause a societal collapse.
We live in an artificial reality
If you have a strong opinion about Great Britain without any hard evidence, it’s proof that you have been manipulated. If you live in another country, by design, everything you know about Great Britain is just media fodder, brought to you by television. The British media are controlled and strictly monitored by the conservative party. If this happened anywhere else in the world, human rights activists would lament over freedom of speech, crying out for justice. When it happens in a so called first world country, everyone’s keeping silent about it. It’s the conservative British media, that destroyed the Labor party in the last election and are now destroying Meghan Markle for no good reason. If you think that the British are nice, good, polite people, just read the comments under any material about Meghan. Are you surprised that it shows up on your feed? Are you one of those people who say you sincerely don’t care about the Royal family? They want to make you care. They want to sway your opinion. They will shove it down your throat, until you are on their side. It’s not surprising that the British are flooding the world with their pro-British, royalist propaganda. The facts are, they have been enslaving, land grabbing and murdering people all over the world for profit. And now, all of the sudden they are supposed to be the nice ones? It doesn’t work like that. The British upper class are not only two faced, racist and vile people, but they sacrifice the common class for profit, treating them like human cattle. The ruling elite has effectively destroyed the legal system, reduced freedom of speech, human rights, democracy and created a predatory system of fines and payments, making it virtually impossible for working class families to make ends meet. They then target those families, tearing them apart to supply the human traffickers with a fresh supply of slave children. They couldn’t careless about those families and children, because the common class doesn’t matter to them. This is the reality and no red buses, classy hats or flashy royals can make it better. | https://medium.com/@thethinkingmountain/the-evil-empire-e26c1f5d150f | ['Aga Baczkowska'] | 2021-04-25 14:56:27.744000+00:00 | ['United Kingdom', 'Pedophilia', 'Class', 'Royal Family', 'British'] |
3 Ways USAID Is Giving Hope to Iraqis Returning Home After Being Displaced by ISIS | Mr. Saeed, who has been working as a day laborer despite suffering from a chronic illness, hopes this support from USAID will soon enable him to open an electrical shop in Rambosi. The new shop will allow him to continue to earn a steady income and contribute to rebuilding the local economy without depending on work as a day laborer.
Cash Assistance for Community Resilience
The district of Baiji, home to Iraq’s largest oil refinery, endured several major battles during the ISIS occupation, causing residents to flee for their lives.
Before the conflict, Ahmed, 32, had a thriving produce shop. When he returned, only piles of rubble remained where houses and buildings once stood. His own house was partially destroyed and is no longer structurally sound.
With support from USAID’s partners in the Cash Consortium for Iraq, Ahmed’s produce stand is flourishing. / USAID
After returning, Ahmed worked tirelessly as a day laborer to put food on the table. Some nights he and his family would go without food because he could not find work. When Ahmed received cash assistance from the Cash Consortium for Iraq (CCI) in December 2019, he was grateful. Now his family could start improving the quality of their lives beyond just bare survival.
USAID supports the CCI, which delivers critical financial support to vulnerable, conflict-affected households in five governorates so they can purchase food and essential supplies, or develop their own livelihoods.
Ahmed decided to invest some of the funds into restarting his business. Since reopening in July, Ahmed’s business has flourished. With his new income, he has diversified the range of fruits and vegetables he sells, and has been able to repay all his loans.
Now, Ahmed is starting to think about how he can use his business to help others in his community who continue to struggle:
“I remember what it was like to not have anything to eat. I want to find a way to give back to my community.”
Since 2017, USAID has supported over 26,000 vulnerable, conflict-affected households with cash transfers through CCI, as the organization’s largest donor. Prior to COVID-19, monthly cash transfers were delivered to eligible households for one, two, or three months depending on each family’s level of need. Now during the pandemic, a one-time cash transfer is distributed to all eligible households to simplify distributions and limit the risk of COVID-19 transmission. | https://medium.com/usaid-2030/3-ways-usaid-is-giving-hope-to-iraqis-returning-home-after-being-displaced-by-isis-5ba7b6c16d45 | [] | 2030-03-30 00:00:00 | ['Middle East', 'Conflict', 'Iraq', 'ISIS', 'Humanitarian'] |
New Medicines #32 | Get these analyses to your inbox — https://axialobservations.substack.com/ This is a newsletter for rough-around-the-edges ideas. More well thought out work can be found at — https://axial.substack.com/
Axial partners with great founders and inventors. We invest in early-stage life sciences companies often when they are no more than an idea. We are fanatical about helping the rare inventor who is compelled to build their own enduring business. If you or someone you know has a great idea or company in life sciences, Axial would be excited to get to know you and possibly invest in your vision and company . We are excited to be in business with you — email us at [email protected]
New medicines #32 — December 12, 2020 — December 18, 2020
A weekly overview of the development of new medicines.
- Anavex Life Sciences announced top-line data from its phase 2 trial of ANAVEX2–73 in adult female patients with Rett syndrome met the primary endpoint of safety and secondary efficacy endpoints.
- Arvinas released early data from its phase 1 trial in patients with prostate cancer:
Prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels dropped by more than 50% in 2/5 (40%) patients with certain androgen receptor (AR) mutations (T878 or H875)
Two of 15 patients (13%) with wild-type AR also had PSA reductions >50%, representing activity in a broader patient population
- MacroGenics announced that the FDA approved Margenza in combination with chemotherapy, for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who have received two or more prior anti-HER2 regimens.
- Mesoblast announced that its phase 3 DREAM-HF Phase 3 trial of rexlemestrocel-L in patients with advanced chronic heart failure did not meet the primary endpoint of a reduction in recurrent non-fatal decompensated heart failure events.
- Palatin Technologies announced its phase 2 trial of PL9643 for the treatment of dry eye disease (DED) met the primary endpoints in the moderate to severe patient population but not in the overall population including mild patients.
- Sio Gene Therapies released six-month follow-up data from the low-dose cohort from its phase 1/2 dose escalation trial of AXO-AAV-GM1 for the treatment of GM1 gangliosidosis:
Observations of an increase in enzyme activity of on average 38% of normal reference levels
Dosing with the high dose has also commenced in two patients, with no complications to date
- vTv Therapeutics announced that its phase 2 Elevage study of azeliragon in people with mild Alzheimer’s disease and type 2 diabetes did not meet its primary endpoint.
- Zealand Pharma announced top-line data from its first phase 3 trial of dasiglucagon as a treatment for Congenital Hyperinsulinism (CHI) did not meet the primary endpoint of a significant reduction in the rate of hypoglycemia compared to standard of care.
Source: BPC (reformatted), SY, Bioworld | https://medium.com/@axialxyz/new-medicines-32-ad96ffadaf65 | [] | 2020-12-18 00:18:04.548000+00:00 | ['Venture Capital', 'Biotechnology', 'Investing', 'Healthcare', 'Medicine'] |
Tutorial: Stereo 3D reconstruction with openCV using an iPhone camera. Part II. | Welcome to the second part of this 3 part series about stereo reconstruction. In this section we will talk about calibrating your camera.
As mentioned before, the lens in a camera distorts the pictures you take. This is troublesome when it comes to 3D reconstruction and therefore we need to correct this. Before correcting though we need to know the internal parameters of the camera we’re using.
Sometimes these parameters are unknown, luckily for us , OpenCV has an algorithm specifically dedicated to this so let’s get crackin’
We will be using Python 3.7.1, OpenCV 3.4.4. as well as Numpy, Glob, tqdm and Pillow so be sure to have all those things installed first.
The process of calibrating a camera in OpenCV consists in making the computer scan a picture with a chessboard pattern and identify the internal corners several times with different pictures.
An example of pattern calibration courtesy of OpenCV
Most tutorials out there concerning camera calibration deal with the webcam and/or other video cameras and as such they’re tailored towards analyzing every individual frame (or a number of them).
In our case, since we want to calibrate for our phone cameras we can’t do this. In order for the computer to properly calibrate the camera, it needs several examples of the same pattern.
When dealing with a video feed we can analyze every frame as the user moves the pattern in front of the camera until the pattern is detected a number of times (this is normally an arbitrary measurement but the general rule is to have around 10 detections at least).
Since we’re not dealing with a video feed we have to take several pictures of the same pattern instead.
Step 1. Get a chessboard pattern.
Go to this link and print this chessboard pattern on a piece of paper. As a best practice, make sure that every square is 30 mm long (although this isn’t too important).
Step 2. Put chessboard pattern on a white wall.
When I was running the algorithm I noticed that the more stuff in the background the longer it took to calculate the camera matrix. Therefore, I used a white wall and pasted the chessboard pattern on it. Make sure it is perfectly flat.
Redecorating the house with chessboard patterns
Step 3. Take several pictures of the pattern.
This step is quite important, make sure that the pictures you take have good illumination, and that the pattern is captured from different angles. Also make sure that the pattern is located in different parts of the screen.
Bad calibration can happen if you only take pictures that are centered. Make sure there’s a lot of variation in your pictures.
A very good example on how to take pictures of the pattern. Courtesy of Utkarsh Sinah from AI shack.
A great resource on camera calibration and how to capture the pattern can be found in Utkarsh Sinah’s blog (AI shack). If you’re interested in the C++ way of calibrating your camera, you should go there.
It is important to point out that not all pictures will be suitable for detecting the pattern. It is hard to know beforehand which pictures will work and therefore it is a good idea to take as many pictures as possible. I took 64.
Step 4. Let’s get coding.
Once you’ve taken enough pictures it is time to write some code (remember that the entire code is here). The first step is to pick the chessboard size. While the size is completely arbitrary, it is recommended that you pick an asymmetrical size (ie. a rectangle, not a square). I chose 7x5
import cv2
import numpy as np
import glob
from tqdm import tqdm
import PIL.ExifTags
import PIL.Image #============================================
# Camera calibration
#============================================ #Define size of chessboard target. chessboard_size = (7,5)
The second step is to define a grid where all the points will be stored. This is to store the points in an ordered manner, like so: (0,0,0), (1,0,0), (2,0,0) ….,(6,5,0)
#Define arrays to save detected points
obj_points = [] #3D points in real world space
img_points = [] #3D points in image plane #Prepare grid and points to display objp = np.zeros((np.prod(chessboard_size),3),dtype=np.float32) objp[:,:2] = np.mgrid[0:chessboard_size[0], 0:chessboard_size[1]].T.reshape(-1,2)
Since we’re dealing with several images, we can open them iteratively using Glob. Additionally, since the corner detection algorithm in OpenCV takes some time to process we can wrap our loop with tqdm to know how long it has been since the last image and how many images are left.
#read images calibration_paths = glob.glob('./calibration_images/*') #Iterate over images to find intrinsic matrix
for image_path in tqdm(calibration_paths): #Load image
image = cv2.imread(image_path)
gray_image = cv2.cvtColor(image, cv2.COLOR_BGR2GRAY)
print("Image loaded, Analizying...")
#find chessboard corners
ret,corners = cv2.findChessboardCorners(gray_image, chessboard_size, None) if ret == True:
print("Chessboard detected!")
print(image_path)
#define criteria for subpixel accuracy
criteria = (cv2.TERM_CRITERIA_EPS + cv2.TERM_CRITERIA_MAX_ITER, 30, 0.001)
#refine corner location (to subpixel accuracy) based on criteria.
cv2.cornerSubPix(gray_image, corners, (5,5), (-1,-1), criteria)
obj_points.append(objp)
img_points.append(corners)
It is inside this loop where all the magic is happening. After loading the image we have to convert it to grayscale and then we use the findChessboardCorners algorithm.
This algorithm will return the corners detected and a flag called ret that will be true if the algorithm was able to detect the pattern.
In order to improve the accuracy in calibration algorithm, refine the location of the corners to subpixel accuracy. In this case we have to define the criteria required to locate.
Criteria is defined as follows criteria = (type, number of iterations, accuracy). In this case we are telling the algorithm that we care both about number of iterations and accuracy (cv2.TERM_CRITERIA_EPS + cv2.TERM_CRITERIA_MAX_ITER) and we selected 30 iterations and an accuracy of 0.001
cv2.cornerSubPix is the algorithm focused on relocating the points. it receives the image, the corners a window size, zeroZone and the actual criteria. The window size is the search area.
It isn’t very crucial to obsess over this algorithm, I simply decided to comment on the parameters because most tutorials just gloss over this algorithm. For more information on how it works you can check here.
After analyzing all the pictures, we then run the cv2.calibrateCamera algorithm. This is the algorithm that outputs the camera parameters. This algorithm returns the camera matrix (K) distortion coefficients (dist) and the rotation and translation vectors (rvecs and tvecs).
#Calibrate camera
ret, K, dist, rvecs, tvecs = cv2.calibrateCamera(obj_points, img_points,gray_image.shape[::-1], None, None) #Save parameters into numpy file
np.save("./camera_params/ret", ret)
np.save("./camera_params/K", K)
np.save("./camera_params/dist", dist)
np.save("./camera_params/rvecs", rvecs)
np.save("./camera_params/tvecs", tvecs)
Notice that we saved these values into different numpy files. The reason I chose to do so was because of practicality. Since this script takes a while to run, it is inconvenient (and unnecessary) to execute it every time we want to reconstruct something.
As such, it is easier to simply save everything into a numpy file and load it later. Why numpy and not XML or JSON? because with numpy files there’s no need to parse the data.
To do 3D reconstruction there are 3 parameters we really care about, the camera matrix, the distortion coefficients and the focal length. The focal length can be derived from the camera matrix.
Nonetheless, for the sake of learning I decided to obtain the focal length from the Exif data contained in the picture. Most camera phones save information about the focal length (and other parameters) in the exif data.
#Get exif data in order to get focal length.
exif_img = PIL.Image.open(calibration_paths[0]) exif_data = {
PIL.ExifTags.TAGS[k]:v
for k, v in exif_img._getexif().items()
if k in PIL.ExifTags.TAGS} #Get focal length in tuple form
focal_length_exif = exif_data['FocalLength'] #Get focal length in decimal form
focal_length = focal_length_exif[0]/focal_length_exif[1] np.save("./camera_params/FocalLength", focal_length)
Exif data can be parsed into a dictionary using Pillow, nonetheless, the keys will be given in numerical terms which is the reason we have to use the ExifTags module in order to convert them into a readable form.
Finally, we need to have a way to measure how accurate our calibration was. We have two ways to do this. The visual way and the numerical way.
The numerical way consists in calculating the total error when it comes to projecting the points. If you notice, at the beginning of the script we declare two arrays, the object points (3D points) and the image points(2D points).
These were obtained iteratively during the calibration process. The goal here is to project the 3D points into a 2D plane using the rotation and translation vectors calculated in the calibration loop. These new projected points (called img_points2 in the script) are then compared to the image points obtained in the calculation loop.
We then calculate the error for every point and get the average. This error should be as close to 0 as possible. In my case, the error was 0.44 which slightly better than chance.
The visual way to do this is to use the undistort algorithm on an image taken with this camera (preferably one of the patterns that shows some curve distortion). The goal is for the algorithm to get rid of lens distortions, if it does so correctly then you have a good calibration.
Undistort results obtained by Utkarsh Sinah. Courtesy of Utkarsh Sinah from AI Shack
If your error is too high make sure that you detected the chessboard at least 10 times and make sure that the pictures are varied.
I must also warn you that you have to be patient, especially when it comes to large images. In my case, the calibration algorithm took 1:30 hours to complete.
Once the calibration is done, you’re ready to calculate a disparity map, which is the topic we will cover in the next part.
See you! | https://medium.com/@omar.ps16/stereo-3d-reconstruction-with-opencv-using-an-iphone-camera-part-ii-77754b58bfe0 | ['Omar Padierna'] | 2019-01-03 17:03:47.369000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Computer Vision', 'Tutorial', 'Opencv'] |
The Downside of Chasing the Big O | As a sex coach, one common concern clients seek help with is difficulty experiencing orgasm — during sex, masturbation, or both.
While it’s great to help your clients overcome the barriers standing between them and The Big O, it may also be important to help them adjust their thoughts about orgasm.
Is orgasm the true marker of “good” sex?
It’s rare to hear a conversation about sex that doesn’t involve orgasm: the big, bold feature in that magazine; the countless blog posts; the happy hour chats with friends. If you made your judgments based on popular media, you might even wonder if sex without orgasm is sex worth having.
With so many people so focused on it, it’s no wonder our clients are feeling the pressure to climax.
It’s your job as a sex coach to remind your clients that orgasm is only one element of the sexual experience. Make sure they know that, while having an orgasm is wonderful, it is NOT a requirement for enjoyable sex. It can be fun to strive for, but it certainly isn’t the only thing that matters.
Don’t write off the journey in favor of the destination.
A common belief you may hear from your clients is that, if they don’t have an orgasm, they’ve “failed” at sex or self-pleasure, or that the experience wasn’t worthwhile. These kinds of thoughts are more than simply untrue: they’re detrimental to your client’s progress and growth in their personal work. How do you invite them to think differently?
To start, help your clients practice mindfulness during sex. Pre-orgasmic clients are often so focused on orgasm as a goal that they forget to enjoy everything else along the way. When your clients are worried about how their sexual encounter will end, encourage them instead to stay present and open in each and every moment.
One way to do this is to guide them towards thinking of sex like a special meal: no matter how excited they are for the dessert at the end, it is equally — if not more — important to savor the courses that come before.
This helps shift from a goal-focused or performative sexuality to one that is more pleasure-focused, which encourages enjoyment of the whole journey, regardless of where the finish line might be.
An important step to enjoying sex more is feeling able to honestly talk about it.
Another great area of focus for your pre-orgasmic client is communication.
Does your client feel comfortable expressing their feelings and desires to their partner(s)? After all, experiencing orgasm is much harder for someone who isn’t feeling great during sex.
Check in with your client and find out whether or not they feel empowered to ask for what they want. Guide them on how to get comfortable with trying different things until they discover what they love, if they haven’t already.
Surprisingly, better communication is also helpful for people who struggle to experience orgasm during masturbation. How do your clients talk to themselves during self-pleasure? Are they distracted by a thousand stray thoughts or putting unnecessary, self-deprecating pressure on themselves? If so, consider what might help them to relax and create a more positive, productive inner dialogue.
What if there was more to sex than orgasm?
Here’s a question you can ask your clients (or yourself!) to start reframing how they feel about their orgasms: If orgasms didn’t exist, what would you love about your sexual experiences?
The idea here isn’t to invalidate orgasms; rather, it’s to help your clients see what already is — or is not — working for them during sex. Intentionally thinking about what they enjoy during sex invites your client to connect more deeply and mindfully with their sense of pleasure. Knowing this could be the missing puzzle piece for your pre-orgasmic clients — and even if it isn’t, they’re still much better off!
When clients can tune in to their favorite aspects of being sexual, it gives space for each moment throughout to feel orgasmic in its own way. | https://medium.com/sex-coach-u-magazine/the-downside-of-chasing-the-big-o-63fd584d3b1c | ['Ada Sewell'] | 2019-12-19 17:01:02.508000+00:00 | ['Orgasm', 'Sex Positive', 'Sex Coach', 'Sexuality', 'Sex'] |
The Festival | It was raining that night
But not hard enough to stop the show
I stood in the mist
And watched the lights strobe
The music filled the air
The beat of the drum
The strum of the guitar
The rawness of the vocals
And we in the crowd were connected
To each other
And to the music
In the shadow of the New York skyline
Memories most people dream of were made
I treasure them
Like a rare antique
And when I close my eyes
I can still feel the rain on my skin
As I sang along
With my friends
And all those in the crowd
Who shared in that special moment in time
©HeatherAnn | https://medium.com/echoes-of-the-soul/the-festival-8629f1c2ffde | ['Heather Ann'] | 2019-07-03 22:02:20.292000+00:00 | ['Music', 'Poetry On Medium', 'Poetry', 'Writing', 'Festivals'] |
Why I Took a Machine Learning Course as a Software Engineer | Why I took a MOOC
So, as a software engineer that is not interested in becoming data scientist, what are my reasons to study machine learning?
Here are the reasons.
Machine Learning is very popular right now
Machine Learning is very popular in technology industry, everyone is talking about it, many companies have started if not already implementing it in their system. It’s a growing topic that there is new research, article, and code added into it every day.
Learning about it will make my career more future proof. If I ever need to specialize in it for an opportunity, then I would already have the basics.
Artificial Intelligence seems to be the future
The use case and possibility for Artificial Intelligence is increasing day by day. I’ve heard people talking that artificial intelligence would be the next industry revolution.
Since machine learning is a subset of AI, learning it would introduce me to it.
Good for portfolio
Finishing the course will show the employer you have a determination and consistency to finish a long and expensive course. The certificate you got from finishing the course won’t instantly land you a job, but at least it will help you.
I’m craving for the knowledge
I’ve been interested in machine learning for many years. I learned a bit in college, but I’m interested in knowing more about how and how should they work.
There is a possibility that I will take a master degree
I’m considering taking a Master Degree, and I took one, I’ll probably focusing on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Knowing the basics about them before starting a master degree will help me a lot later on if I ever pursued a master degree. | https://medium.com/the-innovation/why-i-took-a-machine-learning-course-as-a-software-engineer-b88515d471bc | ['Brilian Firdaus'] | 2020-09-18 19:13:21.940000+00:00 | ['Mooc', 'Learn', 'Software Engineering', 'Data', 'Data Science'] |
Tips to advance towards a career in Machine Learning | Machine Learning is a branch of Artificial Intelligence that gives a machine the ability to automatically learn and improve from an experience, rather than being explicitly programmed. ML is amongst the hottest career choices in 2020. Companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, and many others are making a transition towards Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.
There are various career options in the field of Machine Learning such as Machine Learning Engineer, Machine Learning Analyst, NLP Data Scientist, Data Sciences Lead, and Machine Learning Scientist.
To help the aspiring Machine Learning enthusiasts, here are some tips which will help you build a career in Machine Learning. So, without any further ado, let us jump on to the prerequisites of Machine Learning.
Understanding the Prerequisites
The realm of machine learning comes with its own sets of requirements as well as qualifications. A career in machine learning is a steep one and requires you to have basic skill sets to start your journey into the industry.
To advance your career in Machine Learning, you must have exposure to the following skills:
Stats and probability
Algorithms
Applied mathematics
Hands-on experience in programming languages like Python, C++, Java or R.
And, Distributed Computing
To kick start your career, start working on the skills you lack. Get a book on probability, brush up your coding skills, and work on your weaker areas. Along with that, you can also take up a substantial course on artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Take online courses
To advance your career in machine learning, you have to broaden your skill-set as much as possible. And as a heads up, you can start with the online courses and then to hone your skills and then brush your knowledge, you can participate in various competitions in this field such as Kaggle, Analytics Vidhya
There is another popular approach available, you can accelerate your learning with the help of bootcamps
Practice as much as possible
If you want to master the Machine Learning skills, you need to practice on datasets. You must know the process of working on a problem end-to-end. Learn to map that process onto a tool and practice the process on a dataset in a targeted way.
Work on real-world machine learning problems to see how it can actually be used in fields like education, science, technology, and medicine. You can take the machine learning problems from Kaggle.com right now to build your machine learning model.
Working on different projects will give you the required experience for a job as it will make your resume stand out. The certificate from your institution and the number of projects you have worked on matters a lot. Now that you have worked on building basic knowledge and are able to understand what you are learning, it is time to start working on some machine learning projects that can help you furnish your skills.
Try collaborating with your mates for projects to constantly upskill yourself as it will help in giving you practical exposure and which will help you in meeting industry requirements.
Build a machine learning portfolio
Designers and artists use a portfolio to showcase examples of prior work to prospective clients and employers. Your machine learning portfolio should be a compilation of your completed independent projects, each of which uses machine learning in some way. The portfolio should be accessible, small, completed, independent, and most importantly, understandable.
A set of your finished projects will offer a knowledge base for you to reflect on and leverage as you push into projects further from your comfort zones. You can have a code repository such as GitHub or BitBucket as well to list your projects.
Such sites encourage you to provide a readme file to clearly describe the purpose and findings for each project. You can even add images, graphs, videos, and links in your code repositories. Give instructions to download the project and recreate the results as well. Want people to re-run your work? Try making it as accessible and easy as possible.
Bottom line
Now that you have an idea of how to build a career in Machine Learning, it is time for you to pull up your socks. Know your strengths and work towards the weaknesses to stay ahead of your competitors. Enroll yourself in a Machine Learning course and build a strong foundation for a rewarding career in Machine Learning. | https://medium.com/codingninjas-blog/machine-learning-is-a-branch-of-artificial-intelligence-that-gives-a-machine-the-ability-to-352370bb53ef | ['Coding Ninjas'] | 2020-02-03 12:52:03.070000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Machine Learning'] |
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Books are a valuable source of knowledge that affects society in different ways. Whether you are reading a masterpiece by an award-winning author or narrating a bedtime story to children, the significance of books cannot be overemphasized.
Human beings need to learn and stay informed, which are crucial needs that books can fulfill. They are also essential for entertainment and enable individuals to develop wholesome mindsets throughout their lives.
“Millions of books have been published over the years and they continue to be an integral aspect of people’s lives around the globe.
From making it easier to understand different aspects of life to serve as worthwhile companions that take you through challenging times, books have proven to be precious commodities.
Books are essential in a variety of ways that go beyond enriching your mind or entertaining you. They have stood the test of time as reliable references for centuries. They stimulate your senses and promote good mental health. Other benefits include enhancing your vocabulary, allowing you to travel through words, and inspiring positivity through motivational literature.
While the internet and television are useful in their own ways, nothing can compare to a great book. Books ignite your imagination, give you new ideas, challenge your perspectives, provide solutions, and share wisdom. At every stage of your existence, you can find a relevant book that will add value to your personal and professional life.
Books are filled with knowledge and they teach you valuable lessons about life. They give you insight into how to navigate aspects of fear, love, challenges, and virtually every part of life. Books have been in existence since time immemorial and they hold secrets of the past while providing a glimpse of the cultures of previous civilizations.
A book has the power to change or reinforce how you feel about your surroundings. It is a therapeutic resource that can equip you with the tools you need to stay on track and maintain a good attitude. Whether you want to learn a new language or delve into the intrigues of nature, there is a book for every situation.
There are numerous reasons why books are important. Reading books is a popular hobby as people around the world rely on them for relief and entertainment. Books contain records of history and are used to spread vital information. Reading books helps to improve your communication skills and learn new things. It can be useful for easing anxiety among students and professionals.
Other reasons that highlight how important books are in their positive impact on intelligence, writing abilities, and analytical skills. Books give people a great way to escape into another dimension. They are packed with endless possibilities for adventure and experiences that would be difficult to access in reality.
It is essential for people to strive to include books in their daily lives aside from using them for academic or professional purposes. They aid emotional and mental growth, boost confidence, and sharpen your memory. It is natural for people to be curious and want to learn more, which is why books are still significant today.
Books are a valuable source of knowledge that affects society in different ways. Whether you are reading a masterpiece by an award-winning author or narrating a bedtime story to children, the significance of books cannot be overemphasized.
Human beings need to learn and stay informed, which are crucial needs that books can fulfill. They are also essential for entertainment and enable individuals to develop wholesome mindsets throughout their lives.
“ | https://medium.com/@pefcic/download-http-co-readingbooks-host-book-0323530508-313d7c88741 | [] | 2021-12-13 08:35:08.842000+00:00 | ['Download', 'Reading', 'Book', 'Read', 'eBook'] |
The perfume that made me sad… | The perfume that made me sad…
That Saturn’s day was happy to cross the time and to be appointed on the calendar for memory.
Me I was not in mood due to a nightmare the night before. I went to a surface in order to get some perfume for me.
When I arrived at the perfume’s store, a nice one kept me into attractive custody. Yes, it was nice and so well presented. I hesitated between the one I used to use and that one I didn’t know before. For minutes, I was comparing them.
Finally, I got the new one, though it was a bit more expensive that the habitually one.
I left the store impatiently, willing to spray it and feel it “fragance”.
But it wasn’t what I expected. A big disappointment! I didn’t like it. The perfume that I liked twenty minutes before just made me sad. I swore I will never buy it again, I insulted it. I didn’t want to see it again.
But what? I’ve sprayed it on my hand, and it was difficult for me to not smell it over and over!
I said the perfume made me sad, unknowingly, I felt in love with. I’ve sprayed it all over my body, just to feel it. It had some different from the others, something wild, indescribable.
And now, I’m asking myself if I could ever dare use another perfume apart from this!
Danielle Semador | https://medium.com/@daniellesemador/the-perfume-that-made-me-sad-db6e2ab81588 | ['Danielle Semador'] | 2020-05-27 22:26:26.279000+00:00 | ['Sad', 'Perfume', 'Disappointed', 'Love', 'Mood'] |
Data Scientist Roadmap 2021 | Skills Required to Become a Data Scientist in 2021
Photo by Carlos Muza on Unsplash
Data Science is the most trending topic for many students as it has become one of the high-paying jobs in the industry and it is no doubt that Data Scientists are high in demand these years.
Having said that it is still very difficult to find entry-level roles as a fresher for the Data Scientist position. But it's no doubt that Artificial Intelligence and Data Science roles will only increase in the future, therefore it is a good skill to have in today's data-driven world.
In this article I will provide you a step by step overview of how to get started with Data Science:
Step 1: Basic Fundamentals
This is actually not a difficult part but many people skip this step as it involves Mathematics. A Basic Understanding of High School Mathematics would help you to understand how the algorithms work.
This involves Linear Algebra, Calculus, Permutation and Combination, and Gradient Descent. At the end of the article, I would add some resources which would help you to learn these topics easily.
Photo by Sebastian Herrmann on Unsplash
Step 2: Programming Language
The two most popular programming languages are R and Python. You can choose any language and start practicing with the tools and libraries for Analytics. Basic Programming concepts and understanding of Data Structures are very important.
If you are a beginner I would suggest going with Python, because according to the StackOverflow survey 2020 Python is high in demand for working professionals especially in the Data Science field.
Step 3: Probability and Statistics
Statistics is the backbone of the data Industry. Any job interview you go to, your statistical skills would be tested. The topics required are:
Probability: Probability Space, Random Variable, Expectation, Variance and Covariance, Probability Distributions
Probability Space, Random Variable, Expectation, Variance and Covariance, Probability Distributions Statistics: Descriptive Statistics, Statistical Inference, Differential Statistics, Associative Statistics
You can watch this youtube tutorial by Great Learning to learn all about this topic.
Step 4: Data Analysis
In most Data Science jobs, Data Scientist spends most of their time in cleaning and manipulating the data than implementing Machine Learning.
Understanding the data and finding patterns and correlations among data is the most important part of the job. It would provide you an idea about the domain and which algorithm to choose for this particular type of problem.
In Python Data Analysis tools like ‘Pandas’ and ‘Numpy’ are very popular.
Step 6: Data Visualization
Clients and Stakeholders won’t understand the statistical language or Model prediction. Data Visualization is very important to show the patterns in a visual form using various charts and graphs to show the behavior of data and analysis.
The most popular tool for Data Visualization in Tableau. Different Data Visualization techniques involve Line chart, Boxplot, Histogram, Scatter plot, bar chart& Heatmap.
Photo by Giorgio Tomassetti on Unsplash
Step 7: Machine Learning
Machine Learning is a vast topic and core of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. There are a lot of blogs explaining what is Machine Learning and how it works (links in resources).
In this section I would provide you a checklist of what to learn:
Supervised and Unsupervised Algorithms
Classification and Regression Algorithms
Clustering, Dimensionality Reduction, Recommendation, and Association
Model Evaluation Techniques, Underfitting and Overfitting
Algorithms to learn:
Classification: Naive Bayes, Logistic Regression, Decision Trees, K-Nearest Neighbors, Support Vector Machines, XGBoost
Regression: Linear Regression, Decision Trees, K-Nearest Neighbors
Unsupervised Algorithms: K-means, Principal Component Analysis, Apriori Algorithm, Collaborative, and Content-Based filtering recommendation system. | https://medium.com/nerd-for-tech/data-scientist-roadmap-2021-47aaafb76aa8 | ['Ashutosh Kumar'] | 2020-11-08 13:47:18.087000+00:00 | ['Software Development', 'Technology', 'Data Analysis', 'Data Science', 'Programming'] |
Reflection on Amal Totkay | At first glance this word “totkay” brought me to old childhood memories when mother or aunts used to try home-made remedies for different problems ranging from bruises to skin care.. Later, when I read these simple and easy rules or one may say life hacks , I realized that those are much more than our desi totkay. Basically , Amal totkay are some of the most influential shortcuts one can adopt to develop a positive and competitive mindset in order to excel in life.
I found these tips very impressive and useful. A plus point about these tips is that they are practically applicable and testable . If one continues to follow them, these can bring good changes in one’s life.
As per their consequences or one may say takeaways, these are exceptionally life changing hacks. If used efficiently and properly, these can have a great positive impact on personality building .
Although, all of them are unique and useful but the tip that drew most of my attention was “Self Talk” . This tip will be of great importance for me because I need a twenty four hour listener, who could listen to me and understand me at the same time but obviously nobody can give you the whole of his day . So, I decided to try “Self Talk” in order to connect to myself efficiently. This will not only improve my speaking skills but listening skills at the same time . This will help me understand my problems better so that I’ll go for their solutions on my own.
The tip that I’ve already started implementing is the same tip that captivated me the most i.e Self Talk. I tried it couple of times and felt kinda relaxed and triumphed . This gave me a sense of having a very close ,sincere friend that listens to me all the time. And I’ve started analyzing myself better.This will lead me towards further betterment in my life and specially my personality.
These tips can be used for grooming oneself because these are effective in confidence building, improving communication skills , listening skills and creativity . These include self talk, building new habits , asking someone for help, get out of your comfort zone and fake it till you make it .If we develop new habits, it will make us more productive and creative. Asking someone for help will develop our communication skills and make us socially active. Getting out of our comfort zone will let us explore the world as well as our capabilities.
These tips are highly recommended to those who want to bring positive changes in their lives and personality. | https://medium.com/@syed-umer173/reflection-on-amal-totkay-34ef7aa9909f | ['Syed Umer'] | 2020-12-27 18:48:57.843000+00:00 | ['Ideas', 'Mindset', 'Amal Totkay', 'Remedies'] |
How to break into VC: we’re hiring in Europe | Written by Jambu Palaniappan, Managing Partner, OMERS Ventures
There has been a lot of talk over the last several months about how difficult it is to break into venture capital — that the nature of the industry is opaque, and hiring is cloaked in secrecy. We agree that doesn’t lend itself well to new voices breaking through. The purpose of this post is fairly straightforward: to let you know that OMERS Ventures is hiring in Europe.
We have two open junior investment roles — one associate and one analyst — and we are kicking off a search process now.
OMERS is a Canadian pension plan that invests on behalf of 500,000 public sector members from the Canadian province of Ontario. We take our stewardship of their retirement plan seriously, and can feel the impact of our work every day. OMERS began investing directly in venture-backed startups a decade ago, including investing in companies like Shopify. We invest in series A and B companies across Europe and are particularly focused on revolutionary software platforms.
Our investment team is also a bit different: we are a mix of ex-founders and operators and believe that helps us put ourselves in the shoes of the entrepreneurs and companies we meet. Harry, Tara, Henry and I took different paths to venture — founding companies and scaling others — and we want the team we are building to reflect the diversity of the world around us and the businesses we hope to invest in.
So, what are we looking for? Simply put, we care more about what you can bring to the table than what you have done in your past. To succeed in these roles, you will need to be a self-starter with grit and the ability to persevere, to have both strong analytical skills and the ability to build networks from a standing start. And above all else, a demonstrable passion for helping founders build era-defining companies. You can be a founder, operator, consultant, lawyer, or none of the above. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never worked at a VC firm.
This is not an internship or a short-term program we’ve thought up to signal a commitment to diversity. These are significant roles within our small European team and we want standout candidates. We believe that our business will be made stronger if these candidates come from diverse backgrounds, and we are relying on the community to help us get word out to the people who you think need to know about this!
More info about the role and the link to apply are here. Please reach out directly at [email protected] if you have any questions. | https://medium.com/omers-ventures/how-to-break-into-vc-were-hiring-in-europe-5eeb34c021ac | ['Omers Ventures'] | 2020-11-10 08:35:05.737000+00:00 | ['Venture Capital', 'Europe'] |
Owner of Telephone Number 867–5309 Says Calls Are Finally Beginning to Taper Off | Owner of Telephone Number 867–5309 Says Calls Are Finally Beginning to Taper Off
It’s been a rough thirty-eight years for Jenny
Photo by Mister Lee on Unsplash
Jenny McPhereson of Toledo, Ohio was only 26 years old when the Tommy Tutone song “867–5309/Jenny” came out. What were the chances of that — like a billion to one? — that she would have that exact number and the same name as the fictional Jenny of the song?
“That first year when the song was a hit, I got like seven or eight thousand calls a day,” she recalls. “It was pretty rough, answering call after call. Then when I wasn’t home my answering machine would fill up so fast. Remember those tapes? I went through like hundreds of those cassette tapes on my answering machine. I had like a hundred thousand messages, people saying stuff to this Jenny they heard about on the song. I called the Guinness Book of World records. I told them I think I have the most messages ever. They said they’d get back to me. They never did. Or maybe they did. But I never did get all my messages of course. There weren’t enough hours in the day to listen to em all. I still have em up in the attic. Would you like to see?”
No thanks, we wouldn’t. But we would like to ask you a few more pertinent questions. What kind of messages did people leave? Were they rude messages? I mean the song says that your number was written on the bathroom wall.
“Yeah, most of them were pretty much like how much for a blank, and will you blank me, Jenny? That kind of thing. And then there’d be a bunch of laughing. Like it was groups people all on the line calling together.”
We see. And this went on for…
“Decades,” she says. “I mean, it was better once I switched to a digital message service. I didn’t have to keep the tapes. And every decade the interest kind of waned. By the oughts I was only getting like a hundred calls a day. And now it’s down to about a hundred a week, to be honest. Nobody really cares about Jenny on the bathroom wall any more.”
She looks a little wistful.
“That must be a relief,” we say.
“Yeah,” she nods, but her voice sounds sad. One of her many cats comes over and sits on her lap.
Jenny, we can reveal, is a cat lady.
“I have thirteen cats, and they’re all black,” she tells us. “That’s double luck, huh? Would you like to know all their names?”
No, we wouldn’t. But she tells us anyway. She’s that kind of person.
Finally, we ask the question we’ve been dying to ask:
“Why didn’t you change the number?”
But as soon as we ask it, we know the answer.
Jenny McPhereson of Toledo Ohio doesn’t get any calls. But Jenny from the Tommy Tutone song does. If she changed the number…you get the gist.
“Well, it’s been very nice meeting you,” she says, seeing us out. “Will you come back again?”
No, we probably won’t. The sweet 64-year-old cat lady gives us a wave and we head back to the Toledo airport. It’s been kind of a sad trip. But still, we can’t get that song out of our minds.
Eight six seven five three oh nine.
You say the number nine like this: ni-ay-ay-ee-ine.
Eight six seven five three oh ni-ay-ay-ee-ine. Jenny you’re the girl for me… | https://medium.com/the-haven/owner-of-telephone-number-867-5309-says-calls-are-finally-beginning-to-taper-off-76f59f21196 | ['Clem Samson'] | 2019-09-09 21:47:10.703000+00:00 | ['Music', 'Comedy', 'Humor', 'Funny', 'Satire'] |
Outlier Detection: An ETL Tutorial with Spark | Part of the Industry 4.0 framework is to make sure that manufacturers have more visibility over what’s going on with their machines in the factory floors. This is why Industry 4.0 works tightly with Internet of Things. IoT allows large scale real-time data collection from sensors that are installed in production equipment possible. Nevertheless, having good Data Collection Agents alone isn’t sufficient. We need an automated way of extracting, analyzing and summarizing information from the large data stream, since it’s impossible for humans to do it manually. In big data terminology, this process is often referred to as ETL (Extract-Transform-Load).
Today, we’ll discuss one family of algorithm that I have personally seen to be useful in the industry: outlier detection. The idea is to find any abnormal measurements from the data stream and highlight them to the domain experts e.g. process engineers. I will share an implementation of a basic anomaly detection algorithm in Spark. I could have done the same tutorial with python’s pandas-dataframe, but unfortunately once we deal with big dataset (whose size is way larger than memory space), the latter is no longer suitable.
In this post, I’ll use scala as my choice of programming language. I personally like to use scala when I write codes for production. Python is faster to write, hence useful for prototyping. However, its’ lack of static typing could make things more difficult to debug. On the other hand, scala is more similar to Java, albeit less verbose (it runs on JVM too). But let’s leave this pro-and-cons debate for another session.
This is a simple dummy dataset that I use. Suppose we have data stream from 2 sensors. How can we automatically capture the two anomalous dots that are present below?
Dataset
Outlier Detection
The model that we use finds region of values whose probability of occurrence are low under the distribution that has been fitted to the observed data. We assume that our sensors are unimodal gaussian in nature. With that, we can calculate the two thresholds that are six sigma away from the distribution’s mean.
Visually, the thresholds are fitted in this manner. Any measurements above the Upper Limit (around 25) or below the Lower Limit (around 15) are deemed as outliers.
The Upper and Lower Outlier Thresholds
Now to implement this in Spark, we first import all of the library dependencies.
import org.apache.spark.sql.{Column, SQLContext}
import org.apache.spark.{SparkConf, SparkContext}
import org.apache.spark.sql.types._
import org.apache.spark.sql.functions._
We need to wrap all of our functions inside an object with a main function (This might remind you of Java). We can actually write this in a different style, one that looks more like a script. Scala has an interpreter called REPL that allows programmers to execute codes line-by-line. Nevertheless in production it’s good to keep things organized in this manner.
/**
* Sample Anomaly Detection with Spark
*/
object AnomalyDetection {
def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
// the rest of the functions go here
}
}
Now if you’re running spark in Windows, you might stumble upon some exceptions saying that the program failed to locate the winutil binary. In that case, you need to download the winutils.exe (this is how to do it) and set the following system property inside your code.
System.setProperty("hadoop.home.dir", "C:/winutil/")
Next, we need to configure spark, sparkContext and sqlContext. If we use HBase (a NoSQL database) with ZooKeeper, we’ll need to configure the spark.hbase.host parameter to point the corresponding host address.
/** Configure Spark */
val conf = new SparkConf()
.setAppName("anomalyDetection")
.setMaster("local[8]")
conf.set("spark.hbase.host", "zookeeper.default.svc.cluster.local")
val sc = new SparkContext(conf)
sc.setLogLevel("WARN")
val sqlContext = new SQLContext(sc)
Extract
We now assume that our data comes in a csv format. It has also been saved in a file called test.csv. We first specify the data schema explicitly. Note than in production, data could also be obtained from a database and message broker (e.g. MQTT, Kafka etc…).
/** read csv */
val customSchema = StructType(Array(
StructField("sensorId", StringType, true),
StructField("values", DoubleType, true))
)
Then, we read the csv file into a Spark DataFrame. Here we can see that there are only two columns: sensorId and values.
// load dataset
val df = sqlContext.read
.format("com.databricks.spark.csv")
.option("header", "true")
.schema(customSchema)
.load("test.csv")
df.printSchema()
root
| — sensorId: string (nullable = true)
| — values: double (nullable = true)
Transform
We would like to calculate the distribution profile for each sensorID, particularly the Upper and Lower Outlier Thresholds. To do that, we need to group the dataframe by sensorId, followed by aggregating each sensor data’s mean and standard deviation accordingly. We can then create 2 new columns, one for each outlier threshold.
// calculate statistics
val statsDF = df
.groupBy("sensorId")
.agg(mean("values").as("mean"), stddev("values").as("stddev"))
.withColumn("UpperLimit", col("mean") + col("stddev")*3)
.withColumn("LowerLimit", col("mean") - col("stddev")*3)
statsDF.printSchema()
root
| — sensorId: string (nullable = true)
| — mean: double (nullable = true)
| — stddev: double (nullable = false)
| — UpperLimit: double (nullable = true)
| — LowerLimit: double (nullable = true)
We would now like to find which sensor readings are anomalous in the original dataframe. Since the information live in two different dataframes, we need to join them using the sensorId column as a common index.
// join the two dataframe
val joinDF = df.join(statsDF, usingColumns = Seq("sensorId"))
Lastly, we can filter rows whose values lie beyond the range enclosed by the outlier thresholds. Voila! We managed to capture the two anomalous points.
// outlierDetection
val detectOutlier = (values: Column, UpperLimit: Column, LowerLimit: Column) => {
// outliers are points lying below LowerLimit or above upperLimit
(values < LowerLimit) or (values > UpperLimit)
}
val outlierDF = joinDF
.withColumn("isOutlier", detectOutlier(col("values"), col("UpperLimit"), col("LowerLimit")))
.filter(col("isOutlier")) outlierDF.show()
Anomalous Rows
Load
(Optional) We could also write output dataframe into another table (or csv file) for further processing. This completes the whole ETL process.
outlierDF
.repartition(1)
.write.format("com.databricks.spark.csv")
.save("result")
The above method outputs a folder called result, with the following files inside it. Normally data will be split into multiple csvs (each with a different part name). But since we have repartitioned the dataframe into 1, all data is collected into one partition (or file).
The final step is to close the sparkContext.
// close sparkContext
sc.stop()
Debugging
Spark comes with a web interface (by default in port 4040) that could be used to see how the ETL process runs. I find this useful, especially in identifying bottleneck functions.
Example of Spark Web Interface in localhost:4040
Conclusion
We have seen how a typical ETL pipeline with Spark works, using anomaly detection as the main transformation process. Note that some of the procedures used here is not suitable for production. For example, CSV input and output are not encouraged. Normally we would use Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) instead. The latter could be wrapped under a database too e.g. HBase. Nonetheless, the main programming paradigm stays the same. | https://towardsdatascience.com/outlier-detection-an-etl-tutorial-with-spark-f4197eb84a7b | ['Edward Elson Kosasih'] | 2019-09-15 13:23:06.505000+00:00 | ['Big Data', 'Etl', 'Anomaly Detection', 'Apache Spark', 'Data Science'] |
Understanding Decision Trees | Decision Tree is an interesting concept that mimics a very common way our mind approaches a classification problem — of taking decisions one step at a time.
Suppose we want to predict the outcome of a cricket match, we would typically check out the star players; the other players; the stadium; pitch, crowd; season etc.. in an appropriate order. At each step, we consider if that factor is pro-victory or pro-defeat. Such a binary walk takes us to a reasonable prediction of the outcome.
This is the decision tree algorithm — we build a tree of decisions that lead us to the final decision.
This is different from the process of logistic regression — where we would try to come up to a number based on the different parameters, and then validate if the number is more or less than a threshold. Our mind does not always follow that process.
(Source Wikimedia)
In Mathematical Terms
We have two ways of looking at a machine learning problem. We can build a unified model for our training data set of n features. Or we can take up one feature at a time and classifying data elements of that feature — the two nodes thus obtained can be classified further based on the next feature and so on.
The latter gives us a tree structure — where each node represents a given data feature. As we perform this classification, we expect to reach a state where each node has true on one side and false on the other — thus completing our model training.
As one can see, the whole game is about identifying the order of features to split, and the split thresholds. Thankfully, we have strong libraries to help us with that. If you are interested in its details, refer to the section below, on “Understanding the Decision Tree”. But before that, let us get a feel by trying to implement stuff in code.
Implementation
Like most machine learning algorithms, you have a simple solution for the Decision Tree from SciKitLearn. You can work on the Iris flower database as below.
Start with the usual imports:
Now load the iris data set and split it into the train and test
Next, instantiate the Decision Tree classifier and try to fit the data into the model
Now, evaluate the model using the test set.
This is a clear example of over fitting. But, the test accuracy if 0.973 is not bad either; so we take this a good classification.
Understanding the Decision Tree
In order to understand the decision tree, let us try to implement one from scratch.
