Unnamed: 0
int64 0
192k
| title
stringlengths 1
200
| text
stringlengths 10
100k
| url
stringlengths 32
885
| authors
stringlengths 2
392
| timestamp
stringlengths 19
32
⌀ | tags
stringlengths 6
263
| info
stringlengths 45
90.4k
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1,000 | Remote teaching: Why a front-loaded and fast-paced class fared well in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic | Every teacher and professor had their share of strain brought by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Through listening, adaptation, and planning, we made it to the finish line with quite a bit of energy with my students this semester.
There was one key decision that helped me have a very smooth remote teaching experience: preparing a front-loaded syllabus.
I made that choice consciously, but of course without a prediction about the implications of the then developing pandemic. I aimed to empower students with a broad spectrum of tools early in the semester and use the rest of the time for individual project development.
This strategy ended up working well for remote teaching.
Shaping a classroom through Agency, Adaptation, and Tooling
Over the years, I observed that front-loaded classes and workshops fared much better in many terms. Combined with a longer exploration process, in the end, they turned into a teaching formula for achieving high-yield, high-quality results.
I prepared the syllabus for the 2020 spring semester for the class I taught at MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning with three things in mind:
1- Agency
When you prepare a front-loaded class or a workshop, you shock the students at their freshest state. This enables them to see a lot of material in a short period, but more importantly to pick and chose whatever makes more sense to them.
Yes, no student learns everything we try to teach and it is better if we empower them with the material they are interested in. This kind of agency helps students to become a more integral part of the teaching process.
If the teaching material is comprehensive and the teaching style is generous enough, students can and will have a say in what they learn. If the material is not malleable, they will either have a hard time adapting, or won’t align with the classroom dynamics at all.
2- Adaptation
Teaching is about bi-directional adaptation.
As the students adapt to the class and teaching material, the instructor needs to adapt to the overall drive of the class. Instructors are inclined to expect the students to adapt. But not all of them think about the fact that for a symbiosis to happen, both parties would need to act.
A front-loaded class helps both parties to adjust and make choices early in the semester.
I revealed the goals and mechanics of the subject in the very first class and dived right into the material. With a fast follow-up in the second week, I developed a quick sensation about the choices I made for the amount and delivery of the teaching material. In the meantime, the students came with questions to figure out if the class was the right one for them.
One other benefit of a fast-paced start was to determine the no-adaptation types move out quickly. At MIT the students ‘shop’ for the classes the first week or two. If you show the intensity of the class early in the semester that helps refine the crowd.
In short, if you are open to change things on the course — which in my mind is a must — a front-loaded class helps you plan earlier in the semester.
3- Fluency
If you are teaching a class that includes skill-building components, there are fundamentally two tracks you can follow.
1 — You can plan to move incrementally and distribute skill-building sessions throughout the semester. This would help students to learn and digest skills over longer periods. A slower pace can also help them add skills more easily. This is a low-stress and low-risk choice, but it takes from the time that could be invested in the employment and refinement of skills.
2 — Alternatively, you can front-load the syllabus with skill-building sessions and then observe the tendencies of students in picking things up. This is a riskier move as not all the students would be able to follow the pace of the class. Students may need more support when you want to add on top of something that you have already taught in class. This would put more work-hours on the instructor.
Just looking at the overall picture, the first option appears to be more logical, as the safe bet. Yet the second option, although comes with some risks, increases the chances of break-through achievements — if they are ever to happen in the class.
Moving within a fast-paced setting, students hit a steeper learning curve, but at the same time become accustomed to the tools of the class earlier. This helps them become fluent in the tools they are using quicker.
Especially for an application and making-oriented class, the second option works miraculously better.
How so?
I learned how to teach over 15 years of piecemeal teaching
I have a quite mixed past in teaching and I have nowhere near the experience of a full-time academician. Yet, jumping back and forth between academia and professional practice, or spending time in both simultaneously helped me translate the strategies of teaching across these two domains.
What did I do?
I co-taught design studios. I developed design, geometry, and scripting classes. I happened to initiate and lead an undergraduate design program, somehow early in my career.
Last but not the least, I conducted many workshops in different schools, cultures, and countries. Especially these workshops that ran anywhere from three hours to two weeks taught me a lot about developing syllabuses, even more so than semester-long classes.
The diversity of student’s backgrounds, ages, and interests taught me a lot as well. While in professional practice, I happened to teach people whose age was (more than) double of mine. Later, I found chances to teach fresh out-of-the-high school kids.
Over and over again, I discovered front-loaded scenarios fared better. Starting vertical (and going deep) and then going horizontal (and expanding).
I applied this strategy to my latest teaching adventure.
I asked the students to develop a “design” that had to be re-thought, letting go of its preconceived “parts.” My motivation stemmed from my ever-unfolding inquiry about part-whole relationships that I explained in my latest story:
I deployed the teaching material through 4 tracks: Presence, Function, Quality, and The Whole. | https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/remote-teaching-why-a-front-loaded-and-fast-paced-class-fared-well-in-the-wake-of-the-covid-19-cdcabb0a85fc | ['Onur Yuce Gun'] | 2020-06-22 16:38:40.909000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Creativity', 'Education', 'Technology', 'Innovation'] | Title Remote teaching frontloaded fastpaced class fared well wake COVID19 PandemicContent Every teacher professor share strain brought ongoing COVID19 pandemic listening adaptation planning made finish line quite bit energy student semester one key decision helped smooth remote teaching experience preparing frontloaded syllabus made choice consciously course without prediction implication developing pandemic aimed empower student broad spectrum tool early semester use rest time individual project development strategy ended working well remote teaching Shaping classroom Agency Adaptation Tooling year observed frontloaded class workshop fared much better many term Combined longer exploration process end turned teaching formula achieving highyield highquality result prepared syllabus 2020 spring semester class taught MIT’s School Architecture Planning three thing mind 1 Agency prepare frontloaded class workshop shock student freshest state enables see lot material short period importantly pick chose whatever make sense Yes student learns everything try teach better empower material interested kind agency help student become integral part teaching process teaching material comprehensive teaching style generous enough student say learn material malleable either hard time adapting won’t align classroom dynamic 2 Adaptation Teaching bidirectional adaptation student adapt class teaching material instructor need adapt overall drive class Instructors inclined expect student adapt think fact symbiosis happen party would need act frontloaded class help party adjust make choice early semester revealed goal mechanic subject first class dived right material fast followup second week developed quick sensation choice made amount delivery teaching material meantime student came question figure class right one One benefit fastpaced start determine noadaptation type move quickly MIT student ‘shop’ class first week two show intensity class early semester help refine crowd short open change thing course — mind must — frontloaded class help plan earlier semester 3 Fluency teaching class includes skillbuilding component fundamentally two track follow 1 — plan move incrementally distribute skillbuilding session throughout semester would help student learn digest skill longer period slower pace also help add skill easily lowstress lowrisk choice take time could invested employment refinement skill 2 — Alternatively frontload syllabus skillbuilding session observe tendency student picking thing riskier move student would able follow pace class Students may need support want add top something already taught class would put workhours instructor looking overall picture first option appears logical safe bet Yet second option although come risk increase chance breakthrough achievement — ever happen class Moving within fastpaced setting student hit steeper learning curve time become accustomed tool class earlier help become fluent tool using quicker Especially application makingoriented class second option work miraculously better learned teach 15 year piecemeal teaching quite mixed past teaching nowhere near experience fulltime academician Yet jumping back forth academia professional practice spending time simultaneously helped translate strategy teaching across two domain cotaught design studio developed design geometry scripting class happened initiate lead undergraduate design program somehow early career Last least conducted many workshop different school culture country Especially workshop ran anywhere three hour two week taught lot developing syllabus even semesterlong class diversity student’s background age interest taught lot well professional practice happened teach people whose age double mine Later found chance teach fresh outofthehigh school kid discovered frontloaded scenario fared better Starting vertical going deep going horizontal expanding applied strategy latest teaching adventure asked student develop “design” rethought letting go preconceived “parts” motivation stemmed everunfolding inquiry partwhole relationship explained latest story deployed teaching material 4 track Presence Function Quality WholeTags Design Creativity Education Technology Innovation |
1,001 | Analyzing Data Distributions with Seaborn | Analyzing Data Distributions with Seaborn
A practical guide with many example plots
(image by author)
Data visualizations are key players in data science. They are powerful at exploring variables and the relations among them. Data visualizations are also much more preferred than plain numbers to deliver results and findings.
In this article, we will see how data visualizations can be used to explore the distribution of variables. The examples will be done using a famous Python data visualization library called Seaborn.
It is essential to interpret the distribution of variables. For instance, some machine learning models perform best when the variables have a normal distribution. Thus, the distribution of variables directs our strategy to approach problems.
Distributions are also integral parts of exploratory data analysis. We can detect outliers, skewness, or get an overview of the measures of central tendency (mean, median, and mode).
I think we have highlighted the importance of data distributions clearly. We can now start on the examples.
We will be using an insurance dataset that you can obtain from Kaggle. The first step is to import the libraries and read the dataset into a Pandas dataframe.
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import seaborn as sns
sns.set(style='darkgrid') insurance = pd.read_csv("/content/insurance.csv") insurance.head()
(image by author)
The dataset contains some measures (i.e. features) about the customers of an insurance company and the amount that is charged for the insurance.
The first type of visualization we will see is the histogram. It divides the value range of continuous variables into discrete bins and shows how many values exist in each bin.
The following is a basic histogram of the bmi variable.
sns.displot(insurance, x='bmi', kind='hist', aspect=1.2)
Histogram of bmi (image by author)
We can use the displot function of seaborn and specify the type of distribution using the kind parameter. The aspect variable adjusts the height-width ratio of the figure.
The bmi variable has a normal distribution except for a few outliers above 50.
The displot function allows for adding a kde plot on top of histograms. The kde (kernel density estimation) plot is a non-parametric way to estimate the probability density function of a random variable.
sns.displot(insurance, x='bmi', kind='hist', kde=True, aspect=1.2)
(image by author)
We have the option to create only the kde plot by setting the kind parameter as of the displot function as ‘kde’. In that case, we do not need to use the kde parameter.
We can plot the distribution of a variable separately based on the categories of another variable. One way is to use the hue parameter. The figure below shows the histogram of bmi variable for smoker and non-smoker people separately.
sns.displot(insurance, x='bmi', kind='hist', hue='smoker', aspect=1.2)
(image by author)
We can also show the bars side-by-side by using the multiple parameter.
sns.displot(insurance, x='bmi', kind='hist', hue='smoker', multiple='dodge', aspect=1.2)
(image by author)
It is possible to create a grid of plots with the displot function which is a highly useful feature. We can create more informative visualizations by using the hue and col parameters together.
sns.displot(insurance, x='charges', kind='hist', hue='smoker', col='sex', height=6, aspect=1)
(image by author)
The figure above shows the distribution of the charges variable in different settings. We clearly see that the charge is likely to be more for people who smoke. The ratio of smokers is more for males and it is for females.
We can also create two-dimensional histograms that give us an overview of the cross-distribution of two variables. The x and y parameters of the displot function are used to create a two-dimensional histogram.
sns.displot(insurance, x='charges', y='bmi', kind='hist',
height=6, aspect=1.2)
(image by author)
This figure shows the distribution of the bmi and charges variables. The darker parts of grid denser in terms of the number of data points (i.e. rows) they contain.
Another feature we can use about the distributions is the rug plot. It draws ticks along x and y axes to represent marginal distributions. Let’s add rug plot to the two-dimensional histogram created in the previous step.
sns.displot(insurance, x='charges', y='bmi', kind='hist', rug=True,
height=6, aspect=1.2)
(image by author)
The plot is more informative now. In addition to the two-dimensional histogram, the rug plot on the axes provides an overview of the distribution of the individual variables.
The hue parameter can also be used with two-dimensional histograms.
sns.displot(insurance, x='charges', y='bmi', kind='hist',rug=True, hue='smoker',height=6, aspect=1.2)
(image by author)
We can also create bivariate kde plots. For instance, the plot below is the kde version of the previous two-dimensional histogram.
sns.displot(insurance, x='charges', y='bmi', kind='kde',rug=True, hue='smoker',height=6, aspect=1.2)
(image by author)
The density of lines gives us an idea about the distribution. We can use the fill parameter to make it look more like a histogram.
sns.displot(insurance, x='charges', y='bmi', kind='kde',rug=True, hue='smoker',fill=True, height=6, aspect=1.2)
(image by author)
Scatter plots are mainly used to check the correlations between two numerical variables. However, they also give us an idea about the distributions.
Seaborn is quite flexible in terms of combining different kinds of plots to create a more informative visualization. For instance, the jointplot combines scatter plots and histograms.
sns.jointplot(data=insurance, x='charges', y='bmi', hue='smoker', height=7, ratio=4) | https://towardsdatascience.com/analyzing-data-distributions-with-seaborn-a8607961a212 | ['Soner Yıldırım'] | 2020-12-25 17:08:22.111000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Data Science', 'Python', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Data Visualization'] | Title Analyzing Data Distributions SeabornContent Analyzing Data Distributions Seaborn practical guide many example plot image author Data visualization key player data science powerful exploring variable relation among Data visualization also much preferred plain number deliver result finding article see data visualization used explore distribution variable example done using famous Python data visualization library called Seaborn essential interpret distribution variable instance machine learning model perform best variable normal distribution Thus distribution variable directs strategy approach problem Distributions also integral part exploratory data analysis detect outlier skewness get overview measure central tendency mean median mode think highlighted importance data distribution clearly start example using insurance dataset obtain Kaggle first step import library read dataset Pandas dataframe import numpy np import panda pd import seaborn sn snssetstyledarkgrid insurance pdreadcsvcontentinsurancecsv insurancehead image author dataset contains measure ie feature customer insurance company amount charged insurance first type visualization see histogram divide value range continuous variable discrete bin show many value exist bin following basic histogram bmi variable snsdisplotinsurance xbmi kindhist aspect12 Histogram bmi image author use displot function seaborn specify type distribution using kind parameter aspect variable adjusts heightwidth ratio figure bmi variable normal distribution except outlier 50 displot function allows adding kde plot top histogram kde kernel density estimation plot nonparametric way estimate probability density function random variable snsdisplotinsurance xbmi kindhist kdeTrue aspect12 image author option create kde plot setting kind parameter displot function ‘kde’ case need use kde parameter plot distribution variable separately based category another variable One way use hue parameter figure show histogram bmi variable smoker nonsmoker people separately snsdisplotinsurance xbmi kindhist huesmoker aspect12 image author also show bar sidebyside using multiple parameter snsdisplotinsurance xbmi kindhist huesmoker multipledodge aspect12 image author possible create grid plot displot function highly useful feature create informative visualization using hue col parameter together snsdisplotinsurance xcharges kindhist huesmoker colsex height6 aspect1 image author figure show distribution charge variable different setting clearly see charge likely people smoke ratio smoker male female also create twodimensional histogram give u overview crossdistribution two variable x parameter displot function used create twodimensional histogram snsdisplotinsurance xcharges ybmi kindhist height6 aspect12 image author figure show distribution bmi charge variable darker part grid denser term number data point ie row contain Another feature use distribution rug plot draw tick along x ax represent marginal distribution Let’s add rug plot twodimensional histogram created previous step snsdisplotinsurance xcharges ybmi kindhist rugTrue height6 aspect12 image author plot informative addition twodimensional histogram rug plot ax provides overview distribution individual variable hue parameter also used twodimensional histogram snsdisplotinsurance xcharges ybmi kindhistrugTrue huesmokerheight6 aspect12 image author also create bivariate kde plot instance plot kde version previous twodimensional histogram snsdisplotinsurance xcharges ybmi kindkderugTrue huesmokerheight6 aspect12 image author density line give u idea distribution use fill parameter make look like histogram snsdisplotinsurance xcharges ybmi kindkderugTrue huesmokerfillTrue height6 aspect12 image author Scatter plot mainly used check correlation two numerical variable However also give u idea distribution Seaborn quite flexible term combining different kind plot create informative visualization instance jointplot combine scatter plot histogram snsjointplotdatainsurance xcharges ybmi huesmoker height7 ratio4Tags Machine Learning Data Science Python Artificial Intelligence Data Visualization |
1,002 | DialogRPT With 🤗 Huggingface Transformers: Which Comments Get More Likes, More Replies and Are More Engaging? | Microsoft recently released a New Dialogue Ranking Pretrained Transformers model. Some human replies are more engaging than others, spawning more followup interactions. Since we want our conversational models to be more interactive we need some metric to know which comment is more likely to engage the user. So authors of DialogRPT trained it on 133M pairs of human feedback data to address this issue and the resulting ranker outperformed several baselines. If you are not interested in paper summary directly jump to the code.
Why do we need such a pretrained transformer model?
Human-like conversations are perhaps one of the most difficult challenges of AI. Now with more recent advancements in the field some times human annotators cannot reliably distinguish between human- and machine-generated responses.
However human responses are not limited to be just relevant to the context. Sometimes they are interesting enough to prompt a rich listener reaction. (Although conversation can be sometimes very boring, heated, funny and awkward🤭).On the other side Chatbots or Conv-AI models just to prevent them from creating inappropriate comments often end up being vague, not engaging.
GIF via Giphy
A successful dialog turn must be proactive, engaging, and consistent with social norms.
The solutions that authors proposed is using existing human feedback data (e.g., number of replies and likes) from online social communities(here Reddit). While there has been work on feedback prediction, this is the first time it has been applied to a dialogue and response generation system.
Fig 1. Example of an engaging Dialogue. Courtesy: DialogRPT
Let's dive deep on how the model solves the issue of engaging comments.
Posts and comments typically form a tree structure. Each comment has its own number of replies and upvotes (refer Fig 1. Upvotes also termed as “Likes” in some social communities). These can be used as engagingness labels after careful normalization and formulation. Using a dataset of 133M pairs of human comments and their associated number of replies or up-/downvotes, authors train a set of large-scale transformer-based feedback ranking models which outperform several baselines.
Understanding feedback metrics
Posts and comments typically form a tree structure. Consider parent node as context c and the reply to it as r. For each dialogue (c, r), we consider the following feedback: Width, the number of direct replies to r; Depth, the maximum length of the dialogue after this turn; and Updown, the number of upvotes minus the number of downvotes.
The feedback metrics defined above cannot be directly used as a measure of reply engagingness. Studies show that while popularity, measured by Updown, generally increases with quality, posts of similar quality can exhibit very different upvote counts.
Tasks
Given a context and a list of responses, the task of predicting a ranking based on the feedback they received, as measured by these three separate metrics: (1) Width, (2) Depth, and (3) Updown. Along with this an additional task (4)human-vs-fake, which measures how human-like the response is.
Problem Formulation and Training objective
Contrastive learning approach was used while training the model for the task.
A Contrastive Learning approach: Given the confounding factors affecting feedback mentioned above, we train the model on pairs of samples (c, r+) and (c, r−), rather than fitting it to score each dialogue individually. The model is trained in such a way that predicts a higher score for a better response than the less appropriate response.
Model ensemble
For machine generation: The machine generation is required to be both human-like and preferred by a human. To rank the machine generations, the authors took the probability of joint distributions as follows :
P(r = preferred, human-like|c) = P(r = preferred|r = human-like, c)· P(r = human-like|c)
Human calibration: To estimate the correlation between the feedback score and human responses preferences, pair of responses for the same context to a set of human annotators, asking them to select the response they would prefer to send or receive.
Model and training
The model is a 12-layer transformer model based on GPT-2 architecture and initialized with DialoGPTmedium model weights. DialoGPT is a large-scale dialogue response generation model, pre-trained on 147M Reddit conversations.
Each model ( for up-down, width, depth, human vs rand) has 354.8M parameters and is trained on an Nvidia Tesla V100 4-core GPU with batch size 256 at an average training speed of 0.33 M pairs of samples per hour. Each model took around 70 hours to converge (until validation loss on a fixed set of 1024 samples ceased to improve).
Findings
Responses that receive fewer replies or upvotes tend to be less contentful.
In contrast, comments that attract more feedback are typically different in character: for instance, questions (indicated by ?, why, how, what, who) often lead to a longer conversation (greater Depth).
The model trained only on Width data can perform reasonably well on Depth prediction, and vice versa, consistent with the high correlation between their labels. The Updown label is less correlated with these, and so the model trained on Updown data performs poorly on Width and Depth data. This is in keeping with the complementary relationship between these models.
In the human-vs-generated task, the authors evaluate the model’s ability to discriminate between human and generated responses. A model trained only on human-vs-rand data performs poorly on this task, indicating that the generated responses are sufficiently relevant to the context to yield a higher score than a random response. However, the feedback prediction models, Width, Depth and Updown show much higher accuracy in the human-vs-generated task, even though they were not trained on any generated responses. This implies that the ranking models (DialogRPT’s) predict that DialoGPT’s(another generative model by Microsoft) generated responses may not be as proactive or as engaging as human responses.
Conclusion
To sum up the whole paper, Authors tried to use Reddit human feedback data to build and release a large-scale training dataset for feedback prediction. Then they trained the GPT-2 based model on 133M pairs of human feedback data and demonstrate the trained model a.k.a DialogRPT outperforms several baselines. Human evaluation of machine-generated responses ranked by DialogRPT shows higher human preferences.
For future work, this model can be integrated with the generation model (maybe in Reinforcement learning)using the ranking score by DialogRPT as a reward signal.
Python Demo
Install Libraries
!git clone https://github.com/huggingface/transformers.git %cd transformers !pip install -e . %cd src
Implementation for various task
Task: For upvotes/likes prediction
The updown the score predicts how likely the response is getting upvoted.
Output :
Score Response 0.125 Me too!
0.640 Here’s a free textbook (URL) in case anyone needs it.
Task: Human vs Machine
The human_vs_machine the score predicts how likely the response is from a human rather than a machine.
Output :
Score Response 0.000 I'm not sure if it's a good idea.
0.419 Me too!
Task: Human vs Random
The human_vs_rand the score predicts how likely the response is corresponding to the given context, rather than a random response.
Output : | https://medium.com/swlh/dialogrpt-with-huggingface-transformers-which-comments-get-more-likes-more-replies-and-are-5e7e13a5429f | ['Parth Chokhra'] | 2020-10-25 21:17:50.968000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'NLP', 'AI', 'Data Science'] | Title DialogRPT 🤗 Huggingface Transformers Comments Get Likes Replies EngagingContent Microsoft recently released New Dialogue Ranking Pretrained Transformers model human reply engaging others spawning followup interaction Since want conversational model interactive need metric know comment likely engage user author DialogRPT trained 133M pair human feedback data address issue resulting ranker outperformed several baseline interested paper summary directly jump code need pretrained transformer model Humanlike conversation perhaps one difficult challenge AI recent advancement field time human annotator cannot reliably distinguish human machinegenerated response However human response limited relevant context Sometimes interesting enough prompt rich listener reaction Although conversation sometimes boring heated funny awkward🤭On side Chatbots ConvAI model prevent creating inappropriate comment often end vague engaging GIF via Giphy successful dialog turn must proactive engaging consistent social norm solution author proposed using existing human feedback data eg number reply like online social communitieshere Reddit work feedback prediction first time applied dialogue response generation system Fig 1 Example engaging Dialogue Courtesy DialogRPT Lets dive deep model solves issue engaging comment Posts comment typically form tree structure comment number reply upvotes refer Fig 1 Upvotes also termed “Likes” social community used engagingness label careful normalization formulation Using dataset 133M pair human comment associated number reply updownvotes author train set largescale transformerbased feedback ranking model outperform several baseline Understanding feedback metric Posts comment typically form tree structure Consider parent node context c reply r dialogue c r consider following feedback Width number direct reply r Depth maximum length dialogue turn Updown number upvotes minus number downvotes feedback metric defined cannot directly used measure reply engagingness Studies show popularity measured Updown generally increase quality post similar quality exhibit different upvote count Tasks Given context list response task predicting ranking based feedback received measured three separate metric 1 Width 2 Depth 3 Updown Along additional task 4humanvsfake measure humanlike response Problem Formulation Training objective Contrastive learning approach used training model task Contrastive Learning approach Given confounding factor affecting feedback mentioned train model pair sample c r c r− rather fitting score dialogue individually model trained way predicts higher score better response le appropriate response Model ensemble machine generation machine generation required humanlike preferred human rank machine generation author took probability joint distribution follows Pr preferred humanlikec Pr preferredr humanlike c· Pr humanlikec Human calibration estimate correlation feedback score human response preference pair response context set human annotator asking select response would prefer send receive Model training model 12layer transformer model based GPT2 architecture initialized DialoGPTmedium model weight DialoGPT largescale dialogue response generation model pretrained 147M Reddit conversation model updown width depth human v rand 3548M parameter trained Nvidia Tesla V100 4core GPU batch size 256 average training speed 033 pair sample per hour model took around 70 hour converge validation loss fixed set 1024 sample ceased improve Findings Responses receive fewer reply upvotes tend le contentful contrast comment attract feedback typically different character instance question indicated often lead longer conversation greater Depth model trained Width data perform reasonably well Depth prediction vice versa consistent high correlation label Updown label le correlated model trained Updown data performs poorly Width Depth data keeping complementary relationship model humanvsgenerated task author evaluate model’s ability discriminate human generated response model trained humanvsrand data performs poorly task indicating generated response sufficiently relevant context yield higher score random response However feedback prediction model Width Depth Updown show much higher accuracy humanvsgenerated task even though trained generated response implies ranking model DialogRPT’s predict DialoGPT’sanother generative model Microsoft generated response may proactive engaging human response Conclusion sum whole paper Authors tried use Reddit human feedback data build release largescale training dataset feedback prediction trained GPT2 based model 133M pair human feedback data demonstrate trained model aka DialogRPT outperforms several baseline Human evaluation machinegenerated response ranked DialogRPT show higher human preference future work model integrated generation model maybe Reinforcement learningusing ranking score DialogRPT reward signal Python Demo Install Libraries git clone httpsgithubcomhuggingfacetransformersgit cd transformer pip install e cd src Implementation various task Task upvoteslikes prediction updown score predicts likely response getting upvoted Output Score Response 0125 0640 Here’s free textbook URL case anyone need Task Human v Machine humanvsmachine score predicts likely response human rather machine Output Score Response 0000 Im sure good idea 0419 Task Human v Random humanvsrand score predicts likely response corresponding given context rather random response Output Tags Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence NLP AI Data Science |
1,003 | How Spiders Build Webs in Space | How Spiders Build Webs in Space
Spiders on the International Space Station spin odd webs, and it teaches us something new
(Pixabay, Couleur)
Gotcha!
Not all spiders make webs, but most of us can’t help but think of cobwebs when we think of spiders. The beautiful silky homes of our eight-legged friends are marvels of instinctive engineering.
Spider don’t simply make webs to hang around in, they can spin one around their own abdomen as a cocoon for their offspring or use light spider silk as a balloon to fly around with. Some spider are more active hunters and among those, some use webs as ‘nets’ like arachnid gladiators.
The webs, in their many forms, are not only marvels of engineering, but also of materials science. The spider silk of different species can differ in properties, but it can be up to three time tougher than Kevlar and five times stronger than steel. Add to that that it’s very flexible, water soluble, biocompatible, and biodegradable, and you’ve got a miracle material for things as diverse as armor, running shoes, and surgical thread.
In fact, a lot of people are trying to produce spider slik on an industrial scale through a variety of approaches.
But back to the engineering part. Why do spiders build their webs the way they do? A lot of spider webs — the hanging around kind — are asymmetrical. The hub of the web, the point where the threads converge, is generally higher up. And, sitting there, the spider almost always looks down. The possible reason? Gravity. It’s easier to run fast when you’re going down and gravity gives you a little extra ‘oomph’.
What would happen if we put web-building spiders in a low or zero gravity environment?
Space spiders
You got to love science, because a new study tried to figure it out for us.
Female golden silk-orb spider (Wikimedia commons, Charles J Sharp)
Two juvenile golden silk orb-weavers (Trichonephila clavipes) — well-known web-builders — hitched a ride to the International Space Station.
Once there, the spiders wanted to make it a bit more homely, regardless of gravity’s absence. Time to spin a web.
As expected, the webs of the young spiders were generally more symmetrical than their earthly creations. However, there was still quite a bit of variability in terms of space web symmetry.
When the scientists looked a bit closer at their eight-legged colleagues, they found that the webs they started building when the lights were on were asymmetrical, and the webs initiated in the dark were symmetrical. More specifically, webs built in illuminated conditions had their hub asymmetrically close to the light and the spiders themselves also faced away from the light source. In the dark, the spiders positioned themselves randomly in tems of gazing direction.
Turns out that spiders can use light as a back up engineering guide. (Back up, because on earth webs are asymmetrical even when constructed at night and spiders face down even in the dark.)
(An interesting aside, the female spider built a record-setting 34 webs.)
To conclude:
…in the absence of gravity, the direction of light can serve as an orientation guide for spiders during web building and when waiting for prey on the hub.
Spider webs. In space. Gotta love science. | https://medium.com/predict/how-spiders-build-webs-in-space-c7d1abaf9983 | ['Gunnar De Winter'] | 2020-12-26 19:22:56.165000+00:00 | ['Science', 'Space', 'Biology', 'Animals', 'Engineering'] | Title Spiders Build Webs SpaceContent Spiders Build Webs Space Spiders International Space Station spin odd web teach u something new Pixabay Couleur Gotcha spider make web u can’t help think cobweb think spider beautiful silky home eightlegged friend marvel instinctive engineering Spider don’t simply make web hang around spin one around abdomen cocoon offspring use light spider silk balloon fly around spider active hunter among use web ‘nets’ like arachnid gladiator web many form marvel engineering also material science spider silk different specie differ property three time tougher Kevlar five time stronger steel Add it’s flexible water soluble biocompatible biodegradable you’ve got miracle material thing diverse armor running shoe surgical thread fact lot people trying produce spider slik industrial scale variety approach back engineering part spider build web way lot spider web — hanging around kind — asymmetrical hub web point thread converge generally higher sitting spider almost always look possible reason Gravity It’s easier run fast you’re going gravity give little extra ‘oomph’ would happen put webbuilding spider low zero gravity environment Space spider got love science new study tried figure u Female golden silkorb spider Wikimedia common Charles J Sharp Two juvenile golden silk orbweavers Trichonephila clavipes — wellknown webbuilders — hitched ride International Space Station spider wanted make bit homely regardless gravity’s absence Time spin web expected web young spider generally symmetrical earthly creation However still quite bit variability term space web symmetry scientist looked bit closer eightlegged colleague found web started building light asymmetrical web initiated dark symmetrical specifically web built illuminated condition hub asymmetrically close light spider also faced away light source dark spider positioned randomly tems gazing direction Turns spider use light back engineering guide Back earth web asymmetrical even constructed night spider face even dark interesting aside female spider built recordsetting 34 web conclude …in absence gravity direction light serve orientation guide spider web building waiting prey hub Spider web space Gotta love scienceTags Science Space Biology Animals Engineering |
1,004 | Understanding the Builder Design Pattern | Example 2: Creating Video Game Heroes
You've now seen the classic theoretical example so you understand the responsibilities of each of the classes in the pattern. Now, here’s another example where we identify each of these classes with a specific problem.
Our problem is the representation of different heroes or characters in a video game. We’ll focus on the classic WoW (World of Warcraft) game, in which the heroes are divided into two races: Humans and Orcs. Each of these heroes can have armor , weapon s or different skills depending on whether the hero is a human or orc.
In the event that the builder pattern is not applied, it causes a constructor to be defined in the Hero class with a long list of parameters ( race , armor , skills , etc), which in turn causes logic to be defined in the constructor to decide whether the armor is human or orc. So, with this initial solution, the problem is coupled since any change in the business logic would mean having to rewrite quite a few pieces of code, with hardly any possibility of reuse.
So, the first thing we have to do is stop and think about how the builder pattern helps us solve this problem. So, we focus on showing the UML diagram that solves this problem and we begin to implement it.
Builder pattern applied to the Hero creation problem of a video game.
In this example, we follow the same order as in the previous example and we start with the model or object that we want to build flexibly.
The Hero class defines the race , armor , weapon and skills properties. All these attributes could be objects but to keep this example simple we’ve left them as character strings.
The HeroBuilder interface defines methods for specific builders. Let’s observe look at how the Hero object is configured, little by little, with setArmor , setWeapon , and setSkills . Finally, we have the build method that finishes the configuration of the object and extracts the Hero object.
Once the builder is defined (as an abstract class or interface) we must build the two specific builders that our problem requires: HumanHeroBuilder and OrcHeroBuilder . In the demo code we have completed with a different string according to each builder. It’s important to note that the build method of each of the builders returns the built object ( Hero ) and resets the state of the object, so it can build another one.
The last element of the pattern is the Hero-Director class that allows you to store configurations repeated throughout the code. In our example, we created three Hero creation setups. For example, the createHero method builds a complete hero — that is, it assigns armor, abilities, and weapons. We also create a hero without any equipment with the createHeroBasic method. Finally, to illustrate another configuration, the createHeroWithArmor method is defined, which returns a hero for whom only the armor has been assigned. | https://medium.com/better-programming/understanding-the-builder-design-pattern-f4f56fa18c9 | ['Carlos Caballero'] | 2020-12-21 17:59:34.537000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Programming', 'Design Patterns', 'Typescript', 'Builder Pattern'] | Title Understanding Builder Design PatternContent Example 2 Creating Video Game Heroes Youve seen classic theoretical example understand responsibility class pattern here’s another example identify class specific problem problem representation different hero character video game We’ll focus classic WoW World Warcraft game hero divided two race Humans Orcs hero armor weapon different skill depending whether hero human orc event builder pattern applied cause constructor defined Hero class long list parameter race armor skill etc turn cause logic defined constructor decide whether armor human orc initial solution problem coupled since change business logic would mean rewrite quite piece code hardly possibility reuse first thing stop think builder pattern help u solve problem focus showing UML diagram solves problem begin implement Builder pattern applied Hero creation problem video game example follow order previous example start model object want build flexibly Hero class defines race armor weapon skill property attribute could object keep example simple we’ve left character string HeroBuilder interface defines method specific builder Let’s observe look Hero object configured little little setArmor setWeapon setSkills Finally build method finish configuration object extract Hero object builder defined abstract class interface must build two specific builder problem requires HumanHeroBuilder OrcHeroBuilder demo code completed different string according builder It’s important note build method builder return built object Hero reset state object build another one last element pattern HeroDirector class allows store configuration repeated throughout code example created three Hero creation setup example createHero method build complete hero — assigns armor ability weapon also create hero without equipment createHeroBasic method Finally illustrate another configuration createHeroWithArmor method defined return hero armor assignedTags JavaScript Programming Design Patterns Typescript Builder Pattern |
1,005 | Creating Custom Face Datasets: From Zero To Hero | Face recognition, classification, and detection have numerous real-world applications. Right from the mobile device’s camera to your office’s attendance system, the ever-increasing demand for face detection systems has given rise to a number of online APIs, services, and apps that perform this task for developers, for instance, Firebase MLKit, Google Cloud Vision, Microsoft Face API, IBM Visual Recognition.
If you’re a seasoned ML developer, you’d like to train your own model and using your own data. The reason why you’re collecting your own data could be,
The task which the model will preform is different from the services/APIs which tech giants offer. Your model performs badly in real-world situations as the existing dataset does not include varied samples.
We’ll walk through this short story on how to collect images from the internet like a pro!
We’ll try to make an end-to-end solution to our problem. Given a keyword, we’ll directly get a .npy file containing cropped and resized images.
You can find the Python implementation in this Colab notebook,
Google Image Search is the place where we’ll search for images.
Yeah absolutely! But not randomly downloading each image and cropping faces out of them. We’ll use a web crawler which will one by one download each image from a Google Search result and saves it on your machine.
We’ll use the icrawler package available in PIP to scrape images from the Google Search.
Snippet 1
You can use more attributes for type , size and license also. See here.
Wait, the downloaded images are very big. I only need a cropped part of the face.
We know, that face classification systems will require cropped and aligned face images like the ones shown below. Somehow, we need to crop multiple faces from these images.
Cropped face images.
We can use dlib. It’s a face detection system for Python. Given an image, it outputs a bounding box. Using this bounding box, we can crop the image and store it separately in a list . We may also resize the cropped image using PIL to the size which our model will require like 224 * 224.
Snippet 2
That’s All! The image dataset is ready to use as a .npy file! You may visualize the cropped images using matplotlib like,
Snippet 3
The output will look like this, | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/creating-custom-face-datasets-from-zero-to-hero-824461dd1391 | ['Shubham Panchal'] | 2020-06-17 04:04:22.108000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Image Processing', 'Data Science', 'Data'] | Title Creating Custom Face Datasets Zero HeroContent Face recognition classification detection numerous realworld application Right mobile device’s camera office’s attendance system everincreasing demand face detection system given rise number online APIs service apps perform task developer instance Firebase MLKit Google Cloud Vision Microsoft Face API IBM Visual Recognition you’re seasoned ML developer you’d like train model using data reason you’re collecting data could task model preform different servicesAPIs tech giant offer model performs badly realworld situation existing dataset include varied sample We’ll walk short story collect image internet like pro We’ll try make endtoend solution problem Given keyword we’ll directly get npy file containing cropped resized image find Python implementation Colab notebook Google Image Search place we’ll search image Yeah absolutely randomly downloading image cropping face We’ll use web crawler one one download image Google Search result save machine We’ll use icrawler package available PIP scrape image Google Search Snippet 1 use attribute type size license also See Wait downloaded image big need cropped part face know face classification system require cropped aligned face image like one shown Somehow need crop multiple face image Cropped face image use dlib It’s face detection system Python Given image output bounding box Using bounding box crop image store separately list may also resize cropped image using PIL size model require like 224 224 Snippet 2 That’s image dataset ready use npy file may visualize cropped image using matplotlib like Snippet 3 output look like thisTags Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence Image Processing Data Science Data |
1,006 | Image Processing with OpenCV | Image Processing is a field of knowledge that falls in Computer Vision. The premises of machine learning were first laid down by computer vision theory, applying a whole set of techniques to process and analyze imagery data to extract valuable information that computers and machines may use for a wide range of applications, such as:
Stitching : Turning overlapping photos into a seamless panorama
: Turning overlapping photos into a seamless panorama Morphing : Changing or merging through a smooth transition different pictures to create a new one
: Changing or merging through a smooth transition different pictures to create a new one 3D Modeling : Converting 2D snapshots into a 3D composition
: Converting 2D snapshots into a 3D composition Face detection : Identifying human faces in digital images
: Identifying human faces in digital images Visual Authentication: Automatically logging your family members onto a computer or a mobile while sitting in front of a webcam
The intended purpose of Vision is to reconstruct the complex, colorful, and vivid three-dimensional world from the most simple and elementary building blocks leveraging on reliable models that would help to interpret images in an estimable way.
Preprocessing or namely image processing is a prior step in computer vision, where the goal is to convert an image into a form suitable for further analysis. Examples of operations such as exposure correction, color balancing, image noise reduction, or increasing image sharpness are highly important and very care demanding to achieve acceptable results in most computer vision applications like computational photography or even face recognition.
For this article, I propose to introduce some of the commonly used image processing techniques leveraging a very popular Computer Vision library, OpenCV. I’ll try to describe briefly how each operation works and focus more on tackling the topic more practically, giving you all the code you need so you have a hands-on experience of the material.
The image given below will be used in our experiments. | https://towardsdatascience.com/exploring-image-processing-techniques-opencv-4860006a243 | ['Aymane Hachcham'] | 2020-04-29 22:52:00.723000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Data Science', 'Computer Vision', 'Image Processing', 'Opencv'] | Title Image Processing OpenCVContent Image Processing field knowledge fall Computer Vision premise machine learning first laid computer vision theory applying whole set technique process analyze imagery data extract valuable information computer machine may use wide range application Stitching Turning overlapping photo seamless panorama Turning overlapping photo seamless panorama Morphing Changing merging smooth transition different picture create new one Changing merging smooth transition different picture create new one 3D Modeling Converting 2D snapshot 3D composition Converting 2D snapshot 3D composition Face detection Identifying human face digital image Identifying human face digital image Visual Authentication Automatically logging family member onto computer mobile sitting front webcam intended purpose Vision reconstruct complex colorful vivid threedimensional world simple elementary building block leveraging reliable model would help interpret image estimable way Preprocessing namely image processing prior step computer vision goal convert image form suitable analysis Examples operation exposure correction color balancing image noise reduction increasing image sharpness highly important care demanding achieve acceptable result computer vision application like computational photography even face recognition article propose introduce commonly used image processing technique leveraging popular Computer Vision library OpenCV I’ll try describe briefly operation work focus tackling topic practically giving code need handson experience material image given used experimentsTags Machine Learning Data Science Computer Vision Image Processing Opencv |
1,007 | Diabetes Can’t Be Cured With Low-Carb Diets | I remember a time in my childhood, I was about 7 or 8, when my parents went through a concerted effort to lose weight. Suddenly it was all grapefruit for breakfast, slimming shakes for lunch, and measly salads for dinner.
They did not last long.
These days, they probably wouldn’t have gone for the grapefruit. You see, the biggest diet movement of the last decade is a bit more on the meat side: Low-Carb High-Fat (LCHF). LCHF diets cover the gamut from paleo to keto — short for paleolithic and ketogenic respectively — and basically follow the prescription laid out by Atkins in the 90s except with varying amounts of bone broth and kale.
Pictured: “Healthy”
And now there’s new evidence, reported literally everywhere — from the Guardian to the New York Times — that not only are LCHF diets good for losing weight, they might have a special power: curing diabetes.
This is, of course, total nonsense.
Scientific Shenanigans
Usually, I spend a lot of time going over the science. I talk about the pros and cons, what it actually means, and why the media might have gotten it a bit wrong.
So here goes.
What was the study?
A scientific survey. A survey of people in a Facebook group who follow LCHF diets, and rate it highly as a method for diabetes control. The researchers asked 316 people who are in a Facebook group dedicated to using LCHF diets to control diabetes whether it helped them control their diabetes, and they responded that it did.
That’s it. THE ENTIRE STUDY.
I’m not kidding. Here’s the study methods.
I could go in depth into the methods, talk about bias, statistics, and control groups but honestly I don’t think it’s necessary. There’s no point going in-depth talking about a survey, because all that surveys prove is that people have opinions. The researchers spent time confirming these opinions, but whether this is just a small, self-selected group or a real phenomenon is yet to be demonstrated.
This was the equivalent of asking a bunch of cyclists if they thought cycling was a good idea, and then printing news headlines screaming: “CYCLING CURES ALL HUMAN DISEASE, SAYS STUDY”.
Total rubbish.
And this time, it’s not all the media’s fault. Some of the statements made in the study itself by the scientists were pretty unusual — the claim, for example, that people were achieving “exceptional” diabetes control. Since all the researchers had were self-reported before-and-after values for blood sugar, and there are innumerable known issues with asking people questions like this, the conclusion that this diet did anything at all for blood sugar is a wild guess.
Pictured: Wild guess
Media Madness
Ultimately, this is yet another tedious story where incredibly preliminary findings have been blown out of all proportion.
Picured: “Our results are meaningless but hopefully future research agrees with us and THEN we’ll be vindicated”
If you look at the conclusions of the study (above), it’s actually quite easy to see just how useless the study is for making claims about diabetes. The authors spend an entire paragraph hedging about whether their results mean anything at all.
Which anyone who’d read the study would realize.
Unfortunately “Research doesn’t prove much at all” doesn’t sell newspapers
Sadly, it’s another story of preliminary research being blown out of all proportions by media sources desperate for a story. LCHF diets have been gaining popularity, and there’s some indication that they might be useful for weightloss, but there’s also good evidence that they’re no different from any other type of calorie restriction.
If you’ve got diabetes, don’t listen to the hype. Talk to your doctor, who is a much more reliable source of information about diabetes than sensationalist media pieces.
It turns out, the best diet may just be the one that is best for you.
Not a shock, really.
If you enjoyed, follow me on Medium, Twitter or Facebook! | https://gidmk.medium.com/diabetes-cant-be-cured-with-low-carb-diets-8b645c935373 | ['Gideon M-K', 'Health Nerd'] | 2019-07-02 03:18:51.519000+00:00 | ['Science', 'Weight Loss', 'Low Carb', 'Diabetes', 'Health'] | Title Diabetes Can’t Cured LowCarb DietsContent remember time childhood 7 8 parent went concerted effort lose weight Suddenly grapefruit breakfast slimming shake lunch measly salad dinner last long day probably wouldn’t gone grapefruit see biggest diet movement last decade bit meat side LowCarb HighFat LCHF LCHF diet cover gamut paleo keto — short paleolithic ketogenic respectively — basically follow prescription laid Atkins 90 except varying amount bone broth kale Pictured “Healthy” there’s new evidence reported literally everywhere — Guardian New York Times — LCHF diet good losing weight might special power curing diabetes course total nonsense Scientific Shenanigans Usually spend lot time going science talk pro con actually mean medium might gotten bit wrong go study scientific survey survey people Facebook group follow LCHF diet rate highly method diabetes control researcher asked 316 people Facebook group dedicated using LCHF diet control diabetes whether helped control diabetes responded That’s ENTIRE STUDY I’m kidding Here’s study method could go depth method talk bias statistic control group honestly don’t think it’s necessary There’s point going indepth talking survey survey prove people opinion researcher spent time confirming opinion whether small selfselected group real phenomenon yet demonstrated equivalent asking bunch cyclist thought cycling good idea printing news headline screaming “CYCLING CURES HUMAN DISEASE SAYS STUDY” Total rubbish time it’s media’s fault statement made study scientist pretty unusual — claim example people achieving “exceptional” diabetes control Since researcher selfreported beforeandafter value blood sugar innumerable known issue asking people question like conclusion diet anything blood sugar wild guess Pictured Wild guess Media Madness Ultimately yet another tedious story incredibly preliminary finding blown proportion Picured “Our result meaningless hopefully future research agrees u we’ll vindicated” look conclusion study it’s actually quite easy see useless study making claim diabetes author spend entire paragraph hedging whether result mean anything anyone who’d read study would realize Unfortunately “Research doesn’t prove much all” doesn’t sell newspaper Sadly it’s another story preliminary research blown proportion medium source desperate story LCHF diet gaining popularity there’s indication might useful weightloss there’s also good evidence they’re different type calorie restriction you’ve got diabetes don’t listen hype Talk doctor much reliable source information diabetes sensationalist medium piece turn best diet may one best shock really enjoyed follow Medium Twitter FacebookTags Science Weight Loss Low Carb Diabetes Health |
1,008 | Advertising to Facebook “Fans” Alone Contradicts Marketing Theory | Not only does this mean that a very few people are seeing a brand’s content, but those exposed to this content are only the page “Likes” or, as we used to call them, Facebook ‘fans’.
This implies that many marketers believe there’s value in consistently publishing content for their social fan community alone — essentially, driving business results through a loyalty approach.
The problem is, we know loyalty campaigns (across any channel) have consistently proven ineffective at driving brand growth.
Penetration Campaigns outperform Loyalty Campaigns, every time.
In the 880 cases analyzed from the IPA databank by Les Binet & Peter Field in 2007, the percentage of cases that reported “very large” business effects (sales, market share, penetration, loyalty, price sensitivity, or profit) for loyalty campaigns was only 44%, while penetration campaigns had an effective success rate of 77% for the metrics outlined above. | https://medium.com/comms-planning/speaking-to-your-facebook-fans-contradicts-marketing-theory-1888b234bc98 | ['Alysha Lalji'] | 2016-10-10 20:55:17.506000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Social Media', 'Facebook', 'Facebook Marketing', 'Advertising'] | Title Advertising Facebook “Fans” Alone Contradicts Marketing TheoryContent mean people seeing brand’s content exposed content page “Likes” used call Facebook ‘fans’ implies many marketer believe there’s value consistently publishing content social fan community alone — essentially driving business result loyalty approach problem know loyalty campaign across channel consistently proven ineffective driving brand growth Penetration Campaigns outperform Loyalty Campaigns every time 880 case analyzed IPA databank Les Binet Peter Field 2007 percentage case reported “very large” business effect sale market share penetration loyalty price sensitivity profit loyalty campaign 44 penetration campaign effective success rate 77 metric outlined aboveTags Marketing Social Media Facebook Facebook Marketing Advertising |
1,009 | NaNoWriMo Superhero on Medium: Leo, 6th grader | Welcome to the tenth, and last November episode of NaNoWriMo Superheroes and Superheroines on Medium! In this episode we meet Leo, who completed his first novel last year during NaNo at age 10, and this year said on November 9 to his parents, I have to start writing! November is the month I write a novel. Hear more from Leo about novel writing in the interview, and I hope you’re as inspired as I am by this young writer.
Leo, pondering the nature of penguins.
I asked Leo the same questions as his schoolmates Janet and Adi from Barrington Lloyd-Lovett, Josh Gauthier, and my daughter Ava.
If you leave a response to this post, I’ll make sure Leo sees it. | https://medium.com/nanowrimo/nanowrimo-superhero-on-medium-leo-6th-grader-9cd7ca495ffb | ['Julie Russell'] | 2017-12-09 17:58:40.787000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Writing', 'Fiction', 'Nanowrimo Superheroes', 'NaNoWriMo'] | Title NaNoWriMo Superhero Medium Leo 6th graderContent Welcome tenth last November episode NaNoWriMo Superheroes Superheroines Medium episode meet Leo completed first novel last year NaNo age 10 year said November 9 parent start writing November month write novel Hear Leo novel writing interview hope you’re inspired young writer Leo pondering nature penguin asked Leo question schoolmate Janet Adi Barrington LloydLovett Josh Gauthier daughter Ava leave response post I’ll make sure Leo see itTags Creativity Writing Fiction Nanowrimo Superheroes NaNoWriMo |
1,010 | 8 Backyard Plants to Boost Your Immune System | 8 Backyard Plants to Boost Your Immune System
Because Winter is Coming
Winter is coming and there’s a good chance you will be exposed to cold germs, the flu, or Covid-19. Let’s hope not, but here are some plants that can help you build a wall of immunity around yourself. I love medicinal plants, and there are many in your backyard that can help with a range of ailments, but with Covid-19 back on the rise now seems to be the time to create an immune bubble for ourselves.
And bonus, you can find many of these plants in your own backyard. But don’t wait until winter to find them. Fall is the best time to track down these plants, and I personally love a walk in the woods or park in fall. The crisp air, sun beams cutting through the tree braches, life taking one last look before winter.
Pumpkin Seeds
Yes, that’s right pumpkin seeds and what better to do with that old pumpkin? Well there are 26 other things you can do with your old pumpkin if you don’t like the seeds.
Pumpkin seeds are packed with zinc, magnesium, iron and vitamin E, all great for boosting the immune function. Just one serving of pumpkin seeds can supply 14% to 42% of the daily target for these essential nutrients.
Pumpkin seeds also have anti-fungal and anti-viral properties. They help in cell growth, improve your mood and is even better for quality sleep.
You can sprinkle pumpkin seeds on just about anything, from oatmeal or overnight oats to garden salads, cooked veggies, stir-fries, soups, whole-grain dishes, tacos and, desserts. Roasted shell-on pumpkin seeds make a great snack or trail mix add-in. Pumpkin seed butter can be whipped into smoothies, swirled into yogurt, drizzled over fruit or used as the base for energy bars or balls.
Peppermint
Peppermint grows like a weed inside or out. Its leaves and essential oils contain active components, including menthol and rosmarinic acid, which have antiviral and anti-inflammatory activity .
Peppermint-leaf extract can battle respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and significantly decreased levels of inflammatory compounds. Peppermint oil can kill also bacteria such as E. coli, Listeria and Salmonella in food and Staphylococcus and pneumonia-linked bacteria. Menthol, also an extract from peppermint can kill bacteria.
Since it’s the extract and not the leaves you will need to extract the oils and chemicals to see the benefits.
Burdock
Burdock root is high in Vitamin C and E to build immunity. Clip the prickly heads and the brilliant pink flowers and focus on the root. You’ll want to look for first year plants for the greatest benefit.
A great article on how to prepare this plant tells you how not to have a bad experience the first time. You can roast the root, make kinpira gobo, or stir fry it.
Rose Hips
Go to any garden and you’ll see the little bulbs left over after the roses have bloomed. Roses grow wild in every state except Hawaii as well as in gardens. If you have your own, refrain from dead-heading the spent flowers otherwise the seed pods won’t form.
The rose hip is the oval shaped fruit or seed pod of the rose plant and is found directly beneath the flower after successful pollination. They are often missed because people prune their rose bushes back to encourage more flowers. Rose hips can range in color from an orange-red to a dark purple or even black depending on the species and harvesting time.
Amazingly these are full of Vitamin C, A, B, E and K. But, they are best after the first frost when sugar is concentrated and they become soft. If your area doesn’t have frost then plan for a late fall harvest when the rose hips gain a deep-red hue and slightly soft to the touch when gently squeezed. Eating them fresh is best, as the drying process destroys from 45 to 90 percent of Vitamin C, and infusions extract only about 40 percent of what’s left.
Photo by vasilisa.via form PxHere
Before use, rose hips require de-seeding to remove the tiny hairs that surround the seeds. Rose hips can be dried in the sun or by using a dehydrator; afterwards they can be cut into pieces or powdered for later use.
You can eat the rose hips raw or make it into a tincture, tea, jelly, or syrup. Tea is really easy. Pour boiling water over the rose hips and let them sit 10–15 minutes. Strain out the rose hips.
Elderberry
This was one of the first medicinal plants I bought for my garden — it’s an immune system superstar. Be careful not to confuse these with pokeweed. On elderberry there are many more berries and the elderberry is a bigger shrub than the simple pokeweed. ID with the berries and the reddish branches they hang from.
The elderberry tincture and its derivatives have long been a medicine that is used for cold and flu season. It has a history of use in preventing and treating symptoms of influenza, colds and sinusitis, with anti-viral activity against influenza virus and herpes simplex. They are also edible, but are best cooked in order to avoid any stomach upset — they have toxins that create hydrogen cyanide in the gut.
Make an immune boosting elderberry syrup and tincture, or try elderberry mead, soda, or fermented honey. They can also be included in a medicinal herbal tea blend.
Cherry Bark
Growing up on the east coast I remember ravenously eating the sour cherries from the tree in my back yard, but I never thought about the bark. The inner bark of the black cherry or choke cherry tree can be used as a cough remedy to support the immune system and stop unproductive coughing so a person can sleep. Follow step by step instructions here, and enjoy foraging for this wild medicinal herb or try out this bark and root recipe with cherry bark.
If you can’t find a cherry tree, you can buy a tincture and syrup from Naturopathica.
Garlic
Yeah I know winter is cuffing season, but sometimes you’ve got to fend off that vampire. Garlic is a powerful antimicrobial and liver protector. Garlic is great because it’s friendly to your gut flora and fauna but kills off the invaders.
Garlic can also be employed as a preventative to the common cold. It has been shown to reduce the incidence of colds by 63%, decrease severity of symptoms and accelerate recovery time when compared with a placebo. Garlic has anti-viral activity against influenza A and B, cytomegalovirus, rhinovirus, HIV, herpes, viral pneumonia and rotavirus — note it does not prevent any of these.
Echinacea
Echinacea is native to North America, and is commonly known as purple coneflower. The species used medicinally are Echinacea angustifolia and Echinacea purpurea. This is another plant found easily in backyards.
Echinacea is an immune stimulant. The main actives in the plant are alkylamides — which give a characteristic tingle on the tongue while making your mouth water. Echinacea may lower the risk of developing colds by more than 50% and shorten the duration of colds by one and a half days. Echinacea has also been known to help with depression and anxiety, perfect for the cold, dark winters.
E. purpurea is easier to cultivate, and the whole plant can be used, including the leaf, flower, seed and root. The roots however shouldn’t be harvested until the plant is at least two years old.
Echinacea has a great safety profile and can be taken as a tincture or capsule. You can also enjoy E. purpurea as a carefully dried tea, to preserve the alkylamides. | https://medium.com/the-innovation/8-backyard-plants-to-boost-your-immune-system-ea04b32ea5dd | ['Marcus Griswold'] | 2020-11-03 19:50:04.153000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Covid 19', 'Psychology', 'Nature', 'Food'] | Title 8 Backyard Plants Boost Immune SystemContent 8 Backyard Plants Boost Immune System Winter Coming Winter coming there’s good chance exposed cold germ flu Covid19 Let’s hope plant help build wall immunity around love medicinal plant many backyard help range ailment Covid19 back rise seems time create immune bubble bonus find many plant backyard don’t wait winter find Fall best time track plant personally love walk wood park fall crisp air sun beam cutting tree braches life taking one last look winter Pumpkin Seeds Yes that’s right pumpkin seed better old pumpkin Well 26 thing old pumpkin don’t like seed Pumpkin seed packed zinc magnesium iron vitamin E great boosting immune function one serving pumpkin seed supply 14 42 daily target essential nutrient Pumpkin seed also antifungal antiviral property help cell growth improve mood even better quality sleep sprinkle pumpkin seed anything oatmeal overnight oat garden salad cooked veggie stirfries soup wholegrain dish taco dessert Roasted shellon pumpkin seed make great snack trail mix addin Pumpkin seed butter whipped smoothy swirled yogurt drizzled fruit used base energy bar ball Peppermint Peppermint grows like weed inside leaf essential oil contain active component including menthol rosmarinic acid antiviral antiinflammatory activity Peppermintleaf extract battle respiratory syncytial virus RSV significantly decreased level inflammatory compound Peppermint oil kill also bacteria E coli Listeria Salmonella food Staphylococcus pneumonialinked bacteria Menthol also extract peppermint kill bacteria Since it’s extract leaf need extract oil chemical see benefit Burdock Burdock root high Vitamin C E build immunity Clip prickly head brilliant pink flower focus root You’ll want look first year plant greatest benefit great article prepare plant tell bad experience first time roast root make kinpira gobo stir fry Rose Hips Go garden you’ll see little bulb left rose bloomed Roses grow wild every state except Hawaii well garden refrain deadheading spent flower otherwise seed pod won’t form rose hip oval shaped fruit seed pod rose plant found directly beneath flower successful pollination often missed people prune rose bush back encourage flower Rose hip range color orangered dark purple even black depending specie harvesting time Amazingly full Vitamin C B E K best first frost sugar concentrated become soft area doesn’t frost plan late fall harvest rose hip gain deepred hue slightly soft touch gently squeezed Eating fresh best drying process destroys 45 90 percent Vitamin C infusion extract 40 percent what’s left Photo vasilisavia form PxHere use rose hip require deseeding remove tiny hair surround seed Rose hip dried sun using dehydrator afterwards cut piece powdered later use eat rose hip raw make tincture tea jelly syrup Tea really easy Pour boiling water rose hip let sit 10–15 minute Strain rose hip Elderberry one first medicinal plant bought garden — it’s immune system superstar careful confuse pokeweed elderberry many berry elderberry bigger shrub simple pokeweed ID berry reddish branch hang elderberry tincture derivative long medicine used cold flu season history use preventing treating symptom influenza cold sinusitis antiviral activity influenza virus herpes simplex also edible best cooked order avoid stomach upset — toxin create hydrogen cyanide gut Make immune boosting elderberry syrup tincture try elderberry mead soda fermented honey also included medicinal herbal tea blend Cherry Bark Growing east coast remember ravenously eating sour cherry tree back yard never thought bark inner bark black cherry choke cherry tree used cough remedy support immune system stop unproductive coughing person sleep Follow step step instruction enjoy foraging wild medicinal herb try bark root recipe cherry bark can’t find cherry tree buy tincture syrup Naturopathica Garlic Yeah know winter cuffing season sometimes you’ve got fend vampire Garlic powerful antimicrobial liver protector Garlic great it’s friendly gut flora fauna kill invader Garlic also employed preventative common cold shown reduce incidence cold 63 decrease severity symptom accelerate recovery time compared placebo Garlic antiviral activity influenza B cytomegalovirus rhinovirus HIV herpes viral pneumonia rotavirus — note prevent Echinacea Echinacea native North America commonly known purple coneflower specie used medicinally Echinacea angustifolia Echinacea purpurea another plant found easily backyard Echinacea immune stimulant main active plant alkylamides — give characteristic tingle tongue making mouth water Echinacea may lower risk developing cold 50 shorten duration cold one half day Echinacea also known help depression anxiety perfect cold dark winter E purpurea easier cultivate whole plant used including leaf flower seed root root however shouldn’t harvested plant least two year old Echinacea great safety profile taken tincture capsule also enjoy E purpurea carefully dried tea preserve alkylamidesTags Health Covid 19 Psychology Nature Food |
1,011 | The Origin of The Miranda Warning | The Origin of The Miranda Warning
How Ernesto Miranda’s case came before the Supreme Court
“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court. You have the right to talk to a lawyer for advice before we ask you any questions. You have the right to have a lawyer with you during questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you before any questioning if you wish. If you decide to answer questions now without a lawyer present, you have the right to stop answering at any time.” — The Miranda warning
Miranda warnings today are universal in the justice system as a constitutional right to an attorney and against self-incrimination. But what few know today is the origin and story behind the Miranda warning.
According to the National Constitution Center, the “Miranda” in the term comes from Ernesto Miranda, a man arrested in March of 1963 for rape and kidnapping. While in police custody, Miranda confessed to kidnapping and rape charges.
However, his lawyers wanted to overturn the conviction. During cross-examination in his trial, Miranda’s lawyer wasn’t told he had the right to remain silent and the right to a lawyer.
That would later be the framework for Miranda v. Arizona, a 1966 case that determined the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution ensures people must be read their rights to consult an attorney before and during questioning, and that every defendant had the right against self-incrimination.
Who was Ernesto Miranda?
Ernesto Miranda — Wikipedia Commons
Mitchell Caldwell and Michael Leif at the American Heritage magazine say that Ernesto Arturo Miranda was born in Mesa, Arizona, on March 9, 1941, to a Mexican immigrant. After his mother died, he didn’t get along well with his father, who remarried.
Miranda was first convicted of a crime when he was in eighth grade — he was convicted of burglary and sent to reform school. In that time period, Miranda attended the Queen of Peace Grammar School in Mesa, Arizona. After his release, Miranda was arrested for attempted rape and assault.
In 1956, Miranda was released from the reform school at the Arizona State Industrial School for Boys (ASISB), and he returned there several times after getting in trouble for the law. He eventually moved to Los Angeles, where he served 45 days in county detention for curfew violations and an armed robbery, and then sent back to Arizona.
For Miranda, his only option at the time was going into the U.S. Army. He spent a year and a half in the military and spent a third of his time in service working hard labor for peeping Tom acts and going absent without leave permission. He eventually left the military on an honorable discharge and went to Texas, where he was sent to federal prison for a year after stealing cars.
At that point, Miranda seemed to get his life together. He moved in with a woman named Twila Hoffman in California, who had just separated from her husband but didn’t have money for a divorce. Miranda was 21, and Hoffman was 29, and Hoffman had two children.
The two had a daughter together, and Miranda and Hoffman and their children moved back to Mesa. Miranda worked at a dockworker, while Twila Hoffman worked at a nursing school. He hadn’t held a single job for more than two weeks up to that point, and he worked so well that his supervisor said he was “one of the best workers [he had] ever had.”
The attack
In 1963, an 18-year-old woman named Patricia Weir (not her real name), who lived in Phoenix, worked at a local movie theater. The day was March 2, 1963, and one movie caused her to stay late at the theater. The bus didn’t reach her stop until 12:10 a.m. She later went home and walked up the street, but before she got home, a man jumped out of a car, grabbed her, and put a hand over her mouth:
“Don’t scream, and you won’t get hurt.”
She asked the man to “let me go, please let me go,” but he dragged her into the car, tied her hands behind her back, and made her lie down in the back. The man drove the car for 20 minutes, and then untied Weir and forced himself upon her, and then made her give him whatever money she had in the backseat. He drove her back to her house and said:
“Whether you tell your mother what has happened or not is none of my business, but pray for me.”
Weir pounded on the door, crying as she told her sister what happened. The sister called the police, and Weir was taken to the Good Samaritan Hospital to be examined — two detectives interviewed her. She said the attacker was:
“[a] Mexican male, twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, five feet eleven inches, 175 pounds, slender build, medium complexion with black, short-cut, curly hair, wearing Levi’s, a white T-shirt, and dark-rim glasses.”
However, when later asked, she wasn’t sure what the man’s nationality was. She said he might have been Italian, and the police didn’t have much to go off of to continue the investigation. However, Weir’s brother-in-law, who picked her up at the bus stop after the attack, said he saw a car, a Packard, with a license plate of DFL-312 stalking the street and the car. The car, a 1953 Packard, belonged to Twila Hoffman.
The confession
The Maricopa County Courthouse — From Marine69–71 on Wikipedia Commons
Caldwell and Leif later say that Miranda went to bed one night after a 12-hour-shift at work, and a couple of detectives arrived at his home. According to Ron Dungan at AZ Central, Hoffman answered the door with a baby, and the two children were with her. Miranda awoke, and the detectives asked him to come with them to the police station.
“We’d rather not talk to you about this in front of your family,” Detective Carroll Cooley said.
They led him to a four-man lineup, where Weir identified him. They also led Miranda to an interrogation room, where he confessed for two hours to rape and kidnapping. Miranda later said the cops coerced him into a confession after being dead tired from the graveyard shift. The detectives later brought Weir into the room, and then Miranda said: “that’s the girl.”
He gave a detailed account that matched Weir’s story and then agreed to his confession's written statement. At the confession was a disclaimer that a suspect was confessing “with full knowledge of my legal rights, understanding any statement I make can be used against me.” Miranda signed the disclaimer, and then the district attorney filed charged against Ernesto Miranda for rape and kidnapping.
The trial
Miranda would be represented by an attorney named Alvin Moore, who represented Miranda at the Maricopa County Courthouse. Caldwell and Leif describe Moore as “a passionless defense attorney” in a very run of the mill case at the courthouse.
Four witnesses took the stand, and Miranda’s confession would be presented as well. Weir testified as well, an emotional testimony that had a tremendous effect on the jury. Moore, however, at one point, questioned Cooley about the interrogation.
He asked if Cooley read Miranda his rights. Cooley confirmed that he read the statement.
He then questioned Cooley about the statement — it didn’t include anything about the defendant being entitled to the advice of an attorney.
Knowing this, Moore tried to make a formal motion to exclude the confession, but the motion was denied. The jury deliberated after being instructed by the judge. The jury of three women and nine men found him guilty, unanimously.
Moore later filed an appeal about Miranda’s trial, where he asked two pivotal questions that would shape legal history:
“Was [Miranda’s] statement made voluntarily?”
“Was [he] afforded all the safeguards to his rights provided by the Constitution of the United States and the law and rules of the courts?”
Miranda himself would push the case after the Arizona Supreme Court decided that Miranda’s confession was given voluntarily and had been properly admitted since Miranda had not sought counsel. Miranda then filed a request himself to the Supreme Court, which caught the attention of Robert J. Corcoran, an attorney at the ACLU. Corcoran fought to have Miranda’s Supreme Court case considered, but Moore refused to press on with the case.
Corcoran found assistance in a trial lawyer named John J. Flynn, who worked at a firm that took two cases for the ACLU a year. Flynn solicited the help of an associate named John P. Frank, who clerked for Hugo L. Black, and the two of them would work on the case. Frank and Flynn would correspond with Miranda frequently, and Miranda was very thankful for their help, saying “to know that someone has taken an interest in my case, has increased my moral enormously.”
Miranda v. Arizona
Chief Justice Earl Warren — Public Domain
Preceding Miranda v. Arizona in the Supreme Court were cases like Gideon v. Wainwright, a 1963 case that guaranteed the right to the attorney, and Escobedo v. Ilinois, a 1964 case that protected the right of criminal suspects to have a right to counsel during police interrogations. Both of these cases were protected under the Sixth Amendment.
For the Warren Court, which fervently protected constitutional rights in desegregating the school system and prohibited prayer in public schools, the Miranda case was the convenient successor. Escobedo v. Ilinois made many clerks, by 1966, have to mark “Escobedo” on cases that had coerced confessions — and Earl Warren then chose Miranda’s case where he was, in the words of Caldwell and Leif, “interrogated for two hours without being informed of either his right to remain silent or his right to counsel.”
Escobedo’s case, however, was different from Miranda. The Arizona Attorney General’s Office made the argument that Escobedo’s confession was more coerced. The police made an effort to stop him from seeing a lawyer — Miranda had no such concerted effort. Escobedo also had a clean record, and Miranda had not, suggesting that Miranda knew the interrogation process. Frank, on the other hand, gave an argument about constitutional rights. Caldwell and Leif say:
“It was the battle of constitutional rights versus the possibility of turning dangerous criminals back into the streets. It was the battle of good versus evil. But what was the ultimate good? And which was the worst evil?”
On June 13, 1966, the Warren Court decided — 5–4, in favor of Miranda. The liberal justices of the court decided in favor, while the conservative justices decided against. The Court made sure that the Fifth Amendment would be the backbone of the Miranda protections. Earl Warren wrote the opinion and said:
“This Court has recognized that coercion can be mental as well as physical, and that the blood of the accused is not the only hallmark of an unconstitutional inquisition.”
To expand, Warren wrote the words that are cited almost verbatim in the Miranda warning today, if a person is subject to interrogation:
“[He] has the right to remain silent … that anything said can and will be used against the individual in court … that he has the right to consult with a lawyer and to have the lawyer with him during interrogation … [and] that if he is indigent, a lawyer will be appointed to represent him.”
Warren said that Miranda was not told of his right to an attorney and have one present, nor was Miranda given his right against self-incrimination. His confession was inadmissible since he had not been given these warnings.
Legacy
Caldwell and Leif note that opposition to the Warren Court grew because of the Miranda ruling — the Court had, after all, let a confessed rapist go free. Miranda warnings are standard in the justice system and the reading of these rights has become universal.
Ernesto Miranda wasn’t actually free after the Warren Court ruled his confession was inadmissible. He became a celebrity and became “the most popular inmate at the Arizona State Prison,” and frequently signed autographs and gave legal advice.
However, the Maricopa County District Attorney’s Office retried the case without the confession. Before the trial, Twila Hoffman talked with the prosecutor and said that Miranda confessed he’d kidnapped and raped an 18-year-old girl when she visited him in prison, and then asked Hoffman to visit Weir’s family. He asked Hoffman to convey his promise to marry Weir if she dropped the charges, and that he would return to Hoffman later, but wanted to get out of jail.
With Twila Hoffman and the victim on the stand, Hoffman was sentenced to 20 to 30 years by the jury for rape and kidnapping, the same sentence as his original trial.
Hoffman would later change her name to Twila Mae Spears. Flynn once wrote to her in 1973 asking for visitation rights, according to Dungan. She wrote in response:
“This letter is very close to harassment. Any other correspondence as to this matter will result in Legal action.”
In 1972, Ernesto Miranda was paroled. However, he violated his parole, went back to jail, and was freed again in 1975. He was 34 years old, and in a bar called “the Deuce” in Phoenix, he was playing cards with two Mexican immigrants. They got into an argument, and the two men stabbed Miranda to death. The bartender said the fight ended very quickly. By the time he arrived in the hospital, Miranda was pronounced dead.
Once police arrested Fernando Rodriguez, one of the men who killed Miranda, they read him his Miranda rights, in English and Spanish. | https://medium.com/crimebeat/the-origin-of-the-miranda-warning-394e7a03fe8a | ['Ryan Fan'] | 2020-10-10 08:36:48.098000+00:00 | ['History', 'Nonfiction', 'Justice', 'True Crime', 'Society'] | Title Origin Miranda WarningContent Origin Miranda Warning Ernesto Miranda’s case came Supreme Court “You right remain silent Anything say used court right talk lawyer advice ask question right lawyer questioning cannot afford lawyer one appointed questioning wish decide answer question without lawyer present right stop answering time” — Miranda warning Miranda warning today universal justice system constitutional right attorney selfincrimination know today origin story behind Miranda warning According National Constitution Center “Miranda” term come Ernesto Miranda man arrested March 1963 rape kidnapping police custody Miranda confessed kidnapping rape charge However lawyer wanted overturn conviction crossexamination trial Miranda’s lawyer wasn’t told right remain silent right lawyer would later framework Miranda v Arizona 1966 case determined Fifth Amendment Constitution ensures people must read right consult attorney questioning every defendant right selfincrimination Ernesto Miranda Ernesto Miranda — Wikipedia Commons Mitchell Caldwell Michael Leif American Heritage magazine say Ernesto Arturo Miranda born Mesa Arizona March 9 1941 Mexican immigrant mother died didn’t get along well father remarried Miranda first convicted crime eighth grade — convicted burglary sent reform school time period Miranda attended Queen Peace Grammar School Mesa Arizona release Miranda arrested attempted rape assault 1956 Miranda released reform school Arizona State Industrial School Boys ASISB returned several time getting trouble law eventually moved Los Angeles served 45 day county detention curfew violation armed robbery sent back Arizona Miranda option time going US Army spent year half military spent third time service working hard labor peeping Tom act going absent without leave permission eventually left military honorable discharge went Texas sent federal prison year stealing car point Miranda seemed get life together moved woman named Twila Hoffman California separated husband didn’t money divorce Miranda 21 Hoffman 29 Hoffman two child two daughter together Miranda Hoffman child moved back Mesa Miranda worked dockworker Twila Hoffman worked nursing school hadn’t held single job two week point worked well supervisor said “one best worker ever had” attack 1963 18yearold woman named Patricia Weir real name lived Phoenix worked local movie theater day March 2 1963 one movie caused stay late theater bus didn’t reach stop 1210 later went home walked street got home man jumped car grabbed put hand mouth “Don’t scream won’t get hurt” asked man “let go please let go” dragged car tied hand behind back made lie back man drove car 20 minute untied Weir forced upon made give whatever money backseat drove back house said “Whether tell mother happened none business pray me” Weir pounded door cry told sister happened sister called police Weir taken Good Samaritan Hospital examined — two detective interviewed said attacker “a Mexican male twentyseven twentyeight year old five foot eleven inch 175 pound slender build medium complexion black shortcut curly hair wearing Levi’s white Tshirt darkrim glasses” However later asked wasn’t sure man’s nationality said might Italian police didn’t much go continue investigation However Weir’s brotherinlaw picked bus stop attack said saw car Packard license plate DFL312 stalking street car car 1953 Packard belonged Twila Hoffman confession Maricopa County Courthouse — Marine69–71 Wikipedia Commons Caldwell Leif later say Miranda went bed one night 12hourshift work couple detective arrived home According Ron Dungan AZ Central Hoffman answered door baby two child Miranda awoke detective asked come police station “We’d rather talk front family” Detective Carroll Cooley said led fourman lineup Weir identified also led Miranda interrogation room confessed two hour rape kidnapping Miranda later said cop coerced confession dead tired graveyard shift detective later brought Weir room Miranda said “that’s girl” gave detailed account matched Weir’s story agreed confession written statement confession disclaimer suspect confessing “with full knowledge legal right understanding statement make used me” Miranda signed disclaimer district attorney filed charged Ernesto Miranda rape kidnapping trial Miranda would represented attorney named Alvin Moore represented Miranda Maricopa County Courthouse Caldwell Leif describe Moore “a passionless defense attorney” run mill case courthouse Four witness took stand Miranda’s confession would presented well Weir testified well emotional testimony tremendous effect jury Moore however one point questioned Cooley interrogation asked Cooley read Miranda right Cooley confirmed read statement questioned Cooley statement — didn’t include anything defendant entitled advice attorney Knowing Moore tried make formal motion exclude confession motion denied jury deliberated instructed judge jury three woman nine men found guilty unanimously Moore later filed appeal Miranda’s trial asked two pivotal question would shape legal history “Was Miranda’s statement made voluntarily” “Was afforded safeguard right provided Constitution United States law rule courts” Miranda would push case Arizona Supreme Court decided Miranda’s confession given voluntarily properly admitted since Miranda sought counsel Miranda filed request Supreme Court caught attention Robert J Corcoran attorney ACLU Corcoran fought Miranda’s Supreme Court case considered Moore refused press case Corcoran found assistance trial lawyer named John J Flynn worked firm took two case ACLU year Flynn solicited help associate named John P Frank clerked Hugo L Black two would work case Frank Flynn would correspond Miranda frequently Miranda thankful help saying “to know someone taken interest case increased moral enormously” Miranda v Arizona Chief Justice Earl Warren — Public Domain Preceding Miranda v Arizona Supreme Court case like Gideon v Wainwright 1963 case guaranteed right attorney Escobedo v Ilinois 1964 case protected right criminal suspect right counsel police interrogation case protected Sixth Amendment Warren Court fervently protected constitutional right desegregating school system prohibited prayer public school Miranda case convenient successor Escobedo v Ilinois made many clerk 1966 mark “Escobedo” case coerced confession — Earl Warren chose Miranda’s case word Caldwell Leif “interrogated two hour without informed either right remain silent right counsel” Escobedo’s case however different Miranda Arizona Attorney General’s Office made argument Escobedo’s confession coerced police made effort stop seeing lawyer — Miranda concerted effort Escobedo also clean record Miranda suggesting Miranda knew interrogation process Frank hand gave argument constitutional right Caldwell Leif say “It battle constitutional right versus possibility turning dangerous criminal back street battle good versus evil ultimate good worst evil” June 13 1966 Warren Court decided — 5–4 favor Miranda liberal justice court decided favor conservative justice decided Court made sure Fifth Amendment would backbone Miranda protection Earl Warren wrote opinion said “This Court recognized coercion mental well physical blood accused hallmark unconstitutional inquisition” expand Warren wrote word cited almost verbatim Miranda warning today person subject interrogation “He right remain silent … anything said used individual court … right consult lawyer lawyer interrogation … indigent lawyer appointed represent him” Warren said Miranda told right attorney one present Miranda given right selfincrimination confession inadmissible since given warning Legacy Caldwell Leif note opposition Warren Court grew Miranda ruling — Court let confessed rapist go free Miranda warning standard justice system reading right become universal Ernesto Miranda wasn’t actually free Warren Court ruled confession inadmissible became celebrity became “the popular inmate Arizona State Prison” frequently signed autograph gave legal advice However Maricopa County District Attorney’s Office retried case without confession trial Twila Hoffman talked prosecutor said Miranda confessed he’d kidnapped raped 18yearold girl visited prison asked Hoffman visit Weir’s family asked Hoffman convey promise marry Weir dropped charge would return Hoffman later wanted get jail Twila Hoffman victim stand Hoffman sentenced 20 30 year jury rape kidnapping sentence original trial Hoffman would later change name Twila Mae Spears Flynn wrote 1973 asking visitation right according Dungan wrote response “This letter close harassment correspondence matter result Legal action” 1972 Ernesto Miranda paroled However violated parole went back jail freed 1975 34 year old bar called “the Deuce” Phoenix playing card two Mexican immigrant got argument two men stabbed Miranda death bartender said fight ended quickly time arrived hospital Miranda pronounced dead police arrested Fernando Rodriguez one men killed Miranda read Miranda right English SpanishTags History Nonfiction Justice True Crime Society |
1,012 | Applications of Deep Learning for real-time Object Detection | The global computer vision market was valued at $27.3 Billion in 2019 with a CAGR of 19% from 2020 to 2027 [1]. Object detection is one of the core computer vision tasks that has a broad range of industrial applications such as -
Cancer detection in radiology-based images [Healthcare]
Detection of manufacturing defects, factory floor surveillance [Manufacturing]
Detection of seat belts, parking in restricted areas [Public Safety]
Stock level analysis and inventory management [Retail]
What is object detection?
There are four types of visual recognition tasks in computer vision. First, image classification, which is the assignment of labels to images, for example, labelling cows in a picture of farm as cows. Second, object detection, which is to not only label the cow but also to locate the cow using a bounding box. Third, semantic segmentation, which predicts the labels for each pixel of an image without differentiation between objects with the same label. Fourth, instance segmentation, which involves labelling as well as segmentation.
Different types of computer vision tasks
What is Deep Learning?
Deep learning is a subset of machine learning, that can process data from a very wide variety of sources. Compared to traditional machine learning, it requires lesser data preprocessing by humans and can often produce more accurate predictions from the data. In deep learning, interconnected layers of software-based calculators known as neurons, form a neural network. There are layers of such neurons, hence the word “deep” neural network. The network ingests data and processes them through each layer of the neural network, which each layer learning increasingly complex features of the data.
Once a deep neural network has learned how to make determinations from input data correctly, it can then use what it has learned to make determinations about new data. For example, once it learns what an object looks like, it can recognize the object in a new image. In other words, a deep neural network that has learned how to recognize cows, can quick detect cows in new images.
How a “Neural network” a.k.a “AI model” works: The network processes signals by sending them through a network of nodes analogous to neurons. Signal passes from one to another along links. “Learning” improves the outcome by adjusting the weights that amplify or damp the signals each link carries. Nodes are typically arranged in a series of layers, in other words, a “deep” neural network. Image from Waldropp Mitchell, PNAS, 2019, 116(4)
Technical detail: How does deep learning for object detection work?
Sequence of tasks involved in object detection
Use of a deep neural network for object detection
Recent trends in applications of deep learning for object detection
Overall, the accuracy and performance of state-of-the-art deep learning models reported in 2019 are significantly higher than those of the previous years. Higher accuracy has a profound impact on application of the technology in medical imaging as well as surveillance systems. Improvement in performance means results can be inferred much faster on modern edge-based computing systems, paving the way for applications such as real-time drone based video analytics.
Specifically, the new improvements to deep learning models came by way of the following advancements:
Face Detection Mean Average Precision went above 90%
Face detection is a computer vision problem to detect human faces in images, which is the first step to applications such as face verification, face alignment and facial recognition. Face detection is different from generic object detection in two ways. First, the range of scale of objects is larger in face detection and blurring is more common in face detection. Second, face detection has a single target and depends strongly on the structural characteristics of the face.
WIDER FACE is currently the most commonly used benchmark for evaluating face detection algorithms. The high variance of face scales and large number of faces per image make WIDER FACE the hardest benchmark for face detection, with three evaluation metrics (easy, medium and hard).
In 2019, PyramidBox++ [2], VIM-FD [3], ISRN [4], Retinaface [5], AlnnoFace [6] and RefineFace [7] all reported mAP scores of greater than 90% for the easy, medium and hard metrics. This is a significant improvment over the previous years.