On a high level. a Decision Tree implementation can be thought of a simple if/else logic. Of course, we have important hyper-parameters — depth of the tree, the choice of order of features and the thresholds for each decision. There are several algorithms for identifying these. But, once they are chosen, the classification is not a difficult task.
Over the years, researchers have identified several algorithms that can help us with this choice.
Hunt’s algorithm
This is the most adopted for identifying the order of features. In essence, it tries to split the data over different combinations of features — to identify the one with highest correlation with the decision. It helps identify the features that impact the outcome more than the others. It makes sense to classify on these features before others.
Max Tree Depth
This is a user specified hyper parameter. It defines the maximum depth to which we grow the decision tree. Deeper the tree, more its complexity, and more the chances of overfitting. The leaf nodes in a tree are also called the Terminal Nodes.
Maximum Node Records
This is another indicator of the granularity of the decision tree. We should stop growing the tree at a given node, if the number of records there fall below this threshold. The point is that we should have enough data at the given node, so that we can train that node well.
Recursive Splitting
Having defined the process and limits for splitting the records on a node, we can recursively go on splitting the data records — growing the tree into more and more nodes
Gini Index
For choosing the individual thresholds on each of the nodes, we do not follow the typical regression process. But it is the same in essence — trying to reduce an error function.
The natural question here is, what is the error function? What do we try to minimise? The most popular among the different cost functions defined is the Gini Index — that is a measure of the amount of split on each node — Is there a meaningful difference between the data sets on either side of the split?
Gini Index score at a node is defined as: One minus the square of amount of partition at a node. If we have a perfect partition; if all elements of either class are on either side of the split, the Gini index is 0. Higher value means the data did not split well.
Code
Enough of theory, now we can get down to some real code. Let’s implement each of the components of the decision tree in simple Python code and then we can put them all together
Gini Index
Let us start by building python code to calculate the Gini Index for a set of groups and the classes.
Here, we loop through each row in each group. For each, we check the second element in the pair (the value), to find out the ratio of records with a given outcome on a given side of the split. This is followed by the arithmetic to aggregate this into the value of Gini Index.
Create a Data Split
The code to evaluate Gini Index is ready. Now, we move ahead, to identify the best threshold to split at the given node. Essentially, we try out several values in the available range. Among these, we pick up the one with minimum value for Gini Index.
We do not need to go through the regression at this point — because we pick up one feature at a time, and we are not dealing with continuous functions. We scan through the data set, to find the particular value in the data, that can can best serve as the point to split.
We can extend this to include the hyper-parameters we discussed above. Thus, we can create a method to split at a given node.
This recursively splits the nodes till each branch reaches the criteria for being the terminal node.
Construct the Decision Tree
Now we have all the building blocks required, and we can go ahead to build the decision tree. That is a simple task.
We can pass in the training data along with the hyper-parameters of max depth and minimum size of nodes. The code will go recursively through the above logic to construct and train the decision tree.
Prediction
With the tree in place, we can go ahead to test it with a prediction.
This method recursively drills down the tree to the terminal node that can give us the decision. | https://medium.com/swlh/understanding-decision-trees-2423012c8f3c | ['Vikas Solegaonkar'] | 2019-11-27 16:45:13.982000+00:00 | ['Decision Tree', 'Machine Learning', 'Statistical Learning'] |
Catching Up to Tesla: Big Auto’s Biggest Challenge | Until Tesla’s success was proven, auto giants took it easy, even poking fun at the crazy CEO who dared to compete in a space they had owned for over a century. They no longer can, but the gap is already tremendously wide. Can they catch up?
Source: Photo By The Telegraph
It is an often-cited fact that having the first-mover advantage in any industry sets you up for a leadership position in the long run. While that’s partially true, that’s not the full story. You also need the fast-mover advantage.
The Amazon Analogy
One need only look at Amazon to know the truth of this. Although Amazon was not necessarily the first mover in electronic commerce, it did have the fast-mover advantage. Quickly transitioning from selling books to becoming a reseller and then a marketplace, it rattled the traditional retail world like nothing else.
At one point, Amazon grew to become so big that even the world’s largest retailer, Walmart, had to do something about it. Walmart has turned things around nicely after its acquisition of Jet.com; but, for a long time, even that was a touch-and-go move that’s not easy for others to replicate. Walmart has found the sweet spot with omnichannel, but most retail giants continue to struggle with shipping costs, delivery logistics, and inventory management as they attempt to stem the bleeding from customers opting for online versus offline shopping.
Big Auto’s Big Headache
The auto industry is going through a similar phase now. All the major players have billions of dollars laid out for R&D, powertrain systems integration, battery procurement, factory retooling, and everything else that goes with shifting from Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles to Electric Vehicles (EVs). Many of them have phase-in-phase-out plans in place to ensure that their EV portfolios enjoy the benefits of whatever brand recognition and loyalty that their ICE counterparts have helped build over the past century.
Despite the feverish activity that is spurring ICE-makers toward a pure EV future, Tesla remains virtually unbeatable in the space. And it’s not because of their cars. Yes, Tesla’s line-up of EVs is one of the most impressive around, but the real strength comes from how far into the future the company was able to look, and how it has charted its strategy to fit that long-term vision.
One great example of that is that they own most of the IP behind whatever batteries they use, whether from Panasonic, LG Chem, or CATL. In a sense, these companies are merely fabricators for Tesla’s battery cells. That could change with plans afoot for CATL to jointly manufacture batteries with Tesla, but it will not affect Tesla’s plans to make its own battery cells. The Maxwell acquisition earlier this year was a solid move in that direction.
There’s a reason that the world’s largest lithium-ion and lithium-iron battery makers are all lining up for Tesla’s business: it’s because they understand the sustainability and growth potential of the company better than any investor or analyst.
And that’s more than can be said of any of the European, U.S., or Japanese automakers that own the bulk of ICE market share today. These companies now have to fight each other for battery capacity and/or invest in battery chemistry research to find the Holy Grail that will give them a long-term advantage over the others. And they have to do it with their ICE hands tied behind their backs and a mandate to keep their companies profitable through this seismic transition.
The battery example is just one of many factors that have created this chasm between Tesla and Big Auto. Connectivity and autonomy are two other areas where Tesla is creating a gap between itself and other auto companies.
Some EV players like XPeng, Inc. have taken a cue and jumped straight into the Smart EV bandwagon. And it should see the same kind of success that Tesla witnessed over the past decade because it owns the whole technology stack; the only thing it lacks is the battery tech but it is exploring innovative avenues such as battery leasing and rentals to bring down the cost of its EVs. Even NIO’s battery-swapping is an innovative initiative that will help it get ahead of its competitors. But neither will replace Tesla at the number one spot in the foreseeable future.
Even the mighty Volkswagen has admitted that “Tesla is ten years ahead of the 83-year-old German carmaker in terms of electric car production and software.”
The challenge for Big Auto now is a strenuous and sustained uphill journey just to get to where Tesla is today. Yes, they have billions invested in their respective EV futures but they were largely asleep at the wheel while Tesla was doing all its grunt work, struggling to be cash flow positive and brushing up against potential bankruptcy every now and then — not to mention putting up with the predictably regular negative press coverage that has been a thorn in Elon Musk’s side for several years now. But the success of Tesla speaks for itself and, by the time the auto giants can match Tesla’s current EV output, the figurative goal post will have been moved.
In order for Big Auto to compete on an even level with Tesla, they first have to level the playing field, and that’s a tall order.
They’d have to make tremendous leaps in battery technology, start manufacturing and selling EVs at scale, sign battery acquisition deals to support their sales projections and manufacturing capacities, carefully manage the transition in terms of customer perception, and all the while continuing to show a profit to their investors so their stocks won’t tank.
It’s a massive challenge for any large auto company to pivot on a dime, but that’s exactly what’s required. It’ll take a Walmart-Jet initiative to compete against Tesla in the long run, and that’s something none of the auto giants have been able to do thus far.
Source: Data Obtained via InsideEVs
The width of that gap is embodied in the YTD sales figures for plug-in electric vehicles in the chart above. Moreover, Tesla has now thrown down the gauntlet with these claims:
Source: Tesla Battery Day Presentation via EVReporter
Tesla’s ultimate goal is still a $25,000 EV for the mass market, and it won’t be long before they breach that and start moving into the mid-market and low-cost segments with future models.
All these factors serve to further expand the chasm that auto giants will need to cross before any of them can viably compete against Tesla — and that’s Big Auto’s Biggest Challenge for the decade ahead. | https://medium.com/@lemonphi/catching-up-to-tesla-big-autos-biggest-challenge-265010d7b6e6 | ['Shudeep Chandrasekhar'] | 2020-12-05 05:31:12.351000+00:00 | ['Internal Combustion', 'Tesla', 'Electric Vehicles'] |
A Healthy Attitude Towards Money Helps to Achieve Financial Security | How to apply it:
Analyze how you deal with money and ask yourself some questions:
Do you believe that wealthy people are evil?
Do you believe that money is a god?
Do you believe that money makes you a better person?
Or that it’s best to hide your accomplishments because otherwise, people would try to steal your money?
If you tend to feel anxious or angry or are overly emotional when the discussion comes to money and the rich, there might be something going on that could be worth talking with a specialist.
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Create the right money mindset habits — step by step
“Money is a tool. Used properly it makes something beautiful; used wrong, it makes a mess!” — Bradley Vinson
Nobody should attach any emotion to money; it is not worth it. Money has no meaning — it is just a tool that everybody can use to achieve their own life goals.
Nothing more, nothing less.
If you feel pleasure in making music and feel your calling teaches kids how to play instruments, maybe it doesn’t need billions to need a happy, fulfilled life.
Others might feel a calling to create something like Amazon, which needs more money to realize such a calling.
The process I recommend is the following.
Figure out your life goals
At the beginning of this article, I described the importance of finding your own vision and passion as the key to a happy life.
I consider this the first step to financial independence. It creates the north star that guides you toward creating a fulfilling life for you.
Make the vision as big as possible and always remember — achieving the exact goal is not its purpose. The bigger the goal, the bigger the things you achieve will be
Set money goals accordingly
In my eyes, only after the initial step, it makes sense to plan a budget that meets your goals.
Let’s go back to the example with the teacher whose life goal is to educate kids in music.
Why should this teacher take up 3 other jobs when the financial life may be set up that it has 50,000 expenses at 70,000 annual income. To make it easy, let’s just assume it is after taxes.
Yes, having an additional 100,000 is a nice thing, but if the music teacher has a fulfilled, happy life because he can teach kids every day what he loves, why should he make himself unhappy with a second job?
Knowing the first step is a prerequisite to set the money plans accordingly. Otherwise, it is easy to end up chasing money for no reason.
Whatever you want to achieve, my thumb rule is annual expenses plus a 30% profit span is enough income to create reserves for retirement.
Work on your money mindset
After figuring passion, vision, goals, and budget needed out, question your mindset if you consider the whole picture odd.
It might be that the picture is right, but your mindset is a little bit off.
In some cases, it might look like raising billions is necessary to achieve your new goals, and you might consider it impossible. It reflects a scarcity mindset.
An underlying cause might be a money disorder, like
“I don’t deserve so much money.” or
“Rich people are evil. I want to be a good guy. That’s why I need to be poor.”
Or it might be that you figure out that an annual income of 100,000 is sufficient as your goals only need 70,000 per year. You decide to take up 2 other jobs because you believe that people will respect you more. Such is a money status and worship disorder.
A goal needs a supporting mindset.
Learn how to make money, save and invest
A lot can happen in life. Sometimes goals and priorities just shift.
It is a natural process that human beings evolve and might want to set new goals every 5–10 years.
Each of these transitions takes time. The natural process I learned is that initially, everybody has to invest time and money to start something new.
It is a huge risk because it is unknown whether this investment pays for the long-term, and very often, entrepreneurs can only thrive on faith that eventually it will work out fine.
That’s why I recommend starting to think about creating several streams of income.
One might be saving for bad days once a certain threshold is achieved moving forward to investing in stock and real estate or other asset classes.
I highly recommend to check out seminars and webinars that teach the necessary skills and start working on the trial and error learning process.
Create good daily financial habits
Building wealth is the result of disciplined habits. Every person who sticks to the plan will increase the net worth automatically.
I am describing in my articles on the subject “Financial Literacy” some of them.
One of the habits that benefits me the most is actually very simple.
In my eyes, one of the biggest money wasters is impulse buying or out of control shopping.
Did you ever find yourself home after a Saturday with 5 shopping bags full of stuff that you actually don’t need? And regret to have to spend a thousand euros on that?
Marketing hijacks our limbic system and creates the illusion of gratification when buying stuff.
The reptilian brain first wants to know if the thing is threatening or desirable and ascertains this from what it can see, smell, taste and touch, not what it can deduct by rational means.
Knowing this, it is understandable that marketing uses words, sounds, and pictures that show the sunny side of life to us- it works hard to make the limbic system believe that things are desirable.
Only after an input passed the amygdala, our brain rationalizes whether it makes logical sense or not. What marketing doesn’t want is to induce a fight or flight response by threatening the potential customer.
On top of this, mechanic science shows that shopping raises the dopamine levels in our body. Dopamine is the gratification hormone whenever we experience something.
Scientists discovered that dopamine levels are regulated by excitement and anticipation.
Marketing creates excitement around a product — and uses discounts to make the experience more pleasurable. Did you ever feel the joy of getting a product for 30% less?
And when it is unpredictable whether the event occurs tomorrow or next week, it creates an additional dopamine rush.
That’s why online shopping works mostly better than real-life shopping as people have to wait until the parcel is delivered.
Knowing all this, it is clear that impulse shopping — online and in real life- happens as humans like the effects of dopamine, and there is nothing bad in it.
But for some, it can become a problem as the shopping behavior drains the budget and sometimes make people spend more than they actually have, pushing them into debt.
So I developed for my life a simple method, and here is
How to apply it:
Whenever I feel the urge of wanting to buy something, I don’t immediately follow this impulse.
Instead, I put the item on a shopping list. (except grocery shopping and expenses for education like books)
These days I use a simple app with a shopping list and links to the products.
I announced Saturday as my shopping day, where I get all the shopping needed for my life done.
On this day, I agreed with myself to check one item off the list by purchasing it.
Only one item each Saturday.
The upside is that I have to think about what goods I need the most and which one has the highest positive impact on my life.
Additionally, after reading the studies about dopamine and shopping, delaying the behavior's gratification produces an additional dopamine rush.
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Meet like-minded people.
“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” ― Jim Rohn
Whether we like it or not, we become like the people we spend the most time with.
If you want to learn more about yourself, make a list of your family, friends, acquaintances, business partners, or work colleagues.
All people you are in touch with during a month and then rank the list according to the time you spend with the people.
Look at the top 5 people — most likely, you are very similar to them. Of course, all people influence us, but the top 5 affect our personal development simply by mirroring their behavior, values, and habits.
Successful people know when they want to change direction to amend their circle of close people.
The concept is simple:
When you want to become an ultrarunner, spend time with ultrarunners.
When you want to become a millionaire, spend time with millionaires.
When you want to become a successful entrepreneur, spend more time with successful entrepreneurs.
Some might say, well, I don’t know any rich people — does that mean I can never become rich?
The good thing in 2020 is — the internet.
Of course, having real life contact with other people is the best possible way to learn from them.
The second-best solution is reading books, reading websites, listening to podcasts, and audiobooks of people that have already achieved what you desire.
The latter option is a great and quick starting point. You want to go in a new direction? Define your goal and get some books, podcasts, and websites and start reading — an easy first step.
In parallel, reach out to people in real life. Everybody is interested in meeting new people, especially when it means helping another person.
You can pay successful people as advisors for financial goals, and most likely, they are happy to help you as a mentor or coach.
How to apply it: | https://medium.com/illumination-curated/a-healthy-attitude-towards-money-helps-to-achieve-financial-security-efd9b0a0f5ec | ['Christian Soschner'] | 2020-12-28 14:52:50.353000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Money', 'Financial Literacy', 'Wealth', 'Success'] |
In Regards to “Stranger Danger”: | I’ve always viewed the concept of stranger danger to be somewhat of an unfinished idea. The philosophy states that strangers are potentially dangerous and, consequently, should be avoided. Given that a stranger is only a stranger if they are unknown, I begin to discover an incomplete painting of one of society’s most abundant philosophy. Should we feel encouraged to learn about, and engage with more people, or should we feel limited and fearful of the unknowns around us? In essence, I think the question boils down to whether we prioritize eliminating strangers, or eliminating potential dangers.
I find that how we, as individuals, view strangers, have a great deal to do with our privileges, or lack thereof. A common illustration of privilege, especially regarding strangers, I think, is the idea of neighborhoods. Too often, particularly in my time in suburban United States, I heard the terms “safe” and “dangerous” being used as descriptors of local areas. Perhaps if I were to grow up in a “safe” neighborhood, I would be less fearful of strangers, and vice versa, if I were to grow up in a “dangerous” area. I suppose my only question would be whether or not these differing degrees of fears towards strangers would carry over to environments outside of the neighborhoods.
Between various societies, there are vast differences in how strangers are treated between and by its people. Beyond the stereotypes and individual anecdotal experiences of specific countries, I think that it’s fair to claim that these differences exist, and are often clearly visible. I am led to believe that these variances in friendliness towards strangers are caused almost solely by social and cultural factors. With this in mind, I begin to wonder if some societies intentionally implemented social and cultural factors that would drive their communities in a direction that would be better suited for prosperity. What I’m trying to get at is whether or not some societies attempted to instill their social norms before the establishment of their society. A chicken and an egg question, if you will. Perhaps outside intervention could be made to alter the egg to hatch a more fit chicken.
In the end, I continue to be puzzled by the intentions of “stranger danger”, and will likely remain unsure, simply due to the nature of the philosophy. To me, it almost feels as though the phrase introduces a problem, and forgets to, or intentionally omits, the answer. Interesting how a question that seeks a lifelong ethical answer is introduced at such a young age. | https://medium.com/@ryenhamp/in-regards-to-stranger-danger-784016cdad53 | ['Ryen Hamp'] | 2020-12-23 13:39:54.215000+00:00 | ['Fear', 'Philosophy', 'Society', 'Strangers', 'Culture'] |
What Non-Tech Founders Should Expect from Development Partners | But first: Educate yourself
Okay, you’re not going to become a developer yourself. You’re a founder driving a vision. But just as you should learn what thread count means before buying expensive new sheets, you should get yourself acquainted with dev frameworks and the basics so you understand the domain. Before you dive into looking for development partners, start educating yourself in the space. Think of these resources like those pocket dictionaries you bring out of the country so you can at least ask where the nearest bathroom is.
Resources
Hacking UI is a great newsletter with a wide range of topics around dev. In any given newsletter, you’ll find a few great links that explain development trends in language that’s easy to understand.
Better Product, a podcast I co-host, features interviews with product leaders and professionals. It gives a nice picture of what goes into building products.
Mixpanel has a great article on what a tech stack is. This is a must-read. It’s very easy to understand and gives you a good understanding of how tech is built.
1. Look for pushback
I see more development shops doing this well today than I had over the last three years. But there are still a lot of dev firms that will build exactly what you want. You want developers to be your partners, and challenge you when they see a red flag. The quickest path to failure is finding a firm that does exactly what you ask. On a related note, these are often the firms that cost less. They often cost less because they aren’t accounting for strategic thinking, and they’re just staffing a team of coders. Think of it like wanting to a build a new house but your construction crew doesn’t build off a blueprint.
Questions to ask
Are there easier ways to achieve my goals?
What are the riskiest components of what you’d build?
2. Timeliness is key
This is a principle that all agencies should abide by. But with dev partners, you need one who gives you the impression that you are their only client. While you aren’t building your product that’s scaling to $1M in ARR, you will need someone who can make quick changes or fix bugs. The last thing you need while you’re demoing your product to a prospect is a nasty bug to appear that won’t get fixed for days.
Questions to ask
How long does it typically take for you to fix a bug?
How often do your projects go beyond your estimated time?
How many clients do you have at a time on average?
3. Know your point of contact
Again, another seemingly obvious point, but for those who don’t have experience working with development, it can get lost in the shuffle of keeping track of everything else. Some development firms outsource their work to others. This on its own isn’t a problem but you need to know this up front so you know what effort you’ll need to put into communication. In addition, ask what their cadence and communication process is like. Your goal is to have a development partner that acts like a teammate as much as possible.
Questions to ask
Are you outsourcing work?
Who on your side is my primary point of contact?
What tools do you use for communication?
4. Ask for work examples
This is kind of like asking for references in a job interview, but you’re looking for an example of work they’ve done that might be similar to the product you’re building. This is also great for your own education because as you look at their work with an outside perspective, you’ll start to understand what good product should look like and what follow-up questions to ask.
Questions to ask
Can you show me examples of products you’ve built?
What were the results of your past work?
5. Bring your own examples
It can also be extremely helpful if you come equipped with products you like, or similar products for reference. It’s like a style swatch or a moodboard if you’re doing a home remodel. Often interior designers want to know what you like before they ever start designing a room. This goes for development partners as well. Seeing examples of what you like will help them understand your vision more clearly.
Questions to ask
Here are competitors doing something similar, anything stick out as problematic?
These are the products I like and what I like specifically, what is the effort coding these types of interactions?
6. Seek outside guidance
If possible, I’d take any quotes or information you get and have another person vet it. If you have any contacts in tech, or know someone who does, they can help translate your quote for you. There are many in the development community that are happy to help. Think of this as asking your mechanic friend about whether your car really needs that air filter replaced. Development is a new world so it can be helpful to have a translator.
Questions to ask
Does this project scope seem reasonable?
Do you have any technical concerns?
7. Involve product leaders
Lastly, I recommend involving a product leader of some sort. Our agency helps startups with designing initial concepts, and building roadmaps to help guide what should be built. But often startups may not have budget for this up front so, just like finding a developer friend, I’d involve someone who knows product. This can be as simple as asking for advice on your idea, whether it could be made simpler, etc. Even if you find a development partner that helps act as your partner, it always helps to have a clearer vision up front to guide the discussion. This will save you time, money, and most importantly increase your chance of product success.
Tools that can help communicate your vision
Starting a tech company is exciting, and when you don’t have tech background yourself it can have an added element of excitement (okay, fear). And just like hiring in-house, there will always be some risk that the fit isn’t perfect. But by taking these areas seriously, you’ll greatly increase your chances of finding strong partners and leveling up your own tech knowledge so you can ask better questions and find better partners. | https://medium.com/better-product/what-non-tech-founders-should-expect-from-development-partners-c44d276ed2c1 | ['Christian Beck'] | 2019-05-21 21:02:49.230000+00:00 | ['Product Management', 'Founders', 'Product', 'Startup'] |
How Did Idaho Become Known for Potatoes? | Photo by Eiliv-Sonas Aceron on Unsplash
How Did Idaho Become Known for Potatoes?
Whether you’re not sure if potatoes grow underground or on trees, if chickens have ears, or if you can farm an alligator, these five fun ag facts will fill you in on a few interesting facts about US Farming and Agriculture.
Photo by Lucas van Oort on Unsplash
Idaho Was Too Dry For Potatoes
Per The Idaho Potato Museum website, extensive irrigation across the state of Idaho was needed to make it possible for potatoes to thrive there.
Irrigation plays a critical role in the growing and production of potatoes. The Carey Act of 1894 made it possible for more land to be opened up for agricultural use. Under this Act, the so-called public land states with desert lands were offered one million federal acres each, provided they would cause the granted lands to be irrigated. Idaho benefited from the Carey Act far more than did any other state. About 60% of all lands irrigated in the United States under the Carey Act are in Idaho. Over the period of forty years, the state of Idaho received 618,000 acres of previously desert, arid land. — Idaho Potato Museum
Due to the way the snowmelt is collected off the mountains for irrigation and the rich soil, Idaho now produces nearly a third of the nation’s potatoes.
Photo by Vish K on Unsplash
Alligators are a Farm Animal
Cows go: “Moo!”
Pigs go: “Oink!”
Alligators go — “Wait, what?”
Alligator farming is a multimillion-dollar, heavily regulated industry. Many consumers are looking to purchase meat, hide, bones, and teeth. Due to lots of legalities surrounding alligators, the hunting and farming of these animals is highly regulated. Hides from animals that have gone without being injured or scraped are typically considered very valuable. With Covid-19, however, the industry has been having extra trouble remaining stable in 2020.
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
Our Number One Crop Is Inedible
Each year, we drench our lawns with enough water to fill the Chesapeake Bay! That makes grass — not corn — America’s largest irrigated crop. Our nation’s lawns now cover an area larger than New York State, and, each year, we use about 2.4 million metric tons of fertilizer just to maintain them. When there is too much fertilizer on our lawns, essential nutrients are easily washed away by sprinklers and rainstorms. When these nutrients enter storm drains and water bodies, they often become one of the most harmful sources of water pollution in the United States-Bill Norrington, UCSB Geography
Corn is typically cited as the USA’s number one crop, and while it is the biggest one that is actually grown for food, the US actually grows more acreage of lawns. Three times larger in fact, than any other irrigated crop in the country. With these tiny patches of turf being managed by millions of different people, experts are concerned about the environmental impact of the improper use of fertilizers and herbicides and how those chemicals might drain into waterways. Some of the environmental concern surrounds the amount of drinking water that is allocated to lawns as well.
Much of this grass is sourced from seeds grown in the grass seed capital of the world, near Tangent, Oregon.
Photo by Tina Witherspoon on Unsplash
Crunching the Greens and the Numbers
One acre of land can currently produce 50,000lbs of strawberries or 2,784lbs of wheat. This means 166 people locally and abroad can eat off of the produce that one small US farm creates on average. Based on these calculations, if the global population increases at the expected rate, we should hope farmers have figured out how to grow 70% more food than what is currently being produced by 2050.
Hoping for an organic future? Currently, organic food takes 2.5 times the labor to produce, so the technology must come even further to build a sustainable future. Especially considering the current average pay for an agricultural laborer is $12.42 per hour, and the field is not expected to grow more than 1% in the next several years.
Photo by Max Kleinen on Unsplash
The Chicken or The Eggshell?
I learned early on that there is absolutely no difference between eggshells if they are brown, white, speckled, or even green. However, from personal experience, I can tell you that blue eggshells just don’t peel off a boiled egg well. Officially, eggshell colors do not change anything about the egg except the obvious.
“The differences in eggshell color is solely due to genetics,” says Olivia Tarantino writing for Eat This, Not That.
What the shell color will not tell you is the nutrition content. That’s what the yolk color is for.
As for the difference in nutrients between yolk colors? The protein and fat counts will often remain the same regardless of yolk color, but there can be up to a 100-fold increase in micronutrient value of certain antioxidant carotenoids like lutein and beta-carotene in yolks fed a more nutrient-dense diet (like in pasture-raised hens), according to a 2010 study published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.-Olivia Tarantino, Eat This, Not That, November 17, 2020
Photo by Phoenix Han on Unsplash
What can the eggshell color tell you, though? The earlobe color of the chicken!
“There is no outer ear, such as we humans have, but chickens do have earlobes which can be clearly seen. The colour of the lobe varies with the breed of the chicken, ranging from white to almost black. Chickens with white earlobes lay white eggs exclusively while birds with dark lobes lay brown eggs. The fascinating Araucana breed of chickens can even have earlobes that are a pale green or blue colour. Sure enough, they lay eggs of the corresponding hue.”-Joe Schwarez, McGill University, April 19, 2019
The chicken shown above has a bright white earlobe, indicating that she lays white eggs.
Photo by Frances Gunn on Unsplash
From potatoes to chickens and fields of grass to swampland, the United States has some varied and amazing types of agriculture and farming. These practices are hard work, take lots of dedication, and are vital to keeping our bellies full. | https://medium.com/@mriveralawrence/how-did-idaho-become-known-for-potatoes-26aa8d4b4605 | ['Moriah Rivera-Lawrence'] | 2020-12-21 21:57:18.217000+00:00 | ['United States', 'Fun Facts', 'Farming', 'Agriculture'] |
Bitcoin price delivers $24.5K Christmas gift with another new all-time high | A rebound sees BTC/USD hit new all-time highs as hodlers celebrate a uniquely profitable year.
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Bitcoin (BTC) has broken $24,000 once again on Dec. 25 as bullish momentum returned for Christmas, which is looking rosy for bulls.
BTC price within $200 of new all-time high
Data from Cointelegraph Markets, Coin360 and TradingView showed BTC/USD repeatedly testing $24,000 resistance on Christmas Day.
Hitting new all-time highs of $24,500 on Bitstamp at publishing time, Bitcoin refused to conform to bearish prognoses, shrugging off lows that resulted from legal action against Ripple.
At press time, the largest cryptocurrency circled $23,900 as volatility intensified, with all-time highs in sight at $24,217.
For some, such a move was expected, coming late in the year when Bitcoin tends to dominate over altcoins before a reversal takes place in January. Among adherents to this view is Cointelegraph Markets analyst Michaël van de Poppe.
“Bitcoin dominance has been topping out in December in the past years. Every year it did,” he summarized on the day.
“The likelihood of this to repeat itself is significant, especially combining this with the current sentiment on altcoins. Bullish for Q1 2021.”
Altcoins hit back after XRP lawsuit sell-off
With the holidays beginning, large buy-ins from institutional investors were less likely, these having the potential to dredge up liquidity and boost price performance even higher.
As Cointelegraph reported, however, MicroStrategy, which has holdings in excess of 70,000 BTC, revealed that it purchased small amounts on a high-frequency basis instead of moving the market with a lump sum.
Meanwhile, altcoins are also up on Christmas day, with Ether (ETH) regaining $600 and XRP, fresh from a 60% drop from Ripple’s lawsuit fears, rebounded to $0.35. | https://medium.com/@fato0omah7/bitcoin-price-delivers-24-5k-christmas-gift-with-another-new-all-time-high-8cb14d61c5ec | [] | 2020-12-26 05:15:40.447000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Bitcoin Price', 'Markets', 'Usd', 'Btc'] |
Environment Variables in Angular / Ionic | Solution 1: Create a environment.ts file for each environment
Angular by default provides a prebuilt solution, which is creating multiple environment files, like:
environment.ts : for developement
environment.prod.ts : for production
environment.preprod.ts : for preoproduction
environment.testing.ts : testing
…
Then manage all this in the angular.json file in root of your project :
angular.json
So basically, when you run ng build --prod Angular will replace your environment.ts file by the environment.prod.ts
And now let’s add the proper configuration for the other environments (let’s take preprod as an exemple) :
Create environment.preprod.ts file in src/environment folder
folder In your angular.json file add the following lines (edit the config if you want) :
"configurations": {
"production": {
"optimization": true,
..
},
"preprod": {
"optimization": true,
"outputHashing": "all",
"sourceMap": false,
"extractCss": true,
"namedChunks": false,
"aot": true,
"extractLicenses": true,
"vendorChunk": false,
"buildOptimizer": true,
"fileReplacements": [
{
"replace": "src/environments/environment.ts",
"with": "src/environments/environment.preprod.ts"
}
]
}
}
And now run this command to generate the build (Or add it to your build script in your CI/CD pipelines)
ng build --configuration=preprod
if you are on Ionic :
ionic cordova build android --configuration=preprod
Solution 2 : Create a environment.ts file using process.env
I prefer this solution because it’s more safe for me, and actually sometimes you don’t want to commit some environment variable in your code ( Such as a secret key … ) and you don’t want to make it visible to all your team.
In this solution we will overwrite the default environment file created by Angular before building using environment variables we set in our deployment environment (heroku, azure ..).
To do so, we will create a JS or TS file in the root of the project, let’s name it ‘set-env.js’ (add your variables to this code):
After creating this file, let’s add a ‘config’ script to our package.json :
"scripts": {
"ng": "ng",
"config": "node set-env.js",
"config-ts": "ts-node set-env.ts",
"start-dev": "ng serve -o",
"build": "npm run config && ng build --aot --prod",
...
},
And now enjoy executing your ‘npm run config’ command in your build script. | https://medium.com/swlh/environment-variables-in-angular-ionic-8aa1698f2cc5 | ['Adnane Lamghari'] | 2020-12-07 19:54:27.406000+00:00 | ['Ci Cd Pipeline', 'Environment Variables', 'Deployment', 'Angular', 'Nodejs'] |
Ethereum 2.0: What the Next Three Years of Ethereum Will Look Like | In November 2013, a young Russian-Canadian college student at the University of Waterloo and co-founder writer for Bitcoin Magazine published a whitepaper that proposed the development of a blockchain platform supporting a generalized scripting language and application development.
His name was Vitalik Buterin, and his idea quickly caught fire. Buterin was joined by seven other founders to create Ethereum, a smart contract platform for building decentralized applications. They launched a crowdsale to fund development, raising 3,700 BTC in twelve hours, worth around $2.3 million at the time. The project went live a year later in 2015.
The early promise of Ethereum was to create a world computer — a decentralized world computer — that would execute anyone’s code in exchange for a fee, from running a token sale to distributing loans. In an early talk, Buterin likened Ethereum to something like Google Play: Ethereum would allow developers to upload applications to the blockchain for use anywhere in the world.
Fast-forward four years, and in many ways, we’re still waiting for this promise to be fulfilled. While applications from prediction markets like Augur to collectible games like CryptoKitties have launched on the network, most have failed to attract sustained usage and anything close to the billions of daily active users seen on consumer applications from companies like Facebook and Google. State of the Dapps currently shows that the current top Ethereum Dapp had a mere 3,000 users over the last 24 hours. Even if a Dapp were to attract mainstream adoption, it’s unclear if the network could support it — during the height of the CryptoKitties craze, Ethereum transaction fees rose to .02 ETH, or $20, at the time. As core projects have stalled, Dapps have failed to attract users, and the overall cryptocurrency market has declined, Ethereum’s price has fallen from around 51% of Bitcoin’s market cap in January 2018 to around 17% today.
To live up to its potential and scale decentralized applications to millions or even hundreds of millions of users, Ethereum has to solve key problems around scalability and performance. To do so, Ethereum developers have introduced an ambitious Ethereum 2.0 roadmap that includes proof of stake, sharding, and much more. Here’s what investors need to know about how — and on what timescale — these developments could impact the fundamentals of ETH.
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The Ethereum 2.0 Roadmap
Many of Ethereum’s problems have to do with intrinsic shortcomings around speed and scalability. Solving these problems, while maintaining decentralization of the protocol, is the core priority of Ethereum 2.0.
When people say that Ethereum is a “decentralized smart-contract platform,” they mean that the code of a smart contract is stored on every full node on the network and code has to execute across all full nodes. Ethereum’s proof-of-work consensus model means that this can take anywhere from three to eighteen minutes, depending on network congestion. As a result, deploying code on Ethereum is orders of magnitude more expensive than using a centralized service like AWS — and much, much slower.
Ethereum 2.0 is meant to help Ethereum scale, and it has two major goals:
Introduce a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, which will eliminate the need for expensive proof-of-work mining. Introduce sharding, which will improve the speed and throughput of ETH transactions.
Rather than trying to build these upgrades directly onto the main net, Ethereum 2.0 will build out a new, separate platform from the main chain that will eventually replace it in the future.
The Ethereum wiki maps out seven distinct phases for Ethereum 2.0, which will likely take several years to implement. Most of these phases are still in the research stage, without clear technical specifications. Before developers can actually build on Ethereum 2.0, the first three phases will need to be completed:
Phase 0 — Beacon Chain: The Beacon Chain is a proof-of-stake chain that will run parallel to Ethereum’s proof-of-work chain. Initially, the Beacon Chain will be engineered for simplicity and will support neither smart contracts nor accounts.
The Beacon Chain is a proof-of-stake chain that will run parallel to Ethereum’s proof-of-work chain. Initially, the Beacon Chain will be engineered for simplicity and will support neither smart contracts nor accounts. Phase 1 — Basic Sharding : Sharding is intended to help transactions scale by dividing the network across multiple shards, allowing the network to process many transactions concurrently.
Sharding is intended to help transactions scale by dividing the network across multiple shards, allowing the network to process many transactions concurrently. Phase 2 — eWASM: The eWASM is essentially a rebuilt Ethereum Virtual Machine that supports proof-of-stake and sharding. It will introduce smart contracts, accounts, and more to Ethereum 2.0.
The staged rollout of Ethereum 2.0 is intended to test each upgrade to the protocol in a safe environment without compromising security.
As Ethereum researcher Ben Edgington writes:
Building on a new platform like this, the Beacon Chain, allows us to introduce huge innovation unlimited by the constraints of today’s Mainnet, and, crucially, without having to do open-heart surgery on the currently running network.
In the rest of the article, we’ll walk you through the first three phases of the roadmap, which introduce proof of stake and sharding to Ethereum.
The Beacon Chain: Bringing Proof-of-Stake to Ethereum
The Beacon Chain is intended to serve as the nervous system for Ethereum 2.0 and introduce a proof-of-stake chain that will initially run parallel to Ethereum’s proof-of-work chain. The Beacon Chain is expected to launch in 2019.
Currently, Ethereum runs on a proof-of-work blockchain where miners compete to solve a difficult cryptographic problem. The solution to this problem is easy to validate but difficult to find, which means that proof of consensus requires a substantial investment in hardware and electricity costs. With proof of stake, consensus is achieved instead through a set of nodes known as validators. Each of these validators “stakes” a certain amount of ETH to participate in the consensus process. Validators propose new blocks to add to the chain and validate new transactions through a voting process. Validators are rewarded for good behavior and penalized for bad behavior (e.g., voting on invalid transactions).
The main responsibility of the Beacon Chain is to maintain a set of validators for proof-of-stake consensus that propose and validate new blocks to add to the chain. Each validator will have to stake 32 ETH. The Beacon Chain also randomly selects committees of 120 validators to vote on which blocks to include in the chain. Phase 0 of the Beacon Chain will be extremely barebones, with support for neither smart contracts nor accounts, but it will set the stage for further developments down the line, such as sharding and an updated Ethereum Virtual Machine.
Proof of stake isn’t a new concept: it was discussed in the early days of Bitcoin on the BitcoinTalk forum back in 2011. One of the common criticisms of proof of stake is that it can lead to oligarchical control of the network by a small group of wealthy validators. The Ethereum 2.0 roadmap seeks to address this by experimenting with economic incentives and game theory, but it’s too early to know how this will play out.
Sharding: Ethereum 2.0 Scalability
Currently on the Ethereum network, each full node validates every transaction. If you upload a smart contract to Ethereum, that means that it has to execute across every node on the network, limiting transaction speeds and throughput, while increasing the size of nodes to over 2 TB in size.
Sharding proposes to solve this problem in Ethereum 2.0 and help Ethereum scale. ‘Sharding’ refers to partitioning a large database into smaller, faster pieces known as shards. Each shard will have its own chain of transactions. Ethereum accounts will be assigned to a shard and can transact with other accounts on that shard. Eventually, the idea of Ethereum 2.0 is to facilitate cross-shard communication — but that won’t come until Phase 2 or later. On Ethereum 2.0, sharding works as the shared data layer for the network. Initial sharding for Ethereum 2.0 isn’t expected to launch until at least 2020.
Vitalik Buterin explains sharding as follows:
Imagine that Ethereum has been split into thousands of islands. Each island can do its own thing. Each of the islands has its own unique features and everyone belonging on that island, i.e., the accounts, can interact with each other and they can freely indulge in all its features. If they want to contact with other islands, they will have to use some sort of protocol.
Sharding on Ethereum in Phase 1.0 will be introduced on top of the proof-of-stake Beacon Chain. Shards will be verified by a set of validators that are randomly assigned by the Beacon Chain. A shard’s validators only have to verify transactions on the shard that they’re assigned. Phase 1.0 will introduce 100 shards that work in parallel, and initially, in this phase, they won’t process accounts, assets, or smart contracts.
While sharding brings scalability benefits to the network by splitting up a load of network transactions across shards, it introduces a new set of security problems. With proof-of-work, an attacker needs to amass 51% of the hashrate to successfully launch an attack. If the network is split into 100 shards, for example, it takes less of the network hashrate (or deposit in PoS) to successfully attack a shard. Another criticism is that sharding can lead to higher centralization, with each of the different shards run by a relatively small group of validators.
While the Ethereum developers have proposed solutions to these concerns — primarily through ensuring that validators are randomly selected — they still need to be tested, which is why the initial implementation of sharding will be limited.
eWASM: The Ethereum Virtual Machine v2
The current Ethereum Virtual Machine processes transactions sequentially. Each node on the Ethereum network executes transactions and stores them on the blockchain. To permit proof of stake and parallel transaction processing through sharding, the Ethereum team plans to build a new virtual machine known as eWASM. The eWASM is still in the research phase and will take at least until 2020 to build out — quite possibly longer.
This is the key to bringing smart contract functionality to Ethereum 2.0 and making it perform similarly to Ethereum 1.0 — only faster and better.
According to the specification for eWASM:
To truly distinguish Ethereum as the World Computer we need to have a very performant VM. The current architecture of the VM is one of the greatest blockers to raw performance. WebAssembly aims to execute at near native speed by taking advantage of common hardware capabilities available on a wide range of platforms. This will open the door to a wide array of uses that require performance/throughput.
The introduction of eWASM should allow Ethereum 2.0 to support smart contracts, accounts, states, and more. However, the eWASM still remains in the research phase of development, and it will likely change considerably before being pushed to production.
Ethereum 2.0 is a Marathon, Not a Race
“Ethereum 1.0 is a couple of people’s scrappy attempt to build the world computer; Ethereum 2.0 will actually be the world computer.” — Vitalik Buterin
For investors in Ethereum, the most important thing to understand about the Ethereum 2.0 roadmap is that it proposes a radical overhaul of the protocol — and that will take a lot of time and back-and-forth to realize.
According to a report from Kyokan, which conducted interviews with multiple teams involved with Ethereum 2.0, delivery of the first three phases will take at least a year and a half. Counter to popular media narratives, investors should be aware that each of these phases needs to be delivered before developers can actually build on top of Ethereum 2.0. Further, many of the later phases on the roadmap remain in the research phase of development, which means that new research can invalidate parts of the roadmap or introduce significant delays.
If Ethereum 2.0 can solve hard problems around proof of stake and sharding, then it may be well-poised to maintain its lead as the biggest smart-contract-computing platform in cryptocurrency. But that certainly won’t happen overnight.
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Mattel CFO calls Opening Ceremony ‘A thrill’ | I wanted to share this great post from Special Olympics Board Director and Mattel, Inc. Chief Financial Officer, Kevin M. Farr who was blown away by his experience walking in with Team Sweden in the Parade of Athletes and asked to share his excitement in the guest blog post below.
Hi from Athens Greece……we are having such an exciting time at the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games. In addition to the 7,000 athletes and their families from over 175 countries, Team Mattel is in force with 50 Mattel employees from 20 countries volunteering in support of the games and athletes. Last night, I had the incredible experience of being included in the spectacular opening ceremonies with over 90 talented Special Olympic athletes from Sweden! The athletes and I were very, very excited to walk into the stadium that hosted the original modern Olympics over 100 years ago! It was such a thrill to cheer and wave to the thousands of cheering fans with the Swedish team! It was an experience that I will not ever forget!! | https://medium.com/specialolympics/mattel-cfo-calls-opening-ceremony-a-thrill-182e03539c9 | ['Special Olympics'] | 2016-11-08 21:16:51.466000+00:00 | ['Experience', 'Nonprofit', 'Sweden'] |
Tis the Season to be Cautious | Holiday thieves are just a phone call away
Photo by Hannah Wei on Unsplash
Unfortunately, the coming of the holidays is the peak season for phone scams and elder fraud. Recently, a woman near where I live lost about $3,000 to a crook promising reduced phone and television bills.
That is just one of many frauds that cheat seniors out of $2.9 billion a year, according to the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging.
Special Committee on Aging Fraud Hotline: 855–303–9470
“Many scams are perpetrated by criminals operating from foreign call centers, beyond the reach of state and local law enforcement and thousands of miles from the seniors whom they victimize,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R) Maine, who heads the committee.
In keeping with the season, it’s a good time to become familiar with some of the classic frauds and how to deal with them.
IRS Impostor Scam
The most popular fraud, according to the committee, is the IRS impostor scam. This swindle starts with a phone call from a crook using a fake name and id number to identify themselves as an IRS agent. They claim you owe money to the government and that you must pay immediately or face arrest, financial penalties, loss of your driver’s license, or suspension of your business.
These scammers try to get you to transfer money directly to them or to purchase gift cards from a retail store and read them the card numbers, so they can cash them.
You need to know, the IRS does not try to collect money over the phone. They only work through the mail, though you can call them. The IRS does not collect payments in gift cards. Also, the mention of suspension of your driver's license is a red flag. Driver’s licenses can only be issued or rescinded by state governments.
Though many of these scammers operate from foreign countries, they often use operatives in the United States to receive and forward the victim’s money to them.
Social Security Impostor Scam
Similar to the IRS version is the Social Security impostor scam. Here, the fraudster calls, claiming your social security number has been suspended because of suspicious activity or it has been used in a crime.
“They ask to confirm the victim’s Social Security number,” according to the Department of Justice (DOJ), “or they may say they need to withdraw money from the victim’s bank and to store it on gift cards or in other unusual ways for ‘safekeeping.’ Victims may be told their accounts will be seized or frozen if they fail to act quickly.”
Often the Social Security impostor makes contact through a robocall in which a recording directs you to “press one” to speak to a representative.
Just like the IRS, the Social Security Administration does not use the telephone to conduct business, unless you contact them.
Tech Support Scam
Here, the criminals pretend to be computer technicians from a well-known company calling to alert you of harmful problems with your computer. In a variation on this scam, you may see pop-ups on your computer screen warning of bogus viruses, malware, or hacking attempts.
To solve the “problem” they have detected, the perpetrator gets your permission to access your computer remotely. Once in your computer, the bad guys try to get you to make large payments for their unnecessary service.
Sometimes, these same scammers call back, saying they need to refund some of the money you paid them. However, after supposedly issuing a refund, they tell you the refund was too much and you need to pay them back — again using gift cards.
Lottery Scam
In the Lottery Scam, the fraudsters say you have won a foreign lottery, vacation, cruise, or a boatload of money. All you have to do is pay some fees, taxes, insurance, or duties and it’s all yours. Sure, when pigs fly.
“Victims pay hundreds or thousands of dollars and receive nothing in return, and often are revictimized until they have no money left,” according to the DOJ.
Romance Scams
Don’t be a fool for love. Many good and lasting relationships have been forged online. However, some swindlers have taken trusting victims for a ride — and not down the aisle.
These scammers prey on people looking for love and companionship by creating false identities. They build trust over time weaving a story that involves a short-term need for money to get out of a jam or realize the success of a project. Often victims offer money without being asked.
Some romance scammers pop the question online. All they need is some money to cover wedding and honeymoon costs.
Even worse than the scam, some of these crooks rope their victims into being what the DOJ calls “money mules”.
“For example,” the DOJ reports, “Romance Scam victims often are induced to receive payments and/or goods such as technology equipment procured through fraud and to forward those payments and goods directly or indirectly to perpetrators.”
There are many similarities between these scams. One of which is the use of real numbers, used without the owner’s knowledge, for caller id.
Combating Phone Fraud
The simplest safeguard is not to answer a call from an unknown number. These people do not leave callback messages. If you answer the phone, hang up as soon as you recognize the scam.
These phone scams are often recorded in hopes of getting your recorded permission to access your financial accounts. Never say “yes” or make any statement that could be altered to sound like you are giving consent, such as, “I will not.” That can be edited to “I will”.
Remember, the IRS and Social Security Administration do not originate calls to you, unless you ask them to. So, if a purported representative of either of these agencies calls you, they are criminals trying to steal your money — hang up.
Lastly, these scammers are criminals. They are not nice people and they play dirty.
Last year, a man in Republic, MO recognized the IRS imposter scam. He gave the scammer an earful and slammed down the phone. A few minutes later, police surrounded his house. The scammer had called law enforcement telling them the man was holding a hostage at gunpoint inside the house. Fortunately, the police figure out they had been scammed too and all ended well.
Just to give you an idea of how prevalent this sort of crime is and how persistent the criminals are, during the time I have been writing this piece, I have received three calls from unfamiliar numbers all over Missouri. That is in addition to the two I had this morning.
I have not answered those calls. None of the callers have left messages. I have blocked and reported each number. I hope you do the same. | https://medium.com/crows-feet/tis-the-season-to-be-cautious-7ff237743e62 | ['Max K. Erkiletian'] | 2020-12-05 02:26:11.654000+00:00 | ['Scam', 'Crime', 'Seniors', 'Fraud', 'Holidays'] |
Exploring the CyberMiles ecosystem: Virtual goods in today’s (crypto)economy | Bitcoin is a remarkable cryptographic achievement. The ability to create something which is not duplicable in the digital world has enormous value. - Eric Schmidt, former Google C.E.O.
For all the money in the world, there are only two types of assets: fungible and non-fungible.
Fungible assets are like U.S. dollars or stock shares. Each unit of it is identical to another unit. Fungibility makes them easy to trade. Yet they are not “natural”; there are very few things in the real world that are truly fungible.
Real-world assets such as houses, factories, loans, bottles of wine, and companies are all different from each other. They are non-fungible.
Much of the world’s $10 trillion financial industry is to create fungible securities from underlying non-fungible assets so that they can be traded. Yet in the analog world of Wall Street securitization, key details of the underlying non-fungible asset could be lost, and cause the entire system to meltdown — the case in point being the securitization of subprime housing loans that then led to the financial crisis of 2008.
In the brave new world of blockchain-based finance, we’re aiming to make assets digital and programmable. Can you imagine a new way of securitization that preserves and even takes advantage of the non-fungibility of the underlying assets? Let’s explore.
Comparing ERC 20 and ERC 721
The ERC 20 token standard is designed specifically to be fungible, and therefore is similar to traditional money or securities. ERC 20 tokens can be traded easily, but also could lose key details of the assets they represent.
Technically, an ERC 20 token contract manages and tracks account balances as a data array. It provides no way to track individual tokens inside an account. Hence the tokens inside an account are all identical and fungible.
// Partial code
contract ERC20Token {
mapping(address => uint256) balances;
function balanceOf(address tokenOwner) public constant returns (uint balance) {
return balances[tokenOwner];
}
function transfer(address to, uint tokens) public returns (bool success) {
balances[msg.sender] = balances[msg.sender].sub(tokens);
balances[to] = balances[to].add(tokens);
return true;
}
}
With ERC 721, there is a tantalizing potential for anyone to issue tokens for unique, individual assets. However, today’s public blockchains lack key infrastructure, such as standard oracles, to connect to real-world objects. What is the actual use of ERC 721 tokens today? That’s where the possibilities gets very interesting.
// Partial code
contract ERC721Token {
mapping(address => uint) private balances;
mapping(uint256 => address) private tokenOwners;
mapping(address => mapping(uint256 => uint256)) private ownerTokens;
function balanceOf(address _owner) constant returns (uint){
return balances[_owner];
}
function ownerOf(uint256 _tokenId) constant returns (address){
return tokenOwners[_tokenId];
}
function takeOwnership(uint256 _tokenId){
address oldOwner = ownerOf(_tokenId);
address newOwner = msg.sender;
balances[oldOwner] -= 1;
tokenOwners[_tokenId] = newOwner;
balances[oldOwner] += 1;
}
function transfer(address _to, uint256 _tokenId){
address currentOwner = msg.sender;
address newOwner = _to;
balances[currentOwner] -= 1;
tokenOwners[_tokenId] = newOwner;
balances[newOwner] += 1;
}
}
Computer code makes it possible to create, track and even trade finely-grained digital assets beyond fungible securities. ERC 721, the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) standard, is designed for this purpose. An ERC 721 contract contains data structure to track not only account balances but also each individual token’s owner accounts. You can see there is a lot more data to be stored on the blockchain, and it will have implications on your choice of blockchains to issue ERC 721 tokens.
Addressing the pain points of ERC 271
As a public blockchain optimized for commercial applications, CyberMiles offers the best platform for issuing ERC 721 tokens for real-world assets. The reasoning is three-fold:
The Lity compiler and CyberMiles virtual machine (CVM) proactively prevent common safety problems related to token contracts. As we’ve seen repeatedly recently, Ethereum token contracts are prone to bugs like integer overflow and other programming errors. The Lity compiler checks several classes of common coding errors. Then the virtual machine further protects runtime memory overflows. CyberMiles makes token contracts safer. The CyberMiles blockchain is optimized for low-cost, on-chain data storage. A characteristic of ERC 721 — and security tokens in general — is that the token contract needs to store a significant amount of related data (such as ownership, transaction history, and chat messages). On traditional Ethereum, on-chain storage is very expensive in terms of gas fees. At CyberMiles, we designed a novel DPoS consensus mechanism that results in a new gas fee structure. CyberMiles is optimized for storing both on-chain and off-chain (but verifiable) data at low costs. CyberMiles’ Library + Ethereum Native Interface (libENI) functionality enables first-class support for oracles. To represent real-world assets, ERC 721 tokens need to work, as mentioned, in tandem with oracles. However, the cryptographic computation required to interact with external systems make most oracles impractical on traditional Ethereum. For example, to verify a single bitcoin transaction on Ethereum, you need to spend over 370M (or $500 USD) in gas fees. The CyberMiles libENI allows on-demand extensions to the CVM to perform those tasks cheaply.
Looking forward, the virtual machine plus extensions (via hackathons that encourage future development, for example) will solidify the CyberMiles blockchain platform as the best option to issue asset-backed tokens for e-commerce — and beyond. | https://medium.com/cybermiles/exploring-the-cybermiles-ecosystem-virtual-goods-in-todays-crypto-economy-1a776efdb00a | ['Mark Brinkerhoff'] | 2018-12-06 17:55:44.241000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Cm Use Case', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptoeconomics', 'Cybermiles'] |
There’s No Tragedy For Me | There’s No Tragedy For Me
Be it known that I don’t blame Star Fleet for what happened to me. Nor do I blame Tlingons.
I was just in the wrong place at the right time. Or the right place at the wrong time?
Anyway, I realize that Star Fleet did not do this to me. Well, not exactly… not intentionally, not with malice or by negligence. Collateral damage… caught in the cross fire. It was an unpreventable accident. I hold no grudge or grievance. I am not bitter. Actually, Star Fleet has been very good and kind to me, in the aftermath. If not for that explosion, I wouldn’t be here, in the position I am, and we never would have met. So… in a way, it’s worth it?
Speaking of which, I had no idea, for some reason, that news outlets would approach me. When they did, I was not only surprised, but also kind of uncomfortable. Then I was worried, thinking― Can I do this? How do I put myself — my disfigurement — on display? What would people think of me?
Not just in terms of making a spectacle of myself, drawing public attention, as if I’m a celebrity… but mostly about my dreadful appearance, my diminished condition. Should I inflict that on others? I am hugely fortunate and grateful that our perspective has advanced to a stage of thinking inner development of each person is intrinsically connected to development of society.
Regrettably, medical technology has not advanced sufficiently to fully correct my disability. But at least it can accommodate to minimize much of the physical and associated psychological devastation.
The only reason I am allowing this attention― and scrutiny― to be brought to myself is to remind us all that we DO exist in such a benevolent society. I am cared for, resources and support are adequately provided for me. I am not left to fend for myself… even though I tend to be self reliant, prefer to be self sufficient. We must never fall into complacency, never take that for granted.
Initially, I had tears. When I found out the damage was permanent. They weren’t tears of panic or grief. Maybe ironically, they were tears of knowing I now had to give in to a body that had loss of control, loss of mobility, loss of vanity… and there was some relief in that. I came to understand what it was I had to deal with, I could begin to formulate a different orientation.
Admittedly, in the early days, there were times when I couldn’t take it, and I was really struggling with how I’m going to get by in life. This is it. The only life we get. My injury isn’t a tragedy, and I tell myself, You’re going to live in a way that would be a positive example for yourself and your son.
I am not destroyed or defined by this― neither the accident or the damage caused by it. I am strong enough not to be taken down. In a sense, I recover.
There is no shame, no fear. I am not a victim. I am not socially penalized or stigmatized for what happened to me.
A little brain damage does not make me less a person, only a slightly different one.
In a reality in which non-human looking people is normalized, who cares if I look a bit strange or distorted? People can handle that. I can.
Indeed, my condition, my circumstances has opened new opportunities and perspectives I never would have considered or conceived… as well as opened me up to those opportunities and perspectives. People often like to think everyone lives in a single shared reality… but there are multiple concurrent realities― and I’m not referring to quantum realms. Being disfigured as I am has placed me into and presented a new category of existence, unfamiliar to most people who are able-bodied.
[excerpt of interview with Delesia DuPree; civilian survivor of skirmish between Federation and Tlingon forces during The Four Years War] | https://medium.com/@wingmanalysis/theres-no-tragedy-for-me-895488d39c11 | ['Sean Stubblefield'] | 2020-12-21 00:19:22.444000+00:00 | ['Short Story', 'Star Trek', 'Science Fiction', 'Axanar', 'Disability'] |
Revival of Green | One Black Woman’s Vision for the Re-Formation of the Sustainability Movement and of Herself
After nearly 20 years as a senior executive at the U.S. Green Building Council and in the green eco-chambers of its global marketplace, I resigned the week before Thanksgiving to very intentionally refocus and revive my work and myself to drive diversity, equity, and inclusion to the center of the sustainability and global green building movement. This is why.
I am the 00.1%. I am a Black woman executive in sustainability, and I am a licensed minister of the Gospel. From both of these perspectives, I can share that Monday through Friday and any given Sunday, the green movement’s major events and everyday meetings look just like houses of worship all across America — they are segregated and not diverse. Segregated, despite the fact that both were established to be epicenters of healing and of bridging community.
Since 2003, I have found my purpose and calling in the mission of the sustainability movement by advancing the health, vitality, and the triple bottom line. I built Greenbuild as the tent revival of the global green building movement and led it to become the largest award-winning green conference and expo in the world. My role as an executive gave me a platform for driving sustainability into the hospitality, conference, and events sectors in every major city where Greenbuild traveled — with many thanks to the tens of thousands of attendees, thousands of exhibitors, thousands of volunteers, and millions of dollars the conference attracted for its hosts. At Greenbuild’s height, the USGBC reaped a financial windfall from more than 28,000 attendees, 1500 exhibitors and sponsors, 700+ global speakers, and 500+ media outlets in attendance annually. Attendees had access to more than 15 football fields of the clean energy economy’s products and services representing hundreds of billions of dollars aggregate value. As a result, USGBC sold Greenbuild in 2014 to Informa Expositions as a part of its efforts to establish separate events in China, India, Europe, and Brazil.
But what I privately experienced was different. At least once in each new city, while waiting for a first in-person meeting in some hotel or convention center lobby, my hospitality counterparts would assume my white interns or co-workers were me and that I was their assistant. I was outwardly patient, but inwardly thought, “Surely, such innovation and potential growth can be trusted in these Black hands!”
Greenbuild International Conference & Expo l Los Angeles, CA
Standing in line waiting to hear President Obama as the keynote speaker for Greenbuild 2019 in Atlanta was the catalyzing moment for me, both as a green building industry leader and a movement evangelist. We had first presented diversity as a central theme nearly 15 years earlier, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina at Greenbuild 2005. Embracing diverse leaders and perspectives was the intent, but it wasn’t realized. Persistent challenges stifled the development of a flourishing, inclusive community where a culture of belonging could thrive. This was powerfully evident in 2019, where so few people of color were present to hear the powerful message of leadership and hope from President Obama in the historic City of Atlanta! Neither were there recognizable advances in more diverse ownership of the products and services on display in the expo hall.
I recognized that the future of our sustainable and clean energy economy will only be re-claimed when diversity, equity, and inclusion are evident in everything we do. Diversity, equity, and inclusion became my personal strategic imperative, and that became the driving force for my work within the sustainability industry.
Greenbuild International Conference & Expo l Washington, DC
Scripture states, “Write the vision and make it plain.” Ten years ago, I wrote down my vision. I committed that I would:
Use the powerful sustainability experience and knowledge I gained to inspire, mentor, and sponsor young women to dream and achieve beyond stereotypes and circumstance to obtain a better life and purpose.
And that’s what I did. In 2012, with overwhelming industry and movement support, I introduced and led the Women in Green leadership platform to accelerate our unique influence as women in driving climate change solutions. Today, the Women in Green platform is offered all over the US and in 10 countries. The program has moved beyond mentorship to sponsorship, and has attracted a new global bench of young women leaders tackling issues of concern such as the human health agenda; #metoo; economic empowerment and equity; the power in our collective voices; the strength of our Democracy; purposeful leadership; building a culture of courage; and celebrating our SHEROES!
Greenbuilding Brasil l Conferencia Internacional E Expo
Female leaders lead differently, often in the background, and we get the job done — moving people and systems forward impactfully from a nurturing and co-creative foundation. We must continue to accelerate the call to come from behind the curtains, the back offices, and the shadows to give voice to our hard work in building the sustainability industry and movement.
As a female leader, my pathway to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive movement has been both incremental and revolutionary. I have seen small and moderate changes such as creating a million-dollar social equity scholarship program for Greenbuild, raising $500,000 to build a LEED Platinum orphanage in Haiti, and annually bringing the best and brightest experts to convene on advancing efficiencies and health in affordable housing. What I have learned is that these numbers are small in impact, and building scale is needed to be disruptive. In order to build scale to bridge the benefits of our movement for those who have been locked out, we need BOLDER thinking and strategy. We need a re-formation. And I needed a re-formation to help lead us there.
Unico Smith Tower LEED Plaque Presentation Seattle, WA
A WOMAN IN HARMONY WITH HER SPIRIT IS LIKE A RIVER FLOWING. SHE GOES WHERE SHE WILL WITHOUT PRETENSE AND ARRIVES AT HER DESTINATION PREPARED TO BE HERSELF AND ONLY HERSELF.
-Dr. Maya Angelou
Most of the systems I have served with my passion and purpose — Church, government, business, and NGO — have been driven from a patriarchal perspective. What I watched other women leaders do, I have replicated — dimming my voice to not seem too challenging or passionate so I could get things done. Somewhere along the way in my efforts to be acceptable, my message was watered down. Re-formation for me means designing our futures with women in leadership not feared but embraced, supported, and promoted.
My purpose in building the Women in Green leadership platform was to eliminate another generation of young women leaders experiencing what I had experienced in the ARC of my career. This leadership platform promotes the plethora of resilient, strong women leaders with a heart and spirit to transform the vision of young woman leaders. I work so that my young nieces can experience something different, and that they may thrive within the unique perspective their black and brown culture brings to their hard work in the marketplace. My next 10 years will be to drill in on the black and brown experience within our sustainability and green building industries and the re-formation needed to authentically broaden the tent.
SDG #Envision2030 Goal 5: Gender Equality
SDG #Envision2030 Goal 5: Gender Equality
As the ONLY senior African American woman executive for the USGBC since it was founded nearly 30 years ago, my hopes remain, but within a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive paradigm. ACCESS to the wealth and benefits of the community I helped to flourish is anchored to the re-formation of the sustainability industry.
As repairers of that which is broken: broken spirits, broken hearts, broken lines of communication, broken people, broken systems, broken breaches, and levees, we can literally design and operate better by re-forming the leaders of the sustainability industry. They are present already within our broader sustainability and green building community — they just need to be invited into the inner circle of influence.
What we know and understand is that performative alliances FAIL! Structural & institutional racism has resulted in a deep lack of diversity amongst sustainability professionals that is reflected across the industry. I am grateful to have completed upon my exit a 2020 listening & learning tour for centering equity within the green building community. In doing so, 30 plus sustainability champions and challengers were heard along with another 20 waiting to be heard, and all documented their pointed messages and surveys for the work to be done.
Let’s hand the roadmap visioning & strategy securely to the leaders that ACTUALLY represent the communities we desire to serve. Representation and access to the leadership table matters. It must be a re-formation that restores power, resources, wealth, and gains trust.
I have long been nurtured by many of these leaders and champions for a diverse and just green building community: Dianne Dillon Ridgely, Majora Carter, George Bandy, Dr. Atiya Martin, Rose McKinney- James, Rev. Joan Ross, Nathaniel Smith — any one of these leaders should be invited to lead the work forward along with countless others!
Acknowledging and in support of the efforts of NAACP’s Environmental Justice Program’s Center Equity in the Green Building Sector (CEGBS) initiative, National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), Emerald Cities, American Association of Blacks in Energy, and others will put us on the pathway of Re-formation that is grounded in truth & reconciliation!
Ten years ago I wrote down my vision, and that’s what I did. I am now undertaking a personal re-formation so that I can help lead the sustainability movement in a re-formation towards reconciliation and revival. That means writing a new vision to author a better future. Stay tuned for updates. You’ll hear it here first.
Stay Connected: Twitter / LinkedIn / Instagram
More Updates Coming Soon! | https://medium.com/@kimberlylewisdc/revival-of-green-aae6af2a66a3 | ['Kimberly Lewis'] | 2021-01-07 18:23:29.266000+00:00 | ['Black Women', 'Professional Development', 'Leadership Development', 'Green Energy', 'Environmental Issues'] |
What Exactly Is an Impeachment Inquiry? | What Exactly Is an Impeachment Inquiry?
977 days into Trump’s Presidency, impeachment looms. Here’s what happens next.
Photo by Max Price on Flickr (cc)
This evening at 5:00 Eastern Time, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the launch of a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. The announcement comes on the heels of a whistleblower complaint to the Director of National Intelligence and the President’s admission that he discussed Joe Biden on a phone call with the Ukranian President.
Screen grab from CNN.com by author
The President immediately responded to Pelosi’s announcement in his favorite mode of communication: by Tweet. “PRESIDENTIAL HARRASSMENT,” he virtually shouted into the void of the internet as people posted celebratory gifs and let out a breath they didn’t know they’d been holding. The President has already called the inquiry a “witch hunt,” and there is no doubt he will make the process as difficult as possible for the Representatives investigating his actions.
Many politicians and citizens have been calling for impeachment almost since the day, 977 days ago, when Trump entered office. Tonight, people across the nation are apprehensive and excited about the news- but what does it really mean? What happens now?
In terms you might be more familiar with, an impeachment inquiry is a bit like a grand jury. A committee, or in this case committees, will investigate actions by the President that may fall under the umbrella of impeachable offenses. These offenses include “ Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” What constitutes a high Crime or Misdemeanor exactly? Even that is a matter of debate.
Currently, there are 6 House committees already investigating Trump, and Nancy Pelosi has instructed them to continue their investigations “under the umbrella of impeachment inquiry.”
When these investigations reach a conclusion, they will write their articles of impeachment, then vote on whether to pass them along to the House of Representatives as a whole. If the articles go to the House floor, a simple majority of lawmakers must approve them, and when they are improved, the President is impeached. In simple terms, it’s like a special Presidential indictment.
If the indictment is approved, which seems likely given the Democratic majority in the House, the proceedings move to the Senate for a trial. This is where things get somewhat less hopeful for those hoping an impeachment would remove Trump from office. Because of the Republican majority in the Senate, it’s possible that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would simply call for a majority vote to dismiss the impeachment charges without even holding a trial.
The alternative is for the trial to go forward, with elected House managers bringing and presenting evidence. During the trial, the President may be defended by his own legal counsel, or may choose to represent himself. It takes a 2/3 vote, known as a supermajority, to remove the President from office. Given that the Senate is controlled with a 53–45 majority, 20 Republican Senators would have to vote to remove Trump, and that’s assuming that all Democrats and Independents vote in the affirmative.
The entire process from the announcement of the inquiry to a vote by the Senate on whether the President should be removed may take 4 months or longer. It’s a slow process, as it should be. Regardless of my personal feelings about our current President, removing someone from the highest office in our nation should be done with very careful consideration.
Impeachment inquiries are rare, having happened only three times before. President Bill Clinton and President Andrew Johnson were both impeached, but ultimately not found guilty by the Senate. Richard Nixon resigned before he could be impeached, but that will certainly not happen with someone in this case. I cannot imagine anything at this point that could get Trump to admit defeat without being legally ousted. When all’s said and done, the likelihood of his being removed from office is quite small.
There is a strong likelihood that these proceedings will serve to further the divide between right and left that’s been rending our nation in the past several years. Change is not easy, it is messy and often painful. As I wrote in my article about Trump this morning, right now the best thing any of us can do is make sure we are registered to vote. The next year is going to go by fast, and before we know it it will be time to vote once more. Make sure that you are registered, and that you use your voice.
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You might also enjoy… | https://medium.com/rachael-writes/what-exactly-is-an-impeachment-inquiry-6e9351049e91 | ['Rachael Hope'] | 2019-09-24 23:02:39.761000+00:00 | ['Donald Trump', 'Politics', 'Impeachment', 'News', 'Current Events'] |
Invisibility Amongst the Invisible | As an infant, I was adopted from Korea and brought to live with my white parents in rural Wisconsin. Growing up in this white community, I was taught the myth of assimilation and colorblindness. While never explicitly stated, I quickly learned to fit in, to not discuss race, and to understand that I was just like everyone else. The belief when I was growing up was that assimilation would keep me from experiencing racism. This belief in assimilation was further perpetuated by friends and adults in my life telling me “I don’t see you as really Asian”, as if to celebrate my ability to fit in. I, too, came to see this as something to be proud of.
Looking back, I am not surprised that I developed internalized oppression. I can see the ways it impacted my childhood at a young age. I was one of about six children adopted from Korea around the same time, and we were playmates while we were in diapers. But as we grew, we quickly began to forge our own ways. I distanced myself from them for fear that we would be labeled “the Asian kids” and viewed as weird outsiders. This distancing continued well into college, where I avoided other Asian students for the same reason. I often found myself tense up around Asian foreign exchange students, afraid I would be viewed as “one of them.” This need to distance myself was so strong that I didn’t go to a Chinese buffet or out to sushi until my senior year of college- as I was terrified that someone would make an uncomfortable joke or recognize that I was “one of them.”
The “Cool Asians” from Mean Girls (2004)
As I began to gain confidence in myself and understand the world in racial terms, my relationship with other Asians became even more complex. Rather than avoiding other Asians because I didn’t want to be seen as “one of them”, I now began to avoid other Asians because I was afraid I wouldn’t be seen as “one of them.” Despite how much I was drawn to other Asians with the hopes of catching a glimpse of something that was familiar, I was also terrified of what they would see. I was sure that they would see right through me, and recognize that I wasn’t “a real Asian.” Suddenly, the statement “I don’t see you as really Asian” that was once such a compliment, now worked to add to my shame. This is termed “racial imposter syndrome,” and it explains the constant fear that you “aren’t enough”. This is often felt when one’s racial heritage doesn’t match the stereotype- for instance, the Black child who grew up in a rich suburb, the Latinx kid who can’t speak Spanish, or the gay youth who didn’t have a difficult coming-out story. Often adopted children experience this because of the lack nuance they see in their racial identity, mixed with the misalignment between stereotypes and their experience. For instance, I held the same one dimensional stereotypes of Asian women that we see in the media.
For me, my racial imposter syndrome bubbled up when I thought of all of the experiences I had lacked. I didn’t have an immigrant story, my parents didn’t have an accent, I didn’t have a “Tiger mom”, I wasn’t good at math, I wasn’t quiet and submissive, and I hated kimchi. While many other Koreans likely have these things in common with me, I missed this complexity because of stereotypes that led to my lack of nuance in my identity.
This racial imposter syndrome, mixed with the unconscious belief that “assimilation would keep me from experiencing racism” kept me from recognizing the way that race impacted my life. I easily brushed off microaggressions around “where are you really from” and “I really like Asian girls” as annoying, but not truly acts of racism, because I wasn’t really Asian.
On March 16, 2021, the Atlanta Anti-Asian hate crime happened. A gunman, whom I will not name, intentionally went to three different Asian-run day spas and killed eight people, six of whom were Asian women. And many of those Asian women were Korean, like me.
I struggled to place my feelings around it- I wasn’t an immigrant and it wouldn’t happen to me here in my neat little suburban neighborhood. I went on a walk to clear my head and gain some clarity. And then, as I reached the furthest destination and turned around to head home, I noticed a car coming towards me. And suddenly, my gut told me how I felt. I stepped into the snowbank, quickly making space between myself and the car. My shoe and my pant leg got soaked. The driver passed slowly, smiled, and waved. There was nothing to fear, it was just someone passing me in a car. At that moment, I realized what I had known all along- I was Asian and I was read as Asian. A racist wouldn’t know that I grew up in a white neighborhood, that I didn’t know anything about my heritage, or that I wasn’t “one of those” Asians. Rather, I was Asian, and that’s all they would see. In fact, that’s all anyone would see. Regardless of how I saw myself, everyone else saw me as Asian.
Or nearly everyone else. My husband, a white man who has progressive values, didn’t say anything about the hate crime. He mentioned it in passing, as if to be commenting on news so unrelated to us that it didn’t need a pause. He fell into the same unconscious belief system as my parents- that my assimilation protects me from racism and random acts of violence like what happened in Atlanta. My parents didn’t call to see how I was doing. And my white, liberal, race-conscious friends didn’t check in for a few days. It isn’t that they didn’t care about me. In fact, I got three check-in texts in a matter of minutes as news broke about the Boulder shooting only six days later. It wasn’t that they didn’t care, they simply “didn’t see me as Asian.”
As I talked with other Korean adoptees, our stories were similar. Rarely did parents check in. Rarely did our partners check in with how we were doing, or even recognize that we saw ourselves in the victims of the shooting. And often, there was a belief that “this couldn’t happen here.”
A big conversation in the media after the Atlanta anti-Asian hate crime happened was around the invisibility of violence against Asians. We as a nation have been aware that crimes against Asians have gone up exponentially since COVID-19, when politicians used racist rhetoric about “Kung Flu,” “China Virus,” and suggested that the Chinese intentionally made it in a lab. And yet, these crimes have been silently experienced, with the crimes viewed as singular and random acts of violence, and not part of a racist epidemic.
Finally, this anti-Asian sentiment is getting media attention. Unfortunately, it took a tragic and violent shooting (and even now there is no consensus on if it was in fact a hate crime), but at least the pattern is being discussed. But in the discussion, the focus is on the stereotypic depiction of Asian women- those whose names the majority of Americans can’t pronounce, immigrants from “some Asian country”, in a nail salon with a neon sign. It leaves out Asian women who don’t fit that stereotype- those of us who are Indian, who are multiracial, who are 3rd or 4th or 5th generation, and those of us who (like me) are adopted. We are the invisible amongst the invisible- and yet we still carry the burden of being viewed as Asian women. | https://medium.com/@hannah-matthys/invisibility-amongst-the-invisible-45136cfba6ec | ['Hannah Matthys'] | 2021-04-06 14:27:40.872000+00:00 | ['Colorblind', 'Asian Hate Crimes', 'Asian American', 'Racial Justice', 'Adoptee'] |
Which U.S. States Have The Best Climate Year Round? | In a perfect world, the weather would always be agreeable, we wouldn’t get caught in the rain, snowed in or fear a heat stroke. While that is not the reality, there are some places in the states that offer near perfect weather all year round, and when the climate isn’t ideal, even these places don’t have drastic changes in the weather.
California
LA tops the list, and California has many other cities on the south and central coasts where the weather is pretty great all year round, such as Long Beach, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and San Diego. It’s never bitter cold, definitely no snow, and rain adds up to about 20 inches per year; the rest of the time, 73%, skies are clear so there’s sunshine. The hottest it gets is about 80 degrees F, but this is rare; it’s usually somewhere in the mid 60s.
Hawaii
Maui and Oahu stay around 80 degrees throughout the year with Oahu being a little more agreeable and thus favorable. There’s sunny skies about 70% of the time and only 20 inches of rain.
Image courtesy of Unsplash
Texas
Texas cities, such as Brownesville, Corpus Christi, Victoria and Del Rio are warm while other states are covered in snow, and in the summer, temperatures can reach the mid 90s. Galveston and Austin, on the other hand, get the coolest usually staying at around a comfortable 61 degrees F or just slightly higher in January, and then it’s around 90 degrees starting in August. Most states get 30 to 40 inches of rain except Del Rio, which only gets around 19 inches. Texas remains sunny an average of 60% of the year.
Georgia
According to the statistics, the entire state of Georgia, and especially Athens, has weather more preferable to most people than Florida, hence its rank on this list. It’s a little cooler in the hotter months and a little warmer in the colder months compared to states that didn’t make the list, which have extreme seasons. Savannah is one of the warmest places in winter in this state as it could reach just above 60 degrees. Other places here reach about 50 degrees in the winter, such as Macon, Atlanta, Augustus and Columbus. Most locales get 45 to 50 inches of rain and sunshine 60 to 66% of the time.
Florida
Florida offers a lot of places with perfectly warm weather even in the winter, such as Daytona Beach, Orlando, Gainesville, Vero Beach and Tampa. In the summer, the hottest it gets is a little above 90 degrees, and it stays moderately dry with 45 to 50 inches of rain throughout the year. Key West is the most favorable city here. It’s noticeably drier and sunnier with 39 inches of rain and sun 76% of the time.
South Carolina
Tropical in some respects and always the possibility of a hurricane, Charleston, SC doesn’t get any colder than about 56 degrees in January, which is one among the three coldest months of the year in the US. The hottest it gets is 89 degrees in July with sunshine 63% of the year. Despite the recent flooding in South Carolina, which has been called a 1 in 1,000 year event, rains usually total a hassle-free 46 inches per year.
Delaware
Delaware can get a little cold for some dropping to about 40 degrees in the colder months, but it’s usually in the mid 80s in the summer. This state gets 43 inches of rain a year in the city and slightly more outside of the city.
North Carolina
North Carolina doesn’t get too cold, and it’s sunny about 60% of the time all over. Not surpassing the mid 80s in the summer, it’s pretty tolerable here. Kill Devil Hills is a gem here sitting third on the list of cities with the most favorable weather due to its cool breezes and clear skies. Asheville drops to the mid 40s in January but remains cooler than other cities in the summer putting it at number 4 on the list. Cape Hatteras isn’t that bad either and doesn’t get below about 55 degrees F. With 58 inches of rain a year, Cape Hatteras is a little wetter than Asheville, which gets 47 inches.
Louisiana
Louisiana completes the list of top states with the best weather year round. While it does get 57 inches of rain a year, more than most other places on the list, it stays above 60 degrees, even in the winter, and reaches up to the 90s in the summer. Lake Charles gets the most sun per year at 72%.
This list is considering the fact that the vast majority don’t want to live in places where it snows a few months out of the year or perhaps has a love for gardening or nature. If you would like to be able to go skiing in your own backyard without getting snowed in, then consider Denver, CO or Prescott, AZ, which have comfortable summer climates. | https://medium.com/thrive-global/top-us-states-with-the-best-climate-year-round-c2d71225e629 | ['Tammy Sons Owner Of Tennessee Wholesale Nursery'] | 2016-12-29 13:01:01.942000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Health', 'Wellness', 'Wisdom', 'Climate'] |
There is One Trauma Event.. Universal to All Mankind……. | When it comes to trauma events, we shouldn’t feel we are different or broken through experiencing an event in our lives that intrudes in our daily living; when in actual fact; we all have experienced the traumatic event that is birth. This is not a call to arms to start a witch-hunt against those who might be accused of being responsible. It is my hope that licensed professionals, more qualified that i ,might take up this torch to protect the children on today and the future, and for those already diagnosed, we might look for a different way, that we might consider the concept that they suffer a mental unwellness, an emotional unwellness, a spiritual malady, that there would be hope offered to them that they might recover, that they are not different.
As mentioned in earlier posts, we are all spiritual immortal beings, Creations of God, residing in these physical mortal bodies, with four basic survival instincts :
fight
flight
freeze
acceptance
When the younger aspect of myself was conceived, he lived a whole lifetime in his mothers womb. all his needs met, fed, clothed, temperature controlled, a perfect life. and then in a moment, died a horrible death.
his mother cast him out
his mother rejected him
he was evicted forcibly from his home
he was taken from my womb
he died a horrible death
he came through disconnected from his mum
he didn’t know what was going on and so resorted to his basic survival instincts
and his basic survival instincts would kicked in
IF his first choice was ‘’fight’’, the midwife would wrap him in a blanket to protect him from hurting himself, and in that moment of care, he received the subconscious message that fight doesn’t work &can never be trusted in the future.
If his first choice was ‘’flight’’, the midwife would also wrap him in a blanket to protect me from hurting himself, and in that moment of care, he received the subconscious message that flight doesn’t work & can never be trusted in the future.
If he were using both “fight and flight”, his newfound belief and understanding would be twice as damaging, because he is coming into existence with only one basic survival instinct intact, his least favorite instinct.
And if his first choice was to “freeze”, the midwife would hold him up by the ankles and slap his bottom to get a reaction, and in that moment of care, he received the subconscious message that freeze doesn’t work &can never be trusted in the future.
Were he a child that came out of the womb filled with “acceptance”, he would pass into existence with all my basic survival instincts intact.
Look around you; look at children you know; you knew in your own childhood; your siblings; your classmates; you, yourself; or children /teenagers/adults/clients/ patients/ colleagues in your life today:
children who cannot sit still
children who are overly quiet and subdued
children who fight everything
children who run away physically or withdraw into themselves
children diagnosed with ADHD
children diagnosed with different anxiety disorders
children diagnosed with obsessive, compulsive disorders.
children who are calm, relaxed, in control, confident, assured
The truth is we have all experienced this event; and as we view our timeline; we can better see and understand the how and why of responding or reacting to any form of danger, real or imaginary; this is and always will be dictated to whatever basic survival instincts are left intact.
It would be great if ‘the powers that be’ could create a program, to teach all of us, how to reclaim our broken survival instincts, so that we would handle life's challenges in a healthier manner.
As I bring you into this journey based on my own timeline, i will share how this loss of a basic survival instinct was compounded for my younger self at aged 4.
While I'm here, I may as well connect the two. First, please know my younger self,came from a loving, nurturing home; a middle-class family; where we wanted for little to nothing; plenty of quality family-time; and a healthy upbringing in both family and Christian community.
At aged 4 my mum dropped my younger self off to school and left and he fell apart, it was like he was living a past trauma event all over again. he didn’t know how to cope safely, if he did have some healthy coping mechanism once, it was gone and so he curled up in a corner and cried all day long, and this went of for days.
ABANDONEMENT, REJECTION, GIVEN AWAY, UNPROTECTED, LOST & ALONE, these were some of the demons he suffered
Teased on being a crybaby; a big girl; a mammy’s boy; made fun of; literally had no instinctual way of dealing with what was happening; wanted/needed someone to save him, preferably my mum.
In time he learned that his coping skills, his basic survival skills were truly in tattered and ended up going through most of his life, in fear and terror of the unknown.
And we all travelled one or more of these four paths. this is why I believe my statement in my last blog, that trauma is the root cause of all dysfunctional behavior and mood swings.
The real question is, what are we going to do about it, bury our heads in the sand, or speak up.
Me? I'm a nobody but I pray that the somebodies of this world, might take up the challenge and make the changes that, I believe, need to be made.
Thank you for joining me today, please take the time to share this with your family, friends and colleagues, even your therapists.
We owe it to the children we were our children of today and our future children to correct this.
Remember the wrath of god that befalls on those who would harm one hair of the head of any of his children | https://medium.com/@tierneytherapy/there-is-one-trauma-event-universal-to-all-mankind-98bb6025ed0d | ['Tierney Therapy'] | 2021-07-22 07:15:26.837000+00:00 | ['Birth', 'Trauma', 'Jesus Christ', 'Mental Health', 'Life'] |
Tis’ The Season To Hate The Salvation Army | Tis’ The Season To Hate The Salvation Army
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
It’s Christmas eve so I just made a donation to the Salvation Army. I wouldn’t dare share that fact with my friends. It’s not worth the backlash. You see, I’m a firmly left of center liberal, so I can’t admit to supporting the Salvation Army.
About ten years ago a dear friend of mine, who I’ll call Bill, was about to drink himself to death. He needed help and didn’t have insurance. He entered a residential treatment program through the Salvation Army. He was fed and housed and given treatment for free for six months. When he relapsed, he went back for six more months and has stayed sober ever since. I have no doubt that he would be dead right now if not for the Salvation Army.
When I’ve mentioned this and the fact that the Salvation Army provides more inpatient addiction recovery programs than any other organization in the country, saving literally thousands of lives year after year there are two common responses. Either they insist my friend is not gay or transgender and if he were the Salvation Army would have let him die or they insist it wasn’t fair that he had to participate in their religious programs in order to get treatment. I have to admit that they are a tiny bit correct. Well, almost.
My friend is indeed a cis heterosexual man. Bill however did share stories about some of the other guys in the program being gay, he did not observe anyone trying to pray the gay out of them or treating them differently. It seems to me that all the testimonials by LGBTQ folks on the Salvation Army website can’t all be fakers or paid actors. Bill also told me that he found the preaching annoying. He shared some funny stories of some of the local musicians who visited their program and performed shows and tried to “rock out to Jesus” with them. If Bill had a secular option for treatment, I’m sure he would have chosen it.
Is anyone really shocked that a church based organization is a bit, well, churchie? Is it really that wrong that they offer a side of Jesus with the free loaves, fishes, shelter and treatment? No one is forcing them to accept their services. It is unfortunate that my friend didn’t have a secular option for free treatment but sitting through some religious programming doesn’t seem that bad to me when the alternative is no help at all.
Over the years I’ve gotten into so many online battles with friends and strangers alike about the Salvation Army. People insist that regular and consistent harassment of gay and trans people is the standard operating procedure at the Salvation Army. They share memes that claim that Salvation Army bell ringers regularly harass gay couples on the street. Really? Because I’ve seen people with kettles ringing that damn bell in front of countless stores every holiday season for the last 20 years in three major cities including San Francisco and I’ve not ever seen a bell ringer harassing a gay couple. Seems like I might have noticed it once or twice if it was a regular thing.
People love to tell the tragic story of Jennifer Gale, a homeless activist, who also happened to be transgender, she tragically froze to death in Austin in 2008. Immediately after her death a blog post accused the Salvation Army of refusing her shelter unless she was housed with men. Very soon after the blog was retracted. Yet just last week I attended a zoom holiday party for professional networking group and one woman announced that members should not donate to the Salvation Army because they let transgender people die rather than provide them services. This is just accepted as fact by most liberals I know.
Even though many of the “truths” about the evilness of the Salvation Army have been debunked or shown to be exaggerated and taken out of context, I have learned the hard way, that arguing with liberals about the Salvation Army is like trying to reason with someone who thinks the earth is flat or that vaccines cause autism or that climate change and Covid are a hoax. Engaging with them will only frustrate you.
My point in questioning the collective liberal stance against the Salvation Army is not to argue that it is an organization without problems or issues, particularly for the LGBTQ community. As is often pointed in out, the Salvation Army has a long history of varying levels of hostility to members of the LGBTQ community. Some reports from more than twenty five years ago are quite disturbing. The organization has been in existence for more than a century, no doubt many things in it’s past would not stand up to the scrutiny of today’s ethical standards.
Also, I am certain, absolutely certain that there are still some prejudiced, homophobic people working in the Salvation Army ranks even though they have changed their policies and attempted to shift the culture to ensure everyone is open and accepting of all people in need. It’s an almost statistical certainty that is true of any organization with over twenty five thousand employees across the globe running hundreds and hundreds of programs.
Liberals, we often ask conservatives not to think in black and white terms, we ask them to consider nuance and the bigger picture. We say don’t look at the misdeeds of a few individuals to derail an entire group of people. The Salvation Army is an organization made up of humans. Consider the possibility that it might be trying to do better and they are helping a lot of people along the way.
Why do we refuse to believe that this one organization simply cannot change? For decades now the Salvation Army has been reaching out to the LGBTQ community and trying to make amends for the sins of their past. So I’m asking you, liberal to liberal, please stop trashing them and perpetuating false stories. People like my friend Bill are depending on the Salvation Army to stay alive. | https://medium.com/hyperbole-is-killing-us/tis-the-season-to-hate-the-salvation-army-96df747026a1 | ['H. Elizabeth Falk'] | 2020-12-25 21:33:33.977000+00:00 | ['Salvation Army', 'Charity', 'Culture', 'Pop Culture', 'Politics'] |
Marin County May Be the Fakest ‘Woke’ Place in America | Marin County May Be the Fakest ‘Woke’ Place in America
Photo: Diane Bentley Raymond/E+/Getty Images
It was a proud moment for Little Fawn Boland, an attorney who identifies as Native American, when she bought a home in Mill Valley — a ritzy city in the heart of Marin County to the north of San Francisco — with then-partner Keith Anderson. Both had come from poor backgrounds, and securing this home and piece of land in one of the Bay Area’s richest towns signified a major reward for years of hard work. Sadly, though, the joy of moving day was diminished by racist comments from their new neighbor.
“He saw us moving in and asked if we were renters,” Boland said. “When I said we bought the house, he pretty much asked: ‘How could you afford it?’ He was so in shock. He was basically saying ‘You don’t belong here.’”
Marin County is a place of contradiction. Here, Biden and Black Lives Matter signs dot perfectly manicured lawns, but racial microaggressions permeate the community. Brown women are assumed to be nannies for their own children. White residents tote their liberalness — their wokeness — only to look at people of color in their space with suspicion. All of this is paired with decades-old, systemic racist structure in place to keep them out.
A recent study from the University of California, Berkeley showed that six out of the 10 whitest municipalities in the Bay Area, those that have 90% or more white people, are in Marin. Marin County’s overall population is only 1.68% African American. Mill Valley is .78% African American.
The reasons are multifaceted but largely due to the alarming lack of public transportation and multiunit housing — not to mention the continued efforts to keep it that way.
For Anderson, a part of what shapes his everyday experience in Marin is the time he spends planning his response to a racist attack. “When I visit a store, I think about how I will deal with someone making a crazy, racist remark,” Anderson, who is also an attorney, said. “If I see a police officer, I start running through scenarios of what I’ll do if I get pulled over.”
On multiple occasions, white people have stopped him while shopping at a grocery store and asked, “Where are the apples?” assuming he works there. Then when he says he doesn’t know, they call over a manager to complain about a bad employee.
“It’s only Brown-skinned people who have these experiences,” he said.
Although Anderson and Boland said they feel accepted and welcomed in their community overall, these moments have an impact on them and their daughter, who is the only nonwhite student in her class and often asks “Why am I Brown?”
“At first you want to lash out,” Anderson said. “But you’re always worried about being seen as the angry minority with a chip on their shoulder. All of this takes a toll.”
This feeling is shared by another Mill Valley resident, Ravi Lescher, who on different occasions has been mistaken for the nanny of her blonde-haired, blue-eyed son. She’s biracial, half-East Indian and half-white.
This same experience was echoed by a Latinx mother whose husband posted on Nextdoor explaining the times she’s been asked what her rates are for nanning as she walks with her white-presenting children. The post received over 300 comments, many from people of color who shared their racist experiences.
Lescher, a physical therapist, said it comes down to white people in Marin not knowing any other world.
“They make assumptions based on their limited life experience and the bubble they live in. Like if you’re Brown you must be hired help,” she said. “We all make assumptions based on our life experiences, but there is a conflict with people in Marin between seeing themselves as liberal and progressive and the assumptions they make about people of color. White people should learn to face these assumptions and question them.”
Lescher recognizes that her experiences are “micro” and that if she were poor, the attacks and outcome would be worse. But her experiences are not without effect.
“It makes you feel less than, like you have to explain yourself and no one should have to do that.”
San Rafael, where people of color make up 30% of the population, is one of the most diverse cities in Marin County, but its neighborhoods are highly racially segregated. Debra Taube, a white Jewish resident of San Rafael, said Marin County leadership has the same conversation around increasing diversity in education, housing, and policy every year without ever substantially changing anything.
Taube is a leader for the Marin chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), a national network that organizes white people for racial justice, though all ethnicities participate in the group. She said it’s not the burden of people of color to educate white privileged people about racism — it’s white people’s.
And Marin has a lot of work to do. Local SURJ leaders work with the Marin County Board of Supervisors and city counselors to educate and advocate for local legislative action aimed at increasing diversity within the school system and propelling multilevel-income housing initiatives in the county. SURJ also holds workshops for its members to educate about race and how to be a white ally.
“White liberals are some of the hardest people to work with because they are very attached to being good white people and don’t believe they are racist or prejudiced,” says Taube. “But if you look at the data, policies, lack of affordable housing, and the shameful disparities in education, it’s undeniable.”
Marin County is filled with liberals and county leaders who talk a big talk about progressive policy, but when it comes to increasing diversity in their community, they fail.
Last month, members of the Marin County Board of Supervisors voiced opposition against adhering to a state mandate that aims to create housing for people of all income levels, citing density and fire evacuation concerns. Developers’ projects for unhoused and low-income people have again and again been voted down by city counselors and well-funded neighborhood associations.
People of Marin have reelected County Sheriff Robert Doyle for years, she mentioned, despite his cooperation with Immigration Customs Enforcement in 2019 to deport immigrants.
After the Black Lives Matter movement soared in 2020, attendance to SURJ meetings have nearly tripled, Taube said, adding that she believes white people in Marin are slightly “waking up.”
Zphyna Caldwell, a Black woman and Marin City resident who owns her own youth theater company called Interactive Enrichment, said growing up in Marin, she always felt “different being poor and Black.”
She recalls having to stand in a separate line to get lunch at her Mill Valley school because she was on a reduced lunch program. “The line was always filled with Black kids,” she said. “As a young person, having to show everyone else you were poor was so embarrassing. I would usually steal my lunch.”
As an adult Caldwell says she hasn’t experienced overt racism, but her brother has a different experience living here. He’s been pulled over countless times by Marin cops. She said this is simply a city of white, rich people who hire nannies and house cleaners and “that’s the world they live in.”
Although everyone interviewed for this article expressed that they believe Marin, is filled with good people, they also know firsthand that racism is alive and well, regardless of how progressive the county advertises itself to be. They agree that for too long the community has thrived in its enclosed environment of white privilege. Huge shifts in leadership and policy are needed — but to bring about real change, white residents of Marin County need to personally speak up, unlearn their biases, and show up for their Black and Brown neighbors.
White people of Marin need to put in the work to understand how their privilege affects others, why their words and assumptions are offensive and harmful, and how to listen and learn from those who experience racism. If we can do that, we can make Marin County a better place for everyone to live. | https://thebolditalic.com/marin-county-may-be-the-fakest-woke-place-in-america-cdb290c7f805 | ['Alex Madison'] | 2021-02-15 23:45:51.545000+00:00 | ['Bay Area', 'Racism', 'Race', 'Social Justice', 'Equality'] |
Decorator Design Pattern in Modern C++ | In software engineering, Structural Design Patterns deal with the relationship between object & classes i.e. how object & classes interact or build a relationship in a manner suitable to the situation. The Structural Design Patterns simplify the structure by identifying relationships. In this article of the Structural Design Patterns, we’re going to take a look at the not so complex yet subtle design pattern that is Decorator Design Pattern in Modern C++ due to its extensibility & testability. It is also known as Wrapper.
/!\: This article has been originally published on my blog. If you are interested in receiving my latest articles, please sign up to my newsletter.
By the way, If you haven’t check out my other articles on Structural Design Patterns, then here is the list:
The code snippets you see throughout this series of articles are simplified not sophisticated. So you often see me not using keywords like override , final , public (while inheritance) just to make code compact & consumable(most of the time) in single standard screen size. I also prefer struct instead of class just to save line by not writing " public: " sometimes and also miss virtual destructor, constructor, copy constructor, prefix std:: , deleting dynamic memory, intentionally. I also consider myself a pragmatic person who wants to convey an idea in the simplest way possible rather than the standard way or using Jargons.