2. Recent trends in pedestrian detection
CityPersons is a new and challenging benchmark for pedestrian detection. The dataset is split into different subsets according to the height and visibility level of the objects, and thus it’s able to evaluate the detectors in a more comprehensive manner. In 2019, the APD model reported a 30% improvement in the object detection performance over 2018 [8]. | https://medium.com/unitx-ai-magazine/recent-trends-in-the-application-of-deep-learning-for-object-detection-aabed8e705bc | ['Kiran Narayanan'] | 2020-08-04 11:39:14.904000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'AI', 'Deep Learning', 'Digital Transformation'] | Title Applications Deep Learning realtime Object DetectionContent global computer vision market valued 273 Billion 2019 CAGR 19 2020 2027 1 Object detection one core computer vision task broad range industrial application Cancer detection radiologybased image Healthcare Detection manufacturing defect factory floor surveillance Manufacturing Detection seat belt parking restricted area Public Safety Stock level analysis inventory management Retail object detection four type visual recognition task computer vision First image classification assignment label image example labelling cow picture farm cow Second object detection label cow also locate cow using bounding box Third semantic segmentation predicts label pixel image without differentiation object label Fourth instance segmentation involves labelling well segmentation Different type computer vision task Deep Learning Deep learning subset machine learning process data wide variety source Compared traditional machine learning requires lesser data preprocessing human often produce accurate prediction data deep learning interconnected layer softwarebased calculator known neuron form neural network layer neuron hence word “deep” neural network network ingests data process layer neural network layer learning increasingly complex feature data deep neural network learned make determination input data correctly use learned make determination new data example learns object look like recognize object new image word deep neural network learned recognize cow quick detect cow new image “Neural network” aka “AI model” work network process signal sending network node analogous neuron Signal pass one another along link “Learning” improves outcome adjusting weight amplify damp signal link carry Nodes typically arranged series layer word “deep” neural network Image Waldropp Mitchell PNAS 2019 1164 Technical detail deep learning object detection work Sequence task involved object detection Use deep neural network object detection Recent trend application deep learning object detection Overall accuracy performance stateoftheart deep learning model reported 2019 significantly higher previous year Higher accuracy profound impact application technology medical imaging well surveillance system Improvement performance mean result inferred much faster modern edgebased computing system paving way application realtime drone based video analytics Specifically new improvement deep learning model came way following advancement Face Detection Mean Average Precision went 90 Face detection computer vision problem detect human face image first step application face verification face alignment facial recognition Face detection different generic object detection two way First range scale object larger face detection blurring common face detection Second face detection single target depends strongly structural characteristic face WIDER FACE currently commonly used benchmark evaluating face detection algorithm high variance face scale large number face per image make WIDER FACE hardest benchmark face detection three evaluation metric easy medium hard 2019 PyramidBox 2 VIMFD 3 ISRN 4 Retinaface 5 AlnnoFace 6 RefineFace 7 reported mAP score greater 90 easy medium hard metric significant improvment previous year 2 Recent trend pedestrian detection CityPersons new challenging benchmark pedestrian detection dataset split different subset according height visibility level object thus it’s able evaluate detector comprehensive manner 2019 APD model reported 30 improvement object detection performance 2018 8Tags Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence AI Deep Learning Digital Transformation |
1,013 | How to Not Suck at Design, a 5 Minute Guide for the Non-Designer. | 6. Use a list view for results, if order is important
Most mobile and web apps have some type of search and there can be some healthy design debates on how to display the results.
If order is important then a list view is most effective.
If order doesn’t matter and you would like to encourage discovery (like Pinterest or AirBnB) then a grid view will encourage a gaze pattern to support discovery.
7. Design in black and white first, add color later
Designing in black and white will keep the focus on solving and designing the core experience of your app.
Color evokes strong emotional responses and often interrupts our ability to focus on the core design problem.
8. Create comfortable design
Hand strain is a real issue, consider the graphic below from Luke Wroblewski’s amazing article: Responsive Navigation: Optimizing for Touch Across Devices.
Luke lays out the areas of a phone that are easiest to reach and use (at least for right handers) — I’d love to see apps have a setting where you can switch the interface from right hand dominant to left hand dominant.
Many effective mobile apps keep navigation and core actions in the bottom third of the phone.
Image Credit: Luke Wroblewski Responsive Navigation: Optimizing for Touch Across Devices
9. Borrow Color Palettes
Color is a bit of an elusive dark art. I highly recommend heading over to Dribbble and searching for “Color Palettes” or use a color palette generator like Coolors or Color Claim.
Save yourself the hours of endless debate and second guessing.
10. Use Apple and Google OS Conventions
Apple and Google have created incredible resources for anyone building software for Android or iOS.
For example, the Google Material spec has guidelines, resources, colors, icons and components to help jump start the design of your app.
Apple has the HIG — their Human Interface Guidelines, which outline everything you need to know on how to design an iOS app. | https://medium.com/startup-grind/how-to-not-suck-at-design-a-5-minute-guide-for-the-non-designer-291efac43037 | ['Marc Hemeon'] | 2020-08-13 16:56:29.187000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Innovation', 'Marketing', 'UX', 'Business'] | Title Suck Design 5 Minute Guide NonDesignerContent 6 Use list view result order important mobile web apps type search healthy design debate display result order important list view effective order doesn’t matter would like encourage discovery like Pinterest AirBnB grid view encourage gaze pattern support discovery 7 Design black white first add color later Designing black white keep focus solving designing core experience app Color evokes strong emotional response often interrupt ability focus core design problem 8 Create comfortable design Hand strain real issue consider graphic Luke Wroblewski’s amazing article Responsive Navigation Optimizing Touch Across Devices Luke lay area phone easiest reach use least right handers — I’d love see apps setting switch interface right hand dominant left hand dominant Many effective mobile apps keep navigation core action bottom third phone Image Credit Luke Wroblewski Responsive Navigation Optimizing Touch Across Devices 9 Borrow Color Palettes Color bit elusive dark art highly recommend heading Dribbble searching “Color Palettes” use color palette generator like Coolors Color Claim Save hour endless debate second guessing 10 Use Apple Google OS Conventions Apple Google created incredible resource anyone building software Android iOS example Google Material spec guideline resource color icon component help jump start design app Apple HIG — Human Interface Guidelines outline everything need know design iOS appTags Design Innovation Marketing UX Business |
1,014 | Late last year, Sir David Attenborough, attended crucial UN climate talks, and implored that human… | Late last year, Sir David Attenborough, attended crucial UN climate talks, and implored that human behaviour and attitudes to climate change and global warming must change if we want to save our planet. Attenborough states “given the chance it can recover, and we know how to do that.” It’s not too late.
In observing data from Climate Central, there is an obvious correlation between dramatic increases in carbon dioxide in the air and temperature rise. Carbon dioxide accounts for 75% of greenhouse gasses, and is largely a result of human behaviours such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation. These greenhouse gasses trap heat within the Earth’s atmosphere which is normally remitted back into space during night time when the temperature drops. Essentially, these gasses resemble glass in a greenhouse, which allows sunlight to pass into the ‘greenhouse,’ but prevents heat from escaping into space leading to a global temperature increase.
Image source: Climate Central (2018) ‘GLOBAL TEMPERATURE & CARBON DIOXIDE’, Available at: http://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/download/co2-and-rising-global-temperatures
(accessed: 27.11.2018)
National Geographic suggests that the continued increase in the global temperature could have catastrophic impacts on our wildlife, sea levels and the rate of melting icecaps and glaciers. The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events will also be effected. Already we have seen heatwaves, extreme storms, and seasonal changes as well as changing animal behaviour, all of which indicate climate change and global warming. Plus, a recent article in The Guardian revealed that scientist Brad Lister returned to a Puerta Rican rainforest after 35 years to find that 98% of ground insects had vanished, with the most likely reason being global warming. This crash in insect numbers, impacts the foundations of the rainforest food chain, risking “ecological Armageddon”.
This decline has had a snowball effect on other creatures who feed on the insects. This includes the Puerto Rican Tody, numbers of which have dropped by 90%. Lister describes this as a “bottom-up trophic cascade” because “when the invertebrates are declining the entire food web is going to suffer and degrade.” This is further supported by an article in The Guardian, by Jonathan Watts, which explains “45% of all potential environmental collapses are interrelated and could amplify one another.” Action must be taken before this cascades into an even wider, and more devastating problem. Whilst businesses and governments need to take a stronger stance on climate policy, there are small changes that individuals can also make to reduce their carbon footprint and have a positive impact on the environment.
Individuals can focus on small domestic changes, such as switching off plugs, using low carbon or public transport rather than fuel-based vehicles, utilising renewable energy sources, and insulating their homes. EnergiToken is incentivising people to make these changes, by awarding those who display energy saving behaviour with EnergiTokens (ETK). ETK is a financially tangible cryptocurrency which is given to customers who, for example, purchase low carbon transport, solar panels, or energy efficient appliance from one of their partners. This ETK can then be spent by customers within the EnergiToken ecosystem of approved partners.
EnergiToken’s partner, ON5, encourages domestic and commercial changes in energy consumption through workshops, and their recently launched Energy100 which educates people on how to be more efficient in their homes and workplaces. Individuals may be surprised by how small changes to one’s behaviour can really have a meaningful impact on the wider environment. If everyone makes a small change to their consumer habits, collectively the impact can be huge.
Working with several energy efficient and environmentally passionate partners, EnergiToken plans to lead decarbonisation, and energy consumption reduction in order to help reduce the human-caused, damaging impact on the environment. Incentivising behavioural change with ETK, will motivate more people to make ‘greener’ choices until it becomes instinctive practice, thus having a sustained, and increasing impact on the environment. Small changes can have big consequences.
“Every action counts.” — Juan Rocha, Stockholm Resilience Centre
Reduce consumption and get rewarded. Visit www.energitoken.com today to find out more. | https://medium.com/energitokennews/late-last-year-sir-david-attenborough-attended-crucial-un-climate-talks-and-implored-that-human-f354355a5018 | [] | 2019-01-22 14:44:28.915000+00:00 | ['Climate Change', 'Environment', 'Sustainability', 'Global Warming', 'Pollution'] | Title Late last year Sir David Attenborough attended crucial UN climate talk implored human…Content Late last year Sir David Attenborough attended crucial UN climate talk implored human behaviour attitude climate change global warming must change want save planet Attenborough state “given chance recover know that” It’s late observing data Climate Central obvious correlation dramatic increase carbon dioxide air temperature rise Carbon dioxide account 75 greenhouse gas largely result human behaviour burning fossil fuel deforestation greenhouse gas trap heat within Earth’s atmosphere normally remitted back space night time temperature drop Essentially gas resemble glass greenhouse allows sunlight pas ‘greenhouse’ prevents heat escaping space leading global temperature increase Image source Climate Central 2018 ‘GLOBAL TEMPERATURE CARBON DIOXIDE’ Available httpwwwclimatecentralorggallerydownloadco2andrisingglobaltemperatures accessed 27112018 National Geographic suggests continued increase global temperature could catastrophic impact wildlife sea level rate melting icecap glacier frequency intensity extreme weather event also effected Already seen heatwaves extreme storm seasonal change well changing animal behaviour indicate climate change global warming Plus recent article Guardian revealed scientist Brad Lister returned Puerta Rican rainforest 35 year find 98 ground insect vanished likely reason global warming crash insect number impact foundation rainforest food chain risking “ecological Armageddon” decline snowball effect creature feed insect includes Puerto Rican Tody number dropped 90 Lister describes “bottomup trophic cascade” “when invertebrate declining entire food web going suffer degrade” supported article Guardian Jonathan Watts explains “45 potential environmental collapse interrelated could amplify one another” Action must taken cascade even wider devastating problem Whilst business government need take stronger stance climate policy small change individual also make reduce carbon footprint positive impact environment Individuals focus small domestic change switching plug using low carbon public transport rather fuelbased vehicle utilising renewable energy source insulating home EnergiToken incentivising people make change awarding display energy saving behaviour EnergiTokens ETK ETK financially tangible cryptocurrency given customer example purchase low carbon transport solar panel energy efficient appliance one partner ETK spent customer within EnergiToken ecosystem approved partner EnergiToken’s partner ON5 encourages domestic commercial change energy consumption workshop recently launched Energy100 educates people efficient home workplace Individuals may surprised small change one’s behaviour really meaningful impact wider environment everyone make small change consumer habit collectively impact huge Working several energy efficient environmentally passionate partner EnergiToken plan lead decarbonisation energy consumption reduction order help reduce humancaused damaging impact environment Incentivising behavioural change ETK motivate people make ‘greener’ choice becomes instinctive practice thus sustained increasing impact environment Small change big consequence “Every action counts” — Juan Rocha Stockholm Resilience Centre Reduce consumption get rewarded Visit wwwenergitokencom today find moreTags Climate Change Environment Sustainability Global Warming Pollution |
1,015 | Is It Time to Get Over Design Patterns? | One of the core principles of good programming is don’t solve the same problem twice. If someone has already invented the perfect bubblesort, you have no business rolling your own. If you’ve got a reasonable regular expression to validate email addresses, you don’t need to do it yourself. And so on.
This logic is easy to understand. Every time you reinvent a piece of functionality, there’s a risk that things will go sideways. You could introduce new bugs or stumble into unexpected shortcomings. At best, your code will suck up extra testing time. At worst, you’ll create problems that will hide in the seams and joints of your application, like bedbugs in the corners of a old bed frame.
So it’s easy to understand the allure of design patterns. If we’re going to solve the same problems over and over again, wouldn’t we be wise to use the canonical solutions, ones created by far smarter programmers and tested over the eons? Or, to put it another way, don’t we have the responsibility to use battle-tested patterns to save time and ensure the best possible final product?
This is how design patterns reel you in.
A brief history of design patterns
The idea of patterns — conceptual models that you can define and reuse — has deep roots, stretching back to real architecture (of buildings) and the work of Christopher Alexander. But design patterns as most programmers know them sprang into existence in 1994, when four coding geniuses wrote a book called Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software.
The book that launched a thousand design reviews
Design Patterns set out 23 foundational patterns grouped into three categories: Creational, Structural, and Behavioral. You can review all of them here. Amazingly enough, when people talk about design patterns today — some 25 years later — they’re usually referring to one of the ancient patterns first codified in this book.
This sort of success is no accident. And there’s no denying that the original design patterns were written by sharper programmers than you or me. But design patterns aren’t a neutral part of software design, and using them has a price that’s often overlooked.
The cost of complexity
Design patterns are often sold to programmers with architectural analogies. Imagine you were building a new home. Would you want the tradespeople doing the work to reinvent domestic plumbing systems? Would you want the electrician to cook up his own approach to wiring fuses?
A couple of design patterns short of perfection / [Pixabay]
But building software systems is very different than building houses. For one thing, design patterns aren’t ingredients you can drop straight into your code, like a handy function from a class library. Instead, each pattern is a model that needs to be implemented. Most design patterns define an interaction that spans different objects, which means you need to make changes to several classes. The sheer weight of this extra code complicates your design. They’re especially dangerous for new developers, who never see a coding side-trip they don’t want to take.
Even when design patterns are at their best, they force you to trade simplicity for something else. Often, that “something else” is just a vague promise of good encapsulation and a warm fuzzy feeling.
The general problem / XKCD
Design patterns are opinionated. They embed themselves in your code, and they pull your classes in specific directions.
Even the simplest patterns have a cost and introduce complexity. Consider the humble Singleton pattern—a class that only allows one instance. Despite its conceptual simplicity, there’s roughly a dozen different techniques for implementing the Singleton pattern, depending on whether you need thread safety, lazy loading, serializability, support for inheritance, or you just love enums.
It’s not that Singleton design is an advanced concept. It’s just impossible to design any single code ingredient to be perfectly generalized and perfectly suitable to every use case. And to this day, architects still debate if the Singleton is a virtuous gold-plated pattern or an anti-pattern— something you should strive to avoid, because someday it will betray you.
Ambiguous extensibility
Design patterns are all about increasing abstraction in your code. Patterns like Proxy, Bridge, Adapter, and Facade add layers in between objects. At first, this seems like programming paradise. What virtuous programmer doesn’t want less dependency between objects?
We all know the rule: All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection. But there’s a side effect, too. Every extra layer of indirection adds a new place where you can put a solution.
In other words, the more you abstract your design with patterns, the more places you open up for someone else to change the code. Future programmers are going to have trouble figuring out what part of the system to modify, and how they can extend the code without having their work collide with someone else’s changes.
The worst offender is the Mediator pattern, which aims to let two objects interact without knowing anything about each other. The result is either the a holy nirvana of abstraction, or a way to seriously confuse responsibilities in your class model.
There are two ways to wreck a car: 1) Tear it apart. 2) Call it a generalized road-limited transport container and start adding to it.
Mismatching and bad fits
It’s easy to rush into implementing patterns without understanding the context—in other words, how do these patterns fit into your chosen language, framework, and type of application?
The answer can be murky. Modern language features like generics change the way patterns are used. Dynamic languages from Lisp to Python make many patterns obsolete, according to no less a programmer than Peter Norvig. And functional programming languages exist in a parallel universe with completely different patterns.
These inconsistencies aren’t limited to language features. Other patterns don’t play nicely with certain types of infrastructure. For example, you don’t want chatty objects if you’re dealing with network protocols, and multithreaded code can break the standard implementations of most of the original 23 design patterns.
Patterns are at their best in the hands of framework designers, who can integrate them directly into a framework. For example, events are modern examples of the Observer pattern. The Prototype pattern is fused into JavaScript (and the source of all its object-oriented features). Server-side web frameworks like ASP.NET implement the legendary Model View Controller pattern. And so on.
The antidote: Be simple
If design patterns are dangerous, what’s the solution? The answer is to take a simple, solemn pledge. It’s a sort of Hippocratic Oath of the programming world:
First, be simple.
If you’re deep in a thorny problem, in a fog of semicolons and class relationships, trying to untangle responsibilities and keep everything manageable, pause. Don’t let design patterns short-circuit your critical thinking. After all, having a pattern does not protect you from a bad design. There’s no guarantee that the problem you think you’re solving with a pattern is the problem you need to solve. And adding patterns that don’t address the right problems — or any problem at all — is a certain path to Software Maintenance Hell.
If you can guarantee nothing else about your program, promise to keep it simple.
Standards / XKCD
Patterns are a design language
The real value of design patterns is not prescriptive (telling you what to do). It’s descriptive (telling others what you’ve done). Design patterns aren’t recipes. They’re a language.
Good things happen when you think of design patterns as a language that can help you talk about application design. You don’t need to start out trying to use patterns. Instead — with experience — you’ll begin to recognize the outlines of patterns crystallizing in your code. For example, if you code web services, you’re almost certainly using the Facade pattern, whether you recognize it or not. Once you recognize the emerging structure of your code, you can use the language of design patterns — concepts like factory, decorator, and facade — to formalize what you’ve done.
Design patterns can’t teach you software architecture. They aren’t meant as an excuse to write a lot of code or a way to avoid thinking deeply about design. But they can help you think about your designs at a higher level of abstraction. And that’s probably what the Gang of Four were hoping all along. | https://medium.com/young-coder/is-it-time-to-get-over-design-patterns-8851864a6834 | ['Matthew Macdonald'] | 2019-11-20 20:08:53.799000+00:00 | ['Software Engineering', 'Software Development', 'Software Architecture', 'Programming', 'Design Patterns'] | Title Time Get Design PatternsContent One core principle good programming don’t solve problem twice someone already invented perfect bubblesort business rolling you’ve got reasonable regular expression validate email address don’t need logic easy understand Every time reinvent piece functionality there’s risk thing go sideways could introduce new bug stumble unexpected shortcoming best code suck extra testing time worst you’ll create problem hide seam joint application like bedbug corner old bed frame it’s easy understand allure design pattern we’re going solve problem wouldn’t wise use canonical solution one created far smarter programmer tested eon put another way don’t responsibility use battletested pattern save time ensure best possible final product design pattern reel brief history design pattern idea pattern — conceptual model define reuse — deep root stretching back real architecture building work Christopher Alexander design pattern programmer know sprang existence 1994 four coding genius wrote book called Design Patterns Elements Reusable ObjectOriented Software book launched thousand design review Design Patterns set 23 foundational pattern grouped three category Creational Structural Behavioral review Amazingly enough people talk design pattern today — 25 year later — they’re usually referring one ancient pattern first codified book sort success accident there’s denying original design pattern written sharper programmer design pattern aren’t neutral part software design using price that’s often overlooked cost complexity Design pattern often sold programmer architectural analogy Imagine building new home Would want tradespeople work reinvent domestic plumbing system Would want electrician cook approach wiring fuse couple design pattern short perfection Pixabay building software system different building house one thing design pattern aren’t ingredient drop straight code like handy function class library Instead pattern model need implemented design pattern define interaction span different object mean need make change several class sheer weight extra code complicates design They’re especially dangerous new developer never see coding sidetrip don’t want take Even design pattern best force trade simplicity something else Often “something else” vague promise good encapsulation warm fuzzy feeling general problem XKCD Design pattern opinionated embed code pull class specific direction Even simplest pattern cost introduce complexity Consider humble Singleton pattern—a class allows one instance Despite conceptual simplicity there’s roughly dozen different technique implementing Singleton pattern depending whether need thread safety lazy loading serializability support inheritance love enums It’s Singleton design advanced concept It’s impossible design single code ingredient perfectly generalized perfectly suitable every use case day architect still debate Singleton virtuous goldplated pattern antipattern— something strive avoid someday betray Ambiguous extensibility Design pattern increasing abstraction code Patterns like Proxy Bridge Adapter Facade add layer object first seems like programming paradise virtuous programmer doesn’t want le dependency object know rule problem computer science solved another level indirection there’s side effect Every extra layer indirection add new place put solution word abstract design pattern place open someone else change code Future programmer going trouble figuring part system modify extend code without work collide someone else’s change worst offender Mediator pattern aim let two object interact without knowing anything result either holy nirvana abstraction way seriously confuse responsibility class model two way wreck car 1 Tear apart 2 Call generalized roadlimited transport container start adding Mismatching bad fit It’s easy rush implementing pattern without understanding context—in word pattern fit chosen language framework type application answer murky Modern language feature like generic change way pattern used Dynamic language Lisp Python make many pattern obsolete according le programmer Peter Norvig functional programming language exist parallel universe completely different pattern inconsistency aren’t limited language feature pattern don’t play nicely certain type infrastructure example don’t want chatty object you’re dealing network protocol multithreaded code break standard implementation original 23 design pattern Patterns best hand framework designer integrate directly framework example event modern example Observer pattern Prototype pattern fused JavaScript source objectoriented feature Serverside web framework like ASPNET implement legendary Model View Controller pattern antidote simple design pattern dangerous what’s solution answer take simple solemn pledge It’s sort Hippocratic Oath programming world First simple you’re deep thorny problem fog semicolon class relationship trying untangle responsibility keep everything manageable pause Don’t let design pattern shortcircuit critical thinking pattern protect bad design There’s guarantee problem think you’re solving pattern problem need solve adding pattern don’t address right problem — problem — certain path Software Maintenance Hell guarantee nothing else program promise keep simple Standards XKCD Patterns design language real value design pattern prescriptive telling It’s descriptive telling others you’ve done Design pattern aren’t recipe They’re language Good thing happen think design pattern language help talk application design don’t need start trying use pattern Instead — experience — you’ll begin recognize outline pattern crystallizing code example code web service you’re almost certainly using Facade pattern whether recognize recognize emerging structure code use language design pattern — concept like factory decorator facade — formalize you’ve done Design pattern can’t teach software architecture aren’t meant excuse write lot code way avoid thinking deeply design help think design higher level abstraction that’s probably Gang Four hoping alongTags Software Engineering Software Development Software Architecture Programming Design Patterns |
1,016 | Why Most Entrepreneurs Struggle | No matter what, control your environment. You are the smartest thing you have ever met. Use that.
2. FIND THAT FAMOUS “ONE SINGLE THING” THAT YOU ARE INSANELY PASSIONATE ABOUT
Come on. It’s not rocket science. You are not looking for the love of your life. If you are reading this, I assume you have spent at least 18 years on this planet and have at least an idea of what you like and what you don’t. Remember, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
Discover what you are really passionate about and what you would change in your life or people’s lives. Think about what one thing you can do better than others, or how you could improve an existing problem.
I understand you need inspiration, but wasting a million days in a row jumping from one distracting website to another won’t help you find the idea of your life.
How do you make sure you’ve found that one single idea? Maybe Mark Cuban can help with his 12 Rules for Startups:
Don’t start a company unless it’s an obsession and something you love. If you have an exit strategy, it’s not an obsession.
3. YOU FOUND THE THING OF YOUR LIFE? GREAT! NOW DO ONE THING: START!
Stop the vicious cycle and just start. You will be impressed by how many people will contact you or will want to work with you once you begin. Scratch your idea onto a piece of paper (yes, just on a piece of paper) and walk out of your apartment. Talk to people.
By the way, get a life and stop that bullshit of, “What if they steal my idea?” Talk to as many people as you can. Let them steal it if they really will, but you will kick their ass.
Please also stop saying, “I need to find an investor.” How about making some sales first?
Maybe you will even realize you don’t need to give any share of your business to an investor. Even if you really need an investor, by making some sales, you will have a stronger hand to play.
4. NOW THAT YOU’VE STARTED, HERE IS WHAT YOU SHOULD REMEMBER EVERY SINGLE DAY: SAY NO TO OTHER IDEAS, KEEP DOING ONE THING, AND DO IT FU*KING WELL
Just because you started working on your idea doesn’t mean you won’t meet distractions along the way. Your mind will be about to explode with all the ideas you can apply to your business, the many features you can add to your product, etc.
Keep your focus. Say no to distracting ideas. If you keep doing that, another thing that will impress you will be the power of what you studied in your marketing book: word of mouth.
You will be truly impressed by the number of people coming back and asking for more work. Who cares about competition? You are just beating yourself. Isn’t that what matters in the end?
5. OH, BY THE WAY, STOP GIVIN A F*CK TO WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK.
If you are an entrepreneur because you want to prove other people that you are successful, then please go back to step one above. Make sure you are following your passion because you have a vision and you are out to change something in this world.
Otherwise, this will kill you. You will have difficulty focusing and you will keep being distracted because you won’t really be passionate about getting anything done.
Now what? Stop wasting your time reading this article and get your ass back to work. | https://medium.com/swlh/the-single-biggest-reason-most-entrepreneurs-fail-in-2014-4c7e41e013cb | ['Ali Mese'] | 2020-05-12 19:57:42.716000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Tech', 'Startup', 'Business', 'Entrepreneurship'] | Title Entrepreneurs StruggleContent matter control environment smartest thing ever met Use 2 FIND FAMOUS “ONE SINGLE THING” INSANELY PASSIONATE Come It’s rocket science looking love life reading assume spent least 18 year planet least idea like don’t Remember don’t reinvent wheel Discover really passionate would change life people’s life Think one thing better others could improve existing problem understand need inspiration wasting million day row jumping one distracting website another won’t help find idea life make sure you’ve found one single idea Maybe Mark Cuban help 12 Rules Startups Don’t start company unless it’s obsession something love exit strategy it’s obsession 3 FOUND THING LIFE GREAT ONE THING START Stop vicious cycle start impressed many people contact want work begin Scratch idea onto piece paper yes piece paper walk apartment Talk people way get life stop bullshit “What steal idea” Talk many people Let steal really kick as Please also stop saying “I need find investor” making sale first Maybe even realize don’t need give share business investor Even really need investor making sale stronger hand play 4 YOU’VE STARTED REMEMBER EVERY SINGLE DAY SAY IDEAS KEEP ONE THING FUKING WELL started working idea doesn’t mean won’t meet distraction along way mind explode idea apply business many feature add product etc Keep focus Say distracting idea keep another thing impress power studied marketing book word mouth truly impressed number people coming back asking work care competition beating Isn’t matter end 5 OH WAY STOP GIVIN FCK PEOPLE THINK entrepreneur want prove people successful please go back step one Make sure following passion vision change something world Otherwise kill difficulty focusing keep distracted won’t really passionate getting anything done Stop wasting time reading article get as back workTags Self Improvement Tech Startup Business Entrepreneurship |
1,017 | DeOldify: GAN based Image Colorization | Get this newsletter By signing up, you will create a Medium account if you don’t already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Check your inbox
Medium sent you an email at to complete your subscription. | https://medium.com/merzazine/deoldify-gan-based-image-colorization-6abaa74dd250 | ['Vlad Alex', 'Merzmensch'] | 2020-06-09 08:30:57.027000+00:00 | ['AI', 'Published Tds', 'Artificial Intelligence'] | Title DeOldify GAN based Image ColorizationContent Get newsletter signing create Medium account don’t already one Review Privacy Policy information privacy practice Check inbox Medium sent email complete subscriptionTags AI Published Tds Artificial Intelligence |
1,018 | Enable Multiple Apps Access to the same Google Cloud Services | Understanding Mobile Development
Enable Multiple Apps Access to the same Google Cloud Services
Google Cloud Services can be shared
Photo by Alex Machado on Unsplash
It has been some time since I worked on GoogleMap. The key is there, and everything is working fine. There’s no need to access to Google Cloud Console.
Lately, I work on introducing App Bundle and uses a different Key to Upload the App.
For internal testing, I sign with the upload key. All works fine until I notice that the Google Map is no longer working!!
Forgotten how enabling the map work, I wonder if I need a new key, a new certificate, etc? Try google around, and nothing speaks of this question I have.
Google Cloud Services
After quick hunting around, Google Map is part of Google Cloud Services. To enable any services, do check out the formal guide by Google.
The entire setup can be summarized by the diagram below
Setup the Billings (you can have more than 1 if you like) Create a project and attached to which one you like to be billed In the Project, you then select what API you would like to enable (e.g. Google Map, Place API) Lastly, create the API Keys, and decide if the Keys should access to all API or restrict it to some of it.
If my App is signed differently, do I need a new API Key?
Now, the problem I faced is, given I’m using the App Bundle, and it is signed differently before uploading. For internal testing, we have a local APK that is signed with the uploading Keystore.
So how can I get it to have access to all the same access as the main App to be upload to the store?
Option 1: Create a different key for the internal App.
To enable this to work, other than create the new key, I need to
Change my build Gradle to have different Key Access for my internal testing app vs the production version Need to set all the API Key restrictions the original key has. Any future changes need to be catered to as well.
The pro of this approach though is, you can have separate control of which API services to be access by Internal and Production.
Option 2: Sign the APK with the same original Keystore
This is back to square one, where the internal App Keystore signature is the same as production. No changes to Gradle, nor need to introduce a new API Key.
The drawback is the benefit App Bundle, where we no longer need to have the original Keystore has been discarded.
Option 3: Use the same API Key, but support for different Keystore signature.
Wow, actually this is possible.
To do so, you can go to menu →APIs & Services →Credentials
From there you’ll get a list of API Keys. Select the one that you’re currently using | https://medium.com/mobile-app-development-publication/enable-multiple-app-access-to-same-google-cloud-services-cbb13e410ba4 | [] | 2020-11-24 08:44:40.344000+00:00 | ['Mobile App Development', 'Google Cloud Platform', 'Google', 'Android', 'Android App Development'] | Title Enable Multiple Apps Access Google Cloud ServicesContent Understanding Mobile Development Enable Multiple Apps Access Google Cloud Services Google Cloud Services shared Photo Alex Machado Unsplash time since worked GoogleMap key everything working fine There’s need access Google Cloud Console Lately work introducing App Bundle us different Key Upload App internal testing sign upload key work fine notice Google Map longer working Forgotten enabling map work wonder need new key new certificate etc Try google around nothing speaks question Google Cloud Services quick hunting around Google Map part Google Cloud Services enable service check formal guide Google entire setup summarized diagram Setup Billings 1 like Create project attached one like billed Project select API would like enable eg Google Map Place API Lastly create API Keys decide Keys access API restrict App signed differently need new API Key problem faced given I’m using App Bundle signed differently uploading internal testing local APK signed uploading Keystore get access access main App upload store Option 1 Create different key internal App enable work create new key need Change build Gradle different Key Access internal testing app v production version Need set API Key restriction original key future change need catered well pro approach though separate control API service access Internal Production Option 2 Sign APK original Keystore back square one internal App Keystore signature production change Gradle need introduce new API Key drawback benefit App Bundle longer need original Keystore discarded Option 3 Use API Key support different Keystore signature Wow actually possible go menu →APIs Services →Credentials you’ll get list API Keys Select one you’re currently usingTags Mobile App Development Google Cloud Platform Google Android Android App Development |
1,019 | The rise of (audio)books. We have come a long way — from renting... | Image Source: Photo by Elice Moore on Unsplash
We have come a long way — from borrowing books from libraries, buying and reviewing them online to reading and highlighting on electronic reading devices (Kindle) that feel like books but can carry tens of titles without the weight.
It took us some time to try, adopt and get comfortable with listening to narrated audiobooks. Some of us are still resisting this change. While books/ebooks have some nostalgia associated with them, audiobooks have made reading handsfree and added a new dimension to reading — tonality aka emotion.
When I searched “Audible” on Google, an a Google Ad popped up stating: “Listening Is The New Reading”. Below are the five prominent ways, in which I expect audiobooks, or books in general, to evolve.
1) Narrator-less Audiobooks
Image Source: BigSnarf Blog
While driverless cars steal attention and make more attractive headlines, a nearer reality is one, in which Artificial Intelligence gradually eliminates the need for human narrators of audiobooks.
Unlike a few years ago, robots don’t sound robotic anymore. They sound more human as tonality is now infused into the the voice of our digital assistants. Yes, we can still distinguish a computerized voice from a real human’s voice. But, we are not far from making that distinction unnoticeable.
The ousting of human narrators will lead to mass production of audiobooks, greater profit margins and faster time to market of audiobooks.
2) Increasing Competition
Image source: Wired
Audiobooks are not competing with books or e-books. They’re competing with podcasts, our music playlists, meditation apps, Youtube, phone calls and even in-person conversations.
Thanks to the popularity and convenience of Apple’s airpods, listening is on the rise and so is the ambition of each of the audio apps above. While Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime compete on screen time, podcasts, audiobooks, music apps and phone calls will complete on eartime.
3) Informative → Engaging
Image Source: Margaritaville Resort
One reason why some book/ebook readers haven’t yet turned into audiobook listeners is possibly because they zone out.
In order to convert these readers to listeners, we may see introduction of a lot more knobs to customize the AI generated narration — from “monotonous” to “dramatic” to maybe “rap music”.
Voice emulation has an unbelievable power. In the last couple of years, there have been a good number of videos on our social media feeds cautioning us about how voice emulation could result in the rise of deep fakes and hence can be a danger to our society. While such dangers do exist, any technology is only as good as how we put it to use. It is worth spending some time thinking about the bright side of the possibilities it opens up for the entire humanity. To see what is possible, check out this story on how DeepMind and Google recreated ALS patient and former NFL linebacker Tim Shaw’s voice using AI.
Coming back to audiobooks, we can imagine voice emulation would allow us to choose narrators from hundreds of voices — from celebrities to grandpa/ma.
4) Convergence of Media
Image Source: Agri Investor
There are book lovers who love to read. Then, there are audiobook fanatics who are glued to their airpods. But, it is not all black and white. Some people prefer reading and listening at the same time.
Currently, book, ebook and audiobook purchases for the same title are considered separate. This could be caused by any of the three reasons: 1) poor integration, 2) each trying to optimize their individual revenue, 3) assumption that people always choose one experience exclusively over the other.
In future, we can expect audiobooks to be bundled for free (or for a nominal price) with book and ebook purchases. Captions on audiobooks will be the new ebook.
Interestingly, Audible is already developing two new features addressing exactly this: 1) Immersion Reading, 2) Audible Captions.
5) Auto-translation
Image Source: Wikimedia
Market expansion is not just limited to converting readers to listeners.
There’s a massive untapped market of people across the globe who do not prefer to read English, cannot read English, or for that matter cannot read at all.
Making stories available for listening in local/regional languages and accents can open up a huge market opportunity, particularly for the self-help category.
Translating millions of books to 1000+ languages in many different accents and voices is something that only technology can scale.
Stories and knowledge can transform people, whether it be an investment banker at Wall Street or a fruit seller in Asia.
If you’re unaware of the power of language translation capabilities that Google has developed, then check out the real-time translation that’s in the store with the upcoming Google Pixel buds. The technology is not perfect, but it is promising, specially when translation is not required in real-time.
Can you imagine how real-time language translation with Google Pixel buds would change travel forever? But, that’s for another post.
If you like this, please give it some love 👏. Do you think I missed something? Did you find any holes in my arguments? Did you think these were pretty obvious? Let me know in the comments.
If you’re interested in reading more about the possibilities that lie ahead, subscribe to this publication: Predict. | https://medium.com/predict/the-future-of-audio-books-cbc5a21355dc | ['Akash Mukherjee'] | 2020-07-19 01:37:08.089000+00:00 | ['Books', 'Futurism', 'Audiobooks', 'AI', 'Voice Assistant'] | Title rise audiobooks come long way — rentingContent Image Source Photo Elice Moore Unsplash come long way — borrowing book library buying reviewing online reading highlighting electronic reading device Kindle feel like book carry ten title without weight took u time try adopt get comfortable listening narrated audiobooks u still resisting change booksebooks nostalgia associated audiobooks made reading handsfree added new dimension reading — tonality aka emotion searched “Audible” Google Google Ad popped stating “Listening New Reading” five prominent way expect audiobooks book general evolve 1 Narratorless Audiobooks Image Source BigSnarf Blog driverless car steal attention make attractive headline nearer reality one Artificial Intelligence gradually eliminates need human narrator audiobooks Unlike year ago robot don’t sound robotic anymore sound human tonality infused voice digital assistant Yes still distinguish computerized voice real human’s voice far making distinction unnoticeable ousting human narrator lead mass production audiobooks greater profit margin faster time market audiobooks 2 Increasing Competition Image source Wired Audiobooks competing book ebooks They’re competing podcasts music playlist meditation apps Youtube phone call even inperson conversation Thanks popularity convenience Apple’s airpods listening rise ambition audio apps Netflix Disney Amazon Prime compete screen time podcasts audiobooks music apps phone call complete eartime 3 Informative → Engaging Image Source Margaritaville Resort One reason bookebook reader haven’t yet turned audiobook listener possibly zone order convert reader listener may see introduction lot knob customize AI generated narration — “monotonous” “dramatic” maybe “rap music” Voice emulation unbelievable power last couple year good number video social medium feed cautioning u voice emulation could result rise deep fake hence danger society danger exist technology good put use worth spending time thinking bright side possibility open entire humanity see possible check story DeepMind Google recreated ALS patient former NFL linebacker Tim Shaw’s voice using AI Coming back audiobooks imagine voice emulation would allow u choose narrator hundred voice — celebrity grandpama 4 Convergence Media Image Source Agri Investor book lover love read audiobook fanatic glued airpods black white people prefer reading listening time Currently book ebook audiobook purchase title considered separate could caused three reason 1 poor integration 2 trying optimize individual revenue 3 assumption people always choose one experience exclusively future expect audiobooks bundled free nominal price book ebook purchase Captions audiobooks new ebook Interestingly Audible already developing two new feature addressing exactly 1 Immersion Reading 2 Audible Captions 5 Autotranslation Image Source Wikimedia Market expansion limited converting reader listener There’s massive untapped market people across globe prefer read English cannot read English matter cannot read Making story available listening localregional language accent open huge market opportunity particularly selfhelp category Translating million book 1000 language many different accent voice something technology scale Stories knowledge transform people whether investment banker Wall Street fruit seller Asia you’re unaware power language translation capability Google developed check realtime translation that’s store upcoming Google Pixel bud technology perfect promising specially translation required realtime imagine realtime language translation Google Pixel bud would change travel forever that’s another post like please give love 👏 think missed something find hole argument think pretty obvious Let know comment you’re interested reading possibility lie ahead subscribe publication PredictTags Books Futurism Audiobooks AI Voice Assistant |
1,020 | BI in Startups | BI in Startups
How People.ai Setup BI/Analytics Function in Under 6 Weeks
One of the growth challenges that startups face is the need for every decision to be data-driven. But to be data-driven, you have to have a Data and Business intelligence (BI) function that can power your analytics and inform your decisions. With data spread across tens of systems, providing holistic insights using spreadsheets is not only difficult but not scalable. Setting up Analytics is necessary because this is a key foundation of your business and one on which future growth depends. We thought we’d share the story of how we created our BI/Analytics function in a period of six weeks. This is the technical story behind it and we hope it and the lessons learned will be helpful to other startups preparing to establish their BI/Analytics function.
4 Basic Components of Your BI/Data Infrastructure
To begin with, at a very fundamental level, there are four logical components that go into building most BI/ Data Warehouse systems:
Ingestion and compute layer to ingest and transform data (ETL/ELT)
A persistent data layer to store the raw/modeled data (Data Lake or Data Warehouse)
A visualization layer to provide insights via various BI tools
Additional components like workflow automation, Data Quality, CI/CD, etc.
How to Evaluate Infrastructure Vendors
The first challenge is to identify the technology/vendor for each infrastructure component. In today’s BI/data space, there are hundreds of options, with pros and cons of each selection. So, how should you go about selecting components that will scale as the company matures from early-stage to growth-stage? Here’s what we learned:
Step 1: What fits in the company?
A few questions can help answer this:
Cloud or On-premise: Are the company’s engineering and business systems hosted on cloud or on-premise? What are the organization’s plans in one to two years (any big migration in the pipeline)? What cloud vendor is being used?
Are the company’s engineering and business systems hosted on cloud or on-premise? What are the organization’s plans in one to two years (any big migration in the pipeline)? What cloud vendor is being used? Data Security: Are you planning to process and store sensitive data? What level of compliance (HIPAA/PII/PCI/SOX/GDPR) is needed?
Are you planning to process and store sensitive data? What level of compliance (HIPAA/PII/PCI/SOX/GDPR) is needed? Budget: How much money is your company willing to spend on BI (both on people and technology) before seeing an ROI, and how do those budgets scale up and down depending on company growth? This helps in choosing systems with less stickiness and more elasticity, to scale up/down quickly.
How much money is your company willing to spend on BI (both on people and technology) before seeing an ROI, and how do those budgets scale up and down depending on company growth? This helps in choosing systems with less stickiness and more elasticity, to scale up/down quickly. Delivery Speed: With multiple departments needing data, realistically, what are the pressing and critical needs that can help move the needle? This will help in choosing components that scale versus provide speed, in the interim. On a slightly related note, a big factor that helps in identifying and prioritizing the business needs and urgency is having an Analytics champion in the C-suite and every function. Partnering with the champion helps you to take a holistic view of the ‘true’ urgency and priority of needs, and that in turn helps in selection.
Step 2: Understand the business use cases and 3 V’s
Volumes: Create an inventory of data-producing systems and what volume of data each one produces. Have a multiplier of 10 to account for future use-cases.
Create an inventory of data-producing systems and what volume of data each one produces. Have a multiplier of 10 to account for future use-cases. Variety: This is very critical, as it helps to come up with the Ingestion layer. You likely have multiple data-producing systems (departments that use dashboards, such as Product, Sales, Finance, Marketing, HR, Engineering, Customer Success). What type of data do they produce? Is it structured or semi-structured?
This is very critical, as it helps to come up with the Ingestion layer. You likely have multiple data-producing systems (departments that use dashboards, such as Product, Sales, Finance, Marketing, HR, Engineering, Customer Success). What type of data do they produce? Is it structured or semi-structured? Velocity: Identify how often decisions need to be made in various functions and levels (from C-staff to Sales Rep). With the exception of a few use cases, this may not be super critical at an early stage company. However, as the company matures, this will become a huge value add. Consider having near-real-time (15 mins) use cases and use cases for weekly, monthly, and quarterly dashboards. For most use cases, a daily cadence for a data and reports refresh will suffice.
Making the Vendor Selection
Armed with the above information, these are some example requirements of vendors that you may establish:
The solution needs to be in the cloud
All components must scale linearly in both directions
Minimal resource contention, especially between concurrent ETL writes and dashboard reads
Minimal to no maintenance cost
Has all compliances and satisfies security needs
Can store and process any file and data formats
Is within budget considerations
Offers less vendor risk and components with less stickiness (easily portable)
Data Store: The above requirements will help you narrow down possible vendors, for example: AWS Redshift or AWS RDS (If you are an AWS shop), AWS S3 + Hive/Presto Layer, Snowflake, etc.
ETL/ELT: Next comes the ETL/ELT layer. With the choice of tens of on-premise and cloud options along with building in-house frameworks (using Python/Java), it is hard to narrow the field. Go back to your requirements. If your business needs something quick, however exciting it is to set up an in-house ETL/ELT framework, you may have to say no to on-premise tools and in-house frameworks. Many startups simply don’t have the resources or time to maintain and build them.
If you are a cloud-based startup with multiple systems to integrate quickly, you may consider a managed data pipeline platform. Look for solutions with little to no maintenance and that comes with pre-built connectors for hundreds of applications. The goal is to streamline this process and be able to quickly set up integrations.
BI Tools: For the BI layer, look at cloud solutions that offer maturity, richness in visualization, user’s choice, cost, and in-house experiences.
Setting it Up
The above process helped us to identify a good solution for our BI/Data infrastructure. Once identified, all the vendor evaluations, POCs, and contracts took three weeks and we set up our complete BI infrastructure in less than six weeks. We started delivery of dashboards and surfaced rich analytics from week four! These choices made our analytics easier, faster, and more reliable; but, as People.ai continues in its growth stage, the complexity increases. There will always be a need to evolve our infrastructure (systems and processes), to adapt to the growing needs of the business. As it goes, the only thing that is constant is change!
We hope sharing our story gives you a place to start and a framework for how to get your BI/Analytics function up and running in no time!
ABOUT PEOPLE.AI
People.ai accelerates enterprise growth through the power of AI. With the industry’s only Revenue Intelligence System, People.ai frees all customer-facing teams, including Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success, from manual data entry by automatically capturing all contact and customer activity data, dynamically updating CRM and other systems of record, and providing actionable intelligence across management tools to realize the full selling capacity of the enterprise. | https://medium.com/people-ai-engineering/bi-in-startups-8830044f24e1 | ['Chaitanya Mamdur'] | 2019-08-22 16:34:07.343000+00:00 | ['Big Data', 'Data Warehouse', 'Business Intelligence', 'Data Visualization'] | Title BI StartupsContent BI Startups Peopleai Setup BIAnalytics Function 6 Weeks One growth challenge startup face need every decision datadriven datadriven Data Business intelligence BI function power analytics inform decision data spread across ten system providing holistic insight using spreadsheet difficult scalable Setting Analytics necessary key foundation business one future growth depends thought we’d share story created BIAnalytics function period six week technical story behind hope lesson learned helpful startup preparing establish BIAnalytics function 4 Basic Components BIData Infrastructure begin fundamental level four logical component go building BI Data Warehouse system Ingestion compute layer ingest transform data ETLELT persistent data layer store rawmodeled data Data Lake Data Warehouse visualization layer provide insight via various BI tool Additional component like workflow automation Data Quality CICD etc Evaluate Infrastructure Vendors first challenge identify technologyvendor infrastructure component today’s BIdata space hundred option pro con selection go selecting component scale company matures earlystage growthstage Here’s learned Step 1 fit company question help answer Cloud Onpremise company’s engineering business system hosted cloud onpremise organization’s plan one two year big migration pipeline cloud vendor used company’s engineering business system hosted cloud onpremise organization’s plan one two year big migration pipeline cloud vendor used Data Security planning process store sensitive data level compliance HIPAAPIIPCISOXGDPR needed planning process store sensitive data level compliance HIPAAPIIPCISOXGDPR needed Budget much money company willing spend BI people technology seeing ROI budget scale depending company growth help choosing system le stickiness elasticity scale updown quickly much money company willing spend BI people technology seeing ROI budget scale depending company growth help choosing system le stickiness elasticity scale updown quickly Delivery Speed multiple department needing data realistically pressing critical need help move needle help choosing component scale versus provide speed interim slightly related note big factor help identifying prioritizing business need urgency Analytics champion Csuite every function Partnering champion help take holistic view ‘true’ urgency priority need turn help selection Step 2 Understand business use case 3 V’s Volumes Create inventory dataproducing system volume data one produce multiplier 10 account future usecases Create inventory dataproducing system volume data one produce multiplier 10 account future usecases Variety critical help come Ingestion layer likely multiple dataproducing system department use dashboard Product Sales Finance Marketing HR Engineering Customer Success type data produce structured semistructured critical help come Ingestion layer likely multiple dataproducing system department use dashboard Product Sales Finance Marketing HR Engineering Customer Success type data produce structured semistructured Velocity Identify often decision need made various function level Cstaff Sales Rep exception use case may super critical early stage company However company matures become huge value add Consider nearrealtime 15 min use case use case weekly monthly quarterly dashboard use case daily cadence data report refresh suffice Making Vendor Selection Armed information example requirement vendor may establish solution need cloud component must scale linearly direction Minimal resource contention especially concurrent ETL writes dashboard read Minimal maintenance cost compliance satisfies security need store process file data format within budget consideration Offers le vendor risk component le stickiness easily portable Data Store requirement help narrow possible vendor example AWS Redshift AWS RDS AWS shop AWS S3 HivePresto Layer Snowflake etc ETLELT Next come ETLELT layer choice ten onpremise cloud option along building inhouse framework using PythonJava hard narrow field Go back requirement business need something quick however exciting set inhouse ETLELT framework may say onpremise tool inhouse framework Many startup simply don’t resource time maintain build cloudbased startup multiple system integrate quickly may consider managed data pipeline platform Look solution little maintenance come prebuilt connector hundred application goal streamline process able quickly set integration BI Tools BI layer look cloud solution offer maturity richness visualization user’s choice cost inhouse experience Setting process helped u identify good solution BIData infrastructure identified vendor evaluation POCs contract took three week set complete BI infrastructure le six week started delivery dashboard surfaced rich analytics week four choice made analytics easier faster reliable Peopleai continues growth stage complexity increase always need evolve infrastructure system process adapt growing need business go thing constant change hope sharing story give place start framework get BIAnalytics function running time PEOPLEAI Peopleai accelerates enterprise growth power AI industry’s Revenue Intelligence System Peopleai free customerfacing team including Sales Marketing Customer Success manual data entry automatically capturing contact customer activity data dynamically updating CRM system record providing actionable intelligence across management tool realize full selling capacity enterpriseTags Big Data Data Warehouse Business Intelligence Data Visualization |
1,021 | Kubernetes, Istio and The World Outside Rapido | If you are running Kubernetes (k8s) clusters in production and security is of utmost importance to you, you would have been at crossroads to choose between a private or a public cluster. Most of the major cloud providers give these options via their managed Kubernetes service solutions and all you need to do is choose one. And once you choose a private cluster, one of the immediate problems to tackle will be handling egress traffic (to the outside world). With a private cluster, all the nodes will only have a private IP and all egress traffic will need to be routed through some kind of a gateway that can talk to the internet.
We were also at this crossroads and made the decision to use a GKE private cluster and allow internet access via a Cloud NAT. While this worked very well for us from a security perspective, it caused us some problems when it came to handling outbound traffic bursts and we had to think about alternate solutions for handling this more efficiently.
Since we were already using a Service Mesh within our k8s clusters, we started thinking about if we could leverage it in some way to have a better solution for our problem.
The final design we came up with was to use the Service Mesh for routing traffic to a set of proxies with SSL pass-through, running on nodes outside the k8s cluster with external IP addresses, thereby bypassing cloud NAT. We also had to ensure that nothing changed from an application perspective, like the URLs being configured, and the proxies have fail overs.
The setup when we started off was very simple and is shown below.
Egress Via NAT
There is a private k8s cluster and a Cloud NAT, which was setup to perform NAT on the primary address range of the subnet. This would work well when the RPS is not that high (how high will have to be derived from the math stated below). Once you have the high RPS workloads in the cluster, the problem will slowly start to show up. We started seeing errors in application logs saying connection was refused and debugging further led us to Cloud NAT logs where we saw connection dropped errors being logged. An example of the NAT log entry is shown below.
This prompted us to go back to Cloud NAT specifications and look for the section where they had mentioned how the ports are calculated based on the external IP addresses (https://cloud.google.com/nat/docs/ports-and-addresses).
At a high level, this is what it says :
The number of ports allocated per node restricts the total number of simultaneous connections that can be established to one unique destination from that node. The destination is derived from IP address, port and protocol.
The math we overlooked :
ports_per_vm = 64
total_nat_ip_address = 3
ports_per_nat_ip = 64512
total_vms = 100
Doesn’t look bad, right? We need a total of 64 * 100 = 6400 ports and we have much more than that here, 3 * 64512 = 193536.
The issue was not the availability of the total allocatable ports by Cloud NAT, rather it was the number of ports allocated per node. In this case, it’s 64. This means, we can only have 64 simultaneous connections to, let’s say https://example.com (assuming it resolves to one public IP) from that node.
Now imagine a case where two pods are running on the same node and each has an RPS of 100 and needs to make an external call per request. This can lead to port exhaustion in that node and errors in the application. This is exactly what Cloud NAT logs were telling us by saying connections were dropped. GCP also mentions that they induce a 2-minute delay before the gateway can reuse the same source address and port for establishing a new connection. This only makes things worse. Check out the link for more details.
So then, we decided to ensure there are enough ports allocated per node for handling the traffic bursts.
The new math :
ports_per_vm = 8192
ports_per_nat_ip = 64512
total_vms = 100
total_nat_ip_address = (ports_per_vm * total_vms) / ports_per_nat_ip
= 8192 * 100 / 64512 = ~13
Do you need so many ports per node is a question you will need to answer based on the traffic patterns you have. We did try with lower numbers and kept on increasing in steps till we reached this value and stopped seeing the connection dropped errors. (This could have been due to the fact that we have our infrastructure spread across multiple networks and there are certain connections that have to be made through public IPs).
Yes, 13 addresses are not that bad. But we had two issues with this :
It became a bit cumbersome to get all these IPs whitelisted at the third party network we had to connect to. And to satisfy the use case for a subset of the workloads, we were ensuring all nodes have the minimum required number of ports allocated. This means most of these ports were sitting idle and is not an efficient way of utilizing resources.
To address these problems, we started thinking about a solution which will allow us to route our high RPS external calls through a cluster of egress proxies, which will all have a public IP assigned to them and thus will allow us to bypass the NAT and we didn’t have to worry about deciphering the right value for the ports_per_vm variable. This means we can keep the NAT IPs to a minimum and expand the egress cluster as and when needed. We could use Nginx as the egress proxy with SSL pass-through using the stream module and don’t have to worry about the limit on simultaneous outbound connections any more.
Proposed Solution
Proposed Solution (With Istio)
Since all the calls are from within the k8s cluster equipped with Istio, we could use Service Entry, Workload Entry, Destination Rule, and VirtualService to configure Istio, and in turn Envoy, to perform the routing through the egress proxies in a reliable way.
Let's understand briefly what all these components of an Istio service mesh are responsible for:
A ServiceEntry allows you to add services outside the mesh into the service registry of Istio thereby enabling traffic management to these services. We will create service entries for the hosts we are connecting to and the egress proxies, as both are residing outside the mesh.
A WorkloadEntry along with a ServiceEntry allows you to configure Clusters in Envoy. A Cluster is nothing but a group of upstream targets where the traffic has to be routed based on certain match conditions. We will use workload entries to create a cluster for the egress proxy having multiple endpoints.
A DestinationRule allows you to configure what happens to the traffic for a given cluster. We will use destination rules to configure health checks and ejection for the egress proxy endpoints.
A VirtualService allows you to configure routes in Envoy. Routes allow us to mention the upstream cluster to which traffic has to be routed based on a set of conditions. We will use virtual service to route the traffic to external hosts via the egress proxies.
In our case, let’s say the external API we are calling is https://example.com and the egress proxies are egress-1.mydomain.internal & egress-2.mydomain.internal, what we need to tell envoy is that :
If you see an SNI named example.com in the request, please forward it to one of the healthy instances among egress-1.mydomain.internal or egress-2.mydomain.internal.
The details of the service entries, workload entries, destination rules and virtual services for achieving the above result is shown below :
Workload entries per egress proxy and tagged with a label (app:egress-proxies)
Service entry with a workload selector targeting the two workload entries created in the above step.
Destination rule instructing Envoy to eject endpoints that have crossed the threshold of failures within a given period of time. You can play around with the outlier detection configuration to match your needs.
Virtual service instructing Envoy to route the traffic to example.com via the egress proxy.
Once the above setup is done you should have the traffic to example.com routed via the egress proxies. To verify all is good, you could run the sleep deployment in Istio docs and do a curl request and check the Istio proxy logs as mentioned there. You should see the routing being done to the clusters we created and not to the PassthroughCluster (a virtual cluster to which all traffic which Istio doesn’t care about is routed).
You could verify the Istio configuration using these commands :
## Verify the listeners istioctl proxy-config listeners <pod-name> --port 443 --address 0.0.0.0 -o json | jq ## Output filterChainMatch": {
"serverNames": [
"example.com"
]
......
} Routing rule when matched :
"name": "envoy.tcp_proxy",
"typedConfig": {
"
"statPrefix": "outbound|443||egress.mydomain.internal",
"cluster": "outbound|443||egress.mydomain.internal",
..... "name": "envoy.tcp_proxy","typedConfig": { @type ": "type.googleapis.com/envoy.config.filter.network.tcp_proxy.v2.TcpProxy","statPrefix": "outbound|443||egress.mydomain.internal",..... ## Verify the cluster and it's endpoints istioctl proxy-config clusters <pod-name> --fqdn "outbound|443||egress.mydomain.internal" -o json | jq ## Output {
"name": "outbound|443||egress.mydomain.internal",
.....
"clusterName": "outbound|443||egress.mydomain.internal",
"endpoints": [
{
"locality": {},
"lbEndpoints": [
{
"endpoint": {
"address": {
"socketAddress": {
"address": "egress-1.mydomain.internal",
"portValue": 443
}
}
},
.....
},
{
"endpoint": {
"address": {
"socketAddress": {
"address": "egress-2.mydomain.internal",
"portValue": 443
}
}
},
....
}
}
If you want to test the ejection of unhealthy endpoints, you could kill one of the egress servers, keep firing requests and watch the output of endpoints command to see the endpoint is marked as unhealthy.
watch -n 1 'istioctl -n services proxy-config endpoints <pod-name> --cluster "outbound|443||egress.mydomain.internal"' ### You should see something like this : ENDPOINT STATUS OUTLIER CHECK CLUSTER
x.x.x.x HEALTHY OK outbound|443||egress.mydomain.internal
x.x.x.x HEALTHY Fail outbound|443||egress.mydomain.internal
A gist of the nginx config we used is mentioned here for your reference. Note the use of the stream module. We are using nginx 1.17.9 and the stream module is enabled by default in this version. We have come across some older versions where it’s not enabled by default.
stream {
server {
listen 443;
ssl_preread on;
proxy_pass $ssl_preread_server_name:$server_port;
}
}
Since these egress proxies are running on nodes outside the k8s cluster, we do not have an auto-scaling solution today. Autoscaling groups could be a potential solution or running a small separate public k8s cluster to host egress proxies might also be an option (subject to how the dynamic external IP addresses are handled since that can cause issues while whitelisting). We are spiking on these and will keep publishing our findings.
In summary, service entries and workload entries allow us to add services outside the mesh into the service registry of Istio and have additional traffic management configuration imposed on them via virtual services and destination rules. We used these to add the hosts of the third-party services we talk to and the egress proxies, into the service registry and configured the traffic to be routed via these proxies. This allowed us to bypass Cloud NAT as these proxies have their own public IPs and thereby not worry about optimizing ports allocated per node to suit our workloads.
—
We are always looking out for passionate people to join our Engineering team in Bangalore. Check out the link for open roles: https://bit.ly/2V08LNc | https://medium.com/rapido-labs/kubernetes-istio-and-the-world-outside-rapido-75da3666db4a | ['Sree Rajan'] | 2020-08-29 12:02:27.445000+00:00 | ['Engineering', 'Cloud Nat', 'Google Cloud Platform', 'Kubernetes', 'Istio'] | Title Kubernetes Istio World Outside RapidoContent running Kubernetes k8s cluster production security utmost importance would crossroad choose private public cluster major cloud provider give option via managed Kubernetes service solution need choose one choose private cluster one immediate problem tackle handling egress traffic outside world private cluster node private IP egress traffic need routed kind gateway talk internet also crossroad made decision use GKE private cluster allow internet access via Cloud NAT worked well u security perspective caused u problem came handling outbound traffic burst think alternate solution handling efficiently Since already using Service Mesh within k8s cluster started thinking could leverage way better solution problem final design came use Service Mesh routing traffic set proxy SSL passthrough running node outside k8s cluster external IP address thereby bypassing cloud NAT also ensure nothing changed application perspective like URLs configured proxy fail over setup started simple shown Egress Via NAT private k8s cluster Cloud NAT setup perform NAT primary address range subnet would work well RPS high high derived math stated high RPS workload cluster problem slowly start show started seeing error application log saying connection refused debugging led u Cloud NAT log saw connection dropped error logged example NAT log entry shown prompted u go back Cloud NAT specification look section mentioned port calculated based external IP address httpscloudgooglecomnatdocsportsandaddresses high level say number port allocated per node restricts total number simultaneous connection established one unique destination node destination derived IP address port protocol math overlooked portspervm 64 totalnatipaddress 3 portspernatip 64512 totalvms 100 Doesn’t look bad right need total 64 100 6400 port much 3 64512 193536 issue availability total allocatable port Cloud NAT rather number port allocated per node case it’s 64 mean 64 simultaneous connection let’s say httpsexamplecom assuming resolve one public IP node imagine case two pod running node RPS 100 need make external call per request lead port exhaustion node error application exactly Cloud NAT log telling u saying connection dropped GCP also mention induce 2minute delay gateway reuse source address port establishing new connection make thing worse Check link detail decided ensure enough port allocated per node handling traffic burst new math portspervm 8192 portspernatip 64512 totalvms 100 totalnatipaddress portspervm totalvms portspernatip 8192 100 64512 13 need many port per node question need answer based traffic pattern try lower number kept increasing step till reached value stopped seeing connection dropped error could due fact infrastructure spread across multiple network certain connection made public IPs Yes 13 address bad two issue became bit cumbersome get IPs whitelisted third party network connect satisfy use case subset workload ensuring node minimum required number port allocated mean port sitting idle efficient way utilizing resource address problem started thinking solution allow u route high RPS external call cluster egress proxy public IP assigned thus allow u bypass NAT didn’t worry deciphering right value portspervm variable mean keep NAT IPs minimum expand egress cluster needed could use Nginx egress proxy SSL passthrough using stream module don’t worry limit simultaneous outbound connection Proposed Solution Proposed Solution Istio Since call within k8s cluster equipped Istio could use Service Entry Workload Entry Destination Rule VirtualService configure Istio turn Envoy perform routing egress proxy reliable way Lets understand briefly component Istio service mesh responsible ServiceEntry allows add service outside mesh service registry Istio thereby enabling traffic management service create service entry host connecting egress proxy residing outside mesh WorkloadEntry along ServiceEntry allows configure Clusters Envoy Cluster nothing group upstream target traffic routed based certain match condition use workload entry create cluster egress proxy multiple endpoint DestinationRule allows configure happens traffic given cluster use destination rule configure health check ejection egress proxy endpoint VirtualService allows configure route Envoy Routes allow u mention upstream cluster traffic routed based set condition use virtual service route traffic external host via egress proxy case let’s say external API calling httpsexamplecom egress proxy egress1mydomaininternal egress2mydomaininternal need tell envoy see SNI named examplecom request please forward one healthy instance among egress1mydomaininternal egress2mydomaininternal detail service entry workload entry destination rule virtual service achieving result shown Workload entry per egress proxy tagged label appegressproxies Service entry workload selector targeting two workload entry created step Destination rule instructing Envoy eject endpoint crossed threshold failure within given period time play around outlier detection configuration match need Virtual service instructing Envoy route traffic examplecom via egress proxy setup done traffic examplecom routed via egress proxy verify good could run sleep deployment Istio doc curl request check Istio proxy log mentioned see routing done cluster created PassthroughCluster virtual cluster traffic Istio doesn’t care routed could verify Istio configuration using command Verify listener istioctl proxyconfig listener podname port 443 address 0000 json jq Output filterChainMatch serverNames examplecom Routing rule matched name envoytcpproxy typedConfig statPrefix outbound443egressmydomaininternal cluster outbound443egressmydomaininternal name envoytcpproxytypedConfig type typegoogleapiscomenvoyconfigfilternetworktcpproxyv2TcpProxystatPrefix outbound443egressmydomaininternal Verify cluster endpoint istioctl proxyconfig cluster podname fqdn outbound443egressmydomaininternal json jq Output name outbound443egressmydomaininternal clusterName outbound443egressmydomaininternal endpoint locality lbEndpoints endpoint address socketAddress address egress1mydomaininternal portValue 443 endpoint address socketAddress address egress2mydomaininternal portValue 443 want test ejection unhealthy endpoint could kill one egress server keep firing request watch output endpoint command see endpoint marked unhealthy watch n 1 istioctl n service proxyconfig endpoint podname cluster outbound443egressmydomaininternal see something like ENDPOINT STATUS OUTLIER CHECK CLUSTER xxxx HEALTHY OK outbound443egressmydomaininternal xxxx HEALTHY Fail outbound443egressmydomaininternal gist nginx config used mentioned reference Note use stream module using nginx 1179 stream module enabled default version come across older version it’s enabled default stream server listen 443 sslpreread proxypass sslprereadservernameserverport Since egress proxy running node outside k8s cluster autoscaling solution today Autoscaling group could potential solution running small separate public k8s cluster host egress proxy might also option subject dynamic external IP address handled since cause issue whitelisting spiking keep publishing finding summary service entry workload entry allow u add service outside mesh service registry Istio additional traffic management configuration imposed via virtual service destination rule used add host thirdparty service talk egress proxy service registry configured traffic routed via proxy allowed u bypass Cloud NAT proxy public IPs thereby worry optimizing port allocated per node suit workload — always looking passionate people join Engineering team Bangalore Check link open role httpsbitly2V08LNcTags Engineering Cloud Nat Google Cloud Platform Kubernetes Istio |
1,022 | 6 Things to Know to Get Started With Python Data Classes | 3. Equality/Inequality Comparisons
Besides the initialization and representation methods, the dataclass decorator also implements the comparison-related functionalities for us. We know that for a regular custom class, we can’t have meaningful comparisons between instances if we don’t define the comparison behaviors. Consider the following custom class that doesn’t use the dataclass decorator.
Equality Comparisons
As shown above, with a regular class, two instances with the same values for all attributes are evaluated to be unequal because these custom class instances are compared by their identities by default. In this case, these two instances are two distinct objects, and they’re deemed to be unequal.
However, with a data class, such an equality comparison evaluates True . This is because the dataclass decorator will also automatically generate the __eq__ special method for us. Specifically, equality comparison is conducted as if each of these instances is a tuple that contains the fields in the order that is defined. Because the two data class instances have the fields of the same values, they’re considered equal.
How about inequality comparisons, such as greater than and less than? They’re also possible with the dataclass decorator by specifying the order parameter for the decorator, as shown below in Line 1.
Inequality Comparisons
Similar to the equality comparisons, data class instances are compared as if they’re tuples of these fields, and they’re compared as tuples lexicographically. For a proof of concept, the above code only includes two fields, and as you can see, the comparison results are based on the tuple’s order. | https://medium.com/better-programming/6-things-to-know-to-get-started-with-python-data-classes-c795bf7e0a74 | ['Yong Cui'] | 2020-11-18 17:07:40.546000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Python', 'Software Development', 'Programming', 'Artificial Intelligence'] | Title 6 Things Know Get Started Python Data ClassesContent 3 EqualityInequality Comparisons Besides initialization representation method dataclass decorator also implement comparisonrelated functionality u know regular custom class can’t meaningful comparison instance don’t define comparison behavior Consider following custom class doesn’t use dataclass decorator Equality Comparisons shown regular class two instance value attribute evaluated unequal custom class instance compared identity default case two instance two distinct object they’re deemed unequal However data class equality comparison evaluates True dataclass decorator also automatically generate eq special method u Specifically equality comparison conducted instance tuple contains field order defined two data class instance field value they’re considered equal inequality comparison greater le They’re also possible dataclass decorator specifying order parameter decorator shown Line 1 Inequality Comparisons Similar equality comparison data class instance compared they’re tuples field they’re compared tuples lexicographically proof concept code includes two field see comparison result based tuple’s orderTags Data Science Python Software Development Programming Artificial Intelligence |
1,023 | Starting Stats: Day 1 | Age: 44
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 155 lbs
How my body feels: I feel pretty good. Minor headache, fuzzy head. It’s not a real headache — I’m just not clear headed. Does that make sense?
My emotional state: I am excited to get this project started because I know a system like this is good for me. I am motivated to do THIS project more than just the ketosis journey. I’m getting ready to catch a flight out this afternoon and start travelling most of the week, so that means I will have to be resourceful in order to work the plan. So, I’m a little anxious. I don’t want to eff it up right at the beginning.
What I can celebrate: STARTING. That’s the first step. It matters. | https://medium.com/my-keto-story/starting-stats-day-1-ec05e37d77f5 | ['Mary Lucus-Flannery'] | 2016-10-16 16:20:38.871000+00:00 | ['Storytelling', 'Journey', 'Weight Loss', 'Health', 'Ketosis'] | Title Starting Stats Day 1Content Age 44 Height 54 Weight 155 lb body feel feel pretty good Minor headache fuzzy head It’s real headache — I’m clear headed make sense emotional state excited get project started know system like good motivated project ketosis journey I’m getting ready catch flight afternoon start travelling week mean resourceful order work plan I’m little anxious don’t want eff right beginning celebrate STARTING That’s first step mattersTags Storytelling Journey Weight Loss Health Ketosis |
1,024 | Phase IV: Narrowing the Context | I now know that I want to work on something related to making the workings of algorithm models more transparent and fair — below is a short list of specific contexts that I’ll explore.
In the field of e-commerce such as Amazon or Staples, there’s the price tags that fluctuate according to the users’ geolocation, neighborhood, and other personal data, to try to push for the maximum amount of $$ that the user might be willing to pay. It could be interesting to explore the socioeconomic or gender variables within this context.
or variables within this context. Most job searches are now conducted online — i.e. Google. It could be interesting to test just how much of an impact my personal data that Google has stored about me (age, gender, socioeconomic status, etc) on the search results. Do men’s and women’s job searches show different results?
In the context of Social Media platforms, does everyone’s newsfeed differ according to how they interact? How much do they differ?
Points of Interest
Transparency in the algorithm models
Agency & control by the users
Fairness
Building back trust between the user & the company
Possible Method
Categorization of user’s individual data into two: ‘re-usable’ and ‘not re-usable’ by the third parties. If there’s a way to aggregate the types of data we’re mined for and to categorize them to figure out what purpose each of them serve for the companies versus the users, maybe we could develop a system, where a <digital tool> could inform the user what the possible consequences are, how likely it is to happen (on a scale system), and the possible gains on the user’s part (curated content, etc), so that user can control what to reveal and what to withdraw. ALSO to set limitations on how long that data, if user chooses to share, can be used for.
User has transparency over what possible ramifications are.
User has agency over what data about self to release or not.
Somewhat utopic and not immediately commercially applicable or lucrative for companies, but companies on moral grounds need to be open to audits (they hold so much power), and it’ll build trust back into the relationship btw users vs big corps.
This data (that’s aggregated) would need to be constantly updated, but I imagine the categorization system to remain somewhat steady.
2. A digital you that you’re the sole owner of and that others can access only on your terms. What if there’s a digital “me”, perhaps multiples of it, that i can consciously choose to present depending on different situations? Help user curate the right kind of model(s) for themselves. In Master Algorithm, Pedro Domingos talks about a personal Digital Bank that stores personal data, anonymizes that information for the user, then gives the user the control over what aspects of the data should be used and how, when interacting with third party sites such as facebook and Google.
Potential Contexts
Staples.com product search, and their fluctuating prices;
Flight search depending on the country of origin and country of search, and the fluctuating prices;
Job searches displaying different results depending on the user’s gender, age, or socio-economic status
Context: Google search algorithm
“Gender distributions of specific occupations were unrepresentative of the gender distributions in the real world and that search can influence people’s perception of gender distribution in reality.”
I’m seeing two different problems here: 1. the search displaying biased results or ‘unrepresentative’ results, and 2. the user not having control over what kind of data is pulled, and where from. As much as i’d like to tackle both problems, the first is a much much larger problem and requires much more technical skills than i have, and not at a scale i alone could work on.
We can’t dig into the question of bias and discrimination without first setting benchmarks on what is fair and when something should be considered biased, or what neutrality even means.
I’ll be focusing on the latter; if i can’t immediately impact the first, i think it’ll be important in the near future to enable the actual users to see what is going on (transparency & agency). So that even though the user might not be able to control what they are being shown, at least they have a say in what kind of data they would like to store in search engines’ databases, so that they can consciously create their own models (ref. master algorithm: “what mental model do you want the algorithm to have of you?”), and perhaps with options to create multiples (personas/for diff purposes) of it, you could a. open up the world of possibilities (by searching for the same thing with diff personas, aka models, to yield diff results), and b. have both agency and fairness, as well as trust for the company.
Open Questions
What else could this system do for the user? for the companies? what other utility would this serve?
So what would i need to do as a designer? what would the design process be? how would I go about researching this?
How would this work in social media? user to one other company (i.e. google search) might be plausible bc you’re just setting the reusability status for one other party. what about facebook? when you first register, how would the infos you’re inputting (birthdate, gender, occupation, etc) get displayed for facebook itself and your friends (or any other people)?
As a platform/company learns more and more about you, can it provide better or more curated, premium services?
Inspirations
https://www.ghostery.com/
http://www.businessinsider.com/datawallet-lets-you-sell-your-data-2016-6
https://idcubed.org/
http://citizenme.com/
https://www.qiyfoundation.org/about-qiy/
http://dataprivacylab.org/projects/onlineads/
http://jots.pub/index.html
https://webtap.princeton.edu/ | https://medium.com/breaking-out-of-filter-bubbles/phase-iv-narrowing-the-context-a6c126770e82 | ['Min Kim'] | 2016-12-04 14:31:53.019000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Design', 'Algorithms', 'Artificial Intelligence'] | Title Phase IV Narrowing ContextContent know want work something related making working algorithm model transparent fair — short list specific context I’ll explore field ecommerce Amazon Staples there’s price tag fluctuate according users’ geolocation neighborhood personal data try push maximum amount user might willing pay could interesting explore socioeconomic gender variable within context variable within context job search conducted online — ie Google could interesting test much impact personal data Google stored age gender socioeconomic status etc search result men’s women’s job search show different result context Social Media platform everyone’s newsfeed differ according interact much differ Points Interest Transparency algorithm model Agency control user Fairness Building back trust user company Possible Method Categorization user’s individual data two ‘reusable’ ‘not reusable’ third party there’s way aggregate type data we’re mined categorize figure purpose serve company versus user maybe could develop system digital tool could inform user possible consequence likely happen scale system possible gain user’s part curated content etc user control reveal withdraw ALSO set limitation long data user chooses share used User transparency possible ramification User agency data self release Somewhat utopic immediately commercially applicable lucrative company company moral ground need open audit hold much power it’ll build trust back relationship btw user v big corp data that’s aggregated would need constantly updated imagine categorization system remain somewhat steady 2 digital you’re sole owner others access term there’s digital “me” perhaps multiple consciously choose present depending different situation Help user curate right kind model Master Algorithm Pedro Domingos talk personal Digital Bank store personal data anonymizes information user give user control aspect data used interacting third party site facebook Google Potential Contexts Staplescom product search fluctuating price Flight search depending country origin country search fluctuating price Job search displaying different result depending user’s gender age socioeconomic status Context Google search algorithm “Gender distribution specific occupation unrepresentative gender distribution real world search influence people’s perception gender distribution reality” I’m seeing two different problem 1 search displaying biased result ‘unrepresentative’ result 2 user control kind data pulled much i’d like tackle problem first much much larger problem requires much technical skill scale alone could work can’t dig question bias discrimination without first setting benchmark fair something considered biased neutrality even mean I’ll focusing latter can’t immediately impact first think it’ll important near future enable actual user see going transparency agency even though user might able control shown least say kind data would like store search engines’ database consciously create model ref master algorithm “what mental model want algorithm you” perhaps option create multiple personasfor diff purpose could open world possibility searching thing diff persona aka model yield diff result b agency fairness well trust company Open Questions else could system user company utility would serve would need designer would design process would go researching would work social medium user one company ie google search might plausible bc you’re setting reusability status one party facebook first register would info you’re inputting birthdate gender occupation etc get displayed facebook friend people platformcompany learns provide better curated premium service Inspirations httpswwwghosterycom httpwwwbusinessinsidercomdatawalletletsyousellyourdata20166 httpsidcubedorg httpcitizenmecom httpswwwqiyfoundationorgaboutqiy httpdataprivacylaborgprojectsonlineads httpjotspubindexhtml httpswebtapprincetoneduTags Machine Learning Design Algorithms Artificial Intelligence |
1,025 | Labeling a Food “Plant-Based” and What it Really Means | Labeling a Food “Plant-Based” and What it Really Means
This reminds me of the “made with real fruit” scam that advertisers used to feed to us
Photo by Tamanna Rumee
I think by now we should all realize that commercials, advertisements, and the labels on our food are trying to trick us. We should know this, yet we don’t. Why? Jingles, loyalty rewards, ads, commercials, lies, repetition.
I digress.
As the plant-based diet becomes noticeably more popular, as a vegan, I have observed many companies switching their strategies. They are beginning to change the way they market their products to us by using little plant-based logos at the top of their packages or are actually printing on the package that it is plant-based. This is done even when their product is not completely plant-based.
I hate to say this, I really do, but they have every right to do so. There are no great laws governing our food that say they cannot. The system was built to fool and confuse us. Trickery in advertising and labels is not frowned upon for some reason. So, as long as there is some form of plant in the food it can be called plant-based.
Just like Sunny D isn’t really orange juice, it only has 2% concentrated OJ in it. It’s just sugar water. Actually, high fructose corn syrup water. They just put a big picture of a cut orange on the label to lure us in. It works too. Please don’t drink that.
Now that I think about it, Sunny D is now labeled as a fruit drink and not a juice, but I do remember a time as a kid of the eighties when it was not the case. It does seem like the powers that be have made this juice/drink thing right. Progress can be slow.
Getting back to the topic, all of these illusions can be tricky for people who are actually vegan or only eat plant-based foods. Many of these products that have a plant-based logo on the front have ingredients like eggs and milk in them. Again, technically these products are still plant-based in advertising speak. You have to remember to always check the ingredients.
I wish there was an easier way to get this information, or that we could just trust what a company says, but no, almost always no. When I come across a new product I am interested in, I always ask it “what are you trying to hide from me”?
So get out your phone, set it to your favorite camera app and use it as a magnifying glass to read those tiny little ingredient labels. I personally find no shame in this and hope you will not either.
When I finally do zoom in to that ingredient list, I find that milk powder is one that I run into most often. This usually happens in cereals and in the snacks that have some sort of seasoning. In fact, if you plan on buying any kind of flavored chips or snacks, there is really only one thing to do. That is right, check the label before buying.
Doritos, for instance, have cheese, milk, buttermilk, whey, and other milk-based ingredients in it. What! That is a no go for me. I’ve been Dorito free for three years now and could care less. Now, when I buy chips, they are baked and have simple seasonings or just plain. I know I can make something at home that will make these chips taste amazing.
Many loaves of bread are out to fool you as well. They can contain milk, butter, eggs, or lard. Noodles and pasta have the habit of adding eggs to the recipe. Orange juice that is enriched with omega-3 is another one. The omega-3 usually comes from fish oil. OJ and fish oil doesn’t seem like a particularly amazing combination yet it does exist. Actually, anything enriched with omega-3 is suspect because of this.
I will say it one more time, check the ingredients.
I have come up with this fictional scenario to share with you. Again, fictional. Let’s say I really want to make some money off of stupid people. People who believe everything they hear on Facebook or just the internet and advertising in general. How can I profit from this?
First I have to create a company which is very easy to do. A product? I realize most people love burgers, not just stupid people, so I want to create a plant-based burger that tastes and feels like a real beef burger. The goal is to get in on this blitz of new plant-based meat alternatives entering the market and take advantage of people who do not read labels.
I hire a research and development crew and let them know what I want. They play around in the kitchen and come up with something they believe is going to be the next best thing.
This is the recipe they come up with. For every eight-ounce burger, we use eight ounces of ground beef (cow), 1/2 teaspoon pea protein, 1/4 teaspoon beet powder. Contains less than 2% of the following: milk powder, soy sauce, whey, natural seasoning, liquid smoke, and dehydrated egg protein.
Abracadabra, our new plant-based burger is born!
Now it is time to take this burger to the market. On the label, I will make sure our advertising team puts plant-based and all-natural in big bold words. The package will be green, white, and have plants all along the border. The commercial would say something like, “grills and sizzles just like a real burger but made with plants”.
Would it sell? Probably.
This would all be legal for me to do, I think. Maybe I would need to add some onions or peppers in there. I don’t really want to look up the laws of what it takes to call a food plant-based. I don’t know the percentages. Perhaps that can be a future project. I think you get my point by now.
What we all need to take away from this is our health is not what these companies are thinking about when they design the labels on their products or with the ingredients they choose to put in the product itself.
Money is all these companies care about. The cheaper they make the product the more money they make. After all, the stock price must go higher. It must. Hopefully, someday this will change, but this is where we are now.
From now on when you are picking up a product I encourage you to ask it this:
“What are you hiding from me?” | https://medium.com/in-fitness-and-in-health/labeling-a-food-plant-based-and-what-it-really-means-100988d25473 | ['Dan Stout'] | 2020-12-26 16:38:01.176000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Advertising', 'Vegan', 'Food', 'Life'] | Title Labeling Food “PlantBased” Really MeansContent Labeling Food “PlantBased” Really Means reminds “made real fruit” scam advertiser used feed u Photo Tamanna Rumee think realize commercial advertisement label food trying trick u know yet don’t Jingles loyalty reward ad commercial lie repetition digress plantbased diet becomes noticeably popular vegan observed many company switching strategy beginning change way market product u using little plantbased logo top package actually printing package plantbased done even product completely plantbased hate say really every right great law governing food say cannot system built fool confuse u Trickery advertising label frowned upon reason long form plant food called plantbased like Sunny isn’t really orange juice 2 concentrated OJ It’s sugar water Actually high fructose corn syrup water put big picture cut orange label lure u work Please don’t drink think Sunny labeled fruit drink juice remember time kid eighty case seem like power made juicedrink thing right Progress slow Getting back topic illusion tricky people actually vegan eat plantbased food Many product plantbased logo front ingredient like egg milk technically product still plantbased advertising speak remember always check ingredient wish easier way get information could trust company say almost always come across new product interested always ask “what trying hide me” get phone set favorite camera app use magnifying glass read tiny little ingredient label personally find shame hope either finally zoom ingredient list find milk powder one run often usually happens cereal snack sort seasoning fact plan buying kind flavored chip snack really one thing right check label buying Doritos instance cheese milk buttermilk whey milkbased ingredient go I’ve Dorito free three year could care le buy chip baked simple seasoning plain know make something home make chip taste amazing Many loaf bread fool well contain milk butter egg lard Noodles pasta habit adding egg recipe Orange juice enriched omega3 another one omega3 usually come fish oil OJ fish oil doesn’t seem like particularly amazing combination yet exist Actually anything enriched omega3 suspect say one time check ingredient come fictional scenario share fictional Let’s say really want make money stupid people People believe everything hear Facebook internet advertising general profit First create company easy product realize people love burger stupid people want create plantbased burger taste feel like real beef burger goal get blitz new plantbased meat alternative entering market take advantage people read label hire research development crew let know want play around kitchen come something believe going next best thing recipe come every eightounce burger use eight ounce ground beef cow 12 teaspoon pea protein 14 teaspoon beet powder Contains le 2 following milk powder soy sauce whey natural seasoning liquid smoke dehydrated egg protein Abracadabra new plantbased burger born time take burger market label make sure advertising team put plantbased allnatural big bold word package green white plant along border commercial would say something like “grills sizzle like real burger made plants” Would sell Probably would legal think Maybe would need add onion pepper don’t really want look law take call food plantbased don’t know percentage Perhaps future project think get point need take away health company thinking design label product ingredient choose put product Money company care cheaper make product money make stock price must go higher must Hopefully someday change picking product encourage ask “What hiding me”Tags Health Advertising Vegan Food Life |
1,026 | Why We Can't Ease Up on Social Distancing | Hold the Line.