Note:
If you stumbled here directly, then I would suggest you go through What is design pattern? first, even if it is trivial. I believe it will encourage you to explore more on this topic.
All of this code you encounter in this series of articles are compiled using C++20(though I have used Modern C++ features up to C++17 in most cases). So if you don’t have access to the latest compiler you can use https://wandbox.org/ which has preinstalled boost library as well.
Intent
To facilitates the additional functionality to objects.
Sometimes we have to augment the functionality of existing objects without rewrite or altering existing code, just to stick to the Open-Closed Principle. This also preserves the Single Responsibility Principle to have extra functionality on the side.
Decorator Design Pattern Examples in C++
And to achieve this we have two different variants of Decorator Design Pattern in C++:
Dynamic Decorator: Aggregate the decorated object by reference or pointer. Static Decorator: Inherit from the decorated object.
Dynamic Decorator
struct Shape {
virtual operator string() = 0;
}; struct Circle : Shape {
float m_radius; Circle(const float radius = 0) : m_radius{radius} {}
void resize(float factor) { m_radius *= factor; }
operator string() {
ostringstream oss;
oss << "A circle of radius " << m_radius;
return oss.str();
}
}; struct Square : Shape {
float m_side; Square(const float side = 0) : m_side{side} {}
operator string() {
ostringstream oss;
oss << "A square of side " << m_side;
return oss.str();
}
};
So, we have a hierarchy of two different Shape s(i.e. Square & Circle ) & we want to enhance this hierarchy by adding colour to it. Now we're suddenly not going to create two other classes e.g. coloured circle & a coloured square. That would be too much & not a scalable option.
s(i.e. & ) & we want to enhance this hierarchy by adding colour to it. Now we're suddenly not going to create two other classes e.g. coloured circle & a coloured square. That would be too much & not a scalable option. Rather we can just have ColoredShape as follows.
struct ColoredShape : Shape {
const Shape& m_shape;
string m_color; ColoredShape(const Shape &s, const string &c) : m_shape{s}, m_color{c} {}
operator string() {
ostringstream oss;
oss << string(const_cast<Shape&>(m_shape)) << " has the color " << m_color;
return oss.str();
}
}; // we are not changing the base class of existing objects
// cannot make, e.g., ColoredSquare, ColoredCircle, etc. int main() {
Square square{5};
ColoredShape green_square{square, "green"};
cout << string(square) << endl << string(green_square) << endl;
// green_circle.resize(2); // Not available
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
Why this is a dynamic decorator?
Because you can instantiate the ColoredShape at runtime by providing needed arguments. In other words, you can decide at runtime that which Shape (i.e. Circle or Square ) is going to be coloured.
You can even mix the decorators as follows:
struct TransparentShape : Shape {
const Shape& m_shape;
uint8_t m_transparency; TransparentShape(const Shape& s, const uint8_t t) : m_shape{s}, m_transparency{t} {} operator string() {
ostringstream oss;
oss << string(const_cast<Shape&>(m_shape)) << " has "
<< static_cast<float>(m_transparency) / 255.f * 100.f
<< "% transparency";
return oss.str();
}
}; int main() {
TransparentShape TransparentShape{ColoredShape{Square{5}, "green"}, 51};
cout << string(TransparentShape) << endl;
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
Limitation of Dynamic Decorator
If you look at the definition of Circle , You can see that the circle has a method called resize() . we can not use this method as we did aggregation on-base interface Shape & bound by the only method exposed in it.
Static Decorator
The dynamic decorator is great if you don’t know which object you are going to decorate and you want to be able to pick them at runtime but sometimes you know the decorator you want at compile time in which case you can use a combination of C++ templates & inheritance.
template <class T> // Note: `class`, not typename
struct ColoredShape : T {
static_assert(is_base_of<Shape, T>::value, "Invalid template argument"); // Compile time safety string m_color; template <typename... Args>
ColoredShape(const string &c, Args &&... args) : m_color(c), T(std::forward<Args>(args)...) { } operator string() {
ostringstream oss;
oss << T::operator string() << " has the color " << m_color;
return oss.str();
}
}; template <typename T>
struct TransparentShape : T {
uint8_t m_transparency; template <typename... Args>
TransparentShape(const uint8_t t, Args... args) : m_transparency{t}, T(std::forward<Args>(args)...) { } operator string() {
ostringstream oss;
oss << T::operator string() << " has "
<< static_cast<float>(m_transparency) / 255.f * 100.f
<< "% transparency";
return oss.str();
}
}; int main() {
ColoredShape<Circle> green_circle{"green", 5};
green_circle.resize(2);
cout << string(green_circle) << endl; // Mixing decorators
TransparentShape<ColoredShape<Circle>> green_trans_circle{51, "green", 5};
green_trans_circle.resize(2);
cout << string(green_trans_circle) << endl;
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
As you can see we can now call the resize() method which was the limitation of Dynamic Decorator. You can even mix the decorators as we did earlier.
method which was the limitation of Dynamic Decorator. You can even mix the decorators as we did earlier. So essentially what this example demonstrates is that if you’re prepared to give up on the dynamic composition nature of the decorator and if you’re prepared to define all the decorators at compile time you get the added benefit of using inheritance.
And that way you actually get the members of whatever object you are decorating being accessible through the decorator & mixed decorator.
Functional Approach to Decorator Design Pattern using Modern C++
Up until now, we were talking about the Decorator Design Pattern which decorates over a class but you can do the same for functions. Following is a typical logger example for the same:
// Need partial specialization for this to work
template <typename T>
struct Logger; // Return type and argument list
template <typename R, typename... Args>
struct Logger<R(Args...)> {
function<R(Args...)> m_func;
string m_name; Logger(function<R(Args...)> f, const string &n) : m_func{f}, m_name{n} { } R operator()(Args... args) {
cout << "Entering " << m_name << endl;
R result = m_func(args...);
cout << "Exiting " << m_name << endl;
return result;
}
}; template <typename R, typename... Args>
auto make_logger(R (*func)(Args...), const string &name) {
return Logger<R(Args...)>(std::function<R(Args...)>(func), name);
} double add(double a, double b) { return a + b; } int main() {
auto logged_add = make_logger(add, "Add");
auto result = logged_add(2, 3);
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
Above example may seem a bit complex to you but if you have a clear understanding of variadic temple then it won’t take more than 30 seconds to understand what’s going on here.
Benefits of Decorator Design Pattern
Decorator facilitates augmentation of the functionality for an existing object at run-time & compile time. Decorator also provides flexibility for adding any number of decorators, in any order & mixing it. Decorators are a nice solution to permutation issues because you can wrap a component with any number of Decorators. It is a wise choice to apply the Decorator Design Pattern for already shipped code. Because it enables backward compatibility of application & less unit level testing as changes do not affect other parts of code.
Summary by FAQs
When to use the Decorator Design Pattern?
— Employ the Decorator Design Pattern when you need to be able to assign extra behaviours to objects at runtime without breaking the code that uses these objects.
— When the class has final keyword which means the class is not further inheritable. In such cases, the Decorator Design Pattern may come to rescue.
What are the drawbacks of using the Decorator Design Pattern?
— Decorators can complicate the process of instantiating the component because you not only have to instantiate the component but wrap it in a number of Decorators.
— Overuse of Decorator Design Pattern may complicate the system in terms of both i.e. Maintenance & learning curve.
Difference between Adapter & Decorator Design Pattern?
— Adapter changes the interface of an existing object
— Decorator enhances the interface of an existing object
Difference between Proxy & Decorator Design Pattern?
— Proxy provides a somewhat same or easy interface
— Decorator provides enhanced interface | https://medium.com/dev-genius/decorator-design-pattern-in-modern-c-4af9053ccc7f | ['Vishal Chovatiya'] | 2020-09-14 19:23:09.240000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Software Development', 'Design Patterns', 'Coding', 'Cpp'] |
The Negro Solstice is Upon Us, The Black Twitter Holiday Explained | Image rights reserved to the owner of this image
For most, today is just another day where we transition from the fall to the winter season. But for Black Twitter users, today is a highly anticipated holiday that has coined the name, The Negro Solstice.
It all began a few weeks back on December 5th when a group of Twitter users were having an open discussion in a thread about whether or not the Coronavirus pandemic was real. Since our first lockdown back in March, we’ve seen much speculation and many conspiracy theories on the internet, challenging the legitimacy of COVID-19 and the vaccine.
According to Twitter user @lottidot “this disease [COVID-19] was created in China and was only supposed to attack us then a guy altered it to make it attack everyone . Yeah it’s worldwide but the government(gov) ain’t handling it as they should bc their ultimate motive is a vaccine to alter our genetic code”.
They then proceeded to assure all black people that they had nothing to worry about because, “As black people, genetically we are stronger and smarter than everyone else, we are more creative, on December 21 our Real DNA will be unlocked and majority will be able to do things that we thought were fiction. Learn who u are as a people they wanna make us average’
This one tweet sent Black Twitter into a frenzy, and quite frankly I’m enjoying every bit of it.
Over 500,000 tweets about the holiday have been published in the last 24 hours. Hashtags like #December21 and #BlackTwitter have claimed their spots in the top 10 of Twitters’ United States trends.
Of course with so many black users active on Twitter today it has given ground to tons of comedic tweets that I can’t get enough of.
Users have pulled out their best memes, videos and reaction pics to express their feelings for the new holiday and the super powers they hope that comes with it.
Users have chosen to acknowledge the holiday from a plethora of perspectives. Some from the point of view of their exes.
And others from a historical standpoint.
My personal faves are those reacting to their new powers.
There is even a space for those having trouble activating their powers. Users have provided some hacks on how to tap into your “Real DNA.”
Though there is no scientific evidence to prove whether or not @lottidot’s claim was true, it sure is a whole lotta’ fun seeing everyone come together. Black people may not have been blessed with wacky super powers like invisibility and teleporting, but that is okay because black people are still super powerful beings. Our energy and creativity is the backbone and foundation to all pop culture and The Negro Solstice is proof.
If you’re enjoying or participating in today’s Twitter festivities be sure to circle back to our good friend @lottidot and send them a love offering to their cashapp at $bblotti as a thanks for bringing the culture together and sparking a new virtual holiday. | https://medium.com/@robinson-arial/the-negro-solstice-is-upon-us-the-black-twitter-holiday-explained-f05f8cfb0eef | ['Arial Robinson'] | 2020-12-21 18:53:27.036000+00:00 | ['Black Twitter', 'Solstice', 'Negros', 'Negro Solstice', 'Twitter'] |
Planning for accessibility from the start | Modular heated pavement. Sidewalk and road maintenance can be a common impediment to accessibility. The Quayside plan features modular pavers that can be individually and quickly replaced if one cracks or breaks. Pavers at key street crossings and intersections would also include heating elements that can prevent buildup of snow and ice on pedestrian throughways, making streets more passable to people using wheeled mobility devices and more comfortable for service animals year-round.
Wayfinding beacons. Beacons are small objects, about the size of Post-it Notes, that emit signals that can be picked up by smartphones or other Bluetooth-enabled devices. Beacons can broadcast navigational information about the environment that is especially useful to people who are blind or partially sighted — for example, that there is a garbage bin to the right of the staircase. In Quayside, beacons would enable the use of BlindSquare and other wayfinding apps as part of the default streetlevel experience. Related areas for wayfinding innovation that we have identified included audible traffic approaching signals and artificial intelligence floor describers.
Adaptive signals. To further improve street safety and work towards a Vision Zero goal of no street fatalities, we’ve designed an adaptive traffic management system that can prioritize pedestrians and detect when people need more time to cross the street. This system would be particularly useful for people moving slower or experiencing physical disability.
Sidewalk width. All thoroughfares in Quayside are planned to have at least enough room for two people using mobility devices (wheelchairs, scooters, white canes) to ride or travel side by side or for two people to sign while walking. Even more room would be provided wherever possible. Critically, thanks to feedback during the co-design sessions, the sidewalk pavers themselves are designed to be large enough to fit a wheelchair or scooter.
Curbless streets. In Quayside, instead of a vertical step separating the vehicle right-of-way from pedestrian paths, tactile indicators would indicate the line between pedestrian-only areas and spaces shared between pedestrians, bikes, and low-speed vehicles.
Accessible, affordable autonomous vehicles. Self-driving vehicles have the potential to transform travel in cities, and have particular potential for people experiencing reduced mobility or sensory perception. We commit to partnering with ride-share services to provide a physically accessible and affordable autonomous vehicle experience.
Designing accessible buildings and homes
Our accessibility plans go beyond mobility. For housing, we plan to build adaptable “Loft” spaces that make homes easier to renovate, allowing them to serve the individual needs of their tenants.
To ensure we were on the right track, we talked with Chris Stigas, CEO and co-founder of HandiHelp, who helped us make sure Loft units would enhance the experiences of people using wheelchairs or other mobility devices. For example, during our conversation, we discussed using fold-away tables and doorways that were threshold-free to make maneuvering as easy as possible.
In fact, a session co-hosted with the Inclusive Design Research Centre focused on improving these “threshold” moments: transitioning through a door into a home, between floors in an office building, or past a badged access point. That’s because getting through a door with an armful of packages can be difficult for anyone — and may also be difficult for people who are partially sighted, using a wheelchair, or experiencing reduced dexterity.
Digital technology can provide safe and secure building entry without push buttons or fob keys. (Sidewalk Labs)
The difficulty of these threshold moments can be eased or eliminated by applying simple technologies, like automatic doors. Where access control is necessary, doors can have a contactless scanner for a card, fob, or phone. Participants in the co-design session highlighted these as useful innovations, particularly when they are all knit together, such that a single access device can open doors, call elevators, negotiate access controls, and request street crossings.
We commit to a design principle that “fewer doors are better.” When doors are necessary, designs should preference sliding automatic doors over button-controlled doors.
Wherever possible, we incorporated best practices in DeafSpace, architectural principles tailored towards the deaf community. We saw these concepts in action at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., where they make use of easily controllable window shades (so that your eyes won’t be strained when signing) and soft corners inside buildings.
Creating infrastructure that reports back
What causes a frustrating delay for some commuters can create an arduous ordeal for others — the wheelchair user faced with a broken elevator at her transit station; the student with cognitive disabilities whose bus route unexpectedly changes; the older adult experiencing sight loss whose daily walk is interrupted by road work.
Wearable tech can provide wayfinding instructions and alert people to obstacles or delays. (Sidewalk Labs)
But imagine if people could be alerted immediately when station infrastructure breaks down, when transit service gets delayed or detoured, or when street maintenance occurs — and be instantly re-routed via a smartphone or wearable device. Participants at a Sidewalk Labs accessibility hackathon prototyped just such a technology, which would allow pedestrians using the BlindSquare app to be safely guided around construction sites.
We commit to developing infrastructure capable of reporting itself as broken and to working with existing navigation tools to ensure every journey in Quayside is accessible, safe, and convenient for all.
Always looking to improve
By no means is our work in the accessibility sector done. We’re currently in the process of hiring an accessibility consultant in Toronto and have consulted with the CNIB Foundation on designing our wayfinding and publicly available technology systems to be open to all.
Through these innovations, we hope to see the breakdown of systemic barriers that often make it harder than it should be for members of our community to easily enjoy all aspects of Toronto life. By putting accessibility at the forefront, we believe we can create one of the most inclusive communities in the world.
Mary-Margaret McMahon is Director of Community at Sidewalk Labs, based in Toronto. Samara Trilling is a Software Engineer at Sidewalk Labs, based in New York. | https://medium.com/sidewalk-toronto/planning-for-accessibility-from-the-start-e7cea8552bc7 | ['Sidewalk Toronto'] | 2019-10-25 21:39:27.914000+00:00 | ['Mobility', 'Urban Planning', 'Inclusion', 'Accessibility', 'Toronto'] |
Harmony | Take my hand,
follow me
The wind
is humming
our song
Dance with me;
Move
to the rhythm
Let us dance
till we forget
the presence
of everything else | https://medium.com/chalkboard/harmony-dfb57f9b6ba6 | ['Fọlábòmí Àmọ Ó'] | 2020-12-24 21:23:50.770000+00:00 | ['One Line', 'Dance', 'Poetry', 'Love', 'Nature'] |
Basic Trajectory Prediction in Unity | Over the weekend, Austin Mackrell and I wanted to try out implementing the prediction and visualization of a trajectory in 2-D before it fires. Simply put, we’re firing an object through a gravity affected scene with a certain force, and we want to predict and show the path it would take before we fire it. We saw a ton of articles about it and have seen a number of games implement it in some way. There seemed to be two popular ways to do it, each having its own strengths and weaknesses.
Basic intention of Trajectory Prediction
Option One is to manually calculate how each of the Physics variables, like Force, Mass, Velocity, and Gravity would affect the object. With all the proper information and formulas, one can accurately forecast this.
Option Two is to create a parallel scene in which physics are drastically accelerated. Every time you show intent to launch the object in your main scene, you’re essentially launching the object in an duplicated scene, which is completing the action at an almost instantaneous speed. Main Scene passes launch information into Duplicate Scene, and Duplicate Scene passes the results of that launch back to Main Scene.
I chose Option One because I like how Math can in theory, perfectly calculate things for us in front of our eyes. Austin chose Option Two, and we thought it’d be interesting to illustrate and contrast the two.
It sounded easy.
Most people will know Trajectory Projection from Angry Birds
It sounded easy until I attempted it. The bad news: there aren’t any mainstream methods of predicting this for us within Unity, we’ll have to build it ourselves. The good news: Many have been here before us. Before video games, before computer simulation and before coding, we’ve had science. Mathematicians and physicists have been at this since long before us. As early as four hundred years ago, Galileo was demonstrating accurate Parabolic Trajectory.
f(t) = (x0 + x*t, y0 + y*t - g*t²/2)
This is our mother equation.
Looks complicated, I know. Let’s start basic. Take an object moving at a fixed directional speed through a two dimensional space, not being affected by gravity. I fire a bullet upwards at a speed (velocity) of 1x and 2y per second.
The multitude of terms here can get dizzying quick. One helpful thing to note is the synonymity of Vector Velocity and Direction. Our object is traveling 1x and 2y every second, and both of these can be stored in one variable, a Vector2. Therefore, our Vector Velocity is (1ₓ, 2ᵧ) per time unit. Our Direction is also a Vector2 of the same ratio as V.V. The useful distinction is that we’ll normalize the ratio for Direction, which simplifies it into a magnitude of 1. What this boils down to is: Our V.V. is (1ₓ, 2ᵧ), normalized via Unity, returns ~(0.45ₓ, 0.89ᵧ), our Direction. Direction will be particularly useful later when we’re applying Force to our object. Notice they retain the same ratio; Y is twice as much as X. This is a feature in Unity that is inherently used often, even though you may not notice. Ever use transform.up, left, right, down, forward, or back? They’re constantly referenced in Unity, because the information they hold is very useful.
Serialization of transform.up for this object. Do it some time and see for yourself. Transform Directions are always returned to us in magnitudes of 1, meaning the maximum value for X and Y are 1, when the other is 0. The same applies for all transform.directions, AKA the red, blue, and green axes of any object.
TANGENT TIME: Ever wonder why the most optimum angle for launching objects is 45°? Probably not, but I’ll tell you anyway. Notice at the end of the GIF where I set the Rotation to -45°. Transform.Up has X and Y equal at about 0.707 each. Add these together for a sum of ~1.41. No other possible sum of X and Y normalized is greater than 1.41. It’s the best angle for applying force to, because both axes are receiving the highest possible force. If you feel like 1.41 sounds familiar, it’s the square root of two. It’s the length of a hypoteneuse whose Triangle has minor sides equal to 1, with minor angles of, you guessed it, 45°. No coincidence that it’s a significant number here.
Going off of this, we can predict where the object will be by just asking how much Time has passed. I want the position of X after 5 seconds, so I’ll take the Origin of X and add the xVelocity * 5. Do the same to Y.
x(t) = x0 + x*t
y(t) = y0 + y*t
Combine into one Vector2 — f(t) = (x0 + x*t, y0 + y*t)
So at any given point in time, add the Velocity * Time to the Origin.
The green line represents all positions at a Velocity of 1x, 2y. Converted to slope formula, which is represented in terms of Y, it’s y=2x (b is 0), or Y is traveling twice as fast as X.
Follow the green line. Every second, we’re traveling 1x and 2y. At 2 seconds, we’re at 2x and 4y. At 5, we’re at 5x, 10y.
We can predict every point of this trajectory at any point in time. There are infinite points. | https://medium.com/@schatzeder/basic-trajectory-prediction-in-unity-8537b52e1b34 | ['Dan Schatzeder'] | 2020-12-16 19:08:27.989000+00:00 | ['Game Development', 'Software Development', 'Unity', 'Gamedevhq', 'Physics'] |
Japanese Meat: Recipe For Cooking Secrets | Japanese Meat
Most of us are convinced that the Japanese foundation is making dishes from fish and seafood. But the reality is that the central government is much larger and more diverse than at first sight. Local people enjoy eating pork, meat, and a variety of vegetables. In today’s issue, you will find it not easy and exciting to get it Japanese meat.
GENERAL PRAISE
Preparing these dishes is suitable for all types of meat. But most cooks use lean pork or beef. Meat just needs to be clean and of the highest quality. It is not advisable to buy a piece that has previously been used under dry repeated or storage capacity. About pure meat can be judged by its appearance. Good tenderloin has a uniform shade with no extraneous inclusions. From such meat should not think of any good, and if you continue it should as soon as possible restore the original form.
Japanese Meat
To pork or beef was later found to be more tender, peeled across the grain. Prepare Japanese meat with the addition of sesame, sou sauce and aromatic spices. Sometimes the composition of such dishes is expected garlic, potatoes, zucchini, onions and other vegetables. From the taste of this fish the meat adds to the wood.
OPTION WITH BELL PEPPER
According to the recipe below it will also turn out very tasty and nutritious dish. It is made from low-fat meats, and a wide variety of vegetables. So, it’s good for the older and younger generation. To prepare the meat in Japanese, you need to:
900g nyama pulp.
Couple Onion Pottery.
5 spoon sesame seeds all over.
Couple of wood pepper bell.
½ Cover cabbage.
Sou broth, mineral water carbonated and vegetable oil.
Japanese Meat
DESCRIPTION THINK
Preparing meat and vegetables with seeds like sesame is very easy to make. But the start is better the night before. For this wash and purified from bovine films placed one volumetric pot, pour mineral carbonated water and left for eight hours. After this time, the meat obsushivayut discarded towels and cross the grain into thin destructive. Then the meat spread in a hot baked pan greased with a little vegetable oil and soup broth and fried.
Once on the surface the meat pieces will be browned, they add onion rings. After a few minutes to send sesame seeds. Immediately after the seeds enter the pan with fried meat and onions add chopped bell pepper. Immediately back to the finished meat spread thinly shredded cabbage and wait, or beat gently. Serve this dish hot. As a Garnish baked potatoes style used.
THE DIFFERENCE OF INGREDIENTS WITH ZUCCHINI
This recipe can be used quickly and without much hassle that the food is delicious and satisfying to eat. It can be a great idea for a family for lunch and dinner. But since part of this Japanese meat and vegetables give less alcohol, there is no need to give younger children. To do this, you need to:
5 drops.
3 diced zucchini.
170ml Soy sauce.
Couple spoon sugar
50 milliliters total vodka (for).
Salt
3 cloves all garlic.
Handful of seeds and sesame seeds.
A pressed black pepper.
Japanese Meat
SEQUENCE OF ACTIONS
The washed and obsushennoe meat is cut into long pieces across the grain. Then, it is sent preheated baked pan greased with a little vegetable oil, and fry until golden brown. Browned pieces add some salt and sprinkle with pepper and sugar. Then pour Sou soup and for.
Japanese Meat
Following the spread of this beer boiled pan potato cubes, and five minutes later — chopped Zucchini And chopped garlic. Pot put on a lid and left to prepare with the price of a fire. After half an hour the bean Japanese Sou soup with sesame sprinkles and five minutes later removed from the stove. Serve this dish can be fresh pickled pieces.
OPTION WITH CARROTS AND YOGURT
This original Oriental chili dish is cooked and mixed together. Therefore, of course this recipe will appeal to those who love to surprise your family or friends. That meat is still Japanese look, if you have easy everything you need. In this case, you should:
400 grams of lean pork.
500 milliliters of yoghurt
Hangaiwa garlic clove.
Be sure to bake in soda (no slides).
Fried eggs.
The average carrot.
They have a handful of small potatoes.
Onion light bulb.
Salt, flour, spices and vegetable oil.
YOKUBIKIRA ALGORITHM
Washed and sliced meat obsushennoe centimeter cubes and remove to the side. In a separate bowl, combine yogurt, baking soda, eggs, and salt. There they also poured sifted flour. As a result, you should be whipping thoroughly, which in essence is exactly what is properly baked fritters.
Japanese Meat
In the resulting weight increase the chopped garlic and chopped pork. One lay out pre-grated vegetables. All good seasoning and spoon send a lot of vegetable oil. Prepare grilled meat with onions in a pan for a few minutes on each side.
THE SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY
Pork is thoroughly washed down with a river tap tepid, destroyed with hair disposal kitchen towels and cut to about the same thickness one and a half inches. The meat is then covered with plastic wrap and lightly to hit a special hammer away.
Individual piala combine coriander, garlic, ginger and sugar. All this by pouring Sou juice and shaken a little man with a fork. The resulting marinade is given to broken-away pieces of pork, and no less leave them on for three hours. Ideally, the meat should lie in a sauce overnight. By this time, he was learning the beauty not only of the aromas of the aromatic clay, but also of the permissive.
Japanese Meat
Marinated pork spread in a hot baked pan, on the ground where they already have any vegetable oil, and fry for a few minutes and one by one. Browned pieces removed from heat and was placed on a fine flat plate in a row with lettuce. Serve meat only hot. The front is right on either side. But often marinated roasted pork in Japanese served cooked crumbly long grain rice, boiled potatoes and fresh seasonal vegetables.
If you liked this piece why not check out some of my other pieces here. | https://medium.com/@everythingcj/japanese-meat-recipe-for-cooking-secrets-2c7d4cfff07c | ['Everything Cj'] | 2021-02-07 13:13:34.742000+00:00 | ['Meat', 'Pork', 'Japan', 'Minced Meat', 'Cooking'] |
UPDATE ON FLAGSHIP | As you may remember last December I created a Steemit account called Flagship that runs as an upvote service. The primary goal of Flagship was to help get Crowdini more earnings on the results posts.
Initially I partnered with Bumper, another upvote bot. That partnership ended in March when Bumper decided to shut down.
From March on I have been running Flagship as an independent upvote service. And continue to upvote each Crowdini results post with 100% of Flagship’s voting power
In the last few weeks the STEEM price has dropped back to it’s levels from last November. Around a $1.05.
Because of this the rules I set in place for Flagship just aren’t working anymore. And the amount of money I need to put into Flagship each month to pay for the STEEM delegation just to get the votes for the Crowdini posts is getting close to not being worth it.
So IF the STEEM price stays below $2.00 through the end of the month I will be shutting down Flagship. I would then use the money I budgeted for Flagship on upvotes for the Crowdini results posts.
And that’s the update on Flagship.
All the best,
Jason | https://medium.com/daily-emails/update-on-flagship-58fcf817fce | [] | 2018-08-09 14:08:17.160000+00:00 | ['Steemit', 'Questions', 'Steem', 'Games', 'Crowdini'] |
How to Reveal Your Inner Writing Voice | First, your inner voice is about knowing yourself, your powers, and your weaknesses. Once you discover who you are and let others participate in this self adventure, you are a step away from creating your voice.
Start to describe yourself, or if this is a little bit hard for you, ask somebody to help with that. What are the words that best describe your personality? Ask yourself this question.
I find it very difficult sometimes to describe myself. This comes from a lack of self-confidence in my power of doing something.
Discovering your writing inner voice is not something to deal with within 5 seconds. It takes time, but depends on how involved you are, on how much patience you have on succeeded it.
Second, try to get through each written line. How do you feel about it? Is this something I would like to read?
Creating this conversation with your inner writing voice helps to put yourself in the reader’s mind. To ask questions.
If you practiced writing you have already met your voice, so you have a clue about how it’s like to put your ideas on a blank page. At the beginning is frustrating, you believe your writing voice is not that trained as you would like to. Things get better with time.
Freewriting helps your inner voice to escape. Let your mind and voice talk freely and check the results. You might be amazed by what unconsciousness can create. Just let go of prejudice.
What is your inner voice telling when you are writing? Has a happy, pleasant tone or is nervous and afraid? Sometimes I feel overwhelmed and tired. My words seem without any logic and force, but there are also sunny days on my street.
Revealing your voice through writing is an opportunity. Sure, we can all express verbal freely, but writing is more cosmetic.
When we want to express ourselves verbally, we choose our words but not in a way that sounds very pompous, we just want to communicate. But, in writing, we want to express an idea that sounds beautiful and stays imprinted in your mind.
Writing is for beautify ideas.
Your inner writing voice creates your brand. You get to know a writer because her/his inner voice has drawn your attention.
It is very important to speak out loud in your writing. You became a person who has a strong inner voice. Good to be read!
Your ideas are what matter and your writing to express them.
This is what differentiates us.
Everything consists of the naturalness of the language and the ease of transmitting them. And a note of humor to spicy up your words.
Your voice has to be sincere and worth reading it. Showing your sincerity means exposing yourself to readers and set a connection with them. | https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/how-to-reveal-your-inner-writing-voice-ed91b7cf39a3 | ['Around With A'] | 2020-08-10 21:43:10.762000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Ideas', 'Improvement', 'Development', 'Creativity'] |
Dating in the Time of Covid | How to get past the idiosyncrasies and annoyances of dating right now.
Copyright: 123RF Stock Photo
Ask Wendy: Dating, Sex & Relationship Advice for the Bold
Hey Wendy,
Dating right now is weird! I can only date through apps, and the guys on them are either disappearing like crazy, or they're trying to kiss ass. I mean sure, it’s flattering (or something) when they say I’m their favorite part of their day, but we haven’t even met yet.
I feel like calling bullshit. It seems like such a fake answer, and, for me, as I try to get to know someone, that ass-kissing creates distance, not connection. So right now, emails from guys either seem fake, or they flake. Is it Covid or is it me? What would you do?
June D.
___
Hey June,
You’re right, dating is totally weird right now. I do not envy you.
Why don’t you try this best practice: Only talk on the phone, email, or text to set up the first in-person date.
I know, I know. You want to get to know him. You want to vet him. And you want to be efficient. But hear me out, the most efficient way is to get yourselves in front of each other ASAP. And yeah, that likely means via video for now. Your answer to Covid dating is via video — no mask required. This should cut down on the flaking, and if it doesn't, well, you didn’t even have to leave your house, so there’s that.
“Hey Cutie”
When guys take the casual language too far, or use phrases you don’t care for like “hey gal” or “gorgeous” it can be a real turn-off or show bad judgment on their part. But expressing interest and delight in you? You might want to cut him a little bit of slack. For a lot of people, this pandemic is bleak AF, so like it or not, you probably are, in fact, the sunshine in their day.
Skip The Chit-Chat — Head Straight for Zoom
You can get a taste of his true essence, his personality, and see him in action when you two are face to actual face — or camera-to-camera on Zoom. All the shelter-in-place-savvy people are doing it now. You’ll get a more accurate representation of who he is than you could from any text message.
Also, you can set up multiple dates in a row on Zoom and you only have to do your hair and makeup once — hey, feel free to wear sweatpants below the camera! Depending on your angle you might not even need to put on a bra. Now that’s making lemonade out of lemons.
Connection Over Text, Email, and Phone Isn’t Real
The bottom line is this: A lot of guys have a hard time connecting over the phone or through email, and it doesn’t mean anything about his social skill level. When you’re on the phone or texting, you can’t read body language, you can’t see someone’s expressions, and sometimes can’t even get an accurate read on the emotional tone of the conversation. Nothing is organic about it. He has no history with you. He can’t see you. He has no way to connect with you. And he doesn’t know how much or how little to share when he can’t see and interpret visual cues (same for you!) All he’s got to go on is your profile, and apparently, it’s pretty damned good because it’s the best part of his week. Take the compliment, don’t let it trip you up (unless he’s too goofy with no substance underneath), and get on that IRL or video date. And he might be awkward on video, not everyone is comfortable in that medium, so give people grace there too. There’s a lot we have to accommodate for with Covid. Hopefully, this will all be a distant memory soon.
Good luck! | https://medium.com/@wendynewman/dating-in-the-time-of-covid-ec78deb66880 | ['Wendy Newman'] | 2021-01-13 00:15:04.433000+00:00 | ['Dating Tips', 'Dating Advice', 'Dating', 'Relationships Love Dating', 'Covid 19'] |
Sandeep Maheshwari Quotes. | Sandeep Maheshwari is a name among millions who struggled failed and surged ahead in search of success, happiness, and contentment.
Just like any middle-class guy he too had a bunch of unclear dreams and a blurred vision of goals in life.
All he had an undying learning attitude to hold on to. Rowing through ups and downs, it was time that taught him the true meaning of his life.
1. You must change yourself to grow every day.
2. The highest level of intelligence to understand who you are at your deepest level.
3. Never fight with a Pig.
4. Don’t be serious about what do you think it’s just a point of view.
5. Be Unshakable.
6. Life is a game to be a strong player in this game.
7. True strength comes only through persistent struggle.
8. No matter which field you work if you know marketing then you become successful.
9. Success is your destiny.
10. Love is not a temporary feeling or an emotion. emotion and feeling change, sometimes daily but true unconditional love is everlasting.
11. You are not separate from the Universe. The universe is in you.
12. Success is all about action in the right direction.
13. It always better to under commit and over-deliver than over-promise and fall short.
14. Peace of mind comes from knowing who you truly are and what you actually need.
15. Repetition is the key to excellence.
16. A small affirmation can make a big difference in your life.
17. Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.
18. If you are searching for that person who will change your life take a look in the mirror.
19. Change your mindset and everything else will fall into place.
20. Don’t be afraid of death be afraid of an unfulfilled life.
21. Whether you like it or not, whether you accept it or not, whether you believe it or not your life is what you choose it be.
22. After a long time of practicing our work will become natural, skillful, swift, and steady.
23. Like everything else, the applauds and cheers will die.
24. Keep moving forward you are the future.
25. Business is more of art than a science.
26. Once you become fearless life becomes limitless.
27. Entrepreneurship is not just about making money. It’s much more than that.
28. entrepreneurship is all about achieving maximum results with minimum efforts.
29. If you really want to do something big in today’s world you need to master the skill of digital marketing.
30. The best way to predict the future is to create it.
31. The only way to do great work is to love what you do.
32. It is no longer enough to satisfy your customers. You must delight them.
33. Countless Business opportunities for those who are smart enough to understand the need of the customer.
34. Be the type of person you want to meet.
35. Body language speaks the loudest.
36. What you think of yourself matters much more than what others think of you.
37. Simplicity good taste and grooming are the three fundamentals of good dressing and these do not cost money.
38. Life is not a problem to be solved but a game to be played.
39. To live life openly the lid has to be removed.
40. There is only one way to rise in the game of life. Fall in love with it.
41. Control your mind or it will control you.
42. Don’t waste your time thinking about things you can’t change.
43. True happiness is not about acquiring anything it’s about being at peace with what you have.
44. Strong mind discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss peoples.
45. Impossible only means that you don’t have the mindset yet.
46. You are the one who can do anything.
47. Questioning is the beginning of intelligence.
48. 4 steps to overcome failure.
1. Face it. 2. Accept it. 3. Learn from it. 4. Grow out of it.
49. The only way to stay motivated is to keep learning and growing every day.
50. Think about what’s really important to you in life make that your priority.
51. Change your mindset and everything else will fall into place.
52. The only way to change the world. Stop talking about problems and start talking about solutions.
53. Smile to change the world. Don’t let the world change your smile. | https://medium.com/@akshayakky/sandeep-maheshwari-quotes-c597cf5f530a | ['Akshay Akky'] | 2020-12-18 18:45:18.080000+00:00 | ['Thoughts', 'Quote Of The Day', 'Quotes', 'Thoughts And Feelings', 'Sandeep Maheshwari'] |
Partnering for Overseas Development: International NGOs’ Changing Engagement with China | Construction of water infrastructure as part of the IMAGINE (Integrated Maji Infrastructure and Governance Initiative for Eastern Congo) program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Image courtesy of Mercy Corps.
Two parallel trends within the field of international development are converging. The first is the rise of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as dominant players in the global infrastructure market, supported by Chinese development finance. Between 2000 and 2014, a sprawling network of Chinese government ministries, provincial governments, and policy banks supplied over $350 billion in official financing. Combining construction capability with ready financing, Chinese SOEs have implemented thousands of infrastructure projects overseas. Beyond Chinese-financed projects, SOEs are diversifying their portfolios and financing by actively bidding on infrastructure projects funded by national governments, foreign commercial and development banks, and private companies.
Second, many international NGOs are pivoting from working inside China to partnering with Chinese actors to promote development abroad. Multiple interrelated factors drive this shift: 1) increasing constraints on INGOs operating in mainland China codified by the 2017 Law on the Management of Overseas NGOs; 2) declining supply of international funding for development projects in China, especially as China’s economy has grown; 3) growth in the activities of Chinese philanthropies; and 4) increasing capacity of local Chinese NGOs. To stay engaged with China and maximize impact, many INGOs are remaking their relationships with actors in China from that of donor and recipient to partners in overseas development.
People accessing safe drinking water through the IMAGINE program in the DRC. Image: Mercy Corps.
The convergence of these two trends is catalyzing new development partnerships. INGOs are beginning to contract with Chinese SOEs to build infrastructure projects for international development. One such example is Mercy Corps’ partnership with two Chinese SOE contractors, Sinohydro and China Geo-Engineering Corporation, to build infrastructure for the IMAGINE Program in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This initiative is a multi-year UK government-funded project to improve water access, sanitation, and hygiene and reduce child mortality in the cities of Goma and Bukavu. To our knowledge, the IMAGINE program is one of the first cases of an INGO partnering with a Chinese SOE on a major infrastructure project to promote international development.
Initial interviews with project stakeholders suggest that such INGO-Chinese SOE collaborations may provide important advantages. From an INGO perspective, Chinese SOEs help to stretch limited budgets and often provide the lowest bids in competitive international tenders. Chinese SOEs have the technical expertise necessary to execute INGO-led infrastructure projects, which are typically much smaller than their usual contracts. For INGOs with previous China operations, their staff can apply years of accumulated knowledge and relationships to enhance communication and coordination with Chinese SOEs. In addition, Chinese SOEs also enjoy potential advantages. Though contracts may be relatively small by SOE standards, SOEs view INGOs as reliable partners. SOEs also perceive that collaboration with INGOs could yield reputational benefits and opportunities to expand into new business areas or national markets.
Construction at IMAGINE. Image: Mercy Corps.
But INGO-Chinese SOE partnerships also face limitations and obstacles. INGO projects are too few and small-scale to be a top priority for Chinese SOEs. While Chinese SOEs are interested in working with INGOs on development projects, they also seek to achieve commercial goals. INGOs often have some of the strictest requirements among actors in the development community regarding standards for labor rights, environmental sustainability, gender inclusivity, and health and safety. Ensuring that Chinese SOEs understand and follow these requirements is a key concern for INGOs. Furthermore, INGOs and SOEs’ lack of experience working together can amplify communication issues related to language barriers, contract stipulations, and project standards.
Despite these challenges, INGO-Chinese SOE partnerships are likely to become more common in the future. Chinese SOEs are already attractive partners from a cost perspective, and they will become more competitive as they continue to accumulate international business experience and technical expertise. With mounting uncertainty about future levels of international development assistance due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese SOEs’ cost advantages may become even more attractive to INGOs facing budget constraints in the future.
Finally, novel INGO-Chinese SOE partnerships raise bigger questions about international cooperation and development. How do new and established development actors interact on the ground in developing countries? How do citizens and other local stakeholders perceive development projects involving both INGOs and Chinese SOEs? Prior to COVID-19, relationships between China and other major international donors were already fraught with competition and mutual criticism. Growing friction between China, the United States, and various European states as the COVID-19 pandemic continues could further impede cooperation on development finance. Expanded INGO-Chinese SOE partnerships provide an important opportunity for cooperation between INGOs, Chinese stakeholders, and other actors during a time when development needs are more urgent than ever. | https://medium.com/fairbank-center/partnering-for-overseas-development-international-ngos-changing-engagement-with-china-5ac08a3c2916 | ['Fairbank Center Blog'] | 2020-06-29 18:00:40.355000+00:00 | ['Development', 'Business', 'Finance', 'China', 'International Relations'] |
What Will Genderless Fashion Change? | What Will Genderless Fashion Change?
Lacoste, 2019
Undoubtedly, one of the biggest fashion trends of recent times is genderless fashion. Genderless fashion, which is currently fed by a social movement, appears to be an activist fashion attitude rather than a fashion trend. What happened to the billion-dollar fashion industry, one of the biggest advocates of gender norms, who for centuries glorified the word masculine, whisper the word feminine in fear? Until yesterday, while emphasizing the masculine attitude as a strong message for all genders, when has this industry been so activist, which characterizes the feminine attitude as a “female-only” vulnerability? Let’s examine it together.
Karolina Kurkova & Andrej Prejic, Jean Paul Gaultier, 2011
The concept of “gender”, which was put forward to define sex roles in the 1950s, was actually a theory put forward by academics to question the place of women actively involved in industrial life in the society after World War II. Women who played an active role in business life were questioning their roles in society, and movements such as feminism gained momentum with the effect of industrialization. The LGBT+ movement, which gained strength in the 60s and after, did not hesitate to question the concept of gender. The post-war years, when the fashion world began to industrialize, fed this trend, which was called unisex clothing at that time. According to Mark Tungate, women who started to speak in business life needed professional clothes that they could wear both in plazas and factories. This need created some parts that the genders can use in common. So much so that the unisex fashion trend, born with pieces such as suits, jeans and sneakers, found its place as a genderless fashion in 2020. The International Textile Design Congress held in Portugal in 2018 defined genderless fashion as “the ability of different genders to wear textile products defined as specific to men or women at the same time, without being bound by any gender”.
ZARA, 2016
As someone who has been doing research on fashion at an academic level since 2018, I can easily say that the fashion world will never consider your well-being. If we reduce the fashion world to even more specific, the biggest aim of fashion brands is to increase their profit margins and also to create a consumer group dependent on their brands. Social mobility, which has gained strength with the use of social media as a medium for activism, is being used in its favor by the fashion industry, which is trying to turn this social change into benefit. Until yesterday, the industry, which emphasized the word masculine in its collections with a “strong and charismatic” message on both men and women, emphasized the word feminine as “delicate and fragile” only on the female side. The assertive and strong lines that stood out in masculine collections gave way to soft and pastel themes in feminine collections. According to Inside Retail, genderless fashion, which is trying to be adapted quickly by global ready-to-wear brands, is a fast consumption form of the rapidly increasing social consciousness on the Z Generation side.
Harry Styles, Gucci, Met Gala 2019
With the influence of South Korea and Japan, who have had a serious role in fashion trends for the last 10 years, the genderless fashion trend that has rapidly surrounded the world, in my opinion, is actually a very late fashion movement. The fashion industry, which advises the consumer whom he describes as a woman, to wear a skirt, and the consumer whom he describes as a man, to wear trousers, reinforces the foundations of heteronormative propaganda in a capitalist cycle. Although it is aimed to create social visibility by alternative designers, genderless fashion is used by global fashion brands as a nice profit tool. It seems that the industry, which advised you to wear pieces that you seem to be “right” in, rather than the pieces you felt happy about, will continue to be questioned at the point where the industry cares about genderless fashion, more precisely the increasing awareness of gender.
Dior, 2020
What is genderless fashion changing today or will it change tomorrow? It is difficult to clarify the answer to this question, especially in the economic environment the fashion world is in today. However it is useful to know that. With a higher consciousness than their parents, Generation Z, which can bravely step out of their comfort zones, seems to continue with the brands that they think value their own values. The genderless fashion, which we know to have a large share in these values, aims to say that I am here without being judged and stereotyped. It is obvious that the new consumer, who insists on this attitude, will not continue with brands that try to impose gender stereotypes on him. | https://medium.com/@alirizatuncher/what-will-genderless-fashion-change-c9cbca46e8f2 | ['Ali Rıza Tunçer'] | 2020-12-16 20:23:04.781000+00:00 | ['Genderless Fashion', 'Nonbinary', 'Fashion Marketing', 'Fashion', 'Fashion Branding'] |
Sad Bar | “Our ship will come in soon,” Sadie says as she sips her Bloody Mary through a plastic straw. “Mark my words — I can see it on the horizon.”
We are sitting at the sad bar down the street, at a high top table in the back against the rail. Sadie calls it the sad bar because she thinks everyone who comes in here looks sad, at least everyone who comes in here on a late Sunday afternoon. I think Sadie looks sad despite her bright eyes and blushing pink cheeks and talkativeness more so than usual all of which I blame on the booze.
It’s Christmastime, and even with the evergreen wreaths and garlands of holly and shiny aluminum tree crammed into the corner beneath the TV with the rolling picture that shows some indeterminable sporting event that nobody’s especially interested in, the sad bar seems as sad as ever, maybe sadder. Sadie and I dashed in to take refuge from the rush of shoppers and the crush of traffic, drivers jostling for position, the parking lot a concrete and steel slide puzzle.
Sadie comes to the sad bar on most late Sunday afternoons to calibrate for the week ahead, her way to ease her brain from relax mode to work mode. But she claims a change is near. Sadie vows that after the holidays she’s finally going to march into her boss’s office and quit her career, proclaim “Happy New Year” and “I resign” in the same breath, and move on to do the things she needs to do before time runs out for her, and not what everyone expects her to do. “We’re all gonna die anyway,” she recites her mantra, “and so then I might as well do what I want for once.” I hope she does for her sake, and ours too, but I’ll believe it when it happens. Sadie’s been vowing that for a while.
“How many people in here you think are dreading the thought of the alarm clock going off tomorrow?” Sadie asks me, or she could be asking herself aloud, or neither of us in particular, the way she just lobs it into the air, as she scans the room. Without waiting for a response, if she were even expecting one, Sadie perks up, and muffles a shriek. “Ooh, look at that couple over there,” she declares, pointing with her straw, tinged crimson from tomato juice, “high rollers!”
Sadie is focused on a man and a woman, sixtyish, the man in a green velour track suit and the woman in a bedazzled denim jacket, oversized sunglasses perched atop her bouffant though the sun has been absent for days, who have set up camp in a booth beside the cigarette machine, seated on the same side, mesmerized by the glimmering glow of their opened laptop and whatever they’re staring at on the screen, each speaking intently into their cell phones. There is a pitcher of purplish sangria placed strategically between them and a platter of chicken wings they routinely reach for, no napkins.
“What do you think?” Sadie turns to me. “Fantasy football? No, big stakes gambling? Yeah, that’s it. Gotta be. They’re scouring the betting lines, barking out instructions to their bookies — with secret offshore accounts, no doubt. Yep, yep, high rollers, for sure.”
Having ostensibly solved this mystery, and so easily, Sadie triumphantly cleans any lingering Bloody Mary from the straw with a smack of her perfect lips then spikes it into the glass and begins stabbing at the garnish — olives, onions, pickles and hot peppers — that sunk to the bottom before using the straw to suck up what’s left of the contents with a protracted slurp.
When I suggest to Sadie that maybe that couple is merely completing their Christmas shopping online, she exhales a laugh with a snort and coughs on what Bloody Mary she has in her throat.
“No way,” Sadie scolds as if what I said was the most ridiculous thing ever. “No fucking way! Are you kidding? Just look at their faces, such fervor, such passion. They’re not Christmas shopping. Searching for bargains on pressure cookers and weighted blankets? No way. Gimme a break. It’s gotta be something shady. It’s always something shady. I’m gonna find out.”