‘This virus is unforgiving to unwise choices’
8Photo: Boston Globe/Getty Images
As an infectious disease epidemiologist (albeit a junior one), I feel morally obligated to provide information on what we are seeing from a transmission dynamic perspective and how it applies to the social distancing measures. Like any good scientist, I have noticed two things that are either not well articulated or not present in the “literature” of online media. I have also relied on other infectious disease epidemiologists for peer review of this piece.
Specifically, I want to make two aspects of these distancing measures very clear and unambiguous.
First, we are in the very infancy of this epidemic’s trajectory. That means that even with these measures in place, we will see cases and deaths continue to rise globally, nationally, and in our own communities. This may lead some to think that the social distancing measures are not working. They are. They may feel futile. They aren’t. You will feel discouraged. You should. This is normal in chaos. This is the normal epidemic trajectory. Stay calm.
The enemy we are facing is very good at what it does; we are not failing. We need everyone to hold the line as the epidemic inevitably gets worse. This is not an opinion. This is the unforgiving math of epidemics for which I and my colleagues have dedicated our lives to understanding with great nuance, and this disease is no exception. Stay strong and in solidarity knowing that what you are doing is saving lives, even as people continue getting sick and dying. You may feel like giving in. Don’t.
You should perceive your entire family to function as a single individual unit: if one person puts themselves at risk, everyone in the unit is at risk.
Second, although social distancing measures have been (at least temporarily) well received, there is an obvious-but-overlooked phenomenon when considering groups (i.e. households) in transmission dynamics. While social distancing decreases contact with members of society, it of course increases contact within a group (i.e. family). This small and obvious fact has surprisingly profound implications on disease transmission dynamics. The basic mechanics of this mathematical principle dictate that even if there is only a little bit of additional connection between groups (i.e. social dinners, playdates, unnecessary trips to the store, etc.), the epidemic likely won’t be much different than if there was no measure in place. The same underlying fundamentals of disease transmission apply, and the result is that the community is left with all of the social and economic disruption but very little public health benefit.
You should perceive your entire family to function as a single individual unit: If one person puts themselves at risk, everyone in the unit is at risk. Seemingly small social chains get large and complex with alarming speed. If your son visits his girlfriend, and you later sneak over for coffee with a neighbor, your neighbor is now connected to the infected office worker that your son’s girlfriend’s mother shook hands with. This sounds silly, it’s not. This is not a joke or hypothetical. We as epidemiologists see it borne out in the data time and time again. Conversely, any break in that chain breaks disease transmission along that chain.
In contrast to hand-washing and other personal measures, social distancing measures are not about individuals, they are about societies working in unison. These measures also require sustained action before results are evident. It is hard (even for me) to conceptualize how on a population level ‘one quick little get together’ can undermine the entire framework of a public health intervention, but it can. I promise you it can. I promise. I promise. I promise. You can’t cheat it. People are already itching to cheat on the social distancing precautions just a “little”- a short playdate, a quick haircut, or picking up a needless item from the store. From a transmission dynamics standpoint, this very quickly recreates a highly connected social network that undermines much of the good work our communities have done thus far.
This outbreak will not be overcome in one grand, sweeping gesture, but rather by the collection of individual choices we make in the coming months. This virus is unforgiving to unwise choices. As this epidemic continues, it will be easy to be drawn to the idea that what we are doing isn’t working and we may feel compelled to “cheat” with unnecessary breaches of social distancing measures. By knowing what to expect, and knowing the critical importance of maintaining these measures, my hope is to encourage continued community spirit and strategizing to persevere in this time of uncertainty. | https://elemental.medium.com/hold-the-line-17231c48ff17 | ['Jonathan Smith'] | 2020-03-28 18:18:08.189000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Public Health', 'Social Distancing', 'Coronavirus', 'Covid 19'] | Title Cant Ease Social DistancingContent Hold Line ‘This virus unforgiving unwise choices’ 8Photo Boston GlobeGetty Images infectious disease epidemiologist albeit junior one feel morally obligated provide information seeing transmission dynamic perspective applies social distancing measure Like good scientist noticed two thing either well articulated present “literature” online medium also relied infectious disease epidemiologist peer review piece Specifically want make two aspect distancing measure clear unambiguous First infancy epidemic’s trajectory mean even measure place see case death continue rise globally nationally community may lead think social distancing measure working may feel futile aren’t feel discouraged normal chaos normal epidemic trajectory Stay calm enemy facing good failing need everyone hold line epidemic inevitably get worse opinion unforgiving math epidemic colleague dedicated life understanding great nuance disease exception Stay strong solidarity knowing saving life even people continue getting sick dying may feel like giving Don’t perceive entire family function single individual unit one person put risk everyone unit risk Second although social distancing measure least temporarily well received obviousbutoverlooked phenomenon considering group ie household transmission dynamic social distancing decrease contact member society course increase contact within group ie family small obvious fact surprisingly profound implication disease transmission dynamic basic mechanic mathematical principle dictate even little bit additional connection group ie social dinner playdates unnecessary trip store etc epidemic likely won’t much different measure place underlying fundamental disease transmission apply result community left social economic disruption little public health benefit perceive entire family function single individual unit one person put risk everyone unit risk Seemingly small social chain get large complex alarming speed son visit girlfriend later sneak coffee neighbor neighbor connected infected office worker son’s girlfriend’s mother shook hand sound silly it’s joke hypothetical epidemiologist see borne data time time Conversely break chain break disease transmission along chain contrast handwashing personal measure social distancing measure individual society working unison measure also require sustained action result evident hard even conceptualize population level ‘one quick little get together’ undermine entire framework public health intervention promise promise promise promise can’t cheat People already itching cheat social distancing precaution “little” short playdate quick haircut picking needle item store transmission dynamic standpoint quickly recreates highly connected social network undermines much good work community done thus far outbreak overcome one grand sweeping gesture rather collection individual choice make coming month virus unforgiving unwise choice epidemic continues easy drawn idea isn’t working may feel compelled “cheat” unnecessary breach social distancing measure knowing expect knowing critical importance maintaining measure hope encourage continued community spirit strategizing persevere time uncertaintyTags Health Public Health Social Distancing Coronavirus Covid 19 |
1,027 | The Hallmarks of Successful Graduate Software Engineers | The Application
Cover letter
I am sure you have heard this over and over again, “Make sure you have a cover letter”, but let me expand on it. First, when it comes to applying for a position, there is a lot of what I would regard as spammers. These are clearly people that are going for quantity over quality. A typical giveaway to these individuals are:
No cover letter
A cover letter addressed to another company
A generic cover letter full of “stats and facts.” For instance, “I had a sales increase of 300%,” when the job isn’t sales!
What to look for in a cover letter
You introduce yourself as a human being, right from the get-go. “My name is X and I am passionate about Y”. I have now connected your name with a personality. It really doesn’t matter what Y is either. But now I know that you care about something. If there is some connection from your passion to the company you’re applying for you’re getting a head start before I’ve even looked at your CV.
The cover letter should show why they want to work for the company, based on what they’re interested in and what the company has to offer. From there, touching on personal interest areas (even outside of technicals), side projects, and university paper experiences — “I did a Data Science 101 paper at university and fell in love with it”.
Basically, your cover letter shouldn’t sell your skillset as a commodity, rather it should showcase your personality and show you as a human being.
The resume
The resume can be interesting. One thing to understand as an applicant is there is a large likelihood your resume will look like everyone else’s if you only add your education.
The problem with universities is they ultimately make cookie-cutter copies of their alumni. Sure there may be variation in grades, in specific papers or majors, but the reality is, they’re much the same.
What to look for in a resume
An introduction. This should be different from that of the cover letter. It’s more generic and mainly gives the generic facts about yourself in short sentences:
“Throughout my time at university, I have had a growing desire to work in the field of Computer Science, my time at university has taught me the importance of time management and the necessity to discuss and consider solutions before running into them head on.”
Appropriate skills
Don’t list papers ranked by grade. If the company you are applying for is heavily into data science, put a couple of relevant papers or projects associated with that down, but don’t go too heavy.
Projects, Projects, Projects
This is the big one. This might be the single most significant thing I look for and potentially the biggest trademark of succesful software graduates. If you want to instantly put yourself above other candidates, do quality projects. Open a free account on GitHub and get active. If you can show multiple projects under a single “active” GitHub account, this will allow the business to explore areas in what you have done, which you may not even realise are significant.
What’s a “quality” project?
A quality project is one which is obviously not a tutorial. The number of React Todo lists I’ve seen makes the mind boggle. While this may show a willingness to learn a language and do tutorials, the reality is that all this shows is that you followed instructions.
Extending tutorials is good. Going off-road and doing something with that skill to try something new and interesting is gold.
The best quality project I came across was a graduate software engineer applicant who was passionate about the Te Reo Māori (the indigenous language of Aotearoa, New Zealand). They had used the Google Maps API to rename all of New Zealand’s street names to their Te Reo Māori equivalents. In reality, this wasn’t necessarily groundbreaking work, but from that project alone I got more information about the candidate than any other material they provided.
Let me explain.
Firstly, I’m from New Zealand. Te Reo is one of our three officially recognised languages, although isn’t translated onto Google Maps. The fact that someone took the time to do something like that, and use a newly learnt skill to further the ability to do so and raise awareness of this fact was truly special. It spoke to the type of person they were more than any other project I’ve seen. | https://medium.com/better-programming/the-hallmarks-of-successful-graduate-software-engineers-e1e771d034c1 | ['Lindsay Jopson'] | 2020-09-01 11:39:47.735000+00:00 | ['Software Engineering', 'Startup', 'Software Development', 'Life Lessons', 'Programming'] | Title Hallmarks Successful Graduate Software EngineersContent Application Cover letter sure heard “Make sure cover letter” let expand First come applying position lot would regard spammer clearly people going quantity quality typical giveaway individual cover letter cover letter addressed another company generic cover letter full “stats facts” instance “I sale increase 300” job isn’t sale look cover letter introduce human right getgo “My name X passionate Y” connected name personality really doesn’t matter either know care something connection passion company you’re applying you’re getting head start I’ve even looked CV cover letter show want work company based they’re interested company offer touching personal interest area even outside technical side project university paper experience — “I Data Science 101 paper university fell love it” Basically cover letter shouldn’t sell skillset commodity rather showcase personality show human resume resume interesting One thing understand applicant large likelihood resume look like everyone else’s add education problem university ultimately make cookiecutter copy alumnus Sure may variation grade specific paper major reality they’re much look resume introduction different cover letter It’s generic mainly give generic fact short sentence “Throughout time university growing desire work field Computer Science time university taught importance time management necessity discus consider solution running head on” Appropriate skill Don’t list paper ranked grade company applying heavily data science put couple relevant paper project associated don’t go heavy Projects Projects Projects big one might single significant thing look potentially biggest trademark succesful software graduate want instantly put candidate quality project Open free account GitHub get active show multiple project single “active” GitHub account allow business explore area done may even realise significant What’s “quality” project quality project one obviously tutorial number React Todo list I’ve seen make mind boggle may show willingness learn language tutorial reality show followed instruction Extending tutorial good Going offroad something skill try something new interesting gold best quality project came across graduate software engineer applicant passionate Te Reo Māori indigenous language Aotearoa New Zealand used Google Maps API rename New Zealand’s street name Te Reo Māori equivalent reality wasn’t necessarily groundbreaking work project alone got information candidate material provided Let explain Firstly I’m New Zealand Te Reo one three officially recognised language although isn’t translated onto Google Maps fact someone took time something like use newly learnt skill ability raise awareness fact truly special spoke type person project I’ve seenTags Software Engineering Startup Software Development Life Lessons Programming |
1,028 | Conversations with Creatives — National Best Selling Author, Jennifer Pastiloff | Conversations with Creatives — National Best Selling Author, Jennifer Pastiloff
My newly discovered cousin
Source: selfie by the author — The first time I met my cuzzies, Jen & Charlie — May 8, 2019
I recently found out that I had a family member I never knew about.
Another cousin Facebook messaged me about Jen in 2019 and said that she lived not far from me. Not only that but that she’s also a writer, a yogi, and around my age. Why didn’t we know about each other sooner? Something about the family name being changed at Ellis island using an “a” instead of an “o.”
That one tiny letter kept us from knowing one another. Until now.
After we met, I took her best-selling book, On Being Human, with me on vacation. On the beaches of Rimini, Italy, I listened to the audiobook that she recorded. I got to know my newly discovered cousin for the first time, through her own voice, literally. And I loved it.
Here’s our conversation about creativity.
I interviewed Jen via IG Live — source: screenshot by author
Annie: What does creativity mean to you and do you feel that you’ve always been in touch with it?
Jen: Good question…when I’m feeling creative it’s when I feel connected. And it could be connected deeply to myself, to someone else, to an idea. I know the difference between being connected and disconnected because I’ve spent a lot of my life being disconnected. Creativity to me also means being uninhibited. In traditional ways, no I haven’t always been touched by creativity, but in other ways, yes. Creativity to me is being deeply connected to my imagination.
Annie: You’ve been writing since you were a kid, same as me. So do you feel like you’ve always had this creativity in you from the get-go?
Jen: Yes, from the get-go. Before my dad died I was writing stories, when I was 6, 7, 8… then I felt like there was so much pressure because everyone was like, “Jennifer is going to be a writer.” So as I got older, like in high school, I got resentful, like, “don’t tell me what I’m going to do.” I had studied poetry at NYU, my mom suggested I write for TV and I was like, “no, I want to be an actor, stop telling me what to do.”
Annie: But did you love writing? Was it just that the fact people were telling you to do it that was annoying you? You rebelled against it, even though you had a passion for writing, clearly.
Jen: Yeah, yes, yes… part of it was yes, I hate being told what to do even though I crave it. The other part was ego — there was a real thing with wanting to be an actor, even though I really didn’t want it. Wayne Dyer used to talk about this, does it feel natural to you? And can you imagine it? And this is the truth that I can tell you now, in my body now, I could never, all through my 20s, I could never visualize myself on set. And if I’m honest about that, this life I have now is so easy for me to visualize. I could always visualize myself connecting, I didn’t know what it would look like, but that should have been a red flag for me, “oh, I want to be an actor” even though I was just waiting for someone to discover me at the restaurant.
Annie: The actor thing for you, was it more that you wanted the idea of what that would look like and not the actual thing?
Jen: Yeah, it was fame and, losing my dad so young, I craved love and that feeling of “want me, want me, want me.”
Annie: So, the acting was more about getting attention. being seen… and the rest?
Jen: Well, I have impostor syndrome with creativity because I’m not an artist, in the way you are, or the traditional way. So sometimes I’m like “oh I’m not creative.” But that’s a bullshit story. Because being creative is being deeply connected to your imagination and not letting my inner asshole say, “that’s stupid” or “that’s cliché” or, “other people have done that.”
Annie: Right. You know, for me, the visual artist part of me is fairly recent. My entire life I’ve been an actor and writer and my feeling about creativity is that we are ALL born creative and it comes out in all the ways that we are. In our daily life, how we behave, in how we talk to one another, in how we dress, cook, in our… everything.
Jen: Yeah, I totally agree.
Annie: And in whatever we make.
Jen: Yeah, just make it. Whatever it is.
Annie: Exactly.
Jen holds up my artwork…
Jen: Look at this, I love this.
Annie: Thank you.
Jen: It reminds me of my Beauty Hunting.
Annie: It’s funny because you talk about beauty hunting and I used to say FTB, Find the Beauty.
Jen: I almost named the book Beauty Hunting but went with On Being Human.
Annie: Switching gears… I’m curious about your hearing loss and I know you read lips. How did you learn to read lips?
Jen: I’m not completely deaf with a capital D, I can hear sounds with the hearing aids but it sounds very muffled so I supplement with the reading of the lips. I can’t watch things without subtitles. I learned to read lips at The Newsroom (a restaurant in Los Angeles where Jen was a waitress for several years) My hearing loss kept getting worse and it was survival that got me to read lips. I didn’t even know that I was doing it.
Annie: You learned because you needed to learn, so it just happened over time?
Jen: Yeah, I actually think a lot of people, now that we are living in a masked world, are realizing how much they were relying on reading lips.
Annie: Interesting, even without hearing loss?
Jen: Yes.
Jen on the beach. Source: Jen’s Instagram
Annie: You’re working on a new book now.
Jen: Well, working. (Jen makes air quotes.)
Annie: No?
Jen: Well, I haven’t been writing. I haven’t written since my book.
Annie: Oh.
Jen: Yeah, it’s really bumming me out. I feel bad about myself so I can’t speak about writing currently.
Annie: Okay, well when you do write, what’s your ideal environment like? Do you need to shut things out?
Jen: In a perfect world, yes, I would shut everything out because that’s what I need, I can not multi-task, I can not have music on, can not have anyone talk to me. I’m fascinated by people who have music on or tv or sound…
Annie: … Yeah, I have to have some kind of sound around me.
Jen: I would clench my butthole the whole time, I need SILENCE.
Annie: And about not writing, maybe it’s because you’ve been busy lately promoting your book.
Jen: I mean, yeah, at the beginning of the pandemic I lost everything, all my in-person events. I reinvented myself and started doing everything online, coaching and we started a podcast, turned my retreats into virtual retreats, and I have a 4-year-old, so… I haven’t been able to write.
Annie: What do you need to do to make that happen?
Jen: well, it’s interesting you say that because I’m going to go on my calendar today and book out time. I need to block it out.
Annie: Do you have a deadline? Deadlines are huge.
Jen: I do better when other people give me one.
Annie: Okay, I’ll give you a deadline.
Jen: Okay.
Annie: Well, I don’t know how long it usually takes you to write, so I’ll have to get back to you with a deadline.
(Time has passed since our IG live, so, I’ve had time to come up with a deadline. Jen, your rough first draft is due June 15, 2021. I will text you. You’re welcome.)
Annie: Your book started out as a blog first, is that right?
Jen: Well, 12 years ago I wanted to write a book and really I was writing essays and keeping them on my computer. But I started a blog where I’d post a lot “the Manifest-Station.” It’s still there but I don’t write on it. I had workshops called “On Being Human” and I had an agent who found me online a long time ago because I had an online presence.
Annie: Tell me about your new podcast.
Jen: It’s called What Are You Bringing? We're best friends and we talk about what you’re bringing to life. it’s a virtual barbecue.
Annie: Will there be food?
Jen: Well, no.
Annie: Okay, I’ll still come.
Jen: I do it with my friend Alicia Easter, it’s great.
Annie: I will check it out for sure. So, let’s talk advice. What is some advice someone gave you that really stuck with you?
Jen: The one that popped into my head just now is Wayne Dyer,
“Don’t die with your music still in you.”
Annie: I love that one too.
Jen: Yeah, I've been thinking about that a lot, being intentional with how I want to live my life. How to allow myself to be self-expressed.
Annie: Don’t you feel you do that?
Jen: I do, but there are still so many ways that I don’t. Like, why am I getting in my way with this next book and with my shame loss course? It’s me getting in my own way. There’s still music I’m not letting out yet.
Annie: Do you feel successful?
Jen: Absolutely, yeah, I do. Financially I’d love to be more successful. I would love to own a home, to have a bigger place. I define success the way I personally define it is, when I lay my head down at night I get to say, I told the truth today. So, as far as that goes, do I feel successful… yes. Period.
Annie: Good. I love that, Yes. Period. Such a perfect ending to this chat. Thanks, cuz!
💌 Sign up for Annie’s monthly newsletter, What I Liked, Wrote & Drew | https://medium.com/the-innovation/conversations-with-creatives-national-best-selling-author-jennifer-pastiloff-d31031944a21 | [] | 2020-12-18 19:32:44.938000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Writing', 'Writers On Writing', 'Interview', 'Creativity'] | Title Conversations Creatives — National Best Selling Author Jennifer PastiloffContent Conversations Creatives — National Best Selling Author Jennifer Pastiloff newly discovered cousin Source selfie author — first time met cuzzies Jen Charlie — May 8 2019 recently found family member never knew Another cousin Facebook messaged Jen 2019 said lived far she’s also writer yogi around age didn’t know sooner Something family name changed Ellis island using “a” instead “o” one tiny letter kept u knowing one another met took bestselling book Human vacation beach Rimini Italy listened audiobook recorded got know newly discovered cousin first time voice literally loved Here’s conversation creativity interviewed Jen via IG Live — source screenshot author Annie creativity mean feel you’ve always touch Jen Good question…when I’m feeling creative it’s feel connected could connected deeply someone else idea know difference connected disconnected I’ve spent lot life disconnected Creativity also mean uninhibited traditional way haven’t always touched creativity way yes Creativity deeply connected imagination Annie You’ve writing since kid feel like you’ve always creativity getgo Jen Yes getgo dad died writing story 6 7 8… felt like much pressure everyone like “Jennifer going writer” got older like high school got resentful like “don’t tell I’m going do” studied poetry NYU mom suggested write TV like “no want actor stop telling do” Annie love writing fact people telling annoying rebelled even though passion writing clearly Jen Yeah yes yes… part yes hate told even though crave part ego — real thing wanting actor even though really didn’t want Wayne Dyer used talk feel natural imagine truth tell body could never 20 could never visualize set I’m honest life easy visualize could always visualize connecting didn’t know would look like red flag “oh want actor” even though waiting someone discover restaurant Annie actor thing wanted idea would look like actual thing Jen Yeah fame losing dad young craved love feeling “want want want me” Annie acting getting attention seen… rest Jen Well impostor syndrome creativity I’m artist way traditional way sometimes I’m like “oh I’m creative” that’s bullshit story creative deeply connected imagination letting inner asshole say “that’s stupid” “that’s cliché” “other people done that” Annie Right know visual artist part fairly recent entire life I’ve actor writer feeling creativity born creative come way daily life behave talk one another dress cook our… everything Jen Yeah totally agree Annie whatever make Jen Yeah make Whatever Annie Exactly Jen hold artwork… Jen Look love Annie Thank Jen reminds Beauty Hunting Annie It’s funny talk beauty hunting used say FTB Find Beauty Jen almost named book Beauty Hunting went Human Annie Switching gears… I’m curious hearing loss know read lip learn read lip Jen I’m completely deaf capital hear sound hearing aid sound muffled supplement reading lip can’t watch thing without subtitle learned read lip Newsroom restaurant Los Angeles Jen waitress several year hearing loss kept getting worse survival got read lip didn’t even know Annie learned needed learn happened time Jen Yeah actually think lot people living masked world realizing much relying reading lip Annie Interesting even without hearing loss Jen Yes Jen beach Source Jen’s Instagram Annie You’re working new book Jen Well working Jen make air quote Annie Jen Well haven’t writing haven’t written since book Annie Oh Jen Yeah it’s really bumming feel bad can’t speak writing currently Annie Okay well write what’s ideal environment like need shut thing Jen perfect world yes would shut everything that’s need multitask music anyone talk I’m fascinated people music tv sound… Annie … Yeah kind sound around Jen would clench butthole whole time need SILENCE Annie writing maybe it’s you’ve busy lately promoting book Jen mean yeah beginning pandemic lost everything inperson event reinvented started everything online coaching started podcast turned retreat virtual retreat 4yearold so… haven’t able write Annie need make happen Jen well it’s interesting say I’m going go calendar today book time need block Annie deadline Deadlines huge Jen better people give one Annie Okay I’ll give deadline Jen Okay Annie Well don’t know long usually take write I’ll get back deadline Time passed since IG live I’ve time come deadline Jen rough first draft due June 15 2021 text You’re welcome Annie book started blog first right Jen Well 12 year ago wanted write book really writing essay keeping computer started blog I’d post lot “the ManifestStation” It’s still don’t write workshop called “On Human” agent found online long time ago online presence Annie Tell new podcast Jen It’s called Bringing best friend talk you’re bringing life it’s virtual barbecue Annie food Jen Well Annie Okay I’ll still come Jen friend Alicia Easter it’s great Annie check sure let’s talk advice advice someone gave really stuck Jen one popped head Wayne Dyer “Don’t die music still you” Annie love one Jen Yeah Ive thinking lot intentional want live life allow selfexpressed Annie Don’t feel Jen still many way don’t Like getting way next book shame loss course It’s getting way There’s still music I’m letting yet Annie feel successful Jen Absolutely yeah Financially I’d love successful would love home bigger place define success way personally define lay head night get say told truth today far go feel successful… yes Period Annie Good love Yes Period perfect ending chat Thanks cuz 💌 Sign Annie’s monthly newsletter Liked Wrote DrewTags Self Improvement Writing Writers Writing Interview Creativity |
1,029 | Remembering American Songwriter Legend John Prine | America, we have lost a true legend and treasure. I was so sad to hear about the passing of John Prine, whose music I have enjoyed over the years. When hearing the news that he had contracted COVID-19, I was among many people wishing that he could beat this.
Courtesy of John Prine
Originally from Maywood, Illinois, John Prine learned to play guitar at age 14. He got his start in classes at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. Not many know this, but John Prine was an army veteran in Germany in the year of 1966. After serving in the army, he moved to Chicago in the late 1960s and worked for the US Postal Service while writing songs as a hobby. The rest is history. Roger Ebert, the famous film critic, had this to say about the late songwriter legend in his 1970 Chicago Sun-Times article. “He sings rather quietly, and his guitar work is good, but he doesn’t show off. He starts slow. But after a song or two, even the drunks in the room begin to listen to his lyrics. And then he has you.”
Here are my top 3 songs by the late legend:
That’s the Way the World Goes Round
I remember hearing this song in the early 90s at the age of 8 and falling in love with his music. The simplicity and bare emotion of this song stuck with me at a young age. The flute harmony and the shuffling beat adds a nice touch. I also remember thinking that the lyrics “Naked as the eyes of a clown” as being the funniest thing an 8-year-old could hear at the time.
Angel From Montgomery
This song comes from his self titled record in 1971 and is one of my favorites. As a musician/keyboardist, I love the groovy and straightforward intro from the Hammond organ in the intro that fits so well with the piano, guitar, and John’s raspy voice. This song is a classic that has aged well over the years.
Dear Abby
The song “Dear Abby” was another childhood favorite of mine. I loved his simple storytelling and tongue in cheek lyrics “My feet are too long/My hair’s falling out, and my rights are all wrong/My friends they all tell me that I’ve no friends at all.” This classic from the 1973 album Sweet Revenge was a favorite of mine as I was figuring out my awkward teenage years and the advice in the lyrics “So listen up buster, and listen up good/Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood” would-be sage, wise advice my late grandmother would have given me.
In Memory
As I was reading through people’s memories on Twitter of John Prine, I came across Hanif Abdurraquib, editor of GENMag, who, in my opinion, had the best response to John Prine’s passing.
While I was in my home studio last night, I raised a glass of Evan Williams to Mr. Prine and recorded a short video of my playing my favorite song of his on the piano. You can watch it here.
That’s the way that the world goes ‘round.
You’re up one day and the next you’re down.
Thanks for the memories, John.
What are some of your favorite John Prine songs? I would love to hear them in the comments below. | https://medium.com/theentertainmentbreakdown/remembering-american-songwriter-legend-john-prine-26b3a81088c5 | ['Judson Hurd'] | 2020-10-10 01:19:31.505000+00:00 | ['RIP', 'Death', 'Music', 'Coronavirus', 'John Prine'] | Title Remembering American Songwriter Legend John PrineContent America lost true legend treasure sad hear passing John Prine whose music enjoyed year hearing news contracted COVID19 among many people wishing could beat Courtesy John Prine Originally Maywood Illinois John Prine learned play guitar age 14 got start class Old Town School Folk Music Chicago many know John Prine army veteran Germany year 1966 serving army moved Chicago late 1960s worked US Postal Service writing song hobby rest history Roger Ebert famous film critic say late songwriter legend 1970 Chicago SunTimes article “He sings rather quietly guitar work good doesn’t show start slow song two even drunk room begin listen lyric you” top 3 song late legend That’s Way World Goes Round remember hearing song early 90 age 8 falling love music simplicity bare emotion song stuck young age flute harmony shuffling beat add nice touch also remember thinking lyric “Naked eye clown” funniest thing 8yearold could hear time Angel Montgomery song come self titled record 1971 one favorite musiciankeyboardist love groovy straightforward intro Hammond organ intro fit well piano guitar John’s raspy voice song classic aged well year Dear Abby song “Dear Abby” another childhood favorite mine loved simple storytelling tongue cheek lyric “My foot longMy hair’s falling right wrongMy friend tell I’ve friend all” classic 1973 album Sweet Revenge favorite mine figuring awkward teenage year advice lyric “So listen buster listen goodStop wishing bad luck knocking wood” wouldbe sage wise advice late grandmother would given Memory reading people’s memory Twitter John Prine came across Hanif Abdurraquib editor GENMag opinion best response John Prine’s passing home studio last night raised glass Evan Williams Mr Prine recorded short video playing favorite song piano watch That’s way world go ‘round You’re one day next you’re Thanks memory John favorite John Prine song would love hear comment belowTags RIP Death Music Coronavirus John Prine |
1,030 | You Need a Co-Founder For Your Startup. | Almost every startup is better off with a co-Founder. Mostly the bootstrapped ones. If you have a super cool idea and thought about starting a startup, then you must have already researched the reasons for having a co-Founder. But worry not: If this has slipped your mind, I will give you a summary of some reasons for having one.
Dan Lok, the Asian Dragon Investor advocates that you should bootstrap as long as you could with your friends in a garage. “Eat ramen noodles, that’s ok for a period of time because it teaches you how to be resourceful.”
Lower Risks
With shared responsibility, it is easier to lay your head on your pillow at the end of the day, don’t you think? Two or more people responsible for a startup need to share the gains, but also losses. Chances are that having an accountability partner will enable you to cut most loose ends that could jeopardize your business.
You may be full of energy now, but a company’s variables can drive you crazy. It also means that the venture will not stop progressing due to the unavailability of a single person’s burnout.
Not to mention, having a co-Founder will lower your personal risks as well. Regarding the way you sort things out with your new partner, you can now split the costs and ease stress and potential losses.
Greater Possibility of FFS investments (Friends, Family, and Suckers)
Photo by Timon Studler on Unsplash
“Less than 1% of companies are funded by angel investors. Less than 0.5% is funded by venture capital.[…] Most people, they actually start off with just family and friends and loans from the bank” — Dan Lok
This should not be the aim of having a co-Founder, but you cannot deny that it is a bonus. Bootstrapped companies always benefit from having some money coming in from the initial stage…
In this stage, you should not need to prove your idea too much. You don’t know yet what you are doing, and probably do not have an MVP ready to actually show something.
Thought that not knowing how to lower your CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) or to increase the MMR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) will prevent you from getting a good investor or being approved into funds?
Then you are absolutely right. But don’t mind about it just yet. That’s what the last F stands for (or S, as I gently put above). Your family and friends don’t have enough technical knowledge about what you’re doing, so make your idea compelling to them and hope for the best. If they do have technical knowledge, then CALL THEM TO BE YOUR CO-FOUNDER.
Disclaimer: I’m not encouraging you to scheme or lie to anybody. The fact is: you don’t have those answers yet, but still, you need the money to get to know anything.
Moral Support
Starting a business is a task that isolates you from the external world. There is no one to talk to. No one who knows all the obstacles your company’s going through and still supports you. We may start to feel abandoned.
The moral support a partner might give us is different from anything else we could hope for. Firstly, he will have to make your company. I don’t know if you are aware, but a startup often urges you to work way more than the 9–5 business hours. Having somebody to share it will be a big relief.
Studies revealed that there is a bunch of brain damage such as depression and Alzheimer, and poor decision making.
“Lacking encouragement from family or friends, those who are lonely may slide into unhealthy habits. In addition, loneliness has been found to raise levels of stress, impede sleep, and, in turn, harm the body. Loneliness can also augment depression or anxiety.” — Newcastle University epidemiologist Nicole Valtorta, PhD
“What’s wrong with having one founder? To start with, it’s a vote of no confidence. It probably means the founder couldn’t talk any of his friends into starting the company with him. That’s pretty alarming because his friends are the ones who know him best.” — Paul Graham, co-Founder of Y-Combinator
A Unique Set of Skills
Photo by Aaron Huber on Unsplash
Can you whistle and clap at the same time? Well, I can.
When you hire a co-Founder you are getting twice as much work done without having to invest more money, which is great, but this work needs to be directed to the company’s greatest difficulties.
Remember: You are not spending money yet on a co-Founder, but as soon as your startup starts to bear fruit — as we hope — it will be harvested by more hands. And it is fair. Let’s just make sure to put those hands to good use.
Let’s picture it a lil’bit: You are an excellent administrator and you had a wonderful idea — sounds familiar? — and you are building an app. Ok. Who develops the apps? App developers.
If you already have an FFS investment — you remember that, right? — great, you can hire an app developer, but there are substantial roles that must be filed within your company.
Now you need a good marketer to build your launch strategy. Are you running out of money? Maybe you know a good professional in the field who believes in your idea. See? Now, besides all the significant points put above, you also granted your company someone who will give essential skills to your idea. Double Win.
Investors Like It
Photo by Lloyd Blunk on Unsplash
If I haven’t convinced you so far, I think this is the turning point in our brief story.
Investors tend to better accept companies with more than one founder. Perhaps, in addition to all the advantages I mentioned above, a VC should think: “hm … if this guy convinced another human being so skilled to work on his idea, basically for free, it must be a very good one.”
But do not take just my word for that. Y Combinator’s co-Founder, Paul Graham, says in “18 Mistakes That Kill Startups”:
“The low points in a startup are so low that few could bear them alone. When you have multiple founders, esprit de corps binds them together in a way that seems to violate conservation laws. Each thinks “I can’t let my friends down.” This is one of the most powerful forces in human nature, and it’s missing when there’s just one founder.”
Ed Zimmerman, Adjunct Professor VC/Angel at Columbia Business School, is one of the many multiple-founders advocators. He claims to observe everything about the relationship between founders:
“Do they appear to be off message with one another? Do they talk over each other? Do they seem disrespectful or discourteous toward each other? Or, do they seem supportive of each other? I love working with founders where it appears that each has the other’s back.”
If you are interested in a specific post for these topics, leave in the comment section below; the only kind of pressure that works for me.
Now that you know why you need a co-Founder, let’s go shopping!
What to look for in a startup co-Founder
Photo by Tachina Lee on Unsplash
Looking for a co-Founder shouldn’t be much different than looking for an investor, after all, that person will invest time to execute your idea.
Someone like you
I’ve tried to make as clear as possible the importance of a business partner when starting your startup. One of the things that you should appreciate above all, is your partner to be having the same values as you. He doesn’t have to be a soulmate, but he does need to be the soulmate of your business. If you are creating a health tech, for example, and are interested in doing something that may challenge some religion, it will be difficult to partner up with someone extremely religious.
Write Down all the skills you will prioritize
Yes, just like in a job description for any other position. Some aspects may be desirable and others are prerequisites. You must know exactly what you need from a co-Founder. If you have little or no acuity with numbers, looking for someone with those skills can be a plus. Unless you are creating a Fintech, then dealing with numbers should be paramount.
Different backgrounds.
As mentioned at the beginning of the article, looking for someone with skills different from yours is a way to enhance the success of your Startup. Take preference for those who have expertise in areas relevant to your project and who complement your skills.
Extra information
Get to know your co-Founder more. Ask about hobbies, childhood stories, school life. These are not questions you ask in a form, but important information to take into account, since the chemistry between you must be pulsating. It is not easy to work with someone with whom we cannot relate well.
Where to look
My main advice at this point is that you should look into your network of friends. People you already know and trust and can add to your project.
On the Internet
If you don’t know anyone in this medium that fits, you can look for people willing to be co-Founders on the internet. Search through Linkedin groups, Quora responses, Medium authors, and of course, Twitter. Looking for people to relate to professionally shouldn’t be a problem for you. If there’s one thing the Founders I know have in common, it’s that they LOVE to talk about their businesses.
Some specific relationship platforms are also available for this purpose. The best-known examples are YouNoodle, Founder2be, and FounderDating. These platforms serve to connect you with people who already have some background in Tech, with the most varied interests. In addition to finding founders, you will also find experts who can advise or even board your team.
Face-to-face events
Good old face-to-face networking does not usually fail. You can attend technology development events at universities and development hubs. Introduce yourself and talk to other founders and experts in areas related to your business. If you like to participate in events like this, you are likely to find a partner. Maybe even an entire team.
What to watch
Photo by Gaspar Uhas on Unsplash
Some founders do not take the CEO position because they are not able to run a company, or because their skills will be better used as CTO — Chief Technology Officer — or CFO — Chief Financial Officer, and there is no problem with that, as long as it has been talked about from the beginning to prevent it from motivating future discussions.
For the same reason, always make a contract with the previous negotiation. Discuss scenarios. Percentages. Papers. Discuss the future. Go out for ice cream together. Seriously, don’t rush the important task of finding a co-Founder for your Startup.
“As the proverb says, men cannot know each other until they have eaten salt together.”
–Aristotle
What important tip did I miss? Don’t forget to leave in the comments how was your process to find a co-Founder ;)
— DR
Gain Access to Expert View — Subscribe to DDI Intel | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/you-need-a-co-founder-for-your-startup-a6560232b836 | ['Dominique Rocha'] | 2020-11-09 03:57:00.534000+00:00 | ['Business', 'Startup Lessons', 'Founder', 'Startup', 'Entrepreneurship'] | Title Need CoFounder StartupContent Almost every startup better coFounder Mostly bootstrapped one super cool idea thought starting startup must already researched reason coFounder worry slipped mind give summary reason one Dan Lok Asian Dragon Investor advocate bootstrap long could friend garage “Eat ramen noodle that’s ok period time teach resourceful” Lower Risks shared responsibility easier lay head pillow end day don’t think Two people responsible startup need share gain also loss Chances accountability partner enable cut loose end could jeopardize business may full energy company’s variable drive crazy also mean venture stop progressing due unavailability single person’s burnout mention coFounder lower personal risk well Regarding way sort thing new partner split cost ease stress potential loss Greater Possibility FFS investment Friends Family Suckers Photo Timon Studler Unsplash “Less 1 company funded angel investor Less 05 funded venture capital… people actually start family friend loan bank” — Dan Lok aim coFounder cannot deny bonus Bootstrapped company always benefit money coming initial stage… stage need prove idea much don’t know yet probably MVP ready actually show something Thought knowing lower CAC Customer Acquisition Cost increase MMR Monthly Recurring Revenue prevent getting good investor approved fund absolutely right don’t mind yet That’s last F stand gently put family friend don’t enough technical knowledge you’re make idea compelling hope best technical knowledge CALL COFOUNDER Disclaimer I’m encouraging scheme lie anybody fact don’t answer yet still need money get know anything Moral Support Starting business task isolates external world one talk one know obstacle company’s going still support may start feel abandoned moral support partner might give u different anything else could hope Firstly make company don’t know aware startup often urge work way 9–5 business hour somebody share big relief Studies revealed bunch brain damage depression Alzheimer poor decision making “Lacking encouragement family friend lonely may slide unhealthy habit addition loneliness found raise level stress impede sleep turn harm body Loneliness also augment depression anxiety” — Newcastle University epidemiologist Nicole Valtorta PhD “What’s wrong one founder start it’s vote confidence probably mean founder couldn’t talk friend starting company That’s pretty alarming friend one know best” — Paul Graham coFounder YCombinator Unique Set Skills Photo Aaron Huber Unsplash whistle clap time Well hire coFounder getting twice much work done without invest money great work need directed company’s greatest difficulty Remember spending money yet coFounder soon startup start bear fruit — hope — harvested hand fair Let’s make sure put hand good use Let’s picture lil’bit excellent administrator wonderful idea — sound familiar — building app Ok develops apps App developer already FFS investment — remember right — great hire app developer substantial role must filed within company need good marketer build launch strategy running money Maybe know good professional field belief idea See besides significant point put also granted company someone give essential skill idea Double Win Investors Like Photo Lloyd Blunk Unsplash haven’t convinced far think turning point brief story Investors tend better accept company one founder Perhaps addition advantage mentioned VC think “hm … guy convinced another human skilled work idea basically free must good one” take word Combinator’s coFounder Paul Graham say “18 Mistakes Kill Startups” “The low point startup low could bear alone multiple founder esprit de corp bind together way seems violate conservation law think “I can’t let friend down” one powerful force human nature it’s missing there’s one founder” Ed Zimmerman Adjunct Professor VCAngel Columbia Business School one many multiplefounders advocator claim observe everything relationship founder “Do appear message one another talk seem disrespectful discourteous toward seem supportive love working founder appears other’s back” interested specific post topic leave comment section kind pressure work know need coFounder let’s go shopping look startup coFounder Photo Tachina Lee Unsplash Looking coFounder shouldn’t much different looking investor person invest time execute idea Someone like I’ve tried make clear possible importance business partner starting startup One thing appreciate partner value as doesn’t soulmate need soulmate business creating health tech example interested something may challenge religion difficult partner someone extremely religious Write skill prioritize Yes like job description position aspect may desirable others prerequisite must know exactly need coFounder little acuity number looking someone skill plus Unless creating Fintech dealing number paramount Different background mentioned beginning article looking someone skill different way enhance success Startup Take preference expertise area relevant project complement skill Extra information Get know coFounder Ask hobby childhood story school life question ask form important information take account since chemistry must pulsating easy work someone cannot relate well look main advice point look network friend People already know trust add project Internet don’t know anyone medium fit look people willing coFounders internet Search Linkedin group Quora response Medium author course Twitter Looking people relate professionally shouldn’t problem there’s one thing Founders know common it’s LOVE talk business specific relationship platform also available purpose bestknown example YouNoodle Founder2be FounderDating platform serve connect people already background Tech varied interest addition finding founder also find expert advise even board team Facetoface event Good old facetoface networking usually fail attend technology development event university development hub Introduce talk founder expert area related business like participate event like likely find partner Maybe even entire team watch Photo Gaspar Uhas Unsplash founder take CEO position able run company skill better used CTO — Chief Technology Officer — CFO — Chief Financial Officer problem long talked beginning prevent motivating future discussion reason always make contract previous negotiation Discuss scenario Percentages Papers Discuss future Go ice cream together Seriously don’t rush important task finding coFounder Startup “As proverb say men cannot know eaten salt together” –Aristotle important tip miss Don’t forget leave comment process find coFounder — DR Gain Access Expert View — Subscribe DDI IntelTags Business Startup Lessons Founder Startup Entrepreneurship |
1,031 | Medium Is Building a Monetized Alternative to Twitter | Medium Is Building a Monetized Alternative to Twitter
How writers can leverage new shortform posts
Photo by Sara Kurfeß on Unsplash
If you got paid $0.50 to $1.00 (or more) for every Tweet you wrote, would you use Twitter more often? Most content creators would almost certainly answer with an emphatic “Yes!”
As part of recent sweeping changes to the platform, Medium has rolled out new options for shortform posts. Michelle Legro covers these in detail in a new post on the Medium Creator Hub.
Medium’s shortform options essentially serve as a members-only, monetized version of Twitter.
Writers on Medium (especially those with a following) can use shortform posts to perform many of the same functions as a Tweet, while potentially getting paid for their posts through Medium’s Partner Program — or taking advantage of expanded reach through Medium curation functions and their existing Medium audience.
Here’s how Medium writers can leverage the platform’s new shortform writing functions to grow their reach, create more content and earn more.
The Basics: How to Write a Shortform Post
Let’s start with the basics — what’s a shortform post, and how do you make one?
Shortform posts are Medium articles which are 150 words or less. Because the average English word is 4.9 characters long, that means that a shortform article is likely around 735 characters. Tweets are currently limited to 280 characters, so that means that shortform Medium articles can be about 2.5x longer than your longest Tweet. Shortform articles are generally a 1–2 minute read.
Why 150 words? Any article longer than 150 words displays with a Read More button on Medium. If you keep your articles under 150 words, Medium says in their recent post about shortform, they’ll display in their entirety on your profile, or on the landing page of your publication. Readers can consume the entire shortform post without having to click through to a second page via a Read More button.
You can write shortform posts longer than 150 words, but if you want to take advantage of having the full post display without a Read More, you should keep shortform posts to 150 words or less. Again, this is coming straight from Medium, so writers would be wise to heed this cutoff.
Medium has hinted about new shortform options since they announced sweeping platform changes in mid-2020. But one recent surprise was the revelation that the systems for creating shortform posts are actually already live, and likely have been for months. You may have seen these posts already, if you follow Medium’s in-house publications, which have been using them at least since July 2020.
How do you actually create one? It’s simple. As Medium explains on the Creator Hub, you start a new story, and instead of including a headline and photo at the beginning, you bold the first sentence. You then write your story as normal, ideally keeping the whole thing under 150 words. You can tag your story as you would normally.
Here’s an example of a shortform post from Medium’s Creator Hub article:
Courtesy Medium.
There’s a bolded first line, no headline/image, and then less than 150 words of text. This cues Medium into the fact that you’re writing a shortform post.
What to Include
What should you include in your shortform posts? Really, it can be anything you want — or anything you feel provides value to your own audience. For their part, Medium says “When it comes to publishing shortform, variation — and consistency within that variation — is the key.”
Here are some things a shortform post can do:
Share a great story from another Medium writer , that you think would be relevant to your audience
, that you think would be relevant to your audience Discuss breaking news or a new announcement in your industry. Because shortform posts are fast to write, you can respond to events as they happen and keep your audience informed.
Because shortform posts are fast to write, you can respond to events as they happen and keep your audience informed. Highlight one of your older stories, which has new relevance based on the time of year, a new story you’ve just written, etc. For example, I recently highlighted a story I wrote in 2019 about Black Friday, since it’s now Black Friday again and the story was once again relevant.
which has new relevance based on the time of year, a new story you’ve just written, etc. For example, I recently highlighted a story I wrote in 2019 about Black Friday, since it’s now Black Friday again and the story was once again relevant. Quickly respond to another writer’s story. Just read a story that got you really excited — for fired up and ready to argue? Publish a response sharing your opinion on another writer’s piece as a shortform post.
Just read a story that got you really excited — for fired up and ready to argue? Publish a response sharing your opinion on another writer’s piece as a shortform post. Highlight recent work that fits into a trend. Shortform posts are great for “roundups” of your recent work. Maybe you just published 5 stories over the last month about home decor. Tie them together with links in a single shortform post, so readers can see them all organized together in a thread. Medium’s Coronavirus Blog does a great job of doing this to summarize recent Covid-19 news.
Shortform posts are great for “roundups” of your recent work. Maybe you just published 5 stories over the last month about home decor. Tie them together with links in a single shortform post, so readers can see them all organized together in a thread. Medium’s Coronavirus Blog does a great job of doing this to summarize recent Covid-19 news. Share an off-platform story. Not all great content lives on Medium. Shortform posts are a great way to link out to and discuss great articles published on another platform.
Not all great content lives on Medium. Shortform posts are a great way to link out to and discuss great articles published on another platform. Share a photo or video. Shortform posts are perfect for sharing a single video or photo. Write your intro sentence/sentences, then embed the photo or video into your post.
Shortform posts are perfect for sharing a single video or photo. Write your intro sentence/sentences, then embed the photo or video into your post. Tease a future story. Planning something great? You can use a shortform post to “tease” a future story that you have in the works, and get readers excited about it. You can even include a few lines from the story in your teaser post, so readers get a taste of what you’re developing and want to come back to see the whole piece when it’s published. This is also a great way to grow your reach by encouraging readers to follow you, so they can see the full story the moment it goes live.
From a practical standpoint, Medium says it’s a great idea to tag other writers in your shortform posts, and to tag stories that you mention in the post.
To tag a Medium writer, start with the @ sign, and begin to type their Medium handle. The platform will show a list of writers. Click on the writer you want to tag, and they name will appear in green in your story. When you publish your shortform post, they’ll receive a notification.
To tag a specific Medium story, copy the link to the story, paste it into your post, and hit enter. The story will appear in a box in your post.
Benefits of Shortform Posts for Writers
Medium’s shortform stories, to be blunt, are very much like Tweets. They serve many of the same functions as a Tweet (discussing breaking news, updating your audience about what you’re working on, etc), except that the can be members-only and monetized.
What are the benefits to writers of creating shortform posts on Medium?
They’re super easy and fast to create. How long does it take you to write 150 words? Probably no time at all. Shortform posts are great because they’re simple and fast to create. That means you can respond immediately to breaking news events, or be prolific in your content creation by publishing much more frequently.
How long does it take you to write 150 words? Probably no time at all. Shortform posts are great because they’re simple and fast to create. That means you can respond immediately to breaking news events, or be prolific in your content creation by publishing much more frequently. They allow you to curate. Tim Denning recently said that audiences don’t seek content — they seek curated content. Your role as a creator is sometimes to create things totally from scratch. But sometimes it’s just to serve as a curator, gathering the best content from your own work or other sources which will have relevance to your audience. Curation isn’t “cheating” — choosing the best content and sharing it (with attribution, of course) is extremely valuable to your audience. Shortform posts make it super easy to find a great article, write a brief comment on it, and share it with your audience, curating the best content for them to consume.
Tim Denning recently said that audiences don’t seek content — they seek curated content. Your role as a creator is sometimes to create things totally from scratch. But sometimes it’s just to serve as a curator, gathering the best content from your own work or other sources which will have relevance to your audience. Curation isn’t “cheating” — choosing the best content and sharing it (with attribution, of course) is extremely valuable to your audience. Shortform posts make it super easy to find a great article, write a brief comment on it, and share it with your audience, curating the best content for them to consume. They’re monetized. If you choose to lock your post down behind Medium’s paywall, it will be monetized just like any other Medium post if you’re in the Medium Partner Program. Shortform posts are short, so you’re unlikely to get a ton of reading time. But I find that with an audience of 5,000+ followers on Medium, my shortform posts earn about $0.25 to $2.00 each. Writing these shortform posts is a bit like being paid around $1 for each of your Tweets.
If you choose to lock your post down behind Medium’s paywall, it will be monetized just like any other Medium post if you’re in the Medium Partner Program. Shortform posts are short, so you’re unlikely to get a ton of reading time. But I find that with an audience of 5,000+ followers on Medium, my shortform posts earn about Writing these shortform posts is a bit like being paid around $1 for each of your Tweets. They’re eligible for curation and can go in publications. Medium used to only rarely curate posts shorter than 3 minutes. They’ve since removed this restriction. While curation is a lower priority overall on the new Medium, shortform posts are still eligible for curation. You can also publish them in publications — either your own or another publication on the platform.
Medium used to only rarely curate posts shorter than 3 minutes. They’ve since removed this restriction. While curation is a lower priority overall on the new Medium, shortform posts are still eligible for curation. You can also publish them in publications — either your own or another publication on the platform. They connect you to other writers and readers. When you tag another writer in your shortform post, they get a notification. It’s a great way to ping other writers, share something you love about their piece, promote their work to your audience, and build community overall.
When you tag another writer in your shortform post, they get a notification. It’s a great way to ping other writers, share something you love about their piece, promote their work to your audience, and build community overall. They’re a great way to experiment. Shortform posts are fast for you to create, and fast for your audience to read. That makes them perfect for experimentation. You can try something totally new with a shortform post, and see if your audience responds to it. If they love it, you can build the idea into longform content. If they hate it, you’ve only wasted 1–2 minutes of their time.
An Example
Here’s an example of a recent shortform post that I wrote:
It’s a 1 minute read.
There’s a bolded first sentence, no featured image, and no headline.
It was curated in Marketing.
It will likely be published in the Startup.
It shares a photo and a previous article I wrote.
It’s gotten 78 views and earned me $0.45 in the first three days online. That’s not a lot, but it’s also not bad for a story that took about 60 seconds to write.
It probably drove some views to my old story, too.
Make Shortform Your Own
Medium’s shortform posts are a bit like a monetized, promoted version of Twitter. Shortform posts serve many of the same functions as Tweets, but on the Medium platform. You can even repurpose your best Tweets are shortform stories if you want.
They’re super fast and easy to write, allow you to experiment with new ideas, and can be used to highlight your own relevant work, the work of others, or to share and comment on breaking events.
As a Medium writer, start testing out shortform posts and see what your audience engages with. As Medium says, each writer and each audience will find different value in this new format — whether that’s sharing stories you’ve curated, sharing industry announcements, building community, or more.
You can write a shortform post in a few minutes. Try it right now — press the Write button, think of something brief to say, and create your first shortform post today. | https://medium.com/swlh/medium-is-building-a-monetized-alternative-to-twitter-bda70900de68 | ['Thomas Smith'] | 2020-12-02 09:39:56.062000+00:00 | ['Medium', 'Creativity', 'Twitter', 'Shortform', 'Writing'] | Title Medium Building Monetized Alternative TwitterContent Medium Building Monetized Alternative Twitter writer leverage new shortform post Photo Sara Kurfeß Unsplash got paid 050 100 every Tweet wrote would use Twitter often content creator would almost certainly answer emphatic “Yes” part recent sweeping change platform Medium rolled new option shortform post Michelle Legro cover detail new post Medium Creator Hub Medium’s shortform option essentially serve membersonly monetized version Twitter Writers Medium especially following use shortform post perform many function Tweet potentially getting paid post Medium’s Partner Program — taking advantage expanded reach Medium curation function existing Medium audience Here’s Medium writer leverage platform’s new shortform writing function grow reach create content earn Basics Write Shortform Post Let’s start basic — what’s shortform post make one Shortform post Medium article 150 word le average English word 49 character long mean shortform article likely around 735 character Tweets currently limited 280 character mean shortform Medium article 25x longer longest Tweet Shortform article generally 1–2 minute read 150 word article longer 150 word display Read button Medium keep article 150 word Medium say recent post shortform they’ll display entirety profile landing page publication Readers consume entire shortform post without click second page via Read button write shortform post longer 150 word want take advantage full post display without Read keep shortform post 150 word le coming straight Medium writer would wise heed cutoff Medium hinted new shortform option since announced sweeping platform change mid2020 one recent surprise revelation system creating shortform post actually already live likely month may seen post already follow Medium’s inhouse publication using least since July 2020 actually create one It’s simple Medium explains Creator Hub start new story instead including headline photo beginning bold first sentence write story normal ideally keeping whole thing 150 word tag story would normally Here’s example shortform post Medium’s Creator Hub article Courtesy Medium There’s bolded first line headlineimage le 150 word text cue Medium fact you’re writing shortform post Include include shortform post Really anything want — anything feel provides value audience part Medium say “When come publishing shortform variation — consistency within variation — key” thing shortform post Share great story another Medium writer think would relevant audience think would relevant audience Discuss breaking news new announcement industry shortform post fast write respond event happen keep audience informed shortform post fast write respond event happen keep audience informed Highlight one older story new relevance based time year new story you’ve written etc example recently highlighted story wrote 2019 Black Friday since it’s Black Friday story relevant new relevance based time year new story you’ve written etc example recently highlighted story wrote 2019 Black Friday since it’s Black Friday story relevant Quickly respond another writer’s story read story got really excited — fired ready argue Publish response sharing opinion another writer’s piece shortform post read story got really excited — fired ready argue Publish response sharing opinion another writer’s piece shortform post Highlight recent work fit trend Shortform post great “roundups” recent work Maybe published 5 story last month home decor Tie together link single shortform post reader see organized together thread Medium’s Coronavirus Blog great job summarize recent Covid19 news Shortform post great “roundups” recent work Maybe published 5 story last month home decor Tie together link single shortform post reader see organized together thread Medium’s Coronavirus Blog great job summarize recent Covid19 news Share offplatform story great content life Medium Shortform post great way link discus great article published another platform great content life Medium Shortform post great way link discus great article published another platform Share photo video Shortform post perfect sharing single video photo Write intro sentencesentences embed photo video post Shortform post perfect sharing single video photo Write intro sentencesentences embed photo video post Tease future story Planning something great use shortform post “tease” future story work get reader excited even include line story teaser post reader get taste you’re developing want come back see whole piece it’s published also great way grow reach encouraging reader follow see full story moment go live practical standpoint Medium say it’s great idea tag writer shortform post tag story mention post tag Medium writer start sign begin type Medium handle platform show list writer Click writer want tag name appear green story publish shortform post they’ll receive notification tag specific Medium story copy link story paste post hit enter story appear box post Benefits Shortform Posts Writers Medium’s shortform story blunt much like Tweets serve many function Tweet discussing breaking news updating audience you’re working etc except membersonly monetized benefit writer creating shortform post Medium They’re super easy fast create long take write 150 word Probably time Shortform post great they’re simple fast create mean respond immediately breaking news event prolific content creation publishing much frequently long take write 150 word Probably time Shortform post great they’re simple fast create mean respond immediately breaking news event prolific content creation publishing much frequently allow curate Tim Denning recently said audience don’t seek content — seek curated content role creator sometimes create thing totally scratch sometimes it’s serve curator gathering best content work source relevance audience Curation isn’t “cheating” — choosing best content sharing attribution course extremely valuable audience Shortform post make super easy find great article write brief comment share audience curating best content consume Tim Denning recently said audience don’t seek content — seek curated content role creator sometimes create thing totally scratch sometimes it’s serve curator gathering best content work source relevance audience Curation isn’t “cheating” — choosing best content sharing attribution course extremely valuable audience Shortform post make super easy find great article write brief comment share audience curating best content consume They’re monetized choose lock post behind Medium’s paywall monetized like Medium post you’re Medium Partner Program Shortform post short you’re unlikely get ton reading time find audience 5000 follower Medium shortform post earn 025 200 Writing shortform post bit like paid around 1 Tweets choose lock post behind Medium’s paywall monetized like Medium post you’re Medium Partner Program Shortform post short you’re unlikely get ton reading time find audience 5000 follower Medium shortform post earn Writing shortform post bit like paid around 1 Tweets They’re eligible curation go publication Medium used rarely curate post shorter 3 minute They’ve since removed restriction curation lower priority overall new Medium shortform post still eligible curation also publish publication — either another publication platform Medium used rarely curate post shorter 3 minute They’ve since removed restriction curation lower priority overall new Medium shortform post still eligible curation also publish publication — either another publication platform connect writer reader tag another writer shortform post get notification It’s great way ping writer share something love piece promote work audience build community overall tag another writer shortform post get notification It’s great way ping writer share something love piece promote work audience build community overall They’re great way experiment Shortform post fast create fast audience read make perfect experimentation try something totally new shortform post see audience responds love build idea longform content hate you’ve wasted 1–2 minute time Example Here’s example recent shortform post wrote It’s 1 minute read There’s bolded first sentence featured image headline curated Marketing likely published Startup share photo previous article wrote It’s gotten 78 view earned 045 first three day online That’s lot it’s also bad story took 60 second write probably drove view old story Make Shortform Medium’s shortform post bit like monetized promoted version Twitter Shortform post serve many function Tweets Medium platform even repurpose best Tweets shortform story want They’re super fast easy write allow experiment new idea used highlight relevant work work others share comment breaking event Medium writer start testing shortform post see audience engages Medium say writer audience find different value new format — whether that’s sharing story you’ve curated sharing industry announcement building community write shortform post minute Try right — press Write button think something brief say create first shortform post todayTags Medium Creativity Twitter Shortform Writing |
1,032 | One Way to Assess the Conflict Within Your Work in Progress | One Way to Assess the Conflict Within Your Work in Progress Amie DeStefano Follow Nov 9 · 4 min read
Photo by Olav Ahrens Røtne on Unsplash
Cheryl St. John, the author of Writing with Emotion, Tension, and Conflict (Writers Digest Books, 2013), writes, “You can’t write a book and then go back later and try to add conflict.”
Weak conflict is one way to have a manuscript rejected, St. John explains. Her advice makes sense. That’s why I often use St. John’s book to plot and brainstorm conflict.
But, what if I’m 50,000 words into my first draft, and it’s not entirely void of conflict? Yet it needs improvement. I didn’t want my eventual manuscript rejected.
What nagged at me was that I never sought any objective, professional feedback about my story idea.
Seeking advice seemed important now that doubt had me asking, “What am I doing?” I sat at my desk, staring out my window, waiting for the answers to appear before my eyes. “How did I stray? Why isn’t my fantasy work in progress, turning out as I want it to?”
Nothing felt right as I pounded away at the keyboard, producing a daily word count. Which is good for training my writing muscle but not useful for my problem-solving process.
What helped me the most was discussing the structure of my book idea with my writing class, “Write Right Now,” led by author Catherine Jordan. From Jordan, I learned what I was missing.
You probably guessed it by now. Conflict. More conflict.
After talking with Jordan, I was able to find direction, understand my book structure, and where I’d wandered off. Her objective review allowed me to take a step back and see my story had many more possibilities.
Also, I listened to my classmate's book structure and premise. Giving me more perspective on what my first draft was lacking.
Jordan’s words were polite and encouraging. The tip she gave me was to “increase my pressure,” and the importance of that pressure throughout my story.
I learned that pressure is a component of your story structure—one part of seven more elements needed when writing a premise, giving your story direction. Jordan points out: If you can’t explain one of your story structure aspects, or if it’s too weak, more brainstorming and re-working are needed.
The next day after Jordan’s advice, I drove to work, after I’d just finished my usual early morning writing. I was in the car with my coffee, thinking about my fantasy project, when Jordan’s words truly hit me and sunk in.
I had pressure, but in a more generalized way for all the citizens of my world. My current pressure wasn’t unique enough for my main character’s goals. I needed to figure out how to take Jordan’s advice and apply it.
Pressure defines how to keep my character from getting what they want. Which boils down to a discussion we had during one of our Tuesday evening classes when Jordan asked us: “What is conflict?”
Our answers went up on the whiteboard. The definition that came from those answers was stopping your main character from achieving their goal.
Next, Jordan asked us, “How can I stop my character from getting what they want?”
When we know our character’s goals, we can stop them. Making it incredibly hard for them to get what they want by setting up their conflict. Conflict can be split into internal and external conflict.
I’d learned internal conflict was the emotional aspect of my character. It can come from my character’s backstory. How she grew up, different experiences in her life, phobias, likes, dislikes, and wants. It shapes how she will react to certain situations when the pressure is on.
External conflict is the part of the book world I create for my story people. The main characters are marooned on a deserted island or live on a new planet that’s going to explode in 30 days. This conflict holds your characters together in a bubble. They need to react to their story world’s limitations and benefits.
Reviewing conflict with Jordan in her class helped me re-assess my pressure and conflict. My overwhelm with my first draft and getting it done had me losing my way down the “rabbit hole.” This, Jordon explained to us, is a way to avoid writing mistakes.
With advice from Jordan, I took an honest look at my conflict. First, I wrote down what my main character wants (goals.) Next, I wrote down ways to stop my main character from getting what she wants.
Along with writing down her response to these pressures based on her internal and external conflict. I also went over conflict and pressure between my characters and their individual responses. Then I started my outline.
I reviewed the scenes in my story to determine what I could keep, tweak, or delete while brainstorming new scenes. And of course, I’m writing again.
Luckily, I hadn’t finished my story. I wasn’t querying or getting rejection letters. I was in a dark, veiled place of writing my first draft. My eyesight and sense of direction were obscured.
Receiving feedback from Jordan opened up fresh conflict for my story that I’d overlooked. I had to work at re-assessing and improving my story’s conflict. All of that evaluating and problem-solving was worth seeing a new story shape that I’m more excited to write about.
I’m learning, and I’m thankful for those lessons, even if it happened 50,000 words into my process. Because now, it feels more like the sun is breaking through the fog of dark clouds around my work in progress. My eyes focus, revealing a more precise picture to follow. | https://medium.com/ninja-writers/one-way-to-assess-the-conflict-in-your-work-in-progress-6eecaa4b3639 | ['Amie Destefano'] | 2020-11-09 13:39:16.726000+00:00 | ['Conflict', 'Creativity', 'Writers Life', 'Problem Solving', 'Writing Tips'] | Title One Way Assess Conflict Within Work ProgressContent One Way Assess Conflict Within Work Progress Amie DeStefano Follow Nov 9 · 4 min read Photo Olav Ahrens Røtne Unsplash Cheryl St John author Writing Emotion Tension Conflict Writers Digest Books 2013 writes “You can’t write book go back later try add conflict” Weak conflict one way manuscript rejected St John explains advice make sense That’s often use St John’s book plot brainstorm conflict I’m 50000 word first draft it’s entirely void conflict Yet need improvement didn’t want eventual manuscript rejected nagged never sought objective professional feedback story idea Seeking advice seemed important doubt asking “What doing” sat desk staring window waiting answer appear eye “How stray isn’t fantasy work progress turning want to” Nothing felt right pounded away keyboard producing daily word count good training writing muscle useful problemsolving process helped discussing structure book idea writing class “Write Right Now” led author Catherine Jordan Jordan learned missing probably guessed Conflict conflict talking Jordan able find direction understand book structure I’d wandered objective review allowed take step back see story many possibility Also listened classmate book structure premise Giving perspective first draft lacking Jordan’s word polite encouraging tip gave “increase pressure” importance pressure throughout story learned pressure component story structure—one part seven element needed writing premise giving story direction Jordan point can’t explain one story structure aspect it’s weak brainstorming reworking needed next day Jordan’s advice drove work I’d finished usual early morning writing car coffee thinking fantasy project Jordan’s word truly hit sunk pressure generalized way citizen world current pressure wasn’t unique enough main character’s goal needed figure take Jordan’s advice apply Pressure defines keep character getting want boil discussion one Tuesday evening class Jordan asked u “What conflict” answer went whiteboard definition came answer stopping main character achieving goal Next Jordan asked u “How stop character getting want” know character’s goal stop Making incredibly hard get want setting conflict Conflict split internal external conflict I’d learned internal conflict emotional aspect character come character’s backstory grew different experience life phobia like dislike want shape react certain situation pressure External conflict part book world create story people main character marooned deserted island live new planet that’s going explode 30 day conflict hold character together bubble need react story world’s limitation benefit Reviewing conflict Jordan class helped reassess pressure conflict overwhelm first draft getting done losing way “rabbit hole” Jordon explained u way avoid writing mistake advice Jordan took honest look conflict First wrote main character want goal Next wrote way stop main character getting want Along writing response pressure based internal external conflict also went conflict pressure character individual response started outline reviewed scene story determine could keep tweak delete brainstorming new scene course I’m writing Luckily hadn’t finished story wasn’t querying getting rejection letter dark veiled place writing first draft eyesight sense direction obscured Receiving feedback Jordan opened fresh conflict story I’d overlooked work reassessing improving story’s conflict evaluating problemsolving worth seeing new story shape I’m excited write I’m learning I’m thankful lesson even happened 50000 word process feel like sun breaking fog dark cloud around work progress eye focus revealing precise picture followTags Conflict Creativity Writers Life Problem Solving Writing Tips |
1,033 | How (And Why) to Keep an Everyday Notebook | “Keep a notebook. Travel with it, eat with it, sleep with it. Slap into it every stray thought that flutters up in your brain. Cheap paper is less perishable than gray matter, and lead pencil markings endure longer than memory.”
— Jack London
I am a compulsive notebook keeper. Only, until the last couple of years, my habit was to just pick up whatever notebook was laying around and write in it. So, at any given time I might have a dozen of them and actually finding the one that held a particular note? Forget it.
I’ve tried Bullet Journaling, oh, every January since it was invented. On the surface, it was designed for me. Creative, intuitive, malleable. Just the thing for my maker’s mind.
Only it never works. I make the first layout. I use it. Sort of. But it was so much work that I’m afraid of screwing it up. So I don’t really use it. And also? At some point, usually week three or four, I just don’t want to do the work of getting it set up anymore.
Also, I have a problem with anything that starts to feel arbitrary. So those cute little bubbles to fill in for tracking my water consumption? They seemed like a good idea, but it doesn’t take long for my rebellious side to kick in. I mean, why exactly do I need to fill in water bubbles anyway?
A Couple of Years ago, I Decided to Try Something Else
There was a little confluence of things that changed my thinking.
I read this little post by Austin Kleon about the notebooks he keeps, and bought the big, fat, flexible notebook he said he uses.
And I read the Jack London quote I posted at the top of this post.
It’s funny how tiny things can shift everything, isn’t it? I started carrying that notebook with me. And instead of making layouts or trying to do anything artsy or creative, I just started using it.
I Just Write In It, Every Day
It’s not a planner, which is what my Bullet Journal tried to be.
If I feel the need to keep track of something for a while, I just start a page for it. No water consumption bubbles needed. If I go to a meeting or a conference or talk to someone, I just open my notebook to the next page and start writing.
If I come across a quote that strikes me, I write it in my notebook. I take notes on books I read, ideas I have, things I want to remember.
I keep lists — grocery lists, menu plans, bills to pay, ideas for everything. Like Jack London said, I slap every stray thought into my Everyday Notebook.
It’s Not as Pretty or Put Together as a Bullet Journal
I’m sure it will never become a thing. But it serves me better.
If you’d like to keep your own Everyday Notebook, start with a notebook that’s big enough, but not too big. Is that vague enough for you?
The truth is that I like keeping one book a year, but I carry a bag, so I can do that. If you need to carry yours in your pocket, you might just want one that’s big enough for a month. That’s okay, too.
Get in the habit of having it with you every day, though. That’s key and not vague at all.
Train yourself to write your notes in your Everyday Notebook. Don’t worry about organizing them. Just fill your pages. Date the notes. Draw a line under a thought, if you’ve got a lot of pages left.
Taking Action on Your Notes
Because all of my notes for my whole life are in one place, I sometimes need to actually do something with them.
Maybe I need to act on something — make a call, reach out to someone, buy something. I might have to do something with notes I’ve taken for a story I’m working on.
Maybe I want to put the notes I’ve taken on a book or conference into my Commonplace Book.
Once a week or so, I go through my Everyday Notebook and I look at my notes. I act on what needs to be acted on and I mark through the note with a highlighter so that I know that it’s been addressed. | https://medium.com/mind-cafe/how-and-why-to-keep-an-every-day-notebook-instead-of-a-bullet-journal-80862f3e27dd | ['Envy Writer'] | 2019-09-17 02:51:24.895000+00:00 | ['Self', 'Notebook', 'Productivity', 'Creativity', 'Life'] | Title Keep Everyday NotebookContent “Keep notebook Travel eat sleep Slap every stray thought flutter brain Cheap paper le perishable gray matter lead pencil marking endure longer memory” — Jack London compulsive notebook keeper last couple year habit pick whatever notebook laying around write given time might dozen actually finding one held particular note Forget I’ve tried Bullet Journaling oh every January since invented surface designed Creative intuitive malleable thing maker’s mind never work make first layout use Sort much work I’m afraid screwing don’t really use also point usually week three four don’t want work getting set anymore Also problem anything start feel arbitrary cute little bubble fill tracking water consumption seemed like good idea doesn’t take long rebellious side kick mean exactly need fill water bubble anyway Couple Years ago Decided Try Something Else little confluence thing changed thinking read little post Austin Kleon notebook keep bought big fat flexible notebook said us read Jack London quote posted top post It’s funny tiny thing shift everything isn’t started carrying notebook instead making layout trying anything artsy creative started using Write Every Day It’s planner Bullet Journal tried feel need keep track something start page water consumption bubble needed go meeting conference talk someone open notebook next page start writing come across quote strike write notebook take note book read idea thing want remember keep list — grocery list menu plan bill pay idea everything Like Jack London said slap every stray thought Everyday Notebook It’s Pretty Put Together Bullet Journal I’m sure never become thing serf better you’d like keep Everyday Notebook start notebook that’s big enough big vague enough truth like keeping one book year carry bag need carry pocket might want one that’s big enough month That’s okay Get habit every day though That’s key vague Train write note Everyday Notebook Don’t worry organizing fill page Date note Draw line thought you’ve got lot page left Taking Action Notes note whole life one place sometimes need actually something Maybe need act something — make call reach someone buy something might something note I’ve taken story I’m working Maybe want put note I’ve taken book conference Commonplace Book week go Everyday Notebook look note act need acted mark note highlighter know it’s addressedTags Self Notebook Productivity Creativity Life |
1,034 | America, a Shared Madness | American English is clumsy, lacking in grace and subtlety. It’s very good at expressing stupid ideas, trivial things, but not so much at conveying complex thoughts or emotions. Derp is the most American of words. Derp can be a guttural belch designed to express confusion, or derp can be an accusatory finger pointed at a very dumb person. It doesn’t so much describe as it does assault, less a coherent thought than it is a noise one instinctively retches from their lizard brain.
German is complex. Words and phrases are somehow both unwieldy and concise. To outsiders, a word might appear an endless string of letters that takes more space than entire sentences in their native tongue, yet the sum is capable of describing a thing others might have trouble articulating in dozens of sentences or even whole books. Vergangenheitsbewältigung refers to a collective trauma that may haunt a nation, specifically in the context of post-World War II German history when the country tried to understand and address its descent into fascism. It describes the mood of such a period as much as it does the process of working through the past.
French is the most beautiful of all languages. Words and phrases aren’t as cumbersome as in German, but also not stunted or aggressive as in American English. Much like German, it can condense complex thoughts or ideas down into one word or a short string to identify concepts we might struggle to recognize over a lifetime. French can take something as difficult to put into words as a collective paranoia and make it feel romantic.
Such is the case with folie à deux.
In English, the phrase translates to “madness for two” and describes when a person who suffers from a delusional belief passes it onto others. In its simplest terms, it means a shared psychosis, though this description is reductive because it doesn’t account for transmission, it only articulates a state of collective hysteria. There is no word or phrase in American English like folie à deux, especially on a national level. Mass delusion, for example, explains how a group can experience a collective hysteria but it isn’t concerned with a source. It lacks precision. Worse, it’s often restricted to smaller groups across brief moments in time. It has meant everything from the Salem Witch Trials to a series of “evil clown” sightings in small towns throughout the United States in 2016. It doesn’t capture our prolonged madness, the generational fear that travels between parent and child, teacher and student, hostage taker and victim.
America breeds a special kind of crazy. You see it among rich and poor alike. It starts at the highest levels and trickles down so all can share of it, the only kind of redistribution that happens here. This isn’t something new, a recent development that emerged out of a national panic, it’s a condition that has been with us since this country’s founding, though the last four years has thrown it into sharp relief.
I first noticed it in 2015 when Donald Trump announced he was running for President. There were brief moments of rupture in media coverage that revealed an intense loathing for the man irrespective of political party. George Will called Trump a counterfeit Republican and the National Review devoted an entire issue of its magazine, titled “Against Trump”, to attacking him. MSNBC rebranded as the Anti-Trump Network by obsessively covering his every word and its biggest star, Rachel Maddow, began comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler on her show and in interviews.
The disease spread to the rest of America in the form of public spectacle. In February 2017, witches began hexing Trump in public rituals, casting what they called a binding spell so that “his malignant works may fail utterly”; this continued for months and a group formalized online under the moniker #MagicResistance. But this being America, no action can occur without a corresponding or more absurd reaction. Christians responded to the hexes with coordinated prayer campaigns, and online forum 4chan created its own occult belief system, The Cult of Kek, to, first, mock the rituals and, then, spin off its own minor religion based around “meme magic.”
Trump, his campaign, his Presidency — none are unique. When I say I see something in Trump, I’m not referring to the man but instead how Americans respond to him and figures like him. Conservatives have called it Trump Derangement Syndrome, a generalized paranoia in response to the man’s very existence, but it’s not distinct to Trump alone. It was first created by political commentator Charles Krauthammer to describe a Howard Dean quote about George W. Bush. Center-left news outlets revived and transformed it into Obama Derangement Syndrome. Seemingly every new President drives the country crazier, every election becomes an exercise in greater self-harm.
But this past year may be the pinnacle of American derangement. (For now.) There’s a global pandemic affecting every nation but America is falling apart in ways both unique and unusual. The government provided only one check of $1,200 to its citizens despite near-universal state mandates that businesses shutdown or operate at minimum capacity. Armed protestors stormed state capitols to demand those states reopen.
The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg inspired widespread protests and counter-protests. One of the most stunning images of 2020 came a little over a week after her passing when, in response to the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, Trump supporters began holding prayer sessions in front of the Court; a staff photographer at the New York Times caught one such example, where supporters were cast in stark contrast to a woman laying on the ground, in tears over Ginsburg’s death.
The following day evangelicals flocked to the Washington Monument as part of a prayer rally in support of Israel. But instead of holding a traditional prayer session, members treated the structure as if it were the Western Wall, connecting one of Judaism’s holiest sites to the founding of America.
Protests have been ongoing since May when Minneapolis police murdered George Floyd. This one event may be the defining American moment of the 21st-century. A police station burned, cities lied about their use of chemical weapons on civilian protestors, Americans established their own free states. At a certain point though, it became unclear who was protesting what or why. In June, after protestors nationally tore down Confederate monuments, conservative residents of South Philadelphia began holding protests in defense of a statue of Christopher Columbus… but no one had threatened to attack or deface it. That same month caravans of Trump supporters began rolling through cities and suburbs around the country. The South Philadelphia protest saw police stand by and watch as protestors fought in the streets, while the caravans culminated in an October 31st protest in which a Texas caravan harassed and attacked a Biden campaign bus and another group shut down the Mario Cuomo bridge in New Jersey.
There’s no phrase like folie à deux in our language, nothing like Vergangenheitsbewältigung. We have no concise way of capturing this feeling, this moment, the process of a country losing its mind. There is no turn of phrase or collection of grunts that portrays both the disease and its host — nothing describing transmission or receipt. The best we can do is approximate. We call it simply: America.
Because America isn’t only a place. It’s not just a system of lines and boundaries, somewhere where you can travel to and from. It’s a pathology, a psychological condition which afflicts 328 million people. America is a light at the end of the tunnel, fast approaching, until you realize it’s the headlights of a truck bearing down on you. It will run you over, leave you for dead, but you keep getting back up and walking towards it again. America is a fleeting memory you move further away from everyday. It gnaws at you, and you resent it because you lose a little bit more each time you try to remember what it once was, but still you keep trying. America is that thing that drives us all crazy — a collective psychosis, a mass delusion, a shared madness. | https://robert-skvarla.medium.com/america-a-shared-madness-694c38f92454 | ['Robert Skvarla'] | 2020-11-04 15:02:25.367000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Society', 'Nonfiction', 'Culture', 'Essay'] | Title America Shared MadnessContent American English clumsy lacking grace subtlety It’s good expressing stupid idea trivial thing much conveying complex thought emotion Derp American word Derp guttural belch designed express confusion derp accusatory finger pointed dumb person doesn’t much describe assault le coherent thought noise one instinctively retch lizard brain German complex Words phrase somehow unwieldy concise outsider word might appear endless string letter take space entire sentence native tongue yet sum capable describing thing others might trouble articulating dozen sentence even whole book Vergangenheitsbewältigung refers collective trauma may haunt nation specifically context postWorld War II German history country tried understand address descent fascism describes mood period much process working past French beautiful language Words phrase aren’t cumbersome German also stunted aggressive American English Much like German condense complex thought idea one word short string identify concept might struggle recognize lifetime French take something difficult put word collective paranoia make feel romantic case folie à deux English phrase translates “madness two” describes person suffers delusional belief pass onto others simplest term mean shared psychosis though description reductive doesn’t account transmission articulates state collective hysteria word phrase American English like folie à deux especially national level Mass delusion example explains group experience collective hysteria isn’t concerned source lack precision Worse it’s often restricted smaller group across brief moment time meant everything Salem Witch Trials series “evil clown” sighting small town throughout United States 2016 doesn’t capture prolonged madness generational fear travel parent child teacher student hostage taker victim America breed special kind crazy see among rich poor alike start highest level trickle share kind redistribution happens isn’t something new recent development emerged national panic it’s condition u since country’s founding though last four year thrown sharp relief first noticed 2015 Donald Trump announced running President brief moment rupture medium coverage revealed intense loathing man irrespective political party George called Trump counterfeit Republican National Review devoted entire issue magazine titled “Against Trump” attacking MSNBC rebranded AntiTrump Network obsessively covering every word biggest star Rachel Maddow began comparing Trump Adolf Hitler show interview disease spread rest America form public spectacle February 2017 witch began hexing Trump public ritual casting called binding spell “his malignant work may fail utterly” continued month group formalized online moniker MagicResistance America action occur without corresponding absurd reaction Christians responded hex coordinated prayer campaign online forum 4chan created occult belief system Cult Kek first mock ritual spin minor religion based around “meme magic” Trump campaign Presidency — none unique say see something Trump I’m referring man instead Americans respond figure like Conservatives called Trump Derangement Syndrome generalized paranoia response man’s existence it’s distinct Trump alone first created political commentator Charles Krauthammer describe Howard Dean quote George W Bush Centerleft news outlet revived transformed Obama Derangement Syndrome Seemingly every new President drive country crazier every election becomes exercise greater selfharm past year may pinnacle American derangement There’s global pandemic affecting every nation America falling apart way unique unusual government provided one check 1200 citizen despite nearuniversal state mandate business shutdown operate minimum capacity Armed protestors stormed state capitol demand state reopen death Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg inspired widespread protest counterprotests One stunning image 2020 came little week passing response nomination Amy Coney Barrett Trump supporter began holding prayer session front Court staff photographer New York Times caught one example supporter cast stark contrast woman laying ground tear Ginsburg’s death following day evangelicals flocked Washington Monument part prayer rally support Israel instead holding traditional prayer session member treated structure Western Wall connecting one Judaism’s holiest site founding America Protests ongoing since May Minneapolis police murdered George Floyd one event may defining American moment 21stcentury police station burned city lied use chemical weapon civilian protestors Americans established free state certain point though became unclear protesting June protestors nationally tore Confederate monument conservative resident South Philadelphia began holding protest defense statue Christopher Columbus… one threatened attack deface month caravan Trump supporter began rolling city suburb around country South Philadelphia protest saw police stand watch protestors fought street caravan culminated October 31st protest Texas caravan harassed attacked Biden campaign bus another group shut Mario Cuomo bridge New Jersey There’s phrase like folie à deux language nothing like Vergangenheitsbewältigung concise way capturing feeling moment process country losing mind turn phrase collection grunt portrays disease host — nothing describing transmission receipt best approximate call simply America America isn’t place It’s system line boundary somewhere travel It’s pathology psychological condition afflicts 328 million people America light end tunnel fast approaching realize it’s headlight truck bearing run leave dead keep getting back walking towards America fleeting memory move away everyday gnaws resent lose little bit time try remember still keep trying America thing drive u crazy — collective psychosis mass delusion shared madnessTags Politics Society Nonfiction Culture Essay |
1,035 | How to use DeepLab in TensorFlow for object segmentation using Deep Learning | How to use DeepLab in TensorFlow for object segmentation using Deep Learning
Modifying the DeepLab code to train on your own dataset for object segmentation in images
Photo by Nick Karvounis on Unsplash
I work as a Research Scientist at FlixStock, focusing on Deep Learning solutions to generate and/or edit images. We identify coherent regions belonging to various objects in an image using Semantic Segmentation.