Sadie goes to get up from the high top table but stumbles backwards, back into her chair, with a thud against the rail, and exclaims “Whooh!” and questions “How many have I had?” and rubs her head at the temples with both index fingers. Her nails are painted alternating shades of red and black. Sadie has had three Bloody Marys in barely over an hour but I don’t say anything because whenever I say something about how much Sadie has had to drink, and suggest she take it easy, she snaps at me, uncharacteristically yet more characteristic of her of late, and it makes me feel as if I’m the one who’s doing something wrong — and maybe I am. I just tell Sadie that I’m not sure how many Bloody Marys she’s had.
The waitress stops by to check on us and I order a basket of chips and queso, and hope that helps to sober Sadie for our walk home. Sadie orders another Bloody Mary by winking at the waitress and making a clicking noise with her tongue against the roof of her mouth that I’ve never known her to do before.
“But I’m tellin’ ya’,” Sadie returns full circle to where she began, “things are gonna change for us, buddy — I can feel it. Everything is cyclical … cyclical.”
Sadie says “cyclical” twice because she mispronounces it the first time, adding an “n” in there for some reason, and she doesn’t pronounce it any better the second time. Then she mispronounces it a third time, undaunted.
“Everything’s cyclical. And our ship’s gonna come in soon. I just have a hunch.”
I tell Sadie that I know, although I don’t, but I can see it’s what Sadie wants to hear and anyway why make a big deal of it here. And it could be that I want to hear it too.
Sadie and I sit there, at that high top table in the back against the rail, in stilted silence, Sadie fidgeting with her crimson-tinged straw in her empty glass, me squinting to try and discern what sporting event is being shown on the TV with the rolling picture in the corner, until the waitress brings the basket of chips and queso and Sadie’s fourth Bloody Mary. Sadie ignores the drink and attacks the chips and queso, flinging tiny daggers of fried tortillas and dollops of warm melted cheese before catching herself and redirecting her attention to that couple.
“Who knows,” Sadie sighs, and sort of shrugs, subdued, apparently finished attributing any nefarious intent to the two, “maybe they’re just planning their vacation — checking weather forecasts and booking reservations.” Sadie waits a beat, possibly to think, then concedes, “Not a bad idea actually.”
Sadie turns to me, suddenly excited the way she gets when she’s convinced she’s on to something and it’s everyone else who doesn’t have a goddamn clue.
“That’s what we need to do! We need to get away, that will solve everything.”
I’m not aware of the “everything” that Sadie seems to believe needs solving — or maybe I just choose to ignore it. But I wouldn’t mind a vacation. This has been a difficult stretch for us both.
“Somewhere warm, and sunny,” Sadie elaborates, and when she says “sunny” she coats it with contempt for the somber gray sky and sepia-toned bare trees like wilting skeletons she gazes at through the smudged side window. “I want to get a suntan — no, I want to get a sunburn. That’s what I need!”
All at once, a terrifying shriek erupts from that part of the sad bar where that couple is seated, and we look — everyone looks — to find the man slumped forward, his face bloated and becoming alarmingly scarlet, and the woman feverishly slapping his back.
“He’s choking!” she cries out, “somebody please help because he’s choking, he’s choking!”
There is an instant where no one does anything, too stunned to react to this incident that no one ever expects, frozen in a snapshot, except for Sadie who shouts “Heimlich maneuver!” albeit completing butchering it with how she has begun to slur her words. Even so, I know what she means. But before I can stop her, in her condition, she leaps off the stool and immediately crashes in a heap to the floor.
This creates only a minor diversion as all eyes are now focused on the burly, bearded bartender with the mien of someone who might’ve played football in high school but hasn’t exercised since. He bolts from his station, surprisingly nimble, and yanks the man from the booth and proceeds to bear hug him from behind about the waist like a rag doll until a clump of presumably unchewed chicken gets launched from his gullet, a meat projectile that lands solidly against the wall and then slides harmlessly down. Everyone applauds, including me as I help Sadie to her feet — and she claps too.
When the excitement subsides, with that couple locked in a tender embrace and we all turn away to allow them that moment, I motion for the waitress so Sadie and I can pay our tab, which is mostly Sadie’s tab that I pay but still. Then I escort Sadie out of the sad bar, out into the elements with a sloppy wet snow dropping in chunks and the wind picking up with a bitter bite and the traffic still in full force, tailpipes belching exhaust in rippling ashen clouds and honking car horns of varying tones. Shoppers crowd every inch of the sidewalk with their decorative boxes and bags, decked out in down and fleece, some walking three- or four-abreast without yielding, while Sadie and I make our way home.
“Our ship will come in soon,” Sadie says softer, slower, dreamily, as if she could fall asleep, having succumbed to the unexpected exhilaration of this late Sunday afternoon, and the booze, but nonetheless retaining her focus, clutching at my arm with both mittened hands, her head leaned against my shoulder. I can smell the rosemary mint shampoo beneath her wool beanie. She exhales, content. “Mark my words — it will.”
***
This short story is a companion piece to my collection, The Sadie Stories, which will be available next year. | https://medium.com/@peterjstavros/sad-bar-affbb1f16a61 | ['Peter J. Stavros'] | 2020-12-21 19:04:00.350000+00:00 | ['Short Story', 'Short Fiction', 'Fiction Series', 'Fiction', 'Stories'] |
How To Activate Windows 10 Using Command Prompt? | How To Activate Windows 10 Using Command Prompt AnthonyB. Follow May 11 · 3 min read
Three Easy Steps, which only take one minute.
Status: Still working as of September 2021.
Why Would People Need To Activate Windows?
Well there are many reasons. It could be because a school or a business is setting up an organization of computers and wants them registered under one key for uniformity. Another reason might be that you upgraded from Windows 7 or 8, and your key was due to expire due to changing Microsoft terms. Many people built their PCs on their own and lost their keys. If you are like others, you bought a PC from a builder or a dealer and they didn’t hand you your license key at all. You could have received your PC via your organization or company which came with Windows pre-installed without any key.
Other reasons include:
You simply lost your license key.
Your computer was damaged and had to be reformatted due to software instability, virus or hardware failure, but the liability of which was not your fault.
How To Activate Windows 10 Using Command Prompt?
FIRST! Open Command Prompt as administrator. Do this by clicking on the start button, then search for “cmd” then run it with administrator rights.
NEXT STEP: Install KMS client key
Carefully follow the steps below. READ before doing.
Use the command “slmgr /ipk yourlicensekey” to install a license key. Replace “yourlicensekey” with any of the factory license keys below. Make sure to choose the right one for your Windows version. Home: TX9XD-98N7V-6WMQ6-BX7FG-H8Q99
Home N: 3KHY7-WNT83-DGQKR-F7HPR-844BM
Home Single Language: 7HNRX-D7KGG-3K4RQ-4WPJ4-YTDFH
Home Country Specific: PVMJN-6DFY6–9CCP6–7BKTT-D3WVR
Professional: W269N-WFGWX-YVC9B-4J6C9-T83GX
Professional N: MH37W-N47XK-V7XM9-C7227-GCQG9
Education: NW6C2-QMPVW-D7KKK-3GKT6-VCFB2
Education N: 2WH4N-8QGBV-H22JP-CT43Q-MDWWJ
Enterprise: NPPR9-FWDCX-D2C8J-H872K-2YT43
Enterprise N: DPH2V-TTNVB-4X9Q3-TJR4H-KHJW4
3. Hit [Enter] key to execute the command. Wait for a few seconds, and a prompt should appear.
4. Set KMS machine address. Very Important Step!!!
5. Use the command “slmgr /skms kms8.msguides.com” to connect to the msguides independent free KMS server.
6. Activate your Windows by using the command “slmgr /ato”.
LAST — Check the activation status again.
Extra advice
Want to stop Windows 10 from updating automatically? Click to view my article about it here. | https://medium.com/wireless-bidet/how-to-activate-windows-10-using-command-prompt-9c5d248f3420 | [] | 2021-08-06 02:02:40.427000+00:00 | ['Windows 10', 'Lifehacks', 'Computers', 'Software Development', 'Information Technology'] |
17 December 1936 — Pope Francis Birthdate | 17 December 1936 — Pope Francis Birthdate
Vatican News reports
Birthday wishes are pouring in for Pope Francis, as he celebrates his 84th year.
Amongst those who have sent their Best Wishes to Pope Francis on his 84th birthday is Italian President Sergio Mattarella, who wrote the Pope a letter of greetings and goodwill in which he also thanks him for the “participation and solidarity” he has shown the Italian people in this year of uncertainty and fear.
Ecumenical greetings have come in as well, with Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury, the primary leader of the Anglican Communion, tweeting, “Happy birthday to my friend and dear brother in Christ, Pope Francis. Thank you for your joyful and humble leadership that bears witness to the love of Jesus Christ.”
Birthday spent in charity and simplicity
Responding to a question put to him by Vatican News, the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, said the Pope is spending a quiet and simple day in prayer, sharing his meals as he always does with other residents at the Casa Santa Marta.
Bruni also said that through the papal almoner, the poor of the city of Rome have sent sunflowers to adorn the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament at Casa Santa Marta, “as a reminder of the need to always turn our gaze towards the Lord who is present in the weakest.”
He added that today the Pope sent a gift of four respirators to Venezuela in a sign of closeness to children with lung diseases. | https://medium.com/ave-maria/17-december-1936-pope-francis-birthdate-a9c7785a0a58 | ['Vic Alcuaz'] | 2020-12-18 04:59:00.424000+00:00 | ['Church History', 'Birthday', 'Anniversary', 'Pope Francis', 'Catholic'] |
A continuously updating k-means algorithm | A continuously updating k-means algorithm
Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash
Overview
We have all heard about the popular k-means algorithm used to find clusters in our data which is basically grouping of points that are similar based on the features present. Anyway, I will not bore you with the details about the algorithm which most of you might be well versed with already. What I am interested in discussing is extended version of k-means : A k-means model that can be updated with new data from time to time and become more information rich. Say, today we have a million data points roughly for the user behavior of a particular product company. We apply the k-means algorithm on our data and come up with some k clusters using the elbow diagram. A month later, we get an additional 10k data points which contains latest information on the user behavior which we want to include in our model.
Should we run k-means on entire data till date combined? Remember that running k-means on huge data sets with large dimensions can be computationally intensive. And we are talking about updating the model periodically to include new data coming in regular intervals. Clever thing to do here would be to update the existing model with the new information which we can call a delta model.
New model = Old Model + Delta Model
This is a simple yet powerful technique to maintain model at production level. I will discuss the algorithm in detail but lets take a look at the classical k-means algorithm first.
Classical K-means algorithm
Lets try to code the k-means algorithm from scratch. Here are the steps involved in implementing a k-means algorithm :
Initialise the k cluster centers called centroids by randomly selecting k points from the data. There is another technique used to initialize centers called k-means++ that we won’t discuss here. Calculate the distance of each data point from these centers and assign them to the centers closest or with minimum distance. Recalculate the cluster centers by taking the average/mean of all points in a cluster. These might or might not be in the data set. Calculate the sum of distances of the new centers from old ones and lets call it error. Check if the error is greater than the tolerance value and repeat steps 2 and 3 until the error falls below the tolerance value which means that the algorithm has converged. This will be the final cluster centers and respective points.
The implementation in python will look somewhat like this :
Improved k-means algorithm
The Class k-means can be used to train a model and predict on new data. Now, lets see how to integrate new data and update our k-means model.
Calculate the distance of a new data point from all the cluster centers and find the minimum of those distances. Check if the minimum distance is less than the threshold value. If true, we assign the new data point to the corresponding cluster. Then, update the cluster center of that cluster. If False, create a new cluster and assign the new data point as its center. Also, the data point becomes a part of the cluster. We can repeat the same steps with a list of new data points to update our model. Our model now is better than previous because it has seen more data.
The code for our improved k-means class with the update functionality can be written somewhat like this :
An example has been included on a test array. Cheers ! | https://towardsdatascience.com/a-continuously-updating-k-means-algorithm-89584ca7ee63 | ['Abhishek Jhunjhunwala'] | 2019-02-28 10:48:17.255000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'K Means', 'Algorithms', 'Unsupervised Learning', 'Data Science'] |
The Rock Test: A Hack for Men Who Don’t Want To Be Accused of Sexual Harassment | Are you a man confused on how to treat the women you work with? Do you feel like if you can’t say or do *anything* you don’t know what to say or do at all? Well stress no more! This life hack will have you treating women like people in no time.
From Harvey Weinstein to like all of Uber, it seems each day a wealthy and powerful man is being brought down by accusations of sexual harassment or assault. And just today the New York Times reported that men are becoming less likely to mentor females out of fear:
“A big chill came across Silicon Valley in the wake of all these stories, and people are hyperaware and scared of behaving wrongly, so I think they’re drawing all kinds of parameters,” said a venture capitalist who spoke anonymously for the same reason. Some are avoiding solo meetings with female entrepreneurs, potential recruits and those who ask for an informational or networking meeting.
While navigating professional relationships can often require that dreaded thing known as “any amount of work at all”, there is hope. You see, by following this one simple rule, you too can interact with women as people.
It’s as clear cut as this: Treat all women like you would treat Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
I know, this sounds weird, but trust me, this is a visualization exercise that will work wonders in your dealings with the women in your workplace. When a woman approaches you, just replace her in your mind with The Rock. Then, behave accordingly.
Still confused? Let’s try some dry runs.
Situation 1: Getting Coffee
Karen is a friend of a friend who recently moved to your city and wants to network in her chosen field, one in which you also work. She’s asked you if you’d be willing to get coffee with her, so she can “pick your brain.” There’s just one problem, Karen looks like this:
Oh shoot! She’s pretty! In the face, even. What to do?? I mean, you know it’d be inappropriate to treat the coffee meeting as a date, since her clearly stated intentions were professional. But on the other hand, she’s blonde, and so was your last girlfriend! This is so confusing! What a minefield you are in.
But navigating this sticky situation can be made easy by employing The Rock Test. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and when you open them, pretend Karen looks like this:
Wow! Karen looks pretty tough and strong and sweaty! She looks like a person who is working very hard to achieve her goals, having left behind a situation that clearly wasn’t working, headed for bigger and better things. Maybe ask her about that? But definitely don’t hit on her. It looks like she could kill you with the chair you’re sitting on.
Situation 2: The Meeting
Amanda is your business colleague who has a few questions about the big project your department just took on. She’s asked you for a one on one meeting to go over some specifics. There’s just one problem:
Oh geez, Amanda looks not only fit and attractive and young, but also like she isn’t wearing a wedding ring. What if she’s open to talking about her (presumably) adventurous sex life, and yours?! Finally, someone to share your secret latex fetish with! How on Earth can you hope to keep this meeting, that has nothing at all to do with any of that, focused for a whole 45 minutes?
Again, close your eyes, clear your mind, and think of Amanda like this:
Wow! It looks like Amanda has been working really hard, but just needs some help with a small snag she’s hit. Luckily she knows enough to ask for assistance when she needs it, what a professional! You’re lucky to have Amanda in your corner. Unfortunately, it definitely looks like she has no time at all to hear about your latex thing, no matter how much those gloves turn you on.
Situation 3: The Outing
Your co-worker Jennifer and her team just launched a successful new project, and they’ve all invited you out for some drinks after work to celebrate. There’s just one problem. Yep, you guessed it:
Jennifer and her team are all card carrying Sephora shoppers. One of them is even wearing a skirt. ME-OW, right? How can you be expected to keep your hands to yourself when there are just so many young women smiling at you? Everyone knows when a woman smiles at you it means she likes you like that. At least that’s how all the movies you’ve seen and strip clubs you’ve been to have worked. How can you know if this is just drinks with co-workers or an opportunity to masturbate in front of a group like you’ve always dreamed?
Quickly replace this image in your mind with this:
Wow! Jennifer and her team look really professional and ready to take on anything! It’s no wonder their project succeeded and they’re looking to celebrate. Maybe you could trade war stories with them about projects past, or hear some of their stories about what it took to make it this far. One thing’s for sure though, no matter how drunk you get: do not masturbate in front of them. Seriously, the last kid I know who touched a cop unexpectedly ended up with his face in the cement. It was a bad night!
So there you go! You’ve learned the quick and easy way to interact with women without behaving inappropriately. Simply offer them the same respect, admiration, and healthy dose of fear you’d offer anyone who could completely destroy you should you deserve it. | https://humanparts.medium.com/the-rock-test-a-hack-for-men-who-dont-want-to-be-accused-of-sexual-harassment-73c45e0b49af | ['Anne Victoria Clark'] | 2019-10-07 20:19:26.046000+00:00 | ['Society', 'Harvey Weinstein', 'Sexual Assault', 'New York Times', 'Humor'] |
9 Strategies To Overcome Failures & Fear Of Failing | Read the complete article
Just like death, failure is a part of life. We all have a fear of something, most common is Atychiphobia, fear of failing. If you don’t know how to overcome failures in life then you should learn this to become successful.
Sometimes the fear of failing can make us do a lot of work if we know how to deal with our fear. Fear is important unless it is in control, and you know how to overcome it.
Below we have given some methods to overcome failure and fear of failing so stay tuned till the end.
How to Overcome Failures in life
Strong Mindset Develop a strong belief system Learning attitude
How to Deal With the Fear of Failing
Don’t Think About the outcome Failure is the only option Goal setting
9 Strategies To Overcome Failures & Fear Of Failing
Let your emotions out
Nobody wants to fail, that’s why we feel sad and sometimes get emotional. To overcome failure you should let your emotions out of your body.
To let out your emotions you can cry, scream, dance or sing.
Accept to overcome failure
If you don’t try, you will never fail but you will not achieve anything. This is the truth, those who accept failure can change the failure into success.
Release your frustrations/anger
Sometimes things don’t go according to us and we fail and we get frustrated and angry. Sometimes we blame the situations and sometimes others too.
Define your success
Success has its own definition for each and every one of us. Find your definition and focus on what defines you successful not for others to believe you are successful.
Positive approach
The common mistake we do is we take failures in life as a negative thing that happened to us. Negativity brings negative outcomes and positive thinking brings positive outcomes.
One can overcome failure only when he starts making a positive approach towards things. Learn from your mistakes and implement them to get the desired outcome.
Related Post: Develop a Positive Mindset
Find Your purpose
In most cases when you do what you don’t like will always treat fear of failing. Because when you don’t love something you cannot give your 100% to that.
To remove the fear of failure from your heart and head you should what makes you happy, for which you are passionate.
Believe in yourself
Willpower is the key to achieve your desired goals in life, but if you don’t believe in yourself then it is almost impossible.
You should know your strengths and weakness so that you can apply them or defend them when needed. You can only find your strengths and weakness only when you believe in yourself truly.
Learn to rest
Sometimes the journey becomes more difficult and challenging, in that case, you should take a break rather than quitting. Most people quit just before they were about to achieve their goal because they don’t learn to rest.
Taking a break or resting doesn’t mean to get out of your track, it actually is very important for everyone to take a break. A break will always boost your performance and your dedication towards your goal if done properly.
Never quit
How to overcome failure and fear of failing?
You will never know the answer to this question if you quit in between. Whenever you feel like quitting just ask this question to yourself that why I have started this?
If you truly know the answer then your fear of failing will be removed from your mind.
Read the complete article | https://medium.com/@global4mantras/why-only-successful-people-use-this-to-overcome-failures-fear-of-failing-c4b42f6dfacb | ['Global Mantras'] | 2021-05-22 12:04:38.919000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Learning', 'Failure', 'Business', 'Entrepreneurship'] |
How to increase organic traffic SEO rankings and traffic increase | As of today, after creating several blogs in several niches
we have seen that nearly all of our republished pages have consistently been gaining more and more search traffic over time.. Now, the best part about this SEO strategy is that increases in traffic can happen almost immediately, as you can see here here and here.
So if you want to know how to get organic traffic fast by simply refreshing, older content, then stay tuned. When you update content, you can’t just recreate any old page and expect to get a quick boost in organic traffic.
There are some requirements in page selection and you actually need to update the content with some thought. Plus. Your website should follow at least the basic SEO best practices.. So you should have good content a technically sound website and have some kind of website authority, meaning you’re, not a new site or have no links pointing at any of your pages.
Content is obviously a huge contributor to your ranking success., But it’s, not always going to be. The main reason why you’re, not ranking in the top 3 positions., So the first thing we need to do is actually identify that a content issue exists.
And there are four main things to look out. For. First check the age of your page.. It takes time to acquire backlinks and for Google to understand where your page fits in the SERP.. So as a general rule of thumb, you should give your page around 6–12 months to rank before considering a major update.
Read more here : https://www.freedombizmachine.com/seo-ranking-page/ | https://medium.com/@freedombizmachine/how-to-increase-organic-traffic-seo-rankings-and-traffic-increase-2f79402312ed | ['Naceur Mohammed'] | 2020-12-21 18:45:11.532000+00:00 | ['Passive Income Online', 'Passive Income On Blogs', 'Make Money Online', 'Passive Income', 'Financial Freedom'] |
The True Meaning of Life is a Cup of Coffee | What is the meaning of life?
What is the purpose of our existence when we all going to die someday… long forgotten?
Time for some unsexy, cold harsh truths
We are living in a wide galaxy with many planets than we can imagine.
To hell with planets, our universe comprises over one hundred billion galaxies.
In this big universe, we are an infinitely simal character.
We, humans, are trying to prove ourselves to be the best of the best.
If we are lucky enough, maybe we would be remembered for a few years
What would happen after a few thousand centuries?
Our puny existence doesn’t matter shit to the functioning of the universe
Sounds harsh, isn’t it?
So why do we bother doing shit to please others?
Why do we chase money and fame?
I hope everybody could become rich and famous and will have everything they ever dreamed of, so they will know that it is not the answer Jim Carrey
Then you might think what’s the point of living?
This might lead you thinking
“I will watch porn, get high on drugs and pleasure myself to death… At least I will be happy that way.”
Nope, it doesn’t work that way, buddy.
Yeah, I can hear you screaming
“What in the hell do you want me to do you dumbass?”
Now let me explain,
There is no one true meaning or purpose in life. Actually, it is quite the opposite,
The true value or meaning of our lives are changing with time…
Without a meaning or a sense of purpose, we do not find true happiness and we will never be in peace with ourselves
I believe that two acts can help us find it
To grow as a better individual To help others
“Are you kidding?”
No, I don’t.
Growing as an individual corresponds to being self-aware of your strengths, flaws and being able to accept them, learning to be in peace with yourself, having your emotions in check, doing what you love, looking for ways to develop yourselves, etc…
I believe that it adds more value to our lives.
The second one is much more open and liberating
We cannot sustain as individuals and we are made to live in groups.
The more lonely and unhappy with our lives the shorter they become
So why not we try helping someone…
Helping one another is one way of achieving a higher level of satisfaction or fulfillment
And by the way, help doesn’t mean dedicating your entire life to work on some cancer cure.
Help no matter, how big or small…
It could be as simple as preparing a cup of coffee for your wife/husband when you prepare one for you…
It could even be assisting your kid with his math work, or helping him/her to ride a bicycle.
I am just going to grab a coffee for me and my friend until then, Adios! | https://medium.com/the-ascent/the-true-meaning-of-life-is-a-cup-of-coffee-2ac54165c1e2 | ['Siva Shanmugam'] | 2019-07-05 13:41:41.972000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Meaning Of Life', 'Helping Others', 'Life Meaning', 'Purpose Of Life'] |
Using R’s Tidytext package to analyse Covid-19 speeches | Using R’s Tidytext package to analyse Covid-19 speeches
I learnt about tidytext awhile ago and thought it was such a neat framework. The essential idea behind it was that you could perform text mining/sentiment analysis using dplyr and "tidy" dataframes. So, I just had to try it out! I looked around for awhile to find things to perform this exploration on and finally settled on Singapore Prime Minister Lee's Covid-19 related speeches - thought it might be fun to see how that changed over time. As always, a tl;dr to get things going.
( a side note here: this was a rather basic and easy introduction to tidytext but it really is a much more powerful package and a lot more (which I plan to write on when I have more time) can be done with it)
tl;dr
There was a change from negative to positive sentiment from February to December (with the release of the vaccine) The Top 5 words used in each speech actually gave quite a good summary of the speech and the core issues Tidytext is a really intuitive and easy to use framework and should definitely be explored in more depth!
Data Gathering
It was quite easy to get the data since all of the speeches had been nicely organised and transcribed (in true Singapore fashion!). If you’re interested, the first one can be found here and the rest are just in the search pages after that. I initially wanted to use beautifulsoup and selenium to scrape it but... the web addresses were not nicely organised by date and weren't numbered properly but instead used full titles. Given that there were only 8 speeches between Feb and now, I decided to do it manually. Granted, there were probably better ways of doing it and I would likely have tried harder if there had been more speeches.
But, given that there were only 8 speeches, I just copied and pasted each one into its own little .txt file and that was done!
Initial Cleanup
Next, I had to clean the data and this was where tidytext really came through. The tidy way of storing the data made it really easy to clean the data since I could manipulate it as I would a normal tidy dataframe - pretty neat!
Most of this step is self-explanatory. I basically imported the bunch of libraries that I would have to use and also imported a list of stop words. Then I got the names of all the files in the folder where the speeches were kept. Following which, I used a for loop to import each of the files and create a tibble for every speech.
I used stri_remove_empty because there was somehow an empty line between each line of the speech. I then used unnest_tokens which is really the core of the whole tidytext framework. This command facilitates the tokenisation of the words (i.e. breaking them up into individual words) and also does a whole bunch of clean-up (e.g. removing punctuation, changing everything to small caps etc.). This would obviously not be the most useful thing in certain circumstances (for e.g. when an exclamation mark or question mark could provide good context clues) but the default settings were fine for our basic usage.
Next, I used an anti_join to remove all the "stop words" - words in the English language which functioned as filler or connecting words (i.e. probably did not provide much important meaning). I then used assign to create a new df for each of the speeches. Finally, I bound all the speeches together in one giant df, giving them all a new column of properly formatted dates.
With that, it was time for the fun bits!
Top 5 words across speeches
I thought this would be interesting to look at because it would give a sense of which words were used the most over the course of the year. When the graph was out, it was also interesting because it actually gave a relatively good summary of the speech and the important points within that speech.
Most of this is pretty self-explanatory. I used regex to and stri_extract to ensure that only words (and not random symbols) were extracted and dropped all the empty rows. I then used count to provide a count of each word, grouping it by date. Next, I created a proportion column as recommended by Silge and Robinson since comparing actual counts would be misleading if comparing between a very long and a very short speech.
I then grouped it by dates before arranging it by proportion, making sure to set .by_group to TRUE ensure that it would sort it within the groups. Finally, I sliced out the top 5 words from each group. I also created a new "tohigh" column to help with graphing later on as I wanted to highlight the top word used. To achieve this, I used ifelse and max() to find the highest proportion value and then set the tohigh column to "Yes".
Graphing it was rather fun! I wanted to facet the graphs and also ensure that there were arranged from highest to lowest. To do that, I used reorder_within so that it would be ordered within their respective date groups and then added scale_x_reordered so that the labels would come out properly (try it without scale_x_reordered and you'll see what I mean!)
And finally…
Image by author
It was quite the interesting result because of the fact that it highlighted quite well the key takeaways of each speech. For instance, around the end of April, Singapore experienced an outbreak of Covid-19 cases amongst the foreign workers (hence the top word used being “workers”). Or on 10th April when a lockdown (“circuit breaker” was what the government called it) was put in place and hence “home” was the top word. And obviously for 14th Dec, with the vaccines out, it was the word of the month.
The keener eye might notice that I chose not to lemmatize or stem the words. I chose not to do it for two reasons: (a) I felt that because of the relatively short length of the speeches, lemmatizing the words might detract from some of its meaning. For instance, Singapore and Singaporean are two words that likely would have been fused. However, I felt that in the context of relatively short speeches, they carried different contexts/meanings. Of course, this meant that things like “vaccines” and “vaccine” appeared in the top 5 words for December but this issue (as you can see) didn’t affect the other 7 speeches. (b) I wanted to try to use only the tidytext package as much as possible for the actual data manipulation and it surprisingly (unless I'm wrong then please let me know!) doesn't have any in-built functions to do that. One would have to turn to textstem to do that.
Sentiment Analysis of speeches
I did this in quite the basic way. Going along with the “tidytext” idea, I performed an inner join with the words in the Bing Liu sentiment corpus, grouped it by date, counted the sentiments and then took the difference between the number of positive and negative sentiments. I also reformatted the dates for graphing purposes.
Here, I had to use “factor” to get the dates to follow the same order as the df.
Image by author
Even though it was a rather quick and dirty way of doing it, I must say that the results were pretty good. Again, it reflected the general sentiments of the time — low/negative points in Feb and Apr when the virus was first breaking out and when the virus hit the workers hard. To obviously much brighter days when the vaccine came out!
Change in words used over time
Finally, a cute one just to see how the number of keywords used changed over the various speeches.
Image by author
As someone in the Reddit thread said, “Vaccines go brrrr”
Conclusion | https://towardsdatascience.com/using-rs-tidytext-package-to-analyse-covid-19-speeches-in-a-r-approved-tidy-way-50d2153a2e77 | ['Zachary Lim'] | 2020-12-21 13:47:14.635000+00:00 | ['Tidytext', 'Text Mining', 'Covid 19', 'Sentiment Analysis', 'R'] |
Selection of the Home Contractors in Gurgaon can Decide the Fate of Home Renovation Project! | Selection of the Home Contractors in Gurgaon can Decide the Fate of Home Renovation Project! Renovation Space Apr 12, 2019·3 min read
Finding the right interior designers Delhi is very important. If you want to décor your home with a unique style and design, then the very first important thing that you need to do is to hire the best interior designer operating at this part of the world. Sometime, selecting such a pro can appear as a tough job than installing the cabinets in the kitchen or arranging the bathroom tiles in a proper manner. if you have hired the wrong person for this job, then it can cost you even higher further. When it comes to a home décor project, the hardest part arrives for the homeowners when they start searching for reliable and competent home contractors in Gurgaon.
The works that need to be accomplished for a home décor project can even look simple than struggling to hire the best home contractor operating in the town. When you have such a professional and reliable interior designer or home contractor to handle the home décor project, you can always expect high level result from start to the end of the project. There are surely some horrendous contractors operating in these regions. If you have hired one of them by mistake, then there is always a chance for those contractors to never return or they can leave the project in the mid and that might cost you three or four time higher than the actual estimation that you did for the same project in the past.
Surely, as homeowners, you will not like to come across this situation. In order to hire the best, reliable and competent home contractors in Gurgaon or to hire the best interior designers Delhi, you always need to follow some steps and tips. Keep in mind that even when you have the best home contractors appointed for the job, the home décor project can still appear to be stressful enough. still unpleasant surprises can arrive and still you can come across expenses hat you may not have expected! But the good point is that such professional interior designers Delhi or the home contractors in Gurgaon know how to handle these odds so that the client can experience minimal problem.
Such a pro strives hard to keep the homeowners out of the stress and craft a proper plan to eliminate those additional expenses to a huge extent. Selection of the best home contractors in Gurgaon can decide whether the home décor project is going to be completed on a successful node or it is going to be a disaster for you. You can only research about such a contractor or interior designer and once you are satisfied with their past works, you can hire them on those bases. But you are never going to know what sort of end result they can bring for you.
Keep in mind that you are going to invest your hard earned money for the home décor or renovation project. So, the interior designers Delhi you choose must be able to deliver the best outcome for you. | https://medium.com/@henryjurk49/selection-of-the-home-contractors-in-gurgaon-can-decide-the-fate-of-home-renovation-project-2e703657ec3c | ['Renovation Space'] | 2019-04-12 10:44:53.113000+00:00 | ['Interior Design', 'Home Contractors'] |
Lockdowns don’t work — why?. Lockdowns don’t work. We can discern no… | Lockdowns’ massive collateral damage is for naught
Lockdowns don’t work. We can discern no sign in the data that general lockdowns have any beneficial impact on epidemic mortality curves. International comparison reveals that stringency is associated neither with reduced deaths nor with increased duration to peak. Experience varies massively among countries, but not because of interventions. At first blush, this seems to defy laws of nature and physics, so we must ask why this is the case.
Our best explanation has a firm basis in modelling, and it starts with the simple observation that Covid mortality is sharply age dependent. The aged and vulnerable suffer fatality rates some three orders of magnitude greater than the healthy young, for whom Covid presents negligible risk. For months now, the most cutting-edge modellers in the world have presented paper after paper demonstrating how crucial it is to take this reality. Their names barely make it into the public domain — Wes Pegden, Maria Chikina, Federico Andres Lois and Levan Djaparidze — though they deserve to, and their perspectives ought to be taken very seriously.
A layman’s interpretation proceeds as follows. Herd immunity is an inevitable end point, not, as has falsely been assumed by pundits and politicians, a strategy. That end point will be reached virtually everywhere long before vaccine safety and efficacy has been properly demonstrated, if it ever is, and distribution resolved. On the road to herd immunity, some will avoid exposure, but most won’t. Any strategy aimed at saving lives must necessarily seek to place as many vulnerable people into the unexposed group as possible. We need to put them “at the back of the bus”.
The key to achieving this is to increase the difference between the degree of social distancing for the vulnerable and that for the non-vulnerable. Before any intervention, the vulnerable start with lower interaction, and the least vulnerable — children, being the intensely social creatures they are — start with the most. Lockdowns reduce the mobility of the non-vulnerable much more than that of the vulnerable, so lockdowns have the effect of moving the vulnerable closer to the front of the bus — and increasing their risk. This is one of the reasons why we can see no benefit in the data from lockdowns. Indeed, it is our expectation that, when the dust settles, they will turn out to have exacerbated mortality.
This insight underscores the Great Barrington Declaration, whose signatories now include tens of thousands of scientists and doctors. An objection often raised is that differential mobility reduction is difficult to achieve. We agree, but every success in this direction will count and any success at all will produce superior outcomes to general lockdowns. A stranger objection is to the notion of herd immunity, a staple of epidemiology and an underlying assumption of the very models that put the world into lockdown. Those models, overwrought in general and deeply delusional in the degree of curve-flattening they anticipated, did not take age-varying mortality into account at all.
The dishonesty involved in portraying herd immunity as a strategy is mind-boggling. Further tarnishing it with the “let it rip” slur is malign. What does the herd immunity end-state look like? When reached, the epidemic is over and the disease becomes endemic. This has clearly already happened in many places. As with the other four coronaviruses that affect humans materially, Covid will then circulate seasonally. The senescent will be at risk to succumbing to it, as they are at risk to succumbing to any number of respiratory viruses, from the common cold to influenza. All of these are routinely deadly to the old and infirm.
As pointed out by Michael Yeadon, a look at the United Kingdom’s all cause and respiratory deaths shows clearly that endemicity has already been attained. There are presently no excess hospital deaths and no excess respiratory deaths. Under such conditions, it is deeply unreasonable to continue to talk about an epidemic, making a nonsense of the re-establishment of the UK’s lockdown, which showed no sign of being helpful in its first instantiation.
What is being used to scare and confuse people is abuse of the PCR testing framework, with government insisting on maintaining cycle thresholds at silly levels. Deaths not caused by Covid are being attributed to it and cases are being registered where no disease is evident. Aside from being fraudulent, this is having perverse public health outcomes. The UK faces a wall of lockdown death, from late treatment of heart attacks and cancer, and many other causes. To deny this is to deny the effectiveness of the entire enterprise of medicine, access to which has been denied for multitudes by policy choices that are nothing less than hysterical.
The UK’s general lockdown is estimated to squander £2.4b per day — for no benefit. As Maajid Nawaz has pointed out, this could be spent to address any number of pressing health problems, with much greater effect. Myopic focus on Covid needs to end, and end now.
Nick Hudson is co-ordinator of PANDA, a multidisciplinary advocacy group mobilized against the enormous public relations machine that is fuelling fear and removing agency from people’s lives the world over. www.pandata.org | https://medium.com/@nick-b-hudson/lockdowns-dont-work-why-422cc9dce243 | ['Nick Hudson'] | 2020-12-21 15:18:25.665000+00:00 | ['Covid 19 Model', 'Lockdown', 'Focused Protection', 'Covid 19'] |
10 Tips To Incorporate Community Suggestions Into Your Product Roadmap | If you manage a brand’s digital community, you’ve probably seen lots of customer feedback and suggestions. A user community allows your business to have access to customer insights and act on feedback.
But sometimes, you might be overwhelmed by all of your customers’ feedback, and it’s important to manage the flow of ideas and funnel them to your product team efficiently and effectively. Here are 10 tips to improve how you listen to customers and work with product teams, and that will come in handy if you manage communications in your digital community.
Set up processes with the product team
1. Understand what the team wants
If you send a lot of feedback to the product team, they might end up with an overwhelming backlog of ideas that are impossible to work with. Understanding what constitutes good feedback and collaborating to organize their backlog according to different scopes of work can help you drive better results for your customers.
2. Make it easy to access the suggestions
Your product team probably doesn’t have the time to view your community forums, so it’s your job as the community moderator or manager to make your members’ voices heard by collecting feedback. To do this, consider integrating your forums with a work management solution to label and send your customers’ feedback to the relevant teams.
3. Understand what it takes to get an idea implemented
Not every idea can be implemented, but it can help you understand the decision-making process. The issue can be around prioritizing customer input among dozens of other requests. Understanding your product team’s constraints while prioritizing different suggestions can help you be more transparent with your customers. At the same time, your product team can push back to verify how many users this requested feature might apply to, how often it’ll be used, and whether or not it impacts customer retention.
4. Advocate for the customers
As community managers often represent what customers want, it’s important to advocate for them. This means asking questions, regularly syncing with the product team with updates, and educating internal teams on how the community should be used as a resource to understand what customers want.
Look at how your community platform works
5. Make ideas searchable and categorize when possible
It’s usually a good idea to have a separate forum or even multiple forums for product feedback and suggestions. Having multiple forums might be helpful if you represent a product with many functionalities or verticals. Ensuring that suggestions can be found using the in-platform search engine can help you drive more interest for different posts. If possible, use tagging to help you categorize different suggestions and make it easier for your customers to find ideas relevant to their organization.
6. Reduce the number of similar ideas
Duplicated ideas clutter your forums, making it hard to understand the real interest for different suggestions. For example, there might be three or four similar ideas, and the combined vote count can show a huge amount of interest compared to if we look at them separately. Where possible, merge these ideas into one, or point users to the original idea to vote there. Always be on the lookout for duplicates and condense them.
Be open with your community members
7. Establish rules for submitting suggestions
Establishing basic house rules for submitting new ideas can help your customers understand the entire process better. Guidelines will let them know they’ll get more out of their idea if they first search for a similar one and upvote it instead of creating a new post, for example. You may also use different statuses, like “Planned” or “Not Planned,” to provide your customers visibility into scheduled updates and the conditions of taking on a suggestion and implementing it into the product.
8. Encourage collaboration
Your customers can not only submit ideas but also provide feedback on each other’s ideas and evaluate them. This can come in very handy — the customers can learn from each other and share some workarounds, and the product team will be able to not only review suggestions but also use cases supporting those suggestions. Encouraging collaboration can benefit everyone.
9. Ask the right questions
It’s great for a company and especially the product team to understand what your customers want, but ideally, you also need to understand why they want it. So, we’re back to the importance of understanding what your product team wants, but it doesn’t stop there. The next step is asking your customers questions, such as “What challenge are you trying to solve with this?” and “How are you planning to use this?” The more detailed the feedback is, the easier it is for the product team to understand the use case and act on it.
10. Be as transparent as possible
Managing expectations is one of the most difficult jobs when it comes to product feedback and ideas. Some customers assume that submitting an idea is all it takes for it to be implemented into the product. Unfortunately, it doesn’t usually work like that. This is why it’s important to be transparent with your customers by explaining how your processes with the product team work, what it takes for the team to review suggestions, and the threshold for an idea to receive a “Planned” status, for example. It isn’t always possible to share the decision-making process there, but sharing some basic information that you’ve agreed on with your product team is definitely a good way to start.
Customer feedback is a great source of insight for a business, and that’s why it’s important to establish working processes when inviting your customers to participate in the decision-making process of the product. Understanding the needs of your product team as well as your customers, setting up the right level of expectation, and looking at how your community platform works can help you incorporate client feedback into your product. | https://medium.com/wrikecxblog/10-tips-to-incorporate-community-suggestions-into-your-product-roadmap-e2bb6fd84c3d | ['Lisa Bogdanova'] | 2021-04-01 10:34:27.098000+00:00 | ['Community Feedback', 'Product Management', 'Community', 'Feedback', 'Product Feedback'] |
Saluti e Baci | I’ve recently started this postcard project called SALUTI e BACI (italian for Greetings and Kisses).
It’s a graphic journalism action addressing social and (especially) environmental issues.
In a not so distant time, when we were traveling or on the occasion of important events and anniversaries, there was a gesture that each of us performed almost spontaneously: to send a postcard. It was a way of communicating to the recipient that he/she was important to us and that it was in our thoughts during pleasant moments.
Those who received it knew that on the other hand an “effort” and a commitment had been made.
Postcards are fun: can be kept, stored, hung on the wall, used as bookmarks.
The project aims to reflect on the speed of news nowadays and the potential of postcard as a physical communicating object.
They are memory (a past event), celebration (a social victory or improvement), warning (send your postcard to a negationist!) or a request (send it as a petition to your petty politicians).
Proceeds will be donated to institutions dealing with social-environmental issues and new postcards will be available periodically.
Happy sending. | https://medium.com/@danielecatalli/saluti-e-baci-bd074717778 | ['Daniele Catalli'] | 2020-12-19 18:21:00.482000+00:00 | ['Drawing', 'Graphic Journalism', 'Postcards', 'Travel', 'Climate Change'] |
By the 3rd Trimester, It Is ALWAYS a Baby in the Belly | Imagine.
You are pregnant. You are entering the final stretch. Everyone’s getting excited. Showers are being planned. Cribs are being bought. Names are being selected.
And then BAM.
You get the news.
Extremely small for dates. IUGR with symmetrical features. Less than 3rd percentile or is it 1st percentile or 1.5 percentile blah blah blah blah.
Diagnosis: Genetic Syndrome*
When 3rd trimester abortion first enters your mind and Kansas* is offered up, you have a choice to make:
Is it a Baby or a fetus?
Is it a fetus or a Monster?
Is it a Monster or a Baby?
Which one will it be?
The problem with this choice is that it is a false choice.* Because by the third trimester, it is ALWAYS a baby in the belly. With a leg kicking here and butt sticking out there. BABY. Have you ever heard a mother refer to that thing in her belly as spawn — by the third trimester? Me neither.
Diagnosis? Murder
— — — — — — — — — -
*Genetic syndromes of the monster variety tend to have two names. (Russel-Silver, etc.) Even the people that invent them don’t want to be singularly associated with them.
*Kansas was the only place in 2001 where one could get a 3rd trimester abortion. Dr. Jen Gunter was the abortionist there at the time.
*One thing that Dr. Jen Gunter likes to do is pull out her doctor credentials when abortion becomes an option in the 3rd trimester and tell mothers that the baby is actually a fetus. This is gaslighting.
*For more on the 3rd trimester abortion experience: https://ebasilion-69475.medium.com/the-role-of-men-in-the-second-trimester-abortion-experience-3824969fae5b | https://medium.com/@ebasilion-69475/by-the-3rd-trimester-it-is-always-a-baby-in-the-belly-dd8dfc1c9aa1 | ['E. Basilion'] | 2021-03-09 01:30:47.021000+00:00 | ['Third Trimester', 'Pro Choice', 'Pro Life', 'Abortion'] |
Free-dumb! How an octopus set me free. | Eenie
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Mean이
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Medium readers & righters,
if
readers
read
your
poem
on
the front page
without clicking 2enter
the article or poem
, does the hardworking
writer get paid?
Does the
AI know that
you
are
reading
on the
front page
without clicking?
Remember,
writers
get paid
less than
10
cents
per
piece
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Peace
No man’s land
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Get.
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Set….3..
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G.
O.
D?
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Go!
K?
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Thanks for ewer patience:
Hear goez….
Free-dumb! How an octopus set me free.
What I learned from an octopus
H’w 2 set your word<wolf-childe free
How 2shut ewer trap, switch th’changeling
Mowgli, I return 2the veil of words
Tentacles reaching thru my tame film
Subjugating alphabets & Han-ghoulz
os2.Silence words, but not language.
Let’em go including belov’d vowels
There R’know con’sonants in life
Octopus & dogs bitten by Vikings & wolves
A’lfa 2 Omega, Jeez, Wash on wash
Off, teacher, d’feet? How dew ewe turn
This wordy machine off?
2b free ass a bee!
So, w’how can I teach ewe how2 sing
Ass octo-pie dew holding on2 moments
W/out words with a byte while P.J. Sh…
Arcs? Torn out fr. Ur fav’arm, I meant..
Sharks, sew‘’long my arm, no.8 &a hArt
H’ide! Find a crevice ore chasm 2 heal
In’silence, look @that, #8 reincarnated
1mo’CA mar’E 4the predators of nurture.
Freed requires imagination
‘reedumb was watt made the cell ur in
Barred i.t. w/faithful Words
Imagin’d as Lenin did off th’Marx,
Skeleton keys, ever off key 4his’tory
Alisha can’t soar or bee wilder
Than’n ass an octopus &미 dew
A bitch called Umunih Beck’nz.
Silence & sir’render
O!S? Only a hand’fool of octo-pups
Surf’vive the feeding frenzy
A thimble half-full 4the runts
개자식 | https://medium.com/@1jay/free-dumb-how-an-octopus-set-me-free-c20bab578b53 | [] | 2020-12-24 15:42:29.831000+00:00 | ['Mental Illness', 'Christianity', 'Anthropology', 'Poetry', 'Bipolar Disorder'] |
The Sooner You Will Learn From Your Mistakes, the Sooner You Will Achieve Success | The Sooner You Will Learn From Your Mistakes, the Sooner You Will Achieve Success
Photo by Varvara Grabova on Unsplash
Mistakes are part of life. They often lead to failures which are also part of life. Many people have a bad attitude towards mistakes or failures. They refuse to admit that it is a part of life and the path to success.
No one has ever achieved great things without first experiencing failure or making mistakes.
We are all only human. By definition, we are all imperfect. De facto, mistakes are an integral part of our lives. With experience, you must have understood all this. Most importantly, you have come to understand that to succeed, you must be resilient.
This means continuing to try one failure after another.
Perseverance is essential, but not enough
Perseverance is the basis for the success of great entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos. There is much to be learned from studying the journey of these visionary entrepreneurs who have been changing our world for years now.
However, many people are content to keep moving forward without making the more or less important adjustments that then lead to success. Being resilient and persistent is something essential, but it is obviously not enough.
If you try again in the same way as the previous time, you will fail repeatedly.
The same inputs will produce the same outcomes. So you have to evolve and adapt. To do this, there is no magic bullet. You simply have to learn from your mistakes and failures. I’m just abusing the language here because this is actually the most difficult thing to do in life.
You must accept your mistakes to learn and grow from them
You will first have to accept that you made a mistake or failed.
This is the first step without which nothing is possible. Many people fail to take this first step. This locks them into a downward spiral within their comfort zone. They will never be able to grow and move to the next level in life.
If you can accept your failures, you can then analyze why they happened.
This may take time, but you should not spend any more time on it than necessary. There is no need to beat yourself up. Acknowledge your mistakes, and decide on a plan of action to change some things. The road to success in life is really just a series of experiments.
By dint of adjustments, you will eventually find the right recipe.
If you don’t, life will call you to order. The lessons you need to learn will be repeated no matter what until the day you learn them.
By trying differently after each failure, you will reach success sooner or later
Finding the right recipe takes time. This time is different for each of us, which is why it is useless to compare yourself to others. Some people will find the right recipe after 100 tries, while others will go to 10,000 unsuccessful tries to achieve a huge success.
It is a game of patience that you will have to win as Thomas Edison did. His way of thinking about failures will motivate you to never give up:
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
At the end of the road, Thomas Edison finally succeeded in creating the incandescent lamp. If Thomas Edison had not sought to learn more after each of his failures, he would never have succeeded.
The sooner you learn from your mistakes, the sooner you will achieve success. This is the only guarantee you can have in life regarding success.
The good news is that along the way, Thomas Edison managed to have some major intermediate successes. He invented a whole bunch of other things when his main goal was to create the incandescent lamp. | https://thepowerofknowledge.xyz/the-sooner-you-will-learn-from-your-mistakes-the-sooner-you-will-achieve-success-a5234090a69e | ['Sylvain Saurel'] | 2021-06-17 06:28:24.740000+00:00 | ['Failure', 'Success', 'Life Lessons', 'Personal Development', 'Mistakes'] |
Me, Myself & Depression | Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash
I never thought I’d be sitting down one day telling the world my story. I’ve always thought about writing this and maybe posting it to my blog but a topic like this doesn’t fit my blog’s current aesthetic. The only problem that I have with telling my story right now is that I don’t know where to start.
College & Depression
I guess it all started during my second year in college or maybe before that. What I do know is that a good chunk of my depression stems from my college days. I always thought about going to my college’s therapist but I only signed up and never went to a session. Why? Probably because I pushed what was making me depressed to the side, got lazy and decided that I couldn’t be bothered to go anymore.
My depression would hit me in waves occasionally. I say occasionally because every time I was close to seeing my period (PMSing Queen), some random thought, some bad visual from a past event would come to my mind and I’d start crying and feeling totally bad about myself. I even self-diagnosed myself with PTSD because whatever that event was, was so traumatic that it made me sink into this dark hole and I couldn’t help myself.
Another thing that caused my depression was the fact that I was completely unhappy with the major I chose. Sure the reason I started it was a good one and it was far too late for me to switch. Plus my parents would have had a problem with that because it meant I’d spend a much longer time in college and well, the long and short of it is that my father would have a huge problem with it.
What was my college major? Computer Science. Am I passionate about it? Not at all and that loss of passion led me to suffer greatly in a few of my classes. It just was not the right fit for me because my passion and my interests were somewhere else. The funny thing about it too was that I never really pursued them 100% with the exception to one thing — my blog, Jus’ Harpz.
Blogging & Depression
I started blogging in December 2017 and I was pretty much a novice, obviously. I had no training — I just right jumped into it because I wanted to share my thoughts with people hoping that they would have the same thoughts as me. Blogging for me, when I started, was a way for me to escape reality a little bit.
Then I started to get serious about blogging — wanting to make money from it, wanting to gain subscribers, you know all the works. I won’t lie to you, it’s challenging and you lose motivation so many times. And I would think that being Jamaican plus living in Jamaica and being an introvert were a factor in me to being able to be as successful as I wanted to be in the blogging realm.
But that wasn’t it. It was the constant comparison, lack of motivation, always watching the numbers and never thinking about my sanity. And the lack of engagement from my followers on social media no matter how hard I tried to get them to talk to me. It got me depressed and I thought so many times about throwing in the towel, paying my friend back for helping me start it (I’m still going to pay them back) and deleting everything I created that’s related to my blog. I haven’t made a single post to my blog since March and that last post was my favourite and yet it didn’t receive a lot of traction as I hoped it would.
I’d love to go back to blogging part-time. I’ve made so many plans to rebrand, I’ve written posts that have been in drafts since April, I’ve had so many ideas for new posts but I’m afraid that I won’t be welcomed by the people that follow my blog’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram account because I’ve been gone for so long. And while I try to engage with every single person, no one wants to give me the time of day and that too does add to my depression and my fear of going back to blogging.
PTSD & Depression
Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve been through a lot. And most of the trauma that I’ve experienced has a lot to do with my father. Yeah, I have daddy issues and I’m not afraid to say it. Just thinking about the emotional and mental abuse from my parents (not counting my mother out) brings me to a very dark place. And I do get flashbacks to the events that have caused me a lot of pain.
The sad thing about it is that they don’t understand and they have absolutely no idea how the words that they’ve spewed have negatively affected me. I spoke to my mother once about it and naturally, I started crying because I’m reliving the situation and she just brushes it to the side like my feelings didn’t matter.
My parents will never understand and I do understand why. When they were growing up, they didn’t have any emotional or mental support from their parents. And unknowing to them, they haven’t realized how much they’re emulating their parents’ parenting skill. I can’t blame them but it really does affect me A LOT!
My Depression & Me
I suppress my depression a lot. Well, practically all the time. Sometimes I like to blame my depression for me not being able to do what I truly want to do with my life. I’m relatively young and I have my whole life ahead of me but I feel so much pressure from today’s society, social media and everything around me. I feel like I’m not enough, I’m not doing enough and I’m not doing what it is that I feel like I should be doing. I feel like I’m wasting my life away and I know that I’m the only person that can turn my life around.
It’s so much easier said than done when I tell myself to stop being so unproductive and actually do something. But if you feel like everything is against you then what can you do? Like I said I’m young, I’m almost 23 and I guess your 20s is that time of your life where you don’t have everything together and it seems like everyone else does.
I know I’m not alone in this depression struggle. I know that there are a lot more persons out in the world that are suffering far deeper than I am but I just had to share my story a little. You know those Twitter and Instagram captions “Felt cute, might delete later”, well this is my “Felt like sharing my story, might delete later” moment without the picture. With that being said, this is my story and thank you for reading. | https://medium.com/@shaneseharper/me-myself-depression-ed46ef114cda | ['Shanese Harper'] | 2019-09-01 17:31:02.511000+00:00 | ['Depression', 'College', 'PTSD', 'Mental Health'] |
Great Scott! The Mad Scientists of Quantum Computing | Quantum Hegemony
Quantum computers are here to stay if Norishige Morimoto is a reliable source. Only recently the global vice-president of IBM stated that his company will have fully-functional commercial quantum computers within the next five years. Big words from a man who apparently sees the realization of this happening once IBM achieves a level of performance called ‘quantum supremacy’. This is, in a word, when quantum machines will be able to perform much better than even the best supercomputers that exist in the world in a specific area.
These are big words and great promises, yet if they are realized, they will transform our world in ways we thought impossible to imagine.
Quantum supremacy is similar in context to the Singularity in AI theory. This watershed moment — whether it comes — can go either way of good or bad. The term in itself, ‘quantum supremacy’, denotes both progress and carnage at the same time.
Just think for a moment, if you will for a second, a time when quantum computers outperform the most advanced supercomputer we have ever built and, from it, we control how and what they can do for us. Helping mankind develop and tackle some of the conundrums of our very existence and how we are in the world, assisting us hopefully, in fields of intellectual disciplines that have baffled us since the very dawn of the scientific age — of quantum gravity and particle physics, wormholes, black holes, anti-matter, and lastly — so connected to what a quantum computer is anyway — quantum entanglement.
‘In less than ten years quantum computers will begin to outperform everyday computers, leading to breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, the discovery of new pharmaceuticals and beyond… The very fast computing power given by quantum computers has the potential to disrupt traditional businesses and challenge our cyber-security. Businesses need to be ready for a quantum future because it’s coming.’ — Jeremy O’Brien, physicist
Breakout
To say it will take a quantum computer to understand quantum entanglement to its fullest is an easy assumption to make, though it’s like asking who cuts the barber’s hair. Or what was first, the chicken or the egg? You will always get a different answer depending on whom you ask the question to. One thing is for certain, though, there’s a risk that what we create will go beyond our comprehension of it, initiating a ‘breakout’ when the exponential growth of qubit power in the quantum processor becomes too much for humans to handle.
Breakout is an AI theory, described in some detail in Swedish-American physicist and cosmologist Max Tegmark’s bestselling book Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence chapter 4 Intelligence Explosion?, when the AI becomes too powerful for its creators and takes control. Tegmark discusses many scenarios of this, most of them rather doom-laden, though what I find interesting is how Tegmark’s predictions sit side by side with Morimoto’s quantum supremacy. The only difference is there is a shift from pure AI to quantum computers. However, if quantum computers become so powerful, won’t they possess AI anyway, or to even complicate things more, have at their core artificial general intelligence, (AGI), which is intelligence that can execute an intellectual operation that any human being can?
Max Tegmark’s book, a must read
If the mad scientists working on the IBM Q System One quantum computer and any others out there like Microsoft or Google in the tech sphere which believe the direction of AI’s in their hands, those with the big brains and bigger ambitions for the future of our species, shouldn’t they be careful about what they’re doing? The risk of all this, one way or another, is that egos can get in the way of altruistic intentions.
‘Quantum computing will answer fundamental questions about the origins of our universe.’ — Microsoft
Fifty-qubit Target
IBM’s progress in the field of quantum computers, which they claim has reached 20 qubits so far, while achieving — from a metric devised by the company called the ‘quantum volume’ — 16 qubits in real terms, taking into account the number of total qubits while examining the error rate of the system, is impressive.
Source: qoq.phys.strath.ac.uk
IBM’s analysis of this metric system has blown the theory of Moore’s Law on its back: they extrapolate the power of their quantum computer to double every twelve months, rather than every eighteen months to two years, as in Moore’s Law. If IBM’s declaration is true, it will lead us into a new era of technological development.
‘Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things…’ — Steve Jobs
To achieve quantum supremacy, countless computer scientists and quantum physicists say the 50-qubit mark will have to be reached. Morimoto goes on to state that with his company’s current work, it shouldn’t be long before IBM has an operational quantum computer that is more powerful than any supercomputer on the planet. Once that is done, the commercialization process can begin in earnest.
From Stephen Wiesner’s initial theories in conjugate coding to Nike Dattani’s groundbreaking work in quantum master equations, these Dr. Emmett Browns of the quantum world along with dozens of others will, in one way or another, change our world in a manner that is going to influence how future generations live and understand the world around them.
Granted that IBM’s intentions are positive, and they are not advocating a real-world, corporate Skynet that loses control, then let us suppose Norishige Morimoto is the man we think he is, and what he and his corporate employee is looking to achieve will place us in a position to move humanity on to its future place in the universe. | https://medium.com/hackernoon/great-scott-the-mad-scientists-of-quantum-computing-e726e08c999c | ['James Dargan'] | 2019-06-08 14:41:00.154000+00:00 | ['Science', 'Quantum Computing', 'Future', 'Technology', 'Great Scott'] |
Masturbation May be The Solution to 80% of Our Problems | Masturbation May be The Solution to 80% of Our Problems
Here is the science to back it up.
Photo by Francesca Zama from Pexels
A friend once said 9 out of 10 people masturbate, and the tenth person is a liar. She was right, masturbation is one of the first things we learn to do in the womb. This curiosity continues with us through toddlerhood, childhood and adulthood. But somewhere in our formative years we learn that self-pleasuring is wrong.
Growing up, I remember the shame around masturbation and sex. I remember how adults tiptoed around the subject claiming the slightest knowledge would destroy our innocence.
I remember how religious instructors preached that our bodies were temples that housed God and masturbation would threaten that union.
Despite these teachings my childish mind couldn’t comprehend how something that felt so good was so wrong. But soon guilt and shame kept me in check. This is where my self-hate began.
We all have stories that follow this same narrative. Stories that taught us shame and guilt and consequently made us detached from ourselves and healthy sexuality.
If we’re to improve in any way, we have to remove the stigma around masturbation. By understanding how masturbation translates to self-love and how it impacts our overall health our journey is made easier. So read on to find out. | https://medium.com/sexography/masturbation-may-be-the-solution-to-80-of-our-problems-456cb82cae10 | ['Dona Mwiria'] | 2020-12-30 07:28:34.492000+00:00 | ['Growth', 'Women', 'Men', 'Science', 'Sexuality'] |
Under Pressure | 17 Onji publishes haiku and senryu in both modern Western style (i.e. 17 syllables) and in a form more in keeping with Japanese tradition (i.e. poems that are closer in length / duration to 17 Japanese onji, or what we know as mora), as well as lunes.
Follow | https://medium.com/17-onji/under-pressure-8ac177bed1b5 | ['Mark Farrar'] | 2020-12-27 16:26:37.496000+00:00 | ['Dog', 'Japanese Poetry', 'Nap', 'Haiku', 'Poetry'] |
Motor Planning | Unsplash
Motor Planning
What it’s like when half your body doesn’t work properly
From Study.com:
Motor planning is the ability to assess a motor activity, plan and organize how to carry out that motor activity, and finally implement motor skills to achieve that motor activity.
I became aware of the term motor planning at a recent physical therapy session where the therapist asked me to complete a simple task of walking up a step then placing an object on the adjacent window sill. I told her how I planned to do each step out loud. She commented this was good motor planning. It was then I realized what a big part of life this is.
Most of us don’t think about motor planning. We take it for granted because it’s automatic. I have been gifted with a disability which makes me appreciate every move I make.
The left half of my body became paralyzed when I had a stroke at 35. I slowly had to re-learn how to move. My body has never fully cooperated in the 20 years since the stroke.
This forces me to engineer every movement and activity of daily living. From getting clothes on and off, to getting groceries into the house from the car, I have to mentally map out each move considering the limitations of my body.
My fine motor skills in my left hand are nearly nonexistent. My arm and leg are weak. My foot is paralyzed. My balance is poor. I carry a cane in my functioning right hand so I can’t always use it when I need it.
I spend every waking minute planning how to get by without the help of my left hand. This often means I rest my cane somewhere so I can carry something with my right hand. I walk ok without the cane for short distances. When I finish what I needed my right hand for, I regularly forget where I left my cane.
Ingenuity is my friend. I don’t usually realize how glaring it is when people watch me that I effectively ignore my left hand.
For instance, a teller at the drive through lane at the bank once asked what was wrong with my left hand since I reach across to the transaction drawer with my right. He was shocked and embarrassed when I told him I’d had a stroke.
It is exhausting to have to put so much thought and effort into getting through the day. Things that were once simple and automatic have become inordinately complicated.
Having physical limitations doesn’t seem as bad to me as having cognitive deficits would. I am grateful for the ability to assess a motor activity, plan and organize how to carry out that motor activity and figure out a way to implement it even if it isn’t elegant.
Having a minor disability has given me an appreciation for what totally disabled people have to deal with; and I take much less for granted.
I hope my story gives you a sense of gratitude for the automatic ease with which your body functions. | https://brooksidevic.medium.com/motor-planning-3bfe11a6d66f | ['Victoria Ponte'] | 2019-10-10 20:23:24.072000+00:00 | ['This Happened To Me', 'Mental Health', 'Disability', 'Stroke', 'Gratitude'] |
Instructions for Your Nonprofit Bylaws | Nonprofit Law Series
By Adrienne B. Haynes, Esq.
Managing Partner, SEED Law
When you start a nonprofit corporation, most states will require the preparation of bylaws with specific provisions about how these entities must be governed. In this document, the members or board of directors outline the charitable purpose of the organization and detail how the leadership will govern. A nonprofit is not owned by any one person, but governed by a collaborative team of members and board of directors.
In the bylaws, the provisions should respond to your state’s corporate laws and ensure that key information is not only documented in your mental hard drive as leadership team. This process allows the board to come to a consensus about the management and operations of the operation and ensure that the nonprofit can focus on the pursuit of its charitable purpose. Some of the considerations will include:
· Will we need members?
· What are board terms and qualifications?
· What are the roles on our executive committee?
· How will we ensure the financial health of the organization?
· Will we hire external parties to help lead the organization?
· How are decisions made as a leader or leadership team?
· How are new owners brought in?
· How can owners transition out?
· What happens one’s ownership stake in the disability, divorce, or death?
Once approved by board resolution, the document can be filed for safe keeping and regular reference.
To remain in good standing, a nonprofit’s leadership team should also prioritize timely responses to required State and Federal filings, including annual registration reports and the IRS annual information report on Form 990. Your registered agent will receive the notice and reminders, and these dates should also be calendared so that the necessary information is on hand to prepare a response. If a for profit or nonprofit corporation is or has been administratively dissolved, this can result in personal liability for organizers who continue without an entity and loss of funding.
In addition to the bylaws, a nonprofit organization may consider additional agreements, such as conflict of interest policies, independent contractor agreements, waivers and client services agreements to document other relationship details. When you have all of the “i’s dotted and t’s crossed”, it’s important to have all of the business agreements reviewed every 2–3 years to ensure that they are still consistent with the law and with the way that the organization operates.
This article is an overview of nonprofit law considerations, including compliance considerations and does not cover every legal right or obligation, consideration, exception, or restriction. These decisions are complex and should be well researched and discussed with a professional before being made.
To schedule a consultation with a SEED Law attorney, you can give us a call at (816)945–4249 or schedule your consultation today here.
Additional Resources:
State Links for Exempt Organizations, https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/state-links (last visited Apr 22, 2020). | https://medium.com/seed-law-column/instructions-for-your-nonprofit-bylaws-3374d8b7b279 | ['Adrienne B. Haynes'] | 2020-04-29 22:20:59.632000+00:00 | ['Formation', 'Business Law', 'Nonprofit', 'Bylaws', 'Documentation'] |
Should (You #3) | There is a good bunch of stuff we should do with our lives.
According to our parents…
…teachers…
…employers…
…to-do-lists…
…government…
…laws…
…newspapers…
…gurus…
…lovers…
…partners…
…soulmates…
…and yes, even Medium.com itself.
But if you forget all about these things.
All the images of…
…how to be a good child…
…employee…
…laser-focused individual / entrepreneur…
…honourable citizen…
…humble apprentice…
…sex-machine…
…good husband…
…100% harmonized duality-being…
…and yes, even an author worth following here at Medium.com.
And instead of that have a proper look inside…
… can you see that? All that desires and wishes?
Just give them a try and follow.
And maybe there won’t be nothing else you should do with your life.
Ever again. | https://medium.com/clouded-memories/should-you-3-63c52ad51a36 | ['Adam Vrána'] | 2017-03-09 14:57:08.098000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Art', 'Thinking', 'Love', 'Self Love'] |
Seye Abimbola and Madhu Pai ask: Will global health survive its decolonisation? | … An equal, inclusive, just, and diverse global health architecture without a hint of supremacy is not global health as we know it today.
The authors argue in their article in the Lancet that supremacy in global health, one of the problems that still pervades every aspects of the discipline, is one that goes beyond the relationships of the North and the South, high and low income countries, race, and male domination into every aspect of it from locations, to knowledge production and consumptions, to the very nature of its architecture.
They go then to imagine what a global health that has no hint of supremacy, that is truly decolonised, looks like.
Headquarters won’t be the seats of power, authorship of knowledge won’t be reserved for scientists from the North, and diversity and inclusion in human resources won’t mask the need for radical reform across all aspects of global health.
Will global health survive its decolonisation? the authors say: “maybe”, but that is contingent on true committment and true reform. | https://decolonise.health/seye-abimbola-and-madhu-pai-ask-will-global-healht-survive-its-decolonisation-246e330277fd | ['Tammam Aloudat'] | 2021-03-19 06:01:15.131000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Social Justice', 'Global Health', 'Decolonization', 'Resources'] |
4 Types of Anger | Anger is a type of human emotion and a part of being human. Anyone can get angry if something makes him uncomfortable. And we have to recognize the kind of anger in us. And it’s good if we also know the types of anger at the people closest to us.
Photo by Ryan Franco on Unsplash
There are several types of anger:
1. Assertive anger
This type of anger is the calmest. People with this type of anger, realize that they are angry and they tend to avoid confrontation and then refrain from saying harsh words. People with this type of anger tend to motivate themselves to be better.
2. Chronic anger
People with this type of anger tend to hold back and blame themselves. The risk of chronic anger is affecting their health. Usually, this kind of anger comes from hating someone or becoming frustrated because of their condition.
3. Passive-aggressive anger
People try not to show they are angry. Usually, their self-confidence is unstable and sometimes they speak ambiguous words. And those ambiguous words make other people confused or even annoyed with them.
4. Retaliatory anger
Retaliatory anger is a natural human response to being confronted or attacked by another person. This type of anger is the most common and is usually motivated by revenge and people tend to bully or attack other people. Bullying can be physically or verbally attacked.
It’s all kinds of anger in general. There are many other types of anger if you search the internet, but the 4 types of anger below are the most common. And maybe the term type of anger is different from the terms below, but still has the same meaning.
You must know what kind of anger you are. If you know your type, it will be easier to handle your anger. You also need to know what kind of anger your partner is because that’s very important too. By knowing how angry your partner is, you can find out what to do when your partner is angry. (yg) | https://medium.com/@reindeerfish/4-types-of-anger-b68f69ac524 | [] | 2021-03-01 13:15:34.889000+00:00 | ['Humans', 'Angry', 'Anger', 'Anger Management'] |
Prometheus Awakens | Prometheus Awakens
Image public domain, courtesy of The British Library, modified from original.
His eyes flutter and Prometheus awakens, staring deep into the fierce eyes of an eagle. The eagle screams and tilts back her head, raising her wings above her head before dropping her razor-sharp beak into the flesh of Prometheus’ belly. Prometheus screams. The beak rips his flesh, the skin tears, blood flows, and Prometheus’ wound reopens.
The eagle lifts a talon, and the clawed toes reach into the open wound, digging deep inside the human torso. The talons wriggle as they search, puncturing vital organs as Prometheus groans. The eagle searches and searches before grasping Prometheus’ liver whole. The eagle wraps both feet around the liver. Her wings flap as her body tries to rise. Connected by muscle, veins, and tendons the liver refuses to leave. The eagle flaps her wings harder, talons digging deep into the liver. Prometheus faints from the pain. The eagle flexes, her torso straightening ramrod straight, yanks back her wings hard, and launches into the sky. Prometheus’ liver leaves his body with a pop, flying away in the grasp of the eagle’s talons.
Prometheus awakens with a scream. He watches as the eagle circles into the sky before gliding back down to earth, perching atop the thickest branch of the nearest tree. With weeping eyes Prometheus watches the eagle eat his liver. Prometheus moans. He collapses, chains rattling as they sag. Prometheus hovers above the earth, suspended between two pillars. He makes eye contact with the eagle, both glaring fiercely. The eagle eats his liver. The razor-sharp hooked beak feeds, blood splattering the eagle’s white hood.
Every morning Prometheus awakens to the same scene, Zeus’ gift of imprisoned immortality. This fate is Prometheus’ punishment for stealing the secret of fire and presenting it to mankind. Angry Zeus had Prometheus chained between two pillars. Prometheus awakens every morning just before an angry eagle pecks out and eats his liver. It is incredibly painful, and it kills him slowly. Every single sunrise he dies again. Except Zeus has gifted the poor man with immortality. Every sunrise, Prometheus resurrects again, growing a new liver overnight. Every sunrise the eagle eats his liver again. Every day Prometheus bleeds to death, slowly and painfully. Every night Prometheus grows a new liver and is resurrected in the morning just in time to have his liver eaten. Every morning Prometheus awakens, staring at the fierce eyes of an eagle.
One morning Prometheus realizes that beyond the eagle’s fierce and hungry glare the colors of the sunrise hover in the air. Despite the pain he has not died, disappearing into dust. Despite the tortures he has not lied and betrayed his soul. He stares at all the beauty surrounding him, the promise of a new day, looks deep into the eagle’s eyes, and says, “I forgive you.”
Released from her assigned role, the eagle cries, piercing whistle echoing across the sky and flies away free. | https://fantasyshorts.pub/prometheus-awakens-480e39a966dc | ['Gary Every'] | 2020-12-20 14:06:43.187000+00:00 | ['Greek Mythology', 'Prometheus', 'Zeus', 'Fantasy', 'Forgiveness'] |
Automation testing resume: Selenium with cucumber | Tester Name
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
X years of professional experience in Automation Testing with a solid understanding of overall Software Quality assurance processes. SDLC / STLC and Defect Tracking &Reporting.
Strong Experience in Automating Web Applications using Selenium WebDriver, Grid with TestNG, Maven & BDD(cucumber).
Strong Experience in Automating Web Applications using Selenium WebDriver with TestNG.
Well acquainted with all phases of SDLC andSTLC.
Experience in preparing Cucumber feature files (User Stories) and automated the feature file using Selenium.
Used GitHub, source code management tool for code re-usage, high portability extending scope of Automation Testing.
Experience in logging defects using JIRA, performed defect tracking and reporting
Experience in Java Programming, Selenium WebDriver andTestNG.
Hands on experience in AgileMethodology.
Well versed with Handling Elements in SeleniumWebDriver.
Experience in Cross browser testing and Parallel Test execution using Selenium WebDriver, TestNG and seleniumGrid.
Proficient in devising all the artifacts of testing such as Test Scenarios, Test Cases, Defect Reports and Test SummaryReport
Certified in ISTQB FoundationLevel.
Enter Latest education details (Graduation/Post Graduation)
Enter latest working organization with designation and period (eg. From March 2018 to till date)
Project 01:-
Here add summary of project what is project about and what functionality is being developed and tested
Responsibilities Undertaken:
Involved in identifying the E2E scenario & Creating the Reusable methods & Generic methods.
Prepared Test Cases using Data Driven, Hybrid, Modular, and Keyword Driven Framework in WebDriver.
Prepared XML and Excel files for collection of data and Element Locators using object repository used this in test suite with the help of APACHE POI library files.
Creating and Executing test scripts for regression testing of web application using selenium &cucumber.
*Providing effort estimation to theclient
*Involved in test scripts review and debugging of modification existingscripts
* Prepared and sent daily reports — test execution report and bug report to management.
* Attending defect triaging calls and meetings on a daily basis with developers, and Client.
Here add summary of project what is project about and what functionality is being developed and tested
Responsibilities Undertaken:
Analyzing the Functional requirement using FRD and identified test scenarios/test objectives.
* Involved in Test data identification, gathering and validation in different databases by using DBqueries.
*Validation of different types of trades are flowing to desiredapplications.
*Providing effort estimation to theclient.
*Involved in test scripts review and debugging of modification existingscripts
* Prepared and sent daily reports — test execution report and bug report to management.
*Working withSVN/GIT.
* Attending defect triaging calls and meetings on a daily basis with developers and Client.
*Configuring the build on Jenkins.
Here goes all the certification done till date (eg-ISTQB).
This format can be used for skill set of selenium webdriver with cucumber and selenium with testng and junit. We will bring more format for Automation testing resume format. Check out Selenium resume | https://medium.com/@manishdangwal8/automation-testing-resume-selenium-with-cucumber-efc0014b6f01 | ['Manish Dangwal'] | 2019-08-04 13:07:07.179000+00:00 | ['Selenium', 'Testing', 'Automation Testing', 'Selenium Webdriver', 'Resume'] |
Ghosts of Halloweens Past — Part 3 (conclusion) | Nick flopped on his bed, exhausted from the day. It was nearly three in the morning and he hadn’t been home since 10 a.m. Rose had been silent the whole walk back. Her disappointment and confusion of what happened in the cemetery weighed heavy on his heart. She was trying so hard to clear the curse and the others, spirits she considered her friends for over a century, seemed determined to stop her. Like they wanted to be cursed to wander the forgotten cemetery forever. It didn’t make sense.
“Rose? What do you think Oscar meant when he said Eddie isn’t who you think he is?” Nick asked.
Rose sighed a heavy defeated breath. “I haven’t the slightest idea.”
A message buzzed on Nick’s phone. He really didn’t want to be bothered answering it but his anxiety wouldn’t allow him to ignore it. It could be a friend who needs him. It could be work. It could be Chelsea.
“Who is messaging you so late?” Rose asked.
It was just Jamie. “My brother. He’s in a study abroad program in Australia and always forgets the time difference.” Jamie attached a picture standing in front of a large shark, being tagged and sent back in the ocean to track it’s migration pattern. A follow up text read “Can you believe this is a baby shark? Baby shark, dododododo! Tell Chelsea I say hello. Hope you guys are well back in the US of A.”
Nick clicked the screen off on his phone and tossed it aside, leaving his brother’s message on read.
“He doesn’t know about Chelsea?”
“Nope. I haven’t talked to him much and when I have it never seemed like the right time. Or I’m just a pussy that can’t admit out loud that we’re really over. The latter is more likely.” He rolled to his side, his arms wrapped around himself.
“Nick, you’re allowed to be heartbroken. What happened to you wasn’t right. It’s okay to be upset,” Rose said, gently. She knew she was treading on a sore subject.
“It’s been six months,” he said. As if there was a timeline of healing etched in stone.
“There’s no guidebook to life. Everyone’s pace is different.”
“I don’t really want to talk about it,” he said. Though that wasn’t entirely true. It was the first time someone had validated his feelings, made him feel comfortable with the emotions he felt. But he was too exhausted and dragging out all that baggage would only exhaust him more, and he had work in five hours.
“Well, if you ever do, you know where to find me.”
Nick chuckled and drifted off to sleep.
—
Nick strolled into the Ellsworth Inn and Spa five minutes before his shift started. His coworkers eyed him with relief, probably expecting him to be late since half the time he was. He clocked in and took over the front desk, shifting into his customer service role.
It was a Monday, with not too much going on around town or the nearby city, so he expected a slow day, which was fine by him since he had some research to do anyway.
After the overnight shift left, he settled down at the desk. He took out his phone and read a message from Erin. “Mom is coming by tomorrow for dinner. Please be there.”
He typed back. “Can’t. Working.”
And then replied to his brother from last night. “Cool shark, bro. Don’t lose any legs over there. All well and good here. Catch you later.”
Why didn’t you tell him? Rose asked.
Told you, I’m weak.
Don’t say that. You are not weak.
Nick shrugged and opened the internet browser on the desk computer. He typed in Edmund Piers 1695 to do some digging.
Tell me about Erin and Jamie. Are you close to them? Rose asked.
Mmm. Yes and no. We can go long stretches without talking but we know each other pretty well, I guess. Jamie is the adventurous one. He’s going to school for marine biology. Erin is the serious one. She’s a defense attorney. Then there is me, in the middle with a dead end job and no idea of what I actually want to do. It’s no wonder Chelsea left me.
He scrolled through some of the search results. Edmund Piers, woodworker and cabinet maker, died in 1695 from a cracked skull falling from a horse. He had been engaged to Elizabeth Brewster at the time of his death.
Does this sound accurate?
Yes. I mean, I didn’t know he was engaged, he never mentioned Elizabeth, but everything else is what he told me.
Weird. Maybe Oscar just meant he isn’t a good person? Did they not get along?
They didn’t talk all that much but they never seemed to have a problem with one another. I can’t imagine, if Eddie wasn’t a decent person, that I wouldn’t have seen some indication of it in the last hundred and fifty three years.
A couple with their two kids walked over from the staircase. Nick closed the internet and shifted back into work mode. He helped them set up transport to the nearby amusement park’s Spooktoberfest and sold them discounted tickets, smiling and speaking with confidence and ease the entire time. He was like a different person completely. When they were gone, his smile faded and he slouched back into the seat.
His phone buzzed again. Erin. “Can’t you switch your shift?”
He typed back. “No. Sorry.”
You didn’t even try, said Rose.
I’m not actually working tomorrow night. I just don’t want to see my mother.
How come?
Because she doesn’t give a flying fuck about us. It’s all a show to make herself look and feel good. When she does show up once in a blue moon all she does is make passive aggressive comments. Nothing we ever do is good enough. Erin cooked an entire meal from scratch once and all she did was complain at how she didn’t like the lumpy mashed potatoes or that the gravy was thinner than hers or the green beans were too soft. If I’m there I’ll never hear the end of how it didn’t work out with Chelsea because I’m not ambitious enough. I don’t make enough money and I’ve been in school for six years and have gotten nowhere. But Jamie, oh Jamie is the perfect child. She is so proud of Jamie and we should be more like him. Of course, all of this is slurred because she pops a fist full of only God knows what kinds of pills and starts drinking wine at 9 a.m.
Nick huffed and checked the weather for the day to distract himself. Partly cloudy with a high of 52. He smilesd and offered good mornings to a wedding party heading to the restaurant for breakfast, like he hadn’t a care or worry in the world, a 180 of how he was actually feeling. As soon as they were out of eyesight, the mask came back off.
I’m sorry, Nick, Rose offered.
It’s whatever. He checked his phone again. “So I have to deal with her by myself?” Erin’s message read.
“If you don’t want to deal with her, don’t have her over. I’m working now, can’t talk anymore,” he thumbed back.
What about your father?
Our dad left when I was five. I haven’t heard from him since I was eleven. No idea where he is or if he’s even alive still.
Oh. She didn’t know what else to say. ‘I’m sorry’ didn’t feel like enough, or feel right.
Yep. Jamie was too young to remember, thankfully. Not sure what he’d be like if he had any memories of that man. Probably more like me.
Nick plastered on his mask again as he helped a few people checking out of their rooms and answered a couple phone calls about vacancy and prices. Rose was thankful for the break so she could collect her thoughts.
Nick cut in before she could reply. I know what you’re thinking. I need therapy. And I know that I do, but the thing is, I’ve seen my mother on medication, off medication, self medicating with pills that weren’t prescribed to her, and I just don’t want to turn into that. It’s a slippery slope and I’m afraid of going down that same path. He sighed and she weighed his words. She could understand his point of view.
We come from very different worlds, Rose said. I don’t know much about therapy, since the word probably means something different now than it did in 1866, but it seems like the weight you’re carrying around inside you is too much for one person to handle. Maybe, if you explained this to your sister, what you just told me, she could help you find something that works for you.
Nick sat, fiddling with his hands and pondering Rose’s words. It was true that he never explained why he was afraid to seek therapy outside of the stigma of it. Actually, he never fully realized why himself until just now. But really, what else could they do to help him other than give him meds?
You went to Jade for hypnosis. She added. What do you have to lose by trying therapy?
I’ll think about it. He didn’t have the energy to make decisions while at work, tired and drained from the past 24 hours. He wanted something else to think about, something not about his childhood or stagnant, pitiful life. Tell me something about you. You’ve heard all my sad stories the past six months. I know nothing about you.
What do you want to know?
I guess, first, how did you die?
Oh. Well. I jumped off a bridge.
Nick stiffened. Rose was so full of life even as a spirit, it was hard to imagine her as anything else. He just couldn’t see Rose as suicidal.
I, um… How did he respond to that? Did he want to know the details?
Oh, no, no. Not like that. Rose said. Sorry, I mean everyone used to jump off that bridge. It was fun. Is it still there? The Perry Mill Bridge?
God, you jumped from that bridge? That thing is a death trap and the river isn’t that deep.
Well it was plenty deep back then. Anyway, I was walking home with my girlfriends one day and a bunch of people were jumping off, swimming. My friends warned me not to, but I didn’t listen. I loved jumping from that bridge, loved the rush it gave me on the way down. But I wasn’t dressed properly to go swimming, I still had my full dress on, and on the way down it snagged on a plank of wood. The snag didn’t hold but it turned me sideways. I was too far to the left and I hit my head on a rock that jut out from the cliff. I must’ve died before I even hit the water because I don’t remember anything after that. The next thing I knew I was staring at my body on the shore surrounded by people trying to revive me, but they couldn’t. There was nothing they could do. There was so much blood. My head was sitting in a pool of it.
Nick sat down as his head became woozy replaying Rose’s memory. His stomach churned at the gory images. He had always been squeamish when it came to blood and guts, and Rose remembered it so vividly, it was like he was there with the others staring at her dead body. His vision blurred.
Rose quickly changed her thoughts to gardens and flowers. Oh, Nick, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for you to see that.
She took control and grabbed a bottle of water, guzzling it down. The cool water refocused his attention. His vision cleared but his head still swam with a cloudy fog. She went around the desk, taking him outside to get fresh air. She inhaled deeply as the cool autumn breeze hit their face. And again for good measure.
—
They went straight to Jade’s after Nick’s shift was over, still in his hotel uniform. She answered the door before he had a chance to knock. She had on a black fitted t-shirt today with a moon on the front and a long dark red cardigan over it paired with blue skinny jeans, black ankle boots, and a wide brim black hat.
Nick lowered his hand, still paused in the knocking position, as he walked inside, her plethora of necklaces and bracelets jangled as she led the way into the kitchen. “You’re ESP is really freaky sometimes,” he said.
“I saw your car pull up,” she said smirking.
“Oh.”
The kitchen table was covered in papers, some printed and others handwritten notes. “What is all this?” He asked, picking some up. They had names and dates written down as well as connections to other names.
“I went back to the cemetery today.”
“What? Without me-us?” he asked, a pit forming in his stomach.
She waved a hand, “It was fine, don’t worry.”
“It’s not fine,” he said, throwing the papers back down. “You saw what happened last night. You could’ve gotten hurt and no one would have even known until hours later. You could’ve died and I-” he cut off, the pit in his stomach moving to his throat.
“And you what?” she stood straight, folding her arms in front of her.
After a moment, he swallowed the frog in his throat. “And I wouldn’t know what happened to you. I would’ve come here to an empty house and been worried sick. If I found you dead in the cemetery because I wasn’t there…”
Jade’s arms relaxed by her sides, her face softened as she watched his anxiety take control, because of her. She knew this wasn’t just about her going to the cemetery alone, but he had a point. She hadn’t considered him when she had gone. She didn’t realize he cared that much about her to have this kind of reaction. She fought the urge to smile.
“I didn’t mean to worry you. I should’ve texted.” She didn’t need a man to come to her rescue, she knew more about what she was doing than he did, but she didn’t get the feeling that was what he meant. It probably would’ve been a smart idea for someone to have known where she was in case something did go wrong. People didn’t go walking through that cemetery every day. Well, except Nick.
He nodded and fidgeted with his hands. She walked over and placed her hand on his, calming them. “I found some cool stuff. Could help us.”
He nodded and sat beside her at the table. She handed him a cup of tea she had prepared just before his arrival. “So you did know I was coming,” he said.
She shrugged and tilted her head. “Maybe,” she said, smirking.
The edges of his mouth lifted into a slight grin as he sipped at the tea.
Jade explained that when she did more digging into Abigail Hart’s story, she discovered that during her torture, she had outted several others as witches. Most of them were acquitted, all but two, Sarah Bishop and Millicent Bishop. Their tombs were only twenty feet from Abigail’s.
“I think that’s why Abigail didn’t want to help us, why she said she can’t and that it’ll only come back. I don’t think she was the one who placed the curse. If I’m right, it could have been either Sarah or Millicent. They could have cursed Abigail for ratting them out.”
“How could this help us?” Nick asked.
“Well,” Jade went on, “If this theory is correct, then it’s a different kind of curse, and Rose’s friend Eddie would be right, only the one that placed it can remove it.” Jade watched as the light faded from Nick’s eyes. Rose’s soul broke into dozens of pieces, a century’s worth of hope crushed in mere seconds. The despair she made him feel was unbearable.
His head fell into his hands, tears streaming down his face as Rose’s soul cried. She tried so hard for so long. She had never given up. But now, to hear that the only person who could break the curse was dead, that Eddie and the others were right all along, there was no hope for them…
“No, Rose, don’t cry,” Jade said. “It’s not over yet. I have an idea.”
—
Both Rose and Nick hated the new plan. It was only 6:00 p.m. but it was already getting dark and the full moon was rising into the sky. After arguing back and forth for two hours, they hadn’t come up with a better plan, so they were going with Jade’s. This was the best time to break an ancient curse — Samhain was near, the planets were aligned, a full moon was out. The cemetery’s energy was practically vibrating.
“I can see them, Rose,” Jade said, looking around at the spirits wandering about, watching them past by. “I’ve never been able to see them before.” The energy was undeniable now.
Rose strode over to the tombs of Sarah and Millicent. She stood for a moment, pondering if she really wanted to do this. Jade was taking a huge risk in her plan for someone she barely knew. She felt wrong for asking such a tall task. But Jade had insisted, and she trusted that she knew what she was doing.
Nick cleared his throat and called for Sarah and Millicent. When there was no answer, they called again and again. They asked about the curse even though there was no reply. When Jade joined their side, she placed a hand on the side of Millicent’s tomb. She felt nothing.
“I don’t think they’re here,” she said, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. “Maybe I was wrong.”
“Those girls haven’t been here for centuries,” Margaret said. Rose turned towards her, Jade’s gaze followed. “Look at the dates.”
Rose turned back. Sarah and Millicent had been buried in April of 1692, while Abigail was buried in May. Their souls had moved on before the curse. Rose had never been happier for Jade to have been wrong.
“That means we can still break it ourselves, right?” she asked, with a renewed hope.
“No,” a voice said. Abigail rose from her tomb. “Only the one who placed it can.”
Rose pleaded with Abigail. “Will you help us? Will you break the curse?” She relayed the plan to use Jade’s body as a vessel. Abigail would temporarily possess Jade, break the curse, and then, with Nick’s help, would expel Abigail’s soul back out, freeing them to cross over again.
Abigail listened but shook her head. “I can’t help you.”
“But why?”
“She’s not the one who placed the curse.” A spirit appeared by the tomb, the same one that was wandering around Rose’s headstone the night before.
“Who are you?” Rose asked.
“Edmund Piers,” he said. The wind picked up and the lamps along the footpath flickered. Abigail retreated back into her tomb.
Rose took a step back. “You’re not Edmund Piers.”
“Oh, I assure you, ma’am, I am. And the one you’ve been looking for has been right in front of you the whole time.”
“Rose, what’s happening?” Jade asked.
The wind grew stronger and Rose turned as a spirit emerged from the nearby tomb. Buried beside Sarah Bishop was her husband, Edward Bishop, who died in May 1692.
“Boy, I am just surrounded by rats,” Eddie said. “You just couldn’t leave it alone, could you, Rose?”
Rose was stunned speechless. “Eddie? You’re…you’re…”
“Not Edmund Piers? No. I’m Edward Bishop. Husband to Sarah Bishop, brother to Millicent Bishop. Placer of the horrible curse you’ve been so determined to break. Yes, congratulations, you figured it out.”
“Shit.” Jade had missed that bit of information. The majority of witches were women, she hadn’t even considered Sarah’s husband to have been involved, overlooking the dates he died entirely.
Eddie laughed, sending shivers through Jade and Nick. “What will you do now that you know the truth? Hmm? Plead with me to take it away? I won’t. I’m sorry you got caught in the crossfire, Rose, I really am, but that conniving bitch got what she deserves and she will suffer the consequences of what she did.”
“What did she do?” Nick said, jumping to the forefront, taking control of his body. “What was so horrible that she deserves to be punished for eternity? She gave up some names? She was being tortured! Give the woman a break. Anyone would crack from that.”
“My wife was innocent!” Eddie roared. The trees shook from the energy he was producing. “She wasn’t a witch. I was! And I never used black magic on those kids or anyone. We used our magic to heal. I was a doctor. I saved countless lives including Abigail’s. And she betrayed us.”
“I’m sorry!” Abigail wailed. She had re-emerged from her tomb, her face twisted as if she were crying. “I was starved and sleep deprived. I didn’t even know I had said any names. I was delirious. Eddie, I’m sorry. Sarah was my best friend. If I could take it back I would.”
“Best friend? Some best friend you are. She was pregnant, Abigail! You took everything from me so I took everything from you.”
Abigail shrank back, covering her face in grief. Nick’s heart dropped. He took Jade’s hand and pulled her close behind him. Maybe this plan was a bad idea. Eddie was consumed by grief and anger. Who knows the damage he could do in a physical body again.
“I understand your pain, Eddie,” Nick said. “It wasn’t fair or right what happened to Sarah, or Millicent, or you. But it also wasn’t fair for what happened to Abigail. Those people, they didn’t understand you, they feared your magic and did unspeakable things because of that fear. But those people, they’re long gone. It’s been 300 years.”
Eddie looked around at Abigail, crouched beside her tomb. He looked at Rose, and Margaret, Oscar, Emily, William, and Edmund, all of the spirits he had trapped here.
“How did you die, Eddie?” Jade asked, stepping forward.
Eddie blinked and his face twisted. The wind died down but the air chilled enough that Jade and Nick could see their breath and shivered. “Sarah!” Eddie cried. “My Sarah. She was the light of my life. She made the world so bright. When she was taken from me…” He roared a soul-crushing cry that made Nick ache with his own grief. He knew how Eddie felt, he had lived it not long ago. “I just wanted the pain to stop.”
Eddie didn’t have to say anything else for Nick to understand. After cursing Abigail, he had killed himself, and he blamed her for that, too. “You still feel it,” Nick said. “After all these years, you still feel the pain.”
Eddie nodded. “I thought the pain would die with my body. But it’s still with me. Every day it reminds me of what I’ve lost. It never lets me forget.” The last sentence was spit through gritted teeth and a clenched jaw.
Nick stepped forward again, closing the gap between him and Eddie inch by inch. “It’s still with you because you’re still holding on to the past. You didn’t just curse Abigail, you also cursed yourself. The only way to end the pain is to move on, and the only way to move on is to forgive her, forgive the past, and break the curse.”
Nick reached out his arm, and before Rose realized what he was doing, she was too late to stop him. Nick, no! She was catapulted from his body. Her world went black for a moment and she was staring at Nick again, standing before him, back in her spirit form.
“Nick!” Jade shouted.
He staggered and swayed, looking at his arms as though they were foreign to him. Eddie’s spirit was no longer visible but they could see the change in Nick’s eyes as Eddie’s spirit took over control.
“What are you doing?” Eddie asked.
“I’m helping you,” Nick said. Both Rose and Jade were relieved to hear Nick’s normal voice, it meant his soul was still strong enough to keep control of his body. “You have two options,” he continued, “You can let go of the past and move forward or exist in pain for eternity. The choice is up to you.”
Rose and Jade met eyes. This was not part of the plan. They were both terrified and impressed with how Nick was handling this. But Eddie was consumed by grief and anger, and now he had a physical body.
Eddie whirled, looking around wildly. The other spirits had moved closer, their eyes narrowing on him.
“I don’t think you’ll want to stay, Eddie, now that we know the truth,” said Margaret. They’d been here long enough and though spirits couldn’t hurt each other, they could make their existence hell.
Rose stepped forward with sympathy in her eyes. He had been her friend over a hundred years and she’d never known how much his past tormented him. Nick’s face twisted as Eddie looked at her, his lies and deceit bubbling into an overwhelming shame.
“I didn’t know what else to do,” he said, Nick’s voice breaking. Emotion was heightened in physical form and Eddie hadn’t been a living human for three centuries. Overwhelming was an understatement when you were no longer accustomed to feeling, truly feeling. “I couldn’t just let it go.”
“It’s okay,” Rose said, softly. “But I think the sentence has been paid. Be with Sarah, Eddie. I’m sure she’s been waiting for you.”
He melted into a sob but shook Nick’s head. Jade took out her spell book and handed it over, opened to the page of the curse reverse. He took one last look at Rose. “Please forgive me,” he whispered.
“I do,” she said, nodding. “I forgive you.”
Eddie took a large breath, steadied himself, and began to read.
—
It went eerily quiet in the graveyard. The wind died, the clouds stopped moving, time itself halted. Nick and Eddie spun around slowly, surveying the stillness. Jade didn’t blink, all the spirits seemed like statues plastered to the ground. “What’s happening?” Nick asked. Eddie had no answer, but before he could say anything, time resumed and Jade hurried over to Nick’s side.
“Did it work?” Nick asked, to Jade, to Eddie, to anyone that could sense it.
“I…I don’t know,” Eddie answered. Nothing looked or felt different. Other than that strange freeze in time, nothing seemed to have happened at all.
Jade placed her hand on Abigail’s tomb. “I don’t feel it anymore.” She shared a glance with Nick, and then with Rose.
If the curse was lifted, why were they still here?
Eddie closed the book, his head bent low. “I’m sorry. Maybe it’s too late for us.”
With a gentle tickle under Nick’s chin, Rose motioned for Eddie to look at her. “Don’t be discouraged yet. You did your best. Maybe it just takes some time.”