DeepLab is an ideal solution for Semantic Segmentation. The code is available in TensorFlow.
In this article, I will be sharing how we can train a DeepLab semantic segmentation model for our own data-set in TensorFlow. But before we begin…
What is DeepLab?
DeepLab is one of the most promising techniques for semantic image segmentation with Deep Learning. Semantic segmentation is understanding an image at the pixel level, then assigning a label to every pixel in an image such that pixels with the same label share certain characteristics.
Installation
DeepLab implementation in TensorFlow is available on GitHub here.
Preparing Dataset
Before you create your own dataset and train DeepLab, you should be very clear about what you want to want to do with it. Here are the two scenarios:
Training the model from scratch: you are free to have any number of classes of objects (number of labels) for segmentation. This needs a very long time for training.
Use the pre-trained model: you are free to have any number of classes of objects for segmentation. Use the pre-trained model and only update your classifier weights with transfer learning. This will take far less time for training compared to the prior scenario.
Let us name your new dataset as “PQR”. Create a new folder “PQR” as: tensorflow/models/research/deeplab/datasets/PQR .
To start, all you need is input images and their pre-segmented images as ground-truth for training. Input images need to be color images and the segmented images need to be color indexed images. Refer to the PASCAL dataset.
Create a folder named “dataset” inside “PQR”. It should have the following directory structure:
+ dataset
-JPEGImages
-SegmentationClass
-ImageSets
+ tfrecord
JPEGImages
It contains all the input color images in *.jpg format.
A sample input image from PASCAL VOC dataset
SegmentationClass
This folder contains all the semantic segmentation annotations images for each of the color input images, which is the ground truth for the semantic segmentation.
These images should be color indexed. Each color index represents a unique class (with unique color) known as a color map.
Sample Color Map [source: https://github.com/DrSleep/tensorflow-deeplab-resnet]
Note: Files in the “SegmentationClass” folder should have the same name as in the “JPEGImage” folder for corresponding image-segmentation file pair.
A sample semantic segmentation ground truth image from PASCAL VOC dataset
ImageSets
This folder contains:
train.txt: list of image names for the training set
val.txt: list of image names for the validation set
trainval.txt: list of image names for training + validation set
Sample *.txt file looks something like this:
pqr_000032
pqr_000039
pqr_000063
pqr_000068
pqr_000121
Remove the color-map in the ground truth annotations
If your segmentation annotation images are RGB images instead of color indexed images. Here is a Python script that will be of help.
Here, the palette defines the “RGB:LABEL” pair. In this sample code (0,0,0):0 is background and (255,0,0):1 is the foreground class. Note, the new_label_dir is the location where the raw segmentation data is stored.
Next, the task is to convert the image dataset to a TensorFlow record. Make a new copy of the script file ./dataset/download_and_convert_voc2012.sh as ./dataset/convert_pqr.sh . Below is the modified script.
The converted dataset will be saved at ./deeplab/datasets/PQR/tfrecord
Defining the dataset description
Open the file segmentation_dataset.py present in the research/deeplab/datasets/ folder. Add the following code segment defining the description for your PQR dataset.
_PQR_SEG_INFORMATION = DatasetDescriptor(
splits_to_sizes={
'train': 11111, # number of file in the train folder
'trainval': 22222,
'val': 11111,
},
num_classes=2, # number of classes in your dataset
ignore_label=255, # white edges that will be ignored to be class
)
Make the following changes as shown bellow:
_DATASETS_INFORMATION = {
'cityscapes': _CITYSCAPES_INFORMATION,
'pascal_voc_seg': _PASCAL_VOC_SEG_INFORMATION,
'ade20k': _ADE20K_INFORMATION,
'pqr': _PQR_SEG_INFORMATION
}
Training
In order to train the model on your dataset, you need to run the train.py file in the research/deeplab/ folder. So, we have written a script file train-pqr.sh to do the task for you.
Here, we have used xception_65 for your local training. You can specify the number of training iterations to the variable NUM_ITERATIONS. and set “ — tf_initial_checkpoint” to the location where you have downloaded or pre-trained the model *.ckpt. After training, the final trained model can be found in the TRAIN_LOGDIR directory.
Finally, run the above script from the …/research/deeplab directory.
# sh ./train-pqr.sh
Voilà! You have successfully trained DeepLab on your dataset.
In the coming months, I will be sharing more of my experiences with Images & Deep Learning. Stay tuned and don’t forget to spare some claps if you like this article. It will encourage me immensely. | https://medium.com/free-code-camp/how-to-use-deeplab-in-tensorflow-for-object-segmentation-using-deep-learning-a5777290ab6b | ['Beeren Sahu'] | 2018-09-24 20:20:58.565000+00:00 | ['Deep Learning', 'Image Processing', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'TensorFlow', 'Tech'] | Title use DeepLab TensorFlow object segmentation using Deep LearningContent use DeepLab TensorFlow object segmentation using Deep Learning Modifying DeepLab code train dataset object segmentation image Photo Nick Karvounis Unsplash work Research Scientist FlixStock focusing Deep Learning solution generate andor edit image identify coherent region belonging various object image using Semantic Segmentation DeepLab ideal solution Semantic Segmentation code available TensorFlow article sharing train DeepLab semantic segmentation model dataset TensorFlow begin… DeepLab DeepLab one promising technique semantic image segmentation Deep Learning Semantic segmentation understanding image pixel level assigning label every pixel image pixel label share certain characteristic Installation DeepLab implementation TensorFlow available GitHub Preparing Dataset create dataset train DeepLab clear want want two scenario Training model scratch free number class object number label segmentation need long time training Use pretrained model free number class object segmentation Use pretrained model update classifier weight transfer learning take far le time training compared prior scenario Let u name new dataset “PQR” Create new folder “PQR” tensorflowmodelsresearchdeeplabdatasetsPQR start need input image presegmented image groundtruth training Input image need color image segmented image need color indexed image Refer PASCAL dataset Create folder named “dataset” inside “PQR” following directory structure dataset JPEGImages SegmentationClass ImageSets tfrecord JPEGImages contains input color image jpg format sample input image PASCAL VOC dataset SegmentationClass folder contains semantic segmentation annotation image color input image ground truth semantic segmentation image color indexed color index represents unique class unique color known color map Sample Color Map source httpsgithubcomDrSleeptensorflowdeeplabresnet Note Files “SegmentationClass” folder name “JPEGImage” folder corresponding imagesegmentation file pair sample semantic segmentation ground truth image PASCAL VOC dataset ImageSets folder contains traintxt list image name training set valtxt list image name validation set trainvaltxt list image name training validation set Sample txt file look something like pqr000032 pqr000039 pqr000063 pqr000068 pqr000121 Remove colormap ground truth annotation segmentation annotation image RGB image instead color indexed image Python script help palette defines “RGBLABEL” pair sample code 0000 background 255001 foreground class Note newlabeldir location raw segmentation data stored Next task convert image dataset TensorFlow record Make new copy script file datasetdownloadandconvertvoc2012sh datasetconvertpqrsh modified script converted dataset saved deeplabdatasetsPQRtfrecord Defining dataset description Open file segmentationdatasetpy present researchdeeplabdatasets folder Add following code segment defining description PQR dataset PQRSEGINFORMATION DatasetDescriptor splitstosizes train 11111 number file train folder trainval 22222 val 11111 numclasses2 number class dataset ignorelabel255 white edge ignored class Make following change shown bellow DATASETSINFORMATION cityscape CITYSCAPESINFORMATION pascalvocseg PASCALVOCSEGINFORMATION ade20k ADE20KINFORMATION pqr PQRSEGINFORMATION Training order train model dataset need run trainpy file researchdeeplab folder written script file trainpqrsh task used xception65 local training specify number training iteration variable NUMITERATIONS set “ — tfinitialcheckpoint” location downloaded pretrained model ckpt training final trained model found TRAINLOGDIR directory Finally run script …researchdeeplab directory sh trainpqrsh Voilà successfully trained DeepLab dataset coming month sharing experience Images Deep Learning Stay tuned don’t forget spare clap like article encourage immenselyTags Deep Learning Image Processing Artificial Intelligence TensorFlow Tech |
1,036 | The Blackest City in the U.S. Is Facing an Environmental Justice Nightmare | Growing up in southwest Detroit, Vince Martin thought it was normal for the sky to be orange.
When he was three years old, his family moved from Cuba to one of the Black areas of town. At the time, discriminatory housing practices segregated the city. His Afro-Cuban family settled in the 48217, now Michigan’s most polluted zip code, where 71% of the population is Black and air pollution makes the sky look like it’s on fire.
Specifically, the Martins moved to Boynton, a working-class neighborhood. The town sits next door to a Marathon oil refinery and its sprawling industrial campus.
Martin, now an environmental activist in Detroit, remembers the refinery being made up of “one or two tankers” when his family settled there in the 1960s. Now, Marathon is a 250-acre tank farm that emits so much air pollution it’s received 15 violation notices from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy since 2013 for surpassing state and federal regulations emission limits. (Marathon denies any wrongdoing, claiming it has reduced emissions by 75% over the last 20 years and only contributes to 3% of emissions in the area.)
But Martin saw air quality worsen as the refinery grew over the decades. He believes he escaped the worst of it in his youth because he traveled so often for sports, but others “weren’t so fortunate.”
At his 30-year high school reunion, it seemed to Martin that more people in his class were dead than living. He knew many had died from cancer. As a child, Martin’s younger brother David developed asthma and juvenile diabetes, both of which have been linked with air pollution. Every few days, Martin remembers, David was rushed to the hospital with respiratory issues. “These episodes kept happening every time he’d try to go outside and enjoy his environment,” says Martin. After a life of health complications, David died at age 45 from what Martin calls “toxic poisoning.”
“Seeing someone with such joy in life, seeing it stripped away little by little, it’s a terrible thing,” Martin says. “To be in a community like that and be exposed to those kinds of pollutants. It’s a sad story.”
These stories are common in the 48217. Four of the state’s top emitters of particulate matter sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxides, which can, respectively, cause respiratory issues, and create acid rain are located within a five-mile radius of Boynton. A portion of I-75, one of the busiest highways in Michigan, runs along the northern border of the neighborhood. The neighborhood is nine minutes from the traffic-choked Ambassador Bridge, the busiest international border crossing in North America. Plans to open the new Gordie Howe International Bridge next to the Ambassador Bridge in 2020 are expected to increase diesel truck traffic by 125%. | https://onezero.medium.com/the-blackest-city-in-the-u-s-is-facing-an-environmental-justice-nightmare-788e0fb5c6b9 | ['Drew Costley'] | 2020-01-15 16:13:02.425000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Pollution', 'Environment', 'Equality', 'Black In Climate Change'] | Title Blackest City US Facing Environmental Justice NightmareContent Growing southwest Detroit Vince Martin thought normal sky orange three year old family moved Cuba one Black area town time discriminatory housing practice segregated city AfroCuban family settled 48217 Michigan’s polluted zip code 71 population Black air pollution make sky look like it’s fire Specifically Martins moved Boynton workingclass neighborhood town sits next door Marathon oil refinery sprawling industrial campus Martin environmental activist Detroit remembers refinery made “one two tankers” family settled 1960s Marathon 250acre tank farm emits much air pollution it’s received 15 violation notice Michigan Department Environment Great Lakes Energy since 2013 surpassing state federal regulation emission limit Marathon denies wrongdoing claiming reduced emission 75 last 20 year contributes 3 emission area Martin saw air quality worsen refinery grew decade belief escaped worst youth traveled often sport others “weren’t fortunate” 30year high school reunion seemed Martin people class dead living knew many died cancer child Martin’s younger brother David developed asthma juvenile diabetes linked air pollution Every day Martin remembers David rushed hospital respiratory issue “These episode kept happening every time he’d try go outside enjoy environment” say Martin life health complication David died age 45 Martin call “toxic poisoning” “Seeing someone joy life seeing stripped away little little it’s terrible thing” Martin say “To community like exposed kind pollutant It’s sad story” story common 48217 Four state’s top emitter particulate matter sulfur dioxide nitrous oxide respectively cause respiratory issue create acid rain located within fivemile radius Boynton portion I75 one busiest highway Michigan run along northern border neighborhood neighborhood nine minute trafficchoked Ambassador Bridge busiest international border crossing North America Plans open new Gordie Howe International Bridge next Ambassador Bridge 2020 expected increase diesel truck traffic 125Tags Health Pollution Environment Equality Black Climate Change |
1,037 | The Magic Key to Making Habits Sticky | I have some good news for you.
You’re already really good at creating habits. You are, I promise. You probably have dozens that are so ingrained in you, you don’t even realize you do them. Here are some of mine:
I check my email on my phone first thing after I open my eyes every morning.
I grab a pre-packaged protein shake for breakfast every morning.
I brush my teeth right after the first time I go to the bathroom after my breakfast protein shake every morning.
I check my calendar while I’m drinking that shake every morning.
I read on my Kindle while I eat lunch every afternoon.
I take my vitamins right after lunch, before I go back to work, every afternoon.
When I’m on my computer, I check my email, my Facebook, and my Amazon book sales, every time.
I think about dinner at 5 p.m. every afternoon.
I brush my teeth, take my medication, and wash my face when I’m in the bathroom for the last time before I go to bed, every night.
Those are just the habits I came up with in two minutes while I’m sitting here writing this post.
Habits come and go. I used to be in the habit of checking my Medium stats every time I was on the computer, but lately that one’s fallen off. I’m more into self-publishing at the moment, than blogging.
And I’ve only had my Kindle for a month, so that one’s new. It developed quickly.
Sticky habits that happen without you thinking about them.
You have them. I have them. We all have them. The trick is to figure out why and tap into the ability to develop those habits so that we can do it intentionally.
There’s a magic key.
Habits that become ingrained are tied to either time or an action.
Either you are in the habit of doing something at a specific time every day (I always think about dinner at 5 p.m., for instance) or in reaction to a specific action (I always brush my teeth when I’m in the bathroom after breakfast and before bed.)
In other words, it’s not enough to decide you want to develop a habit. If you want to make it stick, you need to tie it to a time or an action.
I can tell you until I’m blue in the face that a teeny, tiny habit of writing for ten minutes every day is powerful. It won’t stick for you if you don’t decide when you’re going to do it.
Either I’m going to write for ten minutes every day at 8 a.m. OR I’m going to write for ten minutes every day right after breakfast.
It doesn’t matter which. What does matter is now your habit has parameters. It has boundaries. It’s real. You’ve set aside time for it.
Stack that Habit
Even more powerful is if you stack your new habit, time- or action-bound, with another one that’s already ingrained.
So: I’m going to write for ten minutes every day at 8 a.m., right after I check my email.
Or: I’m going to write for ten minutes every day, right after breakfast.
Oh, whoops. See? Tying your new habit to an action often automatically ties it to an ingrained habit. If you don’t actually eat breakfast every morning, then that habit is going to be less powerful.
Resistance is Often Confusion
I don’t mean top-level confusion. If you make a teeny-tiny goal — like writing for ten minutes a day, for instance — there’s no confusion there. It’s simple and straight forward.
But the part of your brain that needs to engage for it to become ingrained? That part of your brain runs on a deeper level and it’s more easily confused.
Because maybe you’re saying ‘I’ll write ten minutes a day’ but you’re thinking ‘actually, I’ll write for an hour a day.’
Yikes. Confusion.
Or maybe you’re thinking ‘I’ll write for ten minutes a day at 8 a.m.’, but you don’t actually ever get out of bed before 9 a.m.
Mmmhmm. Confusion.
Next thing you know, you’re looking around wondering why you can’t manage to write for ten stinking minutes a day. It’s ten minutes!
Resistance often is a mask for deep-brain confusion. I’m sure there’s a more technical term for that. Whatever. I think you know what I mean. You unconscious monkey brain hasn’t got the memo yet.
You need to lay it out super clear and precise for the monkey brain. It’s hard to do that, because the goal here is a minimum, not a maximum. There’s nothing wrong with writing for an hour a day. In fact, that might be the reason for the tiny goal.
But you get full credit for hitting your tiny goal. Talk to your monkey brain and make sure it gets that.
So, think about what time you actually get out of bed before you decide to tie a habit to an early morning hour. And make sure that you’ve actually accepted that tiny goal as the whole, real goal.
The Steps to Creating a New Sticky Habit
If you want to create a new, sticky, small habit — here’s how: | https://medium.com/the-write-brain/the-magic-key-to-making-habits-sticky-5b7f1bab6d27 | ['Shaunta Grimes'] | 2020-12-06 16:57:23.890000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Life', 'Goals', 'Productivity', 'Habits'] | Title Magic Key Making Habits StickyContent good news You’re already really good creating habit promise probably dozen ingrained don’t even realize mine check email phone first thing open eye every morning grab prepackaged protein shake breakfast every morning brush teeth right first time go bathroom breakfast protein shake every morning check calendar I’m drinking shake every morning read Kindle eat lunch every afternoon take vitamin right lunch go back work every afternoon I’m computer check email Facebook Amazon book sale every time think dinner 5 pm every afternoon brush teeth take medication wash face I’m bathroom last time go bed every night habit came two minute I’m sitting writing post Habits come go used habit checking Medium stats every time computer lately one’s fallen I’m selfpublishing moment blogging I’ve Kindle month one’s new developed quickly Sticky habit happen without thinking trick figure tap ability develop habit intentionally There’s magic key Habits become ingrained tied either time action Either habit something specific time every day always think dinner 5 pm instance reaction specific action always brush teeth I’m bathroom breakfast bed word it’s enough decide want develop habit want make stick need tie time action tell I’m blue face teeny tiny habit writing ten minute every day powerful won’t stick don’t decide you’re going Either I’m going write ten minute every day 8 I’m going write ten minute every day right breakfast doesn’t matter matter habit parameter boundary It’s real You’ve set aside time Stack Habit Even powerful stack new habit time actionbound another one that’s already ingrained I’m going write ten minute every day 8 right check email I’m going write ten minute every day right breakfast Oh whoop See Tying new habit action often automatically tie ingrained habit don’t actually eat breakfast every morning habit going le powerful Resistance Often Confusion don’t mean toplevel confusion make teenytiny goal — like writing ten minute day instance — there’s confusion It’s simple straight forward part brain need engage become ingrained part brain run deeper level it’s easily confused maybe you’re saying ‘I’ll write ten minute day’ you’re thinking ‘actually I’ll write hour day’ Yikes Confusion maybe you’re thinking ‘I’ll write ten minute day 8 am’ don’t actually ever get bed 9 Mmmhmm Confusion Next thing know you’re looking around wondering can’t manage write ten stinking minute day It’s ten minute Resistance often mask deepbrain confusion I’m sure there’s technical term Whatever think know mean unconscious monkey brain hasn’t got memo yet need lay super clear precise monkey brain It’s hard goal minimum maximum There’s nothing wrong writing hour day fact might reason tiny goal get full credit hitting tiny goal Talk monkey brain make sure get think time actually get bed decide tie habit early morning hour make sure you’ve actually accepted tiny goal whole real goal Steps Creating New Sticky Habit want create new sticky small habit — here’s howTags Creativity Life Goals Productivity Habits |
1,038 | The two Google Search Python Libraries you should never miss! | The two Google Search Python Libraries you should never miss!
In this article, let us discover the usage of the two most used Google Search Python libraries.
Photo by Benjamin Dada on Unsplash
This morning while I was looking for search-related Python API, I saw these two amazing Google Search Libraries written in Python. So I thought of bringing them to light and share them with you guys. So that next time when you are in need, these libraries will be at your fingertips.
Now that we know the name of these two amazing Python libraries, let’s try to use them one-at-a-time and perform some searching. Before diving into the API’s, the whole code of this article can be found in my GitHub Repository down below:
googlesearch
It is a Python library used to do an effective Google search. It uses requests and BeautifulSoup4 libraries to scrape the data from Google.
Installation
To install googlesearch, run the following command
!pip install googlesearch-python
Note: If you are using any other IDE other than Google Colab, use pip install googlesearch-python no need for appending ! at the beginning. Also, make sure to restart the runtime/editor in order to use newly installed versions.
Perform basic searching
Now, with the help of this library, let’s search Katy Perry. I mean, why not?. To do this, you need to import the library first and then search for the topic.
import googlesearch
search = googlesearch.search('Katy Perry')
print(search)
As soon as you execute the following code, you will be prompted by Katy Perry’s search results as a list. Yes, you heard it right, the return type of the search method is a list.
Playing with search method
You can also control the number of search results as well with num_results and also get the results in other languages using lang parameters. Let’s use the same Katy Perry’s example and limit the search results to 5 and get the results in french.
import googlesearch
search = googlesearch.search('Katy Perry', num_results = 5, lang = 'fr')
print(search)
You know the outcome of the above code. The output will not be displayed in French rather the source they point to will be a French website. And this time there will only be 5 search results displayed.
Reference
To go through the full source code and more details of googlesearch library. Please visit their repository given down below: | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/the-two-google-search-python-libraries-you-should-never-miss-dfb2ec324a33 | ['Tanu N Prabhu'] | 2020-12-22 20:51:20.662000+00:00 | ['Python', 'API', 'Google', 'Google Search', 'Programming'] | Title two Google Search Python Libraries never missContent two Google Search Python Libraries never miss article let u discover usage two used Google Search Python library Photo Benjamin Dada Unsplash morning looking searchrelated Python API saw two amazing Google Search Libraries written Python thought bringing light share guy next time need library fingertip know name two amazing Python library let’s try use oneatatime perform searching diving API’s whole code article found GitHub Repository googlesearch Python library used effective Google search us request BeautifulSoup4 library scrape data Google Installation install googlesearch run following command pip install googlesearchpython Note using IDE Google Colab use pip install googlesearchpython need appending beginning Also make sure restart runtimeeditor order use newly installed version Perform basic searching help library let’s search Katy Perry mean need import library first search topic import googlesearch search googlesearchsearchKaty Perry printsearch soon execute following code prompted Katy Perry’s search result list Yes heard right return type search method list Playing search method also control number search result well numresults also get result language using lang parameter Let’s use Katy Perry’s example limit search result 5 get result french import googlesearch search googlesearchsearchKaty Perry numresults 5 lang fr printsearch know outcome code output displayed French rather source point French website time 5 search result displayed Reference go full source code detail googlesearch library Please visit repository given belowTags Python API Google Google Search Programming |
1,039 | Testing in React with Jest and Enzyme: An Introduction | Not using Create React App?
If you are not using Create React App, you can install Jest with npm or yarn:
yarn add --dev jest
#or
npm install --save-dev jest
In order to run jest with npm test , replace or append a test script to your scripts block within your package.json file:
...
scripts: {
"test": "jest",
...
}
Within a Create React App environment this will look slightly different, as react-scripts is called instead of jest : (Nothing needs to be changed here)
...
scripts: {
"test": "react-scripts test",
...
}
To verify things are working, run npm test now in your Terminal at your project root directory. You will now be in watch mode, and should see a prompt displaying something similar to “No tests found related to files changed since last commit”, along with some shortcuts to run tests in various ways.
So what is the best way to introduce tests to your React project? Let’s visit this first before diving into some more useful tools.
Start Using Jest
Jest discovers test files within your project via their filenames, of which can be located at any depth of your project. There are 3 naming conventions we can adopt in order for Jest to pick up our tests:
Any file with a .test.js suffix or a .spec.js suffix. This may be preferable when a component (e.g. App.js ) can be accompanied by an App.test.js file in the same directory, where they will reside next to each other. This optimises discoverability and keeps import statements to a minimum.
This may be preferable when a component (e.g. ) can be accompanied by an file in the same directory, where they will reside next to each other. This optimises discoverability and keeps import statements to a minimum. Any .js file within __tests__ folders throughout your project. If you have multiple test files to test a particular component or component directory, a __tests__ folder allows a more coherent structure whereby your tests and components are not mixed. This may be preferable in larger projects.
Which method you adopt is your call and will depend on your project.
Now let’s write a simple test to examine Jest syntax. Let’s add an App.test.js file within the same directory as App.js . This test will have no relation to App.js just yet, but instead will introduce some key methods of Jest; describe() and it() , as well as the expect() methods:
// App.test.js describe('Examining the syntax of Jest tests', () => {
it('sums numbers', () => {
expect(1 + 2).toEqual(3);
expect(2 + 2).toEqual(4);
});
});
Upon first glance you may find this test quite obvious, and that is a good thing; readability is an intentional design choice to keep tests simple and easy to understand.
Now, upon saving this test and provided you have Jest running in the Terminal, you should receive an output similar to the following:
Let’s break down the above example to understand this syntax:
describe() : An optional method to wrap a group of tests with. describe() allows us to write some text that explains the nature of the group of tests conducted within it. As you can see in the Terminal, the describe() text acts as a header before the test results are shown.
: An optional method to wrap a group of tests with. allows us to write some text that explains the nature of the group of tests conducted within it. As you can see in the Terminal, the text acts as a header before the test results are shown. it() : Similar in nature to describe() , it() allows us to write some text describing what a test should successfully achieve. You may see that the test() method is used instead of it() throughout the Jest documentation, and vice-versa in the Create React App documentation. Both are valid methods.
: Similar in nature to , allows us to write some text describing what a test should successfully achieve. You may see that the method is used instead of throughout the Jest documentation, and vice-versa in the Create React App documentation. Both are valid methods. expect() and .toEqual() : Here we carry out the test itself. The expect() method carries a result of a function, and toEqual() , in this case, carries a value that expect() should match.
expect() makes assertions: what is an assertion?
expect() is a global Jest function for making assertions. An assertion takes a boolean valued function and always expects that return value to be true — hence the name expect. In the event that false is returned, the test fails and execution stops within the corresponding it() or test() block.
toEqual() is a matcher: what is a matcher?
toEqual() is called a matcher. A matcher is a function whose resulting value must be true relative to what it is testing from expect() . Jest have documented the full list of matchers here, ranging from toContain , toBeFalsy , toMatch(regexpOrString) and toThrow(error) . It’s worthwhile familiarising yourself with what is available to optimise your test syntax.
We get a full breakdown of each test result in the Terminal. Green ticks highlight a success whereas red crosses highlight a failure.
To highlight a failure (hopefully a rare occasion!) let’s change the last test to expect(2 + 2).toEqual(5) :
Our terminal now displays some handy output, including exactly where our test failed within the script itself, line number and code.
Why test two or more sums instead of just one?
Our first example above tested a sum function twice, the first time with 1 + 2 and then with 2 + 2. This is important; and to demonstrate why, let’s now introduce a sum() function instead of hard-coding our sums:
// math.js export const sum = (x, y) => x + y;
And run the test with the updated sum() :
// App.test.js import {sum} from './math'; describe('Examining the syntax of Jest tests', () => {
it('sums numbers', () => {
expect(sum(1, 2)).toEqual(3);
expect(sum(2, 2)).toEqual(4);
});
});
Making these changes will again yield successful tests. However, what if we change sum() to the following:
export const sum = (x, y) => 3;
What we have done here is simply return a hard-coded value, 3, from our sum function. Now, if we simply left our test suite with a singular assertion of a 1 + 2 sum, the tests would have passed even though the sum function itself does not function as we wish — it always returns 3! | https://rossbulat.medium.com/testing-in-react-with-jest-and-enzyme-an-introduction-99ce047dfcf8 | ['Ross Bulat'] | 2019-07-12 06:29:35.114000+00:00 | ['React', 'ES6', 'Programming', 'JavaScript', 'Software Engineering'] | Title Testing React Jest Enzyme IntroductionContent using Create React App using Create React App install Jest npm yarn yarn add dev jest npm install savedev jest order run jest npm test replace append test script script block within packagejson file script test jest Within Create React App environment look slightly different reactscripts called instead jest Nothing need changed script test reactscripts test verify thing working run npm test Terminal project root directory watch mode see prompt displaying something similar “No test found related file changed since last commit” along shortcut run test various way best way introduce test React project Let’s visit first diving useful tool Start Using Jest Jest discovers test file within project via filename located depth project 3 naming convention adopt order Jest pick test file testjs suffix specjs suffix may preferable component eg Appjs accompanied Apptestjs file directory reside next optimises discoverability keep import statement minimum may preferable component eg accompanied file directory reside next optimises discoverability keep import statement minimum j file within test folder throughout project multiple test file test particular component component directory test folder allows coherent structure whereby test component mixed may preferable larger project method adopt call depend project let’s write simple test examine Jest syntax Let’s add Apptestjs file within directory Appjs test relation Appjs yet instead introduce key method Jest describe well expect method Apptestjs describeExamining syntax Jest test itsums number expect1 2toEqual3 expect2 2toEqual4 Upon first glance may find test quite obvious good thing readability intentional design choice keep test simple easy understand upon saving test provided Jest running Terminal receive output similar following Let’s break example understand syntax describe optional method wrap group test describe allows u write text explains nature group test conducted within see Terminal describe text act header test result shown optional method wrap group test allows u write text explains nature group test conducted within see Terminal text act header test result shown Similar nature describe allows u write text describing test successfully achieve may see test method used instead throughout Jest documentation viceversa Create React App documentation valid method Similar nature allows u write text describing test successfully achieve may see method used instead throughout Jest documentation viceversa Create React App documentation valid method expect toEqual carry test expect method carry result function toEqual case carry value expect match expect make assertion assertion expect global Jest function making assertion assertion take boolean valued function always expects return value true — hence name expect event false returned test fails execution stop within corresponding test block toEqual matcher matcher toEqual called matcher matcher function whose resulting value must true relative testing expect Jest documented full list matcher ranging toContain toBeFalsy toMatchregexpOrString toThrowerror It’s worthwhile familiarising available optimise test syntax get full breakdown test result Terminal Green tick highlight success whereas red cross highlight failure highlight failure hopefully rare occasion let’s change last test expect2 2toEqual5 terminal display handy output including exactly test failed within script line number code test two sum instead one first example tested sum function twice first time 1 2 2 2 important demonstrate let’s introduce sum function instead hardcoding sum mathjs export const sum x x run test updated sum Apptestjs import sum math describeExamining syntax Jest test itsums number expectsum1 2toEqual3 expectsum2 2toEqual4 Making change yield successful test However change sum following export const sum x 3 done simply return hardcoded value 3 sum function simply left test suite singular assertion 1 2 sum test would passed even though sum function function wish — always return 3Tags React ES6 Programming JavaScript Software Engineering |
1,040 | Coupling and Cohesion | Thoughts on Coupling
Coupling is the measure of how dependent your code modules are on each other. Strong coupling is bad and low coupling is good.
High coupling means that your modules cannot be separated. It means that the internals of one module know about and are mixed up with the internals of the other module.
When your system is really badly coupled, it is said to be “spaghetti” code, as everything is all mixed up together like a bowl of spaghetti noodles.
High coupling means that a change in one place can have unknown effects in unknown other places. It means that your code is harder to understand because complex, intertwined relationships are difficult to understand.
Heavily coupled code is difficult to reuse because it is difficult to remove from the system for use elsewhere. One should strive to reduce coupling in one’s code to as high a degree as possible.
Of course, your code can’t be completely decoupled. A collection of completely decoupled modules can’t do anything. They need to be coupled in a thin and light manner.
I’ve said before that an interface is like a wisp of smoke — there is something there, but it is really hard to grab onto it. Code that is coupled via interfaces is coupled as thinly as it can possibly be coupled.
A real-world example of heavy coupling is the space shuttle.
Now, I’m no rocket scientist, but my guess is that a space shuttle is made up of hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of unique parts that fit together in one way and one way only.
The parts are not reusable, and if you need to alter one part — especially if you have to alter an interface of a part — you have a problem because the other parts around it will very likely need to be altered as well.
That initial alteration could spread a long way throughout the craft and have long-reaching ramifications. The space shuttle, then, is a highly coupled system.
What’s an example of loose coupling?
How about a space shuttle built out of Legos. Sure, it won’t go anywhere, but it would be easy to change its design as Lego pieces are easily put together and taken apart to make whatever you want. A Lego space shuttle would have low coupling
In summary, here’s what you should consider when writing uncoupled code:
Your code will be easier to read because it will be simple and not complex.
Your code will be reusable because it will be connected only by very thin interfaces.
Your code will be easy to change and maintain because changes to the code will be isolated.
So, if you don’t want your code to be tightly coupled, what do you want your code to be? | https://medium.com/better-programming/coupling-and-cohesion-75aa16bc9adf | ['Nick Hodges'] | 2020-03-09 01:47:42.699000+00:00 | ['Design Patterns', 'Software Development', 'Software Engineering', 'Software Design', 'Programming'] | Title Coupling CohesionContent Thoughts Coupling Coupling measure dependent code module Strong coupling bad low coupling good High coupling mean module cannot separated mean internals one module know mixed internals module system really badly coupled said “spaghetti” code everything mixed together like bowl spaghetti noodle High coupling mean change one place unknown effect unknown place mean code harder understand complex intertwined relationship difficult understand Heavily coupled code difficult reuse difficult remove system use elsewhere One strive reduce coupling one’s code high degree possible course code can’t completely decoupled collection completely decoupled module can’t anything need coupled thin light manner I’ve said interface like wisp smoke — something really hard grab onto Code coupled via interface coupled thinly possibly coupled realworld example heavy coupling space shuttle I’m rocket scientist guess space shuttle made hundred thousand — million — unique part fit together one way one way part reusable need alter one part — especially alter interface part — problem part around likely need altered well initial alteration could spread long way throughout craft longreaching ramification space shuttle highly coupled system What’s example loose coupling space shuttle built Legos Sure won’t go anywhere would easy change design Lego piece easily put together taken apart make whatever want Lego space shuttle would low coupling summary here’s consider writing uncoupled code code easier read simple complex code reusable connected thin interface code easy change maintain change code isolated don’t want code tightly coupled want code beTags Design Patterns Software Development Software Engineering Software Design Programming |
1,041 | I Quit Coffee for 30 Days and Drank Black Tea Instead | Tea can give you a lot of energy
I was surprised to learn that energy-vise tea can be a great substitute for coffee.
Before, when I regularly drank coffee, I could drink tea like water. It had no effect on me. But after my coffee detox, I could feel my energy levels skyrocketing before I even finished my cup of tea.
Tea leaves contain more caffeine (3.5%) than coffee beans (1.1–2.2%). But because of the water temperature used to brew coffee and the number of beans used to make the drink, the average amount of caffeine that ends up in your cup of joe will be higher (96mg). The average amount of caffeine in black tea is 47mg per serving.
But if you like your tea strong, as I do, your cup can contain up to 90mg, which will be almost equal to the average amount in a cup of coffee.
You can enjoy more cups during the day
Because the average amount of caffeine in a cup of tea is two times smaller than in coffee, you can enjoy more cups of the drink during the day.
It is recommended by several resources not to exceed 400mg of caffeine per day. That roughly equals four cups of coffee or eight cups of tea.
It might be quite hard to drink more than eight cups of tea so you can drink it without worrying about the negative effects of too much caffeine on your health. It would be two times harder to exceed the recommended dosage if you choose to drink tea.
But please don’t forget to stay hydrated and drink enough water!
Drinking too much can cause bad symptoms, just like coffee
Though tea has a smaller amount of caffeine, drinking more than 3–4 cups can lead to some negative side effects, such as:
Reduced iron absorption
Increased anxiety and stress
Troubles falling asleep and poor sleep quality
Nausea
Heartburn
Headaches
Caffeine dependence
I learned that I could drink 2–3 cups of tea per day without it having a negative effect on how I feel. But this may vary from person to person since a lot of people are more sensitive to caffeine.
It is crucial to listen to your body and cut down your intake if you experience any bad symptoms.
You can also consult your doctor if you’re unsure about the amount of caffeine you can tolerate.
Tea tastes great
When my taste buds were spoiled with the amount of coffee I used to consume, I was not too fond of the taste of tea.
But when tea became my only option, I grew into loving it. Now I’m as excited about my cup of English breakfast as I would be about my almond milk latte. These days I don’t just use tea as a substitute for coffee, but I also crave it every day and drink it as a treat like I used to do with coffee.
Final thought
During my 30 day experiment, I discovered that tea could become a good replacement for coffee.
If you’re struggling to cut down your caffeine intake, drinking tea can be a great way to do it. You can easily cut the amount of caffeine you consume in half by replacing your cup of coffee with a cup of tea. This helped me reduce the negative symptoms that were connected with my coffee intake.
I still love coffee and consider it a pretty important part of my life. Even my bio says I do. I’m not sure if I’m ready to say goodbye to it forever. For now, my goal is to cut down on coffee as much as I can and drink it as a treat a couple of times a month.
But for now, I have a great new alternative. | https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/i-quit-coffee-for-30-days-and-drank-black-tea-instead-11cb21f3dbb8 | ['Alice White'] | 2020-11-04 01:46:10.393000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Diet', 'Productivity', 'Habits', 'Coffee'] | Title Quit Coffee 30 Days Drank Black Tea InsteadContent Tea give lot energy surprised learn energyvise tea great substitute coffee regularly drank coffee could drink tea like water effect coffee detox could feel energy level skyrocketing even finished cup tea Tea leaf contain caffeine 35 coffee bean 11–22 water temperature used brew coffee number bean used make drink average amount caffeine end cup joe higher 96mg average amount caffeine black tea 47mg per serving like tea strong cup contain 90mg almost equal average amount cup coffee enjoy cup day average amount caffeine cup tea two time smaller coffee enjoy cup drink day recommended several resource exceed 400mg caffeine per day roughly equal four cup coffee eight cup tea might quite hard drink eight cup tea drink without worrying negative effect much caffeine health would two time harder exceed recommended dosage choose drink tea please don’t forget stay hydrated drink enough water Drinking much cause bad symptom like coffee Though tea smaller amount caffeine drinking 3–4 cup lead negative side effect Reduced iron absorption Increased anxiety stress Troubles falling asleep poor sleep quality Nausea Heartburn Headaches Caffeine dependence learned could drink 2–3 cup tea per day without negative effect feel may vary person person since lot people sensitive caffeine crucial listen body cut intake experience bad symptom also consult doctor you’re unsure amount caffeine tolerate Tea taste great taste bud spoiled amount coffee used consume fond taste tea tea became option grew loving I’m excited cup English breakfast would almond milk latte day don’t use tea substitute coffee also crave every day drink treat like used coffee Final thought 30 day experiment discovered tea could become good replacement coffee you’re struggling cut caffeine intake drinking tea great way easily cut amount caffeine consume half replacing cup coffee cup tea helped reduce negative symptom connected coffee intake still love coffee consider pretty important part life Even bio say I’m sure I’m ready say goodbye forever goal cut coffee much drink treat couple time month great new alternativeTags Health Diet Productivity Habits Coffee |
1,042 | Introduction To Deep Learning | Introduction To Deep Learning
What Is Deep Learning And How Can I Study It?
This is the first article in this series, and is associated with our Intro to Deep Learning Github repository where you can find practical examples of many deep learning applications and tactics. Read the second article here, the third here, and the fourth here.
Although normally the “prework” comes before the introduction, I’m going to give the 30,000 foot view of the fields of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning at the top. I have found that this context can really help us understand why the prerequisites seem so broad, and help us study just the essentials. Besides, the history and landscape of artificial intelligence is interesting, so lets dive in!
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning
Deep learning is a subset of machine learning. Machine learning is a subset of artificial intelligence. Said another way — all deep learning algorithms are machine learning algorithms, but many machine learning algorithms do not use deep learning. As a Venn Diagram, it looks like this:
Deep learning refers specifically to a class of algorithm called a neural network, and technically only to “deep” neural networks (more on that in a second). This first neural network was invented in 1949, but back then they weren’t very useful. In fact, from the 1970’s to the 2010’s traditional forms of AI would consistently outperform neural network based models.
These non-learning types of AI include rule based algorithms (imagine an extremely complex series of if/else blocks); heuristic based AIs such as A* search; constraint satisfaction algorithms like Arc Consistency; tree search algorithms such as minimax (used by the famous Deep Blue chess AI); and more.
There were two things preventing machine learning, and especially deep learning, from being successful. Lack of availability of large datasets and lack of availability of computational power. In 2018 we have exabytes of data, and anyone with an AWS account and a credit card has access to a distributed supercomputer. Because of the new availability of data and computing power, Machine learning — and especially deep learning — has taken the AI world by storm.
You should know that there are other categories of machine learning such as unsupervised learning and reinforcement learning but for the rest of this article, I will be talking about a subset of machine learning called supervised learning.
Supervised learning algorithms work by forcing the machine to repeatedly make predictions. Specifically, we ask it to make predictions about data that we (the humans) already know the correct answer for. This is called “labeled data” — the label is whatever we want the machine to predict.
Here’s an example: let’s say we wanted to build an algorithm to predict if someone will default on their mortgage. We would need a bunch of examples of people who did and did not default on their mortgages. We will take the relevant data about these people; feed them into the machine learning algorithm; ask it to make a prediction about each person; and after it guesses we tell the machine what the right answer actually was. Based on how right or wrong it was the machine learning algorithm changes how it makes predictions.
We repeat this process many many times, and through the miracle of mathematics, our machine’s predictions get better. The predictions get better relatively slowly though, which is why we need so much data to train these algorithms.
Machine learning algorithms such as linear regression, support vector machines, and decision trees all “learn” in different ways, but fundamentally they all apply this same process: make a prediction, receive a correction, and adjust the prediction mechanism based on the correction. At a high level, it’s quite similar to how a human learns.
Recall that deep learning is a subset of machine learning which focuses on a specific category of machine learning algorithms called neural networks. Neural networks were originally inspired by the way human brains work — individual “neurons” receive “signals” from other neurons and in turn send “signals” to other “neurons”. Each neuron transforms the incoming “signals” in some way, and eventually an output signal is produced. If everything went well that signal represents a correct prediction!
This is a helpful mental model, but computers are not biological brains. They do not have neurons, or synapses, or any of the other biological mechanisms that make brains work. Because the biological model breaks down, researchers and scientists instead use graph theory to model neural networks — instead of describing neural networks as “artificial brains”, they describe them as complex graphs with powerful properties.
Viewed through the lens of graph theory a neural network is a series of layers of connected nodes; each node represents a “neuron” and each connection represents a “synapse”.
Different kinds of nets have different kinds of connections. The simplest form of deep learning is a deep neural network. A deep neural network is a graph with a series of fully connected layers. Every node in a particular layer has an edge to every node in the next layer; each of these edges is given a different weight. The whole series of layers is the “brain”. It turns out, if the weights on all these edges are set just right these graphs can do some incredible “thinking”.
Ultimately, the Deep Learning Course will be about how to construct different versions of these graphs; tune the connection weights until the system works; and try to make sure our machine does what we think it’s doing. The mechanics that make Deep Learning work, such as gradient descent and backpropagation, combine a lot of ideas from different mathematical disciplines. In order to really understand neural networks we need some math background.
Background Knowledge — A Little Bit Of Everything
Given how easy to use libraries like PyTorch and TensorFlow are, it’s really tempting to say, “you don’t need the math that much.” But after doing the required reading for the two classes, I’m glad I have some previous math experience. A subset of topics from linear algebra, calculus, probability, statistics, and graph theory have already come up.
Getting this knowledge at university would entail taking roughly 5 courses. Calculus 1, 2 and 3; linear algebra; and computer science 101. Luckily, you don’t need each of those fields in their entirety. Based on what I’ve seen so far, this is what I would recommend studying if you want to get into neural networks yourself:
From linear algebra, you need to know the dot product, matrix multiplication (especially the rules for multiplying matrices with different sizes), and transposes. You don’t have to be able to do these things quickly by hand, but you should be comfortable enough to do small examples on a whiteboard or paper. You should also feel comfortable working with “multidimensional spaces” — deep learning uses a lot of many dimensional vectors.
I love 3Blue1Brown’s Essence of Linear Algebra for a refresher or an introduction into linear algebra. Additionally, compute a few dot products and matrix multiplications by hand (with small vector/matrix sizes). Although we use graph theory to model neural networks these graphs are represented in the computer by matrices and vectors for efficiency reasons. You should be comfortable both thinking about and programming with vectors and matrices.
From calculus you need to know the derivative, and you ideally should know it pretty well. Neural networks involve simple derivatives, the chain rule, partial derivatives, and the gradient. The derivative is used by neural nets to solve optimization problems, so you should understand how the derivative can be used to find the “direction of greatest increase”. A good intuition is probably enough, but if you solve a couple simple optimization problems using the derivative, you’ll be happy you did. 3Blue1Brown also has an Essence of Calculus series, which is lovely as a more holistic review of calculus.
Gradient descent and backpropagation both make heavy use of derivatives to fine tune the networks during training. You don’t have to know how to solve big complex derivatives with compounding chain and product rules, but having a feel for partial derivatives with simple equations helps a lot.
From probability and statistics, you should know about common distributions, the idea of metrics, accuracy vs precision, and hypothesis testing. By far the most common applications of neural networks are to make predictions or judgements of some kind. Is this a picture of a dog? Will it rain tomorrow? Should I show Tyler this advertisement, or that one? Statistics and probability will help us assess the accuracy and usefulness of these systems.
It’s worth noting that the statistics appear more on the applied side; the graph theory, calculus, and linear algebra all appear on the implementation side. I think it’s best to understand both, but if you’re only going to be using a library like TensorFlow and are not interested in implementing these algorithms yourself — it might be wise to focus on the statistics more than the calculus & linear algebra.
Finally, the graph theory. Honestly, if you can define the terms “vertex”, “edge” and “edge weight” you’ve probably got enough graph theory under your belt. Even this “Gentle Introduction” has more information than you need.
In the next article in this series I’ll be examining Deep Neural Networks and how they are constructed. See you then!
Part 2: Deep Neural Networks as Computational Graphs
Part 3: Classifying MNIST Digits With Different Neural Network Architectures | https://medium.com/tebs-lab/introduction-to-deep-learning-a46e92cb0022 | ['Tyler Elliot Bettilyon'] | 2020-10-13 22:39:37.793000+00:00 | ['Deep Learning', 'Machine Learning', 'Technology', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'AI'] | Title Introduction Deep LearningContent Introduction Deep Learning Deep Learning Study first article series associated Intro Deep Learning Github repository find practical example many deep learning application tactic Read second article third fourth Although normally “prework” come introduction I’m going give 30000 foot view field artificial intelligence machine learning deep learning top found context really help u understand prerequisite seem broad help u study essential Besides history landscape artificial intelligence interesting let dive Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning Deep Learning Deep learning subset machine learning Machine learning subset artificial intelligence Said another way — deep learning algorithm machine learning algorithm many machine learning algorithm use deep learning Venn Diagram look like Deep learning refers specifically class algorithm called neural network technically “deep” neural network second first neural network invented 1949 back weren’t useful fact 1970’s 2010’s traditional form AI would consistently outperform neural network based model nonlearning type AI include rule based algorithm imagine extremely complex series ifelse block heuristic based AIs search constraint satisfaction algorithm like Arc Consistency tree search algorithm minimax used famous Deep Blue chess AI two thing preventing machine learning especially deep learning successful Lack availability large datasets lack availability computational power 2018 exabyte data anyone AWS account credit card access distributed supercomputer new availability data computing power Machine learning — especially deep learning — taken AI world storm know category machine learning unsupervised learning reinforcement learning rest article talking subset machine learning called supervised learning Supervised learning algorithm work forcing machine repeatedly make prediction Specifically ask make prediction data human already know correct answer called “labeled data” — label whatever want machine predict Here’s example let’s say wanted build algorithm predict someone default mortgage would need bunch example people default mortgage take relevant data people feed machine learning algorithm ask make prediction person guess tell machine right answer actually Based right wrong machine learning algorithm change make prediction repeat process many many time miracle mathematics machine’s prediction get better prediction get better relatively slowly though need much data train algorithm Machine learning algorithm linear regression support vector machine decision tree “learn” different way fundamentally apply process make prediction receive correction adjust prediction mechanism based correction high level it’s quite similar human learns Recall deep learning subset machine learning focus specific category machine learning algorithm called neural network Neural network originally inspired way human brain work — individual “neurons” receive “signals” neuron turn send “signals” “neurons” neuron transforms incoming “signals” way eventually output signal produced everything went well signal represents correct prediction helpful mental model computer biological brain neuron synapsis biological mechanism make brain work biological model break researcher scientist instead use graph theory model neural network — instead describing neural network “artificial brains” describe complex graph powerful property Viewed lens graph theory neural network series layer connected node node represents “neuron” connection represents “synapse” Different kind net different kind connection simplest form deep learning deep neural network deep neural network graph series fully connected layer Every node particular layer edge every node next layer edge given different weight whole series layer “brain” turn weight edge set right graph incredible “thinking” Ultimately Deep Learning Course construct different version graph tune connection weight system work try make sure machine think it’s mechanic make Deep Learning work gradient descent backpropagation combine lot idea different mathematical discipline order really understand neural network need math background Background Knowledge — Little Bit Everything Given easy use library like PyTorch TensorFlow it’s really tempting say “you don’t need math much” required reading two class I’m glad previous math experience subset topic linear algebra calculus probability statistic graph theory already come Getting knowledge university would entail taking roughly 5 course Calculus 1 2 3 linear algebra computer science 101 Luckily don’t need field entirety Based I’ve seen far would recommend studying want get neural network linear algebra need know dot product matrix multiplication especially rule multiplying matrix different size transpose don’t able thing quickly hand comfortable enough small example whiteboard paper also feel comfortable working “multidimensional spaces” — deep learning us lot many dimensional vector love 3Blue1Brown’s Essence Linear Algebra refresher introduction linear algebra Additionally compute dot product matrix multiplication hand small vectormatrix size Although use graph theory model neural network graph represented computer matrix vector efficiency reason comfortable thinking programming vector matrix calculus need know derivative ideally know pretty well Neural network involve simple derivative chain rule partial derivative gradient derivative used neural net solve optimization problem understand derivative used find “direction greatest increase” good intuition probably enough solve couple simple optimization problem using derivative you’ll happy 3Blue1Brown also Essence Calculus series lovely holistic review calculus Gradient descent backpropagation make heavy use derivative fine tune network training don’t know solve big complex derivative compounding chain product rule feel partial derivative simple equation help lot probability statistic know common distribution idea metric accuracy v precision hypothesis testing far common application neural network make prediction judgement kind picture dog rain tomorrow show Tyler advertisement one Statistics probability help u ass accuracy usefulness system It’s worth noting statistic appear applied side graph theory calculus linear algebra appear implementation side think it’s best understand you’re going using library like TensorFlow interested implementing algorithm — might wise focus statistic calculus linear algebra Finally graph theory Honestly define term “vertex” “edge” “edge weight” you’ve probably got enough graph theory belt Even “Gentle Introduction” information need next article series I’ll examining Deep Neural Networks constructed See Part 2 Deep Neural Networks Computational Graphs Part 3 Classifying MNIST Digits Different Neural Network ArchitecturesTags Deep Learning Machine Learning Technology Artificial Intelligence AI |
1,043 | How Cohesion And Coupling Correlate | As I was finishing my blog post about defining service boundaries, I had a very strong feeling that there must be some abstract concept of what I was trying to explain on concrete examples…
Of course, there is! It’s the concept of cohesion and coupling I will discuss in this post.
In the rain (cut) by Franz Marc
Let’s start with little definitions:
Cohesion: the degree to which the elements inside a module belong together.
Coupling: the degree of interdependence between software modules.
High cohesion and loose coupling are the most important principles in software engineering. They manifest themselves everywhere from code to team organization.
Cohesion and coupling are tightly related. Why are they so important? Both help us reduce complexity, the true fun killer of software development.
To a lot of people, sadly, the concepts sound too academic and are therefore often poorly understood.
What is cohesion, anyway?
Tough question. The definition is pretty broad and there are several interpretations out there. Not all of them are necessarily wrong, the valid question is: which one is the most beneficial? I use the following definition as I believe it always leads to cohesive components with tight coupling inside and loose coupling outside, which is exactly what we want:
The degree of cohesion of a component by a particular key equals the number of elements cohesive by the key within the component divided by the sum of the total number of elements cohesive by the key in the whole system and the number of elements not cohesive by the key inside the component.
This long definition can be expressed as a simple formula:
The cohesion formula
Where c stands for the component, k stands for the key, and N stands for the number of elements. Obviously, the maximal cohesion of a component is equal to one. This is what we strive for.
I want to emphasize that cohesion doesn’t depend on the number of connections between elements, that’s what coupling is all about. Cohesion is rather about belonging together. However, cohesive components do tend to have a higher degree of coupling within the component, but that’s just a symptom of high cohesion, not the cause.
The definition above might look complicated, but it’s rather quite easy. Let’s illustrate it with some examples. We measure the degree of cohesion by the violet key for the components bordered with a dashed line in the following systems:
Example measurements of cohesion
Functionality (business) is always the right key to use. Violet and blue can stand for sales and accounting, a product and an invoice, or user registration and ordering.
Notice that my definition may be a bit oversimplified as the boundaries are not always as solid and obvious. This is why business experts must be involved.
Myth busted
Cohesion and coupling are almost always discussed together as they tightly correlate. The relation is sometimes a source of confusion as well, although its understanding is very useful to gain the most for the software system under development.
A typical myth, I often hear people believe in, puts cohesion and coupling in opposition. Practically, they say that “the higher cohesion the tighter coupling”. I’ll show you how wrong this statement is.
This is usually illustrated with an example: Consider the highest possible cohesion of the system where every module is represented by a single line of code (or a single function, an object with a single method, etc.). Such a degree of cohesion will inevitably increase the coupling between modules to the maximum.
As the conclusion is true, there is a small problem in the prerequisite. To find it out, we have to recall the definition of cohesion once again. It talks about belonging together, the strength of relationship of elements, and a common purpose.
What does it mean in practice? In fact, splitting elements that belong together makes cohesion actually lower. So, in the example above, the system really doesn’t have the highest possible cohesion, in the opposite: breaking modules into the smallest possible elements will separate related concepts and will lead to a pretty low cohesion.
The moral here is: Cohesion is not something you can create automatically. Cohesion is discovered in a particular context. That’s why it is so hard for cohesion to be reliably measured. We will discuss this in detail later, stay tuned.
Cohesion and coupling
Let me show you some pictures. In each figure below, there are the very same elements with the very same dependencies. Those are further differently organized. Related domain concepts are represented with the same color:
Low cohesion, tight coupling
Elements in the first picture have no explicit boundaries, it’s an example of so-called coincidental cohesion. Such architecture is known as the Big Ball of Mud or the God Object (in OOP code).
High cohesion, tight coupling
The second picture shows a system with three modules and a lot of dependencies between them. Although the modules are highly cohesive, they are cohesive by the wrong key. This happens when code is organized by other than a domain relationship. A typical example is a logical organization of code in the Layered Architecture: just image modules such as controllers, repositories, services, etc. Have you seen these already somewhere? Hell yeah!
High cohesion, loose coupling
The system in the third picture shows the ideal case: correctly organized modules leading to high cohesion and loose coupling. The right key for organization is functionality, in other words, a business domain. The domain defines abstractions with a stable purpose the cohesion is driven upon. By the way, that’s the main idea of the Domain-Driven Design.
Focus on cohesion, not coupling
We exhausted all variants except one: a system with low cohesion and loose coupling. Is it even possible to have such an architecture? Unfortunately, it is, and it’s actually pretty common.
Systems with low cohesion and loose coupling are results of incorrect understanding of the domain and applying purely technical approaches to decouple the modules in an arbitrary way. Interfaces everywhere with no abstraction representing a domain purpose are typical for systems built in this way.
Misuse of interfaces won’t actually reduce coupling anyway, it just moves it into the runtime.
Striving for loose coupling at any cost can (and will) harm cohesion. As loose coupling is driven by high cohesion, we should strive for high cohesion in the first place.
Level of abstraction
Yes, high cohesion doesn’t only make the system easy to understand and change, it also reduces the level of coupling.
How is this even possible? Common sense says that the dependencies don’t disappear simply by reorganizing elements. While this is true for the overall system dependencies, high cohesion does reduce dependencies on a higher level of abstraction.
That is, although the absolute amount of dependencies remains the same, the coupling is tackled on different levels of abstraction.
“The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.” ~ Aristotle
Indeed, we can ignore the interdependencies inside modules getting so a simplified big picture with only three loosely coupled elements:
Coupling on the higher level of abstraction is dramatically reduced
Neat. As we see, high cohesion actually results in loose coupling!
Talk to me in code!
Pictures are nice, but as software developers, we trust only code, don’t we? Alright, I have some code for you. Consider a simple class for a Book Store (in JavaScript, whatever):
class BookStore {
add(book) { … }
remove(book) { … }
sale(book) { … }
receiptFor(book) { … }
}
This class does literally everything. Its cohesion is pretty low and all clients, whatever their needs are, will be coupled to it. It’s an example of a God Object. We can do better:
class Inventory {
add(book) { … }
remove(book) { … }
}
class Sales {
sale(book) { … }
receiptFor(book) { … }
}
The Inventory class looks fine, but what about Sales ? Must sales and accounting really be so tightly related? Maybe it’d be better to split the functionalities into more cohesive classes:
class Sales {
sale(book) { … }
}
class Accounting {
receiptFor(book) { … }
}
But what if our Book Store is just a small family business with one clerk doing sales together with accounting on one old cash desk? We just hit the nail on the head: we can’t really know what the right cohesion key is unless we know the domain really well. True cohesion is defined by the clients. High cohesion is achieved when there’s no way to split the module any further while still satisfying the client’s needs. By the way, this is exactly what the Single Responsibility Principle teaches us.
Conclusion
High cohesion and loose coupling are the main design drivers towards simple system architecture, that is easy to understand, change, and maintain. High cohesion and loose coupling help us reduce accidental complexity and create modules with well-defined boundaries.
Coupling is about connections, cohesion is about belonging together.
Cohesion can’t be created automatically, instead it’s discovered in a context.
Cohesion is defined by the clients.
True cohesion is domain-driven.
High cohesion results in loose coupling.
High cohesion is to die for. It enables all others, loose coupling included. | https://ttulka.medium.com/how-cohesion-and-coupling-correlate-dd1716ca04fa | ['Tomas Tulka'] | 2020-12-09 06:57:43.816000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Software Development', 'Design Patterns', 'Software Engineering', 'Software Architecture'] | Title Cohesion Coupling CorrelateContent finishing blog post defining service boundary strong feeling must abstract concept trying explain concrete examples… course It’s concept cohesion coupling discus post rain cut Franz Marc Let’s start little definition Cohesion degree element inside module belong together Coupling degree interdependence software module High cohesion loose coupling important principle software engineering manifest everywhere code team organization Cohesion coupling tightly related important help u reduce complexity true fun killer software development lot people sadly concept sound academic therefore often poorly understood cohesion anyway Tough question definition pretty broad several interpretation necessarily wrong valid question one beneficial use following definition believe always lead cohesive component tight coupling inside loose coupling outside exactly want degree cohesion component particular key equal number element cohesive key within component divided sum total number element cohesive key whole system number element cohesive key inside component long definition expressed simple formula cohesion formula c stand component k stand key N stand number element Obviously maximal cohesion component equal one strive want emphasize cohesion doesn’t depend number connection element that’s coupling Cohesion rather belonging together However cohesive component tend higher degree coupling within component that’s symptom high cohesion cause definition might look complicated it’s rather quite easy Let’s illustrate example measure degree cohesion violet key component bordered dashed line following system Example measurement cohesion Functionality business always right key use Violet blue stand sale accounting product invoice user registration ordering Notice definition may bit oversimplified boundary always solid obvious business expert must involved Myth busted Cohesion coupling almost always discussed together tightly correlate relation sometimes source confusion well although understanding useful gain software system development typical myth often hear people believe put cohesion coupling opposition Practically say “the higher cohesion tighter coupling” I’ll show wrong statement usually illustrated example Consider highest possible cohesion system every module represented single line code single function object single method etc degree cohesion inevitably increase coupling module maximum conclusion true small problem prerequisite find recall definition cohesion talk belonging together strength relationship element common purpose mean practice fact splitting element belong together make cohesion actually lower example system really doesn’t highest possible cohesion opposite breaking module smallest possible element separate related concept lead pretty low cohesion moral Cohesion something create automatically Cohesion discovered particular context That’s hard cohesion reliably measured discus detail later stay tuned Cohesion coupling Let show picture figure element dependency differently organized Related domain concept represented color Low cohesion tight coupling Elements first picture explicit boundary it’s example socalled coincidental cohesion architecture known Big Ball Mud God Object OOP code High cohesion tight coupling second picture show system three module lot dependency Although module highly cohesive cohesive wrong key happens code organized domain relationship typical example logical organization code Layered Architecture image module controller repository service etc seen already somewhere Hell yeah High cohesion loose coupling system third picture show ideal case correctly organized module leading high cohesion loose coupling right key organization functionality word business domain domain defines abstraction stable purpose cohesion driven upon way that’s main idea DomainDriven Design Focus cohesion coupling exhausted variant except one system low cohesion loose coupling even possible architecture Unfortunately it’s actually pretty common Systems low cohesion loose coupling result incorrect understanding domain applying purely technical approach decouple module arbitrary way Interfaces everywhere abstraction representing domain purpose typical system built way Misuse interface won’t actually reduce coupling anyway move runtime Striving loose coupling cost harm cohesion loose coupling driven high cohesion strive high cohesion first place Level abstraction Yes high cohesion doesn’t make system easy understand change also reduces level coupling even possible Common sense say dependency don’t disappear simply reorganizing element true overall system dependency high cohesion reduce dependency higher level abstraction although absolute amount dependency remains coupling tackled different level abstraction “The whole greater sum parts” Aristotle Indeed ignore interdependency inside module getting simplified big picture three loosely coupled element Coupling higher level abstraction dramatically reduced Neat see high cohesion actually result loose coupling Talk code Pictures nice software developer trust code don’t Alright code Consider simple class Book Store JavaScript whatever class BookStore addbook … removebook … salebook … receiptForbook … class literally everything cohesion pretty low client whatever need coupled It’s example God Object better class Inventory addbook … removebook … class Sales salebook … receiptForbook … Inventory class look fine Sales Must sale accounting really tightly related Maybe it’d better split functionality cohesive class class Sales salebook … class Accounting receiptForbook … Book Store small family business one clerk sale together accounting one old cash desk hit nail head can’t really know right cohesion key unless know domain really well True cohesion defined client High cohesion achieved there’s way split module still satisfying client’s need way exactly Single Responsibility Principle teach u Conclusion High cohesion loose coupling main design driver towards simple system architecture easy understand change maintain High cohesion loose coupling help u reduce accidental complexity create module welldefined boundary Coupling connection cohesion belonging together Cohesion can’t created automatically instead it’s discovered context Cohesion defined client True cohesion domaindriven High cohesion result loose coupling High cohesion die enables others loose coupling includedTags Programming Software Development Design Patterns Software Engineering Software Architecture |
1,044 | Headline Analyzers are use full | Sup Drake!
7 Reasons All The Greatest Writers in The History of The World Aren’t Afraid to Always Choose Powerful Headlines to Alert John Cena’s Eyes Attention
You don’t want to read this, but you will
Courtesy WWE All Rights Reserved
On Facebook there was a question posted about headline analyzers. The true purpose was attracting readers because they were promoting a story they wrote about headline analyzers. I gave my opinion anyways because I’m a writer and it was a prompt.
I find headline generators more useful than analyzers. I can spot a headline created with with help of analyzer and usually stay away. 7 reasons all the greatest writers in the history of the world always use powerful headlines to capture Bon Jovi’s full attention would probably get a high score but… Heh. I got an idea. Brb. — Hogan Torah
Welcome to my idea.
The quest for the perfect headline
I free — styled the headline “7 reasons all the greatest writers in the history of the world always use powerful headlines to capture Bon Jovi’s full attention” off the top of my head. I knew I was above a 70 but it would need a little fine tuning if I wanted to hit the hundred. | https://medium.com/wreader/7-reasons-all-the-greatest-writers-in-the-history-of-the-world-arent-afraid-to-always-choose-ec9b39804420 | ['Hogan Torah'] | 2020-12-02 02:26:28.639000+00:00 | ['Headlines', 'AI', 'Writing', 'Success', 'Machine Learning'] | Title Headline Analyzers use fullContent Sup Drake 7 Reasons Greatest Writers History World Aren’t Afraid Always Choose Powerful Headlines Alert John Cena’s Eyes Attention don’t want read Courtesy WWE Rights Reserved Facebook question posted headline analyzer true purpose attracting reader promoting story wrote headline analyzer gave opinion anyways I’m writer prompt find headline generator useful analyzer spot headline created help analyzer usually stay away 7 reason greatest writer history world always use powerful headline capture Bon Jovi’s full attention would probably get high score but… Heh got idea Brb — Hogan Torah Welcome idea quest perfect headline free — styled headline “7 reason greatest writer history world always use powerful headline capture Bon Jovi’s full attention” top head knew 70 would need little fine tuning wanted hit hundredTags Headlines AI Writing Success Machine Learning |
1,045 | Our Shared Vision of the Future | It’s time to start being honest with ourselves. Blockchains are confusing, and kind of scary. They’re not easy to understand. People use words like “trustless” and “consensus” and “incentive structure” when describing them. Like what does that even mean?
Photo by Andreas P. on Unsplash
Well, society is evolving. Right now, we’re going through a rebirth of trust and values.
We started out trusting each other using facial expressions, body language, and eventually spoken language. Trust was based on social reputation.
As technology continued to grow, trust became “institutionalized” through the rise of centralized entities, like Facebook, Google, or the Federal Reserve. This was the natural evolution.
This new global, institutionalized trust model allowed strangers all over the world to communicate, share knowledge, participate in markets, and do business. That is, so long as we trusted the institutions in the middle to properly handle our data and money.
Things are good until they aren’t. But the shift is happening. I can sense it. Can you?
Public blockchain systems, beginning with Bitcoin, use our common interest — money — to incentivize immutability and finality of cryptographically-pure data.
That’s at the core of what’s happening. This a beautiful base on which to build new trust models. In fact, the builders among us are doing just that: hard at work designing, prototyping, and creating new businesses and industries based on a provably better way to participate in self-sovereign digital activities.
And with these new systems, the world is figuring out what it means to continue participating in a global digital economy like we’re used to, but without that traditional centralized institutional elephant in the room that we’re currently begrudgingly using to power our digital lives and businesses.
Like all good movements, this one happens from the bottom -> up. These new systems have been important since their ideas began to form over a decade ago. But they only truly matter once integrating with them is the norm. When the fabric of secured blockchain systems underpin our digital activities, considering the alternative will be ludicrous.
It’s time for us, as individuals, as businesses, as a community, as a species, to demand better for ourselves. We’re entrenched in our current ways, but don’t have to stay here. Let’s walk down this path together. | https://medium.com/decentlabs/our-shared-vision-of-the-future-d518791f1a26 | ['Adam Gall'] | 2018-12-18 17:20:03.190000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Future', 'Trust', 'Evolution', 'Bitcoin'] | Title Shared Vision FutureContent It’s time start honest Blockchains confusing kind scary They’re easy understand People use word like “trustless” “consensus” “incentive structure” describing Like even mean Photo Andreas P Unsplash Well society evolving Right we’re going rebirth trust value started trusting using facial expression body language eventually spoken language Trust based social reputation technology continued grow trust became “institutionalized” rise centralized entity like Facebook Google Federal Reserve natural evolution new global institutionalized trust model allowed stranger world communicate share knowledge participate market business long trusted institution middle properly handle data money Things good aren’t shift happening sense Public blockchain system beginning Bitcoin use common interest — money — incentivize immutability finality cryptographicallypure data That’s core what’s happening beautiful base build new trust model fact builder among u hard work designing prototyping creating new business industry based provably better way participate selfsovereign digital activity new system world figuring mean continue participating global digital economy like we’re used without traditional centralized institutional elephant room we’re currently begrudgingly using power digital life business Like good movement one happens bottom new system important since idea began form decade ago truly matter integrating norm fabric secured blockchain system underpin digital activity considering alternative ludicrous It’s time u individual business community specie demand better We’re entrenched current way don’t stay Let’s walk path togetherTags Blockchain Future Trust Evolution Bitcoin |
1,046 | Public Relations: Using the Media as a Third-Party to Influence Your Audience | What are Public Relations?
Public relations (PR) is the manages the release and spread of publicity from a firm or individual to the public to influence their opinions, attitudes or behaviours. PR aims to build and maintain relationships with stakeholders and those who influence the target audience, to enhance the public reputation.
Public relations professionals are storytellers and image shapers who create a positive narrative for their clients by working closely with journalists and other media. This allows them to manage and generate positive publicity for their clients to enhance their reputations.
Public relations are controlled internally as a strategy, but publicity is controlled and distributed externally.
“(Public Relations) helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance and cooperation between an organisation and its publics; involves the management of problems and issues; helps management keep abreast of and effectively utilise change.” (Harlow, 1976)
PR has been a profession since the dawn of the 20th century, but the roots of the idea of widely influencing public opinion and action can be found and during the movement to abolish slavery in England 100 years before that.
Because of these beginnings, one of the underlying assumptions of PR is that it should be socially responsible and go beyond organisational goals to play a constructive role in society.
Depending on the situation, PR will have a particular tone. For example, it could be focused on showing empathy and understanding, storytelling and creativity, or more persuasive messaging.
Messages are tailored to the relevant target audiences.
PR applies to all organisations from small businesses to corporations to governments or activists. They could be from the private, public or third sector. The third sector is an umbrella term for voluntary and community organisations such as social enterprises.
Some of the tools used for PR are:
Owned media (e.g. website)
Earned media (e.g. newspapers)
Shared media (e.g. social networks)
Sponsorships and fundraising
Face-to-face
Photography
Moving images (video)
Print (e.g. newsletters)
Events (e.g. conferences)
Public Speaking | https://medium.com/the-innovation/public-relations-using-the-media-as-a-third-party-to-influence-your-audience-3a9bf00281fa | ['Daniel Hopper'] | 2020-11-11 19:42:09.848000+00:00 | ['Public Relations', 'Strategy', 'Business', 'Startup', 'Marketing'] | Title Public Relations Using Media ThirdParty Influence AudienceContent Public Relations Public relation PR manages release spread publicity firm individual public influence opinion attitude behaviour PR aim build maintain relationship stakeholder influence target audience enhance public reputation Public relation professional storyteller image shaper create positive narrative client working closely journalist medium allows manage generate positive publicity client enhance reputation Public relation controlled internally strategy publicity controlled distributed externally “Public Relations help establish maintain mutual line communication understanding acceptance cooperation organisation public involves management problem issue help management keep abreast effectively utilise change” Harlow 1976 PR profession since dawn 20th century root idea widely influencing public opinion action found movement abolish slavery England 100 year beginning one underlying assumption PR socially responsible go beyond organisational goal play constructive role society Depending situation PR particular tone example could focused showing empathy understanding storytelling creativity persuasive messaging Messages tailored relevant target audience PR applies organisation small business corporation government activist could private public third sector third sector umbrella term voluntary community organisation social enterprise tool used PR Owned medium eg website Earned medium eg newspaper Shared medium eg social network Sponsorships fundraising Facetoface Photography Moving image video Print eg newsletter Events eg conference Public SpeakingTags Public Relations Strategy Business Startup Marketing |
1,047 | My Ego Sabotaged My Writing | Illustration by Fresh Idea
Full manuscript in two months. That was the goal. I was on vacation in Mexico, no less, when I checked my email and saw the opportunity. It was mid-June and the conference was happening near the end of August. Agents would be there, and I told myself that nothing was going to stop me from getting this done, even though I’d never written a manuscript in less than a year.
But I was determined. I put myself on a rigorous schedule:
Write from 5:00 am to 8:30 am.
Do freelance work from 9–5 (I still needed to make money)
Write again from 7:00 pm — 10:00 pm or whenever my brain shut down.
I was literally writing all day with only a short break. On many of those days, I’d be eating while I’m typing, I’d be in the bathroom ruminating about what I’d written and how to make it better, my showers were dedicated to new ideas for the next chapter. This went on for two months.
I made the deadline, and to be honest, I was proud of myself. But as I started pitching the manuscript, the reactions weren’t what I expected.
“The concept of the story is good but the writing is not what I expected.” “It’s just not all the way thought out.” “I like it but don’t love it.” “You have something here, but it’s not fully baked.”
My disappointment felt physical. With each negative response, my body convulsed. Part of it was trying to cope with the rejection, but the other half was knowing that the work I was showing wasn’t my best. Not yet. I needed to spend more time with it, to live with the characters a little bit longer so I better understood their motivations. I knew this. I knew this the whole time.
Fighting Urgency
There’s an urgency we feel as writers. It’s born from the reality that nothing we do is guaranteed to be heard much less appreciated or revered. This causes us to pounce on any opportunity that may increase the chance that our writing can transcend our screens and find its way to an audience. And if it takes writing 60,000 words in two months, so be it.
But consider the repercussions of this urgency. First, the mental anguish caused by my writing schedule. I was sitting in front of a laptop for 12–13 hours a day. I’m a big proponent of giving creativity some space to breathe and there was no space over that two-month time span. What filled that space was pressure, all of it self-inflicted. And while a little bit of pressure keeps you sharp, the balance wasn’t right and it wore on me daily. Instead of waking up excited to write, I woke up feeling like every morning was the Superbowl and I had to win.
The other repercussion of this urgency was delusion. Because of the pace of my writing, I never gave myself time to reflect on whether or not it was actually good. Whatever idea came to my mind made its way to the page. If you’re a writer, you’d have to be delusional to think that all of your ideas are good ideas. And they weren’t. Instead, the manuscript was more like a sketch that hadn’t been painted. All of the colours were missing.
And then there was me. After my initial pride in having completed a manuscript in record time, I was left to face the torment of my own doing. The disappointment came even before the rejection. I knew what I had created wasn’t done with the passion, thoughtfulness and technique that’s required of effective storytelling. More than anything, that was the most difficult part to accept. That I could’ve done better.
What I should’ve done
I let the thought of “making it” dictate my creative process. I saw an opportunity to prove that all these years of writing, all the rejection and the disappointment actually meant something.
My ego needed to be satieted. It was tired of feeling empty. I was tired of feeling invisible. Someone needed to tell me I was great.
Even though this had nothing to do with me and everything to do with my writing, I didn’t make that distinction. Who I am and the words I put together exist in concert. One can’t be criticized without the other feeling its sting. That concept is another article in itself.
What I should’ve reminded myself was that the work comes first. Before any acknowledgement, before any luck, before any peek at the kind of success I expect of myself, the work must be done. There is no skipping steps, no jumping ahead of the line if the work hasn’t been properly prepared to match the opportunity. I learned that the hard way.
When I tucked my ego back inside, I realized how much work had to be done. I needed to get better, to push myself to become a better writer and that would take time and an investment into my education. With my ego no longer leading the way, those decisions became clear. The path wasn’t paved with stone but I could see the way.
Despite all of this, I‘m thankful for the experience. It lead me to a better understanding of what I’m capable of as a writer. It also made me realize how important it is to take my time through the process. I’m not one of those writers who can bang out 50,000 words in a month and have it be any good, and that’s OK. I know what it takes for me to be my best and I’ll keep doing that till I reach my goals. | https://medium.com/cry-mag/my-ego-sabotaged-my-writing-b5abee61ac76 | ['Kern Carter'] | 2020-12-15 13:49:30.516000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Creative Writing', 'Publishing', 'Ego', 'Writing'] | Title Ego Sabotaged WritingContent Illustration Fresh Idea Full manuscript two month goal vacation Mexico le checked email saw opportunity midJune conference happening near end August Agents would told nothing going stop getting done even though I’d never written manuscript le year determined put rigorous schedule Write 500 830 freelance work 9–5 still needed make money Write 700 pm — 1000 pm whenever brain shut literally writing day short break many day I’d eating I’m typing I’d bathroom ruminating I’d written make better shower dedicated new idea next chapter went two month made deadline honest proud started pitching manuscript reaction weren’t expected “The concept story good writing expected” “It’s way thought out” “I like don’t love it” “You something it’s fully baked” disappointment felt physical negative response body convulsed Part trying cope rejection half knowing work showing wasn’t best yet needed spend time live character little bit longer better understood motivation knew knew whole time Fighting Urgency There’s urgency feel writer It’s born reality nothing guaranteed heard much le appreciated revered cause u pounce opportunity may increase chance writing transcend screen find way audience take writing 60000 word two month consider repercussion urgency First mental anguish caused writing schedule sitting front laptop 12–13 hour day I’m big proponent giving creativity space breathe space twomonth time span filled space pressure selfinflicted little bit pressure keep sharp balance wasn’t right wore daily Instead waking excited write woke feeling like every morning Superbowl win repercussion urgency delusion pace writing never gave time reflect whether actually good Whatever idea came mind made way page you’re writer you’d delusional think idea good idea weren’t Instead manuscript like sketch hadn’t painted colour missing initial pride completed manuscript record time left face torment disappointment came even rejection knew created wasn’t done passion thoughtfulness technique that’s required effective storytelling anything difficult part accept could’ve done better should’ve done let thought “making it” dictate creative process saw opportunity prove year writing rejection disappointment actually meant something ego needed satieted tired feeling empty tired feeling invisible Someone needed tell great Even though nothing everything writing didn’t make distinction word put together exist concert One can’t criticized without feeling sting concept another article should’ve reminded work come first acknowledgement luck peek kind success expect work must done skipping step jumping ahead line work hasn’t properly prepared match opportunity learned hard way tucked ego back inside realized much work done needed get better push become better writer would take time investment education ego longer leading way decision became clear path wasn’t paved stone could see way Despite I‘m thankful experience lead better understanding I’m capable writer also made realize important take time process I’m one writer bang 50000 word month good that’s OK know take best I’ll keep till reach goalsTags Creativity Creative Writing Publishing Ego Writing |
1,048 | New Writers: Submission Guidelines | New Writers: Submission Guidelines
Write for Inspired Writer
Photo by Corinne Kutz on Unsplash
Are you an emerging writer with a story to share? You’re in the right place!
Inspired Writer aims to bring together experienced and emerging writers to share their knowledge and stories. We want to support new writers, like you, to share your story, develop your writing skills, and kick-start you career.
How to Apply to Be a Writer
Remember to become a follower of Inspired Writer and join our newsletter to keep up with the best stories, opportunities and mentoring, and writing tips.
Read all the guidelines carefully before submitting.
If we accept you as a writer, you can then submit your story directly to Inspired Writer.
*Please Note: We ONLY accept unpublished drafts from new writers. Please only submit one story at a time. | https://medium.com/inspired-writer/new-writers-submission-guidelines-59ace27d9e4a | ['Kelly Eden'] | 2020-10-03 21:11:05.173000+00:00 | ['Write For Us', 'Writing', 'Submission Guidelines', 'Writing Tips', 'Creativity'] | Title New Writers Submission GuidelinesContent New Writers Submission Guidelines Write Inspired Writer Photo Corinne Kutz Unsplash emerging writer story share You’re right place Inspired Writer aim bring together experienced emerging writer share knowledge story want support new writer like share story develop writing skill kickstart career Apply Writer Remember become follower Inspired Writer join newsletter keep best story opportunity mentoring writing tip Read guideline carefully submitting accept writer submit story directly Inspired Writer Please Note accept unpublished draft new writer Please submit one story timeTags Write Us Writing Submission Guidelines Writing Tips Creativity |
1,049 | Creating Python Functions for Exploratory Data Analysis and Data Cleaning | Exploratory Data Analysis and Data Cleaning are two essential steps before we start to develop Machine Learning Models, and they can be time-consuming, especially for people who are still familiarizing themselves with this whole process.
EDA and Data Cleaning is rarely a one-time, linear process: you might find yourself going back to earlier sections and modifying the way you treat the dataset quite often. One way to speed up this process is to recycle some of the code you find yourself using over and over again. This is why we should create functions to automate the repetitive parts of EDA and Data Cleaning. Another benefit of using functions in the EDA and Data Cleaning is to eliminate the inconsistency of results caused by accidental differences in the code. | https://towardsdatascience.com/creating-python-functions-for-exploratory-data-analysis-and-data-cleaning-2c462961bd71 | ['Freda Xin'] | 2020-01-21 22:58:04.781000+00:00 | ['Data Visualization', 'Exploratory Data Analysis', 'Python', 'Data Science'] | Title Creating Python Functions Exploratory Data Analysis Data CleaningContent Exploratory Data Analysis Data Cleaning two essential step start develop Machine Learning Models timeconsuming especially people still familiarizing whole process EDA Data Cleaning rarely onetime linear process might find going back earlier section modifying way treat dataset quite often One way speed process recycle code find using create function automate repetitive part EDA Data Cleaning Another benefit using function EDA Data Cleaning eliminate inconsistency result caused accidental difference codeTags Data Visualization Exploratory Data Analysis Python Data Science |
1,050 | 6 Pandas Operations You Should Not Miss | 6 Pandas Operations You Should Not Miss
Advanced methods and function to crunch some data
Pandas is used mainly for reading, cleaning, and extracting insights from data. We will see an advanced use of Pandas which are very important to a Data Scientist. These operations are used to analyze data and manipulate it if required. These are used in the steps performed before building any machine learning model.
Summarising Data Concatenation Merge and Join Grouping Pivot Table Reshaping multi-index DataFrame
We will be using the very famous Titanic dataset to explore the functionalities of Pandas. Let’s just quickly import NumPy, Pandas, and load Titanic Dataset from Seaborn.
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import seaborn as sns df = sns.load_dataset('titanic')
df.head()
Summarizing data
The very first thing any data scientist would like to know is the statistics of the entire data. With the help of the Pandas .describe() method, we can see the summary stats of each feature. Notice, the stats are given only for numerical columns which is an obvious behavior we can also ask describe function to include categorical columns with the parameter ‘include’ and value equal to ‘all’ ( include=‘all’).
df.describe()
Another method is .info(). It gives metadata of a dataset. We can see the size of the dataset, dtype, and count of null values in each column.
df.info()
Concatenation
Concatenation of two DataFrames is very straightforward, thanks to the Pandas method concat(). Let us take a small section of our Titanic data with the help of vector indexing. Vector indexing is a way to specify the row and column name/integer we would like to index in any order as a list.
smallData = df.loc[[1,7,21,10], ['sex','age','fare','who','class']]
smallData
Also, I have created a dataset with matching columns to explain concatenation.
By default, the concatenation happens row-wise. Let’s see how the new dataset looks when we concat the two DataFrames.
pd.concat([smallData, newData])
What if we want to concatenate ignoring the index? just set the ingore_index parameter to True.
pd.concat([ newData,smallData], ignore_index=True)
If we wish to concatenate along with the columns we just have to change the axis parameter to 1.
pd.concat([ newData,smallData], axis=1)
Left table-smallData, Right table-newData
Notice the changes? As soon we concatenated column-wise Pandas arranged the data in an order of row indices. In smallData, row 0 and 2 are missing but present in newData hence insert them in sequential order. But we have row 1 in both the data and Pandas retained the data of the 1st dataset because that was the 1st dataset we passed as a parameter to concat. Also, the missing data is represented as NaN.
We can also perform concatenation in SQL join fashion. Let’s create a new DataFrame ‘newData’ having a few columns the same as smallData but not all.
If you are familiar with SQL join operation we can notice that .concat() performs outer join by default. Missing values for unmatched columns are filled with NaN.
pd.concat([smallData, newData])
We can control the type of join operation with ‘join’ parameter. Let’s perform an inner join that takes only common columns from two.
pd.concat([smallData, newData], join='inner')
Merge and Join
Pandas provide us an exclusive and more efficient method .merge() to perform in-memory join operations. Merge method is a subset of relational algebra that comes under SQL.
I will be moving away from our Titanic dataset only for this section to ease the understanding of join operation with less complex data.
There are different types of join operations:
One-to-one Many-to-one Many-to-many
The classic data used to explain joins in SQL in the employee dataset. Lets create DataFrames.
Left table-df1, Right table-df2
One-to-one
One-to-one merge is very similar to column-wise concatenation. To combine ‘df1’ and ‘df2’ we use .merge() method. Merge is capable of recognizing common columns in the datasets and uses it as a key, in our case column ‘employee_name’. Also, the names are not in order. Let’s see how the merge does the work for us by ignoring the indices.
df3 = pd.merge(df1,df2)
df3
Many-to-one
Many-to-one is a type of join in which one of the two key columns have duplicate values. Suppose we have supervisors for each department and there are many employees in each department hence, Many employees to one supervisor.
Many-to-many
This is the case where the key column in both the dataset has duplicate values. Suppose many skills are mapped to each department then the resulting DataFrame will have duplicate entries.
Merge on uncommon column names and values
Uncommon column names
Many times merging is not that simple since the data we receive will not be so clean. We saw how the merge does all the work provided we have one common column. What if we have no common columns at all? or there is more than one common column. Pandas provide us the flexibility to explicitly specify the columns to act as the key in both DataFrames.
Suppose we change our ‘employee_name’ column to ‘name’ in ‘df2’. Let’s see how datasets look and how to tell merge explicitly the key columns.
Parameter ‘left_on’ to specify the key of the first column and ‘right_on’ for the key of the second. Remember, the value of ‘left_on’ should match with the columns of the first DataFrame you passed and ‘right_on’ with second. Notice, we get redundant column ‘name’, we can drop it if not needed.
Uncommon values
Previously we saw that all the employee names present in one dataset were also present in other. What if the names are missing.
By default merge applies inner join, meaning join in performed only on common values which is always not preferred way since there will be data loss. The method of joining can be controlled by using the parameter ‘how’. We can perform left join or right join to overcome data loss. The missing values will be represented as NaN by Pandas.
print('-------left join--------
',pd.merge(df1, df2, how='left'))
print('
-------right join--------
',pd.merge(df1,df2,how='right'))
GroupBy
GroupBy is a very flexible abstraction, we can think of it as a collection of DataFrame. It allows us to do many different powerful operations. In simple words, it groups the entire data set by the values of the column we specify and allows us to perform operations to extract insights.
Let’s come back to our Titanic dataset
Suppose we would like to see how many male and female passengers survived.
print(df.groupby('sex'))
df.groupby('sex').sum()
Notice, printing only the groupby without performing any operation gives GroupBy object. Since there are only two unique values in the column ‘sex’ we can see a summation of every other column grouped by male and female. More insightful would be to get the percentage. We will capture only the ‘survived’ column of groupby result above upon summation and calculate percentages.
data = df.groupby('sex')['survived'].sum() print('% of male survivers',(data['male']/(data['male']+data['female']))*100) print('% of male female',(data['female']/(data['male']+data['female']))*100) Output % of male survivers 31.87134502923976
% of male female 68.12865497076024
Under the hood, the GroupBy function performs three operations: split-apply-combine.
Split - breaking the DataFrame in order to group it into the specified key. Apply - it involves computing the function we wish like aggregation or transformation or filter. Combine - merging the output into a single DataFrame.
Courtesy-Python Data Science Handbook by Jake VanderPlas
Perhaps, more powerful operations that can be performed on groupby are:
Aggregate Filter Transform Apply
Let’s see each one with an example.
Aggregate
The aggregate function allows us to perform more than one aggregation at a time. We need to pass the list of required aggregates as a parameter to .aggregate() function.
df.groupby('sex')['survived'].aggregate(['sum', np.mean,'median'])
Filter
The filter function allows us to drop data based on group property. Suppose we want to see data where the standard deviation of ‘fare’ is greater than the threshold value say 50 when grouped by ‘survived’.
df.groupby('survived').filter(lambda x: x['fare'].std() > 50)
Since the standard deviation of ‘fare’ is greater than 50 only for values of ‘survived’ equal to 1, we can see data only where ‘survived’ is 1.
Transform
Transform returns the transformed version of the entire data. The best example to explain is to center the dataset. Centering the data is nothing but subtracting each value of the column with the mean value of its respective column.
df.groupby('survived').transform(lambda x: x - x.mean())
Apply
Apply is very flexible unlike filter and transform, the only criteria are it takes a DataFrame and returns Pandas object or scalar. We have the flexibility to do anything we wish in the function.
def func(x):
x['fare'] = x['fare'] / x['fare'].sum()
return x df.groupby('survived').apply(func)
Pivot tables
Previously in GroupBy, we saw how ‘sex’ affected survival, the survival rate of females is much larger than males. Suppose we would also like to see how ‘pclass’ affected the survival but both ‘sex’ and ‘pclass’ side by side. Using GroupBy we would do something like this.
df.groupby(['sex', 'pclass']['survived'].aggregate('mean').unstack()
This is more insightful, we can easily make out passengers in the third class section of the Titanic are less likely to be survived.
This type of operation is very common in the analysis. Hence, Pandas provides the function .pivot_table() which performs the same with more flexibility and less complexity.
df.pivot_table('survived', index='sex', columns='pclass')
The result of the pivot table function is a DataFrame, unlike groupby which returned a groupby object. We can perform all the DataFrame operations normally on it.
We can also add a third dimension to our result. Suppose we want to see how ‘age’ has also affected the survival rate along with ‘sex’ and ‘pclass’. Let’s divide our ‘age’ into groups within it: 0–18 child/teenager, 18–40 adult, and 41–80 old.
age = pd.cut(df['age'], [0, 18, 40, 80])
pivotTable = df.pivot_table('survived', ['sex', age], 'class')
pivotTable
Interestingly female children and teenagers in the second class have a 100% survival rate. This is the kind of power the pivot table of Pandas has.
Reshaping Multi-index DataFrame
To see a multi-index DataFrame from a different view we reshape it. Stack and Unstack are the two methods to accomplish this.
unstack( )
It is the process of converting the row index to the column index. The pivot table we created previously is multi-indexed row-wise. We can get the innermost row index(age groups) into the innermost column index.
pivotTable = pivotTable.unstack()
pivotTable
We can also convert the outermost row index(sex) into the innermost column index by using parameter ‘level’.
pivotTable = pivotTable.unstack(level=0)
piviotTable
stack( )
Stacking is exactly inverse of unstacking. We can convert the column index of multi-index DataFrame into a row index. The innermost column index ‘sex’ is converted to the innermost row index. The result is slightly different from the original DataFrame because we unstacked with level 0 previously. | https://medium.com/towards-artificial-intelligence/6-pandas-operations-you-should-not-miss-d531736c6574 | ['Sujan Shirol'] | 2020-10-03 05:51:47.992000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Exploratory Data Analysis', 'Data Analysis', 'Data Science', 'Pandas'] | Title 6 Pandas Operations MissContent 6 Pandas Operations Miss Advanced method function crunch data Pandas used mainly reading cleaning extracting insight data see advanced use Pandas important Data Scientist operation used analyze data manipulate required used step performed building machine learning model Summarising Data Concatenation Merge Join Grouping Pivot Table Reshaping multiindex DataFrame using famous Titanic dataset explore functionality Pandas Let’s quickly import NumPy Pandas load Titanic Dataset Seaborn import numpy np import panda pd import seaborn sn df snsloaddatasettitanic dfhead Summarizing data first thing data scientist would like know statistic entire data help Pandas describe method see summary stats feature Notice stats given numerical column obvious behavior also ask describe function include categorical column parameter ‘include’ value equal ‘all’ include‘all’ dfdescribe Another method info give metadata dataset see size dataset dtype count null value column dfinfo Concatenation Concatenation two DataFrames straightforward thanks Pandas method concat Let u take small section Titanic data help vector indexing Vector indexing way specify row column nameinteger would like index order list smallData dfloc172110 sexagefarewhoclass smallData Also created dataset matching column explain concatenation default concatenation happens rowwise Let’s see new dataset look concat two DataFrames pdconcatsmallData newData want concatenate ignoring index set ingoreindex parameter True pdconcat newDatasmallData ignoreindexTrue wish concatenate along column change axis parameter 1 pdconcat newDatasmallData axis1 Left tablesmallData Right tablenewData Notice change soon concatenated columnwise Pandas arranged data order row index smallData row 0 2 missing present newData hence insert sequential order row 1 data Pandas retained data 1st dataset 1st dataset passed parameter concat Also missing data represented NaN also perform concatenation SQL join fashion Let’s create new DataFrame ‘newData’ column smallData familiar SQL join operation notice concat performs outer join default Missing value unmatched column filled NaN pdconcatsmallData newData control type join operation ‘join’ parameter Let’s perform inner join take common column two pdconcatsmallData newData joininner Merge Join Pandas provide u exclusive efficient method merge perform inmemory join operation Merge method subset relational algebra come SQL moving away Titanic dataset section ease understanding join operation le complex data different type join operation Onetoone Manytoone Manytomany classic data used explain join SQL employee dataset Lets create DataFrames Left tabledf1 Right tabledf2 Onetoone Onetoone merge similar columnwise concatenation combine ‘df1’ ‘df2’ use merge method Merge capable recognizing common column datasets us key case column ‘employeename’ Also name order Let’s see merge work u ignoring index df3 pdmergedf1df2 df3 Manytoone Manytoone type join one two key column duplicate value Suppose supervisor department many employee department hence Many employee one supervisor Manytomany case key column dataset duplicate value Suppose many skill mapped department resulting DataFrame duplicate entry Merge uncommon column name value Uncommon column name Many time merging simple since data receive clean saw merge work provided one common column common column one common column Pandas provide u flexibility explicitly specify column act key DataFrames Suppose change ‘employeename’ column ‘name’ ‘df2’ Let’s see datasets look tell merge explicitly key column Parameter ‘lefton’ specify key first column ‘righton’ key second Remember value ‘lefton’ match column first DataFrame passed ‘righton’ second Notice get redundant column ‘name’ drop needed Uncommon value Previously saw employee name present one dataset also present name missing default merge applies inner join meaning join performed common value always preferred way since data loss method joining controlled using parameter ‘how’ perform left join right join overcome data loss missing value represented NaN Pandas printleft join pdmergedf1 df2 howleft print right join pdmergedf1df2howright GroupBy GroupBy flexible abstraction think collection DataFrame allows u many different powerful operation simple word group entire data set value column specify allows u perform operation extract insight Let’s come back Titanic dataset Suppose would like see many male female passenger survived printdfgroupbysex dfgroupbysexsum Notice printing groupby without performing operation give GroupBy object Since two unique value column ‘sex’ see summation every column grouped male female insightful would get percentage capture ‘survived’ column groupby result upon summation calculate percentage data dfgroupbysexsurvivedsum print male surviversdatamaledatamaledatafemale100 print male femaledatafemaledatamaledatafemale100 Output male survivers 3187134502923976 male female 6812865497076024 hood GroupBy function performs three operation splitapplycombine Split breaking DataFrame order group specified key Apply involves computing function wish like aggregation transformation filter Combine merging output single DataFrame CourtesyPython Data Science Handbook Jake VanderPlas Perhaps powerful operation performed groupby Aggregate Filter Transform Apply Let’s see one example Aggregate aggregate function allows u perform one aggregation time need pas list required aggregate parameter aggregate function dfgroupbysexsurvivedaggregatesum npmeanmedian Filter filter function allows u drop data based group property Suppose want see data standard deviation ‘fare’ greater threshold value say 50 grouped ‘survived’ dfgroupbysurvivedfilterlambda x xfarestd 50 Since standard deviation ‘fare’ greater 50 value ‘survived’ equal 1 see data ‘survived’ 1 Transform Transform return transformed version entire data best example explain center dataset Centering data nothing subtracting value column mean value respective column dfgroupbysurvivedtransformlambda x x xmean Apply Apply flexible unlike filter transform criterion take DataFrame return Pandas object scalar flexibility anything wish function def funcx xfare xfare xfaresum return x dfgroupbysurvivedapplyfunc Pivot table Previously GroupBy saw ‘sex’ affected survival survival rate female much larger male Suppose would also like see ‘pclass’ affected survival ‘sex’ ‘pclass’ side side Using GroupBy would something like dfgroupbysex pclasssurvivedaggregatemeanunstack insightful easily make passenger third class section Titanic le likely survived type operation common analysis Hence Pandas provides function pivottable performs flexibility le complexity dfpivottablesurvived indexsex columnspclass result pivot table function DataFrame unlike groupby returned groupby object perform DataFrame operation normally also add third dimension result Suppose want see ‘age’ also affected survival rate along ‘sex’ ‘pclass’ Let’s divide ‘age’ group within 0–18 childteenager 18–40 adult 41–80 old age pdcutdfage 0 18 40 80 pivotTable dfpivottablesurvived sex age class pivotTable Interestingly female child teenager second class 100 survival rate kind power pivot table Pandas Reshaping Multiindex DataFrame see multiindex DataFrame different view reshape Stack Unstack two method accomplish unstack process converting row index column index pivot table created previously multiindexed rowwise get innermost row indexage group innermost column index pivotTable pivotTableunstack pivotTable also convert outermost row indexsex innermost column index using parameter ‘level’ pivotTable pivotTableunstacklevel0 piviotTable stack Stacking exactly inverse unstacking convert column index multiindex DataFrame row index innermost column index ‘sex’ converted innermost row index result slightly different original DataFrame unstacked level 0 previouslyTags Python Exploratory Data Analysis Data Analysis Data Science Pandas |
1,051 | Think of Fiction Writing as an Act of Telepathy | Is Fiction Writing Really an Act of Telepathy?
You bet it is!
In all my years of writing fiction, especially in the last ten years when I’ve primarily been writing novels, I’ve never really thought of the practice as telepathy. Because for the most part, I’m telling myself the story, not talking to anyone else.
A reader picking up your book months, maybe years, down the road is an act completely separate from the author’s own experience, after all.
Being an author isn’t like being a filmmaker in this regard. If you’re the director of a movie, when everything is done, all the shooting and all the intensive post-production, you get to eventually screen your movie for an audience and see how you did.
You can sit in a large theater and watch what moments make people laugh, watch what parts make them jump out of their seats.
I used to make movies, and this part of the process was always a huge thrill. I remember screening one of my movies for a crowd of more than 100 people, and at the end, as the credits rolled, I heard at least five people sniffling, trying to hold back tears.
A comedic movie of mine a year later got big laughs, followed by a huge round of applause at the end.
Screening your own movie for an audience is something enthralling like no other, it really is. | https://medium.com/the-partnered-pen/think-of-fiction-writing-as-an-act-of-telepathy-beb5bd0fe130 | ['Brian Rowe'] | 2020-08-10 13:31:01.361000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Mystery', 'Life', 'Film', 'Writing'] | Title Think Fiction Writing Act TelepathyContent Fiction Writing Really Act Telepathy bet year writing fiction especially last ten year I’ve primarily writing novel I’ve never really thought practice telepathy part I’m telling story talking anyone else reader picking book month maybe year road act completely separate author’s experience author isn’t like filmmaker regard you’re director movie everything done shooting intensive postproduction get eventually screen movie audience see sit large theater watch moment make people laugh watch part make jump seat used make movie part process always huge thrill remember screening one movie crowd 100 people end credit rolled heard least five people sniffling trying hold back tear comedic movie mine year later got big laugh followed huge round applause end Screening movie audience something enthralling like really isTags Creativity Mystery Life Film Writing |
1,052 | Write Books in React With Next.js and MDX | Dynamic Paths in Next.js
This section is confusing if you don’t know how dynamic routes work in Next.js! Just try to get a general picture of what is going on… but the code is there for you to ponder.
Now that we have a list of routes and locations of content, we need to feed this into Next.js, create routes, and serve the content. I will not go too deep into the source code, but essentially we are performing a depth-first search of the URL tree and making a list of all nodes in the tree that we need to generate routes from. We make our object look something like this:
This might look kind of funny, but the point of this object of objects is that we can map over the keys in Next.js’s getStaticPaths . This generates pages for a page [...id].js :
And you can use the path provided to you in getStaticProps to retrieve metadata like the GitHub URL:
Now everything is hooked up. | https://medium.com/better-programming/write-books-in-react-with-next-js-and-mdx-8deec9fec761 | ['Matthew Caseres'] | 2020-12-22 16:37:09.757000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'React', 'JavaScript', 'Nextjs', 'Typescript'] | Title Write Books React Nextjs MDXContent Dynamic Paths Nextjs section confusing don’t know dynamic route work Nextjs try get general picture going on… code ponder list route location content need feed Nextjs create route serve content go deep source code essentially performing depthfirst search URL tree making list node tree need generate route make object look something like might look kind funny point object object map key Nextjs’s getStaticPaths generates page page idjs use path provided getStaticProps retrieve metadata like GitHub URL everything hooked upTags Programming React JavaScript Nextjs Typescript |
1,053 | I Published Six Articles on Vocal | Possibilities / Entrepreneurship
I Published Six Articles on Vocal
This is what I learned.
Introduction
I published a story about my initial experience of Vocal. The readers well received the story on my experimentation. More importantly, the responses motivated me to write a follow up on my findings.
My purpose was to introduce my findings and initial impression on Vocal+. I mentioned the basics and provided adequate information to get you started writing for Vocal. Many writers found Vocal useful as a freelance opportunity.
Several writers enhanced my messages. From your comments, I learned about new features. Thank you all for your excellent input. Through this initiative, I met new writers and started collaborating. One simple story can open new communication path. I am grateful for the outcome.
Purpose of this post
In this post, I will share my findings based on six articles I submitted to Vocal. Here are the links to my six articles for two reasons:
a) To show you type of articles for Vocal
b) To indicate the communities and topics.
I highlighted the communities in bold format. You can find the topics when you click on each link. Some topics nicely surprised me as I did not know their existence on Vocal.
I deliberately selected these six articles representing different topics and audience for my experimentation.
I am still experimenting to discover new features. I will continue to record my observations and share with you in another post.
You can find my observations in the following sections. I created subheadings to make it easy to read and understand.
Power of Vocal communities
One of the key findings is the power of communities on Vocal.
I am discovering new communities with each submission. In the last three submissions, I found Blush, 01, and Motivation communities.
Even though there is no follow feature for writer profiles, it is easy to find the contributors. Each contributor has a profile. The profile includes a list of stories. The stories give a hint about the communities the writers follow. They are highlighted in various colors.
I came across several Medium writers publishing stories on Vocal. It was a pleasure to notice familiar faces especially contributors to my publication.
Challenges and nominations on Vocal
I discovered a new feature that you can nominate your stories to competitive challenges. The latest competition is called “The Perfect Pairing”.
Your nominated story has a chance to win a prize. How cool is this!
Here is some information about this specific competition which I extracted for you from Vocal site:
First place: $2,500 + $100 Gift Card
Second place: $1,000 + $100 Gift Card
Third place: $500 + $100 Gift Card
Indication to views and reads on Vocal
My six stories received reasonably good views.
When I say reasonable, it means that the number of views for my stories exceeded my expectations
To give you an idea, my stories on Vocal received at least 20 times more views than what they did on Medium in my first week.
To put this into perspective, it took me six months to get reasonable views on Medium, but it took only one week on Vocal. So, it looks promising.
The main reason for this 20 times more views is leveraging my Medium experience. I had no idea when I joined to Medium. I was in the total dark and felt lonely. Whereas, with Vocal, I knew how to promote my content.
It is not the platform only, but my informed approach to content marketing helped me gain 20 times more views on Vocal in my first week.
This approach indicates that success for writers depends on taking personal responsibility for marketing. Unless you meaningfully engage and promote your content, the platforms, whatever their sizes are, would not make a real impact on the outcome.
Self-publishing versus moderated publishing
It is a great benefit to self-publish our stories. I found this feature useful on Medium. We cannot self-publish on Vocal. But it is not a big deal. In fact, it served as a blessing in disguise for me.
When we submit our stories, they are reviewed by moderators and published in relevant communities and topics.
Even though I was initially concerned for not being able to self-publish, moderated publishing brought a new advantage to me. Let me explain.
There are many communities on Vocal. I couldn’t find any description of those communities, and some names are not even descriptive. For example, I did not know what community 01 mean until I saw my cybersecurity story on this community. However, moderators found the right community and the topic fitting the purpose of my content.
With the help of moderators, my six stories were published in different communities. I discovered the topics of specific communities. Learning about a topics is an advantage because when I click on the link for each topic, I can find the writers who write about a specific topic.
My initial frustration and confusion turned into joy by discovering new topics and writers. Maybe Vocal created this ambiguity on purpose. Sometimes mystery can be a good thing. I can see some psychological benefits from my experience.
Earning and compensation
I shared the earning scheme in my previous post.
Vocal pays based on views. But in reality, they mean actual reading time for your story. Just clicking on a story and scrolling it would not register as views.
There are two streams for each based on membership levels.
For the free account, they pay $3.80 per 1000 reads. For the paid version (Vocal+), they pay $6.00 per 1000 reads.
The paid account (Vocal+) subscription price is USD 9.99. There are some additional benefits for Vocal+ membership mentioned on their website.
I mentioned the creative tips feature in my previous story. Readers can give tips using their credit card, which can be paid to the writers via their Stripe accounts. Tips range between $1 and $20.
Since the last post, I found out that there was a minimum payout notice: Non-Member — $35 and Vocal+ Member — $20. My understanding is that you cannot withdraw under $20 tips if you are a Vocal+. There is also a small fee deducted by Vocal for earning from tips.
As earning money is not the primary motivation for me, I prefer not to focus on it and not go into details. The income for my level of writing is negligible both on Medium and Vocal hence not worth fussing about it.
However, to give you an indication of earning from Vocal stories, 40 views equated to around 20 cents per the stats of my stories in the Vocal dashboard. You can make comparative calculations based on this indicative figure.
Major benefits for me
My key focus on writing in content platforms, including Medium and Vocal, is to enhance my network by meeting new writers, readers, and collaborators.
Medium helped me meet thousands of new writers, readers, and collaborators. I am grateful.
I started experiencing a similar effect with Vocal.
With my engagement on Vocal in a week, I noticed some improved traffic to my content on my websites. The number of views of my blogs increased by at least 10%.
I believe readers from Vocal communities are discovering my content, exploring my profile, and subscribing to my blogs. This is one of the essential benefits and desired by-product of publishing on Vocal.
You may find other reasons to publish on Vocal.
Anecdotes and Validation
There are always good and bad comments about any platform on social media. It is inevitable. Based on my experience with social media, I take reader comments with a pinch of salt as there may be different motives that we may not know.
I read some negative and discouraging comments about Vocal on social media. However, most of them turned out to be noise. When I fact-checked those statements, I found out that some people just make arbitrary claims with no evidence. For example, some writers were trying to judge the platform with only one story they submitted and did not perform.
Some made comments that it was a scam with allegations such as they don’t pay earning to the writers. However, I noticed that one of the engaging Medium writers, Aamir Kamal 🚀🚀🚀 debunked most of the claims by providing his personal earning history publicly.
Aamir also interviewed one of the high earning members on YouTube. I noticed that the high earner is a founding member. I don’t know yet what a founding member means. I will update you when I discover this membership type.
Will I continue publishing on Vocal?
Several writers asked me on whether I would continue for submitting content to Vocal.
Based on my current findings, the answer is yes.
The main reason is: I had immediate benefits for publishing six stories on Vocal. My experimentation proved it.
I want to continue experimenting and discovering opportunities.
Should you write for Vocal?
Another frequently asked question from writers is “should we create an account and write for Vocal?”.
This is entirely up to you.
I don’t endorse any writing platform, tools, or services.
However, if I were you, I would give it a go.
Let me share my reasons for the encouragement briefly with an example.
A year ago, I did not know anything about Medium. In such a short time, I gained thousands of followers, met amazing people across the globe, created significant publications followed by 45K readers and contributed by 5.6K writers. This all happened with an open mind and by giving it a go despite the initial ambiguity on Medium.
Yes, in the first six months, exposure to my content was extremely slow on Medium, but once my content and profile were discovered in the second six month, the exposure was exponential.
The reason I share my Medium experience is the same potential for Vocal. Since there are many communities on Vocal, who knows your profile and content can be discovered by some communities, and you may gain substantial exposure to a new audience.
Vocal offers a free account. It is risk-free. You have nothing to lose. If you see some benefits, you can upgrade it to Vocal+. The best thing is that you can cancel it anytime. They even provide a one-month free membership for Vocal+. Why not try and see?
Simply put, if you don’t buy a lotto ticket, you will never have a chance to win.
Re-purposing Content
One of the benefits of writing for another platform is re-purposing your content. This is a critical content marketing strategy.
I have been successfully re-purposing my content for three decades. Content management experts such as Jeff Herring, Tim Maudlin, and MaryJo Wagner, PhD are big on this topic.
Content re-purposing provided me many benefits. For example, I published academic papers in peer-reviewed journals for a narrow audience. However, converting the content to public language, and publishing them in popular platforms, my content gained a new audience, in fact, a bigger one.
I use the same approach for my Medium content. For example, I re-write some of my Medium stories appealing to a specific community on Vocal. As long as you provide a disclaimer for your content indicating the original content belongs to you, Vocal allows you to publish your previously published material.
Ability to publish your prior content is an excellent opportunity for content re-purposing. This is a substantial premise for freelancers.
I can now answer the question on whether you can publish your previously published stories on Vocal. The answer is yes, based on my recent finding.
All you need to do is to provide a disclaimer with a link so that moderators don’t have to waste their time to validate the copyright ownership.
Conclusion
In this story, I shared my recent experience in a new content development and publishing platform called Vocal.
As I mentioned in my previous article, the learning curve for Vocal was gentle for me. I became self-sufficient in a week.
I gained noticeable benefits by publishing for Vocal. Publishing as few as six articles brought immediate benefits. The biggest gain was visibility to my blogger profile and content on multiple platforms.
Yes, there will always be negative comments or hypes about any platform. We have the power to filter these extreme viewpoints by applying logic and by low-risk trial and errors.
It can be useful to give a try to a new platform. We never know unless we try it. Keeping an open mind is a sign of growth mindset. You have nothing to lose but a lot to gain with a growth mindset.
I wish you all the best in your writing career.
If you want to collaborate for success on Vocal, please join my Quora Space specifically designed for Vocal writers and stories. I will help you succeed.
You can find my Vocal profile from this link.
Thank you for reading my perspective. | https://medium.com/illumination/i-published-six-articles-with-vocal-f63309c446d4 | ['Dr Mehmet Yildiz'] | 2020-11-21 10:45:29.982000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Business', 'Writing', 'Freelancing'] | Title Published Six Articles VocalContent Possibilities Entrepreneurship Published Six Articles Vocal learned Introduction published story initial experience Vocal reader well received story experimentation importantly response motivated write follow finding purpose introduce finding initial impression Vocal mentioned basic provided adequate information get started writing Vocal Many writer found Vocal useful freelance opportunity Several writer enhanced message comment learned new feature Thank excellent input initiative met new writer started collaborating One simple story open new communication path grateful outcome Purpose post post share finding based six article submitted Vocal link six article two reason show type article Vocal b indicate community topic highlighted community bold format find topic click link topic nicely surprised know existence Vocal deliberately selected six article representing different topic audience experimentation still experimenting discover new feature continue record observation share another post find observation following section created subheading make easy read understand Power Vocal community One key finding power community Vocal discovering new community submission last three submission found Blush 01 Motivation community Even though follow feature writer profile easy find contributor contributor profile profile includes list story story give hint community writer follow highlighted various color came across several Medium writer publishing story Vocal pleasure notice familiar face especially contributor publication Challenges nomination Vocal discovered new feature nominate story competitive challenge latest competition called “The Perfect Pairing” nominated story chance win prize cool information specific competition extracted Vocal site First place 2500 100 Gift Card Second place 1000 100 Gift Card Third place 500 100 Gift Card Indication view read Vocal six story received reasonably good view say reasonable mean number view story exceeded expectation give idea story Vocal received least 20 time view Medium first week put perspective took six month get reasonable view Medium took one week Vocal look promising main reason 20 time view leveraging Medium experience idea joined Medium total dark felt lonely Whereas Vocal knew promote content platform informed approach content marketing helped gain 20 time view Vocal first week approach indicates success writer depends taking personal responsibility marketing Unless meaningfully engage promote content platform whatever size would make real impact outcome Selfpublishing versus moderated publishing great benefit selfpublish story found feature useful Medium cannot selfpublish Vocal big deal fact served blessing disguise submit story reviewed moderator published relevant community topic Even though initially concerned able selfpublish moderated publishing brought new advantage Let explain many community Vocal couldn’t find description community name even descriptive example know community 01 mean saw cybersecurity story community However moderator found right community topic fitting purpose content help moderator six story published different community discovered topic specific community Learning topic advantage click link topic find writer write specific topic initial frustration confusion turned joy discovering new topic writer Maybe Vocal created ambiguity purpose Sometimes mystery good thing see psychological benefit experience Earning compensation shared earning scheme previous post Vocal pay based view reality mean actual reading time story clicking story scrolling would register view two stream based membership level free account pay 380 per 1000 read paid version Vocal pay 600 per 1000 read paid account Vocal subscription price USD 999 additional benefit Vocal membership mentioned website mentioned creative tip feature previous story Readers give tip using credit card paid writer via Stripe account Tips range 1 20 Since last post found minimum payout notice NonMember — 35 Vocal Member — 20 understanding cannot withdraw 20 tip Vocal also small fee deducted Vocal earning tip earning money primary motivation prefer focus go detail income level writing negligible Medium Vocal hence worth fussing However give indication earning Vocal story 40 view equated around 20 cent per stats story Vocal dashboard make comparative calculation based indicative figure Major benefit key focus writing content platform including Medium Vocal enhance network meeting new writer reader collaborator Medium helped meet thousand new writer reader collaborator grateful started experiencing similar effect Vocal engagement Vocal week noticed improved traffic content website number view blog increased least 10 believe reader Vocal community discovering content exploring profile subscribing blog one essential benefit desired byproduct publishing Vocal may find reason publish Vocal Anecdotes Validation always good bad comment platform social medium inevitable Based experience social medium take reader comment pinch salt may different motif may know read negative discouraging comment Vocal social medium However turned noise factchecked statement found people make arbitrary claim evidence example writer trying judge platform one story submitted perform made comment scam allegation don’t pay earning writer However noticed one engaging Medium writer Aamir Kamal 🚀🚀🚀 debunked claim providing personal earning history publicly Aamir also interviewed one high earning member YouTube noticed high earner founding member don’t know yet founding member mean update discover membership type continue publishing Vocal Several writer asked whether would continue submitting content Vocal Based current finding answer yes main reason immediate benefit publishing six story Vocal experimentation proved want continue experimenting discovering opportunity write Vocal Another frequently asked question writer “should create account write Vocal” entirely don’t endorse writing platform tool service However would give go Let share reason encouragement briefly example year ago know anything Medium short time gained thousand follower met amazing people across globe created significant publication followed 45K reader contributed 56K writer happened open mind giving go despite initial ambiguity Medium Yes first six month exposure content extremely slow Medium content profile discovered second six month exposure exponential reason share Medium experience potential Vocal Since many community Vocal know profile content discovered community may gain substantial exposure new audience Vocal offer free account riskfree nothing lose see benefit upgrade Vocal best thing cancel anytime even provide onemonth free membership Vocal try see Simply put don’t buy lotto ticket never chance win Repurposing Content One benefit writing another platform repurposing content critical content marketing strategy successfully repurposing content three decade Content management expert Jeff Herring Tim Maudlin MaryJo Wagner PhD big topic Content repurposing provided many benefit example published academic paper peerreviewed journal narrow audience However converting content public language publishing popular platform content gained new audience fact bigger one use approach Medium content example rewrite Medium story appealing specific community Vocal long provide disclaimer content indicating original content belongs Vocal allows publish previously published material Ability publish prior content excellent opportunity content repurposing substantial premise freelancer answer question whether publish previously published story Vocal answer yes based recent finding need provide disclaimer link moderator don’t waste time validate copyright ownership Conclusion story shared recent experience new content development publishing platform called Vocal mentioned previous article learning curve Vocal gentle became selfsufficient week gained noticeable benefit publishing Vocal Publishing six article brought immediate benefit biggest gain visibility blogger profile content multiple platform Yes always negative comment hype platform power filter extreme viewpoint applying logic lowrisk trial error useful give try new platform never know unless try Keeping open mind sign growth mindset nothing lose lot gain growth mindset wish best writing career want collaborate success Vocal please join Quora Space specifically designed Vocal writer story help succeed find Vocal profile link Thank reading perspectiveTags Leadership Entrepreneurship Business Writing Freelancing |
1,054 | PAIRWISE RANKING : EPL PREDICTION — Part2 | Overview
Pairwise ranking have multiple use cases in fields like search ranking optimization, Product Comparison etc. and holds edge over traditional cumulative comparison as with the former we will be able to say A is n% better than B/C/D etc.. by also prioritizing the effect of each variable by the corresponding relevance. The theory behind the method is detailed in the previous article of this series: https://medium.com/@davidacad10/pairwise-ranking-epl-prediction-3ce755575958
Image By : thinkersnewsng
Assuming that, we now have a brief idea on how the pairwise ranking is applied behind the curtains, we will have an interesting application, where we try to predict the table standings of English Premier League at the end of the current season 2020–21. The parameter we would use to rank teams would be the head to head results in the last 5 matches. It’s quite interesting to see how close it gets to real table standings when applied to 2019–20 season on validation.
Case In Action
The parameter we would use to rank teams is the head to head results each team had in the last 5 matches. A win is awarded 3,draw 1 and loss 0, just as it is in EPL. So the maximum rating a team can have is 15 and minimum is 0. The objective we are aiming for is predicting the final standings at the end of the season, at the very beginning of the season without even a match being played.[We can try more real time models for a match by match prediction later :D].
Just as in every data science problem, the important part is to get the data ready. There are quite a lot of good sources available. I have collected the match by match result from 2004 from football.com and collated to a single file. You can access the repo on:
https://github.com/davidacad10/EPL_Analytics/tree/master/Pairwise_Ranking.
Let’s load the data and get to it:
library(rio)
library(dplyr)
library(xgboost)
library(knitr) rm(list = ls())
data=import("Pairwise_Ranking_Data.xlsx")
data=data%>%
mutate(Season_Start_Date=as.Date(Season_Start_Date)
,Season_End_Date=as.Date(Season_End_Date)
,Prev_SSD=as.Date(Prev_SSD)
,Prev_SED1=as.Date(Prev_SED1))
The data frame have the H2H results from 2004 season, with ratings as described before. On the first week of the season the H2H available is those of last seasons. Hence for every season N, the rank will be the final table standings the team had on season N+1. For example, at the end of season 2018–19,when Chelsea had a 9 point over Man City and 6 point over Liverpool, they ended up finishing 3rd the next season 2019–20.Hence for a team Ti, the H2H over all the teams T at the end of season N, will be the parameters used to predict rank in season N+1.
Let’s divide the data into train and test. There was a shift in EPL after the 2012–13 season, where all the teams got highly competitive. So we can select train data from 2013–14 season to 2018–19. We can test the model created for 2019–20 which itself can be called as an outlier season for many reasons (Covid-19,Liverpool winning title etc. :D).
train=data%>%filter(Prev_SSD<=as.Date('2018-08-10'))%>%
filter(Prev_SSD>=as.Date('2013-08-01'))
test1=data%>%filter(Prev_SSD>as.Date('2018-08-10')) ##Getting the previous records available for the promoted teams
##And adding into the 17 other teams to have the whole 20 team ##records promoted=c("Norwich","Sheffield United","Aston Villa") test2=data%>%filter(Team1%in%promoted)%>%
ungroup()%>%
group_by(Team1)%>%
arrange(desc(Season_Start_Date))%>%
mutate(rpp=row_number())%>%
filter(rpp==1)%>%
select(-rpp) test=bind_rows(test1,test2)
train_data=train%>%ungroup()%>%select(Arsenal:Wolves)
test_data=test%>%ungroup()%>%select(Arsenal:Wolves)
target=as.numeric(as.character(train$Rank)) set.seed(1000)
xgbTrain <- xgb.DMatrix(as.matrix(train_data), label = train$Rank)
xgbTest <- xgb.DMatrix(as.matrix(test_data)) ##No extra parameter tuning being applied except ntress=5000 and
#early stopping round as 20
params <- list(booster = 'gbtree',
objective = 'rank:pairwise')
##Metric used is NDCG as described in tutorial
rankModel <- xgb.train(params, xgbTrain, 5000, watchlist = list(tr = xgbTrain), eval_metric = 'ndcg',early_stopping_rounds = 20) ## Stopping. Best iteration:
## [55] tr-ndcg:0.983104 ##Predicting The Model on Test Data for 2019-20 pred=(predict(rankModel, xgbTest,reshape = TRUE))
test$Pred=pred
test_pred=test%>%
ungroup()%>%
select(Team1,Prev_SSD1,Rank,Pred)%>%
arrange(Pred)%>%
mutate(Pred_Rank=row_number(),
Probability=1/(1+exp(Pred)))%>%
select(Prev_SSD1,Team1,Rank,Pred_Rank,Pred,Probability)%>%
rename(Actual_Rank=Rank,Title_Probability=Probability,Season_Start=Prev_SSD1) ##Print the prediction frame
view(test_pred)
2019–20 Season Prediction
Voila. We were able to get the title winner correctly and the runner up. Note that in none of the training data Liverpool had a rank 1 but it was only city, Chelsea and Leicester. The model is able to pick up the pattern that Liverpool can finish over just by looking at their improvement in head to heads alone. We have Tottenham at 3,where as they finished 6th(fun breakers huh!).Although, this was an off season for them with even finishing in top 4 and a UCL final last season, they were coming off from their best season ever. Considering this outlier away, the next rankings Man United and Chelsea are spot on.
The lambda rank method provides more prevalence to top ratings than bottom ones. Although, except wolves(due to little data availability),4 out of bottom 5 were in relegation battle with 2 of them actually getting relegated.
Now that we have seen the accuracy of predictions on last season, let’s see what would be the case at the end of season.
##Load the 2020–21 prediction data
newtest=import(“Pairwise_Ranking_Data_Pred_2020_data.xlsx”)
rel=c(‘Norwich’,’Watford’,’Bournemouth’) newtest=newtest%>%filter(!Team1%in%rel)
newtest2=newtest%>%select(-Team1) newtest_xgb <- xgb.DMatrix(as.matrix(newtest2))
pred=(predict(rankModel, newtest_xgb,reshape = TRUE)) newtest$Pred=pred
newtest_pred=newtest%>%
ungroup()%>%
select(Team1,Pred)%>%
arrange(Pred)%>%
mutate(Prev_SSD1=as.character(‘2020–09–12’),Pred_Rank=row_number(),
Probability=1/(1+exp(Pred)))%>%
select(Prev_SSD1,Team1,Pred_Rank,Pred,Probability)%>%
rename(Title_Probability=Probability,Season_Start=Prev_SSD1) ##Print the 2020-21 season prediction
view(newtest_pred)
2020–21 Season Prediction
Noted that this prediction doesn’t have Leeds as they are in EPL for first time after 2002. With the 19 teams available, Chelsea are predicted to win the league, with Liverpool coming in second, United 3rd and city 4th.With the new signings Chelsea have, they could in fact aim for it. Although for a football infested mind it’s hard to digest city finishing 4th and either of city or Liverpool not winning the league. But numbers don’t lie. Fingers crossed :D
And for the relegation battle, it’s predicted to be between Fulham, West Brom, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa. Noted that 3 out of those 4 are promoted in the last two seasons.
Conclusion
There could be few bias the prediction could have in effect:
The parameter under consideration is head to heads in last 2 seasons effectively. This doesn’t consider any effect to change in team via transfers
More priority is provided to get the top rankings correctly over the bottom one’s
Teams that are new to EPL like Leeds doesn’t have data associated as we consider on EPL head to heads and hence can’t be added
Now that we have completed a cool application of pairwise ranking, I believe we are good with the application side too. In fact there are multiple packages available other than xgboost which you can pick up on if interested. If you want to brainstorm on the theory behind, give a read on this article
https://medium.com/@davidacad10/pairwise-ranking-epl-prediction-3ce755575958 | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/pairwise-ranking-epl-prediction-part2-756542b85c2b | ['David Babu'] | 2020-12-22 16:39:26.814000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Premier League', 'AI', 'Applied Machine Learning', 'Data Science'] | Title PAIRWISE RANKING EPL PREDICTION — Part2Content Overview Pairwise ranking multiple use case field like search ranking optimization Product Comparison etc hold edge traditional cumulative comparison former able say n better BCD etc also prioritizing effect variable corresponding relevance theory behind method detailed previous article series httpsmediumcomdavidacad10pairwiserankingeplprediction3ce755575958 Image thinkersnewsng Assuming brief idea pairwise ranking applied behind curtain interesting application try predict table standing English Premier League end current season 2020–21 parameter would use rank team would head head result last 5 match It’s quite interesting see close get real table standing applied 2019–20 season validation Case Action parameter would use rank team head head result team last 5 match win awarded 3draw 1 loss 0 EPL maximum rating team 15 minimum 0 objective aiming predicting final standing end season beginning season without even match playedWe try real time model match match prediction later every data science problem important part get data ready quite lot good source available collected match match result 2004 footballcom collated single file access repo httpsgithubcomdavidacad10EPLAnalyticstreemasterPairwiseRanking Let’s load data get libraryrio librarydplyr libraryxgboost libraryknitr rmlist l dataimportPairwiseRankingDataxlsx datadata mutateSeasonStartDateasDateSeasonStartDate SeasonEndDateasDateSeasonEndDate PrevSSDasDatePrevSSD PrevSED1asDatePrevSED1 data frame H2H result 2004 season rating described first week season H2H available last season Hence every season N rank final table standing team season N1 example end season 2018–19when Chelsea 9 point Man City 6 point Liverpool ended finishing 3rd next season 2019–20Hence team Ti H2H team end season N parameter used predict rank season N1 Let’s divide data train test shift EPL 2012–13 season team got highly competitive select train data 2013–14 season 2018–19 test model created 2019–20 called outlier season many reason Covid19Liverpool winning title etc traindatafilterPrevSSDasDate20180810 filterPrevSSDasDate20130801 test1datafilterPrevSSDasDate20180810 Getting previous record available promoted team adding 17 team whole 20 team record promotedcNorwichSheffield UnitedAston Villa test2datafilterTeam1inpromoted ungroup groupbyTeam1 arrangedescSeasonStartDate mutaterpprownumber filterrpp1 selectrpp testbindrowstest1test2 traindatatrainungroupselectArsenalWolves testdatatestungroupselectArsenalWolves targetasnumericascharactertrainRank setseed1000 xgbTrain xgbDMatrixasmatrixtraindata label trainRank xgbTest xgbDMatrixasmatrixtestdata extra parameter tuning applied except ntress5000 early stopping round 20 params listbooster gbtree objective rankpairwise Metric used NDCG described tutorial rankModel xgbtrainparams xgbTrain 5000 watchlist listtr xgbTrain evalmetric ndcgearlystoppingrounds 20 Stopping Best iteration 55 trndcg0983104 Predicting Model Test Data 201920 predpredictrankModel xgbTestreshape TRUE testPredpred testpredtest ungroup selectTeam1PrevSSD1RankPred arrangePred mutatePredRankrownumber Probability11expPred selectPrevSSD1Team1RankPredRankPredProbability renameActualRankRankTitleProbabilityProbabilitySeasonStartPrevSSD1 Print prediction frame viewtestpred 2019–20 Season Prediction Voila able get title winner correctly runner Note none training data Liverpool rank 1 city Chelsea Leicester model able pick pattern Liverpool finish looking improvement head head alone Tottenham 3where finished 6thfun breaker huhAlthough season even finishing top 4 UCL final last season coming best season ever Considering outlier away next ranking Man United Chelsea spot lambda rank method provides prevalence top rating bottom one Although except wolvesdue little data availability4 bottom 5 relegation battle 2 actually getting relegated seen accuracy prediction last season let’s see would case end season Load 2020–21 prediction data newtestimport“PairwiseRankingDataPred2020dataxlsx” relc‘Norwich’’Watford’’Bournemouth’ newtestnewtestfilterTeam1inrel newtest2newtestselectTeam1 newtestxgb xgbDMatrixasmatrixnewtest2 predpredictrankModel newtestxgbreshape TRUE newtestPredpred newtestprednewtest ungroup selectTeam1Pred arrangePred mutatePrevSSD1ascharacter‘2020–09–12’PredRankrownumber Probability11expPred selectPrevSSD1Team1PredRankPredProbability renameTitleProbabilityProbabilitySeasonStartPrevSSD1 Print 202021 season prediction viewnewtestpred 2020–21 Season Prediction Noted prediction doesn’t Leeds EPL first time 2002 19 team available Chelsea predicted win league Liverpool coming second United 3rd city 4thWith new signing Chelsea could fact aim Although football infested mind it’s hard digest city finishing 4th either city Liverpool winning league number don’t lie Fingers crossed relegation battle it’s predicted Fulham West Brom Crystal Palace Aston Villa Noted 3 4 promoted last two season Conclusion could bias prediction could effect parameter consideration head head last 2 season effectively doesn’t consider effect change team via transfer priority provided get top ranking correctly bottom one’s Teams new EPL like Leeds doesn’t data associated consider EPL head head hence can’t added completed cool application pairwise ranking believe good application side fact multiple package available xgboost pick interested want brainstorm theory behind give read article httpsmediumcomdavidacad10pairwiserankingeplprediction3ce755575958Tags Machine Learning Premier League AI Applied Machine Learning Data Science |
1,055 | Convolutional Neural Networks — Part 3: Convolutions Over Volume and the Convolutional Layer | Convolutional Neural Networks — Part 3: Convolutions Over Volume and the Convolutional Layer Brighton Nkomo Follow Oct 5 · 7 min read
This is the third part of my blog post series on convolutional neural networks. Here are the pre-requisite parts for this blog post:
Here are the subsequent parts of this series:
A pre-requisite here is knowing matrix convolution, which I have briefly explained in the first section of part one of this series. Also knowing something about the rectifier linear unit (ReLU) activation function could help you understand some points that I mentioned in section 2 here.
A Rubik’s Cube. Some readers may find it useful to visualize the 3D filters, which will appear later in this post, as Rubik cubes.
In the previous parts, we were considering images on a grayscale (black and white images). So what if the input images have color? It turns out that now we have to consider 3D convolutions instead of 2D convolutions.
Did you know? That our smart phones use what is called the
Organic light emitting diode (OLED) to generate the high-quality images that we see whenever we look at our smartphones. An OLED display is composed of a massive grid of individual pixels and each pixel is composed of a red green, and blue subpixel. This picture shows an OLED grid of microscopic individually controlled dimmable red, green and blue lights . There could be over 10 million of these lights on your phone!
1. Convolutions Over Volume
1.1 Convolutions on RGB images
FIGURE 1: Convolving a 6 by 6 by 3 volume with a 3D filter (a 3 by 3 by 3 filter).
An RGB image is represented as a 6 by 6 by 3 volume, where the 3 here responds to the 3 color channels (RGB). In order to detect edges or some other feature in this image, you could convolve the 6 by 6 by 3 volume with a 3D filter (a 3 by 3 by 3 filter) as shown on figure 1, not with a 3 by 3 filter, as we have seen in the previous parts. So the filter itself will also have 3 layers corresponding to the red, green, and blue channels. From figure 1, notice that the first 6 is the height of the image, the second 6 is the width, and the 3 is the number of channels. And your filter also similarly has a height, a width, and the number of channels. The number of channels in your image must match the number of channels in your filter (notice the last numbers are connected by a curved line on figure 1). Also, notice that the output image is a 4 by 4 image (or 4 by 4 by 1 image) instead of a 4 by 4 by 3 image. This will become clear once we look at multiple filters in section 1.2.
FIGURE 2: A representation of a 3D convolution.
Here’s a 6 by 6 by 3 image, and a 3 by 3 by 3 filter once again shown on figure 2. Notice that the 3 by 3 by 3 filter has 27 numbers, or 27 parameters, that’s three cubes. | https://medium.com/swlh/convolutional-neural-networks-part-3-convolutions-over-volume-and-the-convnet-layer-91fb7c08e28b | ['Brighton Nkomo'] | 2020-10-10 15:26:35.122000+00:00 | ['Neural Networks', 'Machine Learning', 'Deep Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Computer Vision'] | Title Convolutional Neural Networks — Part 3 Convolutions Volume Convolutional LayerContent Convolutional Neural Networks — Part 3 Convolutions Volume Convolutional Layer Brighton Nkomo Follow Oct 5 · 7 min read third part blog post series convolutional neural network prerequisite part blog post subsequent part series prerequisite knowing matrix convolution briefly explained first section part one series Also knowing something rectifier linear unit ReLU activation function could help understand point mentioned section 2 Rubik’s Cube reader may find useful visualize 3D filter appear later post Rubik cube previous part considering image grayscale black white image input image color turn consider 3D convolution instead 2D convolution know smart phone use called Organic light emitting diode OLED generate highquality image see whenever look smartphones OLED display composed massive grid individual pixel pixel composed red green blue subpixel picture show OLED grid microscopic individually controlled dimmable red green blue light could 10 million light phone 1 Convolutions Volume 11 Convolutions RGB image FIGURE 1 Convolving 6 6 3 volume 3D filter 3 3 3 filter RGB image represented 6 6 3 volume 3 responds 3 color channel RGB order detect edge feature image could convolve 6 6 3 volume 3D filter 3 3 3 filter shown figure 1 3 3 filter seen previous part filter also 3 layer corresponding red green blue channel figure 1 notice first 6 height image second 6 width 3 number channel filter also similarly height width number channel number channel image must match number channel filter notice last number connected curved line figure 1 Also notice output image 4 4 image 4 4 1 image instead 4 4 3 image become clear look multiple filter section 12 FIGURE 2 representation 3D convolution Here’s 6 6 3 image 3 3 3 filter shown figure 2 Notice 3 3 3 filter 27 number 27 parameter that’s three cubesTags Neural Networks Machine Learning Deep Learning Artificial Intelligence Computer Vision |
1,056 | A gentle introduction to the 5 Google Cloud BigQuery APIs | 1. BigQuery API
The principal API for core interaction. Using this API you can interact with core resources as datasets, views, jobs, and routines. Up today exists 7 client libraries: C#, Go, Java, Node.js, PHP, Python, and Ruby.
Example
For this example, I will use the python client library for the BigQuery API on my personal computer. Consider that you need to have python already installed.
Installing Python
As a recommendation install Visual Studio Code and enter the terminal. I’ll use it for all the examples.
1.1 Install the client library
pip install --upgrade google-cloud-bigquery
Installing the client library
1.2 Setting up authentication
To access the BigQuery service first you need to create a service account and setting an environment variable.
A service account is a special type of Google account intended to represent a non-human user that needs to authenticate and be authorized to access data in Google APIs [GCP Doc].
Enter the Google Cloud Console and then APIs & Services > Credentials > + Create Credentials > Service Account
Creatin a service account
Creatin a service account
After the SA is created we need to set up a JSON key.
Automatically a .json file will be downloaded, keep it safe since it is your key to your BigQuery resources.
Back to the Visual Studio Code terminal provide authentication credentials to your application code by setting the environment variable GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS
set GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=D:\medium\bigquery-apis\key\key_bqsa.json
For this example, I’ll query the Covid dataset.
You could also get the result in a pandas dataframe, fir install the following libraries
pip install pandas
pip install pyarrow
pip install google-cloud-bigquery-storage
2. BigQuery Data Transfer API
API used for ingestion workflows. If you want to include periodic ingestion from Google Cloud Storage or get analytics data from other Google Service like Search Ads 360, Campaign Manager or YouTube, or other third parties services like Amazon S3, Teradata, or Amazon Redshift.
2.1 First install the library
pip install --upgrade google-cloud-bigquery-datatransfer
2.2 Enable the API
Important: You need to enable billing https://console.developers.google.com/billing
Let’s move the data from a YouTube Channel to BigQuery. Go to Marketplace and look for YouTube Channel Transfers and click on Enroll.
Click on Configure Transfer. Lets set some inputs like schedule options and destination setting.
This will prompt a windows asking to access your YouTube data.
When you scheduled a query this API is used.
Now let’s start using this API. First showing all the Data Transfer created
The output give us the Transfer ID.
With the Transfer ID, using the BigQuery Data Transfer API I’m able to run it.
Executing the code returns the job values.
In the BigQuery interface you could follow the execution. In this case I didn’t have YouTube data so this trigger an error.
3. BigQuery Storage API
This API exposes high throughput data reading for consumers who need to scan large volumes of managed data from their own applications and tools [Google Doc].
Let´s build a simple example
3.1 Install the client library
pip install --upgrade google-cloud-bigquery-storage
3.2 Set up the authentication
Follow the steps from 1 to create a service account and get the JSON with the service account key.
3.3 Example 1
Getting the top 20 page views from Wikipedia. This example use both APIs and run a custom query.
3.4 Example 2
If we need fine-grained control over filter and parallelism the BigQuery Storage API read session could be used instead of a query.
The following code only changes to use the Apache Arrow data format.
4. BigQuery Connection API
This API is for establishing a remote connection to allow BigQuery to interact with remote data sources like Cloud SQL. This means BigQuery is enabled to query data residing in Cloud SQL without moving the data.
Let´s build a simple example
4.1 Install the client library and enable the API
pip install --upgrade google-cloud-bigquery-connection
Enable the API accessing the console.
4.2 Set up the authentication
Follow the steps from 1 to create a service account and get the JSON with the service account key.
4.3 Add an external source
For this example, I’ve deployed a Cloud SQL instance in the same project. Next, I’ve added a simple MySQL database as an external source in the BigQuery interface.
Adding the connections parameters
Running the federated query
4.4 Example
This example uses the API to list the connections. For more examples check the official repository.
5. BigQuery Reservation API
This API allows provisioning and manage dedicated resources like slots (virtual CPU used by BigQuery to execute SQL queries) and BigQuery BI Engine ( fast, in-memory analysis service) memory allocation.
5.1 Install the client library
pip install --upgrade google-cloud-bigquery-reservation
5.2 Set up the authentication
Follow the steps from 1 to create a service account and get the JSON with the service account key.
5.3 Enable Reservation API
Go to the BigQuery UI and click on Reservations
5.4 Buy Slots
This feature is more recommendable to organizations that desire to have predictable pricing (flat-rate). Remember that by default on BigQuery you pay per-query (on-demand). The next images simulate a Slot reservation process in order to use later the API.
5.5 Example
Use the API to list the reservations. For more actions check the repository.
Conclusions
BigQuery gives us many features and with the help of these APIs, we can extend the functionality. All the code is available on Github.
PS if you have any questions, or would like something clarified, ping me on Twitter or LinkedIn I like having a data conversation 😊
Useful Links
Core API
Transfer API
Storage API
Connection API
Reservation API | https://towardsdatascience.com/a-gentle-introduction-to-the-5-google-cloud-bigquery-apis-aafdf4ef0181 | ['Antonio Cachuan'] | 2020-12-28 04:45:08.138000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Bigquery', 'Data Engineering', 'Data Science', 'Towards Data Science'] | Title gentle introduction 5 Google Cloud BigQuery APIsContent 1 BigQuery API principal API core interaction Using API interact core resource datasets view job routine today exists 7 client library C Go Java Nodejs PHP Python Ruby Example example use python client library BigQuery API personal computer Consider need python already installed Installing Python recommendation install Visual Studio Code enter terminal I’ll use example 11 Install client library pip install upgrade googlecloudbigquery Installing client library 12 Setting authentication access BigQuery service first need create service account setting environment variable service account special type Google account intended represent nonhuman user need authenticate authorized access data Google APIs GCP Doc Enter Google Cloud Console APIs Services Credentials Create Credentials Service Account Creatin service account Creatin service account SA created need set JSON key Automatically json file downloaded keep safe since key BigQuery resource Back Visual Studio Code terminal provide authentication credential application code setting environment variable GOOGLEAPPLICATIONCREDENTIALS set GOOGLEAPPLICATIONCREDENTIALSDmediumbigqueryapiskeykeybqsajson example I’ll query Covid dataset could also get result panda dataframe fir install following library pip install panda pip install pyarrow pip install googlecloudbigquerystorage 2 BigQuery Data Transfer API API used ingestion workflow want include periodic ingestion Google Cloud Storage get analytics data Google Service like Search Ads 360 Campaign Manager YouTube third party service like Amazon S3 Teradata Amazon Redshift 21 First install library pip install upgrade googlecloudbigquerydatatransfer 22 Enable API Important need enable billing httpsconsoledevelopersgooglecombilling Let’s move data YouTube Channel BigQuery Go Marketplace look YouTube Channel Transfers click Enroll Click Configure Transfer Lets set input like schedule option destination setting prompt window asking access YouTube data scheduled query API used let’s start using API First showing Data Transfer created output give u Transfer ID Transfer ID using BigQuery Data Transfer API I’m able run Executing code return job value BigQuery interface could follow execution case didn’t YouTube data trigger error 3 BigQuery Storage API API expose high throughput data reading consumer need scan large volume managed data application tool Google Doc Let´s build simple example 31 Install client library pip install upgrade googlecloudbigquerystorage 32 Set authentication Follow step 1 create service account get JSON service account key 33 Example 1 Getting top 20 page view Wikipedia example use APIs run custom query 34 Example 2 need finegrained control filter parallelism BigQuery Storage API read session could used instead query following code change use Apache Arrow data format 4 BigQuery Connection API API establishing remote connection allow BigQuery interact remote data source like Cloud SQL mean BigQuery enabled query data residing Cloud SQL without moving data Let´s build simple example 41 Install client library enable API pip install upgrade googlecloudbigqueryconnection Enable API accessing console 42 Set authentication Follow step 1 create service account get JSON service account key 43 Add external source example I’ve deployed Cloud SQL instance project Next I’ve added simple MySQL database external source BigQuery interface Adding connection parameter Running federated query 44 Example example us API list connection example check official repository 5 BigQuery Reservation API API allows provisioning manage dedicated resource like slot virtual CPU used BigQuery execute SQL query BigQuery BI Engine fast inmemory analysis service memory allocation 51 Install client library pip install upgrade googlecloudbigqueryreservation 52 Set authentication Follow step 1 create service account get JSON service account key 53 Enable Reservation API Go BigQuery UI click Reservations 54 Buy Slots feature recommendable organization desire predictable pricing flatrate Remember default BigQuery pay perquery ondemand next image simulate Slot reservation process order use later API 55 Example Use API list reservation action check repository Conclusions BigQuery give u many feature help APIs extend functionality code available Github PS question would like something clarified ping Twitter LinkedIn like data conversation 😊 Useful Links Core API Transfer API Storage API Connection API Reservation APITags Python Bigquery Data Engineering Data Science Towards Data Science |
1,057 | 5 Things Super Productive People Never Do In The Morning | 5 Things Super Productive People Never Do In The Morning
How you spend the first few hours of your morning can make or break the rest of your day
A solid morning routine is the backbone of a productive day. What you do in the morning can make or break the rest of your day.
As Richard Whateley once said, “Lose an hour in the morning, and you will spend all day looking for it.”
The best morning habits put in the perfect mood to get things done. Highly productive people choose what to focus on the morning carefully.
“Focused, productive, successful mornings generate focused, productive, successful days — which inevitably create a successful life — in the same way that unfocused, unproductive, and mediocre mornings generate unfocused, unproductive, and mediocre days, and ultimately a mediocre quality of life,” writes Hal Elrod in his book, The Miracle Morning.
There is a right way to have a productive morning? Some people kick off their day with a morning exercise to increase blood flow and improve mental clarity.
Others meditate, write their thoughts down, read a book, listen to their favourite podcast, learn and absorb a few new things, write ideas down, do creative work or do their most important task.
Highly productive people can also work on their side hustles, or spend time on a hobby. There are dozens of productive things you can do to start your day right.
There are so many better habits you can incorporate into your morning routine but what makes a productive morning depends on what you personally feel you need to do in the morning.
While good habits can set you up for a productive morning, some morning activities hinder our productivity and overall mood and can derail the rest of your day. How you spend the first few hours of your morning is as important as how you spend the last few hours of the day.
Here’s what super-productive people don’t every morning.
They don’t forget to hydrate first thing in the morning
Staying hydrated is a key component to your overall brain & body health. Dehydration can leave you feeling tired in the morning. Productive people drink at least a glass of water first thing in the morning.
“Hydration is incredibly important, especially after waking up. I always find that this larger quantity of water provides incredible energy and prepares my body for the day ahead,” says Jeff Sanders, the author of The 5 A.M. Miracle: Dominate Your Day Before Breakfast.
Instead of a cup of coffee, drink a glass of water first. Starting your day with water helps rehydrate your brain, restore natural metabolism and refreshes your body to gradually focus on the day ahead.
As you sleep, the natural reservoir in your body will be depleted of water — that means your body can be dehydrated and needs nutrients to jumpstart your bodily functions during the day.
Water improves your circulatory system and keeps it running immediately you wake up. Give your body exactly what it needs to start the day right.
Super productive people don’t immediately drink coffee
There’s nothing wrong with your morning coffee.
Coffee might help you start your day, but drinking water before your caffeine can be more beneficial to you in the long run.
Most people grab a cup of coffee first thing after waking up — this habit can interfere with the natural ‘wake up process’ of the body.
“Drinking coffee at peak cortisol times not only diminishes the energy-boosting effects of caffeine but causes your body to build a tolerance to it, meaning the caffeine jolt you get will diminish over time,” says Dr Steve Miller.
Cars run off fuel. Humans run off water. You don’t need caffeine immediately upon waking. Prioritise water first thing in the morning over coffee.
Timing your morning coffee can help you get the most benefit from it. Drinking a glass or two of water right when you wake up will aid in better digestion when you have breakfast.
Highly productive people don’t choose breakfast options without protein and fibre
Low fibre and protein breakfast (or high sugar breakfast) will often set you up for a poor experience later on in the day. Your body uses up sugar energy quickly, and you will soon start feeling inactive.
High-fibre foods and nutritious options like hot oatmeal, multi-grain cereal, eggs, nuts and berries stick with you longer than a sweet roll or pastry.
“Getting healthy fat and protein can create a positive and sustainable boost in energy without giving you a spike in blood sugar and crash,” says Dr Brady Salcido, a personal health expert.
Stacey Morgenstern, co-founder of Health Coach Institute recommends we eat high-quality proteins to keep our energy levels high. “…eat high-quality proteins and fats for a long-lasting source of energy to keep you focused and productive,” she tells Bustle.
Breakfast is an important meal of the day — make it work for your brain and energy and you can boost your performance and energy consistently throughout the day.
They don’t make too many decisions in the morning
Highly effective and productive people don’t spend the first hours of the morning making decisions. Making too many decisions in the morning deplete your energy quickly.
Making too many decisions in the morning will waste your energy in the morning. The best way to spend your mornings is to get straight to activities that bring out the best in you and helps you get things done.
If you spend your mornings deciding when to work out, what to wear, what to eat for breakfast or which tasks to work on, you are wasting brain energy.
Want to read a book in the morning? Pick it out the night before. Want to work on a specific task first thing in the morning? Choose the task the night before and get right to it in the morning. Want to work out in the morning? Choose your gym clothes and put them in a strategic place for easy access.
Don’t get caught up in small or important decisions in the morning.
Highly productive people don’t plan their day in the morning
You can get a lof things done if you start your day on purpose and plan well in advance. Planning what to do the night before
Many successful people spend their evenings preparing for the next morning because it makes their mornings free to get an early start on important tasks.
“Planning the evening before is effective because we have a limited amount of willpower and decision-making ability every day. The thought of making too many decisions in the morning will slow you down and drain your brain for the rest of the day,” writes Britt Joiner of Trello.
So write out your daily to-do list and how you want to spend your morning the night before. After a few weeks of practice, some habits will become automatic and the rest will get easier.
It pays to create your schedule and set your priorities the night before. Waking up to an actionable plan for the day will help you to focus more easily. A maximum of 3 priorities is a good start for a productive morning. If you’re setting your do-list first thing in the morning, you’re already too late! | https://medium.com/personal-growth/5-things-super-productive-people-dont-do-every-morning-29281cf0b1e | ['Thomas Oppong'] | 2020-11-19 15:04:51.839000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Self', 'Self Improvement', 'Productivity', 'Work'] | Title 5 Things Super Productive People Never MorningContent 5 Things Super Productive People Never Morning spend first hour morning make break rest day solid morning routine backbone productive day morning make break rest day Richard Whateley said “Lose hour morning spend day looking it” best morning habit put perfect mood get thing done Highly productive people choose focus morning carefully “Focused productive successful morning generate focused productive successful day — inevitably create successful life — way unfocused unproductive mediocre morning generate unfocused unproductive mediocre day ultimately mediocre quality life” writes Hal Elrod book Miracle Morning right way productive morning people kick day morning exercise increase blood flow improve mental clarity Others meditate write thought read book listen favourite podcast learn absorb new thing write idea creative work important task Highly productive people also work side hustle spend time hobby dozen productive thing start day right many better habit incorporate morning routine make productive morning depends personally feel need morning good habit set productive morning morning activity hinder productivity overall mood derail rest day spend first hour morning important spend last hour day Here’s superproductive people don’t every morning don’t forget hydrate first thing morning Staying hydrated key component overall brain body health Dehydration leave feeling tired morning Productive people drink least glass water first thing morning “Hydration incredibly important especially waking always find larger quantity water provides incredible energy prepares body day ahead” say Jeff Sanders author 5 Miracle Dominate Day Breakfast Instead cup coffee drink glass water first Starting day water help rehydrate brain restore natural metabolism refreshes body gradually focus day ahead sleep natural reservoir body depleted water — mean body dehydrated need nutrient jumpstart bodily function day Water improves circulatory system keep running immediately wake Give body exactly need start day right Super productive people don’t immediately drink coffee There’s nothing wrong morning coffee Coffee might help start day drinking water caffeine beneficial long run people grab cup coffee first thing waking — habit interfere natural ‘wake process’ body “Drinking coffee peak cortisol time diminishes energyboosting effect caffeine cause body build tolerance meaning caffeine jolt get diminish time” say Dr Steve Miller Cars run fuel Humans run water don’t need caffeine immediately upon waking Prioritise water first thing morning coffee Timing morning coffee help get benefit Drinking glass two water right wake aid better digestion breakfast Highly productive people don’t choose breakfast option without protein fibre Low fibre protein breakfast high sugar breakfast often set poor experience later day body us sugar energy quickly soon start feeling inactive Highfibre food nutritious option like hot oatmeal multigrain cereal egg nut berry stick longer sweet roll pastry “Getting healthy fat protein create positive sustainable boost energy without giving spike blood sugar crash” say Dr Brady Salcido personal health expert Stacey Morgenstern cofounder Health Coach Institute recommends eat highquality protein keep energy level high “…eat highquality protein fat longlasting source energy keep focused productive” tell Bustle Breakfast important meal day — make work brain energy boost performance energy consistently throughout day don’t make many decision morning Highly effective productive people don’t spend first hour morning making decision Making many decision morning deplete energy quickly Making many decision morning waste energy morning best way spend morning get straight activity bring best help get thing done spend morning deciding work wear eat breakfast task work wasting brain energy Want read book morning Pick night Want work specific task first thing morning Choose task night get right morning Want work morning Choose gym clothes put strategic place easy access Don’t get caught small important decision morning Highly productive people don’t plan day morning get lof thing done start day purpose plan well advance Planning night Many successful people spend evening preparing next morning make morning free get early start important task “Planning evening effective limited amount willpower decisionmaking ability every day thought making many decision morning slow drain brain rest day” writes Britt Joiner Trello write daily todo list want spend morning night week practice habit become automatic rest get easier pay create schedule set priority night Waking actionable plan day help focus easily maximum 3 priority good start productive morning you’re setting dolist first thing morning you’re already lateTags Creativity Self Self Improvement Productivity Work |
1,058 | Why Depression Is Becoming an Issue for Software Engineers — And How to Deal With It | Practical Steps
1. Ask for help
Software developers are often too proud to admit they need help. My first and most important advice is: Ask for help. There's a ton of ways to do that, like online or in-person physiological sessions (highly recommended) or speaking with a close friend/husband/spouse/mate/preacher. This will produce two important fruits. a) You will acknowledge to yourself that you need help, but more importantly, you're progressing in healing and that's releases dopamine. It will also b) bring outside wisdom and accountability to the table.
2. Set small fitness goals
Yes, you heard that. F-I-T-N-E-S-S. A person who lives a life based in healthy habits is someone with far fewer chances to face depression. Additionally, habits are built upon goals, and goals, once achieved, produce happiness and fulfillment, and then dopamine. Remember, developer, we are logical people. We are breaking a bad cycle and in order to succeed, we need to fill this place with something else. Walking, running, some sit-ups, etc. Start slow, but start.
3. Stop eating garbage
Your body needs some fuel to help you get out of this cycle, so make a deal with yourself. Set a goal of small changes, i.e., Tuesdays without eating/drinking sugar, or drink three liters of water three days a week. Again, the main objective is to define small yet achievable goals that will produce direct and indirect benefits for you.
4. Join a community and socialise
In times like we're living in, it's really hard to be physically connected to a community, but if possible, I'd highly recommend that. Churches, small interest groups, meetups, mentorship meetings, etc. We are social animals and we need to interact with others, for real.
5. Help others
Yes, help others, even if you’re not ready with your own healing. There’s tremendous power in helping others. As a side effect of this, a different perspective based on somebody else’s problems can shift your mind and change your inside almost instantly. Teach a course for free, mentor junior developers, or do a Q&A session with people trying to get into our profession.
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” — Mahatma Gandhi
6. Find an accountability partner
This is a golden rule. There's no need for it to be a close friend if you don't want to. Find someone who you can drop a daily message sharing your progress. This person will be like your personal trainer. You will be amazed at how many people are willing to play this role and help others. | https://medium.com/better-programming/why-depression-is-becoming-an-issue-for-software-engineers-and-how-to-deal-with-it-8478f361033d | ['Jonathan Ferreira'] | 2020-09-02 04:37:13.491000+00:00 | ['Software Development', 'Mental Health', 'Self-awareness', 'Self Improvement', 'Programming'] | Title Depression Becoming Issue Software Engineers — Deal ItContent Practical Steps 1 Ask help Software developer often proud admit need help first important advice Ask help Theres ton way like online inperson physiological session highly recommended speaking close friendhusbandspousematepreacher produce two important fruit acknowledge need help importantly youre progressing healing thats release dopamine also b bring outside wisdom accountability table 2 Set small fitness goal Yes heard FITNESS person life life based healthy habit someone far fewer chance face depression Additionally habit built upon goal goal achieved produce happiness fulfillment dopamine Remember developer logical people breaking bad cycle order succeed need fill place something else Walking running situps etc Start slow start 3 Stop eating garbage body need fuel help get cycle make deal Set goal small change ie Tuesdays without eatingdrinking sugar drink three liter water three day week main objective define small yet achievable goal produce direct indirect benefit 4 Join community socialise time like living really hard physically connected community possible Id highly recommend Churches small interest group meetups mentorship meeting etc social animal need interact others real 5 Help others Yes help others even you’re ready healing There’s tremendous power helping others side effect different perspective based somebody else’s problem shift mind change inside almost instantly Teach course free mentor junior developer QA session people trying get profession “The best way find lose service others” — Mahatma Gandhi 6 Find accountability partner golden rule Theres need close friend dont want Find someone drop daily message sharing progress person like personal trainer amazed many people willing play role help othersTags Software Development Mental Health Selfawareness Self Improvement Programming |
1,059 | 3 to read: LA Times debacle | Goodbye, alt weeklies | Amazing 1950s dataviz | By Matt Carroll <@MattCData>
Aug. 29, 2017: Cool stuff about journalism, once a week. Get notified via email? Subscribe: 3toread (at) gmail.
Originally published on 3toread.co
What’s the matter with the L.A. Times?: The editorial leadership of the L.A. Times was fired this week, in a stunning move. Well, here’s some of the jaw-dropping backstory that led to the axings. Ed Leibowitz of L.A. Magazine details the ineptness of editor-in-chief and publisher Davan Maharaj, who sat on major investigative pieces for years, but had time to ask reporters to check out his new Italian shoes. The story ran in December, but it’s worth resurrecting for it’s excruciating detail of dysfunction at the top of what was once a great newsroom.
Logo by Leigh Carroll (Instagram: @leighzaah)
2. What we lose when we say goodbye to alt weeklies: The Village Voice is dead, at least in print. So, pretty much, are alt weeklies across the country. Paul Farhi of the WaPo has a nice elegy of what we have lost when those quirky mixes of band reviews, massage parlor ads, and hard-hitting political coverage closed up shop. A good read.
3. Amazing graphics from the 1950s NYT archive: Most people tend to think of “data viz” as a relatively new phenomenon. Not quite. News orgs have been doing impressive data viz for as long as they have existed. Stuart A. Thompson on Medium has a wonderful piece on some spectacular (and forgotten) visualizations done at the NYT during the 1950s. Check out the cool space travel illustrations (all b&w, by the way).
Get notified via email: Send a note to 3toread (at) gmail.com
Matt Carroll is a journalism professor at Northeastern University. | https://medium.com/3-to-read/3-to-read-la-times-debacle-goodbye-alt-weeklies-amazing-1950s-dataviz-6f9a51367229 | ['Matt Carroll'] | 2017-08-28 17:47:47.348000+00:00 | ['Journalism', 'Dataviz', 'Alt Weeklies', 'Media', 'Data Visualization'] | Title 3 read LA Times debacle Goodbye alt weekly Amazing 1950s datavizContent Matt Carroll MattCData Aug 29 2017 Cool stuff journalism week Get notified via email Subscribe 3toread gmail Originally published 3toreadco What’s matter LA Times editorial leadership LA Times fired week stunning move Well here’s jawdropping backstory led axings Ed Leibowitz LA Magazine detail ineptness editorinchief publisher Davan Maharaj sat major investigative piece year time ask reporter check new Italian shoe story ran December it’s worth resurrecting it’s excruciating detail dysfunction top great newsroom Logo Leigh Carroll Instagram leighzaah 2 lose say goodbye alt weekly Village Voice dead least print pretty much alt weekly across country Paul Farhi WaPo nice elegy lost quirky mix band review massage parlor ad hardhitting political coverage closed shop good read 3 Amazing graphic 1950s NYT archive people tend think “data viz” relatively new phenomenon quite News orgs impressive data viz long existed Stuart Thompson Medium wonderful piece spectacular forgotten visualization done NYT 1950s Check cool space travel illustration bw way Get notified via email Send note 3toread gmailcom Matt Carroll journalism professor Northeastern UniversityTags Journalism Dataviz Alt Weeklies Media Data Visualization |
1,060 | Let’s Help Each Other Grow | This idea was born as a result of seeing Darrin Atkins article We Can Help Each Other.
I’m not even entirely sure if this is allowed on this platform but at this point all I have to say is eeF-it. We need to come together and support each other.
I want nothing more than to see others succeed in this world. And that’s why I feel compelled to post this article.
So, if you have a business, comment the link to your website, social media or simply explain how we can help support your business.
No request is too big or too small.
You may be surprised by the type of support you get from this article.
I look forward to seeing how I can help.
Let’s Help Each Other Grow!
oh. P.S. This article is monetized but I will donate all of the proceeds of this article, if any, to a business or entrepreneur that has commented and I will pick at random on Jan 15, 2020.
Gain Access to Expert View — Subscribe to DDI Intel | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/lets-help-each-other-grow-4310a6475dee | ['Tim Lekach'] | 2020-12-29 15:15:59.268000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneurship', 'Small Business', 'Business', 'Entrepreneur', 'Marketing'] | Title Let’s Help GrowContent idea born result seeing Darrin Atkins article Help I’m even entirely sure allowed platform point say eeFit need come together support want nothing see others succeed world that’s feel compelled post article business comment link website social medium simply explain help support business request big small may surprised type support get article look forward seeing help Let’s Help Grow oh PS article monetized donate proceeds article business entrepreneur commented pick random Jan 15 2020 Gain Access Expert View — Subscribe DDI IntelTags Entrepreneurship Small Business Business Entrepreneur Marketing |
1,061 | The greatest dataviz, that nobody has seen… | One step back.
“Remove to improve” — it’s an expression used in countless professions and can, crazily enough, also be applied to data visualizations. Edward R. Tufte introduced the concept of data-ink ratio in his classic “The Visual Display of Quantitative information” in 1983. The concept talks about removing most of the non-data ink/pixels to improve the data to tell its story. Most people who are serious about data visualization will or have probably come to know this concept. The data-ink ratio can easily be applied to dashboards and other visualizations where you expect the audience to already be interested. But what if you need to convert people and get them engaged towards your story? By applying the data-ink ratio and holding onto it too much, we could lose our users within the onboarding process, because maybe we’ve removed an easy to digest piece of context.
I think there are several reasons why designers should consider onboarding, but I want to highlight three of my main reasons: ambiguity, irreversible growth of data and conversion.
Ambiguous figures
One of the reasons why we should consider onboarding is because of the ambiguity of data visualization. Most data visualizations are telling multiple stories at once. Now you might think; how is that possible, it’s only one figure, right? It has everything to do with the “curse” of knowledge and Steven Franconeri pointed it out during the Openvis Conference 2018: “Knowledge and expertise can literally change what you see.” When I create a more complex visualization about a certain topic, experts about this topic are likely to see this visualization differently than I do. The visualization tells them a more detailed story. It’s like an “Ambiguous Wally” figure: whenever you spot Wally in a “Where’s Wally” figure, the figure looks different because you’re now cursed with the knowledge of Wally’s location.
Onboarding can help a lot by making data visualization less ambiguous.
Ambiguous Wally
Growth of data
Besides us humans being responsible for the growing amount of plastic into our oceans, we’re also responsible for the ongoing growth of data. Data is growing, but with help of intelligent software we can unfold these big piles of data and discover the relations within. But we still have to tell the story of the unfolded, complicated data. Most graphs, for example line graphs, bar charts or scatterplots, are well known to most people. Main reason for this is that we have been taught the function of these graphs at primary/high school. The only problem with these kind of graphs is that they’re not always able to tell highly complicated stories efficiently. Maarten Lambrechts (2018) suggests that we should all start acting like William Playfair (great inventor of the bar chart and line graph but also the pie chart 😢). By creating more custom and perhaps weird visualizations we could solve this problem.
Within these custom visualizations we can combine multiple dimensions at once, which provide the possibility for getting better insights out of complex data. But these custom visualizations need some kind of onboarding to reveal their true power.
Conversion
For this it’s maybe nice to have a look at Reif’s Larssens Fairly Unscientific Graph of an Infogasm. As mentioned, it’s unscientific, but it shows Reif’s process of processing information when he looks at an infographic. First, Reif is really excited about all the information he instantly understands…..then he realises he doesn’t…….and then he gradually starts to unfold the infographic like reading a paragraph.
From a conversion point of view, it’s important to realise that people need to understand quickly and easily how the data visualization works and what it could mean to them. According to research conducted by Lindgaard, Fernandes, Dudek, & Brown (2006), people make up their mind about a website in the blink of an eye. I don’t know to what extent this conclusion applies to data visualization, but it tells us something about their attention span. We might grab their attention by gradually telling people a story. | https://medium.com/adyen-design/the-greatest-dataviz-that-nobody-has-seen-bf71e385090b | ['Luuk Van Der Meer'] | 2019-04-04 12:08:51.076000+00:00 | ['Dataviz', 'Fintech', 'Data Visualization', 'Design'] | Title greatest dataviz nobody seen…Content One step back “Remove improve” — it’s expression used countless profession crazily enough also applied data visualization Edward R Tufte introduced concept dataink ratio classic “The Visual Display Quantitative information” 1983 concept talk removing nondata inkpixels improve data tell story people serious data visualization probably come know concept dataink ratio easily applied dashboard visualization expect audience already interested need convert people get engaged towards story applying dataink ratio holding onto much could lose user within onboarding process maybe we’ve removed easy digest piece context think several reason designer consider onboarding want highlight three main reason ambiguity irreversible growth data conversion Ambiguous figure One reason consider onboarding ambiguity data visualization data visualization telling multiple story might think possible it’s one figure right everything “curse” knowledge Steven Franconeri pointed Openvis Conference 2018 “Knowledge expertise literally change see” create complex visualization certain topic expert topic likely see visualization differently visualization tell detailed story It’s like “Ambiguous Wally” figure whenever spot Wally “Where’s Wally” figure figure look different you’re cursed knowledge Wally’s location Onboarding help lot making data visualization le ambiguous Ambiguous Wally Growth data Besides u human responsible growing amount plastic ocean we’re also responsible ongoing growth data Data growing help intelligent software unfold big pile data discover relation within still tell story unfolded complicated data graph example line graph bar chart scatterplots well known people Main reason taught function graph primaryhigh school problem kind graph they’re always able tell highly complicated story efficiently Maarten Lambrechts 2018 suggests start acting like William Playfair great inventor bar chart line graph also pie chart 😢 creating custom perhaps weird visualization could solve problem Within custom visualization combine multiple dimension provide possibility getting better insight complex data custom visualization need kind onboarding reveal true power Conversion it’s maybe nice look Reif’s Larssens Fairly Unscientific Graph Infogasm mentioned it’s unscientific show Reif’s process processing information look infographic First Reif really excited information instantly understands…then realises doesn’t……and gradually start unfold infographic like reading paragraph conversion point view it’s important realise people need understand quickly easily data visualization work could mean According research conducted Lindgaard Fernandes Dudek Brown 2006 people make mind website blink eye don’t know extent conclusion applies data visualization tell u something attention span might grab attention gradually telling people storyTags Dataviz Fintech Data Visualization Design |
1,062 | A guide to IBM’s complete set of data & AI tools and services | A guide to IBM’s complete set of data & AI tools and services
So you can be a fearless wielder of AI
Before you scroll down through this page and think “There is no way I’m getting into all this, no ma’am,” just hold up a sec and let me tell you one, er… four, very quick things first:
As someone who was trained in Swiss grids, rubylith, and letterpress — and has had to make those archaic skills work through 20+ years of design jobs evolving from print, branding, websites, apps, platform strategies, software and most recently AI — I 100% promise if you, if you follow these tried-and-true rules, you’ll be fine no matter how much of the tech stuff you do or don’t absorb. Ready? Burn this into your brain:
No matter what new technology comes along…
Designing for any medium will always be, first and foremost, about satisfying user and business needs.