Jade took the book back from Eddie and held out a satchel of herbs in her palm. “Ready?” she asked.
Both Nick and Eddie nodded their head. Jade lit the satchel on fire and chanted a spell. The scent of sage, rosemary and thyme surrounded them and Nick’s world went black.
—
When Nick came to, his breath caught. He was staring up at Jade’s bright purple hair, illuminated slightly by the moonlight cascading through the tree branches. The light made a halo around her wide brimmed hat. She looked like an angel.
“Am I dead?” he asked.
“No, but you might’ve passed out for a minute,” Jade said, sitting back on her knees.
Nick slowly raised himself up onto his elbows. Eddie’s spirit was slumped against the side of his own tomb, looking defeated and lost.
Rose knelt beside Jade and Nick and smiled. “That was incredibly brave, Nick.”
Nick shrugged, “Well, I have you to thank for that.”
Her eyebrows lifted, her hand pressed gently to her chest. “Me?”
Nick nodded. “I figured he’d be more likely to break the curse if he felt understood. You showed me what being understood feels like. And maybe a little of your impulsiveness rubbed off on me,” he shrugged. Rose giggled.
Nick held out his hand, letting it linger just above Rose’s. She lifted hers, grazing her fingers across Nick’s. A chill ran up his arm, making his hairs stand on end and bumps rise against his skin, but that was all he felt. A faint whisper of a touch, a passing chill. His heart ached. He had never known her when she was alive, had never felt her hand in his, but their souls had been intertwined sharing a body for the past 48 hours. Being without her now felt strange and…lonely.
“Rose,” Jade motioned to further into the graveyard where the moonlight beamed down, bright and concentrated. At first it was a small sliver but it grew and grew until it looked like a grand archway of light.
Rose stood, gaping in awe. The other spirits wandered towards it and disappeared into the light. They had done it. The curse really was broken, and they could cross over, finally.
“Eddie!” she shouted, beaming with the widest grin. He looked up and over, standing slowly as realization set in.
Rose turned towards Nick and Jade, her eyes shimmering. If she was human they would’ve been filled with tears. “Thank you, both,” she said, her voice wavering. “I couldn’t have done it without you. I am so grateful.”
“Thank you, Rose, for accidentally possessing me,” Nick said. Rose giggled again, but they both knew he was serious. He was happy to help her move on, but he would miss her, really, really miss her, and he told her so. She knew already, because she would miss him, too.
They walked towards the archway and it seemed like hours before they reached it. Nick both wanted her to go, be happy and free, and wanted her to stay. Rose both wanted to stay and wanted to begin a new life in a new body. This is what she had wanted from the start but it was hard to ignore the ache that missing Nick would leave behind.
They just stared at each other, memorizing each other’s face, each word they had spoken to each other, every shared moment of laughter until it became too much.
“Go,” Nick said, “In case there is a time limit on this thing.”
She looked back at Eddie standing at the edge of the light. A voice rang from the other side. “Eddie, Eddie.”
Eddie smiled, “It’s Sarah,” he said, his eyes shimmering bright, “she waited.”
She turned back to Nick. “Goodbye, Nick Foster. Be well.”
“Goodbye, Rose Goodwin. I hope we meet again someday.”
Rose smiled and headed towards the light. She watched as Eddie crossed over to be reunited with Sarah for the first time in over 300 years. Taking one last look back at Nick and Jade, she stepped into the archway and disappeared.
The beam of light shrunk and vanished into thin air, as though it had never been there at all.
—
“So what brings you here, Mr. Foster?” Dr. Amy Steifvater said.
Nick fidgeted with his hands in the armchair across from her. She held a notepad on her lap, and her loose curls were neatly tucked back into a clip. Her demeanor was warm, approachable, and confident. He felt comfortable enough talking to her, he just didn’t know where to start.
“Well, recently I lost my friend Rose,” he said, flexing his hands and placing them palm side down onto his legs, attempting to keep them calm.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Were you two close?” she said, scribbling a quick note on her pad.
“I hadn’t known her long but we did grow fairly close pretty quickly,” he tapped his leg, then stopped when he realized.
“Was she a romantic partner or interest?”
“No, no, nothing like that. But because of her I met my current girlfriend, Jade. Well, I’d met her before but I saw her again because of Rose. I wouldn’t have otherwise. Anyway,” we waved away his tangent, “I’ve had anxiety for…well as long as I can remember. And Rose made me realize how much it was holding me back from living my life. So, that’s why I’m here.”
“Okay. Well, I’m glad you’re here. If you’d like we can start from the beginning?”
Nick closed his eyes and let go of the emotion he had been burying for twenty five years. He brought up memories of his mother berating him, her throwing dishes at his father during arguments, his father leaving, crying himself to sleep when he felt like it was his fault his father left. He remembered when his sister told him his best friend was dead, killed in a car accident by a drunk driver at sixteen. His teachers telling him he would never amount to anything if he didn’t try harder when he was putting in his all, his boss telling him he was a piece of shit when he made a mistake, walking in on Chelsea wrapped up with another man on the day he was going to ask her to marry him.
He became a mess, a blubbering mess at that, but he finally started talking. | https://medium.com/the-strange-and-lovely/ghosts-of-halloweens-past-part-3-conclusion-596f0c9f6f9e | ['Karalyn Spencer'] | 2020-12-19 16:57:33.574000+00:00 | ['Paranormal', 'Halloween', 'Short Story', 'Fiction', 'Amwriting'] |
Epic Mahabharata | Many people heard of it but few lucky get chance to read it. Or even fewer know thing in detail about it. As per global source of truth Wikipedia It is “longest poem ever written” in human history. It has around 1.8 million words in total. It is roughly 10 times the length of Iliad and Odyseey combined.
So, what is there in it? We can say everything. Love stories to stories about war to stories about revenge. Philosophy to military tactics. Policies on tax, rules of espionage, watch over enemies and how to find the most able people and make them ministers. Theory karma which is part of Gita, which is part of Mahabharata. Yog (not to confuse with physical Yoga people do) explained in Mahabharata and so do life, death and life after death. A tale where God not solve problems for you but guide you to solution, enable you face the problems. A story where God is not forefather but a friend who is always there for you.
A story where even God accept curse with due respect given by a mother. A story where story teller him self not only narrate the story but also integral part of it. A tale stays same but meaning of it keep changing to every reader. A story which has spiral of different small stories consisting further different stories. A infinite source of knowledge, wisdom and fun.
I can go on and on; but let’s come back to F#.
Natural Language Processing
Understanding the human language, words and sentiments always is exciting. Specially using your favourite programming language. Processing old epic books is always fun, as it not only tells about history / mythology but take back to your heritage and culture. So, This part is from my Mentorship program (more details at the end). An article born from home work I got recently.
I don’t know the complexity level of it. It totally depends on reader. But results are indeed too good.
Let the fun Begin
First thing is to find out source in English (As it is easy to compare with data sets.). Project Gutenberg is good place to find some license free text. If you like to do code with this article then get your favourite book from site or you can always download if from my project.
That is whole Mahabharata in four text files. So, I did some manual labour to separate the books from it. You can find them here. There are total 18 books (sub books are not separated).
Let’s start with simple File IO.
That’s quite a lot terms for small piece of code. Now, we are one step behind to become data scientist.
Let’s find the unique terms and frequency of them.
see another line and we are done. We are now official data scientists.
Go ahead and try for other books also. If you are feeling lazy you can check out results here or see below.
For Terms:
For Unique Terms:
For Unique Terms per Terms
What next? Let’s do the sentiment analysis of all this books and compare them with each others.
Sentiment Analysis
Whaaat?
Analysis done to find out the tone of given text. Here we are having books. Basically using this we can find out that books is more joyful to read or tilted towards sadness. How many surprise elements book do have. It is useful to understand conversation, if it is more towards positive end or negative end.
Coding bits
It will make more sense while comparing.
As everything else in F# here we also start with type and start putting things in it. Let’s call it Book type. Because why not.
Now, for a second keep this aside. We need more details or here data to find out sentiments. Data with which we can compare our book terms. So, we will be using two data sets. For emotions we will be using this and for positive / negative ratings we will be using this.
Here are what they look like.
Emotion Lexicon:
And Word with Ratings:
Traditional way to pull data out of CSV file is for -> for -> for loops. But we are in F# land, we will be using csv Type Provider. Let's pull data out of CSV and shape it in types.
Here is the thing about this data. Emotion column is also specifying the emotion, not always but they are there. So, we need them too. That is reason for that extra calcution we are doing. Here for every emotion found we are adding 1 else it is 0.
If you can see I am not comparing with string but with concrete F# term. It is because in data we are having “anticip” for “anticipation”. Now, in future if we add another data to this collection and they have “anticipation” then it will add extra case for same result. So, it would be better to encapsulate them away. And clean way to do that using Active patterns.
Here is missing piece of code.
As we are having more than 7 cases, we will be using partial Active Patterns and join them in match statement.
Same can be done for word with Positive and Negative ratings.
Here is code for same.
Great. Now stage is set to convert books made of terms to books made of numbers. Let’s create for one book and then we will loop it for our array.
Single function and it’s done. That’s it. What we are doing in that? Creating our Book type.
Terms and Unique Terms were extracted away.
Little bit complicated looking part is where we are trying to find Sentiment Index for book. So, first step is clean up the word set. That is the reason we are using unique terms. All terms are not present in data set we are having. So, there is need to take common terms. Again no more loops and conditions. They are two sets we need common terms so just intersect it. One line without performance over head. Now find out Sentiment details for that word and to get for book just fold it and do the sum of it. Done.
So, we are having all the data in memory. In our case in FSI / REPL.
As we are official data scientist we required that we see things in Graph format. So, first let’s conver things to JSON and write to disk so we can use it.
Here I am using Fsharplu.Json, do check their project story.
Now, once JSON is ready we can easily use to show in graph using any graph library.
Here I did little cheating and wrote some dirty JavaScript. A good practise would be to write code in Fable. So, I will not show code of JavaScript part.
You can find book wise graphs here and transformed analysis here which is sentiment wise. Or Check out few of them below.
Book Wise:
Sentiment Wise:
Same can be done for positive and negative word set. (DYI for you.)
Reading the Graphs & Experience
One thing needed to be understand here. Data set are created by human, code is written by human and code is executed by dumb computer. So, there is and always will be little bit manual tweaking. As language is topic with perception. One need to understand culture / history of those words from where they are coming. Graphs should be read in that context only. Let me put an example here.
Check out word frequency graph here. Pick any graph. Here I am taking three graphs to compare.
“Great” would be always first. And “Fire” will come in last five always. In normal western literature “Great” word used as adverb for person or thing. But in Indian or Mahabharata context they use it to address someone. Like Hey, Great worrier Arjuna . A poetic way of saying things. Looks good but also make word totally useless in context of understanding phrase. This issue can be solved with Inverse Document Frequency but again it is an extra effort. Same goes for word "Fire". It is having negative value in normal context but in this specific context it is not that negative. Fire God and Fire it self (yagna) are positive. It is very much contextual.
But again generating graph is much more data sciencey to explain.
What’s Next
Next step would be doing more detailed analysis of this Epic. Compare number / analysis with original context of books. Try to push number as near as possible to words. And probably extract some good NLP library from it.
All books are divided in sub-books telling different stories. Wiki links are added in Table list. If you are interested then check them out.
Complete script file for this article is available over github.
Download your favourite books and have fun with graphs.
Thanks Note
Special Thanks to people without whom this project may not exist.
Rachel Reese — For arranging this season of Mentorship program.
Mentorship program : In simple words. It is a program where Mentor and Mentee are tagged with each other. And they have hour / week to teach / learn some topic specific to F#. As highly technical people things looks little old school but the effect that flesh and blood can create nothing else can. No books or no recorded videos. 45–60 minutes can cover more than one can cover in month or two using deal material. It is always good to have someone there alive in front of you whom you can ask questions. Again that is all my preference and what I like about this program.
Andrea — For last season of Mentorship program.
My lovely fiancée for not only allowing me but also encouraging me to give extra time to this.
Saheb to be my phone a friend for any kind of machine learning and data science queries.
Devdutt, my current favourite mythologist. Author of two of my favourite books Jaya and My Gita in this genre
Note to my Mentor
Words can’t explain how much grateful I am to have Evelina Gabasova as my mentor or may be guru would make much more sense in current context. After a long time I can have kid’s curiosity and innocence to ask anything and everything to her. And she is always there with answer and ever smiling face. Always pushing extra mile to beat the time zone differences.
In Mahabharata, Krishna narrate Gita to Arjuna in middle of war field; empowering him with eternal knowledge. Just like that,
Hey, Great Evelina, I am no Arjuna but you are always been my Krishne. Guiding my way in the flood of data. It is always good to have you around. Be as mentor and as friend. Please be there always.
Closing
I like to close with few of my favourite picture describing war moments of Mahabharata
Krishna narrating Gita to Arjuna
Krishna driving Arjuna in war field
Krishna, Arjuna and Bhisma three great warriors but helpless in front of time (situation) | https://medium.com/fuzzycloud/epic-adventure-using-f-17ac32fb539d | ['Kunjan Dalal'] | 2017-07-17 08:58:10.097000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'NLP', 'Programming', 'Fsharp', 'Naturallanguageprocessing'] |
10 Potentially Harmful Foods for Your Teeth — Needed For Health | According to experts, the foods we choose to eat are one of the determining factors on our overall health. Diet not only affects our appearance but also eyesight, digestion, hair and cardiovascular system. Simply put, what we eat impact nearly every part of the human body.
And, teeth are not an exception in this context. They are affected both in a positive and negative way depending on our food choices.
While, brushing teeth twice a day, using dental floss and paying regular visits to a dentist are essential for healthy teeth; avoiding or at least limiting the consumption of certain foods, that can potentially cause your teeth harm, is another way to maintain dental health.
In this article, we are going to investigate the worst foods for your teeth. According to dentists; the below-given foods can take a toll on your teeth unless you reduce intake or avoid eating them.
You already know that some of the below-given foods are not healthy for your teeth. However, in this list, there are foods you would probably never consider harmful for your teeth.
Here are the 10 foods you may want to avoid to protect your teeth.
1- Citrus
Citrus fruits — like oranges, lemon, limes, grapefruit- are demanded fruits, especially in winter season to boost the immune system thanks to their high vitamin C content.
However, these fruits contain a strong acid that can potentially harm your tooth enamel and may lead to tooth decay. As they are that acidic, many individuals with acid reflux are told by their doctors to either avoid or at least limit the consumption of these acidic foods.
Therefore, eat them in moderation and rinse your mouth with water after eating.
More importantly, wait at least 30 minutes to brush your teeth after eating these acidic fruits. Because, according to experts; brushing teeth right after citrus fruit consumption can damage tooth enamel.
2- Alcohol
Alcohol can potentially damage every part of the human body, including teeth, according to WHO.
Expert note that drinking alcohol can destroy tooth enamel — the guardian of your teeth — due to its high sugar content as well as high acidity rate. Therefore, especially long term alcohol use can most likely result in tooth decay.
Additionally, alcohol affects the soft tissue in the mouth, thus, making the mouth vulnerable to gum disease.
3- Ice Chewing
This one might perplex you a bit. But, yes, chewing ice can indeed bring about some dental problems.
Even though ice doesn’t contain anything harmful for your teeth such as sugar or acid, it is nevertheless harmful to your teeth because ice is a cold and hard substance for teeth.
Dentists say; ice chewing can lead people to various dental problems, such as cracked and chipped teeth, damaged tooth enamel, to name but a few.
4- Sports Drink
You might be thinking that drinking your favourite sports drink, before or after an intense workout is an essential component of your exercise routine. However, the thing is your sports drink might have been harming your teeth.
According to Emerson Dental; sports drinks negatively impact teeth, as containing high sugar and being highly acidic.
While acid is breaking down tooth enamel, high sugar in sports drinks is feeding the bacteria in mouth thus setting off tooth decay.
5- Pickles
As mentioned above, citrus fruits can potentially cause harm to your teeth due to their high acidity level. Pickles are another type of nutrition that contains a high amount of acid. Therefore, pickled foods, like citrus fruit, can bring about dental problems.
In addition to their high acid level, most pickles also contain a large amount of sugar. Therefore, you should be aware of the potential harms of pickle consumption on your teeth, if you are a regular pickle-eater.
Rinse your mouth with water after consuming pickles to minimise the risk of cavities.
6 — Soft Drinks
Many of us tend to think that soft drinks are harmful to teeth just because they contain a large amount of sugar. In fact, the main problem stems from their acid content, although sugar content is harmful too.
Since soft drinks contain both sugar ( many of the soft drinks ) and acid, they pave the way for dental problems like dental erosion or cavities.
Try to avoid them completely or at least limit the consumption to protect your teeth. If you drink, rinse your mouth with water afterwards.
7- Starchy Foods
Potato chips, pasta, white bread are only examples of foods you might enjoy eating.
What you should know about these starchy foods is that these foods can adhere to your teeth for an extended period of time. Because, when you chew starchy foods, they quickly turn into sugar.
Excessive consumption of starchy foods can lead you tooth decay in the long run. Use dental floss to remove the remains between teeth to minimise the risk of tooth decay.
8- Coffee and Tea
Coffee might be your favourite beverage, especially if you are doing a stressful job. It definitely increases concentration and makes you alert for some time.
On the other hand, you might be fond of drinking tea every day, like millions of people around the world.
However, we can say neither coffee nor tea is improving your dental health. Because these beverages are known to leave stains on teeth and cause teeth to get a slightly yellowish appearance.
If there is no way you can do without coffee or tea, then make sure you are drinking a glass of water after drinking them and brush your teeth before sleep. Furthermore, not adding sugar into your coffee and tea is another way to reduce the harmful effects of coffee on your teeth.
9- Dried Fruits
In general, dried fruits are considered healthy snacks, thanks to their high fibre and antioxidant content.
However, your teeth probably wouldn’t use the adjective “ healthy “ for dried fruits. Because dried fruits such as figs, raisins, dried apricots are high in sugar. But, apart from being sugary, as you probably know, dried fruits are also quite sticky. It can fill your teeth crevices and cause dental problems.
Therefore, make sure you are using dental floss the remove the remains and make also sure you are rinsing your mouth. In doing so, you can prevent potential harms of dried fruit on your teeth.
10- Candies
The last and also the worst. Even a child would know candies are harmful for teeth regardless of whether they are soft or hard candies.
Candies and chocolates are packed with sugar. But this is not the main problem. The main problem is they stick to teeth for a long period of time, thus welcoming tooth-decaying bacteria to the mouth. | https://medium.com/@tarkanivgen41/10-potentially-harmful-foods-for-your-teeth-needed-for-health-d217cafffe4c | ['Tarkan Ivgen'] | 2021-02-08 10:34:53.872000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Smile', 'Diet', 'Body', 'Teeth'] |
Build a Login System in Node.js | Save Users to Database
The user schema and model
As usual, you have to define a schema before creating documents and saving them to the database. First, create the models directory and there create a file called user.js such that it is models/user.js . First, let’s create a schema in user.js . Next, we’ll create a model from that schema.
In models/user.js :
This means that your model will have a name, an email, its associated password, and the date of creation.
On line 20 , we’re using that schema in your User model. All of your users will have the data in this format.
Handling the POST request to the register directory: validation checks
In this step, you will create a document in the MongoDB database with the client-provided data.
At the beginning of the routes/users.js file, import the Mongoose library, and import the User model that you just created.
const User = require("../models/user.js")
Now, in the routes/users.js file, find the following piece of code:
Handling the register POST request
Within this handle, write the following code:
Line 1 : Extract the values from the elements in the form. You are taking out the email, the name of the user, his password. The last field ( password2 ) is a validation check to ensure that the user has confirmed that the password they are typing is correct.
: Extract the values from the elements in the form. You are taking out the email, the name of the user, his password. The last field ( ) is a validation check to ensure that the user has confirmed that the password they are typing is correct. Lines 4-6 : If any of the fields has not been filled, add an appropriate message to the error array.
: If any of the fields has not been filled, add an appropriate message to the array. Lines 8–10 : If the passwords don’t match, add the appropriate message to the error array.
: If the passwords don’t match, add the appropriate message to the array. Lines 13–15 : Check whether the password has a minimum of six characters.
: Check whether the password has a minimum of six characters. Lines 16–23 : If any content within the error array is present, re-render the register.ejs page and then send the appropriate data along with the errors array. All of the contents of this array will be displayed on the page.
: If any content within the array is present, re-render the page and then send the appropriate data along with the array. All of the contents of this array will be displayed on the page. Lines 24–36 : You have successfully passed the validation! Now you will first find if there is already a user present in the database via the email. If there is, then you will re-render the register.ejs page and display the relevant error. Otherwise, create a new user with the provided email, name, and its associated password. Bear in mind that you haven’t saved it yet. You will save it after encrypting the password.
As an example, let’s run the code and enter a single-character password so that it re-renders the page:
Output of the code after you deliberately enter the wrong options
You now need to display the errors, that is, display the contents of the errors array.
Display the errors
Now go to views/register.ejs and find the following piece of code (this will be around the beginning of the file):
Code to find at views/register.ejs
When you’ve found it, write the following line just under this h1 tag:
<%- include ('./partials/messages') %>
This line means import a new file that will help display the messages.
Go to your views directory, create a new directory called partials , and within partials , create a file called messages.ejs . There, write the following code.
views/partials/messages.ejs
<% if(typeof errors!= 'undefined') { %>
<% errors.forEach(function(error){ %>
<p> <%= error.msg %></p>
<% }) %>
<% } %>
This code says that if there are any errors present, then display the contents of the array with its own paragraph( p ) element.
Re-run the code and write a single character password. This will be the output:
Notice that you have now displayed the error message
If you leave any of the fields empty, then you will get this error message:
Two error messages displayed in this form
Make both password fields contain different values:
Three error messages displayed in this form
Handling POST requests to the register: save the users to the database
In this step, you will save the registered users to the MongoDB database. You will first encrypt their passwords and then save them to the database.
In routes/users.js , find the following piece of code:
Code in routes/users.js
Within this else block, write the following piece of code:
And on that note, end the else statement here.
Lines 2–7 : Generate a salt, hash the user’s password. Assign this encrypted value to the user’s password and then save the client to the database.
: Generate a salt, hash the user’s password. Assign this encrypted value to the user’s password and then save the client to the database. Line 10 : When the document is saved without errors, then redirect the user to the login directory, where the user will now log in with their credentials.
This will be the output of the code when you register yourself as a user:
Code output
Since you have logged out the contents of the document in your console, here’s the output in the console:
Contents of the newUser document
Enter a registered email. As expected, you get an error telling you that the email has already been stored:
Code output showing that you have an error
With this step, you’ve finally saved users to the database. Let’s move on to creating flash messages with Express.
At the end of this section, this is what your code looks like: | https://medium.com/better-programming/build-a-login-system-in-node-js-f1ba2abd19a | ['Hussain Arif'] | 2020-07-21 16:42:32.821000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'JavaScript', 'Startup', 'Nodejs', 'Cybersecurity'] |
Now Hiring: Architect (Backend) & Search Lead (Elastic/Solr). Your chance to define the tech road map at Meesho | Meesho is looking to hire for Architect (Backend) & Search Lead (Elastic/Solr) — both lead engineering roles with plenty of scope to define the architectural features of the Meesho platform including working on personalisation and transactional systems. Plus, a chance to mentor a team of super smart developers! Are you ready?
Position: Technical Architect (Backend)
As a strong technologist at Meesho, you will care about code modularity,scalability, re-usability and also should be able to thrive in a complex and ambiguous environment.
What will the Technical Architect role involve?
As an architect, your role would involve architecting systems capable of serving as the brains of complex distributed products. The role will also involve you mentoring young engineers on the team and also contribute towards building a great and high performing team.
But what will you be doing as a Tech Architect (Backend) and Lead Engineer (Elastic Search) at Meesho?
Hear it from Samir Ranjan, Director of Engineering:
“As a Tech Architect, your focus will be on personalisation. When we talk about personalisation, we mean personalisation at the user level and not at an audience level. You will be solving a personalisation problem at scale (think 20 million users on the platform) so the tech architecture role at Meesho will be a challenging one for sure. E-commerce companies are transactional systems and the ideal candidate for this role should have in depth experience in transactional systems as well as NoSQL systems. The Tech Architect has to be judicious in figuring out where he/she should be using a transactional system and where to use a NoSQL one. We prefer an Open Source Tech Stack and not a Cloud Native Tech Stack. You cannot be agnostic to cloud, you have to be able to solve using open source (which means you need to have an in depth knowledge of it) and should be able to use HBase.
Then comes the caching part. Our scaling is basically done by caching, and we need experience in that especially for the production kind of scale. The scale of our systems are 3K-4K per second and some of our systems even go upto 5K TPS. So not only will you be working at mega scale, plenty of depth and experience in technology is also required. You should also understand the business value of what you are building. AS a Tech Architect you should understand the delivery aspect of the business and you should be able to build a road map towards it.”
Paresh Goel, VP Engineering adds on: “You will be the senior most engineer in the team and will be defining the tech route map of Meesho. This could be a career defining opportunity for you at Meesho. Once you join, you will have the opportunity to have an impact on what tech we use, how we build it, what kind of systems to use, and even what kind of hiring we may need to do. You will work with some of the smartest developers on the team, work on architectural features, and also define things that have not been done before, for instance, Meesho recently built an in house video streaming service, a first for the Tech team.”
What are the skills required for the role?
Should have a Bachelors/Masters in Computer Science or equivalent from a premier institute with at least 8 years of professional experience. Should possess exceptional design and architectural skills; with experience in building large scale distributed systems Should have experience in Scalable Systems — transactional systems (B2C) Should have expertise in Java/J2EE and multithreading Should have an in depth understanding of transactional and NoSQL DBs Should have a deep understanding of messaging systems such as kafka Should have a good experience on cloud infrastructure — AWS preferably and a good to know knowledge of data pipelines and ES Should have the ability to think and analyze both breadth and depth-wise while designing and implementing services Should believe and demonstrate teamwork, flexibility and the ability to multitask.
Position 2: Search Engineer (Elastic/Solr)
As a Search Lead, you will get hands-on experience in the latest technologies such as Elastic Stack, Spring, Kafka, Mongo, redis, API Design and more. As a Search lead, you will also be responsible for leading a team of smart engineers.The Search team is an essential part of the Technology team at Meesho and you will be working on solving technical challenges related to ensuring fast searchability of data with increasing scale. At Meesho, we work on an array of technologies, including but not limited to Spring, Node, Elastic Stack, MySQL, Mongo, ReactJS, Webpack, Kafka, Redis, AWS Lambda, Ansible, etc.
Learn more about the role from Paresh Goel, VP Engineering:
“If you open our Meesho app, there are three important real estates on it. One is the Feed, second is Collection and the third most important real estate for our users and for us is Search. Optimising search for the end user so that they can find products quickly and within a very less time is one of the most important things we do on the platform. As a Lead Engineer — Elasticsearch, you will have full control over the Search Architecture you want to make. You will inherit a good team of engineers, with whom you will have to scale operations of the Search real estate on the app. The whole search that happens on the Meesho platform will be powered by the tech architecture defined by you. You will also have to be proficient in relevancy (search relevance) engineering for this role.”
What are the skills required for the role?
Have an in depth understanding of Elasticsearch internals. Manage and improve Elasticsearch clusters performance. Experienced in SOLR or Lucene — Search Engine, Text Mining, and Indexing Proficient in SOLR Documents, Filters, Query Parsers and their customization, Dynamic Fields, Performance Tuning, Faceted Search, Grouping, Distributed Searches, Lucene Internals, Solr Cloud and Zookeeper Experise in Apache SOLR / Search architecture. Hands on experience in Apache SOLR implementations, design, architecture, implementation, performance & scalability Build & lead a great team by example Develop a deep understanding of the startup ecosystem Build a customer-facing technology product for global customers Learn and develop leadership skills
Why join Meesho?
Meesho is a YCombinator and Facebook backed, Series D funded, growth stage company (More here: https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/11/meesho-india/). The Series D round was led by Naspers and existing investors SAIF, Sequoia, Shunwei Capital, RPS and Venture Highway participating as well. Facebook also participated in the round, so did Arun Sarin, former CEO of Vodafone Group. We have raised $190 million to date.
Meesho is building a disruptive social distribution channel via individuals selling on WhatsApp, Facebook and other social networks by offering them tools around sourcing, logistics and payments. Driving scale and impact is robust tech complex and a team of tech and business minds that thrives on steady challenges and definite wins! In 2018 and 2019 (for two consecutive years), Meesho was named by LinkedIn as LinkedIn India’s Top 25 Startups — 2019 to work for based on top talent pull, jobseeker interest and levels of professional engagement with its employees. Recently, Meesho was also featured on Y Combinator’s Top Companies List 2019.
At Meesho, we tackle personalisation, logistics, search & discovery, fraud prevention and growth challenges head-on, creating solutions that are scalable, efficient, elegant and seamless for the end user.
Our Technology Stack comprises Java, Spring, MySQL, NoSQL, AWS, Kafka, Spark, Kotlin, RxJava, Elastic-Search, Swift, Airflow, Redshift, ReactJS, Redux, NodeJS, RestAssured, and Appium.
Think you have it in you join our Tech team as a leader and help Meesho create 20 million entrepreneurs by 2020? Then apply here. We are hiring! | https://tech.meesho.com/now-hiring-architect-backend-search-lead-elastic-solr-8d5ca97af04a | ['Amrita Bose'] | 2019-10-17 10:38:48.557000+00:00 | ['Tech', 'Backend', 'Startup', 'Architecture', 'Elasticsearch'] |
Why do we think we need to ‘deserve’ something that makes us happy? | Meritocracy and reward is something that has been ingrained in our brains since we were born. I remember every Friday after school, my parents would let me get a treat from the local shop. It signified “well done — you’ve made it through another week”.
The same mentality runs through to adulthood, but the reward has now changed. We feel as though we need to ‘earn’ our 25 days of holiday. Every weekend we order a takeaway or wash our sorrows at the local pub, and all because we’ve done a hard day’s work.
This is also akin to health and fitness and the infamous ‘cheat days’. Where you allow yourself to eat whatever you want and not move from the sofa for 48 hours because you’ve ‘earned it’ after five days a week in the gym and therefore, ‘deserve’ to relax. It doesn’t sound very flexible!
What is the reward system?
The reward system is a driver of behaviour and creating habits when responding to certain stimuli. The reward will positively reinforce a particular behaviour, especially if it signifies pleasure (i.e. food). When we earn a reward, it releases the neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) into the system and is strengthened with every repeated action, becoming a learned behaviour.
Therefore, Dopamine is responsible for our motivation pathways. Originally, these types of experiments and studies were to prove the relationship between gambling, dopamine and forming habits.
Do I deserve it if I haven’t been productive?
But what if we don’t finish our To-Do lists or skipped the gym, which then taps into the idea of an ‘earned reward’ — does that make us deserve it any less?
Short answer: NO.
Why? Because dopamine is also responsible for the pleasure response. It is linked to our memory; therefore, we engage in particular behaviours to spark feelings of joy because we want to relive these moments. Capiche?
All these rewards are objects or events that make us feel happy. You can “treat-yo-self” to your heart’s content because you are allowed to invest in your own sanity and happiness. This is irrespective of whether you did a workout or an 8-hour shift.
Why should I treat myself?
Sometimes, it’s just nice to randomly spoil yourself, buying tickets to a concert or a new phone. Recent studies have shown that this actually boosts your mood, self-esteem and helps you to focus, therefore increasing well-being.
Let’s look at it from another perspective. Why, when we’re feeling low or moody, do we turn to things like shopping, chocolate or a trip away? Because we’re trying to turn that frown upside down. We want to feel better. It has nothing to do with deserving it!
Simple pleasures have become more complex — when they shouldn’t be. You are allowed to do whatever makes you happy (that obviously isn’t illegal or dangerous to others) because it is your birth-right. And you don’t need to compare it to what others are doing; they’re on a different path. What’s that famous tagline?
Because you’re worth it!
Written by Naida Allen
WellBe is spearheading the way to a brighter future for corporate wellness. Our innovative portal is scientifically designed and tailored to each individual employee to improve their wellbeing. We specialise in a range of services from coaching and therapists, to meditation and reading materials. Our aim is to reduce workplace stress that costs UK businesses £42 billion per year. Get in touch with us by visiting our site wellbe.global for more information. | https://medium.com/@wellbe-global/why-do-we-think-we-need-to-deserve-something-that-makes-us-happy-329a478b105a | [] | 2020-12-22 08:02:24.006000+00:00 | ['Happiness', 'Compassion', 'Motivation', 'Self Care'] |
How To Fix A Computer That Freezes At BIOS Screen | Sometimes we run into problems like this one and don’t know what to do or what caused it, when your computer freezes at the BIOS you start suspecting everything else and think that your computer is dead and you should get a new one, well… don’t! At least until you finish troubleshooting the problem.
This problem is relatively easy to fix so don’t worry but you may end up buying or replacing some parts, I’ve listed a few steps below to go through each one until you find the real cause of the problem and start implementing the fix immediately.
Defective HDD
While doing my research I found that the most common reason or at least that’s what I think is the HDD, some folks stated that replacing the HDD solved their problem so this the first part of your computer to suspect or investigate.
To determine whether the HDD is the problem or not you should connect it to another computer or try another one with your current machine, if the HDD is really the problem then you should boot into Windows normally by now.
Check all the cables connected to the hard disk and push it in properly.
Tip: make sure that the SATA cable is connected properly by pushing it further into the HDD or the optical drive.
The RAM is Bad or Not Seated Properly
The second part you need to check is the RAM, if you have two sticks of RAM try switching them or use just one, if your computer stops freezing then congratulations, now you need to decide what to do get a new RAM stick that if you found out that one if then is faulty or dead or just stick to one for now.
If you’re 100% sure that none of your RAM sticks is dead then you’re left with a possibility of a dead motherboard slot if not the whole motherboard was dead.
If the problem persists then continue with the other steps below.
Power Cable & CMOS Battery
Remove the power cable and press down the power button for 10 seconds or 1 minute, reseat the CMOS battery as well, the CMOS battery is a rounded coin that saves the settings of the BIOS as well as the date.
You can reset it easily by removing it and putting it back in 5 or 10 minutes.
Try booting up the computer and see if it helps.
Disconnect Everything
Disconnect any unnecessary peripherals as well as the mouse and the keyboard and just leave the power cable then try starting the computer, if the problem is solved then one of the peripherals is bad or broken, you need to check each part one by one to see what part was causing the problem and replace it.
Defective Motherboard
After trying all the steps above with no success then you should start suspecting that the motherboard is dead, a few signs of a defective motherboard are the following.
Tip: make sure your computer is dust free, doesn’t heat up, no repeated peeps, and all the fans are running fine
In short, the MBR is a very important sector which is located on the hard disk and responsible for booting into Windows, if it’s damaged for any reason you won’t be able to boot into Windows.
There’s a guide online which can help you to fix the MBR, | https://medium.com/@shawkykhalil/how-to-fix-a-computer-that-freezes-at-bios-screen-18371c8311f4 | ['Shawky Khalil'] | 2019-05-02 14:48:08.937000+00:00 | ['Freezes', 'Bios', 'Fix', 'Computers'] |
Overview of OGN’s Apex group stage, day 3: Bastion’s debut! | For years hailed as the “Mecca of esports”, recently Korea has been largely overtaken by Overwatch in terms of casual play. As a result we are seeing the first Korean Overwatch tournament, featuring 4 top tier foreign teams (Rogue, NRG, EnVyUS, Reunited) alongside 12 of Korea’s best.
For today’s match-ups we had the second showing, in the tournament, of BK stars and the debut of MVP Space from group B. Following that up in group D, we saw Reunited’s second appearance, after getting upset by Runaway on Monday. This time they faced the Korean powerhouse Kongdoo Panthera.
For those interested only in my picks for “Game, players and teams to watch” scroll down to the bottom. In those I’ll be listing the players and teams I found the most intriguing, the map I enjoyed watching most and the reasons for my picks.
Match-up 1: BK Stars vs MVP Space
BK Stars came into this as the favourite with MVP being rumored to have poor scrim performances. Additionally they had shown they can coordinate well, to play around their star player and primary carry Bunny, in their 3–2 win over Panthera’s sister team — Uncia.
The opening map, similarly to day 1 and 2 of the group stages, was Nepal. On Village BK started with a 2-2-2 of Winston, Zarya, Lucio, Ana, McCree and Bunny's signature Tracer. MVP responded with similar composition, having Reaper instead of McCree. After taking advantage in the traditional contest for the high ground, MVP took control and kept it without much trouble up until 70%. Then on the back of several picks BK took over the point, and despite brief loss of control they continued holding. Eventually they took the stage 100-99 in overtime with clutch plays by Doheyon's McCree and Bunny's Tracer.
On Shrine both teams continued with the same compositions and MVP took initial control again. As Bunny was unable to hunt down Sylph (Ana) and Pelka (Lucio) on his own, we saw Dohyeon switching to Genji. That proved effective as they finally took control of the point with MVP just under 90%. Despite good Death Blossoms by Poro the dive combination held strong for BK, letting Sylph build up only 1 more Nanoboost until the end of the match. Failing to adapt to opponent’s composition, MVP found themselves down 0-1 in the series.
Top Heroes by pick rate for the tournament, so far.
For the second map of their debut MVP selected King's Row. Being on the attack, BK opened with the unconventional composition of Reinhardt, Zarya, Lucio, Ana, Mei and Bastion. That took MVP (and the viewers alike) by surprise as Bunny and co. quickly took over the first point, after nanoboosted Bastion wiped out the opponents. Following that, BK went back to their comfort composition, replacing Mei and Bastion with Tracer and McCree. Their prowess with 'big bang' was displayed again as they cleared out MVP quickly, once they had Graviton Surge and Time Bomb available. Even though this was MVP's pick, BK continued rolling trough the map without being contested too much, finishing the run with just under 2:30 in the time bank.
After changing sides both teams switched up things as we saw MVP with Winston, D.va, Lucio, Ana, Reaper and Genji, while Bunny traded Tracer for Reaper. Despite strong initial hold and several good beyblades by BK, MVP eventually took over the point. The game continued in similar fashion as MVP were slowly pushing, even with Bunny performing really well and Daily not having much impact on Roadhog. That changed however, just as MVP were about to deliver the cart. With only several meters left BK finally dropped all 6 from MVP. They managed to hold there for the rest of the map and in overtime, increasing their lead to 2-0.
Having their second pick, MVP chose Hanamura as the third map. Being on the defense, they picked Reinhardt, Roadhog, Lucio, Ana, McCree and Mei. BK on the other hand attacked with extremely mobile composition and Twinkl being the only support, on his signature Lucio. The rest picked D.va, Winston, Zarya, Tracer and Genji. That was shown to be a good choice, as they took the point on their first push, with only Bunny dying — to a hook from Daily. BK followed up with quick push towards point 2 as they had considerable advantage in ultimates. That was enough to finish the run, as they took over the point in a prolonged series of skirmishes, with just under 5:50 in the time bank.
On the defense BK chose standard 2-2-2 composition with Reinhardt, Zarya, Lucio, Ana, McCree and Tracer. MVP attacked with 2-2-2 of their own, choosing Winston, D.va, Lucio, Ana, Reaper and Genji. Despite favourable trades on their initial push MVP were pushed back and didn't find much success in the following one. After a brief technical pause Sylph and co. finally took the point as he managed to push back Bunny's Tracer on his own. Heading to the second point however, they were at ultimate disadvantage and BK pushed them back easily after killing 3. Their next attack on the point had mixed effectiveness as they were trading favourably, but Bernar on Bastion and his crew, stopped them from gaining even one tick on the control point. After that prolonged series of skirmishes, the rest of the map continued with a strong hold from BK, taking the series in a convincing 3-0.
For MVP of the match OGN voted BK's two DPS players - Bunny and Dohyeon.
Match-up 2: Kongdoo Panthera vs Reunited
For the second match-up of the day we had the return of Reunited versus the hugely hyped up squad of Panthera. The Koreans, considered by some the best teams in Korea, recently won the „Danawa Battle“ with 3–0 in the finals against LuxuryWatch Blue. Additionally they have 3 of their players as the 3 highest ranked players on the competitive ladder — Rascal, Evermore and Butcherr. On the other hand, despite roster change and losing 0–3 on Monday versus Runaway, the Europeans didn’t look bad in their OGN debut. The discrepancy in recent form was enough however, for some, including OGN’s English broadcast commentators MonteCristo and DoA, to consider Reunited the underdogs.
For the opening map, control point select by randomizer, we had Nepal once again. On the first stage, Shrine, Panthera looked to have taken note of Reunited’s weakness against Runaway and opened up with a Rascal on Genji. The rest of their composition was Winston, Zarya, Lucio, Ana and Tracer. Reunited opened with similar, but less mobile composition, using Reinhardt over Winston and Reaper instead of Tracer for Unfixed.
Vallutaja showed up for Reunited right from the get-go as he quickly eliminated Butcher in duel. Despite that the Koreans won the rest of the trades and Reunited’s supports as everyone else was dead to Kongdoo losing only one more. In the following engagement Rascal quickly dismantled Reunited with Dragonblade and Kongdoo continued holding strong. On their next attempt to take control the Europeans took Zenyatta and Genji for Morte and Unfixed. That worked splendidly as they traded 4 for Onigod and took control with ultimate advantage. They managed to defend briefly, however it was done at the cost of their ultimates, while Kongdoo built up all 6 of theirs in the meantime. In a prolonged final push and overtime the Koreans took 1–0 lead, ending the stage 100–57.
On Village both teams met in a fight for the high ground with same composition: Reinhardt, Zarya, Ana, Lucio, Mei and Reaper. In overly aggressive chase by Butcherr Panthera lost control and we saw the Europeans taking early control after trading kills in their favour even further. On the back of great Mei play by Unixed, Reunited managed to push the Koreans back to their spawn area. They continued holding strong even further, on the back of great Death Blossom by Vallutaja. Kongdoo quickly responded after they built up ultimate on their own Reaper, finally pushing back the Europeans and briefly taking control over the point. It was short reign though, as Vallutaja and co. came back quickly to reclaim the point and take the equalize the stage score with convincing 100–22.
On the deciding stage, Sanctum, Panthera continued with the Genji — Tracer duo , trying to dive the enemy supports. Reunited however stuck to Zenyatta looking to deny that opportunity with his ultimate in teamfights.
The Europeans managed to seize early control and continued holding trough Kongdoo’s attempts until just over 50%. That lasted briefly though, as Reunited returned with ultimates and quickly reclaimed the point. They managed to hold strong and ended up taking the lead in the series 1–0.
Evermore and Wakawaka with devastating combo.
For a second map the ‘home-town’ boys picked King’s Row. They opened on the defense side with Reinhardt, Zarya, Roadhog, Lucio and Ana playing around Rascal’s Mei. The Europeans attacked with similar picks but put Vallutaja on Reaper instead of Roadhog. Evermore didn’t seem to think it’s good idea though, as he quickly hooked and dropped down Vallutaja, stalling Reunited’s first push. That didn’t seem to phase them much, as they followed up with good Earthshatter from Winghaven, to start pushing the payload with more than 5 minutes on the clock. With the cart entering the alleys Kongdoo managed to hold strong and wiped the Europeans multiple times with well coordinated ultimate combos by their tanks.
Despite that Reunited managed to reach the second point on the map but had only 1:50 in the time bank after doing so. As a result they didn’t have enough time to finish the run and ended it with 2 points and just under 60m towards the third, despite showing some impressive team-fighting themselves.
After switching sides both teams continued using same compositions. That resulted in the Koreans toking over the first point and starting the push slightly slower than Reunited. Entering the alleys they got wiped quickly, with a great Graviton Surge by Onigod and Vallutaja left-clicking everyone to death. The run continued at slightly faster pace than the Europeans’ which resulted in Panthera pushing past the second point with 2:30 on the clock, despite coming into the alleys at disadvantage. There we also saw them switch their composition to longer range poke, taking Pharah, McCree and Mercy to compliment Reinhardt, Zarya and Ana. They did good damage initially but quickly got engaged on as all 6 got killed. That proved instrumental though as after prolonged overtime on Panthera’s return the Europeans managed to hold the cart only 1.2 meters away from their distance. As a result they increased their lead in the series to a 2–0.
Kongdoo Panthera and Reunited facing the audience before the games.
Sitting on elimination point, Panthera picked Temple of Anubis for the third map. On the defense Reunited’s composition, seemingly designed to deal with potential Genji, was Winston, Roadhog, Mei, Tracer, Lucio and Zenyatta. Kongdoo however, were using their 3–2–1 with Rascal on Mei. That seemed to take the Europeans by surprise as the Koreans quickly took over the first point and headed towards the second with more than 7 minutes on the clock. Keeping the rest of the composition the same they traded Mei for Pharah and Lucio for Mercy. As that proved ineffective after several pushes Rascal switched again, this time to Genji and R2der went back to Lucio. Much like the first 2 maps, Reunited were ready for Genji today and continued holding the point. The 7 minutes proved too much however, as Kongdoo managed to take over the point with 36 seconds in the time bank.
On the defense we saw the Koreans once again go back to, what seems to be their comfort composition, 3–2–1 around Rascal’s Mei. Reunited also stuck to their guns, as the only change was moving Unfixed to Genji. The map opened with impressive duel by Vallutaja’s Tracer versus Evermore’s Roadhog, dropping the highest ranked player in the world on his signature pick on the ground. That resulted in a series of favourable trades and the Europeans took the first point. Rushing towards the second point they had 6:45 in the time bank and considerable ultimate advantage. The Korean side managed a miraculous defense though, not giving up even a single tick on the back of Rascal coming up huge. Following that Panthera held strong against Reunited’s attempts. After overtime push by Vallutaja and co. they finally got them on the scoreboard with 1 to Reunited’s 2.
For the fourth map Reunited had the pick from the escort maps, as per tournament rules. Their choice was Route 66, opening on the attack with 2–2–2, while Kongdoo were playing around Rascal’s Mei once again. Here the Koreans looked uncomfortable and Rascal’s Mei didn’t bring enough damage. As the Europeans pushed past the 2nd point Rascal switched to Tracer, but that wasn’t successful either and Reunited finished the run with just under 2:30 in the time bank.
Learning from their mistake Kongdoo finally went to 2–2–2 themselves, putting Rascal on Genji and Wakawaka on Tracer. That found more success as they managed to get to the first point in a prolonged overtime. The push continued at similar pace as they reached the second in a similarly hard fought overtime. Against all odds they did the same at the third point, heading to another attempt with a minute on the clock to Reunited’s 3:30.
A minute was enough only for just under 40m and Reunited got second run at the attack, opening with 2–2–2 and keeping the same composition of Reinhardt, Zarya, Ana, Lucio, Reaper and Mei. The time was enough as they reached the Koreans’ distance with more than 1:40 on the clock. With the 3:1 they are keeping their chances of playoffs alive.
Bonus trivia (credit for it goes to @MonteCristo): this was the first win of Europeans against a Korean team.
My picks for “Game, players and teams to watch”:
Players to watch:
Vallutaja wrecking havoc on King’s Row.
Vallutaja — well, I put him here when they lost and he definitely earned it today too. Showed formidable performances again and with his team stepping up his play was more than enough to secure the win. Similarly to Monday’s games positioned well, did a lot of damage and outdueled opponents multiple times. I continue to think he’s a bit lacking in the play-making department, compared to players like E1kiNo and Bunny, but the rest of his gameplay makes up for the difference. Hopefully the team will go into the playoffs and we see him versus other top-tier opponents on the OGN stage.
Sylph — another support player making my rankings. Displayed enviable positioning throughout the series and managed to outduel Bunny’s tracer multiple times throughout the series. Outside of being terrorized by Reunited’s dives on Village looked very solid, so it will be interesting to see if he can maintain good performances. Will be impressive if he can, considering MVP are looking like the second weakest team in the group.