Starting with why and designing with the end in mind always leads to the right results.
And finally, good design is still good design. Poop is still poop.
And the one tip I’ll add to this list specifically for AI…
For every single step of every AI use case you come up with, ask yourself, “Couldn’t AI just do that for the user?” and “How does the user know if what the AI is doing/recommending is right?”
All this said, the more of the tech stuff you DO understand, the more confidently you’ll be able to push your concepts and your team to build better, cooler AI features. So here it is my design lovelies…
the shortest, sweetest summary of all of IBM’s data & AI tools and services and what you can use them for that you’ll find on the interwebs as of 3:27pm, Monday, October 12th, 2020!
What we’re about to cover:
The AI Ladder
Cloud Pak for Data
Watson Studio
— Watson Natural Language Classifier in Watson Studio
— Data Refinery in Watson Studio
— Cognos Dashboard Embedded Service in Watson Studio
Watson Assistant
Watson Discovery
Watson Natural Language Understanding
Watson OpenScale
Watson Knowledge Catalog
Watson AIOps
Which IBM services to use for the six main AI capabilities
Recommended links
— —
Note: The vast majority of this content is consolidated and simplified from other sources that I’ve pointed to in the Recommended Links sections. Can’t take any credit for real authorship here, just a clean-up for your speed learning enjoyment :) | https://medium.com/design-ibm/a-guide-to-ibms-complete-set-of-data-ai-tools-and-services-29662433ad07 | ['Jennifer Aue'] | 2020-10-16 15:17:05.997000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Design', 'Ibm Data Science', 'AI', 'Ibm Watson'] | Title guide IBM’s complete set data AI tool servicesContent guide IBM’s complete set data AI tool service fearless wielder AI scroll page think “There way I’m getting ma’am” hold sec let tell one er… four quick thing first someone trained Swiss grid rubylith letterpress — make archaic skill work 20 year design job evolving print branding website apps platform strategy software recently AI — 100 promise follow triedandtrue rule you’ll fine matter much tech stuff don’t absorb Ready Burn brain matter new technology come along… Designing medium always first foremost satisfying user business need Starting designing end mind always lead right result finally good design still good design Poop still poop one tip I’ll add list specifically AI… every single step every AI use case come ask “Couldn’t AI user” “How user know AI doingrecommending right” said tech stuff understand confidently you’ll able push concept team build better cooler AI feature design lovelies… shortest sweetest summary IBM’s data AI tool service use you’ll find interwebs 327pm Monday October 12th 2020 we’re cover AI Ladder Cloud Pak Data Watson Studio — Watson Natural Language Classifier Watson Studio — Data Refinery Watson Studio — Cognos Dashboard Embedded Service Watson Studio Watson Assistant Watson Discovery Watson Natural Language Understanding Watson OpenScale Watson Knowledge Catalog Watson AIOps IBM service use six main AI capability Recommended link — — Note vast majority content consolidated simplified source I’ve pointed Recommended Links section Can’t take credit real authorship cleanup speed learning enjoyment Tags Machine Learning Design Ibm Data Science AI Ibm Watson |
1,063 | Despite Dying at 25, Here’s How This Poet Wrote Some of the Best Poems in History | After some time, Keats had a desire to try his hand on poetry. But when he started writing, he discovered a huge setback in his learning process — he had no instructor or group he could exchange ideas with and get feedback from.
To overcome this setback, he would have to read as many great poets as possible. He began to structure his writing to mimic the style of the writers he wanted to be like. Soon, he was creating verses in dozens, slowly but steadily getting better and discovering his own voice through the works of the writers he modeled himself after.
As his love for poetry grew, he needed to find better and harder challenges to help him master this skill that he loved so much. Next, he set out on a rigorous task to write a long poem of precisely 4000 lines. This poem, which revolved around the ancient Greek myth of Endymion, he decided, would be a test to his imaginative and inventive power.
For Keats, it was all about the tension and difficulty. To make this task even more rigorous, he set his deadline at an impossible seven months period, during which he would write fifty lines per day.
Draft of Endymion by John Keats; from the collection in the Morgan Library. Via Wikipedia commons
This task wasn’t just difficult, it made Keats hate his own writing. Just a few lines into writing the poem, he discovered another flaw in his prose — it contained too many unnecessary words (and clichés). Though it frustrated him that he wasn’t half as good as he’d fancied himself to be, he found solace in the fact that this exercise was helping him discover his flaws.
Despite the setback, he finished the poem. Though he considered Endymion to be a mediocre piece, the lessons he learned from the rigorous exercise will change his writing forever.
He had learned to never depend on how he felt to write. He now knew that no matter the mood he was in, what mattered was to get himself to start and continue writing. That the best ideas came when he was writing the poem itself. Not when he was sitting, ruminating over his inadequacies.
He had acquired the habit of writing quickly with intensity and focus. He’d learned to write through drudgery, fishing out his own faults. Armed with these lessons from years practice and self-criticism Keats would go on to produce some of the most memorable poems and odes that would be talked about long after he was gone.
The years between 1818 and 1819, before Keats became gravely ill, became perhaps the most productive two years in the history of Western literature.
Though he died in Rome from a tuberculosis infection in 1821 (at an early age of 25), his reputation grew rapidly because of the magnificence of his writings. | https://destinyfemi.medium.com/despite-dying-at-25-heres-how-this-poet-wrote-some-of-the-best-poems-in-history-6b0d6fee4574 | ['Destiny Femi'] | 2020-09-20 15:31:59.757000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'History', 'Writing', 'Poetry', 'Creativity'] | Title Despite Dying 25 Here’s Poet Wrote Best Poems HistoryContent time Keats desire try hand poetry started writing discovered huge setback learning process — instructor group could exchange idea get feedback overcome setback would read many great poet possible began structure writing mimic style writer wanted like Soon creating verse dozen slowly steadily getting better discovering voice work writer modeled love poetry grew needed find better harder challenge help master skill loved much Next set rigorous task write long poem precisely 4000 line poem revolved around ancient Greek myth Endymion decided would test imaginative inventive power Keats tension difficulty make task even rigorous set deadline impossible seven month period would write fifty line per day Draft Endymion John Keats collection Morgan Library Via Wikipedia common task wasn’t difficult made Keats hate writing line writing poem discovered another flaw prose — contained many unnecessary word clichés Though frustrated wasn’t half good he’d fancied found solace fact exercise helping discover flaw Despite setback finished poem Though considered Endymion mediocre piece lesson learned rigorous exercise change writing forever learned never depend felt write knew matter mood mattered get start continue writing best idea came writing poem sitting ruminating inadequacy acquired habit writing quickly intensity focus He’d learned write drudgery fishing fault Armed lesson year practice selfcriticism Keats would go produce memorable poem ode would talked long gone year 1818 1819 Keats became gravely ill became perhaps productive two year history Western literature Though died Rome tuberculosis infection 1821 early age 25 reputation grew rapidly magnificence writingsTags Self Improvement History Writing Poetry Creativity |
1,064 | Where To Live If You Want To Escape Climate Change | Where To Live If You Want To Escape Climate Change
You don’t need to be a doomsday prepper to prepare for a warmer world.
Photo by Fabian Mardi on Unsplash
The world’s getting pretty crazy, isn’t it?
I’m only 25, but I can’t recall living through times as strange and surreal as these.
And lurking in the background of all the distressing headlines we see every day is the omnipresent threat of climate change.
The climate crisis is rearing its very ugly head these days. From massive wildfires in California to deadly hurricanes in the Atlantic to record-breaking monsoon flooding in South Asia, the natural world is reminding us every day that thanks to our exploitative attitude toward the planet, we’re running on borrowed time.
I’m cautiously optimistic we’ll solve the climate crisis in due time.
But while you should really hope for the best (since we’re talking about the whole freaking planet), you should prepare for the worst.
If you’re like me, you might be thinking about how you can get away from all this craziness while protecting yourself from the worst long-term impacts of climate change.
Out of personal curiosity, I recently did some Internet digging to evaluate where I might relocate in the long run to keep my head above water (literally and figuratively). I’m assuming we won’t all join hands and start a love train to Mars or the Moon with Elon Musk and/or Jeff Bezos as our overlords, although nothing is out of the realm of possibility these days!
I limited my search to the United States, although you can apply the rationale I detail below to consider where else you can live in a climate apocalypse. | https://medium.com/climate-conscious/where-to-live-if-you-want-to-escape-climate-change-a55e3a52eb22 | ['Danny Schleien'] | 2020-09-01 13:01:01.965000+00:00 | ['Environment', 'Disaster Preparedness', 'Real Estate', 'Climate Change', 'Science'] | Title Live Want Escape Climate ChangeContent Live Want Escape Climate Change don’t need doomsday prepper prepare warmer world Photo Fabian Mardi Unsplash world’s getting pretty crazy isn’t I’m 25 can’t recall living time strange surreal lurking background distressing headline see every day omnipresent threat climate change climate crisis rearing ugly head day massive wildfire California deadly hurricane Atlantic recordbreaking monsoon flooding South Asia natural world reminding u every day thanks exploitative attitude toward planet we’re running borrowed time I’m cautiously optimistic we’ll solve climate crisis due time really hope best since we’re talking whole freaking planet prepare worst you’re like might thinking get away craziness protecting worst longterm impact climate change personal curiosity recently Internet digging evaluate might relocate long run keep head water literally figuratively I’m assuming won’t join hand start love train Mars Moon Elon Musk andor Jeff Bezos overlord although nothing realm possibility day limited search United States although apply rationale detail consider else live climate apocalypseTags Environment Disaster Preparedness Real Estate Climate Change Science |
1,065 | Have a Happy, Healthy Holiday! | Have a Happy, Healthy Holiday!
Merry Christmas! Happy Kwanza! Happy New Year!
Photo by freestocks on Unsplash
Happy, Happy Holidays from all of us at Middle-Pause! Whatever and however you celebrate, may your joy overflow and spread out in all directions, blessing everyone and everything.
We are pleased to announce our Podcast Episode #3 launches on January 1, 2021. Start the new year with our very own Debbie Walker interviewing yours truly!
If you’ve missed our first two episodes, catch them here: STOMP! Stronger Together on Middle-Pause. We aim to inspire you while doing what you gotta do!
In the meantime, lift your spirits with these posts…
Delighted by a Magician’s Mistake — Aikya Param
All I want for Christmas is a Good Night’s Sleep — Marilyn Flower
Putting Up the Lights on Remembrance Day — Alison Acheson
How to Choose the Power of Joy in Your Life — Debbie Walker | https://medium.com/middle-pause/have-a-happy-healthy-holiday-30f74b328061 | ['Marilyn Flower'] | 2020-12-24 16:50:45.717000+00:00 | ['Holidays', 'Health', 'Mental Health', 'Christmas', 'Wisdom'] | Title Happy Healthy HolidayContent Happy Healthy Holiday Merry Christmas Happy Kwanza Happy New Year Photo freestocks Unsplash Happy Happy Holidays u MiddlePause Whatever however celebrate may joy overflow spread direction blessing everyone everything pleased announce Podcast Episode 3 launch January 1 2021 Start new year Debbie Walker interviewing truly you’ve missed first two episode catch STOMP Stronger Together MiddlePause aim inspire gotta meantime lift spirit posts… Delighted Magician’s Mistake — Aikya Param want Christmas Good Night’s Sleep — Marilyn Flower Putting Lights Remembrance Day — Alison Acheson Choose Power Joy Life — Debbie WalkerTags Holidays Health Mental Health Christmas Wisdom |
1,066 | How I Built a Lasting Exercise Habit | I chase a feeling, not a size or shape
It starts with having the right goals. What do you want to get out of exercise?
In too many instances, people prioritize aesthetics above all else.
“I want to be thinner”
“I want to look better in a bathing suit”
“I want to be more muscular”
“I want heads to turn as I walk by”
And so they grind away, forever in pursuit of their ideal. But they never quite get there, often resulting in them taking extensive time off or quitting all-together.
It’s because they have the wrong goal.
Aesthetics should be a side effect of a larger commitment to health and fitness, not the root motivator. What should motivate you is how exercise makes you feel, because exercise feels good.
It’s this feeling I chase each and every day.
When I’m out running, I’m searching for the “groove”. That place where things are firing on all cylinders, everything is clicking, and movement feels smooth and effortless.
Time flies by. Motivation is high. When I’m done I feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, knowing I just spent time doing something healthy that’s highly productive. It’s an addicting feeling.
Once you get a taste of it, you’ll want it more and more. And so you’ll keep coming back for more and more.
Next time you’re not feeling motivated, exercise by feel instead. Don’t worry about weight or sets or reps or time or distance or anything. Just show up and do whatever the spirit moves you to do.
It’s a lot easier to find the “groove” when you’re not limited by yours (or others’) expectations.
Prioritize completion, not competition
Deep down, humans are hardwired for competition.
According to Psychology Today’s Sander van der Linden:
“There is something inexplicably compelling about the nature of competition. Perhaps that’s because, as some scholars argue, ‘competitiveness’ is a biological trait that co-evolved with the basic need for human survival.”
We compete against others in virtually every aspect of our lives. From how much money we make and what type of car we drive to how much weight we lift and how fast we run.
Some competition is good. Competition fosters ambition, conscientiousness, and tenacity. These are very useful traits for getting ahead in society.
But too much competition is a path to the dark side, as Yoda would say. Too much competition fosters negative traits like obsession, selfishness and dissatisfaction. And ultimately, failure.
For exercisers, this may manifest itself in the form of an injury, a plateau, or total burnout. All of which leads to breaking our exercise routine.
Prioritizing completion takes the pressure off.
Don’t worry about how fast you run, just get your mileage in. Don’t worry about how much weight you lift, just get your exercises in. Don’t worry about how you look compared to the yoga instructor, just get your class in.
Personally, once I started prioritizing completing my runs vs timing my runs, my overall mileage increased, my satisfaction with running increased, and my injury propensity decreased dramatically.
Worry less about what other’s think
I’ve learned to ignore the naysayers.
For whatever reason, it seems like other people take a curiously high, often inappropriate level of interest in my day to day decision-making.
I’m always astounded by how my exercise, diet and daily habits have the ability to influence (and often offend) other people when they have nothing to do with them.
Why do you care how many miles I run?
Why do you care in what order I perform my exercises?
Why do you care if I switch up my diet?
Why do you care what time I go to bed or wake up in the morning?
And any number of other examples.
It’s as if doing what’s best for me is a personal affront to them. A curious phenomenon indeed.
Learn to ignore these people.
I say learn because it won’t happen overnight. It will take practice. It’s not easy to fend off resistance from your workout partner about you changing your routine, or pushback from your buddies about you taking some time away from alcohol.
I’m a huge proponent of exercising alone. I know the science behind increased exercise motivation in a group setting, but I remain steadfast on this one. Exercising alone will help you build confidence in yourself and your plan, because there isn’t anyone else you need to please.
Work group exercise sessions back into your routine in time if that’s what you want to do, after you’ve developed the confidence and assurance in yourself.
Plus, I find it much easier to find the “groove” in a solo setting.
And it’s all about finding the “groove”.
Be strong, be safe, be well. | https://medium.com/in-fitness-and-in-health/how-i-built-a-lasting-exercise-habit-d72f77d6dc4 | ['Scott Mayer'] | 2020-10-29 20:42:44.941000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Fitness', 'Lifestyle', 'Health', 'Motivation'] | Title Built Lasting Exercise HabitContent chase feeling size shape start right goal want get exercise many instance people prioritize aesthetic else “I want thinner” “I want look better bathing suit” “I want muscular” “I want head turn walk by” grind away forever pursuit ideal never quite get often resulting taking extensive time quitting alltogether It’s wrong goal Aesthetics side effect larger commitment health fitness root motivator motivate exercise make feel exercise feel good It’s feeling chase every day I’m running I’m searching “groove” place thing firing cylinder everything clicking movement feel smooth effortless Time fly Motivation high I’m done feel sense accomplishment satisfaction knowing spent time something healthy that’s highly productive It’s addicting feeling get taste you’ll want you’ll keep coming back Next time you’re feeling motivated exercise feel instead Don’t worry weight set rep time distance anything show whatever spirit move It’s lot easier find “groove” you’re limited others’ expectation Prioritize completion competition Deep human hardwired competition According Psychology Today’s Sander van der Linden “There something inexplicably compelling nature competition Perhaps that’s scholar argue ‘competitiveness’ biological trait coevolved basic need human survival” compete others virtually every aspect life much money make type car drive much weight lift fast run competition good Competition foster ambition conscientiousness tenacity useful trait getting ahead society much competition path dark side Yoda would say much competition foster negative trait like obsession selfishness dissatisfaction ultimately failure exerciser may manifest form injury plateau total burnout lead breaking exercise routine Prioritizing completion take pressure Don’t worry fast run get mileage Don’t worry much weight lift get exercise Don’t worry look compared yoga instructor get class Personally started prioritizing completing run v timing run overall mileage increased satisfaction running increased injury propensity decreased dramatically Worry le other’s think I’ve learned ignore naysayer whatever reason seems like people take curiously high often inappropriate level interest day day decisionmaking I’m always astounded exercise diet daily habit ability influence often offend people nothing care many mile run care order perform exercise care switch diet care time go bed wake morning number example It’s what’s best personal affront curious phenomenon indeed Learn ignore people say learn won’t happen overnight take practice It’s easy fend resistance workout partner changing routine pushback buddy taking time away alcohol I’m huge proponent exercising alone know science behind increased exercise motivation group setting remain steadfast one Exercising alone help build confidence plan isn’t anyone else need please Work group exercise session back routine time that’s want you’ve developed confidence assurance Plus find much easier find “groove” solo setting it’s finding “groove” strong safe wellTags Life Fitness Lifestyle Health Motivation |
1,067 | What It’s Like to Be Transgender in a Psychiatric Hospital. | Going to a psychiatric hospital can be a scary experience, especially if its your first time. However, if you’re transgender it can go from extremely scary, to an absolute nightmare in the matter of seconds. In this article I will be sharing my experience in a psychiatric facility last week.
It was a Tuesday night, I was having extreme anxiety as well as the early signs of a panic attack. I’ve always had anxiety, but it was never this bad. My regular coping skills weren’t working, I was ready to do anything to make it stop. Once I felt myself progressing to this state, I walked into Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Upon a full psychological evaluation, they determined that I wasn’t safe. I was cooperative, and agreed to be transferred to a psychiatric hospital for a 5150 (72 hour) hold. Not that I had a choice, I just knew that being cooperative would be helpful for this kind of situation.
Since CHLA doesn’t offer inpatient psychiatric care, they had to transport me to a hospital that did. My stomach dropped to my feet once I found out that they couldn’t treat me there. I asked ER doctor several times if they were going to send me to a place that was transgender friendly. The doctor looked at me in the eyes, and said; “Yes Jaden, that is our top priority.” I trusted him.
Since they didn’t want me running away, they strapped me down very tightly to the hospital bed I was in, then I was moved onto a gurney to be transported to Del Amo Hospital in Torrance, California. The ambulance driver handed over my California ID card, and Medi-Cal health insurance card over to the intake nurse of the Youth Psychiatric Unit. She began filling out my paperwork while asking me 5 million questions about why I was here. Let me remind you, I’m still tightly strapped to the gurney. I wish I could have taken pictures of the marks those straps left on my shoulders, but they were gone by the time I got out.
Then, the awkward skip of pen came when she reached the “sex” question on the intake packet. Looking at my ID and Medi-Cal card (which both said male), then looking at me while biting her lip. She wasn’t positive I was actually male. She just skipped over that question and finished the rest of the packet. I was finally let out of the gurney, at that point my legs started getting sore from being in a locked straight position for so long. I stumbled to the ground as I attempted to walk again. She pulled a male intake nurse from the nurse’s station, and then directed me to a restroom with a new hospital gown.
“We’re conducting a safety check. We’re not sure if you’re male or female, so we need to check to make sure you and the other patients here are safe.” It was 2AM, and I was in no means to argue with anyone, so I just shrugged my shoulders and followed instructions. A big, bold, F was stamped on my intake papers. I put on the hospital gown, and off I was to observation. I was placed in this observation room for three hours, while the nurses wrote down my every move and breath. After the three hours, I was placed into an isolation room at the end of the hallway in the female wing of the youth unit. This room had no windows, just four walls and a toilet attached to the wall. The door closed, and then it was locked.
The nurses checked on the patients every two hours, at least that’s what it felt like. Every time you cried out, you were given more sedatives to sleep. That morning my breakfast was brought to me while everyone else was able to eat together in the common room. Why was I being isolated? All I’ve done was cooperate with everything they were saying. I just assumed that’s what all new patients went though. I lost track of time in that small room. The four off white walls were driving me insane. I was more anxious than I was when I came in, since anxiety was what I came in for anyway.
That afternoon it was my turn to see the doctor. The nurse came over to my room, unlocked it, and then directed me towards the doctors office. She stood in the corner of the room while I had a five minute conversation with the doctor. In that five minutes, he was on his cell phone texting and scrolling through Facebook. He asked me questions, and then interrupted me as I tried to answer. From that five minute conversation, he was able to diagnose me with Borderline Personality Disorder, Depression, and Anxiety. He was able to prescribe me medications that he “knew” would cure my problems. I was directed back to my room. The nurse came over with a small cup full of 5 pills. I asked her what they were, and what the side effects were so I could make an informed decision about whether or not I wanted to take them. Since I do have the legal right to refuse medications in a psychiatric hospital. She refused to tell me what they were, and that if I didn’t take them I would have to stay in the hospital longer. I took them. Now, in this room there is no clock. I don’t recall much of this day, I just remember sleeping A LOT. I have no idea how long I was sleeping, and I still don’t know what kind of medications she gave me.
It was the next morning, I was woken up by a nurse checking my vitals. I asked her what time it was, and what the date was. She gave me an angry look, wrote down the information and left me. I forced myself to stay awake even though the medication was making me sleep, for the 2 hour check up to get more information about my treatment plan here. When I was checked on, I asked when I would be able to attend support groups and interact with other patients. She told me that it was hospital policy for me to be isolated. I asked her why. She then told me that transgender people have a high risk of sexual assault and violence, therefore it was for MY safety to be isolated. At this point I knew my 72 hour hospital stay was turning into an awful nightmare. I asked to use the phone, which is my right by the way. She agreed, and let me make a phone call.
This was when I found out it was still my first full day in the facility. Since this conversation was monitored, I was extremely careful with what I said. The person I was talking to knew something was wrong, but had no idea how to fix it. I assured everyone I was okay for the sake of getting out of there ASAP.
There are lots of myths about testosterone making it unable for you to cry. I’ve been on T for six months, and haven’t had any luck crying since my first shot. However, when I was stuck in isolation I cried about 75% of the time in there, but quickly wiping away the tears when the nurses did their bi-hourly checks. (Yes, anytime you are caught crying they keep you a day longer.)
Now, I didn’t spend these 72 hours alone. They did put me in a room with another transgender male. He didn’t really talk much, but he was compassionate. He did help the time pass, whether was it was secretly holding hands from behind the bed, to a long 5 minute crying hug. To a verbal identity validation every time the nurse misgendered us, or deadnamed him. He was in just as much pain as me, only he was 3 years younger than me. So much respect for that kid.
Soon enough, after 72 hours of not seeing sunlight, being completely isolated from the world around us, I was released. I gave my room mate one last hug, while secretly passing him a piece of paper with my contact information for when he got out. He’s being held on a 5270 (30 day) hold. Ever since my discharge he’s called my cell phone using the hospital phone everyday. There’s only so much I can do from the outside, but I do plan on visiting him; even though going back there is extremely triggering.
Upon discharge I posted about my awful experience on social media, and got a wonderful response. Hundreds of messages from strangers, showing their sympathies. Other trans people who have been mistreated at this hospital also reached out to me to encourage legal action for a violation of patients rights. I did file a complaint with the hospital. A patient advocate called me back dismissing my complaint because I was “hospitalized for a reason.” Seeking help from free LGBT legal aids, I am determined to take this place down for their transphobic policies that go against basic civil rights. After this experience, I now understand why transgender people hate psychiatric hospitals so much. This is how we’re treated when we simply reach out for help. | https://medium.com/psych-ward-experiences/what-its-like-to-be-transgender-in-a-psychiatric-hospital-f0550565e66b | ['Jaden Prendergast'] | 2017-03-29 03:09:23.235000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Psychiatric Disorders', 'Mental Health', 'LGBTQ', 'Transgender'] | Title It’s Like Transgender Psychiatric HospitalContent Going psychiatric hospital scary experience especially first time However you’re transgender go extremely scary absolute nightmare matter second article sharing experience psychiatric facility last week Tuesday night extreme anxiety well early sign panic attack I’ve always anxiety never bad regular coping skill weren’t working ready anything make stop felt progressing state walked Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Upon full psychological evaluation determined wasn’t safe cooperative agreed transferred psychiatric hospital 5150 72 hour hold choice knew cooperative would helpful kind situation Since CHLA doesn’t offer inpatient psychiatric care transport hospital stomach dropped foot found couldn’t treat asked ER doctor several time going send place transgender friendly doctor looked eye said “Yes Jaden top priority” trusted Since didn’t want running away strapped tightly hospital bed moved onto gurney transported Del Amo Hospital Torrance California ambulance driver handed California ID card MediCal health insurance card intake nurse Youth Psychiatric Unit began filling paperwork asking 5 million question Let remind I’m still tightly strapped gurney wish could taken picture mark strap left shoulder gone time got awkward skip pen came reached “sex” question intake packet Looking ID MediCal card said male looking biting lip wasn’t positive actually male skipped question finished rest packet finally let gurney point leg started getting sore locked straight position long stumbled ground attempted walk pulled male intake nurse nurse’s station directed restroom new hospital gown “We’re conducting safety check We’re sure you’re male female need check make sure patient safe” 2AM mean argue anyone shrugged shoulder followed instruction big bold F stamped intake paper put hospital gown observation placed observation room three hour nurse wrote every move breath three hour placed isolation room end hallway female wing youth unit room window four wall toilet attached wall door closed locked nurse checked patient every two hour least that’s felt like Every time cried given sedative sleep morning breakfast brought everyone else able eat together common room isolated I’ve done cooperate everything saying assumed that’s new patient went though lost track time small room four white wall driving insane anxious came since anxiety came anyway afternoon turn see doctor nurse came room unlocked directed towards doctor office stood corner room five minute conversation doctor five minute cell phone texting scrolling Facebook asked question interrupted tried answer five minute conversation able diagnose Borderline Personality Disorder Depression Anxiety able prescribe medication “knew” would cure problem directed back room nurse came small cup full 5 pill asked side effect could make informed decision whether wanted take Since legal right refuse medication psychiatric hospital refused tell didn’t take would stay hospital longer took room clock don’t recall much day remember sleeping LOT idea long sleeping still don’t know kind medication gave next morning woken nurse checking vitals asked time date gave angry look wrote information left forced stay awake even though medication making sleep 2 hour check get information treatment plan checked asked would able attend support group interact patient told hospital policy isolated asked told transgender people high risk sexual assault violence therefore safety isolated point knew 72 hour hospital stay turning awful nightmare asked use phone right way agreed let make phone call found still first full day facility Since conversation monitored extremely careful said person talking knew something wrong idea fix assured everyone okay sake getting ASAP lot myth testosterone making unable cry I’ve six month haven’t luck cry since first shot However stuck isolation cried 75 time quickly wiping away tear nurse bihourly check Yes anytime caught cry keep day longer didn’t spend 72 hour alone put room another transgender male didn’t really talk much compassionate help time pas whether secretly holding hand behind bed long 5 minute cry hug verbal identity validation every time nurse misgendered u deadnamed much pain 3 year younger much respect kid Soon enough 72 hour seeing sunlight completely isolated world around u released gave room mate one last hug secretly passing piece paper contact information got He’s held 5270 30 day hold Ever since discharge he’s called cell phone using hospital phone everyday There’s much outside plan visiting even though going back extremely triggering Upon discharge posted awful experience social medium got wonderful response Hundreds message stranger showing sympathy trans people mistreated hospital also reached encourage legal action violation patient right file complaint hospital patient advocate called back dismissing complaint “hospitalized reason” Seeking help free LGBT legal aid determined take place transphobic policy go basic civil right experience understand transgender people hate psychiatric hospital much we’re treated simply reach helpTags Health Psychiatric Disorders Mental Health LGBTQ Transgender |
1,068 | 10 Products that Hide Plastic in Plain Sight | 10 Products that Hide Plastic in Plain Sight
It may surprise you.
Photo by Bernard Hermant on Unsplash
Plastic is fantastic as a material. Its versatility means it’s used to make everything from food packaging, bottles, containers, to durable objects like tables and chairs, and parts of electric appliances.
As such, it has crept into all facets of our lives. Here’s a list of 10 everyday objects that you may not realize contain plastic.
Pillow stuffing
These days, pillow stuffings are usually made with polyester. This could be a good use of recycled plastic, but most pillow manufacturers wouldn’t use recycled plastic because of a higher price tag. I’m sure there are pillow makers who make pillows from recycled polyester, keep an eye out for them!
Even then, the pillows still can’t be recycled at the end of their lifespan. It doesn’t help that pillows stuffed with synthetic fibers also have a shorter lifespan than their foam and latex counterparts.
So, the next time you want to buy a new set of pillows, be it regular pillows or throw pillows, or even a dog/cat bed, remember what they’re made with. And keep these questions in mind:
Can you wash your old throw pillow?
Use fewer throw pillows?
Is it possible to repurpose old pillows into pet beds?
Can you use old pillows to cushion your knees in the garden? Make soft toys for your pet?
Can you give them to someone who’s moving to use as a packing cushion?
I don’t see pillow fights in the same light as I used to. Can you imagine the plume of dead skin and polyester fibers that burst into the air when the pillows are beaten together? Heh.
Teabags / Sachets
Teabags used to be made with silk or cotton. These days, they’re more often made with paper coated with a thin layer of plastic. Some are made entirely with polyester. The same goes for sugar/salt sachets too. They look like they’re made with paper but they’re lined with plastic.
The solution to this is very simple. Just go for loose tea leaves and buy sugar in bulk! All you’ll need is a tea ball/tea strainer. Maybe I’m paranoid, I never liked the idea of submerging plastic in boiling/hot water. I’ll pick the tea ball over the teabag any day.
Besides, loose tea leaves are usually better in quality than the store-bought variety of tea bags and have a lower carbon footprint — simply because they aren’t individually bagged.
Chewing gum
Traditionally, chewing gum was made from chicle, a resin from the sapodilla trees in Mexico. These days, the chicle has been replaced with synthetic rubber, which is cheaper and is also… a type of plastic.
Gross, if you ask me. I don’t think I’ll ever want a stick of plastic gum anymore. That said, there are still gums that are plastic-free. Two brands that I came across include Glee Gum and Simply Gum.
If you’re an avid gum chewer who doesn’t mind regular gum, check this company out. They recycle chewed gum!
Aluminum and tin cans
Boo! Out of this list, this is the one that disappointed me the most, but what did I expect?
Most aluminum and tin cans are coated with a thin coat of plastic to prevent the metal from being corroded by the food. Still better than plastic bottles though! I’m for the use of canned food and drinks, but if you aren’t, you can always buy beans and grains at places that sell them in bulk. Or choose products sold in glass jars.
Do note that the COVID-19 has caused a temporary suspension of the use of personal bags at certain shops, so buying beans and grains with your own bag may not be possible at the moment.
Tetra Paks
You probably know this one already. Tetra Paks contain thin layers of plastic on both the internal and external walls of the packaging.
Tetra Paks still beat plastic bottles if there’s a recycling facility near you. However, I’d choose aluminum and tin over a Tetra Pak if I’m uncertain because aluminum and tin will have no problems getting recycled.
Clothes, bed linen, curtains — most things fabric
Thanks to the “affordability” of polyester, it’s used to make everything from socks to clothes to carpet and bedsheets. The unseen price is microfiber pollution.
There’s no easy solution to this. Tossing them away would cause waste, but washing them causes microfiber pollution. I recommend switching to preloved items made with natural fiber as the polyester ones wear out.
If you can afford it, you can get Guppyfriend bags to wash your polyester clothes in, install a Lint LUV-R in your washing machine to filter out the microfibers, or use these nifty Vermont-made Cora balls to catch the nasty microfibers. I’m not affiliated with these products, but they’re recommended by authoritative sites.
Produce sticker
Most produce stickers contain plastic. That’s why zero-wasters peel them off and put them into their jars.
These little buggers are the bane of my compost bin! Nah I’m just kidding. It’s a breeze to peel them off. Owing to their size, we may either think that produce stickers are too small to matter in a compost bin, or they’ll disintegrate because they’re so small.
But they contain plastic, so while they do disintegrate with time, it only means the plastic broke down to smaller bits and will now contaminate the soil. Plastic has no place in the compost bin. Trash the produce stickers! To avoid produce stickers, go to a farmer’s market.
Glitter
Glitter is a mixture of tiny plastic and aluminum fragments, which means glitter contains microplastic. If you’ve used glitter, you’ll know that it gets everywhere and is difficult to clean off surfaces!
What do we do when we get our hands full of glitter? We wash our hands at the sink. The glitter goes down the drain. At the water treatment plant, it isn’t completely caught by the filter — they’re tiny! So the glitter enters the environment, where they attract contaminants then get eaten by little fishes. They’re definitely not as good as they look.
If you have to use glitter, go for the biodegradable or edible type, especially if you’re buying it for your child!
Craft glue
Maybe you already know this, but I never really thought about glue. I remember them as a stinky sticky thing I loved to peel off my fingers as a kid. Craft glue is made with Polyvinyl Acetate (PVA), a type of thermoplastic. I found it difficult to wrap my mind around a liquid type of plastic, but PVA is a type of plastic.
There are alternatives though. For example, if your kids love paper crafts, have them make their own glue with starch! However, since we don’t use glue in huge quantities, I think there’s no need to be uptight about finding an alternative.
Do consider stop making slime though.
Personal products
E.g. Masks, mascara, hairspray can contain PVA too! But this is a simple category to avoid. There are many products out there that don’t contain PVA. Just be sure to look at the ingredients! | https://medium.com/climate-conscious/10-products-that-hide-plastic-in-plain-sight-ed8a8f67537 | ['Julie X'] | 2020-07-29 13:31:01.614000+00:00 | ['Sustainability', 'Climate Change', 'Climate Action', 'Plastic Pollution', 'Environment'] | Title 10 Products Hide Plastic Plain SightContent 10 Products Hide Plastic Plain Sight may surprise Photo Bernard Hermant Unsplash Plastic fantastic material versatility mean it’s used make everything food packaging bottle container durable object like table chair part electric appliance crept facet life Here’s list 10 everyday object may realize contain plastic Pillow stuffing day pillow stuffing usually made polyester could good use recycled plastic pillow manufacturer wouldn’t use recycled plastic higher price tag I’m sure pillow maker make pillow recycled polyester keep eye Even pillow still can’t recycled end lifespan doesn’t help pillow stuffed synthetic fiber also shorter lifespan foam latex counterpart next time want buy new set pillow regular pillow throw pillow even dogcat bed remember they’re made keep question mind wash old throw pillow Use fewer throw pillow possible repurpose old pillow pet bed use old pillow cushion knee garden Make soft toy pet give someone who’s moving use packing cushion don’t see pillow fight light used imagine plume dead skin polyester fiber burst air pillow beaten together Heh Teabags Sachets Teabags used made silk cotton day they’re often made paper coated thin layer plastic made entirely polyester go sugarsalt sachet look like they’re made paper they’re lined plastic solution simple go loose tea leaf buy sugar bulk you’ll need tea balltea strainer Maybe I’m paranoid never liked idea submerging plastic boilinghot water I’ll pick tea ball teabag day Besides loose tea leaf usually better quality storebought variety tea bag lower carbon footprint — simply aren’t individually bagged Chewing gum Traditionally chewing gum made chicle resin sapodilla tree Mexico day chicle replaced synthetic rubber cheaper also… type plastic Gross ask don’t think I’ll ever want stick plastic gum anymore said still gum plasticfree Two brand came across include Glee Gum Simply Gum you’re avid gum chewer doesn’t mind regular gum check company recycle chewed gum Aluminum tin can Boo list one disappointed expect aluminum tin can coated thin coat plastic prevent metal corroded food Still better plastic bottle though I’m use canned food drink aren’t always buy bean grain place sell bulk choose product sold glass jar note COVID19 caused temporary suspension use personal bag certain shop buying bean grain bag may possible moment Tetra Paks probably know one already Tetra Paks contain thin layer plastic internal external wall packaging Tetra Paks still beat plastic bottle there’s recycling facility near However I’d choose aluminum tin Tetra Pak I’m uncertain aluminum tin problem getting recycled Clothes bed linen curtain — thing fabric Thanks “affordability” polyester it’s used make everything sock clothes carpet bedsheets unseen price microfiber pollution There’s easy solution Tossing away would cause waste washing cause microfiber pollution recommend switching preloved item made natural fiber polyester one wear afford get Guppyfriend bag wash polyester clothes install Lint LUVR washing machine filter microfibers use nifty Vermontmade Cora ball catch nasty microfibers I’m affiliated product they’re recommended authoritative site Produce sticker produce sticker contain plastic That’s zerowasters peel put jar little bugger bane compost bin Nah I’m kidding It’s breeze peel Owing size may either think produce sticker small matter compost bin they’ll disintegrate they’re small contain plastic disintegrate time mean plastic broke smaller bit contaminate soil Plastic place compost bin Trash produce sticker avoid produce sticker go farmer’s market Glitter Glitter mixture tiny plastic aluminum fragment mean glitter contains microplastic you’ve used glitter you’ll know get everywhere difficult clean surface get hand full glitter wash hand sink glitter go drain water treatment plant isn’t completely caught filter — they’re tiny glitter enters environment attract contaminant get eaten little fish They’re definitely good look use glitter go biodegradable edible type especially you’re buying child Craft glue Maybe already know never really thought glue remember stinky sticky thing loved peel finger kid Craft glue made Polyvinyl Acetate PVA type thermoplastic found difficult wrap mind around liquid type plastic PVA type plastic alternative though example kid love paper craft make glue starch However since don’t use glue huge quantity think there’s need uptight finding alternative consider stop making slime though Personal product Eg Masks mascara hairspray contain PVA simple category avoid many product don’t contain PVA sure look ingredientsTags Sustainability Climate Change Climate Action Plastic Pollution Environment |
1,069 | When Parallelism Beats Concurrency | Introduction
To start with, let’s take a brief look at what we should be understanding as concurrency and parallelism.
Concurrency
In layman’s terms, concurrency is the situation where, in order to solve a problem, we process it in a way that one single task gets processed concurrently by multiple workers; that said, let’s imagine a big array where we have multiple workers and each worker does some work on the next element to be processed in the array, until we reach the end of the array.
When concurrency takes place, some synchronisation is required in order to access the resource that gets shared among all the existing workers (in our example, this is the array).
The complexity and performance overhead involved in this approach could be very significant in some cases; we’ll try to demonstrate this later on in this article.
Parallelism
On the other hand, parallelism is the situation where, in order to solve a problem, we decide to take a “ Divide and Conquer” approach and split the problem into multiple small problems. This allows us to solve multiple smaller problems in parallel.
How would it look like using the same example we’ve shown above? Let’s imagine that we have four parallel workers. A parallel solution would be as shown below:
As you can see, the difference is substantial; we have now four smaller tasks that can be solved independently. Knowing this, we can affirm that the elements get processed sequentially by each worker! When each worker has completed the task, we can then combine their results to produce one single and final result.
The main benefit of this is that we don’t need to synchronise the access of the workers to a shared resource; now, each worker has its independent chunk of work to process.
I hope the difference between these two is clear, but what’s left? We have one more case, which is quite obvious: sequential processing.
In a standard sequential process, we’d be processing our task in sequential order with a single worker. This is the more common approach, and in some cases, it could surprisingly be the fastest!
If you need to have a better understanding about concurrency and multi-threading and why we do things in the way we do them nowadays, I’d recommend that you read the book “Java Concurrency in Practice” by Brian Goetz. | https://medium.com/better-programming/when-parallelism-beats-concurrency-5f52d7012944 | ['The Bored Dev'] | 2020-07-23 09:48:51.096000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Java', 'Concurrency', 'Software Development', 'Software Engineering'] | Title Parallelism Beats ConcurrencyContent Introduction start let’s take brief look understanding concurrency parallelism Concurrency layman’s term concurrency situation order solve problem process way one single task get processed concurrently multiple worker said let’s imagine big array multiple worker worker work next element processed array reach end array concurrency take place synchronisation required order access resource get shared among existing worker example array complexity performance overhead involved approach could significant case we’ll try demonstrate later article Parallelism hand parallelism situation order solve problem decide take “ Divide Conquer” approach split problem multiple small problem allows u solve multiple smaller problem parallel would look like using example we’ve shown Let’s imagine four parallel worker parallel solution would shown see difference substantial four smaller task solved independently Knowing affirm element get processed sequentially worker worker completed task combine result produce one single final result main benefit don’t need synchronise access worker shared resource worker independent chunk work process hope difference two clear what’s left one case quite obvious sequential processing standard sequential process we’d processing task sequential order single worker common approach case could surprisingly fastest need better understanding concurrency multithreading thing way nowadays I’d recommend read book “Java Concurrency Practice” Brian GoetzTags Programming Java Concurrency Software Development Software Engineering |
1,070 | How to read out your smart gas meter with a raspberry pi | How to read out your smart gas meter with a raspberry pi
Quick guide on how to setup a raspberry pi to read out a smart gas meter and setup a website to plot gas consumption over time.
In the Netherlands, most houses are heated with natural gas and most people use gas for cooking. Over the last 10 years, the majority of houses switched to smart meters for gas and electricity. These meters make it possible for suppliers to remotely read out your consumption. Unfortunately, less than 10% of home owners actually read out their gas meter themselves. This is a shame as it could help reduce consumption.
reading out my smart gas meter with a raspberry pi zero
I have a couple of raspberry pi’s laying around and I took up a project to read out my smart gas meter and show the readings in a graph on a website. I used AWS IoT core to process the messages from the smart meter and AWS dynamoDB to store the readings. Finally, the website is hosted on AWS and protected by AWS Cognito (not everyone needs to know how much gas I use). I assume you have some affinity with raspberry pi, Python and AWS to keep this quick guide relatively short.
The end result looks like this:
cumulative gas consumption over time
Lets get started
Step 1: Read out the smart gas meter with Python
Each smart meter comes with a P1 port (one of these old telephone connections), which you can connect to USB with the right cable. I used a pi zero without wifi, so had to use an USB to RJ45 ethernet adapter (full set up is shown in the picture above, the black cable is the P1-to-USB connector).
To read out the meter I used this Python script (heavily borrowed from http://gejanssen.com/howto/Slimme-meter-uitlezen/). Each meter type has a different message layout, which means you need to try different values in row 29 and row 43.
Next step is to setup a messaging service to push the readings to AWS IoT core.
Step 2: Setup AWS IoT core
AWS IoT core provides secure communication between internet-connected devices such as sensors, actuators, embedded micro-controllers, or smart appliances and the AWS Cloud. It uses the MQTT machine-to-machine connectivity protocol. To setup a new thing, follow these steps in the AWS IoT core developer guide.
register your thing in AWS IoT core
Download the things’ certificates and store them on your pi. You also need to download the AWS IoT Python SDK. To send messages to AWS IoT core I enhanced the previous script with a MQTT messaging script, see below. This script sends a message with the gas meter’s reading to a so called ‘topic’. Within AWS IoT core you can subscribe to this topic and setup rules to process the incoming messages. Before we do that we need to create a dynamoDB database.
Step 3: Setup dynamoDB and a processing rule
As I want to plot a historic trend of gas consumption, I need a database. For this project, a dynamoDB is very suitable; It is easy to set up and cheap. Simply create a new table with datetime as the primary key. If you have multiple things you can use deviceID as primary key and datetime as sorting key and store everything in a single table.
setup dynamoDB to store gas meter readings
Now that we have a database, we need to set up a rule in AWS IoT core to process incoming messages and push them to the database. In my case the rule is quite simple: send all messages from topic gas_reading to the dynamoDB database gas_meter. You can do this in the Act section of AWS IoT core.
setup a rule to push topic messages to dynamoDB
Step 4: schedule python script with crontab
Now that the ‘pipeline’ is setup, the python script can be scheduled at the desired interval. The easiest way to do this is by using crontab. On your pi, run crontab -e and add the following line at the bottom. This will run the script every 5 minutes.
Now, every 5 minutes a reading is taken from the smart meter, published to a topic in AWS IoT and pushed into the dynamoDB.
add a line to crontab to schedule the python script at the desired frequency
Step 5: Setup a website to plot the graph
The last step is to plot the values in a graph on a website. I am pretty new to front end development, so bear with me on this one. I assume you have some affinity with node.js as you need to install two modules. The first one is chart.js, a powerful module for creating nice graphs and the second one is moment.js as you are working with date time values and these can be quite tricky. To be able to connect to the dynamoDB in AWS you need to add a link to the AWS SDK script (through CDN).
The most bear bone version of the html script is shown below.
most bear bone html script to show the graph
The function to create the graph is shown below. The most tricky part is to work with AWS credentials as you don’t want everyone to just query your cloud-based database. For local development it’s fine to hard code AWS credentials (Access key ID and Secret access key ), but on a public website you need to secure access much more. I used AWS Cognito for that.
chart.js file for the website
To setup AWS Cognito you need to define three things:
user pool — who can login app client — to which application do they have access identify pool — which resources within AWS can be accessed for this application by these users
Within AWS, go to Amazon Cognito and click on ‘Manage User Pools’ first.
start by setting up a user pool in AWS Cognito
Give your user pool a name and proceed with entering the details. Note down the user pool ID as you need this later.
give your user pool a name and proceed with setup
define details of the user pool
Once setup, go to ‘Users and Groups’ in the menu on the left and create a test user (using a working email address).
once setup, add a user for testing purposes
The next step is to define an App Client. Do this by clicking on App client settings on the menu on the left. Note down the App client ID as you need this later.
setup AppClient
As part of the app client setup, you need to define sign in and sign out URLs. For development purposed you can use localhost on http, but all other URLs have to use https (keep this in mind when setting up your website).
setup URLs for login and logout
As a final step in setting up the app client, you need to define the domain which is needed in the authentication process.
setup domain url
This sounds like a whole lot of work, but things make sense as soon as you integrate this with your website.
In order to trigger the authentication process you can define a button on your website with a URL that combines the parameters that you defined above.
The login URL is setup as follows:
https://<your domain prefix>.auth.<your region>.amazoncognito.com/login?client_id=<your app client id>&response_type=token&scope=aws.cognito.signin.user.admin+email+openid+phone&redirect_uri=<your callback url>
Once logged in, you want to be able to access the dynamoDB with the gas meter readings. You do this by setting up a so called Identity Pool (i.e. Federated Identity).
now click on Manage Identity Pools
Next step is to give the identity pool a name and specify the options (defaults work fine).
give your identity pool a name and create a new pool
In the next screen take note of the identity pool ID (you need it later) and create new IAM roles for authenticated and unauthenticated users. When creating the roles, you need to specify to which AWS services they have access and to which extent (e.g. read or write). In this case, you want users to have read access to the dynamoDB table containing the gas readings.
take note of the pool ID and define IAM roles
Once this is setup, authenticated users get credentials to query the dynamoDB with the gas readings.
Now update the chart.js file for the website by entering the IdentityPoolId and userPoolId in the correct places. The end result will be the graph I showed in the beginning of the article.
The working website can be found at myhome.schrama.io. You will find some other features there as well, which I will write about in a next article.
You can find the full code on GitHub:
Summary
In this article I talked you through how you can use a Raspberry Pi to read out a smart gas meter, push the readings to a dynamoDB using AWS IoT and visualize the readings on a website with credentials.
For me this was a nice project to learn more about Python, Raspberry Pi, AWS, databases, IoT and front end development. I also learned a lot about our gas consumption at home. By being more conscious about how much we consume, we now limit the time we shower and set the thermostat a few degrees lower. So, something positive for the environment as well.
I hope you enjoyed reading this article and got enthusiastic to pick up a project like this yourself! | https://medium.com/python-in-plain-english/how-to-read-out-your-smart-gas-meter-with-a-raspberry-pi-f28168b9658c | ['Erik Schrama'] | 2020-07-02 11:07:41.951000+00:00 | ['Front End Development', 'Python', 'IoT', 'AWS', 'Raspberry Pi'] | Title read smart gas meter raspberry piContent read smart gas meter raspberry pi Quick guide setup raspberry pi read smart gas meter setup website plot gas consumption time Netherlands house heated natural gas people use gas cooking last 10 year majority house switched smart meter gas electricity meter make possible supplier remotely read consumption Unfortunately le 10 home owner actually read gas meter shame could help reduce consumption reading smart gas meter raspberry pi zero couple raspberry pi’s laying around took project read smart gas meter show reading graph website used AWS IoT core process message smart meter AWS dynamoDB store reading Finally website hosted AWS protected AWS Cognito everyone need know much gas use assume affinity raspberry pi Python AWS keep quick guide relatively short end result look like cumulative gas consumption time Lets get started Step 1 Read smart gas meter Python smart meter come P1 port one old telephone connection connect USB right cable used pi zero without wifi use USB RJ45 ethernet adapter full set shown picture black cable P1toUSB connector read meter used Python script heavily borrowed httpgejanssencomhowtoSlimmemeteruitlezen meter type different message layout mean need try different value row 29 row 43 Next step setup messaging service push reading AWS IoT core Step 2 Setup AWS IoT core AWS IoT core provides secure communication internetconnected device sensor actuator embedded microcontrollers smart appliance AWS Cloud us MQTT machinetomachine connectivity protocol setup new thing follow step AWS IoT core developer guide register thing AWS IoT core Download things’ certificate store pi also need download AWS IoT Python SDK send message AWS IoT core enhanced previous script MQTT messaging script see script sends message gas meter’s reading called ‘topic’ Within AWS IoT core subscribe topic setup rule process incoming message need create dynamoDB database Step 3 Setup dynamoDB processing rule want plot historic trend gas consumption need database project dynamoDB suitable easy set cheap Simply create new table datetime primary key multiple thing use deviceID primary key datetime sorting key store everything single table setup dynamoDB store gas meter reading database need set rule AWS IoT core process incoming message push database case rule quite simple send message topic gasreading dynamoDB database gasmeter Act section AWS IoT core setup rule push topic message dynamoDB Step 4 schedule python script crontab ‘pipeline’ setup python script scheduled desired interval easiest way using crontab pi run crontab e add following line bottom run script every 5 minute every 5 minute reading taken smart meter published topic AWS IoT pushed dynamoDB add line crontab schedule python script desired frequency Step 5 Setup website plot graph last step plot value graph website pretty new front end development bear one assume affinity nodejs need install two module first one chartjs powerful module creating nice graph second one momentjs working date time value quite tricky able connect dynamoDB AWS need add link AWS SDK script CDN bear bone version html script shown bear bone html script show graph function create graph shown tricky part work AWS credential don’t want everyone query cloudbased database local development it’s fine hard code AWS credential Access key ID Secret access key public website need secure access much used AWS Cognito chartjs file website setup AWS Cognito need define three thing user pool — login app client — application access identify pool — resource within AWS accessed application user Within AWS go Amazon Cognito click ‘Manage User Pools’ first start setting user pool AWS Cognito Give user pool name proceed entering detail Note user pool ID need later give user pool name proceed setup define detail user pool setup go ‘Users Groups’ menu left create test user using working email address setup add user testing purpose next step define App Client clicking App client setting menu left Note App client ID need later setup AppClient part app client setup need define sign sign URLs development purposed use localhost http URLs use http keep mind setting website setup URLs login logout final step setting app client need define domain needed authentication process setup domain url sound like whole lot work thing make sense soon integrate website order trigger authentication process define button website URL combine parameter defined login URL setup follows httpsyour domain prefixauthyour regionamazoncognitocomloginclientidyour app client idresponsetypetokenscopeawscognitosigninuseradminemailopenidphoneredirecturiyour callback url logged want able access dynamoDB gas meter reading setting called Identity Pool ie Federated Identity click Manage Identity Pools Next step give identity pool name specify option default work fine give identity pool name create new pool next screen take note identity pool ID need later create new IAM role authenticated unauthenticated user creating role need specify AWS service access extent eg read write case want user read access dynamoDB table containing gas reading take note pool ID define IAM role setup authenticated user get credential query dynamoDB gas reading update chartjs file website entering IdentityPoolId userPoolId correct place end result graph showed beginning article working website found myhomeschramaio find feature well write next article find full code GitHub Summary article talked use Raspberry Pi read smart gas meter push reading dynamoDB using AWS IoT visualize reading website credential nice project learn Python Raspberry Pi AWS database IoT front end development also learned lot gas consumption home conscious much consume limit time shower set thermostat degree lower something positive environment well hope enjoyed reading article got enthusiastic pick project like yourselfTags Front End Development Python IoT AWS Raspberry Pi |
1,071 | The Ghost Doll | I’m going to tell you a story.
It started with the rain.
Summer storms are something we’re used to in the Midwest. The day begins hot and dry, and you spend the whole afternoon looking for shade.
Or as it happens on that day, sitting in the front yard waiting for the ice cream truck to come rolling down the street. Anything to beat the heat.
Until, that is, the skies opened up and a deluge followed. We were chased in the house immediately. We barely had time to grab any of our things before we were soaked to the bone.
The rain fell furiously. Within minutes, the dry cracked dirt turned to mud and the front yard was already flooding.
At first, this meant no more playing outside.
However, the rain did have a silver lining. Our mom couldn’t make us go outside, and we’d recently been indoctrinated into the cult of Playstation.
So we then proceeded to spend the rest of the day playing Crash Team Racing.
Eventually, the rain stopped.
It was like any other day.
We ate dinner.
We played a few more video games.
Before long, it was time for bed.
I waited till the door was shut and quietly turned the television back on. It was summer, and I’d reached the age where staying up late was getting more enjoyable, even though there wasn’t really anything on but infomercials.
And that’s when it started.
I was sitting in my bed when I heard something.
It was faint at first.
It almost sounded like…like singing?
I tried to ignore it for as long as possible. But as the evening went on it kept happening. I tried to wake my little brother up, but he was out cold.
I decided that it had to be the television. So I turned it off. Without the ambient noise, the sound became clear, and all the more unsettling.
It was someone singing.
It was clearer now. It was definitely a little girl’s voices.
“Ring-around-the-rosie,
Pocketful of posies,
Ashes, ashes,
We all fall down.”
It repeated over and over again.
Now imagine you’re ten years old. You’re sitting in the dark, and then you hear some little girl singing Ring Around The Rosie. I was terrified.
I was convinced that I was being haunted.
I’d only seen a few horror movies at this point but I knew what was coming.
I tried to get my mom to come listen but she thought it was just me trying to get out of going to bed.
To be fair, I had a rather active imagination at this time and had a penchant for making up stories.
Thrice I was rejected in my pleas to have her come and listen because someone was singing outside my room.
I must have sounded insane.
Finally, she came to my room with me.
Sure enough, she could hear it too.
Ever the smug little rascal, I immediately quipped, “I told you.”
However, she was far too curious and downright worried why there was someone singing outside the house.
She was worried enough to call my father at work. He asked if the dog was barking or seemed to be worried.
At the time, we had a truly massive canine guardian who loved patroling the house at night.
But she was sleeping soundly.
He assured her it had to be nothing.
He offered to come home and take a look, but she declined figuring there had to be an explanation.
We let the dog out. She wandered into the night, but we heard no commotion. If someone had physically been in our yard they would have been mincemeat. But the dog roamed around casually.
We joined her outside. I was holding the flashlight. This was well before the days of high powered led lights that could brighten the whole yard. The only light source we had was a Maglight the size of a little league bat.
We could hear the singing clearer now.
Still going strong.
I cast the light around the yard.
Nothing.
The yard was empty, or so I thought.
So we wandered onto the grass.
This would be the point in the story where people would be screaming “No” at the screen in a horror movie.
We walked further into the black void, with just a small cone of light in front of us. The light chose that evening to start waning.
We went farther out.
The singing got louder.
Finally, I looked down, and found out what was making the noise.
This is where I interrupt the story to insert a critical detail.
You see about six months prior, my sister got a doll for Christmas.
It was one that sang when you held both its hands. However, my sister grew tired of it rather quickly, and no one saw much of the doll after a week.
Until she happened to take that very doll outside during the day.
The same day we got the surprise summer storm and didn’t have time to pick everything up.
No one knew the doll was outside. Heck, everyone forgot the doll existed.
Guess what song the doll sang when you pressed the hands?
Now, the doll was laying out on the ground just singing away, but no one was holding it.
That’s when my mother figured the rain shorted something and as soon as she pulled the battery out the singing stopped.
I don’t know if I’d ever been that relieved.
My mom put on a brave face, but later she told me how freaked out she was hearing the singing.
After that we went back inside.
My mom let me play video games even though it was well past my bedtime, because I had so freaked out I don’t think she really wanted to say no.
And I went back to the bedroom and turned on the Playstation, excited that the only sound was coming from the television.
My mom kissed me on the forehead and told me to not get too loud so I wouldn’t wake my brother.
Now we laugh about it, but man that was a freaky night.
We were both so relieved that it was just a malfunctioning electronic toy.
It was kind of funny though. Even though it wasn’t singing my mom still left the thing outside. It went out in the trash the next day. | https://medium.com/the-inkwell/the-ghost-doll-23133e63a5a6 | ['Matthew Donnellon'] | 2020-12-15 06:36:34.380000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Books', 'Life Lessons', 'Short Story', 'Creativity'] | Title Ghost DollContent I’m going tell story started rain Summer storm something we’re used Midwest day begin hot dry spend whole afternoon looking shade happens day sitting front yard waiting ice cream truck come rolling street Anything beat heat sky opened deluge followed chased house immediately barely time grab thing soaked bone rain fell furiously Within minute dry cracked dirt turned mud front yard already flooding first meant playing outside However rain silver lining mom couldn’t make u go outside we’d recently indoctrinated cult Playstation proceeded spend rest day playing Crash Team Racing Eventually rain stopped like day ate dinner played video game long time bed waited till door shut quietly turned television back summer I’d reached age staying late getting enjoyable even though wasn’t really anything infomercial that’s started sitting bed heard something faint first almost sounded like…like singing tried ignore long possible evening went kept happening tried wake little brother cold decided television turned Without ambient noise sound became clear unsettling someone singing clearer definitely little girl’s voice “Ringaroundtherosie Pocketful posy Ashes ash fall down” repeated imagine you’re ten year old You’re sitting dark hear little girl singing Ring Around Rosie terrified convinced haunted I’d seen horror movie point knew coming tried get mom come listen thought trying get going bed fair rather active imagination time penchant making story Thrice rejected plea come listen someone singing outside room must sounded insane Finally came room Sure enough could hear Ever smug little rascal immediately quipped “I told you” However far curious downright worried someone singing outside house worried enough call father work asked dog barking seemed worried time truly massive canine guardian loved patroling house night sleeping soundly assured nothing offered come home take look declined figuring explanation let dog wandered night heard commotion someone physically yard would mincemeat dog roamed around casually joined outside holding flashlight well day high powered led light could brighten whole yard light source Maglight size little league bat could hear singing clearer Still going strong cast light around yard Nothing yard empty thought wandered onto grass would point story people would screaming “No” screen horror movie walked black void small cone light front u light chose evening start waning went farther singing got louder Finally looked found making noise interrupt story insert critical detail see six month prior sister got doll Christmas one sang held hand However sister grew tired rather quickly one saw much doll week happened take doll outside day day got surprise summer storm didn’t time pick everything one knew doll outside Heck everyone forgot doll existed Guess song doll sang pressed hand doll laying ground singing away one holding That’s mother figured rain shorted something soon pulled battery singing stopped don’t know I’d ever relieved mom put brave face later told freaked hearing singing went back inside mom let play video game even though well past bedtime freaked don’t think really wanted say went back bedroom turned Playstation excited sound coming television mom kissed forehead told get loud wouldn’t wake brother laugh man freaky night relieved malfunctioning electronic toy kind funny though Even though wasn’t singing mom still left thing outside went trash next dayTags Life Books Life Lessons Short Story Creativity |
1,072 | Why Carbon Capture is The Future | Details about our buddy CO2
CO2 (or carbon dioxide) is a natural gas that allows sunlight to reach the earth. How so? Well, let’s take a look at the diagram below first:
We can see that when the sun emits solar energy, it can go two ways. Either in space or in the earth surface. However, this distribution is not proportionate, the majority goes to the earth. Thus warming and increasing its temperature.
Hold up! Why does the heat of the sun get absorbed by the earth’s crust more than space?
So remember our buddy CO2? Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas (GHG), which means that it is a very weak absorber in terms of incoming solar radiation. Furthermore, because it is unable to prevent the solar radiation that enters the earth’s surface, the heat comes rushing through without further protection.
Think of CO2 like a phony soldier. It tries to give the allure that it can protect the noble earth. But in fact, it lets the solar radiation (i.e. the “enemies”) to race through which heats the earth.
Because CO2 can’t absorb the solar energy of the sun, it will instead emit it. The emission of this infrared radiation (heat of the sunlight) is propagated and directed downwards towards the Earth. That’s not to say that it’s only directed towards the Earth’s crust. Sure, some of the rays will go outward towards space but only minimally.
Should I curse CO2 molecules?
Of course not. In fact, if it weren’t for this process which is called the greenhouse effect, our earth would be approximately -18 degrees Celsius! That’s like living on an iceberg in Iceland! If it weren’t for the weakness of this greenhouse gas, there would not be any entrapment of solar radiation on our planet. Therefore, without it, our earth would not be habitable.
Here’s the difference between what happens when it’s an incoming radiation (coming from the sun) Vs. an outgoing radiation (reflected by the earth) :
Uhh… remind me what the problem is?
Anything that is done excessively to the environment is by consequence adverse. Because there has been an excess amount of mining for fossil fuels, this creates a temperature imbalance.
The more CO2 is released into the earth’s atmosphere = the warmer the earth becomes (because the majority of the infrared radiation is directed to the earth by the CO2 molecules).
Greenhouse gases such as CO2 are the main contributors to global warming which is deteriorating the environment (icebergs melting, wildlife losing their habitats, inundations evoked by excess of water melted etc.).
You might be wondering:
“Well Kawtar, why are you only talking about CO2?”
Good question! It’s because not only is CO2 the most abundant greenhouse gas on earth, but it’s also the one that shows the most potential to improve our earth’s circumstance.
I know, seems pretty contradictory. It’s the most plentiful but it also shows the most potential to help? Let me explain.
The Process of Capturing CO2
One of the most promising initiatives in terms of reducing the establishment of climate change is to quite literally, capture the CO2 emissions that amplify and initiate the earth’s immoderate heating.
In other words, it’s putting the carbon dioxide emissions back where it came from (underground)!
There are three steps that involve carbon capture:
Separating and trapping the CO2 from other gases. Transporting the substance to a storage location. Storing and secluding it away from the atmosphere.
Mechanism of the Separation
There are various methods to separate CO2 from other gases. Some utilize a “filter” which contains a solvent that absorbs CO2. This solvent is later heated which will liberate water vapor and leave a concentrated amount of CO2 as residue.
There is also the process of calcination (essentially heating a solid to a boiling high temperature to remove the CO2), selective membranes (acts like the filter, clogs in the CO2) etc.
If we have all these mechanisms, how come the progress of carbon capture has been so slow with only 22 projects around the world?
Well, let’s just say that these processes tend to require a lot of cha-ching $$$ (specifically direct air capture), time and resources. So, to make carbon capture a universal objective, companies need to allocate these facilities and take the initiative of becoming carbon negative.
Companies like Climeworks are pioneering the carbon capture industry by installing the world’s first direct air capture facility. Air is drawn into the collector by a fan. Then, a filter which acts as a selective layer, gets CO2 on the surface and is closed. Finally, the container is heated to the temperature that will release (and separate) the carbon dioxide from the substance.
Transportation of the Substance
Firstly, what do we use to transport the substance?
Pipelines. They start at the source of capture and goes to its storage location. CO2 is usually travelled in its gaseous state.
However, I am quite uneasy and hesitant about the usage of pipelines. Although they are the safest way to transport oils (in terms of their quality), there are still ethical concerns tied to this method, like the perturbation this would pose on indigenous communities. It wouldn’t make sense to solve a problem while simultaneously creating another.
One of the greatest flaws of carbon capture is that the actual transportation of the matter disturbs indigenous folk. Yes, it is the most environmentally-friendly option compared to trains or trucks . However, that should not infringe or pose a threat to the land that other people step on.
Where the heck is it stored?!
Now, when the matter finally arrives at its destination (think of CO2 like a spoiled yet posh knight that uses pipelines as its plane and sits at the first class area), it can be snuggly stored away from the atmosphere.
It’s kind of like a whole kingdom (the deteriorated earth) actually resents the CO2 soldier so instead of firing it, they find a cowardly way to just hide it away from civilization.
So where will Sir CO2 go?
Either underground in the soil or deep underwater (geez, this spoiled molecule is going to take some time to adjust from its once comfy first class seat to literal dirt and in fear of sharks…).
Storing gases and oils underground isn’t new for these industries, in fact, this entrapment of underground storage even has a term : geological sequestration. These reservoirs are ideal for storing CO2, because they have a multitude of overlying rocks. These rocks form a seal which ensures the entrapment of the carbon dioxide molecules.
We can also dump the CO2 in the ocean. Doesn’t sound the most appealing, right? Hear me out, when it is dumped at a depth that is greater than 3500 meters, scientists affirm that it will convert to a slushy form while falling to the ocean’s floor. Thus, it shouldn’t make its way back up to the surface of the ocean while will deteriorate the water and marine life. Nonetheless, this is still a prediction, meaning that because it hasn’t been largely tested, it remains a hypothetical antidote.
Thoughts
To conclude, carbon capture has its benefits and risks. It is one of the most promising emerging technologies that is directly capturing the excess of CO2 which reduces the warmth (aka global warming) on our planet.
On the other hand, the mechanisms involved may pose ethical issues on indigenous communities by amplifying the quantity of pipelines (which disrupts their land) and its novelty creates a marketing problem as it is difficult to commercialize when there are still so many concerns with the predictions.
All in all, we can see that the underlying problems with this technology are centered around the social aspect. So, if we can find a way to use pipelines without disrupting indigenous land (specifically in Canada), conduct more tests to affirm the once predictions and commercialize the hell out of it…then there’s really no downside to helping prevent climate change. | https://medium.com/carre4/why-carbon-capture-is-the-future-474ef7eb715c | ['Kawtar Karmouni'] | 2020-12-23 17:52:31.078000+00:00 | ['Science', 'Climate Change', 'Global Warming', 'Environment', 'Green Energy'] | Title Carbon Capture FutureContent Details buddy CO2 CO2 carbon dioxide natural gas allows sunlight reach earth Well let’s take look diagram first see sun emits solar energy go two way Either space earth surface However distribution proportionate majority go earth Thus warming increasing temperature Hold heat sun get absorbed earth’s crust space remember buddy CO2 Carbon dioxide greenhouse gas GHG mean weak absorber term incoming solar radiation Furthermore unable prevent solar radiation enters earth’s surface heat come rushing without protection Think CO2 like phony soldier try give allure protect noble earth fact let solar radiation ie “enemies” race heat earth CO2 can’t absorb solar energy sun instead emit emission infrared radiation heat sunlight propagated directed downwards towards Earth That’s say it’s directed towards Earth’s crust Sure ray go outward towards space minimally curse CO2 molecule course fact weren’t process called greenhouse effect earth would approximately 18 degree Celsius That’s like living iceberg Iceland weren’t weakness greenhouse gas would entrapment solar radiation planet Therefore without earth would habitable Here’s difference happens it’s incoming radiation coming sun Vs outgoing radiation reflected earth Uhh… remind problem Anything done excessively environment consequence adverse excess amount mining fossil fuel creates temperature imbalance CO2 released earth’s atmosphere warmer earth becomes majority infrared radiation directed earth CO2 molecule Greenhouse gas CO2 main contributor global warming deteriorating environment iceberg melting wildlife losing habitat inundation evoked excess water melted etc might wondering “Well Kawtar talking CO2” Good question It’s CO2 abundant greenhouse gas earth it’s also one show potential improve earth’s circumstance know seems pretty contradictory It’s plentiful also show potential help Let explain Process Capturing CO2 One promising initiative term reducing establishment climate change quite literally capture CO2 emission amplify initiate earth’s immoderate heating word it’s putting carbon dioxide emission back came underground three step involve carbon capture Separating trapping CO2 gas Transporting substance storage location Storing secluding away atmosphere Mechanism Separation various method separate CO2 gas utilize “filter” contains solvent absorbs CO2 solvent later heated liberate water vapor leave concentrated amount CO2 residue also process calcination essentially heating solid boiling high temperature remove CO2 selective membrane act like filter clog CO2 etc mechanism come progress carbon capture slow 22 project around world Well let’s say process tend require lot chaching specifically direct air capture time resource make carbon capture universal objective company need allocate facility take initiative becoming carbon negative Companies like Climeworks pioneering carbon capture industry installing world’s first direct air capture facility Air drawn collector fan filter act selective layer get CO2 surface closed Finally container heated temperature release separate carbon dioxide substance Transportation Substance Firstly use transport substance Pipelines start source capture go storage location CO2 usually travelled gaseous state However quite uneasy hesitant usage pipeline Although safest way transport oil term quality still ethical concern tied method like perturbation would pose indigenous community wouldn’t make sense solve problem simultaneously creating another One greatest flaw carbon capture actual transportation matter disturbs indigenous folk Yes environmentallyfriendly option compared train truck However infringe pose threat land people step heck stored matter finally arrives destination think CO2 like spoiled yet posh knight us pipeline plane sits first class area snuggly stored away atmosphere It’s kind like whole kingdom deteriorated earth actually resents CO2 soldier instead firing find cowardly way hide away civilization Sir CO2 go Either underground soil deep underwater geez spoiled molecule going take time adjust comfy first class seat literal dirt fear sharks… Storing gas oil underground isn’t new industry fact entrapment underground storage even term geological sequestration reservoir ideal storing CO2 multitude overlying rock rock form seal ensures entrapment carbon dioxide molecule also dump CO2 ocean Doesn’t sound appealing right Hear dumped depth greater 3500 meter scientist affirm convert slushy form falling ocean’s floor Thus shouldn’t make way back surface ocean deteriorate water marine life Nonetheless still prediction meaning hasn’t largely tested remains hypothetical antidote Thoughts conclude carbon capture benefit risk one promising emerging technology directly capturing excess CO2 reduces warmth aka global warming planet hand mechanism involved may pose ethical issue indigenous community amplifying quantity pipeline disrupts land novelty creates marketing problem difficult commercialize still many concern prediction see underlying problem technology centered around social aspect find way use pipeline without disrupting indigenous land specifically Canada conduct test affirm prediction commercialize hell it…then there’s really downside helping prevent climate changeTags Science Climate Change Global Warming Environment Green Energy |
1,073 | How to Choose the Best Open Source Module For Your Needs | Consider the Code
I don’t necessarily take the time to read every line of code in a module that I am considering using in my project. But I do check for the basics:
Does the module follow a coding standard? A good way to check is if the module includes a lint command, or if the README indicates that a standard is being followed.
I do have my own preference for coding in JS, but I’m not super concerned about which standard is used, as long as a standard is used. This is important because there’s a good chance that I will need to consult a module’s source code at some point in time, and I do not want to deal with code that is poorly formatted.
Does the module include automated tests? Are those tests automatically run by a CI system, and does the README include a badge indicating the current build/test state?
Cloud-based continuous integration services are so ubiquitous these days that I don’t think there is a reasonable excuse not to use them, even for the smallest of projects.
(There is a side note that I think is important to mention here. Just because a badge indicates that the latest build failed, it doesn’t mean the build actually failed. Sometimes web caching gets in the way of indicating the true status, and so I always click on these badges to check for myself. I’ve also found that the build matrix may include environments or versions that I’m not concerned about, and their failure may or may not be an issue.)
Does the module use Semantic Versioning, and is the current release at 1.0.0 or higher?
SemVer isn’t always the easiest concept to apply correctly, but I always award points to those who are trying. I also tend to avoid modules that are stuck in “not ready for prime time” mode (meaning, they proudly indicate they are major version 0 and were initially released months or years ago), even if they are at least somewhat popular and fill an important need. To me, this is a big red flag. Remember what I said above about reliability and consistency? I’ve come to the conclusion that using SemVer is a sign of respect and consideration for others. We should stand by our work, and if we’re ready to release something “into the wild,” so to speak, then we should at least provide and communicate some guarantee about stability.
Does the API generally conform to a style or pattern (functional vs. imperative, fluent, declarative, etc.) that I’m comfortable programming against?
API design is a little tricky to get right, and some APIs definitely make more sense than others. One of the good things about having multiple choices between different modules is that we can often pick one that matches our preferences. | https://medium.com/better-programming/how-to-choose-the-best-open-source-module-for-your-needs-a205c1defd62 | ['David Passarelli'] | 2020-07-15 22:03:25.912000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Software Engineering', 'Software Development', 'Open Source', 'Startup'] | Title Choose Best Open Source Module NeedsContent Consider Code don’t necessarily take time read every line code module considering using project check basic module follow coding standard good way check module includes lint command README indicates standard followed preference coding JS I’m super concerned standard used long standard used important there’s good chance need consult module’s source code point time want deal code poorly formatted module include automated test test automatically run CI system README include badge indicating current buildtest state Cloudbased continuous integration service ubiquitous day don’t think reasonable excuse use even smallest project side note think important mention badge indicates latest build failed doesn’t mean build actually failed Sometimes web caching get way indicating true status always click badge check I’ve also found build matrix may include environment version I’m concerned failure may may issue module use Semantic Versioning current release 100 higher SemVer isn’t always easiest concept apply correctly always award point trying also tend avoid module stuck “not ready prime time” mode meaning proudly indicate major version 0 initially released month year ago even least somewhat popular fill important need big red flag Remember said reliability consistency I’ve come conclusion using SemVer sign respect consideration others stand work we’re ready release something “into wild” speak least provide communicate guarantee stability API generally conform style pattern functional v imperative fluent declarative etc I’m comfortable programming API design little tricky get right APIs definitely make sense others One good thing multiple choice different module often pick one match preferencesTags Programming Software Engineering Software Development Open Source Startup |
1,074 | Medium Has Changed Again, What Does It Mean for You? | Medium Has Changed Again, What Does It Mean for You?
Does curation still exist and other pressing questions
Photo by Viktor Vasicsek on Unsplash
Medium has done it again. A new announcement regarding a change to the curation and distribution system has just been dropped.
But first things first. Yes, there is still curation, and yes, your story will still be curated into topics. More on that later.
Here is the official Medium article on the updates to the curation and distribution system:
The changes to curation and distribution are all in sync with Medium’s new plan of a “relational Medium.” So, before we delve into curation changes, we should take a quick look at the latest from Ev Williams.
To sum it up, Medium is rolling out a new mobile app. The big difference is the algorithm will not be based on topics but on followings. What does this mean for you? If you have a large following on Medium, your stories will become more accessible to your readers. This is great for the top writers with thousands of followers.
On the other hand, if you have a modest following, it doesn’t appear you’re going to get much visibility. For example, in the old method, I follow the topic of “fitness,” therefore, I see stories about “fitness” in my feed. I might see a writer whose work I read regularly, but I can also discover new writers that write about “fitness.”
But now, what stories I see are driven by whom I follow, not the topics I follow.
I don’t have the updated app, so I can’t review it in action. But from a screenshot from Williams’s article, you can see that you will be presented with a row of authors from your followers. You can click on any one of them and be taken directly to their profile page, where you can read their latest articles.
Again, this is fantastic for the top writers. I’m sure they are thrilled as this means even more exposure for them. But if you’re a new writer without much of a following, I am concerned you will struggle to get your stories in front of readers.
The other casualty of this new method is the writer with multiple niches. I mainly write about health and fitness. But I also write about parenting and the environment. Occasionally I write a poem.
The beauty of Medium is that I’m allowed to express my creativity and write about anything that interests me. Medium’s algorithms made this all work. My fitness followers could see my fitness articles. My poetry followers, if they existed, could see my poetry. But now, how many of them will be turned away if they click my profile and get hit with a barrage of mediocre poems?
If you’re a new writer without much of a following, I am concerned you will struggle to get your stories in front of readers.
My other thoughts are how I consume media. When I read the New York Times or scroll through Google News, I’m not searching out my favorite columnists. I’m reading what headlines catch my eye in the topics I am interested in. Williams is moving away from this in an effort for authors to “develop deeper relationships” with their readers.
Sadly, the side effect of this is that it will be even more difficult to discover new voices on Medium. | https://medium.com/illumination/medium-has-changed-again-what-does-it-mean-for-you-c6a9e4aef5b8 | ['Jennifer Geer'] | 2020-10-12 19:19:05.857000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Writing', 'Blogging', 'Ｍedium', 'Writing On Medium'] | Title Medium Changed Mean YouContent Medium Changed Mean curation still exist pressing question Photo Viktor Vasicsek Unsplash Medium done new announcement regarding change curation distribution system dropped first thing first Yes still curation yes story still curated topic later official Medium article update curation distribution system change curation distribution sync Medium’s new plan “relational Medium” delve curation change take quick look latest Ev Williams sum Medium rolling new mobile app big difference algorithm based topic following mean large following Medium story become accessible reader great top writer thousand follower hand modest following doesn’t appear you’re going get much visibility example old method follow topic “fitness” therefore see story “fitness” feed might see writer whose work read regularly also discover new writer write “fitness” story see driven follow topic follow don’t updated app can’t review action screenshot Williams’s article see presented row author follower click one taken directly profile page read latest article fantastic top writer I’m sure thrilled mean even exposure you’re new writer without much following concerned struggle get story front reader casualty new method writer multiple niche mainly write health fitness also write parenting environment Occasionally write poem beauty Medium I’m allowed express creativity write anything interest Medium’s algorithm made work fitness follower could see fitness article poetry follower existed could see poetry many turned away click profile get hit barrage mediocre poem you’re new writer without much following concerned struggle get story front reader thought consume medium read New York Times scroll Google News I’m searching favorite columnist I’m reading headline catch eye topic interested Williams moving away effort author “develop deeper relationships” reader Sadly side effect even difficult discover new voice MediumTags Creativity Writing Blogging Ｍedium Writing Medium |
1,075 | The Roles of Service Mesh and API Gateways in Microservice Architecture | Service Mesh
A service mesh is a technology that manages service-to-service communication within a distributed software system. Service meshes manage the east-west type of network communications. East-west traffic indicates a traffic flow inside a data center, Kubernetes cluster, or a distributed system.
Service meshes consist of two important components:
Control plane
Data plane
The proxies residing next to the app are called the data plane, while the management components coordinating the behavior of proxies are called the control plane.
Service Mesh — Image credit: Author
A service mesh allows you to separate the application’s business logic from the network, reliability, security, and observability.
Networking and traffic management
A service mesh allows you to perform dynamic service discovery. A sidecar proxy can help you do the load balancing and rate limiting. It can help you do traffic splitting to perform an A/B type of testing, which can be helpful for canary releases.
Observability and reliability
A service mesh supports distributed tracing, which helps you do advanced monitoring (number of requests, success rates, and response latencies) and debugging. It even has the capability to tap service-to-service communication to better understand communication.
Since the service mesh provides health checks, retries, timeouts, and circuit breaking, it improves the baseline reliability of your application.
Security
A service mesh allows mutual TLS among the services, which helps increase the security of service-to-service communication. You can also implement access-control lists (ACLs) as security policies.
A true service mesh/sidecar proxy supports a wide range of services and implements L4/L7 traffic policies.
There are numerous service meshes available on the market. The following are a few of them:
You can find a number of articles on the internet comparing the service meshes listed above. | https://medium.com/better-programming/the-roles-of-service-mesh-and-api-gateways-in-microservice-architecture-f6e7dfd61043 | ['Tanmay Deshpande'] | 2020-10-03 01:34:55.343000+00:00 | ['Software Development', 'API', 'Microservices', 'Software Engineering', 'Programming'] | Title Roles Service Mesh API Gateways Microservice ArchitectureContent Service Mesh service mesh technology manages servicetoservice communication within distributed software system Service mesh manage eastwest type network communication Eastwest traffic indicates traffic flow inside data center Kubernetes cluster distributed system Service mesh consist two important component Control plane Data plane proxy residing next app called data plane management component coordinating behavior proxy called control plane Service Mesh — Image credit Author service mesh allows separate application’s business logic network reliability security observability Networking traffic management service mesh allows perform dynamic service discovery sidecar proxy help load balancing rate limiting help traffic splitting perform AB type testing helpful canary release Observability reliability service mesh support distributed tracing help advanced monitoring number request success rate response latency debugging even capability tap servicetoservice communication better understand communication Since service mesh provides health check retries timeouts circuit breaking improves baseline reliability application Security service mesh allows mutual TLS among service help increase security servicetoservice communication also implement accesscontrol list ACLs security policy true service meshsidecar proxy support wide range service implement L4L7 traffic policy numerous service mesh available market following find number article internet comparing service mesh listed aboveTags Software Development API Microservices Software Engineering Programming |
1,076 | 3 to read: LA Times debacle | Goodbye, alt weeklies | Amazing 1950s dataviz | By Matt Carroll <@MattCData>
Aug. 29, 2017: Cool stuff about journalism, once a week. Get notified via email? Subscribe: 3toread (at) gmail.
Originally published on 3toread.co
What’s the matter with the L.A. Times?: The editorial leadership of the L.A. Times was fired this week, in a stunning move. Well, here’s some of the jaw-dropping backstory that led to the axings. Ed Leibowitz of L.A. Magazine details the ineptness of editor-in-chief and publisher Davan Maharaj, who sat on major investigative pieces for years, but had time to ask reporters to check out his new Italian shoes. The story ran in December, but it’s worth resurrecting for it’s excruciating detail of dysfunction at the top of what was once a great newsroom.
Logo by Leigh Carroll (Instagram: @leighzaah)
2. What we lose when we say goodbye to alt weeklies: The Village Voice is dead, at least in print. So, pretty much, are alt weeklies across the country. Paul Farhi of the WaPo has a nice elegy of what we have lost when those quirky mixes of band reviews, massage parlor ads, and hard-hitting political coverage closed up shop. A good read.
3. Amazing graphics from the 1950s NYT archive: Most people tend to think of “data viz” as a relatively new phenomenon. Not quite. News orgs have been doing impressive data viz for as long as they have existed. Stuart A. Thompson on Medium has a wonderful piece on some spectacular (and forgotten) visualizations done at the NYT during the 1950s. Check out the cool space travel illustrations (all b&w, by the way).
Get notified via email: Send a note to 3toread (at) gmail.com
Matt Carroll is a journalism professor at Northeastern University. | https://medium.com/3-to-read/3-to-read-la-times-debacle-goodbye-alt-weeklies-amazing-1950s-dataviz-5ad26f2a65f1 | ['Matt Carroll'] | 2017-08-26 14:18:28.959000+00:00 | ['Data Visualization', 'Media Criticism', 'Journalism', 'Media', 'Dataviz'] | Title 3 read LA Times debacle Goodbye alt weekly Amazing 1950s datavizContent Matt Carroll MattCData Aug 29 2017 Cool stuff journalism week Get notified via email Subscribe 3toread gmail Originally published 3toreadco What’s matter LA Times editorial leadership LA Times fired week stunning move Well here’s jawdropping backstory led axings Ed Leibowitz LA Magazine detail ineptness editorinchief publisher Davan Maharaj sat major investigative piece year time ask reporter check new Italian shoe story ran December it’s worth resurrecting it’s excruciating detail dysfunction top great newsroom Logo Leigh Carroll Instagram leighzaah 2 lose say goodbye alt weekly Village Voice dead least print pretty much alt weekly across country Paul Farhi WaPo nice elegy lost quirky mix band review massage parlor ad hardhitting political coverage closed shop good read 3 Amazing graphic 1950s NYT archive people tend think “data viz” relatively new phenomenon quite News orgs impressive data viz long existed Stuart Thompson Medium wonderful piece spectacular forgotten visualization done NYT 1950s Check cool space travel illustration bw way Get notified via email Send note 3toread gmailcom Matt Carroll journalism professor Northeastern UniversityTags Data Visualization Media Criticism Journalism Media Dataviz |
1,077 | 3 Mistakes Junior Developers Make With React Function Component State | 2. Setting State That Relies on the Previous State Without Using a Function
There are two ways to use the setter method returned by the useState hook. The first way is to provide a new value as an argument. The second way is to provide a function as an argument. So, when would you want to use one over the other?
If you were to have, for example, a button that can be enabled or disabled, you might have a piece of state called isDisabled that holds a boolean value. If you wanted to toggle the button from enabled to disabled, it might be tempting to write something like this, using a value as the argument:
// Initial setup
const [isDisabled, setIsDisabled] = useState(false) // Later, modifying the state
setIsDisabled(!isDisabled)
So, what’s wrong with this? The problem lies in the fact that React state updates can be batched, meaning that multiple state updates can occur in a single update cycle. If your updates were to be batched and you had multiple updates to the enabled/disabled state, the end result may not be what you expect.
A better way to update the state here would be to provide a function of the previous state as the argument:
// Initial setup
const [isDisabled, setIsDisabled] = useState(false) // Later, modifying the state
setIsDisabled(isDisabled => !isDisabled)
Now, even if your state updates are batched and multiple updates to the enabled/disabled state are made together, each update will rely on the correct previous state so that you always end up with the result you expect.
The same is true for something like incrementing a counter.
Don’t do this:
// Initial setup
const [counterValue, setCounterValue] = useState(0) // Later, modifying the state
setCounterValue(counterValue + 1)
Do this:
// Initial setup
const [counterValue, setCounterValue] = useState(0) // Later, modifying the state
setCounterValue(counterValue => counterValue + 1)
The key here is that if your new state relies on the value of the old state, you should always use a function as the argument. If you are setting a value that does not rely on the value of the old state, then you can use a value as the argument. | https://medium.com/better-programming/3-mistakes-junior-developers-make-with-react-function-component-state-8a744ab99a0d | ['Tyler Hawkins'] | 2020-07-27 12:13:27.622000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'React', 'Software Engineering', 'Hooks', 'Programming'] | Title 3 Mistakes Junior Developers Make React Function Component StateContent 2 Setting State Relies Previous State Without Using Function two way use setter method returned useState hook first way provide new value argument second way provide function argument would want use one example button enabled disabled might piece state called isDisabled hold boolean value wanted toggle button enabled disabled might tempting write something like using value argument Initial setup const isDisabled setIsDisabled useStatefalse Later modifying state setIsDisabledisDisabled what’s wrong problem lie fact React state update batched meaning multiple state update occur single update cycle update batched multiple update enableddisabled state end result may expect better way update state would provide function previous state argument Initial setup const isDisabled setIsDisabled useStatefalse Later modifying state setIsDisabledisDisabled isDisabled even state update batched multiple update enableddisabled state made together update rely correct previous state always end result expect true something like incrementing counter Don’t Initial setup const counterValue setCounterValue useState0 Later modifying state setCounterValuecounterValue 1 Initial setup const counterValue setCounterValue useState0 Later modifying state setCounterValuecounterValue counterValue 1 key new state relies value old state always use function argument setting value rely value old state use value argumentTags JavaScript React Software Engineering Hooks Programming |
1,078 | Selling Russian Hackers | The Russian Trade Delegation has its headquarters is a 1970’s style building
hidden in a leafy lane near Highgate woods, North London.
I was due to attend a trade delegation of Russian Cyber-Security companies.
Russian hackers. The week before, I’d been researching the creation of fake social media profiles and had been following a long string of forum posts by a nameless Russian Hacker on the BlackhatSEOworld forum. A strangely compelling live log of his journey building (and ultimately selling) huge numbers of fake Facebook accounts.
This event, however, was a government sponsored promotion of the Skolkovo foundation. The Skolkovo foundation is a huge planned startup town just outside Moscow aiming to have 1400 startups by 2020, across multiple different sectors complete with shared laboratories and its own university, Skoltech.
All of the companies pitching here were not so much startups, as scale ups. They already had some big name clients, primarily Russian-sphere focused, but eager to grow Western connections.
So it was all about pitching trust. Some succeeded, and some missed the mark of British sensitivities.
Ilya Sachov CEO of Group-IB, opened with a story about how a movie company had approached them with a script about cyber security. His company does threat detection — not software to protect against attacks, but proactively following and detecting the agents that might. The scriptwriter came in, asked questions, looked around. Some months later, they apprehended a number of criminals and were able to filter through their assets. This turned out to be the very organisation that had financed the movie company. “We now have a new level of internal paranoia” said Ilya.
Ilya Sachov, Group-IB explains threat detection
Sergey Khodakov, of the Skolkovo foundation, put the case:
“Countries that build good knives know best how to defend against them. Our cyber security companies typically begin in penetration testing. Once they’re trusted with that, it becomes much easier to sell product into corporations”
Others pitched enthusiastically the features of employee monitoring software. Perhaps missing British big brother sensitivities in an unashamedly Russian way. A question from the audience about whether it was legal to monitor employees quite that much led to the following response: “…don’t worry…there is checkbox you can untick”
“…don’t worry…there is checkbox you can untick”
So just how much business goes on between Russian and British Companies? One of the British attendees from Ixcellerate, a data centre with facillities in Moscow, talked about the changes. “There are blacklists of people you can’t deal with, but there are good people doing good business everywhere. Those blacklists have stretched a little since 2014 [the annexation of Crimea] but everything still continues.”
Sergey Khodakov, head of Infosecurity track, Skolkovo Foundation, Dmitry Politov, director of international relations, Skolkovo Foundation.
Paul Graham of world premiere startup incubator Y-combinator lists five qualities that he looks for in entrepreneurs. One of these is “naughtiness”. In his words:
“Though the most successful founders are usually good people, they tend to have a piratical gleam in their eye. They’re not Goody Two-Shoes type good. Morally, they care about getting the big questions right, but not about observing proprieties.”
After the Skolkovo pitches were over, one entrepreneur leaned into me.
“Did you know Kim Philby came here, to this building?”, he said. Kim Philby, former head of MI5, was of course a Russian spy. For inspiring trust in corporate clients, this was, of course, utterly inappropriate. But for reckless entrepreneurs, this was a uniquely bonding comment.
“for reckless entrepreneurs, this was a uniquely bonding comment.”
Dr. Finn Macleod works for zenlikefocus.com a service for startups that intelligently grows presence and sales through Social Media. | https://medium.com/the-data-experience/selling-russian-hackers-13e30fb487c6 | [] | 2016-07-12 01:37:37.272000+00:00 | ['Data Visualization', 'Cybersecurity', 'Data Science', 'Startup', 'Marketing'] | Title Selling Russian HackersContent Russian Trade Delegation headquarters 1970’s style building hidden leafy lane near Highgate wood North London due attend trade delegation Russian CyberSecurity company Russian hacker week I’d researching creation fake social medium profile following long string forum post nameless Russian Hacker BlackhatSEOworld forum strangely compelling live log journey building ultimately selling huge number fake Facebook account event however government sponsored promotion Skolkovo foundation Skolkovo foundation huge planned startup town outside Moscow aiming 1400 startup 2020 across multiple different sector complete shared laboratory university Skoltech company pitching much startup scale ups already big name client primarily Russiansphere focused eager grow Western connection pitching trust succeeded missed mark British sensitivity Ilya Sachov CEO GroupIB opened story movie company approached script cyber security company threat detection — software protect attack proactively following detecting agent might scriptwriter came asked question looked around month later apprehended number criminal able filter asset turned organisation financed movie company “We new level internal paranoia” said Ilya Ilya Sachov GroupIB explains threat detection Sergey Khodakov Skolkovo foundation put case “Countries build good knife know best defend cyber security company typically begin penetration testing they’re trusted becomes much easier sell product corporations” Others pitched enthusiastically feature employee monitoring software Perhaps missing British big brother sensitivity unashamedly Russian way question audience whether legal monitor employee quite much led following response “…don’t worry…there checkbox untick” “…don’t worry…there checkbox untick” much business go Russian British Companies One British attendee Ixcellerate data centre facillities Moscow talked change “There blacklist people can’t deal good people good business everywhere blacklist stretched little since 2014 annexation Crimea everything still continues” Sergey Khodakov head Infosecurity track Skolkovo Foundation Dmitry Politov director international relation Skolkovo Foundation Paul Graham world premiere startup incubator Ycombinator list five quality look entrepreneur One “naughtiness” word “Though successful founder usually good people tend piratical gleam eye They’re Goody TwoShoes type good Morally care getting big question right observing proprieties” Skolkovo pitch one entrepreneur leaned “Did know Kim Philby came building” said Kim Philby former head MI5 course Russian spy inspiring trust corporate client course utterly inappropriate reckless entrepreneur uniquely bonding comment “for reckless entrepreneur uniquely bonding comment” Dr Finn Macleod work zenlikefocuscom service startup intelligently grows presence sale Social MediaTags Data Visualization Cybersecurity Data Science Startup Marketing |
1,079 | Be a champion today | 2. Hike like you’re in Ahaggar National Park
When you hike through Ahaggar National Park in Algeria, each step builds off the last. Great views will come into your vision. And, if you’re in the right place, you’ll catch a sunset behind Mount Tahat.
Your career should resemble such a wonderful hike. Or, perhaps your career is a wonderful hike if you’re lucky enough to be a pro hiker. Anyway, everything you’re doing should be working towards a beautiful peak or finish. If you ask Kamel about his career, you get this feeling.
Having started with Djezzy in 2006, Kamel first worked as a call center advisor, learning a lot from his direct communications with customers. Then, he took a position as a copywriter for the company before working in advertising management. This eventually led to his role as a Brand & Communications Director today.
Kamel and the team
“Each position has been a step to the next one,” notes Kamel. “I completely understand the vision Djezzy has and I’m getting better and better at fulfilling that vision for this awesome company.”
For Kamel, success hinges on continuous improvement and a willingness to learn and try new things. If you ask him what advice he would give his childhood self, he echoes similar sentiments.
“I would tell myself: Never give up. Learn from your mistakes. Always work on getting better. And be open and listen to others”
Read Kamel’s last tidbit of advice to his childhood self (about listening to others). It brings us to this point: If you are to be a champion, you can’t do it all alone (it’s best to hike through the Ahaggar Mountains with partners, too).
“Reaching your highest potential goes beyond just improving your skills and self-confidence,” asserts Kamel. “You must understand teamwork and know how to work with others to get to where you want to be. That’s why at Djezzy I’m constantly working on building team spirit.”
The new recruitment space at Djezzy
3. Airport signs say “welcome” in all sorts of languages
You’ve probably seen those signs in the international airport that say “welcome” in many of the world’s languages. Kudos to you if you can read all or most of them.
Anyway, the lesson here is that you have to speak to your customers in their language.
Kamel recognized the importance of this while managing copywriting campaigns for Djezzy. That’s because there is a unique mix of languages and dialects used in Algeria.
Throughout Algeria, Berber languages and dialects are spoken. In the north and northeast, you’ll commonly hear Kabyle; in the east, Chaoui is used; in the Algerian Sahara, it’s Tuareg. Arabic is a standard language in Algeria and is the mother tongue for many in the country, which means it’s heard everywhere. French is also used in commerce, government, and education, and is frequently encountered in major cities. In the west, there is even an influence from Spanish.
In many regions, Algerians blend words from other languages with their native tongue, creating their own dialect. This is part of what makes Algeria so magical. But it also makes work as a copywriter more complex.
“We had to use language people were using in their daily lives — because Djezzy is all about connecting to the person,” says Kamel. “We found ways to write customized copy for each region, while maintaining our unifying campaign theme.”
Kamel and the team
To make sure such copywriting campaigns work, Kamel believes in testing and looking at the data. Because you have to speak to the customer on their level.
“For instance, we found out from our Facebook interactions that many users wanted Arabic subtitles for our French press conferences,” describes Kamel. “So now we’re doing that for all our videos.”
So, if you want to succeed with your customers, find the right language and words to reach them. As you make your pitch to them, listen to your customer’s reactions — and adjust accordingly.
4. Cook something special for your customers (literally and figuratively)
“Djezzy wants to connect to Algerians’ lives,” exclaims Kamel. “We have a show called Djezzy CLYC on our YouTube channel. This is where we talk about new product launches, new offers, and more. We’ve also sponsored MasterChef Algeria — a show all about making great food!”
Like Kamel has stated, culinary art is one of the pillars of Djezzy’s brand development. Djezzy sponsors MasterChef so that the company can align its brand with Algerian culture. That means being there when it comes time to discover culinary arts (we want to be there for the delicious meal, too!).
Before you go check out the MasterChef show, which will make you super hungry by the way, understand the deeper meaning here. It’s that you must prepare something special for your customers.
To satisfy your customers, you must give them something they would like. After all, you wouldn’t cook a dish for guests if they hate that dish. This is why Kamel is always looking at the data: He wants to know what his customers like.
The idea here is simple: You cook the flavors your guests prefer (i.e. your customers). If you ignore their tastes, you risk a meal going to waste. Make a dish they like, and you’ll be a champion.
5. Some experts are saying even robots need sleep
Even if you’re actually a robot, you still need sleep. You can’t go at full blast all the time; you’ll burn out before becoming a champion. In fact, some experts are saying that robots do need sleep to function better. So don’t feel bad for taking a break.
“I love spending time with my family and having meals with them,” says Kamel. “I like to play video games, like FIFA. I like to play football with friends and also with my son!”
Again, we’re back at football. We wonder how good robots will be at football. Anyway, you get the point here. If you want to be a champion, take time for rest and fun along the journey. It’s the only way you can reach the pinnacle of excellence.
Keep on pushing towards the top
Kamel has given you his tips on how to be a champion. Now, your mission is to just do it. As you go on your journey, remember the value of persistence — a value Kamel’s team members say he’s instilled in them. Persistence is what will get you to that beautiful destination (well, that and culinary art and football). | https://medium.com/djezzy-careers/be-a-champion-today-fa17447a5aaf | ['Veon Careers'] | 2018-12-14 13:26:56.037000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Social Media', 'Marketing', 'Music'] | Title champion todayContent 2 Hike like you’re Ahaggar National Park hike Ahaggar National Park Algeria step build last Great view come vision you’re right place you’ll catch sunset behind Mount Tahat career resemble wonderful hike perhaps career wonderful hike you’re lucky enough pro hiker Anyway everything you’re working towards beautiful peak finish ask Kamel career get feeling started Djezzy 2006 Kamel first worked call center advisor learning lot direct communication customer took position copywriter company working advertising management eventually led role Brand Communications Director today Kamel team “Each position step next one” note Kamel “I completely understand vision Djezzy I’m getting better better fulfilling vision awesome company” Kamel success hinge continuous improvement willingness learn try new thing ask advice would give childhood self echo similar sentiment “I would tell Never give Learn mistake Always work getting better open listen others” Read Kamel’s last tidbit advice childhood self listening others brings u point champion can’t alone it’s best hike Ahaggar Mountains partner “Reaching highest potential go beyond improving skill selfconfidence” asserts Kamel “You must understand teamwork know work others get want That’s Djezzy I’m constantly working building team spirit” new recruitment space Djezzy 3 Airport sign say “welcome” sort language You’ve probably seen sign international airport say “welcome” many world’s language Kudos read Anyway lesson speak customer language Kamel recognized importance managing copywriting campaign Djezzy That’s unique mix language dialect used Algeria Throughout Algeria Berber language dialect spoken north northeast you’ll commonly hear Kabyle east Chaoui used Algerian Sahara it’s Tuareg Arabic standard language Algeria mother tongue many country mean it’s heard everywhere French also used commerce government education frequently encountered major city west even influence Spanish many region Algerians blend word language native tongue creating dialect part make Algeria magical also make work copywriter complex “We use language people using daily life — Djezzy connecting person” say Kamel “We found way write customized copy region maintaining unifying campaign theme” Kamel team make sure copywriting campaign work Kamel belief testing looking data speak customer level “For instance found Facebook interaction many user wanted Arabic subtitle French press conferences” describes Kamel “So we’re videos” want succeed customer find right language word reach make pitch listen customer’s reaction — adjust accordingly 4 Cook something special customer literally figuratively “Djezzy want connect Algerians’ lives” exclaims Kamel “We show called Djezzy CLYC YouTube channel talk new product launch new offer We’ve also sponsored MasterChef Algeria — show making great food” Like Kamel stated culinary art one pillar Djezzy’s brand development Djezzy sponsor MasterChef company align brand Algerian culture mean come time discover culinary art want delicious meal go check MasterChef show make super hungry way understand deeper meaning It’s must prepare something special customer satisfy customer must give something would like wouldn’t cook dish guest hate dish Kamel always looking data want know customer like idea simple cook flavor guest prefer ie customer ignore taste risk meal going waste Make dish like you’ll champion 5 expert saying even robot need sleep Even you’re actually robot still need sleep can’t go full blast time you’ll burn becoming champion fact expert saying robot need sleep function better don’t feel bad taking break “I love spending time family meal them” say Kamel “I like play video game like FIFA like play football friend also son” we’re back football wonder good robot football Anyway get point want champion take time rest fun along journey It’s way reach pinnacle excellence Keep pushing towards top Kamel given tip champion mission go journey remember value persistence — value Kamel’s team member say he’s instilled Persistence get beautiful destination well culinary art footballTags Technology Social Media Marketing Music |
1,080 | Could the Flu Shot Offer Protection Against Covid-19? | Could the Flu Shot Offer Protection Against Covid-19?
Experts say it’s more important than ever that people get the flu vaccine
Earlier this year, a team of researchers based primarily at Johns Hopkins University examined county-level health data collected from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The team was looking for associations between last season’s flu vaccine and deaths attributed to Covid-19.
After adjusting for more than a dozen variables that could have confused their findings — such as race, income, education level, health status, and access to hospital care — the researchers concluded that among adults age 65 and older, a group that accounts for the vast majority of coronavirus-related deaths, high rates of vaccine coverage were associated with a significant drop in Covid-19 deaths. Each 10% increase in flu vaccine coverage within a community corresponded with a 28% reduction in coronavirus deaths, they found.
“Our findings suggest that influenza vaccination can possibly play a protective role in preventing the worst Covid-19 outcomes,” says Luigi Marchionni, co-author of the paper and an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
In his team’s paper, which was posted online June 26 and has not yet undergone peer review or formal publication, Marchionni and his colleagues were quick to highlight their study’s limitations — which included a lack of Covid-19 reporting consistency among states and localities. But he says that he and his group have since performed additional analyses on the data, and their conclusions have held up. He also references a similar study from Brazil, which found evidence that people vaccinated against the flu were less likely than the unvaccinated to suffer from severe or deadly cases of Covid-19.
“We’re most likely going to face a dual pandemic this fall,” he says, referring to the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 crises and the predictable resurgence of seasonal influenza. “Our findings point to some obvious reasons for getting the influenza vaccination.”
How the flu vaccine could provide an immune boost
Marchionni takes pains to explain that his team’s work was observational, meaning they were examining population-level data in an effort to find patterns and associations. They were not assessing individual Covid-19 patients in order to identify underlying explanations for their findings.
But after delivering that caveat, he says that there’s some evidence that the flu vaccine may trigger one or more immune system changes that may repel the novel coronavirus.
“There is an epitope, meaning a piece of antigen that the immune system can recognize, that is similar between influenza and SARS-CoV-2,” he says. It’s possible that the flu vaccine could teach the immune system to be on guard for this antigen, which could provide a coronavirus-blocking benefit.
He also says that the flu vaccine could induce a general “boost” to the immune system’s innate defenses, which could help it repel SARS-CoV-2.
If vaccinated people are generally healthier, then that alone could explain the association between the flu shot and lower rates of Covid-19 deaths.
There are other possible explanations for the observed association between flu vaccine coverage and reduced Covid-19 risk. During the spring, a number of reports documented cases in which people were infected with both the flu and SARS-CoV-2 at the same time. It’s not yet certain that coinfection with both viruses results in more extreme illness, but experts say that this is possible — and probably likely.
“Coinfection could absolutely make things worse,” says Steven Pergam, MD, an infectious disease specialist and associate professor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. “If someone gets sick from the flu and their immune system is already on high alert and then they get Covid-19 on top of that, I worry that could shift them into a really severe Covid situation.”
The flu vaccine can prevent influenza infections, Pergam explains, and it can also reduce the severity of illness among those who become infected with flu. Both of these benefits could theoretically reduce the risk of life-threatening illness among those also infected with SARS-CoV-2, he says.
It’s also possible that someone who contracts the flu and then recovers from it is at greater risk for a bad case of Covid-19 due to lingering immune system changes or deficiencies. T-cells are a category of specialized white blood cells that help regulate the immune system. Research has shown that, following a case of the flu, people have reduced T-cell diversity and also a greater proportion of influenza-specific T-cells in the lungs. If a person is infected with the novel coronavirus, these T-cell imbalances may lead to the “exaggerated inflammatory response” that is associated with severe Covid-19 disease, Marchionni says.
But others say there could be a simpler explanation for the observed associations between the flu shot and reduced Covid-19 risks.
“Patients who get the [flu] vaccine are also likely to be more health-conscious [than those who don’t],” points out Michael Ison, MD, a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. If vaccinated people are generally healthier, then that alone could explain the association between the flu shot and lower rates of Covid-19 deaths, he says.
Ison says that, for other reasons, it’s important for everyone to get the flu shot this year. But he’s not convinced that the influenza vaccine provides any special Covid-19-weakening immune benefits.
Other vaccines could offer an immune-system boost
The influenza vaccine isn’t the only one that researchers believe may offer some coronavirus-related benefits. Some are exploring the possibility that active but weakened polio or tuberculosis vaccines could stimulate the immune system in ways that protect people from SARS-CoV-2.
“When you vaccinate people with some of these live attenuated viral vaccines, the immune system produces a number of factors, such as interferons, which have a general antiviral effect,” says Paul Offit, MD, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Offit says that the National Institutes of Health is exploring the potential benefits of these vaccines, which could theoretically be deployed cheaply and widely among at-risk groups in an effort to block the spread of SARS-CoV-2. “Some people are pushing for this, but it’s not clear yet whether that will move forward,” he adds.
“When you vaccinate people with some of these live attenuated viral vaccines, the immune system produces a number of factors, such as interferons, which have a general anti-viral effect.”
The importance of getting the flu vaccine
While experts say that the coronavirus-weakening power of the flu vaccine is far from proven, they unanimously agree that everyone should get a flu shot this fall.
“Every year, the recommendation for the influenza vaccine is for everyone over six months of age to get it, and it’s more important to get it this year than normal,” says Offit.
Why? During the 2018–19 flu season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that roughly 36 million Americans came down with the flu, which led to more than 16 million health care visits or consultations and 500,000 hospitalizations. “If all this happens concurrently with Covid-19, you can see how that would quickly overwhelm the health care system,” Offit says.
Northwestern’s Ison reiterates these concerns and says that they underscore the need for people to get the flu shot, which is already available at many nationwide pharmacies. “I think that most individuals should go ahead and get the vaccine as early as possible,” he says. Those who are immunocompromised may want to wait until October, he adds, because their body’s protective immune response to the vaccine may not last until the end of the flu season.
Apart from the flu shot, he says that Covid-19-related safety measures like social distancing and masks can also protect people from seasonal respiratory infections like influenza. Good compliance with these protocols has led to an unusually mild flu season in countries like Australia, where the flu tends to circulate earlier in the year than it does in the U.S. But, due in part to poor adherence to these safety measures, Ison says that the U.S. “hasn’t done a good job of controlling Covid-19,” and so may be in for a rough flu season.
“Flu vaccination this year is going to be very important,” he adds. | https://elemental.medium.com/could-the-flu-shot-offer-protection-against-covid-19-9b2c4ecf055f | ['Markham Heid'] | 2020-08-21 14:53:48.976000+00:00 | ['The Nuance', 'Covid 19', 'Coronavirus', 'Disease', 'Health'] | Title Could Flu Shot Offer Protection Covid19Content Could Flu Shot Offer Protection Covid19 Experts say it’s important ever people get flu vaccine Earlier year team researcher based primarily Johns Hopkins University examined countylevel health data collected 50 state District Columbia team looking association last season’s flu vaccine death attributed Covid19 adjusting dozen variable could confused finding — race income education level health status access hospital care — researcher concluded among adult age 65 older group account vast majority coronavirusrelated death high rate vaccine coverage associated significant drop Covid19 death 10 increase flu vaccine coverage within community corresponded 28 reduction coronavirus death found “Our finding suggest influenza vaccination possibly play protective role preventing worst Covid19 outcomes” say Luigi Marchionni coauthor paper associate professor Johns Hopkins Medicine team’s paper posted online June 26 yet undergone peer review formal publication Marchionni colleague quick highlight study’s limitation — included lack Covid19 reporting consistency among state locality say group since performed additional analysis data conclusion held also reference similar study Brazil found evidence people vaccinated flu le likely unvaccinated suffer severe deadly case Covid19 “We’re likely going face dual pandemic fall” say referring ongoing SARSCoV2 crisis predictable resurgence seasonal influenza “Our finding point obvious reason getting influenza vaccination” flu vaccine could provide immune boost Marchionni take pain explain team’s work observational meaning examining populationlevel data effort find pattern association assessing individual Covid19 patient order identify underlying explanation finding delivering caveat say there’s evidence flu vaccine may trigger one immune system change may repel novel coronavirus “There epitope meaning piece antigen immune system recognize similar influenza SARSCoV2” say It’s possible flu vaccine could teach immune system guard antigen could provide coronavirusblocking benefit also say flu vaccine could induce general “boost” immune system’s innate defense could help repel SARSCoV2 vaccinated people generally healthier alone could explain association flu shot lower rate Covid19 death possible explanation observed association flu vaccine coverage reduced Covid19 risk spring number report documented case people infected flu SARSCoV2 time It’s yet certain coinfection virus result extreme illness expert say possible — probably likely “Coinfection could absolutely make thing worse” say Steven Pergam MD infectious disease specialist associate professor Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Seattle “If someone get sick flu immune system already high alert get Covid19 top worry could shift really severe Covid situation” flu vaccine prevent influenza infection Pergam explains also reduce severity illness among become infected flu benefit could theoretically reduce risk lifethreatening illness among also infected SARSCoV2 say It’s also possible someone contract flu recovers greater risk bad case Covid19 due lingering immune system change deficiency Tcells category specialized white blood cell help regulate immune system Research shown following case flu people reduced Tcell diversity also greater proportion influenzaspecific Tcells lung person infected novel coronavirus Tcell imbalance may lead “exaggerated inflammatory response” associated severe Covid19 disease Marchionni say others say could simpler explanation observed association flu shot reduced Covid19 risk “Patients get flu vaccine also likely healthconscious don’t” point Michael Ison MD professor Division Infectious Diseases Northwestern University’s Feinberg School Medicine vaccinated people generally healthier alone could explain association flu shot lower rate Covid19 death say Ison say reason it’s important everyone get flu shot year he’s convinced influenza vaccine provides special Covid19weakening immune benefit vaccine could offer immunesystem boost influenza vaccine isn’t one researcher believe may offer coronavirusrelated benefit exploring possibility active weakened polio tuberculosis vaccine could stimulate immune system way protect people SARSCoV2 “When vaccinate people live attenuated viral vaccine immune system produce number factor interferon general antiviral effect” say Paul Offit MD director Vaccine Education Center Children’s Hospital Philadelphia Offit say National Institutes Health exploring potential benefit vaccine could theoretically deployed cheaply widely among atrisk group effort block spread SARSCoV2 “Some people pushing it’s clear yet whether move forward” add “When vaccinate people live attenuated viral vaccine immune system produce number factor interferon general antiviral effect” importance getting flu vaccine expert say coronavirusweakening power flu vaccine far proven unanimously agree everyone get flu shot fall “Every year recommendation influenza vaccine everyone six month age get it’s important get year normal” say Offit 2018–19 flu season Centers Disease Control Prevention estimate roughly 36 million Americans came flu led 16 million health care visit consultation 500000 hospitalization “If happens concurrently Covid19 see would quickly overwhelm health care system” Offit say Northwestern’s Ison reiterates concern say underscore need people get flu shot already available many nationwide pharmacy “I think individual go ahead get vaccine early possible” say immunocompromised may want wait October add body’s protective immune response vaccine may last end flu season Apart flu shot say Covid19related safety measure like social distancing mask also protect people seasonal respiratory infection like influenza Good compliance protocol led unusually mild flu season country like Australia flu tends circulate earlier year US due part poor adherence safety measure Ison say US “hasn’t done good job controlling Covid19” may rough flu season “Flu vaccination year going important” addsTags Nuance Covid 19 Coronavirus Disease Health |
1,081 | My top viewed posts, and thank you. ❤ | If the follow button isn’t green, you should click it so my writing lands in your feed. Thanks! :)
Follow | https://medium.com/linda-caroll/my-top-viewed-posts-and-thank-you-d975424cadbb | ['Linda Caroll'] | 2020-12-10 00:54:00.257000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Advice', 'Reading', 'Inspiration', 'Writing'] | Title top viewed post thank ❤Content follow button isn’t green click writing land feed Thanks FollowTags Creativity Advice Reading Inspiration Writing |
1,082 | 6 Ways Trauma Might Inform Your Current Life | By Noel Hunter
An all too common experience of trauma survivors is hearing the suggestion, “Why don’t you just get over it?” The idea is that, well, it happened in the past, so it shouldn’t still be affecting you now. It’s as if each moment in life exists in a vacuum, separate and untouched by anything that happened prior to this moment.
The thing is, everything that’s happening right now is impacted by everything that has preceded it.
Our brain filters each perception through a lens of past experience, it predicts the next moment based on past experience, and it reacts with primitive automatic reactions that are-you guessed it-based on past experience.
Obviously, then, our past experiences influence everything in our current life.
Of course, not everyone who has survived trauma in their life will continue to be haunted and controlled by it. Many can and do heal, going on to live content and successful lives with the past nothing more than a fading scar.
At the same time, many others continue to struggle in various ways.
Many mental health systems push for positive, trauma-informed practices and awareness. Unfortunately, their policies are typically based in re-traumatizing narratives and reinforcement of trauma-based self-perceptions.
The following are some ways in which trauma commonly impacts a trauma survivor’s life.
Imagine, as you read through, how different our society might be if systems of care and justice were as trauma-informed as your life might be…
Sense of Self
War, violence, sexual assault, physical and emotional abuse, physical and emotional neglect, chronic invalidation, chronic racism, chronic oppression, poverty-these things profoundly shape and/or re-shape how people view themselves.
If you’ve been ignored, gaslit, blamed, or chronically invalidated, you’re probably going to pretty quickly get the idea that you don’t matter. Worthlessness, feeling invisible, constantly doubting yourself, and feeling two inches tall become a way of life.
Being violated, assaulted, or even assaulting another creates such a fundamental sense of shame deep within one’s soul that it festers like hidden mold behind a layer of glossy paint. Feelings of defectiveness and self-hatred appear reasonable and can be taken as objective fact.
If you’ve been told your whole life that you’re a piece of shit, guess what? You’re probably going to believe that you’re a piece of shit.
You don’t just snap out of these kinds of thinking simply because you get older. And, you definitely don’t stop thinking this way just because someone tells you to get over it.
Relationships
Our sense of self directly impacts how we interact with others. Self-hatred and feelings of inferiority and worthlessness make it pretty difficult to make small talk or engage in light-hearted verse. Not to mention that these feelings get projected onto others-we love to assume that everyone thinks just like us. If you look at yourself with disdain and fury, you’re pretty likely to assume everyone’s looking at you like that. And, who wants to engage with someone who thinks you’re defective and awful?
We are taught from our first breath how to interact with those around us and what to expect from others. If those people to whom you are closest hurt you, then you learn that everyone will hurt you. Despite “knowing” that it’s inevitable, you will likely spend a great deal of energy trying your darndest to stop that hurt from happening; never really allowing yourself to just be with another.
It is fairly common for those who have experienced interpersonal trauma, specifically, to view people through the lens of the “ drama triangle.” This trauma lens perceives all humans to play one of three roles: the perpetrator, the victim, or the rescuer. The thing is, these roles are ever-shifting. Anyone individual will be perceived as taking on one of these roles at any given time… including oneself.
When people are perceived as always playing a role of a savior, someone to feel sorry for, or a monster, it becomes really difficult to actually see the person before you (or yourself!) for who they really are. Worse, someone always has to be a monster. The fear and anger never end.
Parenting
We all know that trauma tends to repeat itself across generations. Perhaps there’s some epigenetic piece to this, but there is no doubt as to the role of direct trauma and stress as well.
If you (or those closest to you) are always a potential monster, this sets up an extremely precarious situation in which to bring up a helpless and totally dependent baby. You fear becoming the monster and so might become passive or over-protective. Or, perhaps you do become the monster and repeat the cycle of abuse. Worse, you might start to perceive the child to be the monster.
Often, parents whose needs were never met as a child will look to their own children to get their needs met. This sets up a cycle of parentification, lack of attunement, and emotional neglect. This is the cycle of trauma that stays hidden behind layers of enmeshed love and toxic interdependence.
Parenting is hard when you’ve never had a healthy parent to learn from.
Career
Trauma is a tricky devil. There is no singular path away from pain; what for one person might be a life of self-sabotage and expected failures is, for another, a life of over-achievement and incredible success.
What is shared underneath these seemingly opposite paths is a fundamental sense of inferiority.
For the person who struggles to get ahead and/or to keep a job there are a plethora of merging factors that can cause this. Perhaps academic capabilities have been stunted by severe neglect. Intense stress and emotional overwhelm makes it nearly impossible for many to focus on silly things like algebra or Charles Dickens. If you’re the sort to act out your pain, from the get-go you might be labeled a troublemaker and have others instill repeated messages of your hopeless future. Authority figures are frequently seen as dangerous and hypocritical; if you can’t get along with authority, you’re not likely to do so well in school or job.
Worse, when in chronic survival mode, the future is bleak-if it’s possible to believe in its existence at all. And, so, going to college or saving for what’s ahead just seems, frankly, dumb.
Let’s not forget, of course, that having a mental health diagnosis, especially the more severe ones that are themselves directly associated with trauma, leads to prejudiced hiring and discrimination in the workplace.
On the other hand, hyperfocusing on academics and/or a job might become itself a coping tool to escape the horrors of home/community/peers, etc. Feelings of inferiority might fuel a never-ending effort to prove yourself. Life might become motivated solely or largely by fleeting moments of praise and accolades.
Whichever divergent path you might find yourself on, it’s an exhausting one that rarely is fulfilling and often reinforces that gnawing sense of emptiness and self-hatred.
Freedom
If you’re controlled by the past, it’s hard to feel free regardless of your external circumstances. It also exponentially increases your odds of losing your external freedom as well.
Increased traumatic experiences directly relate to increased chances of jail, hospitalization, addiction, chronic psychosis, AOT orders, guardianships, and severe health issues.
If you’re trapped by the past, you’re very likely to be trapped, literally, in the present.
Experiencing chronic and multiple traumatic events drastically increases the odds that someone will be arrested and incarcerated. Almost half of all women in jail and a third of men have a lifetime history of PTSD. And that’s just including overt, DSM-defined traumatic experiences. Add in racism, oppression, emotional abuse, and emotional neglect and I would venture to guess that the prevalence approaches 100%.
Being locked up in a psychiatric hospital is inherently associated with past trauma. One study showed that 91% of admitted patients report overt trauma, with 69% reporting repeated, chronic trauma. Another found that almost 100% report overt trauma. Not to mention how common it is for people to be directly traumatized by the treatment experience itself.
The homeless population consists nearly entirely of trauma survivors, particularly childhood trauma. And once homeless, it is common to be trapped in a cycle of housing problems, jailtime for minor infractions, and being sent to the psych ward.
Physical Health
It shouldn’t be that surprising that chronic stress and trauma would leave your body in a toxic state.
Traumatic experiences have been shown repeatedly to be directly associated with: autoimmune disease, heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, obesity, adolescent obesity, drug and alcohol abuse, and Alzheimer’s.
And when you consider all of the above, you can see how quickly things compound.
If you’re lonely and filled with hate for yourself, you’re not likely to be so interested in healthy eating. Conversely, you might become obsessed with some factor of your body like, say, weight, and starve or purge or excessively exercise to make up for your perceived defectiveness.
If you aren’t making money, you can’t even afford to eat healthy or go to some fancy gym. If you live in the United States, you’ll also likely have terrible healthcare, if you have it at all.
The meals in locked facilities are about as healthy as what is fed to lab rats to keep them merely alive. The drugs given and/or forced in these places not only can result in obesity, digestive issues, brain damage, and blood problems, they also can make a person numb, hyperactive and/or shut down, and agitated, leading to its own cascade of health issues.
If you’re addicted to street drugs, alcohol, food, and/or risky lifestyles, health declines fairly rapidly.
Even if you are relatively healthy, trauma can be felt in the body through chronic pain, pseudoseizures, unexplained pain, digestive issues, memory problems, numbness, clumsiness, tight muscles, headaches, teeth erosion and jaw pain, and breathing issues. Any one of these can itself directly lead to more severe injury or health issues over time.
Having a diagnosis, history of hospitalization, and/or history of incarceration directly results in discrimination by healthcare workers. So, even if you’re fortunate to have access to decent healthcare, you’re still not likely to receive it.
Trauma and all of the additive effects of the sequelae of trauma understandably may lead to suicidality, self-harm, and passive suicidal behaviors.
Is it that surprising, then, that those with a significant trauma history have a lifespan decreased by 20 years?
Imagine if our systems of care and our governments understood this. Imagine if they developed programs around these ideas. Imagine if all the money spent on finding the genetic roots of everything mentioned here, or on pharmaceutical interventions, was instead spent on helping people heal from trauma?
Better, what if such funds were directed towards creating a less traumatic society? More equality, more compassion, more social services, greater access to quality healthcare, access to healing modalities not couched in further prejudice, more protection for children, more rehabilitative rather than punitive reactions, more relaxation, and more love and connection. Imagine. | https://medium.com/mad-in-america/6-ways-trauma-might-inform-your-current-life-2665ef2d791f | ['Mad In America'] | 2020-06-07 13:20:01.261000+00:00 | ['Trauma', 'Health', 'Relationships', 'Mental Health', 'Self'] | Title 6 Ways Trauma Might Inform Current LifeContent Noel Hunter common experience trauma survivor hearing suggestion “Why don’t get it” idea well happened past shouldn’t still affecting It’s moment life exists vacuum separate untouched anything happened prior moment thing everything that’s happening right impacted everything preceded brain filter perception lens past experience predicts next moment based past experience reacts primitive automatic reaction areyou guessed itbased past experience Obviously past experience influence everything current life course everyone survived trauma life continue haunted controlled Many heal going live content successful life past nothing fading scar time many others continue struggle various way Many mental health system push positive traumainformed practice awareness Unfortunately policy typically based retraumatizing narrative reinforcement traumabased selfperceptions following way trauma commonly impact trauma survivor’s life Imagine read different society might system care justice traumainformed life might be… Sense Self War violence sexual assault physical emotional abuse physical emotional neglect chronic invalidation chronic racism chronic oppression povertythese thing profoundly shape andor reshape people view you’ve ignored gaslit blamed chronically invalidated you’re probably going pretty quickly get idea don’t matter Worthlessness feeling invisible constantly doubting feeling two inch tall become way life violated assaulted even assaulting another creates fundamental sense shame deep within one’s soul fester like hidden mold behind layer glossy paint Feelings defectiveness selfhatred appear reasonable taken objective fact you’ve told whole life you’re piece shit guess You’re probably going believe you’re piece shit don’t snap kind thinking simply get older definitely don’t stop thinking way someone tell get Relationships sense self directly impact interact others Selfhatred feeling inferiority worthlessness make pretty difficult make small talk engage lighthearted verse mention feeling get projected onto otherswe love assume everyone think like u look disdain fury you’re pretty likely assume everyone’s looking like want engage someone think you’re defective awful taught first breath interact around u expect others people closest hurt learn everyone hurt Despite “knowing” it’s inevitable likely spend great deal energy trying darndest stop hurt happening never really allowing another fairly common experienced interpersonal trauma specifically view people lens “ drama triangle” trauma lens perceives human play one three role perpetrator victim rescuer thing role evershifting Anyone individual perceived taking one role given time… including oneself people perceived always playing role savior someone feel sorry monster becomes really difficult actually see person really Worse someone always monster fear anger never end Parenting know trauma tends repeat across generation Perhaps there’s epigenetic piece doubt role direct trauma stress well closest always potential monster set extremely precarious situation bring helpless totally dependent baby fear becoming monster might become passive overprotective perhaps become monster repeat cycle abuse Worse might start perceive child monster Often parent whose need never met child look child get need met set cycle parentification lack attunement emotional neglect cycle trauma stay hidden behind layer enmeshed love toxic interdependence Parenting hard you’ve never healthy parent learn Career Trauma tricky devil singular path away pain one person might life selfsabotage expected failure another life overachievement incredible success shared underneath seemingly opposite path fundamental sense inferiority person struggle get ahead andor keep job plethora merging factor cause Perhaps academic capability stunted severe neglect Intense stress emotional overwhelm make nearly impossible many focus silly thing like algebra Charles Dickens you’re sort act pain getgo might labeled troublemaker others instill repeated message hopeless future Authority figure frequently seen dangerous hypocritical can’t get along authority you’re likely well school job Worse chronic survival mode future bleakif it’s possible believe existence going college saving what’s ahead seems frankly dumb Let’s forget course mental health diagnosis especially severe one directly associated trauma lead prejudiced hiring discrimination workplace hand hyperfocusing academic andor job might become coping tool escape horror homecommunitypeers etc Feelings inferiority might fuel neverending effort prove Life might become motivated solely largely fleeting moment praise accolade Whichever divergent path might find it’s exhausting one rarely fulfilling often reinforces gnawing sense emptiness selfhatred Freedom you’re controlled past it’s hard feel free regardless external circumstance also exponentially increase odds losing external freedom well Increased traumatic experience directly relate increased chance jail hospitalization addiction chronic psychosis AOT order guardianship severe health issue you’re trapped past you’re likely trapped literally present Experiencing chronic multiple traumatic event drastically increase odds someone arrested incarcerated Almost half woman jail third men lifetime history PTSD that’s including overt DSMdefined traumatic experience Add racism oppression emotional abuse emotional neglect would venture guess prevalence approach 100 locked psychiatric hospital inherently associated past trauma One study showed 91 admitted patient report overt trauma 69 reporting repeated chronic trauma Another found almost 100 report overt trauma mention common people directly traumatized treatment experience homeless population consists nearly entirely trauma survivor particularly childhood trauma homeless common trapped cycle housing problem jailtime minor infraction sent psych ward Physical Health shouldn’t surprising chronic stress trauma would leave body toxic state Traumatic experience shown repeatedly directly associated autoimmune disease heart disease stroke cancer diabetes obesity adolescent obesity drug alcohol abuse Alzheimer’s consider see quickly thing compound you’re lonely filled hate you’re likely interested healthy eating Conversely might become obsessed factor body like say weight starve purge excessively exercise make perceived defectiveness aren’t making money can’t even afford eat healthy go fancy gym live United States you’ll also likely terrible healthcare meal locked facility healthy fed lab rat keep merely alive drug given andor forced place result obesity digestive issue brain damage blood problem also make person numb hyperactive andor shut agitated leading cascade health issue you’re addicted street drug alcohol food andor risky lifestyle health decline fairly rapidly Even relatively healthy trauma felt body chronic pain pseudoseizures unexplained pain digestive issue memory problem numbness clumsiness tight muscle headache teeth erosion jaw pain breathing issue one directly lead severe injury health issue time diagnosis history hospitalization andor history incarceration directly result discrimination healthcare worker even you’re fortunate access decent healthcare you’re still likely receive Trauma additive effect sequela trauma understandably may lead suicidality selfharm passive suicidal behavior surprising significant trauma history lifespan decreased 20 year Imagine system care government understood Imagine developed program around idea Imagine money spent finding genetic root everything mentioned pharmaceutical intervention instead spent helping people heal trauma Better fund directed towards creating le traumatic society equality compassion social service greater access quality healthcare access healing modality couched prejudice protection child rehabilitative rather punitive reaction relaxation love connection ImagineTags Trauma Health Relationships Mental Health Self |
1,083 | Understanding the Application | You can pass data to a method using method parameters. The values passed to a method can be used inside of the method to influence the return value.
For example, you may define a method that adds two numbers together. The parameters for the method are two numbers, a and b. The return value of the method is the sum a + b. Each time you call the method in your program, you can pass different numbers to the method to get a different return value.
The Main method has a parameter called args. We’ll talk about args more in the next section.
Sometimes, there is confusion about the terms ‘parameters’ and ‘arguments’. When you define a method, you also define the names and the types of the values that are passed to the method. These are the method’s parameters.
When you call the method in your program, you pass an actual value, called an argument, to the method for each parameter.
WriteLine
Finally, on Line 9 we have a call to the method WriteLine which is part of the Console class.
The method WriteLine accepts a parameter of the data type String. In our application, we pass the argument “Hello Ken!” to the method.
WriteLine takes this argument and prints it to the Command Prompt window.
What’s Next?
In this part of the series, we explored that structure of the Program.cs file. Along the way, we got a brief introduction to concepts like directives and namespaces, classes, and methods.
Don’t worry if those concepts are unclear to you — we’ll go into much more detail as the series progresses. As you work through examples, you will begin to understand each concept better.
In the next part of the series, we’ll learn how to make our application interactive by accepting user input and using that input to modify the output of our application. You can find that part of the series here. | https://kenbourke.medium.com/understanding-the-application-1ee031cc40fa | ['Ken Bourke'] | 2020-12-28 18:59:11.971000+00:00 | ['Software Development', 'Csharp', 'Dotnet', 'Software Engineering', 'Programming'] | Title Understanding ApplicationContent pas data method using method parameter value passed method used inside method influence return value example may define method add two number together parameter method two number b return value method sum b time call method program pas different number method get different return value Main method parameter called args We’ll talk args next section Sometimes confusion term ‘parameters’ ‘arguments’ define method also define name type value passed method method’s parameter call method program pas actual value called argument method parameter WriteLine Finally Line 9 call method WriteLine part Console class method WriteLine accepts parameter data type String application pas argument “Hello Ken” method WriteLine take argument print Command Prompt window What’s Next part series explored structure Programcs file Along way got brief introduction concept like directive namespaces class method Don’t worry concept unclear — we’ll go much detail series progress work example begin understand concept better next part series we’ll learn make application interactive accepting user input using input modify output application find part series hereTags Software Development Csharp Dotnet Software Engineering Programming |
1,084 | Sky News presents UN report findings which reveal that the ozone layer hole above Antarctica is… | Sky News presents UN report findings which reveal that the ozone layer hole above Antarctica is recovering and could be fully repaired by 2060. The UN accounts the repair, happening at a rate of 3% per decade, to the banning of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) in the 1980’s. Amongst all the dismal news surrounding the current state of our planet, this bright light at the end of the tunnel is much welcomed, although there is still a lot more that we must do if we want to nurse our home back to health.
CFC is an organic compound, made up of carbon, chlorine, and fluorine which is produced as a volatile product of methane and ethane. Since the 1930’s, CFC has been used in the manufacture of solvents, refrigerants, aerosol sprays, and blowing agents for packing materials. Initially the introduction of CFC was a great substitution for dangerous substances like ammonia, and was labelled as safe, non- toxic and non-flammable. However, the planet suffered greatly. The chlorine subsequently emitted into the atmosphere, which has the potential to significantly damage and destroy large parts of the ozone, as witnessed, particularly over Antarctica.
Thanks to the 1987 Montreal Protocol , an international treaty with over 197 signatories, banning ozone-depleting chemicals, such as CFCs alongside new technology, we are now witnessing the increasing health of the ozone layer. The UN report that the upper layer of ozone over the northern hemisphere will be repaired by 2030, and the damage over the southern hemisphere will return to normal by mid-century. The healing of the ozone layer is fundamental to the survival of our planet and the health of the human race, as it is responsible for absorbing most of the sun’s cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation.
Sadly, despite this great news, there are still areas in the world that continue to destroy the ozone layer with CFCs. Namely, the UN report shows evidence of an unexpected and unidentified increase in CFC-11 from eastern Asia since 2012. This is amidst earlier reports by The Guardian that uncover the source of some of these illegal emissions as pinpointed to the Chinese plastic foam industry. If continued, these emissions will delay the recovery of the ozone layer by up to 20 years, Sky News reports. Additionally, there has been a trend that sees pollutant industries moving to eastern countries, which accounts for their high levels of CO2 emissions. Combining damaging CFCs and harmful greenhouse gasses, is a sure way to prevent sustainability and the recovery of our planet. To mitigate this, production and manufacturers, businesses, and individuals in Eastern Asia, as well as globally, need to start acting more energy efficiently and more environmentally consciously.
Human behaviour is habitual and takes repeated and tangible incentives to change. EnergiToken, supported by a variety of energy efficient partners offer individuals the solution. Present predominantly across Europe and Asia, EnergiToken is a rewards platform which awards energy efficiency with EnergiTokens (ETK), a financially tangible cryptocurrency which can be spent within their ecosystem of approved vendors. When an individual proves that they’ve completed an act that reduces consumption through our partners, such as purchasing energy efficient appliances or travelling via low-carbon transport they will be rewarded with a sum of ETK ready to be spent. Some of the recent partners include Solisco, nextbike, and Korean-based Hotel Cappuccino.
Hotel Cappuccino is an urban lifestyle hotel that is tackling the increasing issue of energy over-consumption by encouraging its guests to act efficiently such as reusing towels. Guests who do so receive rewards from the hotel in the form of Angel Coupons which can be used within the hotel café or to send a donation to a charity. Now, after partnering with Energi Mine, Hotel Cappuccino can integrate the EnergiToken rewards platform, which will further reward their energy mindful guests with ETK which can be spent in a wider ecosystem of vendors outside of the hotel itself. Rewards will motivate more people to uptake energy efficient behaviour until eco-friendly and energy reductive actions become habitual. This will subsequently have a great impact in terms of creating a sustainable planet as green behaviour becomes the natural choice.
Together we can change the future of the planet and nurse it back to health. Visit energitoken.com today to find out how you can help save the world and get rewarded for it! | https://medium.com/energitokennews/sky-news-presents-un-report-findings-which-reveal-that-the-ozone-layer-hole-above-antarctica-is-2691e3462597 | [] | 2018-11-09 09:50:42.175000+00:00 | ['Pollution', 'Sustainability', 'Climate Change', 'Global Warming', 'Environment'] | Title Sky News present UN report finding reveal ozone layer hole Antarctica is…Content Sky News present UN report finding reveal ozone layer hole Antarctica recovering could fully repaired 2060 UN account repair happening rate 3 per decade banning Chlorofluorocarbons CFC’s 1980’s Amongst dismal news surrounding current state planet bright light end tunnel much welcomed although still lot must want nurse home back health CFC organic compound made carbon chlorine fluorine produced volatile product methane ethane Since 1930’s CFC used manufacture solvent refrigerant aerosol spray blowing agent packing material Initially introduction CFC great substitution dangerous substance like ammonia labelled safe non toxic nonflammable However planet suffered greatly chlorine subsequently emitted atmosphere potential significantly damage destroy large part ozone witnessed particularly Antarctica Thanks 1987 Montreal Protocol international treaty 197 signatory banning ozonedepleting chemical CFCs alongside new technology witnessing increasing health ozone layer UN report upper layer ozone northern hemisphere repaired 2030 damage southern hemisphere return normal midcentury healing ozone layer fundamental survival planet health human race responsible absorbing sun’s cancercausing ultraviolet radiation Sadly despite great news still area world continue destroy ozone layer CFCs Namely UN report show evidence unexpected unidentified increase CFC11 eastern Asia since 2012 amidst earlier report Guardian uncover source illegal emission pinpointed Chinese plastic foam industry continued emission delay recovery ozone layer 20 year Sky News report Additionally trend see pollutant industry moving eastern country account high level CO2 emission Combining damaging CFCs harmful greenhouse gas sure way prevent sustainability recovery planet mitigate production manufacturer business individual Eastern Asia well globally need start acting energy efficiently environmentally consciously Human behaviour habitual take repeated tangible incentive change EnergiToken supported variety energy efficient partner offer individual solution Present predominantly across Europe Asia EnergiToken reward platform award energy efficiency EnergiTokens ETK financially tangible cryptocurrency spent within ecosystem approved vendor individual prof they’ve completed act reduces consumption partner purchasing energy efficient appliance travelling via lowcarbon transport rewarded sum ETK ready spent recent partner include Solisco nextbike Koreanbased Hotel Cappuccino Hotel Cappuccino urban lifestyle hotel tackling increasing issue energy overconsumption encouraging guest act efficiently reusing towel Guests receive reward hotel form Angel Coupons used within hotel café send donation charity partnering Energi Mine Hotel Cappuccino integrate EnergiToken reward platform reward energy mindful guest ETK spent wider ecosystem vendor outside hotel Rewards motivate people uptake energy efficient behaviour ecofriendly energy reductive action become habitual subsequently great impact term creating sustainable planet green behaviour becomes natural choice Together change future planet nurse back health Visit energitokencom today find help save world get rewarded itTags Pollution Sustainability Climate Change Global Warming Environment |
1,085 | Marketing Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt and, Ultimately, Positivity for Profit | The Default Option
Guess how many vets are open on Thanksgiving morning? None. It’s emergency rooms only. That’s powerful right there. Monopolies don’t need to worry about marketing or customer service (just look at cable and telecom companies). You only have one option, and they get away with murder.
The most valuable businesses are built on defaults. Whether it’s Google’s colossal search empire or Facebook’s massive ad engine, becoming a default in today’s economy is often associated with monopoly. And monopolies are the best businesses to build — certainly, they’re the most profitable. (Want to build a monopoly? Hacking the 5 types of network effects helps.)
That emergency vet had a monopoly all right. There wasn’t another within an hour’s drive. Who wants to waste that much time while your dog’s “dying?” Besides, I wanted to get back for turkey day.
It was a lot of pain and an easy decision — no other choice.
Not all businesses can become the default choice. Think about this in relation to your own business. What are you selling, who are your competitors and how do you differentiate?
That ER vet didn’t have to advertise, they didn’t need SEO — when they’re the only one open, guess where you end up.
What is that for your business? How can you become a default, even if only for a small niche?
If you’re the only supplier of XYZ or the exclusive partner of ABC, that’s differentiation and the beginnings of a moat. And without a moat, you’re not fundable, not really (many companies — including Uber and Blue Apron — get this wrong. Here’s why!) | https://medium.com/better-marketing/marketing-fear-uncertainty-doubt-and-ultimately-positivity-for-profit-8d973f5152b1 | ['Matt Ward'] | 2019-12-18 22:12:22.044000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Sales', 'Business', 'Branding', 'Startup'] | Title Marketing Fear Uncertainty Doubt Ultimately Positivity ProfitContent Default Option Guess many vet open Thanksgiving morning None It’s emergency room That’s powerful right Monopolies don’t need worry marketing customer service look cable telecom company one option get away murder valuable business built default Whether it’s Google’s colossal search empire Facebook’s massive ad engine becoming default today’s economy often associated monopoly monopoly best business build — certainly they’re profitable Want build monopoly Hacking 5 type network effect help emergency vet monopoly right wasn’t another within hour’s drive want waste much time dog’s “dying” Besides wanted get back turkey day lot pain easy decision — choice business become default choice Think relation business selling competitor differentiate ER vet didn’t advertise didn’t need SEO — they’re one open guess end business become default even small niche you’re supplier XYZ exclusive partner ABC that’s differentiation beginning moat without moat you’re fundable really many company — including Uber Blue Apron — get wrong Here’s whyTags Marketing Sales Business Branding Startup |
1,086 | 5 Myths About Running That You Shouldn’t Believe and 5 Absolutely True Facts | 5 Myths About Running That You Shouldn’t Believe and 5 Absolutely True Facts
Let’s separate the fact from the fiction.
Image by skeeze from Pixabay
It’s no surprise that a sport that’s been around for centuries would have developed a lot of myths about it. In 776 B.C., the first event at the first Olympics Games was the footrace. Then came the running boom of the 1970s, when jogging for fitness exploded onto the scene. Fast forward to the 90s, the decade when I began running, and the running world was full of advice. Lots of it included carbo-loading and stretching. That and bad knees, I spent two decades listening to nonrunners tell me how my knees were going to fall apart if I kept running. Well, I kept on running. And now, more than 20 years later, my knees are still going strong.
So what are the real facts about running, and what ideas should we leave behind?
The myths
Myth #1: Running will ruin your knees. Runners hear this a lot. Hopefully, this piece of advice will fade away, as it is completely false. For one thing, running helps keep weight off, and not carrying around extra weight is beneficial to your joints. And researchers have conducted studies that have shown that running is beneficial to the cartilage in your knee joints.
Myth #2: You should always stretch before running. Static stretching before a run will not do you any good. I wrote all about it here. A short warm-up and some dynamic stretches are better before you head out for your run.
Myth #3: You need to eat pasta for dinner before a big race. Sadly, this one is not true. The carbo-loading craze of the ’90s is over. You don’t need to eat a giant bowl of pasta the night before a big race. Eating that big bowl of spaghetti can have the effect of making you feel bloated the next day. Instead, increase your carbs slightly in the days leading up to your race. And think healthy and complex carbohydrates, like whole grains, black beans, lentils.
Myth #4: Real runners don’t walk. Don’t let anyone tell you this. It’s simply not true. Popular running coach, Jeff Galloway, has a program where he incorporates running with walking.
Myth #5: Runners can eat anything they want without gaining weight. Like myth #3, I wish this one were true. Unfortunately, running is not a license to eat anything you want. If at the end of the day your calorie expenditure is less than what you’re taking in, you’re going to end up gaining weight. This is true even if you ran 20 miles that day. Runners still need to be conscious of their diet. Although a lot of running does mean you’ll need to eat more calories to keep up your energy levels than someone less active.
The facts
Fact #1: Running can boost your mood. Exercise reduces stress and increases your ability to deal with anxiety. It does this by increasing concentrations of norepinephrine, which is a chemical in the brain that helps people to deal with stress. Many studies have shown that people who exercise are less likely to be depressed and show higher levels of emotional well-being.
Fact #2: Running helps build strong bones. Running is a weight-bearing exercise. Weight-bearing exercises reduce the loss of bone strength. Some studies have shown that more than just slowing down bone loss, running can build bones.
Fact #3: Running helps you live longer. Researchers looked at 14 previous studies which included 232,149 adults. They found that compared to people who didn’t run at all, runners were 27% less likely to die during the study. The researchers concluded that running improves overall health and longevity.
Fact #4: Running can improve your sleep quality. Exercising regularly can help you get deep sleep. Deep sleep, or slow-wave sleep, is how your body and mind rejuvenate during the night. Miss out on deep sleep, and even though you are rested, you may feel fatigued the next day. Researchers at Johns Hopkins Center for Sleep found that people who exercise for more than 30 minutes per day will have better sleep quality. You may want to experiment with what time of day works best for you. Going for a run right before bedtime may make it harder to get to sleep.
Fact #5: You need new shoes every 300 to 500 miles. Running is a simple sport and doesn’t require much equipment. However, your shoes are critical, and once they begin to wear down, you may experience injuries. Keep track of how many miles you run in your shoes. Many apps can help you do this. You can also watch for the following signs: pain when running, worn-out treads, and loss of shock absorption. | https://medium.com/runners-life/5-myths-about-running-that-you-shouldnt-believe-and-5-absolutely-true-facts-487f5edc3565 | ['Jennifer Geer'] | 2020-06-14 12:01:03.248000+00:00 | ['Fitness', 'Health', 'Exercise', 'Running', 'Wellness'] | Title 5 Myths Running Shouldn’t Believe 5 Absolutely True FactsContent 5 Myths Running Shouldn’t Believe 5 Absolutely True Facts Let’s separate fact fiction Image skeeze Pixabay It’s surprise sport that’s around century would developed lot myth 776 BC first event first Olympics Games footrace came running boom 1970s jogging fitness exploded onto scene Fast forward 90 decade began running running world full advice Lots included carboloading stretching bad knee spent two decade listening nonrunners tell knee going fall apart kept running Well kept running 20 year later knee still going strong real fact running idea leave behind myth Myth 1 Running ruin knee Runners hear lot Hopefully piece advice fade away completely false one thing running help keep weight carrying around extra weight beneficial joint researcher conducted study shown running beneficial cartilage knee joint Myth 2 always stretch running Static stretching run good wrote short warmup dynamic stretch better head run Myth 3 need eat pasta dinner big race Sadly one true carboloading craze ’90s don’t need eat giant bowl pasta night big race Eating big bowl spaghetti effect making feel bloated next day Instead increase carbs slightly day leading race think healthy complex carbohydrate like whole grain black bean lentil Myth 4 Real runner don’t walk Don’t let anyone tell It’s simply true Popular running coach Jeff Galloway program incorporates running walking Myth 5 Runners eat anything want without gaining weight Like myth 3 wish one true Unfortunately running license eat anything want end day calorie expenditure le you’re taking you’re going end gaining weight true even ran 20 mile day Runners still need conscious diet Although lot running mean you’ll need eat calorie keep energy level someone le active fact Fact 1 Running boost mood Exercise reduces stress increase ability deal anxiety increasing concentration norepinephrine chemical brain help people deal stress Many study shown people exercise le likely depressed show higher level emotional wellbeing Fact 2 Running help build strong bone Running weightbearing exercise Weightbearing exercise reduce loss bone strength study shown slowing bone loss running build bone Fact 3 Running help live longer Researchers looked 14 previous study included 232149 adult found compared people didn’t run runner 27 le likely die study researcher concluded running improves overall health longevity Fact 4 Running improve sleep quality Exercising regularly help get deep sleep Deep sleep slowwave sleep body mind rejuvenate night Miss deep sleep even though rested may feel fatigued next day Researchers Johns Hopkins Center Sleep found people exercise 30 minute per day better sleep quality may want experiment time day work best Going run right bedtime may make harder get sleep Fact 5 need new shoe every 300 500 mile Running simple sport doesn’t require much equipment However shoe critical begin wear may experience injury Keep track many mile run shoe Many apps help also watch following sign pain running wornout tread loss shock absorptionTags Fitness Health Exercise Running Wellness |
1,087 | My Ukulele | Welt Aus Quark collects small everyday moments that are worth honouring and turns them into comic strips and drawings
Follow | https://medium.com/welt-aus-quark/my-ukulele-9e3df4c66d8e | ['Paul Götze'] | 2020-08-14 10:46:23.572000+00:00 | ['Comics', 'Ukulele', 'Musicians', 'Illustration', 'Music'] | Title UkuleleContent Welt Aus Quark collect small everyday moment worth honouring turn comic strip drawing FollowTags Comics Ukulele Musicians Illustration Music |
1,088 | Tech Can’t Handle Criticism: A Conversation with Anna Wiener and Jessica Powell | OneZero: Let’s talk about how both of you first came to Silicon Valley. What drew your interest to the field?
Jessica Powell: I was not remotely interested in tech. But I ended up in London and had no visa or anything. So I applied for every job under the sun. No one, no one would call me back. I applied for every job in the Guardian ads. I applied for waitressing jobs, I applied for a CEO job, and across the board no one called me back. Google was the only place that I got an interview at, and they hired me as a contractor.
Anna Wiener: My peer group wasn’t thinking about tech at all, and I was an assistant at a literary agency. I was applying for other assistant jobs — this was just considered forward momentum — and I sort of fell backwards into the [tech] industry. I read on the Paris Review blog — the source for business information — that this startup was doing like a Netflix for ebooks product and they had raised $3 million. [In the article, there] was just this picture of these three men. They looked so happy, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I guess I would also be happy if I had $3 million to make something.’
This just seemed like they had a license, like this was the future. How can it not be? They’ve been given this funding, and they can just go forth and disrupt publishing, and I wanted to try that. It seemed like the version of tech that was related to my interests, which at the time were pretty much books and Tumblr. So that was how I got my start in tech. That job was also a contract position.
“[In the article, there] was just this picture of these three men. They looked so happy, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I guess I would also be happy if I had $3 million to make something.’”
Once you arrived in Silicon Valley, it seems as if some of the broader structural cultural issues become apparent pretty quickly. Anna, there’s a great line in your book about how it became clear that so much of the tech culture is built by young white men from “the soft suburbs.” And then that is being exported.
Anna Wiener: Well, one might say that a lot of American society is run by young white men from American suburbs, so it wasn’t like a total fish-out-of-water situation. When I started at my first company in Silicon Valley, it was almost entirely young men.
Anna Wiener.
I think this manifests in different ways: You have people who are quite young and who are quite inexperienced — professionally and also in life. They’re learning how to manage other people — some of whom are older than they are and have more experience — at the same time that they are figuring out how to scale, how to grow, how to be a professional, how to be independent in their twenties.
You end up with these cultures that, with that youthfulness combined with certain industry values, tend to lean toward the irreverent — this idea that this is like an anti-authority, anti-government, anti-bureaucratic form of business. When those two things collide, you get a workplace culture that can be quite alienating to someone who is on the outside in any way. I think you also just get a workplace culture that’s governed by the sort of business advice one might read on Medium from a semi-experienced venture capitalist.
OneZero: And that often results in what Jessica details in her book — institutional sexism. In Jessica’s book, it’s very explicit: The engineers are building internal hookup apps to keep the engineers happy. The message is pretty clear that the company culture in a lot of these places is serving a very narrow interest, which is the interest of the men working there. Jessica, can you talk about what in your experience inside Silicon Valley led you to register that critique?
Jessica Powell: Everyone thinks I wrote the book when I was at Google. I was at Google for a long time. Then I went to a startup in London and then went back to Google. This startup was pretty horrific. Like one time I came in and there were, like, dildos on my desk. Not like dildos. There were dildos on my desk.
When I started writing, I had no idea it was gonna be a book. I was just writing because I was mad, but I didn’t even know if I had the right to be mad. On the one hand, it seemed so obvious that what was happening around me was bad. But no one seemed to care. That’s probably not true. I think probably people did care. But when something becomes normalized, you really doubt yourself. Whenever I would raise some of these issues, people would be like, “Oh, don’t freak out about it,” — I’d be the only woman on the management team — and, “Oh, but you just care about that because you’re a woman.” Maybe.
Generally in the Valley, we really have bought into this idea of it being a meritocracy. And certainly if I think of my own career, going into Google at 26 and, you know, running my department by the time I was, I think, 37 or 36, I don’t think that would have actually happened in any other industry. If you were there to catch the ball, and you could catch it, then you kind of continued to advance. So, I do think there is something really special about the Silicon Valley culture in that sense. But it’s a total myth that it’s a meritocracy.
The problem is that we think of our platforms as neutral. We think of our company structures as neutral, and we don’t always look at the inequalities that exist within them. At Google, we had a TGIF [meeting]… where you have the Q&A and the founders get up and they’ll answer any question, which is great. That does not happen in every industry. But we would assume that because we put the mic in the room, that meant everyone had equal access to the mic. But that’s not how it works.
Guess what happens? Who are the majority of people who go to the mic? It’s a bunch of men, primarily white men. They should absolutely have the right to ask those questions. There’s nothing wrong with them, but we’re wrong to assume that tech is neutral. And I think that is how a lot of the sexism and racism and ageism — we never talk about ageism, but my God ageism! — I think that’s how that all happens. We keep thinking we’re all wonderful, fair people, and so we don’t interrogate enough how our tools and how our structures in the company are used.
OneZero: You both explicitly said that you hope your work has a political element, that you hope it engenders change. What would that look like?
Anna Wiener: I think [tech] is an industry that’s quite hostile to criticism — not just [an industry that] doesn’t want to think about any critique, but is actively dismissive of criticism. I think criticism is inherently political, especially when you’re criticizing power. And I do hope my book is politically useful in the sense that I want people to see how people speak and how they think and what the intellectual figureheads are in a culture that has amassed such a high concentration of wealth and power so quickly.
My reason for writing the book as memoir was I felt that—especially as a nontechnical woman with the story I had—if I had disguised it as fiction, it would not be taken seriously. I wanted people to understand that these things all happen, the good and the bad, that my experience here was as fortuitous as it was disenchanting.
[By not naming companies or executives in the book,] my point was that this is more about people or institutions in a structural position, and the behavior is what’s important — not any particular company. People have come to me since the book’s come out and asked, “Did you work at X analytics company?” and I did not.
OneZero: Because their experiences so mirrored what they saw at their workplace?
Anna Wiener: A concrete example: There’s a part in the book where I talk about my team being brought into a conference room and our manager asking us to write down the names of the five smartest people we knew. We all wrote down our friends’ names, and then he was like, “Why don’t they work here?”
A woman I know emailed me after reading this, and she was like, “The same exact thing happened at a company that I worked for in a totally different part of the industry — they must have just read it on the same blog post.” I just feel like there are these cultural ticks — I want to point out that this is not hyperspecific.
OneZero: Jessica, what’s been the response to your book as a piece of satire? If you’re reading between the lines, some people may or may not be super favorably rendered in there.
Jessica Powell: Yeah, there’s no one-for-one matching. Everyone has an opinion about the [character of the] nymphomaniac CEO. They all have guesses, which are actually super-good guesses. But the biggest inspiration [for this book] was definitely working at that startup. I don’t think the head of that startup liked the book. In fact, there was a huge exposé of him last summer, about all the misogyny and racism at their headquarters. I gave a quote for the article, and his response was, “Jessica’s just trying to promote her book, along with all the other people who had spoken out.” And I was just like, no one even cares about your company. If I was going to promote my book, I think I’d talk about Google’s sexism.
Jessica Powell.
As for Google, the people I consider my friends have all been great. There were a ton of Google employees who reached out and were just like, “Wow, I feel like you’re making us eat our vegetables, and we’re talking a lot about it.” That is super rewarding to hear. There were definitely some people who were not happy about it, who all of a sudden stopped talking to me. And that hurt, definitely, in the first beat of it. And then I had a moment where I was like, wait a second, so we are not friends because I criticized the industry you worked in? That’s way more dystopian than anything I wrote in that book.
Anna Wiener: Jess, I’m curious if you’re worried about credibility. As a fairly low-level employee at these companies, I worried about people dismissing my account because I’d only worked in the industry for five years. I wasn’t even a programmer. I wasn’t super ambitious in my career after a certain point. Did the question of credibility come up for you as someone who had worked in the industry for a much longer period and had become an executive? Was that on your mind at all?
Jessica Powell: People like to position critics as outsiders trying to undermine the credibility of [the industry]. And even more so if you’re not technical. Then they can kind of, you know, bucket you as, “Eh, they don’t really understand the tech.”
“The problem is that we think of our platforms as neutral. We think of our company structures as neutral, and we don’t always look at the inequalities that exist within them.”
OneZero: In 2014, the founder of GitHub stepped down after serious sexual harassment allegations led to a companywide probe of the startup’s culture. Anna, when you joined the company, it had adopted a number of measures to try to make structural changes, to deter harassment and promote inclusion. You detail some of the ways those were and weren’t successful. What do you think of such efforts put forward by the industry so far?
Anna Wiener: We have to look at these as structural issues. We have to look at the incentives of the industry, the incentives of the business model, the incentives of venture capital. I think there’s a lot of really important work being done at a lot of startups and larger corporations with diversity and inclusion. I think there are people working really, really hard to change cultures internally. But I think until those people are really given a seat at the table, really given power internally, we’re unlikely to see any sort of meaningful cultural shift. Unless you see a shift in the business model or in these incentives, we’re unlikely to see a shift in the way the products are used.
I’m not saying we should dismantle capitalism, exactly, but I do think these problems can’t be solved at the company level, because it’s not in anyone’s interest to do so. Until we can really acknowledge that and reckon with that, we’re unlikely to see meaningful shifts. I can’t speak to what happened at GitHub. I wasn’t in the room for important meetings, but my understanding of the work people were doing around diversity and inclusion is that [it] was going to take time, and it was going to require people to slow down. It’s going to require certain changes to the product itself. And that’s not in the interest of the company that is gunning for an IPO or for a multibillion-dollar acquisition by Microsoft.
I think there are things we haven’t tried yet, which makes me really excited. Some of the recent organizing we’re seeing in tech is really compelling. I think employees having a seat at the table or employees on the board, that’s a step in an interesting direction — collective ownership. For an industry that has so many smart people and so many optimistic, idealistic people, we haven’t been super imaginative.
Jessica Powell: I’d like to see more engagement from tech with the outside world. [Anna was] saying earlier that it’s an industry that does not take kindly to criticism. I think that’s very, very much true. And so what happens is, say Facebook does something dumb or controversial on the content moderation side, and everyone gets all worked up. What happens if you are at Reddit, YouTube, Twitter, any kind of UGC platform? You totally close ranks. You don’t say a thing. You don’t want to get pulled into that, on a policy side, on a press side. So you don’t say anything.
And so then you have this vacuum of largely reporters or politicians weighing in on these debates. You get this vacuum and anti-tech vitriol. [It’s] not always super informed. But it’s a problem of our own making, because we don’t do anything. We keep our heads below the parapet. And so I think we kind of deserve it.
On Twitter, I’ve got my media feed and I’ve got my tech feed. It’s very funny to watch them sometimes. All the tech people are like, “Oh, the media. It’s all fake news and they hate us and so they make things up.” And yeah, sometimes it’s a little extreme, but it’s also because we don’t do a whole lot.
There’s so much anti-tech sentiment. Everyone just kept on trying to put me into this hole of, like, “You’re this whistleblower, you hate tech, da, da, da, da.” The thing is, I don’t. I still work in tech. I think it’s something that’s really, really special — the questioning of assumptions and trying to do stuff even if you don’t know that you can do it. I love that there are people trying and failing. [But] can we all just behave better, please?
Update: This article has been updated to clarify Jessica Powell’s role at Google. | https://onezero.medium.com/tech-cant-handle-criticism-a-conversation-with-anna-wiener-and-jessica-powell-b4dfca6bb2de | ['Brian Merchant'] | 2020-02-27 15:49:09.639000+00:00 | ['Books', 'Google', 'Tech', 'Culture', 'Into The Valley'] | Title Tech Can’t Handle Criticism Conversation Anna Wiener Jessica PowellContent OneZero Let’s talk first came Silicon Valley drew interest field Jessica Powell remotely interested tech ended London visa anything applied every job sun one one would call back applied every job Guardian ad applied waitressing job applied CEO job across board one called back Google place got interview hired contractor Anna Wiener peer group wasn’t thinking tech assistant literary agency applying assistant job — considered forward momentum — sort fell backwards tech industry read Paris Review blog — source business information — startup like Netflix ebooks product raised 3 million article picture three men looked happy like ‘Yeah guess would also happy 3 million make something’ seemed like license like future They’ve given funding go forth disrupt publishing wanted try seemed like version tech related interest time pretty much book Tumblr got start tech job also contract position “In article picture three men looked happy like ‘Yeah guess would also happy 3 million make something’” arrived Silicon Valley seems broader structural cultural issue become apparent pretty quickly Anna there’s great line book became clear much tech culture built young white men “the soft suburbs” exported Anna Wiener Well one might say lot American society run young white men American suburb wasn’t like total fishoutofwater situation started first company Silicon Valley almost entirely young men Anna Wiener think manifest different way people quite young quite inexperienced — professionally also life They’re learning manage people — older experience — time figuring scale grow professional independent twenty end culture youthfulness combined certain industry value tend lean toward irreverent — idea like antiauthority antigovernment antibureaucratic form business two thing collide get workplace culture quite alienating someone outside way think also get workplace culture that’s governed sort business advice one might read Medium semiexperienced venture capitalist OneZero often result Jessica detail book — institutional sexism Jessica’s book it’s explicit engineer building internal hookup apps keep engineer happy message pretty clear company culture lot place serving narrow interest interest men working Jessica talk experience inside Silicon Valley led register critique Jessica Powell Everyone think wrote book Google Google long time went startup London went back Google startup pretty horrific Like one time came like dildo desk like dildo dildo desk started writing idea gonna book writing mad didn’t even know right mad one hand seemed obvious happening around bad one seemed care That’s probably true think probably people care something becomes normalized really doubt Whenever would raise issue people would like “Oh don’t freak it” — I’d woman management team — “Oh care you’re woman” Maybe Generally Valley really bought idea meritocracy certainly think career going Google 26 know running department time think 37 36 don’t think would actually happened industry catch ball could catch kind continued advance think something really special Silicon Valley culture sense it’s total myth it’s meritocracy problem think platform neutral think company structure neutral don’t always look inequality exist within Google TGIF meeting… QA founder get they’ll answer question great happen every industry would assume put mic room meant everyone equal access mic that’s work Guess happens majority people go mic It’s bunch men primarily white men absolutely right ask question There’s nothing wrong we’re wrong assume tech neutral think lot sexism racism ageism — never talk ageism God ageism — think that’s happens keep thinking we’re wonderful fair people don’t interrogate enough tool structure company used OneZero explicitly said hope work political element hope engenders change would look like Anna Wiener think tech industry that’s quite hostile criticism — industry doesn’t want think critique actively dismissive criticism think criticism inherently political especially you’re criticizing power hope book politically useful sense want people see people speak think intellectual figurehead culture amassed high concentration wealth power quickly reason writing book memoir felt that—especially nontechnical woman story had—if disguised fiction would taken seriously wanted people understand thing happen good bad experience fortuitous disenchanting naming company executive book point people institution structural position behavior what’s important — particular company People come since book’s come asked “Did work X analytics company” OneZero experience mirrored saw workplace Anna Wiener concrete example There’s part book talk team brought conference room manager asking u write name five smartest people knew wrote friends’ name like “Why don’t work here” woman know emailed reading like “The exact thing happened company worked totally different part industry — must read blog post” feel like cultural tick — want point hyperspecific OneZero Jessica what’s response book piece satire you’re reading line people may may super favorably rendered Jessica Powell Yeah there’s oneforone matching Everyone opinion character nymphomaniac CEO guess actually supergood guess biggest inspiration book definitely working startup don’t think head startup liked book fact huge exposé last summer misogyny racism headquarters gave quote article response “Jessica’s trying promote book along people spoken out” like one even care company going promote book think I’d talk Google’s sexism Jessica Powell Google people consider friend great ton Google employee reached like “Wow feel like you’re making u eat vegetable we’re talking lot it” super rewarding hear definitely people happy sudden stopped talking hurt definitely first beat moment like wait second friend criticized industry worked That’s way dystopian anything wrote book Anna Wiener Jess I’m curious you’re worried credibility fairly lowlevel employee company worried people dismissing account I’d worked industry five year wasn’t even programmer wasn’t super ambitious career certain point question credibility come someone worked industry much longer period become executive mind Jessica Powell People like position critic outsider trying undermine credibility industry even you’re technical kind know bucket “Eh don’t really understand tech” “The problem think platform neutral think company structure neutral don’t always look inequality exist within them” OneZero 2014 founder GitHub stepped serious sexual harassment allegation led companywide probe startup’s culture Anna joined company adopted number measure try make structural change deter harassment promote inclusion detail way weren’t successful think effort put forward industry far Anna Wiener look structural issue look incentive industry incentive business model incentive venture capital think there’s lot really important work done lot startup larger corporation diversity inclusion think people working really really hard change culture internally think people really given seat table really given power internally we’re unlikely see sort meaningful cultural shift Unless see shift business model incentive we’re unlikely see shift way product used I’m saying dismantle capitalism exactly think problem can’t solved company level it’s anyone’s interest really acknowledge reckon we’re unlikely see meaningful shift can’t speak happened GitHub wasn’t room important meeting understanding work people around diversity inclusion going take time going require people slow It’s going require certain change product that’s interest company gunning IPO multibilliondollar acquisition Microsoft think thing haven’t tried yet make really excited recent organizing we’re seeing tech really compelling think employee seat table employee board that’s step interesting direction — collective ownership industry many smart people many optimistic idealistic people haven’t super imaginative Jessica Powell I’d like see engagement tech outside world Anna saying earlier it’s industry take kindly criticism think that’s much true happens say Facebook something dumb controversial content moderation side everyone get worked happens Reddit YouTube Twitter kind UGC platform totally close rank don’t say thing don’t want get pulled policy side press side don’t say anything vacuum largely reporter politician weighing debate get vacuum antitech vitriol It’s always super informed it’s problem making don’t anything keep head parapet think kind deserve Twitter I’ve got medium feed I’ve got tech feed It’s funny watch sometimes tech people like “Oh medium It’s fake news hate u make thing up” yeah sometimes it’s little extreme it’s also don’t whole lot There’s much antitech sentiment Everyone kept trying put hole like “You’re whistleblower hate tech da da da da” thing don’t still work tech think it’s something that’s really really special — questioning assumption trying stuff even don’t know love people trying failing behave better please Update article updated clarify Jessica Powell’s role GoogleTags Books Google Tech Culture Valley |
1,089 | Genaro Network aimed at Sustainability | Mining cryptocurrencies became one of the hottest & most profitable sources of income across the globe. People who began mining early became wealthy fast. At the start, miners could use a simple home computer to earn a bitcoin. With more people mining bitcoin, the amount of energy required increases. Nowadays it takes a massive amount of energy to power the computers needed to solve the algorithms necessary to receive the rewards. The costs of setting up and running a mining operation is not profitable today. The amount of power needed to run a mining computer such as the Antminer s9 (Cost $8,200) constantly for one year is around 15,000 kilowatt hours producing approx. 0.85 bitcoins per year. Energy costs of mining a single bitcoin can range from $3,200 (in Louisiana) to $9,400 (in Hawai’i).