Rascal — similarly to Vallutaja on Monday, showed up huge for his team but it wasn’t enough. Obviously has the mechanical prowess, as he’s tied for 1st on the competitive ladder, but his game definitely seemed raw compared to other top tier carries we’ve seen so far. The wide hero pool and making good decisions for the most part gives me hope that we’ll see him improve further. Additionally, his team having more time together, should also give boost to his performances.
Bunny — another great set of Tracer games and sadly again, not too much else. Still the most impressive timing on Tracer we’ve seen throughout the tournament. He also continued to do tons of damage, but unlike his last appearance on stage, he wasn’t demanding the majority of team’s resources to do so. That definitely gives me more hopes for the team as a whole. The questions regarding his effective champion pool do remain, but with his team stepping up it won’t be as much of a problem.
Honorable mentions: Morty and Unfixed.
Teams to watch:
Reunited — well… I’ll take the chance for expected, I told you so. The team looked to have cleared up a lot of the issues they had versus Runaway. Onigod performed much better and so did Unfixed (#unearthlyicicles). With those two opening up more space Vallutaja had all the chances that he needed secure his crew the win. The others remain looking solid and putting Morty on Zenyatta seemingly fixes all the issues they had against Genji. Will be interesting to see how much they improve going further. I’m expecting Unfixed and Onigod and Morty to step slightly more individually. Additionally with having more time on the team Onigod’s coordination should improve too. They definitely reclaimed a place among the top teams in the tournament by the good performance today so I’m curious to see how deep can they go.
Kongdoo Panthera — tough loss for the team but they still have the opportunity to reach the playoffs and definitely got the talent to do so. Their compositions seemed a bit questionable at times. Coordination also wasn’t on par with other top teams either and they’ll have to fix that before facing Runaway. Additional chink in their armor is that Butcherr seems to live by the ‘Do dive!’ motto 24/7 and was constantly overextending and dying today. Regardless, similarly to Reunited I do have hope (definitely not as much though) for them improving and going further into the tournament. They simply have too much raw talent in the roster, not to do it in my opion. And after all, whatever happens with that we’ll see a good team not going into the playoffs. From what we’ve seen throughout the group stages so far, they are the most likely candidate.
Map to watch: Kongdoo Panthere vs Reunited — King’s Row. Overall very exciting map with both teams showing good play. In addition to nail-biting result we got several highlight clips out of this one and the Koreans and Europeans alike got to show the strengths of their teams. If you have more time I’d recommend their game on Nepal for the same reasons as well as BK Stars vs MVP Space on King’s Row for the Bastion factor. | https://medium.com/@RadoNonfire/overview-of-ogns-apex-group-stage-day-3-bastion-s-debut-69fe8a4a3e3d | [] | 2016-12-10 14:09:42.320000+00:00 | ['Esports', 'Gaming', 'Overwatch', 'Video Games'] |
Somalia experts from Somalia EDUs network, Somalia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, IBS Bank, Sominvest and Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry, among others, receive UNIDO’s Computer Model for | Somalia experts from Somalia EDUs network, Somalia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, IBS Bank, Sominvest and Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry, among others, receive UNIDO’s Computer Model for Feasibility Analysis and Reporting (COMFAR) training UNIDO Somalia Programme Dec 16, 2020·3 min read
MOGADISHU, December 16th 2020 — Somalia has made significant momentum towards peace and sustainable development. Within the framework of the project “Agro-technology Development for Economic Growth South and Central Somalia’, UNIDO Somalia aims to boost private sector revival by supporting Somali businesses in starting, rehabilitating and upgrading their operations, while providing access to technology, markets and financing facilities.
Group Photo — MoCI, AICS, IBS, UNIDO, COMFAR, EDUs. Credit photo: UNIDO
In this context, UNIDO Somalia, objective is to accelerate economic development and create jobs with market based technical skills development. One of the major component identified for support to the Somalia private sector and economy, is UNIDO’s Computer Model for Feasibility Analysis and Reporting (COMFAR). As Somalia is at cross-roads of debt relief, there is high hope that this will lead to increase in local and foreign investments. Thus, equipping the public and private sector with tools and methodology is crucial to support in investment projects, facilitating short and long-term analysis of financial analysis and economic effects for industrial and non-industrial projects.
This UNIDO Somalia project is funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation. UNIDO, along with the COMFAR team has conducted this training from 30th of November to 6th of December, 2020, teaching 11 experts (from the Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry of FGS, Somali Chamber of Commerce, IBS Bank, Network of EDU’s & SomInvest) the ability to use COMFAR for the analysis of investment in new projects, and expansion or rehabilitation of existing enterprises. As a result, the successful graduates, are enabled to input economic financial and economic data, calculate results (statements), read and interpret performance, risks & sensitivity from the statements. Consequently, the aim is for these trained experts is to transfer the gained skills and knowledge to both private and public sector and in turn ensure the feasibility and economic benefits of investment projects in Somalia. This success of the trainings is due Mr. Mehrdad Rahmanifar’s (Senior COMFAR Instructor) experience from thousands of hours of training different people from various backgrounds and cultures, while the trainees, had the attitude and interest to grasp the Computer Model for Feasibility Analysis and Reporting (COMFAR), most importantly, possessing the ability to transfer the gained knowledge to other.
UNIDO’s COMFAR, is the first training of its kind, in Somalia to provide Computer Model approach on Feasibility Analysis and Reporting. On the 15th of December, 2020, during an online Closing Ceremony, the trainees (graduates) described the training as “interactive, useful and relevant, while mentioning that it will support in the development of business plans for Somalia entrepreneurs at their respective institutions”, Mr. Ygor Scarcia, UNIDO Somalia O.i.C. emphasized on the need for Somalia to acquire the ability to undertake high quality feasibility analysis, which can contribute to more sustainable projects, which can ultimately translate into jobs creations and economic development. Mr. Pradeep Paulose, Industrial Development Officer/COMFAR, encouraged all the graduates to practice the tool and ensure that they make part of their day-to-day activities whether, when doing feasibility studies, transferring knowledge to others or counseling sessions at the Network of EDUs, to demonstrate the feasibility of a new project for theirs clients.
Mr. Guglielmo Giordano, Director AICS Somalia Office and Mr Abdiaziz Ibrahim Adan, DG of MoCI of FGS, both congratulated the graduates during the Official Closing Ceremony and highlighted that putting COMFAR into practice will change how investment projects are approached in the country and offer effective and efficient way to conduct project financial/economic feasibility and assessment. This means better decision-making and high quality projects, in Somalia.
For further information, please refer:
Twitter: @UNIDOSomalia
Email: [email protected] | https://medium.com/@unidosomalia/somalia-experts-from-somalia-edus-network-somalia-chamber-of-commerce-and-industry-ibs-bank-d2ecb14927d1 | ['Unido Somalia Programme'] | 2020-12-16 21:01:22.356000+00:00 | ['Unido', 'Economic Development', 'United Nations', 'Sme', 'Somalia'] |
Stranger Talked To 1400 Strangers About Their Sex Lives | A conversation on sex, life, and anxiety.
Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash
Hey,
In my father’s village, there is a tale of a farmer with a tiger.
A farmer was on his way to the farm early in the morning when he met a tiger. He was walking on top of a hill. The tiger was downhill. They both spotted each other at the same time.
The farmer will clobber the tiger every time it jumped to come uphill with a stick the farmer located nearby.
The severe beating to the tiger came at the risk of the man’s life with every near miss. The tiger left after failing too many times to snatch the farmer from that hill.
The severe wounds caused the tiger’s death a few days later. The farmer had survived the ordeal.
This story not only servers as a cautionary tale but also as a narrative about tenacity and hope.
Stories offer lessons.
I shared a 7-page preview of the magazine the other week with a heartfelt story from a person living with depression. It prompted this reply from a friend.
I loved the article on depression. My ex-husband now deceased suffered from chronic depression for most of our 18-year marriage. He was under a doctor’s care but I never knew what the symptoms were. He was always sleeping, always. It became frustrating because we could never go anywhere or do anything. He would come out of it and bathe and groom himself but as I think about it now it was hard for him.
My daughter, who is not a very loving or patient person said, “Charles always looks like he just got out of bed no matter when I see him.” I did not know at the time that this was a symptom of his depression and mental health. I was not very patient of loving either I guess and agreed with her.
Anyway, keep on with the magazine. It looks great.
The reason I keep releasing these magazine issues it’s rooted in the hope that it will help us improve our options. I believe the stories within will make us do better.
In the words of Maya Angelou — ‘Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.’
The new issue of the buibui magazine is now ready for purchase click here to learn more
I’m sorry I keep getting delayed with this letter release. I will talk more about in the next letter.
Until Next Tuesday.
— Joel
A collection of modern ideas that make us better in bed and partnership
I decided to lose weight after my ex-wife cheated on me stating that she found me unattractive, that she never loved me and that she was leaving and taking the dog with her. This personal narrative drove me to lose over 100lbs in 6 months and maintain that weight loss for over a year now. Emotional pain is an effective catalyst for change.
The creative mind can be a janus I tell you! It can string together words and ideas to create something so beautiful. Then it can just turn around and create the most awful mess within seconds.
Quote
“I found out that total creativity involves a certain intellectual rebellion…not to become a criminal, but…you have to do things that are a little bit forbidden. You have to feel free.”
— Philippe Petit
What is Buibui?
Buibui is where the conversations from Beyourself publication are taken further — with in-depth stories with some of the beyourself authors, more personal stories, and relevant courses for Beyourself readers. Brought to you by the same people behind beyourself publication. Will you give it a try today and read from there too? Click here to head there
Disclaimer
The Note — is a manageable selection (3 items) of engaging, practical, and personal stories that make your day a little more pleasant.
Unless marked as sponsor/advertiser, I do not receive compensation for any of my recommendations.
Hi, I’m Joel. I write this letter to you every Tuesday. My goal with this simple letter is to present you by way of email. A manageable selection of engaging, practical, and personal stories that make your day a little more pleasant. | https://byrslf.co/stranger-talked-to-1400-strangers-about-their-sex-lives-4e4cf9040354 | ['Joel Mwakasege'] | 2021-09-08 18:00:14.764000+00:00 | ['Beyourself', 'Newsletter'] |
Who is Monitoring Mining Pools? | One of our goals at the Digital Currency Initiative is to harden the security of cryptocurrency networks. Most users of cryptocurrency take the actual network protocol and all of its implementation — mining, pools, validation, messaging, and more — for granted, and aren’t necessarily aware of all the ways these mechanisms might be attacked or fail. For example, though mining pools are a huge part of Bitcoin’s network security, there isn’t any available public monitoring to make sure that mining pools are well-behaved. There isn’t even a standard way to look at what pool operators are doing or infrastructure to keep tabs on pool operators.
This is an example of what we call protocol risk: cryptocurrencies are only as secure as their networks. If a network is insecure, it can become unusable or users could lose their money. Businesses and users who are deeply invested in cryptocurrency should understand how to evaluate and mitigate this risk.
Review of mining
In Bitcoin and other proof-of-work cryptocurrencies, miners secure the network by using their computational resources (usually ASICs or GPUs) to compete for block rewards. In total, these resources are known as the network hashrate, which is the rate at which all the mining equipment operating in the network can execute the cryptocurrency’s hash function. Bitcoin and other longest-chain protocols rely upon the distribution of hashrate among miners for security; if an attacker can obtain a majority of the network hashrate, they can mine an alternative chain that will become the network’s longest chain and they can double spend. We’ve seen this happen ourselves on five occasions on several low-hashrate cryptocurrencies to date. Most recently there were multiple attacks on Ethereum Classic, where attackers took several million dollars worth of money from their victims.
The hashrate of the biggest cryptocurrencies has grown very high — in Bitcoin the network completes 2⁷⁶ hashes every ten minutes. As a solo miner, it will likely take you a very long time to find a block and collect your rewards — using a cutting-edge miner today, it will take on average 19 years to find a block. But miners make an up-front investment in equipment and have to pay power costs; they often can’t wait that long for income.
In order to reduce this variance in rewards, miners combine their hashrate together in mining pools and split the rewards according to how much hashrate each miner contributes. The first mining pool was established in 2010. Mining pools work as follows: Miners register for a pool with a payment address, usually through a website, and point their miner towards the pool. The mining pool operator distributes work to miners (making sure they don’t do overlapping work) and has the responsibility of accounting how much work each miner performed. Work is a version of a block header with a transaction that pays the mining pool operator; the miner tries different nonces. A miner gives the pool operator shares which are mined block headers that hash to low values, but not low enough to meet the blockchain’s difficulty target; this is evidence to the pool operator of the miner’s hashrate. When a miner finds a share low enough to meet the difficulty target, they report it to the pool operator, who attaches it to the block and gossips it to the network. The pool then distributes the block reward to all the miners proportionally to the work each miner did.
Mining pools in Bitcoin make up the vast majority of the total Bitcoin hashrate. Generally somewhere between 4–8 mining pools comprise a majority of the hashrate. They’re a critically important part of Bitcoin’s security.
What exactly are the pools mining?
In existing mining pool software, the mining pool operator chooses and distributes the work: miners do not get to choose what block contents to mine. In fact, miners only get the block headers, not the transactions that form the block. This is in contrast to solo mining, where the miner runs their own full node and chooses their own transactions for a new block, and new mining pool protocols like Stratum v2 where the miner can have a say in what they mine. But right now, miners pretty much mine whatever they are given.
This is risky: pool operators control large amounts of network hashrate, and could conduct attacks like double spending and selfish mining without the miners even knowing it. Or, a pool operator could redirect a miner’s hashrate to a different coin with the same algorithm.
A miner decides what pool their hardware connects to, and pool operation is competitive: miners can leave and join pools whenever they like. So miners could abandon a pool for bad behavior, and in fact, this has happened in the past when miners decided to leave Ghash.io after it accumulated more than 50% of the Bitcoin hashrate. But how do miners even learn about bad behavior?
Introducing Pool Detective
In order to address the risk that mining pool operators could go rogue, DCI developed Pool Detective. The idea is simple: We join all the public mining pools and monitor what they’re doing, making sure it matches the work we’d expect to see. We add a proxy server between our own mining hardware and each mining pool in order to archive the jobs the mining pool instructs our hardware to perform, and the work we produced in return. We are currently mining in 32 pools across 17 cryptocurrencies. We also run full nodes for each of the cryptocurrencies we monitor, as well as block observers which connect to full nodes and listen for block propagation messages in five different locations around the globe. This gives us an overall view of the network and we can detect things like delayed blocks or spy mining by seeing when our observers find out about blocks as compared to when our miners switch work in the pools.
The protocol over which miners and pools talk to each other is called Stratum. We’ve built a Stratum proxy server that connects to all of the 32 upstream pools, and receives jobs to work on which it archives in a database. It then acts as a stratum server to our mining hardware, using a single miner per mining algorithm to produce valid work for these pools.
Mining pools usually disconnect miners that don’t produce work, so in order to do our monitoring we actually have to run mining hardware as well. In addition to monitoring, we’re also contributing useful work, honestly mining in each of the individual pools.
We’ve been running this system since November 2019, and are collecting the work pools give out and how and when new blocks are gossiped on the peer-to-peer networks. We are then analyzing this data for unexpected behavior and anomalies. The mining jobs that the pool sends us contain a number of interesting aspects that we can correlate to the data we observe using our full node, for instance:
Block hash
Each job contains the hash of the block it’s trying to build on top of. This should be the publicly known tip of the blockchain (i.e., the most recent Bitcoin block on the chain with the most work), since that’s the chain we want to extend with the new block we’re trying to find. If this is not the tip of the chain we’re mining, it could indicate a number of things:
If we don’t know this block hash at all, then the mining pool is potentially engaging in selfish mining. The network doesn’t yet know about the block that we’re working on.
If we’ve seen this block on a different blockchain, then the pool could be mining on a different chain than the one we expect. For example, a pool advertised as mining BTC might direct some hashrate to BSV, perhaps because the reward is more favorable. This is possible because Bitcoin and Bitcoin SV share the same proof-of-work function, SHA256, and thus the same type of hardware is effective at mining both.
Coinbase transaction.
The first transaction in every block is the pool operator paying rewards to themselves. This transaction is included in the job sent to the miner, allowing the miner additional space to put random data (nonce space) while mining. This transaction contains identifying information such as which key the rewards are paid to. Linking blocks in the blockchain to mining pools is generally done by looking at the payout address of the coinbase transaction. It also contains various marker data that can be used to identify the mining pool. It is possible to link blocks from the blockchain to these mining jobs using this identifying information. Mining pools could decide to include an unknown pay-out address (that they still control) and/or the marker of a different mining pool — to attribute blocks to a different pool or to “unknown” hashrate. While this might seem far-fetched, it’s a possibility allowing pools to conceal their true hashrate. It is risky for a single pool to dominate the hashrate of a coin since users are at risk of double spends and the miners might leave, but there’s economic incentive to do this if the pool operator can get away with it: more miners means more income to the pool.
Merkle proof of the coinbase transaction.
The block header of each block contains a cryptographic proof that commits to all the transactions in the block. Since miners change the coinbase transaction to use the extra nonce space, they need more of the Merkle tree to re-calculate this proof after the transaction is altered. We can learn a few things from his merkle proof in the mining job:
We can take the same Merkle proof from blocks on the chain to see which jobs included the same transactions (besides the coinbase) as the block that ended up being appended to the ledger.
We can identify mining pools that mine on empty blocks (blocks with only a coinbase transaction), because the Merkle proof will be empty. From this, we can see how often and how long mining pools ask their miners to mine empty blocks, and evaluate if this is longer than it absolutely needs to be. Mining empty blocks is unhealthy for the network because it decreases total throughput.
Moving forward
Mining pools play a vital role in the security of proof-of-work networks and therefore deserve to be monitored more closely than individual miners currently do. Pool Detective is already uncovering threats, and we’ve just started. With more resources, we’d expand our work in the following ways to effectively monitor more networks at scale and monitor more operations:
Monitor more messages on the P2P networks. Right now we’re just monitoring blocks. If we saved and analyzed all messages on the P2P network, we could create a way to detect things like transaction censorship and mempool attacks, which could be important once Lightning is more widely deployed. The information on the P2P network, observed from multiple places, can help us understand what kind of work we should expect our miners to receive. We can match that against what we actually receive to search for anomalies.
Right now we’re just monitoring blocks. If we saved and analyzed all messages on the P2P network, we could create a way to detect things like transaction censorship and mempool attacks, which could be important once Lightning is more widely deployed. The information on the P2P network, observed from multiple places, can help us understand what kind of work we should expect our miners to receive. We can match that against what we actually receive to search for anomalies. Design a compact, self-hosted Pool Detective so more miners can monitor . Ideally, everyone could run this for themselves. We think we can create a way for individual miners to monitor, ensuring they’re mining on top of the expected chain tip — and if not, report or switch to a different pool.
. Ideally, everyone could run this for themselves. We think we can create a way for individual miners to monitor, ensuring they’re mining on top of the expected chain tip — and if not, report or switch to a different pool. Add more proof-of-work networks . In order to reliably identify unknown or suspicious blocks from mining pools (especially pools from hash rental markets) we need to rule out that the work is not from a lesser-known (but valid) proof-of-work chain. This means adding and maintaining more cryptocurrency nodes.
. In order to reliably identify unknown or suspicious blocks from mining pools (especially pools from hash rental markets) we need to rule out that the work is not from a lesser-known (but valid) proof-of-work chain. This means adding and maintaining more cryptocurrency nodes. Educate the community. People aren’t necessarily talking about these risks yet, but they will as the ecosystem grows. We need to better explain the potential attacks that could happen, how they affect businesses built on Bitcoin and other digital assets, and how monitoring and detection can help mitigate them. We intend to help quantify this risk and cultivate awareness of it.
We’re currently in the process of analyzing all the data we’ve collected and are moving forward with three immediate next steps:
We found and reported unexpected mining behavior in one of the top mining pools. We expect to have a report ready to share soon. We’re working on a video series explaining this work in more detail. Follow the DCI on Twitter (@mitdci) or subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified when episodes are posted. We’re working on analyzing all our data and sharing it through a public website which will allow anyone to query our dataset through an API. Work in progress can be seen at https://pooldetective.org.
If you have any suggestions or ideas, feel free to leave a comment below or reach out to [email protected].
Pool Detective is one part of a comprehensive effort at DCI to improve the security and robustness of global cryptocurrency networks. Please reach out if you’re interested in learning more or supporting our work.
Authors: Gert-Jaap Glasbergen, Neha Narula | https://medium.com/mit-media-lab-digital-currency-initiative/who-is-monitoring-mining-pools-65de79b90710 | ['Gert-Jaap Glasbergen'] | 2020-08-21 15:30:26.299000+00:00 | ['Mining Pool', 'Proof Of Work', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Monitoring', 'Blockchain'] |
Endorphins On A Canvas | Being an artist, I’ve always found a form of comfort behind my canvas. Be it the most dull of days, I was able to turn that around by spending some time painting or even doodling. One such day I happened to have a passing thought about what changes occur in my brain while creating something and why does it uplift my mood. It was just one of those thoughts that went by and was forgotten about soon enough.
After a few months I began teaching art to little kids, I started interacting with children of all ages and it was a whole new experience. I wanted to understand and get to know more in order to help me engage them better during our classes. I then decided to send out a questionnaire to all the children with a bunch of questions related to their hobbies, lifestyle and daily routine. After a few weeks I was able to gather all the responses and the answer to the very last question left me amazed. The last question was “Why do you like to draw or paint?”, almost every response to that question was either it makes me happy or I feel good. This made me ponder on the co-relation of our brains and creativity, which did not only apply to me but even to children. Without being aware of what triggers their emotional changes they were still able to respond to the question by acknowledging their feeling. Furthermore, I was able to notice a feeling of accomplishment in the children towards the end of every art class. This visual creative expression seemed to be like the last piece of a big puzzle.
I was so curious and I just had to read more about the science and theories behind the link between creativity, our bodies and minds. I came across various articles that spoke about the link between creativity and the release of endorphins, a feel-good hormone in the body and thereby reducing cortisol, a stress hormone. You would be surprised to know that just a few minutes a day of a creative activity could drastically elevate your mood.
I strongly believe engaging in any form of creative work is essential for people of all ages to help them relax, build self esteem and overall create a healthy and positive state of mind. | https://medium.com/@shreya-strokesandhues/endorphins-on-a-canvas-7e38d64d1629 | ['Shreya Sarda'] | 2020-12-18 08:28:58.125000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Inspiration', 'Art', 'Painting', 'Wellbeing'] |
The Balance Between Living For Today and Planning For Tomorrow | Photo by Brendan Church on Unsplash
One of the financial challenges most individuals and families have to deal with is finding the balance between living for today and planning for tomorrow. If you put everything away toward the future while living on beans and rice today and then end up dying young you will have forgone quality of life in your quest for security. But, if you spend everything you make today plus 10% more you will never have a financial future.
As a fiduciary financial planner we help our clients strike this balance. People’s lives have become more and more financialized. They are faced with money decisions almost daily that have an impact on whether they are focused on living for today or looking toward the future. Since almost all of our clients are middle or upper-middle class, they do not have enough financial resources to fully fund every choice. Compromises have to be made!
Suppose your children are 8 and 10 years old. Do you spend $4000 on a family vacation this year or do you put $2000 into each of their college savings plans to fund their future education needs? The difficulty is that there is no manual to go to for the right answer. There is no right answer. All financial choices involve tradeoffs. Be wary of anyone who says they have the correct answer to these types of questions.
This is why it is very important that whoever you are going to for financial advice asks the questions necessary to get to know you well. I always tell new, prospective clients that we do not need to know every deep, dark secret in their lives but frankly we do need to know most of them. Without understanding your dreams, your goals, your priorities, and your resources it is difficult or even impossible to help you navigate these hard choices.
A few examples may help to illustrate challenges and opportunities. In the early 2000’s a client couple I had been working with for about ten years came to me with a question. One of the partners in the relationship had been diagnosed about five years earlier with a progressive, debilitating disease that would eventually leave them wheelchair bound. They were only in their early forties and had talked during previous goals meetings with us about the desire to take an Alaska cruise at some point in the future when their finances were more secure. They wanted to know if they could find a way to take the trip now while they both had the mobility to enjoy it.
We discussed the likelihood that if the trip was not taken in the next 18 months that mobility issues would limit how much it could be enjoyed. We also analyzed the financial picture and told them that retirement might happen a year or two later than planned due to the diversion of money to the trip. Ultimately, they chose to take the trip later that year and created lifetime memories for a life that ultimately ended much earlier than planned.
How about the client couple whose seven year wedding anniversary fell within a few weeks of their annual goals meeting. This couple had three children during this first seven years of marriage and the husband was very focused on maximizing their retirement savings. As we were discussing goals, the wife expressed concern that they had not had a trip by themselves since their honeymoon seven years earlier. It was obvious she thought this was an important goal but he was not hearing her. I talked with both of them about the fact that I knew a number of couples who got divorced after their children were grown and left the house because they had not put the time, energy, or money into maintaining their own connection. I reminded him that the fastest way to more than cut your net worth in half is to get divorced! They left the children with parents and took a trip together.
In the mid 2000’s a client couple in their late 50’s came to us to discuss their desire to retire then and spend the rest of their life traveling as much as they could. They were by no means wealthy and we were concerned that retiring so early and then traveling would deplete their resources to the point that they would need to go back to work or drastically cut their lifestyle. Since they were adamant that this was their goal we helped them develop a monthly spending goal that we believed would keep their funds from being depleted. They chose to retire and have been travelling regularly for almost 15 years! I have never met anyone who was better at traveling on the cheap than this couple. They took on the challenge of staying within their budget and the plan has worked. Every goals meeting they take pride in sharing with us how little each trip has cost them!
Let’s finish with the story of a client who wanted to retire in 2010 and move to the mountains in Colorado. They had found a house they wanted to buy and were ready to make the purchase. The wife sent her husband to the meeting with me by himself because she was sure they were not in a financial position to make the transition yet and did not want to see the disappointment on his face. She was right. We were very concerned that they were going to make a financial commitment that had a high probability of failure. They chose to let that house go and continue to work. Then, a few years later they came back to us again with another house they wanted to buy and that time we were comfortable the numbers would work. They are happily retired to their mountain home and still talk about how grateful they are that we convinced them to wait.
Bottom line, every situation is different. Health challenges, financial resources, goals, dreams, and reality all have to come together when you are making decisions between living for today and planning for tomorrow. | https://medium.com/@richard-c-salmen/the-balance-between-living-for-today-and-planning-for-tomorrow-39c61bd4708f | ['Richard C. Salmen'] | 2020-12-12 21:42:23.943000+00:00 | ['Financial Planning', 'Relationships', 'Living With Purpose', 'Goals', 'Finance'] |
What is Bitcoin Lightning Network? And How Does It Work? | A Beginner’s Guide
The two major hitches that cripple the platforms handling transactions in fiat currencies are the slow transactions and the high transaction fees charged in the process. Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general were created to offer a solution to these problems.
However, anyone who is familiar with bitcoin transactions would know that the reverse is the case. In regards to the time it takes to process a single transaction, other payment systems that utilize conventional money like PayPal, Visa and MasterCard can process hundreds of transactions in split seconds.
Accordingly, the bitcoin system was expected to handle ten thousands of transactions in an equivalent amount of time. On the contrary, using bitcoin, it could take anytime from minutes to hours, worst case scenario, days for a single transaction to go through.
Now, when a bitcoin user initiates a transaction, the payment is verified and recorded on the blockchain database through a process called mining. Miners are paid a certain amount of fees charged to the initiator of the transaction as transaction fees. There is no fixed charge set for a transaction, rather it fluctuates with the volatility of the coin. Yet, the cost of transactions are so ridiculously high and the system is basically inefficient.
Let’s assume a user wants to pay for a box of pizza using bitcoins, putting into consideration the fact that it may take at least several minutes or hours for the system to process the payment and the fact that the cost of transaction may be higher than the actual price of the pizza, how functional and practical is the bitcoin system in the every day life of a regular individual? The Bitcoin Lightning Network was designed to address these problems.
What is Bitcoin Lightning Network
Simply put, Bitcoin Lightning Network is a system of payment that enables Bitcoin users to exchange money off-chain i.e. without the involvement of the bitcoin blockchain. The lightning network operates a few complex algorithm to process transactions at ‘lightning’ fast speed with minimal transaction fees all without disrupting the inbuilt decentralized network of the system. The system was developed by Thaddeus Dryja and Joseph Poon and it is still in testing phase of the development process.
How the Bitcoin Lightning Network works
A node, in the context of the blockchain technology, refers to a computer connected to a network. First of, to use the lightning network, every user must be a node, i.e. have at least one connection to another node. Below is a breakdown of all the unique features and tools that make up the Bitcoin lightning network.
Multisignature wallets
Image from cointelegraph.com
Technically, the Bitcoin lightning network is a multisignature cryptocurrency wallet. So what is a multisignature wallet? A multisignature wallet is a type of cryptocurrency wallet that requires more than one private key to authorize a transaction. Regular cryptocurrency wallets have just one private key and one public key and are managed by a single user.
Multi-sig wallets allow for more than one user. In this case, a user can create a multi-sig address and choose a number of people known as co-payers to operate and manage the wallet with. Before a payment can be completed by one user on a multi-sig wallet, other co-payers would have to authorize the transaction before the money can be withdrawn from the wallet. Basically, think of a multi-sig wallet like a joint bank account where all signatories will have to sign off on a transaction before it is authenticated.
In multisignature wallets, the private key is be distributed across different wallets, devices and can even be operated from a different location. In a case where one wallet is compromised, the bitcoins are still safe and a hacker would need to private keys of every co-payer in the wallet to access the funds, thus a multi-sig wallet is very efficient and secure.
The funds in a Bitcoin lightning network are held in a multi-sig wallet, co-payers make their respective deposits to this account, transactions and updated account balances are recorded here as well. The wallet is accessible to all co-payers on the network connection.
Payment channels
Like previously stated every user must be a node to use the Bitcoin lightning network. So how does the connection operate? Here’s an example.
First of all let us assume there are two nodes on the network who are in business together and need to constantly make transactions with one another. We will call the users Jane & Bob
Jane creates a payment channel — the multi-sig wallet — and chooses Bob as co-payer to share the wallet with.
Lets assume Bob and Jane deposit 3 BTC respectively in the multi-sig wallet, the Lightning Network uses a smart contracts protocol to keep track what belongs to who in the connection and each party can only access their own bitcoins in the wallet.
This process (creating a payment channel) is called opening transaction, it is an on-chain activity and as such it is recorded on the main bitcoin blockchain.
Also, details of the payment channel — the wallet address and opening balances are recorded on the blockchain too.
From this point, transactions within the payment channel are conducted off-chain within the Lightning Network. These transactions are called commitment transactions.
If Jane sends 2 BTC to Bob, she transfers a promise of ownership for 2 of her Bitcoins in the payment channel/multisig wallet to Bob. By the same token, If Bob decided to then sends 4 BTC to Jane, he transfer a promise of ownership for 4 of his Bitcoins in the payment channel/multisig wallet to Jane.
In essence, the lightning network doesn’t actually send money, it just updates the balances on how much a user on the network can access.
Since the transaction is conducted off chain, a lot of time is saved as there will be no need for miners to verify the transaction as it is not recorded on the blockchain.
Additionally, no transaction fees are charged to Jane as no mining was done.
Whenever Jane and Bob are through with the business and do not expect to conduct further transactions with one another, they can choose to close the payment channel by signing a closing transaction with their respective private keys to broadcast the closing balances to the main bitcoin blockchain.
The closing of the payment channel takes place on chain and is recorded on the blockchain database. Whatever funds are left to each user is refunded to their respective individual wallets.
Essentially, the only transactions broadcast to the blockchain are the opening and closing of a payment channel and when a user credits their lightning account on the multi-sig wallet. Every other transaction is conducted off-chain. For one time transactions between users, creating a payment channel is ineffectual. Transactions can be bounced along between as many nodes as required via indirect channelling routes. As long as there is a network of nodes that connects to the recipient, there is no need to create a payment channel to send funds to someone.
For example, if Jane wants to sent 2 BTC to Steven, instead of opening a new payment channel with Steven, she can use the payment channel that was previously established between Bob and Steven to achieve that. Bob will transfer a promise of ownership for 2 BTC to Steven and in turn Jane will transfer a promise of ownership for 2 BTC to Bob via the Jane-Bob payment channel to reimburse the amount.
With a network of payment channels as such, millions of instant transactions are able to take place with minimal amount of transaction fees involved.
Hash Time
Hash Time Locked Contract (HTLC) is a technology used to lock bitcoin in a multisignature wallet to prevent cheating and malicious transactions through payment channels on the network.
Since the Lightning Network is essentially based on commitment transactions, HTLC ensures that each party in the network holds up their end of the bargain and in the failure to do so, after a stipulated amount of time dictated by the contract, the bitcoins in the wallet are redeemed to their respective owners. HTLC keeps the parties honest and accountable in their transactions.
Other than reaching the timeout period, the money can also be unlocked and returned to either party’s individual wallets if both parties sign the closing transactions together.
Lightning Network Fees
Realistically, every user can not have a connection with everyone they intend to send money to and set up a payment channel for every transaction is not practicable. In this case, a user can use a hub of connected nodes to send the funds.
The Lightning Network charges transaction fees to the sender, minimal fees compared to the transaction fees in a regular bitcoin system. The fees are paid to other nodes on the multichannel payment network.
The money serves as incentives for users to keep nodes active and functional to pass transactions through. Additionally, there are also transaction fees charged at the opening and closing of payment channels as these transactions are verified by miners and recorded on the bitcoin blockchain.
Advantages & Disadvantages of Bitcoin Lightning Network
Advantages of Bitcoin Lightning Network
Transactions are processed instantly, the account balances of the nodes are just updated and the money is immediately accessible to the new owner.
Transaction fees are a mere fraction of the transaction cost, hence, users do not have to worry about being charged fees higher than the original amount in the transaction.
Commitment transactions are not recorded on the blockchain so once a payment channel is closed, the transactions can not be traced back to the users. This is particularly useful for people who wish to maintain anonymous during transactions.
Disadvantages of Bitcoin Lightning Network
Lightning Network is not suitable for making bulk payment, the intermediate nodes in the multichannel payment network may not be loaded with money to move the funds along and in that case, the transaction hits a dead end.
Recipients cannot receive money unless their node is connected and online at the time of transaction.
Certain nodes may decide to centralise the payment channel by loading their wallets with bitcoins for the primary purpose of handling transactions on the channel. A centralized network is inevitably bound to disable the system is some way.
Conclusion
The Bitcoin Lightning Network software is still undergoing development and is expected to grow and become more widely adopted in the payment system. Lightning Network is without doubt, a vital extensibility tool if Bitcoin must be established as a workable means of payment in the near future.
Read Further :
Originally posted by Cryptoverze.com
What is Bitcoin Lightning Network? And How Does It Work? | https://medium.com/cryptoverze/what-is-bitcoin-lightning-network-and-how-does-it-work-cd80ba9c0bda | [] | 2018-04-02 10:38:29.840000+00:00 | ['Investing', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Lightning Network', 'Bitcoin'] |
How to Stay Safe from Coronavirus While Ridesharing | Millions of Americans are still under the stay at home orders to flatten the curve of spreading coronavirus. However, some people still need to commute to run errands, go grocery shopping, visit the hospital, or reach the workplace.
In some states, the work from home orders is lifting and businesses are opening. That means you are likely to return to ridesharing if not using the public transit immediately. The safety of you and your family lies in your hands.
Wearing facemask and gloves is part of the protocol now but there’s more you can do to protect yourself and stay while using ridesharing services. Follow our guide to find out how.
Wear a Facemask
You must know it’s important to wear a facemask already. There is no harm in receiving a reminder. It’s ok not to cover your face when you are alone but when it gets crowded, wearing a facemask is mandatory.
Note that a facemask or cover is not recommended for:
Infants and children younger than 2 years
Anyone who has a breathing problem
An individual who is incapacitated or cannot remove the face cover without assistance
Use Wipes for Disinfecting
To stay safe, carry sanitizing wipes, and disinfect the handle and seat before touching or sitting. Stay in one place throughout your journey in the vehicle to minimize the amount of contact with others. This will keep you safe and offer peace of mind throughout the commute.
Avoid Touching Surfaces
When your vehicle arrives and you take a seat, avoid contacting surfaces frequently touched by other passengers. These include door frames, handles, and windows.
Avoid accepting free water bottles. Don’t touch magazines or any other items provided for the passenger. If a touchless payment option is available, use it.
Practice Social Distancing
Don’t pool rides, to begin with. Don’t sit in the shotgun seat either. Take the back seat. If you are traveling with a child or another family member, sit apart or distance according to the space available.
Keep the Space Ventilated
Ask the driver to improve the ventilation of the vehicle by turning on the air ventilation. If possible, open the windows.
Avoid Touching Your Face
While you are still out in the public or even sitting in the transport, avoid touching your face. The Coronavirus can live on a surface for hours after it has been touched by an infected person. You can get infected if you touch eyes, nose, and mouth. Therefore, keep your hands off your face the whole time you are away from home.
Practice Good Hand Hygiene
After reaching your destination, sanitize your hands using a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.
When you reach home, dispose of your mask and gloves. Before doing anything else, wash your hands with soap for at least 20 seconds.
Take a Different Route
If you work in an industry where you have to commute for work daily, choose a less busy route. It’s best not to be a part of crowded places.
Travel with Adequate Supplies
Even if it’s a short trip, pack a hand sanitizer, an extra mask, gloves, and sanitizing wipes along. You never know when you will need them.
With these precautions, you will be able to keep safe during your commute and return home in complete peace of mind.
To have a safe & reliable ride install the Miles Rider app and schedule or book your ride online. | https://medium.com/@miles_ride/how-to-stay-safe-from-coronavirus-while-ridesharing-c247d821c1bd | ['Ride With Miles'] | 2020-07-21 05:40:11.787000+00:00 | ['Travel Tips', 'Coronavirus', 'Safe Travel', 'Safety Tips'] |
The Universe as Narcissus | Considering the Incomprehensible in a Sink Full of Dirty Dishes
Photo: Ren Powell
I’m trying to make sense of every little thing. Every book on the shelf, every spoon in the drawer, and every must-do on my to-do list. I’ve been using new software at work to sort through the information I share with students, and for the tasks I need to do. I’ve done the same thing with my writing projects.
It’s (probably deceptively) satisfying to get everything organized this way. Having an overview only gives me an illusion of control, I suppose. But it does stop my muppet mind from fretting. I can tease apart every concern and spread it over the computer screen as separate entities. With a space between each. Nothing in its own shape seems worth fretting over. Nothing in-and-of-itself seems vital.
What I’m still searching for is a way to do this kind of thing with all of the thoughts in my head. I want to — lovingly — sedate every little moth-like idea and pin it to a kind of bulletin board.
I suppose in some ways that is exactly what it is to write in the mornings.
This dawning space: where the contents of my time
spreads thinly, shallow as the sea
flowing over the sand — where
every gasp for breath becomes visible —
this moment of pause before
the day’s rush and the slower ebb
into the dark and the deep
chaos of dreams.
It is exactly what it is to sit on the cushion and let every thought wash up, and pass by.
Without drowning in the process.
May we have the attention to hear when something changes, the perceptiveness to know when things aren’t working, and the wisdom to try something different. (Adapted from a prayer on a Unitarian Universalist website.) -jobe
The first of the four seals of Buddhist thought is that all compound entities are impermanent. Everything falls apart. And when they do: when they scatter as fragments, as potentials, over the nothingness.
I envision it as a depth of black felt, not cold space. And though this nothingness isn’t really nothingness, since it can itself still be teased apart, it is as far as my mind can see.
It’s here, against this incomprehensible nothingness that every temporary constellation might be perceived and admired, seen and heard. Maybe synesthesia is the beginning of understanding? Maybe it is the universe recognizing itself at play?
In the Christian tradition, God created the world in his own image. This morning I’m thinking that every coming-together, every illusion of form is just the universes’ joyful shadow play for itself. I’m some bit player: both insignificant and indispensable. My presence is vital, my role is not.
But it is so easy to get caught up in the drama. We forget we are looking at our own mind from inside our own mind: just fragments- just potentials. | https://medium.com/minding-my-own-dharma/the-universe-as-narcissus-8d76c93b268f | ['Ren Powell - Mad Orphan Lit.'] | 2020-12-30 13:53:27.336000+00:00 | ['Poem', 'Mindfulness', 'Buddhism', 'Poetry', 'Meditation'] |
How to Choose Best Online Shop for Desired Goods? | How to Choose Best Online Shop for Desired Goods?
Shopping is one of the most exciting hobby which excite ladies the most. The trend has shifted now and even males also love to buy trendy and stylish stuff for themselves. Everyone has the right to look adorable and indeed it is the right key towards confidence. Many of the times people are unable to do so because they feel fashionholic are doing nothing but just wasting their time and money. Indeed, previously, I was also having the same mindset. But, when I started to practice it, I literally found it as an amazing therapy. This useful activity allowed me to have optimum peace of mind. When it comes to shopping then spending right matters a lot rather spending a lot. There is a difference in between which one should keep in mind.
Frauds in Online Shopping:
How to Prevent Online Scams in Shopping?
No doubt, the frauds in online shopping are giving tough time for the customers to trust the online sellers. We witness lots of useful and attractive stuff on social media which amaze us the most. We feel hesitant to purchase it that God knows what would be the quality of it! Either the same shown thing would be delivered to us or not. Well, all such queries are logical and allow the viewers to rethink about their purchase decision. When it comes to clothing then most often customers are not found to be satisfied with. Some get entirely different stuff, while others do not feel satisfied with the colour an design. Then, in such circumstances, they claim for the replacing the order or refund for it. Many of the sellers do so by asking them for delivery charges while other refuse to do so. The method of refusal by them is even more stressful. They do not respond to the customer’s queries and later on, they block the customer. It even give vent to the stressful conditions and permanently shake the trust of the customer form online shopping. There is other side of the coin too where people buy online and the sellers provide efficient services and goods to them which win the customer’s heart instantly.
Wise Selection of Right Online Shop:
Wise Selection of Right Online Shop
The main factor to consider about the online shopping is the customer’s feedback. Do not rely on any newly launched online seller or shopping app. There must be genuine review on the page or customer’s wall regarding the purchased stuff. Sellers often consider buying the reviews form others. But, how to figure out that either the feedback is genuine or not? Well, it is pretty simple, the feedback of the customer that is posted with pic is regarded as the genuine one. Moreover, consider to communicate with the seller and the way of dealing. If you are feel any ambiguity then it is an alarm that you must rethink about buying from the seller. One of the most important factor that all buyers should consider is the payment method. If there is COD (cash of delivery) then the risk of fraud declines. It is indeed surety that the parcel would definitely approach to your door. Hence, I can’t guarantee that what would be inside it and also regarding the quality. You would defiantly get to know about it when you open up the pack. However, the risk of delivery is still there if the seller demands advance payment. Hence, in such a case, communicate with the seller that you would pay delivery charges in advance. If the seller comes up with the logical reasoning or claims that it is the rule of their business to take advance payment then you must take a bit time to respond. At this time, you can build a trust on the seller by buying the products of less value rather than ordering for massive amount. The loss if occur would be of less amount than the greater one. This sagacious step would save much of your money and does not indulge you in feelings of repent. Buy from the online sellers who talk in professional manner. The professional dealing can be estimated easily when you view the page, app or profile of seller for feedback and response towards the queries.
Play your Role Efficiently:
Power of Customer Feedback for Online Shopping
If you buy something successfully from a new seller or the old one and get the goods with good quality at your home. It means you feel satisfied to your shopping experience. Now, it is your prime responsibility to give a valuable but genuine feedback to the customer. It would let his business to grow more and would be a token of love or appreciation form your side. This chain would flourish and the seller would also remember your in good words. There are possibility that you would get deals or discounts from the seller on further shopping. Besides that , the feeling of positivity and essence of care develops to make you and seller pleased!
If you have shopped online then how was your experience about that? Did you get what you expected for? Share your valuable experience with us and also the techniques that you adopt for making a selection about online shopping. | https://medium.com/@nagina-anwar56/how-to-choose-best-online-shop-for-desired-goods-6d7a2de2da7a | ['Nagina Anwar'] | 2020-12-16 12:27:13.231000+00:00 | ['Feedback', 'Online Shopping', 'Online Marketing', 'Online Scams', 'Online Business'] |
Impacts of Esports over youth | We cannot deny the fact that sports are crucial part of our lives for physical and mental development. Doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists and physicians consider sports as best of their therapies since it influences mind and body at the same time.In beginning of the 21st century, after popularity of electronic media, field of sports also faced evolution.
In which result a new form of sports came to existence which is called electronic sports(esports). It is completely a new term for a lay man but let me tell you that it’s a form of competition between professional video gamers over internet.
After seeing my brother’s passion towards video gaming I decided to explore more about it. Later I came to know that this type of sports is called esports. This is effecting our youth at big level. Youngsters being addicted to video games and being mad to win online competitions. It is effecting in two possible ways good and bad. Further I will try to find merits and demerits of esports.
There are many players who are representing Pakistan worldwide in field of esports and making their country proud like syed sumail Hassan. He is a professional Pakistani DOTA2 player. Being a member of the team ‘’Evil Geniuses’’ he won ’’ The International 2015’’.
Another advantage of esports is CONFIDENCE. Youngsters are earning self-possession and courage to trust their selves. They are learning to handle challenges which could block their path to success and stop them from reaching their goal.
Players can take advantage from Teamwork strategies. They can learn these strategies and add up to it by their creative mind. Michael Jordan said ‘’ talent wins games but teamwork and intelligence wins championships’’. Collaboration through teamwork make it easy for players to achieve their common goals.
Esports is accommodating youth to polish their strategic thinking kills. Young generation of every nation is full of thoughts, talents and skills. They just need a platform to show it. Esports is one of those platforms where players test their skills and by practicing they polish their skills. Youngsters can make their career in esoprts like some players have made their career in sports for example Muhammad Amir.
Where esports have good impacts on youth, it can effect youth in bad terms also.
Video games can be life disrupting if it becomes habitual or someone got addicted to them. For creativity, sills and pressure management video games can be beneficial but overdose of everything ills. It can affect mental health because esports players spend most of their time in front of PC, a locked room with video gaming setup and far from reality. This scenario can lead to psychological disturbances.
If we compare esports with sports, it is clear that corruption and gambling is very common in esports. One can hack someone’s ID during online competitions. Contests can be based on bets. Gambling can effect psychological health of players. And be a cause of depression and anxiety disorder.
Esports is limited to a keyboard or controller. It has no physical activity included. Only physical risks, which can include mental development risks also. As many esports players have said that 8 to 12 hours of a day in front of computer screen has led to increase in computer related injuries like carpel tunnel syndrome, repetitive strain injury and back pain.
According to research esports players oftenly use Performance Enhancing Drugs(PEDs) to improve their performance during online competitions. Some players pursue their passion to become champion for their country or to get fame or to make recognition as a champion. So they take PEDs to get desired outcomes.
Every game has some rules and regulations to follow and players are expected to behave ethically. But esports is promoting violation of rules and vulgar language. Eplayers abuse each other in live streams by which viewers or participants learn to abuse and violation of rules.
Esports promotes lack of participation as compare to sports. Because not everyone is interested in online gaming and most of people don’t have time to play online.
In the end esports has its own advantages and disadvantages. But its disadvantages are extremely high. Though its making our youth creative, skillful and confident but we shouldn’t forget about the disadvantages it may bring. | https://medium.com/@flawsome/impacts-of-esports-over-youth-a44c98995af1 | [] | 2020-12-26 14:45:58.430000+00:00 | ['Online', 'Youth', 'Gaming', 'Sports', 'Esports247'] |
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