Smog in Shanghai, China
Sustainability and taking into consideration the impact being made on the environment should be at the forefront of people’s minds. While I do not think that all of the world’s energy will be consumed by 2020 because of bitcoin mining, I do think that mining the coin is becoming harmful to the environment. In China, where most mining takes place, fossil fuels are being used to power operations, causing further damage to China’s ecosystem.
‘Mining’ on the Genaro Network does not cause such harm on the environment. It can be done on a home computer, because miners on the Genaro Network share hard drive space instead of using exorbitant amounts of energy.
Genaro Eden is the first Dapp built on the Genaro Network, which allows users to store their data on Genaro’s public blockchain, giving them unparalleled security. That data is encrypted and separated into different pieces, which is stored on different nodes across the network. A benefit of becoming an Eden user is that with more users, costs for storing data will go down.
Genaro Sharer allows users to earn rewards for sharing their hard drive space. This creates a global ecosystem. The Genaro Network ensures that data is stored on the nearest node, which ensures data can be efficiently accessible. Sharer is sustainable, because it allows for the optimization of empty space, giving both parties benefit. Unused space does not remain idle, rather it can store others data, but also enable ‘Sharers’ to earn rewards as well.
Genaro Eden sells unused space to make storage more economical and environmentally friendly and sets the stage for the optimal allocation of resources. That is what we call “green computing!”
The Genaro Network understands taking care of the environment is important. Genaro Network is dedicated to sustainable solutions & is pursuing the elimination of damaging environmental impact which has been associated with the mining of cryptocurrencies. The ecosystem created enables for parties storing data and sharing unused space to benefit, while also optimizing hard disk space, which is often left unused. | https://medium.com/genaro-network/genaro-network-aimed-at-sustainability-4efdc226bdff | ['Kauwila Johsens'] | 2018-07-04 09:20:20.656000+00:00 | ['Environment', 'Energy', 'Sustainability', 'Data', 'Bitcoin'] | Title Genaro Network aimed SustainabilityContent Mining cryptocurrencies became one hottest profitable source income across globe People began mining early became wealthy fast start miner could use simple home computer earn bitcoin people mining bitcoin amount energy required increase Nowadays take massive amount energy power computer needed solve algorithm necessary receive reward cost setting running mining operation profitable today amount power needed run mining computer Antminer s9 Cost 8200 constantly one year around 15000 kilowatt hour producing approx 085 bitcoins per year Energy cost mining single bitcoin range 3200 Louisiana 9400 Hawai’i Smog Shanghai China Sustainability taking consideration impact made environment forefront people’s mind think world’s energy consumed 2020 bitcoin mining think mining coin becoming harmful environment China mining take place fossil fuel used power operation causing damage China’s ecosystem ‘Mining’ Genaro Network cause harm environment done home computer miner Genaro Network share hard drive space instead using exorbitant amount energy Genaro Eden first Dapp built Genaro Network allows user store data Genaro’s public blockchain giving unparalleled security data encrypted separated different piece stored different node across network benefit becoming Eden user user cost storing data go Genaro Sharer allows user earn reward sharing hard drive space creates global ecosystem Genaro Network ensures data stored nearest node ensures data efficiently accessible Sharer sustainable allows optimization empty space giving party benefit Unused space remain idle rather store others data also enable ‘Sharers’ earn reward well Genaro Eden sell unused space make storage economical environmentally friendly set stage optimal allocation resource call “green computing” Genaro Network understands taking care environment important Genaro Network dedicated sustainable solution pursuing elimination damaging environmental impact associated mining cryptocurrencies ecosystem created enables party storing data sharing unused space benefit also optimizing hard disk space often left unusedTags Environment Energy Sustainability Data Bitcoin |
1,090 | Watch Out!! | Lamborghini Aventador from en.wikipedia.org
The Lamborghini posters on my walls have faded. I canceled my membership of the Rotary and other clubs, sold off my stocks, albeit at a loss, and stopped buying lottery tickets. Best of all, I chucked all the motivational books that I had in the bin. I consoled myself with only one thought — at least I tried.
It's better to have tried and failed than to live life wondering what would’ve happened if I had tried — Alfred Lord Tennyson
It took me well over thirty years to achieve this state of tranquility. Yes, everyone must strive to attain great heights. A few will make it through sheer grit and determination. But this is not enough. You need to have the foresight to know what people want and smart business acumen to bring your idea to fruition. The rest of us fall by the wayside. In the latter group, there are people like me who, for the love of Mike, never succeed in any venture. I am happy that I tried. I am also happy that I gave up trying, thus saving money and, most important of all, enormous stress that was taking a toll on my health.
When you have tried and lost, not just once, twice, or any number of times, be graceful enough to admit defeat. With every failure, step back, and assess. Is it achievable? Do I have the requisite knowledge, training, skills, and finances to continue without plunging into poverty? A friend of mine, a general practitioner, lost his entire bank balance trading penny stocks. He had to sell his house and now, his family lives in a caravan.
My pension is just about enough to pay for my bills, health insurance, and daily necessities. Having given up striving for anything, I am now writing stories for Medium and other blogs just to kill time waiting for my Maker. I am not going to stress out on this. I know I can never aspire to become a Tim Denning or Alexandra Sifferelin.
But the best part is — I am currently at peace with myself.
Are you? | https://medium.com/open-house/watch-out-55c6d32d693b | ['Open House'] | 2020-10-23 17:08:36.872000+00:00 | ['Money', 'Business', 'Success', 'Startup', 'Motivation'] | Title Watch OutContent Lamborghini Aventador enwikipediaorg Lamborghini poster wall faded canceled membership Rotary club sold stock albeit loss stopped buying lottery ticket Best chucked motivational book bin consoled one thought — least tried better tried failed live life wondering would’ve happened tried — Alfred Lord Tennyson took well thirty year achieve state tranquility Yes everyone must strive attain great height make sheer grit determination enough need foresight know people want smart business acumen bring idea fruition rest u fall wayside latter group people like love Mike never succeed venture happy tried also happy gave trying thus saving money important enormous stress taking toll health tried lost twice number time graceful enough admit defeat every failure step back ass achievable requisite knowledge training skill finance continue without plunging poverty friend mine general practitioner lost entire bank balance trading penny stock sell house family life caravan pension enough pay bill health insurance daily necessity given striving anything writing story Medium blog kill time waiting Maker going stress know never aspire become Tim Denning Alexandra Sifferelin best part — currently peace youTags Money Business Success Startup Motivation |
1,091 | How to Submit to Medium Publications. 11 More to Try | Where to submit
Medium has hundreds of publications you can submit your work to from large Medium owned magazines such as Forge, GEN, and OneZero, to small publications created by individual writers. Anyone can create a publication. Here’s a list of all the current top Medium Publications.
Initially, you might want to reach out to a small to medium-sized one. Here are some publications to try:
1. PS I Love You
This publication has over 200K subscribers. It’s all about love, but not just romantic love — they cover a wide variety of topics: family, parenting, self love, friendship, dating, marriage, divorce… They also run Fiction Friday for short stories and Poetry Sunday. It’s a supportive community with a Facebook page and a large group of engaged writers and readers. They also, at the time of writing, have a contract with Medium for curation — so if you get published by them you get curated immediately.
On their guidelines page they now have this request:
Moving forward, due to overwhelming demand, P.S. I Love You will be reviewing new writer applications for only the first week of each month — the first through the 7th. Please only reach out during that window each month.
2. The Writing Cooperative
This publication also has a large following. It has a very positive engaged Facebook group for writers. To get a story accepted you need to really check that you’ve met their requirements as they have a very high standard and specific requirements. Even an incorrectly formatted heading will have your story rejected for violating the rules.
3. The StartUp
The StartUp has the largest following of all publications on Medium (as of writing this) and accepts a wide range of stories. You will get a “yes” or nothing from the StartUp: they say in their guidelines that if you don’t hear back in 36 hours, assume your story has not been accepted.
4. Slackjaw
Humor writers should aim for this one! With a fantastic range of stories and a supportive Facebook group of comedy writers, Slackjaw is the place to hone your comedy skills. They also run competitions.
5. The Ascent
The Ascent has around 90K subscribers and describe themselves as: “equal parts real life and true self, with a healthy dose of improvement, development, and growth in between.”
They like self improvement, personal growth, and life lessons. If you like to inspire and educate, give them a go.
Here are their guidelines:
6. Home Sweet Home
A publication where you can send anything to do with family: parenting, step-parenting, adoption, grandchildren, single parenting…..
Home Sweet Home editors won’t turn you down if you’re not a parent either. They say: “If you want to write about your hopes for when you become a parent or about family in general, you are very welcome to.”
Here are their guidelines:
7. Sexography
Not your typical sex stories! Sexography is not erotica but rather “an open forum for people to educate, discuss ideas, recount impactful memories and explore how people all over the world experience sex.”
They accept serious and funny stories with a personal touch.
From Sexography Editors: “We are especially interested in topics with a cultural twist exploring how sex is treated differently around the world.”
8. Better Marketing
If you have a marketing, sales, business or leadership background, or just a great marketing-related story to tell, try this publication. Better Marketing say they “help you succeed at marketing your work or products.”
They like how-to’s, case studies, templates, tools, and strategies. This is a fast growing publication that really market themselves and encourage you to do the same as a writer (surprise surprise!)
9. Mind Cafe
This publication is fast growing and has an engaged readership. They look for stories that do three things:
Teach readers how to live a better, happier life. Provides value to the average reader, not just a niche group of people. Has a clear and actionable takeaway.
Mind Cafe Editors say, “we pride ourselves on simplicity and honesty. Our tone is conversational and relaxed.”
If that suits you, here are their guidelines:
10. Invisible Illness
This is Medium’s largest mental health publication with a growing audience of over 40K subscribers and good engagement.
Invisible Illness want mental illness/health (and other invisible illnesses) talked about openly.
Here’s a writing prompt they offer new writers:
Describe your idea of normalcy and how that’s changed and developed. What is “normal” to you? Do you believe in being “normal”, and if so, do you think the standard is a good thing? What experiences have shaped these beliefs?
11. Inspired Writer
And of course, you can write for us!
We have two ways to submit work. If you’re a new writer and want to develop your skills, apply to our mentoring program or sign up for The Personal Essay Workshop.
Otherwise we accept polished stories from three areas:
Advice for writers (Writing on and off Medium, marketing, publishing etc) Personal or inspirational stories from emerging writers. We also publish a limited amount of fiction.
Check out our full guidelines here: | https://medium.com/inspired-writer/how-to-submit-to-medium-publications-11-more-to-try-5048d2ea0e38 | ['Kelly Eden'] | 2020-05-09 23:16:41.722000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Writing Tips', 'Writing', 'Submission', 'Writing On Medium'] | Title Submit Medium Publications 11 TryContent submit Medium hundred publication submit work large Medium owned magazine Forge GEN OneZero small publication created individual writer Anyone create publication Here’s list current top Medium Publications Initially might want reach small mediumsized one publication try 1 PS Love publication 200K subscriber It’s love romantic love — cover wide variety topic family parenting self love friendship dating marriage divorce… also run Fiction Friday short story Poetry Sunday It’s supportive community Facebook page large group engaged writer reader also time writing contract Medium curation — get published get curated immediately guideline page request Moving forward due overwhelming demand PS Love reviewing new writer application first week month — first 7th Please reach window month 2 Writing Cooperative publication also large following positive engaged Facebook group writer get story accepted need really check you’ve met requirement high standard specific requirement Even incorrectly formatted heading story rejected violating rule 3 StartUp StartUp largest following publication Medium writing accepts wide range story get “yes” nothing StartUp say guideline don’t hear back 36 hour assume story accepted 4 Slackjaw Humor writer aim one fantastic range story supportive Facebook group comedy writer Slackjaw place hone comedy skill also run competition 5 Ascent Ascent around 90K subscriber describe “equal part real life true self healthy dose improvement development growth between” like self improvement personal growth life lesson like inspire educate give go guideline 6 Home Sweet Home publication send anything family parenting stepparenting adoption grandchild single parenting… Home Sweet Home editor won’t turn you’re parent either say “If want write hope become parent family general welcome to” guideline 7 Sexography typical sex story Sexography erotica rather “an open forum people educate discus idea recount impactful memory explore people world experience sex” accept serious funny story personal touch Sexography Editors “We especially interested topic cultural twist exploring sex treated differently around world” 8 Better Marketing marketing sale business leadership background great marketingrelated story tell try publication Better Marketing say “help succeed marketing work products” like howto’s case study template tool strategy fast growing publication really market encourage writer surprise surprise 9 Mind Cafe publication fast growing engaged readership look story three thing Teach reader live better happier life Provides value average reader niche group people clear actionable takeaway Mind Cafe Editors say “we pride simplicity honesty tone conversational relaxed” suit guideline 10 Invisible Illness Medium’s largest mental health publication growing audience 40K subscriber good engagement Invisible Illness want mental illnesshealth invisible illness talked openly Here’s writing prompt offer new writer Describe idea normalcy that’s changed developed “normal” believe “normal” think standard good thing experience shaped belief 11 Inspired Writer course write u two way submit work you’re new writer want develop skill apply mentoring program sign Personal Essay Workshop Otherwise accept polished story three area Advice writer Writing Medium marketing publishing etc Personal inspirational story emerging writer also publish limited amount fiction Check full guideline hereTags Creativity Writing Tips Writing Submission Writing Medium |
1,092 | Leading the Charge 🔌 🚘: 10 Charts on Electric Vehicles in Plotly | Nissan, Tesla, BMW, and many other car companies use Dash or are customers of Dash Deployment Server (DDS). To see what Dash is all about, check out Plotly’s Dash Gallery, or check out our recent post on Dash apps. Interested? Get in touch.
This post is the first in a two-part series. We’ll share some fresh visualizations on the world of electric cars: who’s leading the way, the costs of going electric, which manufacturers are most represented out on the road, and more.
🚗 🚗 🚗
1. Who drives the most?
Following the low-population Republic of San Marino, the United States has the dubious distinction of having the most motor vehicles per 1,000 people. There are 910 motor vehicles for every 1,000 people.
Of countries with more than a million inhabitants, New Zealand is next on the list. The country, whose tagline is “clean and green,” has 774 cars per 1,000 folks. Italy (679), Canada (662), and Finland (612) follow closely.
On the other side of the spectrum, West African Togo (2), Bangladesh (3), Liberia (3), and the Solomon Islands (3) have the fewest cars per 1,000 individuals.
2. Which country boasts the largest proportion of electric vehicles?
Norway. Nearly 40 percent of total new car sales between 2013–2017 were electric, meaning this Scandinavian nation has the most plug-in electric vehicles (EV) per capita in the world.
In fact, Oslo, Norway, is recognized as the EV capital of the world.
What’s the secret? Ninety-eight percent of Norway’s electricity comes by way of hydropower, making the country’s fleet of electric cars one of the cleanest on the globe. All electric cars and vans in Norway are exempt from on-purchase taxes.
In second place is Iceland at 14 percent electric, and in third place, Andorra at 5.6 percent. Although the United States has the most motor vehicles per 1,000 people, only 1.1 percent of them are electric.
3. Which U.S. states are winning the EV race? 🏎️
California, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Vermont, and Georgia — in that order. Those states have more than two EVs registered per 1,000 people.
On the flip side of the coin, Mississippi is dead last with one EV for every 6,667 people. Arkansas, West Virginia, and Louisiana aren’t far behind.
EV registrations within a state are influenced by a variety of factors, including state and local incentive programs, charging infrastructure, and fuel pricing.
4. Who’s who in the EV biz?
Perhaps it doesn’t come as a surprise, but over 90 percent of Tesla’s manufactured vehicles are electric. This number dwarfs the second place company, China’s Zhidou (31 percent), and third place BYD Auto (12 percent), also of China.
Other notable electric producers include BMW (0.7 percent), Nissan (0.6 percent), and General Motors (0.3 percent).
5. Tesla’s slide in European markets
Tesla’s sales fell in several European countries in early 2018.
A blend of stiffer competition, like Porsche’s all-electric Taycan (pictured below), and a lack of significant rebates, contributed to the downturn.
Porsche’s all-electric Taycan, the first battery-powered car from the iconic German sports car maker.
Jaguar is also delivering its new and (relatively) affordable I-Pace, an all-electric sport-utility vehicle, seen as direct competition to Tesla.
“The data from both IHS and regional transportation departments is not reflective of actual sales data,” Tesla countered (Behrmann and Kehnscherper, Bloomberg, 2018).
6. What does it cost to charge an EV? 💰
Average retail electricity prices have gradually ticked upward over the past several decades. During 2017, the average price for one kilowatt hour of electricity was about 11 cents — although there is significant regional variability. Prices even change depending on the time of day.
Every EV has a kWh/100 mile figure. Take the Nissan Leaf for instance: 29. Simple math tells us that it would cost $3.19 to travel 100 miles (29*11).
However, the cost of electricity is based on the rates set by utility companies, and typically, the more you use, the more you pay. Therefore, you might find yourself paying much more than the national average to charge your EV.
You’d be better off juicing up the battery at the mall during your lunch break!
7. EV batteries have become much less expensive
Despite how pricey it is to charge them, lithium-ion batteries used in EVs have been dramatically cheaper. From 2009 to 2017, the average price had decreased from $1,000 per kWh to $209 per kWh. For EVs to become cost-competitive with internal combustion engine vehicles, the price needs to reach approximately $100 per kWh, which isn’t far off.
8. China is the lithium ion battery powerhouse
The Tesla Gigafactory 1, based in Sparks, Nevada, in the U.S., will not only be the world’s biggest lithium ion battery plant when construction finishes — but possibly the biggest building in the world, full stop.
Tesla’s Gigafactory 1, Sparks, Nevada, USA [image source]
Despite that impressive feat, China is still expected to dominate EV battery production over the next decade.
9. and 10. Which countries offer the most charging ports?
In 2017, France was the king of EV charge points 🥇
A whopping 11,987 additional charge points were installed in the country, which was 4,050 more than Germany, which came in second.
The remainder of the top 10 included many European countries: U.K., Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Italy, Belgium, and Sweden, in that order.
Canada followed in 10th place with 1,070 charge points installed during 2017.
By 2020, The City of Montreal, where Plotly is based, will have a network of 1,000 charging stations of its own, with a price tag of $10 million. In our next post, we’ll explore how Montreal and the province of Quebec are promoting EV use.
Tesla’s “Supercharger network” accounts for 1,317 chargers globally. This particular charger gives the Tesla Model S one hundred and seventy miles of range in just 30 minutes and a full charge in 75 minutes.
Tesla vehicle charging station, Mt Ruapehu, New Zealand
In our next post, we’ll look at how Plotly’s home base of Quebec, Canada, is trying to make it easier for drivers to go electric ⚡️ | https://medium.com/plotly/leading-the-charge-10-charts-on-electric-vehicles-in-plotly-d951acdc49c1 | [] | 2018-10-17 15:01:08.955000+00:00 | ['Plotly', 'Data Visualization', 'Visualization', 'Tesla', 'Electric Car'] | Title Leading Charge 🔌 🚘 10 Charts Electric Vehicles PlotlyContent Nissan Tesla BMW many car company use Dash customer Dash Deployment Server DDS see Dash check Plotly’s Dash Gallery check recent post Dash apps Interested Get touch post first twopart series We’ll share fresh visualization world electric car who’s leading way cost going electric manufacturer represented road 🚗 🚗 🚗 1 drive Following lowpopulation Republic San Marino United States dubious distinction motor vehicle per 1000 people 910 motor vehicle every 1000 people country million inhabitant New Zealand next list country whose tagline “clean green” 774 car per 1000 folk Italy 679 Canada 662 Finland 612 follow closely side spectrum West African Togo 2 Bangladesh 3 Liberia 3 Solomon Islands 3 fewest car per 1000 individual 2 country boast largest proportion electric vehicle Norway Nearly 40 percent total new car sale 2013–2017 electric meaning Scandinavian nation plugin electric vehicle EV per caput world fact Oslo Norway recognized EV capital world What’s secret Ninetyeight percent Norway’s electricity come way hydropower making country’s fleet electric car one cleanest globe electric car van Norway exempt onpurchase tax second place Iceland 14 percent electric third place Andorra 56 percent Although United States motor vehicle per 1000 people 11 percent electric 3 US state winning EV race 🏎️ California Hawaii Washington Oregon Vermont Georgia — order state two EVs registered per 1000 people flip side coin Mississippi dead last one EV every 6667 people Arkansas West Virginia Louisiana aren’t far behind EV registration within state influenced variety factor including state local incentive program charging infrastructure fuel pricing 4 Who’s EV biz Perhaps doesn’t come surprise 90 percent Tesla’s manufactured vehicle electric number dwarf second place company China’s Zhidou 31 percent third place BYD Auto 12 percent also China notable electric producer include BMW 07 percent Nissan 06 percent General Motors 03 percent 5 Tesla’s slide European market Tesla’s sale fell several European country early 2018 blend stiffer competition like Porsche’s allelectric Taycan pictured lack significant rebate contributed downturn Porsche’s allelectric Taycan first batterypowered car iconic German sport car maker Jaguar also delivering new relatively affordable IPace allelectric sportutility vehicle seen direct competition Tesla “The data IHS regional transportation department reflective actual sale data” Tesla countered Behrmann Kehnscherper Bloomberg 2018 6 cost charge EV 💰 Average retail electricity price gradually ticked upward past several decade 2017 average price one kilowatt hour electricity 11 cent — although significant regional variability Prices even change depending time day Every EV kWh100 mile figure Take Nissan Leaf instance 29 Simple math tell u would cost 319 travel 100 mile 2911 However cost electricity based rate set utility company typically use pay Therefore might find paying much national average charge EV You’d better juicing battery mall lunch break 7 EV battery become much le expensive Despite pricey charge lithiumion battery used EVs dramatically cheaper 2009 2017 average price decreased 1000 per kWh 209 per kWh EVs become costcompetitive internal combustion engine vehicle price need reach approximately 100 per kWh isn’t far 8 China lithium ion battery powerhouse Tesla Gigafactory 1 based Sparks Nevada US world’s biggest lithium ion battery plant construction finish — possibly biggest building world full stop Tesla’s Gigafactory 1 Sparks Nevada USA image source Despite impressive feat China still expected dominate EV battery production next decade 9 10 country offer charging port 2017 France king EV charge point 🥇 whopping 11987 additional charge point installed country 4050 Germany came second remainder top 10 included many European country UK Switzerland Austria Norway Italy Belgium Sweden order Canada followed 10th place 1070 charge point installed 2017 2020 City Montreal Plotly based network 1000 charging station price tag 10 million next post we’ll explore Montreal province Quebec promoting EV use Tesla’s “Supercharger network” account 1317 charger globally particular charger give Tesla Model one hundred seventy mile range 30 minute full charge 75 minute Tesla vehicle charging station Mt Ruapehu New Zealand next post we’ll look Plotly’s home base Quebec Canada trying make easier driver go electric ⚡️Tags Plotly Data Visualization Visualization Tesla Electric Car |
1,093 | A Guide to Serverless Computing with AWS Lambda | The name ‘Serverless Architecture’ misleadingly implies the server’s magical absence. In serverless computing, a third-party service provider takes responsibility for processes, operating systems and servers. Developers can now focus on just building great software.
All they need to do is code. Resource consideration (deploy, configure, manage) is no longer their concern. The cloud migration companies takes care of that. The less you are meant to manage the instance, the more serverless it is. Serverless goes well with certain functions. It is for companies to learn optimizing their use and integrate them into broader data systems.
The 2014 AWS Lambda launch was the first major serverless offering. Google Cloud Functions, Iron.io, Microsoft Azure Functions and IBM Bluemix OpenWhisk have since entered the market with similar service offerings on their cloud. Backend as a service (BaaS), Mobile backend as service and Function as a Service (FaaS) are approaches that go with serverless.
Serverless Architecture & AWS Lambda
AWS Lambda offers competitive pricing and an event driven computing model. That is, Lambda executes your code in response to events. An event can be a change to an Amazon S3 bucket, an update to an Amazon DynamoDB table, or custom events generated by various applications or devices. Moments after an event trigger, Lambda automatically prepares compute resources and runs Lambda function or code. It eradicates issues related to unused utilized server capacity without compromising on scalability or speed of response. Startups have moved from monolithic application architecture to microservices driven architecture by using AWS Lambda. Startups like group chat and messaging app SendBird and analytics platform Wavefront are using Lambda. Many startups like Click Travel have moved from monolithic app architecture to microservice-driven architecture (using AWS Lambda). Lambda eliminates the issues related to unused server capacity without sacrificing scalability or responsiveness. For e.g., developers working on a hotel booking website experiences user escalation on holidays. Usually, developers must create mechanisms to deal with this demand surge. Instead, Lambda takes care of this aspect for you. It supports multiple languages and libraries, including Python and JavaScript. AWS Lambda blueprints: A collection of organized but reusable and extendable lambda functions. Blueprints can be compared to recipes with sample event sources and Lambda functions configurations.
The AWS Lambda Effect
To break down how AWS Lambda does it for you in four steps:
AWS Lambda & Microservices: AWS Lambda is great for companies who want to direct their entire resources on solving the problem. With its elastic ability to scale and handle heavy traffic, microservices go well with AWS lambda.
Courtesy the new versioning feature and Amazon API Gateway, building microservices is much easier now. Scalable microservices can now be built for IoT apps, web and mobile. View a presentation about moving from monolithic architecture to microservices using Lambda in this video.
Testing: The AWS Lambda blueprint library has an uncomplicated framework for conducting Lambda function tests. The blueprints include those for load testing and running unit.
Test functions are no different than other Lambda functions. When test functions are invoked, this function accepts the function name to be tested as a parameter. You can read more about developing and testing AWS Lambda functions here.
Machine Learning: Lambda can be used in alignment with Amazon machine learning. You can either do streaming data predictions or customized predictions by exposing a Lambda function wrapping Machine learning as API. Check how to build a machine learning app with AWS lambda here.
Analytics: AWS Lambda can double up as an analytics option too. Enter Amazon Kinetic Analytics that allows you to process streaming data in real time with standard SQL.
No losing time in processing frameworks or learning a new programming language. A Kinesis stream can be created to relentlessly capture and store mammoth data chunks from a hundred thousand sources or more. Kinesis helps in continuous low-cost collection, storage and processing of streaming data. You can build customize data applications to serve any specific need.
Either Amazon Elasticsearch or AMR picks data from the Kinesis Stream for analysis. The results are up for display on a real-time dashboard. To know more about Amazon Kinesis, click here.
Big Data Pipelines: Big Data ‘pipelines’ can be build using serverless architecture. How does a serverless pipeline help though? First, it is highly scalable, payment is on ‘per execution basis’, and third — no need to manage group of EC2 instances. The process of moving data from data source to data target through a Big Data pipeline is called ETL (extract, transform, load).
Working with AWS Lambda: An Example
Apart from working with one of our Fortune 500 client, we have used AWS Lambda for a variety of interesting use cases, from IOT startup clients to integrating a revolutionary kitchen appliance.
For illustration purposes, we reproduce here an example of how Lambda plays a key part in the creation of a news blog app. Users can visit the app and sign in for the news blog newsletter. Admins can log in and collect the newsletter subscriber list. The requirements are as follows:
Newsletter signups handles by a Lambda function and API endpoint. Subscribers list retrieved by a Lambda function and API endpoint. Enabling admins to log in.
Multiple AWS services need to be employed to attain our goal. Microservices will be written using Lambda. TO expose Lambda functions to the web, API Gateway will come in handy. IAM and Cognito will handle user authentication. Dynamo DB, database for storing newsletter subscriber info. You first need to set up Dynamo DB. You can learn more about Dynamo DB here.
Onto Lambda: Post database set up, we implement the Lambda functions. Two lambda functions will be created. The first to store the user email addresses, second to retrieve email lists in the database.
A function that accepts multiple parameters is exported to help set the request’s context. The implementation is written within the function. To finish the operation, callback function is called and passed into data that we would like to respond with. We use Node.js to write our functions inline within the Lambda dashboard.
STORE NEW SUBSCRIBER AWS LAMBDA FUNCTION
The first function is implemented by navigating to Lambda homepage in AWS dashboard and creating Lambda function. A few settings require configuration, before commencing to write code. Set the lambda function name for runtime select Node 4.3. Remaining settings can be set to default. Set role to “Choose Existing Role”.
Now you can select ‘server role/admin’. This gives Lambda function the ability to call and execute code from various AWS services like DynamoDB. Incorrect role setting will cause Lambda function errors. AWS SDK is used to allow easy interaction with other AWS services confined to the code.
'use strict'; // Requir'use strict';
'use strict'; // Require the AWS SDK and get the instance of our DynamoDB
var aws = require('aws-sdk');
var db = new aws.DynamoDB(); // Set up the model for our the email
var model = {
email: {"S" : ""},
}; // This will be the function called when our Lambda function is exectued
exports.handler = (event, context, callback) => { // We'll use the same response we used in our Webtask
const RESPONSE = {
OK : {
statusCode : 200,
message: "You have successfully subscribed to the newsletter!",
},
DUPLICATE : {
status : 400,
message : "You are already subscribed."
},
ERROR : {
status : 400,
message: "Something went wrong. Please try again."
}
}; // Capture the email from our POST request
// For now, we'll just set a fake email
var email = event.body.email;; if(!email){
// If we don't get an email, we'll end our execution and send an error
return callback(null, RESPONSE.ERROR);
} // If we do have an email, we'll set it to our model
model.email.S = email; // Insert the email into the database, but only if the email does not already exist.
db.putItem({
TableName: 'Emails',
Item: model,
Expected: {
email: { Exists: false }
}
}, function (err, data) {
if (err) {
// If we get an err, we'll assume it's a duplicate email and send an
// appropriate message
return callback(null, RESPONSE.DUPLICATE);
}
// If the data was stored succesfully, we'll respond accordingly
callback(null, RESPONSE.OK);
});
}; // Require the AWS SDK and get the instance of our DynamoDB
var aws = require('aws-sdk');
var db = new aws.DynamoDB(); // Set up the model for our the email
var model = {
email: {"S" : ""},
}; // This will be the function called when our Lambda function is exectued
exports.handler = (event, context, callback) => { // We'll use the same response we used in our Webtask
const RESPONSE = {
OK : {
statusCode : 200,
message: "You have successfully subscribed to the newsletter!",
},
DUPLICATE : {
status : 400,
message : "You are already subscribed."
},
ERROR : {
status : 400,
message: "Something went wrong. Please try again."
}
}; // Capture the email from our POST request
// For now, we'll just set a fake email
var email = event.body.email;; if(!email){
// If we don't get an email, we'll end our execution and send an error
return callback(null, RESPONSE.ERROR);
} // If we do have an email, we'll set it to our model
model.email.S = email; // Insert the email into the database, but only if the email does not already exist.
db.putItem({
TableName: 'Emails',
Item: model,
Expected: {
email: { Exists: false }
}
}, function (err, data) {
if (err) {
// If we get an err, we'll assume it's a duplicate email and send an
// appropriate message
return callback(null, RESPONSE.DUPLICATE);
}
// If the data was stored succesfully, we'll respond accordingly
callback(null, RESPONSE.OK);
});
};
e the AWS SDK and get the instance of our DynamoDB
var aws = require('aws-sdk');
var db = new aws.DynamoDB(); // Set up the model for our the email
var model = {
email: {"S" : ""},
}; // This will be the function called when our Lambda function is exectued
exports.handler = (event, context, callback) => { // We'll use the same response we used in our Webtask
const RESPONSE = {
OK : {
statusCode : 200,
message: "You have successfully subscribed to the newsletter!",
},
DUPLICATE : {
status : 400,
message : "You are already subscribed."
},
ERROR : {
status : 400,
message: "Something went wrong. Please try again."
}
}; // Capture the email from our POST request
// For now, we'll just set a fake email
var email = event.body.email;; if(!email){
// If we don't get an email, we'll end our execution and send an error
return callback(null, RESPONSE.ERROR);
} // If we do have an email, we'll set it to our model
model.email.S = email; // Insert the email into the database, but only if the email does not already exist.
db.putItem({
TableName: 'Emails',
Item: model,
Expected: {
email: { Exists: false }
}
}, function (err, data) {
if (err) {
// If we get an err, we'll assume it's a duplicate email and send an
// appropriate message
return callback(null, RESPONSE.DUPLICATE);
}
// If the data was stored succesfully, we'll respond accordingly
callback(null, RESPONSE.OK);
});
};
In this function, event object passed will receive email in when the function is called. Moving on the second Lambda function to retrieve newsletter subscribers.
RETRIEVE SERVERLESS STORIES NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS
Earlier process is followed for new lambda function creation. The only difference — changing name of function to subscribers. Post function creation, code logic implementation will be as follows.
'use strict'; // We'll again use the AWS SDK to get an instance of our database
var aws = require('aws-sdk');
var db = new aws.DynamoDB(); exports.handler = (event, context, callback) => {
// We'll modify our response code a little bit so that when the response
// is ok, we'll return the list of emails in the message
const RESPONSE = {
OK : {
statusCode : 200,
message: [],
},
ERROR : {
status : 400,
message: "Something went wrong. Please try again."
}
}; // We'll use the scan method to get all the data from our database
db.scan({
TableName: "Emails"
}, function(err, data) {
if (err) {
callback(null, RESPONSE.ERROR);
}
else {
// If we get data back, we'll do some modifications to make it easier to read
for(var i = 0; i < data.Items.length; i++){
RESPONSE.OK.message.push({'email': data.Items[i].email.S});
}
callback(null, RESPONSE.OK);
}
});
};
We now test the function. Lambda functions can be easily tested by clicking TEST button on top of page. The code will execute and display operation results. It will also display a log to help debug any issues.
The AWS Lambda Edge: Summary
Though AWS Lambda has been around only since 2014, major global businesses are already adopting it. The main factors fueling its popularity:
Product launch time is significantly reduced IT costs reduced to a huge extent. Businesses don’t have to budget for underutilized or wasted computing and engineering capabilities.
It’s still early days for Lambda though. It must prove its mettle for enterprise IT functions like testing, security and configuration management. For more on serverless architecture, AWS lambda, comparisons with similar computing services and other aspects of technology, keep visiting our blog section.
(The AWS lambda Effect image idea source: https://aws.amazon.com/lambda/. Code example courtesy).
Source: Cuelogic Blog | https://medium.com/cuelogic-technologies/a-guide-to-serverless-computing-with-aws-lambda-ba613e2d8d5f | ['Cuelogic Technologies'] | 2019-02-04 04:37:29.723000+00:00 | ['Microservices', 'Machine Learning', 'Serverless Computing', 'AWS', 'AWS Lambda'] | Title Guide Serverless Computing AWS LambdaContent name ‘Serverless Architecture’ misleadingly implies server’s magical absence serverless computing thirdparty service provider take responsibility process operating system server Developers focus building great software need code Resource consideration deploy configure manage longer concern cloud migration company take care le meant manage instance serverless Serverless go well certain function company learn optimizing use integrate broader data system 2014 AWS Lambda launch first major serverless offering Google Cloud Functions Ironio Microsoft Azure Functions IBM Bluemix OpenWhisk since entered market similar service offering cloud Backend service BaaS Mobile backend service Function Service FaaS approach go serverless Serverless Architecture AWS Lambda AWS Lambda offer competitive pricing event driven computing model Lambda executes code response event event change Amazon S3 bucket update Amazon DynamoDB table custom event generated various application device Moments event trigger Lambda automatically prepares compute resource run Lambda function code eradicates issue related unused utilized server capacity without compromising scalability speed response Startups moved monolithic application architecture microservices driven architecture using AWS Lambda Startups like group chat messaging app SendBird analytics platform Wavefront using Lambda Many startup like Click Travel moved monolithic app architecture microservicedriven architecture using AWS Lambda Lambda eliminates issue related unused server capacity without sacrificing scalability responsiveness eg developer working hotel booking website experience user escalation holiday Usually developer must create mechanism deal demand surge Instead Lambda take care aspect support multiple language library including Python JavaScript AWS Lambda blueprint collection organized reusable extendable lambda function Blueprints compared recipe sample event source Lambda function configuration AWS Lambda Effect break AWS Lambda four step AWS Lambda Microservices AWS Lambda great company want direct entire resource solving problem elastic ability scale handle heavy traffic microservices go well AWS lambda Courtesy new versioning feature Amazon API Gateway building microservices much easier Scalable microservices built IoT apps web mobile View presentation moving monolithic architecture microservices using Lambda video Testing AWS Lambda blueprint library uncomplicated framework conducting Lambda function test blueprint include load testing running unit Test function different Lambda function test function invoked function accepts function name tested parameter read developing testing AWS Lambda function Machine Learning Lambda used alignment Amazon machine learning either streaming data prediction customized prediction exposing Lambda function wrapping Machine learning API Check build machine learning app AWS lambda Analytics AWS Lambda double analytics option Enter Amazon Kinetic Analytics allows process streaming data real time standard SQL losing time processing framework learning new programming language Kinesis stream created relentlessly capture store mammoth data chunk hundred thousand source Kinesis help continuous lowcost collection storage processing streaming data build customize data application serve specific need Either Amazon Elasticsearch AMR pick data Kinesis Stream analysis result display realtime dashboard know Amazon Kinesis click Big Data Pipelines Big Data ‘pipelines’ build using serverless architecture serverless pipeline help though First highly scalable payment ‘per execution basis’ third — need manage group EC2 instance process moving data data source data target Big Data pipeline called ETL extract transform load Working AWS Lambda Example Apart working one Fortune 500 client used AWS Lambda variety interesting use case IOT startup client integrating revolutionary kitchen appliance illustration purpose reproduce example Lambda play key part creation news blog app Users visit app sign news blog newsletter Admins log collect newsletter subscriber list requirement follows Newsletter signups handle Lambda function API endpoint Subscribers list retrieved Lambda function API endpoint Enabling admins log Multiple AWS service need employed attain goal Microservices written using Lambda expose Lambda function web API Gateway come handy IAM Cognito handle user authentication Dynamo DB database storing newsletter subscriber info first need set Dynamo DB learn Dynamo DB Onto Lambda Post database set implement Lambda function Two lambda function created first store user email address second retrieve email list database function accepts multiple parameter exported help set request’s context implementation written within function finish operation callback function called passed data would like respond use Nodejs write function inline within Lambda dashboard STORE NEW SUBSCRIBER AWS LAMBDA FUNCTION first function implemented navigating Lambda homepage AWS dashboard creating Lambda function setting require configuration commencing write code Set lambda function name runtime select Node 43 Remaining setting set default Set role “Choose Existing Role” select ‘server roleadmin’ give Lambda function ability call execute code various AWS service like DynamoDB Incorrect role setting cause Lambda function error AWS SDK used allow easy interaction AWS service confined code use strict Requiruse strict use strict Require AWS SDK get instance DynamoDB var aws requireawssdk var db new awsDynamoDB Set model email var model email function called Lambda function exectued exportshandler event context callback Well use response used Webtask const RESPONSE OK statusCode 200 message successfully subscribed newsletter DUPLICATE status 400 message already subscribed ERROR status 400 message Something went wrong Please try Capture email POST request well set fake email var email eventbodyemail ifemail dont get email well end execution send error return callbacknull RESPONSEERROR email well set model modelemailS email Insert email database email already exist dbputItem TableName Emails Item model Expected email Exists false function err data err get err well assume duplicate email send appropriate message return callbacknull RESPONSEDUPLICATE data stored succesfully well respond accordingly callbacknull RESPONSEOK Require AWS SDK get instance DynamoDB var aws requireawssdk var db new awsDynamoDB Set model email var model email function called Lambda function exectued exportshandler event context callback Well use response used Webtask const RESPONSE OK statusCode 200 message successfully subscribed newsletter DUPLICATE status 400 message already subscribed ERROR status 400 message Something went wrong Please try Capture email POST request well set fake email var email eventbodyemail ifemail dont get email well end execution send error return callbacknull RESPONSEERROR email well set model modelemailS email Insert email database email already exist dbputItem TableName Emails Item model Expected email Exists false function err data err get err well assume duplicate email send appropriate message return callbacknull RESPONSEDUPLICATE data stored succesfully well respond accordingly callbacknull RESPONSEOK e AWS SDK get instance DynamoDB var aws requireawssdk var db new awsDynamoDB Set model email var model email function called Lambda function exectued exportshandler event context callback Well use response used Webtask const RESPONSE OK statusCode 200 message successfully subscribed newsletter DUPLICATE status 400 message already subscribed ERROR status 400 message Something went wrong Please try Capture email POST request well set fake email var email eventbodyemail ifemail dont get email well end execution send error return callbacknull RESPONSEERROR email well set model modelemailS email Insert email database email already exist dbputItem TableName Emails Item model Expected email Exists false function err data err get err well assume duplicate email send appropriate message return callbacknull RESPONSEDUPLICATE data stored succesfully well respond accordingly callbacknull RESPONSEOK function event object passed receive email function called Moving second Lambda function retrieve newsletter subscriber RETRIEVE SERVERLESS STORIES NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS Earlier process followed new lambda function creation difference — changing name function subscriber Post function creation code logic implementation follows use strict Well use AWS SDK get instance database var aws requireawssdk var db new awsDynamoDB exportshandler event context callback Well modify response code little bit response ok well return list email message const RESPONSE OK statusCode 200 message ERROR status 400 message Something went wrong Please try Well use scan method get data database dbscan TableName Emails functionerr data err callbacknull RESPONSEERROR else get data back well modification make easier read forvar 0 dataItemslength RESPONSEOKmessagepushemail dataItemsiemailS callbacknull RESPONSEOK test function Lambda function easily tested clicking TEST button top page code execute display operation result also display log help debug issue AWS Lambda Edge Summary Though AWS Lambda around since 2014 major global business already adopting main factor fueling popularity Product launch time significantly reduced cost reduced huge extent Businesses don’t budget underutilized wasted computing engineering capability It’s still early day Lambda though must prove mettle enterprise function like testing security configuration management serverless architecture AWS lambda comparison similar computing service aspect technology keep visiting blog section AWS lambda Effect image idea source httpsawsamazoncomlambda Code example courtesy Source Cuelogic BlogTags Microservices Machine Learning Serverless Computing AWS AWS Lambda |
1,094 | Freelance Writing Business: How to Have Early Success | The old adage “time is money” certainly applies to freelance businesses. It is crucial at every stage of business development, but especially in the beginning when you are mapping out your business strategies and implementing new software, getting your organization in place, and setting yourself up for success. With online services on the rise, now is the time to build that side hustle into dependable income. What fulfills a part time interest today could be the soil for a full time writing career (or other entrepreneurial opportunity) to grow and flourish in the future.
Early Freelancing Success Is Possible
I launched a full time writing business in July of 2020 after not having worked a “real job” in over 5 years due to some health issues. In July, I decided the time was right. The time was now. My expectations, though low, have been exceeded by the early success I am seeing for Fiddleheads & Floss Writing Services. Whatever freelance business you are dreaming of, there are a few things you can do to elicit early success for your business. I’ll cover those here along with some tips and strategies for finding early success in your freelance or solopreneur business.
In a previous article in The StartUp, Building a Freelance Business From Scratch, I discussed the components of starting your own freelance business. Things like business establishment, effective communication, organization, and using good tools for running your business. These were all things I got in “crash course” form being a new business owner.
What I didn’t share in depth was that I had previously been an entrepreneur in a different business. I was a self-employed hairdresser for 16 years and became rather successful in that field. I ran a full time business and also worked for several large corporations travelling the east coast and teaching small seminars. What made my business more profitable than others was my dedication to running it as a business. But what took me approximately 2 years in the beauty industry to see in terms of profits, I have done with a writing career in less than 3 months.
What fulfills a part time interest today could be the soil for a full time writing career (or other entrepreneurial opportunity) to grow and flourish in the future.
Here’s How I Have Found Early Freelancing Success (and you can too!)
First, let me be clear. Success is a subjective term. What you may consider success could differ greatly from what I consider success. For the purposes we are discussing here I define it as:
Early measurable profit
A pattern of increasing financial growth
Regularity of sales / work / client orders
Eventually, all these things securely in place, success will be measured more in terms of the profit vs. self-satisfaction and quality of life.
Sow the Soil
To begin any freelancing or small business, timing is everything. You have to have the wisdom, self-awareness, and a critical eye for the business you are entering to know when the timing is right to launch your business. Before launch date, you need to sow the soil; meaning, create fertile ground for your business to grow in and flourish.
Expand your reach. Grow your social media support and begin your email list. Begin developing the connections you need to support your business. This includes mentors and business professionals from whom you can learn more about your business, potential clients, and people who know things you don’t know, like IT stuff or legal jargon.
Begin developing rapport with people who will be your potential clients.
Take on some jobs even if they are at very cheap pricing — you will need references.
Develop a portfolio of your work and some references for each type of service you will offer.
Have your soil sown, seeded, and watered before you launch your business.
Clearly Defined Services & Branding
To launch any kind of business, you need direction. This is not to say you cannot try new things or branch out in new directions once established, but starting out, your potential clients need to know exactly who you are and what you have to offer them.
Do all of your brainstorming and toe-in-the-water testing on your own and let your clients feel a sense of stability with you. They need to know they can trust you to work with you. Your reputation is everything — with every client. Every job, no matter how small, is an opportunity to build or break your business and should be treated as such.
Set Realistic Goals and Monitor Your Progress
I started out with a simple goal; double my income each month. This is exactly what is happening. I adjusted my schedule for this goal. My pricing and how I spent my time — all geared toward that goal. I am projected to double what you see below by the 3rd week of December, a full week ahead of schedule. Then, I plan to double it again.
Current profit analysis and outstanding revenue, on set to more than double for December. Author screenshot.
When you set a goal for your business, it holds you accountable for all those “I’ll do it later” moments which can be so tempting when you self-manage.
To make your business take off, you must be committed to its success. Goal-setting and holding yourself accountable will force you to analyze risk vs reward, time spent vs gain, expenditures vs necessity and all other important aspects of your business in a logical, purposeful manner.
Diversified Revenue Streams
For most small businesses, you will have one main revenue stream albeit sales, services, or a combination of both. To be truly successful you need to diversify your revenue streams as much as possible, create passive income to help feed into your profits, and consider how you can monetize at all levels of your business.
Below you can see some of the different revenue streams I have coming in, all under the same umbrella of Fiddleheads & Floss Writing Services. There are jobs from Fiverr, jobs from private writing clients, income from paid content sites, and book sales.
No matter how small a revenue stream is, it all adds up.
Various revenue streams make for a more successful start. Author’s screenshot.
Self-Discipline Is Key
Need I expand on this? This is your business; treat it as such. Self-discipline and time management will be the foundation for your every day schedule. No one is there to tell you to get up in the morning and get busy or to check your emails or to touch base with clients. Only you.
I often told my boys as they were growing up, there are two types of people in the world: those who make excuses and those who make things happen. You get to decide each day which you want to be.
Your reputation is everything — with every client.
Curb Unnecessary Spending — But DO Invest in Your Business
As a brand new business owner, you can bet it was not easy for me to shell out $139.50 for Freshbooks, $19.99 for Hemmingway, $129.00 for Dragon Naturally Speaking, $50.00 for a headset, and other subscription services my business uses, but these programs keep my business running smoothly and professionally.
Author’s note: The screenshots from this article are from my Freshbooks account, which I use to monitor all aspects of my business. I highly recommend this software for creative professional business owners. The program is very user friendly and the customer service is stellar.
Imagine the difference between giving a client your PayPal account and asking them to send you a payment — and sending them a business invoice, detailing what they have ordered from you, the cost breakdown, and offering several methods for easy payment. Clients love it when you take them seriously, and when you are a legit, organized, reputable business.
Suddenly, people were much more prepared to pay me for my time. It bears repeating: reputation and client perception of your business are everything.
Regarding curbing your spending, while yes, you must invest in your business, you must do it wisely. You need functionality, not bells and whistles. It’s that simple.
Be Completely Honest with Yourself About Your Strengths and Weaknesses
Lastly, there are some things you know you suck at doing. Develop strategies to manage these weaknesses. For example, I am more productive with fewer jobs. I know this so I keep my prices higher and aim for fewer, bigger clients. Some people prefer to have many clients and roll out their orders more quickly, but larger clients will expect you to take your time with their work. They may also require company training which you may or may not get paid to complete. Consider it an investment in your skills, only with your time rather than your debit card. This training can prove invaluable for your work across the board and it will make better at what you do.
Be honest with yourself about what kind of work you are really good at and aim to develop your business around your strengths. Start with what you are good at and be willing to develop your skills in areas where you are lacking. This is no time for conceit. Honest analysis of your own working methods, your strengths, and your skill levels are important for developing your business and building a client load that works for you. Invest in courses to shore up your skills. Open Learn has loads of free courses you can take online.
The Takeaway
Hard work means nothing without direction and without end results in mind. You can find early success in your freelance business if you are clear on what you want from your business and set yourself up to receive it. I wish you great success in your business. | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/freelance-writing-business-how-to-have-early-success-f97410cb262f | ['Christina M. Ward'] | 2020-12-28 05:55:31.365000+00:00 | ['Freelance', 'Business', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Self Improvement', 'Writing'] | Title Freelance Writing Business Early SuccessContent old adage “time money” certainly applies freelance business crucial every stage business development especially beginning mapping business strategy implementing new software getting organization place setting success online service rise time build side hustle dependable income fulfills part time interest today could soil full time writing career entrepreneurial opportunity grow flourish future Early Freelancing Success Possible launched full time writing business July 2020 worked “real job” 5 year due health issue July decided time right time expectation though low exceeded early success seeing Fiddleheads Floss Writing Services Whatever freelance business dreaming thing elicit early success business I’ll cover along tip strategy finding early success freelance solopreneur business previous article StartUp Building Freelance Business Scratch discussed component starting freelance business Things like business establishment effective communication organization using good tool running business thing got “crash course” form new business owner didn’t share depth previously entrepreneur different business selfemployed hairdresser 16 year became rather successful field ran full time business also worked several large corporation travelling east coast teaching small seminar made business profitable others dedication running business took approximately 2 year beauty industry see term profit done writing career le 3 month fulfills part time interest today could soil full time writing career entrepreneurial opportunity grow flourish future Here’s Found Early Freelancing Success First let clear Success subjective term may consider success could differ greatly consider success purpose discussing define Early measurable profit pattern increasing financial growth Regularity sale work client order Eventually thing securely place success measured term profit v selfsatisfaction quality life Sow Soil begin freelancing small business timing everything wisdom selfawareness critical eye business entering know timing right launch business launch date need sow soil meaning create fertile ground business grow flourish Expand reach Grow social medium support begin email list Begin developing connection need support business includes mentor business professional learn business potential client people know thing don’t know like stuff legal jargon Begin developing rapport people potential client Take job even cheap pricing — need reference Develop portfolio work reference type service offer soil sown seeded watered launch business Clearly Defined Services Branding launch kind business need direction say cannot try new thing branch new direction established starting potential client need know exactly offer brainstorming toeinthewater testing let client feel sense stability need know trust work reputation everything — every client Every job matter small opportunity build break business treated Set Realistic Goals Monitor Progress started simple goal double income month exactly happening adjusted schedule goal pricing spent time — geared toward goal projected double see 3rd week December full week ahead schedule plan double Current profit analysis outstanding revenue set double December Author screenshot set goal business hold accountable “I’ll later” moment tempting selfmanage make business take must committed success Goalsetting holding accountable force analyze risk v reward time spent v gain expenditure v necessity important aspect business logical purposeful manner Diversified Revenue Streams small business one main revenue stream albeit sale service combination truly successful need diversify revenue stream much possible create passive income help feed profit consider monetize level business see different revenue stream coming umbrella Fiddleheads Floss Writing Services job Fiverr job private writing client income paid content site book sale matter small revenue stream add Various revenue stream make successful start Author’s screenshot SelfDiscipline Key Need expand business treat Selfdiscipline time management foundation every day schedule one tell get morning get busy check email touch base client often told boy growing two type people world make excuse make thing happen get decide day want reputation everything — every client Curb Unnecessary Spending — Invest Business brand new business owner bet easy shell 13950 Freshbooks 1999 Hemmingway 12900 Dragon Naturally Speaking 5000 headset subscription service business us program keep business running smoothly professionally Author’s note screenshots article Freshbooks account use monitor aspect business highly recommend software creative professional business owner program user friendly customer service stellar Imagine difference giving client PayPal account asking send payment — sending business invoice detailing ordered cost breakdown offering several method easy payment Clients love take seriously legit organized reputable business Suddenly people much prepared pay time bear repeating reputation client perception business everything Regarding curbing spending yes must invest business must wisely need functionality bell whistle It’s simple Completely Honest Strengths Weaknesses Lastly thing know suck Develop strategy manage weakness example productive fewer job know keep price higher aim fewer bigger client people prefer many client roll order quickly larger client expect take time work may also require company training may may get paid complete Consider investment skill time rather debit card training prove invaluable work across board make better honest kind work really good aim develop business around strength Start good willing develop skill area lacking time conceit Honest analysis working method strength skill level important developing business building client load work Invest course shore skill Open Learn load free course take online Takeaway Hard work mean nothing without direction without end result mind find early success freelance business clear want business set receive wish great success businessTags Freelance Business Entrepreneurship Self Improvement Writing |
1,095 | What’s Left to Say About Maps?. Tackling the sticky questions about… | Our third Fireside Chat is all about maps. We tackle the sticky questions about best practices, when to break the “rules” of cartography, and let our panelists debate the merits of proportional symbols compared to choropleths. Not sure what those words mean? That’s fine; if you’ve been consuming maps in the news lately, we promise this session will be just as fun and exciting for you. After an initial discussion among the panel, we opened the floor for questions from viewers.
Panelists include:
Kenneth Field—Principal cartographic product engineer at ESRI
Madison Draper—Designer at Mapbox
Elijah Meeks—Chief visualization officer at Noteable
Moderated by Alberto Cairo
Subscribe to the DVS YouTube channel here. | https://medium.com/nightingale/whats-left-to-say-about-maps-dvs-fireside-chat-d66c9e5d2539 | ['Data Visualization Society Team'] | 2020-06-25 15:25:45.490000+00:00 | ['Maps', 'GIS', 'Data Visualization', 'Mapping', 'Design'] | Title What’s Left Say Maps Tackling sticky question about…Content third Fireside Chat map tackle sticky question best practice break “rules” cartography let panelist debate merit proportional symbol compared choropleths sure word mean That’s fine you’ve consuming map news lately promise session fun exciting initial discussion among panel opened floor question viewer Panelists include Kenneth Field—Principal cartographic product engineer ESRI Madison Draper—Designer Mapbox Elijah Meeks—Chief visualization officer Noteable Moderated Alberto Cairo Subscribe DVS YouTube channel hereTags Maps GIS Data Visualization Mapping Design |
1,096 | Chasing Immortality | The year is 2573:
Lilara’s laughter fades into awed silence as the autocab drifts to a stop. It was a long ride from the Johannesburg spaceport, but finally, the family had arrived at their destination: Lilara’s mother’s old family estate. Her mom met her father there when he was just a 24-year-old graduate student performing ecological research on the 50,000-acre preserve. That was in 2088 when the desert was threatening to overtake everything completely.
Eventually, Lilara’s parents moved together to Mars City Two, also known as Olympia, where they became leaders in the terraforming initiatives. Over the next few centuries, Mom and Dad would end up holding some of the most senior roles in Mars’Sci. Because of them, Mars was fast becoming a wet, green planet that would be on par with Earth in another couple of centuries.
After dinner in the guest house, the little family spent a few hours with Lilara’s grandparents in the VR world Archeon, where all of her relatives who died since about 2100 continued to live. It was always bittersweet since everyone who visited knew that one day they would be there, too. All the Archeonese assured the Living, however, that they couldn’t tell any difference between their biological lives and their virtual ones.
Mom and Dad waited so long to become parents because they were busy, important people, and there was so much to do. But Lilara knew that when they did decide to have her, it was the happiest choice they’d ever made. They had spent a long time to make sure the people of Earth could have a second home if they needed it, and now they would spend just as much time making sure their daughter could have the same opportunity if she ever chose to.
Immortality
More than a few scientists believe that a baby born today might never die.
“Immortality” is a loaded word, for sure: In the broadest sense, it refers to not being able to die, ever. To know what immortality is, however, we need to define death. For us, death is a permanent cessation of all vital functions: the end of life. (Merriam-Webster)
There is cell death when all cell processes end and they begin to degenerate. There is also brain death.
And then we have “poetic death”, when the light goes out of a person’s eyes, a soul escaping a damaged vessel and moving to a higher plane.
Death, as with life, is such a complicated matter with roots in both philosophy and science. For our purposes, we will say that death is when the body dies and takes with it a person’s memory, personality, and consciousness. “Immortality” will be any state in which a person’s memory, personality, and consciousness remain intact, in some accessible form, indefinitely.
To many people, we are already immortal, in the sense that what makes us “us”, in the form of a soul, leaves our bodies upon biological death but then moves on to an afterlife.
What might keep Lilara and her family going for centuries? We may find some of the answers in creatures that we’ve shared this pale blue dot with for aeons.
The Undying Things Among Us
A German marine biology student discovered Turritopsis dohrnii in 1988 when he was researching hydrozoan invertebrates on the Italian Riviera. He kept this strange species, which he didn’t recognise, in a petri dish, just as he did with other findings, and observed it over the course of the next week. Rather than reproducing or dying, as expected, his Turritopsis dohrnii specimens behaved very differently: it appeared to be ageing in “reverse”, and returning to earlier stages of its life cycle.
Here he had found a real-life Curious Case of Benjamin Button, or, shall we say, Jeremy Jellyfish.
Other researchers continued to study Turritopsis dohrnii over the ensuing decade, ultimately publishing a paper in 1996 by Ferdinando Boero et al. titled “Reversing the Life Cycle”. The creature was examined in great detail and observed returning to its earliest life stage for jellies (the polyp form).
In the decades since, we have come to understand this a bit better. When stressed by its environment, members of this jelly’s genus undergo the process of cellular transdifferentiation, when various cells transform into other types of cell, which is what occurs with human stem cells.
Now popularised as the “immortal jellyfish”, we still don’t completely grasp all of the intricacies of how Turritopsis dohrnii does what it does. The little creatures have been spreading around the world, moving from the Mediterranean in cargo ship seawater ballast, and can now be found from the Caribbean to Japanese waters.
Kevin J. Peterson is a molecular biologist at Dartmouth studying the mechanism by which our immortal jellyfish continues in its constant forward, backward, forward cycle. This is controlled, seemingly, by a genetic material called microRNA which appears to cause stem cells to move from their undifferentiated state to its fated form (heart cell, brain cell, skin cell, etc.).
James Carlton, a professor of marine sciences at Williams College in Massachusetts, says, “ “That word ‘immortal’ is distracting. If by ‘immortal’ you mean passing on your genes, then yes, it’s immortal. But those are not the same cells anymore. The cells are immortal, but not necessarily the organism itself.” In essence, when our immortal jellyfish’s cells transdifferentiate, it is just returning its cells to their primary undifferentiated forms. It then re-builds them into new versions of their differentiated forms, creating what is essentially a clone of the original jelly.
Other Earthly living things may be immortal (and could be included along with some of the most extreme creatures here), or at the least are astonishingly long-lived:
Remarkably similar to the immortal jelly is the freshwater hydra polyp, which also seems to be able to live indefinitely. It regenerates lost appendages and never shows signs of cellular senescence or ageing.
Red sea urchins seem to be able to continue living, reproducing and regenerating almost indefinitely once they grow out of their larval stage.
The bristlecone pine of North America can live thousands of years. One specimen, nicknamed “Methuselah” after the longest-lived human named in the Old Testament, has been dated at over 4,700 years. This nigh-immortality also seems to be related to stem cells, as described in this research paper from 2013.
The Arctica islandica ocean quahog clam can live for over 500 years. One was found in 2006, nicknamed “Ming the Mollusc”, but was summarily placed in a freezer by the researchers not realising it would turn out to be of record-breaking age. These clams, along with numerous other long-lived bivalves, tend to follow a rule common among many animals: the longer it takes to reach reproductive maturity, and the slower the animal’s growth rate in general, the longer its lifespan tends to be post-maturity.
Long life isn’t just reserved for small, less complex animals. The Aldabra giant tortoise, tuatara lizards, rougheye rockfish, Greenland shark, koi, and even the huge bowhead whale have all been found in many cases to live longer than 200 years. And let us not forget ourselves, Asian elephants and macaws who all share lifespans between 70–80 years when provided with proper care and nutrition.
Technology as Savior of Biology
Immortality for humans could take many forms.
As quantum computing progresses, thanks to continued efforts of IBM and others, our potential to store the immense complexity that is a human mind grows. In the March 2018 issue of Fortune, write Grace Donnelly reports on the Y Combinator venture Nectome that is aiming to preserve brain structure through a chemical freezing process, with the hopes that memory and knowledge will also be preserved and can somehow be copied.
Photo by Andy Kelly on Unsplash
Dr Ian Pearson, a British futurologist and author of You Tomorrow, places paths to immortality into three buckets:
“Living” in virtual worlds.
“Living” in android bodies.
And renewing the human body.
The first two are essentially the same and would likely both be possible if either one comes to be. This is because the fundamental problem that needs to be solved for each is the same: Can the mind be somehow downloaded or otherwise copied?
“A complete map of the human brain containing detailed information about each neuron and synapse would occupy about 20,000 terabytes and require 1016 flops (floating point operations per second) of processing power to function. Currently, only the world’s fastest supercomputer possesses the capability of crunching that many numbers in a second.” -Jordan Inafuku, et. al.
If what makes a person a person is all in the structure of the brain, many scientists feel that this is essentially possible, and with enough advances in technology we will eventually be able to make a copy of ourselves.
If there is a “missing ingredient” that results in consciousness and that is responsible for making you “you”, something that cannot be recreated by just building an exact structure of neurons, we may be out of luck. We may find we can copy the structure and information of a mind, but when we “boot” it up all we see is hard data and a complete lack of anything like self-awareness.
Renewing the human body can take numerous forms, and would likely be a combination of replacement parts and gene therapy based on trends in current medical technology. Advances in lab-grown organs, such as these fallopian tubes, and 3D printing (called “bioprinting) will probably make traditional transplanted, and artificial organs and even limbs seem antique by the middle of this century.
Stem cell infusion therapy is also proving quite promising, as detailed in the results of a study published in April 2017 in The Journals of Gerontology. Fifteen frail patients between the ages of 60 and 95 each received stem cell transfusions from donors between the ages of 20–45, and six months later, all patients were healthier.
And what happens when we achieve immortality?
If we can keep our bodies and minds intact for many multiples of our natural lifespan, this will not be a guarantee of eternal bliss. Unless all of us become “immortal” at once, there would be a long time during which only small numbers of people might be transcending our biological limits. Perhaps the treatments and procedures are only affordable by the very wealthy, resulting in situations much like those found in the recent Netflix series Altered Carbon, the 2013 Neill Blomkamp film Elysium and the 1990 Orson Scott Card novel The Worthing Saga.
And no matter if our minds end up in a massive VR simulation, android bodies, or they remain in biological construct or cloned bodies, there is the problem of how much moving through the vastness of time itself might affect us. How long can one consciousness continue to operate in an uninterrupted state before a psychological problem develops? The boredom of everyday existence generally affects most modern humans with varying psychological impact even before their eighth decade of life. Imagine eight centuries. And time would eventually seem to become a blur, as we experience and remember things relative to how long we’ve lived in total.
Beyond those issues, there is the question of how we would handle the increased overpopulation that would result from widespread “immortality”.
Ultimately, one thing that can’t be ignored is that immortality may not be possible at all. Inevitably, given enough time for the science to catch up to our imaginations, we will be able to prolong the lifespans of our bodies significantly, and perhaps even copy and download our minds and preserve self-awareness and consciousness.
Just as with the tiny Turritopsis dohrnii, which must completely remake itself in order to never truly die, most paths to our immortality will require that same sacrifice. Copying a mind would be similar to creating another instance of a database. For a while, at least, you would have 2 of the same thing, and the original must either be kept or destroyed. But the copy would not be the original. It may seem that way to an outside observer, and the copy may not even know it’s a copy. The fact is, though, that the copy is a new thing, a new person, whether built from a brain scan or regenerated cell by cell in a lab.
Eugen Suman, a fellow thinker and futurist, based in Romania, says regarding the above problem (dubbed the “continuity paradox”) that we can:
…imagine this scenario: you get injected with an army of nanobots that, over a period of ten or more years, will replace your brain cells one by one with “artificial cells” so that at the end of the ten years you will have a new artificial brain instead of the old one you possessed. Most people would agree that in the second scenario it would still be you…
This is a variation on ideas put forth by famed futurists Ray Kurzweil and Hans Moravec. Replacing our mortal brain with immortal substrate the smallest possible piece at a time while keeping it all connected offers the best — if not yet feasible — chance at keeping our identity.
So there may well be a way to create a true immortality loop for humans, given enough time and technological advancement. Still, we are left with the potential development of various psychoses or other unforeseen problems that will arise with extremely long-lived consciousnesses.
Immortality can only ever go so far.
Thank you for reading and sharing. | https://medium.com/predict/chasing-immortality-49bbf3a11a61 | ['A. S. Deller'] | 2020-12-27 13:18:29.083000+00:00 | ['Immortality', 'Science', 'Future', 'Consciousness', 'Biology'] | Title Chasing ImmortalityContent year 2573 Lilara’s laughter fade awed silence autocab drift stop long ride Johannesburg spaceport finally family arrived destination Lilara’s mother’s old family estate mom met father 24yearold graduate student performing ecological research 50000acre preserve 2088 desert threatening overtake everything completely Eventually Lilara’s parent moved together Mars City Two also known Olympia became leader terraforming initiative next century Mom Dad would end holding senior role Mars’Sci Mars fast becoming wet green planet would par Earth another couple century dinner guest house little family spent hour Lilara’s grandparent VR world Archeon relative died since 2100 continued live always bittersweet since everyone visited knew one day would Archeonese assured Living however couldn’t tell difference biological life virtual one Mom Dad waited long become parent busy important people much Lilara knew decide happiest choice they’d ever made spent long time make sure people Earth could second home needed would spend much time making sure daughter could opportunity ever chose Immortality scientist believe baby born today might never die “Immortality” loaded word sure broadest sense refers able die ever know immortality however need define death u death permanent cessation vital function end life MerriamWebster cell death cell process end begin degenerate also brain death “poetic death” light go person’s eye soul escaping damaged vessel moving higher plane Death life complicated matter root philosophy science purpose say death body dy take person’s memory personality consciousness “Immortality” state person’s memory personality consciousness remain intact accessible form indefinitely many people already immortal sense make u “us” form soul leaf body upon biological death move afterlife might keep Lilara family going century may find answer creature we’ve shared pale blue dot aeon Undying Things Among Us German marine biology student discovered Turritopsis dohrnii 1988 researching hydrozoan invertebrate Italian Riviera kept strange specie didn’t recognise petri dish finding observed course next week Rather reproducing dying expected Turritopsis dohrnii specimen behaved differently appeared ageing “reverse” returning earlier stage life cycle found reallife Curious Case Benjamin Button shall say Jeremy Jellyfish researcher continued study Turritopsis dohrnii ensuing decade ultimately publishing paper 1996 Ferdinando Boero et al titled “Reversing Life Cycle” creature examined great detail observed returning earliest life stage jelly polyp form decade since come understand bit better stressed environment member jelly’s genus undergo process cellular transdifferentiation various cell transform type cell occurs human stem cell popularised “immortal jellyfish” still don’t completely grasp intricacy Turritopsis dohrnii little creature spreading around world moving Mediterranean cargo ship seawater ballast found Caribbean Japanese water Kevin J Peterson molecular biologist Dartmouth studying mechanism immortal jellyfish continues constant forward backward forward cycle controlled seemingly genetic material called microRNA appears cause stem cell move undifferentiated state fated form heart cell brain cell skin cell etc James Carlton professor marine science Williams College Massachusetts say “ “That word ‘immortal’ distracting ‘immortal’ mean passing gene yes it’s immortal cell anymore cell immortal necessarily organism itself” essence immortal jellyfish’s cell transdifferentiate returning cell primary undifferentiated form rebuilds new version differentiated form creating essentially clone original jelly Earthly living thing may immortal could included along extreme creature least astonishingly longlived Remarkably similar immortal jelly freshwater hydra polyp also seems able live indefinitely regenerates lost appendage never show sign cellular senescence ageing Red sea urchin seem able continue living reproducing regenerating almost indefinitely grow larval stage bristlecone pine North America live thousand year One specimen nicknamed “Methuselah” longestlived human named Old Testament dated 4700 year nighimmortality also seems related stem cell described research paper 2013 Arctica islandica ocean quahog clam live 500 year One found 2006 nicknamed “Ming Mollusc” summarily placed freezer researcher realising would turn recordbreaking age clam along numerous longlived bivalve tend follow rule common among many animal longer take reach reproductive maturity slower animal’s growth rate general longer lifespan tends postmaturity Long life isn’t reserved small le complex animal Aldabra giant tortoise tuatara lizard rougheye rockfish Greenland shark koi even huge bowhead whale found many case live longer 200 year let u forget Asian elephant macaw share lifespan 70–80 year provided proper care nutrition Technology Savior Biology Immortality human could take many form quantum computing progress thanks continued effort IBM others potential store immense complexity human mind grows March 2018 issue Fortune write Grace Donnelly report Combinator venture Nectome aiming preserve brain structure chemical freezing process hope memory knowledge also preserved somehow copied Photo Andy Kelly Unsplash Dr Ian Pearson British futurologist author Tomorrow place path immortality three bucket “Living” virtual world “Living” android body renewing human body first two essentially would likely possible either one come fundamental problem need solved mind somehow downloaded otherwise copied “A complete map human brain containing detailed information neuron synapse would occupy 20000 terabyte require 1016 flop floating point operation per second processing power function Currently world’s fastest supercomputer posse capability crunching many number second” Jordan Inafuku et al make person person structure brain many scientist feel essentially possible enough advance technology eventually able make copy “missing ingredient” result consciousness responsible making “you” something cannot recreated building exact structure neuron may luck may find copy structure information mind “boot” see hard data complete lack anything like selfawareness Renewing human body take numerous form would likely combination replacement part gene therapy based trend current medical technology Advances labgrown organ fallopian tube 3D printing called “bioprinting probably make traditional transplanted artificial organ even limb seem antique middle century Stem cell infusion therapy also proving quite promising detailed result study published April 2017 Journals Gerontology Fifteen frail patient age 60 95 received stem cell transfusion donor age 20–45 six month later patient healthier happens achieve immortality keep body mind intact many multiple natural lifespan guarantee eternal bliss Unless u become “immortal” would long time small number people might transcending biological limit Perhaps treatment procedure affordable wealthy resulting situation much like found recent Netflix series Altered Carbon 2013 Neill Blomkamp film Elysium 1990 Orson Scott Card novel Worthing Saga matter mind end massive VR simulation android body remain biological construct cloned body problem much moving vastness time might affect u long one consciousness continue operate uninterrupted state psychological problem develops boredom everyday existence generally affect modern human varying psychological impact even eighth decade life Imagine eight century time would eventually seem become blur experience remember thing relative long we’ve lived total Beyond issue question would handle increased overpopulation would result widespread “immortality” Ultimately one thing can’t ignored immortality may possible Inevitably given enough time science catch imagination able prolong lifespan body significantly perhaps even copy download mind preserve selfawareness consciousness tiny Turritopsis dohrnii must completely remake order never truly die path immortality require sacrifice Copying mind would similar creating another instance database least would 2 thing original must either kept destroyed copy would original may seem way outside observer copy may even know it’s copy fact though copy new thing new person whether built brain scan regenerated cell cell lab Eugen Suman fellow thinker futurist based Romania say regarding problem dubbed “continuity paradox” …imagine scenario get injected army nanobots period ten year replace brain cell one one “artificial cells” end ten year new artificial brain instead old one possessed people would agree second scenario would still you… variation idea put forth famed futurist Ray Kurzweil Hans Moravec Replacing mortal brain immortal substrate smallest possible piece time keeping connected offer best — yet feasible — chance keeping identity may well way create true immortality loop human given enough time technological advancement Still left potential development various psychosis unforeseen problem arise extremely longlived consciousness Immortality ever go far Thank reading sharingTags Immortality Science Future Consciousness Biology |
1,097 | Class 8: Preparing an AI Workshop | Class 8: Preparing an AI Workshop
The steps and tools for setting up an AI Design Camp or Workshop
Watch Class 8 >
Any time you’re asked to run an AI-focused design workshop or camp, the very first step is to make a duplicate of this folder and move it to your team’s project folder where you can start customizing it:
The AI Jumpstart Toolkit: Original >
The “AI Jumpstart Toolkit: Original” Box Folder contents
The documents in this folder are numbered to match the order you’ll need them in:
01_AI Jumpstart Guide
Review this first for a how-to on customizing, preparing for, and conducting an AI Jumpstart Camp. This is also a good reference to have printed and on hand throughout camp.
02_AI Jumpstart Agendas
1, 2, and 3 day agenda examples you can customize
03_Create your AI Camp Mural
Links to the design thinking Mural templates you can use or customize for your camp
04_AI Jumpstart Prep Work
Once you have your Mural and agenda established, share the prep work assignments with the camp attendees.
05_AI Jumpstart Kickoff
This is a deck template you can use to kickoff day one of camp.
06_ML 4 Design Guide
This is a good reference to have printed and on hand throughout camp.
07_AI Jumpstart Retro
Have the team complete this 15 minute retro to conclude your camp.
08_Journey to GA
A guide through your next steps — preparing to build and deploy AI, and setting measurable key results.
09_AI Camp Results
A PDF of measurable AI Design Camp results captured between 2018–2019. | https://medium.com/ai-design-thinkers/class-8-6c67402053 | ['Jennifer Aue'] | 2020-01-27 23:41:16.394000+00:00 | ['AI', 'Design Thinking', 'Design', 'Adfclass'] | Title Class 8 Preparing AI WorkshopContent Class 8 Preparing AI Workshop step tool setting AI Design Camp Workshop Watch Class 8 time you’re asked run AIfocused design workshop camp first step make duplicate folder move team’s project folder start customizing AI Jumpstart Toolkit Original “AI Jumpstart Toolkit Original” Box Folder content document folder numbered match order you’ll need 01AI Jumpstart Guide Review first howto customizing preparing conducting AI Jumpstart Camp also good reference printed hand throughout camp 02AI Jumpstart Agendas 1 2 3 day agenda example customize 03Create AI Camp Mural Links design thinking Mural template use customize camp 04AI Jumpstart Prep Work Mural agenda established share prep work assignment camp attendee 05AI Jumpstart Kickoff deck template use kickoff day one camp 06ML 4 Design Guide good reference printed hand throughout camp 07AI Jumpstart Retro team complete 15 minute retro conclude camp 08Journey GA guide next step — preparing build deploy AI setting measurable key result 09AI Camp Results PDF measurable AI Design Camp result captured 2018–2019Tags AI Design Thinking Design Adfclass |
1,098 | We designers serve others | However, the path very often turns to be rough. There’s a lot of obstacles to deal with to make something just good. In between 18th and 19th centuries when the Industrial Revolution took place, and technological progress allowed to manufacture faster and in a high volume, the Three Pillars of Design were defined:
Voice of Business. How do you as a designer respond to a company’s business model to make a product relevant?
How do you as a designer respond to a company’s business model to make a product relevant? Voice of Technology. How do you design to create something within a budget and yet well made?
How do you design to create something within a budget and yet well made? Voice of Customer. How do you answer people’s needs? How do you solve people’s problems? How effectively do you solve those problems? How do you design to embrace individualities? How do you design for people to enrich their lives?
That looks like a challenge. And it is. You see, I think we as designers need a tremendous amount of self-discipline to be good in what we do. Answering those questions above, facing them in the most successful way, requires a thing that I find the most precious quality of us designers, a thing that we constantly tend to learn — humility.
Humility — ענוותנות, Hebrew “anavah” — a sign of strength and purpose, not weakness.
We often mislead humility with weakness, whereas it’s a strength. We can be highly skilled specialists, using the most advanced tools, but a result of our work comes from a process, from our relationship with whom we collaborate. Way before a product meets customers, we designers meet business stakeholders and engineers, people responsible for revenue and the fact that our ideas can come to life. That’s the place for us designers serving others with humility which is represented by:
ability to listening
not stealing somebody’s air
being aware that sometimes we may be wrong
There’s a beauty in the service of being responsible for giving a form to business intention and implementing solutions. By being designers we tend to brilliantly communicate however by asking questions. So much can be unheard when we’re not attentively listening to barely formed, fragile thoughts that have got a chance to be a foundation for a fabulous solution. During ideation and execution, any contribution is a new point of view, that can pivot a project in a way more beneficial to a final result, therefore we designers are expected to create a convenient environment for others to collaborate. And finally, constant learning means being ready to fail and seek an outcome from it to bring the value to our teams, to a project, and therefore to customers.
Sadly, very often customers can be victims of design, instead of being beneficiaries of it. Unfortunately, we stick at looking for a balance between a look and function. Obviously, a product looking good but having a very poorly solved functionality can be ugly. In the same time, we often try to believe that the thing that predominantly matters is functionality. But we very rarely ask the question:
“What do we want people to feel?”
You see, designing is three dimensional. I believe that we designers do what we do in the service of aesthetics, function, and feelings that someone, somewhere had using a product we designed. Do you remember the smell of just unboxed product that you had waited for a while? Do you remember the joy of the unboxing? Do you remember the texture of that shiny new product? Do you remember the sound of taking off a foil? We forget what a company did and said to convince us to buy their product, but we never forget how they made us feel. Those are outcomes of unreasonable intentions that are far from being just aesthetically and functionally correct. These are outcomes of the amount of care that was invested in every meticulously considered detail. The amount of care invested in expertise and research to find a solution, creative direction, material, manufacturing process that let translate reckless ideas into something unremarkable, something that will definitely be discerned but barely articulated.
Voice of Environment.
There’s one other thing that wasn’t mentioned in the Three Pillars and is ever so important. We designers, we also serve the environment. We more than anyone have a civic and moral responsibility in creating solutions, choosing materials, tools, and processes that will serve not only business, technology, and customers but also our common, the only one home we have — the planet. Our decisions are made within minutes but often impact years to come. An ignorance can turn into evil. But yet proactivity can avoid disasters and resolve problems. With deliberate solutions, we can address the quality of life of future generations.
Being a designer requires maturity, a self-awareness. We’ve got a power to build, to enrich, to embrace. We carry the responsibility of connecting creative voices. We can make trustworthy room for ideas incubation. We can shape the future.
To serve others is delightful, isn’t it? | https://medium.com/the-supersymmetry/we-designers-serve-others-49cdbfcccf0e | ['Radek Szczygiel'] | 2020-11-21 13:37:32.737000+00:00 | ['Environment', 'Business', 'Customers', 'Technology', 'Design'] | Title designer serve othersContent However path often turn rough There’s lot obstacle deal make something good 18th 19th century Industrial Revolution took place technological progress allowed manufacture faster high volume Three Pillars Design defined Voice Business designer respond company’s business model make product relevant designer respond company’s business model make product relevant Voice Technology design create something within budget yet well made design create something within budget yet well made Voice Customer answer people’s need solve people’s problem effectively solve problem design embrace individuality design people enrich life look like challenge see think designer need tremendous amount selfdiscipline good Answering question facing successful way requires thing find precious quality u designer thing constantly tend learn — humility Humility — ענוותנות Hebrew “anavah” — sign strength purpose weakness often mislead humility weakness whereas it’s strength highly skilled specialist using advanced tool result work come process relationship collaborate Way product meet customer designer meet business stakeholder engineer people responsible revenue fact idea come life That’s place u designer serving others humility represented ability listening stealing somebody’s air aware sometimes may wrong There’s beauty service responsible giving form business intention implementing solution designer tend brilliantly communicate however asking question much unheard we’re attentively listening barely formed fragile thought got chance foundation fabulous solution ideation execution contribution new point view pivot project way beneficial final result therefore designer expected create convenient environment others collaborate finally constant learning mean ready fail seek outcome bring value team project therefore customer Sadly often customer victim design instead beneficiary Unfortunately stick looking balance look function Obviously product looking good poorly solved functionality ugly time often try believe thing predominantly matter functionality rarely ask question “What want people feel” see designing three dimensional believe designer service aesthetic function feeling someone somewhere using product designed remember smell unboxed product waited remember joy unboxing remember texture shiny new product remember sound taking foil forget company said convince u buy product never forget made u feel outcome unreasonable intention far aesthetically functionally correct outcome amount care invested every meticulously considered detail amount care invested expertise research find solution creative direction material manufacturing process let translate reckless idea something unremarkable something definitely discerned barely articulated Voice Environment There’s one thing wasn’t mentioned Three Pillars ever important designer also serve environment anyone civic moral responsibility creating solution choosing material tool process serve business technology customer also common one home — planet decision made within minute often impact year come ignorance turn evil yet proactivity avoid disaster resolve problem deliberate solution address quality life future generation designer requires maturity selfawareness We’ve got power build enrich embrace carry responsibility connecting creative voice make trustworthy room idea incubation shape future serve others delightful isn’t itTags Environment Business Customers Technology Design |
1,099 | How to buy Bitcoin by programming language? | It is first time that programmer can buy and sell Bitcoin through their favorite programming language.
PHP
Java
C#
Node.js
Go
Python | https://medium.com/mixinnetwork/how-to-buy-bitcoin-by-programming-language-17b0620bdd4d | ['Lin Li'] | 2019-04-22 14:29:09.900000+00:00 | ['Nodejs', 'Go', 'PHP', 'Java', 'Python'] | Title buy Bitcoin programming languageContent first time programmer buy sell Bitcoin favorite programming language PHP Java C Nodejs Go PythonTags Nodejs Go PHP Java Python |
Subsets and Splits
No saved queries yet
Save your SQL queries to embed, download, and access them later. Queries will appear here once saved.